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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/16150-8.txt b/16150-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5d659f6 --- /dev/null +++ b/16150-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3629 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Miss McDonald, by Mary J. Holmes + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Miss McDonald + +Author: Mary J. Holmes + +Release Date: June 29, 2005 [EBook #16150] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MISS MCDONALD *** + + + + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Louise Pryor and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + +MISS MCDONALD + +BY + +MRS. MARY J. HOLMES + +AUTHOR OF "THE LEIGHTON HOMESTEAD," "MILLBANK; OR, ROGER IRVING'S WARD," +"MILDRED; OR, THE CHILD OF ADOPTION," "EDITH LYLE'S SECRET," "ETHELYN'S +MISTAKE," ETC. + + +THE MERSHON COMPANY +RAHWAY, N.J. NEW YORK + + + + +CONTENTS + + +I. EXTRACTS FROM MISS FRANCES THORNTON'S JOURNAL + +II. EXTRACTS FROM GUY'S JOURNAL + +III. EXTRACTS FROM DAISY'S JOURNAL + +IV. AUTHOR'S STORY + +V. THE DIVORCE + +VI. EXTRACTS FROM DIARIES + +VII. FIVE YEARS LATER + +VIII. DAISY'S LETTER + +IX. DAISY, TOM, AND THAT OTHER ONE + +X. MISS MCDONALD + +XI. AT SARATOGA + +XII. IN THE SICK-ROOM + +XIII. DAISY'S JOURNAL + + + + +MISS MCDONALD + + + + +CHAPTER I + +EXTRACTS FROM MISS FRANCES THORNTON'S JOURNAL + + +ELMWOOD, June 15, 18--. + +I have been out among my flowers all the morning, digging, weeding, and +transplanting, and then stopping a little to rest. Such perfect +successes as my roses are this year, while my white lilies are the +wonder of the town, and yet my heart was not with them to-day, and it +was nothing to me that those fine people staying at the Towers came into +the grounds while I was at work, "just to see and admire," they said, +adding that there was no place like Elmwood in all the town of +Cuylerville. I know that, and Guy and I have been so happy here, and I +loved him so much, and never dreamed what was in store for me until it +came so suddenly and seemed like a heavy blow. + +Why did he want to get married, when he has lived to be thirty years +old, without a care of any kind, and with money enough to allow him to +indulge his taste for books, and pictures, and travel, and is respected +by everybody, looked up to as the first man in town, and petted and +cared for by me as few brothers have ever been petted and cared for; +why, I say, did he want a change, and, if he must be married, why need +he take a child of sixteen, whom he has only known since Christmas, and +whose sole recommendation, so far as I can learn, is her pretty face? + +Daisy McDonald is her name, and she lives in Indianapolis, where her +father is a poor lawyer, and Guy met her last winter in Chicago and fell +in love at once, and made two or three journeys West on "important +business," he said, and then, some time in May, told me he was going to +bring me a sister, the sweetest little creature, with such beautiful +blue eyes and wonderful hair. I was sure to love her, he said, and when +I suggested that she was very young, he replied that her youth was in +her favor, as he could more easily mold her to the Thornton pattern. + +Little he knows about girls, but then he was perfectly infatuated and +blind to everything but Daisy's eyes, and hair, and voice, which is so +sweet and winning that it will _speak_ for her at once; and he asked me +to see to the furnishing of the rooms on the west side of the house, two +which communicate with his own private library, where he spends a great +deal of time with his books and writing. The room adjoining this he +would have for Daisy's boudoir or parlor, where she could sit when he +was occupied and she wished to be near him. This he would have fitted up +in blue, as she had expressed a wish to that effect, and he said no +expense must be spared to make it as pretty and attractive as possible. +So the walls were frescoed and tinted, and I spent two entire days in +New York hunting for a carpet of the desirable shade, which should be +right both in texture and design. + +Guy was exceedingly particular, and developed a wonderful proclivity to +find fault with everything I admired. Nothing was quite the thing for +Daisy until at last a manufacturer offered to get one up which should +suit, and so the carpet question was happily ended for the time being. +Then came the furniture, and unlimited orders were given to the +upholsterer to do his best, and matters were progressing finely when +order number two came from the little lady, who was sorry to seem so +fickle, but mamma, whose taste was perfect, had decided against all +blue, and would Guy please furnish the room with drab trimmed with blue. +"It must be a very delicate shade of drab," she wrote, and lest he +should get too intense an idea, she would call it a _tint_ of a _shade_ +of drab, or, better yet, a _hint_ of a tint of a shade of drab would +describe exactly what she meant, and be so entirely unique, and lovely, +and recherché. + +Guy never swears, and seldom uses slang of any kind, but this was a +little too much, and with a most rueful expression of countenance he +asked me "what in thunder I supposed a hint of a tint of a shade of drab +could be." + +I could not enlighten him, and we finally concluded to leave it to the +upholsterer, to whom Guy telegraphed in hot haste, bidding him hunt New +York over for the desired shade. Where he found it I never knew, but +find it he did, or something approximating to it, a faded, washed-out +color, which seemed a cross between wood-ashes and pale skim milk. A +sample was sent up for Guy's approval, and then the work commenced +again, when order number three came in one of those dainty little +billets which used to make Guy's face radiant with happiness. Daisy had +changed her mind again and gone back to the blue, which she always +preferred as most becoming to her complexion. + +Guy did not say a single word, but he took the next train for New York +and stayed there till the furniture was done and packed for Cuylerville. +As I did not know where he was stopping, I could not forward him two +little missives which came during his absence, and which bore the +Indianapolis post-mark. I suspect he had a design in keeping his hotel +from me, and whether Daisy changed her mind again or not I never knew. + +The furniture reached Elmwood the day but one before Guy started for his +bride, and Julia Hamilton, who was then at the Towers, helped me arrange +the room, which is a perfect little gem and cannot fail to please, I am +sure. I wonder Guy never fancied Julia Hamilton. Oh, if he only had done +so I should not have as many misgivings as I now have nor dread the +future so much. Julia is sensible and twenty years old, and lives in +Boston, and comes of a good family, and is every way suitable; but when +did a man ever choose the woman whom his sister thought suitable for +him? And Guy is like other men, and this is his wedding day; and after a +trip to Montreal, and Quebec, and Boston, and New York, and Saratoga, +they are coming home, and I am to give a grand reception and then +subside, I suppose, into the position of the "old maid sister who will +be dreadfully in the way." + + +SEPTEMBER 15, 18--. + +Just three months since I opened my Journal, and, on glancing over what +I wrote on Guy's wedding day, I find that in one respect at least I was +unjust to the little creature who is now my sister and calls me Miss +Frances. Not by a word or look has she shown the least inclination to +assume the position of mistress of the house, nor does she seem to think +me at all in the way; but that she considers me quite an antediluvian I +am certain, for, in speaking of something which happened in 1820, she +asked if I remembered it! And I only three years older than Guy! But +then she once called him a dear old grandfatherly man, and thought it a +good joke that on their wedding tour she was mistaken for his daughter. +She looks so young--not sixteen even; but with those childish blue eyes, +and that innocent, pleading kind of expression, she never can be old. +She is very beautiful, and I can understand in part Guy's infatuation, +though at times he hardly knows what to do with his pretty plaything. + +It was the middle of August when they came from Saratoga, sorely +against her wishes, as I heard from the Porters, who were at the same +hotel, and who have told me what a sensation she created, and how much +attention she received. Everybody flattered her, and one evening when +there was to be a hop at Congress Hall, she received twenty bouquets +from as many different admirers, each of whom asked her hand for the +first dance. They had ascertained that Guy was not a disciple of +Terpsichore, though I understand he did try some of the square dances, +with poor success, I imagine, for Lucy Porter laughed when she told me +of it; and I do not wonder, for my grave, scholarly Guy must be as much +out of place in a ball room as his little, airy doll of a wife is in her +place when there. I can understand just how she enjoyed it all, and how +she hated to come home, for she did not then know the kind of home she +was coming to. + +It was glorious weather for August, and a rain of the previous day had +washed all the flowers and shrubs, and freshened up the grass on the +lawn, which was just like a piece of velvet, while everything around +Elmwood seemed to laugh in the warm afternoon sunshine as the carriage +came up to the door. Eight trunks, two hat-boxes, and a guitar-case had +come in the morning, and were waiting the arrival of their owner, whose +face looked eagerly out at the house and its surroundings, and, it +seemed to me, did not light up as much as it should have done under the +circumstances. + +"Why, Guy, I always thought the house was brick," I heard her say as the +carriage door was opened by the coachman. + +"No, darling--wood. Ah, there's Fan," was Guy's reply, and the next +moment I had her in my arms. + +Yes, literally in my arms. She is such a wee little thing, and her face +is so sweet, and her eyes so childish and wistful, and her voice so +musical and flute-like that before I knew what I was doing I lifted her +from her feet and hugged her hard and said I meant to love her, first +for Guy's sake and then for her own. Was it my fancy, I wonder, or did +she really shrink back a little and put up her hands to arrange the bows +and streamers and curls floating away from her like the flags on a +vessel on some gala day? + +She was very tired, Guy said, and ought to lie down before dinner. Would +I show her to her room with Zillah, her maid? Then for the first time I +noticed a dark-haired girl who had alighted from the carriage and stood +holding Daisy's traveling bag and wraps. + +"Her waiting maid, whom we found in Boston," Guy explained when we were +alone. "She is so young and helpless, and wanted one so badly, that I +concluded to humor her for a time, especially as I had not the most +remote idea how to pin on those wonderful fixings which she wears. It is +astonishing how many things it takes to make up the _tout ensemble_ of a +fashionable woman," Guy said, and I thought he glanced a little +curiously at my plain cambric wrapper and smooth hair. + +Indeed he has taken it upon himself to criticise me somewhat! thinks I +am too slim, as he expresses it, and that my head might be improved if +it had a more snarly appearance. Daisy, of course, stands for his model, +and her hair does not look as if it had been combed in a month, and yet +Zillah spends hours over it. She--that is, Daisy--was pleased with her +boudoir, and gave vent to sundry exclamations of delight when she +entered it and skipped around like the child she is, and said she was so +glad it was blue instead of that indescribable drab, and that room is +almost the only thing she has expressed an opinion about since she has +been here. She does not talk much except to Zillah, and then in French, +which I do not understand. If I were to write just what I think I should +say that she had expected a great deal more grandeur than she finds. At +all events, she takes the things which I think very nice and even +elegant as a matter of course, and if we were to set up a style of +living equal to that of the Queen's household I do believe she would act +as if she had been accustomed to it all her life; or, at least, that it +was what she had a right to expect. I know she imagines Guy a great deal +richer than he is; and that reminds me of something which troubles me. + +Guy has given his name to Dick Trevylian for one hundred thousand +dollars. To be sure, it is only for three months, and Dick is worth +three times that amount, and an old friend and every way reliable and +honest. And still I did not want Guy to sign. I wonder why it is that +women will always jump at a conclusion without any apparent reason. Of +course, I could not explain it, but when Guy told me what he was going +to do, I felt in an instant as if he would have it all to pay and told +him so, but he only laughed at me and called me nervous and fidgety, and +said a friend was good for nothing if he could not lend a helping hand +occasionally. Perhaps that is true, but I was uneasy, and shall be glad +when the time is up and the paper canceled. + +Our expenses since Daisy came are double what they were before, and if +we were to lose one hundred thousand dollars now we should be badly off. +Daisy is a luxury Guy has to pay for, but he pays willingly and seems to +grow more and more infatuated every day. "She is such a sweet-tempered, +affectionate little puss," he says; and I admit to myself that she is +sweet-tempered, and that nothing ruffles her, but about the affectionate +part I am not so certain. Guy would pet her and caress her all the time +if she would let him, but she won't. + +"Oh, please don't touch me. It is too warm, and you muss my dress," I +have heard her say more than once when he came in and tried to put his +arm about her or take her in his lap. + +Indeed, her dress seems to be uppermost in her mind, and I have known +her to try on half a dozen different ones before she could decide in +which she looked the best. No matter what Guy is doing, or how deeply he +is absorbed in his studies, she makes him stop and inspect her from all +points and give his opinion, and Guy submits in a way perfectly +wonderful to me who never dared to disturb him when shut up with his +books. + +Another thing, too, he submits to which astonishes me more than anything +else. It used to annoy him terribly to wait for anything or anybody. He +was always ready, and expected others to be, but Daisy is just the +reverse. Such dawdling habits I never saw in any person. With Zillah to +help her dress she is never ready for breakfast, never ready for dinner, +never ready for church, never ready for anything, and that, in a +household accustomed to order and regularity, does put things back so +and make so much trouble. + +"Don't wait breakfast for me, please," she says, when she has been +called for the third or fourth time, and if she can get us to sit down +without her she seems to think it all right, and that she can dawdle as +much as she likes. + +I wonder that it never occurs to her that to keep the breakfast table +round, as we must, makes the girls cross and upsets the kitchen +generally. I hinted as much to her once when the table stood till ten +o'clock, and she only opened her great blue eyes wonderingly, and said +mamma had spoiled her, but she would try and do better, and she bade +Zillah call her at five the next morning, and Zillah called her, and +then she was a half-hour late. Guy doesn't like that, and he looked +daggers on the night of the reception, when the guests began to arrive +before she was dressed! And she commenced her toilet, too, at three +o'clock! But she was wondrously beautiful in her bridal robes, and took +all hearts by storm. She is perfectly at home in society, and knows just +what to do and say so long as the conversation keeps in the fashionable +round of chit-chat, but when it drifts into deeper channels she is +silent at once, or only answers in monosyllables. I believe she is a +good French scholar, and she plays and sings tolerably well, and reads +the novels as they come out, but of books and literature, in general, +she is wholly ignorant, and if Guy thought to find in her any sympathy +with his favorite studies and authors he is terribly mistaken. + +And yet, as I write all this, my conscience gives me sundry little +pricks as if I were wronging her, for in spite of her faults I like her, +and like to watch her flitting through the house and grounds like the +little fairy she is, and I hope the marriage may turn out well, and that +she will improve with age, and not make so heavy drafts on my brother's +purse. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +EXTRACTS FROM GUY'S JOURNAL + + +SEPTEMBER 20, 18--. + +Three months married. Three months with Daisy all to myself, and yet not +exactly to myself either, for except I go after her I confess she does +not often come to me, unless it is just as I have shut myself up in my +room, thinking to have a quiet hour with my books. Then she generally +appears, and wants me to ride with her, or play croquet, or see which +dress is most becoming, and I always submit and obey her as if I were +the child instead of herself. + +She is young, and I almost wonder her mother allowed her to marry. Fan +hints that they were mercenary, but if they were they concealed the fact +wonderfully well, and made me think it a great sacrifice on their part +to give me Daisy. And so it was; such a lovely little darling, and so +beautiful. What a sensation she created at Saratoga, and still I was +glad to get away, for I did not like some things which were done there. +I did not like so many young men around her, nor her dancing those +abominable round dances which she seemed to enjoy so much. "Square +dances were poky," she said, even after I tried them with her for the +sake of keeping her out of that vile John Britton's arms. I have a fancy +that I made a spectacle of myself, hopping about like a magpie, but +Daisy said "I did beautifully," though she cried because I put my foot +on her lace flounce and tore it, and I noticed she ever after had some +good reason why I should not dance again. "It was too hard work for me; +I was too big," she said, "and would tire easily. Cousin Tom was big, +and he never danced." + +By the way, I have some little curiosity with regard to that Cousin Tom +who wanted Daisy so badly and who, because she refused him, went off to +South America. I trust he will stay there. Not that I am or could be +jealous of Daisy, but it is better for cousins like Tom to keep away. + +Daisy is very happy here, though she is not quite so enthusiastic over +the place as I supposed she would be, knowing how she lived at home. +Well enough, it is true, and the McDonalds are intensely respectable, so +she says; but her father's practice cannot bring him over two thousand a +year, and the small brown house they live in, with only a grass plot in +the rear and at the side, is not to be compared with Elmwood, which is a +fine old place, everyone admits. It has come out gradually that she +thought the house was brick and had a tower and billiard room, and that +we kept more servants, and had a fishpond on the premises, and velvet +carpets all over the house. I would not let Fan know this for the world, +as I want her to like Daisy thoroughly. + +And she does like her, though this little pink and white pet of mine is +a new revelation to her, and puzzles her amazingly. She would have been +glad if I had married Julia Hamilton of Boston; but those Boston girls +are too strong-minded and positive to suit me. Julia is nice, it is +true, and pretty and highly educated, and Fan says she has brains and +would make a splendid wife. As Fan had never seen Daisy she did not, of +course, mean to hint that she had not brains, but I suspect even now she +would be better pleased if Julia were here, but I should not. Julia is +self-reliant; Daisy is not. Julia has opinions of her own and asserts +them, too; Daisy does not. Julia can sew and run a machine; Daisy +cannot. Julia gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night; Daisy +does neither. Nobody ever waits for Julia; everybody waits for Daisy. +Julia reads scientific works and dotes on metaphysics; Daisy does not +know the meaning of the word. In short, Julia is a strong, high-toned, +energetic, independent woman, while Daisy is--a little innocent, +confiding girl, whom I would rather have without brains than all the +Boston women like Julia with brains! + +And yet I sometimes wish she did care for books, and was more interested +in what interests me. I have tried reading aloud to her an hour every +evening, but she generally goes to sleep or steals up behind me to look +over my shoulder and see how near I am to the end of the chapter, and +when I reach it she says: "Excuse me, but I have just thought of +something I must tell Zillah about the dress I want to wear to-morrow. +I'll be back in a moment"; and off she goes, and our reading is ended +for that time, for I notice she never returns. The dress is of more +importance than the book, and I find her at ten or eleven trying to +decide whether black or white or blue is most becoming to her. Poor +Daisy! I fear she had no proper training at home. Indeed, she told me +the other day that from her earliest recollection she had been taught +that the main object of her life was to marry young and to marry money. +Of course she did not mean anything or know how it sounded, but I would +rather she had not said it, even though she had refused a millionaire +for me, who can hardly be called rich as riches are rated these days. If +Dick Trevylian should fail to meet his payment I should be very poor, +and then what would become of Daisy, to whom the luxuries which money +buys are so necessary? + +(Here followed several other entries in the journal, consisting mostly +of rhapsodies on Daisy, and then came the following:) + + +DECEMBER 15, 18--. + +Dick has failed to meet his payment, and that after having borrowed of +me twenty thousand more! Is he a villain, and did he know all the time +that I was ruining myself? I cannot think so when I remember that look +on his face as he told me about it and swore to me solemnly that up to +the very last he fully expected relief from England, where he thought he +had a fortune. + +"If I live I will pay you some time," he said; but that does not help me +now. I am a ruined man. Elmwood must be sold, and I must work to earn my +daily bread. For myself I would not mind it much, and Fan, who, +woman-like, saw it in the distance and warned me of it, behaves nobly; +but it falls hard on Daisy. + +Poor Daisy! She never said a word when I told her the exact truth, but +she went to bed and cried for one whole day. I am so glad I settled that +ten thousand on her when we were married. No one can touch that, and I +told her so; but she did not say a word or seem to know what I meant. +Talking or expressing her opinion was never in her line, and she has not +of her own accord spoken with me on the subject, and when I try to talk +with her about our future she shudders and cries, and says, "Please +don't! I can't bear it. I want to go home to mother!" + +And so it was settled that while we are arranging matters she is to +visit her mother and perhaps not return till spring, when I hope to be +in a better condition financially than I am at present. + +One thing Daisy said, which hurt me cruelly, and that was: "If I must +marry poor, I might as well have married Cousin Tom, who wanted me so +badly!" To do her justice, however, she added immediately: "But I like +you the best." + +I am glad she said that. It will be something to remember when she is +gone, or rather when I return without her, as I am going to Indianapolis +with her, and then back to the dreary business of seeing what I have +left and what I can do. I have an offer for the house, and shall sell at +once; but where my home will be next, I do not know, neither would I +care so much if it were not for Daisy--poor little Daisy!--who thought +she had married a rich man. The only tears I have shed over my lost +fortune were for her. Oh, Daisy, Daisy! + + + + +CHAPTER III + +EXTRACTS FROM DAISY'S JOURNAL + + +ELMWOOD, December 20, 18--. + +Daisy McDonald Thornton's journal, presented by my husband, Mr. Guy +Thornton, who wishes me to write something in it every day; and when I +asked him what I should write, he said: "Your thoughts, and opinions, +and experiences. It will be pleasant for you some time to look back upon +your early married life and see what progress you have made since then, +and will help you to recall incidents you would otherwise forget. A +journal fixes things in your mind, and I know you will enjoy it, +especially as no one is to see it, and you can talk to it freely as to a +friend." + +That is what Guy said, and I wrote it right down to copy into the book +as a kind of preface or introduction. I am not much pleased with having +to keep a journal, and maybe I shall have Zillah keep it for me. I don't +care to fix things in my mind. I don't like things fixed, anyway. I'd +rather they would be round loose, as they surely would, if I had not +Zillah to pick them up. She is a treasure, and it is almost worth being +married to have a waiting maid--and that reminds me that I may as well +begin back at the time when I was not married, and did not want to be, +if only we had not been so poor, and obliged to make so many shifts to +seem richer than we were. + +My maiden name was Margaret McDonald, and I am seventeen next New Year's +Day. My father is of Scotch descent, and a lawyer; my mother was a +Barnard, from New Orleans, and has the best blood of the two. I am an +only child, and very handsome--so everybody says--and I should know it +if they did not say it, for can't I see myself in the glass! And still I +really do not care so much for my good looks except as they serve to +attain the end for which father says I was born. + +Almost the first thing I can remember is of his telling me that I must +marry young and marry rich, and I promised him I would, and asked if I +could stay at home with mother just the same after I was married. +Another thing I remember, which made a lasting impression, and that is +the beating father gave me for asking before some grand people staying +at our house, "Why we did not always have beefsteak and hot muffins for +breakfast, instead of just baked potatoes and bread and butter." + +I must learn to keep my mouth shut, father said, and not tell all I +knew; and I profited by the lesson, and that is one reason, I suppose, +why I so rarely say what I think, or express an opinion whether +favorable or otherwise. + +I do not believe I am deceitful, though all my life I have seen my +parents try to seem what they are not; that is, try to seem like rich +people, when sometimes father's practice brought him only a few hundreds +a year, and there was mother and myself and Tom to support. Tom is my +cousin--Tom McDonald--who lived with us and fell in love with me, though +I never tried to make him. I liked him ever so much, though he used to +tease me horribly, and put horn-bugs in my shoes, and worms on my neck, +and Jack-o'-lanterns in my room, and tip me off his sled into the snow; +but still I liked him, for with all his teasing he had a great, kind, +unselfish heart, and I shall never forget that look on his face when I +told him I could not be his wife. I did not like him as he liked me, and +I did not want to be married anyway, and if I did marry it must be to +some rich man. That was in Chicago, and the night before he started for +South America, where he was going to make his fortune, and he wanted me +to promise to wait for him, and said no one would ever love me as well +as he did. + +I could not promise, because, even if he had all the gold mines in Peru, +I did not care to spend my days with him--to see him morning, noon, and +night, and all the time. It is a good deal to ask of a woman, and I told +him so, and he cried so hard--not loud, but in a pitiful kind of way, +which hurt me cruelly. I hear that sobbing sometimes now in my sleep, +and it's like the moan of the wind round that house on the prairie where +Tom's mother died. Poor Tom! I gave him a lock of my hair and let him +kiss me twice, and then he went away, and after that old Judge Burton +offered himself and his million to me; but I could not endure his bald +head a week, and I told him no, and when father seemed sorry and said I +missed it, I told him I would not sell myself for gold alone. I'd run +away first and go after Tom. Then Guy Thornton came, and--and--well, he +took me by storm, and I liked him better than anyone I ever saw, and I +married him. Everybody said he was rich, and father was satisfied and +gave his consent, and bought be a most elaborate trousseau. I wondered +then where the money came from. Now I know that Tom sent it. He has been +very successful with his mine, and in a letter to father sent me a check +for fifteen hundred dollars. Father would not tell me that, but mother +did, and I felt worse, I think, than when I heard the sobbing. Poor Tom! +I never wear one of the dresses now without thinking who paid for it and +wrote, "I am working like an ox for Daisy." Poor, poor Tom! + + +OCTOBER 1, 18--. + +I rather like writing in my journal, for here I can say what I think, +and I guess I shall not let Zillah make the entries. Where did I leave +off? Oh, about poor Tom. + +I have had a letter from him. He had just heard of my marriage, and only +said: "God bless you, my darling little Daisy, and may you be very +happy." + +I burned the letter up and cried myself into a headache. I wish people +would not love me so hard. I do not deserve it. There's Guy, my husband, +more to be pitied than Tom, because, you see, he has got me; and, +privately, between you and me, old journal, I am not worth the getting, +and I know it perhaps better than anyone else. I like Guy and believe +him to be the best man in the world, and I would rather he kissed me +than Tom, but do not want anybody to kiss me; and Guy is so +affectionate, and his great hands are so hot, and muss my fluted dresses +so terribly. + +I guess I don't like to be married anyway. If one only could have the +house, and the money, and the nice things without the man! That's +wicked, of course, when Guy is so kind and loves me so much. I wish he +didn't, but I would not for the world let him know how I feel. I did +tell him that I was not the wife he ought to have, but he would not +believe me, and father was anxious, and so I married him, meaning to do +the best I could. It was splendid at Saratoga, only Guy danced so +ridiculously and would not let me waltz with those young men. As if I +cared a straw for them or any other man besides Guy and Tom! + +It is pleasant here at Elmwood, only the house is not as grand as I +supposed, and there are not as many servants, and the family carriage is +awful poky. Guy is to give me a pretty little phaeton on my birthday. + +I like Miss Frances very much, only she is such a raging housekeeper, +and keeps me all the while on the alert. I don't believe in these raging +housekeepers, who act as if they wanted to make the bed before you are +up, and eat breakfast before it is ready. I don't like to get up in the +morning anyway, and I don't like to hurry, and I am always behind, and +keeping somebody waiting, and that disturbs the people here very much. +Miss Frances seems really cross sometimes, and even Guy looks sober and +disturbed when he has waited for me half an hour. I guess I must try and +do better, for both Guy and Miss Frances are as good as they can be, but +then I am not one bit like them, and have never been accustomed to +anything like order and regularity. At home things came round any time, +and I came with them, and that suited me better than this being married, +a great deal, only now I have a kind of settled feeling, and am Mrs. Guy +Thornton, and Guy is good-looking, and highly esteemed, and very +learned, and I can see that the young ladies in the neighborhood envy me +for being his wife. I wonder who is that Julia Hamilton Miss Frances +talks about so much, and why Guy did not marry her instead of me. She, +too, is very learned and gets up in the morning and flies round and +reads scientific articles in the _Westminster Review_. I asked Guy once +why he did not marry her instead of a little goose like me, and he said +he liked the little goose the best, and then kissed me, and crumpled my +white dress all up. Poor Guy! I wish I did love him as well as he does +me, but it's not in me to love any man! + + +DECEMBER 20, 18--. + +A horrible thing has happened, and I have married a poor man after all! +Guy signed for somebody and had to pay, and Elmwood must be sold, and we +are to move into a stuffy little house without Zillah, and with only one +girl. It is too dreadful to think about, and I was sick for a week after +Guy told me of it. I might as well have married Tom, only I like Guy the +best. He looks so sorry and sad that I sometimes forget myself to pity +him. I am going home to mother for a long, long time--all winter, +maybe--and I shall enjoy it so much. Guy says I have ten thousand +dollars of my own, and the interest on that will buy my dresses, I +guess, and get something for Miss Frances, too. She is a noble woman, +and tries to bear up so brave. She says they will keep the furniture of +my blue room for me, if I want it; and I do, and I mean to have Guy +send it to Indianapolis, if he will. Oh, mother, I am so glad I am +coming back, and I almost wish--no, I don't, either. I like Guy, only I +don't like being married! + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +AUTHOR'S STORY + + +Reader, Guy Thornton was not a fool, and Daisy was not a fool, though I +admit they have thus far appeared to disadvantage. Both had made a great +mistake; Guy in marrying a child whose mind was unformed, and Daisy in +marrying at all, when her whole nature was in revolt against matrimony. +But married they are, and Guy has failed and Daisy is going home, and +the New Year's morning, when she was to have received Guy's gift of the +phaeton and ponies, found her at the little cottage in Indianapolis, +where she at once resumed all the old indolent habits of her girlhood, +and was happier than she had been since leaving home as a bride. + +On the father, Mr. McDonald, the news of his son-in-law's failure fell +like a thunderbolt and affected him more than it did Daisy. Shrewd, +ambitious, and scheming, he had for years planned for his daughter a +moneyed marriage, and now she was returned upon his hands for an +indefinite time, with her naturally luxurious tastes intensified by +recent indulgence, and her husband a ruined man. It was not a pleasant +picture to contemplate, and Mr. McDonald's face was cloudy and +thoughtful for many days until a letter from Tom turned his thoughts +into a new channel and sent him with fresh avidity to certain points of +law with which he had of late years been familiar. If there was one part +of his profession in which he excelled more than another it was in the +divorce cases which had made Indiana so notorious. Squire McDonald, as +he was called, was well known to that class of people who, utterly +ignoring God's command, seek to free themselves from the bonds which +once were so pleasant to wear, and now, as he sat alone in his office +with Tom's letter in his hand, and read how rapidly that young man was +getting rich, there came into his mind a plan, the very thought of which +would have made Guy Thornton shudder with horror and disgust. + +Daisy had not been altogether satisfied with her brief married life, and +it would be very easy to make her more dissatisfied, especially as the +home to which she would return must necessarily be very different from +Elmwood, Tom was destined to be a millionaire. There was no doubt of +that, and once in the family he could be molded and managed as the wily +McDonald had never been able to mold or manage Guy. But everything +pertaining to Tom must be kept carefully out of sight, for the man knew +his daughter would never lend herself to such a diabolical scheme as +that which he was revolving, and which he at once put in progress, +managing so adroitly that before Daisy was at all aware of what she was +doing, she found herself the heroine of a divorce suit, founded really +upon nothing but a general dissatisfaction with married life and a wish +to be free from it. Something there was about incompatibility of +temperament and uncongeniality, and all that kind of thing which wicked +men and women parade before the world when weary of the tie which God +has distinctly said shall not be torn asunder. + +It is not our intention to follow the suit through any of its details, +and we shall only say that it progressed rapidly, while poor, +unsuspicious Guy was working hard to retrieve in some way his lost +fortune, and to fit up a pleasant home for the childish wife who was +drifting away from him. He had missed her so much at first, even while +he felt it a relief to have her gone just when his business matters +needed all his time and thought. + +It was some comfort, too, to write to her, but not much to receive her +letters, for Daisy did not excel in epistolary composition, and after a +few weeks her letters were short and far apart, and, as Guy thought, +constrained and studied in their tone, and when, after she had been +absent from him for three months or more his longing to see her was so +great that he decided upon a visit of a few days to the West, and +apprised her of his intention, asking if she would be glad to see him. +He received in reply a telegram from Mr. McDonald telling him to defer +his journey, as Daisy was visiting some friends and would be absent for +an indefinite length of time. There was but one more letter from her and +that was dated at Vincennes, and merely said that she was well, and Guy +must not feel anxious about her or take the trouble to come to see her, +as she knew how valuable his time must be and would far rather he should +devote himself to his business than bother about her. The letter was +signed, "Hastily, Daisy," and Guy read it over many times with a pang in +his heart he could not define. + +But he had no suspicion of the terrible blow in store for him, and went +on planning for her comfort just the same; and when at last Elmwood was +sold and he could no longer stay there, he hired a more expensive house +than he could afford, because he thought Daisy would like it better, and +then, with his sister Fan, set himself to the pleasant task of fitting +it up for Daisy. There was a blue room with a bay window just as there +had been in Elmwood, only it was not so pretentious and large. But it +was very pleasant and had a door opening out upon what Guy meant should +be a flower garden in the summer, and though he missed his little wife +sadly and longed so much at times for a sight of her beautiful face and +the sound of her sweet voice, he put all thought of himself aside and +said he would not bring her back until the May flowers were in blossom +and the young grass bright and green by the blue room door. + +"She will have a better impression of her new home then," he said to +Fan; "and I want her to be happy here and not feel the change too +keenly." + +Julia Hamilton chanced those days to be in town, and as she was very +intimate with Miss Thornton the two were a great deal together, and it +thus came about that Julia was often at the brown cottage and helped to +settle the blue room for Daisy. + +"If it were only you who was to occupy it," Frances said to her one +morning when they had been reading together for an hour or more in the +room they both thought so pleasant. "I like Daisy, but somehow she seems +so far from me. Why, there's not a sentiment in common between us." + +Then, as if sorry for having said so much, she spoke of Daisy's +marvelous beauty and winning ways, and hoped Julia would know and love +her ere long, and possibly do her good. + +It so happened that Guy was sometimes present at these readings, +enjoying them so much that there insensibly crept into his heart a wish +that Daisy was more like the Boston girl whom he had mentally termed +strong-minded. + +"And in time, perhaps, she may be," he thought. "I mean to have Julia +here a great deal next summer, and with two such women for companions as +Julia and Fan, Daisy cannot help but improve." + +And so at last, when the house was settled and the early spring flowers +were in bloom, Guy started westward for his wife. He had not seen her +now for months, and it was more than two weeks since he had heard from +her, and his heart beat high with joyful anticipation as he thought just +how she would look when she came to him, shyly and coyly, as she always +did, with that droop in her eyelids and that pink flush in her cheeks. +He would chide her a little at first, he said, for having been so poor a +correspondent, especially of late, and after that he would love her so +much, and shield her so tenderly from every want or care, that she +should never feel the difference in his fortune. + +Poor Guy--he little dreamed what was in store for him just inside the +door where he stood ringing one morning early in May, and which, when at +last it was opened, shut in a very different man from the one who went +through it three hours later, benumbed and half-crazed with bewilderment +and surprise. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE DIVORCE + + +He had expected to meet Daisy in the hall, but she was nowhere in sight, +and she who appeared in response to the card he sent up seemed confused +and unnatural to such a degree that Guy asked in some alarm if anything +had happened, and where Daisy was. + +Nothing had happened--that is--well, nothing was the matter with Daisy, +Mrs. McDonald said, only she was nervous and not feeling quite well that +morning, and thought she had better not come down. They had not expected +him so soon, she continued, and she regretted exceedingly that her +husband was not there, but she had sent for him, and hoped he would come +immediately. Had Mr. Thornton been to breakfast? + +Yes, he had, and he did not understand at all what she meant; if Daisy +could not come to him he must go to her, he said, and he started for the +door, when Mrs. McDonald sprang forward, and, laying her hand on his +arm, held him back, saying: + +"Wait, Mr. Thornton; wait till husband comes--to tell you--" + +"Tell me what?" Guy demanded of her, feeling sure now that something had +befallen Daisy. + +"Tell you--that--that--Daisy is--that he has--that--oh, believe me, it +was not my wish, and I don't know now why it was done," Mrs. McDonald +said, still trying to detain Guy and keep him in the room. + +But her efforts were vain, for, shaking off her grasp, Guy opened the +hall door, and with a cry of joy caught Daisy herself in his arms. + +In a state of fearful excitement and very curious to know what was +passing between her mother and Guy, she had stolen downstairs to listen, +and had reached the door just as Guy opened it so suddenly. + +"Daisy, darling, I feared you were sick," he cried, nearly smothering +her with his caresses. + +But Daisy writhed herself away from him, and, putting up her hands to +keep him off, cried out: + +"Oh, Guy, Guy, you can't--you mustn't. You must never kiss me again or +love me any more, because I am--I am not--oh, Guy, I wish you had never +seen me; I am so sorry, too. I did like you. I--I--Guy--Guy--I ain't +your wife any more! Father has got a divorce!" + +She whispered the last words, and then, affrighted at the expression of +Guy's face, fled half-way up the stairs, where she stood looking down +upon him, while, with a face as white as ashes, he, too, stood gazing at +her and trying to frame the words which should ask her what she meant. +He did not believe her literally; the idea was too preposterous, but he +felt that something horrible had come between him and Daisy--that in +some way she was as much lost to him as if he had found her coffined for +the grave, and the suddenness of the blow took from him for a moment his +powers of speech, and he still stood looking at her when the street door +opened and a new actor appeared upon the scene in the person of Mr. +McDonald, who had hastened home in obedience to the message from his +wife. + +It was a principle of Mr. McDonald never to lose his presence of mind or +his temper, or the smooth, low tone of voice he had cultivated years ago +and practiced since with so good effect. And now, though he understood +the state of matters at once and knew that Guy had heard the worst, he +did not seem ruffled in the slightest degree, and his voice was just as +kind and sweet as ever as he bade Guy good-morning and advanced to shake +his hand. But Guy would not take it. He had always disliked and +distrusted Mr. McDonald, and he felt intuitively that whatever harm had +befallen him had come through the oily-tongued, insinuating man who +stood smilingly before him. With a gesture of disgust he turned away +from the offered hand, and in a voice husky with suppressed excitement, +asked: + +"What does all this mean, that when, after a separation of months, I +come for my wife I am told that she is not my wife--that there has been +a--a divorce?" + +Guy had brought himself to name the horrid thing, and the very sound of +the word served to make it more real and clear to his mind, and there +were great drops of sweat upon his forehead and about his mouth as he +asked what it meant. + +"Oh, Guy, don't feel so badly. Tell him, father, I did not do it," Daisy +cried, as she stood leaning over the stair-rail and looking down at the +wretched man. + +"Daisy, go to your room. You should not have seen him at all," Mr. +McDonald said, with more sternness of manner than was usual for him. + +Then, turning to Guy, he continued: + +"Come in here, Mr. Thornton, where we can be alone while I explain to +you what seems so mysterious now." + +They went together into the little parlor, and for half an hour or more +the sound of their voices was distinctly heard as Mr. McDonald tried to +explain what there really was no explanation or excuse for. Daisy was +not contented at Elmwood, and though she complained of nothing, she was +not happy as a married woman, and was glad to be free again. That was +all, and Guy understood at last that Daisy was his no longer; that the +law which was a disgrace to the State in which it existed had divorced +him from his wife without his knowledge or consent, and for no other +reason than incompatibility of temperament, and a desire on Daisy's part +to be free from the marriage tie. Not a word had been said of Guy's +altered fortunes, but he felt that his comparative poverty was really +the cause of this great wrong, and for a few moments resentment and +indignation prevailed over every other feeling; then, when he remembered +the little blue-eyed, innocent-faced girl whom he had loved so much and +thought so good and true, he laid his head upon the sofa arm and groaned +bitterly, while the man who had ruined him sat coolly by, citing to him +many similar cases where divorces had been procured without the +knowledge of the absent party. It was a common--a very common thing, he +said, and reflected no disgrace upon either party where there was no +criminal charge. Daisy was too young and childish anyway, and ought not +to have been married for several years, and it was really quite as much +a favor to Guy as a wrong. He was free again--free to marry if he +liked--he had taken care to see to that, so-- + +"Stop!" Guy almost thundered out. "There is a point beyond which you +shall not go. Be satisfied with taking Daisy from me, and do not insult +me with talk of a second marriage. Had I found Daisy dead it would have +hurt me less than this fearful wrong you have done. I say you, for I +charge it all to you. Daisy could have had no part in it, and I ask to +see her and hear from her own lips that she accepts the position in +which you and your diabolical laws have placed her before I am willing +to give her up. Call her, will you?" + +"No, Mr. Thornton," Mr. McDonald replied. "To see Daisy would be useless +and only excite you more than you are excited now. You cannot see her." + +"Yes, he will, father. If Guy wants to see me, he shall." + +It was Daisy herself who spoke, and who a second time had been acting +the part of listener. Going up to Guy, she knelt down beside him, and, +laying her arms across his lap, said to him: + +"What is it, Guy? what is it you wish to say to me?" + +The sight of her before him in all her girlish beauty, with that soft, +sweet expression on the face raised so timidly to his, unmanned Guy +entirely, and, clasping her in his arms, he wept passionately for a +moment, while he tried to say: + +"Oh, Daisy, my darling, tell me it is a horrid dream; tell me you are +still my wife, and go with me to the home I have tried to make so +pleasant for your sake. It is not like Elmwood, but I will some time +have one handsomer even than that, and I'll work so hard for you! Oh, +Daisy, tell me you are sorry for the part you had in this fearful +business, if, indeed, you had a part, and I'll take you back so gladly! +Will you, Daisy? will you be my wife once more? I shall never ask you +again. This is your last chance with me. Reflect before you throw it +away." + +Guy's mood was changing a little, because of something he saw in +Daisy's face--a drawing back from him when he spoke of marriage. + +"Daisy must not go back with you; I shall not suffer that," Mr. McDonald +said, while Daisy, still keeping her arms around Guy's neck, where she +had put them when he drew her to him, replied: + +"Oh, Guy! I can't go with you now; but I shall like you always, and I'm +so sorry for you. I never wanted to be married; but if I must, I'd +better have married Tom, or that old Chicago man; they would not feel so +bad, and I'd rather hurt them than you." + +The utter childishness of the remark roused Guy, and with a gesture of +impatience, he put Daisy from him, and, rising to his feet, said +angrily: + +"This, then is your decision, and I accept it; but, Daisy, if you have +in you a spark of true womanhood you will some time be sorry for this +day's work; while you!" and he turned fiercely upon Mr. McDonald--"words +cannot express the contempt I feel for you; and know, too, that I +understand you fully, and am certain that were I the rich man I was when +you gave your daughter to me, you would not have taken her away. But I +will waste no more words upon you. You are a villain! and Daisy is--" +His white lips quivered a little as he hesitated a moment, and then +added: "Daisy was my wife." + +Then, without another word, he left the house, nor saw the white, +frightened face which looked after him so wistfully until a turn in the +street hid him from view. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +EXTRACTS FROM DIARIES + + +_Extract 1st--Mr. McDonald's._ + + +MAY ----. + +Well, that matter is over, and I can't say I am sorry, for the +expression in that Thornton's eye I do not care to meet a second time. +There was mischief in it, and it made one think of six-shooters and cold +lead. I never quite indorsed the man--first, because he was not as rich +as I would like Daisy's husband to be, and, second, because even if he +had been a millionaire it would have done me no good. That he did not +marry Daisy's family, he made me fully understand, and for any good his +money did me, I was as poor after the marriage as before. Then he must +needs lose all he had in that foolish way, and when I found that Daisy +was not exceedingly in love with married life, it was natural that, as +her father, I should take advantage of the laws of the State in which I +live, especially as Tom is growing rich so fast. On the whole, I have +done a good thing. Daisy is free, with ten thousand dollars that +Thornton settled on her, for, of course, I shall prevent her giving that +back, as she is determined to do, saying it is not hers, and she will +not keep it. It is hers, and she shall keep it, and Tom will be a +millionaire if that gold mine proves as great a success as it seems now +to be, and I can manage Tom, and, as I said before, I've done a nice +thing after all. + + +_Extract 2nd--Miss Thornton's._ + +JUNE 30, 18--. + +To-day, for the first time, we have hopes that my brother will live; +but, oh! how near he has been to the gates of death since that night +when he came back to us from the West, with a fearful look on his face +and a cruel stab in his heart. I say us, for Julia Hamilton has been +with me all through the dreadful days and nights when I watched to see +Guy's life go out and know I was left alone. She was with me when I was +getting ready for Daisy and waiting for Guy to bring her home--not to +Elmwood--that dear old place is sold and strangers walk the rooms I love +so well--but here to the brown cottage on the hill, which, if I had +never had Elmwood, would seem so pleasant to me. + +And it is pleasant here, especially in Daisy's room, which we shall +never use, for the door is shut and bolted, and it seems each time I +pass it as if a dead body were inside. Had Guy died I would have laid +him there and sent for that false creature to come and see her work. I +promised her so much, but not from any love, for my heart was full of +bitterness that night when I turned her from the door out into the rain. +I shall never tell Guy that--never, lest he should soften toward her, +and I would not have her here again for all the world contains. And yet +I did like her, and was looking forward to her return with a good deal +of pleasure. Julia had spoken many a kind word for her, had pleaded her +extreme youth as an excuse for her faults, and had led me to hope for +better things when time had matured her somewhat and she had become +accustomed to our new mode of life. + +And so I hoped and waited for her and Guy, and wondered I did not hear +from him, and felt so glad and happy when I received the telegram, +"Shall be home to-night." It was a bright day in May, but the evening +set in cool, with a feeling of rain in the air, and I had a fire kindled +in the parlor and in Daisy's room, for I remembered how she used to +crouch on the rug before the grate and watch the blaze floating up the +chimney with all the eagerness of a child. Then, although it hurt me +sorely, I went to Simpson, who bought our carriage, and asked that it +might be sent to the station so that Daisy should not feel the +difference at once. And Jerry, our old coachman, went with it and waited +there just as Julia and I waited at home, for Julia had promised to stay +a few weeks and see what Daisy was like. + +The train was late that night, an hour behind time, and the spring rain +was falling outside and the gas was lighted within when I heard the +sound of wheels stopping at the door and went to meet my brother. But +only my brother. There was no Daisy with him. He came in alone, with +such an awful look on his white face as made me cry out with alarm. + +"What it is, Guy, and where is Daisy?" I asked, as he staggered against +the banister, where he leaned heavily. + +He did not answer my question, but said, "Take me to my room," in a +voice I would never have known for Guy's. I took him to his room, made +him lie down, and brought him a glass of wine, and then, when he was +strong enough to tell it, listened to the shameful story, and felt that +henceforth and forever I must and would hate the woman who had wounded +my Guy so cruelly. + +And still there is some good in her--some sense of right and wrong, as +was shown by a strange thing which happened when Guy was at the worst of +the terrible fever which followed his coming home. I watched him day and +night, I would not even let Julia Hamilton share my vigils, and one +night when I was worn out with fatigue and anxiety I fell asleep upon +the lounge, where I threw myself for a moment. How long I slept I never +knew, but it must have been an hour or more, for the last thing I +remember was hearing the whistle of the Western train and the sighing of +the wind, which sounded like rain, and when I awoke the rain was falling +heavily and the clock was striking twelve, which was an hour after the +train was due. It was very quiet in the room, and darker than usual, for +someone had shaded the lamp from my eyes as well as Guy's so that at +first I did not see distinctly, but I had an impression that there was a +figure sitting by Guy near the bed. Julia, most likely, I thought, and I +called her by name, feeling my blood curdle in my veins and my heart +stand still with something like fear when a voice I knew so well and +never expected to hear again, answered softly: + +"It is not Julia. It's me!" + +There was no faltering in her voice, no sound of apology. She spoke like +one who had a right there, and this it was which angered me and made me +lose my self-command. Starting to my feet, I confronted her where she +sat in my chair, by Guy's bedside, with those queer blue eyes of hers +fixed so questioningly upon me as if she wondered at my impertinence. + +"Miss McDonald," I said, laying great stress on the name, "why are you +here, and how did you dare come?" + +"I was almost afraid, it was so dark when I left the train, and it kept +thundering so," she replied, mistaking my meaning altogether, "but there +was no conveyance at the station, and so I came on alone. I never knew +Guy was sick. Is he very bad?" + +Her perfect composure and utter ignoring of the past provoked me beyond +endurance, and without stopping to think what I was doing, I seized her +arm, and drawing her into an adjoining room, said, in a suppressed +whisper of rage: + +"Very bad--I should think so. We have feared and still fear he will die, +and it's all your work, the result of your wickedness, and yet you +presume to come here into his very room--you who are no wife of his, and +no woman, either, to do what you have done." + +What more I said I do not remember. I only know Daisy put her hands to +her head in a scared, helpless way, and said: + +"I do not quite understand it all, or what you wish me to do." + +"Do?" I replied. "I want you to leave this house to-night--now, before +Guy can possibly be harmed by your presence. Go back to the depot and +take the next train home. It is due in an hour. You have time to reach +it." + +"But it's so dark, and it rains and thunders so," she said, with a +shudder, as a heavy peal shook the house and the rain beat against the +windows. + +I think I must have been crazy with mad excitement, and her answer made +me worse. + +"You were not afraid to come here," I said. "You can go from here as +well. Thunder will not hurt such as you." + +Even then she did not move, but crouched in a corner of the room +farthest from me, reminding me of my kitten when I try to drive it from +a place where it has been permitted to play. As that will not understand +my scats and gestures, so she did not seem to comprehend my meaning. +But I made her at last, and with a very white face and a strange look in +her great, staring blue eyes, she said: + +"Fanny" (she always called me Miss Frances before), "Fanny, do you +really mean me to go back in the dark and the rain and the thunder? Then +I will, but I must tell you first what I came for, and you will tell +Guy. He gave me ten thousand dollars when we first were married; settled +it on me, they called it, and father was one of the trustees and kept +the paper for me till I was of age. So much I understand, but not why I +can't give it back to Guy, for father says I can't. I never dreamed it +was mine after the--the--the divorce." + +She spoke the word softly and hesitatingly, while a faint flush showed +on her otherwise white face. + +"If I am not Guy's wife, as they say, then I have no right to his money, +and I told father so, and said I'd give it back, and he said I couldn't, +and I said I could and would, and I wrote to Guy about it, told him I +was not so mean, and father kept the letter, and I did not know what I +should do next till I was invited to visit Aunt Merriman in Detroit. +Then I took the paper--the settlement, you know, from the box where +father kept it and put it in my pocket; here it is--see," and she drew +out a document and held it toward me while she continued: "I started for +Detroit under the care of a friend who stopped a few miles the other +side, so you see I was free to come here if I liked, and I did so, for I +wanted to see Guy and give him the paper, and tell him I'd never take a +cent of his money. I am sorry he is sick. I did not think he'd care so +much, and I don't know what to do with the paper unless I tear it up. I +believe I'd better; then, surely, it will be out of the way." + +And before I could speak or think she tore the document in two, and then +across again, and scattered the four pieces on the floor. + +"Tell Guy, please," she continued, "what I have done, and that I never +meant to take it, after--after--that--you know--and that I did not care +for money only as father taught me I must have it, and that I am sorry +he ever saw me, and I never really wanted to be married and can't be his +wife again till I do." + +She spoke as if Guy would take her back of course if she only signified +her wish to come, and this kept me angry, though I was beginning to +soften a little with this unexpected phase of her character, and I might +have suffered her to stay till morning if she had signified a wish to +do so, but she did not. + +"I suppose I must go now if I would catch the train," she said, moving +toward the door. "Good-by, Fanny. I am sorry I ever troubled you." + +She held her little white, ungloved hand toward me, and then I came to +myself, and, hearing the wind and rain, and remembering the lonely road +to the station, I said to her: + +"Stay, Daisy, I cannot let you go alone. Miss Hamilton will watch with +Guy while I go with you." + +"And who will go with you? It will be just as dark and rainy then," she +said; but she made no objection to my plan, and in less than five +minutes Julia, who always slept in her dressing-gown so as to be ready +for any emergency, was sitting by Guy, and I was out in the dark night +with Daisy and our watchdog Leo, who, at sight of his old playmate, had +leaped upon her and nearly knocked her down in his joy. + +"Leo is glad to see me," Daisy said, patting the dumb creature's head, +and in her voice there was a rebuking tone, which I resented silently. + +I was not glad to see her, and I could not act a part, but I wrapped my +waterproof around her and adjusted the hood over her flowing hair, and +thought how beautiful she was, even in that disfiguring garb, and then +we went on our way, the young creature clinging close to me as peal +after peal of thunder rolled over our heads, and gleams of lightning lit +up the inky sky. She did not speak to me, nor I to her, till the red +light on the track was in sight, and we knew the train was coming. Then +she asked timidly. "Do you think Guy will die?" + +"Heaven only knows," I said, checking a strong impulse to add: "If he +does, you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you killed him." + +I was glad now that I did not say it. And I was glad then, when Daisy, +alarmed perhaps by something in the tone of my voice, repeated her +question: + +"But do you think he will die? If I thought he would I should wish to +die, too. I like him, Miss Frances, better than anyone I ever saw; like +him now as well as I ever did, but I do not want to be his wife, nor +anybody's wife, and that is just the truth. I am sorry he ever saw me +and loved me so well. Tell him that, Fanny." + +It was Fanny again and she grasped my hand nervously, for the train was +upon us. + +"Promise me solemnly that if you think he is surely going to die you +will let me know in time to see him once more. Promise--quick--and kiss +me as a pledge." + +The train had stopped. There was not a moment to lose, and I promised, +and kissed the red lips in the darkness, and felt a remorseful pang when +I saw the little figure go alone into the car which bore her swiftly +away, while I turned my steps homeward with only Leo for my companion. + +I had to tell Julia about it, and I gathered up the four scraps of paper +from the floor where Daisy had thrown them, and, joining them together, +saw they really were the marriage settlement, and kept them for Guy, +should he ever be able to hear about it and know what it meant. There +was a telegram for me the next evening, dated at Detroit, and bearing +simply the words, "Arrived safely," and that was all I heard of Daisy. +No one in town knew of her having been here but Julia and myself, and it +was better that they should not, for Guy's life hung on a thread, and +for many days and nights I trembled lest that promise, sealed by a kiss, +would have to be redeemed. + +That was three weeks ago, and Guy is better now and knows us all, and +to-day, for the first time, I have a strong hope that I am not to be +left alone, and I thank Heaven for that hope, and feel as if I were at +peace with all the world, even with Daisy herself, from whom I have +heard nothing since that brief telegram. + + +AUGUST 1, ----. + +The shadow of death has passed from our house, and I may almost say the +shadow of sickness, too, for though Guy is still weak as a child and +thin as a ghost, he is decidedly on the gain, and to-day I drove him out +for the third time, and felt from something he said that he was +beginning to feel some interest in the life so kindly given back to him. +Still he will never be just the same. The blow stunned him too +completely for him to recover quite his old hopeful, happy manner, and +there is a look of age in his face which pains me to see. He knows Daisy +has been here, and why. I had to tell him all about it, and sooner, too, +than I meant. Almost his first coherent question to me after his reason +came back was: + +"Where is Daisy? I am sure I heard her voice. It could not have been a +dream. Is she here, or has she been here? Tell me the truth, Fanny." + +So I told him, though I did not mean to, and showed him the bits of +paper, and held his head on my bosom while he cried like a little child. +How he loves her yet, and how glad he was to know that she was not as +mercenary as it would at first seem. Not that her tearing up that paper +will make any difference about the money. She cannot give it to him, he +says, until she is of age, neither does he wish it at all, and he would +not take it from her; but he is glad to see her disposition in the +matter; glad to have me think better of her than I did, and I am certain +that he is half expecting to hear from her every day and is disappointed +that he does not. He did not reproach me when I told him about turning +her out in the rain; he only said: + +"Poor Daisy, did she get very wet? She is so delicate, you know. I hope +it did not make her sick." + +Oh, the love a man will feel for a woman, let her be ever so unworthy. I +cannot comprehend it. And why should I--an old maid like me, who never +loved anyone but Guy? + + +AUGUST 30, ----. + +In a roundabout way we have heard that Mr. McDonald is going away with +his wife and daughter. When the facts of the divorce were known they +brought him into such disgrace with the citizens of Indianapolis that he +thought it best to leave for a time till the storm blows over, and so +they will go to South America, where there is a cousin Tom, who is +growing rich very fast. I cannot help certain thoughts coming into my +mind any more than I can help being glad that Daisy is going out of the +country. Guy never mentions her now, and is getting to look and act +quite like himself. If only he could forget her we might be very happy +again, as Heaven grant we may. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +FIVE YEARS LATER + + +"Married, this morning, at St. Paul's Church, by the Rev. Dr. ----, +assisted by the rector, Guy Thornton, Esq., of Cuylerville, to Miss +Julia Hamilton, of this city." + +Such was the notice which appeared in a daily Boston paper one lovely +morning in September five years after the last entry in Miss Thornton's +journal. Guy had reached the point at last when he could put Daisy from +his heart and take another in her place. He had never seen her or heard +directly from her since the night she brought him the marriage +settlement and tore it in pieces, thinking thus to give it to him beyond +a doubt. That this did not change the matter one whit he knew just as he +knew she could not give him the ten thousand dollars settled upon her +until she was of age. She was of age now, and had been for a year or +more, and, to say the truth, he had expected to hear from her when she +was twenty-one. To himself he had reasoned in this wise: Her father told +her that the tearing up that paper made no difference, that she was +powerless of herself to act until she was of age, so she will wait +quietly till then before making another effort. And in his heart Guy +thought how he would not take a penny from her, but would insist upon +her keeping it. Still he should respect her all the more for her sense +of justice and generosity, he thought, and when her twenty-first +birthday came and passed, and week after week went by, and brought no +sign from Daisy, there was a pang in his heart and a look of +disappointment on his face which did not pass away until October hung +her gorgeous colors upon the hills of Cuylerville, and Julia Hamilton +came to the Brown Cottage to spend a few weeks with his sister. + +From an independent, self-reliant, energetic girl of twenty-two Julia +had ripened into a noble and dignified woman of twenty-seven, with a +quiet repose of manner which seemed to rest and quiet one, and which +told insensibly on Guy, until at last he found himself dreading to have +her go and wishing to keep her with him always. The visit was lengthened +into a month; and when in November he went with her to Boston he had +asked her to take Daisy's place, and she had said she would. Very freely +they had talked of the little golden-haired girl, and Julia told him +what she had heard of her through a mutual acquaintance who had been on +the same vessel with the McDonalds when they returned from South +America. Cousin Tom was with them, a rich man then and a richer now, for +his gold mine and his railroad had made him almost a millionaire, and it +was currently reported and believed that Mr. McDonald designed him for +his daughter. They were abroad now, the McDonalds and Tom, who bore the +expenses of the party. Daisy, it was said, was even more beautiful than +in her early girlhood, and to her loveliness were added cultivation and +refinement of manner. She had had the best of teachers while in South +America, and was now continuing her studies abroad with a view to +further improvement. All this Julia Hamilton told Guy, and then bade him +think again ere deciding to join her life with his. + +And Guy did think again, and his thoughts went across the sea after the +beautiful Daisy, and he tried to picture to himself what she must be, +now that education and culture had set their seal upon her. But always +in the picture there was a dark background, where cousin Tom stood +sentinel with his bags of gold, and so, with a half-unconscious sigh for +what "might have been," Guy dug still deeper the grave where years +before he had buried his love for Daisy, and to make the burial sure +this time, so that there should be no future resurrection, he put over +the grave a head-stone on which were written a new hope and a new love, +both of which centered in Julia Hamilton. And so they were engaged, and +after that there was no wavering on his part--no looking back to a past +which seemed like a happy dream from which there had been a horrible +awaking. + +He loved Julia at first quietly and sensibly, and loved her more and +more as the winter and spring went by and brought the day when he stood +again at the altar and for the second time took upon him the marriage +vow. It was a very quiet wedding, with only a few friends present, and +Miss Frances was the bridesmaid, in a gown of silver gray; but Julia's +face was bright with the certainty of a happiness long desired; and if +in Guy's heart there lingered the odor of other bridal flowers, withered +now and dead, and the memory of other marriage bells than those which +sent their music on the air that summer morning, and if a pair of sunny +blue eyes looked into his instead of Julia's darker ones, he made no +sign, and his face wore an expression of perfect content as he took his +second bride for better or worse, just as he once had taken little +Daisy. In her case it had proved all for the worse, but now there was a +suitableness in the union which boded future happiness, and many a +hearty wish for good was sent after the newly married pair, whose +destination was New York. + +It was nearly dark when they reached the hotel and quite dark before +dinner was over. Then Julia suddenly remembered that an old friend of +hers was boarding in the house, and suggested going to her room. + +"I'd send my card," she said blushingly, "only she would not know me by +the new name, so if you do not mind my leaving you a moment I'll go and +find her myself." + +Guy did not mind, and Julia went out and left him alone. Scarcely was +she gone when he called to mind a letter which had been forwarded to him +from Cuylerville, and which he had found awaiting him on his return from +the church. Not thinking it of much consequence he had thrust it in his +pocket and in the excitement forgotten it till now. He had dressed for +dinner and worn his wedding coat, and he took the letter out and looked +at it a moment, and wondered whom it was from, as people ofttimes do +wait and wonder, when breaking the seal would settle the wonder so soon. +It was postmarked in New York, and felt heavy in his hand, and he opened +it at last and found that the outer envelope inclosed another one on +which his name and address were written in a handwriting once so +familiar to him, and the sight of which made him start and breathe +heavily for a moment as if the air had suddenly grown thick and +burdensome. + +Daisy's handwriting! which he had never thought to see again; for after +his engagement with Julia he had burned every vestige of a +correspondence it was sorrow now to remember. One by one, and with a +steady hand, he had dropped Daisy's letters into the fire and watched +them turning into ashes, and thought how like his love for her they were +when nothing remained of them but the thin gray tissue his breath could +blow away. The four scraps of the marriage settlement which Daisy had +brought him on that night of storm he kept, because they seemed to +embody something good and noble in the girl; but the letters she had +written him were gone past recall, and he had thought himself cut loose +from her forever--when, lo! there had come to him an awakening to the +bitterness of the past in a letter from the once-loved wife, whose +delicate handwriting made him grow faint and sick for a moment as he +held the letter in his hand and read thereon: + +"GUY THORNTON, ESQ., + Brown Cottage, + Cuylerville, Mass. +Politeness of Mr. Wilkes." + +Why had she written, and what had she to say to him, he wondered, and +for a moment he felt tempted to tear the letter up and never know what +it contained. + +Better, perhaps, had he done so--better for him, and better for the fond +new wife whose happiness was so perfect, and whose trust in his love so +strong. + +But he did not tear it up. He opened it and read--another chapter will +tell us what he read. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +DAISY'S LETTER + + +It was dated at Rouen, France, and it ran as follows: + + +"MAY 15, 18--. + +"DEAR, DEAR GUY:--I am all alone here in Rouen; not a person +near me who speaks English or knows a thing of Daisy Thornton as she +was, or as she is now, for I am Daisy Thornton here. I have taken the +old name again, and am an English governess in a wealthy French family; +and this is how it came about: I have left Berlin and the party there +and am earning my own living for three reasons, two of which concern +cousin Tom and one of which has to do with you and that miserable +settlement which has troubled me so much. I thought when I brought it +back and tore it up that was the last of it, and did not know that by no +act of mine could I give it to you until I was of age. Father missed it, +of course, and I told him just the truth, and that I could never touch a +penny of your money and I not your wife. He did not say a word, and I +supposed it was all right, and never dreamed that I was actually clothed +and fed on the interest of that ten thousand dollars. Father would not +tell me and you did not write. Why didn't you, Guy? I expected a letter +so long, and went to the office so many times and cried a little to +myself, and said Guy has forgotten me. + +"Then we went to South Africa--father, mother, and I--went to live with +Tom. He wanted me before you did, you know, but I could not marry Tom. +He is very rich now, and we lived with him; and then we all came to +Europe and have traveled everywhere, and I have had teachers in +everything, and people say I am a fine scholar and praise me much; and, +Guy, I have tried to improve just to please you; believe me, Guy, just +to please you. Tom was as a brother--a dear, good big bear of a brother +whom I loved as such, but nothing more. Even were you dead, I could not +marry Tom after knowing you; and I told him so when in Berlin he asked +me for the sixth time to be his wife. I had to tell him something hard +to make him understand, and when I saw how what I said hurt him cruelly +and made him cry--because he was such a great, big, awkward, dear old +fellow, I put my arms around his neck and cried with him, and tried to +explain, and that made him ten times worse. Oh, if folks only would not +love me so it would save me so much sorrow. + +"You see, I tell you this because I want you to know exactly what I have +been doing these five years, and that I have never thought of marrying +Tom or anybody. I did not think I could. I felt that if I belonged to +anybody it was you, and I cannot have Tom; and father was very angry and +taunted me with living on Tom's money, which I did not know before, and +he accidentally let out about the marriage settlement, and that hurt me +worse than the other. + +"Oh, Guy, how can I give it up? Surely there must be a way, now I am of +age. I was so humiliated about it, and after all that passed between +father and Tom and me I could not stay in Berlin and never be sure whose +money was paying for my bread, and when I heard that Madame Lafarcade, a +French lady, who had spent the winter in Berlin, was wanting an English +governess for her children, I went to her, and, as the result, am here +at this beautiful country-seat, just out of the city, earning my own +living and feeling so proud to do it; only, Guy, there is an ache in my +heart, a heavy, throbbing pain which will not leave me day or night, and +this is how it came there. + +"Mother wrote that you were about to marry Miss Hamilton. Letters from +home brought her the news, which she thinks is true. Oh, Guy, it is not, +it cannot be true! You must not go quite away from me now just as I am +coming back to you. For, Guy, I am--or rather, I have come, and a great +love, such as I never felt before, fills me full almost to bursting. I +always liked you, Guy; but when we were married I did not know what it +was to love--to feel my pulses quicken as they do just now at thought of +you. If I had, how happy I could have made you, but I was a silly little +girl, and married life was distasteful to me, and I was willing to be +free, though always, way down in my heart, was something which protested +against it, and if you knew just how I was influenced and led on +insensibly to assent, you would not blame me so much. The word divorce +had an ugly sound to me, and I did not like it, and I have always felt +as if bound to you just the same. It would not be right for me to marry +Tom, even if I wanted to, which I do not. I am yours, Guy--only yours, +and all these years I have studied and improved for your sake, without +any fixed idea, perhaps, as to what I expected or hoped. But when Tom +spoke the last time it came to me suddenly what I was keeping myself +for, and, just as a great body of water, when freed from its prison +walls, rolls rapidly down a green meadow, so did a mighty love for you +take possession of me and permeate my whole being until every nerve +quivered for joy, and when Tom was gone I went away alone and cried more +for my new happiness, I am afraid, than for him, poor fellow. And yet I +pitied him, too; as I could not stay in Berlin after that I came away to +earn money enough to take me back to you. For I am coming, or I was +before I heard that dreadful news which I cannot believe. + +"Is it true, Guy? Write and tell me it is not, and that you love me +still and want me back, or, if it in part is true, and you are engaged +to Julia, show her this letter and ask her to give you up, even if it is +the very day before the wedding--for you are mine, and, sometimes, when +the children are troublesome, and I am so tired and sorry and homesick, +I have such a longing for a sight of your dear face, and think if I +could only lay my aching head in your lap once more I should never know +pain or weariness again. + +"Try me, Guy. I will be so good and loving and make you so happy--and +your sister, too--I was a bother to her once. I'll be a comfort now. +Tell her so, please; tell her to bid me come. Say the word yourself, +and, almost before you know it, I'll be there. + +"Truly, lovingly, waitingly, your wife, +DAISY. + +"P.S.--To make sure of this letter's safety I shall send it to New York +by a friend, who will mail it to you. + +"Again, lovingly. +DAISY THORNTON." + +This was Daisy's letter which Guy read with such a pang in his heart as +he had never known before, even when he was smarting the worst from +wounded love and disappointed hopes. Then he had said to himself, "I can +never suffer again as I am suffering now," and now, alas, he felt how +little he knew of that pain which rends the heart and takes the breath +away. + +"God help her!" he moaned, his first thought, his first prayer, for +Daisy, the girl who called herself his wife, when just across the hall, +only a few rods away, was the bride of a few hours--another woman who +bore his name and called him her husband. + +With a face as pale as ashes and hands which shook like palsied hands, +he read again that pathetic cry from her whom he now felt he had never +ceased to love; aye, whom he loved still, and whom, if he could, he +would have taken to his arms so gladly and loved and cherished as the +priceless thing he had once thought her to be. The first moments of +agony which followed the reading of the letter were Daisy's wholly, and +in bitterness of soul the man she had cast off and thought to take again +cried out, as he stretched his arms toward an invisible form: "Too late, +darling--too late. But had it come two months, one month, or even one +week ago, I would--would--have gone to you over land and sea, but +now--another is in your place, another is my wife; Julia--poor, innocent +Julia. God help me to keep my vow; God help me in my need!" + +He was praying now; Julia was the burden of his prayer. And as he prayed +there came into his heart an unutterable tenderness and pity for her. He +had thought he loved her an hour ago! he believed he loved her now, or, +if he did not, he would be to her the kindest, most thoughtful of +husbands, and never let her know, by word or sign, of the terrible pain +he should always carry in his heart. "Darling Daisy; poor Julia!" was +what to himself he designated the two women who were both so much to +him. To the first his love, to the other his tender care, for she was +worthy of it. She was noble, and good, and womanly; he said it many +times, and tried to stop the rapid heart throbs and quiet himself down +to meet her when she should come to him with her frank, open face and +smile, in which there was no shadow of guile. She was coming now; he +heard her voice in the hall speaking to her friend, and, thrusting the +fatal letter in his pocket, he rose to his feet, and steadying himself +upon the table stood waiting for her, as, flushed and eager, she came +in. + +"Guy--Guy--what is it? Are you sick?" she asked, alarmed at the pallor +on his face and the strange expression of his eyes. + +He was glad she had thus construed his agitation, and he answered that +he was faint and a little sick. + +"It came on suddenly, while I was sitting here. It will pass off as +suddenly," he said, trying to smile, and holding out his hand, which she +took at once in hers. + +"Is it your heart, Guy? Do you think it is your heart?" she continued, +as she rubbed and caressed his cold, clammy hand. + +A shadow of pain or remorse flitted across Guy's face as he replied: + +"I think it is my heart, but I assure you there is no danger--the worst +is over. I am a great deal better." + +And he was better with that fair girl beside him, her face glowing with +excitement and her soft hands pressing his. Perfectly healthy herself, +she must have imparted some life and vigor to him, for he felt his pulse +grow steadier beneath her touch, and the blood flow more easily through +his veins. + +If only he could forget that crumpled letter which lay in his vest +pocket and seemed to burn into his flesh; forget that and the young girl +across the sea, watching for an answer and the one word "Come!" he might +be happy yet, for Julia was one whom any man could love and be proud to +call his wife. And Guy said to himself that he did love her, though not +as he once loved Daisy, or as he could love her again were he free to do +so, and because of that full love withheld he made a mental vow that his +whole life should be given to her happiness, so that she might never +know any care or sorrow from which he could shield her. + +"And Daisy?" something whispered in his ear. + +"I must and will forget her," he sternly answered, and the arm he had +thrown around Julia, who was sitting with him upon the sofa, tightened +its grasp until she winced and moved a little from him. + +He was very talkative that evening, and asked his wife many questions +about her friends and the shopping she wished to do, and the places they +were to visit; and Julia, who had hitherto regarded him as a great, +silent man, given to few words, wondered at the change, and watched the +bright red spots on his cheeks, and thought how she would manage to have +medical advice for that dreadful heart disease which had come like a +nightmare to haunt her bridal days. + +Next morning there came a Boston paper containing a notice of the +marriage, and this Guy sent to Daisy, with only the faint tracing of a +pencil to indicate the paragraph. "Better so than to write," he thought; +though he longed to add the words, "Forgive me, Daisy; your letter came +too late." + +And so the paper was sent, and after a week or two Guy went back to his +home in Cuylerville, and the blue rooms which Julia had fitted up for +Daisy five years before became her own by right. And Fanny Thornton +welcomed her warmly to the house, and by many little acts of +thoughtfulness showed how glad she was to have her there. And Julia was +very happy save when she remembered the heart disease, which she was +sure Guy had, and for which he would not seek advice. "There was nothing +the matter with his heart unless it were too full of love," he told her +laughingly, and wondered to himself if in saying this to her he was +guilty of a lie, inasmuch as his words misled her so completely. + +After a time, however, there came a change, and thoughts of Daisy ceased +to disturb him as they once had done. No one ever mentioned her to him, +and since the receipt of her letter he had heard no tidings of her until +six months after his marriage, when there came to him the ten thousand +dollars, with all the interest which had accrued since the settlement +first was made. There was no word from Daisy herself, but a letter from +a lawyer in Berlin, who said all there was to say with regard to the +business, but did not tell where Miss McDonald, as he called her, was. + +Then Guy wrote to Daisy a letter of thanks, to which there came no +reply, and as time went on the old wound began to heal, the grave to +close again; and when, at last, one year after his marriage, they +brought him a beautiful little baby girl and laid it in his arms, and +then a few moments later let him into the room where the pale mother +lay, he stooped over her and, kissing her fondly, said: + +"I never loved you half as well as I do now." + +It was a pretty child, with dark blue eyes, and hair in which there was +a gleam of gold, and Guy, when asked what he would call her, said: + +"Would you object to Margaret?" + +Julia knew what he meant, and, like the true, noble woman she was, +offered no objection to Guy's choice, knowing well who Margaret had +been; and herself first gave the pet name of Daisy to her child, on whom +Guy settled the ten thousand dollars sent to him by the Daisy over the +sea. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +DAISY, TOM, AND THAT OTHER ONE + + +Watching, waiting, hoping, saying to herself in the morning, "It will +come before night," and saying to herself at night, "It will be here +to-morrow morning." Such was Daisy's life, even before she had a right +to expect an answer to her letter. + +Of the nature of Guy's reply she had no doubt. He had loved her once, he +loved her still, and he would take her back of course. There was no +truth in that rumor of another marriage. Possibly her father, whom she +understood now better than she once had, had gotten the story up for the +sake of inducing her through pique to marry Tom; but if so his plan +would fail. Guy would write to her, "Come!" and she would go, and more +than once she counted the contents of her purse and added to it the sum +due her from Madame Lafarcade, and wondered if she would dare venture on +the journey with so small a sum. + +"You so happy and white, too, _ce matin_," her little pupil, Pauline, +said to her one day, when they sat together in the garden, and Daisy was +indulging in a fanciful picture of her meeting with Guy. + +"Yes, I am happy," Daisy said, rousing from her reverie; "but I did not +know I was pale--or white, as you term it--though, now I think of it, I +do feel sick and faint. It's the heat, I guess. Oh! there is Max with +the mail! He is coming this way! He has--he certainly has something for +me!" + +Daisy's cheeks were scarlet now, and her eyes were bright as stars as +she went forward to meet the man who brought the letters to the house. + +"Only a paper!--is there nothing more?" she asked in an unsteady voice, +as she took the paper in her hand, and, recognizing Guy's handwriting, +knew almost to a certainty what was before her. + +"Oh, mon Dieu! vous êtes malade! J'apporterai un verre d'eau!" Pauline +exclaimed, forgetting her English and adopting her mother tongue in her +alarm at Daisy's white face and the peculiar tone of her voice. + +"No, Pauline, stay; open the paper for me," Daisy said, feeling that it +would be easier so than to read it herself, for she knew it was there, +else he would never have sent her a paper and nothing more. + +Delighted to be of some use, and a little gratified to open a foreign +paper, Pauline tore off the wrapper, starting a little at Daisy's quick, +sharp cry as she made a rent across the handwriting. + +"Look, you are tearing into my name, which he wrote," Daisy said, and +then remembering herself, she sank back into her seat in the garden +chair, while Pauline wondered what harm there was in tearing an old +soiled wrapper, and why her governess should take it so carefully in her +hand and roll it up as if it had been a living thing. + +There were notices of new books, and a runaway match in high life, and a +suicide on Summer Street, and a golden wedding in Roxbury, and the +latest fashions from Paris, into which Pauline plunged with avidity +while Daisy listened like one in a dream, asking when the fashions were +exhausted: "Is that all? Are there no deaths or marriages?" + +Pauline had not thought of that--she would see, and she hunted through +the columns till she found Guy's pencil mark, and read: + +"Married, this morning, at St. Paul's Church, by the Rev. Dr. ----, +assisted by the rector, Guy Thornton, Esq., of Cuylerville, to Miss +Julia Hamilton, of this city." + +"Yes, yes; it's very hot here, isn't it? I think I will go in," Daisy +said, her fingers working nervously with the bit of paper she held. + +But Pauline was too intent on the name of Thornton to hear what Daisy +said, and she asked: "Is Mr. Thornton your friend?" + +It was a natural enough question, and Daisy roused herself to answer it, +and said quickly: "He is the son of my husband's father." + +"Oh, oui," Pauline rejoined, a little mystified as to the exact +relationship existing between Guy Thornton and her teacher's husband, +whom she supposed was dead, as Daisy had only confided to madame the +fact of a divorce. + +"What date is the paper?" Daisy asked, and on being told she said softly +to herself: "I see, it was too late." + +There was in her mind no doubt as to what the result would have been had +her letter been in time; no doubt of Guy's preference for her; no regret +that she had written to him, except that the knowledge that she loved +him at last might make him wretched with thinking "what might have +been," and with the bitter pain which cut her heart like a knife there +was mingled a pity for Guy, who would perhaps suffer more than she did, +if that were possible. She never once thought of retribution, or of +murmuring against her fate, but accepted it meekly, albeit she staggered +under the load and grew faint as she thought of the lonely life before +her, and she so young. + +Slowly she went back to her room, while Pauline walked up and down the +garden trying to make out the relationship between the newly married +Thornton and her teacher. + +"The son of her husband's father?" she repeated, until at last a meaning +dawned upon her, and she said: "Then he must be her brother-in-law; but +why didn't she say so? Maybe, though, that is the English way of putting +it," and, having thus settled the matter, Pauline joined her mother, who +was asking for Mrs. Thornton. + +"Gone to her room, and her brother-in-law is married. It was marked in a +paper and I read it to her, and she's sick," Pauline said, without, +however, in the least connecting the sickness with the marriage. + +Daisy did not come down to dinner that night, and the maid who called +her the next morning reported her as ill and acting very strangely. +Through the summer a malarial fever had prevailed to some extent in and +about Rouen, and the physician whom Madame Lafarcade summoned to the +sick girl expressed a fear that she was coming down with it, and ordered +her kept as quiet as possible. + +"She seems to have something weighing on her mind. Has she heard any bad +news from home?" he asked, as in reply to his question where her pain +was the worst Daisy always answered: + +"It reached him too late--too late, and I am so sorry." + +Madame knew of no bad news, she said, and then as she saw the foreign +paper lying on the table, she took it up, and, guided by the pencil +marks, read the notice of Guy Thornton's marriage, and that gave her the +key at once to Daisy's mental agitation. Daisy had been frank with her +and told her as much of her story as was necessary, and she knew that +the Guy Thornton married to Julia Hamilton had once called Daisy his +wife. + +"Excuse me, she is, or she has something on her mind, I suspect," she +said to the physician, who was still holding Daisy's hand and looking +anxiously at her flushed cheeks and bright, restless eyes. + +"I thought so," he rejoined, "and it aggravates all the symptoms of her +fever. I shall call again to-night." + +He did call and found his patient worse, and the next day he asked +Madame Lafarcade: + +"Has she friends in this country? If so, they ought to know." + +A few hours later, and in his lodgings at Berlin, Tom read the following +dispatch: + +"Mrs. Thornton is dangerously ill. Come at once." + +It was directed to Mr. McDonald, who with his wife had been on a trip to +Russia, and was expected daily. Feeling intuitively that it concerned +Daisy, Tom had opened it, and without a moment's hesitation packed his +valise, and, leaving a note for the McDonalds when they should return, +started for Rouen. Daisy did not know him, and in her delirium she said +things to him and of him which hurt him cruelly. Guy was her theme, and +the letter which went "too late, too late." Then she would beg of Tom to +go for Guy, to bring him to her and tell him how much she loved him and +how good she would be if he would take her back. + +"Father wants me to marry Tom," she said in a whisper, and Tom's heart +almost stood still as he listened; "and Tom wanted me, too, but I +couldn't, you know, even if he were worth his weight in gold. I could +not love him. Why, he's got red hair, and such great freckles on his +face, and big feet and hands with freckles on them. Do you know Tom?" + +"Yes, I know him," Tom answered sadly, forcing down a choking sob, while +the "big hand with the great freckles on it" smoothed the golden hair +tenderly and pushed it back from the burning brow. + +"Don't talk any more, Daisy; it tires you so," he said, as he saw her +about to speak again. + +But Daisy was not to be stopped, and she went on: + +"Tom is good, though; so good, but awkward, and I like him ever so much, +but I can't be his wife. I cannot. I cannot." + +"He doesn't expect it now, or want it," came huskily from Tom, while +Daisy quickly asked: + +"Doesn't he?" + +"No, never any more; so, put it from your mind and try to sleep," Tom +said, and again the freckled hands smoothed the tumbled pillows and +wiped the sweat drops from Daisy's face, while all the time the great +kind heart was breaking, and the hot tears were rolling down the +sun-burned face Daisy thought was so ugly. + +Tom had heard from Madame Lafarcade of Guy's marriage, and, like her, +understood why Daisy's fever ran so high and her mind was in such a +turmoil. But for himself he knew there was no hope, and with a feeling +of death in his heart he watched by her day and night, yielding his +place to no one, and saying to madame when she remonstrated with him and +bade him care for his own health: + +"It does not matter to me. I would rather die than not." + +Daisy was better when her mother came--saved, the doctor said, more by +Tom's care and nursing than by his own skill, and then Tom gave up his +post and never went near her unless she asked for him. His "red hair and +freckled face" were constantly in his mind, making him loathe the very +sight of himself. + +"She cannot bear my looks, and I will not force myself upon her," he +said; and so he stayed away, but surrounded her with every luxury money +could buy, and, as soon as she was able, had her removed to a pretty +little cottage which he rented and fitted up for her, and where she +would be more at home and quieter than at Madame Lafarcade's. + +And there, one morning when he called to inquire for her, he, too, was +smitten down with the fever which he had taken with Daisy's breath the +many nights and days he watched her without rest or sufficient food. +There was a faint, followed by a long interval of unconsciousness, and +when he came to himself he was in Daisy's own room, lying on Daisy's +little bed, and Daisy herself was bending anxiously over him with a +flush on her white cheeks and a soft, pitiful look in her blue eyes. + +"What is it? Where am I?" he asked, and Daisy replied: + +"You are here in my room--on my bed; and you've got the fever, and I'm +going to take care of you, and I'm so glad. Not glad you have the +fever," she added, as she met his look of wonder, "but glad I can repay +in part all you did for me, you dear, noble Tom! And you are not to +talk," and she laid her small hand on his mouth as she saw him about to +speak. "I am strong enough; the doctor says so, and I'd do it if he +didn't, for you are the best, the truest friend I have." + +She was rubbing his hot, feverish hands, and though the touch of her +cool, soft fingers was so delicious, poor Tom thought of the big +freckles so obnoxious to the little lady, and, drawing his hands from +her grasp, hid them beneath the clothes. Gladly, too, would he have +covered his face and hair from her sight, but this he could not do and +breathe, but he begged her to leave him and send someone in her place. +But Daisy would not listen to him. + +He had nursed her day and night, she said, and she should stay with him, +and she did, through three weeks, when Tom's fever ran higher than hers +had done, because there was more for it to feed upon, and when Tom in +his ravings talked of things which made her heart ache with a new and +different pain from that already there. + +At first there were low whisperings and incoherent mutterings, and when +Daisy asked him to whom he was talking he answered her: + +"To that other one over in the corner. Don't you see him? He is waiting +for me till the fever eats me up. There's a lot of me to eat, I'm so big +and awkward, overgrown--that's what Daisy said. You know Daisy, don't +you? a dainty little creature, with such delicacy of sight and touch! +She doesn't like red hair; she said so when we thought the man in the +corner was waiting for her, and she doesn't like my freckled face and +hands--big hands, she said they were, and yet how they have worked like +horses for her! Oh, Daisy! Daisy! I have loved her ever since she was a +child, and I drew her to school on my sled and cut her doll's head off +to tease her. Take me quick, please, out of her sight, where my freckled +face won't offend her." + +He was talking now to that other one, the man in the corner, who, like +some grim sentinel, stood there day and night, while Daisy kept her +tireless watch and Tom talked on and on--never to her--but always to the +other one, the man in the corner, whom he begged to take him away. + +"Bring out your boat," he would say. "It's time we were off, for the +tide is at its height, and the river is running so fast. I thought once +it would take Daisy, but it left her, and I am glad. When I am fairly +over and there's nothing but my big, freckled hulk left, cover my face +and don't let her look at me, though I'll be white then, not red. Oh, +Daisy, Daisy, my darling, you hurt me so cruelly!" + +Those were terrible days for Daisy, but she never flinched from her +post, and stood resolutely between the sick man and that other one in +the corner until the latter seemed to waver a little; his shadow was +not so black, his presence so all-pervading, and there was hope for Tom. +His reason came back at last, and the fever left him, but weak as a +child, with no power to move even his poor wasted hands which lay +outside the counterpane and seemed to trouble him, for there was a +wistful, pleading look in his gray eyes as they went from the hands to +Daisy, while his lips whispered faintly, "Cover." + +She understood him, and with a rain of tears spread the sheet over them, +and then on her knees beside him, said to him amid her sobs: + +"Forgive me, Tom, for what I did when I was crazy. You are not repulsive +to me. You are the truest, best, and dearest friend I ever had, and +I--I--oh, Tom, I wish I had never been born." + +Daisy did not stay by Tom that night. There was no necessity for it, and +she was so worn and weary with watching that the physician declared she +must have absolute rest or be sick again herself. So she remained away, +and in a little room by herself fought the fiercest battle she had ever +fought, and on her knees, with tears and bitter cries, asked for help to +do right. Not for help to know what was right. She felt sure that she +did know that, only the flesh was weak, and there were chords of love +still clinging to a past she scarcely dared think of now lest her +courage should fail her. Guy was lost to her forever; it was a sin even +to think of him as she must think if she thought at all, and so she +strove to put him from her--to tear his image from her heart and put +another in its place, even Tom, whom she pitied so much, and whom she +could make so happy. + +"No matter for myself," she said. "No matter what I feel, or how sharp +the pain in my heart, if I only keep it there and never let Tom know. I +can make him happy, and I will." + +There was no wavering after that decision--no regret for the "might have +been," but her face was white as snow, and about the pretty mouth there +was a quivering of the muscles as if the words were hard to utter when +next day she went to Tom, and, sitting down beside him, asked how he was +feeling. His eyes brightened a little when he saw her, but there was a +look on his face which made Daisy's pulse quicken with a nameless fear, +and his voice was very weak as he replied: + +"They say I am better; but, Daisy, I know the time is near for me to go. +I shall never get well, nor do I wish to, though life is not a gift to +be thrown away easily, and on some accounts mine has been a happy one, +but the life beyond is better, and I feel sure I am going to it." + +"Oh, Tom, Tom, don't talk so! You must not leave me now!" Daisy cried, +all her composure giving way as she fell on her knees beside him, and, +taking both his hands in hers, wet them with her tears. "Tom," she +began, when she could speak. "I have been bad to you so often, and +worried and wounded you so much; but I am sorry, so sorry, and I've +thought it all over and made up my mind, and I want you to get well and +ask me that--that--question again--you have asked so many +times--and--and--Tom--I will say--yes--to it now, and try so hard to +make you happy." + +Her face was crimson as if with shame, and she dared not look at Tom +until his silence startled her. Then she stole a glance at his face and +met an expression which prompted her to go on recklessly: + +"Don't look so incredulous, Tom. I am in earnest. I mean what I say, +though it may be unmaidenly to say it. Try me, Tom; I will make you +happy, and, though at first I cannot love you as I did Guy when I sent +him that letter, the love will come, born of your great goodness and +kindness of heart. Try me, Tom, won't you?" + +She kissed his thin, white hands where the freckles shone more plainly +than ever, and which Tom tried to free from her; she held them fast and +looked steadily into the face, which shone for a moment with a joy so +great that it was almost handsome, and when she said again, "Will you, +Tom?" the pale lips parted with an effort to speak, but no sound was +audible, only the chin quivered, and the tears stood in his gray eyes as +he battled with the great temptation. Should he accept the sacrifice? +Ought he to join her life with his? Could she ever learn to love him? +No, she could not, and he must put her from him, even though she came +asking him to take her. Thus Tom decided, and, turning his face to the +wall, he said, with a choking sob: + +"No, Daisy--no. It cannot be. Such happiness is not for me now. I must +not think of it. Thank you, darling, just the same. It was kind in you +and well meant, but it cannot be. I could not make you happy. I am not +like Guy; never can be like him, and you would hate me after a while, +and the chain would hurt you cruelly. No, Daisy, I love you too +well--and yet, Daisy--Daisy--why do you tempt me so--if it could have +been!" + +He turned suddenly toward her, and, winding both his arms around her, +drew her to him in a quick, passionate embrace, crying piteously over +her, and saying: + +"My darling, my darling, if it could have been, but it's too late +now--God is good and will take me to himself. I thought of it before I +was sick, and believe I am a better man, and Jesus is my friend, and I +am going to him. I'm glad you told me what you have. It will make my +last days happier, and when I am gone you will find that I did well with +you." + +He put her from him then, for faintness and great exhaustion were +stealing over him, and that was the last that ever passed between him +and Daisy on the subject which all his life had occupied so much of his +thoughts. The fever had left him, it is true, but he seemed to have no +vital force or rallying power, and after a few days it was clear even to +Daisy that Tom's life was drawing to a close. "The man in the corner" +was there again waiting for his prey, and would not leave this time +until he bore with him an immortal soul. And Tom was very happy. He had +thought much of death and what lay beyond during those days when +Daisy's life hung in the balance, and the result of the much thinking +had been a full surrender of himself to God, who did not forsake him +when the dark, cold river was closing over him. + +Calm and peaceful as the setting of the summer sun was the close of his +life, and up to the last he retained his consciousness, with the +exception of a few hours, when his mind wandered a little, and he talked +to "that other one," whom no one could see but whose presence all felt +so vividly. + +"It would have been pleasant, and for a minute I was tempted to take her +at her word," he said; "but when I remembered my hair and face and +hands, and how she liked nothing which was not comely, I would not run +the chance of being hated for my repulsive looks. Poor little Daisy! she +meant it all right, and I bless her for it, and am glad she said it, but +she must not look at me when I'm dead. The freckles she dislikes so much +will show plainer then. Don't let her come near, or, if she must, cover +me up--cover me up--cover me from her sight." + +Thus he talked, and Daisy, who knew what he meant, wept silently by his +side, and kept the sheet closely drawn over the hands he was so anxious +to have hidden from her view. He knew her at last, and bade her a long +farewell, and told her she had been to him the dearest thing in life, +and Daisy's arm was round him, supporting him upon the pillow, and +Daisy's hand wiped the death moisture from his brow, and Daisy's lips +were pressed to his dying face, and her ear caught his last faint +whisper: + +"God bless you, darling! I am going home! Good-by!" + +"The man in the corner--that other one"--had claimed him, and Daisy put +gently from her only the lifeless form which had once been Tom. + +They buried him there in France on a sunny slope, where the grass was +green and the flowers blossomed in the early spring, and when Mr. +McDonald examined his papers he found to his surprise that, with the +exception of an annuity to himself and several legacies to different +charitable institutions, Tom had left to Daisy his entire fortune, +stipulating only that one-tenth of all her income should be yearly given +back to God, who had a right to it. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +MISS MCDONALD + + +She took that name again, and with it, also, Margaret, feeling that +Daisy was far too girlish an appellation for one who clad herself almost +in widow's weeds, and felt, when she stood at poor Tom's grave, more +wretched and desolate than many a wife has felt when her husband was put +from her sight. + +Tom had meant to make her parents independent of her so that she need +not have them with her unless she chose to do so, for, knowing Mr. +McDonald as he did, he thought she would be happier alone, but God so +ordered it that within three months after poor Tom's death they made +another grave beside his, and Daisy and her mother were alone. + +It was spring-time now, and the two desolate women bade adieu to their +dead, and made their way to England, and from there to Scotland, where +among the heather hills they passed the summer in the utmost seclusion. + +Here Daisy had ample time for thought, which dwelt mostly upon the past +and the happiness she cast away when she consented to the sundering of +the tie which had bound her to Guy Thornton. + +"Oh, how could I have been so foolish and so weak," she said, as, with +intense contempt for herself, she read over the journal she had kept at +Elmwood during the first weeks of her married life. + +Guy had said it would be pleasant for her to refer to its pages in after +years, little dreaming with what sore anguish of heart poor Daisy would +one day weep over the senseless things recorded there. + +"Can it be I was ever that silly little fool?" she said bitterly, as she +finished her journal. "And how could Guy love me as I know he did. Oh, +if I but had the chance again, I would make him so happy! Oh, Guy, +Guy--my husband still--mine more than Julia's, if you could know how +much I love you now; nor can I feel it wrong to do so, even though I +never hope to see your face again. Guy, Guy, the world is so desolate, +and I am young, only twenty-three, and life is so long and dreary with +nothing to live for or to do. I wish almost that I were dead like Tom, +only I dare not think I should go to heaven where he has gone." + +In her sorrow and loneliness Daisy was fast sinking into an unhealthy, +morbid state of mind from which nothing seemed to arouse her. + +"Nothing to live for--nothing to do," was her lament until one golden +September day, when there came a turning point in her life, and she +found there was something to do. + +There was no regular service that Sunday in the church where she usually +attended, and as the day was fine and she was far too restless to remain +at home, she proposed to her mother that they walk to a little chapel +about a mile away, where a young Presbyterian clergyman was to preach. + +She had heard much of his eloquence, and as his name was McDonald, he +might possibly be some distant relative. Inasmuch as her father was of +Scotch descent she felt a double interest in him, and with her mother +was among the first who entered the little, humble building and took a +seat upon one of the hard, uncomfortable benches near the pulpit. + +The speaker was young--about Tom's age--and with a look on his florid +face and a sound in his voice so like that of the dead man that Daisy +half started to her feet when he first took his stand in front of her +and announced the opening hymn. His text was: "Why stand ye here all the +day idle?" and so well did he handle it, and so forcible were his +gestures and eloquent his style of delivery, that Daisy listened to him +spellbound, her eyes fixed intently upon his glowing face and her ears +drinking in every word he uttered. + +After dwelling for a time upon the loiterers in God's vineyard, the +idlers from choice, who worked not for lack of an inclination to do so, +he spoke next of the class whose whole life was a weariness for want of +something to do, and to these he said: "Have you never read how, when +the disciples rebuked the grateful woman for wasting upon her Master's +head what might have been sold for three hundred pence and given to the +poor, Jesus said unto them, 'The poor ye have with you always,' and is +it not so, my hearers? Are there no poor at your door to be fed, no +hungry little ones to be cared for out of the abundance which God has +only loaned you for this purpose? Are there no wretched homes which you +can make happier, no aching hearts which a kind word would cheer? +Remember there is a blessing pronounced for even the cup of cold water, +and how much greater shall be the reward of those who, forgetting +themselves, seek the good of others and turn not away from the needy and +the desolate. See to it, then, you to whom God has given much. See to it +that you sit not down in idle ease, wasting upon yourself alone the +goods designed for others, for to whom much is given of him much shall +be required." + +Attracted, perhaps, by the deep black of Daisy's attire, or the +something about her which marked her as different from the mass of his +hearers, the speaker had seemed to address the last of his remarks +directly to her, and had the dead Tom risen from his grave and spoken +with her face to face, she could hardly have been more affected than she +was. The resemblance was so striking and the voice so like her cousin's +that she felt as if she had received a message direct from him; or, if +not from him, she surely had from God, whose almoner she henceforth +would be. + +That day was the beginning of a new life to her. Thenceforth there must +be no more repining; no more idle, listless days, no more wishing for +something to do. There was work all around her, and she found it and did +it with a will--first, from a sense of duty, and at last for the real +pleasure it afforded her to carry joy and gladness to the homes where +want and sorrow had sat so long. + +Hearing that there were sickness and destitution among the miners in +Peru, where her possessions were, she went early in November, and many a +wretched heart rejoiced because of her, and many a lip blessed the +beautiful lady whose coming among them was productive of so much good. +Better dwellings, better wages, a church, a schoolhouse followed in her +footsteps, and then, when everything there seemed in good working order, +there came over her a longing for her native country, and the next +autumn found her in New York, where in a short space of time everybody +knew of the beautiful Miss McDonald, who was a millionaire and who owned +the fine house and grounds in the upper part of the city not far from +the Park. + +Here society claimed her again, and Daisy, who had no morbid fancies +now, yielded in part to its claims and became, if not a belle, a +favorite, whose praises were in every mouth. But chiefly was she known +and loved by the poor and the despised whom she daily visited, and to +whom her presence was like the presence of an angel. + +"You do look lovely and sing so sweet; I know there's nothing nicer in +heaven," said a little piece of deformity to her one day as it lay +dying in her arms. "I'se goin' to heaven, which I shouldn't have done if +you'se hadn't gin me the nice bun and told me of Jesus. I loves him now, +and I'll tell him how you bringed me to him." + +Such was the testimony of one dying child, and it was dearer to Daisy +than all the words of flattery ever poured into her ear. As she had +brought that little child to God, so she would bring others, and she +made her work among the children especially, finding there her best +encouragement and greatest success. + +Once when Guy Thornton chanced to be in the city and driving in the +Park, he saw a singular sight--a pair of splendid bays arching their +graceful necks proudly, their silver-tipped harness flashing in the +sunlight, and their beautiful mistress radiant with happiness as she sat +in her large open carriage, not in the midst of gayly dressed friends, +but amid a group of poorly clad, pale-faced little ones, to whom the +Park was a paradise, and she was the presiding angel. + +"Look--that's Miss McDonald," Guy's friend said to him, "the greatest +heiress in New York, and I reckon the one who does the most good. Why, +she supports more old people and children and runs more ragged schools +than any half-dozen men in the city, and I don't suppose there's a den +in New York where she has not been, and never once, I'm told, was she +insulted, for the vilest of them stand between her and harm. Once a +miscreant on Avenue A knocked a boy down for accidentally stepping in a +pool of water and sprinkling her white dress in passing. Friday nights +she has a reception for these people, and you ought to see how well they +behave. At first they were noisy and rough, and she had to have the +police, but now they are quiet and orderly as you please. Perhaps you'd +like to go to one. I know Miss McDonald, and will take you with me." + +Guy said he should not be in town on Friday, as he must return to +Cuylerville the next day, and with a feeling he could not quite analyze, +he turned to look at the turnout which always excited so much attention. +But it was not so much at the handsome bays and the bevy of +queer-looking children he gazed as at the little lady in their midst, +clad in velvet and ermine, with a long white feather falling among the +curls of her bright hair. When Daisy first entered upon her new life she +had affected a nun-like garb as one most appropriate, but after a little +child said to her once, "I'se don't like your black gown all the time. I +likes sumptin' bright and pretty," she changed her mind and gave freer +scope to her natural good taste and love of what was becoming. And the +result showed the wisdom of the change, for the children and inmates of +the dens she visited, accustomed only to the squalor and ugliness of +their surroundings, hailed her more rapturously than they had done +before, and were never weary of talking of the beautiful woman who was +not afraid to wear her pretty clothes into their wretched houses, which, +lest she should soil and defile them, gradually grew more clean and tidy +for her sake. + +"It wasn't for the likes of them gownds to trail through sich truck," +Bridget O'Donohue said, and so, on the days when Daisy was expected, she +scrubbed the floor, which, until Daisy's advent had not known water for +years, and rubbed and polished the one wooden chair kept sacred for the +lady's use. + +Other women, too, caught Biddy's spirit and scrubbed their floors and +their children's faces on the day when Miss McDonald was expected to +call, and when she came her silk dress and pretty shawl were watched +narrowly lest by some chance a speck of dirt should fasten on them, and +her becoming dress and handsome face were commented on and remembered as +some fine show which had been seen for nothing. Especially did the +children like her in her bright dress, and the velvet and ermine in +which she was clad when Guy met her in the Park were worn more for their +sakes than for the gaze of those to whom such things were no novelties. +To Guy she looked more beautiful than he had ever seen her before, and +there was in his heart a smothered feeling as of a want of something +lost, as her carriage disappeared from view and he lost sight of the +fair face and form which had once been his own. + +The world was going well with Guy, for though Dick Trevylian had paid no +part of the hundred thousand dollars, and he still lived in the brown +cottage on the hill, he was steadily working his way to competency, if +not to wealth. His profession as a lawyer, which he had resumed, yielded +him a remunerative income, while his contributions to different +magazines were much sought after, so that to all human appearance he was +prosperous and happy. Prosperous in his business, and happy in his wife +and little ones, for there was now a second child, a baby Guy of six +weeks old, and when on his return from New York the father bent over the +cradle of his boy and kissed his baby face, that image seen in the Park +seemed to fade away, and the caresses he gave to Julia had in them no +faithlessness or insincerity. She was a noble woman, and had made him a +good wife, and he loved her truly, though with a different, less +absorbing, less ecstatic love than he had given to Daisy. But he did not +tell her of Miss McDonald. Indeed, that name was never spoken now, nor +was any reference ever made to her except when little Daisy asked where +was the lady for whom she was named, and why she did not send her a +doll. + +"I hardly think she knows there is such a chit as you," Guy said to her +once, when sorely pressed on the subject, and then the child wondered +how that could be, and wished she was big enough to write her a letter +and ask her to come and see her. + +Every day after that little Daisy played "make b'lieve Miss McDolly" was +there, said McDolly being represented by a bundle of shawls tied up to +look like a figure and seated in a chair. At last there came to the +cottage a friend of Julia's, a young lady from New York, who knew Daisy, +and who, while visiting in Cuylerville, accidentally learned that she +was the divorced wife of whose existence she knew, but of whom she had +never spoken to Mrs. Thornton. Hearing the little one talking one day to +Miss McDolly and asking her why she never wrote nor sent a "sing" to +her sake-name, the young lady said: + +"Why don't you send Miss McDonald a letter? You tell me what to say and +I'll write it down for you, but don't let mamma know till you see if you +get anything." + +The little girl's fancy was caught at once with the idea, and the +following letter was the result: + + +"BROWN COTTAGE, 'Most Tissmas time. + +"DEAR MISS MCDOLLY:--I'se an 'ittle dirl named for you, I is, +Daisy Thornton, an' my papa is Mr. Guy, an' mam-ma is Julia, and 'ittle +brother is Guy, too--only he's a baby, and vomits up his dinner and ties +awfully sometimes; an' I knows anoder 'ittle girl named for somebody who +dives her 'sings,' a whole lot, an' why doesn't youse dive me some, when +I'se your sake-name, an' loves you ever so much, and why'se you never +turn here to see me. I wish you would. I ask papa is you pretty, an' he +tell me yes, bootiful, an' every night I p'ays for you and say God bress +papa an' mam-ma, an' auntie, and Miss McDolly, and 'ittle brodder, an' +make Daisy a dood dirl, and have Miss McDolly send her sumptin' for +Tissmas, for Christ's sake. An' I wants a turly headed doll that ties +and suts her eyes when she does to seep, and wears a shash and a +pairesol, and anodder bigger dolly to be her mam-ma and pank her when +she's naughty, an' I wants an 'ittle fat-iron, an' a cookstove, an' +wash-board. I'se dot a tub. An' I wants some dishes an' a stenshun +table, an' 'ittle bedstead, an' yuffled seets, an' pillars, an' blue +silk kilt, an' ever so many sings which papa cannot buy, 'cause he +hasn't dot the money. Vill you send them, Miss McDolly, pese, an' your +likeness, too. I wants to see how you looks. My mam-ma is pretty, with +black hair an' eyes, but she's awful old--I dess. How old is you? Papa's +hair is some dray, an' his viskers, too. My eyes is bue. + +"Yours respectfully, +DAISY THORNTON." + + * * * * * + +Miss McDonald had been shopping since ten in the morning, and her +carriage had stood before the dry-goods stores, and toy-shops, and candy +stores, while bundle after bundle had been deposited on the cushions, +and others ordered to be sent. But she was nearly through now, and just +as it was beginning to grow dark in the streets she bade her coachman +drive home, where dinner was waiting for her in the dining room, and +her mother was waiting in the parlor. Mrs. McDonald was not very well, +and had kept her room all day, but she was better that night, and came +down to dine with her daughter. The December wind was cold and raw, and +a few snowflakes fell on Daisy's hat and cloak as she ran up the steps +and entered the warm, bright room, which seemed so pleasant when +contrasted with the dreariness without. + +"Oh, how nice this is, and how tired and cold I am!" she said, as she +bent over the blazing fire. + +"Are you through with your shopping?" Mrs. McDonald asked, in a +half-querulous tone, as if she did not altogether approve of her +daughter's acts. + +"Yes, all through, except a shawl for old Sarah Mackie and a few more +toys for Biddy Warren's blind boy," Daisy said, and her mother replied: +"Well, I'm sure I shall be glad for your sake when it is over. You'll +make yourself sick, and you are nearly worn out now, remembering +everybody in New York." + +"Not quite everybody, mother," Daisy rejoined cheerfully; "only those +whom everybody forgets--the poor, whom we have with us always. Don't +you remember the text and the little kirk where we heard it preached +from? But come--dinner is ready, and I am hungry, I assure you." + +She led the way to the handsome dining room, and took her seat at the +table, looking, in her dark street dress, as her mother had said, pale +and worn, as if the shopping had been very hard upon her. And yet it was +not so much the fatigue of the day which affected her as the remembrance +of a past she did not often dare to recall. + +It was at Christmas time years ago that she first met with Guy, and all +the day long, as she turned over piles of shawls and delaines and +flannels, or ordered packages of candy and bonbons and dollies by the +dozen, her thoughts had been with Guy and the time she met him at Leiter +and Field's and he walked home with her. It seemed to her years and +years ago, and the idea of having lived so long made her feel old, and +tired, and worn. But the nice dinner and the cheer of the room revived +her, and her face looked brighter and more rested when she returned to +the parlor and began to show her mother her purchases. + +Daisy did not receive many letters except on business, and as these +usually came in the morning she did not think to ask if the postman had +left her anything; and so it was not until her mother had retired and +she was about going to her own room that she saw a letter lying on the +hall-stand. Miss Barker, who had instigated the letter, had never +written to her more than once or twice, and then only short notes, and +she did not recognize the handwriting at once. But she saw it was +postmarked Cuylerville, and a sick, faint sensation crept over her as +she wondered who had sent it, and if it contained news of Guy. It was +long since she had heard of him--not, in fact, since poor Tom's death, +and she knew nothing of the little girl called for herself, and thus had +no suspicion of the terrible shock awaiting her, when at last she broke +the seal. Miss Barker had written a few explanatory lines, which were as +follows: + + +"CUYLERVILLE, Dec., 18--. + +"DEAR MISS MCDONALD--Since saying good-by to you last June, and +going off to the mountains and seaside, while you like a good Samaritan +stayed in the hot city to look after 'your people,' I have flitted +hither and thither until at last I floated out to Cuylerville to visit +Mrs. Guy Thornton, who is a friend and former schoolmate of mine. +Here--not in the house, but in town--I have heard a story which +surprised me not a little, and I now better understand that sad look I +have so often seen on your sweet face without at all suspecting the +cause. + +"Dear friend, pardon me, won't you, for the liberty I have taken since +knowing your secret? You would, I am sure, if you only knew what a dear, +darling little creature Mr. Thornton's eldest child is. Did you know he +had called her Daisy for you? He has, and with her blue eyes and bright +auburn hair, she might pass for your very own, with the exception of her +nose, which is decidedly retroussé. She is three years old, and the most +precocious little witch you ever saw. What think you of her making up a +bundle of shawls and aprons and christening it Miss McDolly, her name +for you, and talking to it as if it were really the famous and beautiful +woman she fancies it to be? She is your 'sake-name,' she says, and +before I knew the facts of the case, I was greatly amused by her talk to +the bundle of shawls which she reproached for never having sent her +anything. When I asked Julia (that's Mrs. Thornton) who Miss McDolly +was, she merely answered, 'The lady for whom Daisy was named,' and that +was all I knew until the gossips enlightened me, when, without a word to +anyone, I resolved upon a liberty which I thought I could venture to +take with you. I suggested the letter which I inclose and which I wrote +exactly as the words came from the little lady's lips. Neither Mr. +Thornton nor his wife know aught of the letter, nor will they unless you +respond, for the child will keep her own counsel, I am well assured. + +"Again forgive me if I have done wrong, and believe me, as ever, + +"Yours, sincerely, +"ELLA BARKER." + + +Daisy's face was as pale as ashes as she read Miss Barker's letter, and +then snatching up the other, devoured its contents almost at a glance, +while her breath came in panting gasps and her heart seemed trying to +burst through her throat. She could neither move nor cry out for a +moment, but she sat like one turned into stone with that sense of +suffocation oppressing her, and that horrible pain in her heart. She had +thought the grave was closed, the old wound healed by time and silence; +and now a little child had torn it open, and it was bleeding and +throbbing again with a pang such as she had never felt before, while +there crept over her such a feeling of desolation and loneliness, a +want of something unpossessed, as few have ever experienced. + +But for her own foolishness that sweet little child might have been +hers, she thought, as her heart went after the little one with an +indescribable yearning which made her stretch out her arms as if to take +the baby to her bosom and hold it there forever. Guy had called it for +her, and that touched her more than anything else. He had not forgotten +her then. She had never supposed he had, but to be thus assured of it +was very sweet, and as she thought of it and read again little Daisy's +letter, the tightness about her heart and the choking sensation in her +throat began to give way, and one after another the great tears rolled +down her cheeks, slowly at first, but gradually faster and faster, until +they fell in torrents and a tempest of sobs shook her slight frame as +with her head bowed upon her dressing-table she gave vent to her grief. +It seemed to her she never could stop crying or grow calm again, for as +often as she thought of the touching words, "I p'ays for you," there +came a fresh burst of sobs and tears, until at last nature was +exhausted, and with a low moan Daisy sank upon her knees and tried to +pray, the words which first sprang to her lips framing themselves into +thanks that somewhere in the world there was one who prayed for her and +loved her, too, even though the love might have for its object merely +dolls and candies and toys. And these the child should have in such +abundance, and Miss McDonald found herself longing for the morrow in +which to begin again the shopping she had thought was nearly ended. + +It was in vain next day that her mother remonstrated against her going +out, pleading her white, haggard face and the rawness of the day. Daisy +was not to be detained at home, and before ten o'clock she was down on +Broadway, and the dolly with the "shash" and "pairesol" which she had +seen the day before under its glass case was hers for twenty-five +dollars, and the plainer bit of china, who was to be dollie's mother and +perform the parental duty of "panking her when she was naughty," was +also purchased, and the dishes and the table and stove and bedstead, +with ruffled sheets and pillow-cases and blue satin spread and the +washboard and clothes bars and tiny wringer, with divers others toys, +were bought with a disregard of expense which made Miss McDonald a +wonder to those who waited on her. Such a Christmas box was seldom sent +to a child as that which Daisy packed in her room that night, with her +mother looking on and wondering what Sunday-school was to be the +recipient of all those costly presents and suggesting that cheaper +articles would have answered just as well. + +Everything the child had asked for was there except the picture. That +Daisy dared not send, lest it should look too much like thrusting +herself upon Guy's notice and wound Julia, his wife. + +Daisy was strangely pitiful in her thoughts of Julia, who would in her +turn have pitied her for her delusion could she have known how sure she +was that but for the tardiness of that letter Guy would have chosen his +first love in preference to any other. + +And it was well that each believed herself first in the affection of the +man to whom Daisy wanted so much to send something as a proof of her +unalterable love. They were living still in the brown cottage; they were +not able to buy Elmwood back. Oh, if she only dared to do it, and could +do it, how gladly her Christmas gift should be the handsome place which +they had been so proud of! But that would hardly do; Guy might not like +to be so much indebted to her; he was proud and sensitive in many +points, and so she abandoned the plan for the present, thinking that by +and by she would purchase and hold it as a gift to her namesake on her +bridal day. That will be better, she said, as she put the last article +in the box and saw it leave the door, directed to Guy Thornton's care. + + * * * * * + +Great was the surprise at the brown cottage, when, on the very night +before Christmas, the box arrived and was deposited in the dining room, +where Guy and Julia, Miss Barker and Daisy gathered eagerly around it, +the latter exclaiming: + +"I knows where it tum from, I do. My sake-name, Miss McDolly, send it, +see did. I writ and ask her would see an' she hab." + +"What!" Guy said, as, man-like, he began deliberately to untie every +knot in the string which his wife in her impatience would have cut at +once. "What does the child mean? Do you know, Julia?" + +"I do. I'll explain," Miss Barker said, and in as few words as possible +she told what she had done, while Julia listened with a very grave face, +and Guy was pale even to his lips as he went on untying the string and +opening the box. + +There was a letter lying on the top which he handed to Julia, who +steadied her voice to read aloud: + + +"NEW YORK, December 22, 18--. + +"DARLING LITTLE SAKE-NAME DAISY: Your letter made Miss McDolly +very happy, and she is so glad to send you the doll with a shash, and +the other toys. Write to me again and tell me if they suit you. God +bless you, sweet little one, is the prayer of + +"MISS MCDONALD." + + +After that the grave look left Julia's face, and Guy was not quite so +pale, as he took out one after another the articles which little Daisy +hailed with rapturous shouts and exclamations of delight. + +"Oh, isn't she dood, and don't you love her, papa?" she said, while Guy +replied: + +"Yes, it was certainly very kind in her, and generous. No other little +girl in town will have such a box as this." + +He was very pale, and there was a strange look in his eyes, but his +voice was perfectly natural as he spoke, and one who knew nothing of his +former relations to Miss McDonald would never have suspected how his +whole soul was moved by this gift to his little daughter. + +"You must write and thank her," he said to Julia, who, knowing that this +was proper, assented without a word, and when on the morning after +Christmas Miss McDonald opened with trembling hands the envelope bearing +the Cuylerville postmark, she felt a keen pang of disappointment in +finding only a few lines from Julia expressive of her own and little +Daisy's thanks for the beautiful Christmas box, "which made our little +girl so happy." + +Not Julia, but Mrs. Guy, and that hurt Daisy more than anything else. + +"Mrs. Guy Thornton! Why need she thrust upon me the name I used to +bear?" she whispered, and her lip quivered a little, and the tears +sprang to her eyes as she remembered all that lay between the present +and the time when she had been Mrs. Guy Thornton. + +She was Miss McDonald now, and Guy was another woman's husband, and with +a bitter pain in her heart, she put away Julia's letter, saying as she +did so, "And that's the end of that." + +The box business had not resulted just as she hoped it would. She had +thought Guy would write himself, and by some word or allusion assure her +of his remembrance, but instead there had come to her a few perfectly +polite and well-expressed lines from Julia, who had the impertinence to +sign herself Mrs. Guy Thornton! It was rather hard and sorely +disappointing, and for many days Miss McDonald's face was very white and +sad, and both the old and young whom she visited as usual wondered what +had come over the beautiful lady to make her "so pale and sorry." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +AT SARATOGA + + +There were no more letters from Mrs. Guy Thornton until the next +Christmas time, when another box went to little Daisy, and was +acknowledged as before. Then another year glided by, with a third box to +Daisy, and then one summer afternoon in August there came to Saratoga a +gay party from New York, and the clerk at Congress Hall registered, with +other names, that of Miss McDonald. Indeed, it seemed to be her party, +or at least she was its center, and the one to whom the others deferred +as to their head. Daisy was in perfect health that summer, and in +unusually good spirits, and when in the evening, yielding to the +entreaties of her friends, she entered the ball-room, clad in flowing, +gauzy robes of blue and white, with costly jewels on her neck and arms, +she took all hearts by storm, and was acknowledged at once as the star +and belle of the evening. She did not dance--she rarely did that +now--but after a short promenade through the room she took a seat near +the door, and was watching the gay dancers when she felt her arm softly +touched, and, turning, saw her maid standing by her with an anxious, +frightened look upon her face. + +"Come, please, come quick," she said in a whisper, and, following her +out, Miss McDonald asked what was the matter. + +"This--you must go away at once. I'll pack your things. I promised not +to tell, but I must. I can't see your pretty face all spoiled and ugly." + +"What do you mean?" the lady asked, and after a little she made out from +the girl's statement that in strolling on the back piazza she had +stumbled upon her first cousin, of whose whereabouts she had known +nothing for a long time. + +The girl, Mary, had, it seemed, come to Saratoga a week or ten days +before, with her master's family, consisting of his wife and two +children. As the hotel was crowded they were assigned rooms for the +night in a distant part of the house, with a promise of something much +better on the morrow. In the morning, however, the lady, who had not +been well for some days, was too sick to leave her bed, and the doctor +who was called in to see her, pronounced the disease--here Sarah stopped +and gasped for breath and looked behind her and all ways, and finally +whispered a word which made even Miss McDonald start a little and wince +with fear. + +"He do call it the very-o-lord," Sarah said, "but Mary says it's the +very old devil himself. She knows, she has had it, and you can't put +down a pin where the cratur didn't have his claws. They told the +landlord, who was fur puttin' 'em straight outdoors, but the doctor said +the lady must not be moved--it was sure death to do it. It was better to +keep quiet, and not make a panic. Nobody need to know it in the house, +and their rooms are so far from everybody that nobody would catch it. So +he let 'em stay, and the gentleman takes care of her, and Mary keeps the +children in the next room, and carries and brings the things, and keeps +away from everybody. Two of the servants know it, and they've had it, +and don't tell, and she said I mustn't, nor come that side of the house, +but I must tell you so that you can leave to-morrow. The lady is very +bad, and nobody takes care of her but Mr. Thornton. Mary takes things to +the door, and leaves them outside where he can get them." + +"What did you call the gentleman?" Miss McDonald asked, her voice +faltering and her cheek blanching a little. + +"Mr. Thornton, from Cuylerville, a place far in the country," was the +girl's reply, and then, without waiting to hear more, Miss McDonald +darted away, and, going to the office, turned the leaves of the register +to the date of ten or eleven days ago, and read with a beating heart and +quick coming breath: + +"Guy Thornton, lady, two children, and servant. Nos. ---- and ----." + +Yes, it was Guy; there could be no mistake, and in an instant her +resolution was taken. Calling to her maid, she sent for her shawl and +hat, and then bidding her follow, walked away in the moonlight. The +previous summer when at Saratoga she had received medical treatment from +Dr. Schwartz, whom she knew well and to whose office she directed her +steps. He seemed surprised to see her at that hour, but greeted her +cordially and asked when she came to town and what he could do for her. + +"Tell me if this is still a safeguard," she said, baring her beautiful +white arm and showing a large round scar. "Will this insure me against +disease?" + +The doctor's face flushed, and he looked uneasily at her as he took her +arm in his hand, and, examining the scar closely, said: + +"The points are still distinct. I should say the vaccination was +thorough." + +"But another will be safer. Have you fresh vaccine?" Daisy asked; and he +replied: + +"Yes, some just from a young, healthy heifer. I never use the +adulterated stuff which has been humanized. How do I know what humors +may be lurking in the blood? Why, some of the fairest, sweetest babies +are full of scrofula!" + +He was going on further with his discussion, when Daisy, who knew his +peculiarities, interrupted him: + +"Never mind the lecture now. Vaccinate me quick and let me go." + +It was soon done, the doctor saying as he put away his vial: + +"You were safe without it, I think, and with it you may have no fears +whatever." + +He looked at her curiously again as if asking what she knew or feared, +and, observing the look, Daisy said to him: + +"Do you attend the lady at the hotel?" + +He bowed affirmatively and glanced uneasily at Sarah, who was looking on +in surprise. + +"Is she very sick?" was the next inquiry. + +"Yes, very sick." + +"And does no one care for her but her husband?" + +"No one." + +"Has she suffered for care--a woman's care, I mean?" + +"Well, not exactly, and yet she might be more comfortable with a woman +about her. Women are naturally better nurses than men, and Mr. Thornton +is quite worn out, but it does not make much difference now; the lady--" + +Daisy did not hear the last part of the sentence, and, bidding him +good-night, she went back to the hotel as swiftly as she had left it, +while the doctor stood watching the flutter of her white dress, +wondering how she found it out, and if she would "tell and raise thunder +generally." + +"Of course not. I know her better than that," he said to himself. "Poor +woman [referring then to Julia], nothing, I fear, can help her now." + +Meanwhile Daisy reached the hotel, and without going to her own room, +bade Sarah tell her the way to No. ----. + +"What! Oh, Miss McDonald! You surely are not--" Sarah gasped, clutching +at the dress, which her mistress took from her grasp, saying: + +"Yes, I am going to see that lady. I know her, or of her, and I'm not +afraid. Must we let her die alone?" + +"But your face--your beautiful face," Sarah said, and then Daisy did +hesitate a moment, and, glancing into a hall mirror, wondered how the +face she saw there, and which she knew was beautiful, would look scarred +and disfigured as she had seen faces in New York. + +There was a momentary conflict, and then, with an inward prayer that +Heaven would protect her, she passed on down the narrow hall and knocked +softly at No. ----, while Sarah stood wringing her hands in genuine +distress, and feeling as if her young mistress had gone to certain ruin. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +IN THE SICK-ROOM + + +Julia had the smallpox, not varioloid, but the veritable thing itself, +in its most aggravated form. Where she took it, or when, she did not +know, nor did it matter. She had it, and for ten days she had seen no +one but her husband and physician, and had no care but such as Guy could +give her. He had been unremitting in his attention. Tender and gentle as +a woman, he had nursed her night and day, with no thought for himself +and the risk he ran. It was a bad disease at the best, and now in its +worst type it was horrible, but Julia bore up bravely, thinking always +more of others than of herself, and feeling so glad that Providence had +sent them to those out-of-the-way rooms, where she had at first thought +she could not pass a night comfortably. Her children were in the room +adjoining, and she could hear their little voices as they played +together, or asked for their mamma and why they must not see her. Alas! +they would never see her again; she knew it now, and Guy knew it, too. +The doctor had told them so when he left them that night, and between +the husband and wife words had been spoken such as are only said when +hearts which have been one are about to be severed forever. + +To Julia there was no terror in death, save as it took her from those +she loved, her husband and her little ones, and these she had given into +God's keeping, knowing his promises are sure. To Guy she had said: + +"You have made me so happy. I want you to remember that when I am gone; +I would not have one look or act of yours changed if I could, and yet, +forgive me, Guy, for saying it, but I know you must often have thought +of that other one whom, you loved first, and it may be best." + +Guy could not say no to that, but he smoothed her hair tenderly, and his +tears dropped upon the scarred, swollen face he could not kiss, as Julia +went on. + +"But if you did you never showed it in the least, and I bless you for +it. Take good care of my children; teach them to remember their mother, +and if in time there comes another in my place, and other little ones +than mine call you father, don't forget me quite, because I love you so +much. Oh, Guy, my darling, it is hard to say good-by and know that after +a little this world will go on the same as if I had never been. Don't +think I am afraid. I am not, for Jesus is with me, and I know I am safe, +but still there's a clinging to life, which has been so pleasant to me. +Tell your sister how I loved her. I know she will miss me and be good to +my children, and if you ever meet that other one tell her--tell +her--I--" + +The faint voice faltered here, and when it spoke again, it said: + +"Lift me up, Guy, so I can breathe better while I tell you." + +He lifted her up and held her in his arms, while through the open window +the summer air and the silver moonlight streamed, and in the distance +was heard the sound of music as the dance went merrily on. And just +then, when she was in the minds of both, Daisy came, and her gentle +knock broke the silence of the room and startled both Guy and Julia. + +Who was it that sought entrance to that death-laden and disease-poisoned +room? Not the doctor, surely, for he always entered unannounced, and who +else dared to come there? Thus Guy questioned, hesitating to answer the +knock, when to his utter surprise the door opened and a little figure, +clad in airy robes of white, with its bright hair wreathed with flowers +and gems, came floating in, the blue eyes shining like stars and the +full red lips parted with the smile, half pleased, half shy, which Guy +remembered so well. + +"Daisy, Daisy!" he cried, and his voice rang like a bell through the +room, as, laying Julia's head back upon the pillow, he sprang to Daisy's +side, and, taking her by the shoulder, pushed her gently toward the +door, saying: + +"Why have you come here? Leave us at once; don't you see? don't you +know?" and he pointed toward Julia, whose face showed so plainly in the +gaslight. + +"Yes, I know, and I came to help you take care of her. I am not afraid," +Daisy said, and, freeing herself from his grasp, she walked straight up +to Julia and laid her soft, white hand upon her head. "I am Daisy," she +said, "and I've come to take care of you. I just heard you were here; +how hot your poor head is! let me bathe it; shall I?" + +She went to the bowl, and wringing a cloth in ice water, bathed and +rubbed the sick woman's head, and held the cool cloth to the face and +wiped the parched lips, and rubbed the feverish hands, while Guy stood, +looking on, bewildered and confounded, and utterly unable to say a word +or utter a protest to this angel, as it seemed to him, who had come +unbidden to his aid, forgetful of the risk she ran and the danger she +incurred. Once as she turned her beautiful face to him and he saw how +wondrously fair and lovely it was, lovely with a different expression +from any he had ever seen there, it came over him with a thrill of +horror that that face must not be marred and disfigured with the +terrible pestilence, and he made another effort to send her away. But +Daisy would not go. + +"I am not afraid," she said. "I have just been vaccinated, and there was +already a good scar on my arm; look!" and she pushed back her sleeve and +showed her round, white arm with the mark upon it. + +Guy did not oppose her after that, but let her do what she liked, and +when, an hour later, the doctor came he found his recent visitor sitting +on Julia's bed, with Julia's head lying against her bosom and Julia +herself asleep. Some word which sounded very much like "thunderation" +escaped his lips, but he said no more, for he saw in the sleeping +woman's face a look he never mistook. It was death, and ten minutes +after he entered the room Julia Thornton lay dead in Daisy's arms. + +There was a moment or so of half-consciousness, during which they caught +the words. "So kind in you; it makes me easier; be good to the children; +one is called for you, but Guy loved me, too. Good-by. I am going to +Jesus." + +That was the last she ever spoke, and a moment after she was gone. In +his fear lest the facts should be known to his guests, the host insisted +that the body should be removed under cover of the night, and as Guy +knew the railway officials would object to taking it on any train, there +was no alternative except to bury it in town, and so before the morning +broke there was brought up to the room a closely sealed coffin and box, +and Daisy helped lay Julia in her last bed, and put a white flower in +her hair and folded her hands upon her bosom, and then watched from the +window the little procession which followed the body out to the +cemetery, where, in the stillness of the coming day, they buried it, +together with everything which had been used about the bed, Daisy's +party dress included; and when at last the full morning broke, with stir +and life in the hotel, all was empty and still in the fumigated chamber +of death, and in the adjoining room, clad in a simple white wrapper, +with a blue ribbon in her hair, Daisy sat with Guy's little boy on her +lap and her namesake at her side, amusing them as best she could and +telling them their mamma had gone to live with Jesus. + +"Who'll be our mamma now? We must have one. Will oo?" little Daisy +asked, as she hung about the neck of her new friend. + +She knew it was Miss McDolly, her "sake-name," and in her delight at +seeing her and her admiration of her great beauty, she forgot in part +the dead mamma on whose grave the summer sun was shining. + +The Thorntons left the hotel that day and went back to the house in +Cuylerville, which had been closed for a few weeks, Miss Frances being +away with some friends in Connecticut. But she returned at once when she +heard the dreadful news, and was there to receive her brother and his +motherless little ones. He told her of Daisy when he could trust himself +to talk at all, of Julia's sickness and death, and Miss Frances felt her +heart go out as it had never gone before toward the woman about whom +little Daisy talked constantly. + +"Most bootiful lady," she said, "an' looked des like an 'ittle dirl, +see was so short, an' her eyes were so hue an' her hair so turly." + +Miss McDonald had won Daisy's heart, and, knowing that made her own +happier and lighter than it had been since the day when the paper came +to her with the marked paragraph which crushed her so completely. There +had been but a few words spoken between herself and Guy, and these in +the presence of others, but at their parting he had taken her soft +little hand in his and held it a moment, while he said, with a choking +voice: "God bless you, Daisy. I shall not forget your kindness to my +poor Julia, and if you should need--but no, that is too horrible to +think of; may God spare you that. Good-by." + +And that was all that passed between him and Daisy with regard to the +haunting dread which sent her in a few days to her own house in New +York, where, if the thing she feared came upon her, she would at least +be at home and know she was not endangering the lives of others. But God +was good to her, and though there was a slight fever, with darting pains +in her back and a film before her eyes, it amounted to nothing worse, +and might have been the result of fatigue and over-excitement; and when +at Christmas time, yielding to the importunities of her little +namesake, there was a picture of herself in the box sent to +Cuylerville, the face which Guy scanned even more eagerly than his +daughter, was as smooth and fair and beautiful as when he saw it at +Saratoga, bending over his dying wife. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +DAISY'S JOURNAL + + +NEW YORK, June 14, 18--. + +To-morrow I am to take my old name of Thornton again, and be Guy's wife +once more. Nor does it seem strange at all that I should do so, for I +have never thought of myself as not belonging to him, even when I knew +he was another's. And yet when in that dreadful night at Saratoga I went +to Julia's room, there was in my heart no thought of this which has come +to me. I only wished to care for her and to be a help to Guy. I did not +think of her dying, and after she was dead there was not a thought of +the future in my mind until little Daisy put it there by asking if I +would be her mamma. Then I seemed to see it all, and expected it up to +the very day, six weeks ago, when Guy wrote to me: "Daisy, I want you. +Will you come to me again as my wife?" + +I was not surprised. I knew he would say it some time, and I replied at +once, "Yes, Guy, I will." + +He has been here since, and we have talked it over; all the past when I +made him so unhappy, and when I, too, was so wretched, though I did not +say much about that, or tell him of the dull, heavy, gnawing pain which, +sleeping or waking, I carried with me so long, and only lost when I +began to live for others. I did speak of the letter, and said I had +loved him ever since I wrote it, and that his marrying Julia made no +difference; and when I told him of poor Tom, and what I said to him, not +from love, but from a sense of duty, and when I told him how Tom would +not take me at my word, he held me close to him and said: "I am glad he +did not, my darling, for then you would never have been mine." + +I think we both wept over those two graves, one far off in sunny France, +the other in Saratoga, and both felt how sad it was that they must be +made in order to bring us together. Poor Julia! She was a noble woman, +and Guy did love her. He told me so, and I am glad he did. I mean to try +to be like her in those parts wherein she excelled me. + +We are going straight to Cuylerville to the house where I never was but +once, and that on the night when Guy was sick and Miss Frances made me +go back in the thunder and rain. She is sorry for that, for she told me +so in the long, kind letter she wrote, calling me her little sister and +telling me how glad she is to have me back once more. Accidentally I +heard Elmwood was for sale, and without letting Guy know I bought it, +and sent him the deed, and we are going to make it the most attractive +place in the country. + +It will be our summer home, but in the winter my place is here in New +York with my people, who would starve and freeze without me. Guy has +agreed to that and will be a great help to me. He need never work any +more unless he chooses to do so, for my agent, says I am a millionaire, +thanks to poor Tom, who gave me his gold mine and his interest in that +railroad. And for Guy's sake I am glad, and for his children, the +precious darlings; how much I love them already, and how kind I mean to +be to them both for Julia's sake and Guy's! Hush! That's his ring, and +there's his voice in the hall asking for Miss McDonald, and so for the +last time I write that name, and sign myself, + +MARGARET MCDONALD. + + +_Extracts from Miss Frances Thornton's Diary._ + +ELMWOOD, June 15, ----. + +I have been looking over an old journal, finished and laid away long +ago, and accidentally I stumbled upon a date eleven years back. It was +Guy's wedding day then; it is his anniversary now, and as on that June +day of years ago I worked among my flowers, so I have been with them +this morning, and as then, people from the town came into our beautiful +grounds, so they came to-day and praised our lovely place and said there +was no place like it in all the country round. But Julia was not with +them. She will never come to us again. Julia is dead, and her grave is +off in Saratoga, for Guy dare not have her moved, but he has erected a +costly monument to her memory, and the mound above her is like some +bright flower bed all the summer long, for he hires a man to tend it, +and goes twice each season to see that it is kept as he wishes to have +it. Julia is in Heaven and Daisy is here again at Elmwood, which she +purchased with her own money and fitted up with every possible +convenience and luxury. + +Guy is ten years younger than he used to be, and we are all so happy +with this little fairy, who has expanded into a noble woman, and whom I +love as I never loved a living being before, Guy excepted, of course. I +never dreamed when I turned her out into the rain that I should love her +as I do, or that she was capable of being what she is. I would not have +her changed in any one particular, and neither, I am sure, would Guy, +while the little ones fairly worship her, and must sometimes be +troublesome with their love and their caresses. + +It is just a year since she came back to us again. We were in the old +house then, but somehow Daisy's very presence seemed to brighten and +beautify it, until I was almost sorry to leave it last April for this +grander place with all its splendor. + +There was no wedding at all; that is, there were no invited guests, but +sure, never had bride greater honor at her bridal than our Daisy had, +for the church where the ceremony was performed, at a very early hour in +the morning, was literally crowded with the halt, the lame, the maimed, +and the blind; the slums of New York, gathered from every back street +and by-lane and gutter; Daisy's "people," as she calls them, who came to +see her married, and who, strangest of all, brought with them a present +for the bride, a beautiful family Bible, golden-clasped and bound, and +costing fifty dollars. Sandy McGraw presented it, and had written upon +the fly leaf: "To the dearest friend we ever had we give this book as a +slight token of how much we love her." Then followed upon a sheet of +paper the names of the donors and how much each gave. Oh, how Daisy +cried when she saw the ten cents and the five cents and the three cents +and the one cent, and knew how it had all been earned and saved at some +sacrifice for her. I do believe she would have kissed every one of them +if Guy had permitted it. She did kiss the children and shook every hard, +soiled hand there, and then Guy took her away and brought her to our +home, where she has been ever since, the sweetest, merriest, happiest +little creature that ever a man called wife, or a woman sister. She does +leave her things round a little, to be sure, and she is not always ready +for breakfast. I guess she never will wholly overcome those habits, but +I can put up with them now better than I used to. Love makes a vast +difference in our estimate of others, and she could scarcely ruffle me +now, even if she kept breakfast waiting every morning, and left her +clothes lying three garments deep upon the floor. As for Guy--but his +happiness is something I cannot describe. Nothing can disturb his peace, +which is as firm as the everlasting hills. He does not caress her as +much as he did once, but his thoughtful care of her is wonderful, and +she is never long from his sight without his going to seek her. + +God bless them both and keep them ever as they are now, at peace with +Him and all in all to each other. + + +THE END + + * * * * * + +NEW JUVENILES + +By Famous Authors + +_Bound in Cloth; decorated cover designs; printed on extra book paper; +burnished colored edges; handsomely illustrated._ + + * * * * * + +THE MANOR SCHOOL. By MRS. L.T. MEADE. Ten Full Page +Illustrations. + + A sweetly written and popular story of girl life. Full of fun and + adventure. Told in a manner to interest and amuse young people of + any age. + + Very few authors have achieved a popularity equal to that of Mrs. + Meade as a writer of stories for girls. Her characters are living + beings of flesh and blood. Into the trials and crosses of these the + reader enters at once with zest and hearty sympathy. Mrs. Meade + always writes with a high moral purpose. Cloth. 12mo. Price, $1.25. + +THE DEFENSE OF THE CASTLE. A Story for Boys and Girls. By TUDOR +JENKS, author of "Imaginotions," "World's Fair Book," "Boys' Book +of Explorations," "Galopoff, the Talking Pony," "Gypsy, the Talking +Dog," etc. + + This is a good, lively, fighting story, but not bloodthirsty. It + tells of a boy and girl who, during the absence of their father at + the Crusades, with the help of an old soldier defended the castle + from the attack of an armed force led by a treacherous relative. + The time is about that of Ivanhoe. Cloth, 12mo. Price, $1.00. + +WITH BOONE ON THE FRONTIER; or, The Pioneer Boys of Old Kentucky. By +CAPTAIN RALPH BONEHILL. + + This tale is complete in itself, but forms Volume I of the + "Frontier Series." It relates the true-to-life adventures of two + boys who, in company with their folks, move westward with Daniel + Boone. Contains many thrilling scenes among the Indians and + encounters with wild animals. Written in Captain Bonehill's best + style, and will most likely be the boys' book of the season. Cloth. + 12mo. Price, $1.00. + + +UNDER THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER. Story of a Boy's Adventures in the +Spanish-American War. By CAPTAIN F.S. BRERETON, author of +"Dragon of Pekin," etc. + + A vivid and accurate account of this memorable struggle. The hero + leaves his home in search of work, finds it on a Cuban plantation, + is denounced to the Spaniards as a spy, makes his escape to the + American fleet, and afterwards joins the Rough Riders and + participates in the battles around Santiago. Cloth. 12mo. Price, + $1.00. + +THE MERSHON COMPANY, RAHWAY, N.J. + + * * * * * + +FLAG OF FREEDOM SERIES +By CAPTAIN RALPH BONEHILL + +Volumes Illustrated, Bound in Cloth, with a very Attractive Cover, Price +60 Cents per Volume + + * * * * * + +WITH CUSTER IN THE BLACK HILLS; or, A Young Scout among the Indians + + This is a complete story in itself, but forms the sixth and last + volume of Captain Bonehill's popular "Flag of Freedom" Series. It + tells of the remarkable experiences of a youth who, with his + parent, goes to the Black Hills in search of gold. Custer's last + battle is well described. A volume every lad fond of Indian stories + should possess. + + +BOYS OF THE FORT; or, A Young Captain's Pluck + + Captain Bonehill is at his best when relating a tale of military + adventure, and this story of stirring doings at one of our + well-known forts in the Wild West is of more than ordinary + interest. The young captain had a difficult task to accomplish, but + he had been drilled to do his duty, and he did it thoroughly. Gives + a good insight into army life of to-day. + + +THE YOUNG BANDMASTER; or, Concert Stage and Battlefield + + In this tale Captain Bonehill touches upon a new field. The hero is + a youth with a passion for music, who, compelled to make his own + way in the world, becomes a cornetist in an orchestra, and works + his way up, first, to the position of a soloist, and then to that + of leader of a brass band. He is carried off to sea and falls in + with a secret-service cutter bound for Cuba, and while in that + island joins a military band which accompanies our soldiers in the + never-to-be-forgotten attack on Santiago. A mystery connected with + the hero's inheritance adds to the interest of the tale. + +OFF FOR HAWAII; or, The Mystery of a Great Volcano + + Here we have fact and romance cleverly interwoven. Several boys + start on a tour of the Hawaiian Islands. They have heard that there + is a treasure located in the vicinity of Kilauea, the largest + active volcano in the world, and go in search of it. Their numerous + adventures will be followed with much interest. + +A SAILOR BOY WITH DEWEY; or, Afloat in the Philippines + + The story of Dewey's victory in Manila Bay will never grow old, but + here we have it told in a new form--not as those in command + witnessed the contest, but as it appeared to a real, live American + youth who was in the navy at the time. Many adventures in Manila + and in the interior follow, giving true-to-life scenes from this + remote portion of the globe. A book that should be in every boy's + library. + +WHEN SANTIAGO FELL; or, The War Adventures of Two Chums + + Captain Bonehill has never penned a better tale than this stirring + story of adventures in Cuba. Two boys, an American and his Cuban + chum, leave New York to join their parents in the interior of Cuba. + The war between Spain and the Cubans is on, and the boys are + detained at Santiago de Cuba, but escape by crossing the bay at + night. Many adventures between the lines follow, and a good + pen-picture of General Garcia is given. The American lad, with + others, is captured and cast into a dungeon in Santiago; and then + follows the never-to-be-forgotten campaign in Cuba under General + Shafter. How the hero finally escapes makes reading no wide-awake + boy will want to miss. + + * * * * * + +Press Opinions of Captain Bonehill's Books for Boys + + "Captain Bonehill's stories will always be popular with our boys, + for the reason that they are thoroughly up-to-date and true to + life. As a writer of outdoor tales he has no rival."--_Bright + Days._ + + * * * * * + +THE MERSHON COMPANY +156 Fifth Ave., New York Rahway, N.J. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Miss McDonald, by Mary J. Holmes + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MISS MCDONALD *** + +***** This file should be named 16150-8.txt or 16150-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/1/5/16150/ + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Louise Pryor and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Holmes. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + h1 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + font-variant: small-caps; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body {margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + ol {list-style-type: upper-roman;} + li.contents { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + font-variant: small-caps; + } + + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + .extract {margin-top: 2em;} + + .chead {text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2em; font-size: 120%;} + .jentry {text-align: right; margin-top: 2em;} + .blurb {font-size: 80%;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Miss McDonald, by Mary J. Holmes + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Miss McDonald + +Author: Mary J. Holmes + +Release Date: June 29, 2005 [EBook #16150] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MISS MCDONALD *** + + + + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Louise Pryor and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 313px;"> +<img src="images/Cover.jpg" width="313" height="500" alt="Book cover" title="Book cover" /> +</div> + +<h1><a name="Page_-4" id="Page_-4"></a><a name="Page_-3" id="Page_-3"> +</a>Miss McDONALD</h1> + +<p class="center">BY</p> + +<h2>MRS. MARY J. HOLMES</h2> + +<p class="center" style="margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%;">AUTHOR OF "THE LEIGHTON HOMESTEAD," "MILLBANK; OR, ROGER IRVING'S WARD," +"MILDRED; OR, THE CHILD OF ADOPTION," "EDITH LYLE'S SECRET," "ETHELYN'S +MISTAKE," ETC.</p> + +<p class="center" style="font-size: 120%; margin-top: 3em;">THE MERSHON COMPANY</p> + +<p class="center">RAHWAY, N.J. NEW YORK</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a><a name="Page_-2" id="Page_-2"></a> +<a name="Page_-1" id="Page_-1"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + +<ol> +<li class="contents"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">Extracts From Miss Frances Thornton's Journal</a></li> +<li class="contents"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">Extracts From Guy's Journal</a></li> +<li class="contents"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">Extracts From Daisy's Journal</a></li> +<li class="contents"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">Author's Story</a></li> +<li class="contents"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">The Divorce</a></li> +<li class="contents"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">Extracts From Diaries</a></li> +<li class="contents"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">Five Years Later</a></li> +<li class="contents"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">Daisy's Letter</a></li> +<li class="contents"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">Daisy, Tom, And That Other One</a></li> +<li class="contents"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">Miss McDonald</a></li> +<li class="contents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">At Saratoga</a></li> +<li class="contents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">In The Sick-room</a></li> +<li class="contents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">Daisy's Journal</a></li> +</ol> + + + + +<hr /> +<h2 style="font-variant: small-caps; margin-bottom:4em;"><a name="MISS_McDONALD" id="MISS_McDONALD"></a><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></a> +MISS McDONALD</h2> + + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<p class="chead">EXTRACTS FROM MISS FRANCES THORNTON'S JOURNAL</p> + + +<p class="jentry"><span class="smcap">Elmwood</span>, June 15, 18—.</p> + +<p>I have been out among my flowers all the morning, digging, weeding, and +transplanting, and then stopping a little to rest. Such perfect +successes as my roses are this year, while my white lilies are the +wonder of the town, and yet my heart was not with them to-day, and it +was nothing to me that those fine people staying at the Towers came into +the grounds while I was at work, "just to see and admire," they said, +adding that there was no place like Elmwood in all the town of +Cuylerville. I know that, and Guy and I have been so happy here, and I +loved him so much, and never dreamed what was in store for me until it +came so suddenly and seemed like a heavy blow.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"></a>Why did he want to get married, when he has lived to be thirty years +old, without a care of any kind, and with money enough to allow him to +indulge his taste for books, and pictures, and travel, and is respected +by everybody, looked up to as the first man in town, and petted and +cared for by me as few brothers have ever been petted and cared for; +why, I say, did he want a change, and, if he must be married, why need +he take a child of sixteen, whom he has only known since Christmas, and +whose sole recommendation, so far as I can learn, is her pretty face?</p> + +<p>Daisy McDonald is her name, and she lives in Indianapolis, where her +father is a poor lawyer, and Guy met her last winter in Chicago and fell +in love at once, and made two or three journeys West on "important +business," he said, and then, some time in May, told me he was going to +bring me a sister, the sweetest little creature, with such beautiful +blue eyes and wonderful hair. I was sure to love her, he said, and when +I suggested that she was very young, he replied that her youth was in +her favor, as he could more easily mold her to the Thornton pattern.</p> + +<p>Little he knows about girls, but then he was perfectly infatuated and +blind to everything but Daisy's eyes, and hair, and voice, which is so +<a name="Page_3" id="Page_3"></a>sweet and winning that it will <i>speak</i> for her at once; and he asked me +to see to the furnishing of the rooms on the west side of the house, two +which communicate with his own private library, where he spends a great +deal of time with his books and writing. The room adjoining this he +would have for Daisy's boudoir or parlor, where she could sit when he +was occupied and she wished to be near him. This he would have fitted up +in blue, as she had expressed a wish to that effect, and he said no +expense must be spared to make it as pretty and attractive as possible. +So the walls were frescoed and tinted, and I spent two entire days in +New York hunting for a carpet of the desirable shade, which should be +right both in texture and design.</p> + +<p>Guy was exceedingly particular, and developed a wonderful proclivity to +find fault with everything I admired. Nothing was quite the thing for +Daisy until at last a manufacturer offered to get one up which should +suit, and so the carpet question was happily ended for the time being. +Then came the furniture, and unlimited orders were given to the +upholsterer to do his best, and matters were progressing finely when +order number two came from the little lady, who was sorry to seem so +fickle, but mamma, whose taste was <a name="Page_4" id="Page_4"></a>perfect, had decided against all +blue, and would Guy please furnish the room with drab trimmed with blue. +"It must be a very delicate shade of drab," she wrote, and lest he +should get too intense an idea, she would call it a <i>tint</i> of a <i>shade</i> +of drab, or, better yet, a <i>hint</i> of a tint of a shade of drab would +describe exactly what she meant, and be so entirely unique, and lovely, +and recherché.</p> + +<p>Guy never swears, and seldom uses slang of any kind, but this was a +little too much, and with a most rueful expression of countenance he +asked me "what in thunder I supposed a hint of a tint of a shade of drab +could be."</p> + +<p>I could not enlighten him, and we finally concluded to leave it to the +upholsterer, to whom Guy telegraphed in hot haste, bidding him hunt New +York over for the desired shade. Where he found it I never knew, but +find it he did, or something approximating to it, a faded, washed-out +color, which seemed a cross between wood-ashes and pale skim milk. A +sample was sent up for Guy's approval, and then the work commenced +again, when order number three came in one of those dainty little +billets which used to make Guy's face radiant with happiness. Daisy had +changed her mind again and gone back to the <a name="Page_5" id="Page_5"></a>blue, which she always +preferred as most becoming to her complexion.</p> + +<p>Guy did not say a single word, but he took the next train for New York +and stayed there till the furniture was done and packed for Cuylerville. +As I did not know where he was stopping, I could not forward him two +little missives which came during his absence, and which bore the +Indianapolis post-mark. I suspect he had a design in keeping his hotel +from me, and whether Daisy changed her mind again or not I never knew.</p> + +<p>The furniture reached Elmwood the day but one before Guy started for his +bride, and Julia Hamilton, who was then at the Towers, helped me arrange +the room, which is a perfect little gem and cannot fail to please, I am +sure. I wonder Guy never fancied Julia Hamilton. Oh, if he only had done +so I should not have as many misgivings as I now have nor dread the +future so much. Julia is sensible and twenty years old, and lives in +Boston, and comes of a good family, and is every way suitable; but when +did a man ever choose the woman whom his sister thought suitable for +him? And Guy is like other men, and this is his wedding day; and after a +trip to Montreal, and Quebec, and Boston, and New<a name="Page_6" id="Page_6"></a> York, and Saratoga, +they are coming home, and I am to give a grand reception and then +subside, I suppose, into the position of the "old maid sister who will +be dreadfully in the way."</p> + + +<p class="jentry"><span class="smcap">September</span> 15, 18—.</p> + +<p>Just three months since I opened my Journal, and, on glancing over what +I wrote on Guy's wedding day, I find that in one respect at least I was +unjust to the little creature who is now my sister and calls me Miss +Frances. Not by a word or look has she shown the least inclination to +assume the position of mistress of the house, nor does she seem to think +me at all in the way; but that she considers me quite an antediluvian I +am certain, for, in speaking of something which happened in 1820, she +asked if I remembered it! And I only three years older than Guy! But +then she once called him a dear old grandfatherly man, and thought it a +good joke that on their wedding tour she was mistaken for his daughter. +She looks so young—not sixteen even; but with those childish blue eyes, +and that innocent, pleading kind of expression, she never can be old. +She is very beautiful, and I can understand in part Guy's infatuation, +though at times he hardly knows what to do with his pretty plaything.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7"></a>It was the middle of August when they came from Saratoga, sorely +against her wishes, as I heard from the Porters, who were at the same +hotel, and who have told me what a sensation she created, and how much +attention she received. Everybody flattered her, and one evening when +there was to be a hop at Congress Hall, she received twenty bouquets +from as many different admirers, each of whom asked her hand for the +first dance. They had ascertained that Guy was not a disciple of +Terpsichore, though I understand he did try some of the square dances, +with poor success, I imagine, for Lucy Porter laughed when she told me +of it; and I do not wonder, for my grave, scholarly Guy must be as much +out of place in a ball room as his little, airy doll of a wife is in her +place when there. I can understand just how she enjoyed it all, and how +she hated to come home, for she did not then know the kind of home she +was coming to.</p> + +<p>It was glorious weather for August, and a rain of the previous day had +washed all the flowers and shrubs, and freshened up the grass on the +lawn, which was just like a piece of velvet, while everything around +Elmwood seemed to laugh in the warm afternoon sunshine as the carriage +came up to the door. Eight trunks, two <a name="Page_8" id="Page_8"></a>hat-boxes, and a guitar-case had +come in the morning, and were waiting the arrival of their owner, whose +face looked eagerly out at the house and its surroundings, and, it +seemed to me, did not light up as much as it should have done under the +circumstances.</p> + +<p>"Why, Guy, I always thought the house was brick," I heard her say as the +carriage door was opened by the coachman.</p> + +<p>"No, darling—wood. Ah, there's Fan," was Guy's reply, and the next +moment I had her in my arms.</p> + +<p>Yes, literally in my arms. She is such a wee little thing, and her face +is so sweet, and her eyes so childish and wistful, and her voice so +musical and flute-like that before I knew what I was doing I lifted her +from her feet and hugged her hard and said I meant to love her, first +for Guy's sake and then for her own. Was it my fancy, I wonder, or did +she really shrink back a little and put up her hands to arrange the bows +and streamers and curls floating away from her like the flags on a +vessel on some gala day?</p> + +<p>She was very tired, Guy said, and ought to lie down before dinner. Would +I show her to her room with Zillah, her maid? Then for the first time I +noticed a dark-haired girl who had <a name="Page_9" id="Page_9"></a>alighted from the carriage and stood +holding Daisy's traveling bag and wraps.</p> + +<p>"Her waiting maid, whom we found in Boston," Guy explained when we were +alone. "She is so young and helpless, and wanted one so badly, that I +concluded to humor her for a time, especially as I had not the most +remote idea how to pin on those wonderful fixings which she wears. It is +astonishing how many things it takes to make up the <i>tout ensemble</i> of a +fashionable woman," Guy said, and I thought he glanced a little +curiously at my plain cambric wrapper and smooth hair.</p> + +<p>Indeed he has taken it upon himself to criticise me somewhat! thinks I +am too slim, as he expresses it, and that my head might be improved if +it had a more snarly appearance. Daisy, of course, stands for his model, +and her hair does not look as if it had been combed in a month, and yet +Zillah spends hours over it. She—that is, Daisy—was pleased with her +boudoir, and gave vent to sundry exclamations of delight when she +entered it and skipped around like the child she is, and said she was so +glad it was blue instead of that indescribable drab, and that room is +almost the only thing she has expressed an opinion about since she has +been here. She does <a name="Page_10" id="Page_10"></a>not talk much except to Zillah, and then in French, +which I do not understand. If I were to write just what I think I should +say that she had expected a great deal more grandeur than she finds. At +all events, she takes the things which I think very nice and even +elegant as a matter of course, and if we were to set up a style of +living equal to that of the Queen's household I do believe she would act +as if she had been accustomed to it all her life; or, at least, that it +was what she had a right to expect. I know she imagines Guy a great deal +richer than he is; and that reminds me of something which troubles me.</p> + +<p>Guy has given his name to Dick Trevylian for one hundred thousand +dollars. To be sure, it is only for three months, and Dick is worth +three times that amount, and an old friend and every way reliable and +honest. And still I did not want Guy to sign. I wonder why it is that +women will always jump at a conclusion without any apparent reason. Of +course, I could not explain it, but when Guy told me what he was going +to do, I felt in an instant as if he would have it all to pay and told +him so, but he only laughed at me and called me nervous and fidgety, and +said a friend was good for nothing if he could not lend <a name="Page_11" id="Page_11"></a>a helping hand +occasionally. Perhaps that is true, but I was uneasy, and shall be glad +when the time is up and the paper canceled.</p> + +<p>Our expenses since Daisy came are double what they were before, and if +we were to lose one hundred thousand dollars now we should be badly off. +Daisy is a luxury Guy has to pay for, but he pays willingly and seems to +grow more and more infatuated every day. "She is such a sweet-tempered, +affectionate little puss," he says; and I admit to myself that she is +sweet-tempered, and that nothing ruffles her, but about the affectionate +part I am not so certain. Guy would pet her and caress her all the time +if she would let him, but she won't.</p> + +<p>"Oh, please don't touch me. It is too warm, and you muss my dress," I +have heard her say more than once when he came in and tried to put his +arm about her or take her in his lap.</p> + +<p>Indeed, her dress seems to be uppermost in her mind, and I have known +her to try on half a dozen different ones before she could decide in +which she looked the best. No matter what Guy is doing, or how deeply he +is absorbed in his studies, she makes him stop and inspect her from all +points and give his opinion, and Guy submits in a way perfectly +wonderful to me who never <a name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></a>dared to disturb him when shut up with his +books.</p> + +<p>Another thing, too, he submits to which astonishes me more than anything +else. It used to annoy him terribly to wait for anything or anybody. He +was always ready, and expected others to be, but Daisy is just the +reverse. Such dawdling habits I never saw in any person. With Zillah to +help her dress she is never ready for breakfast, never ready for dinner, +never ready for church, never ready for anything, and that, in a +household accustomed to order and regularity, does put things back so +and make so much trouble.</p> + +<p>"Don't wait breakfast for me, please," she says, when she has been +called for the third or fourth time, and if she can get us to sit down +without her she seems to think it all right, and that she can dawdle as +much as she likes.</p> + +<p>I wonder that it never occurs to her that to keep the breakfast table +round, as we must, makes the girls cross and upsets the kitchen +generally. I hinted as much to her once when the table stood till ten +o'clock, and she only opened her great blue eyes wonderingly, and said +mamma had spoiled her, but she would try and do better, and she bade +Zillah call her at five the next morning, <a name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></a>and Zillah called her, and +then she was a half-hour late. Guy doesn't like that, and he looked +daggers on the night of the reception, when the guests began to arrive +before she was dressed! And she commenced her toilet, too, at three +o'clock! But she was wondrously beautiful in her bridal robes, and took +all hearts by storm. She is perfectly at home in society, and knows just +what to do and say so long as the conversation keeps in the fashionable +round of chit-chat, but when it drifts into deeper channels she is +silent at once, or only answers in monosyllables. I believe she is a +good French scholar, and she plays and sings tolerably well, and reads +the novels as they come out, but of books and literature, in general, +she is wholly ignorant, and if Guy thought to find in her any sympathy +with his favorite studies and authors he is terribly mistaken.</p> + +<p>And yet, as I write all this, my conscience gives me sundry little +pricks as if I were wronging her, for in spite of her faults I like her, +and like to watch her flitting through the house and grounds like the +little fairy she is, and I hope the marriage may turn out well, and that +she will improve with age, and not make so heavy drafts on my brother's +purse.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<p class="chead">EXTRACTS FROM GUY'S JOURNAL</p> + + +<p class="jentry"><span class="smcap">September</span> 20, 18—.</p> + +<p>Three months married. Three months with Daisy all to myself, and yet not +exactly to myself either, for except I go after her I confess she does +not often come to me, unless it is just as I have shut myself up in my +room, thinking to have a quiet hour with my books. Then she generally +appears, and wants me to ride with her, or play croquet, or see which +dress is most becoming, and I always submit and obey her as if I were +the child instead of herself.</p> + +<p>She is young, and I almost wonder her mother allowed her to marry. Fan +hints that they were mercenary, but if they were they concealed the fact +wonderfully well, and made me think it a great sacrifice on their part +to give me Daisy. And so it was; such a lovely little darling, and so +beautiful. What a sensation she created at Saratoga, and still I was +glad to get away, for<a name="Page_15" id="Page_15"></a> I did not like some things which were done there. +I did not like so many young men around her, nor her dancing those +abominable round dances which she seemed to enjoy so much. "Square +dances were poky," she said, even after I tried them with her for the +sake of keeping her out of that vile John Britton's arms. I have a fancy +that I made a spectacle of myself, hopping about like a magpie, but +Daisy said "I did beautifully," though she cried because I put my foot +on her lace flounce and tore it, and I noticed she ever after had some +good reason why I should not dance again. "It was too hard work for me; +I was too big," she said, "and would tire easily. Cousin Tom was big, +and he never danced."</p> + +<p>By the way, I have some little curiosity with regard to that Cousin Tom +who wanted Daisy so badly and who, because she refused him, went off to +South America. I trust he will stay there. Not that I am or could be +jealous of Daisy, but it is better for cousins like Tom to keep away.</p> + +<p>Daisy is very happy here, though she is not quite so enthusiastic over +the place as I supposed she would be, knowing how she lived at home. +Well enough, it is true, and the McDonalds are intensely respectable, so +she says; but her father's practice cannot bring him over two thousand a +<a name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></a>year, and the small brown house they live in, with only a grass plot in +the rear and at the side, is not to be compared with Elmwood, which is a +fine old place, everyone admits. It has come out gradually that she +thought the house was brick and had a tower and billiard room, and that +we kept more servants, and had a fishpond on the premises, and velvet +carpets all over the house. I would not let Fan know this for the world, +as I want her to like Daisy thoroughly.</p> + +<p>And she does like her, though this little pink and white pet of mine is +a new revelation to her, and puzzles her amazingly. She would have been +glad if I had married Julia Hamilton of Boston; but those Boston girls +are too strong-minded and positive to suit me. Julia is nice, it is +true, and pretty and highly educated, and Fan says she has brains and +would make a splendid wife. As Fan had never seen Daisy she did not, of +course, mean to hint that she had not brains, but I suspect even now she +would be better pleased if Julia were here, but I should not. Julia is +self-reliant; Daisy is not. Julia has opinions of her own and asserts +them, too; Daisy does not. Julia can sew and run a machine; Daisy +cannot. Julia gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night; Daisy +does neither. Nobody ever waits for Julia; everybody <a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></a>waits for Daisy. +Julia reads scientific works and dotes on metaphysics; Daisy does not +know the meaning of the word. In short, Julia is a strong, high-toned, +energetic, independent woman, while Daisy is—a little innocent, +confiding girl, whom I would rather have without brains than all the +Boston women like Julia with brains!</p> + +<p>And yet I sometimes wish she did care for books, and was more interested +in what interests me. I have tried reading aloud to her an hour every +evening, but she generally goes to sleep or steals up behind me to look +over my shoulder and see how near I am to the end of the chapter, and +when I reach it she says: "Excuse me, but I have just thought of +something I must tell Zillah about the dress I want to wear to-morrow. +I'll be back in a moment"; and off she goes, and our reading is ended +for that time, for I notice she never returns. The dress is of more +importance than the book, and I find her at ten or eleven trying to +decide whether black or white or blue is most becoming to her. Poor +Daisy! I fear she had no proper training at home. Indeed, she told me +the other day that from her earliest recollection she had been taught +that the main object of her life was to marry young and to marry money. +Of course she did not mean anything or know <a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></a>how it sounded, but I would +rather she had not said it, even though she had refused a millionaire +for me, who can hardly be called rich as riches are rated these days. If +Dick Trevylian should fail to meet his payment I should be very poor, +and then what would become of Daisy, to whom the luxuries which money +buys are so necessary?</p> + +<p>(Here followed several other entries in the journal, consisting mostly +of rhapsodies on Daisy, and then came the following:)</p> + + +<p class="jentry"><span class="smcap">December</span> 15, 18—.</p> + +<p>Dick has failed to meet his payment, and that after having borrowed of +me twenty thousand more! Is he a villain, and did he know all the time +that I was ruining myself? I cannot think so when I remember that look +on his face as he told me about it and swore to me solemnly that up to +the very last he fully expected relief from England, where he thought he +had a fortune.</p> + +<p>"If I live I will pay you some time," he said; but that does not help me +now. I am a ruined man. Elmwood must be sold, and I must work to earn my +daily bread. For myself I would not mind it much, and Fan, who, +woman-like, saw it <a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></a>in the distance and warned me of it, behaves nobly; +but it falls hard on Daisy.</p> + +<p>Poor Daisy! She never said a word when I told her the exact truth, but +she went to bed and cried for one whole day. I am so glad I settled that +ten thousand on her when we were married. No one can touch that, and I +told her so; but she did not say a word or seem to know what I meant. +Talking or expressing her opinion was never in her line, and she has not +of her own accord spoken with me on the subject, and when I try to talk +with her about our future she shudders and cries, and says, "Please +don't! I can't bear it. I want to go home to mother!"