diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:21:55 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:21:55 -0700 |
| commit | 0b9c0a991fdc1ddf70d6a5b1577426ca0265d8b1 (patch) | |
| tree | 3a167d4f76e52d9d0910fc28d646b79c02ad4d6a | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 3619-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 137987 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 3619-h/3619-h.htm | 8766 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 3619.txt | 6832 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 3619.zip | bin | 0 -> 136162 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/maude10.txt | 6801 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/maude10.zip | bin | 0 -> 135281 bytes |
9 files changed, 22415 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/3619-h.zip b/3619-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0fb15bc --- /dev/null +++ b/3619-h.zip diff --git a/3619-h/3619-h.htm b/3619-h/3619-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..be4e682 --- /dev/null +++ b/3619-h/3619-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8766 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of Cousin Maude, by Mary J. Holmes +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + font-size: small ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Cousin Maude, by Mary J. Holmes + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Cousin Maude + +Author: Mary J. Holmes + +Posting Date: April 22, 2009 [EBook #3619] +Release Date: January, 2002 +First Posted: June 17, 2001 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COUSIN MAUDE *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +COUSIN MAUDE. +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +by +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +Mary J. Holmes +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> + To<BR> + Morris W. Smith,<BR> +<BR> + of New Orleans,<BR> +<BR> + This story of life among the Northern<BR> + Hills is respectfully dedicated<BR> + by his friend<BR> + The Author<BR> +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAPTER</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">DR. KENNEDY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">THE JOURNEY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">THE NEW HOME</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">LITTLE LOUIS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">MRS. JANET BLODGETT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">THE MOTHER</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">PAST AND PRESENT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">JAMES AND J.C.</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">THE MILKMAN'S HEIRESS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">THE ENGAGEMENT, REAL AND PROSPECTIVE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">MAUD GLENDOWER</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">HOW THE ENGAGEMENTS PROSPERED</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">HAMPTON</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">THE DARK HOUR</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">THE NEW MISTRESS AT LAUREL HILL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">THE BLIND GIRL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">NELLIE'S BRIDAL NIGHT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">COUSIN MAUDE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19">A SECOND BRIDAL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20">THE SEXTON</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap21">HOME AGAIN</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DR. KENNEDY. +</H3> + +<P> +"If you please, marm, the man from York State is comin' afoot. Too +stingy to ride, I'll warrant," and Janet, the housekeeper, +disappeared from the parlor, just as the sound of the gate was +heard, and an unusually fine-looking middle-aged man was seen coming +up the box-lined walk which led to the cottage door. +</P> + +<P> +The person thus addressed was a lady, whose face, though young and +handsome, wore a look which told of early sorrow. Matilda Remington +had been a happy, loving wife, but the old churchyard in Vernon +contained a grass-grown grave, where rested the noble heart which +had won her girlish love. And she was a widow now, a fair-haired, +blue-eyed widow, and the stranger who had so excited Janet's wrath +by walking from the depot, a distance of three miles, would claim +her as his bride ere the morrow's sun was midway in the heavens. How +the engagement happened she could not exactly tell, but happened it +had, and she was pledged to leave the vine-wreathed cottage which +Harry had built for her, and go with one of whom she knew +comparatively little. +</P> + +<P> +Six months before our story opens she had spent a few days with him +at the house of a mutual friend in an adjoining State, and since +that time they had written to each other regularly, the +correspondence resulting at last in an engagement, which he had now +come to fulfill. He had never visited her before in her own home, +consequently she was wholly unacquainted with his disposition or +peculiarities. He was intelligent and refined, commanding in +appearance, and agreeable in manner whenever he chose to be, and +when he wrote to her of his home, which he said would be a second +Paradise were she its mistress, when he spoke of the little +curly-headed girl who so much needed a mother's care, and when, more than +all, he hinted that his was no beggar's fortune, she yielded; for +Matilda Remington did not dislike the luxuries which money alone can +purchase. Her own fortune was small, and as there was now no hand +save her own to provide, she often found it necessary to economize +more than she wished to do. But Dr. Kennedy was rich, and if she +married him she would escape a multitude of annoyances, so she made +herself believe that she loved him; and when she heard, as she more +than once did hear, rumors of a sad, white-faced woman to whom the +grave was a welcome rest, she said the story was false, and, shaking +her pretty head, refused to believe that there was aught in the +doctor of evil. +</P> + +<P> +"To be sure, he was not at all like Harry—she could never find one +who was—but he was so tall, so dignified, so grand, so particular, +that it seemed almost like stooping, for one in his position to +think of her, and she liked him all the better for his condescension." +</P> + +<P> +Thus she ever reasoned, and when Janet said that he was coming, and +she, too, heard his step upon the piazza, the bright blushes broke +over her youthful face, and casting a hurried glance at the mirror, +she hastened out to meet him. +</P> + +<P> +"Matty, my dear!" he said, and his thin lips touched her glowing +cheek, but in his cold gray eye there shone no love,—no feeling,—no +heart. +</P> + +<P> +He was too supremely selfish to esteem another higher than himself, +and though it flattered him to know that the young creature was so +glad to meet him, it awoke no answering chord, and he merely thought +that with her to minister to him he should possibly be happier than +he had been with her predecessor. +</P> + +<P> +"You must be very tired," she said, as she led the way into the cozy +parlor. Then, seating him in the easy chair near to the open window, +she continued: "How warm you are. What made you walk this sultry +afternoon?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is a maxim of mine never to ride when I can walk," said he, "for +I don't believe in humoring those omnibus drivers by paying their +exorbitant prices." +</P> + +<P> +"Two shillings surely is not an exorbitant price," trembled on Mrs. +Remington's lips, but she was prevented from saying so by his asking +"if everything were in readiness for the morrow." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, everything," she replied. "The cottage is sold, and—" +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, indeed, sold!" said he, interrupting her. "If I mistake not you +told me, when I met you in Rome, that it was left by will to you. +May I, as your to-morrow's husband, ask how much you received for +it?" And he unbent his dignity so far as to wind his arm around her +waist. +</P> + +<P> +But the arm was involuntarily withdrawn when, with her usual +frankness, Matty replied; "I received a thousand dollars, but there +were debts to be paid, so that I had only five hundred left, and +this I made over to my daughter to be used for her education." +</P> + +<P> +Dr. Kennedy did not say that he was disappointed, and as Matty was +not much of a physiognomist she did not read it in his face, and she +continued: "Janet will remain here a while, to arrange matters, +before joining me in my new home. She wished me to leave my little +girl to come with her, but I can't do that. I must have my child +with me. You've never seen her, have you? I'll call her at once." +And stepping to the door she bade Janet bring "Maude" into the +parlor. +</P> + +<P> +"Maude!" How Dr. Kennedy started at the mention of a name which +drove all thoughts of the five hundred dollars from his mind. There +was feeling—passion—everything, now, in his cold gray eye, but +quickly recovering his composure, he said calmly: "Maude, Matty—Maude, +is that your child's name?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, yes," she answered laughingly. "Didn't you know it before?" +</P> + +<P> +"How should I," he replied, "when in your letters you have always +called her 'daughter'? But has she no other name? She surely was not +baptized Maude?" +</P> + +<P> +Ere Mrs. Remington could speak, the sound of little pattering feet +was heard in the hall without, and in a moment Maude Remington stood +before her stepfather-elect, looking, as that rather fastidious +gentleman thought, more like a wild gipsy than the child of a +civilized mother. She was a fat, chubby child, not yet five years +old; black-eyed, black-haired, black-faced, with short, thick curls, +which, damp with perspiration, stood up all over her head, giving +her a singular appearance. She had been playing in the brook, her +favorite companion, and now, with little spatters of mud ornamenting +both face and pantalets, her sun-bonnet hanging down her back, and +her hands full of pebble-stones, she stood furtively eyeing the +stranger, whose mental exclamation was: "Mercy, what a fright!" +</P> + +<P> +"Maude!" exclaimed the distressed Mrs. Remington, "where have you +been? Go at once to Janet, and have your dress changed; then come +back to me." +</P> + +<P> +Nothing loath to join Janet, whose company was preferable to that of +the stranger, Maude left the room, while Dr. Kennedy, turning to +Mrs. Remington, said: "She is not at all like you, my dear." +</P> + +<P> +"No," answered the lady; "she is like her father in everything; the +same eyes, the same hair, and—" +</P> + +<P> +She was going on to say more, when the expression of Dr. Kennedy's +face stopped her, and she began to wonder if she had displeased him. +Dr. Kennedy could talk for hours of "the late Mrs. Kennedy," +accompanying his words with long-drawn sighs, and enumerating her +many virtues, all of which he expected to be improved upon by her +successor; but he could not bear to hear the name of Harry Remington +spoken by one who was to be his wife, and he at once changed the +subject of Maude's looks to her name, which he learned was really +Matilda. She had been called Maude, Matty said, after one who was +once a very dear friend both of herself and her husband. +</P> + +<P> +"Then we will call her Matilda," said he, "as it is a maxim of mine +never to spoil children by giving them pet names." +</P> + +<P> +"But you call your daughter Nellie," suggested the little widow, and +in her soft, blue eye there shone a mischievous twinkle, as if she +fancied she had beaten him with his own argument. +</P> + +<P> +But if she thought to convince that most unreasonable man, she was +mistaken. What he did was no criterion for others, unless he chose +that it should be so, and he answered, "That is sister Kelsey's +idea, and as she is very fond of Nellie I do not interfere. But, +seriously, Matty, darling,"—and he drew her to his side, with an +uncommon show of fondness,—"I cannot call your daughter Maude; I +do not like the name, and it is a maxim of mine, that if a person +dislikes a name, 'tis an easy matter to dislike the one who bears +it." +</P> + +<P> +Had Mrs. Remington cared less for him than she did, she might have +wondered how many more disagreeable maxims he had in store. But love +is blind, or nearly so; and when, as if to make amends for his +remarks, he caressed her with an unusual degree of tenderness, the +impulsive woman felt that she would call her daughter anything which +suited him. Accordingly, when at last Maude returned to the parlor, +with her dress changed, her curls arranged, and her dimpled cheeks +shining with the suds in which they had been washed, she was +prepared to say Matilda or whatever else pleased his capricious +fancy. +</P> + +<P> +"Little girl," he said, extending his hand toward her, "little girl, +come here. I wish to talk with you." +</P> + +<P> +But the little girl hung back, and when tier mother insisted upon +her going to the gentleman, asking if she did not like him, she +answered decidedly, "No, I don't like him, and he shan't be my pa, +either!" +</P> + +<P> +"Maude, daughter!" exclaimed Mrs. Remington, while Dr. Kennedy, +turning slightly pale, thought "wretch!" but said, "Matilda, come +here, won't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I aint Matilda," she answered. "I won't be Matilda—I'm Maude," and +her large black eyes flashed defiantly upon him. +</P> + +<P> +It was in vain that Dr. Kennedy coaxed and Mrs. Remington +threatened. Maude had taken a dislike to the stranger, and as he +persisted in calling her Matilda, she persisted in refusing to +answer, until at last, hearing Janet pass through the hall, she ran +out to her, sure of finding comfort and sympathy there. +</P> + +<P> +"I am afraid I have suffered Maude to have her own way too much, and +for the future I must be more strict with her," said Mrs. Remington +apologetically; while the doctor replied, "I think, myself, a little +wholesome discipline would not be amiss. 'Tis a maxim of mine, spare +the rod and spoil the child; but, of course, I shall not interfere +in the matter." +</P> + +<P> +This last he said because he saw a shadow flit over the fair face of +the widow, who, like most indulgent mothers, did not wholly believe +in Solomon. The sight of Janet in the hall suggested a fresh subject +to the doctor's mind, and, after coughing a little, he said, "Did I +understand that your domestic was intending to join you at Laurel +Hill?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," returned Mrs. Remington, "Janet came to live with my mother +when I was a little girl no larger than Maude. Since my marriage she +has lived with me, and I would not part with her for anything." +</P> + +<P> +"But do you not think two kinds of servants are apt to make trouble, +particularly if one is black and the other white?" and in the +speaker's face there was an expression which puzzled Mrs. Remington, +who could scarce refrain from crying at the thoughts of parting with +Janet, and who began to have a foretaste of the dreary homesickness +which was to wear her life away. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't do without Janet," she said; "she knows all my ways, and I +trust her with everything." +</P> + +<P> +"The very reason why she should not go," returned the doctor. "She +and old Hannah would quarrel at once. You would take sides with +Janet, I with Hannah, and that might produce a feeling which ought +never to exist between man and wife. No, my dear, listen to me in +this matter, and let Janet remain in Vernon. Old Hannah has been in +my family a long time. She was formerly a slave, and belonged to my +uncle, who lived in Virginia, and who, at his death, gave her to me. +Of course I set her free, for I pride myself on being a man of +humanity, and since that time she has lived with us, superintending +the household entirely since Mrs. Kennedy's death. She is very +peculiar, and would never suffer Janet to dictate, as I am sure, +from what you say, she would do. So, my dear, try and think all is +for the best. You need not tell her she is not to come, for it is a +maxim of mine to avoid all unnecessary scenes, and you can easily +write it in a letter." +</P> + +<P> +Poor Mrs. Remington! she knew intuitively that the matter was +decided, and was she not to be forgiven if at that moment she +thought of the grass-grown grave whose occupant had in life been +only too happy granting her slightest wish? But Harry was gone, and +the man with whom she now had to deal was an exacting, tyrannical +master, to whose will her own must ever be subservient. This, +however, she did not then understand. She knew he was not at all +like Harry, but she fancied that the difference consisted in his +being so much older, graver, and wiser than her husband had been, +and so with a sigh she yielded the point, thinking that Janet would +be the greater sufferer of the two. +</P> + +<P> +That evening several of her acquaintances called to see the +bridegroom-elect, whom, in Mrs. Remington's hearing, they pronounced +very fine looking and quite agreeable in manner; compliments which +tended in a measure to soothe her irritated feelings and quiet the +rapid beatings of her heart, which for hours after she retired to +rest would occasionally whisper to her that the path she was about +to tread was far from being strewn with flowers. +</P> + +<P> +"He loves me, I know," she thought, "though his manner of showing it +is so different from Harry; but I shall become accustomed to that +after a while, and be very, very happy." And comforted with this +assurance she fell asleep, encircling within her arms the little +Maude, whose name had awakened bitter memories in the heart of him +who in an adjoining chamber battled with thoughts of the dark past, +which now on the eve of his second marriage passed in sad review +before his mind. +</P> + +<P> +Memories there were of a gentle, pale-faced woman, who, when her +blue eyes were dim with coming death, had shudderingly turned away +from him, as if his presence brought her more of pain than joy. +Memories, too, there were of another—a peerlessly beautiful +creature who, ere he had sought the white-faced woman for his wife, +had trampled on his affections and spurned as a useless gift his +offered love. He hated her now, he thought; and the little black-haired +child, sleeping so sweetly in its mother's arms, was hateful +in his sight, because it bore that woman's name. One, two, three—sounded +the clock, and then he fell asleep, dreaming that underneath +the willows which grew in the churchyard, far off on Laurel Hill, +there were two graves instead of one; that in the house across the +common there was a sound of rioting and mirth, unusual in that +silent mansion. For she was there, the woman whom he had so madly +loved, and wherever she went crowds gathered about her as in the +olden time. +</P> + +<P> +"Maude Glendower, why are you here?" he attempted to say, when a +clear, silvery voice aroused him from his sleep, and starting up, he +listened half in anger, half in disappointment, to the song which +little Maude Remington sang as she sat in the open door awaiting the +return of her mother, who had gone for the last time to see the +sunshine fall on Harry's grave. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE JOURNEY. +</H3> + +<P> +Mrs. Kennedy looked charming in her traveling dress of brown, and +the happy husband likened her to a Quakeress, as he kissed her +blushing cheek and called her his "little wife." He had passed +through the ceremony remarkably well, standing very erect, making +the responses very, loud, and squeezing very becomingly the soft +white hand on whose third finger he placed the wedding ring—a very +small one, by the way. It was over now, and many of the bridal +guests were gone; the minister, too, had gone, and jogging leisurely +along upon his sorrel horse had ascertained the size of his fee, +feeling a little disappointed that it was not larger—five dollars +seemed so small, when he fully expected twenty from one of Dr. +Kennedy's reputed wealth. +</P> + +<P> +Janet had seen that everything was done for the comfort of the +travelers, and then out behind the smokehouse had scolded herself +soundly for crying, when she ought to appear brave, and encourage +her young mistress. Not the slightest hint had she received that she +was not to follow them in a few, weeks, and when at parting little +Maude clung to her skirts, beseeching her to go, she comforted the +child by telling her what she would bring her in the autumn, when +she came. Half a dozen dolls, as many pounds of candy, a dancing +jack, and a mewing kitten were promised, and then the faithful +creature turned to the weeping bride, who clasped her hard old hand +convulsively, for she knew it was a long good-by. Until the carriage +disappeared from view did Mrs. Kennedy look back through blinding +tears to the spot where Janet stood, wiping her eyes with a corner +of her stiffly starched white apron, and holding up one foot to keep +her from soiling her clean blue cotton stockings, for, in accordance +with a superstition peculiar to her race, she had thrown after the +travelers a shoe, by way of insuring them good luck. +</P> + +<P> +For once in his life Dr. Kennedy tried to be very kind and attentive +to his bride, who, naturally hopeful and inclined to look upon the +brighter side, dried her tears soon after entering the cars, and +began to fancy she was very happy in her new position as the wife of +Dr. Kennedy. The seat in front of them was turned back and occupied +by Maude, who busied herself a while in watching the fence and the +trees, which she said were "running so fast toward Janet and home!" +Then her dark eyes would scan curiously the faces of Dr. Kennedy and +her mother, resting upon the latter with a puzzled expression, as if +she could not exactly understand it. The doctor persisted in calling +her Matilda, and as she resolutely persisted in refusing to answer +to that name, it seemed quite improbable that they would ever talk +much together. Occasionally, it is true, he made her some advances, +by playfully offering her his hand, but she would not touch it, and +after a time, standing upon the seat and turning round, she found +more agreeable society in the company of two boys who sat directly +behind her. +</P> + +<P> +They were evidently twelve or thirteen years of age, and in personal +appearance somewhat alike, save that the face of the brown-haired +boy was more open, ingenuous, and pleasing than that of his +companion, whose hair and eyes were black as night. A jolt of the +cars caused Maude to lay her chubby hand upon the shoulder of the +elder boy, who, being very fond of children, caught it within his +own, and in this way made her acquaintance. To him she was very +communicative, and in a short time he learned that "her name was +Maude Remington, that the pretty lady in brown was her mother, and +that the naughty man was not her father, and never would be, for +Janet said so." +</P> + +<P> +This at once awakened an interest in the boys, and for more than an +hour they petted and played with the little girl, who, though very +gracious to both, still manifested so much preference for the +brown-haired, that the other laughingly asked her which she liked the +best. +</P> + +<P> +"I like you and you," was Maude's childlike answer, as she pointed a +finger at each. +</P> + +<P> +"But," persisted her questioner, "you like my cousin the best. Will +you tell me why?" +</P> + +<P> +Maude hesitated a moment, then laying a hand on either side of the +speaker's face, and looking intently into his eyes, she answered, +"You don't look as if you meant for certain, and he does!" +</P> + +<P> +Had Maude Remington been twenty instead of five, she could not +better have defined the difference between those two young lads, and +in after years she had sad cause for remembering words which seemed +almost prophetic. At Albany they, parted company, for though the +boys lived in Rochester they were to remain in the city through the +night, and Dr. Kennedy had decided to go on. By doing so he would +reach home near the close of the next day, beside saving a large +hotel bill, and this last was with him a very weighty reason. But he +did not say so to his wife; neither did he tell her that he had left +orders for his carriage to be in Canadaigua on the arrival of the +noon train, but he said "he was in haste to show her to his +daughter—that 'twas a maxim of his to save as much time as +possible, and that unless she were very anxious to sleep, he would +rather travel all night." So the poor, weary woman, whose head was +aching terribly, smiled faintly upon him as she said, "Go on, of +course," and nibbled at the hard seedcakes and harder crackers which +he brought her, there not being time for supper in Albany. +</P> + +<P> +It was a long, tedious ride, and though a strong arm was thrown +around her, and her head was pillowed upon the bosom of her husband, +who really tried to make her as comfortable as possible, Mrs. +Kennedy could scarcely refrain from tears as she thought how +different was this bridal tour from what she had anticipated. She +had fully expected to pass by daylight through the Empire State, and +she had thought with how much delight her eye would rest upon the +grassy meadows, the fertile plains, the winding Mohawk, the drone-like +boats on the canal, the beautiful Cayuga, and the silvery water +so famed in song; but, in contrast to all this, she was shut up in a +dingy car, whose one dim lamp sent forth a sickly ray and sicklier +smell, while without all was gloomy, dark, and drear. No wonder, +then, that when toward morning Maude, who missed her soft, nice bed, +began to cry for Janet and for home, the mother too burst forth in +tears and choking sobs, which could not be controlled. +</P> + +<P> +"Hush, Matty—don't," and the disturbed doctor shook her very +gently; "it will soon be daylight, and 'tis a max—" Here he +stopped, for he had no maxim suited to that occasion; and, in a most +unenviable frame of mind, he frowned at the crying Maude, and tried +to soothe his weeping wife, until at last, as the face of the latter +was covered, and the former grew more noisy and unmanageable, he +administered a fatherly rebuke in the shape of a boxed ear, which +had no other effect than the eliciting from the child the outcry, +"Let me be, old doctor, you!" if, indeed, we except the long scratch +made upon his hand by the little sharp nail of his stepdaughter. +</P> + +<P> +At that moment Matty lifted up her head, but as Maude was no +tale-bearer, and the doctor hardly dared to tell her that he had thus +early taken upon himself the government of her child, she never knew +exactly what it was which made Maude's ear so red or her liege +lord's face so dark. +</P> + +<P> +It was nearly noon when they arrived at Canandaigua, where the first +object which caught Mrs. Kennedy's eye was an old-fashioned +carryall, which her husband honored with the appellation of +carriage, said carriage being drawn by two farm-horses, which looked +as if oats and corn were to them luxuries unknown. +</P> + +<P> +"I must have a cup of tea," said Mrs. Kennedy, as she saw the black +man, John, arranging the baggage upon the rack of the carryall, and +heard her husband bid him hurry, as there was no time to lose. "I +must have a cup of tea, my head is aching dreadfully," and her white +lips quivered, while the tears rolled down her cheeks. +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly, certainly," answered the doctor, who was in unusually +good spirits, having just heard from an acquaintance whom he chanced +to meet that a lawsuit which had long been pending was decided in +his favor, and that the house and lot of a widow would probably come +into his possession. "Certainly, two cups if you like; I should have +proposed it myself, only I knew old Hannah would have dinner in +readiness for us, and 'tis a maxim of mine, that fasting provokes an +appetite." +</P> + +<P> +"Hang dis nigger, if he aint a-maxin' her so quick!" muttered the +darkey, showing his teeth from ear to ear; and, coaxing Maude away +from her mother, he took her to a restaurant, where he literally +crammed her with ginger-bread, raisins, and candy, bidding her eat +all she wanted at once, for it would be a long time, maybe, ere +she'd have another chance! +</P> + +<P> +"If you please, sar," he said, when at last he had returned to his +master, "if you please, Miss Nellie say how you must fotch her +somethin', and the old woman spec's a present in honor of de +'casion." +</P> + +<P> +Dr. Kennedy thought of the lawsuit, and so far opened both heart and +purse as to buy for Nellie a paper of peanuts and for Hannah a +ten-cent calico apron, after which he pronounced himself in readiness to +go, and in a few moments Mrs. Kennedy was on her way to her new +home. +</P> + +<P> +The road led over rocky hills, reminding her so much of Vernon and +its surrounding country that a feeling of rest stole over her, and +she fell into a quiet sleep, from which she did not awaken until the +carriage stopped suddenly and her husband whispered in her ear, +"Wake, Matty, wake; we are home at last." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE NEW HOME. +</H3> + +<P> +It was a large, square, wooden building, built in the olden time, +with a wide hall in the center, a tiny portico in front, and a long +piazza in the rear. In all the town there was not so delightful a +location, for it commanded a view of the country for many miles +around, while from the chamber windows was plainly discernible the +sparkling Honeoye, whose waters slept so calmly 'mid the hills which +lay to the southward. On the grassy lawn in front tall forest trees +were growing, almost concealing the house from view, while their +long branches so met together as to form a beautiful arch over the +graveled walk which lead to the front door. It was, indeed, a +pleasant spot, and Matty, as she passed through the iron gate, could +not account for the feeling of desolation settling down upon her. +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe it's because there are no flowers here—no roses," she +thought, as she looked around in vain for her favorites, thinking +the while how her first work should be to train a honeysuckle over +the door and plant a rose bush underneath the window. +</P> + +<P> +Poor Matty! Dr. Kennedy had no love for flowers, and the only rose +bush he ever noticed was the one which John had planted at his +mistress' grave, and even this would, perchance, have been unseen, +if he had not scratched his hand unmercifully upon it as he one day +shook the stone to see if it were firmly placed in the ground ere he +paid the man for putting it there! It was a maxim of the doctor's +never to have anything not strictly for use, consequently his house, +both outside and in, was destitute of every kind of ornament; and +the bride, as she followed him through the empty hall into the +silent parlor, whose bare walls, faded carpet, and uncurtained +windows seemed so uninviting, felt a chill creeping over her +spirits, and sinking into the first hard chair she came to, she +might, perhaps, have cried had not John, who followed close behind +her, satchel on arm, whispered encouragingly in her ear, "Never you +mind, missus, your chamber is a heap sight brighter than this, 'case +I tended to that myself." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Kennedy smiled gratefully upon him, feeling sure that beneath +his black exterior there beat a kind and sympathizing heart, and +that in him she had an ally and a friend. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is Nellie?" said the doctor. "Call Nellie, John, and tell +your mother we are here." +</P> + +<P> +John left the room, and a moment after a little tiny creature came +tripping to the door, where she stopped suddenly, and throwing back +her curls, gazed curiously first at Mrs. Kennedy and then at Maude, +whose large black eyes fastened themselves upon her with a gaze +quite as curious and eager as her own. She was more than a year +older than Maude, but much smaller in size, and her face seemed to +have been fashioned after a beautiful waxen doll, so brilliant was +her complexion and so regular her features. She was naturally +affectionate and amiable, too, when suffered to have her own way. +Neither was she at all inclined to be timid, and when her father, +taking her hand in his, bade her speak to her new mother, she went +unhesitatingly to the lady, and climbing into her lap, sat there +very quietly so long as Mrs. Kennedy permitted her to play with her +rings, pull her collar, and take out her side-combs, for she had +laid aside her bonnet; but when at last her little sharp eyes +ferreted out a watch, which she insisted upon having "all to +herself," a liberty which Mrs. Kennedy refused to grant, she began +to pout, and, sliding from her new mother's lap, walked up to Maude, +whose acquaintance she made by asking if she had a pink silk dress. +"No, but I guess Janet will bring me one," answered Maude, whose +eyes never for an instant left the face of her stepsister. +</P> + +<P> +She was an enthusiastic admirer of beauty, and Nellie had made an +impression upon her at once; so, when the latter said, "What makes +you look at me so funny?" she answered, "Because you are so pretty." +This made a place for her at once in the heart of the vain little +Nellie, who asked her to go upstairs and see the pink silk dress +which "Aunt Kelsey had given her." +</P> + +<P> +As they left the room Mrs. Kennedy said to her husband, "Your +daughter is very beautiful." +</P> + +<P> +Dr. Kennedy liked to have people say that of his child, for he knew +she was much like himself, and he stroked his brown beard +complacently, as he replied: "Yes, Nellie is rather pretty, and, +considering all things, is as well-behaved a child as one often +finds. She seldom gets into a passion or does anything rude," and he +glanced at the long scratch upon his hand; but as his wife knew +nothing of said scratch, the rebuke was wholly lost, and he +continued: "I was anxious that she should be a boy, for it is a +maxim of mine that the oldest child in every family ought to be a +son, and so I said, repeatedly, to the late Mrs. Kennedy, who, +though a most excellent woman in most matters, was in others +unaccountably set in her way. I suppose I said some harsh things +when I heard it was a daughter, but it can't be helped now," and +with a slightly injured air the husband of "the late Mrs. Kennedy" +began to pace up and down the room, while the present Mrs. Kennedy +puzzled her rather weak brain to know "what in the world he meant." +</P> + +<P> +Meantime between John and his mother there was a hurried +conversation, the former inquiring naturally after the looks of her +new mistress. +</P> + +<P> +"Pretty as a pink," answered John, "and neat as a fiddle, with the +sweetest little baby ways; but I tell you what 'tis," and John's +voice fell to a whisper: "he'll maxim her into heaven a heap sight +quicker'n he did t'other one; 'case you see she haint so much—what +you call him—so much go off to her as Miss Katy had, and she can't +bar his grinding ways. They'll scrush her to onct—see if they +don't. But I knows one thing, this yer nigger 'tends to do his duty, +and hold up them little cheese-curd hands of her'n, jest as some of +them Scripter folks held up Moses with the bulrushes." +</P> + +<P> +"And what of the young one?" asked Hannah, who had been quite +indignant at the thoughts of another child in the family, "what of +the young one?" +</P> + +<P> +"Bright as a dollar!" answered John. "Knows more'n a dozen of +Nellie, and well she might, for she aint half as white, and as +Master Kennedy says, it's a maxim of mine, the blacker the hide the +better the sense!" +</P> + +<P> +By this time Hannah had washed the dough from her hands, and taking +the roast chicken from the oven she donned a clean apron and started +to see the stranger for herself. Although a tolerably good woman, +Hannah's face was not very prepossessing, and Mrs. Kennedy +intuitively felt that 'twould be long before her former domestic's +place was made good by the indolent African. It is true her +obeisance was very low, and her greeting kindly enough, but there +was about her an inquisitive, and at the same time, rather +patronizing air which Mrs. Kennedy did not like, and she was glad +when she at last left the parlor, telling them, as she did so, that +"dinner was done ready." +</P> + +<P> +Notwithstanding that the house itself was so large, the dining room +was a small, dark, cheerless apartment, and though she was beginning +to feel the want of food, Mrs. Kennedy could scarcely force down a +mouthful, for the homesick feeling at her heart; a feeling which +whispered to her that the home to which she had come was not like +that which she had left. Dinner being over, she asked permission to +retire to her chamber, saying she needed rest, and should feel +better after she had slept. Nellie volunteered to lead the way, and +as they left the dining room old Hannah, who was notoriously lazy, +muttered aloud: "A puny, sickly thing. Great help she'll be to me; +but I shan't stay to wait on more'n forty more." +</P> + +<P> +Dr. Kennedy had his own private reason for wishing to conciliate +Hannah. When he set her free he made her believe it was her duty to +work for him for nothing, and though she soon learned better, and +often threatened to leave, he had always managed to keep her, for, +on the whole, she liked her place, and did not care to change it for +one where her task would be much harder. But if the new wife proved +to be sickly, matters would be different, and so she fretted, as we +have seen, while the doctor comforted her with the assurance that +Mrs. Kennedy was only tired—that she was naturally well and strong, +and would undoubtedly be of great assistance when the novelty of her +position had worn away. +</P> + +<P> +While this conversation was taking place Mrs. Kennedy was examining +her chamber and thinking many pleasant things of John, whose +handiwork was here so plainly visible. All the smaller and more +fanciful pieces of furniture which the house afforded had been +brought to this room, whose windows looked out upon the lake and the +blue hills beyond. A clean white towel concealed the marred +condition of the washstand, while the bed, which was made up high +and round, especially in the middle, looked very inviting with its +snowy spread. A large stuffed rocking chair, more comfortable than +handsome, occupied the center of the room, while better far than +all, the table, the mantel, and the windows were filled with +flowers, which John had begged from the neighboring gardens, and +which seemed to smile a welcome upon the weary woman, who, with a +cry of delight, bent down and kissed them through her tears. +</P> + +<P> +"Did these come from your garden?" she asked of Nellie, who, child-like, +answered, "We haint any flowers. Pa won't let John plant any. +He told Aunt Kelsey the land had better be used for potatoes, and +Aunt Kelsey said he was too stingy to live." +</P> + +<P> +"Who is Aunt Kelsey?" asked Mrs. Kennedy, a painful suspicion +fastening itself upon her that the lady's opinion might be correct. +</P> + +<P> +"She is pa's sister Charlotte," answered Nellie, "and lives in +Rochester, in a great big house, with the handsomest things; but she +don't come here often, it's so heathenish, she says." +</P> + +<P> +Here spying John, who was going with the oxen to the meadow, she ran +away, followed by Maude, between whom and herself there was for the +present a most amicable understanding. Thus left alone Mrs. Kennedy +had time for thought, which crowded upon her so fast that, at last +throwing herself upon the bed, she wept bitterly, half wishing she +had never come to Laurel Hill, but was still at home in her own +pleasant cottage. Then hope whispered to her of a brighter day, when +things would not seem to her as they now did. She would fix up the +desolate old house, she thought; the bare windows which now so +stared her in the face should be shaded with pretty muslin curtains, +and she would loop them back with ribbons. The carpet, too, on the +parlor floor should be exchanged for a better one, and when her +piano and marble table came, the only articles of furniture she had +not sold, it would not seem so cheerless and so cold. +</P> + +<P> +Comforted with these thoughts, she fell asleep, resting quietly +until, just as the sun had set and it was growing dark within the +room, Maude came rushing in, her dress all wet, her face flushed, +and her eyes red with tears. She and Nellie had quarreled—nay, +actually fought; Nellie telling Maude she was blacker than a nigger, +and pushing her into the brook, while Maude, in return, had pulled +out a handful of the young lady's hair, for which her stepfather had +shaken her soundly and sent her to her mother, whom she begged "to +go home, and not stay in that old house where the folks were ugly +and the rooms not a bit pretty." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Kennedy's heart was already full, and drawing Maude to her +side, the two homesick children mingled their tears together, until +a heavy footstep upon the stairs announced the approach of Dr. +Kennedy. Not a word did he say of his late adventure with Maude, and +his manner was very kind toward his weary wife, who, with his hand +upon her aching forehead, and his voice in her ear, telling her how +sorry he was that she was sick, forgot that she had been unhappy. +</P> + +<P> +"Whatever else he may do," she thought, "he certainly loves me," and +after a fashion he did perhaps love her. She was a pretty little +creature, and her playful, coquettish ways had pleased him at first +sight. He needed a wife, and when their mutual friend, who knew +nothing of him save that he was a man of integrity and wealth, +suggested Matty Remington, he too thought favorably of the matter, +and yielding to the fascination of her soft blue eyes he had won her +for his wife, pitying her, it may be, as he sat by her in the +gathering twilight, and half guessed that she was homesick. And when +he saw how confidingly she clung to him, he was conscious of a +half-formed resolution to be to her what a husband ought to be. But +Dr. Kennedy's resolves were like the morning dew, and as the days wore +on his peculiarities, one after another, were discovered by his +wife, who, womanlike, tried to think that he was right and she was +wrong. +</P> + +<P> +In due time most of the villagers called upon her, and though they +were both intelligent and refined, she did not feel altogether at +ease in their presence, for the fancy she had that they regarded her +as one who for some reason was entitled to their pity. And in this +she was correct. They did pity her, for they remembered another +gentle woman, whose brown hair had turned gray, and whose blue eyes +had waxed dim beneath the withering influence of him she called her +husband. She was dead, and when they saw the young, light-hearted +Matty, they did not understand how she could ever have been induced +to take that woman's place and wed a man of thirty-eight, and they +blamed her somewhat, until they reflected that she knew nothing of +him, and that her fancy was probably captivated by his dignified +bearing, his manly figure, and handsome face. But these alone they +knew could not make her happy, and ere she had been six weeks a wife +they were not surprised that her face began to wear a weary look, as +if the burden of life were hard to bear. +</P> + +<P> +As far as she could she beautified the home, purchasing with her own +means several little articles which the doctor called useless, +though he never failed to appropriate to himself the easy chair +which she had bought for the sitting room, and which when she was +tired rested her so much. On the subject of curtains he was +particularly obstinate. "There were blinds," he said, "and 'twas a +maxim of his never to spend his money for anything unnecessary." +</P> + +<P> +Still, when Matty bought them herself for the parlor, when her piano +was unboxed and occupied a corner which had long been destitute of +furniture, and when her marble table stood between the windows, with +a fresh bouquet of flowers which John had brought, he exclaimed +involuntarily, "How nice this is!" adding the next moment, lest his +wife should be too much pleased, "but vastly foolish!" +</P> + +<P> +In accordance with her husband's suggestion Mrs. Kennedy wrote to +Janet, breaking to her as gently as possible the fact that she was +not to come, but saying nothing definite concerning her new home or +her own happiness as a second wife. Several weeks went by, and then +an answer came. +</P> + +<P> +"If you had of wanted me," wrote Janet, "I should of come, but bein' +you didn't, I've went to live with Mr. Blodgett, who peddles milk, +and raises butter and cheese, and who they say is worth a deal of +money, and well he may be, for he's saved this forty years." +</P> + +<P> +Then followed a detailed account of her household matters, occupying +in all three pages of foolscap, to which was pinned a bit of paper, +containing the following: +</P> + +<P> +"Joel looked over my writing and said I'd left out the very thing I +wanted to tell the most. We are married, me and Joel, and I only +hope you are as happy with that doctor as I am with my man." +</P> + +<P> +This announcement crushed at once the faint hope which Mrs. Kennedy +had secretly entertained, of eventually having Janet to supply the +place of Hannah, who was notoriously lazy, and never under any +circumstances did anything she possibly could avoid. Dr. Kennedy did +not tell his wife that he expected her to make it easy for Hannah, +so she would not leave them; but he told her how industrious the +late Mrs. Kennedy had been, and hinted that a true woman was not +above kitchen work. The consequence of this was that Matty, who +really wished to please him, became in time a very drudge, doing +things which she once thought she could not do, and then without a +murmur ministering to her exacting husband when he came home from +visiting a patient, and declared himself "tired to death." Very +still he sat while her weary little feet ran for the cool drink—the +daily paper—or the morning mail; and very happy he looked when her +snowy fingers combed his hair or brushed his threadbare coat; and +if, perchance, she sighed amid her labor of love, his ear was deaf, +and he did not hear, neither did he see how white and thin she grew +as day by day went by. +</P> + +<P> +Her piano was now seldom touched, for the doctor did not care for +music; still he was glad that she could play, for "Sister Kelsey," +who was to him a kind of terror, would insist that Nellie should +take music lessons, and, as his wife was wholly competent to give +them, he would be spared a very great expense. "Save, save, save," +seemed to be his motto, and when at church the plate was passed to +him he gave his dime a loving pinch ere parting company with it; and +yet none read the service louder or defended his favorite liturgy +more zealously than himself. In some things he was a pattern man, +and when once his servant John announced his intention of +withdrawing from the Episcopalians and joining himself to the +Methodists, who held their meetings in the schoolhouse, he was +greatly shocked, and labored long with the degenerate son of +Ethiopia, who would render to him no reason for his most +unaccountable taste, though he did to Matty, when she questioned him +of his choice. +</P> + +<P> +"You see, missus," said he, "I wasn't allus a herrytic, but was as +good a 'Piscopal as St. George ever had. That's when I lived in +Virginny, and was hired out to Marster Morton, who had a school for +boys, and who larnt me how to read a little. After I'd arn't a heap +of money for Marster Kennedy he wanted to go to the Legislatur', and +as some on 'em wouldn't vote for him while he owned a nigger, he set +me free, and sent for me to come home. 'Twas hard partin' wid dem +boys and Marster Morton, I tell you, but I kinder wanted to see +mother, who had been here a good while, and who, like a fool, was +a-workin' an' is a-workin' for nothin'." +</P> + +<P> +"For nothing!" exclaimed Mrs. Kennedy, a suspicion of the reason why +Janet was refused crossing her mind. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, marm, for nothin'," answered John, "but I aint green enough +for that, and 'fused outright. Then marster, who got beat 'lection +day, threatened to send me back, but I knew he couldn't do it, and +so he agreed to pay eight dollars a month. I could get more somewhar +else, but I'd rather stay with mother, and so I stayed." +</P> + +<P> +"But that has nothing to do with the church," suggested Mrs. +Kennedy, and John replied: +</P> + +<P> +"I'm comin' to the p'int now. I live with Marster Kennedy, and went +with him to church, and when I see how he carried on week days, and +how peart like he read up Sabba' days, sayin' the Lord's Prar and +'Postle's Creed, I began to think thar's somethin' rotten in +Denmark, as the boys use to say in Virginny; so when mother, who +allus was a-roarin' Methodis', asked me to go wid her to meetin', I +went, and was never so mortified in my life, for arter the elder had +'xorted a spell at the top of his voice, he sot down and said there +was room for others. I couldn't see how that was, bein' he took up +the whole chair, and while I was wonderin' what he meant, as I'm a +livin' nigger, up got marm and spoke a piece right in meetin'! I +never was so shamed, and I kep' pullin' at her gownd to make her set +down, but the harder I pulled the louder she hollered, till at last +she blowed her breath all away, and down she sot." +</P> + +<P> +"And did any of the rest speak pieces?" asked Mrs. Kennedy, +convulsed with laughter at John's vivid description. +</P> + +<P> +"Bless your heart," he answered, with a knowing look, "'twarn't a +piece she was speaking—she was tellin' her 'sperience; but it +sounded so like the boys at school that I was deceived, for I'd +never seen such work before. But I've got so I like it now, and I +believe thar's more 'sistency down in that schoolhouse than thar is +in—I won't say the 'Piscopal church, 'case thar's heaps of shinin' +lights thar, but if you won't be mad, I'll say more than thar is in +Marster Kennedy, who has hisself to thank for my bein' a Methodis'." +</P> + +<P> +Whatever Mrs. Kennedy might have thought she could not help laughing +heartily at John, who was now a decided Methodist, and adorned his +profession far more than his selfish, hard-hearted master. His +promise of holding up his mistress' hands had been most faithfully +kept, and, without any disparagement to Janet, Mrs. Kennedy felt +that the loss of her former servant was in a great measure made up +to her in the kind negro, who, as the months went by and her face +grew thinner each day, purchased with his own money many a little +delicacy which he hoped would tempt her capricious appetite. Maude, +too, was a favorite with John, both on account of her color, which +he greatly admired, and because, poor, ignorant creature though he +was, he saw in her the germ of the noble girl who in the coming +years was to bear uncomplainingly a burden of care from which the +selfish Nellie would unhesitatingly turn away. +</P> + +<P> +Toward Maude the doctor had ever manifested a feeling of aversion, +both because of her name and because she had compelled him to yield +when his mind was fully made up to do otherwise. She had resolutely +refused to be called Matilda, and as it was necessary for him +sometimes to address her, he called her first, "You girl," then +"Mat," and finally arrived at "Maude," speaking it always +spitefully, as if provoked that he had once in his life been +conquered. With the management of her he seldom interfered, for that +scratch had given him a timely lesson, and as he did not like to be +unnecessarily troubled, he left both Maude and Nellie to his wife, +who suffered the latter to do nearly as she pleased, and thus +escaped many of the annoyances to which stepmothers are usually +subject. +</P> + +<P> +Although exceedingly selfish Nellie was affectionate in her +disposition, and when Maude did not cross her path the two were on +the best of terms. Disturbances there were, however—quarrels and +fights, in the latter of which Maude, being the stronger of the two, +always came off victor; but these did not last long, and had her +husband been to her what he ought Mrs. Kennedy's life would not have +been as dreary as it was. He meant well enough, perhaps, but he did +not understand a woman, much less know how to treat her, and as the +winter months went by Matty's heart would have fainted within her +but for a hope which whispered to her, "He will love me better when +next summer comes." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +LITTLE LOUIS. +</H3> + +<P> +It is just one year since the summer morning when Matty Kennedy took +upon herself a second time the duties of a wife, and now she lies in +a darkened room, her face white as the winter snow, and her breath +scarcely perceptible to the touch, as it comes faintly from her +parted lips. In dignified silence the doctor sits by, counting her +feeble pulse, while an expression of pride and almost perfect +happiness breaks over his face as he glances toward the cradle which +Hannah has brought from the garret, and where now slept the child +born to him that day. His oft-repeated maxim that if the first were +not a boy the second ought to be, had prevailed at last, and Dombey +had a son. It was a puny thing, but the father said it looked as +Nellie did when she first rested there, and Nellie, holding back her +breath and pushing aside her curls, bent down to see the red-faced +infant. +</P> + +<P> +"I was never as ugly as that, and I don't love him a bit!" she +exclaimed, turning away in disgust; while Maude approached on tip-toe, +and kneeling by the cradle side kissed the unconscious sleeper, +whispering as she did so, "I love you, poor little brother." +</P> + +<P> +Darling Maude—blessed Maude—in all your after life you proved the +truth of those low spoken words, "I love you, poor little brother." +</P> + +<P> +For many days did Mrs. Kennedy hover between life and death, never +asking for her baby, and seldom noticing her husband, who, while +declaring there was no danger, still deemed it necessary, in case +anything should happen, to send for his sister, Mrs. Kelsey, who had +not visited him since his last marriage. She was a proud, +fashionable woman, who saw nothing attractive in the desolate old +house, and who had conceived an idea that her brother's second wife +was a sort of nobody whom he had picked up among the New England +hills. But the news of her illness softened her feelings in a +measure, and she started for Laurel Hill, thinking that if Matty +died she hoped a certain dashing, brilliant woman, called Maude +Glendower, might go there, and govern the tyrannical doctor, even as +he had governed others. +</P> + +<P> +It was late in the afternoon when she reached her brother's house, +from which Nellie came running out to meet her, accompanied by +Maude. From the latter the lady at first turned disdainfully away, +but ere long stole another look at the brown-faced girl, about whom +there was something very attractive. +</P> + +<P> +"Curtains, as I live!" she exclaimed, as she entered the parlor. "A +piano, and marble table, too. Where did these come from?" +</P> + +<P> +"They are ma's, and she's got a baby upstairs," answered Maude, and +the lady's hand rested for an instant on the little curly head, for +strange as it may seem, she esteemed more highly a woman who owned a +piano and handsome table than she did one whose worldly possessions +were more limited. +</P> + +<P> +After making some changes in her dress, she went up to the sick-room, +and as Matty was asleep, she had ample time to examine her +face, and also to inspect the room, which showed in someone a +refined and delicate taste. +</P> + +<P> +"She must be more of a lady than I supposed," she thought, and when +at last her sister-in-law awoke she greeted her kindly, and during +her visit, which lasted nearly two weeks, she exerted herself to be +agreeable, succeeding so far that Matty parted from her at last with +genuine regret. +</P> + +<P> +"Poor thing—she'll never see another winter," was Mrs. Kelsey's +mental comment, as she bade the invalid good-by; but in this she was +mistaken, for with the falling of the leaf Matty began to improve, +and though she never fully regained her health, she was able again +to be about the house, doing far more than she ought to have done, +but never uttering a word of complaint, however heavy was the burden +imposed upon her. +</P> + +<P> +With Maude and her baby, who bore the name of Louis, she found her +greatest comfort. He was a sweet, playful child, and sure never +before was father so foolishly proud of his son as was Dr. Kennedy +of his. For hours would he sit watching him while he slept, and +building castles of the future, when "Louis Kennedy, only son of Dr. +Kennedy," should be honored among men. Toward the mother, too, who +had borne him such a prodigy he became a little more indulgent, +occasionally suffering her wishes to prevail over his maxims, and on +three several occasions giving her a dollar to spend as she pleased. +Surely such generosity did not deserve so severe a punishment as was +in store for the proud father. +</P> + +<P> +Louis had a most beautiful face, and in his soft, brown eyes there +was a "look like the angels," as Maude once said to her mother, who +seldom spoke of him without a sigh, for on her mind a terrible fear +was fastening itself. Although mentally as forward as other +children, Louis' body did not keep pace with the growth of his +intellect, and when he was two years of age he could not bear his +weight upon his feet, but in creeping dragged his limbs slowly, as +if in them there was no life—no strength. +</P> + +<P> +"Ma, why don't Louis walk?" asked Maude, one evening when she saw +how long it took him to cross the room. +</P> + +<P> +"Loui' tant walk," answered the child, who talked with perfect ease. +</P> + +<P> +The tears came instantly to Mrs. Kennedy's eyes, for, availing +herself of her husband's absence, she had that morning consulted +another physician, who, after carefully examining Louis' body, had +whispered in the poor woman's ear that which made every nerve quiver +with pain, while at the same time it made dearer a thousand-fold her +baby-boy; for a mother's pity increases a mother's love. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, ma, what is it?" persisted Maude. "Will Louis ever walk?" +</P> + +<P> +"Loui'll never walk," answered the little fellow, shaking his brown +curls, and tearing in twain a picture-book which his father had +bought him the day before. +</P> + +<P> +"Maude," said Mrs. Kennedy, drawing her daughter to her side, "I +must tell somebody or my heart will burst," and laying her head upon +the table she wept aloud. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't try, ma, Loui' good," lisped the infant on the floor, while +Mrs. Kennedy, drying at last her tears, told to the wondering Maude +that Louis was not like other children—that he would probably never +have the use of his feet—that a hunch was growing on his back—and +he in time would be—she could not say "deformed," and so she said +at last—"he'll be forever lame." +</P> + +<P> +Poor little Maude! How all her childish dreams were blasted! She had +anticipated so much pleasure in guiding her brother's tottering +footsteps, in leading him to school, to church, and everywhere, and +she could not have him lame. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Louis, Louis!" she cried, winding her arms around his neck, as +if she would thus avert the dreaded evil. +</P> + +<P> +Very wonderfully the child looked up into her eyes, and raising his +waxen hand he wiped her tears away, saying as he did so, "Loui' love +Maude." +</P> + +<P> +With a choking sob Maude kissed her baby brother, then going back to +her mother, whose head still lay upon the table, she whispered, "We +will love poor Louis all the more, you and I." +</P> + +<P> +Blessed Maude, we say again, for these were no idle words, and the +clinging, tender love with which she cherished her unfortunate +brother ought to have shamed the heartless man who, when he heard of +his affliction, refused to be comforted, and almost cursed the day +when his only son was born. He had been absent for a week or more, +and with the exception of the time when he first knew he had a son +he did not remember of having experienced a moment of greater +happiness than that in which he reached his home where dwelt his +boy—his pride—his idol. Louis was not in the room, and on the +mother's face there was an expression of sadness, which at once +awakened the father's fears lest something had befallen his child. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is Louis?" he asked. "Has anything happened to him that you +look so pale?" +</P> + +<P> +"Louis is well," answered Matty, and then, unable longer to control +her feelings, she burst into tears, while the doctor looked on in +amazement, wondering if all women were as nervous and foolish as the +two it had been his fortune to marry. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, husband," she cried, feeling sure of his sympathy, and thinking +it better to tell the truth at once; "has it never occurred to you +that Louis was not like other children?" +</P> + +<P> +"Of course it has," he answered quickly. "He is a thousand times +brighter than any child I have ever known." +</P> + +<P> +"'Tisn't that, 'tisn't that," said Matty. "He'll never walk—he's +lame—deformed!" +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" thundered the doctor, reeling for an instant +like a drunken man; then, recovering his composure, he listened +while Matty told him what she meant. +</P> + +<P> +At that moment Maude drew Louis into the room, and, taking the child +in his arms, the doctor examined him for himself, wondering he had +never observed before how small and seemingly destitute of life were +his lower limbs. The bunch upon the back, though slight as yet, was +really there, and Matty, when questioned, said it had been there for +weeks, but she did not tell of it, for she hoped it would go away. +</P> + +<P> +"It will stay until his dying day," he muttered, as he ordered Maude +to take the child away. "Louis deformed! Louis a cripple! What have +I done that I should be thus sorely punished?" he exclaimed, when he +was alone with his wife; and then, as he dared not blame the +Almighty, he charged it to her, until at last his thoughts took +another channel. Maude had dropped him—he knew she had, and Matty +was to blame for letting her handle him so much, when she knew 'twas +a maxim of his that children should not take care of children. +</P> + +<P> +He had forgotten the time when his worn-out wife had asked him to +hire a nurse girl for Louis, and he had answered that "Maude was +large enough for that." On some points his memory was treacherous, +and for days he continued to repine at his hard fate, wishing once +in Matty's presence that Louis had never been born. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, husband," she cried, "how can you say that! Do you hate our +poor boy because he is a cripple?" +</P> + +<P> +"A cripple!" roared the doctor. "Never use that word again in my +presence. My son a cripple! I can't have it so! I won't have it so! +for 'tis a max—" +</P> + +<P> +Here he stopped, being for a second time in his life at a loss what +to say. +</P> + +<P> +"Sarve 'em right, sarve 'em right," muttered John, whose quick eye +saw everything. "Ole Sam payin' him off good. He think he'll be in +the seventh heaven when he got a boy, and he mighty nigh torment +that little gal's life out with his mexens and things; but now he +got a boy, he feel a heap like the bad place." +</P> + +<P> +Still much as John rejoiced that his master was so punished, his +heart went out in pity toward the helpless child whom he almost +worshiped, carrying him often to the fields, where, seeking out the +shadiest spot and the softest grass for a throne, he would place the +child upon it, and then pay him obeisance by bobbing up and down his +wooly head in a manner quite as satisfactory to Louis as if he +indeed had been a king and John his loyal subject. Old Hannah, too, +was greatly softened, and many a little cake and pie she baked in +secret for the child, while even Nellie gave up to him her favorite +playthings, and her blue eyes wore a pitying look whenever they +rested on the poor unfortunate. All loved him seemingly the more—all, +save the cruel father, who, as the months and years rolled on, +seemed to acquire a positive dislike to the little boy, seldom +noticing him in any way except to frown if he were brought into his +sight. And Louis, with the quick instinct of childhood, learned to +expect nothing from his father, whose attention he never tried to +attract. +</P> + +<P> +As if to make amends for his physical deformity, he possessed an +uncommon mind, and when he was nearly six years of age accident +revealed to him the reason of his father's continued coldness, and +wrung from him the first tears he had ever shed for his misfortune. +He heard one day his mother praying that God would soften her +husband's heart toward his poor hunchback boy, who was not to blame +for his misfortune—and laying his head upon the broad arm of the +chair which had been made for him, he wept bitterly, for he knew now +why he was not loved. That night, as in his crib he lay, watching +the stars which shone upon him through the window, and wondering if +in heaven there were hunchback boys like him, he overheard his +father talking to his mother, and the words that his father said +were never forgotten to his dying day. There were, "Don't ask me to +be reconciled to a cripple! What good can he do me? He will never +earn his own living, lame as he is, and will only be in the way." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, father, father," the cripple essayed to say, but he could not +speak, so full of pain was his little, bursting heart, and that +night he lay awake, praying that he might die and so be out of the +way. +</P> + +<P> +The next morning he asked Maude to draw him to the churchyard where +"his other mother," as he called her, was buried. Maude complied, +and when they were there, placed him at his request upon the ground, +where stretching himself out at his full length, he said: "Look, +Maude, won't mine be a little grave?" then, ere she could answer the +strange question, he continued, "I want to die so bad; and if you +leave me lying here in the long grass maybe God's angel will take me +up to heaven. Will I be lame, there, think you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Louis, Louis, what do you mean?" cried Maude, and as well as he +could, for the tears he shed, Louis told her what he meant. +</P> + +<P> +"Father don't love me because I'm lame, and he called me a cripple, +too. What is a cripple, Maude? Is it anything very bad?" and his +beautiful brown eyes turned anxiously toward his sister. +</P> + +<P> +He had never heard that word before, and to him it had a fearful +significance, even worse than lameness. In an instant Maude knelt by +his side—his head was pillowed on her bosom, and in the silent +graveyard, with the quiet dead around them, she spoke blessed words +of comfort to her brother, telling him what a cripple was, and that +because he bore that name he was dearer far to her. +</P> + +<P> +"Your father will love you, too," she said, "when he learns how good +you are. He loves Nellie, and—" +</P> + +<P> +Ere she could say more she was interrupted by Louis, on whose mind +another truth had dawned, and who now said, "But he don't love you +as he does Nellie. Why not? Are you a cripple, too?" +</P> + +<P> +Folding him still closer in her arms, and kissing his fair, white +brow, Maude answered: "Your father, Louis, is not mine—for mine is +dead, and his grave is far away. I came here to live when I was a +little girl, not quite as old as you, and Nellie is not my sister, +though you are my darling brother." +</P> + +<P> +"And do you love father?" asked Louis, his eyes still fixed upon her +face as if he would read the truth. +</P> + +<P> +Every feeling of Maude Remington's heart answered, "No," to that +question, but she could not say so to the boy, and she replied, "Not +as I could love my own father—neither does he love me, for I am not +his child." +</P> + +<P> +This explanation was not then wholly clear to Louis, but he +understood that there was a barrier between his father and Maude, +and this of itself was sufficient to draw him more closely to the +latter, who, after that day, cherished him, if possible, more +tenderly than she had done before, keeping him out of his father's +way, and cushioning his little crutches so they could not be heard, +for she rightly guessed that the sound of them was hateful to the +harsh man's ears. +</P> + +<P> +Maude was far older than her years, and during the period of time +over which we have passed so briefly she had matured both in mind +and body, until now at the age of twelve she was a self-reliant +little woman on whom her mother wholly depended for comfort and +counsel. Very rapidly was Mrs. Kennedy passing from the world, and +as she felt the approach of death she leaned more and more upon her +daughter, talking to her often of the future and commending Louis to +her care, when with her he would be motherless. Maude's position was +now a trying one, for, when her mother became too ill to leave her +room, and the doctor refused to hire extra help, saying, "two great +girls were help enough," it was necessary for her to go into the +kitchen, where she vainly tried to conciliate old Hannah, who +"wouldn't mind a chit of a girl, and wouldn't fret herself either if +things were not half done." +</P> + +<P> +From the first Nellie resolutely refused to work—"it would black +her hands," she said, and as her father never remonstrated she spent +her time in reading, admiring her pretty face, and drumming upon the +piano, which Maude, who was fonder even than Nellie of music, seldom +found time to touch. One there was, however, who gave to Maude every +possible assistance, and this was John. "Having tried his hand," as +he said, "at everything in Marster Norton's school," he proved of +invaluable service—sweeping, dusting, washing dishes, cleaning +knives, and once ironing Dr. Kennedy's shirts, when old Hannah was +in what he called her "tantrums." But alas for John! the entire +print of the iron upon the bosom of one, to say nothing of the piles +of starch upon another, and more than all, the tremendous scolding +which he received from the owner of said shirt, warned him never to +turn laundress again, and in disgust he gave up his new vocation, +devoting his leisure moments to the cultivation of flowers, which he +carried to his mistress, who smiled gratefully upon him, saying they +were the sweetest she had ever smelled. And so each morning a fresh +bouquet was laid upon her pillow, and as she inhaled their perfume +she thought of her New England home, which she would never see +again—thought, too, of Janet, whose cheering words and motherly +acts would be so grateful to her now when she so much needed care. +</P> + +<P> +"'Tis a long time since I've heard from her," she said one day to +Maude. "Suppose you write tomorrow, and tell her I am sick—tell +her, too, that the sight of her would almost make me well, and maybe +she will come," and on the sick woman's face there was a joyous +expression as she thought how pleasant it would be to see once more +one who had breathed the air of her native hills—had looked upon +her Harry's grave—nay, had known her Harry when in life, and wept +over him in death. +</P> + +<P> +Poor, lonesome, homesick woman! Janet shall surely come in answer to +your call, and ere you deem it possible her shadow shall fall across +your threshold—her step be heard upon the stairs—her hand be +clasped in yours! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MRS. JANET BLODGETT. +</H3> + +<P> +It was a chilly, rainy afternoon toward the latter part of August. +John was gone, the doctor was cross, and Hannah was cross. Nellie, +too, was unusually irritable, and venting her spite upon Hannah +because there was nothing for dinner fit to eat, and upon Maude +because the house was so desolate and dark, she crept away upstairs, +and wrapping a shawl round her, sat down to a novel, pausing +occasionally to frown at the rain which beat at the windows or the +wind as it roared dismally through the trees. While thus employed +she heard the sound of wheels, and looking up, saw standing before +their gate a muddy wagon, from which a little, dumpy figure in black +was alighting, carefully holding up her alpaca dress, and carrying +in one hand a small box which seemed to be full of flowers. +</P> + +<P> +"She must have come to stay a long time," thought Nellie, as she saw +the piles of baggage which the driver was depositing upon the stoop. +"Who can it be?" she continued, as she recalled all her aunts and +cousins, and found that none of them answered the description of +this woman, who knocked loudly at the door, and then walked in to +shelter herself from the storm. +</P> + +<P> +"Forlornity!" Nellie heard her exclaim, as she left the chamber in +answer to the summons. "Forlornity! No table, no hat-stand, no +nothin', and the dingiest old ile-cloth! What does it mean? Your +servant, miss," she added, dropping a courtesy to Nellie, who now +stood on the stairs, with her finger between the pages of her book, +so as not to lose the place. "I guess I've made a mistake," said the +woman; "is this Dr. Canady's?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is," answered Nellie, and the stranger continued, "Dr. Canady +who married the widder Remington?" +</P> + +<P> +"The same," returned Nellie, thinking how unmercifully she would +tease Maude should this prove to be any of her relations. +</P> + +<P> +"And who be you?" asked the stranger, feeling a little piqued at the +coldness of her reception. +</P> + +<P> +"I am Miss Helen—Dr. Kennedy's daughter," answered the young lady, +assuming an air of dignity, which was not at all diminished by the +very, expressive "Mortal!" which dropped from the woman's lips. +</P> + +<P> +"Can I do anything for you?" asked Nellie, and the stranger +answered: "Yes, go and call Maude, but don't tell her who I am." +</P> + +<P> +She forgot that Nellie did not herself know who she was, and sitting +down upon her trunk, she waited while Nellie hurried to the kitchen, +where, over a smoky fire, Maude was trying in vain to make a bit of +nicely browned toast for her mother, who had expressed a wish for +something good to eat. +</P> + +<P> +"Here, Maude," called out Nellie, "your grandmother or aunt has +come, I guess, and wants to see you in the hall." +</P> + +<P> +"It's Janet—it's Janet, I know!" screamed Maude, and leaving her +slice of bread to burn and blacken before the fire, she hurried +away, while Nellie, who had heard nothing of the letter sent the +week before, wondered much who the "witched old thing with the +poking black bonnet could be." +</P> + +<P> +With a cry of delight Maude wound her arms around the neck of her +old nurse, whom she knew in a moment, though Janet had more +difficulty in recognizing the little girl of other years in the +womanly looking maiden before her. +</P> + +<P> +"It beats all how you've changed," she said, "though your eyes and +hair are the same," and she passed her hand caressingly over the +short glossy curls. Then looking intently in Maude's face she +continued. "You've grown handsome, child." +</P> + +<P> +"No, no, not handsome, Janet; Nellie is the beauty of the house," +and Maude shook her head mournfully, for on the subject of beauty +she was a little sensitive, her sister always pronouncing her "a +fright," and manifesting a most unamiable spirit if anyone +complimented her in the least. +</P> + +<P> +"What, that yaller-haired, white-face chit who went for you?" +rejoined Janet. "No such thing; but tell me now of your marm. How +sick is she, and what of the little boy? Is he much deformed?" +</P> + +<P> +"Come in here," said Maude, leading the way into the parlor, and +drawing a chair close to Janet, she told all she deemed it necessary +to tell. +</P> + +<P> +But the quick-witted Janet knew there was something more, and +casting a scornful glance around the room she said: "You are a good +girl, Maude; but you can't deceive an old girl like me. I knew by +the tremblin' way you writ that somethin' was wrong, and started the +first blessed morning after gettin' your letter. I was calculating +to come pretty soon, anyway, and had all my arrangements made. So I +can stay a good long spell—always, mebby—for I'm a widder now," +and she heaved a few sighs to the memory of Mr. Joel Blodgett, who, +she said, "had been dead a year," adding, in a whisper, "but there's +one consolation—he willed me all his property," and she drew from +her belt a huge silver time-piece, which she was in the habit of +consulting quite often, by way of showing that "she could carry a +watch as well as the next one." +</P> + +<P> +After a little her mind came back from her lamented husband, and she +gave Maude a most minute account of her tedious ride in a lumber-wagon +from Canandaigua to Laurel Hill, for the stage had left when +she reached the depot, and she was in too great a hurry to remain at +the hotel until the next morning. +</P> + +<P> +"But what of that doctor—do you like him?" she said at last, and +Maude answered: "Never mind him now; let us see mother first, or +rather let me see to her dinner," and she arose to leave the room. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't like him," continued Janet, "and I knew you wouldn't; but +your poor mother, I pity her. Didn't you say you was gettin' her +something to eat? She's had a good time waitin', but I'll make +amends by seein' to her dinner myself," and spite of Maude's +endeavors to keep her back she followed on into the disorderly +kitchen, from which Nellie had disappeared, and where old Hannah sat +smoking her pipe as leisurely as if on the table there were not +piles of unwashed dishes, to say nothing of the unswept floor and +dirty hearth. +</P> + +<P> +"What a hole!" was Janet's involuntary exclamation, to which Hannah +responded a most contemptuous "Umph!" and thus was the war-cry +raised on either side. "What was you goin' to git for your mother?" +asked Janet, without deigning to notice the portly African, who +smoked on in dignified silence. +</P> + +<P> +"Toast and tea," answered Maude, and casting a deprecating glance at +the fire Janet continued: "You can't make any toast fit for a +heathen to eat by that fire. Aint there any dry wood—kindlin' nor +nothin'?" and she walked into the woodshed, where, spying a pine +board, she seized the ax and was about to commence operations when +Hannah called out: "Ole marster 'll be in yer ha'r if you tache +that." +</P> + +<P> +"I aint afraid of your old marster," answered Janet, and in a moment +the board, which Dr. Kennedy would not suffer John to use because he +might want it for something, was crackling on the fire. +</P> + +<P> +The hearth was swept, the tea-kettle hung in the blaze, and then, +with a look of perfect delight, Janet sat down to make the toast, +fixing it just as she knew Matty liked it best. +</P> + +<P> +"Biled eggs will be good for her digester, and if I only had one +dropped in water," she said, and quick as thought Maude brought her +one, while Hannah growled again, "Ole marster 'll raise de ruff, +case he put 'em away to sell." +</P> + +<P> +"Ole marster be hanged!" muttered Janet, breaking not one, but +three, into the water, for her own stomach began to clamor for food. +</P> + +<P> +Everything was ready at last; a clean towel covered the server, the +fragrant black tea was made, the boiled egg was laid upon the toast, +and then Janet said, "She ought to have a rellish—preserves, jelly, +baked apple, or somethin'," and she opened a cupboard door, while +Hannah, springing to her feet, exclaimed, "Quit dat; thar aint no +sich truck in dis house." +</P> + +<P> +But Janet's sharp eye had discovered behind a pile of papers, rags, +and dried herbs a tumbler of currant jelly, which Hannah had +secretly made and hidden away for her own private eating. Hannah's +first impulse was to snatch the jelly from Janet's hand, but feeling +intuitively that in the resolute Scotchwoman she had a mistress, and +fearing lest Maude should betray her to the doctor she exclaimed, +"If that aint the very stuff Miss Ruggles sent in for Miss Matty! I +forgot it till this blessed minit!" and shutting the cupboard door, +she stood with her back against it lest Janet should discover sundry +other delicacies hidden away for a like purpose. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother has not had a feast like this—and she'll enjoy it so much," +said Maude, as she started up the stairs followed by Janet, who, ere +they reached the chamber, suddenly stopped, saying, "I tell you what +'tis, if she knows I'm here she won't eat a mou'ful, so you say +nothin', and when she's through I'll come." +</P> + +<P> +This seemed reasonable to Maude, who, leaving Janet to look through +a crevice in the door, entered alone into her mother's presence. +Mrs. Kennedy had waited long for Maude, and at last, weary with +listening to the rain, which made her feel so desolate and sad, she +fell asleep, as little Louis at her side had done before her; but +Maude's cheering voice awoke her. +</P> + +<P> +"Look, mother," she cried, "see the nice dinner!" and her own eyes +fairly danced as she placed the tray upon the table before her +mother, who, scarcely less pleased, exclaimed, "A boiled egg—and +jelly, too!—I've wanted them both so much. How did it happen?" +</P> + +<P> +"Eat first, and then I'll tell you," answered Maude, propping her up +with pillows, and setting the server in her lap. +</P> + +<P> +"It tastes like old times—like Janet," said the invalid, and from +the room without, where Janet watched, there came a faint, choking +sound, which Matty thought was the wind and which Maude knew was +Janet. +</P> + +<P> +Through the door she caught sight of her mistress, whose white, +wasted face wrung from her that cry. Stuffing her handkerchief into +her mouth, she waited until toast, tea, egg, and all had +disappeared, then, with the exclamation, "She's et 'em all up slick +and clean," she walked into the room. +</P> + +<P> +It would be impossible to describe that meeting, when the poor sick +woman bowed her weary head upon the motherly bosom of her faithful +domestic, weeping most piteously while Janet folded her lovingly in +her arms, saying to her soothingly, "Nay, now, Matty darling—nay, +my bonnie bird—take it easy like—take is easy, and you'll feel +better." +</P> + +<P> +"You won't leave me, will you?" sobbed Matty, feeling that it would +not be hard to die with Janet standing near. +</P> + +<P> +"No, honey, no," answered Janet, "I'll stay till one or t'other of +us is carried down the walk and across the common where them +gravestones is standin', which I noticed when I drove up." +</P> + +<P> +"It will be me, Janet. It will be me," said Matty. "They will bury +me beneath the willows, for the other one is lying there, oh, so +peacefully." +</P> + +<P> +Louis was by this time awake, and taking him upon her lap Janet +laughed and cried alternately, mentally resolving that so long as +she should live, she would befriend the little helpless boy, whose +face, she said, "was far winsomer than any she had ever seen." +</P> + +<P> +Then followed many mutual inquiries, during which Matty learned that +Janet was a widow, and had really come to stay if necessary. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm able now to live as I please, for I've got property," said +Janet, again consulting the silver watch, as she usually did when +speaking of her husband's will. +</P> + +<P> +Many questions, too, did Matty ask concerning her former home—her +friends—her flowers—and Harry's grave; "was it well kept now, or +was it overrun with weeds?" +</P> + +<P> +To this last question Janet did not reply directly, but making some +excuse for leaving the room, she soon returned, bearing in one hand +a box in which a small rose-bush was growing. In the other hand she +held a beautiful bouquet which, having been kept moist, looked +almost as fresh as when it was first gathered. This she gave to +Matty, saying, "They grew on Harry's grave. I picked 'em myself +yesterday morning before I left; and this," pointing to the rose-bush, +"is a root I took from there last spring on purpose for you, +for I meant to visit you this fall." +</P> + +<P> +Need we say those flowers were dearer to Matty than the wealth of +the Indies would have been! They had blossomed on Harry's grave—his +dust had added to them life, and as if they were indeed a part of +him, she hugged them to her heart—kissing them through her tears +and blessing Janet for the priceless gift. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't tell him, though," she whispered, and a deep flush mounted to +her cheek as on the stairs she heard a heavy footstep, and knew that +Dr. Kennedy was coming! +</P> + +<P> +He had been in the kitchen, demanding of Hannah, "Whose is all that +baggage in the hall?" and Hannah, glad of an opportunity to "free +her mind," had answered, "Some low-lived truck or other that they +called 'Janet,' and a body'd s'pose she owned the house, the way she +went on, splittin' up yer board for kindlin', makin' missus' toast +swim in butter, and a-bilin' three of them eggs you laid away to +sell. If she stays here, this nigger won't—that's my 'pinion," and +feeling greatly injured she left the kitchen, while Dr. Kennedy, +with a dark, moody look upon his face, started for the sick-room. +</P> + +<P> +He knew very well who his visitor was, and when his wife said, +"Husband, this is my faithful Janet, or rather Mrs. Blodgett now. +Wasn't it kind in her to come so far to see me?" he merely nodded +coolly to Mrs. Blodgett, who nodded as coolly in return; then, +turning to his wife, he said, "You seem excited, my dear, and this +ought not to be. 'Tis a maxim of mine that company is injurious to +sick people. What do you think, Mrs. Blodgett?" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Blodgett didn't think anything save that he was a most +disagreeable man, and as she could not say this in his presence, she +made no particular answer. Glancing toward the empty plate which +stood upon the table, he continued, "Hannah tells me, my dear, that +you have eaten three boiled eggs. I wonder at your want of +discretion, when you know how indigestible they are," and his eye +rested reprovingly on Janet, who now found her tongue, and starting +up, exclaimed, "One biled egg won't hurt anybody's digester, if it's +ever so much out of kilter—but the jade lied. Two of them eggs I +cooked for myself, and I'll warrant she's guzzled 'em down before +this. Anyway, I'll go and see," and she arose to leave the room. +</P> + +<P> +Just as she reached the door the doctor called after her, saying, +"Mrs. Blodgett, I observed a trunk or two in the lower hall, which I +presume are yours. Will you have them left there, or shall I bring +them up to your chamber? You will stay all night with us, of +course!" +</P> + +<P> +For an instant Janet's face was crimson, but forcing down her wrath +for Matty's sake, she answered, "I shall probably stay as long as +that," and slamming together the door she went downstairs, while +Matty said sadly, "Oh, husband, how could you thus insult her when +you knew she had come to stay a while at least, and that her +presence would do me so much good?" +</P> + +<P> +"How should I know she had come to stay, when I've heard nothing +about it," was the doctor's reply; and then in no mild terms he gave +his opinion of the lady—said opinion being based on what old Hannah +had told him. +</P> + +<P> +There were tears in Matty's eyes, and they dropped from her long +eye-lashes as, taking the doctor's hand, she said: "Husband, you +know that I'm going to die—that ere the snow is falling you will be +a second time alone. And you surely will not refuse me when I ask +that Janet shall stay until the last. When I am gone you will, +perhaps, be happier in the remembrance that you granted me one +request." +</P> + +<P> +There was something in the tone of her voice far more convincing +than her words, and when she added, "She does not expect wages, for +she has money of her own," Dr. Kennedy yielded the point, +prophesying the while that there would be trouble with Hannah. +</P> + +<P> +Meantime Mrs. Blodgett had wended her way to the kitchen, meeting in +the way with Nellie, around whose mouth there was a substance +greatly resembling the yolk of an egg! Thus prepared for the worst, +Janet was not greatly disappointed when she found that her eggs had +been disposed of by both the young lady and Hannah, the latter of +whom was too busy with her dishes to turn her head or in any way +acknowledge the presence of a second person. +</P> + +<P> +"Joel Blodgett's widow ought to be above havin' words with a +nigger," was Janet's mental comment as she contented herself with a +slice of bread and a cup of tea, which, by this time, was of quite a +reddish hue. +</P> + +<P> +Her hunger being satisfied, she began to feel more amiably disposed +toward the old negress, whose dishes she offered to wipe. This +kindness was duly appreciated by Hannah, and that night, in speaking +of Janet to her son, she pronounced her "not quite so onery a white +woman as she at first took her to be." +</P> + +<P> +As the days wore on Janet's presence in the family was felt in +various ways. To Matty it brought a greater degree of happiness than +she had experienced since she left her New England home, while even +the doctor acknowledged an increased degree of comfort in his +household, though not willing at first to attribute it to its proper +source. He did not like Janet; her ideas were too extravagant for +him, and on several different occasions he hinted quite strongly +that she was not wanted there; but Janet was perfectly invincible to +hints, and when at one time he embodied them in language that could +not be misunderstood, telling her, "'twas a maxim of his that if a +person had a home of their own they had better stay there," she +promptly replied that "'twas a maxim of hers to stay where she +pleased, particularly as she was a woman of property," and so, as +she pleased to stay there, she stayed! +</P> + +<P> +It took but a short time for her to understand the doctor, and to +say that she disliked him would but feebly express the feeling of +aversion with which she regarded him. Not a word, however, would +Matty admit of past or present unkindness—neither was it necessary +that she should, for Janet saw it all—saw how "Old Maxim," as she +called him, had worried her life away, and while cherishing for him +a sentiment of hatred, she strove to comfort her young mistress, who +grew weaker and weaker every day, until at last the husband himself, +aroused to a sense of her danger, strove by little acts of kindness +unusual in him, to make amends for years of wrong. Experience is a +thorough teacher, and he shrank from the bitter memories which +spring from the grave of a neglected wife, and he would rather that +Matty, when she died, should not turn away from him, shuddering at +his touch, and asking him to take his hand from off her brow; just +as one brown-haired woman had done. This feeling of his was +appreciated by Janet, who in proportion as he became tender toward +Matty, was respectful to him, until at last there came to be a +tolerably good understanding between them, and she was suffered, in +most matters, to have her own way. +</P> + +<P> +With John she was a special favorite, and through his +instrumentality open hostilities were prevented between herself and +his mother, until the latter missed another cup of jelly from its +new hiding-place. Then, indeed, the indignant African announced her +intention of going at once to "Miss Ruggles'," who had offered her +"twelve shillings a week and a heap of leisure." +</P> + +<P> +"Let her go," said John, who knew Mrs. Ruggles to be a fashionable +woman, the mother of nine children, whose ages varied from one to +fifteen; "let her go—she'll be glad to come back," and the sequel +proved he was right, for just as it was beginning to grow light on +the second day of her absence, someone rapped at his window, and a +half-crying voice whispered, "Let me in, John; I've been out to +sarvice enough." +</P> + +<P> +John complied with the request, and when Janet came down to the +kitchen, how was she surprised at finding Hannah there, leisurely +grinding her coffee, with an innocent look upon her sable face, as +if nothing had ever happened. John's raillery, however, loosened her +tongue at last, and very minutely she detailed her grievances. "She +had done a two weeks' washing, besides all the work, and the whole +of them young ones under her feet into the bargain. Then at night, +when she hoped for a little rest, Mrs. Ruggles had gone off to a +party and stayed till midnight, leaving her with that squallin' +brat; but never you mind," said she, "I poured a little paregol down +its throat, or my name aint Hannah," and with a sigh of relief at +her escape from "Miss Ruggles," she finished her story and resumed +her accustomed duties, which for many weeks she faithfully +performed, finding but little fault with the frequent suggestions of +Mrs. Janet Blodgett, whose rule in the household was for the time +being firmly established. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE MOTHER. +</H3> + +<P> +From the tall trees which shade the desolate old house the leaves +have fallen one by one, and the November rain makes mournful music +as in the stillness of the night it drops upon the withered foliage, +softly, slowly, as if weeping for the sorrow which has come upon the +household. Matty Kennedy is dead; and in the husband's heart there +is a gnawing pain, such as he never felt before; not even when Katy +died; for Katy, though pure and good, was not so wholly unselfish as +Matty had been, and in thinking of her, he could occasionally recall +an impatient word; but from Matty none. Gentle, loving, and +beautiful she had been to him in life; and now, beautiful in death, +she lay in the silent parlor, on the marble table she had brought +from home, while he—oh, who shall tell what thoughts were busy at +his heart, as he sat there alone, that dismal, rainy night. +</P> + +<P> +In one respect his wishes had been gratified; Matty had not turned +from him in death. She had died within his arms; but so long as the +light of reason shone in her blue eyes,—so long had they, rested on +the rose-bush within the window,—the rose-bush brought from Harry's +grave! Nestled among its leaves was a half-opened bud, and when none +could hear, she whispered softly to Janet, "Place it in my bosom +just as you placed one years ago, when I was Harry's bride." +</P> + +<P> +To Nellie and to Maude she had spoken blessed words of comfort, +commending to the latter as to a second mother the little Louis, +who, trembling with fear, had hidden beneath the bedclothes, so that +he could not see the white look upon her face. Then to her husband +she had turned, pleading with all a mother's tenderness for her +youngest born—her unfortunate one. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, husband," she said, "you will care for him when I am gone. You +will love my poor, crippled boy! Promise me this, and death will not +be hard to meet. Promise me, won't you?" and the voice was very, +very faint. +</P> + +<P> +He could not refuse, and bending low, he said, "Matty, I will, I +will." +</P> + +<P> +"Bless you, my husband, bless you for that," was Matty's dying +words, for she never spoke again. +</P> + +<P> +It was morning then,—early morning, and a long, dreary day had +intervened, until at last it was midnight, and silence reigned +throughout the house. Maude, Nellie, Janet, and John had wept +themselves sick, while in little Louis' bosom there was a sense of +desolation which kept him wakeful, even after Maude had cried +herself to sleep. Many a time that day had he stolen into the +parlor, and climbing into a chair, as best he could, had laid his +baby cheek against the cold, white face, and smoothing with his +dimpled hand the shining hair, had whispered, "Poor, sick mother, +won't you speak to Louis any more?" +</P> + +<P> +He knew better than most children of his age what was meant by +death, and as he lay awake, thinking how dreadful it was to have no +mother, his thoughts turned toward his father, who had that day been +too much absorbed in his own grief to notice him. +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe he'll love me some now ma is dead," he thought, and with that +yearning for paternal sympathy natural to the motherless, he crept +out of bed, and groping his way with his noiseless crutches to his +father's door, he knocked softly for admittance. +</P> + +<P> +"Who's there?" demanded Dr. Kennedy, every nerve thrilling to the +answer. +</P> + +<P> +"It's me, father; won't you let me in, for its dark out here, and +lonesome, with her lying in the parlor. Oh, father, won't you love +me a little, now mother's dead? I can't help it because I'm lame, +and when I'm a man I will earn my own living. I won't be in the way. +Say, pa, will you love me?" +</P> + +<P> +He remembered the charges his father had preferred against him, and +the father remembered them too. She to whom the cruel words were +spoken was gone from him now and her child, their child, was at the +door, pleading for his love. Could he refuse? No, by every kindly +feeling, by every parental tie, we answer, No; he could not; and +opening the door he took the little fellow in his arms, hugging him +to his bosom, while tears, the first he had shed for many a year, +fell like rain upon the face of his crippled boy. Like some mighty +water, which breaking through its prison walls seeks again its +natural channel, so did his love go out toward the child so long +neglected, the child who was not now to him a cripple. He did not +think of the deformity, he did not even see it. He saw only the +beautiful face, the soft brown eyes and silken hair of the little +one, who ere long fell asleep, murmuring in his dreams, "He loves +me, ma, he does." +</P> + +<P> +Surely the father cannot be blamed if, when he looked again upon the +calm face of the dead, he fancied that it wore a happier look, as if +the whispered words of Louis had reached her unconscious ear. Very +beautiful looked Matty in her coffin—for thirty years had but +slightly marred her youthful face, and the doctor, as he gazed upon +her, thought within himself, "she was almost as fair as Maude +Glendower." +</P> + +<P> +Then, as his eye fell upon the rosebud which Janet had laid upon her +bosom, he said, "'Twas kind in Mrs. Blodgett to place it there, for +Matty was fond of flowers;" but he did not dream how closely was +that rosebud connected with a grave made many years before. +</P> + +<P> +Thoughts of Maude Glendower and mementos of Harry Remington meeting +together at Matty's coffin! Alas, that such should be our life! +</P> + +<P> +Underneath the willows, and by the side of Katy, was Matty laid to +rest, and then the desolate old house seemed doubly desolate—Maude +mourning truly for her mother, while the impulsive Nellie, too, wept +bitterly for one whom she had really loved. To the doctor, however, +a new feeling had been born, and in the society of his son he found +a balm for his sorrow, becoming ere long, to all outward appearance, +the same exacting, overbearing man he had been before. The blows are +hard and oft repeated which break the solid rock, and there will +come a time when that selfish nature shall be subdued and broken +down; but 'tis not yet—not yet. +</P> + +<P> +And now, leaving him a while to himself, we will pass on to a period +when Maude herself shall become in reality the heroine of our story. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PAST AND PRESENT. +</H3> + +<P> +Four years and a half have passed away since the dark November night +when Matty Kennedy died, and in her home all things are not as they +were then. Janet, the presiding genius of the household, is gone—married +a second time, and by this means escaped, as she verily +believes, the embarrassment of refusing outright to be Mrs. Dr. +Kennedy, No. 3! Not that Dr. Kennedy ever entertained the slightest +idea of making her his wife, but knowing how highly he valued money, +and being herself "a woman of property," Janet came at last to fancy +that he had serious thoughts of offering himself to her. He, on the +contrary, was only intent upon the best means of removing her from +his house, for, though he was not insensible to the comfort which +her presence brought, it was a comfort for which he paid too dearly. +Still he endured it for nearly three years, but at the end of that +time he determined that she should go away, and as he dreaded a +scene he did not tell her plainly what he meant, but hinted, and +with each hint the widow groaned afresh over her lamented Joel. +</P> + +<P> +At last, emboldened by some fresh extravagance, he said to her one +day: "Mrs. Blodgett, ah—ahem." Here he stopped, while Mrs. +Blodgett, thinking her time had come, drew out Joel's picture, which +latterly she carried in her pocket, so as to be ready for any +emergency. "Mrs. Blodgett, are you paying attention?" asked the +doctor, observing how intently she was regarding the picture of the +deceased. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes," she answered, and he continued: +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Blodgett, I hardly know what to say, but I've been thinking +for some time past—" +</P> + +<P> +"I know you've been thinking," interrupted the widow, "but it won't +do an atom of good, for my mind was made up long ago, and I shan't +do it, and if you've any kind of feeling for Matty, which you haint, +nor never had, you wouldn't think of such a thing, and I know, as +well as I want to know, that it's my property, and nothin' else, +which has put such an idee into your head!" +</P> + +<P> +Here, overcome with her burst of indignation, she began to cry, +while the doctor, wholly misunderstanding her, attempted to smooth +the matter somewhat by saying: "I had no intention of distressing +you, Mrs. Blodgett, but I thought I might as well free my mind. Were +you a poor woman, I should feel differently, but knowing you have +money—" +</P> + +<P> +"Wretch!" fairly screamed the insulted Janet. "So you confess my +property is at the bottom of it! But I'll fix it—I'll put an end to +it!" and in a state of great excitement she rushed from the room. +</P> + +<P> +Just across the way a newly-fledged lawyer had hung out his sign, +and thither that very afternoon the wrathful widow wended her way, +nor left the dingy office until one-half of her property, which was +far greater than anyone supposed it to be, was transferred by deed +of gift to Maude Remington, who was to come in possession of it on +her eighteenth birthday, and was to inherit the remainder by will at +the death of the donor. +</P> + +<P> +"That fixes him," she muttered, as she returned to the house; "that +fixes Old Maxim good; to think of his insultin' me by ownin' right +up that 'twas my property he was after, the rascal! I wouldn't have +him if there warn't another man in the world!" and entering the room +where Maude was sewing, she astonished the young girl by telling her +what she had done. "I have made you my heir," said she, tossing the +deed of gift and the will into Maude's lap. "I've made you my heir; +and the day you're eighteen you'll be worth five thousand dollars, +besides havin' the interest to use between this time and that. Then, +if I ever die; you'll have five thousand more. Joel Blodgett didn't +keep thirty cows and peddle milk for nothin'." +</P> + +<P> +Maude was at first too much astonished to comprehend the meaning of +what she heard, but she understood it at last, and then with many +tears thanked the eccentric woman for what she had done, and asked +the reason for this unexpected generosity. +</P> + +<P> +"'Cause I like you!" answered Janet, determined not to injure +Maude's feelings by letting her know how soon her mother had been +forgotten. "'Cause I like you, and always meant to give it to you. +But don't tell anyone how much 'tis, for if the old fool widowers +round here know I am still worth five thousand dollars they'll like +enough be botherin' me with offers, hopin' I'll change my will; but +I shan't. I'll teach 'em a trick or two, the good for-nothin' Old +Maxim." +</P> + +<P> +The latter part of this speech was made as Janet was leaving the +room, consequently Maude did not hear it, neither would she have +understood if she had. She knew her nurse was very peculiar, but she +never dreamed it possible for her to fancy that Dr. Kennedy wished +to make her his wife, and she was greatly puzzled to know why she +had been so generous to her. But Janet knew; and when a few days +afterward Dr. Kennedy, determining upon a fresh attempt to remove +her from his house, came to her side, as she was sitting alone in +the twilight, she felt glad that one-half her property at least was +beyond her control. +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Blodgett," he said, clearing his throat and looking +considerably embarrassed, "Mrs. Blodgett." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what do you want of Mrs. Blodgett?" was the widow's testy +answer, and the doctor replied, "I did not finish what I wished to +say to you the other day, and it's a maxim of mine, if a person has +anything on his mind, he had better tell it at once." +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly, ease yourself off, do," and Janet's little gray eyes +twinkled with delight, as she thought how crestfallen he would look +when she told him her property was gone. +</P> + +<P> +"I was going, Mrs. Blodgett," he continued, "I was going to propose +to you—" +</P> + +<P> +He never finished the sentence, for the widow sprang to her feet, +exclaiming, "It's of no kind of use! I've gin my property all to +Maude; half of it the day she's eighteen, and the rest on't is +willed to her when I die, so you may as well let me alone," and +feeling greatly flurried with what she verily believed to have been +an offer, she walked away, leaving the doctor to think her the most +inexplicable woman he ever saw. +</P> + +<P> +The next day Janet received an invitation to visit her husband's +sister who lived in Canada. The invitation was accepted, and to his +great delight the doctor saw her drive from his door, just one week +after his last amusing interview. In Canada Janet formed the +acquaintance of a man full ten years her junior. He had been a +distant relative of her husband, and knowing of her property, asked +her to be his wife. For several days Janet studied her face to see +what was in it "which made every man in Christendom want her!" and, +concluding at last that "handsome is that handsome does," said +"Yes," and made Peter Hopkins the happiest of men. +</P> + +<P> +There was a bridal trip to Laurel Hill, where the new husband +ascertained that the half of that for which he had married was +beyond his reach; but being naturally of a hopeful nature, he did +not despair of eventually changing the will, so he swallowed his +disappointment and redoubled his attentions to his mother-wife, now +Mrs. Janet Blodgett Hopkins. +</P> + +<P> +Meantime the story that Maude was an heiress circulated rapidly, and +as the lawyer kept his own counsel and Maude, in accordance with +Janet's request, never told how much had been given her, the amount +was doubled; nay, in some cases trebled, and she suddenly found +herself a person of considerable importance, particularly in the +estimation of Dr. Kennedy, who, aside from setting a high value upon +money, fancied he saw a way by which he himself could reap some +benefit from his stepdaughter's fortune. If Maude had money she +certainly ought to pay for her board, and so he said to her one day, +prefacing his remarks with his stereotyped phrase that "'twas a +maxim of his that one person should not live upon another if they +could help it." +</P> + +<P> +Since Janet's last marriage Maude had taken the entire management of +affairs, and without her there would have been but little comfort or +order in a household whose only servant was old and lazy, and whose +eldest daughter was far too proud to work. This Maude knew, and with +a flush of indignation upon her cheek she replied to her stepfather: +"Very well, sir, I can pay for my board, if you like; but boarders, +you know, never trouble themselves with the affairs of the kitchen." +</P> + +<P> +The doctor was confounded. He knew he could not well dispense with +Maude's services, and it had not before occurred to him that a +housekeeper and boarder were two different persons. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah—yes—just so," said he, "I see I'm laboring under a mistake; +you prefer working for your board—all right," and feeling a good +deal more disconcerted than he ever supposed it possible for him to +feel, he gave up the contest. +</P> + +<P> +Maude was at this time nearly sixteen years of age, and during the +next year she was to all intents and purposes the housekeeper, +discharging faithfully every duty and still finding time to pursue +her own studies and superintend the education of little Louis, to +whom she was indeed a second mother. She was very fond of books, and +while Janet was with them she had with Nellie attended the seminary +at Laurel Hill, where she stood high in all her classes, for +learning was with her a delight, and when at last it seemed +necessary for her to remain at home, she still devoted a portion of +each day to her studies, reciting to a teacher who came regularly to +the house and whom she paid with her own money. By this means she +was at the age of seventeen a far better scholar than Nellie, who +left every care to her stepsister, saying she was just suited to the +kitchen work and the tiresome old books with which she kept her +chamber littered. This chamber to which Nellie referred was Maude's +particular province. Here she reigned joint sovereign with Louis, +who thus early evinced a degree of intellectuality wonderful in one +so young, and who in some things excelled even Maude herself. +</P> + +<P> +Drawing and painting seemed to be his ruling taste, and as Dr. +Kennedy still cherished for his crippled boy a love almost +idolatrous, he spared neither money nor pains to procure for him +everything necessary for his favorite pursuit. Almost the entire day +did Louis pass in what he termed Maude's library, where, poring over +books or busy with his pencil, he whiled the hours away without a +sigh for the green fields and shadowy woods, through which he could +never hope to ramble. And Maude was very proud of her artist +brother—proud of the beautiful boy whose face seemed not to be of +earth, so calm, so angel-like was its expression. All the softer, +gentler virtues of the mother, and all the intellectual qualities of +the father were blended together in the child, who presented a +combination of goodness, talent, beauty, and deformity such as this +is seldom seen. For his sister Maude, Louis possessed a deep, +undying love which neither time nor misfortune could in any way +abate. She was part and portion of himself—his life—his light—his +all, in all—and to his childlike imagination a purer, nobler being +had never been created than his darling sister Maude. And well might +Louis Kennedy love the self-sacrificing girl who devoted herself so +wholly to him, and who well fulfilled her mother's charge, "Care for +my little boy." +</P> + +<P> +Nellie, too, was well beloved, but he soon grew weary of her +company, for she seldom talked of anything save herself and the +compliments which were given to her youthful beauty. And Nellie, at +the age of eighteen, was beautiful, if that can be called beauty +which is void of heart or soul or intellect. She was very small, and +the profusion of golden curls which fell about her neck and +shoulders gave her the appearance of being younger than she really +was. Her features were almost painfully regular, her complexion +dazzlingly brilliant, while her large blue eyes had in them a +dreamy, languid expression exceedingly attractive to those who +looked for nothing beyond—no inner chamber where dwell the graces +which make a woman what she ought to be. Louis' artist eye, +undeveloped though it was, acknowledged the rare loveliness of +Nellie's face. She would make a beautiful picture, he thought; but +for the noble, the good, the pure, he turned to the dark-eyed Maude, +who was as wholly unlike her stepsister as it was possible for her +to be. The one was a delicate blonde, the other a decided brunette, +with hair and eyes of deepest black. Her complexion, too, was dark, +but tinged with a beautiful red, which Nellie would gladly have +transferred to her own paler cheek. It was around the mouth, +however, the exquisitely shaped mouth, and white even teeth, that +Maude's principal beauty lay, and the bright smile which lit up her +features when at all animated in conversation would have made a +plain face handsome. There were some who gave her the preference, +saying there was far more beauty in her clear, beautiful eyes and +sunny smile than in the dollish face of Nellie, who treated such +remarks with the utmost scorn. She knew that she was beautiful. She +had known it all her life—for had she not been told so by her +mirror, her father, her schoolmates, her Aunt Kelsey, and more than +all by J.C. De Vere, the elegant young man whom she had met in +Rochester, where she had spent the winter preceding the summer of +which we are writing, and which was four and one-half years after +Matty's death. +</P> + +<P> +Greatly had the young lady murmured on her return against the dreary +old house and lonely life at Laurel Hill, which did indeed present a +striking contrast to the city gayeties in which she had been +mingling. Even the cozy little chamber which the kind-hearted Maude +had fitted up for her with her own means was pronounced heathenish +and old-fashioned, while Maude herself was constantly taunted with +being countryfied and odd. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish J.C. De Vere could see you now," she said one morning to her +sister, who had donned her working dress, and with sleeves rolled up +and wide checked apron tied around her waist was deep in the +mysteries of bread making. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish he could see her too," said Louis, who had rolled his chair +into the kitchen so that he could be with Maude. "He would say he +never saw a handsomer color than the red upon her cheeks." +</P> + +<P> +"Pshaw!" returned Nellie. "I guess he knows the difference between +rose-tint and sunburn. Why, he's the most fastidious man I ever saw. +He can't endure the smell of cooking, and says he would never look +twice at a lady whose hands were not as soft and white as—well, as +mine," and she glanced admiringly at the little snowy fingers, which +were beating a tune upon the window-sill. +</P> + +<P> +"I wants no better proof that he's a fool," muttered old Hannah, who +looked upon Nellie as being what she really was, a vain, silly +thing. +</P> + +<P> +"A fool, Hannah," retorted Nellie; "I'd like to have Aunt Kelsey +hear you say that. Why, he's the very best match in Rochester. All +the girls are dying for him, but he don't care a straw for one of +them. He's out of health now, and is coming here this summer with +Aunt Kelsey, and then you'll see how perfectly refined he is. By the +way, Maude, if I had as much money at my command as you have I'd fix +up the parlor a little. You know father won't, and that carpet, I'll +venture to say, was in the ark. I almost dread to have J.C. come, +he's so particular; but then he knows we are rich, and beside that, +Aunt Kelsey has told him just how stingy father is, so I don't care +so much. Did I tell you J.C. has a cousin James, who may possibly +come too. I never saw him, but Aunt Kelsey says he's the queerest +man that ever lived. He never was known to pay the slightest +attention to a woman unless she was married or engaged. He has a +most delightful house at Hampton, where he lives with his mother; +but he'll never marry, unless it is some hired girl who knows how to +work. Why, he was once heard to say he would sooner marry a +good-natured Irish girl than a fashionable city lady who knew nothing but +to dress, and flirt, and play the piano—the wretch!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! I know I should like him," exclaimed Louis, who had been an +attentive listener. +</P> + +<P> +"I dare say you would, and Maude, too," returned Nellie, adding, +after a moment: "And I shouldn't wonder if Maude just suited him, +particularly if he finds her up to her elbows in dough. So, Maude, +it is for your interest to improve the old castle a little. Won't +you buy a new carpet?" and she drew nearer to Maude, who made no +direct reply. +</P> + +<P> +The three hundred and fifty dollars interest money which she had +received the year before had but little of it been expended on +herself, though it had purchased many a comfort for the household, +for Maude was generous, and freely gave what was her own to give. +The parlor carpet troubled even her, but she would not pledge +herself to buy another until she had first tried her powers of +persuasion upon the doctor, who, as she expected, refused outright. +</P> + +<P> +"He knew the carpet was faded," he said, "but 'twas hardly worn at +all, and 'twas a maxim of his to make things last as long as +possible." +</P> + +<P> +It was in vain that Nellie, who was present, quoted Aunt Kelsey and +J.C. De Vere, the old doctor didn't care a straw for either, unless +indeed, J.C. should some time take Nellie off his hands, and pay her +bills, which were altogether too large for one of his maxims. That +this would probably be the result of the young man's expected visit +had been strongly hinted by Mrs. Kelsey, and thus was he more +willing to have him come. But on the subject of the carpet he was +inexorable, and with tears of anger in her large blue eyes Nellie +gave up the contest, while Maude very quietly walked over to the +store and gave orders that a handsome three-ply carpet which she had +heard her sister admire should be sent home as soon as possible. +"You are a dear good girl, after all, and I hope James De Vere will +fall in love with you," was Nellie's exclamation as she saw a large +roll deposited at their door, but not a stitch in the making of the +carpet did she volunteer to take. "She should prick her fingers or +callous her hand," she said, "and Mr. De Vere thought so much of a +pretty hand." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense!" said John, who was still a member of the family, +"nonsense, Miss Nellie. I'd give a heap more for one of Miss Maude's +little fingers, red and rough as they be, than I would for both them +soft, sickish feeling hands of yourn;" and John hastily disappeared +from the room to escape the angry words which he knew would follow +his bold remark. +</P> + +<P> +Nellie was not a favorite at home, and no one humored her as much as +Maude, who, on this occasion, almost outdid herself in her endeavors +to please the exacting girl, and make the house as presentable as +possible to the fashionable Mrs. Kelsey and the still more +fashionable J.C. De Vere. The new carpet was nicely fitted to the +floor, new curtains hung before the windows, the old sofa was +recovered, the piano was tuned, a hat-stand purchased for the hall, +the spare chamber cleaned, and then very impatiently Nellie waited +for the day when her guests were expected to arrive. +</P> + +<P> +The time came at last, a clear June afternoon, and immediately after +dinner Nellie repaired to her chamber, so as to have ample time to +try the effect of her different dresses, ere deciding upon any one. +Maude, too, was a good deal excited, for one of her even +temperament. She rather dreaded Mrs. Kelsey, whom she had seen but +twice in her life, but for some reason, wholly inexplicable to +herself, she felt a strange interest in the wonderful J.C., of whom +she had heard so much. Not that he would notice her in the least, +but a man who could turn the heads of all the girls in Rochester +must be somewhat above the common order of mortals; and when at last +her work was done, and she, too, went up to dress, it was with an +unusual degree of earnestness that she asked her sister what she +should wear that would be becoming. +</P> + +<P> +"Wear what you please, but don't bother me," answered Nellie, +smoothing down the folds of her light blue muslin, which harmonized +admirably with her clear complexion. +</P> + +<P> +"Maude," called Louis, from the adjoining room, "wear white. You +always look pretty in white." +</P> + +<P> +"So does every black person!" answered Nellie, feeling provoked that +she had not advised the wearing of some color not as becoming to +Maude as she knew white to be. +</P> + +<P> +Maude had the utmost confidence in Louis' taste, and when fifteen +minutes later she stood before the mirror, her short, glossy curls +clustering about her head, a bright bloom on her cheek, and a +brighter smile upon her lip, she thought it was the dress which made +her look so well, for it had never entered her mind that she was +handsome. +</P> + +<P> +"Wear your coral earrings," said Louis, who had wheeled himself into +the room, and was watching her with all a fond brother's pride. +</P> + +<P> +The earrings were a decided improvement, and the jealous Nellie, +when she saw how neat and tasteful was her sister's dress, began to +cry, saying, "she herself looked a fright, that she'd nothing fit to +wear, and if her father did not buy her something she'd run away." +</P> + +<P> +This last was her usual threat when at all indignant, and as after +giving vent to it she generally felt better, she soon dried her +tears, saying, "she was glad anyway that she had blue eyes, for J.C. +could not endure black ones." +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe James can," was the quick rejoinder of Louis, who always +defended Maude from Nellie's envious attacks. +</P> + +<P> +By this time the clock was striking five. Half an hour more and they +would be there, and going through the rooms below Nellie looked to +see if everything was in order, then returning to her chamber above +she waited impatiently until the sound of wheels was heard in the +distance. A cloud of dust was visible next, and soon a large +traveling carriage stopped at the gate, laden with trunks and boxes, +as if its occupants had come to spend the remainder of the summer. A +straight, slender, dandified-looking young man sprang out, followed +by another far different in style, though equally as fine looking. +The lady next alighted, and scarcely were her feet upon the ground +when she was caught around the neck by a little fairy figure in +blue, which had tripped gracefully down the walk, seemingly +unconscious, but really very conscious of every step she took, for +the black-mustached young man, who touched his hat to her so +politely, was particular about a woman's gait. +</P> + +<P> +A little apart from the rest stood the stranger, casually eyeing the +diminutive creature, of whose beauty and perfections he had heard so +much both from her partial aunt and his half-smitten cousin: There +was a momentary thrill—a feeling such as one experiences in gazing +upon a rare piece of sculpture—and then the heart of James De Vere +resumed its accustomed beat, for he knew the inner chamber of the +mind was empty, and henceforth Nellie's beauty would have no +attraction for him. Very prettily she led the way to the house, and +after ushering her guests into the parlor ran upstairs to Maude, +bidding her to order supper at once, and telling her as a piece of +important news which she did not already know, that "Aunt Kelsey, +James, and J.C. had come." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +JAMES AND J.C. +</H3> + +<P> +James and J.C. De Vere were cousins, and also cousins of Mrs. +Kelsey's husband; and hence the intimacy between that lady and +themselves, or rather between that lady and J.C., who was undeniably +the favorite, partly because he was much like herself and partly +because of his name, which she thought so exclusive—so different +from anyone's else. His romantic young mother, who liked anything +savoring at all of "Waverly," had inflicted upon him the cognomen of +Jedediah Cleishbotham, and repenting of her act when too late had +dubbed him "J.C.," by which name he was now generally known. The +ladies called him "a love of a man," and so he was, if a faultless +form, a wicked black eye, a superb set of teeth, an unexceptionable +mustache, a tiny foot, the finest of broadcloth, reported wealth, +and perfect good humor constitute the ingredients which make up "a +love of a man." Added to this, he really did possess a good share of +common sense, and with the right kind of influence would have made a +far different man from what he was. Self-love was the bane of his +life, and as he liked dearly to be flattered, so he in turn became a +most consummate flatterer; always, however, adapting his remarks to +the nature of the person with whom he was conversing. Thus to Nellie +Kennedy he said a thousand foolish things, just because he knew he +gratified her vanity by doing so. Although possessing the reputation +of a wealthy man, J.C. was far from being one, and his great object +was to secure a wife who, while not distasteful to him, still had +money enough to cover many faults, and such a one he fancied Nellie +Kennedy to be. From Mrs. Kelsey he had received the impression that +the doctor was very rich, and as Nellie was the only daughter, her +fortune would necessarily be large. To be sure, he would rather she +had been a little more sensible, but as she was not he resolved to +make the best of it, and although claiming to be something of an +invalid in quest of health, it was really with the view of asking +her to be his wife that he had come to Laurel Hill. He had first +objected to his cousin accompanying him—not for fear of rivalry, +but because he disliked what he might say of Nellie, for if there +was a person in the world whose opinion he respected, and whose +judgment he honored, it was his Cousin James. +</P> + +<P> +Wholly unlike J.C. was James, and yet he was quite as popular, for +one word from him was more highly prized by scheming mothers and +artful young girls than the most complimentary speech that J.C. ever +made. He meant what he said; and to the kindest, noblest of hearts +he added a fine commanding person, a finished education, and a +quiet, gentlemanly manner, to say nothing of his unbounded wealth, +and musical voice, whose low, deep tones had stirred the +heart-strings of more than one fair maiden in her teens, but stirred them +in vain, for James De Vere had never seen the woman he wished to +call his wife; and now, at the age of twenty-six, he was looked upon +as a confirmed old bachelor, whom almost anyone would marry, but +whom no one ever could. He had come to Laurel Hill because Mrs. +Kelsey had asked him so to do, and because he thought it would be +pleasant to spend a few weeks in that part of the country. +</P> + +<P> +Of Maude's existence he knew nothing, and when at last supper was +announced, and he followed his cousin to the dining room, he started +in surprise as his eye fell on the dark-eyed girl who, with a +heightened bloom upon her cheek, presided at the table with so much +grace and dignity. Whether intentionally or not, we cannot say, but +Nellie failed to introduce her stepsister, and as Mrs. Kelsey was +too much absorbed in looking at her pretty niece, and in talking to +her brother, to notice the omission, Maude's position would have +been peculiarly embarrassing but for the gentlemanly demeanor of +James, who, always courteous, particularly to those whom he thought +neglected, bowed politely, and made to her several remarks +concerning the fineness of the day and the delightful view which +Laurel Hill commanded of the surrounding country. She was no menial, +he knew, and looking in her bright, black eyes he saw that she had +far more mind than the dollish Nellie, who, as usual, was provoking +J.C. to say all manner of foolish things. +</P> + +<P> +As they were returning to the parlor J.C. said to Nellie: "By the +way, Nell, who is that young girl in white, and what is she doing +here?