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diff --git a/17913.txt b/17913.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0a0873c --- /dev/null +++ b/17913.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8086 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Clemence, by Retta Babcock + +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: Clemence + The Schoolmistress of Waveland + +Author: Retta Babcock + +Release Date: March 4, 2006 [EBook #17913] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CLEMENCE *** + + + + +Produced by Curtis Weyant, Sigal Alon and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images produced by the Wright +American Fiction Project.) + + + + + + + + + + +CLEMENCE, + +THE + +Schoolmistress of Waveland, + +BY RETTA B. BABCOCK, + +AUTHOR OF "GRAHAM LODGE; OR, LAURA CLIFFORD'S LIFE ROMANCE." + + * * * * * + + Not many friends my life has made; + Few have I loved, and few are they + Who in my hand their hearts have laid; + And these are women. I am gray, + But never have I been betrayed. + + J. G. HOLLAND. + + * * * * * + +CLEVELAND, OHIO: + +PRINTED BY THE LEADER PRINTING COMPANY, NO. 142 SUPERIOR STREET. + +1870. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The favor with which a generous public received a former volume of the +writer's, induced her, after a lapse of nearly two years, to essay +another effort of a similar nature. + +In the present work, _facts_ were chosen for a basis, as calculated to +interest, where the wildest dream of the novelist would pall upon the +satiated mind. It has been remarked, in a homely phrase by another, that +"what comes from the heart, reaches the heart," and if the present +fruits of long and unremitting mental labor, sustained often amid such +trial and discouragements, as seldom fall to the lot of mortal to bear, +should find sympathy and appreciation with the mass of readers, the aim +of the writer will have been fully accomplished. + + + + +CLEMENCE, + +THE + +SCHOOLMISTRESS OF WAVELAND. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +"Dearest mother, do not grieve for me, it breaks my heart." + +The sweet, sad voice of the speaker quivered with unshed tears, as she +knelt before the grief-bowed figure on the sofa, and took one of the +little, shrunken, tear-wet hands in both her own, with the devotion of a +lover. + +"Have you not often told me of the sin of distrusting the All-wise +Being, who has cared for us all our lives thus far? Let us put our trust +in Him, and He will 'never leave nor forsake us.' Can you not trust Him, +precious mother?" + +"My child, I could bear it for myself; but you, my all of earth, my +heart's dearest treasure, to be exposed to poverty and toil for your +daily bread--who have been so delicately reared that the winds of heaven +have not been permitted to blow too roughly upon you! My poor, +fatherless darling, how can you bear it?" + +"'God is our father.' We are not friendless, nor alone. 'He who +tempereth the wind to the shorn lamb,' will guide and guard me. Let us +commit ourselves to His care." + +She knelt down, and the sunshine, stealing in at the window that May +afternoon, circled her young head like a glory. Faint and tremulous rose +the sweet voice in prayer, and little widow Graystone's sobs ceased, and +a kind of awe stole over her as she listened. And a sweet peace filled +her soul, for "angels came and ministered unto her." Up from the +mother's heart went a pleading cry. "God keep my darling from harm!" and +as she gazed fondly upon the beautiful face before her, with its exalted +look of wrapt devotion, a fierce pain struggled at her heart, for she +thought of the time in the not distant future, when her only one would +be motherless. + +One little year ago she had been the imperious woman of fashion, and +Clemence had seemed little more than a child, in spite of the seventeen +summers that had smiled upon her young head. Indeed, she had often +experienced a feeling akin to contempt at the unworldliness of her +daughter, and sighed in secret to see Clemence just as agreeable to Carl +Alwyn, the poor but talented artist, as she was to young Reginald +Germaine, the heir to half a million. + +"Just like your father, my dear," she would say, scornfully, "and nobody +knows what I have suffered from his low notions. Just to think of his +always insisting upon my inviting those frightful Dinsmore's to my +exclusive entertainments, because, years before you were born, Mr. +Dinsmore's father did him some service. Why can't he pay them for it, +and have an end of it? It is perfectly shocking! The idea of bringing +_me_, a Leveridge of Leveridge, into contact with such vulgar people." + +"Mamma!" and Clemence's fine eyes glow with generous indignation, "how +_can_ you speak thus of one of the noblest traits of my father's +character? I love and honor him for it, and I ask God daily to make me +worthy to be the child of such a parent." + +"Well, my dear," cooly replies mamma, "if it will afford you any +satisfaction to hear it, you resemble him in every respect. In fact, I +see more plainly every day, there is not a trait of the Leveridge's +about you, deeply as I deplore it. I had hoped to have a daughter after +my own heart. I sometimes think you do not wish to please me in +anything." + +"Oh!" cried Clemence, "how greatly you misunderstand me. You do not know +how much I love you. I have often wished that we were poor, so I could +have you all to myself, to show, by a lifetime of devotion, what is in +my heart." + +The delicate lady, splendid in misty lace and jewels, gave a little +nervous shudder at the bare thought of poverty. + +"What strange fancies you have, child, and how little you know of the +realities of life." But gazing into the pure face, with a vague dread +for that future, and knowing that One alone knew whether it might +contain happiness or misery for her darling, she said, with visible +emotion, "You are a good girl, Clemence, and whatever may be in the +future, remember that I always sought your welfare as the one great +object of my existence. Always remember that, Clemence." + +"I will, my own dearest mother," the girl answered brokenly; and neither +could see the other through a mist of tears. + +Was it a presentiment of their coming fate? + +Clemence thought often, amid the gloom that followed, that it was; and +many times in her dream-haunted slumbers, murmured, "Always remember +that, Clemence; always remember that." + +If the stylish Mrs. Graystone, who could boast of the most aristocratic +descent, and whose haughty family had considered it quite a +condescension when she married the self-made merchant--if the little +lady had sinned very deeply in wishing to secure for her only child a +husband in every way suitable, in her opinion, to a descendant of the +Leveridges of Leveridge, she was destined to a full expiation of her +wrong, and her towering pride to a fall so great that those who had +envied her her life-long prosperity, would say with ill-concealed +delight--"served them right! what will become of their lofty ambition +and refined sensibilities now, I wonder?"--"I knew it would not last +forever."--"It's a long lane that never turns;" with many more remarks +to the same effect. + +"Between you and me and the four walls of this room," said one Mrs. +Crane to her neighbor, "I don't pity them Graystones as much as I +should, if they hadn't always carried their heads so high above +everybody else, who was just as good as themselves, if they couldn't +trace back their descent to the landin' of the Pilgrims." + +"This is a free and glorious republic, where every man can follow the +bent of his own inclinations, provided he don't intrude upon his +neighbor's rights. Who gave their blood and sinew to the putting down of +them are southern secessionists that threatened the dissolution of our +Union? Who, indeed, but P. Crandall Crane! and I'm proud to say that I'm +the wife of that patriotic man. True, he could not go to war himself, on +account of me and the children; but, I dare say, if he could have +prevailed upon me to give him up to the cause of liberty, he'd have +clomb rapidly to the highest pinnacle of earthly glory, and to-day I'd +have been Mrs. General Crane, a leader of the brilliant society at +Washington, with _my_ name in the papers as 'the wife of our +distinguished General Crane,' or the 'stately and dignified lady of the +brave General;'" &c., &c. + +"But, no, P. Crandall was a husband and father; so when he was drafted, +I fell upon his neck and wept. 'How can I give you up?' was all I could +utter through my tears. Touched by my grief, my husband refused to be +torn from me, and magnanimously renounced all the honors that crowded +thick and fast upon his unwilling brow. 'Enough,' he answered, +'Isabella, I will stay by your side. Duty never points two ways, and +_my_ duty is to stay with my family. I will give up all for your sake, +and though I may never realize the happiness my fond fancy painted; +though I may never enter the crowded ball-room, with my proud and happy +wife leaning confidingly upon my arm, while a band, concealed amid +flowers, plays in a spirited manner, 'See, the conquering hero +comes,'--though I see the flattering ovations, the substantial dinners, +the moonlight serenades, the waiting crowd shouting my name impatiently: +'Crane! Crane! let us have a speech from the gallant General P. +Crandall!'--yes, even though the aristocratic brown-stone mansion, which +was to have been a testimonial of esteem from admiring friends; though +all these fade before me like the beautiful mirage that proves only an +illusion of the senses, yet I am equal to this act of self-denial, and +submit to pass my life in obscurity, unknown and unappreciated.'" + + * * * * * + +"Overcome by such magnanimity, I fainted upon his bosom. After that my +dreams were haunted by gory battle-fields, in which P. Crandall figured +in every imaginable scene of suffering and danger. My delicate nerves +had received a severe shock, and yet I did not mean to be weak, in the +hour of trial, for it is the duty of a faithful wife, such as I sought +to be, to sustain her partner in the hour of adversity." + + * * * * * + +"My companion, meanwhile, was not inactive. He sought out the obscure +retreat of a distant branch of our family, a poor widow, who lived with +her only son, an active and industrious mechanic. He renewed the +acquaintance which we had allowed to drop some years before, and set +before her in glowing colors the chance that opened for the young man to +achieve a high and glorious destiny. Fired with patriotic zeal, he even +went so far as to promise to take the support of the mother upon +himself, while her son was absent working for the cause of liberty, and +making for himself an honorable name, and succeeded so well, that he was +thus enabled to send a substitute in his place to represent the family, +so to speak. Nor did he stop here. Not contented with these efforts, he +set about finding some other way in which he could show his zeal for the +cause. At length a bright thought struck him. He became an Army +Contractor." + +"Of the service he has done the Government from that auspicious moment," +concluded the lady, craning her long neck with an air of pardonable +pride, and fingering the massive chain that depended from it with a +caressing fondness, "I need not speak. Indeed, it speaks for itself. But +I may say that the country which he served has not proved ungrateful, +but has shown its ability to reward true merit in a substantial manner. +I will, however, add that when the intelligence arrived that the man he +had sent forth to represent his honor had perished in the first battle, +he generously took the surviving relative into his own house, provided +her with every comfort, and pays her weekly the sum of one dollar fifty, +for what little errands she does for me and the children. What I wished +to elucidate," added the speaker, energetically, "is this--that no one +can't put _me_ down, knowin' as I do my own rights. In fact, I may say, +knowin' that I'm a sharer in the success that P. Crandall has achieved +in a modest way, and that I heartily _dispise_ aristocrats, who want to +walk over everybody that is what they call self-made, and that make such +a fuss about _herredittery_ rights, and all that." + +It was a noticeable fact with the lady, that when she got excited, as +she was at present, her natural deficiency in grammar and kindred +sciences showed more plainly than in her cooler moments. Indeed, more +than one censorious person, who no doubt envied their success, +attributed this to the innate vulgarity that showed itself when the +contractor's lady was off her guard. + +"People will talk," you know. + +"Them's my sentiments exactly, Mis' Crane," spoke up a little, dark, +nervous woman, from the depths of a velvet easy chair, whose stiff +brocades and diamonds flashing on nearly every finger of the coarse, +rough hands, showed unmistakable signs of a sudden and unexpected +promotion from the kitchen to the drawing-room. + +"Just my sentiments, exactly," she reiterated, emphatically. "If there +were more ladies of your opinion, the reform, that has been so long +talked about and desired, would not be so slow in coming. We must +revolutionize society as it exists at the present day, before we can +expect to exert the due amount of influence that our wealth entitles us +to. And I tell you," (and the mean, little sallow face spoke in every +lineament of the petty spirit of jealous hate which animated it, and +looked out from the small eyes of reddish hazel,) "I tell you," (this +lady had a habit of repeating over the same sentences two or three times +when greatly wrought upon by her sensibilities,) "money _is_ the lever +that moves the world now-a-days. And as long as _we_ have got it, who's +a better right to put themselves in the front ranks? If I've got a house +in the most aristocratic portion of the city, plenty of well-trained +servants, a stylish turnout, costly jewels, laces and brocades, I wonder +if I ain't as good as my neighbor, especially if my husband can boast of +millions where her's can thousands--dollars where her's can shillins'?" + +"Why, Mrs. Brown," drawled a voice which had before been silent, "your +husband made his money in a vulgar grocery; your father was a poor man, +while your fair neighbor inherited _her_ vast wealth. That splendid +mansion was a gift from papa, those well-trained servants have been in +the service of her family since my lady was a mere child, and have been +accustomed to wait upon and obey the slightest wish of their imperious +mistress, until they have grown to regard her as of a higher order of +being from themselves--a sort of delicate porcelain, while they are only +common crockery for kitchen service. All perfectly proper, you know!" + +The last speaker was a languid blonde, with a profusion of airy ringlets +fluttering around her thin face, which, judging by appearances, must +have been fanned by the zephyrs of innumerable May-days, equally as +bright and beautiful as the one that on the present occasion had aroused +her to the unwonted exertion of dressing and appearing in the parlor of +her dearest friend, to display a new, tasteful spring suit, of a +delicate blue, suitable to the complexion of the lady it adorned. + +A self-complacent smile curled her thin lips, as she quietly noted the +effects of her somewhat lengthy speech. Like all efforts of an +unexpected and startling nature it produced a decided sensation. The +little lady in brocade and diamonds glared at her like a fury--her +stately hostess bridled, tossed her head, and gave one or two short, +sharp, hysterical giggles. + +"Why, Cynthia," she exclaimed, "you are in charming spirits! Mr. +Underwitte must have proposed at last." + +Miss Cynthia playfully held up her parasol to conceal her blushes. + +"As if I were going to tell if he did! Now, really, Mrs. Brown, what +would you say to having me for a neighbor at some not distant day in the +place of those insufferable Graystones? Do you think I could do the +honors of the mansion gracefully, or should I suffer from the comparison +with the fair descendant of the Leveridges? By the way, do you think she +will continue to pride herself upon her lofty descent in the future, as +she has done in the past? She must have enough of the subject by this +time, I think! he! he! he!" + +There was a shrill chorus of laughter, which a deep, tragic voice +interrupted with the question-- + +"What are you all so merry about?" and a figure, in bombazine and rusty +crape, stood before them, which was hailed successively by three voices, +a cracked soprano, Mrs. Crane--a high-keyed treble, Miss Cynthia, and a +little gasp or gurgle from Mrs. Brown, the lady in brocade, as, "Mrs. +Linden!" "My dear creature!" and "That angel Alicia!" and any amount of +kissing and shaking of hands, then a general resuming of seats, and the +question again asked, "What were you all so merry about, that you did +not hear me ring?" + +"One of Cynthia's witty speeches," replied the lady of the house, and +after they had had another laugh, and Miss Cynthia had simpered and +shook her curls affectedly, the new-comer proceeded to give the latest +version of the Graystone's downfall and subsequent misfortunes. + +"All gone by the board, a regular crash, and nothing left to tell the +tale." + +"A clear, out and out failure." + +"And all come from signing for that rascally Sanderson." + +"I knew he was a slippery rogue." + +"Good enough for Graystone." + +"Served him right for being such a fool." + +These, and similar uncomplimentary epithets, indiscriminately applied by +the assembled ladies, proved what a choice morsel this was considered +that had so unexpectedly fallen to their share. + +"What will become of the family, I wonder?" queried Mrs. Crane. "It was +bad enough to lose the money, but now that Graystone's gone, I do not +see what them two helpless women are going to do?" + +"Live on their connections, most likely," snapped little Mrs. Brown, "of +course they won't _work_." + +"No, I do not believe that," was the reply. "They are too independent. +At present, I believe, they have taken rooms in an obscure part of the +city. I guess they do not know what to do themselves." + +"It must have been hard to part with everything that was dear to them by +association, for I hear that they gave up everything, even Clemence's +piano, to pay debts." + +There was a pitying tone in the speaker's voice. Alicia Linden, for all +her tragic accents, her deep-set eyes, with their beetling brows, and +her generally almost repulsive exterior, had more real heart than any of +the women present. Perhaps she remembered that time in the vanished +past, when she had stood by the coffin that contained the loved of her +youth, he who had made her girlhood one dream of happiness, but over +whose calm face the grass had greened and faded for many a weary year; +perhaps this remembrance touched a chord of her better nature. Life, +with its cares, and sorrows, and disappointments, had hardened her, till +she had almost lost faith in humanity. Moreover, she was a woman, +homely, and old and common, and with feminine malice and spite she could +not readily forgive another of her own sex for being beautiful, refined +and attractive. She said emphatically, that "it was well that, in this +world, pride could sometimes be humbled;" but for all that, the memory +of that day so long ago, passed alone in her desolation and sorrowful +widowhood, lent a pitying sadness to her voice that placed her +infinitely above these other soulless ones of her sex, with their cold +eyes and unsympathetic tones. + +Vixenish Mrs. Brown detected the weakness at once, and pounced upon it +with avidity. She was blessed with a good memory, and one or two well +remembered slights from the unconscious objects of her animadversions, +rankled bitterly, and she hungered for revenge. She exulted now without +stint, and took no pains to conceal it. The lady had a blooming +daughter, Melinda. If the mother's early life had been one of privation +and toil, the young lady in question had had, thus far, a totally +different experience. Mrs. Brown's educational advantages had been +limited to a knowledge of reading, writing and ciphering, with a +something of grammar. Miss Brown's childhood had passed under the +tutilage of accomplished masters. She could dance, execute a few showy +pieces upon the piano without a blunder, utter glibly French and Italian +phrases, and had, with the help of her teacher, finished, creditably, a +landscape, a gorgeous sunset, of amber and crimson, and purple-tinted +clouds, which hung in the most conspicuous position in her mother's +drawing-room. Melinda read novels, frequented theatres, and talked +slang, like the "girl of the period," and was the idol of her weak +mother, whom she ruled like a queen. Unfortunately, "my lady Graystone," +as she was called in the clique over which Mrs. Crane presided, had an +innate love for the pure and beautiful, and a thorough contempt for +vulgarity in every form. The gorgeous Melinda, therefore, was not a +person calculated to inspire a lady of her high-toned mind with any deep +feeling of regard or esteem. The elder woman, who, from her long +probation at service, before she was fortunate enough to secure William +Brown, the grocer's apprentice, had caught that cringing obsequiousness +that we so often see in those accustomed to serve, and could have borne +patiently, any slights or rebuffs that opposed her entrance into the +charmed circle which she had determined to invade at all hazards. Meek +and fawning, where she desired to gain favor, as she was insolent and +overbearing to her inferiors, she was willing to commence at the lowest +round of the social ladder, and creep up slowly to a position that +suited her ambition, in the same manner in which she had won her way to +wealth out of the depth of poverty. But, when the blooming daughter of +the retired grocer returned from boarding school, all things were +changed. "Melinda was a lady," "entitled to a proud position in society, +by virtue of her lady-like acquirements," and she demanded an instant +recognition of her claims by said society. The exclusive circle of which +the beautiful wife of Grosvenor Graystone had long been an acknowledged +leader, politely, but firmly repulsed the overtures of the ladies of the +Brown family, in such a way that they were not again repeated, and the +result, as we have seen, was their cordial dislike, and even more, a +vindictive hatred. + +"Hard to part with everything," hissed Mrs. Brown, "and you pity them, I +suppose, Alicia! You, who have been snubbed by them so repeatedly, that +you have come to expect nothing better at their hands! You, a daughter +of the people, so to speak;" (Mrs. Brown, since her signal defeat by the +Graystone clique, had been at no little pains to air her democratic +principles, much in the way we have seen some of our politicians do in +the present day.) However, she was not so good a sensational speaker as +Mrs. Crane, and like every one who attempts to imitate anything out of +their "line," or perform impossibilities, and probably owing, in part, +to her defective education, she became easily confused and bewildered in +an argument. She should have known, poor lady, that flights of +imagination ought not to be attempted by a practical little body like +herself, as the aforementioned retired grocer had more than once +informed her during some of their little conjugal scenes in which Mrs. +Brown's bony fingers and long nails generally played an active part. But +if the lady aimed at dramatic effect, she succeeded only too well, for +the little angular form, bristling with indignation, from the depths of +the great crimson velvet easy chair, the lurid eyes emitting greenish +lights, and the gaunt arm waved in the air, created a momentary +diversion. Mrs. Crane compressed her thin lips closely; Miss Cynthia +raised a filmy lace handkerchief and coughed slightly, and Alicia Linden +burst into a loud, masculine laugh. Mrs. Brown instantly subsided and +the conversation was skilfully turned into another channel. The +strong-minded widow was the only woman the diminutive lady really +feared. + + * * * * * + +Presently there was a little flutter, a rustling of silken robes, more +kissing and hand-shaking, and "good bye, loves," and the little party +dispersed. + + * * * * * + +"Widowed and fatherless; God pity them," came in a low voice from a +sad-faced woman, clad in the sable robes of mourning. It was that +"distant branch of the family," none other than Mrs. Crane's own widowed +sister, for whom the patriotic contractor had so generously provided +with a home, and one dollar fifty per week. Tears were falling upon the +work before her, but she brushed them away quietly as a shrill voice +beside her cried, + +"Blubbering again, Jane Phelps, and Lucinda's new pearl-colored silk, +that I paid five dollars a yard for, in your lap. You miserable, +ill-tempered, sulky thing; if you have soiled it, I'll make you starve +it out, and take it out of your wages, beside!" + +"You could not make me suffer more, whatever you might do, for I am the +most wretched, pitiable creature in existence," sobbed the woman. + +"Good enough for you," was the response; "'as you make your bed, so you +must lie.' I always knew, for all your pretty, pink and white face, and +meek ways, you'd come to grief. You could always fool everybody but me, +though mother's pet, must have the best of everything to show off her +good looks, and no matter what fell to my share. I was so homely and +unattractive it did not make any difference what I wore. But the tables +are turned now, eh, Jane! The old folks didn't know, when they thought +they'd made you for this world and the next, by putting you ahead of me, +and sounding your praises in the ear of that white-faced artist, that +he'd die and leave their darling with nothing but a lot of unsalable, +miserable pictures and a child to support! They didn't live to see it, +to be sure, but _I_ did, and, Jane, (coming closer and lowering her +voice to a tone of deep, intense passion,) I glory in my revenge. I'm +the rich Mrs. Crane, to-day, and you are old and poor, and faded, and I +don't mind telling you, now that this is an hour that I've longed to +see. You have always been preferred before me, and as I've had to take +up with the refuse, it was no more than natural, I suppose, (with a +sneering laugh,) that I should wait, and long, and hunger, for the love +that you took only as your right. So I waited, and to-day I triumph in +the thought that Deane Phelps' petted wife is a dependent upon _my_ +bounty, a menial in the house where _I_ reign supreme, and which knows +no law but _my_ will. I have forgotten how to love, but each day (and I +have conned the lesson well) I learn better how to _hate_." + +There was a rustling of stiff silk, a door slammed angrily, and the +slender figure left alone with her trouble, bowed itself like a reed +before the storm, and that wail of heart-broken humanity that has +resounded through long ages, and is yet only a faint echo of that night +so long ago, rose to the pallid lips, "my punishment is greater than I +can bear," nevertheless, "not as I will, but as Thou wilt." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +Alicia Linden walked slowly homeward, musing thoughtfully: "This is a +strange world," she soliloquized. "Let philosophers air their utopian +theories about its containing the elements of universal happiness. I +know that human nature, as it is now constituted, is too selfish and +mean to arrive at a state of absolute perfection. Truly, 'men are a +little breed.' 'But, in the future, when that which is whispered in +secret shall be proclaimed upon the housetops,' all our griefs and +wrongs shall be recompensed. Oh, weary women, syllabling brokenly His +precious promises, patient, untiring watcher, whose tired feet have +grown weary of the 'burden and heat of the day,' wait 'God's time!' +Listen to the words that have come down through the dim and forgotten +centuries--a message of 'peace and glad tidings.' 'In my Father's house +there are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you.' Teach us the +lesson of patience, oh Father above! 'Tis a wearisome struggle. This is +a sin-fallen world, and want and misery abound upon every hand. Is it +true, as another has declared--'Every sin is an edict of Divinity; every +pain is a precept of destiny; wisdom is as full in what man calls good +and evil, as God is full in infinitude?'" + +Well, God sees, and over all is the loving care of "our Father who art +in Heaven." + +And sometimes, when human sympathy is denied us--when the eyes, that +should only beam with pity and affection, turn coldly away, Nature, +bountiful mother, stretches out her arms lovingly, and wooes us to her +with an irresistible, but nameless charm. She cradles the tired head +upon her bosom, presses cool kisses upon weary, drooping eyelids, and +broods over the slumberer with loving vigils. Under her tender +ministrations our dreams are blessed visions of the "green pastures and +the still waters," and the "shining ones" waiting "beyond the river." + +The smiling Spring day faded slowly. Evening came on apace. Under the +moonlit sky a fair-browed girl kept loving vigil. It was sweet Clemence +Graystone. There was a troubled look in the calm eyes. Life's battle had +but just began. They were all alone now. Death had entered their little +circle and robbed them of their dear one. The loving husband and kind +father, who had toiled for them, working day after day, and often far +into the night, to surround his cherished darlings with the elegancies +to which they had been accustomed, had been suddenly taken away, and +"their house was left unto them desolate." They had not even time to +mourn, for, after they had buried their dead out of their sight, the man +of business came and told them in brief, unsympathetic tones that they +must leave the home that had so long sheltered them, for the wealth that +had purchased and made it beautiful, was their's no longer. They were +penniless. It was a cruel blow. Mrs. Graystone sank helplessly under +it, and the delicately reared daughter had all the burden thrown upon +her young shoulders. And nobly did she bear it. Clemence Graystone, with +her bright, radiant face, had seemed to her fond father like a sunbeam +gilding that stately home, and warming into living beauty what else +would have been only cold magnificence. To her mother, deprived of every +other earthly comfort, she became a ministering angel. She forgot her +own trials: she did not mourn that she had lost the privileges of +society to which their former wealth entitled them: and her beautiful +lips curled in contempt, as one by one, those who had once professed the +warmest friendship, passed her with a cool nod or haughty stare. +Clemence had learned now how to value these summer friends, who +scattered at the first breath of adversity, and she tried bravely to +keep back the tears that _would_ come at the sight of her loved home in +the possession of strangers. She had something else to do now, must be +something else beside a "dreamer of vain dreams," and must work to +procure food for them both. + +Yes, it had come to that. In America, where fortunes are made or lost in +a day, the millionaire may have his wealth suddenly swept from him, and +one of humble position as suddenly attain to affluence. An unlooked for +turn in the tide of affairs, a seeming caprice of the fickle goddess +Fortune, who saw fit to frown where she had always smiled, and Grosvenor +Graystone was a ruined man. The shock was too much for him, and he died +of grief and despair. It was nothing new, there are hundreds of such +cases every day. People commented, some pityingly, and others +exultingly, as we have seen. "Poor things!" was echoed dolefully, and +then each went his or her way, and the gentle lady and fair-browed girl +were left to their fate. It was this--to work if they could get it, if +not, beg or starve. Nobody was interested in their fate. Henceforth they +must be all in all to each other. Their slender stock of money soon +dwindled away. Clemence turned to the one alternative, work. She must +get employment, but where, or how? She had no one to turn to for advice. +Pride forbade her asking help of those who had known them in the days of +their prosperity, and who should have come forward at once with offers +of assistance. There was no one in the great, wide city to give her even +a word of encouragement. She must rely solely upon her own judgment. +What _could_ she do? She might go out as a governess. She ran over in +her mind her list of accomplishments. She had a good knowledge of music, +could draw and paint creditably, was able to converse fluently in +French, Spanish and Italian, besides possessing a thorough English +education. The girl thought, naturally enough, for one of her +inexperience, that she might earn enough for their support by teaching. +At least, she resolved to make the effort, for something must be done +immediately. Her beloved mother was in need of comforts that she could +not supply from their scanty purse. Clemence could not bear to see her +suffer thus, and, after pondering long and deeply upon the subject, she +resolved upon, what was for her, a very bold venture. + +Dressing herself modestly and tastefully, she started out in the warm +sunshine of a bright spring day, with the design of applying for the +position of governess at some of the elegant private residences which +graced the fine avenues of the great city where so many like herself +toiled and suffered. She walked slowly along, with a throbbing heart, +and tears that she could not repress filling her eyes; but she +remembered her mother waiting at home, and the thought nerved her. +Hastily opening the gate nearest at hand, she ran up the steps and rang +the bell without giving herself time for thought. A stolid looking +servant came to the door, who eyed her suspiciously, and did not seem +disposed to admit her. However, on her decided request to see the lady +of the house, she was shown a seat in the hall, and left to her +reflections. A moment after, there was the rustle of silken robes, the +sparkle of brilliant jewels, and a cold voice said ominously-- + +"You wished to speak with me, I believe." + +Clemence modestly stated her errand. + +"A governess? No, I do not wish to employ any such person," replied the +lady, standing and looking as if no more was to be said; and Clemence +could only give a little deprecating bow, and turn away. + +She determined, though, not to give up with one effort, for she had +expected rebuffs, and mustering her courage for another trial, and +hoping better success, she rang at the next bell. + +This time she was admitted at once, and announced "a lady to see you, +mum," to an elderly lady in black satin and gold spectacles, who was +surrounded by several blooming daughters and a young gentleman +stretched lazily upon the sofa. Clemence again made known her errand. + +"N-no," said the lady, hesitatingly, "I guess we don't want a +governess." + +"Yes we do, ma, for Julia," spoke up one of the young ladies, "the +Burleighs have got one, and I'm bound they shan't go ahead of us. If +they can afford one, we can. Besides, it sounds more aristocratic." + +"But your father will never allow it," replied mamma, anxiously, "he +said only this morning that we must retrench." + +"Retrench," responded the amiable daughter, scornfully, "don't preach +economy to me. You know you can wheedle him out of anything, if you want +to. Its only your stinginess. Besides, I want some assistance in my +music. You play, of course?" (turning abruptly to Clemence, who had been +an astonished listener to this dialogue,) "will you give me a specimen +of your style?" + +Clemence obeyed this request that, savored more of a command, at once, +and sat down tremblingly to the piano. Music with her was almost a +passion. Indeed, in the old happy days, she had been often told that her +voice and execution would win her both fame and wealth if she were to +make her appearance before the public. But the fond father had said "God +forbid! I could not lie quietly in my grave with my little home nestling +the property of strangers." Clemence had not touched the keys of a piano +since her own, a highly valued gift from the lost one, had been taken +from her. She felt nearly overcome by the memories that came crowding +upon her, but the cold eyes of strangers were upon her, and pride came +to her aid. She began the prelude to a song that required great artistic +skill and expression. Her listeners sat in silence, while her very soul +floated away on the waves of melody. When she had finished, there was +astonishment depicted on every face. + +"Good enough for the stage; might make a fortune with that pretty face," +came from the sofa where the representative of masculine humanity +reclined. + +"Harry, my son!" mildly remonstrated the mother. + +"Where were you last employed, Miss--what may I call your name?" + +Clemence supplied the missing cognomen, and replied truthfully, that +this was her first attempt to obtain such a position. + +"You have references, of course?" + +She looked aghast. Inexperienced Clemence! The thought had not, until +this moment, occurred to her. She hesitated. There were many who knew +her well as the only daughter of Grosvenor Graystone, who could not +remember the widow's daughter. There was no one whom she could think of +in her bewilderment to refer to as a friend, none of her former haughty +friends who would not think it an unpardonable liberty. + +A stranger, with no references. That settled the question at once. The +mother of young daughters could not be too careful in regard to the +character of the persons she employed around them. A knowledge of their +pedigree was an absolute necessity. The idea of an adventuress stealing +into the household, and perhaps laying snares to entrap the son and +heir, could not be thought of for a moment. + +Clemence found herself again upon the side-walk, with cheeks burning +with indignation, and eyes that glittered with excitement. She walked on +rapidly for the space of one or two blocks, and as her feelings became +calmer, resolved to make one final effort. She felt strong in the +conscious power of innocence and rectitude, feeling sure that, being in +the pathway of duty, she would ultimately succeed. + +Acting upon this resolution, she soon found herself seated in an +elegantly furnished apartment, where she had been shown by an obsequious +waiter. Having some time to wait, she fell into a reverie from which the +voice of a gentlemen aroused her by inquiring in a dignified manner in +what way he could serve her. + +Clemence again went through with her explanations, blushing and +stammering awkwardly enough, as the penetrating eyes fastened themselves +curiously and inquisitively upon her face. + +"Ah!" he speculated, when she had finished, "this is really interesting. +It is not often that I am blessed with a fair visitor in my bachelor +apartments. I do not need a governess, having, thank heaven, no such +useless appendage as a troop of noisy children, but I do stand in need +of some beautiful lady, like yourself, for a companion to cheer my +loneliness. I can promise you a permanent position, with 'all the +comforts of a home,' a salary of your own choosing, and 'no questions +asked,' as the newspapers say." + +"How dare you, sir?" said Clemence, in lofty scorn, as she moved towards +the door, which was opened for her amid profuse apologies, none of which +she deigned to notice. + +"And _this_ is trying to earn an honest living," murmured the girl, as +she found herself for the third time alone upon the pavement. "It sounds +very pretty and praiseworthy to read and talk about, but I have learned +to-day that it means insult and contempt from the coarse and vulgar, and +cold suspicion from those who, from their professions, should stretch +out a helping hand in the spirit of Christian love and charity." + +Oh! my poor, lost sisters, who have gone before, and whose feet have +stumbled and faltered in the thorny way! He who pitied the fallen woman +of old, will remember all your prayers and tears and remorseful agony. +And in that "last great day," they who have led your inexperienced +footsteps into the path that leads to the gulf of vice and misery, will +suffer the vengeance of an outraged God. + +This life is but a fleeting dream, of happiness to some, misery to +others, but there is a home beyond, and for the faithful, a "crown of +glory which fadeth not away." For we know that there is an inheritance +for those who persevere. + +Thoughts like these filled Clemence's mind as she walked towards home +disheartened. She had cause for trouble. She knew that their scanty +means must soon fail entirely, if employment was not obtained, and this +was the result of her first trial. She was tired, too, being +unaccustomed to exercise, and her feet ached from contact with the +rough pavement. An empty car passed her, but she had given her last cent +to a beggar a few hours before. She thought of the hundreds she had +lavished without a thought upon the different objects of charity, and +sighed at the contrast. Now she must deny herself for the privilege of +bestowing the smallest gift. But she remembered too, that story of the +widow's mite, which was accounted more than the rich man's profusion. +She took comfort in the thought that the same loving care was over her, +and whispered softly one of her favorite texts, "I will put my trust in +Him, and He will never leave nor forsake me." The pure, sweet face was +like that of a glorified saint. An old woman hobbling by, bent and gray +with age, crossed herself devoutly, and muttered a blessing on the fair +young head; and a man, old and hardened in crime, caught her words, and +remembering the love-lit eyes that had bent over him in childhood, +breathed out the remorseful prayer, "God pity me, a ruined soul!" + +"You are late, darling," said a low voice anxiously, as Clemence ran up +to the room in a fourth-rate lodging house, which was now their only +home. + +"Yes, mamma," said the girl, fondly, assuming a cheerfulness which she +did not feel, "the day was such a pleasant one, I walked on farther than +I had at first intended. You must try and get strong enough to enjoy +this beautiful spring weather with me. But you are tired, and must not +be kept longer waiting for tea, and to accomplish that weighty object, +we must first consult our good friend Mrs. Mann, her services being +absolutely indispensable." + +"And here she is for once, when she is wanted," said that good lady in +hearty tones. "I am glad you are home again, for your mother was getting +anxious about you, and making herself sick with fretting. Dear! dear! +Miss Clemence, this is a world of changes! It makes my heart ache to see +you now, having to bother your pretty head with ways and means, when you +are fit to live like a princess in a fairy tale." + +"Well, perhaps I may some day. Who knows, Mrs. Mann, what may happen? +The prince that is always appearing to disconsolate damsels, just at the +right moment, to rescue them from a cruel fate, may chance along in this +direction, and then we will all be happy together. Willie shall have +that bran new suit that he has been talking about so long, to wear to +Sunday School, and Fanny a wonderful picture book, and the baby lots of +goodies, and we will live together, and you shall be housekeeper, and +allow no one but yourself to make mamma's tea." + +"Hear the dear, generous creature," said Mrs. Mann, standing in +breathless admiration. "If she had her way, everybody would be happy as +the day is long. That girl has a work to do, Mrs. Graystone, or the Lord +would never have implanted such a strong, brave, noble spirit in such a +frail, delicate body." + +"Oh, Mrs. Mann," said the widow, "what should I do without her? My only +one, my brave, beautiful Clemence! She is my all of earth, the one being +who makes me cling to life and desire it. God has been good to me in my +affliction, and sent me a blessed comforter." + +"I never met but one girl who could at all compare with our Clemence," +said Mrs. Mann. "I will tell you about her, so that you may see that +others, too, have been through the 'deep waters.' Lilias May was a +genuine heroine. Her father was a clergyman of limited means, with a +large family of children to support. Lilias was the oldest, and had been +educated liberally, the more useful branches not being overlooked, while +the accomplishments received their due share of attention. She was +possessed of rare personal beauty, and was the cherished idol of her +parents. When she reached the age of nineteen, her father was suddenly +taken away, leaving a helpless family. Overwhelmed by grief and despair, +Mrs. May was utterly incapable of exertion. It was then that the noble +qualities of Lilias came to be known and appreciated. She took upon +herself the management of the entire household, and investigated the +affairs of her deceased parent. Finding that there was absolutely +nothing left for their maintenance she looked around for some means of +obtaining a livelihood. Mr. May had been the only son of a wealthy but +irascible old gentleman, who never forgave him for marrying the poor +girl whom he loved, in preference to the heiress chosen for him by his +family. He took revenge by leaving his immense wealth to his daughter. +Leonora May, an imperious beauty, was totally unlike her brother, and +inherited the strong will and haughty pride of her father. She could +never overlook the fault of her handsome, talented brother, of whom she +had been extremely proud, burying himself in a country village. After +her own brilliant marriage, all communication ceased between them. Upon +his death, however, she came forward with offensive condescension, +offering to adopt Lilias into her family, and, as she was childless, +make her the heiress of her vast wealth. To many this would have been a +temptation too great to be resisted; and, to say the least, it was a +pleasant picture which was held up alluringly before the young girl. But +she scorned the proposal. She refused to be raised to a position to +which those she loved could not attain, for her aunt had expressly +stipulated that, having once accepted her protection, her family should +be nothing more to her. Having thus declined the tempting offer, Lilias +began her search for work, in which she was successful beyond her hopes. +A former friend of her father's, wishing a teacher for his daughters, +engaged her services at once. He also assisted her brother, a youth of +seventeen, to secure a place in the counting-room of a friend; and took +another, still younger, into his own office. So that Lilias had the +satisfaction of knowing they were all provided for; the church, over +which her father had presided, having, meanwhile, presented the widow of +their esteemed pastor with the house in which they lived, and a generous +sum of money." + +"And is that all, Mrs. Mann?" asked Clemence, in disappointed tones, as +the good woman paused in her narration; "have you nothing further to +tell us about this wonderful Lilias May?" + +"Oh," she laughed, patting the girl's cheek caressingly, "I see what you +are after, and I will tell you the rest. The best part of the story is +yet to come. Lilias May's beauty of person and character made such an +impression upon the family who employed her, that they prevailed upon +her to remain with them always, for she married the gentleman's oldest +son. It seemed too, that her Aunt Leonora only admired her the more for +her courageous spirit, and when she died soon after, left Lilias all of +her money, to do just as she pleased with." + +"But here is the tea steeped until it is nearly spoiled, and I am afraid +Mrs. Graystone is tired of waiting," said Mrs. Mann, hurrying out of the +room, "on hospitable thought intent." + +Soon the little, plain, unpretending room took on that air of home +comfort that is seldom seen in statelier dwellings. + +After all, happiness is comparative, and the poor man in his cottage, +with good health and a clear conscience, has as good a chance for +arriving at the goal which restless mortals ever strive to attain, as +the rich man who cannot be one moment free from the cares that wealth is +always sure to bring with it. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Clemence Graystone's first attempt at obtaining employment had not been +sufficiently encouraging to cause her to entertain any very sanguine +hopes in regard to a renewal of her exertions. But that stern necessity +"which knows no law," compelled her to make another trial after she had +somewhat recovered from the effects of her first disappointment. + +Clemence had already began to learn some of the bitter lessons of +poverty. She no longer viewed life through the rose-colored medium that +she had been wont to do in her former, care-free days. There were +thought lines gathering on the broad, white brow, and the dark eyes, +that had once the joyous look of a happy child, told of one who had +already tasted the bitterness of life, from which a favored few in this +world only are exempt. + +How true it is, as another has written, "none of our lives are dated by +years; the wear and tear of heart and brain, to say nothing of the body, +constitute age." + +Clemence felt as if years instead of months had passed over her head +since their bereavement. The blow had fallen unexpectedly, and the +result was Clemence was no longer a happy child, but a sorrowing woman. +She tried to be patient, for there was another who, like Rachael of +old, mourned, and would not be comforted. Clemence felt that her own +grief was light compared to the sorrowing one, whose weary feet were +even then nearing the end of life's journey, nearing the brink of that +river, whose solemn music came to her eager ear like a benediction. The +dim eyes had a strained, wistful gaze, as if longing to behold the +radiant glories of that "land of pure delight." + +The girl felt, sometimes, as she looked at the drooping, attenuated +figure, each day growing more ethereal, that her burden was greater than +she could bear. An awful fear haunted her, that she would not give a +name, and often, when she had thought of the future till she grew sick +with fear, she had felt that work would be a positive relief to her +troubled mind. + +It was during one of these despondent moods, that she determined, in +spite of a former resolution to the contrary, to make another effort to +obtain employment as governess. + +Looking carefully over the column of wants in a daily paper, she found +several advertisements, such as she was in search of. She copied the +address of each one of them, and this accomplished, took from its +receptacle the diploma awarded her at the celebrated Institute from +which she had graduated with high honors, and which was sufficient proof +of her education and accomplishments. Notwithstanding her previous +disappointments, she felt hopeful of success. + +The first place on her list took her to a stylish residence on a +fashionable avenue. It reminded her of the luxurious home of which she +was once the petted darling, and the contrast with her present humble +position was humiliating in the extreme. She stood for some moments upon +the steps, waiting to gather courage to enter. + +It was in a maze of bewilderment that she found herself a few moments +after, seated in a splendid drawing-room, awaiting the appearance of the +mistress of the mansion. + +Presently there was the sound of voices, low and musical, and a lady +entered, followed by a gentleman. She was grandly beautiful, and +Clemence thought one of the haughtiest women she had ever met. She rose, +and introduced herself, stating her errand, as Miss Graystone, the +person desiring the position of governess, referring to the +advertisement. + +The beautiful eyes fastened themselves inquiringly upon her face. + +"There had already been a number of applicants, none of whom had given +satisfaction." + +There was a moment's silence, during which Clemence felt that two pairs +of eyes were studying her countenance closely, then a series of +questions: + +"What were her accomplishments?" + +"Where had she received her education?" + +Clemence felt like replying that she had received a good many lessons +since she had been pronounced finished by Madame Latour--lessons in +human nature, that all who have the misfortune to be poor and ambitious, +must learn, sooner or later. + +"Could she dance, draw, paint, give instruction in vocal and +instrumental music?" + +To all of these, Clemence replied in the affirmative, and, as before, in +obedience to a request in the imperative mode, to favor them with a +specimen of her musical ability, went forward and took a seat at the +piano. + +She could not help looking her surprise, when the gentleman rose +politely to turn her music. She had not been accustomed to such little +attentions of late, though, in the past, she would have expected them, +and treated them as a matter of course. She noticed the gentleman was +handsome and distinguished-looking, with kind, grave eyes, and a smile +that illumined his intellectual face like a gleam of sunshine. His age +might have been thirty, possibly thirty-five. + +Clemence's performance seemed to give satisfaction, although she did not +play as well as usual. After a few more questions, the lady asked the +gentleman if she had not better engage the services of this young person +at once. + +"By all means," he said with emphasis; "I have no doubt that the young +lady will give perfect satisfaction." + +Clemence again felt grateful for his kindness. She had learned to +appreciate and value a word of sympathy or encouragement. Poor child! +she received few enough of them now. + +"Very well, you can come to-morrow. The children have been for some time +without a teacher, and I wish them to commence upon a course as soon as +possible." + +Then, after a few remarks, and the mention of a salary, which seemed +princely to Clemence, she was shown to the door by a liveried servant, +and found herself walking homeward anxious to communicate this joyful +intelligence to her mother. + +"I declare, it's a burning shame," said the motherly landlady, on being +told of her success--"a real lady like you; it's dreadful to think of." + +"Why, Mrs. Mann," said Clemence, in dismay, "I thought you would be +pleased. Only six hours of work each day, and I can have so much time to +spend with mamma. I consider myself a wonderfully fortunate girl. The +salary, too, is so liberal, that I can afford now to get the comforts +that our dear invalid is pining for." + +"Well, I don't want to discourage you, dear," said Mrs. Mann. "You are a +good girl, Clemence Graystone. The Lord's on your side, and He'll take +care of you, if you trust Him, as He has watched over all the ups and +downs of my life, till I'm an old woman. It's the poor, and friendless, +and desolate that He pities and loves, and He will protect you, my +darling, wherever you may be, if you only trust to His guidance." + +"I believe that, Mrs. Mann," said Clemence, "and it's the one thought +that keeps me from repining at my hard lot. I believe, too, that 'the +Lord helps those who help themselves,' and I don't mean to sit down in +idleness." + +"Heaven grant you prosperity," said the good woman. "Now go and comfort +the mother, for she needs it sadly." + +Work proved, as Clemence had anticipated, a real blessing. Some of the +happiest hours she had known, since her deep affliction, were passed in +the school-room with her young charges. She felt now as if she was of +some use in the world, and when, after the lessons were finished, she +went home to the fond mother, who awaited her coming, she realized, with +thankfulness, that, through her exertions, want had been kept from the +door, and the uncomplaining invalid supplied with the comforts, and even +luxuries, to which she had been accustomed. + +Sometimes a pleasant face looked in upon them, and "Uncle Will" was +hailed with delight by Alice and Gracie Vaughn. At first, Clemence was +cool and distant, but the cordial kindness of his manner won upon her, +and she soon grew to value the friendship thus strangely formed. The +kind word and beaming smile were very grateful to the weary girl. Ah, +how little do the favored ones of this world know of the influence of +one little act of kindness, or one pleasant word, ever so carelessly +spoken. Many a poor, weak mortal has been kept from wrong-doing by a +word fitly spoken, and others have gone down and been lost forever, from +yielding to the thought that none cared for them, either for their weal +or woe. There is not a day, nor an hour, but that somewhere throughout +the length and breadth of the land, large sums of money are expended for +charitable objects, and yet there are those who, for the want of a +friendly hand to aid them to follow the right way, have crept away, and +rid themselves of a life that had become insupportable. Persons of +sensitive feelings, wounded by the indifference of those, who, from +their professions, they should, expect only sympathy and forbearance, +have suffered and died, and "gave no sign." This is a world of misery, +and the few who know nothing of its trials, should thank God that they +have been kept from an experimental knowledge of what life really is to +thousands of their fellow-creatures, who, like themselves, are +accountable beings, and with the same capacity for enjoyment or +suffering. Indeed, none of us are always happy. We all have our hours of +trial, when even the strongest-hearted will falter, and the dreamless +slumber of the grave seem so sweet to our world-weary spirits. When it +seems so hard to say, "Thy will be done," perhaps Death enters and robs +us of some earthly idol. We see the dear one droop and die. It may be +some dear, innocent babe God has transplanted. We watch its tiny life go +out; see the sweet mouth quiver with the dying struggle, the strained, +eager gaze mutely asking relief that we cannot give. We try to think it +is well, but in place of submission, there are rebellious thoughts. Yes, +we have all striven and suffered, groping, mayhap, in the darkness of +unbelief. God, give us strength to resist and conquer! But, + + "Never so closely does pain fold its wings, + But the white robe of sympathy's near it, + And each tear that the dark hand of misery wrings, + Brings the touch of a blessing to cheer it." + +"Courage! weary-hearted one;" God knows what is the best for us in this +life, and has promised a glorious reward for those who are faithful, in +that life which is to come. + +Mrs. Vaughn, the lady who had engaged Clemence's services, was a widow +in affluent circumstances. She spent but little time with her children, +leaving them to the care of the nurse and governess. She rarely entered +the school-room, and even when she did honor Clemence with her presence, +paused long enough to give her more than a glance of her proud, +beautiful face. She expressed supreme satisfaction with Clemence's mode +of instruction, and the children worshipped their young teacher. + +With all her care and responsibility, had it not been for her anxiety in +her mother's behalf, this long, golden summer would have been one long +to be remembered for its simple pleasures and calm enjoyments. The days +passed quickly. + +"Can it be possible," said Clemence to herself one day, as she took her +hat and shawl, and put them on absently, "that I have been in Mrs. +Vaughn's employment three months?" She looked at the crisp bank notes +that lay in her hand, in payment of her first quarter's salary. "I +consider myself a young lady of some importance, or, perhaps, I should +say 'young woman,' now that I am a working member of society." She +laughed aloud at her own thoughts. "Well, I am proud of the privilege," +she mused, "and can take pleasure in the thought that I am an +'independent unity,' I never felt so strong-minded in my life." + +A tawdry, ill-kempt female figure was shuffling slowly by the stately +Vaughn mansion, as Clemence tripped down the steps, and two envious +black eyes noted the happy smile upon her face. + +"How d'ye do, Miss Graystone," said a harsh voice. "Ain't too big to +speak to a body, are you, cause you happen to be among 'ristocrats?" + +Clemence turned and immediately recognized Mrs. Bailey, an elderly +woman, who lodged beneath the same humble roof to which her own +straitened circumstances had consigned her with her parent. + +"Good afternoon, Mrs. Bailey," she said politely, "I did not observe you +before." + +"He! he!" giggled the old lady spitefully, "my eyes are sharp, if I am +old. May be, now, if I was a fine gentleman, like the one with yonder +lady, I would not be so easily overlooked?" + +She stretched out her long arm, and looking in the direction in which +she pointed, Clemence beheld, to her horror and dismay, Mrs. Vaughn, and +beside her the gentleman who had been so kind to her, and had seemed to +take such a friendly interest in her success with her little pupils. +They had not yet been observed, and there was still time for the +mortified girl to make her escape unseen. The first impulse of her mind +was to excuse herself to her eccentric companion, and turn quickly a +convenient corner. + +"But," she thought, "I should hurt this good woman's feelings, and lose +my own self-respect by such a course. Clemence Graystone, what are these +people to you, that you should do a cowardly act for fear of them." + +She raised her head proudly, and gave, perhaps, a more than usually +distant bend of the head to the gentleman's respectful bow. The lady +gave her only a stare of astonishment, and they had scarcely passed, +when she heard these words distinctly: + +"How shocking! _Did_ you see that horrid creature with Miss Graystone? +It must be her mother. I declare, if I had have known she had such low +relations, I never would have engaged her." + +"Gracia, hush! I entreat you, Miss Graystone will overhear you." + +If Clemence's face crimsoned at the words, the one beside her became +absolutely livid with rage. Mrs. Bailey had once been a beauty, and the +black eyes that now glowed with baleful fire, had, in years gone by, +glanced languishingly upon scores of admiring swains. But there was now +nothing left of fortune, fair looks, or friends, but a bitter memory +that rankled in the woman's heart. Realizing that her own youth had +flown, she hated all that was young, and lovely, and pure, as a reproach +to her mis-spent life. She was a keen observer of people, too, in her +strange way, and had read upon the ingenuous face before her, the +momentary temptation to shun her unwelcome society. + +The delicacy of Clemence's manner, instead of arousing her gratitude, +had the effect which it sometimes has upon people who realize their own +inferiority, and she resolved to wound her where she guessed a young +girl's feelings were peculiarly sensitive. + +Ignoring the remarks which she had heard Mrs. Vaughn making upon her own +appearance, she turned and gazed over her shoulder, as the pair ascended +the steps and entered the door, through which Clemence had but just +passed. + +"Why, they're goin' into the same house you came out of, Miss Graystone! +Who be they, now?" + +Clemence informed her that the lady was Mrs. Vaughn, to whose children +she gave instruction, and the gentleman was Mr. Wilfred Vaughn, the +step-brother of her late husband. + +"No, is it?" said Mrs. Bailey; "ain't he a handsome man?" studying the +girl's face closely. + +Clemence agreed with her in thinking Mr. Vaughn a handsome and +distinguished looking gentleman. + +"Is he married?" was the next question. + +Clemence replied in the negative. + +"Be you much acquainted with him?" queried her tormentor. + +"But very little," was the laconic reply. + +"Well, let me give you a little advice, young lady," said Mrs. Bailey, +after a disagreeable silence of some minutes. "I have seen more of the +world than you have, and think it is my duty to warn you of your danger. +Don't have too much to say to this fine gentleman. Nothing is so +becoming to a young woman as modesty." (It was truly wonderful how Mrs. +Bailey had come to learn in her old age, that of which she had seemed +deplorably ignorant in her youth, and valued modesty the more as she had +less occasion to call it into requisition.) "Men of his wealth and +social position never want any good of poor girls like you; that is why +I wish to warn you, for I think you are a good, deserving sort of a +person, that means well, and if you profit by my instructions, you will +avoid a lifetime of misery. Don't let any foolish idea of securing a +rich husband, enter your head. Submit patiently to the poverty that must +always be your portion. Be industrious, sober and discreet, and I dare +say, you may find some honest young man, bye-and-bye, who will want such +a wife to help him turn an honest penny, and lay up something for a +rainy day. Not that I think there is the least danger, unless you are +forward enough to put yourself in this gentleman's way, because men +think so much of beauty, that plain girls like you are most always apt +to be overlooked, but my conscience would reprove me if I did not warn +you. Remember my advice! Listen to no flatteries; permit no nonsense to +be poured into your ears, and shun, as you would contagion, the +deceitful wiles of man." + +She waved her hand majestically to Clemence, and disappeared up the dark +staircase, for they had, by this time, reached home. + +Hardly knowing whether to laugh or cry, the young girl went in search of +her mother and kind Mrs. Mann, to confide her troubles, feeling sure of +their cordial sympathy. + +It is just possible that there was the least perceptible haughtiness in +the calm "good morning," with which Clemence next met Mr. Vaughn. In +spite of the remembrance of his many cordial kindnesses, the malicious +insinuations of Mrs. Bailey had produced an impression on her mind, +which she could not disregard. + +"It is too true, she thought, bitterly. Alas! for the unprotected and +helpless of my sex, men of wealth and position rarely offer an honorable +suit to women of a lower standing in society. I will have as little as +possible to say to this fine gentleman." + + * * * * * + +But that was more easily said than done. It seemed almost impossible to +avoid him. And it happened on one occasion that the languid lady of the +mansion, (who should have been the one most interested in the progress +of Clemence's little pupils, but who really seemed, at times, to have +even forgotten their existence,) entered the school-room somewhat +unexpectedly, and saw what aroused a new train of thought in her mind, +and made her resolve quietly to keep a close watch upon Miss Graystone's +movements in future, if not dispense with her services altogether. The +lessons were ended, the books put away for the day, and the two girls +were looking with bright, eager eyes into the kind face of Mr. Wilfred +Vaughn, who was relating a marvellous story of such absorbing interest, +that the elder of the children, a dark-eyed girl, who inherited somewhat +of her mother's beauty and wilfulness, had insisted that her pet teacher +should stay and hear. There was a moment of embarrassed silence, as Mrs. +Vaughn appeared in the doorway, but the gentleman rose to offer her a +chair, without appearing to notice the astonishment depicted in her +countenance, or the half repressed sneer in the careless-- + + * * * * * + +"What! _you_ here, Will? Rather a new occupation, is it not? You were +not so fond of visiting the school-room when poor Miss Smith was its +presiding genius. I am glad to find that Miss Graystone meets with your +approval." + +"The children certainly are doing well," he responded, "Alice +especially; but, I am afraid Miss Graystone is applying herself too +closely to the work of improvement. You must see to it, Gracia, for you +could illy afford to lose so valuable a prize." + +Clemence's face crimsoned at this personality, and an angry gleam shot +from his sister-in-law's eyes, that amused the gentleman not a little. +He understood her thoroughly, or thought he did, and knew the look boded +no good for Clemence. But he was hardly prepared for the shock, when a +day or two after, little Alice came to him with her face bathed in +tears, and throwing herself into his arms, exclaimed, amid her sobs-- + +"Oh, uncle, Miss Graystone has gone away, and is not coming back any +more, for mamma says so! She called her an artful piece, and said she +was trying to captivate you with her pretty face. What is captivate, +uncle? Is it anything so very dreadful? I know it ain't to be cross and +push me away, as mamma does, for Miss Graystone never did that, but only +loved me, and told me nice stories. I don't believe she tries to +captivate half so much as mamma does herself." + +There were more tears and lamentations, and from amidst the disjointed +medley, Wilfred Vaughn learned that a great wrong had been done a +beautiful and innocent girl, and he had been the unconscious cause. He +sat buried in thought long after the twilight shadows had gathered and +deepened around him. The artless questions of Alice had startled him +into a knowledge of his own true position, and he knew now that he loved +this sweet-faced young girl who was yet almost a stranger to him. He +knew but little of her former life or antecedents, yet he would have +staked worlds on her truth and honor. He had not before dreamed of the +possibility, but now the conviction fastened upon him that this was his +fate. He knew in that hour of self-communion that the love of Clemence +Graystone was necessary to his happiness, and he made one firm resolve +to win her for his own. + +"Alice tells me that you have dismissed Miss Graystone?" he said +inquiringly to his sister-in-law, a few days after. "I was surprised to +hear it. I thought you well pleased with her." + +"You will be still more surprised," replied the lady, "when I tell you +the cause of her dismissal. I have been imposed upon by the girl too +long already, but nobody would have dreamed, from her meek ways, that +she was anything but perfection. I did not intend to trouble you with +the affair, which is the reason of my not asking your advice before +acting so much against my own inclination. I would not have believed +anything of Miss Graystone from a third party, for I know she is an +orphan and friendless, and I do try and be charitable towards all poor +and worthy persons. And then too, Will, you know how I have been +bothered about a teacher, and she suited the place so well, I think it +was positively ungrateful in her to act as she did." + +This last remark was uttered with a pretty affectation of impatience, +and a pout of the rich, red lips, and Wilfred Vaughn, listening, forgot +for the moment his interest in the young teacher, so lost was he in +admiration of the beautiful face before him. + +"But, what did you =find= out?" he said, again returning to the subject. + +"Read this, and you will see that she has condemned herself," she +answered, handing him a letter, "and thank me for preserving you from +the snare that was laid from your unwary footsteps." + +It was written in a delicate lady's hand, and ran as follows: + + "DEAR KARL:--I have only a moment in which to reply to your letter + of the 3d, but will write you more at length at some further date. + I am teaching in the family of a wealthy lady, until fate throws + something more agreeable in my way. This is all that keeps me from + despair. + + "My _own_! what would I not give to see you? Oh, this fearful curse + of poverty! I must find some means of escape from my difficulties, + or go _mad_. I cannot live without you. I have planned a thousand + impossible schemes, which I have been obliged to abandon as + unavailing. + + "Meanwhile, I am not idle. There is a rich bachelor, who resides in + the house where I am employed. I have made some progress towards an + acquaintance, and am beginning to entertain the hope that I have + made an impression. Money is all that stands in the way of our + happiness. I would dare anything to possess it. If I could once + establish a claim to a portion of his vast wealth, do you not see + that there are other lands where we might enjoy it together, and + our life be one long dream of happiness? + + "Write to me, for I am unhappy. + + "Your loving CLEMENCE." + +"Where did you get this?" he asked, briefly, after having completed its +perusal. + +"I found it where it had been carelessly dropped on the floor of the +school-room," was the response. + +"Was she aware of the occasion of her abrupt dismissal?" was the next +question. + +"No," sighed the lady. "I could not bring myself to hurt her feelings, +deeply as I felt I had been wronged, so I left word for her that I +intended to make some change in the girls' studies, and thought of +placing them under the care of masters. It is extremely fortunate that I +discovered her real character in time, is it not, Will?" + +"Yes, extremely fortunate," he echoed absently, with a look of pain in +his face that did not escape the eager eyes that scanned it searchingly. + +"That was a clever little plot of mine," she soliloquized, an hour +later. "I did not dream the foolish fellow was so interested. How came I +to be so careless? That is the last governess who will ever enter these +doors. I will send the children away, for I hate to be bothered with +them, and it would be a great relief to have them out of my sight. I +will make speedy arrangements to that effect. Of course nothing further +will be heard of this girl. Men are proverbially inconstant, and Wilfred +will soon forget all about this Miss Graystone. It was but a passing +fancy, and I have taken the wisest course to get rid of her. I dare say +she will get along well enough, and marry somebody in her own sphere in +life. She _was_ pretty and dignified with that reserved manner, and the +clear eyes under the broad, full brow. But she had horridly low +relations, and as I know, from sad experience, self-preservation is the +first instinct of humanity. Gracia Vaughn, you must not forget the old +days of poverty, and toil, and vexation over the piano in Madame Fay's +back parlor, where you were an under-paid music teacher! Be careful +that an unwary step does not precipitate you again into the depths from +which Cecil Vaughn rescued you! That would be misery, indeed, after +these long years of luxurious idleness. It shall never be." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +It was the twilight of a dismal November day. The wind shrieked and +moaned drearily, and what had been a cold, penetrating rain, had, as the +darkness set in, frozen as it fell, and added to the general +cheerlessness. The streets were nearly deserted, and the few +pedestrians, whom business compelled to be abroad, hurried on swiftly to +their respective places of destination. + +At the window of a dingy looking brick building, which bore on its +time-worn exterior its true character of that resort for friendless +poverty, "a cheap lodging house," sat Clemence Graystone, gazing +abstractedly into the gathering gloom of the night. The fair, patient +face was clouded with care, and somewhat of the darkness of the world +without, seemed to have settled upon her spirits. + + "I hear the howl of the wind that brings + The long, drear storm on its heavy wings," + +she said, at length, rising and gliding to the side of the couch upon +which a slight figure reclined, asked fondly, + +"Mamma, what shall I read to you this evening? I feel strangely +depressed." + +The gentle lady drew the sweet face down to her pillow, and smoothed the +bright hair with loving tenderness. + +"My precious daughter," she whispered, "I know all the care and anxiety +that weighs down your young life. I can read it in your clear, truthful +eyes, that never yet showed the shadow of falsehood. God only knows, for +there is none other to hear or comfort me, my days and nights of anxious +solicitude for your welfare. What will become of you, when I am gone, my +darling? 'My soul faints within me.' I am truly 'of little faith.' Read +to me, dear, from the book beside me, and it will surely comfort me in +my desolation." + +It was the sacred volume, that has so often solaced the grief and +despair of the weary and heavy-laden, and the tremulous voice repeated +the inspired words, with that pathos that can only come from those who +have suffered. A heavenly calm settled over the pale face of the +invalid. + +"My child, be not weary of well-doing," she murmured, softly indeed. +"'Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.' I was +thinking, as I lay here alone to-day, beset by doubts and fears, of a +passage in Baxter's 'Saints' Everlasting Rest.' The eloquent pastor of +Kidderminster, living in the midst of bodily pain and persecution, had +the true faith which is hardly attained in the midst of worldly +prosperity. It strengthens me to listen to his pious instructions. Can +you give me the words, dear?" + +Clemence sought the book, and read this passage which her mother had +indicated: + +"Why dost thou look so sadly on those withered limbs, or on that pining +body? Do not so far mistake thyself as to think its joys and thine are +all one; or that its prosperity and thine are all one; or that they must +needs stand or fall together. When it is rotting and consuming in the +grave, then shalt thou be a companion of the perfected spirits of the +just; and when those bones are scattered about the churchyard, then +shalt thou be praising God in rest. And, in the mean time, hast not thou +food of consolation which the flesh knoweth not of, and a joy which this +stranger meddleth not with? And do not think that, when thou art turned +out of this body, thou shalt have no habitation. Art thou afraid thou +shalt wander destitute of a resting place? Is it better resting in flesh +than in God? Dost thou think that those souls which are now with Christ, +do so much pity their rotten or dusty corpse, or lament that their +ancient habitation is ruined, and their once comely bodies turned into +earth? Oh, what a thing is strangeness and dis-acquaintance. It maketh +us afraid of our dearest friends, and to draw back from the place of our +only happiness!" + +"Oh, there is comfort in words like that," said the widow, clasping her +thin hands. "When I think of the great souls who have lived and +suffered, it seems selfish and wicked to murmur at my afflictions. I +will try to be patient unto the end. Go to your rest, my love, and may +God's holy angels guard your slumbers!" + +They were all in all to each other, this gentle invalid and her only +child. There is nothing that draws refined natures nearer to each other +in this world, than mutual suffering. And day after day the girl +struggled on with her burden, while the elder woman could only pray that +she might have strength given her from on high. There are other cases +like this on earth. The mother and daughter are but the type of a class +of earnest-hearted ones of whom few dream the worth. As another has +written, "there are many of these virtues in low places; some day they +will be on high. This life has a morrow." + + * * * * * + +There was a long, cold winter approaching. Clemence's mind was occupied +with the one question that is the burden of the poor in our +cities--"What shall we do in order to live through the inclement season, +which is so nearly at hand?" She could get no work of the kind for which +she was most fitted. She had in the old days, a feminine love for +needlework, and she thought, "Why not turn this to account? I might +manage to eke out a subsistence in that way." + + * * * * * + +She had gained one true friend in her adversity. Alicia Linden had +sought her out and managed to befriend her in various ways. She resolved +to consult her immediately. + +"A good idea," said that energetic lady. "I will try and help you to +obtain employment." + +This she did, keeping the name of the young girl from the circle of +ladies, whose patronage she solicited. It requires influence, even in +the humblest calling, to obtain plenty of work at good prices. Clemence +did not dream how much she was indebted to the kindness of the +masculine widow for the generous sums that came for her finely wrought +articles. + +"You owe me no thanks, dear," Mrs. Linden would say, and, thinking +remorsefully of that little feminine gossip at the Crane mansion, would +redouble her efforts in the young girl's behalf. Mrs. Linden had a fear +which amounted to presentiment, that the aforementioned clique, of which +Mrs. Crane was the acknowledged leader, would learn, by some means, of +her new interest in Clemence Graystone. So great was her dread of such a +discovery, that she carefully avoided the society of those ladies, and +did not once venture into the neighborhood of her friends. How her +cherished secret became known to them she never knew, but, that it _had_ +become known she soon learned, to her chagrin and utter discomfiture. + +Clemence was seated, one clear, cold December day, in their little +parlor, busily at work upon a fancy article that one of her customers +had ordered for the approaching holiday season. She felt unusually +light-hearted. Mrs. Graystone had rallied from her illness sufficiently +to walk about the house, and was now visiting Mrs. Mann in her +apartments, that worthy lady having beguiled her into an afternoon's +visit, to give Clemence a better chance to finish her work. + +Suddenly the cheerful little room was invaded by two ladies in sables +and velvet--none other than our old friends, Mesdames Brown and Crane. + +Clemence recognized them at once. A pink flush settled upon her pale +face, but she rose with gentle dignity upon their entrance. + +Eager for her triumph, however, Mrs. Crane did not give her time to +utter a word. "Well, I have found you at last," she exclaimed, panting +and out of breath. "I declare, young woman, if I'd have known what a +search I should have, I would not have ventured into this out of the way +place. Your's a seamstress, ain't you?" + +"I am in the habit of taking in work of this description," said +Clemence, holding, for her inspection, the article she had been engaged +in completing at the moment she was interrupted. + +"Yes, pretty well done. Just look at it closer, Mrs. Brown." + +That lady now came forward and examined the work in a would-be critical +manner. + +"Seems to me the stitches don't look as if they'd hold," she said, +ill-naturedly. "I discharged my last seamstress because she did not make +her work serviceable. I give good prices; I ain't one of them kind of +ladies what wants something for nothing. I never believe in oppressin' +the poor. I have plenty of means, (that was true, for the retired grocer +was as liberal as a prince.) If a person suits me, and keeps their +place, they will have my patronage; if not, I pay them off and show them +the door. My Melindy wants a new silk for a Christmas party, and as I am +very particularly interested in her doing herself credit on the +occasion, I want it made under my own supervision. You see, Mrs. Crane, +it is to be a very exclusive affair, for I heard that the Vaughns have +accepted invitations, and you know they belong to the very _creme de la +creme_. Wilfred Vaughn is a catch for any young lady. It won't be my +fault if Melindy isn't the belle of the evening, for I'm determined that +no expense shall be spared." + +The lady's dear friend vouchsafed her only a spiteful glance in return +for this proof of confidence. She was thinking of her own beauteous +Lucinda, and mentally declared that _her_ daughter should outshine +Melinda Brown on that momentous occasion, if the worthy contractor had +to go into bankruptcy the next day. + +"Now Miss," concluded Mrs. Brown, turning again to Clemence, "I want to +engage you to come to-morrow morning to work for me, and if you suit, I +may keep you for some time longer." + +There was a look of quiet amusement upon Clemence's face, as she replied +politely: + +"I should be happy to serve you, Madam, but my time is engaged until +after the holidays, and I never go out on account of an invalid parent, +whom I cannot leave." + +"Oh!" jerked Mrs. Brown, bridling with offended dignity. + +"Well, upon my word!" hissed Mrs. Crane, "such airs!" + +"I am very glad, I am sure," pursued the former, "to find you so well +employed. You were recommended to me as a very worthy person in +destitute circumstances, and I supposed that to one in your _lowly +position_, work would be a charity. Had you possessed sufficient +humility, and a proper appreciation of my efforts, I might have taken +you under my patronage. No matter what you might have been once, Miss, +you are in the depths of poverty now, and it would be a good idea not +to be too independent, for you may want a friend. Don't come to _me_, if +you do, for I have done with you. My conscience is clear. This lady will +bear witness to my benevolent intentions, and I acquit myself of all +blame. I have discharged a disagreeable duty." + +"Oh, the base ingratitude of this world!" wailed Mrs. Crane. "My dear +friend, is it not shocking?" + +"It defies description," she ejaculated. "Let us depart. Good bye, young +woman, and remember, 'Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty +spirit before a fall.'" + +"Just one minute too late!" cried Alicia Linden, sinking into a chair; +"I saw the precious pair just turn the corner. Don't cry, rosebud. I'll +pay them off yet. I can manage Mrs. Brown and the whole Crane clique. +They will be sorry for this insult." + +"Indeed, I know I am foolish, dear Mrs. Linden," said Clemence, upon +whose face smiles struggled with tears like an April day. "If this _is_ +poverty, it is at least honest poverty, of which I am not ashamed. I +will not allow them to disturb me. But, pray, not a word of this to +mamma." + +The short winter days passed, and March came with its cold, blustering +winds, and severe changes of weather. Mrs. Graystone failed visibly. She +could no longer conceal from the fond eyes that watched her, that her +days were numbered. + +Clemence's time was so completely taken up in nursing the invalid, that +she was obliged to abandon all other employment, and her income ceased +entirely. She knew not what to do. She was in debt to Mrs. Mann, without +the means of payment, and she knew that the kind woman could illy +sustain the burden. Mrs. Linden was her only friend, and she was a widow +of limited means. + +Pondering deeply upon the subject, a thought struck her, which she +resolved to act upon immediately. First, having installed Mrs. Mann as +nurse in her place, she hastily donned hat and shawl, and hurried out +into the street. It was a cold, raw, disagreeable day. Little pools of +water, that had formed in the hollows of the sidewalks, were fast +freezing into ice, and the keen, cruel wind seemed to penetrate to the +very marrow of one's bones. + +People, well wrapped in rich furs, strong-minded ladies bent on a +mission, portly gentlemen on their way to their counting rooms, and +troops of bright-eyed, rosy-cheeked school-girls, passed her on her way. +Two little pinched, hollow-eyed children came out of a red brick +building, which bore in large letters over the spacious doorway, "The +Orphan's Home," and walked beside her. A little eager voice fell on her +ear: + +"I tell you, Marthy, they don't give you _nothin'_ to eat to the 'Home.' +And I'm _so_ hungry! Wouldn't it be nice if we could have all we wanted +to eat, just once? I dream every night that mamma comes to me, and +kisses and pets me as she used to. Perhaps if we are good and patient, +we may go to her some day." + +"Poor little creatures," sighed Clemence. "What can I do to alleviate +their sorrows?" + +She looked again at the wan, childish faces, then drew out her slender +portmonnaie. "The Lord will provide," she thought, as the time-worn +"Charity begins at home," rose to her lips, at sight of her scant supply +of means. "Come here, dears," she said, beckoning to them. + +The little ones crept up to her with shy, downcast eyes. She went with +them into a confectioners, and filled their hands with crisp cakes and +steaming rolls, and watched them with a moisture in her eyes, as they +eagerly grasped at what was to them a royal feast. + +"Never mind thanking me, children," she said, as they poured out a dozen +incoherent exclamations, to prove their gratitude. "Always remember +hereafter, when you feel unhappy, that 'God watches over you, and will +surely send some one to help you if you only try to do right.'" + +She tried to encourage herself with this thought, as she resumed her +walk. It strengthened her to renewed effort. She paused before a store, +where the wealth of the earth seemed to be collected in the "gold and +silver and precious stones," that dazzled her eyes to look upon. + +An elderly gentleman lounged behind the counter. She went directly up to +him, and asked, in a straightforward manner. + +"How much will you give me for this ring?" + +It was a solitaire diamond, and had been her mother's birthday gift. The +man looked at her keenly, and saw that she was not used to bargaining. +He read at a glance, the story of the delicate, mourning clad girl +before him. + +"Fifty dollars." he answered, coolly. + +"But it cost three times that sum," said Clemence, "and although I need +the money, I cannot sacrifice so valuable an article in that manner. +Besides its intrinsic value, it is very dear to me by association." + +"Can't help that," said the man, coarsely, "its intrinsic value is all +that concerns me. If you don't wish to sell it, of course you can keep +it. Seeing, however, that its a pretty young lady, I'll make it +seventy-five." + +"Could you not make it a hundred?" she asked, hesitatingly. + +"Not a cent more than seventy-five," he said emphatically. He read the +despair in her face, and knew that whatever her emergency, it was so +great that she must come to his terms. "You see, young woman," he +condescended to explain, "you are not accustomed to this mode of +business, and you do not realize that when people want ready money they +must give a fair equivalent in order to get it. Times are hard, and a +dollar is a dollar now. Six weeks later I might give you the sum you +demand, but, to-day, it is quite impossible." + +"Very well, give me the money," said Clemence, desperately; "I cannot +wait a day longer." + +"Cruel, cruel!" she said, as she walked homeward. "It will not meet our +demands. Where is all this to end?" The keen March wind was kind to her +in one respect, it removed from her face all traces of emotion that +would have disturbed the invalid. + +Rap, rap, rap, at the little third story room. "Come in," called +Clemence, listlessly. Mrs. Mann's cheery face looked in at the door. + +"Something for Mrs. Graystone," she said, holding out a small package. +"It was left here a moment ago, by a tall gentleman so completely +muffled in furs that I could only get a glimpse of a pair of handsome +eyes. If you will not think me too curious, I should like to know what +it contains." + +"Open it dear," said the mother languidly. + +All uttered an exclamation, as a roll of bank bills fell to the floor. +There was a brief note, which ran as follows: + + "MADAM--Please accept this in payment of a debt, due your late + husband by the writer." + +That was all, and there was no signature. + +"How strange," said the widow; "I knew but little of Mr. Graystone's +business affairs. It is providential." + +"Just five hundred dollars," said Mrs. Mann; "Why, Clemence, it's a +fortune! Why don't you tell us how pleased you are? You do not say +anything." + +It was true this sudden and unexpected relief, from an unknown source, +had bewildered the girl. She could hardly bring herself to realize that +her pecuniary troubles were at an end, for the time being, at least. + +"I am very much pleased, Mrs. Mann," she said, brightening, "but give me +time to get accustomed to my sudden accession of wealth, pray!" + +"I would give anything to get that sad look out of your face," said the +good woman, coming closer to the girl, and folding her in a motherly +embrace. "Go out for a walk, you have been in the house all day, and you +look pale and weary." + +The long day drew to a close, and night came on dark and chill. The wind +wailed around the house mournfully, and as it drew towards midnight, +continued to rise still higher. The clock struck twelve. + +There was an uneasy movement of the invalid tossing restlessly. Once she +made an effort to raise herself, and the thin hands wandered caressingly +over the bright hair of the young girl who slumbered peacefully beside +her. + +"Poor darling," she said, "you are heavily burdened, but it will not be +for long. I feel the hour approaching." + +A cold moisture settled upon her forehead, her breath came in labored +gasps. + +"Mother," wailed Clemence, now fully aroused, kneeling beside her, and +chafing the cold hands. "Mother, speak to me?" + +There was no response. The girl was alone with her dead. + +"I declare, I am nearly distracted myself," said Mrs. Mann to Alicia +Linden some weeks after. "It would melt the heart of a stone to hear +that poor dear crying out in her delirium, 'what shall I do to obtain +this or that for the poor suffering mother?' That's always the burden of +her thoughts. It's perfectly dreadful. Mrs. Linden, do you think she +_can_ live?" + +"I hope she may, with careful nursing," was the reply. "We will do all +we can, and leave the event with Providence." + +It hardly seemed a kindness to Clemence, when they told her, after she +became conscious, of how near she had been to death, and that only the +kindest care had won her back to life. + +"It would have been better to let me die," she said, thinking how little +now she had to live for. + +"If God, in his wisdom, saw fit to restore you, Clemence, it was for +some wise purpose of his own," said her friend. + +"I know it," she replied patiently; "but I have suffered so much that I +am weary of life. Remember, I am all alone in the world." + +"No, not alone, dear," said the lady, "for now that you have no one +else, I intend to claim you. I love you already as a daughter, and I am +going to care for your future." + +Clemence was too weak to do anything but yield, and when she was able to +ride out, Mrs. Linden took her to her own home. But although she +recovered sufficiently to walk about the house and garden, and to take +long rides into the country, yet her faithful nurse began to fear that +she would never be really well again. + +"She needs a change," said the physician. "A journey would do her good." + +So they packed up, and went off to the seaside. The bracing air did for +Clemence what the doctor's medicine had failed to accomplish. In spite +of the languid interest she took in everything, hope grew stronger each +day in the care of her watchful friend. And at last the roses came back +to her cheeks, and when they went back to the city, in the cool +September days, she was strong and well once more. + +"Do you know, Clemence, it is six months since you have been under my +charge?" asked Mrs. Linden, as they sat sewing by the bright fire, that +the chilly fall day rendered agreeable. + +"Is it possible?" was the startled reply. "How long I have been a burden +on your kindness! Alas! what changes have occurred within a short time." + +"I know what you are thinking of now, child, and I did not wish to make +you melancholy by reminding you of the past." + +"Oh, Madam," said the girl, "it is never absent from my thoughts. You +surely would not have me forget the great loss I have sustained?" + +"No, Clemence," replied the elder, "that would be wrong, but I do not +want you to brood over it. Remember who sent this affliction. 'The Lord +gave and the Lord hath taken away.'" + +"But she was all that I had to love," said Clemence; "what is life to me +now?" + +"Don't talk like that, dear," said Mrs. Linden, gently, "the +unrestrained indulgence of grief is always wrong. Have you never thought +how selfish it was to wish your mother back again, as I have so often +heard you? God's ways are inscrutable. But though his children cannot +always see what is best for themselves, He never errs. Your mother was a +good woman, a faithful wife, and loving parent, but a life of +uninterrupted prosperity had left her a stranger to the peace that +cometh only from obedience to the will of Him who created us. It was in +the midst of adversity that she found the source of consolation. She +learned then how precious is the love the Father feels for the suffering +ones of earth. She was willing to go. Her only fears were for you. Can +you not have faith that the prayers she breathed for your welfare with +her dying lips, will be answered? You are young yet, and there is work +for you to do in the world. Interest yourself in some worthy object, and +you will be astonished at the change in your own feelings." + +Clemence looked up with a new light dawning upon her face. These +thoughts were new to her. + +"I am afraid I have been selfish," she said, coming and kneeling beside +her friend, and locking her slender fingers agitatedly. "It is very hard +always to do right. Believe, though, that I erred only in judgment, not +through intention. Help me to do better." + +"Dear child," said the motherly woman, touched by the generous +confession, "we are none of us perfect. We can only _try_. I have said +this solely for your own good. You realize that, I am sure. My only wish +is to make you happy." + +Clemence took up with her friend's advice. She found enough to occupy +her, for there is plenty to do in the world. It needs only the willing +heart. She became the instrument of much good, and many sick and +sorrowful learned to love the low-voiced girl who came among them in her +sable robes. + +The winter passed quietly and uneventfully. Clemence went very little +into society. She had no desire for it. She was content to be forgotten, +and let those who were eager for the strife, crowd and jostle each +other for the empty honors, for which she did not care to put in a +claim. Not but that she had once been ambitious of distinction, and had +been told by loving friends that she possessed talents that it was wrong +to bury. There was no one to care now for her success or failure. It +mattered little how the years were passed. They would find her a lonely, +sorrowing woman, without home or friends. No one, be they never so +hopeful, could anticipate happiness in such a future. Clemence did not, +but she knew she should, in time, learn to be contented with her lot. +Others had been before her. Then, too, something whispered that it would +not be for long. + +Mrs. Linden watched her anxiously, noting the troubled look on the +girl's face, and questioned her as to its cause. + +"Don't yield to despondency," she would say. "You must go more into +society. Solitude is not good for you." + +Obedient to her wish, Clemence afterwards accompanied her whenever she +went from home. + +Thus passed the time until her twentieth birthday. She reviewed, sadly, +on that occasion, her past life, and formed her plans for the future. +The result of her cogitations was, that not long after, she left the +roof that had sheltered her since her bereavement, but to which she had +no real claim, and commenced upon a new life. + +This was very much against her friend's wishes. + +"What wild idea has taken possession of your visionary mind now?" she +queried. "Just when I thought you were quite contented to stay with me, +you start off to teach a score or more of ignorant little savages in +some obscure part of some obscure region, not yet blessed with the +telegraph or railroad." + +"Not quite so bad as that, I hope," said Clemence, laughing. "Don't, +please, raise any objections to my plan, kind friend; for I want to feel +that it has your sanction. Perhaps, if I get tired of teaching, I will +come back to you again." + +"Very well," was the rejoinder, "in that case you may go, but I shall +expect to see you again very soon. You will die of home-sickness." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +A lovely June day was drawing to a close, as a stage coach drew up at +the one hotel in the little village of Waveland. + +"Here at last, mum," said the driver, stepping forward to assist a lady +to alight. "It's been a tedious ride for a delicate looking lady like +you." + +She _was_ delicate looking, and _very_ pretty, with an air of refinement +that betokened good birth and careful culture. + +"Yes," she said, "it has been a weary day's journey, and I shall be glad +to rest." + +She went into the little homespun sitting-room, and laid aside her +bonnet and shawl, then went to the window, and looked out in an absent +way. The high, pure brow, and calm, thoughtful eyes, remind us of one we +have met before, and the slender, nervous hands, locked after her old +fashion when troubled, prove that it is none other than our young +friend, Clemence Graystone. + +"Jerushy! ain't she style?" + +Her reverie came abruptly to an end, and with a momentary feeling of +annoyance, she retreated from the window, as this exclamation startled +her into the knowledge that half of the inhabitants of the little +village were already out and gazing at her. + +"What can I do for you, Miss?" asked the obsequious landlord, a moment +after. It was evident that guests beneath his hospitable roof were "like +angel's visits, few and far between." + +"Supper and a room." + +"Yes, certainly, certainly, in no time. Here, Cary Elizy, Elizabeth +Angeline, Victory Valery, where on earth air they? Neither of them three +girls is never on hand when they're wanted." + +There was a shuffle, a scampering, and much suppressed giggling, then a +frowsy head peered in at the doorway. + +"This lady wants something to eat, and a good cup of tea, directly." + +"Yes," drawled a voice, "she shall have it if it takes a limb. Here, +girls, spin around, I tell you, and git the young woman suthin to eat." + +Meanwhile, Clemence surveyed the little room to which she had been +conducted, guiltless of carpeting, and with only one chair and a +washstand, beside a huge, old fashioned bedstead, and plump feather bed +covered with patchwork. But everything was clean and inviting, and only +too thankful for the opportunity, Clemence smoothed her hair, and bathed +her aching temples, preparatory to partaking of that "good cup of tea," +which her host had ordered, and which she hoped would drive away her +headache. + +But, alas! for human anticipations. The good, wholesome country fare +which she had expected, proved to be only the refuse of what was +considered unsaleable in market. In place of the steaming biscuit, +golden butter, and delicious cream she had promised herself, there were +huge slices of clammy bread, a plate of old-fashioned short-cake, yellow +with saleratus; butter, that to say the least of it, was not inodorous, +and a compound of skim milk and lukewarm water, dignified by the name of +tea. Leaving it almost untasted, Clemence sought her couch, and was soon +buried in profound slumber. + +She awoke late the next morning, and after a hasty toilet, went down to +breakfast, to find herself the center of observation. The table was +tolerably well-filled, with one or two blooming damsels, and for the +rest, sun-browned country boys. + +"Good morning," said the gentleman of the house, heartily. "Kalkilate +you was pretty well played out, yesterday. Don't look as if you'd stand +much hard work. You're a school teacher, I take it? Yes, I thought so. I +can generally guess at a body's business the first time trying. I ain't +one of the educated sort myself, but I've picked up a few ideas knocking +around the world. I've got some girls now, I'd like to have learn +something, but then they don't seem to take to it. I spose that kind o' +hankerin' after books comes natural to some folks, and to others it +don't. Me nor none of my family never seemed to set much store by that +sort of thing. It's a good thing to be gifted, though. There's neighbor +Green's boy, Bill, he can 'late anything after he's heerd it once, and +when there's any doins' of any kind comin' off, they send him so he can +tell the rest, after he gets home, all what happened. But, as I said +before, it's more'n any of the rest of us can do. + +"And, to tell the truth, we don't need to be as wise as Solomon, here in +these parts, to be as good as the best. When a man gets what you may +call a little forehanded, he's bound to have his say about matters and +things, whether he understands them or not. I rather guess, too, Miss," +he added, good-naturedly, "if you stay long enough round here, you'll +git to teachin' one scholar. There ain't many old maids around here, but +there's any quantity of nice, industrious young men what want wives, and +ain't a goin' far for to find them, eh, girls?" + +There was a good deal of tittering at this last remark, and the +aforementioned youths blushed to the tips of their ears. + +"What singular people I have got among," thought Clemence, who could not +refrain from laughing at their oddity. "What a strange fate has thrown +me among them?" + +She was destined to learn a good deal more of their singularities, +during her prolonged sojourn at the little village. A country school +teacher, having to "board round," has a good chance to study human +nature. + +Before she had been long at her new occupation, she found that she was +expected to be, literally, "as wise as a serpent, and as harmless as a +dove." There was no subject--religion or politics not excepted--which +she was not expected thoroughly to understand and expound; she was +evidently considered, from her position, as a sort of animated +encyclopedia, to be consulted at will. And all this, to be able to +instruct a half-civilized brood of children, of both sexes, in the +rudiments of reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic and geography, with +enough of grammar to enable them to stammer and stumble through a simple +sentence, and arrive safely at the end without any material injury to +the teacher's nerves. + +However, it was, at least, an honorable independence, poorly remunerated +though it was, and she went to work with a will. + +Her first boarding place was at the house of an aged couple, by the name +of Wynn, who lived a short distance from the school house. Their +appearance struck her as extremely peculiar. Mrs. Wynn's tall, stooping +figure, spoke plainly of a hard, laborious life. Her sharp features and +keen, piercing eyes, made more prominent by the unusual lowness of the +forehead, told more surely than language, of their owner's propensity to +investigate the affairs of her neighbor, and proved her claim to the +complimentary title, they had bestowed upon her, viz:--"That prying old +mother, Wynn." But what was still more strange, was the silver hair of +both these old people, and which their age did not seem to warrant. The +lady, however, with a little lingering of feminine vanity in her heart, +had made an awkward attempt at hair dye of home manufacture, and from a +too plentiful use of sulphur and copperas, had succeeded in producing a +band of vivid yellow upon each side of her temple, while the hair at the +back and upon the crown of her head, was white as snow. Clemence learned +afterwards that these worthy people had seen a great deal of trouble, +and that their prematurely aged appearance was from that source alone. + +She was not aware that they had more than one daughter, who was her +pupil, but as she went into the "spare room" assigned her, and +carelessly took up a "carte de visite" that lay upon the table, she saw +underneath the picture of a buxom damsel, in a feeble, trembling hand, +"My own sweet Rose." + +She had before this noticed another queer trait of the people among whom +her lot was so strangely cast, and that was their singular penchant for +fancy and high-sounding names. Among her scholars there were, for the +girls, respectively--Alcestine Alameda, Boadicea Beatrice, Claudia +Clarinda, Eugenia Eurydice, Venetia Ignatia, and so on, indefinitely; +and among a group of ragged, bare-footed boys, a number of time-honored +Bible names, and such distinguished modern ones as George Washington, +Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, Edward Everett, and even down to one little +shock-headed, lisping, Abraham Lincoln. + +"My own sweet Rose," proved, unhappily for Clemence, to possess more of +the characteristics of a stinging nettle, than of the flower whose name +she bore, and she was glad when her week was out, and she could leave +her charming society, for that which she fondly hoped might be more +congenial. + +Clemence had begun to try her strength, and she prayed fervently that +she might not "faint by the way." What other alternative had she than +this? It was too sadly true, as she had told her friend, she was all +alone in the world. What mattered it where the rest of her life was +spent? She tried bravely to do her duty "in that station in life to +which it had pleased God to call her." That was enough for the present. +The future stretched out, dreary and hopeless, before her. + +Strangely enough, she never thought that she was young and pretty and +well born, and might form new ties, if she would. She never reasoned +upon the subject, for the bare possibility did not once enter her mind. +This was the more strange, that she had never been in love, and there +were no memories to rise up and haunt her like ghosts of forgotten joys, +no dear face that had beamed upon her with the one profound affection +that comes to every one at some period of their lives. There were only +two graves under the willows that contained all that had ever been dear +to her in life. She never dreamed of any other love than theirs, who had +watched over her childhood, and left her, with prayers to heaven for her +safety upon their pallid lips. Her one hope was to live so that she +might meet them again, and that it might be said of her, "She hath done +what she could." + +Clemence Graystone was possessed of little worldly ambition, and she had +no incentive to exertion, beyond what was necessary to maintain an +honorable independence. She was content, with fine talents that might +have won her a name, to be left behind upon the road to fame by those +who were better adapted to the contest. What was it to her? A +short-lived popularity, the adulation of the vulgar, the cool, critical +glances of those who might sympathize and appreciate, but ever seemed +more ready to condemn. She had no wish to be petted by the crowd, or +court the gaze of idle curiosity. Better solitude and her own thoughts. + +She had enough of the latter, you may well believe. Obscure and +poverty-stricken, the world passed on, and forgot even her existence, +after a way it has. She did not "keep up with the times," and she was +left by the receding tide, a lonely waif upon unknown shores. What lay +before her, God alone knew. Clemence felt grieved, too, to find that she +was not liked by the village people. Old Mrs. Wynn took care to inform +her of that, with a due amount of exaggeration. Her crime consisted in +minding her own business, and letting others do the same--and they +called her gentle reticence, "airs," said she felt above common folks, +and prophesied that any amount of evil would befall her. She did not +know that it is a trait of human nature to condemn that, which, through +ignorance, people cannot appreciate the value. Therefore she mourned in +secret, and blamed herself for being unsocial, and tried hard to be +patient and forgiving. + +At this juncture, when she most needed a counsellor, she made an +acquaintance, and formed a lasting friendship. She had often admired, +upon the outskirts of the village, a pretty cottage, embowered in trees, +and curiosity had led her to question others about its occupant. She +could only learn that a lady by the name of Hardyng lived there, quite +alone. That was all she could find out in regard to it. + +One morning, however, very much to her surprise, as she had never met +the lady, she found on her desk an informal invitation to visit her at +the cottage. Tired of her own thoughts, and wishing for something to +take up her attention, she at once resolved to accept it--and, in +pursuance of this determination, after school was dismissed, responded +to the message in person. The door was opened immediately on her low +rap. + +"How kind of you to come," said one of the sweetest voices she had ever +heard. "I have hoped and feared alternately, as to the result of my +unceremonious request. Pray make yourself perfectly at home. I have +wanted to get acquainted with you ever since I first saw you, but I go +out so little, I was almost in despair, until I hit upon this method. I +believe I have not yet introduced myself. I am Ulrica Hardyng, a lonely +and sorrowing woman, with no one in the whole wide world to love or care +for me, and I want to be your friend." + +She knelt down before the young girl, whom she had already seated, and +gazed with dark, unfathomable eyes into the sweet face before her. + +"Loyal and true," she said, stroking the white hand softly. "I want you +to love me, Miss Graystone. I knew at the first glimpse of your face, +that you had suffered, poor child, and I felt for you from that moment; +for who can sympathize with the afflicted so well as one who has drained +to the dregs the bitter cup?" + +"Oh, Madame!" said Clemence, impetuously, fascinated, as every one else +had always been by the woman before her, "I shall be forever grateful +for the smallest portion of your regard. You cannot imagine how +completely isolated I have been, during my brief sojourn here." + +"I believe that," was the reply; "a girl of your intellect and +refinement can have little in common with, these obtuse village people. +They cannot understand your feelings, and you cannot possibly sympathize +with theirs. Your former life must have been very different from this. +Tell me about it?" + +It was a strange interview, but then, Ulrica Hardyng was a strange +woman, and never did anything like anybody else. + +"You will come again?" she said, that evening as they parted. "Fate has +been kinder to me than I deserve, and sent me a sweet consoler. You and +I have nothing to do with the idle forms of society. We meet each other, +and that is quite enough." + +"I will come again, kind friend," Clemence answered gratefully, "at an +early day; for now that I have once enjoyed the pleasure of your +society, it would be hard to deny myself the privilege in future." + +After that they met nearly every day. + +Mrs. Wynn had her say about it, too. + +"So you've made the acquaintance of that stuck-up widow, have you? I've +a piece of advice for you. You're an unprotected girl, and might easily +get talked about. There's something queer about this Mis' Hardyng. She +don't mingle with the rest of us, and I wouldn't be too thick with her, +if I was in your place. Leastways, I won't let my Rose make any advances +towards an acquaintance. Mind, I don't say anything _against_ her, but I +do as I'd be done by, and give you a friendly warning, such as I'd have +anybody do by a child of mine, if they was around the world. For my +part, I always consider it a safe plan to wait and see what other people +think about them, before I make up to anybody myself. 'Taint expected +that a woman that's got a character to lose should commit herself in the +eyes of the world. Remember, too, that on account of your being in a +public capacity, so to speak, you'd ought to be more particular about +your morals. It's expected that you will do your best to set a good +example to the rest of the young folks round here; not, of course, that +_I_ would say anything, whatever you might do, but then, everybody ain't +so careful of the 'unruly member,' as the minister calls it. You know +people will talk. For instance, Miss Pryor dropped in here a few minutes +yesterday, and while we was taking a sociable cup of tea together, she +told me that Mis' Parsons told Caleb Sharp, and he told her, that you +looked a little too sanctimonious to have it natural, and she meant to +keep her eyes on you, for all you seemed so wrapped up in your own +affairs. They think you feel pretty big, I guess, for Miss Pryor said +she wasn't agoing to wait to be put down by you, but took particular +pains to flounce past you, with her head turned the other way, and never +pretending to know you was there. Mind, though, you don't say anything +to anybody about it. I am one of that kind that don't believe in making +mischief, and if there's anything I do _dispise_, its tattling about my +neighbors. It's a thing I never do, to talk against folks behind their +back. There's plenty that do, though, in this very town. Now, there's +that Mis' Swan, where you're going to board next week, she's been pretty +well talked about, first and last, and they _do_ say not without cause, +for you know the sayin' about there always bein' some fire where there's +any smoke. She makes believe all innocence, but I could tell some things +that I've seen with these two eyes, if I choose. + +"The last teacher we had before you came, was a single young gentleman +by the name of Sweet. He was a nice, fine-looking man, with a real +innocent face, and pleasant ways, and I took quite a motherly interest +in him. He used to be at the Swans' very often, and I had a few +suspicions of my own. I used to send Rose in, kind of sudden like, +whenever I see him go by to their house. Mis' Swan felt guilty, for she +knew what I meant; but, will you believe, the malicious creature +actually insinuated that I had designs on him, and positively had the +impudence to send me a saucy message, one day, by Rose, right before her +husband and that young Sweet. I was so mad that I published the whole +affair over the place within twenty-four hours. I put on my bonnet, and +went in one direction, and sent Rose in another, and Mis' Swan found +herself in a pretty mess, with her name on everybody's lips. But, will +you believe in the ingratitude of human nature, the woman's own husband +called me a meddlesome old busy-body, after I had solemnly warned him of +his wife's unfaithfulness, and I was made the laughing stock of the town +where I was born, and have lived a long and useful life. Nobody can tell +me anything to convince me that my suspicions wasn't correct, and it +went to my heart to have them say that I did it all out of spite, +because I wanted to secure the school-master for my daughter. But I've +lived it down, though, and have shown some people about here, that I +consider them as far beneath me, as the heavens are _above_ the earth." + +Clemence found the Swan's a little homespun couple, but, on the whole, +much more endurable than Mrs. Wynn and Rose. + +"I suppose you have heard all about Kate's outrageous proceedings from +our elderly friend?" laughed Mr. Swan, at the tea-table. "Poor Mrs. +Wynn. She laid me under infinite obligations, by her efforts on my +behalf, so much so, that sometimes the load of gratitude fairly +oppresses me. In case matters had turned out as she feared, though, I +might eventually have consoled myself with the fair Miss Rose's +agreeable society." + +"There, there, Harry!" said his wife, "don't say anything to prejudice +Miss Graystone against them. I have forgiven her long ago, and I only +hope that Rose may succeed in obtaining half as good a husband as +somebody I know of." + +"Well," he said, bestowing a fond glance upon the bright face beside +him, "we won't say anything against them. By the way, Kitty, I received +a letter to-day from Sweet, and he announces the advent of another +juvenile Sweet-ness, to be named in honor of your ladyship. You see, +Miss Graystone, he is a relative, having married a cousin of my wife's. +There was some trouble about the match, for Uncle Eben objected to the +young man, on account of his being a schoolteacher, He used to come to +Kate for advice, and being rather a favorite with uncle, she finally +succeeded in reconciling him to the marriage. The young couple naturally +think her 'but little lower than the angels,' since her efforts in their +behalf, and I never saw Sweet so indignant at anybody in my life as he +was at the Wynns, for starting that infamous story. But I told him not +to mind, it would blow over, and it did. Mrs. Wynn is pretty well known +here, and like the rest of us, I suppose, has her good traits and her +bad ones." + +"How do you like our little village?" asked Mrs. Swan, to turn the +conversation, a few moments after. + +"I have been here so short a time that I can hardly judge, as yet," +replied Clemence. "I think I shall like it better than I at first +expected." + +"Indeed, I hope you will," said her hostess. "We would like very much to +have you settle among us. You must have observed, by this time, that +there are few people of liberal education in the place." + +"Yet, they are a shrewd, sensible people," said Mr. Swan, "who might, +under more favorable auspices, make a figure in the world. There are +many kind-hearted, Christian men and women in Waveland, Miss Graystone, +notwithstanding their rough and almost repulsive exterior." + +"I dare say there are many such," she replied earnestly, thinking of the +cold, heartless worldlings she had left behind her in the great, busy +city. "I do not judge altogether by outward appearances." + +"Nor I," was the cordial answer; "the coat don't make the man, in this +community, but if any one is sick, or in trouble, they will always find +these rough-handed villagers ready to sympathize and aid." + +Mr. Swan never made a truer remark than this last. The primitive +inhabitants of Waveland, although they gossipped about each other, and +speculated a little beyond the bounds of politeness and decorum, in +regard to the affairs of the few strangers, who now and then appeared +among them, were, on the whole, a kind-hearted, sober, industrious +community. The little village possessed two stores, a hotel, blacksmith +shop, a school house in which religious services were also held, and a +post office, presided over, in an official capacity, by the village +doctor. + +There was also a weekly paper published there, by an ambitious youth, +called the "Clarion," which contained snappish editorials about its +neighbors, aspiring criticisms upon the publications of different +authors, always ending in an unmistakable "puff," if they were at all +popular, or a feeble attempt at discriminating censure, if the unlucky +scribe was unknown to fame, and had (poor wretch,) his way yet to make +in the literary world. + +Clemence got quite attached to the Swans' during her brief stay with +them. She regretted to leave them for the uncongenial society of +strangers. + +Her next boarding place was at Dr. Little's. He was rightly named, Mrs. +Wynn had taken pains to inform her, and they were a well-matched pair. + +"The way that man charged, when my Rose had the fever and chills, was +amazin'. I know one thing, there would be a good opening in Waveland for +any single young man who wanted to set up opposition to the old Doctor. +For _my_ part, I'd call on him every time my family needed his services, +which would probably be pretty often, for Rose is kind of delicate like. +He'd be sure to have one patron, for it would do me good to spite the +Little's." + +Clemence thought, when she first saw this couple, about whom she had +heard so much, that though the little weazen-faced Doctor might chance +to be rightly named, yet the same remark could not, by any means, apply +to the mountain of flesh he called his wife. + +"Oh, but you don't know her," said Maria, their one servant, after tea. +"I always thought, before I came here, that fat people, especially them +that had plenty of means, sort of took life easy. But I've changed my +mind, since I knew Mis' Little. I've been in her service risin' of five +years, and you might as well think of catching a weasel asleep. It's +'Mariar,' the last thing at night, and 'Mariar,' the first thing in the +morning. I don't know when she rests, for she never lays down while I am +awake, for fear I shant do just so much. If them there philysophers, +that want to find out the secret of perpetual motion, and can't, would +come across Mis' Little, they'd own beat. She's just kept a spinning for +the last five years. And Sundays she's more regular to church than the +minister himself, besides all the weekly meetings, and always gets up +and tells what the Lord's done for her soul. Then the Doctor he follows, +and talks about the gold-paved streets, and all that, and is sure to +bring in a Latin quotation. After that, he sits down, and goes to +twirlin' that big jack-knife of his, and I can't help thinkin', though I +know it's wicked, that if he was to get to heaven as he expects, the +very first thing he'd do, would be to whip out that knife, and go to +scrapin' away to get a little gold dust to put in his pocket; he! he! +he! Don't look so horrified, Miss Graystone. I suppose, now you think +I'm dreadful ungrateful. One thing I know, they'll palaver you till +you'll think they was two pink and white angels that had slid down a +rainbow, especially to make themselves agreeable to you; but Maria +Mott's no fool, and she knows what she's a talkin' about every time." + +Dr. Little had one other servant, a simple minded, ignorant boy by the +name of Harvey. He worked for his board, perfectly convinced that the +pious teachings of the worthy couple were sufficient remuneration for +such light services as were required of him. Harvey was an humble member +of the same church in which his employer was a shining light, therefore +it was his privilege to listen, with a thankful spirit, to many precious +pearls of wisdom that dropped from their revered lips. In fact, Harvey +was enveloped continually in the very odor of sanctity, whereby he was +greatly profited. Thus the promptings of his sinful nature were +effectually stifled, and he grew each day, outwardly as well as +spiritually, more ethereal, less "of the earth earthly." + +Maria Mott was wicked enough to say that it was because he did not get +enough to eat, and to openly lament the change in the once bright-eyed, +round-faced boy. + +The worthy old Doctor, however, congratulated himself, and said he was +fitting the boy for heaven. + +Mrs. Little used to remain at the tea table to administer instruction, +not, let us hope, as Maria averred, to watch Harvey so he wouldn't eat +so much. + +"Harvey," she asked, on one occasion, "are you not thankful that the +Lord has given you so good a home?" + +"Yes, Mis' Little, keeps me pretty busy though to earn it," came +hollowly from the depths of a teacup. + +"Mamma," called young Charlie Little, over the banister, "I want Harvey +to do an errand for me. Will you please give him my order. Here is a +bright new silver piece for him, too." + +"Such extravagance, Charlie!" said his mother, but, coloring as Clemence +passed her, "I want you to be generous to the poor, my son, I have +always striven to inculcate the lesson of charity conscientiously." + +Mrs. Little _was_ good-hearted and liberal. Clemence felt sorry for +having misjudged her, as she saw a bright silver piece glitter in her +hand the next Sabbath, as she sat beside her during the weekly +collection of contribution for the missionary fund. Maria was wrong, and +she was sorry she laughed when she spoke flippantly of Mrs. Little's +magnificent gift of a penny a Sabbath amounting to fifty-two cents +annually. She ought to be more careful to give people the benefit of the +doubt. + +But she thought differently, when she got home and found Harvey +patiently blacking Master Charlie's boots. + +"Why, Harvey, you were not at church?" she asked, in surprise. + +"No, Miss Graystone, they kept me too busy here," was the reply, in a +disheartened tone, "and now Master Charlie's been off fishin', and got +all covered with dust, I've got to black these boots over again. I +should think he'd be ashamed ordering me round like a dog, and then +walking off without even saying, thank you. If he would give me a +quarter, now and then, I would not mind, for I never have a penny of my +own for anything, not even to give of a Sunday. But I don't suppose a +poor boy like me, has any right to have a soul," he added bitterly. "I +don't much care, sometimes, whether I ever go to church again or not." + +"Oh, don't say that, Harvey," said Clemence, in distressed tones. A new +light broke in upon his mind. She took from her own scanty supply of +pocket money, a twenty-five cent note, crisp and new, and handed it to +him. "I have no bright silver piece for you, Harvey," she said, "but +here is something nearly as good if you will accept it." + +"Oh, thank you, a thousand times," was the grateful response, "I will +get it changed into pennies for my missionary offering. I was just +wishing for some money of my own, to take this afternoon to my Sunday +school teacher." + +"Well, I am very glad that I had it to give you," said Clemence. "Don't +despair, Harvey, if your lot is hard. God sees, and he will surely +reward you." + +"Oh, I will try to be patient," said the boy, lifting his honest face, +with the great, tear-filled eyes. "If everybody was only like you, I +would be willing to do anything. But it's only Harvey here, and Harvey +there, and never a pleasant word, only before folks. It's hard to bear. +It did not use to be so before mother died. To be sure, we were very +poor, and I had to work hard, but mother loved me." + +"Poor boy!" sighed Clemence, turning away, "every heart knoweth its own +sorrow." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +For a delicate girl, like Clemence Graystone, this country school +teaching proved very laborious work. But she bent to it bravely. It was +easy to see that these rude little savages whom she taught, fairly +worshipped her. Children have an innate love of the pure and good. +Perhaps because they are themselves innocent, until the great, wicked +world contaminates them. At any rate, the bright young creature who came +among them every morning, seemed to them a being from another sphere, +the embodiment of their childish ideas of purity and beauty, and they +had for her somewhat of that awe that the devotees of the East feel for +the gods they worship. + +She sat before them, with the slant sunlight of a July day falling on +her fair, sweet face. + +"The week is drawing to a close, and you have all worked faithfully," +she said, and taking a snowy manuscript from the desk, "now you shall +have your reward. Instead of translating a little French story, as I at +first intended, I have written an original one, especially for you." + +A noisy cheer greeted this announcement. + +"Is it true?" asked several voices. + +"Yes, it is true," she responded, "and if you will be quiet, I will read +it to you." And she began as follows: + + +"THE STORY OF ANGEL WAY." + +"Her name was Angelica, but her little school friends called her +'Angie,' and those who loved her, 'Angel.' This last pet term of a fond +mother, seemed not ill applied, when one looked at the serene face, and +the drooping violet eyes, with the prophetic shadow of her fate in their +earnest, haunting depths. Indeed, the meaning of Angelica, in the flower +world, is 'Inspiration,' and I think Angel's must have come from God. +When you looked at her, she seemed like one set apart for some special +work, like those 'chosen ones' we love to read of. Truly, as has been so +gracefully said, 'to bear, and love and live,' is a woman's patient lot. +Yes, to suffer pain, to bear uncomplainingly through weary years, a load +of grief and shame for others, though she herself may have sinned not, +till at last it grows too great for her feeble strength, and Death +comes, not as the 'King of Terrors,' but a welcome messenger, for whose +coming the weary woman has waited and longed, ever since hope died out, +and she knew life held for her nothing but wretchedness and woe. + +"This little girl, I am going to tell you about, lived in the very heart +of a great city, up dismal flights of stairs, at the very top of a huge +brick building, where a great many poor people congregated together and +called it home. + +"There were four of them, Mr. and Mrs. Way, and Angel, and the baby whom +they called Mary. There had been another member of the little family, +but God had taken her, and Grandma Way's placid face was no longer seen +bending over the old family Bible, in the chimney corner. It was very +evident to everybody but the one who should have been the first to +observe a change, that the hard-working wife and mother would soon +follow her. Toil, and care and sorrow, were surely wearing out her life, +but there were none to pity her but little Angel, and she was only a +child. + +"She was shy and bashful, too, and afraid almost of her own shadow, but +every night she knelt down and prayed to God to show her how she could +be useful to those she loved. And the time was surely coming when all +her little strength would be tried to the uttermost. + +"One night little Angel was aroused from her sleep by shrieks, and +groans and curses, and the sound of a heavy blow, and she sprang from +her little bed, to find her mother stretched senseless upon the floor, +with the blood trickling from a wound in her head, and a group of +uncouth, neighboring women gathered about her. + +"'Lord save us!' they ejaculated, 'there's the child, we'd clean forgot +her.' + +"'Mamma, mamma!' wailed the little creature, 'is she dead?' + +"'There, there, dearie, don't take on so,' said good-natured Mrs. +Maloney. 'It's not dead she is at all. You see, the father came home, +after bein' on a bit of a spree, with a touch of delirium, and raised a +good deal of a fuss, and they took him away where he'll have to behave +himself till the whisky gets out of his head.' + +"'There, she's comin' to now, raise her up, Mis' Macarty, till I give +her a little of this to drink. How do you feel now, poor thing?' + +"'Why, what is it all about? How came I here?' said Mrs. Way, wildly; +then, as her memory returned to her, she clasped Angel's little figure +closely, and wept convulsively. + +"'Don't take on so!' and, 'Let her alone, I tell you, it will do her +good!' and, 'Do you want the woman to git the hysterics?' came +indiscriminately from the females bending over her. Then Mrs. Maloney +bustled away to make her a reviving cup of tea, and little widow +Macarty, with her soft voice and pleasant way, soothed the heart-broken +woman. + +"'Never you mind, ma'am, everybody has trouble of some kind. Remember +the children that's left, and keep your strength to work for them.' + +"'You are good and kind,' moaned the sufferer, 'but I've nothing to +reward your services.' + +"'Can't I do a neighbor a kindness without their talking about pay? +Suppose I should fall sick myself, maybe I'd have to pay before hand to +get a little help. Your lookin' better a ready. Don't make the tea too +strong, Mrs. Maloney, to excite her, and I think a bit of dry toast +would be just the thing to sort of tempt her appetite.' + +"Mrs. Way sat up, and a Doctor, who had been sent for, dressed her +wounds, and pronounced her case not dangerous. 'You need not anticipate +any great harm from the blow, madam,' he said, 'but your general health +needs recuperating. Your mind acts on your body, and you must be kept +free from excitement of any kind.' + +"'Free from excitement,' she thought bitterly, after all was hushed in +silence, and she lay weak and faint, watching the slumbers of the +innocent children beside her. 'My God, pity me!' 'What have I done to +deserve this cruel fate?' She thought of the long, miserable hours she +had passed alone with her helpless darlings, listening for the unsteady +footsteps of him who had vowed to protect her, and guard her from life's +ills. And this was the end. She wished she could die, but for the +children, what would become of them? 'Free from excitement,' indeed. An +unprotected woman, with two small children, and only one pair of hands +to work with, and these disabled, and food and fire to get, and a roof +to shelter them, to say nothing of warm comfortable clothing.' + +"'She got up too quick, and worried too much,' said the Doctor, when he +was called again a few weeks later. 'I can do nothing for her. Where's +that wretch of a husband?' + +"'In the workhouse,' sobbed Mrs. Maloney. 'What will become of the +children when she's dead?' + +"'Have to send them to the Orphan Asylum, I suppose. Dear me! I never +could see what poor people wanted with so many children, anyway,' and +the elegant Dr. Dash sauntered down the four flights of stairs, humming +a fashionable opera, and speculating how much that beautiful Miss +Osborne really possessed in her own right. + +"'Indeed, they won't go to the Orphan Asylum,' said little Mrs. Macarty, +'if I have to work and sustain them myself. The sweet, pretty darlings! +How would I feel if that was my own Katy, now?' + +"Nobody being able to say just how she would feel in that emergency, she +bustled round, sniffing at imaginary Orphan Asylums, and nodding her +head sagaciously, saying, 'We will show them a thing or two about Orphan +Asylums, won't we now?' + +"But little Angel had a plan of her own. Away down in her child's heart +there was a sacred memory of a mother's anxious, tear-stained face, and +grandma trying to comfort her with the message that had been the solace +of her own grief-stricken old age: + +"'Never despair, daughter! Remember, 'whom the Lord loveth He +chasteneth.' I had a heavenly dream about William, last night, and I +feel sure that he'll find the right way at last. We'll pray for him +together, and surely God will hear us.' + +"'I believe that, Mother Way,' said the wife, eagerly. 'I could not die +and leave him to perish. He loves his children devotedly, and I believe +this child (drawing Angel nearer to her) has been sent by God for his +salvation.' + +"'May the Lord bless and strengthen her for the work,' said grandma in a +tremulous voice, laying her thin hand upon the child's head, and Angel +felt from that moment set apart, consecrated, as it were, by the last +words of that dying saint, for that night, Grandma Way went to heaven. +She remembered it now, and knew the time had come for her to act her +part. Mrs. Macarty became her sole confidential adviser. + +"'I am twelve years old,' said Angel, 'and baby Matie is nearly two; I +can take care of her, if you will show me a little now and then, and I +am going to try and get along here till my father comes back again.' + +"'Just hear the little woman, now,' said her listener, in open-mouthed +admiration. 'Sure it would be a tiptop way to manage, and I'll do my +best to help you through with it.' + +"And this committee of two on ways and means proved so efficient, that +when William Way returned, sober and downcast, Angel just lifted up +little Mary, as bright and happy as if nothing had ever occurred to +sadden them, and that this very room had not recently been the scene of +a dreadful tragedy, of which the helpless babes were the only witnesses. + +"'Ain't it wonderful?' said Mrs. Maloney, that same day; 'Way's got off +with just sixty days, and come back again, and that child putting on the +airs of a woman, a tryin' to keep house for him.' + +"'And I'm sure that's right enough,' said Mrs. Macarty. 'They could not +make it out that he killed the woman directly, and who cares for poor +folks? She's dead and gone, and that's the end of her. Little them that +makes the laws care! If it was one of them there rich men on the avenue, +or a flaunting theater actress, or somebody had got jealous of somebody +else, and committed murder, there'd be a fine sensation. An' there'd be +pictures in all the shop windows, of how he or she looked in all sorts +of situations, how they looked when they was a dyin', and how they +looked after they was dead; and what the murderer eat for his supper the +night it all got found out, or whether he did not eat anything at all; +and how many fine ladies had been to console him, and how many equally +fine ministers had been to pray with him. The newsboys would be +shriekin' 'murder!' at every crossin', and every corner you turned, it +would be 'hev a paper, mum, with the latest proceedings about the +trial?' And to crown all, you'd come home, half distracted, to find the +children playing with little gallowses, and askin' when pa was goin' to +murder somebody, till you felt chilled to the very marrow of your +bones.' + +'But poor folks, that live in attics, ain't considered human. I tell you +what, though, if Mis' Way had a seen her children starving, and stole a +loaf of bread to save their lives, there would have been a stir about +it, and a pile of policemen from here to the corner, to 'enforce the +law,' and they'd have talked in all the churches, about the depravity of +the poor in these cities, and then sent another thousand or two to the +heathens. The Lord only knows what the world's a comin' to.' + +'And the Lord only cares, I don't,' said Mrs. Maloney, flouncing off. +The honest truth was, she was a little jealous of her more intelligent +neighbor, (for human nature is much the same from the garret to the +drawing-room.) Mrs. Macarty needn't think _she_ was talked down, if she +did, now and then, get in a word that she had picked up out to service, +that the rest of the folks in the block could not understand. One of the +Maloney's, direct from Galway, wasn't to be put down by any low Irish. +She'd go in and see the babies herself, and patronize them too. So, for +spite, she took a dish of steaming potatoes, and left little Mike +roaring, and went in to have a gossip. + +"'Oh, thank you, Mrs. Maloney,' said Angel, who was fluttering around, +setting the table, 'this will be so nice for papa--there he comes now.' + +"A footstep sounded without, and the man came in, looking haggard and +wan. 'The dirty villain,' muttered Mrs. Maloney, shuffling past him; but +Angel came forward, and smoothed the hot temples, and talked in her +pretty, bird-like voice. Two great tears rolled out from the hollow +eyes, and a prayer that God must have heard, welled up from the depths +of a penitent heart. + +"Three peaceful, happy years rolled away. Angel was a tall girl of +fifteen, and Mary five. They lived in a little cottage in the outskirts +of the town, and the neighbors envied them their contented lot, and even +strangers paused to admire their pretty home, and these fair, beautiful +children. But sin once more entered their little Paradise. William Way +again relapsed into dissipation, and 'the state of that man was worse +than before.' The fire died out upon the hearth stone, and want, with +gaunt, wolfish face, met them wherever they turned. And he, who should +have protected, gave them only blows and curses. Everything went for +drink. Angel tried courageously to find employment, but her slender +wages were rudely taken from her, and half the time they went cold and +hungry. Little Mary had always been extremely delicate, and she sunk +under it and died, and was buried beside her mother. Angel despaired +then, and went on for the future in a kind of maze of bewilderment, +doing that which her hand found to do mechanically. Only God, who had +bereft her, pitied her still, and helped her to resist temptation when +it came to her. + +"As her mother had done before her, Angel dragged out the weary years, +almost hopeless; and the one object of her toil and solicitude, was only +a pitiful wreck of the former stalwart William Way. Only a miserable, +wretched creature, that grovelled in the mire of its own degradation, +and from whose bosom the last spark of manhood seemed to have forever +fled. To look upon him, you would ask, 'Can this being have a soul?' + +"And fifteen more years dragged their weary round, and Angel was thirty, +and a haggard, care-worn woman. It was a sin and a shame, people said, +to wreck that girl's life, when she had many a chance where she might +have married, and enjoyed the comfort of having a home of her own. And +there were even those mean enough to deride her for her sacrifice, and +tell her she had no ambition, and call her a fool for her pains; but she +did not mind them. + +"She felt glad that she had not, when, one day, the Doctor pronounced, +over a broken limb that he was bandaging, that William Way was not long +for this world. + +"'It's wonderful how he has held on so long, at the dreadful rate he has +gone on, but the last few years have told on him. He can't survive this +last shock.' + +"There was but little time for preparation for a future world; but Angel +had faith, and, even at the eleventh hour, it met with its reward. When +she closed the dying eyes, she felt that she could trust the penitent +soul to the mercy of Him who created it, and 'who can make the vilest +clean.' + +"For herself, she knew that 'when time shall be no more,' she should +find eternal peace." + +There was a quick, gasping sob, and Clemence looked up, as she finished, +to see a little figure in faded blue calico, flying frantically down the +road. + +"Which of the scholars left?" she asked. + +"Only Ruth Lynn," said Maurice Wayne. "_Her_ father used to drink, and +fell in the mill pond about a year ago, and got drowned. Her mother's +sick, too, and Dr. Little says she can't live, and has give up goin' to +see her any longer, 'cause she can't pay. He's stingy mean to do it, for +he goes twice a day to see that spiteful old Mrs. March, and I'm sure +_she_ can't live, for ma said yesterday that all her money couldn't save +her. When I grow up, I'm going to be a doctor, and I'll look after every +poor person twice as good as I will a rich one. That's what I'll do." + +"I did not know before that Ruth's mother was so very ill," said +Clemence. "I must go and see her." + +She forgot it again, though, until about a week after, when the roll was +called, and she marked again "absent" after Ruth's name, as she had +already done several times before. + +"She can't come any more," said Maurice, "her mother's worse, and they +say she won't live much longer." + +Clemence felt conscience-stricken at having forgotten her, and set out +for the little one-roomed cabin directly after school was dismissed. + +She found the direst poverty and wretchedness. A dark-haired, +strong-featured woman lay on a couch under a window, where there was +scarcely a whole pane of glass, and which was stuffed full of rags to +keep out the draught. A stove, at which a frowsy neighbor was cooking +some fat slices of pork, for the sick woman, filled the apartment with +stifling heat and greasy odors. + +"There's the schoolma'am," she heard in a loud whisper, as she paused +for a moment upon the threshold. The invalid tried to raise herself, and +gave a look of dismay at the squalid scene. Poor Mrs. Lynn had been a +noted housekeeper, in her days of prosperity, and even at her greatest +need, nobody could ever call her neglectful, either of her house or +little Ruth, who, though always poorly clad, looked clean and wholesome. +Clemence read the whole at a glance. + +"Do not apologise," she interrupted, as the strange neighbor poured out +a profusion of deprecatory exclamations, "I heard that Mrs. Lynn was +ill, and came over to see if I could not assist in some way. Don't allow +me to disturb you, madam. How does she feel now?" + +"Well, pretty poorly; ain't it so, Mrs. Lynn? Don't you feel as though +your time was short here below? School-ma'am's been askin." + +"Yes, I'm most gone," was the feeble response, "and I should rejoice to +be freed from my troubles, only for the child. I don't have faith to see +just how it's a goin to work for the best, for there will be none to +comfort little Ruth after I'm gone." + +"Well, you must just trust in the Lord. That's what the minister told +you, and he knows, for he's had a good chance to try it, preachin' all +the time without half enough pay, and a donation now and then. Any way, +it will be all the same a hundred years hence. There's the vittals I've +been gettin ready, and now this young woman's come to sit by you, I'll +run home and look after Tommy. Expect he's in the cistern by this time. +If you want me, you can send Ruth, you know. Good night." + +"Good night, and thank you, Mrs. Deane," said the widow, and then turned +again to Clemence, "They told me you was pretty, Miss," she said, gazing +with pleasure at the pure, sweet face. "My Ruth just loved you from the +first. You don't know how grateful I have felt towards you for being +kind to the little fatherless creature." + +"Oh, don't thank me, indeed," said Clemence, "you would not, if you only +knew how I have been reproaching myself for not coming before. Tell me +something I can do for you." + +"There is not much more for me in this world," was the reply; "but I +feel burdened with care about the child. I suppose you can't understand +a mother's feelings, young lady, and it is weak in me to give up so, but +I can't die and leave my little helpless girl alone in the world. Oh, if +I could only take her with me?" + +"I see how you are situated," said Clemence, "you need a friend to help +you. Have you no relatives to look to?" + +"No one in the whole, wide world. Little Ruth and me are alone. You must +have heard how her father died. My poor, misguided husband! He might +have surrounded us with plenty, but evil companions dragged him on to a +dreadful end. He was an only son. His parents died, and left him with a +few hundred dollars. I had always hired out before I was married, for I +had no one to look to, as I was an orphan. I had, however, saved quite a +little sum out of my wages, and this, with what James had, gave us quite +a fair start in life. But he took to drink, and that was the last of our +happiness. I have buried five children, and this girl is the only one +left. Would that God had taken her, too." + +"How you must have suffered," said her young listener, down whose face +sympathetic tears had been streaming, during the woman's pathetic +recital. "It cannot be that you will be left to despair in your dying +hour. Try and hope for the best, and be resigned to what may be in store +for you, remembering it is His will." + +"I do try," said the woman, meekly; "and you, will you pray for me?" + +"Gladly, if you wish," said Clemence, sinking down beside the couch. + +"There, I feel stronger now," said the invalid. "You must surely have +been sent by God to comfort me." + +Clemence's face was radiant with a light that told whence came her pure +joy. She glided around softly, preparing a tempting supper out of the +delicacies she had brought to the sick woman. Then she drew a chair +again beside her, preparatory to a night of watching. + +The woman fell into an uneasy slumber, and the hours waned, as the girl +kept faithful "watch and ward." With the early morning light came a +change. + +"Ruth, run for the neighbors," said Clemence, in frightened tones. "Your +mother is worse," and the half-dressed child fled out of the house, +crying bitterly. + +"Ruth, Ruth!" called the sufferer, "my poor darling." + +Clemence came to her side, "I sent her after Mrs Deane," she said, +soothingly, "she will be back in a few moments." + +"It will be too late. I am going--oh, Father, forgive me? I cannot die +in peace--my little Ruth, my little, helpless, confiding daughter, child +of my love, I cannot leave her." + +The great, hollow eyes fastened themselves imploringly on her face. The +young watcher felt as if the minutes were hours. She listened for the +footsteps that came not. The woman's breath came quick in little gasps. +She tried to speak, turned on her pillow and uttered a feeble word of +anguish. Her eyes again sought the face of the young watcher, and she +strove again to syllable incoherent questions. Clemence came nearer and +bent over her, asking in earnest, agitated tones, + +"Will you trust your child with me? She shall be my own, own sister, and +I will work for her, and love her, and watch over her, while life +lasts?" + +A faint pressure of the cold hand, and a look of heavenly peace in the +dying eyes, was her only reply. + +"She is gone!" said Clemence, as Mrs. Deane appeared in the doorway, +"Come to me Ruth, you have lost your mother, but you have found a +sister," and she clasped the sobbing little one to her arms. + +"Well, if that don't beat all," said Mrs. Wynn. "Whoever heard of such +goin's on? What is the girl goin' to do with that beggar-child, I'd like +to know? A lone female, too, with no one to protect her, and nothing but +one pair of hands. She's spoilt her market by that move. There ain't a +young feller in Waveland got courage enough to make up to her now, for +all that pretty face; nobody wants to take a young'un that don't belong +to 'em, on their hands to support. She's clean crazy to do it. + +"Rose, you'll have to finish the dishes and clean up, if it _is_ +Saturday, for I'm a goin' round to Miss Pryor's. I can't keep that to +myself over Sunday, not if a whole passel of ministers was to come here +to dinner, and I love my reputation for neatness, entirely." + +It was a fearful responsibility, but now that she had taken it, or +rather had it forced upon her by fate, Clemence felt thankful that she +was thought worthy of the charge. She began to love the little, helpless +creature, who looked to her now for every good. She took pleasure in +combing the soft, brown hair, that had, hitherto, been twisted into an +awkward knot, into pretty, graceful curls, and it would be hard to +believe that the little, slender, sable-clad child, with the serious, +brown eyes, that always followed Clemence with looks of love in their +yearning, amber depths, could possibly be the same wild, sly, little +Ruth Lynn, whom we first knew. + +Notwithstanding Mrs. Wynn's adverse prediction, Clemence's "strange +freak," as they called it in the little village, was not condemned by +every one. There were a few liberal-minded ones, who saw at once how the +case stood, and resolved to uphold the girl in her course, though they +feared for the future, in which there was the possibility of failure. +And, much to Clemence's astonishment, the gallant Philemon W. Strain, +editor, came out with a glowing account of the whole affair in the next +issue of the Clarion, in a three column article, headed "Ruth, the +Village Child," complimenting the young schoolmistress in such +high-flown terms, that a rival editor, who read it, thought that she +must be of a literary turn, and wrote to her to solicit contributions to +his paper, and another authority in a neighboring village, wanted to +write her life, and was only pacified by being allowed to dedicate a +poem to our young heroine, which, happily for her nerves, was never +published, for being sent by the ambitious strippling to a popular +magazine, was only heard of again under the head of "respectfully +declined," accompanied by some severe and cutting remarks, to the effect +that the writer had better look to his grammar and orthography, which +uncalled for sarcasm, cruelly, but effectually extinguished what might, +perhaps, have been a light, that, in the future, might had illumined the +world with its effulgent rays. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +Sabbath in the country. Who, that has ever enjoyed its serene beauty, +can ever again long for the unhallowed day, that, in the city, is +seemingly more for the recreation of the masses of working people, than +for the worship of God. Clemence, leading by the hand little Ruth, +thought she had never seen anything so beautiful and peaceful as the +scene. Nature seemed in an attitude of devotion, and quaintly dressed +little children, with their testaments and Sabbath school books, and +silver-haired patriarchs and patient women, with sturdy young men, and +fair, blooming girls, were all hastening, in little groups, to the place +of prayer and praise. + +Clemence paused, for there was yet time before the service, and drew +Ruth with her, through the gate that led into the cemetery. The child +shivered and shrank back, and Clemence let her have her way. She went on +alone, to a distant part of the graveyard, where there was a mound of +fresh earth, that covered all there was now of Ruth's loving mother. + +"Poor, heart-broken woman," she thought, sorrowfully, "she has found +rest now." + +She bent down and made, with a pocket-knife, an incision in the fresh +earth, and placed therein the long stems of a delicate boquet, which +she had brought for the purpose. When she arose, bright, crystal drops +sparkled upon the velvet petals, and her eyes were still shining with +tears. + +"God help me to be faithful to that mother's sacred trust," she +murmured, as she walked away. + +Ruth's slight figure had lingered behind a marble slab, at a little +distance, and when she was gone, the child rushed impetuously forward, +and, with one bitter, wailing cry, threw herself upon her mother's +grave. + +Clemence wandered aimlessly down the shady walks, crushing the long, +rank weeds, and the occasional wild flowers beneath her feet, and at +last sank down at the foot of a willow, whose long, drooping branches +trailed nearly to the mossy sward beneath. She buried her head in her +hands, and her thoughts went back over the past. The retrospection was +inexpressibly wonderful. + +"This is wrong," she thought, trying to shake off the sadness that +oppressed her; "it will not help me to bear my burden farther. There is +now, by a strange fate, another, still more weak and helpless than I, +who is dependant upon my efforts, and I must not yield to sorrow." But +the tears came again, as the thought that even this child, who, but for +her, would be utterly forlorn and friendless, had to-day the privilege +that was denied her, kneeling at the grave of one she loved. How +peaceful looked this silent home of the dead! "They rest from their +labors," she mused, "and pleased God, in His own good time, I, too, +shall be at peace." + +It was strange, in one so young; but, Clemence Graystone never spoke or +acted as though she had a long lifetime of usefulness or enjoyment +before her. A feeling, that amounted almost to presentiment, told her +that she had not long to wait for the morning that dawneth only upon +eternity; and she thought she was content to work and wait until the +summons came. It might have been, in part, owing to the morbid state +into which she had fallen, after the death of her parents, and these +subsequent severe and long-continued trials of her strength, which was +by no means great, but it was only in part. If there are some of the +great heroes upon life's battle-field, who have had the future faintly +foreshadowed to them, just as truly this shrinking, sensitive girl knew +that, whatever might come to her now, whether of pleasure or pain, she +should be upheld and borne through it, and that a crown, "more to be +chosen" than the laurel wreath of a changeful and fickle world, would be +her sweet reward; even that "crown of glory, which fadeth not away." She +knelt down where she had been sitting, and asked God to give her +patience and humility for what might come, then walked on comforted, to +find Ruth. The child was waiting for her, and as she came along, slid +her little hand confidingly into hers. Clemence saw that she had been +crying, for the great brown eyes were humid, and tears still glittered +on the silken lashes. She stooped and kissed her, but forbore to speak, +and together they went into the meeting house. The congregation were +already assembled, and were singing the beautiful hymn which will never +grow old or forgotten, commencing, "My faith looks up to thee!" +Clemence seated herself, and bowed her head, and the sweet words went +down into the sacred recesses of her spirit. An admirable author has +remarked, "there are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body, +the soul is on its knees." And, although Clemence's lips syllabled no +words, her thoughts were those of the most exalted devotion. She seemed +wrapped about in a spell of dreamy silence, and the words of the sermon +came faintly to an ear that was all unheeding. When it was over, and +they rose to sing the last hymn, she sat abstractedly, "among them, but +not of them." It needed the pressure of Ruth's light hand to rouse her, +and she stood up for the benediction. After it was pronounced, she +became conscious, for the first time, that they had been the centre of +observation. A little group immediately collected around them, and there +was no end to the staring of those who stood aloof. Clemence recollected +then, that this was her first appearance with Ruth in her new +relationship. She felt a slight embarrassment, as so many eyes regarded +her curiously and rudely, but answered pleasantly the many inquiries +that were successively made of her. + +"Just look at the child!" said Mrs. Wynn, "who would have thought that +forlorn little thing could appear so nice and scrumptious. Let me see. +Is that silk tissue that dress is made of? Extravagant!" + +"Why, so it is!" echoed a chorus of voices. + +"Miss Graystone, I did not expect that a person occupying your elevated +position in this community, would set such a ruinous example. A teacher +of youth should look to the cultivation of the mind, not to the outward +adorning of the person." Mrs. Dr. Little sailed away from the little +group in as dignified a manner as a lady of nearly two hundred +avoirdupois could be expected to do, as she threw in this remark. + +There was a momentary silence, broken by the irrepressible Mrs. Wynn. +"What is that, a locket?" she asked, with a little scream of surprise. +"Is it real gold? Let me see it, child!" She grasped it from the neck of +the frightened little one. "Oh, its yours," she said in a disappointed +tone. She had evidently expected some other face than the one that +looked smilingly up; the very counterpart of the girl who stood before +her, regarding her with a bewildered look. "Sinful!" she ejaculated, "as +well as extravagant, to put such ideas into that young one's head. +She'll have a watch next, and a new silk dress. I fear for the morals of +this village. Miss Graystone, I expected better things of you. I feel it +my duty to warn you solemnly, that if you go on in this way, you may +lose your position and the confidence of the _respectable_ portion of +this community." + +There was such a strong emphasis on the word "respectable," that +Clemence's face flushed with indignant astonishment. + +"At least, madam," she said, in a tone of dignified reproof, "I have +sufficient sense of propriety to remember that this is no place in which +to discuss such subjects. I have not forgotten to respect the Sabbath. +Come dear," more gently to Ruth. + +"Whew!" said Mrs. Wynn, looking after her in blank amazement; "If I +ain't teetotally constonished, and clean put out, like a tallow dip +under an extinguisher, by my fine young schoolmistress. You heard that, +I suppose, Betsey Pryor?" + +"Oh! of course I heard it," said that piece of antiquity, with a +spiteful laugh, "and I hope now you are beginning to see through your +model young lady. Didn't I tell you there was something behind that +innocent face? 'Still water runs deep.' I knew she was a cute one. I +ain't lived to for--to my age, if I ain't the oldest person in the +world, and not know something of human nature. I pity your want of +penetration, Mrs. Wynn. Massy! just look through that window!" + +There was a general rush to that side of the room indicated by Miss +Pryor, and they were rewarded for the effort with a fresh theme for +gossip. + +"Good gracious, Rose, look!" almost shrieked Mrs. Wynn, "there they go +with Mr. Strain. Ain't that style now? Come away, Rose, with me, this +minute. My conscience won't allow me to pass over this chance. There is +yet time to warn Clemence Graystone, and turn her from the path of +destruction. I am a virtuous matron, and I must use what influence I +possess to save others from evil communications. I will even forgive +that girl for the indignity offered to me this day, in public, if it is +necessary to save her from misery. Her heart must be melted by Christian +love and forbearance. Hasten, Rose, and we will overtake them." + +Wholly intent upon her pious mission, Mrs. Wynn did not feel any +disagreeable effects from the vertical rays of the blazing noonday sun, +but ran down the road after the little group, who moved on, leisurely +and unconscious, a few rods before them. + +"Wait, Miss Graystone," she gasped, "I want to speak to you. Why, Mr. +Strain, excuse my interrupting you, but I want to speak a word to this +dear child. Rose, walk on with Mr. Strain, I don't wish my remarks to be +overheard." + +The gentleman paused a moment in a state of uncertainty, eyed the +blooming Miss Rose Wynn, whose five feet five of feminine humanity, clad +in bright red delaine, quite overshadowed the delicate figure beside +him. But he obeyed the elder woman's command meekly, nevertheless, and +went forward, asking in a pompous tone: + +"Is your paternal benefactor indisposed, Miss Wynn? I did not have the +pleasure of beholding that respected personage at our morning service." + +"Who?" queried his fair companion. "Oh, if you mean pa, he's laid up on +account of takin' cold in the hay field. 'Taint goin' to amount to much +though. Let's hurry up, ma's motioning me to go faster." + +They walked on, and Mrs. Wynn, eying their retreating figures with +supreme satisfaction, turned and smiled blandly upon Clemence. + +"Now, I've got a little breath," she articulated, still with +considerable difficulty, "I want to ask you what on earth made you fly +out with your best friend. I didn't mean anything, only for your own +good." + +"I believe you, Mrs. Wynn," said her young listener, generously. "I will +admit having experienced a momentary feeling of displeasure at your +words, but I have conquered it, and should have forgotten it, I am +sure, without this explanation. I am afraid it is I who ought to +apologise for having forgotten the respect due to age." + +"There, now, don't," said Mrs. Wynn, now really in earnest. "It _was_ +mean in me, to say that before them all, and I'm sorry for it, for it +shows the right spirit in you to try and defend the little creature. You +have shamed us all out by the way you have acted, and if ever you want +any help with the child, come to Mother Wynn, and see if she won't be as +good as her word, and show you the way out of your difficulties." + +"Thank you, my good, kind friend," said Clemence, grasping the hand held +out to her, impulsively. "I am afraid that I am not equal to the +responsibility that I have taken upon myself in the care of this child, +but I shall do my very best." + +"And angels can't do nothin' more," said Mrs. Wynn. "You're made of the +right stuff, child, and I'm glad we had this little fallin' out, we had +such a good makin' up time. I like you all the better. I wish Betsy +Pryor hadn't been there to see it, though--never mind, I'll make her pay +dearly for the satisfaction she enjoyed over it. I'll be your fast +friend from this time forward, and I ain't one of the kind to say a +thing that I don't mean." + +"What a good-hearted, motherly woman," thought Clemence, after they +parted. "I am sure she meant well all the time." And perhaps it was but +natural that Mrs. Wynn should put Rose forward, and make her happiness a +thing to be considered above everything and everybody else. Other +mothers have done the same, and thought their Clementinas and Matildas +the dearest girls in the world, and hated everybody cordially, who did +not see them with their own partial eyes, and value them accordingly. +People are not so very different from the highest to the lowest, and +nearly all view the world from one stand-point, and plan and speculate +as to how they can best make it subservient to their own interest. Mrs. +Wynn, if no better, was at least as good as the majority of her sex. + +That evening Clemence went down to the boarding place which was next in +order, and which was the residence of a family by the name of Brier. The +night was glorious. The moon rode proudly through the heavens, and the +stars glittered brightly upon the deep azure of the evening sky. The +trees cast dusky shadows across her pathway, as she walked onward, and +far away to the right of her, stretched a dark forest, shrouded in +impenetrable gloom and silence. All was calm repose. Sweet odors floated +to her, borne on the evening breeze, while afar off came the musical +plash of falling waters, and the murmuring leaves bent to whisper a +benediction. Charmed by the calm beauty of the hour, she did not observe +that any one was near her, until a carefully modulated voice fell on her +ear: + +"We meet again, my fair young friend, by a most fortunate train of +circumstances. What, may I ask, was the subject of your contemplations, +when I disturbed you? Judging by the sweet tranquillity of your +countenance, your thoughts were of the most pleasing description." + +Clemence recognized the well-known tones at once, even before she turned +to glance at the new comer. + +"Why, good evening, Mr. Strain," she said, trying to conceal that she +had been at all startled by his vicinity, and feeling somewhat +re-assured, upon recognizing the village editor. "I was not aware of +your close proximity. I was admiring this lovely evening. Is it not +really beautiful?" + +"Beautiful!" exclaimed the gentleman, rapturously, "it is more than +that, it is gorgeous beyond description!" continuing in a newspaper +advertisement way, with some more remarks of a similar nature. "May I +ask, Miss Graystone, if you were walking for the purpose of calm +enjoyment and meditation, or whether you had any decided object in thus +going out unattended?" + +"I had an object," replied Clemence, "I am going to Mrs. Brier's. I +thought I would go this evening, because it was so pleasant, and in +order to be ready for my duties in the morning." + +"Ah, yes! the Brier's are good, worthy souls, I believe, although I +cannot say that they are particularly known to me. You must have +observed, by this time, that I pride myself somewhat on my penetration +and keen insight into the character of those with whom the extensive +business of my office throws me often in contact. Yes, you must have +discovered, by this time, that I am a superior judge of human nature, by +the perusal of the spicy editorials which have made the Waveland Clarion +widely known and feared, as well as respected. As one of the admirers of +my peculiar genius remarked, to the confusion of another of the +editorial fraternity, it takes Philemon W. Strain to hit off the follies +and weaknesses of mankind with his humorous pen. But if it is often his +duty to condemn, it is sometimes, also, his privilege to admire, as you +cannot have failed to notice within the past few weeks." + +Clemence acknowledged the implied compliment, and hastened to change the +subject. She was glad to behold, in the distance, the lights gleaming +from the Brier cottage, and hurried forward, the sooner to be rid of her +not altogether welcome company. Mrs. Brier chanced to be standing in the +front door, as they came up. + +"Good evening, Miss Graystone," she said. "Why, Mr. Strain," in a tone +of affected surprise, "who would have thought of seeing _you_. Come +right in, both of you." + +"Thank you," said the gentleman, confusedly. "I believe I will walk on, +as I have an engagement for this evening." Raising his hat to the +ladies, he strode away with a majestic tread. Clemence breathed a sigh +of relief, as she followed the spare figure of her hostess into the +house. + +"You must be tired," said that lady, "sit in the rocking chair and rest +yourself. Johnny," to a pale, sharp featured child, "come and bid the +schoolmistress good evening." + +The child came shyly up to the young teacher, and, as she held out her +hand, seemed re-assured by her kindly smile. + +"I suppose you know it ain't none of ourn," said Mrs. Brier, "its only a +boy we took to bring up. Nobody knows who his parents be. Brier got him +at the foundling hospital when he went to sell his wheat to the city. He +wasn't but two years old then, but he's ten now, and a great, big, lazy, +idle, good-for-nothing boy, that'll never begin to pay for his keepin'. +I never wanted the young 'un around, but Brier said he'd come handy +by-and-by, and save a man's wages; so as we never had any of our own, we +thought we'd keep him. Children are an awful sight of trouble. This one +has been such a trial. He has got such a terrible temper, and I have +hard work to keep him in his place, but I do it, I can tell you," she +added, glaring spitefully at the little cowering creature. + +"Why, he don't look like a very naughty boy," said Clemence. "I think +Johnny is one of the best behaved boys in school. He is so quiet that I +hardly know he is there, except when he is reading his lessons, and +those he always has well learned. He very seldom fails with a +recitation." + +"Well, I'm glad to hear anybody speak well of you," said Mrs. Brier to +him again. "I hope she'll be able to make something of you. Guess you'll +show the cloven foot, though, before long." + +The child, who had been regarding Clemence with a beaming, grateful +glance, turned, as the woman concluded these remarks, with a sigh so +deep and mournful that Clemence's heart throbbed with sympathetic pain. + +"We are none of us perfect," she said, gently, "we can only try to do +right, and ask God to bless our endeavors. It requires a good deal of +patience with little ones, and a firm and gentle hand to guide them." + +"I ain't sure about the gentle, but I'm firm and determined enough. I +mean to be feared, if I ain't loved. I don't care anything about such +nonsense as winning a child's affections. He's none of mine, and I'm +glad of it. He won't expect to be pampered and spoiled like the other +children around here. And let me tell you, you had better profit by my +example, in respect to that girl of Lynn's. It was a mighty foolish +thing, burdening yourself down with the care of that child. You're poor, +I take it, or you wouldn't be teachin' school here, and you say you're +an orphan. What would become of you if you was to fall sick?" + +"I should still trust in God," said Clemence, "and I believe He would +open a way for me. I have only done what I thought to be my duty in the +matter, and I have faith that I shall be fully sustained." + +"Oh, you know best of course, but people will have their say, and there +has been a good deal of talk lately, and rather to your disadvantage. +'Taint been looked upon in a favorable light here, taking a poor +nobody's child, and dressing her up to make her feel her importance over +her betters. I'm afraid you'll yet be sorry that you ever undertook to +provide for her." + +"God forbid," said Clemence earnestly. "I should despise myself for even +once harboring such an unworthy thought. Whatever the future may have in +store for me, whether for weal or woe, this child shares it, for there +is no one else to give a thought or prayer for my happiness. This event, +which my friends have looked upon as a calamity, has already proved a +blessing, and has opened for me a new source of innocent pleasure." + +"Well, now you _are_ visionary," said her companion. "Mrs. Wynn said so, +and she gets things generally pretty near right. Guess you'll learn to +be a little more practical before you get through with this life. The +world ain't made for folks to dream away their time in, for there's work +to be done, and you know that them that don't work shan't eat. Food and +shelter and good, warm clothing, to say nothin' of fine lady fixins, +don't come for a song, I can tell you." + +"I know it," said Clemence, drearily, her thoughts going back to the +great city, where she had lived and struggled for one who was no more. +"If I am given to dreams," she mused, "they are not of a sanguine +nature. There are weary months of toil and discouragements, and many +failures before me, for the 'end is not yet.' As another has remarked, +'a wide, rich heaven hangs above you, but it hangs very high. A wide, +rough world is around you, and it lies very low.'" + +A tear trickled down the girl's cheek, and fell upon her black dress. A +little figure stole up, and knelt beside her, and a timid voice said, +"Don't cry, please, Johnny's sorry for you." Clemence raised the little +form. + +"Poor child," she said, "you are early accustomed to sorrow." She parted +the hair from off his forehead, with a mother touch, and noted the +intelligence and sympathy in the great, thoughtful eyes. "You are a good +boy, dear, let me see if I have not got something to please you." She +put her hand in her pocket, and drew out a tiny Bible, and wrote +therein, before handing it to him, these words in pencil--"John Brier, a +gift from his Teacher." + +"There, Johnny," she said, "keep that always, and promise me to read it +every day, and try to follow its instructions, for, if you act in +accordance with its precepts, you will have that peace and happiness +that comes from a consciousness of having performed our duty." + +She leaned forward and rested her head upon her hand after a way she had +when troubled. Mrs. Brier's uncalled for remarks had disturbed her. Why +should people say unkind things of her, when she was trying so hard to +do right. Surely, there could be no wrong in the act of comforting a +dying woman with the promise that her only child should be cared for and +protected. She had not been eager to take upon herself this burden, but +there was no one else, and it seemed almost as if God had intended her +for the emergency. There was but one thing left, to struggle on as +hopefully as possible, and live down these adverse circumstances. + +"Your room's ready, Miss." said her hostess coming back, suddenly, and +only too glad of the opportunity, Clemence bid her good night, and +retired immediately. + +"Johnny!" called the sharp voice of Mrs. Brier, at the early morning +light, "up with you, I tell you. Do you hear? For every minute you keep +me, you'll get an extra crack!" and, true to her word, there was +presently a grieved cry from the child, upon whose slender shoulders at +least a dozen blows were showered in rapid succession. + +An hour after, when Clemence went down to breakfast, Johnny came in from +the woodshed, with traces of tears on his face. + +"What's the matter with the young'un?" asked Mr. Brier, as they took +their places at the table. He seemed to have a little more self-control +than his amiable spouse, and to be annoyed at such exhibitions before a +stranger. + +"The same old thing over again," was the reply, "he wouldn't get up in +time to start the fire, and I took him in hand, and I'll do it again, if +he don't get out of the sulks." + +"Why, I guess he means to behave," said Mr. Brier, deprecatingly, "it's +natural for boys to be lazy, you know." + +"Well, I'll take the laziness out of him. What do you suppose he was +made for, if it was not to work? As if he was goin' to be took care of, +and have me delve away all of my life, washin' and makin' over clothes +for him, and he not work and pay for it. There's the cow to milk, and +take to pasture, the garden to weed, and wood to prepare, besides the +other errands, and how's it all to be done, if you make a fine gentleman +of him. It's askin' enough to send him to school, without keepin' him in +idleness. He was brought here to work, and I intend to see that he does +it." + +"Why don't you eat your breakfast, Johnny?" asked her husband. + +"Because, I can't," replied the child, tears filling his eyes. "I'm not +hungry." + +"But I should think any little boy ought to be, that's been out in this +delightful morning air. Eat your breakfast before you go to school." + +"Yes," chimed in Mrs. Brier, "don't leave anything on your plate, or I +shall keep it for your dinner. I never allow anything to be wasted in +this house. Here, take these nice, warmed potatoes, and don't let me see +you putting on any more airs." + +"I can't," persisted Johnny, "they are sour." + +"Don't tell me that," was the next remark, in warning accents. "I'm as +good a judge as you are, I reckon. I say they ain't sour. Be they, Miss +Graystone?" + +If she had expected an affirmative reply to this question, she was +doomed to disappointment. Disgusted with such paltry meanness, Clemence, +who had pushed her plate away, unable to partake of the stale food, +replied quietly, "I should say they were decidedly sour." + +There was a moment's disagreeable silence, during which Mr. and Mrs. +Brier exchanged meaning glances across the table. Then he hastened to +say, "Of course, then, they must be, though I never detected it. Wife, +how came you to put them on the table? I should think twenty bushels +ought to last a family of three persons quite a while, especially with +all the new ones we have had." + +"Of course," she answered snappishly, "I didn't know it, or I wouldn't +have used them. Thank goodness! though, I ain't so dainty as some I +could mention. If there's anything I despise, it's a person that's so +poor they can't but just exist, putting on style over folks that can buy +and sell them." + +"Just hear that, now," said Mr. Brier, in a conciliatory tone, "you've +got a sharp tongue in your head, Marthy; you don't let anybody put you +in your place, and keep you there easy, without they get a piece of your +mind. For my part, I like to see a woman independent." + +"It don't matter much to me, Brier, what you do like and what you +don't," said his lady, with a toss of her head, "I'm boss of my own +house, and no man shall dictate to me, not if I know it. You needn't +sneak, like any miserable cur, nor put on that smirk to cover up your +own acts, though I ain't afraid but what I can come out ahead, and fight +my own battles, if you do show the white feather. Where would you be +to-day, I'd like to know, if I'd let you gone on with that overgrown +tribe of your'n? You know you'd never been worth a cent durin' the whole +of your natural life!" + +"You're right there, Marthy," he answered again, meekly enough. + +"Do you know, Miss Graystone, that I'd never had this two thousand +dollars, that I've managed to scrape together, if that smart, managing +woman of mine hadn't scrimped and saved beyond everything you ever saw. +'Taint every man that's got a treasure like mine, I can tell you." + +And truly they had not, for it does not often fall to the lot of mortal +man to find in one little, insignificant figure, dwarfish alike in soul +and body, such a compound of selfishness, duplicity, meanness, and +vulgarity, as was centered in the object of that gentleman's affection. + +Of the many conjugal scenes to which Clemence was an unwilling witness, +varying from light skirmishes over the breakfast-table, to hysterics +and a doctor, with the neighbors called in, in the evening, it would be +impossible to speak at length. It has been affirmed, that, in time, one +will get accustomed to anything, and Clemence had attained to such a +proficiency in maintaining a non-committal air, that these little +diversions would not have disturbed her equanimity, as she solaced +herself with the reflection that, "after a storm comes a calm," but for +the fact that this belligerent couple had an unhappy faculty of making +up their differences at the expense of a third party, and it became her +unhappy fate, as the last new comer, to stand in the place Johnny had +formerly been devoted to, as the unfortunate third. Happily, however, +for her nerves, her stay was short with these inhospitable entertainers. + +"Where are you going when you leave here, Miss Graystone," asked Mrs. +Brier, on the last morning of her stay. + +"To Mrs. Hardyng's," said Clemence, with a sigh of relief. + +"Possible!" was the exclamation, "seems to me your one of the favored +ones. No other teacher ever went there before. She don't patronize the +school, and keeps herself to herself pretty much. I hear she's took +quite a notion to you. Is it true?" + +"I believe we are very good friends," said Clemence. + +"Do you know anything about her," was the next query. "Strikes me, I'd +want to find out who I'd struck up an intimacy with, if I was in your +place, and if you have learned anything about that singular woman, your +smarter than the whole town of Waveland put together. It looks +suspicious to me to see anybody so close mouthed about their affairs; +looks as if they wouldn't stand investigation, and they're afraid to let +'em see daylight. I like things all fair and above-board, myself. + +"Brier, come to breakfast. It's getting stone-cold. Never mind that +young'un, he's gone to take the cow to pasture, and I can give him a +piece when he comes back." + +Obedient to the summons, the gentleman in question laid down a damp copy +of the Weekly Clarion, and seated himself at the table. After glibly +repeating a few words, of which Clemence could only distinguish "food +spread before us," and "duly thankful," he asked, pausing and balancing +a saucer of coffee with great dexterity on the palm of his right hand, + +"Did you read that criticism on the lady lecturer? I tell you, that same +Philemon W. Strain has a peculiar genius for that sort of an article." + +"What did you say, Brier?" asked his better half, glancing at Clemence, +as if she was the offending party, "you don't mean that a woman's got +brass enough to mount a rostrum and harangue an audience?" + +"You've just said the very thing now, Marthy. I knew you would be down +on that sort of business. Nothing masculine about you, thank goodness! +I've often felt thankful that I was spared the infliction of a +strong-minded woman. That's one thing I _couldn't_ stand." + +"Well, I guess we are agreed on that subject," said the lady, bridling +at the compliment, and allowing her thin lips to relax into the +faintest possible shadow of a smile, "for if there's one thing I +absolutely abhor, it's these so-called intellectual women. To my mind, a +woman that pushes her way along to a profession, or aspires to address +the public, either through the medium of the pen, or on the rostrum, +ought to be banished from good society, and frowned upon by all +respectable married women. It's disgraceful, outrageous, scandalous!" +and, as she uttered, vehemently, these ejaculations, the greenish gray +eyes flashed upon Clemence a look so malicious and spiteful, as to have +a totally opposite effect from what it was intended, for she returned it +with one of quiet amusement, and burst out laughing. She saw at once +that the conversation had been introduced solely for her own benefit, +and wondered how they should surmise that she could possibly be +interested in it. This was the oddest couple she had met in all her +peregrinations. Mr. Brier was naturally greatly superior to his wife, as +Mrs. Wynn had said, but was biased in his opinions by that lady, who +ruled him with no gentle sway. With another woman, whose society would +have had a tendency to elevate him, there is no telling what this man +might have become. But having been entrapped into an early marriage, +with a woman of inferior intellect and but little ambition, he had sunk +down several grades lower than nature intended him. + +He felt this, too, even after all these years had drifted aimlessly +away, and the knowledge did not make him better. He grew morose and +cynical, hating everybody who did not move in his own narrow circle. As +one might suppose, he had not many friends, and his life was not a happy +one. + +"How much misery there is in the world," thought Clemence, as she walked +towards the school-house. It seems as if almost every one had some +secret sorrow of their own--and what a singular and deplorable effect +grief has upon some people, rendering them selfish, and closing the +heart to pity, instead of remembering their own sorrows, only to +commiserate and alleviate those of others. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +That evening, as Clemence sat alone with her friend, she asked her the +question which had perplexed herself, and which she had never been able +to solve: "Ulrica, why are so many people unhappy?" + +"Child, I cannot tell you," replied the elder woman, mournfully; "for +myself, I know that I have for many years considered life a burden to +me, instead of the glorious boon our Creator designed it. You have never +asked me anything of my former life, but, to-night, the feeling is +strong upon me to speak of the past, for I feel strangely in need of +sympathy." + +She bowed her head upon her hands, and great tears coursed down her pale +cheeks, while Clemence sat in wondering silence; then, recovering +herself, she began in a low tone: + +"I was the only child of wealthy and indulgent parents. From my infancy +every want was eagerly anticipated by loving friends, who made my will +and pleasure paramount to everything, and who were ever subjected to my +imperious rule. At eighteen, I was a spoiled child, without the least +knowledge of the world, or of the duties and responsibilities of life. +Then my parents died, and left me to the guardianship of a vain and +worldly-minded aunt, who became fond of me, in her way, because of my +beauty and great wealth. + +"I mingled a good deal in society, and of course, being an heiress had +many opportunities for marriage. However I was very fond of admiration, +and soon succeeded in establishing a reputation for being a thorough +coquette. At heart, I felt a supreme contempt for those who sought me on +account of those 'golden attractions,' without caring to look beyond. +Had I been differently brought up, I believe I would not have been what +I am to day, a lonely and heart-broken woman, for, though passionate and +somewhat overbearing, I had many good impulses, which, if rightly +trained, might have made me wiser and better. But I was left solely to +the guidance of my own will, and every idle caprice and foolish whim +were always indulged to the utmost. Among all the gentlemen whom I met +at this season, there were only two in whom I felt the least interest. +For one of them, Wainwright Angier, I had a profound regard. I knew that +he was my true friend. It was my nature to despise those whom I could +bend to my will. He had too much manly independence for this, and +conscientiously abstained from flattery. When I did wrong, he +remonstrated earnestly, and when I told him that his advice was not +solicited, looked grieved and reproachful. He was far from my ideal of +perfection, however. It is commonly supposed that people are attracted +towards their opposites, but though Wainwright Angier's character and +personal appearance differed widely from mine, yet I never dreamed, in +those days, of loving him. He was pale and intellectual looking, with +clear, penetrating eyes, and a firm, determined mouth. But his voice +was, I think, his greatest attraction for me, for I am one of the few +who take as much pleasure in an agreeable voice, as in gazing at a +beautiful face. + +"The other, Geoffrey Westbourne--how shall I describe him? Tall and +commanding in figure, with glossy purple-black hair, and the midnight +eyes that matched it, he was eminently handsome, and, as everybody +agreed, a splendid conversationalist. Notwithstanding his acknowledged +superiority to all others, and the fact that he was petted and caressed +by every one, I felt an instinctive repugnance to him, that for a long +time I tried in vain to overcome. Perhaps it was because I had heard him +so highly spoken of, that I was ready to find fault. However that maybe, +I felt a secret antipathy to this man. Would I had been allowed to +follow the warning conveyed in these first impressions, what a world of +misery I had then escaped! + +"'Well, how did you like him?' queried my aunt, after our first meeting. +'Isn't he splendid?' + +"'Not to my taste,' was my reply. 'To tell the truth, I was not very +agreeably impressed by your Mr. Westbourne.' + +"'Shocking!' exclaimed the astonished lady, with upraised hands. 'That +girl will surely be an old maid. She has no taste. Not like him, when he +is already deep in love with you? Ulrica, this is arrant coquetry.' + +"She had reason to think so afterwards, for the subject of our +conversation soon became a constant visitor at the house. He _was_ +handsome, talented and agreeable, besides, all my lady friends were +dying with envy. I felt flattered by his preference, and in time forgot +my early dislike, or remembered it only to wonder and laugh at my +foolish, school-girl fancies. Yet, at times, when I was alone, and had +time for thought, a strange, undefined feeling would steal over me, +amounting to a dread of impending evil, which I could not easily shake +off. Another thing troubled me. Aunt Emily annoyed me, by ceaseless +inquiries as to the result of my acquaintance with Mr. Westbourne. I saw +that to secure him for me was the one object of her ambition. I +remonstrated at this feeling, pained at her want of delicacy. + +"One day, when she had been questioning me as usual, I replied, +indignantly; 'Why, any one would think you were tired of me, and wanted +me out of your way, you seem so anxious about my having an establishment +of my own. I am very well contented as I am, and neither expect nor +desire a change.' + +"'Now, do listen to reason, child,' she rejoined. 'You must know that it +is my great anxiety for your welfare that induces me to take upon myself +all this care and trouble. Tell me how old you are, Ulrica?' + +"'Twenty-one,' I said sullenly. + +"'And you have been out three seasons, and people are beginning to talk. +They say it is because you don't wear well, and the men only flirt with +you and leave you.' + +"'As if I cared what they say!' I burst forth in my exasperation. 'Thank +heaven, I am independent of everybody's opinion.' + +"'Yes, in a measure,' pursued Aunt Emily's calm voice, 'but not wholly. +Society has claims upon you which you cannot disregard. I wish you were +more willing to consult my wishes, and would pay some little attention +to my advice,' she added, plaintively. + +"'What do you want of me?' I demanded imperiously; 'tell me, in heaven's +name, and have done with it.' + +"'Now you are sensible. I want you to find out just how you are situated +in regard to the gentleman we have been remarking upon, and, to be +plain, I've set my heart on your marrying him.' + +"'Mr. Angier,' announced a servant in the doorway. We had been so busily +engaged in our discussion that we had not heard the bell. My aunt rose +and retreated. 'It's only Angier, excuse me to him,' and she glided +though a side door. + +"I rose to welcome the visitor, with a clouded brow, and eyes that +sparkled ominously. I was thoroughly out of humor. It was an unlucky +morning. Before he left, Wainwright Angier made me an offer of his heart +and hand. I refused him at once, coldly and decidedly. + +"'Is it because you prefer another?' he asked, agitatedly. + +"'No, that is not the reason,' I replied, proudly. 'I value you highly +as a friend, but nothing more. I am very sorry this has occurred, but +_you_ at least will exculpate me from the charge of coquetry. I never +dreamed of this.' + +"'I know,' he answered, sadly enough. 'It is as I feared. And now let me +ask you, as one whose happiness has long been dearer to me than my own, +do you ever expect to be happy with such a man as Geoffrey Westbourne? +Do not ascribe my motive to jealousy, for, believe me, I am incapable of +a base action. It is only out of the deepest solicitude for your welfare +that I ask this question, for I fear for your future happiness, and that +you may be fatally mistaken in this man.' + +"'You are impertinent, sir,' I said, rising. 'Geoffrey Westbourne is +nothing to me, and you need not fear that my affections will be +misplaced. I must respect the man I love, and look up to him as my +superior.' My pride was hurt, now, and I was thoroughly angry. + +"'Pardon me,' he said, also rising, then added brokenly--'Remember that +my heart is always open to you. I am sadly afraid that you do not +understand your own feelings. Farewell, we may never meet again, but my +last prayer will be for your happiness.' + +"As he went into the hall, the figure of a man stopped him, and Geoffrey +Westbourne called out cheerily; + +"'Well met, Angier! What! how pale you look; you are ill. Let me go with +you to your lodgings. I will excuse myself to the ladies.' + +"'Thank you, I am quite well,' said Angier, in a low voice. 'I will not +detain you. Good bye.' + +"I never saw a face so radiant as was that of Geoffrey Westbourne, as he +entered the room where I stood, hardly knowing whether to withdraw and +ignore these embarrassing circumstances, or meet him in as collected a +manner as possible. + +"I had no choice. As was always the case, in this man's presence, I +seemed to have no will of my own. I feared him, and when he repeated the +same question, in almost the very words his friend had uttered, I gave +a far different reply. But, if not dictated by inclination, I knew that +it was expected of me by every one. It almost seemed as if circumstances +had forced me to choose this alternative, and I accepted my fate in +complete indifference. + +"In three months we were married, and went abroad. We travelled over +Europe at our leisure, visiting its gay capitals and fashionable +resorts, its different objects of interest famed in history and romance, +and, after an extended tour, returned again to our native land, taking +up a stylish residence in a fashionable quarter of the city, that had +been my former home. My means seemed inexhaustible, but, somewhat to my +astonishment, I found, after marriage, that Geoffrey Westbourne's sole +dependence was upon expectations, which were extremely liable to remain +forever unfulfilled. I knew now that he had married me for my fortune, +for he had told me so with his own lips. He had a double motive in this, +for aside from a feeling of relief in throwing aside the mask of +devotion, was a petty spite on account of my former indifference to him. +I do not think he ever loved me, nor was he capable, in my opinion, of a +pure, unselfish affection for any human being. All he cared for was the +gratification of self. I mourned bitterly, in secret, over this ruin of +my hopes. I had no one to sympathize with me now. Aunt Emily was no +more, and she had been my one true friend, for her affection, if +misguided, was at least sincere. + +"I thought often in those days, of the love of my girlhood, for I knew +now that it had been sinful in me to turn from the path that had opened +before me into perfect trust and peace, and walk blindly over withered +hopes to a loveless future. Time had shown me that I esteemed Wainwright +Angier more highly in those days than the man who was now my husband. +But I never spoke of him, and I dared not ask his fate, for I knew my +husband hated his memory. But one sad day, when, with Geoffrey, I walked +down the long winding avenues of the cemetery, and read among these +stranger's graves the name I sought, I think reason must have for a time +deserted me. I had only one memory, and the words 'my last prayer will +be for your happiness,' rang again and again in my ear. I knelt down at +the grave and poured out my grief in all the eloquence of despair, +regardless of him who looked coldly on. I was wild with mournful agony. +After that day I never knew one hour of happiness. My husband turned +from me to strangers. He had never cared for me, and now I was hated and +shunned. His one desire became to relieve himself of my unwholesome +presence. + +"In the first year of our marriage, I had, on learning of his +impoverished condition, placed my entire property at his disposal. It +had been a free gift, for I wanted him to see that I trusted him +implicitly. I was now completely at his mercy. I had always been lavish +of my means, for whatever faults I may have preserved, avarice and +parsimony were not of their number. I learned now that I had committed a +very foolish act. I had nothing with which to help myself, and was +completely under his control. + +"Suddenly, at a great commercial crisis, everything was swept from us. +'We are now,' said my husband, 'for the first time on an equal footing. +The fortune, which you brought me, has been lost from no carelessness +upon my part. We are engulfed in one common ruin with others who have +before stood steadfast through similar trials. We shall both suffer in +common, for I have lost that for which I sacrificed myself, and have now +nothing to console me. I presume you have learned that fact before this, +Mrs. Westbourne, and know that I married you for the glittering prize +which has just slipped from my grasp.' + +"'Oh! Geoffrey,' I exclaimed, 'do not be so cruel.' + +"'You call it cruelty,' he replied, 'but I say it is a terrible fact. I +never cared for but but one woman on earth, and I broke her heart when I +told her that I had forever placed a barrier between us by my own _act_. +She died soon after our marriage.' + +"'Why have I not known of this before?' I asked. 'Why tell me after so +long a time, when there can be no reparation for the crime? It was a +double wrong you committed when you broke one woman's heart and made +another's whole life desolate. I never dreamed you cared for another.' + +"'There I had the advantage of you, my dear,' he said coolly. 'I knew +you were a little too fond of young Angier for my interest. If I had +cared enough about you I should have been furiously jealous, but merely +having an eye to the pecuniary advantage, I let the little dream go on +until I was pleased to put an end to it. Could I have forseen this hour +I would have acted far differently.' + +"A week after he came in with a face pale with excitement. 'Such +glorious news,' he exclaimed. 'By the luckiest train of accidents I have +come into possession of a clear hundred thousand, and I don't think I +shall very deeply deplore the demise of the venerable individual who +departed this life just at the right moment.' + +"I was nearly happy at this announcement. I thought now I could rely on +his magnanimity. I reflected that I had bestowed everything upon him in +my prosperity, and I hoped that now he would, at least, be more +considerate of my feelings. + +"But I was unhappily disappointed. 'The tables are turned now, my dear,' +he said, triumphantly. 'Instead of _my_ house and furniture, _my_ +servants, and _my_ money, it is quite another story, and henceforth I +shall have a word to say as to the manner in which _my_ means shall be +invested.' + +"He was true to his word. I was left absolutely penniless. If my +wardrobe needed replenishing I had to tell him the exact amount it would +take for each article. I had, too, nothing to bestow upon charitable +objects, for he had always condemned my efforts to relieve others as +indiscriminate charity, that did more harm than good. He bought +everything that was consumed in the house, and hired and paid the +servants himself. This was something new for him to do. My domestics had +been well trained, and wholly under my control, having been long in my +aunt's family, and accustomed to my ways. My husband had often heard me +say that it would be impossible to keep house without these faithful +attendants, for I was totally inexperienced in such matters. + +"Now, however, he dismissed them all, and surrounded me with strangers. +My remonstrances were unheeded. 'This is _my_ house, Mrs. Westbourne,' +he would say. 'Henceforth everything shall go as I wish, and if not +agreeable to you, I can gladly dispense with your company altogether.' + +"I soon found that this was the one object dear to him. My presence +grew, every day, seemingly more intolerable. This new trouble nearly +overwhelmed me. I learned now that the means that were denied me, was +daily lavished upon others among whom my name was a by-word. One day the +postman brought me a letter, in an unknown hand. It ran thus: + + MADAM:--Why do you look so frightfully ill? Every one is remarking + upon your altered appearance. You have everything to make you + happy. Your husband is handsome, and generous as a prince. To prove + it: yesterday he gave me five hundred dollars, and to-day I clasped + upon my arm a splendid bracelet, flashing with beautiful gems, also + his gift. The wheel of fortune turns, and those who were poor and + obscure but yesterday, are rich to-day. _Your_ day of power is + over. Do not be the last to see it. Show some spirit. Be up and + doing. Your society has lost its charm for your husband, and he + finds his only happiness in the love of another who can appreciate + him better than you have ever done. Very well! seek your own + affinity, and find a new Eden. Don't fret and cry till your eyes + are red and swollen, and your whole appearance hideous. It will + only recoil on your own head. Nobody will pity you, and the world + will pass on and forget you. Live while you live, and leave + to-morrow to take care of to-morrow. Remember, "It is a folly to no + other second, to wish to correct the world.--CAROLINE." + +"This was followed by others of the same nature. It finally became an +understood thing that Geoffrey should pass nearly all of the time he +could snatch from business, with women of this class. If I questioned +him, he would laugh rudely, and ask me how I was going to help myself. + +"There was, indeed, but one way, either to bear all this quietly, +without murmur or reproach, or else obtain a legal separation. I knew +that this was his sole object, and would have complied with it, for my +soul sickened of this life; but, I had a child, a delicate girl, and he +forbade me to take her away. I could not part with my baby daughter; +better even this wretched existence, and so I continued to watch and +wait, and pray God not to forget me in my dire extremity. As time +passed, and my husband saw that he could not move me, he grew impatient, +and took still harsher measures. + +"I have every reason to believe that Geoffrey Westbourne, about this +time, made attempts upon my life. He was, however, very careful of his +reputation, and had to be exceedingly circumspect in his movements. But +I foiled him on every occasion. Then I fell sick, and lay for weeks +unconscious. I had the cruelest treatment during my entire illness, and +it was only God's mercy that at length restored me again to something +like health, in opposition to every effort of my enemy's. It left me +almost a confirmed invalid. Before strangers, I had every care and +attention, and when I was ready to sit up, many friends called to +inquire about my health. As soon as I became convalescent, I had +resolved to appeal to my friends for aid and sympathy, but I now saw +that it would be impossible. Had I opened my lips upon the subject, my +nearest friends would have at once been convinced that my sickness had +alienated my reason. My husband was apparently filled with the deepest +anxiety and solicitude for my recovery, and appearences I felt to be +against me. I hoped, though, that there would be a cessation from all +persecution, at least for a time. But this was not to be. + +"'You are evidently a great deal better, Mrs. Westbourne!' my husband +said to me, one evening, when we were alone together. + +"'Yes, thank God!' I exclaimed fervently, 'I am now nearly restored to +health again.' + +"'You do well to thank God, and not me,' he said with a withering sneer, +'you owe me no gratitude for the same.' + +"'How you must hate me!' I said, trembling at his tones. + +"'Hate you!' he replied, with his face to the very lips livid with +passion, 'if I could strike you out of existence this moment, as you sit +there, I would be almost willing to serve a score of years for the +privilege, and even submit to bear the felon's brand upon my person, +through the remainder of my life. You are a clog and an impediment in +the way of my happiness, the one encumbrance to be got rid of at any +sacrifice. It shall be done! I swear it shall be done, if the heavens +fall and the earth rocks to its foundations!' + +"'What shall I do?' Oh, what shall I do?' I cried helplessly. + +"'Do!' he hissed, 'listen to me. A short time ago I was so weary of you, +that, with hardly a reason I sought to rid myself of your presence. I +then proposed a separation upon any terms that pleased you, not thinking +it likely that I should ever marry again. I would have been generous +then, had you yielded to my wishes. Since then the aspect of affairs +have changed. I have met the woman whom I have willed shall rule over +this house in your place. She is gloriously beautiful, proud as a queen +and as rich. I desire to appear to the best advantage before her, and I +shall not scruple at the means. I want all the world to think that I am +an injured husband.' + +"'Perhaps you have forgotten your old friend Halleck. He called often +during your illness, to inquire after you, and manifested much interest +in your case. I learned that he was quite attentive to you during my +absence last summer. You see you have been thoughtless enough to give me +just the advantage I wanted, Mrs. Westbourne, and I can bring a dozen +witnesses to prove your infidelity, when I want them. + +"'You may have guessed from what I have said thus far, that I propose to +apply for a bill of divorce at no distant day.' + +"I was perfectly stupefied at this announcement. 'You surely will not +commit this great wrong, Geoffrey,' I exclaimed. 'You do not wish, nor +need me to tell you that I am innocent of the charge.' + +"'No,' he said slowly, in a more softened tone, though the hard lines +around the firm mouth never relaxed, and the cold eyes regarded me with +a fixed, relentless gaze. 'No, I do not. Here, with none to overhear +us, I will tell you truly that I do not believe you guilty of this crime +which I am about to charge against you, and to prove before the world. +You were a spoiled, capricious beauty when I met with you, and I, merely +a fortune hunter. Our marriage was a fatal mistake. But you have +discharged your duties faithfully, and I know it will be a satisfaction +in the future to have this to reflect upon. + +"'Do not think, though, that you can swerve me from my purpose. We are +best apart. Your life will pass quietly and happily in some grateful +retreat, all the happier for this storm that now threatens your peace. +You will have nothing to regret. The world will make the most of the +nine day's wonder, and then it will be forgotten. As for me my lot is +chosen. Wealth and power are essential to my happiness. I must be looked +up to as a person of position and influence, and I prefer to be feared +rather than loved. The wealth I shall gain with the hand of this woman, +whom fate has destined to be your successor, will place me upon the very +pinnacle of prosperity. It is a temptation too strong to be resisted.' + +"'Of course you, as the victim, will cry out against the cruelty of the +act, but it will be of no avail. I grant that I am doing you an +injustice, and you will assail me with tears and entreaties, but, when +my stoical indifference renders them useless, you will threaten me with +future retribution, and cry out that God will never permit such +injustice; but I shall not pause, nor relent. I am no better, nor yet +worse, than others. Here, in a Christian community, deeds similar to +mine are perpetrated every day, and strong-handed _might_, reeking with +crime, flaunts its purple and fine linen in the high places of the +earth, while persecuted and down-trodden innocence creeps away to hide +its sorrows in the grave. It is the way of the world, and I choose to +follow no other leader.' + +"'But the child, Geoffrey,' I gasped, 'my precious child; only let me +take her with me, give me her company in my exile, and I will do all you +would have me.' + +"'No,' he insisted, sternly. 'She is my daughter, and I prefer to have +her brought up under my own immediate supervision. I wish to make a lady +of Miss Westbourne, and I do not consider you a proper person to be +entrusted with the charge.' + +"'And you would rob a mother of her only child? God has forgotten me, or +he would surely punish such iniquity!' + +"I could say no more; my strength failed me; the room grew dark, and I +fell forward at the feet of my enemy. + +"It was weeks before I was again able to leave my room. During this time +I pondered deeply upon the course which it was best to pursue. I was +without money or friends, and, therefore, utterly unable to help myself. +I had always been a proud, independent girl, generally more envied and +admired than loved. I had not cared to make many friends, and now I had +none to turn to in this emergency. I felt completely crushed and +heart-broken. Meanwhile, my husband took care to inform me that his +feelings remained unchanged, and that he was still firm in his +resolution to rid himself of me. I now learned that he had employed +legal advice in the matter. As he had said, he would not scruple at the +means to accomplish his object. + +"I thought of all this till my brain grew dizzy, and my heart ached with +its weight of woe. At last I determined to leave the place where I had +endured so much misery. I made a few preparations; knelt and asked God +to forgive me if I was doing wrong, and turned upon the threshold of my +chamber to give it a last look upon earth. + +"Everything looked quiet and peaceful, as if this was the abode of +contentment. I could not repress a sigh, and my eyes were blinded with +tears, as I turned to go into the nursery. + +"'Jane, go to your supper,' I said, authoritatively, to the servant, who +sat rocking the child's cradle. The girl looked up sullenly, and I think +she suspected at once my design. My heart sank within me as I moved +forward to the side of the unconscious little one. + +"'Shure,' said the girl, eyeing me narrowly, 'you'll be after finding it +warm here with that great shawl around you. It looks better for +travelin' than a lady's parlor, and would be more becoming to the likes +of me, than your own illegant shoulders.' + +"It was true. I was detected. Was there no hope? + +"I grew desperate, for I knew this would all be repeated to her master +in the morning. This girl was nothing but a well-paid spy upon his +wife's actions. + +"I became indignant as hope fled. 'Did you hear me?' I commanded. 'Go +down stairs to your supper, immediately. I wish to be left alone with my +daughter.' + +"Instantly the expression of her face changed to one of cringing +submission, and she rose and dropped a little deprecatory curtesy. + +"'Indeed, ma'am, I've had me tay. Ann brought it up, for I takes me +meals here now, accordin' to the masters' orders. Please, ma'am, shall I +take away the shawl, and fetch you the one you always wear?' + +"'No, stay where you are,' I said, sinking into a chair, and dropping my +head into my hands to hide my disappointment from the keen eyes that +watched me. + +"Presently there was a kind of gasping, strangling sound from the +cradle. The girl sprang forward with a sudden cry of fear. + +"I was beside her in an instant. The child was in convulsions. + +"Then followed a scene of wild confusion. Every thing was immediately +done for the little sufferer that could be thought of, in the moment of +terror, and the best medical advice called in. + +"But our efforts were unavailing. When the gray morning light stole in +at the window, little Lina lay like a waxen lily, and her spirit had +returned to Him who gave it. While I, her unhappy mother, could not +grieve now that this was so, but rather felt thankful that she was +sheltered in the loving arms of the Good Shepherd. For her there was no +more sorrow, nor crying, neither was there any more pain. + +"When the funeral rites were over, and I could think calmly, continued +the lady, I realized how this child's loss would affect my future. I had +now no object to strive for. Had my little Lina lived, God only knows +how all this would have ended. I could never have given her up to the +father who did not love her. I would have struggled desperately for my +child while life lasted. For myself, I cared not. I had thought that +night, when my innocent darling was so suddenly taken from me, of +fleeing away with her to some place of safety, until this storm had +passed, but now that she was no more, I had no fears. + +"I knew, though, that a change must come soon. My husband was resolute +and never abandoned a purpose once formed. I was fully aware that I need +not expect any mercy at his hands, neither that our mutual loss would +soften his heart. It had, indeed, quite a contrary effect. + +"'There is now no obstacle to a separation,' he said, once, speaking of +our differences. 'We have now no longer any interest in common. If you +will go your way, quietly and peaceably, I will provide for your wants, +by settling a life-long annuity upon you. Of course this sum would not +be large, for you will not require a great deal to sustain you in +comparative comfort. Now, that you have no means of your own, of course +you must expect to live in a different manner from that to which you +have been accustomed. And a divorced woman will not be expected to make +a very lavish display either. I trust that your own good sense will +teach you the necessity of living in as retired a manner as possible. +Furthermore, I shall expressly stipulate that you remove to a +considerable distance from your former home. I do not wish any fresh +scandal to give the gossips a continual feast. If you submit to my +conditions we can effect this quietly. If not, then it is war between +us.' + +"'And a court of justice to decide for the right,' I added. + +"'Justice!' he sneered. 'You are old enough to realize that it is but an +empty name. What could a defenceless woman, without means to help +herself, do against a man of my wealth and standing. You can effect +nothing by braving me. Look at this proposition, as coolly as possible, +and reflect well before you decide upon anything permanently. It can not +be that you have more affection for me than I for you, for I am sensible +that my course has not been such as would be naturally expected to win a +woman's regard. However, I do not value your opinion in the least, so +that fact does not annoy as much as you might think. It is true, I might +be more polite in stating the case, but you will agree with me that I +put the facts plainly enough for your understanding.' + +"'I would further advise you to proceed as I have proposed, simply from +a wish to spare your feelings. I believe you to be an honest woman, and +I should dislike to be obliged to attack your character in public. If +you were to go away, of your own accord, to some quiet place, I think +you would find the change agreeable. You would, of course, resume your +maiden name, and nobody, unless you chose to inform them, could, by any +possibility, become aware of your former history. I would then place in +the hands of my lawyer, and subject to your disposal, a sum which I +would set aside for your own use, giving you a yearly income of five +hundred dollars. You could live plainly, but comfortably on this sum.' + +"'Hush!' I commanded. 'Geoffrey Westbourne, how dare you add insult to +injury? You have spent, to your own knowledge, a large fortune of mine. +I blush to think that I have ever called you husband, when you offer +this last indignity to the daughter of Wilbour Hardyng. You have already +said more than enough upon this subject. We will dismiss it if you +please.' + +"'Very well,' he replied, 'I will leave you to think over it at your +leisure. Good-bye for the present. I leave, to-day, for a neighboring +city, where I shall remain a week, at least.' + +"The good-bye, thus carelessly spoken, was destined to be a final one. +When Geoffrey Westbourne again returned to his home, I was not there to +receive him. I never looked upon his face but once again. I took with me +all of my clothing, and the Hardyng plate and jewels, which were my own +exclusive property. I had also a small sum of money to bear my expenses. + +"My husband never sought to learn my whereabouts, content that I should +have given him the advantage he desired. After a sufficient length of +time had elapsed, he obtained a divorce on the ground of desertion, and +married the woman he had determined should be his. They seemed happy to +all outward appearances, and lived in absolute splendor, such as their +united wealth enabled them. + +"I had removed to a distant city, where none recognized in the sable +clad widow, the former brilliant belle and heiress. I once visited my +old home and saw them together; and he, the false one, smiled fondly +upon the usurper of my rights. Then I crept away, weary of life, to this +secluded spot, to pass the remainder of my days, where there was nothing +to remind me of what I once had been.' + +"My darling, have I saddened you with my melancholy story?" she asked, +looking down fondly into the tear wet eyes of the young girl who had +come and knelt beside her. Clemence could not trust her voice to speak, +and the proud woman clasped her closer, as they mingled their tears +together. "How meet," said the girl at last, softly rising, "should we, +who have suffered, be united by a bond of affection and sympathy!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +When the hour of separation came, Clemence regretted that she must again +leave her friend's hospitable roof for that of strangers. She thought, +ruefully, of Mrs. Brier, and hoped that these new people might not be of +their order. + +Her wish was destined to be fulfilled. The plain, simple little woman, +who came forward to welcome her, when she stopped at farmer Owen's, +certainly did not look very formidable or repulsive. + +"Come in," she said, apparently not a little disconcerted, as Clemence's +figure appeared in the doorway. "You'll find everything at sixes and +sevens. I tried to get cleaned up a little before you got here, but the +baby was so cross, I had to sit down and hold him most of the afternoon. +He's just gone to sleep, and left me with all this work, and supper to +get for half a dozen hands, beside." + +"Now, that is really unfortunate," said Clemence, kindly. "Can't I help +you in some way?" + +"_You_," said Mrs. Owen, stepping backwards, and surveying the dainty +figure in the utmost consternation, "I guess not, why, what in earth +could you do in the housework line?" + +"Oh, a good deal, I dare say, if I were to try," said Clemence laughing. +"You know, 'where there's a will there's a way,' and if you will tell me +how, I am sure I will gladly assist you." + +"No," was the reply. "You just sit still and I'll fly round and kinder +hoe out some of this dirt. You don't look as if you had been accustomed +to this sort of thing. Why, of the two, now I suppose, if the truth +should be known, you are more tired with your work than I am with mine, +cross baby and all; just think of it, when I was a girl, a day's work +like this was nothing at all to do, and I was always ready to go to a +dance, or something of that sort, to pass away time. There's a great +difference in folks about that." + +"I believe you," said Clemence, watching her with interest, as she moved +around, bringing literally 'order out of chaos.' "It seems to me, that +no amount of practice could fit me for such work as this. I suppose, of +course, I could learn in time, by giving strict attention to it, to be a +fair housekeeper; but my experience in boarding round has proved that I +do not belong to the class of persons whom they denominate here as +'handy.' I have seen women enter a neighbor's house in time of trouble, +and move about as if accustomed to everything, and always know the very +place to go and find an article when wanted, without asking tiresome +questions, or put an article in its appropriate receptacle when not +needed, without being told. But, for myself, though always willing, I am +generally apt, like to-day, to sit still and wish I could be of use to +somebody, instead of being always in the way." + +"That's because you were born to be waited on, and not to serve," said +the little woman, good-naturedly. + +"Then I am sadly out of place," replied Clemence, with a sigh. "I am +inclined to think, however, that you are more liberal in your views than +the rest of our sex. Most of them would tell me that the reason of my +lack of capacity, was because I did not cultivate my faculties properly, +or, in plain terms, that I was lazy." + +"I don't see that either," responded the other. "A man works just so +many hours a day, and comes home feeling that his duty is done, and lies +down, if he feels inclined, or swears at the children for being noisy +and troublesome, and walks off to amuse himself, leaving his tired wife +at home, to go on with her work till midnight, if she can't get it done +before. Nobody thinks of calling _him_ anything but a poor hard working +body, slaving himself to death, for the good of his family. But a +woman--just mark the difference. I suppose, though, I need not follow +out that side of the picture?" she added shrewdly. + +"Surely, no," said Clemence, "I know too well by sad experience. Why, +Mrs. Owen, I never feel the privilege of sitting down after the labors +of the day have wearied mind and body, without offering my services, +ignorant as I am of housekeeping, and awkward as I know I must be. What +would be said of me, if I did not assist in getting tea, or washing the +dishes, and even helping through with the Saturday's work, to say +nothing of the Sunday dinner, with its numberless guests to be waited +upon and entertained, upon the one day appointed for rest." + +"Poor little thing! It's a hard life for such a delicate body as you. +I've heard you was rich once; was it true?" she asked inquisitively. + +"Yes, madam," said Clemence, "this is a new experience for me." + +"Well, it's hard," she said again. "I can't help but pity people that's +always been used to having everything they wanted, and suddenly find +themselves poor, and without anything to help themselves with. I know +some folks are glad when the proud are brought down to their own level, +and say that a little humiliation will do them good, but I ain't so. + +"Amos and me started poor enough, I can tell you. All we had in the +world was a little outfit of beddin' and dishes that father gave me, and +Amos made the furniture himself. But we was both strong and active, and +what was better _willing_, and we soon got a start and have kept goin' +ahead ever since. There ain't anybody around here that's better off now. +There's only one drawback, I think my man's _too_ savin. He's had to +deny himself so long, that now, although we are in pretty easy +circumstances, he thinks he can't afford a good many things that other +people, poorer than we are, call the very necessaries of life. For +instance, I dress poorer than any woman in the place; Amos even limits +the number of calico dresses that I have; I get three a year, and one I +have to put away to sort o' slick up in. I hain't got a delaine one to +my name. + +"Sometimes I get my temper up, and tell him I will have something to +wear as well as other folks, but he says he goes without as well as I, +and there ain't no use of our laying out everything for finery. + +"Don't you think its about time for me to strike for something that +people, that call themselves decent, have to wear?" + +"Why," said Clemence, truthfully, seeing she was expected to make some +reply, "don't that seem a little like injustice? It can't be right to +deny yourself everything, and indulge in no relaxation after such +laborious employment. You owe something to yourself as well as others. +Of course it is wise in you to look forward to the future, and it is +perfectly natural and commendable to wish to lay up something for your +children, that their life may be easier than your own; but, have you +never thought that, after all, you may not be working for their best +interests. Supposing you should sink underneath the burden you have +assumed, and death should find you all unprepared, would you not regret +that you had spent your days thus? It does not seem as if any mother was +called upon for such sacrifices. No woman, or at least, no American +woman, can endure such severe, unremitting toil." + +Her hearer looked startled. + +"I had never taken this view of the case," she said, "but you are right. +My strength cannot always hold out, and if I should be taken away, what +would become of my little children?" + +Here the baby awoke with a scream, and the mother had enough to keep +tongue and hands busy in the effort to pacify him, and finish her +labors. As it was, tea was delayed. + +The group of tired, sun-burned men, who came up from the field, lingered +around the kitchen door, furtively watching the pretty young +schoolmistress, but not venturing to speak above a whisper, until supper +was announced, when they came in awkwardly, and took their seats. + +Clemence was duly presented to them and her host, a quiet, good-natured +looking man, and during the conversation which followed, they made some +progress towards a further acquaintance. She was pleased, too, to +observe that she had made quite a favorable impression, having formed a +plan in her mind which she now thought might be easy of accomplishment. + +Clemence Graystone was both young and enthusiastic, and she thought here +was an opportunity of benefiting one of her own sex in a quiet, +unassuming way. She took care to observe closely, much that she would +have otherwise passed unnoticed. + +"Thank heaven!" said Farmer Owen, as he came in and seated himself +wearily, on Saturday evening, "that to-morrow is a day of rest. Miss," +(turning abruptly to Clemence,) "you ought to be absolutely happy with +only a handful of young ones around you for six hours a day, and the +rest of the time to do nothing. I am beginning to think it pays to get +learning." + +The girl regarded him with a mingled expression of surprise and +amusement struggling in her face, as she replied: + +"Perhaps my life does seem an easy one to others. At least, I do not +complain." + +"No," said the farmer, "but you've foolishly added to your burdens, +taking that young one of Lynn's. Whatever induced you to do it?" + +"Nothing," she replied, quietly, "but the thought that it was my duty. +There was none other to assume the responsibility, so it rested upon +me." + +"That's sheer nonsense," he said contemptuously. "What do you suppose +would become of you now, if you should fall sick, or the child either? +In that case, it would not be much of a kindness you have done her, +filling her head with grand ideas, as I hear, about being a lady, and +all that. She'd go to the poor house all the same, and you would have +nothing to help yourself with, unless," he added, curiously, "you are +independent of your position." + +"Nothing of the kind," said Clemence. "I depend solely upon my own +efforts for support, as I have repeatedly declared in answer to similar +enquiries." + +"Then you've done an unheard of thing, that's all that I can say, and if +you expect to be thought better for it, you are mistaken, for people +will only call you a fool for your pains, and I doubt if the girl +herself will ever repay one half your efforts, or feel any gratitude for +them." + +"As to that," she said abstractedly, looking off into the gathering +twilight, "I have not expected payment and shall not be disappointed in +that case. However, I do not regret the step. On the contrary, I am +thankful for the privilege." + +"Where's the young 'un now?" he asked. "To Swan's yet?" + +Clemence nodded in the affirmative. + +"How much do you pay a week for her board?" + +"Two dollars," she said coolly. + +"And you earn how much?" + +"Five dollars per week and board." + +"And have had to clothe her besides buying what books and other articles +a child needs? Well, you are green. They say, too, you dress pretty well +yourself. Can't see how you manage it on them wages," he added, eyeing +her with a shrewd, penetrating glance. + +Clemence blushed under the close scrutiny. + +"Do you call calico expensive?" she asked, calling his attention to her +own daintily fitting one. + +"No," he answered, shifting uneasily in his seat, "of course it's the +cheapest and best thing a woman can wear, in my opinion." + +"Of course," echoed Mrs. Owen, at his elbow, "but what does a man know +about such things? But I'll tell you one thing, Amos, if calico _is_ the +cheapest and best thing a woman can wear, I am going to have enough of +it after this." + +"Well, have enough," he said impatiently, "though you will never look +pretty nor lady-like in anything. So don't flatter yourself, nor aspire +to imitate others who can. I suppose now, Miss Graystone," turning to +Clemence, "you think I don't want my wife to dress as well as others on +account of the expense; but, although I commenced poor, and have been +obliged to save pretty close, yet I never saw the time when I have not +done for my family to the extent my means afforded. Times are getting a +little easier with me now, though I ain't rich, far from it. Besides +there's another point to be considered. Now if _you_ get an article of +dress, you have some taste in making and wearing it," and he looked +admiringly at the trim figure before him; "but Susan here, completely +spoils everything she undertakes." + +"There, Amos Owen," put in the aforementioned Susan, "don't try to lay +your stinginess on my shoulders, for, goodness knows, they have burden +enough already. And that ain't so, either, you know as well as I do that +you're only saying it to be contrary." + +"Well, have it so," he said, crossly, and Clemence, to turn the subject, +asked if they were going to attend morning service on the coming +Sabbath. + +"Not I," said Mr. Owen, "it's asking altogether too much of a hard +working man like me to get up and start off as regular as the Sunday +comes, without any rest whatever. I don't feel called upon to do it, for +one. Wife, here, can answer for herself." + +"Why don't you say at once that she has not a decent dress to go in, and +you prefer to have her stay home and look after the children, while you +sleep away your time. I've no patience with you, Amos." + +"So you are boarding at Owen's?" said Mrs. Swan, when Clemence stopped +for little Ruth, on her way to meeting. + +"Yes," said Clemence, "they are an odd couple." + +"They are all of that, and more," she replied with a smile. "I should +not think you would fancy staying there much, she has the name of being +a miserable housekeeper, and a shiftless sort of body at the best." + +"Why," said the young teacher, generously, "I have not found her so. I +think she is one of the most industrious women in the place." + +"Then," said Mrs. Swan, looking with an air of pride around her own neat +little dwelling, "how is it she always has such a dirty looking house, +that you can't bear to eat a mouthful in it, and those ill-kempt, noisy +children, to say nothing of her own slovenly appearance?" + +"Because," returned Clemence, in her defence, "she has more work put +upon her than two women ought to do, and with so much expected of her, +it is not to be wondered at that she sometimes fails to achieve +everything." + +"But what a figure the woman does make of herself," said Mrs. Swan, +smoothing her own satin hair. "She spoils everything in the making up. I +never saw her in a well made garment, nor her children, either." + +"I grant," conceded Clemence, "that she has no taste, but she has little +time for its indulgence, so, perhaps, she is as well off without it. The +poor woman is a perfect drudge. She never has a pitying word, or a +sympathetic look, even from her husband. He seems to think that she is +only filling her appropriate sphere. Yet, I do not think he means to be +cruel. He, works hard himself, and expects every one around him to do +the same." + +"I'll tell you what I think about it," said Mrs. Swan, energetically, +"she never was the wife for him. With a woman who had the least +ambition, their home would present a far different aspect. As it is, you +know, Miss Graystone, it _does_ look enough to disgust a neat man like +him. No one can say, either, but what he furnishes liberally everything +necessary for the household, and she is as close and saving as he is, +for all she denies it." + +"That is all very true," responded Clemence, "but for all that, I can't +help but pity her. It seems as if their home might be rendered +pleasanter. There is enough material there to bring out, and it only +wants somebody to give them a friendly hint." + +"And you think you are just the one to do it, and that it is your +obvious duty, and all that?" said Mrs. Swan. "Now, just take my advice, +and don't burn your fingers meddling with other people's affairs, nor do +any such foolish thing for conscience sake." + +"But if I think I ought, 'to do unto others,' you know," said Clemence, +doubtingly. + +"But you had _not_ ought. Just leave matters as they are, and they will +come right of themselves, and if they don't, why, it's no fault of +yours." + +"That strikes me as a selfish policy," she said. "I can't reconcile it +with my ideas of what is right." + +"It's a safe one, for all that," was the reply. "Take heed to my words, +and let the Owen's affairs alone. You don't expect to revolutionize the +family by one effort." + +"Still, I can't help but feel sorry for this overworked woman," said +Clemence, "and what is more, I think as one of my own sex, I may be able +to do her some kindness without injury to any one. She has neither grace +nor refinement, such as most women have in common with each other, +whatever may be their position in life. I don't think that she is +naturally lazy, as you say. At the foundation, her house is always +clean. It needs somebody to keep it in order, and have a place for +everything and everything in its place,' for the lack of which it +presents this disordered appearance. I believe I can be of some use to +her, and shall try faithfully to do my whole duty in that respect." + +"You dear child," said Mrs. Swan, kindly, "you shame me by your +disinterestedness. Remember, though, if you get into any difficulty, I +have warned you solemnly, as I thought _my_ duty." + +"I will remember," said Clemence, laughing, "and in that event I shall +expect, and doubtless receive your warmest sympathy." + +After that, she went to work with a will, and was so far successful in +her praiseworthy labors, that the home of the Owen's began to wear a +look hitherto a stranger to it. With her own hands, Clemence assisted in +establishing a new order of things, and when praised by the smiling Mr. +Owen, would triumphantly bring forward some work of his wife's, which +had been executed under her own supervision, as a proof that she had +been kept down, and was not so totally deficient in taste as had been +affirmed. + +These little subterfuges, however, did not always have the desired +effect, and more than once Clemence was annoyed by an unmistakable +glance of admiration and a remark to the effect that after she left, +things would resume their former dilapidated appearance. + +"What coarse manners this person has," she would think on these +occasions, "and how much his poor wife must suffer in his boorish +society." + +She was pleased, though, and somewhat astonished, to see how readily +Farmer Owen's purse opened at her demands. + +"Amos never was so liberal to me before," said his wife, and the whole +village echoed it. + +"Mrs. Owen ought to pay you for staying there with her life-long +gratitude," said Mrs. Swan. "Let me congratulate you on your +unparalleled success in that quarter." + +"Oh," said Clemence, ingenuously, "as to that, I claim no merit for +myself. I told you it was more from a lack of knowledge upon the subject +than from intentional wrong, that this poor woman was made to suffer. It +only needed some one to point out the error." + +"You are a good girl, any way," said Mrs. Swan, by way of conclusion. +"Who but you would ever have thought of it, I should like to know?" + +It very soon became the fashion to patronize and "bring out" little Mrs. +Owen in Waveland. People awoke to a knowledge of their duty, and +regularly now, every Sabbath, she came to meeting under the care of two +or more of the prim-looking matrons. + +Clemence was pleased that they had, as she thought, at last begun to +appreciate her many excellent qualities, but she could not understand +exactly _why_ these kind people should be at such pains to flaunt their +good deeds. After much bewilderment, she came to the conclusion that +they must have thought her presuming, and considered that she ought to +be put in her place, instead of aspiring to teach them their duty. + +"As if," she thought sadly, "I could be guilty of harboring such a +thought. I am afraid I shall never make many friends in Waveland." + +She was glad when Monday morning came again, and she could resume her +school duties. At least, here was a legitimate object of interest to +occupy her mind. When the lessons were over for the day, she went back +with little Sammy Owen pattering along beside her. She seated herself, +and went to work industriously, on some sewing of Mrs. Owen's, and +applied herself so closely, that she completed the garment just as she +was called to supper. + +"Well, I have finished your dress," she said, as she came to the table. + +"And you are nearly tired to death," said Mr. Owen. "Susan, you ought +not to have allowed Miss Graystone to overwork herself." + +Clemence protested it was nothing, and that a cup of their good tea +would rest her, and the worthy couple immediately set about loading her +plate with food enough to have satisfied the appetite of a plough-boy. +And as soon as she could slip away, she left the table. + +Her hostess soon followed her, to try on the new dress. It was a pretty, +soft-tinted muslin, and made the round, plump figure look more nearly +approaching to attractiveness than it had ever done before. + +"Well, I declare," said the farmer, surveying her with satisfaction, +"that does look nice and tidy. Now, if we could always have you, Miss +Graystone, to select my wife's dresses, and cut and fit them, and +afterwards tell her how to put them on, she would look, positively, +respectable." + +"Here is a collar that I brought for you," said Clemence, pretending not +to have heard this doubtful compliment, and the delighted little woman +forthwith burst forth into a profusion of exaggerated acknowledgements +of her kindness and generosity. + +"There, Amos Owen," she exclaimed, blushing with pleasure, "what do you +think of your wife, now? You can see by this time that she ain't the one +to be kept down forever, and drudge her life away. She was born for +better things." And stepping backwards, with a self-complacent smile and +toss of her head, the little creature, unfortunately unused to fineries +of any kind, planted her foot, which was by no means a small one, upon +the delicate fabric and made an awkward rent. + +Clemence was ready to cry with vexation. Plainly, here was, at least, +another half hour's work for her tired fingers. + +Mr. Owen gave a long, low whistle, and then a shout of derisive +laughter, as he turned and went out of the house. Clemence feared that +her cause was being irreparably ruined, instead of helped along, as she +so ardently desired, by this untoward event. + +"Deary me!" said Mrs. Owen, "what _shall_ I do? I wish I'd never tried +to dress up at all. Just think how much that cost, and it's only a +stringy thing after all, and a great big rent in it before its ever worn +at all. I wish now, I'd got that calico that I wanted to. I should, if +_you_ hadn't persuaded me not to." + +If a few tears fell among the pale, pink rosebuds, with which the +condemned article was dotted as plentifully as May blossoms, it is +hardly to be wondered at. Tired, overworked, and a good deal +discouraged, the pale young teacher might be pardoned for any signs of +weakness, though she needed to gather up all her sinking courage for the +future, that lay before her lost in shadow. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +Somewhat apart from, and forming the western boundary of Waveland, was a +lovely inland lake, by the margin of which Clemence had been accustomed +to spend many sad hours, since she had become a resident of the little +village. A narrow foot-path, that led through the sombre woods, brought +her to a sheltered spot upon the sloping shore, where she often came +alone to pass an idle hour. She had come to regard this place as her own +peculiar property, for no one had ever come here to interrupt her, or +claim any portion of its solitude. + +It was a safe retreat from prying eyes, and it became to the girl, at +length, the one sacred spot where she could pour out her griefs to that +One, who looks upon His stricken children only to pity and forgive. + +She sat, now, idly watching the sun sink in the western sky, behind the +far-off hills. She thought, as she noted the sunset, that she had never +seen anything more beautiful-- + + Amber, and purple, and crimson, and blue, + Glittering shades of every hue. + Fleecy cloudlets of silver-gray, + And shroud-like white, for the dying day. + +She remembered, as her eye dwelt in admiration of the scene, of the +beautiful passages in Revelation, and of the gates of pearl and jasper, +"which shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night +there." It almost seemed as if she could drift through these cloud +portals into the peace and rest beyond. Her heart yearned for the loving +clasp of the sweet pilgrim, who had gone before, and who had entered +into "the joy of her Lord." The thought comforted her. She rose up +absently to find two curious eyes fastened upon her, while Mr. Owen's +voice said at her elbow: + +"You find this scene more congenial, it appears, than our well ordered +household, and dreaming away the hours, a much more agreeable task than +trying to make a lady of my homespun wife?" + +"Why," said Clemence, nervously, not replying to this singular speech, +"how you startled me. Who would have thought of your being here? How did +you find me? Have you any message from your wife?" + +"None, whatever," he said, regarding her strangely, and replying to her +last remark. "Do not go, just yet. Miss Graystone; I am tired, and would +like to rest." + +"In that case," returned Clemence, "I will leave you to yourself, and +walk on, and you can come at your leisure." + +"But I want to talk to you," he rejoined, detaining her, "I came here +particularly for that purpose." + +His look said more than his words, and set the girl's heart beating with +sudden fear, as she thought of the strip of silent forest that lay +between them and the town. + +"I am in haste," she said, starting hurriedly forward, "and will listen +to you when we get back to the house." + +"And that is the very last thing I intend you shall do," he rejoined, +springing from the grass, where he had thrown himself, and coming close +to her, "I tell you, I want to talk to you." + +"Well, if you have anything to say to me," she continued, hastening on, +"you can proceed as we go along, for I cannot linger. I was not aware of +its being so late, until you aroused me." + +"There, I did not think of that," he added; "Susan will miss me, and, +beside, some one might have been watching me follow you." + +"_Did_ you follow me?" questioned Clemence, thrown, for the moment, +completely off her guard. + +"Of course," he replied, studying her face intently; "how else did you +suppose I could find you in that hiding-place?" + +"I was not aware that a hard-working farmer was given to such school-boy +tricks," she said again, in tones of marked displeasure. "If you wished +to recall me, one of the children would have done the errand equally as +well." + +He laughed sarcastically. "All very proper and correct, Miss Graystone. +Perhaps I did run the risk of discovery, in my anxiety to find you, but +one cannot be always upon their guard and remember everything. You are a +'cute one, now, with that artless face. I studied for weeks before I +really made up my mind whether it was real or only put on for the +occasion." + +"Did you ever observe me before?" asked Clemence as cooly as possible, +resolved to cultivate obtuseness, and not apply his words personally, "I +suppose, now, in a quiet place like this, any stranger is subjected to +the comments and surmises of nearly all the inhabitants. By the way, how +many do you suppose the place numbers?" + +"Really, I don't know," he answered dryly, "never having the curiosity +to inquire. Perhaps the Editor could tell you. Suppose you ask him, when +you meet again, as you seem to be tolerably well acquainted." + +"Oh, I don't care so much as that about it," said Clemence, +indifferently, "and I am not sufficiently well acquainted with the +gentleman in question, to catechise him in any way." + +"Then you were not writing those verses to him, that I saw you put away +when I spoke to you?" + +The red blood flashed indignantly into Clemence's cheeks, at this +impertinence, but she had a motive in checking any manifestations of her +fear and anger, so she answered lightly: + +"Of course not, it was merely for my own amusement." + +"Ah, what an agreeable thing," he said, after a moment, "to have such +resources of pleasure. How you must despise an ignorant fellow like me." + +"There, you wrong me," she said generously, "I am incapable of such +littleness. Here, in America, where so many of our most distinguished +men have come from contact with the field or workshop, it would be folly +in me to despise any one on account of their calling." + +"But I have thought it mean, and my whole life has grown distasteful +since I met you," he said, turning suddenly and confronting her. + +They were in a tangled pathway, overgrown with clinging vines, that +interlaced themselves above and upon every side. It was impossible to +proceed with this man directly in her way, so she could only stand +immovably, trying to repress all feeling of apprehension. + +He went on rapidly--"I have wanted to go away somewhere, out of this, +and grow into something above this peasant's life; and all this only +since I have known you." + +"Well," said Clemence, giving him a glance of cold contempt, "What has +this to do with me? Such aspirations would be more appropriate for your +wife's ear, than mine, and, do you know, your present appearance is +rather more ludicrous than sensational? I could respect you at your own +fireside, or attending to your homely labors, for you were then +occupying your proper sphere; but, at present, you impress me in a +totally different manner. + +"Go back to your wife, who, if, as you declare, is not a lady, is, at +least, your equal, for you will never be a gentleman; and you can both, +if you try to do right, become happy and contented in that calling which +your parents have followed faithfully and well before you. + +"When people, who have never in the course of a long life been +remarkable for ambition, suddenly come to have aspirations, you may be +quite sure that the 'arch enemy of mankind,' who is said to be +indefatigable in providing work 'for idle hands to do,' is plotting +their certain destruction." + +She broke off abruptly, absolutely appalled by the gleam of murderous +hate that leaped into the man's fierce dark eye, as the meaning of her +words dawned upon his dulled perception. He opened his lips, which had +grown white with rage, but no sound came from them. + +The next moment a childish voice, near them, called, "Papa! where are +you?" and Clemence drew a sigh of relief, as little Sammy Owen bounded +through the bushes to her side. + +Five minutes later, she was walking alone, disconsolately, thinking of +this new trouble that threatened her peace, for she felt instinctively +that, in the last hour, she had made an enemy, to be shunned and dreaded +during the rest of her stay in Waveland. + +"Well, thank God!" she said fervently, "that I am at least _safe_. I am +innocent of any wrong intent, and I know that I shall be upheld, now, as +in every other trouble that has come to me, and in the end, find +justification." + +There was no one visible when she reached the house, but Mrs. Owen, who +sat with her dumpling of a baby, on the door-steps. + +"La!" she ejaculated, as Clemence came in sight, walking wearily enough, +"what's the matter--be you sick?" + +"No," said Clemence, sinking down beside her, "only tired." + +"Well, you look as though you had seen a ghost, at the very least. There +ain't much to you, any way, you give out the easiest of anybody I ever +see. A good night's rest will help you, and you will be all right in +the morning." + +"I have got to walk another mile before I obtain it, though," said +Clemence, rising. "I am going to spend to-morrow and Sunday with Mrs. +Hardyng." + +"No, be you?" reiterated Mrs. Owen. "Sakes alive you'll never stand it +to walk way down there, and feeling tired out before you start. It will +be dark too, before you get there. I wish Amos was here, and I'd send +him along, too, but he went off somewhere, I don't know in what +direction, and ain't even been in to his supper. That makes me think, +you ain't had your's, neither. Better stay and let me get you a cup of +tea?" + +Clemence thanked her languidly, said her friends would probably have +some waiting for her when she arrived, and bidding her good evening, +passed out of the gate, and the slight form was soon lost to view in the +deepening shadows of the night. + +The young teacher's forebodings were soon to be realized. She was right. +She _had_ made an enemy of Mr. Owen, and he determined to make her feel +it henceforward, by every means in his power. In his petty way, he was +as particular about keeping up an outside appearance of respectability, +as any aristocratic member of a rich city church might be to cover up +their own glaring deficiencies. It would have ruined him as completely +in his little circle, to have been found out in his underhand tricks, as +though he had been of the consequence in other people's estimation that +he was in his own. He had never, in all his life, been accustomed to +mingle with but one class of women, and that the ignorant, ill-bred +gossip-mongers of his own village. Consequently, he was in momentary +fear of having his recent escapade brought to light, and becoming the +laughing stock of the place, for having fallen in love with, and been +snubbed by the pretty young school mistress. + +He was possessed of a sufficient share of low cunning to enable him, +finally, to hit upon a plan by which he hoped this catastrophe might be +averted. There upon he proceeded to unfold to the astonished partner of +his joys and sorrows, that he was glad Miss Graystone had left the +house, for he considered her a dangerous person to enter any family +circle; that she had sought, with great assiduity, while she had been an +inmate of his house, to bring misery and disgrace beneath that peaceful +roof, by beguiling away the affections of the fond husband and father, +and that, like a second Joseph, he had come through the trial manfully. +This was enough, and more than enough, for a woman like the one who +listened in open-mouthed wonder to every word. + +Before a week rolled away, every one knew the story of Farmer Owen's +struggles and triumph. Not that any one, even to his own injured wife, +for a moment, believed the assertion. Not she. Even with her obtuse +intellect, she was a woman, and consequently her wits were too sharp to +allow her to be imposed upon by that palpable fiction. She knew, as well +as she wanted to, that her dear Amos had been indignantly put in his +place by Clemence, if he had made the slightest impudent advance. + +She knew, too, by intuition, that even had Clemence been of the class +her husband, governed by his malevolent feelings, wished to have her +appear, she would look higher than these boorish, homespun farmers. In +short, she fully realized that the girl despised her husband so utterly +that she barely treated him with politeness. + +But all this did not affect her in regard to the feeling she had for +Clemence now, and only a woman can understand how the knowledge of the +girl's innocence only made her hate her the more. She knew that her +husband was considered too much an object of contempt to be feared at +all in regard to what he could either say or do. + +One would have thought, too, that any one with the least generosity of +sentiment, might have remembered her praiseworthy efforts in her own +behalf, and the long hours the young teacher had spent in the vain +attempt to make her more presentable in the eyes of her friends, and +argued that this did not seem compatible with such a grave accusation as +was laid upon her. + +But all this was forgotten, or, if for a moment thought of, was put away +with a malicious feeling of triumph, that the little, plain, +down-trodden Mrs. Owen had now got into notice as an injured wife, and +by virtue of that notoriety, could, in the future, firmly maintain her +position, and refuse to be again consigned to oblivion or the kitchen. + +From this time forward, there ruled, alternately, in the little village, +two rival factions, viz:--those who supported the young school mistress, +and those who denounced her. The former were few in number, but of the +more enlightened portion of the community; the latter swarmed and buzzed +over this precious bit of gossip, like flies around molasses. + +Mrs. Wynn early declared herself in favor of injured innocence, +particularly as the dashing bewhiskered Mr. Philemon W. Strain had just +deserted Rose, after a desperate flirtation, that had engaged the +tongues and eyes of those self-same gossips, and might, possibly, at +some future day, furnish a fresh supply for their delectation. +Therefore, as a parent who had the interests of a blooming maiden to +look after and defend, the good lady took pains to array herself at once +upon the side where it was very apparent that her interests lay. While +Mrs. Dr. Little, Mrs. Brier, and other respected matrons of the place, +came out strong on the side of virtue and appearances. + +The better to further this project, a Ladies' Charitable Society was +started in Waveland, of which the Dr's. lady was chosen President, a +certain Mrs. Caroline Newcomer, Vice President, and Miss Betsey Pryor, +Secretary and Treasurer. That it soon attained to an astonishing +popularity was known from the fact that the newly appointed Secretary +and Treasurer appeared now, for the first time in years, in a stylish +new bonnet, which her detractors did not hesitate to declare (though +doubtless actuated by the basest motives of envy and jealousy) had been +paid for out of the funds of the said Society; and which, +notwithstanding such malicious assertions, waxed stronger as it grew. +There was one noticeable feature of affairs at this juncture, that the +uninitiated were at a loss to account for, and that was the studied +neutrality maintained by the oracle of the village, who had been wont to +utter his momentous decisions, upon the current topics of the day, +through the medium of that "valuable" and popular paper the "Clarion." + +Now, however, it maintained a decorous silence upon local affairs, and +if, by any inadvertence, it was betrayed into its natural play of wit, +so that, for a moment, it might seem to hinge upon the absorbing topic +of public interest, and to favor any one side in particular, it was +immediately observed to lean heavily the other way, to draw off the +attention of its numerous and discriminating readers. The cause for this +unusual state of things had not, as yet, transpired, but was soon to be +made known to those more immediately concerned. + +In a small place like Waveland, the inhabitants, as every one knows, are +very liable to go to extremes in almost everything they undertake. Thus, +if a new comer excites their favorable notice, they have nothing to do +but to ride at once, upon the very topmost wave of popular favor. + +If, on the contrary, they decide against them, there is no crime within +the knowledge of man, of which they are not severally accused and +considered guilty, without any extenuating circumstances. + +So it was not so much to be wondered at, that when Clemence once fell +into disfavor, she had lost the good graces of the majority at once and +forever. Within a short space of time, every house was closed against +her, with the exception of a few staunch friends' hospitable abodes, +and she received a polite but cold request from the school committee to +resign her situation. + +"What _can_ it mean?" she asked in despair. "I surely have done nothing +to offend these people?" + +"As if the miserable, pusillanimous reprobates did not know it as well +as you!" spluttered Mrs. Wynn, with her apron to her eyes. Clemence's +white face, with its appealing look, had gone straight to her motherly +heart. "The unfeeling creatures, to take away a girl's character, like +that! There had _ought_ to be a place of everlasting punishment for such +wretches, and I know they'll get it, sure as the Lord reigns. But I told +you so! I knew how it would be when you went to pickin' that lazy, idle, +shiftless, good-for-nothing thing of a Mis' Owen out of the dirt, and +settin' her up to be somebody. I knew there wasn't no ambition in her no +how, and she didn't want to be anybody herself. She's only mad now, +because you showed yourself so far above her, and she hates you for your +pains. You never asked my advice, though, and I thought I'd keep my +fingers out of the mess, for once in my life. That gossipping, old +Mother Wynn made up her mind to let 'em have their fling for once, but +they've gone and dragged me into it after all, and I mean to let the +whole lot see that I'm enough for them, single-handed. + +"I believe that I'll put on my bonnet and start out. I feel too excited +to accomplish anything this morning, so, if you'll just help Rose +through with the bakin', I guess I'll make one or two short calls, here +and there, to see what's going on." + +Only too glad to get rid of her own thoughts, Clemence assented, and was +soon so busily engrossed in her occupation, that she did not hear when +there came a rap at the outer door. + +"Mr. Strain," said Rose, coming in suddenly, with a singular expression +of countenance, "and, if you'll believe it, he asked to see you alone." + +"What for, I wonder?" said Clemence, nervously, pressing her hand to her +aching forehead, "I cannot imagine what he wants." + +"Nor I," said Rose, "of _you_." And when Clemence asked her to follow +immediately, declared, with a toss of the head, "she couldn't see it, +two's a company and three's a crowd, you know. I wasn't called for, and +I never go where I ain't wanted. Hurry up, too, and get rid of him, for +there's all this work to be done before mother comes home." + +Thus adjured, Clemence, with an effort to recover herself, entered +quietly the room where the gentleman awaited her. After a little +desultory conversation, he came at once to the object of his visit. + +It was as Clemence had feared, and she felt pained to reject the offer +which was now made her in a straightforward, business-like manner. + +She thanked him gratefully, speaking of her present isolated and unhappy +position. + +"Yes," said Mr. Strain, complacently stroking his moustache, and seeming +in no wise disconcerted by his rejection, "I had heard of your little +difficulty, and it was with that in view that I called to offer you my +protection. I thought if you were once my wife, that these gossipping +tongues could be effectually silenced." + +"Indeed, I thank you sincerely for your generosity and magnanimity," +said Clemence, "and I shall ever remember you with a sense of deep +obligation." + +"Oh, you owe me no thanks," said the gentleman, gazing upon her +disturbed face, admiringly, "even if I believed the fabrications of your +enemies, it would not have altered my resolution. I am not, as you may +have observed, exactly one of these people. I have moved amid far +different scenes in my time, and my views of life are of the most +liberal sort imaginable. I consider that I, too, have my weaknesses and +foibles, in common with the rest of mankind, and I do not look for +exalted virtues in any one. I admired you from the first, and resolved +to make an effort to win you. Of my success, you are the best judge, but +that, I am happy to say, does not alter our mutual regard and esteem. + +"Furthermore, I can say from personal knowledge, (confidentially, of +course) that not one of these worthy ladies who have denounced you, +would dare to utter or whisper a word against you as my wife, for I am +already too deeply in their confidence not to render the attempt +dangerous, as well as disagreeable. + +"My dear girl," he added lightly, "this is no place for an angel like +you, now that you have repulsed the only man who might have befriended +you. In losing me, you lose everything, for you must be aware that it +would be sheer folly in me to detract from my own popularity, by +defending one who denies me even the right to do so. And since I cannot +trust myself to enjoy the dangerous privilege of your friendship, I +shall find consolation in the ambition that has engrossed me in the +past, and rendered me, until the present moment, invulnerable to the +charms of the fairer portion of creation." + +Clemence felt a hysterical inclination to laugh and cry too, when she +found herself alone, and was only certain of one fact, that this +morning's work had added to her troubles, not lightened them. + +"_Such_ a day as I have had!" said Mrs. Wynn, coming in about tea-time. +"You are the talk of the town. That little nobody of an Owen has managed +to stir up one muss, I can tell you. I s'pose, though, if it hadn't been +her, some of the rest would have made up something on their own hook. +You see, the women have all been jealous of you from the first, and they +meant to put you down if they could, and have only been waiting for a +good chance. + +"Why, I heard to day a dozen different accounts of your life before you +came here; how your father was hung or sent to the States Prison, and +your mother was no better than she should be, and a lot more that I +can't remember. Do tell me, for I never heard really how it was anyway. +I want to put them down when they say such things again." + +"Never mind, dear Mrs. Wynn," said Clemence, "I do not. These people, +like the rest of their class, must have something to occupy their minds, +and, if their animadversions do fall on my devoted head, it will only +keep them busy, and do me no real harm." + +"But I want to know, child," said the elder lady, giving her a glance of +motherly tenderness, "for I am interested both in your past and future, +and I am anxious to learn just what your former life has been." And +Clemence told her the simple truth of the happy years that were now +vanished forever. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +"What shall I do now?" asked Clemence of her friend, Mrs. Hardyng, as +they sat together in the parlor of the latter's residence. "My income +has stopped entirely, and I shall have but a small sum after settling +Ruth's board, which I must do soon, for I cannot leave her any longer +with Mrs. Swan." + +"Why!" questioned her friend, "has she, too, gone over to the enemy?" + +"Oh, no," replied Clemence; "she is still a staunch adherent. It was not +that I had in my mind, but I have been looking into my affairs lately, +and have decided that, as I can plainly do nothing here, I had better go +back to the city at once." + +"And what will you do there?" queried the listener. "Excuse the liberty, +but I would like to ask, from no motive of idle curiosity, you may feel +sure, if you have any friends there?" + +"None but good Mrs. Linden, and I have no claim upon her, although she +bade me come to her as to a mother, when I was weary of this +'experiment,' as she called it. I only thought she might help me to +obtain employment, and give me some advice and assistance about Ruth." + +"And cannot I do both?" asked Ulrica Hardyng, sorrowfully. "Clemence, +you must surely think more of this former friend than you can of me, +since you will intrust her alone with the privilege I would give so much +to share. You have told me that this Mrs. Linden is a self-absorbed +woman, sufficient unto herself, while I am only a heart-broken creature, +isolated completely from those who were once dear to me. Shall I tell +you how I have watched and waited for this hour, when I could be of some +assistance to you, and thus bind you closer to me? Oh, I have dreamed +too long of this happiness, to have it elude my grasp. You cannot deny +me the boon of having some one again to love." + +"But is it my duty, dear friend, to lay my burden upon you? Since I have +voluntarily taken it upon myself, ought I not to bear it cheerfully, +having faith that all things will work together for my good, if I only +trust Him, 'who seeth in secret?'" + +"It cannot be wrong," said the elder woman. "Henceforth we will share it +together." + +So it was arranged, and Clemence and little Ruth went to live beneath +the cottage roof of Ulrica Hardyng. + +Meanwhile, busy tongues were rife over this new fact. Waveland had +expected an exodus from among them, of the young schoolmistress and her +little charge, and hardly, as yet, knew what to make of her remaining +quietly among them, and living down these slanderous reports. But, at +length, after this came to be an established fact, the little village +had another excitement to create a stir among its most exclusive +circles, and this was no less an event than the marriage of the +bachelor editor of the "Clarion," with a lady of no inconsiderable +literary ability, whose home was in a distant city. And, when the +curiosity of every one was roused to the highest pitch of expectancy, +the lady made her entree into the little town with great eclat. + +Immediately thereafter, there was a succession of short poems, all +running upon whispering zephyrs, murmuring rivulets, and the like, and +each signed, "Euphrasia Anastasia Strain." + +The newly-made bride was welcomed with a cordiality, that was +astonishing, considering the boast that her husband had once uttered in +regard to the former vows of eternal fidelity from these same ladies. +However, time works wonders, and it was evident, from the energetic +manner in which the matrons of Waveland denounced the least apparent +departure from the narrow path of virtue, that a thorough reformation +had lately taken place in their midst. + +Mrs. Strain was also speedily elected to a prominent position in the +Ladies' Charitable Society, which had now got to be a regular +institution of the town, by, virtue of having now thrown upon its tender +mercies, one paralytic old woman, two little orphans, a poor young woman +out of a situation, and a reformed drunkard, who had spent a fortune in +his time, and had also the reputation of having been a "ladies' man," +which considerably heightened their generous interest in him. The +Society had now got upon a firm foundation, and had proved itself no +scheme from the visionary brain of an enthusiast, but of a thorough, +practical character, that won for it the respect and veneration of +everybody who knew of its existence. + +There was one thing to be considered, it gave its members plenty to do, +and, meanwhile, Clemence had a short respite. She had ample time, now, +to give to little Ruth, and her love for the child became stronger each +day, as always happens when we deny ourselves for others. + +They took long walks together in the woods that surrounded the pretty +village. Clemence had an artist's eye, and she loved to wander amid +these scenes of beauty, that had power to calm her troubled soul as +nothing else could do. + +Little Johnny Brier often joined them, and Clemence, whose heart ached +for the little creature, with the white, wan face that spoke of +suffering, used to cheer him, and try to inspire him with hope for the +future. + +But he would say, fastening his wistful eyes upon her, with a look that +always gave her pain: + +"I like best to have you tell me of heaven. I do not believe I shall +ever be happy in this world; but, I want to try and do right, so that +when I die, I may go to live with God and his holy angels." + +"But you must not indulge in such a morbid state of feeling," Clemence +would say gravely. "If your Heavenly Father sees fit to have you labor +for Him upon earth, you should not murmur nor repine, but strive humbly +for submission. You may be sure that there is something for you yet to +accomplish. God witnesses your misery, and knows of your longing to go +to Him; but, you are not yet prepared. The discipline of life is needed +to prove that you can deny yourself for the good of others. You can show +your trust in the loving hand that guides you, by striving to bear your +present trials patiently, and in His own good time He will surely send +relief." + +"Do you really think that?" was the oft repeated question, and the +troubled eyes would scan Clemence's face, till her own were filled with +blinding drops. "I try so hard to be good and patient, but I can't hope +for anything better. Something seems to stop me, when I try to pray to +be made useful in this world, and it comes right out of my heart to ask, +instead, only to let me die. Sometimes I have waited outside the +graveyard, and watched a little spot under a shady tree, where no one +ever goes, and I have thought how pleasant it would be to lie down +there, with the daisies and violets to creep over me lovingly, and never +wake again to any more pain. I don't think I would like to be happy, for +you are not, dear Miss Graystone, and I don't think some people are ever +made to be. I believe God means to make them feel how bad and wicked the +world is, so they will want to leave it and go to Him. Don't you think +He means that, when He tells us about there being no more sorrow nor +crying in heaven? Oh, dear Miss Graystone, I know you sometimes feel +just like that, for I have seen it in your eyes, and you look just as I +have often dreamed my own dear mother did. And, don't be angry, but +every night, when I say my prayer, I tell Him about you, and pray that +you may be taken away from these wicked people, you and little Ruth. +Last night I had a dream. I thought I stood upon the bank of a broad +river, and the water moaned and whispered like human voices, and came up +around me, and just as I was beginning to be afraid, a sweet, low voice +came to me, borne across the waters, and mingled with their murmur, +'fear not,' and then I thought that I knew this was the river of death +that you had told me about in the Sabbath School, and I clasped my hands +together, and cried out for my dear, dear teacher, and then the water +rose about me till, as it reached my lips, I awoke." + +"Poor, little one," said Clemence, parting the boy's hair from off his +forehead, with a mother touch, and as she gazed down into the innocent +eyes, with their far-off, dreamy look, a foreboding of the future came +to her, that she put away with a shudder. + +"Come, children," she said, taking a hand of each, "we will retrace our +steps homeward." She stooped and kissed the child's forehead, as she +parted from him. "Good-bye, Johnny," she said cheerfully, "be a good +boy, and try to remember all that I have told you." + +The child gave the required promise, and turned away, but came back a +moment after: + +"Miss Graystone," he said, standing before her, and raising his eyes +fearlessly to hers, "don't you think I have always tried to be good?" + +"Yes, Johnny," she answered truthfully, "I know that you do. You are a +real little hero, and your patience and fortitude have often set me an +example, while I have grieved over the melancholy circumstances that +have made you so old in sorrow." + +"Oh, thank you for that, dear, dearest Miss Graystone." The child was +sobbing convulsively, so that Clemence became frightened for him. + +"Why, my poor child, you must not grieve so. I cannot bear to see you so +unhappy," she said, bending down to him, "try and smile for me once, +dear. Look now, at that cloud floating above you. See how it breaks, +revealing the blue sky beyond, and think what I told you of the cloud +with the silver lining. Don't you remember it, Johnny?" + +"Remember it? oh yes," he said eagerly. "I have never forgotten a word +you have ever uttered. I believe I shall think of them just before I +die, and tell you about them in heaven. Kiss me again, please, and then +I will go. I feel better now." + +Clemence drew the child again into a close embrace, and then, releasing +him, waited at a turn in the winding path, until he was out of sight. + +It was about the same hour, nearly a week after, that Clemence was +walking alone, musing upon her own unhappy fate, when, startled by a +rustling of the branches near her, she turned, to behold little Johnny +Brier rushing hastily past, without looking to one side or the other, +and following the path that opened upon the margin of the lake. + +A strange fear took possession of Clemence. She called several times, +"Johnny!" authoritatively, but the child sped on, unheeding. The girl +grew faint and dizzy, and though she turned to follow in the direction +in which he had gone, her limbs refused to support her, and she sank +down, nearly in a state of insensibility. + +Footsteps again aroused her, and she started up with a feeling of hope +animating her to renewed effort. A moment after, Mrs. Brier appeared +upon the scene furious with rage, and flourishing in her right hand a +large whip. + +A look of guilty fear overspread her face, as she beheld Clemence's +agitation. + +"Have you seen Johnny?" she asked, breathlessly, Clemence pointed, +without a word, toward the water. An awful look of terror leaped into +the woman's eyes, and she turned and rushed frantically away. + +When the girl could gain strength, she went after her, and there, at the +water's edge, a crowd of people were collected, uttering ejaculations of +horror over the lifeless remains of the child she had a few moments +before beheld in all the agony of the wildest despair. + +A woman turned from the crowd as Clemence approached. "He ran away," she +said, "and I suppose came down here to play, and fell into the lake. +It's no fault of mine. I've warned him often enough to keep away, and +now he has only received the reward of all disobedient children." + +Clemence strove to speak, and brand this woman as a murderess, in the +sight of God, but the words died on her lips, and she fell down, where +she stood, as lifeless as the still figure before them. + +There had now happened to Clemence Graystone, that which, it seemed, in +her forlorn situation, was the worst that fate could inflict upon her; +her health failed entirely. She grew; sick, even "unto death." The long +days of the late summer and the early autumn passed, and she lay, in +her pale beauty, upon a couch of pain. The world, this busy, struggling, +toilsome world, seemed slipping from her grasp, and heaven was very near +to her. Her tired feet had borne her to the very brink of the dark +river, whose waters chanted their solemn requiem, as the child had told +her in his dream. She longed to follow him, and sometimes, in her +delirium, would cry out his name suddenly, with every endearing accent. +It seemed almost as if the words of the boy had been prophetic, and his +strange dream was thus to be fulfilled. + +He lay now in the very spot that his childish eyes had sought longingly, +and one who remembered him came daily to place the beautiful flowers he +had loved in life above his grave. Poor little Ruth! her days passed +sadly enough. Her only friend might soon be taken from her. Her all was +centred in the slight, attenuated form, that lay tossing restlessly upon +what might be her death-bed. The little patient watcher grew each day +paler as hope died out, and, notwithstanding the remonstrances of the +elder woman, she only left Clemence's bedside for her daily walk to the +graveyard. + +Ulrica Hardyng cared for the two who had been so strangely committed to +her care, as though they had been the sisters God had denied her. She +hung over the sufferer, administering her medicine, and allowing none +but the doctor and the hired nurse to approach her. + +"There shall be none of these rude creatures about you, my darling," she +would say determinedly; "they have done you harm enough already." + +She despised these people, as was natural, from her very nature, which +was generous, but given to strong likes and dislikes, and their +treatment of the orphan girl had brought upon them her lasting contempt. +She had also before had a specimen of their tender mercies, and was +fully aware of the adverse judgment that had been passed upon her own +actions upon her advent among them. She thought, therefore, that little +good could be got from associating with any of them, though, like a real +lady, she took care to be always civil and polite to every one. + +When the news of Clemence's dangerous illness was spread throughout the +town, there were many to grieve for the sweet-faced stranger, who had so +lately come among them, and there were some to wonder what would become +of her if she should linger along without finally recovering her health. + +"Poor child," said Mrs. Wynn, brushing away the tears, "I have just been +to see her, and she don't look to me as if she'd last the week out. I +believe she is far more dangerous than the doctor thinks." + +"And if she dies, what will they do with that girl of Lynn's?" queried +Mrs. Brier. "She'll have to come on the town. I knew it was a perfect +piece of folly for that schoolmistress to take her to support, with only +her small salary. It's just as I predicted. Her strength _has_ failed, +and she can't do nothing more. 'Be just before you are generous,' is +_my_ motto." + +Mrs. Brier never said a truer word than that in her whole life, for she +had never been guilty of many generous or self-denying deeds, and no +one could accuse her of erring in that respect. + +The different benevolent Societies also met, and discussed the +probability of little Ruth Lynn's being thrown upon their generosity. +They finally decided that, in case of any such calamitous ending to the +madness of Clemence Graystone, the child should be turned over to the +proper authorities of the village, and they would wash their hands of +the whole affair. + +Their fears proved entirely groundless. By some inexplicable means, the +two waifs, thrown thus strangely upon the protection of Widow Hardyng, +managed to exist without either the aid or sympathy of the rest of the +town. And Clemence, as the days grew cooler, rallied, and became rapidly +convalescent. + +With returning strength, came again the old anxiety for the future. She +knew that her generous hostess, though willing to share her all with +them, ought not to be thus burdened. Her means were limited, and the +strictest economy was necessary to make their narrow income meet their +present wants. Clemence realized that her illness had brought additional +expense, which she knew not how to meet. The doctor's bill alone, which +she had not the means to meet, was appalling; besides, there were others +clamoring for a settlement of their dues. Mrs. Hardyng had repeatedly +cautioned her not to retard her recovery by brooding over her unhappy +position, and had taken these obligations upon herself. + +In her feeble state of health, it was impossible for Clemence to +undertake any employment. She was almost in despair. After all her +superhuman efforts, she seemed placed in a worse predicament than when +she first commenced to labor for her bread, and there was now another +dependant upon her efforts. Long before she was really able, Clemence +had begun to employ herself upon different articles of fancy work, such +as she thought she could dispose of in Waveland. + +She managed, by this means, to obtain, from time to time, small sums of +money, which, if they did not materially aid her, at least made her feel +a little more independent. Among other things, which her friend +suggested that she might be able to dispose of to advantage, was a +prettily shaped basket of some frosty white material, whose glittering, +transparent beauty was relieved by bright-tinted flowers, with long, +creeping vines, and leaves of a vivid green. It took some time for its +completion, and when it was finished, Clemence hoped that its extreme +beauty would captivate the eyes of somebody who had means to pay +somewhat of its real value. + +"Beautiful!" exclaimed the shop-keeper who purchased all Clemence's +articles. "I'm afraid, Miss, you won't find ready sale for it here, +though. There ain't many that can appreciate a thing like that in this +village. I would not venture to run the risk myself, but if it was +anything in the way of finery now, it would be different. If you will +embroider some of those gay scarfs and slippers, and some more of the +children's fixins, I'll buy them, for they take mightily." + +"Then you don't think I can dispose of this at any rate?" asked +Clemence, despondingly. "I need the money very much." + +"I know you do," said the man compassionately, gazing into the girl's +pale face. "You ought not to be working at anything after such a +dangerous illness. Perhaps you had better leave it here for a few days, +and I will see if I cannot get any orders for you." + +"Very well," said Clemence, "I should be greatly obliged if you would," +and she turned away more hopefully. + +Upon her next inquiry, she found that a Mrs. Burton had desired her to +call, with specimens of her work, at her house, which, by the way, was +_the_ mansion of the place. Clemence had heard much of this lady, but +was not personally acquainted with her. + +"It's all right," said the brisk, little storekeeper. "I think she is +the very one for you to go to, for she has plenty of money at her +command. She took quite a fancy to the basket of flowers, and inquired +all about you, asking if you would not call and see her directly." + +Clemence gladly followed the advice thus given her, and after a walk of +about half a mile, found herself at Mrs. Burton's residence. The lady +herself came to the door. Clemence introduced herself. + +"Oh, yes, you are the one Mr. Weston was speaking about, and I told him +I thought I might be able to help you in some manner." + +Clemence thanked her, wondering inwardly, at the same moment, if it +_was_ as disgraceful to be poor as many people seemed to think it. This +was not the first time this thought had arisen in her mind. She had +suffered before having any experience in the matter, that, in a country +like this, where nearly all of the wealthy and influential members of +society have arisen from obscurity, that honest labor was really no +disgrace, and that if a person offered a fair equivalent for money, +either by the labor of the hands or brain, that it was a very laudable +thing to do. + +But, upon having to make the trial, she had been not a little astonished +at the result. She found that if she offered her articles even below +their real value, that it was considered an act of magnanimity for the +purchaser to hand out the miserable pittance that was her due. She had +many times been told, insolently, "I do this to help you, because Mr. or +Miss, 'This, That or the Other' told me you were poor and obliged to +support yourself by this means," and this, when the one who uttered it +knew that they had got twice the worth of their money, and were +congratulating themselves over thus taking advantage of another's +necessities; nor was her own, as she well knew, by observation, an +exceptional case. Everywhere vulgarity and ignorance can flaunt itself +before the admiring eyes of the multitude, while gold hides with its +glitter every defect. + +Yet, what could she do to protect herself? If she resented these +indignities with honest pride, what would become of her, and that other +who looked to her for support? Whatever it is possible for _manly_ pride +and independence to achieve, there is nothing for a woman but +submission. + +Clemence Graystone had long ere this put away all hopes of earthly +happiness, and lived only by the light of an approving conscience. She +took her troubles to her Heavenly Father, and in His smile forgot that +the world frowned. She had the consciousness within her of having done +her whole duty, and she lived not for this world alone. She felt that +she was only one of the many, and she cared not for distinction among +those she despised. The fickle multitude elevate to-day and dethrone +to-morrow, leaving their once petted favorite to whatever fate may await +them. + +Thoughts like these floated through Clemence's mind, as she followed +Mrs. Burton into the parlor, and took a seat. + +"You have seen a good deal of trouble, I believe," said the lady, +scanning the girl's face closely. "Yes, madame," said Clemence, briefly. + +"This is a world of trouble," she went on, applying her handkerchief to +her eyes. "I, too, have my full share. I am deeply afflicted. Miss +Graystone, I am an unloved wife." + +She began to sob hysterically at this announcement, and to weave +backwards and forwards in her chair, while her listener shifted a little +uneasily upon her seat, wondering what could possibly be coming now. + +"Yes," she said mournfully, "the man who vowed at the altar to love and +cherish the treasure committed to his keeping, has proved recreant to +the trust reposed in him. Look on this ethereal form, and upon this brow +shadowed with grief, and at these eyes that have grown dim with weeping +for one who is all unworthy of my devotion. Alas! that I should come to +this, who was once surrounded by everything that could make life a +blessing. This hand, that others prized, and sued for in vain, is +unvalued now. On my wedding day, one of my rejected suitors came to my +new-made husband, and exclaimed, in accents of deep despair,--'Charles +Burton, you have won her from those who would have devoted their whole +lives to her service, and counted it as nothing, that they might bask in +the sunlight of her presence; and I warn you, guard well the priceless +jewel. You have forever placed a bar to my happiness in this world, but +if you never cause one feeling of regret for this day to rise in that +gentle bosom, all is well. I can deny myself for one I love better than +life itself.' + +"_This_ was the man whose suit I scorned, to listen to that of the +perfidious being whose name I bear. I am a miserable victim. Life is +unsupportable to me. Next spring, if my husband does not return, like +the prodigal, remorseful and repentant, I shall become a missionary, and +give my life for the cause I love." + +Here came a renewal of tears and heart-rending sighs. Clemence watched +the woman in undisguised amazement, as she arose and paced the room, +wringing her hands in the most woe-begone manner imaginable. Her wild +appearance immediately suggested the idea that she might be suffering +from temporary aberration of mind. + +Clemence rose with a quick thrill of fear. "Since you are indisposed for +company," she said, "perhaps you would not care to be troubled with my +little affairs at present. I can call again some time next week, if you +desire it." + +"Yes, yes," said Mrs. Burton, "come again, when I am feeling better. +This pressure on my brain will be relieved. Hush! do not say more, the +servant will hear you. I am watched, and have no liberty to speak of my +troubles without watching my opportunity. Good-bye, now, you can leave +the basket until you come again, when I will remunerate you +sufficiently." + +"The woman must be insane; do you not think so, Ulrica?" asked Clemence +of her friend, after she had concluded a narrative of her interview. + +"Perhaps," said Mrs. Hardyng, doubtingly. "It looks like it, her talking +about being watched, but I am of the opinion that a jealous, passionate +temper has more to do with these paroxysms than anything else. She has +always had the name of ruling her husband, and her scowling, swarthy +visage, and evil-looking eyes, seem to substantiate her claim to +possessing strong, vixenish proclivities. I fancy they are quite well +matched, however, and that clouds in their domestic horizon are of every +day occurrence. Neither should I at all relish the idea of being taken +into the lady's confidence, for after they have got over their quarrel, +they will be apt to lay the blame upon a convenient third, and I should +not covet the distinction." + +"Well, I have only once more to go," said Clemence, "and shall take care +to be guarded in my remarks." + +Which resolution was followed to the letter, when she found herself +again in Mrs. Burton's parlor. The lady was cool and dignified when they +met, but soon relapsed into a tearful state. Clemence was again forced +to listen patiently to a long recital of Mr. Burton's shortcomings and +disagreeable qualities, both of a positive and negative order, and felt +sure before it came to an end, that she was much better acquainted with +the dark side of that gentleman's character than she cared to be. + +Her position was a delicate one. Somehow, she could not help thinking, +as she looked at the face before her, that, arrayed in its pleasantest +smiles, it could, by the barest possibility, be only passable, and now +looked really hideous in its disgusting and futile rage. Really, if +there could be any excuse for such domestic infidelities as had been +pictured so graphically, Mr. Burton certainly ought to have the benefit +of them, for he seemed to be almost as much "sinned against as sinning." + +As soon as she could get away without positive rudeness, she did so. +Mrs. Burton had declined to become a purchaser of her articles, +retreating from her former protestations of benevolence, under the plea +that her wretch of a husband curtailed her supply of means, in order to +gratify his own avaricious disposition. + +"Just as I expected," said Mrs. Hardyng. "The true state of the case is +this: that woman is a jealous, narrow-minded, illiberal creature, with a +tongue 'hung in the middle.' She wanted to get you there simply to +satisfy her own idle curiosity, and insult you with her insolent +patronage. You have made another enemy, and that is all there is of it." + +"I hope it will prove all there is of it," said Clemence, uneasily. "I +am sure I owe her no ill will, and I can't imagine why any body should +wish to injure me, for I try not to offend them, but simply wish to +mind my own business, and allow others to do the same." + +Mrs. Hardyng laughed musically. "Why, child, that is the supreme cause +of all your unpopularity. You mind your own business too much for these +good people. You are not as old as I am, and you seem to have got a +one-sided view of matters and things generally. I dare say, at this +moment your unsophisticated mind harbors some such creed as this, that +if you pursue your own poor and worthy way in meekness and humility, +without obtruding yourself upon other people's notice--in short, only +ask to be left in peace to follow the bent of your own harmless +inclination, that you do not ask what it is impossible to accomplish. +But you are mistaken. There is no one so poor and humble but what these +little great people will find time to criticise and find fault with +whatever they may undertake. So, no matter how modest and unobtrusive +you are, by comporting yourself in a dignified and lady-like manner, you +offer an affront to these people, who, though themselves deficient in +every attribute of politeness and good breeding, yet are sufficiently +instructed by their dulled instincts, to realize your infinite +superiority, and hate you accordingly." + +"Why, Ulrica," said Clemence, startled by her friend's vehemence, "you +quite overwhelm me. I wish, though," she added; with a sigh, "that I +could doubt the truthfulness of the picture." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +"What are you doing there, Clemence?" asked her friend; "not destroying +that pretty article, I hope." + +"Yes and no," was the reply. "Upon examination, I find that it has +become quite soiled, and thought I would make another frame to put these +same flowers into." + +"Now, that is really too bad, making you so much extra trouble when you +are feeling so ill. I noticed, though, that it had lost its freshness +and purity--looking, in fact, as if some careless servant had swept on +it." + +"I presume that is the case," said Clemence; "any way, it is completely +ruined now." + +"What can this mean?" she exclaimed, a moment after, holding up a lady's +gold pin. "Is it not somewhat remarkable to find an article of this +description here?" + +"No," said Ulrica Hardyng, coming forward, with an expression of +contempt upon her fine features. "I can't say as I consider it so. I can +understand precisely the motive that induced that woman to plot this +piece of mischief. She meant to ruin you, Clemence, in the estimation of +the whole community; in short, to brand you as dishonest. If you had +effected a sale of the article, without examining it closely, you would +never have detected the proximity of this valuable ornament, and when it +was called for, which would surely have occurred, you could not, as a +matter of course, have produced it. Do you not see the whole trap at a +glance?" + +"What have I not escaped?" ejaculated Clemence, pale with agitation. +"What motive could possibly have led a comparative stranger to act +thus?" + +"There are numberless reasons," replied her friend. "The woman had +placed herself, to a certain extent, in your power, by her uncalled for +revelations of their domestic affairs, and she wished to have something +to hold as a rod over you." + +"Don't you think it might have been an accident?" willing, as usual, to +believe every one but herself in the right. + +"No," said Mrs. Hardyng, indignantly, "it was a premeditated act, as +deliberate as it was infernal. My innocent darling, God has protected +you, and vanquished your enemy." + +"What base, designing people there are in the world," sighed the girl, +sinking down by the couch upon which her friend reclined, upon her +return from a walk the next evening. "You were right, Ulrica. I read in +that woman's guilty face, to-night, the confirmation of my doubts." + +"She did not admit it?" said the other, starting up eagerly. + +"Not in words, but her looks proclaimed her part in the transaction more +eloquently than any form of speech. She knew that I read her craven soul +as I stood before her." + +"This is too much?" said Mrs. Hardyng, rising and pacing the floor in +violent agitation. "I will see to this matter myself, for it is too +great an insult to be borne patiently without the charge of cowardice." + +A few days after, as Clemence was walking, with downcast eyes, in the +direction of her friend's residence, she met in the narrow pathway two +gentlemen, one of whom raised his hat respectfully, and paused to speak +with her. + +It was Mr. Gilman, one of the school committee. Clemence respected and +venerated him, and had on many an occasion felt grateful that his +influence was generously exerted in her behalf. + +The gentleman paused now to say that he had nothing to do with her +dismissal from school, having used every argument in her favor, in vain. +He concluded by professing himself more than satisfied with her +services, and convinced of her ability as a teacher; desired her to +refer to him for a recommendation to any situation that she might have +in view. + +Clemence thanked him gratefully, and walked on with a lightened heart. +She remembered, afterwards, that this gentleman's companion had been +introduced by the name of Burton. + +This latter personage had a little burly figure, with head carried very +erect upon a short, thick neck, that looked still shorter from the long, +flowing beard, thickly sprinkled with gray. + +He did not look like a "wretch," nor yet, as if he had sufficient energy +or capacity for any deep scheme of villainy. Still she felt sure this +was the individual whose shortcomings and misdeeds generally, she had +heard descanted upon. + +Clemence laughed, as she wondered how it was possible for any one to be +so carried away by their feelings, as to be jealous of a submissive +looking little man like this. Yet, having fallen in love with him once +herself, and forgetting that youth had flown, and that the husband of +her youth was only a plodding, middle-aged family man, it was not so +very remarkable that a naturally jealous woman, like Mrs. Charles +Burton, should imagine that her especial property was coveted by all +those of her own sex who were not similarly blessed. + +"Poor woman!" thought Clemence, "she is a victim to her own unhappy +temper." + +She forgot the circumstance altogether, and it was only recalled to mind +when the village postmaster handed her a letter, which read thus: + + MISS CLEMENCE GRAYSTONE: + + Miss--On Thursday, the 23d instant, you were seen by certain + parties, on a secluded avenue of this village, in earnest + conversation with two gentlemen,--one of whom was Mr. Charles + Burton. Report gives him the character of a perfidious and + unfaithful husband. How then does it look for a young lady, whose + name is now the subject of idle gossip, to indiscreetly hazard her + reputation still more by such intercourse. There could be but one + object in this, which was, doubtless, _revenge_. But, let me ask, + what will it profit you, to add still greater pangs to that already + suffered by one who mourns the loss of her husband's affections? + Know that, through all, she will cling to him, for she loves him + still, and is a devoted wife and mother. Nothing of coldness or + neglect on _his_ part can change _her_ feelings, or turn her from + the path of duty. As a friend and a Christian, the writer of this + would calmly advise you to abandon all efforts either to see or + communicate in any manner with the gentleman, upon any subject + whatever; not even in the presence of a third party, as there is + said to be an official who watches over the interests of a wronged + and heart-broken wife. WATCHER. + +"Really, this is assuming a tragical character," said Mrs. Hardyng, to +whom Clemence went at once for advice. "'The plot thickens,' as the +story-books say. Why, child, take courage; you will be a heroine yet, +and I shall be thrown completely in the shade--left disconsolate and +forlorn." + +"Don't jest," said Clemence, shuddering. "You can't think, Ulrica, how +all this pains me. I never dreamed of such a result of my efforts, but +rather supposed, if we tried to do 'what their hand found to do,' +patiently, they would be borne out in their undertakings. I am innocent +of premeditated wrong to any one." + +"There, don't cry!" said Mrs. Hardyng. "This is only a passing cloud, +and your future will be all the brighter for the shadow which now +threatens to envelop you in its gloomy folds." + +"I wish I could think so," said Clemence. She took her hat mechanically +as she said this, and went out, hardly knowing whither to bend her +steps, but feeling stifled, and wanting to be alone. + +By-and-by she found herself seated by a new-made grave. A memory of the +pale, patient little face, that used to haunt her footsteps, came to +her, and she thought sadly of the child's unhappy fate. + +The daylight faded slowly out of the western heavens; the shades of +evening gathered round. Suddenly, as the girl sat absorbed, a tiny hand +stole into hers, and two sorrowful, tear-filled eyes sought her own. It +was little Ruth, who had missed her, and whose loving heart would not +allow her to rest while one she loved suffered. + +They walked homeward together, under the starlit canopy, and Clemence +thought that, whatever might come to her, there was one whose pure +affection was wholly her own. + +"Here, child, is another letter for you!" said Mrs. Hardyng, coming in +from the village the following day. "You are getting to be a personage +of some importance, I perceive." + +"Why, who can it be from?" queried Clemence. "I have no correspondents." + +"Perhaps another anonymous communication," said her friend. "Open it and +see, for I am dying of curiosity." + +"It is from dear Mrs. Linden," said Clemence. "Here is what she writes:" + + "MY ABSENT DARLING: Why have you not written or come to me? By your + long silence I have been led to infer that you may not have + anything pleasant to communicate, and, therefore, fear to disturb + me with the narration of your misfortunes. I have looked for your + return for shelter from the home from which you went forth, like + some weary bird with drooping wing and plaintive song. That home is + always open to you, with its fond welcome. Can you have found new + friends who have grown dearer than her who bade you good-bye with a + prayer in her heart for your future? If you are happy, which God + grant, then I am content. But I have a strong presentiment of evil; + and I fear, I know not what, when my thoughts turn to you. There + was a promise about coming back when tired of your experiment. I + mean to hold my wayward one by that promise. Do you recollect + being accused of too much independence? If I remember correctly, + Mrs. Bailey thought that one of your greatest faults, that needed + speedy correction. I don't want you to exercise it towards your old + friend. Some of these days, if I do not hear from or see her, I + shall come and claim my daughter. + + "It can't be possible that you have found anybody in that + out-of-the-way locality to feel particularly interested in--eh, + Clemence? I have sometimes thought that some other more famed + mortal engrossed the affection that belongs, by prior claim, to me. + Don't encourage any of those rustics, for I have somebody here so + infinitely superior to any one whom I ever met before that I have + decided that there is only one girl in the world worthy of him. + Now, if I have aroused your curiosity sufficiently to have you call + for 'more,' I will change the subject, and give you a little of the + gossip that I know will interest you. + + "The last sensation is nothing else than the elopement of Melinda + Brown with a curly-haired hotel waiter. Imagine the scene when the + fact became known to the disconsolate Brown _mere_. The girl has + found her level at last, my dear. It was all time and trouble + thrown away trying to make anything of her. Melinda could not be a + lady, because, as I always contended, it wasn't in her. She is now + in her proper sphere. I hear that her husband has set up in the + same business in which his worthy papa-in-law began life. Melinda + lives in apartments over the grocery, and enjoys life hugely, as + she never did in the elegant mansion she has left forever. + + "I've still another wedding to chronicle. You surely have not + forgotten our fair Cynthia, the former confidante of Mrs. P. + Crandall Crane, but now, alas! her friend no longer, but that + lady's deadliest foe. But to 'begin at the beginning:' + + "Some months ago Mrs. Crane made the acquaintance of some new + people, whom she hastened to describe and present to her dearest + friend. One of them was a young gentleman, of fair, effeminate + beauty and manners, and extreme youth. In fact, he had but just + been emancipated from the strictest discipline of stern tutors. + This fortunate youth was the sole heir of a wealthy and indulgent + step-father, who had followed the remains of a second 'dear + departed' to the grave, and was said to be inconsolable, living but + to secure the happiness of this only son of his cherished and lost + Amelia. The gentleman, whose name was Townsend, purchased an + elegant villa at a convenient distance from the city, and installed + therein a faraway cousin as housekeeper. This worthy person was + immediately surrounded by the Crane clique, who made her long and + oft-repeated visits, until, no doubt, she wondered greatly at the + cause of her popularity. Of course, being only a poor dependent on + the bounty of her relative, she was naturally pleased and flattered + at being the object of so much friendly regard, and she took every + pains to make herself agreeable to her new-found friends. Another + fact proved the gratitude of her disposition, and that was the + praises which were continually lavished upon the gentleman over + whose mansion she presided. In this poor woman's estimation, Mr. + Townsend was a model man. It had been her valued privilege to visit + him occasionally during the lifetime of the second Mrs. T., and + nothing from her description could have been more beautiful than + his devotion to the lady during her long and lingering illness. + Besides, he had taken her son to his home and heart, and had given + every one to understand that this young Addison Brayton was to be + the future possessor of that vast wealth. To come to the point at + once, Mrs. P. Crandall Crane 'sighted them,' and mentally + appropriated the young gentleman for her own Lucinda. To that end, + she schemed and labored, and, just as the darling prospect seemed + about to be brought to a final consummation, fate, in the person of + her friend Cynthia, interfered to put a stop to the proceedings by + marrying the young gentleman herself! Words are inadequate to + describe the scene that followed upon this denouement. Mrs. Crane + was in absolute despair for a time, until a new idea entered her + fertile brain. Mr. Townsend, in the first paroxysm of rage, had + disowned the recreant youth, and turned him from his doors without + a farthing of the wealth that was to have been his princely + inheritance. That much abused gentleman had no nearer relations + than the far-removed cousin before referred to, and consequently + here was a magnificent fortune, with only the encumbrance of a + fine-looking, well-preserved gentleman, actually going a begging. + The thing was not to be thought of for a moment. + + "'Many a heart is caught in the rebound.' 'It would be a pretty + piece of revenge!' soliloquized Mrs. Crane, complacently, 'if + Lucinda should yet reign mistress of that mansion, for all Mr. + Addison Brayton. How it _would_ spite Cynthia!' With renewed + energy, but this time more cautiously, the sagacious lady laid her + trap for the unwary footsteps of the unconscious Townsend. He was a + frequent visitor at the house, feeling always sure of a warm + welcome from the urbane hostess. The plan worked admirably, and at + last the gentleman called to solicit a private interview with the + contractor. + + "'Mr. Crane is not at home,' said his smiling lady, 'but you can + leave the message with me.' + + "'Ah, yes!' said Mr. Townsend, with evident embarrassment; 'no + doubt you will do equally as well. I called, my dear madam, + to--ah--solicit a great boon at your hands. You are aware how + bitterly I have been betrayed by those whom I trusted.' + + "'Yes,' put in Mrs. Crane, sympathetically. + + "'And you have, I know, felt for my lonely and desolate situation.' + + "'I have, indeed,' said the lady. + + "'Since I have been intimately acquainted with your charming + family, I have learned to value, and, in short, feel a deep + attachment, for one whom, I believe, fate intended to fill the + place of my lost loves!' + + "'My own Lucinda!' interrupted the other, raising her handkerchief + to conceal her satisfaction. 'Dear girl, it will be hard to part + with her. You cannot realize a mother's feelings, Mr. Townsend!' + + "'But,' cried the gentleman, in tones of surprise and alarm, 'I do + not call upon you for so great a sacrifice. It was not Miss Lucinda + that I meant, but another, to whom I have reason to think I am not + altogether disagreeable. Surely you cannot be ignorant of my + profound affection for your self-sacrificing sister, the widow of + my late respected friend, Deane Phelps!' + + "'Oh!' tittered Mrs. Crane, starting with great violence from her + seat; 'you mean Jane. Well, I'm glad she's got somebody to think + something of her at last. I congratulate you upon the prize you've + won. I shall make all haste to impart the agreeable intelligence.' + + "'You artful specimen of an underhand nobody!' said Mrs. P. + Crandall, bursting into the room where the little widow stood, + looking really pretty with her soft flush of happy expectation in + her face. 'You'll rue this day, if I live!' + + "'Oh, sister, don't!' said the low, grieved voice of the other. 'I + do so want your love and sympathy.' + + "'Love and sympathy be d-d-darned!' sputtered Mrs. Crane, working + her long fingers convulsively. 'Walk out of this room in a hurry, + before I scratch your eyes out, you soft little caterpillar!' + + "'Ruined! ruined! ruined!' she cried, sinking down and bursting + into a passionate flood of tears. 'Everything goes crossways. This + is a doomed family. Crane can't keep up appearances a week longer, + and Lucinda will be washing dishes in Jane Phelps' kitchen yet.' + Which prophecy will, in all probability, yet become literally true. + + "I had these facts from Mrs. Jane Phelps Townsend, who told me that + her brother-in-law had lost all of his ill-gotten gains, and, + unless her husband assisted them, they would sink into the lowest + depths of poverty. + + "I'm just hateful enough to feel glad of it, too, Clemence. I never + knew, until lately, that I could be wicked enough to rejoice over + other people's calamities. But I can't help it. Last week I took a + roll of fine sewing to Mrs. Addison Brayton. 'What are you crying + about now, Cynthia?' I asked of the disconsolate figure that sat + crouched over a sewing machine. + + "'Oh, Mrs. Linden, I'm so unhappy,' she whined. 'There is a cold + winter coming on, and I don't know but we shall actually starve to + death before spring.' + + "I remembered the insolent remarks of this lady, and the rest of + her set, when a certain little bright-haired pet of mine was + similarly situated, and tormented, like Martha, about 'many + things.' + + "It needed all my Christian charity and forbearance to keep from + actually twitting her on the spot. I can't help but pity the + forlorn creature, though. She's married that little spendthrift, + who was brought up in idleness to rely on his expectations. They + don't either of them know anything about work, now they are thrown + upon their own resources. That is not the worst of it. The boy has + dissipated habits, that I fear will cause Cynthia yet to bitterly + regret the step she has taken against the advice of their best + friends. However, they must make the best of what cannot be + recalled. Then, too, she is married; and, if it be true that + happiness consists in securing the objects that allure us, then + should Cynthia be happy that she has at length attained the object + of her life-long ambition, and can at last write _Mrs._ to her + name. She is no longer an old maid, which is something gained, in + her estimation. + + "The youthful husband seems the most to be pitied of the two. On my + way home I met him, shabby and forlorn enough, and _what_ do you + suppose he was doing? Positively in the capacity of errand boy, + carrying parcels to deliver. He is an under-paid drudge in a retail + grocery, on starvation wages. He turned purple with mortification, + and pretended not to see me. 'Oh, my countrymen, what a fall was + there!' + + "But I am afraid I have shocked your forgiving spirit by my + hardness of heart until you are ready to deplore the depravity of + human nature. My tender one! I am not like you. It comes hard for + Alicia Linden to overlook injustice or forgive her enemies. + + "She has always a place in her heart, though, for absent dear ones, + and she often thinks regretfully of one sweet face that used to + smile at her hearthstone. + + "Can you not come to me, Clemence? + + "Last Sabbath I went to place my offering of flowers at the graves + of our buried dead. The golden glory of the autumn day poured its + heavenly radiance into the far depths of my soul. How lovely looked + the silent resting-place of our dear ones. I thought sadly of you, + and wished you were near me, to mingle your tears with mine. + + "As it is, I can only pray that God will guard you with loving + care. Your affectionate ALICIA." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +It was Thursday afternoon. The "Ladies' Charitable Society of Waveland" +had assembled at the house of its President. The usual business of the +meeting had been dispatched, and the ladies were engaged in the more +congenial employment of retailing the village gossip. + +"Have you observed," queried Mrs. Dr. Little, "how wretchedly ill that +young Graystone woman is looking? The doctor was saying, only this +morning, that he thought she was in a decline." + +"I suppose its botheration, for one thing," said Mrs. Brier. "She had +ought to have been more circumspect, and then she would have kept her +position. I don't see how she can live without work, any more than +anybody else. We can't be expected, though, to want a person with her +morals contaminating our innocent children. That girl has travelled the +downward road with awful rapidity since she came here. Just to think, +she has been the talk of the town!" + +"I have been greatly afraid," said Mrs. Little, "that the Society would +be called upon to help her, if she gets worse again; She seems to be +living, at present, on that widow Hardyng. How are those two to get +through the winter, I should like to know? As for the child, it will +have to be bound out to somebody who will make it work, and then there +will be an end of all these mincing lady airs. One thing I know, it's +out of our power to help them. She must have some relations somewhere, I +should think. I wonder what her antecedents really are, any way. I could +never quite make the girl out yet." + +"Then I am a little shrewder than the rest of you, that's all," spoke up +the voice of Mrs. Caroline Newcomer. "I found her out some time ago. +Listen, ladies, all of you who have any curiosity upon the subject. I +learned her whole history through one of my servants, who had lived in +the same city from whence this mysterious personage came. By a curious +coincidence, these Graystones, mother and daughter, came and took +lodgings beneath the same lowly roof to which the poverty of this Mrs. +Baily had driven her for shelter. + +"Of their former life, my informant knew little, but when she first +became acquainted with them, they were miserably poor, and in debt to +their landlady. At length Miss Clemence Graystone succeeded, by the +rarest good fortune, in obtaining a position as governess in a wealthy +family. She was, however, afterwards dismissed, (as Mrs. Baily +afterwards learned, through one of the employees,) in disgrace, for +having designs upon a young gentleman of fortune--the uncle, I believe, +of her pupils. + +"How they managed to live on through the winter was a wonder to the +whole household, or pay the expenses of the widow Graystone's sickness +and death, which occurred in the spring. The landlady seemed to think +everything of them, and refused to satisfy anybody's curiosity in regard +to the matter. The girl Clemence went away with a strange woman, as soon +as she recovered from an illness that followed her mother's death; and +that was the last known of her until she turns up here, to make capital +out of her pale face and mourning garments, which, I dare say, she +thinks look interesting. + +"So that is the whole story about this young woman, who is probably at +this moment laughing quietly in her sleeve, at the clever way she has +imposed upon the inhabitants of this benighted village. I took pains, +since her dismissal by the School Committee, to write and find out these +particulars; and while I was about it, I thought I would also make an +effort to discover something of the former life of the woman who calls +herself Ulrica Hardyng. I always had my suspicions of her, which you +will see have been duly verified;"--and she proceeded to relate, with +great animation, to the gaping crowd around her, a garbled account of +the misfortunes of the divorced wife. + +"And now, madam," said a calm, low voice behind her, as she finished +speaking, "since you are so good at relating other people's histories, +suppose you give these worthy persons, a similar account of your own +proceedings and peregrinations?" + +It was none other than Ulrica Hardyng, who stood before her in _propria +personae_. She had, in pursuance of a resolution made some weeks before, +determined to be present, although uninvited, at this meeting, and +justify her friend before her numerous assailants. + +"_You_ here?" articulated the woman, guiltily, as she gazed fearfully at +the stern, set face before her. + +"Yes, I am here," was the reply, in a voice that trembled with outraged +feeling, despite the powerful effort for self-control; "to prove that I +know you at last, as the woman who won my husband from me. + +"Good people," she said, turning to the astonished and abashed +spectators, "this woman has told you the truth, mainly, concerning me, +at least; but with one reservation. She is the daughter of this Mrs. +Bailey, whom she represented as a servant, and the cast-off mistress of +the Geoffrey Westbourne who was once my husband." + +A denial trembled upon the lips of the woman, who shrank away in abject +terror, but her voice failed her. The impassible face that looked down +upon her seemed the very personification of unrelenting justice. + +"Woman," she said coldly, "your sin has found you out." + +The groveling figure suddenly erected itself with a defiant gesture. +"Well, and what of that?" rising, and looking boldly around. "It must +have happened some time or other, and I'm sick of this whining +hypocrisy. I had rather go back to the old life again, where there is no +restraint. But I am as good as the rest, I tell you, Ulrica Hardyng. +These women, who profess Christianity, have deliberately robbed a poor, +innocent, unoffending girl of her reputation, because they were jealous +of her youth and fair looks, and mental superiority. Besides that, a +dozen or more of these pious ladies were in love with the man who wanted +to marry her, in the face of them all, and who was cooly rejected. I +would have defended the poor thing myself, but _you_ had to take up on +her side, and then, because the friend of one I hate can only be my +enemy, I sought to drag her down to my own level." + +"And you put the finishing stroke to your malicious efforts," said that +lady, "to-day by a tissue of falsehoods against her. At present I shall +not attempt to refute these assertions, knowing that right will +ultimately triumph. I understand _your_ tactics thoroughly, Caroline +Bailey, and I am not even surprised that you are ashamed to own your +wretched parent, who has put you in possession of these few facts mixed +with so much falsehood." + +"How did you learn my real name?" asked the woman in amazement. + +"Through an old friend whom I persuaded to trace out your whole career," +was the reply. "I could have forgiven _my_ wrongs at your hands, but +when you saw fit to attack that inoffensive girl, I determined to unmask +you." + +"And much good may it do you," was the cool rejoinder. "I am tired of +this monotonous existence, and had already decided soon to leave this +humdrum village. As for proving your assertions, you need not be at the +trouble. I do not deny a word you have uttered. It's all true, and +more." + +"I had a few twinges of conscience," she added sneeringly, "and thought +I'd change my mode of life; but it was never in me to behave like a +saint. People follow the bent of their inclinations most generally. I've +heard many good, but mistaken persons pity women who had gone wrong, and +try faithfully to reclaim them, but it's all lost labor. Most of them +take the downward road because it's the easiest, and comes natural, and +after a time it's impossible to reform them, with a precious few +exceptions. I've found out, though, since my short and sweet experience +in this community, that I ain't the worst creature in the world. Say +what you will, I am just as good at this moment as the rest of the women +here. This girl that they have persecuted is about the only decent body +among them. That's why they hate her, for being a continual reproof to +them." + +"Oh, you need not nod, and wink, and draw away from me as though I was +contagion," she said vindictively, "I know you all. I happen to be in +the confidence of a certain gentleman that some of you know too +intimately for your own good. You, for instance, Mrs. Brier, (glancing +meaningly at the little woman,) and you, Mrs. Charles Burton, and you, +and you, (pointing in rapid succession to several demure looking ladies +who had eyed her with glances of apprehension.) It's about time for Mrs. +Euphrasia Anastasia Strain to begin to keep an eye on her husband's +movements, if she happens to be the least bit of a jealous nature." + +These concluding remarks produced a decided sensation. Every lady rose +simultaneously to their feet. Mrs. Brier fainted, and dropped limp and +lifeless and unobserved. The Editor's lady went into hysterics, the +demure-looking females "lifted up their voices and wept," and everybody +but Betsey Pryor seemed struck with general consternation. "Thank +goodness!" exclaimed the last mentioned lady, pursing up her thin lips, +"_I_ never had anything to do with the men. Nobody can accuse me of +that, anyway." + +Which was but too true. + +The spinster having uttered this emphatic remark, folded her garments +over her immaculate bosom and went forth to seek consolation in a cup of +Mrs. Wynn's good tea. + +Profiting by her example, the others immediately bent their steps to +their respective homes, and that was the last meeting of the Society +ever held in that village. It then and there, at the height of its +apparent prosperity, came to an untimely end, to the lasting grief and +shame of a few worthy souls, and the amusement of many more, who were +wicked enough to rejoice over its ignominious downfall. + +Soon after Mrs. Caroline Newcomer left Waveland to return no more, and +not a little to the astonishment of every one, Mr. Charles Burton sold +his residence to a wealthy gentleman and removed with his family to a +distant city. + +That was the only change that occurred except the departure of Mrs. +Euphrasia Anastasia Strain, who went home about this time to visit her +ma; and that of Rose Wynn, who left off going to church and Sabbath +School, to become wholly invisible a few weeks after. + +"So this was the 'Caroline' who favored you with all those anonymous +communications," said Clemence to her friend when they were discussing +the affair together. + +"Yes, the very same," sighed Mrs. Hardyng. "She doubtless followed me at +the instigation of Geoffrey Westbourne to spy upon my actions and report +to him. I do not know what his object could have been, unless he feared +that I might seek to communicate with his present wife, who I feel +convinced is not a party to his base transactions, and who believes him +an injured saint. Perhaps, too, he hoped to gain something against me +from these gossips, or knowing that I was unaccustomed to poverty and +isolation, believed that I might break through these self-imposed +barriers and resort to crime. But he should know me better. It is no +relief from misery to plunge into infamy, but only hurls the wretched +victim into darker woes. I know that I have been far from perfect, but +the soul of Ulrica Hardyng is free from the stain of crime. He whom she +served faithfully and conscientiously ought to be the first to award the +meed of praise, but in its place there is only the bitter brand of a +life-long disgrace." + +"I don't believe that even the best of men truly appreciate the value of +a pure-minded woman," said Clemence, thoughtfully. "They are too gross +and material, and I have met with very few whose society seemed to have +a tendency to elevate. In the company of the majority of men I feel a +constraint and like uttering the most commonplace remarks. Yet their +idle curiosity leads them to seek to penetrate the very 'holy of +holies' (if I may be allowed the expression) of the soul, and which they +can neither understand nor appreciate." + +"Oh, child!" said the elder woman, coming to her side; "my pure-browed +darling, I pray God that you may never suffer misery like mine. I had +rather the child's dream would be realized; that you might be permitted +to follow him, though my lonely heart aches at the thought of losing +you, than that you should be dragged down to a life for which you are +not fitted. Never marry, Clemence, for you are more likely to be +wretched than happy. I have so little faith in any man that I should +fear for your future if you were to bestow your affections upon any one. +I mean to guard you well hereafter; and I am sure that there cannot be +the least possibility of your ever having met one to appreciate or +awaken a feeling of interest in your mind." + +The girl did not reply to this half-uttered query, but a faint rose-tint +swept into the pale cheeks, and up to the blue-veined temples. + +"But to be an old maid, Ulrica," she said a moment after, in a troubled +tone; "it is a dreary future for any woman to contemplate. It used to be +the one object of my ambition to devote my life to some good cause, +thinking that thus I might rise above worldly cares, and grow nearer +Heaven. But of late my whole being shrinks from such a course." + +"It seems to me that a single woman cannot be as useful as one 'whom the +dignity of wifehood invests as with a garment.' You know there is a +stigma attached to old maids that must detract from their usefulness." + +"Yes, I know," said Mrs. Hardyng; "and of late I am beginning to think +that it is, perhaps, in some cases but too well merited. Do you know, +dear, that all the spinsters of my acquaintance have got married on +their very first offer? I can't help feeling a little mortified that +some of my models that I have held up triumphantly as examples to prove +the usefulness and necessity of their existence, should have failed me +in the end." + +"There is Miss Aylmar, who amassed a fortune by teaching a Ladies' +Seminary. She was a pattern old maid in my estimation. However, much to +my chagrin, when I thought she was nearly ready to receive, after a long +and useful life, the rewards for her good deeds in another world, she +suddenly assumed the airs of a sixteen-year old boarding-school miss, +and, after trying in vain to captivate, by the weight of her golden +attractions, a young and handsome, but penniless professor, succeeded at +length in fastening a respectable widower. She trots him out regularly +every Sunday with that ineffable smirk of satisfaction that only an old +maid can assume. Then there was Miss Anthon, a demure little body, who +wore her gray hair brushed back from her placid face, without resort to +hair dyes, cosmetics, or other rejuvenating articles of the toilet. She +kept her eyes open, though, and in her unobtrusive way, after lying in +wait for her victim all these long and weary years, she suddenly pounced +upon a fortune to reward her patient and persevering efforts. You see, +this woman had no capital of beauty, intellect or money, and so she +assumed the only _role_ that a quaint little creature like her could +carry through successfully. At the risk of her own life, she +courageously sat through a case of malignant typhoid, in the hope of +making an impression upon the heart of a good-looking youth, by +restoring to him his invalid mother. Unfortunately for her purpose, the +old lady died, and, after finding that her disinterested efforts to +captivate the son were in vain, she turned her attention to the task of +consoling the disconsolate widower, and is now mamma-in-law to the man +she wanted to marry." + +"You are not presenting a very attractive side of the picture," said the +other, laughing. + +"No, but a true one, nevertheless. I wish women would be true to +themselves." + +"There is another failing of our sex," said Clemence, "that has often +come under my notice; and it is this: Let a gentleman enter society and +have it whispered around that he is what is called a 'ladies' man,' with +the added interest of one or two sensational anecdotes of a young lady +who went insane out of a hopeless attachment for the gentlemanly +scoundrel; or that this or that infuriated husband who has challenged +him to mortal combat; and, though the stain of murder be upon that man's +soul, women who call themselves virtuous will welcome him with approving +smiles. + +"Why, I have been completely disgusted, and that more than once, to hear +women of the most exemplary character praise and hang upon the words of +these smooth-tongued villains. I have now in my mind one in particular, +whom the world looks upon as a devoted wife and mother, and who I think +has never yet contemplated sin. Yet I know better than herself, that she +is hovering on the brink of a precipice, that may, at some future day, +engulf all she loves, with herself, in one common ruin. + +"Society, as it is now constituted, is dangerous, and calculated to +contaminate any pure-minded woman who enters it, unless she be blessed +with sufficient decision of character to choose a strict line of conduct +and abide by it, at the risk of being called dull, prudish, and +uninteresting. + +"Those of the old school, with their rigid notions of etiquette, their +stately courtesy, and grave, dignified manners, were far preferable to +the style assumed by Young America at the present day. Although not +deficient in a love for my country, I hardly wonder that the people of +the European cities which Americans visit complain that these 'plebeian +Yankees,' with their 'loud' style, their fussy dressing to the extreme +of fashion, their slang, and their still more intolerable 'double +_entendre_,' exert an unfavorable influence upon society, and +'_desecrate_' the places where they tread." + +"I believe you are right," said Mrs. Hardyng; "and it has struck me +oddly enough that we, who are so extremely opposite in every respect, +should find so many subjects upon which to agree. I have often grieved +over these foibles of our sex, not having failed to observe, with +regret, that there are fewer exceptions than there should be. + +"Now, I should think, from the very nature of things, that a woman would +always instinctively defend her own sex, and hurl contempt and scorn at +those who basely sought to take advantage of her weakness. There seems +to me to be _one_, all-powerful reason why they should do this, and it +has puzzled me exceedingly to know _why_, with the self-love that all +women possess in common with each other, and their natural tendency to +jealousy, they should feel at all elated at a tale of flattery that they +_know_ has been rehearsed before, as often as there has been found one +to listen. + +"Now, it is no recommendation to _my_ favor to realize that I am only +one of a dozen, and that Frizzolinda in the parlor, or Jemima in the +kitchen, would each prove equally as acceptable in their turn; that the +arm that embraces _me_, has stolen with just as delicious uncertainty +around the cook's buxom waist, and that the eyes that seek mine with +such glances of affection have sought with an equal fondness in their +melting depths those of every lady of my acquaintance. I'll confess, if +it _is_ a weakness, for a woman who gives everything to the man she +loves, that I am exacting enough to demand a more exclusive attachment +than this. 'Verily, these things ought not to be.' Women should look to +it; for I think there are some few social reforms, that are of more +vital importance to the sex than even the right of 'suffrage' and the +dictatorship amid the councils of the nation. Few women care for this +last honor. The majority in America marry early in life, and their +highest ambition is to achieve distinction in the social circle." + +"That brings me to think," said Clemence, "of the flirtations between +married couples, that we see going on continually around us. I always +had an idea that I should not enjoy quite such a risky love affair as +they promise. Not but that, like every one else, I suppose, I think it's +very agreeable to be admired; but then it's not tranquilizing to the +nerves to remember that a jealous wife may be cultivating her finger +nails with a view to exercising them upon one's countenance. I prefer +the 'human face divine' in its natural state, being of the opinion with +another that 'beauty unadorned is adorned most.' Do you know, Ulrica, +that I lost my taste for guitar music listening to a little +pink-cheeked, simpering married woman, eternally strumming to a Benedict +of her acquaintance, in lovelorn tones--'I'll be true to +thee,'--accompanied by the most languishing glances? I was the more +disgusted, too, when I recollected that this woman was the lady +Superintendent of an up-town Sabbath School, and considered a pattern by +every one. Besides, she called herself a Christian, and a tender, loving +mother, while she absolutely stinted her children's food, in the absence +of her husband, who toiled early and late in the counting-room, to buy +finery to air before her married beau, and make the jealous, passionate +wife whom he left waiting at home (and whom, she knew, hated her as +only a wronged woman _can_ hate,) still more miserable. + +"Oh," she added, shuddering at the contemplation of this grievous sin, +from which her pure soul recoiled, "the Father knew the weakness of our +common nature when He taught us the daily prayer to avert temptation." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +"I declare!" said Mrs. Wynn, looking up from the gilt frames in Mrs. +Swan's parlor, "the changes that have been going on in Waveland do beat +everything. Only think of it! Why, the town hasn't been so lively for +years before. There used to be only an occasional wedding or +christening, or funeral; and now, strange faces that no one knows +anything about, meet you at every turn." + +"Oh, I don't know about that!" said Mrs. Swan. "There has only been one +or two arrivals here; that new family who brought out the Burtons, and +the new minister and his wife. By-the-bye, they say he married her just +before he came here, and that she was a widow." + +"Yes, I know that," replied the old lady. "I heard the report, and, +thinkin' it was only natural that we should be a leetle curious about a +woman who was a goin' to give tone to our society, I made bold to ask +her about it. She put her handkercher to her eyes, and cried the least +bit, when she spoke of her former pardner. 'Dear soul,' she said, 'he's +in Heaven, but the Lord's got work for me to do in this world yet, +Sister Wynn.' She's a leetle too dressy, and I'm most afraid will set +the young folks here an example of extravagance; but I believe she +means well, and expects to do her whole duty." + +"Well, I shall wait for her works to prove her disposition," said Mrs. +Swan. "I believe that 'actions speak louder than words.' I'll admit that +Arguseye _talks_ well--she's a gift that way; but I ain't drawn to her +as I was to the dear motherly saint that has left us." + +"No, you can't expect another like her. I don't know what the old Elder +will do, now; but it won't be long before he'll follow her, in my +opinion," was the rejoinder. + +"She's gone to that happy land where the wicked can never enter," spoke +up Betsey Pryor, who had been industriously stitching away during this +dialogue. + +"It's a good thing to realize that, Betsey," said Mrs. Wynn, slyly. "I'm +glad you've found out the danger of evil communications." + +"Don't say another word," said the spinster, showing signs of dissolving +in tears. "I've learnt a lesson this past summer I shall never forget." + +"I don't wonder that you feel so," rejoined Mrs. Wynn, smiling grimly. +"I never look at you now, and remember the Secretary of the 'Ladies' +Charitable Society,' without feeling thankful that you have riz like +that--what do you call it?--from its ashes, and are once more an orderly +and respectable member of society." + +"Have you observed," asked the good-natured hostess, striving, out of +pity for the disconcerted Betsey, to turn the conversation into another +channel, "anything of these new people at the Burton place?" + +"A leetle, but not much," said Mrs. Wynn. "I was so upset by their +sellin' out so sudden like, when I thought they was as much fixtures +here as the place itself, that I ain't had much time to think about +these new folks." + +"As for me," continued Mrs. Swan, "I like them already. Being such a +near neighbor, I have a chance to see a good deal of them. Their names +are Garnet, and that pretty younger lady is the wife of their only son." + +"It took some money, I should imagine," pursued Mrs. Wynn. "Of course +these folks must be rich." + +"Yes, they paid twelve thousand, cash down, for their present home, and +the old lady told me they had other property besides." + +"Do tell!" and "Gracious sakes!" ejaculated both her listeners at once. +"I must call right away." "It ain't neighborly to neglect strangers." + +"I've another item for you," added the communicative Mrs. Swan. "They've +bought that cottage down near the Widow Hardyng's, for the young couple +to commence housekeeping for themselves." + +"Why, what's that for?" was the next question; "don't they agree?" + +"Oh, yes, perfectly; but the young people want a little home of their +own, 'a play house,' the elder Mrs. Garnet calls it. For my part, I +think it only natural. Mr. Swan and I did not want to stay with either +of the old folks after we were married, but came off and set up for +ourselves." + +"That's the house that Mrs. Newcomer lived in, ain't it?" asked Betsey +Pryor. + +"The very identical one," replied Mrs. Wynn. "I am glad that woman has +left, for it was a living disgrace to any respectable community, +harboring such a character." + +"But nobody ever dreamed anything of her true history. If they, had they +wouldn't have associated with her," said Mrs. Swan. "She was a dreadful +creature, and I can't make out yet why she should take all that pains to +come here and persecute two unoffending women like Mrs. Hardyng and her +young friend." + +"But don't you see," reiterated Mrs. Wynn, "it was at the instigation of +Mr. Westbourne, Mrs. Hardyng's former husband, and probably she wanted +to gratify her own malice. I can understand her motive, for no doubt she +cordially hated this woman, whom she felt she had wronged." + +"But Miss Graystone?" queried Mrs. Swan. "I should think her sweet, +patient face would have touched the heart of a stone." + +"It seems she did have some compunctions," said the old lady; "don't you +remember there at the last meeting of the Society, she said she would +have taken the girl's part, only she thought she could hurt the widow +still more by wounding this young girl? Betsey can tell you better about +that, though," she added, wickedly; "ask the former Secretary to give +you the particulars. I had not the honor of being present on that +occasion myself." + +"Don't ask me to rehearse it," said Miss Pryor, in subdued tones, "I +can't bear it. My nerves have never yet recovered from the shock." + +"We will excuse you, then, Betsey," said the other, magnanimously, "and +proceed to the more congenial occupation of disposing of some of these +nice biscuits and delicious tea that I see Mrs. Swan has prepared for +us." + +The pensive beauty of the mild Indian Summer flooded hill and valley +now. Where the sombre shades of green had erst clothed the forest, +brilliant pennons of flame-colored, and crimson-dyed, and paler tints, +shading into amber, and gray, and russet brown, lit up the woods with +their bright-hued splendor. + +Clemence, with her little charge, loved to wander through these places, +that nature had clothed in rarest beauty for her worshippers. This was +her favorite season of the year. Sometimes a foreboding oppressed this +young dreamer that it might be her last hours of earthly enjoyment. She +used often to look with pity into the child's face, where a sweet +seriousness lingered, and it gave her sympathetic heart pain to think +that the child should be old beyond her years. Indeed, there was the +same wistfulness about the younger face that we have noticed about our +heroine, and there was a gravity of expression about the tender mouth +that told of a capacity for suffering unusual in one so young. It was +apparent that, like the tried friend who toiled daily to sustain her, +sorrow had early marked the orphan girl for its own. If misfortune or +death were to overtake this fragile creature who stood between her and +the storms of life, what would become of Ruth? + +There were trials, and temptations, and dangers lurking in the path of +the innocent child. Would she surmount them all bravely, and achieve +victory in the battle of life? + +This thought haunted, continually, the mind of the young teacher, and +gave her hourly pain. There was but little to attach her to life, and +only for this child's love she would have longed for the hour when God +should call her home. As it was, the girl had not sufficient faith to +leave all in His hands. With her sad experience of life, she dreaded all +that might come to her darling. And hope had nearly died out in her +heart. + +Seated by the little grave, which was the shrine at which she poured out +her daily petitions, Clemence thought despondingly of the past, and how +little there seemed for her in the future, to which every one around her +looked forward with such eager anticipation. + +The dreary waste stretched out unsmiling, and inexpressibly desolate. +The path of duty seemed straight and thorny. + +While she sat, sorrowful, the child, who had been watching her with +tender eyes, came and knelt before her. "Let me come and sit with you," +she pleaded, laying her soft, rounded cheek upon the two hands folded +idly in Clemence's lap. "I cannot play while I know you are grieving on +my account." + +"Why," asked Clemence, arousing with a start from her reverie, "what put +that odd fancy into your head, little one?" + +"Oh, I have known it for a long time," said Ruth, earnestly. "Although I +never have told you before, I realize more and more every day how much +you deny yourself for my sake. I owe you more than I can ever hope to +repay." + +"There, there, child," said Clemence, astonished at her vehemence. "What +on earth has put all this into your head? Who told you about +self-denial? Have any of these rough villagers been seeking to wound you +by speaking of your state of dependence?" + +"No, oh no," protested the little one, wisely, "nobody told me except +Johnny. We used to talk of it long ago, of how kind and good you were to +two poor little children like us. Johnny used to think you must be an +angel, like those we read about at Sabbath School, for nobody ever +treated him kindly until you came. He said good people were always +afflicted and persecuted." + +"Poor little tired heart," said Clemence, commiseratingly, "it is now at +rest. But, Ruth, you must not allow these recollections to sadden you. +The little bound boy had not much to brighten his dreary life, and he +knew not what it was to possess the buoyant hopefulness of childhood. +Sorrow had made him wise beyond his years. Its weight crushed him down +like a bruised lily. The Good Shepherd listened to his pitiful +supplications, and he is now safe in the fold above. I don't want _your_ +life to be one of gloom, my little adopted sister. I have tried to make +you feel happy, but I fear I am but dull company for a little girl." + +"You are the best, the _very_ best," persisted the little devotee, with +worshipping eyes. "I would like to be always near you, and it is only +the thought that I am a burden that clouds my face with one shade of +care." + +"How often have I told you, Ruth," returned Clemence, gravely, "not to +disturb your mind with such fancies? It displeases me to have you talk +upon these subjects, that a little girl ought not to think of at all. I +have never told you of your obligations, and I do not wish it to form a +topic of conversation between us. I want your love and obedience, and +that is all that a little girl like you can give. You have not added +greatly to my trials, and as yet I have experienced few inconveniences +from having another to provide for. God has raised up a kind friend for +us in Mrs. Hardyng, and we will not question His wisdom who has made us +what we are, but strive always to remember in whose hands our future is +placed." + +A look of pain flitted over the child's open countenance, and a tear +trembled upon the silken lashes. + +"Have I offended you?" she whispered, creeping closer. "I only wanted to +tell you what was in my heart. I don't want to hide anything from you." + +"You have done quite right," said Clemence, embracing her; "run and +play, now, dear; a race will do you good and dry these tear-drops." + +She kissed the little one and pushed her gently away; then leaned her +head upon her hand in the old attitude of weariness, and watched her +until the slight form of the child was lost to view among the trees. + +Little Ruth's remarks had disturbed her. There was too much foundation +in their present circumstances for anxiety. Still there was one drop of +comfort in the midst of her trials. The young teacher knew that time had +dissipated the cloud of suspicion and distrust that had hung over her +for so long, and which had been created by the basest envy. The School +Committee had lately tendered her again her old position, which she had +declined with thanks. She was too weak to labor now, either with hands +or brain. What did this strange lassitude, this very weariness of +spirit, betoken? + +The sad-browed dreamer knew but too well the end of all this; though, +whatever it might be, it was surely for the best, or it would not be +suffered. + +While her thoughts were engaged upon the subject, she resolved to write +without delay to Alicia Linden, and speak to her about Ruth. Mrs. +Hardyng should not have everything put upon her. She had trouble enough +of her own. + +Clemence, who felt as if she did not want to presume upon the generosity +of her friend, knew that the masculine Alicia would be prepared for any +emergency, having both the will and the ability to help her. It was only +her extreme conscientiousness that had led her, thus far, to struggle on +with her self-imposed burden. The girl had argued that it was not right +to call upon others to relieve from that which she had assumed of her +own free will. + +Now, she beheld matters in a clearer light. There was a higher Will that +took out of her hands the ordering of her own actions. She had tried to +act wisely, and from the best and purest motives. Her strength having +now failed utterly, it was her duty to strive and repress all these +rebellious murmurings and go forward in the narrow path so many had +trodden before her. + +This was unusually difficult for one of Clemence Graystone's proud, +independent spirit, but if pride conflicted with duty it must be +conquered. There was but one way, to "be careful for nothing." + +However, it was the fault of her nature to go to the other extreme, and +despond when she could not see the path beyond marked out distinctly, +and illumined by the star of Hope. + +Now, life had nothing in it but the affection of this clinging, +dependent child, to draw her from the contemplation of that future for +which her soul had longed these weary months of sorrowful waiting, and +where she hoped to gain the sweet reward for all her striving. + +She had sought to live for the hour that was approaching, remembering, +all these years, that "Heaven is won or lost on earth; the possession is +_there_, but the preparation _here_." + +The girl knew she had failed often, but she felt willing to trust +herself to the mercy of Him who loves those He chasteneth. She repeated +softly these words from a gifted woman's pen:-- + + "Though we fail, indeed, + You--I--a score of such weak workers--He + Fails never. If he cannot work by us, + He will work over us." + +A sudden footstep roused the young dreamer, and her startled gaze rested +upon a form before her. A faint dash of crimson kindled the pallid +coldness of the pure face. She rose and moved forward with outstretched +hands, while the voice of Wilfred Vaughn asked, in sorrowful accents, +"Can this be the Clemence Graystone I have known, or only her wraith?" +He pressed the slender fingers tenderly in his own, and while every +lineament of that noble face spoke of his grief at finding her thus, he +said to the wondering girl, who looked upon his sorrow, "What a grievous +sin has been committed here! My sweet-faced darling, they have +sacrificed you to their cruelty. You have been the innocent victim of a +dreadful wrong." + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +"Do you recognize this handwriting?" asked Mr. Vaughn, after a few +moments desultory conversation, handing her a letter. + +Clemence uttered an ejaculation of surprise, "Why, it looks like mine, +though I never saw it before. What a singular resemblance." + +"What is more singular still, it has your signature," said the +gentleman; "read it." + +The young girl obeyed, mechanically, and her companion watched her in +interested silence, while the blushes came and went on her pure face. + +Her look deepened into one of anxiety and consternation as she read. +"What can it mean?" she asked, in distressed tones. "Who has sought thus +to injure me?" + +"A jealous, wicked woman," he returned, sadly. "It was a cruel deed, and +brought its own bitter reward of remorse and shame. But I will give you +the whole story." + +"You doubtless wondered at your abrupt dismissal from Mrs. Vaughn's +employment upon so slight a pretext as Gracia gave you. I never dreamed +of the possibility until you were gone, and, when I questioned her as to +the cause of the non-appearance of the face I had learned to watch for, +she gave me this, telling me to thank her for having saved me from a +dreadful fate. + +"The letter seemed to explain itself. It opened my eyes to the state of +my own heart. + +"This shock, for a time, nearly overwhelmed me. I never believed, +though, even in the darkest hour, that you could do anything really +wrong. I knew that you were tried by poverty, and only pitied your +sufferings, resolving to render whatever aid might lay in my power. + +"In pursuance of this resolution, I therefore traced out your residence, +secretly, and in my efforts learned something of your former history. I +found that I had known Grosvenor Graystone in his days of prosperity, +and took new courage in finding that you were the daughter of that +upright man. + +"Not wishing to make myself known at that time, I still hovered around +you, thinking that, if you needed a protector, I would become visible at +the right moment." + +"And," interrupted Clemence, "you were the unknown friend who sent us, +at our time of greatest need, the means that defrayed the expenses of my +mother's last illness, and interment. How much I thank you, you can +never know." + +"I did not intend to speak of that," continued Mr. Vaughn. "I did +nothing of what I had planned, on account of being called suddenly away +to the death-bed of a distant relative. + +"As soon as I could do so with decency, I returned, and my first visit +was to your lodgings, where I had determined to present myself in person +and make the acquaintance of Mrs. Graystone. + +"What was my grief to learn that that estimable lady was no more, and +that, after a long and dangerous illness, her I sought more +particularly, as the one whose happiness was most dear to me on earth, +had gone away with a lady whose name I could not learn. + +"As I was turning away in despair, a voice called to me. I turned and +beheld a woman beckoning to me from an upper window. This person I +recognized immediately as having once seen, in your company, and +joyfully retraced my steps, in the hope of hearing something that would +give me a clue to your whereabouts. + +"'I'm Mrs. Bailey,' said the woman, coming down and standing in the +doorway, 'and I kalkilate you're after some news of that young girl that +used to go out governessing.' + +"I replied eagerly in the affirmative. + +"'Well, there ain't much to tell,' she said, slowly. 'The mother took +sick and died, and the girl herself just managed to live through a +dreadful long illness. She was hardly able to sit up when she went away. +I hear she's gone travellin' for her health. If that's so, _somebody_ +must have furnished the means, and it wasn't that widow, who was the +only friend they had in the whole wide city. More like it was a certain +handsome young gentleman I could tell you about. + +"'I'll tell you what it is, Mr. Vaughn,' said the woman, eyeing me +closely, 'you are wasting valuable time that might be better employed +than in following up an adventuress. Take the advice of a disinterested +friend, and let this Miss Graystone alone.' + +"Of course, I then and there indignantly resented this officiousness; +but she reiterated her caution in my unwilling ears, and, finally, when +I was about to leave her, took from her pocket a small slip of paper. + +"'Read that, Mr. Vaughn,' she said. + +"I did so. It was a marriage notice of a Mr. Legrange to a Miss C. +Elizabeth Graystone." + +"A distant relative," said Clemence. "We were not intimately acquainted, +and this is the first intimation that I have gained of Cousin Lottie's +marriage." + +"Being somewhat confused at the time," continued Mr. Vaughn, "I +supposed, of course, that this was the lady I sought, and that farther +search was fruitless. There seemed now no more to be done. Of my +feelings of disappointment and regret, I will speak hereafter. + +"Having now nothing to occupy my attention, I mingled more in society, +at my sister-in-law's earnest solicitation, though I cared little for +the strangers whom I met. More than a year passed in this aimless way. + +"One evening, however, at a brilliant soiree, I met an elderly lady, +with whom I got quite well acquainted in the course of an agreeable +conversation. She was a woman of keen intellect, and it seemed to me +rather a masculine mind. I was astonished to find such an one amid this +idle crowd of gay worldlings, and I spoke at some length of the pleasure +I had enjoyed. She told me, then, that we were not such entire strangers +as I seemed to suppose, but that we had a mutual friend, a young lady +who was then absent from the city. + +"This, of course, piqued my curiosity, and, upon asking an explanation, +she told me all she knew of the one whom I had so long been vainly +seeking. + +"In return, I gave her my whole confidence. She invited me to call at +her residence the following day, which I did. It was the home where you +had spent those long months of seclusion, and the lady was, as you must +have guessed, Mrs. Linden. + +"I learned from her everything that I wished to know save your present +place of residence, which she refused to divulge. + +"'I expect my pet will return to me, when she has wearied of her present +mode of life,' she said, 'and then you can renew your acquaintance under +more favorable auspices.' + +"It was in vain I pleaded for farther confidences. She was inexorable. I +had, therefore, only to exercise patience, and, as I had now everything +to hope for, I was happier than I had been for many long months. + +"To while away the time, which, in my present mood hung heavy on my +hands, I started, in company with my sister-in-law and a party of +friends, on a pleasure excursion. We took passage in a steamer bound for +Lake Superior, every one anticipating an unusual amount of enjoyment. +Alas! what a terrible ending to it all! Let me hasten over this +dreadful tragedy; although I can never hope to drive the awful scene +from my mind. + +"We were in the height of our enjoyment; little groups, with bright, +animated faces scattered here and there, and apart from the rest, either +promenading the decks, or sheltered in some retired corner, happy +lovers, whispering softly of the future that would never come to them, +for already the sable wings of death hovered over our careless band. + +"By some unforeseen accident, and owing to no carelessness on the part +of the officers, the boat had taken fire, and when discovered by the +passengers the flames were making such rapid headway that escape seemed +impossible for the greater portion. It was a wild and awful scene. + +"In the tumult I had sought out the children, Grace and Alice, and +carried them with me to a position from which I intended to leap with +them into the water after it became impossible for us to remain longer +on the burning steamer. I was just securing the life preservers about +them, when a heart-rending cry reached my ears, and the next moment my +sister-in-law grasped my arm. She was nearly frantic with fear, and in +the agony of the moment thought of nothing but her own preservation. The +sight of her completely unnerved me. I pointed to the children, +beseeching her to calm herself, and I would save them all. We were not +far from land, and, being an expert swimmer, I believe I could have done +so, had not my movements been impeded as they were. As it was, I could +do nothing. Insane with fright, the instinct of the mother seemed to +have died out. There was but one way. The flames were rapidly nearing +us, and, giving instructions to the children--who seemed more like women +than the shrinking creature who cowered before them--I made one more +effort to impress upon Gracia's mind the necessity for implicit +obedience to my instructions. + +"I succeeded in gaining her attention and approval of my plan, but with +the awful danger behind us, there were still precious moments wasted +before I could induce Gracia to venture into the water, of which she +seemed to have a horror. I made almost superhuman exertions to reach the +land, and depositing my almost insensible burden, turned again to +attempt the rescue of my darlings. But I was too late. Faint, and nearly +exhausted, I was making but slow progress, when a heavy beam, floating +in the water, struck and rendered me unconscious. A boat that had +hurried to the scene of the disaster picked me up, with others; but I +never saw again the two little beings whom I left, with their childish +hands clasped, waiting for me to return and save them." + +"Oh, heavens!" ejaculated Clemence, "not dead!--my two little pupils." + +"Yes, dead," said Wilfred Vaughn, hoarsely; "buried beneath the waves, +and their only requiem the moaning of an angry sea." He paused for a +while, with his face buried in his hands, and then resumed: + +"This awful visitation seemed to change Gracia. She had been a proud, +ambitious, selfish woman. I never wanted my only brother to marry her, +but he was infatuated with her splendid beauty, and when I saw that his +happiness was at stake I ceased to oppose him. After he died I hovered +near to watch over the children. But I never liked Gracia Vaughn, +because I could not respect her. Now, on what proved to be her +death-bed, I felt for the first time an affection for her, born of pity. +I think if my sister-in-law could have lived she would have been a +better woman. But the fiat had gone forth, and her days were numbered. +Naturally delicate, the intense excitement and exposure so lately +endured, set her into a low fever that at length terminated her life. As +she neared the 'valley of the shadow of death' her vision seemed +clearer. The scales fell from her eyes, and the repentant woman knew +that her life had been a failure. + +"'It is better so, Wilfred,' she said to me, just before she died. 'I +have been only 'an encumberer of the ground.' I can be better spared +than others, for my life has benefited nobody. There will be few to miss +me.' + +"'Oh, Gracia!' I exclaimed, shocked at the thought. + +"'Nay,' she answered me, 'but it is true, and right. I have been selfish +and unlovable, and more than that, sinful. Do you think God will pardon +me!' + +"'Can you doubt that He who sent His Only Son to die for us, and to save +not the righteous but _sinners_, will hearken unto our supplications?' I +said, earnestly. 'My dear sister, you have been weak and perhaps wicked, +but surely none of us are perfect.' + +"'But you do not know all,' said Gracia, averting her face. 'I have so +longed to tell you, but have lacked courage. There remains but little +for me to do in this world, but I cannot die until I have retrieved, by +the humblest confession and fullest reparation, the great sin of my +life.' + +"She covered her face with her hands and wept softly, and then said, in +a voice shaken by emotion, 'You remember the young girl, Clemence +Graystone, who interested you so strangely, and whom I engaged as +governess, with your sanction. It was to destroy her happiness that this +wicked act was consummated. For a reason which her woman's heart will +too surely tell her, I conceived from the first a violent dislike to the +young teacher. She had not been long in my employ before I began +watching her closely, in the hope of detecting some fault that would +render a sufficient and plausible excuse for my discharging her. I knew +that in such straitened circumstances the position she held was a +lucrative one, and so great was my antipathy to one who had never +knowingly injured me, that I could not bear the thought of benefiting +this orphan girl in the smallest degree. At last, coming to the +conclusion that there was not the slightest hope of discovering anything +against her that would bear inspection, and discovering that she was +every day growing more and more in favor with the entire household, I +resolved quietly to resort to artifice to accomplish that which I could +not hope to bring about in any other way. It was very easy to steal into +the school-room after hours, unobserved, and, after some practice, +imitate her handwriting closely enough to have it pass for genuine with +any one not familiar with it. This I did, and then discharged her. When +you asked the reason, I placed in your hands that which was in itself +enough to blast the character of a young, unprotected girl. But I +repented,' she said, excitedly, watching my face, which at this +unlooked-for revelation must have expressed all the horror and +repugnance I felt. 'Wilfred, don't quite despise me. Forgive me, or I +cannot die in peace.' + +"I remembered her condition, then, and soothed her as I would an infant. +Against my entreaties, almost commands, she proceeded with the harrowing +story: 'I felt supremely wretched after I committed this wrong deed, and +at length, after some months, I traced the girl out in the hope of doing +something to aid her, and thus quiet my uneasy conscience. But she had +gone from her former place of residence. A woman who gave her name as +Bailey told me all I wished to know, and I felt quite relieved and +happy. She said the girl's mother had died, and that after a long +illness this Clemence Graystone had gone away with a gentleman, giving +me to understand that I need not feel troubled about her being in want, +for the girl was not friendless, but had those to aid her of the same +sort as herself. Of course, if this young governess were really unworthy +of all this anxiety, as the woman had intimated, then I had not done so +much mischief as I feared, and there was not so much to regret. I threw +off the recollection, and the whole circumstance had completely faded +from my memory, when I learned the truth of the matter from a +seamstress who had lodgings in the same building. This woman gave me an +entirely different version of the case, describing in eloquent terms the +girl's filial devotion to her mother in their dire necessity. I learned +now for the first time the real magnitude of the sin I had committed. I +wanted to tell you all then, but dared not. Now, however, with the grave +yawning beneath me, I have no longer anything to hope or fear in this +world. There is one thing yet which I can do to repair my error and show +that my repentance is sincere. My poor lost darlings had a fortune of +fifty thousand dollars left to them jointly by a deceased uncle. They +were to come into possession of this money when Alice had reached the +age of eighteen and Gracia twenty-one. In case of their death it was to +revert to me. I want to convey this sum to Clemence Graystone, because I +willfully and maliciously misrepresented her character to the man who +would have made her his loved and honored wife. It was a cowardly and +cruel act. I shudder to think what the consequences may have been. It +may be that want and grief have plunged her into crime. I could never +learn her fate, but the thought of her sweetness and purity has +comforted me when I have thought distractedly of her. I could never +connect anything but guileless innocence with those calm, clear eyes, +and that lofty brow, whereon intellect sat enthroned.' + +"'But, Gracia,' I interrupted, 'are you aware of the import of your own +words?' + +"'I am,' she said, 'and I mean to fulfill them. My mind is perfectly +clear upon the subject. There is no necessity for a lawyer. I will write +out my wishes in a few words, and sign my name without witnesses. I +shall give this into your charge, Wilfred. It is a sacred trust. Find +this girl, if you have to search the wide world over, and tell her of +this conversation by my dying bed.' + +"I told her all then that I had learned in the last few months, and +promised faithfully to perform the sad office. It almost made her happy. +She died soon after. + +"When the funeral obsequies were over I sought my late brother's lawyer, +intending to place the business in his hands before I sought you. +However, he laughed at the whole story as a piece of absurdity; told me +that the pretty governess was doubtless married to some honest fellow in +her own sphere in life, and advised me to destroy the unimportant slip +of paper, pocket the fifty thousand, and say nothing. I left in disgust, +resolving to keep the whole affair, for the future, in my own hands. I +immediately hurried to Mrs. Linden with the marvelous story, and she +gave me your address and a God speed. That is all that I have to tell, +except that I am here to congratulate you upon the change in your +fortune." + +"Don't jest," she said, looking at him with tear-filled eyes. "It was +only over these graves, two of which hide those who were dear to me, +that I have gained this great good." + +"Then I will stop jesting," he said, gravely, "and utter only the truth. +Clemence, I had another reason for seeking you. You have learned my +secret, and know, now, my deep love for you. Tell me if I may hope for +its return." + +For answer, she extended her hand in silence, and across the grave of +the child who had worshipped her, he clasped and raised it reverently to +his lips. + +Its pallid whiteness struck him mournfully. He kissed it again and +again. "A brave right hand to wield in one's own defense, and battle +with a cold and selfish world. It is like nothing in the world but a +snowflake, as light and as pure." + +"Now, you are laughing at me," she said, the deep carnation blooms in +her cheeks making her beautiful. + +He gave her a glance of adoration. "Here," he said, having disengaged +something from his watch-chain, "is a ring that belonged to an only and +beloved sister who died in early youth. I have a fancy it would fit your +finger, and I always intended it for my wife, as the most highly valued +gift I could bestow upon her. How would you fancy it for an engagement +ring?" slipping it upon her finger, where it hung loosely. + +"I should prize it more than a Queen's diadem," said Clemence, +eloquently. + +"You shall have the diamonds, by-and-by," giving her another glance that +riveted her own, and then he kissed her, as the seal of their +betrothal. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +"I was just thinking of you, Betsey," said Mrs. Wynn, as the figure of +the spinster appeared in the doorway of her little sitting room. "Set +right down, and I'll have a cup of tea ready in less than five minutes." + +"Thank'ee, I believe I will," said Miss Pryor, "though I didn't intend +to stay only long enough to tell you the news. I put this shawl over my +head and run just as I was." + +"That's right, I'm glad of it. We'll have a sociable time now, Mr. +Wynn's cleared out. I never could bear a man around my kitchen. But what +news do you mean!" + +"Why, ain't you heard?" + +"Not a livin' word of anything. What on earth can have happened so +wonderful?" + +"Well, that does beat all. Just to think! And you ain't seen a certain +magnificent gentleman, as grand as a prince, that sailed up to Widder +Hardyng's and asked for Miss Clemence Graystone? Every girl in town is +in love with him already." + +"Do tell! And here I be tied to the house waitin' on Rose, and never +dreamin' all that's goin' on. You might have come over and told me +before, Betsey. I'd have done the same by you." + +"Seein' as how it all happened yesterday, and I only found it out last +evening after prayer meeting', and it ain't ten o'clock in the forenoon +yet, I calkerlate I ain't done anything so very monstrous," said that +individual, in an injured tone. + +However, the sight of a steaming cup of tea that filled the air with its +appetizing fragrance, soon mollified her, and after dispatching one cup +at boiling point, she paused to take breath before partaking of a +second. + +"You see this is all there is of it: The elegantest man you ever saw +drove up all of a sudden to the tavern and wanted to know where Miss +Graystone was boarding. You'd better believe they asked him a few +questions, but he waved them all off, polite-like, but in a way that +convinced every one that he knew his own particular business better than +anybody else knew it for him; and dashed off in the direction of Widder +Hardyng's. Mrs. Swan's little girl happened to be down there on an +errand for her mother, and she heard all that transpired. His name's +Vaughn, and he's Miss Graystone's beau. He staid and talked a long time +with Mrs. Hardyng while he was waiting for the schoolmistress, who had +gone away; but after a time, when she didn't come back, he was so +impatient he went off trying to find her." + +"And you didn't see him at all?" queried Mrs. Wynn. + +"Oh, maybe I didn't," said Betsey, with a toss of her head; "trust me +for finding out anything I once set my mind on. I called in, carelessly, +on my way down here this morning, and had an introduction to the +gentleman himself. Not knowin' what else to say to start conversation, I +asked him if he was a relative of Miss Graystone's, though of course I +knew better. I praised her up to the skies, and you had ought to have +seen his face, beaming with smiles. He seemed to take a sort of notion +to me after that. I 'spose, though, Mrs. Hardyng gave me a settin' out +as soon as my back was turned, by the one-sided smirk she gave when the +gentleman shook hands with me cordially when I came away, and thanked me +for being so good to his young friend. I see Ruth playing on the street +corner, and quizzed her. So putting this and that together, it seems +that this girl, that everybody called an upstart and an adventuress, has +been a rich lady once, and never known what it was to soil her hands +with work of any description." + +"I knew it," said Mrs. Wynn; "I always said so. It shows my superior +penetration. I'm glad I stood her friend in the dark hour of adversity, +and shall hasten as soon as possible to learn the exact truth of all +these rumors." + +"So you are here, Betsey?" exclaimed Mrs. Swan, putting her head in at +the door. "I thought I saw you go by, and followed as soon as I could +get my things on." + +"Well, I never!" said Mrs. Wynn; "come in; you are just in time. Set by +and I'll put on another cup and saucer. We was just talking over the +new arrival in the village." + +"I believe half the population are similarly employed," laughed the +little lady. "Every one I met stopped and spoke to me about it, and as +luck would have it, as I was turning down a cross street I saw Mrs. +Hardyng ahead of me and joined her at once. She told me the whole story. +This Mr. Vaughn is a rich gentleman, who has come down here to marry the +schoolmistress. It seems, too, that she's lately inherited some property +by the death of somebody, I couldn't make out who--some relative I +suppose--though it don't matter. Any ways, a cool fifty thousand has +fell to her, and I don't know as I could point out a more deservin' +person." + +"Wonders will never cease!" exclaimed Mrs. Wynn, staring blankly, into +her empty tea cup. "Clemence Graystone turned out to be a rich heiress, +after bein' perfectly abused the whole live-long summer by everybody in +the town of Waveland but me. It's beyond my comprehension. But I always +knew she was a lady, and stuck to her through 'evil and good report.'" + +"Fifty thousand dollars!" gasped Miss Pryor; "do I hear aright? I wonder +what Mrs. Dr. Little, and the Briers, and all them that turned against +her, will say to that? It will be a particularly sweet morsel for the +Owens. I must call round and visit each one of them, to enjoy their +discomfiture." + +"What a thing it is to be ignorant and narrow-minded," added Mrs. Wynn. +"I can't see how people get along through life without any knowledge of +human nature. Our poor departed Elder used to say he never could quite +make up his mind what to think of a new-comer until he had my opinion of +them, and, if I _do_ say it, as shouldn't say it, I've used these eyes +thus far to pretty good advantage." + +"If she'd have used them less about her neighbors and a little more in +looking after that precious daughter of hers," whispered the spinster, +maliciously, as the old lady rose to put away the dishes, "it would have +been better for all concerned, I guess." + +"Why, Betsey, how you _do_ talk!" replied Mrs. Swan. Then in a louder +tone: "I came near forgetting another thing that I wanted to ask you +about. I've sustained a dreadful shock. It's on account of these new +people at the Burton place. I had a long confidential talk with Sister +Arguseye, lately, and I haven't had a peaceful moment since. She called +in to see me to warn me about associating with them. You know she came +from the same place that they did, and knew all about the family." + +"What did she say?" chorused both voices. + +"Well, I'm grieved to say her report wasn't favorable. It seems the +elder Mrs. Garnet, who appears to be a perfect pattern of propriety, has +a grown-up, illegitimate daughter, whose existence they are trying to +conceal from strangers, whom they think they can successfully impose +upon." + +"They have come to the wrong place for that. Vice will be exposed in +this community, and the workers of iniquity receive their reward," +responded Mrs. Wynn, oracularly, and pursing up her thin lips and +sniffing her sharp nose higher in the air; "we must ferret this out, +Betsey." + +"We must, indeed," echoed the spinster, looking as if nothing would +delight her more; "such a state of affairs cannot be tolerated in our +midst." + +"The worst part of it is," continued Mrs. Swan, "they say that the +modest-looking daughter-in-law, whom I have felt so interested in, is +equally culpable, and married the son for similar reasons. I feel +dreadfully about the affair, for I was expecting a good deal of +enjoyment in their society." + +"They seem very intelligent and agreeable people; but I can't doubt +Sister Arguseye's positive assertion. A minister's wife couldn't lie," +said the elder lady, in a tone that showed deep conviction of an +unpleasant truth. "There is but one way to find out; to go and state the +facts, and have the truth elicited." + +"But who is to do it?" asked Mrs. Swan. "_I_ can't." + +"Are you equal to the emergency, Betsey?" asked. Mrs. Wynn. + +"I believe I possess the Christian fortitude to do my duty, however +disagreeable it may be," replied that personage, with the air of a +martyr being led to the stake. + +"There, it is settled," said the old lady. "We will go together"--which +they did that very day. + +Pretty little Mrs. Garnet had finished her work for the day, donned a +fresh calico that fitted her plump form without a wrinkle, and sat +crooning a soft lullaby to that objectionable baby, when they entered. +She welcomed the ladies hospitably, but eyed askance their sombre and +awful countenances. + +"It's a pleasant day," she said, by way of starting conversation. + +"There's _nothing_ pleasant to me, in this wicked world," said Miss +Pryor, dolorously. + +"How is your rheumatism, Mrs. Wynn?" she asked again, after a prolonged +silence, hoping better success from this question regarding that worthy +lady's manifold ailments. + +"It's heavenly in comparison with the state of my mind," was the +unlooked-for response. + +Then there was another dreadful pause, broken at length by the elder of +the group. "I've a revelation to make, neighbor, that is of such a +nature that I shudder to speak upon the subject, and which closely +concerns more than one person in this immediate vicinity." + +Thereupon the good lady proceeded to unfold the story that had emanated +from the minister's wife, in regard to the deplorable state of the +morals of these new-comers in the quiet village. + +Instead of being shocked at the recital, and literally extinguished, as +she undoubtedly ought to have been, by the knowledge that her former +little peccadillos had come to light, the bright-eyed hostess burst out +laughing in the very faces of the lugubrious guests. + +"It's turned out as I expected," she said, at last, when she had done +laughing. "Now, ladies, so far as these slanderous reports concern +myself, I care very little about them, for I can refute them by +bringing convincing proof to the contrary." Thus saying, she rose, and, +after a short disappearance, returned with a marriage certificate and +the family records. "Here," she said, "is the date of my marriage, some +three years back, and the birth of our only child--just one year ago. +Baby was twelve months old yesterday. + +"But now comes the disagreeable part of the story. My husband's mother, +whom I love and respect, for having, in the years since I first knew +her, been all that I could ask in a parent, had one painful episode in +her life. She was to have been married to a wealthy gentleman, whom she +loved devotedly; but, on the day appointed for the wedding, the expected +bridegroom met with an accident, which proved immediately fatal. After +he was buried, the object of his fondest affection found _what_ his loss +at such a moment had become to her. A dreadful truth was revealed to +her, which became immediately known to those most interested in her +welfare. Furious with rage, and forgetting that his child needed now his +tenderest care, the outraged father drove her from his door, with the +command never to enter it. It was then that a former lover, who had +worshipped her from afar in the days of her prosperity, came forward and +offered her his protection and an honorable name, that had never been +sullied by disgrace. + +"In her distressed circumstances, she accepted him thankfully. They were +married immediately, and not long after this child of the former lover +was born. It was the one false step of a young, inexperienced girl, and +bitterly repented and atoned for in after life. The story is well known +where these facts occurred, as there was not the least attempt at +concealment." + +"Then you admit, Madam, that your relative _did_ commit a grievous wrong +at one portion of her life," said Miss Pryor, with a glance of severe +virtue. + +"But she repented, Betsey, and was forgiven, we trust," said Mrs. Wynn, +gently, thinking of one at home who had wrung her aged heart by a +similar misstep. + +"That is not all I have to say upon the subject, either," said Mrs. +Garnet, spiritedly. "Since the minister's dashing lady has commenced +this cowardly attack upon one I love, I shall not hesitate to speak the +entire truth. This widow, who was never a wife until she lately married +her present husband, and who, I regret to say, has thereby imposed upon +a very worthy man, has a grown daughter of unsound mind, who is bound +out to a family, where it is well known she has not been treated any too +kindly. The heartless mother, engrossed in the pursuit of some victim of +sufficient credulity to easily fall into her snares, has spent her time, +and what money she could earn, in beautifying and displaying her +bold-looking face and unwieldy figure, totally regardless of this +unhappy being, who has never known a mother's love and care. I can +imagine the reason for her opening hostilities in this manner. Knowing +that we were perfectly familiar with every portion of her former +history, and judging by her own spiteful self that we would improve the +first opportunity to make the facts known, she thought to poison the +minds of the community, so that our story would not be believed. +However, this was all labor spent in vain. Mother and I mutually agreed, +that if the woman chose to reform, we would be the last to injure her in +the estimation of others." + +"Can you prove this?" demanded Miss Pryor, gazing stolidly at the +animated speaker. + +"I can, by producing the lady's own daughter, of whose very existence, I +doubt not, the pious Elder is at this moment in profound ignorance," +said Mrs. Garnet. + +"That alters the case materially, then," said Mrs. Wynn. "These facts +must be carefully investigated, and if they are true, it's very likely +our new minister will have occasion to resign before long. You don't +bear any hardness, I hope, neighbor. It's been a very tryin' task, but +somebody had to undertake it." + +"Of course," was the reply. "Our object is to elicit the truth, and I am +willing to help probe this matter to the bottom." + +"Now," said Betsey Pryor, when they were again upon the street, "we will +stir up some excitement, I guess. Let's go to the minister's as straight +as ever we can." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +Miss Pryor had never uttered a truer remark than the one at the close of +our last chapter. There _was_ an excitement in the little village, +before which the sensation created by the pretty schoolmistress, became +as nothing. The wordy war raged fiercely, and life-long enmities were +created between those who had been intimate friends, endeared to each +other by years of pleasant intercourse. + +Meanwhile the offending Garnets were socially ostracized. Only little +Mrs. Swan resolutely defended them. It seemed that this determined lady +was destined to become the champion of all the persecuted of her own sex +in the tiny village. + +Of course, this matter found its way before the dignitaries of the +church, over which the worthy Elder presided. Dr. Little, as one of its +most influential members, hastened to give his support to his +professional brother, and bitterly denounced these intruders, who sought +to create disturbance by their idle tales. The minister's wife and the +doctor's lady became like sisters in their friendship, and it followed +that the feminine portion of the Garnet family were under a ban that +excluded them from speech or friendly intercourse with any but the +single exception we have before mentioned. + +If that had been all, these innocent objects of aversion might have +stood aloof and cared little, in the conscious power of rectitude. At +first they trusted that some new excitement might arise to absorb public +attention, and they be released from their painful position and +disagreeable notoriety. But, with time, their trouble seemed to increase +instead of diminish, and only added to the difficulties of their +situation. + +At length old Mr. Garnet rose in righteous wrath. "Wife," he said, +emphatically, "I never had anything to do with a woman's quarrel before. +I did think that after this Prudence Penrose, that has imposed upon the +parson, found we wasn't going to say nothin' about her half-witted +daughter, that she'd take the hint and let us alone; but I see she needs +a lesson. I am sorry, seein' how things has turned out, that I hadn't +interfered before the affair went so far, but it isn't too late now. +There's the minister, and Dr. Little, and Deacon Jones, and a lot more +of them, goin' to hold a meetin' about sueing my little daughter-in-law +for slander, against the character of a woman that never had any to +lose. So I reckon I will have my say on the subject, too." Which he set +about doing directly. + +Shortly after the irate old gentleman was seen in close conversation +with the village constable, and after some plotting, that worthy started +with the swiftest team in all Waveland for Ainsworth, the former +residence of both the Garnet family and the minister's lady. + +Mrs. Swan was sitting with little baby Garnet on her lap, at her +friend's house, the next evening, when the door burst open and Mr. +Garnet, senior, appeared in a state of excitement, such as he had never +been seen before by the little brown-eyed woman, who looked up with a +startled glance at his unexpected entrance. + +"Richie's come," he shouted, waving his hat triumphantly. "I've sent for +her, and here she is. I gave the Constable a commission, and he's been +and brought Richie, and got all the proofs of her parentage." + +"Thank Heaven!" said Mrs. Swan, giving the baby a toss in the air, while +its little soft-hearted mother hid her head on the old man's shoulder, +and shed a few tears of thankfulness and relief. + +"What! crying just at the hour of triumph?" said her spirited friend. "I +did not know how cruelly you had suffered from these base suspicions, +until now." + +"There, there, child," said Mr. Garnet, gently, smoothing the satin hair +with his horny hand, "get on your things and wrap up the baby. There's a +select few up at Dr. Little's to-night, and, though he ain't a +particular friend of mine, I've a notion to give him a surprise party, a +kind of comin' out occasion, you know, for the minister's new +step-daughter." + +The spacious parlors of the doctor's residence were as brilliantly +lighted as the illuminating power of six large kerosene lamps, in full +blaze, would allow, and as Mr. Garnet had declared, a "select few" of +that gentleman's friends were there assembled, to talk over the +feasibility of the minister's calling the detractors of his amiable wife +to a speedy account before the proper authorities of the village. + +That injured lady sat enthroned in easy chair, in a quiet corner, +casting martyr-like looks upon her sympathizers. Just as we are +observing that stately personage, she interrupted the Elder, who had +been speaking, with great volubility, "Don't say another word upon this +painful subject, husband. I can't bear it. To think that all my +well-meant efforts should be rewarded with such base ingratitude, wounds +me deeply. Still I would use no harsh measures, but ever incline to the +side of mercy." + +"But justice must be done, my dear sister," said the doctor. "In your +generous disinterestedness, you must not forget that you owe something +to your husband and the church, over which he presides. Your dignity +must be sustained, and it would never do to pass over this matter, since +it has become the theme of idle gossip for the whole town. _I_ advise my +brother to call in the aid of the law, without delay." + +"Oh, I could never think of that," returned the lady; "something else +will have to be decided upon. I do not wish the Elder to be drawn into a +lawsuit on my account. I can live down these foul aspersions. In time, +these people, whom I have come among, will know me as I am." + +It seemed as if the lady's prophetic forebodings were to be literally +verified then and there. As she ceased speaking, there came an imperious +summons at the street door, that turned all eyes immediately toward the +one mode of entrance and exit. + +"Ahem!" said the host, moving with majestic tread to answer the knock, +"it seems that we are to have some more visitors." "What! who!" as the +corpulent figure of old Mr. Garnet appeared upon the threshold. + +"Good evening, doctor; you did not expect me, I know," said that +gentleman, coming forward, "but I thought I'd drop in unceremoniously +with my friends, here," (turning and revealing the little group behind +him,) "as I had some particular business with two of your guests, that +could not possibly be delayed." + +At that moment a piercing shriek was heard from the corner, where the +minister's lady sank in a terror of guilt and shame. She had caught +sight of a slender, ill-clad figure, that stood peering in from the +darkness without, at the light and warmth of the cheerful room. The +great, wild, haggard eyes glanced curiously and searchingly around, till +they reached the woman's hiding place, and rested upon a form strangely +familiar; then, with a slow, shuffling, uncertain gait, Richie Penrose +strayed into the room, regardless of those who watched her, and went +directly up to the rigid figure, that bore on its white, set features +the very impress of despair. + +"Mother," the girl said, kneeling before her, and speaking in confused, +stammering accents, "they told me you sent for me to come to you and be +cared for, and have food and warm, pretty clothing, and no hard work or +cross words or blows, such as they gave me in the home I left. You used +to promise me, mother, that when you got somebody with gold enough to +buy all these, that you'd take me away from there. So, when that man +came for me, I hurried and got away before they should be sorry, and +come and take me back again. Is this the pretty home you used to tell me +about? and is that man my father?" + +There was no reply to this last question. The minister's wife had +fainted. + +All eyes were now turned toward her unfortunate husband. He rose to his +feet, reeling from the effects of the sudden shock, and the dreary +hopelessness of his face touched every heart. "My friends," he said, +huskily, "there is little to be said. This sudden revelation has crushed +me, till my soul grows faint with the bitterness of a terrible woe. +Believe me, I have had no part in this wicked deception, but only +considered that I was in the pathway of stern duty, in defending the +character of my wife from those who I was led to believe were her +enemies. I ask your forgiveness and sympathy;" then, without a word of +adieu, groping like one shut from broad daylight into thick darkness, he +passed out from among them, while those who looked on with moistened +eyes knew that this cruel blow had broken his heart. + +Old Mr. Garnet drew the back of his rough hand across his eyes. "I'm +a'most sorry I meddled," he said, regretfully. "It's the first and last +woman's quarrel I ever mix up in. But I couldn't have them grieving my +little Daisy to death. What possessed the woman to stir up this piece of +mischief?" + +"What's to become of the girl?" interrogated Dr. Little. "I don't want +her left on my hands. And allow me to say, sir, that I consider this +intrusion in my house an unpardonable liberty." + +"Very well," was the reply, "our business is ended, and we will +withdraw. As for this unfortunate child, I will care for her until her +proper guardians manifest a disposition to relieve me of the charge." + +Not a little to the surprise of all Waveland, the woman who suddenly +found herself the center of observation, and whose haughty spirit could +not brook humiliation, disappeared immediately after this eventful +episode, leaving no clue to her whereabouts. + +The unfortunate Richie was provided with a comfortable home, and upon +the death of her mother's husband, which occurred not long after, she +came into possession of a sum sufficient to provide for her maintenance +during the rest of her life. + +Years after, a woman haggard and old, with traces of crime upon her +hardened features, passed through the little village, begging her way to +a neighboring city. A simple-minded girl, sitting in a doorway, whom she +accosted for alms, emptied all her little store of pocket money into the +poor wayfarer's outstretched palm. This girl was none other than Richie, +and the woman who failed to recognize the vacant but placid face, was +her own unhappy mother. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +It was the eve of the New Year. The snow had folded its white mantle +over the earth, and in the gardens, where the flowers had hidden their +fragile beauty from the ruthless fingers of the Frost King, it gleamed +whitely from amid the sombre foliage of the hardy evergreens. On lawn +and terrace it lay in uneven drifts, tossed at will by the chilling +winter winds. Pendant from tree and shrub hung glittering icicles, and +on the window panes the frostwork looked like the invisible effort of +some fairy spirits, that a breath from mortals would dissolve. + +The bright New Year is ever welcomed as a season of enjoyment for those +who have happy homes, where friends meet around well-laden boards, to +return thanks for past prosperity, and form plans for future happiness. +But to others, friendless, forsaken, and perhaps weary of a life of +ill-requited toil, the retrospection is often inexpressibly mournful. + +Alone in her room, at her friend's humble cottage, sat Clemence +Graystone, watching for the noiseless incoming of another year. The +light gleamed redly out from the blazing wood fire, lighting up the +small apartment with its cheerful glow, but failed to call anything like +warmth or color to the marble face that drooped low with its weight of +painful thought. + +The morrow was to be her wedding day. She raised her head and glanced +around the room, which was filled with all the paraphernalia of the +wedding toilet. + +An undefined dread took possession of her. It seemed as though this +happiness, that appeared so near, was yet to elude her. A mirror stood +where she could behold her own image. A sadness stole over the girl's +spirit as she looked at the semblance of herself there reflected. As she +gazed, she seemed to be communing with some invisible presence, and she +found herself pitying the young face in the mirror, as if it were +another than her own. + +While she looked sorrowfully, a second shadow became dimly outlined +behind it. Clemence started in momentary terror. The thought occurred to +her of the old-time superstition connected with this illusion. She +remembered that an old nurse had told her in childhood that it was an +omen of death to behold this spectral shadow. In spite of her freedom +from vulgar superstition, her lips grew colorless, and her heart beat +with alarm. She sank down again into her chair, cowering close to the +cheerful fire. + +An hour passed thus. The clock struck twelve. The girl roused herself +again at this--remembered that this was to be the most eventful day of +her existence. "I must retire," she soliloquized; "it will never do to +have pale cheeks or troubled thoughts for my wedding day. Would that I +could make myself beautiful for his dear sake." + +A smile of hope and joy wreathed the lips of the soft-eyed dreamer. She +paced the floor absently backward and forward, with far-off gaze; then +knelt at her bedside and breathed to the kind All Father a prayer for +guidance and strength for what might come to her. + +Clemence Graystone's future seemed, for the first time since her +father's sudden death, to hold in it somewhat of happiness for her +portion. The dreary waste had changed to a smiling landscape, that +glowed beneath skies of a roseate hue. There was surely nothing now to +fear. With the love of one powerful to protect her from life's ills, +means to lavish upon the wistful-eyed child who had grown each day +deeper into her affections, and a firm, trusting faith in the guidance +of One who ruleth over the world He has created, a faith that had kept +her from despair in the darkest hour, and made her young life beautiful; +with hope beckoning, with smiling eyes, to the crowning glory of +womanhood, this girl, who had suffered so much from fate, ought to have +been content and happy. But the mysterious shadow of her coming doom +brooded darkly over her. + +At length, inspired with a sudden feeling, for which she could hardly +account, Clemence rose, and seated herself at her writing-desk. If she +had been given to spiritual sympathies, she would have said that her +hand was controlled by some unseen power. As it was, there was a look of +awe upon the pallid face that bent to the task, and the girl was whiter +than the paper before her, as she wrote thus: + + MY DEAREST FRIEND: Something within me, a strange, mysterious + influence, the whisperings, perhaps, of some angel spirit sent to + call me hence, impels me to write these few words of farewell. + + If nothing should happen me, if my life should flow on tranquilly + into the valley of peace that my fond fancy pictured, then I will + keep this to laugh over, as the wild vagaries of an over-wrought, + excited imagination. But, if death should find me at my labor of + love, you will know how irrevocably my heart has been given to you, + and realize somewhat of the depths of that affection which my lips + have never dared to frame. Oh, my darling, had I been permitted to + live, I would have worshipped you; and if God calls me, I will + still hover around you, and be the first to welcome one I loved to + Heaven. All that you have been to the weary-hearted girl, you will + never know. Life seemed hopeless, but your affection has made it a + dream of happiness. I have wanted to tell you how deeply your image + was graven on my heart; how one face that was dear to me haunted my + sleeping and waking dreams. I would have lived for you, and can die + breathing a blessing for your future. + + There is one other that I have cared for as a mother would the babe + she carried in her bosom. My patient, tender-eyed Ruth--watch over + her when I am gone. Sometimes, when thinking of this hour, I have + prayed that its bitterness might be averted. Realizing the agony of + parting, the cruel severing of the clinging tendrils of unselfish + affection, I have shrunk from the trial. But now I feel that my + strength is sufficient, even unto the end. Though I walk through + the "valley of the shadow of death," I do not fear, for I can + behold the light that breaks beyond, "over the delectable + mountains." + + My own Love! Strive to meet me there. Others have gone before--the + fond eyes that watched over my cradle, the mother who nursed me + during the hours of helpless infancy, and he who sheltered and + protected my early youth with tenderest care. I shall know and love + them again. The thought makes me happy. + + I have one last request to make. During my years of loneliness, + when I have met with so much to dishearten and discourage me in my + efforts to earn an honest livelihood, I have learned to pity the + struggling, self-supporting ones of my sex, as only those can pity + and sympathize who have suffered from a similar cause. I have often + wished that I had means to provide a home, not for "fallen women," + but for those patient toilers who are breasting the cruel, + overwhelming waves of adversity. There are many such, thrown from + loving homes upon the charities of a cold and selfish world. It is + my desire to benefit them, and, with this end in view, I would + leave the money which has so lately come to me, to be expended in + the erection of a home to shelter helpless and unprotected women, + who are incapable of self-support, either wholly or in part. + + This is no school-girl fancy, but a plan long matured, formed from + experience and observation. It is a sorrowful fact, that has come + within my own knowledge, that more than one delicately-reared girl, + having an innate love of virtue and horror of vice, has fallen into + infamy from this cause. They have resorted to crime from a total + inability to sustain themselves in even the humblest manner, or + provide the coarsest food and clothing by their own unaided + efforts. I would be glad to give what means and influence I may + possess for so worthy an object, and I trust you to carry out these + my last wishes. + + I can write no more. God be with and comfort you, my own, own love. + +That was all. The pen dropped from the nerveless grasp. Clemence bent +her head wearily on the table, and fell into a trance-like slumber. + +The night waned. The dawn of the New Year found the pale sleeper with +her golden head still pillowed on her arm, and the last words that the +slender fingers would ever trace, waiting for the coming of one to break +the spell of silence, that had hushed the pale-browed sleeper into +everlasting rest. + + + + +CONCLUSION. + + +"Dead! dead! dead!" moaned Ulrica Hardyng, bending in agony over the +lifeless form, and looking vainly for some answering gleam of +recognition in the blue eyes, that had ever beamed upon her with glances +of love and sympathy. + +And this was the end of all these months of working and waiting, which +was to be crowned with a glorious fruition that had filled all hearts +with joyous anticipation. + +But there was no time for idle sorrow. A little white-robed figure, with +great wild eyes, and tangled curls falling over dimpled shoulders, stole +into the room, and flung herself at the feet of the still figure, that +drooped now in the woman's arms; and then a cry rang through the house, +so fraught with anguish, that people hurrying by, in the early morning +light, stood with startled faces, and questioned as to its cause, then +reverently entered the house of woe. + +Below, in the little parlor of the cottage, they laid all that was +mortal of Clemence Graystone, and there, he who had hastened to meet the +loved one, passed the long hours of that New Year's day alone with his +dead. + +Grief, like joy, should be sacred from stranger eyes, and we will not +linger over the scene, but glide softly from the place that has been +made desolate by the dread presence of the destroyer. + +They buried the young teacher by the side of the child she had loved in +life, and whose sad dream was thus fulfilled. The people whom she had +come among, only to be slighted, and more than that, persecuted with +malignant energy, united at her death in awarding the meed of praise +they had denied her in life. It mattered little, though, to one who had +left the cares and trials of earth behind, what remorseful tears were +shed over her mortal remains. It was all over now, and the troubled +heart had found peace, and that pure joy which "floweth like a river." + +In the little cemetery at Waveland there is one carefully-tended spot, +that is the shrine at which a little group of sable-clad mourners meet, +to mingle their tears and prayers together. Two of them are elderly +women, who greet each other as "Alicia" and "Ulrica," and the others, a +grave-faced man, leading by the hand a young, delicate-looking girl, are +Ruth, and her guardian, Wilfred Vaughn. + +The marble slab before which they kneel, bears this upon its pure +surface: "Clemence Graystone, aged 21 years." And underneath, the simple +but expressive words, "At rest." + + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Clemence, by Retta Babcock + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CLEMENCE *** + +***** This file should be named 17913.txt or 17913.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/9/1/17913/ + +Produced by Curtis Weyant, Sigal Alon and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images produced by the Wright +American Fiction Project.) + + +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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