</p> + +<p>And so it was settled that while we are arranging matters she is to +visit her mother and perhaps not return till spring, when I hope to be +in a better condition financially than I am at present.</p> + +<p>One thing Daisy said, which hurt me cruelly, and that was: "If I must +marry poor, I might as well have married Cousin Tom, who wanted me so +badly!" To do her justice, however, she added immediately: "But I like +you the best."</p> + +<p>I am glad she said that. It will be something to remember when she is +gone, or rather when I return without her, as I am going to Indianapolis +with her, and then back to the dreary business of <a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a>seeing what I have +left and what I can do. I have an offer for the house, and shall sell at +once; but where my home will be next, I do not know, neither would I +care so much if it were not for Daisy—poor little Daisy!—who thought +she had married a rich man. The only tears I have shed over my lost +fortune were for her. Oh, Daisy, Daisy!</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<p class="chead">EXTRACTS FROM DAISY'S JOURNAL</p> + + +<p class="jentry"><span class="smcap">Elmwood</span>, December 20, 18—.</p> + +<p>Daisy McDonald Thornton's journal, presented by my husband, Mr. Guy +Thornton, who wishes me to write something in it every day; and when I +asked him what I should write, he said: "Your thoughts, and opinions, +and experiences. It will be pleasant for you some time to look back upon +your early married life and see what progress you have made since then, +and will help you to recall incidents you would otherwise forget. A +journal fixes things in your mind, and I know you will enjoy it, +especially as no one is to see it, and you can talk to it freely as to a +friend."</p> + +<p>That is what Guy said, and I wrote it right down to copy into the book +as a kind of preface or introduction. I am not much pleased with having +to keep a journal, and maybe I shall have Zillah keep it for me. I don't +care to fix things <a name="Page_22" id="Page_22"></a>in my mind. I don't like things fixed, anyway. I'd +rather they would be round loose, as they surely would, if I had not +Zillah to pick them up. She is a treasure, and it is almost worth being +married to have a waiting maid—and that reminds me that I may as well +begin back at the time when I was not married, and did not want to be, +if only we had not been so poor, and obliged to make so many shifts to +seem richer than we were.</p> + +<p>My maiden name was Margaret McDonald, and I am seventeen next New Year's +Day. My father is of Scotch descent, and a lawyer; my mother was a +Barnard, from New Orleans, and has the best blood of the two. I am an +only child, and very handsome—so everybody says—and I should know it +if they did not say it, for can't I see myself in the glass! And still I +really do not care so much for my good looks except as they serve to +attain the end for which father says I was born.</p> + +<p>Almost the first thing I can remember is of his telling me that I must +marry young and marry rich, and I promised him I would, and asked if I +could stay at home with mother just the same after I was married. +Another thing I remember, which made a lasting impression, and that is +the <a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a>beating father gave me for asking before some grand people staying +at our house, "Why we did not always have beefsteak and hot muffins for +breakfast, instead of just baked potatoes and bread and butter."</p> + +<p>I must learn to keep my mouth shut, father said, and not tell all I +knew; and I profited by the lesson, and that is one reason, I suppose, +why I so rarely say what I think, or express an opinion whether +favorable or otherwise.</p> + +<p>I do not believe I am deceitful, though all my life I have seen my +parents try to seem what they are not; that is, try to seem like rich +people, when sometimes father's practice brought him only a few hundreds +a year, and there was mother and myself and Tom to support. Tom is my +cousin—Tom McDonald—who lived with us and fell in love with me, though +I never tried to make him. I liked him ever so much, though he used to +tease me horribly, and put horn-bugs in my shoes, and worms on my neck, +and Jack-o'-lanterns in my room, and tip me off his sled into the snow; +but still I liked him, for with all his teasing he had a great, kind, +unselfish heart, and I shall never forget that look on his face when I +told him I could not be his wife. I did not like him as he liked me, and +I did not want to be married any<a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></a>way, and if I did marry it must be to +some rich man. That was in Chicago, and the night before he started for +South America, where he was going to make his fortune, and he wanted me +to promise to wait for him, and said no one would ever love me as well +as he did.</p> + +<p>I could not promise, because, even if he had all the gold mines in Peru, +I did not care to spend my days with him—to see him morning, noon, and +night, and all the time. It is a good deal to ask of a woman, and I told +him so, and he cried so hard—not loud, but in a pitiful kind of way, +which hurt me cruelly. I hear that sobbing sometimes now in my sleep, +and it's like the moan of the wind round that house on the prairie where +Tom's mother died. Poor Tom! I gave him a lock of my hair and let him +kiss me twice, and then he went away, and after that old Judge Burton +offered himself and his million to me; but I could not endure his bald +head a week, and I told him no, and when father seemed sorry and said I +missed it, I told him I would not sell myself for gold alone. I'd run +away first and go after Tom. Then Guy Thornton came, and—and—well, he +took me by storm, and I liked him better than anyone I ever saw, and I +married him. Everybody said he was rich, and father <a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a>was satisfied and +gave his consent, and bought be a most elaborate trousseau. I wondered +then where the money came from. Now I know that Tom sent it. He has been +very successful with his mine, and in a letter to father sent me a check +for fifteen hundred dollars. Father would not tell me that, but mother +did, and I felt worse, I think, than when I heard the sobbing. Poor Tom! +I never wear one of the dresses now without thinking who paid for it and +wrote, "I am working like an ox for Daisy." Poor, poor Tom!</p> + + +<p class="jentry"><span class="smcap">October</span> 1, 18—.</p> + +<p>I rather like writing in my journal, for here I can say what I think, +and I guess I shall not let Zillah make the entries. Where did I leave +off? Oh, about poor Tom.</p> + +<p>I have had a letter from him. He had just heard of my marriage, and only +said: "God bless you, my darling little Daisy, and may you be very +happy."</p> + +<p>I burned the letter up and cried myself into a headache. I wish people +would not love me so hard. I do not deserve it. There's Guy, my husband, +more to be pitied than Tom, because, you see, he has got me; and, +privately, between <a name="Page_26" id="Page_26"></a>you and me, old journal, I am not worth the getting, +and I know it perhaps better than anyone else. I like Guy and believe +him to be the best man in the world, and I would rather he kissed me +than Tom, but do not want anybody to kiss me; and Guy is so +affectionate, and his great hands are so hot, and muss my fluted dresses +so terribly.</p> + +<p>I guess I don't like to be married anyway. If one only could have the +house, and the money, and the nice things without the man! That's +wicked, of course, when Guy is so kind and loves me so much. I wish he +didn't, but I would not for the world let him know how I feel. I did +tell him that I was not the wife he ought to have, but he would not +believe me, and father was anxious, and so I married him, meaning to do +the best I could. It was splendid at Saratoga, only Guy danced so +ridiculously and would not let me waltz with those young men. As if I +cared a straw for them or any other man besides Guy and Tom!</p> + +<p>It is pleasant here at Elmwood, only the house is not as grand as I +supposed, and there are not as many servants, and the family carriage is +awful poky. Guy is to give me a pretty little phaeton on my birthday.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></a>I like Miss Frances very much, only she is such a raging housekeeper, +and keeps me all the while on the alert. I don't believe in these raging +housekeepers, who act as if they wanted to make the bed before you are +up, and eat breakfast before it is ready. I don't like to get up in the +morning anyway, and I don't like to hurry, and I am always behind, and +keeping somebody waiting, and that disturbs the people here very much. +Miss Frances seems really cross sometimes, and even Guy looks sober and +disturbed when he has waited for me half an hour. I guess I must try and +do better, for both Guy and Miss Frances are as good as they can be, but +then I am not one bit like them, and have never been accustomed to +anything like order and regularity. At home things came round any time, +and I came with them, and that suited me better than this being married, +a great deal, only now I have a kind of settled feeling, and am Mrs. Guy +Thornton, and Guy is good-looking, and highly esteemed, and very +learned, and I can see that the young ladies in the neighborhood envy me +for being his wife. I wonder who is that Julia Hamilton Miss Frances +talks about so much, and why Guy did not marry her instead of me. She, +too, is very learned and gets up in the morning and flies <a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a>round and +reads scientific articles in the <i>Westminster Review</i>. I asked Guy once +why he did not marry her instead of a little goose like me, and he said +he liked the little goose the best, and then kissed me, and crumpled my +white dress all up. Poor Guy! I wish I did love him as well as he does +me, but it's not in me to love any man!</p> + + +<p class="jentry"><span class="smcap">December</span> 20, 18—.</p> + +<p>A horrible thing has happened, and I have married a poor man after all! +Guy signed for somebody and had to pay, and Elmwood must be sold, and we +are to move into a stuffy little house without Zillah, and with only one +girl. It is too dreadful to think about, and I was sick for a week after +Guy told me of it. I might as well have married Tom, only I like Guy the +best. He looks so sorry and sad that I sometimes forget myself to pity +him. I am going home to mother for a long, long time—all winter, +maybe—and I shall enjoy it so much. Guy says I have ten thousand +dollars of my own, and the interest on that will buy my dresses, I +guess, and get something for Miss Frances, too. She is a noble woman, +and tries to bear up so brave. She says they will keep the furniture of +my blue room for <a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a>me, if I want it; and I do, and I mean to have Guy +send it to Indianapolis, if he will. Oh, mother, I am so glad I am +coming back, and I almost wish—no, I don't, either. I like Guy, only I +don't like being married!</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<p class="chead">AUTHOR'S STORY</p> + + +<p>Reader, Guy Thornton was not a fool, and Daisy was not a fool, though I +admit they have thus far appeared to disadvantage. Both had made a great +mistake; Guy in marrying a child whose mind was unformed, and Daisy in +marrying at all, when her whole nature was in revolt against matrimony. +But married they are, and Guy has failed and Daisy is going home, and +the New Year's morning, when she was to have received Guy's gift of the +phaeton and ponies, found her at the little cottage in Indianapolis, +where she at once resumed all the old indolent habits of her girlhood, +and was happier than she had been since leaving home as a bride.</p> + +<p>On the father, Mr. McDonald, the news of his son-in-law's failure fell +like a thunderbolt and affected him more than it did Daisy. Shrewd, +ambitious, and scheming, he had for years planned for his daughter a +moneyed marriage, and now <a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a>she was returned upon his hands for an +indefinite time, with her naturally luxurious tastes intensified by +recent indulgence, and her husband a ruined man. It was not a pleasant +picture to contemplate, and Mr. McDonald's face was cloudy and +thoughtful for many days until a letter from Tom turned his thoughts +into a new channel and sent him with fresh avidity to certain points of +law with which he had of late years been familiar. If there was one part +of his profession in which he excelled more than another it was in the +divorce cases which had made Indiana so notorious. Squire McDonald, as +he was called, was well known to that class of people who, utterly +ignoring God's command, seek to free themselves from the bonds which +once were so pleasant to wear, and now, as he sat alone in his office +with Tom's letter in his hand, and read how rapidly that young man was +getting rich, there came into his mind a plan, the very thought of which +would have made Guy Thornton shudder with horror and disgust.</p> + +<p>Daisy had not been altogether satisfied with her brief married life, and +it would be very easy to make her more dissatisfied, especially as the +home to which she would return must necessarily be very different from +Elmwood, Tom was des<a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a>tined to be a millionaire. There was no doubt of +that, and once in the family he could be molded and managed as the wily +McDonald had never been able to mold or manage Guy. But everything +pertaining to Tom must be kept carefully out of sight, for the man knew +his daughter would never lend herself to such a diabolical scheme as +that which he was revolving, and which he at once put in progress, +managing so adroitly that before Daisy was at all aware of what she was +doing, she found herself the heroine of a divorce suit, founded really +upon nothing but a general dissatisfaction with married life and a wish +to be free from it. Something there was about incompatibility of +temperament and uncongeniality, and all that kind of thing which wicked +men and women parade before the world when weary of the tie which God +has distinctly said shall not be torn asunder.</p> + +<p>It is not our intention to follow the suit through any of its details, +and we shall only say that it progressed rapidly, while poor, +unsuspicious Guy was working hard to retrieve in some way his lost +fortune, and to fit up a pleasant home for the childish wife who was +drifting away from him. He had missed her so much at first, even while +he felt it a relief to have her gone just <a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></a>when his business matters +needed all his time and thought.</p> + +<p>It was some comfort, too, to write to her, but not much to receive her +letters, for Daisy did not excel in epistolary composition, and after a +few weeks her letters were short and far apart, and, as Guy thought, +constrained and studied in their tone, and when, after she had been +absent from him for three months or more his longing to see her was so +great that he decided upon a visit of a few days to the West, and +apprised her of his intention, asking if she would be glad to see him. +He received in reply a telegram from Mr. McDonald telling him to defer +his journey, as Daisy was visiting some friends and would be absent for +an indefinite length of time. There was but one more letter from her and +that was dated at Vincennes, and merely said that she was well, and Guy +must not feel anxious about her or take the trouble to come to see her, +as she knew how valuable his time must be and would far rather he should +devote himself to his business than bother about her. The letter was +signed, "Hastily, Daisy," and Guy read it over many times with a pang in +his heart he could not define.</p> + +<p>But he had no suspicion of the terrible blow <a name="Page_34" id="Page_34"></a>in store for him, and went +on planning for her comfort just the same; and when at last Elmwood was +sold and he could no longer stay there, he hired a more expensive house +than he could afford, because he thought Daisy would like it better, and +then, with his sister Fan, set himself to the pleasant task of fitting +it up for Daisy. There was a blue room with a bay window just as there +had been in Elmwood, only it was not so pretentious and large. But it +was very pleasant and had a door opening out upon what Guy meant should +be a flower garden in the summer, and though he missed his little wife +sadly and longed so much at times for a sight of her beautiful face and +the sound of her sweet voice, he put all thought of himself aside and +said he would not bring her back until the May flowers were in blossom +and the young grass bright and green by the blue room door.</p> + +<p>"She will have a better impression of her new home then," he said to +Fan; "and I want her to be happy here and not feel the change too +keenly."</p> + +<p>Julia Hamilton chanced those days to be in town, and as she was very +intimate with Miss Thornton the two were a great deal together, and it +thus came about that Julia was often at the <a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a>brown cottage and helped to +settle the blue room for Daisy.</p> + +<p>"If it were only you who was to occupy it," Frances said to her one +morning when they had been reading together for an hour or more in the +room they both thought so pleasant. "I like Daisy, but somehow she seems +so far from me. Why, there's not a sentiment in common between us."</p> + +<p>Then, as if sorry for having said so much, she spoke of Daisy's +marvelous beauty and winning ways, and hoped Julia would know and love +her ere long, and possibly do her good.</p> + +<p>It so happened that Guy was sometimes present at these readings, +enjoying them so much that there insensibly crept into his heart a wish +that Daisy was more like the Boston girl whom he had mentally termed +strong-minded.</p> + +<p>"And in time, perhaps, she may be," he thought. "I mean to have Julia +here a great deal next summer, and with two such women for companions as +Julia and Fan, Daisy cannot help but improve."</p> + +<p>And so at last, when the house was settled and the early spring flowers +were in bloom, Guy started westward for his wife. He had not seen her +now for months, and it was more than two <a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></a>weeks since he had heard from +her, and his heart beat high with joyful anticipation as he thought just +how she would look when she came to him, shyly and coyly, as she always +did, with that droop in her eyelids and that pink flush in her cheeks. +He would chide her a little at first, he said, for having been so poor a +correspondent, especially of late, and after that he would love her so +much, and shield her so tenderly from every want or care, that she +should never feel the difference in his fortune.</p> + +<p>Poor Guy—he little dreamed what was in store for him just inside the +door where he stood ringing one morning early in May, and which, when at +last it was opened, shut in a very different man from the one who went +through it three hours later, benumbed and half-crazed with bewilderment +and surprise.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<p class="chead">THE DIVORCE</p> + + +<p>He had expected to meet Daisy in the hall, but she was nowhere in sight, +and she who appeared in response to the card he sent up seemed confused +and unnatural to such a degree that Guy asked in some alarm if anything +had happened, and where Daisy was.</p> + +<p>Nothing had happened—that is—well, nothing was the matter with Daisy, +Mrs. McDonald said, only she was nervous and not feeling quite well that +morning, and thought she had better not come down. They had not expected +him so soon, she continued, and she regretted exceedingly that her +husband was not there, but she had sent for him, and hoped he would come +immediately. Had Mr. Thornton been to breakfast?</p> + +<p>Yes, he had, and he did not understand at all what she meant; if Daisy +could not come to him he must go to her, he said, and he started for the +door, when Mrs. McDonald sprang forward, and, <a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a>laying her hand on his +arm, held him back, saying:</p> + +<p>"Wait, Mr. Thornton; wait till husband comes—to tell you—"</p> + +<p>"Tell me what?" Guy demanded of her, feeling sure now that something had +befallen Daisy.</p> + +<p>"Tell you—that—that—Daisy is—that he has—that—oh, believe me, it +was not my wish, and I don't know now why it was done," Mrs. McDonald +said, still trying to detain Guy and keep him in the room.</p> + +<p>But her efforts were vain, for, shaking off her grasp, Guy opened the +hall door, and with a cry of joy caught Daisy herself in his arms.</p> + +<p>In a state of fearful excitement and very curious to know what was +passing between her mother and Guy, she had stolen downstairs to listen, +and had reached the door just as Guy opened it so suddenly.</p> + +<p>"Daisy, darling, I feared you were sick," he cried, nearly smothering +her with his caresses.</p> + +<p>But Daisy writhed herself away from him, and, putting up her hands to +keep him off, cried out:</p> + +<p>"Oh, Guy, Guy, you can't—you mustn't. You must never kiss me again or +love me any more, because I am—I am not—oh, Guy, I wish you <a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></a>had never +seen me; I am so sorry, too. I did like you. I—I—Guy—Guy—I ain't +your wife any more! Father has got a divorce!"</p> + +<p>She whispered the last words, and then, affrighted at the expression of +Guy's face, fled half-way up the stairs, where she stood looking down +upon him, while, with a face as white as ashes, he, too, stood gazing at +her and trying to frame the words which should ask her what she meant. +He did not believe her literally; the idea was too preposterous, but he +felt that something horrible had come between him and Daisy—that in +some way she was as much lost to him as if he had found her coffined for +the grave, and the suddenness of the blow took from him for a moment his +powers of speech, and he still stood looking at her when the street door +opened and a new actor appeared upon the scene in the person of Mr. +McDonald, who had hastened home in obedience to the message from his +wife.</p> + +<p>It was a principle of Mr. McDonald never to lose his presence of mind or +his temper, or the smooth, low tone of voice he had cultivated years ago +and practiced since with so good effect. And now, though he understood +the state of matters at once and knew that Guy had heard the worst, he +did not seem ruffled in the slightest degree, <a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a>and his voice was just as +kind and sweet as ever as he bade Guy good-morning and advanced to shake +his hand. But Guy would not take it. He had always disliked and +distrusted Mr. McDonald, and he felt intuitively that whatever harm had +befallen him had come through the oily-tongued, insinuating man who +stood smilingly before him. With a gesture of disgust he turned away +from the offered hand, and in a voice husky with suppressed excitement, +asked:</p> + +<p>"What does all this mean, that when, after a separation of months, I +come for my wife I am told that she is not my wife—that there has been +a—a divorce?"</p> + +<p>Guy had brought himself to name the horrid thing, and the very sound of +the word served to make it more real and clear to his mind, and there +were great drops of sweat upon his forehead and about his mouth as he +asked what it meant.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Guy, don't feel so badly. Tell him, father, I did not do it," Daisy +cried, as she stood leaning over the stair-rail and looking down at the +wretched man.</p> + +<p>"Daisy, go to your room. You should not have seen him at all," Mr. +McDonald said, with more sternness of manner than was usual for him.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a>Then, turning to Guy, he continued:</p> + +<p>"Come in here, Mr. Thornton, where we can be alone while I explain to +you what seems so mysterious now."</p> + +<p>They went together into the little parlor, and for half an hour or more +the sound of their voices was distinctly heard as Mr. McDonald tried to +explain what there really was no explanation or excuse for. Daisy was +not contented at Elmwood, and though she complained of nothing, she was +not happy as a married woman, and was glad to be free again. That was +all, and Guy understood at last that Daisy was his no longer; that the +law which was a disgrace to the State in which it existed had divorced +him from his wife without his knowledge or consent, and for no other +reason than incompatibility of temperament, and a desire on Daisy's part +to be free from the marriage tie. Not a word had been said of Guy's +altered fortunes, but he felt that his comparative poverty was really +the cause of this great wrong, and for a few moments resentment and +indignation prevailed over every other feeling; then, when he remembered +the little blue-eyed, innocent-faced girl whom he had loved so much and +thought so good and true, he laid his head upon the sofa arm and groaned +bitterly, while the <a name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></a>man who had ruined him sat coolly by, citing to him +many similar cases where divorces had been procured without the +knowledge of the absent party. It was a common—a very common thing, he +said, and reflected no disgrace upon either party where there was no +criminal charge. Daisy was too young and childish anyway, and ought not +to have been married for several years, and it was really quite as much +a favor to Guy as a wrong. He was free again—free to marry if he +liked—he had taken care to see to that, so—</p> + +<p>"Stop!" Guy almost thundered out. "There is a point beyond which you +shall not go. Be satisfied with taking Daisy from me, and do not insult +me with talk of a second marriage. Had I found Daisy dead it would have +hurt me less than this fearful wrong you have done. I say you, for I +charge it all to you. Daisy could have had no part in it, and I ask to +see her and hear from her own lips that she accepts the position in +which you and your diabolical laws have placed her before I am willing +to give her up. Call her, will you?"</p> + +<p>"No, Mr. Thornton," Mr. McDonald replied. "To see Daisy would be useless +and only excite you more than you are excited now. You cannot see her."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></a>"Yes, he will, father. If Guy wants to see me, he shall."</p> + +<p>It was Daisy herself who spoke, and who a second time had been acting +the part of listener. Going up to Guy, she knelt down beside him, and, +laying her arms across his lap, said to him:</p> + +<p>"What is it, Guy? what is it you wish to say to me?"</p> + +<p>The sight of her before him in all her girlish beauty, with that soft, +sweet expression on the face raised so timidly to his, unmanned Guy +entirely, and, clasping her in his arms, he wept passionately for a +moment, while he tried to say:</p> + +<p>"Oh, Daisy, my darling, tell me it is a horrid dream; tell me you are +still my wife, and go with me to the home I have tried to make so +pleasant for your sake. It is not like Elmwood, but I will some time +have one handsomer even than that, and I'll work so hard for you! Oh, +Daisy, tell me you are sorry for the part you had in this fearful +business, if, indeed, you had a part, and I'll take you back so gladly! +Will you, Daisy? will you be my wife once more? I shall never ask you +again. This is your last chance with me. Reflect before you throw it +away."</p> + +<p>Guy's mood was changing a little, because of <a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></a>something he saw in +Daisy's face—a drawing back from him when he spoke of marriage.</p> + +<p>"Daisy must not go back with you; I shall not suffer that," Mr. McDonald +said, while Daisy, still keeping her arms around Guy's neck, where she +had put them when he drew her to him, replied:</p> + +<p>"Oh, Guy! I can't go with you now; but I shall like you always, and I'm +so sorry for you. I never wanted to be married; but if I must, I'd +better have married Tom, or that old Chicago man; they would not feel so +bad, and I'd rather hurt them than you."</p> + +<p>The utter childishness of the remark roused Guy, and with a gesture of +impatience, he put Daisy from him, and, rising to his feet, said +angrily:</p> + +<p>"This, then is your decision, and I accept it; but, Daisy, if you have +in you a spark of true womanhood you will some time be sorry for this +day's work; while you!" and he turned fiercely upon Mr. McDonald—"words +cannot express the contempt I feel for you; and know, too, that I +understand you fully, and am certain that were I the rich man I was when +you gave your daughter to me, you would not have taken her away. But I +will waste no more words upon <a name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></a>you. You are a villain! and Daisy is—" +His white lips quivered a little as he hesitated a moment, and then +added: "Daisy was my wife."</p> + +<p>Then, without another word, he left the house, nor saw the white, +frightened face which looked after him so wistfully until a turn in the +street hid him from view.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<p class="chead">EXTRACTS FROM DIARIES</p> + + +<p class="extract"><i>Extract 1st</i>—<i>Mr. McDonald's.</i></p> + + +<p class="jentry"><span class="smcap">May</span> —.</p> + +<p>Well, that matter is over, and I can't say I am sorry, for the +expression in that Thornton's eye I do not care to meet a second time. +There was mischief in it, and it made one think of six-shooters and cold +lead. I never quite indorsed the man—first, because he was not as rich +as I would like Daisy's husband to be, and, second, because even if he +had been a millionaire it would have done me no good. That he did not +marry Daisy's family, he made me fully understand, and for any good his +money did me, I was as poor after the marriage as before. Then he must +needs lose all he had in that foolish way, and when I found that Daisy +was not exceedingly in love with married life, it was natural that, as +her father, I should take advantage of the laws of the State in which I +live, especially as Tom is growing rich so fast. On the whole, I have +done <a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></a>a good thing. Daisy is free, with ten thousand dollars that +Thornton settled on her, for, of course, I shall prevent her giving that +back, as she is determined to do, saying it is not hers, and she will +not keep it. It is hers, and she shall keep it, and Tom will be a +millionaire if that gold mine proves as great a success as it seems now +to be, and I can manage Tom, and, as I said before, I've done a nice +thing after all.</p> + + +<p class="extract"><i>Extract 2nd</i>—<i>Miss Thornton's</i>.</p> + +<p class="jentry"><span class="smcap">June</span> 30, 18—.</p> + +<p>To-day, for the first time, we have hopes that my brother will live; +but, oh! how near he has been to the gates of death since that night +when he came back to us from the West, with a fearful look on his face +and a cruel stab in his heart. I say us, for Julia Hamilton has been +with me all through the dreadful days and nights when I watched to see +Guy's life go out and know I was left alone. She was with me when I was +getting ready for Daisy and waiting for Guy to bring her home—not to +Elmwood—that dear old place is sold and strangers walk the rooms I love +so well—but here to the brown cottage on the hill, which, if I had +never had Elmwood, would seem so pleasant to me.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a>And it is pleasant here, especially in Daisy's room, which we shall +never use, for the door is shut and bolted, and it seems each time I +pass it as if a dead body were inside. Had Guy died I would have laid +him there and sent for that false creature to come and see her work. I +promised her so much, but not from any love, for my heart was full of +bitterness that night when I turned her from the door out into the rain. +I shall never tell Guy that—never, lest he should soften toward her, +and I would not have her here again for all the world contains. And yet +I did like her, and was looking forward to her return with a good deal +of pleasure. Julia had spoken many a kind word for her, had pleaded her +extreme youth as an excuse for her faults, and had led me to hope for +better things when time had matured her somewhat and she had become +accustomed to our new mode of life.</p> + +<p>And so I hoped and waited for her and Guy, and wondered I did not hear +from him, and felt so glad and happy when I received the telegram, +"Shall be home to-night." It was a bright day in May, but the evening +set in cool, with a feeling of rain in the air, and I had a fire kindled +in the parlor and in Daisy's room, for I remembered how she used to +crouch on the rug before the <a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></a>grate and watch the blaze floating up the +chimney with all the eagerness of a child. Then, although it hurt me +sorely, I went to Simpson, who bought our carriage, and asked that it +might be sent to the station so that Daisy should not feel the +difference at once. And Jerry, our old coachman, went with it and waited +there just as Julia and I waited at home, for Julia had promised to stay +a few weeks and see what Daisy was like.</p> + +<p>The train was late that night, an hour behind time, and the spring rain +was falling outside and the gas was lighted within when I heard the +sound of wheels stopping at the door and went to meet my brother. But +only my brother. There was no Daisy with him. He came in alone, with +such an awful look on his white face as made me cry out with alarm.</p> + +<p>"What it is, Guy, and where is Daisy?" I asked, as he staggered against +the banister, where he leaned heavily.</p> + +<p>He did not answer my question, but said, "Take me to my room," in a +voice I would never have known for Guy's. I took him to his room, made +him lie down, and brought him a glass of wine, and then, when he was +strong enough to tell it, listened to the shameful story, and felt that +henceforth and forever I must and would <a name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a>hate the woman who had wounded +my Guy so cruelly.</p> + +<p>And still there is some good in her—some sense of right and wrong, as +was shown by a strange thing which happened when Guy was at the worst of +the terrible fever which followed his coming home. I watched him day and +night, I would not even let Julia Hamilton share my vigils, and one +night when I was worn out with fatigue and anxiety I fell asleep upon +the lounge, where I threw myself for a moment. How long I slept I never +knew, but it must have been an hour or more, for the last thing I +remember was hearing the whistle of the Western train and the sighing of +the wind, which sounded like rain, and when I awoke the rain was falling +heavily and the clock was striking twelve, which was an hour after the +train was due. It was very quiet in the room, and darker than usual, for +someone had shaded the lamp from my eyes as well as Guy's so that at +first I did not see distinctly, but I had an impression that there was a +figure sitting by Guy near the bed. Julia, most likely, I thought, and I +called her by name, feeling my blood curdle in my veins and my heart +stand still with something like fear when a voice I knew so well and +never expected to hear again, answered softly:</p> + +<p><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></a>"It is not Julia. It's me!"</p> + +<p>There was no faltering in her voice, no sound of apology. She spoke like +one who had a right there, and this it was which angered me and made me +lose my self-command. Starting to my feet, I confronted her where she +sat in my chair, by Guy's bedside, with those queer blue eyes of hers +fixed so questioningly upon me as if she wondered at my impertinence.</p> + +<p>"Miss McDonald," I said, laying great stress on the name, "why are you +here, and how did you dare come?"</p> + +<p>"I was almost afraid, it was so dark when I left the train, and it kept +thundering so," she replied, mistaking my meaning altogether, "but there +was no conveyance at the station, and so I came on alone. I never knew +Guy was sick. Is he very bad?"</p> + +<p>Her perfect composure and utter ignoring of the past provoked me beyond +endurance, and without stopping to think what I was doing, I seized her +arm, and drawing her into an adjoining room, said, in a suppressed +whisper of rage:</p> + +<p>"Very bad—I should think so. We have feared and still fear he will die, +and it's all your work, the result of your wickedness, and yet you +presume to come here into his very room—you <a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a>who are no wife of his, and +no woman, either, to do what you have done."</p> + +<p>What more I said I do not remember. I only know Daisy put her hands to +her head in a scared, helpless way, and said:</p> + +<p>"I do not quite understand it all, or what you wish me to do."</p> + +<p>"Do?" I replied. "I want you to leave this house to-night—now, before +Guy can possibly be harmed by your presence. Go back to the depot and +take the next train home. It is due in an hour. You have time to reach +it."</p> + +<p>"But it's so dark, and it rains and thunders so," she said, with a +shudder, as a heavy peal shook the house and the rain beat against the +windows.</p> + +<p>I think I must have been crazy with mad excitement, and her answer made +me worse.</p> + +<p>"You were not afraid to come here," I said. "You can go from here as +well. Thunder will not hurt such as you."</p> + +<p>Even then she did not move, but crouched in a corner of the room +farthest from me, reminding me of my kitten when I try to drive it from +a place where it has been permitted to play. As that will not understand +my scats and gestures, so she did not seem to comprehend my meaning.<a name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></a> +But I made her at last, and with a very white face and a strange look in +her great, staring blue eyes, she said:</p> + +<p>"Fanny" (she always called me Miss Frances before), "Fanny, do you +really mean me to go back in the dark and the rain and the thunder? Then +I will, but I must tell you first what I came for, and you will tell +Guy. He gave me ten thousand dollars when we first were married; settled +it on me, they called it, and father was one of the trustees and kept +the paper for me till I was of age. So much I understand, but not why I +can't give it back to Guy, for father says I can't. I never dreamed it +was mine after the—the—the divorce."</p> + +<p>She spoke the word softly and hesitatingly, while a faint flush showed +on her otherwise white face.</p> + +<p>"If I am not Guy's wife, as they say, then I have no right to his money, +and I told father so, and said I'd give it back, and he said I couldn't, +and I said I could and would, and I wrote to Guy about it, told him I +was not so mean, and father kept the letter, and I did not know what I +should do next till I was invited to visit Aunt Merriman in Detroit. +Then I took the paper—the settlement, you know, from the box where +father <a name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></a>kept it and put it in my pocket; here it is—see," and she drew +out a document and held it toward me while she continued: "I started for +Detroit under the care of a friend who stopped a few miles the other +side, so you see I was free to come here if I liked, and I did so, for I +wanted to see Guy and give him the paper, and tell him I'd never take a +cent of his money. I am sorry he is sick. I did not think he'd care so +much, and I don't know what to do with the paper unless I tear it up. I +believe I'd better; then, surely, it will be out of the way."</p> + +<p>And before I could speak or think she tore the document in two, and then +across again, and scattered the four pieces on the floor.</p> + +<p>"Tell Guy, please," she continued, "what I have done, and that I never +meant to take it, after—after—that—you know—and that I did not care +for money only as father taught me I must have it, and that I am sorry +he ever saw me, and I never really wanted to be married and can't be his +wife again till I do."</p> + +<p>She spoke as if Guy would take her back of course if she only signified +her wish to come, and this kept me angry, though I was beginning to +soften a little with this unexpected phase of her character, and I might +have suffered her to stay <a name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></a>till morning if she had signified a wish to +do so, but she did not.</p> + +<p>"I suppose I must go now if I would catch the train," she said, moving +toward the door. "Good-by, Fanny. I am sorry I ever troubled you."</p> + +<p>She held her little white, ungloved hand toward me, and then I came to +myself, and, hearing the wind and rain, and remembering the lonely road +to the station, I said to her:</p> + +<p>"Stay, Daisy, I cannot let you go alone. Miss Hamilton will watch with +Guy while I go with you."</p> + +<p>"And who will go with you? It will be just as dark and rainy then," she +said; but she made no objection to my plan, and in less than five +minutes Julia, who always slept in her dressing-gown so as to be ready +for any emergency, was sitting by Guy, and I was out in the dark night +with Daisy and our watchdog Leo, who, at sight of his old playmate, had +leaped upon her and nearly knocked her down in his joy.</p> + +<p>"Leo is glad to see me," Daisy said, patting the dumb creature's head, +and in her voice there was a rebuking tone, which I resented silently.</p> + +<p>I was not glad to see her, and I could not act a part, but I wrapped my +waterproof around her <a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a>and adjusted the hood over her flowing hair, and +thought how beautiful she was, even in that disfiguring garb, and then +we went on our way, the young creature clinging close to me as peal +after peal of thunder rolled over our heads, and gleams of lightning lit +up the inky sky. She did not speak to me, nor I to her, till the red +light on the track was in sight, and we knew the train was coming. Then +she asked timidly. "Do you think Guy will die?"</p> + +<p>"Heaven only knows," I said, checking a strong impulse to add: "If he +does, you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you killed him."</p> + +<p>I was glad now that I did not say it. And I was glad then, when Daisy, +alarmed perhaps by something in the tone of my voice, repeated her +question:</p> + +<p>"But do you think he will die? If I thought he would I should wish to +die, too. I like him, Miss Frances, better than anyone I ever saw; like +him now as well as I ever did, but I do not want to be his wife, nor +anybody's wife, and that is just the truth. I am sorry he ever saw me +and loved me so well. Tell him that, Fanny."</p> + +<p>It was Fanny again and she grasped my hand nervously, for the train was +upon us.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a>"Promise me solemnly that if you think he is surely going to die you +will let me know in time to see him once more. Promise—quick—and kiss +me as a pledge."</p> + +<p>The train had stopped. There was not a moment to lose, and I promised, +and kissed the red lips in the darkness, and felt a remorseful pang when +I saw the little figure go alone into the car which bore her swiftly +away, while I turned my steps homeward with only Leo for my companion.</p> + +<p>I had to tell Julia about it, and I gathered up the four scraps of paper +from the floor where Daisy had thrown them, and, joining them together, +saw they really were the marriage settlement, and kept them for Guy, +should he ever be able to hear about it and know what it meant. There +was a telegram for me the next evening, dated at Detroit, and bearing +simply the words, "Arrived safely," and that was all I heard of Daisy. +No one in town knew of her having been here but Julia and myself, and it +was better that they should not, for Guy's life hung on a thread, and +for many days and nights I trembled lest that promise, sealed by a kiss, +would have to be redeemed.</p> + +<p>That was three weeks ago, and Guy is better <a name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></a>now and knows us all, and +to-day, for the first time, I have a strong hope that I am not to be +left alone, and I thank Heaven for that hope, and feel as if I were at +peace with all the world, even with Daisy herself, from whom I have +heard nothing since that brief telegram.</p> + + +<p class="jentry"><span class="smcap">August</span> 1, ——.</p> + +<p>The shadow of death has passed from our house, and I may almost say the +shadow of sickness, too, for though Guy is still weak as a child and +thin as a ghost, he is decidedly on the gain, and to-day I drove him out +for the third time, and felt from something he said that he was +beginning to feel some interest in the life so kindly given back to him. +Still he will never be just the same. The blow stunned him too +completely for him to recover quite his old hopeful, happy manner, and +there is a look of age in his face which pains me to see. He knows Daisy +has been here, and why. I had to tell him all about it, and sooner, too, +than I meant. Almost his first coherent question to me after his reason +came back was:</p> + +<p>"Where is Daisy? I am sure I heard her voice. It could not have been a +dream. Is she here, or has she been here? Tell me the truth, Fanny."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59"></a>So I told him, though I did not mean to, and showed him the bits of +paper, and held his head on my bosom while he cried like a little child. +How he loves her yet, and how glad he was to know that she was not as +mercenary as it would at first seem. Not that her tearing up that paper +will make any difference about the money. She cannot give it to him, he +says, until she is of age, neither does he wish it at all, and he would +not take it from her; but he is glad to see her disposition in the +matter; glad to have me think better of her than I did, and I am certain +that he is half expecting to hear from her every day and is disappointed +that he does not. He did not reproach me when I told him about turning +her out in the rain; he only said:</p> + +<p>"Poor Daisy, did she get very wet? She is so delicate, you know. I hope +it did not make her sick."</p> + +<p>Oh, the love a man will feel for a woman, let her be ever so unworthy. I +cannot comprehend it. And why should I—an old maid like me, who never +loved anyone but Guy?</p> + + +<p class="jentry"><span class="smcap">August</span> 30, ——.</p> + +<p>In a roundabout way we have heard that Mr. McDonald is going away with +his wife and <a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a>daughter. When the facts of the divorce were known they +brought him into such disgrace with the citizens of Indianapolis that he +thought it best to leave for a time till the storm blows over, and so +they will go to South America, where there is a cousin Tom, who is +growing rich very fast. I cannot help certain thoughts coming into my +mind any more than I can help being glad that Daisy is going out of the +country. Guy never mentions her now, and is getting to look and act +quite like himself. If only he could forget her we might be very happy +again, as Heaven grant we may.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<p class="chead">FIVE YEARS LATER</p> + + +<p class="blockquot">"Married, this morning, at St. Paul's Church, by the Rev. Dr. ——, +assisted by the rector, Guy Thornton, Esq., of Cuylerville, to Miss +Julia Hamilton, of this city."</p> + +<p>Such was the notice which appeared in a daily Boston paper one lovely +morning in September five years after the last entry in Miss Thornton's +journal. Guy had reached the point at last when he could put Daisy from +his heart and take another in her place. He had never seen her or heard +directly from her since the night she brought him the marriage +settlement and tore it in pieces, thinking thus to give it to him beyond +a doubt. That this did not change the matter one whit he knew just as he +knew she could not give him the ten thousand dollars settled upon her +until she was of age. She was of age now, and had been for a year or +more, and, to say the <a name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></a>truth, he had expected to hear from her when she +was twenty-one. To himself he had reasoned in this wise: Her father told +her that the tearing up that paper made no difference, that she was +powerless of herself to act until she was of age, so she will wait +quietly till then before making another effort. And in his heart Guy +thought how he would not take a penny from her, but would insist upon +her keeping it. Still he should respect her all the more for her sense +of justice and generosity, he thought, and when her twenty-first +birthday came and passed, and week after week went by, and brought no +sign from Daisy, there was a pang in his heart and a look of +disappointment on his face which did not pass away until October hung +her gorgeous colors upon the hills of Cuylerville, and Julia Hamilton +came to the Brown Cottage to spend a few weeks with his sister.</p> + +<p>From an independent, self-reliant, energetic girl of twenty-two Julia +had ripened into a noble and dignified woman of twenty-seven, with a +quiet repose of manner which seemed to rest and quiet one, and which +told insensibly on Guy, until at last he found himself dreading to have +her go and wishing to keep her with him always. The visit was lengthened +into a month; and when in<a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></a> November he went with her to Boston he had +asked her to take Daisy's place, and she had said she would. Very freely +they had talked of the little golden-haired girl, and Julia told him +what she had heard of her through a mutual acquaintance who had been on +the same vessel with the McDonalds when they returned from South +America. Cousin Tom was with them, a rich man then and a richer now, for +his gold mine and his railroad had made him almost a millionaire, and it +was currently reported and believed that Mr. McDonald designed him for +his daughter. They were abroad now, the McDonalds and Tom, who bore the +expenses of the party. Daisy, it was said, was even more beautiful than +in her early girlhood, and to her loveliness were added cultivation and +refinement of manner. She had had the best of teachers while in South +America, and was now continuing her studies abroad with a view to +further improvement. All this Julia Hamilton told Guy, and then bade him +think again ere deciding to join her life with his.</p> + +<p>And Guy did think again, and his thoughts went across the sea after the +beautiful Daisy, and he tried to picture to himself what she must be, +now that education and culture had set their seal upon her. But always +in the picture there was a <a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a>dark background, where cousin Tom stood +sentinel with his bags of gold, and so, with a half-unconscious sigh for +what "might have been," Guy dug still deeper the grave where years +before he had buried his love for Daisy, and to make the burial sure +this time, so that there should be no future resurrection, he put over +the grave a head-stone on which were written a new hope and a new love, +both of which centered in Julia Hamilton. And so they were engaged, and +after that there was no wavering on his part—no looking back to a past +which seemed like a happy dream from which there had been a horrible +awaking.</p> + +<p>He loved Julia at first quietly and sensibly, and loved her more and +more as the winter and spring went by and brought the day when he stood +again at the altar and for the second time took upon him the marriage +vow. It was a very quiet wedding, with only a few friends present, and +Miss Frances was the bridesmaid, in a gown of silver gray; but Julia's +face was bright with the certainty of a happiness long desired; and if +in Guy's heart there lingered the odor of other bridal flowers, withered +now and dead, and the memory of other marriage bells than those which +sent their music on the air that summer morning, and if a pair of sunny +blue eyes looked into his instead of<a name="Page_65" id="Page_65"></a> Julia's darker ones, he made no +sign, and his face wore an expression of perfect content as he took his +second bride for better or worse, just as he once had taken little +Daisy. In her case it had proved all for the worse, but now there was a +suitableness in the union which boded future happiness, and many a +hearty wish for good was sent after the newly married pair, whose +destination was New York.</p> + +<p>It was nearly dark when they reached the hotel and quite dark before +dinner was over. Then Julia suddenly remembered that an old friend of +hers was boarding in the house, and suggested going to her room.</p> + +<p>"I'd send my card," she said blushingly, "only she would not know me by +the new name, so if you do not mind my leaving you a moment I'll go and +find her myself."</p> + +<p>Guy did not mind, and Julia went out and left him alone. Scarcely was +she gone when he called to mind a letter which had been forwarded to him +from Cuylerville, and which he had found awaiting him on his return from +the church. Not thinking it of much consequence he had thrust it in his +pocket and in the excitement forgotten it till now. He had dressed for +dinner and worn his wedding coat, and he took the letter <a name="Page_66" id="Page_66"></a>out and looked +at it a moment, and wondered whom it was from, as people ofttimes do +wait and wonder, when breaking the seal would settle the wonder so soon. +It was postmarked in New York, and felt heavy in his hand, and he opened +it at last and found that the outer envelope inclosed another one on +which his name and address were written in a handwriting once so +familiar to him, and the sight of which made him start and breathe +heavily for a moment as if the air had suddenly grown thick and +burdensome.</p> + +<p>Daisy's handwriting! which he had never thought to see again; for after +his engagement with Julia he had burned every vestige of a +correspondence it was sorrow now to remember. One by one, and with a +steady hand, he had dropped Daisy's letters into the fire and watched +them turning into ashes, and thought how like his love for her they were +when nothing remained of them but the thin gray tissue his breath could +blow away. The four scraps of the marriage settlement which Daisy had +brought him on that night of storm he kept, because they seemed to +embody something good and noble in the girl; but the letters she had +written him were gone past recall, and he had thought himself cut loose +from her forever—when, lo! there had come to him an <a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></a>awakening to the +bitterness of the past in a letter from the once-loved wife, whose +delicate handwriting made him grow faint and sick for a moment as he +held the letter in his hand and read thereon:</p> + +<p style="margin-left:3em;"> +"<span class="smcap">Guy Thornton, Esq.,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left:3em;">Brown Cottage,<br /></span> +<span style="margin-left:6em;">Cuylerville, Mass.<br /></span> +Politeness of Mr. Wilkes."<br /> +</p> + +<p>Why had she written, and what had she to say to him, he wondered, and +for a moment he felt tempted to tear the letter up and never know what +it contained.</p> + +<p>Better, perhaps, had he done so—better for him, and better for the fond +new wife whose happiness was so perfect, and whose trust in his love so +strong.</p> + +<p>But he did not tear it up. He opened it and read—another chapter will +tell us what he read.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<p class="chead">DAISY'S LETTER</p> + + +<p>It was dated at Rouen, France, and it ran as follows:</p> + + +<p class="jentry">"<span class="smcap">May</span> 15, 18—.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Dear, Dear Guy</span>:—I am all alone here in Rouen; not a person +near me who speaks English or knows a thing of Daisy Thornton as she +was, or as she is now, for I am Daisy Thornton here. I have taken the +old name again, and am an English governess in a wealthy French family; +and this is how it came about: I have left Berlin and the party there +and am earning my own living for three reasons, two of which concern +cousin Tom and one of which has to do with you and that miserable +settlement which has troubled me so much. I thought when I brought it +back and tore it up that was the last of it, and did not know that by no +act of mine could I give it to you until I was of age. Father missed it, +of course, and I told him just th<a name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></a>e truth, and that I could never touch a +penny of your money and I not your wife. He did not say a word, and I +supposed it was all right, and never dreamed that I was actually clothed +and fed on the interest of that ten thousand dollars. Father would not +tell me and you did not write. Why didn't you, Guy? I expected a letter +so long, and went to the office so many times and cried a little to +myself, and said Guy has forgotten me.</p> + +<p>"Then we went to South Africa—father, mother, and I—went to live with +Tom. He wanted me before you did, you know, but I could not marry Tom. +He is very rich now, and we lived with him; and then we all came to +Europe and have traveled everywhere, and I have had teachers in +everything, and people say I am a fine scholar and praise me much; and, +Guy, I have tried to improve just to please you; believe me, Guy, just +to please you. Tom was as a brother—a dear, good big bear of a brother +whom I loved as such, but nothing more. Even were you dead, I could not +marry Tom after knowing you; and I told him so when in Berlin he asked +me for the sixth time to be his wife. I had to tell him something hard +to make him understand, and when I saw how what I said hurt him cruelly +and made him cry—because he was such a great, <a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></a>big, awkward, dear old +fellow, I put my arms around his neck and cried with him, and tried to +explain, and that made him ten times worse. Oh, if folks only would not +love me so it would save me so much sorrow.</p> + +<p>"You see, I tell you this because I want you to know exactly what I have +been doing these five years, and that I have never thought of marrying +Tom or anybody. I did not think I could. I felt that if I belonged to +anybody it was you, and I cannot have Tom; and father was very angry and +taunted me with living on Tom's money, which I did not know before, and +he accidentally let out about the marriage settlement, and that hurt me +worse than the other.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Guy, how can I give it up? Surely there must be a way, now I am of +age. I was so humiliated about it, and after all that passed between +father and Tom and me I could not stay in Berlin and never be sure whose +money was paying for my bread, and when I heard that Madame Lafarcade, a +French lady, who had spent the winter in Berlin, was wanting an English +governess for her children, I went to her, and, as the result, am here +at this beautiful country-seat, just out of the city, earning my own +living and feeling so proud to do it; only, Guy, there is an ache in <a name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></a>my +heart, a heavy, throbbing pain which will not leave me day or night, and +this is how it came there.</p> + +<p>"Mother wrote that you were about to marry Miss Hamilton. Letters from +home brought her the news, which she thinks is true. Oh, Guy, it is not, +it cannot be true! You must not go quite away from me now just as I am +coming back to you. For, Guy, I am—or rather, I have come, and a great +love, such as I never felt before, fills me full almost to bursting. I +always liked you, Guy; but when we were married I did not know what it +was to love—to feel my pulses quicken as they do just now at thought of +you. If I had, how happy I could have made you, but I was a silly little +girl, and married life was distasteful to me, and I was willing to be +free, though always, way down in my heart, was something which protested +against it, and if you knew just how I was influenced and led on +insensibly to assent, you would not blame me so much. The word divorce +had an ugly sound to me, and I did not like it, and I have always felt +as if bound to you just the same. It would not be right for me to marry +Tom, even if I wanted to, which I do not. I am yours, Guy—only yours, +and all these years I have studied and improved for your <a name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></a>sake, without +any fixed idea, perhaps, as to what I expected or hoped. But when Tom +spoke the last time it came to me suddenly what I was keeping myself +for, and, just as a great body of water, when freed from its prison +walls, rolls rapidly down a green meadow, so did a mighty love for you +take possession of me and permeate my whole being until every nerve +quivered for joy, and when Tom was gone I went away alone and cried more +for my new happiness, I am afraid, than for him, poor fellow. And yet I +pitied him, too; as I could not stay in Berlin after that I came away to +earn money enough to take me back to you. For I am coming, or I was +before I heard that dreadful news which I cannot believe.</p> + +<p>"Is it true, Guy? Write and tell me it is not, and that you love me +still and want me back, or, if it in part is true, and you are engaged +to Julia, show her this letter and ask her to give you up, even if it is +the very day before the wedding—for you are mine, and, sometimes, when +the children are troublesome, and I am so tired and sorry and homesick, +I have such a longing for a sight of your dear face, and think if I +could only lay my aching head in your lap once more I should never know +pain or weariness again.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></a>"Try me, Guy. I will be so good and loving and make you so happy—and +your sister, too—I was a bother to her once. I'll be a comfort now. +Tell her so, please; tell her to bid me come. Say the word yourself, +and, almost before you know it, I'll be there.</p> + +<p> +"Truly, lovingly, waitingly, your wife,<br /> +<span class="smcap" style="margin-left:3em;">Daisy</span>.<br /> +</p> + +<p>"P.S.—To make sure of this letter's safety I shall send it to New York +by a friend, who will mail it to you.</p> + +<p> +"Again, lovingly.<br /> +<span class="smcap" style="margin-left:3em;">Daisy Thornton</span>."<br /> +</p> + +<p>This was Daisy's letter which Guy read with such a pang in his heart as +he had never known before, even when he was smarting the worst from +wounded love and disappointed hopes. Then he had said to himself, "I can +never suffer again as I am suffering now," and now, alas, he felt how +little he knew of that pain which rends the heart and takes the breath +away.</p> + +<p>"God help her!" he moaned, his first thought, his first prayer, for +Daisy, the girl who called herself his wife, when just across the hall, +only a few rods away, was the bride of a few hours—another woman who +bore his name and called him her husband.<a name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></a></p> + +<p>With a face as pale as ashes and hands which shook like palsied hands, +he read again that pathetic cry from her whom he now felt he had never +ceased to love; aye, whom he loved still, and whom, if he could, he +would have taken to his arms so gladly and loved and cherished as the +priceless thing he had once thought her to be. The first moments of +agony which followed the reading of the letter were Daisy's wholly, and +in bitterness of soul the man she had cast off and thought to take again +cried out, as he stretched his arms toward an invisible form: "Too late, +darling—too late. But had it come two months, one month, or even one +week ago, I would—would—have gone to you over land and sea, but +now—another is in your place, another is my wife; Julia—poor, innocent +Julia. God help me to keep my vow; God help me in my need!"</p> + +<p>He was praying now; Julia was the burden of his prayer. And as he prayed +there came into his heart an unutterable tenderness and pity for her. He +had thought he loved her an hour ago! he believed he loved her now, or, +if he did not, he would be to her the kindest, most thoughtful of +husbands, and never let her know, by word or sign, of the terrible pain +he should always carry in his heart. "Darling Daisy; poor Julia<a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></a>!" was +what to himself he designated the two women who were both so much to +him. To the first his love, to the other his tender care, for she was +worthy of it. She was noble, and good, and womanly; he said it many +times, and tried to stop the rapid heart throbs and quiet himself down +to meet her when she should come to him with her frank, open face and +smile, in which there was no shadow of guile. She was coming now; he +heard her voice in the hall speaking to her friend, and, thrusting the +fatal letter in his pocket, he rose to his feet, and steadying himself +upon the table stood waiting for her, as, flushed and eager, she came +in.</p> + +<p>"Guy—Guy—what is it? Are you sick?" she asked, alarmed at the pallor +on his face and the strange expression of his eyes.</p> + +<p>He was glad she had thus construed his agitation, and he answered that +he was faint and a little sick.</p> + +<p>"It came on suddenly, while I was sitting here. It will pass off as +suddenly," he said, trying to smile, and holding out his hand, which she +took at once in hers.</p> + +<p>"Is it your heart, Guy? Do you think it is your heart?" she continued, +as she rubbed and caressed his cold, clammy hand.<a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></a></p> + +<p>A shadow of pain or remorse flitted across Guy's face as he replied:</p> + +<p>"I think it is my heart, but I assure you there is no danger—the worst +is over. I am a great deal better."</p> + +<p>And he was better with that fair girl beside him, her face glowing with +excitement and her soft hands pressing his. Perfectly healthy herself, +she must have imparted some life and vigor to him, for he felt his pulse +grow steadier beneath her touch, and the blood flow more easily through +his veins.</p> + +<p>If only he could forget that crumpled letter which lay in his vest +pocket and seemed to burn into his flesh; forget that and the young girl +across the sea, watching for an answer and the one word "Come!" he might +be happy yet, for Julia was one whom any man could love and be proud to +call his wife. And Guy said to himself that he did love her, though not +as he once loved Daisy, or as he could love her again were he free to do +so, and because of that full love withheld he made a mental vow that his +whole life should be given to her happiness, so that she might never +know any care or sorrow from which he could shield her.<a name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></a></p> + +<p>"And Daisy?" something whispered in his ear.</p> + +<p>"I must and will forget her," he sternly answered, and the arm he had +thrown around Julia, who was sitting with him upon the sofa, tightened +its grasp until she winced and moved a little from him.</p> + +<p>He was very talkative that evening, and asked his wife many questions +about her friends and the shopping she wished to do, and the places they +were to visit; and Julia, who had hitherto regarded him as a great, +silent man, given to few words, wondered at the change, and watched the +bright red spots on his cheeks, and thought how she would manage to have +medical advice for that dreadful heart disease which had come like a +nightmare to haunt her bridal days.</p> + +<p>Next morning there came a Boston paper containing a notice of the +marriage, and this Guy sent to Daisy, with only the faint tracing of a +pencil to indicate the paragraph. "Better so than to write," he thought; +though he longed to add the words, "Forgive me, Daisy; your letter came +too late."</p> + +<p>And so the paper was sent, and after a week or two Guy went back to his +home in Cuylerville, and the blue rooms which Julia had fitted up for +Daisy five years before became her own by right. And Fanny Thornton +welcomed her warmly t<a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></a>o the house, and by many little acts of +thoughtfulness showed how glad she was to have her there. And Julia was +very happy save when she remembered the heart disease, which she was +sure Guy had, and for which he would not seek advice. "There was nothing +the matter with his heart unless it were too full of love," he told her +laughingly, and wondered to himself if in saying this to her he was +guilty of a lie, inasmuch as his words misled her so completely.</p> + +<p>After a time, however, there came a change, and thoughts of Daisy ceased +to disturb him as they once had done. No one ever mentioned her to him, +and since the receipt of her letter he had heard no tidings of her until +six months after his marriage, when there came to him the ten thousand +dollars, with all the interest which had accrued since the settlement +first was made. There was no word from Daisy herself, but a letter from +a lawyer in Berlin, who said all there was to say with regard to the +business, but did not tell where Miss McDonald, as he called her, was.</p> + +<p>Then Guy wrote to Daisy a letter of thanks, to which there came no +reply, and as time went on the old wound began to heal, the grave to +close again; and when, at last, one year af<a name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></a>ter his marriage, they +brought him a beautiful little baby girl and laid it in his arms, and +then a few moments later let him into the room where the pale mother +lay, he stooped over her and, kissing her fondly, said:</p> + +<p>"I never loved you half as well as I do now."</p> + +<p>It was a pretty child, with dark blue eyes, and hair in which there was +a gleam of gold, and Guy, when asked what he would call her, said:</p> + +<p>"Would you object to Margaret?"</p> + +<p>Julia knew what he meant, and, like the true, noble woman she was, +offered no objection to Guy's choice, knowing well who Margaret had +been; and herself first gave the pet name of Daisy to her child, on whom +Guy settled the ten thousand dollars sent to him by the Daisy over the +sea.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<p class="chead"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></a>DAISY, TOM, AND THAT OTHER ONE</p> + + +<p>Watching, waiting, hoping, saying to herself in the morning, "It will +come before night," and saying to herself at night, "It will be here +to-morrow morning." Such was Daisy's life, even before she had a right +to expect an answer to her letter.</p> + +<p>Of the nature of Guy's reply she had no doubt. He had loved her once, he +loved her still, and he would take her back of course. There was no +truth in that rumor of another marriage. Possibly her father, whom she +understood now better than she once had, had gotten the story up for the +sake of inducing her through pique to marry Tom; but if so his plan +would fail. Guy would write to her, "Come!" and she would go, and more +than once she counted the contents of her purse and added to it the sum +due her from Madame Lafarcade, and wondered if she would dare venture on +the journey with so small a sum.</p> + +<p>"You so happy and white, too, <i>ce matin</i>," her little pupil, Pauline, +said to her one day, when they sat together in the garden, and Daisy was +<a name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></a>indulging in a fanciful picture of her meeting with Guy.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am happy," Daisy said, rousing from her reverie; "but I did not +know I was pale—or white, as you term it—though, now I think of it, I +do feel sick and faint. It's the heat, I guess. Oh! there is Max with +the mail! He is coming this way! He has—he certainly has something for +me!"</p> + +<p>Daisy's cheeks were scarlet now, and her eyes were bright as stars as +she went forward to meet the man who brought the letters to the house.</p> + +<p>"Only a paper!—is there nothing more?" she asked in an unsteady voice, +as she took the paper in her hand, and, recognizing Guy's handwriting, +knew almost to a certainty what was before her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, mon Dieu! vous êtes malade! J'apporterai un verre d'eau!" Pauline +exclaimed, forgetting her English and adopting her mother tongue in her +alarm at Daisy's white face and the peculiar tone of her voice.</p> + +<p>"No, Pauline, stay; open the paper for me," Daisy said, feeling that it +would be easier so than to read it herself, for she knew it was there, +else he would never have sent her a paper and nothing more.</p> + +<p>Delig<a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></a>hted to be of some use, and a little gratified to open a foreign +paper, Pauline tore off the wrapper, starting a little at Daisy's quick, +sharp cry as she made a rent across the handwriting.</p> + +<p>"Look, you are tearing into my name, which he wrote," Daisy said, and +then remembering herself, she sank back into her seat in the garden +chair, while Pauline wondered what harm there was in tearing an old +soiled wrapper, and why her governess should take it so carefully in her +hand and roll it up as if it had been a living thing.</p> + +<p>There were notices of new books, and a runaway match in high life, and a +suicide on Summer Street, and a golden wedding in Roxbury, and the +latest fashions from Paris, into which Pauline plunged with avidity +while Daisy listened like one in a dream, asking when the fashions were +exhausted: "Is that all? Are there no deaths or marriages?"</p> + +<p>Pauline had not thought of that—she would see, and she hunted through +the columns till she found Guy's pencil mark, and read:</p> + +<p>"Married, this morning, at St. Paul's Church, by the Rev. Dr. ——, +assisted by the rector, Guy Thornton, Esq., of Cuylerville, to Miss +Julia Hamilton, of this city."<a name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></a></p> + +<p>"Yes, yes; it's very hot here, isn't it? I think I will go in," Daisy +said, her fingers working nervously with the bit of paper she held.</p> + +<p>But Pauline was too intent on the name of Thornton to hear what Daisy +said, and she asked: "Is Mr. Thornton your friend?"</p> + +<p>It was a natural enough question, and Daisy roused herself to answer it, +and said quickly: "He is the son of my husband's father."</p> + +<p>"Oh, oui," Pauline rejoined, a little mystified as to the exact +relationship existing between Guy Thornton and her teacher's husband, +whom she supposed was dead, as Daisy had only confided to madame the +fact of a divorce.</p> + +<p>"What date is the paper?" Daisy asked, and on being told she said softly +to herself: "I see, it was too late."</p> + +<p>There was in her mind no doubt as to what the result would have been had +her letter been in time; no doubt of Guy's preference for her; no regret +that she had written to him, except that the knowledge that she loved +him at last might make him wretched with thinking "what might have +been," and with the bitter pain which cut her heart like a knife there +was mingled a pity for Guy, who would perhaps suffer more than she did, +if that were possible. She never once thought of retribution, or of +murmuring against h<a name="Page_84" id="Page_84"></a>er fate, but accepted it meekly, albeit she staggered +under the load and grew faint as she thought of the lonely life before +her, and she so young.</p> + +<p>Slowly she went back to her room, while Pauline walked up and down the +garden trying to make out the relationship between the newly married +Thornton and her teacher.</p> + +<p>"The son of her husband's father?" she repeated, until at last a meaning +dawned upon her, and she said: "Then he must be her brother-in-law; but +why didn't she say so? Maybe, though, that is the English way of putting +it," and, having thus settled the matter, Pauline joined her mother, who +was asking for Mrs. Thornton.</p> + +<p>"Gone to her room, and her brother-in-law is married. It was marked in a +paper and I read it to her, and she's sick," Pauline said, without, +however, in the least connecting the sickness with the marriage.</p> + +<p>Daisy did not come down to dinner that night, and the maid who called +her the next morning reported her as ill and acting very strangely. +Through the summer a malarial fever had prevailed to some extent in and +about Rouen, and the physician whom Madame Lafarcade summoned to the +sick girl expressed a fear that she was com<a name="Page_85" id="Page_85"></a>ing down with it, and ordered +her kept as quiet as possible.</p> + +<p>"She seems to have something weighing on her mind. Has she heard any bad +news from home?" he asked, as in reply to his question where her pain +was the worst Daisy always answered:</p> + +<p>"It reached him too late—too late, and I am so sorry."</p> + +<p>Madame knew of no bad news, she said, and then as she saw the foreign +paper lying on the table, she took it up, and, guided by the pencil +marks, read the notice of Guy Thornton's marriage, and that gave her the +key at once to Daisy's mental agitation. Daisy had been frank with her +and told her as much of her story as was necessary, and she knew that +the Guy Thornton married to Julia Hamilton had once called Daisy his +wife.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, she is, or she has something on her mind, I suspect," she +said to the physician, who was still holding Daisy's hand and looking +anxiously at her flushed cheeks and bright, restless eyes.</p> + +<p>"I thought so," he rejoined, "and it aggravates all the symptoms of her +fever. I shall call again to-night."<a name="Page_86" id="Page_86"></a></p> + +<p>He did call and found his patient worse, and the next day he asked +Madame Lafarcade:</p> + +<p>"Has she friends in this country? If so, they ought to know."</p> + +<p>A few hours later, and in his lodgings at Berlin, Tom read the following +dispatch:</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Thornton is dangerously ill. Come at once."</p> + +<p>It was directed to Mr. McDonald, who with his wife had been on a trip to +Russia, and was expected daily. Feeling intuitively that it concerned +Daisy, Tom had opened it, and without a moment's hesitation packed his +valise, and, leaving a note for the McDonalds when they should return, +started for Rouen. Daisy did not know him, and in her delirium she said +things to him and of him which hurt him cruelly. Guy was her theme, and +the letter which went "too late, too late." Then she would beg of Tom to +go for Guy, to bring him to her and tell him how much she loved him and +how good she would be if he would take her back.</p> + +<p>"Father wants me to marry Tom," she said in a whisper, and Tom's heart +almost stood still as he listened; "and Tom wanted me, too, but I +couldn't, you know, even if he were worth his weight in gold. I could +not love him. Why, he'<a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"></a>s got red hair, and such great freckles on his +face, and big feet and hands with freckles on them. Do you know Tom?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know him," Tom answered sadly, forcing down a choking sob, while +the "big hand with the great freckles on it" smoothed the golden hair +tenderly and pushed it back from the burning brow.</p> + +<p>"Don't talk any more, Daisy; it tires you so," he said, as he saw her +about to speak again.</p> + +<p>But Daisy was not to be stopped, and she went on:</p> + +<p>"Tom is good, though; so good, but awkward, and I like him ever so much, +but I can't be his wife. I cannot. I cannot."</p> + +<p>"He doesn't expect it now, or want it," came huskily from Tom, while +Daisy quickly asked:</p> + +<p>"Doesn't he?"</p> + +<p>"No, never any more; so, put it from your mind and try to sleep," Tom +said, and again the freckled hands smoothed the tumbled pillows and +wiped the sweat drops from Daisy's face, while all the time the great +kind heart was breaking, and the hot tears were rolling down the +sun-burned face Daisy thought was so ugly.<a name="Page_88" id="Page_88"></a></p> + +<p>Tom had heard from Madame Lafarcade of Guy's marriage, and, like her, +understood why Daisy's fever ran so high and her mind was in such a +turmoil. But for himself he knew there was no hope, and with a feeling +of death in his heart he watched by her day and night, yielding his +place to no one, and saying to madame when she remonstrated with him and +bade him care for his own health:</p> + +<p>"It does not matter to me. I would rather die than not."</p> + +<p>Daisy was better when her mother came—saved, the doctor said, more by +Tom's care and nursing than by his own skill, and then Tom gave up his +post and never went near her unless she asked for him. His "red hair and +freckled face" were constantly in his mind, making him loathe the very +sight of himself.</p> + +<p>"She cannot bear my looks, and I will not force myself upon her," he +said; and so he stayed away, but surrounded her with every luxury money +could buy, and, as soon as she was able, had her removed to a pretty +little cottage which he rented and fitted up for her, and where she +would be more at home and quieter than at Madame Lafarcade's.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89"></a>And there, one morning when he called to inquire for her, he, too, was +smitten down with the fever which he had taken with Daisy's breath the +many nights and days he watched her without rest or sufficient food. +There was a faint, followed by a long interval of unconsciousness, and +when he came to himself he was in Daisy's own room, lying on Daisy's +little bed, and Daisy herself was bending anxiously over him with a +flush on her white cheeks and a soft, pitiful look in her blue eyes.</p> + +<p>"What is it? Where am I?" he asked, and Daisy replied:</p> + +<p>"You are here in my room—on my bed; and you've got the fever, and I'm +going to take care of you, and I'm so glad. Not glad you have the +fever," she added, as she met his look of wonder, "but glad I can repay +in part all you did for me, you dear, noble Tom! And you are not to +talk," and she laid her small hand on his mouth as she saw him about to +speak. "I am strong enough; the doctor says so, and I'd do it if he +didn't, for you are the best, the truest friend I have."</p> + +<p>She was rubbing his hot, feverish hands, and though the touch of her +cool, soft fingers was so delicious, poor Tom thought of the big +freckles so obnoxious to the little lady, and, drawing his hands from +her grasp, hid them ben<a name="Page_90" id="Page_90"></a>eath the clothes. Gladly, too, would he have +covered his face and hair from her sight, but this he could not do and +breathe, but he begged her to leave him and send someone in her place. +But Daisy would not listen to him.</p> + +<p>He had nursed her day and night, she said, and she should stay with him, +and she did, through three weeks, when Tom's fever ran higher than hers +had done, because there was more for it to feed upon, and when Tom in +his ravings talked of things which made her heart ache with a new and +different pain from that already there.</p> + +<p>At first there were low whisperings and incoherent mutterings, and when +Daisy asked him to whom he was talking he answered her:</p> + +<p>"To that other one over in the corner. Don't you see him? He is waiting +for me till the fever eats me up. There's a lot of me to eat, I'm so big +and awkward, overgrown—that's what Daisy said. You know Daisy, don't +you? a dainty little creature, with such delicacy of sight and touch! +She doesn't like red hair; she said so when we thought the man in the +corner was waiting for her, and she doesn't like my freckled face and +hands—big hands, she said they were, and yet how they have worked like +horses for her!<a name="Page_91" id="Page_91"></a> Oh, Daisy! Daisy! I have loved her ever since she was a +child, and I drew her to school on my sled and cut her doll's head off +to tease her. Take me quick, please, out of her sight, where my freckled +face won't offend her."</p> + +<p>He was talking now to that other one, the man in the corner, who, like +some grim sentinel, stood there day and night, while Daisy kept her +tireless watch and Tom talked on and on—never to her—but always to the +other one, the man in the corner, whom he begged to take him away.</p> + +<p>"Bring out your boat," he would say. "It's time we were off, for the +tide is at its height, and the river is running so fast. I thought once +it would take Daisy, but it left her, and I am glad. When I am fairly +over and there's nothing but my big, freckled hulk left, cover my face +and don't let her look at me, though I'll be white then, not red. Oh, +Daisy, Daisy, my darling, you hurt me so cruelly!"</p> + +<p>Those were terrible days for Daisy, but she never flinched from her +post, and stood resolutely between the sick man and that other one in +the corner until the latter seemed to waver a little; his shadow was +not so black, his presence so all-pervading, and there was hope for Tom. +His <a name="Page_92" id="Page_92"></a>reason came back at last, and the fever left him, but weak as a +child, with no power to move even his poor wasted hands which lay +outside the counterpane and seemed to trouble him, for there was a +wistful, pleading look in his gray eyes as they went from the hands to +Daisy, while his lips whispered faintly, "Cover."</p> + +<p>She understood him, and with a rain of tears spread the sheet over them, +and then on her knees beside him, said to him amid her sobs:</p> + +<p>"Forgive me, Tom, for what I did when I was crazy. You are not repulsive +to me. You are the truest, best, and dearest friend I ever had, and +I—I—oh, Tom, I wish I had never been born."</p> + +<p>Daisy did not stay by Tom that night. There was no necessity for it, and +she was so worn and weary with watching that the physician declared she +must have absolute rest or be sick again herself. So she remained away, +and in a little room by herself fought the fiercest battle she had ever +fought, and on her knees, with tears and bitter cries, asked for help to +do right. Not for help to know what was right. She felt sure that she +did know that, only the flesh was weak, and there were chords of love +still clinging to a past she scarcely dared think of now lest her +<a name="Page_93" id="Page_93"></a>courage should fail her. Guy was lost to her forever; it was a sin even +to think of him as she must think if she thought at all, and so she +strove to put him from her—to tear his image from her heart and put +another in its place, even Tom, whom she pitied so much, and whom she +could make so happy.</p> + +<p>"No matter for myself," she said. "No matter what I feel, or how sharp +the pain in my heart, if I only keep it there and never let Tom know. I +can make him happy, and I will."</p> + +<p>There was no wavering after that decision—no regret for the "might have +been," but her face was white as snow, and about the pretty mouth there +was a quivering of the muscles as if the words were hard to utter when +next day she went to Tom, and, sitting down beside him, asked how he was +feeling. His eyes brightened a little when he saw her, but there was a +look on his face which made Daisy's pulse quicken with a nameless fear, +and his voice was very weak as he replied:</p> + +<p>"They say I am better; but, Daisy, I know the time is near for me to go. +I shall never get well, nor do I wish to, though life is not a gift to +be thrown away easily, and on some accounts mine has been a happy one, +but the life beyond is b<a name="Page_94" id="Page_94"></a>etter, and I feel sure I am going to it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Tom, Tom, don't talk so! You must not leave me now!" Daisy cried, +all her composure giving way as she fell on her knees beside him, and, +taking both his hands in hers, wet them with her tears. "Tom," she +began, when she could speak. "I have been bad to you so often, and +worried and wounded you so much; but I am sorry, so sorry, and I've +thought it all over and made up my mind, and I want you to get well and +ask me that—that—question again—you have asked so many +times—and—and—Tom—I will say—yes—to it now, and try so hard to +make you happy."</p> + +<p>Her face was crimson as if with shame, and she dared not look at Tom +until his silence startled her. Then she stole a glance at his face and +met an expression which prompted her to go on recklessly:</p> + +<p>"Don't look so incredulous, Tom. I am in earnest. I mean what I say, +though it may be unmaidenly to say it. Try me, Tom; I will make you +happy, and, though at first I cannot love you as I did Guy when I sent +him that letter, the love will come, born of your great goodness and +kindness of heart. Try me, Tom, won't you?"<a name="Page_95" id="Page_95"></a></p> + +<p>She kissed his thin, white hands where the freckles shone more plainly +than ever, and which Tom tried to free from her; she held them fast and +looked steadily into the face, which shone for a moment with a joy so +great that it was almost handsome, and when she said again, "Will you, +Tom?" the pale lips parted with an effort to speak, but no sound was +audible, only the chin quivered, and the tears stood in his gray eyes as +he battled with the great temptation. Should he accept the sacrifice? +Ought he to join her life with his? Could she ever learn to love him? +No, she could not, and he must put her from him, even though she came +asking him to take her. Thus Tom decided, and, turning his face to the +wall, he said, with a choking sob:</p> + +<p>"No, Daisy—no. It cannot be. Such happiness is not for me now. I must +not think of it. Thank you, darling, just the same. It was kind in you +and well meant, but it cannot be. I could not make you happy. I am not +like Guy; never can be like him, and you would hate me after a while, +and the chain would hurt you cruelly. No, Daisy, I love you too +well—and yet, Daisy—Daisy—why do you tempt me so—if it could have +been!"<a name="Page_96" id="Page_96"></a></p> + +<p>He turned suddenly toward her, and, winding both his arms around her, +drew her to him in a quick, passionate embrace, crying piteously over +her, and saying:</p> + +<p>"My darling, my darling, if it could have been, but it's too late +now—God is good and will take me to himself. I thought of it before I +was sick, and believe I am a better man, and Jesus is my friend, and I +am going to him. I'm glad you told me what you have. It will make my +last days happier, and when I am gone you will find that I did well with +you."</p> + +<p>He put her from him then, for faintness and great exhaustion were +stealing over him, and that was the last that ever passed between him +and Daisy on the subject which all his life had occupied so much of his +thoughts. The fever had left him, it is true, but he seemed to have no +vital force or rallying power, and after a few days it was clear even to +Daisy that Tom's life was drawing to a close. "The man in the corner" +was there again waiting for his prey, and would not leave this time +until he bore with him an immortal soul. And Tom was very happy. He had +thought much of death and what lay beyond during those days when +Daisy's life hung in the balance, and the result of the much thinking +had been a full surrender of himself to Go<a name="Page_97" id="Page_97"></a>d, who did not forsake him +when the dark, cold river was closing over him.</p> + +<p>Calm and peaceful as the setting of the summer sun was the close of his +life, and up to the last he retained his consciousness, with the +exception of a few hours, when his mind wandered a little, and he talked +to "that other one," whom no one could see but whose presence all felt +so vividly.</p> + +<p>"It would have been pleasant, and for a minute I was tempted to take her +at her word," he said; "but when I remembered my hair and face and +hands, and how she liked nothing which was not comely, I would not run +the chance of being hated for my repulsive looks. Poor little Daisy! she +meant it all right, and I bless her for it, and am glad she said it, but +she must not look at me when I'm dead. The freckles she dislikes so much +will show plainer then. Don't let her come near, or, if she must, cover +me up—cover me up—cover me from her sight."</p> + +<p>Thus he talked, and Daisy, who knew what he meant, wept silently by his +side, and kept the sheet closely drawn over the hands he was so anxious +to have hidden from her view. He knew her at last, and bade her a long +farewell, and told her she had been to him the dearest thing in <a name="Page_98" id="Page_98"></a>life, +and Daisy's arm was round him, supporting him upon the pillow, and +Daisy's hand wiped the death moisture from his brow, and Daisy's lips +were pressed to his dying face, and her ear caught his last faint +whisper:</p> + +<p>"God bless you, darling! I am going home! Good-by!"</p> + +<p>"The man in the corner—that other one"—had claimed him, and Daisy put +gently from her only the lifeless form which had once been Tom.</p> + +<p>They buried him there in France on a sunny slope, where the grass was +green and the flowers blossomed in the early spring, and when Mr. +McDonald examined his papers he found to his surprise that, with the +exception of an annuity to himself and several legacies to different +charitable institutions, Tom had left to Daisy his entire fortune, +stipulating only that one-tenth of all her income should be yearly given +back to God, who had a right to it.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<p class="chead"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99"></a>MISS MCDONALD</p> + + +<p>She took that name again, and with it, also, Margaret, feeling that +Daisy was far too girlish an appellation for one who clad herself almost +in widow's weeds, and felt, when she stood at poor Tom's grave, more +wretched and desolate than many a wife has felt when her husband was put +from her sight.</p> + +<p>Tom had meant to make her parents independent of her so that she need +not have them with her unless she chose to do so, for, knowing Mr. +McDonald as he did, he thought she would be happier alone, but God so +ordered it that within three months after poor Tom's death they made +another grave beside his, and Daisy and her mother were alone.</p> + +<p>It was spring-time now, and the two desolate women bade adieu to their +dead, and made their way to England, and from there to Scotland, where +among the heather hills they passed the summer in the utmost seclusion.</p> + +<p>Here Daisy had ample time for thought, which dwelt mostly upon the past +and the happiness she cast away when she consented to the sundering of +<a name="Page_100" id="Page_100"></a>the tie which had bound her to Guy Thornton.</p> + +<p>"Oh, how could I have been so foolish and so weak," she said, as, with +intense contempt for herself, she read over the journal she had kept at +Elmwood during the first weeks of her married life.</p> + +<p>Guy had said it would be pleasant for her to refer to its pages in after +years, little dreaming with what sore anguish of heart poor Daisy would +one day weep over the senseless things recorded there.</p> + +<p>"Can it be I was ever that silly little fool?" she said bitterly, as she +finished her journal. "And how could Guy love me as I know he did. Oh, +if I but had the chance again, I would make him so happy! Oh, Guy, +Guy—my husband still—mine more than Julia's, if you could know how +much I love you now; nor can I feel it wrong to do so, even though I +never hope to see your face again. Guy, Guy, the world is so desolate, +and I am young, only twenty-three, and life is so long and dreary with +nothing to live for or to do. I wish almost that I were dead like Tom, +only I dare not think I should go to heaven where he has gone."</p> + +<p>In her <a name="Page_101" id="Page_101"></a>sorrow and loneliness Daisy was fast sinking into an unhealthy, +morbid state of mind from which nothing seemed to arouse her.</p> + +<p>"Nothing to live for—nothing to do," was her lament until one golden +September day, when there came a turning point in her life, and she +found there was something to do.</p> + +<p>There was no regular service that Sunday in the church where she usually +attended, and as the day was fine and she was far too restless to remain +at home, she proposed to her mother that they walk to a little chapel +about a mile away, where a young Presbyterian clergyman was to preach.</p> + +<p>She had heard much of his eloquence, and as his name was McDonald, he +might possibly be some distant relative. Inasmuch as her father was of +Scotch descent she felt a double interest in him, and with her mother +was among the first who entered the little, humble building and took a +seat upon one of the hard, uncomfortable benches near the pulpit.</p> + +<p>The speaker was young—about Tom's age—and with a look on his florid +face and a sound in his voice so like that of the dead man that Daisy +half started to her feet when he first took his stand in front of her +and announced the opening hymn. His text was: "Why stand ye her<a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"></a>e all the +day idle?" and so well did he handle it, and so forcible were his +gestures and eloquent his style of delivery, that Daisy listened to him +spellbound, her eyes fixed intently upon his glowing face and her ears +drinking in every word he uttered.</p> + +<p>After dwelling for a time upon the loiterers in God's vineyard, the +idlers from choice, who worked not for lack of an inclination to do so, +he spoke next of the class whose whole life was a weariness for want of +something to do, and to these he said: "Have you never read how, when +the disciples rebuked the grateful woman for wasting upon her Master's +head what might have been sold for three hundred pence and given to the +poor, Jesus said unto them, 'The poor ye have with you always,' and is +it not so, my hearers? Are there no poor at your door to be fed, no +hungry little ones to be cared for out of the abundance which God has +only loaned you for this purpose? Are there no wretched homes which you +can make happier, no aching hearts which a kind word would cheer? +Remember there is a blessing pronounced for even the cup of cold water, +and how much greater shall be the reward of those who, forgetting +themselves, seek the good of others and turn not away from the ne<a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"></a>edy and +the desolate. See to it, then, you to whom God has given much. See to it +that you sit not down in idle ease, wasting upon yourself alone the +goods designed for others, for to whom much is given of him much shall +be required."</p> + +<p>Attracted, perhaps, by the deep black of Daisy's attire, or the +something about her which marked her as different from the mass of his +hearers, the speaker had seemed to address the last of his remarks +directly to her, and had the dead Tom risen from his grave and spoken +with her face to face, she could hardly have been more affected than she +was. The resemblance was so striking and the voice so like her cousin's +that she felt as if she had received a message direct from him; or, if +not from him, she surely had from God, whose almoner she henceforth +would be.</p> + +<p>That day was the beginning of a new life to her. Thenceforth there must +be no more repining; no more idle, listless days, no more wishing for +something to do. There was work all around her, and she found it and did +it with a will—first, from a sense of duty, and at last for the real +pleasure it afforded her to carry joy and gladness to the homes where +want and sorrow had sat so long.<a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"></a></p> + +<p>Hearing that there were sickness and destitution among the miners in +Peru, where her possessions were, she went early in November, and many a +wretched heart rejoiced because of her, and many a lip blessed the +beautiful lady whose coming among them was productive of so much good. +Better dwellings, better wages, a church, a schoolhouse followed in her +footsteps, and then, when everything there seemed in good working order, +there came over her a longing for her native country, and the next +autumn found her in New York, where in a short space of time everybody +knew of the beautiful Miss McDonald, who was a millionaire and who owned +the fine house and grounds in the upper part of the city not far from +the Park.</p> + +<p>Here society claimed her again, and Daisy, who had no morbid fancies +now, yielded in part to its claims and became, if not a belle, a +favorite, whose praises were in every mouth. But chiefly was she known +and loved by the poor and the despised whom she daily visited, and to +whom her presence was like the presence of an angel.</p> + +<p>"You do look lovely and sing so sweet; I know there's nothing nicer in +heaven," said a little piece of deformity to her one day as it lay +dying in her arms. "I'se goin' to heaven, which I shouldn't have done if +you'se hadn't gin me the nice<a name="Page_105" id="Page_105"></a> bun and told me of Jesus. I loves him now, +and I'll tell him how you bringed me to him."</p> + +<p>Such was the testimony of one dying child, and it was dearer to Daisy +than all the words of flattery ever poured into her ear. As she had +brought that little child to God, so she would bring others, and she +made her work among the children especially, finding there her best +encouragement and greatest success.</p> + +<p>Once when Guy Thornton chanced to be in the city and driving in the +Park, he saw a singular sight—a pair of splendid bays arching their +graceful necks proudly, their silver-tipped harness flashing in the +sunlight, and their beautiful mistress radiant with happiness as she sat +in her large open carriage, not in the midst of gayly dressed friends, +but amid a group of poorly clad, pale-faced little ones, to whom the +Park was a paradise, and she was the presiding angel.</p> + +<p>"Look—that's Miss McDonald," Guy's friend said to him, "the greatest +heiress in New York, and I reckon the one who does the most good. Why, +she supports more old people and children and runs more ragged schools +than any half-dozen men in the city, and I don't suppose there's a den +in New York where she has not been, and never once, I'm told, was she +insulted, for the vi<a name="Page_106" id="Page_106"></a>lest of them stand between her and harm. Once a +miscreant on Avenue A knocked a boy down for accidentally stepping in a +pool of water and sprinkling her white dress in passing. Friday nights +she has a reception for these people, and you ought to see how well they +behave. At first they were noisy and rough, and she had to have the +police, but now they are quiet and orderly as you please. Perhaps you'd +like to go to one. I know Miss McDonald, and will take you with me."</p> + +<p>Guy said he should not be in town on Friday, as he must return to +Cuylerville the next day, and with a feeling he could not quite analyze, +he turned to look at the turnout which always excited so much attention. +But it was not so much at the handsome bays and the bevy of +queer-looking children he gazed as at the little lady in their midst, +clad in velvet and ermine, with a long white feather falling among the +curls of her bright hair. When Daisy first entered upon her new life she +had affected a nun-like garb as one most appropriate, but after a little +child said to her once, "I'se don't like your black gown all the time. I +likes sumptin' bright and pretty," she changed her mind and gave freer +scope to her natural good taste and love of what was becoming. And the +result showed the wisdom of the change,<a name="Page_107" id="Page_107"></a> for the children and inmates of +the dens she visited, accustomed only to the squalor and ugliness of +their surroundings, hailed her more rapturously than they had done +before, and were never weary of talking of the beautiful woman who was +not afraid to wear her pretty clothes into their wretched houses, which, +lest she should soil and defile them, gradually grew more clean and tidy +for her sake.</p> + +<p>"It wasn't for the likes of them gownds to trail through sich truck," +Bridget O'Donohue said, and so, on the days when Daisy was expected, she +scrubbed the floor, which, until Daisy's advent had not known water for +years, and rubbed and polished the one wooden chair kept sacred for the +lady's use.</p> + +<p>Other women, too, caught Biddy's spirit and scrubbed their floors and +their children's faces on the day when Miss McDonald was expected to +call, and when she came her silk dress and pretty shawl were watched +narrowly lest by some chance a speck of dirt should fasten on them, and +her becoming dress and handsome face were commented on and remembered as +some fine show which had been seen for nothing. Especially did the +children like her in her bright dress, and the velvet and ermine in +which she was clad when G<a name="Page_108" id="Page_108"></a>uy met her in the Park were worn more for their +sakes than for the gaze of those to whom such things were no novelties. +To Guy she looked more beautiful than he had ever seen her before, and +there was in his heart a smothered feeling as of a want of something +lost, as her carriage disappeared from view and he lost sight of the +fair face and form which had once been his own.</p> + +<p>The world was going well with Guy, for though Dick Trevylian had paid no +part of the hundred thousand dollars, and he still lived in the brown +cottage on the hill, he was steadily working his way to competency, if +not to wealth. His profession as a lawyer, which he had resumed, yielded +him a remunerative income, while his contributions to different +magazines were much sought after, so that to all human appearance he was +prosperous and happy. Prosperous in his business, and happy in his wife +and little ones, for there was now a second child, a baby Guy of six +weeks old, and when on his return from New York the father bent over the +cradle of his boy and kissed his baby face, that image seen in the Park +seemed to fade away, and the caresses he gave to Julia had in them no +faithlessness or insincerity. She was a noble woman, and had made him a +good wife, and he loved h<a name="Page_109" id="Page_109"></a>er truly, though with a different, less +absorbing, less ecstatic love than he had given to Daisy. But he did not +tell her of Miss McDonald. Indeed, that name was never spoken now, nor +was any reference ever made to her except when little Daisy asked where +was the lady for whom she was named, and why she did not send her a +doll.</p> + +<p>"I hardly think she knows there is such a chit as you," Guy said to her +once, when sorely pressed on the subject, and then the child wondered +how that could be, and wished she was big enough to write her a letter +and ask her to come and see her.</p> + +<p>Every day after that little Daisy played "make b'lieve Miss McDolly" was +there, said McDolly being represented by a bundle of shawls tied up to +look like a figure and seated in a chair. At last there came to the +cottage a friend of Julia's, a young lady from New York, who knew Daisy, +and who, while visiting in Cuylerville, accidentally learned that she +was the divorced wife of whose existence she knew, but of whom she had +never spoken to Mrs. Thornton. Hearing the little one talking one day to +Miss McDolly and asking her why she never wrote nor sent a "sing" to +her sake-name, the young lady said:<a name="Page_110" id="Page_110"></a></p> + +<p>"Why don't you send Miss McDonald a letter? You tell me what to say and +I'll write it down for you, but don't let mamma know till you see if you +get anything."</p> + +<p>The little girl's fancy was caught at once with the idea, and the +following letter was the result:</p> + + +<p class="jentry">"<span class="smcap">Brown Cottage</span>, 'Most Tissmas time.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Miss McDolly</span>:—I'se an 'ittle dirl named for you, I is, +Daisy Thornton, an' my papa is Mr. Guy, an' mam-ma is Julia, and 'ittle +brother is Guy, too—only he's a baby, and vomits up his dinner and ties +awfully sometimes; an' I knows anoder 'ittle girl named for somebody who +dives her 'sings,' a whole lot, an' why doesn't youse dive me some, when +I'se your sake-name, an' loves you ever so much, and why'se you never +turn here to see me. I wish you would. I ask papa is you pretty, an' he +tell me yes, bootiful, an' every night I p'ays for you and say God bress +papa an' mam-ma, an' auntie, and Miss McDolly, and 'ittle brodder, an' +make Daisy a dood dirl, and have Miss McDolly send her sumptin' for +Tissmas, for Christ's sake. An' I wants a turly headed doll that ties +and suts her eyes when she does to seep, and wears a shash and a +pairesol, and anodder bigger dolly to be her mam-ma and pank her when +she's naughty, an' I wants <a name="Page_111" id="Page_111"></a>an 'ittle fat-iron, an' a cookstove, an' +wash-board. I'se dot a tub. An' I wants some dishes an' a stenshun +table, an' 'ittle bedstead, an' yuffled seets, an' pillars, an' blue +silk kilt, an' ever so many sings which papa cannot buy, 'cause he +hasn't dot the money. Vill you send them, Miss McDolly, pese, an' your +likeness, too. I wants to see how you looks. My mam-ma is pretty, with +black hair an' eyes, but she's awful old—I dess. How old is you? Papa's +hair is some dray, an' his viskers, too. My eyes is bue.</p> + +<p> +"Yours respectfully,<br /> +<span class="smcap" style="margin-left:3em;">Daisy Thornton</span>."<br /> +</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Miss McDonald had been shopping since ten in the morning, and her +carriage had stood before the dry-goods stores, and toy-shops, and candy +stores, while bundle after bundle had been deposited on the cushions, +and others ordered to be sent. But she was nearly through now, and just +as it was beginning to grow dark in the streets she bade her coachman +drive home, where dinner was waiting for her in the dining room, and +her mother was waiting in the parlor. Mrs. McDonald was not very well, +and had kept her room all day, but she was better that night, and came +down to dine with her dau<a name="Page_112" id="Page_112"></a>ghter. The December wind was cold and raw, and +a few snowflakes fell on Daisy's hat and cloak as she ran up the steps +and entered the warm, bright room, which seemed so pleasant when +contrasted with the dreariness without.</p> + +<p>"Oh, how nice this is, and how tired and cold I am!" she said, as she +bent over the blazing fire.</p> + +<p>"Are you through with your shopping?" Mrs. McDonald asked, in a +half-querulous tone, as if she did not altogether approve of her +daughter's acts.</p> + +<p>"Yes, all through, except a shawl for old Sarah Mackie and a few more +toys for Biddy Warren's blind boy," Daisy said, and her mother replied: +"Well, I'm sure I shall be glad for your sake when it is over. You'll +make yourself sick, and you are nearly worn out now, remembering +everybody in New York."</p> + +<p>"Not quite everybody, mother," Daisy rejoined cheerfully; "only those +whom everybody forgets—the poor, whom we have with us always. Don't +you remember the text and the little kirk where we heard it preached +from? But come—dinner is ready, and I am hungry, I assure you."<a name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></a></p> + +<p>She led the way to the handsome dining room, and took her seat at the +table, looking, in her dark street dress, as her mother had said, pale +and worn, as if the shopping had been very hard upon her. And yet it was +not so much the fatigue of the day which affected her as the remembrance +of a past she did not often dare to recall.</p> + +<p>It was at Christmas time years ago that she first met with Guy, and all +the day long, as she turned over piles of shawls and delaines and +flannels, or ordered packages of candy and bonbons and dollies by the +dozen, her thoughts had been with Guy and the time she met him at Leiter +and Field's and he walked home with her. It seemed to her years and +years ago, and the idea of having lived so long made her feel old, and +tired, and worn. But the nice dinner and the cheer of the room revived +her, and her face looked brighter and more rested when she returned to +the parlor and began to show her mother her purchases.</p> + +<p>Daisy did not receive many letters except on business, and as these +usually came in the morning she did not think to ask if the postman had +left her anything; and so it was not until her mother had retired and +she was about going to her own room that she saw a letter lying on the +hall-stand. Miss Barker, who had instigated the letter, had never +writt<a name="Page_114" id="Page_114"></a>en to her more than once or twice, and then only short notes, and +she did not recognize the handwriting at once. But she saw it was +postmarked Cuylerville, and a sick, faint sensation crept over her as +she wondered who had sent it, and if it contained news of Guy. It was +long since she had heard of him—not, in fact, since poor Tom's death, +and she knew nothing of the little girl called for herself, and thus had +no suspicion of the terrible shock awaiting her, when at last she broke +the seal. Miss Barker had written a few explanatory lines, which were as +follows:</p> + + +<p class="jentry">"<span class="smcap">Cuylerville</span>, Dec., 18—.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Miss McDonald</span>—Since saying good-by to you last June, and +going off to the mountains and seaside, while you like a good Samaritan +stayed in the hot city to look after 'your people,' I have flitted +hither and thither until at last I floated out to Cuylerville to visit +Mrs. Guy Thornton, who is a friend and former schoolmate of mine. +Here—not in the house, but in town—I have heard a story which +surprised me not a little, and I now better understand that sad look I +have so often seen on your sweet face without at all suspecting the +cause.<a name="Page_115" id="Page_115"></a></p> + +<p>"Dear friend, pardon me, won't you, for the liberty I have taken since +knowing your secret? You would, I am sure, if you only knew what a dear, +darling little creature Mr. Thornton's eldest child is. Did you know he +had called her Daisy for you? He has, and with her blue eyes and bright +auburn hair, she might pass for your very own, with the exception of her +nose, which is decidedly retroussé. She is three years old, and the most +precocious little witch you ever saw. What think you of her making up a +bundle of shawls and aprons and christening it Miss McDolly, her name +for you, and talking to it as if it were really the famous and beautiful +woman she fancies it to be? She is your 'sake-name,' she says, and +before I knew the facts of the case, I was greatly amused by her talk to +the bundle of shawls which she reproached for never having sent her +anything. When I asked Julia (that's Mrs. Thornton) who Miss McDolly +was, she merely answered, 'The lady for whom Daisy was named,' and that +was all I knew until the gossips enlightened me, when, without a word to +anyone, I resolved upon a liberty which I thought I could venture to +take with you. I suggested the letter which I inclose and which I wrote +exactly<a name="Page_116" id="Page_116"></a> as the words came from the little lady's lips. Neither Mr. +Thornton nor his wife know aught of the letter, nor will they unless you +respond, for the child will keep her own counsel, I am well assured.</p> + +<p>"Again forgive me if I have done wrong, and believe me, as ever,</p> + +<p> +"Yours, sincerely,<br /> +<span class="smcap" style="margin-left:3em;">Ella Barker</span>."<br /> +</p> + +<p>Daisy's face was as pale as ashes as she read Miss Barker's letter, and +then snatching up the other, devoured its contents almost at a glance, +while her breath came in panting gasps and her heart seemed trying to +burst through her throat. She could neither move nor cry out for a +moment, but she sat like one turned into stone with that sense of +suffocation oppressing her, and that horrible pain in her heart. She had +thought the grave was closed, the old wound healed by time and silence; +and now a little child had torn it open, and it was bleeding and +throbbing again with a pang such as she had never felt before, while +there crept over her such a feeling of desolation and loneliness, a +want of something unpossessed, as few have ever experienced.<a name="Page_117" id="Page_117"></a></p> + +<p>But for her own foolishness that sweet little child might have been +hers, she thought, as her heart went after the little one with an +indescribable yearning which made her stretch out her arms as if to take +the baby to her bosom and hold it there forever. Guy had called it for +her, and that touched her more than anything else. He had not forgotten +her then. She had never supposed he had, but to be thus assured of it +was very sweet, and as she thought of it and read again little Daisy's +letter, the tightness about her heart and the choking sensation in her +throat began to give way, and one after another the great tears rolled +down her cheeks, slowly at first, but gradually faster and faster, until +they fell in torrents and a tempest of sobs shook her slight frame as +with her head bowed upon her dressing-table she gave vent to her grief. +It seemed to her she never could stop crying or grow calm again, for as +often as she thought of the touching words, "I p'ays for you," there +came a fresh burst of sobs and tears, until at last nature was +exhausted, and with a low moan Daisy sank upon her knees and tried to +pray, the words which first sprang to her lips framing themselves into +thanks that somewhere in the world there was one who prayed for her and +loved her, too, even though the love might have for its object merely +dolls and candie<a name="Page_118" id="Page_118"></a>s and toys. And these the child should have in such +abundance, and Miss McDonald found herself longing for the morrow in +which to begin again the shopping she had thought was nearly ended.</p> + +<p>It was in vain next day that her mother remonstrated against her going +out, pleading her white, haggard face and the rawness of the day. Daisy +was not to be detained at home, and before ten o'clock she was down on +Broadway, and the dolly with the "shash" and "pairesol" which she had +seen the day before under its glass case was hers for twenty-five +dollars, and the plainer bit of china, who was to be dollie's mother and +perform the parental duty of "panking her when she was naughty," was +also purchased, and the dishes and the table and stove and bedstead, +with ruffled sheets and pillow-cases and blue satin spread and the +washboard and clothes bars and tiny wringer, with divers others toys, +were bought with a disregard of expense which made Miss McDonald a +wonder to those who waited on her. Such a Christmas box was seldom sent +to a child as that which Daisy packed in her room that night, with her +mother looking on and wondering what Sunday-school was to be the +recipient of all those costly presents and suggesting that cheaper +articles would have answered jus<a name="Page_119" id="Page_119"></a>t as well.</p> + +<p>Everything the child had asked for was there except the picture. That +Daisy dared not send, lest it should look too much like thrusting +herself upon Guy's notice and wound Julia, his wife.</p> + +<p>Daisy was strangely pitiful in her thoughts of Julia, who would in her +turn have pitied her for her delusion could she have known how sure she +was that but for the tardiness of that letter Guy would have chosen his +first love in preference to any other.</p> + +<p>And it was well that each believed herself first in the affection of the +man to whom Daisy wanted so much to send something as a proof of her +unalterable love. They were living still in the brown cottage; they were +not able to buy Elmwood back. Oh, if she only dared to do it, and could +do it, how gladly her Christmas gift should be the handsome place which +they had been so proud of! But that would hardly do; Guy might not like +to be so much indebted to her; he was proud and sensitive in many +points, and so she abandoned the plan for the present, thinking that by +and by she would purchase and hold it as a gift to her namesake on her +bridal day. That will be better, she said, as she put the last article +in the box and saw it leave the door, directed to Guy Thornton's care.<a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></a></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Great was the surprise at the brown cottage, when, on the very night +before Christmas, the box arrived and was deposited in the dining room, +where Guy and Julia, Miss Barker and Daisy gathered eagerly around it, +the latter exclaiming:</p> + +<p>"I knows where it tum from, I do. My sake-name, Miss McDolly, send it, +see did. I writ and ask her would see an' she hab."</p> + +<p>"What!" Guy said, as, man-like, he began deliberately to untie every +knot in the string which his wife in her impatience would have cut at +once. "What does the child mean? Do you know, Julia?"</p> + +<p>"I do. I'll explain," Miss Barker said, and in as few words as possible +she told what she had done, while Julia listened with a very grave face, +and Guy was pale even to his lips as he went on untying the string and +opening the box.</p> + +<p>There was a letter lying on the top which he handed to Julia, who +steadied her voice to read aloud:</p> + +<p class="jentry">"<span class="smcap">New York</span>, December 22, 18—.<a name="Page_121" id="Page_121"></a></p> + + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Darling little sake-name Daisy</span>: Your letter made Miss McDolly +very happy, and she is so glad to send you the doll with a shash, and +the other toys. Write to me again and tell me if they suit you. God +bless you, sweet little one, is the prayer of</p> + +<p style="margin-left:3em;">"<span class="smcap">Miss McDonald</span>."</p> + + +<p>After that the grave look left Julia's face, and Guy was not quite so +pale, as he took out one after another the articles which little Daisy +hailed with rapturous shouts and exclamations of delight.</p> + +<p>"Oh, isn't she dood, and don't you love her, papa?" she said, while Guy +replied:</p> + +<p>"Yes, it was certainly very kind in her, and generous. No other little +girl in town will have such a box as this."</p> + +<p>He was very pale, and there was a strange look in his eyes, but his +voice was perfectly natural as he spoke, and one who knew nothing of his +former relations to Miss McDonald would never have suspected how his +whole soul was moved by this gift to his little daughter.</p> + +<p>"You must write and thank her," he said to Julia, who, knowing that this +was proper, assented without a word, and when on the morning after +Christmas Miss McDonald opened with trembling hands the envelope bearing +the Cuylervill<a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></a>e postmark, she felt a keen pang of disappointment in +finding only a few lines from Julia expressive of her own and little +Daisy's thanks for the beautiful Christmas box, "which made our little +girl so happy."</p> + +<p>Not Julia, but Mrs. Guy, and that hurt Daisy more than anything else.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Guy Thornton! Why need she thrust upon me the name I used to +bear?" she whispered, and her lip quivered a little, and the tears +sprang to her eyes as she remembered all that lay between the present +and the time when she had been Mrs. Guy Thornton.</p> + +<p>She was Miss McDonald now, and Guy was another woman's husband, and with +a bitter pain in her heart, she put away Julia's letter, saying as she +did so, "And that's the end of that."</p> + +<p>The box business had not resulted just as she hoped it would. She had +thought Guy would write himself, and by some word or allusion assure her +of his remembrance, but instead there had come to her a few perfectly +polite and well-expressed lines from Julia, who had the impertinence to +sign herself Mrs. Guy Thornton! It was rather hard and sorely +disappointing, and for many days Miss McDonald's face was very white and +sad, and both the old and young who<a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></a>m she visited as usual wondered what +had come over the beautiful lady to make her "so pale and sorry."</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<p class="chead"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124"></a>AT SARATOGA</p> + + +<p>There were no more letters from Mrs. Guy Thornton until the next +Christmas time, when another box went to little Daisy, and was +acknowledged as before. Then another year glided by, with a third box to +Daisy, and then one summer afternoon in August there came to Saratoga a +gay party from New York, and the clerk at Congress Hall registered, with +other names, that of Miss McDonald. Indeed, it seemed to be her party, +or at least she was its center, and the one to whom the others deferred +as to their head. Daisy was in perfect health that summer, and in +unusually good spirits, and when in the evening, yielding to the +entreaties of her friends, she entered the ball-room, clad in flowing, +gauzy robes of blue and white, with costly jewels on her neck and arms, +she took all hearts by storm, and was acknowledged at once as the star +and belle of the evening. She did not dance—she rarely did that +now—but after a short promenade through the room she took a seat near +the door, and was watching the gay dancers when she felt her arm softly +touched, <a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></a>and, turning, saw her maid standing by her with an anxious, +frightened look upon her face.</p> + +<p>"Come, please, come quick," she said in a whisper, and, following her +out, Miss McDonald asked what was the matter.</p> + +<p>"This—you must go away at once. I'll pack your things. I promised not +to tell, but I must. I can't see your pretty face all spoiled and ugly."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" the lady asked, and after a little she made out from +the girl's statement that in strolling on the back piazza she had +stumbled upon her first cousin, of whose whereabouts she had known +nothing for a long time.</p> + +<p>The girl, Mary, had, it seemed, come to Saratoga a week or ten days +before, with her master's family, consisting of his wife and two +children. As the hotel was crowded they were assigned rooms for the +night in a distant part of the house, with a promise of something much +better on the morrow. In the morning, however, the lady, who had not +been well for some days, was too sick to leave her bed, and the doctor +who was called in to see her, pronounced the disease—here Sarah stopped +and gasped for breath and looked behind her and all ways, and finally +whispered a word which made even Miss McDonald start a little and wince +with fear.<a name="Page_126" id="Page_126"></a></p> + +<p>"He do call it the very-o-lord," Sarah said, "but Mary says it's the +very old devil himself. She knows, she has had it, and you can't put +down a pin where the cratur didn't have his claws. They told the +landlord, who was fur puttin' 'em straight outdoors, but the doctor said +the lady must not be moved—it was sure death to do it. It was better to +keep quiet, and not make a panic. Nobody need to know it in the house, +and their rooms are so far from everybody that nobody would catch it. So +he let 'em stay, and the gentleman takes care of her, and Mary keeps the +children in the next room, and carries and brings the things, and keeps +away from everybody. Two of the servants know it, and they've had it, +and don't tell, and she said I mustn't, nor come that side of the house, +but I must tell you so that you can leave to-morrow. The lady is very +bad, and nobody takes care of her but Mr. Thornton. Mary takes things to +the door, and leaves them outside where he can get them."</p> + +<p>"What did you call the gentleman?" Miss McDonald asked, her voice +faltering and her cheek blanching a little.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Thornton, from Cuylerville, a place far in the country," was the +girl's reply, and then, without waiting to hear more, Miss McDonald +<a name="Page_127" id="Page_127"></a>darted away, and, going to the office, turned the leaves of the register +to the date of ten or eleven days ago, and read with a beating heart and +quick coming breath:</p> + +<p>"Guy Thornton, lady, two children, and servant. Nos. —— and ——."</p> + +<p>Yes, it was Guy; there could be no mistake, and in an instant her +resolution was taken. Calling to her maid, she sent for her shawl and +hat, and then bidding her follow, walked away in the moonlight. The +previous summer when at Saratoga she had received medical treatment from +Dr. Schwartz, whom she knew well and to whose office she directed her +steps. He seemed surprised to see her at that hour, but greeted her +cordially and asked when she came to town and what he could do for her.</p> + +<p>"Tell me if this is still a safeguard," she said, baring her beautiful +white arm and showing a large round scar. "Will this insure me against +disease?"</p> + +<p>The doctor's face flushed, and he looked uneasily at her as he took her +arm in his hand, and, examining the scar closely, said:</p> + +<p>"The points are still distinct. I should say the vaccination was +thorough."<a name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></a></p> + +<p>"But another will be safer. Have you fresh vaccine?" Daisy asked; and he +replied:</p> + +<p>"Yes, some just from a young, healthy heifer. I never use the +adulterated stuff which has been humanized. How do I know what humors +may be lurking in the blood? Why, some of the fairest, sweetest babies +are full of scrofula!"</p> + +<p>He was going on further with his discussion, when Daisy, who knew his +peculiarities, interrupted him:</p> + +<p>"Never mind the lecture now. Vaccinate me quick and let me go."</p> + +<p>It was soon done, the doctor saying as he put away his vial:</p> + +<p>"You were safe without it, I think, and with it you may have no fears +whatever."</p> + +<p>He looked at her curiously again as if asking what she knew or feared, +and, observing the look, Daisy said to him:</p> + +<p>"Do you attend the lady at the hotel?"</p> + +<p>He bowed affirmatively and glanced uneasily at Sarah, who was looking on +in surprise.</p> + +<p>"Is she very sick?" was the next inquiry.</p> + +<p>"Yes, very sick."