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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/36374-8.txt b/36374-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..70602ee --- /dev/null +++ b/36374-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,17187 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Wives and Widows; or The Broken Life, by Ann S. Stephens + +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: Wives and Widows; or The Broken Life + +Author: Ann S. Stephens + +Release Date: June 11, 2011 [EBook #36374] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WIVES AND WIDOWS *** + + + + +Produced by Roberta Staehlin, Pat McCoy and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + +TRANSCRIBER NOTES: + + Words enclosed in ='s are indicated as BOLD-FACED TYPE. + + Words enclosed in _'s are indicated as ITALIC TYPE. + + [Symbol: Right] indicates a small illustrated hand pointing + towards the right. + + [Symbol: Left] indicates a small illustrated hand pointing towards + the left. + + Additional notes may be found at the end of the text. + + + + + WIVES AND WIDOWS; + + OR, + + THE BROKEN LIFE. + + BY + + MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS. + +AUTHOR OF "RUBY GRAY'S STRATEGY," "FASHION AND FAMINE," "THE CURSE OF +GOLD," "THE REJECTED WIFE," "THE OLD HOMESTEAD," "THE WIFE'S SECRET," +"MABEL'S MISTAKE," "THE GOLD BRICK," "SILENT STRUGGLES," "MARY DERWENT," +"DOUBLY FALSE," "THE HEIRESS," "THE SOLDIER'S ORPHANS," ETC., ETC. + + + When falsehood genders in a human soul, + Blossoms may hide the reptile in his creeping, + But every pulse will stir at his control, + Or feel the burden of his poisonous sleeping, + Until the tight'ning circle of his coils + Binds down the heart, which God alone assoils. + + In honest hearts the gentle truth reposes; + As nightingales, with rapturous music filled, + Nestle down, softly, in the clust'ring roses, + While the sweet night and moonlit air is thrilled + With perfect harmonies,--truth will arise + And send its voice, upringing, to the skies. + + +PHILADELPHIA: +T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS; +306 CHESTNUT STREET. + + + + + TO + + MISS ELIZA S. ORMSBEE, + + OF + + PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, + + THIS BOOK IS + + MOST AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. + + ANN S. STEPHENS. + + ST. CLOUD HOTEL, NEW YORK, + NOVEMBER, 1869. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. LEAVING MY HOME 25 + + II. MY NEW HOME 31 + + III. A NEW LIFE 35 + + IV. THREATENED WITH SEPARATION 40 + + V. AFTER THE WEDDING 48 + + VI. TELLING HOW LOTTIE INTRODUCED HERSELF 53 + + VII. OUT IN THE WORLD 59 + + VIII. OUR GUEST 63 + + IX. FANCIES AND PREMONITIONS 70 + + X. NEW VISITORS 76 + + XI. THE BASKET OF FRUIT 81 + + XII. BREAKFAST WITH OUR GUEST 86 + + XIII. JESSIE LEE AND HER MOTHER 88 + + XIV. INTRUSIVE KINDNESS 92 + + XV. THE TRAIL OF THE SERPENT 97 + + XVI. AFTER DREAMING 101 + + XVII. LOTTIE EXPRESSES HER OPINION OF THE + WIDOW 106 + + XVIII. THE UNWELCOME PROPOSAL 109 + + XIX. OUT UPON THE RIDGE 112 + + XX. ADROIT CROSS-QUESTIONING 118 + + XXI. THE EVENING AFTER BOSWORTH'S PROPOSAL 121 + + XXII. SOWING SEED FOR ANOTHER DAY 125 + + XXIII. AN OUTBREAK OF JEALOUSY 130 + + XXIV. THE OLD PENNSYLVANIA MANSION 135 + + XXV. THE MOTHER AND GRANDMOTHER 139 + + XXVI. SICK-BED FANCIES 143 + + XXVII. THE FIRST SOUND SLEEP 147 + + XXVIII. THE INTERVIEW IN THE WOODS 150 + + XXIX. TROUBLES GATHER ABOUT OUR JESSIE 155 + + XXX. MRS. DENNISON GATHERS WILD FLOWERS 159 + + XXXI. LOTTIE'S ADVICE 165 + + XXXII. MRS. LEE DREAMS OF PASSION-FLOWERS 169 + + XXXIII. COMPANY FROM TOWN 173 + + XXXIV. OUR VISIT TO THE OLD MANSION 177 + + XXXV. YOUNG BOSWORTH'S SICK-ROOM 181 + + XXXVI. LOTTIE'S REPORT 184 + + XXXVII. MY FIRST QUARREL WITH MR. LEE 188 + +XXXVIII. MR. LAWRENCE MAKES A CALL 192 + + XXXIX. LOTTIE AS A LETTER-WRITER 197 + + XL. YOUNG BOSWORTH RECEIVES A LETTER 200 + + XLI. OUT IN THE STORM 206 + + XLII. JESSIE GETS TIRED OF HER GUEST 208 + + XLIII. A CONSULTATION WITH LOTTIE 211 + + XLIV. THE MIDNIGHT DISCOVERY 216 + + XLV. BAFFLED AND DEFEATED 221 + + XLVI. LOTTIE OWNS HERSELF BEATEN 225 + + XLVII. MR. LEE SENDS IN THE ACCOUNT OF HIS GUARDIANSHIP 227 + + XLVIII. COMING OUT OF A DANGEROUS ILLNESS 231 + + XLIX. LOTTIE SEEMS TREACHEROUS 237 + + L. CONFIDENTIAL CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE WIDOW AND + MRS. LEE 240 + + LI. THE FATHER AND DAUGHTER 247 + + LII. THE FATAL LETTER 252 + + LIII. DEATH IN THE TOWER-CHAMBER 257 + + LIV. MRS. LEE'S FUNERAL 261 + + LV. OLD MRS. BOSWORTH'S VISIT 265 + + LVI. LOTTIE'S REVELATIONS 268 + + LVII. MRS. DENNISON URGES LAWRENCE TO PROPOSE 272 + + LVIII. AFTER THE PROPOSAL 277 + + LIX. A HEART-STORM ABATING 282 + + LX. THE TWO LETTERS 286 + + LXI. THE DEPARTING GUEST 290 + + LXII. WHOLLY DESERTED 297 + + LXIII. OLD-FASHIONED POLITENESS 302 + + LXIV. NEWS FROM ABROAD 306 + + LXV. LOTTIE LEAVES A LETTER AND A BOOK 313 + + LXVI. MRS. DENNISON'S JOURNAL 316 + + LXVII. OUR FIRST VISITOR 323 + + LXVIII. THE WATERFALL 329 + + LXIX. THE THREATENED DEPARTURE 338 + + LXX. THE MIDNIGHT WALK 348 + + LXXI. AWAY FROM HOME 355 + + LXXII. OUT IN THE WORLD AGAIN 358 + + LXXIII. FIRST WIDOWHOOD 362 + + LXXIV. LOTTIE'S LETTER 385 + + LXXV. LOTTIE IN PARIS 392 + + LXXVI. THE CASKET OF DIAMONDS 395 + + LXXVII. ALL TOGETHER AGAIN 404 + + + + +WIVES AND WIDOWS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +LEAVING MY HOME. + + +At ten years of age I was the unconscious mistress of a heavy stone +farm-house and extensive lands in the interior of Pennsylvania, with +railroad-bonds and bank-stock enough to secure me a moderate +independence. I shall never, never forget the loneliness of that old +house the day my mother was carried out of it and laid down by her +husband in the churchyard behind the village. The most intense suffering +of life often comes in childhood. My mother was dead; I could almost +feel her last cold kisses on my lip as I sat down in that desolate +parlor, waiting for the guardian who was expected to take me from my +dear old home to his. The window opened into a field of white clover, +where some cows and lambs were pasturing drowsily, as I had seen them a +hundred times; but now their very tranquillity grieved me. It seemed +strange that they would stand there so content, with the white clover +dropping from their mouths, and I going away forever. My mother's +canary-bird, which hung in the window, began to sing joyously over my +head, as if no funeral had passed from that room, leaving its shadows +behind, and, more grievous still, as if it did not care that I might +never sit and listen to it again. + +One of the neighbors had kindly volunteered to take charge of the gloomy +old house till my guardian came, but her presence disturbed me more than +funereal stillness would have done. I had a family of dolls up stairs, +and any amount of tiny household furniture, which I would have given the +world to take with me; but this thrifty neighbor protested against it. +She said that I was almost a young lady and must forget such childish +things, now that I was going into the world to be properly educated. + +To a shy, sensitive child, this was enough. So, with a double sense of +bereavement, I saw my pretty dolls and delicate toys swept into a basket +and carried off to the woman's house, between two stout Irish girls, who +seemed to be taking my heart off with them. + +In less than half an hour one of this woman's children came down the +road with my prettiest doll under her arm. Its flaxen curls were all +disordered, and its tiny feet, with their slippers of rose-colored kid, +had evidently been in the mud, where she had probably insisted on making +the doll walk. While I sat by the window, waiting and watching, this +bare-headed little girl sat down by a fragment of stone that had fallen +from the wall close by, and began pounding the head of my doll upon it +with all her might. A cry broke from me that made the little wretch +start and run away, leaving my poor mutilated doll by the stone. + +I ran out, seized upon my ruined doll, and came back to the house, +crying over it in bitter grief. With trembling hands I unlocked my +trunk, which was ready packed for travelling, and laid my broken +treasure down among the most precious of my belongings. Just then Mrs. +Pierce, our neighbor, came in, and in a half jeering, half kind way, +expostulated with me for being such a little goose as to cry over a +doll. This woman did not mean to be hard with me; far from it. Persons +exist who are really kind-hearted, and seem cruel only because they +cannot comprehend feelings utterly unknown to themselves. To me that +doll was a type of my wrecked home; to her it was a combination of wax, +sawdust, and leather, which a few dollars could at any time replace; +besides that, she was put a little on the defensive by the fault of her +child. + +While she reasoned with me in her coarse kindness, which only wounded me +deeper, a carriage had driven up, and two persons entered through the +outer door, which had been left open by the little girl when she ran +into the house to claim her mother's protection. I was sitting on the +floor by my trunk, with both hands pressed to my face, sobbing +piteously, when a sweet, strange voice checked the force of that woman's +harangue; some one sank down to the floor by me, and I was all at once +drawn into a close embrace. + +"Don't cry, dear; it is all very sad, no doubt, but you are going with +us, and to-morrow will be brighter." + +I looked through a mist of tears that half blinded me, and saw the +kindest, sweetest face that my eyes ever dwelt upon. It was that of a +young woman, perhaps twenty or twenty-two years of age. "You must not +feel yourself alone, dear child," she said, smoothing my hair with one +hand, from which she had drawn off the glove. + +"Oh," said Mrs. Pierce, pushing her daughter behind her, "you will never +believe, marm, what she is crying about,--leaving home, you think it is? +Oh, no; Miss is just taking on about a snip of a doll which my little +girl here smashed a trifle, not meaning any harm, for children will be +children, you know." + +Here Mrs. Pierce patted her child's head, who cast sidelong glances at +me and attempted to hide herself behind her mother's dress. + +I looked up at the young lady, blushing red, and begging her in my heart +not to think me so very ridiculous. + +She smiled encouragingly, and turning upon Mrs. Pierce, said, very +gravely,-- + +"I am surprised, madam, that you should think this a slight cause of +grief. The smallest thing connected with the child's home must be dear +to her." + +Mrs. Pierce gave her head a fling, and muttered that she meant no harm. +Miss was welcome to all her things back again; her children did not want +them, not they. + +"You are right," said the young lady, quite seriously; "have everything +she has owned or loved packed up at once." + +Mrs. Pierce went out muttering; the child followed her with a finger in +her mouth. + +"Now," said the young lady, "is there anything else you would like to +take away,--a bird, a little dog, or the cat you have loved; we can find +room for them?" + +My heart leaped. I had the dear old canary-bird; and lying upon the +crimson cushions of my mother's easy-chair was "Fanny," a pretty +chestnut-colored dog, that had all the grace of an Italian greyhound, +and the brightness of a terrier. + +"May I take her with me?" I cried, springing up and falling on my knees +before my mother's arm-chair, and hugging Fanny to my bosom. "I am so +glad, so grateful, so--" + +Here I broke down, and burying my face in Fanny's fur, cried and laughed +out my thankfulness. When I looked up, one of the handsomest men I ever +saw stood by the young lady, who was smiling upon him, though I saw +bright tears in her eyes. + +"So this is your father's ward," said the gentleman, reaching out his +hand as if he had known me all his life. + +I put my hand in his, and felt my heart grow warm, as if it had found +shelter from its loneliness. He exchanged glances with the lady, and I +felt sure that they were pleased with me. + +"Now," said the gentleman, "we have a little time, if you want to take +leave of anything." + +"Oh, I have been taking leave ever since she died," I answered, saddened +by his words. "I couldn't do it again." + +"Perhaps that is best," said the gentleman; "so get on your things; we +have a long ride before us." + +I started to obey him, but all at once a doubt seized upon me. Who were +these people? I did not know them. Mr. Olmsly, my guardian, I had been +informed, was an old man. What right had these people to take me away +from my home? + +I stole back to the gentleman, trembling, and filled with sudden +apprehension. + +"Please tell me who you are," I said; "Mr. Olmsly! I thought he was an +old man." + +"And so he is," answered the gentleman, smiling pleasantly, "but he is +not very well, and so his daughter came after you in his place. This is +Miss Olmsly." + +The young lady stooped down and kissed me. My arms stole around her neck +unawares, and from that moment I loved her dearly. When I turned away +from the young lady's caresses, her companion said,-- + +"Now you would like to know who I am; isn't that so?" + +I nodded my head, feeling that I could tell at once who he was. + +"Her brother, I am sure of that, you are both so--so--pleasant." + +I was about to say "handsome," but changed it to the less flattering +word. + +They both laughed, and the gentleman glanced at Miss Olmsly's face, +which, I was surprised to see, turned red as a wild rose. + +"No, I am not her brother," he said, flushing up himself; "but I shall +be a great deal at your guardian's, and I shall think that you are +almost my sister. Will you like that?" + +"So much!" I replied, with a light heart, for all my anxieties were put +to rest. "Now I will get my things." + +I went up-stairs and entered my own little room for the last time. How +homelike and familiar everything looked: the little bed in the corner, +with its draperies of white net; the muslin window-curtains, through +which I could see great clusters of old-fashioned white roses, still wet +with morning dew, and lying like snow among the vivid green of the thick +leaves; my little walnut-wood desk, where I had got my first +lessons,--all appealed to me with a force that swept away the dawning +cheerfulness which the conversation down-stairs had inspired. I sat down +by the window and looked sadly out. The sash was open, and a sweet +fragrance came up from the white clover-field, mingling with that of the +great rose-bush, which had reached the second-story windows, ever since +I could remember. I could not bear to leave all these things. Yet the +house had been so lonely that I had no clear wish to stay. To me there +was something terrible in leaving that safe home-shelter. I grew cold, +and began to cry again. Afar off I could see the graveyard where my +mother was lying. Her presence was close to me then. How could I go away +and leave her resting there within sight of the old house? But she had +herself arranged that I should live with my guardian. Why should these +bitter regrets depress me, while obeying her? It was that strong home +feeling which has never left me during my life,--the feeling which +prompted me to gather a handful of those white roses, and keep them till +they crumbled into nothing but the ashes of a flower. Oh, how my heart +ached when we drove away from that old stone house! the picture is even +yet burned in on my brain. That tall hickory-tree at one end--the willow +in front. Those fine old lilac-bushes, and the clustering roses reaching +luxuriantly to the upper windows, in the full rich blossoming of early +June. Many a time since, when in sadness and sorrow this picture has +come back to my mind, I have wondered if it might not have been better +had I stayed in that quiet old home. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +MY NEW HOME. + + +Mr. Olmsly was a very wealthy man. His property stretched far into an +iron and coal district of Pennsylvania, and every day increased its +value. It lay in and around a fine inland town, situated among some of +the most picturesque scenery to be found in the State. His residence was +about five miles from this town, and a most beautiful spot it was. The +house was built on the last spur of a range of hills, which ran for some +distance down the valley of the Delaware. Around this tall ridge the +noble river made a bold sweep, turned an old stone mill on its outer +curve, and went careering down one of the richest and most beautiful +valleys that the eye ever dwelt upon. The whole of this mountain spur, +the mill and the land down to the river, which swept around it like an +ox-bow, was the property of Mr. Olmsly. His house of heavy stone was +built half-way up the side of the ridge, in the form of the letter T, +which ran lengthwise along the face of the hill, presenting a pointed +roof, and one sharp gable in the front view. The walls were stuccoed +like many houses to be found in European countries, and were settled +back on the hill by three curving terraces, two of them blooming with +rare flowers. These terraces cut the hill as with a girdle of blossoms +about half-way up from its base. The first was a carriage-road, which +was connected with the house by a long flight of steps leading across +the first flower-terrace to the front door. + +In front, the house was three stories high. The basement story opened on +the first broad terrace, with its wreathing vines, and glowing blossoms. +An oriel window curved out from the gable, and a square balcony +surrounded by an arabesque railing, formed a pleasant lounging-place +over the front entrance. At the back of the house the entrance was from +the third terrace, directly to the second story, which was half occupied +by a broad hall, ending in the square balcony; a noble drawing-room, +whose latticed windows opened on every side save the front, from which +the oriel jutted, opened upon a platform some ten feet wide, which +formed a promenade around one end of the second story, and along the +back of the building, surrounded by a low balustrade, to which a hundred +rare plants and vines were clinging; beyond this was a labyrinth of +flower-beds, through which a broad gravel-path wound gracefully, +separating the green turf of the hill-side from the third and last +terrace, which was most beautiful of all. + +These terraces threw broad belts of flowers half across the face of the +hill, and ended in pleasant footpaths which led through the turf and +under some sheltering trees to the top of the ridge. There everything +was wild as nature left to herself can be. At noonday the sunshine was +darkened by the woven branches of pines, hemlocks, beech, and oak trees, +with a tangle of blossoming laurel among the dusky undergrowth. From +this eminence, you commanded a glorious sight of two magnificent +valleys,--one stretching off toward the Blue Ridge and overlooking the +town, the other opening in rich luxuriance down the banks of the +Delaware, mile after mile, league after league, till villages in the +distance seemed scarcely more than a handful of snow-flakes. + +Half-way down you saw the house I have been describing, the +carriage-road that wound beneath it, and below that, the hill sloping +downward in a broad, rolling lawn, which lost itself with gentle +undulations in the green bosom of the valley. + +This was the home to which I was brought, and this beautiful view lay +before me as I stood upon the terrace-steps, wondering that the earth +could be so lovely. Miss Olmsly paused by my side, enjoying my +surprise. + +"You like it," she said; "we shall be very happy here, for I know how it +will be with my father when he sees your demure little face." + +"Happy," I said, looking at the flowers which bloomed around me +everywhere. "I did not know that there was any place in the world so +lovely as this." + +"I am glad you are pleased, young lady." + +I started, turned toward the speaker, and saw a fine old gentleman, with +soft brown eyes, and hair as white as snow, standing on the step above +me. + +"It is my father, dear," said Miss Olmsly, mounting a step higher and +offering the old man a kiss; "she is a dear, good child, papa, and we +love her already." + +"I am glad of that," he said, stooping down and kissing me on the +forehead. "Your father was my friend, child, and I will be yours. Come +into the house; you must be tired and hungry." + +We entered the house which was henceforth to be my home. Miss Olmsly +took me directly to a pretty chamber, that had been evidently prepared +for my coming. Everything was simple, neat, and pure as snow. As if they +had known how I loved flowers, they were placed in the deep +window-seats, on the white marble of the mantelpiece, and the principal +window opened on the loveliest portion of the third terrace, where a +world of flowers were in bloom from May till November. + +There I hung up the bird-cage which I had brought from home in the +carriage, and the little inmate began to sing joyously, as if he +understood all the beauties of our new home and rejoiced over them. + +Fanny, too, put her paws on the window-seat, and looked out demurely, as +if taking a survey of the landscape. She dropped down with what seemed a +little bark of approval, and curling herself up on my travelling-shawl, +which had dropped to the floor, watched me as I unlocked my trunk and +prepared for dinner. + +Miss Olmsly was right. I had a demure little face, but it looked upon me +from the glass less sorrowfully than I had seen it since my mother's +death. The sombre blackness of my dress threw it all into shadow and +made the deep blue-gray of my eyes darker, by far, than was natural. +This, contrasting with the slightness of my form, made me look like a +little woman who had known suffering, rather than the sensitive child +that I really was. + +The dinner filled me with awe; the bright silver, the cut-glass, and +delicate china impressed me greatly, and I was half afraid to tell the +waiter what I wanted, he seemed so great a gentleman. Everybody was +kind, the conversation was bright and cheerful; I understood it all, and +felt myself brightening under it. Once or twice I caught myself laughing +at the pleasant things the old gentleman was saying. + +After dinner, when Mr. Olmsly was asleep in his great easy-chair, Mr. +Lee and Miss Olmsly went out on the platform, lifted a little from the +third terrace, and walked up and down, now and then looking in through +one of the open French windows, and saying a kind word to me. I remember +thinking what a splendid couple they were, and how happy they seemed to +be in each other's company. No wonder; she was a lovely creature, +slender, graceful, and caressing in all her ways, while he was like a +demigod to my imagination, grand as a monarch, and good as he was +kingly. Even then, young as I was, the smile with which he occasionally +bent to her, made my heart yearn with a strange desire that I, too, +might be so smiled upon. + +Still, I was neither lonely nor home-sick, for my whole heart had gone +out toward those young people, and I had begun to connect the old +gentleman lovingly with my own father, whose face and kind ways I could +just remember. + +After a while I stole up to my own room again, unpacked my trunk, hung +up my mourning dresses, and lingered regretfully over my doll a few +moments, ashamed of having loved it so; for the sneers of Mrs. Pierce +had made a deep impression on me, and I began to feel that I ought to be +something more than a child. Still I could not put the poor, broken +thing entirely away, but a sight of it always gave me a heart-ache. It +is a terrible thing when one's childhood is broken up with harsh words +and coarse jeers. + +Where refinement is, illusions remain beautiful far beyond childhood. +They belong to innocence, and seldom dwell long with the worldly and the +bad. + +Mrs. Pierce had swept away one joy from my life, but a beautiful +compensation had been sent me in my new home and my new friends. It all +seemed like paradise to me when I went to bed that night. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +A NEW LIFE. + + +The next morning, Miss Olmsly came into my room and helped me arrange my +little mementos in a homelike fashion. My work-box was brought forth and +placed on the little table provided for it. My pretty writing-desk was +unlocked and placed convenient for use. Brackets were ready for the +ornaments that had been so dear that I could not leave them behind. From +that hour, this room became in fact my home; the old stone farm-house +receded into the shadows of the past. I thought of it sometimes sadly, +as I thought of the graves where my parents lay. The sight of an +old-fashioned damask-rose has still power to bring tears into my eyes, +and my heart would thrill if I passed a white clover-patch, years and +years after that I left at home had been ploughed out of existence. But +after all, the brightest sunshine of my life fell through the latticed +windows of my room on the Ridge. + +No humming-bird ever loved flowers as I did;--no artist ever gave +himself up to the enjoyment of a fine landscape more completely than it +was in my nature to do. I have no doubt that the beauty that surrounded +me was one great cause of the tranquil happiness which settled upon my +whole being as I became accustomed to the place. I loved to spend whole +mornings alone on the Ridge, collecting mosses and searching for +birds'-nests, which were abundant in the pines and the drooping hemlock +boughs. Among Miss Olmsly's old school-books I found one that gave me an +elementary knowledge of botany; I did not consider it a dry study, but +loved to sit upon a rock carpeted with moss, and look into the fragrant +hearts of the wild-flowers, searching out their sweet secrets with a +feeling of profound sympathy in their loveliness and in the races to +which they belonged. Child as I was, these things satisfied me, and I +wanted no other companionship. + +Mr. Olmsly's land covered extensive woods beside those on the Ridge. +There was nothing likely to harm me anywhere in the grounds, and I was +allowed to run wild out of doors wherever I pleased. Thus I made +acquaintance with many things beside the flowers; gray squirrels and +pretty striped chipmunks, with bushy tails curled over their backs, +would sit upon the tree-boughs just over my head and look at me with shy +friendliness. Now and then, I saw a rabbit peeping at me through the +ferns. These pretty creatures were not afraid, for no sportsman was ever +allowed to bring his gun into those woods, and I think they knew how far +I was from wishing to harm them. + +My mother had been a timid woman, and her love for me always rendered +her unduly careful. She had a terror of allowing me out of her sight, +and being feeble herself, kept me mostly indoors, where I had learned +to content myself in a passionate love of my dolls, that really seemed +to me like living creatures capable of loving me as I worshipped them. + +But at the Ridge I really did enjoy living companionship. Nature lay all +before me, wild as the first creation; or so blended with art that its +richest beauties were enhanced threefold. There was also vitality and +intelligence in these living creatures that stirred my heart with a +strange sympathy. + +My dog Fanny sometimes troubled me a little: she would insist upon +routing the ground-birds from their nests, and in an effort to become +friendly with the rabbits, would send them scampering wildly into the +underbrush. I loved Fanny dearly, but it was not pleasant to see my pets +driven off by her frolicsome way of making herself agreeable. + +One day I had gone farther than usual into the woods, and come out upon +the outer verge of Mr. Olmsly's estate. Here the trees grew thin and +scattered off into a pasture, where a flock of sheep was grazing; beyond +that, some fine meadow sloped down toward the valley, cut in two by the +highway, on which a large stone house was visible through the trees +growing thickly around it. + +A flat rock, half in sunshine, half in shadow, lay hidden in the grass +close by the footpath I had been pursuing, and I sat down upon it, +somewhat tired from my long walk in the woods. Fanny was with me and +sprang with a leap to my side, but kept moving restlessly about, as if +she did not quite like the position, or saw something that displeased +her. + +I had gathered some spotted leaves of the adder's-tongue, with a few of +its golden flowers, and had found some lovely specimens of cup-moss on +an old stump, which nature was embellishing like a fairy palace, and sat +admiring them in the pleasant sunshine, when Fanny gave a sudden yelp, +and bounded from the rock, barking furiously. + +I dropped the flowers into my lap, half frightened by her sudden +outburst; but as she continued wheeling around the rock, darting off and +back again, yelping like a fury, I ordered her to be quiet, and fell to +arranging my treasures once more. + +All at once Fanny ceased barking, but crept close to me, seized upon my +dress with her teeth and began to pull backward, almost tearing the +fabric. Just then I heard a rustling sound on the rock behind me; +forcing my dress from the dog's teeth, I sprang up, and saw quivering +upon the moss what seemed to be a dusky shimmer of jewels all in motion. +In an instant the glitter left my eyes. I felt myself turning into +marble. There, coiled up ready for a spring, its head flattened, its +eyes glittering venomously, was a checkered adder preparing to lance out +upon me. + +I could not move, I could not scream; my strained eyes refused to turn +from the reptile, who, quivering with its own poison, seemed to draw me +toward him. For my life I could not have moved; my lips seemed +frozen,--a fearful fascination possessed me utterly. It was broken by +the rush of a fragment of rock, under which I saw the reptile writhing +fiercely. Then my faculties were unchained, and a shriek broke from my +cold lips. I sprang from the rock and was running madly away, when Mr. +Lee caught me in his arms, and I shuddered into insensibility there. + +When I came to, the crushed adder lay dead upon the rock, from a crevice +of which he had crept forth upon me. Fanny was barking furiously around +it, and Mr. Lee had carried me to a spring close by, where he was +bathing my face with water. + +I looked around in terror. "Is it gone? is it dead?" I questioned, +shuddering. + +He pointed out the adder, which hung supine and dead over the edge of +the rock, and attempted to soothe my fears, but I trembled still, and +could hardly force myself to take a second look at my dead foe. + +How kind Mr. Lee was then; how tenderly he compassionated my terror, and +assured me of safety. Fanny, too, forgot her rage, and came leaping +around me. Oh, how grateful I was to that man. My heart yearned to say +all it felt, but found no language. I could only lift my eyes to him now +and then in dumb thankfulness, wondering if he cared that I was so +grateful, or dreamed how much a girl of my years could feel. + +How foolish all these thoughts were; of course, he only thought of me as +a frightened child. From that day I never knelt to God, morning or +evening, without asking some blessing on the head of Mr. Lee. Gratitude +had deepened my reverence for that man into such worship as only a +sensitive child can feel. Yes, worship is the word, for this young man +in the grandeur of his fine person, gentle manners, and superior age, +seemed as far above me as the clouds of heaven are above the daisies in +a meadow. Even now I cannot comprehend the feelings with which I +regarded him. + +Have I said that Mr. Lee was a partner in the Olmsly Iron Works, and +though he boarded in town, half his time was of necessity spent at the +Ridge? My guardian only attended to business through him, and expected a +report at least twice a week. + +Many and many a time, when I knew that he was coming, have I wandered +down the carriage-road to the grove where it curved off from the +highway, and was closed into our private ground by a gate. There, +sheltered by the spruce-trees and hidden by the laurel-bushes, I have +waited hours, listening for the tread of his horse, and feeling +supremely rewarded by a brief glimpse of his manly figure, as it dashed +up the road, unconscious alike of my presence and my worship. + +I never mentioned these feelings, or all the secret sources of happiness +to which my soul awoke, not even to Miss Olmsly. I would have died +rather than breathe them to any human being; they were sacred to me as +my prayers. Sometimes I would be days together without speaking to Mr. +Lee, but I was seldom out of the sound of his voice when he visited the +Ridge, and would follow him and Miss Olmsly like a pet dog about the +garden, glad to see her brighten and smile when he looked upon her, and +loving them both with my whole heart. + +Sometimes other company came from the town. We frequently drove over +there and brought Mr. Lee home with us; indeed, he was one of the family +in every respect, save that he did not sleep at the Ridge, and called +himself a visitor. One thing is very certain--on the days he did not +come Miss Olmsly was sure to grow serious, almost sad; only there never +was any real sadness at our house in those days. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THREATENED WITH SEPARATION. + + +This beautiful life must have an end. Even childhood has its duties, and +mine could no longer be evaded. + +One day Miss Olmsly came into my room, and looking around, sighed; but +there was a smile on her lip and an expression in her face that made me +wonder at the sigh; for I had not learned that superabundant joy has +sometimes the same expression as grief; but oh, how different the +feeling. + +She sat down by the window, and drawing me close to her, kissed my +forehead two or three times with so much feeling that I began to +tremble. + +"Is anything the matter?" I said, winding my arms around her neck; "have +I done wrong?" + +"Wrong, my sweet child, no; who ever accused you of being anything but +the best girl in the world? I was only thinking how lonesome you would +be without us." + +"Without you?" I faltered,--"without you?" + +I felt myself growing pale, my arms fell away from that white neck, and +I looked piteously in her kind face, afraid to ask the meaning of these +words. + +"Don't look so frightened, dear," said Miss Olmsly, drawing me fondly to +her side. "Even if we were not going, you must have been sent to school. +No young lady can get along without education, you know; still, I shall +feel very anxious about you." + +"Are you going away; am I to be left?" + +I could ask no more; the very idea of parting with them choked me. + +Miss Olmsly drew my face to hers as if she wanted to keep me from +looking at her so earnestly. My cheek was wet with tears, but hers was +red as it touched mine, and I could feel that it was burning. + +"I am about to tell you something that I hope you will be glad to hear, +darling," she said, almost in a whisper. "In two weeks Mr. Lee and I are +going to be married. Why, how you shiver, child! I should have told you +of this first; the very thought of a school terrifies you." + +I heard this and no more. Another death seemed upon me; I fell upon my +knees and caught at her dress with both hands. + +"Oh, do not leave me--I shall die! I shall die!" She lifted me from the +floor and attempted to soothe me, but I was not to be pacified. To live +without him--never to see him! There would be nothing worth loving in my +life after that. + +"Is it so hard to part with us," she said, smoothing my hair with both +hands. + +I flung my arms around her neck in passionate grief. + +"Let me go too; oh, take me, take me!" + +"But we are going to Europe." + +"Over the sea? I know, I know, take me!" + +She kissed me again, and seemed thoughtful. My heart rose: I began to +plead with hope. She listened tenderly; told me not to cry, and left me +in a state of suspense hard to bear. An hour after this I saw her +walking in the garden with Mr. Lee. She was addressing him with sweet +earnestness. He looked smilingly down into her face and seemed to +expostulate against something that she was urging. At last he appeared +to give way, but shook his head and threatened her with his finger, +which she answered by tossing the ripe leaves of an autumn rose in his +face. As he shook them laughingly away, his eyes fell on me where I +leaned from the window, and he made a sign for me to come down. + +Breathless, and wild with anxiety, I ran down to the garden and stood +beside him, panting for breath, eager to speak, and yet afraid. + +"Well, little lady," he said, holding out a hand; "you are determined +that we shall not leave you behind." + +"It would kill me," I murmured, striving to read my fate in his eyes. + +"But we shall be gone from home a long time." + +"My home is where--where she is," I answered. + +Why did I hesitate to include him. I think he noticed it, for he said, +laughing, "Then you care everything for her, nothing for me?" + +I burst into tears and cried out in my trouble, "Oh, you are cruel to +me; you laugh when I am so unhappy." + +"But no one shall be made so unhappy when--when--" Here Miss Olmsly +broke off what she had begun to say, and flushed like the rose she had +just torn to pieces. + +"When we are married; that is what she will not say, sweetheart," broke +in Mr. Lee, blushing a little himself; "and if it really will make you +unhappy to stay behind, why, there must be some way found by which you +can go with us." + +I caught a deep breath and felt a glow of keen happiness rush up to my +face, but no word would leave my lips. + +"Now, this will make you happy?" questioned Miss Olmsly, looking into my +eyes,--I think as much to avoid his, as from a wish to read my joy +there. + +"So happy," I answered. + +"But we shall be gone a long time and shall travel a great deal, while +you must be put to school." + +This dampened my spirits a little, but I answered, bravely, that I did +not mind, so long as there was no ocean between us. + +Then they informed me that Mr. Olmsly had consented that I should go +with them to Paris and remain in school while they travelled. Then he +would join us and make new arrangements for the future. + +After explaining all this to me, the young people walked off together, +satisfied that I was made happy as themselves; and so I ought to have +been; but my poor heart would not rest, and I went off into the woods +like a wild bird, wondering why it was that a flutter of pain still kept +stirring in my bosom. + +They were married just two weeks from that day. All the principal +families of the place were invited, and the entertainment proved a grand +affair. All the grounds were illuminated for the occasion. The house was +one blaze of lights. Every tree on the hill-side or the sloping lawn +seemed blossoming with fire, or drooping with translucent fruit, so +numerous were the colored lamps and gorgeous lanterns that hung amid +their foliage. + +It was like fairy-land to me. The moon was at its golden fulness, and +never before had the purple skies seemed so full of stars; but, spite of +this, I was sad and restless. Miss Olmsly insisted upon it that my +mourning should be laid aside, and I felt strange in the cloudy +whiteness of my dress, simple and plain as it was. Indeed, the whole +thing seemed to me like a dream which must pass away on the morrow. +Perhaps it was this abrupt change in my dress which made me feel so +lonely when all the world was gay and brilliant beyond anything my short +life had witnessed. Perhaps I felt sad at the thought of leaving my +native land. Be this as it may, I can look back upon few nights of my +life more dreary than that upon which the two best friends I ever had, +or ever shall have, were married. + +Memory is full of pictures; events fade away, feelings die out, but so +long as the heart keeps a sentiment or the brain holds an image, groups +will start up from the past and bring back scenes which no effort of the +mind can displace. It is strange, but such pictures are burned, as it +were, upon the soul unawares, and often without any remarkable event +which can be said to have impressed them there. You may have known a +person all your life, yet remember him only as he was presented to you +at some given moment. Whole years may pass in which you scarcely seem to +have observed him; but at some one moment he comes out upon your +recollection with all his features perfect and clearly cut as a cameo. + +Of all the pictures burned in upon my life, that of Mr. Lee and his +bride, as they stood up in that long drawing-room to be married, will be +the last to die out from my mind. No bridesmaids were in attendance; no +ushers coming and going drew attention from that noble couple. This was +the picture,--a woman standing at the left hand of a tall, stately man. +He was upright, firm, and self-poised as the pillar of some old Grecian +temple. She drooped gently forward, her hands unconsciously clasped, the +long black lashes sweeping her cheeks; a soft tremor, as of red +rose-leaves stirred by the wind, passing over her lips; draperies of +satin, glossy and white as crusted snow, fell around her; a garland of +blush-roses crowned the braids of purplish-black hair thickly coiled +around a most queenly head. Draperies of rich, warm crimson fell from +the windows just behind them, and swept around the foot of a noble vase +of Oriental alabaster, from which a tall crimson and purple fuchsia-tree +dropped its profuse bells. Directly the clergyman, with a book in his +hand, broke into the picture; but my mind rejects him and falls back +upon the man, and the woman who stood with lovelight in her eyes and +prayers at her heart, waiting to become his wife. + +There was great rejoicing after the picture was lost in a crowd of +congratulating friends; music sent its soft reverberations out among the +flowers, that gave back rich odors in return; for it was a lovely +autumnal night, and the whole platform to which the windows opened was +garlanded in with hot-house plants. I remember seeing groups of persons +wandering about in the illuminated grounds. Their laughter reached me as +I sat solitary and alone in the oriel window, over which lace curtains +fell, and were kindled up like snow by the lights from without. + +I was very sad that night, and felt the tears stealing slowly into my +eyes. Every one was happy, but joy had forgotten to find me out. All at +once the lace curtains were lifted softly and fell rustling down again. +_She_ had thought of me even in her happiest moments. Her arms were +folded around me; her lips, warm with smiles, were pressed to my face. + +"All alone and looking so sad! why will you not enjoy yourself like the +rest?" she said. + +"I am so young and so wicked," I answered, wiping the tears from my +eyes. + +"Wicked! oh, not that, only there is no one of your own age here; come +out a little while; he has been asking for you." + +"For me?" + +"Of course; who else should he think of? Why, child, you will never know +how dearly we both love you." + +"And you always will?" I asked, holding my breath in expectation of her +answer. + +"And always will, be sure of that. Ah! here he comes to promise for +himself." + +Yes; there he stood holding back the curtains, proud, smiling, and +strong, as I shall always remember him. + +"Ah! you have found her, silly thing, hiding away by herself," he +exclaimed, kindly. + +"I have just made a promise for you," answered the bride with gentle +seriousness. + +"Which I will keep; for henceforth, fair lady, am I not your slave." + +"I have promised to love this girl so long as I shall live, and that you +will be her very best friend, and love her dearly." + +"Dearly, you say?" + +"Most dearly." + +"Next to yourself?" + +"Next to myself; and after me, best of all." + +"Ah, it is easy to promise that, for, next to yourself, sweet wife, she +is the dearest creature in existence." She held my hand in hers while he +was speaking. When he uttered the word wife, I felt her finger quiver as +if some strange thrill had flashed down from her heart, and the broad +white lids drooped suddenly, veiling the radiance of her eyes. + +"Now that I have promised, let us seal the compact," he said, with +touching seriousness; and lifting me for a moment in his arms, he +pressed a kiss upon my lips. + +"Why, how she trembles; don't be afraid, you sensitive little thing; +come, come go with us and see how the people are making themselves +happy." + +The bride took his arm, and leading me with his disengaged hand, he +crossed the drawing-room and went out on the flower-wreathed platform, +where a band of music was filling the night with harmonies. + +Here an ecstasy of feeling came upon me; I remembered all that both +these persons had promised, and that it would be a solemn compact which +they would never think of breaking. I should be with them, not for a +time only, but so long as I lived. Remember, I was an imaginative girl, +and knew but little of the mutability of human affairs. I only felt in +my soul that these two persons whom I loved so entirely, would be +faithful to the promise they had made that night, and this certainly +filled me with exultation that was, for the time, something better than +happiness. After a while, Mr. Lee dropped my hand, but it crept back to +his, and I made a signal that he should bend his head. + +"It is a promise," I whispered; "you will never, never send me away from +you?" + +"It is a promise," he answered, smiling down upon me. + +"Good night," I said, longing to be alone in my room where I could feel +of a certainty that the few words spoken that night had anchored me for +life. "Good night; I shall never leave you or her while I live." + +It seemed a rash promise, but I made it to God in my prayers that night. +The reader shall see how I kept it. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +AFTER THE WEDDING. + + +Our Jessie was born in Paris, a little more than a year after her +parents were married, and a lovelier child never drew breath. I was in +school then, and she was two months old before I saw her, but she had +learned to smile, and was a beautiful, bright little creature even then. +How I worshipped the child! no elder sister ever rendered her heart more +completely up to an infant of her own blood, than I gave mine. All the +affection I had ever felt for the parents was intensified and softened +into infinite tenderness for their little girl. In her I resolved to +repay some of the kindness which had been so lavishly bestowed on me. +How this was to be done, I could not tell, but I had dreams of great +sacrifices, unlimited devotion, and such care as one human being never +took of another. Thus the first existence of this child was woven into +my own better life and became a part of it. + +Our Jessie was two years old when Mr. Olmsly joined us in Europe, and +for the first time saw his little grandchild; before she had counted +another year, the good old man was dead and buried in a strange country. +He left a will contrary to all expectation, written after he had seen +and loved little Jessie. All his vast property was left to Mr. Lee and +his wife, but on the death of Mrs. Lee, even though the husband was +still living, one half the estate was to revert, unrestricted and +uncontrolled, to her daughter. + +This was all, and with it the persons in interest were satisfied; +indeed, the property was large enough to have been divided half a dozen +times, and still have been sufficient for the ambition of any reasonable +person. + +Mr. Lee did not return to the United States at the death of his +father-in-law; there was, in reality, nothing to call him home. He had +retired from active business soon after his marriage, and the old world +had so many resources of knowledge and pleasure, for persons of their +fine cultivation, that they lingered on, year after year, without a wish +for change, sometimes travelling from country to country, but making +Paris their head-quarters so long as I remained in school. + +After that, we spent a year in Italy, and some months in Germany and +Spain, where I became perfect mistress of the languages, and found +happiness in imparting them to "Our Jessie," who became more lovely and +lovable every year of her life. + +At last we went to the Holy Land, and lingered a while in Egypt, where +Mrs. Lee was taken ill, almost for the first time in her life, and then +came the only real sorrow that we had known since Mr. Olmsly's death. + +The moment it was possible, we returned to Paris, in order to get the +best medical advice. It came all too soon; Mrs. Lee was pronounced a +confirmed invalid, some disease of the nerves, in which the spine was +implicated, threatened a tedious, if not incurable illness. + +At this time Jessie was ten years old, and I had entered the first +stages of womanhood; as her mother became more and more frail, the dear +child was almost entirely given up to me, and my love for her became +absolute idolatry. The child had always been taught to call me aunt, and +for her sake I was ready to give up all the bright social prospects that +opened to me just then. Indeed, there never was a time in my life that I +could not have found pleasure in sacrificing anything to the parents or +the child. + +One thing troubled Mrs. Lee at this time,--a craving desire to go home +seized upon her. With an invalid's incessant longing, she wearied of the +objects that had so pleasantly amused her, and sighed for rest. But it +had been arranged that Jessie should be educated at the same school +which I had left, and the gentle mother could not find it in her heart +to be separated from that dear one. + +Now came the time for my dream to be realized. Why should "Our Jessie" +be given up to the hard routine of a school, when I could make her +studies easy and her life pleasant. It was in my power to keep the +mother and child in one home. + +I found Mr. Lee and his wife together one day, and made my proposition. +I would become Jessie's governess. + +My generous friends protested against this. It was, they said, the +opening of my life. In order to do this, I must give up the society +which I had but just entered, and perhaps injure my own prospects in the +future. No, no, they could not permit a sacrifice like this. + +But if they were generous, I was resolute. To have Jessie always with +me, had been the brightest dream of my girlhood. I could not be +persuaded to give it up. What did I care for society, if she was to +suffer the dreary routine of the school-life from which I had but just +been emancipated? I really think it would have broken my heart had the +dear child been left behind. But great love always prevails. We sailed +for America a united family, happy even with the drawback of Mrs. Lee's +illness, which in itself was seldom painful, and her untiring +cheerfulness was never broken. + +The valley of the Delaware had become highly cultivated in our long +absence. A railroad ran up the banks of the river, from which our house +could be seen standing on the hill-side miles and miles away. I started +with surprise when it first met our view. A square stone tower, three +stories high, loomed up behind the pointed gables and balconied front, +giving a castellated air to the whole building. + +This had been done by Mr. Lee's orders. He had drawn the plans, and his +architect had carried them out splendidly. Our first view of the house +was accompanied with exclamations of pleasure which delighted Mr. Lee, +who had kept all his improvements a secret, that he might enjoy our +surprise. Indeed, the site of the house was so finely uplifted from the +valley, that the effect was that of many lordly mansions we had seen on +the Continent, though I do not remember one more picturesque in itself, +or that could command a landscape to compare with this in extent or +varied beauty. + +It was a lovely June day when we reached the Ridge; everything had been +prepared for our reception. In the years of our absence nothing had been +permitted to go to decay, but many improvements presented themselves as +we turned up the carriage-road. A young peach-orchard had grown into +bearing trees; grape trellices were tangled thickly with vines; choice +fruit-trees of every kind had just lost their blossoms. A range of +hot-houses glittered through the trees. All this made the Ridge more +beautiful by far than it had been years before when it seemed a paradise +to me. On entering the house, we were still more pleasantly surprised. +Everything rich and rare that a long residence abroad had enabled Mr. +Lee to collect, was arranged through the rooms,--bronzes, statuettes of +marble, old china carvings, pictures, ornaments of malachite, and Lapes +lazula, met us on every hand. All this might have seemed out of place in +a country house of almost any ordinary description, where the occupant +was likely to spend half the year in town; but Mr. Lee had fitted up +this place as his principal and permanent residence. The health of his +wife demanded quiet; her tastes required beautiful objects, and all +these rare articles had been carefully selected for her pleasure. Here +she found many a precious gem of art which she had seen in her travels, +admired, but never thought to possess. But he had remembered her +faintest preference, and the proofs of his unbounded devotion met her at +every turn, as we entered, what was, in fact, the blending of an old and +new home. + +Not one article of the old furniture was missing, every sweet +association had been preserved with religious care; but affection had +grafted the new life she had been leading on the reminiscences of her +girlhood, and, spite of her infirmity and fatigue, Mrs. Lee was +supremely happy as she entered her home. The square tower was entirely +modern, and everything it contained had been sent from abroad. The lower +room was a library, with pointed windows, a black-walnut floor, and a +small Gobeline carpet in the centre of the room, upon which a heavily +carved table was placed. From floor to ceiling the walls were lined with +books, richly bound, and carefully selected; the book-cases were each +surmounted with a bas-relief in bronze, representing some classical +subject, while the glass that shut in the books was pure as crystal. +Easy-chairs of every conceivable pattern stood about this room, and +between each book-case a bronze statuette reminded you of some classic +name, or hero known to history. + +The second story of the tower opened into the main building; thus the +large square chamber fitted up for Mrs. Lee was connected with two +smaller rooms, one intended for her personal attendant, the other a +dressing-room. + +The principal window of this room opened upon a balcony, which +overlooked the brightest portion of the terraces; near this window a +couch was drawn, from which even an invalid might attain lovely glimpses +of the clustering flowers, without changing her position. A carpet, +thick and soft as a meadow in spring, covered the floor, and in the back +part of the room stood a bed, surmounted by a canopy carved from some +rare dark-hued wood, from which curtains of lace that a countess might +have worn, swept to the floor, and clouded the bed, without in any +degree obstructing the air. In this room everything invited to repose. +The pictures were all dreamily beautiful. On one side of the large +window a marble child lay sleeping, with a smile on its lips. On the +other, just within the frost-like shadow of the curtains, an angel, of +the same size, knelt, with downcast face, and hands pressed softly +together, praying. This was the room into which Mr. Lee carried his +wife, after she had rested a few minutes in the drawing-room. He laid +her upon the couch with gentle care, but she rose at once, and leaning +upon her elbow, looked around. Everything was new and strange; but, oh, +how beautiful! tears came into her eyes; she leaned back upon the +cushions, and held out both hands. + +"And you have done all this," she said. "Was ever a woman so blessed?" + +Then she turned her eyes upon the window and saw the flowers gleaming +through. + +"The garden is as he left it," she murmured. "I am glad of that--I am +glad of that." + +Mr. Lee sat down by her couch, smiling, and evidently rejoiced that he +had given her so much pleasure. Jessie was moving about the room, happy +as a bird; to her everything was new and charming, and the restlessness +of childhood was upon her. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +TELLING HOW LOTTIE INTRODUCED HERSELF. + + +As we were settling down to a quiet admiration of all these things, a +strange little girl appeared at the door, where she hesitated, and +peeped in as if half afraid. Thinking that she wished to speak with some +of us, I went toward her, but she waved me off with an air, saying,-- + +"It's no use your coming, you're not the madam, I'll bet." + +With these words she walked into the room and took a general survey of +our party. First she cast a sharp glance at Mr. Lee, but withdrew it +directly; passed a careless look over my person, broke into a broad +smile as Jessie came under her observation, and having thus disposed of +us, came up to Mrs. Lee, who opened her eyes wide, and was for a moment +astonished by the sudden appearance of the girl. + +"Perhaps you don't want me here, now that so many other folks are +coming," said the girl, clasping and unclasping her hands, which at last +fell loosely before her. "They tell me down-stairs that I don't belong +here nohow, and hadn't ought to put myself forward. But I haven't got no +one to speak up for me, being an orphan, so here I am; do you want me, +or must I up and go." + +"Who are you, my girl?" asked Mrs. Lee, in her gentle way. + +"My father was the gardener here, marm, but he's dead; so is my mother, +long ago. My name is Lottie, and I've stayed on here doing things about, +because I hadn't anywhere else to go. That's pretty much all about it." + +"And you wish to stay?" + +"Do I wish to stay, is it? Yes, I do, awfully. I can earn my board and +more, too, in the kitchen, cleaning silver and scouring knives and +feeding chickens, but since I catched sight of you being carried up them +steps, marm, my ideas have ris a notch. I should like to tend on you +dreadfully. You could tell me how, you know, and I'm cute to learn; ask +'em down below, if you don't believe me." + +Mrs. Lee broke into a faint laugh; the manners and abrupt speech of the +girl struck her as comical in the extreme. As for myself, I have seldom +seen a creature so awkward, so brusque, and yet so interesting. She was, +I should fancy, about eight years of age, square, angular, restless, but +no lily was ever more pure than her complexion, and her hair, thick and +soft, was of that delicate golden tint we find in new silk, before it +is reeled from the cocoon. Altogether, she was a strange creature, full +of vivid feeling and dreadfully in earnest. Mrs. Lee liked her, I could +make sure of that, from the serene pleasure which came to her face as +she looked into the girl's large gray eyes, which were shaded with +lashes much darker than her hair. + +"And you would like to make yourself useful up here," she said, smiling +at the girl's intense eagerness. + +"Goodness--wouldn't I?" + +"But, can you be quiet?" + +"As a bird on its nest." + +"And cheerful?" + +"Why, marm, I'm the cheerfullest creature on these premises. You may +count in the squirrels, rabbits, and robins, and after that, I can say +it." + +Mrs. Lee turned her eyes on her husband, who sat near her couch, greatly +amused by the dialogue. + +"What do you think? She seems bright, and I dare say will try her best." + +"At any rate, she promises to be amusing," answered Mr. Lee, and a +good-natured smile quivered about his lips. + +"And kind-hearted, I will answer for that, don't you think so, Martha?" + +"I am sure of it." + +As the words left my lips, Lottie made a dive at me, took my hand in +both hers, and kissed it with a wild outgush of feeling. "You're good as +gold, silver, and diamonds," she said. "I was sure that you would be on +my side, though you do look as if butter wouldn't melt in your mouth. +Tell me just what to do about the lady, and see if I don't come up to +the mark. It's in me, I know that." + +Mrs. Lee closed her eyes wearily; even this short conversation was too +much for her weak nerves. + +"Go down-stairs now," I said to the girl in a low voice; "by-and-by you +shall be told about your duties. The first and greatest is quietness." + +She nodded her head, put a finger to her lips, and went out of the room +on tiptoe. + +Mrs. Lee opened her eyes as the girl went out, and beckoned to Jessie. + +"Do you like that strange little orphan?" she questioned. + +"Like her? indeed I do, mamma," said the kind-hearted girl. "She is so +warm, so earnest, and uses such queer words. But Aunt Martha will cure +her of that. I was just thinking how pleasant it would be to teach her." + +"That is a good idea, child; who knows what we may do for her?" + +Here Mrs. Lee turned upon her cushions a little wearily, and from that +time, Lottie became her attendant. + +Now our domestic life began in earnest. Mrs. Lee's disease was not often +painful, nor immediately dangerous. Contented with the love that +surrounded her, she fell gently into the invalid habits, which had +something pleasant in them when incited by a home like that. + +For my part, I knew no more attractive spot than her room. There Jessie +took her lessons in the morning, and in the afternoon, Mr. Lee always +sat with us, reading to her while we worked or studied. Never in this +world, I do think, was a family more closely united, or that seemed so +completely uplifted from care or trouble as ours. + +Sometimes Mrs. Lee would regret what she called the waste of my youth in +her daughter's behalf, but I had no such feeling. Society was nothing to +me, while those I loved so dearly were part of my every-day life. Of +course I had seen my share of social life in Europe, had met many +agreeable people, and knew what it was to be admired,--perhaps +loved,--but my heart had never, for one moment, swerved from its old +affections. Ardently as in my childhood, I loved those two first and +last friends. As for "Our Jessie," I cannot trust myself to speak of +her. If ever one human being adored another, I adored that bright, +beautiful girl. They talked of sacrifices; why, it would have broken my +heart had Jessie been taken from me and sent to school. Of course, we +had plenty of society, the best people from the town visited us often, +and sometimes an old friend whom we had met on our travels would find us +out. But Mrs. Lee's state of health precluded much hospitality, and so +we were left almost entirely to the quiet home-life which all of us +loved so well. + +Thus months and years rolled on, stealing the freshness and bloom from +me, and giving them tenfold to my darling. + +If I have dwelt somewhat at length on my early life, it is not because I +am attempting to give prominence to my own feelings or actions, but that +the reader may understand how intense and all-absorbing a feeling of +affectionate gratitude may become,--how it may color and pervade a whole +existence. + +In my helpless orphanage, two noble young people had found me lonely, +despondent, and almost friendless. At once, without question or +reservation, they took me into their hearts and gave me a permanent +home. Now that my benefactress had fallen into entire dependence upon +those she loved for happiness, was it strange that I stood ready to give +up my youth for her and her beautiful child? + +This generous woman was forever speaking of my action as a noble +sacrifice. But to my thinking it was happiness in itself. I loved to +watch what might have been my own life, dawning brightly in the youth of +Jessie Lee; and when her first lover appeared, I was almost as much +interested as the girl herself, who was, in fact, quite unconscious, for +a long time, that the young man loved her at all. + +He was a splendid young fellow, though, and even "Our Jessie" might have +been proud of the conquest she had unconsciously made. + +Young Bosworth was the grandson of a fine old lady, born in England, I +think, who inhabited the large stone house I have spoken of as forming a +picturesque feature in the landscape, on the day I was rescued from the +adder. He was interested in an iron company near the town, financially, +and was about to enter into active business in the partnership, having +just completed his minority. His business brought him frequently to our +house, for Mr. Lee was considered a safe adviser in such matters; thus +an intimacy sprung up between the young man and "Our Jessie" just when +the first bloom of her girlhood was deepening into the rare beauty for +which she was so remarkable in after-years. + +But Jessie was all unconscious of the love that I could detect in every +glance of those fine eyes, and in every tone of the voice that grew +tender and musical whenever it addressed her. Indeed, the young man took +no pains to conceal the feelings that seemed to possess him entirely. No +one but a person utterly innocent and unconscious of her own attractions +could have remained an hour ignorant of such devotion. + +I think Jessie liked this man, and if nothing had happened to intervene, +that liking would have ripened gently into love, as fruit exposed to the +sweet dews of night and the warm noonday sun, ripens and grows crimson +so gradually that we mark the result without observing the progress. + +But something did happen, which not only interrupted the pleasant +relations which had been established between this young man and our +family, but which broke up all the quiet and happiness of our domestic +life. + +Hitherto our lives had been so tranquil that there was little to +describe. We had, to an extent, isolated ourselves from the general +world, and so surrounded ourselves with blessings, that the one +misfortune of our lives had proved almost a beneficence, for Mrs. Lee's +illness had only drawn us closer together. But all was to be changed +now. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +OUT IN THE WORLD. + + +When Jessie reached her eighteenth year, Mrs. Lee became more languid +than usual, and early in the season her physician suggested a few weeks +at the sea-side. + +I think the dear lady was induced to follow his advice from a desire to +give our girl a glimpse of the life which should have been opened to her +about that time, rather than from any hopes of benefit from sea-bathing. +She entered into the project at once, and brightened visibly under the +influence of Jessie's openly expressed enthusiasm. The dear girl had in +reality seen nothing of life, and she was happy as a bird at the +prospect of entering what seemed to her like an enchanted land. + +Late in June, that year, we went to Long Branch upon the Jersey shore, +and there among the crowd of fashionables from Philadelphia and New +York, a new life opened to our Jessie, whose wealth and exceeding beauty +soon made her an object of general admiration. + +I cannot tell you how we first became acquainted with Mrs. Dennison. She +was a Southern woman, about whom there was a vague reputation of wealth +inherited from an old man, whom she had married in his dotage, and of a +very luxurious life which had commenced so soon after the funeral as to +create some scandal. She was certainly a very beautiful woman, tall, +exquisitely formed, lithe and graceful as a leopardess. Her manners were +caressing, her voice sweetly modulated, and her powers of conversation +wonderfully varied. At first I was fascinated by the woman. She occupied +rooms that opened on the same veranda with ours, and had stolen so +completely into our companionship by a thousand little attentions to +Mrs. Lee, before we really knew anything about her, that afterward it +seemed unnecessary to make further inquiry. It would have proved of +little avail had our research been ever so rigid, for no one seemed +really to have any positive knowledge about her. Even the gossip I have +mentioned could always be traced back to a remarkably bright mulatto +lady's-maid, who was generally in attendance upon her, and who conversed +freely with every one who chose to question her. But all the +intelligence so gathered was sure to add to the power and wealth of a +mistress whom the mulatto pronounced to be one of the most distinguished +and beautiful women of the South. All this rather interested Mr. Lee, +who found this lady so often bestowing little attentions upon his wife, +that he came to recognize her as a friend, and, after a time, seemed to +take great pleasure in her conversation. All this troubled me a little. +Why? surely the feeling which turned my heart from that woman was not +jealousy. Had I indeed so completely identified myself with my friends, +that the approach to confidential relations with another person gave me +pain? I could not understand the feeling, but, struggle against it as I +would, the presence of that woman made me restless. She never touched +Mrs. Lee that I did not long to dash her hand away. + +Jessie, like the rest, was fascinated with her new friend. They would +walk together for hours on the shore, where a crowd of admirers was sure +to gather around them, while I sat upon the veranda with my +benefactress, anxious and disturbed. + +After a time, another person was introduced into our party. He first +became acquainted with Mrs. Lee, and seemed to drop into our +companionship in that way without any connection with Mrs. Dennison; but +I learned afterward that Mr. Lawrence had been very attentive to her +from her first appearance at the Branch, and that a rumor had for a time +prevailed that they were engaged. + +All this might not have interested me much but for something that I +observed in Jessie, who was evidently far better acquainted with the man +than any of us; for it seems he had been in the habit of joining her and +Mrs. Dennison in their walks long before he attained an introduction to +Mrs. Lee. Lawrence was a tall, powerful man, very distinguished and +elegant in his bearing, wonderfully brilliant in conversation, and one +who always would be a leader for good or evil among his fellow-men. He +had been a good deal connected with the politics of the country, and at +one time was considered a power in Wall Street, from which he had +withdrawn, it was impossible to say whether penniless, or with a large +fortune. + +This man was soon on terms of cordial intimacy with our family, but I +watched him with distrust. He was just the person to dazzle and +fascinate an ardent, inexperienced girl like our Jessie, and I saw with +pain that her color would rise and fade beneath his glances, and that a +look of triumph lighted up his eyes when he remarked it. + +Here was another source of anxiety. This man of the world, who had spent +half his life in the struggles of Wall Street and a tangle of politics, +was no match for a creature so pure and true as our Jessie. Yet I +greatly feared that her heart was turning to him at the expense of that +brave, honorable young man whose very existence seemed to have been +forgotten among us. + +But young Bosworth came at last, and I was more at rest. Jessie was +certainly glad to see him, and, much to my surprise, he dropped at once +into intimate relations with Lawrence, and recognized him as an old +friend whom he had met during the few months that he had spent abroad. + +I have not said that Lottie was one of the attendants whom we brought +from the Ridge. This girl had grown somewhat in stature, but was still +very small. Her light-yellow hair was wonderfully abundant, and she had +a dozen fantastic ways of dressing it, which added to the singularity +of her appearance. At times, her eyes were clear and steady in their +glances; but, if a feeling of distrust came over her, both eyes would +cross ominously, and she seemed to be glancing inward with the sharp +vigilance of a fox. + +There always had been a remarkable sympathy between me and this strange +girl. From the day I first saw her, she seemed to divine my feelings, +conceal them as I would, and to share all my dislikes almost before they +were formed. At first, she had kept aloof from the servants of the +hotel. This was not strange, for Lottie was, in fact, better educated +than some of their mistresses. She had managed to pick up a great deal +of knowledge as she sat by while Jessie took her lessons, and I had +found pleasure in teaching her such English branches as befitted her +station in life. In fact, Lottie had become more like a companion than a +servant with us all. + +To my surprise, after keeping aloof for a whole week, Lottie fell into +the closest intimacy with Cora, Mrs. Dennison's maid, and I could see +that she lost no opportunity of watching the mistress and Mr. Lawrence. + +What all this might have ended in I cannot tell, for just as our +intimacy became closest, the strong sea-air began to have an unfavorable +effect on our patient. + +A sudden longing for home seized upon her one day, after Lottie had been +with her talking about the Ridge, and it was decided that we should +leave the Branch at once, though the season was at its height, and +Jessie had entered into its gayeties with all the zest of her ardent +nature. + +I think Mr. Lee was rather reluctant to go away so suddenly. He had been +so long excluded from this form of social life that it had all the charm +of novelty to him; but the least wish of his wife was enough to change +all this, and he became only anxious to get her safely home again. + +I do not know how it happened, or who really gave the invitation, but +on the night before I left we learned from Mrs. Dennison herself, that +she had promised to make us an early visit; and half an hour later, as I +sat alone in the lower veranda, young Bosworth and Mr. Lawrence passed +me, talking earnestly. "Of course, my dear fellow, I shall come if a +careless person like me will be acceptable to that fine old lady, your +grandmother. That promise of partridge-shooting is beyond my powers of +resistance." + +It was Mr. Lawrence who spoke, and I knew by this fragment of +conversation that he too was coming into our neighborhood. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +OUR GUEST. + + +I stood in the oriel window that curved out from one end of the large +parlor and looked toward the east; that is, it commanded a broad view +from all points, save the direct west. The heavenly glimpses of scenery +that you caught at every turn through the small diamond panes were +enough to drive an artist mad, that so much unpainted poetry could +exist, and not glow warm and fresh on his canvas. I am an artist, at +soul, and have a gallery of the most superb brain-pictures stowed away +in my thoughts, but among them all there is nothing to equal the scene, +or rather scenes, I was gazing upon. + +The window was deep, and when that rich volume of curtains shut it out +from the parlor, it was the most cosy little spot in the world. A deep +easy-chair, and a tiny marble stand, filled it luxuriously. On the +outside, white jasmines, passion-flowers, and choice roses, crept up to +the edge of the glass in abundance, encircling you with massive wreaths +of foliage and blossoms. + +This window had always been my favorite retreat, when sadness or care +oppressed me, as it had begun to do seriously of late, for a degree of +estrangement had arisen between Jessie and myself, after our return from +the sea-side. I could not share her enthusiasm regarding some of the +persons we had met there, and for the first time in her life she was +half offended with me. + +I can hardly express the pain this gave me. All her life she had come to +me in her troubles; and her bright, innocent joys I always shared; for, +like a flower-garden, she sent back the sunshine that passed over her, +enriched and more golden from a contact with her loveliness. I can +hardly tell you what a thing of beauty she was; yet, I doubt if you +would have thought her so very lovely as I did, for my admiration was +almost idolatry. Of late I had remarked a certain reserve about her, the +reticence which kept a sanctuary of feeling and thought quite away from +the world, and alas, from me also. Yet she was frank and truthful, as +the flower which always folds the choicest perfume close in its own +heart. What secret feeling was it that kept her from me, her oldest and +best friend. + +I was thinking of Jessie while I sat in the easy-chair, looking down the +carriage-road that led through our private grounds from the highway; for +ours was an isolated dwelling, and no carriage that was not destined for +the house ever came up that sweep of road. I looked down upon it with a +sad, heavy feeling, though my eyes passed over a terrace crowned with a +wilderness of flowers, reached by a flight of steps. The gleam of these +flowers, and the green slope beyond, were a part of the scenery on which +I gazed, yet I saw nothing of them. + +We expected Mrs. Dennison. The carriage had gone over to the country +town which lay behind the hills piled up at my left, and I was listening +for the sound of its wheels on the gravel with a strange thrill of +anxiety. Why was this? What did I care about the young widow who had +been invited to spend a few days with our Jessie? She was only a +watering-place acquaintance--a clever, beautiful woman of the world, +who, having a little time on her hands, had condescended to remember +Mrs. Lee's half-extorted invitation, and was expected accordingly. + +Jessie was rather excited with the idea of a guest, for it so chanced +that we had been alone for a week or two; and though I never saw a +family more independent of society than Mrs. Lee's, guests always bring +expectation and cheerfulness with them in a well-appointed country +house. + +"I wonder what keeps them?" said my darling, softly lifting one side of +the silken curtains, and unconsciously dropping them into the background +of as lovely a picture as you ever saw. "Here are some flowers for the +stand, Aunt Matty. She'll catch their bloom through the window, and know +it is my welcome." + +I took the crystal vase from her hand, and set it on the little table +before me. + +"Hush!" she said, lifting the drapery higher, and bending forward to +listen. "Hush! Isn't that the carriage coming through the pine grove?" + +I turned in my chair, for Jessie was well worth looking at, even by a +person who loved her less fondly than I did. Standing there, draped to +artistic perfection in her pretty white dress, gathered in surplice +folds over her bosom, and fastened there with an antique head, cut in +coral, with its loose sleeves falling back from the uplifted arm, till +its beautiful contour could be seen almost to the shoulder, she was a +subject for Sir Joshua Reynolds. I am sure that great master would not +have changed the grouping in a single point. + +"No," I said, listening; "it is the gardener's rake on the gravel walk, +I think." + +She bent her head sideways, listening, and incredulous of my +explanation. Some gleams of sunshine fell through the glass, and lay +richly on the heavy braid of hair that crowned her head in a raven +coronal. + +We always remember those we love in some peculiar moment which lifts +itself out of ordinary life by important associations; or, as in this +case, by the singular combinations of grace that render them attractive. +To my last breath, I shall never forget Jessie Lee, as she stood before +me that morning. + +"Well," she said, with an impatient movement that left the curtains +falling between us like the entrance of a tent, "watched rose-buds never +open. I'll go back to the piano, and let her take me by surprise. I'm +glad you're looking so nice, aunt. She'll be sure to like you now in +spite of herself, though you were so cold and stiff with her at the +Branch, and I defy you to help liking her in the end." + +As Jessie said this, her hand fell on the keys of the piano, and +instantly a gush of music burst through the room, so joyous that the +birds that haunted the old forest-trees around the house burst into a +riot of rival melody. Amid this delicious serenade the carriage drove +up. + +I saw Mr. Lee alight, in his usual stately way; then Mrs. Dennison +sprang upon the lowest step of the broad stairs that led up to the +terrace, scarcely touching Mr. Lee's offered hand. There she stood a +moment, her silk flounces fluttering in the sunlight, and her neatly +gloved hands playing with the clasp of her travelling satchel, as the +servant took a scarlet shawl and some books from the carriage. Then she +gave a rapid glance over the grounds, and looked up to the house, +smiling pleasantly, and doubtless paying Mr. Lee some compliment, for +his usually sedate face brightened pleasantly, and he took the lady's +satchel, with a gallant bow, which few young men of his time could have +equalled. + +Certainly our guest was a beautiful woman: tall, queenly, and conscious +of it all; but I did not like her. One of those warnings, or +antipathies, if you please, which makes the heart take shelter in +distrust, seized upon me again that moment, and I felt like flying to my +darling, who sat amid the sweet harmonies she was herself creating, to +shield her from some unknown danger. + +I left my seat and passed through the curtains, thinking to warn Jessie +of her friend's arrival; but when I was half across the room, our +visitor came smiling and rustling through the door. She motioned me to +be still, and, darting across the carpet, seized Jessie's head between +both hands, bent it back, and, stooping with the grace of a Juno, kissed +her two or three times, while her clear, ringing laugh mingled with the +notes which had broken into sudden discords under Jessie's fingers. + +"So I have chased my bird to its nest, at last," she said, releasing her +captive with a movement that struck even me--who disliked her from the +beginning--as one of exquisite grace. "Hunted it to the mountains, and +find it in full song, while I searched every window in the house, as we +drove up, and fancied all sorts of things: a cold welcome among the +least." + +"That you will never have," cried Jessie, and the smile with which she +greeted her guest was enough of welcome for any one. "The truth is, I +got out of patience, and so played to quiet myself while Aunt Matty +watched." + +"And how is the dear Aunt Matty?" said the guest, coming toward me with +both hands extended. "Ah! Jessie Lee, you are a fortunate girl to have +so sweet a friend." + +"I am fortunate in everything," said Jessie, turning her large, earnest +eyes on my face with a look of tenderness that went to my heart, "and +most of all here." + +"And I," said Mrs. Dennison, with a suppressed breath, and a look of +graceful sadness. "Well, well, one can't expect everything." + +Jessie laughed. This bit of sentiment in her guest rather amused her. + +"Ah, you never will believe in sorrow of any kind, until it comes in +earnest," said the widow, with an entire change in her countenance; "but +I, who have seen it in so many forms, cannot always forget." + +"But," said Jessie, with one of her caressing movements, "you must +forget it now. We are to be happy as the day is long while you are here. +Isn't that so, aunt? We have laid out such walks, and rides, and +pleasant evenings--of course, you have brought your habit." + +"Of course. What would one be in the country without riding?" + +"And your guitar? I want Aunt Matty to hear you sing. She never was with +us when you had an instrument." + +"Oh! Aunt Matty shall have enough of that, I promise her; the man who +follows with my luggage has the guitar somewhere among his plunder." + +"I'm very glad," said Jessie, smiling archly. "Now everything is +provided for except--" + +"Except what, lady-bird?" + +"Except that we have no gentlemen to admire you." + +"No gentlemen!" + +"Not a soul but papa." + +The widow certainly looked a little disappointed for the first instant, +but she rallied before any eye less keen than mine could have observed +it, and laughed joyously. + +"Thank heaven, we sha'n't be bothered with compliments, nor tormented +with adoration. Oh! Jessie Lee, Jessie Lee! I am so glad of a little +rest from all that sort of thing: a'n't you?" + +"I never was persecuted with it like you, fair lady, remember that," +replied Jessie, demurely. + +"Hypocrite! don't attempt to deceive me; I had eyes at the sea-side." + +"And very beautiful ones they were--everybody agreed in that." + +"There it is!" cried the widow, lifting her hands in affected horror; +"when gentlemen are absent, ladies will flatter each other. Pray, put a +stop to this, Miss,----" + +"Miss Hyde," I said, rather tired of these trivialities; "but Jessie, in +the eagerness of her welcome, forgets that our guest has scarcely time +to prepare for dinner." + +"Ah! is it so late?" said Mrs. Dennison. + +"Shall I show the way to your chamber?" + +"We will all go," said Jessie, circling her friend's waist with her arm +and moving off. + +We crossed the hall, a broad, open passage, furnished with easy-chairs +and sofas, for it was a favorite resort for the whole family, and opened +into a square balcony at one end, which commanded one of the heavenly +views I have spoken of. The widow stopped to admire it an instant, and +then we entered the room I had been careful to arrange pleasantly for +her reception. + +It was a square, pleasant chamber, which commanded a splendid prospect +from the east; curtains like frostwork, and a bed like snow, harmonized +pleasantly with walls hung with satin paper of a delicate blue, and fine +India matting with which the floor was covered. We had placed vases and +baskets of flowers on the deep window-sills, those of the richest +fragrance we could find, which a soft, pure wind wafted through the +room; the couch, the easy-chair, and the low dressing-chair were draped +with delicate blue chintz, with a pattern of wild roses running over it. + +Mrs. Dennison made a pretty exclamation of surprise as she entered the +room. She was full of these graceful flatteries, that proved the more +effective because of their seeming spontaneousness. She took off her +bonnet, and, sitting down before the toilet which stood beneath the +dressing-glass, a cloud of lace and embroidery, began to smooth her hair +between both hands, laughing at its disorder, and wondered if anybody +on earth ever looked so hideous as she did. + +"This woman," I said, in uncharitable haste,--"this woman is insatiable. +She is not content with the flattery of one sex, but challenges it from +all." Yet, spite of myself, I could not resist the influence of her +sweet voice and graceful ways; she interested me far more than I wished. + +"Now," said Jessie, coming into the hall with her eyes sparkling +pleasantly,--"now what do you think? Have I praised her too much? Are +you beginning to like her yet?" + +I kissed her, but gave no other answer. A vague desire to shield her +from that woman's influence possessed me, but the feeling was misty, and +had no reasonable foundation. I could not have explained why this +impulse of protection sprung up in my heart, or how Jessie, the dear +girl, guessed at its existence. + +But she was perfectly content with the approval which my kiss implied, +and went into the parlor to await the coming of her guest. That moment +Mrs. Lee's maid came down with a message from her mistress, and I went +up-stairs at once. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +FANCIES AND PREMONITIONS. + + +It seemed a wonder that Mrs. Lee ever could have been a beautiful woman +like her daughter, for she had faded sadly during her illness. Her hair +was still thick and long, but the mountain snow was not whiter. Her +face, too, was of opaque paleness; while her delicate eyebrows were +black as jet; and the large eyes beneath them had lost nothing of their +penetrating brightness. + +Mrs. Lee was lying on the couch, in the light of a broad window which +opened to the south; the balcony was as usual filled with plants, and +every morning her couch was moved, and the window drapery put back that +she might command some feature in the landscape over which her eye had +not wearied the day before. It was a harmless enjoyment, and one which +the whole family loved to encourage. Indeed, there was not a fancy or +caprice of hers which was ever questioned in that house. + +"Ah, Martha, it is you; I am glad of it. For when I am ill at ease, you +always do me good." + +She held out her little thin hand while speaking, and pressed mine +almost imperceptibly. + +"What has happened, Martha? During the last half hour something +oppresses me, as if the atmosphere were disturbed; yet it is a clear +day, and the roses on the terrace look brighter than usual." + +"Nothing has happened, dear lady. Mr. Lee has come back from town, +bringing the lady we all expected." + +"Mrs. Dennison?" + +"Yes, Mrs. Dennison. She has just gone to her room." + +Mrs. Lee closed her eyes a moment and opened them with a faint smile, +which seemed to ask pardon for some weakness. + +"Have you seen her?" + +"Yes. I was in the parlor when she came, and went with her to her room." + +"And you like her better than at first, I hope?" + +I hesitated. + +"She is beautiful!" + +"Yes, in a certain way," I answered; "but when one has got used to our +Jessie's style, nothing else seems to equal it." + +The mother smiled and held out her hand again. + +"You love Jessie?" + +I felt the tears filling my eyes. There was something so tender and +sweet in this question that it made a child of me. The mother turned +upon her couch, bent her lips to my hand, and dropped it gently from her +hold. + +"Martha Hyde, what is this which troubles me?" + +"Indeed, I cannot tell." + +"Does Jessie seem happy with her friend?" + +"Very happy; I have seldom seen her so animated." + +"But you have not told me plainly. Do you like this lady?" + +"I--I cannot tell. She is beautiful; at least most people would think +her so;--rich, I believe?" + +I rather put this as a question. + +"I think so. She had splendid rooms at the hotel, you know, and spent +money freely, so Mr. Lee was told; but that is of little consequence; we +want nothing of her riches if she has them." + +"Certainly not; but if she has expensive habits without the means of +gratifying them within herself, it is an important proof of character," +I said. "May I ask, dear lady, who really recommended Mrs. Dennison to +you or your daughter?" + +"Oh! a good many people spoke highly of her; she was a general +favorite!" + +"Yes; but did you meet any person who had known her long?--who had been +acquainted with her husband, for instance?" + +"No, I cannot remember any such person." + +"And you invited her? she said so." + +"That is it. I cannot quite call to mind that I did invite her. +Something was said about our house being among pleasant scenery, and she +expressed a desire to see it. I may have said that I really hoped she +would see it some time; and then she thanked me as if I had urged her to +come. Still Jessie liked her so much that I was rather pleased than +otherwise, and so it rested." + +"Well," I said, "if Jessie is pleased, that is everything, you know, +madam. I sometimes think the dear girl ought to have the company of +younger persons about her." + +"Yes, certainly; but with a girl like my Jessie, so sensitive, so proud, +for she is very proud, Martha." + +"I know it," was my answer. "I have never seen more sensitive pride in +any person of her age." + +"Well, with a disposition like that, the kind of young person she is +intimate with is very important. This is the reason I wished to see you +and learn if your opinion has not changed regarding our guests; my own +feelings are strangely disturbed." + +"You are not as well as usual this morning," I replied. "Let me draw the +couch nearer and open a leaf of the window." + +She assented, and I drew the couch so close to the window that with a +sash open she could command a view of the richest corner of the +flower-garden and a slope of the lawn. The wind swept pleasantly over +the balcony, in which pots of rose geraniums and heliotrope had been +placed. Mrs. Lee loved the breath of these flowers, and sighed faintly +as it floated over her with the fresh morning air. + +She lay some time in this pleasant position without speaking. When she +was disposed to be thoughtful, we seldom disturbed her, for so sensitive +had disease rendered her nerves, that the sudden sound of a voice would +make her start and tremble like a criminal. So I kept my place behind +the couch, looking down into the garden, and thinking of many things. + +All at once, sweet, dear voices rose from among the flowers, and I saw +our Jessie and the widow Dennison turning a corner of the house, each +with an arm around the other's waist, laughing and chatting together. +Jessie had not changed her dress, but a cluster of crimson roses glowed +in her hair, and coral bracelets tinted the transparency of her sleeves. +The sun touched the black braid which surrounded her head as she came +out of the shadow, and no raven's plumage was ever more glossy. + +Mrs. Dennison was strangely attired. The period of which I speak was +about the time the Zouave jacket took its brief picturesque reign. This +woman was, in a degree, her own inventor of fashions, and something very +similar to this jacket fell over the loose habit-skirt that draped her +bosom and arms. This garment of black silk, richly braided, matched the +rustling skirt of her dress, and the Oriental design of the whole was +completed by a net of blue and gold, which shaded half her rich brown +hair, and fell in tassels to her left shoulder. + +In my whole life I never saw a more striking contrast than these two +persons presented. I cannot tell you where it lay. Not in the +superiority which the widow possessed in height--not in her elaborate +grace. Jessie was a little above the medium height herself, and a more +elegant creature did not live. But there was something which struck you +at once. It is of no use attempting to define it. The difference was to +be imagined, not explained. The mother felt it, I am certain, for her +eyes took a strange, anxious lustre as they fell on those two young +persons, and she began to breathe irregularly, as if something oppressed +her. + +She looked up to me at last to see if I was watching them. I smiled and +said, "At any rate, she is a splendid creature." + +"No one can dispute that! But our Jessie! Do you know, as I was looking +at them, something came across me. Through the hazy light which settled +around me, I saw a bird with its wings outspread flitting in the folds +of a serpent? The picture passed through my brain one instant, and was +gone--gone before Jessie, who had stooped to gather something, regained +her position. This has happened before in my life--what can it be?" + +"You are anxious and nervous, dear lady, that is all. Since your visit +to the sea-side, these strange visions have become more common." + +"I hope they will pass off," she murmured, pressing a pale hand over her +eyes. "But there was another in the group; behind Jessie's frightened +face, I saw that of Mr. Lee." + +While she was speaking, I saw Mr. Lee come out of the hall-door, and +cross the platform which led to the garden, where his daughter and her +guest were walking. He was a handsome man, still in the very prime of +life, one of the most distinguished persons that I ever saw. It was from +him that our Jessie had inherited her queenly pride, which the exquisite +sensibility of the mother's nature had softened into grace. + +Mrs. Lee closed her eyes, and I saw her lips turn pale; but she repulsed +my approach with a motion of the hand. I have no idea what she had seen +which escaped me. But when I looked again, Mr. Lee was talking with his +daughter; while the widow stood by, grouping some flowers which she held +coquettishly in her hand. I saw Mr. Lee look at her, indifferently at +first, then with smiling interest. They were evidently talking of her +graceful work, for she held it up for both father and daughter to +admire. + +As Jessie lifted her eyes, she saw us near the window, and, forgetting +the bouquet, waved a kiss to her mother. That instant I saw the widow +press the bouquet lightly to her lips. + +Mr. Lee reached forth his hand; but she shook her head, laughed, and +placed the flowers in her bosom. + +Mrs. Lee was not in a position to see this. I stood up and had a better +view; but she instantly complained of dizziness, and faint spasms of +pain contracted her forehead. + +I had seen nothing, absolutely nothing. Yet the glances of that woman, +as she looked at Mr. Lee over the cluster of flowers, seemed absolutely +like wafting kisses with her eyes. Jessie saw nothing, save that the +little cluster of blossoms somehow found its way into her friend's +bosom. So, in her sweet unconsciousness, she passed on, and was lost on +the other side of the tower. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +NEW VISITORS. + + +Mrs. Lee never went down to dinner, or, if she did, it was so rarely +that we looked upon her presence as a sort of holiday. She was very +dainty in her appetite, and on ordinary occasions was served by her own +maid, or of late by Lottie. I think she had rather intended to come down +that day in honor of our guest, but the illness that seized upon her +drove this idea from her mind; so, leaving her with Lottie, I went away +restless and unaccountably unhappy. + +How bright and blooming they came in from the garden, bringing its +fragrance with them to the dinner-table! What a joyous, piquant +conversation it was, that commenced with the soup and sparkled with the +wine! There is no disputing it, our guest was a wonderful creature, her +graceful wit sparkled, her sentiment fascinated. She was calculated to +keep the man her beauty should win,--no doubt of that. Her conversation +charmed even me. + +Jessie was constantly challenging admiration for her +friend--interrogating me with her eyes, and looking at her father to be +sure that he fully appreciated the brilliancy which filled her own heart +with a sort of adoration. But the widow seemed quite unconscious that +she was an object of special admiration to any one. Nothing could be +more natural than her manner. At times she was really child-like. + +Still I did not like her. Why, it is useless to ask. Perhaps Mrs. Lee +had left an impression of her strange fancies on my mind,--perhaps the +atmosphere which surrounded her mingled with the subtile vitality of my +intelligence and gave me the truth. + +We had music in the evening. Our Jessie possessed the purest of soprano +voices. Many a celebrated prima donna has won laurels from inferior +capacity. As in all other things, her musical education had been +perfect. Mrs. Dennison was her inferior in this. She performed +splendidly, and her rich contralto voice possessed many fine qualities; +but our birdie swept far above her, and soared away upon an ocean of +harmonies that seemed born of heaven. + +The windows were open, and we knew that this heaven of sweet sounds +would float to the invalid's chamber. Indeed, when I went out upon the +platform, back of the house, I saw Mrs. Lee lying in her white, loose +dress, on the couch, as if the music had lulled her to sleep. + +I think Mrs. Dennison was not quite satisfied with herself. The glorious +voice of our Jessie seemed to take her by surprise, for after the first +trial she refused to sing again, but still kept the piano, and dashed +through some fine opera music with spirit. Was she exhausting her +ill-humor in those stormy sounds? + +On the next day, our young ladies rode on horseback. Both were superb +equestrians; and Mr. Lee's stately management of his coal-black horse +was something worth looking at. As they dashed round a curve of the +road, Jessie turned on her saddle and waved me a kiss, where I stood on +the square balcony watching them. What a happy, bright creature she +looked! + +It took me by surprise; but when the equestrians came back, two +gentlemen had joined the party. One was young Bosworth, who had returned +to the old country place, a mile down the valley, directly after we +left Long Branch, and since then had managed to join our Jessie in her +rides oftener than any supposition of mere accident could warrant. The +dear girl seemed a little annoyed when these meetings became more +frequent; but she bore our joking on the subject pleasantly, and up to +that morning had, I fancy, given little thought to his movements. The +other man I recognized at once. It was Mr. Lawrence. + +This gentleman rode up with Mr. Lee and Mrs. Dennison, who was evidently +dividing her fascinations very equally between the two gentlemen. Jessie +followed them with her cavalier, and I observed, as they dismounted, +that her cheeks were flushed, and her lips lightly curved, as if +something had disturbed her. + +The gentlemen did not dismount, for Jessie left Mrs. Dennison on the +foot of the terrace-steps, and, without pausing to give an invitation, +ran into the house. + +I left the balcony and went up to her chamber. She was walking to and +fro in the room, with a quick, proud step, the tears sparkling in her +eyes. + +"What is it?" I said, going up to where she stood, and kissing her. "Who +has wounded you?" + +"No one," she answered, and the proud tears flashed down to her cheek, +and lay there like rain-drops hanging on the leaves of the wild +rose,--"no one. Only, only--" + +"Well, dear?" + +"You were right, Aunt Matty. That man really had just the feelings you +suspected; I could hardly prevent him from expressing them broadly. Keep +as close to papa as I would, he found means to say things that made my +blood burn. What right has any man to talk of love to a girl, until she +has given him some sort of encouragement, I should like to know?" + +"But perhaps he fancies that you have given him a little +encouragement." + +"Encouragement! I? Indeed, Aunt Matty, I never dreamed of this until +now!" + +"I am sure of it; but then you allowed him to join your rides, and +seemed rather pleased." + +"Why, the idea that he meant anything never entered my mind. Ah! Aunt +Matty, haven't we said a thousand times that there must be some blame, +some coquetry on the lady's part, before a man, whom she is sure to +reject, could presume to offer himself?" + +"But has he gone so far as that?" I asked. + +"Let me think. Alas! I was so confused, so angry, that it is impossible +to remember just what he did say." + +"But your answer?" + +"Why, as to that," she cried, with a little nervous laugh, "I gave Flash +a cut with the whip and dashed on after the rest. Aunt Matty, upon my +word, I doubt if I spoke at all." + +"My dear child, he may half imagine himself accepted then." + +"Accepted! What can you mean?" she exclaimed, grasping her whip with +both hands and bending it double. "I shall go wild if you say that." + +"Why, do you dislike him so much?" + +"Dislike! no. What is there to dislike about him?" + +"Well, then," I said, a little mischievously, "he is rather +good-looking, well educated, of irreproachable family, and rich." + +"Don't, don't, Aunt Matty, or I shall hate you." + +"Not quite so bad as that," I cried, kissing her hot cheek. "Now, let us +be serious. All young ladies must expect offers of this kind." + +"But I don't want them. It distresses me." + +I saw that she was in earnest, and that young Bosworth's attentions had +really distressed her. So, drawing her to a sofa, we sat down and talked +the matter over more quietly. + +I told her that it was useless annoying herself; that, until the young +gentleman spoke out more definitely, she had nothing to torment herself +about; and when he did, a few quiet words would settle the whole matter. + +"But can't we prevent him saying anything more? Or, if he does, will you +just tell him how it is?" she said, anxiously. + +I could not help smiling; there was no affectation here. I knew very +well that Jessie would give the world to avoid this refusal; but in such +cases young ladies must take their own responsibilities: the +interference of third parties can only produce mischief. + +She began to see the thing in its true light after a little, and talked +it over more calmly. Many a girl would have been delighted with this +homage to her charms; but Jessie was no common person, and she felt a +sort of degradation in inspiring a passion she could not return. +Besides, it placed upon her the necessity of giving pain where it was in +every way undeserved; and that she had never done in her life. + +While we were talking, a light knock at the door heralded Mrs. Dennison. +There was nothing to call her to that part of the house, and her first +words conveyed an apology for the intrusion, for we both probably looked +a little surprised. + +"I beg ten thousand pardons for rushing in upon you; but the gentlemen +are waiting in the road to know if they can join us to-morrow. I could +only answer for myself, you know." + +"Let them join you," I whispered; "the sooner it is over with the +better." + +Jessie stood up, gathered the long riding-skirt in one hand, while she +walked past her guest with the air of a princess, and stepped out on the +balcony, from which she made a gesture of invitation, which the two +gentlemen acknowledged with profound bows, and rode away. + +"That's an angel!" exclaimed Mrs. Dennison, laying her hand on Jessie's +shoulder. "I almost thought something had gone wrong, by the way you +left us. Poor Mr. Bosworth was quite crestfallen." + +Jessie made a little gesture of annoyance, which the widow was quick to +observe, and instantly changed the subject. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE BASKET OF FRUIT. + + +"I should not have thought, by the way you parted, that you and Mr. +Bosworth were old friends." + +Jessie seemed annoyed, and replied, with a flush on her cheek, "that it +was rather difficult to be demonstrative on horseback." + +"At any rate, he's a splendid man," said the widow. "Rich or poor? Bond +or free? Tell us all about him. I never thought to inquire before, but +this looks serious." + +"What strange questions you ask!" answered Jessie, and the color +deepened in her cheek. + +"Well, well, but the answer?" + +Here I interposed: "Mr. Bosworth is not very rich. At least I never +heard that he was." + +"What a pity!" whispered the widow. "But the other questions?" + +"If having no wife is to be free, you can hardly call him a bondman. +Yes." + +"What has he ever done to distinguish himself, then? Can you tell me +that, Miss Hyde?" + +"He is considered a man of brilliant parts, certainly," I answered; "but +at his age few men have won permanent distinction, I fancy." + +"At his age! Why, the man must be over eight-and-twenty, and half the +great men that ever lived had made their mark in the world before they +reached that age." + +"Well, that may be," I replied; "but in these times greatness is not so +easily won. The level of general intelligence, in our country at least, +is raised, and it requires great genius, indeed, to lift a man suddenly +above his fellows. In a dead sea of ignorance, superior ability looms up +with imposing conspicuousness. This is why the great men of past times +have cast the reflection of their minds on history;--not entirely +because they excelled men of the present age, but from the low grade of +popular intelligence that existed around them." + +"Why, you talk like a statesman," said the widow, laughing. "I had no +idea that anything so near politics existed in the ladies of this +house." + +"What is history but the politics of the past?" said Jessie. "What is +politics but a history of the present?" + +"Perhaps you are right," said the widow, flinging off her careless +manner, and sitting down on one of the rustic chairs, where she began to +dust her skirt with the fanciful whip fastened to her wrist. "I have +often wondered why it should be considered unfeminine for an educated +woman to understand the institutions of her own or any other country." + +Mrs. Dennison looked at me as she spoke. Was the woman playing with my +weakness? Or, did she really speak from her heart? If the former, she +must have been amused at my credulity, for I answered in honest +frankness: + +"Nor I, either; except in evil, which is always better unknown. I can +fancy no case where ignorance is a merit. Imagine Queen Victoria pluming +herself on lady-like ignorance of the political state of her kingdom, +when she opens Parliament in person." + +Mrs. Dennison laughed, and chimed in with, "Or the Empress of France +being appointed Regent of a realm, the position of which it was deemed +unwomanly to understand; yet, on the face of the earth, there are not +two females more womanly than Victoria of England, and Eugenie of +France." + +"What true ideas this woman possesses!" I said to myself. "How could I +dislike her so? Really, the most charming person in the world is a woman +who, under the light, graceful talk of conventional society, cultivates +serious thought." While these reflections passed through my mind, the +widow was looking at me from under her eyelashes, as if she expected me +to speak again; so I went on,-- + +"It is not the knowledge of politics in itself of which refined people +complain; but its passion and the vindictive feelings which partisanship +is sure to foster. The woman who loves her country cannot understand it +too well. The unwomanliness lies in the fact that she sometimes plunges +into a turmoil of factions, thus becoming passionate and bitter." + +"How plainly you draw the distinction between knowledge and prejudice!" +she said, with one of her fascinating smiles. "But you must have +discussed this subject often--with Mr. Lee, perhaps?" + +"Yes, we talk on all subjects here. Nothing is forbidden, because few +things that are not noble and true ever present themselves." + +"I was sure of it!" exclaimed the lady, starting up with enthusiasm. "I +have never been in a house where everything gave such evidence of +high-toned intelligence." + +She sat down again thoughtfully, dusting her habit with the little whip. + +"I have not yet seen my hostess, but that does not arise from increased +ill health, I trust. She seemed very feeble when we met on the +sea-shore, last season--somewhat consumptive, we all thought." + +I did not like the tone of her voice. There was something stealthy and +creeping in it which checked the rising confidence in my heart. + +"Mrs. Lee is very far from well," I answered, coldly. + +"Not essentially worse, I trust." + +She was looking at me keenly from the corners of her almond-shaped eyes. +It was only a glance, but a gleam of suspicion sprung from my heart and +met it half-way. + +"It is difficult to tell. In a lingering disease like hers, one can +never be sure." + +"Mr. Lee must find himself lonesome at times without his lady's society, +for she struck us all as a very superior person." + +"On the contrary," I replied, with a quick impulse, for she still kept +that sidelong glance on my face; "on the contrary, he spends most of his +leisure time in her chamber, reads to her when she can bear it, and sits +gently silent when she prefers that. A more devoted husband I never +knew." + +I saw that she was biting her red lips, but as my glance caught hers, +the action turned to a smile. + +"There is Mr. Lee going to his wife's room now," I remarked, as that +gentleman passed the hall-door, with a little basket in his hand filled +with delicate wood-moss, in which lay two or three peaches, the first of +the season. + +The exclamation that broke from Mrs. Dennison at the sight of the fruit +arrested his steps, and he turned into the hall, asking if either of us +had called. + +She went forward at once, sweeping the cloth skirt after her like the +train of an empress. + +"Oh, what splendid peaches--and the basket! The bijou!" She held out +both hands to receive the fruit, quite in a glow of pleasure. + +"I am very sorry," said Mr. Lee, drawing back a step, "but this is--is +for my wife. She is an invalid, you know." + +"You misunderstand," replied the lady, coloring to the temples. "I only +wish to admire the arrangement. It is really the prettiest fancy I ever +saw." + +He hesitated an instant; then held out the basket and placed it between +her hands, with some little reluctance, I thought. Her side-face was +toward me; but the look, half grieved, half reproachful, which she +lifted to his face did not escape me. + +"Shall I take the basket to Mrs. Lee?" I said, reaching out my hand. +"She must have heard the horses return some time ago, and will expect +some one." + +"No," said the gentleman, bending his head, and taking the fruit. "I +cannot allow you to deprive me of that pleasure." + +"And I," rejoined the widow, with animation, "I must take off this +cumbersome riding-dress." + +I went to my room early that evening. Indeed, I had no heart to enter +the parlor. Anxieties that I could not define pressed heavily upon +me--so heavily that I longed for solitude. In passing through the hall, +I met Mrs. Dennison's mulatto maid, who had, I forgot to say, followed +our guest with the luggage. She was going to her mistress's chamber, +carrying something carefully in her hand. When she saw me, her little +silk apron was slyly lifted, and the burdened hand stole under it, but +in the action something was disturbed, and the half of a peach fell at +my feet. + +I took up the cleft fruit very quietly, told the girl to remove her +apron, that I might see what mischief had been done, and discovered a +second basket filled with mossrose-buds from which the half peach had +fallen. + +I laid the fruit in its bed, saw the girl pass with it to her lady's +chamber, and then went to my own room sick at heart. The half of a +peach, offered among the Arabs, means atonement for some offence. What +offence had Mr. Lee given to our guest in carrying a little fruit to his +invalid wife? + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +BREAKFAST WITH OUR GUEST. + + +Mrs. Dennison was late the next morning. Indeed, she generally was late. +It was sure to produce a little excitement when she entered, if the +family were grouped in expectation, and her system of elegant +selfishness rendered any consideration of the convenience of others a +matter of slight importance. She was always lavish in apologies, those +outgrowths of insincerity; and, in fact, managed to weave a sort of a +fascination out of her own faults. + +This certainly was the case here. If Mr. Lee was resolute about anything +in his household, it was that punctuality at meals should be observed: +indeed, I have seldom seen him out of humor on any other subject. But +this morning he had been moving about in the upper hall a full hour, +glancing impatiently at the papers which always reached us before +breakfast, and walking up and down with manifest annoyance. Yet the +moment that woman appeared with her coquettish little breakfast-cap just +hovering on the back of her head, and robed in one of the freshest and +most graceful morning dresses you ever saw, his face cleared up. With a +smile that no one could witness without a throb of the heart, he +received her apologies and compliments all mingled together on her lips +like honey in the heart of a flower, as if they had been favors of which +we were all quite undeserving. + +We went down to breakfast at last; but just as we were sitting down, our +guest took a fancy to run out on the terrace and gather a handful of +heliotrope which she laid by her plate, exhaling the odor sensuously +between the pauses of the meal. I don't know what the rest thought of +all this, but I was disgusted. It is a strong word, I know, but I have +no other for the repulsion that seizes upon me even now when I think of +that woman. Her very passion for flowers, to me almost a heavenly taste +in itself, was so combined with materialism, that the perfume of the +heliotrope sickened me. + +Jessie did not seem to sympathize in these feelings, nor care that her +own choice flower-plot had been rifled of its sweetest blossoms. In +fact, the fascination of that woman's manner seemed more powerful with +her than it had proved with the proud, strong man who sat opposite me. + +Jessie, the darling, either because she did not like the restraint, or, +what was more like her, wishing to give me dignity in the household, +always insisted that I should preside at the table; Mrs. Lee, from her +feeble state of health, being at all times unequal to the task. Three +times did that insatiable woman return her coffee-cup: first, for an +additional lump of sugar, again for a few drops more cream, and then for +the slightest possible dilution of its strength. While I performed these +smiling behests, she sat brushing a branch of heliotrope across her +lips, exclaiming at the beauty of the scene from an opposite window, and +behaving generally like an empress who had honored her subjects with a +visit, and was resolved to put them quite at ease in her presence. + +But Jessie could not see things in this light. She was evidently as well +pleased with her guest as she had been the night before, but, though she +smiled and joined in the pleasant conversation, I saw by the heavy +shadows under her eyes that some anxiety disturbed her. The fact that +she had made an appointment to ride with a suitor whom she must reject +accounted sufficiently for this; Jessie had the finest traits of a +purely proud nature, and the idea of giving pain was to her in itself a +great trial. Still, these observations only applied to the undercurrent +that morning; on the surface everything was sparkling and pleasant. + +Mr. Lee was more than usually animated, and, before the meal was ended, +quite a war of complimentary badinage had commenced and was kept up +between him and our guest. + +Jessie always went to her mother after breakfast. So, immediately on +quitting the table, she stole away to the tower, looking a little +serious, but not more so than her peculiar trial of the day accounted +for. + +I followed her directly, leaving Mrs. Dennison and Mr. Lee on the square +balcony, on which the early sunshine lay in golden warmth. + +Mrs. Lee had not rested well; her eyes, usually so bright, were heavy +from want of sleep; and the pillow, from which she had not yet risen, +bore marks of a thousand restless movements, which betrayed unusual +excitement. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +JESSIE LEE AND HER MOTHER. + + +Jessie was sitting on one side of the bed holding a Parian cup in her +hand; the amber gleam of coffee shone through the transparent +vine-leaves that embossed it, and she was stirring the fragrant beverage +gently with a spoon. + +"Try, dear mother, and drink just a little," she was saying, in her +sweet, caressing way. "It makes me very unhappy to see you looking so +ill." + +"Indeed I am not ill, only a little restless, Jessie," answered the +sweet lady, rising languidly from her pillow and reaching forth her hand +for the cup. She tasted the coffee and looked gratefully at her +daughter. "It is nice; no one understands me like you, my daughter." + +Jessie blushed with pleasure, and began to mellow a delicate slice of +toast with the silver knife that lay beside it, making a parade of her +efforts, which she evidently hoped would entice her mother's appetite: +and so it did. I am sure no one besides her could have tempted that +frail woman to eat a mouthful. As it was, one of the birds that was +picking seeds from the terrace could almost have rivalled her appetite: +the presence of her daughter, I fancy, gave her more strength than +anything else. + +"So you have had a bad night, my mother," said Jessie, tenderly; "once +or twice I awoke and felt that you did not sleep." + +"Indeed!" said the mother, with an earnest look breaking through the +heaviness of her eyes. + +"Yes, indeed; but then I never wake in the night without wondering if +you sleep well." + +"Did you see me?" questioned the mother, anxiously. + +"See you, mother?" + +Mrs. Lee smiled faintly, and shook her head as if to cast off some +strange thought. + +"Of course, it was impossible. I must have slept long enough to dream; +but it seems to me as if I was in your room last night. Something called +me there, a faint, white shadow, that sometimes took the outline of an +angel, sometimes floated before me like a cloud." + +"Oh, my good mother! it was kind to come, even in your dreams," said +Jessie, kissing the little hand that lay in hers. + +Mrs. Lee looked troubled, and seemed to be searching her memory for +something. + +"It took me--the cloud-angel--you know, into the blue room." + +"The blue room!" Jessie and I exclaimed together, for that was the +apartment in which Mrs. Dennison slept, though the fact had never been +mentioned to Mrs. Lee, and another chamber had at first been intended +for our guest. "The blue room?" + +"Yes, the blue room!" she said; "but like all dreams, nothing was like +the reality. Instead of the enamelled furniture, everything was covered +with the prettiest blue chintz, with a wild-rose pattern running over +it." + +Jessie and I looked at each other in consternation, for the furniture +which Mrs. Lee described as familiar to the blue room had been removed +to the chamber we had first intended for Mrs. Dennison, and that with +which we had replaced it being too rich for a sleeping-room, we had +covered it with the pretty chintz, without mentioning the fact to Mrs. +Lee or any one else. + +"There was a toilet instead of the dressing-table, I remember," +continued the lady, "with quantities of frost-like lace falling around +it and on it; with other things, a little basket, prettier than mine, +full of mossrose-buds." + +"Was there nothing else in the basket?" I questioned, holding my breath +for the reply. + +"Nothing else," answered the lady, smiling; "oh! yes, combs and +hair-pins, rings and bracelets, the whole toilet was in a glitter." + +"But nothing else in the basket?" I persisted. + +"No; rose-buds--mossrose-buds, red and white. Nothing more," she +answered, languidly. + +Mrs. Lee paused a moment with her eyes closed. Then starting as if from +sleep, she almost cried out,-- + +"There was a woman in the room--in the bed--a beautiful woman. The +ruffles of her night-gown were open at the throat, the sleeves were +broad and loose; you could see her arms almost to the shoulders. She +wore no cap, and her hair fell in bright, heavy coils down to her waist. +She had something in her hand; don't speak, I shall remember in a +minute: the color was rich. It was, yes, it was half a peach, with the +brown stone partly bedded in the centre; the fragrance of it hung about +the basket of roses." + +"And you saw all this, dear lady?" I exclaimed, startled by the reality +of her picture, which, as a whole, I recognized far more closely than +Jessie could. + +"In my dream, yes; but one fancies such strange things when asleep, you +know, dear Miss Hyde." + +"Strange, very strange," murmured Jessie; "but for the basket of roses +and the fruit, we might have recognized the picture. Don't you think so, +Aunt Matty?" + +"Did you get a look at the lady's face?" I inquired, suppressing +Jessie's question. + +"No, no; I think not. The thick hair shaded it, but the arms and neck +were white as lilies. She had bitten the peach; I remember seeing marks +of her teeth on one side. Strange, isn't it, how real such fancies will +seem?" + +"It is, indeed, strange," I said, feeling cold chills creeping over me. + +"Besides," continued the invalid, while a scarcely perceptible shiver +disturbed her, "notwithstanding the freshness and beauty of everything, +I felt oppressed in that room--just as flowers may be supposed to grow +faint when vipers creep over them; the air seemed close till I got to +your chamber, Jessie." + +"And there?" said the sweet girl, kissing her mother's hand again. + +"There, the angel that had been a cloud took form again. It beckoned +me--beckoned me--I cannot tell where; but you were sleeping, I know +that." + +"It was a strange dream," said Jessie, thoughtfully. + +"The impression was very strong," answered the mother, drawing a hand +across her eyes,--"so powerful that it tired me. This morning it seemed +as if I had been on a journey." + +"But you are better now," I said; "this sense of fatigue is wearing off, +I hope." + +"Oh, yes!" she answered, languidly. + +"And you will be well enough to see Mrs. Dennison before dinner, I +hope," whispered Jessie. + +"Perhaps, child." + +"Father will persuade you." + +"Where is your father, Jessie?" + +"Oh! somewhere about. On the front balcony, I believe, with Mrs. +Dennison, who declares that she never will get tired of looking down the +valley." + +"Yes, it is a lovely view. We used to sit on the balcony for hours--your +father and I--but now--" Mrs. Lee turned away her face and shaded her +eyes with one pale hand. + +I walked to the window and lifted the curtain; but there was a mist over +my eyes, and I could not discern a feature of the landscape. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +INTRUSIVE KINDNESS. + + +Some one knocked at the door. I went to open it, and found Cora, Mrs. +Dennison's maid, who had been brushing her mistress's riding-habit on +the back terrace, and flung it across her arm before coming up-stairs. +The girl was a pretty mulatto, with teeth that an empress might have +coveted, and eyes like diamonds; but there was something in her face +that I did not like--a way of looking at you from under her black +eyelashes that was both searching and sinister. + +"Mistress told me to run up, and inquire if it wasn't time for Miss Lee +to put on her habit," she said, shooting a quick glance into the room; +"the horses are ordered round." + +I felt the color burning in my face. The impertinence of this intrusion +angered me greatly. + +"Miss Lee is with her mother," I said, "and cannot be disturbed; when +she is ready, I will let your mistress know. Until then the horses must +wait." + +The girl gave the habit on her arm a shake, and went away, casting one +or two glances behind. What possible business could the creature have in +that part of the house? Had the mistress really sent her? It was an hour +before the time for riding, and it had not been our custom to hurry +Jessie away from her mother's room. + +While I stood by the window, thinking angrily of this intrusion, another +knock called me back to the door. It was the mulatto again, with her +mistress's compliments, and, if Mrs. Lee was well enough, she would pay +her respects while the horses waited. + +I went down myself at this, and meeting Mrs. Dennison on the terrace, +informed her, very curtly, I fear, that Mrs. Lee was not out of her +bedroom, having spent a restless night, and was quite incapable of +seeing strangers. + +I put a little malicious emphasis on the word _strangers_, which brought +a deeper color into her cheeks; but she answered with elaborate +expressions of sympathy, inquired so minutely into the symptoms and +causes of Mrs. Lee's prostration, that I felt at a loss how to answer. + +"Dear lady!" she went on, "I'm afraid these severe attacks will exhaust +the little strength she has left; they must make life a burden." + +"On the contrary," I said, "there is not, I am sure, a person living who +so keenly enjoys the highest and most lofty principles of existence. +With the love of God in her heart, and domestic love all around her, +life can never be a burden." + +"Indeed!" she answered, with something in her voice that approached a +sneer; "I never was sick in my life, that is, perhaps, why it seems so +terrible to me. Nothing could reconcile me, I am sure, to a life like +Mrs. Lee's. At her age, too, with disease helping time to chase away +what beauty one has left, how she must feel it!" + +"You quite mistake the case, madam," I answered; "Mrs. Lee never +depended on her beauty, which, however, no one can dispute, as a means +of winning love; her sincerity, intelligence, and gentle wisdom are +enough to outlive the loveliness of a Venus." + +"You are enthusiastic, Miss Hyde." + +"I love Mrs. Lee, and speak as I feel." + +"I am afraid," she said, in her blandest manner, "that my interest in +the dear lady has led me into obtrusiveness, or, at least, that you +think so. But she is so very superior--so perfect, in fact, that one +cannot shake off the interest she inspires. It was this feeling which +tempted me to ask for the privilege of paying my respects;--I see now +that it was inopportune; but a warm heart is always getting one into +scrapes, Miss Hyde. I shall never learn how to tame mine down. It seemed +to me that the sweet invalid yonder must feel lonely in her room, and +this was why that importunate request was made." + +"Mrs. Lee is a woman who would find something of paradise in any +position. Her sitting-room, up in the tower yonder, has always been +considered the pleasantest apartment in the house." + +"No doubt; it was this conviction which made me anxious to be admitted. +Still, I must think that a confinement, that only promises to be +relieved by death, must be a painful thing." + +Why did the woman always return to that point? In my whole life I had +never heard the probable result of Mrs. Lee's illness alluded to so +often, as it had been hardly mentioned since Mrs. Dennison's arrival. It +shocked me, and became the more repulsive from the usual levity of her +manner. She seemed to weave the idea of my dear friend's death with +every luxury that surrounded her dwelling; to my prejudiced fancy, she +even exulted in it. I stood looking her in the face while these thoughts +troubled my mind. What my eyes may have spoken I cannot tell, but hers +fell beneath them, and, with an uneasy smile, she turned to walk away. + +That moment Jessie came out to the terrace, looking a little anxious. + +"Where is father?" she said; "mother is up and waiting for him." + +I saw a faint smile quiver around the widow's lips, but she busied +herself with some branches of ivy that had broken loose from the +terrace-wall, and did not seem to heed us. Just then the tramp of horses +sounded from the front of the house, and Jessie exclaiming with a little +impatience, "Dear me!" walked quickly to the square balcony. I followed +her, and saw Mr. Lee standing at the foot of the steps ready to mount. +He was giving some orders to the groom, and seemed particularly anxious +about the horse which Mrs. Dennison was to ride. + +Jessie's face flushed, and a look of proud surprise came across it. Mr. +Lee turned his head that way and called out,-- + +"Why, Jessie, where is your habit? I never found you late before." + +Jessie did not answer, but passed me, descending to the terrace and down +the flight of steps. She spoke to her father, looking back anxiously. +After the first words, he started and seemed taken by surprise. Even +from the distance I could see a flood of crimson rush to his forehead. +They both ascended the steps together. Mr. Lee went to the tower, and +Jessie ran up-stairs to put on her riding-dress. + +I went up to help her, but walked slowly; everything conspired to +depress me that morning. One serpent was enough to destroy the perfect +happiness of Eden. Our little paradise seemed changing after the same +fashion, and yet no one could tell why. + +Jessie was buttoning her habit as I went in. She looked restless and +hurt. + +"Aunt Matty," she said, "I have a great mind to give up this ride; the +thought of meeting that gentleman troubles me. Look how my hands +tremble." + +Yes, the serpent was doing its work. Even our sweet, honest Jessie was +beginning to cover up her true feelings under false issues. It was +something nearer home than the dread of an unwelcome offer that made her +so nervous. For the first time since her remembrance Mr. Lee had +forgotten his wife. But for Jessie's interposition, he would have ridden +away without inquiring after her. I recollected how he had blushed when +reminded of this. + +Of course, I could not speak of the true cause of this discontent, the +delicate reticence becoming to a daughter was too sacred for that; but I +said quickly,-- + +"Yes, yes, darling, you must go. It is your duty." + +She looked at me earnestly, then dropping her eyes, went on with her +preparations. + +A second time Mrs. Dennison came to her chamber. Our coldness the day +before had left no impression on the materialism of her nature. +Sparkling with cheerfulness, and brilliant with smiles, she swept in, +bending her flexible whip into a ring, with both hands, and letting it +free again with a prolonged snap. + +"All ready? That's right, my Lady Jess! The day is heavenly, and our +cavaliers are coming up the road!" + +"Thank heaven!" I heard Jessie whisper, as she drew on her gantlets. + +If she fancied that the coming of Mr. Bosworth and his friend would +release Mr. Lee, and leave him at liberty to spend his morning with the +invalid, she was disappointed in the result, though not in the fact. +Just as the party were mounting, he appeared on the terrace, and, +descending the steps, joined them, whip in hand. + +I watched all these movements keenly; why, it would have been impossible +for me to explain even to my own judgment; but shadows tormented me at +this time, and all my senses were on the alert. Mr. Lee rode by his +daughter, leaving his guest to the other gentlemen, between whom she +rode triumphantly, as Queen Elizabeth may have entered Kenilworth, +flirting royally with her handsomest subjects. Jessie and her father +seemed to be conversing quietly, as I had seen them a hundred times +riding down that road. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE TRAIL OF THE SERPENT. + + +After the party was out of sight, I went into Mrs. Dennison's room to +see that the maid had performed her duty, as was my custom; for I had +assumed these light cares in the household, and loved them from the fact +that they attached an idea of usefulness to my residence in the house. + +Everything seemed in order. Cora, the mulatto girl, was busily arranging +the dress her mistress had just taken off. Ear-rings and a brooch of +blue lava were lying on the toilet, and the pretty cap, with its +streamers of black velvet and azure ribbon, hung upon one of the +supports of the dressing-table, as she had left them. + +I looked for the basket of mossrose-buds, but it was gone; some buds +were opening in one of the toilet-glasses, but that was all. Why had the +widow Dennison taken such pains to put the basket out of sight? + +"What have you done with the basket?" I inquired very quietly of the +girl. "If you wet the moss again, we can fill it with fresh flowers." + +"What basket, Miss?" inquired the girl, lifting her black eyes +innocently to my face. + +"The basket you brought in here last evening." + +"Oh, that!" she continued, dropping her eyes; "I've made so many of them +things that mistress doesn't seem to care for 'em any more." + +"You--you make them?" + +"Yes, indeed! Is there any harm, Miss?" she said, lifting her eyes +again, with a look of genuine earnestness. + +"And you arranged those buds in the moss?" + +"Yes, indeed!" + +"And placed the half peach among them?" + +"Was there any harm, Miss?" + +"The half peach--after an Oriental fashion?" + +"Dear me! I hope there wasn't any harm in the gardener's letting me have +that one. It was the first I had seen this year, so I couldn't give up +more than I did; but it was the biggest half that I saved for the +mistress." + +Nothing could be more natural than her dawning contrition, nothing more +satisfactory than the solution she had given to a subject that had kept +me awake half the night. What a fool I had been! Was I, in fact, +becoming fanciful and old-maidish--ready to find error in shadows, and +crimes in everything? Heaven forbid that anything so unwomanly and +indelicate as this should come upon me. + +Was it possible that I, in the waning freshness of my life, had begun to +envy brighter and handsomer women the homage due to their attraction, +and had thus become suspicious? The very idea humiliated me; I felt +abashed before that mulatto girl, who sat so demurely smoothing the +folds of her mistress's breakfast-dress across her lap. It seemed as if +she must have some knowledge of the mean suspicion that had brought me +there. How artful and indirect my conduct had been! In my heart I had +rather plumed myself on the adroit way in which my questions had been +put regarding that annoying basket. Now, I was heartily ashamed of it +all, and stole out of the room bitterly discomfited. + +In shutting the door, I glanced back; the girl was looking up from her +work. The demure expression had left her face, the black eyes flashed +and danced as they followed me; but the moment my look met hers, all +this passed away so completely, that my very senses were confused, and +the doubts that I had put aside came crowding back upon me. + +I went up to Mrs. Lee's room. She was resting on the lounge, sound +asleep; but her face seemed cold as well as pale. There was a strange +look about it, as if all the vitality were stricken out; yet she +breathed evenly, and though I made some noise in entering, it did not +disturb her in the least. + +I sat down on a low chair by the side of her couch; for Jessie had +desired me to sit by her during all the time I could command. Thus I was +placed close to the gentle sleeper. The deathly stillness in which she +lay troubled me; it seemed too profound for healthy slumber. One little +hand fell over the couch. I took it in my own, and passed my other hand +softly over it. Strange enough, she did not move, but began to murmur in +her sleep, while a cold, troubled cloud contracted her forehead. + +"Ah! now I can see everything--everything; they are cantering by the old +mill. I haven't seen it before in years. How beautifully the shadows +fall on the water; the waves are tipped with silver; the trees rustle +pleasantly! No wonder they draw up to look at the mill; it always was a +picturesque object!" + +She was following the equestrians in her dreams--those strange dreams +that seemed to drink up all the color and warmth from her body. + +According to the best calculation I could make, the party would have +reached the old mill about this time. It stood under the curve of the +precipitous banks, a mile or two up the river, and Mr. Lee had spoken of +riding that way at breakfast. Thus it seemed more than probable that the +party was exactly as she fancied it. Mr. Lee had doubtless informed her +what route he would take, and so her imagination followed him while her +frail form slumbered. + +She stirred uneasily on her pillow, drew her black eyebrows together, +and spoke again:-- + +"Why does he leave my Jessie? She don't want to be left with that young +man;--and he, poor fellow! how frightened he is! What is that he is +saying? Wants to marry my Jessie! Alas! how the heart shrinks in her +bosom! My poor child! he should not distress you so! Yet it is an honest +heart he offers--full of warmth, full of goodness! Can't you understand +that, my darling?" + +After this speech she lay quiet a few minutes, and then spoke like one +who had been examining something that puzzled her. + +"Jessie, Jessie! what is this? Why does your heart stand still while he +speaks to her? It troubles me, darling. I am your mother, and this thing +disturbs me more than you can guess. You have driven one away--he +retreats to the rear, heart-broken. That other one comes up. Who is he? +what is he? Ask her, for she is watching him, and her loaded heart +follows after, though he, my husband, is by her side." + +Here she dropped into silence again, only breaking it by faint moans, +and a single ejaculation, "Oh, not that! not that!" + +Her face grew so painfully wan, and she gave evidence of so much inward +anguish, that I was constrained to arouse her. My voice made no +impression, and the clasp of my hand only threw her into a more deathly +slumber. I began to comprehend her state. I had heard of deep trances, +when the soul seems released from the body, or is gifted with something +like prophecy. I knew, or believed, that this was an unhealthy state, +the result of disease, or the offspring of a badly balanced +organization; and this thought horrified me; there was something of the +supernatural in it that filled my soul with awe. By the contraction of +her pale forehead, I saw that there was some distress in the head; so +lifting my hand, I passed it across her brow, hoping to soothe away the +pain. + +Certainly, the face became calm, a smile stole across the lips, and +after a moment her eyes opened, and looked vaguely around, as a child +awakes from its sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +AFTER DREAMING. + + +"I have been asleep," said Mrs. Lee, pleasantly; "sound asleep. When did +you come in?" + +"Only a short time since." + +"And you have been sitting here while I slept?" + +"Yes; after a restless night, I fancied a quiet sleep would do you no +harm." + +"Harm? It has given me strength." + +"Do you think so?" + +She smiled. + +"Have you been dreaming again?" I inquired, a little anxiously. + +"Dreaming? No, my sleep was profound, perfect rest. But where is Jessie? +She sat where you are when I fell off." + +"Indeed!" + +"Yes, I remember--her left hand held mine, with her right she was +soothing the pain from my forehead." + +"That was some time ago; she has gone out to ride since, and I am quite +sure Mr. Lee came up here after she left you," I said. + +"I am glad of it," she answered, gently. "He was rather late this +morning, I remember thinking; but Jessie would not own it. So he came +up, and I did not hear him. Miss Hyde, this is the first time in my +whole life that his lightest footstep failed to awake me,--what can it +mean?" + +"Yes," broke in Lottie, who had been hanging around the door, unnoticed; +for we had all become so used to her presence in that room, that it was +no more heeded than that of the canary-bird in its cage on the +balcony,--"yes, ma'am, Mr. Lee came up with his spurs on, and his whip +all ready, just like a trooper, clang, clang, clang. I thought the noise +would make you jump out of the window in that white, loose gown, just +like an angel with its wings spread; but law! there you were, ma'am, +snoozing away right in his face, and he making up his mind, with the +whip in his hand, whether to kiss you good-bye or not." + +"And did he?" inquired the lady, with a faint flush of the cheek. + +"No, ma'am; I suppose he was afraid of scaring you out of that nice +sleep. He only looked at you sort of earnestly, and went off trying to +walk on tiptoe; but mercy! didn't them boots creak?" + +"I thought not," murmured the lady, with infinite tenderness in her +voice; "I must have been dead if that failed to arouse me." + +"Lor, Mrs. Lee," continued the maid, spreading her flail-like arms in +illustration, "I wish you could have seen that new widder-woman when +them two gentlemen helped her on to the horse. Didn't her dress swell +out--and didn't she keep Mr. Lawrence a-tinkering away at her stirrups, +with one foot in his hand, till it made me sick looking on. Awful 'cute +lady that is, Miss Hyde; you ain't no match for her, nohow!" + +I really think that witch of a girl was gifted with something almost +like second sight. I never had a secret taste or dislike that she did +not understand at once, and drag it out in some blundering way before +the whole world. + +"What makes you think so, Lottie?" I inquired, a little annoyed. + +"Because you're straightforward right out, and flat-footed honest; and +she--oh my!" + +"What makes you say, 'oh my!' Lottie?" + +"Nothing, Miss Hyde; only I've got eyes, and can see right through a +mill-stone, especially when there's a hole in the middle. Perhaps you +can't, then again perhaps you can; I don't dispute anything; only, as I +said before, that widder-woman is too 'cute for such a mealy-mouthed +lady as you are. My!--wouldn't she ride over you rough-shod and with +spurs to her slippers!" + +We spoiled that girl. She was neither servant, companion, nor protégée, +and yet partook of the position which three such persons might have +occupied in the family. She waited upon every one with the faithfulness +of a hound and the speed of a lapwing, seemed to be always in the +kitchen, constantly flitting through the parlor, yet never beyond the +sound of her mistress's voice. She belonged everywhere and nowhere in +the household. She had taken her position out of the kitchen entirely, +by refusing to sit down at the table there, whatever the temptation was, +she invariably carrying off the tray into her own little room, after the +mistress was served, taking her meals in solitary grandeur from frosted +silver and china so delicate that you could see a shadow through it. +Nay, she affected great elegance in this little room, which was a sort +of select hospital for all the old finery in the household. Lace +curtains, condemned as too much worn for the parlor-windows, after +passing through her adroit hands, appeared at the casement of her little +room transparent as new; silk hangings, when faded from their first +splendor, she managed to revive into almost pristine brightness. She +would cut out the freshest medallions from an old carpet, and make it +bloom out anew under her own feet. Then she had pretty knick-knacks and +keepsakes scattered about, which made her little nook quite a +boudoir--indeed, almost the prettiest one in the family. + +Mrs. Lee was rather proud of her unique handmaiden's retreat; it +gratified her own exquisite sense of the beautiful; and, as the room +opened into her own, it was but a continuation of the refinements that +surrounded her. + +In her dress, too, Lottie was more original than half the old pictures +one sees offered for sale. Jessie's cast-off dresses were remodelled by +her nimble fingers into a variety of garments really marvellous. Indeed, +Lottie was generally the most perfectly costumed person in our +household. No one felt disposed to check this exuberant taste in the +strange girl: it pleased the invalid, and that was reason enough for +anything in our family. + +"Yes, I say it again," persisted the strange little creature, folding +her arms and setting her head on one side, "widders are monstrous smart, +up to a'most anything. I've often wished that I'd been born a widder +with both eye-teeth cut, as theirs always is--are, I meant. Lor! Miss +Hyde, you ain't a circumstance; just leave this one to me." + +"Lottie, Lottie," said Mrs. Lee, shaking her head, "you speak too loud +and look bold, it isn't becoming. Besides, the guests in a house must +always be honored, never made subjects of criticism: in short, my good +child, we are spoiling you." + +Lottie withered into penitence with the first words of this reproof. +When it was ended, a deep flush settled around her eyes, as if tears +were suppressed with difficulty. + +"Spoiling me! not with kindness, I should die without that," she said, +half sitting down on the ottoman, half kneeling by the couch. "I won't +speak another word against that--that lady. There, I've got it out; say +you are not angry with me." + +"Angry! no, my child. Only be careful not to say harsh things of any +one, it is a bad habit." + +"I am sorry!" + +"Well, well." + +"Very sorry!" + +"There, there, child, it is not so very terrible." + +"I'll never call the lady a widder again. Never!" + +Mrs. Lee smiled, and sent her into the next room. She seemed troubled +after the girl went out; for certainly tears had glittered in Lottie's +eyes, a thing I had never witnessed before. + +"Go in, Miss Hyde, and comfort her, poor thing! It was cruel to reprove +her so harshly; but my temper is getting ungovernable." + +It was almost amusing to hear that gentle creature condemn herself with +so little reason; but she would not be convinced that something of the +spirit of a Nero had not been manifest in that mild reprimand; so I went +into Lottie's room, much better disposed to give her a second lesson +than to console her for the first. + +Miss Lottie had curled herself up in the window-seat, with both hands +clasped around her knees, and her face buried upon them. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +LOTTIE EXPRESSES HER OPINION OF THE WIDOW. + + +"Lottie," I said, going up to the girl, "what are you huddled up in that +place for? Is there nothing you can find to do more profitable than +pouting?" + +"I'm not pouting, Miss Hyde," she said; "only grinding my teeth in peace +and comfort. Why can't you let me alone, I should like to know?" + +"What folly! Do get down and act like a sensible creature." + +"Well," she said, throwing herself off the window-seat with a +demi-summersault, which landed her in the middle of the room, "here I +am. What's wanted?" + +It was rather difficult for me to say just that instant what I did want, +having only a charge of consolation on hand. + +"Well," she added, "what have I done to you, Miss Hyde, that I can't be +allowed to sit still in my own room?" + +"Nothing, Lottie; I was only afraid that you might be fretting." + +Her eyes instantly filled with tears, which she dashed aside with her +hand. + +"So I was; what's the use of denying it? She never said a cross word to +me before, and wouldn't now but for that Mrs. Babylon. I hate that +widder; I want to stomp her down under my feet. It makes me grit my +teeth when she comes sailing out into the garden, and looks up to Mrs. +Lee's window, just like a dog hankering after a bone." + +"Why, how can you feel so bitterly, Lottie, about a person you never +spoke to a dozen times in your life?" I said, shocked and surprised by +her vehemence. + +"Didn't I, though? How 'cute people can be with their eyes shut! Well, I +fancy that the widder and I are slightly acquainted--better than she +thinks for." + +"Why, how can that be possible; you are always in Mrs. Lee's room?" + +"Generally, generally--not always. There is hours in the morning, before +she gets up; hours in the evening, after she goes to bed; when I break +out, and do a little exploring about the premises. This morning I was in +Mrs. Babylon's room before any of you were up." + +"Indeed! How did that happen?" + +"That sneaking mulatto girl came to the chamber-door as I was passing, +and beckoned me to come in." + +"And you went?" + +"Me! Why not? If a girl never sinsatiates around, how is she to find out +what's going on? Besides, I wanted to know just how Babylon looked in +her own room; so, being invited, I went in." + +"But what did she want of you?" + +"Don't know. Something besides doing a braid up in eleven strands, I +surmise; but that was what she made believe it was about--just as if +that mulatto creature didn't understand that much of her business. I did +it though, meek as Moses--such hair! a yard long in the shortest part. +It was worth while trying a hand at it; but, after all, it seemed like +braiding copperheads and rattlesnakes. I hate to touch anybody's hair if +I don't like 'em; it makes me crawl all over." + +"But why don't you like Mrs. Dennison?" + +"Why--because I don't; and because you don't either." + +I could not help smiling, and yet was half angry with the girl. She +shook her head gravely and went on: + +"It wasn't the hair, Miss Hyde; that copper-colored girl knew more than +I did about it, often as I've braided for Miss Jessie." + +"Then what did she want?" + +"I've found out--never you fear." + +"Well?" + +"Can't tell anything about it. It's like a patch-work quilt in my mind, +the pieces all sorted, but not laid together; the colors will get +ship-shape by-and-by, and then I'll answer everything. She wants me to +come into her room every morning, and I'm going." + +"What, when you dislike her so much?" + +"Yes, in spite of that, and fifty times as much. I'm going to do up Mrs. +Babylon's hair for her." + +"Well, well, I am glad you are not heart-broken about Mrs. Lee's mild +rebuke." + +"Heart-broken! I'd die rather than have a real cross word from her; for +I tell you, Miss Hyde, if ever there was an angel with a morning-dress +and slippers on as a general thing, that angel is the lady in yonder. +Miss Jessie is considerable, and you sometimes come almost up to the +mark, but you can't hold a candle to her, neither one of you." + +It was of no use reproving or questioning Lottie; she was in reality the +most independent person in the house, so I went away rather amused by my +efforts at consolation. + +Earlier than I expected, the riding party came back. Everybody seemed a +little out of sorts. Jessie was pale and looked harassed. Young Bosworth +rode by her side, but it was with the appearance of a man returning from +a funeral. He lifted Jessie from the saddle. She reached forth her hand +before ascending the steps, and seemed to be speaking earnestly. I saw +him wring the hand with unusual energy, and spring to his saddle again. + +As he was turning his horse, Mrs. Dennison rode up with Lawrence and Mr. +Lee. For a voice so musical, hers was rather loud, so I could distinctly +hear her call out,-- + +"Remember, Mr. Bosworth, your engagement for this evening; don't hope to +be excused." + +Bosworth bowed, and rode slowly away; but Lawrence sprang from his +horse, and ran up the steps after Jessie, leaving Mr. Lee to help the +other lady from her saddle. + +Jessie heard him coming, and fairly ran into the house, a piece of +rudeness that seemed to surprise him very much; but unlike as this was +to her usual manner, it did not astonish me. The dear girl's face was +toward me, and I saw that it was flushed with tears. Bosworth had +offered himself, and been refused, poor fellow! I was sure of that. + +Mrs. Dennison laughed till her clear voice rang far out among the +flowers as she witnessed Lawrence's discomfiture. He colored a little +angrily, and would have passed her on the steps, but she took his arm +with exquisite coolness, and smilingly forced him into the house. + +"Babylon's got two strings to her bow,--smart!" + +This strange speech was uttered at my elbow. I looked round and saw +Lottie close to me. + +"Better go up-stairs," she said, pointing over her shoulder; "she +wouldn't let me help her; you must." + +Mrs. Dennison entered the upper hall. Her eyes sparkled, her lips curved +triumphantly. She had carried away her captive and exulted over him with +charming playfulness, which he answered in a low, impressive voice. + +I went up-stairs, leaving them together: Jessie stood in the upper +passage leaning against the banister. She was pale as death, and her +lips quivered like those of a wronged child; but the moment she saw me, +the proud air natural to her returned, and she moved toward her room, +waving me back. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE UNWELCOME PROPOSAL. + + +It was true, Jessie had received the proposal she so much dreaded, +received it exactly as her mother had described the scene. If other and +deeper feelings prevailed with her, they were buried far out of sight +by the delicate reticence of a nature which shrunk from any revelation +of feelings which would, perhaps, never receive a generous response. +Though the most single-hearted and frank creature in the world, Jessie +would have died rather than confess feelings such as I fear occupied her +heart even at this time. + +"Well, Aunt Matty, I have obeyed you," she said, with a sorrowful look +of the eyes, the moment we were alone together. "It breaks my heart, but +I have listened to all he could say, poor fellow! and it is over. What a +terrible, terrible thing it must be to love a person who does not care +for you. Oh! Aunt Matty, Aunt Matty! it is--" She hesitated, turned +crimson, and added, "it must be like death, worse than death; for to +crush one's pride is to deprive life of its dignity, and this thing I +have done for him." + +"And do you begin to regret it?" I said, sitting down, and drawing her +head to my shoulder. + +"Regret it? The thought oppresses me; I am so sorry for him; my heart +aches when I think of the look he gave me. Oh! why is it that love +cannot always be mutual?" + +"That would destroy half its romance, I fear," said I, smiling in spite +of my sympathy in her distress. + +She gave a little nervous laugh and said, "she supposed so; but it was +very hard to see a good man suffer disappointment and mortification such +as she had just witnessed. Some ladies might glory in these things, but, +for her part, she hoped never to have another offer in her life. It was +hard to give pain, harder by far than to endure it. Poor John Bosworth, +how wretched he must be!" + +I strove to comfort her, for there was no affectation in all this. She +really did suffer all her broken speech implied, but she felt the +humiliation she had given too keenly for argument. + +"He bowed himself before me as if I were a queen; and to be rejected +after all, it was very cruel!" she exclaimed, excitedly; "but what +could I do? There was Mrs. Dennison--but no matter about her." + +Jessie stopped suddenly, and a flame of crimson spread and glowed in her +cheeks. + +"You don't like Mrs. Dennison, Aunt Matty?" she said, after a moment's +silence. + +"No, I never did like her," was my prompt reply. + +"She is a strange woman," said Jessie, thoughtfully; "so brilliant, so +full of attractions, everybody is charmed with her at first sight. I +was." + +"And now?" I suggested. + +She looked at me a moment, then smiled, a little bitterly, I thought, +and said,-- + +"Who can help like--admiring her?" + +Something was wrong in that quarter; I was sure of it. Two natures so +opposite as those of our Jessie and Mrs. Dennison could not long +harmonize under the same roof. + +"Well," I said, smoothing the raven braids of Jessie's hair, "the worst +is over now. Mr. Bosworth will think all the better of you for being +truthful and honest; we shall have him for a friend still, never fear." + +Jessie shook her head quite dejectedly. + +"No, that can never be; these rides and invitations have been +misunderstood. He really thought I was encouraging him, when you know, +dear Aunt Matty, I hadn't the least idea of what it all meant. He talks +of going to Europe at once, or--or--" + +"Or what?" I inquired, with an inclination to smile; "drown himself by +the old mill, perhaps?" + +She glanced at me a little roguishly, and said, with a half-sigh, "Yes, +aunt, I believe he almost threatened that." + +"So much the better," I said, gravely enough; for she was on the alert +for any signs of ridicule. "The disappointment that takes that form is +not killing." + +"Don't!" she said, with a contraction of the forehead, which gave +evidence of real pain, "the very remembrance of his face is a reproach +to me; and there _they_ sat so quietly in the shade of a tree enjoying +the scenery. To them, I dare say, the world contained nothing else to +think of. Mrs. Dennison even pointed at us with her whip, as if we made +up the figures of a picture." + +"Well, but she did not know," I suggested. + +"Heaven forbid!" + +We were interrupted then, and Jessie went to her mother, whose gentle +sympathy was always at command, though the cause of grief might be +unexplained. The presence of that woman was like a calm autumn day--it +saddened while it made you better. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +OUT UPON THE RIDGE. + + +I could not divine why it was, but for some reason Mrs. Dennison +appeared ill at ease after her ride that morning. Mr. Lee was about the +house all day; but she rather avoided him, and disappeared altogether +from the square balcony, where he was in the habit of reading when the +shadows crept round to that side of the house. + +Late in the day I went out for a walk, and, mounting the hill back of +the house, wandered along its upper ridge, where a thick growth of +hemlocks and forest-trees shut out a glorious landscape on either hand; +for this hill formed a spur of the mountains which partially separated +two broad valleys. That on the east I have already described; but the +other and broader space of country could only be commanded from one or +two prominent points on the ridge. A large rock, fringed with ferns and +mountain pinks, marked one of these spots. A footpath led to it through +the trees, and, as the rock crowned a precipitous declivity of several +hundred feet, it ended there. + +I sat down upon the rock weary from my long walk, and gazed dreamily +upon the broad plain at my feet. It was in a state of beautiful +cultivation: a large county-town lay under the shelter of the near +mountains, over which a cloud of smoke floated from the numerous iron +foundries in full blast in the environs. The breaks and gossamer +floating of this cloud interested me, not the less because its source +was in the useful development of the resources of a great commonwealth. +I loved to think that with every wreath of that graceful vapor came +assurance of bread for the working-man, and profits to the capitalist; +for to me such thoughts give dignity to the beautiful. I am not one of +those who would object to having the waters of Niagara lowered half an +inch, if it would give the poor better and cheaper flour. + +Well, as I was saying, the hives of industry which lay in the hazy +distance made the landscape one of peculiar interest. The signs of rich +cultivation upon the undulating grounds stretching to a range of the +Blue Ridge, so far away that the mountain peaks seemed embankments of +clouds, took a new aspect every time I saw them. + +Like the busy city, every beautiful object conveyed an under-thought of +prosperity; even the distant noise of some forges under the mountain +sounded harmonious in connection with the broad scene. + +As I sat looking upon this glorious picture, reflecting that my beloved +country could boast of thousands on thousands equally rich, both in +beauty and thrift, a footstep in the grass disturbed me, and, turning my +head, I saw Mrs. Dennison walking slowly along the footpath. + +The woman was in deep thought, and evidently did not observe me, for I +was sitting on a slope of the rock, and a mossy fragment rose up between +us. She held a letter in her hand, which seemed to give her anything but +pleasure, for as she read, a cloud fell heavily on her forehead, and the +beautiful brows contracted. She stopped in the middle of the footpath, +and seemed to read the letter over a second time. During all this time +she was so near to me, that I could distinguish the heavy sigh with +which she folded the paper. + +After this she stood a moment gazing upon the landscape at her feet. She +seemed to feel the beauties this glorious point of view presented, and +her face cleared up. + +That moment I spoke to her. She gave a little start, hid the letter away +somewhere in the folds of her dress, and sat down upon the rock. That +woman, I do think, never took a position which did not at once settle +into lines of grace. Just then the scarlet folds of her shawl fell in +rich contrast with the green mosses of the rock and cool foliage of the +trees, and I could not help observing that, even for my sake, she +condescended to be artistic. + +"Ah, Miss Hyde, I am glad to find you here; these woods were getting +lonesome," she said, pleasantly. + +"But it is not lonesome here," I replied; "this moment I was thinking +what a cheerful idea of life the whole scene yonder presented." + +"Yes," she answered, looking toward the distant city; "after all, +civilization has its fine points, even in a picture. I do not wonder you +love this spot, if it were only from its contrasts. A moment back, I was +almost chilled by the lonely murmur of the pines, and the dull sweep of +waters answering them; surely there is some river near, Miss Hyde." + +"Yes, at the foot of this hill." + +"Oh! true, I can see gleams of water through the gloom. How steep it +is!" + +"Yes, almost a precipice," I answered. "One would not like to attempt a +descent." + +"Indeed, I would rather like it. If one had a mania for suicide now, it +would be a romance. A single false step, and you could hardly hear the +plunge or a cry for help, if the actor were coward enough to give it. +The waters are very black and sullen down yonder." + +I turned away from them with a shudder; this idea of death and crime +which she had advanced chilled me. The waters did, indeed, look black as +we saw them weltering on through the piny gloom far below us. + +"Do you know," she said, smiling blandly upon me, "I found a pretty +bird's-nest under a tuft of fern-leaves up yonder, with four lovely +speckled eggs? My red shawl frightened the poor birds, and they made a +terrible fluttering; so, in pity to the little creatures, I came away +only half satisfied." + +"Oh! you have found my nest!" I exclaimed, thanking her kindness from +the depths of my heart. "My own little birds; they have built in that +spot for three years; I dare say some of the birds hatched under those +broken leaves are singing to us now. No one ever molests them here." + +"Indeed I did them no harm; only took one little peep at the eggs and +ran away; so, don't look so terrified; the birds did not seem half so +much frightened." + +I smiled and dropped the subject. The truth is, I really am silly about +my birds, and always keep their hiding-places secret, if I can, even +from Jessie, who does not understand their dainty habits as I do. + +Mrs. Dennison busied herself looking about on the landscape. + +"Tell me," she said, "whereabouts is that delightful old mill which we +stopped at this morning? I do assure you, Miss Hyde, it is the most +picturesque bit that I ever saw out of a picture; this river must be the +stream on which it stands." + +"Yes," I answered; "but the mill is not visible from here." + +"We had a delightful five minutes examining it," she resumed, "that is, +my good host, Mr. Lawrence, and myself. As for our sweet Jessie and her +cavalier-lover, must I say--" + +"Jessie Lee has no lovers," I answered, coldly, for there was something +in the side-glance of her almond-shaped eyes that I did not like,--a +sinister questioning that aroused all the original distrust that her +simple manner had, for a time, laid to rest. + +"Indeed! What, no lover? and she so beautiful, such a peculiar style! I +thought young Bosworth was something more than a neighborly cavalier; a +fine young fellow, Miss Hyde, and a catch, isn't he?" + +"I don't know exactly what you mean by a catch, madam," I replied, more +and more repulsed. + +"Oh! I see; not worldly enough for boarding-school vulgarisms; but I, +who am naughty enough to remember them now and then, will explain that +there is nothing very terrible in a 'good catch.' It only means a +handsome, fashionable, and rich man, whom every marriageable young lady +is dying for and only one can get." + +"Then our young neighbor will not answer to the character, for he is +neither fashionable nor more than comfortably rich; nor has he any +number of young ladies dying for him." + +"Only one, perhaps?" + +The same sidelong glance, the same crafty undercurrent in her +questioning. + +"If you mean Jessie, Mrs. Dennison, I am very sure she has no such +feelings as you suspect, toward any one." + +"Oh, I dare say not; one always likes to talk nonsense about such +things, but it amounts to nothing. Of course, people are always +expecting hosts of lovers when an heiress is in question, and Miss Lee +has the reputation of immense expectations." + +"Yes," I answered, artfully, "I am afraid Jessie will be very rich, +indeed. Along that valley she will own land enough for a small +principality, if such things were recognized in this country, and many a +smoke-wreath that you see curling up from the city yonder comes from the +dwellings that will yet be hers, and so will several foundries that are +coining money for her out of iron." + +Mrs. Dennison's eyes kindled. "Show me," she said, eagerly, and shading +her eyes with one hand, "where does the land lie--this principality of +which Jessie will be mistress?" + +"Yonder to the left, around and far beyond that hill." + +"The hill with so many grassy slopes, and crested with groves? That +hill, and the lands around it, will it surely be Jessie Lee's +inheritance?" + +"Every foot of land, every smoke that curls from several blocks of +houses in the centre of the city." + +"And does Mr. Lee have all this income?" + +"Every cent." + +Her eyes sparkled. Fresh roses bloomed out on her cheeks. She threw out +her arm, and waved it inward, as if gathering the property in one +sweeping embrace. + +"Ah! what a world of enjoyment you or I could get out of all that if it +were ours!" she said, with unaccountable exultation in her voice. "No +wonder he lives like a prince." + +I answered her with constraint. This enthusiasm disturbed me. + +"I am not sure, madam, that either you or I would be happier for +possessing so much care as this wealth would bring; for my part, that +which I enjoy without responsibility, is enough." + +Her beautiful mouth curled with a sneer, the first I ever saw on those +lips. + +"Ah! it requires taste and habits of power to prepare one for these +things; some people are born with them. Some people are born for them, +and others--" + +"Well?" I said, smiling with satisfaction that she had at last broken +loose from her system of crafty adulation. + +"And others," she said, adroitly, "are so gentle and unselfish, that +they live in the happiness of their friends. It would be a pity to +cumber such with all the anxieties of wealth; one would as soon think of +weighing the angels down with gold." + +I declare, the quickness of that woman frightened me. The sneer left her +lips in a glow of smiles before it was formed. Her eyes were bent on my +face innocent as a child's. She sat down by me, folding the scarlet +shawl lightly around her. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +ADROIT CROSS-QUESTIONING. + + +"Now that we are talking of rich people," said Mrs. Dennison, with an +air of the most natural confidence, "do tell me about this Mr. Lawrence. +Is he very much in love with our Jessie, or not?" + +"I never heard or thought that he was in love with her, Mrs. Dennison." + +"Nor she with him?" + +The question stung me. It gave form to a painful thought that had been +growing in my heart, and I felt myself blushing hotly under her glance. + +"Mrs. Dennison, are such questions honorable?" + +"Not if you cannot answer them without blushes. I beg pardon." + +"Are they delicate?" I urged, angrily. + +"Not if they touch her friends so keenly. Again I beg pardon." + +"Mrs. Dennison," I said, conquering the anger that burned in me like a +fire, "excuse me if I seem rude, but if there is anything of excitement +in my manner, it is because I am not used to canvassing the feelings of +my friends, even with those nearest and dearest to me." + +"And me you consider a stranger," she said, deprecatingly. + +"Almost," I replied, with blunt truth. + +"And one whom you cannot like?" + +I bit my lips to keep back the words that pressed against them. + +"At my age, Mrs. Dennison, new feelings spring up slowly in the heart." + +She made another desperate attempt at my weak side. + +"At your age? My dear Miss Hyde, am I to judge what it is by that smooth +cheek, or by your words?" + +"I am afraid it is best to be judged of by the slow growth of feelings +such as we speak of," I replied, gravely. + +She looked down sadly, and tears came trembling into her eyes. I really +think she felt it. Her habits of fascination were such that she was +doubtless wounded that they could fail even with so unimportant a person +as I was. + +"You are unkind, I would say unjust; only that feeling is seldom a +matter of choice. But I, who was prepared to love you as the friend of +dear Jessie, who did like you so much at the first sight, it does seem a +little cruel that you should meet all this with repulsion." + +Her tears made me uncomfortable; one had fallen to her cheek, and hung +on its roses like a dew-drop. A man, I think, would have yielded to her +then and there; a quiet person of her own sex was not likely to be so +impressible. But her grief touched me, and feeling that there had been +something of rudeness in my speech, I strove to soften it. + +"Not repulsion, Mrs. Dennison, but we country people are a little on the +reserve always. Do not think me unkind because I do not care to talk +much of those who trust and shelter me." + +She laid her hands on mine and smiled sweetly through her tears. + +"You are right. It was all rash childishness, not curiosity; how could +it be when dear Jessie tells me everything with her own sweet lips?" + +I longed to draw my hand from under hers, but conquered the impulse, and +seemed to listen with patience at least. + +"But we will drop our sweet Jessie," she said, "and talk of some one +else--Mr. Lawrence, for instance. Are you sure that he is not really +poor?" + +"Indeed, I cannot tell. He lives in another State, and may be rich or +poor, for aught we know of a certainty; all that I can say is, that his +friend Bosworth never represented him as wealthy to us." + +"That is a pity," she said, thoughtfully, "a great pity; an heiress +stands no chance with such men." + +I started, feeling as if it were Jessie she was speaking of. + +"And why, pray?" was my sharp response. + +"Ah! these splendid men, proud and poor, how can you expect them to face +the world as fortune-hunters? After all, wealth has its drawback. I +often pity a girl with money, for the most sensitive and the most noble +keep aloof. I can imagine a man like this Lawrence now wearing his heart +out, or turning it to iron if it brought him to the feet of an heiress. +Such men like to grant, not take." + +"Isn't that a sort of proud selfishness?" I asked, struck by the force +and truth of her worldly knowledge. + +"Selfishness? Of course it is. What else do we find in the noblest +nature? But you are looking serious, and I have watched that cloud of +smoke till it wearies me." + +She arose while speaking, and walked away, passing through the trees +like some gorgeous bird whose home was beneath the branches. + +I watched her with a strange feeling of excitement. What would her +object be in cross-questioning me as she did? Was it mere vulgar +curiosity, or some deep-seated purpose? Why this anxiety about Jessie's +expectations? In short, had the woman come to us bent on mischief of +some kind, or was I a suspicious wretch, determined to find evil in +everything? + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +THE EVENING AFTER BOSWORTH'S PROPOSAL. + + +That evening Messrs. Lawrence and Bosworth came, according to some +previous engagement. I was a little surprised at this, but after awhile +saw that a generous and noble motive lay at the bottom of it all. Jessie +had besought Bosworth to remain her friend; he had promised, and thus +generously kept an engagement made before his proposal, and when it must +have been a painful sacrifice. + +Nothing could be more delicate and lovely than Jessie's manner of +receiving him. She neither colored nor looked down, but came toward him +with a deprecating stoop of the whole person, while there was a depth of +sadness in her eyes that more than begged pardon for the wound she had +given. + +Bosworth was grave, but very gentle in his reception of this kindness. +He moved toward a far end of the room, and they sat down together, +talking earnestly to each other. + +Mr. Lee was in the room and watched them rather gravely, I thought; but +Mrs. Dennison, who was chatting merrily with Lawrence, called him to her +side, and after that he seemed to forget everything but her. + +Being left to myself, I was crossing the room to go out, when Jessie +beckoned me to the sofa, where she was sitting. + +"Ah! Miss Hyde," she said, earnestly, "try and persuade Mr. Bosworth to +give up his wild plan of going away." + +"And have you really formed such an idea?" I asked. + +"Yes," he said, striving to smile; "one cannot loiter forever in these +pleasant country places. I have been a dreamer too long." + +"But not yet," I pleaded, answering the appeal in Jessie's eyes; "you +will not go in this unfriendly way." + +"Unfriendly?" he repeated, glancing at Jessie. "No, I shall never do +that; never feel unfriendly toward any of you, Miss Hyde." + +"But we cannot spare you, and I am quite sure Mrs. Dennison will be +heart-broken if--" I hesitated, conscious of the impropriety contained +in these impulsive words. + +"Oh! Mrs. Dennison will never be quite heart-broken at anything, I +fancy," he replied, with a faint smile; "but if you really desire it, I +will not break up the arrangements of our guests. A few weeks more or +less need make little difference in a life-time." + +Jessie brightened at this, and looked so gratefully on her rejected +lover, that he smiled, but very mournfully, as if reproaching her for +being so kindly and yet so firm. + +Early in the evening, Mrs. Lee's little maid, Lottie, came into the +parlor, and after casting her bright eyes in every corner of the room, +went up to her master and whispered something. Mr. Lee arose and went +out. I beckoned Lottie, and asked if her mistress was worse? + +"No, Miss Hyde, I can't say that she is, or that she isn't; because she +hasn't said a word about it. But she isn't asleep, and it seems lonesome +up there, within hearing of all the fun, and not know what it is about. +For how Mrs. Bab--how that lady's voice rings through the tower when she +laughs." + +"Yes," said I, "she has a clear, sweet voice." + +Lottie gave an almost imperceptible toss of the head. + +"Besides," she said, drawing me aside, and speaking in a low voice, +"mistress can look right into the window where those people stand; I +don't know as she did, but I can." + +"Well; could you discover more than we did, who are in the room, +Lottie?" + +The toss of her head was defiant now, but she made no other reply, +except to whisper, "Mrs. Babylon is coming this way, and I'm off." + +"Stop," I said; "did Mrs. Lee send for--for any of us?" + +"Send? No; but she expected, and being all alone evenings is what she +isn't used to." + +"I'll go up at once." + +"There now, always flying off! It isn't you she wants." + +"How do you know that, if she asked for no one in particular?" + +"How do I know? Well, that's good! As if I didn't know the difference +between her wanting you and him! When she wants you, it's all quiet and +don't-care-much-about-it in her looks. When he ought to be there, and +isn't, something comes into her eyes that makes your heart ache. I never +saw it till lately; but that look is growing on her, and would more, if +it wasn't for me." + +"Why, how can you prevent it, Lottie?" + +"Well, in a good many ways, Miss Hyde. One of 'em is by nice little lies +that hurt nobody, but do her lots of good. I know just how he makes +bouquets, and when they don't come at the right time, I run down and +make up a bunch of flowers myself. I stole some pink and blue ribbons +from his room to tie 'em with. Oh! it's worth while to see her eyes +sparkle when I bring them in. Then I've studied his way of sending +compliments and messages. Don't pretend to be a genius like you that +write poetry." + +"Lottie!" + +"Oh! don't be frightened. I sha'n't bring you to disgrace about it. Made +up my mind to that from the first. You needn't get mad and blush so; I +ain't a genius, but I can make up stories in my head; and why not tell +'em to her? Why not, I say, when they please her? You should hear the +elegant messages I bring from Mr. Lee, at least four times a day. When +she gets a nice little dish for dinner, it gives her appetite to think +he ordered it; but the cook knows." + +"But, Lottie, this is wrong." + +"Wrong! Well, I like that, Miss Hyde." + +"It isn't the truth, Lottie." + +"The truth! Who said it was? As if I didn't know it was lying, and glory +in it!" + +I could hardly keep my countenance. As for arguing a moral question with +Lottie, the thought was too ridiculous. She had her own ideas, and kept +to them without the slightest regard to those of other people. + +While we were talking, Lottie had gradually edged herself out of the +room, and her last speech was delivered on the platform of the terrace. +Mrs. Lee's window was up, and I saw her husband enter the room with what +seemed to me a reluctant step. He sat down, and opened a book, as if to +read aloud. This had been his usual custom, but the last few evenings he +had spent in the drawing-room. I would have taken his place, but she +rejected my offer with one of those deep sighs that excite so much pity +when they come from an invalid. + +"You talk against fibs, Miss Hyde; now what do you think of that? She +never would 'a' sent for him--died first, like a lamb starving in the +cold. Hist! there comes Mrs. Babylon and her private beau." + +True enough, Mrs. Dennison and Lawrence had passed through one of the +drawing-room windows, and were slowly coming down the terrace platform, +which, as I have said, ran around one end and the back of the house. It +afforded a fine promenade, and they were enjoying the moonlight that +fell upon it. My attention was occupied by them a moment, during which +Lottie disappeared. The railing of this platform was lined with a rich +shrubbery of hot-house plants, lemon-trees, tall roses, and such +creeping vines as bear most choice blossoms. These cast heavy shadows, +and I fancy that the girl disappeared among them,--listening, perhaps, +being considered as one of the accomplishments which she devoted to the +benefit of her mistress. + +When I went back to the drawing-room, Jessie was at the piano, and +Bosworth sat near, watching her sadly as she played. She did not attempt +to sing, and he offered no request of the kind. Altogether, it was a +gloomy evening. Really, I think this idea of turning love into +friendship is an absurd way of settling things. Throwing ashes on hot +embers only keeps the fire in more certain glow. Jessie was young, and +had no idea of prudence in such matters. I did not quite understand the +undercurrent of her nature, but, in my heart, thought it best that +Bosworth should leave the neighborhood. + +The next morning I saw Lottie coming out of Mrs. Dennison's room, +looking demure as a house-cat. + +"I've taught 'em how to do another braid," she said, innocently. "If +they tangle it, you know, I ain't to blame." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +SOWING SEED FOR ANOTHER DAY. + + +After our conversation on the ridge, Mrs. Dennison made the best of her +advantages, and, having ingratiated herself into the room of our +invalid, managed to pass a good deal of her time there. I think Mrs. +Lee, without knowing it herself, exercised a little selfishness in this; +for it happened--so naturally that I never should have observed it but +for Lottie--that Mr. Lee visited his wife more frequently when his guest +was there than at any other time. Indeed, it was not many days before +the invalid ceased almost entirely to see him alone. + +After my attention was drawn to this by one of Lottie's curt sayings, I +noticed another thing that troubled me more than Mrs. Dennison's visits. +Cora, the mulatto girl, was constantly following her mistress to the +room, asking for orders, or reminding Mrs. Dennison of something that +she had been desired to remember. She made one or two efforts to fix +herself in Lottie's apartment, but that singular female rebuffed the +first attempt, by standing square in the door, and asking point-blank if +there were anything in that room which Cora wanted. The girl answered, +"No," and went away rather crestfallen. + +It is very difficult to repress the aggressions of a guest under your +own roof, especially one who invariably disarms you with honeyed words +and apologies for anything that threatens to offend. It was not for me +to regulate a visitor's movements in Mr. Lee's house; and so adroitly +were they managed, that no power, however on the alert, could have +reached them. + +To my surprise, Lottie, all of a sudden, not only seemed to lose her +animosity to the widow, but hung about her with assiduity almost equal +to that bestowed on her mistress. But one thing was remarkable: none of +her bright sayings, or exhibitions of sharp, good sense were manifested +in Mrs. Dennison's presence. With her she was dull and quiet, nay, +almost stolid. I have heard her ask questions with the most innocent +air, which a child of three years old could have answered. It was +surprising how anything so near a witch in her real nature could tame +herself into that lump of stupidity. She was a great deal in Mrs. +Dennison's room; and once I saw them seated together on the hill-side, +talking earnestly. Still, for several days nothing happened worthy of +remembrance. + +Mr. Lee and the widow rode out once or twice without Jessie, who, +feeling a little hurt for her mother's sake, decided to remain at home +and sit with the gentle invalid. I do not know that she observed it, but +there certainly was very little entreaty used to induce her to join +them. Indeed, upon the third morning nothing was said on the subject; +Jessie was not even invited. + +One day, just after Mr. Lee and his guest had ridden from the door, Mr. +Lawrence called. He had seen them from a distance, he said, and came to +inquire after Miss Lee's health. The flood of crimson that rushed over +Jessie's face, when I told her this, made my heart beat heavily. She +arose, and went down, avoiding my anxious glance as she passed me. + +The doors were all open, but I heard no voices in the drawing-room; they +must have been talking very low: what did that portend between two +persons perfectly alone? So anxious had I become that it seemed to me as +if some harm were intended our Jessie among these strange people. She +had never seemed really happy since their advent among us. Indeed, there +had been little of comfort for any one. + +What passed between Jessie and Lawrence I learned afterward. But only so +far as a young girl can force herself to speak of things pertaining to +her affections. One thing is certain: when she came up-stairs, after his +departure, a look of uncertain joy pervaded her face, and she breathed +quickly. I asked no questions, and was not surprised that she said +little about the interview. After that day Jessie's manner became more +elastic; and from some words that escaped, I am confident that, up to +this time, she had fancied Lawrence engaged to Mrs. Dennison; or, at +the least, ready at any moment to assume that position. Indeed, the +widow had told her as much. + +The next day Jessie was invited to join Mr. Lee and his guest in their +ride; but she refused it coldly, nay, almost haughtily. Her father, for +the first time in his life, seemed really angry with her. He said +nothing, however, but rode forth with a flush on his brow. + +Again Mr. Lawrence called, or would have called, but that he saw Jessie +wandering off toward the pine woods, and followed her. I saw them +sitting a long time on a garden-chair stationed on the skirts of the +grove, but said nothing to any one, not even to herself when she came +down the hill, alone, with a light in her eyes that I had never seen +there before. + +I think Lawrence must have made five or six of these morning visits +before they were suspected by any one in the house. Cora was generally +busy in her mistress's room all the forenoon, and Lottie took the +occasion of Mrs. Dennison's absence to sit with loving watchfulness by +our invalid, only too happy if a low word or patient smile rewarded her +devotion. But it came out at last. + +One day I went suddenly upon the terrace platform, and found Cora +standing close by one of the drawing-room windows, with her shoulder +against the framework. The blind swinging open concealed her from any +person within; and the position she maintained, while sorting the shades +from some skeins of worsted that she held, was that of careless rest. +She moved indolently, and sauntered away on seeing me; but it was with a +heavy, sullen manner, as if she had been unwarrantably disturbed. I +looked into the sitting-room in passing, and, as I expected, Lawrence +and Jessie were sitting on a sofa close to that window. + +Mrs. Dennison was in splendid spirits when she came back from her ride +that day. There was something triumphant in her step which put one in +mind of some handsome Amazon returning from battle. She leaned heavily +on Mr. Lee, as he lifted her from the saddle; nay, I am certain that she +rested against him a moment longer than was necessary. + +Jessie was standing near me, but noticed none of these things. Noble +girl, she was never on the lookout for evil. Her upright mind tinted +everything with its own pure hues. + +Mr. Lee stayed a long time, giving orders about the horses. When he came +up the steps, I had an opportunity of observing him closely. He was +pale, and looked strange. I cannot describe what I wish to be +understood, but all the influences that had so long dwelt around that +man seemed swept away. The very dignity of his tread was gone. What had +occasioned this? I know now, and never doubted then. The woman sweeping +through our hall, at the moment, had produced this transformation; yet +no words had passed between them that his own daughter might not have +heard without reproof. + +Mrs. Dennison gave us a triumphant glance, as she passed the balcony +where we were standing, and proclaimed that she had never enjoyed a ride +so much. It was a heavenly day, and the landscape transcendent. + +Jessie smiled softly, and turned a bright glance on my face, which said, +more plainly than Mrs. Dennison's words, "I, too, have had a heavenly +day, which will go with my dreams into many another day, making an Eden +of them all." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +AN OUTBREAK OF JEALOUSY. + + +In a few moments Mrs. Dennison came out of her chamber, still in her +riding-habit. She was pale as death, her eyes gleamed, and her lips +quivered. She dashed into the balcony, and laid her hand on Jessie's +shoulder with such rude suddenness, that the young girl drew back with +an impulse of surprise. + +"What is the matter, Mrs. Dennison?" + +Mrs. Dennison looked at her a moment, subdued the quivering of her lips +with a great effort, and broke into a laugh so hoarse and constrained +that Jessie shrunk back. + +"What is the matter?" she said. "Why, nothing; only we have but just +time to dress for dinner, and here you stand as if the whole world could +wait." + +I could see that her frame was trembling from head to foot. The color +would not come back to her face. With all her powers, she was but a +woman, and a jealous woman at the best. From that moment I felt very +sure that Cora had performed her mission promptly. Jessie could not +understand it, but stood looking at her guest in blank amazement. + +"You have ridden too far," she said, coldly, "and the fatigue has shaken +your nerves, I fear. Shall I send for a glass of wine? it will be some +time before dinner." + +"Wine? no; but--but I will take a glass of water, if you please, Miss +Hyde." + +Jessie seemed anxious to get away, for she started before I could +anticipate her to order the water, and I was left alone with Mrs. +Dennison. Her self-command was giving way again. She sat down, and, +covering her face with both hands, shook from head to foot; but she did +not weep. Something too hard and fiery for tears possessed her. + +"Yes," she said at last, "Miss Lee is right! These long rides do shake +one's nerves terribly!" + +Directly Jessie came bringing a glass of water. With her usual delicacy, +she would not intrust the duty to a servant, who might witness her +friend's discomposure and comment upon it. + +Mrs. Dennison held the water a moment, regarding Jessie with gleaming +eyes, as if she longed to dash the contents in her face; but the insane +fit went off. She drank the water, and arose to leave the balcony. + +"I am not usually nervous, but this ride has completely upset me." + +With these words she left the balcony and went back to her room. + +"She is very ill, I am sure, Aunt Matty," said Jessie, full of gentle +sympathy; "pray go and see if nothing more can be done?" + +I went to Mrs. Dennison's chamber and knocked; no one came or spoke. But +the door stood upon the latch, and the vibration of my hand unclosed it. +Mrs. Dennison was standing in the middle of the room, white with rage, +and with specks of foam on her lips. She was tearing open her habit with +a violence that made the buttons start. The face with which she met my +intrusion was that of a beautiful fiend. + +I closed the door and went back repulsed. But without giving me time to +cross the hall, she came to the door, opened it wide, and called me in +with a laugh. + +"Come back one moment," she said, "and tell me which of these two +dresses is most becoming. That which I had intended for dinner, Cora has +been altering, and she has spoiled it entirely. I confess, Miss Hyde, +that my temper is not good enough to stand a pet dress in ruins. The +fact is, I have frightened poor Cora half to death." + +Quick as lightning, while her mistress spoke, Cora laid some dresses on +the bed, apologizing, in a low voice, for the mischief she had done. If +I had possessed no clue to the scene, it would have deceived me +completely; but I comprehended it too well, and absolutely felt myself +growing faint with disgust. + +"I am no judge in these matters," I said, without any pretence at +cordiality; "nor would my opinion be of the least consequence if I were. +Your dresses always prove becoming, Mrs. Dennison." + +"The first compliment I ever received from you," she answered, +impressively; "I shall remember it with gratitude." + +I went quietly out of the room, tired of the scene. + +A little while after this, Lottie came to me with one of her keen +smiles, and, opening her hands, which were folded palm to palm, gave me +one glimpse of a little note, primrose-tinted, and sealed with a drop of +green wax, in which an antique head was stamped. + +"What is it? whom is it for?" I inquired, thinking that it must be +intended for Jessie. + +"You'll see to-night, or to-morrow morning," she answered. "Mrs. Babylon +writes on handsome paper; I won't use white any more. I'll say this for +her: when it comes to dress and pretty things, she can't be beat easy. +Don't quite come up to Mrs. Lee: who can?--but putting her aside, I +don't know Mrs. Babylon's match." + +"And is that Mrs. Dennison's note?" + +"Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no lies." + +"But how came it in your possession?" + +She eyed me a moment sideways, then broke forth as if some grand thought +had just seized upon her. + +"Now, I'll make a bargain with you, Miss Hyde. If you'll just persuade +my mistress, or Miss Jessie, to buy me half a dozen sheets of that +straw-colored paper, I'll tell you all about it." + +"But what can you want of primrose paper, Lottie,--you that never write +letters?" + +"No; but I may take to writing poetry; who knows?" + +She said this with a twinkle of the eye that provoked me. How on earth +had that creature got hold of my secret weakness? + +"It isn't at all likely that you'll want paper for that purpose, Miss +Lottie." + +"Miss Lottie--Miss! Well now, I have always said that if there was a +genuine lady, and no nonsense in this house, it was you, ma'am. Even my +mistress hasn't got up to that mark--Miss Lottie! Wouldn't that look +beautiful on a yellow note like this? Miss Lottie--" + +She plumed herself, like a bird, in the ecstasy of my random speech, and +both her hands and her heart opened at once. + +"Now, I'll tell you all about it! There's no secret, and if there is, I +didn't promise not to tell; that is, down in my heart. Cora came to me +just now, and says she, 'Lottie, you know all the men about the +premises, I suppose?' + +"'Well, pretty much,' says I. + +"'I thought so,' she said. 'Now, here is a little note that my mistress +wants to have sent right off. If you can coax one of the men to take a +horse from the stable, and just gallop over to Mr. Bosworth's with it, +and bring an answer back, she'll give you that dress you took such a +fancy to.' + +"'Well,' says I, 'hand over the note; I'll get it done.' She had been +holding the note seal up all the time, and says she, 'Lottie'--not Miss +Lottie, mind--but, 'Lottie, can you read writing?' + +"'Can you?' says I. + +"'No,' says she; 'colored people seldom do.' + +"'Well, then I don't.' + +"'Well, this note is for a lady that is staying at Mr. Bosworth's; she's +an old friend of Mrs. Dennison's, and we want to hear from her.' + +"'All right,' says I. 'If you hadn't told this, it would be Greek and +Latin to me.' + +"She handed over the note, and told me to put it in my bosom for fear of +its being seen. So I did; and came here, but not till I had read Mr. +Lawrence's name on the outside. Now, Miss Hyde, just tell me what to +do." + +"There is one thing you must not do, Lottie, and that is, tempt any of +the men from their duty." + +"But then that dress! Light green foulard, with bunches of roses--sweet +roses!" + +"Wait a moment, Lottie; we must not do anything without Mr. Lee's +sanction: that will never answer." + +I went up to Mr. Lee, who was sitting in the window recess, apparently +reading, and asked if he could spare a horse and man long enough to ride +over to Mr. Bosworth's. + +"Who wishes to send?" he inquired, indifferently. + +"Mrs. Dennison," I answered, not unwilling to give him the information. + +He held the paper a little tighter in his hand, repeating: + +"Mrs. Dennison! What correspondent has she at Mrs. Bosworth's?" + +There was an effort at indifference in his voice, but it did not conceal +that he was touched. + +I did not feel at liberty to answer his question, and said nothing. + +After a moment's silence, he said,-- + +"Certainly, Miss Hyde. Our guests always command here." + +I went back to Lottie, and told her to carry Mr. Lee's orders to the +stable, and, if she wished it, claim her reward. She seized my hand in +an ecstasy of delight. + +"Oh! Miss Hyde, I never will talk about poetry again, never so long as I +live; but I'll tell everybody that you don't know a thing about it, no +more than I do; and I believe it." + +With this outburst she went away. Directly after, I saw one of the +grooms riding down the road. Two hours after, he came back, and gave +Lottie, who was waiting near the pine woods, with great appearance of +secrecy, a note, with which she went at once to Mrs. Dennison, evidently +resolved to keep up appearances, and leave her employers in the belief +that the whole thing had been managed privately. + +I had thrown the subject of the note quite off my thoughts, when the +groom, who had been to Mr. Bosworth's, came to me in the garden with +distressing news. + +Poor young Bosworth was ill--so ill, that he had not been out of his +room for some days; and his mother desired very much that I should come +over and see him. He had spoken of it several times, and, now that he +was growing worse, she could refuse him nothing. It was asking a great +deal, but would I come at the earliest time possible? + +This was indeed sad news. I liked the young man. He was honorable, +generous, and in all respects a person to fix one's affections +upon--that is, such affections as a lady just dropping the bloom of her +youth may bestow on the man who looks upon her as a sort of relative. + +Of course I would go to see Bosworth in his sickness. "God bless and +help the young man," I whispered; "if she could only think of him as I +do!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +THE OLD PENNSYLVANIA MANSION. + + +The Bosworths lived behind the spur of the mountain which shut out a +portion of the valley from our house by its crown of forest-trees. I had +taken little exercise in the open air of late, for Mrs. Dennison +monopolized the horse I had been in the habit of riding, with my usual +seat in the carriage. Perhaps I felt a little hurt at this, and would +not ask favors that had until now been mine without solicitation. In my +love of out-door exercise I am half an English woman. So, mentioning to +Mrs. Lee and Jessie that I was going out for a long walk across the +fields, I started for Mrs. Bosworth's house. + +It was a splendid afternoon. The sunshine, warm and golden, without +being oppressive, was softened by transparent clouds that drifted like +currents and waves of gauze athwart the sky. The meadows were full of +daisies, buttercups, and crimson clover, through which the blue-flies +and bumble-bees fluttered and hummed their drowsy music. In the pastures +clouds of grasshoppers sprang up, with a whir, from the clusters of +white everlasting that sprinkled the slopes like a snow-storm; and +little birds bent down the stately mullein-stalks with their weight, and +sang cheerily after me from the crooks of the fences. + +How I loved these little creatures with their bright eyes and graceful +ways! How quietly they opened my heart to those sweet impulses that make +one grateful and child-like! My step grew buoyant, and I felt a cool, +fresh color mounting to my cheeks. The walk had done me good. I had been +too much in the house, indulging in strange fancies that were calculated +to make no one happy, and were, perhaps, unjust. How could I have sunk +into this state of mind? Was I jealous of Mrs. Dennison? Yes, possibly! +But not as another would have understood the feeling. It was rather hard +to hear the whole household singing her praises from morning till night; +and Jessie, my own Jessie, seemed so bound up in the woman. + +Well, after all, these things seemed much more important in the house, +where I felt like an involuntary prisoner, than they appeared to me, +with the open fields breathing fragrance around me, and the blue skies +speaking beautifully of the beneficent God who reigned above them. + +I really think the birds in that neighborhood had learned to love me a +little, they gave such quaint little looks, and burst into such volumes +of song among the hazel-bushes as I passed. Before I knew it, fragments +of melodies were on my own lips. I gathered handful after handful of the +meadow-flowers, grouping the choicest into bouquets, and scattering the +rest along my path. Thus you might have tracked my progress by tufts of +grass, and golden lilies, as the little boy in fairy history was traced +by the pebble-stones he dropped. + +Mrs. Bosworth's house was one of the oldest and finest of those +ponderous Dutch mansions that are scattered over Pennsylvania. There +were rich lands to back that old-fashioned building, and any amount of +invested property, independent of the lands. After all, young Bosworth +was no contemptible match for our Jessie, even in a worldly point of +view. If his residence lacked something of the elegance and modern +appointments for which ours was remarkable, it had an aspect of age and +affluence quite as imposing. Indeed, in some respects it possessed +advantages which our house could not boast. + +Majestic trees that struck their roots in a virgin soil, and shrubbery +that had grown almost into trees, surrounded the old house. One great, +white lilac-bush lifted itself above the second-story windows, and +old-fashioned white roses clambered half over the stone front. Then +there was a huge honeysuckle that spread itself like a banner upon one +corner, garlanding the eaves, and dropping down in rich festoons from +the roof itself. + +But all this was nothing compared to that magnificent elm-tree, which +overhung a wing of the building with its tent-like branches, through +which the wind was eternally whispering, and the sunshine was broken +into faint flashes before it reached the roof. I had never been so much +impressed with the dignity of old times, as when I approached this +dwelling. It possessed all the respectability of a family mansion, +growing antique in the prosperity which surrounded it, without any +attempt at modern improvements. + +The very flowers on the premises were old-fashioned; great snow-ball +bushes and rows of fruit-trees predominating. In the square garden, with +its pointed picket-fence, that ran along the road, I saw clusters of +smallage, and thickets of delicate fennel. On each side the broad +threshold-stone stood green boxes running over with live-forever and +house-leeks, while all around the lower edges of the stone foundation +that exquisite velvet moss, which we oftenest find on old houses, was +creeping. + +I lifted the heavy brass knocker very cautiously, for it was ponderous +enough to have reverberated through the house. Even the light blow I +gave frightened me. No wonder people felt constrained to muffle knockers +like that in the good old times, when sickness came to the family. + +A quiet, middle-aged colored woman came to the door. She knew me at +once, though it was the first time I had entered the house in years. + +"Come in, Miss Hyde," she said, welcoming me with a genial look. "Mrs. +Bosworth said, if you called she would come right straight down and see +you; so walk in." + +She opened the door of a sitting-room on the right of the hall. It was +old-fashioned like the exterior of the building. Windows sunk deep into +the wall, ponderous chairs, and a capacious, high-backed sofa with +crimson cushions, and embroidered footstools standing before it,--all +had an air of comfortable ease. The carpet had been very rich in its +time, and harmonized well with the rest of the apartment. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +THE MOTHER AND GRANDMOTHER. + + +I seated myself on the sofa, and waited with some anxiety. Surely, my +young friend must be very ill to have abandoned this room for his own! +What a comfortable look the place had! How delightfully all the tints +were toned down! There stood a queer, old work-table, with any amount of +curiously twisted legs, and on it an antique bible, mounted and clasped +with silver. Such books are only to be found now in the curiosity shops +of the country. Under this table, and somehow lodged among its +complication of legs, was the old lady's work-basket, in which I +detected a silver-mounted case for knitting-needles, some balls of +worsted, and an embroidered needle-book. Ladies are always noticing +these little feminine details; they aid us greatly in that quick +knowledge of character which men are apt to set down as intuition. + +While I was thinking over these speculations, a step in the hall, and +the rich, heavy rustle of those old silks that our grandmothers were so +proud of, disturbed me. The door opened, and an old lady, very old +indeed, came into the room. + +I stood up involuntarily, for the person of this old lady was so +imposing, that it exacted a degree of homage which I had never felt +before. I can imagine a figure like that, wandering through the vast +picture-galleries of some fine English castle, and there I should have +given her a title at first sight. As it was, her person struck me with +amazement. Not that it was out of keeping with the premises, but because +this lady was altogether a grander and older person than I had expected +to see in that house. + +She received my salutation with a slow curtsy, very slight and +dignified in its movement, and, advancing to a huge, crimson easy-chair +that stood near the work-table, sat down. + +"My daughter is in her son's room," she said, in a soft and measured +voice, glancing at me with her placid eyes. "He is very ill, and we are +frightened about him." + +"Is not this sudden?" I inquired. + +"Yes, very; we don't know what to make of it. He is always so healthy +and so cheerful; something has gone wrong with him, Miss Hyde." + +She looked at me earnestly, as if expecting that I would explain the +something which was beyond her understanding. + +I felt myself blushing. It was not for me to speak of Jessie's affairs +to any one, certainly not in a case like this. + +The old lady dropped her eyes, and, taking her knitting-case from the +basket, laid it in her lap, evidently disposed to give me time. At +length she spoke again. + +"My grandson has enjoyed himself so much since we came to the country, +especially since his friend, Mr. Lawrence, arrived; and now to have him +struck down all at once--it is disheartening!" + +"Is he so very ill?" I inquired. + +"He has been restless and excited, more or less, for a week or more, but +during the last three days has fallen seriously ill. Now he is entirely +out of his head; my daughter sat up with him all last night; the doctor +was here this morning. He pronounces it a brain-fever." + +I was really disturbed. She saw it and went on. + +"He asked for you three or four times during the night; and--and for +another person whom we could not venture to invite here." + +"I am glad you sent for me," I replied, anxious to waive all +explanation. "At home they consider me a tolerable nurse." + +She looked at me seriously a moment, and then said, in a gentle, +impressive way,-- + +"Miss Hyde, be kind to an old woman who has nothing but the good of her +child at heart, and tell me if Miss Lee has--has repulsed my grandson?" + +"No, not that, madam; but, but--" + +"She has rejected him, I see it by your face; I suspected it from his +wanderings," she said, sorrowfully. + +I was silent; the mournful accents of her voice touched my heart. + +"You have no hope to give the old woman?" she said. "Yet to her it seems +impossible for any one not to love Bosworth." + +"I am sure there is no man living for whom Miss Lee has more respect," I +answered. + +She smiled a little sadly. + +"Respect! That is a cold word to the young heart, Miss Hyde." + +That moment the door opened and Bosworth's mother came in. She was +altogether unlike the stately old lady with whom I was conversing. Her +small figure, wavering black eyes, and restless manner, spoke of an +entirely different organism, which was natural enough, as she was only +connected with the stately dame by marriage with her son, a union that +had been consecrated by an early widowhood. + +It was easy to see that the elder lady was mistress of that house, and +that the daughter-in-law held her in profound reverence. Poor lady! she +was in great distress, and came up to me at once. + +"You are kind, very kind," she exclaimed; "he has asked for you so +often. Oh! Miss Hyde, it is terrible to see him in this state with no +way of helping." + +"It is indeed," I answered, pitying her from my heart. + +"Will you go up now? He asked for you and some one else only a few +minutes ago," she said, walking up and down the room in nervous +distress. "It was an out-of-the-way thing to send for you, almost a +stranger, for the Ridge has been empty so long that you all seem like +new people, but I am sure you will excuse it. Oh! Miss Hyde, we love him +so. We two lonely women, and to lose him!" + +Here the poor mother burst into a passion of tears; while the old lady +sat down by her work-table and looked on with a sorrowful countenance. + +A noise from up-stairs arrested the younger Mrs. Bosworth in her walk. + +"He is calling," she said. "Oh! Miss Hyde, he cannot bear me out of his +sight! Just as it was years ago, when he would plead with me to sit by +his bed, after our mother there insisted on the lamp being put out." + +The old lady shook her head, and smiled sadly. "You were spoiling the +boy, Hester, making a little coward of him; but he soon ceased to be +afraid of the dark,--a brave young man, Miss Hyde, and a comfort to his +mother; God spare him to us!" + +Hester Bosworth began to cry afresh at these encomiums; and, going up to +her mother-in-law's chair, bent her head upon the back, sobbing aloud. + +The old lady reached up her soft, little hand, and patted the poor +mother on the cheek as if she had been a child. + +"Don't fret so, Hester. Our boy is young, and his constitution will not +give way easily. A little sleep--if we could only induce a few hours' +sleep!" + +"I have made a hop pillow for him, and done everything," sobbed the +mother; "but there he lies, looking, looking, looking, now at the wall, +now at the ceiling, and muttering to himself." + +"I know--I know," said the grandmother, hastily lifting her hand, as if +the description wounded her. "Will nothing give him a little sleep?" + +I remembered how often Mrs. Lee, in her nervous paroxysms, had been +soothed to rest by the gentle force of my own will. Indeed, I sometimes +fancy that some peculiar gift has been granted to me, by which physical +suffering grows less in my presence. + +"Shall I go up with you, Mrs. Bosworth?" I said, inspired with hope by +this new idea. "He may recognize me as an old friend." + +"Oh, yes, yes!" she exclaimed, leading the way. "Mother, will you come?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +SICK-BED FANCIES. + + +We mounted the staircase, a broad, old-fashioned flight of steps, +surmounted with heavy balustrades of black oak. There was a thick carpet +running up them; but, lightly as we trod, the keen ear of the invalid +detected a strange presence, and I heard his voice, muffled and rough +with fever, calling out, "Yes, yes, I knew, I knew, I knew that she +would come!" Then he broke into the notes of some opera-song. + +There was a cool, artificial twilight in the chamber when we entered it; +but through the bars of the outer blinds a gleam of sunshine shot across +the room, and broke against the wall opposite the great, high-posted bed +on which young Bosworth was lying. The chamber was large, and but for +the closed blinds would have been cheerful. As it was, a great +easy-chair, draped with white dimity, loomed up like a snow-drift near +the bed; which being clothed in like spotless fashion, gave a ghastly +appearance to everything around. + +Young Bosworth lay upon the bed with his arms feebly uplifted, and his +great, wild eyes wandering almost fiercely after the sunbeams which came +and went like golden arrows, as the branches of an elm-tree near the +window changed their position. + +I went up to the bed, and touched the young man's wrist. The pulse that +leaped against my fingers was like the blows of a tiny hammer; his eyes +turned on my face, and he clutched my hand, laughing pleasantly. + +"How cool your hand is!" he said, with a child-like murmur. "You have +been among the clover-blossoms; their breath is all around me." + +"Yes," I said, dropping into his own monotone without an effort, "I came +through the meadows, and brought some of the flowers with me. See how +fresh and sweet they are." + +He took the flowers eagerly, grasping them with both hands. + +"Did she send them?" he whispered, mysteriously. "Did she?" + +I smiled, but would not answer. The delusion seemed pleasant, and it +would be cruelty to disturb it. He held the blossoms caressingly in his +hand; a smile wandered over his lips, and he whispered over soft +fragments of some melody that I remembered as one of Jessie's favorites. + +Directly the flowers dropped from his grasp, and he began to search +after the sunbeam again, clutching at it feverishly, and looking in his +hands with vague wonder when he found them empty. + +I do not think the young man recognized me at all; but my presence +certainly aroused new associations. + +He looked wistfully into my face with that vacant stare of delirium +which is so painful, and then his eyes wandered away, as if in search of +some object they could not find. + +"Jessie," he murmured; "Jessie Lee, are you there? Won't you speak to me +once more, Jessie?" + +The expression of his countenance changed so entirely--a look of such +tender, earnest entreaty settled about his handsome, sensitive +mouth--that I felt the tears come into my eyes. When I looked up, I saw +the stately old grandmother gazing directly upon me; while little Mrs. +Bosworth, in her very efforts to be at the same time perfectly quiet and +extremely useful, fluttered about in a feeble way that would have +annoyed me beyond endurance had I been the sick person. + +But the young man, apparently susceptible neither to outer sights nor +sounds, saw nothing and heard nothing but the fanciful shapes and +mocking whispers of his fever-visions. + +"Put these flowers in your hair, Jessie," he said, somewhat brokenly, +"they are wild flowers such as you love, and I love them for your +sake--for your sake." + +He put out his hands, moving them to and fro over the counterpane, to +gather up the blossoms he had scattered there; but his fingers wandered +so uncertainly, that even when he succeeded in collecting a few, they +would drop from his grasp. I saw he began to grow impatient, and I knew +that the least thing would excite his fever and thereby increase the +delirium, so I put the flowers softly into his palm. He smiled in a +satisfied way. + +"Here they are," he said; "take them, Jessie; see what a pretty wreath +they make." + +Then the smile changed to a look of pain. He let the flowers fall to the +counterpane with a low moan. + +"She has a wreath on now!" he exclaimed. "Jessie Lee, who gave you that? +White flowers! Bridal flowers!" + +He started up in the bed with such violence, that his mother hurried +forward with a cry of dismay, and, getting into mischief, as people in a +flurry are sure to do, she upset a bottle of cologne and a goblet, but +fortunately the old lady caught them before they reached the floor. + +"Oh my!" sobbed little Mrs. Bosworth, in nervous fright, "what have I +done? Oh! dear, dear!" + +"Sit down, my dear," said her mother-in-law, with a good deal of +steadiness; "you only disturb him." + +"But he looks so wild. Hadn't I better send for the doctor?" + +"No, no. He will be here before long. Leave my grandson to Miss Hyde; +she will quiet him." + +The old lady looked at me, with confidence in my powers, and the mother +joined her in a helpless, despairing manner, mixed with a little +maternal jealousy, at seeing me in the place that was hers by right. I +felt quite nervous and disturbed by this joint appeal; however, I was +not foolish enough to give way to any weakness or nonsense when +composure was required, so I drew close to the bed, and laid my hand on +Bosworth's arm. He was muttering wildly, and I could catch the words,-- + +"Are they bridal flowers, Jessie Lee?" + +"She has taken off the wreath," I whispered. + +"No, no; it is there on her forehead. Who gave it to her?" + +"She has thrown it aside," I protested; "she would not wear it a moment +after she knew it pained you. It is gone now." + +He looked earnestly at the place where he thought Jessie stood, and fell +back on his pillows with a sigh of satisfaction. + +"Kind Jessie," he said, "kind Jessie!" + +But that quiet only lasted for a few moments. He grew more restless than +before; and I saw old Mrs. Bosworth looking at me still, as if she had +fully made up her mind that I could compose him, and nothing less than +that desirable effect would satisfy her. Really, with those old-world +eyes fastened upon me, I could not avoid exerting all my powers, +although in my heart I fairly wished the fidgety little mother safe in +her own room. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +THE FIRST SOUND SLEEP. + + +I sat down by the young man's bed; I talked to him in a low voice--a +great deal of nonsense, I dare say; I was not thinking how it might +sound, but was only anxious to soothe him; and while I talked I smoothed +his hair and passed my hand slowly across his forehead, after a fashion +which I had acquired in my attendance upon Mrs. Lee, during her numerous +illnesses. + +I cannot pretend to account for it, but from my earliest girlhood I +always had a faculty for taking care of sick people, and of soothing +them when no other person could. + +My art did not fail that time. Bosworth's voice grew lower and lower; +his hands crossed themselves upon the counterpane; his eyes closed, and +very soon his measured breathing proved that he was quietly asleep. When +I looked up, that stately old duchess of a grandmother was regarding me +with such a blessing in her eyes, that I felt the dew steal into mine; +while the younger lady, subdued out of her fidgetiness, appeared almost +tranquil, and was quite silent. + +Nobody stirred or spoke. There we sat and watched the sick man as he +slept--that quiet sleep which the physician had pronounced so necessary +for him, and which his art had failed to procure. It is not often that I +feel thoroughly satisfied with Martha Hyde, but I confess that just then +I did; not that it proceeded from a sense of self-importance, or +anything of that sort, but it is seldom that a quiet person like me has +an opportunity of doing good to anybody, and when the occasion does +arrive, it is more pleasant than I can at all describe. + +Bosworth must have slept nearly an hour; the instant he opened his eyes, +I saw that the fever had abated a little. He smiled faintly at his +mother and the old lady; then his glance fell upon me. Through the +feverish flush still on his face there appeared a glow of thankfulness +and pleasure, which was beautiful to behold. + +"Is that you, Miss Hyde?" he asked. + +"Yes," I said; "I have been sitting here for some time. You have had a +nice sleep; to-morrow you will be better." + +"Thank you; I hope so." + +Little Mrs. Bosworth began to flutter; but the old lady put her down +with a strong hand, and the weak female subsided into her chair, meek as +a hen-pigeon that has been unexpectedly pecked by her mate. + +I saw, by the way Bosworth looked at them, that he wished to speak with +me alone; the old duchess saw it too, and said, with the decision which +was evidently habitual to her: + +"My daughter, if Miss Hyde will sit with our boy a little longer, we +will go into the garden for a breath of air." + +Bosworth called them to him, kissed his mother's cheek, and the +grandmother's hand, and the old lady went out in her stately way, while +the small woman followed in her wake, like a little boat tacked to a +graceful yacht. + +"Miss Hyde," said the young man, the moment the door closed, "you came +alone?" + +"Yes," I replied; "I hurried off without telling any one where I was +going." + +"You are very kind," he repeated. "They are all well, I hope, at the +house?" + +"Very well; they will be sorry to hear that you are sick." + +"Miss Hyde!" he exclaimed, hurriedly,--so weak from sickness that he +forgot all the reticence and self-command which characterized him in +health,--"Miss Hyde, do you think she would come to see me?" + +I knew whom he meant--there was no necessity for mentioning any name. + +"Would she come, do you believe?" he asked again. + +"I am certain that she would," I replied. "You are an old friend to all +of us; why should she not?" + +"Yes, an old friend," he answered, sadly; "I know, I know! I won't pain +her; she shall not be troubled; promise to bring her, Miss Hyde." + +"I can promise unhesitatingly," I said; "I have no doubt Mr. Lee will +bring her himself, to-morrow." + +"To-morrow--oh! how much I thank you!" And he smiled like a tired child. +"Will you call my mother now?" he continued; "she will feel troubled if +she thinks I can do without her." + +I went out into the hall, where the two ladies stood, and beckoned them +into the room. We all remained about the bed for a few moments, talking +cheerfully; then I bade Bosworth good-bye, answered the entreaty in his +eyes with a smile, and went down-stairs. + +The grandmother followed me, and, when we reached the outer door, took +my hand between both of hers. + +"You are very good!" she said. "We have long been strangers to each +other, Miss Hyde; but an old woman's blessing cannot hurt you, and I +give it to you." + +I was so much affected, that it was all I could do to keep from crying +like a child; but I did not give way, and, mutually anxious to restrain +our feelings, we parted with a certain degree of haste, which an +unobservant looker-on might have construed into indifference. But I +think that grand old woman understood me, even from that short +interview, and I know that, for my part, I went forth from her presence +solemnized and calmed as one leaves a church. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +THE INTERVIEW IN THE WOODS. + + +I walked slowly homeward, reflecting upon the events of the morning, and +waiting, oh, how fervently! that Jessie Lee might learn to know young +Bosworth as I did, and be able to shed a ray of light into the darkness +wherein he had fallen. + +I left the path through the fields, and took my way into the woods, as I +knew a short cut that would lead me more quickly into our grounds. + +I had passed half through the grove, perhaps, scarcely heeding anything +around me, but on reaching a little ascent, I saw, through a break in +the trees, two persons standing at a considerable distance from the +path. Their backs were toward me, but I recognized them instantly. They +were Mrs. Dennison and Mr. Lawrence. + +I understood at once the meaning of the note which she had sent to +him--it was to ask for that interview. + +Every day my dislike of that woman increased; each effort that I made to +conquer the feeling only seemed to make it grow more intense, and this +last plot that I had unintentionally discovered filled me with something +very like abhorrence. Of course, I was not so silly as to conjure +anything really wrong out of the request she had made; but I was certain +that something more than trivial coquetry was hidden under it. + +Instinctively, I began to tremble for Jessie: by what series of ideas I +managed to connect her with that meeting, I cannot say; but I did so, +and after that first glance I went on, burning with indignation against +the artful woman, who seemed to have brought numberless shadows into the +sunshine, which, before her coming, had pervaded our pleasant home. + +Once, as I hastened on through the dark woods, I looked back at the +pair,--they were conversing earnestly. In Lawrence's manner there was a +degree of impetuosity and impatience; while from Mrs. Dennison's +attitude and gestures I felt certain that she was pleading with him to +change some purpose he had formed. + +Just as I passed from the woods into the grounds, I saw that ubiquitous +Lottie steal out from among the trees, and flit like a lapwing toward +the house. + +It was not difficult to imagine what new mischief she had been +at--spying and listening, no doubt. Lottie did not count it a sin, and I +knew very well that she had been coolly out into the woods to overhear +Mrs. Dennison's conversation with Lawrence. + +Some noise that I made attracted her attention; she dropped down on her +knees--like a rabbit trying to hide itself in the grass--and began +hunting for four-leaved clovers where clover had never grown since the +memory of man. + +"What are you doing, Lottie?" I asked, walking toward her. + +She looked round with a fine show of innocence, although her eyes +twinkled suspiciously. + +"Oh! it's you, Miss Hyde," she said, in no wise confused, rising from +her knees with great deliberation and majesty. + +"Yes, it is I. And what brings you here?" I inquired. + +"There's several things I might have been doing," she answered, walking +on by my side; "picking flowers, or saying my prayers, or--" + +"Well--what else?" + +"Oh! anything you please; poetry people ought to be able to guess." + +"Lottie! Lottie!" + +"There--I won't say a word more! I'm dumb as Miss Jessie's canary in +moulting-time." + +"Then, perhaps, you will manage to find voice enough to tell me where +you have been?" + +"Of course, Miss Hyde; I never have any secrets--that's just what I was +saying to Cora, this morning." + +"Never mind Cora." + +"But I do; she's worth minding, and so's her mistress. Mrs. Babylon and +I are alike in one thing--we are both fond of fresh air." + +"Indeed! You seem well acquainted with the lady's tastes." + +"Well, I may say I am; and you needn't take the trouble to contradict! +Acquainted with them? Well, if I ain't, I flatter myself there's nobody +in our house that is." + +I did not answer; the girl's conversation was too quaint and amusing +even to sound impertinent, still, I did not wish to encourage her by any +sign of approval. + +"Miss Hyde," she asked, "did you see any strange birds in the woods?" + +"None, Lottie." + +"Buy a pair of spectacles, Miss Hyde; don't put it off a day longer! I +tell you, out yonder there's two birds well worth watching;--the +queerest part is, that it's the female that sings--ain't she a red +fellar?" + +"I saw Mrs. Dennison and Mr. Lawrence, if you mean them," I replied. + +"Hush! don't mention names! You mean Babylon and her prey! Oh my! that +Babylon! Well, I declare, sometimes I'm ready to give up beat; that +woman goes ahead of anything _I_ ever came across." + +Lottie paused, took a long breath, flung up her arms, and performed a +variety of singular and dizzy evolutions, by way of expressing her +astonishment; then she went on,-- + +"What do you think she's at now?" + +I shook my head. + +"It's as good a thing as you can do," said Lottie, approvingly; "but you +might shake it till doomsday before you'd get Mrs. Babylon's +manoeuvres through it, I can tell you that, Miss Hyde." + +I wanted to reprove the girl; I felt mean, dishonest; yet I was so +anxious about Jessie that I could not prevent myself listening to any +revelations the little imp might see fit to make. + +"She's put a hornet into Lawrence's hair this time, and no mistake," +said Lottie; "and Lord! don't it sting, and make him jump?" + +"What do you mean, you ridiculous child?" + +"Mean, Miss Hyde? A whole bucketful--a seaful! Why, Babylon's been +telling Lawrence that young Mr. Bosworth and our Miss Jessie are +engaged." + +"Impossible, Lottie! She could not assert so unblushing a falsehood!" + +"Oh! couldn't she?" cried Lottie, clapping her arms as if they were +wings, and giving vent to a crow to express her enjoyment. "As for +blushing, don't she know the rub of mullein-leaves? But she did tell him +so. She said she was sure that they had been engaged, and that he, +Lawrence, had innocently made trouble between them by flirting with Miss +Lee;--now, what is flirting, Miss Hyde?" + +"The abominable woman!" I involuntarily exclaimed. + +"Oh, no," said Lottie, "she's only Babylon. But I tell you what, that +Lawrence isn't much of a snoop. He's a nicer fellow than I took him for. +What do you think he did?" + +"I can't imagine." + +"He just turned on Babylon, like a hawk on a June-bug. 'I cannot believe +this,' says he; 'but I will go to Bosworth this very day and explain.' + +"Then Babylon began to flutter; she didn't want that to happen, you +know. + +"'He's sick,' says she; 'not expected to live.' + +"'The more reason why I should explain,' says he. + +"Then she twisted, and fluttered, and coaxed, and finally got him to +promise not to say a word to anybody, to be regulated by her advice, +and so on--she would be his friend--oh! how sincere a friend!--and then +she took his hand, squeezed out a tear or so, and before long she had +him in her clutch. Oh! it was as good as one of Miss Jessie's +play-books." + +I had not interrupted Lottie; when she paused, I was speechless still. + +"What do you think now?" she demanded, triumphantly. + +"I do not know," I answered, so troubled and despondent that I had no +courage to rebuke the girl. + +"We'll fix her yet," said Lottie; "don't you fret, Miss Hyde. I'll pay +Babylon off before she's many weeks older, or you may call my head a +puff-ball." + +"You silly child," I returned, smiling in spite of myself, "what can you +do?" + +"Come, I like that!" snapped Lottie. "Why, what sort of a state would +you all be in if it wasn't for me--tell me that? I've got my dear +mistress, and Miss Jessie, and you, and everybody on my hands; but I'll +bring you out square, I will, Miss Hyde." + +"I wish you would leave things as they are, Lottie, and attend to your +own affairs." + +"These are my affairs, Miss Hyde, now don't say they ain't! I'm not a +bad girl; I love them that have been kind to me, and I'd sooner have my +hand burned off than not try to help them when I see they need it." + +"Be careful that you get into no mischief." + +"I'll take care of myself! Only wait, Miss Hyde. Keep tranquil and cool, +Lottie's around!" + +She gave another jump, a louder crow, and lighted on her feet, in no way +discomposed by her impromptu leap. + +By this time we had come in sight of the house. Lottie looked back. + +"I see Babylon's red shawl," said she; "off's the word. Good-bye, Miss +Hyde." + +She darted away before I could speak, and I walked on toward the house, +in no mood to encounter the woman at that moment. I saw Jessie and Mr. +Lee standing upon the terrace; he turned and went into the house after a +few seconds. I paused a moment, collected myself as well as I was able, +and walked toward the spot where Jessie stood, determined to tell her at +once of my visit to Mr. Bosworth, and urge her to comply with the +request which he had made. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +TROUBLES GATHER ABOUT OUR JESSIE. + + +Jessie did not look up as I approached; she stood absently pulling the +flowers from a vine that fell in luxuriant masses over a trellis by her +side, and appeared so much engrossed by her own thoughts, that she did +not even hear my footsteps. + +They were not pleasant reflections which filled her mind. Sunny visions, +such as those which, a few weeks since, had made her face so bright and +beautiful, were seldom on her features now. I could see by the mournful +expression of her mouth, and the despondency of her whole attitude,--so +unlike anything I was accustomed to remark in our Jessie, that something +was troubling her. + +"You naughty girl!" I said, as I ascended the steps; "how can you find +the heart to spoil that pretty vine?" + +She started, turned quickly round, and a burning blush shot up to her +forehead, while she looked at me in a confused way, as if she supposed +me able to read her very thoughts. + +"Oh! is it you, Aunt Matty?" she exclaimed, trying to laugh and seem +more at ease. + +"I believe so," was my answer; "I have every reason to suppose that I am +that person, and very tired into the bargain." + +"You look fatigued," she said, with her usual kindness; "do go up-stairs +and lie down before dinner." + +"Now, my dear, you know I am never guilty of that weakness." + +"I forgot." + +"How could you? I am astonished--when you know how much I pride myself +on regular habits and a systematic disposal of my time!" + +She laughed a little at my nonsense, which was the thing I desired; for +it pained me greatly to see her look so weary and disconsolate. + +"At all events, you will sit down, I suppose," she said, running into +the hall and bringing out a chair. "Your rigid principles do not prevent +that!" + +"Thank you, my dear. I am happy to say they do not." + +I seated myself, really glad of an opportunity to rest; for now that +excitement had passed, I was astonished to find myself worn out in body +and mind. The mere walk could never have produced that sensation--I was +too much accustomed to out-door exercise for any fine lady feebleness of +that kind; but my interview with Bosworth and his friends, the sight of +Mrs. Dennison and Mr. Lawrence in the wood, together with Lottie's +revelations, had so worked upon my mind, that I had no strength left. + +"Dear me! Aunt Matty!" exclaimed Jessie; "how tired and pale you look! I +never saw you so overcome!" + +"It is nothing. I walked faster than I ought, perhaps." + +"That is not all," she answered; "I am sure something troubles you." + +"So there does!" I said,--"very greatly!" + +"Can I help you? You know how gladly I will do it." + +She began untying my bonnet-strings, drawing off my shawl, and +performing every little office possible to show her solicitude. + +Generally, I dislike to have anybody touch me, or assist me in any way; +but it was always a pleasure to feel Jessie's fingers smoothing my hair, +or arranging my collar; and just then her assiduity quieted me more than +anything else could have done. + +"Did you take a long walk?" Jessie asked, apparently anxious to turn my +thoughts from the painful theme upon which she supposed them to be +dwelling. + +"Yes, very long, Jessie; I have been over to old Mrs. Bosworth's." + +She looked at me in astonishment. + +"Why, you hardly know the ladies! How came you to go there, Aunt Matty?" + +"The old lady sent for me." + +"Sent for you!" interrupted Jessie, in wonder and displeasure, while her +great eyes gave me a searching glance. + +"Young Bosworth is very sick, and he wished so much to see me that his +grandmother put aside all ceremony, and desired me to go as soon as +possible." + +Jessie turned very pale while I spoke, and leaned heavily against the +arm of my chair. + +"Was it sudden?" she asked, trembling. "Has he been sick long, Matty?" + +"For several days, I believe." + +I had not the heart to tell her that he was stricken down the very day +after his last visit to her father's house, lest she should accuse +herself as the cause. + +"What is the matter?" + +"He has brain-fever, Jessie." + +She uttered a cry. + +"Oh! Aunt Matty! Aunt Matty!" + +"I hope he is not in great danger," I said, anxious to soothe her. "He +was able to talk with me, and he had a comfortable sleep." + +She put her hands in mine, with a look so beseeching and helpless, that +I answered as if she had spoken. + +"He asked for you," I said. "He wants to see you, Jessie." + +She shrunk back, and held up her hands like a child pleading for pity. + +"Oh! I cannot go! indeed I cannot!" + +"That is unlike you, Jessie. I did not think you would have refused a +sick friend any request!" + +"Don't blame me--please don't! I would do anything for him; but, indeed, +I have not the courage to go there." + +"Why, what do you fear, my child? I am sure he would not for the world +speak a syllable that could pain you." + +"I know that, Aunt Matty--I am certain of it." + +"Then what is it?" + +"Old Mrs. Bosworth has such a stately way; so soft, yet decided. She +will look at me so sharply." + +"I found her very kind and grateful." + +"But she may think that I have done wrong." + +"She is too just, too noble, Jessie, to blame any one for that which was +not a fault." + +"Oh, Aunt Matty! even you speak and look so grave! I cannot bear +it--indeed I cannot!" + +I was softened at once. How could I speak so coldly to my Jessie, while +she stood there trembling, with her great eyes full of tears. + +"My own darling!" I said, quickly. "You know I could never feel anything +but love for you. Don't shake so, dear! We won't speak of this, if it +troubles you." + +"No, no! I ought to hear--I must not be so weak." + +She struggled against her feelings, brushed away her tears, and stood up +so firm and determined, that I felt a new respect for her. It was +beautiful to see how the true womanhood that lay at the bottom of her +nature roused itself, and asserted its supremacy in that moment of doubt +and distress. + +"You are a brave girl!" I exclaimed,--"my dear, honest-hearted Jessie!" + +"You must not praise me," she said. "I feel so guilty and wicked." + +"That is wrong; you should not give way to these morbid feelings." + +"Indeed, Aunt Matty, I am not like the same girl I was a few months +ago." + +I knew whence the change came--I could have given its exact date; but it +did not extend back over a period of months--a few weeks had served to +bring that unrest and trouble upon the sweet girl. With the coming of +Mrs. Dennison all those shadows had crept into the house, gathering +silently but surely about every heart, dividing those who before had no +thought nor wish that was not common to all. I felt, too, that she was +preparing the way for deeper and darker troubles, which lingered not far +off, only awaiting the command of the arch-magician to approach and wrap +us in their folds. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +MRS. DENNISON GATHERS WILD FLOWERS. + + +While I was lost in gloomy thoughts which those words had aroused, +Jessie turned from my chair and walked slowly up and down the terrace, +after a habit she had inherited from her father in any season of doubt +or perplexity. At last she came softly back and leaned over me again. + +"Aunt Matty," she whispered, timidly. + +"Yes, dear." + +"I have made up my mind." + +I looked in her face, and its expression told me at once what her +decision had been. + +"You will go," I said. + +"Yes, I will. It is right--it is my duty! If he were never to get well, +I should reproach myself bitterly for not having granted his request." + +"God bless you, Jessie! I knew you would not refuse." + +"I am sure that my parents will have no objection." + +"I can answer for that--the most scrupulous person could see no harm. +Besides, Bosworth is a favorite both with your father and mother." + +"Yes. Dear mamma will be so sorry to hear that he is ill--poor young +man!" + +"We will go to-morrow, Jessie. I dare say your father will accompany +you." + +"But I want you also, Aunt Matty; I should have no courage if you were +not there." + +"I will go, of course. You must speak to Mr. Lee about it--don't +forget." + +"I am not likely to; I will tell him this evening. But Aunt Matty--" + +"Yes. Don't hesitate so. One would think you were afraid of your old +friend. Not a cross one, am I?" + +That made her laugh again; but the merriment died quickly. Her sensitive +heart was so sorely troubled that her usual gayety was quite gone. + +"I shall never fear you; but what I meant was that I don't wish Mrs. +Dennison to know that I am going." + +"She is not likely to learn it from me, Jessie." + +"She would laugh at me--and this is no subject nor time for a jest." + +"I should think not, indeed. The woman who could make a mockery of such +feelings would be a libel on her sex." + +"Ah! you must not be harsh." + +"Only the old bitterness--don't mind it, Jessie. But we won't tell Mrs. +Dennison." + +At that moment I detected a rustle in the hall. My hearing was always +singularly acute,--Jessie used to say that I was like a wild animal in +that respect,--and I felt confident that I heard some one stealing away +from behind us. + +I started up at once, hurried into the hall, and met Cora, Mrs. +Dennison's maid, face to face. She was running off--I could have sworn +to that; but the moment she heard my step she turned toward me with her +usual composure and pleasant smile. + +"What do you want here, Cora?" I asked, more sharply than I often spoke +to a dependant; for, of all people in the world, it is my habit to treat +servants kindly. "Pray, what brings you into this hall?" + +"I was just coming to look for my mistress, ma'am. Excuse me; I didn't +know it was wrong." + +"I have not said that it was," I answered, still convinced that she had +been listening; "but our own domestics are never permitted to pass +through this hall unless called." + +"I will remember--I beg pardon." + +"Mrs. Dennison is not here." + +"Oh! excuse me--" + +She stopped. I saw her curtsy, turned, and there stood Mr. Lee, looking +at me gravely. He had heard my ill-natured tone, and could see the flush +of anger on my face. + +"What is the matter, Miss Hyde?" he asked, quietly enough; but the tone +displeased me, and I replied with a good deal of sharpness,-- + +"I am not aware of anything, sir; Cora was searching for her mistress." + +"That is right enough, I am sure." + +"She is not here," I continued, feeling a savage pleasure in the words +I spoke; "she is out in the woods with Mr. Lawrence." + +Mr. Lee colored slightly, but managed to conceal his discomposure. + +Cora hurried away after giving me a spiteful glance, and Jessie, who had +heard my words, came into the hall. + +"Mrs. Dennison told me that she should be busy all the morning in her +room," she said, quickly. + +"I can't help what she said, my dear; I only know that I saw her walking +with Mr. Lawrence." + +"Surely it is her privilege, if she feels disposed, to walk with any +person," Mr. Lee said, laughing with a very bad grace, while Jessie +looked much disturbed. + +"I have no desire to interfere with the lady's movements," I said, my +temper still in the ascendant; "but I see no necessity for saying one +thing and doing another." + +Mr. Lee appeared surprised at my outburst. I dare say it was not +lady-like; but I am not made of stone, and my real feelings will peep +out occasionally. + +"I am afraid Mrs. Dennison would think you spoke harshly to her +servant," he said. "I shouldn't like a guest in this house to be +annoyed." + +For the first time I was angry with Mr. Lee. I was not a dependant; I +was not accustomed to anything but affection and respect in that house, +and the reproof in his voice, added to my own feeling of +self-dissatisfaction, made me quite furious. + +"Sir," I said, "you have always requested us not to permit servants to +enter this hall; when you wish to change any of your regulations, be +good enough to inform me in advance." + +I turned away before he could speak, and Jessie went to him, saying +something in a low voice. + +"Miss Hyde!" he called out, approaching me and extending his hand. "Why, +dear friend, you are not angry with me? I would rather cut off this +right hand than have that happen." + +My anger evaporated at once; like a silly fool as I am, the tears +gathered in my eyes. He shook my hand heartily, while Jessie hovered +about us like an anxious bird. + +"I really meant no harm," he began; but I would not hear a word. + +"I am ashamed of myself," I said, "and that is the end of it; I am tired +and cross." + +"You are not well," he replied, kindly. "Jessie, make her go and lie +down." + +"She never will, papa." + +She put her arm caressingly about my waist, and Mr. Lee stood holding my +hand, petting me as if my words had been a matter of the greatest +consequence. Suddenly Mrs. Dennison entered from the terrace, and +exclaimed, with a gay laugh,-- + +"What a pretty scene! Are you acting a comedy, Mr. Lee? How well you do +it!" + +He dropped my hand in some confusion, and turned toward her. + +"Better comedy than tragedy," he said. + +"Oh, yes, a thousand times! But Miss Hyde's role seems to be a +sentimental one--she looks very lugubrious!" + +I longed to strike her full in her insolent mouth; but as that was +impossible, I determined to pay her off for once in her own coin. A +spirit of retaliation was roused within me that I had never before +possessed. + +"You seem gay enough to make amends," I said. "Did you and Mr. Lawrence +have a pleasant walk?" + +What a fool I was to think I could send a blow that would have any +effect upon that piece of marble! + +She laughed outright, and clapped her hands in childish exultation. + +"She wants to accuse me of being a flirt!" she exclaimed; "Oh, you +naughty Miss Hyde! I did meet Mr. Lawrence, but I had no idea of doing +so when I went out. I think now I shall make a merit of my intention!" + +"You might always do so, I am sure," said Mr. Lee, gallantly. + +She held up a beautiful bouquet of wild flowers. + +"I heard Mrs. Lee wish for some blossoms fresh from the woods last +night," she said; "so I went to gather them." + +Mr. Lee's face grew all sunshine at once; even Jessie was appeased, and, +unseen by either, the widow shot me a quick glance of scorn. + +"How kind it was of you!" Jessie said. "Mamma will be so much obliged!" + +"I wanted to please her, darling Jessie," replied the widow. "But I must +make one confession; will you grant me absolution, Mr. Lee?" + +"I can safely do that in advance. I am sure you have no very terrible +sin to reveal." + +"Oh, I told a fib!" And she laughed archly. "I wanted to go all alone, +so that dear Mrs. Lee would give me full credit for my thoughtfulness.-- +You see how vain and selfish I am!--so I told Jessie that I was going to +be occupied in my own room." + +"I think when selfishness takes a form like this, it is a very valuable +quality to possess," returned Mr. Lee. + +Mrs. Dennison treated me to another flash from her scornful eyes, then +added,-- + +"And while I was picking flowers, who should pass but Mr. Lawrence; so I +made him stop. But I might as well have let him go on." + +"Why so?" demanded Mr. Lee. + +"Because he was very ungallant; did nothing but talk of Jessie, and +never said a pretty thing to me." + +Jessie blushed, but the smile on her lips showed that she was far from +annoyed. + +"So that is all my secret," continued Mrs. Dennison. "Now, we will take +this unfortunate bouquet up to Mrs. Lee. Come, Jessie." + +"May I go?" asked the gentleman. + +"If you will be very good. But mind you do not tease for the flowers--we +cannot spare a single one!" + +"I promise." + +"Then come with us." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +LOTTIE'S ADVICE. + + +Mrs. Dennison had one arm about Jessie's waist; she kept Mr. Lee close +at her side, and so engrossed and fascinated both father and daughter, +that they passed on without remembering that I was there. + +It was just what the woman intended: she wished to make me feel of how +little consequence I was in the house when she chose to exercise her +supremacy. That was her way of revenging herself for my rude speech in +regard to her ramble. + +If it is absolutely necessary for me to tell the entire and exact truth, +I must admit that she succeeded perfectly in wounding me. I was greatly +pained, but not altogether from jealousy or sensitiveness. Hurt as I was +to see how completely my friends were made to forget their solicitude at +that woman's bidding, I was still more troubled to perceive how, every +day, her influence in that house increased, how artfully she wove the +threads of her net about us, and entangled everybody more helplessly in +its meshes. + +While I stood thinking of those things, I was startled by a sound close +at hand--a very singular noise, such as one might expect from an +antiquated raven troubled with bronchitis. From behind a screen that +stood in the hall bounded Miss Lottie, emitting another of those +unearthly croaks, and stationing herself directly in front of me with +one of her most impish looks. + +"I am astonished at you!" said she, shaking her head, and pursing up her +lips until her words came out in a sort of strangled whistle. "I really +am more astonished, Miss Hyde, than I should be to see two Christmases +come in the same year!" + +"What is the matter now?" I asked, laughing in spite of myself. + +"To think of your going and trying to circumvent Babylon! Why, she's +almost more'n a match for me, and to see you floppin' up at her quite +took my breath away!" + +"You are impertinent, Lottie!" + +"Well, I don't mean to be! But just let me caution you a trifle. Don't +try any such game--she'll only fling it back right in your teeth, as she +did just now, sail off with her feathers spread, and leave you feeling +as flat as a pancake!" + +I had an internal conviction that Lottie was correct in her judgment; +but not considering it necessary to admit as much, I made an effort to +turn the subject. + +"What were you doing behind that screen? I hope you haven't taken to +listening to the whole house." + +"Now, Miss Hyde, I didn't think you'd accuse me in that way. But I don't +blame you--Babylon's made you huffy! Cut in agin, Miss Matty, if you +want to!" + +"But you should not do those things, Lottie!" + +"Not quite so fast, if you please. I can tell you what I went behind +there for." + +"I do not wish to inquire into your proceedings," I said, coldly, and +was moving away; but she caught me by the arm. + +"Please don't go off mad, Miss Hyde," she pleaded; "I'll tell you the +truth. I was in the little room looking out a book Mrs. Lee wanted, when +I heard you and Miss Jessie talking on the terrace. I didn't know what +you said, and didn't want to; but just then I saw Cora creep through the +hall, and stand listening by the door. So I slips out, got behind the +screen, and, once there, I had to stay till the folks got off." + +"Then she was listening?" I said. + +"I should rather guess she was! and a-shaking them big ear-rings. She +didn't miss a word, you may be sure!" + +"Why does she do those things?" + +"Why? Come, now, that's good! 'Cause Babylon tells her to, and 'cause +her heart's blacker than her face, and she loves mischief as well as the +gray cat does cream." + +"You cannot think her mistress would countenance her in such +proceedings." + +"I don't think nothing about it--I know, Miss Hyde. She's got +countenance of her own, though, to help her through a'most anything! But +I tell you she's sot on to spy and listen." + +"That is a fault you ought to judge leniently, Lottie." + +"No, 'tain't, Miss Hyde! I've always been above things of that sort; but +since Babylon's come the world's changed, and I have to fix myself +according to circumstances. But don't you fall foul o' either of them +again--'tain't no use! Why, she walked Mr. Lee and Miss Jessie right off +afore your eyes, and you may bet your front teeth that by this time +she's made them believe you're cross-grained, and jealous as a lap-dog!" + +"I begin to think I am, Lottie." + +"No, you ain't--you can't stay cross two minutes! And as for good +looks--wal, if you furbelowed yourself off like some folks that shall be +nameless, you'd be more than as young-looking as some folks +themselves." + +I turned again to go, but Lottie had, as usual, a few last words which +must be spoken. + +"See here, Miss Hyde," said she; "Babylon'll carry Mr. Lee off, I know, +and Miss Jessie's got her heart so full that she'll slip away to her own +room; so you must go and sit with Mrs. Lee." + +"I will go to her room as soon as Mrs. Dennison leaves." + +"That won't be long. She ain't going to coop herself up for nobody; +trust her!" + +"Very well; I shall be ready." + +"And, Miss Hyde--" + +"Well?" + +"Now, don't be mad--I must say it! Just leave Babylon to me--you ain't +no shakes where she is concerned; you'll only get yourself into a brile, +and muddle matters--leave her to me!" + +She gave her head a consequential toss and darted away, singing some +dolorous ditty about "Long Ago." + +I went up to my chamber, sad and sick at heart. Our little world seemed +going very wrong; but how to remedy that which was amiss I could not +tell. I was powerless, and could only remain quiet and let things take +their course, praying that God would shield those so dear to me from +sorrow and harm. + +Perhaps an hour after, there was a low tap at my door, and, in obedience +to my summons, Lottie danced into the room. + +"She's all alone, Miss Hyde. Babylon's trotted Mr. Lee into the garden, +and Miss Jessie's in her own chamber. Come right along and sit with Mrs. +Lee." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +MRS. LEE DREAMS OF PASSION-FLOWERS. + + +I rose at once and went to the chamber of our dear invalid. She was +lying on a sofa, supported by pillows, and looking with pleasure at the +bouquet of wild flowers that had been placed on her table. + +"I am glad to see you, Miss Hyde," she said. "Come in and sit here close +by me. Look at my pretty flowers." + +"They are very lovely!" I replied. + +"They make me feel as if I were in the woods." + +She sighed, checked the vain regret, and added cheerfully. + +"Mrs. Dennison brought them to me. Was it not thoughtful of her? I was +wishing for them last night." + +"Very thoughtful," I said. + +"You look tired," she observed; "sit down and we will have one of our +old, quiet hours. Mr. Lee had to go out, and Mrs. Dennison has gone to +Jessie's room; so we shall be all alone." + +Another falsehood! My blood fairly boiled! Lottie had just seen the pair +in the garden. But I could not speak--a word, a look might have +destroyed that poor creature's peace forever! No syllable from my lips +should send a thought of suspicion to her heart! + +I did sit down, and we had a long, pleasant conversation; for with those +whom she knew well, Mrs. Lee was an exceedingly agreeable companion, +although ill-health had made her nervous in the presence of strangers. + +After a time she began to speak of Jessie, and then it occurred to me +that it would be a favorable opportunity to tell her of Jessie's desire +to visit Mrs. Bosworth. + +She was shocked to hear of her young favorite's illness, and when I +told her how anxious he was to see Jessie, and how necessary it seemed +that he should not be opposed, she agreed with me that her daughter +ought to go. + +"Certainly, certainly," she said. "Mr. Lee will think so too. You were +quite right to promise, Miss Hyde." + +"I thought so." + +"Poor young man! Do you know, Martha Hyde, I used to think he was very +fond of our Jessie? But of late I have so seldom left my room, or seen +any one, that I don't know what goes on." + +I did not answer, and she changed the subject, with the excitability of +all sick people. + +"Mrs. Dennison makes the house very gay," she said. + +"Very! Her manners are charming!" + +"She seems a superior woman. Do you begin to like her, Martha?" + +"Oh, I am difficult to please, you know," I replied, trying to laugh. +"Girls, old or young, and widows seldom agree; besides, I can only care +for people whom I have known a long time." + +She did not answer, but pushed her hair back from her forehead, and +looked absently at the flowers. + +"I have such bad dreams," she said; "I never can recall them distinctly; +but they seem full of trouble." + +"Of whom do you dream?" + +"All of you--principally of Jessie. Sometimes I think I must be awake +and standing in her room--the vision is so real." + +"Such fancies are very common to an invalid," I said. + +"Oh, yes; I don't mind them." + +She pulled the flowers toward her, and began playing with them after +Jessie's childish fashion. It gave me a strange feeling to see those +blossoms in her hand; when I remembered whose gift they had been, I felt +as if my friend held Cleopatra's venomous asp in every flower that she +touched. + +"Will you read to me a while?" she asked, at length. "There is a new +poem on the table; take that." + +Of course, I complied at once, and read to her for some time; then I saw +the flowers drop from her hand--her head sank back among the pillows, +and soon her regular breathing proved that she was sleeping quietly. + +I laid down the volume, and looked at her with pain and solicitude. She +was so helpless! The least shock might terminate that frail existence; +and I had grown so nervous that I was always expecting some trouble to +force itself into that room, which, until lately, had been securely +guarded by a husband's love. + +She moved restlessly in her sleep; broken words fell from her lips; very +soon they framed themselves into complete sentences. She had sunk into +one of those singular somnambulistic slumbers which formed such a +strange feature of her illness. + +"I am tired," she said; "I have walked so fast! How pretty the +summer-house looks! It is so long since I have been here! There is Mr. +Lee--" + +She paused and breathed rapidly. + +"Why, Mrs. Dennison is with him! She said she was going to Jessie's +room! How earnestly she talks to him! She lays her hand on his arm!" + +She paused again, with a sort of cry. + +"Martha Hyde! Martha! my husband is giving her flowers--passion-flowers! +She asks him to put them in her hair! What does that mean, say?" + +She became so violently agitated that I thought it best to rouse her. I +leaned over her and shook her arm slightly. The change of position +seemed to alter the dream, and once more she slept quietly. + +I went back to the window, and sat looking out behind the curtains. It +was sunset, and gorgeously beautiful. But in the distraction of my +thoughts I could not heed its loveliness. + +While I sat there I saw Mr. Lee and Mrs. Dennison pass along one of the +paths. They had been out on the upper terrace, and were approaching the +house. The lady had no bonnet on, and wreathed in her hair I saw some +superb passion-flowers which the poor wife had described in her dream. + +I grew sick and faint with doubt and horror. I must do something; I +could not longer sit passive and dumb, and see that woman wreck all our +lives. But what to do? which way to turn? + +Alas! I was very helpless after all! There was no one to whom I could +confide my suspicions--no one to whom I could open my heart, and the +only hope I had was in that wild girl, who had understood the real +character of our visitor so much more quickly than any of her superiors. + +While I was thinking of this thus painfully, the door of the inner room +opened, and Lottie stood there, beckoning to me. + +I went into her chamber, and she closed the door. She was in great +excitement and glee. + +"Babylon's been at it," she whispered. + +"At what?" + +"Talking about you. Oh, my! hain't you woke up a hornet's nest! Cora's +mad too; golly, don't she go on. I told you to let things alone." + +"I care very little for Mrs. Dennison's anger," I said. + +"I don't suppose you do. But she'll pay you off if she can. So look +sharp, Miss Hyde; these are times for sleeping with both eyes open. No +chance to dream or make verses now." + +"Nonsense, child!" + +"Nonsense, if you choose; but that don't alter the matter. Babylon's +brought Mr. Lee back to the house; she had him out in the garden to make +all right about Lawrence." + +"Stop, Lottie!" + +"I have stopped--sha'n't say no more! Hark! what was that?" + +It was a call--an appeal for help. A voice from Mrs. Lee's room cried +with energy,-- + +"Martha Hyde! Martha Hyde!" + +I rushed into the chamber, followed by Lottie, and found Mrs. Lee half +risen on her sofa, tossing her arms about, and calling still upon my +name, although she was yet asleep. + +Many moments passed before I could rouse her, and when I did, she sank +back on the pillows perfectly exhausted. I administered such +restoratives as were at hand, and, with Lottie's assistance, succeeded +in bringing her out of the half swoon into which she had fallen; but she +was fearfully weak, and much excited. + +"I have had such terrible dreams," she moaned, "I am afraid to go to +sleep." + +"They are over now," I said, soothingly; "you shall sit up and have your +tea." + +"Yes, please. Don't let me sleep any more, don't, Martha Hyde." + +All the while she held fast to my hand and looked wildly in my eyes, +repeating,-- + +"Such dreadful dreams, Martha Hyde--oh! such dreadful dreams!