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, that's Maude Remington, my stepsister," answered Nellie. "I'm +sure you've heard me speak of her." +</P> + +<P> +J.C. was sure he hadn't; but he did not contradict the little lady, +whose manner plainly indicated that any attention paid by him to the +said Maude would be resented as an insult to herself. Just then Mrs. +Kelsey went upstairs, taking her niece with her; and as Dr. Kennedy +had a patient to visit he, too, asked to be excused, and the young +men were left alone. The day was warm, and sauntering out beneath +the trees they sat down upon a rustic seat which commanded a view of +the dining room, the doors and windows of which were open, +disclosing to view all that was transpiring within. +</P> + +<P> +"In the name of wonder, what's that?" exclaimed J.C., as he saw a +curiously shaped chair wheeling itself, as it were, into the room. +</P> + +<P> +"It must be Dr. Kennedy's crippled boy," answered James, as Louis +skipped across the floor on crutches and climbed into the chair +which Maude carefully held for him. +</P> + +<P> +Louis did not wish to eat with the strangers until somewhat +acquainted, consequently he waited until they were gone, and then +came to the table, where Maude stood by his side, carefully +ministering to his wants, and assisting him into his chair when he +was through. Then, pushing back her curls, and donning the check +apron which Nellie so much abhorred, she removed the dishes herself, +for old Hannah she knew was very tired, having done an unusual +amount of work that day. +</P> + +<P> +"I tell you what, Jim, I wouldn't wonder if that's the very one for +you," said J.C., puffing leisurely at his cigar, and still keeping +his eyes fixed upon the figure in white, as if to one of his +fastidious taste there was nothing very revolting in seeing Maude +Remington wash the supper dishes, even though her hands were brown +and her arms a little red. +</P> + +<P> +James did not answer immediately, and when he did he said: "Do you +remember a little girl we met in the cars between Springfield and +Albany, several years ago when we were returning from school? She +was a funny little black-eyed creature, and amused us very much with +her remarks." +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't wonder if I remembered her," returned J.C., "for didn't +she say I looked as if I didn't mean for certain? I tell you what it +is, Jim, I've thought of the speech more than a thousand times when +I've been saying things I did not mean to foolish girls and their +mammas. But what reminded you of her?" +</P> + +<P> +"If I mistake not, that child and the young lady yonder are one and +the same. You know she told us her name was Maude Remington, and +that the naughty man behind us wasn't her father, and she didn't +like him a bit, or something like that." +</P> + +<P> +"And I honor her judgment both in his case and mine," interrupted +J.C., continuing, after a moment: "The old fellow looks as that man +did. I guess you are right. I mean to question 'Cuffee' on the +subject," and he beckoned to John, who was passing at no great +distance. +</P> + +<P> +"Sambo," said he, as the negro approached, "who is that young lady +using the broom-handle so vigorously?" and he pointed to Maude, who +was finishing her domestic duties by brushing the crumbs from the +carpet. +</P> + +<P> +"If you please, sar, my name is John," answered the African, +assuming a dignity of manner which even J.C. respected. +</P> + +<P> +"Be it John, then," returned the young man, "but tell us how long +has she lived here, and where did she come from?" +</P> + +<P> +Nothing pleased John better than a chance to talk of Maude, and he +replied: "She came here twelve years ago this very month with that +little blue-eyed mother of hern, who is lyin' under them willers in +the graveyard. We couldn't live without Miss Maude. She's all the +sunshine thar is about the lonesome old place. Why, she does +everything, from takin' care of her crippled half-brother to mendin' +t'other one's gownd." +</P> + +<P> +"And who is t'other one?" asked J.C., beginning to feel greatly +interested in the negro's remarks. +</P> + +<P> +"T'other one," said John, "is Miss Nellie, who won't work for fear +of silin' her hands, which some fool of a city chap has made her +b'lieve are so white and handsome," and a row of ivory was just +visible, as, leaning against a tree, John watched the effect of his +words upon "the fool of a city chap." +</P> + +<P> +J.C. was exceedingly good-natured, and tossing his cigar into the +grass he replied, "You don't mean me, of course; but tell us more of +this Maude, who mops the floor and mends Nellie's dresses." +</P> + +<P> +"She don't mop the floor," muttered John. "This nigger wouldn't let +her do that—but she does mend Nellie's gownds, which I wouldn't do, +if I's worth as much money as she is!" +</P> + +<P> +If J.C. had been interested before, he was doubly interested now, +and coming nearer to John he said: "Money, my good fellow! Is Maude +an heiress?" +</P> + +<P> +"She aint nothin' else," returned John, who proceeded to speak of +Janet and her generous gift, the amount of which he greatly +exaggerated. "Nobody knows how much 'tis," said he: "but everybody +s'poses that will and all it must be thirty or forty thousand," and +as the doctor was just then seen riding into the yard John walked +away to attend to his master's horse. +</P> + +<P> +"Those butter and cheese men do accumulate money fast," said J.C., +more to himself than to his companion, who laughingly replied, "It +would be funny if you should make this Maude my cousin instead of +Nellie. Let me see—Cousin Nellie—Cousin Maude. I like the sound of +the latter the best, though I am inclined to think she is altogether +too good for a mercenary dog like you." +</P> + +<P> +"Pshaw!" returned J.C., pulling at the maple leaves which grew above +his head, "I hope you don't think I'd marry a rude country girl for +her money. No, give me la charmant Nellie, even though she cannot +mend her dress, and you are welcome to Cousin Maude, the milkman's +heiress." +</P> + +<P> +At that moment Mrs. Kelsey and Nellie appeared upon the stoop, and +as Maude was no longer visible the young gentlemen returned to the +parlor, where J.C. asked Nellie to favor him with some music. Nellie +liked to play, for it showed her white hands to advantage, and +seating herself at the piano she said: "I have learned a new song +since I saw you, but Maude must sing the other part—maybe, though, +I can get along without her." +</P> + +<P> +This last was said because she did not care to have Maude in the +parlor, and she had inadvertently spoken of her singing. The young +men, however, were not as willing to excuse her, and Maude was +accordingly sent for. She came readily, and performed her part +without the least embarrassment, although she more than once half +paused to listen to the rich, full tones of James' voice, for he was +an unusually fine singer; Maude had never heard anything like it +before, and when the song was ended the bright, sparkling eyes which +she turned upon him told of her delight quite as eloquently as words +could have done. +</P> + +<P> +"You play, I am sure, Miss Remington," he said, as Nellie arose from +the stool. +</P> + +<P> +Maude glanced at her red hands, which J.C. would be sure to notice, +then feeling ashamed to hesitate for a reason like this, she +answered, "Yes, sometimes," and taking her seat she played several +pieces, keeping admirable time, and giving to the music a grace and +finish which Nellie had often tried in vain to imitate. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. De Vere did not expect you to play all night," called out the +envious girl, who, not satisfied with having enticed J.C. from the +piano, wished James to join her also. +</P> + +<P> +"She is merely playing at my request," said Mr. De Vere, "but if it +is distasteful to Miss Kennedy, we will of course desist," and +bending low he said a few words of commendation to Maude, whose +heart thrilled to the gentle tones of his voice, just as many +another maiden's had done before. Mr. De Vere was exceedingly +agreeable, and so Maude found him to be, for feeling intuitively +that she was somewhat slighted by the overbearing Nellie, he devoted +himself to her entirely, talking first of books, then of music, and +lastly of his home, which, without any apparent boasting, he +described as a most beautiful spot. +</P> + +<P> +For a long time that night did Louis wait for his sister in his +little bed, and when at last she came to give him her accustomed +kiss he pushed the thick curls from off her face and said, "I never +saw you look so happy, Maude. Do you like that Mr. De Vere?" +</P> + +<P> +"Which one?" asked Maude. "There are two, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I know," returned Louis, "but I mean the one with the voice. +Forgive me, Maude, but I sat ever so long at the head of the stairs, +listening as he talked. He is a good man, I am sure. Will you tell +me how he looks?" +</P> + +<P> +Maude could not well describe him. She only knew that he was taller +than J.C., and, as she thought, much finer looking, with deep blue +eyes, dark brown hair, and a mouth just fitted to his voice. Farther +than this she could not tell. "But you will see him in the morning," +she said. "I have told him how gifted, how good, you are, and +to-morrow, he says, he shall visit you in your den." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't let the other one come," said Louis hastily, "for if he can't +endure red hands he'd laugh at my withered feet and the bunch upon +my back; but the other one won't, I know." +</P> + +<P> +Maude knew so too, and somewhat impatiently she waited for the +morrow, when she could introduce her brother to her friend. The +morrow came, but, as was frequently the case, Louis was suffering +from a severe pain in his back, which kept him confined to his room, +so that Mr. De Vere neither saw him at all nor Maude as much as he +wished to do. He had been greatly interested in her, and when at +dinner he heard that she would not be down he was conscious of a +feeling of disappointment. She was not present at supper either, but +after it was over she joined him in the parlor, and, together with +J.C. and Nellie, accompanied him to the graveyard, where, seating +herself upon her mother's grave, she told him of that mother, and +the desolation which crept into her heart when first she knew she +was an orphan. From talking of her mother it was an easy matter to +speak of her Vernon home, which she had never seen since she left it +twelve years before, and then Mr. De Vere asked if she had met two +boys in the cars on her way to Albany. At first Maude could not +recall them, and when at last she did so her recollections were so +vague that Mr. De Vere felt another pang of disappointment, though +wherefore he could not tell, unless indeed, he thought there would +be something pleasant in being remembered twelve long years by a +girl like Maude Remington. He reminded her of her remark made to his +cousin, and in speaking of him casually alluded to his evident +liking for Nellie, saying playfully, "Who knows, Miss Remington, but +you may some time be related to me—not my cousin exactly, though +Cousin Maude sounds well. I like that name." +</P> + +<P> +"I like it too," she said impulsively, "much better than Miss +Remington, which seems so stiff." +</P> + +<P> +"Then let me call you so. I have no girl cousin in the world," and +leaning forward he put back from her forehead one of her short, +glossy curls, which had been displaced by the evening breeze. +</P> + +<P> +This was a good deal for him to do. Never before had he touched a +maiden's tresses, and he had no idea that it would make his fingers +tingle as it did. Still, on the whole, he liked it, and half-wished +the wind would blow those curls over the upturned face again, but it +did not, and he was about to make some casual remark when J.C., who +was not far distant, called out, "Making love, I do believe!" +</P> + +<P> +The speech was sudden, and grated harshly on James' ear. Not because +the idea of making love to Maude was utterly distasteful, but +because he fancied she might be annoyed, and over his features there +came a shadow, which Maude did not fail to observe. +</P> + +<P> +"He does not wish to be teased about me," she thought, and around +the warm spot which the name of "Cousin Maude" had made within her +heart there crept a nameless chill—a fear that she had been +degraded in his eyes. "I must go back to Louis," she said at last, +and rising from her mother's grave she returned to the house, +accompanied by Mr. De Vere, who walked by her side in silence, +wondering if she really cared for J.C.'s untimely joke. +</P> + +<P> +James De Vere did not understand the female heart, and wishing to +relieve Maude from all embarrassment in her future intercourse with +himself, he said to her as they reached the door: "My Cousin Maude +must not mind what J.C. said, for she knows it is not so." +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly not," was Maude's answer, as she ran upstairs, hardly +knowing whether she wished it were or were not so. +</P> + +<P> +One thing, however, she knew. She liked to have him call her Cousin +Maude; and when Louis asked what Mr. De Vere had said beneath the +willows she told him of her new name, and asked if he did not like +it. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he answered, "but I'd rather you were his sister, for then +maybe he'd call me brother, even if I am a cripple. How I wish I +could see him, and perhaps I shall to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +But on the morrow Louis was so much worse that in attending to him +Maude found but little time to spend with Mr. De Vere, who was to +leave them that evening. When, however, the carriage which was to +take him away stood at the gate, she went down to bid him good-by, +and ask him to visit them again. +</P> + +<P> +"I shall be happy to do so," he said; and then, as they were +standing alone together, he continued: "Though I have not seen as +much of you as I wished, I shall remember my visit at Laurel Hill +with pleasure. In Hampton there are not many ladies for whose +acquaintance I particularly care, and I have often wished that I had +some female friend with whom I could correspond, and thus while away +some of my leisure moments. Will my Cousin Maude answer me if I +should some time chance to write to her mere friendly, cousinly +letters, of course?" +</P> + +<P> +This last he said because he mistook the deep flush on Maude's cheek +for an unwillingness to do anything which looked at all like "making +love." +</P> + +<P> +"I will write," was all Maude had a chance to say ere Nellie joined +them, accompanied by J.C., who had not yet terminated his visit at +Laurel Hill, and as soon as his cousin left he intended removing to +the hotel, where he would be independent of Dr. Kennedy, and at the +same time, devote himself to the daughter or stepdaughter, just as +he should feel inclined. +</P> + +<P> +Some such idea might have intruded itself upon the mind of James, +for, when at parting he took his cousin's hand, he said, "You have +my good wishes for your success with Nellie, but—" +</P> + +<P> +"But not with t'other one, hey?" laughingly rejoined J.C., adding +that James need have no fears, for there was not the slightest +possibility of his addressing the milkman's heiress. +</P> + +<P> +Alas for J.C.'s honesty! Even while he spoke there was treachery in +his saucy eyes, for the milkman's heiress, as he called her, was not +to him an object of dislike, and when, after the carriage drove +away, he saw the shadows on her face, and suspected their cause, he +felt a strong desire that his departure might affect her in a +similar manner. That evening, too, when Nellie sang to him his +favorite song, he kept one ear turned toward the chamber above, +where, in a low, sweet voice, Maude Remington sang her suffering +brother to sleep. +</P> + +<P> +The next morning he removed to the hotel, saying he should probably +remain there during the summer, as the air of Laurel Hill was highly +conducive to his rather delicate health; but whether he meant the +invigorating breeze which blew front the surrounding hills, or an +heir of a more substantial kind, time and our story will show. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE MILKMAN'S HEIRESS. +</H3> + +<P> +Mr. De Vere had been gone four weeks. Louis had entirely recovered +from his illness, and had made the acquaintance of J.C., with whom +he was on the best of terms. Almost every bright day did the young +man draw the little covered wagon through the village, and away to +some lovely spot, where the boy artist could indulge in his favorite +occupation—that of sketching the familiar objects around him. At +first Nellie accompanied them in these excursions; but when one day +her aunt, who still remained at Laurel Hill, pointed out to her a +patch of sunburn and a dozen freckles, the result of her outdoor +exercise, she declared her intention of remaining at home +thereafter—a resolution not altogether unpleasant to J.C., as by +this means Maude was more frequently his companion. +</P> + +<P> +If our readers suppose that to a man of J.C.'s nature there was +anything particularly agreeable in thus devoting himself to a +cripple boy they are mistaken, for Louis Kennedy might have remained +indoors forever had it not been for the sunny smile and look of +gratitude which Maude Remington always gave to J.C. De Vere when he +came for or returned with her darling brother. Insensibly the +domestic virtues and quiet ways of the black-haired Maude were +winning a strong hold upon J.C.'s affections, and still he had never +seriously thought of making her his wife. He only, knew that he +liked her, that he felt very comfortable where she was, and very +uncomfortable where she was not; that the sound of her voice singing +in the choir was the only music he heard on the Sabbath day, and +though Nellie in her character of soprano ofttimes warbled like a +bird, filling the old church with melody, he did not heed it, so +intent was he in listening to the deeper, richer notes of her who +sang the alto, and whose fingers swept the organ keys with so much +grace and beauty. +</P> + +<P> +And Maude! within her bosom was there no interest awakened for one +who thought so much of her? Yes, but it was an interest of a +different nature from his. She liked him, because he was so much +more polite to her than she had expected him to be, and more than +all, she liked him for his kindness to her brother, never dreaming +that for her sake alone those kindly acts were done. Of James De +Vere she often thought, repeating sometimes to herself the name of +Cousin Maude, which had sounded so sweetly to her ear when he had +spoken it. His promise she remembered, too, and as often as the mail +came in, bringing her no letter, she sighed involuntarily to think +she was forgotten. Not forgotten, Maude, no, not forgotten, and when +one afternoon, five weeks after James' departure J.C. stood at her +side, he had good reason for turning his eyes away from her truthful +glance, for he knew of a secret wrong done to her that day. There +had come to him that morning a letter from James, containing a note +for Maude, and the request that he would hand it to her. +</P> + +<P> +"I should have written to her sooner," James wrote, "but mother's +illness and an unusual amount of business prevented me from doing +so. 'Better late than never,' is, however, a good motto at times, +and I intrust the letter to you, because I would save her from any +gossip which an open correspondence with me might create." +</P> + +<P> +For James De Vere to write to a young girl was an unheard-of +circumstance, and the sight of that note aroused in J.C.'s bosom a +feeling of jealousy lest the prize he now knew he coveted should be +taken from him. No one but himself should write to Maude Remington, +for she was his, or rather she should be his. The contents of that +note might be of the most ordinary kind, but for some reason +undefinable to himself he would rather she should not see it yet, +and though it cost him a struggle to deal thus falsely with both, he +resolved to keep it from her until she had promised to be his wife. +He never dreamed it possible that she could tell him no, he had been +so flattered and admired by the city belles; and the only point +which troubled him was what his fashionable friends would say when +in place of the Nellie whose name had been so long associated with +his, he brought to them a Maude fresh from the rural districts, with +naught in her disposition save goodness, purity, and truth. They +would be surprised, he knew, but she was worth a thousand of them +all, and then with a glow of pride he thought how his tender love +and care would shield her from all unkind remarks, and how he would +make himself worthy of such a treasure. +</P> + +<P> +This was the nobler, better part of J.C.'s nature, but anon a more +sordid feeling crept in, and he blushed to find himself wondering +how large her fortune really was! No one knew, save the lawyers and +the trustee to whose care it had been committed, and since he had +become interested in her he dared not question them lest they should +accuse him of mercenary motives. Was it as large as Nellie's? He +wished he knew, while at the same time he declared to himself that +it should make no difference. The heart which had withstood so many +charms was really interested at last, and though he knew both Mrs. +Kelsey and her niece would array themselves against him, he was +prepared to withstand the indignation of the one and the opposition +of the other. +</P> + +<P> +So perfectly secure was Nellie in J.C.'s admiration for herself, +that she failed to see his growing preference for Maude, whom she +frequently ridiculed in his presence, just because she thought he +would laugh at it, and think her witty. But in this she was +mistaken, for her ridicule raised Maude higher in his estimation, +and he was glad when at last an opportunity occurred for him to +declare his intentions. +</P> + +<P> +For a week or more Nellie and a few of the young people of the +village had been planning a picnic to the lake, and the day was +finally decided upon. Nellie did not ask J.C. if he were going; she +expected it as a matter of course, just as she expected that Maude +would stay at home to look after Louis and the house. But J.C. had +his own opinion of the matter, and when the morning came he found it +very convenient to be suffering from a severe headache which would +not permit him to leave his bed, much less to join the pleasure +party. +</P> + +<P> +"Give my compliments to Miss Kennedy," he said to the young man who +came to his door, "and tell her I cannot possibly go this morning, +but will perhaps come down this afternoon." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. De Vere not going! I can't believe it!" and the angry tears +glittered in Nellie's blue eyes when she heard the message he had +sent her. +</P> + +<P> +"Not going!" exclaimed Mrs. Kelsey, while even Maude sympathized in +the general sorrow, for her hands had prepared the repast, and she +had taken especial pains with the pies which Mr. De Vere liked the +best, and which, notwithstanding his dislike to kitchen odors, he +had seen her make, standing at her elbow and complimenting her +skill. +</P> + +<P> +Nellie was in favor of deferring the ride, but others of the party, +who did not care so much for Mr. De Vere's society objected, and +poutingly tying on her hat, the young lady took her seat beside her +aunt, who was scarcely less chagrined than herself at their +disappointment. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, from behind his paper curtains J.C. looked after the +party as they rode away, feeling somewhat relieved when the blue +ribbons of Nellie's hat disappeared from view. For appearance's sake +he felt obliged to keep his room for an hour or more, but at the end +of that time he ventured to feel better, and dressing himself with +unusual care he started for Dr. Kennedy's, walking very slowly, as +became one suffering from a nervous headache, as he was supposed to +be. Maude had finished her domestic duties, and in tasteful gingham +morning-gown, with the whitest of linen collars upon her neck, she +sat reading alone at the foot of the garden beneath a tall cherry +tree where John had built her a rough seat of boards. This was her +favorite resort, and here J.C. found her, so intent upon her book as +not to observe his approach until he stood before her. She seemed +surprised to see him, and made anxious inquiries concerning his +headache, which he told her was much better. "And even if it were +not," said he, seating himself at her feet; "even if it were not, +the sight of you, looking so bright, so fresh, and so neat, would +dissipate it entirely," and his eyes, from which the saucy, wicked +look was for the moment gone, rested admiringly upon her face. +</P> + +<P> +His manner was even more pointed than his words, and coloring +crimson, Maude replied, "You are disposed to be complimentary, Mr. +De Vere." +</P> + +<P> +"I am disposed for once to tell the truth," he answered. "All my +life long I have acted a part, saying and doing a thousand foolish +things I did not mean, just because I thought it would please the +senseless bubbles with whom I have been associated. But you, Maude +Remington, have brought me to my senses, and determined me to be a +man instead of a fool. Will you help me, Maude, in this resolution?" +and seizing both her hands he poured into her astonished ear his +declaration of love, speaking so rapidly and so vehemently as al +most to take her breath away, for she had never expected a scene +like this. +</P> + +<P> +She had looked upon him as one who would undoubtedly be her sister's +husband, and the uniform kindness with which he had treated her, she +attributed to his exceeding good nature; but to be loved by him, by +J.C. De Vere, who had been sought after by the fairest ladies in the +land, she could not believe possible, and with mingled feelings of +pleasure, pain, and gratified vanity she burst into tears. +</P> + +<P> +Very gently J.C. wiped her tears away, and sitting down beside her +he said, "The first time I ever saw you, Maude, you told me 'I did +not look as if I meant for certain,' and you were right, for all my +life has been a humbug; but I mean 'for certain' now. I love you, +Maude, love you for the very virtues which I have so often affected +to despise, and you must make me what J.C. De Vere ought to be. Will +you, Maude? Will you be my wife?" +</P> + +<P> +To say Maude was not gratified that this man of fashion should +prefer her to all the world would be an untruth, but she could not +then say "Yes," for another, and a more melodious voice was still +ringing in her ear, and she saw in fancy a taller, nobler form than +that of him who was pressing her to answer. +</P> + +<P> +"Not yet, Mr. De Vere," she said. "Not yet. I must have time to +think. It has come upon me so suddenly, so unexpectedly, for I have +always thought of you as Nellie's future husband, and my manners are +so different from what you profess to admire." +</P> + +<P> +"'Twas only profession, Maude," he said, and then, still holding her +closely to him, he frankly and ingenuously gave her a truthful +history of his life up to the time of his first acquaintance with +Nellie, of whom he spoke kindly, saying she pleased him better than +most of his city friends, and as he began really to want a wife he +had followed her to Laurel Hill, fully intending to offer her the +heart which, ere he was aware of it, was given to another. "And now, +I cannot live without you," he said. "You must be mine. Won't you, +Maude? I will be a good husband. I will take lessons of Cousin +James, who is called a pattern man." +</P> + +<P> +The mention of that name was unfortunate, and rising to her feet, +Maude replied: "I cannot answer you now, Mr. De Vere. I should say +No, if I did, I am sure, and I would rather think of it a while." +</P> + +<P> +He knew by her voice that she was in earnest, and kissing her hand +he walked rapidly away, his love increasing in intensity with each +step he took. He had not expected anything like hesitancy. Everyone +else had met his advances at least halfway, and Maude's indecision +made him feel more ardent than he otherwise might have been. +</P> + +<P> +"What if she should refuse me?" he said, as he paced up and down his +room, working himself up to such a pitch of feeling that when that +afternoon Nellie on the lake shore was waiting impatiently his +coming he on his pillow was really suffering all the pangs of a +racking headache, brought on by strong nervous excitement. "What if +she should say No?" he kept repeating to himself, and at last, +maddened by the thought, he arose, and dashing off a wild rambling +letter, was about sending it by a servant, when he received a note +from her, for an explanation of which we will go back an hour or so +in our story. +</P> + +<P> +In a state of great perplexity Maude returned to the house, and +seeking out her brother, the only person to whom she could go for +counsel, she told him of the offer she had received, and asked him +what he thought. In most respect Louis was far older than his years, +and he entered at once into the feelings of his sister. +</P> + +<P> +"J.C. De Vere proposed to you!" he exclaimed. "What will Nellie +say?" +</P> + +<P> +"If I refuse, she never need to know of it," answered Maude, and +Louis continued: "They say he is a great catch, and wouldn't it be +nice to get him away from everybody else. But what of the other De +Vere? Don't you like him the best?" +</P> + +<P> +Maude's heart beat rapidly, and the color on her cheek deepened to a +brighter hue as she replied, "What made you think of him?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," was Louis' answer, "only when he was here I fancied +you were pleased with him, and that he would suit you better than +J.C." +</P> + +<P> +"But he don't like me," said Maude. "He don't like any woman well +enough to make her his wife," and she sighed deeply as she thought +of his broken promise and the letter looked for so long. +</P> + +<P> +"Maude," said Louis suddenly, "men like J.C. De Vere sometimes marry +for money, and maybe he thinks your fortune larger than it is. Most +everybody does." +</P> + +<P> +That Maude was more interested in J.C. De Vere than she supposed was +proved by the earnestness with which she defended him from all +mercenary motives. +</P> + +<P> +"He knows Nellie's fortune is much larger than my own," she said; +"and by preferring me to her he shows that money is not his motive." +</P> + +<P> +Still Louis' suggestion troubled her, and by way of testing the +matter she sat down at once and wrote him a note, telling him +frankly how much she had in her own name and how much in expectancy. +This note she sent to him by John, who, naturally quick-witted, read +a portion of the truth in her tell-tale face, and giving a loud +whistle in token of his approbation he exclaimed, "This nigger'll +never quit larfin' if you gets him after all Miss Nellie's nonsense, +and I hopes you will, for he's a heap better chap than I s'posed, +though I b'lieve I like t'other one the best!" +</P> + +<P> +Poor Maude! That other one seemed destined to be continually thrust +upon her, but resolving to banish him from her mind as one who had +long since ceased to think of her, she waited impatiently, for a +reply to her letter. +</P> + +<P> +Very hastily J.C. tore it open, hoping, believing, that it contained +the much desired answer. "I knew she could not hold out against me—no +one ever did," he said; but when he read the few brief lines, he +dashed it to the floor with an impatient "Pshaw!" feeling a good +deal disappointed that she had not said Yes and a very little +disappointed that the figures were not larger! +</P> + +<P> +"Five thousand dollars the 20th of next June, and five thousand more +when that old Janet dies; ten thousand in all. Quite a handsome +property, if Maude could have it at once. I wonder if she's healthy, +this Mrs. Hopkins," soliloquized J.C., until at last a new idea +entered his mind, and striking his fist upon the table he exclaimed, +"Of course she will. Such people always do, and that knocks the will +in head!" and J.C. De Vere frowned wrathfully upon the little +imaginary Hopkinses who were to share the milkman's fortune with +Maude. +</P> + +<P> +Just then a girlish figure was seen beneath the trees in Dr. +Kennedy's yard, and glancing at the white cape bonnet J.C. knew that +it was Maude, the sight of whom drove young Hopkins and the will +effectually from his mind. "He would marry her, anyway," he said, +"five thousand dollars was enough;" and donning his hat he started +at once for the doctor's. Maude had returned to the house, and was +sitting with her brother when the young man was announced. Wholly +unmindful of Louis' presence, he began at once by asking "if she +esteemed him so lightly as to believe that money could make any +difference whatever with him." +</P> + +<P> +"It influences some men," answered Maude, "and though you may like +me—" +</P> + +<P> +"Like you, Maude Remington!" he exclaimed; "like is a feeble word. I +worship you, I love the very air you breathe, and you must be mine. +Will you, Maude?" +</P> + +<P> +J.C. had never before been so much in earnest, for never before had +he met with the least indecision, and he continued pleading his +cause so vehemently that Louis, who was wholly unprepared for so +stormy a wooing, stopped his ears and whispered to his sister, "Tell +him Yes, before he drives me crazy!" +</P> + +<P> +But Maude felt that she must have time for sober, serious +reflection; J.C. was not indifferent to her, and the thought was +very soothing that she who had never aspired to the honor had been +chosen from all others to be his wife. He was handsome, agreeable, +kind-hearted, and, as she believed, sincere in his love for her. And +still there was something lacking. She could not well tell what, +unless, indeed, she would have him more like James De Vere. +</P> + +<P> +"Will you answer me?" J.C. said, after there had been a moment's +silence, and in his deep black eyes there was a truthful, earnest +look wholly unlike the wicked, treacherous expression usually hidden +there. +</P> + +<P> +"Wait a while," answered Maude, coming to his side and laying her +hand upon his shoulder. "Wait a few days, and I most know I shall +tell you Yes. I like you, Mr. De Vere, and if I hesitate it is +because—because—I really don't know what, but something keeps +telling me that our engagement may be broken, and if so, it had +better not be made." +</P> + +<P> +There was another storm of words, and then, as Maude still seemed +firm in her resolution to do nothing hastily, J.C. took his leave. +As the door closed after him, Louis heaved a deep sigh of relief, +and, turning to his sister, said: "I never heard anything like it; I +wonder if James would act like that!" +</P> + +<P> +"Louis," said Maude, but ere Louis could reply she had changed her +mind, and determined not to tell him that James De Vere alone stood +between her and the decision J.C. pleaded for so earnestly. So she +said: "Shall I marry J.C. De Vere?" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly, if you love him," answered Louis. "He will take you to +Rochester away from this lonesome house. I shall live with you more +than half the time, and—" +</P> + +<P> +Here Louis was interrupted by the sound of wheels. Mrs. Kelsey and +Nellie had returned from the Lake, and bidding her brother say +nothing of what he had heard, Maude went down to meet them. Nellie +was in the worst of humors. "Her head was aching horridly—she had +spent an awful day—and J.C. was wise in staying at home." +</P> + +<P> +"How is he?" she asked, "though of course you have not seen him." +</P> + +<P> +Maude was about to speak when Hannah, delighted with a chance to +disturb Nellie, answered for her. "It's my opinion that headache was +all a sham, for you hadn't been gone an hour, afore he was over here +in the garden with Maude, where he stayed ever so long. Then he came +agen this afternoon, and hasn't but jest gone." +</P> + +<P> +Nellie had not sufficient discernment to read the truth of this +assertion in Maude's crimson cheeks, but Mrs. Kelsey had, and very +sarcastically she said: "Miss Remington, I think, might be better +employed than in trying to supplant her sister." +</P> + +<P> +"I have not tried to supplant her, madam," answered Maude, her look +of embarrassment giving way to one of indignation at the unjust +accusation. +</P> + +<P> +"May I ask, then, if Mr. De Vere has visited you twice to-day, and +if so, what was the object of those visits?" continued Mrs. Kelsey, +who suddenly remembered several little incidents which had +heretofore passed unheeded, and which, now that she recalled them to +mind, proved that J.C. De Vere was interested in Maude. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. De Vere can answer for himself, and I refer you to him," was +Maude's reply, as she walked away. +</P> + +<P> +Nellie began to cry. "Maude had done something," she knew, "and it +wouldn't be a bit improper for a woman as old as Aunt Kelsey to go +over and see how Mr. De Vere was, particularly as by this means she +might find out why he had been there so long with Maude." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Kelsey was favorably impressed with this idea, and after +changing her dusty dress and drinking a cup of tea she started for +the hotel. J.C. was sitting near the window, watching anxiously for +a glimpse of Maude when his visitor was announced. Seating herself +directly opposite him, Mrs. Kelsey inquired after his headache, and +then asked how he had passed the day. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, in lounging, generally," he answered, while she continued, +"Hannah says you spent the morning there, and also a part of the +afternoon. Was my brother at home?" +</P> + +<P> +"He was not. I went to see Maude," J.C. replied somewhat stiffly, +for he began to see the drift of her remarks. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Kelsey hesitated a moment, and then proceeded to say that "J.C. +ought not to pay Miss Remington much attention, as she was very +susceptible and might fancy him in earnest." +</P> + +<P> +"And suppose she does?" said J.C., determining to brave the worst. +"Suppose she does?" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Kelsey was very uncomfortable, and coughing a little she +replied, "It is wrong to raise hopes which cannot be realized, for +of course you have never entertained a serious thought of a low +country girl like Maude Remington." +</P> + +<P> +There had been a time when a remark like this from the fashionable +Mrs. Kelsey would have banished any girl from J.C.'s mind, for he +was rather dependent on the opinion of others, but it made no +difference now, and, warming up in Maude's defense, he replied, "I +assure you, madam, I have entertained serious thoughts toward Miss +Remington, and have this day asked her to be my wife." +</P> + +<P> +"Your wife!" almost screamed the high-bred Mrs. Kelsey. "What will +your city friends—What will Nellie say?" +</P> + +<P> +"Confound them all, I don't care what they, say," and J.C. drove his +knife-blade into the pine table, while he gave his reasons for +having chosen Maude in preference to Nellie, or anyone else he had +ever seen. "There's something to her," said he, "and with her for my +wife I shall make a decent man. What would Nellie and I do together—when +neither of us know anything—about business, I mean," he +added, while Mrs. Kelsey rejoined, "I always intended that you would +live with me, and I had that handsome suite of rooms arranged +expressly for Nellie and her future husband. I have no children, and +my niece will inherit my property." +</P> + +<P> +This, under some circumstances, would have strongly tempted the +young man; nay, it might perchance have tempted him then, had not +the deep tones of the organ at that moment have reached his ear. It +was the night when Maude usually rehearsed for the coming Sabbath, +and soon after her interview with her sister she had gone to the +church where she sought to soothe her ruffled spirits by playing a +most plaintive air. The music was singularly soft and sweet, and the +heart of J.C. De Vere trembled to the sound, for he knew it was +Maude who played—Maude, who out-weighed the tempting bait which +Mrs. Kelsey offered, and with a magnanimity quite astonishing to +himself he answered, "Poverty with Maude, rather than riches with +another!" +</P> + +<P> +"Be it so, then," was Mrs. Kelsey's curt reply, "but when in the +city you blush at your bride's awkwardness don't expect me to lend a +helping hand, for Maude Remington cannot by me be recognized as an +equal," and the proud lady swept from the room, wearing a deeply +injured look, as if she herself had been refused instead of her +niece. +</P> + +<P> +"Let me off easier than I supposed," muttered J.C., as he watched +her cross the street and enter Dr. Kennedy's gate. "It will be +mighty mean, though, if she does array herself against my wife, for +Madam Kelsey is quoted everywhere, and even Mrs. Lane, who lives +just opposite, dare not open her parlor blinds until assured by +ocular demonstration that Mrs. Kelsey's are open too. Oh, fashion, +fashion, what fools you make of your votaries! I am glad that I for +one dare break your chain and marry whom I please," and feeling more +amiably disposed toward J.C. De Vere than he had felt for many a +day, the young man started for the church, where to his great joy he +found Maude alone. +</P> + +<P> +She was not surprised to see him, nay, she was half expecting him, +and the flush which deepened on her cheek as he came to her side +showed that his presence was not unwelcome. Human nature is the same +everywhere, and though Maude was perhaps as free from its weaknesses +as almost anyone, the fact that her lover was so greatly coveted by +others increased rather than diminished her regard for him, and when +he told her what had passed between himself and Mrs. Kelsey, and +urged her to give him a right to defend her against that haughty +woman's attacks by engaging herself to him at once, she was more +willing to tell him Yes than she had been in the morning. Thoughts +of James De Vere did not trouble her now—he had ceased to remember +her ere this—had never been more interested in her than in any +ordinary acquaintance, and so, though she knew she could be happier +with him than with the one who with his arm around her waist was +pleading for her love, she yielded at last, and in that dim old +church, with the summer moonlight stealing up the dusky aisles, she +promised to be the wife of J.C. De Vere on her eighteenth birthday. +</P> + +<P> +Very pleasant now it seemed sitting there alone with him in the +silent church. Very pleasant walking with him down the quiet street, +and when her chamber was reached, and Louis, to whom she told her +story, whispered in her ear, "I am glad that is so," she thought it +very nice to be engaged, and was conscious of a happier, more +independent feeling than she had ever known before. It seemed so +strange that she, an unpretending country girl, had won the heart +that many a city maiden had tried in vain to win, and then with a +pang she thought of Nellie, wondering what excuse she could render +her for having stolen J.C. away. +</P> + +<P> +"But he will stand between us," she said; "he will shield me from +her anger," and grateful for so potent a protector, she fell asleep, +dreaming alas, not of J.C., but of him who called her Cousin Maude, +and whose cousin she really was to be. +</P> + +<P> +J.C. De Vere, too, had dreams of a dark-eyed girl, who, in the +shadowy church, with the music she had made still vibrating on the +ear, had promised to be his. Dreams, too, he had of a giddy throng +who scoffed at the dark-eyed girl, calling her by the name which he +himself had given her. It was not meet, they said, that he should +wed the "Milkman's Heiress," but with a nobleness of soul unusual in +him, he paid no heed to their remarks, and folded the closer to his +heart the bride which he had chosen. +</P> + +<P> +Alas! that dreams so often prove untrue. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE ENGAGEMENT, REAL AND PROSPECTIVE. +</H3> + +<P> +To her niece Mrs. Kelsey had communicated the result of her +interview with J.C., and that young lady had fallen into a violent +passion, which merged itself at last into a flood of tears, and +ended finally in strong hysterics. While in this latter condition +Mrs. Kelsey deemed it necessary to summon her brother, to whom she +narrated the circumstances of Nellie's illness. To say that the +doctor was angry would but feebly express the nature of his +feelings. He had fully expected that Nellie would be taken off his +hands, and he had latterly a very good reason for wishing that it +might be so. +</P> + +<P> +Grown-up daughters, he knew, were apt to look askance at +stepmothers, and if he should wish to bring another there he would +rather that Nellie should be out of the way. So he railed at the +innocent Maude, and after exhausting all the maxims which would at +all apply to that occasion, he suggested sending for Mr. De Vere and +demanding an explanation. But this Mrs. Kelsey would not suffer. +</P> + +<P> +"It will do no good," she said, "and may make the matter worse by +hastening the marriage. I shall return home to-morrow, and if you do +not object shall take your daughter with me, to stay at least six +months, as she needs a change of scene. I can, if necessary, +intimate to my friends that she has refused J.C., who, in a fit of +pique, has offered himself to Maude, and that will save Nellie from +all embarrassment. He will soon tire of his new choice, and then—" +</P> + +<P> +"I won't have him if he does," gasped Nellie, interrupting her aunt—"I +won't have anybody who has first proposed to Maude. I wish she'd +never come here, and if pa hadn't brought that woman—" +</P> + +<P> +"Helen!" and the doctor's voice was very stern, for time had not +erased from his heart all love for the blue-eyed Matty, the gentle +mother of the offending Maude, and more than all, the mother of his +boy—"Helen, that woman was my wife, and you must not speak +disrespectfully of her." +</P> + +<P> +Nellie answered by a fresh burst of tears, for her own conscience +smote her for having spoken thus lightly of one who had ever been +kind to her. +</P> + +<P> +After a moment Mrs. Kelsey resumed the conversation by suggesting +that, as the matter could not now be helped, they had better say +nothing, but go off on the morrow as quietly as possible, leaving +J.C. to awake from his hallucination, which she was sure he would do +soon, and follow them to the city. This arrangement seemed wholly +satisfactory to all parties, and though Nellie declared she'd never +again speak to Jed De Vere, she dried her tears, and retiring to +rest, slept quite as soundly as she had ever done in her life. +</P> + +<P> +The next morning when Maude as usual went down to superintend the +breakfast, she was surprised to hear from Hannah that Mrs. Kelsey +was going that day to Rochester, and that Nellie was to accompany +her. +</P> + +<P> +"Nobody can 'cuse me," said Hannah, "of not 'fillin' Scriptur' +oncet, whar it says `them as has ears to hear, let 'em hear,' for I +did hear 'em a-talkin' last night of you and Mr. De Vere, and I tell +you they're ravin' mad to think you'd cotched him; but I'm glad +on't. You desarves him, if anybody. I suppose that t'other chap aint +none of your marryin' sort," and unconscious of the twinge her last +words had inflicted Hannah carried the coffee-urn to the dining +room, followed by Maude, who was greeted with dark faces and +frowning looks. +</P> + +<P> +Scarcely a word was spoken during breakfast, and when after it was +over Maude offered to assist Nellie in packing her trunks, the +latter answered decisively, "You've done enough, I think." +</P> + +<P> +A few moments afterward J.C.'s voice was heard upon the stairs. He +had come over to see the "lioness and her cub," as he styled Mrs. +Kelsey and her niece, whose coolness was amply atoned for by the +bright, joyous glance of Maude, to whom he whispered softly, "Won't +we have glorious times when they are gone!" +</P> + +<P> +Their projected departure pleased him greatly, and he was so very +polite and attentive that Nellie relented a little, and asked how +long he intended remaining at Laurel Hill, while even Mrs. Kelsey +gave him her hand at parting, and said, "Whenever you recover from +your unaccountable fancy I shall be glad to see you." +</P> + +<P> +"You'll wait some time, if you wait for that," muttered J.C., as he +returned to the house in quest of Maude, with whom he had a long and +most delightful interview, for old Hannah, in unusually, good +spirits, expressed her willingness to see to everything, saying to +her young mistress, "You go along now and court a spell. I reckon I +haint done forgot how I and Crockett sot on the fence in old +Virginny and heard the bobolinks a-singin'." +</P> + +<P> +Old Hannah was waxing sentimental, and with a heightened bloom upon +her cheeks Maude left her to her memories of Crockett and the +bobolinks, while she went back to her lover. J.C. was well skilled +in the little, delicate acts which tend to win and keep a woman's +heart, and in listening to his protestations of love Maude forgot +all else, and abandoned herself to the belief that she was perfectly +happy. Only once did her pulses quicken as they would not have done +had her chosen husband been all that she could wish, and that was +when he said to her, "I wrote to James last night, telling him of my +engagement. He will congratulate me, I know, for he was greatly +pleased with you." +</P> + +<P> +Much did Maude wonder what James would say, and it was not long ere +her curiosity was gratified; for scarcely four days were passed when +J.C. brought to her an unsealed note, directed to "Cousin Maude." +</P> + +<P> +"I have heard from Jim," he said, "and he is the best fellow in the +world. Hear what he says of you," and from his own letter he read, +"I do congratulate you upon your choice. Maude Remington is a noble +creature—so beautiful, so refined, and withal so pure and good. +Cherish her, my cousin, as she ought to be cherished, and bring her +some time to my home, which will never boast so fair a mistress." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm so glad he's pleased," said J.C. "I would rather have his +approval than that of the whole world. But what! Crying, I do +believe!" and turning Maude's face to the light he continued, "Yes, +there are tears on your eyelashes. What is the matter?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing, nothing," answered Maude, "only I am so glad your +relatives like me." +</P> + +<P> +J.C. was easily deceived, so was Maude—and mutually believing that +nothing was the matter, J.C. drummed on the piano, while Maude tore +open the note which James had written to her. It seemed so strange +to think he wrote it, and Maude trembled violently, while the little +red spots came out all over her neck and face as she glanced at the +words, "My dear Cousin Maude." +</P> + +<P> +It was a kind, affectionate note, and told how the writer would +welcome and love her as his cousin, while at the same time it chided +her for not having answered the letter sent some weeks before. +"Perhaps you did not deem it worthy of an answer," he wrote, "but I +was sadly disappointed in receiving none, and now that you are +really to be my cousin I shall expect you to do better, and treat me +as if I had an existence. J.C. must not monopolize you wholly, for I +shall claim a share of you for myself." +</P> + +<P> +Poor, poor Maude! She did not feel the summer air upon her brow—did +not hear the discordant notes which J.C. made upon the piano, for +her whole soul was centered on the words, "sadly disappointed," +"love you as my cousin," and "claim a share of you for myself." +</P> + +<P> +Only for a moment, though, and then recovering her composure she +said aloud, "What does he mean? I never received a note." +</P> + +<P> +"I know it, I know it," hastily spoke J.C., and coming to her side +he handed her the soiled missive, saying, "It came a long time ago, +and was mislaid among my papers, until this letter recalled it to my +mind. There is nothing in it of any consequence, I dare say, and had +it not been sealed I might, perhaps, have read it, for as the doctor +says, `It's a maxim of mine that a wife should have no secrets from +her husband,' hey, Maude?" and he caressed her burning cheek, as she +read the note which, had it been earlier received, might have +changed her whole after life. +</P> + +<P> +And still it was not one-half as affectionate in its tone as was the +last, for it began with, "Cousin Maude" and ended with "Yours +respectfully," but she knew he had been true to his promise, and +without a suspicion that J.C. had deceived her she placed the +letters in her pocket, to be read again when she was alone, and +could measure every word and sentiment. +</P> + +<P> +That afternoon when she went to her chamber to make some changes in +her dress she found herself standing before the mirror much longer +than usual, examining minutely the face which James De Vere had +called beautiful. +</P> + +<P> +"He thought so, or he would not have said it; but it is false," she +whispered; "even J.C. never called me handsome;" and taking out the +note that day received, she read it again, wondering why the name +"Cousin Maude" did not sound as pleasantly as when she first heard +it. +</P> + +<P> +That night as she sat with Louis in her room she showed the letters +to him, at the same time explaining the reason why one of them was +not received before. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I am so glad," said Louis, as he finished reading them, "for +now I know that James De Vere don't like you." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't like me, Louis!" and in Maude's voice there was a world of +sadness. +</P> + +<P> +"I mean," returned Louis, "that he don't love you for anything but a +cousin. I like J.C. very, very much, and I am glad you are to be his +wife; but I've sometimes thought that if you had waited the other +one would have spoken, for I was almost sure he loved you, but he +don't, I know; he couldn't be so pleased with your engagement, nor +write you so affectionately if he really cared." +</P> + +<P> +Maude hardly knew whether she were pleased or not with Louis' +reasoning. It was true, though, she said, and inasmuch as James did +not care for her, and she did not care for James, she was very glad +she was engaged to J.C.! And with reassured confidence in herself +she sat down and wrote an answer to that note, a frank, impulsive, +Maude-like answer, which, nevertheless, would convey to James De +Vere no idea how large a share of that young girl's thoughts were +given to himself. +</P> + +<P> +The next day there came to Maude a letter bearing the Canada +postmark, together with the unmistakable handwriting of Janet +Hopkins. Maude had not heard of her for some time, and very eagerly +she read the letter, laughing immoderately, and giving vent to +sudden exclamations of astonishment at its surprising intelligence. +Janet was a mother!—"a livin' mother to a child born out of due +season," so the delighted creature wrote, "and what was better than +all, it was a girl, and the Sunday before was baptized as Maude +Matilda Remington Blodgett Hopkins, there being no reason," she +said, "why she shouldn't give her child as many names as the Queen +of England hitched on to hers, beside that it was not at all likely +that she would ever have another, and so she had improved this +opportunity, and named her daughter in honor of Maude, Matty, Harry, +and her first husband Joel. But," she wrote, "I don't know what +you'll say when I tell you that my old man and some others have made +me believe that seein' I've an heir of my own flesh and blood, I +ought to change that will of mine, so I've made another, and if +Maude Matilda dies you'll have it yet. T'other five thousand is +yours, anyway, and if I didn't love the little wudget as I do, I +wouldn't have changed my will; but natur' is natur'." +</P> + +<P> +Scarcely had Maude finished reading this letter when J.C. came in, +and she handed it to him. He did not seem surprised, for he had +always regarded the will as a doubtful matter; but in reality he was +a little chagrined, for five thousand was only half as much as ten. +Still his love for Maude was, as yet, stronger than his love for +money, and he only laughed heartily at the string of names which +Janet had given to her offspring, saying, "It was a pity it hadn't +been a boy, so she could have called him Jedediah Cleishbotham." +</P> + +<P> +"He does not care for my money," Maude thought, and her heart went +out toward him more lovingly than it had ever done before, and her +dark eyes filled with tears when he told her, as he ere long did, +that he must leave the next day, and return to Rochester. +</P> + +<P> +"The little property left me by my mother needs attention, so my +agent writes me," he said, "and now the will has gone up, and we are +poorer than we were before by five thousand dollars, it is necessary +that I should bestir myself, you know." Maude could not tell why it +was that his words affected her unpleasantly, for she knew he was +not rich, and she felt that she should respect him more if he really +did bestir himself, but still she did not like his manner when +speaking of the will, and her heart was heavy all the day. He, on +the contrary, was in unusually good spirits. He was not tired of +Maude, but he was tired of the monotonous life at Laurel Hill, and +when his agent's summons came it found him ready to go. That for +which he had visited Laurel Hill had in reality been accomplished. +He had secured a wife, not Nellie, but Maude, and determining to do +everything honorable, he on the morning of his departure went to the +doctor, to whom he talked of Maude, expressing his wish to marry +her. Very coldly the doctor answered that "Maude could marry whom +she pleased. It was a maxim of his never to interfere with matches," +and then, as if the subject were suggestive, he questioned the young +man to know if in his travels he had ever met the lady Maude +Glendower. J.C. had met her frequently at Saratoga. +</P> + +<P> +"She was a splendid creature," he said, and he asked if the doctor +knew her. +</P> + +<P> +"I saw her as a child of seventeen, and again as a woman of twenty-five. +She is forty now," was the doctor's answer, as he walked away, +wondering if the Maude Glendower of to-day were greatly changed from +the Maude of fifteen years ago. +</P> + +<P> +To J.C.'s active mind a new idea was presented, and seeking out the +other Maude—his Maude—he told her of his suspicion. There was a +momentary pang, a thought of the willow-shaded grave where Kate and +Matty slept, and then Maude Remington calmly questioned J.C. of +Maude Glendower—who she was, and where did she live? +</P> + +<P> +J.C. knew but little of the lady, but what little he knew he told. +She was of both English and Spanish descent. Her friends, he +believed, were nearly all dead, and she was alone in the world. +Though forty years of age, she was well preserved, and called a +wondrous beauty. She was a belle—a flirt—a spinster, and was +living at present in Troy. +</P> + +<P> +"She'll never marry the doctor," said Maude, laughing, as she +thought of an elegant woman leaving the world of fashion to be +mistress of that house. +</P> + +<P> +Still the idea followed her, and when at last J.C. had bidden her +adieu, and gone to his city home, she frequently found herself +thinking of the beautiful Maude Glendower, whose name, it seemed to +her, she had heard before, though when or where she could not tell. +A strange interest was awakened in her bosom for the unknown lady, +and she often wondered if they would ever meet. The doctor thought +of her, too—thought of her often, and thought of her long, and as +his feelings toward her changed, so did his manner soften toward the +dark-haired girl who bore her name, and who he began at last to +fancy resembled her in more points than one. Maude was ceasing to be +an object of perfect indifference to him. She was an engaged young +lady, and as such, entitled to more respect than he was wont to pay +her, and as the days wore on he began to have serious thoughts of +making her his confidant and counselor in a matter which he would +never have intrusted to Nellie. +</P> + +<P> +Accordingly, one afternoon when he found her sitting upon the +piazza, he said, first casting an anxious glance around to make sure +no one heard him: "Maude, I wish to see you alone a while." +</P> + +<P> +Wonderingly Maude followed him into the parlor, where her +astonishment was in no wise diminished by his shutting the blinds, +dropping the curtains, and locking the door! Maude began to tremble, +and when he drew his chair close to her side, she started up, +alarmed. "Sit down—sit down," he whispered; "I want to tell you +something, which you must never mention in the world. You certainly +have some sense, or I should not trust you. Maude, I am going—that +is, I have every reason to believe—or rather, I should say perhaps—well, +anyway, there is a prospect of my being married." +</P> + +<P> +"Married!—to whom?" asked Maude. +</P> + +<P> +"You are certain you'll never tell, and that there's no one in the +hall," said the doctor, going on tip-toe to the door, and assuring +himself there was no one there. Then returning to his seat, he told +her a strange story of a marvellously beautiful young girl, with +Spanish fire in her lustrous eyes, and a satin gloss on her +blue-black curls. +</P> + +<P> +Her name was Maude Glendower, and years ago she won his love, +leading him on and on until at last he paid her the highest honor a +man can pay a woman—he offered her his heart, his hand, his name. +But she refused him—scornfully, contemptuously, refused him, and he +learned afterward that she had encouraged him for the sake of +bringing another man to terms!—and that man, whose name the doctor +never knew, was a college student not yet twenty-one. +</P> + +<P> +"I hated her then," said he, "hated this Maude Glendower, for her +deception; but I could not forget her, and after Katy died I sought +her again. She was the star of Saratoga, and no match for me. This I +had sense enough to see, so I left her in her glory, and three years +after married your departed mother. Maude Glendower has never +married, and at the age of forty has come to her senses, and +signified her willingness to become my wife—or, that is to say, I +have been informed by my sister that she probably would not refuse +me a second time. Now, Maude Remington, I have told you this because +I must talk with someone, and as I before remarked, you are a girl +of sense, and will keep the secret. It is a maxim of mine, when +anything is to be done, to do it; so I shall visit Miss Glendower +immediately, and if I like her well enough I shall marry her at +once. Not while I am gone, of course, but very soon. I shall start +for Troy one week from to-day, and I wish you would attend a little +to my wardrobe; it's in a most lamentable condition. My shirts are +all worn out, my coat is rusty, and last Sunday I discovered a hole +in my pantaloons—" +</P> + +<P> +"Dr. Kennedy," exclaimed Maude, interrupting him, "you surely do not +intend to present yourself before the fastidious Miss Glendower with +those old shabby clothes. She would say No sooner than she did +before. You must have an entire new suit. You can afford it, too, +for you have not had one since mother died." +</P> + +<P> +Dr. Kennedy was never in a condition to be so easily coaxed as now. +Maude Glendower had a place in his heart, which no other woman bad +ever held, and that very afternoon the village merchant was +astonished at the penurious doctor's inquiring the prices of the +finest broadcloth in his store. It seemed a great deal of money to +pay, but Maude Remington at his elbow and Maude Glendower in his +mind conquered at last, and the new suit was bought, including vest, +hat, boots, and all. There is something in handsome clothes very +satisfactory to most people, and the doctor, when arrayed in his, +was conscious of a feeling of pride quite unusual to him. On one +point, however, he was obstinate, "he would not spoil them by +wearing them on the road, when he could just as well dress at the +hotel." +</P> + +<P> +So Maude, between whom and himself there was for the time being +quite an amicable understanding, packed them in his trunk, while +Hannah and Louis looked on wondering what it could mean. +</P> + +<P> +"The Millennial is comin', or else he's goin' a-courtin'," said +Hannah, and satisfied that she was right she went back to the +kitchen, while Louis, catching at once at her idea, began to cry, +and laying his head on his sister's lap begged of her to tell him if +what Hannah had said were true. +</P> + +<P> +To him it seemed like trampling on the little grave beneath the +willows, and it required all Maude's powers of persuasion to dry his +tears and soothe the pain which every child must feel when first +they know that the lost mother, whose memory they so fondly cherish, +is to be succeeded by another. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MAUDE GLENDOWER. +</H3> + +<P> +She was a most magnificent looking woman, as she sat within her +richly furnished room on that warm September night, now gazing idly +dawn the street and again bending her head to catch the first sound +of footsteps on the stairs. Personal preservation had been the great +study of her life, and forty years had not dimmed the luster of her +soft, black eyes, or woven one thread of silver among the luxuriant +curls which clustered in such profusion around her face and neck. +Gray hairs and Maude Glendower had nothing in common, and the fair, +round cheek, the pearly teeth, the youthful bloom, and white, +uncovered shoulders seemed to indicate that time had made an +exception in her favor, and dropped her from its wheel. +</P> + +<P> +With a portion of her history the reader is already acquainted. +Early orphaned, she was thrown upon the care of an old aunt who, +proud of her wondrous beauty, spared no pains to make her what +nature seemed to will that she should be, a coquette and a belle. At +seventeen we find her a schoolgirl in New Haven, where she turned +the heads of all the college boys, and then murmured because one, a +dark-eyed youth of twenty, withheld from her the homage she claimed +as her just due. In a fit of pique she besieged a staid, handsome +young M.D. of twenty-seven, who had just commenced to practice in +the city, and who, proudly keeping himself aloof from the college +students, knew nothing of the youth she so much fancied. Perfectly +intoxicated with her beauty, he offered her his hand, and was +repulsed. Overwhelmed with disappointment and chagrin, he then left +the city, and located himself at Laurel Hill, where now we find him +the selfish, overbearing Dr. Kennedy. +</P> + +<P> +But in after years Maude Glendower was punished for that act. The +dark-haired student she so much loved was wedded to another, and +with a festering wound within her heart she plunged at once into the +giddy world of fashion, slaying her victims by scores, and exulting +as each new trophy of her power was laid at her feet. She had no +heart, the people said, and with a mocking laugh she thought of the +quiet grave 'mid the New England hills, where, one moonlight night +two weeks after that grave was made, she had wept such tears as were +never wept by her again. Maude Glendower had loved, but loved in +vain; and now, at the age of forty, she was unmarried and alone in +the wide world. The aunt, who had been to her a mother, had died a +few months before, and as her annuity ceased with her death Maude +was almost wholly destitute. The limited means she possessed would +only suffice to pay her, board for a short time, and in this dilemma +she thought of her old lover, and wondered if he could again be won. +He was rich, she had always heard, and as his wife she could still +enjoy the luxuries to which she had been accustomed. She knew his +sister,—they had met in the salons of Saratoga,—and though it hurt +her pride to do it, she at last signified her willingness to be +again addressed. +</P> + +<P> +It was many weeks ere Dr. Kennedy conquered wholly his olden grudge, +but conquered it he had, and she sat expecting him on the night when +first we introduced her to our readers. He had arrived in Troy on +the western train, and written her a note announcing his intention +to visit her that evening. For this visit Maude Glendower had +arrayed herself with care, wearing a rich silk dress of crimson and +black—colors well adapted to her complexion. +</P> + +<P> +"He saw me at twenty-five. He shall not think me greatly changed +since then," she said, as over her bare neck and arms she threw an +exquisitely wrought mantilla of lace. +</P> + +<P> +The Glendower family had once been very wealthy, and the last +daughter of the haughty race glittered with diamonds which had come +to her from her great-grandmother, and had been but recently reset. +And there she sat, beautiful Maude Glendower—the votary of fashion—the +woman of the world—sat waiting for the cold, hard, overbearing +man who thought to make her his wife. A ring at the door, a heavy +tread upon the winding stairs, and the lady rests her head upon her +hand, so that her glossy curls fall over, but do not conceal her +white, rounded arm, where the diamonds are shining. +</P> + +<P> +"I could easily mistake him for my father," she thought, as a +gray-haired man stepped into the room, where he paused an instant, +bewildered with the glare of light and the display of pictures, +mirrors, tapestry, rosewood, and marble, which met his view. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Berkley, Maude Glendower's aunt, had stinted herself to gratify +her niece's whims, and their surroundings had always been of the +most expensive kind, so it was not strange that Dr. Kennedy, +accustomed only to ingrain carpet and muslin curtains, was dazzled +by so much elegance. With a well-feigned start the lady arose to her +feet, and going to his side offered him her hand, saying, "You are +Dr. Kennedy, I am sure. I should have known you anywhere, for you +are but little changed." +</P> + +<P> +She meant to flatter his self-love, though, thanks to Maude +Remington for having insisted upon the broadcloth suit, he looked +remarkably well. +</P> + +<P> +"She had not changed at all," he said, and the admiring gaze he +fixed upon her argued well for her success. It becomes us not to +tell how that strange wooing sped. Suffice it to say that at the +expiration of an hour Maude Glendower had promised to be the wife of +Dr. Kennedy when another spring should come. She had humbled herself +to say that she regretted her girlish freak, and he had so far +unbent his dignity as to say that he could not understand why she +should be willing to leave the luxuries which surrounded her and go +with him, a plain, old-fashioned man. Maude Glendower scorned to +make him think that it was love which actuated her, and she replied, +"Now that my aunt is dead, I have no natural protector. I am alone +and want a home." +</P> + +<P> +"But mine is so different," he said. "There are no silk curtains +there, no carpets such as this—" +</P> + +<P> +"Is Maude Remington there?" the lady asked, and in her large black +eyes there was a dewy tenderness, as she pronounced that name. +</P> + +<P> +"Maude Remington!—yes," the doctor answered. "Where did you hear of +her? My sister told you, I suppose. Yes, Maude is there. She has +lived with me ever since her mother died. You would have liked +Matty, I think," and the doctor felt a glow of satisfaction in +having thus paid a tribute to the memory of his wife. +</P> + +<P> +"Is Maude like her mother?" the lady asked; a glow upon her cheek, +and the expression of her face evincing the interest she felt in the +answer. +</P> + +<P> +"Not at all," returned the doctor. "Matty was blue-eyed and fair, +while Maude is dark, and resembles her father, they say." +</P> + +<P> +The white jeweled hands were clasped together, for a moment, and +then Maude Glendower questioned him of the other one, Matty's child +and his. Very tenderly the doctor talked of his unfortunate boy, +telling of his soft brown hair, his angel face, and dreamy eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"He is like Matty," the lady said, more to herself than her +companion, who proceeded to speak of Nellie as a paragon of +loveliness and virtue. "I shan't like her, I know," the lady +thought, "but the other two," how her heart bounded at the thoughts +of folding them to her bosom. +</P> + +<P> +Louis Kennedy, weeping that his mother was forgotten, had nothing to +fear from Maude Glendower, for a child of Matty Remington was a +sacred trust to her, and when as the doctor bade her good-night he +said again, "You will find a great contrast between your home and +mine," she answered, "I shall be contented if Maude and Louis are +there." +</P> + +<P> +"And Nellie, too," the doctor added, unwilling that she should be +overlooked. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Nellie too," the lady answered, the expression of her mouth +indicating that Nellie too was an object of indifference to her. +</P> + +<P> +The doctor is gone, his object is accomplished, and at the Mansion +House near by he sleeps quietly and well. But the lady, Maude +Glendower, oh, who shall tell what bitter tears she wept, or how in +her in-most soul she shrank from the man she had chosen. And yet +there was nothing repulsive in him, she knew. He was fine-looking,—he +stood well in the world,—he was rich while she was poor. But not +for this alone had she promised to be his wife. To hold Maude +Remington within her arms, to look into her eyes, to call his +daughter child, this was the strongest reason of them all. And was +it strange that when at last she slept she was a girl again, looking +across the college green to catch a glimpse of one whose +indifference had made her what she was, a selfish, scheming, +cold-hearted woman. +</P> + +<P> +There was another interview next morning, and then the doctor left +her, but not until with her soft hand in his, and her shining eyes +upon his face, she said to him, "You think your home is not a +desirable one for me. Can't you fix it up a little? Are there two +parlors, and do the windows come to the floor? I hope your carriage +horses are in good condition, for I am very fond of driving. Have +you a flower garden? I anticipate much pleasure in working among the +plants. Oh, it will be so cool and nice in the country. You have an +ice-house, of course." +</P> + +<P> +Poor doctor! Double parlors, low windows, ice-house, and flower +garden he had none, while the old carryall had long since ceased to +do its duty, and its place was supplied by an open buggy, drawn by a +sorrel nag. But Maude Glendower could do with him what Katy and +Matty could not have done, and after his return to Laurel Hill he +was more than once closeted with Maude, to whom he confided his plan +of improving the place, asking her if she thought the profits of +next year's crop of wheat and wool would meet the whole expense. +Maude guessed at random that it would, and as money in prospect +seems not quite so valuable as money in hand, the doctor finally +concluded to follow out Maude Glendower's suggestions, and greatly +to the surprise of the neighbors, the repairing process commenced. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +HOW THE ENGAGEMENTS PROSPERED. +</H3> + +<P> +The October sun had painted the forest trees with the gorgeous tints +of autumn and the November winds had changed them to a more sober +hue ere J.C. De Vere came again to Laurel Hill. Very regularly he +wrote to Maude—kind, loving letters, which helped to cheer her +solitary life. Nellie still remained with Mrs. Kelsey, and though +she had so far forgiven her stepsister as to write to her +occasionally, she still cherished toward her a feeling of animosity +for having stolen away her lover. +</P> + +<P> +On his return to Rochester J.C. De Vere had fully expected that his +engagement would be the theme of every tongue, and he had prepared +himself for the attack. How, then, was he surprised to find that no +one had the least suspicion of it, though many joked him for having +quarreled with Nellie as they were sure he had done, by his not +returning when she did. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Kelsey had changed her mind and resolved to say nothing of an +affair which she was sure would never prove to be serious, and the +result showed the wisdom of her proceeding. No one spoke of Maude to +J.C., for no one knew of her existence, and both Mrs. Kelsey, and +Nellie, whom he frequently met, scrupulously refrained from +mentioning her name. At first he felt annoyed, and more than once +was tempted to tell of his engagement, but as time wore on and he +became more and more interested in city gayeties, he thought less +frequently of the dark-eyed Maude, who, with fewer sources of +amusement, was each day thinking more and more of him. Still, he was +sure he loved her, and one morning near the middle of November, when +he received a letter from her saying, "I am sometimes very lonely, +and wish that you were here," he started up with his usual +impetuosity, and ere he was fully aware of his own intentions he +found himself ticketed for Canandaigua, and the next morning Louis +Kennedy, looking from his window and watching the daily stage as it +came slowly up the hill, screamed out, "He's come—he's come!" +</P> + +<P> +A few moments more and Maude was clasped in J.C.'s arms. Kissing her +forehead, her cheek, and her lips, he held her off and looked to see +if she had changed. She had, and he knew it. Happiness and +contentment are more certain beautifiers than the most powerful +cosmetics, and under the combined effects of both Maude was greatly +improved. She was happy in her engagement, happy in the increased +respect it brought her from her friends, and happy, too, in the +unusual kindness, of her stepfather. All this was manifest in her +face, and for the first time in his life J.C. told her she was +beautiful. +</P> + +<P> +"If you only had more manner, and your clothes were fashionably +made, you would far excel the city girls," he said, a compliment +which to Maude seemed rather equivocal. +</P> + +<P> +When he was there before he had not presumed to criticise her style +of dress, but he did so now, quoting the city belles until, half in +earnest, half in jest, Maude said to him, "If you think so much of +fashion, you ought not to marry a country girl." +</P> + +<P> +"Pshaw!" returned J.C. "I like you all the better for dressing as +you please, and still I wish you could acquire a little city polish, +for I don't care to have my wife the subject of remark. If Maude +Glendower comes in the spring, you can learn a great deal of her +before the 20th of June." +</P> + +<P> +Maude colored deeply, thinking for the first time in her life that +possibly J.C. might be ashamed of her, but his affectionate caresses +soon drove all unpleasant impressions from her mind, and the three +days that he stayed with her passed rapidly away. He did not mention +the will, but he questioned her of the five thousand which was to be +hers on her eighteenth birthday, and vaguely, hinted that he might +need it to set himself up in business. He had made no arrangements +for the future, he said, there was time enough in the spring, and +promising to be with her again during the holidays, he left her +quite uncertain as to whether she were glad he had visited her or +not. +</P> + +<P> +The next; day she was greatly comforted by a long letter from James, +who wrote occasionally, evincing so much interest in "Cousin Maude" +that he always succeeded in making her cry, though why she could not +tell, for his letters gave her more real satisfaction than did those +of J.C., fraught as the latter were with protestations of constancy +and love. Slowly dragged the weeks, and the holidays were at hand, +when she received a message from J.C., saying he could not possibly +come as he had promised. No reason was given for this change in his +plan, and with a sigh of disappointment Maude turned to a letter +from Nellie, received by the same mail. After dwelling at length +upon the delightful time she was having in the city, Nellie spoke of +a fancy ball to be given by her aunt during Christmas week. Mr. De +Vere was to be "Ivanhoe," she said, and she to be "Rowena." +</P> + +<P> +"You don't know," she wrote, "how interested J.C. is in the party. +He really begins to appear more as he used to do. He has not +forgotten you, though, for he said the other day you would make a +splendid Rebecca. It takes a dark person for that, I believe!" +</P> + +<P> +Maude knew the reason now why J.C. could not possibly come, and the +week she had, anticipated so much seemed dreary, enough, +notwithstanding it was enlivened by a box of oranges and figs from +her betrothed, and a long, affectionate letter from James De Vere, +who spoke of the next Christmas, saying he meant she should spend it +at Hampton. +</P> + +<P> +"You will really be my cousin then," he wrote, "and I intend +inviting yourself and husband to pass the holidays with us. I want +my mother to know you, Maude. She will like you, I am sure, for she +always thinks as I do." +</P> + +<P> +This letter was far more pleasing to Maude's taste than were the +oranges and figs, and: Louis was suffered to monopolize the latter—a +privilege which he appreciated, as children usually do. After the +holidays J.C. paid a flying visit to Laurel Hill, where his presence +caused quite as much pain as pleasure, so anxious he seemed to +return. Rochester could not well exist without him, one would +suppose, from hearing him talk of the rides he planned, the surprise +parties he man—aged, and the private theatricals of which he was +the leader. +</P> + +<P> +"Do they pay you well for your services?" Louis asked him once, when +wearying of the same old story. +</P> + +<P> +J.C. understood the hit, and during the remainder of his stay was +far less egotistical than he would otherwise have been. After his +departure there ensued an interval of quiet, which, as spring +approached, was broken by the doctor's resuming the work of repairs, +which had been suspended during the coldest weather. The partition +between the parlor and the large square bedroom was removed; +folding-doors were made between; the windows were cut down; a carpet +was bought to match the one which Maude had purchased the summer +before; and then, when all was done, the doctor was seized with a +fit of the blues, because it had cost so much. But he could afford +to be extravagant for a wife like Maude Glendower, and trusting much +to the wheat crop and the wool, he started for Troy about the middle +of March, fully expecting to receive from the lady a decisive answer +as to when she would make them both perfectly happy! +</P> + +<P> +With a most winning smile upon her lip and a bewitching glance in +her black eyes, Maude Glendower took his hand in hers and begged for +a little longer freedom. +</P> + +<P> +"Wait till next fall," she said; "I must go to Saratoga one more +summer. I shall never be happy if I don't, and you, I dare say, +wouldn't enjoy it a bit." +</P> + +<P> +The doctor was not so sure of that. Her eyes, her voice, and the +soft touch of her hand made him feel very queer; and he was almost +willing to go to Saratoga himself if by these means he could secure +her. +</P> + +<P> +"How much do they charge?" he asked; and, with a flash of her bright +eyes, the lady answered, "I suppose both of us can get along with +thirty or forty dollars a week, including everything; but that isn't +much, as I don't care to stay more than two months!" +</P> + +<P> +This decided the doctor. He had not three hundred dollars to throw +away, and so he tried to persuade his companion to give up Saratoga +and go with him to Laurel Hill, telling her, as an inducement, of +the improvements he had made. +</P> + +<P> +"There were two parlors now," he said, "and with her handsome +furniture they would look remarkably well." +</P> + +<P> +She did not tell him that her handsome furniture was mortgaged for +board and borrowed money—neither did she say that her object in +going to Saratoga was to try her powers upon a rich old Southern +bachelor who had returned from Europe, and who she knew was to pass +the coming summer at the Springs. If she could secure him Dr. +Kennedy might console himself as best he could, and she begged so +hard to defer their marriage until the autumn that the or gave up +the contest, and with a heavy heart prepared to turn his face +homeward. +</P> + +<P> +"You need not make any more repairs until I come; I'd rather see to +them myself," Miss Glendower said at parting; and wondering what +further improvements she could possibly suggest, now that the parlor +windows were all right, the doctor bade her adieu, and started for +home. +</P> + +<P> +Hitherto Maude had been his confidant, keeping her trust so well +that no one at Laurel Hill knew, exactly what his intentions were, +and, as was very, natural, immediately after his return he went to +her for sympathy in his disappointment. He found her weeping +bitterly, and ere he could lay before her his own grievances she +appealed to him for sympathy and aid. The man to whom her money was +intrusted had speculated largely, loaning some of it out West, at +twenty per cent., investing some in doubtful railroad stocks, and +experimenting with the rest, until by some unlucky chance he lost +the whole, and, worse than all, had nothing of his own with which to +make amends. In short, Maude was penniless, and J.C. De Vere in +despair. She had written to him immediately, and he had come, +suggesting nothing, offering no advice, and saying nothing at first, +except that "the man was mighty mean, and he had never liked his +looks." +</P> + +<P> +After a little, however, he rallied somewhat, and offered the +consolatory remark that "they were in a mighty bad fix. I'll be +honest," said he, "and confess that I depended upon that money to +set me up in business. I was going to shave notes, and in order to +do so I must have some ready, capital. It cramps me," he continued, +"for, as a married man, my expenses will necessarily be more than +they now are." +</P> + +<P> +"We can defer our marriage," sobbed Maude, whose heart throbbed +painfully with every word he uttered. "We can defer our marriage a +while, and possibly a part of my fortune may be regained—or, if you +wish it, I will release you at once. You need not wed a penniless +bride," and Maude hid her face in her hands while she awaited the +answer to her suggestion. J.C. De Vere did love Maude Remington +better than anyone he had ever seen, and though he caught eagerly at +the marriage deferred, he was not then willing to give her up, and, +with one of his impetuous bursts, he exclaimed, "I will not be +released, though it may be wise to postpone our bridal day for a +time, say until Christmas next, when I hope to be established in +business," and, touched by the suffering expression of her white +face, he kissed her tears away and told her how gladly he would work +for her, painting "love in a cottage," with nothing else there, +until he really made himself believe that he could live on bread and +water with Maude, provided she gave him the lion's share! +</P> + +<P> + J.C.'s great faults were selfishness, indolence, and love of money,<BR> +and Maude's loss affected him deeply; still, there was no redress, +and playfully bidding her "not to cry for the milkman's spilled +milk," he left her on the very day when Dr. Kennedy returned. Maude +knew J.C. was keenly disappointed; that he was hardly aware what he +was saying, and she wept for him rather than for the money. +</P> + +<P> +Dr. Kennedy could offer no advice—no comfort. It had always been a +maxim of his not to make that man her guardian; but women would do +everything wrong, and then, as if his own trials were paramount to +hers, he bored her with the story of his troubles, to which she +simply answered, "I am sorry;" and this was all the sympathy either +gained from the other! +</P> + +<P> +In the course of a few days Maude received a long letter from James +De Vere. He had heard from J.C. of his misfortune, and very tenderly +he strove to comfort her, touching at once upon the subject which he +naturally supposed lay heaviest upon her heart. The marriage need +not be postponed, he said; there was room in his house and a place +in his own and his mother's affections for their "Cousin Maude." She +could live there as well as not. Hampton was only half an hour's +ride from Rochester, and J. G., who had been admitted at the bar, +could open an office in the city until something better presented. +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps I may set him up in business myself," he wrote. "At all +events, dear Maude, you need not dim the brightness of your eyes by +tears, for all will yet be well. Next June shall see you a bride, +unless your intended husband refuse my offer, in which case I may +divine something better." +</P> + +<P> +"Noble man," was Maude's exclamation, as she finished reading the +letter, and if at that moment the two cousins rose up in contrast +before her mind, who can blame her for awarding the preference to +him who had penned those lines, and who thus kindly strove to remove +from her pathway every obstacle to her happiness. +</P> + +<P> +James De Vere was indeed a noble-hearted man. Generous, kind, and +self-denying, he found his chief pleasure in doing others good, and +he had written both to Maude and J.C. just as the great kindness of +his heart had prompted him to write. He did not then know that he +loved Maude Remington, for he had never fully analyzed the nature of +his feelings toward her. He knew he admired her very much, and when +he wrote the note J.C. withheld he said to himself, "If she answers +this, I shall write again—and again, and maybe"—he did not exactly +know what lay beyond the "maybe," so he added, "we shall be very +good friends." +</P> + +<P> +But the note was not answered, and when his cousin's letter came, +telling him of the engagement, a sharp, quick pang shot through his +heart, eliciting from him a faint outcry, which caused his mother, +who was present, to ask what was the matter. +</P> + +<P> +"Only a sudden pain," he answered, laying his hand upon his side. +</P> + +<P> +"Pleurisy, perhaps," the practical mother rejoined, and supposing +she was right he placed the letter in his pocket and went out into +the open air. It had grown uncomfortably warm, he thought, while the +noise of the falling fountain in the garden made his head ache as it +had never ached before; and returning to the house he sought his +pleasant library. But not a volume in all those crowded shelves had +power to interest him then, and with a strange disquiet he wandered +from room to room, until at last, as the sun went down, he laid his +throbbing temples upon his pillow, and in his feverish dreams saw +again the dark-eyed Maude sitting on her mother's grave, her face +upturned to him, and on her lip the smile that formed her greatest +beauty. +</P> + +<P> +The next morning the headache was gone, and with a steady hand he +wrote to his cousin and Maude congratulations which he believed +sincere. That J.C. was not worthy of the maiden he greatly feared, +and he resolved to have a care of the young man, and try to make him +what Maude's husband ought to be, and when he heard of her +misfortune he stepped forward with his generous offer, which J.C. +instantly refused. +</P> + +<P> +"He never would take his wife to live upon his relatives, he had too +much pride for that, and the marriage must be deferred. A few months +would make no difference. Christmas was not far from June, and by +that time he could do something for himself." +</P> + +<P> +Thus he wrote to James, who mused long upon the words, "A few months +will make no difference," thinking within himself, "If I were like +other men, and was about to marry Maude, a few months would make a +good deal of difference, but everyone to their mind." Four weeks +after this he went one day to Canandaigua on business, and having an +hour's leisure ere the arrival of the train which would take him +home he sauntered into the public parlor of the hotel. Near the +window, at the farther extremity of the room, a young girl was +looking out upon the passers-by. Something in her form and dress +attracted his attention, and he was approaching the spot where she +stood when the sound of his footsteps caught her ear, and turning +round she disclosed to view the features of Maude Remington. +</P> + +<P> +"Maude!" he exclaimed, "this is indeed a surprise. I must even claim +a cousin's right to kiss you," and taking both her hands in his, he +kissed her blushing cheek—coyly—timidly—for James De Vere was +unused to such things, and not quite certain, whether under the +circumstances it were perfectly proper for him to do so or not. +</P> + +<P> +Leading her to the sofa, he soon learned that she had come to the +village to trade, and having finished her shopping was waiting for +her stepfather, who had accompanied her. +</P> + +<P> +"And what of J.C.?" he asked, after a moment's silence. "Has he been +to visit you more than once since the crisis, as he calls it?" +</P> + +<P> +Maude's eyes filled with tears, for J.C.'s conduct was not wholly +satisfactory to her. She remembered his loud protestations of utter +disregard for her money, and she could not help thinking how little +his theory and practice accorded. He had not been to see her since +his flying visit in March, and though he had written several times +his letters had contained little else save complaints against their +"confounded luck." She could not tell this to James De Vere, and she +replied, "He is very busy now, I believe, in trying to make some +business arrangement with the lawyer in whose office he formerly +studied." +</P> + +<P> +"I am glad he has roused himself at last," answered James; "he would +not accept my offer, for which I am sorry, as I was anticipating +much happiness in having my Cousin Maude at Hampton during the +summer. You will remain at home, I suppose." +</P> + +<P> +"No," said Maude hesitatingly; "or, that is, I have serious thoughts +of teaching school, as I do not like to be dependent on Dr. +Kennedy." +</P> + +<P> +James De Vere had once taught school for a few weeks by way of +experiment, and now as he recalled the heated room, the stifling +atmosphere, the constant care, and more than all, the noisy shout of +triumph which greeted his ear on that memorable morning when he +found himself fastened out, and knew his rule was at an end, he +shuddered at the thought of Maude's being exposed to similar +indignities, and used all his powers of eloquence to dissuade her +from her plan. Maude was frank, open-hearted, and impulsive, and +emboldened by James' kind, brotherly manner she gave in a most +childlike manner her reason for wishing to teach. +</P> + +<P> +"If I am married next winter," she said, "my wardrobe will need +replenishing, for J.C. would surely be ashamed to take me as I am, +and I have now no means of my own for purchasing anything." +</P> + +<P> +In an instant James De Vere's hand was on his purse, but ere he drew +it forth he reflected that to offer money then might possibly be out +of place, so he said, "I have no sister, no girl-cousin, no wife, +and more money than I can use, and when the right time comes nothing +can please me more than to give you your bridal outfit. May I, +Maude? And if you do not like to stay with Dr. Kennedy, come to +Hampton this summer and live with us, will you, Maude? I want you +there so much," and in the musical tones of his voice there was a +deep pathos which brought the tears in torrents from Maude's eyes; +while she declined the generous offer she could not accept. +</P> + +<P> +Just then Dr. Kennedy appeared. He was ready, to go, he said, and +bidding Mr. De Vere good-by, Maude was soon on her way home, her +spirits lighter and her heart happier for that chance meeting at the +hotel. One week later Mr. De Vere wrote to her, saying that if she +still wished to teach, she could have the school at Hampton. He had +seen the trustees, had agreed upon the price, and had even selected +her a boarding-place near by. "I regret," said he, "that we live so +far from the schoolhouse as to render it impossible for you to board +with us. You might ride, I suppose, and I would cheerfully carry you +every day; but, on the whole, I think you had better stop with Mrs. +Johnson." +</P> + +<P> +This letter Maude took at once to her brother, from whom she had +hitherto withheld her intention to teach, as she did not wish to +pain him unnecessarily with the dread of a separation, which might +never be. Deeply had he sympathized with her in her misfortune, +whispering to her that two—thirds of his own inheritance should be +hers. "I can coax almost anything from father," he said, "and when I +am twenty-one I'll ask him to give me my portion, and then I'll take +you to Europe. You won't be old, Maude, only twenty-seven, and I +shall be proud when the people say that beautiful woman with eyes +like stars is the crippled artist's sister!" +</P> + +<P> +In all his plans he made no mention of J.C., whose conduct he +despised, and whose character he began to read aright. +</P> + +<P> +"Maude will never marry him, I hope," he thought, and when she +brought to him the letter from James De Vere, the noble little +fellow conquered his own feelings, and with a hopeful heart as to +the result of that summer's teaching he bade her go. So it was all +arranged, and the next letter which went from Maude to J.C. carried +the intelligence that his betrothed was going "to turn country +school-ma'am, and teach the Hampton brats their A B C's," so at last +he said to Mrs. Kelsey and her niece, between whom and himself there +was a perfectly good understanding, and to whom he talked of his +future prospects without reserve. Mrs. Kelsey was secretly +delighted, for matters were shaping themselves much as she would +wish. Her brother evinced no particular, desire to have his daughter +at home, and she determined to keep her as long as there was the +slightest chance of winning J.C. De Vere. He was now a regular +visitor at her house, and lest he should suspect her design, she +spoke often and respectfully of Maude, whose cause she seemed to +have espoused, and when he came to her with the news of her teaching +she sympathized with him at once. +</P> + +<P> +"It would be very mortifying," she said, "to marry a district +school-mistress, though there was some comfort in knowing that his +friends were as yet ignorant of the engagement." +</P> + +<P> +"Let them remain so a while longer," was the hasty answer of J.C., +who, as time passed on, became more and more unwilling that the gay +world should know of his engagement with one who was not an heiress +after all. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +HAMPTON. +</H3> + +<P> +Six happy weeks Maude had been a teacher, and though she knew J.C. +did not approve her plan, she was more than repaid for his +displeasure by the words of encouragement which James always had in +store for her. Many times had she been to the handsome home of the +De Veres, and the lady-mother, whom she at first so much dreaded to +meet, had more than once stroked her silken curls, calling her "my +child," as tenderly as if she did indeed bear that relation to her. +James De Vere was one of the trustees, and in that capacity he +visited the school so often that the wise villagers shook their +heads significantly, saying, "if he were any other man they should +think the rights of J.C. were in danger." +</P> + +<P> +The young school-mistress' engagement with the fashionable Jedediah +was generally known, and thus were the public blinded to the true +state of affairs. Gradually James De Vere had learned how dear to +him was the dark-eyed girl he called his "Cousin Maude." There was +no light like that which shone in her truthful eyes—no music so +sweet as the sound of her gentle voice—no presence which brought +him so much joy as hers—no being in the world he loved so well. But +she belonged to another—the time had passed when she might have +been won. She could never be his, he said; and with his love he +waged a mighty battle—a battle which lasted days and nights, +wringing from him more than one bitter moan, as with his face bowed +in his hands he murmured sadly, the mournful words, "It might have +been." +</P> + +<P> +Matters were in this condition when J.C. came one day to Hampton, +accompanied by some city friends, among whom were a few young ladies +of the Kelsey order. Maude saw them as they passed the schoolhouse +in the village omnibus; saw, too, how resolutely J.C.'s head was +turned away, as if afraid their eyes would meet. +</P> + +<P> +"He wishes to show his resentment, but of course he'll visit me ere +he returns," she thought. And many times that day she cast her eyes +in the direction of Hampton Park, as the De Vere residence was often +called. +</P> + +<P> +But she looked in vain, and with a feeling of disappointment she +dismissed her school, and glad to be alone, laid her head upon the +desk, falling ere long asleep, for the day was warm and she was very +tired. So quietly she slept that she did not hear the roll of wheels +nor the sound of merry voices as the party from the city rode by on +their way to the depot. Neither half an hour later did she hear the +hasty footstep which crossed the threshold of they door; but when a +hand was laid upon her shoulder and a well-known voice bade her +awake, she started up, and saw before her James De Vere. He had been +to her boarding-place, he said, and not finding her there had sought +her in the schoolhouse. +</P> + +<P> +"I have two letters for you," he continued; "one from your brother, +and one from J.C." +</P> + +<P> +"From J.C.!" she repeated. "Has he gone back? Why didn't he call on +me?" +</P> + +<P> +"He's a villain," thought James De Vere, but he answered simply, "He +had not time, and so wrote you instead," and sitting down beside her +he regarded her with a look in which pity, admiration, and love were +all blended—the former predominating at that moment, and causing +him to lay his hand caressingly on her forehead, saying as he did +so, "Your head aches, don't it, Maude?" +</P> + +<P> +Maude's heart was already full, and at this little act of sympathy +she burst into tears, while James, drawing her to his side and +resting her head upon his bosom, soothed her as he would have done +had she been his only sister. He fancied that he knew the cause of +her grief, and his heart swelled with indignation toward J.C., who +had that day shown himself unworthy of a girl like Maude. He had +come to Hampton without any definite idea as to whether he should +see her or not ere his return, but when, as the omnibus drew near +the schoolhouse and Maude was plainly visible through the open +window, one of the ladies made some slighting remark concerning +school-teachers generally, he determined not to hazard an interview, +and quieted his conscience by thinking he would come out in a few +days and make the matter right. How then was he chagrined when in +the presence of his companions his cousin said: "Shall I send for +Miss Remington? She can dismiss her school earlier than usual and +come up to tea." +</P> + +<P> +"Dismiss her school!" cried one of the young ladies, while the +other, the proud Miss Thayer, whose grandfather was a pedlar and +whose great-uncle had been hanged, exclaimed, "Miss Remington! Pray +who is she? That schoolmistress we saw in passing? Really, Mr. De +Vere, you have been careful not to tell us of this new acquaintance. +Where did you pick her up?" and the diamonds on her fingers shone +brightly in the sunshine as she playfully pulled a lock of J.C.'s +hair. The disconcerted J.C. was about stammering out some reply when +James, astonished both at the apparent ignorance of his guests and +the strangeness of his cousin's manner, answered for him, "Miss +Remington is our teacher, and a splendid girl. J.C. became +acquainted with her last summer at Laurel Hill. She is a stepsister +of Miss Kennedy, whom you probably know." +</P> + +<P> +"Nellie, Kennedy's stepsister. I never knew there was such a being," +said Miss Thayer, while young Robinson, a lisping, insipid dandy, +drawled out, "A sthool-marm, J. Thee? I'th really romantic! Thend +for her, of courth. A little dithipline won't hurt any of uth." +</P> + +<P> +J.C. made a faint effort to rally, but they joked him so hard that +he remained silent, while James regarded him with a look of cool +contempt sufficiently indicative of his opinion. +</P> + +<P> +At last when Miss Thayer asked "if the bridal day were fixed," he +roused himself, and thinking if he told the truth he should +effectually deceive them, he answered, "Yes, next Christmas is the +time appointed. We were to have been married in June, but the lady +lost her fortune and the marriage was deferred." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, teaching to purchase her bridal trousseau. I'm dying to see +it," laughingly replied Miss Thayer, while another rejoined, "Lost +her fortune. Was she then an heiress?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, a milkman's heiress," said J.C., with a slightly scornful +emphasis on the name which he himself had given to Maude at a time +when a milkman's money seemed as valuable to him as that of any +other man. +</P> + +<P> +There was a dark, stern look on the face of James De Vere, and as +Miss Thayer, the ruling spirit of the party, had an eye on him and +his broad lands, she deemed it wise to change the conversation from +the "Milkman's Heiress" to a topic less displeasing to their +handsome host. In the course of the afternoon the cousins were alone +for a few moments, when the elder demanded of the other: "Do you +pretend to love Maude Remington, and still make light both of her +and your engagement with her?" +</P> + +<P> +"I pretend to nothing which is not real," was J.C.'s haughty answer; +"but I do dislike having my matters canvassed by every silly tongue, +and have consequently kept my relation to Miss Remington a secret. I +cannot see her to-day, but with your permission I will pen a few +lines by way of explanation," and, glad to escape from the rebuking +glance he knew he so much deserved, he stepped into his cousin's +library, where he wrote the note James gave to Maude. +</P> + +<P> +Under some circumstances it would have been a very unsatisfactory +message, but with her changed feelings toward the writer and James +De Vere sitting at her side, she scarcely noticed how cold it was, +and throwing it down, tore open Louis' letter which had come in the +evening mail. It was very brief, and hastily perusing its contents +Maude cast it from her with a cry of horror and disgust—then +catching it up, she moaned, "Oh, must I go!—I can't! I can't!" +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" asked Mr. De Vere, and pointing to the lines Maude +bade him read. +</P> + +<P> +He did read, and as he read his own cheek blanched, and he wound his +arm closely round the maiden's waist as if to keep her there and +thus save her from danger. Dr. Kennedy had the smallpox, so Louis +wrote, and Nellie, who had been home for a few days, had fled in +fear back to the city. Hannah, too, had gone, and there was no one +left to care for the sick man save John and the almost helpless +Louis. +</P> + +<P> +"Father is so sick," he wrote, "and he says, tell Maude, for +humanity's sake, to come." +</P> + +<P> +If there was one disease more than another of which Maude stood in +mortal fear it was the smallpox, and her first impulse was, "I will +not go." But when she reflected that Louis, too, might take it, and +need her care, her resolution changed, and moving away from her +companion she said firmly, "I must go, for if anything befall my +brother, how can I answer to our mother for having betrayed my +trust? Dr. Kennedy, too, was her husband, and he must not be left to +die alone." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. De Vere was about to expostulate, but she prevented him by +saying, "Do not urge me to stay, but rather help me to go, for I +must leave Hampton to-morrow. You will get someone to take my place, +as I, of course, shall not return, and if I have it—" +</P> + +<P> +Here she paused, while the trembling of her body showed how terrible +to her was the dread of the disease. +</P> + +<P> +"Maude Remington," said Mr. De Vere, struck with admiration by her +noble, self-sacrificing spirit, "I will not bid you stay, for I know +it would be useless; but if that which you so much fear comes upon +you, if the face now so fair to took upon be marred and disfigured +until not a lineament is left of the once beautiful girl, come back +to me. I will love you all the same." +</P> + +<P> +As he spoke he stretched his arms involuntarily toward her, and +scarce knowing what she did, she went forward to the embrace. Very +lovingly he folded her for a moment to his bosom, then turning her +face to the fading sunlight which streamed through the dingy window, +he looked at it wistfully and long, as if he would remember every +feature. Pushing back the silken curls which clustered around her +forehead, he kissed her twice, and then releasing her said: "Forgive +me, Maude, if I have taken more than a cousin's liberty with you, I +could not help it." +</P> + +<P> +Bewildered at his words and manner, Maude raised her eyes +wonderingly to his, and looking into the shining orbs, he thought +how soft, how beautiful they were, but little, little did he dream +their light would e'er be quenched in midnight darkness. A while +longer they talked together, Mr. De Vere promising to send a servant +to take her home in the morning. Then, as the sun had set and the +night shadows were deepening in the room, they bade each other +good-by, and ere the next day's sun was very high in the heavens Maude +was far on her way to Laurel Hill. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE DARK HOUR. +</H3> + +<P> +Dr. Kennedy had been to Buffalo, and taken the smallpox, so his +attending physician said, and the news spread rapidly, frightening +nervous people as they never were frightened before. Nellie had been +home for a week or two, but at the first alarm she fled, rushing +headlong through the hall and down the stairs, unmindful of the +tremulous voice, which cried imploringly, "Don't leave me, daughter, +to die alone!" +</P> + +<P> +Hannah followed next, holding the camphor bottle to her nose, and +saying to John when he expostulated with her, "I reckon I's not +gwine to spile what little beauty I've got with that fetched +complaint." +</P> + +<P> +"But, mother," persisted John, "may be it's nothin' but vary-o-lord +after all, and that don't mark folks, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"You needn't talk to me about your very-o-lord," returned Hannah. "I +know it's the very-o-devil himself, and I won't have them pock-ed +marks on me for all the niggers in Virginny." +</P> + +<P> +"Then go," said John, "hold tight to the camphire, and run for your +life, or it may cotch you before you git out of the house." +</P> + +<P> +Hannah needed no second bidding to run, and half an hour later she +was domesticated with a colored family who lived not far from the +Hill. Thus left to themselves, Louis and John, together with the +physician, did what they could for the sick man, who at last +proposed sending for Maude, feeling intuitively that she would not +desert him as his own child had done. Silent, desolate, and forsaken +the old house looked as Maude approached it, and she involuntarily +held her breath as she stepped into the hall, whose close air seemed +laden with infection. She experienced no difficulty in finding the +sick-room, where Louis' cry of delight, John's expression of joy, +and the sick man's whispered words, "God bless you, Maude," more +than recompensed her for the risk she had incurred. Gradually her +fear subsided, particularly when she learned that it was in fact the +varioloid. Had it been possible to remove her brother from danger +she would have done so, but it was too late now, and she suffered +him to share her vigils, watching carefully for the first symptoms +of the disease in him. +</P> + +<P> +In this manner nearly two weeks passed away, and the panic-stricken +villagers were beginning to breathe more freely, when it was told +them one day that Maude and Louis were both smitten with the +disease. Then indeed the more humane said to themselves, "Shall they +be left to suffer alone?" and still no one was found who dared to +breathe the air of the sick-room. Dr. Kennedy was by this time so +much better that Louis was taken to his apartment, where he +ministered to him himself, while the heroic Maude was left to the +care of John. Everything he could do for her he did, but his heart +sunk within him when he saw how fast her fever came on, and heard +her, in her sleep, mourn for her mother, to hold her aching head. +</P> + +<P> +"She mustn't die," he said, and over his dark skin the tears rolled +like rain, as raising his eyes to the ceiling he cried imploringly, +"Will the good Father send someone to help?" +</P> + +<P> +The prayer of the weak African was heard, and ere the sun went down +a man of noble mien and noble heart stood at the maiden's bedside, +bathing her swollen face, pushing back her silken curls, counting +her rapid pulses, and once, when she slept, kissing her parched +lips, e'en though he knew that with that kiss he inhaled, perhaps, +his death! James De Vere had never for a day lost sight of Maude. +Immediately after her return he had written to the physician +requesting a daily report, and when, at last he learned that she was +ill, and all alone, he came unhesitatingly, presenting a striking +contrast to the timid J.C., who had heard of her illness, and at +first, dared not open the letter which his cousin wrote, apprising +him of Maude's affliction. But when he reflected that he could be +re-vaccinated, and thus avert the dreaded evil, he broke the seal +and read, commenting as follows: "Jim is a splendid fellow, though I +can't see why he takes so much interest in her. Don't I have +confounded luck, though? That will first, the five thousand dollars +next, and now the smallpox, too. Of course she'll be marked, and +look like a fright. Poor girl! I'd help her if I could," and, as the +better nature of J.C. came over him, he added mournfully: "What if +she should die?" +</P> + +<P> +But Maude did not die; and at the expiration of ten days she was so +far out of danger that James De Vere yielded to the importunity of +his mother, who, in an agony of terror, besought him to return. When +first he came to her bedside Maude had begged of him to leave her +and not risk his life in her behalf; but he silenced her objections +then, and now when he bade her adieu he would not listen to her +protestations of gratitude. +</P> + +<P> +"I would do even more for you if I could," he said. "I am not afraid +of the varioloid, and henceforth I shall think gratefully of it for +having dealt so lightly with you." +</P> + +<P> +So saying, he turned away, feeling happier than he could well +express, that Maude had not only escaped from death, but that there +would be no marks left to tell how near the ravager had been. +Scarcely had the door closed on him when, emboldened by his last +words to ask a question she greatly wished, yet dreaded to ask, +Maude turned to John and said, "Am I much pitted?" +</P> + +<P> +Rolling up his eyes and wholly mistaking her meaning, John replied, +"I aint no great of a physiognomer, but when a thing is as plain as +day I can discern it as well as the next one, and if that ar' chap +haint pitied you, and done a heap more'n that, I'm mistaken." +</P> + +<P> +"But," continued Maude, smiling at his simplicity, "I mean shall I +probably be scarred?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, bless you, not a scar," answered John, "for don't you mind how +he kep' the iled silk and wet rags on yer face, and how that night +when you was sickest he held yer hands so you couldn't tache that +little feller between yer eyes. That was the spunkiest varmint of +'em all, and may leave a mark like the one under yer ear, but it +won't spile yer looks an atom." +</P> + +<P> +"And Louis?" said Maude, "is he disfigured?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not a disfigurement," returned John, "but the ole governor, he's a +right smart sprinklin' of 'em, one squar' on the tip of his nose, +and five or six more on his face." +</P> + +<P> +Thus relieved of her immediate fears Maude asked many questions +concerning Louis, who she learned had not been very sick. +</P> + +<P> +"You can see him afore long, I reckon," said John, and in a few days +she was able to join him in the sitting room below. +</P> + +<P> +After a while Hannah returned to her post of duty, her beauty +unimpaired, and herself thoroughly ashamed of having thus +heartlessly deserted her master's family in their affliction. As if +to make amends for this she exerted herself to cleanse the house +from everything which could possibly inspire fear on the villagers, +and by the last of August there was scarce a trace left of the +recent scourge, save the deep scar on the end of the doctor's nose, +one or two marks on Louis' face, and a weakness of Maude's eyes, +which became at last a cause of serious alarm. +</P> + +<P> +It was in vain that Louis implored his father to seek medical aid in +Rochester, where the physicians were supposed to have more +experience in such matters. The doctor refused, saying, "'twas a +maxim of his not to counsel with anyone, and he guessed he knew how +to manage sore eyes." +</P> + +<P> +But Maude's eyes were not sore—they were merely weak, while the +pain in the eyeball was sometimes so intense as to wring from her a +cry, of suffering. Gradually there crept into her heart a horrid +fear that her sight was growing dim, and often in the darkness of +the night she wept most bitterly, praying that she might not be +blind. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Louis," she said to her brother one day, "I would so much +rather die than to be blind, and never see you any more—never see +the beautiful world I love so much. Oh, must it be? Is there no +help?" +</P> + +<P> +"James De Vere could help us if he were here," answered Louis, his +own tears mingling with his sister's. +</P> + +<P> +But James De Vere had left Hampton for New Orleans, where he would +probably remain until the winter, and there could be no aid expected +from him. The doctor, too, was wholly absorbed in thoughts of his +approaching nuptials, for Maude Glendower, failing to secure the +wealthy bachelor, and overhearing several times the remark that she +was really getting old, had consented to name the 20th of October +for their marriage. And so the other Maude was left to battle with +the terrible fear which was strengthened every day. +</P> + +<P> +At length J.C., roused not so much by the touching letter which she +wrote him as by the uncertain handwriting, came himself, bringing +with him a physician, who carefully examined the soft black eyes, +which could not now endure the light, then shaking his head he said +gravely, "There is still some hope, but she must go to the city, +where I can see her every day." +</P> + +<P> +J.C. looked at Dr. Kennedy, and Dr. Kennedy, looked at J.C., and +then both their hands sought their pockets, but came out again—empty! +J.C. really had not the ready means with which to meet the +expense, while Dr. Kennedy had not the inclination. But one there +was, the faithful John, who could not stand by unmoved, and darting +from the room, he mounted the woodshed stairs, and from beneath the +rafters drew out an old leathern wallet, where from time to time he +had deposited money for "the wet day." That wet day had come at +last; not to him, but to another—and without a moment's hesitation +he counted out the ten golden eagles which his purse contained, and, +going back to Maude, placed them in her hand, saying: "Go to +Rochester, Miss Maude. I saved 'em for you, for I wouldn't have the +light squenched in them shinin' eyes for all the land in old +Virginny." +</P> + +<P> +It was a noble act, and it shamed the paler faces who witnessed it, +but they offered no remonstrance, though Maude did, refusing to +accept it, until Louis said: "Take it, sister—take it, and when I'm +twenty-one I'll give to him ten times ten golden eagles." +</P> + +<P> +The necessary arrangements were quickly made, and ere a week was +passed Maude found herself in Rochester, and an inmate of Mrs. +Kelsey's family; for, touched with pity, that lady had offered to +receive her, and during her brief stay treated her with every +possible attention. Nellie, too, was very kind, ministering +carefully to the comfort of her stepsister, who had ceased to be a +rival, for well she knew J.C. De Vere would never wed a penniless +bride and blind! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE NEW MISTRESS AT LAUREL HILL. +</H3> + +<P> +The 20th of October came, and with a firm hand Maude Glendower +arrayed herself for the bridal, which was to take place at an early +hour. The scar on the end of the doctor's nose had shaken her +purpose for an instant, but when she thought again of the unpaid +bills lying in her private drawer, and when, more than all, the +doctor said, "We greatly fear Maude Remington will be blind," her +resolution was fixed, and with a steady voice she took upon herself +the marriage vows. +</P> + +<P> +They were to go to Laurel Hill that day, and when the doctor saw +that the handsome furniture of her rooms was still untouched, he +ventured to ask "if she had left orders to have it sent." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I didn't tell you, did I, that my furniture was all mortgaged +to Mrs. Raymond for board and borrowed money, too; but of course you +don't care; you did not marry my furniture," and the little soft, +white hands were laid upon those of the bridegroom, while the +lustrous eyes sought his face, to witness the effect of her words. +</P> + +<P> +The dent on the nose grew red a moment, and then the doctor, +perfectly intoxicated with the beauty of his bride, answered, "No, +Maude, I married you." +</P> + +<P> +A rap at the door, and a note from Messrs. Barnabas Muggins & Brown +"hoped Miss Glendower would not forget to settle her bill." +</P> + +<P> +"It's really quite provoking to trouble you with my debts so soon," +said the lady, "but I dare say it's a maxim of yours that we should +have no secrets from each other, and so I may as well show you these +at once," and she turned into his lap a handful of bills, amounting +in all to four hundred dollars, due to the different tradesmen of +Troy. +</P> + +<P> +The spot on the nose was decidedly purple, and had Katy or Matty +been there they would surely, have recognized the voice which began, +"Really, I did not expect this, and 'tis a max—" +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind the maxim," and the mouth of the speaker was covered by +a dimpled hand, as Maude Glendower continued, "It's mean, I know, +but four hundred dollars is not much, after all, and you ought to be +willing to pay even more for me, don't you think so, dearest?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ye-es," faintly answered the doctor, who, knowing there was no +alternative, gave a check for the whole amount on a Rochester bank, +where he had funds deposited. +</P> + +<P> +Maude Glendower was a charming traveling companion, and in listening +to her lively sallies, and noticing the admiration she received, the +doctor forgot his lost four hundred dollars, and by the time they +reached Canandaigua he believed himself supremely happy in having +such a wife. John was waiting for them, just as thirteen years +before he had waited for blue-eyed Matty, and the moment her eye +fell upon the carriage he had borrowed from a neighbor, the new wife +exclaimed, "Oh, I hope that lumbering old thing is not ours. It +would give me the rickets to ride in it long." +</P> + +<P> +"It's borrowed," the doctor said, 'and she continued, "I'll pick out +mine, and my horses, too. I'm quite a connoisseur in those matters." +</P> + +<P> +John rolled his eyes toward his master, whose face wore a look never +seen there before. +</P> + +<P> +"Henpecked!" was the negro's mental comment, as he prepared to +start. +</P> + +<P> +When about three miles from the village the lady started up, saying, +"she had left her shawl, and must go back immediately." +</P> + +<P> +"There is not time," said the doctor, "for the sun is already nearly +set. It will be perfectly safe." +</P> + +<P> +"But it's my India shawl. I must have it," and the lady's hand was +laid upon the reins to turn the horses' heads. +</P> + +<P> +Of course they went back, finding the shawl, not at the hotel, but +under the carriage cushions, where the lady herself had placed it. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a maxim of mine to know what I'm about," the doctor ventured +to say, while a silvery voice returned, "So do I ordinarily, but it +is not strange that I forget myself on my wedding day." This was +well timed, and wrapping the garment carefully round her to shelter +her from the night air, the doctor bade the highly amused John to +drive on. They were more than halfway home when some luscious +oranges in a small grocery window, caught the bride's eye, and "she +must have some, she always kept them in her room," she said, and to +the grocer's inquiry, "How many, madam?" she answered, "Two dozen, +at least, and a box of figs, if you have them. I dote on figs." +</P> + +<P> +It was the doctor's wedding day. He could not say no, and with a +mental groan he parted company with another bill, while John, on the +platform without, danced the "double shuffle" in token of his +delight. There was a second grocery to be passed, but by taking a +more circuitous route it could be avoided, and the discomfited +bridegroom bade John "go through the Hollow." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sar," answered the knowing negro, turning the heads of the +unwilling horses in a direction which would not bring them home so +soon by one whole hour. +</P> + +<P> +But the grocery was shunned, and so the doctor did not care even if +the clock did strike nine just as they stopped at their own gate. +The night was dark and the bride could not distinguish the exterior +of the house, neither was the interior plainly discernible, lighted +as it was with an oil lamp, and a single tallow candle. But she +scarcely thought of this, so intent was she upon the beautiful face +of the crippled boy, who sat in his armchair, eagerly awaiting her +arrival. +</P> + +<P> +"This is Louis," the father said: and the scornful eyes which with +one rapid glance had scanned the whole apartment filled with tears +as they, turned toward the boy. +</P> + +<P> +Dropping on one knee before him, the lady, parted the silken hair +from his forehead, saying very gently, "You must be like your +mother, save that your eyes are brown, and hers were blue. May I be +your mother, Louis?" +</P> + +<P> +Very wonderingly the child gazed into her face. It was radiantly +beautiful, while the dreamy eyes rested upon him with such a +yearning look that his heart went out toward her at once, and +winding his arms around her neck, he murmured, "I shall love you +very much, my mother." +</P> + +<P> +For a moment Maude Glendower held him to her bosom, while her +thoughts went back to the long ago when another face much like his +had rested there, and another voice had whispered in her ear, "I +love you, Maude Glendower." That voice was hushed in death, but +through the child it spoke to her again, and with a throbbing heart +she vowed to be to the crippled boy what Matty herself would well +approve, could she speak from her low bed beneath the willows. +</P> + +<P> +"What of your sister?" the lady said at last, rising to her feet. +"Is she recovering her sight?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nellie writes there is hope," said Louis, "though she did not +receive attention soon enough, the physician says." +</P> + +<P> +There was reproach, contempt, and anger in the large black eyes +which sought the doctor's face, but the light was dim, and he did +not see it. +</P> + +<P> +"It will be a great misfortune to her, and very hard on me if she is +blind, for of course I must take care of her," he said at last, +while his wife indignantly replied, "Take care of her! Yes, I'd sell +my diamonds rather than see her suffer!" +</P> + +<P> +Supper was now announced, and in examining the arrangement of the +table and inspecting the furniture of the dining room, the bride +forgot everything save the novelty of her situation. Mentally +styling the house "an old rookery," she forced back the bitter +feelings which would rise up when she thought how unlike was all +this to what she had been accustomed. It needed but one glance of +her keen eyes to read the whole, and ere the close of the next day +she understood her position perfectly, and summoning to her aid her +iron will, she determined to make the most of everything. She knew +the doctor had money, aye, and she knew, too, how to get it from +him, but she was too wary to undertake it in any of the ordinary +ways. She did not tell him how desolate the old house seemed, or +that she was homesick because of its desolation; but after she had +been there a few days she sat down by his side, and told him that +with a few improvements it could be made the most delightful spot in +all the country, and she was glad she had come there to help him to +fix it up. She knew he had exquisite taste, and as he was now at +leisure they would contrive together how their parlors could be +improved. She didn't quite like them as they were, the window lights +were too small, and they must have the large panes of glass. Then +satin paper on the walls would look so much better, and the carpets, +though really very nice, were hardly good enough for a man of Dr. +Kennedy's standing in society. +</P> + +<P> +"But," gasped the doctor, "the one in the back parlor is brand +new—has scarcely been used at all and it is a maxim of mine—" +</P> + +<P> +"Your maxim is good, undoubtedly," interrupted the lady, "but the +chambers all need recarpeting, and this will exactly fit Maude's +room, which I intend fixing before she returns." +</P> + +<P> +The doctor looked aghast, and his wife continued: "The season is so +far advanced that it is hardly worth while to make any changes now, +but next spring I shall coax you into all manner or repairs. I do +wonder what makes that spot on your nose so red at times. You are +really very fine looking when it is not there. It is gone," she +continued, and smoothing away a wrinkle in his forehead, she said, +"We won't talk of the future now, but seriously, we must have some +new Brussels carpets, and a furnace to warm the whole house." +</P> + +<P> +Here she shivered and coughed quite naturally after which she +returned to the charge, saying, "her family were consumptive, and +she could not endure the cold." +</P> + +<P> +"But, my dear," said the doctor, "it will cost a great deal of money +to carry out your plans." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no, not much," she answered, "give me five hundred dollars and +I will do everything necessary to make us comfortable for the +winter." +</P> + +<P> +"Five hundred dollars, Mrs. Kennedy!" and the doctor's gray eyes +looked as they used to look when Katy and Matty asked him for five. +"Five hundred dollars! Preposterous! Why, during the seven years I +lived with your predecessor she did not cost me that!" +</P> + +<P> +From old Hannah Mrs. Kennedy had, learned how her predecessor had +been stinted by the doctor, and could he that moment have looked +into her heart he would have seen there a fierce determination to +avenge the wrongs so meekly borne. But she did not embody her +thoughts in words, neither did she deem it advisable to press the +subject further at that time, so she waited for nearly a week, and +then resumed the attack with redoubled zeal. +</P> + +<P> +"We must have another servant," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"Old Hannah is wholly inefficient, and so I have engaged a colored +woman from the hotel; and did I tell you, I have spoken to a man +about the furnace we are going to have, and I also told Mr. Jenks to +buy me one hundred yards of Brussels carpeting in New York. He's +gone for goods, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"Really, Mrs. Kennedy, this exceeds all. My former companions saw +fit to consult me always. Really, one hundred yards of carpeting and +a black cook! Astonishing, Mrs. Kennedy!" +</P> + +<P> +The doctor was quite too much confounded to think of a single maxim, +for his wife's effrontery took him wholly by surprise. She was a +most energetic woman, and her proceedings were already the theme of +many a tea-table gossip, in which the delighted villagers exulted +that Dr. Kennedy had at last found his match. Yes, he had found his +match, and when next day the black cook, Rose, came, and Mr. Brown +asked when he would have the furnace put in his cellar, there was +that in the eye of his better half which prompted a meek submission. +When the bill for the new carpets was handed him he again rebelled, +but all to no purpose. He paid the requisite amount, and tried to +swallow his wrath with his wife's consolatory remark, that "they +were the handsomest couple in town, and ought to have the handsomest +carpets!" +</P> + +<P> +One day he found her giving directions to two or three men who were +papering, painting, and whitewashing Maude's room, and then, as John +remarked, he seemed more like himself than he had done before since +his last marriage. +</P> + +<P> +"If Maude is going to be blind," he said, "it can make no difference +with her how her chamber looks, and 'tis a maxim of mine to let well +enough alone." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish you would cure yourself of those disagreeable maxims," was +the lady's cool reply, as, stepping to the head of the stairs, she +bade John "bring up the carpet, if it were whipped enough." +</P> + +<P> +"Allow me to ask what you are going to do with it?" said the doctor, +as from the windows he saw the back parlor carpet swinging on the +line. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, I told you I was going to fit up Maude's room. She is coming +home in a week, you know, and I am preparing a surprise. I have +ordered a few pieces of light furniture from the cabinet-maker's, +and I think her chamber would look nicely if the walls were only a +little higher. They can't be raised, I suppose?" +</P> + +<P> +She was perfectly collected, and no queen on her throne ever issued +her orders with greater confidence in their being obeyed; and when +that night she said to her husband, "These men must have their pay," +he had no alternative but to open his purse and give her what she +asked. Thus it was with everything. +</P> + +<P> +"Ki, aint him cotchin' it good?" was John's mental comment, as he +daily watched the proceedings, and while Hannah pronounced him "the +hen-peck-ed-est man she had ever seen," the amused villagers knew +that will had met will, and been conquered! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE BLIND GIRL. +</H3> + +<P> +Maude's chamber was ready at last, and very inviting it looked with +its coat of fresh paint, its cheerful paper, bright carpet, handsome +bedstead, marble washstand, and mahogany bureau, on which were +arranged various little articles for the toilet. The few pieces of +furniture which Mrs. Kennedy had ordered from the cabinet-maker's +had amounted, in all, to nearly one hundred dollars, but the bill +was not yet sent in; and in blissful ignorance of the surprise +awaiting him the doctor rubbed his hands and tried to seem pleased +when his wife, passing her arm in his, led him to the room, which +she compelled him to admire. +</P> + +<P> +"It was all very nice," he said, "but wholly unnecessary for a blind +girl. What was the price of this?" he asked, laying his hand upon +the bedstead. +</P> + +<P> +"Only twenty-five dollars. Wasn't it cheap?" and the wicked black +eyes danced with merriment at the loud groan which succeeded the +answer. +</P> + +<P> +"Twenty-five dollars!" he exclaimed. "Why, the bedstead Matty and I +slept on for seven years only cost three, and it is now as good as +new." +</P> + +<P> +"But times have changed," said the lady. "Everybody has nicer +things; besides, do you know people used to talk dreadfully about a +man of your standing being so stingy? But I have done considerable +toward correcting that impression. You aint stingy, and in proof of +it you'll give me fifty cents to buy cologne for this." And she took +up a beautiful bottle which stood upon the bureau. +</P> + +<P> +The doctor had not fifty cents in change, but a dollar bill would +suit her exactly as well, she said, and secretly exulting in her +mastery over the self-willed tyrant, she suffered him to depart, +saying to himself as he descended the stair, "Twenty-five dollars +for one bedstead. I won't stand it! I'll do something!" +</P> + +<P> +"What are you saying, dear?" a melodious voice called after him, and +so accelerated his movements that the extremity of his coat +disappeared from view, just as the lady Maude reached the head of +the stairs. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" was the involuntary exclamation of Louis, who had been a +spectator of the scene, and who felt intuitively that his father had +found his mistress. +</P> + +<P> +During her few weeks residence at Laurel Hill Maude Glendower had +bound the crippled boy to herself by many a deed of love, and +whatever she did was sure of meeting his approval. With him she had +consulted concerning his sister's room, yielding often to his artist +taste in the arrangement of the furniture, and now that the chamber +was ready they both awaited impatiently the arrival of its occupant. +Nellie's last letter had been rather encouraging, and Maude herself +had appended her name at its close. The writing was tremulous and +uncertain, but it brought hope to the heart of the brother, who had +never really believed it possible for his sister to be blind. Very +restless he seemed on the day when she was expected; and when, just +as the sun was setting, the carriage drove to the gate, a faint +sickness crept over him, and wheeling his chair to the window of her +room he looked anxiously at her, as with John's assistance, she +alighted from the carriage. +</P> + +<P> +"If she walks alone I shall know she is not very blind," he said, +and with clasped hands he watched her intently as she came slowly +toward the house with Nellie a little in advance. +</P> + +<P> +Nearer and nearer she came—closer and closer the burning forehead +was pressed against the window pane, and hope beat high in Louis' +heart, when suddenly she turned aside—her foot rested on the +withered violets which grew outside the walk, and her hand groped in +the empty air. +</P> + +<P> +"She's blind—she's blind," said Louis, and with a moaning cry he +laid his head upon the broad arm of his chair, sobbing most +bitterly. +</P> + +<P> +Meantime below there was a strange interview between the new mother +and her children, Maude Glendower clasping her namesake in her arms +and weeping over her as she had never wept before but once, and that +when the moonlight shone upon her sitting by a distant grave. +Pushing back the clustering curls, she kissed the open brow and +looked into the soft black eyes with a burning gaze which penetrated +the shadowy darkness and brought a flush to the cheek of the young +girl. +</P> + +<P> +"Maude Remington! Maude Remington!" she said, dwelling long upon the +latter name, "the sight of you affects me painfully; you are so like +one I have lost. I shall love you, Maude Remington, for the sake of +the dead, and you, too, must love me, and call me mother—will you?" +and her lips again touched those of the astonished maiden. +</P> + +<P> +Though fading fast, the light was not yet quenched in Maude's eyes, +and very wistfully she scanned the face of the speaker, while her +hands moved caressingly over each feature, as she said, "I will love +you, beautiful lady, though you can never be to me what my gentle +mother was." +</P> + +<P> +At the sound of that voice Maude Glendower started suddenly, and +turning aside, so her words could not be heard, she murmured sadly, +"Both father and child prefer her to me." Then, recollecting +herself, she offered her hand to the wondering Nellie, saying, "Your +Sister's misfortune must be my excuse for devoting so much time to +her, when you, as my eldest daughter, were entitled to my first +attention." +</P> + +<P> +Her stepmother's evident preference for Maude had greatly offended +the selfish Nellie, who coldly answered, "Don't trouble yourself, +madam. It's not of the least consequence. But where is my father? He +will welcome me, I am sure." +</P> + +<P> +The feeling too often existing between stepmothers and stepdaughters +had sprung into life, and henceforth the intercourse of Maude +Glendower and Nellie Kennedy would be marked with studied +politeness, and nothing more. But the former did not care. So long +as her eye could feast itself upon the face and form of Maude +Remington she was content, and as Nellie left the room she wound her +arm around the comparatively helpless girl, saying, "Let me take you +to your brother." +</P> + +<P> +Although unwilling, usually, to be led, Maude yielded now, and +suffered herself to be conducted to the chamber where Louis watched +for her coming. She could see enough to know there was a change, and +clasping her companion's hand she said, "I am surely indebted to you +for this surprise." +</P> + +<P> +"Maude, Maude!" and the tones of Louis' voice trembled with joy, as +stretching his arms toward her, he cried, "You can see." +</P> + +<P> +Guided more by the sound than by actual vision, Maude flew like +lightning to his side, and kneeling before him hid her face in his +lap, while he bent fondly over her, beseeching her to say if she +could see. It was a most touching sight, and drawing near, Maude +Glendower mingled her tears with those of the unfortunate children +on whom affliction had laid her heavy hand. +</P> + +<P> +Maude Remington was naturally of a hopeful nature, and though she +had passed through many an hour of anguish, and had rebelled against +the fearful doom which seemed to be approaching, she did not yet +despair. She still saw a little—could discern colors and forms, and +could tell one person from another. "I shall be better by and by," +she said, when assured by the sound of retreating footsteps that +they were alone. "I am following implicitly the doctor's directions, +and I hope to see by Christmas; but if I do not—" +</P> + +<P> +Here she broke down entirely, and wringing her hands she cried, "Oh, +brother—brother, must I be blind? I can't—I can't, for who will +care for poor, blind, helpless Maude?" +</P> + +<P> +"I, sister, I," and hushing his own great sorrow the crippled boy +comforted the weeping girl just as she had once comforted him, when +in the quiet graveyard he had lain him down in the long, rank grass +and wished that he might die. "Pa's new wife will care for you, +too," he said. "She's a beautiful woman, Maude, and a good one, I am +sure, for she cried so hard over mother's grave, and her voice was +so gentle when, just as though she had known our mother, she said, +`Darling Matty, I will be kind to your children.'" +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, that I will—I will," came faintly from the hall without, where +Maude Glendower stood, her eyes riveted upon the upturned face of +Maude, and her whole body swelling with emotion. +</P> + +<P> +A sad heritage had been bequeathed to her—a crippled boy and a +weak, blind girl; but in some respects she was a noble woman, and as +she gazed upon the two she resolved that so long as she should live, +so long should the helpless children of Matty Remington have a +steadfast friend. Hearing her husband's voice below she glided down +the stairs, leaving Louis and Maude really alone. +</P> + +<P> +"Sister," said Louis, after a moment, "what of Mr. De Vere? Is he +true to the last?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have released him," answered Maude. "I am nothing to him now," +and very calmly she proceeded to tell him of the night when she had +said to Mr. De Vere, "My money is gone—my sight is going too, and I +give you back your troth, making you free to marry another—Nellie, +if you choose. She is better suited to you than I have ever been." +</P> + +<P> +Though secretly pleased at her offering to give him up, J.C. made a +show of resistance, but she had prevailed at last, and with the +assurance that he should always esteem her highly, he consented to +the breaking of the engagement, and the very, next afternoon, rode +out with Nellie Kennedy. +</P> + +<P> +"He will marry her, I think," Maude said, as she finished narrating +the circumstances, and looking into her calm, unruffled face Louis +felt sure that she had outlived her love for one who had proved +himself as fickle as J.C. De Vere. +</P> + +<P> +"And what of James?" he asked. "Is he still in New Orleans." +</P> + +<P> +"He is," answered Maude. "He has a large wholesale establishment +there, and as one of the partners is sick, he has taken his place +for the winter. He wrote to his cousin often, bidding him spare no +expense for me, and offering to pay the bills if J.C. was not able." +</P> + +<P> +A while longer they conversed, and then they were summoned to +supper, Mrs. Kennedy coming herself for Maude, who did not refuse to +be assisted by her. +</P> + +<P> +"The wind hurt my eyes—they will be better to-morrow," she said, +and with her old sunny smile she greeted her stepfather, and then +turned to Hannah and John, who had come in to see her. +</P> + +<P> +But alas for the delusion! The morrow brought no improvement, +neither the next day, nor the next, and as the world grew dim there +crept into her heart a sense of utter desolation which neither the +tender love of Maude Glendower nor yet the untiring devotion of +Louis could in any degree dispel. All day would she sit opposite the +window, her eyes fixed on the light with a longing, eager gaze, as +if she feared that the next moment it might leave her forever. +Whatever he could do for her Louis did, going to her room each +morning and arranging her dress and hair just as he knew she used to +wear it. She would not suffer anyone else to do this for her, and in +performing these little offices Louis felt that he was only repaying +her in part for all she had done for him. +</P> + +<P> +Christmas Eve came at last, and if she thought of what was once to +have been on the morrow, she gave no outward token, and with her +accustomed smile bade the family good-night. The next morning Louis +went often to her door, and hearing no sound within fancied she was +sleeping, until at last, as the clock struck nine, he ventured to go +in. Maude was awake, and advancing to her side he bade her a "Merry +Christmas," playfully chiding her the while for having slept so +late. A wild, startled expression flashed over her face, as she +said: "Late, Louis! Is it morning, then? I've watched so long to see +the light?" +</P> + +<P> +Louis did not understand her, and he answered, "Morning, yes. The +sunshine is streaming into the room. Don't you see it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sunshine!" and Maude's lips quivered with fear, as springing from +her pillow, she whispered faintly, "Lead me to the window." +</P> + +<P> +He complied with her request, watching her curiously, as she laid +both hands in the warm sunshine, which bathed her fair, round arms +and shone upon her raven hair. She felt what she could not see, and +Louis Kennedy ne'er forgot the agonized expression of the white, +beautiful face which turned toward him as the wretched Maude moaned +piteously, "Yes, brother, 'tis morning to you, but dark, dark night +to me. I'm blind! oh, I'm blind!" +</P> + +<P> +She did not faint, she did not shriek, but she stood there rigid and +immovable, her countenance giving fearful token of the terrible +storm within. She was battling fiercely with her fate, and until +twice repeated, she did not hear the childish voice which said to +her pleadingly, "Don't look so, sister. You frighten me, and there +may be some hope yet." +</P> + +<P> +"Hope," she repeated bitterly, turning her sightless eyes toward +him, "there is no hope but death." +</P> + +<P> +"Maude," and Louis' voice was like a plaintive harp, so mournful was +its tone, "Maude, once in the very spot where mother is lying now, +you said because I was a cripple you would love me all the more. You +have kept that promise well, my sister. You have been all the world +to me, and now that you are blind I, too, will love you more. I will +be your light—your eyes, and when James De Vere comes back—" +</P> + +<P> +"No, no, no," moaned Maude, sinking upon the floor. "Nobody will +care for me. Nobody will love a blind girl. Oh, is it wicked to wish +that I could die, lying here in the sunshine, which I shall never +see again?" +</P> + +<P> +There was a movement at the door, and Mrs. Kennedy appeared, +starting back as her eye fell upon the face of the prostrate girl, +who recognized her step, and murmured sadly, "Mother, I'm blind, +wholly blind." +</P> + +<P> +Louis' grief had been too great for tears, but Maude Glendower's +flowed at once, and bending over the white-faced girl she strove to +comfort her, telling her how she would always love her, that every +wish should be gratified. +</P> + +<P> +"Then give me back my sight, oh, give me back my sight," and Maude +clasped her mother's hands imploringly. +</P> + +<P> +Ere long she grew more calm, and suffered herself to be dressed as +usual, but she would not admit anyone to her room, neither on that +day nor for many succeeding days. At length, however, this feeling +wore away, and in the heartfelt sympathy of her family and friends +she found a slight balm for her grief. Even the doctor was softened, +and when Messrs. Beebe & Co. sent in a bill of ninety-five dollars +for various articles of furniture, the frown upon his face gave way +when his wife said to him, "It was for Maude, you know!" +</P> + +<P> +"Poor Maude!" seemed to be the sentiment of the whole household, and +Nellie herself said it many a time, as with unwonted tenderness she +caressed the unfortunate girl, fearing the while lest she had done +her a wrong, for she did not then understand the nature of Maude's +feelings for J.C. De Vere, to whom Nellie was now engaged. +</P> + +<P> +Urged on by Mrs. Kelsey and a fast diminishing income, J.C. had +written to Nellie soon after her return to Laurel Hill, asking her +to be his wife. He did not disguise his former love for Maude, +neither did he pretend to have outlived it, but he said he could not +wed a blind girl. And Nellie, forgetting her assertion that she +would never marry one who had first proposed to Maude, was only too +much pleased to answer Yes. And when J.C. insisted upon an early +day, she named the 5th of March, her twentieth birthday. She was to +be married at home, and as the preparations for the wedding would +cause a great amount of bustle and confusion in the house, it seemed +necessary that Maude should know the cause, and with a beating heart +Nellie went to her one day to tell the news. Very composedly Maude +listened to the story, and then as composedly replied, "I am truly +glad, and trust you will be happy." +</P> + +<P> +"So I should be," answered Nellie, "if I were sure you did not +care." +</P> + +<P> +"Care! for whom?" returned Maude. "For J.C. De Vere? Every particle +of love for him has died out, and I am now inclined to think I never +entertained for him more than a girlish fancy, while he certainly +did not truly care for me." +</P> + +<P> +This answer was very quieting to Nellie's conscience, and in +unusually good spirits she abandoned herself to the excitement which +usually precedes a wedding. Mrs. Kennedy, too, entered heart and +soul into the matter, and arming herself with the plea, that "it was +his only daughter, who would probably never be married again," she +coaxed her husband into all manner of extravagances, and by the 1st +of March few would have recognized the interior of the house, so +changed was it by furniture and repairs. Handsome damask curtains +shaded the parlor windows, which were further improved by large +heavy panes of glass. Matty's piano had been removed to Maude's +chamber, and its place supplied by a new and costly instrument, +which the crafty woman made her husband believe was intended by Mrs. +Kelsey, who selected it, as a bridal present for her niece. The +furnace was in splendid order, keeping the whole house, as Hannah +said, "hotter than an oven," while the disturbed doctor lamented +daily over the amount of fuel it consumed, and nightly counted the +contents of his purse or reckoned up how much he was probably worth. +But neither his remonstrances nor yet his frequent groans had any +effect upon his wife. Although she had no love for Nellie, she was +determined upon a splendid wedding, one which would make folks talk +for months, and when her liege lord complained of the confusion, she +suggested to him a furnished room in the garret, where it would be +very quiet for him to reckon up the bill, which from time to time +she brought him. +</P> + +<P> +"Might as well gin in at oncet," John said to him one day, when he +borrowed ten dollars for the payment of an oyster bill. "I tell you +she's got more besom in her than both them t'other ones." +</P> + +<P> +The doctor probably thought so too, for he became comparatively +submissive, though he visited often the sunken graves, where he +found a mournful solace in reading, "Katy, wife of Dr. Kennedy, aged +twenty-nine,"—"Matty, second wife of Dr. Kennedy, aged thirty," and +once he was absolutely guilty of wondering how the words, "Maude, +third wife of Dr. Kennedy, aged forty-one," would look. But he +repented him of the wicked thought, and when on his return from his +"graveyard musings," Maude, aged forty-one, asked him for the twenty +dollars which she saw a man pay to him that morning, he gave it to +her without a word. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile the fickle J.C. in Rochester was one moment regretting the +step he was about to take and the next wishing the day would hasten, +so he could "have it over with." Maude Remington had secured a place +in his affections which Nellie could not fill, and though he had no +wish to marry her now, he tried to make himself believe that but for +her misfortune she should still have become his wife. +</P> + +<P> +"Jim would marry her, I dare say, even if she were blind as a bat," +he said; "but then he is able to support her," and reminded by this +of an unanswered letter from his cousin, who was still in New +Orleans, he sat down and wrote, telling him of Maude's total +blindness, and then, almost in the next sentence saying that his +wedding was fixed for the 5th of March. "There," he exclaimed, as he +read over the letter, "I believe I must be crazy, for I never told +him that the bride was Nellie; but no matter, I'd like to have him +think me magnanimous for a while, and I want to hear what he says." +</P> + +<P> +Two weeks or more went by, and then there came an answer, fraught +with sympathy for Maude, and full of commendation for J.C., who "had +shown himself a man." +</P> + +<P> +Accompanying the letter was a box containing a most exquisite set of +pearls for the bride, together with a diamond ring, on which was +inscribed, "Cousin Maude." +</P> + +<P> +"Aint I in a deuced scrape," said J.C., as he examined the beautiful +ornaments; "Nellie would be delighted with them, but she shan't have +them; they are not hers. I'll write to Jim at once, and tell him the +mistake," and seizing his pen he dashed off a few lines, little +guessing how much happiness they would carry to the far-off city, +where daily and nightly James De Vere fought manfully with the love +that clung with a deathlike grasp to the girl J.C. had forsaken, the +poor, blind, helpless Maude. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +NELLIE'S BRIDAL NIGHT. +</H3> + +<P> +The blind girl sat alone in her chamber, listening to the sound of +merry voices in the hall without, or the patter of feet, as the fast +arriving guests tripped up and down the stairs. She had heard the +voice of J.C. De Vere as he passed her door, but it awoke within her +bosom no lingering regret, and when an hour later Nellie stood +before her, arrayed in her bridal robes, she passed her hand +caressingly over the flowing curls, the fair, round face, the satin +dress, and streaming veil, saying as she did so, "I know you are +beautiful, my sister, and if a blind girl's blessing can be of any +avail, you have it most cordially." +</P> + +<P> +Both Mrs. Kennedy and Nellie had urged Maude to be present at the +ceremony, but she shrank from the gaze of strangers, and preferred +remaining in her room, an arrangement quite satisfactory to J.C., +who did not care to meet her then. It seemed probable that some of +the guests would go up to see her, and knowing this, Mrs. Kennedy +had arranged her curls and dress with unusual care, saying to her as +she kissed her pale cheek, "You are far more beautiful than the +bride." +</P> + +<P> +And Maude was beautiful. Recent suffering and non-exposure to the +open air had imparted a delicacy to her complexion which harmonized +well with the mournful expression of her face and the idea of +touching helplessness which her presence inspired. Her long, fringed +eyelashes rested upon her cheek, and her short, glossy curls were +never more becomingly arranged than now, when stepping backward a +pace or two, Mrs. Kennedy stopped a moment to admire her again ere +going below where her presence was already needed. +</P> + +<P> +The din of voices grew louder in the hall, there was a tread of many +feet upon the stairs, succeeded by a solemn hush, and Maude, +listening to every sound, knew that the man to whom she had been +plighted was giving to another his marriage vow. She had no love for +J.C. De Vere, but as she sat there alone in her desolation, and +thoughts of her sister's happiness rose up in contrast to her own +dark, hopeless lot, who shall blame her if she covered her face with +her hands and wept most bitterly. Poor Maude! It was dark, dark +night within, and dark, dark night without; and her dim eye could +not penetrate the gloom, nor see the star which hung o'er the brow +of the distant hill, where a wayworn man was toiling on. Days and +nights had he traveled, unmindful of fatigue, while his throbbing +heart outstripped the steam-god by many a mile. The letter had +fulfilled its mission, and with one wild burst of joy when he read +that she was free, he started for the North. He was not expected at +the wedding, but it would be a glad surprise, he knew, and he +pressed untiringly on, thinking but one thought, and that, how he +would comfort the poor, blind Maude. He did not know that even then +her love belonged to him, but he could win it, perhaps, and then +away to sunny France, where many a wonderful cure had been wrought, +and might be wrought again. +</P> + +<P> +The bridal was over, and the congratulations nearly so; when a +stranger was announced, an uninvited guest, and from his armchair in +the corner Louis saw that it was the same kind face which had bent +so fearlessly over his pillow little more than six months before. +James De Vere—the name was echoed from lip to lip, but did not +penetrate the silent chamber where Maude sat weeping yet. +</P> + +<P> +A rapid glance through the rooms assured the young man that she was +not there: and when the summons to supper was given he went to Louis +and asked him for his sister. +</P> + +<P> +"She is upstairs," said Louis, adding impulsively: "she will be glad +you have come, for she has talked of you so much." +</P> + +<P> +"Talked of me!" and the eyes of James De Vere looked earnestly into +Louis' face. "And does she talk of me still?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Louis, "I heard her once when she was asleep, though I +ought not to have mentioned it," he continued, suddenly recollecting +himself, "for when I told her, she blushed so red, and bade me not +to tell." +</P> + +<P> +"Take me to her, will you?" said Mr. De Vere, and following his +guide he was soon opposite the door of Maude's room. +</P> + +<P> +"Wait a moment," he exclaimed, passing his fingers through his hair, +and trying in vain to brush from his coat the dust which had settled +there. +</P> + +<P> +"It don't matter, for she can't see," said Louis, who comprehended +at once the feelings of his companion. +</P> + +<P> +By this time they stood within the chamber, but so absorbed was +Maude in her own grief that she did not hear her brother until he +bent over her and whispered in her ear, "Wake, sister, if you're +sleeping. He's come. He's here!" +</P> + +<P> +She had no need to ask of him who had come. She knew intuitively, +and starting up, her unclosed eyes flashed eagerly around the room, +turning at last toward the door where she felt that he was standing. +James De Vere remained motionless, watching intently the fair, +troubled face, which had never seemed so fair to him, before. +</P> + +<P> +"Brother, have you deceived me? Where is he?" she said at last, as +her listening ear caught no new sound. +</P> + +<P> +"Here, Maude, here," and gliding to her side, Mr. De Vere wound his +arm around her, and kissing her lips, called her by the name to +which she was getting accustomed, and which never sounded so +soothingly as when breathed by his melodious voice. "My poor, blind +Maude," was all he said, but by the clasp of his warm hand, by the +tear she felt upon her cheek, and by his very silence, she knew how +deeply he sympathized with her. +</P> + +<P> +Knowing that they would rather be alone, Louis went below, where +many inquiries were making for the guest who had so suddenly +disappeared. The interview between the two was short, for some of +Maude's acquaintance came up to see her, but it sufficed for Mr. De +Vere to learn all that he cared particularly to know then. Maude did +not love J.C., whose marriage with another caused her no regret, and +this knowledge made the future seem hopeful and bright. It was not +the time to speak of that future to her, but he bade her take +courage, hinting that his purse, should never be closed until every +possible means had been used for the restoration of her sight. What +wonder, then, if she dreamed that night that she could see again, +and, that the good angel by whose agency this blessing had been +restored to her was none other than James De Vere. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +COUSIN MAUDE. +</H3> + +<P> +Three days had passed since the bridal, and James still lingered at +Laurel Hill, while not very many miles away his mother waited and +wondered why he did not come. J.C. and Nellie were gone, but ere +they had left the former sought an interview with Maude, whose +placid brow he kissed tenderly as he whispered in her ear: "Fate +decreed that you should not be my wife, but I have made you my +sister, and, if I mistake not, another wishes to make you my +cousin." +</P> + +<P> +To James he had given back the ornaments intended for another bride +than Nellie, saying, as he did so, "Maude De Vere may wear them +yet." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" asked James, and J.C. replied: "I mean that I, +and not you, will have a Cousin Maude." +</P> + +<P> +Two days had elapsed since then, and it was night again—but to the +blind girl, drinking in the words of love which fell like music on +her ear, it was high noon-day, and the sky undimmed by a single +cloud. +</P> + +<P> +"I once called you my cousin, Maude," the deep-toned voice said, +"and I thought it the sweetest name I had ever heard, but there is a +nearer, dearer name which I would give to you, even my wife—Maude—shall +it be?" and he looked into her sightless eyes to read her +answer. +</P> + +<P> +She had listened eagerly to the story of his love born so long +ago—had held her breath lest she should lose a single word when he told +her how he had battled with that love, and how his heart had +thrilled with joy when he heard that she was free—but when he asked +her to be his wife the bright vision faded, and she answered +mournfully, "You know not what you say. You would not take a blind +girl in her helplessness." +</P> + +<P> +"A thousandfold dearer to me for that very helplessness," he said, +and then he told her of the land beyond the sea, where the +physicians were well skilled in everything pertaining to the eye. +"Thither they would go," he said, "when the April winds were +blowing, and should the experiment not succeed, he would love and +cherish her all the more." +</P> + +<P> +Maude knew he was in earnest, and was about to answer him, when +along the hall there came the sound of little crutches, and over her +face there flitted a shadow of pain. It was the sister-love warring +with the love of self, but James De Vere understood it all, and he +hastened to say, "Louis will go, too, my darling. I have never had a +thought of separating you. In Europe he will have a rare opportunity +for developing his taste. Shall it not be so?" +</P> + +<P> +"Let him decide," was Maude's answer, as the crutches struck the +soft carpet of the room. +</P> + +<P> +"Louis," said Mr. De Vere, "shall Maude go with me to Europe as my +wife?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes—yes, yes," was Louis' hasty answer, his brown eyes +filling with tears of joy when he heard that he, too, was to +accompany them. +</P> + +<P> +Maude could no longer refuse, and she half fancied she saw the +flashing of the diamonds, when James placed upon her finger the ring +which bore the inscription of "Cousin Maude." Before coming there +that night, Mr. De Vere had consulted a New York paper, and found +that a steamship would sail for Liverpool on the 20th of April, +about six weeks from that day. +</P> + +<P> +"We will go in it," he said, "my blind bird, Louis, and I," and he +parted lovingly the silken tresses of her to whom this new +appellation was given. +</P> + +<P> +There was much in the future to anticipate, and much in the past +which he wished to talk over; so he remained late that night, and on +passing through the lower hall was greatly surprised to see Mrs. +Kennedy still sitting in the parlor. She had divined the object and +result of his visit, and the moment he was gone she glided up the +stairs to the room where Maude was quietly weeping for very joy. The +story of the engagement was soon told, and winding her arm around +Maude's neck Mrs. Kennedy said, "I rejoice with you, daughter, in +your happiness, but I shall be left so desolate when you and Louis +are both gone." +</P> + +<P> +Just then her eye caught the ring upon Maude's finger, and taking it +in her hand, she admired its chaste beauty, and was calculating its +probable cost, when glancing at the inside she started suddenly, +exclaiming, "'Cousin Maude'—that is my name—the one by which he +always called me. Has it been given to you, too?" and as the throng +of memories that name awakened came rushing over her, the impulsive +woman folded the blind girl to her bosom, saying to her, "My child, +my, child, you should have been!" +</P> + +<P> +"I do not understand you," said Maude, and Mrs. Kennedy replied, "It +is not meet that we should part ere I tell you who and what I am. Is +the name of Maude Glendower strange to you? Did you never hear it in +your Vernon home?" +</P> + +<P> +"It seemed familiar to me when J.C. De Vere first told me of you," +answered Maude, "but I cannot recall any particular time when I +heard it spoken. Did you know my mother?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, father and mother both, and loved them too. Listen to me, +Maude, while I tell you of the past. Though it seems so long ago, I +was a schoolgirl once, and nightly in my arms there slept a +fair-haired, blue-eyed maiden, four years my junior, over whom I +exercised an elder sister's care. She loved me, this little blue-eyed +girl, and when your brother first spoke to me I seemed again to +hear her voice whispering in my ear, 'I love you, beautiful Maude.'" +</P> + +<P> +"It was mother—it was mother!" and Maude Remington drew nearer to +the excited woman, who answered: +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it was your mother, then little Matty Reed; we were at school +together in New Haven, and she was my roommate. We were not at all +alike, for I was wholly selfish, while she found her greatest +pleasure in ministering to others' happiness; but she crossed my +path at last, and then I thought I hated her." +</P> + +<P> +"Not my mother, lady. You could not hate my mother!" and the blind +eyes flashed as if they would tear away the veil of darkness in +which they were enshrouded, and gaze upon a woman who could hate +sweet Matty Remington. +</P> + +<P> +"Hush, child! don't look so fiercely at me," said Maude Glendower. +"Upon your mother's grave I have wept that sin away, and I know I am +forgiven as well as if her own soft voice had told me so. I loved +your father, Maude, and this was my great error. He was a distant +relative of your mother, whom he always called his cousin. He +visited her often, for he was a college student, and ere I was aware +of it, I loved him, oh, so madly, vainly fancying my affection was +returned. He was bashful, I thought, for he was not then twenty-one, +and by way of rousing him to action. I trifled with another—with +Dr. Kennedy," and she uttered the name spitefully, as if it were +even now hateful to her. +</P> + +<P> +"I know it—I know it," returned Maude, "he told me that when he +first talked with me of you, but I did not suppose the dark-eyed +student was my father." +</P> + +<P> +"It was none other," said Mrs. Kennedy, "and you can form some +conception of my love for him, when I tell you that it has never +died away, but is as fresh within my heart this night as when I +walked with him upon the College Green and he Called me 'Cousin +Maude,' for he gave me that name because of my fondness for Matty, +and he sealed it with a kiss. Matty was present at that time, and +had I not been blind I should have seen how his whole soul was bound +up in her, even while kissing me. I regarded her as a child, and so +she was; but men sometimes love children, you know. When she was +fifteen, she left New Haven. I, too, had ceased to be a schoolgirl, +but I still remained in the city and wrote to her regularly, until +at last your father came to me, and with the light of a great joy +shining all over his face, told me she was to be his bride on her +sixteenth birthday. She would have written it herself, he said, only +she was a bashful little creature, and would rather he should tell +me. I know not what I did, for the blow was sudden, and took my +senses away. He had been so kind to me of late—had visited me so +often, that my heart was full of hope. But it was all gone now. +Matty Reed was preferred to me, and while my Spanish blood boiled at +the fancied indignity, I said many a harsh thing of her—I called +her designing, deceitful, and false; and then in my frenzy quitted +the room. I never saw Harry, again, for he left the city next +morning; but to my dying hour I shall not forget the expression of +his face when I talked to him of Matty. Turn away, Maude, turn away! +for there is the same look now upon your face. But I have repented +of that act, though not till years after. I tore up Mattie's +letters. I. said I would burn the soft brown tress—" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, woman, woman! you did not burn my mother's hair!" and with a +shudder Maude unwound the soft, white arm which so closely encircled +her. +</P> + +<P> +"No, Maude, no. I couldn't. It would not leave my fingers, but +coiled around them with a loving grasp. I have it now, and esteem it +my choicest treasure. When I heard that you were born, my heart +softened toward the young girl. Mother and I wrote, asking that +Harry's child might be called for me. I did not disguise my love for +him, and I said it would be some consolation to know that his +daughter bore my name. My letter did not reach them until you had +been baptized Matilda, which was the name of your mother and +grandmother, but to prove their goodness, they ever after called you +Maude." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I was named for you;" and Maude Remington came back to the +embrace of Maude Glendower, who, kissing, her white brow, continued: +"Two years afterward I found myself in Vernon, stopping for a night +at the hotel. 'I will see them in the morning,' I said; 'Harry, +Matty, and the little child;' and I asked the landlord where you +lived. I was standing upon the stairs, and in the partial darkness +he could not see my anguish when he replied, 'Bless you, miss. Harry +Remington died a fortnight ago.'" +</P> + +<P> +"How I reached my room I never knew, but reach it I did, and half an +hour later I knelt by his grave, where I wept away every womanly +feeling of my heart, and then went back to the giddy world, the +gayest of the gay. I did not seek an interview with your mother, +though I have often regretted it since. Did she never speak of me? +Think. Did you never hear my name?" +</P> + +<P> +"In Vernon, I am sure I did," answered Maude, "but I was then too +young to receive a very vivid impression, and after we came here +mother, I fear, was too unhappy to talk much of the past." +</P> + +<P> +"I understand it," answered Maude Glendower, and over her fine +features there stole a hard, dark look, as she continued, "I can see +how one of her gentle nature would wither and die in this +atmosphere, and forgive me, Maude, she never loved your father as I +loved him, for had he called me wife I should never have been here." +</P> + +<P> +"What made you come?" asked Maude; and the lady answered, "For +Louis' sake and yours I came. I never lost sight of your mother. I +knew she married the man I rejected, and from my inmost soul I +pitied her. But I am redressing her wrongs and those of that other +woman who wore her life away within these gloomy walls. Money is his +idol, and when you touch his purse you touch his tenderest point. +But I have opened it, and, struggle as he may, it shall not be +closed again." +</P> + +<P> +She spoke bitterly, and Maude knew that Dr. Kennedy had more than +met his equal in that woman of iron will. +</P> + +<P> +"I should have made a splendid carpenter," the lady continued, "for +nothing pleases me more than the sound of the hammer and saw, and +when you are gone I shall solace myself with fixing the entire +house. I must have excitement, or die as the others did." +</P> + +<P> +"Maude—Mrs. Kennedy, do you know what time it is?" came from the +foot of the stairs, and Mrs. Kennedy answered, "It is one o'clock, I +believe." +</P> + +<P> +"Then why are you sitting up so late, and why is that lamp left +burning in the parlor, with four tubes going off at once? It's a +maxim of mine—" +</P> + +<P> +"Spare your maxims, do. I'm coming directly," and kissing the blind +girl affectionately, Mrs. Kennedy went down to her liege lord, whom +she found extinguishing the light, and gently shaking the lamp to +see how much fluid had been uselessly wasted. +</P> + +<P> +He might have made some conjugal remark, but the expression of her +face forbade anything like reproof, and he soon found use for his +powers of speech in the invectives he heaped upon the long rocker of +the chair over which he stumbled as he groped his way back to the +bedroom, where his wife rather enjoyed, than otherwise, the +lamentations which he made over his "bruised shin." The story she +had been telling had awakened many bitter memories in Maude +Glendower's bosom, and for hours she turned uneasily from side to +side, trying in vain to sleep. Maude Remington, too, was wakeful, +thinking over the strange tale she had heard, and marveling that her +life should be so closely interwoven with that of the woman whom she +called her mother. +</P> + +<P> +"I love her all the more," she said; "I shall pity her so, staying +here alone, when I am gone." +</P> + +<P> +Then her thoughts turned upon the future, when she would be the wife +of James De Vere, and while wondering if she should really ever see +again, she fell asleep just as the morning was dimly breaking in the +east. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A SECOND BRIDAL. +</H3> + +<P> +After the night of which we have written, the tie of affection +between Mrs. Kennedy and the blind girl was stronger than before, +and when the former said to her husband, "Maude must have an outfit +worthy of a rich man's stepdaughter," he knew by the tone of her +voice that remonstrance was useless, and answered meekly, "I will do +what is right, but don't be too extravagant, for Nellie's clothes +almost ruined me, and I had to pay for that piano yesterday. Will +fifty dollars do?" +</P> + +<P> +"Fifty dollars!" repeated the lady. "Are you crazy?" Then, touched +perhaps by the submissive expression of his face, she added, "As +Maude is blind, she will not need as much as if she were going at +once into society. I'll try and make two hundred dollars answer, +though that will purchase but a meager trousseau." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Kennedy's pronounciation of French was not always correct, and +John, who chanced to be within hearing, caught eagerly at the last +word, exclaiming, "Ki! dem trouses must cost a heap sight mor'n +mine! What dis nigger spec' 'em can be?" and he glanced ruefully at +his own glazed pants of corduroy, which had done him service for two +or three years. +</P> + +<P> +Maude was a great favorite with John, and when he heard that she was +going away forever he went up to the woodshed chamber where no one +could see him, and seating himself upon a pile of old shingles, +which had been put there for kindling, he cried like a child. +</P> + +<P> +"It'll be mighty lonesome, knowin' she's gone for good," he said, +"for, though she'll come back agin, she'll be married, and when a +gal is married, that's the last on 'em. I wish I could give her +somethin', to show her my feelin's." +</P> + +<P> +He examined his hands; they were hard, rough, and black. He drew +from his pocket a bit of looking-glass and examined his face—that +was blacker yet; and shaking his head, he whispered: "It might do +for a mulatto gal, but not for her." Then, as a new idea crossed his +mind, he brightened up, exclaiming, "My heart is white, and if I +have a tip-top case, mebby she won't 'spise a poor old nigger's +picter!" +</P> + +<P> +In short, John contemplated having his daguerreotype taken as a +bridal present for Maude. Accordingly, that very afternoon he +arrayed himself in his best, and, entering the yellow car of a +traveling artist who had recently come to the village, he was soon +in possession of a splendid case and a picture which he, pronounced +"oncommon good-lookin' for him." This he laid carefully away until +the wedding-day, which was fixed for the 15th of April. When Mr. De +Vere heard of John's generosity to Maude in giving her the golden +eagles, he promptly paid them back, adding five more as interest, +and at the same time asking him if he would not like to accompany +them to Europe. +</P> + +<P> +"You can be of great assistance to us," he said, "and I will gladly +take you." +</P> + +<P> +This was a strong temptation, and for a moment the negro hesitated, +but when his eye fell upon his master, who was just then entering +the gate, his decision was taken, and he answered, "No, I'm bleeged +to you. I'd rather stay and see the fun." +</P> + +<P> +"What fun?" asked Mr. De Vere; and John replied, "The fun of seein' +him cotch it;" and he pointed to the doctor coming slowly up the +walk, his hands behind him and his head bent forward in a musing +attitude. +</P> + +<P> +Dr. Kennedy was at that moment in an unenviable frame of mind, for +he was trying to decide whether he could part for a year or more +with his crippled boy, who grew each day more dear to him. "It will +do him good, I know," he said, "and I might, perhaps, consent, if I +could spare the money; but I can't, for I haven't got it. That woman +keeps me penniless, and will wheedle me out of two hundred dollars +more. Oh, Mat—" +</P> + +<P> +He did not finish the sentence, for by this time he had reached the +hall, where he met Mr. De Vere, who asked if Louis was to go. +</P> + +<P> +"He can't," answered the doctor. "I have not the means. Mrs. Kennedy +says Maude's wardrobe will cost two hundred dollars." +</P> + +<P> +"Excuse me, sir," interrupted Mr. De Vere. "I shall attend to +Maude's wants myself, and if you are not able to bear Louis' +expenses, I will willingly do it for the sake of having him with his +sister. They ought not to be separated, and who knows but Louis' +deformity may be in a measure relieved?" +</P> + +<P> +This last decided the matter. Louis should go, even though his +father mortgaged his farm to pay the bill, and during the few weeks +which elapsed before the 15th the house presented an air of bustle +and confusion equal to that which preceded Nellie's bridal. Mr. De +Vere remained firm in his intention to defray all Maude's expenses, +and he delegated to Mrs. Kennedy the privilege of purchasing +whatever she thought was needful. Her selections were usually in +good taste, and in listening to her enthusiastic praises Maude +enjoyed her new dresses almost as much as if she had really seen +them. A handsome plain silk of blue and brown was decided upon for a +traveling dress, and very sweetly the blind girl looked when, +arrayed in her simple attire, she stood before the man of God whose +words were to make her a happy bride. She could not see the sunlight +of spring streaming into the room, neither could she see the +sunlight of love shining over the face of James De Vere, nor yet the +earnest gaze of those who thought her so beautiful in her +helplessness, but she could feel it all, and the long eyelashes +resting on her cheek were wet with tears when a warm kiss was +pressed upon her lips and a voice murmured in her ear, "My wife—my +darling Maude." +</P> + +<P> +There were bitter tears shed at that parting; Maude Glendower +weeping passionately over the child of Harry Remington, and Dr. +Kennedy hugging to his bosom the little hunchback boy, Matty's boy +and his. They might never meet again, and the father's heart clung +fondly to his only son. He could not even summon to his aid a maxim +with which to season his farewell, and bidding a kind good-by to +Maude, he sought the privacy of his chamber, where he could weep +alone in his desolation. +</P> + +<P> +Hannah and John grieved to part with the travelers, but the latter +was somewhat consoled by the gracious manner with which Maude had +accepted his gift. +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot see it," she said, "but when I open the casing I shall +know your kind, honest face is there, and it will bring me many +pleasant memories of you." +</P> + +<P> +"Heaven bless you, Miss Maude," answered John, struggling hard to +keep back the tears he deemed it unmanly to shed. "Heaven bless you, +but if you keep talking so book-like and good, I'll bust out +a-cryin', I know, for I'm nothin' but an old fool anyhow," and +wringing her hand, he hurried off into the woodshed chamber, where +he could give free vent to his grief. +</P> + +<P> +Through the harbor, down the bay, and out upon the sea, a noble +vessel rides; and as the evening wind comes dancing o'er the wave it +sweeps across the deck, kissing the cheek of a brown-eyed boy and +lifting the curls from the brow of one whose face, upturned to the +tall man at her side, seems almost angelic, so calm, so peaceful, is +its expression of perfect bliss. Many have gazed curiously upon that +group, and the voices were very, low which said, "The little boy is +deformed," while there was a world of sadness in the whisper, which +told to the wondering passengers that "the beautiful bride was +blind." +</P> + +<P> +They knew it by the constant drooping of her eyelids, by the +graceful motion of her hand as it groped in the air, and more than +all by the untiring watchfulness of the husband and brother who +constantly hovered near. It seemed terrible that so fair a creature +should be blind; and like the throb of one great heart did the +sympathy of that vessel's crew go out toward the gentle Maude, who +in her newborn happiness forgot almost the darkness of the world +without, or if she thought of it, looked forward to a time when hope +said that she should see again. So, leaving her upon the sea, +speeding away to sunny France, we glance backward for a moment to +the lonely house where Maude Glendower mourns for Harry's child, and +where the father thinks often of his boy, listening in vain for the +sound which once was hateful to his ear, the sound of Louis' +crutches. +</P> + +<P> +Neither does John forget the absent ones, but in the garden, in the +barn, in the fields, and the woodshed chamber, he prays in his +mongrel dialect that He who holds the wind in the hollow of His hand +will give to the treacherous deep charge concerning the precious +freight it bears. He does not say it in those words, but his +untutored language, coming from a pure heart, is heard by the Most +High. And so the breeze blows gently o'er the bark thus followed by +black John's prayers—the skies look brightly down upon it—the blue +waves ripple at its side, until at last it sails into its destined +port; and when the apple-blossoms are dropping from the trees, and +old Hannah lays upon the grass to bleach the fanciful white +bed-spread which her own hands have knit for Maude, there comes a letter +to the lonely household, telling them that the feet of those they +love have reached the shores of the Old World. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE SEXTON. +</H3> + +<P> +The Methodist Society of Laurel Hill had built themselves a new +church upon the corner of the common, and as a mark of respect had +made black John their sexton. Perfectly delighted with the office, +he discharged his duties faithfully, particularly the ringing of the +bell, in which accomplishment he greatly excelled his Episcopal +rival, who tried to imitate his peculiar style in vain. No one could +make such music as the negro, or ring so many changes. In short, it +was conceded that on great occasions he actually made the old bell +talk; and one day toward the last of September, and five months +after the events of the preceding chapter, an opportunity was +presented for a display of his skill. +</P> + +<P> +The afternoon was warm and sultry, and overcome by the heat the +village loungers had disposed of themselves, some on the long piazza +of the hotel, and others in front of the principal store, where, +with elevated heels and busy jackknives, they whittled out shapeless +things, or made remarks concerning any luckless female who chanced +to pass. While thus engaged they were startled by a loud, sharp ring +from the belfry of the Methodist church succeeded by a merry peal, +which seemed to proclaim some joyful event. It was a musical, +rollicking ring, consisting of three rapid strokes, the last +prolonged a little, as if to give it emphasis. +</P> + +<P> +"What's up now?" the loungers said to each other, as the three +strokes were repeated in rapid succession. "What's got into John?" +and those who were fortunate enough to own houses in the village, +went into the street to assure themselves there was no fire. +</P> + +<P> +"It can't be a toll," they said. "It's too much like a dancing tune +for that," and as the sound continued they walked rapidly to the +church, where they found the African bending himself with might and +main to his task, the perspiration dripping from his sable face, +which was all aglow with happiness. +</P> + +<P> +It was no common occasion which had thus affected John, and to the +eager questioning of his audience he replied, "Can't you hear the +ding—dong—de-el. Don't you know what it says? Listen now," and the +bell again rang forth the three short sounds. But the crowd still +professed their ignorance, and, pausing a moment, John said, with a +deprecating manner: "I'll tell the first word, and you'll surely +guess the rest: it's 'Maude.' Now try 'em," and wiping the sweat +from his brow, he turned again to his labor of love, nodding his +head with every stroke. "No ear at all for music," he muttered, as +he saw they were as mystified as ever, and in a loud, clear voice, +he sang, "Maude can see-e! Maude can see-e!" +</P> + +<P> +It was enough. Most of that group had known and respected the blind +girl, and joining at once in the negro's enthusiasm they sent up a +deafening shout for "Maude De Vere, restored to sight." +</P> + +<P> +John's face at that moment was a curiosity, so divided was it +between smiles and tears, the latter of which won the mastery, as +with the last hurrah the bell gave one tremendous crash, and he sank +exhausted upon the floor, saying to those who gathered round, "Will +'em hear that, think, in France?" +</P> + +<P> +"How do you know it is true?" asked one, and John replied, "She writ +her own self to tell it, and sent her love to me; think of dat—sent +her love to an old nigger!" and John glanced at the bell, as if he +intended a repetition of the rejoicings. +</P> + +<P> +Surely Maude De Vere, across the sea, never received a greater +tribute of respect than was paid to her that day by the warm-hearted +John, who, the moment he heard the glad news, sped away, to proclaim +it from the church-tower. The letter had come that afternoon, and, +as John said, was written by Maude herself. The experiment had been +performed weeks before, but she would wait until assurance was +doubly sure ere she sent home the joyful tidings. It was a wonderful +cure, for the chance of success was small, but the efforts used in +her behalf had succeeded, and she could see again. +</P> + +<P> +"But what of Louis?" asked Dr. Kennedy, who was listening while his +wife read to him the letter. "What of Louis? Have they done anything +for him?" +</P> + +<P> +"They had tried, but his deformity could not be helped," and with a +pang of disappointment the father was turning away when something +caught his ear which caused him to listen again. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't know," Maude wrote, "how great a lion Louis is getting to +be. He painted a picture of me just as I looked that dreadful +morning when I stood in the sunshine and felt that I was blind. It +is a strange, wild thing, but its wildness is relieved by the +angel-faced boy who looks up at me so pityingly. Louis is perfect, but +Maude—oh! I can scarce believe that she ever wore that expression +of fierce despair. Strange as it may seem, this picture took the +fancy of the excitable French, and ere Louis was aware of it he +found himself famous. They come to our rooms daily to see le petit +artist, and many ask for pictures or sketches, for which they pay an +exorbitant price. One wealthy American gentleman brought him a +daguerreotype of his dead child, with the request that he would +paint from it a life-sized portrait, and if he succeeds in getting a +natural face he is to receive five hundred dollars. Think of little +Louis Kennedy earning five hundred dollars, for he will succeed. The +daguerreotype is much like Nellie, which will make it easier for +Louis." +</P> + +<P> +This was very gratifying to Dr. Kennedy, who that day more than once +repeated to himself, "Five hundred dollars: it's a great deal of +money, for him to earn; maybe he'll soon be able to help me, and +mercy knows I shall soon need it if that woman continues her +unheard-of extravagances. More city company to-morrow, and I heard +her this morning tell that Jezebel in the kitchen to put the whites +of sixteen eggs into one loaf of cake. What am I coming to?" and +Dr. Kennedy, groaned in spirit as he walked through the handsome +apartments, seeking in vain for a place where he could sit and have +it seem as it used to do, when the rocking-chair which Matty had +brought stood invitingly in the middle of the room where now a +center-table was standing, covered with books and ornaments of the +most expensive kind. +</P> + +<P> +Since last we looked in upon her Maude Glendower had ruled with a +high hand. She could not live without excitement, and rallying from +her grief at parting with her child, she plunged at once into +repairs, tearing down and building up, while her husband looked on +in dismay. When they were about it, she said, they might as well +have all the modern improvements, and water, both hot and cold, was +accordingly carried to all the sleeping apartments, the fountain-head +being a large spring distant from the house nearly half a mile. +Gas she could not have, though the doctor would hardly have been +surprised had she ordered the laying of pipes from Rochester to +Laurel Hill, so utterly reckless did she seem. She was fond of +company, and as she had visited everybody, so everybody in return +must visit her, she said, and toward the last of summer she filled +the house with city people, who vastly enjoyed the good cheer with +which her table was always spread. +</P> + +<P> +John's desire to see the fun was more than satisfied, as was also +Hannah's, and after the receipt of Maude's letter the latter +determined to write herself, "and let Miss De Vere know just how +things was managed." In order to do this, it was necessary to employ +an amanuensis, and she enlisted the services of the gardener, who +wrote her exact language, a mixture of negro, Southern, and Yankee. +A portion of this letter we give to the reader. +</P> + +<P> +After expressing her pleasure that Maude could see, and saying that +she believed the new Miss to be a good woman, but a mighty queer +one, she continued: +</P> + +<P> +"The doin's here is wonderful, and you'd hardly know the old place. +Thar's a big dining room run out to the south, with an expansion +table mighty nigh a rod long, and what's more, it't allus full too, +of city stuck-ups—and the way they do eat! I haint churned nary +pound of butter since you went away. Why, bless yer soul, we has to +buy. Do you mind that patch of land what the doctor used to plant +with corn? Well, the garden sass grows there now, and t'other garden +raises nothin' but flowers and strabries, and thar's a man hired on +purpose to tend 'em. He's writin' this for me. Thar's a tower run up +in the northeast eend, and when it's complete, she's goin' to have a +what you call 'em—somethin' that blows up the water—oh, a +fountain. Thar's one in the yard, and, if you'll believe it, she's +got one of Cary's rotary pumpin' things, that folks are runnin' +crazy about, and every hot day she keeps John a-turnin' the injin' +to squirt the water all over the yard, and make it seem like a +thunder shower! Thar's a bathroom, and when them city folks is here +some on 'em is a-washin' in thar all the time. I don't do nothin' +now but wash and iron, and if I have fifty towels I have one! But +what pesters me most is the wide skirts I has to do up; Miss Canady +wears a hoop bigger than an amberell. They say Miss Empress, who +makes these things, lives in Paris, and I wish you'd put yourself +out a little to see her, and ask her, for me, to quit sendin' over +them fetched hoops. Thar aint no sense in it! We've got jiggers in +every chamber where the water spirts out. Besides turnin' the injin +John drives the horses in the new carriage. Dr. Canady looks poorly, +and yet madam purrs round him like a kitten, but I knows the claws +is thar. She's about broke him of usin' them maxims of his, and your +poor marm would enjoy it a spell seein' him paid off, but she'd pity +him after a while. I do, and if things continners to grow wus, I +shall just ask pra'rs for him in my meetin'. Elder Blossom is +powerful at that. My health is considerable good, but I find I grow +old. Yours, with respect and regrets," Hannah. +</P> + +<P> +"P.S.—I don't believe that t'other beau of yourn is none the +happiest. They live with Miss Kelsey yet, but thar's a story round +that she's a-gwine to marry again, and the man don't like De Vere, +and won't have him thar, so if the doctor should run out, as I'm +afraid he will, what'll them lazy critters do? Nellie's got to be +kinder sozzlin' in her dress, and he has took to chawin' tobacker by +the pound. They was here a spell ago, and deaf as I be, I hearn 'em +have one right smart quarrel. He said she was slatterly, or +somethin' like that, and she called him a fool, and said she 'most +knew he wished he'd took you, blind as you was, and he said, kinder +sorry-like, 'Maude would never of called me a fool, nor wore such +holes in the heels of her stockin's.' I couldn't hear no more, but I +knew by her voice that she was cryin', and when I went below and +seen the doctor out behind the woodshed a-figgerin' up, says I to +myself, `If I was a Univarselar, I should b'lieve they was all on +'em a-gittin' thar pay,' but bein' I'm a Methodis', I don't believe +nothin'." +</P> + +<P> +This letter, which conveyed to Maude a tolerably correct idea of +matters at home, will also show to the reader the state of feeling +existing between J.C. and Nellie. They were not suited to each +other, and though married but seven months, there had been many a +quarrel besides the one which Hannah overheard. Nellie demanded of +her husband more love than he had to bestow, and the consequence +was, a feeling of bitter jealousy on her part and an increasing +coldness on his. They were an ill-assorted couple, utterly incapable +of taking care of themselves, and when they heard from Mrs. Kelsey +that she really contemplated a second marriage, they looked forward +to the future with a kind of hopeless apathy, wholly at variance +with the feelings of the beautiful, dark-eyed Maude and the noble +James De Vere. +</P> + +<P> +Their love for each other had increased each day, and their +happiness seemed almost greater than they could bear on that +memorable morn when the husband bent fondly over his young +girl-wife, who laid a hand on each side of his face, and while the great +tears rolled down her cheeks, whispered joyfully, "I can see you, +darling; I can see!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXI. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +HOME AGAIN. +</H3> + +<P> +Little more than two years have passed away since the September +afternoon when the deep-toned bell rang out the merry tidings, +"Maude can see—Maude can see," and again upon the billow another +vessel rides. But this time to the westward; and the beautiful lady, +whose soft, dark eyes look eagerly over the wave says to her +companion, "It is very pleasant going home." +</P> + +<P> +They had tarried for a long time in Italy, both for Louis' sake and +because, after the recovery of her sight, Maude's health had been +delicate, and her husband would stay until it was fully +re-established. She was better now; roses were blooming on her +cheek—joy was sparkling in her eye—while her bounding step, her ringing +laugh, and finely rounded form told of youthful vigor and perfect +health. And they were going home at last—James, Louis, and +Maude—going to Hampton, where Mrs. De Vere awaited so anxiously their +coming. She did not, however, expect them so soon, for they had left +England earlier than they anticipated, and they surprised her one +day; as she sat by her pleasant window gazing out upon the western +sky and wondering how many more suns would set ere her children +would be with her. It was a happy meeting; and after the first joy +of it was over Maude inquired after the people at Laurel Hill. +</P> + +<P> +"It is more than four months since we heard from them," she said, +"and then Mrs. Kennedy's letter was very unsatisfactory. The doctor, +she hinted, had lost his senses, but she made no explanation. What +did she mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why," returned Mrs. De Vere, "he had a paralytic shock more than +six months ago." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, poor father," cried Louis, while Mrs. De Vere continued, "It +was not a severe attack, but it has impaired his health somewhat. +You knew, of course, that his house and farm were to be sold." +</P> + +<P> +"Our house, our old home! It shall not be!" and the tears glittered +in Louis' eyes, while, turning to Mrs. De Vere, Maude whispered +softly, "His wife has ruined him, but don't let us talk of it before +Louis." +</P> + +<P> +The lady nodded, and when at last they were alone, told all she knew +of the affair. Maude Glendower had persisted in her folly until her +husband's property was reduced to a mere pittance. There was a heavy +mortgage upon the farm, and even a chattel-mortgage upon the +furniture, and as the man who held them was stern and unrelenting, +he had foreclosed, and the house was to be sold at auction. "Why has +mother kept it from us?" said Maude, and Mrs. De Vere replied, +"Pride and a dread of what you might say prevented her writing it, I +think. I was there myself a few weeks since, and she said it could +do no good to trouble you. The doctor is completely broken down, and +seems like an old man. He cannot endure the handsome rooms below, +but stays all day in that small garret chamber, which is furnished +with your carpet, your mother's chair, and the high-past bedstead +which his first wife owned." +</P> + +<P> +Maude's sympathies were roused, and, fatigued as she was, she +started the next morning with her husband and brother for Laurel +Hill. Louis seemed very sad, and not even the familiar way-marks, as +he drew near his home, had power to dissipate that sadness. He could +not endure the thought that the house where he was born and where +his mother had died should pass into the hands of strangers. He had +been fortunate with his paintings, and of his own money had nearly +two thousand dollars; but this could do but little toward canceling +the mortgage, and he continued in the same dejected mood until the +tall poplars of Laurel Hill appeared in view. Then, indeed, he +brightened up, for there is something in the sight of home which +brings joy to every human heart. +</P> + +<P> +It was a hazy October day. The leaves were dropping one by one, and +lay in little hillocks upon the faded grass. The blue hills which +embosomed the lake were encircled with a misty veil, while the +sunshine seemed to fall with a somber light upon the fields of +yellow corn. Everything, even the gossamer thistle-top which floated +upon the autumnal air, conspired to make the day one of those +indescribable days when all hearts are pervaded with a feeling of +pleasurable sadness—a sense of beauty mingled with decay. +</P> + +<P> +"Is this home?" cried Maude, as they stopped before the gate. "I +should hardly have recognized it." +</P> + +<P> +It was indeed greatly changed, for Maude Glendower had perfect +taste, and if she had expended thousands upon the place, she had +greatly increased its value. +</P> + +<P> +"Beautiful home, beautiful home—it must not be sold," was Louis' +exclamation as he gazed upon it. +</P> + +<P> +"No, it must not be sold," returned Maude, while her husband smiled +quietly upon them both, and said nothing. +</P> + +<P> +Maude Glendower had gone to an adjoining town, but Hannah and John +greeted the strangers with nosy demonstrations, the latter making +frequent use of his coat skirts to wipe away his tears. +</P> + +<P> +"Can you see, marm—see me as true as you live?" he said, bowing +with great humility to Maude, of whom he stood a little in awe, so +polished were her manners and so elegant her appearance. Maude +assured him that she could, and then observing how impatient Louis +appeared, she asked for Dr. Kennedy. Assuming a mysterious air, old +Hannah whispered, "He's up in de ruff, at de top of de house, in dat +little charmber, where he stays mostly, to get shet of de music and +dancin' and raisin' ob cain generally. He's mighty broke down, but +the sight of you will peart him up right smart. You'd better go up +alone—he'll bar it better one at a time." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, go, sister," said Louis, who heard the last part of Hannah's +remarks, and felt that he could not take his father by surprise. So, +leaving her husband and brother below, Maude glided noiselessly +upstairs to the low attic room, where, by an open window, gazing +sorrowfully out upon the broad harvest-fields, soon to be no longer +his, a seemingly old man sat. And Dr. Kennedy was old, not in years, +perhaps, but in appearance. His hair had bleached as white as snow, +his form was bent, his face was furrowed with many a line of care, +while the tremulous motion of his head told of the palsy's blighting +power. And he sat there alone, that hazy autumnal day, shrinking +from the future and musing sadly of the past. From his armchair the +top of a willow tree was just discernible, and as he thought of the +two graves beneath that tree he moaned, "Oh, Katy, Matty, darlings. +You would pity me, I know, could you see me now so lonesome. My only +boy is over the sea—my only daughter is selfish and cold, and all +the day I'm listening in vain for someone to call me father." +</P> + +<P> +"Father!" The name dropped involuntarily from the lips of Maude, +standing without the door. +</P> + +<P> +But he did not hear it, and she could not say it again; for he was +not her father; but her heart was moved with sympathy, and going to +him laid her hands on his head and looked into his face. +</P> + +<P> +"Maude—Matty's Maude—my Maude!" And the poor head shook with a +palsied tremor, as he wound his arms around her and asked her when +she came. +</P> + +<P> +Her sudden coming unmanned him wholly, and bending over her he wept +like a little child. It would seem that her presence inspired in him +a sense of protection, a longing to detail his grievances, and with +quivering lips he said, "I am broken in body and mind. I've nothing +to call my own, nothing but a lock of Matty's hair and Louis' little +crutches—the crutches that you cushioned so that I should not hear +their sound. I was a hard-hearted monster then. I aint much better +now, but I love my child. What of Louis, Maude? Tell me of my boy," +and over the wrinkled face of the old man broke beautifully the +father-love, giving place to the father-pride, as Maude told of +Louis' success, of the fame he won, and the money he had earned. +</P> + +<P> +"Money!" Dr. Kennedy started quickly at that word, but ere he could +repeat it his ear caught a coming sound, and his eyes flashed +eagerly as, grasping the arm of Maude, he whispered, "It's music, +Maude—it's music—don't you hear it? Louis crutches on the stairs. +He comes! he comes! Matty's boy and mine! Thank Heaven, I have +something left in which that woman has no part." +</P> + +<P> +In his excitement he had risen, and with lips apart, and eyes bent +on the open door he waited for his crippled boy; nor waited long ere +Louis came in sight, when with a wild, glad cry which made the very +rafters ring he caught him to his bosom. Silently Maude stole from +the room, leaving them thus together, the father and his son. Nor is +it for us to intrude upon the sanctity of that interview, which +lasted more than an hour, and was finally terminated by the arrival +of Maude Glendower. She had returned sooner than was anticipated, +and, after joyfully greeting Maude started in quest of Louis. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't let her in here," whispered the doctor, as he heard her on +the stairs. "Don't let her in here; she'd be seized with a fit of +repairs. Go to her; she loves you, at least." +</P> + +<P> +Louis obeyed, and in a moment was in the arms of his stepmother. She +had changed since last they, met. Much of her soft, voluptuous +beauty was gone, and in its place was a look of desperation, as if +she did not care for what she had done, and meant to brave it +through. Still, when alone with Mr. De Vere and Maude, she conversed +freely of their misfortunes, and ere the day was over they +thoroughly understood the matter. The doctor was ruined; and when +his wife was questioned of the future she professed to have formed +no plan, unless, indeed, her husband lived with Nellie, who was now +housekeeping, while she went whither she could find a place. To this +arrangement Mr. De Vere made no comment. He did not seem disposed to +talk, but when the day of sale came he acted; and it was soon +understood that the house together with fifty acres of land would +pass into his hands. Louis, too, was busy. Singling out every +article of furniture which had been his mother's, he bought it with +his own money, while John, determining that "t'other one," as he +called Katy, should not be entirely overlooked, bid off the +high-post bedstead and chest of drawers which once were hers. Many of the +more elegant pieces of furniture were sold, but Mr. De Vere kept +enough to furnish the house handsomely; and when the sale was over +and the family once more reassembled in the pleasant parlor, Dr. +Kennedy wept like a child as he blessed the noble young man who had +kept for him his home. Maude Glendower, too, was softened; and going +up to Mr. De Vere she said, "If I know how to spend lavishly I know +also how to economize, and henceforth none shall accuse me of +extravagance." +</P> + +<P> +These were no idle words, for, as well as she could, she kept her +promise; and though she often committed errors, she usually tried to +do the thing which her children would approve. After a day or two +Mr. De Vere and Maude returned to Hampton, leaving Louis with his +father, who, in his society, grew better and happier each day. +Hannah, who was growing old, went, from choice, to live with Maude, +but John would not forsake his master. Nobody knew the kinks of the +old place like himself, he said, and he accordingly stayed, +superintending the whole, and coming ere long to speak of it all as +his. It was his farm, his oxen, his horses, his everything, except +the pump which Hannah in her letter to Mauda, had designated as an +injun. +</P> + +<P> +"'Twas a mighty good thing in its place," he said, "and at a fire it +couldn't be beat, but he'd be hanged if he didn't b'lieve a nigger +was made for somethin' harder and more sweaty-like than turnin' that +crank to make b'lieve rain when it didn't. He reckoned the Lord knew +what he was about, and if He was a mind to dry up the grass and the +arbs, it wasn't for Cary nor nary other chap to take the matter into +their own hands, and invent a patent thunder shower." +</P> + +<P> +John reasoned clearly upon some subjects, and though his reasoning +was not always correct, he proved a most invaluable servant. Old +Hannah's place was filled by another colored woman, Sylvia, and +though John greatly admired her complexion, as being one which would +not fade, he lamented her inefficiency, often wishing that the +services of Janet Hopkins could be again secured. +</P> + +<P> +But Janet was otherwise engaged; and here, near the close of our +story, it may not be amiss to glance for a moment at one who in the +commencement of the narrative occupied a conspicuous place. About +the time of Maude's blindness she had removed to a town in the +southern part of New York, and though she wrote apprising her young +mistress of the change, she forgot entirely to say where she was +going, consequently the family were ignorant of her place of +residence, until accident revealed it to J.C. De Vere. It was but a +few weeks preceding Maude's return from Europe that he found himself +compelled to spend a Sabbath in the quiet town of Fayette. Not far +from his hotel an Episcopal church reared its slender tower, and +thither, at the usual hour for service, he wended his way. There was +to be a baptism that morning, and many a smile flitted over the face +of matron and maid, as a meek-looking man came slowly up the aisle, +followed by a short, thick, resolute Scotchwoman, in whom we +recognize our old friend Janet Hopkins. Notwithstanding her firm +conviction that Maude Matilda Remington Blodgett was her last and +only one, she was now the mother of a sturdy boy, which the meek man +carried in his arms. Hot disputes there had been between the twain +concerning a name, Mr. Hopkins advocating simply John, as having +been borne by his sire, while Janet, a little proud of the notoriety +which her daughter's cognomen had brought to her, determined to +honor her boy with a name which should astonish every one. +</P> + +<P> +At the time of Maude's engagement with J.C. De Vere she had written +to know what J.C. was for, and Jedediah Cleishbotham pleased her +fancy as being unusual and odd. Indirectly she had heard that Maude +was married to Mr. De Vere, and gone to Europe, and supposing it was +of course J.C., she on this occasion startled her better half by +declaring that her son should be baptized "John Joel Jedediah +Cleishbotham," or nothing! It was in vain that he remonstrated. +Janet was firm, and hunting up Maude's letter, written more than +three years before, she bade him write down the name, so as not to +make a blunder. But this he refused to do. "He guessed he could +remember that horrid name; there was not another like it in +Christendom," he said, and on the Sunday morning of which we write +he took his baby in his arms, and in a state of great nervous +irritability started for church, repeating to himself the names, +particularly the last, which troubled him the most. Many a change he +rang upon it, and by the time he stood before the altar the +perspiration was starting from every pore, so anxious was he to +acquit himself creditably, and thus avoid the Caudle lecture which +was sure to follow a mistake. "But he should not make a mistake; he +knew exactly what the name was; he'd said it over a hundred times," +and when the minister, taking the baby in his arms, said, "Name this +child," he spoke up loud and promptly, jerking out the last word +with a vengeance, as if relieved to have it off his mind, "John Joel +Jedediah Leusebottom." +</P> + +<P> +"That's for me," was J.C.'s involuntary exclamation, which, however, +was lost amid the general titter which ran through the house. +</P> + +<P> +In an agony of anxiety Janet strove to rectify the mistake, while +her elbow sought the ribs of her conjugal lord; but the minister +paid no heed, and when the screaming infant was given back to its +frightened father's arms it bore the name of "John Joel," and +nothing more. +</P> + +<P> +To this catastrophe Janet was in a measure reconciled when after +church J.C. sought her out and, introducing himself, informed her of +the true state of affairs. +</P> + +<P> +"Then you aint married to Maude after all," said the astonished +Janet, as she proceeded to question him of the doctor's family. "It +beats all, I never heard on't; but no wonder, livin' as we do in +this out o' the way place—no cars, no stage, no post office but +twice a week—no nothin'." +</P> + +<P> +This was indeed the reason why Janet had remained so long in +ignorance of the people with whom she formerly lived. Fayette, as +she said, was an out of the way place, and after hearing from a man +who met them in New York, that Maude and Louis were both gone to +Europe, she gave Laurel Hill no further thought, and settled quietly +down among the hills until her monotonous life was broken by the +birth of a son, the John Joel who, as she talked with J.C., slept +calmly in his crib. +</P> + +<P> +"So you aint merried to her," she kept repeating, her anger at her +husband's treacherous memory fast decreasing. "I kinder thought her +losin' my money might make a difference, but you're jest as happy +with Nellie, aint you?" +</P> + +<P> +The question was abrupt, and J.C. colored crimson as he tried to +stammer out an answer. +</P> + +<P> +"Never you mind," returned Janet, noticing his embarrassment. +"Married life is just like a checker-board, and all on us has as much +as we can do to swaller it at times; but you would of been happy +with Maude, I know." +</P> + +<P> +J.C. knew so, too, and long after he parted with Janet her last +words were ringing in his ears, while mingled with them was the +bitter memory, "It might perhaps have been." +</P> + +<P> +But there was no hope now, and with an increased air of dejection he +went back to his cheerless home. They were housekeeping, Nellie and +himself, for Mrs. Kelsey had married again, and as the new husband +did not fancy the young people they had set up an establishment of +their own, and J.C. was fast learning how utterly valueless are +soft, white hands when their owner knows not how to use them. Though +keeping up an outside show, he was really very poor, and when he +heard of the doctor's misfortune he went to his chamber and wept as +few men ever weep. As Hannah well expressed it, "he was shiftless," +and did not know how to take care of himself. This James De Vere +understood, and after the sale at Laurel Hill he turned his +attention to his unfortunate cousin, and succeeded at last in +securing for him the situation of bookkeeper in a large +establishment in New York with which he was himself remotely +connected. Thither about Christmas J.C. and Nellie went, and from +her small back room in the fifth story of a New York boarding-house +Nellie writes to Louis glowing descriptions of high life in the +city, and Louis, glancing at his crutches and withered feet, smiles +as he thinks how weary he should be climbing the four flights of +stairs which lead to that high life. +</P> + +<P> +And now, with one more glance at Maude, we bring our story to a +close. It is Easter, and over the earth the April sun shines +brightly, just as it shone on the Judean hills eighteen hundred +years ago. The Sabbath bells are ringing, and the merry peal which +comes from the Methodist tower bespeaks in John a frame of mind +unsuited to the occasion. Since forsaking the Episcopalians, he had +seldom attended their service, but this morning, after his task is +done, he will steal quietly across the common to the old stone +church, where James De Vere and Maude sing together the glorious +Easter Anthem. Maude formerly sang the alto, but in the old world +her voice was trained to the higher notes, and to-day it will be +heard in the choir where it has so long been missed. +</P> + +<P> +The bells have ceased to toll, and a family group come slowly up the +aisle. Dr. Kennedy, slightly bent, his white hair shading a brow +from which much of his former sternness has gone, and his hand +shaking but slightly as he opens the pew door and then steps back +for the lady to enter, the lady Maude Glendower, who walks not as +proudly as of old. She, too, has been made better by adversity, and +though she will never love the palsied man, her husband, she will be +to him a faithful wife, and a devoted mother to his boy, who in the +square, old-fashioned pew sits where his eye can rest upon his +beautiful sister, as her snowy fingers sweep once more the organ +keys, which tremble joyfully as it were to the familiar touch. Low, +deep-toned, and heavy is the prelude to the song, and they who +listen feel the floor tremble beneath their feet. Then a strain of +richest melody echoes through the house, arid the congregation hold +their breath, as Maude De Vere sings to them of the Passover once +sacrificed for us. +</P> + +<P> +And now, shall we not leave them thus with the holy Easter light +streaming up the aisles and the sweet music of the Easter song dying +on the air? +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Cousin Maude, by Mary J. Holmes + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COUSIN MAUDE *** + +***** This file should be named 3619-h.htm or 3619-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/1/3619/ + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. HTML version by Al Haines. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</BODY> + +</HTML> + + diff --git a/3619.txt b/3619.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f4df779 --- /dev/null +++ b/3619.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6832 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Cousin Maude, by Mary J. Holmes + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Cousin Maude + +Author: Mary J. Holmes + +Posting Date: April 22, 2009 [EBook #3619] +Release Date: January, 2002 +First Posted: June 17, 2001 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COUSIN MAUDE *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + + + +COUSIN MAUDE. + + +by + +Mary J. Holmes + + + + + To + Morris W. Smith, + + of New Orleans, + + This story of life among the Northern + Hills is respectfully dedicated + by his friend + The Author + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I. DR. KENNEDY + II. THE JOURNEY + III. THE NEW HOME + IV. LITTLE LOUIS + V. MRS. JANET BLODGETT + VI. THE MOTHER + VII. PAST AND PRESENT + VIII. JAMES AND J.C. + IX. THE MILKMAN'S HEIRESS + X. THE ENGAGEMENT, REAL AND PROSPECTIVE + XI. MAUD GLENDOWER + XII. HOW THE ENGAGEMENTS PROSPERED + XIII. HAMPTON + XIV. THE DARK HOUR + XV. THE NEW MISTRESS AT LAUREL HILL + XVI. THE BLIND GIRL + XVII. NELLIE'S BRIDAL NIGHT + XVIII. COUSIN MAUDE + XIX. A SECOND BRIDAL + XX. THE SEXTON + XXI. HOME AGAIN + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +DR. KENNEDY. + + +"If you please, marm, the man from York State is comin' afoot. Too +stingy to ride, I'll warrant," and Janet, the housekeeper, +disappeared from the parlor, just as the sound of the gate was +heard, and an unusually fine-looking middle-aged man was seen coming +up the box-lined walk which led to the cottage door. + +The person thus addressed was a lady, whose face, though young and +handsome, wore a look which told of early sorrow. Matilda Remington +had been a happy, loving wife, but the old churchyard in Vernon +contained a grass-grown grave, where rested the noble heart which +had won her girlish love. And she was a widow now, a fair-haired, +blue-eyed widow, and the stranger who had so excited Janet's wrath +by walking from the depot, a distance of three miles, would claim +her as his bride ere the morrow's sun was midway in the heavens. How +the engagement happened she could not exactly tell, but happened it +had, and she was pledged to leave the vine-wreathed cottage which +Harry had built for her, and go with one of whom she knew +comparatively little. + +Six months before our story opens she had spent a few days with him +at the house of a mutual friend in an adjoining State, and since +that time they had written to each other regularly, the +correspondence resulting at last in an engagement, which he had now +come to fulfill. He had never visited her before in her own home, +consequently she was wholly unacquainted with his disposition or +peculiarities. He was intelligent and refined, commanding in +appearance, and agreeable in manner whenever he chose to be, and +when he wrote to her of his home, which he said would be a second +Paradise were she its mistress, when he spoke of the little +curly-headed girl who so much needed a mother's care, and when, more than +all, he hinted that his was no beggar's fortune, she yielded; for +Matilda Remington did not dislike the luxuries which money alone can +purchase. Her own fortune was small, and as there was now no hand +save her own to provide, she often found it necessary to economize +more than she wished to do. But Dr. Kennedy was rich, and if she +married him she would escape a multitude of annoyances, so she made +herself believe that she loved him; and when she heard, as she more +than once did hear, rumors of a sad, white-faced woman to whom the +grave was a welcome rest, she said the story was false, and, shaking +her pretty head, refused to believe that there was aught in the +doctor of evil. + +"To be sure, he was not at all like Harry--she could never find one +who was--but he was so tall, so dignified, so grand, so particular, +that it seemed almost like stooping, for one in his position to +think of her, and she liked him all the better for his condescension." + +Thus she ever reasoned, and when Janet said that he was coming, and +she, too, heard his step upon the piazza, the bright blushes broke +over her youthful face, and casting a hurried glance at the mirror, +she hastened out to meet him. + +"Matty, my dear!" he said, and his thin lips touched her glowing +cheek, but in his cold gray eye there shone no love,--no feeling,--no +heart. + +He was too supremely selfish to esteem another higher than himself, +and though it flattered him to know that the young creature was so +glad to meet him, it awoke no answering chord, and he merely thought +that with her to minister to him he should possibly be happier than +he had been with her predecessor. + +"You must be very tired," she said, as she led the way into the cozy +parlor. Then, seating him in the easy chair near to the open window, +she continued: "How warm you are. What made you walk this sultry +afternoon?" + +"It is a maxim of mine never to ride when I can walk," said he, "for +I don't believe in humoring those omnibus drivers by paying their +exorbitant prices." + +"Two shillings surely is not an exorbitant price," trembled on Mrs. +Remington's lips, but she was prevented from saying so by his asking +"if everything were in readiness for the morrow." + +"Yes, everything," she replied. "The cottage is sold, and--" + +"Ah, indeed, sold!" said he, interrupting her. "If I mistake not you +told me, when I met you in Rome, that it was left by will to you. +May I, as your to-morrow's husband, ask how much you received for +it?" And he unbent his dignity so far as to wind his arm around her +waist. + +But the arm was involuntarily withdrawn when, with her usual +frankness, Matty replied; "I received a thousand dollars, but there +were debts to be paid, so that I had only five hundred left, and +this I made over to my daughter to be used for her education." + +Dr. Kennedy did not say that he was disappointed, and as Matty was +not much of a physiognomist she did not read it in his face, and she +continued: "Janet will remain here a while, to arrange matters, +before joining me in my new home. She wished me to leave my little +girl to come with her, but I can't do that. I must have my child +with me. You've never seen her, have you? I'll call her at once." +And stepping to the door she bade Janet bring "Maude" into the +parlor. + +"Maude!" How Dr. Kennedy started at the mention of a name which +drove all thoughts of the five hundred dollars from his mind. There +was feeling--passion--everything, now, in his cold gray eye, but +quickly recovering his composure, he said calmly: "Maude, Matty--Maude, +is that your child's name?" + +"Why, yes," she answered laughingly. "Didn't you know it before?" + +"How should I," he replied, "when in your letters you have always +called her 'daughter'? But has she no other name? She surely was not +baptized Maude?" + +Ere Mrs. Remington could speak, the sound of little pattering feet +was heard in the hall without, and in a moment Maude Remington stood +before her stepfather-elect, looking, as that rather fastidious +gentleman thought, more like a wild gipsy than the child of a +civilized mother. She was a fat, chubby child, not yet five years +old; black-eyed, black-haired, black-faced, with short, thick curls, +which, damp with perspiration, stood up all over her head, giving +her a singular appearance. She had been playing in the brook, her +favorite companion, and now, with little spatters of mud ornamenting +both face and pantalets, her sun-bonnet hanging down her back, and +her hands full of pebble-stones, she stood furtively eyeing the +stranger, whose mental exclamation was: "Mercy, what a fright!" + +"Maude!" exclaimed the distressed Mrs. Remington, "where have you +been? Go at once to Janet, and have your dress changed; then come +back to me." + +Nothing loath to join Janet, whose company was preferable to that of +the stranger, Maude left the room, while Dr. Kennedy, turning to +Mrs. Remington, said: "She is not at all like you, my dear." + +"No," answered the lady; "she is like her father in everything; the +same eyes, the same hair, and--" + +She was going on to say more, when the expression of Dr. Kennedy's +face stopped her, and she began to wonder if she had displeased him. +Dr. Kennedy could talk for hours of "the late Mrs. Kennedy," +accompanying his words with long-drawn sighs, and enumerating her +many virtues, all of which he expected to be improved upon by her +successor; but he could not bear to hear the name of Harry Remington +spoken by one who was to be his wife, and he at once changed the +subject of Maude's looks to her name, which he learned was really +Matilda. She had been called Maude, Matty said, after one who was +once a very dear friend both of herself and her husband. + +"Then we will call her Matilda," said he, "as it is a maxim of mine +never to spoil children by giving them pet names." + +"But you call your daughter Nellie," suggested the little widow, and +in her soft, blue eye there shone a mischievous twinkle, as if she +fancied she had beaten him with his own argument. + +But if she thought to convince that most unreasonable man, she was +mistaken. What he did was no criterion for others, unless he chose +that it should be so, and he answered, "That is sister Kelsey's +idea, and as she is very fond of Nellie I do not interfere. But, +seriously, Matty, darling,"--and he drew her to his side, with an +uncommon show of fondness,--"I cannot call your daughter Maude; I +do not like the name, and it is a maxim of mine, that if a person +dislikes a name, 'tis an easy matter to dislike the one who bears +it." + +Had Mrs. Remington cared less for him than she did, she might have +wondered how many more disagreeable maxims he had in store. But love +is blind, or nearly so; and when, as if to make amends for his +remarks, he caressed her with an unusual degree of tenderness, the +impulsive woman felt that she would call her daughter anything which +suited him. Accordingly, when at last Maude returned to the parlor, +with her dress changed, her curls arranged, and her dimpled cheeks +shining with the suds in which they had been washed, she was +prepared to say Matilda or whatever else pleased his capricious +fancy. + +"Little girl," he said, extending his hand toward her, "little girl, +come here. I wish to talk with you." + +But the little girl hung back, and when tier mother insisted upon +her going to the gentleman, asking if she did not like him, she +answered decidedly, "No, I don't like him, and he shan't be my pa, +either!" + +"Maude, daughter!" exclaimed Mrs. Remington, while Dr. Kennedy, +turning slightly pale, thought "wretch!" but said, "Matilda, come +here, won't you?" + +"I aint Matilda," she answered. "I won't be Matilda--I'm Maude," and +her large black eyes flashed defiantly upon him. + +It was in vain that Dr. Kennedy coaxed and Mrs. Remington +threatened. Maude had taken a dislike to the stranger, and as he +persisted in calling her Matilda, she persisted in refusing to +answer, until at last, hearing Janet pass through the hall, she ran +out to her, sure of finding comfort and sympathy there. + +"I am afraid I have suffered Maude to have her own way too much, and +for the future I must be more strict with her," said Mrs. Remington +apologetically; while the doctor replied, "I think, myself, a little +wholesome discipline would not be amiss. 'Tis a maxim of mine, spare +the rod and spoil the child; but, of course, I shall not interfere +in the matter." + +This last he said because he saw a shadow flit over the fair face of +the widow, who, like most indulgent mothers, did not wholly believe +in Solomon. The sight of Janet in the hall suggested a fresh subject +to the doctor's mind, and, after coughing a little, he said, "Did I +understand that your domestic was intending to join you at Laurel +Hill?" + +"Yes," returned Mrs. Remington, "Janet came to live with my mother +when I was a little girl no larger than Maude. Since my marriage she +has lived with me, and I would not part with her for anything." + +"But do you not think two kinds of servants are apt to make trouble, +particularly if one is black and the other white?" and in the +speaker's face there was an expression which puzzled Mrs. Remington, +who could scarce refrain from crying at the thoughts of parting with +Janet, and who began to have a foretaste of the dreary homesickness +which was to wear her life away. + +"I can't do without Janet," she said; "she knows all my ways, and I +trust her with everything." + +"The very reason why she should not go," returned the doctor. "She +and old Hannah would quarrel at once. You would take sides with +Janet, I with Hannah, and that might produce a feeling which ought +never to exist between man and wife. No, my dear, listen to me in +this matter, and let Janet remain in Vernon. Old Hannah has been in +my family a long time. She was formerly a slave, and belonged to my +uncle, who lived in Virginia, and who, at his death, gave her to me. +Of course I set her free, for I pride myself on being a man of +humanity, and since that time she has lived with us, superintending +the household entirely since Mrs. Kennedy's death. She is very +peculiar, and would never suffer Janet to dictate, as I am sure, +from what you say, she would do. So, my dear, try and think all is +for the best. You need not tell her she is not to come, for it is a +maxim of mine to avoid all unnecessary scenes, and you can easily +write it in a letter." + +Poor Mrs. Remington! she knew intuitively that the matter was +decided, and was she not to be forgiven if at that moment she +thought of the grass-grown grave whose occupant had in life been +only too happy granting her slightest wish? But Harry was gone, and +the man with whom she now had to deal was an exacting, tyrannical +master, to whose will her own must ever be subservient. This, +however, she did not then understand. She knew he was not at all +like Harry, but she fancied that the difference consisted in his +being so much older, graver, and wiser than her husband had been, +and so with a sigh she yielded the point, thinking that Janet would +be the greater sufferer of the two. + +That evening several of her acquaintances called to see the +bridegroom-elect, whom, in Mrs. Remington's hearing, they pronounced +very fine looking and quite agreeable in manner; compliments which +tended in a measure to soothe her irritated feelings and quiet the +rapid beatings of her heart, which for hours after she retired to +rest would occasionally whisper to her that the path she was about +to tread was far from being strewn with flowers. + +"He loves me, I know," she thought, "though his manner of showing it +is so different from Harry; but I shall become accustomed to that +after a while, and be very, very happy." And comforted with this +assurance she fell asleep, encircling within her arms the little +Maude, whose name had awakened bitter memories in the heart of him +who in an adjoining chamber battled with thoughts of the dark past, +which now on the eve of his second marriage passed in sad review +before his mind. + +Memories there were of a gentle, pale-faced woman, who, when her +blue eyes were dim with coming death, had shudderingly turned away +from him, as if his presence brought her more of pain than joy. +Memories, too, there were of another--a peerlessly beautiful +creature who, ere he had sought the white-faced woman for his wife, +had trampled on his affections and spurned as a useless gift his +offered love. He hated her now, he thought; and the little black-haired +child, sleeping so sweetly in its mother's arms, was hateful +in his sight, because it bore that woman's name. One, two, three--sounded +the clock, and then he fell asleep, dreaming that underneath +the willows which grew in the churchyard, far off on Laurel Hill, +there were two graves instead of one; that in the house across the +common there was a sound of rioting and mirth, unusual in that +silent mansion. For she was there, the woman whom he had so madly +loved, and wherever she went crowds gathered about her as in the +olden time. + +"Maude Glendower, why are you here?" he attempted to say, when a +clear, silvery voice aroused him from his sleep, and starting up, he +listened half in anger, half in disappointment, to the song which +little Maude Remington sang as she sat in the open door awaiting the +return of her mother, who had gone for the last time to see the +sunshine fall on Harry's grave. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE JOURNEY. + + +Mrs. Kennedy looked charming in her traveling dress of brown, and +the happy husband likened her to a Quakeress, as he kissed her +blushing cheek and called her his "little wife." He had passed +through the ceremony remarkably well, standing very erect, making +the responses very, loud, and squeezing very becomingly the soft +white hand on whose third finger he placed the wedding ring--a very +small one, by the way. It was over now, and many of the bridal +guests were gone; the minister, too, had gone, and jogging leisurely +along upon his sorrel horse had ascertained the size of his fee, +feeling a little disappointed that it was not larger--five dollars +seemed so small, when he fully expected twenty from one of Dr. +Kennedy's reputed wealth. + +Janet had seen that everything was done for the comfort of the +travelers, and then out behind the smokehouse had scolded herself +soundly for crying, when she ought to appear brave, and encourage +her young mistress. Not the slightest hint had she received that she +was not to follow them in a few, weeks, and when at parting little +Maude clung to her skirts, beseeching her to go, she comforted the +child by telling her what she would bring her in the autumn, when +she came. Half a dozen dolls, as many pounds of candy, a dancing +jack, and a mewing kitten were promised, and then the faithful +creature turned to the weeping bride, who clasped her hard old hand +convulsively, for she knew it was a long good-by. Until the carriage +disappeared from view did Mrs. Kennedy look back through blinding +tears to the spot where Janet stood, wiping her eyes with a corner +of her stiffly starched white apron, and holding up one foot to keep +her from soiling her clean blue cotton stockings, for, in accordance +with a superstition peculiar to her race, she had thrown after the +travelers a shoe, by way of insuring them good luck. + +For once in his life Dr. Kennedy tried to be very kind and attentive +to his bride, who, naturally hopeful and inclined to look upon the +brighter side, dried her tears soon after entering the cars, and +began to fancy she was very happy in her new position as the wife of +Dr. Kennedy. The seat in front of them was turned back and occupied +by Maude, who busied herself a while in watching the fence and the +trees, which she said were "running so fast toward Janet and home!" +Then her dark eyes would scan curiously the faces of Dr. Kennedy and +her mother, resting upon the latter with a puzzled expression, as if +she could not exactly understand it. The doctor persisted in calling +her Matilda, and as she resolutely persisted in refusing to answer +to that name, it seemed quite improbable that they would ever talk +much together. Occasionally, it is true, he made her some advances, +by playfully offering her his hand, but she would not touch it, and +after a time, standing upon the seat and turning round, she found +more agreeable society in the company of two boys who sat directly +behind her. + +They were evidently twelve or thirteen years of age, and in personal +appearance somewhat alike, save that the face of the brown-haired +boy was more open, ingenuous, and pleasing than that of his +companion, whose hair and eyes were black as night. A jolt of the +cars caused Maude to lay her chubby hand upon the shoulder of the +elder boy, who, being very fond of children, caught it within his +own, and in this way made her acquaintance. To him she was very +communicative, and in a short time he learned that "her name was +Maude Remington, that the pretty lady in brown was her mother, and +that the naughty man was not her father, and never would be, for +Janet said so." + +This at once awakened an interest in the boys, and for more than an +hour they petted and played with the little girl, who, though very +gracious to both, still manifested so much preference for the +brown-haired, that the other laughingly asked her which she liked the +best. + +"I like you and you," was Maude's childlike answer, as she pointed a +finger at each. + +"But," persisted her questioner, "you like my cousin the best. Will +you tell me why?" + +Maude hesitated a moment, then laying a hand on either side of the +speaker's face, and looking intently into his eyes, she answered, +"You don't look as if you meant for certain, and he does!" + +Had Maude Remington been twenty instead of five, she could not +better have defined the difference between those two young lads, and +in after years she had sad cause for remembering words which seemed +almost prophetic. At Albany they, parted company, for though the +boys lived in Rochester they were to remain in the city through the +night, and Dr. Kennedy had decided to go on. By doing so he would +reach home near the close of the next day, beside saving a large +hotel bill, and this last was with him a very weighty reason. But he +did not say so to his wife; neither did he tell her that he had left +orders for his carriage to be in Canadaigua on the arrival of the +noon train, but he said "he was in haste to show her to his +daughter--that 'twas a maxim of his to save as much time as +possible, and that unless she were very anxious to sleep, he would +rather travel all night." So the poor, weary woman, whose head was +aching terribly, smiled faintly upon him as she said, "Go on, of +course," and nibbled at the hard seedcakes and harder crackers which +he brought her, there not being time for supper in Albany. + +It was a long, tedious ride, and though a strong arm was thrown +around her, and her head was pillowed upon the bosom of her husband, +who really tried to make her as comfortable as possible, Mrs. +Kennedy could scarcely refrain from tears as she thought how +different was this bridal tour from what she had anticipated. She +had fully expected to pass by daylight through the Empire State, and +she had thought with how much delight her eye would rest upon the +grassy meadows, the fertile plains, the winding Mohawk, the drone-like +boats on the canal, the beautiful Cayuga, and the silvery water +so famed in song; but, in contrast to all this, she was shut up in a +dingy car, whose one dim lamp sent forth a sickly ray and sicklier +smell, while without all was gloomy, dark, and drear. No wonder, +then, that when toward morning Maude, who missed her soft, nice bed, +began to cry for Janet and for home, the mother too burst forth in +tears and choking sobs, which could not be controlled. + +"Hush, Matty--don't," and the disturbed doctor shook her very +gently; "it will soon be daylight, and 'tis a max--" Here he +stopped, for he had no maxim suited to that occasion; and, in a most +unenviable frame of mind, he frowned at the crying Maude, and tried +to soothe his weeping wife, until at last, as the face of the latter +was covered, and the former grew more noisy and unmanageable, he +administered a fatherly rebuke in the shape of a boxed ear, which +had no other effect than the eliciting from the child the outcry, +"Let me be, old doctor, you!" if, indeed, we except the long scratch +made upon his hand by the little sharp nail of his stepdaughter. + +At that moment Matty lifted up her head, but as Maude was no +tale-bearer, and the doctor hardly dared to tell her that he had thus +early taken upon himself the government of her child, she never knew +exactly what it was which made Maude's ear so red or her liege +lord's face so dark. + +It was nearly noon when they arrived at Canandaigua, where the first +object which caught Mrs. Kennedy's eye was an old-fashioned +carryall, which her husband honored with the appellation of +carriage, said carriage being drawn by two farm-horses, which looked +as if oats and corn were to them luxuries unknown. + +"I must have a cup of tea," said Mrs. Kennedy, as she saw the black +man, John, arranging the baggage upon the rack of the carryall, and +heard her husband bid him hurry, as there was no time to lose. "I +must have a cup of tea, my head is aching dreadfully," and her white +lips quivered, while the tears rolled down her cheeks. + +"Certainly, certainly," answered the doctor, who was in unusually +good spirits, having just heard from an acquaintance whom he chanced +to meet that a lawsuit which had long been pending was decided in +his favor, and that the house and lot of a widow would probably come +into his possession. "Certainly, two cups if you like; I should have +proposed it myself, only I knew old Hannah would have dinner in +readiness for us, and 'tis a maxim of mine, that fasting provokes an +appetite." + +"Hang dis nigger, if he aint a-maxin' her so quick!" muttered the +darkey, showing his teeth from ear to ear; and, coaxing Maude away +from her mother, he took her to a restaurant, where he literally +crammed her with ginger-bread, raisins, and candy, bidding her eat +all she wanted at once, for it would be a long time, maybe, ere +she'd have another chance! + +"If you please, sar," he said, when at last he had returned to his +master, "if you please, Miss Nellie say how you must fotch her +somethin', and the old woman spec's a present in honor of de +'casion." + +Dr. Kennedy thought of the lawsuit, and so far opened both heart and +purse as to buy for Nellie a paper of peanuts and for Hannah a +ten-cent calico apron, after which he pronounced himself in readiness to +go, and in a few moments Mrs. Kennedy was on her way to her new +home. + +The road led over rocky hills, reminding her so much of Vernon and +its surrounding country that a feeling of rest stole over her, and +she fell into a quiet sleep, from which she did not awaken until the +carriage stopped suddenly and her husband whispered in her ear, +"Wake, Matty, wake; we are home at last." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE NEW HOME. + + +It was a large, square, wooden building, built in the olden time, +with a wide hall in the center, a tiny portico in front, and a long +piazza in the rear. In all the town there was not so delightful a +location, for it commanded a view of the country for many miles +around, while from the chamber windows was plainly discernible the +sparkling Honeoye, whose waters slept so calmly 'mid the hills which +lay to the southward. On the grassy lawn in front tall forest trees +were growing, almost concealing the house from view, while their +long branches so met together as to form a beautiful arch over the +graveled walk which lead to the front door. It was, indeed, a +pleasant spot, and Matty, as she passed through the iron gate, could +not account for the feeling of desolation settling down upon her. + +"Maybe it's because there are no flowers here--no roses," she +thought, as she looked around in vain for her favorites, thinking +the while how her first work should be to train a honeysuckle over +the door and plant a rose bush underneath the window. + +Poor Matty! Dr. Kennedy had no love for flowers, and the only rose +bush he ever noticed was the one which John had planted at his +mistress' grave, and even this would, perchance, have been unseen, +if he had not scratched his hand unmercifully upon it as he one day +shook the stone to see if it were firmly placed in the ground ere he +paid the man for putting it there! It was a maxim of the doctor's +never to have anything not strictly for use, consequently his house, +both outside and in, was destitute of every kind of ornament; and +the bride, as she followed him through the empty hall into the +silent parlor, whose bare walls, faded carpet, and uncurtained +windows seemed so uninviting, felt a chill creeping over her +spirits, and sinking into the first hard chair she came to, she +might, perhaps, have cried had not John, who followed close behind +her, satchel on arm, whispered encouragingly in her ear, "Never you +mind, missus, your chamber is a heap sight brighter than this, 'case +I tended to that myself." + +Mrs. Kennedy smiled gratefully upon him, feeling sure that beneath +his black exterior there beat a kind and sympathizing heart, and +that in him she had an ally and a friend. + +"Where is Nellie?" said the doctor. "Call Nellie, John, and tell +your mother we are here." + +John left the room, and a moment after a little tiny creature came +tripping to the door, where she stopped suddenly, and throwing back +her curls, gazed curiously first at Mrs. Kennedy and then at Maude, +whose large black eyes fastened themselves upon her with a gaze +quite as curious and eager as her own. She was more than a year +older than Maude, but much smaller in size, and her face seemed to +have been fashioned after a beautiful waxen doll, so brilliant was +her complexion and so regular her features. She was naturally +affectionate and amiable, too, when suffered to have her own way. +Neither was she at all inclined to be timid, and when her father, +taking her hand in his, bade her speak to her new mother, she went +unhesitatingly to the lady, and climbing into her lap, sat there +very quietly so long as Mrs. Kennedy permitted her to play with her +rings, pull her collar, and take out her side-combs, for she had +laid aside her bonnet; but when at last her little sharp eyes +ferreted out a watch, which she insisted upon having "all to +herself," a liberty which Mrs. Kennedy refused to grant, she began +to pout, and, sliding from her new mother's lap, walked up to Maude, +whose acquaintance she made by asking if she had a pink silk dress. +"No, but I guess Janet will bring me one," answered Maude, whose +eyes never for an instant left the face of her stepsister. + +She was an enthusiastic admirer of beauty, and Nellie had made an +impression upon her at once; so, when the latter said, "What makes +you look at me so funny?" she answered, "Because you are so pretty." +This made a place for her at once in the heart of the vain little +Nellie, who asked her to go upstairs and see the pink silk dress +which "Aunt Kelsey had given her." + +As they left the room Mrs. Kennedy said to her husband, "Your +daughter is very beautiful." + +Dr. Kennedy liked to have people say that of his child, for he knew +she was much like himself, and he stroked his brown beard +complacently, as he replied: "Yes, Nellie is rather pretty, and, +considering all things, is as well-behaved a child as one often +finds. She seldom gets into a passion or does anything rude," and he +glanced at the long scratch upon his hand; but as his wife knew +nothing of said scratch, the rebuke was wholly lost, and he +continued: "I was anxious that she should be a boy, for it is a +maxim of mine that the oldest child in every family ought to be a +son, and so I said, repeatedly, to the late Mrs. Kennedy, who, +though a most excellent woman in most matters, was in others +unaccountably set in her way. I suppose I said some harsh things +when I heard it was a daughter, but it can't be helped now," and +with a slightly injured air the husband of "the late Mrs. Kennedy" +began to pace up and down the room, while the present Mrs. Kennedy +puzzled her rather weak brain to know "what in the world he meant." + +Meantime between John and his mother there was a hurried +conversation, the former inquiring naturally after the looks of her +new mistress. + +"Pretty as a pink," answered John, "and neat as a fiddle, with the +sweetest little baby ways; but I tell you what 'tis," and John's +voice fell to a whisper: "he'll maxim her into heaven a heap sight +quicker'n he did t'other one; 'case you see she haint so much--what +you call him--so much go off to her as Miss Katy had, and she can't +bar his grinding ways. They'll scrush her to onct--see if they +don't. But I knows one thing, this yer nigger 'tends to do his duty, +and hold up them little cheese-curd hands of her'n, jest as some of +them Scripter folks held up Moses with the bulrushes." + +"And what of the young one?" asked Hannah, who had been quite +indignant at the thoughts of another child in the family, "what of +the young one?" + +"Bright as a dollar!" answered John. "Knows more'n a dozen of +Nellie, and well she might, for she aint half as white, and as +Master Kennedy says, it's a maxim of mine, the blacker the hide the +better the sense!" + +By this time Hannah had washed the dough from her hands, and taking +the roast chicken from the oven she donned a clean apron and started +to see the stranger for herself. Although a tolerably good woman, +Hannah's face was not very prepossessing, and Mrs. Kennedy +intuitively felt that 'twould be long before her former domestic's +place was made good by the indolent African. It is true her +obeisance was very low, and her greeting kindly enough, but there +was about her an inquisitive, and at the same time, rather +patronizing air which Mrs. Kennedy did not like, and she was glad +when she at last left the parlor, telling them, as she did so, that +"dinner was done ready." + +Notwithstanding that the house itself was so large, the dining room +was a small, dark, cheerless apartment, and though she was beginning +to feel the want of food, Mrs. Kennedy could scarcely force down a +mouthful, for the homesick feeling at her heart; a feeling which +whispered to her that the home to which she had come was not like +that which she had left. Dinner being over, she asked permission to +retire to her chamber, saying she needed rest, and should feel +better after she had slept. Nellie volunteered to lead the way, and +as they left the dining room old Hannah, who was notoriously lazy, +muttered aloud: "A puny, sickly thing. Great help she'll be to me; +but I shan't stay to wait on more'n forty more." + +Dr. Kennedy had his own private reason for wishing to conciliate +Hannah. When he set her free he made her believe it was her duty to +work for him for nothing, and though she soon learned better, and +often threatened to leave, he had always managed to keep her, for, +on the whole, she liked her place, and did not care to change it for +one where her task would be much harder. But if the new wife proved +to be sickly, matters would be different, and so she fretted, as we +have seen, while the doctor comforted her with the assurance that +Mrs. Kennedy was only tired--that she was naturally well and strong, +and would undoubtedly be of great assistance when the novelty of her +position had worn away. + +While this conversation was taking place Mrs. Kennedy was examining +her chamber and thinking many pleasant things of John, whose +handiwork was here so plainly visible. All the smaller and more +fanciful pieces of furniture which the house afforded had been +brought to this room, whose windows looked out upon the lake and the +blue hills beyond. A clean white towel concealed the marred +condition of the washstand, while the bed, which was made up high +and round, especially in the middle, looked very inviting with its +snowy spread. A large stuffed rocking chair, more comfortable than +handsome, occupied the center of the room, while better far than +all, the table, the mantel, and the windows were filled with +flowers, which John had begged from the neighboring gardens, and +which seemed to smile a welcome upon the weary woman, who, with a +cry of delight, bent down and kissed them through her tears. + +"Did these come from your garden?" she asked of Nellie, who, child-like, +answered, "We haint any flowers. Pa won't let John plant any. +He told Aunt Kelsey the land had better be used for potatoes, and +Aunt Kelsey said he was too stingy to live." + +"Who is Aunt Kelsey?" asked Mrs. Kennedy, a painful suspicion +fastening itself upon her that the lady's opinion might be correct. + +"She is pa's sister Charlotte," answered Nellie, "and lives in +Rochester, in a great big house, with the handsomest things; but she +don't come here often, it's so heathenish, she says." + +Here spying John, who was going with the oxen to the meadow, she ran +away, followed by Maude, between whom and herself there was for the +present a most amicable understanding. Thus left alone Mrs. Kennedy +had time for thought, which crowded upon her so fast that, at last +throwing herself upon the bed, she wept bitterly, half wishing she +had never come to Laurel Hill, but was still at home in her own +pleasant cottage. Then hope whispered to her of a brighter day, when +things would not seem to her as they now did. She would fix up the +desolate old house, she thought; the bare windows which now so +stared her in the face should be shaded with pretty muslin curtains, +and she would loop them back with ribbons. The carpet, too, on the +parlor floor should be exchanged for a better one, and when her +piano and marble table came, the only articles of furniture she had +not sold, it would not seem so cheerless and so cold. + +Comforted with these thoughts, she fell asleep, resting quietly +until, just as the sun had set and it was growing dark within the +room, Maude came rushing in, her dress all wet, her face flushed, +and her eyes red with tears. She and Nellie had quarreled--nay, +actually fought; Nellie telling Maude she was blacker than a nigger, +and pushing her into the brook, while Maude, in return, had pulled +out a handful of the young lady's hair, for which her stepfather had +shaken her soundly and sent her to her mother, whom she begged "to +go home, and not stay in that old house where the folks were ugly +and the rooms not a bit pretty." + +Mrs. Kennedy's heart was already full, and drawing Maude to her +side, the two homesick children mingled their tears together, until +a heavy footstep upon the stairs announced the approach of Dr. +Kennedy. Not a word did he say of his late adventure with Maude, and +his manner was very kind toward his weary wife, who, with his hand +upon her aching forehead, and his voice in her ear, telling her how +sorry he was that she was sick, forgot that she had been unhappy. + +"Whatever else he may do," she thought, "he certainly loves me," and +after a fashion he did perhaps love her. She was a pretty little +creature, and her playful, coquettish ways had pleased him at first +sight. He needed a wife, and when their mutual friend, who knew +nothing of him save that he was a man of integrity and wealth, +suggested Matty Remington, he too thought favorably of the matter, +and yielding to the fascination of her soft blue eyes he had won her +for his wife, pitying her, it may be, as he sat by her in the +gathering twilight, and half guessed that she was homesick. And when +he saw how confidingly she clung to him, he was conscious of a +half-formed resolution to be to her what a husband ought to be. But +Dr. Kennedy's resolves were like the morning dew, and as the days wore +on his peculiarities, one after another, were discovered by his +wife, who, womanlike, tried to think that he was right and she was +wrong. + +In due time most of the villagers called upon her, and though they +were both intelligent and refined, she did not feel altogether at +ease in their presence, for the fancy she had that they regarded her +as one who for some reason was entitled to their pity. And in this +she was correct. They did pity her, for they remembered another +gentle woman, whose brown hair had turned gray, and whose blue eyes +had waxed dim beneath the withering influence of him she called her +husband. She was dead, and when they saw the young, light-hearted +Matty, they did not understand how she could ever have been induced +to take that woman's place and wed a man of thirty-eight, and they +blamed her somewhat, until they reflected that she knew nothing of +him, and that her fancy was probably captivated by his dignified +bearing, his manly figure, and handsome face. But these alone they +knew could not make her happy, and ere she had been six weeks a wife +they were not surprised that her face began to wear a weary look, as +if the burden of life were hard to bear. + +As far as she could she beautified the home, purchasing with her own +means several little articles which the doctor called useless, +though he never failed to appropriate to himself the easy chair +which she had bought for the sitting room, and which when she was +tired rested her so much. On the subject of curtains he was +particularly obstinate. "There were blinds," he said, "and 'twas a +maxim of his never to spend his money for anything unnecessary." + +Still, when Matty bought them herself for the parlor, when her piano +was unboxed and occupied a corner which had long been destitute of +furniture, and when her marble table stood between the windows, with +a fresh bouquet of flowers which John had brought, he exclaimed +involuntarily, "How nice this is!" adding the next moment, lest his +wife should be too much pleased, "but vastly foolish!" + +In accordance with her husband's suggestion Mrs. Kennedy wrote to +Janet, breaking to her as gently as possible the fact that she was +not to come, but saying nothing definite concerning her new home or +her own happiness as a second wife. Several weeks went by, and then +an answer came. + +"If you had of wanted me," wrote Janet, "I should of come, but bein' +you didn't, I've went to live with Mr. Blodgett, who peddles milk, +and raises butter and cheese, and who they say is worth a deal of +money, and well he may be, for he's saved this forty years." + +Then followed a detailed account of her household matters, occupying +in all three pages of foolscap, to which was pinned a bit of paper, +containing the following: + +"Joel looked over my writing and said I'd left out the very thing I +wanted to tell the most. We are married, me and Joel, and I only +hope you are as happy with that doctor as I am with my man." + +This announcement crushed at once the faint hope which Mrs. Kennedy +had secretly entertained, of eventually having Janet to supply the +place of Hannah, who was notoriously lazy, and never under any +circumstances did anything she possibly could avoid. Dr. Kennedy did +not tell his wife that he expected her to make it easy for Hannah, +so she would not leave them; but he told her how industrious the +late Mrs. Kennedy had been, and hinted that a true woman was not +above kitchen work. The consequence of this was that Matty, who +really wished to please him, became in time a very drudge, doing +things which she once thought she could not do, and then without a +murmur ministering to her exacting husband when he came home from +visiting a patient, and declared himself "tired to death." Very +still he sat while her weary little feet ran for the cool drink--the +daily paper--or the morning mail; and very happy he looked when her +snowy fingers combed his hair or brushed his threadbare coat; and +if, perchance, she sighed amid her labor of love, his ear was deaf, +and he did not hear, neither did he see how white and thin she grew +as day by day went by. + +Her piano was now seldom touched, for the doctor did not care for +music; still he was glad that she could play, for "Sister Kelsey," +who was to him a kind of terror, would insist that Nellie should +take music lessons, and, as his wife was wholly competent to give +them, he would be spared a very great expense. "Save, save, save," +seemed to be his motto, and when at church the plate was passed to +him he gave his dime a loving pinch ere parting company with it; and +yet none read the service louder or defended his favorite liturgy +more zealously than himself. In some things he was a pattern man, +and when once his servant John announced his intention of +withdrawing from the Episcopalians and joining himself to the +Methodists, who held their meetings in the schoolhouse, he was +greatly shocked, and labored long with the degenerate son of +Ethiopia, who would render to him no reason for his most +unaccountable taste, though he did to Matty, when she questioned him +of his choice. + +"You see, missus," said he, "I wasn't allus a herrytic, but was as +good a 'Piscopal as St. George ever had. That's when I lived in +Virginny, and was hired out to Marster Morton, who had a school for +boys, and who larnt me how to read a little. After I'd arn't a heap +of money for Marster Kennedy he wanted to go to the Legislatur', and +as some on 'em wouldn't vote for him while he owned a nigger, he set +me free, and sent for me to come home. 'Twas hard partin' wid dem +boys and Marster Morton, I tell you, but I kinder wanted to see +mother, who had been here a good while, and who, like a fool, was +a-workin' an' is a-workin' for nothin'." + +"For nothing!" exclaimed Mrs. Kennedy, a suspicion of the reason why +Janet was refused crossing her mind. + +"Yes, marm, for nothin'," answered John, "but I aint green enough +for that, and 'fused outright. Then marster, who got beat 'lection +day, threatened to send me back, but I knew he couldn't do it, and +so he agreed to pay eight dollars a month. I could get more somewhar +else, but I'd rather stay with mother, and so I stayed." + +"But that has nothing to do with the church," suggested Mrs. +Kennedy, and John replied: + +"I'm comin' to the p'int now. I live with Marster Kennedy, and went +with him to church, and when I see how he carried on week days, and +how peart like he read up Sabba' days, sayin' the Lord's Prar and +'Postle's Creed, I began to think thar's somethin' rotten in +Denmark, as the boys use to say in Virginny; so when mother, who +allus was a-roarin' Methodis', asked me to go wid her to meetin', I +went, and was never so mortified in my life, for arter the elder had +'xorted a spell at the top of his voice, he sot down and said there +was room for others. I couldn't see how that was, bein' he took up +the whole chair, and while I was wonderin' what he meant, as I'm a +livin' nigger, up got marm and spoke a piece right in meetin'! I +never was so shamed, and I kep' pullin' at her gownd to make her set +down, but the harder I pulled the louder she hollered, till at last +she blowed her breath all away, and down she sot." + +"And did any of the rest speak pieces?" asked Mrs. Kennedy, +convulsed with laughter at John's vivid description. + +"Bless your heart," he answered, with a knowing look, "'twarn't a +piece she was speaking--she was tellin' her 'sperience; but it +sounded so like the boys at school that I was deceived, for I'd +never seen such work before. But I've got so I like it now, and I +believe thar's more 'sistency down in that schoolhouse than thar is +in--I won't say the 'Piscopal church, 'case thar's heaps of shinin' +lights thar, but if you won't be mad, I'll say more than thar is in +Marster Kennedy, who has hisself to thank for my bein' a Methodis'." + +Whatever Mrs. Kennedy might have thought she could not help laughing +heartily at John, who was now a decided Methodist, and adorned his +profession far more than his selfish, hard-hearted master. His +promise of holding up his mistress' hands had been most faithfully +kept, and, without any disparagement to Janet, Mrs. Kennedy felt +that the loss of her former servant was in a great measure made up +to her in the kind negro, who, as the months went by and her face +grew thinner each day, purchased with his own money many a little +delicacy which he hoped would tempt her capricious appetite. Maude, +too, was a favorite with John, both on account of her color, which +he greatly admired, and because, poor, ignorant creature though he +was, he saw in her the germ of the noble girl who in the coming +years was to bear uncomplainingly a burden of care from which the +selfish Nellie would unhesitatingly turn away. + +Toward Maude the doctor had ever manifested a feeling of aversion, +both because of her name and because she had compelled him to yield +when his mind was fully made up to do otherwise. She had resolutely +refused to be called Matilda, and as it was necessary for him +sometimes to address her, he called her first, "You girl," then +"Mat," and finally arrived at "Maude," speaking it always +spitefully, as if provoked that he had once in his life been +conquered. With the management of her he seldom interfered, for that +scratch had given him a timely lesson, and as he did not like to be +unnecessarily troubled, he left both Maude and Nellie to his wife, +who suffered the latter to do nearly as she pleased, and thus +escaped many of the annoyances to which stepmothers are usually +subject. + +Although exceedingly selfish Nellie was affectionate in her +disposition, and when Maude did not cross her path the two were on +the best of terms. Disturbances there were, however--quarrels and +fights, in the latter of which Maude, being the stronger of the two, +always came off victor; but these did not last long, and had her +husband been to her what he ought Mrs. Kennedy's life would not have +been as dreary as it was. He meant well enough, perhaps, but he did +not understand a woman, much less know how to treat her, and as the +winter months went by Matty's heart would have fainted within her +but for a hope which whispered to her, "He will love me better when +next summer comes." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +LITTLE LOUIS. + + +It is just one year since the summer morning when Matty Kennedy took +upon herself a second time the duties of a wife, and now she lies in +a darkened room, her face white as the winter snow, and her breath +scarcely perceptible to the touch, as it comes faintly from her +parted lips. In dignified silence the doctor sits by, counting her +feeble pulse, while an expression of pride and almost perfect +happiness breaks over his face as he glances toward the cradle which +Hannah has brought from the garret, and where now slept the child +born to him that day. His oft-repeated maxim that if the first were +not a boy the second ought to be, had prevailed at last, and Dombey +had a son. It was a puny thing, but the father said it looked as +Nellie did when she first rested there, and Nellie, holding back her +breath and pushing aside her curls, bent down to see the red-faced +infant. + +"I was never as ugly as that, and I don't love him a bit!" she +exclaimed, turning away in disgust; while Maude approached on tip-toe, +and kneeling by the cradle side kissed the unconscious sleeper, +whispering as she did so, "I love you, poor little brother." + +Darling Maude--blessed Maude--in all your after life you proved the +truth of those low spoken words, "I love you, poor little brother." + +For many days did Mrs. Kennedy hover between life and death, never +asking for her baby, and seldom noticing her husband, who, while +declaring there was no danger, still deemed it necessary, in case +anything should happen, to send for his sister, Mrs. Kelsey, who had +not visited him since his last marriage. She was a proud, +fashionable woman, who saw nothing attractive in the desolate old +house, and who had conceived an idea that her brother's second wife +was a sort of nobody whom he had picked up among the New England +hills. But the news of her illness softened her feelings in a +measure, and she started for Laurel Hill, thinking that if Matty +died she hoped a certain dashing, brilliant woman, called Maude +Glendower, might go there, and govern the tyrannical doctor, even as +he had governed others. + +It was late in the afternoon when she reached her brother's house, +from which Nellie came running out to meet her, accompanied by +Maude. From the latter the lady at first turned disdainfully away, +but ere long stole another look at the brown-faced girl, about whom +there was something very attractive. + +"Curtains, as I live!" she exclaimed, as she entered the parlor. "A +piano, and marble table, too. Where did these come from?" + +"They are ma's, and she's got a baby upstairs," answered Maude, and +the lady's hand rested for an instant on the little curly head, for +strange as it may seem, she esteemed more highly a woman who owned a +piano and handsome table than she did one whose worldly possessions +were more limited. + +After making some changes in her dress, she went up to the sick-room, +and as Matty was asleep, she had ample time to examine her +face, and also to inspect the room, which showed in someone a +refined and delicate taste. + +"She must be more of a lady than I supposed," she thought, and when +at last her sister-in-law awoke she greeted her kindly, and during +her visit, which lasted nearly two weeks, she exerted herself to be +agreeable, succeeding so far that Matty parted from her at last with +genuine regret. + +"Poor thing--she'll never see another winter," was Mrs. Kelsey's +mental comment, as she bade the invalid good-by; but in this she was +mistaken, for with the falling of the leaf Matty began to improve, +and though she never fully regained her health, she was able again +to be about the house, doing far more than she ought to have done, +but never uttering a word of complaint, however heavy was the burden +imposed upon her. + +With Maude and her baby, who bore the name of Louis, she found her +greatest comfort. He was a sweet, playful child, and sure never +before was father so foolishly proud of his son as was Dr. Kennedy +of his. For hours would he sit watching him while he slept, and +building castles of the future, when "Louis Kennedy, only son of Dr. +Kennedy," should be honored among men. Toward the mother, too, who +had borne him such a prodigy he became a little more indulgent, +occasionally suffering her wishes to prevail over his maxims, and on +three several occasions giving her a dollar to spend as she pleased. +Surely such generosity did not deserve so severe a punishment as was +in store for the proud father. + +Louis had a most beautiful face, and in his soft, brown eyes there +was a "look like the angels," as Maude once said to her mother, who +seldom spoke of him without a sigh, for on her mind a terrible fear +was fastening itself. Although mentally as forward as other +children, Louis' body did not keep pace with the growth of his +intellect, and when he was two years of age he could not bear his +weight upon his feet, but in creeping dragged his limbs slowly, as +if in them there was no life--no strength. + +"Ma, why don't Louis walk?" asked Maude, one evening when she saw +how long it took him to cross the room. + +"Loui' tant walk," answered the child, who talked with perfect ease. + +The tears came instantly to Mrs. Kennedy's eyes, for, availing +herself of her husband's absence, she had that morning consulted +another physician, who, after carefully examining Louis' body, had +whispered in the poor woman's ear that which made every nerve quiver +with pain, while at the same time it made dearer a thousand-fold her +baby-boy; for a mother's pity increases a mother's love. + +"Say, ma, what is it?" persisted Maude. "Will Louis ever walk?" + +"Loui'll never walk," answered the little fellow, shaking his brown +curls, and tearing in twain a picture-book which his father had +bought him the day before. + +"Maude," said Mrs. Kennedy, drawing her daughter to her side, "I +must tell somebody or my heart will burst," and laying her head upon +the table she wept aloud. + +"Don't try, ma, Loui' good," lisped the infant on the floor, while +Mrs. Kennedy, drying at last her tears, told to the wondering Maude +that Louis was not like other children--that he would probably never +have the use of his feet--that a hunch was growing on his back--and +he in time would be--she could not say "deformed," and so she said +at last--"he'll be forever lame." + +Poor little Maude! How all her childish dreams were blasted! She had +anticipated so much pleasure in guiding her brother's tottering +footsteps, in leading him to school, to church, and everywhere, and +she could not have him lame. + +"Oh, Louis, Louis!" she cried, winding her arms around his neck, as +if she would thus avert the dreaded evil. + +Very wonderfully the child looked up into her eyes, and raising his +waxen hand he wiped her tears away, saying as he did so, "Loui' love +Maude." + +With a choking sob Maude kissed her baby brother, then going back to +her mother, whose head still lay upon the table, she whispered, "We +will love poor Louis all the more, you and I." + +Blessed Maude, we say again, for these were no idle words, and the +clinging, tender love with which she cherished her unfortunate +brother ought to have shamed the heartless man who, when he heard of +his affliction, refused to be comforted, and almost cursed the day +when his only son was born. He had been absent for a week or more, +and with the exception of the time when he first knew he had a son +he did not remember of having experienced a moment of greater +happiness than that in which he reached his home where dwelt his +boy--his pride--his idol. Louis was not in the room, and on the +mother's face there was an expression of sadness, which at once +awakened the father's fears lest something had befallen his child. + +"Where is Louis?" he asked. "Has anything happened to him that you +look so pale?" + +"Louis is well," answered Matty, and then, unable longer to control +her feelings, she burst into tears, while the doctor looked on in +amazement, wondering if all women were as nervous and foolish as the +two it had been his fortune to marry. + +"Oh, husband," she cried, feeling sure of his sympathy, and thinking +it better to tell the truth at once; "has it never occurred to you +that Louis was not like other children?" + +"Of course it has," he answered quickly. "He is a thousand times +brighter than any child I have ever known." + +"'Tisn't that, 'tisn't that," said Matty. "He'll never walk--he's +lame--deformed!" + +"What do you mean?" thundered the doctor, reeling for an instant +like a drunken man; then, recovering his composure, he listened +while Matty told him what she meant. + +At that moment Maude drew Louis into the room, and, taking the child +in his arms, the doctor examined him for himself, wondering he had +never observed before how small and seemingly destitute of life were +his lower limbs. The bunch upon the back, though slight as yet, was +really there, and Matty, when questioned, said it had been there for +weeks, but she did not tell of it, for she hoped it would go away. + +"It will stay until his dying day," he muttered, as he ordered Maude +to take the child away. "Louis deformed! Louis a cripple! What have +I done that I should be thus sorely punished?" he exclaimed, when he +was alone with his wife; and then, as he dared not blame the +Almighty, he charged it to her, until at last his thoughts took +another channel. Maude had dropped him--he knew she had, and Matty +was to blame for letting her handle him so much, when she knew 'twas +a maxim of his that children should not take care of children. + +He had forgotten the time when his worn-out wife had asked him to +hire a nurse girl for Louis, and he had answered that "Maude was +large enough for that." On some points his memory was treacherous, +and for days he continued to repine at his hard fate, wishing once +in Matty's presence that Louis had never been born. + +"Oh, husband," she cried, "how can you say that! Do you hate our +poor boy because he is a cripple?" + +"A cripple!" roared the doctor. "Never use that word again in my +presence. My son a cripple! I can't have it so! I won't have it so! +for 'tis a max--" + +Here he stopped, being for a second time in his life at a loss what +to say. + +"Sarve 'em right, sarve 'em right," muttered John, whose quick eye +saw everything. "Ole Sam payin' him off good. He think he'll be in +the seventh heaven when he got a boy, and he mighty nigh torment +that little gal's life out with his mexens and things; but now he +got a boy, he feel a heap like the bad place." + +Still much as John rejoiced that his master was so punished, his +heart went out in pity toward the helpless child whom he almost +worshiped, carrying him often to the fields, where, seeking out the +shadiest spot and the softest grass for a throne, he would place the +child upon it, and then pay him obeisance by bobbing up and down his +wooly head in a manner quite as satisfactory to Louis as if he +indeed had been a king and John his loyal subject. Old Hannah, too, +was greatly softened, and many a little cake and pie she baked in +secret for the child, while even Nellie gave up to him her favorite +playthings, and her blue eyes wore a pitying look whenever they +rested on the poor unfortunate. All loved him seemingly the more--all, +save the cruel father, who, as the months and years rolled on, +seemed to acquire a positive dislike to the little boy, seldom +noticing him in any way except to frown if he were brought into his +sight. And Louis, with the quick instinct of childhood, learned to +expect nothing from his father, whose attention he never tried to +attract. + +As if to make amends for his physical deformity, he possessed an +uncommon mind, and when he was nearly six years of age accident +revealed to him the reason of his father's continued coldness, and +wrung from him the first tears he had ever shed for his misfortune. +He heard one day his mother praying that God would soften her +husband's heart toward his poor hunchback boy, who was not to blame +for his misfortune--and laying his head upon the broad arm of the +chair which had been made for him, he wept bitterly, for he knew now +why he was not loved. That night, as in his crib he lay, watching +the stars which shone upon him through the window, and wondering if +in heaven there were hunchback boys like him, he overheard his +father talking to his mother, and the words that his father said +were never forgotten to his dying day. There were, "Don't ask me to +be reconciled to a cripple! What good can he do me? He will never +earn his own living, lame as he is, and will only be in the way." + +"Oh, father, father," the cripple essayed to say, but he could not +speak, so full of pain was his little, bursting heart, and that +night he lay awake, praying that he might die and so be out of the +way. + +The next morning he asked Maude to draw him to the churchyard where +"his other mother," as he called her, was buried. Maude complied, +and when they were there, placed him at his request upon the ground, +where stretching himself out at his full length, he said: "Look, +Maude, won't mine be a little grave?" then, ere she could answer the +strange question, he continued, "I want to die so bad; and if you +leave me lying here in the long grass maybe God's angel will take me +up to heaven. Will I be lame, there, think you?" + +"Oh, Louis, Louis, what do you mean?" cried Maude, and as well as he +could, for the tears he shed, Louis told her what he meant. + +"Father don't love me because I'm lame, and he called me a cripple, +too. What is a cripple, Maude? Is it anything very bad?" and his +beautiful brown eyes turned anxiously toward his sister. + +He had never heard that word before, and to him it had a fearful +significance, even worse than lameness. In an instant Maude knelt by +his side--his head was pillowed on her bosom, and in the silent +graveyard, with the quiet dead around them, she spoke blessed words +of comfort to her brother, telling him what a cripple was, and that +because he bore that name he was dearer far to her. + +"Your father will love you, too," she said, "when he learns how good +you are. He loves Nellie, and--" + +Ere she could say more she was interrupted by Louis, on whose mind +another truth had dawned, and who now said, "But he don't love you +as he does Nellie. Why not? Are you a cripple, too?" + +Folding him still closer in her arms, and kissing his fair, white +brow, Maude answered: "Your father, Louis, is not mine--for mine is +dead, and his grave is far away. I came here to live when I was a +little girl, not quite as old as you, and Nellie is not my sister, +though you are my darling brother." + +"And do you love father?" asked Louis, his eyes still fixed upon her +face as if he would read the truth. + +Every feeling of Maude Remington's heart answered, "No," to that +question, but she could not say so to the boy, and she replied, "Not +as I could love my own father--neither does he love me, for I am not +his child." + +This explanation was not then wholly clear to Louis, but he +understood that there was a barrier between his father and Maude, +and this of itself was sufficient to draw him more closely to the +latter, who, after that day, cherished him, if possible, more +tenderly than she had done before, keeping him out of his father's +way, and cushioning his little crutches so they could not be heard, +for she rightly guessed that the sound of them was hateful to the +harsh man's ears. + +Maude was far older than her years, and during the period of time +over which we have passed so briefly she had matured both in mind +and body, until now at the age of twelve she was a self-reliant +little woman on whom her mother wholly depended for comfort and +counsel. Very rapidly was Mrs. Kennedy passing from the world, and +as she felt the approach of death she leaned more and more upon her +daughter, talking to her often of the future and commending Louis to +her care, when with her he would be motherless. Maude's position was +now a trying one, for, when her mother became too ill to leave her +room, and the doctor refused to hire extra help, saying, "two great +girls were help enough," it was necessary for her to go into the +kitchen, where she vainly tried to conciliate old Hannah, who +"wouldn't mind a chit of a girl, and wouldn't fret herself either if +things were not half done." + +From the first Nellie resolutely refused to work--"it would black +her hands," she said, and as her father never remonstrated she spent +her time in reading, admiring her pretty face, and drumming upon the +piano, which Maude, who was fonder even than Nellie of music, seldom +found time to touch. One there was, however, who gave to Maude every +possible assistance, and this was John. "Having tried his hand," as +he said, "at everything in Marster Norton's school," he proved of +invaluable service--sweeping, dusting, washing dishes, cleaning +knives, and once ironing Dr. Kennedy's shirts, when old Hannah was +in what he called her "tantrums." But alas for John! the entire +print of the iron upon the bosom of one, to say nothing of the piles +of starch upon another, and more than all, the tremendous scolding +which he received from the owner of said shirt, warned him never to +turn laundress again, and in disgust he gave up his new vocation, +devoting his leisure moments to the cultivation of flowers, which he +carried to his mistress, who smiled gratefully upon him, saying they +were the sweetest she had ever smelled. And so each morning a fresh +bouquet was laid upon her pillow, and as she inhaled their perfume +she thought of her New England home, which she would never see +again--thought, too, of Janet, whose cheering words and motherly +acts would be so grateful to her now when she so much needed care. + +"'Tis a long time since I've heard from her," she said one day to +Maude. "Suppose you write tomorrow, and tell her I am sick--tell +her, too, that the sight of her would almost make me well, and maybe +she will come," and on the sick woman's face there was a joyous +expression as she thought how pleasant it would be to see once more +one who had breathed the air of her native hills--had looked upon +her Harry's grave--nay, had known her Harry when in life, and wept +over him in death. + +Poor, lonesome, homesick woman! Janet shall surely come in answer to +your call, and ere you deem it possible her shadow shall fall across +your threshold--her step be heard upon the stairs--her hand be +clasped in yours! + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +MRS. JANET BLODGETT. + + +It was a chilly, rainy afternoon toward the latter part of August. +John was gone, the doctor was cross, and Hannah was cross. Nellie, +too, was unusually irritable, and venting her spite upon Hannah +because there was nothing for dinner fit to eat, and upon Maude +because the house was so desolate and dark, she crept away upstairs, +and wrapping a shawl round her, sat down to a novel, pausing +occasionally to frown at the rain which beat at the windows or the +wind as it roared dismally through the trees. While thus employed +she heard the sound of wheels, and looking up, saw standing before +their gate a muddy wagon, from which a little, dumpy figure in black +was alighting, carefully holding up her alpaca dress, and carrying +in one hand a small box which seemed to be full of flowers. + +"She must have come to stay a long time," thought Nellie, as she saw +the piles of baggage which the driver was depositing upon the stoop. +"Who can it be?" she continued, as she recalled all her aunts and +cousins, and found that none of them answered the description of +this woman, who knocked loudly at the door, and then walked in to +shelter herself from the storm. + +"Forlornity!" Nellie heard her exclaim, as she left the chamber in +answer to the summons. "Forlornity! No table, no hat-stand, no +nothin', and the dingiest old ile-cloth! What does it mean? Your +servant, miss," she added, dropping a courtesy to Nellie, who now +stood on the stairs, with her finger between the pages of her book, +so as not to lose the place. "I guess I've made a mistake," said the +woman; "is this Dr. Canady's?" + +"It is," answered Nellie, and the stranger continued, "Dr. Canady +who married the widder Remington?" + +"The same," returned Nellie, thinking how unmercifully she would +tease Maude should this prove to be any of her relations. + +"And who be you?" asked the stranger, feeling a little piqued at the +coldness of her reception. + +"I am Miss Helen--Dr. Kennedy's daughter," answered the young lady, +assuming an air of dignity, which was not at all diminished by the +very, expressive "Mortal!" which dropped from the woman's lips. + +"Can I do anything for you?" asked Nellie, and the stranger +answered: "Yes, go and call Maude, but don't tell her who I am." + +She forgot that Nellie did not herself know who she was, and sitting +down upon her trunk, she waited while Nellie hurried to the kitchen, +where, over a smoky fire, Maude was trying in vain to make a bit of +nicely browned toast for her mother, who had expressed a wish for +something good to eat. + +"Here, Maude," called out Nellie, "your grandmother or aunt has +come, I guess, and wants to see you in the hall." + +"It's Janet--it's Janet, I know!" screamed Maude, and leaving her +slice of bread to burn and blacken before the fire, she hurried +away, while Nellie, who had heard nothing of the letter sent the +week before, wondered much who the "witched old thing with the +poking black bonnet could be." + +With a cry of delight Maude wound her arms around the neck of her +old nurse, whom she knew in a moment, though Janet had more +difficulty in recognizing the little girl of other years in the +womanly looking maiden before her. + +"It beats all how you've changed," she said, "though your eyes and +hair are the same," and she passed her hand caressingly over the +short glossy curls. Then looking intently in Maude's face she +continued. "You've grown handsome, child." + +"No, no, not handsome, Janet; Nellie is the beauty of the house," +and Maude shook her head mournfully, for on the subject of beauty +she was a little sensitive, her sister always pronouncing her "a +fright," and manifesting a most unamiable spirit if anyone +complimented her in the least. + +"What, that yaller-haired, white-face chit who went for you?" +rejoined Janet. "No such thing; but tell me now of your marm. How +sick is she, and what of the little boy? Is he much deformed?" + +"Come in here," said Maude, leading the way into the parlor, and +drawing a chair close to Janet, she told all she deemed it necessary +to tell. + +But the quick-witted Janet knew there was something more, and +casting a scornful glance around the room she said: "You are a good +girl, Maude; but you can't deceive an old girl like me. I knew by +the tremblin' way you writ that somethin' was wrong, and started the +first blessed morning after gettin' your letter. I was calculating +to come pretty soon, anyway, and had all my arrangements made. So I +can stay a good long spell--always, mebby--for I'm a widder now," +and she heaved a few sighs to the memory of Mr. Joel Blodgett, who, +she said, "had been dead a year," adding, in a whisper, "but there's +one consolation--he willed me all his property," and she drew from +her belt a huge silver time-piece, which she was in the habit of +consulting quite often, by way of showing that "she could carry a +watch as well as the next one." + +After a little her mind came back from her lamented husband, and she +gave Maude a most minute account of her tedious ride in a lumber-wagon +from Canandaigua to Laurel Hill, for the stage had left when +she reached the depot, and she was in too great a hurry to remain at +the hotel until the next morning. + +"But what of that doctor--do you like him?" she said at last, and +Maude answered: "Never mind him now; let us see mother first, or +rather let me see to her dinner," and she arose to leave the room. + +"You don't like him," continued Janet, "and I knew you wouldn't; but +your poor mother, I pity her. Didn't you say you was gettin' her +something to eat? She's had a good time waitin', but I'll make +amends by seein' to her dinner myself," and spite of Maude's +endeavors to keep her back she followed on into the disorderly +kitchen, from which Nellie had disappeared, and where old Hannah sat +smoking her pipe as leisurely as if on the table there were not +piles of unwashed dishes, to say nothing of the unswept floor and +dirty hearth. + +"What a hole!" was Janet's involuntary exclamation, to which Hannah +responded a most contemptuous "Umph!" and thus was the war-cry +raised on either side. "What was you goin' to git for your mother?" +asked Janet, without deigning to notice the portly African, who +smoked on in dignified silence. + +"Toast and tea," answered Maude, and casting a deprecating glance at +the fire Janet continued: "You can't make any toast fit for a +heathen to eat by that fire. Aint there any dry wood--kindlin' nor +nothin'?" and she walked into the woodshed, where, spying a pine +board, she seized the ax and was about to commence operations when +Hannah called out: "Ole marster 'll be in yer ha'r if you tache +that." + +"I aint afraid of your old marster," answered Janet, and in a moment +the board, which Dr. Kennedy would not suffer John to use because he +might want it for something, was crackling on the fire. + +The hearth was swept, the tea-kettle hung in the blaze, and then, +with a look of perfect delight, Janet sat down to make the toast, +fixing it just as she knew Matty liked it best. + +"Biled eggs will be good for her digester, and if I only had one +dropped in water," she said, and quick as thought Maude brought her +one, while Hannah growled again, "Ole marster 'll raise de ruff, +case he put 'em away to sell." + +"Ole marster be hanged!" muttered Janet, breaking not one, but +three, into the water, for her own stomach began to clamor for food. + +Everything was ready at last; a clean towel covered the server, the +fragrant black tea was made, the boiled egg was laid upon the toast, +and then Janet said, "She ought to have a rellish--preserves, jelly, +baked apple, or somethin'," and she opened a cupboard door, while +Hannah, springing to her feet, exclaimed, "Quit dat; thar aint no +sich truck in dis house." + +But Janet's sharp eye had discovered behind a pile of papers, rags, +and dried herbs a tumbler of currant jelly, which Hannah had +secretly made and hidden away for her own private eating. Hannah's +first impulse was to snatch the jelly from Janet's hand, but feeling +intuitively that in the resolute Scotchwoman she had a mistress, and +fearing lest Maude should betray her to the doctor she exclaimed, +"If that aint the very stuff Miss Ruggles sent in for Miss Matty! I +forgot it till this blessed minit!" and shutting the cupboard door, +she stood with her back against it lest Janet should discover sundry +other delicacies hidden away for a like purpose. + +"Mother has not had a feast like this--and she'll enjoy it so much," +said Maude, as she started up the stairs followed by Janet, who, ere +they reached the chamber, suddenly stopped, saying, "I tell you what +'tis, if she knows I'm here she won't eat a mou'ful, so you say +nothin', and when she's through I'll come." + +This seemed reasonable to Maude, who, leaving Janet to look through +a crevice in the door, entered alone into her mother's presence. +Mrs. Kennedy had waited long for Maude, and at last, weary with +listening to the rain, which made her feel so desolate and sad, she +fell asleep, as little Louis at her side had done before her; but +Maude's cheering voice awoke her. + +"Look, mother," she cried, "see the nice dinner!" and her own eyes +fairly danced as she placed the tray upon the table before her +mother, who, scarcely less pleased, exclaimed, "A boiled egg--and +jelly, too!--I've wanted them both so much. How did it happen?" + +"Eat first, and then I'll tell you," answered Maude, propping her up +with pillows, and setting the server in her lap. + +"It tastes like old times--like Janet," said the invalid, and from +the room without, where Janet watched, there came a faint, choking +sound, which Matty thought was the wind and which Maude knew was +Janet. + +Through the door she caught sight of her mistress, whose white, +wasted face wrung from her that cry. Stuffing her handkerchief into +her mouth, she waited until toast, tea, egg, and all had +disappeared, then, with the exclamation, "She's et 'em all up slick +and clean," she walked into the room. + +It would be impossible to describe that meeting, when the poor sick +woman bowed her weary head upon the motherly bosom of her faithful +domestic, weeping most piteously while Janet folded her lovingly in +her arms, saying to her soothingly, "Nay, now, Matty darling--nay, +my bonnie bird--take it easy like--take is easy, and you'll feel +better." + +"You won't leave me, will you?" sobbed Matty, feeling that it would +not be hard to die with Janet standing near. + +"No, honey, no," answered Janet, "I'll stay till one or t'other of +us is carried down the walk and across the common where them +gravestones is standin', which I noticed when I drove up." + +"It will be me, Janet. It will be me," said Matty. "They will bury +me beneath the willows, for the other one is lying there, oh, so +peacefully." + +Louis was by this time awake, and taking him upon her lap Janet +laughed and cried alternately, mentally resolving that so long as +she should live, she would befriend the little helpless boy, whose +face, she said, "was far winsomer than any she had ever seen." + +Then followed many mutual inquiries, during which Matty learned that +Janet was a widow, and had really come to stay if necessary. + +"I'm able now to live as I please, for I've got property," said +Janet, again consulting the silver watch, as she usually did when +speaking of her husband's will. + +Many questions, too, did Matty ask concerning her former home--her +friends--her flowers--and Harry's grave; "was it well kept now, or +was it overrun with weeds?" + +To this last question Janet did not reply directly, but making some +excuse for leaving the room, she soon returned, bearing in one hand +a box in which a small rose-bush was growing. In the other hand she +held a beautiful bouquet which, having been kept moist, looked +almost as fresh as when it was first gathered. This she gave to +Matty, saying, "They grew on Harry's grave. I picked 'em myself +yesterday morning before I left; and this," pointing to the rose-bush, +"is a root I took from there last spring on purpose for you, +for I meant to visit you this fall." + +Need we say those flowers were dearer to Matty than the wealth of +the Indies would have been! They had blossomed on Harry's grave--his +dust had added to them life, and as if they were indeed a part of +him, she hugged them to her heart--kissing them through her tears +and blessing Janet for the priceless gift. + +"Don't tell him, though," she whispered, and a deep flush mounted to +her cheek as on the stairs she heard a heavy footstep, and knew that +Dr. Kennedy was coming! + +He had been in the kitchen, demanding of Hannah, "Whose is all that +baggage in the hall?" and Hannah, glad of an opportunity to "free +her mind," had answered, "Some low-lived truck or other that they +called 'Janet,' and a body'd s'pose she owned the house, the way she +went on, splittin' up yer board for kindlin', makin' missus' toast +swim in butter, and a-bilin' three of them eggs you laid away to +sell. If she stays here, this nigger won't--that's my 'pinion," and +feeling greatly injured she left the kitchen, while Dr. Kennedy, +with a dark, moody look upon his face, started for the sick-room. + +He knew very well who his visitor was, and when his wife said, +"Husband, this is my faithful Janet, or rather Mrs. Blodgett now. +Wasn't it kind in her to come so far to see me?" he merely nodded +coolly to Mrs. Blodgett, who nodded as coolly in return; then, +turning to his wife, he said, "You seem excited, my dear, and this +ought not to be. 'Tis a maxim of mine that company is injurious to +sick people. What do you think, Mrs. Blodgett?" + +Mrs. Blodgett didn't think anything save that he was a most +disagreeable man, and as she could not say this in his presence, she +made no particular answer. Glancing toward the empty plate which +stood upon the table, he continued, "Hannah tells me, my dear, that +you have eaten three boiled eggs. I wonder at your want of +discretion, when you know how indigestible they are," and his eye +rested reprovingly on Janet, who now found her tongue, and starting +up, exclaimed, "One biled egg won't hurt anybody's digester, if it's +ever so much out of kilter--but the jade lied. Two of them eggs I +cooked for myself, and I'll warrant she's guzzled 'em down before +this. Anyway, I'll go and see," and she arose to leave the room. + +Just as she reached the door the doctor called after her, saying, +"Mrs. Blodgett, I observed a trunk or two in the lower hall, which I +presume are yours. Will you have them left there, or shall I bring +them up to your chamber? You will stay all night with us, of +course!" + +For an instant Janet's face was crimson, but forcing down her wrath +for Matty's sake, she answered, "I shall probably stay as long as +that," and slamming together the door she went downstairs, while +Matty said sadly, "Oh, husband, how could you thus insult her when +you knew she had come to stay a while at least, and that her +presence would do me so much good?" + +"How should I know she had come to stay, when I've heard nothing +about it," was the doctor's reply; and then in no mild terms he gave +his opinion of the lady--said opinion being based on what old Hannah +had told him. + +There were tears in Matty's eyes, and they dropped from her long +eye-lashes as, taking the doctor's hand, she said: "Husband, you +know that I'm going to die--that ere the snow is falling you will be +a second time alone. And you surely will not refuse me when I ask +that Janet shall stay until the last. When I am gone you will, +perhaps, be happier in the remembrance that you granted me one +request." + +There was something in the tone of her voice far more convincing +than her words, and when she added, "She does not expect wages, for +she has money of her own," Dr. Kennedy yielded the point, +prophesying the while that there would be trouble with Hannah. + +Meantime Mrs. Blodgett had wended her way to the kitchen, meeting in +the way with Nellie, around whose mouth there was a substance +greatly resembling the yolk of an egg! Thus prepared for the worst, +Janet was not greatly disappointed when she found that her eggs had +been disposed of by both the young lady and Hannah, the latter of +whom was too busy with her dishes to turn her head or in any way +acknowledge the presence of a second person. + +"Joel Blodgett's widow ought to be above havin' words with a +nigger," was Janet's mental comment as she contented herself with a +slice of bread and a cup of tea, which, by this time, was of quite a +reddish hue. + +Her hunger being satisfied, she began to feel more amiably disposed +toward the old negress, whose dishes she offered to wipe. This +kindness was duly appreciated by Hannah, and that night, in speaking +of Janet to her son, she pronounced her "not quite so onery a white +woman as she at first took her to be." + +As the days wore on Janet's presence in the family was felt in +various ways. To Matty it brought a greater degree of happiness than +she had experienced since she left her New England home, while even +the doctor acknowledged an increased degree of comfort in his +household, though not willing at first to attribute it to its proper +source. He did not like Janet; her ideas were too extravagant for +him, and on several different occasions he hinted quite strongly +that she was not wanted there; but Janet was perfectly invincible to +hints, and when at one time he embodied them in language that could +not be misunderstood, telling her, "'twas a maxim of his that if a +person had a home of their own they had better stay there," she +promptly replied that "'twas a maxim of hers to stay where she +pleased, particularly as she was a woman of property," and so, as +she pleased to stay there, she stayed! + +It took but a short time for her to understand the doctor, and to +say that she disliked him would but feebly express the feeling of +aversion with which she regarded him. Not a word, however, would +Matty admit of past or present unkindness--neither was it necessary +that she should, for Janet saw it all--saw how "Old Maxim," as she +called him, had worried her life away, and while cherishing for him +a sentiment of hatred, she strove to comfort her young mistress, who +grew weaker and weaker every day, until at last the husband himself, +aroused to a sense of her danger, strove by little acts of kindness +unusual in him, to make amends for years of wrong. Experience is a +thorough teacher, and he shrank from the bitter memories which +spring from the grave of a neglected wife, and he would rather that +Matty, when she died, should not turn away from him, shuddering at +his touch, and asking him to take his hand from off her brow; just +as one brown-haired woman had done. This feeling of his was +appreciated by Janet, who in proportion as he became tender toward +Matty, was respectful to him, until at last there came to be a +tolerably good understanding between them, and she was suffered, in +most matters, to have her own way. + +With John she was a special favorite, and through his +instrumentality open hostilities were prevented between herself and +his mother, until the latter missed another cup of jelly from its +new hiding-place. Then, indeed, the indignant African announced her +intention of going at once to "Miss Ruggles'," who had offered her +"twelve shillings a week and a heap of leisure." + +"Let her go," said John, who knew Mrs. Ruggles to be a fashionable +woman, the mother of nine children, whose ages varied from one to +fifteen; "let her go--she'll be glad to come back," and the sequel +proved he was right, for just as it was beginning to grow light on +the second day of her absence, someone rapped at his window, and a +half-crying voice whispered, "Let me in, John; I've been out to +sarvice enough." + +John complied with the request, and when Janet came down to the +kitchen, how was she surprised at finding Hannah there, leisurely +grinding her coffee, with an innocent look upon her sable face, as +if nothing had ever happened. John's raillery, however, loosened her +tongue at last, and very minutely she detailed her grievances. "She +had done a two weeks' washing, besides all the work, and the whole +of them young ones under her feet into the bargain. Then at night, +when she hoped for a little rest, Mrs. Ruggles had gone off to a +party and stayed till midnight, leaving her with that squallin' +brat; but never you mind," said she, "I poured a little paregol down +its throat, or my name aint Hannah," and with a sigh of relief at +her escape from "Miss Ruggles," she finished her story and resumed +her accustomed duties, which for many weeks she faithfully +performed, finding but little fault with the frequent suggestions of +Mrs. Janet Blodgett, whose rule in the household was for the time +being firmly established. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE MOTHER. + + +From the tall trees which shade the desolate old house the leaves +have fallen one by one, and the November rain makes mournful music +as in the stillness of the night it drops upon the withered foliage, +softly, slowly, as if weeping for the sorrow which has come upon the +household. Matty Kennedy is dead; and in the husband's heart there +is a gnawing pain, such as he never felt before; not even when Katy +died; for Katy, though pure and good, was not so wholly unselfish as +Matty had been, and in thinking of her, he could occasionally recall +an impatient word; but from Matty none. Gentle, loving, and +beautiful she had been to him in life; and now, beautiful in death, +she lay in the silent parlor, on the marble table she had brought +from home, while he--oh, who shall tell what thoughts were busy at +his heart, as he sat there alone, that dismal, rainy night. + +In one respect his wishes had been gratified; Matty had not turned +from him in death. She had died within his arms; but so long as the +light of reason shone in her blue eyes,--so long had they, rested on +the rose-bush within the window,--the rose-bush brought from Harry's +grave! Nestled among its leaves was a half-opened bud, and when none +could hear, she whispered softly to Janet, "Place it in my bosom +just as you placed one years ago, when I was Harry's bride." + +To Nellie and to Maude she had spoken blessed words of comfort, +commending to the latter as to a second mother the little Louis, +who, trembling with fear, had hidden beneath the bedclothes, so that +he could not see the white look upon her face. Then to her husband +she had turned, pleading with all a mother's tenderness for her +youngest born--her unfortunate one. + +"Oh, husband," she said, "you will care for him when I am gone. You +will love my poor, crippled boy! Promise me this, and death will not +be hard to meet. Promise me, won't you?" and the voice was very, +very faint. + +He could not refuse, and bending low, he said, "Matty, I will, I +will." + +"Bless you, my husband, bless you for that," was Matty's dying +words, for she never spoke again. + +It was morning then,--early morning, and a long, dreary day had +intervened, until at last it was midnight, and silence reigned +throughout the house. Maude, Nellie, Janet, and John had wept +themselves sick, while in little Louis' bosom there was a sense of +desolation which kept him wakeful, even after Maude had cried +herself to sleep. Many a time that day had he stolen into the +parlor, and climbing into a chair, as best he could, had laid his +baby cheek against the cold, white face, and smoothing with his +dimpled hand the shining hair, had whispered, "Poor, sick mother, +won't you speak to Louis any more?" + +He knew better than most children of his age what was meant by +death, and as he lay awake, thinking how dreadful it was to have no +mother, his thoughts turned toward his father, who had that day been +too much absorbed in his own grief to notice him. + +"Maybe he'll love me some now ma is dead," he thought, and with that +yearning for paternal sympathy natural to the motherless, he crept +out of bed, and groping his way with his noiseless crutches to his +father's door, he knocked softly for admittance. + +"Who's there?" demanded Dr. Kennedy, every nerve thrilling to the +answer. + +"It's me, father; won't you let me in, for its dark out here, and +lonesome, with her lying in the parlor. Oh, father, won't you love +me a little, now mother's dead? I can't help it because I'm lame, +and when I'm a man I will earn my own living. I won't be in the way. +Say, pa, will you love me?" + +He remembered the charges his father had preferred against him, and +the father remembered them too. She to whom the cruel words were +spoken was gone from him now and her child, their child, was at the +door, pleading for his love. Could he refuse? No, by every kindly +feeling, by every parental tie, we answer, No; he could not; and +opening the door he took the little fellow in his arms, hugging him +to his bosom, while tears, the first he had shed for many a year, +fell like rain upon the face of his crippled boy. Like some mighty +water, which breaking through its prison walls seeks again its +natural channel, so did his love go out toward the child so long +neglected, the child who was not now to him a cripple. He did not +think of the deformity, he did not even see it. He saw only the +beautiful face, the soft brown eyes and silken hair of the little +one, who ere long fell asleep, murmuring in his dreams, "He loves +me, ma, he does." + +Surely the father cannot be blamed if, when he looked again upon the +calm face of the dead, he fancied that it wore a happier look, as if +the whispered words of Louis had reached her unconscious ear. Very +beautiful looked Matty in her coffin--for thirty years had but +slightly marred her youthful face, and the doctor, as he gazed upon +her, thought within himself, "she was almost as fair as Maude +Glendower." + +Then, as his eye fell upon the rosebud which Janet had laid upon her +bosom, he said, "'Twas kind in Mrs. Blodgett to place it there, for +Matty was fond of flowers;" but he did not dream how closely was +that rosebud connected with a grave made many years before. + +Thoughts of Maude Glendower and mementos of Harry Remington meeting +together at Matty's coffin! Alas, that such should be our life! + +Underneath the willows, and by the side of Katy, was Matty laid to +rest, and then the desolate old house seemed doubly desolate--Maude +mourning truly for her mother, while the impulsive Nellie, too, wept +bitterly for one whom she had really loved. To the doctor, however, +a new feeling had been born, and in the society of his son he found +a balm for his sorrow, becoming ere long, to all outward appearance, +the same exacting, overbearing man he had been before. The blows are +hard and oft repeated which break the solid rock, and there will +come a time when that selfish nature shall be subdued and broken +down; but 'tis not yet--not yet. + +And now, leaving him a while to himself, we will pass on to a period +when Maude herself shall become in reality the heroine of our story. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +PAST AND PRESENT. + + +Four years and a half have passed away since the dark November night +when Matty Kennedy died, and in her home all things are not as they +were then. Janet, the presiding genius of the household, is gone--married +a second time, and by this means escaped, as she verily +believes, the embarrassment of refusing outright to be Mrs. Dr. +Kennedy, No. 3! Not that Dr. Kennedy ever entertained the slightest +idea of making her his wife, but knowing how highly he valued money, +and being herself "a woman of property," Janet came at last to fancy +that he had serious thoughts of offering himself to her. He, on the +contrary, was only intent upon the best means of removing her from +his house, for, though he was not insensible to the comfort which +her presence brought, it was a comfort for which he paid too dearly. +Still he endured it for nearly three years, but at the end of that +time he determined that she should go away, and as he dreaded a +scene he did not tell her plainly what he meant, but hinted, and +with each hint the widow groaned afresh over her lamented Joel. + +At last, emboldened by some fresh extravagance, he said to her one +day: "Mrs. Blodgett, ah--ahem." Here he stopped, while Mrs. +Blodgett, thinking her time had come, drew out Joel's picture, which +latterly she carried in her pocket, so as to be ready for any +emergency. "Mrs. Blodgett, are you paying attention?" asked the +doctor, observing how intently she was regarding the picture of the +deceased. + +"Yes, yes," she answered, and he continued: + +"Mrs. Blodgett, I hardly know what to say, but I've been thinking +for some time past--" + +"I know you've been thinking," interrupted the widow, "but it won't +do an atom of good, for my mind was made up long ago, and I shan't +do it, and if you've any kind of feeling for Matty, which you haint, +nor never had, you wouldn't think of such a thing, and I know, as +well as I want to know, that it's my property, and nothin' else, +which has put such an idee into your head!" + +Here, overcome with her burst of indignation, she began to cry, +while the doctor, wholly misunderstanding her, attempted to smooth +the matter somewhat by saying: "I had no intention of distressing +you, Mrs. Blodgett, but I thought I might as well free my mind. Were +you a poor woman, I should feel differently, but knowing you have +money--" + +"Wretch!" fairly screamed the insulted Janet. "So you confess my +property is at the bottom of it! But I'll fix it--I'll put an end to +it!" and in a state of great excitement she rushed from the room. + +Just across the way a newly-fledged lawyer had hung out his sign, +and thither that very afternoon the wrathful widow wended her way, +nor left the dingy office until one-half of her property, which was +far greater than anyone supposed it to be, was transferred by deed +of gift to Maude Remington, who was to come in possession of it on +her eighteenth birthday, and was to inherit the remainder by will at +the death of the donor. + +"That fixes him," she muttered, as she returned to the house; "that +fixes Old Maxim good; to think of his insultin' me by ownin' right +up that 'twas my property he was after, the rascal! I wouldn't have +him if there warn't another man in the world!" and entering the room +where Maude was sewing, she astonished the young girl by telling her +what she had done. "I have made you my heir," said she, tossing the +deed of gift and the will into Maude's lap. "I've made you my heir; +and the day you're eighteen you'll be worth five thousand dollars, +besides havin' the interest to use between this time and that. Then, +if I ever die; you'll have five thousand more. Joel Blodgett didn't +keep thirty cows and peddle milk for nothin'." + +Maude was at first too much astonished to comprehend the meaning of +what she heard, but she understood it at last, and then with many +tears thanked the eccentric woman for what she had done, and asked +the reason for this unexpected generosity. + +"'Cause I like you!" answered Janet, determined not to injure +Maude's feelings by letting her know how soon her mother had been +forgotten. "'Cause I like you, and always meant to give it to you. +But don't tell anyone how much 'tis, for if the old fool widowers +round here know I am still worth five thousand dollars they'll like +enough be botherin' me with offers, hopin' I'll change my will; but +I shan't. I'll teach 'em a trick or two, the good for-nothin' Old +Maxim." + +The latter part of this speech was made as Janet was leaving the +room, consequently Maude did not hear it, neither would she have +understood if she had. She knew her nurse was very peculiar, but she +never dreamed it possible for her to fancy that Dr. Kennedy wished +to make her his wife, and she was greatly puzzled to know why she +had been so generous to her. But Janet knew; and when a few days +afterward Dr. Kennedy, determining upon a fresh attempt to remove +her from his house, came to her side, as she was sitting alone in +the twilight, she felt glad that one-half her property at least was +beyond her control. + +"Mrs. Blodgett," he said, clearing his throat and looking +considerably embarrassed, "Mrs. Blodgett." + +"Well, what do you want of Mrs. Blodgett?" was the widow's testy +answer, and the doctor replied, "I did not finish what I wished to +say to you the other day, and it's a maxim of mine, if a person has +anything on his mind, he had better tell it at once." + +"Certainly, ease yourself off, do," and Janet's little gray eyes +twinkled with delight, as she thought how crestfallen he would look +when she told him her property was gone. + +"I was going, Mrs. Blodgett," he continued, "I was going to propose +to you--" + +He never finished the sentence, for the widow sprang to her feet, +exclaiming, "It's of no kind of use! I've gin my property all to +Maude; half of it the day she's eighteen, and the rest on't is +willed to her when I die, so you may as well let me alone," and +feeling greatly flurried with what she verily believed to have been +an offer, she walked away, leaving the doctor to think her the most +inexplicable woman he ever saw. + +The next day Janet received an invitation to visit her husband's +sister who lived in Canada. The invitation was accepted, and to his +great delight the doctor saw her drive from his door, just one week +after his last amusing interview. In Canada Janet formed the +acquaintance of a man full ten years her junior. He had been a +distant relative of her husband, and knowing of her property, asked +her to be his wife. For several days Janet studied her face to see +what was in it "which made every man in Christendom want her!" and, +concluding at last that "handsome is that handsome does," said +"Yes," and made Peter Hopkins the happiest of men. + +There was a bridal trip to Laurel Hill, where the new husband +ascertained that the half of that for which he had married was +beyond his reach; but being naturally of a hopeful nature, he did +not despair of eventually changing the will, so he swallowed his +disappointment and redoubled his attentions to his mother-wife, now +Mrs. Janet Blodgett Hopkins. + +Meantime the story that Maude was an heiress circulated rapidly, and +as the lawyer kept his own counsel and Maude, in accordance with +Janet's request, never told how much had been given her, the amount +was doubled; nay, in some cases trebled, and she suddenly found +herself a person of considerable importance, particularly in the +estimation of Dr. Kennedy, who, aside from setting a high value upon +money, fancied he saw a way by which he himself could reap some +benefit from his stepdaughter's fortune. If Maude had money she +certainly ought to pay for her board, and so he said to her one day, +prefacing his remarks with his stereotyped phrase that "'twas a +maxim of his that one person should not live upon another if they +could help it." + +Since Janet's last marriage Maude had taken the entire management of +affairs, and without her there would have been but little comfort or +order in a household whose only servant was old and lazy, and whose +eldest daughter was far too proud to work. This Maude knew, and with +a flush of indignation upon her cheek she replied to her stepfather: +"Very well, sir, I can pay for my board, if you like; but boarders, +you know, never trouble themselves with the affairs of the kitchen." + +The doctor was confounded. He knew he could not well dispense with +Maude's services, and it had not before occurred to him that a +housekeeper and boarder were two different persons. + +"Ah--yes--just so," said he, "I see I'm laboring under a mistake; +you prefer working for your board--all right," and feeling a good +deal more disconcerted than he ever supposed it possible for him to +feel, he gave up the contest. + +Maude was at this time nearly sixteen years of age, and during the +next year she was to all intents and purposes the housekeeper, +discharging faithfully every duty and still finding time to pursue +her own studies and superintend the education of little Louis, to +whom she was indeed a second mother. She was very fond of books, and +while Janet was with them she had with Nellie attended the seminary +at Laurel Hill, where she stood high in all her classes, for +learning was with her a delight, and when at last it seemed +necessary for her to remain at home, she still devoted a portion of +each day to her studies, reciting to a teacher who came regularly to +the house and whom she paid with her own money. By this means she +was at the age of seventeen a far better scholar than Nellie, who +left every care to her stepsister, saying she was just suited to the +kitchen work and the tiresome old books with which she kept her +chamber littered. This chamber to which Nellie referred was Maude's +particular province. Here she reigned joint sovereign with Louis, +who thus early evinced a degree of intellectuality wonderful in one +so young, and who in some things excelled even Maude herself. + +Drawing and painting seemed to be his ruling taste, and as Dr. +Kennedy still cherished for his crippled boy a love almost +idolatrous, he spared neither money nor pains to procure for him +everything necessary for his favorite pursuit. Almost the entire day +did Louis pass in what he termed Maude's library, where, poring over +books or busy with his pencil, he whiled the hours away without a +sigh for the green fields and shadowy woods, through which he could +never hope to ramble. And Maude was very proud of her artist +brother--proud of the beautiful boy whose face seemed not to be of +earth, so calm, so angel-like was its expression. All the softer, +gentler virtues of the mother, and all the intellectual qualities of +the father were blended together in the child, who presented a +combination of goodness, talent, beauty, and deformity such as this +is seldom seen. For his sister Maude, Louis possessed a deep, +undying love which neither time nor misfortune could in any way +abate. She was part and portion of himself--his life--his light--his +all, in all--and to his childlike imagination a purer, nobler being +had never been created than his darling sister Maude. And well might +Louis Kennedy love the self-sacrificing girl who devoted herself so +wholly to him, and who well fulfilled her mother's charge, "Care for +my little boy." + +Nellie, too, was well beloved, but he soon grew weary of her +company, for she seldom talked of anything save herself and the +compliments which were given to her youthful beauty. And Nellie, at +the age of eighteen, was beautiful, if that can be called beauty +which is void of heart or soul or intellect. She was very small, and +the profusion of golden curls which fell about her neck and +shoulders gave her the appearance of being younger than she really +was. Her features were almost painfully regular, her complexion +dazzlingly brilliant, while her large blue eyes had in them a +dreamy, languid expression exceedingly attractive to those who +looked for nothing beyond--no inner chamber where dwell the graces +which make a woman what she ought to be. Louis' artist eye, +undeveloped though it was, acknowledged the rare loveliness of +Nellie's face. She would make a beautiful picture, he thought; but +for the noble, the good, the pure, he turned to the dark-eyed Maude, +who was as wholly unlike her stepsister as it was possible for her +to be. The one was a delicate blonde, the other a decided brunette, +with hair and eyes of deepest black. Her complexion, too, was dark, +but tinged with a beautiful red, which Nellie would gladly have +transferred to her own paler cheek. It was around the mouth, +however, the exquisitely shaped mouth, and white even teeth, that +Maude's principal beauty lay, and the bright smile which lit up her +features when at all animated in conversation would have made a +plain face handsome. There were some who gave her the preference, +saying there was far more beauty in her clear, beautiful eyes and +sunny smile than in the dollish face of Nellie, who treated such +remarks with the utmost scorn. She knew that she was beautiful. She +had known it all her life--for had she not been told so by her +mirror, her father, her schoolmates, her Aunt Kelsey, and more than +all by J.C. De Vere, the elegant young man whom she had met in +Rochester, where she had spent the winter preceding the summer of +which we are writing, and which was four and one-half years after +Matty's death. + +Greatly had the young lady murmured on her return against the dreary +old house and lonely life at Laurel Hill, which did indeed present a +striking contrast to the city gayeties in which she had been +mingling. Even the cozy little chamber which the kind-hearted Maude +had fitted up for her with her own means was pronounced heathenish +and old-fashioned, while Maude herself was constantly taunted with +being countryfied and odd. + +"I wish J.C. De Vere could see you now," she said one morning to her +sister, who had donned her working dress, and with sleeves rolled up +and wide checked apron tied around her waist was deep in the +mysteries of bread making. + +"I wish he could see her too," said Louis, who had rolled his chair +into the kitchen so that he could be with Maude. "He would say he +never saw a handsomer color than the red upon her cheeks." + +"Pshaw!" returned Nellie. "I guess he knows the difference between +rose-tint and sunburn. Why, he's the most fastidious man I ever saw. +He can't endure the smell of cooking, and says he would never look +twice at a lady whose hands were not as soft and white as--well, as +mine," and she glanced admiringly at the little snowy fingers, which +were beating a tune upon the window-sill. + +"I wants no better proof that he's a fool," muttered old Hannah, who +looked upon Nellie as being what she really was, a vain, silly +thing. + +"A fool, Hannah," retorted Nellie; "I'd like to have Aunt Kelsey +hear you say that. Why, he's the very best match in Rochester. All +the girls are dying for him, but he don't care a straw for one of +them. He's out of health now, and is coming here this summer with +Aunt Kelsey, and then you'll see how perfectly refined he is. By the +way, Maude, if I had as much money at my command as you have I'd fix +up the parlor a little. You know father won't, and that carpet, I'll +venture to say, was in the ark. I almost dread to have J.C. come, +he's so particular; but then he knows we are rich, and beside that, +Aunt Kelsey has told him just how stingy father is, so I don't care +so much. Did I tell you J.C. has a cousin James, who may possibly +come too. I never saw him, but Aunt Kelsey says he's the queerest +man that ever lived. He never was known to pay the slightest +attention to a woman unless she was married or engaged. He has a +most delightful house at Hampton, where he lives with his mother; +but he'll never marry, unless it is some hired girl who knows how to +work. Why, he was once heard to say he would sooner marry a +good-natured Irish girl than a fashionable city lady who knew nothing but +to dress, and flirt, and play the piano--the wretch!" + +"Oh! I know I should like him," exclaimed Louis, who had been an +attentive listener. + +"I dare say you would, and Maude, too," returned Nellie, adding, +after a moment: "And I shouldn't wonder if Maude just suited him, +particularly if he finds her up to her elbows in dough. So, Maude, +it is for your interest to improve the old castle a little. Won't +you buy a new carpet?" and she drew nearer to Maude, who made no +direct reply. + +The three hundred and fifty dollars interest money which she had +received the year before had but little of it been expended on +herself, though it had purchased many a comfort for the household, +for Maude was generous, and freely gave what was her own to give. +The parlor carpet troubled even her, but she would not pledge +herself to buy another until she had first tried her powers of +persuasion upon the doctor, who, as she expected, refused outright. + +"He knew the carpet was faded," he said, "but 'twas hardly worn at +all, and 'twas a maxim of his to make things last as long as +possible." + +It was in vain that Nellie, who was present, quoted Aunt Kelsey and +J.C. De Vere, the old doctor didn't care a straw for either, unless +indeed, J.C. should some time take Nellie off his hands, and pay her +bills, which were altogether too large for one of his maxims. That +this would probably be the result of the young man's expected visit +had been strongly hinted by Mrs. Kelsey, and thus was he more +willing to have him come. But on the subject of the carpet he was +inexorable, and with tears of anger in her large blue eyes Nellie +gave up the contest, while Maude very quietly walked over to the +store and gave orders that a handsome three-ply carpet which she had +heard her sister admire should be sent home as soon as possible. +"You are a dear good girl, after all, and I hope James De Vere will +fall in love with you," was Nellie's exclamation as she saw a large +roll deposited at their door, but not a stitch in the making of the +carpet did she volunteer to take. "She should prick her fingers or +callous her hand," she said, "and Mr. De Vere thought so much of a +pretty hand." + +"Nonsense!" said John, who was still a member of the family, +"nonsense, Miss Nellie. I'd give a heap more for one of Miss Maude's +little fingers, red and rough as they be, than I would for both them +soft, sickish feeling hands of yourn;" and John hastily disappeared +from the room to escape the angry words which he knew would follow +his bold remark. + +Nellie was not a favorite at home, and no one humored her as much as +Maude, who, on this occasion, almost outdid herself in her endeavors +to please the exacting girl, and make the house as presentable as +possible to the fashionable Mrs. Kelsey and the still more +fashionable J.C. De Vere. The new carpet was nicely fitted to the +floor, new curtains hung before the windows, the old sofa was +recovered, the piano was tuned, a hat-stand purchased for the hall, +the spare chamber cleaned, and then very impatiently Nellie waited +for the day when her guests were expected to arrive. + +The time came at last, a clear June afternoon, and immediately after +dinner Nellie repaired to her chamber, so as to have ample time to +try the effect of her different dresses, ere deciding upon any one. +Maude, too, was a good deal excited, for one of her even +temperament. She rather dreaded Mrs. Kelsey, whom she had seen but +twice in her life, but for some reason, wholly inexplicable to +herself, she felt a strange interest in the wonderful J.C., of whom +she had heard so much. Not that he would notice her in the least, +but a man who could turn the heads of all the girls in Rochester +must be somewhat above the common order of mortals; and when at last +her work was done, and she, too, went up to dress, it was with an +unusual degree of earnestness that she asked her sister what she +should wear that would be becoming. + +"Wear what you please, but don't bother me," answered Nellie, +smoothing down the folds of her light blue muslin, which harmonized +admirably with her clear complexion. + +"Maude," called Louis, from the adjoining room, "wear white. You +always look pretty in white." + +"So does every black person!" answered Nellie, feeling provoked that +she had not advised the wearing of some color not as becoming to +Maude as she knew white to be. + +Maude had the utmost confidence in Louis' taste, and when fifteen +minutes later she stood before the mirror, her short, glossy curls +clustering about her head, a bright bloom on her cheek, and a +brighter smile upon her lip, she thought it was the dress which made +her look so well, for it had never entered her mind that she was +handsome. + +"Wear your coral earrings," said Louis, who had wheeled himself into +the room, and was watching her with all a fond brother's pride. + +The earrings were a decided improvement, and the jealous Nellie, +when she saw how neat and tasteful was her sister's dress, began to +cry, saying, "she herself looked a fright, that she'd nothing fit to +wear, and if her father did not buy her something she'd run away." + +This last was her usual threat when at all indignant, and as after +giving vent to it she generally felt better, she soon dried her +tears, saying, "she was glad anyway that she had blue eyes, for J.C. +could not endure black ones." + +"Maybe James can," was the quick rejoinder of Louis, who always +defended Maude from Nellie's envious attacks. + +By this time the clock was striking five. Half an hour more and they +would be there, and going through the rooms below Nellie looked to +see if everything was in order, then returning to her chamber above +she waited impatiently until the sound of wheels was heard in the +distance. A cloud of dust was visible next, and soon a large +traveling carriage stopped at the gate, laden with trunks and boxes, +as if its occupants had come to spend the remainder of the summer. A +straight, slender, dandified-looking young man sprang out, followed +by another far different in style, though equally as fine looking. +The lady next alighted, and scarcely were her feet upon the ground +when she was caught around the neck by a little fairy figure in +blue, which had tripped gracefully down the walk, seemingly +unconscious, but really very conscious of every step she took, for +the black-mustached young man, who touched his hat to her so +politely, was particular about a woman's gait. + +A little apart from the rest stood the stranger, casually eyeing the +diminutive creature, of whose beauty and perfections he had heard so +much both from her partial aunt and his half-smitten cousin: There +was a momentary thrill--a feeling such as one experiences in gazing +upon a rare piece of sculpture--and then the heart of James De Vere +resumed its accustomed beat, for he knew the inner chamber of the +mind was empty, and henceforth Nellie's beauty would have no +attraction for him. Very prettily she led the way to the house, and +after ushering her guests into the parlor ran upstairs to Maude, +bidding her to order supper at once, and telling her as a piece of +important news which she did not already know, that "Aunt Kelsey, +James, and J.C. had come." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +JAMES AND J.C. + + +James and J.C. De Vere were cousins, and also cousins of Mrs. +Kelsey's husband; and hence the intimacy between that lady and +themselves, or rather between that lady and J.C., who was undeniably +the favorite, partly because he was much like herself and partly +because of his name, which she thought so exclusive--so different +from anyone's else. His romantic young mother, who liked anything +savoring at all of "Waverly," had inflicted upon him the cognomen of +Jedediah Cleishbotham, and repenting of her act when too late had +dubbed him "J.C.," by which name he was now generally known. The +ladies called him "a love of a man," and so he was, if a faultless +form, a wicked black eye, a superb set of teeth, an unexceptionable +mustache, a tiny foot, the finest of broadcloth, reported wealth, +and perfect good humor constitute the ingredients which make up "a +love of a man." Added to this, he really did possess a good share of +common sense, and with the right kind of influence would have made a +far different man from what he was. Self-love was the bane of his +life, and as he liked dearly to be flattered, so he in turn became a +most consummate flatterer; always, however, adapting his remarks to +the nature of the person with whom he was conversing. Thus to Nellie +Kennedy he said a thousand foolish things, just because he knew he +gratified her vanity by doing so. Although possessing the reputation +of a wealthy man, J.C. was far from being one, and his great object +was to secure a wife who, while not distasteful to him, still had +money enough to cover many faults, and such a one he fancied Nellie +Kennedy to be. From Mrs. Kelsey he had received the impression that +the doctor was very rich, and as Nellie was the only daughter, her +fortune would necessarily be large. To be sure, he would rather she +had been a little more sensible, but as she was not he resolved to +make the best of it, and although claiming to be something of an +invalid in quest of health, it was really with the view of asking +her to be his wife that he had come to Laurel Hill. He had first +objected to his cousin accompanying him--not for fear of rivalry, +but because he disliked what he might say of Nellie, for if there +was a person in the world whose opinion he respected, and whose +judgment he honored, it was his Cousin James. + +Wholly unlike J.C. was James, and yet he was quite as popular, for +one word from him was more highly prized by scheming mothers and +artful young girls than the most complimentary speech that J.C. ever +made. He meant what he said; and to the kindest, noblest of hearts +he added a fine commanding person, a finished education, and a +quiet, gentlemanly manner, to say nothing of his unbounded wealth, +and musical voice, whose low, deep tones had stirred the +heart-strings of more than one fair maiden in her teens, but stirred them +in vain, for James De Vere had never seen the woman he wished to +call his wife; and now, at the age of twenty-six, he was looked upon +as a confirmed old bachelor, whom almost anyone would marry, but +whom no one ever could. He had come to Laurel Hill because Mrs. +Kelsey had asked him so to do, and because he thought it would be +pleasant to spend a few weeks in that part of the country. + +Of Maude's existence he knew nothing, and when at last supper was +announced, and he followed his cousin to the dining room, he started +in surprise as his eye fell on the dark-eyed girl who, with a +heightened bloom upon her cheek, presided at the table with so much +grace and dignity. Whether intentionally or not, we cannot say, but +Nellie failed to introduce her stepsister, and as Mrs. Kelsey was +too much absorbed in looking at her pretty niece, and in talking to +her brother, to notice the omission, Maude's position would have +been peculiarly embarrassing but for the gentlemanly demeanor of +James, who, always courteous, particularly to those whom he thought +neglected, bowed politely, and made to her several remarks +concerning the fineness of the day and the delightful view which +Laurel Hill commanded of the surrounding country. She was no menial, +he knew, and looking in her bright, black eyes he saw that she had +far more mind than the dollish Nellie, who, as usual, was provoking +J.C. to say all manner of foolish things. + +As they were returning to the parlor J.C. said to Nellie: "By the +way, Nell, who is that young girl in white, and what is she doing +here?" + +"Why, that's Maude Remington, my stepsister," answered Nellie. "I'm +sure you've heard me speak of her." + +J.C. was sure he hadn't; but he did not contradict the little lady, +whose manner plainly indicated that any attention paid by him to the +said Maude would be resented as an insult to herself. Just then Mrs. +Kelsey went upstairs, taking her niece with her; and as Dr. Kennedy +had a patient to visit he, too, asked to be excused, and the young +men were left alone. The day was warm, and sauntering out beneath +the trees they sat down upon a rustic seat which commanded a view of +the dining room, the doors and windows of which were open, +disclosing to view all that was transpiring within. + +"In the name of wonder, what's that?" exclaimed J.C., as he saw a +curiously shaped chair wheeling itself, as it were, into the room. + +"It must be Dr. Kennedy's crippled boy," answered James, as Louis +skipped across the floor on crutches and climbed into the chair +which Maude carefully held for him. + +Louis did not wish to eat with the strangers until somewhat +acquainted, consequently he waited until they were gone, and then +came to the table, where Maude stood by his side, carefully +ministering to his wants, and assisting him into his chair when he +was through. Then, pushing back her curls, and donning the check +apron which Nellie so much abhorred, she removed the dishes herself, +for old Hannah she knew was very tired, having done an unusual +amount of work that day. + +"I tell you what, Jim, I wouldn't wonder if that's the very one for +you," said J.C., puffing leisurely at his cigar, and still keeping +his eyes fixed upon the figure in white, as if to one of his +fastidious taste there was nothing very revolting in seeing Maude +Remington wash the supper dishes, even though her hands were brown +and her arms a little red. + +James did not answer immediately, and when he did he said: "Do you +remember a little girl we met in the cars between Springfield and +Albany, several years ago when we were returning from school? She +was a funny little black-eyed creature, and amused us very much with +her remarks." + +"I wouldn't wonder if I remembered her," returned J.C., "for didn't +she say I looked as if I didn't mean for certain? I tell you what it +is, Jim, I've thought of the speech more than a thousand times when +I've been saying things I did not mean to foolish girls and their +mammas. But what reminded you of her?" + +"If I mistake not, that child and the young lady yonder are one and +the same. You know she told us her name was Maude Remington, and +that the naughty man behind us wasn't her father, and she didn't +like him a bit, or something like that." + +"And I honor her judgment both in his case and mine," interrupted +J.C., continuing, after a moment: "The old fellow looks as that man +did. I guess you are right. I mean to question 'Cuffee' on the +subject," and he beckoned to John, who was passing at no great +distance. + +"Sambo," said he, as the negro approached, "who is that young lady +using the broom-handle so vigorously?" and he pointed to Maude, who +was finishing her domestic duties by brushing the crumbs from the +carpet. + +"If you please, sar, my name is John," answered the African, +assuming a dignity of manner which even J.C. respected. + +"Be it John, then," returned the young man, "but tell us how long +has she lived here, and where did she come from?" + +Nothing pleased John better than a chance to talk of Maude, and he +replied: "She came here twelve years ago this very month with that +little blue-eyed mother of hern, who is lyin' under them willers in +the graveyard. We couldn't live without Miss Maude. She's all the +sunshine thar is about the lonesome old place. Why, she does +everything, from takin' care of her crippled half-brother to mendin' +t'other one's gownd." + +"And who is t'other one?" asked J.C., beginning to feel greatly +interested in the negro's remarks. + +"T'other one," said John, "is Miss Nellie, who won't work for fear +of silin' her hands, which some fool of a city chap has made her +b'lieve are so white and handsome," and a row of ivory was just +visible, as, leaning against a tree, John watched the effect of his +words upon "the fool of a city chap." + +J.C. was exceedingly good-natured, and tossing his cigar into the +grass he replied, "You don't mean me, of course; but tell us more of +this Maude, who mops the floor and mends Nellie's dresses." + +"She don't mop the floor," muttered John. "This nigger wouldn't let +her do that--but she does mend Nellie's gownds, which I wouldn't do, +if I's worth as much money as she is!" + +If J.C. had been interested before, he was doubly interested now, +and coming nearer to John he said: "Money, my good fellow! Is Maude +an heiress?" + +"She aint nothin' else," returned John, who proceeded to speak of +Janet and her generous gift, the amount of which he greatly +exaggerated. "Nobody knows how much 'tis," said he: "but everybody +s'poses that will and all it must be thirty or forty thousand," and +as the doctor was just then seen riding into the yard John walked +away to attend to his master's horse. + +"Those butter and cheese men do accumulate money fast," said J.C., +more to himself than to his companion, who laughingly replied, "It +would be funny if you should make this Maude my cousin instead of +Nellie. Let me see--Cousin Nellie--Cousin Maude. I like the sound of +the latter the best, though I am inclined to think she is altogether +too good for a mercenary dog like you." + +"Pshaw!" returned J.C., pulling at the maple leaves which grew above +his head, "I hope you don't think I'd marry a rude country girl for +her money. No, give me la charmant Nellie, even though she cannot +mend her dress, and you are welcome to Cousin Maude, the milkman's +heiress." + +At that moment Mrs. Kelsey and Nellie appeared upon the stoop, and +as Maude was no longer visible the young gentlemen returned to the +parlor, where J.C. asked Nellie to favor him with some music. Nellie +liked to play, for it showed her white hands to advantage, and +seating herself at the piano she said: "I have learned a new song +since I saw you, but Maude must sing the other part--maybe, though, +I can get along without her." + +This last was said because she did not care to have Maude in the +parlor, and she had inadvertently spoken of her singing. The young +men, however, were not as willing to excuse her, and Maude was +accordingly sent for. She came readily, and performed her part +without the least embarrassment, although she more than once half +paused to listen to the rich, full tones of James' voice, for he was +an unusually fine singer; Maude had never heard anything like it +before, and when the song was ended the bright, sparkling eyes which +she turned upon him told of her delight quite as eloquently as words +could have done. + +"You play, I am sure, Miss Remington," he said, as Nellie arose from +the stool. + +Maude glanced at her red hands, which J.C. would be sure to notice, +then feeling ashamed to hesitate for a reason like this, she +answered, "Yes, sometimes," and taking her seat she played several +pieces, keeping admirable time, and giving to the music a grace and +finish which Nellie had often tried in vain to imitate. + +"Mr. De Vere did not expect you to play all night," called out the +envious girl, who, not satisfied with having enticed J.C. from the +piano, wished James to join her also. + +"She is merely playing at my request," said Mr. De Vere, "but if it +is distasteful to Miss Kennedy, we will of course desist," and +bending low he said a few words of commendation to Maude, whose +heart thrilled to the gentle tones of his voice, just as many +another maiden's had done before. Mr. De Vere was exceedingly +agreeable, and so Maude found him to be, for feeling intuitively +that she was somewhat slighted by the overbearing Nellie, he devoted +himself to her entirely, talking first of books, then of music, and +lastly of his home, which, without any apparent boasting, he +described as a most beautiful spot. + +For a long time that night did Louis wait for his sister in his +little bed, and when at last she came to give him her accustomed +kiss he pushed the thick curls from off her face and said, "I never +saw you look so happy, Maude. Do you like that Mr. De Vere?" + +"Which one?" asked Maude. "There are two, you know." + +"Yes, I know," returned Louis, "but I mean the one with the voice. +Forgive me, Maude, but I sat ever so long at the head of the stairs, +listening as he talked. He is a good man, I am sure. Will you tell +me how he looks?" + +Maude could not well describe him. She only knew that he was taller +than J.C., and, as she thought, much finer looking, with deep blue +eyes, dark brown hair, and a mouth just fitted to his voice. Farther +than this she could not tell. "But you will see him in the morning," +she said. "I have told him how gifted, how good, you are, and +to-morrow, he says, he shall visit you in your den." + +"Don't let the other one come," said Louis hastily, "for if he can't +endure red hands he'd laugh at my withered feet and the bunch upon +my back; but the other one won't, I know." + +Maude knew so too, and somewhat impatiently she waited for the +morrow, when she could introduce her brother to her friend. The +morrow came, but, as was frequently the case, Louis was suffering +from a severe pain in his back, which kept him confined to his room, +so that Mr. De Vere neither saw him at all nor Maude as much as he +wished to do. He had been greatly interested in her, and when at +dinner he heard that she would not be down he was conscious of a +feeling of disappointment. She was not present at supper either, but +after it was over she joined him in the parlor, and, together with +J.C. and Nellie, accompanied him to the graveyard, where, seating +herself upon her mother's grave, she told him of that mother, and +the desolation which crept into her heart when first she knew she +was an orphan. From talking of her mother it was an easy matter to +speak of her Vernon home, which she had never seen since she left it +twelve years before, and then Mr. De Vere asked if she had met two +boys in the cars on her way to Albany. At first Maude could not +recall them, and when at last she did so her recollections were so +vague that Mr. De Vere felt another pang of disappointment, though +wherefore he could not tell, unless indeed, he thought there would +be something pleasant in being remembered twelve long years by a +girl like Maude Remington. He reminded her of her remark made to his +cousin, and in speaking of him casually alluded to his evident +liking for Nellie, saying playfully, "Who knows, Miss Remington, but +you may some time be related to me--not my cousin exactly, though +Cousin Maude sounds well. I like that name." + +"I like it too," she said impulsively, "much better than Miss +Remington, which seems so stiff." + +"Then let me call you so. I have no girl cousin in the world," and +leaning forward he put back from her forehead one of her short, +glossy curls, which had been displaced by the evening breeze. + +This was a good deal for him to do. Never before had he touched a +maiden's tresses, and he had no idea that it would make his fingers +tingle as it did. Still, on the whole, he liked it, and half-wished +the wind would blow those curls over the upturned face again, but it +did not, and he was about to make some casual remark when J.C., who +was not far distant, called out, "Making love, I do believe!" + +The speech was sudden, and grated harshly on James' ear. Not because +the idea of making love to Maude was utterly distasteful, but +because he fancied she might be annoyed, and over his features there +came a shadow, which Maude did not fail to observe. + +"He does not wish to be teased about me," she thought, and around +the warm spot which the name of "Cousin Maude" had made within her +heart there crept a nameless chill--a fear that she had been +degraded in his eyes. "I must go back to Louis," she said at last, +and rising from her mother's grave she returned to the house, +accompanied by Mr. De Vere, who walked by her side in silence, +wondering if she really cared for J.C.'s untimely joke. + +James De Vere did not understand the female heart, and wishing to +relieve Maude from all embarrassment in her future intercourse with +himself, he said to her as they reached the door: "My Cousin Maude +must not mind what J.C. said, for she knows it is not so." + +"Certainly not," was Maude's answer, as she ran upstairs, hardly +knowing whether she wished it were or were not so. + +One thing, however, she knew. She liked to have him call her Cousin +Maude; and when Louis asked what Mr. De Vere had said beneath the +willows she told him of her new name, and asked if he did not like +it. + +"Yes," he answered, "but I'd rather you were his sister, for then +maybe he'd call me brother, even if I am a cripple. How I wish I +could see him, and perhaps I shall to-morrow." + +But on the morrow Louis was so much worse that in attending to him +Maude found but little time to spend with Mr. De Vere, who was to +leave them that evening. When, however, the carriage which was to +take him away stood at the gate, she went down to bid him good-by, +and ask him to visit them again. + +"I shall be happy to do so," he said; and then, as they were +standing alone together, he continued: "Though I have not seen as +much of you as I wished, I shall remember my visit at Laurel Hill +with pleasure. In Hampton there are not many ladies for whose +acquaintance I particularly care, and I have often wished that I had +some female friend with whom I could correspond, and thus while away +some of my leisure moments. Will my Cousin Maude answer me if I +should some time chance to write to her mere friendly, cousinly +letters, of course?" + +This last he said because he mistook the deep flush on Maude's cheek +for an unwillingness to do anything which looked at all like "making +love." + +"I will write," was all Maude had a chance to say ere Nellie joined +them, accompanied by J.C., who had not yet terminated his visit at +Laurel Hill, and as soon as his cousin left he intended removing to +the hotel, where he would be independent of Dr. Kennedy, and at the +same time, devote himself to the daughter or stepdaughter, just as +he should feel inclined. + +Some such idea might have intruded itself upon the mind of James, +for, when at parting he took his cousin's hand, he said, "You have +my good wishes for your success with Nellie, but--" + +"But not with t'other one, hey?" laughingly rejoined J.C., adding +that James need have no fears, for there was not the slightest +possibility of his addressing the milkman's heiress. + +Alas for J.C.'s honesty! Even while he spoke there was treachery in +his saucy eyes, for the milkman's heiress, as he called her, was not +to him an object of dislike, and when, after the carriage drove +away, he saw the shadows on her face, and suspected their cause, he +felt a strong desire that his departure might affect her in a +similar manner. That evening, too, when Nellie sang to him his +favorite song, he kept one ear turned toward the chamber above, +where, in a low, sweet voice, Maude Remington sang her suffering +brother to sleep. + +The next morning he removed to the hotel, saying he should probably +remain there during the summer, as the air of Laurel Hill was highly +conducive to his rather delicate health; but whether he meant the +invigorating breeze which blew front the surrounding hills, or an +heir of a more substantial kind, time and our story will show. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE MILKMAN'S HEIRESS. + + +Mr. De Vere had been gone four weeks. Louis had entirely recovered +from his illness, and had made the acquaintance of J.C., with whom +he was on the best of terms. Almost every bright day did the young +man draw the little covered wagon through the village, and away to +some lovely spot, where the boy artist could indulge in his favorite +occupation--that of sketching the familiar objects around him. At +first Nellie accompanied them in these excursions; but when one day +her aunt, who still remained at Laurel Hill, pointed out to her a +patch of sunburn and a dozen freckles, the result of her outdoor +exercise, she declared her intention of remaining at home +thereafter--a resolution not altogether unpleasant to J.C., as by +this means Maude was more frequently his companion. + +If our readers suppose that to a man of J.C.'s nature there was +anything particularly agreeable in thus devoting himself to a +cripple boy they are mistaken, for Louis Kennedy might have remained +indoors forever had it not been for the sunny smile and look of +gratitude which Maude Remington always gave to J.C. De Vere when he +came for or returned with her darling brother. Insensibly the +domestic virtues and quiet ways of the black-haired Maude were +winning a strong hold upon J.C.'s affections, and still he had never +seriously thought of making her his wife. He only, knew that he +liked her, that he felt very comfortable where she was, and very +uncomfortable where she was not; that the sound of her voice singing +in the choir was the only music he heard on the Sabbath day, and +though Nellie in her character of soprano ofttimes warbled like a +bird, filling the old church with melody, he did not heed it, so +intent was he in listening to the deeper, richer notes of her who +sang the alto, and whose fingers swept the organ keys with so much +grace and beauty. + +And Maude! within her bosom was there no interest awakened for one +who thought so much of her? Yes, but it was an interest of a +different nature from his. She liked him, because he was so much +more polite to her than she had expected him to be, and more than +all, she liked him for his kindness to her brother, never dreaming +that for her sake alone those kindly acts were done. Of James De +Vere she often thought, repeating sometimes to herself the name of +Cousin Maude, which had sounded so sweetly to her ear when he had +spoken it. His promise she remembered, too, and as often as the mail +came in, bringing her no letter, she sighed involuntarily to think +she was forgotten. Not forgotten, Maude, no, not forgotten, and when +one afternoon, five weeks after James' departure J.C. stood at her +side, he had good reason for turning his eyes away from her truthful +glance, for he knew of a secret wrong done to her that day. There +had come to him that morning a letter from James, containing a note +for Maude, and the request that he would hand it to her. + +"I should have written to her sooner," James wrote, "but mother's +illness and an unusual amount of business prevented me from doing +so. 'Better late than never,' is, however, a good motto at times, +and I intrust the letter to you, because I would save her from any +gossip which an open correspondence with me might create." + +For James De Vere to write to a young girl was an unheard-of +circumstance, and the sight of that note aroused in J.C.'s bosom a +feeling of jealousy lest the prize he now knew he coveted should be +taken from him. No one but himself should write to Maude Remington, +for she was his, or rather she should be his. The contents of that +note might be of the most ordinary kind, but for some reason +undefinable to himself he would rather she should not see it yet, +and though it cost him a struggle to deal thus falsely with both, he +resolved to keep it from her until she had promised to be his wife. +He never dreamed it possible that she could tell him no, he had been +so flattered and admired by the city belles; and the only point +which troubled him was what his fashionable friends would say when +in place of the Nellie whose name had been so long associated with +his, he brought to them a Maude fresh from the rural districts, with +naught in her disposition save goodness, purity, and truth. They +would be surprised, he knew, but she was worth a thousand of them +all, and then with a glow of pride he thought how his tender love +and care would shield her from all unkind remarks, and how he would +make himself worthy of such a treasure. + +This was the nobler, better part of J.C.'s nature, but anon a more +sordid feeling crept in, and he blushed to find himself wondering +how large her fortune really was! No one knew, save the lawyers and +the trustee to whose care it had been committed, and since he had +become interested in her he dared not question them lest they should +accuse him of mercenary motives. Was it as large as Nellie's? He +wished he knew, while at the same time he declared to himself that +it should make no difference. The heart which had withstood so many +charms was really interested at last, and though he knew both Mrs. +Kelsey and her niece would array themselves against him, he was +prepared to withstand the indignation of the one and the opposition +of the other. + +So perfectly secure was Nellie in J.C.'s admiration for herself, +that she failed to see his growing preference for Maude, whom she +frequently ridiculed in his presence, just because she thought he +would laugh at it, and think her witty. But in this she was +mistaken, for her ridicule raised Maude higher in his estimation, +and he was glad when at last an opportunity occurred for him to +declare his intentions. + +For a week or more Nellie and a few of the young people of the +village had been planning a picnic to the lake, and the day was +finally decided upon. Nellie did not ask J.C. if he were going; she +expected it as a matter of course, just as she expected that Maude +would stay at home to look after Louis and the house. But J.C. had +his own opinion of the matter, and when the morning came he found it +very convenient to be suffering from a severe headache which would +not permit him to leave his bed, much less to join the pleasure +party. + +"Give my compliments to Miss Kennedy," he said to the young man who +came to his door, "and tell her I cannot possibly go this morning, +but will perhaps come down this afternoon." + +"Mr. De Vere not going! I can't believe it!" and the angry tears +glittered in Nellie's blue eyes when she heard the message he had +sent her. + +"Not going!" exclaimed Mrs. Kelsey, while even Maude sympathized in +the general sorrow, for her hands had prepared the repast, and she +had taken especial pains with the pies which Mr. De Vere liked the +best, and which, notwithstanding his dislike to kitchen odors, he +had seen her make, standing at her elbow and complimenting her +skill. + +Nellie was in favor of deferring the ride, but others of the party, +who did not care so much for Mr. De Vere's society objected, and +poutingly tying on her hat, the young lady took her seat beside her +aunt, who was scarcely less chagrined than herself at their +disappointment. + +Meanwhile, from behind his paper curtains J.C. looked after the +party as they rode away, feeling somewhat relieved when the blue +ribbons of Nellie's hat disappeared from view. For appearance's sake +he felt obliged to keep his room for an hour or more, but at the end +of that time he ventured to feel better, and dressing himself with +unusual care he started for Dr. Kennedy's, walking very slowly, as +became one suffering from a nervous headache, as he was supposed to +be. Maude had finished her domestic duties, and in tasteful gingham +morning-gown, with the whitest of linen collars upon her neck, she +sat reading alone at the foot of the garden beneath a tall cherry +tree where John had built her a rough seat of boards. This was her +favorite resort, and here J.C. found her, so intent upon her book as +not to observe his approach until he stood before her. She seemed +surprised to see him, and made anxious inquiries concerning his +headache, which he told her was much better. "And even if it were +not," said he, seating himself at her feet; "even if it were not, +the sight of you, looking so bright, so fresh, and so neat, would +dissipate it entirely," and his eyes, from which the saucy, wicked +look was for the moment gone, rested admiringly upon her face. + +His manner was even more pointed than his words, and coloring +crimson, Maude replied, "You are disposed to be complimentary, Mr. +De Vere." + +"I am disposed for once to tell the truth," he answered. "All my +life long I have acted a part, saying and doing a thousand foolish +things I did not mean, just because I thought it would please the +senseless bubbles with whom I have been associated. But you, Maude +Remington, have brought me to my senses, and determined me to be a +man instead of a fool. Will you help me, Maude, in this resolution?" +and seizing both her hands he poured into her astonished ear his +declaration of love, speaking so rapidly and so vehemently as al +most to take her breath away, for she had never expected a scene +like this. + +She had looked upon him as one who would undoubtedly be her sister's +husband, and the uniform kindness with which he had treated her, she +attributed to his exceeding good nature; but to be loved by him, by +J.C. De Vere, who had been sought after by the fairest ladies in the +land, she could not believe possible, and with mingled feelings of +pleasure, pain, and gratified vanity she burst into tears. + +Very gently J.C. wiped her tears away, and sitting down beside her +he said, "The first time I ever saw you, Maude, you told me 'I did +not look as if I meant for certain,' and you were right, for all my +life has been a humbug; but I mean 'for certain' now. I love you, +Maude, love you for the very virtues which I have so often affected +to despise, and you must make me what J.C. De Vere ought to be. Will +you, Maude? Will you be my wife?" + +To say Maude was not gratified that this man of fashion should +prefer her to all the world would be an untruth, but she could not +then say "Yes," for another, and a more melodious voice was still +ringing in her ear, and she saw in fancy a taller, nobler form than +that of him who was pressing her to answer. + +"Not yet, Mr. De Vere," she said. "Not yet. I must have time to +think. It has come upon me so suddenly, so unexpectedly, for I have +always thought of you as Nellie's future husband, and my manners are +so different from what you profess to admire." + +"'Twas only profession, Maude," he said, and then, still holding her +closely to him, he frankly and ingenuously gave her a truthful +history of his life up to the time of his first acquaintance with +Nellie, of whom he spoke kindly, saying she pleased him better than +most of his city friends, and as he began really to want a wife he +had followed her to Laurel Hill, fully intending to offer her the +heart which, ere he was aware of it, was given to another. "And now, +I cannot live without you," he said. "You must be mine. Won't you, +Maude? I will be a good husband. I will take lessons of Cousin +James, who is called a pattern man." + +The mention of that name was unfortunate, and rising to her feet, +Maude replied: "I cannot answer you now, Mr. De Vere. I should say +No, if I did, I am sure, and I would rather think of it a while." + +He knew by her voice that she was in earnest, and kissing her hand +he walked rapidly away, his love increasing in intensity with each +step he took. He had not expected anything like hesitancy. Everyone +else had met his advances at least halfway, and Maude's indecision +made him feel more ardent than he otherwise might have been. + +"What if she should refuse me?" he said, as he paced up and down his +room, working himself up to such a pitch of feeling that when that +afternoon Nellie on the lake shore was waiting impatiently his +coming he on his pillow was really suffering all the pangs of a +racking headache, brought on by strong nervous excitement. "What if +she should say No?" he kept repeating to himself, and at last, +maddened by the thought, he arose, and dashing off a wild rambling +letter, was about sending it by a servant, when he received a note +from her, for an explanation of which we will go back an hour or so +in our story. + +In a state of great perplexity Maude returned to the house, and +seeking out her brother, the only person to whom she could go for +counsel, she told him of the offer she had received, and asked him +what he thought. In most respect Louis was far older than his years, +and he entered at once into the feelings of his sister. + +"J.C. De Vere proposed to you!" he exclaimed. "What will Nellie +say?" + +"If I refuse, she never need to know of it," answered Maude, and +Louis continued: "They say he is a great catch, and wouldn't it be +nice to get him away from everybody else. But what of the other De +Vere? Don't you like him the best?" + +Maude's heart beat rapidly, and the color on her cheek deepened to a +brighter hue as she replied, "What made you think of him?" + +"I don't know," was Louis' answer, "only when he was here I fancied +you were pleased with him, and that he would suit you better than +J.C." + +"But he don't like me," said Maude. "He don't like any woman well +enough to make her his wife," and she sighed deeply as she thought +of his broken promise and the letter looked for so long. + +"Maude," said Louis suddenly, "men like J.C. De Vere sometimes marry +for money, and maybe he thinks your fortune larger than it is. Most +everybody does." + +That Maude was more interested in J.C. De Vere than she supposed was +proved by the earnestness with which she defended him from all +mercenary motives. + +"He knows Nellie's fortune is much larger than my own," she said; +"and by preferring me to her he shows that money is not his motive." + +Still Louis' suggestion troubled her, and by way of testing the +matter she sat down at once and wrote him a note, telling him +frankly how much she had in her own name and how much in expectancy. +This note she sent to him by John, who, naturally quick-witted, read +a portion of the truth in her tell-tale face, and giving a loud +whistle in token of his approbation he exclaimed, "This nigger'll +never quit larfin' if you gets him after all Miss Nellie's nonsense, +and I hopes you will, for he's a heap better chap than I s'posed, +though I b'lieve I like t'other one the best!" + +Poor Maude! That other one seemed destined to be continually thrust +upon her, but resolving to banish him from her mind as one who had +long since ceased to think of her, she waited impatiently, for a +reply to her letter. + +Very hastily J.C. tore it open, hoping, believing, that it contained +the much desired answer. "I knew she could not hold out against me--no +one ever did," he said; but when he read the few brief lines, he +dashed it to the floor with an impatient "Pshaw!" feeling a good +deal disappointed that she had not said Yes and a very little +disappointed that the figures were not larger! + +"Five thousand dollars the 20th of next June, and five thousand more +when that old Janet dies; ten thousand in all. Quite a handsome +property, if Maude could have it at once. I wonder if she's healthy, +this Mrs. Hopkins," soliloquized J.C., until at last a new idea +entered his mind, and striking his fist upon the table he exclaimed, +"Of course she will. Such people always do, and that knocks the will +in head!" and J.C. De Vere frowned wrathfully upon the little +imaginary Hopkinses who were to share the milkman's fortune with +Maude. + +Just then a girlish figure was seen beneath the trees in Dr. +Kennedy's yard, and glancing at the white cape bonnet J.C. knew that +it was Maude, the sight of whom drove young Hopkins and the will +effectually from his mind. "He would marry her, anyway," he said, +"five thousand dollars was enough;" and donning his hat he started +at once for the doctor's. Maude had returned to the house, and was +sitting with her brother when the young man was announced. Wholly +unmindful of Louis' presence, he began at once by asking "if she +esteemed him so lightly as to believe that money could make any +difference whatever with him." + +"It influences some men," answered Maude, "and though you may like +me--" + +"Like you, Maude Remington!" he exclaimed; "like is a feeble word. I +worship you, I love the very air you breathe, and you must be mine. +Will you, Maude?" + +J.C. had never before been so much in earnest, for never before had +he met with the least indecision, and he continued pleading his +cause so vehemently that Louis, who was wholly unprepared for so +stormy a wooing, stopped his ears and whispered to his sister, "Tell +him Yes, before he drives me crazy!" + +But Maude felt that she must have time for sober, serious +reflection; J.C. was not indifferent to her, and the thought was +very soothing that she who had never aspired to the honor had been +chosen from all others to be his wife. He was handsome, agreeable, +kind-hearted, and, as she believed, sincere in his love for her. And +still there was something lacking. She could not well tell what, +unless, indeed, she would have him more like James De Vere. + +"Will you answer me?" J.C. said, after there had been a moment's +silence, and in his deep black eyes there was a truthful, earnest +look wholly unlike the wicked, treacherous expression usually hidden +there. + +"Wait a while," answered Maude, coming to his side and laying her +hand upon his shoulder. "Wait a few days, and I most know I shall +tell you Yes. I like you, Mr. De Vere, and if I hesitate it is +because--because--I really don't know what, but something keeps +telling me that our engagement may be broken, and if so, it had +better not be made." + +There was another storm of words, and then, as Maude still seemed +firm in her resolution to do nothing hastily, J.C. took his leave. +As the door closed after him, Louis heaved a deep sigh of relief, +and, turning to his sister, said: "I never heard anything like it; I +wonder if James would act like that!" + +"Louis," said Maude, but ere Louis could reply she had changed her +mind, and determined not to tell him that James De Vere alone stood +between her and the decision J.C. pleaded for so earnestly. So she +said: "Shall I marry J.C. De Vere?" + +"Certainly, if you love him," answered Louis. "He will take you to +Rochester away from this lonesome house. I shall live with you more +than half the time, and--" + +Here Louis was interrupted by the sound of wheels. Mrs. Kelsey and +Nellie had returned from the Lake, and bidding her brother say +nothing of what he had heard, Maude went down to meet them. Nellie +was in the worst of humors. "Her head was aching horridly--she had +spent an awful day--and J.C. was wise in staying at home." + +"How is he?" she asked, "though of course you have not seen him." + +Maude was about to speak when Hannah, delighted with a chance to +disturb Nellie, answered for her. "It's my opinion that headache was +all a sham, for you hadn't been gone an hour, afore he was over here +in the garden with Maude, where he stayed ever so long. Then he came +agen this afternoon, and hasn't but jest gone." + +Nellie had not sufficient discernment to read the truth of this +assertion in Maude's crimson cheeks, but Mrs. Kelsey had, and very +sarcastically she said: "Miss Remington, I think, might be better +employed than in trying to supplant her sister." + +"I have not tried to supplant her, madam," answered Maude, her look +of embarrassment giving way to one of indignation at the unjust +accusation. + +"May I ask, then, if Mr. De Vere has visited you twice to-day, and +if so, what was the object of those visits?" continued Mrs. Kelsey, +who suddenly remembered several little incidents which had +heretofore passed unheeded, and which, now that she recalled them to +mind, proved that J.C. De Vere was interested in Maude. + +"Mr. De Vere can answer for himself, and I refer you to him," was +Maude's reply, as she walked away. + +Nellie began to cry. "Maude had done something," she knew, "and it +wouldn't be a bit improper for a woman as old as Aunt Kelsey to go +over and see how Mr. De Vere was, particularly as by this means she +might find out why he had been there so long with Maude." + +Mrs. Kelsey was favorably impressed with this idea, and after +changing her dusty dress and drinking a cup of tea she started for +the hotel. J.C. was sitting near the window, watching anxiously for +a glimpse of Maude when his visitor was announced. Seating herself +directly opposite him, Mrs. Kelsey inquired after his headache, and +then asked how he had passed the day. + +"Oh, in lounging, generally," he answered, while she continued, +"Hannah says you spent the morning there, and also a part of the +afternoon. Was my brother at home?" + +"He was not. I went to see Maude," J.C. replied somewhat stiffly, +for he began to see the drift of her remarks. + +Mrs. Kelsey hesitated a moment, and then proceeded to say that "J.C. +ought not to pay Miss Remington much attention, as she was very +susceptible and might fancy him in earnest." + +"And suppose she does?" said J.C., determining to brave the worst. +"Suppose she does?" + +Mrs. Kelsey was very uncomfortable, and coughing a little she +replied, "It is wrong to raise hopes which cannot be realized, for +of course you have never entertained a serious thought of a low +country girl like Maude Remington." + +There had been a time when a remark like this from the fashionable +Mrs. Kelsey would have banished any girl from J.C.'s mind, for he +was rather dependent on the opinion of others, but it made no +difference now, and, warming up in Maude's defense, he replied, "I +assure you, madam, I have entertained serious thoughts toward Miss +Remington, and have this day asked her to be my wife." + +"Your wife!" almost screamed the high-bred Mrs. Kelsey. "What will +your city friends--What will Nellie say?" + +"Confound them all, I don't care what they, say," and J.C. drove his +knife-blade into the pine table, while he gave his reasons for +having chosen Maude in preference to Nellie, or anyone else he had +ever seen. "There's something to her," said he, "and with her for my +wife I shall make a decent man. What would Nellie and I do together--when +neither of us know anything--about business, I mean," he +added, while Mrs. Kelsey rejoined, "I always intended that you would +live with me, and I had that handsome suite of rooms arranged +expressly for Nellie and her future husband. I have no children, and +my niece will inherit my property." + +This, under some circumstances, would have strongly tempted the +young man; nay, it might perchance have tempted him then, had not +the deep tones of the organ at that moment have reached his ear. It +was the night when Maude usually rehearsed for the coming Sabbath, +and soon after her interview with her sister she had gone to the +church where she sought to soothe her ruffled spirits by playing a +most plaintive air. The music was singularly soft and sweet, and the +heart of J.C. De Vere trembled to the sound, for he knew it was +Maude who played--Maude, who out-weighed the tempting bait which +Mrs. Kelsey offered, and with a magnanimity quite astonishing to +himself he answered, "Poverty with Maude, rather than riches with +another!" + +"Be it so, then," was Mrs. Kelsey's curt reply, "but when in the +city you blush at your bride's awkwardness don't expect me to lend a +helping hand, for Maude Remington cannot by me be recognized as an +equal," and the proud lady swept from the room, wearing a deeply +injured look, as if she herself had been refused instead of her +niece. + +"Let me off easier than I supposed," muttered J.C., as he watched +her cross the street and enter Dr. Kennedy's gate. "It will be +mighty mean, though, if she does array herself against my wife, for +Madam Kelsey is quoted everywhere, and even Mrs. Lane, who lives +just opposite, dare not open her parlor blinds until assured by +ocular demonstration that Mrs. Kelsey's are open too. Oh, fashion, +fashion, what fools you make of your votaries! I am glad that I for +one dare break your chain and marry whom I please," and feeling more +amiably disposed toward J.C. De Vere than he had felt for many a +day, the young man started for the church, where to his great joy he +found Maude alone. + +She was not surprised to see him, nay, she was half expecting him, +and the flush which deepened on her cheek as he came to her side +showed that his presence was not unwelcome. Human nature is the same +everywhere, and though Maude was perhaps as free from its weaknesses +as almost anyone, the fact that her lover was so greatly coveted by +others increased rather than diminished her regard for him, and when +he told her what had passed between himself and Mrs. Kelsey, and +urged her to give him a right to defend her against that haughty +woman's attacks by engaging herself to him at once, she was more +willing to tell him Yes than she had been in the morning. Thoughts +of James De Vere did not trouble her now--he had ceased to remember +her ere this--had never been more interested in her than in any +ordinary acquaintance, and so, though she knew she could be happier +with him than with the one who with his arm around her waist was +pleading for her love, she yielded at last, and in that dim old +church, with the summer moonlight stealing up the dusky aisles, she +promised to be the wife of J.C. De Vere on her eighteenth birthday. + +Very pleasant now it seemed sitting there alone with him in the +silent church. Very pleasant walking with him down the quiet street, +and when her chamber was reached, and Louis, to whom she told her +story, whispered in her ear, "I am glad that is so," she thought it +very nice to be engaged, and was conscious of a happier, more +independent feeling than she had ever known before. It seemed so +strange that she, an unpretending country girl, had won the heart +that many a city maiden had tried in vain to win, and then with a +pang she thought of Nellie, wondering what excuse she could render +her for having stolen J.C. away. + +"But he will stand between us," she said; "he will shield me from +her anger," and grateful for so potent a protector, she fell asleep, +dreaming alas, not of J.C., but of him who called her Cousin Maude, +and whose cousin she really was to be. + +J.C. De Vere, too, had dreams of a dark-eyed girl, who, in the +shadowy church, with the music she had made still vibrating on the +ear, had promised to be his. Dreams, too, he had of a giddy throng +who scoffed at the dark-eyed girl, calling her by the name which he +himself had given her. It was not meet, they said, that he should +wed the "Milkman's Heiress," but with a nobleness of soul unusual in +him, he paid no heed to their remarks, and folded the closer to his +heart the bride which he had chosen. + +Alas! that dreams so often prove untrue. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE ENGAGEMENT, REAL AND PROSPECTIVE. + + +To her niece Mrs. Kelsey had communicated the result of her +interview with J.C., and that young lady had fallen into a violent +passion, which merged itself at last into a flood of tears, and +ended finally in strong hysterics. While in this latter condition +Mrs. Kelsey deemed it necessary to summon her brother, to whom she +narrated the circumstances of Nellie's illness. To say that the +doctor was angry would but feebly express the nature of his +feelings. He had fully expected that Nellie would be taken off his +hands, and he had latterly a very good reason for wishing that it +might be so. + +Grown-up daughters, he knew, were apt to look askance at +stepmothers, and if he should wish to bring another there he would +rather that Nellie should be out of the way. So he railed at the +innocent Maude, and after exhausting all the maxims which would at +all apply to that occasion, he suggested sending for Mr. De Vere and +demanding an explanation. But this Mrs. Kelsey would not suffer. + +"It will do no good," she said, "and may make the matter worse by +hastening the marriage. I shall return home to-morrow, and if you do +not object shall take your daughter with me, to stay at least six +months, as she needs a change of scene. I can, if necessary, +intimate to my friends that she has refused J.C., who, in a fit of +pique, has offered himself to Maude, and that will save Nellie from +all embarrassment. He will soon tire of his new choice, and then--" + +"I won't have him if he does," gasped Nellie, interrupting her aunt--"I +won't have anybody who has first proposed to Maude. I wish she'd +never come here, and if pa hadn't brought that woman--" + +"Helen!" and the doctor's voice was very stern, for time had not +erased from his heart all love for the blue-eyed Matty, the gentle +mother of the offending Maude, and more than all, the mother of his +boy--"Helen, that woman was my wife, and you must not speak +disrespectfully of her." + +Nellie answered by a fresh burst of tears, for her own conscience +smote her for having spoken thus lightly of one who had ever been +kind to her. + +After a moment Mrs. Kelsey resumed the conversation by suggesting +that, as the matter could not now be helped, they had better say +nothing, but go off on the morrow as quietly as possible, leaving +J.C. to awake from his hallucination, which she was sure he would do +soon, and follow them to the city. This arrangement seemed wholly +satisfactory to all parties, and though Nellie declared she'd never +again speak to Jed De Vere, she dried her tears, and retiring to +rest, slept quite as soundly as she had ever done in her life. + +The next morning when Maude as usual went down to superintend the +breakfast, she was surprised to hear from Hannah that Mrs. Kelsey +was going that day to Rochester, and that Nellie was to accompany +her. + +"Nobody can 'cuse me," said Hannah, "of not 'fillin' Scriptur' +oncet, whar it says `them as has ears to hear, let 'em hear,' for I +did hear 'em a-talkin' last night of you and Mr. De Vere, and I tell +you they're ravin' mad to think you'd cotched him; but I'm glad +on't. You desarves him, if anybody. I suppose that t'other chap aint +none of your marryin' sort," and unconscious of the twinge her last +words had inflicted Hannah carried the coffee-urn to the dining +room, followed by Maude, who was greeted with dark faces and +frowning looks. + +Scarcely a word was spoken during breakfast, and when after it was +over Maude offered to assist Nellie in packing her trunks, the +latter answered decisively, "You've done enough, I think." + +A few moments afterward J.C.'s voice was heard upon the stairs. He +had come over to see the "lioness and her cub," as he styled Mrs. +Kelsey and her niece, whose coolness was amply atoned for by the +bright, joyous glance of Maude, to whom he whispered softly, "Won't +we have glorious times when they are gone!" + +Their projected departure pleased him greatly, and he was so very +polite and attentive that Nellie relented a little, and asked how +long he intended remaining at Laurel Hill, while even Mrs. Kelsey +gave him her hand at parting, and said, "Whenever you recover from +your unaccountable fancy I shall be glad to see you." + +"You'll wait some time, if you wait for that," muttered J.C., as he +returned to the house in quest of Maude, with whom he had a long and +most delightful interview, for old Hannah, in unusually, good +spirits, expressed her willingness to see to everything, saying to +her young mistress, "You go along now and court a spell. I reckon I +haint done forgot how I and Crockett sot on the fence in old +Virginny and heard the bobolinks a-singin'." + +Old Hannah was waxing sentimental, and with a heightened bloom upon +her cheeks Maude left her to her memories of Crockett and the +bobolinks, while she went back to her lover. J.C. was well skilled +in the little, delicate acts which tend to win and keep a woman's +heart, and in listening to his protestations of love Maude forgot +all else, and abandoned herself to the belief that she was perfectly +happy. Only once did her pulses quicken as they would not have done +had her chosen husband been all that she could wish, and that was +when he said to her, "I wrote to James last night, telling him of my +engagement. He will congratulate me, I know, for he was greatly +pleased with you." + +Much did Maude wonder what James would say, and it was not long ere +her curiosity was gratified; for scarcely four days were passed when +J.C. brought to her an unsealed note, directed to "Cousin Maude." + +"I have heard from Jim," he said, "and he is the best fellow in the +world. Hear what he says of you," and from his own letter he read, +"I do congratulate you upon your choice. Maude Remington is a noble +creature--so beautiful, so refined, and withal so pure and good. +Cherish her, my cousin, as she ought to be cherished, and bring her +some time to my home, which will never boast so fair a mistress." + +"I'm so glad he's pleased," said J.C. "I would rather have his +approval than that of the whole world. But what! Crying, I do +believe!" and turning Maude's face to the light he continued, "Yes, +there are tears on your eyelashes. What is the matter?" + +"Nothing, nothing," answered Maude, "only I am so glad your +relatives like me." + +J.C. was easily deceived, so was Maude--and mutually believing that +nothing was the matter, J.C. drummed on the piano, while Maude tore +open the note which James had written to her. It seemed so strange +to think he wrote it, and Maude trembled violently, while the little +red spots came out all over her neck and face as she glanced at the +words, "My dear Cousin Maude." + +It was a kind, affectionate note, and told how the writer would +welcome and love her as his cousin, while at the same time it chided +her for not having answered the letter sent some weeks before. +"Perhaps you did not deem it worthy of an answer," he wrote, "but I +was sadly disappointed in receiving none, and now that you are +really to be my cousin I shall expect you to do better, and treat me +as if I had an existence. J.C. must not monopolize you wholly, for I +shall claim a share of you for myself." + +Poor, poor Maude! She did not feel the summer air upon her brow--did +not hear the discordant notes which J.C. made upon the piano, for +her whole soul was centered on the words, "sadly disappointed," +"love you as my cousin," and "claim a share of you for myself." + +Only for a moment, though, and then recovering her composure she +said aloud, "What does he mean? I never received a note." + +"I know it, I know it," hastily spoke J.C., and coming to her side +he handed her the soiled missive, saying, "It came a long time ago, +and was mislaid among my papers, until this letter recalled it to my +mind. There is nothing in it of any consequence, I dare say, and had +it not been sealed I might, perhaps, have read it, for as the doctor +says, `It's a maxim of mine that a wife should have no secrets from +her husband,' hey, Maude?" and he caressed her burning cheek, as she +read the note which, had it been earlier received, might have +changed her whole after life. + +And still it was not one-half as affectionate in its tone as was the +last, for it began with, "Cousin Maude" and ended with "Yours +respectfully," but she knew he had been true to his promise, and +without a suspicion that J.C. had deceived her she placed the +letters in her pocket, to be read again when she was alone, and +could measure every word and sentiment. + +That afternoon when she went to her chamber to make some changes in +her dress she found herself standing before the mirror much longer +than usual, examining minutely the face which James De Vere had +called beautiful. + +"He thought so, or he would not have said it; but it is false," she +whispered; "even J.C. never called me handsome;" and taking out the +note that day received, she read it again, wondering why the name +"Cousin Maude" did not sound as pleasantly as when she first heard +it. + +That night as she sat with Louis in her room she showed the letters +to him, at the same time explaining the reason why one of them was +not received before. + +"Oh, I am so glad," said Louis, as he finished reading them, "for +now I know that James De Vere don't like you." + +"Don't like me, Louis!" and in Maude's voice there was a world of +sadness. + +"I mean," returned Louis, "that he don't love you for anything but a +cousin. I like J.C. very, very much, and I am glad you are to be his +wife; but I've sometimes thought that if you had waited the other +one would have spoken, for I was almost sure he loved you, but he +don't, I know; he couldn't be so pleased with your engagement, nor +write you so affectionately if he really cared." + +Maude hardly knew whether she were pleased or not with Louis' +reasoning. It was true, though, she said, and inasmuch as James did +not care for her, and she did not care for James, she was very glad +she was engaged to J.C.! And with reassured confidence in herself +she sat down and wrote an answer to that note, a frank, impulsive, +Maude-like answer, which, nevertheless, would convey to James De +Vere no idea how large a share of that young girl's thoughts were +given to himself. + +The next day there came to Maude a letter bearing the Canada +postmark, together with the unmistakable handwriting of Janet +Hopkins. Maude had not heard of her for some time, and very eagerly +she read the letter, laughing immoderately, and giving vent to +sudden exclamations of astonishment at its surprising intelligence. +Janet was a mother!--"a livin' mother to a child born out of due +season," so the delighted creature wrote, "and what was better than +all, it was a girl, and the Sunday before was baptized as Maude +Matilda Remington Blodgett Hopkins, there being no reason," she +said, "why she shouldn't give her child as many names as the Queen +of England hitched on to hers, beside that it was not at all likely +that she would ever have another, and so she had improved this +opportunity, and named her daughter in honor of Maude, Matty, Harry, +and her first husband Joel. But," she wrote, "I don't know what +you'll say when I tell you that my old man and some others have made +me believe that seein' I've an heir of my own flesh and blood, I +ought to change that will of mine, so I've made another, and if +Maude Matilda dies you'll have it yet. T'other five thousand is +yours, anyway, and if I didn't love the little wudget as I do, I +wouldn't have changed my will; but natur' is natur'." + +Scarcely had Maude finished reading this letter when J.C. came in, +and she handed it to him. He did not seem surprised, for he had +always regarded the will as a doubtful matter; but in reality he was +a little chagrined, for five thousand was only half as much as ten. +Still his love for Maude was, as yet, stronger than his love for +money, and he only laughed heartily at the string of names which +Janet had given to her offspring, saying, "It was a pity it hadn't +been a boy, so she could have called him Jedediah Cleishbotham." + +"He does not care for my money," Maude thought, and her heart went +out toward him more lovingly than it had ever done before, and her +dark eyes filled with tears when he told her, as he ere long did, +that he must leave the next day, and return to Rochester. + +"The little property left me by my mother needs attention, so my +agent writes me," he said, "and now the will has gone up, and we are +poorer than we were before by five thousand dollars, it is necessary +that I should bestir myself, you know." Maude could not tell why it +was that his words affected her unpleasantly, for she knew he was +not rich, and she felt that she should respect him more if he really +did bestir himself, but still she did not like his manner when +speaking of the will, and her heart was heavy all the day. He, on +the contrary, was in unusually good spirits. He was not tired of +Maude, but he was tired of the monotonous life at Laurel Hill, and +when his agent's summons came it found him ready to go. That for +which he had visited Laurel Hill had in reality been accomplished. +He had secured a wife, not Nellie, but Maude, and determining to do +everything honorable, he on the morning of his departure went to the +doctor, to whom he talked of Maude, expressing his wish to marry +her. Very coldly the doctor answered that "Maude could marry whom +she pleased. It was a maxim of his never to interfere with matches," +and then, as if the subject were suggestive, he questioned the young +man to know if in his travels he had ever met the lady Maude +Glendower. J.C. had met her frequently at Saratoga. + +"She was a splendid creature," he said, and he asked if the doctor +knew her. + +"I saw her as a child of seventeen, and again as a woman of twenty-five. +She is forty now," was the doctor's answer, as he walked away, +wondering if the Maude Glendower of to-day were greatly changed from +the Maude of fifteen years ago. + +To J.C.'s active mind a new idea was presented, and seeking out the +other Maude--his Maude--he told her of his suspicion. There was a +momentary pang, a thought of the willow-shaded grave where Kate and +Matty slept, and then Maude Remington calmly questioned J.C. of +Maude Glendower--who she was, and where did she live? + +J.C. knew but little of the lady, but what little he knew he told. +She was of both English and Spanish descent. Her friends, he +believed, were nearly all dead, and she was alone in the world. +Though forty years of age, she was well preserved, and called a +wondrous beauty. She was a belle--a flirt--a spinster, and was +living at present in Troy. + +"She'll never marry the doctor," said Maude, laughing, as she +thought of an elegant woman leaving the world of fashion to be +mistress of that house. + +Still the idea followed her, and when at last J.C. had bidden her +adieu, and gone to his city home, she frequently found herself +thinking of the beautiful Maude Glendower, whose name, it seemed to +her, she had heard before, though when or where she could not tell. +A strange interest was awakened in her bosom for the unknown lady, +and she often wondered if they would ever meet. The doctor thought +of her, too--thought of her often, and thought of her long, and as +his feelings toward her changed, so did his manner soften toward the +dark-haired girl who bore her name, and who he began at last to +fancy resembled her in more points than one. Maude was ceasing to be +an object of perfect indifference to him. She was an engaged young +lady, and as such, entitled to more respect than he was wont to pay +her, and as the days wore on he began to have serious thoughts of +making her his confidant and counselor in a matter which he would +never have intrusted to Nellie. + +Accordingly, one afternoon when he found her sitting upon the +piazza, he said, first casting an anxious glance around to make sure +no one heard him: "Maude, I wish to see you alone a while." + +Wonderingly Maude followed him into the parlor, where her +astonishment was in no wise diminished by his shutting the blinds, +dropping the curtains, and locking the door! Maude began to tremble, +and when he drew his chair close to her side, she started up, +alarmed. "Sit down--sit down," he whispered; "I want to tell you +something, which you must never mention in the world. You certainly +have some sense, or I should not trust you. Maude, I am going--that +is, I have every reason to believe--or rather, I should say perhaps--well, +anyway, there is a prospect of my being married." + +"Married!--to whom?" asked Maude. + +"You are certain you'll never tell, and that there's no one in the +hall," said the doctor, going on tip-toe to the door, and assuring +himself there was no one there. Then returning to his seat, he told +her a strange story of a marvellously beautiful young girl, with +Spanish fire in her lustrous eyes, and a satin gloss on her +blue-black curls. + +Her name was Maude Glendower, and years ago she won his love, +leading him on and on until at last he paid her the highest honor a +man can pay a woman--he offered her his heart, his hand, his name. +But she refused him--scornfully, contemptuously, refused him, and he +learned afterward that she had encouraged him for the sake of +bringing another man to terms!--and that man, whose name the doctor +never knew, was a college student not yet twenty-one. + +"I hated her then," said he, "hated this Maude Glendower, for her +deception; but I could not forget her, and after Katy died I sought +her again. She was the star of Saratoga, and no match for me. This I +had sense enough to see, so I left her in her glory, and three years +after married your departed mother. Maude Glendower has never +married, and at the age of forty has come to her senses, and +signified her willingness to become my wife--or, that is to say, I +have been informed by my sister that she probably would not refuse +me a second time. Now, Maude Remington, I have told you this because +I must talk with someone, and as I before remarked, you are a girl +of sense, and will keep the secret. It is a maxim of mine, when +anything is to be done, to do it; so I shall visit Miss Glendower +immediately, and if I like her well enough I shall marry her at +once. Not while I am gone, of course, but very soon. I shall start +for Troy one week from to-day, and I wish you would attend a little +to my wardrobe; it's in a most lamentable condition. My shirts are +all worn out, my coat is rusty, and last Sunday I discovered a hole +in my pantaloons--" + +"Dr. Kennedy," exclaimed Maude, interrupting him, "you surely do not +intend to present yourself before the fastidious Miss Glendower with +those old shabby clothes. She would say No sooner than she did +before. You must have an entire new suit. You can afford it, too, +for you have not had one since mother died." + +Dr. Kennedy was never in a condition to be so easily coaxed as now. +Maude Glendower had a place in his heart, which no other woman bad +ever held, and that very afternoon the village merchant was +astonished at the penurious doctor's inquiring the prices of the +finest broadcloth in his store. It seemed a great deal of money to +pay, but Maude Remington at his elbow and Maude Glendower in his +mind conquered at last, and the new suit was bought, including vest, +hat, boots, and all. There is something in handsome clothes very +satisfactory to most people, and the doctor, when arrayed in his, +was conscious of a feeling of pride quite unusual to him. On one +point, however, he was obstinate, "he would not spoil them by +wearing them on the road, when he could just as well dress at the +hotel." + +So Maude, between whom and himself there was for the time being +quite an amicable understanding, packed them in his trunk, while +Hannah and Louis looked on wondering what it could mean. + +"The Millennial is comin', or else he's goin' a-courtin'," said +Hannah, and satisfied that she was right she went back to the +kitchen, while Louis, catching at once at her idea, began to cry, +and laying his head on his sister's lap begged of her to tell him if +what Hannah had said were true. + +To him it seemed like trampling on the little grave beneath the +willows, and it required all Maude's powers of persuasion to dry his +tears and soothe the pain which every child must feel when first +they know that the lost mother, whose memory they so fondly cherish, +is to be succeeded by another. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +MAUDE GLENDOWER. + + +She was a most magnificent looking woman, as she sat within her +richly furnished room on that warm September night, now gazing idly +dawn the street and again bending her head to catch the first sound +of footsteps on the stairs. Personal preservation had been the great +study of her life, and forty years had not dimmed the luster of her +soft, black eyes, or woven one thread of silver among the luxuriant +curls which clustered in such profusion around her face and neck. +Gray hairs and Maude Glendower had nothing in common, and the fair, +round cheek, the pearly teeth, the youthful bloom, and white, +uncovered shoulders seemed to indicate that time had made an +exception in her favor, and dropped her from its wheel. + +With a portion of her history the reader is already acquainted. +Early orphaned, she was thrown upon the care of an old aunt who, +proud of her wondrous beauty, spared no pains to make her what +nature seemed to will that she should be, a coquette and a belle. At +seventeen we find her a schoolgirl in New Haven, where she turned +the heads of all the college boys, and then murmured because one, a +dark-eyed youth of twenty, withheld from her the homage she claimed +as her just due. In a fit of pique she besieged a staid, handsome +young M.D. of twenty-seven, who had just commenced to practice in +the city, and who, proudly keeping himself aloof from the college +students, knew nothing of the youth she so much fancied. Perfectly +intoxicated with her beauty, he offered her his hand, and was +repulsed. Overwhelmed with disappointment and chagrin, he then left +the city, and located himself at Laurel Hill, where now we find him +the selfish, overbearing Dr. Kennedy. + +But in after years Maude Glendower was punished for that act. The +dark-haired student she so much loved was wedded to another, and +with a festering wound within her heart she plunged at once into the +giddy world of fashion, slaying her victims by scores, and exulting +as each new trophy of her power was laid at her feet. She had no +heart, the people said, and with a mocking laugh she thought of the +quiet grave 'mid the New England hills, where, one moonlight night +two weeks after that grave was made, she had wept such tears as were +never wept by her again. Maude Glendower had loved, but loved in +vain; and now, at the age of forty, she was unmarried and alone in +the wide world. The aunt, who had been to her a mother, had died a +few months before, and as her annuity ceased with her death Maude +was almost wholly destitute. The limited means she possessed would +only suffice to pay her, board for a short time, and in this dilemma +she thought of her old lover, and wondered if he could again be won. +He was rich, she had always heard, and as his wife she could still +enjoy the luxuries to which she had been accustomed. She knew his +sister,--they had met in the salons of Saratoga,--and though it hurt +her pride to do it, she at last signified her willingness to be +again addressed. + +It was many weeks ere Dr. Kennedy conquered wholly his olden grudge, +but conquered it he had, and she sat expecting him on the night when +first we introduced her to our readers. He had arrived in Troy on +the western train, and written her a note announcing his intention +to visit her that evening. For this visit Maude Glendower had +arrayed herself with care, wearing a rich silk dress of crimson and +black--colors well adapted to her complexion. + +"He saw me at twenty-five. He shall not think me greatly changed +since then," she said, as over her bare neck and arms she threw an +exquisitely wrought mantilla of lace. + +The Glendower family had once been very wealthy, and the last +daughter of the haughty race glittered with diamonds which had come +to her from her great-grandmother, and had been but recently reset. +And there she sat, beautiful Maude Glendower--the votary of fashion--the +woman of the world--sat waiting for the cold, hard, overbearing +man who thought to make her his wife. A ring at the door, a heavy +tread upon the winding stairs, and the lady rests her head upon her +hand, so that her glossy curls fall over, but do not conceal her +white, rounded arm, where the diamonds are shining. + +"I could easily mistake him for my father," she thought, as a +gray-haired man stepped into the room, where he paused an instant, +bewildered with the glare of light and the display of pictures, +mirrors, tapestry, rosewood, and marble, which met his view. + +Mrs. Berkley, Maude Glendower's aunt, had stinted herself to gratify +her niece's whims, and their surroundings had always been of the +most expensive kind, so it was not strange that Dr. Kennedy, +accustomed only to ingrain carpet and muslin curtains, was dazzled +by so much elegance. With a well-feigned start the lady arose to her +feet, and going to his side offered him her hand, saying, "You are +Dr. Kennedy, I am sure. I should have known you anywhere, for you +are but little changed." + +She meant to flatter his self-love, though, thanks to Maude +Remington for having insisted upon the broadcloth suit, he looked +remarkably well. + +"She had not changed at all," he said, and the admiring gaze he +fixed upon her argued well for her success. It becomes us not to +tell how that strange wooing sped. Suffice it to say that at the +expiration of an hour Maude Glendower had promised to be the wife of +Dr. Kennedy when another spring should come. She had humbled herself +to say that she regretted her girlish freak, and he had so far +unbent his dignity as to say that he could not understand why she +should be willing to leave the luxuries which surrounded her and go +with him, a plain, old-fashioned man. Maude Glendower scorned to +make him think that it was love which actuated her, and she replied, +"Now that my aunt is dead, I have no natural protector. I am alone +and want a home." + +"But mine is so different," he said. "There are no silk curtains +there, no carpets such as this--" + +"Is Maude Remington there?" the lady asked, and in her large black +eyes there was a dewy tenderness, as she pronounced that name. + +"Maude Remington!--yes," the doctor answered. "Where did you hear of +her? My sister told you, I suppose. Yes, Maude is there. She has +lived with me ever since her mother died. You would have liked +Matty, I think," and the doctor felt a glow of satisfaction in +having thus paid a tribute to the memory of his wife. + +"Is Maude like her mother?" the lady asked; a glow upon her cheek, +and the expression of her face evincing the interest she felt in the +answer. + +"Not at all," returned the doctor. "Matty was blue-eyed and fair, +while Maude is dark, and resembles her father, they say." + +The white jeweled hands were clasped together, for a moment, and +then Maude Glendower questioned him of the other one, Matty's child +and his. Very tenderly the doctor talked of his unfortunate boy, +telling of his soft brown hair, his angel face, and dreamy eyes. + +"He is like Matty," the lady said, more to herself than her +companion, who proceeded to speak of Nellie as a paragon of +loveliness and virtue. "I shan't like her, I know," the lady +thought, "but the other two," how her heart bounded at the thoughts +of folding them to her bosom. + +Louis Kennedy, weeping that his mother was forgotten, had nothing to +fear from Maude Glendower, for a child of Matty Remington was a +sacred trust to her, and when as the doctor bade her good-night he +said again, "You will find a great contrast between your home and +mine," she answered, "I shall be contented if Maude and Louis are +there." + +"And Nellie, too," the doctor added, unwilling that she should be +overlooked. + +"Yes, Nellie too," the lady answered, the expression of her mouth +indicating that Nellie too was an object of indifference to her. + +The doctor is gone, his object is accomplished, and at the Mansion +House near by he sleeps quietly and well. But the lady, Maude +Glendower, oh, who shall tell what bitter tears she wept, or how in +her in-most soul she shrank from the man she had chosen. And yet +there was nothing repulsive in him, she knew. He was fine-looking,--he +stood well in the world,--he was rich while she was poor. But not +for this alone had she promised to be his wife. To hold Maude +Remington within her arms, to look into her eyes, to call his +daughter child, this was the strongest reason of them all. And was +it strange that when at last she slept she was a girl again, looking +across the college green to catch a glimpse of one whose +indifference had made her what she was, a selfish, scheming, +cold-hearted woman. + +There was another interview next morning, and then the doctor left +her, but not until with her soft hand in his, and her shining eyes +upon his face, she said to him, "You think your home is not a +desirable one for me. Can't you fix it up a little? Are there two +parlors, and do the windows come to the floor? I hope your carriage +horses are in good condition, for I am very fond of driving. Have +you a flower garden? I anticipate much pleasure in working among the +plants. Oh, it will be so cool and nice in the country. You have an +ice-house, of course." + +Poor doctor! Double parlors, low windows, ice-house, and flower +garden he had none, while the old carryall had long since ceased to +do its duty, and its place was supplied by an open buggy, drawn by a +sorrel nag. But Maude Glendower could do with him what Katy and +Matty could not have done, and after his return to Laurel Hill he +was more than once closeted with Maude, to whom he confided his plan +of improving the place, asking her if she thought the profits of +next year's crop of wheat and wool would meet the whole expense. +Maude guessed at random that it would, and as money in prospect +seems not quite so valuable as money in hand, the doctor finally +concluded to follow out Maude Glendower's suggestions, and greatly +to the surprise of the neighbors, the repairing process commenced. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +HOW THE ENGAGEMENTS PROSPERED. + + +The October sun had painted the forest trees with the gorgeous tints +of autumn and the November winds had changed them to a more sober +hue ere J.C. De Vere came again to Laurel Hill. Very regularly he +wrote to Maude--kind, loving letters, which helped to cheer her +solitary life. Nellie still remained with Mrs. Kelsey, and though +she had so far forgiven her stepsister as to write to her +occasionally, she still cherished toward her a feeling of animosity +for having stolen away her lover. + +On his return to Rochester J.C. De Vere had fully expected that his +engagement would be the theme of every tongue, and he had prepared +himself for the attack. How, then, was he surprised to find that no +one had the least suspicion of it, though many joked him for having +quarreled with Nellie as they were sure he had done, by his not +returning when she did. + +Mrs. Kelsey had changed her mind and resolved to say nothing of an +affair which she was sure would never prove to be serious, and the +result showed the wisdom of her proceeding. No one spoke of Maude to +J.C., for no one knew of her existence, and both Mrs. Kelsey, and +Nellie, whom he frequently met, scrupulously refrained from +mentioning her name. At first he felt annoyed, and more than once +was tempted to tell of his engagement, but as time wore on and he +became more and more interested in city gayeties, he thought less +frequently of the dark-eyed Maude, who, with fewer sources of +amusement, was each day thinking more and more of him. Still, he was +sure he loved her, and one morning near the middle of November, when +he received a letter from her saying, "I am sometimes very lonely, +and wish that you were here," he started up with his usual +impetuosity, and ere he was fully aware of his own intentions he +found himself ticketed for Canandaigua, and the next morning Louis +Kennedy, looking from his window and watching the daily stage as it +came slowly up the hill, screamed out, "He's come--he's come!" + +A few moments more and Maude was clasped in J.C.'s arms. Kissing her +forehead, her cheek, and her lips, he held her off and looked to see +if she had changed. She had, and he knew it. Happiness and +contentment are more certain beautifiers than the most powerful +cosmetics, and under the combined effects of both Maude was greatly +improved. She was happy in her engagement, happy in the increased +respect it brought her from her friends, and happy, too, in the +unusual kindness, of her stepfather. All this was manifest in her +face, and for the first time in his life J.C. told her she was +beautiful. + +"If you only had more manner, and your clothes were fashionably +made, you would far excel the city girls," he said, a compliment +which to Maude seemed rather equivocal. + +When he was there before he had not presumed to criticise her style +of dress, but he did so now, quoting the city belles until, half in +earnest, half in jest, Maude said to him, "If you think so much of +fashion, you ought not to marry a country girl." + +"Pshaw!" returned J.C. "I like you all the better for dressing as +you please, and still I wish you could acquire a little city polish, +for I don't care to have my wife the subject of remark. If Maude +Glendower comes in the spring, you can learn a great deal of her +before the 20th of June." + +Maude colored deeply, thinking for the first time in her life that +possibly J.C. might be ashamed of her, but his affectionate caresses +soon drove all unpleasant impressions from her mind, and the three +days that he stayed with her passed rapidly away. He did not mention +the will, but he questioned her of the five thousand which was to be +hers on her eighteenth birthday, and vaguely, hinted that he might +need it to set himself up in business. He had made no arrangements +for the future, he said, there was time enough in the spring, and +promising to be with her again during the holidays, he left her +quite uncertain as to whether she were glad he had visited her or +not. + +The next; day she was greatly comforted by a long letter from James, +who wrote occasionally, evincing so much interest in "Cousin Maude" +that he always succeeded in making her cry, though why she could not +tell, for his letters gave her more real satisfaction than did those +of J.C., fraught as the latter were with protestations of constancy +and love. Slowly dragged the weeks, and the holidays were at hand, +when she received a message from J.C., saying he could not possibly +come as he had promised. No reason was given for this change in his +plan, and with a sigh of disappointment Maude turned to a letter +from Nellie, received by the same mail. After dwelling at length +upon the delightful time she was having in the city, Nellie spoke of +a fancy ball to be given by her aunt during Christmas week. Mr. De +Vere was to be "Ivanhoe," she said, and she to be "Rowena." + +"You don't know," she wrote, "how interested J.C. is in the party. +He really begins to appear more as he used to do. He has not +forgotten you, though, for he said the other day you would make a +splendid Rebecca. It takes a dark person for that, I believe!" + +Maude knew the reason now why J.C. could not possibly come, and the +week she had, anticipated so much seemed dreary, enough, +notwithstanding it was enlivened by a box of oranges and figs from +her betrothed, and a long, affectionate letter from James De Vere, +who spoke of the next Christmas, saying he meant she should spend it +at Hampton. + +"You will really be my cousin then," he wrote, "and I intend +inviting yourself and husband to pass the holidays with us. I want +my mother to know you, Maude. She will like you, I am sure, for she +always thinks as I do." + +This letter was far more pleasing to Maude's taste than were the +oranges and figs, and: Louis was suffered to monopolize the latter--a +privilege which he appreciated, as children usually do. After the +holidays J.C. paid a flying visit to Laurel Hill, where his presence +caused quite as much pain as pleasure, so anxious he seemed to +return. Rochester could not well exist without him, one would +suppose, from hearing him talk of the rides he planned, the surprise +parties he man--aged, and the private theatricals of which he was +the leader. + +"Do they pay you well for your services?" Louis asked him once, when +wearying of the same old story. + +J.C. understood the hit, and during the remainder of his stay was +far less egotistical than he would otherwise have been. After his +departure there ensued an interval of quiet, which, as spring +approached, was broken by the doctor's resuming the work of repairs, +which had been suspended during the coldest weather. The partition +between the parlor and the large square bedroom was removed; +folding-doors were made between; the windows were cut down; a carpet +was bought to match the one which Maude had purchased the summer +before; and then, when all was done, the doctor was seized with a +fit of the blues, because it had cost so much. But he could afford +to be extravagant for a wife like Maude Glendower, and trusting much +to the wheat crop and the wool, he started for Troy about the middle +of March, fully expecting to receive from the lady a decisive answer +as to when she would make them both perfectly happy! + +With a most winning smile upon her lip and a bewitching glance in +her black eyes, Maude Glendower took his hand in hers and begged for +a little longer freedom. + +"Wait till next fall," she said; "I must go to Saratoga one more +summer. I shall never be happy if I don't, and you, I dare say, +wouldn't enjoy it a bit." + +The doctor was not so sure of that. Her eyes, her voice, and the +soft touch of her hand made him feel very queer; and he was almost +willing to go to Saratoga himself if by these means he could secure +her. + +"How much do they charge?" he asked; and, with a flash of her bright +eyes, the lady answered, "I suppose both of us can get along with +thirty or forty dollars a week, including everything; but that isn't +much, as I don't care to stay more than two months!" + +This decided the doctor. He had not three hundred dollars to throw +away, and so he tried to persuade his companion to give up Saratoga +and go with him to Laurel Hill, telling her, as an inducement, of +the improvements he had made. + +"There were two parlors now," he said, "and with her handsome +furniture they would look remarkably well." + +She did not tell him that her handsome furniture was mortgaged for +board and borrowed money--neither did she say that her object in +going to Saratoga was to try her powers upon a rich old Southern +bachelor who had returned from Europe, and who she knew was to pass +the coming summer at the Springs. If she could secure him Dr. +Kennedy might console himself as best he could, and she begged so +hard to defer their marriage until the autumn that the or gave up +the contest, and with a heavy heart prepared to turn his face +homeward. + +"You need not make any more repairs until I come; I'd rather see to +them myself," Miss Glendower said at parting; and wondering what +further improvements she could possibly suggest, now that the parlor +windows were all right, the doctor bade her adieu, and started for +home. + +Hitherto Maude had been his confidant, keeping her trust so well +that no one at Laurel Hill knew, exactly what his intentions were, +and, as was very, natural, immediately after his return he went to +her for sympathy in his disappointment. He found her weeping +bitterly, and ere he could lay before her his own grievances she +appealed to him for sympathy and aid. The man to whom her money was +intrusted had speculated largely, loaning some of it out West, at +twenty per cent., investing some in doubtful railroad stocks, and +experimenting with the rest, until by some unlucky chance he lost +the whole, and, worse than all, had nothing of his own with which to +make amends. In short, Maude was penniless, and J.C. De Vere in +despair. She had written to him immediately, and he had come, +suggesting nothing, offering no advice, and saying nothing at first, +except that "the man was mighty mean, and he had never liked his +looks." + +After a little, however, he rallied somewhat, and offered the +consolatory remark that "they were in a mighty bad fix. I'll be +honest," said he, "and confess that I depended upon that money to +set me up in business. I was going to shave notes, and in order to +do so I must have some ready, capital. It cramps me," he continued, +"for, as a married man, my expenses will necessarily be more than +they now are." + +"We can defer our marriage," sobbed Maude, whose heart throbbed +painfully with every word he uttered. "We can defer our marriage a +while, and possibly a part of my fortune may be regained--or, if you +wish it, I will release you at once. You need not wed a penniless +bride," and Maude hid her face in her hands while she awaited the +answer to her suggestion. J.C. De Vere did love Maude Remington +better than anyone he had ever seen, and though he caught eagerly at +the marriage deferred, he was not then willing to give her up, and, +with one of his impetuous bursts, he exclaimed, "I will not be +released, though it may be wise to postpone our bridal day for a +time, say until Christmas next, when I hope to be established in +business," and, touched by the suffering expression of her white +face, he kissed her tears away and told her how gladly he would work +for her, painting "love in a cottage," with nothing else there, +until he really made himself believe that he could live on bread and +water with Maude, provided she gave him the lion's share! + + J.C.'s great faults were selfishness, indolence, and love of money, +and Maude's loss affected him deeply; still, there was no redress, +and playfully bidding her "not to cry for the milkman's spilled +milk," he left her on the very day when Dr. Kennedy returned. Maude +knew J.C. was keenly disappointed; that he was hardly aware what he +was saying, and she wept for him rather than for the money. + +Dr. Kennedy could offer no advice--no comfort. It had always been a +maxim of his not to make that man her guardian; but women would do +everything wrong, and then, as if his own trials were paramount to +hers, he bored her with the story of his troubles, to which she +simply answered, "I am sorry;" and this was all the sympathy either +gained from the other! + +In the course of a few days Maude received a long letter from James +De Vere. He had heard from J.C. of his misfortune, and very tenderly +he strove to comfort her, touching at once upon the subject which he +naturally supposed lay heaviest upon her heart. The marriage need +not be postponed, he said; there was room in his house and a place +in his own and his mother's affections for their "Cousin Maude." She +could live there as well as not. Hampton was only half an hour's +ride from Rochester, and J. G., who had been admitted at the bar, +could open an office in the city until something better presented. + +"Perhaps I may set him up in business myself," he wrote. "At all +events, dear Maude, you need not dim the brightness of your eyes by +tears, for all will yet be well. Next June shall see you a bride, +unless your intended husband refuse my offer, in which case I may +divine something better." + +"Noble man," was Maude's exclamation, as she finished reading the +letter, and if at that moment the two cousins rose up in contrast +before her mind, who can blame her for awarding the preference to +him who had penned those lines, and who thus kindly strove to remove +from her pathway every obstacle to her happiness. + +James De Vere was indeed a noble-hearted man. Generous, kind, and +self-denying, he found his chief pleasure in doing others good, and +he had written both to Maude and J.C. just as the great kindness of +his heart had prompted him to write. He did not then know that he +loved Maude Remington, for he had never fully analyzed the nature of +his feelings toward her. He knew he admired her very much, and when +he wrote the note J.C. withheld he said to himself, "If she answers +this, I shall write again--and again, and maybe"--he did not exactly +know what lay beyond the "maybe," so he added, "we shall be very +good friends." + +But the note was not answered, and when his cousin's letter came, +telling him of the engagement, a sharp, quick pang shot through his +heart, eliciting from him a faint outcry, which caused his mother, +who was present, to ask what was the matter. + +"Only a sudden pain," he answered, laying his hand upon his side. + +"Pleurisy, perhaps," the practical mother rejoined, and supposing +she was right he placed the letter in his pocket and went out into +the open air. It had grown uncomfortably warm, he thought, while the +noise of the falling fountain in the garden made his head ache as it +had never ached before; and returning to the house he sought his +pleasant library. But not a volume in all those crowded shelves had +power to interest him then, and with a strange disquiet he wandered +from room to room, until at last, as the sun went down, he laid his +throbbing temples upon his pillow, and in his feverish dreams saw +again the dark-eyed Maude sitting on her mother's grave, her face +upturned to him, and on her lip the smile that formed her greatest +beauty. + +The next morning the headache was gone, and with a steady hand he +wrote to his cousin and Maude congratulations which he believed +sincere. That J.C. was not worthy of the maiden he greatly feared, +and he resolved to have a care of the young man, and try to make him +what Maude's husband ought to be, and when he heard of her +misfortune he stepped forward with his generous offer, which J.C. +instantly refused. + +"He never would take his wife to live upon his relatives, he had too +much pride for that, and the marriage must be deferred. A few months +would make no difference. Christmas was not far from June, and by +that time he could do something for himself." + +Thus he wrote to James, who mused long upon the words, "A few months +will make no difference," thinking within himself, "If I were like +other men, and was about to marry Maude, a few months would make a +good deal of difference, but everyone to their mind." Four weeks +after this he went one day to Canandaigua on business, and having an +hour's leisure ere the arrival of the train which would take him +home he sauntered into the public parlor of the hotel. Near the +window, at the farther extremity of the room, a young girl was +looking out upon the passers-by. Something in her form and dress +attracted his attention, and he was approaching the spot where she +stood when the sound of his footsteps caught her ear, and turning +round she disclosed to view the features of Maude Remington. + +"Maude!" he exclaimed, "this is indeed a surprise. I must even claim +a cousin's right to kiss you," and taking both her hands in his, he +kissed her blushing cheek--coyly--timidly--for James De Vere was +unused to such things, and not quite certain, whether under the +circumstances it were perfectly proper for him to do so or not. + +Leading her to the sofa, he soon learned that she had come to the +village to trade, and having finished her shopping was waiting for +her stepfather, who had accompanied her. + +"And what of J.C.?" he asked, after a moment's silence. "Has he been +to visit you more than once since the crisis, as he calls it?" + +Maude's eyes filled with tears, for J.C.'s conduct was not wholly +satisfactory to her. She remembered his loud protestations of utter +disregard for her money, and she could not help thinking how little +his theory and practice accorded. He had not been to see her since +his flying visit in March, and though he had written several times +his letters had contained little else save complaints against their +"confounded luck." She could not tell this to James De Vere, and she +replied, "He is very busy now, I believe, in trying to make some +business arrangement with the lawyer in whose office he formerly +studied." + +"I am glad he has roused himself at last," answered James; "he would +not accept my offer, for which I am sorry, as I was anticipating +much happiness in having my Cousin Maude at Hampton during the +summer. You will remain at home, I suppose." + +"No," said Maude hesitatingly; "or, that is, I have serious thoughts +of teaching school, as I do not like to be dependent on Dr. +Kennedy." + +James De Vere had once taught school for a few weeks by way of +experiment, and now as he recalled the heated room, the stifling +atmosphere, the constant care, and more than all, the noisy shout of +triumph which greeted his ear on that memorable morning when he +found himself fastened out, and knew his rule was at an end, he +shuddered at the thought of Maude's being exposed to similar +indignities, and used all his powers of eloquence to dissuade her +from her plan. Maude was frank, open-hearted, and impulsive, and +emboldened by James' kind, brotherly manner she gave in a most +childlike manner her reason for wishing to teach. + +"If I am married next winter," she said, "my wardrobe will need +replenishing, for J.C. would surely be ashamed to take me as I am, +and I have now no means of my own for purchasing anything." + +In an instant James De Vere's hand was on his purse, but ere he drew +it forth he reflected that to offer money then might possibly be out +of place, so he said, "I have no sister, no girl-cousin, no wife, +and more money than I can use, and when the right time comes nothing +can please me more than to give you your bridal outfit. May I, +Maude? And if you do not like to stay with Dr. Kennedy, come to +Hampton this summer and live with us, will you, Maude? I want you +there so much," and in the musical tones of his voice there was a +deep pathos which brought the tears in torrents from Maude's eyes; +while she declined the generous offer she could not accept. + +Just then Dr. Kennedy appeared. He was ready, to go, he said, and +bidding Mr. De Vere good-by, Maude was soon on her way home, her +spirits lighter and her heart happier for that chance meeting at the +hotel. One week later Mr. De Vere wrote to her, saying that if she +still wished to teach, she could have the school at Hampton. He had +seen the trustees, had agreed upon the price, and had even selected +her a boarding-place near by. "I regret," said he, "that we live so +far from the schoolhouse as to render it impossible for you to board +with us. You might ride, I suppose, and I would cheerfully carry you +every day; but, on the whole, I think you had better stop with Mrs. +Johnson." + +This letter Maude took at once to her brother, from whom she had +hitherto withheld her intention to teach, as she did not wish to +pain him unnecessarily with the dread of a separation, which might +never be. Deeply had he sympathized with her in her misfortune, +whispering to her that two--thirds of his own inheritance should be +hers. "I can coax almost anything from father," he said, "and when I +am twenty-one I'll ask him to give me my portion, and then I'll take +you to Europe. You won't be old, Maude, only twenty-seven, and I +shall be proud when the people say that beautiful woman with eyes +like stars is the crippled artist's sister!" + +In all his plans he made no mention of J.C., whose conduct he +despised, and whose character he began to read aright. + +"Maude will never marry him, I hope," he thought, and when she +brought to him the letter from James De Vere, the noble little +fellow conquered his own feelings, and with a hopeful heart as to +the result of that summer's teaching he bade her go. So it was all +arranged, and the next letter which went from Maude to J.C. carried +the intelligence that his betrothed was going "to turn country +school-ma'am, and teach the Hampton brats their A B C's," so at last +he said to Mrs. Kelsey and her niece, between whom and himself there +was a perfectly good understanding, and to whom he talked of his +future prospects without reserve. Mrs. Kelsey was secretly +delighted, for matters were shaping themselves much as she would +wish. Her brother evinced no particular, desire to have his daughter +at home, and she determined to keep her as long as there was the +slightest chance of winning J.C. De Vere. He was now a regular +visitor at her house, and lest he should suspect her design, she +spoke often and respectfully of Maude, whose cause she seemed to +have espoused, and when he came to her with the news of her teaching +she sympathized with him at once. + +"It would be very mortifying," she said, "to marry a district +school-mistress, though there was some comfort in knowing that his +friends were as yet ignorant of the engagement." + +"Let them remain so a while longer," was the hasty answer of J.C., +who, as time passed on, became more and more unwilling that the gay +world should know of his engagement with one who was not an heiress +after all. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +HAMPTON. + + +Six happy weeks Maude had been a teacher, and though she knew J.C. +did not approve her plan, she was more than repaid for his +displeasure by the words of encouragement which James always had in +store for her. Many times had she been to the handsome home of the +De Veres, and the lady-mother, whom she at first so much dreaded to +meet, had more than once stroked her silken curls, calling her "my +child," as tenderly as if she did indeed bear that relation to her. +James De Vere was one of the trustees, and in that capacity he +visited the school so often that the wise villagers shook their +heads significantly, saying, "if he were any other man they should +think the rights of J.C. were in danger." + +The young school-mistress' engagement with the fashionable Jedediah +was generally known, and thus were the public blinded to the true +state of affairs. Gradually James De Vere had learned how dear to +him was the dark-eyed girl he called his "Cousin Maude." There was +no light like that which shone in her truthful eyes--no music so +sweet as the sound of her gentle voice--no presence which brought +him so much joy as hers--no being in the world he loved so well. But +she belonged to another--the time had passed when she might have +been won. She could never be his, he said; and with his love he +waged a mighty battle--a battle which lasted days and nights, +wringing from him more than one bitter moan, as with his face bowed +in his hands he murmured sadly, the mournful words, "It might have +been." + +Matters were in this condition when J.C. came one day to Hampton, +accompanied by some city friends, among whom were a few young ladies +of the Kelsey order. Maude saw them as they passed the schoolhouse +in the village omnibus; saw, too, how resolutely J.C.'s head was +turned away, as if afraid their eyes would meet. + +"He wishes to show his resentment, but of course he'll visit me ere +he returns," she thought. And many times that day she cast her eyes +in the direction of Hampton Park, as the De Vere residence was often +called. + +But she looked in vain, and with a feeling of disappointment she +dismissed her school, and glad to be alone, laid her head upon the +desk, falling ere long asleep, for the day was warm and she was very +tired. So quietly she slept that she did not hear the roll of wheels +nor the sound of merry voices as the party from the city rode by on +their way to the depot. Neither half an hour later did she hear the +hasty footstep which crossed the threshold of they door; but when a +hand was laid upon her shoulder and a well-known voice bade her +awake, she started up, and saw before her James De Vere. He had been +to her boarding-place, he said, and not finding her there had sought +her in the schoolhouse. + +"I have two letters for you," he continued; "one from your brother, +and one from J.C." + +"From J.C.!" she repeated. "Has he gone back? Why didn't he call on +me?" + +"He's a villain," thought James De Vere, but he answered simply, "He +had not time, and so wrote you instead," and sitting down beside her +he regarded her with a look in which pity, admiration, and love were +all blended--the former predominating at that moment, and causing +him to lay his hand caressingly on her forehead, saying as he did +so, "Your head aches, don't it, Maude?" + +Maude's heart was already full, and at this little act of sympathy +she burst into tears, while James, drawing her to his side and +resting her head upon his bosom, soothed her as he would have done +had she been his only sister. He fancied that he knew the cause of +her grief, and his heart swelled with indignation toward J.C., who +had that day shown himself unworthy of a girl like Maude. He had +come to Hampton without any definite idea as to whether he should +see her or not ere his return, but when, as the omnibus drew near +the schoolhouse and Maude was plainly visible through the open +window, one of the ladies made some slighting remark concerning +school-teachers generally, he determined not to hazard an interview, +and quieted his conscience by thinking he would come out in a few +days and make the matter right. How then was he chagrined when in +the presence of his companions his cousin said: "Shall I send for +Miss Remington? She can dismiss her school earlier than usual and +come up to tea." + +"Dismiss her school!" cried one of the young ladies, while the +other, the proud Miss Thayer, whose grandfather was a pedlar and +whose great-uncle had been hanged, exclaimed, "Miss Remington! Pray +who is she? That schoolmistress we saw in passing? Really, Mr. De +Vere, you have been careful not to tell us of this new acquaintance. +Where did you pick her up?" and the diamonds on her fingers shone +brightly in the sunshine as she playfully pulled a lock of J.C.'s +hair. The disconcerted J.C. was about stammering out some reply when +James, astonished both at the apparent ignorance of his guests and +the strangeness of his cousin's manner, answered for him, "Miss +Remington is our teacher, and a splendid girl. J.C. became +acquainted with her last summer at Laurel Hill. She is a stepsister +of Miss Kennedy, whom you probably know." + +"Nellie, Kennedy's stepsister. I never knew there was such a being," +said Miss Thayer, while young Robinson, a lisping, insipid dandy, +drawled out, "A sthool-marm, J. Thee? I'th really romantic! Thend +for her, of courth. A little dithipline won't hurt any of uth." + +J.C. made a faint effort to rally, but they joked him so hard that +he remained silent, while James regarded him with a look of cool +contempt sufficiently indicative of his opinion. + +At last when Miss Thayer asked "if the bridal day were fixed," he +roused himself, and thinking if he told the truth he should +effectually deceive them, he answered, "Yes, next Christmas is the +time appointed. We were to have been married in June, but the lady +lost her fortune and the marriage was deferred." + +"Oh, teaching to purchase her bridal trousseau. I'm dying to see +it," laughingly replied Miss Thayer, while another rejoined, "Lost +her fortune. Was she then an heiress?" + +"Yes, a milkman's heiress," said J.C., with a slightly scornful +emphasis on the name which he himself had given to Maude at a time +when a milkman's money seemed as valuable to him as that of any +other man. + +There was a dark, stern look on the face of James De Vere, and as +Miss Thayer, the ruling spirit of the party, had an eye on him and +his broad lands, she deemed it wise to change the conversation from +the "Milkman's Heiress" to a topic less displeasing to their +handsome host. In the course of the afternoon the cousins were alone +for a few moments, when the elder demanded of the other: "Do you +pretend to love Maude Remington, and still make light both of her +and your engagement with her?" + +"I pretend to nothing which is not real," was J.C.'s haughty answer; +"but I do dislike having my matters canvassed by every silly tongue, +and have consequently kept my relation to Miss Remington a secret. I +cannot see her to-day, but with your permission I will pen a few +lines by way of explanation," and, glad to escape from the rebuking +glance he knew he so much deserved, he stepped into his cousin's +library, where he wrote the note James gave to Maude. + +Under some circumstances it would have been a very unsatisfactory +message, but with her changed feelings toward the writer and James +De Vere sitting at her side, she scarcely noticed how cold it was, +and throwing it down, tore open Louis' letter which had come in the +evening mail. It was very brief, and hastily perusing its contents +Maude cast it from her with a cry of horror and disgust--then +catching it up, she moaned, "Oh, must I go!--I can't! I can't!" + +"What is it?" asked Mr. De Vere, and pointing to the lines Maude +bade him read. + +He did read, and as he read his own cheek blanched, and he wound his +arm closely round the maiden's waist as if to keep her there and +thus save her from danger. Dr. Kennedy had the smallpox, so Louis +wrote, and Nellie, who had been home for a few days, had fled in +fear back to the city. Hannah, too, had gone, and there was no one +left to care for the sick man save John and the almost helpless +Louis. + +"Father is so sick," he wrote, "and he says, tell Maude, for +humanity's sake, to come." + +If there was one disease more than another of which Maude stood in +mortal fear it was the smallpox, and her first impulse was, "I will +not go." But when she reflected that Louis, too, might take it, and +need her care, her resolution changed, and moving away from her +companion she said firmly, "I must go, for if anything befall my +brother, how can I answer to our mother for having betrayed my +trust? Dr. Kennedy, too, was her husband, and he must not be left to +die alone." + +Mr. De Vere was about to expostulate, but she prevented him by +saying, "Do not urge me to stay, but rather help me to go, for I +must leave Hampton to-morrow. You will get someone to take my place, +as I, of course, shall not return, and if I have it--" + +Here she paused, while the trembling of her body showed how terrible +to her was the dread of the disease. + +"Maude Remington," said Mr. De Vere, struck with admiration by her +noble, self-sacrificing spirit, "I will not bid you stay, for I know +it would be useless; but if that which you so much fear comes upon +you, if the face now so fair to took upon be marred and disfigured +until not a lineament is left of the once beautiful girl, come back +to me. I will love you all the same." + +As he spoke he stretched his arms involuntarily toward her, and +scarce knowing what she did, she went forward to the embrace. Very +lovingly he folded her for a moment to his bosom, then turning her +face to the fading sunlight which streamed through the dingy window, +he looked at it wistfully and long, as if he would remember every +feature. Pushing back the silken curls which clustered around her +forehead, he kissed her twice, and then releasing her said: "Forgive +me, Maude, if I have taken more than a cousin's liberty with you, I +could not help it." + +Bewildered at his words and manner, Maude raised her eyes +wonderingly to his, and looking into the shining orbs, he thought +how soft, how beautiful they were, but little, little did he dream +their light would e'er be quenched in midnight darkness. A while +longer they talked together, Mr. De Vere promising to send a servant +to take her home in the morning. Then, as the sun had set and the +night shadows were deepening in the room, they bade each other +good-by, and ere the next day's sun was very high in the heavens Maude +was far on her way to Laurel Hill. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE DARK HOUR. + + +Dr. Kennedy had been to Buffalo, and taken the smallpox, so his +attending physician said, and the news spread rapidly, frightening +nervous people as they never were frightened before. Nellie had been +home for a week or two, but at the first alarm she fled, rushing +headlong through the hall and down the stairs, unmindful of the +tremulous voice, which cried imploringly, "Don't leave me, daughter, +to die alone!" + +Hannah followed next, holding the camphor bottle to her nose, and +saying to John when he expostulated with her, "I reckon I's not +gwine to spile what little beauty I've got with that fetched +complaint." + +"But, mother," persisted John, "may be it's nothin' but vary-o-lord +after all, and that don't mark folks, you know." + +"You needn't talk to me about your very-o-lord," returned Hannah. "I +know it's the very-o-devil himself, and I won't have them pock-ed +marks on me for all the niggers in Virginny." + +"Then go," said John, "hold tight to the camphire, and run for your +life, or it may cotch you before you git out of the house." + +Hannah needed no second bidding to run, and half an hour later she +was domesticated with a colored family who lived not far from the +Hill. Thus left to themselves, Louis and John, together with the +physician, did what they could for the sick man, who at last +proposed sending for Maude, feeling intuitively that she would not +desert him as his own child had done. Silent, desolate, and forsaken +the old house looked as Maude approached it, and she involuntarily +held her breath as she stepped into the hall, whose close air seemed +laden with infection. She experienced no difficulty in finding the +sick-room, where Louis' cry of delight, John's expression of joy, +and the sick man's whispered words, "God bless you, Maude," more +than recompensed her for the risk she had incurred. Gradually her +fear subsided, particularly when she learned that it was in fact the +varioloid. Had it been possible to remove her brother from danger +she would have done so, but it was too late now, and she suffered +him to share her vigils, watching carefully for the first symptoms +of the disease in him. + +In this manner nearly two weeks passed away, and the panic-stricken +villagers were beginning to breathe more freely, when it was told +them one day that Maude and Louis were both smitten with the +disease. Then indeed the more humane said to themselves, "Shall they +be left to suffer alone?" and still no one was found who dared to +breathe the air of the sick-room. Dr. Kennedy was by this time so +much better that Louis was taken to his apartment, where he +ministered to him himself, while the heroic Maude was left to the +care of John. Everything he could do for her he did, but his heart +sunk within him when he saw how fast her fever came on, and heard +her, in her sleep, mourn for her mother, to hold her aching head. + +"She mustn't die," he said, and over his dark skin the tears rolled +like rain, as raising his eyes to the ceiling he cried imploringly, +"Will the good Father send someone to help?" + +The prayer of the weak African was heard, and ere the sun went down +a man of noble mien and noble heart stood at the maiden's bedside, +bathing her swollen face, pushing back her silken curls, counting +her rapid pulses, and once, when she slept, kissing her parched +lips, e'en though he knew that with that kiss he inhaled, perhaps, +his death! James De Vere had never for a day lost sight of Maude. +Immediately after her return he had written to the physician +requesting a daily report, and when, at last he learned that she was +ill, and all alone, he came unhesitatingly, presenting a striking +contrast to the timid J.C., who had heard of her illness, and at +first, dared not open the letter which his cousin wrote, apprising +him of Maude's affliction. But when he reflected that he could be +re-vaccinated, and thus avert the dreaded evil, he broke the seal +and read, commenting as follows: "Jim is a splendid fellow, though I +can't see why he takes so much interest in her. Don't I have +confounded luck, though? That will first, the five thousand dollars +next, and now the smallpox, too. Of course she'll be marked, and +look like a fright. Poor girl! I'd help her if I could," and, as the +better nature of J.C. came over him, he added mournfully: "What if +she should die?" + +But Maude did not die; and at the expiration of ten days she was so +far out of danger that James De Vere yielded to the importunity of +his mother, who, in an agony of terror, besought him to return. When +first he came to her bedside Maude had begged of him to leave her +and not risk his life in her behalf; but he silenced her objections +then, and now when he bade her adieu he would not listen to her +protestations of gratitude. + +"I would do even more for you if I could," he said. "I am not afraid +of the varioloid, and henceforth I shall think gratefully of it for +having dealt so lightly with you." + +So saying, he turned away, feeling happier than he could well +express, that Maude had not only escaped from death, but that there +would be no marks left to tell how near the ravager had been. +Scarcely had the door closed on him when, emboldened by his last +words to ask a question she greatly wished, yet dreaded to ask, +Maude turned to John and said, "Am I much pitted?" + +Rolling up his eyes and wholly mistaking her meaning, John replied, +"I aint no great of a physiognomer, but when a thing is as plain as +day I can discern it as well as the next one, and if that ar' chap +haint pitied you, and done a heap more'n that, I'm mistaken." + +"But," continued Maude, smiling at his simplicity, "I mean shall I +probably be scarred?" + +"Oh, bless you, not a scar," answered John, "for don't you mind how +he kep' the iled silk and wet rags on yer face, and how that night +when you was sickest he held yer hands so you couldn't tache that +little feller between yer eyes. That was the spunkiest varmint of +'em all, and may leave a mark like the one under yer ear, but it +won't spile yer looks an atom." + +"And Louis?" said Maude, "is he disfigured?" + +"Not a disfigurement," returned John, "but the ole governor, he's a +right smart sprinklin' of 'em, one squar' on the tip of his nose, +and five or six more on his face." + +Thus relieved of her immediate fears Maude asked many questions +concerning Louis, who she learned had not been very sick. + +"You can see him afore long, I reckon," said John, and in a few days +she was able to join him in the sitting room below. + +After a while Hannah returned to her post of duty, her beauty +unimpaired, and herself thoroughly ashamed of having thus +heartlessly deserted her master's family in their affliction. As if +to make amends for this she exerted herself to cleanse the house +from everything which could possibly inspire fear on the villagers, +and by the last of August there was scarce a trace left of the +recent scourge, save the deep scar on the end of the doctor's nose, +one or two marks on Louis' face, and a weakness of Maude's eyes, +which became at last a cause of serious alarm. + +It was in vain that Louis implored his father to seek medical aid in +Rochester, where the physicians were supposed to have more +experience in such matters. The doctor refused, saying, "'twas a +maxim of his not to counsel with anyone, and he guessed he knew how +to manage sore eyes." + +But Maude's eyes were not sore--they were merely weak, while the +pain in the eyeball was sometimes so intense as to wring from her a +cry, of suffering. Gradually there crept into her heart a horrid +fear that her sight was growing dim, and often in the darkness of +the night she wept most bitterly, praying that she might not be +blind. + +"Oh, Louis," she said to her brother one day, "I would so much +rather die than to be blind, and never see you any more--never see +the beautiful world I love so much. Oh, must it be? Is there no +help?" + +"James De Vere could help us if he were here," answered Louis, his +own tears mingling with his sister's. + +But James De Vere had left Hampton for New Orleans, where he would +probably remain until the winter, and there could be no aid expected +from him. The doctor, too, was wholly absorbed in thoughts of his +approaching nuptials, for Maude Glendower, failing to secure the +wealthy bachelor, and overhearing several times the remark that she +was really getting old, had consented to name the 20th of October +for their marriage. And so the other Maude was left to battle with +the terrible fear which was strengthened every day. + +At length J.C., roused not so much by the touching letter which she +wrote him as by the uncertain handwriting, came himself, bringing +with him a physician, who carefully examined the soft black eyes, +which could not now endure the light, then shaking his head he said +gravely, "There is still some hope, but she must go to the city, +where I can see her every day." + +J.C. looked at Dr. Kennedy, and Dr. Kennedy, looked at J.C., and +then both their hands sought their pockets, but came out again--empty! +J.C. really had not the ready means with which to meet the +expense, while Dr. Kennedy had not the inclination. But one there +was, the faithful John, who could not stand by unmoved, and darting +from the room, he mounted the woodshed stairs, and from beneath the +rafters drew out an old leathern wallet, where from time to time he +had deposited money for "the wet day." That wet day had come at +last; not to him, but to another--and without a moment's hesitation +he counted out the ten golden eagles which his purse contained, and, +going back to Maude, placed them in her hand, saying: "Go to +Rochester, Miss Maude. I saved 'em for you, for I wouldn't have the +light squenched in them shinin' eyes for all the land in old +Virginny." + +It was a noble act, and it shamed the paler faces who witnessed it, +but they offered no remonstrance, though Maude did, refusing to +accept it, until Louis said: "Take it, sister--take it, and when I'm +twenty-one I'll give to him ten times ten golden eagles." + +The necessary arrangements were quickly made, and ere a week was +passed Maude found herself in Rochester, and an inmate of Mrs. +Kelsey's family; for, touched with pity, that lady had offered to +receive her, and during her brief stay treated her with every +possible attention. Nellie, too, was very kind, ministering +carefully to the comfort of her stepsister, who had ceased to be a +rival, for well she knew J.C. De Vere would never wed a penniless +bride and blind! + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE NEW MISTRESS AT LAUREL HILL. + + +The 20th of October came, and with a firm hand Maude Glendower +arrayed herself for the bridal, which was to take place at an early +hour. The scar on the end of the doctor's nose had shaken her +purpose for an instant, but when she thought again of the unpaid +bills lying in her private drawer, and when, more than all, the +doctor said, "We greatly fear Maude Remington will be blind," her +resolution was fixed, and with a steady voice she took upon herself +the marriage vows. + +They were to go to Laurel Hill that day, and when the doctor saw +that the handsome furniture of her rooms was still untouched, he +ventured to ask "if she had left orders to have it sent." + +"Oh, I didn't tell you, did I, that my furniture was all mortgaged +to Mrs. Raymond for board and borrowed money, too; but of course you +don't care; you did not marry my furniture," and the little soft, +white hands were laid upon those of the bridegroom, while the +lustrous eyes sought his face, to witness the effect of her words. + +The dent on the nose grew red a moment, and then the doctor, +perfectly intoxicated with the beauty of his bride, answered, "No, +Maude, I married you." + +A rap at the door, and a note from Messrs. Barnabas Muggins & Brown +"hoped Miss Glendower would not forget to settle her bill." + +"It's really quite provoking to trouble you with my debts so soon," +said the lady, "but I dare say it's a maxim of yours that we should +have no secrets from each other, and so I may as well show you these +at once," and she turned into his lap a handful of bills, amounting +in all to four hundred dollars, due to the different tradesmen of +Troy. + +The spot on the nose was decidedly purple, and had Katy or Matty +been there they would surely, have recognized the voice which began, +"Really, I did not expect this, and 'tis a max--" + +"Never mind the maxim," and the mouth of the speaker was covered by +a dimpled hand, as Maude Glendower continued, "It's mean, I know, +but four hundred dollars is not much, after all, and you ought to be +willing to pay even more for me, don't you think so, dearest?" + +"Ye-es," faintly answered the doctor, who, knowing there was no +alternative, gave a check for the whole amount on a Rochester bank, +where he had funds deposited. + +Maude Glendower was a charming traveling companion, and in listening +to her lively sallies, and noticing the admiration she received, the +doctor forgot his lost four hundred dollars, and by the time they +reached Canandaigua he believed himself supremely happy in having +such a wife. John was waiting for them, just as thirteen years +before he had waited for blue-eyed Matty, and the moment her eye +fell upon the carriage he had borrowed from a neighbor, the new wife +exclaimed, "Oh, I hope that lumbering old thing is not ours. It +would give me the rickets to ride in it long." + +"It's borrowed," the doctor said, 'and she continued, "I'll pick out +mine, and my horses, too. I'm quite a connoisseur in those matters." + +John rolled his eyes toward his master, whose face wore a look never +seen there before. + +"Henpecked!" was the negro's mental comment, as he prepared to +start. + +When about three miles from the village the lady started up, saying, +"she had left her shawl, and must go back immediately." + +"There is not time," said the doctor, "for the sun is already nearly +set. It will be perfectly safe." + +"But it's my India shawl. I must have it," and the lady's hand was +laid upon the reins to turn the horses' heads. + +Of course they went back, finding the shawl, not at the hotel, but +under the carriage cushions, where the lady herself had placed it. + +"It's a maxim of mine to know what I'm about," the doctor ventured +to say, while a silvery voice returned, "So do I ordinarily, but it +is not strange that I forget myself on my wedding day." This was +well timed, and wrapping the garment carefully round her to shelter +her from the night air, the doctor bade the highly amused John to +drive on. They were more than halfway home when some luscious +oranges in a small grocery window, caught the bride's eye, and "she +must have some, she always kept them in her room," she said, and to +the grocer's inquiry, "How many, madam?" she answered, "Two dozen, +at least, and a box of figs, if you have them. I dote on figs." + +It was the doctor's wedding day. He could not say no, and with a +mental groan he parted company with another bill, while John, on the +platform without, danced the "double shuffle" in token of his +delight. There was a second grocery to be passed, but by taking a +more circuitous route it could be avoided, and the discomfited +bridegroom bade John "go through the Hollow." + +"Yes, sar," answered the knowing negro, turning the heads of the +unwilling horses in a direction which would not bring them home so +soon by one whole hour. + +But the grocery was shunned, and so the doctor did not care even if +the clock did strike nine just as they stopped at their own gate. +The night was dark and the bride could not distinguish the exterior +of the house, neither was the interior plainly discernible, lighted +as it was with an oil lamp, and a single tallow candle. But she +scarcely thought of this, so intent was she upon the beautiful face +of the crippled boy, who sat in his armchair, eagerly awaiting her +arrival. + +"This is Louis," the father said: and the scornful eyes which with +one rapid glance had scanned the whole apartment filled with tears +as they, turned toward the boy. + +Dropping on one knee before him, the lady, parted the silken hair +from his forehead, saying very gently, "You must be like your +mother, save that your eyes are brown, and hers were blue. May I be +your mother, Louis?" + +Very wonderingly the child gazed into her face. It was radiantly +beautiful, while the dreamy eyes rested upon him with such a +yearning look that his heart went out toward her at once, and +winding his arms around her neck, he murmured, "I shall love you +very much, my mother." + +For a moment Maude Glendower held him to her bosom, while her +thoughts went back to the long ago when another face much like his +had rested there, and another voice had whispered in her ear, "I +love you, Maude Glendower." That voice was hushed in death, but +through the child it spoke to her again, and with a throbbing heart +she vowed to be to the crippled boy what Matty herself would well +approve, could she speak from her low bed beneath the willows. + +"What of your sister?" the lady said at last, rising to her feet. +"Is she recovering her sight?" + +"Nellie writes there is hope," said Louis, "though she did not +receive attention soon enough, the physician says." + +There was reproach, contempt, and anger in the large black eyes +which sought the doctor's face, but the light was dim, and he did +not see it. + +"It will be a great misfortune to her, and very hard on me if she is +blind, for of course I must take care of her," he said at last, +while his wife indignantly replied, "Take care of her! Yes, I'd sell +my diamonds rather than see her suffer!" + +Supper was now announced, and in examining the arrangement of the +table and inspecting the furniture of the dining room, the bride +forgot everything save the novelty of her situation. Mentally +styling the house "an old rookery," she forced back the bitter +feelings which would rise up when she thought how unlike was all +this to what she had been accustomed. It needed but one glance of +her keen eyes to read the whole, and ere the close of the next day +she understood her position perfectly, and summoning to her aid her +iron will, she determined to make the most of everything. She knew +the doctor had money, aye, and she knew, too, how to get it from +him, but she was too wary to undertake it in any of the ordinary +ways. She did not tell him how desolate the old house seemed, or +that she was homesick because of its desolation; but after she had +been there a few days she sat down by his side, and told him that +with a few improvements it could be made the most delightful spot in +all the country, and she was glad she had come there to help him to +fix it up. She knew he had exquisite taste, and as he was now at +leisure they would contrive together how their parlors could be +improved. She didn't quite like them as they were, the window lights +were too small, and they must have the large panes of glass. Then +satin paper on the walls would look so much better, and the carpets, +though really very nice, were hardly good enough for a man of Dr. +Kennedy's standing in society. + +"But," gasped the doctor, "the one in the back parlor is brand +new--has scarcely been used at all and it is a maxim of mine--" + +"Your maxim is good, undoubtedly," interrupted the lady, "but the +chambers all need recarpeting, and this will exactly fit Maude's +room, which I intend fixing before she returns." + +The doctor looked aghast, and his wife continued: "The season is so +far advanced that it is hardly worth while to make any changes now, +but next spring I shall coax you into all manner or repairs. I do +wonder what makes that spot on your nose so red at times. You are +really very fine looking when it is not there. It is gone," she +continued, and smoothing away a wrinkle in his forehead, she said, +"We won't talk of the future now, but seriously, we must have some +new Brussels carpets, and a furnace to warm the whole house." + +Here she shivered and coughed quite naturally after which she +returned to the charge, saying, "her family were consumptive, and +she could not endure the cold." + +"But, my dear," said the doctor, "it will cost a great deal of money +to carry out your plans." + +"Oh, no, not much," she answered, "give me five hundred dollars and +I will do everything necessary to make us comfortable for the +winter." + +"Five hundred dollars, Mrs. Kennedy!" and the doctor's gray eyes +looked as they used to look when Katy and Matty asked him for five. +"Five hundred dollars! Preposterous! Why, during the seven years I +lived with your predecessor she did not cost me that!" + +From old Hannah Mrs. Kennedy had, learned how her predecessor had +been stinted by the doctor, and could he that moment have looked +into her heart he would have seen there a fierce determination to +avenge the wrongs so meekly borne. But she did not embody her +thoughts in words, neither did she deem it advisable to press the +subject further at that time, so she waited for nearly a week, and +then resumed the attack with redoubled zeal. + +"We must have another servant," she said. + +"Old Hannah is wholly inefficient, and so I have engaged a colored +woman from the hotel; and did I tell you, I have spoken to a man +about the furnace we are going to have, and I also told Mr. Jenks to +buy me one hundred yards of Brussels carpeting in New York. He's +gone for goods, you know." + +"Really, Mrs. Kennedy, this exceeds all. My former companions saw +fit to consult me always. Really, one hundred yards of carpeting and +a black cook! Astonishing, Mrs. Kennedy!" + +The doctor was quite too much confounded to think of a single maxim, +for his wife's effrontery took him wholly by surprise. She was a +most energetic woman, and her proceedings were already the theme of +many a tea-table gossip, in which the delighted villagers exulted +that Dr. Kennedy had at last found his match. Yes, he had found his +match, and when next day the black cook, Rose, came, and Mr. Brown +asked when he would have the furnace put in his cellar, there was +that in the eye of his better half which prompted a meek submission. +When the bill for the new carpets was handed him he again rebelled, +but all to no purpose. He paid the requisite amount, and tried to +swallow his wrath with his wife's consolatory remark, that "they +were the handsomest couple in town, and ought to have the handsomest +carpets!" + +One day he found her giving directions to two or three men who were +papering, painting, and whitewashing Maude's room, and then, as John +remarked, he seemed more like himself than he had done before since +his last marriage. + +"If Maude is going to be blind," he said, "it can make no difference +with her how her chamber looks, and 'tis a maxim of mine to let well +enough alone." + +"I wish you would cure yourself of those disagreeable maxims," was +the lady's cool reply, as, stepping to the head of the stairs, she +bade John "bring up the carpet, if it were whipped enough." + +"Allow me to ask what you are going to do with it?" said the doctor, +as from the windows he saw the back parlor carpet swinging on the +line. + +"Why, I told you I was going to fit up Maude's room. She is coming +home in a week, you know, and I am preparing a surprise. I have +ordered a few pieces of light furniture from the cabinet-maker's, +and I think her chamber would look nicely if the walls were only a +little higher. They can't be raised, I suppose?" + +She was perfectly collected, and no queen on her throne ever issued +her orders with greater confidence in their being obeyed; and when +that night she said to her husband, "These men must have their pay," +he had no alternative but to open his purse and give her what she +asked. Thus it was with everything. + +"Ki, aint him cotchin' it good?" was John's mental comment, as he +daily watched the proceedings, and while Hannah pronounced him "the +hen-peck-ed-est man she had ever seen," the amused villagers knew +that will had met will, and been conquered! + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE BLIND GIRL. + + +Maude's chamber was ready at last, and very inviting it looked with +its coat of fresh paint, its cheerful paper, bright carpet, handsome +bedstead, marble washstand, and mahogany bureau, on which were +arranged various little articles for the toilet. The few pieces of +furniture which Mrs. Kennedy had ordered from the cabinet-maker's +had amounted, in all, to nearly one hundred dollars, but the bill +was not yet sent in; and in blissful ignorance of the surprise +awaiting him the doctor rubbed his hands and tried to seem pleased +when his wife, passing her arm in his, led him to the room, which +she compelled him to admire. + +"It was all very nice," he said, "but wholly unnecessary for a blind +girl. What was the price of this?" he asked, laying his hand upon +the bedstead. + +"Only twenty-five dollars. Wasn't it cheap?" and the wicked black +eyes danced with merriment at the loud groan which succeeded the +answer. + +"Twenty-five dollars!" he exclaimed. "Why, the bedstead Matty and I +slept on for seven years only cost three, and it is now as good as +new." + +"But times have changed," said the lady. "Everybody has nicer +things; besides, do you know people used to talk dreadfully about a +man of your standing being so stingy? But I have done considerable +toward correcting that impression. You aint stingy, and in proof of +it you'll give me fifty cents to buy cologne for this." And she took +up a beautiful bottle which stood upon the bureau. + +The doctor had not fifty cents in change, but a dollar bill would +suit her exactly as well, she said, and secretly exulting in her +mastery over the self-willed tyrant, she suffered him to depart, +saying to himself as he descended the stair, "Twenty-five dollars +for one bedstead. I won't stand it! I'll do something!" + +"What are you saying, dear?" a melodious voice called after him, and +so accelerated his movements that the extremity of his coat +disappeared from view, just as the lady Maude reached the head of +the stairs. + +"Oh!" was the involuntary exclamation of Louis, who had been a +spectator of the scene, and who felt intuitively that his father had +found his mistress. + +During her few weeks residence at Laurel Hill Maude Glendower had +bound the crippled boy to herself by many a deed of love, and +whatever she did was sure of meeting his approval. With him she had +consulted concerning his sister's room, yielding often to his artist +taste in the arrangement of the furniture, and now that the chamber +was ready they both awaited impatiently the arrival of its occupant. +Nellie's last letter had been rather encouraging, and Maude herself +had appended her name at its close. The writing was tremulous and +uncertain, but it brought hope to the heart of the brother, who had +never really believed it possible for his sister to be blind. Very +restless he seemed on the day when she was expected; and when, just +as the sun was setting, the carriage drove to the gate, a faint +sickness crept over him, and wheeling his chair to the window of her +room he looked anxiously at her, as with John's assistance, she +alighted from the carriage. + +"If she walks alone I shall know she is not very blind," he said, +and with clasped hands he watched her intently as she came slowly +toward the house with Nellie a little in advance. + +Nearer and nearer she came--closer and closer the burning forehead +was pressed against the window pane, and hope beat high in Louis' +heart, when suddenly she turned aside--her foot rested on the +withered violets which grew outside the walk, and her hand groped in +the empty air. + +"She's blind--she's blind," said Louis, and with a moaning cry he +laid his head upon the broad arm of his chair, sobbing most +bitterly. + +Meantime below there was a strange interview between the new mother +and her children, Maude Glendower clasping her namesake in her arms +and weeping over her as she had never wept before but once, and that +when the moonlight shone upon her sitting by a distant grave. +Pushing back the clustering curls, she kissed the open brow and +looked into the soft black eyes with a burning gaze which penetrated +the shadowy darkness and brought a flush to the cheek of the young +girl. + +"Maude Remington! Maude Remington!" she said, dwelling long upon the +latter name, "the sight of you affects me painfully; you are so like +one I have lost. I shall love you, Maude Remington, for the sake of +the dead, and you, too, must love me, and call me mother--will you?" +and her lips again touched those of the astonished maiden. + +Though fading fast, the light was not yet quenched in Maude's eyes, +and very wistfully she scanned the face of the speaker, while her +hands moved caressingly over each feature, as she said, "I will love +you, beautiful lady, though you can never be to me what my gentle +mother was." + +At the sound of that voice Maude Glendower started suddenly, and +turning aside, so her words could not be heard, she murmured sadly, +"Both father and child prefer her to me." Then, recollecting +herself, she offered her hand to the wondering Nellie, saying, "Your +Sister's misfortune must be my excuse for devoting so much time to +her, when you, as my eldest daughter, were entitled to my first +attention." + +Her stepmother's evident preference for Maude had greatly offended +the selfish Nellie, who coldly answered, "Don't trouble yourself, +madam. It's not of the least consequence. But where is my father? He +will welcome me, I am sure." + +The feeling too often existing between stepmothers and stepdaughters +had sprung into life, and henceforth the intercourse of Maude +Glendower and Nellie Kennedy would be marked with studied +politeness, and nothing more. But the former did not care. So long +as her eye could feast itself upon the face and form of Maude +Remington she was content, and as Nellie left the room she wound her +arm around the comparatively helpless girl, saying, "Let me take you +to your brother." + +Although unwilling, usually, to be led, Maude yielded now, and +suffered herself to be conducted to the chamber where Louis watched +for her coming. She could see enough to know there was a change, and +clasping her companion's hand she said, "I am surely indebted to you +for this surprise." + +"Maude, Maude!" and the tones of Louis' voice trembled with joy, as +stretching his arms toward her, he cried, "You can see." + +Guided more by the sound than by actual vision, Maude flew like +lightning to his side, and kneeling before him hid her face in his +lap, while he bent fondly over her, beseeching her to say if she +could see. It was a most touching sight, and drawing near, Maude +Glendower mingled her tears with those of the unfortunate children +on whom affliction had laid her heavy hand. + +Maude Remington was naturally of a hopeful nature, and though she +had passed through many an hour of anguish, and had rebelled against +the fearful doom which seemed to be approaching, she did not yet +despair. She still saw a little--could discern colors and forms, and +could tell one person from another. "I shall be better by and by," +she said, when assured by the sound of retreating footsteps that +they were alone. "I am following implicitly the doctor's directions, +and I hope to see by Christmas; but if I do not--" + +Here she broke down entirely, and wringing her hands she cried, "Oh, +brother--brother, must I be blind? I can't--I can't, for who will +care for poor, blind, helpless Maude?" + +"I, sister, I," and hushing his own great sorrow the crippled boy +comforted the weeping girl just as she had once comforted him, when +in the quiet graveyard he had lain him down in the long, rank grass +and wished that he might die. "Pa's new wife will care for you, +too," he said. "She's a beautiful woman, Maude, and a good one, I am +sure, for she cried so hard over mother's grave, and her voice was +so gentle when, just as though she had known our mother, she said, +`Darling Matty, I will be kind to your children.'" + +"Ah, that I will--I will," came faintly from the hall without, where +Maude Glendower stood, her eyes riveted upon the upturned face of +Maude, and her whole body swelling with emotion. + +A sad heritage had been bequeathed to her--a crippled boy and a +weak, blind girl; but in some respects she was a noble woman, and as +she gazed upon the two she resolved that so long as she should live, +so long should the helpless children of Matty Remington have a +steadfast friend. Hearing her husband's voice below she glided down +the stairs, leaving Louis and Maude really alone. + +"Sister," said Louis, after a moment, "what of Mr. De Vere? Is he +true to the last?" + +"I have released him," answered Maude. "I am nothing to him now," +and very calmly she proceeded to tell him of the night when she had +said to Mr. De Vere, "My money is gone--my sight is going too, and I +give you back your troth, making you free to marry another--Nellie, +if you choose. She is better suited to you than I have ever been." + +Though secretly pleased at her offering to give him up, J.C. made a +show of resistance, but she had prevailed at last, and with the +assurance that he should always esteem her highly, he consented to +the breaking of the engagement, and the very, next afternoon, rode +out with Nellie Kennedy. + +"He will marry her, I think," Maude said, as she finished narrating +the circumstances, and looking into her calm, unruffled face Louis +felt sure that she had outlived her love for one who had proved +himself as fickle as J.C. De Vere. + +"And what of James?" he asked. "Is he still in New Orleans." + +"He is," answered Maude. "He has a large wholesale establishment +there, and as one of the partners is sick, he has taken his place +for the winter. He wrote to his cousin often, bidding him spare no +expense for me, and offering to pay the bills if J.C. was not able." + +A while longer they conversed, and then they were summoned to +supper, Mrs. Kennedy coming herself for Maude, who did not refuse to +be assisted by her. + +"The wind hurt my eyes--they will be better to-morrow," she said, +and with her old sunny smile she greeted her stepfather, and then +turned to Hannah and John, who had come in to see her. + +But alas for the delusion! The morrow brought no improvement, +neither the next day, nor the next, and as the world grew dim there +crept into her heart a sense of utter desolation which neither the +tender love of Maude Glendower nor yet the untiring devotion of +Louis could in any degree dispel. All day would she sit opposite the +window, her eyes fixed on the light with a longing, eager gaze, as +if she feared that the next moment it might leave her forever. +Whatever he could do for her Louis did, going to her room each +morning and arranging her dress and hair just as he knew she used to +wear it. She would not suffer anyone else to do this for her, and in +performing these little offices Louis felt that he was only repaying +her in part for all she had done for him. + +Christmas Eve came at last, and if she thought of what was once to +have been on the morrow, she gave no outward token, and with her +accustomed smile bade the family good-night. The next morning Louis +went often to her door, and hearing no sound within fancied she was +sleeping, until at last, as the clock struck nine, he ventured to go +in. Maude was awake, and advancing to her side he bade her a "Merry +Christmas," playfully chiding her the while for having slept so +late. A wild, startled expression flashed over her face, as she +said: "Late, Louis! Is it morning, then? I've watched so long to see +the light?" + +Louis did not understand her, and he answered, "Morning, yes. The +sunshine is streaming into the room. Don't you see it?" + +"Sunshine!" and Maude's lips quivered with fear, as springing from +her pillow, she whispered faintly, "Lead me to the window." + +He complied with her request, watching her curiously, as she laid +both hands in the warm sunshine, which bathed her fair, round arms +and shone upon her raven hair. She felt what she could not see, and +Louis Kennedy ne'er forgot the agonized expression of the white, +beautiful face which turned toward him as the wretched Maude moaned +piteously, "Yes, brother, 'tis morning to you, but dark, dark night +to me. I'm blind! oh, I'm blind!" + +She did not faint, she did not shriek, but she stood there rigid and +immovable, her countenance giving fearful token of the terrible +storm within. She was battling fiercely with her fate, and until +twice repeated, she did not hear the childish voice which said to +her pleadingly, "Don't look so, sister. You frighten me, and there +may be some hope yet." + +"Hope," she repeated bitterly, turning her sightless eyes toward +him, "there is no hope but death." + +"Maude," and Louis' voice was like a plaintive harp, so mournful was +its tone, "Maude, once in the very spot where mother is lying now, +you said because I was a cripple you would love me all the more. You +have kept that promise well, my sister. You have been all the world +to me, and now that you are blind I, too, will love you more. I will +be your light--your eyes, and when James De Vere comes back--" + +"No, no, no," moaned Maude, sinking upon the floor. "Nobody will +care for me. Nobody will love a blind girl. Oh, is it wicked to wish +that I could die, lying here in the sunshine, which I shall never +see again?" + +There was a movement at the door, and Mrs. Kennedy appeared, +starting back as her eye fell upon the face of the prostrate girl, +who recognized her step, and murmured sadly, "Mother, I'm blind, +wholly blind." + +Louis' grief had been too great for tears, but Maude Glendower's +flowed at once, and bending over the white-faced girl she strove to +comfort her, telling her how she would always love her, that every +wish should be gratified. + +"Then give me back my sight, oh, give me back my sight," and Maude +clasped her mother's hands imploringly. + +Ere long she grew more calm, and suffered herself to be dressed as +usual, but she would not admit anyone to her room, neither on that +day nor for many succeeding days. At length, however, this feeling +wore away, and in the heartfelt sympathy of her family and friends +she found a slight balm for her grief. Even the doctor was softened, +and when Messrs. Beebe & Co. sent in a bill of ninety-five dollars +for various articles of furniture, the frown upon his face gave way +when his wife said to him, "It was for Maude, you know!" + +"Poor Maude!" seemed to be the sentiment of the whole household, and +Nellie herself said it many a time, as with unwonted tenderness she +caressed the unfortunate girl, fearing the while lest she had done +her a wrong, for she did not then understand the nature of Maude's +feelings for J.C. De Vere, to whom Nellie was now engaged. + +Urged on by Mrs. Kelsey and a fast diminishing income, J.C. had +written to Nellie soon after her return to Laurel Hill, asking her +to be his wife. He did not disguise his former love for Maude, +neither did he pretend to have outlived it, but he said he could not +wed a blind girl. And Nellie, forgetting her assertion that she +would never marry one who had first proposed to Maude, was only too +much pleased to answer Yes. And when J.C. insisted upon an early +day, she named the 5th of March, her twentieth birthday. She was to +be married at home, and as the preparations for the wedding would +cause a great amount of bustle and confusion in the house, it seemed +necessary that Maude should know the cause, and with a beating heart +Nellie went to her one day to tell the news. Very composedly Maude +listened to the story, and then as composedly replied, "I am truly +glad, and trust you will be happy." + +"So I should be," answered Nellie, "if I were sure you did not +care." + +"Care! for whom?" returned Maude. "For J.C. De Vere? Every particle +of love for him has died out, and I am now inclined to think I never +entertained for him more than a girlish fancy, while he certainly +did not truly care for me." + +This answer was very quieting to Nellie's conscience, and in +unusually good spirits she abandoned herself to the excitement which +usually precedes a wedding. Mrs. Kennedy, too, entered heart and +soul into the matter, and arming herself with the plea, that "it was +his only daughter, who would probably never be married again," she +coaxed her husband into all manner of extravagances, and by the 1st +of March few would have recognized the interior of the house, so +changed was it by furniture and repairs. Handsome damask curtains +shaded the parlor windows, which were further improved by large +heavy panes of glass. Matty's piano had been removed to Maude's +chamber, and its place supplied by a new and costly instrument, +which the crafty woman made her husband believe was intended by Mrs. +Kelsey, who selected it, as a bridal present for her niece. The +furnace was in splendid order, keeping the whole house, as Hannah +said, "hotter than an oven," while the disturbed doctor lamented +daily over the amount of fuel it consumed, and nightly counted the +contents of his purse or reckoned up how much he was probably worth. +But neither his remonstrances nor yet his frequent groans had any +effect upon his wife. Although she had no love for Nellie, she was +determined upon a splendid wedding, one which would make folks talk +for months, and when her liege lord complained of the confusion, she +suggested to him a furnished room in the garret, where it would be +very quiet for him to reckon up the bill, which from time to time +she brought him. + +"Might as well gin in at oncet," John said to him one day, when he +borrowed ten dollars for the payment of an oyster bill. "I tell you +she's got more besom in her than both them t'other ones." + +The doctor probably thought so too, for he became comparatively +submissive, though he visited often the sunken graves, where he +found a mournful solace in reading, "Katy, wife of Dr. Kennedy, aged +twenty-nine,"--"Matty, second wife of Dr. Kennedy, aged thirty," and +once he was absolutely guilty of wondering how the words, "Maude, +third wife of Dr. Kennedy, aged forty-one," would look. But he +repented him of the wicked thought, and when on his return from his +"graveyard musings," Maude, aged forty-one, asked him for the twenty +dollars which she saw a man pay to him that morning, he gave it to +her without a word. + +Meanwhile the fickle J.C. in Rochester was one moment regretting the +step he was about to take and the next wishing the day would hasten, +so he could "have it over with." Maude Remington had secured a place +in his affections which Nellie could not fill, and though he had no +wish to marry her now, he tried to make himself believe that but for +her misfortune she should still have become his wife. + +"Jim would marry her, I dare say, even if she were blind as a bat," +he said; "but then he is able to support her," and reminded by this +of an unanswered letter from his cousin, who was still in New +Orleans, he sat down and wrote, telling him of Maude's total +blindness, and then, almost in the next sentence saying that his +wedding was fixed for the 5th of March. "There," he exclaimed, as he +read over the letter, "I believe I must be crazy, for I never told +him that the bride was Nellie; but no matter, I'd like to have him +think me magnanimous for a while, and I want to hear what he says." + +Two weeks or more went by, and then there came an answer, fraught +with sympathy for Maude, and full of commendation for J.C., who "had +shown himself a man." + +Accompanying the letter was a box containing a most exquisite set of +pearls for the bride, together with a diamond ring, on which was +inscribed, "Cousin Maude." + +"Aint I in a deuced scrape," said J.C., as he examined the beautiful +ornaments; "Nellie would be delighted with them, but she shan't have +them; they are not hers. I'll write to Jim at once, and tell him the +mistake," and seizing his pen he dashed off a few lines, little +guessing how much happiness they would carry to the far-off city, +where daily and nightly James De Vere fought manfully with the love +that clung with a deathlike grasp to the girl J.C. had forsaken, the +poor, blind, helpless Maude. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +NELLIE'S BRIDAL NIGHT. + + +The blind girl sat alone in her chamber, listening to the sound of +merry voices in the hall without, or the patter of feet, as the fast +arriving guests tripped up and down the stairs. She had heard the +voice of J.C. De Vere as he passed her door, but it awoke within her +bosom no lingering regret, and when an hour later Nellie stood +before her, arrayed in her bridal robes, she passed her hand +caressingly over the flowing curls, the fair, round face, the satin +dress, and streaming veil, saying as she did so, "I know you are +beautiful, my sister, and if a blind girl's blessing can be of any +avail, you have it most cordially." + +Both Mrs. Kennedy and Nellie had urged Maude to be present at the +ceremony, but she shrank from the gaze of strangers, and preferred +remaining in her room, an arrangement quite satisfactory to J.C., +who did not care to meet her then. It seemed probable that some of +the guests would go up to see her, and knowing this, Mrs. Kennedy +had arranged her curls and dress with unusual care, saying to her as +she kissed her pale cheek, "You are far more beautiful than the +bride." + +And Maude was beautiful. Recent suffering and non-exposure to the +open air had imparted a delicacy to her complexion which harmonized +well with the mournful expression of her face and the idea of +touching helplessness which her presence inspired. Her long, fringed +eyelashes rested upon her cheek, and her short, glossy curls were +never more becomingly arranged than now, when stepping backward a +pace or two, Mrs. Kennedy stopped a moment to admire her again ere +going below where her presence was already needed. + +The din of voices grew louder in the hall, there was a tread of many +feet upon the stairs, succeeded by a solemn hush, and Maude, +listening to every sound, knew that the man to whom she had been +plighted was giving to another his marriage vow. She had no love for +J.C. De Vere, but as she sat there alone in her desolation, and +thoughts of her sister's happiness rose up in contrast to her own +dark, hopeless lot, who shall blame her if she covered her face with +her hands and wept most bitterly. Poor Maude! It was dark, dark +night within, and dark, dark night without; and her dim eye could +not penetrate the gloom, nor see the star which hung o'er the brow +of the distant hill, where a wayworn man was toiling on. Days and +nights had he traveled, unmindful of fatigue, while his throbbing +heart outstripped the steam-god by many a mile. The letter had +fulfilled its mission, and with one wild burst of joy when he read +that she was free, he started for the North. He was not expected at +the wedding, but it would be a glad surprise, he knew, and he +pressed untiringly on, thinking but one thought, and that, how he +would comfort the poor, blind Maude. He did not know that even then +her love belonged to him, but he could win it, perhaps, and then +away to sunny France, where many a wonderful cure had been wrought, +and might be wrought again. + +The bridal was over, and the congratulations nearly so; when a +stranger was announced, an uninvited guest, and from his armchair in +the corner Louis saw that it was the same kind face which had bent +so fearlessly over his pillow little more than six months before. +James De Vere--the name was echoed from lip to lip, but did not +penetrate the silent chamber where Maude sat weeping yet. + +A rapid glance through the rooms assured the young man that she was +not there: and when the summons to supper was given he went to Louis +and asked him for his sister. + +"She is upstairs," said Louis, adding impulsively: "she will be glad +you have come, for she has talked of you so much." + +"Talked of me!" and the eyes of James De Vere looked earnestly into +Louis' face. "And does she talk of me still?" + +"Yes," said Louis, "I heard her once when she was asleep, though I +ought not to have mentioned it," he continued, suddenly recollecting +himself, "for when I told her, she blushed so red, and bade me not +to tell." + +"Take me to her, will you?" said Mr. De Vere, and following his +guide he was soon opposite the door of Maude's room. + +"Wait a moment," he exclaimed, passing his fingers through his hair, +and trying in vain to brush from his coat the dust which had settled +there. + +"It don't matter, for she can't see," said Louis, who comprehended +at once the feelings of his companion. + +By this time they stood within the chamber, but so absorbed was +Maude in her own grief that she did not hear her brother until he +bent over her and whispered in her ear, "Wake, sister, if you're +sleeping. He's come. He's here!" + +She had no need to ask of him who had come. She knew intuitively, +and starting up, her unclosed eyes flashed eagerly around the room, +turning at last toward the door where she felt that he was standing. +James De Vere remained motionless, watching intently the fair, +troubled face, which had never seemed so fair to him, before. + +"Brother, have you deceived me? Where is he?" she said at last, as +her listening ear caught no new sound. + +"Here, Maude, here," and gliding to her side, Mr. De Vere wound his +arm around her, and kissing her lips, called her by the name to +which she was getting accustomed, and which never sounded so +soothingly as when breathed by his melodious voice. "My poor, blind +Maude," was all he said, but by the clasp of his warm hand, by the +tear she felt upon her cheek, and by his very silence, she knew how +deeply he sympathized with her. + +Knowing that they would rather be alone, Louis went below, where +many inquiries were making for the guest who had so suddenly +disappeared. The interview between the two was short, for some of +Maude's acquaintance came up to see her, but it sufficed for Mr. De +Vere to learn all that he cared particularly to know then. Maude did +not love J.C., whose marriage with another caused her no regret, and +this knowledge made the future seem hopeful and bright. It was not +the time to speak of that future to her, but he bade her take +courage, hinting that his purse, should never be closed until every +possible means had been used for the restoration of her sight. What +wonder, then, if she dreamed that night that she could see again, +and, that the good angel by whose agency this blessing had been +restored to her was none other than James De Vere. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +COUSIN MAUDE. + + +Three days had passed since the bridal, and James still lingered at +Laurel Hill, while not very many miles away his mother waited and +wondered why he did not come. J.C. and Nellie were gone, but ere +they had left the former sought an interview with Maude, whose +placid brow he kissed tenderly as he whispered in her ear: "Fate +decreed that you should not be my wife, but I have made you my +sister, and, if I mistake not, another wishes to make you my +cousin." + +To James he had given back the ornaments intended for another bride +than Nellie, saying, as he did so, "Maude De Vere may wear them +yet." + +"What do you mean?" asked James, and J.C. replied: "I mean that I, +and not you, will have a Cousin Maude." + +Two days had elapsed since then, and it was night again--but to the +blind girl, drinking in the words of love which fell like music on +her ear, it was high noon-day, and the sky undimmed by a single +cloud. + +"I once called you my cousin, Maude," the deep-toned voice said, +"and I thought it the sweetest name I had ever heard, but there is a +nearer, dearer name which I would give to you, even my wife--Maude--shall +it be?" and he looked into her sightless eyes to read her +answer. + +She had listened eagerly to the story of his love born so long +ago--had held her breath lest she should lose a single word when he told +her how he had battled with that love, and how his heart had +thrilled with joy when he heard that she was free--but when he asked +her to be his wife the bright vision faded, and she answered +mournfully, "You know not what you say. You would not take a blind +girl in her helplessness." + +"A thousandfold dearer to me for that very helplessness," he said, +and then he told her of the land beyond the sea, where the +physicians were well skilled in everything pertaining to the eye. +"Thither they would go," he said, "when the April winds were +blowing, and should the experiment not succeed, he would love and +cherish her all the more." + +Maude knew he was in earnest, and was about to answer him, when +along the hall there came the sound of little crutches, and over her +face there flitted a shadow of pain. It was the sister-love warring +with the love of self, but James De Vere understood it all, and he +hastened to say, "Louis will go, too, my darling. I have never had a +thought of separating you. In Europe he will have a rare opportunity +for developing his taste. Shall it not be so?" + +"Let him decide," was Maude's answer, as the crutches struck the +soft carpet of the room. + +"Louis," said Mr. De Vere, "shall Maude go with me to Europe as my +wife?" + +"Yes, yes--yes, yes," was Louis' hasty answer, his brown eyes +filling with tears of joy when he heard that he, too, was to +accompany them. + +Maude could no longer refuse, and she half fancied she saw the +flashing of the diamonds, when James placed upon her finger the ring +which bore the inscription of "Cousin Maude." Before coming there +that night, Mr. De Vere had consulted a New York paper, and found +that a steamship would sail for Liverpool on the 20th of April, +about six weeks from that day. + +"We will go in it," he said, "my blind bird, Louis, and I," and he +parted lovingly the silken tresses of her to whom this new +appellation was given. + +There was much in the future to anticipate, and much in the past +which he wished to talk over; so he remained late that night, and on +passing through the lower hall was greatly surprised to see Mrs. +Kennedy still sitting in the parlor. She had divined the object and +result of his visit, and the moment he was gone she glided up the +stairs to the room where Maude was quietly weeping for very joy. The +story of the engagement was soon told, and winding her arm around +Maude's neck Mrs. Kennedy said, "I rejoice with you, daughter, in +your happiness, but I shall be left so desolate when you and Louis +are both gone." + +Just then her eye caught the ring upon Maude's finger, and taking it +in her hand, she admired its chaste beauty, and was calculating its +probable cost, when glancing at the inside she started suddenly, +exclaiming, "'Cousin Maude'--that is my name--the one by which he +always called me. Has it been given to you, too?" and as the throng +of memories that name awakened came rushing over her, the impulsive +woman folded the blind girl to her bosom, saying to her, "My child, +my, child, you should have been!" + +"I do not understand you," said Maude, and Mrs. Kennedy replied, "It +is not meet that we should part ere I tell you who and what I am. Is +the name of Maude Glendower strange to you? Did you never hear it in +your Vernon home?" + +"It seemed familiar to me when J.C. De Vere first told me of you," +answered Maude, "but I cannot recall any particular time when I +heard it spoken. Did you know my mother?" + +"Yes, father and mother both, and loved them too. Listen to me, +Maude, while I tell you of the past. Though it seems so long ago, I +was a schoolgirl once, and nightly in my arms there slept a +fair-haired, blue-eyed maiden, four years my junior, over whom I +exercised an elder sister's care. She loved me, this little blue-eyed +girl, and when your brother first spoke to me I seemed again to +hear her voice whispering in my ear, 'I love you, beautiful Maude.'" + +"It was mother--it was mother!" and Maude Remington drew nearer to +the excited woman, who answered: + +"Yes, it was your mother, then little Matty Reed; we were at school +together in New Haven, and she was my roommate. We were not at all +alike, for I was wholly selfish, while she found her greatest +pleasure in ministering to others' happiness; but she crossed my +path at last, and then I thought I hated her." + +"Not my mother, lady. You could not hate my mother!" and the blind +eyes flashed as if they would tear away the veil of darkness in +which they were enshrouded, and gaze upon a woman who could hate +sweet Matty Remington. + +"Hush, child! don't look so fiercely at me," said Maude Glendower. +"Upon your mother's grave I have wept that sin away, and I know I am +forgiven as well as if her own soft voice had told me so. I loved +your father, Maude, and this was my great error. He was a distant +relative of your mother, whom he always called his cousin. He +visited her often, for he was a college student, and ere I was aware +of it, I loved him, oh, so madly, vainly fancying my affection was +returned. He was bashful, I thought, for he was not then twenty-one, +and by way of rousing him to action. I trifled with another--with +Dr. Kennedy," and she uttered the name spitefully, as if it were +even now hateful to her. + +"I know it--I know it," returned Maude, "he told me that when he +first talked with me of you, but I did not suppose the dark-eyed +student was my father." + +"It was none other," said Mrs. Kennedy, "and you can form some +conception of my love for him, when I tell you that it has never +died away, but is as fresh within my heart this night as when I +walked with him upon the College Green and he Called me 'Cousin +Maude,' for he gave me that name because of my fondness for Matty, +and he sealed it with a kiss. Matty was present at that time, and +had I not been blind I should have seen how his whole soul was bound +up in her, even while kissing me. I regarded her as a child, and so +she was; but men sometimes love children, you know. When she was +fifteen, she left New Haven. I, too, had ceased to be a schoolgirl, +but I still remained in the city and wrote to her regularly, until +at last your father came to me, and with the light of a great joy +shining all over his face, told me she was to be his bride on her +sixteenth birthday. She would have written it herself, he said, only +she was a bashful little creature, and would rather he should tell +me. I know not what I did, for the blow was sudden, and took my +senses away. He had been so kind to me of late--had visited me so +often, that my heart was full of hope. But it was all gone now. +Matty Reed was preferred to me, and while my Spanish blood boiled at +the fancied indignity, I said many a harsh thing of her--I called +her designing, deceitful, and false; and then in my frenzy quitted +the room. I never saw Harry, again, for he left the city next +morning; but to my dying hour I shall not forget the expression of +his face when I talked to him of Matty. Turn away, Maude, turn away! +for there is the same look now upon your face. But I have repented +of that act, though not till years after. I tore up Mattie's +letters. I. said I would burn the soft brown tress--" + +"Oh, woman, woman! you did not burn my mother's hair!" and with a +shudder Maude unwound the soft, white arm which so closely encircled +her. + +"No, Maude, no. I couldn't. It would not leave my fingers, but +coiled around them with a loving grasp. I have it now, and esteem it +my choicest treasure. When I heard that you were born, my heart +softened toward the young girl. Mother and I wrote, asking that +Harry's child might be called for me. I did not disguise my love for +him, and I said it would be some consolation to know that his +daughter bore my name. My letter did not reach them until you had +been baptized Matilda, which was the name of your mother and +grandmother, but to prove their goodness, they ever after called you +Maude." + +"Then I was named for you;" and Maude Remington came back to the +embrace of Maude Glendower, who, kissing, her white brow, continued: +"Two years afterward I found myself in Vernon, stopping for a night +at the hotel. 'I will see them in the morning,' I said; 'Harry, +Matty, and the little child;' and I asked the landlord where you +lived. I was standing upon the stairs, and in the partial darkness +he could not see my anguish when he replied, 'Bless you, miss. Harry +Remington died a fortnight ago.'" + +"How I reached my room I never knew, but reach it I did, and half an +hour later I knelt by his grave, where I wept away every womanly +feeling of my heart, and then went back to the giddy world, the +gayest of the gay. I did not seek an interview with your mother, +though I have often regretted it since. Did she never speak of me? +Think. Did you never hear my name?" + +"In Vernon, I am sure I did," answered Maude, "but I was then too +young to receive a very vivid impression, and after we came here +mother, I fear, was too unhappy to talk much of the past." + +"I understand it," answered Maude Glendower, and over her fine +features there stole a hard, dark look, as she continued, "I can see +how one of her gentle nature would wither and die in this +atmosphere, and forgive me, Maude, she never loved your father as I +loved him, for had he called me wife I should never have been here." + +"What made you come?" asked Maude; and the lady answered, "For +Louis' sake and yours I came. I never lost sight of your mother. I +knew she married the man I rejected, and from my inmost soul I +pitied her. But I am redressing her wrongs and those of that other +woman who wore her life away within these gloomy walls. Money is his +idol, and when you touch his purse you touch his tenderest point. +But I have opened it, and, struggle as he may, it shall not be +closed again." + +She spoke bitterly, and Maude knew that Dr. Kennedy had more than +met his equal in that woman of iron will. + +"I should have made a splendid carpenter," the lady continued, "for +nothing pleases me more than the sound of the hammer and saw, and +when you are gone I shall solace myself with fixing the entire +house. I must have excitement, or die as the others did." + +"Maude--Mrs. Kennedy, do you know what time it is?" came from the +foot of the stairs, and Mrs. Kennedy answered, "It is one o'clock, I +believe." + +"Then why are you sitting up so late, and why is that lamp left +burning in the parlor, with four tubes going off at once? It's a +maxim of mine--" + +"Spare your maxims, do. I'm coming directly," and kissing the blind +girl affectionately, Mrs. Kennedy went down to her liege lord, whom +she found extinguishing the light, and gently shaking the lamp to +see how much fluid had been uselessly wasted. + +He might have made some conjugal remark, but the expression of her +face forbade anything like reproof, and he soon found use for his +powers of speech in the invectives he heaped upon the long rocker of +the chair over which he stumbled as he groped his way back to the +bedroom, where his wife rather enjoyed, than otherwise, the +lamentations which he made over his "bruised shin." The story she +had been telling had awakened many bitter memories in Maude +Glendower's bosom, and for hours she turned uneasily from side to +side, trying in vain to sleep. Maude Remington, too, was wakeful, +thinking over the strange tale she had heard, and marveling that her +life should be so closely interwoven with that of the woman whom she +called her mother. + +"I love her all the more," she said; "I shall pity her so, staying +here alone, when I am gone." + +Then her thoughts turned upon the future, when she would be the wife +of James De Vere, and while wondering if she should really ever see +again, she fell asleep just as the morning was dimly breaking in the +east. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +A SECOND BRIDAL. + + +After the night of which we have written, the tie of affection +between Mrs. Kennedy and the blind girl was stronger than before, +and when the former said to her husband, "Maude must have an outfit +worthy of a rich man's stepdaughter," he knew by the tone of her +voice that remonstrance was useless, and answered meekly, "I will do +what is right, but don't be too extravagant, for Nellie's clothes +almost ruined me, and I had to pay for that piano yesterday. Will +fifty dollars do?" + +"Fifty dollars!" repeated the lady. "Are you crazy?" Then, touched +perhaps by the submissive expression of his face, she added, "As +Maude is blind, she will not need as much as if she were going at +once into society. I'll try and make two hundred dollars answer, +though that will purchase but a meager trousseau." + +Mrs. Kennedy's pronounciation of French was not always correct, and +John, who chanced to be within hearing, caught eagerly at the last +word, exclaiming, "Ki! dem trouses must cost a heap sight mor'n +mine! What dis nigger spec' 'em can be?" and he glanced ruefully at +his own glazed pants of corduroy, which had done him service for two +or three years. + +Maude was a great favorite with John, and when he heard that she was +going away forever he went up to the woodshed chamber where no one +could see him, and seating himself upon a pile of old shingles, +which had been put there for kindling, he cried like a child. + +"It'll be mighty lonesome, knowin' she's gone for good," he said, +"for, though she'll come back agin, she'll be married, and when a +gal is married, that's the last on 'em. I wish I could give her +somethin', to show her my feelin's." + +He examined his hands; they were hard, rough, and black. He drew +from his pocket a bit of looking-glass and examined his face--that +was blacker yet; and shaking his head, he whispered: "It might do +for a mulatto gal, but not for her." Then, as a new idea crossed his +mind, he brightened up, exclaiming, "My heart is white, and if I +have a tip-top case, mebby she won't 'spise a poor old nigger's +picter!" + +In short, John contemplated having his daguerreotype taken as a +bridal present for Maude. Accordingly, that very afternoon he +arrayed himself in his best, and, entering the yellow car of a +traveling artist who had recently come to the village, he was soon +in possession of a splendid case and a picture which he, pronounced +"oncommon good-lookin' for him." This he laid carefully away until +the wedding-day, which was fixed for the 15th of April. When Mr. De +Vere heard of John's generosity to Maude in giving her the golden +eagles, he promptly paid them back, adding five more as interest, +and at the same time asking him if he would not like to accompany +them to Europe. + +"You can be of great assistance to us," he said, "and I will gladly +take you." + +This was a strong temptation, and for a moment the negro hesitated, +but when his eye fell upon his master, who was just then entering +the gate, his decision was taken, and he answered, "No, I'm bleeged +to you. I'd rather stay and see the fun." + +"What fun?" asked Mr. De Vere; and John replied, "The fun of seein' +him cotch it;" and he pointed to the doctor coming slowly up the +walk, his hands behind him and his head bent forward in a musing +attitude. + +Dr. Kennedy was at that moment in an unenviable frame of mind, for +he was trying to decide whether he could part for a year or more +with his crippled boy, who grew each day more dear to him. "It will +do him good, I know," he said, "and I might, perhaps, consent, if I +could spare the money; but I can't, for I haven't got it. That woman +keeps me penniless, and will wheedle me out of two hundred dollars +more. Oh, Mat--" + +He did not finish the sentence, for by this time he had reached the +hall, where he met Mr. De Vere, who asked if Louis was to go. + +"He can't," answered the doctor. "I have not the means. Mrs. Kennedy +says Maude's wardrobe will cost two hundred dollars." + +"Excuse me, sir," interrupted Mr. De Vere. "I shall attend to +Maude's wants myself, and if you are not able to bear Louis' +expenses, I will willingly do it for the sake of having him with his +sister. They ought not to be separated, and who knows but Louis' +deformity may be in a measure relieved?" + +This last decided the matter. Louis should go, even though his +father mortgaged his farm to pay the bill, and during the few weeks +which elapsed before the 15th the house presented an air of bustle +and confusion equal to that which preceded Nellie's bridal. Mr. De +Vere remained firm in his intention to defray all Maude's expenses, +and he delegated to Mrs. Kennedy the privilege of purchasing +whatever she thought was needful. Her selections were usually in +good taste, and in listening to her enthusiastic praises Maude +enjoyed her new dresses almost as much as if she had really seen +them. A handsome plain silk of blue and brown was decided upon for a +traveling dress, and very sweetly the blind girl looked when, +arrayed in her simple attire, she stood before the man of God whose +words were to make her a happy bride. She could not see the sunlight +of spring streaming into the room, neither could she see the +sunlight of love shining over the face of James De Vere, nor yet the +earnest gaze of those who thought her so beautiful in her +helplessness, but she could feel it all, and the long eyelashes +resting on her cheek were wet with tears when a warm kiss was +pressed upon her lips and a voice murmured in her ear, "My wife--my +darling Maude." + +There were bitter tears shed at that parting; Maude Glendower +weeping passionately over the child of Harry Remington, and Dr. +Kennedy hugging to his bosom the little hunchback boy, Matty's boy +and his. They might never meet again, and the father's heart clung +fondly to his only son. He could not even summon to his aid a maxim +with which to season his farewell, and bidding a kind good-by to +Maude, he sought the privacy of his chamber, where he could weep +alone in his desolation. + +Hannah and John grieved to part with the travelers, but the latter +was somewhat consoled by the gracious manner with which Maude had +accepted his gift. + +"I cannot see it," she said, "but when I open the casing I shall +know your kind, honest face is there, and it will bring me many +pleasant memories of you." + +"Heaven bless you, Miss Maude," answered John, struggling hard to +keep back the tears he deemed it unmanly to shed. "Heaven bless you, +but if you keep talking so book-like and good, I'll bust out +a-cryin', I know, for I'm nothin' but an old fool anyhow," and +wringing her hand, he hurried off into the woodshed chamber, where +he could give free vent to his grief. + +Through the harbor, down the bay, and out upon the sea, a noble +vessel rides; and as the evening wind comes dancing o'er the wave it +sweeps across the deck, kissing the cheek of a brown-eyed boy and +lifting the curls from the brow of one whose face, upturned to the +tall man at her side, seems almost angelic, so calm, so peaceful, is +its expression of perfect bliss. Many have gazed curiously upon that +group, and the voices were very, low which said, "The little boy is +deformed," while there was a world of sadness in the whisper, which +told to the wondering passengers that "the beautiful bride was +blind." + +They knew it by the constant drooping of her eyelids, by the +graceful motion of her hand as it groped in the air, and more than +all by the untiring watchfulness of the husband and brother who +constantly hovered near. It seemed terrible that so fair a creature +should be blind; and like the throb of one great heart did the +sympathy of that vessel's crew go out toward the gentle Maude, who +in her newborn happiness forgot almost the darkness of the world +without, or if she thought of it, looked forward to a time when hope +said that she should see again. So, leaving her upon the sea, +speeding away to sunny France, we glance backward for a moment to +the lonely house where Maude Glendower mourns for Harry's child, and +where the father thinks often of his boy, listening in vain for the +sound which once was hateful to his ear, the sound of Louis' +crutches. + +Neither does John forget the absent ones, but in the garden, in the +barn, in the fields, and the woodshed chamber, he prays in his +mongrel dialect that He who holds the wind in the hollow of His hand +will give to the treacherous deep charge concerning the precious +freight it bears. He does not say it in those words, but his +untutored language, coming from a pure heart, is heard by the Most +High. And so the breeze blows gently o'er the bark thus followed by +black John's prayers--the skies look brightly down upon it--the blue +waves ripple at its side, until at last it sails into its destined +port; and when the apple-blossoms are dropping from the trees, and +old Hannah lays upon the grass to bleach the fanciful white +bed-spread which her own hands have knit for Maude, there comes a letter +to the lonely household, telling them that the feet of those they +love have reached the shores of the Old World. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE SEXTON. + + +The Methodist Society of Laurel Hill had built themselves a new +church upon the corner of the common, and as a mark of respect had +made black John their sexton. Perfectly delighted with the office, +he discharged his duties faithfully, particularly the ringing of the +bell, in which accomplishment he greatly excelled his Episcopal +rival, who tried to imitate his peculiar style in vain. No one could +make such music as the negro, or ring so many changes. In short, it +was conceded that on great occasions he actually made the old bell +talk; and one day toward the last of September, and five months +after the events of the preceding chapter, an opportunity was +presented for a display of his skill. + +The afternoon was warm and sultry, and overcome by the heat the +village loungers had disposed of themselves, some on the long piazza +of the hotel, and others in front of the principal store, where, +with elevated heels and busy jackknives, they whittled out shapeless +things, or made remarks concerning any luckless female who chanced +to pass. While thus engaged they were startled by a loud, sharp ring +from the belfry of the Methodist church succeeded by a merry peal, +which seemed to proclaim some joyful event. It was a musical, +rollicking ring, consisting of three rapid strokes, the last +prolonged a little, as if to give it emphasis. + +"What's up now?" the loungers said to each other, as the three +strokes were repeated in rapid succession. "What's got into John?" +and those who were fortunate enough to own houses in the village, +went into the street to assure themselves there was no fire. + +"It can't be a toll," they said. "It's too much like a dancing tune +for that," and as the sound continued they walked rapidly to the +church, where they found the African bending himself with might and +main to his task, the perspiration dripping from his sable face, +which was all aglow with happiness. + +It was no common occasion which had thus affected John, and to the +eager questioning of his audience he replied, "Can't you hear the +ding--dong--de-el. Don't you know what it says? Listen now," and the +bell again rang forth the three short sounds. But the crowd still +professed their ignorance, and, pausing a moment, John said, with a +deprecating manner: "I'll tell the first word, and you'll surely +guess the rest: it's 'Maude.' Now try 'em," and wiping the sweat +from his brow, he turned again to his labor of love, nodding his +head with every stroke. "No ear at all for music," he muttered, as +he saw they were as mystified as ever, and in a loud, clear voice, +he sang, "Maude can see-e! Maude can see-e!" + +It was enough. Most of that group had known and respected the blind +girl, and joining at once in the negro's enthusiasm they sent up a +deafening shout for "Maude De Vere, restored to sight." + +John's face at that moment was a curiosity, so divided was it +between smiles and tears, the latter of which won the mastery, as +with the last hurrah the bell gave one tremendous crash, and he sank +exhausted upon the floor, saying to those who gathered round, "Will +'em hear that, think, in France?" + +"How do you know it is true?" asked one, and John replied, "She writ +her own self to tell it, and sent her love to me; think of dat--sent +her love to an old nigger!" and John glanced at the bell, as if he +intended a repetition of the rejoicings. + +Surely Maude De Vere, across the sea, never received a greater +tribute of respect than was paid to her that day by the warm-hearted +John, who, the moment he heard the glad news, sped away, to proclaim +it from the church-tower. The letter had come that afternoon, and, +as John said, was written by Maude herself. The experiment had been +performed weeks before, but she would wait until assurance was +doubly sure ere she sent home the joyful tidings. It was a wonderful +cure, for the chance of success was small, but the efforts used in +her behalf had succeeded, and she could see again. + +"But what of Louis?" asked Dr. Kennedy, who was listening while his +wife read to him the letter. "What of Louis? Have they done anything +for him?" + +"They had tried, but his deformity could not be helped," and with a +pang of disappointment the father was turning away when something +caught his ear which caused him to listen again. + +"You don't know," Maude wrote, "how great a lion Louis is getting to +be. He painted a picture of me just as I looked that dreadful +morning when I stood in the sunshine and felt that I was blind. It +is a strange, wild thing, but its wildness is relieved by the +angel-faced boy who looks up at me so pityingly. Louis is perfect, but +Maude--oh! I can scarce believe that she ever wore that expression +of fierce despair. Strange as it may seem, this picture took the +fancy of the excitable French, and ere Louis was aware of it he +found himself famous. They come to our rooms daily to see le petit +artist, and many ask for pictures or sketches, for which they pay an +exorbitant price. One wealthy American gentleman brought him a +daguerreotype of his dead child, with the request that he would +paint from it a life-sized portrait, and if he succeeds in getting a +natural face he is to receive five hundred dollars. Think of little +Louis Kennedy earning five hundred dollars, for he will succeed. The +daguerreotype is much like Nellie, which will make it easier for +Louis." + +This was very gratifying to Dr. Kennedy, who that day more than once +repeated to himself, "Five hundred dollars: it's a great deal of +money, for him to earn; maybe he'll soon be able to help me, and +mercy knows I shall soon need it if that woman continues her +unheard-of extravagances. More city company to-morrow, and I heard +her this morning tell that Jezebel in the kitchen to put the whites +of sixteen eggs into one loaf of cake. What am I coming to?" and +Dr. Kennedy, groaned in spirit as he walked through the handsome +apartments, seeking in vain for a place where he could sit and have +it seem as it used to do, when the rocking-chair which Matty had +brought stood invitingly in the middle of the room where now a +center-table was standing, covered with books and ornaments of the +most expensive kind. + +Since last we looked in upon her Maude Glendower had ruled with a +high hand. She could not live without excitement, and rallying from +her grief at parting with her child, she plunged at once into +repairs, tearing down and building up, while her husband looked on +in dismay. When they were about it, she said, they might as well +have all the modern improvements, and water, both hot and cold, was +accordingly carried to all the sleeping apartments, the fountain-head +being a large spring distant from the house nearly half a mile. +Gas she could not have, though the doctor would hardly have been +surprised had she ordered the laying of pipes from Rochester to +Laurel Hill, so utterly reckless did she seem. She was fond of +company, and as she had visited everybody, so everybody in return +must visit her, she said, and toward the last of summer she filled +the house with city people, who vastly enjoyed the good cheer with +which her table was always spread. + +John's desire to see the fun was more than satisfied, as was also +Hannah's, and after the receipt of Maude's letter the latter +determined to write herself, "and let Miss De Vere know just how +things was managed." In order to do this, it was necessary to employ +an amanuensis, and she enlisted the services of the gardener, who +wrote her exact language, a mixture of negro, Southern, and Yankee. +A portion of this letter we give to the reader. + +After expressing her pleasure that Maude could see, and saying that +she believed the new Miss to be a good woman, but a mighty queer +one, she continued: + +"The doin's here is wonderful, and you'd hardly know the old place. +Thar's a big dining room run out to the south, with an expansion +table mighty nigh a rod long, and what's more, it't allus full too, +of city stuck-ups--and the way they do eat! I haint churned nary +pound of butter since you went away. Why, bless yer soul, we has to +buy. Do you mind that patch of land what the doctor used to plant +with corn? Well, the garden sass grows there now, and t'other garden +raises nothin' but flowers and strabries, and thar's a man hired on +purpose to tend 'em. He's writin' this for me. Thar's a tower run up +in the northeast eend, and when it's complete, she's goin' to have a +what you call 'em--somethin' that blows up the water--oh, a +fountain. Thar's one in the yard, and, if you'll believe it, she's +got one of Cary's rotary pumpin' things, that folks are runnin' +crazy about, and every hot day she keeps John a-turnin' the injin' +to squirt the water all over the yard, and make it seem like a +thunder shower! Thar's a bathroom, and when them city folks is here +some on 'em is a-washin' in thar all the time. I don't do nothin' +now but wash and iron, and if I have fifty towels I have one! But +what pesters me most is the wide skirts I has to do up; Miss Canady +wears a hoop bigger than an amberell. They say Miss Empress, who +makes these things, lives in Paris, and I wish you'd put yourself +out a little to see her, and ask her, for me, to quit sendin' over +them fetched hoops. Thar aint no sense in it! We've got jiggers in +every chamber where the water spirts out. Besides turnin' the injin +John drives the horses in the new carriage. Dr. Canady looks poorly, +and yet madam purrs round him like a kitten, but I knows the claws +is thar. She's about broke him of usin' them maxims of his, and your +poor marm would enjoy it a spell seein' him paid off, but she'd pity +him after a while. I do, and if things continners to grow wus, I +shall just ask pra'rs for him in my meetin'. Elder Blossom is +powerful at that. My health is considerable good, but I find I grow +old. Yours, with respect and regrets," Hannah. + +"P.S.--I don't believe that t'other beau of yourn is none the +happiest. They live with Miss Kelsey yet, but thar's a story round +that she's a-gwine to marry again, and the man don't like De Vere, +and won't have him thar, so if the doctor should run out, as I'm +afraid he will, what'll them lazy critters do? Nellie's got to be +kinder sozzlin' in her dress, and he has took to chawin' tobacker by +the pound. They was here a spell ago, and deaf as I be, I hearn 'em +have one right smart quarrel. He said she was slatterly, or +somethin' like that, and she called him a fool, and said she 'most +knew he wished he'd took you, blind as you was, and he said, kinder +sorry-like, 'Maude would never of called me a fool, nor wore such +holes in the heels of her stockin's.' I couldn't hear no more, but I +knew by her voice that she was cryin', and when I went below and +seen the doctor out behind the woodshed a-figgerin' up, says I to +myself, `If I was a Univarselar, I should b'lieve they was all on +'em a-gittin' thar pay,' but bein' I'm a Methodis', I don't believe +nothin'." + +This letter, which conveyed to Maude a tolerably correct idea of +matters at home, will also show to the reader the state of feeling +existing between J.C. and Nellie. They were not suited to each +other, and though married but seven months, there had been many a +quarrel besides the one which Hannah overheard. Nellie demanded of +her husband more love than he had to bestow, and the consequence +was, a feeling of bitter jealousy on her part and an increasing +coldness on his. They were an ill-assorted couple, utterly incapable +of taking care of themselves, and when they heard from Mrs. Kelsey +that she really contemplated a second marriage, they looked forward +to the future with a kind of hopeless apathy, wholly at variance +with the feelings of the beautiful, dark-eyed Maude and the noble +James De Vere. + +Their love for each other had increased each day, and their +happiness seemed almost greater than they could bear on that +memorable morn when the husband bent fondly over his young +girl-wife, who laid a hand on each side of his face, and while the great +tears rolled down her cheeks, whispered joyfully, "I can see you, +darling; I can see!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +HOME AGAIN. + + +Little more than two years have passed away since the September +afternoon when the deep-toned bell rang out the merry tidings, +"Maude can see--Maude can see," and again upon the billow another +vessel rides. But this time to the westward; and the beautiful lady, +whose soft, dark eyes look eagerly over the wave says to her +companion, "It is very pleasant going home." + +They had tarried for a long time in Italy, both for Louis' sake and +because, after the recovery of her sight, Maude's health had been +delicate, and her husband would stay until it was fully +re-established. She was better now; roses were blooming on her +cheek--joy was sparkling in her eye--while her bounding step, her ringing +laugh, and finely rounded form told of youthful vigor and perfect +health. And they were going home at last--James, Louis, and +Maude--going to Hampton, where Mrs. De Vere awaited so anxiously their +coming. She did not, however, expect them so soon, for they had left +England earlier than they anticipated, and they surprised her one +day; as she sat by her pleasant window gazing out upon the western +sky and wondering how many more suns would set ere her children +would be with her. It was a happy meeting; and after the first joy +of it was over Maude inquired after the people at Laurel Hill. + +"It is more than four months since we heard from them," she said, +"and then Mrs. Kennedy's letter was very unsatisfactory. The doctor, +she hinted, had lost his senses, but she made no explanation. What +did she mean?" + +"Why," returned Mrs. De Vere, "he had a paralytic shock more than +six months ago." + +"Oh, poor father," cried Louis, while Mrs. De Vere continued, "It +was not a severe attack, but it has impaired his health somewhat. +You knew, of course, that his house and farm were to be sold." + +"Our house, our old home! It shall not be!" and the tears glittered +in Louis' eyes, while, turning to Mrs. De Vere, Maude whispered +softly, "His wife has ruined him, but don't let us talk of it before +Louis." + +The lady nodded, and when at last they were alone, told all she knew +of the affair. Maude Glendower had persisted in her folly until her +husband's property was reduced to a mere pittance. There was a heavy +mortgage upon the farm, and even a chattel-mortgage upon the +furniture, and as the man who held them was stern and unrelenting, +he had foreclosed, and the house was to be sold at auction. "Why has +mother kept it from us?" said Maude, and Mrs. De Vere replied, +"Pride and a dread of what you might say prevented her writing it, I +think. I was there myself a few weeks since, and she said it could +do no good to trouble you. The doctor is completely broken down, and +seems like an old man. He cannot endure the handsome rooms below, +but stays all day in that small garret chamber, which is furnished +with your carpet, your mother's chair, and the high-past bedstead +which his first wife owned." + +Maude's sympathies were roused, and, fatigued as she was, she +started the next morning with her husband and brother for Laurel +Hill. Louis seemed very sad, and not even the familiar way-marks, as +he drew near his home, had power to dissipate that sadness. He could +not endure the thought that the house where he was born and where +his mother had died should pass into the hands of strangers. He had +been fortunate with his paintings, and of his own money had nearly +two thousand dollars; but this could do but little toward canceling +the mortgage, and he continued in the same dejected mood until the +tall poplars of Laurel Hill appeared in view. Then, indeed, he +brightened up, for there is something in the sight of home which +brings joy to every human heart. + +It was a hazy October day. The leaves were dropping one by one, and +lay in little hillocks upon the faded grass. The blue hills which +embosomed the lake were encircled with a misty veil, while the +sunshine seemed to fall with a somber light upon the fields of +yellow corn. Everything, even the gossamer thistle-top which floated +upon the autumnal air, conspired to make the day one of those +indescribable days when all hearts are pervaded with a feeling of +pleasurable sadness--a sense of beauty mingled with decay. + +"Is this home?" cried Maude, as they stopped before the gate. "I +should hardly have recognized it." + +It was indeed greatly changed, for Maude Glendower had perfect +taste, and if she had expended thousands upon the place, she had +greatly increased its value. + +"Beautiful home, beautiful home--it must not be sold," was Louis' +exclamation as he gazed upon it. + +"No, it must not be sold," returned Maude, while her husband smiled +quietly upon them both, and said nothing. + +Maude Glendower had gone to an adjoining town, but Hannah and John +greeted the strangers with nosy demonstrations, the latter making +frequent use of his coat skirts to wipe away his tears. + +"Can you see, marm--see me as true as you live?" he said, bowing +with great humility to Maude, of whom he stood a little in awe, so +polished were her manners and so elegant her appearance. Maude +assured him that she could, and then observing how impatient Louis +appeared, she asked for Dr. Kennedy. Assuming a mysterious air, old +Hannah whispered, "He's up in de ruff, at de top of de house, in dat +little charmber, where he stays mostly, to get shet of de music and +dancin' and raisin' ob cain generally. He's mighty broke down, but +the sight of you will peart him up right smart. You'd better go up +alone--he'll bar it better one at a time." + +"Yes, go, sister," said Louis, who heard the last part of Hannah's +remarks, and felt that he could not take his father by surprise. So, +leaving her husband and brother below, Maude glided noiselessly +upstairs to the low attic room, where, by an open window, gazing +sorrowfully out upon the broad harvest-fields, soon to be no longer +his, a seemingly old man sat. And Dr. Kennedy was old, not in years, +perhaps, but in appearance. His hair had bleached as white as snow, +his form was bent, his face was furrowed with many a line of care, +while the tremulous motion of his head told of the palsy's blighting +power. And he sat there alone, that hazy autumnal day, shrinking +from the future and musing sadly of the past. From his armchair the +top of a willow tree was just discernible, and as he thought of the +two graves beneath that tree he moaned, "Oh, Katy, Matty, darlings. +You would pity me, I know, could you see me now so lonesome. My only +boy is over the sea--my only daughter is selfish and cold, and all +the day I'm listening in vain for someone to call me father." + +"Father!" The name dropped involuntarily from the lips of Maude, +standing without the door. + +But he did not hear it, and she could not say it again; for he was +not her father; but her heart was moved with sympathy, and going to +him laid her hands on his head and looked into his face. + +"Maude--Matty's Maude--my Maude!" And the poor head shook with a +palsied tremor, as he wound his arms around her and asked her when +she came. + +Her sudden coming unmanned him wholly, and bending over her he wept +like a little child. It would seem that her presence inspired in him +a sense of protection, a longing to detail his grievances, and with +quivering lips he said, "I am broken in body and mind. I've nothing +to call my own, nothing but a lock of Matty's hair and Louis' little +crutches--the crutches that you cushioned so that I should not hear +their sound. I was a hard-hearted monster then. I aint much better +now, but I love my child. What of Louis, Maude? Tell me of my boy," +and over the wrinkled face of the old man broke beautifully the +father-love, giving place to the father-pride, as Maude told of +Louis' success, of the fame he won, and the money he had earned. + +"Money!" Dr. Kennedy started quickly at that word, but ere he could +repeat it his ear caught a coming sound, and his eyes flashed +eagerly as, grasping the arm of Maude, he whispered, "It's music, +Maude--it's music--don't you hear it? Louis crutches on the stairs. +He comes! he comes! Matty's boy and mine! Thank Heaven, I have +something left in which that woman has no part." + +In his excitement he had risen, and with lips apart, and eyes bent +on the open door he waited for his crippled boy; nor waited long ere +Louis came in sight, when with a wild, glad cry which made the very +rafters ring he caught him to his bosom. Silently Maude stole from +the room, leaving them thus together, the father and his son. Nor is +it for us to intrude upon the sanctity of that interview, which +lasted more than an hour, and was finally terminated by the arrival +of Maude Glendower. She had returned sooner than was anticipated, +and, after joyfully greeting Maude started in quest of Louis. + +"Don't let her in here," whispered the doctor, as he heard her on +the stairs. "Don't let her in here; she'd be seized with a fit of +repairs. Go to her; she loves you, at least." + +Louis obeyed, and in a moment was in the arms of his stepmother. She +had changed since last they, met. Much of her soft, voluptuous +beauty was gone, and in its place was a look of desperation, as if +she did not care for what she had done, and meant to brave it +through. Still, when alone with Mr. De Vere and Maude, she conversed +freely of their misfortunes, and ere the day was over they +thoroughly understood the matter. The doctor was ruined; and when +his wife was questioned of the future she professed to have formed +no plan, unless, indeed, her husband lived with Nellie, who was now +housekeeping, while she went whither she could find a place. To this +arrangement Mr. De Vere made no comment. He did not seem disposed to +talk, but when the day of sale came he acted; and it was soon +understood that the house together with fifty acres of land would +pass into his hands. Louis, too, was busy. Singling out every +article of furniture which had been his mother's, he bought it with +his own money, while John, determining that "t'other one," as he +called Katy, should not be entirely overlooked, bid off the +high-post bedstead and chest of drawers which once were hers. Many of the +more elegant pieces of furniture were sold, but Mr. De Vere kept +enough to furnish the house handsomely; and when the sale was over +and the family once more reassembled in the pleasant parlor, Dr. +Kennedy wept like a child as he blessed the noble young man who had +kept for him his home. Maude Glendower, too, was softened; and going +up to Mr. De Vere she said, "If I know how to spend lavishly I know +also how to economize, and henceforth none shall accuse me of +extravagance." + +These were no idle words, for, as well as she could, she kept her +promise; and though she often committed errors, she usually tried to +do the thing which her children would approve. After a day or two +Mr. De Vere and Maude returned to Hampton, leaving Louis with his +father, who, in his society, grew better and happier each day. +Hannah, who was growing old, went, from choice, to live with Maude, +but John would not forsake his master. Nobody knew the kinks of the +old place like himself, he said, and he accordingly stayed, +superintending the whole, and coming ere long to speak of it all as +his. It was his farm, his oxen, his horses, his everything, except +the pump which Hannah in her letter to Mauda, had designated as an +injun. + +"'Twas a mighty good thing in its place," he said, "and at a fire it +couldn't be beat, but he'd be hanged if he didn't b'lieve a nigger +was made for somethin' harder and more sweaty-like than turnin' that +crank to make b'lieve rain when it didn't. He reckoned the Lord knew +what he was about, and if He was a mind to dry up the grass and the +arbs, it wasn't for Cary nor nary other chap to take the matter into +their own hands, and invent a patent thunder shower." + +John reasoned clearly upon some subjects, and though his reasoning +was not always correct, he proved a most invaluable servant. Old +Hannah's place was filled by another colored woman, Sylvia, and +though John greatly admired her complexion, as being one which would +not fade, he lamented her inefficiency, often wishing that the +services of Janet Hopkins could be again secured. + +But Janet was otherwise engaged; and here, near the close of our +story, it may not be amiss to glance for a moment at one who in the +commencement of the narrative occupied a conspicuous place. About +the time of Maude's blindness she had removed to a town in the +southern part of New York, and though she wrote apprising her young +mistress of the change, she forgot entirely to say where she was +going, consequently the family were ignorant of her place of +residence, until accident revealed it to J.C. De Vere. It was but a +few weeks preceding Maude's return from Europe that he found himself +compelled to spend a Sabbath in the quiet town of Fayette. Not far +from his hotel an Episcopal church reared its slender tower, and +thither, at the usual hour for service, he wended his way. There was +to be a baptism that morning, and many a smile flitted over the face +of matron and maid, as a meek-looking man came slowly up the aisle, +followed by a short, thick, resolute Scotchwoman, in whom we +recognize our old friend Janet Hopkins. Notwithstanding her firm +conviction that Maude Matilda Remington Blodgett was her last and +only one, she was now the mother of a sturdy boy, which the meek man +carried in his arms. Hot disputes there had been between the twain +concerning a name, Mr. Hopkins advocating simply John, as having +been borne by his sire, while Janet, a little proud of the notoriety +which her daughter's cognomen had brought to her, determined to +honor her boy with a name which should astonish every one. + +At the time of Maude's engagement with J.C. De Vere she had written +to know what J.C. was for, and Jedediah Cleishbotham pleased her +fancy as being unusual and odd. Indirectly she had heard that Maude +was married to Mr. De Vere, and gone to Europe, and supposing it was +of course J.C., she on this occasion startled her better half by +declaring that her son should be baptized "John Joel Jedediah +Cleishbotham," or nothing! It was in vain that he remonstrated. +Janet was firm, and hunting up Maude's letter, written more than +three years before, she bade him write down the name, so as not to +make a blunder. But this he refused to do. "He guessed he could +remember that horrid name; there was not another like it in +Christendom," he said, and on the Sunday morning of which we write +he took his baby in his arms, and in a state of great nervous +irritability started for church, repeating to himself the names, +particularly the last, which troubled him the most. Many a change he +rang upon it, and by the time he stood before the altar the +perspiration was starting from every pore, so anxious was he to +acquit himself creditably, and thus avoid the Caudle lecture which +was sure to follow a mistake. "But he should not make a mistake; he +knew exactly what the name was; he'd said it over a hundred times," +and when the minister, taking the baby in his arms, said, "Name this +child," he spoke up loud and promptly, jerking out the last word +with a vengeance, as if relieved to have it off his mind, "John Joel +Jedediah Leusebottom." + +"That's for me," was J.C.'s involuntary exclamation, which, however, +was lost amid the general titter which ran through the house. + +In an agony of anxiety Janet strove to rectify the mistake, while +her elbow sought the ribs of her conjugal lord; but the minister +paid no heed, and when the screaming infant was given back to its +frightened father's arms it bore the name of "John Joel," and +nothing more. + +To this catastrophe Janet was in a measure reconciled when after +church J.C. sought her out and, introducing himself, informed her of +the true state of affairs. + +"Then you aint married to Maude after all," said the astonished +Janet, as she proceeded to question him of the doctor's family. "It +beats all, I never heard on't; but no wonder, livin' as we do in +this out o' the way place--no cars, no stage, no post office but +twice a week--no nothin'." + +This was indeed the reason why Janet had remained so long in +ignorance of the people with whom she formerly lived. Fayette, as +she said, was an out of the way place, and after hearing from a man +who met them in New York, that Maude and Louis were both gone to +Europe, she gave Laurel Hill no further thought, and settled quietly +down among the hills until her monotonous life was broken by the +birth of a son, the John Joel who, as she talked with J.C., slept +calmly in his crib. + +"So you aint merried to her," she kept repeating, her anger at her +husband's treacherous memory fast decreasing. "I kinder thought her +losin' my money might make a difference, but you're jest as happy +with Nellie, aint you?" + +The question was abrupt, and J.C. colored crimson as he tried to +stammer out an answer. + +"Never you mind," returned Janet, noticing his embarrassment. +"Married life is just like a checker-board, and all on us has as much +as we can do to swaller it at times; but you would of been happy +with Maude, I know." + +J.C. knew so, too, and long after he parted with Janet her last +words were ringing in his ears, while mingled with them was the +bitter memory, "It might perhaps have been." + +But there was no hope now, and with an increased air of dejection he +went back to his cheerless home. They were housekeeping, Nellie and +himself, for Mrs. Kelsey had married again, and as the new husband +did not fancy the young people they had set up an establishment of +their own, and J.C. was fast learning how utterly valueless are +soft, white hands when their owner knows not how to use them. Though +keeping up an outside show, he was really very poor, and when he +heard of the doctor's misfortune he went to his chamber and wept as +few men ever weep. As Hannah well expressed it, "he was shiftless," +and did not know how to take care of himself. This James De Vere +understood, and after the sale at Laurel Hill he turned his +attention to his unfortunate cousin, and succeeded at last in +securing for him the situation of bookkeeper in a large +establishment in New York with which he was himself remotely +connected. Thither about Christmas J.C. and Nellie went, and from +her small back room in the fifth story of a New York boarding-house +Nellie writes to Louis glowing descriptions of high life in the +city, and Louis, glancing at his crutches and withered feet, smiles +as he thinks how weary he should be climbing the four flights of +stairs which lead to that high life. + +And now, with one more glance at Maude, we bring our story to a +close. It is Easter, and over the earth the April sun shines +brightly, just as it shone on the Judean hills eighteen hundred +years ago. The Sabbath bells are ringing, and the merry peal which +comes from the Methodist tower bespeaks in John a frame of mind +unsuited to the occasion. Since forsaking the Episcopalians, he had +seldom attended their service, but this morning, after his task is +done, he will steal quietly across the common to the old stone +church, where James De Vere and Maude sing together the glorious +Easter Anthem. Maude formerly sang the alto, but in the old world +her voice was trained to the higher notes, and to-day it will be +heard in the choir where it has so long been missed. + +The bells have ceased to toll, and a family group come slowly up the +aisle. Dr. Kennedy, slightly bent, his white hair shading a brow +from which much of his former sternness has gone, and his hand +shaking but slightly as he opens the pew door and then steps back +for the lady to enter, the lady Maude Glendower, who walks not as +proudly as of old. She, too, has been made better by adversity, and +though she will never love the palsied man, her husband, she will be +to him a faithful wife, and a devoted mother to his boy, who in the +square, old-fashioned pew sits where his eye can rest upon his +beautiful sister, as her snowy fingers sweep once more the organ +keys, which tremble joyfully as it were to the familiar touch. Low, +deep-toned, and heavy is the prelude to the song, and they who +listen feel the floor tremble beneath their feet. Then a strain of +richest melody echoes through the house, arid the congregation hold +their breath, as Maude De Vere sings to them of the Passover once +sacrificed for us. + +And now, shall we not leave them thus with the holy Easter light +streaming up the aisles and the sweet music of the Easter song dying +on the air? + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Cousin Maude, by Mary J. Holmes + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COUSIN MAUDE *** + +***** This file should be named 3619.txt or 3619.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/1/3619/ + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. HTML version by Al Haines. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/3619.zip b/3619.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..44f71ba --- /dev/null +++ b/3619.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..447101e --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #3619 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3619) diff --git a/old/maude10.txt b/old/maude10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0b90154 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/maude10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6801 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Cousin Maude, by Mary J. Holmes + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. The words +are carefully chosen to provide users with the information they +need about what they can legally do with the texts. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below, including for donations. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3) +organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541 + + + +Title: Cousin Maude + +Author: Mary J. Holmes + +Release Date: January, 2002 [Etext #3619] +[Yes, we are about one year ahead of schedule] +[The actual date this file first posted = 06/17/01] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Cousin Maude, by Mary J. Holmes +*****This file should be named maude10.txt or maude10.zip***** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, maude11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, maude10a.txt + +This etext was produced by Charles Franks and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg Etexts are usually created from multiple editions, +all of which are in the Public Domain in the United States, unless a +copyright notice is included. Therefore, we usually do NOT keep any +of these books in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our books one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to send us error messages even years after +the official publication date. + +Please note: neither this list nor its contents are final till +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our sites at: +http://gutenberg.net +http://promo.net/pg + + +Those of you who want to download any Etext before announcement +can surf to them as follows, and just download by date; this is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext02 +or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext02 + +Or /etext01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. This +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If our value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour this year as we release fifty new Etext +files per month, or 500 more Etexts in 2000 for a total of 3000+ +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +should reach over 300 billion Etexts given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext +Files by December 31, 2001. [10,000 x 100,000,000 = 1 Trillion] +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +At our revised rates of production, we will reach only one-third +of that goal by the end of 2001, or about 3,333 Etexts unless we +manage to get some real funding. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of 05/16/01 contributions are only being solicited from people in: +Connecticut, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, Oklahoma, Colorado, +Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, +South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, Wyoming, South Carolina. + +We have filed in about 45 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, +additions to this list will be made and fund raising +will begin in the additional states. Please feel +free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork +to legally request donations in all 50 states. If +your state is not listed and you would like to know +if we have added it since the list you have, just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in +states where we are not yet registered, we know +of no prohibition against accepting donations +from donors in these states who approach us with +an offer to donate. + + +International donations are accepted, +but we don't know ANYTHING about how +to make them tax-deductible, or +even if they CAN be made deductible, +and don't have the staff to handle it +even if there are ways. + +All donations should be made to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3) +organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541, +and has been approved as a 501(c)(3) organization by the US Internal +Revenue Service (IRS). Donations are tax-deductible to the maximum +extent permitted by law. As the requirements for other states are met, +additions to this list will be made and fund raising will begin in the +additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information at: + +http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +hart@pobox.com forwards to hart@prairienet.org and archive.org +if your mail bounces from archive.org, I will still see it, if +it bounces from prairienet.org, better resend later on. . . . + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +*** + + +Example command-line FTP session: + +ftp ftp.ibiblio.org +login: anonymous +password: your@login +cd pub/docs/books/gutenberg +cd etext90 through etext99 or etext00 through etext02, etc. +dir [to see files] +get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files] +GET GUTINDEX.?? [to get a year's listing of books, e.g., GUTINDEX.99] +GET GUTINDEX.ALL [to get a listing of ALL books] + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this etext if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this etext on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etexts, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this etext, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the etext, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + etext or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the etext (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.05/20/01*END* +[Portions of this header are copyright (C) 2001 by Michael S. Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + + + + + +This etext was produced by Charles Franks and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +COUSIN MAUDE. + +by Mary J. Holmes + + + + +To +Morris W. Smith, + +of New Orleans, + +This story of life among the Northern +Hills is repectfully dedicated +by his friend +The Author + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I. DR. KENNEDY + II. THE JOURNEY + III. THE NEW HOME + IV. LITTLE LOUIS + V. MRS. JANET BLODGETT + VI. THE MOTHER + VII. PAST AND PRESENT + VIII. JAMES AND J.C. + IX. THE MILKMAN'S HEIRESS + X. THE ENGAGEMENT, REAL AND PROSPECTIVE + XI. MAUD GLENDOWER + XII. HOW THE ENGAGEMENTS PROSPERED + XIII. HAMPTON + XIV. THE DARK HOUR + XV. THE NEW MISTRESS AT LAUREL HILL + XVI. THE BLIND GIRL + XVII. NELLIE°S BRIDAL NIGHT +XVIII. COUSIN MAUDE + XIX. A SECOND BRIDAL + XX. THE SEXTON + XXI. HOME AGAIN + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +DR. KENNEDY. + + +"If you please, marm, the man from York State is comin' afoot. Too +stingy to ride, I'll warrant," and Janet, the housekeeper, +disappeared from the parlor, just as the sound of the gate was +heard, and an unusually fine-looking middle-aged man was seen coming +up the box-lined walk which led to the cottage door. + +The person thus addressed was a lady, whose face, though young and +handsome, wore a look which told of early sorrow. Matilda Remington +had been a happy, loving wife, but the old churchyard in Vernon +contained a grass-grown grave, where rested the noble heart which +had won her girlish love. And she was a widow now, a fair-haired, +blue-eyed widow, and the stranger who had so excited Janet's wrath +by walking from the depot, a distance of three miles, would claim +her as his bride ere the morrow's sun was midway in the heavens. How +the engagement happened she could not exactly tell, but happened it +had, and she was pledged to leave the vine-wreathed cottage which +Harry had built for her, and go with one of whom she knew +comparatively little. + +Six months before our story opens she had spent a few days with him +at the house of a mutual friend in an adjoining State, and since +that time they had written to each other regularly, the +correspondence resulting at last in an engagement, which he had now +come to fulfill. He had never visited her before in her own home, +consequently she was wholly unacquainted with his disposition or +peculiarities. He was intelligent and refined, commanding in +appearance, and agreeable in manner whenever he chose to be, and +when he wrote to her of his home, which he said would be a second +Paradise were she its mistress, when he spoke of the little curly- +headed girl who so much needed a mother's care, and when, more than +all, he hinted that his was no beggar's fortune, she yielded; for +Matilda Remington did not dislike the luxuries which money alone can +purchase. Her own fortune was small, and as there was now no hand +save her own to provide, she often found it necessary to economize +more than she wished to do. But Dr. Kennedy was rich, and if she +married him she would escape a multitude of annoyances, so she made +herself believe that she loved him; and when she heard, as she more +than once did hear, rumors of a sad, white-faced woman to whom the +grave was a welcome rest, she said the story was false, and, shaking +her pretty head, refused to believe that there was aught in the +doctor of evil. + +"To be sure, he was not at all like Harry--she could never find one +who was--but he was so tall, so dignified, so grand, so particular, +that it seemed almost like stooping, for one in his position to +think of her, and she liked him all the better for his +condescension." + +Thus she ever reasoned, and when Janet said that he was coming, and +she, too, heard his step upon the piazza, the bright blushes broke +over her youthful face, and casting a hurried glance at the mirror, +she hastened out to meet him. + +"Matty, my dear!" he said, and his thin lips touched her glowing +cheek, but in his cold gray eye there shone no love,--no feeling,-- +no heart. + +He was too supremely selfish to esteem another higher than himself, +and though it flattered him to know that the young creature was so +glad to meet him, it awoke no answering chord, and he merely thought +that with her to minister to him he should possibly be happier than +he had been with her predecessor. + +"You must be very tired," she said, as she led the way into the cozy +parlor. Then, seating him in the easy chair near to the open window, +she continued: "How warm you are. What made you walk this sultry +afternoon?" + +"It is a maxim of mine never to ride when I can walk," said he, "for +I don't believe in humoring those omnibus drivers by paying their +exorbitant prices." + +"Two shillings surely is not an exorbitant price," trembled on Mrs. +Remington's lips, but she was prevented from saying so by his asking +"if everything were in readiness for the morrow." + +"Yes, everything," she replied. "The cottage is sold, and--" + +"Ah, indeed, sold!" said he, interrupting her. "If I mistake not you +told me, when I met you in Rome, that it was left by will to you. +May I, as your to-morrow's husband, ask how much you received for +it?" And he unbent his dignity so far as to wind his arm around her +waist. + +But the arm was involuntarily withdrawn when, with her usual +frankness, Matty replied; "I received a thousand dollars, but there +were debts to be paid, so that I had only five hundred left, and +this I made over to my daughter to be used for her education." + +Dr. Kennedy did not say that he was disappointed, and as Matty was +not much of a physiognomist she did not read it in his face, and she +continued: "Janet will remain here a while, to arrange matters, +before joining me in my new home. She wished me to leave my little +girl to come with her, but I can't do that. I must have my child +with me. You've never seen her, have you? I'll call her at once." +And stepping to the door she bade Janet bring "Maude" into the +parlor. + +"Maude!" How Dr. Kennedy started at the mention of a name which +drove all thoughts of the five hundred dollars from his mind. There +was feeling--passion--everything, now, in his cold gray eye, but +quickly recovering his composure, he said calmly: "Maude, Matty-- +Maude, is that your child's name?" + +"Why, yes," she answered laughingly. "Didn't you know it before? " + +"How should I," he replied, "when in your letters you have always +called her 'daughter'? But has she no other name? She surely was not +baptized Maude?" + +Ere Mrs. Remington could speak, the sound of little pattering feet +was heard in the hall without, and in a moment Maude Remington stood +before her stepfather-elect, looking, as that rather fastidious +gentleman thought, more like a wild gipsy than the child of a +civilized mother. She was a fat, chubby child, not yet five years +old; black-eyed, black-haired, black-faced, with short, thick curls, +which, damp with perspiration, stood up all over her head, giving +her a singular appearance. She had been playing in the brook, her +favorite companion, and now, with little spatters of mud ornamenting +both face and pantalets, her sun-bonnet hanging down her back, and +her hands full of pebble-stones, she stood furtively eyeing the +stranger, whose mental exclamation was: "Mercy, what a fright!" + +"Maude!" exclaimed the distressed Mrs. Remington, "where have you +been? Go at once to Janet, and have your dress changed; then come +back to me." + +Nothing loath to join Janet, whose company was preferable to that of +the stranger, Maude left the room, while Dr. Kennedy, turning to +Mrs. Remington, said: "She is not at all like you, my dear." + +"No," answered the lady; "she is like her father in everything; the +same eyes, the same hair, and--" + +She was going on to say more, when the expression of Dr. Kennedy's +face stopped her, and she began to wonder if she had displeased him. +Dr. Kennedy could talk for hours of "the late Mrs. Kennedy," +accompanying his words with long-drawn sighs, and enumerating her +many virtues, all of which he expected to be improved upon by her +successor; but he could not bear to hear the name of Harry Remington +spoken by one who was to be his wife, and he at once changed the +subject of Maude's looks to her name, which he learned was really +Matilda. She had been called Maude, Matty said, after one who was +once a very dear friend both of herself and her husband. + +"Then we will call her Matilda," said he, "as it is a maxim of mine +never to spoil children by giving them pet names." + +"But you call your daughter Nellie," suggested the little widow, and +in her soft, blue eye there shone a mischievous twinkle, as if she +fancied she had beaten him with his own argument. + +But if she thought to convince that most unreasonable man, she was +mistaken. What he did was no criterion for others, unless he chose +that it should be so, and he answered, "That is sister Kelsey's +idea, and as she is very fond of Nellie I do not interfere. But, +seriously, Matty, darling,"--and he drew her to his side, with an +uncommon show of fondness,--" I cannot call your daughter Maude; I +do not like the name, and it is a maxim of mine, that if a person +dislikes a name, 'tis an easy matter to dislike the one who bears +it." + +Had Mrs. Remington cared less for him than she did, she might have +wondered how many more disagreeable maxims he had in store. But love +is blind, or nearly so; and when, as if to make amends for his +remarks, he caressed her with an unusual degree of tenderness, the +impulsive woman felt that she would call her daughter anything which +suited him. Accordingly, when at last Maude returned to the parlor, +with her dress changed, her curls arranged, and her dimpled cheeks +shining with the suds in which they had been washed, she was +prepared to say Matilda or whatever else pleased his capricious +fancy. + +"Little girl," he said, extending his hand toward her, "little girl, +come here. I wish to talk with you." + +But the little girl hung back, and when tier mother insisted upon +her going to the gentleman, asking if she did not like him, she +answered decidedly, "No, I don't like him, and he shan't be my pa, +either!" + +"Maude, daughter!" exclaimed Mrs. Remington, while Dr. Kennedy, +turning slightly pale, thought "wretch!" but said, "Matilda, come +here, won't you?" + +"I aint Matilda," she answered. "I won't be Matilda--I'm Maude," and +her large black eyes flashed defiantly upon him. + +It was in vain that Dr. Kennedy coaxed and Mrs. Remington +threatened. Maude had taken a dislike to the stranger, and as he +persisted in calling her Matilda, she persisted in refusing to +answer, until at last, hearing Janet pass through the hall, she ran +out to her, sure of finding comfort and sympathy there. + +"I am afraid I have suffered Maude to have her own way too much, and +for the future I must be more strict with her," said Mrs. Remington +apologetically; while the doctor replied, "I think, myself, a little +wholesome discipline would not be amiss. 'Tis a maxim of mine, spare +the rod and spoil the child; but, of course, I shall not interfere +in the matter." + +This last he said because he saw a shadow flit over the fair face of +the widow, who, like most indulgent mothers, did not wholly believe +in Solomon. The sight of Janet in the hall suggested a fresh subject +to the doctor's mind, and, after coughing a little, he said, "Did I +understand that your domestic was intending to join you at Laurel +Hill?" + +"Yes," returned Mrs. Remington, "Janet came to live with my mother +when I was a little girl no larger than Maude. Since my marriage she +has lived with me, and I would not part with her for anything." + +"But do you not think two kinds of servants are apt to make trouble, +particularly if one is black and the other white?" and in the +speaker's face there was an expression which puzzled Mrs. Remington, +who could scarce refrain from crying at the thoughts of parting with +Janet, and who began to have a foretaste of the dreary homesickness +which was to wear her life away. + +"I can't do without Janet," she said; "she knows all my ways, and I +trust her with everything." + +"The very reason why she should not go," re turned the doctor." She +and old Hannah would quarrel at once. You would take sides with +Janet, I with Hannah, and that might produce a feeling which ought +never to exist between man and wife. No, my dear, listen to me in +this matter, and let Janet remain in Vernon. Old Hannah has been in +my family a long time. She was formerly a slave, and belonged to my +uncle, who lived in Virginia, and who, at his death, gave her to me. +Of course I set her free, for I pride myself on being a man of +humanity, and since that time she has lived with us, superintending +the household entirely since Mrs. Kennedy's death. She is very +peculiar, and would never suffer Janet to dictate, as I am sure, +from what you say, she would do. So, my dear, try and think all is +for the best. You need not tell her she is not to come, for it is a +maxim of mine to avoid all unnecessary scenes, and you can easily +write it in a letter." + +Poor Mrs. Remington! she knew intuitively that the matter was +decided, and was she not to be forgiven if at that moment she +thought of the grass-grown grave whose occupant had in life been +only too happy granting her slightest wish? But Harry was gone, and +the man with whom she now had to deal was an exacting, tyrannical +master, to whose will her own must ever be subservient. This, +however, she did not then understand. She knew he was not at all +like Harry, but she fancied that the difference consisted in his +being so much older, graver, and wiser than her husband had been, +and so with a sigh she yielded the point, thinking that Janet would +be the greater sufferer of the two. + +That evening several of her acquaintances called to see the +bridegroom-elect, whom, in Mrs. Remington's hearing, they pronounced +very fine looking and quite agreeable in manner; compliments which +tended in a measure to soothe her irritated feelings and quiet the +rapid beatings of her heart, which for hours after she retired to +rest would occasionally whisper to her that the path she was about +to tread was far from being strewn with flowers. + +"He loves me, I know," she thought, "though his manner of showing it +is so different from Harry; but I shall become accustomed to that +after a while, and be very, very happy." And comforted with this +assurance she fell asleep, encircling within her arms the little +Maude, whose name had awakened bitter memories in the heart of him +who in an adjoining chamber battled with thoughts of the dark past, +which now on the eve of his second marriage passed in sad review +before his mind. + +Memories there were of a gentle, pale-faced woman, who, when her +blue eyes were dim with coming death, had shudderingly turned away +from him, as if his presence brought her more of pain than joy. +Memories, too, there were of another--a peerlessly beautiful +creature who, ere he had sought the white-faced woman for his wife, +had trampled on his affections and spurned as a useless gift his +offered love. He hated her now, he thought; and the little black- +haired child, sleeping so sweetly in its mother's arms, was hateful +in his sight, because it bore that woman's name. One, two, three-- +sounded the clock, and then he fell asleep, dreaming that underneath +the willows which grew in the churchyard, far off on Laurel Hill, +there were two graves instead of one; that in the house across the +common there was a sound of rioting and mirth, unusual in that +silent mansion. For she was there, the woman whom he had so madly +loved, and wherever she went crowds gathered about her as in the +olden time. + +"Maude Glendower, why are you here?" he attempted to say, when a +clear, silvery voice aroused him from his sleep, and starting up, he +listened half in anger, half in disappointment, to the song which +little Maude Remington sang as she sat in the open door awaiting the +return of her mother, who had gone for the last time to see the +sunshine fall on Harry's grave. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE JOURNEY. + + +Mrs. Kennedy looked charming in her traveling dress of brown, and +the happy husband likened her to a Quakeress, as he kissed her +blushing. cheek and called her his "little wife." He had passed +through the ceremony remarkably well, standing very erect, making +the responses very, loud, and squeezing very becomingly the soft +white hand on whose third finger he placed the wedding ring--a very +small one, by the way. It was over now, and many of the bridal +guests were gone; the minister, too, had gone, and jogging leisurely +along upon his sorrel horse had ascertained the size of his fee, +feeling a little disappointed that it was not larger--five dollars +seemed so small, when he fully expected twenty from one of Dr. +Kennedy's reputed wealth. + +Janet had seen that everything was done for the comfort of the +travelers, and then out behind the smokehouse had scolded herself +soundly for crying, when she ought to appear brave, and encourage +her young mistress. Not the slightest hint had she received that she +was not to follow them in a few, weeks, and when at parting little +Maude clung to her skirts, beseeching her to go, she comforted the +child by telling her what she would bring her in the autumn, when +she came. Half a dozen dolls, as many pounds of candy, a dancing +jack, and a mewing kitten were promised, and then the faithful +creature turned to the weeping bride, who clasped her hard old hand +convulsively, for she knew it was a long good-by. Until the carriage +disappeared from view did Mrs. Kennedy look back through blinding +tears to the spot where Janet stood, wiping her eyes with a corner +of her stiffly starched white apron, and holding up one foot to keep +her from soiling her clean blue cotton stockings, for, in accordance +with a superstition peculiar to her race, she had thrown after the +travelers a shoe, by way of insuring them good luck. + +For once in his life Dr. Kennedy tried to be very kind and attentive +to his bride, who, naturally hopeful and inclined to look upon the +brighter side, dried her tears soon after entering the cars, and +began to fancy she was very happy in her new position as the wife of +Dr. Kennedy. The seat in front of them was turned back and occupied +by Maude, who busied herself a while in watching the fence and the +trees, which she said were "running so fast toward Janet and home!" +Then her dark eyes would scan curiously the faces of Dr. Kennedy and +her mother, resting upon the latter with a puzzled expression, as if +she could not exactly understand it. The doctor persisted in calling +her Matilda, and as she resolutely persisted in refusing to answer +to that name, it seemed quite improbable that they would ever talk +much together. Occasionally, it is true, he made her some advances, +by playfully offering her his hand, but she would not touch it, and +after a time, standing upon the seat and turning round, she found +more agreeable society in the company of two boys who sat directly +behind her. + +They were evidently twelve or thirteen years of age, and in personal +appearance somewhat alike, save that the face of the brown-haired +boy was more open, ingenuous, and pleasing than that of his +companion, whose hair and eyes were black as night. A jolt of the +cars caused Maude to lay her chubby hand upon the shoulder of the +elder boy, who, being very fond of children, caught it within his +own, and in this way made her acquaintance. To him she was very +communicative, and in a short time he learned that "her name was +Maude Remington, that the pretty lady in brown was her mother, and +that the naughty man was not her father, and never would be, for +Janet said so." + +This at once awakened an interest in the boys, and for more than an +hour they petted and played with the little girl, who, though very +gracious to both, still manifested so much preference for the brown- +haired, that the other laughingly asked her which she liked the +best. + +"I like you and you," was Maude's childlike answer, as she pointed a +finger at each. + +"But," persisted her questioner, "you like my cousin the best. Will +you tell me why?" + +Maude hesitated a moment, then laying a hand on either side of the +speaker's face, and looking intently into his eyes, she answered, +"You don't look as if you meant for certain, and he does!" + +Had Maude Remington been twenty instead of five, she could not +better have defined the difference between those two young lads, and +in after years she had sad cause for remembering words which seemed +almost prophetic. At Albany they, parted company, for though the +boys lived in Rochester they were to remain in the city through the +night, and Dr. Kennedy had decided to go on. By doing so he would +reach home near the close of the next day, beside saving a large +hotel bill, and this last was with him a very weighty reason. But he +did not say so to his wife; neither did he tell her that he had left +orders for his carriage to be in Canadaigua on the arrival of the +noon train, but he said "he was in haste to show her to his +daughter--that 'twas a maxim of his to save as much time as +possible, and that unless she were very anxious to sleep, he would +rather travel all night." So the poor, weary woman, whose head was +aching terribly, smiled faintly upon him as she said, "Go on, of +course," and nibbled at the hard seedcakes and harder crackers which +he brought her, there not being time for supper in Albany. + +It was a long, tedious ride, and though a strong arm was thrown +around her, and her head was pillowed upon the bosom of her husband, +who really tried to make her as comfortable as possible, Mrs. +Kennedy could scarcely refrain from tears as she thought how +different was this bridal tour from what she had anticipated. She +had fully expected to pass by daylight through the Empire State, and +she had thought with how much delight her eye would rest upon the +grassy meadows, the fertile plains, the winding Mohawk, the drone- +like boats on the canal, the beautiful Cayuga, and the silvery water +so famed in song; but, in contrast to all this, she was shut up in a +dingy car, whose one dim lamp sent forth a sickly ray and sicklier +smell, while without all was gloomy, dark, and drear. No wonder, +then, that when toward morning Maude, who missed her soft, nice bed, +began to cry for Janet and for home, the mother too burst forth in +tears and choking sobs, which could not be controlled. + +"Hush, Matty--don't," and the disturbed doctor shook her very +gently; "it will soon be daylight, and 'tis a max--" Here he +stopped, for he had no maxim suited to that occasion; and, in a most +unenviable frame of mind, he frowned at the crying Maude, and tried +to soothe his weeping wife, until at last, as the face of the latter +was covered, and the former grew more noisy and unmanageable, he +administered a fatherly rebuke in the shape of a boxed ear, which +had no other effect than the eliciting from the child the outcry, +"Let me be, old doctor, you!" if, indeed, we except the long scratch +made upon his hand by the little sharp nail of his stepdaughter. + +At that moment Matty lifted up her head, but as Maude was no tale- +bearer, and the doctor hardly dared to tell her that he had thus +early taken upon himself the government of her child, she never knew +exactly what it was which made Maude's ear so red or her liege +lord's face so dark. + +It was nearly noon when they arrived at Canandaigua, where the first +object which caught Mrs. Kennedy's eye was an old-fashioned +carryall, which her husband honored with the appellation of +carriage, said carriage being drawn by two farm-horses, which looked +as if oats and corn were to them luxuries unknown. + +"I must have a cup of tea," said Mrs. Kennedy, as she saw the black +man, John, arranging the baggage upon the rack of the carryall, and +heard her husband bid him hurry, as there was no time to lose. "I +must have a cup of tea, my head is aching dreadfully," and her white +lips quivered, while the tears rolled down her cheeks. + +"Certainly, certainly," answered the doctor, who was in unusually +good spirits, having just heard from an acquaintance whom he chanced +to meet that a lawsuit which had long been pending was decided in +his favor, and that the house and lot of a widow would probably come +into his possession. "Certainly, two cups if you like; I should have +proposed it myself, only I knew old Hannah would have dinner in +readiness for us, and 'tis a maxim of mine, that fasting provokes an +appetite." + +"Hang dis nigger, if he aint a-maxin' her so quick!" muttered the +darkey, showing his teeth from ear to ear; and, coaxing Maude away +from her mother, he took her to a restaurant, where he literally +crammed her with ginger-bread, raisins, and candy, bidding her eat +all she wanted at once, for it would be a long time, maybe, ere +she'd have another chance! + +"If you please, sar," he said, when at last he had returned to his +master, "if you please, Miss Nellie say how you must fotch her +somethin', and the old woman spec's a present in honor of de +'casion." + +Dr. Kennedy thought of the lawsuit, and so far opened both heart and +purse as to buy for Nellie a paper of peanuts and for Hannah a ten- +cent calico apron, after which he pronounced himself in readiness to +go, and in a few moments Mrs. Kennedy was on her way to her new +home. + +The road led over rocky hills, reminding her so much of Vernon and +its surrounding country that a feeling of rest stole over her, and +she fell into a quiet sleep, from which she did not awaken until the +carriage stopped suddenly and her husband whispered in her ear, +"Wake, Matty, wake; we are home at last." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE NEW HOME. + + +It was a large, square, wooden building, built in the olden time, +with a wide hall in the center, a tiny portico in front, and a long +piazza in the rear. In all the town there was not so delightful a +location, for it commanded a view of the country for many miles +around, while from the chamber windows was plainly discernible the +sparkling Honeoye, whose waters slept so calmly 'mid the hills which +lay to the southward. On the grassy lawn in front tall forest trees +were growing, almost concealing the house from view, while their +long branches so met together as to form a beautiful arch over the +graveled walk which lead to the front door. It was, indeed, a +pleasant spot, and Matty, as she passed through the iron gate, could +not account for the feeling of desolation settling down upon her. + +"Maybe it's because there are no flowers here--no roses," she +thought, as she looked around in vain for her favorites, thinking +the while how her first work should be to train a honeysuckle over +the door and plant a rose bush underneath the window. + +Poor Matty! Dr. Kennedy had no love for flowers, and the only rose +bush he ever noticed was the one which John had planted at his +mistress' grave, and even this would, perchance, have been unseen, +if he had not scratched his hand unmercifully upon it as he one day +shook the stone to see if it were firmly placed in the ground ere he +paid the man for putting it there! It was a maxim of the doctor's +never to have anything not strictly for use, consequently his house, +both outside and in, was destitute of every kind of ornament; and +the bride, as she followed him through the empty hall into the +silent parlor, whose bare walls, faded carpet, and uncurtained +windows seemed so uninviting, felt a chill creeping over her +spirits, and sinking into the first hard chair she came to, she +might, perhaps, have cried had not John, who followed close behind +her, satchel on arm, whispered encouragingly in her ear, "Never you +mind, missus, your chamber is a heap sight brighter than this, 'case +I tended to that myself." + +Mrs. Kennedy smiled gratefully upon him, feeling sure that beneath +his black exterior there beat a kind and sympathizing heart, and +that in him she had an ally and a friend. + +"Where is Nellie?" said the doctor. "Call Nellie, John, and tell +your mother we are here." + +John left the room, and a moment after a little tiny creature came +tripping to the door, where she stopped suddenly, and throwing back +her curls, gazed curiously first at Mrs. Kennedy and then at Maude, +whose large black eyes fastened themselves upon her with a gaze +quite as curious and eager as her own. She was more than a year +older than Maude, but much smaller in size, and her face seemed to +have been fashioned after a beautiful waxen doll, so brilliant was +her complexion and so regular her features. She was naturally +affectionate and amiable, too, when suffered to have her own way. +Neither was she at all inclined to be timid, and when her father, +taking her hand in his, bade her speak to her new mother, she went +unhesitatingly to the lady, and climbing into her lap, sat there +very quietly so long as Mrs. Kennedy permitted her to play with her +rings, pull her collar, and take out her side-combs, for she had +laid aside her bonnet; but when at last her little sharp eyes +ferreted out a watch, which she insisted upon having "all to +herself," a liberty which Mrs. Kennedy refused to grant, she began +to pout, and, sliding from her new mother's lap, walked up to Maude, +whose acquaintance she made by asking if she had a pink silk dress. +"No, but I guess Janet will bring me one," answered Maude, whose +eyes never for an instant left the face of her stepsister. + +She was an enthusiastic admirer of beauty, and Nellie had made an +impression upon her at once; so, when the latter said, "What makes +you look at me so funny?" she answered, "Because you are so pretty." +This made a place for her at once in the heart of the vain little +Nellie, who asked her to go upstairs and see the pink silk dress +which "Aunt Kelsey had given her." + +As they left the room Mrs. Kennedy said to her husband, "Your +daughter is very beautiful." + +Dr. Kennedy liked to have people say that of his child, for he knew +she was much like himself, and he stroked his brown beard +complacently, as he replied: "Yes, Nellie is rather pretty, and, +considering all things, is as well-behaved a child as one often +finds. She seldom gets into a passion or does anything rude," and he +glanced at the long scratch upon his hand; but as his wife knew +nothing of said scratch, the rebuke was wholly lost, and he +continued: "I was anxious that she should be a boy, for it is a +maxim of mine that the oldest child in every family ought to be a +son, and so I said, repeatedly, to the late Mrs. Kennedy, who, +though a most excellent woman in most matters, was in others +unaccountably set in her way. I suppose I said some harsh things +when I heard it was a daughter, but it can't be helped now," and +with a slightly injured air the husband of "the late Mrs. Kennedy" +began to pace up and down the room, while the present Mrs. Kennedy +puzzled her rather weak brain to know "what in the world he meant." + +Meantime between John and his mother there was a hurried +conversation, the former inquiring naturally after the looks of her +new mistress. + +"Pretty as a pink," answered John, "and neat as a fiddle, with the +sweetest little baby ways; but I tell you what 'tis," and John's +voice fell to a whisper: "he'll maxim her into heaven a heap sight +quicker'n he did t'other one; 'case you see she haint so much--what +you call him--so much go off to her as Miss Katy had, and she can't +bar his grinding ways. They'll scrush her to onct--see if they +don't. But I knows one thing, this yer nigger 'tends to do his duty, +and hold up them little cheese-curd hands of her'n, jest as some of +them Scripter folks held up Moses with the bulrushes." + +"And what of the young one?" asked Hannah, who had been quite +indignant at the thoughts of another child in the family, "what of +the young one?" + +"Bright as a dollar!" answered John. "Knows more'n a dozen of +Nellie, and well she might, for she aint half as white, and as +Master Kennedy says, it's a maxim of mine, the blacker the hide the +better the sense!" + +By this time Hannah had washed the dough from her hands, and taking +the roast chicken from the oven she donned a clean apron and started +to see the stranger for herself. Although a tolerably good woman, +Hannah's face was not very prepossessing, and Mrs. Kennedy +intuitively felt that 'twould be long before her former domestic's +place was made good by the indolent African. It is true her +obeisance was very low, and her greeting kindly enough, but there +was about her an inquisitive, and at the same time, rather +patronizing air which Mrs. Kennedy did not like, and she was glad +when she at last left the parlor, telling them, as she did so, that +"dinner was done ready." + +Notwithstanding that the house itself was so large, the dining room +was a small, dark, cheerless apartment, and though she was beginning +to feel the want of food, Mrs. Kennedy could scarcely force down a +mouthful, for the homesick feeling at her heart; a feeling which +whispered to her that the home to which she had come was not like +that which she had left. Dinner being over, she asked permission to +retire to her chamber, saying she needed rest, and should feel +better after she had slept. Nellie volunteered to lead the way, and +as they left the dining room old Hannah, who was notoriously lazy, +muttered aloud: "A puny, sickly thing. Great help she'll be to me; +but I shan't stay to wait on more'n forty more." + +Dr. Kennedy had his own private reason for wishing to conciliate +Hannah. When he set her free he made her believe it was her duty to +work for him for nothing, and though she soon learned better, and +often threatened to leave, he had always managed to keep her, for, +on the whole, she liked her place, and did not care to change it for +one where her task would be much harder. But if the new wife proved +to be sickly, matters would be different, and so she fretted, as we +have seen, while the doctor comforted her with the assurance that +Mrs. Kennedy was only tired--that she was naturally well and strong, +and would undoubtedly be of great assistance when the novelty of her +position had worn away. + +While this conversation was taking place Mrs. Kennedy was examining +her chamber and thinking many pleasant things of John, whose +handiwork was here so plainly visible. All the smaller and more +fanciful pieces of furniture which the house afforded had been +brought to this room, whose windows looked out upon the lake and the +blue hills beyond. A clean white towel concealed the marred +condition of the washstand, while the bed, which was made up high +and round, especially in the middle, looked very inviting with its +snowy spread. A large stuffed rocking chair, more comfortable than +handsome, occupied the center of the room, while better far than +all, the table, the mantel, and the windows were filled with +flowers, which John had begged from the neighboring gardens, and +which seemed to smile a welcome upon the weary woman, who, with a +cry of delight, bent down and kissed them through her tears. + +"Did these come from your garden?" she asked of Nellie, who, child- +like, answered, "We haint any flowers. Pa won't let John plant any. +He told Aunt Kelsey the land had better be used for potatoes, and +Aunt Kelsey said he was too stingy to live." + +"Who is Aunt Kelsey?" asked Mrs. Kennedy, a painful suspicion +fastening itself upon her that the lady's opinion might be correct. + +"She is pa's sister Charlotte," answered Nellie, "and lives in +Rochester, in a great big house, with the handsomest things; but she +don't come here often, it's so heathenish, she says." + +Here spying John, who was going with the oxen to the meadow, she ran +away, followed by Maude, between whom and herself there was for the +present a most amicable understanding. Thus left alone Mrs. Kennedy +had time for thought, which crowded upon her so fast that, at last +throwing herself upon the bed, she wept bitterly, half wishing she +had never come to Laurel Hill, but was still at home in her own +pleasant cottage. Then hope whispered to her of a brighter day, when +things would not seem to her as they now did. She would fix up the +desolate old house, she thought; the bare windows which now so +stared her in the face should be shaded with pretty muslin curtains, +and she would loop them back with ribbons. The carpet, too, on the +parlor floor should be exchanged for a better one, and when her +piano and marble table came, the only articles of furniture she had +not sold, it would not seem so cheerless and so cold. + +Comforted with these thoughts, she fell asleep, resting quietly +until, just as the sun had set and it was growing dark within the +room, Maude came rushing in, her dress all wet, her face flushed, +and her eyes red with tears. She and Nellie had quarreled--nay, +actually fought; Nellie telling Maude she was blacker than a nigger, +and pushing her into the brook, while Maude, in return, had pulled +out a handful of the young lady's hair, for which her stepfather had +shaken her soundly and sent her to her mother, whom she begged "to +go home, and not stay in that old house where the folks were ugly +and the rooms not a bit pretty." + +Mrs. Kennedy's heart was already full, and drawing Maude to her +side, the two homesick children mingled their tears together, until +a heavy footstep upon the stairs announced the approach of Dr. +Kennedy. Not a word did he say of his late adventure with Maude, and +his manner was very kind toward his weary wife, who, with his hand +upon her aching forehead, and his voice in her ear, telling her how +sorry he was that she was sick, forgot that she had been unhappy. + +"Whatever else he may do," she thought, "he certainly loves me," and +after a fashion he did perhaps love her. She was a pretty little +creature, and her playful, coquettish ways had pleased him at first +sight. He needed a wife, and when their mutual friend, who knew +nothing of him save that he was a man of integrity and wealth, +suggested Matty Remington, he too thought favorably of the matter, +and yielding to the fascination of her soft blue eyes he had won her +for his wife, pitying her, it may be, as he sat by her in the +gathering twilight, and half guessed that she was homesick. And when +he saw how confidingly she clung to him, he was conscious of a half- +formed resolution to be to her what a husband ought to be. But Dr. +Kennedy's resolves were like the morning dew, and as the days wore +on his peculiarities, one after another, were discovered by his +wife, who, womanlike, tried to think that he was right and she was +wrong. + +In due time most of the villagers called upon her, and though they +were both intelligent and refined, she did not feel altogether at +ease in their presence, for the fancy she had that they regarded her +as one who for some reason was entitled to their pity. And in this +she was correct. They did pity her, for they remembered another +gentle woman, whose brown hair had turned gray, and whose blue eyes +had waxed dim beneath the withering influence of him she called her +husband. She was dead, and when they saw the young, light-hearted +Matty, they did not understand how she could ever have been induced +to take that woman's place and wed a man of thirty-eight, and they +blamed her somewhat, until they reflected that she knew nothing of +him, and that her fancy was probably captivated by his dignified +bearing, his manly figure, and handsome face. But these alone they +knew could not make her happy, and ere she had been six weeks a wife +they were not surprised that her face began to wear a weary look, as +if the burden of life were hard to bear. + +As far as she could she beautified the home, purchasing with her own +means several little articles which the doctor called useless, +though he never failed to appropriate to himself the easy chair +which she had bought for the sitting room, and which when she was +tired rested her so much. On the subject of curtains he was +particularly obstinate. "There were blinds," he said, "and 'twas a +maxim of his never to spend his money for anything unnecessary." + +Still, when Matty bought them herself for the parlor, when her piano +was unboxed and occupied a corner which had long been destitute of +furniture, and when her marble table stood between the windows, with +a fresh bouquet of flowers which John had brought, he exclaimed +involuntarily, "How nice this is!" adding the next moment, lest his +wife should be too much pleased, "but vastly foolish!" + +In accordance with her husband's suggestion Mrs. Kennedy wrote to +Janet, breaking to her as gently as possible the fact that she was +not to come, but saying nothing definite concerning her new home or +her own happiness as a second wife. Several weeks went by, and then +an answer came. + +"If you had of wanted me," wrote Janet, "I should of come, but bein' +you didn't, I've went to live with Mr. Blodgett, who peddles milk, +and raises butter and cheese, and who they say is worth a deal of +money, and well he may be, for he's saved this forty years." + +Then followed a detailed account of her household matters, occupying +in all three pages of foolscap, to which was pinned a bit of paper, +containing the following: + +"Joel looked over my writing and said I'd left out the very thing I +wanted to tell the most. We are married, me and Joel, and I only +hope you are as happy with that doctor as I am with my man." + +This announcement crushed at once the faint hope which Mrs. Kennedy +had secretly entertained, of eventually having Janet to supply the +place of Hannah, who was notoriously lazy, and never under any +circumstances did anything she possibly could avoid. Dr. Kennedy did +not tell his wife that he expected her to make it easy for Hannah, +so she would not leave them; but he told her how industrious the +late Mrs. Kennedy had been, and hinted that a true woman was not +above kitchen work. The consequence of this was that Matty, who +really wished to please him, became in time a very drudge, doing +things which she once thought she could not do, and then without a +murmur ministering to her exacting husband when he came home from +visiting a patient, and declared himself "tired to death." Very +still he sat while her weary little feet ran for the cool drink--the +daily paper--or the morning mail; and very happy he looked when her +snowy fingers combed his hair or brushed his threadbare coat; and +if, perchance, she sighed amid her labor of love, his ear was deaf, +and he did not hear, neither did he see how white and thin she grew +as day by day went by. + +Her piano was now seldom touched, for the doctor did not care for +music; still he was glad that she could play, for "Sister Kelsey," +who was to him a kind of terror, would insist that Nellie should +take music lessons, and, as his wife was wholly competent to give +them, he would be spared a very great expense. "Save, save, save," +seemed to be his motto, and when at church the plate was passed to +him he gave his dime a loving pinch ere parting company with it; and +yet none read the service louder or defended his favorite liturgy +more zealously than himself. In some things he was a pattern man, +and when once his servant John announced his intention of +withdrawing from the Episcopalians and joining himself to the +Methodists, who held their meetings in the schoolhouse, he was +greatly shocked, and labored long with the degenerate son of +Ethiopia, who would render to him no reason for his most +unaccountable taste, though he did to Matty, when she questioned him +of his choice. + +"You see, missus," said he, "I wasn't allus a herrytic, but was as +good a 'Piscopal as St. George ever had. That's when I lived in +Virginny, and was hired out to Marster Morton, who had a school for +boys, and who larnt me how to read a little. After I'd arn't a heap +of money for Marster Kennedy he wanted to go to the Legislatur', and +as some on 'em wouldn't vote for him while he owned a nigger, he set +me free, and sent for me to come home. 'Twas hard partin' wid dem +boys and Marster Morton, I tell you, but I kinder wanted to see +mother, who had been here a good while, and who, like a fool, was a- +workin' an' is a-workin' for nothin'." + +"For nothing!" exclaimed Mrs. Kennedy, a suspicion of the reason why +Janet was refused crossing her mind. + +"Yes, marm, for nothin'," answered John, "but I aint green enough +for that, and 'fused outright. Then marster, who got beat 'lection +day, threatened to send me back, but I knew he couldn't do it, and +so he agreed to pay eight dollars a month. I could get more somewhar +else, but I'd rather stay with mother, and so I stayed." + +"But that has nothing to do with the church," suggested Mrs. +Kennedy, and John replied: + +"I'm comin' to the p'int now. I live with Marster Kennedy, and went +with him to church, and when I see how he carried on week days, and +how peart like he read up Sabba' days, sayin' the Lord's Prar and +'Postle's Creed, I began to think thar's somethin' rotten in +Denmark, as the boys use to say in Virginny; so when mother, who +allus was a-roarin' Methodis', asked me to go wid her to meetin', I +went, and was never so mortified in my life, for arter the elder had +'xorted a spell at the top of his voice, he sot down and said there +was room for others. I couldn't see how that was, bein' he took up +the whole chair, and while I was wonderin' what he meant, as I'm a +livin' nigger, up got marm and spoke a piece right in meetin'! I +never was so shamed, and I kep' pullin' at her gownd to make her set +down, but the harder I pulled the louder she hollered, till at last +she blowed her breath all away, and down she sot." + +"And did any of the rest speak pieces?" asked Mrs. Kennedy, +convulsed with laughter at John's vivid description. + +"Bless your heart," he answered, with a knowing look, "'twarn't a +piece she was speaking--she was tellin' her 'sperience; but it +sounded so like the boys at school that I was deceived, for I'd +never seen such work before. But I've got so I like it now, and I +believe thar's more 'sistency down in that schoolhouse than thar is +in--I won't say the 'Piscopal church, 'case thar's heaps of shinin' +lights thar, but if you won't be mad, I'll say more than thar is in +Marster Kennedy, who has hisself to thank for my bein' a Methodis'." + +Whatever Mrs. Kennedy might have thought she could not help laughing +heartily at John, who was now a decided Methodist, and adorned his +profession far more than his selfish, hard-hearted master. His +promise of holding up his mistress' hands had been most faithfully +kept, and, without any disparagement to Janet, Mrs. Kennedy felt +that the loss of her former servant was in a great measure made up +to her in the kind negro, who, as the months went by and her face +grew thinner each day, purchased with his own money many a little +delicacy which he hoped would tempt her capricious appetite. Maude, +too, was a favorite with John, both on account of her color, which +he greatly admired, and because, poor, ignorant creature though he +was, he saw in her the germ of the noble girl who in the coming +years was to bear uncomplainingly a burden of care from which the +selfish Nellie would unhesitatingly turn away. + +Toward Maude the doctor had ever manifested a feeling of aversion, +both because of her name and because she had compelled him to yield +when his mind was fully made up to do otherwise. She had resolutely +refused to be called Matilda, and as it was necessary for him +sometimes to address her, he called her first, "You girl," then +"Mat," and finally arrived at "Maude," speaking it always +spitefully, as if provoked that he had once in his life been +conquered. With the management of her he seldom interfered, for that +scratch had given him a timely lesson, and as he did not like to be +unnecessarily troubled, he left both Maude and Nellie to his wife, +who suffered the latter to do nearly as she pleased, and thus +escaped many of the annoyances to which stepmothers are usually +subject. + +Although exceedingly selfish Nellie was affectionate in her +disposition, and when Maude did not cross her path the two were on +the best of terms. Disturbances there were, however--quarrels and +fights, in the latter of which Maude, being the stronger of the two, +always came off victor; but these did not last long, and had her +husband been to her what he ought Mrs. Kennedy's life would not have +been as dreary as it was. He meant well enough, perhaps, but he did +not understand a woman, much less know how to treat her, and as the +winter months went by Matty's heart would have fainted within her +but for a hope which whispered to her, "He will love me better when +next summer comes." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +LITTLE LOUIS. + + +It is just one year since the summer morning when Matty Kennedy took +upon herself a second time the duties of a wife, and now she lies in +a darkened room, her face white as the winter snow, and her breath +scarcely perceptible to the touch, as it comes faintly from her +parted lips. In dignified silence the doctor sits by, counting her +feeble pulse, while an expression of pride and almost perfect +happiness breaks over his face as he glances toward the cradle which +Hannah has brought from the garret, and where now slept the child +born to him that day. His oft-repeated maxim that if the first were +not a boy the second ought to be, had prevailed at last, and Dombey +had a son. It was a puny thing, but the father said it looked as +Nellie did when she first rested there, and Nellie, holding back her +breath and pushing aside her curls, bent down to see the red-faced +infant. + +"I was never as ugly as that, and I don't love him a bit!" she +exclaimed, turning away in disgust; while Maude approached on tip- +toe, and kneeling by the cradle side kissed the unconscious sleeper, +whispering as she did so, "I love you, poor little brother." + +Darling Maude--blessed Maude--in all your after life you proved the +truth of those low spoken words, "I love you, poor little brother." + +For many days did Mrs. Kennedy hover between life and death, never +asking for her baby, and seldom noticing her husband, who, while +declaring there was no danger, still deemed it necessary, in case +anything should happen, to send for his sister, Mrs. Kelsey, who had +not visited him since his last marriage. She was a proud, +fashionable woman, who saw nothing attractive in the desolate old +house, and who had conceived an idea that her brother's second wife +was a sort of nobody whom he had picked up among the New England +hills. But the news of her illness softened her feelings in a +measure, and she started for Laurel Hill, thinking that if Matty +died she hoped a certain dashing, brilliant woman, called Maude +Glendower, might go there, and govern the tyrannical doctor, even as +he had governed others. + +It was late in the afternoon when she reached her brother's house, +from which Nellie came running out to meet her, accompanied by +Maude. From the latter the lady at first turned disdainfully away, +but ere long stole another look at the brown-faced girl, about whom +there was something very attractive. + +"Curtains, as I live!" she exclaimed, as she entered the parlor. "A +piano, and marble table, too. Where did these come from?" + +"They are ma's, and she's got a baby upstairs," answered Maude, and +the lady's hand rested for an instant on the little curly head, for +strange as it may seem, she esteemed more highly a woman who owned a +piano and handsome table than she did one whose worldly possessions +were more limited. + +After making some changes in her dress, she went up to the sick- +room, and as Matty was asleep, she had ample time to examine her +face, and also to inspect the room, which showed in someone a +refined and delicate taste. + +"She must be more of a lady than I supposed," she thought, and when +at last her sister-in-law awoke she greeted her kindly, and during +her visit, which lasted nearly two weeks, she exerted herself to be +agreeable, succeeding so far that Matty parted from her at last with +genuine regret. + +"Poor thing--she'll never see another winter," was Mrs. Kelsey's +mental comment, as she bade the invalid good-by; but in this she was +mistaken, for with the falling of the leaf Matty began to improve, +and though she never fully regained her health, she was able again +to be about the house, doing far more than she ought to have done, +but never uttering a word of complaint, however heavy was the burden +imposed upon her. + +With Maude and her baby, who bore the name of Louis, she found her +greatest comfort. He was a sweet, playful child, and sure never +before was father so foolishly proud of his son as was Dr. Kennedy +of his. For hours would he sit watching him while he slept, and +building castles of the future, when "Louis Kennedy, only son of Dr. +Kennedy," should be honored among men. Toward the mother, too, who +had borne him such a prodigy he became a little more indulgent, +occasionally suffering her wishes to prevail over his maxims, and on +three several occasions giving her a dollar to spend as she pleased. +Surely such generosity did not deserve so severe a punishment as was +in store for the proud father. + +Louis had a most beautiful face, and in his soft, brown eyes there +was a "look like the angels," as Maude once said to her mother, who +seldom spoke of him without a sigh, for on her mind a terrible fear +was fastening itself. Although mentally as forward as other +children, Louis' body did not keep pace with the growth of his +intellect, and when he was two years of age he could not bear his +weight upon his feet, but in creeping dragged his limbs slowly, as +if in them there was no life--no strength. + +"Ma, why don't Louis walk?" asked Maude, one evening when she saw +how long it took him to cross the room. + +"Loui' tant walk," answered the child, who talked with perfect ease. + +The tears came instantly to Mrs. Kennedy's eyes, for, availing +herself of her husband's absence, she had that morning consulted +another physician, who, after carefully examining Louis' body, had +whispered in the poor woman's ear that which made every nerve quiver +with pain, while at the same time it made dearer a thousand-fold her +baby-boy; for a mother's pity increases a mother's love. + +"Say, ma, what is it?" persisted Maude. "Will Louis ever walk?" + +"Loui'll never walk," answered the little fellow, shaking his brown +curls, and tearing in twain a picture-book which his father had +bought him the day before. + +"Maude," said Mrs. Kennedy, drawing her daughter to her side, "I +must tell somebody or my heart will burst," and laying her head upon +the table she wept aloud. + +"Don't try, ma, Loui' good," lisped the infant on the floor, while +Mrs. Kennedy, drying at last her tears, told to the wondering Maude +that Louis was not like other children--that he would probably never +have the use of his feet--that a hunch was growing on his back--and +he in time would be--she could not say "deformed," and so she said +at last--"he'll be forever lame." + +Poor little Maude! How all her childish dreams were blasted! She had +anticipated so much pleasure in guiding her brother's tottering +footsteps, in leading him to school, to church, and everywhere, and +she could not have him lame. + +"Oh, Louis, Louis!" she cried, winding her arms around his neck, as +if she would thus avert the dreaded evil. + +Very wonderfully the child looked up into her eyes, and raising his +waxen hand he wiped her tears away, saying as he did so, "Loui' love +Maude." + +With a choking sob Maude kissed her baby brother, then going back to +her mother, whose head still lay upon the table, she whispered, "We +will love poor Louis all the more, you and I." + +Blessed Maude, we say again, for these were no idle words, and the +clinging, tender love with which she cherished her unfortunate +brother ought to have shamed the heartless man who, when he heard of +his affliction, refused to be comforted, and almost cursed the day +when his only son was born. He had been absent for a week or more, +and with the exception of the time when he first knew he had a son +he did not remember of having experienced a moment of greater +happiness than that in which he reached his home where dwelt his +boy--his pride--his idol. Louis was not in the room, and on the +mother's face there was an expression of sadness, which at once +awakened the father's fears lest something had befallen his child. + +"Where is Louis?" he asked. "Has anything happened to him that you +look so pale?" + +"Louis is well," answered Matty, and then, unable longer to control +her feelings, she burst into tears, while the doctor looked on in +amazement, wondering if all women were as nervous and foolish as the +two it had been his fortune to marry. + +"Oh, husband," she cried, feeling sure of his sympathy, and thinking +it better to tell the truth at once; "has it never occurred to you +that Louis was not like other children?" + +"Of course it has," he answered quickly. "He is a thousand times +brighter than any child I have ever known." + +"'Tisn't that, 'tisn't that," said Matty. "He'll never walk--he's +lame--deformed!" + +"What do you mean?" thundered the doctor, reeling for an instant +like a drunken man; then, recovering his composure, he listened +while Matty told him what she meant. + +At that moment Maude drew Louis into the room, and, taking the child +in his arms, the doctor examined him for himself, wondering he had +never observed before how small and seemingly destitute of life were +his lower limbs. The bunch upon the back, though slight as yet, was +really there, and Matty, when questioned, said it had been there for +weeks, but she did not tell of it, for she hoped it would go away. + +"It will stay until his dying day," he muttered, as he ordered Maude +to take the child away. "Louis deformed! Louis a cripple! What have +I done that I should be thus sorely punished?" he exclaimed, when he +was alone with his wife; and then, as he dared not blame the +Almighty, he charged it to her, until at last his thoughts took +another channel. Maude had dropped him--he knew she had, and Matty +was to blame for letting her handle him so much, when she knew 'twas +a maxim of his that children should not take care of children. + +He had forgotten the time when his worn-out wife had asked him to +hire a nurse girl for Louis, and he had answered that "Maude was +large enough for that." On some points his memory was treacherous, +and for days he continued to repine at his hard fate, wishing once +in Matty's presence that Louis had never been born. + +"Oh, husband," she cried, "how can you say that! Do you hate our +poor boy because he is a cripple?" + +"A cripple!" roared the doctor. "Never use that word again in my +presence. My son a cripple! I can't have it so! I won't have it so! +for 'tis a max--" + +Here he stopped, being for a second time in his life at a loss what +to say. + +"Sarve 'em right, sarve 'em right," muttered John, whose quick eye +saw everything. "Ole Sam payin' him off good. He think he'll be in +the seventh heaven when he got a boy, and he mighty nigh torment +that little gal's life out with his mexens and things; but now he +got a boy, he feel a heap like the bad place." + +Still much as John rejoiced that his master was so punished, his +heart went out in pity toward the helpless child whom he almost +worshiped, carrying him often to the fields, where, seeking out the +shadiest spot and the softest grass for a throne, he would place the +child upon it, and then pay him obeisance by bobbing up and down his +wooly head in a manner quite as satisfactory to Louis as if he +indeed had been a king and John his loyal subject. Old Hannah, too, +was greatly softened, and many a little cake and pie she baked in +secret for the child, while even Nellie gave up to him her favorite +playthings, and her blue eyes wore a pitying look whenever they +rested on the poor unfortunate. All loved him seemingly the more-- +all, save the cruel father, who, as the months and years rolled on, +seemed to acquire a positive dislike to the little boy, seldom +noticing him in any way except to frown if he were brought into his +sight. And Louis, with the quick instinct of childhood, learned to +expect nothing from his father, whose attention he never tried to +attract. + +As if to make amends for his physical deformity, he possessed an +uncommon mind, and when he was nearly six years of age accident +revealed to him the reason of his father's continued coldness, and +wrung from him the first tears he had ever shed for his misfortune. +He heard one day his mother praying that God would soften her +husband's heart toward his poor hunchback boy, who was not to blame +for his misfortune--and laying his head upon the broad arm of the +chair which had been made for him, he wept bitterly, for he knew now +why he was not loved. That night, as in his crib he lay, watching +the stars which shone upon him through the window, and wondering if +in heaven there were hunchback boys like him, he overheard his +father talking to his mother, and the words that his father said +were never forgotten to his dying day. There were, "Don't ask me to +be reconciled to a cripple! What good can he do me? He will never +earn his own living, lame as he is, and will only be in the way." + +"Oh, father, father," the cripple essayed to say, but he could not +speak, so full of pain was his little, bursting heart, and that +night he lay awake, praying that he might die and so be out of the +way. + +The next morning he asked Maude to draw him to the churchyard where +"his other mother," as he called her, was buried. Maude complied, +and when they were there, placed him at his request upon the ground, +where stretching himself out at his full length, he said: "Look, +Maude, won't mine be a little grave?" then, ere she could answer the +strange question, he continued, "I want to die so bad; and if you +leave me lying here in the long grass maybe God's angel will take me +up to heaven. Will I be lame, there, think you?" + +"Oh, Louis, Louis, what do you mean?" cried Maude, and as well as he +could, for the tears he shed, Louis told her what he meant. + +"Father don't love me because I'm lame, and he called me a cripple, +too. What is a cripple, Maude? Is it anything very bad?" and his +beautiful brown eyes turned anxiously toward his sister. + +He had never heard that word before, and to him it had a fearful +significance, even worse than lameness. In an instant Maude knelt by +his side--his head was pillowed on her bosom, and in the silent +graveyard, with the quiet dead around. them, she spoke blessed words +of comfort to her brother, telling him what a cripple was, and that +because he bore that name he was dearer far to her. + +"Your father will love you, too," she said, "when he learns how good +you are. He loves Nellie, and--" + +Ere she could say more she was interrupted by Louis, on whose mind +another truth had dawned, and who now said, "But he don't love you +as he does Nellie. Why not? Are you a cripple, too?" + +Folding him still closer in her arms, and kissing his fair, white +brow, Maude answered: "Your father, Louis, is not mine--for mine is +dead, and his grave is far away. I came here to live when I was a +little girl, not quite as old as you, and Nellie is not my sister, +though you are my darling brother." + +"And do you love father?" asked Louis, his eyes still fixed upon her +face as if he would read the truth. + +Every feeling of Maude Remington's heart answered, "No," to that +question, but she could not say so to the boy, and she replied, "Not +as I could love my own father--neither does he love me, for I am not +his child." + +This explanation was not then wholly clear to Louis, but he +understood that there was a barrier between his father and Maude, +and this of itself was sufficient to draw him more closely to the +latter, who, after that day, cherished him, if possible, more +tenderly than she had done before, keeping him out of his father's +way, and cushioning his little crutches so they could not be heard, +for she rightly guessed that the sound of them was hateful to the +harsh man's ears. + +Maude was far older than her years, and during the period of time +over which we have passed so briefly she had matured both in mind +and body, until now at the age of twelve she was a self-reliant +little woman on whom her mother wholly depended for comfort and +counsel. Very rapidly was Mrs. Kennedy passing from the world, and +as she felt the approach of death she leaned more and more upon her +daughter, talking to her often of the future and commending Louis to +her care, when with her he would be motherless. Maude's position was +now a trying one, for, when her mother became too ill to leave her +room, and the doctor refused to hire extra help, saying, "two great +girls were help enough," it was necessary for her to go into the +kitchen, where she vainly tried to conciliate old Hannah, who +"wouldn't mind a chit of a girl, and wouldn't fret herself either if +things were not half done." + +From the first Nellie resolutely refused to work--"it would black +her hands," she said, and as her father never remonstrated she spent +her time in reading, admiring her pretty face, and drumming upon the +piano, which Maude, who was fonder even than Nellie of music, seldom +found time to touch. One there was, however, who gave to Maude every +possible assistance, and this was John. "Having tried his hand," as +he said, "at everything in Marster Norton's school," he proved of +invaluable service--sweeping, dusting, washing dishes, cleaning +knives, and once ironing Dr. Kennedy's shirts, when old Hannah was +in what he called her "tantrums." But alas for John! the entire +print of the iron upon the bosom of one, to say nothing of the piles +of starch upon another, and more than all, the tremendous scolding +which he received from the owner of said shirt, warned him never to +turn laundress again, and in disgust he gave up his new vocation, +devoting his leisure moments to the cultivation of flowers, which he +carried to his mistress, who smiled gratefully upon him, saying they +were the sweetest she had ever smelled. And so each morning a fresh +bouquet was laid upon her pillow, and as she inhaled their perfume +she thought of her New England home, which she would never see +again--thought, too, of Janet, whose cheering words and motherly +acts would be so grateful to her now when she so much needed care. + +"'Tis a long time since I've heard from her," she said one day to +Maude. "Suppose you write tomorrow, and tell her I am sick--tell +her, too, that the sight of her would almost make me well, and maybe +she will come," and on the sick woman's face there was a joyous +expression as she thought how pleasant it would be to see once more +one who had breathed the air of her native hills--had looked upon +her Harry's grave--nay, had known her Harry when in life, and wept +over him in death. + +Poor, lonesome, homesick woman! Janet shall surely come in answer to +your call, and ere you deem it possible her shadow shall fall across +your threshold--her step be heard upon the stairs--her hand be +clasped in yours! + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +MRS. JANET BLODGETT. + + +It was a chilly, rainy afternoon toward the latter part of August. +John was gone, the doctor was cross, and Hannah was cross. Nellie, +too, was unusually irritable, and venting her spite upon Hannah +because there was nothing for dinner fit to eat, and upon Maude +because the house was so desolate and dark, she crept away upstairs, +and wrapping a shawl round her, sat down to a novel, pausing +occasionally to frown at the rain which beat at the windows or the +wind as it roared dismally through the trees. While thus employed +she heard the sound of wheels, and looking up, saw standing before +their gate a muddy wagon, from which a little, dumpy figure in black +was alighting, carefully holding up her alpaca dress, and carrying +in one hand a small box which seemed to be full of flowers. + +"She must have come to stay a long time," thought Nellie, as she saw +the piles of baggage which the driver was depositing upon the stoop. +"Who can it be?" she continued, as she recalled all her aunts and +cousins, and found that none of them answered the description of +this woman, who knocked loudly at the door, and then walked in to +shelter herself from the storm. + +"Forlornity!" Nellie heard her exclaim, as she left the chamber in +answer to the summons. "Forlornity! No table, no hat-stand, no +nothin', and the dingiest old ile-cloth! What does it mean? Your +servant, miss," she added, dropping a courtesy to Nellie, who now +stood on the stairs, with her finger between the pages of her book, +so as not to lose the place. "I guess I've made a mistake," said the +woman; "is this Dr. Canady's?" + +"It is," answered Nellie, and the stranger continued, "Dr. Canady +who married the widder Remington? " + +"The same," returned Nellie, thinking how unmercifully she would +tease Maude should this prove to be any of her relations. + +"And who be you?" asked the stranger, feeling a little piqued at the +coldness of her reception. + +"I am Miss Helen--Dr. Kennedy's daughter," answered the young lady, +assuming an air of dignity, which was not at all diminished by the +very, expressive "Mortal!" which dropped from the woman's lips. + +"Can I do anything for you?" asked Nellie, and the stranger +answered: "Yes, go and call Maude, but don't tell her who I am." + +She forgot that Nellie did not herself know who she was, and sitting +down upon her trunk, she waited while Nellie hurried to the kitchen, +where, over a smoky fire, Maude was trying in vain to make a bit of +nicely browned toast for her mother, who had expressed a wish for +something good to eat. + +"Here, Maude," called out Nellie, "your grandmother or aunt has +come, I guess, and wants to see you in the hall." + +"It's Janet--it's Janet, I know!" screamed Maude, and leaving her +slice of bread to burn and blacken before the fire, she hurried +away, while Nellie, who had heard nothing of the letter sent the +week before, wondered much who the "witched old thing with the +poking black bonnet could be." + +With a cry of delight Maude wound her arms around the neck of her +old nurse, whom she knew in a moment, though Janet had more +difficulty in recognizing the little girl of other years in the +womanly looking maiden before her. + +"It beats all how you've changed," she said, "though your eyes and +hair are the same," and she passed her hand caressingly over the +short glossy curls. Then looking intently in Maude's face she +continued. "You've grown handsome, child." + +"No, no, not handsome, Janet; Nellie is the beauty of the house," +and Maude shook her head mournfully, for on the subject of beauty +she was a little sensitive, her sister always pronouncing her "a +fright," and manifesting a most unamiable spirit if anyone +complimented her in the least. + +"What, that yaller-haired, white-face chit who went for you?" +rejoined Janet. "No such thing; but tell me now of your marm. How +sick is she, and what of the little boy? Is he much deformed?" + +"Come in here," said Maude, leading the way into the parlor, and +drawing a chair close to Janet, she told all she deemed it necessary +to tell. + +But the quick-witted Janet knew there was something more, and +casting a scornful glance around the room she said: "You are a good +girl, Maude; but you can't deceive an old girl like me. I knew by +the tremblin' way you writ that somethin' was wrong, and started the +first blessed morning after gettin' your letter. I was calculating +to come pretty soon, anyway, and had all my arrangements made. So I +can stay a good long spell--always, mebby--for I'm a widder now," +and she heaved a few sighs to the memory of Mr. Joel Blodgett, who, +she said, "had been dead a year," adding, in a whisper, "but there's +one consolation--he willed me all his property," and she drew from +her belt a huge silver time-piece, which she was in the habit of +consulting quite often, by way of showing that "she could carry a +watch as well as the next one." + +After a little her mind came back from her lamented husband, and she +gave Maude a most minute account of her tedious ride in a lumber- +wagon from Canandaigua to Laurel Hill, for the stage had left when +she reached the depot, and she was in too great a hurry to remain at +the hotel until the next morning. + +"But what of that doctor--do you like him?" she said at last, and +Maude answered: "Never mind him now; let us see mother first, or +rather let me see to her dinner," and she arose to leave the room. + +"You don't like him," continued Janet, "and I knew you wouldn't; but +your poor mother, I pity her. Didn't you say you was gettin' her +something to eat? She's had a good time waitin', but I'll make +amends by seein' to her dinner myself," and spite of Maude's +endeavors to keep her back she followed on into the disorderly +kitchen, from which Nellie had disappeared, and where old Hannah sat +smoking her pipe as leisurely as if on the table there were not +piles of unwashed dishes, to say nothing of the unswept floor and +dirty hearth. + +"What a hole!" was Janet's involuntary exclamation, to which Hannah +responded a most contemptuous "Umph!" and thus was the war-cry +raised on either side. "What was you goin' to git for your mother?" +asked Janet, without deigning to notice the portly African, who +smoked on in dignified silence. + +"Toast and tea," answered Maude, and casting a deprecating glance at +the fire Janet continued: "You can't make any toast fit for a +heathen to eat by that fire. Aint there any dry wood--kindlin' nor +nothin'?" and she walked into the woodshed, where, spying a pine +board, she seized the ax and was about to commence operations when +Hannah called out: "Ole marster 'll be in yer ha'r if you tache +that." + +"I aint afraid of your old marster," answered Janet, and in a moment +the board, which Dr. Kennedy would not suffer John to use because he +might want it for something, was crackling on the fire. + +The hearth was swept, the tea-kettle hung in the blaze, and then, +with a look of perfect delight, Janet sat down to make the toast, +fixing it just as she knew Matty liked it best. + +"Biled eggs will be good for her digester, and if I only had one +dropped in water," she said, and quick as thought Maude brought her +one, while Hannah growled again, "Ole marster 'll raise de ruff, +case he put 'em away to sell." + +"Ole marster be hanged!" muttered Janet, breaking not one, but +three, into the water, for her own stomach began to clamor for food. + +Everything was ready at last; a clean towel covered the server, the +fragrant black tea was made, the boiled egg was laid upon the toast, +and then Janet said, "She ought to have a rellish--preserves, jelly, +baked apple, or somethin'," and she opened a cupboard door, while +Hannah, springing to her feet, exclaimed, "Quit dat; thar aint no +sich truck in dis house." + +But Janet's sharp eye had discovered behind a pile of papers, rags, +and dried herbs a tumbler of currant jelly, which Hannah had +secretly made and hidden away for her own private eating. Hannah's +first impulse was to snatch the jelly from Janet's hand, but feeling +intuitively that in the resolute Scotchwoman she had a mistress, and +fearing lest Maude should betray her to the doctor she exclaimed, +"If that aint the very stuff Miss Ruggles sent in for Miss Matty! I +forgot it till this blessed minit!" and shutting the cupboard door, +she stood with her back against it lest Janet should discover sundry +other delicacies hidden away for a like purpose. + +"Mother has not had a feast like this--and she'll enjoy it so much," +said Maude, as she started up the stairs followed by Janet, who, ere +they reached the chamber, suddenly stopped, saying, "I tell you what +'tis, if she knows I'm here she won't eat a mou'ful, so you say +nothin', and when she's through I'll come." + +This seemed reasonable to Maude, who, leaving Janet to look through +a crevice in the door, entered alone into her mother's presence. +Mrs. Kennedy had waited long for Maude, and at last, weary with +listening to the rain, which made her feel so desolate and sad, she +fell asleep, as little Louis at her side had done before her; but +Maude's cheering voice awoke her. + +"Look, mother," she cried, "see the nice dinner!" and her own eyes +fairly danced as she placed the tray upon the table before her +mother, who, scarcely less pleased, exclaimed, "A boiled egg--and +jelly, too!--I've wanted them both so much. How did it happen?" + +"Eat first, and then I'll tell you," answered Maude, propping her up +with pillows, and setting the server in her lap. + +"It tastes like old times--like Janet," said the invalid, and from +the room without, where Janet watched, there came a faint, choking +sound, which Matty thought was the wind and which Maude knew was +Janet. + +Through the door she caught sight of her mistress, whose white, +wasted face wrung from her that cry. Stuffing her handkerchief into +her mouth, she waited until toast, tea, egg, and all had +disappeared, then, with the exclamation, "She's et 'em all up slick +and clean," she walked into the room. + +It would be impossible to describe that meeting, when the poor sick +woman bowed her weary head upon the motherly bosom of her faithful +domestic, weeping most piteously while Janet folded her lovingly in +her arms, saying to her soothingly, "Nay, now, Matty darling--nay, +my bonnie bird--take it easy like--take is easy, and you'll feel +better." + +"You won't leave me, will you?" sobbed Matty, feeling that it would +not be hard to die with Janet standing near. + +"No, honey, no," answered Janet, "I'll stay till one or t'other of +us is carried down the walk and across the common where them +gravestones is standin', which I noticed when I drove up." + +"It will be me, Janet. It will be me," said Matty. "They will bury +me beneath the willows, for the other one is lying there, oh, so +peacefully." + +Louis was by this time awake, and taking him upon her lap Janet +laughed and cried alternately, mentally resolving that so long as +she should live, she would befriend the little helpless boy, whose +face, she said, "was far winsomer than any she had ever seen." + +Then followed many mutual inquiries, during which Matty learned that +Janet was a widow, and had really come to stay if necessary. + +"I'm able now to live as I please, for I've got property," said +Janet, again consulting the silver watch, as she usually did when +speaking of her husband's will. + +Many questions, too, did Matty ask concerning her former home--her +friends--her flowers--and Harry's grave; "was it well kept now, or +was it overrun with weeds?" + +To this last question Janet did not reply directly, but making some +excuse for leaving the room, she soon returned, bearing in one hand +a box in which a small rose-bush was growing. In the other hand she +held a beautiful bouquet which, having been kept moist, looked +almost as fresh as when it was first gathered. This she gave to +Matty, saying, "They grew on Harry's grave. I picked 'em myself +yesterday morning before I left; and this," pointing to the rose- +bush, "is a root I took from there last spring on purpose for you, +for I meant to visit you this fall." + +Need we say those flowers were dearer to Matty than the wealth of +the Indies would have been! They had blossomed on Harry's grave--his +dust had added to them life, and as if they were indeed a part of +him, she hugged them to her heart--kissing them through her tears +and blessing Janet for the priceless gift. + +"Don't tell him, though," she whispered, and a deep flush mounted to +her cheek as on the stairs she heard a heavy footstep, and knew that +Dr. Kennedy was coming! + +He had been in the kitchen, demanding of Hannah, "Whose is all that +baggage in the hall?" and Hannah, glad of an opportunity to "free +her mind," had answered, "Some low-lived truck or other that they +called 'Janet,' and a body'd s'pose she owned the house, the way she +went on, splittin' up yer board for kindlin', makin' missus' toast +swim in butter, and a-bilin' three of them eggs you laid away to +sell. If she stays here, this nigger won't--that's my 'pinion," and +feeling greatly injured she left the kitchen, while Dr. Kennedy, +with a dark, moody look upon his face, started for the sick-room. + +He knew very well who his visitor was, and when his wife said, +"Husband, this is my faithful Janet, or rather Mrs. Blodgett now. +Wasn't it kind in her to come so far to see me?" he merely nodded +coolly to Mrs. Blodgett, who nodded as coolly in return; then, +turning to his wife, he said, "You seem excited, my dear, and this +ought not to be. 'Tis a maxim of mine that company is injurious to +sick people. What do you think, Mrs. Blodgett?" + +Mrs. Blodgett didn't think anything save that he was a most +disagreeable man, and as she could not say this in his presence, she +made no particular answer. Glancing toward the empty plate which +stood upon the table, he continued, "Hannah tells me, my dear, that +you have eaten three boiled eggs. I wonder at your want of +discretion, when you know how indigestible they are," and his eye +rested reprovingly on Janet, who now found her tongue, and starting +up, exclaimed, "One biled egg won't hurt anybody's digester, if it's +ever so much out of kilter--but the jade lied. Two of them eggs I +cooked for myself, and I'll warrant she's guzzled 'em down before +this. Anyway, I'll go and see," and she arose to leave the room. + +Just as she reached the door the doctor called after her, saying, +"Mrs. Blodgett, I observed a trunk or two in the lower hall, which I +presume are yours. Will you have them left there, or shall I bring +them up to your chamber? You will stay all night with us, of +course!" + +For an instant Janet's face was crimson, but forcing down her wrath +for Matty's sake, she answered, "I shall probably stay as long as +that," and slamming together the door she went downstairs, while +Matty said sadly, "Oh, husband, how could you thus insult her when +you knew she had come to stay a while at least, and that her +presence would do me so much good?" + +"How should I know she had come to stay, when I've heard nothing +about it," was the doctor's reply; and then in no mild terms he gave +his opinion of the lady--said opinion being based on what old Hannah +had told him. + +There were tears in Matty's eyes, and they dropped from her long +eye-lashes as, taking the doctor's hand, she said: "Husband, you +know that I'm going to die--that ere the snow is falling you will be +a second time alone. And you surely will not refuse me when I ask +that Janet shall stay until the last. When I am gone you will, +perhaps, be happier in the remembrance that you granted me one +request." + +There was something in the tone of her voice far more convincing +than her words, and when she added, "She does not expect wages, for +she has money of her own," Dr. Kennedy yielded the point, +prophesying the while that there would be trouble with Hannah. + +Meantime Mrs. Blodgett had wended her way to the kitchen, meeting in +the way with Nellie, around whose mouth there was a substance +greatly resembling the yolk of an egg! Thus prepared for the worst, +Janet was not greatly disappointed when she found that her eggs had +been disposed of by both the young lady and Hannah, the latter of +whom was too busy with her dishes to turn her head or in any way +acknowledge the presence of a second person. + +"Joel Blodgett's widow ought to be above havin' words with a +nigger," was Janet's mental comment as she contented herself with a +slice of bread and a cup of tea, which, by this time, was of quite a +reddish hue. + +Her hunger being satisfied, she began to feel more amiably disposed +toward the old negress, whose dishes she offered to wipe. This +kindness was duly appreciated by Hannah, and that night, in speaking +of Janet to her son, she pronounced her "not quite so onery a white +woman as she at first took her to be." + +As the days wore on Janet's presence in the family was felt in +various ways. To Matty it brought a greater degree of happiness than +she had experienced since she left her New England home, while even +the doctor acknowledged an increased degree of comfort in his +household, though not willing at first to attribute it to its proper +source. He did not like Janet; her ideas were too extravagant for +him, and on several different occasions he hinted quite strongly +that she was not wanted there; but Janet was perfectly invincible to +hints, and when at one time he embodied them in language that could +not be misunderstood, telling her. "'twas a maxim of his that if a +person had a home of their own they had better stay there," she +promptly replied that "'twas a maxim of hers to stay where she +pleased, particularly as she was a woman of property," and so, as +she pleased to stay there, she stayed! + +It took but a short time for her to understand the doctor, and to +say that she disliked him would but feebly express the feeling of +aversion with which she regarded him. Not a word, however, would +Matty admit of past or present unkindness--neither was it necessary +that she should, for Janet saw it all--saw how "Old Maxim," as she +called him, had worried her life away, and while cherishing for him +a sentiment of hatred, she strove to comfort her young mistress, who +grew weaker and weaker every day, until at last the husband himself, +aroused to a sense of her danger, strove by little acts of kindness +unusual in him, to make amends for years of wrong. Experience is a +thorough teacher, and he shrank from the bitter memories which +spring from the grave of a neglected wife, and he would rather that +Matty, when she died, should not turn away from him, shuddering at +his touch, and asking him to take his hand from off her brow; just +as one brown-haired woman had done. This feeling of his was +appreciated by Janet, who in proportion as he became tender toward +Matty, was respectful to him, until at last there came to be a +tolerably good understanding between them, and she was suffered, in +most matters, to have her own way. + +With John she was a special favorite, and through his +instrumentality open hostilities were prevented between herself and +his mother, until the latter missed another cup of jelly from its +new hiding-place. Then, indeed, the indignant African announced her +intention of going at once to "Miss Ruggles'," who had offered her +"twelve shillings a week and a heap of leisure." + +"Let her go," said John, who knew Mrs. Ruggles to be a fashionable +woman, the mother of nine children, whose ages varied from one to +fifteen; "let her go--she'll be glad to come back," and the sequel +proved he was right, for just as it was beginning to grow light on +the second day of her absence, someone rapped at his window, and a +half-crying voice whispered, "Let me in, John; I've been out to +sarvice enough." + +John complied with the request, and when Janet came down to the +kitchen, how was she surprised at finding Hannah there, leisurely +grinding her coffee, with an innocent look upon her sable face, as +if nothing had ever happened. John's raillery, however, loosened her +tongue at last, and very minutely she detailed her grievances. "She +had done a two weeks' washing, besides all the work, and the whole +of them young ones under her feet into the bargain. Then at night, +when she hoped for a little rest, Mrs. Ruggles had gone off to a +party and stayed till midnight, leaving her with that squallin' +brat; but never you mind," said she, "I poured a little paregol down +its throat, or my, name aint Hannah," and with a sigh of relief at +her escape from "Miss Ruggles," she finished her story and resumed +her accustomed duties, which for many weeks she faithfully +performed, finding but little fault with the frequent suggestions of +Mrs. Janet Blodgett, whose rule in the household was for the time +being firmly established. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE MOTHER. + + +From the tall trees which shade the desolate old house the leaves +have fallen one by one, and the November rain makes mournful music +as in the stillness of the night it drops upon the withered foliage, +softly, slowly, as if weeping for the sorrow which has come upon the +household. Matty Kennedy is dead; and in the husband's heart there +is a gnawing pain, such as he never felt before; not even when Katy +died; for Katy, though pure and good, was not so wholly unselfish as +Matty had been, and in thinking of her, he could occasionally recall +an impatient word; but from Matty none. Gentle, loving, and +beautiful she had been to him in life; and now, beautiful in death, +she lay in the silent parlor, on the marble table she had brought +from home, while he--oh, who shall tell what thoughts were busy at +his heart, as he sat there alone, that dismal, rainy night. + +In one respect his wishes had been gratified; Matty had not turned +from him in death. She had died within his arms; but so long as the +light of reason shone in her blue eyes,--so long had they, rested on +the rose-bush within the window,--the rose-bush brought from Harry's +grave! Nestled among its leaves was a half-opened bud, and when none +could hear, she whispered softly to Janet, "Place it in my bosom +just as you placed one years ago, when I was Harry's bride." + +To Nellie and to Maude she had spoken blessed words of comfort, +commending to the latter as to a second mother the little Louis, +who, trembling with fear, had hidden beneath the bedclothes, so that +he could not see the white look upon her face. Then to her husband +she had turned, pleading with all a mother's tenderness for her +youngest born--her unfortunate one. + +"Oh, husband," she said, "you will care for him when I am gone. You +will love my poor, crippled boy! Promise me this, and death will not +be hard to meet. Promise me, won't you?" and the voice was very, +very faint. + +He could not refuse, and bending low, he said, "Matty, I will, I +will." + +"Bless you, my husband, bless you for that," was Matty's dying +words, for she never spoke again. + +It was morning then,--early morning, and a long, dreary day had +intervened, until at last it was midnight, and silence reigned +throughout the house. Maude, Nellie, Janet, and John had wept +themselves sick, while in little Louis' bosom there was a sense of +desolation which kept him wakeful, even after Maude had cried +herself to sleep. Many a time that day had he stolen into the +parlor, and climbing into a chair, as best he could, had laid his +baby cheek against the cold, white face, and smoothing with his +dimpled hand the shining hair, had whispered, "Poor, sick mother, +won't you speak to Louis any more? " + +He knew better than most children of his age what was meant by +death, and as he lay awake, thinking how dreadful it was to have no +mother, his thoughts turned toward his father, who had that day been +too much absorbed in his own grief to notice him. + +"Maybe he'll love me some now ma is dead," he thought, and with that +yearning for paternal sympathy natural to the motherless, he crept +out of bed, and groping his way with his noiseless crutches to his +father's door, he knocked softly for admittance. + +"Who's there?" demanded Dr. Kennedy, every, nerve thrilling to the +answer. + +"It's me, father; won't you let me in, for its dark out here, and +lonesome, with her lying in the parlor. Oh, father, won't you love +me a little, now mother's dead? I can't help it because I'm lame, +and when I'm a man I will earn my own living. I won't be in the way. +Say, pa, will you love me?" + +He remembered the charges his father had preferred against him, and +the father remembered them too. She to whom the cruel words were +spoken was gone from him now and her child, their child, was at the +door, pleading for his love. Could he refuse? No, by every kindly +feeling, by every parental tie, we answer, No; he could not; and +opening the door he took the little fellow in his arms, hugging him +to his bosom, while tears, the first he had shed for many a year, +fell like rain upon the face of his crippled boy. Like some mighty +water, which breaking through its prison walls seeks again its +natural channel, so did his love go out toward the child so long +neglected, the child who was not now to him a cripple. He did not +think of the deformity, he did not even see it. He saw only the +beautiful face, the soft brown eyes and silken hair of the little +one, who ere long fell asleep, murmuring in his dreams, "He loves +me, ma, he does." + +Surely the father cannot be blamed if, when he looked again upon the +calm face of the dead, he fancied that it wore a happier look, as if +the whispered words of Louis had reached her unconscious ear. Very +beautiful looked Matty in her coffin--for thirty years had but +slightly marred her youthful face, and the doctor, as he gazed upon +her, thought within himself, "she was almost as fair as Maude +Glendower." + +Then, as his eye fell upon the rosebud which Janet had laid upon her +bosom, he said, "'Twas kind in Mrs. Blodgett to place it there, for +Matty was fond of flowers;" but he did not dream how closely was +that rosebud connected with a grave made many years before. + +Thoughts of Maude Glendower and mementos of Harry Remington meeting +together at Matty's coffin! Alas, that such should be our life! + +Underneath the willows, and by the side of Katy, was Matty laid to +rest, and then the desolate old house seemed doubly desolate--Maude +mourning truly for her mother, while the impulsive Nellie, too, wept +bitterly for one whom she had really loved. To the doctor, however, +a new feeling had been born, and in the society of his son he found +a balm for his sorrow, becoming ere long, to all outward appearance, +the same exacting, overbearing man he had been before. The blows are +hard and oft repeated which break the solid rock, and there will +come a time when that selfish nature shall be subdued and broken +down; but 'tis not yet--not yet. + +And now, leaving him a while to himself, we will pass on to a period +when Maude herself shall become in reality the heroine of our story. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +PAST AND PRESENT. + + +Four years and a half have passed away since the dark November night +when Matty Kennedy died, and in her home all things are not as they +were then. Janet, the presiding genius of the household, is gone-- +married a second time, and by this means escaped, as she verily +believes, the embarrassment of refusing outright to be Mrs. Dr. +Kennedy, No. 3! Not that Dr. Kennedy ever entertained the slightest +idea of making her his wife, but knowing how highly he valued money, +and being herself "a woman of property," Janet came at last to fancy +that he had serious thoughts of offering himself to her. He, on the +contrary, was only intent upon the best means of removing her from +his house, for, though he was not insensible to the comfort which +her presence brought, it was a comfort for which he paid too dearly. +Still he endured it for nearly three years, but at the end of that +time he determined that she should go away, and as he dreaded a +scene he did not tell her plainly what he meant, but hinted, and +with each hint the widow groaned afresh over her lamented Joel. + +At last, emboldened by some fresh extravagance, he said to her one +day: "Mrs. Blodgett, ah--ahem." Here he stopped, while Mrs. +Blodgett, thinking her time had come, drew out Joel's picture, which +latterly she carried in her pocket, so as to be ready for any +emergency. "Mrs. Blodgett, are you paying attention?" asked the +doctor, observing how intently she was regarding the picture of the +deceased. + +"Yes, yes," she answered, and he continued: + +"Mrs. Blodgett, I hardly know what to say, but I've been thinking +for some time past--" + +"I know you've been thinking," interrupted the widow, "but it won't +do an atom of good, for my mind was made up long ago, and I shan't +do it, and if you've any kind of feeling for Matty, which you haint, +nor never had, you wouldn't think of such a thing, and I know, as +well as I want to know, that it's my property, and nothin' else, +which has put such an idee into your head!" + +Here, overcome with her burst of indignation, she began to cry, +while the doctor, wholly misunderstanding her, attempted to smooth +the matter somewhat by saying: "I had no intention of distressing +you, Mrs. Blodgett, but I thought I might as well free my mind. Were +you a poor woman, I should feel differently, but knowing you have +money--" + +"Wretch!" fairly screamed the insulted Janet. "So you confess my +property is at the bottom of it! But I'll fix it--I'll put an end to +it!" and in a state of great excitement she rushed from the room. + +Just across the way a newly-fledged lawyer had hung out his sign, +and thither that very afternoon the wrathful widow wended her way, +nor left the dingy office until one-half of her property, which was +far greater than anyone supposed it to be, was transferred by deed +of gift to Maude Remington, who was to come in possession of it on +her eighteenth birthday, and was to inherit the remainder by will at +the death of the donor. + +"That fixes him," she muttered, as she returned to the house; "that +fixes Old Maxim good; to think of his insultin' me by ownin' right +up that 'twas my property he was after, the rascal! I wouldn't have +him if there warn't another man in the world!" and entering the room +where Maude was sewing, she astonished the young girl by telling her +what she had done. "I have made you my heir," said she, tossing the +deed of gift and the will into Maude's lap. "I've made you my heir; +and the day you're eighteen you'll be worth five thousand dollars, +besides havin' the interest to use between this time and that. Then, +if I ever die; you'll have five thousand more. Joel Blodgett didn't +keep thirty cows and peddle milk for nothin'." + +Maude was at first too much astonished to comprehend the meaning of +what she heard, but she understood it at last, and then with many +tears thanked the eccentric woman for what she had done, and asked +the reason for this unexpected generosity. + +"'Cause I like you!" answered Janet, determined not to injure +Maude's feelings by letting her know how soon her mother had been +forgotten. "'Cause I like you, and always meant to give it to you. +But don't tell anyone how much 'tis, for if the old fool widowers +round here know I am still worth five thousand dollars they'll like +enough be botherin' me with offers, hopin' I'll change my will; but +I shan't. I'll teach 'em a trick or two, the good for-nothin' Old +Maxim." + +The latter part of this speech was made as Janet was leaving the +room, consequently Maude did not hear it, neither would she have +understood if she had. She knew her nurse was very peculiar, but she +never dreamed it possible for her to fancy that Dr. Kennedy wished +to make her his wife, and she was greatly puzzled to know why she +had been so generous to her. But Janet knew; and when a few days +afterward Dr. Kennedy, determining upon a fresh attempt to remove +her from his house, came to her side, as she was sitting alone in +the twilight, she felt glad that one-half her property at least was +beyond her control. + +"Mrs. Blodgett," he said, clearing his throat and looking +considerably embarrassed, "Mrs. Blodgett." + +"Well, what do you want of Mrs. Blodgett?" was the widow's testy +answer, and the doctor replied, "I did not finish what I wished to +say to you the other day, and it's a maxim of mine, if a person has +anything on his mind, he had better tell it at once." + +"Certainly, ease yourself off, do," and Janet's little gray eyes +twinkled with delight, as she thought how crestfallen he would look +when she told him her property was gone. + +"I was going, Mrs. Blodgett," he continued, "I was going to propose +to you--" + +He never finished the sentence, for the widow sprang to her feet, +exclaiming, "It's of no kind of use! I've gin my property all to +Maude; half of it the day she's eighteen, and the rest on't is +willed to her when I die, so you may as well let me alone," and +feeling greatly flurried with what she verily believed to have been +an offer, she walked away, leaving the doctor to think her the most +inexplicable woman he ever saw. + +The next day Janet received an invitation to visit her husband's +sister who lived in Canada. The invitation was accepted, and to his +great delight the doctor saw her drive from his door, just one week +after his last amusing interview. In Canada Janet formed the +acquaintance of a man full ten years her junior. He had been a +distant relative of her husband, and knowing of her property, asked +her to be his wife. For several days Janet studied her face to see +what was in it "which made every man in Christendom want her!" and, +concluding at last that "handsome is that handsome does," said +"Yes," and made Peter Hopkins the happiest of men. + +There was a bridal trip to Laurel Hill, where the new husband +ascertained that the half of that for which he had married was +beyond his reach; but being naturally of a hopeful nature, he did +not despair of eventually changing the will, so he swallowed his +disappointment and redoubled his attentions to his mother-wife, now +Mrs. Janet Blodgett Hopkins. + +Meantime the story that Maude was an heiress circulated rapidly, and +as the lawyer kept his own counsel and Maude, in accordance with +Janet's request, never told how much had been given her, the amount +was doubled; nay, in some cases trebled, and she suddenly found +herself a person of considerable importance, particularly in the +estimation of Dr. Kennedy, who, aside from setting a high value upon +money, fancied he saw a way by which he himself could reap some +benefit from his stepdaughter's fortune. If Maude had money she +certainly ought to pay for her board, and so he said to her one day, +prefacing his remarks with his stereotyped phrase that "'twas a +maxim of his that one person should not live upon another if they +could help it." + +Since Janet's last marriage Maude had taken the entire management of +affairs, and without her there would have been but little comfort or +order in a household whose only servant was old and lazy, and whose +eldest daughter was far too proud to work. This Maude knew, and with +a flush of indignation upon her cheek she replied to her stepfather: +"Very well, sir, I can pay for my board, if you like; but boarders, +you know, never trouble themselves with the affairs of the kitchen." + +The doctor was confounded. He knew he could not well dispense with +Maude's services, and it had not before occurred to him that a +housekeeper and boarder were two different persons. + +"Ah--yes--just so," said he, "I see I'm laboring under a mistake; +you prefer working for your board--all right," and feeling a good +deal more disconcerted than he ever supposed it possible for him to +feel, he gave up the contest. + +Maude was at this time nearly sixteen years of age, and during the +next year she was to all intents and purposes the housekeeper, +discharging faithfully every duty and still finding time to pursue +her own studies and superintend the education of little Louis, to +whom she was indeed a second mother. She was very fond of books, and +while Janet was with them she had with Nellie attended the seminary +at Laurel Hill, where she stood high in all her classes, for +learning was with her a delight, and when at last it seemed +necessary for her to remain at home, she still devoted a portion of +each day to her studies, reciting to a teacher who came regularly to +the house and whom she paid with her own money. By this means she +was at the age of seventeen a far better scholar than Nellie, who +left every care to her stepsister, saying she was just suited to the +kitchen work and the tiresome old books with which she kept her +chamber littered. This chamber to which Nellie referred was Maude's +particular province. Here she reigned joint sovereign with Louis, +who thus early evinced a degree of intellectuality wonderful in one +so young, and who in some things excelled even Maude herself. + +Drawing and painting seemed to be his ruling taste, and as Dr. +Kennedy still cherished for his crippled boy a love almost +idolatrous, he spared neither money nor pains to procure for him +everything necessary for his favorite pursuit. Almost the entire day +did Louis pass in what he termed Maude's library, where, poring over +books or busy with his pencil, he whiled the hours away without a +sigh for the green fields and shadowy woods, through which he could +never hope to ramble. And Maude was very proud of her artist +brother--proud of the beautiful boy whose face seemed not to be of +earth, so calm, so angel-like was its expression. All the softer, +gentler virtues of the mother, and all the intellectual qualities of +the father were blended together in the child, who presented a +combination of goodness, talent, beauty, and deformity such as this +is seldom seen. For his sister Maude, Louis possessed a deep, +undying love which neither time nor misfortune could in any way +abate. She was part and portion of himself--his life--his light--his +all, in all--and to his childlike imagination a purer, nobler being +had never been created than his darling sister Maude. And well might +Louis Kennedy love the self-sacrificing girl who devoted herself so +wholly to him, and who well fulfilled her mother's charge, "Care for +my little boy." + +Nellie, too, was well beloved, but he soon grew weary of her +company, for she seldom talked of anything save herself and the +compliments which were given to her youthful beauty. And Nellie, at +the age of eighteen, was beautiful, if that can be called beauty +which is void of heart or soul or intellect. She was very small, and +the profusion of golden curls which fell about her neck and +shoulders gave her the appearance of being younger than she really +was. Her features were almost painfully regular, her complexion +dazzlingly brilliant, while her large blue eyes had in them a +dreamy, languid expression exceedingly attractive to those who +looked for nothing beyond--no inner chamber where dwell the graces +which make a woman what she ought to be. Louis' artist eye, +undeveloped though it was, acknowledged the rare loveliness of +Nellie's face. She would make a beautiful picture, he thought; but +for the noble, the good, the pure, he turned to the dark-eyed Maude, +who was as wholly unlike her stepsister as it was possible for her +to be. The one was a delicate blonde, the other a decided brunette, +with hair and eyes of deepest black. Her complexion, too, was dark, +but tinged with a beautiful red, which Nellie would gladly have +transferred to her own paler cheek. It was around the mouth, +however, the exquisitely shaped mouth, and white even teeth, that +Maude's principal beauty lay, and the bright smile which lit up her +features when at all animated in conversation would have made a +plain face handsome. There were some who gave her the preference, +saying there was far more beauty in her clear, beautiful eyes and +sunny smile than in the dollish face of Nellie, who treated such +remarks with the utmost scorn. She knew that she was beautiful. She +had known it all her life--for had she not been told so by her +mirror, her father, her schoolmates, her Aunt Kelsey, and more than +all by J.C. De Vere, the elegant young man whom she had met in +Rochester, where she had spent the winter preceding the summer of +which we are writing, and which was four and one-half years after +Matty's death. + +Greatly had the young lady murmured on her return against the dreary +old house and lonely life at Laurel Hill, which did indeed present a +striking contrast to the city gayeties in which she had been +mingling. Even the cozy little chamber which the kind-hearted Maude +had fitted up for her with her own means was pronounced heathenish +and old-fashioned, while Maude herself was constantly taunted with +being countryfied and odd. + +"I wish J.C. De Vere could see you now," she said one morning to her +sister, who had donned her working dress, and with sleeves rolled up +and wide checked apron tied around her waist was deep in the +mysteries of bread making. + +"I wish he could see her too," said Louis, who had rolled his chair +into the kitchen so that he could be with Maude. "He would say he +never saw a handsomer color than the red upon her cheeks." + +"Pshaw!" returned Nellie. "I guess he knows the difference between +rose-tint and sunburn. Why, he's the most fastidious man I ever saw. +He can't endure the smell of cooking, and says he would never look +twice at a lady whose hands were not as soft and white as--well, as +mine," and she glanced admiringly at the little snowy fingers, which +were beating a tune upon the window-sill. + +"I wants no better proof that he's a fool," muttered old Hannah, who +looked upon Nellie as being what she really was, a vain, silly +thing. + +"A fool, Hannah," retorted Nellie; "I'd like to have Aunt Kelsey +hear you say that. Why, he's the very best match in Rochester. All +the girls are dying for him, but he don't care a straw for one of +them. He's out of health now, and is coming here this summer with +Aunt Kelsey, and then you'll see how perfectly refined he is. By the +way, Maude, if I had as much money at my command as you have I'd fix +up the parlor a little. You know father won't, and that carpet, I'll +venture to say, was in the ark. I almost dread to have J.C. come, +he's so particular; but then he knows we are rich, and beside that, +Aunt Kelsey has told him just how stingy father is, so I don't care +so much. Did I tell you J.C. has a cousin James, who may possibly +come too. I never saw him, but Aunt Kelsey says he's the queerest +man that ever lived. He never was known to pay the slightest +attention to a woman unless she was married or engaged. He has a +most delightful house at Hampton, where he lives with his mother; +but he'll never marry, unless it is some hired girl who knows how to +work. Why, he was once heard to say he would sooner marry a good- +natured Irish girl than a fashionable city lady who knew nothing but +to dress, and flirt, and play the piano--the wretch! " + +"Oh! I know I should like him," exclaimed Louis, who had been an +attentive listener. + +"I dare say you would, and Maude, too," returned Nellie, adding, +after a moment: "And I shouldn't wonder if Maude just suited him, +particularly if he finds her up to her elbows in dough. So, Maude, +it is for your interest to improve the old castle a little. Won't +you buy a new carpet?" and she drew nearer to Maude, who made no +direct reply. + +The three hundred and fifty dollars interest money which she had +received the year before had but little of it been expended on +herself, though it had purchased many a comfort for the household, +for Maude was generous, and freely gave what was her own to give. +The parlor carpet troubled even her, but she would not pledge +herself to buy another until she had first tried her powers of +persuasion upon the doctor, who, as she expected, refused outright. + +"He knew the carpet was faded," he said, "but 'twas hardly worn at +all, and 'twas a maxim of his to make things last as long as +possible." + +It was in vain that Nellie, who was present, quoted Aunt Kelsey and +J.C. De Vere, the old doctor didn't care a straw for either, unless +indeed, J.C. should some time take Nellie off his hands, and pay her +bills, which were altogether too large for one of his maxims. That +this would probably be the result of the young man's expected visit +had been strongly hinted by Mrs. Kelsey, and thus was he more +willing to have him come. But on the subject of the carpet he was +inexorable, and with tears of anger in her large blue eyes Nellie +gave up the contest, while Maude very quietly walked over to the +store and gave orders that a handsome three-ply carpet which she had +heard her sister admire should be sent home as soon as possible. +"You are a dear good girl, after all, and I hope James De Vere will +fall in love with you," was Nellie's exclamation as she saw a large +roll deposited at their door, but not a stitch in the making of the +carpet did she volunteer to take. "She should prick her fingers or +callous her hand," she said, "and Mr. De Vere thought so much of a +pretty hand." + +"Nonsense!" said John, who was still a member of the family, +"nonsense, Miss Nellie. I'd give a heap more for one of Miss Maude's +little fingers, red and rough as they be, than I would for both them +soft, sickish feeling hands of yourn;" and John hastily disappeared +from the room to escape the angry words which he knew would follow +his bold remark. + +Nellie was not a favorite at home, and no one humored her as much as +Maude, who, on this occasion, almost outdid herself in her endeavors +to please the exacting girl, and make the house as presentable as +possible to the fashionable Mrs. Kelsey and the still more +fashionable J.C. De Vere. The new carpet was nicely fitted to the +floor, new curtains hung before the windows, the old sofa was +recovered, the piano was tuned, a hat-stand purchased for the hall, +the spare chamber cleaned, and then very impatiently Nellie waited +for the day when her guests were expected to arrive. + +The time came at last, a clear June afternoon, and immediately after +dinner Nellie repaired to her chamber, so as to have ample time to +try the effect of her different dresses, ere deciding upon any one. +Maude, too, was a good deal excited, for one of her even +temperament. She rather dreaded Mrs. Kelsey, whom she had seen but +twice in her life, but for some reason, wholly inexplicable to +herself, she felt a strange interest in the wonderful J.C., of whom +she had heard so much. Not that he would notice her in the least, +but a man who could turn the heads of all the girls in Rochester +must be somewhat above the common order of mortals; and when at last +her work was done, and she, too, went up to dress, it was with an +unusual degree of earnestness that she asked her sister what she +should wear that would be becoming. + +"Wear what you please, but don't bother me," answered Nellie, +smoothing down the folds of her light blue muslin, which harmonized +admirably with her clear complexion. + +"Maude," called Louis, from the adjoining room, "wear white. You +always look pretty in white." + +"So does every black person!" answered Nellie, feeling provoked that +she had not advised the wearing of some color not as becoming to +Maude as she knew white to be. + +Maude had the utmost confidence in Louis' taste, and when fifteen +minutes later she stood before the mirror, her short, glossy curls +clustering about her head, a bright bloom on her cheek, and a +brighter smile upon her lip, she thought it was the dress which made +her look so well, for it had never entered her mind that she was +handsome. + +"Wear your coral earrings," said Louis, who had wheeled himself into +the room, and was watching her with all a fond brother's pride. + +The earrings were a decided improvement, and the jealous Nellie, +when she saw how neat and tasteful was her sister's dress, began to +cry, saying, "she herself looked a fright, that she'd nothing fit to +wear, and if her father did not buy her something she'd run away." + +This last was her usual threat when at all indignant, and as after +giving vent to it she generally felt better, she soon dried her +tears, saying, "she was glad anyway that she had blue eyes, for J.C. +could not endure black ones." + +"Maybe James can," was the quick rejoinder of Louis, who always +defended Maude from Nellie's envious attacks. + +By this time the clock was striking five. Half an hour more and they +would be there, and going through the rooms below Nellie looked to +see if everything was in order, then returning to her chamber above +she waited impatiently until the sound of wheels was heard in the +distance. A cloud of dust was visible next, and soon a large +traveling carriage stopped at the gate, laden with trunks and boxes, +as if its occupants had come to spend the remainder of the summer. A +straight, slender, dandified-looking young man sprang out, followed +by another far different in style, though equally as fine looking. +The lady next alighted, and scarcely were her feet upon the ground +when she was caught around the neck by a little fairy figure in +blue, which had tripped gracefully down the walk, seemingly +unconscious, but really very conscious of every step she took, for +the black-mustached young man, who touched his hat to her so +politely, was particular about a woman's gait. + +A little apart from the rest stood the stranger, casually eyeing the +diminutive creature, of whose beauty and perfections he had heard so +much both from her partial aunt and his half-smitten cousin: There +was a momentary thrill--a feeling such as one experiences in gazing +upon a rare piece of sculpture--and then the heart of James De Vere +resumed its accustomed beat, for he knew the inner chamber of the +mind was empty, and henceforth Nellie's beauty would have no +attraction for him. Very prettily she led the way to the house, and +after ushering her guests into the parlor ran upstairs to Maude, +bidding her to order supper at once, and telling her as a piece of +important news which she did not already know, that "Aunt Kelsey, +James, and J.C. had come." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +JAMES AND J.C. + + +James and J.C. De Vere were cousins, and also cousins of Mrs. +Kelsey's husband; and hence the intimacy between that lady and +themselves, or rather between that lady and J.C., who was undeniably +the favorite, partly because he was much like herself and partly +because of his name, which she thought so exclusive--so different +from anyone's else. His romantic young mother, who liked anything +savoring at all of "Waverly," had inflicted upon him the cognomen of +Jedediah Cleishbotham, and repenting of her act when too late had +dubbed him "J.C.," by which name he was now generally known. The +ladies called him "a love of a man," and so he was, if a faultless +form, a wicked black eye, a superb set of teeth, an unexceptionable +mustache, a tiny foot, the finest of broadcloth, reported wealth, +and perfect good humor constitute the ingredients which make up "a +love of a man." Added to this, he really did possess a good share of +common sense, and with the right kind of influence would have made a +far different man from what he was. Self-love was the bane of his +life, and as he liked dearly to be flattered, so he in turn became a +most consummate flatterer; always, however, adapting his remarks to +the nature of the person with whom he was conversing. Thus to Nellie +Kennedy he said a thousand foolish things, just because he knew he +gratified her vanity by doing so. Although possessing the reputation +of a wealthy man, J.C. was far from being one, and his great object +was to secure a wife who, while not distasteful to him, still had +money enough to cover many faults, and such a one he fancied Nellie +Kennedy to be. From Mrs. Kelsey he had received the impression that +the doctor was very rich, and as Nellie was the only daughter, her +fortune would necessarily be large. To be sure, he would rather she +had been a little more sensible, but as she was not he resolved to +make the best of it, and although claiming to be something of an +invalid in quest of health, it was really with the view of asking +her to be his wife that he had come to Laurel Hill. He had first +objected to his cousin accompanying him--not for fear of rivalry, +but because he disliked what he might say of Nellie, for if there +was a person in the world whose opinion he respected, and whose +judgment he honored, it was his Cousin James. + +Wholly unlike J.C. was James, and yet he was quite as popular, for +one word from him was more highly prized by scheming mothers and +artful young girls than the most complimentary speech that J.C. ever +made. He meant what he said; and to the kindest, noblest of hearts +he added a fine commanding person, a finished education, and a +quiet, gentlemanly manner, to say nothing of his unbounded wealth, +and musical voice, whose low, deep tones had stirred the heart- +strings of more than one fair maiden in her teens, but stirred them +in vain, for James De Vere had never seen the woman he wished to +call his wife; and now, at the age of twenty-six, he was looked upon +as a confirmed old bachelor, whom almost anyone would marry, but +whom no one ever could. He had come to Laurel Hill because Mrs. +Kelsey had asked him so to do, and because he thought it would be +pleasant to spend a few weeks in that part of the country. + +Of Maude's existence he knew nothing, and when at last supper was +announced, and he followed his cousin to the dining room, he started +in surprise as his eye fell on the dark-eyed girl who, with a +heightened bloom upon her cheek, presided at the table with so much +grace and dignity. Whether intentionally or not, we cannot say, but +Nellie failed to introduce her stepsister, and as Mrs. Kelsey was +too much absorbed in looking at her pretty niece, and in talking to +her brother, to notice the omission, Maude's position would have +been peculiarly embarrassing but for the gentlemanly demeanor of +James, who, always courteous, particularly to those whom he thought +neglected, bowed politely, and made to her several remarks +concerning the fineness of the day and the delightful view which +Laurel Hill commanded of the surrounding country. She was no menial, +he knew, and looking in her bright, black eyes he saw that she had +far more mind than the dollish Nellie, who, as usual, was provoking +J.C. to say all manner of foolish things. + +As they were returning to the parlor J.C. said to Nellie: "By the +way, Nell, who is that young girl in white, and what is she doing +here?" + +"Why, that's Maude Remington, my stepsister," answered Nellie. "I'm +sure you've heard me speak of her." + +J.C. was sure he hadn't; but he did not contradict the little lady, +whose manner plainly indicated that any attention paid by him to the +said Maude would be resented as an insult to herself. Just then Mrs. +Kelsey went upstairs, taking her niece with her; and as Dr. Kennedy +had a patient to visit he, too, asked to be excused, and the young +men were left alone. The day was warm, and sauntering out beneath +the trees they sat down upon a rustic seat which commanded a view of +the dining room, the doors and windows of which were open, +disclosing to view all that was transpiring within. + +"In the name of wonder, what's that?" exclaimed J.C., as he saw a +curiously shaped chair wheeling itself, as it were, into the room. + +"It must be Dr. Kennedy's crippled boy," answered James, as Louis +skipped across the floor on crutches and climbed into the chair +which Maude carefully held for him. + +Louis did not wish to eat with the strangers until somewhat +acquainted, consequently he waited until they were gone, and then +came to the table, where Maude stood by his side, carefully +ministering to his wants, and assisting him into his chair when he +was through. Then, pushing back her curls, and donning the check +apron which Nellie so much abhorred, she removed the dishes herself, +for old Hannah she knew was very tired, having done an unusual +amount of work that day. + +"I tell you what, Jim, I wouldn't wonder if that's the very one for +you," said J.C., puffing leisurely at his cigar, and still keeping +his eyes fixed upon the figure in white, as if to one of his +fastidious taste there was nothing very revolting in seeing Maude +Remington wash the supper dishes, even though her hands were brown +and her arms a little red. + +James did not answer immediately, and when he did he said: "Do you +remember a little girl we met in the cars between Springfield and +Albany, several years ago when we were returning from school? She +was a funny little black-eyed creature, and amused us very much with +her remarks." + +"I wouldn't wonder if I remembered her," returned J.C., "for didn't +she say I looked as if I didn't mean for certain? I tell you what it +is, Jim, I've thought of the speech more than a thousand times when +I've been saying things I did not mean to foolish girls and their +mammas. But what reminded you of her?" + +"If I mistake not, that child and the young lady yonder are one and +the same. You know she told us her name was Maude Remington, and +that the naughty man behind us wasn't her father, and she didn't +like him a bit, or something like that." + +"And I honor her judgment both in his case and mine," interrupted +J.C., continuing, after a moment: "The old fellow looks as that man +did. I guess you are right. I mean to question 'Cuffee' on the +subject," and he beckoned to John, who was passing at no great +distance. + +"Sambo," said he, as the negro approached, "who is that young lady +using the broom-handle so vigorously?" and he pointed to Maude, who +was finishing her domestic duties by brushing the crumbs from the +carpet. + +"If you please, sar, my name is John," answered the African, +assuming a dignity of manner which even J.C. respected. + +"Be it John, then," returned the young man, "but tell us how long +has she lived here, and where did she come from?" + +Nothing pleased John better than a chance to talk of Maude, and he +replied: "She came here twelve years ago this very month with that +little blue-eyed mother of hern, who is lyin' under them willers in +the graveyard. We couldn't live without Miss Maude. She's all the +sunshine thar is about the lonesome old place. Why, she does +everything, from takin' care of her crippled half-brother to mendin' +t'other one's gownd." + +"And who is t'other one?" asked J.C., beginning to feel greatly +interested in the negro's remarks. + +"T'other one," said John, "is Miss Nellie, who won't work for fear +of silin' her hands, which some fool of a city chap has made her +b'lieve are so white and handsome," and a row of ivory was just +visible, as, leaning against a tree, John watched the effect of his +words upon "the fool of a city chap." + +J.C. was exceedingly good-natured, and tossing his cigar into the +grass he replied, "You don't mean me, of course; but tell us more of +this Maude, who mops the floor and mends Nellie's dresses." + +"She don't mop the floor," muttered John. "This nigger wouldn't let +her do that--but she does mend Nellie's gownds, which I wouldn't do, +if I's worth as much money as she is!" + +If J.C. had been interested before, he was doubly interested now, +and coming nearer to John he said: "Money, my good fellow! Is Maude +an heiress?" + +"She aint nothin' else," returned John, who proceeded to speak of +Janet and her generous gift, the amount of which he greatly +exaggerated. "Nobody knows how much 'tis," said he: "but everybody +s'poses that will and all it must be thirty or forty thousand," and +as the doctor was just then seen riding into the yard John walked +away to attend to his master's horse. + +"Those butter and cheese men do accumulate money fast," said J.C., +more to himself than to his companion, who laughingly replied, "It +would be funny if you should make this Maude my cousin instead of +Nellie. Let me see--Cousin Nellie--Cousin Maude. I like the sound of +the latter the best, though I am inclined to think she is altogether +too good for a mercenary dog like you." + +"Pshaw!" returned J.C., pulling at the maple leaves which grew above +his head, "I hope you don't think I'd marry a rude country girl for +her money. No, give me la charmant Nellie, even though she cannot +mend her dress, and you are welcome to Cousin Maude, the milkman's +heiress." + +At that moment Mrs. Kelsey and Nellie appeared upon the stoop, and +as Maude was no longer visible the young gentlemen returned to the +parlor, where J.C. asked Nellie to favor him with some music. Nellie +liked to play, for it showed her white hands to advantage, and +seating herself at the piano she said: "I have learned a new song +since I saw you, but Maude must sing the other part--maybe, though, +I can get along without her." + +This last was said because she did not care to have Maude in the +parlor, and she had inadvertently spoken of her singing. The young +men, however, were not as willing to excuse her, and Maude was +accordingly sent for. She came readily, and performed her part +without the least embarrassment, although she more than once half +paused to listen to the rich, full tones of James' voice, for he was +an unusually fine singer; Maude had never heard anything like it +before, and when the song was ended the bright, sparkling eyes which +she turned upon him told of her delight quite as eloquently as words +could have done. + +"You play, I am sure, Miss Remington," he said, as Nellie arose from +the stool. + +Maude glanced at her red hands, which J.C. would be sure to notice, +then feeling ashamed to hesitate for a reason like this, she +answered, "Yes, sometimes," and taking her seat she played several +pieces, keeping admirable time, and giving to the music a grace and +finish which Nellie had often tried in vain to imitate. + +"Mr. De Vere did not expect you to play all night," called out the +envious girl, who, not satisfied with having enticed J.C. from the +piano, wished James to join her also. + +"She is merely playing at my request," said Mr. De Vere, "but if it +is distasteful to Miss Kennedy, we will of course desist," and +bending low he said a few words of commendation to Maude, whose +heart thrilled to the gentle tones of his voice, just as many +another maiden's had done before. Mr. De Vere was exceedingly +agreeable, and so Maude found him to be, for feeling intuitively +that she was somewhat slighted by the overbearing Nellie, he devoted +himself to her entirely, talking first of books, then of music, and +lastly of his home, which, without any apparent boasting, he +described as a most beautiful spot. + +For a long time that night did Louis wait for his sister in his +little bed, and when at last she came to give him her accustomed +kiss he pushed the thick curls from off her face and said, "I never +saw you look so happy, Maude. Do you like that Mr. De Vere?" + +"Which one?" asked Maude. "There are two, you know." + +"Yes, I know," returned Louis, "but I mean the one with the voice. +Forgive me, Maude, but I sat ever so long at the head of the stairs, +listening as he talked. He is a good man, I am sure. Will you tell +me how he looks?" + +Maude could not well describe him. She only knew that he was taller +than J.C., and, as she thought, much finer looking, with deep blue +eyes, dark brown hair, and a mouth just fitted to his voice. Farther +than this she could not tell. "But you will see him in the morning," +she said. "I have told him how gifted, how good, you are, and to- +morrow, he says, he shall visit you in your den." + +"Don't let the other one come," said Louis hastily, "for if he can't +endure red hands he'd laugh at my withered feet and the bunch upon +my back; but the other one won't, I know." + +Maude knew so too, and somewhat impatiently she waited for the +morrow, when she could introduce her brother to her friend. The +morrow came, but, as was frequently the case, Louis was suffering +from a severe pain in his back, which kept him confined to his room, +so that Mr. De Vere neither saw him at all nor Maude as much as he +wished to do. He had been greatly interested in her, and when at +dinner he heard that she would not be down he was conscious of a +feeling of disappointment. She was not present at supper either, but +after it was over she joined him in the parlor, and, together with +J.C. and Nellie, accompanied him to the graveyard, where, seating +herself upon her mother's grave, she told him of that mother, and +the desolation which crept into her heart when first she knew she +was an orphan. From talking of her mother it was an easy matter to +speak of her Vernon home, which she had never seen since she left it +twelve years before, and then Mr. De Vere asked if she had met two +boys in the cars on her way to Albany. At first Maude could not +recall them, and when at last she did so her recollections were so +vague that Mr. De Vere felt another pang of disappointment, though +wherefore he could not tell, unless indeed, he thought there would +be something pleasant in being remembered twelve long years by a +girl like Maude Remington. He reminded her of her remark made to his +cousin, and in speaking of him casually alluded to his evident +liking for Nellie, saying playfully, "Who knows, Miss Remington, but +you may some time be related to me--not my cousin exactly, though +Cousin Maude sounds well. I like that name." + +"I like it too," she said impulsively, "much better than Miss +Remington, which seems so stiff." + +"Then let me call you so. I have no girl cousin in the world," and +leaning forward he put back from her forehead one of her short, +glossy curls, which had been displaced by the evening breeze. + +This was a good deal for him to do. Never before had he touched a +maiden's tresses, and he had no idea that it would make his fingers +tingle as it did. Still, on the whole, he liked it, and half-wished +the wind would blow those curls over the upturned face again, but it +did not, and he was about to make some casual remark when J.C., who +was not far distant, called out, "Making love, I do believe!" + +The speech was sudden, and grated harshly on James' ear. Not because +the idea of making love to Maude was utterly distasteful, but +because he fancied she might be annoyed, and over his features there +came a shadow, which Maude did not fail to observe. + +"He does not wish to be teased about me," she thought, and around +the warm spot which the name of "Cousin Maude" had made within her +heart there crept a nameless chill--a fear that she had been +degraded in his eyes. "I must go back to Louis," she said at last, +and rising from her mother's grave she returned to the house, +accompanied by Mr. De Vere, who walked by her side in silence, +wondering if she really cared for J.C.'s untimely joke. + +James De Vere did not understand the female heart, and wishing to +relieve Maude from all embarrassment in her future intercourse with +himself, he said to her as they reached the door: "My Cousin Maude +must not mind what J.C. said, for she knows it is not so." + +"Certainly not," was Maude's answer, as she ran upstairs, hardly +knowing whether she wished it were or were not so. + +One thing, however, she knew. She liked to have him call her Cousin +Maude; and when Louis asked what Mr. De Vere had said beneath the +willows she told him of her new name, and asked if he did not like +it. + +"Yes," he answered, "but I'd rather you were his sister, for then +maybe he'd call me brother, even if I am a cripple. How I wish I +could see him, and perhaps I shall to-morrow." + +But on the morrow Louis was so much worse that in attending to him +Maude found but little time to spend with Mr. De Vere, who was to +leave them that evening. When, however, the carriage which was to +take him away stood at the gate, she went down to bid him good-by, +and ask him to visit them again. + +"I shall be happy to do so," he said; and then, as they were +standing alone together, he continued: "Though I have not seen as +much of you as I wished, I shall remember my visit at Laurel Hill +with pleasure. In Hampton there are not many ladies for whose +acquaintance I particularly care, and I have often wished that I had +some female friend with whom I could correspond, and thus while away +some of my leisure moments. Will my Cousin Maude answer me if I +should some time chance to write to her mere friendly, cousinly +letters, of course?" + +This last he said because he mistook the deep flush on Maude's cheek +for an unwillingness to do anything which looked at all like "making +love." + +"I will write," was all Maude had a chance to say ere Nellie joined +them, accompanied by J.C., who had not yet terminated his visit at +Laurel Hill, and as soon as his cousin left he intended removing to +the hotel, where he would be independent of Dr. Kennedy, and at the +same time, devote himself to the daughter or stepdaughter, just as +he should feel inclined. + +Some such idea might have intruded itself upon the mind of James, +for, when at parting he took his cousin's hand, he said, "You have +my good wishes for your success with Nellie, but--" + +"But not with t'other one, hey?" laughingly rejoined J.C., adding +that James need have no fears, for there was not the slightest +possibility of his addressing the milkman's heiress. + +Alas for J.C.'s honesty! Even while he spoke there was treachery in +his saucy eyes, for the milkman's heiress, as he called her, was not +to him an object of dislike, and when, after the carriage drove +away, he saw the shadows on her face, and suspected their cause, he +felt a strong desire that his departure might affect her in a +similar manner. That evening, too, when Nellie sang to him his +favorite song, he kept one ear turned toward the chamber above, +where, in a low, sweet voice, Maude Remington sang her suffering +brother to sleep. + +The next morning he removed to the hotel, saying he should probably +remain there during the summer, as the air of Laurel Hill was highly +conducive to his rather delicate health; but whether he meant the +invigorating breeze which blew front the surrounding hills, or an +heir of a more substantial kind, time and our story will show. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE MILKMAN'S HEIRESS. + + +Mr. De Vere had been gone four weeks. Louis had entirely recovered +from his illness, and had made the acquaintance of J.C., with whom +he was on the best of terms. Almost every bright day did the young +man draw the little covered wagon through the village, and away to +some lovely spot, where the boy artist could indulge in his favorite +occupation--that of sketching the familiar objects around him. At +first Nellie accompanied them in these excursions; but when one day +her aunt, who still remained at Laurel Hill, pointed out to her a +patch of sunburn and a dozen freckles, the result of her outdoor +exercise, she declared her intention of remaining at home +thereafter--a resolution not altogether unpleasant to J.C., as by +this means Maude was more frequently his companion. + +If our readers suppose that to a man of J.C.'s nature there was +anything particularly agreeable in thus devoting himself to a +cripple boy they are mistaken, for Louis Kennedy might have remained +indoors forever had it not been for the sunny smile and look of +gratitude which Maude Remington always gave to J.C. De Vere when he +came for or returned with her darling brother. Insensibly the +domestic virtues and quiet ways of the black-haired Maude were +winning a strong hold upon J.C.'s affections, and still he had never +seriously thought of making her his wife. He only, knew that he +liked her, that he felt very comfortable where she was, and very +uncomfortable where she was not; that the sound of her voice singing +in the choir was the only music he heard on the Sabbath day, and +though Nellie in her character of soprano ofttimes warbled like a +bird, filling the old church with melody, he did not heed it, so +intent was he in listening to the deeper, richer notes of her who +sang the alto, and whose fingers swept the organ keys with so much +grace and beauty. + +And Maude! within her bosom was there no interest awakened for one +who thought so much of her? Yes, but it was an interest of a +different nature from his. She liked him, because he was so much +more polite to her than she had expected him to be, and more than +all, she liked him for his kindness to her brother, never dreaming +that for her sake alone those kindly acts were done. Of James De +Vere she often thought, repeating sometimes to herself the name of +Cousin Maude, which had sounded so sweetly to her ear when he had +spoken it. His promise she remembered, too, and as often as the mail +came in, bringing her no letter, she sighed involuntarily to think +she was forgotten. Not forgotten, Maude, no, not forgotten, and when +one afternoon, five weeks after James' departure J.C. stood at her +side, he had good reason for turning his eyes away from her truthful +glance, for he knew of a secret wrong done to her that day. There +had come to him that morning a letter from James, containing a note +for Maude, and the request that he would hand it to her. + +"I should have written to her sooner," James wrote, "but mother's +illness and an unusual amount of business prevented me from doing +so. 'Better late than never,' is, however, a good motto at times, +and I intrust the letter to you, because I would save her from any +gossip which an open correspondence with me might create." + +For James De Vere to write to a young girl was an unheard-of +circumstance, and the sight of that note aroused in J.C.'s bosom a +feeling of jealousy lest the prize he now knew he coveted should be +taken from him. No one but himself should write to Maude Remington, +for she was his, or rather she should be his. The contents of that +note might be of the most ordinary kind, but for some reason +undefinable to himself he would rather she should not see it yet, +and though it cost him a struggle to deal thus falsely with both, he +resolved to keep it from her until she had promised to be his wife. +He never dreamed it possible that she could tell him no, he had been +so flattered and admired by the city belles; and the only point +which troubled him was what his fashionable friends would say when +in place of the Nellie whose name had been so long associated with +his, he brought to them a Maude fresh from the rural districts, with +naught in her disposition save goodness, purity, and truth. They +would be surprised, he knew, but she was worth a thousand of them +all, and then with a glow of pride he thought how his tender love +and care would shield her from all unkind remarks, and how he would +make himself worthy of such a treasure. + +This was the nobler, better part of J.C.'s nature, but anon a more +sordid feeling crept in, and he blushed to find himself wondering +how large her fortune really was! No one knew, save the lawyers and +the trustee to whose care it had been committed, and since he had +become interested in her he dared not question them lest they should +accuse him of mercenary motives. Was it as large as Nellie's? He +wished he knew, while at the same time he declared to himself that +it should make no difference. The heart which had withstood so many +charms was really interested at last, and though he knew both Mrs. +Kelsey and her niece would array themselves against him, he was +prepared to withstand the indignation of the one and the opposition +of the other. + +So perfectly secure was Nellie in J.C.'s admiration for herself, +that she failed to see his growing preference for Maude, whom she +frequently ridiculed in his presence, just because she thought he +would laugh at it, and think her witty. But in this she was +mistaken, for her ridicule raised Maude higher in his estimation, +and he was glad when at last an opportunity occurred for him to +declare his intentions. + +For a week or more Nellie and a few of the young people of the +village had been planning a picnic to the lake, and the day was +finally decided upon. Nellie did not ask J.C. if he were going; she +expected it as a matter of course, just as she expected that Maude +would stay at home to look after Louis and the house. But J.C. had +his own opinion of the matter, and when the morning came he found it +very convenient to be suffering from a severe headache which would +not permit him to leave his bed, much less to join the pleasure +party. + +"Give my compliments to Miss Kennedy," he said to the young man who +came to his door, "and tell her I cannot possibly go this morning, +but will perhaps come down this afternoon." + +"Mr. De Vere not going! I can't believe it!" and the angry tears +glittered in Nellie's blue eyes when she heard the message he had +sent her. + +"Not going!" exclaimed Mrs. Kelsey, while even Maude sympathized in +the general sorrow, for her hands had prepared the repast, and she +had taken especial pains with the pies which Mr. De Vere liked the +best, and which, notwithstanding his dislike to kitchen odors, he +had seen her make, standing at her elbow and complimenting her +skill. + +Nellie was in favor of deferring the ride, but others of the party, +who did not care so much for Mr. De Vere's society objected, and +poutingly tying on her hat, the young lady took her seat beside her +aunt, who was scarcely less chagrined than herself at their +disappointment. + +Meanwhile, from behind his paper curtains J.C. looked after the +party as they rode away, feeling somewhat relieved when the blue +ribbons of Nellie's hat disappeared from view. For appearance's sake +he felt obliged to keep his room for an hour or more, but at the end +of that time he ventured to feel better, and dressing himself with +unusual care he started for Dr. Kennedy's, walking very slowly, as +became one suffering from a nervous headache, as he was supposed to +be. Maude had finished her domestic duties, and in tasteful gingham +morning-gown, with the whitest of linen collars upon her neck, she +sat reading alone at the foot of the garden beneath a tall cherry +tree where John had built her a rough seat of boards. This was her +favorite resort, and here J.C. found her, so intent upon her book as +not to observe his approach until he stood before her. She seemed +surprised to see him, and made anxious inquiries concerning his +headache, which he told her was much better. "And even if it were +not," said he, seating himself at her feet; "even if it were not, +the sight of you, looking so bright, so fresh, and so neat, would +dissipate it entirely," and his eyes, from which the saucy, wicked +look was for the moment gone, rested admiringly upon her face. + +His manner was even more pointed than his words, and coloring +crimson, Maude replied, "You are disposed to be complimentary, Mr. +De Vere." + +"I am disposed for once to tell the truth," he answered." All my +life long I have acted a part, saying and doing a thousand foolish +things I did not mean, just because I thought it would please the +senseless bubbles with whom I have been associated. But you, Maude +Remington, have brought me to my senses, and determined me to be a +man instead of a fool. Will you help me, Maude, in this resolution?" +and seizing both her hands he poured into her astonished ear his +declaration of love, speaking so rapidly and so vehemently as al +most to take her breath away, for she had never expected a scene +like this. + +She had looked upon him as one who would undoubtedly be her sister's +husband, and the uniform kindness with which he had treated her, she +attributed to his exceeding good nature; but to be loved by him, by +J.C. De Vere, who had been sought after by the fairest ladies in the +land, she could not believe possible, and with mingled feelings of +pleasure, pain, and gratified vanity she burst into tears. + +Very gently J.C. wiped her tears away, and sitting down beside her +he said, "The first time I ever saw you, Maude, you told me 'I did +not look as if I meant for certain,' and you were right, for all my +life has been a humbug; but I mean 'for certain' now. I love you, +Maude, love you for the very virtues which I have so often affected +to despise, and you must make me what J.C. De Vere ought to be. Will +you, Maude? Will you be my wife?" + +To say Maude was not gratified that this man of fashion should +prefer her to all the world would be an untruth, but she could not +then say "Yes," for another, and a more melodious voice was still +ringing in her ear, and she saw in fancy a taller, nobler form than +that of him who was pressing her to answer. + +"Not yet, Mr. De Vere," she said. "Not yet. I must have time to +think. It has come upon me so suddenly, so unexpectedly, for I have +always thought of you as Nellie's future husband, and my manners are +so different from what you profess to admire." + +"'Twas only profession, Maude," he said, and then, still holding her +closely to him, he frankly and ingenuously gave her a truthful +history of his life up to the time of his first acquaintance with +Nellie, of whom he spoke kindly, saying she pleased him better than +most of his city friends, and as he began really to want a wife he +had followed her to Laurel Hill, fully intending to offer her the +heart which, ere he was aware of it, was given to another. "And now, +I cannot live without you," he said. "You must be mine. Won't you, +Maude? I will be a good husband. I will take lessons of Cousin +James, who is called a pattern man." + +The mention of that name was unfortunate, and rising to her feet, +Maude replied: "I cannot answer you now, Mr. De Vere. I should say +No, if I did, I am sure, and I would rather think of it a while." + +He knew by her voice that she was in earnest, and kissing her hand +he walked rapidly away, his love increasing in intensity with each +step he took. He had not expected anything like hesitancy. Everyone +else had met his advances at least halfway, and Maude's indecision +made him feel more ardent than he otherwise might have been. + +"What if she should refuse me?" he said, as he paced up and down his +room, working himself up to such a pitch of feeling that when that +afternoon Nellie on the lake shore was waiting impatiently his +coming he on his pillow was really suffering all the pangs of a +racking headache, brought on by strong nervous excitement. "What if +she should say No?" he kept repeating to himself, and at last, +maddened by the thought, he arose, and dashing off a wild rambling +letter, was about sending it by a servant, when he received a note +from her, for an explanation of which we will go back an hour or so +in our story. + +In a state of great perplexity Maude returned to the house, and +seeking out her brother, the only person to whom she could go for +counsel, she told him of the offer she had received, and asked him +what he thought. In most respect Louis was far older than his years, +and he entered at once into the feelings of his sister. + +"J.C. De Vere proposed to you!" he exclaimed. "What will Nellie +say?" + +"If I refuse, she never need to know of it," answered Maude, and +Louis continued: "They say he is a great catch, and wouldn't it be +nice to get him away from everybody else. But what of the other De +Vere? Don't you like him the best?" + +Maude's heart beat rapidly, and the color on her cheek deepened to a +brighter hue as she replied, "What made you think of him?" + +"I don't know," was Louis' answer, "only when he was here I fancied +you were pleased with him, and that he would suit you better than +J.C." + +"But he don't like me," said Maude. "He don't like any woman well +enough to make her his wife," and she sighed deeply as she thought +of his broken promise and the letter looked for so long. + +"Maude," said Louis suddenly, "men like J.C. De Vere sometimes marry +for money, and maybe he thinks your fortune larger than it is. Most +everybody does." + +That Maude was more interested in J.C. De Vere than she supposed was +proved by the earnestness with which she defended him from all +mercenary motives. + +"He knows Nellie's fortune is much larger than my own," she said; +"and by preferring me to her he shows that money is not his motive." + +Still Louis' suggestion troubled her, and by way of testing the +matter she sat down at once and wrote him a note, telling him +frankly how much she had in her own name and how much in expectancy. +This note she sent to him by John, who, naturally quick-witted, read +a portion of the truth in her tell-tale face, and giving a loud +whistle in token of his approbation he exclaimed, "This nigger'll +never quit larfin' if you gets him after all Miss Nellie's nonsense, +and I hopes you will, for he's a heap better chap than I s'posed, +though I b'lieve I like t'other one the best!" + +Poor Maude! That other one seemed destined to be continually thrust +upon her, but resolving to banish him from her mind as one who had +long since ceased to think of her, she waited impatiently, for a +reply to her letter. + +Very hastily J.C. tore it open, hoping, believing, that it contained +the much desired answer. "I knew she could not hold out against me-- +no one ever did," he said; but when he read the few brief lines, he +dashed it to the floor with an impatient "Pshaw!" feeling a good +deal disappointed that she had not said Yes and a very little +disappointed that the figures were not larger! + +"Five thousand dollars the 20th of next June, and five thousand more +when that old Janet dies; ten thousand in all. Quite a handsome +property, if Maude could have it at once. I wonder if she's healthy, +this Mrs. Hopkins," soliloquized J.C., until at last a new idea +entered his mind, and striking his fist upon the table he exclaimed, +"Of course she will. Such people always do, and that knocks the will +in head!" and J.C. De Vere frowned wrathfully upon the little +imaginary Hopkinses who were to share the milkman's fortune with +Maude. + +Just then a girlish figure was seen beneath the trees in Dr. +Kennedy's yard, and glancing at the white cape bonnet J.C. knew that +it was Maude, the sight of whom drove young Hopkins and the will +effectually from his mind. "He would marry her, anyway," he said, +"five thousand dollars was enough;" and donning his hat he started +at once for the doctor's. Maude had returned to the house, and was +sitting with her brother when the young man was announced. Wholly +unmindful of Louis' presence, he began at once by asking" if she +esteemed him so lightly as to believe that money could make any +difference whatever with him." + +"It influences some men," answered Maude, "and though you may like +me--" + +"Like you, Maude Remington!" he exclaimed; "like is a feeble word. I +worship you, I love the very air you breathe, and you must be mine. +Will you, Maude?" + +J.C. had never before been so much in earnest, for never before had +he met with the least indecision, and he continued pleading his +cause so vehemently that Louis, who was wholly unprepared for so +stormy a wooing, stopped his ears and whispered to his sister, "Tell +him Yes, before he drives me crazy!" + +But Maude felt that she must have time for sober, serious +reflection; J.C. was not indifferent to her, and the thought was +very soothing that she who had never aspired to the honor had been +chosen from all others to be his wife. He was handsome, agreeable, +kind-hearted, and, as she believed, sincere in his love for her. And +still there was something lacking. She could not well tell what, +unless, indeed, she would have him more like James De Vere. + +"Will you answer me?" J.C. said, after there had been a moment's +silence, and in his deep black eyes there was a truthful, earnest +look wholly unlike the wicked, treacherous expression usually hidden +there. + +"Wait a while," answered Maude, coming to his side and laying her +hand upon his shoulder. "Wait a few days, and I most know I shall +tell you Yes. I like you, Mr. De Vere, and if I hesitate it is +because--because--I really don't know what, but something keeps +telling me that our engagement may be broken, and if so, it had +better not be made." + +There was another storm of words, and then, as Maude still seemed +firm in her resolution to do nothing hastily, J.C. took his leave. +As the door closed after him, Louis heaved a deep sigh of relief, +and, turning to his sister, said: "I never heard anything like it; I +wonder if James would act like that!" + +"Louis," said Maude, but ere Louis could reply she had changed her +mind, and determined not to tell him that James De Vere alone stood +between her and the decision J.C. pleaded for so earnestly. So she +said: "Shall I marry J.C. De Vere?" + +"Certainly, if you love him," answered Louis. "He will take you to +Rochester away from this lonesome house. I shall live with you more +than half the time, and--" + +Here Louis was interrupted by the sound of wheels. Mrs. Kelsey and +Nellie had returned from the Lake, and bidding her brother say +nothing of what he had heard, Maude went down to meet them. Nellie +was in the worst of humors. "Her head was aching horridly--she had +spent an awful day--and J.C. was wise in staying at home." + +"How is he?" she asked, "though of course you have not seen him." + +Maude was about to speak when Hannah, delighted with a chance to +disturb Nellie, answered for her. "It's my opinion that headache was +all a sham, for you hadn't been gone an hour, afore he was over here +in the garden with Maude, where he stayed ever so long. Then he came +agen this afternoon, and hasn't but jest gone." + +Nellie had not sufficient discernment to read the truth of this +assertion in Maude's crimson cheeks, but Mrs. Kelsey had, and very +sarcastically she said: "Miss Remington, I think, might be better +employed than in trying to supplant her sister." + +"I have not tried to supplant her, madam," answered Maude, her look +of embarrassment giving way to one of indignation at the unjust +accusation. + +"May I ask, then, if Mr. De Vere has visited you twice to-day, and +if so, what was the object of those visits?" continued Mrs. Kelsey, +who suddenly remembered several little incidents which had +heretofore passed unheeded, and which, now that she recalled them to +mind, proved that J.C. De Vere was interested in Maude. + +"Mr. De Vere can answer for himself, and I refer you to him," was +Maude's reply, as she walked away. + +Nellie began to cry. "Maude had done something," she knew, "and it +wouldn't be a bit improper for a woman as old as Aunt Kelsey to go +over and see how Mr. De Vere was, particularly as by this means she +might find out why he had been there so long with Maude." + +Mrs. Kelsey was favorably impressed with this idea, and after +changing her dusty dress and drinking a cup of tea she started for +the hotel. J.C. was sitting near the window, watching anxiously for +a glimpse of Maude when his visitor was announced. Seating herself +directly opposite him, Mrs. Kelsey inquired after his headache, and +then asked how he had passed the day. + +"Oh, in lounging, generally," he answered, while she continued, +"Hannah says you spent the morning there, and also a part of the +afternoon. Was my brother at home?" + +"He was not. I went to see Maude," J.C. replied somewhat stiffly, +for he began to see the drift of her remarks. + +Mrs. Kelsey hesitated a moment, and then proceeded to say that "J.C. +ought not to pay Miss Remington much attention, as she was very +susceptible and might fancy him in earnest." + +"And suppose she does?" said J.C., determining to brave the worst. +"Suppose she does?" + +Mrs. Kelsey was very uncomfortable, and coughing a little she +replied, "It is wrong to raise hopes which cannot be realized, for +of course you have never entertained a serious thought of a low +country girl like Maude Remington." + +There had been a time when a remark like this from the fashionable +Mrs. Kelsey would have banished any girl from J.C.'s mind, for he +was rather dependent on the opinion of others, but it made no +difference now, and, warming up in Maude's defense, he replied, "I +assure you, madam, I have entertained serious thoughts toward Miss +Remington, and have this day asked her to be my wife." + +"Your wife!" almost screamed the high-bred Mrs. Kelsey. "What will +your city friends--What will Nellie say?" + +"Confound them all, I don't care what they, say," and J.C. drove his +knife-blade into the pine table, while he gave his reasons for +having chosen Maude in preference to Nellie, or anyone else he had +ever seen. "There's something to her," said he, "and with her for my +wife I shall make a decent man. What would Nellie and I do together- +-when neither of us know anything--about business, I mean," he +added, while Mrs. Kelsey rejoined, "I always intended that you would +live with me, and I had that handsome suite of rooms arranged +expressly for Nellie and her future husband. I have no children, and +my niece will inherit my property." + +This, under some circumstances, would have strongly tempted the +young man; nay, it might perchance have tempted him then, had not +the deep tones of the organ at that moment have reached his ear. It +was the night when Maude usually rehearsed for the coming Sabbath, +and soon after her interview with her sister she had gone to the +church where she sought to soothe her ruffled spirits by playing a +most plaintive air. The music was singularly soft and sweet, and the +heart of J.C. De Vere trembled to the sound, for he knew it was +Maude who played--Maude, who out-weighed the tempting bait which +Mrs. Kelsey offered, and with a magnanimity quite astonishing to +himself he answered, "Poverty with Maude, rather than riches with +another!" + +"Be it so, then," was Mrs. Kelsey's curt reply, "but when in the +city you blush at your bride's awkwardness don't expect me to lend a +helping hand, for Maude Remington cannot by me be recognized as an +equal," and the proud lady swept from the room, wearing a deeply +injured look, as if she herself had been refused instead of her +niece. + +"Let me off easier than I supposed," muttered J.C., as he watched +her cross the street and enter Dr. Kennedy's gate. "It will be +mighty mean, though, if she does array herself against my wife, for +Madam Kelsey is quoted everywhere, and even Mrs. Lane, who lives +just opposite, dare not open her parlor blinds until assured by +ocular demonstration that Mrs. Kelsey's are open too. Oh, fashion, +fashion, what fools you make of your votaries! I am glad that I for +one dare break your chain and marry whom I please," and feeling more +amiably disposed toward J.C. De Vere than he had felt for many a +day, the young man started for the church, where to his great joy he +found Maude alone. + +She was not surprised to see him, nay, she was half expecting him, +and the flush which deepened on her cheek as he came to her side +showed that his presence was not unwelcome. Human nature is the same +everywhere, and though Maude was perhaps as free from its weaknesses +as almost anyone, the fact that her lover was so greatly coveted by +others increased rather than diminished her regard for him, and when +he told her what had passed between himself and Mrs. Kelsey, and +urged her to give him a right to defend her against that haughty +woman's attacks by engaging herself to him at once, she was more +willing to tell him Yes than she had been in the morning. Thoughts +of James De Vere did not trouble her now--he had ceased to remember +her ere this--had never been more interested in her than in any +ordinary acquaintance, and so, though she knew she could be happier +with him than with the one who with his arm around her waist was +pleading for her love, she yielded at last, and in that dim old +church, with the summer moonlight stealing up the dusky aisles, she +promised to be the wife of J.C. De Vere on her eighteenth birthday. + +Very pleasant now it seemed sitting there alone with him in the +silent church. Very pleasant walking with him down the quiet street, +and when her chamber was reached, and Louis, to whom she told her +story, whispered in her ear, "I am glad that is so," she thought it +very nice to be engaged, and was conscious of a happier, more +independent feeling than she had ever known before. It seemed so +strange that she, an unpretending country girl, had won the heart +that many a city maiden had tried in vain to win, and then with a +pang she thought of Nellie, wondering what excuse she could render +her for having stolen J.C. away. + +"But he will stand between us," she said; "he will shield me from +her anger," and grateful for so potent a protector, she fell asleep, +dreaming alas, not of J.C., but of him who called her Cousin Maude, +and whose cousin she really was to be. + +J.C. De Vere, too, had dreams of a dark-eyed girl, who, in the +shadowy church, with the music she had made still vibrating on the +ear, had promised to be his. Dreams, too, he had of a giddy throng +who scoffed at the dark-eyed girl, calling her by the name which he +himself had given her. It was not meet, they said, that he should +wed the "Milkman's Heiress," but with a nobleness of soul unusual in +him, he paid no heed to their remarks, and folded the closer to his +heart the bride which he had chosen. + +Alas! that dreams so often prove untrue. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE ENGAGEMENT, REAL AND PROSPECTIVE. + + +To her niece Mrs. Kelsey had communicated the result of her +interview with J.C., and that young lady had fallen into a violent +passion, which merged itself at last into a flood of tears, and +ended finally in strong hysterics. While in this latter condition +Mrs. Kelsey deemed it necessary to summon her brother, to whom she +narrated the circumstances of Nellie's illness. To say that the +doctor was angry would but feebly express the nature of his +feelings. He had fully expected that Nellie would be taken off his +hands, and he had latterly a very good reason for wishing that it +might be so. + +Grown-up daughters, he knew, were apt to look askance at +stepmothers, and if he should wish to bring another there he would +rather that Nellie should be out of the way. So he railed at the +innocent Maude, and after exhausting all the maxims which would at +all apply to that occasion, he suggested sending for Mr. De Vere and +demanding an explanation. But this Mrs. Kelsey would not suffer. + +"It will do no good," she said, "and may make the matter worse by +hastening the marriage. I shall return home to-morrow, and if you do +not object shall take your daughter with me, to stay at least six +months, as she needs a change of scene. I can, if necessary, +intimate to my friends that she has refused J.C., who, in a fit of +pique, has offered himself to Maude, and that will save Nellie from +all embarrassment. He will soon tire of his new choice, and then--" + +"I won't have him if he does," gasped Nellie, interrupting her aunt- +-"I won't have anybody who has first proposed to Maude. I wish she'd +never come here, and if pa hadn't brought that woman--" + +"Helen!" and the doctor's voice was very stern, for time had not +erased from his heart all love for the blue-eyed Matty, the gentle +mother of the offending Maude, and more than all, the mother of his +boy--"Helen, that woman was my wife, and you must not speak +disrespectfully of her." + +Nellie answered by a fresh burst of tears, for her own conscience +smote her for having spoken thus lightly of one who had ever been +kind to her. + +After a moment Mrs. Kelsey resumed the conversation by suggesting +that, as the matter could not now be helped, they had better say +nothing, but go off on the morrow as quietly as possible, leaving +J.C. to awake from his hallucination, which she was sure he would do +soon, and follow them to the city. This arrangement seemed wholly +satisfactory to all parties, and though Nellie declared she'd never +again speak to Jed De Vere, she dried her tears, and retiring to +rest, slept quite as soundly as she had ever done in her life. + +The next morning when Maude as usual went down to superintend the +breakfast, she was surprised to hear from Hannah that Mrs. Kelsey +was going that day to Rochester, and that Nellie was to accompany +her. + +"Nobody can 'cuse me," said Hannah, "of not 'fillin' Scriptur' +oncet, whar it says `them as has ears to hear, let 'em hear,' for I +did hear 'em a-talkin' last night of you and Mr. De Vere, and I tell +you they're ravin' mad to think you'd cotched him; but I'm glad +on't. You desarves him, if anybody. I suppose that t'other chap aint +none of your marryin' sort," and unconscious of the twinge her last +words had inflicted Hannah carried the coffee-urn to the dining +room, followed by Maude, who was greeted with dark faces and +frowning looks. + +Scarcely a word was spoken during breakfast, and when after it was +over Maude offered to assist Nellie in packing her trunks, the +latter answered decisively, "You've done enough, I think." + +A few moments afterward J.C.'s voice was heard upon the stairs. He +had come over to see the "lioness and her cub," as he styled Mrs. +Kelsey and her niece, whose coolness was amply atoned for by the +bright, joyous glance of Maude, to whom he whispered softly, "Won't +we have glorious times when they are gone!" + +Their projected departure pleased him greatly, and he was so very +polite and attentive that Nellie relented a little, and asked how +long he intended remaining at Laurel Hill, while even Mrs. Kelsey +gave him her hand at parting, and said, "Whenever you recover from +your unaccountable fancy I shall be glad to see you." + +"You'll wait some time, if you wait for that," muttered J.C., as he +returned to the house in quest of Maude, with whom he had a long and +most delightful interview, for old Hannah, in unusually, good +spirits, expressed her willingness to see to everything, saying to +her young mistress, "You go along now and court a spell. I reckon I +haint done forgot how I and Crockett sot on the fence in old +Virginny and heard the bobolinks a-singin'." + +Old Hannah was waxing sentimental, and with a heightened bloom upon +her cheeks Maude left her to her memories of Crockett and the +bobolinks, while she went back to her lover. J.C. was well skilled +in the little, delicate acts which tend to win and keep a woman's +heart, and in listening to his protestations of love Maude forgot +all else, and abandoned herself to the belief that she was perfectly +happy. Only once did her pulses quicken as they would not have done +had her chosen husband been all that she could wish, and that was +when he said to her, "I wrote to James last night, telling him of my +engagement. He will congratulate me, I know, for he was greatly +pleased with you." + +Much did Maude wonder what James would say, and it was not long ere +her curiosity was gratified; for scarcely four days were passed when +J.C. brought to her an unsealed note, directed to "Cousin Maude." + +"I have heard from Jim," he said, "and he is the best fellow in the +world. Hear what he says of you," and from his own letter he read, +"I do congratulate you upon your choice. Maude Remington is a noble +creature--so beautiful, so refined, and withal so pure and good. +Cherish her, my cousin, as she ought to be cherished, and bring her +some time to my home, which will never boast so fair a mistress." + +"I'm so glad he's pleased," said J.C. "I would rather have his +approval than that of the whole world. But what! Crying, I do +believe!" and turning Maude's face to the light he continued, "Yes, +there are tears on your eyelashes. What is the matter?" + +"Nothing, nothing," answered Maude, "only I am so glad your +relatives like me." + +J.C. was easily deceived, so was Maude--and mutually believing that +nothing was the matter, J.C. drummed on the piano, while Maude tore +open the note which James had written to her. It seemed so strange +to think he wrote it, and Maude trembled violently, while the little +red spots came out all over her neck and face as she glanced at the +words, "My dear Cousin Maude." + +It was a kind, affectionate note, and told how the writer would +welcome and love her as his cousin, while at the same time it chided +her for not having answered the letter sent some weeks before. +"Perhaps you did not deem it worthy of an answer," he wrote, "but I +was sadly disappointed in receiving none, and now that you are +really to be my cousin I shall expect you to do better, and treat me +as if I had an existence. J.C. must not monopolize you wholly, for I +shall claim a share of you for myself." + +Poor, poor Maude! She did not feel the summer air upon her brow--did +not hear the discordant notes which J.C. made upon the piano, for +her whole soul was centered on the words, "sadly disappointed," +"love you as my cousin," and "claim a share of you for myself." + +Only for a moment, though, and then recovering her composure she +said aloud, "What does he mean? I never received a note." + +"I know it, I know it," hastily spoke J.C., and coming to her side +he handed her the soiled missive, saying, "It came a long time ago, +and was mislaid among my papers, until this letter recalled it to my +mind. There is nothing in it of any consequence, I dare say, and had +it not been sealed I might, perhaps, have read it, for as the doctor +says, `It's a maxim of mine that a wife should have no secrets from +her husband,' hey, Maude?" and he caressed her burning cheek, as she +read the note which, had it been earlier received, might have +changed her whole after life. + +And still it was not one-half as affectionate in its tone as was the +last, for it began with, "Cousin Maude" and ended with "Yours +respectfully," but she knew he had been true to his promise, and +without a suspicion that J.C. had deceived her she placed the +letters in her pocket, to be read again when she was alone, and +could measure every word and sentiment. + +That afternoon when she went to her chamber to make some changes in +her dress she found herself standing before the mirror much longer +than usual, examining minutely the face which James De Vere had +called beautiful. + +"He thought so, or he would not have said it; but it is false," she +whispered; "even J.C. never called me handsome;" and taking out the +note that day received, she read it again, wondering why the name +"Cousin Maude" did not sound as pleasantly as when she first heard +it. + +That night as she sat with Louis in her room she showed the letters +to him, at the same time explaining the reason why one of them was +not received before. + +"Oh, I am so glad," said Louis, as he finished reading them, "for +now I know that James De Vere don't like you." + +"Don't like me, Louis!" and in Maude's voice there was a world of +sadness. + +"I mean," returned Louis, "that he don't love you for anything but a +cousin. I like J.C. very, very much, and I am glad you are to be his +wife; but I've sometimes thought that if you had waited the other +one would have spoken, for I was almost sure he loved you, but he +don't, I know; he couldn't be so pleased with your engagement, nor +write you so affectionately if he really cared." + +Maude hardly knew whether she were pleased or not with Louis' +reasoning. It was true, though, she said, and inasmuch as James did +not care for her, and she did not care for James, she was very glad +she was engaged to J.C.! And with reassured confidence in herself +she sat down and wrote an answer to that note, a frank, impulsive, +Maude-like answer, which, nevertheless, would convey to James De +Vere no idea how large a share of that young girl's thoughts were +given to himself. + +The next day there came to Maude a letter bearing the Canada +postmark, together with the unmistakable handwriting of Janet +Hopkins. Maude had not heard of her for some time, and very eagerly +she read the letter, laughing immoderately, and giving vent to +sudden exclamations of astonishment at its surprising intelligence. +Janet was a mother!--"a livin' mother to a child born out of due +season," so the delighted creature wrote, "and what was better than +all, it was a girl, and the Sunday before was baptized as Maude +Matilda Remington Blodgett Hopkins, there being no reason," she +said, "why she shouldn't give her child as many names as the Queen +of England hitched on to hers, beside that it was not at all likely +that she would ever have another, and so she had improved this +opportunity, and named her daughter in honor of Maude, Matty, Harry, +and her first husband Joel. But," she wrote, "I don't know what +you'll say when I tell you that my old man and some others have made +me believe that seein' I've an heir of my own flesh and blood, I +ought to change that will of mine, so I've made another, and if +Maude Matilda dies you'll have it yet. T'other five thousand is +yours, anyway, and if I didn't love the little wudget as I do, I +wouldn't have changed my will; but natur' is natur'." + +Scarcely had Maude finished reading this letter when J.C. came in, +and she handed it to him. He did not seem surprised, for he had +always regarded the will as a doubtful matter; but in reality he was +a little chagrined, for five thousand was only half as much as ten. +Still his love for Maude was, as yet, stronger than his love for +money, and he only laughed heartily at the string of names which +Janet had given to her offspring, saying, "It was a pity it hadn't +been a boy, so she could have called him Jedediah Cleishbotham." + +"He does not care for my money," Maude thought, and her heart went +out toward him more lovingly than it had ever done before, and her +dark eyes filled with tears when he told her, as he ere long did, +that he must leave the next day, and return to Rochester. + +"The little property left me by my mother needs attention, so my +agent writes me," he said, "and now the will has gone up, and we are +poorer than we were before by five thousand dollars, it is necessary +that I should bestir myself, you know." Maude could not tell why it +was that his words affected her unpleasantly, for she knew he was +not rich, and she felt that she should respect him more if he really +did bestir himself, but still she did not like his manner when +speaking of the will, and her heart was heavy all the day. He, on +the contrary, was in unusually good spirits. He was not tired of +Maude, but he was tired of the monotonous life at Laurel Hill, and +when his agent's summons came it found him ready to go. That for +which he had visited Laurel Hill had in reality been accomplished. +He had secured a wife, not Nellie, but Maude, and determining to do +everything honorable, he on the morning of his departure went to the +doctor, to whom he talked of Maude, expressing his wish to marry +her. Very coldly the doctor answered that "Maude could marry whom +she pleased. It was a maxim of his never to interfere with matches," +and then, as if the subject were suggestive, he questioned the young +man to know if in his travels he had ever met the lady Maude +Glendower. J.C. had met her frequently at Saratoga. + +"She was a splendid creature," he said, and he asked if the doctor +knew her. + +"I saw her as a child of seventeen, and again as a woman of twenty- +five. She is forty now," was the doctor's answer, as he walked away, +wondering if the Maude Glendower of to-day were greatly changed from +the Maude of fifteen years ago. + +To J.C.'s active mind a new idea was presented, and seeking out the +other Maude--his Maude--he told her of his suspicion. There was a +momentary pang, a thought of the willow-shaded grave where Kate and +Matty slept, and then Maude Remington calmly questioned J.C. of +Maude Glendower--who she was, and where did she live? + +J.C. knew but little of the lady, but what little he knew he told. +She was of both English and Spanish descent. Her friends, he +believed, were nearly all dead, and she was alone in the world. +Though forty years of age, she was well preserved, and called a +wondrous beauty. She was a belle--a flirt--a spinster, and was +living at present in Troy. + +"She'll never marry the doctor," said Maude, laughing, as she +thought of an elegant woman leaving the world of fashion to be +mistress of that house. + +Still the idea followed her, and when at last J.C. had bidden her +adieu, and gone to his city home, she frequently found herself +thinking of the beautiful Maude Glendower, whose name, it seemed to +her, she had heard before, though when or where she could not tell. +A strange interest was awakened in her bosom for the unknown lady, +and she often wondered if they would ever meet. The doctor thought +of her, too--thought of her often, and thought of her long, and as +his feelings toward her changed, so did his manner soften toward the +dark-haired girl who bore her name, and who he began at last to +fancy resembled her in more points than one. Maude was ceasing to be +an object of perfect indifference to him. She was an engaged young +lady, and as such, entitled to more respect than he was wont to pay +her, and as the days wore on he began to have serious thoughts of +making her his confidant and counselor in a matter which he would +never have intrusted to Nellie. + +Accordingly, one afternoon when he found her sitting upon the +piazza, he said, first casting an anxious glance around to make sure +no one heard him: "Maude, I wish to see you alone a while." + +Wonderingly Maude followed him into the parlor, where her +astonishment was in no wise diminished by his shutting the blinds, +dropping the curtains, and locking the door! Maude began to tremble, +and when he drew his chair close to her side, she started up, +alarmed. "Sit down--sit down," he whispered; "I want to tell you +something, which you must never mention in the world. You certainly +have some sense, or I should not trust you. Maude, I am going--that +is, I have every reason to believe--or rather, I should say perhaps- +-well, anyway, there is a prospect of my being married." + +"Married!--to whom?" asked Maude. + +"You are certain you'll never tell, and that there's no one in the +hall," said the doctor, going on tip-toe to the door, and assuring +himself there was no one there. Then returning to his seat, he told +her a strange story of a marvellously beautiful young girl, with +Spanish fire in her lustrous eyes, and a satin gloss on her blue- +black curls. + +Her name was Maude Glendower, and years ago she won his love, +leading him on and on until at last he paid her the highest honor a +man can pay a woman--he offered her his heart, his hand, his name. +But she refused him--scornfully, contemptuously, refused him, and he +learned afterward that she had encouraged him for the sake of +bringing another man to terms!--and that man, whose name the doctor +never knew, was a college student not yet twenty-one. + +"I hated her then," said he, "hated this Maude Glendower, for her +deception; but I could not forget her, and after Katy died I sought +her again. She was the star of Saratoga, and no match for me. This I +had sense enough to see, so I left her in her glory, and three years +after married your departed mother. Maude Glendower has never +married, and at the age of forty has come to her senses, and +signified her willingness to become my wife--or, that is to say, I +have been informed by my sister that she probably would not refuse +me a second time. Now, Maude Remington, I have told you this because +I must talk with someone, and as I before remarked, you are a girl +of sense, and will keep the secret. It is a maxim of mine, when +anything is to be done, to do it; so I shall visit Miss Glendower +immediately, and if I like her well enough I shall marry her at +once. Not while I am gone, of course, but very soon. I shall start +for Troy one week from to-day, and I wish you would attend a little +to my wardrobe; it's in a most lamentable condition. My shirts are +all worn out, my coat is rusty, and last Sunday I discovered a hole +in my pantaloons--" + +"Dr. Kennedy," exclaimed Maude, interrupting him," you surely do not +intend to present yourself before the fastidious Miss Glendower with +those old shabby clothes. She would say No sooner than she did +before. You must have an entire new suit. You can afford it, too, +for you have not had one since mother died." + +Dr. Kennedy was never in a condition to be so easily coaxed as now. +Maude Glendower had a place in his heart, which no other woman bad +ever held, and that very afternoon the village merchant was +astonished at the penurious doctor's inquiring the prices of the +finest broadcloth in his store. It seemed a great deal of money to +pay, but Maude Remington at his elbow and Maude Glendower in his +mind conquered at last, and the new suit was bought, including vest, +hat, boots, and all. There is something in handsome clothes very +satisfactory to most people, and the doctor, when arrayed in his, +was conscious of a feeling of pride quite unusual to him. On one +point, however, he was obstinate, "he would not spoil them by +wearing them on the road, when he could just as well dress at the +hotel." + +So Maude, between whom and himself there was for the time being +quite an amicable understanding, packed them in his trunk, while +Hannah and Louis looked on wondering what it could mean. + +"The Millennial is comin', or else he's goin' a-courtin'," said +Hannah, and satisfied that she was right she went back to the +kitchen, while Louis, catching at once at her idea, began to cry, +and laying his head on his sister's lap begged of her to tell him if +what Hannah had said were true. + +To him it seemed like trampling on the little grave beneath the +willows, and it required all Maude's powers of persuasion to dry his +tears and soothe the pain which every child must feel when first +they know that the lost mother, whose memory they so fondly cherish, +is to be succeeded by another. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +MAUDE GLENDOWER. + + +She was a most magnificent looking woman, as she sat within her +richly furnished room on that warm September night, now gazing idly +dawn the street and again bending her head to catch the first sound +of footsteps on the stairs. Personal preservation had been the great +study of her life, and forty years had not dimmed the luster of her +soft, black eyes, or woven one thread of silver among the luxuriant +curls which clustered in such profusion around her face and neck. +Gray hairs and Maude Glendower had nothing in common, and the fair, +round cheek, the pearly teeth, the youthful bloom, and white, +uncovered shoulders seemed to indicate that time had made an +exception in her favor, and dropped her from its wheel. + +With a portion of her history the reader is already acquainted. +Early orphaned, she was thrown upon the care of an old aunt who, +proud of her wondrous beauty, spared no pains to make her what +nature seemed to will that she should be, a coquette and a belle. At +seventeen we find her a schoolgirl in New Haven, where she turned +the heads of all the college boys, and then murmured because one, a +dark-eyed youth of twenty, withheld from her the homage she claimed +as her just due. In a fit of pique she besieged a staid, handsome +young M.D. of twenty-seven, who had just commenced to practice in +the city, and who, proudly keeping himself aloof from the college +students, knew nothing of the youth she so much fancied. Perfectly +intoxicated with her beauty, he offered her his hand, and was +repulsed. Overwhelmed with disappointment and chagrin, he then left +the city, and located himself at Laurel Hill, where now we find him +the selfish, overbearing Dr. Kennedy. + +But in after years Maude Glendower was punished for that act. The +dark-haired student she so much loved was wedded to another, and +with a festering wound within her heart she plunged at once into the +giddy world of fashion, slaying her victims by scores, and exulting +as each new trophy of her power was laid at her feet. She had no +heart, the people said, and with a mocking laugh she thought of the +quiet grave 'mid the New England hills, where, one moonlight night +two weeks after that grave was made, she had wept such tears as were +never wept by her again. Maude Glendower had loved, but loved in +vain; and now, at the age of forty, she was unmarried and alone in +the wide world. The aunt, who had been to her a mother, had died a +few months before, and as her annuity ceased with her death Maude +was almost wholly destitute. The limited means she possessed would +only suffice to pay her, board for a short time, and in this dilemma +she thought of her old lover, and wondered if he could again be won. +He was rich, she had always heard, and as his wife she could still +enjoy the luxuries to which she had been accustomed. She knew his +sister,--they had met in the salons of Saratoga,--and though it hurt +her pride to do it, she at last signified her willingness to be +again addressed. + +It was many weeks ere Dr. Kennedy conquered wholly his olden grudge, +but conquered it he had, and she sat expecting him on the night when +first we introduced her to our readers. He had arrived in Troy on +the western train, and written her a note announcing his intention +to visit her that evening. For this visit Maude Glendower had +arrayed herself with care, wearing a rich silk dress of crimson and +black--colors well adapted to her complexion. + +"He saw me at twenty-five. He shall not think me greatly changed +since then," she said, as over her bare neck and arms she threw an +exquisitely wrought mantilla of lace. + +The Glendower family had once been very wealthy, and the last +daughter of the haughty race glittered with diamonds which had come +to her from her great-grandmother, and had been but recently reset. +And there she sat, beautiful Maude Glendower--the votary of fashion- +-the woman of the world--sat waiting for the cold, hard, overbearing +man who thought to make her his wife. A ring at the door, a heavy +tread upon the winding stairs, and the lady rests her head upon her +hand, so that her glossy curls fall over, but do not conceal her +white, rounded arm, where the diamonds are shining. + +"I could easily mistake him for my father," she thought, as a gray- +haired man stepped into the room, where he paused an instant, +bewildered with the glare of light and the display of pictures, +mirrors, tapestry, rosewood, and marble, which met his view. + +Mrs. Berkley, Maude Glendower's aunt, had stinted herself to gratify +her niece's whims, and their surroundings had always been of the +most expensive kind, so it was not strange that Dr. Kennedy, +accustomed only to ingrain carpet and muslin curtains, was dazzled +by so much elegance. With a well-feigned start the lady arose to her +feet, and going to his side offered him her hand, saying, "You are +Dr. Kennedy, I am sure. I should have known you anywhere, for you +are but little changed." + +She meant to flatter his self-love, though, thanks to Maude +Remington for having insisted upon the broadcloth suit, he looked +remarkably well. + +"She had not changed at all," he said, and the admiring gaze he +fixed upon her argued well for her success. It becomes us not to +tell how that strange wooing sped. Suffice it to say that at the +expiration of an hour Maude Glendower had promised to be the wife of +Dr. Kennedy when another spring should come. She had humbled herself +to say that she regretted her girlish freak, and he had so far +unbent his dignity as to say that he could not understand why she +should be willing to leave the luxuries which surrounded her and go +with him, a plain, old-fashioned man. Maude Glendower scorned to +make him think that it was love which actuated her, and she replied, +"Now that my aunt is dead, I have no natural protector. I am alone +and want a home." + +"But mine is so different," he said. "There are no silk curtains +there, no carpets such as this--" + +"Is Maude Remington there?" the lady asked, and in her large black +eyes there was a dewy tenderness, as she pronounced that name. + +"Maude Remington!--yes," the doctor answered." Where did you hear of +her? My sister told you, I suppose. Yes, Maude is there. She has +lived with me ever since her mother died. You would have liked +Matty, I think," and the doctor felt a glow of satisfaction in +having thus paid a tribute to the memory of his wife. + +"Is Maude like her mother?" the lady asked; a glow upon her cheek, +and the expression of her face evincing the interest she felt in the +answer. + +"Not at all," returned the doctor. "Matty was blue-eyed and fair, +while Maude is dark, and resembles her father, they say." + +The white jeweled hands were clasped together, for a moment, and +then Maude Glendower questioned him of the other one, Matty's child +and his. Very tenderly the doctor talked of his unfortunate boy, +telling of his soft brown hair, his angel face, and dreamy eyes. + +"He is like Matty," the lady said, more to herself than her +companion, who proceeded to speak of Nellie as a paragon of +loveliness and virtue. "I shan't like her, I know," the lady +thought, "but the other two," how her heart bounded at the thoughts +of folding them to her bosom. + +Louis Kennedy, weeping that his mother was forgotten, had nothing to +fear from Maude Glendower, for a child of Matty Remington was a +sacred trust to her, and when as the doctor bade her good-night he +said again, "You will find a great contrast between your home and +mine," she answered, "I shall be contented if Maude and Louis are +there." + +"And Nellie, too," the doctor added, unwilling that she should be +overlooked. + +"Yes, Nellie too," the lady answered, the expression of her mouth +indicating that Nellie too was an object of indifference to her. + +The doctor is gone, his object is accomplished, and at the Mansion +House near by he sleeps quietly and well. But the lady, Maude +Glendower, oh, who shall tell what bitter tears she wept, or how in +her in-most soul she shrank from the man she had chosen. And yet +there was nothing repulsive in him, she knew. He was fine-looking,-- +he stood well in the world,--he was rich while she was poor. But not +for this alone had she promised to be his wife. To hold Maude +Remington within her arms, to look into her eyes, to call his +daughter child, this was the strongest reason of them all. And was +it strange that when at last she slept she was a girl again, looking +across the college green to catch a glimpse of one whose +indifference had made her what she was, a selfish, scheming, cold- +hearted woman. + +There was another interview next morning, and then the doctor left +her, but not until with her soft hand in his, and her shining eyes +upon his face, she said to him, "You think your home is not a +desirable one for me. Can't you fix it up a little? Are there two +parlors, and do the windows come to the floor? I hope your carriage +horses are in good condition, for I am very fond of driving. Have +you a flower garden? I anticipate much pleasure in working among the +plants. Oh, it will be so cool and nice in the country. You have an +ice-house, of course." + +Poor doctor! Double parlors, low windows, ice-house, and flower +garden he had none, while the old carryall had long since ceased to +do its duty, and its place was supplied by an open buggy, drawn by a +sorrel nag. But Maude Glendower could do with him what Katy and +Matty could not have done, and after his return to Laurel Hill he +was more than once closeted with Maude, to whom he confided his plan +of improving the place, asking her if she thought the profits of +next year's crop of wheat and wool would meet the whole expense. +Maude guessed at random that it would, and as money in prospect +seems not quite so valuable as money in hand, the doctor finally +concluded to follow out Maude Glendower's suggestions, and greatly +to the surprise of the neighbors, the repairing process commenced. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +HOW THE ENGAGEMENTS PROSPERED. + + +The October sun had painted the forest trees with the gorgeous tints +of autumn and the November winds had changed them to a more sober +hue ere J.C. De Vere came again to Laurel Hill. Very regularly he +wrote to Maude--kind, loving letters, which helped to cheer her +solitary life. Nellie still remained with Mrs. Kelsey, and though +she had so far forgiven her stepsister as to write to her +occasionally, she still cherished toward her a feeling of animosity +for having stolen away her lover. + +On his return to Rochester J.C. De Vere had fully expected that his +engagement would be the theme of every tongue, and he had prepared +himself for the attack. How, then, was he surprised to find that no +one had the least suspicion of it, though many joked him for having +quarreled with Nellie as they were sure he had done, by his not +returning when she did. + +Mrs. Kelsey had changed her mind and resolved to say nothing of an +affair which she was sure would never prove to be serious, and the +result showed the wisdom of her proceeding. No one spoke of Maude to +J.C., for no one knew of her existence, and both Mrs. Kelsey, and +Nellie, whom he frequently met, scrupulously refrained from +mentioning her name. At first he felt annoyed, and more than once +was tempted to tell of his engagement, but as time wore on and he +became more and more interested in city gayeties, he thought less +frequently of the dark-eyed Maude, who, with fewer sources of +amusement, was each day thinking more and more of him. Still, he was +sure he loved her, and one morning near the middle of November, when +he received a letter from her saying, "I am sometimes very lonely, +and wish that you were here," he started up with his usual +impetuosity, and ere he was fully aware of his own intentions he +found himself ticketed for Canandaigua, and the next morning Louis +Kennedy, looking from his window and watching the daily stage as it +came slowly up the hill, screamed out, "He's come--he's come!" + +A few moments more and Maude was clasped in J.C.'s arms. Kissing her +forehead, her cheek, and her lips, he held her off and looked to see +if she had changed. She had, and he knew it. Happiness and +contentment are more certain beautifiers than the most powerful +cosmetics, and under the combined effects of both Maude was greatly +improved. She was happy in her engagement, happy in the increased +respect it brought her from her friends, and happy, too, in the +unusual kindness, of her stepfather. All this was manifest in her +face, and for the first time in his life J.C. told her she was +beautiful. + +"If you only had more manner, and your clothes were fashionably +made, you would far excel the city girls," he said, a compliment +which to Maude seemed rather equivocal. + +When he was there before he had not presumed to criticise her style +of dress, but he did so now, quoting the city belles until, half in +earnest, half in ,jest, Maude said to him, "If you think so much of +fashion, you ought not to marry a country girl." + +"Pshaw!" returned J.C. "I like you all the better for dressing as +you please, and still I wish you could acquire a little city polish, +for I don't care to have my wife the subject of remark. If Maude +Glendower comes in the spring, you can learn a great deal of her +before the 20th of June." + +Maude colored deeply, thinking for the first time in her life that +possibly J.C. might be ashamed of her, but his affectionate caresses +soon drove all unpleasant impressions from her mind, and the three +days that he stayed with her passed rapidly away. He did not mention +the will, but he questioned her of the five thousand which was to be +hers on her eighteenth birthday, and vaguely, hinted that he might +need it to set himself up in business. He had made no arrangements +for the future, he said, there was time enough in the spring, and +promising to be with her again during the holidays, he left her +quite uncertain as to whether she were glad he had visited her or +not. + +The next; day she was greatly comforted by a long letter from James, +who wrote occasionally, evincing so much interest in "Cousin Maude" +that he always succeeded in making her cry, though why she could not +tell, for his letters gave her more real satisfaction than did those +of J.C., fraught as the latter were with protestations of constancy +and love. Slowly dragged the weeks, and the holidays were at hand, +when she received a message from J.C., saying he could not possibly +come as he had promised. No reason was given for this change in his +plan, and with a sigh of disappointment Maude turned to a letter +from Nellie, received by the same mail. After dwelling at length +upon the delightful time she was having in the city, Nellie spoke of +a fancy ball to be given by her aunt during Christmas week. Mr. De +Vere was to be "Ivanhoe," she said, and she to be "Rowena." + +"You don't know," she wrote," how interested J.C. is in the party. +He really begins to appear more as he used to do. He has not +forgotten you, though, for he said the other day you would make a +splendid Rebecca. It takes a dark person for that, I believe!" + +Maude knew the reason now why J.C. could not possibly come, and the +week she had, anticipated so much seemed dreary, enough, +notwithstanding it was enlivened by a box of oranges and figs from +her betrothed, and a long, affectionate letter from James De Vere, +who spoke of the next Christmas, saying he meant she should spend it +at Hampton. + +"You will really be my cousin then," he wrote, "and I intend +inviting yourself and husband to pass the holidays with us. I want +my mother to know you, Maude. She will like you, I am sure, for she +always thinks as I do." + +This letter was far more pleasing to Maude's taste than were the +oranges and figs, and: Louis was suffered to monopolize the latter-- +a privilege which he appreciated, as children usually do. After the +holidays J.C. paid a flying visit to Laurel Hill, where his presence +caused quite as much pain as pleasure, so anxious he seemed to +return. Rochester could not well exist without him, one would +suppose, from hearing him talk of the rides he planned, the surprise +parties he man--aged, and the private theatricals of which he was +the leader. + +"Do they pay you well for your services?" Louis asked him once, when +wearying of the same old story. + +J.C. understood the hit, and during the remainder of his stay was +far less egotistical than he would otherwise have been. After his +departure there ensued an interval of quiet, which, as spring +approached, was broken by the doctor's resuming the work of repairs, +which had been suspended during the coldest weather. The partition +between the parlor and the large square bedroom was removed; +folding-doors were made between; the windows were cut down; a carpet +was bought to match the one which Maude had purchased the summer +before; and then, when all was done, the doctor was seized with a +fit of the blues, because it had cost so much. But he could afford +to be extravagant for a wife like Maude Glendower, and trusting much +to the wheat crop and the wool, he started for Troy about the middle +of March, fully expecting to receive from the lady a decisive answer +as to when she would make them both perfectly happy! + +With a most winning smile upon her lip and a bewitching glance in +her black eyes, Maude Glendower took his hand in hers and begged for +a little longer freedom. + +"Wait till next fall," she said; "I must go to Saratoga one more +summer. I shall never be happy if I don't, and you, I dare say, +wouldn't enjoy it a bit." + +The doctor was not so sure of that. Her eyes, her voice, and the +soft touch of her hand made him feel very queer; and he was almost +willing to go to Saratoga himself if by these means he could secure +her. + +"How much do they charge?" he asked; and, with a flash of her bright +eyes, the lady answered, "I suppose both of us can get along with +thirty or forty dollars a week, including everything; but that isn't +much, as I don't care to stay more than two months!" + +This decided the doctor. He had not three hundred dollars to throw +away, and so he tried to persuade his companion to give up Saratoga +and go with him to Laurel Hill, telling her, as an inducement, of +the improvements he had made. + +"There were two parlors now," he said, "and with her handsome +furniture they would look remarkably well." + +She did not tell him that her handsome furniture was mortgaged for +board and borrowed money--neither did she say that her object in +going to Saratoga was to try her powers upon a rich old Southern +bachelor who had returned from Europe, and who she knew was to pass +the coming summer at the Springs. If she could secure him Dr. +Kennedy might console himself as best he could, and she begged so +hard to defer their marriage until the autumn that the or gave up +the contest, and with a heavy heart prepared to turn his face +homeward. + +"You need not make any more repairs until I come; I'd rather see to +them myself," Miss Glendower said at parting; and wondering what +further improvements she could possibly suggest, now that the parlor +windows were all right, the doctor bade her adieu, and started for +home. + +Hitherto Maude had been his confidant, keeping her trust so well +that no one at Laurel Hill knew, exactly what his intentions were, +and, as was very, natural, immediately after his return he went to +her for sympathy in his disappointment. He found her weeping +bitterly, and ere he could lay before her his own grievances she +appealed to him for sympathy and aid. The man to whom her money was +intrusted had speculated largely, loaning some of it out West, at +twenty per cent., investing some in doubtful railroad stocks, and +experimenting with the rest, until by some unlucky chance he lost +the whole, and, worse than all, had nothing of his own with which to +make amends. In short, Maude was penniless, and J.C. De Vere in +despair. She had written to him immediately, and he had come, +suggesting nothing, offering no advice, and saying nothing at first, +except that "the man was mighty mean, and he had never liked his +looks." + +After a little, however, he rallied somewhat, and offered the +consolatory remark that "they were in a mighty bad fix. I'll be +honest," said he, "and confess that I depended upon that money to +set me up in business. I was going to shave notes, and in order to +do so I must have some ready, capital. It cramps me," he continued, +"for, as a married man, my expenses will necessarily be more than +they now are." + +"We can defer our marriage," sobbed Maude, whose heart throbbed +painfully with every word he uttered. "We can defer our marriage a +while, and possibly a part of my fortune may be regained--or, if you +wish it, I will release you at once. You need not wed a penniless +bride," and Maude hid her face in her hands while she awaited the +answer to her suggestion. J.C. De Vere did love Maude Remington +better than anyone he had ever seen, and though he caught eagerly at +the marriage deferred, he was not then willing to give her up, and, +with one of his impetuous bursts, he exclaimed, "I will not be +released, though it may be wise to postpone our bridal day for a +time, say until Christmas next, when I hope to be established in +business," and, touched by the suffering expression of her white +face, he kissed her tears away and told her how gladly he would work +for her, painting "love in a cottage," with nothing else there, +until he really made himself believe that he could live on bread and +water with Maude, provided she gave him the lion's share! + + J.C.'s great faults were selfishness, indolence, and love of money, +and Maude's loss affected him deeply; still, there was no redress, +and playfully bidding her "not to cry for the milkman's spilled +milk," he left her on the very day when Dr. Kennedy returned. Maude +knew J.C. was keenly disappointed; that he was hardly aware what he +was saying, and she wept for him rather than for the money. + +Dr. Kennedy could offer no advice--no comfort. It had always been a +maxim of his not to make that man her guardian; but women would do +everything wrong, and then, as if his own trials were paramount to +hers, he bored her with the story of his troubles, to which she +simply answered, "I am sorry;" and this was all the sympathy either +gained from the other! + +In the course of a few days Maude received a long letter from James +De Vere. He had heard from J.C. of his misfortune, and very tenderly +he strove to comfort her, touching at once upon the subject which he +naturally supposed lay heaviest upon her heart. The marriage need +not be postponed, he said; there was room in his house and a place +in his own and his mother's affections for their "Cousin Maude." She +could live there as well as not. Hampton was only half an hour's +ride from Rochester, and J. G., who had been admitted at the bar, +could open an office in the city until something better presented. + +"Perhaps I may set him up in business myself," he wrote. "At all +events, dear Maude, you need not dim the brightness of your eyes by +tears, for all will yet be well. Next June shall see you a bride, +unless your intended husband refuse my offer, in which case I may +divine something better." + +"Noble man," was Maude's exclamation, as she finished reading the +letter, and if at that moment the two cousins rose up in contrast +before her mind, who can blame her for awarding the preference to +him who had penned those lines, and who thus kindly strove to remove +from her pathway every obstacle to her happiness. + +James De Vere was indeed a noble-hearted man. Generous, kind, and +self-denying, he found his chief pleasure in doing others good, and +he had written both to Maude and J.C. just as the great kindness of +his heart had prompted him to write. He did not then know that he +loved Maude Remington, for he had never fully analyzed the nature of +his feelings toward her. He knew he admired her very much, and when +he wrote the note J.C. withheld he said to himself, "If she answers +this, I shall write again--and again, and maybe"--he did not exactly +know what lay beyond the "maybe," so he added, "we shall be very +good friends." + +But the note was not answered, and when his cousin's letter came, +telling him of the engagement, a sharp, quick pang shot through his +heart, eliciting from him a faint outcry, which caused his mother, +who was present, to ask what was the matter. + +"Only a sudden pain," he answered, laying his hand upon his side. + +"Pleurisy, perhaps," the practical mother rejoined, and supposing +she was right he placed the letter in his pocket and went out into +the open air. It had grown uncomfortably warm, he thought, while the +noise of the falling fountain in the garden made his head ache as it +had never ached before; and returning to the house he sought his +pleasant library. But not a volume in all those crowded shelves had +power to interest him then, and with a strange disquiet he wandered +from room to room, until at last, as the sun went down, he laid his +throbbing temples upon his pillow, and in his feverish dreams saw +again the dark-eyed Maude sitting on her mother's grave, her face +upturned to him, and on her lip the smile that formed her greatest +beauty. + +The next morning the headache was gone, and with a steady hand he +wrote to his cousin and Maude congratulations which he believed +sincere. That J.C. was not worthy of the maiden he greatly feared, +and he resolved to have a care of the young man, and try to make him +what Maude's husband ought to be, and when he heard of her +misfortune he stepped forward with his generous offer, which J.C. +instantly refused. + +"He never would take his wife to live upon his relatives, he had too +much pride for that, and the marriage must be deferred. A few months +would make no difference. Christmas was not far from June, and by +that time he could do something for himself." + +Thus he wrote to James, who mused long upon the words, "A few months +will make no difference," thinking within himself, "If I were like +other men, and was about to marry Maude, a few months would make a +good deal of difference, but everyone to their mind." Four weeks +after this he went one day to Canandaigua on business, and having an +hour's leisure ere the arrival of the train which would take him +home he sauntered into the public parlor of the hotel. Near the +window, at the farther extremity of the room, a young girl was +looking out upon the passers-by. Something in her form and dress +attracted his attention, and he was approaching the spot where she +stood when the sound of his footsteps caught her ear, and turning +round she disclosed to view the features of Maude Remington. + +"Maude!" he exclaimed, "this is indeed a surprise. I must even claim +a cousin's right to kiss you," and taking both her hands in his, he +kissed her blushing cheek--coyly--timidly--for James De Vere was +unused to such things, and not quite certain, whether under the +circumstances it were perfectly proper for him to do so or not. + +Leading her to the sofa, he soon learned that she had come to the +village to trade, and having finished her shopping was waiting for +her stepfather, who had accompanied her. + +"And what of J.C.?" he asked, after a moment's silence. "Has he been +to visit you more than once since the crisis, as he calls it?" + +Maude's eyes filled with tears, for J.C.'s conduct was not wholly +satisfactory to her. She remembered his loud protestations of utter +disregard for her money, and she could not help thinking how little +his theory and practice accorded. He had not been to see her since +his flying visit in March, and though he had written several times +his letters had contained little else save complaints against their +"confounded luck." She could not tell this to James De Vere, and she +replied, "He is very busy now, I believe, in trying to make some +business arrangement with the lawyer in whose office he formerly +studied." + +"I am glad he has roused himself at last," answered James; "he would +not accept my offer, for which I am sorry, as I was anticipating +much happiness in having my Cousin Maude at Hampton during the +summer. You will remain at home, I suppose." + +"No," said Maude hesitatingly; "or, that is, I have serious thoughts +of teaching school, as I do not like to be dependent on Dr. +Kennedy." + +James De Vere had once taught school for a few weeks by way of +experiment, and now as he recalled the heated room, the stifling +atmosphere, the constant care, and more than all, the noisy shout of +triumph which greeted his ear on that memorable morning when he +found himself fastened out, and knew his rule was at an end, he +shuddered at the thought of Maude's being exposed to similar +indignities, and used all his powers of eloquence to dissuade her +from her plan. Maude was frank, open-hearted, and impulsive, and +emboldened by James' kind, brotherly manner she gave in a most +childlike manner her reason for wishing to teach. + +"If I am married next winter," she said, "my wardrobe will need +replenishing, for J.C. would surely be ashamed to take me as I am, +and I have now no means of my own for purchasing anything." + +In an instant James De Vere's hand was on his purse, but ere he drew +it forth he reflected that to offer money then might possibly be out +of place, so he said, "I have no sister, no girl-cousin, no wife, +and more money than I can use, and when the right time comes nothing +can please me more than to give you your bridal outfit. May I, +Maude? And if you do not like to stay with Dr. Kennedy, come to +Hampton this summer and live with us, will you, Maude? I want you +there so much," and in the musical tones of his voice there was a +deep pathos which brought the tears in torrents from Maude's eyes; +while she declined the generous offer she could not accept. + +Just then Dr. Kennedy appeared. He was ready, to go, he said, and +bidding Mr. De Vere good-by, Maude was soon on her way home, her +spirits lighter and her heart happier for that chance meeting at the +hotel. One week later Mr. De Vere wrote to her, saying that if she +still wished to teach, she could have the school at Hampton. He had +seen the trustees, had agreed upon the price, and had even selected +her a boarding-place near by. "I regret," said he, "that we live so +far from the schoolhouse as to render it impossible for you to board +with us. You might ride, I suppose, and I would cheerfully carry you +every day; but, on the whole, I think you had better stop with Mrs. +Johnson." + +This letter Maude took at once to her brother, from whom she had +hitherto withheld her intention to teach, as she did not wish to +pain him unnecessarily with the dread of a separation, which might +never be. Deeply had he sympathized with her in her misfortune, +whispering to her that two--thirds of his own inheritance should be +hers. "I can coax almost anything from father," he said, "and when I +am twenty-one I'll ask him to give me my portion, and then I'll take +you to Europe. You won't be old, Maude, only twenty-seven, and I +shall be proud when the people say that beautiful woman with eyes +like stars is the crippled artist's sister!" + +In all his plans he made no mention of J.C., whose conduct he +despised, and whose character he began to read aright. + +"Maude will never marry him, I hope," he thought, and when she +brought to him the letter from James De Vere, the noble little +fellow conquered his own feelings, and with a hopeful heart as to +the result of that summer's teaching he bade her go. So it was all +arranged, and the next letter which went from Maude to J.C. carried +the intelligence that his betrothed was going "to turn country +school-ma'am, and teach the Hampton brats their A B C's," so at last +he said to Mrs. Kelsey and her niece, between whom and himself there +was a perfectly good understanding, and to whom he talked of his +future prospects without reserve. Mrs. Kelsey was secretly +delighted, for matters were shaping themselves much as she would +wish. Her brother evinced no particular, desire to have his daughter +at home, and she determined to keep her as long as there was the +slightest chance of winning J.C. De Vere. He was now a regular +visitor at her house, and lest he should suspect her design, she +spoke often and respectfully of Maude, whose cause she seemed to +have espoused, and when he came to her with the news of her teaching +she sympathized with him at once. + +"It would be very mortifying," she said, "to marry a district +school-mistress, though there was some comfort in knowing that his +friends were as yet ignorant of the engagement." + +"Let them remain so a while longer," was the hasty answer of J.C., +who, as time passed on, became more and more unwilling that the gay +world should know of his engagement with one who was not an heiress +after all. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +HAMPTON. + + +Six happy weeks Maude had been a teacher, and though she knew J.C. +did not approve her plan, she was more than repaid for his +displeasure by the words of encouragement which James always had in +store for her. Many times had she been to the handsome home of the +De Veres, and the lady-mother, whom she at first so much dreaded to +meet, had more than once stroked her silken curls, calling her "my +child," as tenderly as if she did indeed bear that relation to her. +James De Vere was one of the trustees, and in that capacity he +visited the school so often that the wise villagers shook their +heads significantly, saying, "if he were any other man they should +think the rights of J.C. were in danger." + +The young school-mistress' engagement with the fashionable Jedediah +was generally known, and thus were the public blinded to the true +state of affairs. Gradually James De Vere had learned how dear to +him was the dark-eyed girl he called his "Cousin Maude." There was +no light like that which shone in her truthful eyes--no music so +sweet as the sound of her gentle voice--no presence which brought +him so much joy as hers--no being in the world he loved so well. But +she belonged to another--the time had passed when she might have +been won. She could never be his, he said; and with his love he +waged a mighty battle--a battle which lasted days and nights, +wringing from him more than one bitter moan, as with his face bowed +in his hands he murmured sadly, the mournful words, "It might have +been." + +Matters were in this condition when J.C. came one day to Hampton, +accompanied by some city friends, among whom were a few young ladies +of the Kelsey order. Maude saw them as they passed the schoolhouse +in the village omnibus; saw, too, how resolutely J.C.'s head was +turned away, as if afraid their eyes would meet. + +"He wishes to show his resentment, but of course he'll visit me ere +he returns," she thought. And many times that day she cast her eyes +in the direction of Hampton Park, as the De Vere residence was often +called. + +But she looked in vain, and with a feeling of disappointment she +dismissed her school, and glad to be alone, laid her head upon the +desk, falling ere long asleep, for the day was warm and she was very +tired. So quietly she slept that she did not hear the roll of wheels +nor the sound of merry voices as the party from the city rode by on +their way to the depot. Neither half an hour later did she hear the +hasty footstep which crossed the threshold of they door; but when a +hand was laid upon her shoulder and a well-known voice bade her +awake, she started up, and saw before her James De Vere. He had been +to her boarding-place, he said, and not finding her there had sought +her in the schoolhouse. + +"I have two letters for you," he continued; "one from your brother, +and one from J.C." + +"From J.C.!" she repeated. "Has he gone back? Why didn't he call on +me?" + +"He's a villain," thought James De Vere, but he answered simply, "He +had not time, and so wrote you instead," and sitting down beside her +he regarded her with a look in which pity, admiration, and love were +all blended--the former predominating at that moment, and causing +him to lay his hand caressingly on her forehead, saying as he did +so, "Your head aches, don't it, Maude?" + +Maude's heart was already full, and at this little act of sympathy +she burst into tears, while James, drawing her to his side and +resting her head upon his bosom, soothed her as he would have done +had she been his only sister. He fancied that he knew the cause of +her grief, and his heart swelled with indignation toward J.C., who +had that day shown himself unworthy of a girl like Maude. He had +come to Hampton without any definite idea as to whether he should +see her or not ere his return, but when, as the omnibus drew near +the schoolhouse and Maude was plainly visible through the open +window, one of the ladies made some slighting remark concerning +school-teachers generally, he determined not to hazard an interview, +and quieted his conscience by thinking he would come out in a few +days and make the matter right. How then was he chagrined when in +the presence of his companions his cousin said: "Shall I send for +Miss Remington? She can dismiss her school earlier than usual and +come up to tea." + +"Dismiss her school!" cried one of the young ladies, while the +other, the proud Miss Thayer, whose grandfather was a pedlar and +whose great-uncle had been hanged, exclaimed, "Miss Remington! Pray +who is she? That schoolmistress we saw in passing? Really, Mr. De +Vere, you have been careful not to tell us of this new acquaintance. +Where did you pick her up?" and the diamonds on her fingers shone +brightly in the sunshine as she playfully pulled a lock of J.C.'s +hair. The disconcerted J.C. was about stammering out some reply when +James, astonished both at the apparent ignorance of his guests and +the strangeness of his cousin's manner, answered for him, "Miss +Remington is our teacher, and a splendid girl. J.C. became +acquainted with her last summer at Laurel Hill. She is a stepsister +of Miss Kennedy, whom you probably know." + +"Nellie, Kennedy's stepsister. I never knew there was such a being," +said Miss Thayer, while young Robinson, a lisping, insipid dandy, +drawled out, "A sthool-marm, J. Thee? I'th really romantic! Thend +for her, of courth. A little dithipline won't hurt any of uth." + +J.C. made a faint effort to rally, but they joked him so hard that +he remained silent, while James regarded him with a look of cool +contempt sufficiently indicative of his opinion. + +At last when Miss Thayer asked "if the bridal day were fixed," he +roused himself, and thinking if he told the truth he should +effectually deceive them, he answered, "Yes, next Christmas is the +time appointed. We were to have been married in June, but the lady +lost her fortune and the marriage was deferred." + +"Oh, teaching to purchase her bridal trousseau. I'm dying to see +it," laughingly replied Miss Thayer, while another rejoined, "Lost +her fortune. Was she then an heiress?" + +"Yes, a milkman's heiress," said J.C., with a slightly scornful +emphasis on the name which he himself had given to Maude at a time +when a milkman's money seemed as valuable to him as that of any +other man. + +There was a dark, stern look on the face of James De Vere, and as +Miss Thayer, the ruling spirit of the party, had an eye on him and +his broad lands, she deemed it wise to change the conversation from +the "Milkman's Heiress" to a topic less displeasing to their +handsome host. In the course of the afternoon the cousins were alone +for a few moments, when the elder demanded of the other: "Do you +pretend to love Maude Remington, and still make light both of her +and your engagement with her?" + +"I pretend to nothing which is not real," was J.C.'s haughty answer; +"but I do dislike having my matters canvassed by every silly tongue, +and have consequently kept my relation to Miss Remington a secret. I +cannot see her to-day, but with your permission I will pen a few +lines by way of explanation," and, glad to escape from the rebuking +glance he knew he so much deserved, he stepped into his cousin's +library, where he wrote the note James gave to Maude. + +Under some circumstances it would have been a very unsatisfactory +message, but with her changed feelings toward the writer and James +De Vere sitting at her side, she scarcely noticed how cold it was, +and throwing it down, tore open Louis' letter which had come in the +evening mail. It was very brief, and hastily perusing its contents +Maude cast it from her with a cry of horror and disgust--then +catching it up, she moaned, "Oh, must I go!--I can't! I can't!" + +"What is it?" asked Mr. De Vere, and pointing to the lines Maude +bade him read. + +He did read, and as he read his own cheek blanched, and he wound his +arm closely round the maiden's waist as if to keep her there and +thus save her from danger. Dr. Kennedy had the smallpox, so Louis +wrote, and Nellie, who had been home for a few days, had fled in +fear back to the city. Hannah, too, had gone, and there was no one +left to care for the sick man save John and the almost helpless +Louis. + +"Father is so sick," he wrote, "and he says, tell Maude, for +humanity's sake, to come." + +If there was one disease more than another of which Maude stood in +mortal fear it was the smallpox, and her first impulse was, "I will +not go." But when she reflected that Louis, too, might take it, and +need her care, her resolution changed, and moving away from her +companion she said firmly, "I must go, for if anything befall my +brother, how can I answer to our mother for having betrayed my +trust? Dr. Kennedy, too, was her husband, and he must not be left to +die alone." + +Mr. De Vere was about to expostulate, but she prevented him by +saying, "Do not urge me to stay, but rather help me to go, for I +must leave Hampton to-morrow. You will get someone to take my place, +as I, of course, shall not return, and if I have it--" + +Here she paused, while the trembling of her body showed how terrible +to her was the dread of the disease. + +"Maude Remington," said Mr. De Vere, struck with admiration by her +noble, self-sacrificing spirit, "I will not bid you stay, for I know +it would be useless; but if that which you so much fear comes upon +you, if the face now so fair to took upon be marred and disfigured +until not a lineament is left of the once beautiful girl, come back +to me. I will love you all the same." + +As he spoke he stretched his arms involuntarily toward her, and +scarce knowing what she did, she went forward to the embrace. Very +lovingly he folded her for a moment to his bosom, then turning her +face to the fading sunlight which streamed through the dingy window, +he looked at it wistfully and long, as if he would remember every +feature. Pushing back the silken curls which clustered around her +forehead, he kissed her twice, and then releasing her said: "Forgive +me, Maude, if I have taken more than a cousin's liberty with you, I +could not help it." + +Bewildered at his words and manner, Maude raised her eyes +wonderingly to his, and looking into the shining orbs, he thought +how soft, how beautiful they were, but little, little did he dream +their light would e'er be quenched in midnight darkness. A while +longer they talked together, Mr. De Vere promising to send a servant +to take her home in the morning. Then, as the sun had set and the +night shadows were deepening in the room, they bade each other good- +by, and ere the next day's sun was very high in the heavens Maude +was far on her way to Laurel Hill. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE DARK HOUR. + + +Dr. Kennedy had been to Buffalo, and taken the smallpox, so his +attending physician said, and the news spread rapidly, frightening +nervous people as they never were frightened before. Nellie had been +home for a week or two, but at the first alarm she fled, rushing +headlong through the hall and down the stairs, unmindful of the +tremulous voice, which cried imploringly, "Don't leave me, daughter, +to die alone!" + +Hannah followed next, holding the camphor bottle to her nose, and +saying to John when he expostulated with her, "I reckon I's not +gwine to spile what little beauty I've got with that fetched +complaint." + +"But, mother," persisted John, "may be it's nothin' but vary-o-lord +after all, and that don't mark folks, you know." + +"You needn't talk to me about your very-o-lord," returned Hannah. "I +know it's the very-o-devil himself, and I won't have them pock-ed +marks on me for all the niggers in Virginny." + +"Then go," said John, "hold tight to the camphire, and run for your +life, or it may cotch you before you git out of the house." + +Hannah needed no second bidding to run, and half an hour later she +was domesticated with a colored family who lived not far from the +Hill. Thus left to themselves, Louis and John, together with the +physician, did what they could for the sick man, who at last +proposed sending for Maude, feeling intuitively that she would not +desert him as his own child had done. Silent, desolate, and forsaken +the old house looked as Maude approached it, and she involuntarily +held her breath as she stepped into the hall, whose close air seemed +laden with infection. She experienced no difficulty in finding the +sick-room, where Louis' cry of delight, John's expression of joy, +and the sick man's whispered words, "God bless you, Maude," more +than recompensed her for the risk she had incurred. Gradually her +fear subsided, particularly when she learned that it was in fact the +varioloid. Had it been possible to remove her brother from danger +she would have done so, but it was too late now, and she suffered +him to share her vigils, watching carefully for the first symptoms +of the disease in him. + +In this manner nearly two weeks passed away, and the panic-stricken +villagers were beginning to breathe more freely, when it was told +them one day that Maude and Louis were both smitten with the +disease. Then indeed the more humane said to themselves, "Shall they +be left to suffer alone?" and still no one was found who dared to +breathe the air of the sick-room. Dr. Kennedy was by this time so +much better that Louis was taken to his apartment, where he +ministered to him himself, while the heroic Maude was left to the +care of John. Everything he could do for her he did, but his heart +sunk within him when he saw how fast her fever came on, and heard +her, in her sleep, mourn for her mother, to hold her aching head. + +"She mustn't die," he said, and over his dark skin the tears rolled +like rain, as raising his eyes to the ceiling he cried imploringly, +"Will the good Father send someone to help?" + +The prayer of the weak African was heard, and ere the sun went down +a man of noble mien and noble heart stood at the maiden's bedside, +bathing her swollen face, pushing back her silken curls, counting +her rapid pulses, and once, when she slept, kissing her parched +lips, e'en though he knew that with that kiss he inhaled, perhaps, +his death! James De Vere had never for a day lost sight of Maude. +Immediately after her return he had written to the physician +requesting a daily report, and when, at last he learned that she was +ill, and all alone, he came unhesitatingly, presenting a striking +contrast to the timid J.C., who had heard of her illness, and at +first, dared not open the letter which his cousin wrote, apprising +him of Maude's affliction. But when he reflected that he could be +re-vaccinated, and thus avert the dreaded evil, he broke the seal +and read, commenting as follows: "Jim is a splendid fellow, though I +can't see why he takes so much interest in her. Don't I have +confounded luck, though? That will first, the five thousand dollars +next, and now the smallpox, too. Of course she'll be marked, and +look like a fright. Poor girl! I'd help her if I could," and, as the +better nature of J.C. came over him, he added mournfully: "What if +she should die?" + +But Maude did not die; and at the expiration of ten days she was so +far out of danger that James De Vere yielded to the importunity of +his mother, who, in an agony of terror, besought him to return. When +first he came to her bedside Maude had begged of him to leave her +and not risk his life in her behalf; but he silenced her objections +then, and now when he bade her adieu he would not listen to her +protestations of gratitude. + +"I would do even more for you if I could," he said. "I am not afraid +of the varioloid, and henceforth I shall think gratefully of it for +having dealt so lightly with you." + +So saying, he turned away, feeling happier than he could well +express, that Maude had not only escaped from death, but that there +would be no marks left to tell how near the ravager had been. +Scarcely had the door closed on him when, emboldened by his last +words to ask a question she greatly wished, yet dreaded to ask, +Maude turned to John and said, "Am I much pitted?" + +Rolling up his eyes and wholly mistaking her meaning, John replied, +"I aint no great of a physiognomer, but when a thing is as plain as +day I can discern it as well as the next one, and if that ar' chap +haint pitied you, and done a heap more'n that, I'm mistaken." + +"But," continued Maude, smiling at his simplicity, "I mean shall I +probably be scarred?" + +"Oh, bless you, not a scar," answered John, "for don't you mind how +he kep' the iled silk and wet rags on yer face, and how that night +when you was sickest he held yer hands so you couldn't tache that +little feller between yer eyes. That was the spunkiest varmint of +'em all, and may leave a mark like the one under yer ear, but it +won't spile yer looks an atom." + +"And Louis?" said Maude, "is he disfigured?" + +"Not a disfigurement," returned John, "but the ole governor, he's a +right smart sprinklin' of 'em, one squar' on the tip of his nose, +and five or six more on his face." + +Thus relieved of her immediate fears Maude asked many questions +concerning Louis, who she learned had not been very sick. + +"You can see him afore long, I reckon," said John, and in a few days +she was able to join him in the sitting room below. + +After a while Hannah returned to her post of duty, her beauty +unimpaired, and herself thoroughly ashamed of having thus +heartlessly deserted her master's family in their affliction. As if +to make amends for this she exerted herself to cleanse the house +from everything which could possibly inspire fear on the villagers, +and by the last of August there was scarce a trace left of the +recent scourge, save the deep scar on the end of the doctor's nose, +one or two marks on Louis' face, and a weakness of Maude's eyes, +which became at last a cause of serious alarm. + +It was in vain that Louis implored his father to seek medical aid in +Rochester, where the physicians were supposed to have more +experience in such matters. The doctor refused, saying, "'twas a +maxim of his not to counsel with anyone, and he guessed he knew how +to manage sore eyes." + +But Maude's eyes were not sore--they were merely weak, while the +pain in the eyeball was sometimes so intense as to wring from her a +cry, of suffering. Gradually there crept into her heart a horrid +fear that her sight was growing dim, and often in the darkness of +the night she wept most bitterly, praying that she might not be +blind. + +"Oh, Louis," she said to her brother one day, "I would so much +rather die than to be blind, and never see you any more--never see +the beautiful world I love so much. Oh, must it be? Is there no +help? " + +"James De Vere could help us if he were here," answered Louis, his +own tears mingling with his sister's. + +But James De Vere had left Hampton for New Orleans, where he would +probably remain until the winter, and there could be no aid expected +from him. The doctor, too, was wholly absorbed in thoughts of his +approaching nuptials, for Maude Glendower, failing to secure the +wealthy bachelor, and overhearing several times the remark that she +was really getting old, had consented to name the 20th of October +for their marriage. And so the other Maude was left to battle with +the terrible fear which was strengthened every day. + +At length J.C., roused not so much by the touching letter which she +wrote him as by the uncertain handwriting, came himself, bringing +with him a physician, who carefully examined the soft black eyes, +which could not now endure the light, then shaking his head he said +gravely, "There is still some hope, but she must go to the city, +where I can see her every day." + +J.C. looked at Dr. Kennedy, and Dr. Kennedy, looked at J.C., and +then both their hands sought their pockets, but came out again-- +empty! J.C. really had not the ready means with which to meet the +expense, while Dr. Kennedy had not the inclination. But one there +was, the faithful John, who could not stand by unmoved, and darting +from the room, he mounted the woodshed stairs, and from beneath the +rafters drew out an old leathern wallet, where from time to time he +had deposited money for "the wet day." That wet day had come at +last; not to him, but to another--and without a moment's hesitation +he counted out the ten golden eagles which his purse contained, and, +going back to Maude, placed them in her hand, saying: "Go to +Rochester, Miss Maude. I saved 'em for you, for I wouldn't have the +light squenched in them shinin' eyes for all the land in old +Virginny." + +It was a noble act, and it shamed the paler faces who witnessed it, +but they offered no remonstrance, though Maude did, refusing to +accept it, until Louis said: "Take it, sister--take it, and when I'm +twenty-one I'll give to him ten times ten golden eagles." + +The necessary arrangements were quickly made, and ere a week was +passed Maude found herself in Rochester, and an inmate of Mrs. +Kelsey's family; for, touched with pity, that lady had offered to +receive her, and during her brief stay treated her with every +possible attention. Nellie, too, was very kind, ministering +carefully to the comfort of her stepsister, who had ceased to be a +rival, for well she knew J.C. De Vere would never wed a penniless +bride and blind! + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE NEW MISTRESS AT LAUREL HILL. + + +The 20th of October came, and with a firm hand Maude Glendower +arrayed herself for the bridal, which was to take place at an early +hour. The scar on the end of the doctor's nose had shaken her +purpose for an instant, but when she thought again of the unpaid +bills lying in her private drawer, and when, more than all, the +doctor said, "We greatly fear Maude Remington will be blind," her +resolution was fixed, and with a steady voice she took upon herself +the marriage vows. + +They were to go to Laurel Hill that day, and when the doctor saw +that the handsome furniture of her rooms was still untouched, he +ventured to ask "if she had left orders to have it sent." + +"Oh, I didn't tell you, did I, that my furniture was all mortgaged +to Mrs. Raymond for board and borrowed money, too; but of course you +don't care; you did not marry my furniture," and the little soft, +white hands were laid upon those of the bridegroom, while the +lustrous eyes sought his face, to witness the effect of her words. + +The dent on the nose grew red a moment, and then the doctor, +perfectly intoxicated with the beauty of his bride, answered, "No, +Maude, I married you." + +A rap at the door, and a note from Messrs. Barnabas Muggins & Brown +"hoped Miss Glendower would not forget to settle her bill." + +"It's really quite provoking to trouble you with my debts so soon," +said the lady, "but I dare say it's a maxim of yours that we should +have no secrets from each other, and so I may as well show you these +at once," and she turned into his lap a handful of bills, amounting +in all to four hundred dollars, due to the different tradesmen of +Troy. + +The spot on the nose was decidedly purple, and had Katy or Matty +been there they would surely, have recognized the voice which began, +"Really, I did not expect this, and 'tis a max--" + +"Never mind the maxim," and the mouth of the speaker was covered by +a dimpled hand, as Maude Glendower continued, "It's mean, I know, +but four hundred dollars is not much, after all, and you ought to be +willing to pay even more for me, don't you think so, dearest? " + +"Ye-es," faintly answered the doctor, who, knowing there was no +alternative, gave a check for the whole amount on a Rochester bank, +where he had funds deposited. + +Maude Glendower was a charming traveling companion, and in listening +to her lively sallies, and noticing the admiration she received, the +doctor forgot his lost four hundred dollars, and by the time they +reached Canandaigua he believed himself supremely happy in having +such a wife. John was waiting for them, just as thirteen years +before he had waited for blue-eyed Matty, and the moment her eye +fell upon the carriage he had borrowed from a neighbor, the new wife +exclaimed, "Oh, I hope that lumbering old thing is not ours. It +would give me the rickets to ride in it long." + +"It's borrowed," the doctor said, 'and she continued, "I'll pick out +mine, and my horses, too. I'm quite a connoisseur in those matters." + +John rolled his eyes toward his master, whose face wore a look never +seen there before. + +"Henpecked!" was the negro's mental comment, as he prepared to +start. + +When about three miles from the village the lady started up, saying, +"she had left her shawl, and must go back immediately." + +"There is not time," said the doctor, "for the sun is already nearly +set. It will be perfectly safe." + +"But it's my India shawl. I must have it," and the lady's hand was +laid upon the reins to turn the horses' heads. + +Of course they went back, finding the shawl, not at the hotel, but +under the carriage cushions, where the lady herself had placed it. + +"It's a maxim of mine to know what I'm about," the doctor ventured +to say, while a silvery voice returned, "So do I ordinarily, but it +is not strange that I forget myself on my wedding day." This was +well timed, and wrapping the garment carefully round her to shelter +her from the night air, the doctor bade the highly amused John to +drive on. They were more than halfway home when some luscious +oranges in a small grocery window, caught the bride's eye, and "she +must have some, she always kept them in her room," she said, and to +the grocer's inquiry, "How many, madam?" she answered, "Two dozen, +at least, and a box of figs, if you have them. I dote on figs." + +It was the doctor's wedding day. He could not say no, and with a +mental groan he parted company with another bill, while John, on the +platform without, danced the "double shuffle" in token of his +delight. There was a second grocery to be passed, but by taking a +more circuitous route it could be avoided, and the discomfited +bridegroom bade John "go through the Hollow." + +"Yes, sar," answered the knowing negro, turning the heads of the +unwilling horses in a direction which would not bring them home so +soon by one whole hour. + +But the grocery was shunned, and so the doctor did not care even if +the clock did strike nine just as they stopped at their own gate. +The night was dark and the bride could not distinguish the exterior +of the house, neither was the interior plainly discernible, lighted +as it was with an oil lamp, and a single tallow candle. But she +scarcely thought of this, so intent was she upon the beautiful face +of the crippled boy, who sat in his armchair, eagerly awaiting her +arrival. + +"This is Louis," the father said: and the scornful eyes which with +one rapid glance had scanned the whole apartment filled with tears +as they, turned toward the boy. + +Dropping on one knee before him, the lady, parted the silken hair +from his forehead, saying very gently, "You must be like your +mother, save that your eyes are brown, and hers were blue. May I be +your mother, Louis?" + +Very wonderingly the child gazed into her face. It was radiantly +beautiful, while the dreamy eyes rested upon him with such a +yearning look that his heart went out toward her at once, and +winding his arms around her neck, he murmured, "I shall love you +very much, my mother." + +For a moment Maude Glendower held him to her bosom, while her +thoughts went back to the long ago when another face much like his +had rested there, and another voice had whispered in her ear, "I +love you, Maude Glendower." That voice was hushed in death, but +through the child it spoke to her again, and with a throbbing heart +she vowed to be to the crippled boy what Matty herself would well +approve, could she speak from her low bed beneath the willows. + +"What of your sister?" the lady said at last, rising to her feet. +"Is she recovering her sight?" + +"Nellie writes there is hope," said Louis, "though she did not +receive attention soon enough, the physician says." + +There was reproach, contempt, and anger in the large black eyes +which sought the doctor's face, but the light was dim, and he did +not see it. + +"It will be a great misfortune to her, and very hard on me if she is +blind, for of course I must take care of her," he said at last, +while his wife indignantly replied, "Take care of her! Yes, I'd sell +my diamonds rather than see her suffer!" + +Supper was now announced, and in examining the arrangement of the +table and inspecting the furniture of the dining room, the bride +forgot everything save the novelty of her situation. Mentally +styling the house "an old rookery," she forced back the bitter +feelings which would rise up when she thought how unlike was all +this to what she had been accustomed. It needed but one glance of +her keen eyes to read the whole, and ere the close of the next day +she understood her position perfectly, and summoning to her aid her +iron will, she determined to make the most of everything. She knew +the doctor had money, aye, and she knew, too, how to get it from +him, but she was too wary to undertake it in any of the ordinary +ways. She did not tell him how desolate the old house seemed, or +that she was homesick because of its desolation; but after she had +been there a few days she sat down by his side, and told him that +with a few improvements it could be made the most delightful spot in +all the country, and she was glad she had come there to help him to +fix it up. She knew he had exquisite taste, and as he was now at +leisure they would contrive together how their parlors could be +improved. She didn't quite like them as they were, the window lights +were too small, and they must have the large panes of glass. Then +satin paper on the walls would look so much better, and the carpets, +though really very nice, were hardly good enough for a man of Dr. +Kennedy's standing in society. + +"But," gasped the doctor, "the one in the back parlor is brand new-- +has scarcely been used at all and it is a maxim of mine--" + +"Your maxim is good, undoubtedly," interrupted the lady, "but the +chambers all need recarpeting, and this will exactly fit Maude's +room, which I intend fixing before she returns." + +The doctor looked aghast, and his wife continued: "The season is so +far advanced that it is hardly worth while to make any changes now, +but next spring I shall coax you into all manner or repairs. I do +wonder what makes that spot on your nose so red at times. You are +really very fine looking when it is not there. It is gone," she +continued, and smoothing away a wrinkle in his forehead, she said, +"We won't talk of the future now, but seriously, we must have some +new Brussels carpets, and a furnace to warm the whole house." + +Here she shivered and coughed quite naturally after which she +returned to the charge, saying, "her family were consumptive, and +she could not endure the cold." + +"But, my dear," said the doctor, "it will cost a great deal of money +to carry out your plans." + +"Oh, no, not much," she answered, "give me five hundred dollars and +I will do everything necessary to make us comfortable for the +winter." + +"Five hundred dollars, Mrs. Kennedy!" and the doctor's gray eyes +looked as they used to look when Katy and Matty asked him for five. +"Five hundred dollars! Preposterous! Why, during the seven years I +lived with your predecessor she did not cost me that!" + +From old Hannah Mrs. Kennedy had, learned how her predecessor had +been stinted by the doctor, and could he that moment have looked +into her heart he would have seen there a fierce determination to +avenge the wrongs so meekly borne. But she did not embody her +thoughts in words, neither did she deem it advisable to press the +subject further at that time, so she waited for nearly a week, and +then resumed the attack with redoubled zeal. + +"We must have another servant," she said. + +"Old Hannah is wholly inefficient, and so I have engaged a colored +woman from the hotel; and did I tell you, I have spoken to a man +about the furnace we are going to have, and I also told Mr. Jenks to +buy me one hundred yards of Brussels carpeting in New York. He's +gone for goods, you know." + +"Really, Mrs. Kennedy, this exceeds all. My former companions saw +fit to consult me always. Really, one hundred yards of carpeting and +a black cook! Astonishing, Mrs. Kennedy! " + +The doctor was quite too much confounded to think of a single maxim, +for his wife's effrontery took him wholly by surprise. She was a +most energetic woman, and her proceedings were already the theme of +many a tea-table gossip, in which the delighted villagers exulted +that Dr. Kennedy had at last found his match. Yes, he had found his +match, and when next day the black cook, Rose, came, and Mr. Brown +asked when he would have the furnace put in his cellar, there was +that in the eye of his better half which prompted a meek submission. +When the bill for the new carpets was handed him he again rebelled, +but all to no purpose. He paid the requisite amount, and tried to +swallow his wrath with his wife's consolatory remark, that "they +were the handsomest couple in town, and ought to have the handsomest +carpets!" + +One day he found her giving directions to two or three men who were +papering, painting, and whitewashing Maude's room, and then, as John +remarked, he seemed more like himself than he had done before since +his last marriage. + +"If Maude is going to be blind," he said, "it can make no difference +with her how her chamber looks, and 'tis a maxim of mine to let well +enough alone." + +"I wish you would cure yourself of those disagreeable maxims," was +the lady's cool reply, as, stepping to the head of the stairs, she +bade John "bring up the carpet, if it were whipped enough." + +"Allow me to ask what you are going to do with it?" said the doctor, +as from the windows he saw the back parlor carpet swinging on the +line. + +"Why, I told you I was going to fit up Maude's room. She is coming +home in a week, you know, and I am preparing a surprise. I have +ordered a few pieces of light furniture from the cabinet-maker's, +and I think her chamber would look nicely if the walls were only a +little higher. They can't be raised, I suppose?" + +She was perfectly collected, and no queen on her throne ever issued +her orders with greater confidence in their being obeyed; and when +that night she said to her husband, "These men must have their pay," +he had no alternative but to open his purse and give her what she +asked. Thus it was with everything. + +"Ki, aint him cotchin' it good?" was John's mental comment, as he +daily watched the proceedings, and while Hannah pronounced him "the +hen-peck-ed-est man she had ever seen," the amused villagers knew +that will had met will, and been conquered! + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE BLIND GIRL. + + +Maude's chamber was ready at last, and very inviting it looked with +its coat of fresh paint, its cheerful paper, bright carpet, handsome +bedstead, marble washstand, and mahogany bureau, on which were +arranged various little articles for the toilet. The few pieces of +furniture which Mrs. Kennedy had ordered from the cabinet-maker's +had amounted, in all, to nearly one hundred dollars, but the bill +was not yet sent in; and in blissful ignorance of the surprise +awaiting him the doctor rubbed his hands and tried to seem pleased +when his wife, passing her arm in his, led him to the room, which +she compelled him to admire. + +"It was all very nice," he said, "but wholly unnecessary for a blind +girl. What was the price of this?" he asked, laying his hand upon +the bedstead. + +"Only twenty-five dollars. Wasn't it cheap?" and the wicked black +eyes danced with merriment at the loud groan which succeeded the +answer. + +"Twenty-five dollars!" he exclaimed. "Why, the bedstead Matty and I +slept on for seven years only cost three, and it is now as good as +new." + +"But times have changed," said the lady. "Everybody has nicer +things; besides, do you know people used to talk dreadfully about a +man of your standing being so stingy? But I have done considerable +toward correcting that impression. You aint stingy, and in proof of +it you'll give me fifty cents to buy cologne for this." And she took +up a beautiful bottle which stood upon the bureau. + +The doctor had not fifty cents in change, but a dollar bill would +suit her exactly as well, she said, and secretly exulting in her +mastery over the self-willed tyrant, she suffered him to depart, +saying to himself as he descended the stair, "Twenty-five dollars +for one bedstead. I won't stand it! I'll do something!" + +"What are you saying, dear?" a melodious voice called after him, and +so accelerated his movements that the extremity of his coat +disappeared from view, just as the lady Maude reached the head of +the stairs. + +"Oh!" was the involuntary exclamation of Louis, who had been a +spectator of the scene, and who felt intuitively that his father had +found his mistress. + +During her few weeks residence at Laurel Hill Maude Glendower had +bound the crippled boy to herself by many a deed of love, and +whatever she did was sure of meeting his approval. With him she had +consulted concerning his sister's room, yielding often to his artist +taste in the arrangement of the furniture, and now that the chamber +was ready they both awaited impatiently the arrival of its occupant. +Nellie's last letter had been rather encouraging, and Maude herself +had appended her name at its close. The writing was tremulous and +uncertain, but it brought hope to the heart of the brother, who had +never really believed it possible for his sister to be blind. Very +restless he seemed on the day when she was expected; and when, just +as the sun was setting, the carriage drove to the gate, a faint +sickness crept over him, and wheeling his chair to the window of her +room he looked anxiously at her, as with John's assistance, she +alighted from the carriage. + +"If she walks alone I shall know she is not very blind," he said, +and with clasped hands he watched her intently as she came slowly +toward the house with Nellie a little in advance. + +Nearer and nearer she came--closer and closer the burning forehead +was pressed against the window pane, and hope beat high in Louis' +heart, when suddenly she turned aside--her foot rested on the +withered violets which grew outside the walk, and her hand groped in +the empty air. + +"She's blind--she's blind," said Louis, and with a moaning cry he +laid his head upon the broad arm of his chair, sobbing most +bitterly. + +Meantime below there was a strange interview between the new mother +and her children, Maude Glendower clasping her namesake in her arms +and weeping over her as she had never wept before but once, and that +when the moonlight shone upon her sitting by a distant grave. +Pushing back the clustering curls, she kissed the open brow and +looked into the soft black eyes with a burning gaze which penetrated +the shadowy darkness and brought a flush to the cheek of the young +girl. + +"Maude Remington! Maude Remington!" she said, dwelling long upon the +latter name, "the sight of you affects me painfully; you are so like +one I have lost. I shall love you, Maude Remington, for the sake of +the dead, and you, too, must love me, and call me mother--will you?" +and her lips again touched those of the astonished maiden. + +Though fading fast, the light was not yet quenched in Maude's eyes, +and very wistfully she scanned the face of the speaker, while her +hands moved caressingly over each feature, as she said, "I will love +you, beautiful lady, though you can never be to me what my gentle +mother was." + +At the sound of that voice Maude Glendower started suddenly, and +turning aside, so her words could not be heard, she murmured sadly, +"Both father and child prefer her to me." Then, recollecting +herself, she offered her hand to the wondering Nellie, saying, "Your +Sister's misfortune must be my excuse for devoting so much time to +her, when you, as my eldest daughter, were entitled to my first +attention." + +Her stepmother's evident preference for Maude had greatly offended +the selfish Nellie, who coldly answered, "Don't trouble yourself, +madam. It's not of the least consequence. But where is my father? He +will welcome me, I am sure." + +The feeling too often existing between stepmothers and stepdaughters +had sprung into life, and henceforth the intercourse of Maude +Glendower and Nellie Kennedy would be marked with studied +politeness, and nothing more. But the former did not care. So long +as her eye could feast itself upon the face and form of Maude +Remington she was content, and as Nellie left the room she wound her +arm around the comparatively helpless girl, saying, "Let me take you +to your brother." + +Although unwilling, usually, to be led, Maude yielded now, and +suffered herself to be conducted to the chamber where Louis watched +for her coming. She could see enough to know there was a change, and +clasping her companion's hand she said, "I am surely indebted to you +for this surprise." + +"Maude, Maude!" and the tones of Louis' voice trembled with joy, as +stretching his arms toward her, he cried, "You can see." + +Guided more by the sound than by actual vision, Maude flew like +lightning to his side, and kneeling before him hid her face in his +lap, while he bent fondly over her, beseeching her to say if she +could see. It was a most touching sight, and drawing near, Maude +Glendower mingled her tears with those of the unfortunate children +on whom affliction had laid her heavy hand. + +Maude Remington was naturally of a hopeful nature, and though she +had passed through many an hour of anguish, and had rebelled against +the fearful doom which seemed to be approaching, she did not yet +despair. She still saw a little--could discern colors and forms, and +could tell one person from another. "I shall be better by and by," +she said, when assured by the sound of retreating footsteps that +they were alone. "I am following implicitly the doctor's directions, +and I hope to see by Christmas; but if I do not--" + +Here she broke down entirely, and wringing her hands she cried, "Oh, +brother--brother, must I be blind? I can't--I can't, for who will +care for poor, blind, helpless Maude?" + +"I, sister, I," and hushing his own great sorrow the crippled boy +comforted the weeping girl just as she had once comforted him, when +in the quiet graveyard he had lain him down in the long, rank grass +and wished that he might die. "Pa's new wife will care for you, +too," he said. "She's a beautiful woman, Maude, and a good one, I am +sure, for she cried so hard over mother's grave, and her voice was +so gentle when, just as though she had known our mother, she said, +`Darling Matty, I will be kind to your children.'" + +"Ah, that I will--I will," came faintly from the hall without, where +Maude Glendower stood, her eyes riveted upon the upturned face of +Maude, and her whole body swelling with emotion. + +A sad heritage had been bequeathed to her--a crippled boy and a +weak, blind girl; but in some respects she was a noble woman, and as +she gazed upon the two she resolved that so long as she should live, +so long should the helpless children of Matty Remington have a +steadfast friend. Hearing her husband's voice below she glided down +the stairs, leaving Louis and Maude really alone. + +"Sister," said Louis, after a moment, "what of Mr. De Vere? Is he +true to the last?" + +"I have released him," answered Maude. "I am nothing to him now," +and very calmly she proceeded to tell him of the night when she had +said to Mr. De Vere, "My money is gone--my sight is going too, and I +give you back your troth, making you free to marry another--Nellie, +if you choose. She is better suited to you than I have ever been." + +Though secretly pleased at her offering to give him up, J.C. made a +show of resistance, but she had prevailed at last, and with the +assurance that he should always esteem her highly, he consented to +the breaking of the engagement, and the very, next afternoon, rode +out with Nellie Kennedy. + +"He will marry her, I think," Maude said, as she finished narrating +the circumstances, and looking into her calm, unruffled face Louis +felt sure that she had outlived her love for one who had proved +himself as fickle as J.C. De Vere. + +"And what of James?" he asked. "Is he still in New Orleans." + +"He is," answered Maude. "He has a large wholesale establishment +there, and as one of the partners is sick, he has taken his place +for the winter. He wrote to his cousin often, bidding him spare no +expense for me, and offering to pay the bills if J.C. was not able." + +A while longer they conversed, and then they were summoned to +supper, Mrs. Kennedy coming herself for Maude, who did not refuse to +be assisted by her. + +"The wind hurt my eyes--they will be better to-morrow," she said, +and with her old sunny smile she greeted her stepfather, and then +turned to Hannah and John, who had come in to see her. + +But alas for the delusion! The morrow brought no improvement, +neither the next day, nor the next, and as the world grew dim there +crept into her heart a sense of utter desolation which neither the +tender love of Maude Glendower nor yet the untiring devotion of +Louis could in any degree dispel. All day would she sit opposite the +window, her eyes fixed on the light with a longing, eager gaze, as +if she feared that the next moment it might leave her forever. +Whatever he could do for her Louis did, going to her room each +morning and arranging her dress and hair just as he knew she used to +wear it. She would not suffer anyone else to do this for her, and in +performing these little offices Louis felt that he was only repaying +her in part for all she had done for him. + +Christmas Eve came at last, and if she thought of what was once to +have been on the morrow, she gave no outward token, and with her +accustomed smile bade the family good-night. The next morning Louis +went often to her door, and hearing no sound within fancied she was +sleeping, until at last, as the clock struck nine, he ventured to go +in. Maude was awake, and advancing to her side he bade her a "Merry +Christmas," playfully chiding her the while for having slept so +late. A wild, startled expression flashed over her face, as she +said: "Late, Louis! Is it morning, then? I've watched so long to see +the light?" + +Louis did not understand her, and he answered, "Morning, yes. The +sunshine is streaming into the room. Don't you see it? " + +"Sunshine!" and Maude's lips quivered with fear, as springing from +her pillow. she whispered faintly, "Lead me to the window." + +He complied with her request, watching her curiously, as she laid +both hands in the warm sunshine, which bathed her fair, round arms +and shone upon her raven hair. She felt what she could not see, and +Louis Kennedy ne'er forgot the agonized expression of the white, +beautiful face which turned toward him as the wretched Maude moaned +piteously, "Yes, brother, 'tis morning to you, but dark, dark night +to me. I'm blind! oh, I'm blind!" + +She did not faint, she did not shriek, but she stood there rigid and +immovable, her countenance giving fearful token of the terrible +storm within. She was battling fiercely with her fate, and until +twice repeated, she did not hear the childish voice which said to +her pleadingly, "Don't look so, sister. You frighten me, and there +may be some hope yet." + +"Hope," she repeated bitterly, turning her sightless eyes toward +him, "there is no hope but death." + +"Maude," and Louis' voice was like a plaintive harp, so mournful was +its tone, "Maude, once in the very spot where mother is lying now, +you said because I was a cripple you would love me all the more. You +have kept that promise well, my sister. You have been all the world +to me, and now that you are blind I, too, will love you more. I will +be your light--your eyes, and when James De Vere comes back--" + +"No, no, no," moaned Maude, sinking upon the floor. "Nobody will +care for me. Nobody will love a blind girl. Oh, is it wicked to wish +that I could die, lying here in the sunshine, which I shall never +see again?" + +There was a movement at the door, and Mrs. Kennedy appeared, +starting back as her eye fell upon the face of the prostrate girl, +who recognized her step, and murmured sadly, "Mother, I'm blind, +wholly blind." + +Louis' grief had been too great for tears, but Maude Glendower's +flowed at once, and bending over the white-faced girl she strove to +comfort her, telling her how she would always love her, that every +wish should be gratified. + +"Then give me back my sight, oh, give me back my sight," and Maude +clasped her mother's hands imploringly. + +Ere long she grew more calm, and suffered herself to be dressed as +usual, but she would not admit anyone to her room, neither on that +day nor for many succeeding days. At length, however, this feeling +wore away, and in the heartfelt sympathy of her family and friends +she found a slight balm for her grief. Even the doctor was softened, +and when Messrs. Beebe & Co. sent in a bill of ninety-five dollars +for various articles of furniture, the frown upon his face gave way +when his wife said to him, "It was for Maude, you know!" + +"Poor Maude!" seemed to be the sentiment of the whole household, and +Nellie herself said it many a time, as with unwonted tenderness she +caressed the unfortunate girl, fearing the while lest she had done +her a wrong, for she did not then understand the nature of Maude's +feelings for J.C. De Vere, to whom Nellie was now engaged. + +Urged on by Mrs. Kelsey and a fast diminishing income, J.C. had +written to Nellie soon after her return to Laurel Hill, asking her +to be his wife. He did not disguise his former love for Maude, +neither did he pretend to have outlived it, but he said he could not +wed a blind girl. And Nellie, forgetting her assertion that she +would never marry one who had first proposed to Maude, was only too +much pleased to answer Yes. And when J.C. insisted upon an early +day, she named the 5th of March, her twentieth birthday. She was to +be married at home, and as the preparations for the wedding would +cause a great amount of bustle and confusion in the house, it seemed +necessary that Maude should know the cause, and with a beating heart +Nellie went to her one day to tell the news. Very composedly Maude +listened to the story, and then as composedly replied, "I am truly +glad, and trust you will be happy." + +"So I should be," answered Nellie, "if I were sure you did not +care." + +"Care! for whom?" returned Maude. "For J.C. De Vere? Every particle +of love for him has died out, and I am now inclined to think I never +entertained for him more than a girlish fancy, while he certainly +did not truly care for me." + +This answer was very quieting to Nellie's conscience, and in +unusually good spirits she abandoned herself to the excitement which +usually precedes a wedding. Mrs. Kennedy, too, entered heart and +soul into the matter, and arming herself with the plea, that "it was +his only daughter, who would probably never be married again," she +coaxed her husband into all manner of extravagances, and by the 1st +of March few would have recognized the interior of the house, so +changed was it by furniture and repairs. Handsome damask curtains +shaded the parlor windows, which were further improved by large +heavy panes of glass. Matty's piano had been removed to Maude's +chamber, and its place supplied by a new and costly instrument, +which the crafty woman made her husband believe was intended by Mrs. +Kelsey, who selected it, as a bridal present for her niece. The +furnace was in splendid order, keeping the whole house, as Hannah +said, "hotter than an oven," while the disturbed doctor lamented +daily over the amount of fuel it consumed, and nightly counted the +contents of his purse or reckoned up how much he was probably worth. +But neither his remonstrances nor yet his frequent groans had any +effect upon his wife. Although she had no love for Nellie, she was +determined upon a splendid wedding, one which would make folks talk +for months, and when her liege lord complained of the confusion, she +suggested to him a furnished room in the garret, where it would be +very quiet for him to reckon up the bill, which from time to time +she brought him. + +"Might as well gin in at oncet," John said to him one day, when he +borrowed ten dollars for the payment of an oyster bill. "I tell you +she's got more besom in her than both them t'other ones." + +The doctor probably thought so too, for he became comparatively +submissive, though he visited often the sunken graves, where he +found a mournful solace in reading, "Katy, wife of Dr. Kennedy, aged +twenty-nine,"--"Matty, second wife of Dr. Kennedy, aged thirty," and +once he was absolutely guilty of wondering how the words, "Maude, +third wife of Dr. Kennedy, aged forty-one," would look. But he +repented him of the wicked thought, and when on his return from his +"graveyard musings," Maude, aged forty-one, asked him for the twenty +dollars which she saw a man pay to him that morning, he gave it to +her without a word. + +Meanwhile the fickle J.C. in Rochester was one moment regretting the +step he was about to take and the next wishing the day would hasten, +so he could "have it over with." Maude Remington had secured a place +in his affections which Nellie could not fill, and though he had no +wish to marry her now, he tried to make himself believe that but for +her misfortune she should still have become his wife. + +"Jim would marry her, I dare say, even if she were blind as a bat," +he said; "but then he is able to support her," and reminded by this +of an unanswered letter from his cousin, who was still in New +Orleans, he sat down and wrote, telling him of Maude's total +blindness, and then, almost in the next sentence saying that his +wedding was fixed for the 5th of March. "There," he exclaimed, as he +read over the letter, "I believe I must be crazy, for I never told +him that the bride was Nellie; but no matter, I'd like to have him +think me magnanimous for a while, and I want to hear what he says." + +Two weeks or more went by, and then there came an answer, fraught +with sympathy for Maude, and full of commendation for J.C., who "had +shown himself a man." + +Accompanying the letter was a box containing a most exquisite set of +pearls for the bride, together with a diamond ring, on which was +inscribed, "Cousin Maude." + +"Aint I in a deuced scrape," said J.C., as he examined the beautiful +ornaments; "Nellie would be delighted with them, but she shan't have +them; they are not hers. I'll write to Jim at once, and tell him the +mistake," and seizing his pen he dashed off a few lines, little +guessing how much happiness they would carry to the far-off city, +where daily and nightly James De Vere fought manfully with the love +that clung with a deathlike grasp to the girl J.C. had forsaken, the +poor, blind, helpless Maude. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +NELLIE'S BRIDAL NIGHT. + + +The blind girl sat alone in her chamber, listening to the sound of +merry voices in the hall without, or the patter of feet, as the fast +arriving guests tripped up and down the stairs. She had heard the +voice of J.C. De Vere as he passed her door, but it awoke within her +bosom no lingering regret, and when an hour later Nellie stood +before her, arrayed in her bridal robes, she passed her hand +caressingly over the flowing curls, the fair, round face, the satin +dress, and streaming veil, saying as she did so, "I know you are +beautiful, my sister, and if a blind girl's blessing can be of any +avail, you have it most cordially." + +Both Mrs. Kennedy and Nellie had urged Maude to be present at the +ceremony, but she shrank from the gaze of strangers, and preferred +remaining in her room, an arrangement quite satisfactory to J.C., +who did not care to meet her then. It seemed probable that some of +the guests would go up to see her, and knowing this, Mrs. Kennedy +had arranged her curls and dress with unusual care, saying to her as +she kissed her pale cheek, "You are far more beautiful than the +bride." + +And Maude was beautiful. Recent suffering and non-exposure to the +open air had imparted a delicacy to her complexion which harmonized +well with the mournful expression of her face and the idea of +touching helplessness which her presence inspired. Her long, fringed +eyelashes rested upon her cheek, and her short, glossy curls were +never more becomingly arranged than now, when stepping backward a +pace or two, Mrs. Kennedy stopped a moment to admire her again ere +going below where her presence was already needed. + +The din of voices grew louder in the hall, there was a tread of many +feet upon the stairs, succeeded by a solemn hush, and Maude, +listening to every sound, knew that the man to whom she had been +plighted was giving to another his marriage vow. She had no love for +J.C. De Vere, but as she sat there alone in her desolation, and +thoughts of her sister's happiness rose up in contrast to her own +dark, hopeless lot, who shall blame her if she covered her face with +her hands and wept most bitterly. Poor Maude! It was dark, dark +night within, and dark, dark night without; and her dim eye could +not penetrate the gloom, nor see the star which hung o'er the brow +of the distant hill, where a wayworn man was toiling on. Days and +nights had he traveled, unmindful of fatigue, while his throbbing +heart outstripped the steam-god by many a mile. The letter had +fulfilled its mission, and with one wild burst of joy when he read +that she was free, he started for the North. He was not expected at +the wedding, but it would be a glad surprise, he knew, and he +pressed untiringly on, thinking but one thought, and that, how he +would comfort the poor, blind Maude. He did not know that even then +her love belonged to him, but he could win it, perhaps, and then +away to sunny France, where many a wonderful cure had been wrought, +and might be wrought again. + +The bridal was over, and the congratulations nearly so; when a +stranger was announced, an uninvited guest, and from his armchair in +the corner Louis saw that it was the same kind face which had bent +so fearlessly over his pillow little more than six months before. +James De Vere--the name was echoed from lip to lip, but did not +penetrate the silent chamber where Maude sat weeping yet. + +A rapid glance through the rooms assured the young man that she was +not there: and when the summons to supper was given he went to Louis +and asked him for his sister. + +"She is upstairs," said Louis, adding impulsively: "she will be glad +you have come, for she has talked of you so much." + +"Talked of me!" and the eyes of James De Vere looked earnestly into +Louis' face. "And does she talk of me still?" + +"Yes," said Louis, "I heard her once when she was asleep, though I +ought not to have mentioned it," he continued, suddenly recollecting +himself, "for when I told her, she blushed so red, and bade me not +to tell." + +"Take me to her, will you?" said Mr. De Vere, and following his +guide he was soon opposite the door of Maude's room. + +"Wait a moment," he exclaimed, passing his fingers through his hair, +and trying in vain to brush from his coat the dust which had settled +there. + +"It don't matter, for she can't see," said Louis, who comprehended +at once the feelings of his companion. + +By this time they stood within the chamber, but so absorbed was +Maude in her own grief that she did not hear her brother until he +bent over her and whispered in her ear, "Wake, sister, if you're +sleeping. He's come. He's here!" + +She had no need to ask of him who had come. She knew intuitively, +and starting up, her unclosed eyes flashed eagerly around the room, +turning at last toward the door where she felt that he was standing. +James De Vere remained motionless, watching intently the fair, +troubled face, which had never seemed so fair to him, before. + +"Brother, have you deceived me? Where is he?" she said at last, as +her listening ear caught no new sound. + +"Here, Maude, here," and gliding to her side, Mr. De Vere wound his +arm around her, and kissing her lips, called her by the name to +which she was getting accustomed, and which never sounded so +soothingly as when breathed by his melodious voice. "My poor, blind +Maude," was all he said, but by the clasp of his warm hand, by the +tear she felt upon her cheek, and by his very silence, she knew how +deeply he sympathized with her. + +Knowing that they would rather be alone, Louis went below, where +many inquiries were making for the guest who had so suddenly +disappeared. The interview between the two was short, for some of +Maude's acquaintance came up to see her, but it sufficed for Mr. De +Vere to learn all that he cared particularly to know then. Maude did +not love J.C., whose marriage with another caused her no regret, and +this knowledge made the future seem hopeful and bright. It was not +the time to speak of that future to her, but he bade her take +courage, hinting that his purse, should never be closed until every +possible means had been used for the restoration of her sight. What +wonder, then, if she dreamed that night that she could see again, +and, that the good angel by whose agency this blessing had been +restored to her was none other than James De Vere. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +COUSIN MAUDE. + + +Three days had passed since the bridal, and James still lingered at +Laurel Hill, while not very many miles away his mother waited and +wondered why he did not come. J.C. and Nellie were gone, but ere +they had left the former sought an interview with Maude, whose +placid brow he kissed tenderly as he whispered in her ear: "Fate +decreed that you should not be my wife, but I have made you my +sister, and, if I mistake not, another wishes to make you my +cousin." + +To James he had given back the ornaments intended for another bride +than Nellie, saying, as he did so, "Maude De Vere may wear them +yet." + +"What do you mean?" asked James, and J.C. replied: "I mean that I, +and not you, will have a Cousin Maude." + +Two days had elapsed since then, and it was night again--but to the +blind girl, drinking in the words of love which fell like music on +her ear, it was high noon-day, and the sky undimmed by a single +cloud. + +"I once called you my cousin, Maude," the deep-toned voice said, +"and I thought it the sweetest name I had ever heard, but there is a +nearer, dearer name which I would give to you, even my wife--Maude-- +shall it be?" and he looked into her sightless eyes to read her +answer. + +She had listened eagerly to the story of his love born so long ago-- +had held her breath lest she should lose a single word when he told +her how he had battled with that love, and how his heart had +thrilled with joy when he heard that she was free--but when he asked +her to be his wife the bright vision faded, and she answered +mournfully, "You know not what you say. You would not take a blind +girl in her helplessness." + +"A thousandfold dearer to me for that very helplessness," he said, +and then he told her of the land beyond the sea, where the +physicians were well skilled in everything pertaining to the eye. +"Thither they would go," he said, "when the April winds were +blowing, and should the experiment not succeed, he would love and +cherish her all the more." + +Maude knew he was in earnest, and was about to answer him, when +along the hall there came the sound of little crutches, and over her +face there flitted a shadow of pain. It was the sister-love warring +with the love of self, but James De Vere understood it all, and he +hastened to say, "Louis will go, too, my darling. I have never had a +thought of separating you. In Europe he will have a rare opportunity +for developing his taste. Shall it not be so?" + +"Let him decide," was Maude's answer, as the crutches struck the +soft carpet of the room. + +"Louis," said Mr. De Vere, "shall Maude go with me to Europe as my +wife?" + +"Yes, yes--yes, yes," was Louis' hasty answer, his brown eyes +filling with tears of joy when he heard that he, too, was to +accompany them. + +Maude could no longer refuse, and she half fancied she saw the +flashing of the diamonds, when James placed upon her finger the ring +which bore the inscription of "Cousin Maude." Before coming there +that night, Mr. De Vere had consulted a New York paper, and found +that a steamship would sail for Liverpool on the 20th of April, +about six weeks from that day. + +"We will go in it," he said, "my blind bird, Louis, and I," and he +parted lovingly the silken tresses of her to whom this new +appellation was given. + +There was much in the future to anticipate, and much in the past +which he wished to talk over; so he remained late that night, and on +passing through the lower hall was greatly surprised to see Mrs. +Kennedy still sitting in the parlor. She had divined the object and +result of his visit, and the moment he was gone she glided up the +stairs to the room where Maude was quietly weeping for very joy. The +story of the engagement was soon told, and winding her arm around +Maude's neck Mrs. Kennedy said, "I rejoice with you, daughter, in +your happiness, but I shall be left so desolate when you and Louis +are both gone." + +Just then her eye caught the ring upon Maude's finger, and taking it +in her hand. she admired its chaste beauty, and was calculating its +probable cost, when glancing at the inside she started suddenly, +exclaiming, "'Cousin Maude'--that is my name--the one by which he +always called me. Has it been given to you, too?" and as the throng +of memories that name awakened came rushing over her, the impulsive +woman folded the blind girl to her bosom, saying to her, "My child, +my, child, you should have been!" + +"I do not understand you," said Maude, and Mrs. Kennedy replied, "It +is not meet that we should part ere I tell you who and what I am. Is +the name of Maude Glendower strange to you? Did you never hear it in +your Vernon home?" + +"It seemed familiar to me when J.C. De Vere first told me of you," +answered Maude, "but I cannot recall any particular time when I +heard it spoken. Did you know my mother?" + +"Yes, father and mother both, and loved them too. Listen to me, +Maude, while I tell you of the past. Though it seems so long ago, I +was a schoolgirl once, and nightly in my arms there slept a fair- +haired, blue-eyed maiden, four years my junior, over whom I +exercised an elder sister's care. She loved me, this little blue- +eyed girl, and when your brother first spoke to me I seemed again to +hear her voice whispering in my ear, 'I love you, beautiful Maude.'" + +"It was mother--it was mother!" and Maude Remington drew nearer to +the excited woman, who answered: + +"Yes, it was your mother, then little Matty Reed; we were at school +together in New Haven, and she was my roommate. We were not at all +alike, for I was wholly selfish, while she found her greatest +pleasure in ministering to others' happiness; but she crossed my +path at last, and then I thought I hated her." + +"Not my mother, lady. You could not hate my mother!" and the blind +eyes flashed as if they would tear away the veil of darkness in +which they were enshrouded, and gaze upon a woman who could hate +sweet Matty Remington. + +"Hush, child! don't look so fiercely at me," said Maude Glendower. +"Upon your mother's grave I have wept that sin away, and I know I am +forgiven as well as if her own soft voice had told me so. I loved +your father, Maude, and this was my great error. He was a distant +relative of your mother, whom he always called his cousin. He +visited her often, for he was a college student, and ere I was aware +of it, I loved him, oh, so madly, vainly fancying my affection was +returned. He was bashful, I thought, for he was not then twenty-one, +and by way of rousing him to action. I trifled with another--with +Dr. Kennedy," and she uttered the name spitefully, as if it were +even now hateful to her. + +"I know it--I know it," returned Maude, "he told me that when he +first talked with me of you, but I did not suppose the dark-eyed +student was my father." + +"It was none other," said Mrs. Kennedy, "and you can form some +conception of my love for him, when I tell you that it has never +died away, but is as fresh within my heart this night as when I +walked with him upon the College Green and he Called me 'Cousin +Maude,' for he gave me that name because of my fondness for Matty, +and he sealed it with a kiss. Matty was present at that time, and +had I not been blind I should have seen how his whole soul was bound +up in her, even while kissing me. I regarded her as a child, and so +she was; but men sometimes love children, you know. When she was +fifteen, she left New Haven. I, too, had ceased to be a schoolgirl, +but I still remained in the city and wrote to her regularly, until +at last your father came to me, and with the light of a great joy +shining all over his face, told me she was to be his bride on her +sixteenth birthday. She would have written it herself, he said, only +she was a bashful little creature, and would rather he should tell +me. I know not what I did, for the blow was sudden, and took my +senses away. He had been so kind to me of late--had visited me so +often, that my heart was full of hope. But it was all gone now. +Matty Reed was preferred to me, and while my Spanish blood boiled at +the fancied indignity, I said many a harsh thing of her--I called +her designing, deceitful, and false; and then in my frenzy quitted +the room. I never saw Harry, again, for he left the city next +morning; but to my dying hour I shall not forget the expression of +his face when I talked to him of Matty. Turn away, Maude, turn away! +for there is the same look now upon your face. But I have repented +of that act, though not till years after. I tore up Mattie's +letters. I. said I would burn the soft brown tress--" + +"Oh, woman, woman! you did not burn my mother's hair!" and with a +shudder Maude unwound the soft, white arm which so closely encircled +her. + +"No, Maude, no. I couldn't. It would not leave my fingers, but +coiled around them with a loving grasp. I have it now, and esteem it +my choicest treasure. When I heard that you were born, my heart +softened toward the young girl. Mother and I wrote, asking that +Harry's child might be called for me. I did not disguise my love for +him, and I said it would be some consolation to know that his +daughter bore my name. My letter did not reach them until you had +been baptized Matilda, which was the name of your mother and +grandmother, but to prove their goodness, they ever after called you +Maude." + +"Then I was named for you;" and Maude Remington came back to the +embrace of Maude Glendower, who, kissing, her white brow, continued: +"Two years afterward I found myself in Vernon, stopping for a night +at the hotel. 'I will see them in the morning,' I said; 'Harry, +Matty, and the little child;' and I asked the landlord where you +lived. I was standing upon the stairs, and in the partial darkness +he could not see my anguish when he replied, 'Bless you, miss. Harry +Remington died a fortnight ago.'" + +"How I reached my room I never knew, but reach it I did, and half an +hour later I knelt by his grave, where I wept away every womanly +feeling of my heart, and then went back to the giddy world, the +gayest of the gay. I did not seek an interview with your mother, +though I have often regretted it since. Did she never speak of me? +Think. Did you never hear my name?" + +"In Vernon, I am sure I did," answered Maude, "but I was then too +young to receive a very vivid impression, and after we came here +mother, I fear, was too unhappy to talk much of the past." + +"I understand it," answered Maude Glendower, and over her fine +features there stole a hard, dark look, as she continued, "I can see +how one of her gentle nature would wither and die in this +atmosphere, and forgive me, Maude, she never loved your father as I +loved him, for had he called me wife I should never have been here." + +"What made you come?" asked Maude; and the lady answered, "For +Louis' sake and yours I came. I never lost sight of your mother. I +knew she married the man I rejected, and from my inmost soul I +pitied her. But I am redressing her wrongs and those of that other +woman who wore her life away within these gloomy walls. Money is his +idol, and when you touch his purse you touch his tenderest point. +But I have opened it, and, struggle as he may, it shall not be +closed again." + +She spoke bitterly, and Maude knew that Dr. Kennedy had more than +met his equal in that woman of iron will. + +"I should have made a splendid carpenter," the lady continued, "for +nothing pleases me more than the sound of the hammer and saw, and +when you are gone I shall solace myself with fixing the entire +house. I must have excitement, or die as the others did." + +"Maude--Mrs. Kennedy, do you know what time it is?" came from the +foot of the stairs, and Mrs. Kennedy answered, "It is one o'clock, I +believe." + +"Then why are you sitting up so late, and why is that lamp left +burning in the parlor, with four tubes going off at once? It's a +maxim of mine--" + +"Spare your maxims, do. I'm coming directly," and kissing the blind +girl affectionately, Mrs. Kennedy went down to her liege lord, whom +she found extinguishing the light, and gently shaking the lamp to +see how much fluid had been uselessly wasted. + +He might have made some conjugal remark, but the expression of her +face forbade anything like reproof, and he soon found use for his +powers of speech in the invectives he heaped upon the long rocker of +the chair over which he stumbled as he groped his way back to the +bedroom, where his wife rather enjoyed, than otherwise, the +lamentations which he made over his "bruised shin." The story she +had been telling had awakened many bitter memories in Maude +Glendower's bosom, and for hours she turned uneasily from side to +side, trying in vain to sleep. Maude Remington, too, was wakeful, +thinking over the strange tale she had heard, and marveling that her +life should be so closely interwoven with that of the woman whom she +called her mother. + +"I love her all the more," she said; "I shall pity her so, staying +here alone, when I am gone." + +Then her thoughts turned upon the future, when she would be the wife +of James De Vere, and while wondering if she should really ever see +again, she fell asleep just as the morning was dimly breaking in the +east. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +A SECOND BRIDAL. + + +After the night of which we have written, the tie of affection +between Mrs. Kennedy and the blind girl was stronger than before, +and when the former said to her husband, "Maude must have an outfit +worthy of a rich man's stepdaughter," he knew by the tone of her +voice that remonstrance was useless, and answered meekly, "I will do +what is right, but don't be too extravagant, for Nellie's clothes +almost ruined me, and I had to pay for that piano yesterday. Will +fifty dollars do?" + +"Fifty dollars!" repeated the lady. "Are you crazy?" Then, touched +perhaps by the submissive expression of his face, she added, "As +Maude is blind, she will not need as much as if she were going at +once into society. I'll try and make two hundred dollars answer, +though that will purchase but a meager trousseau." + +Mrs. Kennedy's pronounciation of French was not always correct, and +John, who chanced to be within hearing, caught eagerly at the last +word, exclaiming, "Ki! dem trouses must cost a heap sight mor'n +mine! What dis nigger spec' 'em can be?" and he glanced ruefully at +his own glazed pants of corduroy, which had done him service for two +or three years. + +Maude was a great favorite with John, and when he heard that she was +going away forever he went up to the woodshed chamber where no one +could see him, and seating himself upon a pile of old shingles, +which had been put there for kindling, he cried like a child. + +"It'll be mighty lonesome, knowin' she's gone for good," he said, +"for, though she'll come back agin, she'll be married, and when a +gal is married, that's the last on 'em. I wish I could give her +somethin', to show her my feelin's." + +He examined his hands; they were hard, rough, and black. He drew +from his pocket a bit of looking-glass and examined his face--that +was blacker yet; and shaking his head, he whispered: "It might do +for a mulatto gal, but not for her." Then, as a new idea crossed his +mind, he brightened up, exclaiming, "My heart is white, and if I +have a tip-top case, mebby she won't 'spise a poor old nigger's +picter!" + +In short, John contemplated having his daguerreotype taken as a +bridal present for Maude. Accordingly, that very afternoon he +arrayed himself in his best, and, entering the yellow car of a +traveling artist who had recently come to the village, he was soon +in possession of a splendid case and a picture which he, pronounced +"oncommon good-lookin' for him." This he laid carefully away until +the wedding-day, which was fixed for the 15th of April. When Mr. De +Vere heard of John's generosity to Maude in giving her the golden +eagles, he promptly paid them back, adding five more as interest, +and at the same time asking him if he would not like to accompany +them to Europe. + +"You can be of great assistance to us," he said, "and I will gladly +take you." + +This was a strong temptation, and for a moment the negro hesitated, +but when his eye fell upon his master, who was just then entering +the gate, his decision was taken, and he answered, "No, I'm bleeged +to you. I'd rather stay and see the fun." + +"What fun?" asked Mr. De Vere; and John replied, "The fun of seein' +him cotch it;" and he pointed to the doctor coming slowly up the +walk, his hands behind him and his head bent forward in a musing +attitude. + +Dr. Kennedy was at that moment in an unenviable frame of mind, for +he was trying to decide whether he could part for a year or more +with his crippled boy, who grew each day more dear to him. "It will +do him good, I know," he said, "and I might, perhaps, consent, if I +could spare the money; but I can't, for I haven't got it. That woman +keeps me penniless, and will wheedle me out of two hundred dollars +more. Oh, Mat--" + +He did not finish the sentence, for by this time he had reached the +hall, where he met Mr. De Vere, who asked if Louis was to go. + +"He can't," answered the doctor. "I have not the means. Mrs. Kennedy +says Maude's wardrobe will cost two hundred dollars." + +"Excuse me, sir," interrupted Mr. De Vere. "I shall attend to +Maude's wants myself, and if you are not able to bear Louis' +expenses, I will willingly do it for the sake of having him with his +sister. They ought not to be separated, and who knows but Louis' +deformity may be in a measure relieved?" + +This last decided the matter. Louis should go, even though his +father mortgaged his farm to pay the bill, and during the few weeks +which elapsed before the 15th the house presented an air of bustle +and confusion equal to that which preceded Nellie's bridal. Mr. De +Vere remained firm in his intention to defray all Maude's expenses, +and he delegated to Mrs. Kennedy the privilege of purchasing +whatever she thought was needful. Her selections were usually in +good taste, and in listening to her enthusiastic praises Maude +enjoyed her new dresses almost as much as if she had really seen +them. A handsome plain silk of blue and brown was decided upon for a +traveling dress, and very sweetly the blind girl looked when, +arrayed in her simple attire, she stood before the man of God whose +words were to make her a happy bride. She could not see the sunlight +of spring streaming into the room, neither could she see the +sunlight of love shining over the face of James De Vere, nor yet the +earnest gaze of those who thought her so beautiful in her +helplessness, but she could feel it all, and the long eyelashes +resting on her cheek were wet with tears when a warm kiss was +pressed upon her lips and a voice murmured in her ear, "My wife--my +darling Maude." + +There were bitter tears shed at that parting; Maude Glendower +weeping passionately over the child of Harry Remington, and Dr. +Kennedy hugging to his bosom the little hunchback boy, Matty's boy +and his. They might never meet again, and the father's heart clung +fondly to his only son. He could not even summon to his aid a maxim +with which to season his farewell, and bidding a kind good-by to +Maude, he sought the privacy of his chamber, where he could weep +alone in his desolation. + +Hannah and John grieved to part with the travelers, but the latter +was somewhat consoled by the gracious manner with which Maude had +accepted his gift. + +"I cannot see it," she said, "but when I open the casing I shall +know your kind, honest face is there, and it will bring me many +pleasant memories of you." + +"Heaven bless you, Miss Maude," answered John, struggling hard to +keep back the tears he deemed it unmanly to shed. "Heaven bless you, +but if you keep talking so book-like and good, I'll bust out a- +cryin', I know, for I'm nothin' but an old fool anyhow," and +wringing her hand, he hurried off into the woodshed chamber, where +he could give free vent to his grief. + +Through the harbor, down the bay, and out upon the sea, a noble +vessel rides; and as the evening wind comes dancing o'er the wave it +sweeps across the deck, kissing the cheek of a brown-eyed boy and +lifting the curls from the brow of one whose face, upturned to the +tall man at her side, seems almost angelic, so calm, so peaceful, is +its expression of perfect bliss. Many have gazed curiously upon that +group, and the voices were very, low which said, "The little boy is +deformed," while there was a world of sadness in the whisper, which +told to the wondering passengers that "the beautiful bride was +blind." + +They knew it by the constant drooping of her eyelids, by the +graceful motion of her hand as it groped in the air, and more than +all by the untiring watchfulness of the husband and brother who +constantly hovered near. It seemed terrible that so fair a creature +should be blind; and like the throb of one great heart did the +sympathy of that vessel's crew go out toward the gentle Maude, who +in her newborn happiness forgot almost the darkness of the world +without, or if she thought of it, looked forward to a time when hope +said that she should see again. So, leaving her upon the sea, +speeding away to sunny France, we glance backward for a moment to +the lonely house where Maude Glendower mourns for Harry's child, and +where the father thinks often of his boy, listening in vain for the +sound which once was hateful to his ear, the sound of Louis' +crutches. + +Neither does John forget the absent ones, but in the garden, in the +barn, in the fields, and the woodshed chamber, he prays in his +mongrel dialect that He who holds the wind in the hollow of His hand +will give to the treacherous deep charge concerning the precious +freight it bears. He does not say it in those words, but his +untutored language, coming from a pure heart, is heard by the Most +High. And so the breeze blows gently o'er the bark thus followed by +black John's prayers--the skies look brightly down upon it--the blue +waves ripple at its side, until at last it sails into its destined +port; and when the apple-blossoms are dropping from the trees, and +old Hannah lays upon the grass to bleach the fanciful white bed- +spread which her own hands have knit for Maude, there comes a letter +to the lonely household, telling them that the feet of those they +love have reached the shores of the Old World. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE SEXTON. + + +The Methodist Society of Laurel Hill had built themselves a new +church upon the corner of the common, and as a mark of respect had +made black John their sexton. Perfectly delighted with the office, +he discharged his duties faithfully, particularly the ringing of the +bell, in which accomplishment he greatly excelled his Episcopal +rival, who tried to imitate his peculiar style in vain. No one could +make such music as the negro, or ring so many changes. In short, it +was conceded that on great occasions he actually made the old bell +talk; and one day toward the last of September, and five months +after the events of the preceding chapter, an opportunity was +presented for a display of his skill. + +The afternoon was warm and sultry, and overcome by the heat the +village loungers had disposed of themselves, some on the long piazza +of the hotel, and others in front of the principal store, where, +with elevated heels and busy jackknives, they whittled out shapeless +things, or made remarks concerning any luckless female who chanced +to pass. While thus engaged they were startled by a loud, sharp ring +from the belfry of the Methodist church succeeded by a merry peal, +which seemed to proclaim some joyful event. It was a musical, +rollicking ring, consisting of three rapid strokes, the last +prolonged a little, as if to give it emphasis. + +"What's up now?" the loungers said to each other, as the three +strokes were repeated in rapid succession. "What's got into John?" +and those who were fortunate enough to own houses in the village, +went into the street to assure themselves there was no fire. + +"It can't be a toll," they said. "It's too much like a dancing tune +for that," and as the sound continued they walked rapidly to the +church, where they found the African bending himself with might and +main to his task, the perspiration dripping from his sable face, +which was all aglow with happiness. + +It was no common occasion which had thus affected John, and to the +eager questioning of his audience he replied, "Can't you hear the +ding--dong--de-el. Don't you know what it says? Listen now," and the +bell again rang forth the three short sounds. But the crowd still +professed their ignorance, and, pausing a moment, John said, with a +deprecating manner: "I'll tell the first word, and you'll surely +guess the rest: it's 'Maude.' Now try 'em," and wiping the sweat +from his brow, he turned again to his labor of love, nodding his +head with every stroke. "No ear at all for music," he muttered, as +he saw they were as mystified as ever, and in a loud, clear voice, +he sang, "Maude can see-e! Maude can see-e!" + +It was enough. Most of that group had known and respected the blind +girl, and joining at once in the negro's enthusiasm they sent up a +deafening shout for "Maude De Vere, restored to sight." + +John's face at that moment was a curiosity, so divided was it +between smiles and tears, the latter of which won the mastery, as +with the last hurrah the bell gave one tremendous crash, and he sank +exhausted upon the floor, saying to those who gathered round, "Will +'em hear that, think, in France?" + +"How do you know it is true?" asked one, and John replied, "She writ +her own self to tell it, and sent her love to me; think of dat--sent +her love to an old nigger!" and John glanced at the bell, as if he +intended a repetition of the rejoicings. + +Surely Maude De Vere, across the sea, never received a greater +tribute of respect than was paid to her that day by the warm-hearted +John, who, the moment he heard the glad news, sped away, to proclaim +it from the church-tower. The letter had come that afternoon, and, +as John said, was written by Maude herself. The experiment had been +performed weeks before, but she would wait until assurance was +doubly sure ere she sent home the joyful tidings. It was a wonderful +cure, for the chance of success was small, but the efforts used in +her behalf had succeeded, and she could see again. + +"But what of Louis?" asked Dr. Kennedy, who was listening while his +wife read to him the letter. "What of Louis? Have they done anything +for him?" + +"They had tried, but his deformity could not be helped," and with a +pang of disappointment the father was turning away when something +caught his ear which caused him to listen again. + +"You don't know," Maude wrote, "how great a lion Louis is getting to +be. He painted a picture of me just as I looked that dreadful +morning when I stood in the sunshine and felt that I was blind. It +is a strange, wild thing, but its wildness is relieved by the angel- +faced boy who looks up at me so pityingly. Louis is perfect, but +Maude--oh! I can scarce believe that she ever wore that expression +of fierce despair. Strange as it may seem, this picture took the +fancy of the excitable French, and ere Louis was aware of it he +found himself famous. They come to our rooms daily to see le petit +artist, and many ask for pictures or sketches, for which they pay an +exorbitant price. One wealthy American gentleman brought him. a +daguerreotype of his dead child, with the request that he would +paint from it a life-sized portrait, and if he succeeds in getting a +natural face he is to receive five hundred dollars. Think of little +Louis Kennedy earning five hundred dollars, for he will succeed. The +daguerreotype is much like Nellie, which will make it easier for +Louis." + +This was very gratifying to Dr. Kennedy, who that day more than once +repeated to himself, "Five hundred dollars: it's a great deal of +money, for him to earn; maybe he'll soon be able to help me, and +mercy knows I shall soon need it if that woman continues her +unheard-of extravagances. More city company to-morrow, and I heard +her this morning tell that Jezebel in the kitchen to put the whites +of sixteen eggs into one loaf of cake. What am I coming to?" and Dr. +Kennedy, groaned in spirit as he walked through the handsome +apartments, seeking in vain for a place where he could sit and have +it seem as it used to do, when the rocking-chair which Matty had +brought stood invitingly in the middle of the room where now a +center-table was standing, covered with books and ornaments of the +most expensive kind. + +Since last we looked in upon her Maude Glendower had ruled with a +high hand. She could not live without excitement, and rallying from +her grief at parting with her child, she plunged at once into +repairs, tearing down and building up, while her husband looked on +in dismay. When they were about it, she said, they might as well +have all the modern improvements, and water, both hot and cold, was +accordingly carried to all the sleeping apartments, the fountain- +head being a large spring distant from the house nearly half a mile. +Gas she could not have, though the doctor would hardly have been +surprised had she ordered the laying of pipes from Rochester to +Laurel Hill, so utterly reckless did she seem. She was fond of +company, and as she had visited everybody, so everybody in return +must visit her, she said, and toward the last of summer she filled +the house with city people, who vastly enjoyed the good cheer with +which her table was always spread. + +John's desire to see the fun was more than satisfied, as was also +Hannah's, and after the receipt of Maude's letter the latter +determined to write herself, "and let Miss De Vere know just how +things was managed." In order to do this, it was necessary to employ +an amanuensis, and she enlisted the services of the gardener, who +wrote her exact language, a mixture of negro, Southern, and Yankee. +A portion of this letter we give to the reader. + +After expressing her pleasure that Maude could see, and saying that +she believed the new Miss to be a good woman, but a mighty queer +one, she continued: + +"The doin's here is wonderful, and you'd hardly know the old place. +Thar's a big dining room run out to the south, with an expansion +table mighty nigh a rod long, and what's more, it't allus full too, +of city stuck-ups--and the way they do eat! I haint churned nary +pound of butter since you went away. Why, bless yer soul, we has to +buy. Do you mind that patch of land what the doctor used to plant +with corn? Well, the garden sass grows there now, and t'other garden +raises nothin' but flowers and strabries, and thar's a man hired on +purpose to tend 'em. He's writin' this for me. Thar's a tower run up +in the northeast eend, and when it's complete, she's goin' to have a +what you call 'em--somethin' that blows up the water--oh, a +fountain. Thar's one in the yard, and, if you'll believe it, she's +got one of Cary's rotary pumpin' things, that folks are runnin' +crazy about, and every hot day she keeps John a-turnin' the injin' +to squirt the water all over the yard, and make it seem like a +thunder shower! Thar's a bathroom, and when them city folks is here +some on 'em is a-washin' in thar all the time. I don't do nothin' +now but wash and iron, and if I have fifty towels I have one! But +what pesters me most is the wide skirts I has to do up; Miss Canady +wears a hoop bigger than an amberell. They say Miss Empress, who +makes these things, lives in Paris, and I wish you'd put yourself +out a little to see her, and ask her, for me, to quit sendin' over +them fetched hoops. Thar aint no sense in it! We've got jiggers in +every chamber where the water spirts out. Besides turnin' the injin +John drives the horses in the new carriage. Dr. Canady looks poorly, +and yet madam purrs round him like a kitten, but I knows the claws +is thar. She's about broke him of usin' them maxims of his, and your +poor marm would enjoy it a spell seein' him paid off, but she'd pity +him after a while. I do, and if things continners to grow wus, I +shall just ask pra'rs for him in my meetin'. Elder Blossom is +powerful at that. My health is considerable good, but I find I grow +old. Yours, with respect and regrets," Hannah. + +"P.S.--I don't believe that t'other beau of yourn is none the +happiest. They live with Miss Kelsey yet, but thar's a story round +that she's a-gwine to marry again, and the man don't like De Vere, +and won't have him thar, so if the doctor should run out, as I'm +afraid he will, what'll them lazy critters do? Nellie's got to be +kinder sozzlin' in her dress, and he has took to chawin' tobacker by +the pound. They was here a spell ago, and deaf as I be, I hearn 'em +have one right smart quarrel. He said she was slatterly, or +somethin' like that, and she called him a fool, and said she 'most +knew he wished he'd took you, blind as you was, and he said, kinder +sorry-like, 'Maude would never of called me a fool, nor wore such +holes in the heels of her stockin's.' I couldn't hear no more, but I +knew by her voice that she was cryin', and when I went below and +seen the doctor out behind the woodshed a-figgerin' up, says I to +myself, `If I was a Univarselar, I should b'lieve they was all on +'em a-gittin' thar pay,' but bein' I'm a Methodis', I don't believe +nothin'." + +This letter, which conveyed to Maude a tolerably correct idea of +matters at home, will also show to the reader the state of feeling +existing between J.C. and Nellie. They were not suited to each +other, and though married but seven months, there had been many a +quarrel besides the one which Hannah overheard. Nellie demanded of +her husband more love than he had to bestow, and the consequence +was, a feeling of bitter jealousy on her part and an increasing +coldness on his. They were an ill-assorted couple, utterly incapable +of taking care of themselves, and when they heard from Mrs. Kelsey +that she really contemplated a second marriage, they looked forward +to the future with a kind of hopeless apathy, wholly at variance +with the feelings of the beautiful, dark-eyed Maude and the noble +James De Vere. + +Their love for each other had increased each day, and their +happiness seemed almost greater than they could bear on that +memorable morn when the husband bent fondly over his young girl- +wife, who laid a hand on each side of his face, and while the great +tears rolled down her cheeks, whispered joyfully, "I can see you, +darling; I can see!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +HOME AGAIN. + + +Little more than two years have passed away since the September +afternoon when the deep-toned bell rang out the merry tidings, +"Maude can see--Maude can see," and again upon the billow another +vessel rides. But this time to the westward; and the beautiful lady, +whose soft, dark eyes look eagerly over the wave says to her +companion, "It is very pleasant going home." + +They had tarried for a long time in Italy, both for Louis' sake and +because, after the recovery of her sight, Maude's health had been +delicate, and her husband would stay until it was fully re- +established. She was better now; roses were blooming on her cheek-- +joy was sparkling in her eye--while her bounding step, her ringing +laugh, and finely rounded form told of youthful vigor and perfect +health. And they were going home at last--James, Louis, and Maude-- +going to Hampton, where Mrs. De Vere awaited so anxiously their +coming. She did not, however, expect them so soon, for they had left +England earlier than they anticipated, and they surprised her one +day; as she sat by her pleasant window gazing out upon the western +sky and wondering how many more suns would set ere her children +would be with her. It was a happy meeting; and after the first joy +of it was over Maude inquired after the people at Laurel Hill. + +"It is more than four months since we heard from them," she said, +"and then Mrs. Kennedy's letter was very unsatisfactory. The doctor, +she hinted, had lost his senses, but she made no explanation. What +did she mean?" + +"Why," returned Mrs. De Vere, "he had a paralytic shock more than +six months ago." + +"Oh, poor father," cried Louis, while Mrs. De Vere continued, "It +was not a severe attack, but it has impaired his health somewhat. +You knew, of course, that his house and farm were to be sold." + +"Our house, our old home! It shall not be!" and the tears glittered +in Louis' eyes, while, turning to Mrs. De Vere, Maude whispered +softly, "His wife has ruined him, but don't let us talk of it before +Louis." + +The lady nodded, and when at last they were alone, told all she knew +of the affair. Maude Glendower had persisted in her folly until her +husband's property was reduced to a mere pittance. There was a heavy +mortgage upon the farm, and even a chattel-mortgage upon the +furniture, and as the man who held them was stern and unrelenting, +he had foreclosed, and the house was to be sold at auction. "Why has +mother kept it from us?" said Maude, and Mrs. De Vere replied, +"Pride and a dread of what you might say prevented her writing it, I +think. I was there myself a few weeks since, and she said it could +do no good to trouble you. The doctor is completely broken down, and +seems like an old man. He cannot endure the handsome rooms below, +but stays all day in that small garret chamber, which is furnished +with your carpet, your mother's chair, and the high-past bedstead +which his first wife owned." + +Maude's sympathies were roused, and, fatigued as she was, she +started the next morning with her husband and brother for Laurel +Hill. Louis seemed very sad, and not even the familiar way-marks, as +he drew near his home, had power to dissipate that sadness. He could +not endure the thought that the house where he was born and where +his mother had died should pass into the hands of strangers. He had +been fortunate with his paintings, and of his own money had nearly +two thousand dollars; but this could do but little toward canceling +the mortgage, and he continued in the same dejected mood until the +tall poplars of Laurel Hill appeared in view. Then, indeed, he +brightened up, for there is something in the sight of home which +brings joy to every human heart. + +It was a hazy October day. The leaves were dropping one by one, and +lay in little hillocks upon the faded grass. The blue hills which +embosomed the lake were encircled with a misty veil, while the +sunshine seemed to fall with a somber light upon the fields of +yellow corn. Everything, even the gossamer thistle-top which floated +upon the autumnal air, conspired to make the day one of those +indescribable days when all hearts are pervaded with a feeling of +pleasurable sadness--a sense of beauty mingled with decay. + +"Is this home?" cried Maude, as they stopped before the gate. "I +should hardly have recognized it." + +It was indeed greatly changed, for Maude Glendower had perfect +taste, and if she had expended thousands upon the place, she had +greatly increased its value. + +"Beautiful home, beautiful home--it must not be sold," was Louis' +exclamation as he gazed upon it. + +"No, it must not be sold," returned Maude, while her husband smiled +quietly upon them both, and said nothing. + +Maude Glendower had gone to an adjoining town, but Hannah and John +greeted the strangers with nosy demonstrations, the latter making +frequent use of his coat skirts to wipe away his tears. + +"Can you see, marm--see me as true as you live?" he said, bowing +with great humility to Maude, of whom he stood a little in awe, so +polished were her manners and so elegant her appearance. Maude +assured him that she could, and then observing how impatient Louis +appeared, she asked for Dr. Kennedy. Assuming a mysterious air, old +Hannah whispered, "He's up in de ruff, at de top of de house, in dat +little charmber, where he stays mostly, to get shet of de music and +dancin' and raisin' ob cain generally. He's mighty broke down, but +the sight of you will peart him up right smart. You'd better go up +alone--he'll bar it better one at a time." + +"Yes, go, sister," said Louis, who heard the last part of Hannah's +remarks, and felt that he could not take his father by surprise. So, +leaving her husband and brother below, Maude glided noiselessly +upstairs to the low attic room, where, by an open window, gazing +sorrowfully out upon the broad harvest-fields, soon to be no longer +his, a seemingly old man sat. And Dr. Kennedy was old, not in years, +perhaps, but in appearance. His hair had bleached as white as snow, +his form was bent, his face was furrowed with many a line of care, +while the tremulous motion of his head told of the palsy's blighting +power. And he sat there alone, that hazy autumnal day, shrinking +from the future and musing sadly of the past. From his armchair the +top of a willow tree was just discernible, and as he thought of the +two graves beneath that tree he moaned, "Oh, Katy, Matty, darlings. +You would pity me, I know, could you see me now so lonesome. My only +boy is over the sea--my only daughter is selfish and cold, and all +the day I'm listening in vain for someone to call me father." + +"Father!" The name dropped involuntarily from the lips of Maude, +standing without the door. + +But he did not hear it, and she could not say it again; for he was +not her father; but her heart was moved with sympathy, and going to +him laid her hands on his head and looked into his face. + +"Maude--Matty's Maude--my Maude!" And the poor head shook with a +palsied tremor, as he wound his arms around her and asked her when +she came. + +Her sudden coming unmanned him wholly, and bending over her he wept +like a little child. It would seem that her presence inspired in him +a sense of protection, a longing to detail his grievances, and with +quivering lips he said, "I am broken in body and mind. I've nothing +to call my own, nothing but a lock of Matty's hair and Louis' little +crutches--the crutches that you cushioned so that I should not hear +their sound. I was a hard-hearted monster then. I aint much better +now, but I love my child. What of Louis, Maude? Tell me of my boy," +and over the wrinkled face of the old man broke beautifully the +father-love, giving place to the father-pride, as Maude told of +Louis' success, of the fame he won, and the money he had earned. + +"Money!" Dr. Kennedy started quickly at that word, but ere he could +repeat it his ear caught a coming sound, and his eyes flashed +eagerly as, grasping the arm of Maude, he whispered, "It's music, +Maude--it's music--don't you hear it? Louis crutches on the stairs. +He comes! he comes! Matty's boy and mine! Thank Heaven, I have +something left in which that woman has no part." + +In his excitement he had risen, and with lips apart, and eyes bent +on the open door he waited for his crippled boy; nor waited long ere +Louis came in sight, when with a wild, glad cry which made the very +rafters ring he caught him to his bosom. Silently Maude stole from +the room, leaving them thus together, the father and his son. Nor is +it for us to intrude upon the sanctity of that interview, which +lasted more than an hour, and was finally terminated by the arrival +of Maude Glendower. She had returned sooner than was anticipated, +and, after joyfully greeting Maude started in quest of Louis. + +"Don't let her in here," whispered the doctor, as he heard her on +the stairs. "Don't let her in here; she'd be seized with a fit of +repairs. Go to her; she loves you, at least." + +Louis obeyed, and in a moment was in the arms of his stepmother. She +had changed since last they, met. Much of her soft, voluptuous +beauty was gone, and in its place was a look of desperation, as if +she did not care for what she had done, and meant to brave it +through. Still, when alone with Mr. De Vere and Maude, she conversed +freely of their misfortunes, and ere the day was over they +thoroughly understood the matter. The doctor was ruined; and when +his wife was questioned of the future she professed to have formed +no plan, unless, indeed, her husband lived with Nellie, who was now +housekeeping, while she went whither she could find a place. To this +arrangement Mr. De Vere made no comment. He did not seem disposed to +talk, but when the day of sale came he acted; and it was soon +understood that the house together with fifty acres of land would +pass into his hands. Louis, too, was busy. Singling out every +article of furniture which had been his mother's, he bought it with +his own money, while John, determining that "t'other one," as he +called Katy, should not be entirely overlooked, bid off the high- +post bedstead and chest of drawers which once were hers. Many of the +more elegant pieces of furniture were sold, but Mr. De Vere kept +enough to furnish the house handsomely; and when the sale was over +and the family once more reassembled in the pleasant parlor, Dr. +Kennedy wept like a child as he blessed the noble young man who had +kept for him his home. Maude Glendower, too, was softened; and going +up to Mr. De Vere she said, "If I know how to spend lavishly I know +also how to economize, and henceforth none shall accuse me of +extravagance." + +These were no idle words, for, as well as she could, she kept her +promise; and though she often committed errors, she usually tried to +do the thing which her children would approve. After a day or two +Mr. De Vere and Maude returned to Hampton, leaving Louis with his +father, who, in his society, grew better and happier each day. +Hannah, who was growing old, went, from choice, to live with Maude, +but John would not forsake his master. Nobody knew the kinks of the +old place like himself, he said, and he accordingly stayed, +superintending the whole, and coming ere long to speak of it all as +his. It was his farm, his oxen, his horses, his everything, except +the pump which Hannah in her letter to Mauda, had designated as an +injun. + +"'Twas a mighty good thing in its place," he said, "and at a fire it +couldn't be beat, but he'd be hanged if he didn't b'lieve a nigger +was made for somethin' harder and more sweaty-like than turnin' that +crank to make b'lieve rain when it didn't. He reckoned the Lord knew +what he was about, and if He was a mind to dry up the grass and the +arbs, it wasn't for Cary nor nary other chap to take the matter into +their own hands, and invent a patent thunder shower." + +John reasoned clearly upon some subjects, and though his reasoning +was not always correct, he proved a most invaluable servant. Old +Hannah's place was filled by another colored woman, Sylvia, and +though John greatly admired her complexion, as being one which would +not fade, he lamented her inefficiency, often wishing that the +services of Janet Hopkins could be again secured. + +But Janet was otherwise engaged; and here, near the close of our +story, it may not be amiss to glance for a moment at one who in the +commencement of the narrative occupied a conspicuous place. About +the time of Maude's blindness she had removed to a town in the +southern part of New York, and though she wrote apprising her young +mistress of the change, she forgot entirely to say where she was +going, consequently the family were ignorant of her place of +residence, until accident revealed it to J.C. De Vere. It was but a +few weeks preceding Maude's return from Europe that he found himself +compelled to spend a Sabbath in the quiet town of Fayette. Not far +from his hotel an Episcopal church reared its slender tower, and +thither, at the usual hour for service, he wended his way. There was +to be a baptism that morning, and many a smile flitted over the face +of matron and maid, as a meek-looking man came slowly up the aisle, +followed by a short, thick, resolute Scotchwoman, in whom we +recognize our old friend Janet Hopkins. Notwithstanding her firm +conviction that Maude Matilda Remington Blodgett was her last and +only one, she was now the mother of a sturdy boy, which the meek man +carried in his arms. Hot disputes there had been between the twain +concerning a name, Mr. Hopkins advocating simply John, as having +been borne by his sire, while Janet, a little proud of the notoriety +which her daughter's cognomen had brought to her, determined to +honor her boy with a name which should astonish every one. + +At the time of Maude's engagement with J.C. De Vere she had written +to know what J.C. was for, and Jedediah Cleishbotham pleased her +fancy as being unusual and odd. Indirectly she had heard that Maude +was married to Mr. De Vere, and gone to Europe, and supposing it was +of course J.C., she on this occasion startled her better half by +declaring that her son should be baptized "John Joel Jedediah +Cleishbotham," or nothing! It was in vain that he remonstrated. +Janet was firm, and hunting up Maude's letter, written more than +three years before, she bade him write down the name, so as not to +make a blunder. But this he refused to do. "He guessed he could +remember that horrid name; there was not another like it in +Christendom," he said, and on the Sunday morning of which we write +he took his baby in his arms, and in a state of great nervous +irritability started for church, repeating to himself the names, +particularly the last, which troubled him the most. Many a change he +rang upon it, and by the time he stood before the altar the +perspiration was starting from every pore, so anxious was he to +acquit himself creditably, and thus avoid the Caudle lecture which +was sure to follow a mistake. "But he should not make a mistake; he +knew exactly what the name was; he'd said it over a hundred times," +and when the minister, taking the baby in his arms, said, "Name this +child," he spoke up loud and promptly, jerking out the last word +with a vengeance, as if relieved to have it off his mind, "John Joel +Jedediah Leusebottom." + +"That's for me," was J.C.'s involuntary exclamation, which, however, +was lost amid the general titter which ran through the house. + +In an agony of anxiety Janet strove to rectify the mistake, while +her elbow sought the ribs of her conjugal lord; but the minister +paid no heed, and when the screaming infant was given back to its +frightened father's arms it bore the name of "John Joel," and +nothing more. + +To this catastrophe Janet was in a measure reconciled when after +church J.C. sought her out and, introducing himself, informed her of +the true state of affairs. + +"Then you aint married to Maude after all," said the astonished +Janet, as she proceeded to question him of the doctor's family. "It +beats all, I never heard on't; but no wonder, livin' as we do in +this out o' the way place--no cars, no stage, no post office but +twice a week--no nothin'." + +This was indeed the reason why Janet had remained so long in +ignorance of the people with whom she formerly lived. Fayette, as +she said, was an out of the way place, and after hearing from a man +who met them in New York, that Maude and Louis were both gone to +Europe, she gave Laurel Hill no further thought, and settled quietly +down among the hills until her monotonous life was broken by the +birth of a son, the John Joel who, as she talked with J.C., slept +calmly in his crib. + +"So you aint merried to her," she kept repeating, her anger at her +husband's treacherous memory fast decreasing. "I kinder thought her +losin' my money might make a difference, but you're jest as happy +with Nellie, aint you?" + +The question was abrupt, and J.C. colored crimson as he tried to +stammer out an answer. + +"Never you mind," returned Janet, noticing his embarrassment." +Married life is just like a checker-board, and all on us has as much +as we can do to swaller it at times; but you would of been happy +with Maude, I know." + +J.C. knew so, too, and long after he parted with Janet her last +words were ringing in his ears, while mingled with them was the +bitter memory, "It might perhaps have been." + +But there was no hope now, and with an increased air of dejection he +went back to his cheerless home. They were housekeeping, Nellie and +himself, for Mrs. Kelsey had married again, and as the new husband +did not fancy the young people they had set up an establishment of +their own, and J.C. was fast learning how utterly valueless are +soft, white hands when their owner knows not how to use them. Though +keeping up an outside show, he was really very poor, and when he +heard of the doctor's misfortune he went to his chamber and wept as +few men ever weep. As Hannah well expressed it, "he was shiftless," +and did not know how to take care of himself. This James De Vere +understood, and after the sale at Laurel Hill he turned his +attention to his unfortunate cousin, and succeeded at last in +securing for him the situation of bookkeeper in a large +establishment in New York with which he was himself remotely +connected. Thither about Christmas J.C. and Nellie went, and from +her small back room in the fifth story of a New York boarding-house +Nellie writes to Louis glowing descriptions of high life in the +city, and Louis, glancing at his crutches and withered feet, smiles +as he thinks how weary he should be climbing the four flights of +stairs which lead to that high life. + +And now, with one more glance at Maude, we bring our story to a +close. It is Easter, and over the earth the April sun shines +brightly, just as it shone on the Judean hills eighteen hundred +years ago. The Sabbath bells are ringing, and the merry peal which +comes from the Methodist tower bespeaks in John a frame of mind +unsuited to the occasion. Since forsaking the Episcopalians. he had +seldom attended their service, but this morning, after his task is +done, he will steal quietly across the common to the old stone +church, where James De Vere and Maude sing together the glorious +Easter Anthem. Maude formerly sang the alto, but in the old world +her voice was trained to the higher notes, and to-day it will be +heard in the choir where it has so long been missed. + +The bells have ceased to toll, and a family group come slowly up the +aisle. Dr. Kennedy, slightly bent, his white hair shading a brow +from which much of his former sternness has gone, and his hand +shaking but slightly as he opens the pew door and then steps back +for the lady to enter, the lady Maude Glendower, who walks not as +proudly as of old. She, too, has been made better by adversity, and +though she will never love the palsied man, her husband, she will be +to him a faithful wife, and a devoted mother to his boy, who in the +square, old-fashioned pew sits where his eye can rest upon his +beautiful sister, as her snowy fingers sweep once more the organ +keys, which tremble joyfully as it were to the familiar touch. Low, +deep-toned, and heavy is the prelude to the song, and they who +listen feel the floor tremble beneath their feet. Then a strain of +richest melody echoes through the house, arid the congregation hold +their breath, as Maude De Vere sings to them of the Passover once +sacrificed for us. + +And now, shall we not leave them thus with the holy Easter light +streaming up the aisles and the sweet music of the Easter song dying +on the air? + + + + + +End Project Gutenberg Etext of Cousin Maude, by Mary J. Holmes + diff --git a/old/maude10.zip b/old/maude10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..24517d0 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/maude10.zip |