</p> + +<p>"And does no one care for her but her husband?"</p> + +<p><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129"></a>"No one."</p> + +<p>"Has she suffered for care—a woman's care, I mean?"</p> + +<p>"Well, not exactly, and yet she might be more comfortable with a woman +about her. Women are naturally better nurses than men, and Mr. Thornton +is quite worn out, but it does not make much difference now; the lady—"</p> + +<p>Daisy did not hear the last part of the sentence, and, bidding him +good-night, she went back to the hotel as swiftly as she had left it, +while the doctor stood watching the flutter of her white dress, +wondering how she found it out, and if she would "tell and raise thunder +generally."</p> + +<p>"Of course not. I know her better than that," he said to himself. "Poor +woman [referring then to Julia], nothing, I fear, can help her now."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Daisy reached the hotel, and without going to her own room, +bade Sarah tell her the way to No. ——.</p> + +<p>"What! Oh, Miss McDonald! You surely are not—" Sarah gasped, clutching +at the dress, which her mistress took from her grasp, saying:</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am going to see that lady. I know her, or of her, and I'm not +afraid. Must we let her die alone?"<a name="Page_130" id="Page_130"></a></p> + +<p>"But your face—your beautiful face," Sarah said, and then Daisy did +hesitate a moment, and, glancing into a hall mirror, wondered how the +face she saw there, and which she knew was beautiful, would look scarred +and disfigured as she had seen faces in New York.</p> + +<p>There was a momentary conflict, and then, with an inward prayer that +Heaven would protect her, she passed on down the narrow hall and knocked +softly at No. ——, while Sarah stood wringing her hands in genuine +distress, and feeling as if her young mistress had gone to certain ruin.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<p class="chead"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131"></a>IN THE SICK-ROOM</p> + + +<p>Julia had the smallpox, not varioloid, but the veritable thing itself, +in its most aggravated form. Where she took it, or when, she did not +know, nor did it matter. She had it, and for ten days she had seen no +one but her husband and physician, and had no care but such as Guy could +give her. He had been unremitting in his attention. Tender and gentle as +a woman, he had nursed her night and day, with no thought for himself +and the risk he ran. It was a bad disease at the best, and now in its +worst type it was horrible, but Julia bore up bravely, thinking always +more of others than of herself, and feeling so glad that Providence had +sent them to those out-of-the-way rooms, where she had at first thought +she could not pass a night comfortably. Her children were in the room +adjoining, and she could hear their little voices as they played +together, or asked for their mamma and why they must not see her. Alas! +they would never see her again; she knew it now, and Guy knew it, too. +The doctor had told them so when he left them that night, and bet<a name="Page_132" id="Page_132"></a>ween +the husband and wife words had been spoken such as are only said when +hearts which have been one are about to be severed forever.</p> + +<p>To Julia there was no terror in death, save as it took her from those +she loved, her husband and her little ones, and these she had given into +God's keeping, knowing his promises are sure. To Guy she had said:</p> + +<p>"You have made me so happy. I want you to remember that when I am gone; +I would not have one look or act of yours changed if I could, and yet, +forgive me, Guy, for saying it, but I know you must often have thought +of that other one whom, you loved first, and it may be best."</p> + +<p>Guy could not say no to that, but he smoothed her hair tenderly, and his +tears dropped upon the scarred, swollen face he could not kiss, as Julia +went on.</p> + +<p>"But if you did you never showed it in the least, and I bless you for +it. Take good care of my children; teach them to remember their mother, +and if in time there comes another in my place, and other little ones +than mine call you father, don't forget me quite, because I love you so +much. Oh, Guy, my darling, it is hard to say good-by and know that after +a little this world<a name="Page_133" id="Page_133"></a> will go on the same as if I had never been. Don't +think I am afraid. I am not, for Jesus is with me, and I know I am safe, +but still there's a clinging to life, which has been so pleasant to me. +Tell your sister how I loved her. I know she will miss me and be good to +my children, and if you ever meet that other one tell her—tell +her—I——"</p> + +<p>The faint voice faltered here, and when it spoke again, it said:</p> + +<p>"Lift me up, Guy, so I can breathe better while I tell you."</p> + +<p>He lifted her up and held her in his arms, while through the open window +the summer air and the silver moonlight streamed, and in the distance +was heard the sound of music as the dance went merrily on. And just +then, when she was in the minds of both, Daisy came, and her gentle +knock broke the silence of the room and startled both Guy and Julia.</p> + +<p>Who was it that sought entrance to that death-laden and disease-poisoned +room? Not the doctor, surely, for he always entered unannounced, and who +else dared to come there? Thus Guy questioned, hesitating to answer the +knock, when to his utter surprise the door opened and a little figure, +clad in airy robes of white, with its b<a name="Page_134" id="Page_134"></a>right hair wreathed with flowers +and gems, came floating in, the blue eyes shining like stars and the +full red lips parted with the smile, half pleased, half shy, which Guy +remembered so well.</p> + +<p>"Daisy, Daisy!" he cried, and his voice rang like a bell through the +room, as, laying Julia's head back upon the pillow, he sprang to Daisy's +side, and, taking her by the shoulder, pushed her gently toward the +door, saying:</p> + +<p>"Why have you come here? Leave us at once; don't you see? don't you +know?" and he pointed toward Julia, whose face showed so plainly in the +gaslight.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know, and I came to help you take care of her. I am not afraid," +Daisy said, and, freeing herself from his grasp, she walked straight up +to Julia and laid her soft, white hand upon her head. "I am Daisy," she +said, "and I've come to take care of you. I just heard you were here; +how hot your poor head is! let me bathe it; shall I?"</p> + +<p>She went to the bowl, and wringing a cloth in ice water, bathed and +rubbed the sick woman's head, and held the cool cloth to the face and +wiped the parched lips, and rubbed the feverish hands, while Guy stood, +looking on, bewildered and confounded, and utterly unable to say a word +or utt<a name="Page_135" id="Page_135"></a>er a protest to this angel, as it seemed to him, who had come +unbidden to his aid, forgetful of the risk she ran and the danger she +incurred. Once as she turned her beautiful face to him and he saw how +wondrously fair and lovely it was, lovely with a different expression +from any he had ever seen there, it came over him with a thrill of +horror that that face must not be marred and disfigured with the +terrible pestilence, and he made another effort to send her away. But +Daisy would not go.</p> + +<p>"I am not afraid," she said. "I have just been vaccinated, and there was +already a good scar on my arm; look!" and she pushed back her sleeve and +showed her round, white arm with the mark upon it.</p> + +<p>Guy did not oppose her after that, but let her do what she liked, and +when, an hour later, the doctor came he found his recent visitor sitting +on Julia's bed, with Julia's head lying against her bosom and Julia +herself asleep. Some word which sounded very much like "thunderation" +escaped his lips, but he said no more, for he saw in the sleeping +woman's face a look he never mistook. It was death, and ten minutes +after he entered the room Julia Thornton lay dead in Daisy's arms.<a name="Page_136" id="Page_136"></a></p> + +<p>There was a moment or so of half-consciousness, during which they caught +the words. "So kind in you; it makes me easier; be good to the children; +one is called for you, but Guy loved me, too. Good-by. I am going to +Jesus."</p> + +<p>That was the last she ever spoke, and a moment after she was gone. In +his fear lest the facts should be known to his guests, the host insisted +that the body should be removed under cover of the night, and as Guy +knew the railway officials would object to taking it on any train, there +was no alternative except to bury it in town, and so before the morning +broke there was brought up to the room a closely sealed coffin and box, +and Daisy helped lay Julia in her last bed, and put a white flower in +her hair and folded her hands upon her bosom, and then watched from the +window the little procession which followed the body out to the +cemetery, where, in the stillness of the coming day, they buried it, +together with everything which had been used about the bed, Daisy's +party dress included; and when at last the full morning broke, with stir +and life in the hotel, all was empty and still in the fumigated chamber +of death, and in the adjoining room, clad in a simple white wrapper, +with a blue ribbon in her hair, Daisy sat with Guy's little boy on her +<a name="Page_137" id="Page_137"></a>lap and her namesake at her side, amusing them as best she could and +telling them their mamma had gone to live with Jesus.</p> + +<p>"Who'll be our mamma now? We must have one. Will oo?" little Daisy +asked, as she hung about the neck of her new friend.</p> + +<p>She knew it was Miss McDolly, her "sake-name," and in her delight at +seeing her and her admiration of her great beauty, she forgot in part +the dead mamma on whose grave the summer sun was shining.</p> + +<p>The Thorntons left the hotel that day and went back to the house in +Cuylerville, which had been closed for a few weeks, Miss Frances being +away with some friends in Connecticut. But she returned at once when she +heard the dreadful news, and was there to receive her brother and his +motherless little ones. He told her of Daisy when he could trust himself +to talk at all, of Julia's sickness and death, and Miss Frances felt her +heart go out as it had never gone before toward the woman about whom +little Daisy talked constantly.</p> + +<p>"Most bootiful lady," she said, "an' looked des like an 'ittle dirl, +see was so short, an' her eyes were so hue an' her hair so turly."<a name="Page_138" id="Page_138"></a></p> + +<p>Miss McDonald had won Daisy's heart, and, knowing that made her own +happier and lighter than it had been since the day when the paper came +to her with the marked paragraph which crushed her so completely. There +had been but a few words spoken between herself and Guy, and these in +the presence of others, but at their parting he had taken her soft +little hand in his and held it a moment, while he said, with a choking +voice: "God bless you, Daisy. I shall not forget your kindness to my +poor Julia, and if you should need—but no, that is too horrible to +think of; may God spare you that. Good-by."</p> + +<p>And that was all that passed between him and Daisy with regard to the +haunting dread which sent her in a few days to her own house in New +York, where, if the thing she feared came upon her, she would at least +be at home and know she was not endangering the lives of others. But God +was good to her, and though there was a slight fever, with darting pains +in her back and a film before her eyes, it amounted to nothing worse, +and might have been the result of fatigue and over-excitement; and when +at Christmas time, yielding to the importunities of her little +namesake, there was a picture of herself in the box sent to +Cuylerville, the face which Guy scanned even more eagerly than his +daug<a name="Page_139" id="Page_139"></a>hter, was as smooth and fair and beautiful as when he saw it at +Saratoga, bending over his dying wife.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<p class="chead"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140"></a>DAISY'S JOURNAL</p> + + +<p class="jentry"><span class="smcap">New York</span>, June 14, 18—.</p> + +<p>To-morrow I am to take my old name of Thornton again, and be Guy's wife +once more. Nor does it seem strange at all that I should do so, for I +have never thought of myself as not belonging to him, even when I knew +he was another's. And yet when in that dreadful night at Saratoga I went +to Julia's room, there was in my heart no thought of this which has come +to me. I only wished to care for her and to be a help to Guy. I did not +think of her dying, and after she was dead there was not a thought of +the future in my mind until little Daisy put it there by asking if I +would be her mamma. Then I seemed to see it all, and expected it up to +the very day, six weeks ago, when Guy wrote to me: "Daisy, I want you. +Will you come to me again as my wife?"</p> + +<p>I was not surprised. I knew he would say it some time, and I replied at +once, "Yes, Guy, I will."<a name="Page_141" id="Page_141"></a></p> + +<p>He has been here since, and we have talked it over; all the past when I +made him so unhappy, and when I, too, was so wretched, though I did not +say much about that, or tell him of the dull, heavy, gnawing pain which, +sleeping or waking, I carried with me so long, and only lost when I +began to live for others. I did speak of the letter, and said I had +loved him ever since I wrote it, and that his marrying Julia made no +difference; and when I told him of poor Tom, and what I said to him, not +from love, but from a sense of duty, and when I told him how Tom would +not take me at my word, he held me close to him and said: "I am glad he +did not, my darling, for then you would never have been mine."</p> + +<p>I think we both wept over those two graves, one far off in sunny France, +the other in Saratoga, and both felt how sad it was that they must be +made in order to bring us together. Poor Julia! She was a noble woman, +and Guy did love her. He told me so, and I am glad he did. I mean to try +to be like her in those parts wherein she excelled me.</p> + +<p>We are going straight to Cuylerville to the house where I never was but +once, and that on the night when Guy was sick and Miss Frances made me +go back in the thunder and rain. She is sorry for that, for she told me +so in the long, ki<a name="Page_142" id="Page_142"></a>nd letter she wrote, calling me her little sister and +telling me how glad she is to have me back once more. Accidentally I +heard Elmwood was for sale, and without letting Guy know I bought it, +and sent him the deed, and we are going to make it the most attractive +place in the country.</p> + +<p>It will be our summer home, but in the winter my place is here in New +York with my people, who would starve and freeze without me. Guy has +agreed to that and will be a great help to me. He need never work any +more unless he chooses to do so, for my agent, says I am a millionaire, +thanks to poor Tom, who gave me his gold mine and his interest in that +railroad. And for Guy's sake I am glad, and for his children, the +precious darlings; how much I love them already, and how kind I mean to +be to them both for Julia's sake and Guy's! Hush! That's his ring, and +there's his voice in the hall asking for Miss McDonald, and so for the +last time I write that name, and sign myself,</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Margaret McDonald</span>.</p> + + + +<p class="extract"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143"></a><i>Extracts from Miss Frances Thornton's Diary</i>.</p> + +<p class="jentry"><span class="smcap">Elmwood</span>, June 15, ——.</p> + +<p>I have been looking over an old journal, finished and laid away long +ago, and accidentally I stumbled upon a date eleven years back. It was +Guy's wedding day then; it is his anniversary now, and as on that June +day of years ago I worked among my flowers, so I have been with them +this morning, and as then, people from the town came into our beautiful +grounds, so they came to-day and praised our lovely place and said there +was no place like it in all the country round. But Julia was not with +them. She will never come to us again. Julia is dead, and her grave is +off in Saratoga, for Guy dare not have her moved, but he has erected a +costly monument to her memory, and the mound above her is like some +bright flower bed all the summer long, for he hires a man to tend it, +and goes twice each season to see that it is kept as he wishes to have +it. Julia is in Heaven and Daisy is here again at Elmwood, which she +purchased with her own money and fitted up with every possible +convenience and luxury.</p> + +<p>Guy is ten years younger than he used to be, and we are all so happy +with this little fairy, who <a name="Page_144" id="Page_144"></a>has expanded into a noble woman, and whom I +love as I never loved a living being before, Guy excepted, of course. I +never dreamed when I turned her out into the rain that I should love her +as I do, or that she was capable of being what she is. I would not have +her changed in any one particular, and neither, I am sure, would Guy, +while the little ones fairly worship her, and must sometimes be +troublesome with their love and their caresses.</p> + +<p>It is just a year since she came back to us again. We were in the old +house then, but somehow Daisy's very presence seemed to brighten and +beautify it, until I was almost sorry to leave it last April for this +grander place with all its splendor.</p> + +<p>There was no wedding at all; that is, there were no invited guests, but +sure, never had bride greater honor at her bridal than our Daisy had, +for the church where the ceremony was performed, at a very early hour in +the morning, was literally crowded with the halt, the lame, the maimed, +and the blind; the slums of New York, gathered from every back street +and by-lane and gutter; Daisy's "people," as she calls them, who came to +see her married, and who, strangest of all, brought with them a present +for the bride, a beautiful family Bible, golden-clasped and bound, <a name="Page_145" id="Page_145"></a>and +costing fifty dollars. Sandy McGraw presented it, and had written upon +the fly leaf: "To the dearest friend we ever had we give this book as a +slight token of how much we love her." Then followed upon a sheet of +paper the names of the donors and how much each gave. Oh, how Daisy +cried when she saw the ten cents and the five cents and the three cents +and the one cent, and knew how it had all been earned and saved at some +sacrifice for her. I do believe she would have kissed every one of them +if Guy had permitted it. She did kiss the children and shook every hard, +soiled hand there, and then Guy took her away and brought her to our +home, where she has been ever since, the sweetest, merriest, happiest +little creature that ever a man called wife, or a woman sister. She does +leave her things round a little, to be sure, and she is not always ready +for breakfast. I guess she never will wholly overcome those habits, but +I can put up with them now better than I used to. Love makes a vast +difference in our estimate of others, and she could scarcely ruffle me +now, even if she kept breakfast waiting every morning, and left her +clothes lying three garments deep upon the floor. As for Guy—but his +happiness is something I cannot describe. Nothing can disturb his peace, +<a name="Page_146" id="Page_146"></a>which is as firm as the everlasting hills. He does not caress her as +much as he did once, but his thoughtful care of her is wonderful, and +she is never long from his sight without his going to seek her.</p> + +<p>God bless them both and keep them ever as they are now, at peace with +Him and all in all to each other.</p> + +<p class="center" style="margin-top:3em;">THE END</p> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147"></a>NEW JUVENILES</h2> + +<p class="center" style="font-size:120%;">By Famous Authors</p> + +<p><i>Bound in Cloth; decorated cover designs; printed on extra book paper; +burnished colored edges; handsomely illustrated</i>.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><b>THE MANOR SCHOOL</b>. By <span class="smcap">Mrs. L.T. Meade</span>. Ten Full Page +Illustrations.</p> + +<p class="blurb">A sweetly written and popular story of girl life. Full of fun and +adventure. Told in a manner to interest and amuse young people of any +age.</p> + +<p class="blurb">Very few authors have achieved a popularity equal to that of Mrs. Meade +as a writer of stories for girls. Her characters are living beings of +flesh and blood. Into the trials and crosses of these the reader enters +at once with zest and hearty sympathy. Mrs. Meade always writes with a +high moral purpose. Cloth. 12mo. Price, $1.25.</p> + + +<p><b>THE DEFENSE OF THE CASTLE</b>. A Story for Boys and Girls. By +<span class="smcap">Tudor +Jenks</span>, author of "Imaginotions," "World's Fair Book," "Boys' Book +of Explorations," "Galopoff, the Talking Pony," "Gypsy, the Talking +Dog," etc.</p> + +<p class="blurb">This is a good, lively, fighting story, but not bloodthirsty. It tells +of a boy and girl who, during the absence of their father at the +Crusades, with the help of an old soldier defended the castle from the +attack of an armed force led by a treacherous relative. The time is +about that of Ivanhoe. Cloth, 12mo. Price, $1.00.</p> + + +<p><b>WITH BOONE ON THE FRONTIER</b>; or, The Pioneer Boys of Old Kentucky. By +<span class="smcap">Captain Ralph Bonehill</span>.</p> + +<p class="blurb">This tale is complete in itself, but forms Volume I of the "Frontier +Series." It relates the true-to-life adventures of two boys who, in +company with their folks, move westward with Daniel Boone. Contains many +thrilling scenes among the Indians and encounters with wild animals. +Written in Captain Bonehill's best style, and will most likely be the +boys' book of the season. Cloth. 12mo. Price, $1.00.</p> + + +<p><b>UNDER THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER</b>. Story of a Boy's Adventures in the +Spanish-American War. By <span class="smcap">Captain F.S. Brereton</span>, author of +"Dragon of Pekin," etc.</p> + +<p class="blurb">A vivid and accurate account of this memorable struggle. The hero leaves +his home in search of work, finds it on a Cuban plantation, is denounced +to the Spaniards as a spy, makes his escape to the American fleet, and +afterwards joins the Rough Riders and participates in the battles around +Santiago. Cloth. 12mo. Price, $1.00.</p> + + + +<p class="center" style="margin-top:2em; font-size: 120%;"><b>THE MERSHON COMPANY, RAHWAY, N.J.</b></p> + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148"></a><a name="FLAG_OF_FREEDOM_SERIES" id="FLAG_OF_FREEDOM_SERIES"></a><b>FLAG OF FREEDOM SERIES</b></h2> + +<p class="center"><b>By CAPTAIN RALPH BONEHILL</b></p> + +<p class="center"><b>Volumes Illustrated, Bound in Cloth, with a very Attractive Cover, Price +60 Cents per Volume</b></p> + +<hr style="width:20%" /> + +<p><b>WITH CUSTER IN THE BLACK HILLS; or, A Young Scout among the Indians</b></p> + +<p class="blurb">This is a complete story in itself, but forms the sixth and last volume +of Captain Bonehill's popular "Flag of Freedom" Series. It tells of the +remarkable experiences of a youth who, with his parent, goes to the +Black Hills in search of gold. Custer's last battle is well described. A +volume every lad fond of Indian stories should possess.</p> + + +<p><b>BOYS OF THE FORT; or, A Young Captain's Pluck</b></p> + +<p class="blurb">Captain Bonehill is at his best when relating a tale of military +adventure, and this story of stirring doings at one of our well-known +forts in the Wild West is of more than ordinary interest. The young +captain had a difficult task to accomplish, but he had been drilled to +do his duty, and he did it thoroughly. Gives a good insight into army +life of to-day.</p> + + +<p><b>THE YOUNG BANDMASTER; or, Concert Stage and Battlefield</b></p> + +<p class="blurb">In this tale Captain Bonehill touches upon a new field. The hero is a +youth with a passion for music, who, compelled to make his own way in +the world, becomes a cornetist in an orchestra, and works his way up, +first, to the position of a soloist, and then to that of leader of a +brass band. He is carried off to sea and falls in with a secret-service +cutter bound for Cuba, and while in that island joins a military band +which accompanies our soldiers in the never-to-be-forgotten attack on +Santiago. A mystery connected with the hero's inheritance adds to the +interest of the tale.</p> + + +<p><b>OFF FOR HAWAII; or, The Mystery of a Great Volcano</b></p> + +<p class="blurb">Here we have fact and romance cleverly interwoven. Several boys start on +a tour of the Hawaiian Islands. They have heard that there is a treasure +located in the vicinity of Kilauea, the largest active volcano in the +world, and go in search of it. Their numerous adventures will be +followed with much interest.</p> + + +<p><b>A SAILOR BOY WITH DEWEY; or, Afloat in the Philippines</b></p> + +<p class="blurb">The story of Dewey's victory in Manila Bay will never grow old, but here +we have it told in a new form—not as those in command witnessed the +contest, but as it appeared to a real, live American youth who was in +the navy at the time. Many adventures in Manila and in the interior +follow, giving true-to-life scenes from this remote portion of the +globe. A book that should be in every boy's library.</p> + + +<p><b>WHEN SANTIAGO FELL; or, The War Adventures of Two Chums</b></p> + +<p class="blurb">Captain Bonehill has never penned a better tale than this stirring story +of adventures in Cuba. Two boys, an American and his Cuban chum, leave +New York to join their parents in the interior of Cuba. The war between +Spain and the Cubans is on, and the boys are detained at Santiago de +Cuba, but escape by crossing the bay at night. Many adventures between +the lines follow, and a good pen-picture of General Garcia is given. The +American lad, with others, is captured and cast into a dungeon in +Santiago; and then follows the never-to-be-forgotten campaign in Cuba +under General Shafter. How the hero finally escapes makes reading no +wide-awake boy will want to miss.</p> + +<hr style="width:20%" /> + +<p><b>Press Opinions of Captain Bonehill's Books for Boys</b></p> + +<p>"Captain Bonehill's stories will always be popular with our boys, for +the reason that they are thoroughly up-to-date and true to life. As a +writer of outdoor tales he has no rival."—<i>Bright Days.</i></p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="center"><b>THE MERSHON COMPANY</b></p> + +<p class="center"><b>156 Fifth Ave., New York Rahway, N.J.</b></p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Miss McDonald, by Mary J. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Miss McDonald + +Author: Mary J. Holmes + +Release Date: June 29, 2005 [EBook #16150] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MISS MCDONALD *** + + + + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Louise Pryor and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + +MISS MCDONALD + +BY + +MRS. MARY J. HOLMES + +AUTHOR OF "THE LEIGHTON HOMESTEAD," "MILLBANK; OR, ROGER IRVING'S WARD," +"MILDRED; OR, THE CHILD OF ADOPTION," "EDITH LYLE'S SECRET," "ETHELYN'S +MISTAKE," ETC. + + +THE MERSHON COMPANY +RAHWAY, N.J. NEW YORK + + + + +CONTENTS + + +I. EXTRACTS FROM MISS FRANCES THORNTON'S JOURNAL + +II. EXTRACTS FROM GUY'S JOURNAL + +III. EXTRACTS FROM DAISY'S JOURNAL + +IV. AUTHOR'S STORY + +V. THE DIVORCE + +VI. EXTRACTS FROM DIARIES + +VII. FIVE YEARS LATER + +VIII. DAISY'S LETTER + +IX. DAISY, TOM, AND THAT OTHER ONE + +X. MISS MCDONALD + +XI. AT SARATOGA + +XII. IN THE SICK-ROOM + +XIII. DAISY'S JOURNAL + + + + +MISS MCDONALD + + + + +CHAPTER I + +EXTRACTS FROM MISS FRANCES THORNTON'S JOURNAL + + +ELMWOOD, June 15, 18--. + +I have been out among my flowers all the morning, digging, weeding, and +transplanting, and then stopping a little to rest. Such perfect +successes as my roses are this year, while my white lilies are the +wonder of the town, and yet my heart was not with them to-day, and it +was nothing to me that those fine people staying at the Towers came into +the grounds while I was at work, "just to see and admire," they said, +adding that there was no place like Elmwood in all the town of +Cuylerville. I know that, and Guy and I have been so happy here, and I +loved him so much, and never dreamed what was in store for me until it +came so suddenly and seemed like a heavy blow. + +Why did he want to get married, when he has lived to be thirty years +old, without a care of any kind, and with money enough to allow him to +indulge his taste for books, and pictures, and travel, and is respected +by everybody, looked up to as the first man in town, and petted and +cared for by me as few brothers have ever been petted and cared for; +why, I say, did he want a change, and, if he must be married, why need +he take a child of sixteen, whom he has only known since Christmas, and +whose sole recommendation, so far as I can learn, is her pretty face? + +Daisy McDonald is her name, and she lives in Indianapolis, where her +father is a poor lawyer, and Guy met her last winter in Chicago and fell +in love at once, and made two or three journeys West on "important +business," he said, and then, some time in May, told me he was going to +bring me a sister, the sweetest little creature, with such beautiful +blue eyes and wonderful hair. I was sure to love her, he said, and when +I suggested that she was very young, he replied that her youth was in +her favor, as he could more easily mold her to the Thornton pattern. + +Little he knows about girls, but then he was perfectly infatuated and +blind to everything but Daisy's eyes, and hair, and voice, which is so +sweet and winning that it will _speak_ for her at once; and he asked me +to see to the furnishing of the rooms on the west side of the house, two +which communicate with his own private library, where he spends a great +deal of time with his books and writing. The room adjoining this he +would have for Daisy's boudoir or parlor, where she could sit when he +was occupied and she wished to be near him. This he would have fitted up +in blue, as she had expressed a wish to that effect, and he said no +expense must be spared to make it as pretty and attractive as possible. +So the walls were frescoed and tinted, and I spent two entire days in +New York hunting for a carpet of the desirable shade, which should be +right both in texture and design. + +Guy was exceedingly particular, and developed a wonderful proclivity to +find fault with everything I admired. Nothing was quite the thing for +Daisy until at last a manufacturer offered to get one up which should +suit, and so the carpet question was happily ended for the time being. +Then came the furniture, and unlimited orders were given to the +upholsterer to do his best, and matters were progressing finely when +order number two came from the little lady, who was sorry to seem so +fickle, but mamma, whose taste was perfect, had decided against all +blue, and would Guy please furnish the room with drab trimmed with blue. +"It must be a very delicate shade of drab," she wrote, and lest he +should get too intense an idea, she would call it a _tint_ of a _shade_ +of drab, or, better yet, a _hint_ of a tint of a shade of drab would +describe exactly what she meant, and be so entirely unique, and lovely, +and recherche. + +Guy never swears, and seldom uses slang of any kind, but this was a +little too much, and with a most rueful expression of countenance he +asked me "what in thunder I supposed a hint of a tint of a shade of drab +could be." + +I could not enlighten him, and we finally concluded to leave it to the +upholsterer, to whom Guy telegraphed in hot haste, bidding him hunt New +York over for the desired shade. Where he found it I never knew, but +find it he did, or something approximating to it, a faded, washed-out +color, which seemed a cross between wood-ashes and pale skim milk. A +sample was sent up for Guy's approval, and then the work commenced +again, when order number three came in one of those dainty little +billets which used to make Guy's face radiant with happiness. Daisy had +changed her mind again and gone back to the blue, which she always +preferred as most becoming to her complexion. + +Guy did not say a single word, but he took the next train for New York +and stayed there till the furniture was done and packed for Cuylerville. +As I did not know where he was stopping, I could not forward him two +little missives which came during his absence, and which bore the +Indianapolis post-mark. I suspect he had a design in keeping his hotel +from me, and whether Daisy changed her mind again or not I never knew. + +The furniture reached Elmwood the day but one before Guy started for his +bride, and Julia Hamilton, who was then at the Towers, helped me arrange +the room, which is a perfect little gem and cannot fail to please, I am +sure. I wonder Guy never fancied Julia Hamilton. Oh, if he only had done +so I should not have as many misgivings as I now have nor dread the +future so much. Julia is sensible and twenty years old, and lives in +Boston, and comes of a good family, and is every way suitable; but when +did a man ever choose the woman whom his sister thought suitable for +him? And Guy is like other men, and this is his wedding day; and after a +trip to Montreal, and Quebec, and Boston, and New York, and Saratoga, +they are coming home, and I am to give a grand reception and then +subside, I suppose, into the position of the "old maid sister who will +be dreadfully in the way." + + +SEPTEMBER 15, 18--. + +Just three months since I opened my Journal, and, on glancing over what +I wrote on Guy's wedding day, I find that in one respect at least I was +unjust to the little creature who is now my sister and calls me Miss +Frances. Not by a word or look has she shown the least inclination to +assume the position of mistress of the house, nor does she seem to think +me at all in the way; but that she considers me quite an antediluvian I +am certain, for, in speaking of something which happened in 1820, she +asked if I remembered it! And I only three years older than Guy! But +then she once called him a dear old grandfatherly man, and thought it a +good joke that on their wedding tour she was mistaken for his daughter. +She looks so young--not sixteen even; but with those childish blue eyes, +and that innocent, pleading kind of expression, she never can be old. +She is very beautiful, and I can understand in part Guy's infatuation, +though at times he hardly knows what to do with his pretty plaything. + +It was the middle of August when they came from Saratoga, sorely +against her wishes, as I heard from the Porters, who were at the same +hotel, and who have told me what a sensation she created, and how much +attention she received. Everybody flattered her, and one evening when +there was to be a hop at Congress Hall, she received twenty bouquets +from as many different admirers, each of whom asked her hand for the +first dance. They had ascertained that Guy was not a disciple of +Terpsichore, though I understand he did try some of the square dances, +with poor success, I imagine, for Lucy Porter laughed when she told me +of it; and I do not wonder, for my grave, scholarly Guy must be as much +out of place in a ball room as his little, airy doll of a wife is in her +place when there. I can understand just how she enjoyed it all, and how +she hated to come home, for she did not then know the kind of home she +was coming to. + +It was glorious weather for August, and a rain of the previous day had +washed all the flowers and shrubs, and freshened up the grass on the +lawn, which was just like a piece of velvet, while everything around +Elmwood seemed to laugh in the warm afternoon sunshine as the carriage +came up to the door. Eight trunks, two hat-boxes, and a guitar-case had +come in the morning, and were waiting the arrival of their owner, whose +face looked eagerly out at the house and its surroundings, and, it +seemed to me, did not light up as much as it should have done under the +circumstances. + +"Why, Guy, I always thought the house was brick," I heard her say as the +carriage door was opened by the coachman. + +"No, darling--wood. Ah, there's Fan," was Guy's reply, and the next +moment I had her in my arms. + +Yes, literally in my arms. She is such a wee little thing, and her face +is so sweet, and her eyes so childish and wistful, and her voice so +musical and flute-like that before I knew what I was doing I lifted her +from her feet and hugged her hard and said I meant to love her, first +for Guy's sake and then for her own. Was it my fancy, I wonder, or did +she really shrink back a little and put up her hands to arrange the bows +and streamers and curls floating away from her like the flags on a +vessel on some gala day? + +She was very tired, Guy said, and ought to lie down before dinner. Would +I show her to her room with Zillah, her maid? Then for the first time I +noticed a dark-haired girl who had alighted from the carriage and stood +holding Daisy's traveling bag and wraps. + +"Her waiting maid, whom we found in Boston," Guy explained when we were +alone. "She is so young and helpless, and wanted one so badly, that I +concluded to humor her for a time, especially as I had not the most +remote idea how to pin on those wonderful fixings which she wears. It is +astonishing how many things it takes to make up the _tout ensemble_ of a +fashionable woman," Guy said, and I thought he glanced a little +curiously at my plain cambric wrapper and smooth hair. + +Indeed he has taken it upon himself to criticise me somewhat! thinks I +am too slim, as he expresses it, and that my head might be improved if +it had a more snarly appearance. Daisy, of course, stands for his model, +and her hair does not look as if it had been combed in a month, and yet +Zillah spends hours over it. She--that is, Daisy--was pleased with her +boudoir, and gave vent to sundry exclamations of delight when she +entered it and skipped around like the child she is, and said she was so +glad it was blue instead of that indescribable drab, and that room is +almost the only thing she has expressed an opinion about since she has +been here. She does not talk much except to Zillah, and then in French, +which I do not understand. If I were to write just what I think I should +say that she had expected a great deal more grandeur than she finds. At +all events, she takes the things which I think very nice and even +elegant as a matter of course, and if we were to set up a style of +living equal to that of the Queen's household I do believe she would act +as if she had been accustomed to it all her life; or, at least, that it +was what she had a right to expect. I know she imagines Guy a great deal +richer than he is; and that reminds me of something which troubles me. + +Guy has given his name to Dick Trevylian for one hundred thousand +dollars. To be sure, it is only for three months, and Dick is worth +three times that amount, and an old friend and every way reliable and +honest. And still I did not want Guy to sign. I wonder why it is that +women will always jump at a conclusion without any apparent reason. Of +course, I could not explain it, but when Guy told me what he was going +to do, I felt in an instant as if he would have it all to pay and told +him so, but he only laughed at me and called me nervous and fidgety, and +said a friend was good for nothing if he could not lend a helping hand +occasionally. Perhaps that is true, but I was uneasy, and shall be glad +when the time is up and the paper canceled. + +Our expenses since Daisy came are double what they were before, and if +we were to lose one hundred thousand dollars now we should be badly off. +Daisy is a luxury Guy has to pay for, but he pays willingly and seems to +grow more and more infatuated every day. "She is such a sweet-tempered, +affectionate little puss," he says; and I admit to myself that she is +sweet-tempered, and that nothing ruffles her, but about the affectionate +part I am not so certain. Guy would pet her and caress her all the time +if she would let him, but she won't. + +"Oh, please don't touch me. It is too warm, and you muss my dress," I +have heard her say more than once when he came in and tried to put his +arm about her or take her in his lap. + +Indeed, her dress seems to be uppermost in her mind, and I have known +her to try on half a dozen different ones before she could decide in +which she looked the best. No matter what Guy is doing, or how deeply he +is absorbed in his studies, she makes him stop and inspect her from all +points and give his opinion, and Guy submits in a way perfectly +wonderful to me who never dared to disturb him when shut up with his +books. + +Another thing, too, he submits to which astonishes me more than anything +else. It used to annoy him terribly to wait for anything or anybody. He +was always ready, and expected others to be, but Daisy is just the +reverse. Such dawdling habits I never saw in any person. With Zillah to +help her dress she is never ready for breakfast, never ready for dinner, +never ready for church, never ready for anything, and that, in a +household accustomed to order and regularity, does put things back so +and make so much trouble. + +"Don't wait breakfast for me, please," she says, when she has been +called for the third or fourth time, and if she can get us to sit down +without her she seems to think it all right, and that she can dawdle as +much as she likes. + +I wonder that it never occurs to her that to keep the breakfast table +round, as we must, makes the girls cross and upsets the kitchen +generally. I hinted as much to her once when the table stood till ten +o'clock, and she only opened her great blue eyes wonderingly, and said +mamma had spoiled her, but she would try and do better, and she bade +Zillah call her at five the next morning, and Zillah called her, and +then she was a half-hour late. Guy doesn't like that, and he looked +daggers on the night of the reception, when the guests began to arrive +before she was dressed! And she commenced her toilet, too, at three +o'clock! But she was wondrously beautiful in her bridal robes, and took +all hearts by storm. She is perfectly at home in society, and knows just +what to do and say so long as the conversation keeps in the fashionable +round of chit-chat, but when it drifts into deeper channels she is +silent at once, or only answers in monosyllables. I believe she is a +good French scholar, and she plays and sings tolerably well, and reads +the novels as they come out, but of books and literature, in general, +she is wholly ignorant, and if Guy thought to find in her any sympathy +with his favorite studies and authors he is terribly mistaken. + +And yet, as I write all this, my conscience gives me sundry little +pricks as if I were wronging her, for in spite of her faults I like her, +and like to watch her flitting through the house and grounds like the +little fairy she is, and I hope the marriage may turn out well, and that +she will improve with age, and not make so heavy drafts on my brother's +purse. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +EXTRACTS FROM GUY'S JOURNAL + + +SEPTEMBER 20, 18--. + +Three months married. Three months with Daisy all to myself, and yet not +exactly to myself either, for except I go after her I confess she does +not often come to me, unless it is just as I have shut myself up in my +room, thinking to have a quiet hour with my books. Then she generally +appears, and wants me to ride with her, or play croquet, or see which +dress is most becoming, and I always submit and obey her as if I were +the child instead of herself. + +She is young, and I almost wonder her mother allowed her to marry. Fan +hints that they were mercenary, but if they were they concealed the fact +wonderfully well, and made me think it a great sacrifice on their part +to give me Daisy. And so it was; such a lovely little darling, and so +beautiful. What a sensation she created at Saratoga, and still I was +glad to get away, for I did not like some things which were done there. +I did not like so many young men around her, nor her dancing those +abominable round dances which she seemed to enjoy so much. "Square +dances were poky," she said, even after I tried them with her for the +sake of keeping her out of that vile John Britton's arms. I have a fancy +that I made a spectacle of myself, hopping about like a magpie, but +Daisy said "I did beautifully," though she cried because I put my foot +on her lace flounce and tore it, and I noticed she ever after had some +good reason why I should not dance again. "It was too hard work for me; +I was too big," she said, "and would tire easily. Cousin Tom was big, +and he never danced." + +By the way, I have some little curiosity with regard to that Cousin Tom +who wanted Daisy so badly and who, because she refused him, went off to +South America. I trust he will stay there. Not that I am or could be +jealous of Daisy, but it is better for cousins like Tom to keep away. + +Daisy is very happy here, though she is not quite so enthusiastic over +the place as I supposed she would be, knowing how she lived at home. +Well enough, it is true, and the McDonalds are intensely respectable, so +she says; but her father's practice cannot bring him over two thousand a +year, and the small brown house they live in, with only a grass plot in +the rear and at the side, is not to be compared with Elmwood, which is a +fine old place, everyone admits. It has come out gradually that she +thought the house was brick and had a tower and billiard room, and that +we kept more servants, and had a fishpond on the premises, and velvet +carpets all over the house. I would not let Fan know this for the world, +as I want her to like Daisy thoroughly. + +And she does like her, though this little pink and white pet of mine is +a new revelation to her, and puzzles her amazingly. She would have been +glad if I had married Julia Hamilton of Boston; but those Boston girls +are too strong-minded and positive to suit me. Julia is nice, it is +true, and pretty and highly educated, and Fan says she has brains and +would make a splendid wife. As Fan had never seen Daisy she did not, of +course, mean to hint that she had not brains, but I suspect even now she +would be better pleased if Julia were here, but I should not. Julia is +self-reliant; Daisy is not. Julia has opinions of her own and asserts +them, too; Daisy does not. Julia can sew and run a machine; Daisy +cannot. Julia gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night; Daisy +does neither. Nobody ever waits for Julia; everybody waits for Daisy. +Julia reads scientific works and dotes on metaphysics; Daisy does not +know the meaning of the word. In short, Julia is a strong, high-toned, +energetic, independent woman, while Daisy is--a little innocent, +confiding girl, whom I would rather have without brains than all the +Boston women like Julia with brains! + +And yet I sometimes wish she did care for books, and was more interested +in what interests me. I have tried reading aloud to her an hour every +evening, but she generally goes to sleep or steals up behind me to look +over my shoulder and see how near I am to the end of the chapter, and +when I reach it she says: "Excuse me, but I have just thought of +something I must tell Zillah about the dress I want to wear to-morrow. +I'll be back in a moment"; and off she goes, and our reading is ended +for that time, for I notice she never returns. The dress is of more +importance than the book, and I find her at ten or eleven trying to +decide whether black or white or blue is most becoming to her. Poor +Daisy! I fear she had no proper training at home. Indeed, she told me +the other day that from her earliest recollection she had been taught +that the main object of her life was to marry young and to marry money. +Of course she did not mean anything or know how it sounded, but I would +rather she had not said it, even though she had refused a millionaire +for me, who can hardly be called rich as riches are rated these days. If +Dick Trevylian should fail to meet his payment I should be very poor, +and then what would become of Daisy, to whom the luxuries which money +buys are so necessary? + +(Here followed several other entries in the journal, consisting mostly +of rhapsodies on Daisy, and then came the following:) + + +DECEMBER 15, 18--. + +Dick has failed to meet his payment, and that after having borrowed of +me twenty thousand more! Is he a villain, and did he know all the time +that I was ruining myself? I cannot think so when I remember that look +on his face as he told me about it and swore to me solemnly that up to +the very last he fully expected relief from England, where he thought he +had a fortune. + +"If I live I will pay you some time," he said; but that does not help me +now. I am a ruined man. Elmwood must be sold, and I must work to earn my +daily bread. For myself I would not mind it much, and Fan, who, +woman-like, saw it in the distance and warned me of it, behaves nobly; +but it falls hard on Daisy. + +Poor Daisy! She never said a word when I told her the exact truth, but +she went to bed and cried for one whole day. I am so glad I settled that +ten thousand on her when we were married. No one can touch that, and I +told her so; but she did not say a word or seem to know what I meant. +Talking or expressing her opinion was never in her line, and she has not +of her own accord spoken with me on the subject, and when I try to talk +with her about our future she shudders and cries, and says, "Please +don't! I can't bear it. I want to go home to mother!" + +And so it was settled that while we are arranging matters she is to +visit her mother and perhaps not return till spring, when I hope to be +in a better condition financially than I am at present. + +One thing Daisy said, which hurt me cruelly, and that was: "If I must +marry poor, I might as well have married Cousin Tom, who wanted me so +badly!" To do her justice, however, she added immediately: "But I like +you the best." + +I am glad she said that. It will be something to remember when she is +gone, or rather when I return without her, as I am going to Indianapolis +with her, and then back to the dreary business of seeing what I have +left and what I can do. I have an offer for the house, and shall sell at +once; but where my home will be next, I do not know, neither would I +care so much if it were not for Daisy--poor little Daisy!--who thought +she had married a rich man. The only tears I have shed over my lost +fortune were for her. Oh, Daisy, Daisy! + + + + +CHAPTER III + +EXTRACTS FROM DAISY'S JOURNAL + + +ELMWOOD, December 20, 18--. + +Daisy McDonald Thornton's journal, presented by my husband, Mr. Guy +Thornton, who wishes me to write something in it every day; and when I +asked him what I should write, he said: "Your thoughts, and opinions, +and experiences. It will be pleasant for you some time to look back upon +your early married life and see what progress you have made since then, +and will help you to recall incidents you would otherwise forget. A +journal fixes things in your mind, and I know you will enjoy it, +especially as no one is to see it, and you can talk to it freely as to a +friend." + +That is what Guy said, and I wrote it right down to copy into the book +as a kind of preface or introduction. I am not much pleased with having +to keep a journal, and maybe I shall have Zillah keep it for me. I don't +care to fix things in my mind. I don't like things fixed, anyway. I'd +rather they would be round loose, as they surely would, if I had not +Zillah to pick them up. She is a treasure, and it is almost worth being +married to have a waiting maid--and that reminds me that I may as well +begin back at the time when I was not married, and did not want to be, +if only we had not been so poor, and obliged to make so many shifts to +seem richer than we were. + +My maiden name was Margaret McDonald, and I am seventeen next New Year's +Day. My father is of Scotch descent, and a lawyer; my mother was a +Barnard, from New Orleans, and has the best blood of the two. I am an +only child, and very handsome--so everybody says--and I should know it +if they did not say it, for can't I see myself in the glass! And still I +really do not care so much for my good looks except as they serve to +attain the end for which father says I was born. + +Almost the first thing I can remember is of his telling me that I must +marry young and marry rich, and I promised him I would, and asked if I +could stay at home with mother just the same after I was married. +Another thing I remember, which made a lasting impression, and that is +the beating father gave me for asking before some grand people staying +at our house, "Why we did not always have beefsteak and hot muffins for +breakfast, instead of just baked potatoes and bread and butter." + +I must learn to keep my mouth shut, father said, and not tell all I +knew; and I profited by the lesson, and that is one reason, I suppose, +why I so rarely say what I think, or express an opinion whether +favorable or otherwise. + +I do not believe I am deceitful, though all my life I have seen my +parents try to seem what they are not; that is, try to seem like rich +people, when sometimes father's practice brought him only a few hundreds +a year, and there was mother and myself and Tom to support. Tom is my +cousin--Tom McDonald--who lived with us and fell in love with me, though +I never tried to make him. I liked him ever so much, though he used to +tease me horribly, and put horn-bugs in my shoes, and worms on my neck, +and Jack-o'-lanterns in my room, and tip me off his sled into the snow; +but still I liked him, for with all his teasing he had a great, kind, +unselfish heart, and I shall never forget that look on his face when I +told him I could not be his wife. I did not like him as he liked me, and +I did not want to be married anyway, and if I did marry it must be to +some rich man. That was in Chicago, and the night before he started for +South America, where he was going to make his fortune, and he wanted me +to promise to wait for him, and said no one would ever love me as well +as he did. + +I could not promise, because, even if he had all the gold mines in Peru, +I did not care to spend my days with him--to see him morning, noon, and +night, and all the time. It is a good deal to ask of a woman, and I told +him so, and he cried so hard--not loud, but in a pitiful kind of way, +which hurt me cruelly. I hear that sobbing sometimes now in my sleep, +and it's like the moan of the wind round that house on the prairie where +Tom's mother died. Poor Tom! I gave him a lock of my hair and let him +kiss me twice, and then he went away, and after that old Judge Burton +offered himself and his million to me; but I could not endure his bald +head a week, and I told him no, and when father seemed sorry and said I +missed it, I told him I would not sell myself for gold alone. I'd run +away first and go after Tom. Then Guy Thornton came, and--and--well, he +took me by storm, and I liked him better than anyone I ever saw, and I +married him. Everybody said he was rich, and father was satisfied and +gave his consent, and bought be a most elaborate trousseau. I wondered +then where the money came from. Now I know that Tom sent it. He has been +very successful with his mine, and in a letter to father sent me a check +for fifteen hundred dollars. Father would not tell me that, but mother +did, and I felt worse, I think, than when I heard the sobbing. Poor Tom! +I never wear one of the dresses now without thinking who paid for it and +wrote, "I am working like an ox for Daisy." Poor, poor Tom! + + +OCTOBER 1, 18--. + +I rather like writing in my journal, for here I can say what I think, +and I guess I shall not let Zillah make the entries. Where did I leave +off? Oh, about poor Tom. + +I have had a letter from him. He had just heard of my marriage, and only +said: "God bless you, my darling little Daisy, and may you be very +happy." + +I burned the letter up and cried myself into a headache. I wish people +would not love me so hard. I do not deserve it. There's Guy, my husband, +more to be pitied than Tom, because, you see, he has got me; and, +privately, between you and me, old journal, I am not worth the getting, +and I know it perhaps better than anyone else. I like Guy and believe +him to be the best man in the world, and I would rather he kissed me +than Tom, but do not want anybody to kiss me; and Guy is so +affectionate, and his great hands are so hot, and muss my fluted dresses +so terribly. + +I guess I don't like to be married anyway. If one only could have the +house, and the money, and the nice things without the man! That's +wicked, of course, when Guy is so kind and loves me so much. I wish he +didn't, but I would not for the world let him know how I feel. I did +tell him that I was not the wife he ought to have, but he would not +believe me, and father was anxious, and so I married him, meaning to do +the best I could. It was splendid at Saratoga, only Guy danced so +ridiculously and would not let me waltz with those young men. As if I +cared a straw for them or any other man besides Guy and Tom! + +It is pleasant here at Elmwood, only the house is not as grand as I +supposed, and there are not as many servants, and the family carriage is +awful poky. Guy is to give me a pretty little phaeton on my birthday. + +I like Miss Frances very much, only she is such a raging housekeeper, +and keeps me all the while on the alert. I don't believe in these raging +housekeepers, who act as if they wanted to make the bed before you are +up, and eat breakfast before it is ready. I don't like to get up in the +morning anyway, and I don't like to hurry, and I am always behind, and +keeping somebody waiting, and that disturbs the people here very much. +Miss Frances seems really cross sometimes, and even Guy looks sober and +disturbed when he has waited for me half an hour. I guess I must try and +do better, for both Guy and Miss Frances are as good as they can be, but +then I am not one bit like them, and have never been accustomed to +anything like order and regularity. At home things came round any time, +and I came with them, and that suited me better than this being married, +a great deal, only now I have a kind of settled feeling, and am Mrs. Guy +Thornton, and Guy is good-looking, and highly esteemed, and very +learned, and I can see that the young ladies in the neighborhood envy me +for being his wife. I wonder who is that Julia Hamilton Miss Frances +talks about so much, and why Guy did not marry her instead of me. She, +too, is very learned and gets up in the morning and flies round and +reads scientific articles in the _Westminster Review_. I asked Guy once +why he did not marry her instead of a little goose like me, and he said +he liked the little goose the best, and then kissed me, and crumpled my +white dress all up. Poor Guy! I wish I did love him as well as he does +me, but it's not in me to love any man! + + +DECEMBER 20, 18--. + +A horrible thing has happened, and I have married a poor man after all! +Guy signed for somebody and had to pay, and Elmwood must be sold, and we +are to move into a stuffy little house without Zillah, and with only one +girl. It is too dreadful to think about, and I was sick for a week after +Guy told me of it. I might as well have married Tom, only I like Guy the +best. He looks so sorry and sad that I sometimes forget myself to pity +him. I am going home to mother for a long, long time--all winter, +maybe--and I shall enjoy it so much. Guy says I have ten thousand +dollars of my own, and the interest on that will buy my dresses, I +guess, and get something for Miss Frances, too. She is a noble woman, +and tries to bear up so brave. She says they will keep the furniture of +my blue room for me, if I want it; and I do, and I mean to have Guy +send it to Indianapolis, if he will. Oh, mother, I am so glad I am +coming back, and I almost wish--no, I don't, either. I like Guy, only I +don't like being married! + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +AUTHOR'S STORY + + +Reader, Guy Thornton was not a fool, and Daisy was not a fool, though I +admit they have thus far appeared to disadvantage. Both had made a great +mistake; Guy in marrying a child whose mind was unformed, and Daisy in +marrying at all, when her whole nature was in revolt against matrimony. +But married they are, and Guy has failed and Daisy is going home, and +the New Year's morning, when she was to have received Guy's gift of the +phaeton and ponies, found her at the little cottage in Indianapolis, +where she at once resumed all the old indolent habits of her girlhood, +and was happier than she had been since leaving home as a bride. + +On the father, Mr. McDonald, the news of his son-in-law's failure fell +like a thunderbolt and affected him more than it did Daisy. Shrewd, +ambitious, and scheming, he had for years planned for his daughter a +moneyed marriage, and now she was returned upon his hands for an +indefinite time, with her naturally luxurious tastes intensified by +recent indulgence, and her husband a ruined man. It was not a pleasant +picture to contemplate, and Mr. McDonald's face was cloudy and +thoughtful for many days until a letter from Tom turned his thoughts +into a new channel and sent him with fresh avidity to certain points of +law with which he had of late years been familiar. If there was one part +of his profession in which he excelled more than another it was in the +divorce cases which had made Indiana so notorious. Squire McDonald, as +he was called, was well known to that class of people who, utterly +ignoring God's command, seek to free themselves from the bonds which +once were so pleasant to wear, and now, as he sat alone in his office +with Tom's letter in his hand, and read how rapidly that young man was +getting rich, there came into his mind a plan, the very thought of which +would have made Guy Thornton shudder with horror and disgust. + +Daisy had not been altogether satisfied with her brief married life, and +it would be very easy to make her more dissatisfied, especially as the +home to which she would return must necessarily be very different from +Elmwood, Tom was destined to be a millionaire. There was no doubt of +that, and once in the family he could be molded and managed as the wily +McDonald had never been able to mold or manage Guy. But everything +pertaining to Tom must be kept carefully out of sight, for the man knew +his daughter would never lend herself to such a diabolical scheme as +that which he was revolving, and which he at once put in progress, +managing so adroitly that before Daisy was at all aware of what she was +doing, she found herself the heroine of a divorce suit, founded really +upon nothing but a general dissatisfaction with married life and a wish +to be free from it. Something there was about incompatibility of +temperament and uncongeniality, and all that kind of thing which wicked +men and women parade before the world when weary of the tie which God +has distinctly said shall not be torn asunder. + +It is not our intention to follow the suit through any of its details, +and we shall only say that it progressed rapidly, while poor, +unsuspicious Guy was working hard to retrieve in some way his lost +fortune, and to fit up a pleasant home for the childish wife who was +drifting away from him. He had missed her so much at first, even while +he felt it a relief to have her gone just when his business matters +needed all his time and thought. + +It was some comfort, too, to write to her, but not much to receive her +letters, for Daisy did not excel in epistolary composition, and after a +few weeks her letters were short and far apart, and, as Guy thought, +constrained and studied in their tone, and when, after she had been +absent from him for three months or more his longing to see her was so +great that he decided upon a visit of a few days to the West, and +apprised her of his intention, asking if she would be glad to see him. +He received in reply a telegram from Mr. McDonald telling him to defer +his journey, as Daisy was visiting some friends and would be absent for +an indefinite length of time. There was but one more letter from her and +that was dated at Vincennes, and merely said that she was well, and Guy +must not feel anxious about her or take the trouble to come to see her, +as she knew how valuable his time must be and would far rather he should +devote himself to his business than bother about her. The letter was +signed, "Hastily, Daisy," and Guy read it over many times with a pang in +his heart he could not define. + +But he had no suspicion of the terrible blow in store for him, and went +on planning for her comfort just the same; and when at last Elmwood was +sold and he could no longer stay there, he hired a more expensive house +than he could afford, because he thought Daisy would like it better, and +then, with his sister Fan, set himself to the pleasant task of fitting +it up for Daisy. There was a blue room with a bay window just as there +had been in Elmwood, only it was not so pretentious and large. But it +was very pleasant and had a door opening out upon what Guy meant should +be a flower garden in the summer, and though he missed his little wife +sadly and longed so much at times for a sight of her beautiful face and +the sound of her sweet voice, he put all thought of himself aside and +said he would not bring her back until the May flowers were in blossom +and the young grass bright and green by the blue room door. + +"She will have a better impression of her new home then," he said to +Fan; "and I want her to be happy here and not feel the change too +keenly." + +Julia Hamilton chanced those days to be in town, and as she was very +intimate with Miss Thornton the two were a great deal together, and it +thus came about that Julia was often at the brown cottage and helped to +settle the blue room for Daisy. + +"If it were only you who was to occupy it," Frances said to her one +morning when they had been reading together for an hour or more in the +room they both thought so pleasant. "I like Daisy, but somehow she seems +so far from me. Why, there's not a sentiment in common between us." + +Then, as if sorry for having said so much, she spoke of Daisy's +marvelous beauty and winning ways, and hoped Julia would know and love +her ere long, and possibly do her good. + +It so happened that Guy was sometimes present at these readings, +enjoying them so much that there insensibly crept into his heart a wish +that Daisy was more like the Boston girl whom he had mentally termed +strong-minded. + +"And in time, perhaps, she may be," he thought. "I mean to have Julia +here a great deal next summer, and with two such women for companions as +Julia and Fan, Daisy cannot help but improve." + +And so at last, when the house was settled and the early spring flowers +were in bloom, Guy started westward for his wife. He had not seen her +now for months, and it was more than two weeks since he had heard from +her, and his heart beat high with joyful anticipation as he thought just +how she would look when she came to him, shyly and coyly, as she always +did, with that droop in her eyelids and that pink flush in her cheeks. +He would chide her a little at first, he said, for having been so poor a +correspondent, especially of late, and after that he would love her so +much, and shield her so tenderly from every want or care, that she +should never feel the difference in his fortune. + +Poor Guy--he little dreamed what was in store for him just inside the +door where he stood ringing one morning early in May, and which, when at +last it was opened, shut in a very different man from the one who went +through it three hours later, benumbed and half-crazed with bewilderment +and surprise. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE DIVORCE + + +He had expected to meet Daisy in the hall, but she was nowhere in sight, +and she who appeared in response to the card he sent up seemed confused +and unnatural to such a degree that Guy asked in some alarm if anything +had happened, and where Daisy was. + +Nothing had happened--that is--well, nothing was the matter with Daisy, +Mrs. McDonald said, only she was nervous and not feeling quite well that +morning, and thought she had better not come down. They had not expected +him so soon, she continued, and she regretted exceedingly that her +husband was not there, but she had sent for him, and hoped he would come +immediately. Had Mr. Thornton been to breakfast? + +Yes, he had, and he did not understand at all what she meant; if Daisy +could not come to him he must go to her, he said, and he started for the +door, when Mrs. McDonald sprang forward, and, laying her hand on his +arm, held him back, saying: + +"Wait, Mr. Thornton; wait till husband comes--to tell you--" + +"Tell me what?" Guy demanded of her, feeling sure now that something had +befallen Daisy. + +"Tell you--that--that--Daisy is--that he has--that--oh, believe me, it +was not my wish, and I don't know now why it was done," Mrs. McDonald +said, still trying to detain Guy and keep him in the room. + +But her efforts were vain, for, shaking off her grasp, Guy opened the +hall door, and with a cry of joy caught Daisy herself in his arms. + +In a state of fearful excitement and very curious to know what was +passing between her mother and Guy, she had stolen downstairs to listen, +and had reached the door just as Guy opened it so suddenly. + +"Daisy, darling, I feared you were sick," he cried, nearly smothering +her with his caresses. + +But Daisy writhed herself away from him, and, putting up her hands to +keep him off, cried out: + +"Oh, Guy, Guy, you can't--you mustn't. You must never kiss me again or +love me any more, because I am--I am not--oh, Guy, I wish you had never +seen me; I am so sorry, too. I did like you. I--I--Guy--Guy--I ain't +your wife any more! Father has got a divorce!" + +She whispered the last words, and then, affrighted at the expression of +Guy's face, fled half-way up the stairs, where she stood looking down +upon him, while, with a face as white as ashes, he, too, stood gazing at +her and trying to frame the words which should ask her what she meant. +He did not believe her literally; the idea was too preposterous, but he +felt that something horrible had come between him and Daisy--that in +some way she was as much lost to him as if he had found her coffined for +the grave, and the suddenness of the blow took from him for a moment his +powers of speech, and he still stood looking at her when the street door +opened and a new actor appeared upon the scene in the person of Mr. +McDonald, who had hastened home in obedience to the message from his +wife. + +It was a principle of Mr. McDonald never to lose his presence of mind or +his temper, or the smooth, low tone of voice he had cultivated years ago +and practiced since with so good effect. And now, though he understood +the state of matters at once and knew that Guy had heard the worst, he +did not seem ruffled in the slightest degree, and his voice was just as +kind and sweet as ever as he bade Guy good-morning and advanced to shake +his hand. But Guy would not take it. He had always disliked and +distrusted Mr. McDonald, and he felt intuitively that whatever harm had +befallen him had come through the oily-tongued, insinuating man who +stood smilingly before him. With a gesture of disgust he turned away +from the offered hand, and in a voice husky with suppressed excitement, +asked: + +"What does all this mean, that when, after a separation of months, I +come for my wife I am told that she is not my wife--that there has been +a--a divorce?" + +Guy had brought himself to name the horrid thing, and the very sound of +the word served to make it more real and clear to his mind, and there +were great drops of sweat upon his forehead and about his mouth as he +asked what it meant. + +"Oh, Guy, don't feel so badly. Tell him, father, I did not do it," Daisy +cried, as she stood leaning over the stair-rail and looking down at the +wretched man. + +"Daisy, go to your room. You should not have seen him at all," Mr. +McDonald said, with more sternness of manner than was usual for him. + +Then, turning to Guy, he continued: + +"Come in here, Mr. Thornton, where we can be alone while I explain to +you what seems so mysterious now." + +They went together into the little parlor, and for half an hour or more +the sound of their voices was distinctly heard as Mr. McDonald tried to +explain what there really was no explanation or excuse for. Daisy was +not contented at Elmwood, and though she complained of nothing, she was +not happy as a married woman, and was glad to be free again. That was +all, and Guy understood at last that Daisy was his no longer; that the +law which was a disgrace to the State in which it existed had divorced +him from his wife without his knowledge or consent, and for no other +reason than incompatibility of temperament, and a desire on Daisy's part +to be free from the marriage tie. Not a word had been said of Guy's +altered fortunes, but he felt that his comparative poverty was really +the cause of this great wrong, and for a few moments resentment and +indignation prevailed over every other feeling; then, when he remembered +the little blue-eyed, innocent-faced girl whom he had loved so much and +thought so good and true, he laid his head upon the sofa arm and groaned +bitterly, while the man who had ruined him sat coolly by, citing to him +many similar cases where divorces had been procured without the +knowledge of the absent party. It was a common--a very common thing, he +said, and reflected no disgrace upon either party where there was no +criminal charge. Daisy was too young and childish anyway, and ought not +to have been married for several years, and it was really quite as much +a favor to Guy as a wrong. He was free again--free to marry if he +liked--he had taken care to see to that, so-- + +"Stop!" Guy almost thundered out. "There is a point beyond which you +shall not go. Be satisfied with taking Daisy from me, and do not insult +me with talk of a second marriage. Had I found Daisy dead it would have +hurt me less than this fearful wrong you have done. I say you, for I +charge it all to you. Daisy could have had no part in it, and I ask to +see her and hear from her own lips that she accepts the position in +which you and your diabolical laws have placed her before I am willing +to give her up. Call her, will you?" + +"No, Mr. Thornton," Mr. McDonald replied. "To see Daisy would be useless +and only excite you more than you are excited now. You cannot see her." + +"Yes, he will, father. If Guy wants to see me, he shall." + +It was Daisy herself who spoke, and who a second time had been acting +the part of listener. Going up to Guy, she knelt down beside him, and, +laying her arms across his lap, said to him: + +"What is it, Guy? what is it you wish to say to me?" + +The sight of her before him in all her girlish beauty, with that soft, +sweet expression on the face raised so timidly to his, unmanned Guy +entirely, and, clasping her in his arms, he wept passionately for a +moment, while he tried to say: + +"Oh, Daisy, my darling, tell me it is a horrid dream; tell me you are +still my wife, and go with me to the home I have tried to make so +pleasant for your sake. It is not like Elmwood, but I will some time +have one handsomer even than that, and I'll work so hard for you! Oh, +Daisy, tell me you are sorry for the part you had in this fearful +business, if, indeed, you had a part, and I'll take you back so gladly! +Will you, Daisy? will you be my wife once more? I shall never ask you +again. This is your last chance with me. Reflect before you throw it +away." + +Guy's mood was changing a little, because of something he saw in +Daisy's face--a drawing back from him when he spoke of marriage. + +"Daisy must not go back with you; I shall not suffer that," Mr. McDonald +said, while Daisy, still keeping her arms around Guy's neck, where she +had put them when he drew her to him, replied: + +"Oh, Guy! I can't go with you now; but I shall like you always, and I'm +so sorry for you. I never wanted to be married; but if I must, I'd +better have married Tom, or that old Chicago man; they would not feel so +bad, and I'd rather hurt them than you." + +The utter childishness of the remark roused Guy, and with a gesture of +impatience, he put Daisy from him, and, rising to his feet, said +angrily: + +"This, then is your decision, and I accept it; but, Daisy, if you have +in you a spark of true womanhood you will some time be sorry for this +day's work; while you!" and he turned fiercely upon Mr. McDonald--"words +cannot express the contempt I feel for you; and know, too, that I +understand you fully, and am certain that were I the rich man I was when +you gave your daughter to me, you would not have taken her away. But I +will waste no more words upon you. You are a villain! and Daisy is--" +His white lips quivered a little as he hesitated a moment, and then +added: "Daisy was my wife." + +Then, without another word, he left the house, nor saw the white, +frightened face which looked after him so wistfully until a turn in the +street hid him from view. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +EXTRACTS FROM DIARIES + + +_Extract 1st--Mr. McDonald's._ + + +MAY ----. + +Well, that matter is over, and I can't say I am sorry, for the +expression in that Thornton's eye I do not care to meet a second time. +There was mischief in it, and it made one think of six-shooters and cold +lead. I never quite indorsed the man--first, because he was not as rich +as I would like Daisy's husband to be, and, second, because even if he +had been a millionaire it would have done me no good. That he did not +marry Daisy's family, he made me fully understand, and for any good his +money did me, I was as poor after the marriage as before. Then he must +needs lose all he had in that foolish way, and when I found that Daisy +was not exceedingly in love with married life, it was natural that, as +her father, I should take advantage of the laws of the State in which I +live, especially as Tom is growing rich so fast. On the whole, I have +done a good thing. Daisy is free, with ten thousand dollars that +Thornton settled on her, for, of course, I shall prevent her giving that +back, as she is determined to do, saying it is not hers, and she will +not keep it. It is hers, and she shall keep it, and Tom will be a +millionaire if that gold mine proves as great a success as it seems now +to be, and I can manage Tom, and, as I said before, I've done a nice +thing after all. + + +_Extract 2nd--Miss Thornton's._ + +JUNE 30, 18--. + +To-day, for the first time, we have hopes that my brother will live; +but, oh! how near he has been to the gates of death since that night +when he came back to us from the West, with a fearful look on his face +and a cruel stab in his heart. I say us, for Julia Hamilton has been +with me all through the dreadful days and nights when I watched to see +Guy's life go out and know I was left alone. She was with me when I was +getting ready for Daisy and waiting for Guy to bring her home--not to +Elmwood--that dear old place is sold and strangers walk the rooms I love +so well--but here to the brown cottage on the hill, which, if I had +never had Elmwood, would seem so pleasant to me. + +And it is pleasant here, especially in Daisy's room, which we shall +never use, for the door is shut and bolted, and it seems each time I +pass it as if a dead body were inside. Had Guy died I would have laid +him there and sent for that false creature to come and see her work. I +promised her so much, but not from any love, for my heart was full of +bitterness that night when I turned her from the door out into the rain. +I shall never tell Guy that--never, lest he should soften toward her, +and I would not have her here again for all the world contains. And yet +I did like her, and was looking forward to her return with a good deal +of pleasure. Julia had spoken many a kind word for her, had pleaded her +extreme youth as an excuse for her faults, and had led me to hope for +better things when time had matured her somewhat and she had become +accustomed to our new mode of life. + +And so I hoped and waited for her and Guy, and wondered I did not hear +from him, and felt so glad and happy when I received the telegram, +"Shall be home to-night." It was a bright day in May, but the evening +set in cool, with a feeling of rain in the air, and I had a fire kindled +in the parlor and in Daisy's room, for I remembered how she used to +crouch on the rug before the grate and watch the blaze floating up the +chimney with all the eagerness of a child. Then, although it hurt me +sorely, I went to Simpson, who bought our carriage, and asked that it +might be sent to the station so that Daisy should not feel the +difference at once. And Jerry, our old coachman, went with it and waited +there just as Julia and I waited at home, for Julia had promised to stay +a few weeks and see what Daisy was like. + +The train was late that night, an hour behind time, and the spring rain +was falling outside and the gas was lighted within when I heard the +sound of wheels stopping at the door and went to meet my brother. But +only my brother. There was no Daisy with him. He came in alone, with +such an awful look on his white face as made me cry out with alarm. + +"What it is, Guy, and where is Daisy?" I asked, as he staggered against +the banister, where he leaned heavily. + +He did not answer my question, but said, "Take me to my room," in a +voice I would never have known for Guy's. I took him to his room, made +him lie down, and brought him a glass of wine, and then, when he was +strong enough to tell it, listened to the shameful story, and felt that +henceforth and forever I must and would hate the woman who had wounded +my Guy so cruelly. + +And still there is some good in her--some sense of right and wrong, as +was shown by a strange thing which happened when Guy was at the worst of +the terrible fever which followed his coming home. I watched him day and +night, I would not even let Julia Hamilton share my vigils, and one +night when I was worn out with fatigue and anxiety I fell asleep upon +the lounge, where I threw myself for a moment. How long I slept I never +knew, but it must have been an hour or more, for the last thing I +remember was hearing the whistle of the Western train and the sighing of +the wind, which sounded like rain, and when I awoke the rain was falling +heavily and the clock was striking twelve, which was an hour after the +train was due. It was very quiet in the room, and darker than usual, for +someone had shaded the lamp from my eyes as well as Guy's so that at +first I did not see distinctly, but I had an impression that there was a +figure sitting by Guy near the bed. Julia, most likely, I thought, and I +called her by name, feeling my blood curdle in my veins and my heart +stand still with something like fear when a voice I knew so well and +never expected to hear again, answered softly: + +"It is not Julia. It's me!" + +There was no faltering in her voice, no sound of apology. She spoke like +one who had a right there, and this it was which angered me and made me +lose my self-command. Starting to my feet, I confronted her where she +sat in my chair, by Guy's bedside, with those queer blue eyes of hers +fixed so questioningly upon me as if she wondered at my impertinence. + +"Miss McDonald," I said, laying great stress on the name, "why are you +here, and how did you dare come?" + +"I was almost afraid, it was so dark when I left the train, and it kept +thundering so," she replied, mistaking my meaning altogether, "but there +was no conveyance at the station, and so I came on alone. I never knew +Guy was sick. Is he very bad?" + +Her perfect composure and utter ignoring of the past provoked me beyond +endurance, and without stopping to think what I was doing, I seized her +arm, and drawing her into an adjoining room, said, in a suppressed +whisper of rage: + +"Very bad--I should think so. We have feared and still fear he will die, +and it's all your work, the result of your wickedness, and yet you +presume to come here into his very room--you who are no wife of his, and +no woman, either, to do what you have done." + +What more I said I do not remember. I only know Daisy put her hands to +her head in a scared, helpless way, and said: + +"I do not quite understand it all, or what you wish me to do." + +"Do?" I replied. "I want you to leave this house to-night--now, before +Guy can possibly be harmed by your presence. Go back to the depot and +take the next train home. It is due in an hour. You have time to reach +it." + +"But it's so dark, and it rains and thunders so," she said, with a +shudder, as a heavy peal shook the house and the rain beat against the +windows. + +I think I must have been crazy with mad excitement, and her answer made +me worse. + +"You were not afraid to come here," I said. "You can go from here as +well. Thunder will not hurt such as you." + +Even then she did not move, but crouched in a corner of the room +farthest from me, reminding me of my kitten when I try to drive it from +a place where it has been permitted to play. As that will not understand +my scats and gestures, so she did not seem to comprehend my meaning. +But I made her at last, and with a very white face and a strange look in +her great, staring blue eyes, she said: + +"Fanny" (she always called me Miss Frances before), "Fanny, do you +really mean me to go back in the dark and the rain and the thunder? Then +I will, but I must tell you first what I came for, and you will tell +Guy. He gave me ten thousand dollars when we first were married; settled +it on me, they called it, and father was one of the trustees and kept +the paper for me till I was of age. So much I understand, but not why I +can't give it back to Guy, for father says I can't. I never dreamed it +was mine after the--the--the divorce." + +She spoke the word softly and hesitatingly, while a faint flush showed +on her otherwise white face. + +"If I am not Guy's wife, as they say, then I have no right to his money, +and I told father so, and said I'd give it back, and he said I couldn't, +and I said I could and would, and I wrote to Guy about it, told him I +was not so mean, and father kept the letter, and I did not know what I +should do next till I was invited to visit Aunt Merriman in Detroit. +Then I took the paper--the settlement, you know, from the box where +father kept it and put it in my pocket; here it is--see," and she drew +out a document and held it toward me while she continued: "I started for +Detroit under the care of a friend who stopped a few miles the other +side, so you see I was free to come here if I liked, and I did so, for I +wanted to see Guy and give him the paper, and tell him I'd never take a +cent of his money. I am sorry he is sick. I did not think he'd care so +much, and I don't know what to do with the paper unless I tear it up. I +believe I'd better; then, surely, it will be out of the way." + +And before I could speak or think she tore the document in two, and then +across again, and scattered the four pieces on the floor. + +"Tell Guy, please," she continued, "what I have done, and that I never +meant to take it, after--after--that--you know--and that I did not care +for money only as father taught me I must have it, and that I am sorry +he ever saw me, and I never really wanted to be married and can't be his +wife again till I do." + +She spoke as if Guy would take her back of course if she only signified +her wish to come, and this kept me angry, though I was beginning to +soften a little with this unexpected phase of her character, and I might +have suffered her to stay till morning if she had signified a wish to +do so, but she did not. + +"I suppose I must go now if I would catch the train," she said, moving +toward the door. "Good-by, Fanny. I am sorry I ever troubled you." + +She held her little white, ungloved hand toward me, and then I came to +myself, and, hearing the wind and rain, and remembering the lonely road +to the station, I said to her: + +"Stay, Daisy, I cannot let you go alone. Miss Hamilton will watch with +Guy while I go with you." + +"And who will go with you? It will be just as dark and rainy then," she +said; but she made no objection to my plan, and in less than five +minutes Julia, who always slept in her dressing-gown so as to be ready +for any emergency, was sitting by Guy, and I was out in the dark night +with Daisy and our watchdog Leo, who, at sight of his old playmate, had +leaped upon her and nearly knocked her down in his joy. + +"Leo is glad to see me," Daisy said, patting the dumb creature's head, +and in her voice there was a rebuking tone, which I resented silently. + +I was not glad to see her, and I could not act a part, but I wrapped my +waterproof around her and adjusted the hood over her flowing hair, and +thought how beautiful she was, even in that disfiguring garb, and then +we went on our way, the young creature clinging close to me as peal +after peal of thunder rolled over our heads, and gleams of lightning lit +up the inky sky. She did not speak to me, nor I to her, till the red +light on the track was in sight, and we knew the train was coming. Then +she asked timidly. "Do you think Guy will die?" + +"Heaven only knows," I said, checking a strong impulse to add: "If he +does, you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you killed him." + +I was glad now that I did not say it. And I was glad then, when Daisy, +alarmed perhaps by something in the tone of my voice, repeated her +question: + +"But do you think he will die? If I thought he would I should wish to +die, too. I like him, Miss Frances, better than anyone I ever saw; like +him now as well as I ever did, but I do not want to be his wife, nor +anybody's wife, and that is just the truth. I am sorry he ever saw me +and loved me so well. Tell him that, Fanny." + +It was Fanny again and she grasped my hand nervously, for the train was +upon us. + +"Promise me solemnly that if you think he is surely going to die you +will let me know in time to see him once more. Promise--quick--and kiss +me as a pledge." + +The train had stopped. There was not a moment to lose, and I promised, +and kissed the red lips in the darkness, and felt a remorseful pang when +I saw the little figure go alone into the car which bore her swiftly +away, while I turned my steps homeward with only Leo for my companion. + +I had to tell Julia about it, and I gathered up the four scraps of paper +from the floor where Daisy had thrown them, and, joining them together, +saw they really were the marriage settlement, and kept them for Guy, +should he ever be able to hear about it and know what it meant. There +was a telegram for me the next evening, dated at Detroit, and bearing +simply the words, "Arrived safely," and that was all I heard of Daisy. +No one in town knew of her having been here but Julia and myself, and it +was better that they should not, for Guy's life hung on a thread, and +for many days and nights I trembled lest that promise, sealed by a kiss, +would have to be redeemed. + +That was three weeks ago, and Guy is better now and knows us all, and +to-day, for the first time, I have a strong hope that I am not to be +left alone, and I thank Heaven for that hope, and feel as if I were at +peace with all the world, even with Daisy herself, from whom I have +heard nothing since that brief telegram. + + +AUGUST 1, ----. + +The shadow of death has passed from our house, and I may almost say the +shadow of sickness, too, for though Guy is still weak as a child and +thin as a ghost, he is decidedly on the gain, and to-day I drove him out +for the third time, and felt from something he said that he was +beginning to feel some interest in the life so kindly given back to him. +Still he will never be just the same. The blow stunned him too +completely for him to recover quite his old hopeful, happy manner, and +there is a look of age in his face which pains me to see. He knows Daisy +has been here, and why. I had to tell him all about it, and sooner, too, +than I meant. Almost his first coherent question to me after his reason +came back was: + +"Where is Daisy? I am sure I heard her voice. It could not have been a +dream. Is she here, or has she been here? Tell me the truth, Fanny." + +So I told him, though I did not mean to, and showed him the bits of +paper, and held his head on my bosom while he cried like a little child. +How he loves her yet, and how glad he was to know that she was not as +mercenary as it would at first seem. Not that her tearing up that paper +will make any difference about the money. She cannot give it to him, he +says, until she is of age, neither does he wish it at all, and he would +not take it from her; but he is glad to see her disposition in the +matter; glad to have me think better of her than I did, and I am certain +that he is half expecting to hear from her every day and is disappointed +that he does not. He did not reproach me when I told him about turning +her out in the rain; he only said: + +"Poor Daisy, did she get very wet? She is so delicate, you know. I hope +it did not make her sick." + +Oh, the love a man will feel for a woman, let her be ever so unworthy. I +cannot comprehend it. And why should I--an old maid like me, who never +loved anyone but Guy? + + +AUGUST 30, ----. + +In a roundabout way we have heard that Mr. McDonald is going away with +his wife and daughter. When the facts of the divorce were known they +brought him into such disgrace with the citizens of Indianapolis that he +thought it best to leave for a time till the storm blows over, and so +they will go to South America, where there is a cousin Tom, who is +growing rich very fast. I cannot help certain thoughts coming into my +mind any more than I can help being glad that Daisy is going out of the +country. Guy never mentions her now, and is getting to look and act +quite like himself. If only he could forget her we might be very happy +again, as Heaven grant we may. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +FIVE YEARS LATER + + +"Married, this morning, at St. Paul's Church, by the Rev. Dr. ----, +assisted by the rector, Guy Thornton, Esq., of Cuylerville, to Miss +Julia Hamilton, of this city." + +Such was the notice which appeared in a daily Boston paper one lovely +morning in September five years after the last entry in Miss Thornton's +journal. Guy had reached the point at last when he could put Daisy from +his heart and take another in her place. He had never seen her or heard +directly from her since the night she brought him the marriage +settlement and tore it in pieces, thinking thus to give it to him beyond +a doubt. That this did not change the matter one whit he knew just as he +knew she could not give him the ten thousand dollars settled upon her +until she was of age. She was of age now, and had been for a year or +more, and, to say the truth, he had expected to hear from her when she +was twenty-one. To himself he had reasoned in this wise: Her father told +her that the tearing up that paper made no difference, that she was +powerless of herself to act until she was of age, so she will wait +quietly till then before making another effort. And in his heart Guy +thought how he would not take a penny from her, but would insist upon +her keeping it. Still he should respect her all the more for her sense +of justice and generosity, he thought, and when her twenty-first +birthday came and passed, and week after week went by, and brought no +sign from Daisy, there was a pang in his heart and a look of +disappointment on his face which did not pass away until October hung +her gorgeous colors upon the hills of Cuylerville, and Julia Hamilton +came to the Brown Cottage to spend a few weeks with his sister. + +From an independent, self-reliant, energetic girl of twenty-two Julia +had ripened into a noble and dignified woman of twenty-seven, with a +quiet repose of manner which seemed to rest and quiet one, and which +told insensibly on Guy, until at last he found himself dreading to have +her go and wishing to keep her with him always. The visit was lengthened +into a month; and when in November he went with her to Boston he had +asked her to take Daisy's place, and she had said she would. Very freely +they had talked of the little golden-haired girl, and Julia told him +what she had heard of her through a mutual acquaintance who had been on +the same vessel with the McDonalds when they returned from South +America. Cousin Tom was with them, a rich man then and a richer now, for +his gold mine and his railroad had made him almost a millionaire, and it +was currently reported and believed that Mr. McDonald designed him for +his daughter. They were abroad now, the McDonalds and Tom, who bore the +expenses of the party. Daisy, it was said, was even more beautiful than +in her early girlhood, and to her loveliness were added cultivation and +refinement of manner. She had had the best of teachers while in South +America, and was now continuing her studies abroad with a view to +further improvement. All this Julia Hamilton told Guy, and then bade him +think again ere deciding to join her life with his. + +And Guy did think again, and his thoughts went across the sea after the +beautiful Daisy, and he tried to picture to himself what she must be, +now that education and culture had set their seal upon her. But always +in the picture there was a dark background, where cousin Tom stood +sentinel with his bags of gold, and so, with a half-unconscious sigh for +what "might have been," Guy dug still deeper the grave where years +before he had buried his love for Daisy, and to make the burial sure +this time, so that there should be no future resurrection, he put over +the grave a head-stone on which were written a new hope and a new love, +both of which centered in Julia Hamilton. And so they were engaged, and +after that there was no wavering on his part--no looking back to a past +which seemed like a happy dream from which there had been a horrible +awaking. + +He loved Julia at first quietly and sensibly, and loved her more and +more as the winter and spring went by and brought the day when he stood +again at the altar and for the second time took upon him the marriage +vow. It was a very quiet wedding, with only a few friends present, and +Miss Frances was the bridesmaid, in a gown of silver gray; but Julia's +face was bright with the certainty of a happiness long desired; and if +in Guy's heart there lingered the odor of other bridal flowers, withered +now and dead, and the memory of other marriage bells than those which +sent their music on the air that summer morning, and if a pair of sunny +blue eyes looked into his instead of Julia's darker ones, he made no +sign, and his face wore an expression of perfect content as he took his +second bride for better or worse, just as he once had taken little +Daisy. In her case it had proved all for the worse, but now there was a +suitableness in the union which boded future happiness, and many a +hearty wish for good was sent after the newly married pair, whose +destination was New York. + +It was nearly dark when they reached the hotel and quite dark before +dinner was over. Then Julia suddenly remembered that an old friend of +hers was boarding in the house, and suggested going to her room. + +"I'd send my card," she said blushingly, "only she would not know me by +the new name, so if you do not mind my leaving you a moment I'll go and +find her myself." + +Guy did not mind, and Julia went out and left him alone. Scarcely was +she gone when he called to mind a letter which had been forwarded to him +from Cuylerville, and which he had found awaiting him on his return from +the church. Not thinking it of much consequence he had thrust it in his +pocket and in the excitement forgotten it till now. He had dressed for +dinner and worn his wedding coat, and he took the letter out and looked +at it a moment, and wondered whom it was from, as people ofttimes do +wait and wonder, when breaking the seal would settle the wonder so soon. +It was postmarked in New York, and felt heavy in his hand, and he opened +it at last and found that the outer envelope inclosed another one on +which his name and address were written in a handwriting once so +familiar to him, and the sight of which made him start and breathe +heavily for a moment as if the air had suddenly grown thick and +burdensome. + +Daisy's handwriting! which he had never thought to see again; for after +his engagement with Julia he had burned every vestige of a +correspondence it was sorrow now to remember. One by one, and with a +steady hand, he had dropped Daisy's letters into the fire and watched +them turning into ashes, and thought how like his love for her they were +when nothing remained of them but the thin gray tissue his breath could +blow away. The four scraps of the marriage settlement which Daisy had +brought him on that night of storm he kept, because they seemed to +embody something good and noble in the girl; but the letters she had +written him were gone past recall, and he had thought himself cut loose +from her forever--when, lo! there had come to him an awakening to the +bitterness of the past in a letter from the once-loved wife, whose +delicate handwriting made him grow faint and sick for a moment as he +held the letter in his hand and read thereon: + +"GUY THORNTON, ESQ., + Brown Cottage, + Cuylerville, Mass. +Politeness of Mr. Wilkes." + +Why had she written, and what had she to say to him, he wondered, and +for a moment he felt tempted to tear the letter up and never know what +it contained. + +Better, perhaps, had he done so--better for him, and better for the fond +new wife whose happiness was so perfect, and whose trust in his love so +strong. + +But he did not tear it up. He opened it and read--another chapter will +tell us what he read. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +DAISY'S LETTER + + +It was dated at Rouen, France, and it ran as follows: + + +"MAY 15, 18--. + +"DEAR, DEAR GUY:--I am all alone here in Rouen; not a person +near me who speaks English or knows a thing of Daisy Thornton as she +was, or as she is now, for I am Daisy Thornton here. I have taken the +old name again, and am an English governess in a wealthy French family; +and this is how it came about: I have left Berlin and the party there +and am earning my own living for three reasons, two of which concern +cousin Tom and one of which has to do with you and that miserable +settlement which has troubled me so much. I thought when I brought it +back and tore it up that was the last of it, and did not know that by no +act of mine could I give it to you until I was of age. Father missed it, +of course, and I told him just the truth, and that I could never touch a +penny of your money and I not your wife. He did not say a word, and I +supposed it was all right, and never dreamed that I was actually clothed +and fed on the interest of that ten thousand dollars. Father would not +tell me and you did not write. Why didn't you, Guy? I expected a letter +so long, and went to the office so many times and cried a little to +myself, and said Guy has forgotten me. + +"Then we went to South Africa--father, mother, and I--went to live with +Tom. He wanted me before you did, you know, but I could not marry Tom. +He is very rich now, and we lived with him; and then we all came to +Europe and have traveled everywhere, and I have had teachers in +everything, and people say I am a fine scholar and praise me much; and, +Guy, I have tried to improve just to please you; believe me, Guy, just +to please you. Tom was as a brother--a dear, good big bear of a brother +whom I loved as such, but nothing more. Even were you dead, I could not +marry Tom after knowing you; and I told him so when in Berlin he asked +me for the sixth time to be his wife. I had to tell him something hard +to make him understand, and when I saw how what I said hurt him cruelly +and made him cry--because he was such a great, big, awkward, dear old +fellow, I put my arms around his neck and cried with him, and tried to +explain, and that made him ten times worse. Oh, if folks only would not +love me so it would save me so much sorrow. + +"You see, I tell you this because I want you to know exactly what I have +been doing these five years, and that I have never thought of marrying +Tom or anybody. I did not think I could. I felt that if I belonged to +anybody it was you, and I cannot have Tom; and father was very angry and +taunted me with living on Tom's money, which I did not know before, and +he accidentally let out about the marriage settlement, and that hurt me +worse than the other. + +"Oh, Guy, how can I give it up? Surely there must be a way, now I am of +age. I was so humiliated about it, and after all that passed between +father and Tom and me I could not stay in Berlin and never be sure whose +money was paying for my bread, and when I heard that Madame Lafarcade, a +French lady, who had spent the winter in Berlin, was wanting an English +governess for her children, I went to her, and, as the result, am here +at this beautiful country-seat, just out of the city, earning my own +living and feeling so proud to do it; only, Guy, there is an ache in my +heart, a heavy, throbbing pain which will not leave me day or night, and +this is how it came there. + +"Mother wrote that you were about to marry Miss Hamilton. Letters from +home brought her the news, which she thinks is true. Oh, Guy, it is not, +it cannot be true! You must not go quite away from me now just as I am +coming back to you. For, Guy, I am--or rather, I have come, and a great +love, such as I never felt before, fills me full almost to bursting. I +always liked you, Guy; but when we were married I did not know what it +was to love--to feel my pulses quicken as they do just now at thought of +you. If I had, how happy I could have made you, but I was a silly little +girl, and married life was distasteful to me, and I was willing to be +free, though always, way down in my heart, was something which protested +against it, and if you knew just how I was influenced and led on +insensibly to assent, you would not blame me so much. The word divorce +had an ugly sound to me, and I did not like it, and I have always felt +as if bound to you just the same. It would not be right for me to marry +Tom, even if I wanted to, which I do not. I am yours, Guy--only yours, +and all these years I have studied and improved for your sake, without +any fixed idea, perhaps, as to what I expected or hoped. But when Tom +spoke the last time it came to me suddenly what I was keeping myself +for, and, just as a great body of water, when freed from its prison +walls, rolls rapidly down a green meadow, so did a mighty love for you +take possession of me and permeate my whole being until every nerve +quivered for joy, and when Tom was gone I went away alone and cried more +for my new happiness, I am afraid, than for him, poor fellow. And yet I +pitied him, too; as I could not stay in Berlin after that I came away to +earn money enough to take me back to you. For I am coming, or I was +before I heard that dreadful news which I cannot believe. + +"Is it true, Guy? Write and tell me it is not, and that you love me +still and want me back, or, if it in part is true, and you are engaged +to Julia, show her this letter and ask her to give you up, even if it is +the very day before the wedding--for you are mine, and, sometimes, when +the children are troublesome, and I am so tired and sorry and homesick, +I have such a longing for a sight of your dear face, and think if I +could only lay my aching head in your lap once more I should never know +pain or weariness again. + +"Try me, Guy. I will be so good and loving and make you so happy--and +your sister, too--I was a bother to her once. I'll be a comfort now. +Tell her so, please; tell her to bid me come. Say the word yourself, +and, almost before you know it, I'll be there. + +"Truly, lovingly, waitingly, your wife, +DAISY. + +"P.S.--To make sure of this letter's safety I shall send it to New York +by a friend, who will mail it to you. + +"Again, lovingly. +DAISY THORNTON." + +This was Daisy's letter which Guy read with such a pang in his heart as +he had never known before, even when he was smarting the worst from +wounded love and disappointed hopes. Then he had said to himself, "I can +never suffer again as I am suffering now," and now, alas, he felt how +little he knew of that pain which rends the heart and takes the breath +away. + +"God help her!" he moaned, his first thought, his first prayer, for +Daisy, the girl who called herself his wife, when just across the hall, +only a few rods away, was the bride of a few hours--another woman who +bore his name and called him her husband. + +With a face as pale as ashes and hands which shook like palsied hands, +he read again that pathetic cry from her whom he now felt he had never +ceased to love; aye, whom he loved still, and whom, if he could, he +would have taken to his arms so gladly and loved and cherished as the +priceless thing he had once thought her to be. The first moments of +agony which followed the reading of the letter were Daisy's wholly, and +in bitterness of soul the man she had cast off and thought to take again +cried out, as he stretched his arms toward an invisible form: "Too late, +darling--too late. But had it come two months, one month, or even one +week ago, I would--would--have gone to you over land and sea, but +now--another is in your place, another is my wife; Julia--poor, innocent +Julia. God help me to keep my vow; God help me in my need!" + +He was praying now; Julia was the burden of his prayer. And as he prayed +there came into his heart an unutterable tenderness and pity for her. He +had thought he loved her an hour ago! he believed he loved her now, or, +if he did not, he would be to her the kindest, most thoughtful of +husbands, and never let her know, by word or sign, of the terrible pain +he should always carry in his heart. "Darling Daisy; poor Julia!" was +what to himself he designated the two women who were both so much to +him. To the first his love, to the other his tender care, for she was +worthy of it. She was noble, and good, and womanly; he said it many +times, and tried to stop the rapid heart throbs and quiet himself down +to meet her when she should come to him with her frank, open face and +smile, in which there was no shadow of guile. She was coming now; he +heard her voice in the hall speaking to her friend, and, thrusting the +fatal letter in his pocket, he rose to his feet, and steadying himself +upon the table stood waiting for her, as, flushed and eager, she came +in. + +"Guy--Guy--what is it? Are you sick?" she asked, alarmed at the pallor +on his face and the strange expression of his eyes. + +He was glad she had thus construed his agitation, and he answered that +he was faint and a little sick. + +"It came on suddenly, while I was sitting here. It will pass off as +suddenly," he said, trying to smile, and holding out his hand, which she +took at once in hers. + +"Is it your heart, Guy? Do you think it is your heart?" she continued, +as she rubbed and caressed his cold, clammy hand. + +A shadow of pain or remorse flitted across Guy's face as he replied: + +"I think it is my heart, but I assure you there is no danger--the worst +is over. I am a great deal better." + +And he was better with that fair girl beside him, her face glowing with +excitement and her soft hands pressing his. Perfectly healthy herself, +she must have imparted some life and vigor to him, for he felt his pulse +grow steadier beneath her touch, and the blood flow more easily through +his veins. + +If only he could forget that crumpled letter which lay in his vest +pocket and seemed to burn into his flesh; forget that and the young girl +across the sea, watching for an answer and the one word "Come!" he might +be happy yet, for Julia was one whom any man could love and be proud to +call his wife. And Guy said to himself that he did love her, though not +as he once loved Daisy, or as he could love her again were he free to do +so, and because of that full love withheld he made a mental vow that his +whole life should be given to her happiness, so that she might never +know any care or sorrow from which he could shield her. + +"And Daisy?" something whispered in his ear. + +"I must and will forget her," he sternly answered, and the arm he had +thrown around Julia, who was sitting with him upon the sofa, tightened +its grasp until she winced and moved a little from him. + +He was very talkative that evening, and asked his wife many questions +about her friends and the shopping she wished to do, and the places they +were to visit; and Julia, who had hitherto regarded him as a great, +silent man, given to few words, wondered at the change, and watched the +bright red spots on his cheeks, and thought how she would manage to have +medical advice for that dreadful heart disease which had come like a +nightmare to haunt her bridal days. + +Next morning there came a Boston paper containing a notice of the +marriage, and this Guy sent to Daisy, with only the faint tracing of a +pencil to indicate the paragraph. "Better so than to write," he thought; +though he longed to add the words, "Forgive me, Daisy; your letter came +too late." + +And so the paper was sent, and after a week or two Guy went back to his +home in Cuylerville, and the blue rooms which Julia had fitted up for +Daisy five years before became her own by right. And Fanny Thornton +welcomed her warmly to the house, and by many little acts of +thoughtfulness showed how glad she was to have her there. And Julia was +very happy save when she remembered the heart disease, which she was +sure Guy had, and for which he would not seek advice. "There was nothing +the matter with his heart unless it were too full of love," he told her +laughingly, and wondered to himself if in saying this to her he was +guilty of a lie, inasmuch as his words misled her so completely. + +After a time, however, there came a change, and thoughts of Daisy ceased +to disturb him as they once had done. No one ever mentioned her to him, +and since the receipt of her letter he had heard no tidings of her until +six months after his marriage, when there came to him the ten thousand +dollars, with all the interest which had accrued since the settlement +first was made. There was no word from Daisy herself, but a letter from +a lawyer in Berlin, who said all there was to say with regard to the +business, but did not tell where Miss McDonald, as he called her, was. + +Then Guy wrote to Daisy a letter of thanks, to which there came no +reply, and as time went on the old wound began to heal, the grave to +close again; and when, at last, one year after his marriage, they +brought him a beautiful little baby girl and laid it in his arms, and +then a few moments later let him into the room where the pale mother +lay, he stooped over her and, kissing her fondly, said: + +"I never loved you half as well as I do now." + +It was a pretty child, with dark blue eyes, and hair in which there was +a gleam of gold, and Guy, when asked what he would call her, said: + +"Would you object to Margaret?" + +Julia knew what he meant, and, like the true, noble woman she was, +offered no objection to Guy's choice, knowing well who Margaret had +been; and herself first gave the pet name of Daisy to her child, on whom +Guy settled the ten thousand dollars sent to him by the Daisy over the +sea. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +DAISY, TOM, AND THAT OTHER ONE + + +Watching, waiting, hoping, saying to herself in the morning, "It will +come before night," and saying to herself at night, "It will be here +to-morrow morning." Such was Daisy's life, even before she had a right +to expect an answer to her letter. + +Of the nature of Guy's reply she had no doubt. He had loved her once, he +loved her still, and he would take her back of course. There was no +truth in that rumor of another marriage. Possibly her father, whom she +understood now better than she once had, had gotten the story up for the +sake of inducing her through pique to marry Tom; but if so his plan +would fail. Guy would write to her, "Come!" and she would go, and more +than once she counted the contents of her purse and added to it the sum +due her from Madame Lafarcade, and wondered if she would dare venture on +the journey with so small a sum. + +"You so happy and white, too, _ce matin_," her little pupil, Pauline, +said to her one day, when they sat together in the garden, and Daisy was +indulging in a fanciful picture of her meeting with Guy. + +"Yes, I am happy," Daisy said, rousing from her reverie; "but I did not +know I was pale--or white, as you term it--though, now I think of it, I +do feel sick and faint. It's the heat, I guess. Oh! there is Max with +the mail! He is coming this way! He has--he certainly has something for +me!" + +Daisy's cheeks were scarlet now, and her eyes were bright as stars as +she went forward to meet the man who brought the letters to the house. + +"Only a paper!--is there nothing more?" she asked in an unsteady voice, +as she took the paper in her hand, and, recognizing Guy's handwriting, +knew almost to a certainty what was before her. + +"Oh, mon Dieu! vous etes malade! J'apporterai un verre d'eau!" Pauline +exclaimed, forgetting her English and adopting her mother tongue in her +alarm at Daisy's white face and the peculiar tone of her voice. + +"No, Pauline, stay; open the paper for me," Daisy said, feeling that it +would be easier so than to read it herself, for she knew it was there, +else he would never have sent her a paper and nothing more. + +Delighted to be of some use, and a little gratified to open a foreign +paper, Pauline tore off the wrapper, starting a little at Daisy's quick, +sharp cry as she made a rent across the handwriting. + +"Look, you are tearing into my name, which he wrote," Daisy said, and +then remembering herself, she sank back into her seat in the garden +chair, while Pauline wondered what harm there was in tearing an old +soiled wrapper, and why her governess should take it so carefully in her +hand and roll it up as if it had been a living thing. + +There were notices of new books, and a runaway match in high life, and a +suicide on Summer Street, and a golden wedding in Roxbury, and the +latest fashions from Paris, into which Pauline plunged with avidity +while Daisy listened like one in a dream, asking when the fashions were +exhausted: "Is that all? Are there no deaths or marriages?" + +Pauline had not thought of that--she would see, and she hunted through +the columns till she found Guy's pencil mark, and read: + +"Married, this morning, at St. Paul's Church, by the Rev. Dr. ----, +assisted by the rector, Guy Thornton, Esq., of Cuylerville, to Miss +Julia Hamilton, of this city." + +"Yes, yes; it's very hot here, isn't it? I think I will go in," Daisy +said, her fingers working nervously with the bit of paper she held. + +But Pauline was too intent on the name of Thornton to hear what Daisy +said, and she asked: "Is Mr. Thornton your friend?" + +It was a natural enough question, and Daisy roused herself to answer it, +and said quickly: "He is the son of my husband's father." + +"Oh, oui," Pauline rejoined, a little mystified as to the exact +relationship existing between Guy Thornton and her teacher's husband, +whom she supposed was dead, as Daisy had only confided to madame the +fact of a divorce. + +"What date is the paper?" Daisy asked, and on being told she said softly +to herself: "I see, it was too late." + +There was in her mind no doubt as to what the result would have been had +her letter been in time; no doubt of Guy's preference for her; no regret +that she had written to him, except that the knowledge that she loved +him at last might make him wretched with thinking "what might have +been," and with the bitter pain which cut her heart like a knife there +was mingled a pity for Guy, who would perhaps suffer more than she did, +if that were possible. She never once thought of retribution, or of +murmuring against her fate, but accepted it meekly, albeit she staggered +under the load and grew faint as she thought of the lonely life before +her, and she so young. + +Slowly she went back to her room, while Pauline walked up and down the +garden trying to make out the relationship between the newly married +Thornton and her teacher. + +"The son of her husband's father?" she repeated, until at last a meaning +dawned upon her, and she said: "Then he must be her brother-in-law; but +why didn't she say so? Maybe, though, that is the English way of putting +it," and, having thus settled the matter, Pauline joined her mother, who +was asking for Mrs. Thornton. + +"Gone to her room, and her brother-in-law is married. It was marked in a +paper and I read it to her, and she's sick," Pauline said, without, +however, in the least connecting the sickness with the marriage. + +Daisy did not come down to dinner that night, and the maid who called +her the next morning reported her as ill and acting very strangely. +Through the summer a malarial fever had prevailed to some extent in and +about Rouen, and the physician whom Madame Lafarcade summoned to the +sick girl expressed a fear that she was coming down with it, and ordered +her kept as quiet as possible. + +"She seems to have something weighing on her mind. Has she heard any bad +news from home?" he asked, as in reply to his question where her pain +was the worst Daisy always answered: + +"It reached him too late--too late, and I am so sorry." + +Madame knew of no bad news, she said, and then as she saw the foreign +paper lying on the table, she took it up, and, guided by the pencil +marks, read the notice of Guy Thornton's marriage, and that gave her the +key at once to Daisy's mental agitation. Daisy had been frank with her +and told her as much of her story as was necessary, and she knew that +the Guy Thornton married to Julia Hamilton had once called Daisy his +wife. + +"Excuse me, she is, or she has something on her mind, I suspect," she +said to the physician, who was still holding Daisy's hand and looking +anxiously at her flushed cheeks and bright, restless eyes. + +"I thought so," he rejoined, "and it aggravates all the symptoms of her +fever. I shall call again to-night." + +He did call and found his patient worse, and the next day he asked +Madame Lafarcade: + +"Has she friends in this country? If so, they ought to know." + +A few hours later, and in his lodgings at Berlin, Tom read the following +dispatch: + +"Mrs. Thornton is dangerously ill. Come at once." + +It was directed to Mr. McDonald, who with his wife had been on a trip to +Russia, and was expected daily. Feeling intuitively that it concerned +Daisy, Tom had opened it, and without a moment's hesitation packed his +valise, and, leaving a note for the McDonalds when they should return, +started for Rouen. Daisy did not know him, and in her delirium she said +things to him and of him which hurt him cruelly. Guy was her theme, and +the letter which went "too late, too late." Then she would beg of Tom to +go for Guy, to bring him to her and tell him how much she loved him and +how good she would be if he would take her back. + +"Father wants me to marry Tom," she said in a whisper, and Tom's heart +almost stood still as he listened; "and Tom wanted me, too, but I +couldn't, you know, even if he were worth his weight in gold. I could +not love him. Why, he's got red hair, and such great freckles on his +face, and big feet and hands with freckles on them. Do you know Tom?" + +"Yes, I know him," Tom answered sadly, forcing down a choking sob, while +the "big hand with the great freckles on it" smoothed the golden hair +tenderly and pushed it back from the burning brow. + +"Don't talk any more, Daisy; it tires you so," he said, as he saw her +about to speak again. + +But Daisy was not to be stopped, and she went on: + +"Tom is good, though; so good, but awkward, and I like him ever so much, +but I can't be his wife. I cannot. I cannot." + +"He doesn't expect it now, or want it," came huskily from Tom, while +Daisy quickly asked: + +"Doesn't he?" + +"No, never any more; so, put it from your mind and try to sleep," Tom +said, and again the freckled hands smoothed the tumbled pillows and +wiped the sweat drops from Daisy's face, while all the time the great +kind heart was breaking, and the hot tears were rolling down the +sun-burned face Daisy thought was so ugly. + +Tom had heard from Madame Lafarcade of Guy's marriage, and, like her, +understood why Daisy's fever ran so high and her mind was in such a +turmoil. But for himself he knew there was no hope, and with a feeling +of death in his heart he watched by her day and night, yielding his +place to no one, and saying to madame when she remonstrated with him and +bade him care for his own health: + +"It does not matter to me. I would rather die than not." + +Daisy was better when her mother came--saved, the doctor said, more by +Tom's care and nursing than by his own skill, and then Tom gave up his +post and never went near her unless she asked for him. His "red hair and +freckled face" were constantly in his mind, making him loathe the very +sight of himself. + +"She cannot bear my looks, and I will not force myself upon her," he +said; and so he stayed away, but surrounded her with every luxury money +could buy, and, as soon as she was able, had her removed to a pretty +little cottage which he rented and fitted up for her, and where she +would be more at home and quieter than at Madame Lafarcade's. + +And there, one morning when he called to inquire for her, he, too, was +smitten down with the fever which he had taken with Daisy's breath the +many nights and days he watched her without rest or sufficient food. +There was a faint, followed by a long interval of unconsciousness, and +when he came to himself he was in Daisy's own room, lying on Daisy's +little bed, and Daisy herself was bending anxiously over him with a +flush on her white cheeks and a soft, pitiful look in her blue eyes. + +"What is it? Where am I?" he asked, and Daisy replied: + +"You are here in my room--on my bed; and you've got the fever, and I'm +going to take care of you, and I'm so glad. Not glad you have the +fever," she added, as she met his look of wonder, "but glad I can repay +in part all you did for me, you dear, noble Tom! And you are not to +talk," and she laid her small hand on his mouth as she saw him about to +speak. "I am strong enough; the doctor says so, and I'd do it if he +didn't, for you are the best, the truest friend I have." + +She was rubbing his hot, feverish hands, and though the touch of her +cool, soft fingers was so delicious, poor Tom thought of the big +freckles so obnoxious to the little lady, and, drawing his hands from +her grasp, hid them beneath the clothes. Gladly, too, would he have +covered his face and hair from her sight, but this he could not do and +breathe, but he begged her to leave him and send someone in her place. +But Daisy would not listen to him. + +He had nursed her day and night, she said, and she should stay with him, +and she did, through three weeks, when Tom's fever ran higher than hers +had done, because there was more for it to feed upon, and when Tom in +his ravings talked of things which made her heart ache with a new and +different pain from that already there. + +At first there were low whisperings and incoherent mutterings, and when +Daisy asked him to whom he was talking he answered her: + +"To that other one over in the corner. Don't you see him? He is waiting +for me till the fever eats me up. There's a lot of me to eat, I'm so big +and awkward, overgrown--that's what Daisy said. You know Daisy, don't +you? a dainty little creature, with such delicacy of sight and touch! +She doesn't like red hair; she said so when we thought the man in the +corner was waiting for her, and she doesn't like my freckled face and +hands--big hands, she said they were, and yet how they have worked like +horses for her! Oh, Daisy! Daisy! I have loved her ever since she was a +child, and I drew her to school on my sled and cut her doll's head off +to tease her. Take me quick, please, out of her sight, where my freckled +face won't offend her." + +He was talking now to that other one, the man in the corner, who, like +some grim sentinel, stood there day and night, while Daisy kept her +tireless watch and Tom talked on and on--never to her--but always to the +other one, the man in the corner, whom he begged to take him away. + +"Bring out your boat," he would say. "It's time we were off, for the +tide is at its height, and the river is running so fast. I thought once +it would take Daisy, but it left her, and I am glad. When I am fairly +over and there's nothing but my big, freckled hulk left, cover my face +and don't let her look at me, though I'll be white then, not red. Oh, +Daisy, Daisy, my darling, you hurt me so cruelly!" + +Those were terrible days for Daisy, but she never flinched from her +post, and stood resolutely between the sick man and that other one in +the corner until the latter seemed to waver a little; his shadow was +not so black, his presence so all-pervading, and there was hope for Tom. +His reason came back at last, and the fever left him, but weak as a +child, with no power to move even his poor wasted hands which lay +outside the counterpane and seemed to trouble him, for there was a +wistful, pleading look in his gray eyes as they went from the hands to +Daisy, while his lips whispered faintly, "Cover." + +She understood him, and with a rain of tears spread the sheet over them, +and then on her knees beside him, said to him amid her sobs: + +"Forgive me, Tom, for what I did when I was crazy. You are not repulsive +to me. You are the truest, best, and dearest friend I ever had, and +I--I--oh, Tom, I wish I had never been born." + +Daisy did not stay by Tom that night. There was no necessity for it, and +she was so worn and weary with watching that the physician declared she +must have absolute rest or be sick again herself. So she remained away, +and in a little room by herself fought the fiercest battle she had ever +fought, and on her knees, with tears and bitter cries, asked for help to +do right. Not for help to know what was right. She felt sure that she +did know that, only the flesh was weak, and there were chords of love +still clinging to a past she scarcely dared think of now lest her +courage should fail her. Guy was lost to her forever; it was a sin even +to think of him as she must think if she thought at all, and so she +strove to put him from her--to tear his image from her heart and put +another in its place, even Tom, whom she pitied so much, and whom she +could make so happy. + +"No matter for myself," she said. "No matter what I feel, or how sharp +the pain in my heart, if I only keep it there and never let Tom know. I +can make him happy, and I will." + +There was no wavering after that decision--no regret for the "might have +been," but her face was white as snow, and about the pretty mouth there +was a quivering of the muscles as if the words were hard to utter when +next day she went to Tom, and, sitting down beside him, asked how he was +feeling. His eyes brightened a little when he saw her, but there was a +look on his face which made Daisy's pulse quicken with a nameless fear, +and his voice was very weak as he replied: + +"They say I am better; but, Daisy, I know the time is near for me to go. +I shall never get well, nor do I wish to, though life is not a gift to +be thrown away easily, and on some accounts mine has been a happy one, +but the life beyond is better, and I feel sure I am going to it." + +"Oh, Tom, Tom, don't talk so! You must not leave me now!" Daisy cried, +all her composure giving way as she fell on her knees beside him, and, +taking both his hands in hers, wet them with her tears. "Tom," she +began, when she could speak. "I have been bad to you so often, and +worried and wounded you so much; but I am sorry, so sorry, and I've +thought it all over and made up my mind, and I want you to get well and +ask me that--that--question again--you have asked so many +times--and--and--Tom--I will say--yes--to it now, and try so hard to +make you happy." + +Her face was crimson as if with shame, and she dared not look at Tom +until his silence startled her. Then she stole a glance at his face and +met an expression which prompted her to go on recklessly: + +"Don't look so incredulous, Tom. I am in earnest. I mean what I say, +though it may be unmaidenly to say it. Try me, Tom; I will make you +happy, and, though at first I cannot love you as I did Guy when I sent +him that letter, the love will come, born of your great goodness and +kindness of heart. Try me, Tom, won't you?" + +She kissed his thin, white hands where the freckles shone more plainly +than ever, and which Tom tried to free from her; she held them fast and +looked steadily into the face, which shone for a moment with a joy so +great that it was almost handsome, and when she said again, "Will you, +Tom?" the pale lips parted with an effort to speak, but no sound was +audible, only the chin quivered, and the tears stood in his gray eyes as +he battled with the great temptation. Should he accept the sacrifice? +Ought he to join her life with his? Could she ever learn to love him? +No, she could not, and he must put her from him, even though she came +asking him to take her. Thus Tom decided, and, turning his face to the +wall, he said, with a choking sob: + +"No, Daisy--no. It cannot be. Such happiness is not for me now. I must +not think of it. Thank you, darling, just the same. It was kind in you +and well meant, but it cannot be. I could not make you happy. I am not +like Guy; never can be like him, and you would hate me after a while, +and the chain would hurt you cruelly. No, Daisy, I love you too +well--and yet, Daisy--Daisy--why do you tempt me so--if it could have +been!" + +He turned suddenly toward her, and, winding both his arms around her, +drew her to him in a quick, passionate embrace, crying piteously over +her, and saying: + +"My darling, my darling, if it could have been, but it's too late +now--God is good and will take me to himself. I thought of it before I +was sick, and believe I am a better man, and Jesus is my friend, and I +am going to him. I'm glad you told me what you have. It will make my +last days happier, and when I am gone you will find that I did well with +you." + +He put her from him then, for faintness and great exhaustion were +stealing over him, and that was the last that ever passed between him +and Daisy on the subject which all his life had occupied so much of his +thoughts. The fever had left him, it is true, but he seemed to have no +vital force or rallying power, and after a few days it was clear even to +Daisy that Tom's life was drawing to a close. "The man in the corner" +was there again waiting for his prey, and would not leave this time +until he bore with him an immortal soul. And Tom was very happy. He had +thought much of death and what lay beyond during those days when +Daisy's life hung in the balance, and the result of the much thinking +had been a full surrender of himself to God, who did not forsake him +when the dark, cold river was closing over him. + +Calm and peaceful as the setting of the summer sun was the close of his +life, and up to the last he retained his consciousness, with the +exception of a few hours, when his mind wandered a little, and he talked +to "that other one," whom no one could see but whose presence all felt +so vividly. + +"It would have been pleasant, and for a minute I was tempted to take her +at her word," he said; "but when I remembered my hair and face and +hands, and how she liked nothing which was not comely, I would not run +the chance of being hated for my repulsive looks. Poor little Daisy! she +meant it all right, and I bless her for it, and am glad she said it, but +she must not look at me when I'm dead. The freckles she dislikes so much +will show plainer then. Don't let her come near, or, if she must, cover +me up--cover me up--cover me from her sight." + +Thus he talked, and Daisy, who knew what he meant, wept silently by his +side, and kept the sheet closely drawn over the hands he was so anxious +to have hidden from her view. He knew her at last, and bade her a long +farewell, and told her she had been to him the dearest thing in life, +and Daisy's arm was round him, supporting him upon the pillow, and +Daisy's hand wiped the death moisture from his brow, and Daisy's lips +were pressed to his dying face, and her ear caught his last faint +whisper: + +"God bless you, darling! I am going home! Good-by!" + +"The man in the corner--that other one"--had claimed him, and Daisy put +gently from her only the lifeless form which had once been Tom. + +They buried him there in France on a sunny slope, where the grass was +green and the flowers blossomed in the early spring, and when Mr. +McDonald examined his papers he found to his surprise that, with the +exception of an annuity to himself and several legacies to different +charitable institutions, Tom had left to Daisy his entire fortune, +stipulating only that one-tenth of all her income should be yearly given +back to God, who had a right to it. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +MISS MCDONALD + + +She took that name again, and with it, also, Margaret, feeling that +Daisy was far too girlish an appellation for one who clad herself almost +in widow's weeds, and felt, when she stood at poor Tom's grave, more +wretched and desolate than many a wife has felt when her husband was put +from her sight. + +Tom had meant to make her parents independent of her so that she need +not have them with her unless she chose to do so, for, knowing Mr. +McDonald as he did, he thought she would be happier alone, but God so +ordered it that within three months after poor Tom's death they made +another grave beside his, and Daisy and her mother were alone. + +It was spring-time now, and the two desolate women bade adieu to their +dead, and made their way to England, and from there to Scotland, where +among the heather hills they passed the summer in the utmost seclusion. + +Here Daisy had ample time for thought, which dwelt mostly upon the past +and the happiness she cast away when she consented to the sundering of +the tie which had bound her to Guy Thornton. + +"Oh, how could I have been so foolish and so weak," she said, as, with +intense contempt for herself, she read over the journal she had kept at +Elmwood during the first weeks of her married life. + +Guy had said it would be pleasant for her to refer to its pages in after +years, little dreaming with what sore anguish of heart poor Daisy would +one day weep over the senseless things recorded there. + +"Can it be I was ever that silly little fool?" she said bitterly, as she +finished her journal. "And how could Guy love me as I know he did. Oh, +if I but had the chance again, I would make him so happy! Oh, Guy, +Guy--my husband still--mine more than Julia's, if you could know how +much I love you now; nor can I feel it wrong to do so, even though I +never hope to see your face again. Guy, Guy, the world is so desolate, +and I am young, only twenty-three, and life is so long and dreary with +nothing to live for or to do. I wish almost that I were dead like Tom, +only I dare not think I should go to heaven where he has gone." + +In her sorrow and loneliness Daisy was fast sinking into an unhealthy, +morbid state of mind from which nothing seemed to arouse her. + +"Nothing to live for--nothing to do," was her lament until one golden +September day, when there came a turning point in her life, and she +found there was something to do. + +There was no regular service that Sunday in the church where she usually +attended, and as the day was fine and she was far too restless to remain +at home, she proposed to her mother that they walk to a little chapel +about a mile away, where a young Presbyterian clergyman was to preach. + +She had heard much of his eloquence, and as his name was McDonald, he +might possibly be some distant relative. Inasmuch as her father was of +Scotch descent she felt a double interest in him, and with her mother +was among the first who entered the little, humble building and took a +seat upon one of the hard, uncomfortable benches near the pulpit. + +The speaker was young--about Tom's age--and with a look on his florid +face and a sound in his voice so like that of the dead man that Daisy +half started to her feet when he first took his stand in front of her +and announced the opening hymn. His text was: "Why stand ye here all the +day idle?" and so well did he handle it, and so forcible were his +gestures and eloquent his style of delivery, that Daisy listened to him +spellbound, her eyes fixed intently upon his glowing face and her ears +drinking in every word he uttered. + +After dwelling for a time upon the loiterers in God's vineyard, the +idlers from choice, who worked not for lack of an inclination to do so, +he spoke next of the class whose whole life was a weariness for want of +something to do, and to these he said: "Have you never read how, when +the disciples rebuked the grateful woman for wasting upon her Master's +head what might have been sold for three hundred pence and given to the +poor, Jesus said unto them, 'The poor ye have with you always,' and is +it not so, my hearers? Are there no poor at your door to be fed, no +hungry little ones to be cared for out of the abundance which God has +only loaned you for this purpose? Are there no wretched homes which you +can make happier, no aching hearts which a kind word would cheer? +Remember there is a blessing pronounced for even the cup of cold water, +and how much greater shall be the reward of those who, forgetting +themselves, seek the good of others and turn not away from the needy and +the desolate. See to it, then, you to whom God has given much. See to it +that you sit not down in idle ease, wasting upon yourself alone the +goods designed for others, for to whom much is given of him much shall +be required." + +Attracted, perhaps, by the deep black of Daisy's attire, or the +something about her which marked her as different from the mass of his +hearers, the speaker had seemed to address the last of his remarks +directly to her, and had the dead Tom risen from his grave and spoken +with her face to face, she could hardly have been more affected than she +was. The resemblance was so striking and the voice so like her cousin's +that she felt as if she had received a message direct from him; or, if +not from him, she surely had from God, whose almoner she henceforth +would be. + +That day was the beginning of a new life to her. Thenceforth there must +be no more repining; no more idle, listless days, no more wishing for +something to do. There was work all around her, and she found it and did +it with a will--first, from a sense of duty, and at last for the real +pleasure it afforded her to carry joy and gladness to the homes where +want and sorrow had sat so long. + +Hearing that there were sickness and destitution among the miners in +Peru, where her possessions were, she went early in November, and many a +wretched heart rejoiced because of her, and many a lip blessed the +beautiful lady whose coming among them was productive of so much good. +Better dwellings, better wages, a church, a schoolhouse followed in her +footsteps, and then, when everything there seemed in good working order, +there came over her a longing for her native country, and the next +autumn found her in New York, where in a short space of time everybody +knew of the beautiful Miss McDonald, who was a millionaire and who owned +the fine house and grounds in the upper part of the city not far from +the Park. + +Here society claimed her again, and Daisy, who had no morbid fancies +now, yielded in part to its claims and became, if not a belle, a +favorite, whose praises were in every mouth. But chiefly was she known +and loved by the poor and the despised whom she daily visited, and to +whom her presence was like the presence of an angel. + +"You do look lovely and sing so sweet; I know there's nothing nicer in +heaven," said a little piece of deformity to her one day as it lay +dying in her arms. "I'se goin' to heaven, which I shouldn't have done if +you'se hadn't gin me the nice bun and told me of Jesus. I loves him now, +and I'll tell him how you bringed me to him." + +Such was the testimony of one dying child, and it was dearer to Daisy +than all the words of flattery ever poured into her ear. As she had +brought that little child to God, so she would bring others, and she +made her work among the children especially, finding there her best +encouragement and greatest success. + +Once when Guy Thornton chanced to be in the city and driving in the +Park, he saw a singular sight--a pair of splendid bays arching their +graceful necks proudly, their silver-tipped harness flashing in the +sunlight, and their beautiful mistress radiant with happiness as she sat +in her large open carriage, not in the midst of gayly dressed friends, +but amid a group of poorly clad, pale-faced little ones, to whom the +Park was a paradise, and she was the presiding angel. + +"Look--that's Miss McDonald," Guy's friend said to him, "the greatest +heiress in New York, and I reckon the one who does the most good. Why, +she supports more old people and children and runs more ragged schools +than any half-dozen men in the city, and I don't suppose there's a den +in New York where she has not been, and never once, I'm told, was she +insulted, for the vilest of them stand between her and harm. Once a +miscreant on Avenue A knocked a boy down for accidentally stepping in a +pool of water and sprinkling her white dress in passing. Friday nights +she has a reception for these people, and you ought to see how well they +behave. At first they were noisy and rough, and she had to have the +police, but now they are quiet and orderly as you please. Perhaps you'd +like to go to one. I know Miss McDonald, and will take you with me." + +Guy said he should not be in town on Friday, as he must return to +Cuylerville the next day, and with a feeling he could not quite analyze, +he turned to look at the turnout which always excited so much attention. +But it was not so much at the handsome bays and the bevy of +queer-looking children he gazed as at the little lady in their midst, +clad in velvet and ermine, with a long white feather falling among the +curls of her bright hair. When Daisy first entered upon her new life she +had affected a nun-like garb as one most appropriate, but after a little +child said to her once, "I'se don't like your black gown all the time. I +likes sumptin' bright and pretty," she changed her mind and gave freer +scope to her natural good taste and love of what was becoming. And the +result showed the wisdom of the change, for the children and inmates of +the dens she visited, accustomed only to the squalor and ugliness of +their surroundings, hailed her more rapturously than they had done +before, and were never weary of talking of the beautiful woman who was +not afraid to wear her pretty clothes into their wretched houses, which, +lest she should soil and defile them, gradually grew more clean and tidy +for her sake. + +"It wasn't for the likes of them gownds to trail through sich truck," +Bridget O'Donohue said, and so, on the days when Daisy was expected, she +scrubbed the floor, which, until Daisy's advent had not known water for +years, and rubbed and polished the one wooden chair kept sacred for the +lady's use. + +Other women, too, caught Biddy's spirit and scrubbed their floors and +their children's faces on the day when Miss McDonald was expected to +call, and when she came her silk dress and pretty shawl were watched +narrowly lest by some chance a speck of dirt should fasten on them, and +her becoming dress and handsome face were commented on and remembered as +some fine show which had been seen for nothing. Especially did the +children like her in her bright dress, and the velvet and ermine in +which she was clad when Guy met her in the Park were worn more for their +sakes than for the gaze of those to whom such things were no novelties. +To Guy she looked more beautiful than he had ever seen her before, and +there was in his heart a smothered feeling as of a want of something +lost, as her carriage disappeared from view and he lost sight of the +fair face and form which had once been his own. + +The world was going well with Guy, for though Dick Trevylian had paid no +part of the hundred thousand dollars, and he still lived in the brown +cottage on the hill, he was steadily working his way to competency, if +not to wealth. His profession as a lawyer, which he had resumed, yielded +him a remunerative income, while his contributions to different +magazines were much sought after, so that to all human appearance he was +prosperous and happy. Prosperous in his business, and happy in his wife +and little ones, for there was now a second child, a baby Guy of six +weeks old, and when on his return from New York the father bent over the +cradle of his boy and kissed his baby face, that image seen in the Park +seemed to fade away, and the caresses he gave to Julia had in them no +faithlessness or insincerity. She was a noble woman, and had made him a +good wife, and he loved her truly, though with a different, less +absorbing, less ecstatic love than he had given to Daisy. But he did not +tell her of Miss McDonald. Indeed, that name was never spoken now, nor +was any reference ever made to her except when little Daisy asked where +was the lady for whom she was named, and why she did not send her a +doll. + +"I hardly think she knows there is such a chit as you," Guy said to her +once, when sorely pressed on the subject, and then the child wondered +how that could be, and wished she was big enough to write her a letter +and ask her to come and see her. + +Every day after that little Daisy played "make b'lieve Miss McDolly" was +there, said McDolly being represented by a bundle of shawls tied up to +look like a figure and seated in a chair. At last there came to the +cottage a friend of Julia's, a young lady from New York, who knew Daisy, +and who, while visiting in Cuylerville, accidentally learned that she +was the divorced wife of whose existence she knew, but of whom she had +never spoken to Mrs. Thornton. Hearing the little one talking one day to +Miss McDolly and asking her why she never wrote nor sent a "sing" to +her sake-name, the young lady said: + +"Why don't you send Miss McDonald a letter? You tell me what to say and +I'll write it down for you, but don't let mamma know till you see if you +get anything." + +The little girl's fancy was caught at once with the idea, and the +following letter was the result: + + +"BROWN COTTAGE, 'Most Tissmas time. + +"DEAR MISS MCDOLLY:--I'se an 'ittle dirl named for you, I is, +Daisy Thornton, an' my papa is Mr. Guy, an' mam-ma is Julia, and 'ittle +brother is Guy, too--only he's a baby, and vomits up his dinner and ties +awfully sometimes; an' I knows anoder 'ittle girl named for somebody who +dives her 'sings,' a whole lot, an' why doesn't youse dive me some, when +I'se your sake-name, an' loves you ever so much, and why'se you never +turn here to see me. I wish you would. I ask papa is you pretty, an' he +tell me yes, bootiful, an' every night I p'ays for you and say God bress +papa an' mam-ma, an' auntie, and Miss McDolly, and 'ittle brodder, an' +make Daisy a dood dirl, and have Miss McDolly send her sumptin' for +Tissmas, for Christ's sake. An' I wants a turly headed doll that ties +and suts her eyes when she does to seep, and wears a shash and a +pairesol, and anodder bigger dolly to be her mam-ma and pank her when +she's naughty, an' I wants an 'ittle fat-iron, an' a cookstove, an' +wash-board. I'se dot a tub. An' I wants some dishes an' a stenshun +table, an' 'ittle bedstead, an' yuffled seets, an' pillars, an' blue +silk kilt, an' ever so many sings which papa cannot buy, 'cause he +hasn't dot the money. Vill you send them, Miss McDolly, pese, an' your +likeness, too. I wants to see how you looks. My mam-ma is pretty, with +black hair an' eyes, but she's awful old--I dess. How old is you? Papa's +hair is some dray, an' his viskers, too. My eyes is bue. + +"Yours respectfully, +DAISY THORNTON." + + * * * * * + +Miss McDonald had been shopping since ten in the morning, and her +carriage had stood before the dry-goods stores, and toy-shops, and candy +stores, while bundle after bundle had been deposited on the cushions, +and others ordered to be sent. But she was nearly through now, and just +as it was beginning to grow dark in the streets she bade her coachman +drive home, where dinner was waiting for her in the dining room, and +her mother was waiting in the parlor. Mrs. McDonald was not very well, +and had kept her room all day, but she was better that night, and came +down to dine with her daughter. The December wind was cold and raw, and +a few snowflakes fell on Daisy's hat and cloak as she ran up the steps +and entered the warm, bright room, which seemed so pleasant when +contrasted with the dreariness without. + +"Oh, how nice this is, and how tired and cold I am!" she said, as she +bent over the blazing fire. + +"Are you through with your shopping?" Mrs. McDonald asked, in a +half-querulous tone, as if she did not altogether approve of her +daughter's acts. + +"Yes, all through, except a shawl for old Sarah Mackie and a few more +toys for Biddy Warren's blind boy," Daisy said, and her mother replied: +"Well, I'm sure I shall be glad for your sake when it is over. You'll +make yourself sick, and you are nearly worn out now, remembering +everybody in New York." + +"Not quite everybody, mother," Daisy rejoined cheerfully; "only those +whom everybody forgets--the poor, whom we have with us always. Don't +you remember the text and the little kirk where we heard it preached +from? But come--dinner is ready, and I am hungry, I assure you." + +She led the way to the handsome dining room, and took her seat at the +table, looking, in her dark street dress, as her mother had said, pale +and worn, as if the shopping had been very hard upon her. And yet it was +not so much the fatigue of the day which affected her as the remembrance +of a past she did not often dare to recall. + +It was at Christmas time years ago that she first met with Guy, and all +the day long, as she turned over piles of shawls and delaines and +flannels, or ordered packages of candy and bonbons and dollies by the +dozen, her thoughts had been with Guy and the time she met him at Leiter +and Field's and he walked home with her. It seemed to her years and +years ago, and the idea of having lived so long made her feel old, and +tired, and worn. But the nice dinner and the cheer of the room revived +her, and her face looked brighter and more rested when she returned to +the parlor and began to show her mother her purchases. + +Daisy did not receive many letters except on business, and as these +usually came in the morning she did not think to ask if the postman had +left her anything; and so it was not until her mother had retired and +she was about going to her own room that she saw a letter lying on the +hall-stand. Miss Barker, who had instigated the letter, had never +written to her more than once or twice, and then only short notes, and +she did not recognize the handwriting at once. But she saw it was +postmarked Cuylerville, and a sick, faint sensation crept over her as +she wondered who had sent it, and if it contained news of Guy. It was +long since she had heard of him--not, in fact, since poor Tom's death, +and she knew nothing of the little girl called for herself, and thus had +no suspicion of the terrible shock awaiting her, when at last she broke +the seal. Miss Barker had written a few explanatory lines, which were as +follows: + + +"CUYLERVILLE, Dec., 18--. + +"DEAR MISS MCDONALD--Since saying good-by to you last June, and +going off to the mountains and seaside, while you like a good Samaritan +stayed in the hot city to look after 'your people,' I have flitted +hither and thither until at last I floated out to Cuylerville to visit +Mrs. Guy Thornton, who is a friend and former schoolmate of mine. +Here--not in the house, but in town--I have heard a story which +surprised me not a little, and I now better understand that sad look I +have so often seen on your sweet face without at all suspecting the +cause. + +"Dear friend, pardon me, won't you, for the liberty I have taken since +knowing your secret? You would, I am sure, if you only knew what a dear, +darling little creature Mr. Thornton's eldest child is. Did you know he +had called her Daisy for you? He has, and with her blue eyes and bright +auburn hair, she might pass for your very own, with the exception of her +nose, which is decidedly retrousse. She is three years old, and the most +precocious little witch you ever saw. What think you of her making up a +bundle of shawls and aprons and christening it Miss McDolly, her name +for you, and talking to it as if it were really the famous and beautiful +woman she fancies it to be? She is your 'sake-name,' she says, and +before I knew the facts of the case, I was greatly amused by her talk to +the bundle of shawls which she reproached for never having sent her +anything. When I asked Julia (that's Mrs. Thornton) who Miss McDolly +was, she merely answered, 'The lady for whom Daisy was named,' and that +was all I knew until the gossips enlightened me, when, without a word to +anyone, I resolved upon a liberty which I thought I could venture to +take with you. I suggested the letter which I inclose and which I wrote +exactly as the words came from the little lady's lips. Neither Mr. +Thornton nor his wife know aught of the letter, nor will they unless you +respond, for the child will keep her own counsel, I am well assured. + +"Again forgive me if I have done wrong, and believe me, as ever, + +"Yours, sincerely, +"ELLA BARKER." + + +Daisy's face was as pale as ashes as she read Miss Barker's letter, and +then snatching up the other, devoured its contents almost at a glance, +while her breath came in panting gasps and her heart seemed trying to +burst through her throat. She could neither move nor cry out for a +moment, but she sat like one turned into stone with that sense of +suffocation oppressing her, and that horrible pain in her heart. She had +thought the grave was closed, the old wound healed by time and silence; +and now a little child had torn it open, and it was bleeding and +throbbing again with a pang such as she had never felt before, while +there crept over her such a feeling of desolation and loneliness, a +want of something unpossessed, as few have ever experienced. + +But for her own foolishness that sweet little child might have been +hers, she thought, as her heart went after the little one with an +indescribable yearning which made her stretch out her arms as if to take +the baby to her bosom and hold it there forever. Guy had called it for +her, and that touched her more than anything else. He had not forgotten +her then. She had never supposed he had, but to be thus assured of it +was very sweet, and as she thought of it and read again little Daisy's +letter, the tightness about her heart and the choking sensation in her +throat began to give way, and one after another the great tears rolled +down her cheeks, slowly at first, but gradually faster and faster, until +they fell in torrents and a tempest of sobs shook her slight frame as +with her head bowed upon her dressing-table she gave vent to her grief. +It seemed to her she never could stop crying or grow calm again, for as +often as she thought of the touching words, "I p'ays for you," there +came a fresh burst of sobs and tears, until at last nature was +exhausted, and with a low moan Daisy sank upon her knees and tried to +pray, the words which first sprang to her lips framing themselves into +thanks that somewhere in the world there was one who prayed for her and +loved her, too, even though the love might have for its object merely +dolls and candies and toys. And these the child should have in such +abundance, and Miss McDonald found herself longing for the morrow in +which to begin again the shopping she had thought was nearly ended. + +It was in vain next day that her mother remonstrated against her going +out, pleading her white, haggard face and the rawness of the day. Daisy +was not to be detained at home, and before ten o'clock she was down on +Broadway, and the dolly with the "shash" and "pairesol" which she had +seen the day before under its glass case was hers for twenty-five +dollars, and the plainer bit of china, who was to be dollie's mother and +perform the parental duty of "panking her when she was naughty," was +also purchased, and the dishes and the table and stove and bedstead, +with ruffled sheets and pillow-cases and blue satin spread and the +washboard and clothes bars and tiny wringer, with divers others toys, +were bought with a disregard of expense which made Miss McDonald a +wonder to those who waited on her. Such a Christmas box was seldom sent +to a child as that which Daisy packed in her room that night, with her +mother looking on and wondering what Sunday-school was to be the +recipient of all those costly presents and suggesting that cheaper +articles would have answered just as well. + +Everything the child had asked for was there except the picture. That +Daisy dared not send, lest it should look too much like thrusting +herself upon Guy's notice and wound Julia, his wife. + +Daisy was strangely pitiful in her thoughts of Julia, who would in her +turn have pitied her for her delusion could she have known how sure she +was that but for the tardiness of that letter Guy would have chosen his +first love in preference to any other. + +And it was well that each believed herself first in the affection of the +man to whom Daisy wanted so much to send something as a proof of her +unalterable love. They were living still in the brown cottage; they were +not able to buy Elmwood back. Oh, if she only dared to do it, and could +do it, how gladly her Christmas gift should be the handsome place which +they had been so proud of! But that would hardly do; Guy might not like +to be so much indebted to her; he was proud and sensitive in many +points, and so she abandoned the plan for the present, thinking that by +and by she would purchase and hold it as a gift to her namesake on her +bridal day. That will be better, she said, as she put the last article +in the box and saw it leave the door, directed to Guy Thornton's care. + + * * * * * + +Great was the surprise at the brown cottage, when, on the very night +before Christmas, the box arrived and was deposited in the dining room, +where Guy and Julia, Miss Barker and Daisy gathered eagerly around it, +the latter exclaiming: + +"I knows where it tum from, I do. My sake-name, Miss McDolly, send it, +see did. I writ and ask her would see an' she hab." + +"What!" Guy said, as, man-like, he began deliberately to untie every +knot in the string which his wife in her impatience would have cut at +once. "What does the child mean? Do you know, Julia?" + +"I do. I'll explain," Miss Barker said, and in as few words as possible +she told what she had done, while Julia listened with a very grave face, +and Guy was pale even to his lips as he went on untying the string and +opening the box. + +There was a letter lying on the top which he handed to Julia, who +steadied her voice to read aloud: + + +"NEW YORK, December 22, 18--. + +"DARLING LITTLE SAKE-NAME DAISY: Your letter made Miss McDolly +very happy, and she is so glad to send you the doll with a shash, and +the other toys. Write to me again and tell me if they suit you. God +bless you, sweet little one, is the prayer of + +"MISS MCDONALD." + + +After that the grave look left Julia's face, and Guy was not quite so +pale, as he took out one after another the articles which little Daisy +hailed with rapturous shouts and exclamations of delight. + +"Oh, isn't she dood, and don't you love her, papa?" she said, while Guy +replied: + +"Yes, it was certainly very kind in her, and generous. No other little +girl in town will have such a box as this." + +He was very pale, and there was a strange look in his eyes, but his +voice was perfectly natural as he spoke, and one who knew nothing of his +former relations to Miss McDonald would never have suspected how his +whole soul was moved by this gift to his little daughter. + +"You must write and thank her," he said to Julia, who, knowing that this +was proper, assented without a word, and when on the morning after +Christmas Miss McDonald opened with trembling hands the envelope bearing +the Cuylerville postmark, she felt a keen pang of disappointment in +finding only a few lines from Julia expressive of her own and little +Daisy's thanks for the beautiful Christmas box, "which made our little +girl so happy." + +Not Julia, but Mrs. Guy, and that hurt Daisy more than anything else. + +"Mrs. Guy Thornton! Why need she thrust upon me the name I used to +bear?" she whispered, and her lip quivered a little, and the tears +sprang to her eyes as she remembered all that lay between the present +and the time when she had been Mrs. Guy Thornton. + +She was Miss McDonald now, and Guy was another woman's husband, and with +a bitter pain in her heart, she put away Julia's letter, saying as she +did so, "And that's the end of that." + +The box business had not resulted just as she hoped it would. She had +thought Guy would write himself, and by some word or allusion assure her +of his remembrance, but instead there had come to her a few perfectly +polite and well-expressed lines from Julia, who had the impertinence to +sign herself Mrs. Guy Thornton! It was rather hard and sorely +disappointing, and for many days Miss McDonald's face was very white and +sad, and both the old and young whom she visited as usual wondered what +had come over the beautiful lady to make her "so pale and sorry." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +AT SARATOGA + + +There were no more letters from Mrs. Guy Thornton until the next +Christmas time, when another box went to little Daisy, and was +acknowledged as before. Then another year glided by, with a third box to +Daisy, and then one summer afternoon in August there came to Saratoga a +gay party from New York, and the clerk at Congress Hall registered, with +other names, that of Miss McDonald. Indeed, it seemed to be her party, +or at least she was its center, and the one to whom the others deferred +as to their head. Daisy was in perfect health that summer, and in +unusually good spirits, and when in the evening, yielding to the +entreaties of her friends, she entered the ball-room, clad in flowing, +gauzy robes of blue and white, with costly jewels on her neck and arms, +she took all hearts by storm, and was acknowledged at once as the star +and belle of the evening. She did not dance--she rarely did that +now--but after a short promenade through the room she took a seat near +the door, and was watching the gay dancers when she felt her arm softly +touched, and, turning, saw her maid standing by her with an anxious, +frightened look upon her face. + +"Come, please, come quick," she said in a whisper, and, following her +out, Miss McDonald asked what was the matter. + +"This--you must go away at once. I'll pack your things. I promised not +to tell, but I must. I can't see your pretty face all spoiled and ugly." + +"What do you mean?" the lady asked, and after a little she made out from +the girl's statement that in strolling on the back piazza she had +stumbled upon her first cousin, of whose whereabouts she had known +nothing for a long time. + +The girl, Mary, had, it seemed, come to Saratoga a week or ten days +before, with her master's family, consisting of his wife and two +children. As the hotel was crowded they were assigned rooms for the +night in a distant part of the house, with a promise of something much +better on the morrow. In the morning, however, the lady, who had not +been well for some days, was too sick to leave her bed, and the doctor +who was called in to see her, pronounced the disease--here Sarah stopped +and gasped for breath and looked behind her and all ways, and finally +whispered a word which made even Miss McDonald start a little and wince +with fear. + +"He do call it the very-o-lord," Sarah said, "but Mary says it's the +very old devil himself. She knows, she has had it, and you can't put +down a pin where the cratur didn't have his claws. They told the +landlord, who was fur puttin' 'em straight outdoors, but the doctor said +the lady must not be moved--it was sure death to do it. It was better to +keep quiet, and not make a panic. Nobody need to know it in the house, +and their rooms are so far from everybody that nobody would catch it. So +he let 'em stay, and the gentleman takes care of her, and Mary keeps the +children in the next room, and carries and brings the things, and keeps +away from everybody. Two of the servants know it, and they've had it, +and don't tell, and she said I mustn't, nor come that side of the house, +but I must tell you so that you can leave to-morrow. The lady is very +bad, and nobody takes care of her but Mr. Thornton. Mary takes things to +the door, and leaves them outside where he can get them." + +"What did you call the gentleman?" Miss McDonald asked, her voice +faltering and her cheek blanching a little. + +"Mr. Thornton, from Cuylerville, a place far in the country," was the +girl's reply, and then, without waiting to hear more, Miss McDonald +darted away, and, going to the office, turned the leaves of the register +to the date of ten or eleven days ago, and read with a beating heart and +quick coming breath: + +"Guy Thornton, lady, two children, and servant. Nos. ---- and ----." + +Yes, it was Guy; there could be no mistake, and in an instant her +resolution was taken. Calling to her maid, she sent for her shawl and +hat, and then bidding her follow, walked away in the moonlight. The +previous summer when at Saratoga she had received medical treatment from +Dr. Schwartz, whom she knew well and to whose office she directed her +steps. He seemed surprised to see her at that hour, but greeted her +cordially and asked when she came to town and what he could do for her. + +"Tell me if this is still a safeguard," she said, baring her beautiful +white arm and showing a large round scar. "Will this insure me against +disease?" + +The doctor's face flushed, and he looked uneasily at her as he took her +arm in his hand, and, examining the scar closely, said: + +"The points are still distinct. I should say the vaccination was +thorough." + +"But another will be safer. Have you fresh vaccine?" Daisy asked; and he +replied: + +"Yes, some just from a young, healthy heifer. I never use the +adulterated stuff which has been humanized. How do I know what humors +may be lurking in the blood? Why, some of the fairest, sweetest babies +are full of scrofula!" + +He was going on further with his discussion, when Daisy, who knew his +peculiarities, interrupted him: + +"Never mind the lecture now. Vaccinate me quick and let me go." + +It was soon done, the doctor saying as he put away his vial: + +"You were safe without it, I think, and with it you may have no fears +whatever." + +He looked at her curiously again as if asking what she knew or feared, +and, observing the look, Daisy said to him: + +"Do you attend the lady at the hotel?" + +He bowed affirmatively and glanced uneasily at Sarah, who was looking on +in surprise. + +"Is she very sick?" was the next inquiry. + +"Yes, very sick." + +"And does no one care for her but her husband?" + +"No one." + +"Has she suffered for care--a woman's care, I mean?" + +"Well, not exactly, and yet she might be more comfortable with a woman +about her. Women are naturally better nurses than men, and Mr. Thornton +is quite worn out, but it does not make much difference now; the lady--" + +Daisy did not hear the last part of the sentence, and, bidding him +good-night, she went back to the hotel as swiftly as she had left it, +while the doctor stood watching the flutter of her white dress, +wondering how she found it out, and if she would "tell and raise thunder +generally." + +"Of course not. I know her better than that," he said to himself. "Poor +woman [referring then to Julia], nothing, I fear, can help her now." + +Meanwhile Daisy reached the hotel, and without going to her own room, +bade Sarah tell her the way to No. ----. + +"What! Oh, Miss McDonald! You surely are not--" Sarah gasped, clutching +at the dress, which her mistress took from her grasp, saying: + +"Yes, I am going to see that lady. I know her, or of her, and I'm not +afraid. Must we let her die alone?" + +"But your face--your beautiful face," Sarah said, and then Daisy did +hesitate a moment, and, glancing into a hall mirror, wondered how the +face she saw there, and which she knew was beautiful, would look scarred +and disfigured as she had seen faces in New York. + +There was a momentary conflict, and then, with an inward prayer that +Heaven would protect her, she passed on down the narrow hall and knocked +softly at No. ----, while Sarah stood wringing her hands in genuine +distress, and feeling as if her young mistress had gone to certain ruin. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +IN THE SICK-ROOM + + +Julia had the smallpox, not varioloid, but the veritable thing itself, +in its most aggravated form. Where she took it, or when, she did not +know, nor did it matter. She had it, and for ten days she had seen no +one but her husband and physician, and had no care but such as Guy could +give her. He had been unremitting in his attention. Tender and gentle as +a woman, he had nursed her night and day, with no thought for himself +and the risk he ran. It was a bad disease at the best, and now in its +worst type it was horrible, but Julia bore up bravely, thinking always +more of others than of herself, and feeling so glad that Providence had +sent them to those out-of-the-way rooms, where she had at first thought +she could not pass a night comfortably. Her children were in the room +adjoining, and she could hear their little voices as they played +together, or asked for their mamma and why they must not see her. Alas! +they would never see her again; she knew it now, and Guy knew it, too. +The doctor had told them so when he left them that night, and between +the husband and wife words had been spoken such as are only said when +hearts which have been one are about to be severed forever. + +To Julia there was no terror in death, save as it took her from those +she loved, her husband and her little ones, and these she had given into +God's keeping, knowing his promises are sure. To Guy she had said: + +"You have made me so happy. I want you to remember that when I am gone; +I would not have one look or act of yours changed if I could, and yet, +forgive me, Guy, for saying it, but I know you must often have thought +of that other one whom, you loved first, and it may be best." + +Guy could not say no to that, but he smoothed her hair tenderly, and his +tears dropped upon the scarred, swollen face he could not kiss, as Julia +went on. + +"But if you did you never showed it in the least, and I bless you for +it. Take good care of my children; teach them to remember their mother, +and if in time there comes another in my place, and other little ones +than mine call you father, don't forget me quite, because I love you so +much. Oh, Guy, my darling, it is hard to say good-by and know that after +a little this world will go on the same as if I had never been. Don't +think I am afraid. I am not, for Jesus is with me, and I know I am safe, +but still there's a clinging to life, which has been so pleasant to me. +Tell your sister how I loved her. I know she will miss me and be good to +my children, and if you ever meet that other one tell her--tell +her--I--" + +The faint voice faltered here, and when it spoke again, it said: + +"Lift me up, Guy, so I can breathe better while I tell you." + +He lifted her up and held her in his arms, while through the open window +the summer air and the silver moonlight streamed, and in the distance +was heard the sound of music as the dance went merrily on. And just +then, when she was in the minds of both, Daisy came, and her gentle +knock broke the silence of the room and startled both Guy and Julia. + +Who was it that sought entrance to that death-laden and disease-poisoned +room? Not the doctor, surely, for he always entered unannounced, and who +else dared to come there? Thus Guy questioned, hesitating to answer the +knock, when to his utter surprise the door opened and a little figure, +clad in airy robes of white, with its bright hair wreathed with flowers +and gems, came floating in, the blue eyes shining like stars and the +full red lips parted with the smile, half pleased, half shy, which Guy +remembered so well. + +"Daisy, Daisy!" he cried, and his voice rang like a bell through the +room, as, laying Julia's head back upon the pillow, he sprang to Daisy's +side, and, taking her by the shoulder, pushed her gently toward the +door, saying: + +"Why have you come here? Leave us at once; don't you see? don't you +know?" and he pointed toward Julia, whose face showed so plainly in the +gaslight. + +"Yes, I know, and I came to help you take care of her. I am not afraid," +Daisy said, and, freeing herself from his grasp, she walked straight up +to Julia and laid her soft, white hand upon her head. "I am Daisy," she +said, "and I've come to take care of you. I just heard you were here; +how hot your poor head is! let me bathe it; shall I?" + +She went to the bowl, and wringing a cloth in ice water, bathed and +rubbed the sick woman's head, and held the cool cloth to the face and +wiped the parched lips, and rubbed the feverish hands, while Guy stood, +looking on, bewildered and confounded, and utterly unable to say a word +or utter a protest to this angel, as it seemed to him, who had come +unbidden to his aid, forgetful of the risk she ran and the danger she +incurred. Once as she turned her beautiful face to him and he saw how +wondrously fair and lovely it was, lovely with a different expression +from any he had ever seen there, it came over him with a thrill of +horror that that face must not be marred and disfigured with the +terrible pestilence, and he made another effort to send her away. But +Daisy would not go. + +"I am not afraid," she said. "I have just been vaccinated, and there was +already a good scar on my arm; look!" and she pushed back her sleeve and +showed her round, white arm with the mark upon it. + +Guy did not oppose her after that, but let her do what she liked, and +when, an hour later, the doctor came he found his recent visitor sitting +on Julia's bed, with Julia's head lying against her bosom and Julia +herself asleep. Some word which sounded very much like "thunderation" +escaped his lips, but he said no more, for he saw in the sleeping +woman's face a look he never mistook. It was death, and ten minutes +after he entered the room Julia Thornton lay dead in Daisy's arms. + +There was a moment or so of half-consciousness, during which they caught +the words. "So kind in you; it makes me easier; be good to the children; +one is called for you, but Guy loved me, too. Good-by. I am going to +Jesus." + +That was the last she ever spoke, and a moment after she was gone. In +his fear lest the facts should be known to his guests, the host insisted +that the body should be removed under cover of the night, and as Guy +knew the railway officials would object to taking it on any train, there +was no alternative except to bury it in town, and so before the morning +broke there was brought up to the room a closely sealed coffin and box, +and Daisy helped lay Julia in her last bed, and put a white flower in +her hair and folded her hands upon her bosom, and then watched from the +window the little procession which followed the body out to the +cemetery, where, in the stillness of the coming day, they buried it, +together with everything which had been used about the bed, Daisy's +party dress included; and when at last the full morning broke, with stir +and life in the hotel, all was empty and still in the fumigated chamber +of death, and in the adjoining room, clad in a simple white wrapper, +with a blue ribbon in her hair, Daisy sat with Guy's little boy on her +lap and her namesake at her side, amusing them as best she could and +telling them their mamma had gone to live with Jesus. + +"Who'll be our mamma now? We must have one. Will oo?" little Daisy +asked, as she hung about the neck of her new friend. + +She knew it was Miss McDolly, her "sake-name," and in her delight at +seeing her and her admiration of her great beauty, she forgot in part +the dead mamma on whose grave the summer sun was shining. + +The Thorntons left the hotel that day and went back to the house in +Cuylerville, which had been closed for a few weeks, Miss Frances being +away with some friends in Connecticut. But she returned at once when she +heard the dreadful news, and was there to receive her brother and his +motherless little ones. He told her of Daisy when he could trust himself +to talk at all, of Julia's sickness and death, and Miss Frances felt her +heart go out as it had never gone before toward the woman about whom +little Daisy talked constantly. + +"Most bootiful lady," she said, "an' looked des like an 'ittle dirl, +see was so short, an' her eyes were so hue an' her hair so turly." + +Miss McDonald had won Daisy's heart, and, knowing that made her own +happier and lighter than it had been since the day when the paper came +to her with the marked paragraph which crushed her so completely. There +had been but a few words spoken between herself and Guy, and these in +the presence of others, but at their parting he had taken her soft +little hand in his and held it a moment, while he said, with a choking +voice: "God bless you, Daisy. I shall not forget your kindness to my +poor Julia, and if you should need--but no, that is too horrible to +think of; may God spare you that. Good-by." + +And that was all that passed between him and Daisy with regard to the +haunting dread which sent her in a few days to her own house in New +York, where, if the thing she feared came upon her, she would at least +be at home and know she was not endangering the lives of others. But God +was good to her, and though there was a slight fever, with darting pains +in her back and a film before her eyes, it amounted to nothing worse, +and might have been the result of fatigue and over-excitement; and when +at Christmas time, yielding to the importunities of her little +namesake, there was a picture of herself in the box sent to +Cuylerville, the face which Guy scanned even more eagerly than his +daughter, was as smooth and fair and beautiful as when he saw it at +Saratoga, bending over his dying wife. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +DAISY'S JOURNAL + + +NEW YORK, June 14, 18--. + +To-morrow I am to take my old name of Thornton again, and be Guy's wife +once more. Nor does it seem strange at all that I should do so, for I +have never thought of myself as not belonging to him, even when I knew +he was another's. And yet when in that dreadful night at Saratoga I went +to Julia's room, there was in my heart no thought of this which has come +to me. I only wished to care for her and to be a help to Guy. I did not +think of her dying, and after she was dead there was not a thought of +the future in my mind until little Daisy put it there by asking if I +would be her mamma. Then I seemed to see it all, and expected it up to +the very day, six weeks ago, when Guy wrote to me: "Daisy, I want you. +Will you come to me again as my wife?" + +I was not surprised. I knew he would say it some time, and I replied at +once, "Yes, Guy, I will." + +He has been here since, and we have talked it over; all the past when I +made him so unhappy, and when I, too, was so wretched, though I did not +say much about that, or tell him of the dull, heavy, gnawing pain which, +sleeping or waking, I carried with me so long, and only lost when I +began to live for others. I did speak of the letter, and said I had +loved him ever since I wrote it, and that his marrying Julia made no +difference; and when I told him of poor Tom, and what I said to him, not +from love, but from a sense of duty, and when I told him how Tom would +not take me at my word, he held me close to him and said: "I am glad he +did not, my darling, for then you would never have been mine." + +I think we both wept over those two graves, one far off in sunny France, +the other in Saratoga, and both felt how sad it was that they must be +made in order to bring us together. Poor Julia! She was a noble woman, +and Guy did love her. He told me so, and I am glad he did. I mean to try +to be like her in those parts wherein she excelled me. + +We are going straight to Cuylerville to the house where I never was but +once, and that on the night when Guy was sick and Miss Frances made me +go back in the thunder and rain. She is sorry for that, for she told me +so in the long, kind letter she wrote, calling me her little sister and +telling me how glad she is to have me back once more. Accidentally I +heard Elmwood was for sale, and without letting Guy know I bought it, +and sent him the deed, and we are going to make it the most attractive +place in the country. + +It will be our summer home, but in the winter my place is here in New +York with my people, who would starve and freeze without me. Guy has +agreed to that and will be a great help to me. He need never work any +more unless he chooses to do so, for my agent, says I am a millionaire, +thanks to poor Tom, who gave me his gold mine and his interest in that +railroad. And for Guy's sake I am glad, and for his children, the +precious darlings; how much I love them already, and how kind I mean to +be to them both for Julia's sake and Guy's! Hush! That's his ring, and +there's his voice in the hall asking for Miss McDonald, and so for the +last time I write that name, and sign myself, + +MARGARET MCDONALD. + + +_Extracts from Miss Frances Thornton's Diary._ + +ELMWOOD, June 15, ----. + +I have been looking over an old journal, finished and laid away long +ago, and accidentally I stumbled upon a date eleven years back. It was +Guy's wedding day then; it is his anniversary now, and as on that June +day of years ago I worked among my flowers, so I have been with them +this morning, and as then, people from the town came into our beautiful +grounds, so they came to-day and praised our lovely place and said there +was no place like it in all the country round. But Julia was not with +them. She will never come to us again. Julia is dead, and her grave is +off in Saratoga, for Guy dare not have her moved, but he has erected a +costly monument to her memory, and the mound above her is like some +bright flower bed all the summer long, for he hires a man to tend it, +and goes twice each season to see that it is kept as he wishes to have +it. Julia is in Heaven and Daisy is here again at Elmwood, which she +purchased with her own money and fitted up with every possible +convenience and luxury. + +Guy is ten years younger than he used to be, and we are all so happy +with this little fairy, who has expanded into a noble woman, and whom I +love as I never loved a living being before, Guy excepted, of course. I +never dreamed when I turned her out into the rain that I should love her +as I do, or that she was capable of being what she is. I would not have +her changed in any one particular, and neither, I am sure, would Guy, +while the little ones fairly worship her, and must sometimes be +troublesome with their love and their caresses. + +It is just a year since she came back to us again. We were in the old +house then, but somehow Daisy's very presence seemed to brighten and +beautify it, until I was almost sorry to leave it last April for this +grander place with all its splendor. + +There was no wedding at all; that is, there were no invited guests, but +sure, never had bride greater honor at her bridal than our Daisy had, +for the church where the ceremony was performed, at a very early hour in +the morning, was literally crowded with the halt, the lame, the maimed, +and the blind; the slums of New York, gathered from every back street +and by-lane and gutter; Daisy's "people," as she calls them, who came to +see her married, and who, strangest of all, brought with them a present +for the bride, a beautiful family Bible, golden-clasped and bound, and +costing fifty dollars. Sandy McGraw presented it, and had written upon +the fly leaf: "To the dearest friend we ever had we give this book as a +slight token of how much we love her." Then followed upon a sheet of +paper the names of the donors and how much each gave. Oh, how Daisy +cried when she saw the ten cents and the five cents and the three cents +and the one cent, and knew how it had all been earned and saved at some +sacrifice for her. I do believe she would have kissed every one of them +if Guy had permitted it. She did kiss the children and shook every hard, +soiled hand there, and then Guy took her away and brought her to our +home, where she has been ever since, the sweetest, merriest, happiest +little creature that ever a man called wife, or a woman sister. She does +leave her things round a little, to be sure, and she is not always ready +for breakfast. I guess she never will wholly overcome those habits, but +I can put up with them now better than I used to. Love makes a vast +difference in our estimate of others, and she could scarcely ruffle me +now, even if she kept breakfast waiting every morning, and left her +clothes lying three garments deep upon the floor. As for Guy--but his +happiness is something I cannot describe. Nothing can disturb his peace, +which is as firm as the everlasting hills. He does not caress her as +much as he did once, but his thoughtful care of her is wonderful, and +she is never long from his sight without his going to seek her. + +God bless them both and keep them ever as they are now, at peace with +Him and all in all to each other. + + +THE END + + * * * * * + +NEW JUVENILES + +By Famous Authors + +_Bound in Cloth; decorated cover designs; printed on extra book paper; +burnished colored edges; handsomely illustrated._ + + * * * * * + +THE MANOR SCHOOL. By MRS. L.T. MEADE. Ten Full Page +Illustrations. + + A sweetly written and popular story of girl life. Full of fun and + adventure. Told in a manner to interest and amuse young people of + any age. + + Very few authors have achieved a popularity equal to that of Mrs. + Meade as a writer of stories for girls. Her characters are living + beings of flesh and blood. Into the trials and crosses of these the + reader enters at once with zest and hearty sympathy. Mrs. Meade + always writes with a high moral purpose. Cloth. 12mo. Price, $1.25. + +THE DEFENSE OF THE CASTLE. A Story for Boys and Girls. By TUDOR +JENKS, author of "Imaginotions," "World's Fair Book," "Boys' Book +of Explorations," "Galopoff, the Talking Pony," "Gypsy, the Talking +Dog," etc. + + This is a good, lively, fighting story, but not bloodthirsty. It + tells of a boy and girl who, during the absence of their father at + the Crusades, with the help of an old soldier defended the castle + from the attack of an armed force led by a treacherous relative. + The time is about that of Ivanhoe. Cloth, 12mo. Price, $1.00. + +WITH BOONE ON THE FRONTIER; or, The Pioneer Boys of Old Kentucky. By +CAPTAIN RALPH BONEHILL. + + This tale is complete in itself, but forms Volume I of the + "Frontier Series." It relates the true-to-life adventures of two + boys who, in company with their folks, move westward with Daniel + Boone. Contains many thrilling scenes among the Indians and + encounters with wild animals. Written in Captain Bonehill's best + style, and will most likely be the boys' book of the season. Cloth. + 12mo. Price, $1.00. + + +UNDER THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER. Story of a Boy's Adventures in the +Spanish-American War. By CAPTAIN F.S. BRERETON, author of +"Dragon of Pekin," etc. + + A vivid and accurate account of this memorable struggle. The hero + leaves his home in search of work, finds it on a Cuban plantation, + is denounced to the Spaniards as a spy, makes his escape to the + American fleet, and afterwards joins the Rough Riders and + participates in the battles around Santiago. Cloth. 12mo. Price, + $1.00. + +THE MERSHON COMPANY, RAHWAY, N.J. + + * * * * * + +FLAG OF FREEDOM SERIES +By CAPTAIN RALPH BONEHILL + +Volumes Illustrated, Bound in Cloth, with a very Attractive Cover, Price +60 Cents per Volume + + * * * * * + +WITH CUSTER IN THE BLACK HILLS; or, A Young Scout among the Indians + + This is a complete story in itself, but forms the sixth and last + volume of Captain Bonehill's popular "Flag of Freedom" Series. It + tells of the remarkable experiences of a youth who, with his + parent, goes to the Black Hills in search of gold. Custer's last + battle is well described. A volume every lad fond of Indian stories + should possess. + + +BOYS OF THE FORT; or, A Young Captain's Pluck + + Captain Bonehill is at his best when relating a tale of military + adventure, and this story of stirring doings at one of our + well-known forts in the Wild West is of more than ordinary + interest. The young captain had a difficult task to accomplish, but + he had been drilled to do his duty, and he did it thoroughly. Gives + a good insight into army life of to-day. + + +THE YOUNG BANDMASTER; or, Concert Stage and Battlefield + + In this tale Captain Bonehill touches upon a new field. The hero is + a youth with a passion for music, who, compelled to make his own + way in the world, becomes a cornetist in an orchestra, and works + his way up, first, to the position of a soloist, and then to that + of leader of a brass band. He is carried off to sea and falls in + with a secret-service cutter bound for Cuba, and while in that + island joins a military band which accompanies our soldiers in the + never-to-be-forgotten attack on Santiago. A mystery connected with + the hero's inheritance adds to the interest of the tale. + +OFF FOR HAWAII; or, The Mystery of a Great Volcano + + Here we have fact and romance cleverly interwoven. Several boys + start on a tour of the Hawaiian Islands. They have heard that there + is a treasure located in the vicinity of Kilauea, the largest + active volcano in the world, and go in search of it. Their numerous + adventures will be followed with much interest. + +A SAILOR BOY WITH DEWEY; or, Afloat in the Philippines + + The story of Dewey's victory in Manila Bay will never grow old, but + here we have it told in a new form--not as those in command + witnessed the contest, but as it appeared to a real, live American + youth who was in the navy at the time. Many adventures in Manila + and in the interior follow, giving true-to-life scenes from this + remote portion of the globe. A book that should be in every boy's + library. + +WHEN SANTIAGO FELL; or, The War Adventures of Two Chums + + Captain Bonehill has never penned a better tale than this stirring + story of adventures in Cuba. Two boys, an American and his Cuban + chum, leave New York to join their parents in the interior of Cuba. + The war between Spain and the Cubans is on, and the boys are + detained at Santiago de Cuba, but escape by crossing the bay at + night. Many adventures between the lines follow, and a good + pen-picture of General Garcia is given. The American lad, with + others, is captured and cast into a dungeon in Santiago; and then + follows the never-to-be-forgotten campaign in Cuba under General + Shafter. How the hero finally escapes makes reading no wide-awake + boy will want to miss. + + * * * * * + +Press Opinions of Captain Bonehill's Books for Boys + + "Captain Bonehill's stories will always be popular with our boys, + for the reason that they are thoroughly up-to-date and true to + life. As a writer of outdoor tales he has no rival."--_Bright + Days._ + + * * * * * + +THE MERSHON COMPANY +156 Fifth Ave., New York Rahway, N.J. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Miss McDonald, by Mary J. Holmes + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MISS MCDONALD *** + +***** This file should be named 16150.txt or 16150.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/1/5/16150/ + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Louise Pryor and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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