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +COMPANY FROM TOWN. + + +That evening we had a number of visitors from the town, and so much +gayety that it quite passed from my mind to speak with Mr. Lee +concerning the call upon young Bosworth. Indeed, I was not in the +parlors much of the time, for he came to me and asked if I would sit a +while with his wife, as he could not leave his guests, and she was so +much more nervous than usual, he did not like trusting her entirely with +Lottie. + +I felt grateful to him for remembering her, and went away at once. As I +passed toward the hall, I saw Jessie at the piano surrounded by a group +of gentlemen, Lawrence nearest, turning over the music, and talking to +her at intervals. + +Mrs. Dennison was flitting about like a gorgeous butterfly, making +merriment and pleasant conversation wherever she went. + +Her quick eyes detected me as I passed the music-room door. She moved +along, smelling carelessly at her flowers, the sight of which made me +sick; they were roses from the choicest varieties that Mrs. Lee +considered peculiarly her own. + +"Going to preserve your bloom by an early sleep, Miss Hyde?" she asked, +pleasantly. + +"I am going to sit with Mrs. Lee," I replied, coldly enough, I dare say. +I was not accustomed to dissimulation, and when I disliked and doubted a +person as I did her, it was very difficult for me to conceal it. + +"You are quite the guardian-angel of the house," she returned, so +sweetly that no one except a suspicious creature like me would have +perceived the covert insult under her words; "I expect every day to see +you unfold your wings and fly off." + +"This is my home," I answered, quietly, "so I shall not fly very far +from it in all probability." + +She laughed in her charming way; but there was an expression in her eyes +which would have startled me, had I not felt that she was powerless to +do me personal injury. + +"And a pleasant home you have," she said, with a sigh; "you can't think, +Miss Hyde, how delightful it seems to a tired worldling like me." + +I was in no humor to listen to sentiment, and I replied curtly,-- + +"Not tired, Mrs. Dennison, or, of course, you would forsake the society +that wearies you." + +She shook her head patronizingly and smiled, oh, such a sweet, sad +smile--she must have practised for days to attain such perfection in it. + +"How innocent you are!" she said; "I envy you, dear, kind Miss Hyde!" + +How I longed to fling back her affectionate epithets with the scorn they +deserved; but, of course, that was impossible, so I made a movement to +go, trembling all over with repressed indignation. + +"You are running away from me as usual," she said, reproachfully; "I +never get a moment now of your honest, sensible conversation." + +"I trust you do not suffer much from the loss," was all the answer I +made. + +I know I am not very wise; I do not deny having my share of little +vanities; but Mrs. Dennison had not found the road which led to them. + +"I do indeed," she replied; "but I see you will not believe me." + +"You have not an exalted opinion of my courtesy, Mrs. Dennison." + +"Ah, now you are going to be sarcastic--my dear Miss Hyde, that is not +in your way." + +She added a few more playful words, then I was resolute to go. I left +her standing there in one of her graceful attitudes, playing negligently +with her roses. + +Once in the hall, I glanced back; the widow had changed her +position,--she was stationed by a window,--I saw Mr. Lee approach her, +and they began an earnest conversation. I turned and went up-stairs, +growing sadder and more sick at heart. + +Mrs. Lee slept quietly nearly the whole time, so that I had ample +opportunity for my sorrowful reflections,--more than I desired, since +dwelling upon the things which troubled me only increased my +restlessness, without bringing me any nearer a conclusion that could +have been of the least value. + +After Mrs. Lee had gone to bed, I went into my own room, and saw no one +again that night. When it was too late, I remembered that I had not +spoken to Mr. Lee, but consoled myself with fancying that Jessie would +tell him, or that I should have an opportunity in the morning. + +I was disappointed both ways. When I went down to breakfast, I found +that Mr. Lee had been obliged to ride over to the iron works. He had +gone before any one was stirring, and would not return until late in the +afternoon. + +While one of the servants was giving me that information, Mrs. Dennison +passed through the hall. She hurried on with a smile, but I noticed that +the skirt of her dress was wet and soiled; I felt certain that she knew +of Mr. Lee's intention, and had gone out to meet him, and hold one of +her private conversations. + +Before she appeared again, Jessie joined me in the breakfast-room. + +"How late we all are!" she said; "it is too bad." + +"I quite overslept myself," I replied; then I remembered my thought of +the last night. "Oh, my dear! did you ask your father to go with us to +Mrs. Bosworth's?" + +"I had no opportunity," she answered, blushing crimson. "I am afraid, +too, that I half forgot it." + +I knew the reason of that; Lawrence had been talking to her all the +evening. + +"It does not make much difference," I said; "I will go with you." + +"I am sure papa would be willing," she observed, looking troubled at the +idea of the visit. + +"I spoke of it to your mother; she desired you to go." + +"Very well then," replied Jessie; "suppose we start after breakfast; we +can get back before mamma will want us in her room." + +"I shall be ready; we can walk across the fields." + +"Yes; then Mrs. Dennison need not know anything about it." + +"Hush!" I said; "there she is." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +OUR VISIT TO THE OLD MANSION. + + +Mrs. Dennison came in airy and graceful as usual; I noticed that she had +changed her dress. She kissed Jessie with as much affection as if she +had not seen her for a week, and began discoursing with great +volubility. + +"I was up before either of you," she said; "I have been out in the +garden, ruining my white dress, and racing among the beds, to the great +astonishment of the old gardener." + +"You look fresh and charming as the roses themselves," Jessie replied. + +"Of course. But don't pay compliments; Miss Hyde does not like them." + +"If they are sincere, I do," I said. + +"Ah! then you must like mine. Indeed, I should be afraid to tell you a +story; I am certain those honest eyes of yours would detect it at once." + +I disclaimed any such extraordinary powers for my poor eyes, and the +widow rattled on about something else. She always went from one subject +to another in a rapid, graceful way, like a bird flying about in the +trees. + +"Why, where is Mr. Lee?" she asked. + +"Gone out," said Jessie; "he went early." + +"How ungallant," she returned; but she looked so very innocent that I +was more than ever convinced she had seen him before his departure. + +One thing I could say for Mrs. Dennison, she never troubled her hosts to +entertain her. Directly after breakfast, she went, as usual, her own +way, and Jessie and I were free to start upon our expedition. + +"We had better go at once," I said; "there is no telling when she may +dance in upon us again." + +"You don't like her, Aunt Matty," replied Jessie; "I am sure you don't, +yet she is very charming." + +"Never mind; there is no time to discuss my fancies," I said. "Get your +bonnet, Jessie." + +She hesitated and grew a little pale, but complied at once. We were +ready in a few moments, and, passing through the garden, went down the +path by the grove, and took our way across the fields to the old house. + +Jessie was very silent during our walk, and I was so much occupied with +my plans and my fancies that I had little time to break the thread of +her thoughts. + +When we reached the gate that led into the door-yard, Jessie stopped. + +"Oh, I am so frightened," she said. + +Poor child! she was very pale, and shook from head to foot with an +agitation that reminded me painfully of her mother's nervous +excitements. I did my best to soothe her, but, in spite of her efforts, +it was some moments before she could go on. + +"You will not mind it after the first meeting," I said. + +"I am very foolish, I know. There, I am ready now." + +As we turned into the avenue, I saw Mr. Lawrence pass along the road on +horseback. He gave a sharp, quick look, and rode on. I said nothing to +Jessie; it was useless to agitate her further. His passing at that time +might have been mere chance. + +Jessie clung to me as we went up the two broad steps and entered the +hall. I did not speak, contenting myself with a reassuring pressure of +the hand; for I knew from experience that in cases of nervous dread one +is only made worse by persuasions and cheering speeches. + +We were shown into the room where I had before waited for old Mrs. +Bosworth, and very soon I heard the rustle of her dress in the hall. + +The old lady came in with her stately manner, but I could see that +trouble and watching had left their effect upon her, and it seemed to me +that I could discover smothered pain in her eyes when she greeted +Jessie. But she was exceedingly kind,--so gentle and caressing, that the +girl soon recovered from her fright and began to look like herself. + +"You will excuse my daughter's absence, I hope," the old lady said; "she +is lying down. She is not very strong, and watching has quite worn her +out." + +"But you think your grandson better?" I asked. + +"Much better; yes, much better." + +There was thanksgiving in her very voice. Jessie said, tremulously,-- + +"We were very sorry to hear of his sickness." + +"Thank you, Miss Lee; I was sure you would be." + +The old lady's fingers worked nervously; I knew, in spite of her pride, +what was in her heart. She longed to take Jessie in her arms, to beseech +her to speak the one word that would bring her boy back to life and +happiness. + +"He suffers less with his head, I suppose?" I said, breaking the little +pause which would soon have proved awkward. + +"It is quite easy this morning; indeed, last night he slept for several +hours undisturbed. He is so patient," she continued, "so gentle; but +that is natural to him." + +I knew she was glad to have that opportunity of praising Bosworth; she +felt as if it was indirectly doing something to interest Jessie in his +favor. + +"It was very kind of you to come, Miss Lee," she said. "I thought you +would be willing to humor a sick man's fancies, and he pined so to see +all his old friends," she added, quickly, with her old-world tact, for +the color began to flicker on Jessie's cheek. + +"My father would have come also," said the girl, talking rapidly, "but +he was obliged to go out very early; and you know my mother seldom +leaves her room." + +"It is sad that she should be so great an invalid," said the old +duchess--I must call her so. "My daughter and I go out very little. We +have often wished to see more of you, but age and infirmity are by force +unsocial." + +"Mrs. Lee is fond of company," I said. I longed to do all I could to +draw the two families together. + +"Ah, if that is the case, we shall call frequently upon her. It may do +her some good;" she looked at Jessie as she spoke. + +"Mamma will be so pleased," she said, quite firmly; "it is very +monotonous to live always shut up in her room; she is naturally very +social, and to such, solitude is mournful." + +"So it is; but I pity the young most! If I could only have taken my poor +boy's illness in his stead." + +She was checked by the entrance of an old servant, who whispered +something in her ear. + +"Will you go up-stairs?" she said, turning to me; "my grandson knows you +are here." + +She took Jessie's hand softly, leading her away, and I followed. Jessie +bore up like a little Spartan, but I could see what an effort it was,--I +pitied her far more than any one else. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +YOUNG BOSWORTH'S SICK-ROOM. + + +When we entered the sick-room, it was a shock to Jessie. In spite of all +I had said, she was not prepared to find Bosworth so changed. They had +put a dressing-gown upon him, but its gay colors only increased the +ghastliness of his face, already wasted and worn by fever. + +He was so happy to see us--so like a child that fears to give pain by +its own pleasure. I think Jessie took heart after the first few moments; +and I could see the old lady watching her in secret, as if she thought +that, unless she were only a beautiful piece of marble, she must be +softened now. + +"It was very selfish of me, Miss Jessie," he said, "to call you away +from your amusements to visit a poor, sick fellow." + +"I was very glad to come," she replied; "my mother is so anxious about +you, she could not rest till some of us had been here." + +"She is very kind," he said, with the touching smile of illness. + +At last we fell to talking quite cheerfully. I did my best to prevent +the restraint we were all under becoming perceptible; I dare say it was +blunderingly done, but it succeeded tolerably well. + +Bosworth made Jessie tell him all about her flowers--he was a great +botanist--and I chimed in with the wonderful history of a nest of young +birds I had found, and really made him laugh at my nonsense. + +But he was weak, and soon grew weary,--I saw it, and made Jessie a sign +to go. + +"Not yet," he said, as we rose; "stay a while longer, please." + +So we sat down again, but I saw by his eyes that his senses began to +cloud a little. + +"What is that hymn you sing, Miss Jessie?" he asked, suddenly; "it has +been running in my head all the morning." + +Jessie could not speak; she was trying with all her might to keep back +her tears; so I said,-- + +"You mean that little gem of Mrs. Hemans--'Child Amid the Flowers at +Play.'" + +"Yes," he replied, "that is it. Won't you sing it for me?" + +It really was heroic, the way that poor girl struggled with herself and +forced back her composure. She turned her face a little from the light +and began to sing; her voice was very low and tremulous, but I never +heard it sound so sweet; Bosworth lay back on his pillow and listened +with a happy smile. + +"Thank you," he said, when she finished; "I can sleep now--you were very +kind to come." + +He tried to take her hand, said a few more broken words, and then we +went away. I saw that Jessie could endure nothing more. Old Mrs. +Bosworth detected it too; she must have felt for the girl, and was +grateful to her for that visit. She did not accompany us down-stairs, +and I was glad to make our farewell as short as possible. + +The moment we were out of the house, Jessie gave way completely, and +sobbed and wept as I never before saw her. + +"Do you think he will die, Aunt Matty?" she asked. + +"I do not; he is certainly better." + +"But he looks dreadfully; I never saw anybody altered so much." + +"You are not accustomed to fevers, my dear. I am, and he will get +better. I am glad you have made this visit; it will do him good." + +"Then I am glad, too," she replied, wiping away her tears. "Oh! if +anything had happened, I never should have forgiven myself." + +In reality, there was no blame to be attached to her; she had been +guilty of no encouragement or coquetry. I could not bear that she should +brood over his illness, until she accused herself as the cause, and +really grew horrified at what she might fancy her own wickedness. + +"He is in God's hands," I said; "either way it would have been as He +willed." + +"Then you do not think that any trouble--any--" + +"I think he would have been sick," I replied, seeing her unable to go +on; "he has not looked well for some time past, and his grandmother told +me that he had always been somewhat subject to fevers." + +Jessie breathed heavily, and looked relieved. + +In our preoccupation we had passed from the grounds into the high-road, +instead of taking the footpath. + +"We must strike into the clover-field at the turn," I said, when I +observed our error; "it would make too long a walk to follow the road." + +Jessie did not answer. I heard the tramp of horses' hoofs, and looking +up saw Mr. Lawrence riding rapidly toward us. He did not check his +horse, but lifted his riding-cap, gave a low, stately bow, a quick +glance at Jessie's tear-stained face, and galloped on. + +I heard Jessie utter a smothered exclamation, but she did not speak a +word. + +"Mr. Lawrence seems in great haste," I observed, but she did not answer. + +I was confident Mrs. Dennison had been besetting him again, for he was +pale and looked fiercely excited. + +"Here is the path," said Jessie, suddenly. + +We turned into it and walked home, scarcely once breaking that unusual +silence. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +LOTTIE'S REPORT. + + +When we reached the house, Jessie went directly up to her room. I did +not attempt to detain her, knowing that she would be much better alone. + +I went to my chamber, likewise, but I was not left long to my +bewildering meditations, for Lottie's quick tap sounded at the door, and +in she danced in the fantastic manner which always betrayed great +excitement. + +She closed the door carefully, and stood before me with her hands folded +behind her back. + +"I told you how it would be!" she exclaimed. + +"What do you mean?" I asked. + +"Why, you're flying out at Babylon; she's mad, and you'll take the +consequences, you will." + +"I do not imagine they will be very terrible, Lottie." + +"That's as a body may happen to think. There's been a great time since +you started." + +"What has happened?" I inquired, losing all scruples as to the manner in +which Lottie might have obtained her information. + +"In the first place, we had Lawrence--" + +"Was he here?" + +"No, no. Babylon went out to walk for her health--you see Babylon needs +exercise. After you stole away, I had my eye on her--" + +"Why, you did not see us go." + +"Oh, didn't I?" she demanded, ironically, nodding her head with great +significance. "I was at my window, Miss Hyde, and I always keep my eyes +open. Howsumever, I wasn't watching you; I'm above such tricks, unless I +feel it my duty, then I never stop at nothing--anything, I mean, +thinking of the grammar." + +"Did she see us, too?" + +"I don't know; but she knew where you were going." + +"Why, how did you find that out?" + +"Heard her tell Mr. Lee, to be sure." + +I was so angry that I felt myself growing pale. Lottie saw it and +tittered. + +"You would like to choke her, now, wouldn't you, Miss Hyde? What a pity! +it's agin religion and the law. I should just enjoy fixing her myself." + +"For shame!" I said, but I am afraid it was only because I thought it a +duty to check such expressions, not from any lack of sympathy with them. + +Lottie tossed her head; but she was in too great haste to communicate +her intelligence for much indignation. + +"After you'd gone I watched her; she went about very uneasy for a while, +then she put on her shawl and streaked off to the grove. I wanted some +wild grass, so I went along, but Babylon didn't see me. She waited in +the grove till Mr. Lawrence rode by, when she hailed him. + +"'Where are you going?' said she. + +"He stammered a little, and said something about it being his custom to +ride every morning, and at that she laughed right out in her tantalizing +way. Oh, she's awful tantalizing is Babylon. + +"'You'd better tell the truth,' says she; 'you didn't believe what I +told you last night, and you've been to see with your own eyes. Did you +meet them?' + +"'Miss Jessie and her friend have just entered Mrs. Bosworth's gate,' he +answered, cross as two sticks. + +"'Of course,' says Babylon; 'I tell you he is her lover. It was to be +expected she'd visit him during the sickness brought on by jealousy. You +see a grand flirtation has its inconveniences.' + +"He shook uneasily in his saddle, but she hadn't any pity, and went on +at an awful rate about all of you. Then she tried the old dodge--she +was his friend--he might trust her. She went up to him and reached her +hand, but he didn't seem to see it. + +"'I must go,' said he. + +"She tried to stop him, but he wouldn't hear a word. + +"'When will you come again?' she asked. + +"'God knows!' was all he said, and rode off like a whirlwind. + +"Babylon watched him as long as he was in sight, then she gave way to +the awfullest mad fit I ever see. I really thought she'd break a +blood-vessel. She danced and wrung her hands, and clenched 'em both into +fists, which she shook after him, and she bit her lips to keep from +screaming; and then all of a sudden she started for the house on a +fierce run. I went after her, and as I got into the garden I saw Mr. Lee +ride up. She followed him into the house. + +"I went round the corner and stood on the veranda, picking roses and +humming 'Katy Darling;' only I chose all the low parts, and heard quite +comfortable." + +"That was wrong," I said, "very wrong." + +"Oh! I didn't listen to him," she replied; "but I had to keep watch of +Babylon." + +I may as well confess my weakness. I longed to ask Lottie all she heard. +However, I did not have to wait long for the communication. + +"'Jessie has gone out,' said she. He asked her where, and she put on +such an innocent face. 'You must know,' says she; 'your daughter would +not have taken such a step without your permission. No, no; I understand +Jessie's womanly prudence too well.' + +"He just stared at her; then he asked in that voice he has when he's +angry, what she meant. She hemmed and hawed, and put him off; said he +knew, and wouldn't speak. + +"'Mrs. Dennison,' said he, 'what does this mean? Where has Jessie +gone?' + +"She put on the innocent look again; she really did it beautifully. + +"'Don't you know?' she asked; 'don't you actually?' + +"She worked him up almost into a fit. Goodness knows what fancy he got +into his head. + +"I have seen no one this morning,' he said; 'there were none of the +family down when I went away. Where has Jessie gone?' + +"Then she pretended to back out; she had been wrong--it was doubtless an +innocent little secret of Jessie's--she ought not to have spoken--she +was so frank and indiscreet--she would rather bite her tongue off than +tell what Jessie wanted kept private, and all that. He grew white as +death; you know nothing makes him so mad as to think there's any mystery +in the house, or anything going on he don't understand. + +"'Mrs. Dennison,' says he, 'if you won't speak, I must go to my wife.' + +"'Don't, don't,' she said; 'she is so feeble; don't agitate her.' + +"'Then tell me yourself,' says he. + +"Then she went all through the old performance, but at last it came +out--Jessie had gone to visit Mr. Bosworth in his sick-room. Lord, how +mad he was! She told him you was with her, said she didn't blame Jessie, +guessed it was all one of your old-maidish romances, and made him +furious against you." + +"How did it end?" I asked. + +"It didn't really have no end; some man called him off on business. Just +then you and Miss Jessie came up the steps, and I cut round here to tell +you. Babylon--she sat down to the piano, and went to playing a jig; she +likes the fun. I tell you she's all right when there's a row. But I'm +going to Mrs. Lee; she must want to get up by this time. You're in a +hobble, Miss Hyde--a precious hobble--was sure you would be. You +playing a game with her--the idea!" + +Away she danced, trying to hide her uneasiness; but at the door she +stopped and exclaimed,-- + +"I can't think what ails my head, I'm so dizzy." + +She staggered and would have fallen, but I caught her; she was deadly +pale. I gave her some water, and she soon grew better. + +"Are you ill?" I asked. + +"No, I guess not; but lately my head feels so queer every morning. +Yesterday, when I went to get out of bed, I fell flat on the floor like +a great awkward lobster." + +She laughed, but I was very uneasy about her, though she declared she +was well again, and hurried away to her duties; for, wild as she was, +Lottie was an orderly little thing, and always punctual. + +I sat and thought over what she had told me, with some anxiety; but that +did no good, so I went down-stairs. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +MY FIRST QUARREL WITH MR. LEE. + + +As I entered the lower hall, I met Mr. Lee. He gave me a look such as I +never before saw in his face; it so increased my indignation, that, if +it had not been for Jessie, I would have walked out of the house that +instant. + +"Miss Hyde," he said, in the low, measured tone his voice always took +when he was angry, "will you step into the library for a moment?" + +"Do you wish to speak with me?" I asked, rebelliously. + +"If you have leisure." + +I swept before him into the room. Every drop of blood in my veins +tingled as if on fire. He followed me, and closed the door. + +"How does it happen," he began, "that you and Jessie went upon an +expedition like that of this morning without consulting me?" + +I did my best to answer quietly, although his manner aggravated me +almost beyond endurance. + +"Simply because you were not here to consult," I replied. + +"But you could have told me last night." + +Then I flashed up a little, and said,-- + +"Mr. Lee, I am not a school-girl, to be crowded into a corner and +catechized." + +"Madam," he returned, "I think I have a right to know everything +connected with my daughter; I will permit no mysteries in this house." + +"There have been none on my part or Jessie's," I replied. + +"Then be good enough to give me an explanation of what, I own, seems to +me a singular proceeding in a lady of your acknowledged discretion." + +"It is easily done," I answered, still remembering Jessie, and so +remaining reasonably calm. "Yesterday, old Mrs. Bosworth sent for me; +her grandson is very ill--he has brain-fever. He begged to see us +particularly. I came home and told your wife; she said Jessie should go +to-day. We expected you to accompany us. Last night there was no +opportunity of speaking to you, every moment of your time was occupied. +This morning, you were gone; but as I had the mother's permission, I +thought it no harm to start. A visit to a sick, almost a dying man, can +never injure your daughter, Mr. Lee." + +His face flushed at once. + +"I was mistaken," he said. + +"You must have been cruelly mistaken or misinformed," I replied, coldly, +"when you could address me as you have done." + +"I beg your pardon, Miss Hyde," he returned. + +I granted it with a sullen bend of the head. + +"Who told you where we had gone?" I asked, bluntly. + +He hesitated, and I followed up my advantage. + +"No one knew of it but Mrs. Lee," I said; "you have not seen her to-day. +Yesterday you reproved me for sending Cora out of the hall; sir, she was +listening while I told Jessie, and repeated it to her mistress. I don't +know what you may think of such conduct on the part of a guest; but to +me the idea of making trouble in a house where one has been hospitably +treated, seems very contemptible." + +"Miss Hyde! Miss Hyde!" he exclaimed, "I assure you Mrs. Dennison did it +thoughtlessly--she had no idea." + +"Excuse me," said I, still burning with indignation, "I am quite capable +of forming and holding my own opinions; it is a right I shall not +readily relinquish." + +I am sorry to say we very nearly had a serious quarrel; but I was so +dissatisfied, so indignant that a man of his sense and refinement could +be duped in the way he was, that I could not control myself. + +We parted civilly enough, however; and when I went up-stairs, Jessie +knew all about the affair; Mrs. Dennison had been to her crying and +begging for forgiveness. She had thoughtlessly repeated to her father +where we had gone, he was angry, and the whole thing was breaking her +heart. + +"I dare say she meant no harm," added Jessie; "she is so giddy." + +"Pray, how did she know?" I asked. + +"She fancied it, she said." + +"That was a falsehood," I retorted. "Cora told her--I knew she was +listening yesterday." + +Jessie was as much shocked with me as her father had been. With their +exaggerated ideas of hospitality, they considered it little less than a +crime to acknowledge that a guest could have any fault. + +"Oh, Aunt Matty!" she said, "I never knew you unjust before." + +I was forced to go out of the room; my anger was over, and I felt the +tears rushing to my eyes. I passed a very uncomfortable day. Jessie and +her father came to an understanding; Mrs. Dennison soon had them both +under her spell again, and I knew they blamed me exceedingly. + +I loved them too well for real indignation; but I was broken-hearted at +the idea that this woman could come between Jessie and her love for me. + +There was company at dinner. I spent the evening in Mrs. Lee's room--the +first comfortable hour I had passed since morning. She did not know that +anything had gone wrong, pitied my head, which she was sure ached +terribly, and by her sweet and tender kindness made me somewhat more +reconciled to life. + +I sat in my own room after I left her, but did not retire until very +late. I heard the guests go away--heard the different members of the +family pass up to their rooms; but still I sat by the window, sad and +lonely. At last the clock struck one. I rose, startled into common-sense +again, stopped star-gazing, and closing my window, prepared for rest. + +Suddenly I heard a noise--very faint, but my nerves were wonderfully +acute that night. I opened the door and looked into the hall; as I did +so, I saw a figure clad in white glide out of Lottie's chamber, and +disappear down the passage. + +I fairly thought it something supernatural at first, then I ran out, but +there was nothing to be seen. I stole to Lottie's room and looked in; +she was sleeping soundly, so I went back to my own apartment. That +incident, added to the excitement of the day, kept me awake for hours. I +tried to convince myself that it was only one of my ridiculous fancies: +but the effort was in vain; I knew that I had seen that white shape +steal by--it was no delusion. Who was it? What was it? + +I determined to say nothing, feeling certain that everybody would laugh +at me. I knew that it was silly, but I could not drive away the terror +that chilled my heart. Everything had gone so wrong of late, that quiet +house was so changed, that the least thing disturbed me more than events +of importance would once have done. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +MR. LAWRENCE MAKES A CALL. + + +Lawrence called upon us the next day: that is, he came to the house and +inquired for Mrs. Dennison, without one word regarding the rest of the +family. Mr. Lee was sitting in the square balcony when the gentleman +rode up, and cast a meaning glance at Jessie, as if he felt certain that +the visit was for her. She shrunk from his look with something like +affright; and when the servant came up with word that Mr. Lawrence was +in the drawing-room, waiting for Mrs. Dennison, she gave me a look of +wild reproof, as if I had been the cause of his evident displeasure. + +Mr. Lee sat with his eyes upon her; and when Mrs. Dennison came from her +chamber, the expression of his face became so like that which pained me +in Jessie's, that I could not escape the idea that both suffered from +the same cause. + +The shock of this thought made me tremble. It had never fastened upon me +as a reality before. Why did I turn so faint? Why did my soul rise up in +such bitter protest? God help me, I am not wise enough to answer; the +tumult of trouble within me was something I had never, till then, +experienced. Still the idea was a terrible one. How could a woman of +right principles feel otherwise? Thus I explained it away, and soothed +myself into a belief that any true-hearted person living in that family +as I did must have felt all the miserable sensations that tortured me. + +These thoughts made me dizzy. When I could see clearly again, Jessie was +gone, and Mr. Lee sat a little more upright in his chair, looking hard +at the wall over the top of his book. I was glad those stern eyes were +not turned on me. + +Mrs. Dennison came sweeping out of her chamber, leaving a scarcely +perceptible perfume in the hall as she passed. She did not observe me, +for I sat a little out of range from the door, and she evidently was not +conscious that Mr. Lee was looking after her. She caught his glance, +however, in turning to go down stairs, paused abruptly, and came back as +if she were eager to explain something; but again she stopped short on +seeing that I occupied a seat which commanded the balcony, and saying +hastily, "Oh, I thought Miss Jessie was here," went down the hall again, +evidently discomfited. + +Mr. Lee resumed his volume, but there were no signs of reading. He +simply looked hard at the page without turning it over, and sat gnawing +at his under lip with a kind of ferocity I had never witnessed in him +before. I was getting sadly nervous, and felt a painful sensation in my +throat; what was all this coming to? What did it mean? + +I left the balcony and went up to Mrs. Lee's chamber; here everything +was pure and quiet. The invalid lay upon her couch, with a book before +her; one slender and almost transparent hand rested upon the opposite +page to that which she was reading. It started like a frightened bird as +I came in, and she turned her head with one of those heavenly smiles I +have never seen equalled. But her face clouded over in an instant. +Evidently Martha Hyde was not the person that gentle invalid had hoped +to see. + +I went up to the couch and sat down on the low seat at its head. She +handed me the book with a smile, saying that it made her eyes ache. +"Would I read a little till Mr. Lee came up?" + +She said this languidly, and there was a strange look about her eyes, as +if they had been overtaxed. I received the volume, but fell into thought +with it in my hand, forgetting that she was observing me. + +"What is the matter?" she said, touching me with her shadowy hand. "Has +anything gone wrong? No bad news about our young friend, I hope." + +"No," I answered, starting; "I have not heard from him this morning." + +"Well, what is it then? You look strangely, as if something had +frightened you." + +"Do I? No, indeed, nothing has frightened me." + +"Perhaps," she said, with a little hesitation, "you are getting anxious +about me; these heavy feelings that hang about my head in the morning +are a little depressing; I don't really know what to make of them." + +I looked at her anxiously; there certainly was a singular expression in +her eyes which made me thoughtful. She went on in a soft, dreamy way, as +if talking to herself. + +"Then I used to sleep so lightly. It was a great affliction,--that state +of semi-wakefulness which left everything unreal, but was not sleep, +wore me out; now I fall into such profound slumber, but it gives me no +more rest than the other state; and I awake with the sensation of a +person who has been struggling hard through the night." + +"But this may arise from opiates." + +"Opiates! Indeed, you know that I never take them, Miss Hyde." + +I answered with some surprise that I had accounted for the strange +feeling which oppressed her by the idea that it must be something of +that kind; but omitted to say that Mrs. Dennison had bewailed to me the +habit of taking preparations of opium which Mrs. Lee had fallen into. + +The invalid seemed a little hurt by this suggestion, and said over and +over again in her sweet way,-- + +"No, no, my dear. It must be terrible pain which can force me to take +these things; and thanks to Him and to all the loving care around me, I +do not suffer greatly." + +"Still you are changed, dear lady," I said. "How, I cannot explain; but +in your face I find that look of struggle which you complain of." + +"It is oppressive," she said, putting a hand to her forehead, "and I am +afraid makes me but dull company. Mr. Lee is not here quite so much as +usual: or is that a sick fancy, Miss Hyde?" + +I answered with a tremor in my voice, for her earnest look troubled me, +that we all thought quiet better for her, even than the pleasant +excitement which his company might bring. + +She shook her head, and observed with one of her touching smiles, "that +it did not help the flowers to keep back the dew when they thirsted for +it." + +I had no answer; all my petty evasions against her affectionate +entreaties were like straw flung on the surface of a brook; I had no +heart to attempt more. + +She had fallen into silence, and lay shading her eyes with one hand, +when Mr. Lee came in with a heavy, ringing step, and a cloud on his +face. His wife started up, and her eyes sparkled as she held out her +hand. + +"Were you asleep? Have I disturbed you?" he said, abruptly. + +"Oh! no, that is impossible, I think; but--but you look troubled. What +is it?" + +"Troubled? Do I? Nothing of the kind. How fanciful you are, my dear! +What should any of us have to do with trouble?" + +"Not while we are together," she said, touching the seat I had +abandoned with her hand, thus delicately inviting him to her side. + +But he strode to the window, and looked out with anxiety. Something was +evidently on his mind. Just then I heard voices in the garden. It was +Mrs. Dennison calling aloud for Jessie. + +"Jessie, Jessie, darling, where have you hidden yourself? Here is some +one wishes to see you." + +The voice came ringing up clear and distinct; Mr. Lee heard it, and the +frown grew lighter upon his forehead. Directly a light step came up the +stairs. Mr. Lee turned and looked toward the door. Mrs. Dennison entered +the chamber without waiting for her knock to be answered. + +"Where is Jessie?" she cried, all cheerfulness and animation; "she is +wanted, and I am quite out of breath searching for her in the garden, +Mr. Lee. Dear Miss Hyde, pray help me to find her." + +Mr. Lee came forward at this challenge, almost smiling. + +"Have you been to her room?" he said. + +She answered him that she had not, but added something in a low, hurried +voice. Guarded as it was, I caught the sense. + +"There was a little misunderstanding between them," she said; "he wanted +me to mediate, and is waiting for her in the garden." + +Mr. Lee listened, and one of the rare smiles I have spoken of beamed +over his face. He made a movement as if to go out with the widow; but +seeing the anxiety in Mrs. Lee's eyes, I went forward at once, saying, +as I hurried by the couple,-- + +"As you are here to sit with Mrs. Lee, sir, I will look for Jessie." + +The smile that crept across Mrs. Dennison's lips was like a reptile +feeding on a rose. + +"You are very kind," she said. "I had no idea of enlisting Mr. Lee; his +duties here are too sacred for that." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +LOTTIE AS A LETTER-WRITER. + + +I hurried on to escape the sound of Mrs. Dennison's voice, for in any +tone it filled me with loathing; but as the door closed after me, that +of Lottie's opened, and the imp thrust out her head and emitted a mellow +crow, clapping her arms as if they had been wings, thus indicating that +for once my conduct had met her full approval. + +I could not help laughing; at which she put a finger to her lips, and +darted back of the door, closing it softly in the process. + +I went up to Jessie's room, but she was not there, nor could she be +found in any part of the house. When assured of this, I went into the +garden and found Lawrence walking leisurely toward the grove where his +horse was tied. He turned as I called him by name, and looked back with +an expression of surprise. + +"I have been searching for Miss Lee to inform her of your wish to see +her," I said; "but she has gone out." + +He drew his fine figure up proudly, and said, with a smile that had more +of irony than sweetness in it,-- + +"I beg pardon; but my visit here was to Mrs. Dennison. I was only +waiting for her to return with her parasol, as she found the sun rather +warm." + +I felt myself coloring, but answered the moment I could find voice,-- + +"Then you did not inquire for Miss Lee?--did not ask Mrs. Dennison to go +in search of her?" + +"Not that I am aware of," he replied, with the same smile. "I supposed +it more than probable that the young lady had gone to visit her +sick-lo--friend, over yonder. Heaven forbid that I should disturb an +arrangement so full of delicate romance!" + +I looked at him steadily. There was more of insult in his tone than +these words conveyed. At first I was prompted to explain and defend: but +wherefore? If he could distrust a creature like our Jessie, any attempt +at exculpation appeared to me like a sacrifice of dignity, so I turned +away in silence. He followed me a few paces, as if wishing to continue +the conversation; but I hurried on, burning with indignation. Why had +those abominable people entered our pleasant homes? Why did they remain +there, making us all miserable? Oh! how I wished for authority to send +them away together; for in my resentment, I, perhaps unjustly, coupled +the gentleman with the lady, and forgot that he was her dupe rather than +associate. + +When Lawrence was yet almost on a level with me, the widow came out from +the tower, looking flurried and anxious. She saw me apparently in +conversation with her friend, and turned crimson to the temples; but +adroitly dropping the open parasol over her face, she came slowly on, +concealing the agitation but too visible a moment before. Without +heeding me in the least, she sauntered up to Lawrence, drooping her +parasol almost in my face, and said with careless insolence,-- + +"Now, my good friend, with Miss Hyde's permission, we will go on with +the history of that little affair." + +So she swept him off, somewhat bewildered, I fancy, and I went into the +house, detesting her more than ever. + +Before entering Mrs. Lee's room, I opened the door of Lottie's little +apartment, intending to inquire if Mr. Lee had gone out. The young girl +was seated at a small gilded table, which had been broken in the +drawing-room and mended by her deft hands, after which, of course, it +became her property; an open letter lay on the table, and she was busy +writing. When I opened the door, she started up, snatched at the letter +and held it behind her, looking at me with a comical sort of defiance. + +"Miss Hyde," said she, "if you'll just tell me what's wanting, I'll come +out; but this room isn't large enough for two--no, not if its owner had +a twin sister wandering about in want of a bed to sleep in." + +"Excuse me, Lottie, but I only want to know if Mrs. Lee is left alone." + +"No, Miss Hyde, that thing don't happen while I am on hand. Mr. Lee's in +there, and that angel of a woman is talking to him with tears in her +throat, if they haven't got up to her eyes yet. I can hear the sound +without listening, and I hope it will do him good, that's all!" + +I turned to go away, but she followed me to the door, still with one +hand behind her, in which I could hear paper rustling. + +"Miss Hyde, I can't help but say, if it does puff you up, that are dodge +of yours was a crowner; I heard it and all Babylon said: my! isn't she a +thing or so? For once you were too smart for her. Didn't her face blaze +up when she saw you walking with that chap? I couldn't 'a' done it +better myself. Now, mind I say that to encourage you, not to lift you on +a high horse; so don't make a bad use of kindness." + +"You are very kind, and I try not to be spoiled, Lottie." + +"I'm your friend out and out, and the friend of this family, if ever +there was one. Never fear about that; but this thing is getting beyond +me and destroying my usefulness. I wish you wouldn't give me no more +lectures about listening and finding out things. True enough, I don't +pay no regard to such ridiculous notions; but then just as a creature +gets nestled down under a bush, or fits her ear to a keyhole, comes the +thought, 'Now Miss Hyde would call this mean,' and it drags your +attention away from what's going on and takes all the relish out of it. +I don't like it, Miss Hyde; such peaked notions do well enough for an +old maid; but I ain't a going to be that, if there is a man cute enough +to match me in all creation." + +"Well, Lottie," I said, almost laughing, "as my preaching only annoys +you, it is hardly worth while to repeat it." + +"That's a good soul!" answered Lottie, with benign condescension. "You +hoe your row and I'll hoe mine, we shall come out together at the end of +the lot, never fear." + +The next morning, when our man brought the letters from town, I noticed +Mrs. Dennison examining one which she took from among those left on the +hall-table, with the keen look of a person whose suspicion has been +aroused. In tearing it open, she examined the adhesive edge a second +time, and apparently found it all right, for her face cleared up, and +she put the letter in her pocket without reading it. Still she could not +have been quite satisfied, for after that no letters of hers were ever +left with those of the family to be mailed. + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +YOUNG BOSWORTH RECEIVES A LETTER. + + +That day I resolved to go and see young Bosworth. I had no lover to get +jealous or find fault with this; indeed, it was doubtful if any one +cared enough about my movements to observe them when disconnected from +the family. + +I had no heart to enjoy the walk; it was a cold, raw day, with gloomy +clouds floating along the sky, and gloomier shadows sweeping the earth. +The dampness of a night succeeded by no sunshine lay upon the meadows; +spiders' webs were stretched across my path; and a rain of moisture fell +from the hazel-bushes as my garments brushed them in walking. Still, it +was not absolutely stormy, and the gray shadows harmonized with my +feelings so completely, that I had no wish to change them. Nothing +could be more gloomy than my own heart. + +When I reached the house, old Mrs. Bosworth came to the door herself. +She seemed a good deal disturbed, and I fancied, from the heaviness of +her eyes, that she had been crying. + +"Come in, Miss Hyde," she said, taking my hand. "He is not so well this +morning. Indeed, indeed he is much worse. A letter came here last night, +and I was foolish enough to let it go to him. One of your people brought +it, and I fancied, perhaps, that it might do him good, for it was a +lady's handwriting, and she was so kind that morning." + +"You thought it was from our Jessie," I answered, in the first impulse +of my surprise. + +"Yes, it was a foolish thought, I dare say,--but that was my idea." + +"And have you learned whom it did come from?" + +"No," answered the noble old lady. "He fainted, and it fell from his +hand; but I laid it under his pillow without even looking at it; it +might have wounded him, you know." + +"And is he so much worse?" + +"Oh, Miss Hyde, the fever has come back; he is wild again." + +"And had you no way of guessing the cause?" + +"I think it was something about Mr. Lawrence, for he called for him till +the house rang with his cries, after the first dumb shock went off." + +"Did Mr. Lawrence know of this?" + +"He was away at the time; and after that your young friend's name was so +wildly mingled up with it all, that I could not think it right to bring +Mr. Lawrence to the room. It would have seemed like challenging his +compassion." + +My heart ached, for I saw that her penetration had discovered Jessie's +secret, and that she was protecting it with much delicacy. + +"Besides, he is our guest," she said, prompted by that old-fashioned +feeling of honor which rendered the shelter of a friend's roof a +sanctuary, "and he might have construed my grandson's words into a +reproach; altogether, we thought it best to keep them apart." + +There was a mystery about all this that baffled me. Who could have +written that letter brought by one of Mr. Lee's servants? Not Jessie, I +was sure of that, for she never could have taken a step of so much +importance thus privately. Besides, save for the brief time of +Lawrence's visit that day, when, wounded and heart-sick, she left the +house, and wandered off into the thickest of the woods, she had not been +absent from her mother's room scarcely a moment. Mrs. Dennison had seen +her passing through the outskirt of the woods, or she would never have +ventured to call for her so loudly. + +All this I knew, but it was unnecessary; a thorough understanding of +Jessie's character rendered conjectures regarding her part in this +matter quite superfluous. But who had written the letter? and what was +its import? Of course, my suspicions fell on that woman; but what was +her object? Surely she was not anxious to ensnare this young man +also--her vanity could not be so insatiable as that. + +Perhaps it was Mr. Lee; his handwriting was exquisitely clear and +delicate as a woman's; what if his displeasure against our visit had +been expressed here? But no, Mr. Lee was not a man to rudely force his +anger into a sick-room. + +Again my thoughts fell back on the widow; what unprincipled work was she +doing here? What benefit could she find in sowing discord upon that poor +young man's pillow? + +Of course, one thinks rapidly, and all these broken ideas took but +little time in flashing through my brain. The old lady stood with one +hand on the back of her easy-chair, observing me with a troubled look. + +"You think the letter was not from your young friend?" she said, reading +my thoughts with that subtile magnetism which is a part of true +womanliness. + +"I am sure it was not, dear lady!" + +"Nor from her father?" + +"Not if it gave him pain; Mr. Lee is incapable of that." + +The old lady drew a deep breath, as if infinitely relieved, and sat +down, spreading out her ample skirts mechanically after her usual dainty +habit. + +"Miss Hyde," she said, with a little tremor of the voice, and a movement +of the hands, which fell into her lap and clasped themselves nervously, +"Miss Hyde, I am sure you are my poor boy's friend!" + +"I am indeed!" was my earnest response. + +"And you know--" + +"Yes, dear madam, all that an affectionate heart can learn by its own +observation." + +"I have thought, perhaps," said the dear old lady, coloring as she +spoke, "that Mr. Lee, with his enormous wealth, might have considered +the modest property of my grandson insufficient, and for this reason +have influenced his daughter." + +I had nothing to answer. If Mr. Lee knew of this unhappy attachment, he +had given no sign; but I told her that his general character was opposed +to anything so mercenary. + +"If this were so," answered the old lady, growing more anxious, "I think +it would be easily remedied. My grandson, it is true, has little more +than a handsome independence; but I, Miss Hyde, am perhaps richer than +our neighbors think. In fact," she added, blushing, as if there were +something to be ashamed of in the confession, "my income, if I chose to +use it, would not compare meanly with that of Mr. Lee. When one spends +but little, with tolerably fair possessions, property accumulates +rapidly at the end of a long life. I had intended to endow charities, +perhaps; but the sight of my boy up yonder has changed all this." + +I could only say, "You are very liberal, madam;" for I felt sure that +the trouble did not lie where she supposed. + +"If you could in any way make this understood, Miss Hyde, without +bringing it prominently forward, I should be so grateful. I called you +in here for this purpose. You have been so kind, so truly good to us." + +"Oh, no, no," I protested. + +"So delicate," she persisted; "and now when his life is in such fearful +peril, I am forced to take liberties--forced to think if anything can be +done to save him, forced to beg for help." + +"Oh, if I could help you!" I exclaimed, feeling the tears rush to my +eyes. + +"You have, you can; already we are greatly indebted to your kindness. I +am not eloquent to express thanks, sometimes feeling that silence is +most delicate; but I feel all this, Miss Hyde, and so did he, my poor +boy!" + +Again I expressed the happiness it would give me to help her or him. + +"I am an old woman," she continued; "very old, and require so little +that property has become burdensome. If--if this thing can be arranged, +all that I have, every cent, shall go to him; not after my death, but +now, while I can see them enjoy it. They will remember my habits, and my +little wants, I am sure; and it will be very pleasant to have young +voices around me again. Will you take an opportunity to suggest this to +Mr. Lee?--not the young lady--my grandson must owe everything to himself +there; but with a parent these are important considerations, sometimes." + +I could not see her face, for tears half blinded me. The feeling which +could induce this fine old woman to give up all the appliances of her +pride, all the power of her life, in order to purchase happiness for her +grandson, was one of those noble outgushes of human nature that always +make me weep. I could have kissed the hem of her garments, and felt +ennobled by the act. It was no little thing to uproot the fixed habits +of almost a century. With all that love of property which grows strong +in age, from a sentiment of generosity another might have thought of +dividing, but she was ready to give up all. + +I had no heart to discourage her. Warmly and truly as my wishes went +with hers, I would not uproot all hope in my own mind. Time, I whispered +to myself, has many changes, and so has the human heart. So I took the +old lady's hand in mine and kissed it with affectionate reverence. She +smiled upon me in her benign way, and called me "her dear young friend, +her fair, sweet friend." + +Oh! I am getting to be a forlorn creature, or these words would never +have swelled my heart with such throbs of gratitude. Have I indeed +anything lovable or attractive about me which the old lady's deeper +penetration has discovered, or is it only because I have been a little +kind to her grandson? I wish it were possible to know about this, for +since Mrs. Dennison has been at our house, I have begun to doubt and +fear about myself in a way that never possessed me before. Her +overpowering elegance has put down all my little quiet claims to notice +so completely, that it seems as if I never should lift up my head again. +No wonder I cried and kissed that soft hand like a child. People don't +think how much we require praise and petting, at all stages of +existence, or how much of childhood runs from the cradle to the grave in +every human life. + +It was very foolish and romantic, but without at all knowing it, I had +fallen on my knees by the old lady; and when she saw my eyes so full of +tears, she smoothed my hair, and called me a good girl. With this I laid +my head on her lap, and begged her to let me love her always, telling +her that sometimes I was lonely for the want of a right to love +anything. Then I grew ashamed and stood up, blushing through the tears +that had betrayed me into such weakness, but her gracious look reassured +me. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +OUT IN THE STORM. + + +After this the younger Mrs. Bosworth came into the parlor, her eyes red +with weeping, and looking weaker and more in affliction than ever. She +had done everything, she said, dropping helplessly into a chair, and +nothing would pacify him. There he was, trying to read over a letter +that he kept hid away under the pillow, that shook and shook in his +hands till the whole room was full of its rustling, and it made her so +nervous she was afraid to stay alone with him--muttering, muttering as +if he were angry with her, that had been a good mother to him all his +days; no one could say to the contrary of that, she was sure. + +Another woman of a character so much above the level of that poor +mother's, might have become impatient; but the old lady listened to her +with great sympathy, excused her futile grief by half implied apologies, +and finally succeeded in persuading her to lie down on the sofa, while +we went up-stairs and watched by her son. + +The young man was indeed very ill, entirely out of his head, and talking +angrily to himself. The letter which Mrs. Bosworth had mentioned was +crushed in his hand, and he was rolling it into a round ball between his +two palms. While I stood looking upon him, thus troubled by some unseen +enemy, and flung back upon a sick-bed, it seemed impossible that any one +could be cruel enough for such work, unless the heart of a fiend had +somewhere taken human form. + +I would have stayed in the sick-room longer, for my poor talent for +nursing was never more required, but the old lady seemed anxious to send +me home. Having done her utmost to relieve the unhappy situation of our +patient, she was restless till her object was put in some state of +forwardness; so I went away, leaving her rather hopeful, but very +desponding myself. + +As I went home, the clouds that had been broken and scattered were +gathered into vast tent-like masses, and a slow rain began to fall, +which gradually wet me through. I did not heed it; nothing could be +gloomier than my feelings. It seemed to me as if I were going to a house +of strangers, so completely had the machinations of that woman shut me +out from my old place in the family. So I let it rain on, without a wish +to escape the discomfort. + +When I was nearly across the fields, I saw a figure approaching through +the gray mists, and would gladly have avoided it by turning into the +woods; but a voice called me by name, and I stopped at once. It was +Jessie, who had come out into the storm to meet me. Lawrence had called +at the house and informed the family of young Bosworth's relapse. + +"He is there now, I suppose," she said, excitedly; "but I came away, +guessing where you had gone. I cannot breathe in the house when they are +together, and he lying so ill and helpless." + +I looked up at these words. The storm was beating in her face, but her +cheeks were like fire underneath. It might have been all rain that +flashed down the burning surface; but I thought not, for there were +suppressed sobs in her voice when she spoke. + +"Is--is your father at home?" I inquired, hesitating in my speech, I +cannot tell wherefore. + +"No; he rode over to town before the storm came on. They have the house +to themselves." + +She spoke bitterly. In truth, I scarcely recognized my own sweet Jessie +with those wet garments clinging around her, and that excited face. We +walked on in silence, for she turned to retrace her steps. At last she +said, abruptly: + +"How is he, Aunt Matty? Does he suffer?" + +"Greatly, I think, Jessie." + +"No wonder he is ill," she said, passionately. "It is enough to break +down anything human." + +"I am glad you can feel for him, Jessie." + +"Feel for him! Who can help it? But who feels for--for--" + +She broke off abruptly, turning pale and cold. + +I walked on, distressed by this broken confidence, but knew well that +Jessie was too proud for anything more definite. + +As we came into the field bordered by the carriage sweep, a horseman +dashed up to the gate, which had been left open, and was passing at a +swift gallop toward the house. It was Mr. Lee returning from town, and +riding fast to escape the rain. He saw us dragging our way through the +grass, and drew up, regarding our condition with a look so stern that it +chilled me. + +"He is angry with me for going out, I suppose," said Jessie, drearily. +"Well, I could not help it." + +After regarding us for a full minute with that hard look, Mr. Lee rode +on, his horse tramping heavier than before, and sending back broken +flakes of mud, as if casting it purposely against us. He rode directly +to the stables. Jessie and I slunk into the house by the back entrance +like culprits. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +JESSIE GETS TIRED OF HER GUEST. + + +I kept my chamber that day, striving to make up my mind about what +course was best for me to pursue. My life at Mr. Lee's had become so +harassing, that it was absolutely burdensome. I did not know friends +from enemies in that house, for every being in it seemed changed. I sat +down alone and wept in bitter grief. Should I go away and leave the +ill-contested field to that woman, who was surely working out some great +evil to the whole family? I was not dependent. Considerable property was +vested in my favor, but it was in Mr. Lee's hands; and so generously had +he provided for every possible want, that even the income remained +untouched. + +I had ability, and could have earned my bread anywhere, either as a +governess or a teacher, had that been necessary. Thus, personal +considerations could not have bowed down my spirits to the state of +depression that fell upon me. Something deeper lay at my heart. Was it +love for Jessie? was it fear that the poor girl would be left without +defence, to the machinations of that cruel woman? I cannot tell. If +other and more selfish feelings existed in my bosom, I did not know it. +Indeed, so absorbed were all my faculties in the difficulties that +thickened around us, that I had no time for self-examination. Dear, dear +Jessie! how could I help her? That was the burden of my thoughts. + +The thorough drenching which I had received made me hoarse and really +ill. In my anxiety, I had neglected to change my clothes; but the cold +shudders that crept over me aroused my attention to the danger, and, +changing my damp garments, I lay down, striving to get warm. + +I have a vague recollection that the sun broke out, and came flashing +through the leaves into my chamber. Then I heard voices in the garden +beneath, which chilled me worse than the cold. + +Mr. Lee and Mrs. Dennison were conversing together on the terrace, where +camp-stools and garden-chairs were always standing. I could have heard +everything; the temptation was great, but I put it away, burying my head +in my pillow, and drowning their voices with my sobs. + +Toward night Jessie came to my room. She was sad and disheartened; Mr. +Lee had not spoken to her since our return; and even her mother was +vexed that she should have exposed herself to the storm. + +I inquired if Mr. Lawrence was at the house when her father returned. +Jessie thought not, but could not say positively; only he seldom was +there, except in her father's absence. + +She said this abruptly, and turned the conversation; the very name of +Lawrence seemed to distress her. + +"Aunt Matty," she said, after a dreary silence, "will this widow never +leave our house? Shall we remain in this state till it brings ruin on us +all? Mother seems fading away, and no one appears to care. You look +years older; and as for me--" + +"Well, Jessie?" + +"No matter about me; but something must be done. So long as it was +myself only, I made an effort to bear it; but we are all changed, all +unhappy--dear, sweet mamma, and even Lottie. There is poison in the very +atmosphere, I think." + +"Let us have patience, Jessie; this cannot last much longer; but while +Mrs. Dennison remains here, do not forget that she is your mother's +guest." + +"But how long--how long, I say, will this last? My father is getting +more distant and estranged every hour. I feel like an alien under his +roof--a stranger to my very self." + +She was greatly excited, and wrung her hands with passionate vehemence. +The proud reticence of her character was all swept away; she fell upon +her knees by the bed on which I lay, and sobbed aloud. I am sure this +would not have happened with any one else; but I had become almost a +second self to the dear girl, and she was not ashamed to give way to her +grief in my presence. + +While she was on her knees, Lottie opened my chamber-door and looked +in. Seeing Miss Jessie, she drew back, placed a finger on her lips, and +performed a series of pantomime that would have been exceedingly +ludicrous but for the anxiety that beset me. As it was, I saw that she +had something to communicate, but was afraid to ask her in while Jessie +was so disturbed. + +She saw this, and darting a finger backward over her shoulder and +forward at me, as if it had been a weapon, retreated, making up faces +that grew more ludicrous with every step. + +Jessie had seen nothing of this. She arose, after a little, and went +out, sighing heavily. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +A CONSULTATION WITH LOTTIE. + + +Directly after she was gone, Lottie came back, and, closing the door, +bolted it inside and stole up to my bed on tiptoe. She looked pale and +frightened, but her eyes shone through the shadows that had suddenly +settled around them, and she moved like a hound doubling on its prey. + +"Miss Hyde," she said, "just listen while you have time; that red +Babylon has gone and done it. I've had my hands full all day scooting +about among the wet bushes, and holding my breath behind +window-shutters. Now, would you believe it? I've been two hull hours +squinched up in that big rosewood book-case with the green silk lining; +for them new painted winders in the tower library are the most +aggravating things to one as wants to keep her eyes open. Thanks be to +goodness! the new books haven't arrived, and I should have had lots of +room if human beings had been built flat. As it was, I got along by +holding in my breath and bowing the doors a trifle." + +"But what did you go into the book-case for, Lottie?" I inquired, +anxious to bring her to some point in her communication. + +"What did I go into the book-case for? Why, only to hear what was going +on in that room, to be sure. Wasn't that Mr. Lawrence and Mrs. Babylon +there, sitting on the sofa together two hull hours?" + +"And you listened to the conversation?" + +"In course I did." + +She seemed waiting for me to ask more questions, but I could not force +myself thus indirectly to partake in a dishonorable act. + +"You won't ask what they said, and yet are a-dying to know, any fool can +see that. Well, thanks be to goodness! I ain't a lady, and if I was, for +_her_ sake I'd do worse things than that; my ears were made to hear +with, and I ain't going to fight agin nature." + +"But you came to see me for something, Lottie?" + +"Certainly I did. But how is one to tell things without talking right +out? Well, if you won't ask what I heard in the book-case, I must tell +you promiscuous. This she-sarpent has about done up your business for +you, as she means to for me and the rest of 'em before long." + +"Done my business for me, Lottie! What does that mean? I do not +understand." + +"Likely enough; but I'll tell you; Babylon is in love with Mr. +Lawrence." + +"I wish from my heart he'd marry her," I thought. + +"But she won't have him," said Lottie, as if answering my thought. "At +any rate, not yet." + +"Well, well, Lottie, tell me what brings you here? My head aches." + +"So does mine," said Lottie, lifting a hand to her head, and pressing +her forehead hard with the palm. "Well, Miss Hyde, a little while ago, +Mr. Lee and Mrs. Babylon were sitting on the platform under this very +window. It was just after the rain, and they happened to meet as he was +coming out to enjoy the sunshine. I happened in the same way to be +dusting the sofa close by the window, and it took me a good while. Don't +put up your hand, Miss Hyde, you'd 'a' listened yourself. She was +talking about you." + +"About me?" + +"Yes. I can't give the words; but she was saying, in her silky way, that +Miss Jessie was so much altered since she met her at the sea-shore, so +obstinate and demonstrative, vulgarized, as one might say, if anything +so very beautiful could be vulgarized. But didn't Mr. Lee think that a +companion who followed her pupil into society was rather a drawback, and +apt to get a predominating influence over that of the parents? Was he +certain of Miss Jessie's friend,--of her prudence and disinterestedness? +Of course, she had no right to give an opinion: but when the time came +for a young lady to enter society, was there no reason to think that a +household companion, like Miss Hyde, might become a dangerous +counsellor? Of course, Mr. Lee knew best, his wisdom was never at fault; +but would not a companion, perfectly dependent, and who had some +experience in society, produce a better result? + +"I wish you could 'a' seen Mr. Lee's face, Miss Hyde. He looked up all +of a sudden, and his eyes flashed fire; Babylon saw it, and looked down +as if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth; and then he took her hand in +his,--it wasn't the first time, Miss Hyde, I'd bet my head on that, for +it all came too easy--and I've seen what I have seen;--then he said how +difficult it was to find such a person,--one who was an ornament to +society, and yet willing to live in a place like that which Mrs. Lee's +illness made, in some sort, like a prison. + +"She left her hand in his, and lifted her eyes to his face sideways--you +know how--and said a few words almost in a whisper. I couldn't catch the +first word, but he turned red as fire and lifted her hand to his lips, +almost; then he dropped it again and begged her pardon." + +I had no power to stop Lottie's narrative. The import of this +conversation struck me with a sudden pang. It seemed as if sentence of +death had been pronounced upon me. What could I do? Where on earth was a +home like that to be found? What would Jessie and Mrs. Lee do without +me? That woman in my place! The thought was anguish. I almost hated her. + +Lottie stood by the bed, looking at me, with trouble in her face. + +"I knew that it would be a blow; but this is worse than I expected," she +said. "How white you are--how your lips quiver! But don't take on so. +Let them try it; let Babylon do her worst--she'll find her match. I've +learned a thing or two, since she came, that I didn't know +before,--especially how to droop your eyelids and look meek, then open +'em quick and flash out fire. It's taking, I've tried it with--with--" + +"With whom, Lottie?" + +"With--but no matter; when the birds sing, chickens have a right to +peep. Babylon isn't the only person who can turn a feller's head, and +good looks is according to one's taste. Then there's a difference in +flirting, when the object is a good one; don't you think so, Miss Hyde?" + +"I don't know, Lottie," was my dreary answer; "you must ask about these +matters of some one who has had more experience." + +"Oh! I don't care about asking; it all comes natural enough after the +first lesson. But you won't let them drive you away--it would break her +heart, I know it would." + +Lottie's eyes were full of tears. Poor girl! she had a good heart. + +This sympathy touched me deeply. I was so desolate and felt so wronged, +that a kind word filled me with gratitude, even from Lottie. + +"Oh! ma'am, don't mind it! Babylon sha'n't hurt you while I can help it. +Only be firm, and don't go off in a fit of pride. Stand your ground to +the last, and when the worst comes to the worst, depend on me." + +The girl took my hand and kissed it; then, kneeling down by the bed, +laid her face close to mine. + +"Miss Hyde--" + +"Well, my good girl." + +"I have something to say, something that worries me dreadfully; are you +listening?" + +"Yes, child." + +"It is about mistress. Don't you see how dreadfully thin she is getting? +You can almost look through her hand." + +"Yes, Lottie, it makes my heart ache to think of it. Have you any idea +of the cause?" + +"_He_ don't visit her much now." + +"You have noticed it, you--" + +"I count the minutes every day." + +"This might vex her, but not to the extent that seems so visible." + +"No, there is something else. I cannot understand it; but wait awhile, +Miss Hyde, I'm on hand." + +I hardly heard this. The idea that my presence in that house had become +a burden, that I might be at any moment desired to leave my place in the +family for that woman to fill, absorbed my faculties, and in the +selfishness of my distress, I gave less heed than the subject claimed to +what the girl was saying. + +She saw this, I suppose; for, with renewed entreaties that I should hold +firmly to my position and trust to her for the rest, she crept from the +room, almost crying. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + +THE MIDNIGHT DISCOVERY. + + +About an hour after this I arose, bathed my forehead, and went into Mrs. +Lee's chamber, for the pain of my solitary thoughts became unendurable. +The poor lady was lying on the sofa, with her eyes closed, looking more +wan than ever. Something troubled her, I am sure; for tears were +swelling under the transparent whiteness of her eyelids, and her hands +were clasped over her bosom. This was an attitude habitual to her when +disturbed by any grief, and seeing it, I turned to go away; but she +heard my footstep and opened her eyes. There was something in her manner +that went to my heart--a sort of mournful constraint, as if she shrunk +from my presence. Still she held forth her hand. + +I sat down in my old place, and she closed her eyes again, as if any +effort at speech was beyond her strength. In the broader light which +fell upon her face, I saw that she had been crying--an unusual thing +with her at any time; for all sources of trouble had been kept so +sedulously from that room, that grief amounting to tears seldom found +its way there. + +After a prolonged silence that chilled me to the heart, she laid her +hand on mine, and I saw that her earnest eyes were searching my face. + +"Dear Miss Hyde, we have been so happy together--I thought no family was +ever united like ours!" + +I understood the pathos in her voice, the meaning of her words. Mr. Lee +had begun the subject; already they were about to prove how troublesome +and useless I had been--how much my place was wanted for another. + +"You do not speak," she said, "surely, nothing has been said to wound +you?" + +"No," I answered, "I only come to see if you were in want of anything." + +"Ah! you have always been so attentive, so kind! How shall I get along +without you?" + +So it was decided. He had spoken, and they had settled my destiny; the +gentle invalid yielding without a murmur while her best friend was +driven from under her roof. I had no heart to continue the conversation, +and she, poor lady! evidently lacked the courage to speak plainer. Thus, +with apprehensions and grief, we remained together in silence. Her eyes +were closed, but not with sleep, I am sure of that; and I felt a dead +heaviness creeping over me, which carried with it a dreary sense of +pain. + +It was getting dark when I left the chamber. The depression was so heavy +upon me that I went down to the kitchen, thinking to ask the cook for a +cup of warm tea. Lottie was there busy at the range, and, singular +enough, making tea, as if my wants had been divined. + +"A handful, cook," she said, holding out the silver teapot for a renewed +supply. "I want it good and strong, something that will make one's eyes +snap." + +When the cook turned to put her canister in its place, Lottie went to +the closet and brought out two cups and saucers. + +"Miss Hyde," she said, "you have just come in time. I knew it'd be +wanted: try a good, strong cup, it will have the ache out of your head +in no time." + +I thanked her and took the cup she offered. It was strong to bitterness, +and I did not like the taste; but when I passed it back, Lottie put in +more sugar and cream, but no water. I was too weary for protest, and +drank the bitterness without further comment. + +Lottie seemed pleased, and insisted earnestly that I should take a +second cup, filling her own for the third time, and draining it with +what I thought must be heroism instead of desire. + +"There," she said, setting her cup down, "that will do, I reckon; it +makes my head as light as a cork. How do you feel, Miss Hyde?" + +"It is very, very strong, Lottie, and I fear it will keep me awake all +night." + +"Fear!" cried the girl, "fear! Why, of course it will! To tell you the +truth," she added, bending toward me, and whispering, "I begin to think +this isn't the house where one can sleep honestly. Now just go up to +your room, if you please, and don't let them see you looking so +miserable. There's trouble enough without that." + +The cook came toward us before I could answer. She was preparing to send +up tea for the family, and muttered something about ladies always being +in the way in a kitchen. So great was the depression of my spirits, that +I allowed this to wound me, and went away in deeper dejection. + +No human soul came near me during the evening. I could not sleep--the +stimulus urged my brain into swift action. I reviewed all the +difficulties of my position over and over again; strange projects came +into my mind, ways by which my wrongs--for I had been wronged--should be +redressed; speeches more eloquent than ever could reach my lips inspired +me, and these were to be addressed to Mr. Lee, in the presence of that +woman. A thousand wild fancies seized upon my brain and held it. I had +no wish to change my position. Having thrown myself on the bed in my +clothes, I remained there, thinking, thinking, thinking till my brain +ached, but would not pause for rest--a terrible inspiration was upon me. + +I heard a bustle in the house, as if the family were retiring; then the +clock struck eleven, twelve, one. The hours did not seem long, but the +stillness almost terrified me. All at once, it was after midnight some +time, a sound approached my chamber like the rush of a bird through the +air. I started up and listened. The door opened softly, and a figure +glided in. + +"Miss Hyde, are you awake? Get up this minute and come with me; if your +shoes are on, take them off. Come." + +I sprang up and followed Lottie swiftly and silently as she had reached +my chamber. She drew me through the passage into her own little room. As +I passed along the hall which led from the main building to the tower, +it seemed to me that my dress brushed against some one crouching in a +dark corner; but Lottie had not seen it, and I followed her, holding my +breath. She glided through her own room into the chamber where Mrs. Lee +slept. The carpets were thick as wood-moss, and our feet gave no sound. +When she was fairly in the room, Lottie paused, and I heard a slight, +scraping noise; then the sudden flash of a match was followed by the +blaze of a candle which the girl carried in her hand. + +As the light broke up, a faint cry came from the bed; a figure which +bent over it rose up suddenly, and I stood face to face with Mrs. +Dennison, the whitest woman that ever my eyes dwelt upon. She held a +crystal toilet-bottle in one hand, and in the other a wet +pocket-handkerchief. + +"Stand by the door, Miss Hyde. Don't let her move a foot. I'll be back +in a flash." + +Lottie darted from the room as she spoke, leaving the candlestick on the +carpet. + +The woman turned upon me then with the spirit of a tigress. Her eyes +flashed fire, the white teeth shone through her curved lips. She +attempted to pass me, but I retreated to the door and kept the +threshold. She came forward as if to force me away, still holding the +bottle and handkerchief in her hands. Never in my life had I seen a face +so beautiful and so fiendish. There was desperation in her eyes, +violence in her action; but though weaker and smaller than her, I would +have died on the threshold of that door rather than have allowed her to +cross it. + +All at once her face changed. She was looking, not at me, but over my +shoulder; a flash of quick intelligence shot from her eyes, and the next +moment she had thrown both arms about my neck and pressed my face to her +bosom. I knew that some one came close up behind me, and heard the clink +of glass; then a rush of feet through Lottie's room, and along the +passage. All this could not have lasted a minute. I struggled from the +woman's embrace, and pushed her from me with a violence that made her +stagger. Her face had changed to its old look of triumph. She laughed, +not naturally--that was beyond even her powers of self-command--but in a +way that made me shiver. + +"Dear Miss Hyde, is it you?" she said, in a voice that quaked in spite +of herself. "How terribly frightened I was! Poor Mrs. Lee must have been +very ill. I heard her moaning and calling for help in my room, and came +at once; she seems quite insensible now." + +I looked toward the bed. Mrs. Lee lay upon it, white, and still as a +corpse, her eyes closed, and her lips of a bluish white. Was she dead? +Had the woman killed her? A strong, pungent smell filled the room--a +smell of chloroform. It was almost suffocating. + +Mrs. Dennison seemed to think of this suddenly, and, darting toward the +window, flung open two of the sashes before I knew what she was about. A +gush of fresh air swept through the room; the pungent odor grew fainter +and fainter, at which she smiled on me triumphantly. + +I looked at her, as she stood in the light; a toilet-bottle was still in +her hand, but it was of crimson glass, spotted with gold; that which she +held, when I came in, was white and pure as water. How had she managed +to change the crystal flask? What had become of the handkerchief? + +Still smiling on me, she approached the bed and scattered fragrant drops +from the crimson flask over the pillows and the deathly face of my poor +friend. How still she lay! The whiteness of her face was terrible, but +I dared not approach her; my post was by the door till Lottie came; but +it made my blood run cold to see that woman bending over her, smoothing +the pillows with her hand, and filling the room with that lying +fragrance. + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + +BAFFLED AND DEFEATED. + + +It seemed an eternity before Lottie came back, yet she had not been +absent three minutes. She came alone, and stood by me at the door, +regarding Mrs. Dennison's movements with the keen vigilance of a fox. +But a glimpse of Mrs. Lee's face made her start forward with a cry of +dismay. + +"My mistress, she is dead! They have killed her!" + +She would have fallen upon her knees by the bed, but Mrs. Dennison put +her aside. It was an easy thing, for Lottie had lost all her strength in +that terrible fear. + +"Foolish child! she has only fainted," said Mrs. Dennison, holding her +back; "the air will bring her to." + +Lottie's courage returned with these words, and struggling from Mrs. +Dennison's hold, she sat down upon the bed, chafing Mrs. Lee's cold +hands and kissing them with loving tenderness. + +"Is she really and truly alive?" said the poor girl, appealing to me. + +I could not resist the wistful anxiety of that look, but came forward, +holding my breath, with a dread that her fears might be true. + +That moment Mr. Lee entered the room, and directly came Jessie, with a +look of terror on her face. She trembled like a leaf at the sight of +her mother, and turned to me, looking the question which she could not +frame in speech. + +"It is not death! I hope and believe that it is not death!" I said. + +Jessie fell upon a chair and burst into tears. + +"Hush, child!" said her father; "let us learn what has happened. Mrs. +Dennison, can you tell me?" + +"I hardly know myself," answered the widow, innocently. "I heard moans +and a cry for help coming from this room, and, springing up from my +sleep, ran to see what it meant. There was no light in the room, but I +felt that Mrs. Lee was cold and still as she lies now--alive, but +motionless. I had snatched a bottle from my toilet, and was bathing her +head with its contents, when Miss Hyde and the servant came in. They +were very much terrified, and alarmed the house, I hope unnecessarily. +It is a deep fainting fit. I am sure she will come out safely in time." + +As the woman said this, Lottie stood looking in her face, dumb with +astonishment. She saw the red flask in Mrs. Dennison's hand, felt the +changed atmosphere of the room, and, for once, her presence of mind gave +way. + +"Poor thing! she was half frightened to death," said Mrs. Dennison, +casting a patronizing glance at the crestfallen girl, "I never saw +anything so wild in my life." + +"And I never saw anything so wicked!" Lottie burst forth, clinching her +hands and almost shaking them at the woman. + +"Wicked! Oh, not so bad as that, my good girl," said the woman, gently. +"One can be frightened, you know, without being wicked." + +"Yes," said Lottie, with a sob, "and a person can be wicked without +being frightened, I know that well enough." + +"Lottie!" exclaimed Mr. Lee. + +Lottie stood for one instant like a wild animal at bay; but directly her +eyes fell upon her mistress, her form relaxed, and, creeping to the +bedside, she began to cry. + +"Oh, bring her to! bring her to! and I won't say another word," she +pleaded, looking piteously at the widow. + +"I am not omnipotent, poor child!" was the sweet reply. "But see! I +think there is a movement of her eyelids." + +Lottie rose from her knees and looked eagerly in that worn face. "Yes, +yes, she is alive; she is coming to herself. Oh, my mistress! my +mistress! I will never, never leave you again. I'll sleep on the floor +at the foot of your bed, like a dog, before anybody reaches you!" + +Tears rained down poor Lottie's face, and her voice was so full of grief +that no one had the heart to chide her, though it seemed to disturb the +invalid, who was slowly recovering consciousness. + +Mrs. Lee at last opened her eyes, and looked vaguely around at the +people near her bed, without seeming to recognize them; when Lottie +caught her vacant gaze, she burst forth,-- + +"Oh, ma'am, don't you know me? It's Lottie--it's Lottie!" + +This pathetic cry gained no response. Those dreamy eyes wandered from +face to face, with a helpless, appealing look indescribably touching. +Jessie bent over her mother, striving to make herself known; but her +sweet voice passed unheeded. Every kind effort failed to draw her from +this dull state of half-consciousness, till Mr. Lee passed his arm under +her head and drew it to his bosom. Then a thrill seemed to pass through +her whole frame, a smile dawned on her pale mouth. + +"Have I been ill?" she murmured, resting her head against the bosom to +which he gently lifted her,--"very ill, that you all come here in the +night?" + +"Yes," answered Mr. Lee, very tenderly; for he seemed to forget +everything in her danger. "But for our kind guest, I fear it might have +gone hard with you." + +Lottie, who was crouching at her mistress' feet, with her face buried in +the bed-clothes, uttered a sudden, "Oh! oh! I can't bear it!" and, +starting up, rushed into her room, looking at Mrs. Dennison over her +shoulders like a wild cat. + +"Poor Lottie!" muttered Mrs. Lee. "How it troubles her to see any one +suffer! And you, my kind guest--" + +The gentle lady held out her hand to Mrs. Dennison, smiling wanly, but +too feeble for any other expression of gratitude. + +"Mamma," said Jessie, quickly, "do not try to speak, but rest. This has +been a terrible attack." + +"You here, my child, and I not know it!" whispered the invalid; "forgive +me." + +Mrs. Dennison pressed forward; but Jessie stepped between her and the +invalid, not rudely, but with quiet decision which became the daughter +of that proud man. + +"Aunt Matty," she said, glancing past the widow, "had you not better +leave her to papa and me? So many faces excite her." + +Jessie was very pale, and I saw that her lips were quivering with +agitation. Something had wounded her almost beyond bearing. + +"Yes," I answered, promptly, "we will withdraw;" and, looking at Mrs. +Dennison steadily, I waited for her to move first. + +"This may be of service," she said, sweetly, placing the ruby-tinted +bottle in Jessie's hand. "I found it very useful in reviving her." + +Jessie took the bottle, but set it down at once. Indeed, her hand shook +so violently that it must otherwise have fallen. + +"Now, Miss Hyde, I do not see that our presence will be of further use," +said the widow, gliding toward the door. + +I stepped back to avoid contact even with her garments. My heart was +full of bitter loathing. I grew cold as she passed me, and answered her +smile with a look that frightened it from her lips. We passed through +Lottie's room, but I could not force myself to enter it till even her +shadow had disappeared. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + +LOTTIE OWNS HERSELF BEATEN. + + +When the woman was gone, I went in and spoke to Lottie, who had curled +herself up in the window-seat, with her knees drawn up, and both hands +locked over them. + +"Don't speak to me; don't anybody dare to speak to me!" she said, +motioning me off with her head. "I ain't worth noticing. I'd give +something to any decent person that'd whip me within an inch of my life, +or bite me--I don't care which--so long as it hurt." + +"Lottie," I whispered, pressing my hand on her shoulder to enforce what +I said, "do not speak a word of this till I have seen you. Come up to my +room." + +"I won't. Nothing on earth shall take me out of her sight again. +There'll be murder if I do." + +"Hush! Lottie, I do not understand all this." + +"But _I_ do; and I give up, she's out-generalled me. I'll never pretend +to crow over her again; but it's awful, oh! it's awful!" + +She shuddered all over, and crouched closer together, winding both arms +tightly around her knees. + +"Tell me all about it, Lottie. I must know, in order to judge how to +act." + +She moved on the window-seat, that I might sit closer to her; then +drawing my head down with her arm, whispered,-- + +"I knew that she was doing something, and that Mrs. Lee was suffering by +it; but what? that was the question. I tried to keep awake at nights, +but it was of no use; no log ever slept as I did. Last night, you +remember, I drank that strong tea. It wasn't because I liked it; but I +was determined to keep awake. I wanted you to be on hand as well, and +gave you a powerful dose; and wasn't you wide awake as a night-hawk when +I came into your room? + +"Well, I went to bed just as I always do, and lay down with my eyes +shut, waiting. Babylon had gone to her room; but Cora was floating about +in the passages a good while; finally she went in, and everything was +still. It seemed to me as if I kept growing sharper and wider awake +every minute; but I never heard that woman's step till she stood over +me, and her shadow fell clear across the bed; I bit my lips to keep from +screaming, but lay still and waited. + +"She called my name two or three times, whispering louder each time; but +I drew my breath even and deep, waiting for her. All at once that +strange smell that was in the room when you came almost strangled me; +but as I bit my lips harder, down came a wet cloth over my face. It +almost smothered me, for she pressed it close with her hand till I felt +a strange falling away, as if she had forced me over a rock, and I was +myself sinking. One minute more, and I should have been nowhere; but +some noise in the entry took her away. + +"I snatched the cloth from my face and crept softly out of bed. The +whirl and weight made me so dizzy, I could not walk, but crept on my +hands and knees through the door which she had left open. Here the fresh +air blew over me, and I felt steady enough to run to your room. + +"You know how we found her, and how she put us down. I thought we had +her, safe and sure; but here we are worse off than ever. I believe she +would kill that blessed angel before his face, and no one would believe +it." + +I sat in silence, wondering what course it was best for me to pursue. +That this woman was undermining Mrs. Lee's feeble life, by repeated +applications of chloroform, I could not doubt; but how convince the +family of this? It was an act so hideous in itself, that the very +charge, if unbelieved, would be considered a crime. I was sure that, +with the help of her maid, she had changed the bottle which contained +the chloroform while struggling with me at the door; but how was I to +prove this? Lottie--alas! this woman had so fascinated those who held +power in the family, that her story would be of no avail without some +indisputable proof to sustain it. + +Jessie would believe us, I was sure; but the belief, without power to +remedy a state of things so terrible that it made my heart sink, would +only produce pain. What could I do? Helplessly I asked the question. Yet +a terrible necessity required all my energies. + +The dejection of poor Lottie had a numbing effect upon me. She, usually +so full of resources, so ardent in her courage, sat on the window-seat, +crestfallen and beaten like myself. One thing was certain, Lottie would +keep strict guard now. Whatever the woman's motives were, the events of +that night would never be repeated, so long as that faithful creature +kept her place in the household. But how long would she keep that place? +How long should I be left under the same roof with her? + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + +MR. LEE SENDS IN THE ACCOUNT OF HIS GUARDIANSHIP. + + +The pain of my apprehensions hunted me out of all society. I crept away +into the woods, the next day, wondering what I should do, how it was my +duty to act. I could not bear to see any of the family. No charge had +been made, no suspicion cast on Mrs. Dennison; but it seemed to me that +every member of the household must read my thoughts and condemn me for +them. I felt broken down and driven forth by this woman. + +I did not remember or care for the hours of breakfast or dinner; +excitement had driven all thoughts of food from my mind. This increased +my languor and made me more helpless still. Why had this beautiful woman +come to torment me? What had I done to be thus virtually driven into the +fields like a wild animal? I wandered off to the ridge, and sat down on +the rock where I had once conversed with Mrs. Dennison. I do not know +what time of the day it was; for the sun was obscured and the heavens +were fleecy with black clouds. My head ached sadly; but that was nothing +to the pain at my heart. + +A storm came up while I sat there; but I was quite unconscious of it +till my clothes were wet through, and I felt all my limbs shivering with +the cold. I did not think of the consequences; it seemed so natural that +I should be beaten down, that I cowered under the fierce rain like a +poor flower that grew by me on the rock. The sunshine might revive +that--would it ever come to me? + +I remember feeling a mournful companionship with this solitary blossom, +and sheltering it with a corner of my wet shawl. It was some distraction +to the thoughts that harassed me to fancy the pretty thing as wretched +as myself. Still I sat upon the rock, and still the rain beat down upon +me. At last I heard Lottie's voice through the drifting storm, calling +for me anxiously. + +I arose and stood up, trembling from head to foot--the wet had chilled +the very heart in my bosom. + +"Why, what is this? Where have you been? What's the matter? Ain't you a +fool, good and strong? Mercy! how you look--how your teeth do chatter! +Now, speak out and let's know if you really are alive!" cried the +kind-hearted creature, attempting to shake the wet from my shawl, but, +finding that hopeless, wringing it between both hands, like a +washerwoman. + +"I've been with her all day; haven't left her one minute alone--not even +with him. When he came, I planted myself by the bed, and there I stood +like a monument. She kept asking for you." + +"For me?" I faltered, smitten with compunction. "I did not think of +that." + +"You've given up thinking of anything, I'm afraid," said Lottie, +shivering. "It wasn't just the thing to run off and leave me to bear the +brunt of all their looks and questions! Not that I answered them--oh, +no! but I wanted to get off and have a good cry as well as you." + +"I am very sorry, Lottie." + +"But that was nothing till she asked for you over and over again; then +I'd 'a' given anything to have jumped up and after you. Besides, Miss +Jessie was hunting up and down, wondering where you were, and Mr. Lee +looked like a thunder-cloud." + +"Mr. Lee?" + +"Yes, Mr. Lee! But there you stand with your teeth going +chatter--chatter--chatter--like a squirrel cracking hickory-nuts. Do +come into the house!" + +I followed her, meekly enough; she scolding and reviling, and petting me +all the way as if I had been a lap-dog out of favor. + +When we reached the house, it was late in the afternoon. I had eaten +nothing that day, and still loathing the idea of food, felt its want in +all my frame. + +"Go up to your chamber, quick," said Lottie, hurrying me through the +hall. "Babylon is in the drawing-room, and I wouldn't have her see you +looking so like a drowned hen for nothing. Wouldn't it tickle her!" + +This speech aroused me a little, and I struggled up the stairs and +entered my room. Lottie followed me to the door, said something very +peremptory about changing my clothes, and went away. + +What possessed me, I do not know; I remember flinging off my wet shawl +and shuddering, with a sense of extreme coldness, as it fell with a +splash on the carpet; I remember, also, feeling how necessary it was +that I should exchange my clothes for dry ones. But as I went toward the +toilet, a letter lying upon it drew my attention from everything else. I +had not the courage to touch it--a reptile coiled there could not have +disturbed me more. So I stood looking at it in the dreary wetness of my +garments, knowing what it meant, and dreading it. I took the letter up +at last. It was thick and heavy; my heart sunk beneath its weight, my +limbs trembled so violently, that I was obliged to sit down on the bed. + +I broke the envelope. A thick paper covered with figures fell into my +lap, a leaf of note-paper on which there was writing, fluttered after +it. + +I knew what it was. For the first time in my life Mr. Lee had sent me an +account of his guardianship. Those figures, dancing in such fantastic +rows before my eyes, contained an exact statement of my property, its +growth, and aggregate amount. I knew this without the power to read or +make an estimate. I knew also what it all meant. I had long been of age; +my guardian, in that tedious combination of figures, was giving up his +trust. That woman had prevailed; I was no longer welcome under Mr. Lee's +roof. The paper fell from my hands. I took up the note, but only read +the first few lines. They were very kind, but confirmed my fears. I +could not read the note through--the whole room swam around me--a faint +sickness crept to my vitals--nothing but darkness; into this I sank +helplessly, and lay in its sombre depths for weeks. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + +COMING OUT OF A DANGEROUS ILLNESS. + + +I asked if it was late--if I had overslept myself. It was Lottie to whom +I spoke. She bent her face to mine; she looked into my eyes with a +fervor of gladness in hers that made my nerves shrink. She caught up +both my hands and kissed them; then burst into tears, and ran into the +hall, crying out,-- + +"Miss Jessie, oh, Miss Jessie!" + +My darling came, looking pale and harassed; but for the moment her face +lighted up, and she approached me eager and breathless. + +"You are better, dear Aunt Matty? Say that you know me." + +"Know you, my darling?" + +I tried to say this, and felt very helpless when my voice died away in a +strange whisper; but a glow was on my face, and I know that my lips +smiled, though they could not speak. + +"You know me!" she cried, joyously.--"Oh! Lottie, it is true, she knows +us--she will get well!" + +Had I been ill? Was that the reason I felt so like a little child? + +Jessie read this question in my eyes and answered it, kissing my +forehead with her cool lips. + +"Oh, yes, Aunt Matty, _so_ ill! Out of your head, poor soul!" + +Out of my head! The thought troubled me. Why? Had I anything to conceal? +To question one's soul requires strength, for it is a stern task. I was +very weak, and so put the subject aside. The very sight of Jessie's face +had wearied me. + +She sat down on the bed, and then I saw how sad and thoughtful she had +become. Her very lips were pale, and her eyes were shaded by their inky +lashes, which threw her whole face into mourning. Had she suffered so +much because I was ill, or were other sorrows distressing her? + +She held my hand in hers, clasping it tenderly. I strove to return the +caress; but my poor fingers only fluttered in hers like the wings of a +birdling when it first sees food. She knew that I wanted to return her +love, and smiled upon me; but oh! how sad her smile was! Then I fell off +into a quiet sleep. + +The next day I could ask questions. How long was it? Four weeks--four +weeks, in which they had been so anxious! The doctors had given me up, +but she and Lottie had always hoped. It seemed as if I could not be +taken from her just when she wanted me so much. + +"And her mother, was all well?" + +Mrs. Lee was better, stronger, and more cheerful than she had been for +weeks before I was taken ill. Indeed, she had once crept to my chamber, +and cried over me like a child. + +"Mrs. Lee better, and more cheerful? Then why was Jessie so sad?" + +The dear girl turned away her face and made no answer. Her silence cut +me to the heart. + +Then I remembered the letter; that sheet of paper, with its red lines, +and crowded with figures, came before me with a pang, as if some one had +struck me on the heart. The grief that convulsed my face frightened +Jessie; she understood it and strove to reassure me. + +"It is all well," she said; "never think of it again." + +She might as well have asked a wounded man to forget the bullet rankling +in his flesh. How much that package had hurt me, no human being could +ever tell! + +"Father has been very anxious about you," she said; "I never saw him +suffer so much." + +"What have you done with it?" I inquired. + +She knew what I meant, and answered, gently,-- + +"I gave them back to my father--all except the letter, which I burned." + +"Thank you, dear child." + +There was silence awhile. I wanted to ask a question, but it made me +faint. I think she would have answered that without waiting for words, +only that the subject was a pain to her, as it was agony to me. + +"Is _she_ here yet?" + +I knew that a whiteness was creeping over my lips as I uttered the +words, and I felt a thrill of disgust pass over Jessie. + +"She is here." + +The bitter distress in her voice told me all that was in her heart. But +it was a subject we could not speak upon. + +"I have done everything in my power to send her away; but she will +understand no hint, and I have no right to take decisive steps while my +parents both like her so much." + +"Both?" I questioned. + +"Yes; I think so. Mother seemed pleased to have her in the room." + +"And is she much there?" I questioned, faintly. + +"Yes, very often, and for hours together." + +"Alone?" I inquired, starting from my pillow and falling back from +weakness. + +"Seldom--never, I think. Father is generally with them, and Lottie--what +a dear, faithful creature she is!--will never leave the room. If they +drive her out, she is sure to retreat into her own little den and will +leave the door ajar." + +"Faithful, good Lottie!" I murmured. + +Jessie kissed me and said, with mournful lovingness, that I must not +talk, for I was all the friend she had to stand by her. She hesitated a +moment and added, "Except, of course, my parents." + +Obedient to her gentle command, I closed my eyes; but the anxieties that +had taken flight in temporary insanity crowded back upon me, and my poor +brain labored fearfully under them. + +Was I right--knowing what I knew, and thinking what I thought--to keep +anything back from Jessie? I had been so in the habit of mingling Mrs. +Dennison's acts with those of Mr. Lee, that it seemed impossible to +separate them, or speak of her without condemning him, at least by +implication. I could not do this with his own child; for it was very +doubtful if Jessie's entire and now very evident dislike of the woman +had not sprung exclusively from the course she had taken with Lawrence. +By word or look she had never given a sign of any other thought. + +After pondering over these things in my mind, I remembered that, after +all, Mr. Lee was not connected with anything I knew, except in my own +suspicions; and even then I was not base enough to impute a wrong +motive, much less a wrong act to him. Why should I fear, then, to speak +openly to Jessie? While chained to that pillow--as I must be for days to +come--who could guard Mrs. Lee as well as her own daughter? + +While these reflections passed through my brain, Jessie had been sitting +motionless on the bed, afraid to move lest she might disturb the sleep +into which she fancied me to have fallen. When I opened my eyes, she +smiled down upon me. + +"You have been a little troubled with dreams, I fear," she said, +smoothing the hair back from my temples. + +"No, Jessie; I have not been asleep, but thinking. Lie down here on my +pillow; I want to tell you something." + +She laid her beautiful face close to mine. In a weak voice, and at +intervals, I told her everything, but never once mentioning her father, +even remotely. Indeed, there was no occasion; for I am certain he knew +as little as the innocent girl at my side of that wicked night-work, in +which our invalid had sunk so rapidly. + +I never saw horror and dismay exhibit itself so forcibly on any +countenance as it appeared on that lovely face. It touched mine like +marble. + +"What can we do?--what must we do?" she said. "Why did you not tell papa +at once?" + +"I had no proof--he would not have believed me." + +"But your word--who ever doubted that?" + +"Her word would have prevailed against mine. Oh! Jessie, Jessie, she is +a terrible woman!" + +"And my mother--my poor, suffering mother! What can her object be? No +dove was ever more blameless than poor, dear mamma!" she said, with +tender pathos. "Was she not content with what she had done against me? +But I will go at once to papa and tell him everything about her." + +"No," I said, trying to hold her with my feeble hand; "he will not +believe you." + +"Not believe me, Aunt Matty?" + +"I fear not--Jessie, don't look so wounded! But he would demand your +authority, and you would, of course, give me." + +"Not without your permission." + +"You would have it; but all might end in her triumph over us both. You +remember the letter which came to me, that account of his stewardship? +Ask yourself if it was the work of Mr. Lee's own heart." + +"No, no, I am sure it was not!" + +"Yet it came on the very next day." + +"And broke your heart, dear Aunt Matty. I could not understand it. The +first lines about money fastened themselves upon me I don't know how. I +did not think, in my fright, when Lottie told me that you were ill, +about its being a private letter; still I only read that and carried +the paper back. What was in the letter I did not know; but I burned it +to pacify you." + +"The rest was only a kind dismissal from the house, Jessie!" + +"A dismissal from the house! You--you?" + +"Yes. I am only here now on sufferance," I answered, with feeble +bitterness, which ended in a flood of more feeble tears. + +Jessie was terribly distressed; but she made gentle efforts at soothing +me, and at last I sobbed myself into quietness like a child, with my +head resting on her shoulder. + +"But you shall never go--never while I live," she said, with her old +queenliness of manner. "I may stand by and see this woman robbing me of +the love that was mine, when pride forbids me to cry out; but you, my +oldest, my best friend! She must not attempt that." + +Her eyes sparkled, her beautiful face took a positive expression. How I +loved her! + +"But about my poor mother," she said; "what can we do?" + +"Wait and watch," I answered. + +She was very thoughtful, and the look of distress upon her face made my +heart ache. + +"Lottie is honest," she said. "Now I understand why she would never +leave the room even to nurse you. Good girl! she has been more faithful +to my mother than her own child; but who could have known this?" + +"Be dutiful!" I whispered, for this conversation had taken away my last +remnant of strength. + +"I will,--and watchful. Others may doubt this,--I believe it." + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + +LOTTIE SEEMS TREACHEROUS. + + +Lottie came into the room while we were talking, and, after closing the +door, Jessie began to question her about the events of that night. To my +astonishment, Lottie looked blankly in her face, and protested that she +could not understand what we were thinking of. Mrs. Lee had fainted, and +Miss Hyde had been called, of course, and that raised a fuss, as such +things generally did. This was all she knew about it. + +Jessie looked at her steadily a moment and turned away. + +I was astonished and grieved. What could the girl mean? + +After Jessie went out, the creature came up to my bed, and, doubling up +her fist, shook it in my face, thus mocking my indignant weakness. + +"You're a pretty Miss Hyde to trust a secret with, you are! What +possessed you to tell that? How many cooks do you mean to have in one +mess of soup? She can't keep it more than you could; and the next thing +will be, you and I'll be swept out of this house like a nest of wasps. +Not that I'd go, but there'd be a tussel, such as never was seen here +before. Of course, you'd give in, and curl up like a caterpillar on a +dry leaf; but I'll never do it while she lives and wants me. But all +that don't mean that I'm going to fly in the face of Providence, and +give Babylon a chance to turn me out, for it mightn't be convenient for +me to get sick--not that I think your sickness isn't the genuine +article, mind; I know it is, more shame to 'em, but I'm bound to be on +hand with a sharp eye and close tongue. Trust Miss Jessie, indeed! Well, +crazy folks will be crazy folks, any way you can fix it." + +I was so weary that all this scarcely made an impression on my poor +brain. But I had a vague feeling that the girl was right, and that I had +acted very rashly. Indeed, I was not sure that Lottie's stout denial of +that woman's work might not shake even Jessie's confidence in me. The +distress and excitement of these thoughts shook my poor, quivering +nerves, till I fell back into the old delirium, and after that no +talking was allowed in my room for a long time. + +No wonder Mr. Lee started as if he had seen a ghost, when I crept by him +in the passage leading to his wife's chamber, the first time that I was +permitted to move from my room. The color mounted to his face. He +paused, turned back and gave me his hand, striving to smile. + +I could not touch his hand, or even attempt to smile. He had wounded me +too deeply for that. + +"My dear Miss Hyde," he said, dropping the hand which I had no strength +to touch, "no one can be more rejoiced than I am at your recovery. Pray +forget everything that might make you think otherwise; it was all a +misunderstanding." + +I did not speak, but tears swelled into my eyes, and I turned away +wounded a second time by his confused explanation. + +Mrs. Lee was so overjoyed to have me with her again. She looked much +better, and seemed more cheerful than I had seen her since Mrs. +Dennison's advent in the family. + +Mrs. Dennison came into the chamber while I was there. She recognized me +with careless politeness, called my attention to the improvement in Mrs. +Lee, and, in a thousand adroit ways, triumphed in showing me how +completely I was crowded out from my place in the household--even in +that sick-chamber, where my chief usefulness lay. + +I was feeble and unduly sensitive, or this conduct would not have +wounded me so keenly as it did. Spite of myself, the pain of this +interview would make itself visible; so I arose and went into Lottie's +room, for my strength availed no farther than that. + +The young girl sat quietly in her little domicile close by the door, +sewing upon some second-hand finery, but with every stitch she cast a +vigilant glance into Mrs. Lee's chamber, as if such watchfulness had +become a habit, of which she was herself unconscious. + +Lottie was always exceedingly repugnant to permitting any one into her +room; but when she saw me come toward her, looking so miserably feeble, +the frown left her face, and, starting up, she arranged the pillows on +her little white bed, and, sweeping back the curtains, motioned me to +lie down. I fell helplessly on the pretty couch, and she drew the +curtains around it, clouding me in lace. + +"Do you feel like sleeping?" she whispered. + +"No, Lottie, my heart aches too much for that." + +"Then lie still, and keep watch while I go out. It is ten days since I +have breathed the fresh air. Can I trust you?" + +"Yes, Lottie." + +The creature bent down and kissed me with great feeling; she too was +affected by the general depression. All her wild animal spirits seemed +hushed for the time. + +"I didn't mean to be hard with you the other day," she whispered, "so +don't mind it. Nobody thinks more of you than this child, you may +believe that." + +She glided out of the room, leaving the door open. Mrs. Dennison turned +her head quickly as she went out, but did not seem to observe that the +bed was occupied. + + + + +CHAPTER L. + +CONFIDENTIAL CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE WIDOW AND MRS. LEE. + + +I was greatly exhausted. The walk from my room to the tower, and that +brief interview with Mrs. Lee, had proved more than I could bear. So I +lay helplessly on the bed, watching the scene in the inner room like one +in a dream. How softly that woman moved about the chamber--how low and +sweet were the tones of her voice! No wonder the invalid grew calm and +cheerful under such ministration; it soothed even me. + +Our invalid had left her sofa, and sat in the easy-chair. The widow +arranged her footstool, and settled down upon it, covering those small +feet with a cloud of muslin, while her beautiful face was uplifted, and +her neck curved back with the fascinating grace of a serpent. Mrs. Lee's +dark eyes were bent upon her, so full of affection that the look made my +heart ache. In the stillness, I could hear every word that passed +between them. I was too much exhausted for thought; but even in another +state my position would have been the same, knowing what I knew, and +suspecting what I did, no refinement of honor would have driven me from +my post. + +"Then I am beginning to be a little comfort to you, dear lady," said the +haughty woman, looking sweetly in that gentle face, with her eyes full +of solicitude, as if the great hope of her life lay in the idea of being +useful. + +"Oh, a great comfort. If Jessie now were--" + +The sensitive heart checked her speech, and she broke off with a sigh. + +Mrs. Dennison drooped her eyes in delicate sympathy, and, taking a fold +of the muslin dress, which fell like billows of snow over the carpet, +began to plait it thoughtfully between her fingers. + +"You must not think that Jessie neglects you," she said. "The +confinements of a sick-room are so irksome to youth. I am sure she loves +you." + +"But she used to spend half her time with me. In the morning, she would +bring her work or her drawing, and we had such pleasant hours in my +chamber." + +"Yes, but it was before she came into society; that is sure to distract +the attention. Still, the dear girl must be unaware of the higher and +purer happiness she sacrifices." + +Mrs. Lee's face clouded, and she said, with a sad smile,-- + +"Well, you have not permitted me to feel this. By-and-by Jessie will get +some of your thoughtfulness." + +"You must not think of this, my dear friend," said the widow, +caressingly. "Only remember how well you are getting. I say nothing of +my own poor efforts; but surely Mr. Lee makes up for all deficiencies in +our sweet Jessie." + +Mrs. Lee's face brightened beautifully. "Oh, yes," she said, "he is with +me so much now; you charm him this way, I think." + +"Me? Oh! nothing like it. This change in yourself, dear friend, +constitutes the charm. You were dropping into such dreary ways, and +looked so ill in that eternal white dress; but now that you have +consented to brighten it up with ribbons, and pretty French caps, the +change is marvellous." + +"You think so," was the sweet reply. "I dare say it is true; but Jessie +always liked my dress, and she has fine taste." + +"But he likes something fresher and more worldly; and one dresses for a +husband." + +"Yes, yes; and these things do give something bright to the toilet, +though Lottie scouts them." + +"Well, never mind, so long as _he_ is pleased. We need not trouble +ourselves about the opinion of a wild, crazy girl like her, or of that +prudish thing, Miss Hyde." + +Mrs. Lee drew her hand from the widow's caressing clasp, and sat upright +in her chair. + +"Oh! don't say a word against Miss Hyde," she protested, with unusual +resolution. "She is the dearest, best creature." + +"I know, I know," persisted the widow, drawing a quick breath. "She is +everything that is good, if she only had the power to make her +amiability a little more interesting, and, I may add, useful; but when +any person comes into a family to attach herself particularly to one +member of it, there is a possibility of her gaining too much influence. +I know Miss Hyde is very deserving, but has it never struck you that +your daughter's heart lies a little too exclusively with her friend?" + +"No; I had not thought of that," answered Mrs. Lee. + +"It was not my business, and, I dare say, there is impertinence in the +observation, but when Miss Hyde was sick, your daughter scarcely left +her room. I never witnessed such devoted attention." + +The widow sat playing with the knots of lilac ribbon that fastened Mrs. +Lee's dress, as she made the observation. I saw the poor lady's face +cloud, and her lips began to quiver. She was evidently drawing the +contrast between Jessie's devotion to me, and the almost total desertion +of her own room. Dear lady! she had no means of knowing that the eternal +presence of that woman in her chamber had drawn the most devoted +daughter that ever lived from her bedside. + +Mrs. Dennison went on with her crafty work, still playing with the knots +of ribbon, and pausing now and then to blow them about, till they +fluttered like butterflies under her concentrated breath. + +"If we only had sweet Jessie entirely to ourselves now to join our +pleasant morning readings, wouldn't it be charming? But that is +hopeless, so long as she gives herself entirely to one person, you +know." + +Mrs. Lee lifted her slender hand, passing it with troubled haste +repeatedly across her forehead. + +"But Miss Hyde has been such a true friend, so faithful, so every way +worthy and agreeable, it seems as if Jessie could not love her too much. +Then she is such a favorite with Mr. Lee." + +"Is she?" was the dry question which followed these remarks. + +"Oh, yes! Besides, I never can forget her kindness to myself when Mr. +Lee was absent. You know that my husband has a great many duties, and it +is only of late that it has been in his power to stay with me so much." + +"But his heart--his heart is always with you, dear friend; I noticed +that from the first day of my entrance to your house. In conversation, +your name is always on his lips, and it is easy to see that you are +never for a moment out of his thoughts." + +Mrs. Lee leaned back in her chair, and her fine eyes filled with the +brightest drops that ever sprung from a loving heart. + +"I ought to be more grateful," she murmured, sweetly; "the blessed Lord +has been so good to me. Oh! if all this should lead me to think less of +Him, and more--sinfully more of my--my family." + +"But this will never be; your nature is too well regulated." + +"Ah! but Mrs. Dennison, you cannot imagine--you can form no idea how I +have worshipped--how I do worship my husband. From the first hour I saw +him to this, when we have sunk into mid-life together, it has been one +struggle to keep him from overshadowing the love of God in this heart." + +A heavenly expression came over that pale face, as the noble woman spoke +words that the reticence of her nature had kept back even from me, her +tried friend up to that hour; and now they were poured forth to the +greedy ear of that woman like an overflow of wine upon the sandvile +sand, which a thousand repulsive things had trodden over. + +I could scarcely keep from crying out under the pressure of disgust that +seized upon me when the creature lifted her eyes to the heaven of that +face. In my whole life I had never seen an expression like that--so +quick, so unutterably vicious. That instant some evil idea was born in +the woman's brain; I saw it clearly, as if the map of her bad heart had +been laid out before me. This idea, gendered from the loving goodness of +Mrs. Lee's speech, broke into her eyes as the serpent bursts the +mother-egg when hot sunshine is upon it. + +This expression revelled in her eyes a moment, and then crept away as if +a reptile had left her eyes and coiled itself in the depths of her soul. +I could detect a tone of exultation in her voice when she spoke again; +but it was low still, and vibrated with strange fascination on the ear. + +"And you love him so much?" + +"I thought in my youth that it was impossible to love him better--that +it was wrong to love any human being so much. Night and morning I prayed +God to keep me clear of man-worship; but how can one pray against love +to a God who is love itself? When I saw how completely my whole being +gave itself to my husband, how impossible it was to weaken one throb of +the joy which filled me at his approach, I gave up the struggle, and +soon rendered double gratitude to the Divine Being for giving him to me. +It was all I could do." + +"And did he love you so much?" + +With what insidious craft the question was put! How quietly the new-born +serpent coiled itself in her eyes as the lashes drooped over them! + +"So much? That is impossible! No man--no woman ever gave so great +worship to a fellow-being! He was not even aware of it, I think; for +this love was a treasure that I kept closely locked. It must have been +tender questioning, indeed, that could have drawn such feelings into +expression." + +"But still he loved you?" + +"Loved me? Oh, yes; I never doubted it, even then; but after I became so +helpless, so dependent on him for my very life--for if he had failed me +I must have died--the beautiful affection of his nature manifested +itself. He became my support, my very being. Oh! God has been +exceedingly good to me!" + +"And in all this devotion, this excess of love--for so I must think +it--has no distrust ever arisen between you?" + +"Distrust? Who could distrust him?" + +Mrs. Dennison did not seem to hear--she was musing, with her eyes on the +floor. At last she murmured, vaguely, + +"But jealousy is the natural growth of inordinate affection. I wonder it +never sprung up between you. What if he had loved another person?" + +"Loved another person, and I know it? That would have been death!" + +Again the woman's eyes gleamed so brightly that I could see the flash +through her thick lashes. She arose and walked hurriedly up and down the +room. + +Mrs. Lee looked at her wonderingly. + +"You think it wrong--you condemn me, as I have condemned myself a +thousand times," she said, with meek pathos. + +The woman returned to her seat, smiling. + +"No, no. How can one woman condemn another for a fault so angelic? I +only envied you the delicacy that could deem it wrong to give one's +whole being up to the first element of a woman's nature--entire love." + +Mrs. Lee drew a heavy breath and lay back in her chair, smiling. + +"You have seen him," she said, at last. "How grand, how magnanimous he +is, never forgetting me, never feeling the solitude of this room +irksome, but loving it more and more; giving me hours out of each day +till, of late, he almost lives in my apartment and never finds it +tiresome!" + +A strange smile stole over Mrs. Dennison's lips; but she did not look +up, and it passed unnoticed by its object. + +As the two ladies sat together, Jessie came into the room. Mrs. Dennison +did not move, but, on the contrary, leaned nearer to Mrs. Lee. Jessie +paused by the door and seemed about to retire; but Mrs. Lee spoke to +her, holding out a hand. + +The daughter saw this and came close to her mother's chair, leaning over +it; while the widow kept her place, so that every word which passed +between the mother and child was subject to her vigilance. Thus the +conversation was constrained, and Jessie went away with a sad look, +which went to my heart. + +Then Mr. Lee came into the chamber, and all was bright as sunshine +again. Mrs. Dennison kept her position, and Mr. Lee bent over his wife's +chair. It was a beautiful group--I have never seen three more +distinguished-looking people in one tableau. + +They fell into conversation, in which Mrs. Lee took her gentle part. I +listened, with a strange feeling of pain, to the graceful dialogue, and +ceased to wonder that the invalid had grown more cheerful under the +influence of scenes like this. Perhaps my jealous thoughts invested all +they said with unreal attractiveness; for jealousy, like love, creates +qualities which do not exist, and I acknowledged now that the feeling +which burned at my heart had many a jealous pang in it. How could this +be otherwise? For years I had been the closest friend that lady +possessed; and, within the hour, had I not heard a woman, who should +have been a stranger, decrying me to her as if I had been a servant she +wished to see discharged? + +In this way I excused the bitterness that filled my heart as the cruel +scene passed before me. It was hard to bear when that woman's sweet +laugh came ringing through the chamber after some witty saying which +brought a thousand animated expressions into the faces of the two +persons I prized above all others, but from whom she had separated me. + +All the morning they spent in Mrs. Lee's room. Lottie informed me +afterward that this had been their habit during my sickness. Why, she +could not tell, unless it was that Babylon was hoping to find another +chance to finish her work. + +I could not sleep that night, and for many a long night after that. The +fever had left me very low and nervous; I could not bear to meet the +annoyances which were sure to beset me if I went into the family, and +seldom left my room. I think Mrs. Lee hardly missed me. Indeed, it is +doubtful if my absence was a matter of regret to any one; for Jessie +came to my room as a sort of shelter from the scenes that I had +witnessed, and thus our family became more and more a divided one. + + + + +CHAPTER LI. + +THE FATHER AND DAUGHTER. + + +I had soon cause to regret my rashness in having opened my heart to +Jessie. The dear girl was too frank and high-minded for a secret of that +kind to rest safely with her. She believed all that I suspected, and +with this conviction came a perfect loathing of the woman, who was now +her forced guest. I saw that this subject was preying upon her, and +repented keenly having given up the bitter fruit of knowledge before it +was an absolute necessity; Lottie was wiser in the rude kindness of her +attempt to put me down. + +I did not grow strong; the harassing trouble at my heart kept me nervous +and irritable. If a person entered my room suddenly, I would start and +cry out; if I met any of the family in the grounds, my first impulse was +to hide away, or pretend to be occupied till they passed. Lottie scolded +me, not in her old way, but with a sort of tearful authority. The humor +and drollery of her rare character was changed into quaint sarcasm. The +serpent creeping through our house had bitten her most severely of all. +To Mrs. Lee the girl was more humble and heedful than ever; to us she +was abrupt. + +This state of things could not continue without results. With feelings +smouldering like the fire which turns wood into charcoal, this general +irritation would break forth. + +Jessie was the first to give way. For some time she had scarcely spoken +to Mrs. Dennison, except in a grave, quiet fashion, which was as far +from rudeness as it was from cordial hospitality. Sometimes this checked +Mrs. Dennison's great flow of spirits, and she would take on a look of +gentle martyrdom that must have had a peculiar fascination to one who +did not understand her. + +I do not know how it arose, for I had left the table; but one day Jessie +came into the library, to which I had retreated, looking greatly +excited; her eyes were full of troubled fire, and there was a stern +pressure of the beautiful lips that I had never seen before. She did not +speak, but walking up to the window, stood looking through it steadily, +as if some beautiful landscape lay beyond, which she was examining +through the gorgeous coloring, and which admitted of nothing beyond its +own richness. + +It was a gloomy day outside, and her face looked more sorrowfully sombre +from all our surroundings. + +I had arisen and was going toward her, when the door opened and Mr. Lee +came in. How much the father and child looked alike at the moment! I had +never seen either of them so imperial in their anger before. + +Mr. Lee did not observe me, I think, but he walked across the library +and laid one hand on Jessie's shoulder as she stood with her back toward +him. She drew aside and looked up in her father's face. + +"Jessie," he said, "what is the meaning of this? What have you been +saying to wound Mrs. Dennison so terribly?" + +Jessie struggled with herself; I could detect it by the blue veins that +rose along her neck and forehead; but her countenance changed in +nothing, and she answered his stern question steadily. + +"I have done nothing that should wound Mrs. Dennison, father." + +"But I left you at the breakfast-table with our guest tranquil as usual. +When I came back, you were gone, and I found her in tears." + +"I cannot answer for the lady's tears, father. She was shedding none +when I came out of the breakfast-room." + +"This is an evasion, Jessie. I insist upon knowing what passed between +you and our guest after I left the room." + +"You have a right to question me, father; but indeed I cannot tell you. +Mrs. Dennison said something about what we should do next winter; and I +looked at her a moment, in displeasure perhaps, for she has already +stayed far beyond the time usual for our guests; and I am not aware that +any one has extended a second invitation to her. I certainly have not." + +Mr. Lee's face darkened. + +"And is this what you have done?--given her one of your haughty looks, +and at my table, Jessie Lee?" + +"Father!" + +"Do not call me father. Do not speak to me again until you have +apologized to the lady for this rudeness." + +Mr. Lee's voice was stern, almost cruel, as he said this. Jessie grew +pale as death. + +"Father, I cannot apologize for anything I have done; it is impossible +when the lady entered a complaint to you--" + +Mr. Lee interrupted her. + +"Mrs. Dennison entered no complaint." + +"Oh, father! and you were ready to condemn me without a word. When was +this so before?" + +"When were you rebellious before?" + +Jessie's lips began to quiver. + +"When did we have trouble like this? When was it that we became a +divided family?" she said. "Never till I was unhappy enough to invite +this lady here." + +"She was your own guest, and you have treated her cruelly," said Mr. +Lee, softening a little. + +"No, father, not cruelly; coldly, perhaps, but not cruelly!" + +"And why coldly?" + +"Because I do not like Mrs. Dennison." + +"And why, pray?" + +"Because she comes between you and your own child--between you and your +own wife--because--" + +"Jessie," I said, rising from my seat, and for the first time becoming +visible to Mr. Lee,--"Jessie--" + +"It is well, Martha, that you are here to check her. Another word, and +she would have been no longer a daughter of mine." + +He was white as marble. Never in my life had I seen him so agitated. + +Jessie looked at him sorrowfully. There was something more than anger in +his face--a wild, troubled doubt, that made him tremble. Jessie laid her +hand on his arm, and her lips quivered into a smile. + +"Oh, father! listen to me. Let this lady go; take us back to your heart +again; her influence here has been terrible." + +He shook off her hand, drew himself up, and spoke with proud +calmness,-- + +"Jessie, be careful, if you would not forfeit my love--at once be +careful." + +Jessie drew back, and leaned on my shoulder, trembling from head to +foot. The idea that her father could ever really turn against her had +entered her heart for the first time. She was so white that her very +face terrified me. + +"Speak to him," she whispered,--"speak to him." + +I was about to say something, but Mr. Lee waved his hand, silencing me +with a haughty gesture. Jessie stood up, and spoke in a low, sad +voice,-- + +"Father, if I have done wrong, tell me how to atone for it, and I will +obey you." + +Mr. Lee turned away, walking the room three or four times before he +answered. Then he took Jessie's cold hand, with some degree of returning +kindness, while she stood, with downcast eyes, waiting for the +humiliation his words would convey. + +"Be yourself, my child; conquer your unreasonable prejudice against the +lady who has been of great service to your mother, and is in every way +estimable. I do not ask any unnecessary humiliation of my daughter; but +be your own gracious self again, Jessie, and she will understand that +you are sorry." + +Jessie bent her bowed face a little lower, in token of acquiescence, +and, bending his grand head, Mr. Lee kissed her. Then, turning to me, he +said, with stern significance,-- + +"You will remember, Miss Hyde, these scenes are not to be renewed." + +When he was gone, Jessie threw herself on the floor, and, folding her +arms in the seat of an easy-chair, moaned piteously. She did not +cry--the pain at her proud heart seemed too hot for tears. I tried to +console her; but she only murmured,-- + +"You were right; I am not fit to be trusted with such things. They burn +me like fire." + + + + +CHAPTER LII. + +THE FATAL LETTER. + + +After this scene, our house was quiet as the grave--not a laugh sounded +within its walls, not a brilliant word enlightened the stiff monotony. +Jessie kept her promise. Nothing could be sweeter or more gracious than +her manner toward Mrs. Dennison; but all this was accompanied by no +warmth. It was impossible to find fault with anything she did or said, +yet her submission seemed to annoy our guest more than anything. It +proved how deep was the gulf which lay between them. + +As for me, nothing could render my position more disagreeable than it +had already become. A few days after that scene in the library, I was +sitting with Mrs. Lee, while Lottie went out for a little recreation. +Mr. Lee, Mrs. Dennison, and Jessie, had gone out on horseback, and, with +the enemy away, Lottie thought that I might be trusted with her charge; +but while Mrs. Dennison was in the mansion, she never would leave her +post on any consideration. With all the keen longings of youth for +change, this confinement, voluntary though it was, told painfully on the +young girl, and when she did get a few moments of freedom, it was seized +upon as a bird darts from its cage. + +That morning she was gone some time, having taken a run through the +grounds with a favorite dog that always followed her footsteps. I saw +them rioting up and down among the flower-beds, with a feeling of +thankfulness that anything on earth could find enjoyment when my heart +was so heavy! + +Mrs. Lee was unusually silent that day, and, without asking me to read, +amused herself with a book of engravings that Mr. Lee had ordered for +her from the town. I felt the change. Every day this lady, who had been +my dear friend so long, seemed more and more independent of me. Lottie +she still clung to, but I had become a useless waif in the household. + +While thinking over these depressing truths, I watched with a vague +sensation of regret. All at once I saw her stop, beat the dog back, and +shade her eyes with one hand. It was only one of our people, who had +been over to the town, and had attracted her observation. I saw the man +beckon to her. She darted down the walk, along the sloping lawn, and +over the wall, holding out her hands for a package which he held out. +There was some talk between them as the man gathered up his bridle, +while she examined something in her hands which seemed like a letter. +Then, nodding her head repeatedly, she ran toward the house. + +I cannot tell why it was, but these movements interested me greatly. A +strange apprehension took possession of me, and I began to wonder what +the letters could be about--if any of them related to me, and if new +trouble was coming. + +In the midst of these vague thoughts, Lottie came into the room, with a +letter in her hands. + +"I left all the rest, papers, books, and trash, on the hall-table," she +cried, joyously; "but here's a letter for the dear mistress, and I +brought it up. Such a nice letter--white and satiny as the leaves of a +water-lily! I know there is something sweet and good in it that will +make you smile." + +She went up to Mrs. Lee, dropped on one knee at her feet--a common thing +with the strange girl--and held up the letter between her hands. + +Mrs. Lee took it, with a pink flush of the cheek. During her long +illness she had gradually given up writing, and a letter, directly to +herself, was an event sufficiently rare to create a little excitement. +Lottie's prophecy regarding the letter brought a smile to those usually +pale lips. She broke the seal, took the letter from its envelope, and +murmured, pleasantly,-- + +"If it is something very pleasant, you shall have a new dress, Lottie." + +This promise kept the girl on her knees, reading the face of her +mistress with keen eagerness. She saw it change as if a flash of fire +passed from neck to forehead; then a cold, gray tint settled over it so +gradually, that no one could tell when it came. + +Lottie sprang to her feet with a sharp cry. + +Mrs. Lee had fainted--no, not that; no common fainting fit ever took a +form so painful--a look of unutterable misery had settled on the face, +impressive as the agony which has become immortal in the features of +that marble father who strives to rescue his children from the writhing +serpents in the Vatican. + +Mrs. Lee had fallen sideway in her chair. The movement had been gradual, +and accompanied the gray changes of her face with such stillness, that +its meaning did not strike Lottie till she sprang up and uttered that +cry. + +We lifted the lady from her chair and laid her on the bed. She gave no +sign of life, but seemed to be growing colder and colder. Lottie +attempted to draw the letter from her hand, but her fingers clung to it +with a tenacity which could not be forced without wounding the hand; so +we left the paper in her grasp. + +What we did I cannot tell. Everything that two frightened creatures +could devise we attempted, in order to restore her; but it seemed to me +an age before any sign of life returned. + +At last a shiver passed over her, and, with her disengaged hand, she +tore at the muslin over her bosom as if some pain were burning at her +heart, and then I saw her poor lips redden for the first time--but it +was with blood. Piteously she opened her eyes and looked into ours. She +had not recovered then, nor did she remember what event had produced +this illness. + +I could tell when the first dawn of a recollection came upon her, for +she rustled the letter in her hand as if to be sure it was there, and a +reality; then the pain all came back to her features, and the blood came +in heavier drops up from her broken heart. + +They came back from a long ride while she lay thus. We had sent for the +doctor, and sat by her in helpless grief, waiting his arrival. I went +out to meet Jessie, intending to break the painful intelligence of her +mother's attack to her with gentleness. She was coming up the steps with +a harassed look. The weight of her skirts seemed to drag at her frail +strength. Mrs. Dennison was lower down the steps, looking over her +shoulder at Mr. Lee, and talking in a gay, excited manner that did not +seem quite natural. Jessie looked upward, with a weary, sad glance as I +came down the walk, and I saw that the company of this woman was +oppressing her dreadfully. + +I was so pale in those days that my countenance did not frighten Jessie +as it might have done in happier times; thus I was obliged to tell her +in words that something had happened to injure her mother, and that she +lay in great danger in the tower-room. I shall never forget the wild +agony of those eyes. She did not speak a word, but passed me like a +shadow. + +Mrs. Dennison's strained laugh followed her with a sound of the most +cruel mockery I ever heard. It was altogether unintentional. The woman +had not seen me, nor was she aware that Jessie had disappeared; she was +only bantering words with her host in her usual fashion, while he was +preparing to follow up the steps. + +I stood upon the edge of the terrace and watched them as they came up. +There was no cheerfulness in the woman. Her cheeks were hot and red, her +eyes full of restless fire. She understood my countenance better than +Jessie had done; for a look of something like affright swept her face, +and the heavy riding-skirt dropped from her hold, entangling her feet +till she stumbled and almost fell. + +Mr. Lee sprang forward and saved her. + +"What is the matter? What has happened?" he questioned. + +She laughed nervously. + +"Nothing. It was Miss Hyde standing there like a Nemesis that startled +me." + +Mr. Lee glanced upward, and said something in an under-tone, at which +she said,-- + +"How unkind you are to the poor thing." + +I had hesitated to tell Mr. Lee that his wife was on her death-bed--the +shock at my own heart was so painful that I pitied him; but now a cruel +strength came over me, and I said at once, in a cold, hard way,-- + +"Your wife is ill, sir, very ill--I fear dying." + +He left that woman standing alone in her cowardly sin, and went swiftly, +as his daughter had done, toward the tower-room. Mrs. Dennison gave a +light scream and followed, demanding of me how it had happened, and who +had been near to harm the dear saint. + +I gave her no answer. The very sound of her voice made me shudder with +fresh loathing. She had been pale for a moment, but now all the fire +came into her countenance again, and she passed me haughtily, saying,-- + +"Stupid as ever--I will inquire for myself." + + + + +CHAPTER LIII. + +DEATH IN THE TOWER-CHAMBER. + + +The woman did inquire, and the very sound of her voice made the poor +victim on the bed shake till the counterpane moved like snow disturbed +by the wind. Jessie was holding the pale hand, and, feeling it quiver, +she clasped it closer, and said to Mrs. Dennison,-- + +"Madam, your voice troubles my mother; please to leave us alone." + +Mr. Lee looked from his daughter to the woman; but it was no time for +anger--he only lifted one hand to deprecate further noise, and bent over +his wife with such solemn tenderness in his eyes as I had never seen +there before. + +"My wife, my poor wife!" he said, sheltering the frail form with his +arm, as if that could keep death away. + +She heard him, and the tension on her delicate nerves relaxed. The +letter, which had hitherto been clenched in one hand, fell away and +rustled to the floor. Mrs. Dennison picked it up, folded it +deliberately, and held it toward Mr. Lee. + +"This has just fallen from her hand," she said; "it may have some +reference to this strange attack." + +Again that shiver ran through Mrs. Lee's form, and her face contracted +with the pain, while fresh drops of crimson gathered on her lips. + +"Madam, your presence tortures her," said Jessie; "these attacks come +and go with your voice." + +"My friend, my dear, sweet friend; will you not give me one look before +I go?" + +Mrs. Dennison bent over the bed as she spoke, and, sure enough, Mrs. Lee +opened her eyes wide, and turned them on the woman's face. Never shall I +forget that look! Its wounded expression haunts me yet. Those great, +mournful eyes dwelt on that face, which grew slowly pallid, for a full +half-minute, and then turned away. + +Mrs. Dennison was awed; but, feeling our eyes upon her, she took +strength, and, with a pathetic "Farewell!" on her lips, pressed them to +those of Mrs. Lee. + +There was a faint struggle, a gasping cry broke from the bed, and when +Mrs. Dennison lifted her face, a drop of fresh blood crimsoned her lips. +She did not know it; but with the red blood burning there, retreated +into Lottie's room, where she hovered over the scene as if afraid to +leave it entirely. + +Mr. Lee forgot everything in keen anxiety for his wife. When her eyes +turned sorrowfully upon him, he cried out,-- + +"Oh! speak to me, speak to me, my wife! Give some sign that I have not +come too late!" + +The most wonderful expression I ever saw stole over that face; it came +like moonlight on dark waters,--a gleam of hope breaking through the +agonies of death. Her lips moved. He bent down and listened. + +"You have loved me?" + +There was no noise; but we knew that she was saying this by the movement +of her lips. + +For an instant, Mr. Lee seemed stunned. The question struck him to the +soul; then his noble head was uplifted, and, looking tenderly into those +wistful eyes, he said, "I have always loved you, my wife. God is my +witness, I have always loved you." + +That expression deepened on her face. She lifted her hands feebly, and, +understanding the sign, he raised her to his bosom. The muslin drapery +of her sleeve got entangled in his dress. I attempted to disengage it +while her face lay on his bosom. In doing this I touched her hand; the +frail fingers clasped mine with the tenacious feebleness of an infant's; +and, laying my palm on Mr. Lee's hand, she pressed them softly together, +whispering,-- + +"Be good to her." + +He shook all over, while my poor hand lay quivering on his. I drew it +away with hushed breath. + +She was dying on his bosom; her eyes were uplifted to his; her breath +came in faint gasps; the two frail hands folded themselves; and, as the +mists of night settle on a lily, that dear face hardened into the marble +of death. + +I cannot remember all that passed after this, who came into the room, or +who went out. I only know that the stillness of death was in the house, +the pain of life in our hearts. Sweet sufferer, gentle lady! How white +and still she lay on the pretty French bed, with its volumes of lace +brooding over her like the clouds in which we imagine seraphs to be +sleeping! There was no noisy grief in the room. Even Mrs. Dennison had +fled to her own apartment; the suddenness of our calamity shocked even +her. + +Lottie knelt by the bed, her face buried in the clothes, dumb and still. +Jessie clung to her father, who was striving to comfort her; but +struggle against it as he would, the force of a mighty anguish spoke out +in his broken words. + +Those were mournful days during which she lay in that tower-room. We had +the dead to ourselves--that woman never intruded on us. Cora came each +day informing us that her mistress was ill from grief. _He_ heard the +message, but gave no sign beyond a grave inquiry. The sadness in his +face deepened every hour; stern thoughts perhaps had stamped the sorrow +deeply in his soul. There was something more than natural grief there; +gleams of remorse broke through all the rest. + +The night before Mrs. Lee was buried, I went into her room; to sleep was +impossible, and I longed to be alone with her once more. I am no +enthusiast, and have little superstition, but it seems to me impossible +to doubt that the dead are often with us on this side the eternal shore. +We feel their presence in our heart of hearts without caring to see it +with the sense. + +How young she looked--how good and quiet! Some white flowers lay on the +pillow with rich colors burning in their hearts, that cast a sort of +illumination over the frozen stillness of her face. The white draperies +gathered above her, the shaded lights stealing like star-gleams through +the room, made the stillness of death holy! + +I sat down by the bed, in the great easy-chair which she had occupied +when Lottie came in with the letter. A faint perfume of violets hung +about the cushions, and on the seat lay the delicate handkerchief she +had been using. It seemed only a moment since I had seen her resting +tranquilly upon the seat that supported me. Could death be so cruelly +sudden? + +I wept quietly as these thoughts filled my mind, and with them came +vague conjectures regarding the letter which had apparently produced a +result so fatal. Who had written that letter? What could the subject +have been? Where was it now? I remembered that Mr. Lee had taken it +mechanically from Mrs. Dennison's hand and put it in his pocket, +evidently unconscious of its mysterious importance. Surely the woman +could have nothing to fear from that letter; at any rate, she had held +no part in its fatal delivery. Then who could have possessed the power +to break the frail life which had been quenched? It was all a painful +enigma, impossible to solve; but the great, mournful fact lay before +me,--my friend--the best friend I had ever known on earth--was dead. + + + + +CHAPTER LIV. + +MRS. LEE'S FUNERAL. + + +As I sat buried in miserable thoughts, a faint stir in the bed draperies +made me start and hold my breath. It was Lottie, who had been all the +time crouching close to the floor, guarding the remains of her mistress +in profound stillness. The light was so dim that I had not been aware of +her presence till then. Such companionship did not disturb me; indeed, +without the faithful girl that death-chamber would have been desolate +indeed. + +"Lottie," I said, in a whisper,--"Lottie, is it you?" + +She was sitting on the floor, with both arms locked around her knees, on +which her forehead rested. The girl looked up, and her heavy eyes met +mine. + +"Yes, it's me, Miss Hyde; I haven't left her a minute since then," she +said, drearily. "Don't ask me to go away--I couldn't do it." + +"Ask you to go away, Lottie? Oh! no, my poor girl! We have watched +together in this room many a time; but never in this sad way." + +"I know it," she said; "you were always good to her, and she felt it. +But tell me, Miss Hyde, do you think it was the letter I brought that +laid her there?" + +"I cannot tell. Still it must have been, she was so well only a moment +before it touched her hand. Who could have written it?" + +"I have been thinking and thinking, Miss Hyde. The writing was like Miss +Jessie's; I thought so at the time." + +"Miss Jessie's? Are you sure?" + +"So it seemed to me; but I've got the envelope, look for yourself." + +I took the crumpled envelope which she took from her bosom and held +toward me. It was of creamy-white paper, very thick, and with an inner +lining of blue, a color that Jessie affected where it could be +delicately introduced among her stationery. The writing was like hers, +but with a slight appearance of disguise. + +"You see," said Lottie, still in a whisper, "it looks like Miss +Jessie's; but what could she write to _her_ about?" + +"It is strange," I murmured. + +"Terribly strange! I can't make it out. All the time, for two whole +nights and days, I have thought of it; and the more I think the darker +it all grows. Oh, if she could only speak; but that will never be +again--" + +Her voice broke here, and clasping her knees tighter, she began rocking +to and fro, uttering faint, dry moans, that went to my heart. Lottie had +not shed a tear since her mistress's death. + +"Never again--never again!" she kept whispering. + +"Don't Lottie," I said; "it breaks my heart to hear you go on in this +way." + +She looked at me earnestly; then dropped her face and said, with +infinite pathos,-- + +"Oh! that _my_ heart could break!" + +I bent over her. + +"Be comforted, Lottie. If our friend could speak, this is what she would +say--" + +"Don't, don't. Who could be comforted, and she lying there like a +beautiful lily broken off at the stem? Look at her, Miss Hyde, and see +if the smile is there yet." + +"Yes, Lottie, there is a heavenly look on her face. See for yourself." + +"No, no, I cannot stand it; in the morning I will kiss her hands for the +last time. Let her sleep with the angels to-night; I won't come between +her and them. They will take care of her now she don't want me." + +"Oh, Lottie!" + +She shook her head disconsolately, then it sunk on her knees once more, +and was not lifted again all night; still I do not think she slept a +moment. + +Jessie came to her mother's room late that night. Lottie did not move; I +arose to go, knowing how sacred were the rights of an only child; but +she asked me to stay, saying--oh, how sadly--that her mother's true +friend could not be in the way even there. + +I told her that Lottie was watching, and had not once left her place by +the bed. She went round to where the girl was crouching and kissed that +portion of the forehead left exposed by the folded arms. Then, for the +first time, I heard low sobs break from the faithful creature, and felt +glad to know that she was crying. + +"She is happier far than I am," said Jessie, with unutterable sadness. +"It seems as if I should never shed tears again." + +She came back to where I was sitting, and sinking on the footstool that +always stood near the chair, her head fell on my lap, her hands clasped +themselves under the pale forehead, and thus she lay, heavy and still, +weary with pain, but sleepless, till the day dawned. + +That morning Mrs. Lee was to be buried. + +With the first gray of dawn, we heard Mr. Lee's step coming up from the +library below, where he had passed the night. Jessie and I arose, and, +bending over that calm face, left our solemn kisses on the lips and went +away, giving her up to the man she had loved so devotedly. Even Lottie +was aroused by his approach, and, rising to her feet, went heavily into +her own little room, which was soon filled with bitter sobs. + +We met Mr. Lee on the stairs. He had not been in bed that night and +looked strangely haggard. No words passed among us; but Jessie and her +father exchanged a mournful glance that was more eloquent than +language. + +It rained when we took her away from her home, and a heavy gloom lay +upon the beautiful landscape she had loved so well. Across the terrace, +and down the flight of steps bordered with flowers that wept heavy +drops, she passed away into the valley--away to her eternal rest. On a +rise of ground on the verge of the hills, we paused amid a cluster of +white stones where sods lay in a heap, and the torn earth contrasted +mournfully with the fresh grass. + +As we neared the hill, a burst of sunshine broke the clouds asunder and +lighted us forward. There were no sobs at the grave; our sorrow was very +silent, and solemn as death itself. The very air seemed thrilled with +awe as the funeral service rose upon it. Some one, Lottie I suppose, had +laid a garland of white flowers on the coffin, knotted together with +snowy ribbons. As they lowered the coffin the wind took these ribbons, +and they fluttered up from the grave like the wings of an angel striving +to rise heavenward; and through the first shovelful of earth rose a +faint perfume pressed from the flowers which the gravel had bruised upon +her coffin. + +It was all over, and we returned to the house. On the steps, Mrs. +Dennison stood to receive us clothed in white, with black ribbons +knotting up the sleeves and clustering at the bosom of her dress. This +was the first time I had seen her since that fatal day. + +Nothing could have been more decorous than her demeanor; her beautiful +eyes seemed heavy with unshed tears, and Christianity itself is not more +gentle than her tone and manner. + +"Come," she said, addressing our Jessie, "let us mourn together as +friends who have lost one who is dearest to us. If I have ever pained +you, dear Jessie, forgive me for her sake." + +Mr. Lee heard this, and looked wistfully at his daughter. Poor girl! she +was too heart-broken for resentment, and held forth her hand. Mr. Lee +stepped forward and laid his hand on those that the beautiful woman had +just clasped. + +"Jessie," he said, in a voice that thrilled all within its influence, +"remember this lady was very dear to your mother." + +Jessie did not answer; I think she could not command words, but she bent +her head in acquiescence and passed into the house. + +It is a strange thing to say, but I believe that the few weeks that +followed Mrs. Lee's funeral were the most tranquil of any that had +preceded them since Mrs. Dennison came to our house. The great central +object of interest in the household was at rest. All the little cares +that had occupied us were over; the very altar of our household had been +torn away, and for a long time we found it impossible to find new +channels of interest, or settle ourselves down to anything. There was no +longer an attempt at amusing our guest, and she did not seem to require +it; indeed, from all appearances she had become a member of the family. +We seldom met now, but kept our own rooms. Jessie became sadder and +sadder each day; nothing interested her; she absolutely pined to follow +her mother. + + + + +CHAPTER LV. + +OLD MRS. BOSWORTH'S VISIT. + + +Compacts made in a state of excitement are seldom lasting. If Jessie's +heart had softened toward Mrs. Dennison in the extremity of her grief, +it came back to the old standpoint as that grief took thought. Something +more subtile than her own will held her confidence back. But this was no +time for excitement of any kind; the depth of grief into which we had +fallen kept all worldly passions back. So, as I have said, we were more +tranquil than of old. + +Poor, poor Lottie! she went about the house like a wounded bird that had +seen its nest destroyed. Without asking for leave, she had arranged Mrs. +Lee's room, in the tower-chamber, exactly as it had been during her +mistress's life, and guarded it from her own pretty den with all the +vigilance of old time. If any one entered the chamber and touched an +article that had been Mrs. Lee's, Lottie would cry out as if struck by a +sudden pang, and fall into a nervous tremor till the intruder had +departed. She never allowed any one, not even Jessie, to enter the room +without following her like a watch-dog. + +No one was surprised at this. The devotion of that girl to her mistress +had been something wonderful. That she should feel great attachment to +anything belonging to her was beautifully natural. So it happened that +she fell into possession of the rooms in the tower, and secluded herself +there, taking little interest in anything else. + +Some days after things had settled into this state, old Mrs. Bosworth +came over in her heavy family carriage. In our sadness, this became an +event, and both Jessie and I left our room to meet her, grateful for +anything that showed real sympathy for our bereavement. + +The sorrows which this good old lady had passed through, placed her in +delicate sympathy with us. She met Jessie with such motherly gentleness, +that tears came into the young creature's eyes almost for the first time +since our loss. The old lady saw this, and, drawing the agitated face to +hers, kissed it. + +"We have been very sorry for you, Miss Lee. Indeed, ours has been a +house of mourning also; for there are cases where the same grief touches +many hearts. I have wept for you, my child--prayed for you." + +"I know it--I was sure of it," answered Jessie, resting her proud young +head on the old lady's shoulder, and weeping those soft, warm tears that +relieve the heart so much. "I have thought of you and of him. Tell me +that your grandson is no worse." + +The old lady kissed her again, and tenderly smoothed the glossy hair +upon her temples. + +"He is no worse, dear child--a little better, I think, since we have +been quite alone--the tranquillity has done him good." + +"I should like to see him," said Jessie. "Miss Hyde and I have missed +him so much in our loneliness." + +The old lady cast a grateful glance at me; then, turning to Jessie, she +said,-- + +"It would make him strong enough to come, if he knew that his sweet +friend desired it." + +Jessie looked at that dear old face earnestly, and smiled through her +tears. + +"You are very kind." + +While we were sitting together, Mr. Lee came in. He had seen Mrs. +Bosworth's carriage at the door, and, knowing how seldom the old lady +went out, sought her to pay his respects. + +It is seldom that two persons so thoroughly bred, and so singularly +intelligent as Mr. Lee and our visitor, ever meet. Notwithstanding the +sorrow that oppressed us, the conversation which sprang out of the first +greeting brought cheerfulness with it. They did not talk directly of our +loss, but every subject touched upon had a tinge of sadness in it, which +betrayed the buried feelings and sympathy which lay behind. + +I had not believed that such power of pleasing could be carried into +extreme old age, as this old lady manifested. + +While we were conversing, Mrs. Dennison came in, much to our +astonishment; for of late she had rather avoided both Jessie and myself. +Mr. Lee presented her to our visitor, who put on her stateliest manner, +and, after rising, stood as if ready to go; but her clear eyes were +fixed on Mrs. Dennison's face, and she seemed reading her to the soul. + +I think that Mrs. Dennison was, for once, awed by the moral force +opposed to her; for such it really was. The graceful flippancy of +manner, which most people considered so captivating, refused to come +into action, and, for the moment, she really was awkward. + +"I did not know that you had guests," said the old lady, with a stiff +bend of the head. "If I remember, Mr. Lawrence told me that this lady +would leave the neighborhood about the time he did." + +The color flashed into Mrs. Dennison's face, and she replied, with +suppressed anger,-- + +"Mr. Lawrence presumed, madam, when he ventured to regulate my movements +by his own." + +Again the old lady gave her a quiet, searching look, and, without +replying, moved toward the door. + +Jessie and I went down to the terrace with Mrs. Bosworth, while Mr. Lee +took her to the carriage. + + + + +CHAPTER LVI. + +LOTTIE'S REVELATIONS. + + +The conduct of old Mrs. Bosworth made a profound impression in our +family. Nothing could have been more unfortunate for Mrs. Dennison. Mr. +Lee, up to that time, had been so occupied with the genuine grief which +sprung out of his wife's death, that he had evidently given little +thought to the real condition of his household; but the grave look of +disapproval which met Mrs. Dennison's entrance, when the dear old lady +made her visit, was too decided for him or any one else to ignore. +Jessie's ill-timed remarks had affected him but little, for, alas! he +was prejudiced there; but the evident condemnation of this fine old lady +had its effect. + +Mr. Lee began to understand that a guest in our house just then, not +sanctioned by ties of blood, or even of old friendship, must have a +strange appearance in the neighborhood. His own fine sense of propriety +was disturbed, and this gave his intercourse with the lady, all the rest +of that day, an air of constraint which she was not slow to comprehend. +She grew more quiet and thoughtful, all her fine spirits vanished, and, +more than once, I caught her lifting her beautiful eyes to Mr. Lee's +with a sad, misty look of appeal, that would have touched the heart of a +savage. It almost reached mine. + +This lasted all that day and evening. There was little conversation; but +the eloquence of that woman's face was above all language. + +At night I went into Jessie's room, as usual; not to talk; everything +had become too painful for those little confidential chats that make a +home so pleasant; but Jessie was always sad now, and the news about +young Bosworth had affected her greatly, in what way it was difficult to +determine; so I went to her room, knowing that the presence of an old +friend would be some comfort to her. + +As we sat together talking on vague household affairs, Lottie knocked at +the door and came in. + +"I don't want you to be taken by surprise or anything," she said, +bluntly, "but Mr. Lawrence will be here to-morrow; and, before +twenty-four hours, he will beg Miss Jessie's pardon for slighting her, +on his bended knees, and ask her to marry him right out." + +Jessie started up, pale as death, her eyes flashed and her lips +quivered. + +"Lottie!" + +The voice was low, but it made the girl hold her breath. + +"Don't let her get mad!" cried the strange creature, appealing to me; "I +didn't bring him, gracious knows. Mrs. Babylon has done it, that's what +you ought to know, and I've told it." + +"But how did you find this out, Lottie?" I said, for Jessie had fallen +back to her seat, and was shrouding her face with one hand. + +"I won't tell you! If I did, some of your queer notions would come in +and I should catch it. Just you take care of honor and dignity, and all +that. I don't pretend to no such nonsense; I know he's coming, because +Babylon sent for him; she's ready to take claws off now that--oh, dear! +oh, dear!" + +Here the strange girl flung herself down on the floor, and, burying her +face, began to cry bitterly. + +I knew how she would have finished that sentence but for Jessie's +presence, and shrunk from drawing forth another word. + +At length Lottie lifted her wet face and shook the hair back from her +eyes. + +"I'm a queer jewsharp, ain't I?" she said, with a giggle that broke up +the sob in her throat; "but it's true as the gospel. Mr. Lawrence is +coming, and you mark if he don't go through with that very performance, +kneeling and all!" + +"Well, well! It was right to tell us, and Miss Jessie thanks you in her +heart," I said, raising the girl from her lowly position. "Now go to +your room." + +She arose, looked wistfully at Jessie an instant; then creeping to her +side, knelt down as she had often done at the feet of Mrs. Lee, and, +taking the hand which fell listlessly down, kissed it. + +Jessie started at the touch, and gently releasing the hand, laid it on +the young girl's hair. + +"I thank you," she said, looking down to the honest eyes into which +great tears were crowding fast; "my mother loved you, and so do I." + +"I--I'm a-trying to do my best and be a mother to you myself, now that +she is dead and gone," answered Lottie, with a look of honest affection +beaming over her face. + +Jessie almost smiled; at which Lottie blushed like a child, and, +starting to her feet, went away, closing the door softly after her. + +"Can you believe this?" said Jessie, after she was gone. + +"Yes," I answered. "Whatever her sources of information may be, Lottie +is always correct." + +"And he will dare--at her request--by her consent, perhaps--he will +dare!" + +She arose and walked the room, her black dress sweeping the carpet like +an imperial robe. + +I did not speak; anxiety kept me dumb. Was this a burst of anger that +would pass away? When that man, with all his bewildering attractions, +should stand before her--humble, imploring--how would it be? The hopes +which had begun to dawn in my heart for young Bosworth faltered, +notwithstanding this queenly manifestation of pride. + +"_She_ has sent for him indeed!" burst from those curved lips; "there is +nothing humiliating in this, Aunt Matty. She invites gentlemen to my +father's house and allows them to approach me. Perhaps she has found out +that half this property is mine now, and sent him word." + +I started. This might be true. There certainly was something +inexplicable in the evident understanding between Lawrence and our +guest. + +"Well, let him come," said Jessie, drawing a deep breath. "Let him come; +I understand myself now." + +"You will not accept him then?" I inquired, anxiously. + +"Accept him!" she replied, with a calm smile, which told how deep and +settled her pride had become, far more clearly than the flashing eye +and writhing lip that had startled me a moment before. "You need not +fear that, my friend." + +"And you do not love him?" + +"No, my friend, I do not love him; nor am I sure that he is worthy of +any good woman's love." + +I clasped my hands in thankfulness. Her words had lifted a painful +weight from my bosom. + +"Thank God!" I murmured. + +She looked at me gratefully, and we parted for the night. + + + + +CHAPTER LVII. + +MRS. DENNISON URGES LAWRENCE TO PROPOSE. + + +The next morning Mrs. Dennison kept up the subdued character of the +previous night. Her eyes were heavy and full of troubled mist, her +movements had lost their elasticity, and an air of touching depression +supplanted the graceful audacity of her usual manner. + +Mr. Lee was grave and silent; he once or twice glanced at our guest, +with some anxiety in his look, but made no comment on her changed +appearance. + +After breakfast I went out for a walk. The morning was bright and cool, +inviting me to a long ramble. But my health was not altogether restored, +and anxiety made me listless; so I walked slowly across the face of the +hill, came out at the footpath on the ridge, and wandered on till I came +to the rock which terminated it. I had been sitting on it a little +while, gazing languidly down at the gleams of water that came up through +the green hemlocks, some two hundred feet beneath, when the sound of +voices from the grove disturbed me. + +I had a nervous dread of being seen by Mrs. Dennison or her friends, and +let myself down from the rock to the face of the precipitous descent--a +perilous exploit--for a false step might have sent me headlong to the +river below. I became sensible of the danger of my position after the +first moment, and, clinging to a young ash-tree, pressed myself against +the leaning trunk of a hemlock and waited for the persons, whose voices +I had heard, to pass. + +Directly two persons came winding down the path, and stood upon the rock +I had just left. It was Mrs. Dennison and Mr. Lawrence, talking eagerly. +The languor that had marked her appearance at breakfast was gone. She +was sharp and animated, spoke with earnestness, and seemed now pleading, +now explaining. I caught a glimpse of his face. It was flushed with +anger, not to say rage. + +"It is useless to upbraid me. I loved you; it was death to give you up. +At a distance it seemed easy enough; but when I saw you together and +marked something too real in your devotion, it drove me mad. I could not +marry you myself, poverty-stricken wretches that we are! but you cannot +blame me if the trial of giving you to another was beyond human +strength." + +"But you were false. You told me that she also was false; that she +secretly encouraged young Bosworth; that I was treacherously undermining +my own friend." + +Lawrence spoke in a loud, angry voice. The look which he bent on her was +stormy with passion. + +"Lawrence, this rage is useless. I did all that lay in my power to break +up the work I had helped to do. For a time, poverty, anything seemed +better than the possibility of seeing you the husband of that proud +girl. Then my own future was uncertain; now it is assured. Between them +the father and daughter have unbounded wealth. It is worth a great +sacrifice--I make it. This is my first step, my first humiliation. It +was false. All that I told you was false. She did not love that young +man, she did love you. I fancied--and here the trouble arose--that you +were beginning to love her, that it gave you no pain to change. This +embittered me. I misrepresented her, told you that she visited +Bosworth's sick-chamber from affection, when I knew that it was only the +persuasion of that troublesome Miss Hyde which sent her to the house. +Now I take it all back. She is heart-whole save in love for you. She +never cared for him in the least. It was you she loved." + +I caught a second glimpse of his face as he turned it from her; a flash +of triumph passed over it, breaking its frowns as lightning cleaves a +thunder-cloud. My heart fell. The man loved our Jessie. With his +strength and power of character, could she resist a passion that was +evidently genuine? + +Mrs. Dennison looked at him sharply; but his face was dark enough under +her glance, and she went on, perhaps satisfied of his indifference. + +"There is no time for hesitation, Lawrence. It will be impossible for me +to keep my post here many days longer. The young lady scarcely endures +me, Miss Hyde turns to marble when I enter her presence, and there is +that imp of a girl crossing my path at every turn. I must leave the +house--and that within a few days--unless you forgive me and find means +of appeasing the young lady. That accomplished, I shall be more +necessary to the household than ever. Everything will be on velvet +then." + +"Are you so sure of the old gentleman then?" inquired Lawrence, with a +half sneer. + +She smiled, and gave her head a disdainful movement. + +"Am I sure of my life?" + +He turned upon her with a look of scornful approbation. + +"You are an extraordinary woman, widow." + +"You have said as much, in a more complimentary fashion, before this," +she answered. + +"Perhaps," he answered, carelessly; "but we understand each other too +well for fine speeches. Now, let us talk clearly. On your word of honor +as a lady, all that you told me regarding Miss Lee before I took that +rude departure, was false?" + +"Yes; though you might use a softer word." + +"And you believe she loves me yet in spite of my ungentlemanly +withdrawal?" + +"I am certain of it." + +"You wish me to beg pardon and propose?" + +"Wish!" + +The woman locked her hands passionately, and turned her pale face upon +him. + +"Wish! You know I _cannot_ wish it; but it is inevitable." + +"In order to smooth your way with this grand old gentleman." + +The woman shuddered visibly, and clasped her hands once more till the +blood flew back under the almond-shaped nails, leaving them white as +pearls. + +"How indifferently you speak of a thing which drives me mad!" + +"Indifferently? No. You have made your arrangements, and do me the honor +to include mine with them." + +"You are angry with me--hurt that I can decide on this marriage." + +"No, neither angry nor hurt on that point." + +She looked at him imploringly. + +"Is this said in order to wound me?" + +"It is said because I feel it." + +"And you do not care that I bind myself for life to this man?" + +"Care? Yes; why not?" + +"I have thought it all over hundreds of times, when we talked of +marriage those lovely nights on the beach. It was a sweet dream, worthy +of two young people in their teens. We forgot everything,--the +luxurious habits which had become second nature to us both,--the +impossibility of making even love wild as ours suffice with everything +else wanting. We were neither young enough nor foolish enough to carry +that idea out." + +"Or, even then, to entertain it seriously for a moment," said Lawrence, +coldly breaking in upon her. + +"Perhaps not," she said, mournfully. "It was a dream, and as such we +discussed it; but the wish--oh! that was strong with us both!" + +A cloud of disgustful feelings swept over the man's face, such as fill a +refined heart while reviving some passion that has died out in contempt. + +"Well, we will not dwell upon these moonlight dreams, but the future." + +"Which will, at least, give us the right to see each other, and will +secure between us one of the largest fortunes in the United States. If +we cannot be all in all to each other, everything else necessary to +happiness will be ours." + +Again that expression swept over his face, but she was not looking at +him; the thoughts in her mind were such as turn the eyes away from any +human countenance. I could read all this plainly in their two faces. + +"Let us pass over these things," he said, gravely regarding her. "You +and I ought to know that human will seldom regulates events; let us try +to act rightly and leave them with a higher power." + +She looked at him in amazement an instant; then answered, with a +self-sustained laugh,-- + +"Strong spirits make their own circumstances! We are making ours!" + +"I know that is your opinion; but no matter, this is no place for +discussion. Once again, let me understand. I am not disposed to +criticise your motives for this--I will use the softer word-- +mystification; but now we must take clear ground. You again assure me +that, in seeking Miss Lee, I shall not meet with a rebuff either from +the lady or her father?" + +"I am sure of it." + +"Then I will go at once. But how can I explain?" + +"Say that you were informed of her visit to Bosworth, and went off in a +fit of jealousy." + +"And if she asks of my informant?" + +"Say that you saw her with your own eyes." + +"Don't you think it would be as well to speak the truth for once?" said +Lawrence, with a grave smile. + +"That _is_ the truth; you saw her returning home." + +Lawrence sat down upon the rock, and, covering his forehead with one +hand, seemed to reflect. + +"You find this task an unpleasant one?" said the woman, touching his +hand with her own. + +He swept the hand across his forehead, scattering rich waves of hair +over the temples. + +"It is very painful," he said, bitterly; "but, thank heaven! the +mischief was not of my own making. No matter; I will go now." + +He turned to leave her. She grew pale and troubled. + +"Where shall I see you after it is over?" + +"Here, if you have the patience to wait." + +"Yes," she answered, "I will wait; it will not be long. Oh, heavens! how +little time it takes to separate us forever and ever!" + + + + +CHAPTER LVIII. + +AFTER THE PROPOSAL. + + +He did not answer this; but his footsteps were still heard among the +leaves that had fallen along the footpath, and she followed his +retreating figure with eyes so full of anguish that I could not help +pitying her. + +When Lawrence could no longer be seen through the trees, she sunk to the +rock, folded both her hands over her knees, and fairly moaned with pain. +There was no weeping; but dry sobs broke from her lips like gushes of +lava from a crater. + +I remained still crouching at the foot of the hemlock, and sheltered +completely by one of its wing-like branches. I was safe from detection, +so steep was the descent that, without stepping to the very verge, there +was no chance that any person could discover me. I had no compunction or +question of honor to contend against. The contest going on in our +household had become too serious for shrinking from anything that was +not absolutely criminal in our defence. So bracing my foot against the +ash, and sheltering my presence under the dusky hemlock, I too waited, +determined not to move till that wretched woman left the ridge. + +Mrs. Dennison was very restless, changing her position every moment, and +starting up if the least sound reached her from the woods. As time wore +on, she seemed to listen till the very breath upon her lips paused. The +birds, that, as I have said before, were very tame on the ground, made +her restive with their singing. She hated them, I am sure, for the sweet +noise that prevented her hearing his footsteps. + +I softly took out my watch and counted the time. He had not been absent +more than fifteen minutes, when she sprang up, clenching both hands as +if about to strike some one, and began to prowl up and down the path +like a leopardess searching for her cubs. Now and then her voice broke +through the foliage, and I could see her wringing her hands, or stamping +her feet upon the dead leaves. + +At last a footstep sounded from the woods; it was a man's step coming +rapidly through the leaves. It had a hard sound, and I felt sure that +the man was desperate. She evidently thought otherwise. Her arms fell +helplessly down, and she crept back to the rock, white and still, but +with her face turned away as if she would not let him see how anxious +she was. + +He came up to the rock from the woods, crossed the footpath with a +single stride, and stood before her so stern, so bitterly incensed, that +she shrunk away from his first glance, yet a flash of irresistible joy +shot to the eyes with which she eagerly questioned him. + +"Well!" + +The lips from which this word came were almost smiling. Nature was +strong in the woman, and, spite of her selfishness, she exulted over the +ruin of her own plans. + +"Well!" was the bitter response; "I have humiliated myself like a +hound--proposed and am rejected." + +The woman sprang toward him with both hands extended; but he stepped +back, and she clasped them in an outgush of joy. + +"Then it is over! Oh, heavens, how glad I am! this hour has been such +torture! What would a whole life be? I should go mad. Let the property +go--sweep the whole thing aside! How many poor people in the world are +happy! In poverty or out of it, you and I will be all in all to each +other!" + +She was "pure womanly" then, notwithstanding her crafty nature and bad +heart; there was something in her abandonment that made my blood thrill. + +But Lawrence stepped back, and his face clouded. + +She looked at him in amazement. + +"What is this? Can wounded vanity affect you so much?" + +"Wounded vanity, madam? Will you forever misunderstand me? How dare you +consider me as an accomplice in your odious designs? If I have passed +them by in silence, it was no sign that I approved or shared them." + +These words were uttered with the force of terrible indignation. The +woman to whom they were addressed stood confounded before the speaker, +whom she had evidently, up to that moment, believed to be her lover. + +"Lawrence--Lawrence! can this be real?" at last broke from her quivering +lips. + +While speaking, she laid her hand on his arm, but he pushed it off +loathingly, as if a reptile had been creeping over him. + +At this repulse, all the queenliness of her air fell away, and she +seemed to shrink into a smaller person. The anguish so evident in her +face appeared to touch his compassion; his features cleared themselves +of stormy rage and hardened like marble. He took one of her hands in a +firm grasp, and addressed her from that moment in a low, concentrated +voice, that thrilled through one as nothing but true feeling can. + +"Mrs. Dennison, this is the last time that you and I shall ever converse +together." + +The woman uttered a low cry, and seized his arm with her disengaged +hand. He paused an instant, glanced calmly down at her hand, which clung +trembling to his sleeve, and went on:-- + +"We met at a watering-place unknown to each other, people of the world, +adventurers, if you will, and between us sprang up one of those +flirtations which are so far removed from genuine affection that the two +never exist together. We called it love--perhaps thought it so--for a +brief time; for I confess to a sentiment regarding you which no ordinary +person could have inspired." + +The woman lifted her eyes at his softened voice, and with an expression +that must have gone to his soul; never in my life had I seen so much +gratitude in a glance. + +"But this was not love!" + +The white hand dropped away from his arm; he grasped the other tighter, +as if to impress his words more forcibly on her. + +"I never did love you, Mrs. Dennison. Such expressions as are admitted +in society, without real meaning, I may have used, and you perhaps +construed them into deeper significance than they possessed. I--" + +Mrs. Dennison lifted her two hands with impatient deprecation. + +"Enough, enough!" she said; "more words are useless; I comprehend you." + +"And hold me blameless, I trust?" + +"Blameless? Oh, yes!" There was bitter whiteness on her lips, and her +eyes flashed fiercely. + +The sneer relieved him. There had been something of compassion, even of +regret, in his voice till then; but the curl of her lips drove all such +feeling away. + +"At least," he continued, promptly, "any blame that I might myself feel +it just to assume, has been a thousand times overbalanced by your +conduct, regarding one of the brightest and sweetest creatures that the +sun ever shone upon." + +The bitter sneer spread all over the woman's face, leaving it cold and +white. + +"You speak of Miss Lee?" + +The voice in which she uttered these words was fearfully concentrated, +and her agitation kept her still as a serpent before it springs. + +"Yes, madam, I speak of the lady who once, at least, received me kindly; +but who, yielding to your machinations, has just sent me from her +presence forever, a rejected, desperate man, for I love her better than +my own soul!" + +A faint sound, sharp as a cry, deep as a grave, broke from the woman. +Lawrence did not heed it, but turned away and left her, seemingly +forgetful that it was a farewell. She followed him with her great, wild +eyes, struggled with herself, and evidently strove to cry out; but her +locked features refused to stir. The cold lips took a blue tinge, but +gave no sound. She stood like Lot's wife, with all the vitality stricken +from her limbs, listening to his footsteps as they died among the +leaves. Then she uttered a low cry, sprang forward to follow him, and +fell prone across the footpath. + + + + +CHAPTER LIX. + +A HEART-STORM ABATING. + + +I seized the lithe stem of the ash, and lifted myself up the bank, +prompted by an irresistible impulse of humanity. The woman lay upon the +ground in a position so like death, that it frightened me. Her white +face was half hidden by the turf. The folds of an India shawl were +entangled around her, like the broken wings of some great tropical bird; +one hand was clenched deep in a fleece of wood-moss, where its jewels +flashed like rain-drops. + +I attempted to raise her face from the turf, but it fell back like lead +from my hands; the cheek which rested for a moment on my arm was cold as +snow. There was no life perceptible; I looked around for water. A +hundred feet below me it was rushing forward in abundance, but that was +unattainable. The house was some distance, but there alone could I hope +for succor. + +I detested that woman in my soul; but some pure womanly feeling impelled +me to keep her terrible condition a secret. I could not find it in my +heart to expose her humiliation. So entering the hall unseen, I seized a +pitcher of water that stood on the marble console and hurried back, +carrying it so unsteadily that the ice-drops rained over my hands at +every step. When I reached the rock, breathless with haste, the woman +was gone, and but for the crushed grass, and a handful of moss torn up +by the roots, there remained no proof of the scene I had just witnessed. + +Where had she gone? Not to the house. I must have seen her had she taken +that direction. Surely she had not followed Lawrence! I stepped to the +rock, which gave me a view of the footpath and the precipitous bank. She +was not in the woods, nor on the line of the ridge. Had she thrown +herself down the bank, and so perished in the river below? + +I seized the ash-tree, and, supporting myself by it, leaned over, +searching the depths with a trembling dread of what I might find. + +Half-way down the descent, I saw the gorgeous colors of a shawl +shrouding some object crouched upon a point of rock that jutted out from +the bank, and fairly overhung the black waters fifty feet below. In my +fright, the ash-tree escaped my hold, and, starting back with a sharp +recoil, made a great rustling among the leaves. + +The woman sprang up, lifted her white face toward me, and for a moment +stood poised over the water, with her garments fluttering in the wind so +violently, that their very motion threatened to destroy her balance. + +I threw out my arms, pleading with her to come back; but she sprang +forward into a heavy covert of pine-boughs that swept the descent, and +disappeared. + +I waited some minutes, hoping that she would appear again; but +everything was still; and after lingering about the rock some time, I +returned to the house. + +When I entered the hall, Mrs. Dennison was leaning over the balustrade +of the square balcony, gazing down upon the scenery of the valley, to +all appearance tranquil as a child. + +She looked around with a furtive movement of the head as I set the +pitcher upon the console, and then I saw that her face was still +deathly pale. I said nothing to any one of what I had seen; it could +have availed little; my report would only have met with denial and +discredence. I felt sure of this and went to my room, there most +earnestly praying God to direct me how to act. + +Mrs. Dennison did not come down to dinner that afternoon, and Cora +reported that she was in her room, suffering greatly. Something was the +matter; the dear lady had been crying for hours together as if her heart +were broken. + +This was said in the presence of Mr. Lee, and I saw that he listened +keenly. + +"Do you know any reason for this distress?" he inquired of the pretty +mulatto. + +"No, sir; no reason in the world, without it is the high airs that old +lady took with her. I was in the hall, sir, and saw it; since then my +lady has been crying half the time." + +We were at the table when Cora came down with this account of her +mistress. Mr. Lee poured out a glass of champagne and placed it on the +silver tray, upon which Jessie was arranging some delicacies from the +desert. + +"Ask your mistress to try and join us in the drawing-room this evening," +he said, kindly; "solitude will only depress her." + +Cora bowed and went away, but returned directly with a message from Mrs. +Dennison. She had a severe headache, and was afraid that it would be +impossible for her to meet the family that evening. To-morrow she +trusted to be better. + +Poor woman! she was true for once, though even her real illness was +afterward turned to account. + +After dinner, I found myself alone with Jessie. She had been a little +excited after Lawrence left; but as the day wore on, her self-poise +returned, and a sweet gravity settled upon her. As I sat by the window, +she left the piano, from which a plaintive air had been stealing, and +came to my side. + +"Aunt Matty," she said, in her sweet, trustful way, "I have something to +tell you. Mr. Lawrence has been here." + +I did not express any knowledge of the fact, but looked at her, waiting +for more. A faint flush rose to her cheek; but her eyes looked clearly +into mine. + +"You know what he came for?" + +"I suppose so, Jessie; and that he went away disappointed." + +"I think he loved me, Aunt Matty." + +"And you?" I questioned, anxiously. + +She shook her head and smiled wistfully. + +"You remember the violets we took from the spring down in the meadow +yonder? How fresh and hardy they looked! But we tore them up too +roughly, and they never would take root again! They were young plants, +you said, and hard usage withered them. The violets are all uprooted and +dead here." + +She pressed one hand to her heart, and, stooping down, kissed me to hide +the sadness that crept into her eyes. + +"And you do not regret it?" I whispered, drawing her close to me. + +"As I regretted the death of our violets, with a little sadness for the +perfume that is gone." + +"And it is decided?" + +"Nothing can change me. His intimacy with that woman gave her influence +enough to poison his mind with thoughts that should never enter the +heart of a true man. This was reason enough, if love ever reasoned; but +his power is gone from me. I could never live with a man who had once +been, even partially, controlled by a woman like that." + +"Did you give him this reason?" + +"As I have given it now." + +"And he considers it as final?" + +"Undoubtedly. I am glad he came--glad that he has spoken; for it sets me +free--heart and soul." + +I kissed her fervently, thanking God for this great deliverance. + + + + +CHAPTER LX. + +THE TWO LETTERS. + + +That very evening young Bosworth came to the house, looking almost well, +and _so_ animated. It was not quite dark, and he saw me walking on the +terrace; for I had need of air and solitude. He took my hand with the +old cordiality, and would not let it go. + +"Lawrence has been at our house," he said. "You know what has happened. +She rejected him--she does not love him. This he told me with his own +lips. It was generous; but he is a noble fellow. Indeed, I pity him." + +I pressed the hand which grasped mine, and, reading the question that +spoke from his face, told him to go in, that Jessie was in the +drawing-room--and alone. + +He listened for a moment to the music which came stealing through the +windows, holding his breath in sweet suspense; then he lifted my hand to +his lips and went into the house. The roses were bright on Jessie's +cheek when I entered the drawing-room an hour after, and, for one night, +we had something like a dream of happiness in that gloomy dwelling. + +The next day Mrs. Dennison kept her word, and came out from her +solitude. She must have suffered terribly; for I have never seen a face +so altered. All her bloom was gone in one night; her eyes had grown +larger with hidden anguish, which left dusky circles around them. Both +Jessie and Mr. Lee were struck visibly by the change. + +We were all in the library when she came in, grave, sad, and with that +look of deep sorrow in her face. Mr. Lee was greatly disturbed and went +forward to meet her, inquiring anxiously about her health. + +The woman let her hand rest in his clasp a moment, and drew it away with +a sorrowful glance from beneath her drooping lashes. Advancing up the +room, she leaned one hand on a table for support, trembling visibly from +agitation or weakness. + +"Mr. Lee!" + +The voice faltered with his name, and once more she lifted those +mournful eyes to his. + +"Are you ill, or has some trouble come upon you?" inquired Mr. Lee, +greatly agitated. + +"Yes, I am ill, and in deep trouble," she answered. "Oh! Mr. Lee, let me +beseech you to protect my good name from the enemies that have assailed +it!" + +"Your good name, my dear madam? Who would dare say a word against any +one sheltered under my roof?" + +"I do not know--the whole thing bewilders me; but some great wrong has +been done--some cruel slander said, or I should not be called upon to +endure such insults as met me from that proud old lady--should not be +outraged by letters like this!" + +She took a letter from her pocket and gave it to Mr. Lee, watching him +as he read it. + +The letter was a brief one; but Mr. Lee was a long time in reading it. +His eyes went back upon every line, and the fire burned hotly in them +when he came to an end. There was something very startling in the +changes of his face as he glanced from the paper to Jessie and from her +to me. Never have I seen a look so terribly stern. + +"Where did you get this letter?" he inquired, crushing the paper in his +hand. + +"It came to me by the mail; you will see by the post-mark," was the +reply. + +He glanced at the post-mark, which was that of the nearest town; then, +striding up to his daughter, held the open letter before her eyes. + +Jessie read it bewildered; but at last her features settled into a look +of astonishment. + +"Is this your writing, Miss Lee?" + +"No," she answered, but in a hesitating way. "No, no; I never wrote +that!" + +She had read a portion of the letter, when this emphatic denial broke +from her lips. + +"Yet a disinterested person would swear that it was your handwriting, +Jessie Lee." + +The color flashed into Jessie's cheek; but she constrained herself, +answering calmly,-- + +"I did not write it, father." + +Mr. Lee searched her through and through with his stern glances; then, +coldly taking the letter from her hand, he held it toward me. + +"Say, madam, you should be acquainted with that young lady's +handwriting; is this hers?" + +I took the letter and read it. The handwriting was certainly like +Jessie's, but with an attempt to disguise. The contents convinced me +that she never wrote it. They ran thus:-- + + "MADAM: You have wrought mischief enough in the family of an + honorable man to be content without bringing disgrace upon your + own name. It should be enough that you have broken the life of as + good a woman as ever lived; that you have alienated a father from + his only child, and separated Mr. Lee from his best friends. If + you have still any regard for your own reputation, or for the + welfare of those who have never wronged you, leave this house. + + "A FRIEND." + +"No," I answered, "Jessie did not write this; the thing is impossible!" + +"I make no charges--heaven forbid!" said Mrs. Dennison; "but it is +enough that a letter like that could have been written to me while under +your roof, sir. Self-respect forbids that I should remain here another +day. I have sent to the town for a carriage." + +"You cannot intend it!" exclaimed Mr. Lee. "Not till this thing has been +thoroughly explained and atoned for, must you leave a house that has +been honored by your presence. Jessie Lee, have you nothing to say?" + +"Father, what can I say?" + +"Nothing, my dear Miss Lee; I ask nothing, and accuse no one further +than is necessary to my own exculpation," said Mrs. Dennison, in a +grieved voice. "But I have been cruelly assailed. One word more, Mr. +Lee, and I am ready to go. Forgive me if I speak on a subject painful to +us all; but the death of your wife has been alluded to in that infamous +paper--alluded to in connection with myself. When Mrs. Lee was taken +ill, she had in her hand a letter, which only left her hold in the last +moment. It was open. You may remember I picked it up from the floor, +folded it, and gave it into your own hands. Of course, I did not read +the letter, and am, to this day, ignorant of its contents; but I did +glance at the handwriting, and it was like this." + +I felt myself growing cold; the faces before me swam in mist. Had not +Lottie said that the envelope was directed in Jessie's handwriting? Had +I not myself recognized the fact? + +Mrs. Dennison spoke again:-- + +"Another thing has haunted me since that mournful day. As I bent over +the dying angel, she whispered three words in my ear; they were: 'Read +the letter.' Sir, there is a connection between this and the letter +which your wife held in her grasp when she died. I entreat, nay, I +demand, that you tell me what the connection is." + +"The letter!" said Mr. Lee, with a start. "She did hold a paper, and you +gave it to me, I remember. It is here; I had no heart to read it." +Thrusting a hand beneath his vest, he drew forth a small pocket-book, +and took from it the paper which I remembered so well. It was crushed +and had been hastily folded; but even from the distance I could see that +the handwriting was that of the note I had just read. + +In Mr. Lee's eyes alone you saw the agony of astonishment that possessed +him. At last he turned his gaze from the letter and fixed it on Jessie. +She was greatly disturbed--the very sight of the paper in her father's +hand was enough for this; but she met his glance with a mournful look. +There was neither terror nor surprise in it; simply deep sorrow, such as +springs from a renewal of painful memories. + +He walked toward her with the paper in his hand, touched it with his +finger, and tried to speak, but could not--the anguish that locked his +features chained his voice also. Jessie was frightened and sprang up. + +"Father, father! what is the matter? What have I done?" + +He laid his hand heavily on the paper, and bent his white face toward +her. + +"Jessie Lee, you have slandered the father that loved you better than +his own life. You have killed your mother!" + + + + +CHAPTER LXI. + +THE DEPARTING GUEST. + + +They were gone, and a gloom like that of the grave fell on everything in +that room. While Jessie Lee lay cold and insensible on my bosom, smitten +to the heart by her father's denunciation, Mrs. Dennison took the letter +from Mr. Lee and read it from end to end. After that she uttered some +words which I did not understand--for the cold head upon my bosom had +frozen up my faculties--and went her way from the room, and oh! thank +my God! from our presence, I prayed inly, forever and ever. + +I do not know when or how Mr. Lee left the room, but I was alone with +Jessie, and she dead, for the moment, as if in her winding-sheet. + +I had no strength to lift her, or remove her from the room, but I laid +her gently on the carpet, and, taking the crimson pillows from a couch, +rested her head upon them. All this had been done with great quietness; +no unusually loud word had been spoken during that terrible scene--not a +soul in the house, except us four, knew that anything had happened. + +Striving to subdue my agitation, I went up-stairs in search of +restoratives. The crystal flasks in poor Mrs. Lee's chamber had never +been emptied of their contents, so I went there hoping to find something +that would bring the stricken girl out of her deathly sleep. + +The room was dim, but filled with the breath of flowers, as it had been +in its owner's life-time. Every article of furniture was in its old +place. The white bed gleamed out from the twilight of the apartment like +a snow-bank; the soft lace curtains covered the windows, flowing down +beneath the silken over-curtains like ripples of falling sleet. +Everything was so natural, so almost holy in its stillness, that even in +the terrible anxiety that filled my soul, I felt like falling down by +the bed and praying that sainted one to help me save her child. + +A wild petition did spring to my lips; but it was a time for action; so, +snatching a flask from the dressing-table, I was turning to leave the +room, when Lottie arose from a stool, at the foot of Mrs. Lee's +easy-chair, and stood before me like a ghost. + +"What are you doing here, Miss Hyde?" she said, in a whisper. "She does +not like people to come to her room." + +I held up the flask and was going on; but she seized it between both +hands. + +"It is for Miss Jessie--for her child--she is ill." + +The girl's hands dropped. + +"Take it--take it," she said, and followed me from the room. + +When Lottie saw her young mistress lying so still and marble-like on the +floor, a cry of anguish broke from her. + +"Oh! my poor, poor lady! how much she looks like her--how much she looks +like her!" + +Jessie came to at last: that is, she breathed again, and her eyes +opened; but this was all. She had no strength, and all the rich, young +life that made her so beautiful had left her frame. + +While she lay thus but half conscious, swift footsteps passed through +the hall, a spasm swept over that pale face, and Jessie made a struggle +to move and get away from the hateful sound. It was but a faint motion, +and she was still again. Then came a low smothered sound of conversation +near the door, and all was silent after that. + +I had hoped that Mr. Lee would come back and help me save his child from +the depths of her trouble; but he did not appear, and I dared not send +for him. + +"Lottie," I said, at last, "will you help me? Can you and I carry her up +to her room, or must I call one of the people?" + +"You and I--no one else." + +We lifted Jessie from the floor, and carried her up-stairs, meeting no +one. + +As we came to the passage which led to Mrs. Lee's chamber, Lottie paused +and drew a heavy breath; then looking down on that still face, she +turned toward the sacred chamber. + +I did not protest. That room seemed the most natural place for Mrs. +Lee's daughter when driven forth from her father's heart. + +Poor Jessie! We laid her down on her mother's bed, and there she rested +for many a long day and night--if rest was ever known to a nervous fever +like that which fell upon her from the hour of her father's wrath. + +While Jessie lay on the bed with her eyes wide open, and shudders of +distress passing over her, Lottie drew me to another part of the room, +and asked, in a troubled voice, what had made her young lady so ill. + +I had no other friend in whom it was possible to confide. Lottie, with +all her eccentricities, was true as steel, but I did not myself know the +entire cause of all this disturbance, and could not speak of it with +anything like certainty, so I only answered her, as quietly as I could, +that Mrs. Dennison was going away. + +A quick light flashed into Lottie's eyes. She looked from side to side, +as if wondering what direction to take. Her sharp intellect almost +caught the truth. + +"But Miss Jessie isn't fretting so about that. There's something else. +Oh, Miss Hyde! do tell me what it is!" + +"I cannot tell you, Lottie, what I do not understand myself." + +"And you won't listen. High notions will be the death of you yet. Oh, +how I hate airs! Now, if it had been me, I'd have known all about it, by +hook or by crook, but it's of no use talking. Are you sure Babylon is +going; if she is, her last trump has been played, and she thinks she's +won High, Low, Game, and a Jack turned up. Oh, if I only had time to +make this all out, but it's hop, skip, and a jump; here they jump right +into the dark." + +"What do you mean, Lottie?" + +"Oh, nothing particular. You keep your secrets, and I'll keep mine. +That's fair." + +As Lottie spoke, the door of our room was open, and this gave us a view +of the hall, at the other end of which was Mrs. Dennison's chamber. The +door of that room also was wide open, and we saw the widow talking +earnestly with her mulatto maid, who had drawn a couple of trunks from +the closet, and was now emptying a wardrobe in what seemed to be angry +haste. With three or four dresses flung over her arm, she turned +fiercely upon her mistress, and seemed to be upbraiding her. + +Mrs. Dennison answered with an imperative gesture, at which Cora tossed +her head, like a racer under curb, and flung the dresses in a heap upon +the bed, stamping angrily on the floor as Mrs. Dennison left the room +and turned down the staircase which led to the library. + +"By gracious! they are packing up, sure enough!" exclaimed Lottie, "and +I standing here like a frightened goose. Take care of Miss Jessie, +ma'am. I couldn't help you now--no, not if she were dying. Babylon is +playing that last trump this minute." + +Lottie left me instantly, and I saw her draw close to Cora, with whom +she had become very intimate during the last few weeks. + +"Do tell me what all this fuss is about," I heard her say. "Miss Jessie +is off in hysterics, and your madam looks like a thunder-gust--quarrelling, +I should surmise." + +"Quarrelling? I should think so," answered the mulatto. "Here she comes +all in a storm, and orders me to get ready in an hour, as if I had a +dozen hands--no consideration--no feeling. In an hour, and all her +dresses to fold! It's too bad! I believe she thinks I'm her slave yet; +but I'll show her--I will! Just look at the pile of dresses on the bed, +all to fold and pack in an hour." + +"I'll help you," answered Lottie, in her stolid fashion, which I noticed +she had always used with Cora, who seemed to hold her in profound +contempt. "I can fold dresses first-rate." + +"Oh! she would never trust you with them; but I'll tell you what will +help just as well; there is her writing-table, with the drawer running +over, and the top loaded with books; just pack that heap of things away +in the smallest trunk." + +"Well, I'll do that, if you'd rather," said Lottie, with apparent +reluctance; "but not knowing how to read, you see I might get the wrong +things." + +"No, everything belongs to her; just empty the drawer, and pack them +nicely away." + +"But you're not really going?" inquired Lottie. + +"In an hour." + +I saw Lottie move toward the table, and begin to gather up books and +papers with great indifference; but when Cora's back was turned, she +grew vigilant as a fox, and seemed to be searching for some particular +object with breathless anxiety. I saw her take a book, bound in purple +leather, from a back part of the drawer, examine it closely, and thrust +it back again as Cora turned toward her, when she became active in tying +up other parcels, and packing them away. + +All at once Cora seemed to have some doubt regarding the dress she was +to leave out for travelling. + +"Just like her, not to tell me. Goes off on her own hook in everything +without a word, as if I was of no account when she wants to move. Which +way did she go?" + +"Toward the library," said Lottie; "gone to say good-bye to Mr. Lee, I +suppose. You can hear him tramp, tramp, tramp, up and down the floor." + +"Tramp or no tramp, I'll know what she wants," said Cora, who was +evidently enraged at this sudden movement. + +"I'll be back in a minute." + +Away Cora darted along the hall, and down the stairs. Just as quickly +Lottie seized upon the purple book, flung her apron over it, and ran +into her own room, slamming the door in my face. After a moment's +absence, she flitted back again, with both hands under her apron, as she +had come forth. + +"Don't sit there; don't seem to be looking after me. That yellow witch +will think something is going on if you do," she said, in a hurried +whisper, darting in at the door, and out again. + +"But what are you taking away, Lottie?" + +"Nothing--not a thing. I'm taking it back again; don't you see?" + +Back she went, and directly after I heard her talking with the mulatto +girl in the most friendly manner possible. + +In half an hour I heard Mrs. Dennison sweep past the door, and knew that +she was finding fault with Cora, because everything was not in +readiness. The girl answered her sharply, and some angry words passed, +such as might have been tolerated in equals, but which sounded strangely +out of place between mistress and servant. I knew that this lady was +going in anger from our house, but had no desire to see her before she +went; for since the scene which had flung poor Jessie almost insensible +on that bed, my dislike of the woman had deepened into absolute horror. + +In a little more than an hour I heard the sound of heavy trunks being +dragged through the hall, and the roll of a carriage along the lower +terrace. Then I could distinguish the tread of Mr. Lee, words spoken in +a low tone, and a rustle of garments moving down-stairs. + +Then all was still for a moment. Lottie stood in the hall, listening +intently; I could not breathe, my heart so longed for the sound of that +woman's sure departure. + +It came at last. I heard the carriage-wheels and the tramp of hoofs +bearing her away. I saw Lottie fling up her arms in silent thankfulness. +Jessie, too, unlocked her hands, and turned her eyes upon me, drawing a +deep, deep breath, as if something had cleared the atmosphere that +weighed her down. + + + + +CHAPTER LXII. + +WHOLLY DESERTED. + + +That night I received a message from Mr. Lee, and went to him in the +breakfast-room. The passions that had locked his features so fearfully +still kept their hold. He was not a man to be reasoned with, or touched +by appeal in that state; the ice must melt, and the storm burst, before +human sympathies could reach him. + +I saw this, and stood silent in his presence--silent, but with a sort of +solemn courage. The worst had come, and with that thought strength +always lies. + +"Miss Hyde," he said, in a voice of ice, "to-morrow morning I leave this +house, and in a week this country, possibly forever. I do not stop to +ask how far you are to blame for the evil developed in the person who +was once my child; but she loves you, and I will not deprive her of any +comfort. She will be left in full possession of this place, with +everything that a woman can desire. The law gives her this and more. So +long as she wishes it, stay with her; for myself, I go alone, wifeless +and childless." + +I was about to speak, for there was a touch of regretful feeling in his +voice; but he motioned me to keep silent and went on:-- + +"Let there be no explanation to the neighbors or servants. What has +passed must rest with the four persons who parted in that library; for +this secrecy I trust to you." + +I bent my head and tried to speak, but could not. He looked searchingly +into my face, and his stern eyes softened a little. + +I went up to him, reaching forth my trembling hands; the ache of pain +broke away from my heart in a flood of tears. What I said, even a word I +cannot recollect; but I have the remembrance of a frail woman standing +before that haughty man, with her hands clasped and tears falling down +her face like rain. She was eloquent, I know; for the man's face changed +gradually, and his eyes grew misty as they looked into hers. But just as +an outgush of hope thrilled her heart, a name dropped from her lips--a +name that she loathed, and uttered bitterly, no doubt; then all the +gentle light left his face, and he was iron again. So the woman went +away wounded to the soul, and with limbs that almost refused to support +her. She sat up all night watching with the sick girl, while her own +heart scarcely beat beneath its load of dull pain. + +At daylight, this unhappy creature heard faint noises in the house; but +she did not move. Then came the sound of wheels upon the terrace-road; +still she sat motionless. You might have shot her through the heart, and +she would not have lifted a hand to put back the threatened death. + +The sound of those carriage-wheels moving away through the pine grove +aroused the beautiful invalid. She started up from her pillow, and +throwing out both arms toward the window, cried out,-- + +"Father, oh, my father!" + +No one answered. Her father was gone. + +We were alone now--I had no explanations to make. All the family knew +that Mrs. Dennison had gone away, and all except Lottie had been +informed that Mr. Lee had started on a long tour in Europe. She, good, +noble girl, had been so busy caring for Jessie, that the news only +reached her after Mr. Lee had been gone some hours. Then she seemed +greatly disturbed, and questioned me on the subject in her usual blunt, +searching way. + +My conversation with Lottie passed in her own room, and I cautioned her +against speaking of Mr. Lee in his daughter's presence, telling her +truly that no one had an idea how ill her mistress was except +ourselves. + +There was something more than curiosity on the young girl's mind. I am +sure of that, for she was like a wild creature, and seemed frantic to +know which way Mr. Lee had gone. But no one could tell her. The coachman +saw him take the train for New York, that was all he knew about it; if +she wanted to find out, it was not the road Mrs. Dennison had taken. She +went the other way--no disputing that. He had taken pains to inquire. + +That night, notwithstanding Jessie's illness was becoming more +threatening each hour, Lottie, usually so kind-hearted, called me from +the room to inquire if she could be spared for a day or two, and if I +could lend her ten dollars. It was a great sum, she knew, but she'd pay +it back faithfully; yes, if she had to sell the brooch and ear-rings +that Miss Jessie gave her out of the dear lady's things. + +Shall I own it? This hard-heartedness in Lottie gave me something like +hope--the girl was sharp and courageous. She had thoughts which no one +could fathom, and which she was evidently hoarding for the good of her +benefactors. Still, I was left, in some degree, her guardian. Should I +permit her to go off on some wild adventure, only from a forlorn hope +that it might benefit her young mistress? + +The strange girl did not put me to the test; but judging from my +hesitation that I was about to refuse her the money, flew off, saying it +was no matter, maybe she should change her mind after all. + +The next morning, when I inquired for Lottie, she was gone. + +Three days after she came back, looking very much depressed and so +cross, except in the sick-room, that all the servants in the house were +complaining of her temper. + +She gave no explanation of her absence, except that, directly after her +return, she gave me a New York paper--one that seldom reached our +household--in which Mr. Lee's name was announced among the list of +passengers in a steamer that had sailed the day after he left home. + +All this time Jessie had been delirious, and knew nothing of the trouble +that had swept half our household away. It was a mercy. Had she +comprehended everything as I did, that delicate organism, so unused to +suffering of any kind, must have given way with more lamentable +consequences; as it was, the young life was scarcely kept afire in her +bosom. + +In her delirium, Jessie was always wandering off into the past, and her +pure heart broke forth in a thousand sweet fancies, in which her father +and mother were always the moving spirits. Strange enough, she never +once mentioned Lawrence or Mrs. Dennison, even in her wildest moments; +but once, when Lottie came into the chamber, holding a bottle of perfume +such as Mrs. Dennison always used, the dear girl fell back on her pillow +and fainted quite away. + +The moment news of Jessie's illness got abroad in the neighborhood, old +Mrs. Bosworth came to see us--the dear, old motherly lady--how gentle +and kind she was! There seemed to be a charm in that plump hand, with +the old-fashioned diamond-rings lighting up its whiteness; for when it +had rested awhile on Jessie's forehead, the dear girl would drop into a +soft slumber, and awake with less tremulous nerves and a clearer brain. + +At last the fever burned itself out, and Jessie awoke to a consciousness +of actual life. She was too weak for any powerful emotion; and when we +were at last forced to admit that her father had gone, and that we had +no means of communicating with him, she only heaved a feeble sigh, and, +turning her head, lay, weeping softly, on her pillow, till the very +exhaustion left her calmed. + +Slowly, but with a steady progress, Jessie gained her strength; and, as +her mother had rested among the crimson cushions of that couch, sat one +day, when Mrs. Bosworth came to spend the morning with us. We had +braided her hair for the first time that morning, and prisoned its +coils in a crimson net, with drops of gold in the web, and flashes of +gold in the tassels. The reflection of its rich Magenta tints gave a +faint color to her cheeks; her white morning dress, with its profusion +of Valenciennes lace about the sleeves and bosom, lost its chilly look +under a rich India shawl that we had folded over it. Indeed, altogether, +the dear child looked so like herself, that we were rejoicing over her +when the old lady came in. + +They had become very good friends during those sick-hours--that dear old +duchess and our Jessie. So when the lady came in, rustling across the +floor like a rich autumn, our invalid smiled almost for the first time +since her illness, and held out her hand. + +I was in the habit of leaving Mrs. Bosworth and Jessie to themselves, +and was stealing from the room, when the old lady called me back. + +"Come, Miss Hyde," she said, "help me to gain a favor of our child. She +is looking so well, her hand feels so cool; do you think a little +company would harm her?" + +Jessie colored faintly and lifted her eyes to the old lady's face. + +"He has been here every day--don't start, dear! What was more natural +than that an old lady like me should want the care of a man strong +enough to help her if her staff gives way? Nothing has been done that +could wound you; but he is very anxious--and now that you are so well, +and looking so pretty, what if we let him come up? Eh, Miss Hyde?" + +Before I could answer, Lottie had left the room; with a chuckle and a +leap she cleared the staircase, and, finding young Bosworth in the +square balcony, presented Miss Hyde's compliments, and desired him to +walk up to the tower-chamber. + +I was going down to perform the same ceremony, in a different way, when +Lottie met me on the stairs. I stopped on the landing to let the young +gentleman pass; Lottie followed, opened the door, closed it softly, and +came back. + +"What's the use of shuffling about in this way?" she said. "She wants +him to go up, and he wants to go. When people want a good slide down +hill, what's the use of putting jumpers in the way? I'm getting sick of +your notions, Miss Hyde. Wouldn't give a copper for delicacy; and as for +honor, see what it's done. Don't talk to me!" + +With a sort of Jim-Crow step, Lottie whirled about on the landing, gave +a leap down three stairs at a time, and went off somewhat in her former +style. + +I was glad to see a dash of the old spirit coming back to the strange +creature; but a moment after I looked out and saw her crying like a +child, behind one of the large garden vases. After all, there was no +real cheerfulness about Lottie. Spasmodic flashes of her nature would +break out, but at heart she mourned continually. + + + + +CHAPTER LXIII. + +OLD-FASHIONED POLITENESS. + + +When I entered Jessie's room, the old lady was busy arranging some +flowers, which they had brought, in a vase near the window. She had put +on her gold spectacles, and was examining the tints so carefully, that +there was no room for attention anywhere else. + +Bosworth was sitting near Jessie, looking so pleased at being permitted +to her presence, that I could not help a throb of sympathetic pleasure. +He had, I am sure, been holding Jessie's hand; for as I came in, she +withdrew it with a hasty movement, and its delicate whiteness was +flushed, as if warm lips had touched it. No wonder the young man was +happy! Jessie Lee would never have permitted that bearded mouth to +approach her hand unless a true heart had beaten quicker to the touch. +Lawrence had gained no favor like that in the time of his greatest +power. + +The old duchess was looking through her spectacles just as I came in; +but not exactly at the flowers, or that bland little smile would never +have made her mouth look so young, or that demure blush have settled on +her soft cheek. Dear old lady! All those years, while they taught her +limbs the uses of a staff, had left her heart fresh and modest as a +girl's. How transparent was the gentle artifice with which she beguiled +me out of the room, to search for some purple heliotrope that might +soften the tints of her bouquet! + +As Jessie grew better, these visits were repeated. Young Bosworth seldom +failed to come with his grandmother; and after a little the old lady +would often stay behind, contenting herself with some message, or a +present of fruit and flowers. Then no excuse became necessary, except +that Jessie required a stronger arm than mine to support her first walks +in the garden; and after that the young man seemed more at home in our +house than he could have been in the fine old mansion behind the hill. + +Spite of the painful circumstances that had left us so lonely, we were +beginning to feel the strength of our lives slowly returning. True, +there was an undercurrent of deep, deep trouble all the time sweeping +through an existence that seemed so bright to others. + +The cruel absence of Mr. Lee, his determined silence, always lay heavily +upon us; but it was not as if we had deserved the stern displeasure +which had driven him away; and if we mourned over this great sorrow, +there was some relief in the oppression that Mrs. Dennison's departure +had taken away. + +Of this woman we heard nothing, and her name was seldom mentioned, even +by Lottie. We all shrunk in terror from the reminiscences connected +with her. Still our lives were more endurable than they had been for +many a month; and but for the aching pain which sprung out of that scene +in the library, we might have been tranquil,--sad with the great loss +which had fallen upon the house, but hopeful for the future. + +But with that gentle woman, lying in her last sleep down in the valley, +and the power of our house gone from us, we could only wait and hope +that God, in his infinite justice, would yet unfold the truth to Mr. +Lee, and give him back to his home. + +Sometimes Jessie and I would talk over these matters when quite alone in +her room; but the whole chain of events was too inexplicable and full of +pain for frequent mention. Jessie hardly yet comprehended the enormity +of the charge brought against her. What was in the letter which her +dying mother had grasped so tightly to the last moment? Who had written +it? Was the handwriting like hers--did I think? Her head had been so +dizzy that she could not make out a line of it. + +These were the questions she would now and then put to me. I told her +what the anonymous letter to Mrs. Dennison contained, but I had no heart +to enlighten her with regard to my conjectures about the other. Nor +could I for one moment guess what its import might have been, except +from Mr. Lee's words, and the terrible effect it had produced upon him. +Never for an instant did I doubt Jessie's innocence in the matter, +whatever it might prove. She was truth itself. + +Sometimes I wondered if Lottie had not written those fatal missives. The +girl was bright and sharp as steel. She was not without education; and I +remembered, in confirmation of these doubts, that of late I had often +found her writing something which she endeavored to conceal. Had she +not, in her practice, copied Jessie's handwriting, and taken this +method of warning her mistress? Nothing was more natural. The girl might +thus unconsciously have cast suspicion on her young lady. + +That Lottie was capable of writing the letters, I had no doubt--not with +malice, but from an ardent desire to drive the woman who had wounded us +so deeply from the house. With her crude ideas, and intense devotion to +us all, she might have settled on this method of ridding the house of +its torment. + +I questioned Lottie on this subject, so far as I could venture, without +informing her of what had passed in the library, of which she was +entirely ignorant; but she declared that she knew nothing of the letter, +which had been given to her mistress, till it was placed in her own +hands by the man who brought our mails from the town. As for Mrs. +Dennison, she would as soon touch a copperhead as write a word to that +she-Babylon. + +All this might be true. At any rate, Lottie looked truthful when she +said it; but in her sayings and doings, the girl was not altogether as +clear as crystal, and, spite of her protestations, I had some doubt +left. + +No person except Jessie and myself, either in the house or neighborhood, +knew the reason of Mr. Lee's sudden departure. It was understood that, +broken down by the death of his wife, he had sought distraction from +grief in travelling. So the secret, growing more and more bitter every +day--for we received no letters--rested between us two. As the time wore +on, we became miserably anxious. + +Had Mr. Lee utterly abandoned his daughter? Would he never return to his +home and prove how true and loving she had always been? His cruel anger +had thrown her almost upon a bed of death, yet he could go from his home +without a word of inquiry or comfort. + +Jessie was a proud girl, as I have said more than once, and as young +Lawrence had good reason to know; but all her haughty self-esteem gave +way where her father was concerned. She never blamed him, nor ceased to +pine for his presence. What it was that had separated them she could not +understand; but that her father was unjust or wrong, never entered her +mind for an instant. + +As for me--but what right had I in the matter? The right of anxiety such +as eats all happiness out of a human life--the hungry feeling of a +beggar that dares not ask for food. + +I think we should have gone insane--Jessie and I--if this terrible +anxiety had been without its relief; but, as days and weeks passed, +bringing no letter, no message, we sunk gradually into a state of +despair, not the less wearying that it was silent. + +Thus six months crept by. The duties of life went on--the household +routine met with no obstruction. It was wonderful how little change +appeared around us. Yet the tower-chamber was empty, and _he_ was +gone,--we, two lonely women, lived on, to all appearance, the same; but +oh! how changed at heart! + + + + +CHAPTER LXIV. + +NEWS FROM ABROAD. + + +We heard of Mr. Lee once or twice through the public journals, now +travelling in the Holy Land, again in the heart of Russia, but no +letters came. We wrote to him more than once, but directed at random, +and our letters probably never reached him. + +One day, when Lottie was in the room, I took up a New York journal, and +read this paragraph from a Paris correspondent,-- + + "A wedding is expected to take place within the month, at the + American Legation in Paris. Mr. Lee, a wealthy landholder of + Pennsylvania, is to be married to Mrs. Dennison, a beautiful and + fashionable widow, who is said to have been the intimate friend + of his first wife." + +I read this paragraph through. My face must have betrayed the deathly +feeling that came over me, for Lottie came behind my chair, read a few +words over my shoulder, and snatched the paper from my hand with a +suddenness that tore it almost in two. + +"What is it," inquired Jessie, started by this action--"any--anything +about _him_?" + +"About him? I should think so. Sin, iniquity, and pestilence. Read it, +Miss Jessie, I can't; it seems as if a snake were crawling over it." + +Jessie took the paper, read it, and fainted in her chair. + +Lottie did not seem to regard the condition of her young mistress, but +ran out of the room, clenching her hand fiercely, as if she longed for +bitter contest with some one. + +These paroxysms of feeling had been very unusual with her of late; for +in the quiet of our mournful lives, she had been left a good deal to her +loneliness in the tower, where she still kept guard over Mrs. Lee's +chamber. + +Sometimes she reverted to the past, and would ask anxiously if I knew +where Babylon was spreading her plumes. But I had no means of informing +her, being in profound ignorance of that lady's movements from the time +she left our house. + +This would satisfy Lottie; but I remarked that she had taken a sudden +and deep interest in her geographical studies, for I seldom went to her +room without finding an atlas open upon the table, and a gazetteer close +by, which she seemed to have been diligently studying. + +I had thought but little of these things at the time; but they came back +to me with force on the very next day, when Lottie came to me in the +garden, and inquired anxiously if Miss Jessie wasn't just breaking her +heart over that paragraph in the newspaper. + +I answered that Miss Lee was very sad and unhappy, certainly. + +"I knew it--I was sure of it," cried the girl, with quick tears in her +eyes. "It will kill her--she will pine away like her mother. You know +she will, Miss Hyde." + +"I'm afraid so, Lottie." + +"Afraid, and stand by doing nothing but bathe her head with cologne, and +cry over her. That isn't the way to cure all this, Miss Hyde." + +"But what else can I do, Lottie?" + +"You? Nothing." + +She went off to a flower-bed, tore some mignonette up by the roots, +tossed it from her, and came back again. + +"Miss Hyde, I am tired to death of all this. The house isn't fit to live +in since my dear, sweet lady was taken from it. There's been nothing but +sickness, and quarrelling, and going away since, and I've about made up +my mind to go away too. I can't stand it, and I won't, so there!" + +"Why, Lottie," I cried, lost in astonishment, "what does this mean?" + +"It means that I'm tired of doing nothing--of being slighted, and made +of no account. It means that I want to see the world, and know a thing +or two about life. You and Miss Jessie just mope about like sick +kittens; and as for the servants--well, I don't belong in that crew, +anyhow--but they are getting worse and worse. The long and the short of +it all is, I have made up my mind to go away right off, and do something +worth while. I only wish you would ask Miss Jessie to settle up with me +now, right on the nail, for I'm in an awful hurry to get off." + +Settle up! I should have been less astonished if the house-dog had made +a sudden claim for wages. Lottie had always been considered as a child +of the establishment, to be cared for and petted beyond all idea of +payment. She had never seemed to care for money, nor know how to use it. +But while enjoying her life in a state of luxurious ease, almost +equalling that of her young mistress, she descended upon us with a rough +demand for wages--wages from the time she entered the house, a mere +child, up to that very day--no inconsiderable sum, according to her own +estimate. + +This singular outbreak of cupidity astonished me, and half indignantly I +expostulated with the girl. But though her cheeks blazed with seeming +shame, and her eyes sunk under mine, she persisted in this grave demand. +All that she had received, her dear, dear mistress had given out and +out--that had nothing to do with wages; there was her bill--four hundred +dollars--and she wanted it in gold--hard gold, nothing else. + +I went to Jessie with the bill. She did not seem to heed the amount, but +was distressed at the idea of parting with her mother's faithful +attendant. Hoping that something had gone wrong, and that this was a +sudden impulse, she sent for Lottie, in order to expostulate with her; +for it seemed like turning a bird, which had become used to its cage, +loose upon the world, if we allowed the girl to have her way. + +Lottie came in, looking dogged and shy; Jessie held out her hand, with a +piteous smile, for she was thinking of her mother. + +"Lottie, what have we done that you wish to leave us?" + +"Nothing on earth, Miss Jess. I ain't mad at you, nor any one; but yet I +want to go down to York and get a place. It's lonesome here." + +Jessie's eyes filled with tears. It was indeed very lonesome. + +"And will you leave us for that, Lottie?" + +The girl was troubled; her color came and went. She was about to burst +into tears--but answered still,-- + +"It's lonesome, and I want to go. Why can't you let me, without all +this? I ain't made of cast-iron, nor yet of brass. Please give me my +money and let me go." + +"But you are so helpless. What will become of you in a great city?" +pleaded Jessie. + +Lottie came up to her and knelt in her old way. + +"Let me go, Miss Jessie, and don't try to stop me, for it'll be of no +use, only to make my heart ache worse than it does now. Don't be afraid +about me! If God shows the birds their way through the woods, He won't +let me get lost." + +"Poor Lottie!" said the young mistress, looking kindly on the girl +through her tears, "I would rather give up anything than you." + +Lottie seized her hand, pressing her lips upon it. + +"Don't, don't!" she pleaded. "You would not say a word if you only--" + +"Only what, girl?" + +"Nothing, nothing. I must go, that is the long and the short of it." + +Lottie shook off her tears as a dog scatters the rain from his coat, +and, starting up, assumed her rude manner. + +"I will not keep you against your will, my poor girl," said Jessie, +sadly; "but how can you find the way?" + +"Easy enough, Miss. I've been studying geography and the maps, these +last three months, besides reading about everything." + +"And have you got any idea of a place?" + +"Plenty, Miss. I shall be settled the first week. Only give me my wages, +and don't try to persuade me again what my mind is made up to." + +"Well, Lottie, you shall have the money. I am sure that can never repay +all you have done for my mother!" + +"Don't, don't, Miss Jessie! I want to make my heart like a grinding +mill-stone, and you won't let me. Now don't!" + +"Well, I will not distress you," replied Jessie, gently; "but remember, +Lottie, when you get tired of this new life, or have spent your money, +come back to your old home. No person shall fill your place." + +"Oh! Miss Jess, Miss Jess! can't you stop?" cried the wild creature, +absolutely flinging up her arms in desperation. + +Jessie looked at her thoughtfully a moment; then, unlocking her parlor +safe, counted out the gold Lottie had demanded. + +"Be careful that the money does not get you into trouble, Lottie," I +said, really anxious about the young thing. + +Lottie took the gold in her apron, and her tears dropped over it as she +turned away. She really seemed heart-broken. + +"If anything should happen," said Jessie, regarding her troubles with +tenderness,--"if you should lose it, or fall into want, and still not +wish to come back, write to me and I will send you more." + +"Would you?--would you?" cried Lottie, with quick animation; "then, oh! +Miss Jess! make it six hundred now. I never, never shall want money so +much again in my life." + +"Six hundred, Lottie?" + +"Yes, six! I tried and tried to cipher it out that much; but it wouldn't +multiply or add up to the mark; but if you would now--" + +She paused and looked wistfully at the gold through her tears. + +Jessie looked at me for encouragement. Dear girl! she had less idea of +the value of money than Lottie herself. + +"She was so kind to _her_!" whispered the mistress, drawing close to me. + +"Or if you'd just lend it to me," pleaded Lottie. "Now, Miss Hyde, don't +go to killing the white dove that I see spreading its wings in her +bosom this very minute; I wouldn't turn against you, nor tell anything, +you know that." + +"I will give her the money--the good child; how could it be in my heart +to refuse her?" said Jessie. + +Lottie went to the open safe and began to count out the other twenty +pieces of gold, which she jingled one by one against their companions in +her apron. Her breath came quickly; and when she had done she came +toward us eagerly, gathering the apron in her hand, and hugging it with +the gold to her bosom. + +"Oh! I'm ready to jump out of my skin with joy and thankfulness!" she +exclaimed. "Good-bye, young mistress--good-bye, Miss Hyde, I'm so sorry +that I ever twitted you about writing poetry, and some other things I +won't mention." + +Lottie went out of the room in great excitement, and left us astonished +and very anxious. We talked the matter over without result. If the girl +was determined to go, we had not a shadow of power to prevent it, and we +could not yet make up our minds that she was absolutely wrong. There was +something in the bottom of her heart that we were unable to fathom. + +But we determined that night to make another attempt to detain the +strange girl; if that proved impossible, to send a trusty person to +protect her on her way to New York and bring back news of her safety. +Somewhat consoled by these resolutions, we separated for the night. The +next morning, when we sent for Lottie, the servants told us that she had +been gone two hours, having ridden to town with the man who brought over +the morning papers, before any one but the servants was astir. We sent +over to the town immediately, and learned that she had left by a train +that passed ten minutes after she reached the depot. + + + + +CHAPTER LXV. + +LOTTIE LEAVES A LETTER AND A BOOK. + + +The departure of Lottie added to our trouble. We had learned to love the +girl very much, and this wild work, in a creature so utterly unused to +the world, distressed us greatly. Unconsciously even to ourselves, we +had begun to rely upon Lottie as a friend, and bright, if not safe +counsellor. Her untiring spirit amused us when nothing else could. +Indeed, she was like an April day in the house, half storm, half +sunshine, but interesting in any phase of her erratic life. It seemed as +if half the light had left our house, when the man came back from the +railroad and told us that she was absolutely gone. Jessie went off to +her own room with tears in her eyes. I would have given the world to +know where that strange young creature was going, and half my life could +I have followed her. + +Sadness is sure to seek shelter in shadowy places. Mine carried me into +the chamber of my lost friend. It was dim and orderly, like a church +closed after service. The white bed on which she died, gleamed upon me +through the dim light like an altar. The blinds were closed, the sashes +down; a funereal stillness had settled on everything she once loved to +look upon. I sunk down upon my knees by the bed, weeping bitterly. Would +that woman ever dare to stand in Mrs. Lee's room, its mistress? Had she +ever yet been able to wipe the blood-stain from her own lips gathered +from the heart she had broken by a Judas kiss? + +Upon my knees in that room, I felt and knew that a murder, so crafty +that the criminal herself could torture it into accident to her own +conscience, had been perpetrated there. The voice of my dead friend +seemed calling on me to avenge her, and save the man she had loved +better than her own soul, from a thraldom worse than death. In my +anguish I cried out, "What can I do? what can I do?" + +Nothing answered me. I was alone, doubly alone, since that girl had left +us. Never before had my helplessness been so complete. Perhaps I had +indulged in some wild hope connected with Lottie, and that had been cut +from under my feet by her desertion. If so, I was unconscious of it; but +no lame man ever felt the loss of his staff, as I felt the cruel +ingratitude of this girl. Still I had a vague trust in her, a hope +changing and fantastic as the wind, but still a hope that she might not +prove the thoughtless creature her conduct seemed to bespeak her. + +One end of the room was less gloomy than the rest, and a bar of light +cutting across it disturbed me. It came through the partially opened +door of Lottie's little chamber, in which a blind had been left +unclosed. I went into the room, and there, directly beneath the window, +saw the girl's writing-desk, on which lay a letter and a blank-book, +which I remembered to have given Lottie one day, when she had pressed me +earnestly for something of the kind. The letter was placed +ostentatiously on its edge, and I saw that it was addressed to me. I +opened it with some trepidation and read:-- + + MY DEAR, DEAR MISS HYDE:--Please do not think me a heathen and a + viper of ingratitude, because I have done what I couldn't help, + but remember me kindly, and make Miss Jessie do the same. It isn't + in me to be really bad, or anything like it, though I sometimes do + things out of the common, and make you angry, because you cannot + understand why I do them; not knowing everything, how should you? + There is one thing on my conscience, and I am going to own up to + it. You remember when Babylon went away, I was going in a hurry + into my room with something in my hand, when you wanted to know + what it was. I bluffed you off and wouldn't tell, thinking to get + the article back in good order before she went. But Babylon was + in a terrible hurry, and I had no chance to do anything before her + trunks were locked; so without meaning it at all, I was what some + people might call a--well, I won't use the name, it looks + dreadfully on paper, but her journal was left in my hand + promiscuously, as one may say. Still I meant to return it to her, + and mean to yet, if I ever get a good chance. I only thought at + the time to get Mr. Lee to read it, but before I could do that, + off he went, circumventing me in all respects, and making us + wretched. For my part, with that book on hand--of no use too--I + felt like a thief. If he had only waited till I could have seen + him; but he didn't, and that has made me so unhappy that I cannot + stay at home. I have copied off that she-Babylon's book, almost + the whole of it, and I leave the copy for you--read it, and then + say if Judas Iscariot wasn't a gentleman and philosopher, compared + to this woman. I have got her book in my trunk. You wondered what + I was writing so much about. Well, it was that. When she went out + to ride days, Cora was sure to be down-stairs, and I knew where + she kept her keys, so after awhile I had only to copy what Babylon + wrote over-night, having got the rest copied by hard work. Well, + at last everything was huddled up of a sudden, and I was + behind-hand three or four days--so I made a dash for the book and + hadn't time to put it back. I wonder if she's missed it? Mercy on + us! what a time there will be when she does. I wouldn't be in that + yellow girl's skin for something; but never mind, it will do her + good--the black snake! + + Read the book, and then you will find out what a rattlesnake we + have had curled up in the bosom of our family. + + Good-bye, Miss Hyde; don't think I'm crying because there is a + drop just here. It's something else, I don't just know what, but + crying is out of my--my--Oh, Miss Hyde! Miss Hyde! I do think my + heart is breaking. I can't stand it. Don't expect me to say + good-bye. Don't think hard of me for going. What else can I say. + Oh, do, do think well of me; I am not a bad girl, nor ungrateful, + believe that, and believe me your true LOTTIE till death. + +I read the letter through more than once. Then I sat down and +deliberated with my eyes on the book. Had I a right to read it, after +all I had seen and heard of this woman; was I justified in searching out +her secrets in that way? + +But for the suspicions that still haunted me regarding Mrs. Lee's death, +I should have decided against it, but I had learned too much for +continued hesitation. Still, my very soul recoiled from the task of +searching the life of this woman. When I reached forth my hand for the +book, it seemed as if my fingers were poisoned with the touch. I would +not take the volume to my own room, but sat down by the window and read +it through before I arose from my seat. The pages frenzied me. + +Lottie wrote a bold, plain hand, copying anything before her clearly +enough. In places the writing gave evidence of hurry and nervousness, +but it was in no part really difficult to read. The journal began at the +marriage of Miss Wells with old Mr. Dennison, and seemed to have been +detached from the other portion of her life about that time. If anything +preceded it, Lottie had failed to take a copy. + + + + +CHAPTER LXVI. + +MRS. DENNISON'S JOURNAL. + + +How many years will this last? I did not expect that this dull +stagnation of life would oppress me so. I knew that he was seventy years +of age, and thought it would be no great hardship to be petted as an old +man's darling, for the few years that might follow. Indeed, he is a +gentleman, and loves me, I am sure, more devotedly than ever a young man +loved his bride. At first I really thought myself almost happy. It was +so pleasant to get away from my old home, after it had been torn to +pieces by hungry creditors, and all the old servants driven into new +places, that protection and kindness made everything seem like a +blessed new life. Mr. Dennison told me that he has loved me ever since I +was a little girl, and always intended to make me his wife. He has been +a firm, firm friend to my father, I know that well enough, and never +would have permitted the old home to be torn up had poor papa lived. As +it is, he let all the rest go, and rescuing Cora and myself from the +wreck, made me his wife and gave her the liberty she would not take. + +"He was kind in showing us something of the world, before he brought us +here for good, yet I am not sure that it was wise to throw me suddenly +into the society from which I was to be withdrawn so soon. I learned one +thing there which sometimes stirs the wish in my heart that I had +waited. This thing I have become assured of: I am beautiful, and beauty +is a great power. No matter, it has done something for me in winning +this fine old gentleman; but when I think what it might have +accomplished, I feel defrauded out of half my life. No, no, I do not +often feel this. My life was pleasant enough at first, when our wedding +brought so many gay and clever people around us. But now that we have +retreated to the plantation, everything is dull as the grave. +Cotton-fields here, blossoming all over, as with snow by the handful, +corn there, tall and thrifty, great live-oaks bearded with moss, and +half strangled under the everlasting clasp of mistletoe, make the +landscape beautiful, and these things interested me greatly for a time. +But I am getting weary of them, and of the grand old house, with its +endless verandas and clinging roses, its delicate India matting, and the +snowy whiteness of its draperies. I long for change--pine for society, +while he seems to think that his presence alone should make this place a +heaven. What is it to me, that even in mid-winter I can stoop from my +window and gather oranges from the green boughs that bend across it? The +novelty has worn away, and this profusion of roses satiates me. You +find them everywhere, hiding the fences in ridges and slopes of glossy +foliage, studded thickly with great stars of whiteness, that would be +exquisite but for the commonness, the negroes bringing them to me by the +basketful, until I sicken with the fragrance,--yellow, white, crimson, +and damask, all heaped together in gorgeous masses that delight you at +first, and then become tiresome, are every day brought to me from the +grounds. + +"Yesterday one of the negroes came in with a whole armful of magnolias +in full bloom. The marvellous white blossoms, with their great chalices +running over with fragrance, filled the air with such richness as I have +never dreamed of before. I sat down upon a low stool on the front +veranda, and with the quivering shadows from a great catalpa-tree +falling around me, had these noble blossoms heaped at my feet, yielding +myself to the exquisite perfume, till the atmosphere made me faint with +delight. It was a delicious, sensuous enjoyment which I shall never +forget, but one cannot repeat such things, and 'not even love can live +on flowers.' Where love is not and never can be, such things sicken one. + +"While I sat there, with the great white blossoms breathing at my feet, +and a mocking-bird up in the catalpa-tree thrilling the air with music, +a horseman came riding up the avenue, now in the sunshine, now in the +shadow of the great live-oaks, leisurely, as if he found pleasure in +lingering on a road so beautiful and tranquil. He was a young man, tall +and well-formed, who rode his horse with an easy military air full of +command. Even at the distance I could see that his bearing was noble and +his face a grand one. + +"The sight of this man aroused me from the dreamy languor which had been +so delightful, and I watched his approach with interest. Directly I was +sensible that he had discovered me sitting there in the shadows; for his +horse quickened its pace, and in a moment he drew up, and, leaning from +his saddle, addressed me,-- + +"'Excuse me, madam; but I have been unable to discover any servant on +the ground, and may have intruded. Does this place belong to Mr. +Dennison?' + +"I answered that it did, and arising from my seat, desired him to +dismount. Mr. Dennison, I said, would be at home in a short time, and +would doubtless be happy to see him. + +"The stranger sprang from his horse, and flung the bridle to one of the +men who came lazily from the house to receive it. I made a movement +toward the door, but he gave a glance around at the beautiful view--the +flowery thickets and rich slopes of grass--as if reluctant to leave +them. Then his eyes fell upon me, and I saw them light up with sudden +admiration. I did not intend it, but at the moment I must have taken +some attitude of grace to bring such light into a stranger's +countenance. He stood for a whole minute gazing on me as if I had been a +picture. I felt myself blushing, and drew the flowing muslin of my +sleeve over the arm on which his glance fell as it left my face. Then he +turned away, and as I sunk to my seat again, placed himself in a +garden-chair, drawing a deep breath. + +"'Ah, forgive me,' he said, 'what awkwardness. I have trodden upon one +of your beautiful flowers.' + +"'But there still remain more than enough to make the air oppressive,' I +answered. + +"'For my part,' he said, smiling pleasantly, 'I could breathe it +forever. Indeed, lady, you have a paradise here.' + +"Was it indeed so lovely? A moment before my soul had wearied of its +very beauties; now a feeling of pride that they were mine stole into my +thoughts. It certainly was something to be mistress of a place like +that. While our visitor seemed to give himself up to enjoyment of the +scene, I saw that his eyes were constantly returning to me. I had been +sitting in the open air a long time, and felt that my hair and dress +must be in some disorder. This idea made me anxious. I arose, and asking +him to excuse me, ran up to my room to make sure that I was not +altogether hideous. One glance in the great swinging mirror reassured +me. No cloud was ever more pure than the muslin of my white dress; a +cluster of red and white roses held back the thick ringlets of my hair, +and a single half-open bud fastened the white folds on my bosom. My maid +Cora had followed me out on the veranda that morning, and thus arranged +the finest flowers she could gather. Had I studied at my glass an hour, +nothing more becoming could have been invented. That girl is a treasure; +she loves and serves me as no other creature ever did or ever will. She +was my dower, my inheritance. The only possession I had in the world was +this one girl, when Mr. Dennison married me. I sometimes wonder if he +knows why I love and prize her so much. I heard her voice through the +window. The stranger was asking her some question which she answered +modestly, and was going away. I wonder if he thinks her beautiful. To me +the pure olive of her complexion, which just admits of a tinge of +carnation in the cheek, is wonderfully effective. She is a brunette +intensified, but oh, how the poor thing hates the blood that separates +her from us by that one dark shade. No wonder! no wonder! + +"Why should I think of this, while looking in the glass to assure myself +that I was presentable? I cannot tell, except that this unhappy girl is +an object of such profound compassion with me at all times. The +education which she has received, I sometimes think, renders her life +more bitter than it might have been; but my father would have it so, and +perhaps he was right. + +"I went down to the veranda again, and found the stranger talking to +Cora, who stood with her back against one of the pillars, answering his +questions with downcast eyes. She moved away as I appeared, and went +into the house. I saw the stranger follow her lithe movements with his +eyes, and felt myself coloring with anger. Was he searching her +features from admiration or curiosity? I wish it were possible to +discover. + +"I had been reading, and left a book on one of the little marble tables +that stood in the veranda. Some richly colored embroidery lay in my +work-basket close by it, and in taking it up, the volume fell. + +"The stranger stooped to replace it on the table, but his eye caught the +title; a flash of crimson shot across his forehead, and he cast a quick +glance at me, as if the question in my eyes disturbed him. + +"'A new book, I see; have you read it?' + +"He was turning over the leaves, as he asked the question. + +"'Yes,' I replied, 'I have read it more than once.' + +"'More than once?' + +"'Yes, it is a book that requires some thought. Full of ideas and +original suggestions. The story itself is a painful one. Indeed, I have +my doubts--' + +"'Well, you have your doubts?' + +"His face flushed, his eyes searched mine with a look almost of defiance +in them. + +"'Yes,' I continued, coloring painfully, for I am young and afraid to +express adverse opinions, 'I sometimes doubt if it is not a little +wicked.' + +"He laughed, 'Oh, you are young, and a woman.' + +"'Well,' I answered, 'this is what I mean, when I finished reading that +book, it made me restless, unhappy--discontented with everything around +me.' + +"'That is, perhaps, because you did not understand it.' + +"'But goodness is so simple, I can understand that always.' + +"'I grant you, but human life is not all perfection; unfortunately, good +and evil are pretty nearly balanced on this earth, and there is nothing +picturesque enough in a dead-level of goodness to interest the reader +through an entire story. To attempt that, would be like painting a +picture without shadows. Your real author understands the force of +contrasts.' + +"'But a book which has so little of the virtuous and pure in it, yields +up this power of contrast, by letting no sunshine into its pages,' I +said. 'The fault of this work is, that it dwells too entirely on the +dark passions.' + +"'Then you condemn it?' + +"'No, indeed, the pictures are too grand, the passions too strongly +portrayed for that. The author, whoever he is, must be a man of powerful +genius. I only wish he had softened his pictures and let in a few of the +gentler sentiments.' + +"'And so do I.' + +"He spoke with emphasis, closing the book. Then I noticed that a flush +was on his face, and he cast the volume from him with a gesture of +dislike. + +"'You know the author of that book?' I said on the impulse. + +"'Yes, lady, I know him well--some day he shall be made the wiser, by +learning your opinion.' + +"'Oh, I hope not. It was rash, perhaps altogether wrong. I am no critic, +and only spoke as the book impressed me.' + +"'That is criticism,' he answered, 'and I dare say correct, but the +volume is hardly worthy of so much consideration. The author is too much +honored, that you have read it at all.' + +"I was about to answer, when Mr. Dennison rode up in his carriage, and +seeing my companion, waved his hand with that cordial welcome so +universal in the South. The moment he appeared, I felt chilled, and took +up my embroidery, knowing well that no more conversation that I could +join in, would be offered that day. + +"Certainly, Mr. Dennison is a handsome old gentleman. As a father, one +might be very proud of him, but now a strange feeling comes over me at +his approach. I turn from his elaborate elegance of speech and manner +with a wish for something fresher. Cora is not more my slave than I +could make him, but the task of perpetual fondness is too much. Oh, if +he had only adopted me!" + + + + +CHAPTER LXVII. + +OUR FIRST VISITOR. + + +"Mr. Dennison descended from his carriage and came forward with more +haste and animation than was usual to him. He was evidently delighted to +see his guest. + +"'Why, Lawrence, is it you; when and how did you reach us?' he said, +extending his hand. + +"'Half an hour ago, by rail and steamer,' answered the gentleman, +meeting Mr. Dennison half-way, and shaking hands with him. + +"'Made the acquaintance of my wife, I see?' + +"As he spoke, Mr. Dennison glanced smilingly toward me. + +"'Oh, yes, I think so; if this young lady is your wife.' + +"The gentleman hesitated in some confusion. I think he had taken me for +Mr. Dennison's daughter. + +"The old gentleman turned suddenly red, and laughed a little +unnaturally. + +"'My wife, yes, almost a bride yet, but we are making her blush. My +love, this is Mr. Lawrence, of New York, one of the best friends I have. +You must take him into especial favor for your husband's sake.' + +"I am sure there was color enough in my face then. Why will Mr. Dennison +constantly drag that odious word, husband, into everything he says? Does +he think I can ever forget it? + +"We sat down in company, enjoying the cool shadows of the veranda. All +my pleasure was at an end; the conversation turned upon stocks, +railroads, and mining. I gathered from it that Mr. Lawrence was a +stock-broker or something of that kind, and that Mr. Dennison was +connected with him in an enterprise for which money was to be supplied. +Once or twice I caught the stranger looking at me while my husband +conversed, but I was occupied with my embroidery, and did not seem to +notice him; perhaps he was admiring the contrast between the pure white +of my dress and the gorgeous richness of the worsteds in my lap. + +"While they were talking, Mr. Dennison insisted that I should sit closer +to him, and more than once he placed his hand on my work and prevented +me going on with it, as if I had been a child. This annoyed me. After +all, one does not care to be so obviously exhibited as 'the old man's +darling.' It is embarrassing when the fine eyes of a man like that are +upon you. + +"After dinner that day, Mr. Dennison stole off to a low divan in the +library for his half-hour of sleep. I usually occupied my own room at +this hour, but as I went that way, our guest came in from the veranda, +where he had been smoking a cigar, and laughingly entreated that I +should not leave him alone. + +"I ran up-stairs, threw a black lace shawl over my head, Spanish +mantilla fashion, and joined him. It was sunset, and all the beautiful +landscape lay wrapped in a veil of purplish mist, through which trembled +a soft golden glow that brightened all the west, and shimmered through +the tree-tops like flashes of fire. + +"We walked on through the delicious atmosphere, to which the perfume of +innumerable flowers gave forth their sweetness, as they brightened under +the soft dews that had just began to fall. + +"Unconsciously, we turned out of the oak-avenue and walked toward a +pretty pond, or miniature lake, which lay to our right, sheltered by one +live-oak and a cluster of magnolia-trees, from which the blossoms +brought to me that morning had been cut. A shrub-like species of the +magnolia grew around the pond, hedging it in with great white blossoms, +and the sedgy borders were aglow with wild flowers. It was not yet time +for the water-lilies to be in blossom, but in some places their large +green pads covered the lake with patches of glossy greenness, while a +light wind rippled through them, stirring the waters like ridges of +diamonds between the trembling leaves. + +"How beautiful it was! The birds were no longer musical, but we watched +them fluttering through the leaves and settling down in safe places +among the rushes, while the sweet stillness of the closing day fell upon +them. + +"My hand rested on the arm of our guest; he was talking earnestly, and +his eloquence thrilled me with sensations unlike anything I had felt +before. There was unmeasured poetry in every word he uttered. We had, I +do not know how, got on to the subject of that book again, and he was +defending it in language warm, fervid, and startling, as the story +itself. My hand shook on his arm; a new idea had seized upon me, and +against my own will I spoke. + +"'You wrote the book,' I said, 'I know it by your language. I can read +the fact in this defence.' + +"'And you will like me no longer. You will condemn me as you have that +poor volume,' he answered, turning suddenly, and looking into my eyes +with the glance of an eagle. + +"'Condemn you!' I said. 'What, I?' + +"'But you condemn my book?' + +"'No, I did not. To question a thing, is not to condemn it.' + +"'But the doubt wounds me. You might have found sympathy for much that +the book contains. It should appeal to a heart like yours.' + +"He held my hand firmly in his clasp. How it got there, I do not know. I +struggled a little to free it, but his fingers closed around mine like a +vice. + +"'Say that you will read my book again.' + +"'I will. Nothing could prevent me now.' + +"'And you will read it with a new inspiration?' + +"'After this conversation, yes.' + +"'That is, for one day you will think my thoughts, and give them fresh +beauties as they pass through your own vivid imagination.' + +"'I will read them, and remember all that you have said.' + +"'Sweet woman, I thank you. If my poor words can touch a heart like +yours, it is enough.' + +"He bent and kissed my hand, thus releasing it from his clasp. It seemed +as if some of my strength went out as he did this. The intense eloquence +of this man had inspired me for the time, now I was weak and silent. + +"'Tell me,' he said, 'what particular passages you disliked in my poor +volume.' + +"I could not answer; the book itself had gone out of my mind. I had only +power to think of the man who stood before me, with that earnest protest +burning on his lip, and those eyes, dark and luminous, bent upon me. I +think that he did not observe my trepidation. He was carried away by a +wish to protect the offspring of his brain from misconception or +censure. I had read the volume hastily, and found it too brilliantly +intense for the idle lassitude of my humor. It had startled me into more +thought than I cared to exercise. The quiet of my home seemed like +dulness after reading it. Now this man, its author, had come and +completed the discontent his book had engendered. I had never seen a man +of his class before, and to me the charm of novelty and romance +surrounded him with a sort of glory. + +"'Tell me,' he repeated, 'in what a thought of mine could have offended +a creature so lovely and so rich in talent.' + +"Was he mocking me because of my absurd criticism? I looked up suddenly, +and met the full glance of those eyes. The blood rushed to my face, and +my eyelids drooped. + +"'You will not help me to amend a fault,' he said, in a tone of +reproach. + +"'Because I cannot. It was no particular thought--no description in +itself that disturbed me; but, if I may so express it, the entire +atmosphere of the book. It made me unhappy.' + +"I was driven to desperate frankness by his persistency, and spoke out +almost with tears in my eyes. + +"'Then some thought in the volume, or the narrative itself, struck upon +your heart, or disturbed your conscience?' he answered, in a low voice. + +"I started. Was this true? + +"'Perhaps some points of the story were not unlike your own experience?' +he continued. + +"I felt the tears starting to my eyes. Yes, he was right. It was a sense +of the barrenness of my own future that had made me so restless. If the +volume had produced this effect, how much greater was the disturbance +when its author stood by my side, with looks and voice more eloquent +than his writings. He waited in silence for my answer; it only came in +low sobs. + +"'Forgive me; I have wounded you unthinkingly.' + +"His voice was like that of a penitent man in prayer; his face grew +earnest and sad. + +"'Look on me, and say that I am forgiven.' + +"I did look at him, and met the tender penitence in his eyes with a +thrill of pain. How had the man won the power of arousing such feelings +in a few brief hours? Was it because I had been familiar with his +thoughts so long? I could not answer; but the very presence of this +stranger disturbed me. Sensations never dreamed of in my previous +existence rose and swelled in my bosom. The impulse to flee from his +presence seized upon me. I did turn to go, but he walked quietly forward +at the same time. + +"The sunset was now fading into soft violet and pale gray tints. Dew was +falling thickly in the grass, and fire-flies began to sparkle all around +us. In the stillness and beauty of coming night, we walked on together +almost in silence. I had no words for conversation, and our guest seemed +to have fallen into deep thought. As we drew near the house, Mr. +Dennison came out to meet us. He had been smoking a cigar in the +veranda, and flung it away as he drew near us. How heavily he walked. +How dull his eyes seemed as he bent them upon me, after the passion and +feeling I had read so clearly in those of our guest. + +"Mr. Dennison took my hand and placed it on his arm, laughing +pleasantly, as he asked Lawrence how far we had been walking. Lawrence +did not answer. He was regarding us with an earnest questioning look, +from which I turned away half in anger. Was he reading me and my +position so closely as that? + +"Why should I think of this man so much? Has the isolation in which we +have been living made the advent of a stranger of so great importance +that his presence must fill all my being? The first thing this morning I +looked out of my window, wondering if he would be visible anywhere in +the grounds. Yes, there he was standing by Mr. Dennison, admiring a +blood-horse that a colored groom had brought from the stable. It was a +beautiful animal, coal-black, wonderfully symmetrical and full of +graceful action. Mr. Dennison had bought him only the week before, and +this groom had been ordered to break him for my use as a saddle-horse. +The gentlemen seemed to be examining him critically, as the groom led +him to and fro upon the lawn. For the first time I took an interest in +the beautiful animal. Being up to that time a timid and inexperienced +rider, my husband's purchase had afforded me little pleasure. He had +long since given up horseback exercise, and a solitary ride, followed +perhaps by a groom, did not hold forth much promise of happiness for me, +so I had allowed his new purchase to stand in the stable unnoticed. But +now I looked upon the creature with interest, as he stood restlessly, +with the sun shining upon his glossy coat, and shimmering like +quicksilver down his arched neck. + +"All at once, I saw Lawrence spring upon the horse and dash off across +the lawn, sitting bravely as if he and the beautiful animal were one +creation. The horse was restive at first and plunged furiously, for they +had put a sharp curb in his mouth, and Lawrence was bringing him to +subjection with a heavy hand. I shrieked aloud at the first plunge, but +there was little need of fear. The next moment horse and rider were in +full career over the lawn. That day week I rode my new purchase for the +first time." + + + + +CHAPTER LXVIII. + +THE WATERFALL. + + +"I did not know that the world was so beautiful. This spot is indeed +like paradise to me now. There is joy in the very breath of the +mornings. When I open my window and let in the gushing song of the +mocking-birds, and the sweet breath of the flowers, sighs of exquisite +delight break to my lips. Things that wearied me two weeks ago are +taking new beauty in my eyes. It seems to me that I love everything in +the world except this one old man. + +"We have been riding every day miles and miles over the country. There +is not a broad prospect or a pleasant nook within a ten-hours' ride, +that we have not visited in company. Mr. Dennison encouraged these +excursions. He is anxious that I should learn to ride freely, and seems +grateful that Lawrence is willing to teach me. The weather has been more +than pleasant, and these two weeks have gone by like a dream. How brief +the time has been, yet how long it seems, one lives so much in a few +hours. + +"My heart is full, so full that I cannot write anything that it feels. +In fact, there is nothing tangible enough for words. Dreams, dreams all, +but such delirious dreams. Last night I lay awake till a rosy flash +broke through the curtains telling me that it was morning. All night +long I lay with the curtains brooding over me like a cloud, and the +silver moonlight shimmering through the windows half illuminating the +room and the bed upon which I rested, which was all whiteness like a +snow-drift. There I lay hour after hour, with both hands folded on my +breast, whispering over the words that he had said to me. They were +nothing when separated from his looks, or disentangled from the +exquisite tenderness of his voice, but oh, how much, when so richly +combined, for never in one human being, I am sure, were looks and voice +so eloquent. + +"I could hear the deep breathing of my husband in the next room, and +this made me restless. But for him those words, meaningless in +themselves perhaps, would have taken life and force. Ah, why is youth +and ambition so rash. Had I only waited before these golden fetters were +riveted upon me! + +"A vase of moss-roses stood upon the little table near my bed. He had +gathered them for me just as the sun was setting, while the first dew +bathed them. I took some of these flowers together in my hands, and +kissed away their perfume, with a delightful consciousness that he had +given it to me. Out of all the wilderness of flowers, now fresh from +the dew, these were the gems, for he had brought them to me. + +"When daylight came, I arose and went down to the veranda, not weary +from sleeplessness, but with a gentle languor upon me which was better +than rest. For the first time since Lawrence had been with us, I opened +the book he had written, and read passages from it at random. How +beautiful they were! and I not discover this before. The truth is, their +very excellence carried with it exaltation. + +"I read them with a new sense and a keener relish. Their very intensity +had, at the first reading, disturbed me almost painfully, now each +sentence brought thrills of appreciation. In all respects it was a new +book to me. + +"I felt that this second reading was dangerous, but the thoughts +fascinated me, and I read on, while orioles and mocking-birds held a +carnival of music in the thickets around me, and a bright sun drove all +the rose-tints from the sky. All at once I looked up, a shadow had +fallen across the page I was reading; I closed the book at once, +blushing like a guilty creature. + +"'Confess,' said Lawrence, with a gleam of laughing triumph in his eyes, +'that you have in some degree changed your opinion.' + +"'I have no opinion to change,' was my answer; 'for until now I never +really understood your book.' + +"'And you understand it now?' + +"'Yes.' + +"'And feel it?' + +"'Too much.' + +"I felt the blood rush into my face with very shame at this hasty +admission. When I ventured to look up, a faint wave of color was dying +out from his face, leaving it grave and pale. Was he condemning me +already? That moment Mr. Dennison came through the front door, looking +cool and tranquil in his dress of pure linen, which was scarcely whiter +than his hair. + +"'Come,' he said, in jovial good humor, 'throw by your books, and let us +have breakfast.' + +"I was glad to see him,--grateful that he had released me from the +thraldom of those eyes. + +"We rode out that day. A waterfall some eight miles off was almost the +only point of interest that I had not visited, and there our ride +terminated. A colored groom always rode after us, but his presence was +no check upon conversation, and sometimes he loitered behind so far that +we lost sight of him altogether. In fact, our whole excursion was one +long _tête-à-tête_. + +"Lawrence had been grave and preoccupied all the way, but when we +quitted our horses and went down to the fall, his spirits rose, and he +looked around upon the scene with animation. The cataract, for it was +little more, leaped through a chasm between two precipices, formed by a +vast rock, which some convulsion of nature had split asunder. Down this +chasm the crystal waters plunged nearly a hundred feet, like a stream of +shooting diamonds, covering the sides of each precipice with fleeces of +emerald-green moss. From these mosses sprung ferns that waved like ten +thousand plumes in the current of air that blew coolly down the ravine, +keeping every thing in graceful motion. Young trees added their +luxuriance to the scene, crowning the summit of the rocks like a diadem, +and a host of clustering vines fell over the edge of the precipice, +streaming downwards like banners on a battlement, and sometimes sweeping +out with the current. + +"We entered the ravine first, and stood within the very spray of the +cataract; for the stream widened out directly after it left the chasm, +and went rioting off among boulders and broken rocks, across which a +plank bridge had been flung, which commanded a full view of the fall. We +stood a while enjoying the view, and then moved up a footpath that ran +along the right-hand precipice, from which we could look down the +ravine, and attain an entirely different view from the one we had left. +The path was broken and abrupt, but this was scarcely an objection to +us. There was something exhilarating in the exercise, and I rather liked +the vigorous climbing after so long a ride on horseback; even with the +obstruction of a long skirt flung over one arm, it was scarcely +fatiguing. We had nearly reached the top of the precipice, I had taken +Mr. Lawrence's arm, for he insisted that I must be out of breath, and I +was protesting against his assertion, when a large dog rushed out of the +undergrowth, which grew thickly on that side of the path, as if +frightened at something, and made a plunge directly against me. + +"My arm was torn from its support, I staggered--reeled on the verge of +the precipice, flung out my arms, and plunged down--down--down into +chaos. I had neither struck the earth nor water, something hard and firm +girded my body. My face was smothered in green, damp leaves, and my hair +already dripped with falling spray. + +"I heard the roar and rush of waters all around me, and through it a +fierce cry as of some one in agony. I attempted to move, but the +branches that supported me swayed downward, and with a desperate spring +I caught at the stem of a wild vine, which clung to and spread over the +face of the precipice, twisting itself in with the young tree, which but +for that would have broken under my weight. Looking upward through the +blinding mist, I saw a white face bending over the precipice, and heard +a voice hoarse with terror calling upon me to hold firmly and keep +still. + +"I did hold firmly, but the trembling of my frame shook the tree and +clinging shrubs with a dangerous vibration, and it seemed to me that +their roots were slowly tearing out from the soil which held them in the +cleft of the rock. This shook me with an awful terror; I tried to close +my eyes and be still, but that was impossible. I saw the blue sky +bending so calm and quiet above me. I saw the quivering greenness that +clothed the rocky face of the precipice, and ten thousand tiny white +flowers trembling through it so close that my face almost touched them. +The fall, like a sheet of melted glass, rolled and plunged so near, that +it seemed ready to leap upon me. My appalled eyes turned shuddering from +a vast whirlpool of foam that rioted thirty feet beneath me, shooting +forward, curving over, and plunging down great watery hollows, then +leaping suddenly upward, as if maddened that their prey had not fallen +at once into the white caldron of their wrath. + +"In vain my eyes closed upon all this threatening horror. Then all was +darkness, and the roar of the fall became terrific. The spray swept over +me like a storm of shooting diamonds, wetting my habit through and +through till it dragged me downward with heavier weight and fresh peril. +I could feel the drops falling like rain from my hair, and my poor hands +grew cold as they clung to the vine. A cry broke from my lips. Surely +the tree was uprooting beneath me. I could feel it giving way inch by +inch. A handful of loose earth broke away and rolled over me, rattling +down to the white gulf below. Shriek after shriek--oh, my God! they were +smothered and lost in that roar of waters, and could warn no one of this +new peril. I seized upon the wild vine higher up, and strove to press +less heavily on that breaking tree; my foot found a crevice in the rock, +and, forcing itself through the wet moss, in some degree sufficed to +lessen the weight that was dragging me down to death. But still my +support was slowly giving way, I could hear the small roots snap, and +feel the earth break from around them. My hands were numb and cold, my +brain began to reel, and ten thousand broken rainbows seemed shooting up +from the falls, and tangling themselves around me, dragging me +down--down--down. + +"A human voice brought me back; a wild, cheerful shout forbade me to +give way, and broke the delirium, which in a moment more would have +loosened my hold, and sent me whirling through that white gulf of waters +into eternity. 'Hold fast one moment! For God's sake, be firm!' It was +his voice. A thrill of hope drove back the delirium that had seized upon +me. I pressed my foot more firmly into the crevice, and forced myself +against the rock, clinging with both hands to the vine. A trail of +blackness fell over the face of the precipice, and I heard the clank of +iron striking against the rock. Directly the air above was darkened, +and, with a thrill of horror, I saw Lawrence fling himself over the face +of the precipice, and glide slowly down to my side. He crowded his foot +close to mine, thus attaining a foothold, but otherwise supported +himself by the line of leathern straps that had aided his descent. With +one hand clinging firmly to this support, he placed the stirrups from my +saddle under my feet, told me how to seize upon the straps to which they +were attached when he should call out, and seizing the double straps +above my head, swung himself upward, and left me alone, shaken with +double terror. Then I knew that a life dearer than mine was in peril, +and my soul went up with him, uttering a cry of thankfulness when his +voice reached me, calling out, cheerfully, from the edge of the +precipice,-- + +"'Stand firm; do not move till you feel the straps tighten around you!' + +"I obeyed, holding desperately to the vine with one hand, while the +other was ready for action. I felt the stirrups tighten under my +feet,--the leather straps were taut and motionless,--I grasped one with +my left hand, but still clung to the vine, afraid to swing out over that +awful abyss. It was a moment of sickening horror. + +"'Be bold--fear nothing--trust yourself to me!' + +"Instantly my hand left its hold on the vine, my feet were lifted from +their frail support, and with the stirrups beneath them, swung out from +the rock. Oh, how fearfully those lines strained and quivered! how those +white waters leaped and roared under me! I drew no breath; my heart +stood still; a shock of awful terror seized upon me; the minute in which +I swung out into mid-air seems to me even now as a long, long day. Oh, +it was terrible! + +"The faces of the angels, when they meet you after death, must give such +promise of new life, as his gave to me when my frightened eyes first saw +him bending over that precipice. The trust of the angels must be like +mine when I felt his arms around me, and knew that he had lifted me out +of chaos. Never, on this side of heaven, shall I have another sensation +like that. + +"How long I remained in those arms it is impossible for me to say. When +I came to life, he was sitting upon the turf, where they had laid me, +with my head resting on his knee. Some brandy from a flask, which the +groom always carried with him, had been forced through my lips, where I +felt the taste still burning. That had checked the shudders of cold +which were creeping over me, and for a while I lay speechless, feeble as +a child, but oh, how happy! He had saved me. It was his strength which +had rescued me from that whirlpool of waters, from the horrible death, +for which I was so unprepared. + +"These were the first thoughts that came to my brain, as I lay there so +deathly and motionless. The light fell rosily on my eyelids, but I had +no strength or wish to unclose them; nay, I checked the very breath as +it rose to my lips, fearing that it would betray the life rekindling in +my bosom, and thus break the dream which was so like Elysium. + +"He bent his face to mine and called me by name. His voice shook with +apprehension; I could feel that he trembled. + +"I could not help it: a smile crept to my lips and warmed them into +redness. He held my hand, and was chafing it between his smooth white +palms. + +"'She is recovering,' he exclaimed, joyfully. + +"'So she am, marser,' answered Tom, the groom; 'beginning to look mighty +natral. Lor' knows dis darky thought she was done gone sure 'nuff.' + +"I moved then. Tom's voice had broken up my dream. + +"'Are you better? Speak, dear lady, and tell me that you are not +seriously hurt.' + +"Opening my eyes wide, I looked into his, and closed them again, feeling +the warm, fresh life rushing to my face with a glow. + +"'Ah, your looks tell me that no serious evil will come from this,' he +said. 'Let us thank God.' + +"'I do thank God, but you most of all,' I whispered; 'without that, life +would--' + +"What was I about to say. My voice was weak, I do not think he heard me. +I listened for some response, but none came, and when my eyes turned +upon him, the look with which he met them was grave and thoughtful. + +"Tom was busy about the saddles at some distance. With that prompt +action which is in itself success, Lawrence had taken the girths and +stirrups from the saddles, the martingales and bridles, all of which he +had buckled and knotted together into the cable that saved my life. +While Tom was repairing all damages, I grew strong enough to sit up, but +my habit was so wet and heavy that it seemed impossible for me to walk. +A slight lunch had been prepared for us which Tom had brought with him. +Lawrence found a bottle of champagne in the basket, and poured out a +brimming cup which he entreated me to drink while the sparkles were +rising. I drank eagerly, again and again, till the slight chills that +had begun to creep over me were broken up, and a glow of strength +enabled me to rise. + +"'Now,' said Lawrence, 'that you have some color in those cheeks, and +the deathly look is gone, let us mount and away. It will be a miracle if +you are not ill from this shock.' + +"I arose and prepared to go, but faltered, and found the weight of my +skirt oppressive. Lawrence threw one arm around my waist, and almost +carried me to the horse. For one moment he folded me close in his arms +before lifting me to the saddle, and whispered,-- + +"'Forgive me, that I led you into this danger.' + +"I could not answer. The man who had saved my life, at a terrible risk +to his own, asked me to forgive him. Did he guess that it was worship, +not forgiveness, that I felt. + +"We rode home at a gallop. Exercise drove the chills from my frame, and +a strange excitement took possession of me. When I reached home, my +cheeks were on fire. It was not fever, but a sensation stranger and +wilder than I had ever felt before. Instead of returning home, I would +have given the world to turn my horse and flee to the uttermost parts of +the earth, where no one but the man who had saved me could ever know of +my existence. + +"Still, the horse was bearing me forward at the top of his speed, and no +one attempted to check him or turn him aside. In the madness of my +folly, I almost hoped to see Lawrence seize the bridle, and swerve his +course away from the home I was beginning to hate." + + + + +CHAPTER LXIX. + +THE THREATENED DEPARTURE. + + +"We reached home. The groom had ridden on in advance, to have dry +clothes prepared for me; but it was of little use, for my habit had +gradually lost its dampness, and I was feverish rather than chilly. Mr. +Dennison came forth to meet us, his face full of alarm, his walk +unsteady as if fright had shaken him. The old man lifted me from my +saddle, and held me fondly in his arms, kissing my lips and forehead +with passionate thankfulness before he set me down. Drops like rain fell +upon my face, and I knew that the stout old man was weeping, though I +had never seen tears in his eyes before. + +"'My darling--my own beautiful wife,' he said, in the abandonment of his +gratitude, 'what should I have done without you?' + +"Mr. Dennison spoke so earnestly, that Lawrence must have heard him; but +he was busy about the horses, and seemed quite unconscious of the +tenderness which disturbed me so. + +"'Thank God! you have not suffered as I feared,' continued my husband, +encircling me with his arm, and almost carrying me into the house. 'Your +cheeks are flushed, your eyes bright. Oh! my poor darling, I expected to +see you white and drooping.' + +"I leaned on him heavily, for my limbs were stiff, and I could hardly +walk, besides a dead heaviness had seized upon my heart. When I shrank +from the open caresses of my husband, this man did not seem to observe +them. Was it that he did not care? This question drove all the unnatural +excitement from me. I was white and cold enough then. + +"No, I would not be forced into a dreary bed, and left to my thoughts. +Exhausted as I was, anything seemed better than that. After Cora had +taken off my soiled and torn habit, smoothed my hair and bathed my head +with cologne, I girded a wrapper of soft white cashmere around me, with +a scarf of scarlet silk which lay upon the sofa, and went down, spite of +the girl's remonstrance. + +"They were sitting together, those two men, conversing earnestly. I +think Lawrence was giving an account of the terrible danger I had +escaped, for Mr. Dennison was saying as I came up, treading so softly, +that he had no idea of my presence: + +"'My friend, it would be a little thing compared to this, that you had +saved my life, for no human being will ever guess how much dearer this +sweet creature is to me than that.' + +"'She is indeed a most lovely woman,' answered Lawrence; 'any man might +hold his existence light, in comparison with hers.' + +"He spoke quietly, but I observed that his eyes did not seek those of my +husband, and a cold whiteness lay upon his face. Was it the shock of +that scene at the falls harassing him yet, or were unrevealed thoughts +struggling with him? + +"My husband started up joyfully when I appeared. He drew an easy-chair +to the window, placed me in it, brought a stool for my feet, and sat +down upon it, lifting his glad eager eyes to my face, with the devotion +of a spaniel, while he patted and caressed the feet his movement had +displaced. + +"I felt myself growing angry. Why would the old man thus expose his +folly before our guest, who seemed hewn from marble, so little did he +regard the fondness that filled me with repulsion and shame. + +"'Ah, my friend, see how she blushes at her husband's great joy and +thankfulness. My poor child, Lawrence has been telling me all, how brave +and steady you were, held almost by a thread over that fearful whirlpool +without a shriek, and obeying orders like a veteran. He would not tell +me all, but Tom did, so far as the fright would let him. Now say, my +angel, what reward can we give our brave friend? He will not take my +gratitude.' + +"'But he must take mine,' I cried, reaching out both hands, with sudden +appeal. 'He must not sit there cold and calm as if he had no interest in +my safety. I cannot bear it.' + +"Lawrence started up, and the quick fire leaped to his eyes. He took +both my hands in his, with a firm, almost painful grasp. + +"'Not gratitude. I will not have that, because--because it is all so +undeserved. I did nothing that Tom himself would not have thought of. It +was her own sublime courage, sir, that saved us from a terrible +calamity.' + +"Mr. Dennison gave me a look that seemed almost like adoration. + +"'I am sure she would behave like an angel anywhere,' he said, 'but that +does not lessen the value of your own brave action, my friend, and for +that we are both bound to you forever.' + +"'Well, let it rest so,' answered Lawrence, with an uneasy laugh. 'Just +now I feel more like thanking God for a great mercy given, and terrible +peril escaped, than anything else. Upon my word, Dennison, I can almost +feel those white waters boiling around me now.' + +"'They would have made an awful winding-sheet,' I said, with a shudder. +'But you saved me, oh, yes, you saved me.' + +"'And your husband also, dear one,' said Mr. Dennison; 'for what would +my life have been without you. Why, Lawrence, I have worshipped her ever +since she was a little girl; even then, her proud saucy ways had their +enchantment. She did not know it; how could she? but the old man's heart +was set upon her while she was playing with her doll and bowling her +hoop. Her own father never watched her growth with more interest than I +felt, and when she learned to love me, why then, Lawrence, I knew for +the first time what heaven was.' + +"Lawrence looked at me steadily while the old man was speaking, so +steadily, that I felt the hot blood rush to my face. Mr. Dennison +observed this, and went on triumphing in the love he so truly believed +to be his. + +"'You see, my friend, how the very remembrance of that sweet confession +bathes her face with blushes. She had taken a fancy to the old fellow +long before a younger rival could think of entering the field against +him, and married him for true love only, not because he was considered +the richest planter in this district. She was innocent as a lamb, and as +disinterested.' + +"'Oh, Mr. Dennison,' I broke forth, 'do not talk about these things, +they only weary Mr. Lawrence.' + +"'Certainly not. I am deeply interested in everything that makes the +happiness or misery of my friend,' said Lawrence, coldly. + +"'Ah, she is too modest, I have always told her so, and far too careless +about her own interests. Why, would you believe it, Lawrence, I could +not get her to look into the state of my property, and learn how much or +how little might hereafter come to her. She did not marry my property, +but my own dear self; these were her very words, and for such words you +cannot blame me if I adore her.' + +"I felt myself glowing with shame. If I had ever used such words, it was +when this old man seemed the only refuge left to me in my utter +desolation. Perhaps I said them and felt them just then, for quiet home, +protection, and a shelter were all I asked or hoped for in life; but +now, with that man drinking in every word, I felt such protestations as +a bitter humiliation. + +"I arose to go. The conversation had become unbearable. I felt my lips +quiver, and tears of intense mortification gathering to my eyes. + +"Lawrence came toward me a step or two, and then retreated, for Mr. +Dennison had given me his arm, and I left the room, bowed down with +humiliation, and burning with shame. Why would the old man talk of me as +he did? Even if I had loved him, it would have been embarrassing; as it +was, all the pride of my nature rose up in revolt against him. At the +foot of the stairs I dropped his arm, and insisted on going up alone. +He seemed astonished and a little hurt. How would it have been had I +dared to express all the rage that was struggling in my bosom? + +"Cora was waiting for me. Poor girl! she had been sadly shocked by the +abrupt account of my danger, which Tom had repeated to every one he met. +She is a wayward creature, and at times, I really believe, hates herself +with bitter detestation for the black tinge which taints every drop of +blood in her veins. Never in my whole life have I seen a human being so +sensitive. No matter to her that she is beautiful, and that even the +blacks look upon her as apart from themselves, this bitter truth is +always uppermost in her mind. She has black blood in her veins, and she +was born a slave. I remember how this beautiful girl hated her mother, +because it was through her that the taint and the bonds came. One would +have thought this wretched woman was the slave of her own child, for one +was made to feel all the degradation of her lot, and the other was, to a +certain extent, lifted out of it, from the day she was given to me--a +child myself--as my especial maid. How it used to amuse my father when +this colored child would domineer over and scorn her own mother. + +"Sometimes I think Cora is seized with a venomous dislike of myself. I +do not wonder at it. In her way, she is quite as beautiful as I ever +was, and as for talent, the girl surpasses me in everything. Her +industry is untiring, her perceptions quick as lightning. In some other +country she might marry well, and take rank in social life scarcely +second to my own. Sometimes I think her ambition turns that way, for she +is constantly teasing me to take her to Europe. I only wish it were in +my power, for I love the poor girl dearly, and should rejoice to see her +lifted out of the pitiful condition that all of her race must occupy +here, bond or free, for at least a century to come. + +"I have been writing about this girl Cora, because she is so connected +with my own life that nothing can separate us. We played together on +equal terms as children, and when she gradually dropped into the habits +of a servant, it made no change in my affection for her. In my chamber +we have always been friends, more than that--more than that! + +"Cora saw that I was disturbed, and sitting down at my feet, besought me +to tell her the cause. + +"For the first time in my life I had a secret to keep from this girl. I +could not own to her that a few garrulous words from an old man, who had +been so kind to us both, had filled my heart with indignant shame, for +she would have asked why such fond words had the power to offend me, and +there was no answer ready to my lips. + +"Perhaps Cora guessed this, for she was quick as the flash of a star in +her intelligence; at any rate, she asked me no questions, but contented +herself with braiding my hair, smoothing it with her soft palms, and +stooping to kiss my forehead when she saw a shadow of discontent pass +over it. + +"'Do not fret,' she said, softly, whispering back the thoughts I was +striving to drive from my brain; 'seventy years is longer than most men +live. Only have patience and wait.' + +"I was angry with her for understanding that, which I wished buried from +the whole world. Dashing her hands away, I swept the hair she was +braiding in a coil around my head, and turned upon her with such sharp +rebuke, that she retreated from me frightened. + +"'Ah! has it gone so far?' she muttered, shaking her head. 'Well, after +this there will be neither patience nor peace for any of us.' + +"I ordered her to be silent, and directly after heard her sobbing in the +next room as if her heart were broken. + +"Why did Cora's words haunt me all that night? are evil thoughts the +only ones which cling tenaciously to the brain? I tried to cast them +off, heaven knows I did! but that was impossible, nor could I sleep. The +shock upon my nerves had been far too severe for that. + +"Why would the old man haunt my room and sit by the pillow on which I +could find no rest? His presence tortured me. I could not keep my aching +eyes from his white hair and the wrinkles on his forehead, which seemed +to deepen and grow prominent in the moonlight of my shaded lamp. How +could I forget his seventy years, with such things before me in my +wakefulness? But he would not leave me; anxiety kept him watchful. It +seemed to me that those bright, earnest eyes read all the dark thoughts +that haunted my brain. I turned my face to the wall and pretended to +sleep. He sat motionless, holding his very breath, for he knew how much +rest must be needed after the awful shock I had received, and would not +frighten it away by a single motion. After a while, when everything was +still, I felt him bending over me; directly his quivering old lips +touched my forehead, and what appeared to me like a heavy rain-drop fell +upon my closed eyelid. + +"'Thank God,' he murmured; 'she is asleep at last!' + +"This child-like gratitude touched me more than the protest of a +thousand clergymen could have done. How purely and dearly the old man +loved me, and how unworthy I was! Great heavens, why did I ever marry +him, and thus make deception almost a duty? There is one excuse for +me--I did not then know what love meant. + +"Toward morning, Mr. Dennison went into his own room; then I breathed +again; true, he was very near, and by changing my position I could see +his white head and grand old face upon the pillow, where he had fallen +asleep with a smile of thankfulness upon his lips. After all, he is +generous, good, and rich in intelligence. Why is it that love will not +go with the reason? + +"They would have kept me in bed the next day, but I resisted. The +minutes were too precious for such waste. I went down-stairs, feeling +like a criminal and looking like one, Cora said, but the two gentlemen +regarded my sadness and my pallor as a proof of illness, and would +scarcely allow me to speak, such was their anxiety for my welfare. So I +sat in my easy-chair languid and still, listening to them as they +conversed, and yet gathering but few of their words into my mind. All at +once a blow seemed to have struck me. It was only a word, but that one +word took away my breath. Mr. Dennison had been asking some question, +and Lawrence answered,-- + +"'To-morrow.' + +"'Not so soon as that. Indeed, my friend, we cannot spare you,' said Mr. +Dennison. + +"I held my breath. It seemed as if my heart would never beat again. A +slow faintness crept over me while Lawrence answered,-- + +"'But I must: the business which brings me South is too important for +delay. Already I have spent nearly a month that may cost me dear.' + +"His eyes turned full upon mine. They were dark and heavy with sadness. +God forgive me if mine expressed too much! + +"'But my wife will never consent to this. Speak, dear, and give him one +of your pretty commands. It must be important business indeed, which can +win him to disobey you.' + +"I opened my lips to speak, but no words followed the effort. A choking +sensation came into my throat, and the very light went out from before +my eyes. They thought me insensible, but my faculties were locked up; I +knew everything. + +"Mr. Dennison ran into the house, crying out for Cora. That instant +Lawrence took me in his arms; I felt his breath upon my face when he +drew back with a faint exclamation. Cora stood close by him. + +"'She is faint, she is insensible,' he said, hurriedly. His voice was +confused, and I could feel that the arm which held me was seized with +sudden trembling. 'It was imprudent to let her come down.' + +"Cora put him aside, and took my hand from his, just as Mr. Dennison +came back to the veranda. + +"'Ah,' he cried, joyfully; 'she is better, the color is coming back to +her mouth! poor child, poor child! we have let you come out too soon.' + +"He stooped down and kissed me tenderly, but I shrunk from him with +sudden recoil, and leaning upon Cora, entered the house, so weary and +sick at heart that I almost prayed to die. + +"There was no rest for me that day. One thought occupied my whole mind: +he was going in the morning--going I knew not whither, and the history +of the last two weeks would be henceforth all of life that I should care +to remember. I wandered from room to room, wondering what course I could +take, and how it would be possible to appease the aching pain at my +heart. Sometimes I could hear his voice rising up from the veranda. It +was low and grave, sometimes I thought constrained, as if the words he +uttered came from a preoccupied heart. + +"No criminal ever listened for the steps that were to bring him a +reprieve with more interest, than I felt in gathering up the broken +sentences of that conversation. He was going away, first to New Orleans, +then back to New York, where business must suffer until his return. I +heard this clearly. It was no rash speech, but a settled determination; +yet up to that morning he had never spoken of it." + + + + +CHAPTER LXX. + +THE MIDNIGHT WALK. + + +"I could not sleep, though I had seemed tranquil all the evening. Mr. +Dennison, having been broken in his rest the night before, slumbered +heavily, and this made my wakeful solitude unendurable. The moon shone +brightly, and the cool air came through the window with enticing +sweetness. All day long I had been cramped and restless in the house, +which was growing hateful to me. Oh how I longed for that grand solitude +which lies in space! A wild desire to escape from the deep breathing of +my husband seized upon my mind. I dressed myself in noiseless haste, and +gliding down-stairs, opened a French window, and fled through it +breathlessly. I had no object in view, and all places were alike to me, +so long as I could breathe freely, and cry aloud without fear of being +overheard. But a footpath lay before me, and I followed it on and on +till I came to the pond, or lake, which I had visited with Lawrence on +the first day of his coming. It was perfectly beautiful that night. Here +and there a ripple, as of ten thousand diamond chains tossed on the +waters, followed some current, and died off in the shadows. The dusky +green of the magnolia-tree was kindled up with gleams and touches of +silver, while its sleeping flowers filled their great chalices of snow +with moonlight, and bathed themselves in its dewy radiance. If my heart +had not been sad before, the exquisite stillness of this scene would +have rendered it so; the very ripple of the waters among the lily pads +affected me like music, and the dark trailing of the mistletoe-boughs, +which were strangling the great live-oak with ten thousand leafy +caresses, made me almost afraid, they were so ghostly. + +"I went into the black shadow of this grand old tree, sat down with my +back against its trunk, and fell into a passion of bitter weeping. Why +had I become all at once so unhappy? What sorrow, or cause of sorrow, +had fallen upon me? I would not even attempt to answer this question, +but asked it over and over again, as if the solution were not in my own +heart reproaching me. + +"All at once I heard a noise in the grass--the steady fall of a man's +foot. I hushed my tears, and drew my shawl over the white dress that +threatened to betray me, even buried as I was in deep shadows. A tall +figure directly after appeared in the moonlight, standing by the lake. I +knew it at once. He also had come out into the beautiful night, unhappy, +perhaps, and restless as myself. He stood awhile motionless, then I saw +him move away, and walk quickly up and down the shore, as if the beauty +of the night filled him with irrepressible inquietude. Then I asked +myself why he could not rest, and what feelings had driven him forth. My +heart gave a reply which turned its sadness into excitement. Still I +neither moved nor spoke, but watched his abrupt movements to and fro +with breathless interest. Ah, he was wretched as myself--the thought of +parting had driven him forth. I was sure of that, and the certainty was +like a triumph. + +"All at once Lawrence turned from the moonlight, and plunged into the +black shadows of the oak, where he walked up and down like a disturbed +spirit. I could hear broken words fall from his lips, as if he found it +a relief to speak aloud in the solitude. There was passion and pathos in +his voice, but I gathered no other meaning from the sounds that reached +me. + +"Perhaps I stirred, and by a movement of my shawl revealed the whiteness +of my dress, for he came toward me, exclaiming,-- + +"'Great heavens! what is this?' + +"I shrunk back against the body of the oak, and huddled the shawl +around my person, hoping thus to escape his observations; but he came +close to me, and said very quietly, though his voice trembled a +little,-- + +"'Do not hide yourself, but come out into the moonlight. I felt that you +would be here.' + +"I arose, obedient as a little child, and walked by his side toward the +magnolia-tree, where the moonlight fell in white radiance. + +"'Why did you come out at this late hour?' he said, looking down upon me +with gentle compassion in his eyes. + +"'I could not sleep. I was so unhappy that the close air of the house +stifled me.' + +"'I understand,' he replied, almost mournfully. 'It is the old story. I +too--but what matters that--the air of the house was oppressive. No +matter, I shall quit it to-morrow.' + +"'To-morrow,--and you will go?' + +"'Yes; Dennison is an old friend--a dear old friend. I shall go +to-morrow.' + +"'To-morrow, and forever!' I cried, in a burst of passionate despair, +which frightened me the moment it left my lips. + +"He did not answer in words, but took my two hands between his, and bent +his eyes upon me with a glance so searching, that I shrunk away from +him, for the moonlight gave supernatural intensity to his face. + +"'To-morrow, and I think forever; believe me, it is better so.' + +"'Better? Forever! forever! Oh, these are terrible words!' I cried, +scarcely caring to conceal the anguish which wrung such expressions from +me. + +"'They seem terrible to youth, I know,' he answered, sadly; 'but after a +while you will learn that time softens even our ideas of eternity. Life +is, and must be, one continued scene of parting.' + +"'But parting is such pain,' I pleaded. + +"'Pain does not last forever.' + +"'Oh, it will; it must!' I cried out, in a passionate protest. + +"The man smiled, and shook his head, sadly enough. + +"'It seems so now; but you will know more of the world some day, and +learn to cast deep feeling from you. It is a sad drawback in life.' + +"'And you have learned this lesson?' I asked, half in tears, half +angrily. + +"He paused a moment, made a gesture as if he were casting some great +restraint upon himself, and then answered: + +"'Yes, I have learned the lesson. So must you.' + +"'But I can not. God made me as I am. It is my nature to feel and suffer +keenly.' + +"'I think so. Yet in a little time how all this may change!' + +"'Never!' + +"'Ah, yes; and when that change comes--when you are brilliant, careless, +a beautiful coquette, perhaps we can meet again, and play with the foam +of life pleasantly, as it is tossed to our feet by the waves of society; +but deep waters are treacherous; we must not trust to them.' + +"'You talk strangely,' I said, feeling an angry fire kindling against +him in my bosom. + +"'I talk honestly, as you will admit some day.' + +"I turned from him, angry with the tone of protection and superiority +which he had assumed. Surely I was no school-girl to be thus adroitly +put upon my good behavior. + +"'You are angry with me?' + +"'Yes; I have cause. You seem to speak from premises which I do not +understand. What have I done that you should lecture me so?' + +"My anger seemed to amuse him. His eyes flashed, and he laughed a low, +sweet laugh, that the rippling wind carried off in its murmurs. + +"'What have you done, child? Why, wandered off here, at the peril of +your health, when you should have been quietly sleeping!' + +"'But you have done the same thing!' + +"'Yes; but nothing harms me. Being a man, I know how to take care of +myself.' + +"'Is it a part of manhood to be without feeling?' + +"'And you charge me with that?' + +"'Yes, I do, or you would never speak of me with an idea that I could +become a brilliant coquette.' + +"'Indeed! Why, are you not a woman?' + +"I turned to move away. There was something bitter in his utterance of +the last word that irritated me. + +"He followed me. + +"'You did not hear me out,' he said;--'and a beautiful woman--can such +rare beings escape admiration?' + +"Still I walked on, leaving the live-oak and magnolia-tree behind. His +last speech seemed hollow and conventional. Did he think to appease me +by commonplace flattery like that? + +"He walked by my side in silence some minutes, looking earnestly in my +face when it turned to the moonlight. All at once he broke out +earnestly, passionately, throwing off all the constraint that had made +him seem so artificial. + +"'Let us be frank with each other,' he said. 'You are my friend's wife. +I go from his house to-morrow, because I am afraid of loving you more +than an honorable man should. Is this honest? Are you angry with me?' + +"My face was lifted to his; my hands unconsciously clasped themselves. I +trembled in every limb; but it was neither with anger nor pain. + +"'Am I not right?' he demanded, turning his face away. + +"I did not answer, for I knew well that, right or wrong, his going would +leave me miserable. + +"'I thought myself stronger and wiser,' he continued, without seeming +to heed my silence; 'but that day when you were in such peril I learned +how deep was the impression your beauty and loveliness had made upon me. +Since then I have been resolved to go--my honor and my happiness demand +it.' + +"Still I was silent, partly from a wild sense of triumph, partly from +terror lest he should guess at the feeling. + +"'You will not answer me; my frankness offends you.' + +"He seemed touched and hurt by the silence, which I could not force +myself to break. All at once I was sobbing. He took my hand gently in +his, and led me back along the path we had been walking. I cannot repeat +all that he said to me. It was himself on whom all blame rested. This +was the spirit of his conversation. Not for one moment did he hint that +I could have been interested in anything he did, save as the hospitable +lady of a mansion in which he was a guest. Was he deceived? I cannot +tell; but this I do know, every word he uttered was full of loyal +respect for my husband. He did not seem to understand or notice the +tears I was shedding, but quietly led me toward the house. At last he +stopped, took my hand, pressed it to his lips, and left me standing +alone within sight of my dwelling. + +"Lawrence left the next morning at daylight. I had been dreaming on my +sleepless pillow that scene by the lake over and over again. Every word +that man had uttered passed through my brain, and made a sweet lodgment +in my heart. How careful he had been to save my pride while confessing +his own weakness. If he had been masterful, and treated me like a child, +no word of his had conveyed a suspicion that I too was in danger. His +delicacy enthralled me more by far than persuasion could have done. He +spoke only of his own struggles and his own danger, never hinting that I +might share in one or the other. How magnanimous, how self-sacrificing +he was--and this man loved me! + +"All at once I heard a noise of wheels in front of the house. A sharp +apprehension broke up my dreams. I sprang out of bed, lifted the lace +curtain, and saw my husband's light buggy drawn up on the +carriage-drive. While Tom was packing a valice under the seat, Mr. +Lawrence stood near drawing on his gloves. + +"He was going without one word of farewell. The thought made me wild. I +flung up the window with a violence that tore the valenciennes from the +sleeve of my night-dress, and called out,-- + +"'Not yet, not yet!' + +"He did not hear me, or perhaps would not. That instant he sprang into +the buggy, snatched the reins from Tom, and drove off. As he passed a +curve in the road, he drew up and looked back at the house, as if unable +to leave it without a farewell-glance. I was still at the window, half +shrouded by the curtains, but leaning out, with wild unconsciousness of +my position. He waved one hand, drew his horse up with the other so +sharply that the buggy was half wheeled across the road; the next +instant the horse made a plunge forward, seemingly unmanageable, and in +an instant bore him out of sight. + +"I knelt by the window a long time, looking upon the spot where he had +disappeared in blank despair. In one minute my life seemed to have +become a barren waste. Points in the landscape that had been so +beautiful over-night, struck me with a dreary appearance of change. My +eyes grew hot and ached with the pain of my sudden desolation. I could +neither weep nor cry out, but knelt there with a dull sense of sorrow +and utter loneliness creeping over me. Burdened with these wretched +feelings, I crept back to my couch, and burying my face in the pillows, +suffered silently." + + + + +CHAPTER LXXI. + +AWAY FROM HOME. + + +"This house is not the same now; its stillness oppresses me, its +magnificence palls on my senses. Wherever I turn, some memory starts up +to pain me. Why have I filled every beautiful spot with associations +that sting me so? + +"I think that my husband is watching me with more interest than +formerly. If he sees a cloud on my face, some gentle act of attention +seeks to drive it away. Sometimes he asks, in a troubled voice, what +makes me so sad and thoughtful, as if he guessed at the truth, and the +suspicion wounded him. Then I fly from the stillness of my sorrow, and +force a wild sort of spirits, that make him still more depressed. This +old man has seen a great deal of the world in his life, and perhaps +reads me better than I think. Is deception ever a duty? At any rate, it +is the refuge of cowards, and sometimes of kindness. Now, I should not +really be afraid to lay the whole truth before this old man, so far as +its effect on myself is concerned; but when I think of him and all the +pain it would certainly give, my heart recoils from its expression. If +he would only be a little unkind, I should not care so much. But, after +all, what is there to explain? No word of _his_, or act of mine, could +be censured justly. True, I met him at night, unknown to the family, in +a beautiful and solitary spot, where some conversation passed which made +me both sad and happy, but no wrong was done to any one, and the whole +scene, if thoroughly explained, should bring no blame with it. I left +the house without one thought of meeting any human being. If he saw and +followed me, it was for a most honorable purpose--honorably, but, oh, +most cruelly carried out. + +"How miserably slow the weeks and months roll on. I can endure this +irksome sameness of life no longer; the very fragrance of the air +sickens me. I long for change--for excitement. Youth has no need of +rest; its aspirations are always pressing onward. _He_ said that I was +beautiful. My husband has told me this a hundred times, but it made +little impression, for what is the worth of beauty in a great dull house +like this? I long to go out into the world again, for there is a chance +that I may--no, no, I will not think of that. He did not even tell me +where he was going. But change I must and will have; it is the want of +excitement that makes me a slave to these fits of depression. While +surrounded by the homage of other men, I shall learn to forget that this +one refused it to me. + +"This evening I ventured upon the subject which has been haunting me for +weeks. Mr. Dennison remarked that I was getting pale, and had lost all +the brilliant glow of spirits which made my first coming home like an +opening of paradise to him. Was I ill, or had he failed in anything that +could have made me happy? + +"I did not complain, but smiled upon him in a way that brought light +into his eyes, and said pleasantly enough, that I was not quite myself +in splendid solitude, that female friends were necessary to me, and I +had parted with them perhaps a little too suddenly. Sometimes, I +confessed, a feeling of discontent would creep over me, and but for him +and all his generous attentions, I should grow weary of our grand lonely +life. + +"Mr. Dennison became anxious at once. 'Would I have guests invited? It +was the easiest thing in life to have the great house filled with the +most agreeable company to be found in the State.' + +"'Guests? Oh, nothing of the kind! The duties of a hostess were beyond +me just then,--but a little journey somewhere--how would he like +that?--say to New Orleans?--the approaching autumnal weather would +render a trip to the city pleasant, and we could come back any day.' + +"Mr. Dennison accepted this proposal at once. He had seemed a little +anxious at first when I spoke of leaving home, as if some doubt rested +in his mind; but when I mentioned New Orleans, the cloud left his face, +and he fell in with the suggestion. + +"My suspicions were right. Mr. Dennison was not altogether at rest about +Lawrence. At first he suspected that I was anxious to be thrown in his +way again. I could see it in his face, and dared not speak of Saratoga, +Newport, or any Northern watering-place, which it had been my first +intention to suggest. So I mentioned New Orleans, and he was satisfied, +while I fairly bit my lips white with the vexation of my failure. But +New Orleans was better than nothing. There, at least, we should find +society, amusement and distraction. Besides, our names would be +announced in the public journals, and _he_ might learn of our presence +there. Yes, yes, New Orleans was preferable to home, especially as the +autumn was near, and the gay season northward already breaking up. + +"Cora was in ecstasies when I told her that we were going away. Poor +girl, she had found my domestic life very dull and depressing; I could +see that by the alacrity with which she went to work. Once more she +became bright and animated as a bird. My wardrobe was speedily put in +order, and we left the plantation, much happier to go away than we had +been to enter it." + + + + +CHAPTER LXXII. + +OUT IN THE WORLD AGAIN. + + +"Lawrence was right. Beauty is a great power, and I am beautiful. I know +it in a thousand ways, but best of all by the homage of men and the envy +of women. Both are sweet to me. I love to see these envious creatures +turn pale and whisper their venom to each other, as I am besieged by the +attentions of their favorites. At first I was a little timid about +asserting the power that I felt myself to possess. Mr. Dennison, I +thought, might be displeased, were his wife to accept the position +offered her as a belle and leader in the best social circles of the +South. I think he was at first annoyed by the great popularity which +followed my advent into society, but I soon forgot to notice these +indications, and resolved to live my life whether he was pleased or not. +After all, there is a great deal in this world worth living for besides +love as a grand passion. The adoration which others are forced to give +you has its charms; besides, there arise episodes of love in one's life, +which come and go like the rosy dawn and golden sunset of a summer-day, +which for the time charm one's heart out of its one deep passion. In +society here I forget how deeply I loved that one man, and better still, +I forget to think of my husband. For his sake my heart was thrown back +upon itself, and he had become the cause of my humiliation; but for +that, Lawrence might have been my slave, as other men have been, and +will be, so long as I allow them to kneel at the altar of my vanity. Had +I remained at the plantation, this conviction would, I do believe, have +deepened into hatred of my husband; but I was too pleasantly occupied, +brain and sense, for any deep feeling to reach me in that whirl of +society; just then it would have been as impossible for me to hate, as +to love my husband. I simply cared nothing about him, save as he was the +source from whence I obtained gold in which to frame my beauty. Without +that, half my power would have disappeared. + +"Lawrence was right. The time has come when I am a careless, brilliant, +beautiful coquette, and this he has made me. 'Then,' he said, 'we can +meet in safety and play with the foam of life pleasantly, as it is +tossed to our feet by the waves of society.' + +"I understand all this now. When I am heartless, and altogether given up +to vanity, he will not be afraid of loving me, because, to a man like +him, love for a woman so transformed would be impossible. But am I +transformed? Is not the old nature still alive in my bosom? I have no +time for a serious answer. The foam he speaks of is mounting too whitely +around my feet. + +"'What is this? Mr. Dennison ill? Falling away? Forgetting to smile? +Looking the very ghost of himself?' These were the very words I +overheard this morning, as I stood unnoticed behind two ladies +conversing in the great drawing-room of the St. Charles. Was this true? +I had not noticed. The old man never complained, and I saw nothing. If +he had fallen away in his appetite, no one was less likely to be aware +of it than myself, for it was very seldom that we breakfasted at the +same hour, and at dinner I was always too pleasantly occupied for any +thought of his appetite. But one thing was true, he did look thin and +terribly depressed. His white linen coat was hanging loosely around his +person. The silvery hair, which everybody admired so much, seemed to +have grown thinner. Never in my life have I looked on so sad a face. + +"I crossed the room at once, and sat down by Mr. Dennison. His face +brightened, he swept the white hair back from his forehead, and smiled +upon me. + +"'Are you ill?' I said, laying my hand on his. + +"'No, not ill; only a little lonesome.' + +"'Lonesome among all these people?' I answered, still pressing his hand. + +"He looked down at my hand, which was blazing with great diamonds that +he had given me. + +"'There is room for one more,' he said, with a sigh. 'I bought it for +you weeks ago, but have found no time in which you could receive it.' + +"He took a star of diamonds from his pocket, and placed it on the only +one of my fingers that was not already ornamented. His old white hands +trembled a little as he put the ring on my finger, and I could see tears +trembling up to his eyes. + +"'How kind, but how childish you are,' I said, kissing the ring, for it +was well worth that small sign of gratitude. 'Now tell me what makes you +look so pale and so--' + +"'Old, you hesitate to say; but I know it. You are not the only one, +child, who has discovered that you are married to an old, old man.' + +"'I have not thought of it. Indeed, indeed the idea never enters my +mind,' I answered, honestly enough, for he had very seldom been in my +memory at all; 'but what makes you look so miserable? Not that idea, I +am sure. Is it because I have been so extravagant, and spent such loads +of money? Sometimes I do get frightened about that.' + +"'But I scarcely regard it--perhaps I ought; but money seems so trivial +compared to other things.' + +"'Your health, for instance; for you are ill,' I answered, brushing the +white hair back from his temple with my hand, while the ladies opposite +were watching me in a flutter of curiosity. + +"'You are kind to think of that,' he said, gently; 'but I am not ill, +only reproaching myself.' + +"'Why?' + +"'For the bondage which you are beginning to feel so heavily.' + +"I looked at him earnestly a moment, and in that glance gathered a +knowledge of all he had suffered. My heart smote me, for that moment I +was ready to make any sacrifice that would do him good. In truth, the +life I had been leading had already become wearisome. After all, empty +homage satisfies no real want of the heart. + +"'Shall we go home?' I said, with a sudden impulse of kindness. + +"He grasped my hand so tightly that the diamonds hurt me. + +"'If you would--if you only would!' + +"'Let us go to-morrow, then,' I answered. 'No, that cannot be, I have +engagements; but next week. We shall get home in full time for the +orange-blossoms.' + +"'And you _will_ go?' + +"'Certainly. All this is getting very tiresome. Even the spite of the +women has lost its charm.' + +"That morning we went into the breakfast-room together, and then I +remarked how completely Mr. Dennison's appetite had failed. This made me +very thoughtful. What if he should die?' + +"'Cora,' I said that night, as the girl was undressing me, 'have you +observed how ill Mr. Dennison looks?' + +"'Yes, I have, young mistress, and it has frightened me dreadfully.' + +"'Frightened you, Cora? Is he so far gone as that? I did not dream of +your caring so much for him.' + +"'Neither do I. It is you that I care for.' + +"'And you think that I would grieve?' + +"'Yes, I do.' + +"'It should be so. Indeed, Cora, he is a good man, and has been kind to +us.' + +"'But that won't last forever, young mistress. The old master is keen as +he is kind. If he was to make his will now, have you much idea that his +property would go to the wife, who scarcely speaks to him once in +twenty-four hours?' + +"I started, and turned upon the girl. + +"'Why, Cora, you frighten me!' + +"'Not so much as you have frightened me. Poor white widows aren't to my +taste. We have tried that once, and I didn't like it.' + +"'Cora, we will go back to the plantation.' + +"'That is the best thing you can do,' answered the girl, quietly. 'Home +is the place for a man to die in.' + +"'Why, girl!' I cried out, in nervous dread, 'you speak as if he were +really in danger.' + +"'And so he is; people seldom get over the disease that has been +creeping on him ever since we came here.' + +"'What disease? What are you speaking of, Cora? What disease do you +think Mr. Dennison has?' + +"'A broken heart.' + +"'Cora!' + +"'None of your sudden fits--people get over them; but slow and sure: I +have been watching it from the first.' + +"'And you think I have done this?' + +"'Of course. Who else?' + +"'Cora, we will go home next week.'" + + + + +CHAPTER LXXIII. + +FIRST WIDOWHOOD. + + +"I am a widow. The name fills me with awe, as if I had never heard it +before. It has a new meaning now--a terrible meaning of death, which is +full of reproach and horror. He lies yonder, cold and still, the smile +which he had almost forgotten of late frozen on his white lips, the +lines of age graven deeply in his face,--with something more terrible +still, which makes me shiver and shrink as I gaze upon it. + +"Have I done this? Is that look of sorrow but the shadow of a charge +which the recording angel is now writing down in the eternal book +against me? Am I the murderer of this good old man? How he loved me! how +kind, how generous, how delicate he was! And I--no, no! it must have +been old age. Men of seventy do not sink down and perish in silence +because they are not loved with the intensity given to youth. Oh, how I +wish it were all over! While he lies in the house, so frozen and cold, I +shall not draw a free breath. It seems to me as if he could rise up any +moment out of that marble sleep with the power to search every thought +that has been in my heart during the last year. His knowledge is perfect +now; he reads my soul as I dare not read it myself. _Have_ I wished his +death? Have I ever thought of what might happen after that? God forgive +me, for I seem terrible to myself. + +"Death in the house; this great lonely dwelling, with all its luxurious +appliances, is but a tomb. The air chills me; its solitude is terrible. +Cora comes to me once in a while with her silky flatteries, and attempts +to convince me that I have never been blamable as a wife. I know that +she does not believe this, and almost hate her for thinking that her +sophistry can reconcile me with myself. Yet what have I done? Amused +myself--gathered crowds of admirers around me--neglected the only true +love that ever lightened my life. Shall I ever be worshipped again as +that old man worshipped me?... + +"They have carried him out from his home forever, and now the old house +seems more vast and lonely than before. I still hear the tramping of his +bearers' feet, and shudder as the pall seems to rustle and sweep by me. +Ah! the first feelings of widowhood must be mournful indeed to a +devoted wife; to me they are terrible. The very air seems to reproach +me. I start at each sound as if it were a denunciation. The very air I +breathe seems heavy with funereal shadows.... + +"The first great horror has left me, but a feeling of blank desolation +still remains. I have not yet thought of the future, or asked myself +what may be in store for the woman whom so many are loading with praises +and commiseration which she knows in her heart are undeserved. + +"This morning I was aroused from the heavy apathy which has made my life +a blank, by the arrival of my husband's solicitor. Mr. Dennison has left +a will making me the inheritor of everything he had on earth. The lawyer +told me this, and, for the first time since my widowhood, I felt the +heart in my bosom stir like a living thing. Was I indeed so wealthy, and +free, too! + +"I observed in a dreamy way that the lawyer looked anxious and +oppressed, as if something yet remained to be told. + +"'Is this all,' I said; 'has he mentioned no other person in the will?' + +"'No other person,' was the reply; 'but I have something to explain +which may change the aspect of my news. It seems that within the past +few months a heavy mortgage has been laid upon the plantation, and it +must be sold.' + +"'A mortgage!' I said; 'that is something which prevents a man holding +or selling his own land, is it not?' + +"'It is a debt for which the estate is pledged,' answered the lawyer; +'but I wonder you do not understand it better, for your own signature is +attached.' + +"Then I remembered that, during the stay of Mr. Lawrence at our house, +Mr. Dennison had called me to the table in his library and asked me to +sign a paper. He explained to me clearly enough, no doubt, that the +paper might deprive me of some claim for dower; but I did not heed it +at the time, and now it was to fall upon me with all its force. The +plantation must be sold, the lawyer said, for he was one of the +executors to the will. The mortgage once cleared off and the debts paid, +there would still be a handsome property left. + +"All at once I was seized with intense love for the old place. Where +should I ever find a home so rich in comforts, so beautifully +surrounded? + +"'Is it not possible to keep the place?' I demanded, with growing +interest. + +"'No; the mortgage was given, I imagine, in order to raise funds for +some dazzling speculation in which Mr. Lawrence was concerned. At any +rate, there is no money to pay it with, and the estate must go to the +hammer.' + +"'This is cruel, it is unjust,' I said, angrily. + +"'It was wrong and foolish to involve the estate as Mr. Dennison has,' +answered the executor, 'and the loss is a heavy one. Let us be thankful +that our good friend has left enough without that.' + +"'But his losses were brought on by Mr. Lawrence?' I questioned, +speaking the name with a thrill of pain. + +"'No! they were fellow-sufferers. It is understood that Lawrence has +lost heavily, and will perhaps be ruined.' + +"Instantly my heart swelled with sympathy for the man who had helped to +impoverish me. + +"'Oh! if he had but left the estate unburdened, I should not care.' + +"Heaven knows I was thinking of the man who had, perhaps, wronged me, +but the executor misunderstood my words and looked at me wonderingly. I +saw this, but could not explain that the great wish of my heart was that +there might be enough to redeem the losses that had fallen upon +Lawrence. I could not endure to think of him as a poor man. A poor +man--that is a terrible word to the ears of a Southern lady. + +"The executor tried to explain everything clearly, and I made an effort +to understand. He was anxious about the property, and thought the times +unpropitious. The North and South were that hour verging closer and +closer toward a civil war, in which the value of property would become +uncertain, and I might be a sufferer. + +"I knew all this before; rumors of political strife had reached even our +secluded home. I knew that the bitter animosity which had been long +growing between the North and South had even then broken into open +hostilities. Southern statesmen had retreated in a body from the United +States Senate, and resigned their seats in the House. I had taken a +blind interest in this matter, and, in a loose way, hated everything +that opposed the dominant power of my own section; but it was as a child +takes sides. I did not, and do not, really understand the questions +which give rise to all this turmoil. Of course, the whole affair will be +settled somehow; people never do fight when they threaten so much. +Besides, the South is so reasonable; she only asks to set up for +herself, and be let alone. What objection can there be to this? I dare +say the Northern people will acquiesce; but if not, it will only take a +month or so to gain our independence. I think the executor is right to +put off the sale till then; for of course property will rise enormously, +and this may compensate me for that great drawback, the mortgage. But +until the estate is settled, I must remain a slave here. Perhaps that is +best; it would not be proper for a widow to seek society under a year; +but oh! how dreary that year will be! + +"I wonder if Mr. Lawrence has heard of his friend's death? Months have +gone by and not a word from him, not even the usual letter of +condolence. Perhaps he is coming. Surely the share he has taken in the +ruin of this property ought to bring some explanation. There is no +reason now why he should keep aloof. + +"At last I have heard from him. A letter came to the executor, enclosing +one for me. It is in my bosom. I have covered the senseless paper with +kisses. Yet there is nothing in it but gentle condolence for sorrow. The +reason he has not written before is that the news of Mr. Dennison's +death reached him in Europe, where he will remain until the end of this +year. His letter to the executor was long and thoroughly explanatory of +all the business which lay between him and Mr. Dennison. This mortgage, +it seems, was only the accumulation of many others that had from year to +year been a burden on the estate. Through the influence of Mr. Lawrence, +a New York capitalist had paid up these mortgages, and concentrated them +into one which, after all, does not cover half the value of the estate. +It was this act of friendship which brought Mr. Lawrence to our house. +There was neither risk nor speculation in the whole business. Even with +this encumbrance, Mr. Dennison's will would have left me wealthy, but +for the terrible civil war which has broken over us. As it is, there are +three hundred slaves, which the mortgage does not touch, and they are a +handsome property in themselves. + +"The estate is sold, and the result scarcely covers the mortgage. Still +the slaves are left, and my jewels are of great value. Sometimes, when +my hand rests upon my black dress, the diamonds with which my husband +loaded it flame up and burn into my conscience. How could I be so +negligent and cold to him? + +"Some months longer I shall remain on the estate. The new owner wishes +to hire most of my slaves; that arrangement will supply me with an ample +income, and permit me to go anywhere; that is, if I can get away, when +the whole country is swarming with armed men. Thank heaven! my home has +escaped all these military disturbances; but they build a wall of +bayonets between me and _him_. I cannot even get letters.... + +"I am going: an opportunity offers. This very day I start for the North. +My pass is ready, my escort waiting. How my heart swells! how my courage +rises! The dangers of war have no terrors for me. I am going to the +North, and _he_ is there.... + +"How long it is since I have written a line in my journal, or even seen +it! In our rough journey there was little time or opportunity for +writing, but here I have rest and am entirely out of danger. + +"Lawrence is in the Federal army, commanding one of the city regiments +which have gone down to the war for special duty. How vast and lonely +this hotel seems! I am lost in this great wilderness of people. The +streets are full of military men; regiments are constantly passing +through on their way to the war. Great heavens! did our people hope to +wrest away any portion of this great country from men like these? For +the first time I understand the madness of the rebellion. It is no light +thing to rend a great nation asunder. I begin to feel this, and tremble +for the people of the South. In the insanity of their ambition they have +sacrificed everything.... + +"He is coming. His regiment is ordered home. I am here at the Fifth +Avenue Hotel--his home when he is in the city. Lawrence must not find me +here. His fastidious delicacy might take the alarm! Besides, I have made +acquaintances, and am almost acting over the _rôle_ that made me so +popular at New Orleans; else the suspense of this long waiting would +have been intolerable. Yes, it is far better that I should be away when +he comes. If he hears of me, it will only be from admirers. Even with +the women, I think that I have left no enemies. It is early for the +season, but this very day my rooms at Long Branch shall be taken. Will +he follow me there? The question drives the breath back from my lips.... + +"I have been at the Branch three weeks. His regiment has returned to +New York, but I have not seen him: this suspense is terrible. Yesterday +I sent Cora to the city, ostensibly to get some articles that I left at +the hotel, but in fact to bring me intelligence of him, for which my +soul was thirsting. + +"She came back radiant, for the poor girl understands how anxious I am. +She saw him--talked with him. He has been very busy with his regiment, +and attending to neglected business on Wall Street; but next week--next +week--oh, how long the days will seem till then!... + +"He is here. I have seen him; we have walked together, free as birds +upon the shore, where the sea rolls in with bewildering harmonies for +the happy, and solemn anthems for those who suffer. To-day the very air +was jubilant; the waves came rolling in crested with foam, and dashing +the sand with shimmering silver. How the sunshine danced and broke and +laughed over the broad expanse of water! The sea-gulls, as they swooped +down and dipped their wings in the curling foam, were like doves to us. +Indeed, this flat, treeless shore on which the ocean is eternally +beating, is just now the brightest paradise I ever knew. + +"Weeks roll on, and our companionship is perfect; but he says nothing of +the future. We talk of books, of friendship--love even--but in a vague, +dreamy way, that confirms nothing. I wonder at this, and it disturbs me. +Is it that he is no longer a rich man? I have heard this, but am not +sure, for the rumor is often met with contradiction. If this should +prove true, it will account for his conduct. I know him well enough to +be sure that his sensitive honor would take alarm at the thought of +marrying a woman whose property would more than match his own; and mine, +notwithstanding all losses, is of no ordinary value. + +"These thoughts trouble me. Nothing can be more impressive than his +devotion; my society seems all in all to him, but our relationship +remains the same. + +"A rather singular family has just arrived--some rich iron-man from the +interior of Pennsylvania. His wife is a confirmed invalid, but one of +the most refined and lovable women I ever saw. She must have been very +beautiful in her youth, for her features are singularly like those of +her daughter, who is considered the most lovely girl at the Branch this +season. The rooms which Mr. Lee occupies open on to the same veranda +with mine, and as the lady spends a great deal of her time in looking +out upon the ocean from her luxurious easy-chair, I managed to open an +acquaintance with her and a lady who is her constant companion, and +either an elder sister of the beautiful girl I have spoken of, or some +near friend of the family. My first advances to this lady were rather +coldly received. She has evidently been out of society a long time, and +appears shy and reserved. The younger lady seemed to be reading my face +with more scrutiny than pleased me. She is not really handsome, but has +lovely hair and an abundance of it, with deep gray eyes that are almost +always shaded by long curling lashes, which gives them intense +expression when she lifts them suddenly and meets your gaze. Her +complexion is pure and bright, but the mouth is a little too large for +harmony with the other features. Still, her smile is peculiarly +expressive when she does smile, which is not often. + +"I can hardly tell why this person impressed me so forcibly, but a +strange sensation came over me when those eyes were first lifted to my +face. She is not imposing in her presence, but very modest and very +unobtrusive. Her attentions to Mrs. Lee were more than affectionate; and +with the young lady she has the air and manner of a sister who feels her +superiority in age, and nothing more. + +"This morning I met Mr. Lee on the shore, walking alone. He is a +princely man in appearance, taller than Mr. Lawrence, and of more noble +proportions. Still, his finely-cut features lack the keen intelligence +which is only seen where great genius exists. The years he has already +numbered scarcely count to his disadvantage. Not very long ago I should +have considered this man as far the handsomest of the two; but now the +splendor of genius alone can satisfy me.... + +"I have had terrible news. President Lincoln has issued a proclamation +which emancipates all slaves in the rebellious States. If this act is +lawful, and can be enforced, I am almost a beggar. All the property to +which I have a right lies in the strong arms of nearly three hundred +negro slaves. A single word, the mere writing of a man's name, has swept +all my wealth away. With the exception of my jewels, I have nothing. +This is a terrible blow, for I have endured poverty, and shrink from it +with absolute dread. To me a luxurious ease and elegance are a fixed +habit, and so necessary that I could not live without them. + +"One consolation comes out of all this ruin. I am sure that Lawrence has +hesitated to say all that is in his heart on account of my wealth, +which, if rumor speaks truly, was far greater than anything he can +command. When I think of this and glory in his sensitive delicacy, the +loss of all my slaves seems a less crushing calamity. This very day I +will tell him how suddenly the Act of Emancipation has placed me on his +level. + +"I have told him of the sweeping misfortune which has left me on the +verge of poverty. He looked at me in alarm. His face clouded over, his +eyes turned away from mine. It was moments before he spoke. + +"'It is a misfortune,' he said, at last, and there was bitterness in his +voice, as if some wrong had been done himself. 'Poverty is a terrible +thing; from my heart I pity you.' + +"'But it is not everything,' I faltered; 'surely happiness can exist +without wealth: you must not frighten me with the thought that my future +is all broken up.' + +"He shook his head, moved away from me abruptly, and stood for a moment +looking out upon the ocean in gloomy silence. At last he came back and +took my hand, which was growing cold. + +"'It is a misfortune,' he said, 'but you will hardly feel it. Something +is left, if properly managed. You are young and splendidly beautiful. A +few smiles--a little condescension--and fortunes will be laid at your +feet, compared to which that which you have lost will be nothing. As for +me--but I will not talk of myself. It is only another dream broken up.' +He turned abruptly, dropped my cold hand from his clasp, and walked +away, leaving me stranded, as it were, like a wreck upon the shore. + +"What does this mean? 'It is only another dream broken up.' These were +his words. Merciful heavens! has this ruin fallen on my whole life. Will +poverty frighten back the heart that was mine? + +"'Another dream broken up.' These words signify everything that is +humiliating and painful. If they have any meaning at all, he is ready to +give me up rather than face the difficulties of my position. And I +thought him so disinterested, so proud! + +"Alas! I thought myself unhappy before, but this is perfect desolation. +'Another dream broken up' for him--a life broken up for me. + +"I do not believe it. I mistook the meaning of his words. He loved me; I +know he did. Was it not a consciousness of too passionate tenderness +that drove him away from me when I was a married woman? Has he not +sought me since, and told me in a thousand ways how dear I was to him? +Has he not so mingled our future lives in his conversation that there +could be no mistaking the drift of his thoughts? I am foolish to think +that this will make any lasting difference. Besides, Lincoln must be +master of the South before my slaves can be reached by any act of his." + + * * * * * + +"It is true: Lawrence, during the last week, has been gradually +withdrawing himself from my society. I have seen him less frequently of +late; he seldom joins me unless I am surrounded by others. Our walks on +the beach are entirely broken up, and he no longer seeks me when I +purposely sit apart on the veranda of the hotel. + +"I have been so annoyed and felt so wronged by his conduct, that a +spirit of bitter retaliation is aroused in my bosom. The most +aristocratic and splendid man here is Mr. Lee. I have noticed once or +twice that Lawrence has seemed a little disturbed by the slight interest +this gentleman has taken in me. He shall feel this more keenly before +the week is over. By that time a prouder and more fastidious man than he +is shall be my slave. That idea of the power a brilliant coquette may +wield, which he first planted in my mind, shall bring forth bitter fruit +for his eating before I have done with him. + +"This man shall be at my feet again--I do not know whether in love or +hate; but no living creature shall ever cast me off in this slow, +heartless fashion. I am young, beautiful, the fashion--but these things +count for but little in a contest with men like Lawrence. He it was who +first told me that I possess something far more powerful than all +these--intellect, talent, powers of combination, and that subtle +magnetism which no man has ever yet had power to resist: compared with +this, beauty, youth, and fashion are trivial possessions. But I have +them all, and it shall go hard if this proud man is not made to feel +their influence. He thinks I accept the position, and do not feel. Let +him. I have not mingled in society and practised his lessons for +nothing. The 'brilliant coquette' with whom he could associate with +safety has at least learned how to conceal her anguish. He shall yet +find how fatal and poisonous is the hatred growing up like a upas-tree +in the desert he has made. My acquaintance with Mr. Lee thrives. I have +become the intimate friend of his daughter, a tender nurse to his +invalid wife. They are a singularly refined and intelligent family, so +loving and true that I almost envy the simplicity which springs from so +much goodness. In my friendship for his wife and daughter I find the +surest means of interesting Mr. Lee. + +"What do I purpose by this? Why, to triumph over that ingrate Lawrence +by a conquest of the only man within reach who is admitted to be his +superior. He has humiliated my pride, wounded my vanity, and, oh +heavens! thrown back the most passionate love that woman ever bestowed +on man, as too worthless for his acceptance without money. Were Mr. Lee +an unmarried man, this Lawrence should be invited to act as his +groomsman within the month. As it is, he is distinguished and +unapproachable to the common herd. As to the rest, wait and see--wait +and see! + +"Even here that man seems determined to thwart and wound me. Once, when +I was talking with Mr. Lee in a low voice, watching the effect of this +intimacy on Lawrence, who stood near, from under my half-closed +eyelashes, he came up quietly, and desired to be introduced to my +companion, who that moment moved away unconscious of the request. + +"Lawrence has become acquainted with the young lady. I do not know how +he managed it, but this morning when I looked out upon the sea, thinking +only of him, they were standing together on the shore, conversing like +old friends. My heart stood still; I felt my very lips turn white. The +girl is rich, beautiful, and of good family. Almost her entire life has +been spent in France, and she has undoubtedly brought all the arts and +graces learned in foreign society in order to insure her conquests here. +How did she manage to attract Lawrence? No woman has been able to do +that since he came here. Until now my influence has been supreme, my +society sufficient to his happiness;--_now_ he is standing by her--yes, +looking down into the eyes of that girl with the air of a man entranced. +What can it mean? what can it mean?... + +"I have not slept all night. My brain whirls, my heart aches; all the +pride in my nature rises up in rebellion. I hate that man. He loves her. +I can see it in his eyes; I can hear it in his speech. There is homage +in the very bend of his person when he salutes her. Never, even in the +first days of our acquaintance, has he addressed me with such tender +admiration. Oh, how I hate her! The blood burns hotly in my veins when +she approaches me. I long to strike her down. But be quiet, proud heart! +the time will come--the time will come! + +"A gentleman has just arrived at the Branch from the neighborhood of Mr. +Lee's residence in Pennsylvania. He is a bright, chivalrous, +noble-hearted young fellow, evidently in love with Jessie Lee, who looks +upon him only as a generous young man whom she has known all her life, +and cannot be particularly interested in. I discovered all this at the +first interview. Besides the disadvantage of a long intimacy, she does +not care for him because of the fascinations this other man has thrown +around her. Poor fellow! how sad and bewildered he looks when she turns +from him with such unconscious indifference to listen for the footsteps +of his rival. How her cheek burns and her eyelids droop when the one man +approaches her! Ah! I know the feeling, and could almost give pity for +the disappointment in store for her; for she shall be disappointed. His +'brilliant coquette' is on the watch, softly, stealthily, but vigilant +as a fox. Where two men are in love with the same woman, opportunities +for complications are always arising. I shall neither overlook or throw +them aside. + +"Days and weeks have worn away,--that is the word,--worn away with such +dull joylessness that they seem to me like the heavy dreams of a sick +man. It is true this man would have married me out of lukewarm love and +a thirst for money; but it is all over now. Both inclinations have +kindled up into fiery passion for this Jessie Lee, and she is in love +with him--a first love, deep and shy, but positive. He sees this and +exults in it, utterly careless that I see and suffer. + +"My friends reproach me for my reckless gayety. They complain that I am +too greedy of pleasure, and give myself no rest. Greedy of pleasure! I +am only fleeing from pain; I cannot pause to think without loathing the +past and dreading the future. I rush onward like a wounded animal, +afraid to pause lest I should be tempted to lie down and bleed to death. + +"Lawrence has become close friends with young Bosworth. They have known +each other before, it seems, and the acquaintance has been warmly +renewed. There is craft and calculation in this. Let me watch and wait. +I knew it. Lawrence seldom attempts to attract man or woman in vain. +This morning the blinds of my window were closed, and I sat thoughtfully +in the twilight of my room, listening to the murmurs of the ocean, that +seemed to grow softer and more slumberous as the sun poured its silvery +radiance upon them. I was very sad. No one would have complained of my +spirits could they have seen me then. + +"All at once, voices startled me. Lawrence and young Bosworth had paused +near the closed blinds of my room. Just before this, some invitation had +evidently been extended to Lawrence, and he accepted it with evident +satisfaction. + +"'Of course I will come, my good fellow. Fine shooting, a good horse, +and such neighbors as the Lees, would draw a man out of paradise. You +may count on me for a month.' + +"'Then it is settled,' answered Bosworth, with a little reserve; perhaps +he was not altogether pleased that the Lees were considered as an +inducement for the visit. 'Then it is settled. We will do our best to +make your visit to the old house pleasant.' + +"They passed on after this, and left me trembling with indignation. +Lawrence had made arrangements to follow Jessie Lee in a way that would +commit him to nothing. Here, my presence has been some restraint upon +him. In the country, his opportunities to see her will be far greater, +and he will become thoroughly acquainted with all the advantages of her +position. + +"Lawrence is going to visit his rival, Mr. Bosworth. I will visit my +rival, Miss Jessie Lee, at the same time. Before the night closes in, I +will have an invitation from both the young lady and her invalid mother. +As for Miss Hyde, it would be a thousand years before I got one from +her. She does not like me, but I will become an inmate of her friends' +house nevertheless. I can almost smile when I think of the confusion +this arrangement will make. + +"The night has not darkened yet, and I am invited to The Ridge. This is +the name of Mrs. Lee's place in the country. How easily these gentle and +truthful women are managed. They had not the least idea of inviting me +when I entered their parlor, but in ten minutes after it was all +arranged. I did not promise to go, however, but left the acceptance for +a future day. This uncertainty will prevent them mentioning the visit to +Lawrence.... + +"I am here at The Ridge, an honored guest, welcome to every one except +Miss Hyde, who never has even pretended to like me. She has great +influence in the family; but how long will it last? My enemies usually +get into trouble in some unexpected way before I have been with them +long. + +"Lawrence is here, but I have managed that he shall not know of my +presence until we meet face to face. We have a delicate game to play, +and I shall enjoy the first move. + +"I have seen him. We went out on horseback this afternoon, and he joined +us. I was in my saddle when he rode up, and smiled upon him as if we had +met only yesterday. His face flushed scarlet when he saw me. I made no +effort to have him near me, but rode on with Mr. Lee, who is really one +of the most charming men I ever saw. I watched Lawrence closely, to +detect some annoyance at this intimacy; but his face was inscrutable. +One thing was positive: my presence annoyed him. + +"I think there was an effort made by Miss Hyde to keep me from Mrs. +Lee's sick-room, but all her petty obstacles were swept away like a +handful of rushes. Let this dainty little person take care, or she may +not long remain the friend _par excellence_ of the family. Mrs. Lee is +very delicate, and may at any hour drop out of life. They are enormously +rich, and most of the money comes from her real estate. I suppose +Lawrence knows all this, or he would not have been in the neighborhood; +but he shall never marry this girl--never--never! + +"I am gaining something of my old ascendency over this man; and as I +gain, she loses--no matter how--but she does. There are things which we +never write, or care to see on record even in our own hearts. I think +the devoted attentions of my host wound his vanity a little; and it is +for this reason I encourage them--with another, so vague and remote that +it scarcely takes shape as yet. But this is certain: I will not be made +bankrupt in everything. If love fails me, I will have power and wealth. +If he attains this girl, I will sweep everything else out of his reach. +The pale woman up yonder in her tower-chamber cannot live forever. + +"There is a little imp of Satan in this house, who is constantly with +Mrs. Lee, vigilant as a fox, but, to all appearance, stolid enough in +everything where her mistress is not concerned. She is completely +uneducated, and seems to observe or know nothing beyond her duties in +the sick-room; but she is forever there, and, I am sure, listens +sometimes to our conversation, though it makes no visible impression +upon her. I have told Cora to gain some influence over this strange +creature. Since then she has been in my room frequently, and yesterday +proposed to dress my head, which was beautifully done. She is very +quiet, and takes no interest in anything around her, but talks to Cora +when I am away, and the two are becoming very intimate. I shall find her +useful. In her simplicity she will tell Cora everything. + +"Young Bosworth has proposed to Jessie and been rejected; I am sure of +this, though she is honorably reticent, and Miss Hyde refuses to speak. +My relations with Lawrence are getting more and more confidential and +friendly. Yesterday he even hinted at his attachment for Jessie. I +listened in dead stillness, holding my breath, for it seemed as if some +cruel hand were clutching at my heart. Does he think that I have no +feeling, no pride? Sometimes I hate the man. How would he open this +subject? How was I endowed with power to listen without shrieking forth +the agony it inflicted? + +"He asked me, with an effort at carelessness, if I thought there was +anything serious in young Bosworth's attentions to Miss Lee. His voice +faltered a little, and I knew that he was anxious. So I answered with +gentle deliberation that I knew very little of the matter. Cora had +gathered from the servants that they were mutually attached, but Mr. Lee +opposed the marriage, as young Bosworth's fortune was in no reasonable +proportion to that Miss Lee would inherit. Lawrence winced at this, +unless I am greatly mistaken. Bosworth is a millionaire compared to him. +If he has property of any amount, I have been unable to learn the fact. +Indeed, he speaks of himself always as a poor man; but that may be from +calculation. Thinking that Bosworth might know and have spoken of his +friend's affairs, I have brought up the subject once or twice when +conversing with Miss Hyde, but she evidently knew little or nothing +about it. Oh, why is he not a rich man! The temptation of Miss Lee's +fortune would be nothing to him then, and that girl and I would stand on +equal ground. With the odds so completely against me, I have sworn to +myself that he shall never, never marry her. + +"She loves him, and I think he loves her; still he turns to me for +sympathy and counsel, believing that I forget and forgive. + +"Yes, she has rejected young Bosworth, and he is ill, very ill. That +fine old lady, his grandmother, has sent for Miss Hyde, who will take +Jessie Lee to visit her sick lover. Lawrence shall know this. He shall +watch for her, going and coming. What, but intense love, can account for +a step so singular--taken, too, without the knowledge of her father, for +I will see that no communication of the fact shall reach him. + +"It is exactly as I wished. He saw her on the road; he knows how angry +her father was. His mortification is complete. He suffers enough to make +my soul rise up in arms against him. To-day he betrayed one fact. The +hope of gaining her property was a powerful incentive, however much he +may love her. The man is worse than poor--heavily in debt--and feels +himself compelled to marry riches. Perhaps this is the sole motive that +brings him to the feet of this beautiful heiress. If I thought so, he +might marry her; and I would wait a little till that frail woman--no, +that is a terrible thought; let it sleep--let it sleep. Still, what +would I do, even if Lawrence loved me? With extravagant tastes like +ours, and high social positions to maintain without means, and he in +debt, a marriage would be madness. If I were only sure that he sought +her for her money alone--but I will not think of it. + +"Lawrence has gone. I could not endure to see his disappointment, and +let him depart supposing her engaged. + +"I cannot live without him. This beautiful place is a desert, with all +its blossoming flowers and rich appliances. When I feel that he has +gone, a gloom falls upon everything around me. I am more lonely and +miserable than his devotion to this young heiress could make me. +Without his society, life would be a heavy burden. But how is that to be +attained? + +"These few days have been important ones to me. I have conjectured and +thought till my brain aches and my heart is sore. To-day I stood upon +the top of the Ridge, looking out upon the town and the vast landed +estate owned by this man. Miss Hyde was with me, and something she said +led me into a new train of thought. It seems that Jessie Lee is an +heiress in spite of her father. At her mother's death, she will come in +possession of half the estate. Of course, she will always live near the +homestead, and the man she marries must necessarily be almost an inmate +there. I have thought of this a great deal. New combinations are +arranging themselves in my mind. If this rich man were free--but I dare +not think of it. + +"This lady is very lovely, but life must be a burden to any invalid. I +should think death a mercy compared to the dull monotony of a sick-room. +He is very tender and kind to her; but full health and continued illness +cannot long remain in sympathy. He has learned this within the last two +months, or I am greatly mistaken. Jessie Lee is getting distrustful of +me. Miss Hyde has disliked me from the first, but in the sick-room I am +all-potent, and this proud man does not himself dream of the power I +have attained over him.... + +"I will do it; what choice have I? Poverty on one side, loneliness, +desolation. On the other, wealth, position, his society. Oh, if I could +only be sure that he does not love her! + +"Having made up my mind, I am not one to falter. Yesterday I was talking +with her about opiates. She is very nervous and wakeful at night, but +refused to take laudanum. Very well; I have persuaded her that +chloroform will bring rest, and she has some in her room. If she should +take an overdose, who can be astonished? + +"Last night I had a fearful struggle in her room. That girl seems +endowed with wonderful resistance. I cannot put her so deeply into +insensibility that she does not come out with a suddenness that +frightens me. Perhaps I am nervous; everything startles me, and I feel +panic-stricken at the least sound. + +"After several failures I at last got the imp into perfect +unconsciousness. _She_ was lying on her white bed, more like a ghost +than a human being. I stood over her; the dim outline of her person was +just visible, but my hand crept slowly through the darkness, grasping +the bottle, which was already uncorked. I was resolute. There was no +tremor of heart or hand to hold me back. Slowly and steadily she inhaled +the drug. Her breath stopped--her hand, which I grasped in mine, was +growing cold, when I heard a scraping noise behind me. In an instant the +room was illuminated with pale blue light. I turned in horror, and saw +the girl Lottie and Miss Hyde, both pale as death, gazing upon me. I +escaped them almost by a miracle. Cora came to my aid, and, quick as a +flash of lightning, changed the bottle in my hand for another, while +Miss Hyde was absolutely holding me in her arms. The whole family were +aroused, but I received them calmly: the moment of peril had passed, +and, instead of sinking, my energies rose to the conflict. But after I +reached my room, the reaction was terrible. I fell from one fainting fit +to another until morning. + +"That girl Lottie suspects me. No fox waiting for prey was ever more +vigilant. I dare not venture to that room again. + +"An idea struck me this afternoon. A few words, spoken sadly and +secretly by the sick woman, revealed means of reaching the end I wish, +which are entirely free from danger, and may lead to other results. Let +me think; let me plan. Why did this idea never present itself before? + +"'To think that he did not love me, would be death,' she said. I felt +the blood leap from my heart. This sentence revealed a terrible power +which might safely be used. A power so subtle and deep-working that no +human being would ever guess at its fatal effects. + +"I have written this woman a letter, so completely imitating Jessie +Lee's handwriting that no human being can detect the difference. In that +letter I have accused myself of attempting to entrap Mr. Lee, and of +usurping the affections that should belong to his wife. I have pointed +out proof after proof that he has ceased to regard her, and is becoming +weary of the life her illness forces upon him. I have warned her that +his love is already given to another, and that her very life is becoming +burdensome to him. + +"The letter is adroitly written, but has no signature. Who could suppose +any woman capable of maligning herself? I have sent it to the mail. It +will reach her to-morrow. I cannot sleep to-night. Work like this +requires a heart of brass and nerves of steel. + +"It is done. She got the letter while we were out riding. When we came +back, her heart was broken--poor thing, poor woman! I almost wish it had +not been done. The feeling of terror that seized upon me when I saw +their white faces, was awful. A faint sickness crept over me, but I must +go on and face the work I had done. + +"I kissed her while she was dying. Did Judas feel so when he betrayed +the Saviour? No wonder he went out and killed himself. A drop of her +life-blood clung to my lips. I washed it off again and again, but it +burns there yet--it burns there yet.... + +"Weeks have passed, mostly in solitude, for we keep apart from each +other, and meet gloomily when forced into domestic companionship. I am +sure this man loves me, though as yet he has given no sign. I am equally +sure that the other inmates of the house hate me. + +"I have written to Lawrence, explaining away many things that drove him +from the neighborhood. I have told him that Jessie Lee is not +engaged--that she has loved him from the first. This will bring him +back. Let him marry her; his presence is my life. That much at least +will be secured. + +"He has been here, she has refused him utterly, and he is furious. Oh, +such words as he used, such cruel, hard truths as he told me! They +pierce my heart like arrows poison-tipped. He does not love me--never +did. This thought makes me hard as iron, resolute as a tigress. + +"I am about to leave the Ridge. I have separated him from his household. +It was the necessity of my position. Had these two women regained their +influence over Mr. Lee, I should have lost him too. As it is, they will +be left alone. I shall not be absent from his house twenty-four hours +before he will depart also. + +"He intends to leave home at once and travel in Europe. About the end of +this year he will be in Paris. He asked no questions about my movements, +but there was anxiety and deep distress in his eyes that I understood. + +"I shall go at once to New York, sell my jewels, and hold myself in +readiness for anything that comes. But one thing is certain--this man +and I meet again." + + * * * * * + +Mrs. Dennison's journal closed here. I read it through, word by word, +until my very heart grew cold with horror and dread. It is a terrible +thing to be made the custodian of a great crime. It haunted me night and +day, until the very burden of it threatened to undermine my health. + +I hid the book away, and locked it close from all knowledge but my own. +For the universe I would not have told Jessie one word of the awful +crime it revealed. I think it would have killed her. But all this time +my soul grew faint with apprehension. The year was wellnigh at its +close. Would this woman carry out her project and meet Mr. Lee in Paris? +The thought drove me wild. I resolved to leave home and cross the ocean +rather than allow a noble and good man to be wiled on to a union with +that terrible woman. But this was difficult. How could I leave Jessie to +such perfect loneliness? These thoughts filled my mind day and night, +haunting me almost into insanity. + +Sometimes I thought of Lottie with a gleam of hope: possibly she had +undertaken the daring enterprise which I contemplated with so much +terror. I resolved to wait a while, hoping that she might send us some +intelligence. + +Weeks went by and we heard nothing of her. She had not promised to +write--still we anxiously expected to hear of her welfare; but nothing +came. Like Mr. Lee, Lottie seemed to have been swept out of our lives. + +All this was very sad; but we received a little sunshine in the constant +visits of young Bosworth, who was so happy now in his but half +acknowledged engagement to our Jessie that all our troubles were chased +away in his presence. As for the old lady--but it is impossible to +explain what a protection and comfort her society proved to us at this +time. + +A month--six weeks went by, and still nothing of Mr. Lee or of Lottie; +both had deserted us, and we were indeed alone. Jessie had some +consolation in the dawning tenderness of her second love; but I--oh! +those were dreary, dreary days to me! + + + + +CHAPTER LXXIV. + +LOTTIE'S LETTER. + + +One morning I found a letter on the hall-table, which sent all the blood +from my heart. The handwriting I did not know, but it had a foreign +post-mark, and that set my hand to trembling as I touched it. The +address was to myself. + +Jessie was still in the room; so, like a thief, I snatched the precious +messenger, and went off to my old place on the Ridge, where I could be +sure of solitude. I was breathless on reaching the rock, and sat down +with a hand pressed hard against my heart, which throbbed with +suffocating violence. + +I sat down and tore open the envelope. It was a long, heavy letter, +closely written. I recognized the handwriting with a thrill of dread. +With a sinking heart I turned over the pages, and saw "Lottie" written +on the extreme corner of the last sheet. + +"Lottie!" and the letter dated in Paris! What could it mean? It was some +moments before I composed myself sufficiently to make out the first few +lines, though they were characteristic enough. + +"My very dear Miss Hyde," the letter began, "I a'n't much used to +writing letters, and it seems to me as if this would be long and hard +work; but things must be told, and if I don't write them, who will? + +"You thought hard of me, I dare say, for leaving you just as I did; but +I thought just the other way about it, and haven't changed my mind yet. +It was tough work, though, to get away from home and bid you both +good-bye, as I did. I hope to goodness you will never have to go through +with anything like it. I could not tell you then what it was that set me +off; but I will now. + +"That very morning, before I came down on you for the money, the man +from town brought over some things done up in a newspaper more than six +weeks old, and in it I read that Mrs. Bab--I beg pardon--Madam Dennison +had set sail in a steamboat for a place called Havre, across the +Atlantic Ocean; I know more of places and things than you might believe. +I was sure that Havre was in Europe, and knew well enough that Mr. Lee +was there--a rich widower--with no one in the wide world to keep him +from getting into scrapes. Of course, anybody that could see through a +mill-stone might have known what that she-Bab--no, I mean that lady and +servant--went to Havre for. + +"Well, I thought it all over, and made up my mind what to do. First, I +concluded to keep a close mouth in regard to Miss Jessie, for I was sure +that she would wilt right down; and as for you--well, no matter: that +little secret lies between you and me. Silent was the word then; but I +had made up my mind to travel, and was bound to do it. But people can't +sail across oceans, and gulfs, and inlets, and such kind of waterworks, +without money, and I hadn't but two half-dollars in the world. You know +how I came down on you and the dear young lady like a roaring lion, and +got that six hundred dollars; I'd rather have danced on red-hot coals an +hour than do what I did. It was just highway burglary, and nothing less. +I hate myself for it yet. + +"Well, after I got the money I made quick work of it, sat up all night, +did a little packing, a little praying, and a great deal of crying till +daylight came; then I put for the railroad and flashed down to New York. +A newspaper that I bought of a little boy in the cars told me that a +steamer sailed for Havre that very day. The minute we stopped in New +York I got lost in a crowd of carriage-drivers and long whips, that +seemed terribly glad to see me; and one of them took me on one side as +kind as could be, asking where I wanted to go, promising to take me +right there--that is, to the steamer--trunk and all, in no time. + +"The man kept his word. I got into his carriage, and we drove through +long streets, and cross-streets, down among acres of ships that looked +like blasted trees, and at last we got to a steamer with stairs down its +black sides, and smoke puffing out from its chimneys in a frightful way. + +"The man climbed up the stairs with my trunk on his shoulder; I +followed. He set it down, and I sat down on it. Then the man wanted two +dollars, and I gave him one, at which he grumbled a little; but I told +him that I had travelled, and knew what was what. Then he went away and +left me alone in the crowd; so I had a good cry all to myself, thinking +of you folks at home, and wondering what would become of me in the end. + +"While I was sitting there _so_ heavy-hearted, the bells started out +a-ringing, the steamer began to heave and groan, half the people went +helter-skelter down the side of the vessel, and the other half crowded +toward one end. Then we began to move, and I felt the blood creep up and +down my limbs as shivery as ice. I remember seeing, through the tears +that almost blinded me, handkerchiefs waving and people crying on the +deck and down on the wharf; but there was nobody to cry about me, nor +shake away their sorrow from a white handkerchief; so I just huddled +down on the trunk and gave right up. + +"Oh! how my heart sunk as the steamer swung round and dashed out into +the great river; and, to scare me worse, a gun went off, bang! sending a +stream of smoke behind us. I covered my face in my hands and cried--oh! +how I did cry! + +"When I looked up again, New York was a great way off; the ships looked +like a forest of dead pine-trees, and everything else lay in a blue fog. +I looked the other way, where the sun was going down in the deep, deep +water. There everything was lonesome as the grave, and I almost wished +that I was dead. But the steamer kept on prowling along the water, like +a great wild beast, worrying us all into the next world. It seemed as if +I was going off, far, far away from where my mistress had gone. + +"I had been lonesome before in my life; but this was worse than that. I +wanted to creep into some corner and die. Then I remembered that I had +promised _her_, when she lay dead in the tower-chamber, to be a mother +to you and Miss Jessie, and made a little prayer to God that He would +help me in the thing that I was going about. It was all I could do. + +"When the steamer was out in the deep waters, and the dark came on, a +man stood by my trunk and asked why it was that I stayed out of my room. +Then I told him my trunk was room enough for me just then; so he went +away and brought another man, who asked if I had a state-room and a +ticket. + +"I told him the truth--that I didn't know what a state-room was; but +that something I had eaten must have made me sick, and I wanted to lie +down dreadfully. + +"The man told me that a state-room would cost more than a hundred +dollars; so I told him I'd rather stay on deck, for there was no +certainty how much money I might want to spend before I got back. + +"Then they began talking about second cabins, and asked how much money I +could pay; but, somehow, I was too sick to care much, and let 'em pay +themselves; so they took me down into a room with beds made like shelves +along the sides, and I fell into one. Oh, mercy! I can't think of it now +without being dizzy. + +"Day and night--day and night--rock, rock--plunge, plunge--till at last +there was an end of the eternal waters, and we landed at Havre,--an old +fussy place that seemed as unsteady as the ship. + +"Europe is a large place, Miss Hyde, and I didn't know whereabouts in it +Mr. Lee or that woman was to be found; but I had money, and the mistress +always taught me to trust in God when I couldn't do anything on my own +hook. So I watched everything that went on among the passengers, and +kept a prayer for help stirring in the bottom of my heart. + +"At first I was about to ask some of the passengers which way I'd better +turn, but concluded to wait. So I followed the crowd when it left the +steamer, and it took me into a hotel as old as the hills, where women +were running round in their nightcaps and chattering like tame crows. + +"I went into a room with the rest, and sat down with my satchel on my +lap, keeping a keen eye on everything. We had to wait a good while; for +the men at the wharf wanted to see if everything was put up nicely in my +trunk; but they promised to give it back, and a passenger said he would +send it with his to the hotel, as I was alone. I had to wait. + +"As I sat there watching, some gentlemen came in that seemed to know +some of our passengers. They had just run down from Paris, I heard them +say, to meet their friends on landing. They were nice, genteel men, and +I listened to their talk, having nothing else to busy myself with. After +a good deal of shaking hands and questioning about the voyage, they +began to talk about Paris, especially about its hotels, and what +Americans were at them. + +"I held my breath and listened. The Hotel de Louvre, or Loofer, or +something like that, they said, was the hotel where Americans went most. +There was a great number of distinguished persons there now, and they +went over a list of names. When they came to that of Mr. Lee, I caught +my breath, and sprang up, dropping my satchel, with the gold in it, with +a clank to the floor. No one minded me; so I sat down again, trembling +all over, and listened. Then Mrs. Dennison's name was huddled in among +the rest, and I knew that the persons I was in search of were in the +same town together, and very near too; for the men who had run down from +Paris didn't seem out of breath or the least tired. So I made up my mind +to go there at once, and come back in an hour or two after my trunk. + +"'Please, sir,' said I to one of the gentlemen, 'can you tell me just +how far Paris is from this hotel, and which way I must turn?' + +"He looked at me a minute, and smiled with his eyes. + +"'It is about six hours, I think,' he answered; 'any coachman will take +you to the depot.' + +"I was rather discouraged. If it took him six hours to run the distance, +I should find it a long walk. So I concluded to hire a carriage and take +my trunk along. + +"After awhile my trunk came up with a heap of other baggage, and, as +everybody else was starting off in carriages, I hired one too; and when +the man asked where I wanted to go, I told him to the Louvre Hotel in +Paris. He drove away at once, and after a few minutes stopped at a +railroad depot, and opened the door for me to get out. + +"'This is the right train,' he said, in the queerest English I ever +heard. 'I will get you a ticket.' + +"I felt myself blushing, but said nothing. He didn't know that I had +thought of walking. In less than ten minutes I was whizzing along like +anything over the most beautiful country, and through the queerest old +towns, and by the strangest houses with points and caps and corners like +great table-casters cut in stone. Then the dark came on, and I fell +sound asleep, till a great crash and jar awoke me in a depot right in +the midst of a city larger than New York, all blazing with lights and +crowded with folks. + +"I had learned a thing or two by this time, and when a driver put +himself in my way, told him that I wanted to go to Mr. Louvre's Hotel, +and that he'd better get my trunk. He didn't seem to understand a word +except the name of Mr. Louvre; but he caught that at once and nodded his +head. + +"'_We, we!_' + +"'Yes,' I said, 'both of us. You couldn't very well drive me without +going too, I should think.' + +"So up he came with a little one-horse concern, and in I got. Oh! what +streets, and lanes, and roads of lamps I went through! What crowds of +people--what tall, tall houses! They made me more dizzy than I had been, +and that was bad enough." + + + + +CHAPTER LXXV. + +LOTTIE IN PARIS. + + +"At last we reached the hotel--a great, grand house, that frightens one +by its size; it must cover acres and acres; you could not count the +number of lights, and crowds of people going up and down the stairs. + +"They took me into a room half-way up to the sky, and there I sat down +with my head aching and clear tired out. You didn't know, I suppose, +that I have learned a good many French words from the mistress: such as +_du pain_, which means bread; and _le the_, for tea; and _sucre_, which +a'n't much different from our sugar, only you mumble it up in your mouth +before speaking, and let it all out at once. + +"Well, I was dying with thirst, and my head throbbed terribly. The man +called me _madmoiselle_, and looked polite and sorry; so I said: + +"'_Donna moia_ a cup of _the_, if you please, _mousheu_.' + +"He looked bewildered a minute, and then brightened up so pleasant: + +"'_Ah! le the! We, we!_' + +"'No,' said I, thinking how improper it would be for that strange man to +sit down to tea with a young girl in her room that time of night; 'only +for myself; one cup will do. Excuse me.' + +"He did not stop to hear, but went off and came back with a china cup +and saucer on a little silver tray, as if I had been a born lady. I +stirred up the tea and tasted it. + +"'_Donna moia un petite_ more _sucre_, if _vous_ please,' said I. + +"'_We, madmoiselle, toot sweet,_' says he. + +"The fellow pronounced 'too' as if it had a _t_ in it; but then, how +could he understand good English? + +"'No, no--not too sweet' said I; 'the contrary way. I want more _la +sucre_, sugar, you know.' + +"The fellow really did not understand his own language, but stood there +looking wild as a fish-hawk. All at once he brightened up and ran out of +the room. Directly he came back with another man. The moment I saw his +face I jumped up, ready to scream with joy, and--and--yes, Miss Hyde, +don't blush! but I sprang right into his arms and gave him a kiss. + +"Who was it? Why, James, Mr. Lee's own man--a person--well, Miss Hyde, +we all have secrets; but if ever a girl had a right to kiss a friend in +a strange place, I had--that's all. + +"'Oh! James, James Grant! It's Providence that sent you here!' + +"'No,' he said, holding me tight and stopping my mouth while choke-full +of words, 'I rather think it was your bad French, Lottie.' + +"I would have struck him; only he held me so near and so tight it was +impossible. + +"The waiter went out softly. What sensible people these Frenchmen are! +Then I forgot my headache and everything but the business in hand. James +is a good scholar, you know, and understands French like a book. If ever +Providence sent a friend at the right time, He did it that night. First +I began asking questions. + +"Mr. Lee had been away down East in Jerusalem, Palestine, across +deserts, and over pyramids, for almost the whole time since he left +home. Sorrowful as a man could be, but always going ahead, as if comfort +lay in sharp work. Then he had come back into Italy, and so into France, +which is Paris, you know. + +"Mrs. Dennison was in the hotel when Mr. Lee got there; James thinks, +unexpectedly to his master, but is not certain. He knows that she wrote +letters to him, any way. + +"'She is here, then--she has been setting her traps,' I said. 'Tell me +everything, James, if you ever loved the sweet lady who is dead, or her +child, who is pining herself to death at our own dear home. Tell me +everything!' + +"'Yes,' he said, 'it's no use going over the tracks; but she's got him, +and to-morrow they will be married at the American Embassy.' + +"'To-morrow! Married, to-morrow!' I almost screamed. + +"'Yes,' he answered; 'nothing can stop it. I passed a woman who brought +home the wedding-dress as I came up-stairs.' + +"I caught hold of James and held his arms down tight. + +"'Nothing can stop it, James? Yes, sir, you and I can stop it; you and I +_will_ stop it! I never promised right out before, James; but if you'll +help me to expose this woman, I'll--I'll--yes, you and I'll take their +place, and be married at the American Embassy right off ourselves.' + +"He--well, Miss Hyde, I won't worry you by telling what he said or did +just then; but my face burned like fire half an hour after. + +"Now comes the hardest part of my story. Don't clasp your hands and pray +for me, as the worst sinner that ever was; for I a'n't quite that! +Still, you think so much of a little fib, and listening, and breaking +open seals, that I'd rather not write it if a great deep ocean of water +wasn't rolling between you and me. Miss Hyde, I own it, lies a'n't my +delight; but I can tell 'em. Peeping through keyholes and windows isn't +my nature; but, anyhow, I did it. More than that: I never let one of +Mrs. Dennison's letters leave our house without reading it. One or two +letters I kept back altogether, because they were written in French, and +I couldn't read that. They are with me here. It was to give them into +Mr. Lee's hand that I came across the wide ocean. She suspected me--or +her girl Cora did--and hired one of the men to mail them safely; but I +knew a better way of bribing him to give them up. True, it made James +jealous to see how thick I was with the man; but I couldn't help that. + +"Babylon was cute, though; she wrote carefully. It was to some old +friend--who was as bad as herself--to whom the letters were sent. I have +some of her answers, too, as well as the journal; these were the papers +that I laid before James Grant that night. + +"I could only make out a word here and there in the French letters. If +you hadn't been so crank about honor and all that, I would have brought +them to you; I couldn't make up my mind to take the preaching. But I +watched. You know, Miss Hyde, no dog ever kept watch as I did over that +angel! + +"She died. The worst came while I was wondering what to do. There was no +use in telling what I had done. She was dead; and I thought then that +the woman would go away and leave us to our mourning. If she came back +again, I meant to give the journal up and have you read the French +letters. You know how she left, and why it was Mr. Lee went off in that +strange way; I could only guess. You wouldn't trust me; so I wouldn't +trust you. But when I found that Babylon had gone chasing after Mr. Lee, +just as his year of mourning was over, I followed her. + +"I gave the journal and letters to James, and we read them over +together. James reads French, and can turn it into English as easy as +talking. So he gave me the English, which was a good deal like her +journal, full of sin and iniquity." + + + + +CHAPTER LXXVI. + +THE CASKET OF DIAMONDS. + + +"When we had read the letters and the journal, I tied them together, and +sat down to talk the matter over with James, who is as good as a lawyer +any day. + +"'Where is our master now?' I said. 'What time is it?' + +"'It is nine. I think he may soon be in Mrs. Dennison's parlor; for Cora +told me that her lady wished to try on the wedding-dress, and hoped Mr. +Lee would come in when it was complete. I took the message, and he +answered, 'Very well.' + +"'James,' I said, 'we have no time to lose. Is there no way by which I +can get into Mrs. Dennison's rooms before the master comes in?' + +"James thought a little, and said, 'Yes, it will be easy. When Mrs. +Dennison is dressed they will go into her parlor. It opens from her +bedroom by an arched doorway hung with silk curtains. When they leave +the bedroom, I will let you in.' + +"He went out to see what was going on, and came back all in a hurry, +opened the door, and whispered, 'Come, quick!' + +"I went, and in two minutes was in a large bedroom, warmed up like +sunset with the light that came pouring through the broad red curtains +which hung between it and the next room. + +"'Step softly, and hide somewhere if they come in,' whispered James. + +"'I will,' says I. + +"Then I crept up to the curtain, pushed the red folds back a trifle, and +looked in. + +"It was a large room, lighted, like our drawing-room, with a great +chandelier, and furnished beautifully. _She_ and Cora were standing +under the blaze of lights, all in a flutter of pride. It's no use, Miss +Hyde: I've wanted to think that woman wasn't good-looking, but it's +fighting against one's own eyes. There she stood, with that +wedding-dress of white moire antique a-sweeping down her tall figure, +and lying behind her like ridges of snow on the carpet. All down the +front and around the neck, which was smooth as a japonica leaf, lace +was fluttering, till the whole dress looked soft as snow. On her head +she wore a sort of crown made of pearls like the mistress's necklace +that she thought so much of, and from under that fell a lace veil that +looked like frostwork on a window, and covered her from head to foot. + +"Cora was spreading down the veil as I looked in. Then she stepped back +and had a good survey. + +"'Will it do?' said Mrs. Dennison, drawing herself up proud as a +peacock. + +"'It's superb!' answered Cora. + +"'We will make it a little more perfect before he comes in,' says +Babylon; and, going to a desk, she took out a long morocco case, and +opened it under the light, when a flame of fire flashed out of it. + +"Cora took the box out of Babylon's hand. + +"'From him?' says she. + +"'Yes,' answers Babylon, curving her neck. + +"'How much did they cost?' + +"'Of course he did not tell me that, Cora. Ten or fifteen thousand +dollars, I suppose; but they are nothing to what I'll yet have.' + +"'You will not wear them to-morrow?' + +"'Well, no. It would be a little too much, I fear; but we will put them +on now, just to try the effect.' + +"'No,' says Cora, looking very stubborn; 'I want these. It's no more +than fair.' + +"'Cora!' cried Babylon, with fire in her eyes. + +"'Why not?' says Cora. 'You have promised over and over again to provide +for me when you had the means. Here is something sure.' + +"'Cora, this is too impudent!' + +"'Why? Is it wrong for sisters to share each other's good fortune, +especially when one has done as much to earn it as the other?' + +"Babylon doubled up her white fist, and looked a whole thunder-gust from +under her bent eyebrows. + +"'Sisters! How dare you?' + +"'Because I am your sister.' + +"'You! whose mother was a black slave!' + +"'And my father your father! What can you say against him?' + +"Babylon seemed to struggle against her temper, and got the better of +it. + +"'Give me those diamonds, Cora. Of course I do not dispute what you say, +and always meant to make you independent; but not after this fashion. +Wait till this ceremony is over and I have control of sufficient means. +You must see that it would be ruin to part with these.' + +"'I cannot help that. What security have I that you will keep your word +when you are married? It never has been kept. The truth is, I mean to +stay in this country, where my color is not sneered at, and I must have +the means.' + +"'But have I not promised?' + +"'Yes, a good many times; and I mean that you shall perform too! This +ceremony shall never take place till I am sure of that!' + +"Babylon grew pale as a ghost; something seemed to swell in her throat. + +"'Give back the diamonds,' she said, speaking as if she had a cold; and +you shall have a written promise for twice their amount three months +after I am married.' + +"'When?' + +"'Now. I will write out the paper at once.' + +"'Well, but remember it is made out to Cora, _your half-sister_, or I +will not take it.' + +"Mrs. Dennison came to a little table that stood close by the arch, and, +kneeling down on one knee, began to write. She seemed to hold her +breath, and was pale as the pearls on her head. I could have touched +her with my hand, but I stood still as a mouse until the paper was +written. Cora came and looked over her shoulders as she signed her name. +Just as it was done, there came a knock at the door, and both the women +started away from the table, leaving the paper on it. I reached my hand +softly through the curtain, and got it safe just as Mr. Lee came in. + +"Babylon was white as a sheet, and shook so that the dress rustled +around her. + +"'Is she not beautiful, sir?' says Cora, looking as innocent as a lamb. + +"Mr. Lee smiled. Oh! Miss Hyde, isn't he grand? But in a minute his face +changed, and, coming up to Mrs. Dennison, he took her hand and kissed +it. + +"'How pale you are! Does the thought of to-morrow terrify you so much?' + +"She gave him one of her looks, and drew closer to him, like a lamb +wanting shelter. He bent toward her, and, as Cora slid out of the room, +put his arm around her waist, whispering something that I was too mad to +hear. + +"I couldn't stand it. My poor mistress seemed to whisper, 'Now, Lottie, +I trust to you!' I pushed the curtains aside, and, walking right +straight in, stood before them. + +"'Mrs. Dennison,' says I, 'let go of my dead lady's husband. Mr. Lee, an +angel has just come down from heaven to save you from a wicked, wicked +fiend. I, a poor girl, am doing her work. Step back, Mrs. Dennison, till +my master reads these letters, and this journal, with its purple cover +and heaps of sin inside. If you want to know all about the bad heart of +this woman, read it,' says I to Mr. Lee again; 'then ask her to look +into your eyes if she dares.' + +"The woman turned on me with her great scared eyes--saw the journal in +my hand--gave a wild look at the table--staggered toward the +curtains--flung them back with an outward dash of her arms, and fell +upon the floor of the other room. As the red curtains closed over her, +I reached out the papers to Mr. Lee, and whispered, with tears in my +eyes: + +"'Oh, master! read them for her sake, who loved you so dearly.' + +"Mr. Lee put me back so fiercely that I almost fell. He went right up to +the woman where she lay shivering and shaking till her white dress +heaved and fluttered like a snow-heap in the wind. He was pale as a +sheet, and his eyes looked mad as fire when he turned them toward me; +but I stood my ground like a marble image planted on a rock. I hadn't +come sailing over the raging ocean, like a pelican in the wilderness, to +be looked down by him or fainted down by her--not I, if I know myself, +which I think I do. + +"'My darling,' says he, bending over her, 'why should the sight of this +wild girl agitate you so? She can have no influence on me.' + +"Babylon seemed to get strength from this. She lifted up her head, flung +the veil back from her face, and looked me through and through with her +wild eyes. + +"'She is put up to this. They hate me. It is another effort to prejudice +you against me. You remember the last. Now they will no doubt resort to +forgery. People who write anonymous letters will not hesitate to go +further. Oh! they will separate us--they will separate us!' + +"'Is this book a forgery?' says I, holding up the purple journal. 'Is +this writing yours?' + +"Her face seemed to cramp up; her lips turned blue-white. + +"That moment Cora made a leap upon me, and snatched at the book like a +hungry wolf; but I wrenched it away from her, and pressed myself back +against the wall, holding it behind me. + +"That moment James came in and stood by me like a hero, as he is. + +"'No you don't,' said I; 'no person touches this book till Mr. Lee has +read it.' + +"Mrs. Dennison turned her eyes upon me--such beautiful begging +eyes--that, if it hadn't been for my dead lady, I might have given up +the book; but I thought of her, and was firm as a rock. 'Leave this +room,' said Mr. Lee, turning upon me like a lion. 'How dare you come +here!' + +"'My dead lady, your wife, commanded me to come,' I answered, feeling +myself grow tall and strong. 'She was murdered by that woman, and you +are bound to know it. Read this--it is in her own handwriting.' + +"'It belongs to my lady. The imp of Satan stole it!' cried Cora, fierce +as a wild-cat. 'No one has a right to read it.' + +"Mr. Lee had helped Babylon to her feet, and stood, with one arm around +her waist, looking from her to me. + +"'It is mine,' she whispered; 'make her give it up.' + +"'But I have read every word of it. I have left a copy at home, which +Miss Hyde has now. A minute ago you said it was a forgery; now, you both +own up--you and your yellow sister there.' + +"At this, Mr. Lee seemed to be turning into stone, all but his eyes, +that shot fire at me. + +"'What does she mean?' asked Babylon. The words dropped from her like +lead. It seemed as if she hadn't the strength to speak. + +"'She's crazy!' says Cora. 'My mistress never had either brother or +sister.' + +"'Hadn't she?' says I. 'Just look at this paper, Mr. Lee, and then ask +her how she came to write there that this yellow girl is her father's +child. I heard the impudent creature threaten her, if she didn't give up +the diamonds you sent here this morning, or write this promise just so.' + +"'The diamonds!' said Mr. Lee, loosening his arm from Babylon's waist +and looking in her face. 'How could this girl know about them?' + +"Babylon shivered, and her eyes seemed to shrink back under her eyelids +when she looked at the table and saw that the paper was gone. Cora crept +softly up to where I was standing, and whispered: 'Half the money if you +hold your tongue. If you don't, I'll kill you!' + +"I gave the creature one of my looks, handed the journal over to James, +and held the paper open between my two hands, before Mr. Lee's eyes. He +could not help but read it. Babylon lifted her hand as if to strike it +down, but it dropped by her side when she saw that he was reading, and +she leaned against the door-frame, clenching at the red curtains in a +spasm. Oh! she looked awful splendid with her white dress pressed +against the red curtains, that shook around her like flaming fire. The +diamonds on her head seemed to burn through and through her veil, but +her white face was cramped worse than ever, and I almost thought she +would drop down dead at Mr. Lee's feet. + +"He took the paper from my hands and read it through. Then he looked +once or twice from Mrs. Dennison to Cora, who was turning whitish-gray, +and looked awfully. + +"'Is there any explanation of this strange paper?' he said; and his +voice seemed to come out of a heap of ice, it had changed so. + +"Babylon opened her lips, but they would not give out the lie that was +ready, I haven't the least doubt. But Cora came forward bold as brass. + +"'It is a forgery!' she said; 'the lady never promised me anything after +she was married. I am no more her sister than that imp of Satan is. + +"'But if this paper was a forgery, how did you know what it contained?' +said Mr. Lee, in the same cold way. And, with this, he walked out of the +room without saying another word. + +"Babylon made a spring toward the door when he went out of it, with her +hands clenched together, and her veil streaming out behind; but when +she saw that he never turned or looked back, her knees gave way, and she +fell in a white heap on the carpet. + +"I began to feel sorry for the poor creature then, and tried to help her +up, but Cora pushed me away; and would have sent me whirling through the +door, but James caught me in his arms, and so seemed to lead me out. +When we were safe in the passage, I told James to take the journal right +to his master's room and strike while the iron was hot, or those two +sea-serpents would get around him again. + +"He went--like a good fellow as he is--and I shut myself up in my room, +knowing well enough that I had done right, but feeling sorry in my heart +for poor Babylon all the same. So I sat down by the window and had a +good cry all to myself. + +"In half an hour James called me to his master's room. He was white as +marble, and tears stood in his eyes. He took my two hands in his, +pressed them hard, then, leaning one elbow on the table, covered his +face with his hand. I saw great tears drop through his fingers; they +broke my heart. The first thing I knew, down I had fallen on my two +knees, and was kissing his other hand as if he had been my dear mistress +who is dead and gone. That night I told him everything about Miss +Jessie, and all your goodness. Oh! how he thanked me! Miss Hyde, don't +ever want to see a man cry; it's enough to break one's heart! + +"The next morning Mrs. Dennison and her servant had left the hotel. In +three days I shall be on my way home. Do be glad to see Lottie; for she +feels like a bird far away from its nest, and has been, ever since she +left the Ridge. + + "Your old friend till death, LOTTIE." + + + + +CHAPTER LXXVII. + +ALL TOGETHER AGAIN. + + +After reading this letter, I told Jessie everything. She had no heart to +read the journal in my possession, and its worst points--those which +related to her mother's death--I kept from her in common mercy. Of +course, all that she did learn was a relief to her. She knew that her +father would soon be at home again, and that no cause of estrangement +now existed between them. This removed the only shadow now falling upon +her young life. That very day she began preparations for her father's +return; and when young Bosworth came, there was a joyous consultation +between them about the best way of receiving him. I saw them looking +toward me and whispering mysteriously. Were they consulting about the +propriety of my residence in the house after they left it? The thought +fell upon me with a shock of such pain as I pray God may never be +repeated. Let what will come, my fate seems to be one of utter +loneliness. But I am glad to see these young people so happy: never, I +do think, was love more complete than that which exists between them +now. + +It scarcely seemed possible for a letter to reach us from Europe, when +Lottie herself rushed in upon us with an exquisite French bonnet on her +head, and a dress that trailed sumptuously behind her little figure. In +she came, darting through the room like an arrow, and was in my arms, +bathing my face with tears and smothering me with kisses, before I was +quite aware of her presence. When Jessie came in with Mr. Bosworth, who +had been walking with her in the garden, Lottie sprang upon her like a +pet spaniel, clung to her neck, her waist, and at last fell to the floor +in an outburst of gladness, and embraced her knees, crying, laughing, +and murmuring words of tender endearment, in which some rather curious +French was mingled. + +After this Lottie resumed her self-poise. She shook hands with young +Bosworth in a patronizing way, and gave the servants an audience in the +basement sitting-room, informing them all that she had just returned +from a pleasure-trip to Europe, where she had seen the Emperor, and +should, doubtless, have been invited to court, only the Empress did not +happen to be very well while she was in Paris. + +In this way that strange, heroic girl came back to her old home, which +was brighter and more cheerful after she resumed her place, not as a +servant, but as a tried friend of the family, which she retained till +her marriage with James. + +A fortnight after Lottie's return, Mr. Lee came home. He sent us a +letter from New York, saying that he had landed there, and desiring that +the cause and events connected with his absence might never be mentioned +among us after his return. Everything was understood and explained; all +that he asked now was a perfect reunion. + +One night about dusk, Mr. Lee came home very quietly and quite +unannounced. He was calm, cheerful, and his own noble self again, and +his absence seemed almost like a dream to us. + +That night, before he retired, I saw him going toward the library with +his arm around Jessie's waist. When they came out again, I could see +that Jessie had been crying; but she looked happy notwithstanding these +traces of tears, and when she bade her father good-night, he left a +blessing upon her forehead. + +In the solitude of that half-hour, the proud man had asked forgiveness +of his own child, and she came forth with a heart almost broken with +tenderness for him. + +After this his love for Jessie became a part of his life; he fairly +worshipped her. But his manner to me changed. He was kind, gentle, +generous; but all this was accompanied with a sort of reserve almost +amounting to shyness. Had I indeed offended him beyond forgiveness? How +often I asked myself this question, and each time my heart sunk into +deeper depression; for who could answer it? Let who would be happy, it +seemed that I was always to suffer. Indeed, it required some little +magnanimity not to feel the difference between the lonely, unloved +existence reserved for me, and Jessie's brilliant lot. + +A few months after Mr. Lee's return, wedding preparations were making +cheerful progress in our house. Jessie would leave us on a bridal tour, +and then come back to the old mansion behind the hill, which the two +Mrs. Bosworths had vacated for a pretty cottage on the grounds, and +refurnished sumptuously for the young people. Everybody was +pleased--everybody was happy, except myself. What could become of me? +When Jessie was gone, my home would be broken up again. I must be cast +forth a waif upon the world. How could I help being sad? + +Just a week before Jessie's wedding, I sat alone in the deep window of +the drawing-room, thinking of my desolated future, and weeping those +still tears that one learns to shed after much sorrow. It was sunset. +Young Bosworth and Jessie were in the garden, and I could hear their +happy voices coming up from among the flowers. + +As I sat there, so dreary and loveless, some person entered the room. I +knew by the tread that it was Mr. Lee, and tried to conceal myself; but +he came directly to the window and stood at my side, looking out upon +the glorious view. In those times I was timid, and almost afraid of his +presence; so, rising quietly, I attempted to leave the window. But he +begged me to remain. There was something that he wished to say. + +I sat down, trembling with dread. Was he about to tell me, what I knew +already, that Jessie's marriage would render my stay at the Ridge +impossible? I would not wait for that, but said at once,-- + +"Oh, Mr. Lee, it is quite unnecessary. I know what propriety demands. +The very day she leaves home, I shall go back to the old farm-house. It +will not be an unhappy life." + +"But I have come to prevent this," he said, in a low, strange voice. I +looked up in sudden surprise, a smile was trembling on his lips. "Never, +if I can help it, shall you leave a home which owes half its sunshine to +your presence. Without you, the old place would be lonely indeed. You +must not all forsake me at once." + +"But it is impossible!" I faltered. "Even kind old Mrs. Bosworth would +set her face against it. I might, perhaps, stay with Jessie," I added, +with a piteous attempt to smile; "but she has not invited me." + +"Because she knew from the first that I could not give you up. She +guessed how dearly I loved you, almost before I was sure of it myself." + +I felt myself turning white. This great happiness was beyond all +realization. I looked timidly in his face, and read in his eyes what I +had never dreamed of before. He sat down by me very quietly, and, with a +little gentle violence, drew my head upon his bosom. I could hear the +strong, irregular beating of his heart, and his words, so persuasive, so +manly, charmed away the shock and tremor of his first sudden avowal. + +"I have not spoken till now," he said, "because circumstances, that we +will never speak of, have made me for a time doubtful if they ever would +be forgiven by a proud, good woman like yourself. But I love you, dear +girl, with my whole heart and soul; first for your own sake, and next +because the angel who blessed our home so long, owed everything to your +care. She loved you dearly, and said it with her last breath." + +I was sobbing upon his bosom. The memories so sad and touching which +sprung out of his words flooded my heart with tender grief. Yes, she +loved me; and that, perhaps, was the golden link which had drawn his +soul to mine. + +"Do not weep," he pleaded; "but look up and bless me with one smile, one +word. Do you love me a little in return for all I feel? Can you love me +entirely some day?" + +I looked up and my eyes met his. "You know; you are sure. Why ask that?" +I whispered. "There has never been a time since I was a little girl that +I have not loved you; first as my kind, kind guardian, then as the being +_she_ loved better than anything on earth, and now--" + +"Now as your own husband!" he exclaimed, folding me close to his bosom, +and pressing kisses upon my lips. "Oh, my darling, you have made me +completely happy." + +In twenty different ways he told me of his happiness, his love, and the +sweet necessity there was for my presence in his life. At first it +seemed impossible for me to believe him; but after a while my heart +received the full conviction of his love, and settled down into that +fulness of content which makes some one hour of every human life a +heaven. + +As we sat together, with the twilight gathering around us, the curtains +falling over the recess of the window rustled apart, and Jessie came +through them. Her father did not move, but looked up smiling. I felt a +flood of crimson burn across my face. She looked at him a moment, then +at me, but obtained only a timid glance in return: it was enough. She +bent down and kissed me with affectionate warmth; then disappeared +quietly as she had come, leaving me the happiest mortal that God ever +blessed. + +One week from that day two weddings were solemnized in that house; but +only one couple went away. That home was too dear for any thoughts of +fashionable travel with us. + +The last year of the war we took a trip to the White Mountains, and made +some stay at New York on our return home. Having nothing special to +occupy us, one evening we joined a party from the hotel, and went to +hear a reading from the poets, to be given at a public hall in +Broadway. It so happened that no one mentioned the name of the reader, +and we had not thought enough about the matter to inquire. + +The hall was full of what seemed to be persons from the upper classes, +and some little excitement prevailed, as if there was a peculiar +interest taken either in the subject or reader. This aroused our +curiosity a little, and we waited with more than usual impatience for +the lady to appear. + +She came at last from the side platform, a radiantly beautiful woman, +with the air of an empress. Her black lace dress, richly flounced, swept +the floor; her white neck was exposed, and her superb arms uncovered to +the shoulder. A cluster of scarlet flowers glowed in her hair and on her +bosom. My heart gave one bound, and settled back with a sickening +recoil. + +It was Mrs. Dennison. + +She approached the reading-desk, rested her hand upon the volume that +lay upon it, and looked around upon the audience. Her eyes fell upon us. +She recoiled a step; a flash of red shot across her face. But instantly +she resumed her former position, looked steadily in our faces, and then +quietly allowed her eyes to pass over the crowd. + +While her hand rested on the book, a cry broke over us from the street. +Some newsboy, shouting as he sped along, sent his voice ringing through +the open doors: + +"Further particulars of the battle of the Wilderness! Death of Colonel +Lawrence!" + +The woman heard this cry. Her hand fell heavily away from the book--her +face grew livid under the gas-lights--she staggered, and fell to the +floor. + + THE END. + + + * * * * * + + + =T. B. PETERSON AND BROTHERS' PUBLICATIONS.= + + + NEW BOOKS ISSUED EVERY WEEK. + +Comprising the most entertaining and absorbing Works published, suitable +for the Parlor, Library, Sitting Room, Railroad or Steamboat Reading, by +the best writers in the world. + +[Symbol: Right]Orders solicited from Booksellers, Librarians, +Canvassers, News Agents, and all others in want of good and fast selling +books, which will be supplied at very Low Prices.[Symbol: Left] + + + =MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS' WORKS.= + + The Curse of Gold, $1 50 + Mabel's Mistake, 1 50 + Doubly False, 1 50 + The Soldiers' Orphans, 1 50 + Silent Struggles, 1 50 + The Heiress, 1 50 + The Wife's Secret, 1 50 + The Rejected Wife, 1 50 + Fashion and Famine, 1 50 + The Old Homestead, 1 50 + The Gold Brick, 1 50 + Mary Derwent, 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + + =MRS. EMMA D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH'S WORKS.= + + The Changed Brides, $1 50 + The Brides' Fate. A Sequel to + "The Changed Brides," 1 50 + Fair Play, 1 50 + How He Won Her. A Sequel + to "Fair Play," 1 50 + Fallen Pride, 1 50 + The Prince of Darkness, 1 50 + The Widow's Son, 1 50 + The Bride of Llewellyn, 1 50 + The Fortune Seeker, 1 50 + Allworth Abbey, 1 50 + The Bridal Eve, 1 50 + The Fatal Marriage, 1 50 + Haunted Homestead, 1 50 + The Lost Heiress, 1 50 + Lady of the Isle, 1 50 + Vivia; or the Secret of Power, 1 50 + Love's Labor Won, 1 50 + Deserted Wife, 1 50 + The Gipsy's Prophecy, 1 50 + The Mother-in-Law, 1 50 + The Missing Bride, 1 50 + The Two Sisters, 1 50 + The Three Beauties, 1 50 + Wife's Victory, 1 50 + Retribution, 1 50 + India; Pearl of Pearl River, 1 50 + Curse of Clifton, 1 50 + Discarded Daughter, 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + + =MRS. CAROLINE LEE HENTZ'S WORKS.= + + The Planter's Northern Bride, 1 50 + Linda; or, the Young Pilot of + the Belle Creole, 1 50 + Robert Graham. The Sequel + to "Linda," 1 50 + Courtship and Marriage, 1 50 + Ernest Linwood, 1 50 + Marcus Warland, 1 50 + Rena; or, the Snow Bird, 1 50 + The Lost Daughter, 1 50 + Love after Marriage, 1 50 + Eoline; or, Magnolia Vale, 1 50 + The Banished Son, 1 50 + Helen and Arthur, 1 50 + Forsaken Daughter, 1 50 + Planter's Daughter, 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price 1.75 each. + + + =FREDRIKA BREMER'S WORKS.= + + The Neighbors, 1 50 + The Home, 1 50 + Father and Daughter, 1 50 + The Four Sisters, 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + +Life in the Old World; or, Two Tears in Switzerland and Italy. +By Miss Bremer, in two volumes, cloth, price $3.50 + + + BEST COOK BOOKS PUBLISHED. + + Mrs. Goodfellow's Cookery as it Should Be, Cloth, $1 75 + Petersons' New Cook Book, Cloth, 1 75 + Miss Leslie's New Cookery Book, Cloth, 1 75 + Widdifield's New Cook Book, Cloth, 1 75 + The National Cook Book. By a Practical Housewife, Cloth, 1 75 + The Family Save-All. By author of "National Cook Book," Cloth, 1 75 + Mrs. Hale's Receipts for the Million, Cloth, 1 75 + Miss Leslie's New Receipts for Cooking, Cloth, 1 75 + Mrs. Hale's New Cook Book, Cloth, 1 75 + Francatelli's Celebrated French, Italian, German, and English + Cook Book. The Modern Cook. With Sixty-two illustrations. + Complete in six hundred large octavo pages, Cloth, 5 00 + + + WORKS BY THE VERY BEST AUTHORS. + +_The following books are each issued in one large, duodecimo volume, in +paper cover, at $1.50 each, or each one is bound in cloth, at $1.75 +each._ + +The Initials. A Love Story. By Baroness Tautphoeus, 1 50 +Family Pride. By author of "Pique," "Family Secrets," etc. 1 50 +Self-Sacrifice. By author of "Margaret Maitland," etc. 1 50 +The Woman in Black. A Companion to the "Woman in White," 1 50 +A Woman's Thoughts about Women. By Miss Muloch, 1 50 +Flirtations in Fashionable Life. By Catharine Sinclair, 1 50 +Rose Douglas. A Companion to "Family Pride," and "Self Sacrifice," 1 50 +False Pride; or, Two Ways to Matrimony. A Charming Book, 1 50 +Family Secrets. A Companion to "Family Pride," and "Pique," 1 50 +The Morrisons. By Mrs. Margaret Hosmer, 1 50 +Beppo. The Conscript. By T. A. Trollope, author of "Gemma," 1 50 +Gemma. An Italian Story. By T. A. Trollope, author of "Beppo," 1 50 +Marietta. By T. A. Trollope, author of "Gemma," 1 50 +My Son's Wife. By author of "Caste," "Mr. Arle," etc. 1 50 +The Rich Husband. By author of "George Geith," 1 50 +Harem Life in Egypt and Constantinople. By Emmeline Lott, 1 50 +The Rector's Wife; or, the Valley of a Hundred Fires, 1 50 +Woodburn Grange. A Novel. By William Howitt, 1 50 +Country Quarters. By the Countess of Blessington, 1 50 +Out of the Depths. The Story of a "Woman's Life," 1 50 +The Coquette; or, the Life and Letters of Eliza Wharton, 1 50 +The Pride of Life. A Story of the Heart. By Lady Jane Scott, 1 50 +The Lost Beauty. By a Noted Lady of the Spanish Court, 1 50 +Saratoga. An Indian Tale of Frontier Life. A true Story of 1787, 1 50 +Married at Last. A Love Story. By Annie Thomas, 1 50 +The Quaker Soldier. A Revolutionary Romance. By Judge Jones, 1 50 +The Man of the World. An Autobiography. By William North, 1 50 +The Queen's Favorite; or, The Price of a Crown. A Love Story, 1 50 +Self Love; or, The Afternoon of Single and Married Life, 1 50 +Cora Belmont; or, The Sincere Lover. A True Story of the Heart, 1 50 +The Lover's Trials; or Days before 1776. By Mrs. Mary A. Denison, 1 50 +High Life in Washington. A Life Picture. By Mrs. N. P. Lasselle, 1 50 +The Beautiful Widow; or, Lodore. By Mrs. Percy B. Shelley, 1 50 +Love and Money. By J. B. Jones, author of the "Rival Belles," 1 50 +The Matchmaker. A Story of High Life. By Beatrice Reynolds, 1 50 +The Brother's Secret; or, the Count De Mara. By William Godwin, 1 50 +The Lost Love. By Mrs. Oliphant, author of "Margaret Maitland," 1 50 +The Roman Traitor. By Henry William Herbert. A Roman Story, 1 50 + +The above books are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + + WORKS BY THE VERY BEST AUTHORS. + +_The following books are each issued in one large duodecimo volume, in +paper cover, at $1.50 each, or each one is bound in cloth, at $1.75 +each._ + +The Dead Secret. By Wilkie Collins, author of "The Crossed Path," 1 50 +Memoirs of Vidocq, the French Detective. His Life and Adventures, 1 50 +The Crossed Path; or Basil. By Wilkie Collins, 1 50 +Indiana. A Love Story. By George Sand, author of "Consuelo," 1 50 +The Belle of Washington. With her Portrait. By Mrs. N. P. Lasselle, 1 50 +The Bohemians of London. By Edward M. Whitty, 1 50 +The Rival Belles; or, Life in Washington. By J. B. Jones, 1 50 +The Devoted Bride. A Story of the Heart. By St. George Tucker, 1 50 +Love and Duty. By Mrs. Hubback, author of "May and December," 1 50 +Wild Sports and Adventures in Africa. By Major W. C. Harris, 1 50 +Courtship and Matrimony. By Robert Morris. With a Portrait, 1 50 +The Jealous Husband. By Annette Marie Maillard, 1 50 +The Refugee. By Herman Melville, author of "Omoo," "Typee," 1 50 +The Life, Writings, Lectures, and Marriages of Fanny Fern, 1 50 +The Life and Lectures of Lola Montez, with her portrait, on steel, 1 50 +Wild Southern Scenes. By author of "Wild Western Scenes," 1 50 +Currer Lyle; or, the Autobiography of an Actress. By Louise Reeder, 1 50 +Coal, Coal Oil, and all other Minerals in the Earth. By Eli Bowen, 1 50 +The Cabin and Parlor. By J. Thornton Randolph. Illustrated, 1 50 +Jealousy. By George Sand, author of "Consuelo," "Indiana," etc. 1 50 +The Little Beauty. A Love Story. By Mrs. Grey, 1 50 +The Adopted Heir. A Love Story. By Miss Pardoe, 1 50 +Secession, Coercion, and Civil War. By J. B. Jones, 1 50 +The Count of Monte Cristo. By Alexander Dumas. Illustrated, 1 50 +Camille; or, the Fate of a Coquette. By Alexander Dumas, 1 50 +Six Nights with the Washingtonians. By T. S. Arthur, 1 50 +Lizzie Glenn; or, the Trials of a Seamstress. By T. S. Arthur, 1 50 +Lady Maud; or, the Wonder of Kingswood Chase. By Pierce Egan, 1 50 +Wilfred Montressor; or, High Life in New York. Illustrated, 1 50 +The Old Stone Mansion. By C. J. Peterson, author "Kate Aylesford," 1 50 +Kate Aylesford. By Chas. J. Peterson, author "Old Stone Mansion," 1 50 +Lorrimer Littlegood, by author "Hary Coverdale's Courtship," 1 50 +The Red Court Farm. By Mrs. Henry Wood, author of "East Lynne," 1 50 +Mildred Arkell. By Mrs. Henry Wood, author of "Red Court Farm," 1 50 +The Earl's Secret. A Love Story. By Miss Pardoe, 1 50 +The Adopted Heir. By Miss Pardoe, author of "The Earl's Secret," 1 50 +Lord Montague's Page. By G. P. R. James, 1 50 +The Cavalier. By G. P. R. James, author of "Lord Montague's Page," 1 50 +Cousin Harry. By Mrs. Grey, author of "The Gambler's Wife," etc. 1 50 +The Conscript. A Tale of War. By Alexander Dumas, 1 50 +The Tower of London. By W. Harrison Ainsworth. Illustrated, 1 50 +Shoulder Straps. By Henry Morford, author of "Days of Shoddy," 1 50 +Days of Shoddy. By Henry Morford, author of "Shoulder Straps," 1 50 +The Coward. By Henry Morford, author of "Days of Shoddy," 1 50 + +The above books are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + +The Wandering Jew. By Eugene Sue. Full of Illustrations, 1 50 +Mysteries of Paris; and its Sequel, Gerolstein. By Eugene Sue, 1 50 +Martin, the Foundling. By Eugene Sue. Full of Illustrations, 1 50 +Ten Thousand a Year. By Samuel C. Warren. With Illustrations, 1 50 +Washington and His Generals. By George Lippard, 1 50 +The Quaker City; or, the Monks of Monk Hall. By George Lippard, 1 50 +Blanche of Brandywine. By George Lippard, 1 50 +Paul Ardenheim; the Monk of Wissahickon. By George Lippard, 1 50 + +The above books are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $2.00 each. + + + NEW AND GOOD BOOKS BY BEST AUTHORS. + +The Last Athenian. From the Swedish of Victor Rydberg. Highly +recommended by Fredrika Bremer. Paper $1.50, or in cloth, $2 00 + +Comstock's Elocution and Reader. Enlarged. By Andrew Comstock +and Philip Lawrence. With 236 Illustrations. Half morocco, 2 00 + +Comstock's Colored Chart. Every School should have a copy of it, 5 00 + +Across the Atlantic. Letters from France, Switzerland, Germany, +Italy, and England. By C. H. Haeseler, M.D. Bound in cloth, 2 00 + +Colonel John W. Forney's Letters from Europe. Bound in cloth, 1 75 + +The Ladies' Guide to True Politeness and Perfect Manners. By +Miss Leslie. Every lady should have it. Cloth, full gilt back, 1 75 + +The Ladies' Complete Guide to Needlework and Embroidery. With +113 illustrations. By Miss Lambert. Cloth, full gilt back, 1 75 + +The Ladies' Work Table Book. With 27 illustrations. Cloth, gilt, 1 50 + +The Story of Elizabeth. By Miss Thackeray, paper $1.00, or cloth, 1 50 + +Life and Adventures of Don Quixote and his Squire Sancho Panza, +complete in one large volume, paper cover, for $1.00, or in cloth, 1 50 + +The Laws and Practice of Game of Euchre. By a Professor. Cloth, 1 00 + +Whitefriars; or, The Days of Charles the Second. Illustrated, 1 00 + + + HUMOROUS ILLUSTRATED WORKS. + +_Each one full of Illustrations, by Felix O. C. Darley, and bound in +Cloth._ + +Major Jones' Courtship and Travels. With 21 Illustrations, 1 75 +Major Jones' Scenes in Georgia. With 16 Illustrations, 1 75 +Simon Suggs' Adventures and Travels. With 17 Illustrations, 1 75 +Swamp Doctor's Adventures in the South-West. 14 Illustrations, 1 75 +Col. Thorpe's Scenes in Arkansaw. With 16 Illustrations, 1 75 +The Big Bear's Adventures and Travels. With 18 Illustrations, 1 75 +High Life in New York, by Jonathan Slick. With Illustrations, 1 75 +Judge Haliburton's Yankee Stories. Illustrated, 1 75 +Harry Coverdale's Courtship and Marriage. Illustrated, 1 75 +Piney Wood's Tavern; or, Sam Slick in Texas. Illustrated, 1 75 +Sam Slick, the Clockmaker. By Judge Haliburton. Illustrated, 1 75 +Humors of Falconbridge. By J. F. Kelley. With Illustrations, 1 75 +Modern Chivalry. By Judge Breckenridge. Two vols., each 1 75 +Neal's Charcoal Sketches. By Joseph C. Neal. 21 Illustrations, 2 50 + + + ALEXANDER DUMAS' WORKS. + + Count of Monte Cristo, 1 50 + The Iron Mask, 1 00 + Louise La Valliere, 1 00 + Adventures of a Marquis, 1 00 + Diana of Meridor, 1 00 + The Three Guardsmen, 75 + Twenty Years After, 75 + Bragelonne, 75 + The Conscript. A Tale of War, 1 50 + Memoirs of a Physician, 1 00 + Queen's Necklace, 1 00 + Six Years Later, 1 00 + Countess of Charney, 1 00 + Andree de Taverney, 1 00 + The Chevalier, 1 00 + Forty-five Guardsmen, 75 + The Iron Hand, 75 + Camille, "The Camelia Lady," 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + Edmond Dantes, 75 + Felina de Chambure, 75 + The Horrors of Paris, 75 + The Fallen Angel, 75 + Sketches in France, 75 + Isabel of Bavaria, 75 + Man with Five Wives, 75 + Twin Lieutenants, 75 + Annette, Lady of the Pearls, 50 + Mohicans of Paris, 50 + The Marriage Verdict, 50 + The Corsican Brothers, 50 + Count of Moret, 50 + George, 50 + Buried Alive, 25 + + + CHARLES DICKENS' WORKS. + +[Symbol: Right]GREAT REDUCTION IN THEIR PRICES.[Symbol: Left] + + +PEOPLE'S DUODECIMO EDITION. ILLUSTRATED. + +_Reduced in price from $2.50 to $1.50 a volume._ + +_This edition is printed on fine paper, from large, clear type, leaded, +that all can read, containing One Hundred and Eighty Illustrations on +tinted paper, and each book is complete in one large duodecimo volume._ + + Our Mutual Friend, Cloth, $1.50 + Pickwick Papers, Cloth, 1.50 + Nicholas Nickleby, Cloth, 1.50 + Great Expectations, Cloth, 1.50 + David Copperfield, Cloth, 1.50 + Oliver Twist, Cloth, 1.50 + Bleak House, Cloth, 1.50 + A Tale of Two Cities, Cloth, 1.50 + Little Dorrit, Cloth, 1.50 + Dombey and Son, Cloth, 1.50 + Christmas Stories, Cloth, 1.50 + Sketches by "Boz," Cloth, 1.50 + Barnaby Rudge, Cloth, 1.50 + Martin Chuzzlewit, Cloth, 1.50 + Old Curiosity Shop, Cloth, 1.50 + Dickens' New Stories, Cloth, 1.50 + American Notes; and The Uncommercial Traveler, Cloth, 1.50 + Hunted Down; and other Reprinted Pieces, Cloth, 1.50 + The Holly-Tree Inn; and other Stories, Cloth, 1.50 + +Price of a set, in Black cloth, in nineteen volumes, $28.00 + " " Full sheep, Library style, 38.00 + " " Half calf, sprinkled edges, 47.00 + " " Half calf, marbled edges, 53.00 + " " Half calf, antique, 57.00 + " " Half calf, full gilt backs, etc., 57.00 + + + ILLUSTRATED DUODECIMO EDITION. + +_Reduced in price from $2.00 to $1.50 a volume._ + +_This edition is printed on the finest paper, from large, clear type, +leaded, Long Primer in size, that all can read, the whole containing +near Six Hundred full page Illustrations, printed on tinted paper, from +designs by Cruikshank, Phiz, Browne, Maclise, McLenan, and other +artists. The following books are each contained in two volumes._ + + Our Mutual Friend, Cloth, $3.00 + Pickwick Papers, Cloth, 3.00 + Tale of Two Cities, Cloth, 3.00 + Nicholas Nickleby, Cloth, 3.00 + David Copperfield, Cloth, 3.00 + Oliver Twist, Cloth, 3.00 + Christmas Stories, Cloth, 3.00 + Bleak House, Cloth, 3.00 + Sketches by "Boz," Cloth, 3.00 + Barnaby Rudge, Cloth, 3.00 + Martin Chuzzlewit, Cloth, 3.00 + Old Curiosity Shop, Cloth, 3.00 + Little Dorrit, Cloth, 3.00 + Dombey and Son, Cloth, 3.00 + +_The following are each complete in one volume, and are reduced in price +from $2.50 to $1.50 a volume._ + + Great Expectations, Cloth. $1.50 + Dickens' New Stories, Cloth, 1.50 + American Notes; and The Uncommercial Traveler, Cloth, 1.50 + Hunted Down; and other Reprinted Pieces, Cloth, 1.50 + The Holly-Tree Inn; and other Stories, Cloth, 1.50 + +Price of a set, in thirty-three volumes, bound in cloth, $49.00 + " " Full sheep, Library style, 66.00 + " " Half calf, antique, 99.00 + " " Half calf, full gilt backs, etc., 99.00 + + + =CHARLES DICKENS' WORKS.= + + ILLUSTRATED OCTAVO EDITION. + +_Reduced in price from $2.50 to $2.00 a volume._ + +_This edition is printed from large type, double column, octavo page, each +book being complete in one volume, the whole containing near Six Hundred +Illustrations, by Cruikshank, Phiz, Browne, Maclise, and other artists._ + + Our Mutual Friend, Cloth, $2.00 + Pickwick Papers, Cloth, 2.00 + Nicholas Nickleby, Cloth, 2.00 + Great Expectations, Cloth, 2.00 + Lamplighter's Story, Cloth, 2.00 + Oliver Twist, Cloth, 2.00 + Bleak House, Cloth, 2.00 + Little Dorrit, Cloth, 2.00 + Dombey and Son, Cloth, 2.00 + Sketches by "Boz," Cloth, 2.00 + David Copperfield, Cloth, 2.00 + Barnaby Rudge, Cloth, 2.00 + Martin Chuzzlewit, Cloth, 2.00 + Old Curiosity Shop, Cloth, 2.00 + Christmas Stories, Cloth, 2.00 + Dickens' New Stories, Cloth, 2.00 + A Tale of Two Cities, Cloth, 2.00 + American Notes and + Pic-Nic Papers, Cloth, 2.00 + +Price of a set, in Black cloth, in eighteen volumes, $36.00 +" " Full sheep, Library style, 45.00 +" " Half calf, sprinkled edges, 55.00 +" " Half calf, marbled edges, 62.00 +" " Half calf, antique, 70.00 +" " Half calf, full gilt backs, etc., 70.00 + + + ="NEW NATIONAL EDITION" OF DICKENS' WORKS.= + +This is the cheapest complete edition of the works of Charles Dickens, +"Boz," published in the world, being contained in _seven large octavo +volumes_, with a portrait of Charles Dickens, and other illustrations, +the whole making nearly _six thousand very large double columned pages_, +in large, clear type, and handsomely printed on fine white paper, and +bound in the strongest and most substantial manner. + +Price of a set, in Black cloth, in seven volumes, $20.00 +" " Full sheep, Library style, 25.00 +" " Half calf, antique, 30.00 +" " Half calf, full gilt back, etc., 30.00 + + + =CHEAP SALMON PAPER COVER EDITION.= + +_Each book being complete in one large octavo volume._ + + Pickwick Papers, 35 + Nicholas Nickleby, 35 + Dombey and Son, 35 + David Copperfield, 25 + Martin Chuzzlewit, 35 + Old Curiosity Shop, 25 + Oliver Twist, 25 + American Notes, 25 + Great Expectations, 25 + Hard Times, 25 + A Tale of Two Cities, 25 + Somebody's Luggage, 25 + Message from the Sea, 25 + Barnaby Rudge, 25 + Sketches by "Boz," 25 + Christmas Stories, 25 + The Haunted House, 25 + Uncommercial Traveler, 25 + A House to Let, 25 + Perils of English Prisoners, 25 + Wreck of the Golden Mary, 25 + Tom Tiddler's Ground, 25 + Our Mutual Friend, 35 + Bleak House, 35 + Little Dorrit, 35 + Joseph Grimaldi, 50 + The Pic-Nic Papers, 50 + No Thoroughfare, 10 + Hunted Down, 25 + The Holly-Tree Inn, 25 + Mrs. Lirriper's Lodgings and Mrs. Lirriper's Legacy, 25 + Mugby Junction and Dr. Marigold's Prescriptions, 25 + +=Books sent, postage paid, on receipt of the Retail Price, by +T. B. Peterson & Brothers, Philadelphia, Pa.= + + + CHARLES LEVER'S BEST WORKS. + + Charles O'Malley, 75 + Harry Lorrequer, 75 + Jack Hinton, 75 + Tom Burke of Ours, 75 + Knight of Gwynne, 75 + Arthur O'Leary, 75 + Con Cregan, 75 + Davenport Dunn, 75 + +Above are each in paper, or finer edition in cloth, price $2.00 each. + + Horace Templeton, 75 + Kate O'Donoghue, 75 + + + MADAME GEORGE SAND'S WORKS. + + Consuelo, 75 + Countess of Rudolstadt, 75 + First and True Love, 75 + The Corsair, 50 + Jealousy, paper, 1 50 + Do. cloth, 1 75 + Fanchon, the Cricket, paper, 1 00 + Do. do. cloth, 1 50 + Indiana, a Love Story, paper, 1 50 + Do. do. cloth, 1 75 + Consuelo and Rudolstadt, both in one volume, cloth, 2 00 + + + WILKIE COLLINS' BEST WORKS. + + The Crossed Path, or Basil, 1 50 + The Dead Secret. 12mo. 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + Hide and Seek, 75 + After Dark, 75 + The Dead Secret. 8vo. 75 + +Above in cloth at $1.00 each. + + The Queen's Revenge, 75 + Mad Monkton, 50 + Sights a-Foot, 50 + The Stolen Mask, 25 + The Yellow Mask, 25 + Sister Rose, 25 + + + MISS PARDOE'S WORKS + + Confessions of a Pretty Woman, 75 + The Wife's Trials, 75 + The Jealous Wife, 50 + Rival Beauties, 75 + Romance of the Harem, 75 + +The five above books are also bound in one volume, cloth, for $4.00. + + The Adopted Heir. One volume, paper, $1.50; or in cloth, $1 75 + The Earl's Secret. One volume, paper, $1.50; or in cloth, 1 75 + + + MRS. HENRY WOOD'S BOOKS. + + Red Court Farm, 1 50 + Elster's Folly, 1 50 + St. Martin's Eve, 1 50 + Mildred Arkell, 1 50 + Shadow of Ashlydyat, 1 50 + Oswald Cray, 1 50 + Verner's Pride, 1 50 + Lord Oakburn's Daughters; or, the Earl's Heirs, 1 50 + Squire Trevlyn's Heir; or, Trevlyn Hold, 1 50 + The Castle's Heir; or, Lady Adelaide's Oath, 1 50 + +Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $1.75 each. + + The Mystery, 75 + A Life's Secret, 50 + +Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $1.00 each. + + The Channings, 1 00 + Aurora Floyd, 75 + +Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $1.50 each. + + Orville College, 50 + The Runaway Match, 50 + The Lost Will, 50 + The Haunted Tower, 50 + The Lost Bank Note, 75 + Better for Worse, 75 + Foggy Night at Offord, 25 + The Lawyer's Secret, 25 + William Allair, 25 + A Light and a Dark Christmas, 25 + + + GEORGE W. M. REYNOLDS' WORKS. + + Mysteries of Court of London, 1 00 + Rose Foster. Sequel to it, 1 50 + Caroline of Brunswick, 1 00 + Venetia Trelawney, 1 00 + Lord Saxondale, 1 00 + Count Christoval, 1 00 + Rosa Lambert, 1 00 + Mary Price, 1 00 + Eustace Quentin, 1 00 + Joseph Wilmot, 1 00 + Banker's Daughter, 1 00 + Kenneth, 1 00 + The Rye-House Plot, 1 00 + The Necromancer, 1 00 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + The Opera Dancer, 75 + Child of Waterloo, 75 + Robert Bruce, 75 + Discarded Queen, 75 + The Gipsy Chief, 75 + Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, 75 + Wallace, the Hero of Scotland, 1 00 + Isabella Vincent, 75 + Vivian Bertram, 75 + Countess of Lascelles, 75 + Loves of the Harem, 75 + Ellen Percy, 75 + Agnes Evelyn, 75 + The Soldier's Wife, 75 + May Middleton, 75 + Duke of Marchmont, 75 + Massacre of Glencoe, 75 + Queen Joanna; Court Naples, 75 + Pickwick Abroad, 75 + Parricide, 75 + The Ruined Gamester, 50 + Ciprina; or, the Secrets of a Picture Gallery, 50 + Life in Paris, 50 + Countess and the Page, 50 + Edgar Montrose, 50 + + + WAVERLEY NOVELS. BY SIR WALTER SCOTT. + +CHEAPEST EDITION IN THE WORLD. + + Ivanhoe, 20 + Rob Roy, 20 + Guy Mannering, 20 + The Antiquary, 20 + Old Mortality, 20 + Heart of Mid Lothian, 20 + Bride of Lammermoor, 20 + Waverley, 20 + St. Ronan's Well, 20 + Kenilworth, 20 + The Pirate, 20 + The Monastery, 20 + The Abbot, 20 + The Fortunes of Nigel, 20 + The Betrothed, 20 + Peveril of the Peak, 20 + Quentin Durward, 20 + Red Gauntlet, 20 + The Talisman, 20 + Woodstock, 20 + Highland Widow, etc. 20 + The Fair Maid of Perth, 20 + Anne of Geierstein, 20 + Count Robert of Paris, 20 + The Black Dwarf and Legend of Montrose, 20 + Castle Dangerous, and Surgeon's Daughter, 20 + +Above edition is the cheapest in the world, and is complete in +twenty-six volumes, price Twenty cents each, or Five Dollars for the +complete set. + +A finer edition is also published of each of the above, complete in +twenty-six volumes, price Fifty cents each, or Ten Dollars for the +complete set. + + Moredun. A Tale of 1210, 50 + Tales of a Grandfather, 25 + Scott's Poetical Works, 5 00 + Life of Scott, cloth, 2 50 + + + "NEW NATIONAL EDITION" OF "WAVERLEY NOVELS." + +This edition of the Waverley Novels is contained in _five large octavo +volumes_, with a portrait of Sir Walter Scott, making _four thousand +very large double columned pages_, in good type, and handsomely printed +on the finest of white paper, and bound in the strongest and most +substantial manner. + +Price of a set, in Black cloth, in five volumes, $15 00 + " " Full sheep, Library style, 17 50 + " " Half calf, antique, or Half calf, gilt, 25 00 + +The Complete Prose and Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott, are also +published in ten volumes, bound in half calf, for $60.00 + + +[Symbol: Right]Books sent, postage paid, on receipt of the Retail +Price, by T. B. Peterson & Brothers, Philadelphia, Pa. + + + HUMOROUS AMERICAN WORKS. + +_Beautifully Illustrated by Felix O. C. Darley._ + + Major Jones' Courtship, 75 + Major Jones' Travels, 75 + Simon Suggs' Adventures and Travels, 75 + Major Jones' Chronicles of Pineville, 75 + Polly Peablossom's Wedding, 75 + Mysteries of the Backwoods, 75 + Widow Rugby's Husband, 75 + Big Bear of Arkansas, 75 + Western Scenes; or, Life on the Prairie, 75 + Streaks of Squatter Life, 75 + Pickings from the Picayune, 75 + Stray Subjects, Arrested and Bound Over, 75 + Louisiana Swamp Doctor, 75 + Charcoal Sketches, 75 + Misfortunes of Peter Faber, 75 + Yankee among the Mermaids, 75 + New Orleans Sketch Book, 75 + Drama in Pokerville, 75 + The Querndon Hounds, 75 + My Shooting Box, 75 + Warwick Woodlands, 75 + The Deer Stalkers, 75 + Peter Ploddy, 75 + Adventures of Captain Farrago, 75 + Major O'Regan's Adventures, 75 + Sol. Smith's Theatrical Apprenticeship, 75 + Sol. Smith's Theatrical Journey-Work, 75 + The Quarter Race in Kentucky, 75 + Aunt Patty's Scrap Bag, 75 + Percival Mayberry's Adventures and Travels, 75 + Sam Slick's Yankee Yarns and Yankee Letters, 75 + Adventures of Fudge Fumble, 75 + American Joe Miller, 50 + Following the Drum, 50 + + + D'ISRAELI'S WORKS. + + Henrietta Temple, 50 + Vivian Grey, 75 + Venetia, 50 + Young Duke, 50 + Miriam Alroy, 50 + Contarina Fleming, 50 + + + FRANK FAIRLEGH'S WORKS. + + Frank Fairlegh, 75 + Lewis Arundel, 75 + Harry Racket Scapegrace, 75 + Tom Racquet, 75 + +Finer editions of above are also issued in cloth, at $1.75 each. + + Harry Coverdale's Courtship, 1 50 + Lorrimer Littlegood, 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + + C. J. PETERSON'S WORKS. + + The Old Stone Mansion, 1 50 + Kate Aylesford, 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + Cruising in the Last War, 75 + Valley Farm, 25 + Grace Dudley; or, Arnold at Saratoga, 50 + + + JAMES A. MAITLAND'S WORKS. + + The Old Patroon, 1 50 + The Watchman, 1 50 + The Wanderer, 1 50 + The Lawyer's Story, 1 50 + Diary of an Old Doctor, 1 50 + Sartaroe, 1 50 + The Three Cousins, 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + +WILLIAM H. MAXWELL'S WORKS. + + Wild Sports of the West, 75 + Stories of Waterloo, 75 + Brian O'Lynn, 75 + + + WILLIAM HARRISON AINSWORTH'S WORKS. + + Life of Jack Sheppard, 50 + Life of Guy Fawkes, 75 + +Above in 1 vol., cloth, $1.75. + + Court of the Stuarts, 75 + Windsor Castle, 75 + The Star Chamber, 75 + Old St. Paul's, 75 + Court of Queen Anne, 50 + Life of Dick Turpin, 50 + Life of Davy Crockett, 50 + + Tower of London, 1 50 + Miser's Daughter, 1 00 + +Above in cloth $1.75 each. + + Life of Grace O'Malley, 50 + Life of Henry Thomas, 25 + Desperadoes of the New World, 25 + Life of Ninon De L'Enclos, 25 + Life of Arthur Spring, 25 + Life of Mrs. Whipple and Jessee + Strang, 25 + + + G. P. R. JAMES'S BEST BOOKS. + + Lord Montague's Page, 1 50 + The Cavalier, 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + The Man in Black, 75 + Mary of Burgundy, 75 + Arrah Neil, 75 + Eva St. Clair, 50 + + + DOW'S PATENT SERMONS. + + Dow's Patent Sermons, 1st + Series, $1.00; cloth, 1 50 + Dow's Patent Sermons, 2d + Series, $1.00; cloth, 1 50 + Dow's Patent Sermons, 3d + Series, $1.00; cloth, 1 50 + Dow's Patent Sermons, 4th + Series, $1.00; cloth, 1 50 + + + SAMUEL C. WARREN'S BEST BOOKS. + + Ten Thousand a Year, paper, 1 50 + Do. do. cloth, 2 00 + Diary of a Medical Student, 75 + + + Q. K. PHILANDER DOESTICKS' WORKS. + + Doesticks' Letters, 1 50 + Plu-Ri-Bus-Tah, 1 50 + The Elephant Club, 1 50 + Witches of New York, 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + + GREEN'S WORKS ON GAMBLING. + + Gambling Exposed, 1 50 + The Gambler's Life, 1 50 + The Reformed Gambler, 1 50 + Secret Band of Brothers, 1 50 + +Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $1.75 each. + + + MISS ELLEN PICKERING'S WORKS. + + The Grumbler, 75 + Marrying for Money, 75 + Poor Cousin, 50 + Kate Walsingham, 50 + Orphan Niece, 50 + Who Shall be Heir? 38 + The Squire, 38 + Ellen Wareham, 38 + Nan Darrel, 38 + + + CAPTAIN MARRYATT'S WORKS. + + Jacob Faithful, 50 + Japhet in Search of a Father, 50 + Phantom Ship, 50 + Midshipman Easy, 50 + Pacha of Many Tales, 50 + Frank Mildmay, Naval Officer, 50 + Snarleyow, 50 + Newton Forster, 50 + King's Own, 50 + Pirate and Three Cutters, 50 + Peter Simple, 50 + Percival Keene, 50 + Poor Jack, 50 + Sea King, 50 + + + EUGENE SUE'S GREAT WORKS. + + Wandering Jew, 1 50 + Mysteries of Paris, 1 50 + Martin, the Foundling, 1 50 + +Above in cloth at $2.00 each. + + First Love, 50 + Woman's Love, 50 + Female Bluebeard, 50 + Man-of-War's-Man, 50 + Life and Adventures of Raoul De Surville, 25 + + + MRS. GREY'S WORKS. + + Cousin Harry, 1 50 + The Little Beauty, 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + Gipsy's Daughter, 50 + Old Dower House, 50 + Belle of the Family, 50 + Duke and Cousin, 50 + The Little Wife, 50 + Lena Cameron, 50 + Sybil Lennard, 50 + Manoeuvring Mother, 50 + Baronet's Daughters, 50 + Young Prima Donna, 50 + Hyacinthe, 25 + Alice Seymour, 25 + Mary Seaham, 75 + Passion and Principle, 75 + The Flirt, 75 + Good Society, 75 + Lion-Hearted, 75 + + + J. F. SMITH'S WORKS. + + The Usurer's Victim; or, + Thomas Balscombe, 75 + Adelaide Waldegrave; or, the + Trials of a Governess, 75 + + + REVOLUTIONARY TALES. + + The Brigand, 50 + Ralph Runnion, 50 + Seven Brothers of Wyoming, 50 + The Rebel Bride, 50 + The Flying Artillerist, 50 + Wau-nan-gee, 50 + Old Put; or, Days of 1776, 50 + Legends of Mexico, 50 + