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diff --git a/32382-h/32382-h.htm b/32382-h/32382-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..99c2141 --- /dev/null +++ b/32382-h/32382-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7729 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html lang="en"> +<head> +<meta name="generator" content="HTML Tidy, see www.w3.org"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Old Friends, by Sarah Orne Jewett</title> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= +"text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> +<style type="text/css"> + p.pg1 {text-align: center;} +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Old Friends and New, by Sarah Orne Jewett + +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: Old Friends and New + +Author: Sarah Orne Jewett + +Release Date: May 15, 2010 [EBook #32382] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD FRIENDS AND NEW *** + + + + +Produced by James Adcock. Special thanks to The Internet +Archive: American Libraries. + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<br> +<h2 align="center">Books by Sarah Orne Jewett</h2> + +<br> +<hr width="25%"> +<br> +<blockquote> +STORIES AND TALES. 7 vols. Illustrated.<br> +THE LETTERS OF SARAH ORNE JEWETT. Illustrated.<br> +THE TORY LOVER. Illustrated.<br> +THE QUEEN'S TWIN AND OTHER STORIES.<br> +THE COUNTRY OF THE POINTED FIRS.<br> +DEEPHAVEN.<br> +<small><i>Holiday Edition.</i> With 52 illustrations. +Attractively bound.</small><br> +OLD FRIENDS AND NEW.<br> +COUNTRY BY-WAYS.<br> +THE MATE OF THE DAYLIGHT, AND FRIENDS ASHORE.<br> +A COUNTRY DOCTOR. A Novel.<br> +A MARSH ISLAND. A Novel.<br> +A WHITE HERON AND OTHER STORIES.<br> +THE KING OF FOLLY ISLAND, AND OTHER PEOPLE.<br> +STRANGERS AND WAYFARERS.<br> +A NATIVE OF WINBY, AND OTHER TALES.<br> +THE LIFE OF NANCY.<br> +TALES OF NEW ENGLAND.<br> + <small>The Same. In Riverside Aldine Series In + Riverside School Library.</small><br> +PLAY-DAYS. Stories for Girls.<br> +BETTY LEICESTER. A Story for Girls.<br> +BETTY LEICESTER'S CHRISTMAS. Illustrated.<br> +</blockquote> +<br><br><br> +<p class="pg1"> +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN AND COMPANY<br> +Boston and New York<br> +<br><br><br><br><br><br> +</p> +<h1 align="center">OLD FRIENDS AND NEW</h1> +<br> +<h3 align="center">BY</h3> +<br> +<h2 align="center">SARAH O. JEWETT</h2> +<br><br><br><br> +<p class="pg1"> +BOSTON AND NEW YORK<br> +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN AND COMPANY<br> +<i>The Riverside Press Cambridge</i><br> +<br><br><br><br><small> +COPYRIGHT 1879 BY HOUGHTON, OSGOOD AND COMPANY<br> +COPYRIGHT 1907 BY SARAH ORNE JEWETT<br> +<br> +ALL RIGHTS RESERVED</small><br> +<br><br><br><br> +</p> +<h1 align="center">OLD FRIENDS AND NEW</h1> +<br><br><br><br> +<h2 align="center">CONTENTS.</h2> +<br> +<hr width="25%"> +<br> +<p class="pg1"><a name="a_sub_ALOSTLOVER" +href= "#a_ALOSTLOVER">A LOST LOVER</a></p> + +<p class="pg1"><a name="a_sub_ASORROWFULGUEST" +href= "#a_ASORROWFULGUEST">A SORROWFUL GUEST</a></p> + +<p class="pg1"><a name="a_sub_ALATESUPPER" +href= "#a_ALATESUPPER">A LATE SUPPER</a></p> + +<p class="pg1"><a name="a_sub_MRBRUCE" +href= "#a_MRBRUCE">MR. BRUCE</a></p> + +<p class="pg1"><a name="a_sub_MISSSYDNEYSFLOWERS" +href= "#a_MISSSYDNEYSFLOWERS">MISS SYDNEY'S FLOWERS</a></p> + +<p class="pg1"><a name="a_sub_LADYFERRY" +href= "#a_LADYFERRY">LADY FERRY</a></p> + +<p class="pg1"><a name="a_sub_SHORELIFE" +href= "#a_SHORELIFE">A BIT OF SHORE LIFE</a></p> + +<br> +<hr width="25%"> +<a name="a_ALOSTLOVER"></a> +<br><br><br><br> +<h2 align="center">A LOST LOVER.</h2> +<br><br> +<p> +For a great many years it had been understood +in Longfield that Miss Horatia +Dane once had a lover, and that he +had been lost at sea. By little and little, in one +way and another, her acquaintances had found +out or made up the whole story; and Miss Dane +stood in the position, not of an unmarried woman +exactly, but rather of having spent most of her +life in a long and lonely widowhood. She looked +like a person with a history, strangers often said +(as if we each did not have a history); and her +own unbroken reserve about this romance of +hers gave everybody the more respect for it. +</p><p> +The Longfield people paid willing deference to +Miss Dane: her family had always been one that +could be liked and respected, and she was the +last that was left in the old home of which she +was so fond. This was a high, square house, +with a row of pointed windows in its roof, a +peaked porch in front, with some lilac-bushes +around it; and down by the road was a long, +orderly procession of poplars, like a row of sentinels +standing guard. She had lived here alone +since her father's death, twenty years before. +She was a kind, just woman, whose pleasures +were of a stately and sober sort; and she seemed +not unhappy in her loneliness, though she sometimes +said gravely that she was the last of her +family, as if the fact had a great sadness for +her. +</p><p> +She had some middle-aged and elderly cousins +living at a distance, and they came occasionally +to see her; but there had been no young people +staying in the house for many years until this +summer, when the daughter of her youngest +cousin had written to ask if she might come to +make a visit. She was a motherless girl of +twenty, both older and younger than her years. +Her father and brother, who were civil engineers, +had taken some work upon the line of a railway +in the far Western country. Nelly had made +many long journeys with them before and since +she had left school, and she had meant to follow +them now, after she had spent a fortnight with +the old cousin whom she had not seen since her +childhood. Her father had laughed at the visit as +a freak, and had warned her of the dulness and +primness of Longfield; but the result was that +the girl found herself very happy in the comfortable +home. She was still her own free, unfettered, +lucky, and sunshiny self; and the old +house was so much pleasanter for the girlish face +and life, that Miss Horatia had, at first timidly +and then most heartily, begged her to stay for the +whole summer, or even the autumn, until her +father was ready to come East. The name of +Dane was very dear to Miss Horatia, and she +grew fonder of her guest. When the village-people +saw her glance at the girl affectionately, +as they sat together in the family-pew of a Sunday, +or saw them walking together after tea, they +said it was a good thing for Miss Horatia; how +bright she looked; and no doubt she would leave +all her money to Nelly Dane, if she played her +cards well. +</p><p> +But we will do Nelly justice, and say that she +was not mercenary: she would have scorned +such a thought. She had grown to have a great +love for her cousin Horatia, and she liked to +please her. She idealized her, I have no doubt; +and her repression, her grave courtesy and rare +words of approval, had a great fascination for a +girl who had just been used to people who chattered, +and were upon most intimate terms with +you directly, and could forget you with equal +ease. And Nelly liked having so admiring and +easily pleased an audience as Miss Dane and her +old servant Melissa. She liked to be queen of +her company: she had so many gay, bright +stories of what had happened to herself and her +friends. Besides, she was clever with her needle, +and had all those practical gifts which elderly +women approve so heartily in girls. They liked +her pretty clothes; she was sensible and economical +and busy; they praised her to each +other and to the world, and even stubborn old +Andrew, the man, to whom Miss Horatia herself +spoke with deference, would do any thing she +asked. Nelly would by no means choose so dull +a life as this for the rest of her days; but she +enjoyed it immensely for the time being. She +instinctively avoided all that would shock the +grave dignity and old-school ideas of Miss Dane; +and somehow she never had felt happier or better +satisfied with life. I think it was because she +was her best and most lady-like self. It was not +long before she knew the village-people almost as +well as Miss Dane did, and she became a very +great favorite, as a girl so easily can who is +good-natured and pretty, and well versed in city +fashions; who has that tact and cleverness that +come to such a nature from going about the world +and knowing many people. +</p><p> +She had not been in Longfield many weeks +before she heard something of Miss Dane's love-story; +for one of her new friends said, in a confidential +moment, "Does your cousin ever speak +to you about the young man to whom she was +engaged to be married?" And Nelly answered, +"No," with great wonder, and not without regret +at her own ignorance. After this she kept her +eyes and ears open for whatever news of this +lover's existence might be found. +</p><p> +At last it happened one day that she had a +good chance for a friendly talk with Melissa; for +who should know about the family affairs better +than she? Miss Horatia had taken her second-best +parasol, with a deep fringe, and had gone +majestically down the street to do some morning +errands which she could trust to no one. +Melissa was shelling peas at the shady kitchen-doorstep, +and Nelly came strolling round from +the garden, along the clean-swept flag-stones, +and sat down to help her. Melissa moved along, +with a grim smile, to make room for her. "You +needn't bother yourself," said she: "I've nothing +else to do. You'll green your fingers all +over." But she was evidently pleased to have +company. +</p><p> +"My fingers will wash," said Nelly, "and +I've nothing else to do either. Please push the +basket this way a little, or I shall scatter the +pods, and then you will scold." She went to +work busily, while she tried to think of the best +way to find out the story she wished to hear. +</p><p> +"There!" said Melissa, "I never told Miss +H'ratia to get some citron, and I settled yesterday +to make some pound-cake this forenoon after +I got dinner along a piece. She's most out o' +mustard too; she's set about having mustard to +eat with her beef, just as the old colonel was before +her. I never saw any other folks eat mustard +with their roast beef; but every family has +their own tricks. I tied a thread round my left-hand +little finger purpose to remember that citron +before she came down this morning. I hope I +ain't losing my fac'lties." It was seldom that +Melissa was so talkative as this at first. She +was clearly in a talkative mood. +</p><p> +"Melissa," asked Nelly, with great bravery, +after a minute or two of silence, "who was it +that my cousin Horatia was going to many? It's +odd that I shouldn't know; but I don't remember +father's ever speaking of it, and I shouldn't think +of asking her." +</p><p> +"I s'pose it'll seem strange to you," said +Melissa, beginning to shell the peas a great deal +faster, "but, as many years as I have lived in +this house with her,—her mother, the old lady, +fetched me up,—I never knew Miss H'ratia to +say a word about him. But there! she knows I +know, and we've got an understanding on many +things we never talk over as some folks would. +I've heard about it from other folks. She was +visiting her great-aunt in Salem when she met +with him. His name was Carrick, and it was +presumed they was going to be married when he +came home from the voyage he was lost on. He +had the promise of going out master of a new +ship. They didn't keep company long: it was +made up of a sudden, and folks here didn't get +hold of the story till some time after. I've +heard some that ought to know say it was only +talk, and they never were engaged to be married +no more than I am." +</p><p> +"You say he was lost at sea?" asked Nelly. +</p><p> +"The ship never was heard from. They supposed +she was run down in the night out in the +South Seas somewhere. It was a good while +before they gave up expecting news; but none +ever come. I think she set every thing by him, +and took it very hard losing of him. But there! +she'd never say a word. You're the freest-spoken +Dane I ever saw; but you may take it from 'our +mother's folks. I know he gave her that whale's +tooth with the ship drawn on it that's on the +mantel-piece in her room. She may have a sight +of other keepsakes, for all I know; but it ain't +likely." And here there was a pause, in which +Nelly grew sorrowful as she thought of the long +waiting for tidings of the missing ship, and of her +cousin's solitary life. It was very odd to think +of prim Miss Horatia's being in love with a sailor. +There was a young lieutenant in the navy +whom Nelly herself liked dearly, and he had gone +away on a long voyage. "Perhaps she's been +just as well off," said Melissa. "She's dreadful +set, y'r cousin H'ratia is, and sailors is high-tempered +men. I've heard it hinted that he was +a fast fellow; and if a woman's got a good home +like this, and's able to do for herself, she'd better +stay there. I ain't going to give up a certainty +for an uncertainty,—that's what <i>I</i> always +tell 'em," added Melissa, with great decision, as +if she were besieged by lovers; but Nelly smiled +inwardly as she thought of the courage it would +take to support any one who wished to offer her +companion his heart and hand. It would need +desperate energy to scale the walls of that garrison. +</p><p> +The green peas were all shelled presently, and +Melissa said gravely that she should have to be +lazy now until it was time to put in the meat. +She wasn't used to being helped, unless there +was extra work, and she calculated to have one +piece of work join on to another. However, it +was no account, and she was obliged for the company; +and Nelly laughed merrily as she stood +washing her hands in the shining old copper +basin at the sink. The sun would not be round +that side of the house for a long time yet, and the +pink and blue morning-glories were still in their +full bloom and freshness. They grew over the +window, twined on strings exactly the same distance +apart. There was a box crowded full of +green houseleeks down at the side of the door: +they were straying over the edge, and Melissa +stooped stiffly down with an air of disapproval at +their untidiness. "They straggle all over every +thing," said she, "and they're no kind of use, +only Miss's mother she set every thing by 'em. +She fetched 'em from home with her when she +was married, her mother kep' a box, and they +came from England. Folks used to say they was +good for bee-stings." Then she went into the +inner kitchen, and Nelly went slowly away along +the flag-stones to the garden from whence she +had come. The garden-gate opened with a tired +creak, and shut with a clack; and she noticed how +smooth and shiny the wood was where the touch +of so many hands had worn it. There was a +great pleasure to this girl in finding herself among +such old and well-worn things. She had been for +a long time in cities or at the West; and among +the old fashions and ancient possessions of Long-field +it seemed to her that every thing had its +story, and she liked the quietness and unchangeableness +with which life seemed to go on from +year to year. She had seen many a dainty or +gorgeous garden, but never one that she had +liked so well as this, with its herb-bed and its +broken rows of currant-bushes, its tall stalks of +white lilies and its wandering rose-bushes and +honeysuckles, that had bloomed beside the +straight paths for so many more summers than +she herself had lived. She picked a little nosegay +of late red roses, and carried it into the +house to put on the parlor-table. The wide hall-door +was standing open, with its green outer +blinds closed, and the old hall was dim and cool. +Miss Horatia did not like a glare of sunlight, and +she abhorred flies with her whole heart. Nelly +could hardly see her way through the rooms, it +had been so bright out of doors; but she brought +the tall champagne-glass of water from the dining-room + and put the flowers in their place. +Then she looked at two silhouettes which stood +on the mantel in carved ebony frames. They +were portraits of an uncle of Miss Dane and his +wife. Miss Dane had thought Nelly looked like +this uncle the evening before. She could not see +the likeness herself; but the pictures suggested +something else, and she turned suddenly, and +went hurrying up the stairs to Miss Horatia's +own room, where she remembered to have seen a +group of silhouettes fastened to the wall. There +were seven or eight, and she looked at the young +men among them most carefully; but they were +all marked with the name of Dane: they were +Miss Horatia's brothers, and our friend hung +them on their little brass hooks again with a feeling +of disappointment. Perhaps her cousin had +a quaint miniature of the lover, painted on ivory, +and shut in a worn red morocco case; she hoped +she should get a sight of it some day. This story +of the lost sailor had a wonderful charm for the +girl. Miss Horatia had never been so interesting +to her before. How she must have mourned for +the lover, and missed him, and hoped there would +yet be news from the ship! Nelly thought she +would tell her her own little love-story some day, +though there was not much to tell yet, in spite of +there being so much to think about. She built a +little castle in Spain as she sat in the front-window-seat +of the upper hall, and dreamed pleasant +stories for herself until the sharp noise of the +front-gate-latch waked her; and she looked out +through the blind to see her cousin coming up the +walk. +</p><p> +Miss Horatia looked hot and tired, and her +thoughts were not of any fashion of romance. +"It is going to be very warm," said she. "I +have been worrying ever since I have been gone, +because I forgot to ask Andrew to pick those +white currants for the minister's wife. I promised +that she should have them early this morning. +Would you go out to the kitchen, and ask +Melissa to step in for a moment, my dear?" +</p><p> +Melissa was picking over red currants to make +a pie, and rose from her chair with a little unwillingness. +"I guess they could wait until +afternoon," said she, as she came back. "Miss +H'ratia's in a fret because she forgot about sending +some white currants to the minister's. I told +her that Andrew had gone to have the horses +shod, and wouldn't be back till near noon. I +don't see why part of the folks in the world +should kill themselves trying to suit the rest. +As long as I haven't got any citron for the cake, +I suppose I might go out and pick 'em," added +Melissa ungraciously. "I'll get some to set +away for tea anyhow." +</p><p> +Miss Dane had a letter to write after she had +rested from her walk; and Nelly soon left her in +the dark parlor, and went back to the sunshiny +garden to help Melissa, who seemed to be taking +life with more than her usual disapproval. She +was sheltered by an enormous gingham sunbonnet. +</p><p> +"I set out to free my mind to your cousin +H'ratia this morning," said she, as Nelly +crouched down at the opposite side of the bush +where she was picking; "but we can't agree on +that p'int, and it's no use. I don't say nothing. +You might's well ask the moon to face about and +travel the other way as to try to change Miss +H'ratia's mind. I ain't going to argue it with +her: it ain't my place; I know that as well as +anybody. She'd run her feet off for the minister's +folks any day; and, though I do say he's a +fair preacher, they haven't got a speck o' consideration +nor fac'lty; they think the world was +made for them, but I think likely they'll find out +it wasn't; most folks do. When he first was settled +here, I had a fit o' sickness, and he come to +see me when I was getting over the worst of it. +He did the best he could, I always took it very +kind of him; but he made a prayer, and he kep' +sayin' 'this aged handmaid,' I should think, a +dozen times. Aged handmaid!" said Melissa +scornfully: "I don't call myself aged yet, and +that was more than ten years ago. I never made +pretensions to being younger than I am; but +you'd 'a' thought I was a topplin' old creatur' +going on a hundred." +</p><p> +Nelly laughed; Melissa looked cross, and +moved on to the next currant-bush. "So that's +why you don't like the minister?" But the +question did not seem to please. +</p><p> +"I hope I never should be set against a +preacher by such as that." And Nelly hastened +to change the subject; but there was to be a last +word: "I like to see a minister that's solid +minister right straight through, not one of these +veneered folks. But old Parson Croden spoilt +me for setting under any other preaching." +</p><p> +"I wonder," said Nelly, after a little, "if +Cousin Horatia has any picture of that Captain +Carrick." +</p><p> +"He wasn't captain," said Melissa. "I never +heard that it was any more than they talked of +giving him a ship next voyage." +</p><p> +"And you never saw him? He never came +here to see her?" +</p><p> +"Bless you, no! She met with him at Salem, +where she was spending the winter, and he went +right away to sea. I've heard a good deal more +about it of late years than I ever did at the time. +I suppose the Salem folks talked about it enough. +All I know is, there was other good matches that +offered to her since, and couldn't get her; and I +suppose it was on account of her heart's being +buried in the deep with him." And this unexpected +bit of sentiment, spoken in Melissa's +grummest tone, seemed so funny to her young +companion, that she bent very low to pick from a +currant-twig close to the ground, and could not +ask any more questions for some time. +</p><p> +"I have seen her a sight o' times when I knew +she was thinking about him," Melissa went on +presently, this time with a tenderness in her voice +that touched Nelly's heart. "She's been dreadful +lonesome. She and the old colonel, her +father, wasn't much company to each other, and +she always kep' every thing to herself. The only +time she ever said a word to me was one night +six or seven years ago this Christmas. They got +up a Christmas-tree in the vestry, and she went, +and I did too; I guess everybody in the whole +church and parish that could crawl turned out to +go. The children they made a dreadful racket. +I'd ha' got my ears took off if I had been so +forth-putting when I was little. I was looking +round for Miss H'ratia 'long at the last of the +evening, and somebody said they'd seen her go +home. I hurried, and I couldn't see any light in +the house; and I was afraid she was sick or something. +She come and let me in, and I see she +had been a-cryin'. I says, 'Have you heard any +bad news?' But she says, 'No,' and began to +cry again, real pitiful. 'I never felt so lonesome +in my life,' says she, 'as I did down there. It's a +dreadful thing to be left all alone in the world.' +I did feel for her; but I couldn't seem to say a +word. I put some pine-chips I had handy for +morning on the kitchen-fire, and I made her up a +cup o' good hot tea quick's I could, and took it +to her; and I guess she felt better. She never +went to bed till three o'clock that night. I +couldn't shut my eyes till I heard her come upstairs. +There! I set every thing by Miss H'ratia. +I haven't got no folks either. I was left an orphan +over to Deerfield, where Miss's mother +come from, and she took me out o' the town-farm +to bring up. I remember, when I come here, I +was so small I had a box to stand up on when +I helped wash the dishes. There's nothing I +ain't had to make me comfortable, and I do just +as I'm a mind to, and call in extra help every +day of the week if I give the word; but I've had +my lonesome times, and I guess Miss H'ratia +knew." +</p><p> +Nelly was very much touched by this bit of a +story, it was a new idea to her that Melissa +should have so much affection and be so sympathetic. +People never will get over being surprised +that chestnut-burrs are not as rough inside as +they are outside, and the girl's heart warmed +toward the old woman who had spoken with such +unlooked-for sentiment and pathos. Melissa +went to the house with her basket, and Nelly also +went in, but only to put on another hat, and see +if it were straight, in a minute spent before the +old mirror, and then she hurried down the long +elm-shaded street to buy a pound of citron for +the cake. She left it on the kitchen-table when +she came back, and nobody ever said any thing +about it; only there were two delicious pound-cakes—a +heart and a round—on a little blue +china plate beside Nelly's plate at tea. +</p><p> +After tea Nelly and Miss Dane sat in the front-doorway,—the +elder woman in a high-backed +arm-chair, and the younger on the doorstep. The +tree-toads and crickets were tuning up heartily, +the stars showed a little through the trees, and +the elms looked heavy and black against the sky. +The fragrance of the white lilies in the garden +blew through the hall. Miss Horatia was tapping +the ends of her fingers together. Probably +she was not thinking of any thing in particular. +She had had a very peaceful day, with the exception +of the currants; and they had, after all, gone +to the parsonage some time before noon. Beside +this, the minister had sent word that the delay +made no trouble; for his wife had unexpectedly +gone to Downton to pass the day and night. +Miss Horatia had received the business-letter for +which she had been looking for several days; so +there was nothing to regret deeply for that day, +and there seemed to be nothing for one to dread +on the morrow. +</p><p> +"Cousin Horatia," asked Nelly, "are you sure +you like having me here? Are you sure I don't +trouble you?" +</p><p> +"Of course not," said Miss Dane, without a +bit of sentiment in her tone: "I find it very +pleasant having young company, though I am +used to being alone; and I don't mind it so much +as I suppose you would." +</p><p> +"I should mind it very much," said the girl +softly. +</p><p> +"You would get used to it, as I have," said +Miss Dane. "Yes, dear, I like having you here +better and better. I hate to think of your going +away." And she smoothed Nelly's hair as if she +thought she might have spoken coldly at first, +and wished to make up for it. This rare caress +was not without its effect. +</p><p> +"I don't miss father and Dick so very much," +owned Nelly frankly, "because I have grown +used to their coming and going; but sometimes I +miss people—Cousin Horatia, did I ever say +any thing to you about George Forest?" +</p><p> +"I think I remember the name," answered +Miss Dane. +</p><p> +"He is in the navy, and he has gone a long +voyage, and—I think every thing of him. I +missed him awfully; but it is almost time to get +a letter from him." +</p><p> +"Does your father approve of him?" asked +Miss Dane, with great propriety. "You are +very young yet, and you must not think of such +a thing carelessly. I should be so much grieved +if you threw away your happiness." +</p><p> +"Oh! we are not really engaged," said Nelly, +who felt a little chilled. "I suppose we are, too: +only nobody knows yet. Yes, father knows him +as well as I do, and he is very fond of him. Of +course I should not keep it from father; but he +guessed at it himself. Only it's such a long +cruise, Cousin Horatia,—three years, I suppose,—away +off in China and Japan." +</p><p> +"I have known longer voyages than that," +said Miss Dane, with a quiver in her voice; and +she rose suddenly, and walked away, this grave, +reserved woman, who seemed so contented and +so comfortable. But, when she came back, she +asked Nelly a great deal about her lover, and +learned more of the girl's life than she ever had +before. And they talked together in the pleasantest +way about this pleasant subject, which was +so close to Nelly's heart, until Melissa brought +the candles at ten o'clock, that being the hour of +Miss Dane's bed-time. +</p><p> +But that night Miss Dane did not go to bed at +ten: she sat by the window in her room, thinking. +The moon rose late; and after a little while +she blew out her candles, which were burning +low. I suppose that the years which had come +and gone since the young sailor went away on +that last voyage of his had each added to her +affection for him. She was a person who clung +the more fondly to youth as she left it the farther +behind. +</p><p> +This is such a natural thing: the great sorrows +of our youth sometimes become the amusements +of our later years; we can only remember them +with a smile. We find that our lives look fairer +to us, and we forget what used to trouble us so +much when we look back. Miss Dane certainly +had come nearer to truly loving the sailor than +she had any one else; and the more she had +thought of it, the more it became the romance of +her life. She no longer asked herself, as she +often had done in middle life, whether, if he had +lived and had come home, she would have loved +and married him. She had minded less and +less, year by year, knowing that her friends and +neighbors thought her faithful to the love of her +youth. Poor, gay, handsome Joe Carrick! how +fond he had been of her, and how he had looked +at her that day he sailed away out of Salem +Harbor on the ship Chevalier! If she had only +known that she never should see him again, poor +fellow! +</p><p> +But, as usual, her thoughts changed their current +a little at the end of her reverie. Perhaps, +after all, loneliness was not so hard to bear as +other sorrows. She had had a pleasant life, God +had been very good to her, and had spared her +many trials, and granted her many blessings. +She would try and serve him better. "I am an +old woman now," she said to herself. "Things +are better as they are; God knows best, and I +never should have liked to be interfered with." +</p><p> +Then she shut out the moonlight, and lighted +her candles again, with an almost guilty feeling. +"What should I say if Nelly sat up till nearly +midnight looking out at the moon?" thought she. +"It is very silly; but it is such a beautiful night. +I should like to have her see the moon shining +through the tops of the trees." But Nelly was +sleeping the sleep of the just and sensible in her +own room. +</p><p> +Next morning at breakfast Nelly was a little +conscious of there having been uncommon confidences +the night before; but Miss Dane was her +usual calm and somewhat formal self, and proposed +their making a few calls after dinner, if the +weather were not too hot. Nelly at once wondered +what she had better wear. There was a +certain black grenadine which Miss Horatia had +noticed with approval, and she remembered that +the lower ruffle needed hemming, and made up +her mind that she would devote most of the time +before dinner to that and to some other repairs. +So, after breakfast was over, she brought the dress +downstairs, with her work-box, and settled herself +in the dining-room. Miss Dane usually sat +there in the morning, it was a pleasant room, +and she could keep an unsuspected watch over +the kitchen and Melissa, who did not need watching +in the least. I dare say it was for the sake +of being within the sound of a voice. +</p><p> +Miss Dane marched in and out that morning; +she went upstairs, and came down again, and she +was busy for a while in the parlor. Nelly was +sewing steadily by a window, where one of the +blinds was a little way open, and tethered in its +place by a string. She hummed a tune to herself +over and over:— +</p><p> + "What will you do, love, when I am going, + With white sails flowing, the seas beyond?" +</p><p> +And old Melissa, going to and fro at her work in +the kitchen, grumbled out bits of an ancient +psalm-tune at intervals. There seemed to be +some connection between these fragments in her +mind; it was like a ledge of rock in a pasture, +that sometimes runs under the ground, and then +crops out again. I think it was the tune of +Windham. +</p><p> +Nelly found there was a good deal to be done +to the grenadine dress when she looked it over +critically, and she was very diligent. It was +quiet in and about the house for a long time, until +suddenly she heard the sound of heavy footsteps +coming in from the road. The side-door was in +a little entry between the room where Nelly sat +and the kitchen, and the new-comer knocked +loudly. "A tramp," said Nelly to herself; while +Melissa came to open the door, wiping her hands +hurriedly on her apron. +</p><p> +"I wonder if you couldn't give me something +to eat," said the man. +</p><p> +"I suppose I could," answered Melissa. +"Will you step in?" Beggars were very few in +Longfield, and Miss Dane never wished anybody +to go away hungry from her house. It was off +the grand highway of tramps; but they were by +no means unknown. +</p><p> +Melissa searched among her stores, and Nelly +heard her putting one plate after another on the +kitchen-table, and thought that the breakfast +promised to be a good one, if it were late. +</p><p> +"Don't put yourself out," said the man, as +he moved his chair nearer. "I put up at an old +barn three or four miles above here last night, +and there didn't seem to be very good board +there." +</p><p> +"Going far?" inquired Melissa concisely. +</p><p> +"Boston," said the man. "I'm a little too +old to travel afoot. Now, if I could go by water, +it would seem nearer. I'm more used to the +water. This is a royal good piece o' beef. I +suppose couldn't put your hand on a mug of +cider?" This was said humbly; but the tone +failed to touch Melissa's heart. +</p><p> +"No, I couldn't," said she decisively; so +there was an end of that, and the conversation +seemed to flag for a time. +</p><p> +Presently Melissa came to speak to Miss +Dane, who had just come downstairs. "Could +you stay in the kitchen a few minutes?" she +whispered. "There's an old creatur' there that +looks foreign. He came to the door for something +to eat, and I gave it to him; but he's +miser'ble looking, and I don't like to leave him +alone. I'm just in the midst o' dressing the +chickens. He'll be through pretty quick, according +to the way he's eating now." +</p><p> +Miss Dane followed her without a word; and +the man half rose, and said, "Good-morning, +madam!" with unusual courtesy. And, when +Melissa was out of hearing, he spoke again: "I +suppose you haven't any cider?" to which his +hostess answered, "I couldn't give you any this +morning," in a tone that left no room for argument. +He looked as if he had had a great deal +too much to drink already. +</p><p> +"How far do you call it from here to Boston?" +he asked, and was told that it was eighty miles. +</p><p> +"I'm a slow traveller," said he: "sailors +don't take much to walking." Miss Dane asked +him if he had been a sailor. "Nothing else," +replied the man, who seemed much inclined to +talk. He had been eating like a hungry dog, as +if he were half-starved,—a slouching, red-faced, +untidy-looking old man, with some traces of +former good looks still to be discovered in his +face. "Nothing else. I ran away to sea when +I was a boy, and I followed it until I got so old +they wouldn't ship me even for cook." There +was something in his being for once so comfortable—perhaps +it was being with a lady like Miss +Dane, who pitied him—that lifted his thoughts a +little from their usual low level. "It's drink +that's been the ruin of me," said he. "I ought +to have been somebody. I was nobody's fool +when I was young. I got to be mate of a first-rate +ship, and there was some talk o' my being +captain before long. She was lost that voyage, +and three of us were all that was saved; we got +picked up by a Chinese junk. She had the +plague aboard of her, and my mates died of it, +and I was sick. It was a hell of a place to be in. +When I got ashore I shipped on an old bark +that pretended to be coming round the Cape, +and she turned out to be a pirate. I just went to +the dogs, and I've been from bad to worse ever +since." +</p><p> +"It's never too late to mend," said Melissa, +who came into the kitchen just then for a string +to tie the chickens. +</p><p> +"Lord help us, yes, it is!" said the sailor. +"It's easy for you to say that. I'm too old. I +ain't been master of this craft for a good while." +And he laughed at his melancholy joke. +</p><p> +"Don't say that," said Miss Dane. +</p><p> +"Well, now, what could an old wrack like me +do to earn a living? and who'd want me if I +could? You wouldn't. I don't know when I've +been treated so decent as this before. I'm all +broke down." But his tone was no longer sincere; +he had fallen back on his profession of +beggar. +</p><p> +"Couldn't you get into some asylum or—there's +the Sailors' Snug Harbor, isn't that for +men like you? It seems such a pity for a man +of your years to be homeless and a wanderer. +Haven't you any friends at all?" And here, suddenly, +Miss Dane's face altered, and she grew +very white; something startled her. She looked +as one might who saw a fearful ghost. +</p><p> +"No," said the man; "but my folks used to +be some of the best in Salem. I haven't shown +my head there this good while. I was an orphan. +My grandmother brought me up. Why, I didn't +come back to the States for thirty or forty years. +Along at the first of it I used to see men in port +that I used to know; but I always dodged 'em, +and I was way off in outlandish places. I've got +an awful sight to answer for. I used to have a +good wife when I was in Australia. I don't know +where I haven't been, first and last. I was always +a hard fellow. I've spent as much as a couple +o' fortunes, and here I am. Devil take it!" +</p><p> +Nelly was still sewing in the dining-room; but, +soon after Miss Dane had gone out to the kitchen, +one of the doors between had slowly closed itself +with a plaintive whine. The round stone that +Melissa used to keep it open had been pushed +away. Nelly was a little annoyed: she liked to +hear what was going on; but she was just then +holding her work with great care in a place that +was hard to sew; so she did not move. She heard +the murmur of voices, and thought, after a while, +that the old vagabond ought to go away by this +time. What could be making her cousin Horatia +talk so long with him? It was not like her at +all. He would beg for money, of course, and +she hoped Miss Horatia would not give him a +single cent. +</p><p> +It was some time before the kitchen-door +opened, and the man came out with clumsy, +stumbling steps. "I'm much obliged to you," +he said, "and I don't know but it is the last time +I'll get treated as if I was a gentleman. Is there +any thing I could do for you round the place?" +he asked hesitatingly, and as if he hoped that +his offer would not be accepted. +</p><p> +"No," answered Miss Dane. "No, thank +you. Good-by!" and he went away. +</p><p> +I said he had been lifted a little above his low +life; he fell back again directly before he was +out of the gate. "I'm blessed if she didn't give +me a ten-dollar bill!" said he. "She must have +thought it was one. I'll get out o' call as quick +as I can, hope she won't find it out, and send +anybody after me." Visions of unlimited drinks, +and other things in which the old sailor found +pleasure, flitted through his stupid mind. "How +the old lady stared at me once!" he thought. +"Wonder if she was anybody I used to know? +'Downton?' I don't know as I ever heard of the +place." And he scuffed along the dusty road; +and that night he was very drunk, and the next +day he went wandering on, God only knows +where. +</p><p> +But Nelly and Melissa both had heard a strange +noise in the kitchen, as if some one had fallen, +and had found that Miss Horatia had fainted +dead away. It was partly the heat, she said, +when she saw their anxious faces as she came to +herself; she had had a little headache all the +morning; it was very hot and close in the kitchen, +and the faintness had come upon her suddenly. +They helped her walk into the cool parlor presently, +and Melissa brought her a glass of wine, +and Nelly sat beside her on a footstool as she lay +on the sofa, and fanned her. Once she held her +cheek against Miss Horatia's hand for a minute, +and she will never know as long as she lives what +a comfort she was that day. +</p><p> +Every one but Miss Dane forgot the old sailor-tramp +in this excitement that followed his visit. +Do you guess already who he was? But the certainty +could not come to you with the chill and +horror it did to Miss Dane. There had been +something familiar in his look and voice from the +first, and then she had suddenly known him, her +lost lover. It was an awful change that the years +had made in him. He had truly called himself a +wreck: he was like some dreary wreck in its +decay and utter ruin, its miserable ugliness and +worthlessness, falling to pieces in the slow tides +of a lifeless southern sea. +</p><p> +And he had once been her lover, Miss Dane +thought many times in the days that came after. +Not that there was ever any thing asked or +promised between them, but they had liked each +other dearly, and had parted with deep sorrow. +She had thought of him all these years so +tenderly; she had believed always that his love +had been greater than her own, and never once +had doubted that the missing ship Chevalier had +carried with it down into the sea a heart that was +true to her. +</p><p> +By little and little this all grew familiar, and +she accustomed herself to the knowledge of +her new secret. She shuddered at the thought +of the misery of a life with him, and she thanked +God for sparing her such shame and despair. +The distance between them seemed immense. +She had been a person of so much consequence +among her friends, and so dutiful and irreproachable +a woman. She had not begun to understand +what dishonor is in the world; her life had been +shut in by safe and orderly surroundings. It was +a strange chance that had brought this wanderer +to her door. She remembered his wretched untidiness. +She would not have liked even to touch +him. She had never imagined him grown old: +he had always been young to her. It was a great +mercy he had not known her; it would have been +a most miserable position for them both; and yet +she thought, with sad surprise, that she had not +known she had changed so entirely. She thought +of the different ways their roads in life had gone; +she pitied him; she cried about him more than +once; and she wished that she could know he was +dead. He might have been such a brave, good +man, with his strong will and resolute courage. +God forgive him for the wickedness which his +strength had been made to serve! "God forgive +him!" said Miss Horatia to herself sadly over +and over again. She wondered if she ought to +have let him go away, and so have lost sight of +him; but she could not do any thing else. She +suffered terribly on his account; she had a pity, +such as God's pity must be, for even his wilful +sins. +</p><p> +So her romance was all over with; yet the +towns-people still whispered it to strangers, and +even Melissa and Nelly never knew how she had +lost her lover in so strange and sad a way in her +latest years. Nobody noticed much change; but +Melissa saw that the whale's tooth had disappeared +from its place in Miss Horatia's room, +and her old friends said to each other that she +began to show her age a great deal. She seemed +really like an old woman now; she was not the +woman she had been a year ago. +</p><p> +This is all of the story; but I so often wish +when a story comes to an end that I knew what +became of the people afterward. Shall I tell you +that Miss Horatia clings more and more fondly to +her young cousin Nelly; and that Nelly will stay +with her a great deal before she marries, and +sometimes afterward, when the lieutenant goes +away to sea? Shall I say that Miss Dane seems as +well satisfied and comfortable as ever, though she +acknowledges she is not so young as she used to +be, and somehow misses something out of her +life? It is the contentment of winter rather than +that of summer: the flowers are out of bloom for +her now, and under the snow. And Melissa, will +not she always be the same, with a quaintness +and freshness and toughness like a cedar-tree, to +the end of her days? Let us hope they will live +on together and be untroubled this long time yet, +the two good women; and let us wish Nelly much +pleasure, and a sweet soberness and fearlessness +as she grows older and finds life a harder thing to +understand and a graver thing to know. +</p> +<a name="a_ASORROWFULGUEST"></a> +<br><br> +<h2 align="center">A SORROWFUL GUEST.</h2> +<br><br><p> +Dear Helen,—What do you say to our going +to housekeeping together? I'm a very old +bachelor, with many whims; but I'm your +brother, and I don't know that there was ever +an act of Parliament that we should spend our lives on +opposite shores of the Atlantic. The Athertons' lease +of our house is out next month, and I have a fancy for +taking it myself. We will call it merely an experiment, +if you like; but I'm tired of the way I live now. I'm +growing gray, and I shall be dreadfully glad to see +you. We will make a real home of it, and see something +of each other; you must not ask for any more +pathos than this. Pick up whatever you can to make +the house look fine, but don't feel in the least obliged +to come, or put it off until the spring. Do just as you +like. I hear the Duncans are coming home in October; +perhaps you could take passage on the same steamer. +I can't believe it is three years since I went over last. +Do you think we shall know each other? <i>"L'absence +diminue les petits amours et augmente les grandes, comme +le vent qui éteint les bougies et rallume la feu."</i> I met +that sentiment in a story I was reading to-day, and I +thought it would seem very gallant and alluring if I put +it into my letter. I think you will not be homesick +here: you will find more friends than seems possible at +first thought. I'm in a hurry to-day; but I'm none the +less Your very affectionate brother, +<br><br> + JOHN AINSLIE. +<br><br> +Boston, Aug. 2, 1877. +</p><p> +This was a letter which came to me one morning +a year or two ago from my only brother. +We had been separated most of the time since +our childhood; for my father and mother both +died then, and our home was broken up, as Jack +was to be away at school and college. During +the war he was fired with a love of his country +and a longing for military glory, and entered the +army with many of his fellow-students at Harvard. +I was at school for a time, but afterwards went +to live with an aunt, whose winter home was in +Florence; and when Jack left the army he came +to Europe to go on with his professional studies. +He was most of the time in Dublin and London +and Paris at the medical schools; but we were +together a good deal, and he went off for several +long journeys with my aunt and me before he +went back to America. I always hoped that we +might some day live together: but my aunt wished +me never to leave her; for she was somewhat of +an invalid, and had grown to depend on me more +or less in many ways. She could not live in +Boston, for the climate did not suit her. If Jack +and I had not written each other so often, we +should have drifted far apart; but, as it was, I +think our love and friendship grew closer year by +year. I should have begged him to come to live +with me; but he was always in a hurry to get +back to his own city and his own friends when +he sometimes came over to pay us a visit in my +aunt's lifetime, and I knew he would not be contented +in Florence. +</p><p> +At Aunt Alice's death I went on with the same +old life for a time from force of habit; and it was +just then, when I was with some friends in the +Tyrol, and had been wondering what plans I +should make for the winter,—whether to go to +Egypt again, or to have some English friends +come to me in Florence,—that Jack's letter +came. I was only too glad that he made the +proposal, and I could not resist sending him a +cable despatch to say, "Hurrah!" I had not +realized before how lonely and adrift I had felt +since Aunt Alice died. I had a host of kind +friends; but there is nothing like being with one's +own kindred, and having one's own home. It +was very hard work to say so many good-byes; +and my heart had almost failed me when I saw +some of my friends for, it might be, the last time, +as some of them were old people. And, though +I said over and over again that I should come +back in a year or two, who could be certain that +I should take up the dear familiar life again? +But, though I had been so many long years away +from dear old Boston, I never had been so glad +in my life to catch sight of any city as I was that +chilly, late October morning, when I came on +deck, and somebody pointed out to me a dull +glitter of something that looked higher and +brighter than the land, and said it was the dome +of the State House. +</p><p> +I felt more sure than ever that I was going +home when I saw my brother standing on the +wharf, and I remembered so clearly many of the +streets we drove through; and when we came to +the house itself, and the carriage had gone, and +we stood in the library together where the very +same books were in the cases, and the same dim +old Turkey carpet on the floor, the years seemed +suddenly to vanish, and it was like the dear old +childish days again: only where were my mother +and my father? And Jack was growing gray, as +he had written me, and so much had happened to +me since I had been in that room last! I sat +down before the wood-fire; and the queer brass +dragons on the andirons made me smile, just as +they always used. Jack stood at the window, +looking out; and neither of us had a word to say, +though we had chattered at each other every minute +as we drove over from the steamer. +</p><p> +That first evening at dinner I looked across the +table at my brother: and our eyes met, and we +both laughed heartily for very contentment and +delight. +</p><p> +"I'm sure Aunt Marion ought to be here to +matronize you," said Jack. Neither of us like +Aunt Marion very well; and this was a great joke, +especially as she was ushered in directly to welcome +me home. +</p><p> +Jack had been living at the house for a few +weeks already; but it was great fun, this beginning +our housekeeping together, and we were +busy enough for some time. I had brought over +a good many things that my aunt had had in +Florence, and to which I had become attached; +and in the course of many journeys both Jack +and I had accumulated a great many large and +small treasures, some of which had not been +unpacked for years. I very soon knew my +brother's best friends; and we both tried to make +our home not only cheerful and bright and pleasant +in every way, but we wished also to make it +a home-like place, where people might be sure of +finding at least some sympathy and true friendliness +and help as well as pleasure. Mamma's old +friends were charmingly kind and polite to me; +and, as Jack had foretold, I found more acquaintances +of my own than I had the least idea I +should. I had met abroad a great many of the +people who came to see me; but the strangest +thing was to meet those whom I remembered as +my playmates and schoolmates, and to find them +so entirely grown up, most of them married, and +with homes and children of their own instead of +the playhouses and dolls which I remembered. +</p><p> +We soon fell into a most comfortable fashion +of living, we were both very fond of giving quiet +little dinners, my brother often brought home a +friend or two, and we were charmingly independent; +life never went better with two people than +it did with Jack and me. We often had some +old friends of the family come to stay with us, +and I sent hither and yon for my own old cronies, +with some of whom I had kept up our +friendship since school-days; and, while it was +not a little sad to meet some of them again, with +others I felt as if we had only parted yesterday. +</p><p> +I had been curious to know many things about +Jack, and I found I had been right in supposing +that his profession was by no means a burden to +him. I was told again and again that he was a +wonderfully successful and daring surgeon; but +he confessed to me that his dislike to such work +continually increased, and could only be overcome +in the excitement of some desperate emergency. +It seemed to me at first that he ought not to let +his skill lie useless and idle; but he insisted that +the other doctors did as well as he, that they sent +for him if they wanted him, and he did not care +for a practice of his own. So he had grown into +a way of helping his friends with their business; +and he was a microscopist of some renown, and a +scientific man, instead of the practical man he +ought to have been,—though his was, after all, by +no means an idle nor a useless life, dear old +Jack! He did a great deal of good shyly and +quietly; he was often at the hospitals, and his +friends seemed very fond of him, and said he had +too little confidence in himself. I have often +wondered why he did not marry; but I doubt if +he ever tells me, though he knows well enough +my own story, and that there is a quiet grave in +Florence which is always in sight, no matter how +far away from it I go, while sometimes I think I +know every ivy-leaf that falls on it from the wall +near by. +</p><p> +As I have said, my brother was constantly +meeting some one of his old classmates or army +comrades or school friends during that first winter; +and, while sometimes he would ask them to +dine at his club, he oftener brought them home +to dine or to lunch; for we were both possessed +with an amazing spirit of hospitality. I wish I +could remember half the stories I have heard, or +could keep track of the lives in which I often +grew much interested. There is one curious story +which I knew, and which seems very well worth +telling,—an instance of the curious entanglement +of two lives, and of those strange experiences +which some people call supernatural, and others +think simple enough and perfectly reasonable and +explainable. +</p><p> +One short, snowy December day, just as it was +growing dark, I was sitting alone in the library, +and was surprised to hear my brother's latch-key +click in the hall-door; for he had told me, when he +went out after our very late breakfast, that he +should not be in before six, and perhaps dinner +had better wait until seven. He threw off his +wet ulster, and was talking for some time to the +man, and at last came in to me. +</p><p> +"What brings you home so early?" said I. +</p><p> +"I'm going to have two or three friends to +dine. I suppose it'll be all right about the dinner? +That was not why I came home, though: I +had some letters to write which must go by the +steamer, and I didn't go to Cambridge after all. +The snow-storm was too much for me, I wanted +a good light there." +</p><p> +"Sit down a while," said I. "You have time +enough for your letters; it's only a little after +four." Jack hated to write at the library-table, +and always went to the desk in his own book-room +if he had any thing to do. He seemed a +little tired, and threw me some letters the postman +had given him as he came in at the door; +then he sat down in his great chair near me, and +seemed to be lost in thought. He was immensely +interesting to me then; for we had only been together +a few weeks, and I was often curious +about his moods, and was apt to be much pained +myself if any thing seemed to trouble him. I +was always wishing we had not been separated +so much, and I was afraid I might be wanting in +insight and sympathy; but I think the truth has +been that we are much more intimate, and are far +better friends, and have less restraint, because we +had seen so little of one another in the years that +had passed. But we were terribly afraid of interfering +with each other at first, and were so distractingly +polite that we bored each other not a +little; though that did not last long, happily, +after we had convinced each other that we could +behave well. +</p><p> +"You say it'll be all right about dinner?" +repeated my brother. +</p><p> +"Oh, yes!" said I, "unless you wish for +something very grand. Would you like to have +me put on my crown and sceptre?" +</p><p> +"There has never been a day yet when I +should have been sorry to have brought a friend +home," said Jack, with a good deal of enthusiasm, +and I was at once puffed up with pride; for +Jack, though an uncomplaining soul, was also fastidious, +and his praise was not given often +enough to be unnoticed. +</p><p> +"I met an old classmate just now," said he +presently, rousing himself from his reverie. "I +haven't seen him for years before. He went out +to South America just after the war, and I supposed +he was there still. He used to be one of +the best fellows in the class; and he enlisted +when I did, though we did not belong to the +same company. I heard once he was rather +a failure; but something has broken him down +horribly. He doesn't look as if he drank," said +my brother, half to himself. "I met him over +on Tremont Street, and I think he meant to avoid +me; but I made him walk across the Common +with me, for he was coming this way. He promised +to come to dinner this evening; and I stopped +at the club a few minutes as I came down the +street, and luckily found George Sheffield, and +he is coming round too. I told him seven +o'clock, but I told Whiston we dined at six, +without thinking; so he will be here early. Never +mind: I'll be ready, and we will take care of ourselves. +I must finish my letters, though," and +he rose from his chair to go upstairs. "It is +dreadful to see a man change so," said Jack, still +lingering. "He used to be one of the friskiest +fellows in college. I hope he'll come. I didn't +exactly like to ask where I could find him." +</p><p> +Then he went away: and I waited awhile, looking +out at the snow, and thinking idly enough, +until Patrick came silently in, and surprised me +with a sudden blaze of gas; when I went upstairs +to dress for dinner, as there didn't seem to be +any thing else to do. I was a little sorry that +any one was coming. Jack and I had arranged +for a quiet evening together, and he was reading +some new book aloud in which I was much interested. +His reading was a perfect delight to me. +He did not force you to think how well he read, +but rather how charming the story or the poem +was; and I always liked Jack's voice. +</p><p> +I found something to be busy about in my room, +and did not come down again until some time +after six. When I entered the parlor, Jack arose +with a satisfied smile, and presented Mr. Whiston; +and I was pleasantly surprised, for I had half +expected to see a most forlorn-looking man, perhaps +even out at elbows, from what Jack had +said. He was very pale indeed, and looked like +an invalid; and he certainly looked frightened +and miserable. He had a hunted look. It was +the face I should imagine one would have who +was haunted by the memory of some awful crime; +but I both pitied him and liked him very much. +</p><p> +He said he remembered seeing me one day out +at Cambridge with my brother when I was hardly +more than a child; and we talked about those +old days until my cousin George Sheffield came, +Jack's best friend, who had also been Mr. Whiston's +classmate. +</p><p> +I fancied, as we went out to dinner, that our +guest would enjoy the evening, his friends were +giving him so hearty and cordial a welcome; and +I was glad the table looked so bright with its +roses and fruit, and its glittering glass. I somehow +looked at it through his eyes. His face +lighted a little, as if he thought he should dine +to his liking. He looked as if he were poor; but +he was most carefully dressed, and I grew more +and more curious about him, while I liked him +better and better for the grace of his good manners, +and for his charmingly bright and clever +way of talking. He spoke freely of his South-American +life, and of being in Europe; but there +was something about him which made neither of +his friends dare to ask him many questions. I +could see that my cousin George was in a great +hurry to know more of his history, for they had +been very good friends, and he had lost sight of +Mr. Whiston years before, and had been amazed +when he was asked to meet him that evening. +They talked a great deal about their Harvard +days, and grew more and more merry with each +other; but, when Mr. Whiston's face was quiet, +the look of fear and melancholy was always +noticeable. +</p><p> +When dinner was over, I went away to see one +of my friends who came in just then. I could +hear the gentlemen laughing together, and I stood +talking in the hall some time with my friend before +she went away; but at last I went back to +the dining-room, for I always liked my tea there +with Jack better than in the parlor. I took my +chair again; and I was glad to find I did not interrupt +them, of which I had a sudden fear as I +entered the door. +</p><p> +They were talking over their army life; and my +brother said, "That was the same day poor Fred +Hathaway was killed, wasn't it? I never shall +forget seeing his dead face. We had thrown a +dozen or more men in a pile, and meant to bury +them; but there was an alarm, and we had to +hurry forward again, what there was left of us. +I caught sight of Fred, and I remember now just +how he looked. You know what yellow hair he +had, and we used to call him The Pretty Saxon. +I know there were one or two men in that pile +still alive, and moving a little. I hardly thought +of the horror of it as I went by. How used we +were to such sights in those days! and now +sometimes they come to me like horrid nightmares. +Dunster was killed that day too. Somebody +saw him fall, and I suppose he was thrown +in a hurry into one of the trenches; but he was +put down as missing in the reports. You know +they drove us back toward night, and held that +piece of cleared land and the pine-woods for two +days." +</p><p> +"It all seems like a dream to me now," said +George Sheffield. "What boys we were too! +But I believe I never shall feel so old again." +</p><p> +"You are such comfortable people in these +days," said I, "that I can't imagine you as soldiers +living such a rough and cruel life as that +must have been." +</p><p> +I happened to look up at Mr. Whiston; and to +my dismay he looked paler than ever, and was +uneasy. He looked over his shoulder as if he +knew a ghost was standing there, and he followed +something with his eyes for a moment or two in a +way that gave me a little chill of fear. I looked +over at Jack to know if he was watching also, +and I was rejoiced when he suddenly nodded to +me, and asked George Sheffield something about +the cigars; and George, who had also noticed, +answered him, and began to talk to me about an +opera which we had both heard the evening before. +I did not know whether they had chanced +upon an unlucky subject, or whether Mr. Whiston +was crazy; but at any rate he seemed ill at ease, +and was not inclined to talk any more. He +looked gloomier and more frightened than ever. +I went into the library, and presently they followed +me; and Mr. Whiston came to say goodnight, +though, when Jack insisted that he should +not go away so early,—for it was only half-past +nine,—he sat down again with a half-sigh, as if +it made little difference to him where he was. +</p><p> +"You're not well, I'm afraid, Whiston," said +my brother in his most professional tone. "I +think I shall have to look after you a little. By +the way, are you at a hotel? I wish you would +come to us for a few days. I'll drive you to +Cambridge, and you know there are a good many +of your old friends here in town." And I +seconded this invitation, though I most devoutly +hoped it would not be accepted. I had a suspicion +that he would be a most uncomfortable +guest. +</p><p> +"Thank you, Miss Ainslie," said he, with a +quick, pleasant smile, that brought back my first +liking for him. "You're very good, but I'm not +exactly in trim for paying visits. I will come +to you for to-morrow night, Ainslie, if you like. +I should be glad to see you and Sheffield again—to +say good-by. I am going out in the Marathon +on Saturday." +</p><p> +Later, when he had gone, Jack and my cousin +and I had a talk about this strange guest of ours. +"Is he crazy?" said I to begin with; "and did +you see him look at a ghost at dinner? I'm sure +it was a ghost." And George Sheffield laughed; +but one of us was as much puzzled as the other. +"I thought at first he was melodramatic," said +he; "but there's something wrong about him. Is +he crazy, do you think, Jack? You're lucky in +having a doctor in the house, Helen, if he does +come back." +</p><p> +"He's not crazy," said Jack; "at least I +think not. I have been watching him. But he +is no doubt shattered; he may have some monomania, +and I'm afraid he takes opium." +</p><p> +"I should urge him to spend the winter," said +George serenely, "and what's the difference +between having a monomania and being crazy? +Couldn't he take a new fancy, and do some mischief +or other some day?" But Jack only laughed, +and went to a book-case; while I thought he had +been very inconsiderate, and yet I wished Mr. +Whiston to come again. I hoped he would tell +us what it was he saw. +</p><p> +"Here's Bucknill and Tuke," said my brother, +coming close to the drop-light, and turning over +the pages; "and now you'll always know what I +mean when I say 'monomania.' 'Characterized +by some particular illusion impressed on the understanding, +and giving rise to a partial aberration +of judgment: the individual affected is rendered +incapable of thinking correctly on subjects +connected by the particular illusion, while in +other respects he betrays no palpable disorder of +the mind.' That's quoted from Prichard." And +he shut the book again, and went back to put it in +its place; but my cousin asked for it, and turned +to another page with an air of triumph. "'An +object may appear to be present before his eyes +which has no existence whatever there.... If +unable to correct or recognize it when an appeal +is made to reason, he is insane.' What do you +think of that?" said he. "You had better be +on your guard, Jack. I'm very wise just now. +I have been studying up on insanity for a case of +mine that's to be tried next month,—at least I +devoutly hope it is." +</p><p> +"But tell me something about Mr. Whiston," +said I. "Do you suppose he has no friends? +He seems to have been wandering about the +world for years." +</p><p> +"I remember his telling me, when we were in +college, that he had no relatives except an old +aunt, and a cousin, Henry Dunster, whom we +spoke of to-night, who was killed in the war. +Whiston was very fond of him; but I always +thought Dunster was entirely unworthy his friendship. +Whiston was thought to be rich. His +father left him a very good property at any rate, +and he was always a generous fellow. Dunster +made away with a good deal, I imagine; they +roomed together, and Whiston paid most of the +bills. There was something weak and out-of-the-way +about him then, I remember thinking, +but he was a fairly good scholar, and he made a +fine soldier. He was promoted fast; but you +know he resigned long before the rest of us were +mustered out. Had a fever, didn't he?" +</p><p> +"I believe so," said the judge, as his friends +always called my cousin. "The snow will reach +my ears by this time. I must go home. What +a storm it is! No, I can't stay later. All +night! no, indeed. I'll come round late to-morrow +evening if I can; but it will not be likely. +Now, if you had only been sensible and studied +law, Jack, you wouldn't have missed the festivities: +it's too bad. To tell the truth, I wish I +could make some excuse, and come here instead. +I'm very much excited about Whiston." And +with a "good-night" to us, and a fresh cigar which +he was sure the snow-storm would put out, he +went away,—my lucky, easy-going cousin George +Sheffield, whose cigars never did go out at inopportune +times, and who never was excited +about any thing. It always seemed refreshing to +find in this age of hurry and dash and anxiety so +calm and comfortable and satisfied a soul. +</p><p> +I was in doubt whether we should see any more +of our sorrowful guest: but he appeared late the +next afternoon; and, when I came in from my +walk, I saw a much-used portmanteau being taken +upstairs by Patrick, who told me that there were +some flowers in the parlor that Mr. Whiston had +brought. So I went in to see them, and my +heart went out to the giver at once; for had he +not chosen the most exquisite roses,—my favorite +roses,—and more like Italy than any thing I +had seen in a long day? Patrick had crammed +them into exactly the wrong vase; but I thanked +him for that, since it gave me a chance of handling +all the beautiful heavy flowers, and making +them comfortable myself, which was certainly a +pleasure. +</p><p> +I found Mr. Whiston evidently in better spirits +than he had been the night before, and I was not +sorry when I found we were to be by ourselves +at dinner. I had not asked any one myself, you +may be sure. My brother and I have a fashion +of lingering long at the table, unless I am going +out for the evening; and that night he and his +friend lit their cigars, and went on with their talk +of old times, while I listened and read the +Transcript by turns. Presently there were a few +minutes of silence, and then Jack said,— +</p><p> +"There was a strange case brought into the +city hospital to-day,—a poor young fellow who +had been literally almost frightened to death. +One of his fellow-clerks, who boarded with him, +went into his room the night before in a horrible +mask, and wrapped in a sheet, and stood near +him in the moonlight, watching him until he +woke. He did it for a joke, of course, and is +said to be in agonies of penitence; but I'm +afraid the poor victim will lose his wits entirely, +if he doesn't die, which I think he will. I don't +know what they can do with him. He had one +fit after another. He may rally; but he looked +to me as if he wouldn't hold out till morning. +A nervous, slight fellow, it was a cruel thing to +do. Somebody told me he belonged somewhere +up in New Hampshire, and that his mother was +almost entirely dependent upon him." +</p><p> +Mr. Whiston listened eagerly. "Poor fellow! +I hope he will die," said he sadly; and then, +hesitating a moment: "Do you believe in ghosts, +Ainslie?" +</p><p> +"No," said Jack, with the least flicker of a +smile as I caught his eye; "that is, I've never +seen one myself. But there are very strange +things that one can't explain to one's satisfaction." +</p><p> +"I know that the dead come back," said Mr. +Whiston, speaking very low, and not looking at +either of us. "John Ainslie," said he suddenly, +"I never shall see you again. I'm not going to +live long at any rate, and you and your sister +have given me more of the old-time feeling than +I have had for many a day before. It seems as +if I were at home with you. I suppose you will +say I am a monomaniac at the very least; but +I'm going to tell you what it is that has been +slowly killing me. You're a doctor, and you may +put any name to it you like, and call it a disease +of the brain; but Henry Dunster follows me." +</p><p> +Jack and I stole a glance at each other, and I +felt the strongest temptation to look over my +shoulder. Jack reached over, and filled Mr. +Whiston's glass; and the Transcript startled me +by sliding to the floor. +</p><p> +"I don't often speak of it now: people only +laugh at the idea," said our guest, with a faint +smile. "But it is most horribly real to me. It +sometimes seems the only thing that is real." +And this is the story he told:— +</p><p> +"When I was in college, you know, Henry +roomed with me; and at one time we were greatly +interested in what we called then superstition +and foolishness. We thought ourselves very wise, +and thought we could explain every thing. There +was a craze among some of the students about +spirit-rappings, and that sort of thing; and we +went through with a good deal of nonsense, and +wasted a good deal of time, in trying to ravel out +mysteries, and to explain things that no mortal +man has ever yet understood. One night very +late we were talking, and grew much excited; +and we promised each other solemnly that the one +who died first would appear to the other, if such +a thing were possible, and would at least warn +him in a way that should be unmistakable of his +death. We were half in fun and half in earnest, +God forgive us! and we made that awful promise +to each other. Then we went into the army, and +I don't remember thinking of it once until the +very night before he was killed. We were sitting +together under a tree, after a hard day's fight, +and Dunster said to me, laughing, 'Do you remember +we promised each other, that whoever +died first would appear to the other, and follow +him?' I laughed,—you know how reckless we +were in those days when death and dying were +so horribly familiar,—and I said the same shell +might kill us both, which would be a great pity. +We were very merry and foolish; and I should +have said Henry had been drinking, but there +had been nothing to drink and hardly any thing +to eat: you remember we were cut off from our +supplies, and the men had very little in their +haversacks. Next day the fight was hotter than +ever, and we were being driven back, when I saw +him toss up his hands, and fall. He must have +been trodden to death at any rate. When we +regained that little field beyond the woods some +days afterward, they had dragged off the wounded, +and buried the dead in shallow trenches. I +knew Dunster was dead; and I stood on picket +near a trench which was just about where he fell, +and I cried in the dark like a girl. I loved +Dunster. You know he was the only near relative +I had in the world whom I cared any thing +for, and ours wasn't a bonfire friendship. He had +his faults, I know he wasn't liked in the class. +He was a brilliant fellow; but I used to be afraid +he might go to the bad. Do you remember that +night, Ainslie? The men were so tired that they +had dropped down anywhere in the mud to sleep, +and there was some kind of a bird in the woods +that gave a lonely, awful cry once in a while." +</p><p> +"I remember it," said my brother, moving +uneasily in his chair, and this time I had to look +behind me, there was no help for it. +</p><p> +"I went to the hospital soon after that," Mr. +Whiston said next. "I was not badly wounded +at all, but the exposure in that rainy weather +played the mischief with me, and I was discharged, +and, before you were mustered out, I +went to South America, where a friend of mine +wished me to go into business with him. I did +capitally well, and I grew very strong. The climate +suited me, and I used to go on those long +horseback rides into the interior among the plantations +that I told you about last night. My partner +disliked that branch of the business far more +than I did; so he left it almost wholly to me. +I did not think often about Henry, though I +mourned so much over his death at first, and I +never was less nervous in my life. +</p><p> +"One evening I had just returned to Rio after +an absence of several weeks, and I went to dine +with some friends of mine. It was a terribly hot +night, and after dinner we went out in the harbor +for a sail, as the moon would be up later. There +was not much wind, however; and the two boatmen +took the oars, and we struck out farther, +hoping to catch a breeze beyond the shipping. +It was very dark, and suddenly there came by a +large, heavy boat which nearly ran us down. +Our men shouted angrily, and the other sailors +swore; but there was no accident after all. They +seemed to be drunk, and we were all in the shadow +of a brig that was lying at anchor; but, Ainslie! +as that boat slid by—I was half lying in +the stern of ours, and so close that I could have +touched it—I saw Henry Dunster's face as +plainly as I see yours now. It turned me cold +for a minute, and gave me an awful shock. I +told the men to give chase; and they, thinking I +was angry at the carelessness, bent to their oars +with a will, and overhauled them. There were +two men on board,—one a negro, and the other +an old gray-haired sailor,—not in the least like +Henry. And I said I had been half asleep, and +dreamed it was his face. But there was no mistaking +him; it was the most vivid thing; it was +the man himself I saw for that one horrible minute. +And late the next night I was sitting in my +own sleeping-room. I had reasoned myself out +of the thing as well as I could, and said I was +tired, and not as well as usual, and all that; and +I had thought of it as calmly as possible. I sat +with my back toward the window; but I was facing +a mirror, and suddenly I had a strange feeling, +and looked up to see in the mirror Dunster's +face at the window looking in. It was staring +straight at me; and I met the eyes, and that was +the last I knew: I lost my senses. Only a monkey +could have climbed there. There was a frail +vine that clung to the stone, and in the morning +there was no trace of any creature. +</p><p> +"And since then he follows me. I saw that +haggard, wretched face of his last night when I +sat here at the table; and I see him watching me +if I look among a crowd of people, and, if I look +back along a street, he is always coming towards +me; but, when he gets near, he vanishes, and +sometimes at the theatre he will be among the +actors all the evening. Nobody sees him but +me, but every month I see him oftener, and his +face grows out of the darkness at night; and +sometimes, when I talk with any one, the face will +fade out, and Dunster's comes in its place. It is +killing me, Ainslie. I have fought against it; I +have wandered half over the world trying to get +rid of it, but it is no use. For a few days in a +strange place, sometimes for weeks, I did not see +him at first; but I know he is always watching +me now, and I see him every day." +</p><p> +I can give you no idea how thrilling it was to +listen to this unhappy man, who seemed so pitifully +cowed and broken, so helpless and hopeless. +Whether there had been any thing supernatural, +or whether it was merely the workings of a diseased +brain, it was horribly real to him; and his +life had been spoiled. +</p><p> +"Whiston, my dear fellow," said my brother, +"I'm not going to believe in ghosts if I can possibly +help it. Could you be perfectly sure that +you did not see Dunster himself at first? You +know he was counted among the missing only, +there is no positive proof that he died, though I +admit there was only a chance he was not killed +outright. We never saw him buried," said Jack, +with unsympathetic persistence. "I'm sorry for +you; but you mustn't give way to this thing. You +have thought about it until you can't forget it at +all. Such cases are not uncommon: it's simply +a hallucination. I'll give you proofs enough tomorrow. +Have some more claret, won't you?" +Jack spoke eagerly, with the kindest tone; and his +guest could not help responding by a faint, dreary +little smile. "Do you like music as much as +ever? Suppose we go over into the parlor, and +my sister will play for us; won't you, Helen?" +which was asking a great deal of me just then. +</p><p> +And we apparently forgot all about Mr. Dunster +for the rest of the evening. And, when Jack +asked Mr. Whiston if he remembered a song he +used to sing in college, to my delight he went at +once to the piano, and sang it with a very pleasant +tenor voice; and when he ended, and my +brother applauded, he struck some new chords, +and began to sing a little Florentine street-song, +which was always a great favorite of mine. It +is a sweet, piteous little song; and it bewitched +me then as much as it did the very first time I +had heard some boys sing it, as they went under +our windows at night, when I was first in Florence +years ago. +</p><p> +He said no more about the ghost; but later +that night, when I happened to wake, I wondered +if the poor man was keeping his anxious watch, +and listening in a strange house to hear the hours +struck one by one. He went away soon after +breakfast; and, though he promised to come in +again to say good-by, that was the last we saw +of him, and we did not see his name on the +steamer list either, so we were much puzzled, +and we talked about him a great deal, and told +George Sheffield the story, which he wished he +had heard himself. +</p><p> +"Of course it is a hallucination," said Jack: +"they are by no means uncommon. I can read +you accounts of any number of such cases. +There is a good deal about them in Griesinger's +book,—the chapter called 'Elementary Disorders +in Mental Disease,' Helen, if you care to look +at it, or any of those books on insanity. Didn't +you have Dr. Elam's 'A Physician's Problems' +a while ago? He has an essay there which is +very good." +</p><p> +"I was reading his essay on 'Moral and +Criminal Epidemics,'" said I, "that was all. +It's a cheerful thing too!" +</p><p> +"Isn't there such a thing as these visions coming +before slight attacks of epilepsy?" said +George. And my brother said yes; but Mr. Whiston +had nothing of that kind, he had taken pains +to find out. There was no hope of a cure, he +feared; he was not wise in such cases. But the +trouble had gone too far, there were bad symptoms, +and he confesses he has hurt himself with +opium during the last year or two. "He will +not live long at any rate," said Jack; "and I +think the sooner the end comes the better. He +has a predisposition to mental disease, and he +was always a frail, curious make-up. But I +don't know—'There are more things in heaven +and earth,' George Sheffield; and I wish you had +heard him tell his story." +</p><p> +And we talked over some strange, unaccountable +things; and each told stories which could +neither be doubted nor explained. I had been +readier to believe in such things since I was +warned myself before the greatest sorrow I had +ever known. I was by the sea; and one of my +friends and I were walking slowly toward home +one dark and windy evening, when suddenly we +both heard a terrible low cry of fear and horror +close beside us. It was hardly a cry, it was no +noise that either of us had ever heard before; +and we stopped for an instant, because we were +too frightened to move. And the noise came +again. We were in an open place, and there +was nothing to be seen; but we both felt there +was something there, and that the cry had some +awful meaning. And it was not many days before +I had reason to remember that cry; for the +trouble came. I do not know what it might +have been that I heard; but I knew it had the +saddest meaning. +</p><p> +Two or three weeks after we saw Mr. Whiston, +my brother came in one afternoon; and I saw he +could hardly wait for some friends to go away, +who were paying me a call. +</p><p> +"I have found poor Whiston," said he, when +I joined him in the library at last: "he is at the +Carney Hospital. It seems he was ill for a few +days at his hotel, and the servant, who was very +kind to him, advised him to go there. He insists +that he is very comfortable, and that he has +money enough. I wished to bring him over here +at first; but I saw that it was no use, and I asked +him why he didn't let me know, but he is completely +wrecked; I doubt if he lives more than a +day or two, he was wandering half the time I +was there. He said he should be very glad if +you would come to see him, and I told him I was +sure you would." +</p><p> +I went to see him with my brother the next +day, and I saw that Jack was shocked at the +change that had come already. There was that +peculiar, worried, anxious look in his face, that +one only sees in people who are very near death, +and his fingers were picking at the blanket. I +do not believe he knew me; but he smiled,—he +had a most beautiful smile,—and I gave him +some grapes, and wished I could make him a +little more comfortable. The sister came just +afterward on her round, and gave him his medicine, +and raised him with a strong arm, while she +turned his pillow in a business-like way, and I +thought what a lonely place it was to be ill and +die in; and I was more glad than ever that Jack +and I had a home, and were always to be together. +I left Jack to stay the night, and, as I +came away, I had more and more compassion for +the man who was dying; yet I was glad to think +so sad a life was almost over with. His days had +been all winter days in this world, it seemed to +me, and I hoped some wonderful, blessed spring +was waiting for him in the next. +</p><p> +When I went over in the morning, it was cheerless +enough. The rain was falling fast and the +snow melting in the streets. My brother was +watching for me, and came out at once. "Poor +Whiston is dead," said he, as he shut the carriage-door. +"He wished me to thank you for your +kindness to him," and I saw the tears in Jack's +eyes. "There's another star for the catalogue,—how +small the class is growing! Poor fellow! +I didn't know he had gone, I thought he was +asleep, for we were talking together only a few +minutes before. He was not at all bewildered, +as you saw him yesterday." +</p><p> +I heard this case talked over more than once +by my brother, and one or two professional friends +of his who came often to the house. Nobody was +ready to believe that Mr. Whiston had seen an +apparition; but the truth always remained that +the man's nerves were so shocked by what he +believed to be the appearance of a ghost, that he +had become the prey of a monomania, and had +by little and little grown incapable of distinguishing +between real things and the creations and +projections of his own unsteady brain. <i>Il s'écoutait +vivre</i>, as the French phrase has it; and, having +nothing to live for but this, it was well that +life was over for him. I suppose the acute disease +of which he died met with little resistance, +for he looked so ill when we first saw him; but it +would have been sadder if he had lingered a few +more years, so miserable as he was,—hardly fit +either for the inside of an asylum or the outside,—to +die at last without money or friends to give +him the last of this world's comforts, perhaps +without mind enough left to miss them. +</p><p> +Strangely enough, some months after this, when +it was spring, my brother found Dunster at the +Marine Hospital in Chelsea, where he had gone +with another surgeon to see a curious operation +in which he felt a great interest. He was walking +through the accident ward when somebody +called him from one of the cots,—a wretched-looking +vagabond, whom at first he did not recognize. +But it was Dunster, and he tried to put on +something of his old manner, which made him +seem like a wretched copy of his former self. +</p><p> +Jack made him give an account of himself. It +seemed that he had been thrown among the dead +in that battle when he was supposed to have been +killed; but he had recovered his senses, and +crawled from the place where he had fallen farther +into the enemy's lines, and he had been sent +to the rear. He had nearly died from the effects +of his wounds, and it was evident that he had +been very intemperate. He had drifted to New +Orleans, and lead a most wretched life there; and +at times he had gone to sea. My brother asked +him if he was ever in Rio; and at first he denied +it, and afterward confessed that he was there +once, and had seen Whiston in a boat, and had +dropped over the side in the dark to evade him, +but when Jack questioned him about being at the +window, he denied it utterly. He said his ship +sailed that day. It might have been that he +meant to commit a robbery, or that he really +told the truth, and that it was the first of poor +Whiston's illusions. Of course it was possible +that Dunster might have swung himself down +from the flat roof by a rope, and they might have +really met at other times, it was not unlikely. +But one can hardly conceive of Mr. Whiston's +perfect certainty, in such a case, that the glimpse +he had of his cousin's face was a supernatural +vision. +</p><p> +My brother said, "I did not tell him what +wreck and ruin he had made unconsciously of +Whiston's life,—at least the part he had played in +it; it would do no good, and indeed he is hardly +sane, I think. It would be curious if they had +both inherited from their common ancestry the +mental weakness which shows itself so differently +in the two lives,—Whiston's, so cowardly and +shrinking and weak; and Dunster's, so horribly +low and brutal. There is not much the matter +with him, he had a fall on board ship. The +nurse told me he was very troublesome, and had +fairly insulted the chaplain, who had said a kind +word to him. It is a pity that shot had not killed +him; and I suppose most of the class who ever +think of him will say he was a hero, and died on +the field of honor." +</p><p> +And my brother and I talked gravely about +the two men. God help us! what sin and crime +may be charged to any of us who take the wrong +way in life! The possibilities of wickedness and +goodness in us are both unlimited. I said, how +many lives must be like these which seemed such +wretched failures and imperfections! One cannot +help having a great pity for such men, in whom +common courage, and the power of resistance, +and the ordinary amount of will seem to have +been wanting. Warped and incapable, or brutal +and shameful, one cannot pity them enough. It +is like the gnarled and worthless fruit that grows +among the fair and well-rounded,—the useless +growth that is despised and thrown away scornfully. +</p><p> +But God must always know what blighted and +hindered any life or growth of His; and let us +believe that He sometimes saves and pities what +we have scorned and blamed. +</p> +<a name="a_ALATESUPPER"></a> +<br><br> +<h2 align="center">A LATE SUPPER.</h2> +<br><br><p> +The story begins one afternoon in June +just after dinner. Miss Catherine Spring +was the heroine; and she lived alone in +her house, which stood on the long village street +in Brookton,—up in the country city people +would say,—a town certainly not famous, but +pleasant enough because it was on the outer edge +of the mountain region, near some great hills. +One never hears much about Brookton when one +is away from it, but, for all that, life is as important +and exciting there as it is anywhere; and it +is like every other town, a miniature world, with +its great people and small people, bad people and +good people, its jealousy and rivalry, kindness +and patient heroism. +</p><p> +Miss Spring had finished her dinner that day, +and had washed the few dishes, and put them +away. She never could get used to there being +so few, because she had been one of a large family. +She had put on the gray alpaca dress which +she wore afternoons at home, and had taken her +sewing, and sat down at one of the front windows +in the sitting-room, which was shaded by a green +old lilac-bush. But she did not sew as if she +were much interested in the work, or were in any +hurry; and presently she laid it down altogether, +and tapped on the window-sill with her thimble, +looking as if she were lost in not very pleasant +thought. She was a very good woman, and a +very pleasant woman; a good neighbor all the +people would tell you; and they would add also, +very comfortably left. But of late she had been +somewhat troubled; to tell the truth, her money +affairs had gone wrong, and just now she did not +exactly know what to do. She felt more solitary +than she had for a long time before. Her father, +the last of the family except herself, had been +dead for many years; and she had been living +alone, growing more and more contented in the +comfortable, prim, white house, after the first +sharp grief of her loneliness had worn away into +a more resigned and familiar sorrow. It is, after +all, a great satisfaction to do as one pleases. +</p><p> +Now, as I have said, she had lost part of her +already small income, and she did not know what +to do. The first loss could be borne; but the +second seemed to put housekeeping out of the +question, and this was a dreadful thing to think +of. She knew no other way of living, beside having +her own house and her own fashion of doing +things. If it had been possible, she would have +liked to take some boarders; but summer boarders +had not yet found out Brookton. Mr. Elden, +the kind old lawyer who was her chief adviser, +had told her to put an advertisement in one of +the Boston papers, and she had done so; but it +never had been answered, which was not only a +disappointment but a mortification as well. Her +money was not actually lost: it was the failure of +a certain railway to pay its dividend, that was +making her so much trouble. +</p><p> +Miss Spring tapped her thimble still faster on +the window-sill, and thought busily. "I'm going +to think it out, and settle it this afternoon," said +she to herself. "I must settle it somehow, I +will not live on here any longer as if I could +afford it." There was a niece of hers who lived +in Lowell, who was married and not at all strong. +There were three children, with nobody in particular +to look after them. Miss Catherine was +sure this niece would like nothing better than to +have her come to stay with her. She thought +with satisfaction how well she could manage +there, and how well her housekeeping capabilities +would come into play. It had grieved her in her +last visit to see the house half cared for, and she +remembered the wistful way Mary had said, +"How I wish I could have you here all the time, +Aunt Catherine!" and at once Aunt Catherine +went on to build a little castle in the air, until +she had a chilly consciousness that her own house +was to be shut up. She compared the attractions +of Lowell and Brookton most disdainfully: the +dread came over her that most elderly people feel +at leaving their familiar homes and the surroundings +to which they have grown used. But she +bravely faced all this, and resolved to write Mary +that evening, so the letter could go by the morning's +mail. If Mary liked the plan, which Miss +Catherine never for an instant doubted, she would +stay through the early fall at any rate, and then +see what was best to be done. +</p><p> +She took up her sewing again, and looked +critically at it through her spectacles, and then +went on with her stitching, feeling lighter-hearted +now that the question was decided. The tall +clock struck three slowly; and she said to herself +how fast the last hour had gone. There was a +little breeze outside which came rustling through +the lilac-leaves. The wide street was left to +itself, nobody had driven by since she had sat at +the window. She heard some children laughing +and calling to each other where they were at play +in a yard not far away, and smiled in sympathy; +for her heart had never grown old. The smell of +the roses by the gate came blowing in sweet and +fresh, and she could see the great red peonies in +generous bloom on the borders each side the front +walk. And, when she looked round the room, it +seemed very pleasant to her, the clock ticked +steadily; and the old-fashioned chairs, and the +narrow high mirror with the gilt eagle at the top, +the stiff faded portraits of her father and mother +in their young days, the wide old brass-nailed +sofa with its dim worsted-worked cushion at +either end,—how comfortable it all was! and a +great thrill of fondness for the room and the +house came over our friend. "I didn't know I +cared so much about the old place," said she. +"'There's no place like home.'—I believe I +never knew that meant so much before;" and she +laid down her sewing again, and fell into a reverie. +</p><p> +In a little while she heard the click of the gate-latch; +and, with the start and curiosity a village +woman instinctively feels at the knowledge of +somebody's coming in at the front-door, she hurried +to the other front-window to take a look at +her visitor through the blinds. It was only a +child, and Miss Catherine did not wait for her to +rap with the high and heavy knocker, but was +standing in the open doorway when the little girl +reached the steps. +</p><p> +"Come in, dear!" said Miss Catherine kindly, +"did you come of an errand?" +</p><p> +"I wanted to ask you something," said the +child, following her into the sitting-room, and +taking the chair next the door with a shy smile +that had something appealing about it. "I came +to ask you if you want a girl this summer." +</p><p> +"Why, no, I never keep help," said Miss +Spring. "There is a woman who comes Mondays +and Tuesdays, and other days when I need +her. Who is it that wants to come?" +</p><p> +"It's only me," said the child. "I'm small +of my age; but I'm past ten, and I can work real +smart about house." A great cloud of disappointment +came over her face. +</p><p> +"Whose child are you?" +</p><p> +"I'm Katy Dunning, and I live with my aunt +down by Sandy-river Bridge. Her girl is big +enough to help round now, and she said I +must find a place. She would keep me if she +could," said the little girl in a grown-up, old-fashioned +way; "but times are going to be dreadful +hard, they say, and it takes a good deal to +keep so many." +</p><p> +"What made you come here?" asked Miss +Catherine, whose heart went out toward this +hard-worked, womanly little thing. It seemed so +pitiful that so young a child, who ought to be still +at play, should already know about hard times, +and have begun to fight the battle of life. A +year ago she had thought of taking just such a +girl to save steps, and for the sake of having +somebody in the house; but it never could be +more out of the question than now. "What +made you come to me?" +</p><p> +"Mr. Rand, at the post-office, told aunt that +perhaps you might want me: he couldn't think +of anybody else." +</p><p> +She was such a neat-looking, well-mended child, +and looked Miss Catherine in the face so honestly! +She might cry a little after she was outside +the gate, but not now. +</p><p> +"I'm really sorry," said Miss Spring; "but +you see, I'm thinking about shutting my house up +this summer." She would not allow to herself +that it was for any longer. "But you keep up a +good heart. I know a good many folks, and +perhaps I can hear of a place for you. I suppose +you could mind a baby, couldn't you? No: you +sit still a minute!" as the child thanked her, and +rose to go away; and she went out to her dining-room +closet to a deep jar, and took out two +of her best pound-cakes, which she made so seldom +now, and saved with great care. She put +these on a pretty pink-and-white china plate, and +filled a mug with milk. "Here," said she, as +she came back, "I want you to eat these cakes. +You have walked a long ways, and it'll do you +good. Sit right up to the table, and I'll spread +a newspaper over the cloth." +</p><p> +Katy looked at her with surprise and gratitude. +"I'm very much obliged," said she; and her first +bite of the cake seemed the most delicious thing +she had ever tasted. +</p><p> +Yes, I suppose bread and butter would have +been quite as good for her, and much less extravagant +on Miss Catherine's part; but of all the +people who had praised her pound-cakes, nobody +had so delighted in their goodness as this hungry +little girl, who had hardly ever eaten any thing +but bread all her days, and not very good bread +at that. +</p><p> +"Don't hurry," said Miss Spring kindly, +"you're a good girl, and I wish I could take +you,—I declare I do." And, with a little sigh, +she sat down by the window again, and took up +the much-neglected sewing, looking up now and +then at her happy guest. When she saw the +mug was empty, and that Katy looked at it wistfully +as she put it down, she took it without a +word, and went to the shelf in the cellar-way +where the cream-pitcher stood, and poured out +every drop that was in it, afterward filling the +mug to the brim with milk, for her little pitcher +did not hold much. "I'll get along one night +without cream in my tea," said she to herself. +"That was only skim-milk she had first, and she +looks hungry." +</p><p> +"It's real pleasant here," said Katy, "you're +so good! Aunt said I could tell you, if you +wanted to take me, that I don't tear my clothes, +and I'm careful about the dishes. She thought I +wouldn't be a bother. Would you tell the other +people? I should be real glad to get a place." +</p><p> +"I'll tell 'em you're a good girl," said Miss +Catherine; "and I'll get you a good home if I +can." For she thought of her niece in Lowell, +and how much trouble there was when she was +there about getting a careful young girl to take +care of the smallest child. Then it occurred to +her that Katy was very small herself, and did not +look very strong, and Mary might not hear to it; +so, after Katy had gone, she began to be sorrowful +again, and to wish she had promised less, and +need not disappoint the little thing. +</p><p> +Another hour had gone, and it was four o'clock +now, and in a few minutes she heard a carriage +stop at the gate. She heard several voices, and +was discouraged for a minute. Three people +were coming in; and she was so glad when she +saw it was a nephew and his wife from a town a +dozen miles away, and a friend with them whom +she had often seen at their house. They came in +with good-natured chatter and much laughing. +They had started out for a drive early after dinner, +and had found the weather so pleasant that +they had kept on to Brookton. +</p><p> +"I don't know what the folks will think," said +they: "we meant to be back right away."— +"Well," said the niece, "I'm so glad we found +you at home; and how well you do look, Aunt +Catherine! I declare, you're smarter than any +of us." +</p><p> +"I guess she is," said her nephew, who was a +great favorite. "I tell you she's the salt of the +earth." And he gave her a most affectionate +and resounding great kiss, and then they were +all merrier than ever. +</p><p> +"What are you sitting down for, without laying +off your bonnets?" asked the hostess. "You +must stay and get supper before you ride home. +I'll have it early, and there's a moon. You take +the horse right round into the yard, Joseph: +there's some more of that old hay in the barn; +you know where to find it." And, after some +persuasion, the visitors yielded, and settled themselves +quietly for the rest of the afternoon. +They had said, as they came over, that they were +sure Aunt Catherine would ask them to stay until +evening, and she always had such good suppers. +Miss Stanby had never been at the house before, +and only once as far as Brookton; and she seemed +very pleased. She took care of her step-mother, +who was very old, and a great deal crosser than +there was any need of being. This little excursion +would do her a world of good; and luckily +her married sister happened to be at home for a +day or two's visit, so she did not feel anxious +about being away. She was a sharp-faced, harassed-looking +little woman, who might have been +pretty if she had been richer and less worried +and disappointed. She was a pleasant and patient +soul, and this drive and visit were more to +her than a journey to Boston would be to her +companions. They were well-to-do village people, +comfortable and happy and unenvious as it +is possible for village people, or any other people, +to be. +</p><p> +Miss Spring was a little distracted and a bit +formal for a few minutes, while she was thinking +what she could get for tea; but that being settled, +she gave her whole mind to enjoying the guests. +She regretted the absence of the two pound-cakes +Katy Dunning had eaten, but it was only for an +instant. She could make out with new gingerbread, +and no matter if she couldn't! It was all +very pleasant and sociable: and they talked together +for a while busily, telling the news and +asking and answering questions; and, by and by, +Joseph took his hat, saying that he must go down +to the post-office to see Mr. Rand, the storekeeper. +Soon after this it was time to get supper. Just +as Miss Spring was going out, her niece said, "I +had a letter from Lowell yesterday, from Mary." +</p><p> +"How is she now?" Miss Spring meant to +talk over her plans a little with Joseph after supper, +but was silent enough about them now. +</p><p> +"Her husband's oldest sister is coming to stay +all summer with them. She is a widow, and has +been living out West. It'll be a great help to +Mary, and John sets every thing by this sister. +She is a good deal older than he, and brought +him up." +</p><p> +"It is a good thing," said Miss Catherine +emphatically, and with perfect composure. "I +have been thinking about Mary lately. I pitied +her so when I was there. I have had half a +mind to go and stay with her a while myself." +</p><p> +"You might have got sick going to Lowell in +hot weather. Sha'n't I come out and help you, +Aunt Catherine?" who said, "No indeed;" and +went out to the kitchen, and dropped into a chair. +"Oh, what am I going to do?" said she; for she +never had felt so helpless and hopeless in her life. +</p><p> +The old clock gave its quick little cluck, by +way of reminder that in five minutes it would be +five o'clock. She had promised to have tea early; +so she opened a drawer to take out a big calico +apron, and went to work. Her eyes were full of +tears. Poor woman! she felt as if she had come +face to face with a great wall, but she bravely +went to work to make the cream-tartar biscuit. +Somehow she couldn't remember how much to +take of any thing. She was quite confused when +she tried to remember the familiar rule. It was +silly!—she had made them hundreds of times, +and was celebrated for her skill. Cream-tartar +biscuit, and some cold bread, and some preserved +plums; or was it citron-melon she meant to have?—and +some of that cold meat she had for dinner, +for a relish, with a bit of cheese. +</p><p> +She would have felt much more miserable if she +had not had to hurry; and after a few minutes, +when the first shock of her bad news had been +dulled a little, she was herself again; and tea +was nearly ready, the biscuits baking in the oven, +and some molasses gingerbread beside, when she +happened to remember that there was not a drop +of cream in the cream-pitcher, she had given it +all to poor little Katy. Joseph was very particular +about having cream in his tea; so she called +her niece Martha to the kitchen, and asked her to +watch the oven while she went down the road to a +neighbor's. She did not stop even to take her +sun-bonnet: it was not a great way, and shady +under the elms; so away she went with the pitcher. +Mrs. Hilton, the neighbor, was a generous +soul, and when she heard of the unexpected company, +with ready sympathy and interest she said; +"Now, what did you bring such a mite of a pitcher +for? Do take this one of mine. I'd just as +soon you'd have the cream as not. I don't calculate +to make any butter this week, and it'll be +well to have it to eat with your preserves. It's +nice and sweet as ever you saw." +</p><p> +"I'm sure you are kind," said Miss Spring; +and with a word or two more she went hurrying +home. As I have said, it was not far; but the +railroad came between, and our friend had to +cross the track. It seemed very provoking that +a long train should be standing across the road. +It seemed to be waiting for something; an accident +might have happened, for the station was a +little distance back. +</p><p> +Miss Catherine waited in great anxiety; she +could not afford to waste a minute. She would +have to cross an impossible culvert in going +around the train either way. She saw some passengers +or brakemen walking about on the other +side, and with great heroism mounted the high +step of the platform with the full intention of +going down the other side, when, to her horror, +the train suddenly moved. She screamed, "Stop! +stop!" but nobody saw her, and nobody heard +her; and off she went, cream-pitcher and all, +without a bit of a bonnet. It was simply awful. +</p><p> +The car behind her was the smoking-car, and +the one on which she stood happened to be the +Pullman. She was dizzy, and did not dare to +stay where she was; so she opened the door and +went in. There was a young lady standing in the +passage-way, getting a drink of water for some +one in a dainty little tumbler; and she looked +over her shoulder, thinking Miss Spring was the +conductor, to whom she wished to speak; and +she smiled, for who could help it? +</p><p> +"I'm carried off," said poor Aunt Catherine +hysterically. "I had company come to tea unexpectedly, +and I was all out of cream, and I +went out to Mrs. Hilton's, and I was in a great +hurry to get back, and there seemed no sign in +the world of the cars starting. I wish we never +had sold our land for the track! Oh! what shall +I do? I'm a mile from home already; they'll be +frightened to death, and I wanted to have supper +early for them, so they could start for home; it's +a long ride. And the biscuit ought to be eaten +hot. Dear me! they'll be so worried!" +</p><p> +"I'm very sorry, indeed," said the young +lady, who was quivering with laughter in spite of +her heartfelt sympathy for such a calamity as +this. "I suppose you will have to go on to the +next station; is it very far?" +</p><p> +"Half an hour," said Miss Spring despairingly; +"and the down train doesn't get into +Brookton until seven; and I haven't a cent of +money with me, either. I shall be crazy! I +don't see why I didn't get off; but it took all my +wits away the minute I found I was going." +</p><p> +"I'm so glad you didn't try to get off," said +the girl gravely: "you might have been terribly +hurt. Won't you come into the compartment just +here with my aunt and me? She is an invalid, +and we are all by ourselves; you need not see +any one else. Let me take your pitcher." And +Miss Spring, glad to find so kind a friend in such +an emergency, followed her. +</p><p> +There were two sofas running the length of the +compartment, and on one of these was lying a +most kind and refined-looking woman, with gray +hair and the sweetest eyes. Poor Aunt Catherine +somehow felt comforted at once; and when +this new friend looked up wonderingly, and her +niece tried to keep from even smiling while she +told the story discreetly, she began to laugh at +herself heartily. +</p><p> +"I know you want to laugh, dear," said she. +"It's ridiculous, only I'm so afraid they'll be +worried about me at home. If anybody had only +seen me as I rode off, and could tell them!" +</p><p> +Miss Ashton had not laughed so much in a +long time, the fun of the thing outweighed the +misery, and they were all very merry for a few +minutes. There was something straightforward +and homelike and pleasant in Miss Catherine's +face, and the other travellers liked her at once, +as she did them. They were going to a town +nearer the mountains for the summer. Miss +Ashton was just getting over a severe illness; +and they asked about the place to which they +were bound, but Miss Spring could tell them +little about it. +</p><p> +"The country is beautiful around here, isn't +it?" said Alice West, when there was a pause: +the shadows were growing long, and the sun +was almost ready to go down among the hills. +"Brookton! didn't you notice an advertisement +of some one who wanted boarders there, aunty? +You thought it was hardly near enough to the +mountains, didn't you? but this is beautiful." +</p><p> +"Why, that was my notice," said Miss Spring; +and then she stopped, and flushed a little. I +believe, if she had thought a moment, she would +not have spoken; but Miss Ashton saw the hesitation +and the flush. +</p><p> +"I wish I were going to spend the summer with +you," said she by and by, in her frank, pleasant +way. And Miss Catherine said, "I wish +you were," and sighed quietly; she felt wonderfully +at home with these strangers, and, in spite +of her annoyance when she thought of her guests, +she was enjoying herself. "I live all alone," +she said once, in speaking of something else; +and, if she had been alone with Miss Ashton, I +think she would have told her something of her +troubles, of which we know her heart was very +full. Everybody found it easy to talk to Miss +Ashton, but there was the niece; and Miss Catherine, +like most elderly women of strong character +who live alone, was used to keeping her +affairs to herself, and felt a certain pride in being +uncommunicative. +</p><p> +When the conductor looked in, with surprise +at seeing the new passenger, Alice West asked +him the fare to Hillsfield, the next station; and, +after paying him, gave as much money to Miss +Spring, who took it reluctantly, though there was +nothing else to be done. +</p><p> +"I'm sure I don't know how to thank +you," said she; "but you must tell me how to +direct to you and I will send the money back tomorrow." +</p><p> +"No, indeed!" said the girl: but Miss +Spring looked unhappy; and Miss Ashton, with +truer kindness, gave her the direction, saying,— +</p><p> +"Please tell us how you found your friends at +home; because Alice and I will wish very much +to know what they thought." +</p><p> +"You have been so kind; I sha'n't forget it," +said Miss Catherine, with a little shake in her +voice that was not made by the cars. +</p><p> +Alice had taken from her travelling-bag a little +white hood which she had seen in a drawer that +morning after her trunk was locked and strapped, +and had put it over Miss Catherine's head. It +was very becoming, and it did not look at all +unsuitable for an elderly woman to wear in the +evening, just from one station to the next. And +she was going to wrap the cream-pitcher in some +paper, when Miss Catherine said softly,— +</p><p> +"Does your aunty care any thing about +cream?" +</p><p> +"She likes it dearly," said the girl, looking so +much pleased. "I had half a mind to ask you if +you could spare just a little;" and Miss Ashton's +little tumbler was at once delightedly filled +to the very brim. +</p><p> +Its owner said she had not tasted any thing so +delicious in a long time; and would not Miss +Spring take some little biscuit and some grapes +to eat while she waited in the station? Yes, +indeed: they had more than they wanted, and she +must not forget it was tea-time already. Alice +would wrap some up for her in a paper. +</p><p> +And at last they shook hands most cordially, +and were so sorry to say good-by. +</p><p> +"I never shall forget your kindness as long as +I live," said Miss Catherine; and Alice helped +her off the car, and nodded good-by as it started. +</p><p> +"I wish with all my heart we could board with +that dear good soul this summer," said Miss +Ashton, "and I believe she has been dreadfully +grieved because her advertisement was not answered; +perhaps it may be yet. She looked sad +and worried, and it was something besides this +mishap. What a kind face she had! I wish we +knew more about her. I'm so glad we happened +to be just here, and that she didn't have to go +into the car." +</p><p> +"Yes," said Alice; "but, aunty, I think it +was the funniest thing I ever saw in my life, +when she appeared to me with that horror-stricken +face and her cream-pitcher." +</p><p> +And Miss Catherine, as she seated herself in +the little station to wait for the down-train, said +to herself, "God bless them! how good they +were! How I should have hated to go into the +car with all the people, and be stared at and +made fun of." They had been so courteous and +simple and kind: why are there not more such +people in the world? And she thought about +them, and ate her crackers and the hot-house +grapes, and was very comfortable. It might +have been such a disagreeable experience, yet she +had really enjoyed herself. It did not seem long +before she again took her seat in the cars, with +the cream-pitcher respectably disguised in white +paper, and herself looking well enough in the +soft little white hood, with its corner just in the +middle of her gray hair over her forehead; she +paid her fare as if her pocket were full of money, +and watched the other people in the car; and by +the time she reached home she was her own composed +and reliable self again. +</p><p> +There had been a great excitement at her +house. The biscuit were done and the gingerbread; +and the niece took them out of the oven, +and thought her aunt was gone a good while, +and went back to the sitting-room. After a few +minutes she went to the front-gate to look down +the street. Miss Stanby joined her; and they +stood watching until Joseph Spring came hurrying +back, thinking he was late, and ready with +his apologies, when they told him how long Miss +Catherine had been gone. +</p><p> +"She's stopped for something or other: they're +always asking her advice about things," said he +carelessly. "She will be along soon." And then +they went into the house; and nobody said much, +and the tall clock ticked louder and louder; and +Joseph began to whistle and drum with his fingers, +meaning to show his unconcern, but in +reality betraying the opposite feeling. +</p><p> +"You don't suppose she's sick, do you?" +asked Miss Stanby timidly. +</p><p> +"More likely somebody else is," said Mr. +Spring. "Did you say she had gone to Mrs. +Hilton's, Martha? I'll walk down there, and +see what the matter is." +</p><p> +"I wish you would," said his wife. "It's +after six o'clock." +</p><p> +"Hasn't got home yet!" said Mrs. Hilton in +dismay. "Why, what can have become of her? +She came in before half-past five, in a great +hurry; and she left her pitcher here on the table. +I suppose she forgot it. I lent her mine, because +it was bigger. There's no house between but +the Donalds', and they're all off at his mother's +funeral to Lancaster. You don't suppose the +cars run over her?" +</p><p> +"I don't know," said Miss Spring's nephew, +in real trouble by this time. +</p><p> +They went out together, and looked everywhere +along the road, apologizing to each other as they +did so. They went up and down the railroad for +some little distance, and it was a great relief not +to find her there. Joseph asked some men if +they had seen his aunt; and when they said no, +wonderingly, and expected an explanation, he +did not give it, he hardly knew why. They went +to the house beyond Miss Catherine's, though +Martha and Miss Stanby were sure she had not +gone by. They looked in the barn even: they +went out into the garden and through the house, +for she might possibly have come in without +being seen; but she had apparently disappeared +from the face of the earth. +</p><p> +It had seemed so foolish at first to tell the +neighbors; but by seven o'clock, or nearly that, +Martha Spring said decisively, "She cannot +have gone far unless she has been carried off. I +think you had better get some men, and have a +regular hunt for her before it gets any darker. +I'm not going home to-night until we find her." +And they owned to each other that it was a very +serious and frightful thing. Miss Stanby looked +most concerned and apprehensive of the three, +and suggested what had been uppermost in her +mind all the time,—that it would be so awful if +poor Miss Spring had been murdered, or could +she have killed herself? There was something so +uncharacteristic in the idea of Miss Catherine's +committing suicide, that for a moment her nephew +could not resist a smile; but he was grave enough +again directly, for it might be true, after all, and +he remembered with a thrill of horror that old Mr. +Elden, the lawyer, had told him in confidence, +that Miss Spring was somewhat pinched for money,—that +her affairs were in rather a bad +way, and perhaps he had better talk with her, as +he himself did not like to have all the responsibility +of advising her. +</p><p> +"Poor old lady!" thought Joseph Spring, +who was a tender-hearted man. "She looked +to-day as if she felt bad about something. She +has grown old this last year, that's a fact!" It +seemed to him as if she were in truth dead already. +"You had better look all over the +house," said he to his wife. "Did you look in +the garret?" He remembered the story that +his great-grandfather had been found hanging +there, and could not have gone to the garret himself +to save his life. +</p><p> +He went hurrying out of the house, determined +now to make the disappearance public. He would +go to the depot, there were always some men +there at this time. The church-bell began to +ring for Wednesday-evening meeting, and she +had always gone so regularly; he would hurry +back there, and tell the people as they came. The +train went by slowly to stop at the station, it +was a little behind time. He hurried on, looking +down as he walked. To tell the truth, he was +thinking about the funeral, and suddenly he +heard a familiar voice say,— +</p><p> +"Well, Joseph! I suppose you thought I was +lost!" +</p><p> +"Heavens and earth, Aunt Catherine! Where +have you been?" And he caught her by the +shoulder, and felt suddenly like crying and laughing +together. "I never had any thing come over +me so in all my life," said he to his wife and Miss +Stanby, as they went home later that evening. +"I declare, it took the wits right out of me." +</p><p> +Miss Catherine looked brighter than she had +that afternoon, the excitement really had done +her good; she told her adventure as they hurried +home together. When they reached the house +Martha Spring and Miss Stanby kissed her, and +cried as if their hearts would break. Joseph +looked out of the window a few minutes, and +then announced that he would go out and see to +the horse. +</p><p> +The tears were soon over with; and, as soon +as it seemed decent, Mrs. Martha said, "Aunt +Catherine, do tell me where you got that pretty +hood! I wish I had seen it when I first got here, +to take the pattern. Isn't it a new stitch?" +</p><p> +"Dear me! haven't I taken it off?" said Miss +Catherine. "Well, you must excuse me if I am +scatter-witted. I feel as if I had been gone a +week." +</p><p> +They had supper directly—that very late +supper! They were all as hungry as hunters, +even poor little Miss Stanby; and the re-action +from such suspense made the guests merry +enough, while, as was often said, Miss Catherine +was always good company. The cream-tartar +biscuits were none the less good for being cold. +Joseph hadn't eaten such gingerbread since he +was there before; and the tea was made fresh +over a dry-shingle fire, which blazes in a minute, +as every one knows. There were more than +enough pound-cakes; and Martha asked all over +again how Miss Catherine made her preserves, +for somehow hers were never so good; while +Miss Catherine meekly said that she had not had +such good luck as usual with the last she made. +</p><p> +At last they drove off down the road. The +moon had come up, and was shining through the +trees. It was so cool and fresh and bright an +evening, with a little yellow still lingering in the +west after the sunset! The guests went away +very happy and light-hearted, for it seemed as if +they had been spared a terrible sorrow. +</p><p> +"I saw the prettiest little old-fashioned table +up in the garret," said Mrs. Martha. "It only +needs fixing up a little. I mean to ask your +Aunt Catherine if I can't have it when I go over +again." +</p><p> +"No, you won't," said her husband, with more +authority than was usual with him. +</p><p> +Miss Catherine stood watching at the gate +until they were out of sight. "I must settle +down," said she. "I feel as if it had been a +wedding or a funeral or something; and I declare +if it isn't Wednesday evening, and what will +they think has become of me at meeting?" +though she could have trusted Mrs. Hilton to +spread the story far and wide—by which you +must not suppose that good Mrs. Hilton was a +naughty gossip. +</p><p> +The next morning Miss Catherine waked up +even more heavy-hearted than she had been the +day before. I suppose she was tired after the +unusual excitement. She wished she had talked +to Joseph, she must talk with somebody. She +wished she had not been such a fool as to get +on those cars, for she was sure she never should +hear the last of the joke; and, after the morning +work was done, she sat down in the sitting-room +with the clock ticking mockingly, and that intolerable +feeling of despair and disgust came +over her; there is nothing much harder to bear +than that, if you know what it is I am sure you +will pity her. +</p><p> +The afternoon seemed very long. It rained; +and nobody came in until the evening, when Mrs. +Hilton's boy came with a letter. Miss Catherine +had been to the post-office just before dinner, to +send the money to Miss Ashton; and this surprised +her very much. "It must have come by +the seven-o'clock train," said she. "I never +get letters from that way;" and she took it to +the window, and looked curiously at the address, +and at last she opened it. It was a pretty letter +to look at, and it proved a pleasant one to read. +It was from Alice West, Miss Ashton's niece; +and Miss Catherine read it slowly, and felt as if +she were in a dream. +</p><p> +"My Dear Miss Spring,—My aunt, Miss Ashton, +wishes me to write to you, to ask if it would be convenient +for you to take us to board. We are very much +disappointed here, and are glad we did not positively +engage our rooms until we had seen them. It is a very +damp house, and I am sure my aunt ought not to stay, +and would be uncomfortable in many ways. We should +like two rooms close to each other, and we were each to +pay ten dollars a week here, but are perfectly willing +to pay more than that. We are almost certain that we +shall like your house; but perhaps it will be the better +way for me to come down and see you, and then I can +make all the arrangements. If Brookton suits my aunt, +we may wish to stay as late as October; and should you +mind if one of my friends comes to stay with us by and +by? She would share my room. If you will write me +to-morrow morning, and if you think you can take us, I +will go down in the early afternoon train. +</p><p> +"We hope you reached home all right, and that your +friends were not much worried. We begin to think +that your adventure was a fortunate thing for us. With +kind regards from us both, +</p><p> + "Yours sincerely, +</p><p> + "Alice West." +</p><p> +Did you ever know any thing more fortunate +than this? Poor Miss Catherine sat down and +cried about it; and the cat came and rubbed +against her foot, and purred sympathizingly, and +was taken up and wept over, which I believe +had never happened to her before. Of all people, +who could be pleasanter boarders than these? +They had won her heart in the half-hour she had +already spent with them. She had wished then +that they were coming to her: it would be such a +pleasure to make them comfortable. And twenty +dollars a week,—that would surely be more than +enough for them all to live upon with what she +had beside. And there was Katy, who could +save so many steps, and could wait on Miss Ashton; +she would have the child come at once. +She could have Mrs. Brown come every day for +a while, beside Mondays and Tuesdays; and +how glad she would be of the extra pay! Miss +Catherine even went up stairs in the late June +twilight, to look at the two familiar front-chambers, +with only the small square hall separating +them. They looked so pleasant, and were so airy +and of such good size, they could not help being +suited. She patted the pillow of her best bed +affectionately, and thought with pride that they +would find no fault with her way of cooking, +and her house never was damp; there was not +a better house in Brookton. Life had rarely +looked brighter to Miss Catherine than it did that +night. +</p><p> +Alice West came down the next afternoon, and +found the house and the rooms and Miss Catherine +herself were all exactly what wise Miss Ashton +had said they would be. And the two boarders +thought themselves lucky to have found such +a pleasant house for the summer; they were so +considerate, and became favorites with many +people beside their hostess. They brought a +great deal of pleasure and good-will to sober little +Brookton, as two cultivated, thoughtful, helpful +women may make any place pleasanter if they +choose. Miss Ashton is a help and a comfort +and a pleasure wherever she goes, while Alice +West is learning to be like her more and more +every year. Miss Catherine remembered sometimes +with great thankfulness, that it was the loss +of her money for a while that had brought her +these friends. Katy Dunning was so happy to +go to live at Miss Spring's after all, and did her +very best,—a patient, steady, willing little +creature she was! and I am sure she never had +had so many good times in her life as she did +that summer. +</p><p> +I might tell you so much more about these +people, but a story must end somewhere. You +may hope that Miss Catherine's fortunes bettered, +and that she never will have to give up her home; +that she can keep Katy all the time; that Miss +Ashton will come back to Brookton the next +year, and the next. +</p><p> +I am sure you will think, in reading all this, +just what I have thought as I told it,—and what +Miss Catherine herself felt,—that it was such a +wonderfully linked-together chain. All the time +she thought she was going wrong, that it was a +series of mistakes. "I never will be so miserable +again," said she. "It was all ordered for +the best; and may the Lord forgive me for doubting +his care and goodness as I did that day!" +It went straight to her heart the next Sunday, +when the old minister said in his sermon, "Dear +friends, do not let us forget what the Psalmist +says, that the steps of a good man are ordered +by the Lord. He plans the way we go; and so +let us always try to see what he means in sending +us this way or that. Do not let us go astray +from wilfulness, or blame him for the work he +gives us to do, or the burdens he gives us to +carry, since he knows best." +</p><p> +So often, in looking back, we find that what +seemed the unluckiest day of the week really +proved most fortunate, and what we called bad +luck proved just the other thing. We trace out +the good results of what we thought must make +every thing go wrong: we say, "If it had not +been for this or that, I should have missed and +lost so much." I once happened to open a book +of sermons, and to see the title of one, "Every +Man's Life a Plan of God." I did not read the +sermon itself, and have never seen the book +again; but I have thought of it a great many +times. Since it is true that our lives are planned +with the greatest love and wisdom, must it not +be that our sorrows and hindrances come just +from our taking things wrong? +</p><p> +And here, for the last of the story, is a verse +that Robert Browning wrote, that Miss Ashton +said one morning, and Miss Catherine liked:— +<br><br> +</p> +<blockquote> + "Grow old along with me!<br> + The best is yet to be,<br> + The last of life, for which the first was made:<br> + Our times are in His hand<br> + Who saith 'A whole I planned,<br> + Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!'" +</blockquote> +<a name="a_MRBRUCE"></a> +<br><br> +<h2 align="center">MR. BRUCE.</h2> +<br><br><p> +Last summer (said Aunt Mary), while +you were with your father in Canada, I +met for the first time Miss Margaret +Tennant of Boston, whom I had for years a great +desire to see and know. My dear friend, Anne +Langdon, has had from her girlhood two very +intimate friends; and Miss Tennant is one, and I +the other. Though we each had known the other +through Anne, we had never seen each other +before. +</p><p> +I was at the mountains, and upon our being +introduced we became very good friends immediately; +and, from at first holding complimentary +and interesting conversations concerning Anne +in the hotel parlor, we came to taking long walks, +and spending the most of our time together; +and now we are as fond of each other as possible. +When we parted in September, I had +promised to visit her at her house in Boston in +the winter; and, when she was ready for it, I +was too. +</p><p> +To my great delight, I found Anne there; and +we three old maiden ladies enjoyed ourselves +quite as well as if we were your age, my dear, +with the world before us. Miss Margaret Tennant +certainly keeps house most delightfully. +</p><p> +She lives alone in the old Tennant house, in a +pleasant street; and I think most of the Tennants, +for a dozen generations back, must have +been maiden ladies with exquisite taste and deep +purses, just like herself; for every thing there is +perfect of its kind, and its kind the right kind. +Then she is such a popular person: it is charming +to see the delight her friends have in her. +For one thing, all the young ladies of her acquaintance—not +to mention her nieces, who +seem to bow down and worship her—are her +devoted friends; and she often gives them dinners +and tea parties, takes them to plays and +concerts, matronizes them in the summer, takes +them to drive in her handsome carriages, and is +the repository of all their joys and sorrows, and, +I have no doubt, knows them better than their +fathers and mothers do, and has nearly as much +influence over them. Elly, my dear, I wish you +were one of the clan; for I'm afraid, between +your careless papa and your wicked aunty, you +haven't had the most irreproachable bringing up! +But, she is coming to visit me in June, and we'll +see what she can do for you! +</p><p> +One night, while I was there, we were just +home from a charming dinner-party at the house +of her sister, Mrs. Bruce; and, as it was a very +stormy night, we had come away early. Not +being in the least tired, we sat ourselves down in +our accustomed easy-chairs before the fire, for a +talk, and were lazily making plans for the morrow; +Miss Tennant telling us she should have +the eight young ladies whom she knew best; the +Quadrille as she calls them; to dine with us. I +must tell you about that party some day, Elly. +It was the nicest affair in its way I ever saw, and +the girls were all such dear ones! I spoke of the +company we had just left, and of my admiration +of the Bruce family in general, and Mrs. Bruce +in particular, and of my enjoyment of the evening. +</p><p> +</p><p> +"Yes," said Margaret, "I think Kitty is quite +as young as her two daughters, and at their age +she was more brilliant than either." She stopped +talking for a moment, and then said, "Girls, are +you in a hurry for bed?" (Elly! you ought to +be ashamed of yourself for laughing! Just as if +Anne Langdon and I were not as young as you +and Nelly Cameron. There's no difference, sometimes, +if we are fifty, and you twenty!) +</p><p> +We were not in a hurry, and told her so. +</p><p> + "Then," said Margaret, "I will tell you a +story. Anne knows it, or used to; but I doubt +if she has thought of it these dozen years, and I +do not think she will mind hearing it again. It +is about Kitty and Mr. Bruce, and their first meeting; +also divers singular misunderstandings which +followed, finally ending in their peaceful wedding +in this very room." +</p><p> +Anne laughed; and I settled myself contentedly +in my chair, for I had already found out that +Miss Tennant possesses the art of telling a story +capitally. +</p><p> +"Kitty Bruce is three years older than I," +said Margaret,—"though I dare say you do not +believe me,—and consequently, at the time I was +fifteen she was eighteen; and whereas I was in +my first year at boarding-school, she was about +finishing. I was at Mrs. Walkintwo's, where +you and I met, Anne; and that, as you know, +was a quiet place, where we were taught history +and arithmetic, and the other 'solids,' and from +which she had graduated the year before, and +gone to Madame Riche's to acquire the extras +and be 'finished.' Her beauty was very striking, +and she was quite as entertaining and agreeable +as she is now,—very witty and original, with the +kindest heart in the world, and enjoying life to +the utmost. In the Easter vacation of that year +we were at home together; and one morning I +was sitting with her in her chamber, and she +was confiding to me some of the state secrets of +her room at school, to my inexpressible delight, +for it was my great ambition to be intimate +with Kitty; and, you know, that elder sisters +are often strangely blind to the virtues of the +younger. +</p><p> +"Mamma came in in the midst of it, with her +usually cheerful face exceedingly clouded, so +much so that both of us immediately asked what +had happened. +</p><p> +"'Happened!' said poor mamma, sitting down +disconsolately on Kitty's bed, and helping herself, +by way of relief, from a box of candy which +lay there. 'I'm sure I don't know what I'm to +do. Your father has just sent me a note from +the office, saying he has invited four gentlemen +to dine, and wishes to have every thing as nice as +possible. I can send John for the dinner; and, +of course, I don't mind that part of it, for there +is time enough and to spare, and Peggy never +fails me; but you know Hannah is away; and this +morning a small Irish boy came for Ann, saying +his sister is sick and she went away with him. +About an hour ago another little wretch came to +say she was obliged to go to Salem with the +sister, and would be back to breakfast. Now, +children, what shall I do for some one to wait on +the table? +</p><p> +"Kitty and I were as much posed as mamma. +John, our coachman, was an immense Englishman, +and perfectly unavailable as to taking upon himself +any of Ann's duties save waiting upon the +door. His daughter, who had been our nurse +and was at that time seamstress, might have done +very well, but she was away at Portsmouth; and +as for Peggy, our dear old black cook, though I +never knew any one to equal her in her realm, +the kitchen, she had no idea of any thing out of +it, and never had done any thing of this kind. +It was raining in torrents, and none of us could +go out; and we sat and looked at each other. +</p><p> +"Suddenly Kitty clapped her hands. 'Mamma,' +said she, 'read us their names again.' +</p><p> +"So mamma read the names of two gentlemen +from South America, and one from New Orleans, +and that of Mr. Philip Bruce of London. +</p><p> +"'All perfect strangers except to papa,' said +Kitty joyfully; 'and they're interested in that +South-American business of his, and are all on +their way there very likely; and we shall never +see them again.' +</p><p> +"'Well, child, what has all this to do with +Ann's being gone?' +</p><p> +"'I'll tell you, mamma: I have the jolliest +plan, and it will be such fun! I shall be so +disappointed if you say no to me. It isn't the +least harm, and I know it will make no trouble. +Just let me wear one of Ann's white aprons and +look stupid, you call me Katherine, and I'll wait +on the table as well as she could. No one ever +notices the servants, and I'm not like you or papa +or Margaret. You can turn my portrait to the +wall in the drawing-room, and they'll think it's +somebody that is disinherited. Those gentlemen +haven't the least particle of information concerning +papa's family; they may be possessed of the +delusion that he is a bachelor in lodgings, for all +we know; and if any thing is said about your +children, tell them that your sons are in college +and your eldest daughter with a friend. Of course +I shall be, whether I am with Peggy in the kitchen +or standing behind you. Oh! I'd like it so much +better than sitting at the table; and Peggy will +never tell. Who will be the wiser?' +</p><p> +"Mamma at first, though very much amused, +shook her head, and said it was too foolish to be +thought of; we could explain our troubles to the +gentlemen, and get on as best we could; but +Kate would not give up. Mamma gave some +very good reasons; what should we do without +Kitty to help entertain them? And any one,—though +she knew it wouldn't be considered proper +conduct in a mother to make such a remark,—any +one would know Kate was not a servant. +Papa, too, would want her to sing for them in +the evening (for, though her voice is wonderfully +sweet now, then she sang like a bird; and we +were all very proud of the girl, as well we might +be). +</p><p> +"But she upset all mamma's arguments, asking +her how in the world she entertained so much +company unaided, during the years she was +unable to appear on account of extreme youth. +She was charmed to hear her say she was too good +looking; but as to her being wanted to sing, just +see if the whole five didn't go directly to the library, +and if the waste-paper basket wasn't filled +with papers covered with figures in the morning! +</p><p> +"And so the end was, that mamma very reluctantly +yielded to our teasing. Peggy, to whom +the secret was instantly confided, nearly went +into fits with laughing; and the more we all +thought of it the more we were amused. Kitty +suggested our total discomfiture in case papa +brought home some one who knew her. I suggested, +that, if it were any one we were intimate +with, we take them into the secret, for I wished +to see how Kate would carry it out; and if it were +not, we might—and thereby I nearly ruined the +whole affair—send for the 'lending' of Mrs. +Duncan's Mary,—Mrs. Duncan being a great +friend of ours, who lived only a door or two +away. Such a pull as Kitty gave my dress when +I mentioned it! +</p><p> +"However, in due season papa appeared with +the four strangers, who had been at the office with +him all day, and, luckily, no one with them. He +was duly made acquainted with the programme +for the evening; and finding the plans all settled, +and Kitty's heart evidently set upon them, he +made but little opposition, considering the disappointment +it probably was to him not to show his +uncommonly nice little daughter. We three could +hardly conceal our amusement when Kate entered +the drawing-room to announce dinner; and it was +made the harder for us by the queer little Irish +brogue she had assumed for the occasion. The +guests—one in particular—could evidently not +account for so striking a display of beauty and +grace in so humble a position. +</p><p> +"The dinner went off capitally. Kitty was +perfection; and the only way I could see that +she betrayed herself was in having, for a moment +or two, the most interested expression during a +conversation we were all very much interested in. +She told me afterward that she came very near +giving her opinion,—and I know it would have +been very sensible and original,—in the most +decided manner. Wouldn't it have been shocking? +</p><p> +"We sat a much longer time than usual. The +three gentlemen from the South were middle-aged, +and evidently absorbed in business; but the Englishman +was not over thirty, and as handsome and +agreeable as possible. He watched Kitty as often +as he dared, to our great amusement; and once, +as she left the room, seemed on the point of asking +us about her. My dears, what could mamma +have said? +</p><p> +"Papa was overflowing with fun, and enjoyed +it all very much. I could see he was nearly +choking sometimes at Kitty's unnecessary 'Yis, +sur-rs.' She never passed me a plate without +giving me a poke; and, I dare say, reminded +papa and mamma of her existence in the same +way. +</p><p> +"As she had prophesied, they excused themselves +after dinner, and went to the library,—all +but Mr. Bruce, who had no interest in South +America. He had an engagement, and so left us +in the course of half an hour. Conceive our +amusement, when, just after we left the table, +Kitty entered with a note on a waiter, and a message +purporting to be from Miss Harriet Wolfe, +to the effect that she would call for mamma to go +to an afternoon concert the next day. I was just +leaving the room as she entered; and I can tell +you I hurried a bit after that; and, as I looked +around at mamma to see how she bore it, she was +holding a fan before her face, in a perfect convulsion +of laughter; and there stood that wicked +Kate, with her hands folded, waiting solemnly +for the answer. Poor Miss Wolfe had died some +years before, and had been stone-deaf at that! +How mamma gave the answer, or excused her +amusement, I have forgotten. Kitty did it, as +she said then, for a grand finale to her masquerading; +but as she says now, and I firmly believed +at the time, for a parting look at the Englishman. +</p><p> +"He went away, and Kitty came into the parlor, +and we had a great laugh over our dinner-party; +and the next day it was told to an admiring +audience of three,—grandmamma and my +two aunts; but I think the story never went any +farther, as we did not even dare to tell my brothers. +Ann probably wonders to this day who took +her place. +</p><p> +"The next Monday we went back to our two +boarding-schools, and after a while we forgot the +whole affair. Kitty finished school with high +honors in July, and 'came out' in November, +and was a great belle in Boston all that winter. +I, in durance vile at Mrs. Walkintwo's, read her +journal-letters to a select circle of friends; and +they were a green spot in our so-considered desert +of life. +</p><p> +"Towards the last of the winter, papa's sister, +for whom Kate was named, and who was very +fond of her, sent for my sister to come to her for +a visit of a few weeks during my uncle's absence. +She wrote she would not have to suspend her +pleasure in the least, as there had never been +more gayety in Baltimore than at that time; and +some young friends of Kitty's had that very day +come from Europe, which was a great inducement. +Baltimore was a kind of paradise to her, +and her friends there were very dear ones. Her +room-mate at Madame Riche's, who was her very +best friend, lived quite near my uncle Hunter's, +and she had not seen her for months. Besides, +Boston was getting dull, and she was tired, and +Baltimore air always made her well. So it was +settled, and Kitty went. +</p><p> +"Papa carried her on; and for the first week +she had a cold, and was not out of the house. +However, her letters were very happy ones; the +contents being mostly abstracts of conversations +between herself and the dear Alice Thornton, +and bits of Baltimore gossip, in which I wasn't +particularly interested. But the cold got better, +and her letters grew rather shorter as she got +farther into the round of parties and pleasure. +</p><p> +"Finally there came a very thick letter, and +there was something new on the stage. She +wrote to me somewhat after this fashion, while +staying with Miss Thornton:— +</p> +<p>'You're not to tell this, Margie; but I'm +getting involved in what seems to be a mystery. +Ever since I've been here, the girls have talked +to me of the most charming gentleman ever seen +in Baltimore, and they all declared I must be introduced; +so at last I got up quite a curiosity. +They said he was an Englishman, very rich, and +so handsome! why! if one were to believe their +stories, he might be carried about for a show! +He was said to be very reserved, and to pay very +little attention to any of the young ladies. He +knows Mr. Thornton, Alice's father; and they +are good friends, so Alice has seen a good deal +of him, and he has been more polite to her than +to any one else. +</p> +<p> +"'She had told him of me, and he seemed +quite anxious to know me. She had promised to +present him the very first chance, and that was +last night at her party. +</p><p> +"'I wish I had time to tell you about it. +Every one says it was one of the most delightful +ones ever given in Baltimore, and I did enjoy it +wonderfully. But do let me tell you about the +Englishman. It was about eleven before he +came, and every thing was at its height. I was +dancing with Mr. Dent; and the moment I +stopped, up came Alice, with the most elegant-looking +man I ever saw; and the strangest thing +is, that I think now, and thought then, I have +seen him somewhere before. He watched me intently +as he crossed the room, and asked Alice, +as she has told me to-day, who I was; and when +she said, "That is Kitty Tennant," he looked as +pleased as Punch. Don't tell mamma,' said +Kitty. I keep wondering where it is I have met +him; but I know I cannot have, for they say he +is just from England. But you don't know how +queerly he acted. All at once he looked as +puzzled as could be; and by the time he was +close to me he stared in the queerest way; and +when Alice introduced us, he bowed, and said, +"Haven't we met before, Miss Tennant?" I +said, "I think so;" and said I wished he would +help me remember, for I was very certain I had +seen him. +</p><p> +"'Suddenly it seemed to flash into his mind; +and he said to himself, "It couldn't be." But I +heard him; and after that he was a perfect icicle; +and I didn't have the courage to ask him any +questions, for I knew it was something horrid by +his looks. He evidently mistakes me for some +one, and it is so queer that I firmly believe I have +seen him. He went away from me in a very few +minutes, and staid only a half-hour or so, avoiding +Alice all the time. I had promised all the +dances, and was desperately' busy all night, having +such a good time that I quite forgot this unpleasant +affair. Alice came to me after the +people were gone away, and said, "Kate Tennant, +what did you say to the poor man?" And +she seemed so utterly astonished when I told her +what had happened. She cannot account for it +any more than I can, and says it is as unlike him +as possible. I don't know whether I have told +you his name: it is Bruce.'" +</p><p> +When Miss Tennant reached this point in her +story, I laughed heartily (said Aunt Mary); and +Anne and she laughed with me. "Why in the +world didn't she know him," said I: "I should +have thought the circumstances would have made +her remember him always." +</p><p> +Miss Tennant said, "Indeed, I should have +thought so too. I know I should have recognized +him myself if I had seen him; but Kitty +was always the very worst person in the world to +remember people, and it had happened a year +before nearly. We always had a great many +guests. +</p><p> +"When I answered her letter, I said nothing +about him; for I must confess that I did not recollect +that the gentleman who stared so at Kitty +the night she played waiter was Mr. Bruce of +London; and, indeed, I didn't feel particularly +interested; and my reply was probably filled as +usual with an account of the exciting things that +had happened to me at the school from which I +so earnestly longed for deliverance. +</p><p> +"Kitty wrote me very often; and once in a +while she mentioned this strange Mr. Bruce, and +finally it occurred to me that my sister was getting +very much interested in him; and as I had +a woeful dread of losing her, I expostulated with +her concerning the foolishness of caring any +thing for a man who had treated her in so uncourteous +a way, and I laughed at her. +</p><p> +"For some time after that she did not allude +to him, and I had nearly forgotten him. At last +there came a letter in which Kitty said, "I must +tell you more of Mr. Bruce, if you <i>are</i> tired to +death hearing of him; for it is really a perfect +mystery. I have seen him at a number of parties, +watching me in the most earnest way, as if +he enjoyed it and still was rather ashamed. But +when we meet he is just as cool and distant as +possible. Alice and I have missed his calls; and +all the way he has betrayed the slightest interest +in me to any one else is that he met a Miss +Burt, who has only lived here a short time, and +to whom he had been presented a night or two +before. He asked her incidentally if she knew +Miss Alice Thornton; and, when she said she +did a very little, he asked who the young lady +was visiting her. Miss Burt said she never had +seen her, but some one had told her it was a +young lady Miss Thornton had met at boarding-school. +"Then she has never been here before?" +said he. And Miss Burt thought not, +indeed was quite sure, as she never had heard of +me. Isn't it a pity he didn't ask some one who +could tell him all about me?—and then he could +know whether he had met me, of course.' +</p><p> +"Now Kitty, in that same letter, confessed to +me that she liked Mr. Bruce better than any one +she had ever seen, which alarmed me so much +that I remember I wrote her the most shocking +scolding." +</p><p> +And here Miss Tennant was silent for a little +while, and, when she spoke, said,— +</p><p> +"I see by your faces you're quite interested; +and I think the rest of the story cannot be better +told than by my reading you some of the letters +Kitty wrote to me at the time. I'd like to look +them over myself; and, if you are not in the least +sleepy, I will go up to my room and get them." +</p><p> +In a few minutes she returned; and after making +the gas and fire a little brighter, and taking +an observation on the state of the weather, she +began to read:— +</p> +<p> + "Baltimore, Friday.<br> +<br> +"My forlorn young sister, are you mourning over the +inconstancy of woman in general, and your sister Kitty +in particular? I own up to being very naughty, and on +my knees I ask your pardon for not having written all +these days. I cannot tell you, as you invariably do me, +that I have had nothing to write; for my time has been +more fully occupied than usual. Tuesday night was +Miss Carroll's party; and I wasn't home till—really not +early, but late, in the morning. That party very nearly +made me late to breakfast. Mr. Davenport was my +'devotedest,' and has called since, which Alice and I +think very remarkable. My dear Meg, he's the queerest +man! He has the most dejected expression, as if life +were the most terrible bore. One would think he had +been all through with it before, and didn't enjoy it the +first time. He seems to have an exceedingly well-developed +taste for grief, and talks in the saddest way +about things in general. I think lately his object in life +has been to make me think he has some dreadful hidden +sorrow. I know he hasn't, by his way; and I talk +more nonsense to him in an hour than I ever did to any +one else in a day. I cannot help 'taking rises' out of +him, as we used to say at school. But he dances well, +and knows every thing apparently; and he is ever so +much more entertaining to me than the people who are +just like every one else. Wednesday he sent me the +most exquisite bouquet: it came while Alice and I were +out walking. It was raining a little; but we were tired +of the house, and went ever so far, having the most delightful +talk. You ought to have seen Alice; for the +mist gave her more color than usual, and she looked like +a beauty, as she is. Oh how I want you to know her, +Maggie! I never have said a word hardly about the +delightful visit I am having here. Alice's mother, you +know, died so long ago that she doesn't remember her at +all; and she lived with her aunt till she was old enough +for school, and her father travelled and boarded. Now +he has taken this delightful house, and she is mistress of +it. How she knows the first thing about housekeeping, +I cannot imagine! But she certainly succeeds admirably. +There never was a girl who had her own way so thoroughly: +but her way is always very sensible; and, +though she has had the most remarkable chance for becoming +a spoiled child, she is the farthest from it. +However, I will not expatiate. Thursday night Mr. +Thornton gave a whist-party; and—do you think! one +of the gentlemen was my Mr. Bruce. I dare say you +are making the most awful face, Maggie, but I <i>will</i> tell +you about him; and why you scold me so I cannot +imagine, for I think it is very exciting; and I know +there is some good reason for his conduct, for he is a +perfect gentleman, every one says; and my only fear is, +that I shall never find out about it. I am constantly +expecting to hear he is gone: I heard he was to sail last +Monday positively. I should feel horridly. When +Alice and I found Mr. Thornton had invited him, we +laid a bet whether he would accept; but I was right. +Mr. Thornton's invitations are seldom refused; but I +don't think that was his motive. I won the bet. Yes, +he really came, and that wretch of an Alice had the audacity +to seat us side by side at supper. He was perfectly +polite, but talked very little. I caught him +watching me ever and ever so many times; and Alice +declares he is in love with me. I wish he would tell me +what is the matter with me, for I like him more and +more; but don't tell mamma. I have scarcely mentioned +him, because I know papa would tell me not to +take any notice of him,—and I cannot help it. It is so +nice I have you to tell about him. The only queer thing +that happened was, in the course of the supper I was +saying something to Mr. Dent, who was on my left, +about Boston, in answer to some question. Mr. Bruce +said, 'Did you ever live in Boston, Miss Tennant?' +I answered that our family had always lived there, and +I meant to; I had been away at school, however, most +of the time for four years. 'Oh!' said he, and began +to ask me something else, and stopped suddenly. I +wish he had gone on, though perhaps it was only about +some Boston people whom he met abroad. He never +has been in this country before, you know. And he +went on talking with Mr. Bowler, who sat just beyond +him, and I found Mr. Dent was talking with Mr. Thornton; +so I was left to myself, and was busy for a while +over my oysters. I listened to Mr. Bowler and Mr. +Bruce, talking about Mr. John Keith's marriage with +his mother's nursery-maid, whom he had very sensibly +fallen in love with. Mr. Bowler was saying that he had +met her, and that she was remarkably ladylike, and did +her teacher, whoever she might be, great credit. Mr. +Bruce looked up, and saw I was listening,—everybody +has been interested in the affair,—and said, 'Oh, yes! I +have known several instances of persons, having naturally +a great deal of refinement, being taken from a low +position when quite grown up, with their tastes and +habits apparently firmly established; and, upon their +being educated, one could scarcely tell that they had not +always been used to the society they were in.' He appealed +to me to know if I had not known such cases. I +answered that I never had seen any such person myself, +but that I had not the least doubt of its being possible. +He looked at me a moment, and then said, carelessly +as he could, 'Of course you haven't.' And it seemed +to me he emphasized the 'you' just the least bit. One +might have inferred I was just such a person myself. +My dear little sister, what an enormous letter this is. +Forgive me if you are bored; and love me dearly, as I +do you. Alice sent her love before she went to sleep, +where I shall follow her directly. She has been sweetly +unconscious of the perplexing Mr. Bruce for at least +an hour. I'll tell you every thing else that has happened +in my next letter; and do you write very soon to +your naughty sister<br> +<br> + "KITTY." +</p><p> +[In the next three or four letters, there is hardly +enough mention of Mr. Bruce for me to copy +them all out. He seems to be growing more and +more agreeable, in spite of his evident determination +to the contrary; and as for Miss Kitty, her +letters show very plainly what her feelings were +toward him; and here is the last of the letters +which Miss Margaret Tennant brought, which +explains the whole matter, to the great satisfaction +of all concerned:—] +</p> +<p> +"Maggy, my cross young sister,—I declare, I'm muddled, +as the chambermaid used to say at school. I +have fallen into a chronic state of laughter, I'm dying +to tell Alice, and have sent for her; but she has callers, +and I will begin this very minute to tell you. It is the +middle of the morning, but I am just down: I was up +very late last night; and oh, we had such fun! Just to +think how poor Mr. Bruce and I have puzzled our +brains about each other! It is all out now, and I'm so +greatly relieved. I never knew how much I cared about +it till now. I didn't stop to date my letter, but to-day +is Thursday; and Monday morning, as you already +know, Aunt Kate came home, to my great delight, +though I was broken-hearted to leave Alice's, where I +have had such a charming time. Uncle Rob's mother +is very much better; and aunty doesn't think she will +have to go back, and says I must finish my visit. But +I cannot stop to write about that. I came back here in +the afternoon; and, Tuesday morning, who should appear +but uncle Rob from Savannah, two weeks before +we expected him. That night, when he came home to +dinner, he said with great glee, 'Kate, I saw young +Bruce down town to-day, whom I met in London, and +liked so very much. I have invited him to dine with +us to-morrow. He is a capital young fellow; and I'm +glad we have this young niece to help us entertain him. +Have you never met him, Kitty? I'm not going to ask +any one else, so I can have him all to myself. I want to +ask him about my friends in London; and he tells me +he has some letters and messages for me, with which he +called at my office, probably just after I went South.' +So he rattled on,—you know how fast he talks,—and +presently Aunt Kate introduced some other subject, +and I wasn't obliged to tell the state of affairs between +us. I supposed, of course, Mr. Bruce would treat me in +a proper and becoming manner in my uncle's house; +and I thought—which proved true—that he +might not know I was uncle's niece; and that it might +help the matter a little. Oh, it is too funny, Meg! How +you will laugh! About dinner-time Mr. Bruce came in +with Uncle Rob, and he looked so astonished to see me +there; and before uncle Rob had time to get any farther +in the introduction than 'Mr. Bruce,' he said, 'Oh, +yes! I have met Miss Tennant very often. Is Miss +Thornton with you?' Uncle said, 'Kitty, why haven't +you told me?' Mr. Bruce looked more surprised +when uncle called me 'Kitty;' and, after that, he got +more and more involved, as he saw me whisper to +aunty, and take some work from a little cabinet, and +act as if I belonged here. I explained to Uncle Rob +that he had talked so fast the night before, that he +didn't give me time to say I knew Mr. Bruce. We +didn't wait long for dinner; and the way it was all explained +was by my saying, 'Uncle Rob, if you please, +I'll have some pepper.' Mr. Bruce started, and really +was pale. He looked at me and at Uncle Rob and +aunty. I never saw such an expression on any one's +face. 'Will you allow me to ask what may seem a very +impertinent question?' said he, 'are you Mr. Hunter's +niece, Miss Tennant?'—'No,' I answered, 'but I'm +Mrs. Hunter's.'—'Oh!' said he, 'I'm inexpressibly +relieved: and yet I'm sure it was you; I cannot have +been mistaken. There never could be another person +so exactly like you, and I remember your face perfectly.' +Here he blushed furiously; and, I regret to say, I did +too. 'It's a dreadful question to have to ask Mrs. Robert +Hunter's niece, and I beg you not to be offended +with me; but was it you, or your wraith, who waited +upon the table at a house where I dined, just a year +ago, in Boston? I haven't the faintest idea what the +name was. It was a gentleman to whom I had letters +from my father, who had some business with him. He +was exceedingly kind to me, and his house was charming; +and he had such a pretty little daughter,'—hear +that, Meg!—'and I have remembered the table-girl +ever since. It cannot have been you; for I have heard +you say you were always away at school, except in the +summer; and yet I am so sure of your face and figure +and hair and every thing about you, only you have lost +a strong brogue you had then. Not you, of course, but +the person I saw. I have been so foolishly sure about +it, and supposed some one had become interested in you, +as I was at the time,'—here he blushed again,—'and +had educated you where you met Miss Thornton, and +that you had a vast deal of tact, and were deluding +her and her friends. I have treated you dreadfully, +and Miss Alice too; and only the other night I had the +most supreme contempt for you, because you were apparently +so innocent concerning young women being +raised above their station, and all that sort of thing. +It would come over me once in a while that you could +not be carrying this all out, and I didn't believe in my +previous idea at all; and yet the face is the same. I am +as much in the dark as ever,' said the poor man solemnly. +<br><br> +"All this time I was pinching my fingers under the +table to keep from laughing; but when he stopped, +looking to me for a solution of all his troubles, with +that ridiculously perplexed face, and I saw uncle Rob's +and aunt Kitty's faces, it <i>would</i> come, and I fairly +shrieked, and rushed from the table into the library, +and threw myself into an easy-chair; and I truly never +laughed so in my life. I believe I had hysterics at last, +and they came in in dismay. <i>Don't</i> you know what it +was, Margaret? <i>Don't</i> you remember the day, last +Easter vacation, when Ann had gone down to Salem +with her sister, and papa had four strange gentlemen to +dine with him, and I put on one of Ann's aprons, and +waited on the table for fun? I think it was idiotic in +me not to have recognized Mr. Bruce before. Only +think how much it would have saved us! He was the +handsome young Englishman who went to the drawing-room +with you and mamma, instead of the library, and +then went away early. You remember all about him +now, don't you? I went back to the dining-room, and +told the whole story from beginning to end, and if we +didn't enjoy ourselves over it! Poor uncle Rob made +himself ill with the extent of his laughter, and Mr. +Bruce and I are the best of friends. Did you ever know +any thing funnier to happen at Mrs. Walkintwo's? +If you did, do write me. How I shall enjoy telling +papa and mamma! There's Alice coming. Good-by, +my dear. But wasn't he a goose?" +</p><p> +"Knowing," said Miss Margaret, "that Kitty +has been Mrs. Bruce for nearly thirty years, you +can imagine what followed. Mr. Bruce made +full amends for his rudeness, and after a while it +came to their having long walks and talks together. +Uncle Rob approved the match; and, +when it was time for her to come home, Mr. +Bruce wisely concluded to sail from Boston, and +to serve as escort to Aunt Kate and Kitty. So +he was all ready to ask papa's consent when +he arrived, and it was readily given. He became +his father's American partner, and they were +married in a year or so, and settled down in the +house we left to-night; for Kitty was always +loyal to Boston, like the true Tennant that she +is. And they have always been the happiest +couple in the world, and Kitty's little personification +of the absent Ann turned out more happily +than her reluctant mamma had any idea of. +</p><p> +"And now," said Miss Margaret, "the storm +and the story are both over. It's nearly twelve, +and the fire is low. Suppose we go up stairs." +</p> +<a name="a_MISSSYDNEYSFLOWERS"></a> +<br><br> +<h2 align="center">MISS SYDNEY'S FLOWERS.</h2> +<br><br><p> +However sensible it may have been considered +by other people, it certainly was +a disagreeable piece of news to Miss +Sydney, that the city authorities had decided to +open a new street from St. Mary Street to Jefferson. +It seemed a most unwarrantable thing to +her that they had a right to buy her property +against her will. It was so provoking, that, after +so much annoyance from the noise of St. Mary +Street during the last dozen years, she must +submit to having another public thoroughfare at +the side of her house also. If it had only been +at the other side, she would not have minded it +particularly; for she rarely sat in her drawing-room, +which was at the left of the hall. On the +right was the library, stately, dismal, and apt to +be musty in damp weather; and it would take +many bright people, and a blazing wood-fire, and +a great deal of sunshine, to make it pleasant. +Behind this was the dining-room, which was +really bright and sunny, and which opened by +wide glass doors into a conservatory. The rattle +and clatter of St. Mary Street was not at all +troublesome here; and by little and little Miss +Sydney had gathered her favorite possessions +from other parts of the house, and taken one end +of it for her sitting-room. The most comfortable +chairs had found their way here, and a luxurious +great sofa which had once been in the library, as +well as the bookcase which held her favorite +books. +</p><p> +The house had been built by Miss Sydney's +grandfather, and in his day it had seemed nearly +out of the city: now there was only one other +house left near it; for one by one the quiet, aristocratic +old street had seen its residences give +place to shops and warehouses, and Miss Sydney +herself had scornfully refused many offers of +many thousand dollars for her home. It was so +changed! It made her so sad to think of the dear +old times, and to see the houses torn down, or +the small-paned windows and old-fashioned front-doors +replaced with French plate-glass to display +better the wares which were to take the places of +the quaint furniture and well-known faces of her +friends! But Miss Sydney was an old woman, +and her friends had diminished sadly. "It +seems to me that my invitations are all for funerals +in these days," said she to her venerable +maid Hannah, who had helped her dress for her +parties fifty years before. She had given up +society little by little. Her friends had died, or +she had allowed herself to drift away from them, +while the acquaintances from whom she might +have filled their places were only acquaintances +still. She was the last of her own family, and, +for years before her father died, he had lived +mainly in his library, avoiding society and caring +for nothing but books; and this, of course, was a +check upon his daughter's enjoyment of visitors. +Being left to herself, she finally became content +with her own society, and since his death, which +followed a long illness, she had refused all invitations; +and with the exception of the interchange +of occasional ceremonious calls with perhaps +a dozen families, and her pretty constant +attendance at church, you rarely were reminded +of her existence. And I must tell the truth: it +was not easy to be intimate with her. She +was a good woman in a negative kind of way. +One never heard of any thing wrong she had +done; and if she chose to live alone, and have +nothing to do with people, why, it was her own +affair. You never seemed to know her any +better after a long talk. She had a very fine, +courteous way of receiving her guests,—a way +of making you feel at your ease more than you +imagined you should when with her,—and a +stately kind of tact that avoided skilfully much +mention of personalities on either side. But mere +hospitality is not attractive, for it may be given +grudgingly, or, as in her case, from mere habit; +for Miss Sydney would never consciously be rude +to any one in her own house—or out of it, for +that matter. She very rarely came in contact +with children; she was not a person likely to be +chosen for a confidante by a young girl; she +was so cold and reserved, the elder ladies said. +She never asked a question about the winter +fashions, except of her dressmaker, and she never +met with reverses in housekeeping affairs, and +these two facts rendered her unsympathetic to +many. She was fond of reading, and enjoyed +heartily the pleasant people she met in books. +She appreciated their good qualities, their thoughtfulness, +kindness, wit, or sentiment; but the +thought never suggested itself to her mind that +there were living people not far away, who could +give her all this, and more. +</p><p> +If calling were not a regulation of society, if +one only went to see the persons one really cared +for, I am afraid Miss Sydney would soon have +been quite forgotten. Her character would +puzzle many people. She put no visible hinderance +in your way; for I do not think she was +consciously reserved and cold. She was thoroughly +well-bred, rich, and in her way charitable; +that is, she gave liberally to public subscriptions +which came under her notice, and to church contributions. +But she got on, somehow, without +having friends; and, though the loss of one had +always been a real grief, she learned without +much trouble the way of living the lonely, comfortable, +but very selfish life, and the way of +being the woman I have tried to describe. There +were occasional days when she was tired of herself, +and life seemed an empty, formal, heartless +discipline. Her wisest acquaintances pitied her +loneliness; and busy, unselfish people wondered +how she could be deaf to the teachings of her +good clergyman, and blind to all the chances of +usefulness and happiness which the world afforded +her; and others still envied her, and wondered +to whom she meant to leave all her money. +</p><p> +I began by telling you of the new street. It +was suggested that it should bear the name of +Sydney; but the authorities decided finally to +compliment the country's chief magistrate, and +call it Grant Place. Miss Sydney did not like +the sound of it. Her family had always been +indifferent to politics, and indeed the kite of the +Sydneys had flown for many years high above +the winds that affect commonplace people. The +new way from Jefferson Street to St. Mary was a +great convenience, and it seemed to our friend +that all the noisiest vehicles in the city had a +preference for going back and forth under her +windows. You see she did not suspect, what +afterward became so evident, that there was to +be a way opened into her own heart also, and +that she should confess one day, long after, that +she might have died a selfish old woman, and not +have left one sorry face behind her, if it had not +been for the cutting of Grant Place. +</p><p> +The side of her conservatory was now close +upon the sidewalk, and this certainly was not +agreeable. She could not think of putting on +her big gardening-apron, and going in to work +among her dear plants any more, with all the +world staring in at her as it went by. John the +coachman, who had charge of the greenhouse, was +at first very indignant; but, after he found that +his flowers were noticed and admired, his anger +was turned into an ardent desire to merit admiration, +and he kept his finest plants next the street. +It was a good thing for the greenhouse, because +it had never been so carefully tended; and plant +after plant was forced into luxuriant foliage and +blossom. He and Miss Sydney had planned at +first to have close wire screens made to match +those in the dining-room; but now, when she +spoke of his hurrying the workmen, whom she +supposed had long since been ordered to make +them, John said, "Indeed, mum, it would be +the ruin of the plants shutting out the light; and +they would all be rusted with the showerings I +gives them every day." And Miss Sydney +smiled, and said no more. +</p><p> +The street was opened late in October, and, +soon after, cold weather began in real earnest. +Down in that business part of the city it was the +strangest, sweetest surprise to come suddenly +upon the long line of blooming plants and tall +green lily-leaves under a roof festooned with roses +and trailing vines. For the first two or three +weeks, almost everybody stopped, if only for a +moment. Few of Miss Sydney's own friends +even had ever seen her greenhouse; for they were +almost invariably received in the drawing-room. +Gentlemen stopped the thought of business +affairs, and went on down the street with a +fresher, happier feeling. And the tired shop-girls +lingered longest. Many a man and woman +thought of some sick person to whom a little +handful of the green leaves and bright blossoms, +with their coolness and freshness, would bring so +much happiness. And it was found, long months +afterward, that a young man had been turned +back from a plan of wicked mischief by the sight +of a tall, green geranium, like one that bloomed +in his mother's sitting-room way up in the country. +He had not thought, for a long time before, +of the dear old woman who supposed her son was +turning his wits to good account in the city. But +Miss Sydney did not know how much he wished +for a bit to put in his buttonhole when she indignantly +went back to the dining-room to wait until +that impertinent fellow stopped staring in. +</p><br><br> +<h3 align="center">II.</h3> +<br><br> +<p> +It was just about this time that Mrs. Marley +made a change in her place of business. She had +sold candy round the corner in Jefferson Street for +a great many years; but she had suffered terribly +from rheumatism all the winter before. She was +nicely sheltered from too much sun in the summer; +but the north winds of winter blew straight toward +her; and after much deliberation, and many +fears and questionings as to the propriety of such +an act, she had decided to find another stand. +You or I would think at first that it could make +no possible difference where she sat in the street +with her goods; but in fact one has regular customers +in that business, as well as in the largest +wholesale enterprise. There was some uncertainty +whether these friends would follow her if +she went away. Mrs. Marley's specialty was +molasses-candy; and I am sure, if you ever +chanced to eat any of it, you would look out for +the old lady next time you went along the street. +Times seemed very hard this winter. Not that +trade had seriously diminished; but still the outlook +was very dark. Mrs. Marley was old, and +had been so for some years, so she was used to +that; but somehow this fall she seemed to be +growing very much older all of a sudden. She +found herself very tired at night, and she was +apt to lose her breath if she moved quickly; besides +this, the rheumatism tortured her. She had +saved only a few dollars, though she and her +sister had had a comfortable living,—what they +had considered comfortable, at least, though +they sometimes had been hungry, and very often +cold. They would surely go to the almshouse +sooner or later,—she and her lame old sister +Polly. +</p><p> +It was Polly who made the candy which Mrs. +Marley sold. Their two little rooms were up +three flights of stairs; and Polly, being too lame +to go down herself, had not been out of doors in +seven years. There was nothing but roofs and +sky to be seen from the windows; and, as there +was a manufactory near, the sky was apt to be +darkened by its smoke. Some of the neighbors +dried their clothes on the roofs, and Polly used to +be very familiar with the apparel of the old residents, +and exceedingly interested when a strange +family came, and she saw something new. There +was a little bright pink dress that the trig young +French woman opposite used to hang out to dry; +and somehow poor old Polly used always to be +brightened and cheered by the sight of it. Once +in a while she caught a glimpse of the child who +wore it. She hardly ever thought now of the outside +world when left to herself, and on the whole +she was not discontented. Sister Becky used to +have a great deal to tell her sometimes of an +evening. When Mrs. Marley told her in the +spring twilight that the grass in the square was +growing green, and that she had heard a robin, +it used to make Polly feel homesick; for she was +apt to think much of her childhood, and she had +been born in the country. She was very deaf, +poor soul, and her world was a very forlorn one. +It was nearly always quite silent, it was very +small and smoky out of doors, and very dark and +dismal within. Sometimes it was a hopeless +world, because the candy burnt; and if there had +not been her Bible and hymn-book, and a lame +pigeon that lit on the window-sill to be fed every +morning, Miss Polly would have found her time +go heavily. +</p><p> +One night Mrs. Marley came into the room +with a cheerful face, and said very loud, "Polly, +I've got some news!" Polly knew by her speaking +so loud that she was in good-humor. When +any thing discouraging had happened, Becky +spoke low, and then was likely to be irritated +when asked to repeat her remark. +</p><p> +"Dear heart!" said Mrs. Marley, "now I am +glad you had something hot for supper. I was +turning over in my mind what we could cook up, +for I feel real hollow. It's a kind of chilly day." +And she sat down by the stove, while Polly hobbled +to the table, with one hand to her ear to +catch the first sound of the good news, and the +other holding some baked potatoes in her apron. +That hand was twisted with rheumatism, for the +disease ran in the family. She was afraid every +day that she should have to give up making the +candy on the next; for it hurt her so to use it. +She was continually being harrowed by the idea +of its becoming quite useless, and that the candy +might not be so good; and then what would become +of them? Becky Marley was often troubled +by the same thought. Yet they were almost always +good-natured, poor old women; and, though +Polly Sharpe's pleasures and privileges were by +far the fewest of anybody's I ever knew, I think +she was as glad in those days to know the dandelions +were in bloom as if she could see them; and +she got more good from the fragments of the +Sunday-morning sermon that sister Becky brought +home than many a listener did from the whole +service. +</p><p> +The potatoes were done to a turn, Mrs. Marley +shouted; and then Polly sat down close by her to +hear the news. +</p><p> +"You know I have been worrying about the +cold weather a-coming, and my rheumatics; and +I was afeared to change my stand, on account of +losing custom. Well, to-day it all come over me +to once that I might move down a piece on Grant +Place,—that new street that's cut through to St. +Mary. I've noticed for some time past that almost +all my reg'lar customers turns down that way, so +this morning I thought I'd step down that way too, +and see if there was a chance. And after I gets +into the street I sees people stopping and looking +at something as they went along; and so I goes +down to see; and it is one of them hothouses, +full of plants a-growing like it was mid-summer. +It belongs to the big Sydney house on the corner. +There's a good place to sit right at the corner +of it, and I'm going to move over there to-morrow. +I thought as how I wouldn't leave Jefferson +Street to-day, for it was too sudden. You +see folks stops and looks at the plants, and there +wasn't any wind there to-day. There! I wish +you could see them flowers." +</p><p> +Sister Polly was very pleased, and, after the +potatoes and bread were eaten, she brought on an +apple pie that had been sent up by Mrs. Welch, +the washer-woman who lived on the floor next +but one below. She was going away for three or +four days, having been offered good pay to do +some cleaning in a new house, and her board +besides, near her work. So you see that evening +was quite a jubilee. +</p><p> +The next day Mrs. Marley's wildest expectations +were realized; for she was warm as toast +the whole morning, and sold all her candy, and +went home by two o'clock. That had never +happened but once or twice before. "Why, I +shouldn't wonder if we could lay up considerable +this winter," said she to Polly. +</p><p> +Miss Sydney did not like the idea of the old +candy-woman's being there. Children came to +buy of her, and the street seemed noisier than +ever at times. Perhaps she might have to leave +the house, after all. But one may get used to +almost any thing; and as the days went by she +was surprised to find that she was not half so +much annoyed as at first; and one afternoon she +found herself standing at one of the dining-room +windows, and watching the people go by. I do +not think she had shown so much interest as this +in the world at large for many years. I think it +must have been from noticing the pleasure her +flowers gave the people who stopped to look at +them that she began to think herself selfish, and +to be aware how completely indifferent she had +grown to any claims the world might have upon +her. And one morning, when she heard somebody +say, "Why, it's like a glimpse into the +tropics! Oh! I wish I could have such a conservatory!" +she thought, "Here I have kept +this all to myself for all these years, when so +many others might have enjoyed it too!" But +then the old feeling of independence came over +her. The greenhouse was out of people's way; +she surely couldn't have let people in whom she +didn't know; however, she was glad, now that +the street was cut, that some one had more pleasure, +if she had not. After all, it was a satisfaction +to our friend; and from this time the seeds +of kindness and charity and helpfulness began to +show themselves above the ground in the almost +empty garden of her heart. I will tell you how +they grew and blossomed; and as strangers +came to see her real flowers, and to look in at the +conservatory windows from the cold city street, +instead of winter to see a bit of imprisoned summer, +so friend after friend came to find there +was another garden in her own heart, and Miss +Sydney learned the blessedness there is in loving +and giving and helping. +</p><p> +For it is sure we never shall know what it is +to lack friends, if we keep our hearts ready to +receive them. If we are growing good and kind +and helpful, those who wish for help and kindness +will surely find us out. A tree covered with +good fruit is never unnoticed in the fields. If we +bear thorns and briers, we can't expect people to +take very great pains to come and gather them. +It is thought by many persons to be not only a +bad plan, but an ill-bred thing, to give out to +more than a few carefully selected friends. But +it came to her more and more that there was +great selfishness and short-sightedness in this. +One naturally has a horror of dragging the +secrets and treasures of one's heart and thought +out to the light of day. One may be willing to +go without the good that may come to one's own +self through many friendships; but, after all, God +does not teach us, and train our lives, only that +we may come to something ourselves. He helps +men most through other men's lives; and we must +take from him, and give out again, all we can, +wherever we can, remembering that the great +God is always trying to be the friend of the least +of us. The danger is, that we oftenest give our +friendship selfishly; we do not think of our +friends, but of ourselves. One never can find +one's self beggared; love is a treasure that does +not lessen, but grows, as we spend it. +</p><p> +The passers-by seemed so delighted with some +new plants which she and John had arranged one +day, that, as she was going out in the afternoon to +drive, she stopped just as she was going to step +into the carriage, and said she thought she would +go round and look at the conservatory from the +outside. So John turned the horses, and followed. +It was a very cold day, and there were +few people in the street. Every thing was so +cheerless out of doors, and the flowers looked so +summer-like! No wonder the people liked to +stop, poor souls! For the richer, more comfortable +ones lived farther up town. It was not in +the shopping region; and, except the business-men +who went by morning and evening, almost +every one was poor. +</p><p> +Miss Sydney had never known what the candy-woman +sold before, for she could not see any +thing but the top of her rusty black bonnet from +the window. But now she saw that the candy +was exactly like that she and her sister used to +buy years upon years ago; and she stopped to +speak to the old woman, and to buy some, to the +utter amazement of her coachman. Mrs. Marley +was excited by so grand a customer, and was a +great while counting out the drumsticks, and +wrapping them up. While Miss Sydney stood +there, a thin, pitiful little girl came along, carrying +a clumsy baby. They stopped, and the baby +tried to reach down for a piece. The girl was +quite as wistful; but she pulled him back, and +walked on to the flowers. "Oh! pitty, pitty!" +said the baby, while the dirty little hands patted +the glass delightedly. +</p><p> +"Move along there," said John gruffly; for it +was his business to keep that glass clean and +bright. +</p><p> +The girl looked round, frightened, and, seeing +that the coachman was big and cross-looking, the +forlorn little soul went away. "Baby want to +walk? You're so heavy!" said she in a fretful, +tired way. But the baby was half crying, and +held her tight. He had meant to stay some time +longer, and look at those pretty, bright things, +since he could not have the candy. +</p><p> +Mrs. Marley felt as if her customer might +think her stingy, and proceeded to explain that +she couldn't think of giving her candy away. +"Bless you, ma'am, I wouldn't have a stick left +by nine o'clock." +</p><p> +Miss Sydney "never gave money to street-beggars." +But these children had not begged, +and somehow she pitied them very much, they +looked so hungry. And she called them back. +There was a queer tone to her voice; and she +nearly cried after she had given the package of +candy to them, and thrown a dollar upon the +board in front of Mrs. Marley, and found herself +in the carriage, driving away. Had she been very +silly? and what could John have thought? But +the children were so glad; and the old candy-woman +had said, "God bless you, mum!" +</p><p> +After this, Miss Sydney could not keep up her +old interest in her own affairs. She felt restless +and dissatisfied, and wondered how she could +have done the same things over and over so contentedly +for so many years. You may be sure, +that, if Grant Place had been unthought of, she +would have lived on in the same fashion to the +end of her days. But after this she used to look +out of the window; and she sat a great deal in +the conservatory, when it was not too warm there, +behind some tall callas. The servants found her +usually standing in the dining-room; for she +listened for footsteps, and was half-ashamed to +have them notice that she had changed in the +least. We are all given to foolish behavior of +this kind once in a while. We are often restrained +because we feel bound to conform to +people's idea of us. We must be such persons +as we imagine our friends think us to be. They +believe that we have made up our minds about +them, and are apt to show us only that behavior +which they think we expect. They are afraid of +us sometimes. They think we cannot sympathize +with them. Our friend felt almost as if she were +yielding to some sin in this strange interest in the +passers-by. She had lived so monotonous a life, +that any change could not have failed to be somewhat +alarming. She told Bessie Thorne afterward, +that one day she came upon that verse of +Keble's Hymn for St. Matthew's Day. Do you +remember it?— +<blockquote> + "There are, in this loud, stunning tide<br> + Of human care and crime,<br> + With whom the melodies abide<br> + Of the everlasting chime;<br> + Who carry music in their heart<br> + Through dusky lane and wrangling mart,<br> + Plying their daily task with busier feet<br> + Because their secret souls a holy strain repeat."<br> +</blockquote><p> +It seemed as if it were a message to herself, +and she could not help going to the window a few +minutes afterward. The faces were mostly tired-looking +and dissatisfied. Some people looked +very eager and hurried, but none very contented. +It was the literal daily bread they thought of; +and, when two fashionably-dressed ladies chanced +to go by the window, their faces were strangely +like their poorer neighbors in expression. Miss +Sydney wondered what the love for one's neighbor +could be; if she could ever feel it herself. +She did not even like these people whom she +watched, and yet every day, for years and years, +she had acknowledged them her brothers and +sisters when she said, "Our Father who art in +heaven." +</p><p> +It seemed as if Miss Sydney, of all people, +might have been independent and unfettered. It +is so much harder for us who belong to a family +for we are hindered by the thought of people's +noticing our attempts at reform. It is like surrendering +some opinion ignominiously which we +have fought for. It is a kind of "giving in." +But when she had acknowledged to herself that +she had been in the wrong, that she was a selfish, +thoughtless old woman, that she was alone, without +friends, and it had been her own fault, she +was puzzled to know how to do better. She +could not begin to be very charitable all at once. +The more she realized what her own character +had become, the more hopeless and necessary +seemed reform. +</p><p> +Such times as this come to many of us, both in +knowing ourselves and our friends. An awakening, +one might call it,—an opening of the blind +eyes of our spiritual selves. And our ears are +open to some of the voices which call us; while +others might as well be silent, for all the heed +we give them. We go on, from day to day, doing, +with more or less faithfulness, that part of our +work we have wit enough to comprehend; but +one day suddenly we are shown a broader field, +stretching out into the distance, and know that +from this also we may bring in a harvest by and +by, and with God's help. +</p><p> +Miss Sydney meant to be better,—not alone +for the sake of having friends, not alone to quiet +her conscience, but because she knew she had +been so far from living a Christian life, and she +was bitterly ashamed. This was all she needed,—all +any of us need,—to know that we must +be better men and women for God's sake; that +we cannot be better without his help, and that +his help may be had for the asking. But where +should she begin? She had always treated her +servants kindly, and they were the people she +knew best. She would surely try to be more interested +in the friends she met; but it was nearly +Christmas time, and people rarely came to call. +Every one was busy. Becky Marley's cheery +face haunted her; and one day after having +looked down from the window on the top of her +bonnet, she remembered that she did not get any +candy, after all, and she would go round to see +the old lady again, she looked poor, and she +would give her some money. Miss Sydney +dressed herself for the street, and closed the +door behind her very carefully, as if she were +a mischievous child running away. It was very +cold, and there were hardly a dozen persons to +be seen in the streets, and Mrs. Marley had +evidently been crying. +</p><p> +"I should like some of your candy," said our +friend. "You know I didn't take any, after +all, the other day." And then she felt very +conscious and awkward, fearing that the candy-woman +thought she wished to remind her of her +generosity. +</p><p> +"Two of the large packages, if you please. +But, dear me! aren't you very cold, sitting here +in the wind?" and Miss Sydney shivered, in +spite of her warm wrappings. +</p><p> +It was the look of sympathy that was answered +first, for it was more comforting than even the +prospect of money, sorely as Mrs. Marley needed +that. +</p><p> +"Yes, mum, I've had the rheumatics this +winter awful. But the wind here!—why, it +ain't nothing to what it blows round in Jefferson +Street, where I used to sit. I shouldn't be +out to-day, but I was called upon sudden to pay +my molasses bill, when I'd just paid my rent; +and I don't know how ever I can. There's sister +Polly—she's dead lame and deaf. I s'pose we'll +both be in the almshouse afore spring. I'm an +old woman to be earning a living out o' doors in +winter weather." +</p><p> +There was no mistaking the fact that Miss +Sydney was in earnest when she said, "I'm so +sorry! Can't I help you?" +</p><p> +Somehow she did not feel so awkward, and she +enjoyed very much hearing this bit of confidence. +</p><p> +"But my trade has improved wonderful since +I came here. People mostly stops to see them +beautiful flowers; and then they sees me, and +stops and buys something. Well, there's some +days when I gets down-hearted, and I just looks +up there, and sees them flowers blooming so +cheerful, and I says, 'There! this world ain't +all cold and poor and old, like I be; and the +Lord he ain't never tired of us, with our worrying +about what he's a-doing with us; and heaven's +a-coming before long anyhow!'" And the +Widow Marley stopped to dry her eyes with the +corner of her shawl. +</p><p> +Miss Sydney asked her to go round to the +kitchen, and warm herself; and, on finding out +more of her new acquaintance's difficulties, she +sent her home happy, with money enough to pay +the dreaded bill, and a basket of good things +which furnished such a supper for herself and +sister Polly as they had not seen for a long time. +And their fortunes were bettered from that day. +"If it hadn't been for the flowers, I should ha' +been freezing my old bones on Jefferson Street +this minute, I s'pose," said the Widow Marley. +</p><p> +Miss Sydney went back to the dining-room +after her <i>protégée</i> had gone, and felt a comfortable +sense of satisfaction in what she had done. It +had all come about in such an easy way too! A +little later she went into the conservatory, and +worked among her plants. She really felt so +much younger and happier; and once, as she +stood still, looking at some lilies-of-the-valley +that John had been forcing into bloom, she did +not notice that a young lady was looking through +the window at her very earnestly. +</p><br><br> +<h3 align="center">III.</h3> +<br><br> +<p> +That same evening Mrs. Thorne and Bessie +were sitting up late in their library. It was +snowing very fast, and had been since three +o'clock; and no one had called. They had +begun the evening by reading and writing, and +now were ending it with a talk. +</p><p> +"Mamma," said Bessie, after there had been +a pause, "whom do you suppose I have taken a +fancy to? And do you know, I pity her so much!—Miss +Sydney." +</p><p> +"But I don't know that she is so much to +be pitied," said Mrs. Thorne, smiling at the +enthusiastic tone. "She must have every thing +she wants. She lives all alone, and hasn't any +intimate friends, but, if a person chooses such a +life, why, what can we do? What made you +think of her?" +</p><p> +"I have been trying to think of one real friend +she has. Everybody is polite enough to her, +and I never heard that any one disliked her; but +she must be forlorn sometimes. I came through +that new street by her house to-day: that's how +I happened to think of her. Her greenhouse is +perfectly beautiful, and I stopped to look in. I +always supposed she was cold as ice (I'm sure +she looks so); but she was standing out in one +corner, looking down at some flowers with just +the sweetest face. Perhaps she is shy. She +used to be very good-natured to me when I was +a child, and used to go there with you. I don't +think she knows me since I came home: at any +rate, I mean to go to see her some day." +</p><p> +"I certainly would," said Mrs. Thorne. "She +will be perfectly polite to you, at all events. And +perhaps she may be lonely, though I rather doubt +it; not that I wish to discourage you, my dear. +I haven't seen her in a long time, for we have +missed each other's calls. She never went into +society much; but she used to be a very elegant +woman, and is now, for that matter." +</p><p> +"I pity her," said Bessie persistently. "I +think I should be very fond of her if she would +let me. She looked so kind as she stood among +the flowers to-day! I wonder what she was thinking +about. Oh! do you think she would mind if +I asked her to give me some flowers for the hospital?" +</p><p> +Bessie Thorne is a very dear girl. Miss Sydney +must have been hard-hearted if she had +received her coldly one afternoon a few days +afterward, she seemed so refreshingly young +and girlish a guest as she rose to meet the mistress +of that solemn, old-fashioned drawing-room. +Miss Sydney had had a re-action from the pleasure +her charity had given her, and was feeling bewildered, +unhappy, and old that day. "What can +she wish to see me for, I wonder?" thought she, +as she closed her book, and looked at Miss +Thorne's card herself, to be sure the servant had +read it right. But, when she saw the girl herself, +her pleasure showed itself unmistakably in +her face. +</p><p> +"Are you really glad to see me?" said Bessie +in her frankest way, with a very gratified smile. +"I was afraid you might think it was very odd +in me to come. I used to like so much to call +upon you with mamma when I was a little girl! +And the other day I saw you in your conservatory, +and I have wished to come and see you ever +since." +</p><p> +"I am very glad to see you, my dear," said +Miss Sydney, for the second time. "I have been +quite forgotten by the young people of late years. +I was sorry to miss Mrs. Thorne's call. Is she +quite well? I meant to return it one day this +week, and I thought only last night I would ask +about you. You have been abroad, I think?" +</p><p> +Was not this an auspicious beginning? I cannot +tell you all that happened that afternoon, for +I have told so long a story already. But you +will imagine it was the beginning of an intimacy +that gave great pleasure, and did great good, to +both the elder woman and the younger. It is +hard to tell the pleasure which the love and +friendship of a fresh, bright girl like Bessie +Thorne, may give an older person. There is such +a satisfaction in being convinced that one is still +interesting and still lovable, though the years +that are gone have each kept some gift or grace, +and the possibilities of life seem to have been +realized and decided. There are days of our old +age when there seems so little left in life, that +living is a mere formality. This busy world +seems done with the old, however dear their +memories of it, however strong their claims upon +it. They are old: their life now is only waiting +and resting. It may be quite right that we sometimes +speak of second childhood, because we +must be children before we are grown; and the +life to come must find us, will find us, ready for +service. Our old people have lived in the world +so long; they think they know it so well: but +the young man is master of the trade of living, +and the old man only his blundering apprentice. +</p><p> +Miss Sydney's solemnest and most unprepared +servant was startled to find Bessie Thorne and +his mistress sitting cosily together before the +dining-room fire. Bessie had a paper full of cut +flowers to leave at the Children's Hospital on +her way home. Miss Sydney had given liberally +to the contribution for that object; but she never +had suspected how interesting it was until Bessie +told her, and she said she should like to go +some day, and see the building and its occupants +for herself. And the girl told her of other interests +that were near her kind young heart,—not +all charitable interests,—and they parted intimate +friends. +</p><p> +"I never felt such a charming certainty of being +agreeable," wrote Bessie that night to a friend of +hers. "She seemed so interested in every thing, +and, as I told you, so pleased with my coming to +see her. I have promised to go there very often. +She told me in the saddest way that she had been +feeling so old and useless and friendless, and she +was very confidential. Imagine her being confidential +with me! She seemed to me just like +myself as I was last year,—you remember,—just +beginning to realize what life ought to be, +and trying, in a frightened, blind kind of way, to +be good and useful. She said she was just beginning +to understand her selfishness. She told me +I had done her ever so much good; and I couldn't +help the tears coming into my eyes. I wished so +much you were there, or some one who could help +her more; but I suppose God knew when he sent +me. Doesn't it seem strange that an old woman +should talk to me in this way, and come to me +for help? I am afraid people would laugh at the +very idea. And only to think of her living on +and on, year after year, and then being changed +so! She kissed me when I came away, and I +carried the flowers to the hospital. I shall always +be fond of that conservatory, because, if I hadn't +stopped to look in that day, I might never have +thought of her. +</p><p> +"There was one strange thing happened, which +I must tell you about, though it is so late. She +has grown very much interested in an old candy-woman, +and told me about her; and do you know +that this evening uncle Jack came in, and asked +if we knew of anybody who would do for janitress—at +the Natural History rooms, I think he +said. There is good pay, and she would just sell +catalogues, and look after things a little. Of +course the candy-woman may not be competent; +but, from what Miss Sydney told me, I think she +is just the person." +</p><p> +The next Sunday the minister read this extract +from "Queen's Gardens" in his sermon. Two of +his listeners never had half understood its meaning +before as they did then. Bessie was in church, +and Miss Sydney suddenly turned her head, and +smiled at her young friend, to the great amazement +of the people who sat in the pews near by. +What <i>could</i> have come over Miss Sydney? +</p><p> +"The path of a good woman is strewn with +flowers; but they rise <i>behind</i> her steps, not before +them. 'Her feet have touched the meadow, +and left the daisies rosy.' Flowers flourish in +the garden of one who loves them. A pleasant +magic it would be if you could flush flowers into +brighter bloom by a kind look upon them; nay, +more, if a look had the power not only to cheer +but to guard them. This you would think a +great thing? And do you think it not a greater +thing that all this, and more than this, you can +do for fairer flowers than these,—flowers that +could bless you for having blessed them, and will +love you for having loved them,—flowers that +have eyes like yours, and thoughts like yours, and +lives like yours?" +</p> +<a name="a_LADYFERRY"></a> +<br><br> +<h2 align="center">LADY FERRY.</h2> +<br><br><p> +We have an instinctive fear of death; yet +we have a horror of a life prolonged far +beyond the average limit: it is sorrowful; +it is pitiful; it has no attractions. +</p><p> +This world is only a schoolroom for the larger +life of the next. Some leave it early, and some +late: some linger long after they seem to have +learned all its lessons. This world is no heaven: +its pleasures do not last even through our little +lifetimes. +</p><p> +There are many fables of endless life, which in +all ages have caught the attention of men; we +are familiar with the stories of the old patriarchs +who lived their hundreds of years: but one thinks +of them wearily, and without envy.<br><br> +</p><p class="pg1"> +——— +</p><p> +When I was a child, it was necessary that my +father and mother should take a long sea-voyage. +I never had been separated from them before; +but at this time they thought it best to leave me +behind, as I was not strong, and the life on +board ship did not suit me. When I was told of +this decision, I was very sorry, and at once +thought I should be miserable without my mother; +besides, I pitied myself exceedingly for losing the +sights I had hoped to see in the country which +they were to visit. I had an uncontrollable dislike +to being sent to school, having in some way been +frightened by a maid of my mother's, who had +put many ideas and aversions into my head which +I was many years in outgrowing. Having dreaded +this possibility, it was a great relief to know that +I was not to be sent to school at all, but to be put +under the charge of two elderly cousins of my +father,—a gentleman and his wife whom I had +once seen, and liked dearly. I knew that their +home was at a fine old-fashioned country-place, +far from town, and close beside a river, and I was +pleased with this prospect, and at once began to +make charming plans for the new life. +</p><p> +I had lived always with grown people, and seldom +had had any thing to do with children. I +was very small for my age, and a strange mixture +of childishness and maturity; and, having the +appearance of being absorbed in my own affairs, +no one ever noticed me much, or seemed to think +it better that I should not listen to the conversation. +In spite of considerable curiosity, I followed +an instinct which directed me never to ask +questions at these times: so I often heard stray +sentences which puzzled me, and which really +would have been made simple and commonplace +at once, if I had only asked their meaning. I was, +for the most of the time, in a world of my own. I +had a great deal of imagination, and was always +telling myself stories; and my mind was adrift +in these so much, that my real absent-mindedness +was mistaken for childish unconcern. Yet I was a +thoroughly simple, unaffected child. My dreams +and thoughtfulness gave me a certain tact and perception +unusual in a child; but my pleasures were +as deep in simple things as heart could wish. +</p><p> +It happened that our cousin Matthew was to +come to the city on business the week that the +ship was to sail, and that I could stay with my +father and mother to the very last day, and then +go home with him. This was much pleasanter +than leaving sooner under the care of an utter +stranger, as was at first planned. My cousin +Agnes wrote a kind letter about my coming +which seemed to give her much pleasure. She +remembered me very well, and sent me a message +which made me feel of consequence; and I was +delighted with the plan of making her so long a +visit. +</p><p> +One evening I was reading a story-book, and +I heard my father say in an undertone, "How +long has madam been at the ferry this last time? +Eight or ten years, has she not? I suppose she +is there yet?"—"Oh, yes!" said my mother, +"or Agnes would have told us. She spoke of +her in the last letter you had, while we were in +Sweden." +</p><p> +"I should think she would be glad to have a +home at last, after her years of wandering about. +Not that I should be surprised now to hear that +she had disappeared again. When I was staying +there while I was young, we thought she +had drowned herself, and even had the men +search for her along the shore of the river; but +after a time cousin Matthew heard of her alive +and well in Salem; and I believe she appeared +again this last time as suddenly as she went +away." +</p><p> +"I suppose she will never die," said my mother +gravely. "She must be terribly old," said +my father. "When I saw her last, she had +scarcely changed at all from the way she looked +when I was a boy. She is even more quiet and +gentle than she used to be. There is no danger +that the child will have any fear of her; do you +think so?"—"Oh, no! but I think I will tell +her that madam is a very old woman, and that I +hope she will be very kind, and try not to annoy +her; and that she must not be frightened at her +strange notions. I doubt if she knows what +craziness is."—"She would be wise if she could +define it," said my father with a smile. "Perhaps +we had better say nothing about the old +lady. It is probable that she stays altogether in +her own room, and that the child will rarely see +her. I never have realized until lately the horror +of such a long life as hers, living on and on, with +one's friends gone long ago: such an endless life +in this world!" +</p><p> +Then there was a mysterious old person living +at the ferry, and there was a question whether I +would not be "afraid" of her. She "had not +changed" since my father was a boy: "it was +horrible to have one's life endless in this +world!" +</p><p> +The days went quickly by. My mother, who +was somewhat of an invalid, grew sad as the time +drew near for saying good-by to me, and was +more tender and kind than ever before, and more +indulgent of every wish and fancy of mine. We +had been together all my life, and now it was to +be long months before she could possibly see my +face again, and perhaps she was leaving me forever. +Her time was all spent, I believe, in +thoughts for me, and in making arrangements for +my comfort. I did see my mother again; but the +tears fill my eyes when I think how dear we +became to each other before that first parting, and +with what a lingering, loving touch, she herself +packed my boxes, and made sure, over and over +again, that I had whatever I should need; and +I remember how close she used to hold me when I +sat in her lap in the evening, saying that she was +afraid I should have grown too large to be held +when she came back again. We had more to say +to each other than ever before, and I think, until +then, that my mother never had suspected how +much I observed of life and of older people in +a certain way; that I was something more than a +little child who went from one interest to another +carelessly. I have known since that my mother's +childhood was much like mine. She, however, +was timid, while I had inherited from my +father his fearlessness, and lack of suspicion; and +these qualities, like a fresh wind, swept away any +cobwebs of nervous anticipation and sensitiveness. +Every one was kind to me, partly, I think +because I interfered with no one. I was glad of +the kindness, and, with my unsuspected dreaming +and my happy childishness, I had gone through +life with almost perfect contentment, until this +pain of my first real loneliness came into my +heart. +</p><p> +It was a day's journey to cousin Matthew's +house, mostly by rail; though, toward the end, +we had to travel a considerable distance by stage, +and at last were left on the river-bank opposite +my new home, and I saw a boat waiting to take +us across. It was just at sunset, and I remember +wondering if my father and mother were +out of sight of land, and if they were watching +the sky; if my father would remember that +only the evening before we had gone out for a +walk together, and there had been a sunset so +much like this. It somehow seemed long ago. +Cousin Matthew was busy talking with the ferryman; +and indeed he had found acquaintances at +almost every part of the journey, and had not +been much with me, though he was kind and +attentive in his courteous, old-fashioned way, +treating me with the same ceremonious politeness +which he had shown my mother. He pointed out +the house to me: it was but a little way from the +edge of the river. It was very large and irregular, +with great white chimneys; and, while the +river was all in shadow, the upper windows of +two high gables were catching the last red glow +of the sun. On the opposite side of a green +from the house were the farm-house and buildings; +and the green sloped down to the water, +where there was a wharf and an ancient-looking +storehouse. There were some old boats and long +sticks of timber lying on the shore; and I saw a +flock of white geese march solemnly up toward +the barns. From the open green I could see +that a road went up the hill beyond. The trees +in the garden and orchard were the richest green; +their round tops were clustered thick together; +and there were some royal great elms near the +house. The fiery red faded from the high windows +as we came near the shore, and cousin +Agnes was ready to meet me; and when she put +her arms round me as kindly as my mother would +have done, and kissed me twice in my father's +fashion, was sure that I loved her, and would +be contented. Her hair was very gray; but she +did not look, after all, so very old. Her face was +a grave one, as if she had had many cares; yet +they had all made her stronger, and there had +been some sweetness, and something to be glad +about, and to thank God for, in every sorrow. +I had a feeling always that she was my sure +defence and guard. I was safe and comfortable +with her: it was the same feeling which one +learns to have toward God more and more, as +one grows older. +</p><p> +We went in through a wide hall, and up stairs, +through a long passage, to my room, which was +in a corner of one of the gables. Two windows +looked on the garden and the river: another +looked across to the other gable, and into the +square, grassy court between. It was a rambling, +great house, and seemed like some English +houses I had seen. It would be great fun to +go into all the rooms some day soon. +</p><p> +"How much you are like your father!" said +cousin Agnes, stooping to kiss me again, with +her hand on my shoulder. I had a sudden consciousness +of my bravery in having behaved so +well all day; then I remembered that my father +and mother were at every instant being carried +farther and farther away. I could almost hear +the waves dash about the ship; and I could not +help crying a little. "Poor little girl!" said +cousin Agnes: "I am very sorry." And she sat +down, and took me in her lap for a few minutes. +She was tall, and held me so comfortably, and +I soon was almost happy again; for she hoped I +would not be lonely with her, and that I would +not think she was a stranger, for she had known +and loved my father so well; and it would make +cousin Matthew so disappointed and uneasy if I +were discontented; and would I like some bread +and milk with my supper, in the same blue china +bowl, with the dragon on it, which my father +used to have when he was a boy? These arguments +were by no means lost upon me, and I +was ready to smile presently; and then we went +down to the dining-room, which had some solemn-looking +portraits on the walls, and heavy, stiff +furniture; and there was an old-fashioned woman +standing ready to wait, whom cousin Agnes called +Deborah, and who smiled at me graciously. +</p><p> +Cousin Matthew talked with his wife for a +time about what had happened to him and to +her during his absence; and then he said, "And +how is madam to-day? you have not spoken of +her."—"She is not so well as usual," said +cousin Agnes. "She has had one of her sorrowful +times since you went away. I have sat with her +for several hours to-day; but she has hardly +spoken to me." And then cousin Matthew +looked at me, and cousin Agnes hesitated for +a minute. Deborah had left the room. +</p><p> +"We speak of a member of our family whom +you have not seen, although you may have heard +your father speak of her. She is called Lady +Ferry by most people who know of her; but you +may say madam when you speak to her. She is +very old, and her mind wanders, so that she has +many strange fancies; but you must not be +afraid, for she is very gentle and harmless. She +is not used to children; but I know you will not +annoy her, and I dare say you can give her +much pleasure." This was all that was said; but +I wished to know more. It seemed to me that +there was a reserve about this person, and the +old house itself was the very place for a mystery. +As I went through some of the other rooms with +cousin Agnes in the summer twilight, I half +expected to meet Lady Ferry in every shadowy +corner; but I did not dare to ask a question. +My father's words came to me,—"Such an +endless life," and "living on and on." And +why had he and my mother never spoken to +me afterward of my seeing her? They had +talked about it again, perhaps, and did not +mean to tell me, after all. +</p><p> +I saw something of the house that night, the +great kitchen, with its huge fireplace, and other +rooms up stairs and down; and cousin Agnes +told me, that by daylight I should go everywhere, +except to Madam's rooms: I must wait +for an invitation there. +</p><p> +The house had been built a hundred and fifty +years before, by Colonel Haverford, an Englishman, +whom no one knew much about, except that +he lived like a prince, and would never tell his +history. He and his sons died; and after the +Revolution the house was used for a tavern for +many years,—the Ferry Tavern,—and the place +was busy enough. Then there was a bridge built +down the river, and the old ferry fell into disuse; +and the owner of the house died, and his family +also died, or went away; and then the old place, +for a long time, was either vacant, or in the hands +of different owners. It was going to ruin at +length, when cousin Matthew bought it, and came +there from the city to live years before. He was +a strange man; indeed, I know now that all the +possessors of the Ferry farm must have been +strange men. One often hears of the influence +of climate upon character; there is a strong +influence of place; and the inanimate things +which surround us indoors and out make us +follow out in our lives their own silent characteristics. +We unconsciously catch the tone +of every house in which we live, and of every +view of the outward, material world which grows +familiar to us, and we are influenced by surroundings +nearer and closer still than the climate or +the country which we inhabit. At the old Haverford +house it was mystery which one felt when +one entered the door; and when one came +away, after cordiality, and days of sunshine +and pleasant hospitality, it was still with a +sense of this mystery, and of something unseen +and unexplained. Not that there was any thing +covered and hidden necessarily; but it was the +quiet undertone in the house which had grown to +be so old, and had known the magnificent living +of Colonel Haverford's time, and afterward the +struggles of poor gentlemen and women, who +had hardly warmed its walls with their pitiful +fires, and shivering, hungry lives; then the long +procession of travellers who had been sheltered +there in its old tavern days; finally, my cousin +Matthew and his wife, who had made it their +home, when, with all their fortune, they felt +empty-handed, and as if their lives were ended, +because their only son had died. Here they had +learned to be happy again in a quiet sort of +way, and had become older and serener, loving +this lovable place by the river, and keepers of +its secret—whatever that might be. +</p><p> +I was wide awake that first evening: I was +afraid of being sent to bed, and, to show cousin +Agnes that I was not sleepy, I chattered far more +than usual. It was warm, and the windows of +the parlor where we sat looked upon the garden. +The moon had risen, and it was light out of doors. +I caught every now and then the faint smell of +honeysuckle, and presently I asked if I might +go into the garden a while; and cousin Agnes +gave me leave, adding that I must soon go to +bed, else I would be very tired next day. She +noticed that I looked grave, and said that I must +not dread being alone in the strange room, for it +was so near her own. This was a great consolation; +and after I had been told that the tide was +in, and I must be careful not to go too near the +river wall, I went out through the tall glass door, +and slowly down the wide garden-walk, from +which now and then narrower walks branched off +at right angles. It was the pride of the place, +this garden; and the box-borders especially were +kept with great care. They had partly been +trimmed that day; and the evening dampness +brought out the faint, solemn odor of the leaves, +which I never have noticed since without thinking +of that night. The roses were in bloom, and +the snowball-bushes were startlingly white, and +there was a long border filled with lilies-of-the-valley. +The other flowers of the season were all +there and in blossom; yet I could see none well +but the white ones, which looked like bits of snow +and ice in the summer shadows,—ghostly flowers +which one could see at night. +</p><p> +It was still in the garden, except once I heard +a bird twitter sleepily, and once or twice a breeze +came across the river, rustling the leaves a little. +The small-paned windows glistened in the moonlight, +and seemed like the eyes of the house +watching me, the unknown new-comer. +</p><p> +For a while I wandered about, exploring the +different paths, some of which were arched over +by the tall lilacs, or by arbors where the grape-leaves +did not seem fully grown. I wondered if +my mother would miss me. It seemed impossible +that I should have seen her only that morning; +and suddenly I had a consciousness that she was +thinking of me, and she seemed so close to me, +that it would not be strange if she could hear +what I said. And I called her twice softly; but +the sound of my unanswered voice frightened me. +I saw some round white flowers at my feet, looking +up mockingly. The smell of the earth and +the new grass seemed to smother me. I was +afraid to be there all alone in the wide open air; +and all the tall bushes that were so still around +me took strange shapes, and seemed to be alive. +I was so terribly far away from the mother whom +I had called; the pleasure of my journey, and my +coming to cousin Agnes, faded from my mind, +and that indescribable feeling of hopelessness +and dread, and of having made an irreparable +mistake, came in its place. The thorns of a +straying slender branch of a rose-bush caught +my sleeve maliciously as I turned to hurry away, +and then I caught sight of a person in the path +just before me. It was such a relief to see some +one, that I was not frightened when I saw that it +must be Lady Ferry. +</p><p> +She was bent, but very tall and slender, and +was walking slowly with a cane. Her head was +covered with a great hood or wrapping of some +kind, which she pushed back when she saw me. +Some faint whitish figures on her dress looked +like frost in the moonlight; and the dress itself +was made of some strange stiff silk, which rustled +softly like dry rushes and grasses in the autumn,—a +rustling noise that carries a chill with it. +She came close to me, a sorrowful little figure +very dreary at heart, standing still as the flowers +themselves; and for several minutes she did not +speak, but watched me, until I began to be afraid +of her. Then she held out her hand, which trembled +as if it were trying to shake off its rings. +"My dear," said she "I bid you welcome: I +have known your father. I was told of your +coming. Perhaps you will walk with me? I did +not think to find you here alone." There was a +fascinating sweetness in Madam's voice, and I at +once turned to walk beside her, holding her hand +fast, and keeping pace with her feeble steps. +"Then you are not afraid of me?" asked the +old lady, with a strange quiver in her voice. +"It is a long time since I have seen a child."—"No," +said I, "I am not afraid of you. I was +frightened before I saw you, because I was all +alone, and I wished I could see my father and +mother;" and I hung my head so that my new +friend could not see the tears in my eyes, for she +watched me curiously. "All alone: that is like +me," said she to herself. "All alone? a child is +not all alone, but there is no one like me. I +am something alone: there is nothing else of my +fashion, a creature who lives forever!" and Lady +Ferry sighed pitifully. Did she mean that she +never was going to die like other people? But +she was silent, and I did not dare to ask for any +explanation as we walked back and forward. +Her fingers kept moving round my wrist, smoothing +it as if she liked to feel it, and to keep my +hand in hers. It seemed to give her pleasure to +have me with her, and I felt quite at my ease +presently, and began to talk a little, assuring her +that I did not mind having taken the journey of +that day. I had taken some long journeys: I +had been to China once, and it took a great while +to get there; but London was the nicest place I +had ever seen; had Lady Ferry ever been in +London? And I was surprised to hear her say +drearily that she had been in London; she had +been everywhere. +</p><p> +"Did you go to Westminster Abbey?" I +asked, going on with the conversation childishly. +"And did you see where Queen Elizabeth and +Mary Queen of Scots are buried? Mamma had +told me all about them." +</p><p> +"Buried, did you say? Are they dead too?" +asked Madam eagerly. "Yes, indeed!" said I: +"they have been dead a long time."—"Ah! I +had forgotten," answered my strange companion. +"Do you know of any one else who has died +beside them? I have not heard of any one's +dying and going home for so long! Once every +one died but me—except some young people; +and I do not know them."—"Why, every one +must die," said I wonderingly. "There is a +funeral somewhere every day, I suppose."—"Every +one but me," Madam repeated sadly,—"every +one but me, and I am alone." +</p><p> +Just now cousin Agnes came to the door, and +called me. "Go in now, child," said Lady +Ferry. "You may come and sit with me to-morrow +if you choose." And I said good-night, +while she turned, and went down the walk with +feeble, lingering steps. She paced to and fro, +as I often saw her afterwards, on the flag-stones; +and some bats flew that way like ragged bits of +darkness, holding somehow a spark of life. I +watched her for a minute: she was like a ghost, +I thought, but not a fearful ghost,—poor Lady +Ferry! +</p><p> +"Have you had a pleasant walk?" asked +cousin Matthew politely. "To-morrow I will +give you a border for your own, and some plants +for it, if you like gardening." I joyfully answered +that I should like it very much, and so I began to +feel already the pleasure of being in a real home, +after the wandering life to which I had become +used. I went close to cousin Agnes's chair to +tell her confidentially that I had been walking +with Madam in the garden, and she was very +good to me, and asked me to come to sit with +her the next day; but she said very odd things. +</p><p> +"You must not mind what she says," said +cousin Agnes; "and I would never dispute with +her, or even seem surprised, if I were you. It +hurts and annoys her, and she soon forgets her +strange fancies. I think you seem a very sensible +little girl, and I have told you about this poor +friend of ours as if you were older. But you +understand, do you not?" And then she kissed +me good-night, and I went up stairs, contented +with her assurance that she would come to me +before I went to sleep. +</p><p> +I found a pleasant-faced young girl busy putting +away some of my clothing. I had seen her +just after supper, and had fancied her very much, +partly because she was not so old as the rest of +the servants. We were friendly at once, and I +found her very talkative; so finally I asked the +question which was uppermost in my mind,—Did +she know any thing about Madam? +</p><p> +"Lady Ferry, folks call her," said Martha, +much interested. "I never have seen her close +to, only from the other side of the garden, where +she walks at night. She never goes out by day. +Deborah waits upon her. I haven't been here +long; but I have always heard about Madam, +bless you! Folks tell all kinds of strange +stories. She's fearful old, and there's many +believes she never will die; and where she came +from nobody knows. I've heard that her folks +used to live here; but nobody can remember them, +and she used to wander about; and once before +she was here,—a good while ago; but this last +time she come was nine years ago; one stormy +night she came across the ferry, and scared them +to death, looking in at the window like a ghost. +She said she used to live here in Colonel Haverford's +time. They saw she wasn't right in her +head—the ferry-men did. But she came up to +the house, and they let her in, and she went +straight to the rooms in the north gable, and she +never has gone away; it was in an awful storm +she come, I've heard, and she looked just the +same as she does now. There! I can't tell half +the stories I've heard, and Deborah she most +took my head off," said Martha, "because, when +I first came, I was asking about her; and she +said it was a sin to gossip about a harmless old +creature whose mind was broke, but I guess most +everybody thinks there's something mysterious. +There's my grandmother—grandmother her mind is failing +her; but she never had such ways! And then +those clothes that my lady in the gable wears: +they're unearthly looking; and I heard a woman +say once, that they come out of a chest in the +big garret, and they belonged to a Mistress +Haverford who was hung for a witch, but there's +no knowing that there is any truth in it." And +Martha would have gone on with her stories, if +just then we had not heard cousin Agnes's step +on the stairway, and I hurried into bed. +</p><p> +But my bright eyes and excited look betrayed +me. Cousin Agnes said she had hoped I would +be asleep. And Martha said perhaps it was her +fault; but I seemed wakeful, and she had talked +with me a bit, to keep my spirits up, coming to +a new, strange place. The apology was accepted, +but Martha evidently had orders before I next +saw her; for I never could get her to discuss Lady +Ferry again; and she carefully told me that she +should not have told those foolish stories, which +were not true: but I knew that she still had her +thoughts and suspicions as well as I. Once, when +I asked her if Lady Ferry were Madam's real +name, she answered with a guilty flush, "That's +what the folks hereabout called her, because +they didn't know any other at first." And this +to me was another mystery. It was strongly +impressed upon my mind that I must ask no +questions, and that Madam was not to be discussed. +No one distinctly forbade this; but I +felt that it would not do. In every other way +I was sure that I was allowed perfect liberty, so +I soon ceased to puzzle myself or other people, +and accepted Madam's presence as being perfectly +explainable and natural,—just as the rest of the +household did,—except once in a while something +would set me at work romancing and wondering; +and I read some stories in one of the books in +the library,—of Peter Rugg the missing man, +whom one may always meet riding from Salem +to Boston in every storm, and of the Flying Dutchman +and the Wandering Jew, and some terrible +German stories of doomed people, and curses +that were fulfilled. These made a great impression +upon me; still I was not afraid, for all such +things were far outside the boundaries of my +safe little world; and I played by myself along +the shore of the river and in the garden; and I +had my lessons with cousin Agnes, and drives +with cousin Matthew who was nearly always +silent, but very kind to me. The house itself was +an unfailing entertainment, with its many rooms, +most of which were never occupied, and its +quaint, sober furnishings, some of which were as +old as the house itself. It was like a story-book; +and no one minded my going where I pleased. +</p><p> +I missed my father and mother; but the only +time I was really unhappy was the first morning +after my arrival. Cousin Agnes was ill with a +severe headache; cousin Matthew had ridden +away to attend to some business; and, being left +to myself, I had a most decided re-action from +my unnaturally bright feelings of the day before. +I began to write a letter to my mother; but +unluckily I knew how many weeks must pass +before she saw it, and it was useless to try to go +on. I was lonely and homesick. The rain fell +heavily, and the garden looked forlorn, and so +unlike the enchanting moonlighted place where I +had been in the evening! The walks were like +little canals; and the rose-bushes looked wet and +chilly, like some gay young lady who had been +caught in the rain in party-dress. It was low-tide +in the middle of the day, and the river-flats +looked dismal. I fed cousin Agnes' flock of +tame sparrows which came around the windows, +and afterward some robins. I found some books +and some candy which had come in my trunk, +but my heart was very sad; and just after noon +I was overjoyed when one of the servants told +me that cousin Agnes would like to have me +come to her room. +</p><p> +She was even kinder to me than she had been +the night before; but she looked very ill, and at +first I felt awkward, and did not know what to +say. "I am afraid you have been very dull, +dearie," said she, reaching out her hand to me. +"I am sorry, and my headache hardly lets me +think at all yet. But we will have better times +to-morrow—both of us. You must ask for what +you want; and you may come and spend this +evening with me, for I shall be getting well then. +It does me good to see your kind little face. +Suppose you make Madam a call this afternoon. +She told me last night that she wished for you, +and I was so glad. Deborah will show you the +way." +</p><p> +Deborah talked to me softly, out of deference +to her mistress's headache, as we went along +the crooked passages. "Don't you mind what +Madam says, leastways don't you dispute her. +She's got a funeral going on to-day;" and the +grave woman smiled grimly at me. "It's curious +she's taken to you so; for she never will see any +strange folks. Nobody speaks to her about new +folks lately," she added warningly, as she tapped +at the door, and Madam asked, "Is it the child?" +And Deborah lifted the latch. When I was fairly +inside, my interest in life came back redoubled, +and I was no longer sad, but looked round +eagerly. Madam spoke to me, with her sweet old +voice, in her courtly, quiet way, and stood looking +out of the window. +</p><p> +There were two tall chests of drawers in the +room, with shining brass handles and ornaments; +and at one side, near the door, was a heavy mahogany +table, on which I saw a large leather-covered +Bible, a decanter of wine and some +glasses, beside some cakes in a queer old tray. +And there was no other furniture but a great +number of chairs which seemed to have been +collected from different parts of the house. +</p><p> +With these the room was almost filled, except +an open space in the centre, toward which they all +faced. One window was darkened; but Madam +had pushed back the shutter of the other, and +stood looking down at the garden. I waited for +her to speak again after the first salutation, and +presently she said I might be seated; and I took +the nearest chair, and again waited her pleasure. +It was gloomy enough, with the silence and the +twilight in the room; and the rain and wind out +of doors sounded louder than they had in cousin +Agnes's room; but soon Lady Ferry came toward +me. +</p><p> +"So you did not forget the old woman," said +she, with a strange emphasis on the word old, as +if that were her title and her chief characteristic. +"And were not you afraid? I am glad it seemed +worth while; for to-morrow would have been too +late. You may like to remember by and by that +you came. And my funeral is to be to-morrow, +at last. You see the room is in readiness. You +will care to be here, I hope. I would have ordered +you some gloves if I had known; but these are +all too large for your little hands. You shall +have a ring; I will leave a command for that;" +and Madam seated herself near me in a curious, +high-backed chair. She was dressed that day in +a maroon brocade, figured with bunches of dim +pink flowers; and some of these flowers looked +to me like wicked little faces. It was a mocking, +silly creature that I saw at the side of every prim +bouquet, and I looked at the faded little imps, +until they seemed as much alive as Lady Ferry +herself. +</p><p> +Her head nodded continually, as if it were keeping +time to an inaudible tune, as she sat there +stiffly erect. Her skin was pale and withered; +and her cheeks were wrinkled in fine lines, like +the crossings of a cobweb. Her eyes might +once have been blue; but they had become nearly +colorless, and, looking at her, one might easily +imagine that she was blind. She had a singularly +sweet smile, and a musical voice, which, though +sad, had no trace of whining. If it had not been +for her smile and her voice, I think madam would +have been a terror to me. I noticed to-day, for +the first time, a curious fragrance, which seemed +to come from her old brocades and silks. It was +very sweet, but unlike any thing I had ever +known before; and it was by reason of this that +afterward I often knew, with a little flutter at my +heart, she had been in some other rooms of the +great house beside her own. This perfume seemed +to linger for a little while wherever she had been, +and yet it was so faint! I used to go into the +darkened chambers often, or even stay for a while +by myself in the unoccupied lower rooms, and +I would find this fragrance, and wonder if she +were one of the oldtime fairies, who could vanish +at their own will and pleasure, and wonder, too, +why she had come to the room. But I never met +her at all. +</p><p> +That first visit to her and the strange fancy +she had about the funeral I have always remembered +distinctly. +</p><p> +"I am glad you came," Madam repeated: "I +was finding the day long. I am all ready, you +see. I shall place a little chair which is in the +next room, beside your cousin's seat for you. +Mrs. Agnes is ill, I hear; but I think she will +come to-morrow. Have you heard any one say +if many guests are expected?"—"No, Madam," +I answered, "no one has told me;" and just +then the thought flitted through my head that +she had said the evening before that all her +friends were gone. Perhaps she expected their +ghosts: that would not be stranger than all the +rest. +</p><p> +The open space where Lady Ferry had left +room for her coffin began to be a horror to me, +and I wished Deborah would come back, or that +my hostess would open the shutters; and it was +a great relief when she rose and went into the +adjoining room, bidding me follow her, and there +opened a drawer containing some old jewelry; +there were also some queer Chinese carvings, +yellow with age,—just the things a child would +enjoy. I looked at them delightedly. This was +coming back to more familiar life; and I soon +felt more at ease, and chattered to Lady Ferry of +my own possessions, and some coveted treasures +of my mother's, which were to be mine when I +grew older. +</p><p> +Madam stood beside me patiently, and listened +with a half smile to my whispered admiration. +In the clearer light I could see her better, and +she seemed older,—so old, so old! and my +father's words came to me again. She had not +changed since he was a boy; living on and on, +and the 'horror of an endless life in this world!' +And I remembered what Martha had said to me, +and the consciousness of this mystery was a great +weight upon me of a sudden. Why was she +living so long? and what had happened to her? +and how long could it be since she was a child? +</p><p> +There was something in her manner which +made me behave, even in my pleasure, as if her +imagined funeral were there in reality, and as if, +in spite of my being amused and tearless, the +solemn company of funeral guests already sat in +the next room to us with bowed heads, and all +the shadows in the world had assembled there +materialized into the tangible form of crape. I +opened and closed the boxes gently, and, when I +had seen every thing, I looked up with a sigh to +think that such a pleasure was ended, and asked +if I might see them again some day. But the +look in her face made me recollect myself, and my +own grew crimson, for it seemed at that moment +as real to me as to Lady Ferry herself that this +was her last day of mortal life. She walked +away, but presently came back, while I was wondering +if I might not go, and opened the drawer +again. It creaked, and the brass handles clacked +in a startling way, and she took out a little case, +and said I might keep it to remember her by. It +held a little vinaigrette,—a tiny silver box with a +gold one inside, in which I found a bit of fine +sponge, dark brown with age, and still giving a +faint, musty perfume and spiciness. The outside +was rudely chased, and was worn as if it had +been carried for years in somebody's pocket. It +had a spring, the secret of which Lady Ferry +showed me. I was delighted, and instinctively +lifted my face to kiss her. She bent over me, +and waited an instant for me to kiss her again. +"Oh!" said she softly, "it is so long since a +child has kissed me! I pray God not to leave +you lingering like me, apart from all your kindred, +and your life so long that you forget you +ever were a child."—"I will kiss you every +day," said I, and then again remembered that +there were to be no more days according to her +plan; but she did not seem to notice my mistake. +And after this I used to go to see Madam +often. For a time there was always the same +gloom and hushed way of speaking, and the funeral +services were to be on the morrow; but at +last one day I found Deborah sedately putting +the room in order, and Lady Ferry apologized for +its being in such confusion; the idea of the +funeral had utterly vanished, and I hurried to +tell cousin Agnes with great satisfaction. I +think that both she and cousin Matthew had a +dislike for my being too much with Madam. I +was kept out of doors as much as possible because +it was much better for my health; and +through the long summer days I strayed about +wherever I chose. The country life was new and +delightful to me. At home, Lady Ferry's vagaries +were carelessly spoken of, and often smiled at; +but I gained the idea that they disguised the +truth, and were afraid of my being frightened. +She often talked about persons who had been +dead a very long time,—familiar characters in +history, and, though cousin Agnes had said that +she used to be fond of reading, it seemed to me +that Madam might have known these men and +women after all. +</p><p> +Once a middle-aged gentleman, an acquaintance +of cousin Matthew's, came to pass a day and +night at the ferry, and something happened then +which seemed wonderful to me. It was early in +the evening after tea, and we were in the parlor; +from my seat by cousin Agnes I could look out +into the garden, and presently, with the gathering +darkness, came Lady Ferry, silent as a shadow +herself, to walk to and fro on the flagstones. The +windows were all open, and the guest had a clear, +loud voice, and pleasant, hearty laugh; and, as +he talked earnestly with cousin Matthew, I noticed +that Lady Ferry stood still, as if she were +listening. Then I was attracted by some story +which was being told, and forgot her, but afterward +turned with a start, feeling that there was +some one watching; and, to my astonishment, +Madam had come to the long window by which +one went out to the garden. She stood there a +moment, looking puzzled and wild; then she +smiled, and, entering, walked in most stately +fashion down the long room, toward the gentlemen, +before whom she courtesied with great +elegance, while the stranger stopped speaking, +and looked at her with amazement, as he rose, +and returned her greeting. +</p><p> +"My dear Captain Jack McAllister!" said +she; "what a surprise! and are you not home +soon from your voyage? This is indeed a pleasure." +And Lady Ferry seated herself, motioning +to him to take the chair beside her. She looked +younger than I had ever seen her; a bright color +came into her cheeks; and she talked so gayly, in +such a different manner from her usual mournful +gentleness. She must have been a beautiful +woman; indeed she was that still. +</p><p> +"And did the good ship Starlight make a +prosperous voyage? and had you many perils?—do +you bring much news to us from the Spanish +Main? We have missed you sadly at the assemblies; +but there must be a dance in your honor. +And your wife; is she not overjoyed at the sight +of you? I think you have grown old and sedate +since you went away. You do not look the gay +sailor, or seem so light-hearted." +</p><p> +"I do not understand you, madam," said the +stranger. "I am certainly John McAllister; but +I am no captain, neither have I been at sea. +Good God! is it my grandfather whom you confuse +me with?" cried he. "He was Jack McAllister, +and was lost at sea more than seventy +years ago, while my own father was a baby. I +am told that I am wonderfully like his portrait; +but he was a younger man than I when he died. +This is some masquerade." +</p><p> +Lady Ferry looked at him intently, but the light +in her face was fast fading out. "Lost at sea,—lost +at sea, were you, Jack McAllister, seventy +years ago? I know nothing of years; one of +my days is like another, and they are gray days, +they creep away and hide, and sometimes one +comes back to mock me. I have lived a thousand +years; do you know it? Lost at sea—captain +of the ship Starlight? Whom did you say?—Jack +McAllister, yes, I knew him well—pardon +me; good-evening;" and my lady rose, and with +her head nodding and drooping, with a sorrowful, +hunted look in her eyes, went out again into the +shadows. She had had a flash of youth, the +candle had blazed up brilliantly; but it went out +again as suddenly, with flickering and smoke. +</p><p> +"I was startled when I saw her beside me," +said Mr. McAllister. "Pray, who is she? she is +like no one I have ever seen. I have been told +that I am like my grandfather in looks and in +voice; but it is years since I have seen any one +who knew him well. And did you hear her speak +of dancing? It is like seeing one who has risen +from the dead. How old can she be?"—"I do +not know," said cousin Matthew, "one can only +guess at her age."—"Would not she come back? +I should like to question her," asked the other. +But cousin Matthew answered that she always +refused to see strangers, and it would be no use +to urge her, she would not answer him. +</p><p> +"Who is she? Is she any kin of yours?" +asked Mr. McAllister. +</p><p> +"Oh, no!" said my cousin Agnes: "she has +had no relatives since I have known her, and I +think she has no friends now but ourselves. She +has been with us a long time, and once before +this house was her home for a time,—many years +since. I suppose no one will ever know the +whole history of her life; I wish often that she +had power to tell it. We are glad to give shelter, +and the little care she will accept, to the poor +soul, God only knows where she has strayed +and what she has seen. It is an enormous burden,—so +long a life, and such a weight of memories; +but I think it is seldom now that she feels +its heaviness.—Go out to her, Marcia my dear, +and see if she seems troubled. She always has +a welcome for the child," cousin Agnes added, +as I unwillingly went away. +</p><p> +I found Lady Ferry in the garden; I stole my +hand into hers, and, after a few minutes of silence, +I was not surprised to hear her say that +they had killed the Queen of France, poor Marie +Antoinette! she had known her well in her childhood, +before she was a queen at all—"a sad fate, +a sad fate," said Lady Ferry. We went far +down the gardens and by the river-wall, and +when we were again near the house, and could +hear Mr. McAllister's voice as cheery as ever, +madam took no notice of it. I had hoped she +would go into the parlor again, and I wished +over and over that I could have waited to hear +the secrets which I was sure must have been told +after cousin Agnes had sent me away. +</p><p> +One day I thought I had made a wonderful discovery. +I was fond of reading, and found many +books which interested me in cousin Matthew's +fine library; but I took great pleasure also in +hunting through a collection of old volumes which +had been cast aside, either by him, or by some +former owner of the house, and which were piled +in a corner of the great garret. They were mostly +yellow with age, and had dark brown leather +or shabby paper bindings; the pictures in some +were very amusing to me. I used often to find +one which I appropriated and carried down stairs; +and on this day I came upon a dusty, odd-shaped +little book, for which I at once felt an affection. +I looked at it a little. It seemed to be a journal, +there were some stories of the Indians, and +next I saw some reminiscences of the town of +Boston, where, among other things, the author +was told the marvellous story of one Mistress +Honor Warburton, who was cursed, and doomed +to live in this world forever. This was startling. +I at once thought of Madam, and was reading on +further to know the rest of the story, when some +one called me, and I foolishly did not dare to +carry my book with me. I was afraid I should +not find it if I left it in sight; I saw an opening +near me at the edge of the floor by the eaves, and +I carefully laid my treasure inside. But, alas! I +was not to be sure of its safe hiding-place in a +way that I fancied, for the book fell down between +the boarding of the thick walls, and I +heard it knock as it fell, and knew by the sound +that it must be out of reach. I grieved over this +loss for a long time; and I felt that it had been +most unkindly taken out of my hand. I wished +heartily that I could know the rest of the story; +and I tried to summon courage to ask Madam, +when we were by ourselves, if she had heard of +Honor Warburton, but something held me back. +There were two other events just at this time +which made this strange old friend of mine seem +stranger than ever to me. I had a dream one +night, which I took for a vision and a reality at +the time. I thought I looked out of my window +in the night, and there was bright moonlight, +and I could see the other gable plainly; and I +looked in at the windows of an unoccupied parlor +which I never had seen open before, under +Lady Ferry's own rooms. The shutters were +pushed back, and there were candles burning; +and I heard voices, and presently some tinkling +music, like that of a harpsichord I had once +heard in a very old house where I had been in +England with my mother. I saw several couples +go through with a slow, stately dance; and, when +they stopped and seated themselves, I could hear +their voices; but they spoke low, these midnight +guests. I watched until the door was opened +which led into the garden, and the company came +out and stood for a few minutes on the little +lawn, making their adieus, bowing low, and behaving +with astonishing courtesy and elegance: +finally the last good-nights were said, and they +went away. Lady Ferry stood under the pointed +porch, looking after them, and I could see her +plainly in her brocade gown, with the impish +flowers, a tall quaint cap, and a high lace frill at +her throat, whiter than any lace I had ever seen, +with a glitter on it; and there was a glitter on +her face too. One of the other ladies was +dressed in velvet, and I thought she looked beautiful: +their eyes were all like sparks of fire. The +gentlemen wore cloaks and ruffs, and high-peaked +hats with wide brims, such as I had seen in some +very old pictures which hung on the walls of the +long west room. These were not pilgrims or +Puritans, but gay gentlemen; and soon I heard +the noise of their boats on the pebbles as they +pushed off shore, and the splash of the oars in +the water. Lady Ferry waved her hand, and +went in at the door; and I found myself standing +by the window in the chilly, cloudy night: +the opposite gable, the garden, and the river, +were indistinguishable in the darkness. I stole +back to bed in an agony of fear; for it had been +very real, that dream. I surely was at the window, +for my hand had been on the sill when +I waked; and I heard a church-bell ring two +o'clock in a town far up the river. I never had +heard this solemn bell before, and it seemed +frightful; but I knew afterward that in the silence +of a misty night the sound of it came down +along the water. +</p><p> +In the morning I found that there had been a +gale in the night; and cousin Matthew said at +breakfast time that the tide had risen so that it +had carried off two old boats that had been left +on the shore to go to pieces. I sprang to the +window, and sure enough they had disappeared. +I had played in one of them the day before. +Should I tell cousin Matthew what I had seen or +dreamed? But I was too sure that he would +only laugh at me; and yet I was none the less +sure that those boats had carried passengers. +</p><p> +When I went out to the garden, I hurried to +the porch, and saw, to my disappointment, that +there were great spiders' webs in the corners of +the door, and around the latch, and that it had +not been opened since I was there before. But +I saw something shining in the grass, and found +it was a silver knee-buckle. It must have belonged +to one of the ghostly guests, and my faith +in them came back for a while, in spite of the +cobwebs. By and by I bravely carried it up to +Madam, and asked if it were hers. Sometimes +she would not answer for a long time, when one +rudely broke in upon her reveries, and she hesitated +now, looking at me with singular earnestness. +Deborah was in the room; and, when she +saw the buckle, she quietly said that it had been +on the window-ledge the day before, and must +have slipped out. "I found it down by the doorstep +in the grass," said I humbly; and then I +offered Lady Ferry some strawberries which I +had picked for her on a broad green leaf, and +came away again. +</p><p> +A day or two after this, while my dream was +still fresh in my mind, I went with Martha to +her own home, which was a mile or two distant,—a +comfortable farmhouse for those days, +where I was always made welcome. The servants +were all very kind to me: as I recall it +now, they seemed to have a pity for me, because +I was the only child perhaps. I was very happy, +that is certain, and I enjoyed my childish amusements +as heartily as if there were no unfathomable +mysteries or perplexities or sorrows anywhere +in the world. +</p><p> +I was sitting by the fireplace at Martha's, and +her grandmother, who was very old, and who was +fast losing her wits, had been talking to me about +Madam. I do not remember what she said, at +least, it made little impression; but her grandson, +a worthless fellow, sauntered in, and began to tell +a story of his own, hearing of whom we spoke. +"I was coming home late last night," said he, +"and, as I was in that dark place along by the +Noroway pines, old Lady Ferry she went by me, +and I was near scared to death. She looked +fearful tall—towered way up above me. Her +face was all lit up with blue light, and her feet +didn't touch the ground. She wasn't taking +steps, she wasn't walking, but movin' along like +a sail-boat before the wind. I dodged behind +some little birches, and I was scared she'd see +me; but she went right out o' sight up the road. +She ain't mortal." +</p><p> +"Don't scare the child with such foolishness," +said his aunt disdainfully. "You'll be seein' +worse things a-dancin' before your eyes than that +poor, harmless old creatur' if you don't quit the +ways you've been following lately. If that was +last night, you were too drunk to see any thing;" +and the fellow muttered, and went out, banging +the door. But the story had been told, and I +was stiffened and chilled with fright; and all the +way home I was in terror, looking fearfully behind +me again and again. +</p><p> +When I saw cousin Agnes, I felt safer, and +since cousin Matthew was not at home, and we +were alone, I could not resist telling her what I +had heard. She listened to me kindly, and seemed +so confident that my story was idle nonsense, that +my fears were quieted. She talked to me until I +no longer was a believer in there being any unhappy +mystery or harmfulness; but I could not +get over the fright, and I dreaded my lonely +room, and I was glad enough when cousin Agnes, +with her unfailing thoughtfulness, asked if I would +like to have her come to sleep with me, and even +went up stairs with me at my own early bedtime, +saying that she should find it dull to sit all alone +in the parlor. So I went to sleep, thinking of +what I had heard, it is true, but no longer unhappy, +because her dear arm was over me, and I +was perfectly safe. I waked up for a little while +in the night, and it was light in the room, so that +I could see her face, fearless and sweet and sad, +and I wondered, in my blessed sense of security, +if she were ever afraid of any thing, and why I +myself had been afraid of Lady Ferry. +</p><p> +I will not tell other stories: they are much +alike, all my memories of those weeks and +months at the ferry, and I have no wish to be +wearisome. The last time I saw Madam she was +standing in the garden door at dusk. I was going +away before daylight in the morning. It was +in the autumn: some dry leaves flittered about +on the stone at her feet, and she was watching +them. I said good-by again, and she did not +answer me; but I think she knew I was going +away, and I am sure she was sorry, for we had +been a great deal together; and, child as I was, +I thought to how many friends she must have had +to say farewell. +</p><p> +Although I wished to see my father and mother, +I cried as if my heart would break because I had +to leave the ferry. The time spent there had +been the happiest time of all my life, I think. I +was old enough to enjoy, but not to suffer much, +and there was singularly little to trouble one. I +did not know that my life was ever to be different. +I have learned, since those childish days, that one +must battle against storms if one would reach +the calm which is to follow them. I have learned +also that anxiety, sorrow, and regret fall to the +lot of every one, and that there is always underlying +our lives, this mysterious and frightful element +of existence; an uncertainty at times, though +we do trust every thing to God. Under the best-loved +and most beautiful face we know, there is +hidden a skull as ghastly as that from which +we turn aside with a shudder in the anatomist's +cabinet. We smile, and are gay enough; God +pity us! We try to forget our heart-aches and +remorse. We even call our lives commonplace, +and, bearing our own heaviest burdens silently, +we try to keep the commandment, and to bear +one another's also. There is One who knows: +we look forward, as he means we shall, and there +is always a hand ready to help us, though we +reach out for it doubtfully in the dark. +</p><p> +For many years after this summer was over, I +lived in a distant, foreign country; at last my +father and I were to go back to America. Cousin +Agnes and cousin Matthew, and my mother, were +all long since dead, and I rarely thought of my +childhood, for in an eventful and hurried life the +present claims one almost wholly. We were +travelling in Europe, and it happened that one +day I was in a bookshop in Amsterdam, waiting +for an acquaintance whom I was to meet, and +who was behind time. +</p><p> +The shop was a quaint place, and I amused +myself by looking over an armful of old English +books which a boy had thrown down near me, +raising a cloud of dust which was plain evidence +of their antiquity. I came to one, almost the +last, which had a strangely familiar look, and I +found that it was a copy of the same book which +I had lost in the wall at the ferry. I bought it +for a few coppers with the greatest satisfaction, +and began at once to read it. It had been published +in England early in the eighteenth century, +and was written by one Mr. Thomas Highward +of Chester,—a journal of his travels among +some of the English colonists of North America, +containing much curious and desirable knowledge, +with some useful advice to those persons +having intentions of emigrating. I looked at the +prosy pages here and there, and finally found +again those reminiscences of the town of Boston +and the story of Mistress Honor Warburton, who +was cursed, and doomed to live in this world to +the end of time. She had lately been in Boston, +but had disappeared again; she endeavored to +disguise herself, and would not stay long in one +place if she feared that her story was known, and +that she was recognized. One Mr. Fleming, a +man of good standing and repute, and an officer +of Her Majesty Queen Anne, had sworn to Mr. +Thomas Highward that his father, a person of +great age, had once seen Mistress Warburton in +his youth; that she then bore another name, but +had the same appearance. "Not wishing to +seem unduly credulous," said Mr. Highward, "I +disputed this tale; but there was some considerable +evidence in its favour, and at least this woman +was of vast age, and was spoken of with extreme +wonder by the town's folk." +</p><p> +I could not help thinking of my old childish +suspicions of Lady Ferry, though I smiled at the +folly of them and of this story more than once. +I tried to remember if I had heard of her death; +but I was still a child when my cousin Agnes +had died. Had poor Lady Ferry survived her? +and what could have become of her? I asked my +father, but he could remember nothing, if indeed +he ever had heard of her death at all. He spoke +of our cousins' kindness to this forlorn soul, and +that, learning her desolation and her piteous history +(and being the more pitiful because of her +shattered mind), when she had last wandered to +their door, they had cared for the old gentlewoman +to the end of her days—"for I do not +think she can be living yet," said my father, +with a merry twinkle in his eyes: "she must +have been nearly a hundred years old when you +saw her. She belonged to a fine old family +which had gone to wreck and ruin. She strayed +about for years, and it was a godsend to her to +have found such a home in her last days." +</p><p> +That same summer we reached America, and +for the first time since I had left it I went to the +ferry. The house was still imposing, the prestige +of the Haverford grandeur still lingered; +but it looked forlorn and uncared for. It seemed +very familiar; but the months I had spent there +were so long ago, that they seemed almost to +belong to another life. I sat alone on the doorstep +for a long time, where I used often to watch +for Lady Ferry; and forgotten thoughts and +dreams of my childhood came back to me. The +river was the only thing that seemed as young as +ever. I looked in at some of the windows where +the shutters were pushed back, and I walked +about the garden, where I could hardly trace the +walks, all overgrown with thick, short grass, +though there were a few ragged lines of box, and +some old rose-bushes; and I saw the very last +of the flowers,—a bright red poppy, which had +bloomed under a lilac-tree among the weeds. +</p><p> +Out beyond the garden, on a slope by the river, +I saw the family burying-ground, and it was with +a comfortable warmth at my heart that I stood +inside the familiar old enclosure. There was my +Lady Ferry's grave; there could be no mistake +about it, and she was dead. I smiled at my satisfaction +and at my foolish childish thoughts, +and thanked God that there could be no truth in +them, and that death comes surely,—say, rather, +that the better life comes surely,—though it +comes late. +</p><p> +The sad-looking, yellow-topped cypress, which +only seems to feel quite at home in country burying-grounds, +had kindly spread itself like a coverlet +over the grave, which already looked like a +very old grave; and the headstone was leaning a +little, not to be out of the fashion of the rest. I +traced again the words of old Colonel Haverford's +pompous epitaph, and idly read some others. I +remembered the old days so vividly there; I +thought of my cousin Agnes, and wished that +I could see her; and at last, as the daylight +faded, I came away. When I crossed the river, +the ferry-man looked at me wonderingly, for my +eyes were filled with tears. Although we were in +shadow on the water, the last red glow of the sun +blazed on the high gable-windows, just as it did +the first time I crossed over,—only a child then, +with my life before me. +</p><p> +I asked the ferry-man some questions, but he +could tell me nothing; he was a new-comer to +that part of the country. He was sorry that the +boat was not in better order; but there were +almost never any passengers. The great house +was out of repair: people would not live there, +for they said it was haunted. Oh, yes! he had +heard of Lady Ferry. She had lived to be very +ancient; but she was dead. +</p><p> +"Yes," said I, "she is dead." +</p> +<a name="a_SHORELIFE"></a> +<br><br> +<h2 align="center">A BIT OF SHORE LIFE.</h2> +<br><br><p> +I often think of a boy with whom I +made friends last summer, during some +idle, pleasant days that I spent by the +sea. I was almost always out of doors, and I +used to watch the boats go out and come in; and +I had a hearty liking for the good-natured fishermen, +who were lazy and busy by turns, who +waited for the wind to change, and waited for the +tide to turn, and waited for the fish to bite, and +were always ready to gossip about the weather, +and the fish, and the wonderful events that had +befallen them and their friends. +</p><p> +Georgie was the only boy of whom I ever saw +much at the shore. The few young people there +were all went to school through the hot summer +days at a little weather-beaten schoolhouse a mile +or two inland. There were few houses to be seen, +at any rate, and Georgie's house was the only one +so close to the water. He looked already nothing +but a fisherman; his clothes were covered +with an oil-skin suit, which had evidently been +awkwardly cut down for him from one of his father's, +of whom he was a curious little likeness. +I could hardly believe that he was twelve years +old, he was so stunted and small; yet he was a +strong little fellow; his hands were horny and +hard from handling the clumsy oars, and his face +was so brown and dry from the hot sun and chilly +spray, that he looked even older when one came +close to him. The first time I saw him was one +evening just at night-fall. I was sitting on the +pebbles, and he came down from the fish-house +with some lobster-nets, and a bucket with some +pieces of fish in it for bait, and put them into the +stern of one of the boats which lay just at the edge +of the rising tide. He looked at the clouds over +the sea, and at the open sky overhead, in an old, +wise way, and then, as if satisfied with the weather, +began to push off his boat. It dragged on the +pebbles; it was a heavy thing, and he could not +get it far enough out to be floated by the low +waves, so I went down to help him. He looked +amazed that a girl should have thought of it, and +as if he wished to ask me what good I supposed I +could do, though I was twice his size. But the +boat grated and slid down toward the sand, and I +gave her a last push as the boy perched with one +knee on her gunwale and let the other foot drag in +the water for a minute. He was afloat after all; +and he took the oars, and pulled manfully out +toward the moorings, where the whale-boats and a +sail-boat or two were swaying about in the wind, +which was rising a little since the sun had set. +He did not say a word to me, or I to him. I +watched him go out into the twilight,—such +a little fellow, between those two great oars! +But the boat could not drift or loiter with his +steady stroke, and out he went, until I could only +see the boat at last, lifting and sinking on the +waves beyond the reef outside the moorings. +I asked one of the fishermen whom I knew +very well, "Who is that little fellow? Ought +he to be out by himself, it is growing dark so +fast?" +</p><p> +"Why, that's <i>Georgie!</i>" said my friend, with +his grim smile. "Bless ye! he's like a duck; +ye can't drown him. He won't be in until ten +o'clock, like's not. He'll go way out to the far +ledges when the tide covers them too deep where +he is now. Lobsters he's after." +</p><p> +"Whose boy is he?" said I. +</p><p> +"Why, Andrer's, up here to the fish-house. +<i>She's</i> dead, and him and the boy get along together +somehow or 'nother. They've both got +something saved up, and Andrer's a clever fellow; +took it very hard, losing of his wife. I +was telling of him the other day: 'Andrer,' says +I, 'ye ought to look up somebody or 'nother, +and not live this way. There's plenty o' smart, +stirring women that would mend ye up, and cook +for ye, and do well by ye.'—'No,' says he; 'I've +hed my wife, and I've lost her.'—'Well, now,' +says I, 'ye've shown respect, and there's the boy +a-growin' up, and if either of you was took sick, +why, here ye be.'—'Yes,' says he, 'here I be, +sure enough;' and he drawed a long breath, 's if +he felt bad; so that's all I said. But it's no +way for a man to get along, and he ought to +think of the boy. He owned a good house about +half a mile up the road; but he moved right +down here after she died, and his cousin took it, +and it burnt up in the winter. Four year ago +that was. I was down to the Georges Banks." +</p><p> +Some other men came down toward the water, +and took a boat that was waiting, already fitted +out with a trawl coiled in two tubs, and some +hand-lines and bait for rock-cod and haddock, +and my friend joined them; they were going out +for a night's fishing. I watched them hoist the +little sprit-sail, and drift a little until they caught +the wind, and then I looked again for Georgie, +whose boat was like a black spot on the water. +</p><p> +I knew him better soon after that. I used to +go out with him for lobsters, or to catch cunners, +and it was strange that he never had any cronies, +and would hardly speak to the other children. +He was very shy; but he had put all his heart +into his work,—a man's hard work, which he +had taken from choice. His father was kind to +him; but he had a sorry home, and no mother,—the +brave, fearless, steady little soul! +</p><p> +He looked forward to going one day (I hope +that day has already dawned) to see the shipyards +at a large seaport some twenty miles away. His +face lit up when he told me of it, as some other +child's would who had been promised a day in +fairy-land. And he confided to me that he thought +he should go to the Banks that coming winter. +"But it's so cold!" said I: "should you really +like it?"—"Cold!" said Georgie. "Ho! rest +of the men never froze." That was it,—the +"rest of the men;" and he would work until he +dropped, or tend a line until his fingers froze, for +the sake of that likeness,—the grave, slow little +man, who has so much business with the sea, and +who trusts himself with touching confidence to its +treacherous keeping and favor. +</p><p> +Andrew West, Georgie's father, was almost as +silent as his son at first, but it was not long before +we were very good friends, and I went out +with him at four o'clock one morning, to see +him set his trawl. I remember there was a thin +mist over the sea, and the air was almost chilly; +but, as the sun came up, it changed the color of +every thing to the most exquisite pink,—the +smooth, slow waves, and the mist that blew over +them as if it were a cloud that had fallen down +out of the sky. The world just then was like the +hollow of a great pink sea-shell; and we could +only hear the noise of it, the dull sound of the +waves among the outer ledges. +</p><p> +We had to drift about for an hour or two when +the trawl was set; and after a while the fog shut +down again gray and close, so we could not +see either the sun or the shore. We were a little +more than four miles out, and we had put out +more than half a mile of lines. It is very interesting +to see the different fish that come up on +the hooks,—worthless sculpin and dog-fish, and +good rock-cod and haddock, and curious stray +creatures which often even the fisherman do not +know. We had capital good luck that morning, +and Georgie and Andrew and I were all pleased. +I had a hand-line, and was fishing part of the +time, and Georgie thought very well of me when +he found I was not afraid of a big fish, and, besides +that, I had taken the oars while he tended +the sail, though there was hardly wind enough to +make it worth his while. It was about eight +o'clock when we came in, and there was a horse +and wagon standing near the landing; and we +saw a woman come out of Andrew's little house. +"There's your aunt Hannah a'ready," said he +to Georgie; and presently she came down the +pebbles to meet the boat, looking at me with +much wonder as I jumped ashore. +</p><p> +"I sh'd think you might a' cleaned up your +boat, Andrer, if you was going to take ladies +out," said she graciously. And the fisherman +rejoined, that perhaps she would have thought it +looked better when it went out than it did then; +he never had got a better fare o' fish unless the +trawls had been set over night. +</p><p> +There certainly had been a good haul; and, +when Andrew carefully put those I had caught +with the hand-line by themselves, I asked his +sister to take them, if she liked. "Bless you!" +said she, much pleased, "we couldn't eat one o' +them big rock-cod in a week. I'll take a little +ha'dick, if Andrer 'll pick me one out." +</p><p> +She was a tall, large woman, who had a direct, +business-like manner,—what the country people +would call a master smart woman, or a regular +driver,—and I liked her. She said something +to her brother about some clothes she had been +making for him or for Georgie, and I went off to +the house where I was boarding for my breakfast. +I was hungry enough, since I had had only a +hurried lunch a good while before sunrise. I +came back late in the morning, and found that +Georgie's aunt was just going away. I think +my friends must have spoken well of me, for she +came out to meet me as I nodded in going by, +and said, "I suppose ye drive about some? We +should be pleased to have ye come up to see us. +We live right 'mongst the woods; it ain't much +of a place to ask anybody to." And she added +that she might have done a good deal better for +herself to have staid off. But there! they had +the place, and she supposed she and Cynthy had +done as well there as anywhere. Cynthy—well, +she wasn't one of your pushing kind; but I +should have some flowers, and perhaps it would +be a change for me. I thanked her, and said I +should be delighted to go. Georgie and I would +make her a call together some afternoon when he +wasn't busy; and Georgie actually smiled when +I looked at him, and said, "All right," and then +hurried off down the shore. "Ain't he an odd +boy?" said Miss Hannah West, with a shadow +of disapproval in her face. "But he's just like +his father and grandfather before him; you +wouldn't think they had no gratitude nor feelin', +but I s'pose they have. They used to say my +father never'd forgit a friend, or forgive an +enemy. Well, I'm much obliged to you, I'm +sure, for taking an interest in the boy." I said +I liked him; I only wished I could do something +for him. And then she said good-day, and drove +off. I felt as if we were already good friends. +"I'm much obliged for the fish," she turned +round to say to me again, as she went away. +</p><p> +One morning, not very long afterward, I asked +Georgie if he could possibly leave his business +that afternoon, and he gravely answered me that +he could get away just as well as not, for the +tide would not be right for lobsters until after +supper. +</p><p> +"I should like to go up and see your aunt," +said I. "You know she asked me to come the +other day when she was here." +</p><p> +"I'd like to go," said Georgie sedately. +"Father was going up this week; but the mackerel +struck in, and we couldn't leave. But it's +better'n six miles up there." +</p><p> +"That's not far," said I. "I'm going to +have Captain Donnell's horse and wagon;" and +Georgie looked much interested. +</p><p> +I wondered if he would wear his oil-skin suit; +but I was much amazed, and my heart was +touched, at seeing how hard he had tried to put +himself in trim for the visit. He had on his best +jacket and trousers (which might have been most +boys' worst), and a clean calico shirt; and he +had scrubbed his freckled, honest little face and +his hard little hands, until they were as clean as +possible; and either he or his father had cut his +hair. I should think it had been done with a +knife, and it looked as if a rat had gnawed it. +He had such a holiday air! He really looked +very well; but still, if I were to have a picture +of Georgie, it should be in the oil-skin fishing-suit. +He had gone out to his box, which was +anchored a little way out in the cove, and had +chosen two fine lobsters which he had tied together +with a bit of fish-line. They were lazily +moving their claws and feelers; and his father, +who had come in with his boat not long before, +added from his fare of fish three plump mackerel. +</p><p> +"They're always glad to get new fish," said +he. "The girls can't abide a fish that's corned, +and I haven't had a chance to send 'em up any +mackerel before. Ye see, they live on a cross-road, +and the fish-carts don't go by." And I +told him I was very glad to carry them, or any +thing else he would like to send. "Mind your +manners, now, Georgie," said he, "and don't +be forrard. You might split up some kindlin's +for y'r aunts, and do whatever they want of ye. +Boys ain't made just to look at, so ye be handy, +will ye?" And Georgie nodded solemnly. +They seemed very fond of each other, and I +looked back some time afterward to see the fisherman +still standing there to watch his boy. He +was used to his being out at sea alone for hours; +but this might be a great risk to let him go off +inland to stay all the afternoon. +</p><p> +The road crossed the salt-marshes for the first +mile, and, when we had struck the higher land, we +soon entered the pine-woods, which cover a great +part of that country. It had been raining in the +morning for a little while; and the trunks of the +trees were still damp, and the underbrush was +shining wet, and sent out a sweet, fresh smell. I +spoke of it, and Georgie told me that sometimes +this fragrance blew far out to sea, and then you +knew the wind was north-west. +</p><p> +"There's the big pine you sight Minister's +Ledge by," said he, "when that comes in range +over the white schoolhouse, about two miles out." +</p><p> +The lobsters were clashing their pegged claws +together in the back of the wagon, and Georgie +sometimes looked over at them to be sure they +were all right. Of course I had given him the +reins when we first started, and he was delighted +because we saw some squirrels, and even a rabbit, +which scurried across the road as if I had been a +fiery dragon, and Georgie something worse. +</p><p> +We presently came in sight of a house close by +the road,—an old-looking place, with a ledgy, +forlorn field stretching out behind it toward some +low woods. There were high white-birch poles +holding up thick tangles of hop-vines, and at the +side there were sunflowers straggling about as if +they had come up from seed scattered by the +wind. Some of them were close together, as if +they were whispering to each other; and their big, +yellow faces were all turned toward the front of +the house, where people were already collected +as if there were a funeral. +</p><p> +"It's the auction," said Georgie with great +satisfaction. "I heard 'em talking about it down +at the shore this morning. There's 'Lisha Downs +now. He started off just before we did. That's +his fish-cart over by the well." +</p><p> +"What is going to be sold?" said I. +</p><p> +"All the stuff," said Georgie, as if he were +much pleased. "She's going off up to Boston +with her son." +</p><p> +"I think we had better stop," said I, for I +saw Mrs. 'Lisha Downs, who was one of my +acquaintances at the shore, and I wished to see +what was going on, besides giving Georgie a +chance at the festivities. So we tied the horse, +and went toward the house, and I found several +people whom I knew a little. Mrs. Downs shook +hands with me as formally as if we had not talked +for some time as I went by her house to the +shore, just after breakfast. She presented me to +several of her friends with whom she had been +talking as I came up. "Let me make you acquainted," +she said; and every time I bowed she +bowed too, unconsciously, and seemed a little ill +at ease and embarrassed, but luckily the ceremony +was soon over. "I thought I would stop +for a few minutes," said I by way of apology. +"I didn't know why the people were here until +Georgie told me." +</p><p> +"She's going to move up to Boston 'long of +her son," said one of the women, who looked +very pleasant and very tired. "I think myself +it's a bad plan to pull old folks up by the roots. +There's a niece o' hers that would have been glad +to stop with her, and do for the old lady. But +John, he's very high-handed, and wants it his +way, and he says his mother sha'n't live in no +such a place as this. He makes a sight o' money. +He's got out a patent, and they say he's just +bought a new house that cost him eleven thousand +dollars. But old Mis' Wallis, she's wonted +here; and she was telling of me yesterday she +was only going to please John. He says he +wants her up there, where she'll be more comfortable, +and see something." +</p><p> +"He means well," said another woman whom +I did not know; "but folks about here never +thought no great of his judgment. He's put up +some splendid stones in the burying-lot to his +father and his sister Miranda that died. I used +to go to school 'long of Miranda. She'd have +been pleased to go to Boston; she was that kind. +But there! mother was saying last night, what +if his business took a turn, and he lost every +thing! Mother's took it dreadfully to heart; +she and Mis' Wallis was always mates as long +ago as they can recollect." +</p><p> +It was evident that the old widow was both +pitied and envied by her friends on account of +her bettered fortunes, and they came up to speak +to her with more or less seriousness, as befitted +the occasion. She looked at me with great curiosity, +but Mrs. Downs told her who I was, and I +had a sudden instinct to say how sorry I was for +her, but I was afraid it might appear intrusive +on so short an acquaintance. She was a thin old +soul who looked as if she had had a good deal +of trouble in her day, and as if she had been +very poor and very anxious. "Yes," said she +to some one who had come from a distance, "it +does come hard to go off. Home is home, and +I seem to hate to sell off my things; but I suppose +they would look queer up to Boston. John +Bays says I won't have no idea of the house until I +see it;" and she looked proud and important for +a minute, but, as some one brought an old chair +out at the door, her face fell again. "Oh, dear!" +said she, "I should like to keep that! it belonged +to my mother. It's most wore out anyway. I +guess I'll let somebody keep it for me;" and she +hurried off despairingly to find her son, while we +went into the house. +</p><p> +There is so little to interest the people who live +on those quiet, secluded farms, that an event of +this kind gives great pleasure. I know they have +not done talking yet about the sale, of the bargains +that were made, or the goods that brought +more than they were worth. And then the women +had the chance of going all about the house, +and committing every detail of its furnishings to +their tenacious memories. It is a curiosity one +grows more and more willing to pardon, for there +is so little to amuse them in every-day life. I +wonder if any one has not often been struck, as +I have, by the sadness and hopelessness which +seems to overshadow many of the people who live +on the lonely farms in the outskirts of small New-England +villages. It is most noticeable among +the elderly women. Their talk is very cheerless, +and they have a morbid interest in sicknesses and +deaths; they tell each other long stories about such +things; they are very forlorn; they dwell persistently +upon any troubles which they have; and +their petty disputes with each other have a tragic +hold upon their thoughts, sometimes being handed +down from one generation to the next. Is it +because their world is so small, and life affords +so little amusement and pleasure, and is at best +such a dreary round of the dullest housekeeping? +There is a lack of real merriment, and the fun is +an odd, rough way of joking; it is a stupid, heavy +sort of fun, though there is much of a certain +quaint humor, and once in a while a flash of wit. +I came upon a short, stout old sister in one +room, making all the effort she possibly could to +see what was on the upper shelves of a closet. +We were the only persons there, and she looked +longingly at a convenient chair, and I know she +wished I would go away. But my heart suddenly +went out toward an old dark-green Delft bowl +which I saw, and I asked her if she would be +kind enough to let me take it, as if I thought she +were there for the purpose. "I'll bring you a +chair," said I; and she said, "Certain, dear." +And I helped her up, and I'm sure she had the +good look she had coveted while I took the bowl +to the window. It was badly cracked, and had +been mended with putty; but the rich, dull color +of it was exquisite. One often comes across a +beautiful old stray bit of china in such a place as +this, and I imagined it filled with apple-blossoms +or wild roses. Mrs. Wallis wished to give it to +me, she said it wasn't good for any thing; and, +finding she did not care for it, I bought it; and +now it is perched high in my room, with the +cracks discreetly turned to the wall. "Seems to +me she never had thrown away nothing," said +my friend, whom I found still standing on the +chair when I came back. "Here's some pieces +of a pitcher: I wonder when she broke it! I've +heard her say it was one her grandmother give +her, though. The old lady bought it to a vandoo +down at old Mis' Walton Peters's after she died, +so Mis' Wallis said. I guess I'll speak to her, +and see if she wants every thing sold that's +here." +</p><p> +There was a very great pathos to me about +this old home. It must have been a hard place +to get a living in, both for men and women, with +its wretched farming-land, and the house itself so +cold and thin and worn out. I could understand +that the son was in a hurry to get his mother +away from it. I was sure that the boyhood he +had spent there must have been uncomfortable, +and that he did not look back to it with much +pleasure. There is an immense contrast between +even a moderately comfortable city house and +such a place as this. No wonder that he remembered +the bitter cold mornings, the frost and chill, +and the dark, and the hard work, and wished his +mother to leave them all behind, as he had done! +He did not care for the few plain bits of furniture; +why should he? and he had been away so long, +that he had lost his interest in the neighbors. +Perhaps this might come back to him again as he +grew older; but now he moved about among them, +in his handsome but somewhat flashy clothes, +with a look that told me he felt conscious of his +superior station in life. I did not altogether like +his looks, though somebody said admiringly, as he +went by, "They say he's worth as much as thirty +thousand dollars a'ready. He's smart as a whip." +But, while I did not wonder at the son's wishing +his mother to go away, I also did not wonder +at her being unwilling to leave the dull little +house where she had spent so much of her life. +I was afraid no other house in the world would +ever seem like home to her: she was a part of +the old place; she had worn the doors smooth by +the touch of her hands, and she had scrubbed the +floors, and walked over them, until the knots stood +up high in the pine boards. The old clock had +been unscrewed from the wall, and stood on a +table; and when I heard its loud and anxious tick, +my first thought was one of pity for the poor +thing, for fear it might be homesick, like its mistress. +When I went out again, I was very sorry +for old Mrs. Wallis; she looked so worried and +excited, and as if this new turn of affairs in her +life was too strange and unnatural; it bewildered +her, and she could not understand it; she only +knew every thing was going to be different. +</p><p> +Georgie was by himself, as usual, looking grave +and intent. He had gone aloft on the wheel of a +clumsy great ox-cart in which some of the men +had come to the auction, and he was looking over +people's heads, and seeing every thing that was +sold. I saw he was not ready to come away, so +I was not in a hurry. I heard Mrs. Wallis say +to one of her friends, "You just go in and take +that rug with the flowers on't, and go and put it +in your wagon. It's right beside my chist that's +packed ready to go. John told me to give away +any thing I had a mind to. He don't care nothing +about the money. I hooked that rug four +year ago; it's most new; the red of the roses +was made out of a dress of Miranda's. I kept it +a good while after she died; but it was no use to +let it lay. I've given a good deal to my sister +Stiles: she was over here helping me yesterday. +There! it's all come upon me so sudden! I +s'pose I shall wish, after I get away, that I had +done things different; but, after I knew the farm +was goin' to be sold, I didn't seem to realize I was +goin' to break up, until John came, day before +yesterday." +</p><p> +She was very friendly with me, when I said +I should think she would be sorry to go away; +but she seemed glad to find I had been in Boston +a great deal, and that I was not at all unhappy +there. "But I suppose you have folks there," +said she, "though I never supposed they was so +sociable as they be here, and I ain't one that's +easy to make acquaintance. It's different with +young folks; and then in case o'sickness I should +hate to have strange folks round me. It seems +as if I never set so much by the old place as I do +now I'm goin' away. I used to wish 'he' would +sell, and move over to the Port, it was such hard +work getting along when the child'n was small. +And there's one of my boys that run away to sea, +and never was heard from. I've always thought +he might come back, though everybody give him +up years ago. I can't help thinking what if +he should come back, and find I wa'n't here! +There! I'm glad to please John: he sets everything +by me, and I s'pose he thinks he's going to +make a spry young woman of me. Well, it's +natural. Every thing looks fair to him, and he +thinks he can have the world just as he wants it; +but <i>I</i> know it's a world o' change,—a world o' +change and loss. And, you see, I shall have +to go to a strange meetin' up there.—Why, +Mis' Sands! I am pleased to see you. How did +you get word?" And then Mrs. Wallis made +another careful apology for moving away. She +seemed to be so afraid some one would think she +had not been satisfied with the neighborhood. +</p><p> +The auctioneer was a disagreeable-looking +man, with a most unpleasant voice, which gave +me a sense of discomfort, the little old house +and its surroundings seemed so grave and silent +and lonely. It was like having all the noise and +confusion on a Sunday. The house was so shut +in by the trees, that the only outlook to the +world beyond was a narrow gap in the pines, +through which one could see the sea, bright, blue +and warm with sunshine, that summer day. +</p><p> +There was something wistful about the place, +as there must have been about the people who +had lived there; yet, hungry and unsatisfied as +her life might have been in many ways, the poor +old woman dreaded the change. +</p><p> +The thought flashed through my mind that we +all have more or less of this same feeling about +leaving this world for a better one. We have +the certainty that we shall be a great deal happier +in heaven; but we cling despairingly to the familiar +things of this life. God pity the people who +find it so hard to believe what he says, and who +are afraid to die, and are afraid of the things +they do not understand! I kept thinking over +and over of what Mrs. Wallis had said: 'A world +of change and loss!' What should we do if we +did not have God's love to make up for it, and if +we did not know something of heaven already? +</p><p> +It seemed very doleful that everybody should +look on the dark side of the Widow Wallis's flitting, +and I tried to suggest to her some of the +pleasures and advantages of it, once when I had +a chance. And indeed she was proud enough to +be going away with her rich son; it was not like +selling her goods because she was too poor to +keep the old home any longer. I hoped the son +would always be prosperous, and that the son's +wife would always be kind, and not be ashamed +of her, or think she was in the way. But I am +afraid it may be a somewhat uneasy idleness, and +that there will not be much beside her knitting-work +to remind her of the old routine. She will +even miss going back and forward from the old +well in storm and sunshine; she will miss looking +after the chickens, and her slow walks about the +little place, or out to a neighbor's for a bit of +gossip, with the old brown checked handkerchief +over her head; and when the few homely, faithful +old flowers come up next year by the doorstep, +there will be nobody to care any thing about +them. +</p><p> +I said good-by, and got into the wagon, and +Georgie clambered in after me with a look of +great importance, and we drove away. He was +very talkative; the unusual excitement of the +day was not without its effect. He had a good +deal to tell me about the people I had seen, +though I had to ask a good many questions. +</p><p> +"Who was the thin old fellow, with the black +coat, faded yellow-green on the shoulders, who +was talking to Skipper Downs about the dog-fish?" +</p><p> +"That's old Cap'n Abiah Lane," said Georgie; +"lives over toward Little Beach,—him that +was cast away in the fog in a dory down to the +Banks once; like to have starved to death before +he got picked up. I've heard him tell all +about it. Don't look as if he'd ever had enough +to eat since!" said the boy grimly. "He used +to come over a good deal last winter, and go out +after cod 'long o' father and me. His boats all +went adrift in the big storm in November, and +he never heard nothing about 'em; guess they +got stove against the rocks." +</p><p> +We had still more than three miles to drive +over a lonely part of the road, where there was +scarcely a house, and where the woods had been +cut off more or less, so there was nothing to be +seen but the uneven ground, which was not fit for +even a pasture yet. But it was not without a +beauty of its own; for the little hills and hollows +were covered thick with brakes and ferns and +bushes, and in the swamps the cat-tails and all +the rushes were growing in stiff and stately ranks, +so green and tall; while the birds flew up, or +skimmed across them as we went by. It was +like a town of birds, there were so many. It is +strange how one is always coming upon families +and neighborhoods of wild creatures in the unsettled +country places; it is so much like one's +going on longer journeys about the world, and +finding town after town with its own interests, +each so sufficient for itself. +</p><p> +We struck the edge of the farming-land again, +after a while, and I saw three great pines that +had been born to good luck in this world, since +they had sprouted in good soil, and had been left +to grow as fast as they pleased. They lifted +their heads proudly against the blue sky, these +rich trees, and I admired them as much as they +could have expected. They must have been a +landmark for many miles to the westward, for +they grew on high land, and they could pity, +from a distance, any number of their poor relations +who were just able to keep body and soul +together, and had grown up thin and hungry in +crowded woods. But, though their lower branches +might snap and crackle at a touch, their tops +were brave and green, and they kept up appearances, +at any rate; these poorer pines. +</p><p> +Georgie pointed out his aunts' house to me, +after a while. It was not half so forlorn-looking +as the others, for there were so many flowers in +bloom about it of the gayest kind, and a little +yellow-and-white dog came down the road to +bark at us; but his manner was such that it +seemed like an unusually cordial welcome rather +than an indignant repulse. I noticed four jolly +old apple-trees near by, which looked as if they +might be the last of a once flourishing orchard. +They were standing in a row, in exactly the same +position, with their heads thrown gayly back, as +if they were all dancing in an old-fashioned reel; +and, after the forward and back, one might expect +them to turn partners gallantly. I laughed aloud +when I caught sight of them: there was something +very funny in their looks, so jovial and +whole-hearted, with a sober, cheerful pleasure, +as if they gave their whole minds to it. It was +like some old gentlemen and ladies who catch the +spirit of the thing, and dance with the rest at a +Christmas party. +</p><p> +Miss Hannah West first looked out of the +window, and then came to meet us, looking as +if she were glad to see us. Georgie had nothing +whatever to say; but, after I had followed his +aunt into the house, he began to work like a +beaver at once, as if it were any thing but a +friendly visit that could be given up to such +trifles as conversation, or as if he were any thing +but a boy. He brought the fish and lobsters into +the outer kitchen, though I was afraid our loitering +at the auction must have cost them their first +freshness; and then he carried the axe to the +wood-pile, and began to chop up the small white-pine +sticks and brush which form the summer +fire-wood at the farm-houses,—crow-sticks and +underbrush, a good deal of it,—but it makes a +hot little blaze while it lasts. +</p><p> +I had not seen Miss Cynthia West, the younger +sister, before, and I found the two women very +unlike. Miss Hannah was evidently the capable +business-member of the household, and she had +a loud voice, and went about as if she were in a +hurry. Poor Cynthia! I saw at first that she +was one of the faded-looking country-women who +have a hard time, and who, if they had grown up +in the midst of a more luxurious way of living, +would have been frail and delicate and refined, +and entirely lady-like. But, as it was, she was +somewhat in the shadow of her sister, and felt as +if she were not of very much use or consequence +in the world, I have no doubt. She showed me +some pretty picture-frames she had made out of +pine-cones and hemlock-cones and alder-burs; +but her chief glory and pride was a silly little +model of a house, in perforated card-board, which +she had cut and worked after a pattern that came +in a magazine. It must have cost her a great +deal of work; but it partly satisfied her great +longing for pretty things, and for the daintiness +and art that she had an instinct toward, and +never had known. It stood on the best-room +table, with a few books, which I suppose she +had read over and over again; and in the room, +beside, were green paper curtains with a landscape +on the outside, and some chairs ranged +stiffly against the walls, some shells, and an +ostrich's egg, with a ship drawn on it, on the +mantel-shelf, and ever so many rugs on the floor, +of most ambitious designs, which they had made +in winter. I know the making of them had been a +great pleasure to Miss Cynthia, and I was sure it +was she who had taken care of the garden, and +was always at much pains to get seeds and slips +in the spring. +</p><p> +She told me how much they had wished that +Georgie had come to live with them after his +mother died. It would have been very handy for +them to have him in winter too; but it was no +use trying to get him away from his father; and +neither of them were contented if they were out +of sight of the sea. "He's a dreadful odd boy, +and so old for his years. Hannah, she says he's +older now than I be," and she blushed a little as +she looked up at me; while for a moment the +tears came into my eyes, as I thought of this +poor, plain woman, who had such a capacity for +enjoyment, and whose life had been so dull, and +far apart from the pleasures and satisfactions +which had made so much of my own life. It +seemed to me as if I had had a great deal more +than I deserved, while this poor soul was almost +beggared. I seemed to know all about her life +in a flash, and pitied her from the bottom of my +heart. Yet I suppose she would not have changed +places with me for any thing, or with anybody +else, for that matter. +</p><p> +Miss Cynthia had a good deal to say about her +mother, who had been a schoolmate of Mrs. +Wallis's—I had been telling them what I could +about the auction. She told me that she had +died the spring before, and said how much they +missed her; and Hannah broke in upon her regrets +in her brusque, downright way: "I should +have liked to kep' her if she'd lived to be a hundred, +but I don't wish her back. She'd had considerable +many strokes, and she couldn't help herself +much of any. She'd got to be rising eighty, +and her mind was a good deal broke," she added +conclusively, after a short silence; while Cynthia +looked sorrowfully out of the window, and we +heard the sound of Georgie's axe at the other +side of the house, and the wild, sweet whistle of +a bird that flew overhead. I suppose one of the +sisters was just as sorry as the other in reality. +</p><p> +"Now I want you and Georgie to stop and +have some tea. I'll get it good and early," said +Hannah, starting suddenly from her chair, and +beginning to bustle about again, after she had +asked me about some people at home whom she +knew. "Cynthy! Perhaps she'd like to walk +round out doors a spell. It's breezing up, and +it'll be cooler than it is in the house.—No: you +needn't think I shall be put out by your stopping; +but you'll have to take us just as we be. +Georgie always calculates to stop when he comes +up. I guess he's made off for the woods. I see +him go across the lot a few minutes ago." +</p><p> +So Cynthia put on a discouraged-looking gingham +sun-bonnet, which drooped over her face, +and gave her a more appealing look than ever, +and we went over to the pine-woods, which were +beautiful that day. She showed me a little waterfall +made by a brook that came over a high ledge +of rock covered with moss, and here and there +tufts of fresh green ferns. It grew late in the +afternoon, and it was pleasant there in the shade, +with the noise of the brook and the wind in the +pines, that sounded like the sea. The wood-thrushes +began to sing,—and who could have +better music? +</p><p> +Miss Cynthia told me that it always made her +think of once when she was a little girl to hear +the thrushes. She had run away, and fallen into +the ma'sh; and her mother had sent her to bed +quick as she got home, though it was only four +o'clock. And she was so ashamed, because there +was company there,—some of her father's folks +from over to Eliot; and then she heard the +thrushes begin to call after a while, and she +thought they were talking about her, and they +knew she had been whipped and sent to bed. +"I'd been gone all day since morning. I had a +great way of straying off in the woods," said she. +"I suppose mother was put to it when she see +me coming in, all bog-mud, right before the company." +</p><p> +We came by my friends, the apple-trees, on +our return, and I saw a row of old-fashioned +square bee-hives near them, which I had not +noticed before. Miss Cynthia told me that the +bee money was always hers; but she lost a good +many swarms on account of the woods being so +near, and they had a trick of swarming Sundays, +after she'd gone to meeting; and, besides, the +miller-bugs spoilt 'em; and some years they didn't +make enough honey to live on, so she didn't get +any at all. I saw some bits of black cloth fluttering +over the little doors where the bees went in +and out, and the sight touched me strangely. I +did not know that the old custom still lingered of +putting the hives in mourning, and telling the +bees when there had been a death in the family, +so they would not fly away. I said, half to myself, +a line or two from Whittier's poem, which I +always thought one of the loveliest in the world, +and this seemed almost the realization of it. +Miss Cynthia asked me wistfully, "Is that in a +book?" I told her yes, and that she should +have it next time I came up, or had a chance of +sending it. "I've seen a good many pieces of +poetry that Mr. Whittier wrote," said she. +"I've got some that I cut out of the paper a +good while ago. I think every thing of 'em." +</p><p> +"I put the black on the hives myself," said +she. "It was for mother, you know. She did +it when father died. But when my brother was +lost, we didn't, because we never knew just when +it was; the schooner was missing, and it was a +good while before they give her up." +</p><p> +"I wish we had some neighbors in sight," said +she once. "I'd like to see a light when I look +out after dark. Now, at my aunt's, over to +Eliot, the house stands high, and when it's coming +dark you can see all the folks lighting up. +It seems real sociable." +</p><p> +We lingered a little while under the apple-trees, +and watched the wise little bees go and come; +and Miss Cynthia told me how much Georgie was +like his grandfather, who was so steady and quiet, +and always right after his business. "He never +was ugly to us, as I know of," said she; "but I +was always sort of 'fraid of father. Hannah, +she used to talk to him free's she would to me; +and he thought, 's long's Hannah did any thing, +it was all right. I always held by my mother +the most; and when father was took sick,—that +was in the winter,—I sent right off for Hannah +to come home. I used to be scared to death, +when he'd want any thing done, for fear I +shouldn't do it right. Mother, she'd had a fall, +and couldn't get about very well. Hannah had +good advantages. She went off keeping school +when she wasn't but seventeen, and she saved up +some money, and boarded over to the Port after +a while, and learned the tailoress trade. She was +always called very smart,—you see she's got +ways different from me; and she was over to the +Port several winters. She never said a word +about it, but there was a young man over there +that wanted to keep company with her. He was +going out first mate of a new ship that was building. +But, when she got word from me about +father, she come right home, and that was the end +of it. It seemed to be a pity. I used to think +perhaps he'd come and see her some time, between +voyages, and that he'd get to be cap'n, +and they'd go off and take me with 'em. I +always wanted to see something of the world. +I never have been but dreadful little ways from +home. I used to wish I could keep school; and +once my uncle was agent for his district, and he +said I could have a chance; but the folks laughed +to think o' me keeping school, and I never said +any thing more about it. But you see it might 'a' +led to something. I always wished I could go to +Boston. I suppose you've been there? There! +I couldn't live out o' sight o' the woods, I don't +believe." +</p><p> +"I can understand that," said I, and half with +a wish to show her I had some troubles, though I +had so many pleasures that she did not, I told +her that the woods I loved best had all been cut +down the winter before. I had played under the +great pines when I was a child, and I had spent +many a long afternoon under them since. There +never will be such trees for me any more in the +world. I knew where the flowers grew under +them, and where the ferns were greenest, and it +was as much home to me as my own house. +They grew on the side of a hill, and the sun +always shone through the tops of the trees as it +went down, while below it was all in shadow—and +I had been there with so many dear friends +who have died, or who are very far away. I told +Miss Cynthia, what I never had told anybody +else, that I loved those trees so much that I went +over the hill on the frozen snow to see them one +sunny winter afternoon, to say good-by, as if I +were sure they could hear me, and looked back +again and again, as I came away, to be sure +I should remember how they looked. And it +seemed as if they knew as well as I that it was +the last time, and they were going to be cut down. +It was a Sunday afternoon, and I was all alone, +and the farewell was a reality and a sad thing to +me. It was saying good-by to a great deal besides +the pines themselves. +</p><p> +We stopped a while in the little garden, where +Miss Cynthia gave me some magnificent big marigolds +to put away for seed, and was much pleased +because I was so delighted with her flowers. It +was a gorgeous little garden to look at, with its +red poppies, and blue larkspur, and yellow marigolds, +and old-fashioned sweet, straying things,—all +growing together in a tangle of which my +friend seemed ashamed. She told me that it +looked as ordered as could be, until the things +begun to grow so fast she couldn't do any thing +with 'em. She was very proud of one little pink-and-white +verbena which somebody had given +her. It was not growing very well; but it had +not disappointed her about blooming. +</p><p> +Georgie had come back from his ramble some +time before. He had cracked the lobster which +Miss Hannah had promptly put on to boil, and I +saw the old gray cat having a capital lunch off the +shells; while the horse looked meeker than ever, +with his headstall thrown back on his shoulders, +eating his supper of hay by the fence; for Miss +Hannah was a hospitable soul. She was tramping +about in the house, getting supper, and we +went in to find the table already pulled out into +the floor. So Miss Cynthia hastened to set it. +I could see she was very much ashamed of having +been gone so long. Neither of us knew it was +so late. But Miss Hannah said it didn't make a +mite o' difference, there was next to nothing to +do, and looked at me with a little smile, which +said, "You see how it is. I'm the one who has +faculty, and I favor her." +</p><p> +I was very hungry; and, though it was not yet +six, it seemed a whole day since dinner-time. +Miss Hannah made many apologies; and said, if +I had only set a day, she would have had things +as they ought to be. But it was a very good +supper, and she knew it! She didn't know but +I was tired o' lobsters. And when I had eaten +two of the biscuit, and had begun an attack on +the hot gingerbread, she said humbly that she +didn't know when she had had such bad luck, +though Georgie and I were both satisfied. He +did not speak more than once or twice during the +meal. I do not think he was afraid of me, for +we had had many a lunch together when he had +taken me out fishing; but this was an occasion, +and there was at first the least possible restraint +over all the company, though I'm glad to say it +soon vanished. We had two kinds of preserves, +and some honey beside, and there was a pie with +a pale, smooth crust, and three cuts in the top. +It looked like a very good pie of its kind; but +one can't eat every thing, though one does one's +best. And we had big cups of tea; and, though +Miss Hannah supposed I had never eaten with +any thing but silver forks before, it happened +luckily that I had, and we were very merry indeed. +Miss Hannah told us several stories of +the time she kept school, and gave us some reminiscences +of her life at the Port; and Miss +Cynthia looked at me as if she had heard them +before, and wished to say, "I know she's having +a good time." I think Miss Cynthia felt, after +we were out in the woods, as if I were her company, +and she was responsible for me. +</p><p> +I thanked them heartily when I came away, +for I had had such a pleasant time. Miss Cynthia +picked me a huge nosegay of her flowers, and +whispered that she hoped I wouldn't forget about +lending her the book. Poor woman! she was so +young,—only a girl yet, in spite of her having +lived more than fifty years in that plain, dull +home of hers, in spite of her faded face and +her grayish hair. We came away in the rattling +wagon. Georgie sat up in his place with a steady +hand on the reins, and keeping a careful lookout +ahead, as if he were steering a boat through a +rough sea. +</p><p> +We passed the house where the auction had +been, and it was all shut up. The cat sat on the +doorstep waiting patiently, and I felt very sorry +for her; but Georgie said there were neighbors +not far off, and she was a master hand for squirrels. +I was glad to get sight of the sea again, +and to smell the first stray whiff of salt air that +blew in to meet us as we crossed the marshes. I +think the life in me must be next of kin to the +life of the sea, for it is drawn toward it strangely, +as a little drop of quicksilver grows uneasy just +out of reach of a greater one. +</p><p> +"Good-night, Georgie!" said I; and he +nodded his head a little as he drove away to take +the horse home. "Much obliged to you for my +ride," said he, and I knew in a minute that his +father or one of the aunts had cautioned him not +to forget to make his acknowledgments. He had +told me on the way down that he had baited his +nets all ready to set that evening. I knew he +was in a hurry to go out, and it was not long +before I saw his boat pushing off. It was after +eight o'clock, and the moon was coming up pale +and white out of the sea, while the west was still +bright after the clear sunset. +</p><p> +I have a little model of a fishing dory that +Georgie made for me, with its sprit-sail and +killick and painter and oars and gaff all cleverly +cut with the clumsiest of jackknives. I care a +great deal for the little boat; and I gave him a +better knife before I came away, to remember me +by; but I am afraid its shininess and trig shape +may have seemed a trifle unmanly to him. His +father's had been sharpened on the beach-stones +to clean many a fish, and it was notched and +dingy; but this would cut; there was no doubt +about that. I hope Georgie was sorry when we +said good-by. I'm sure I was. +</p><p> +A solemn, careful, contented young life, with +none of the playfulness or childishness that belong +to it,—this is my little fisherman, whose +memory already fades of whatever tenderness +his dead mother may have given him. But he is +lucky in this, that he has found his work and +likes it; and so I say, 'May the sea prove kind to +him! and may he find the Friend those other fishermen +found, who were mending their nets on the +shores of Galilee! and may he make the harbor +of heaven by and by after a stormy voyage or +a quiet one, whichever pleases God! +</p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Old Friends and New, by Sarah Orne Jewett + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD FRIENDS AND NEW *** + +***** This file should be named 32382-h.htm or 32382-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/3/8/32382/ + +Produced by James Adcock. 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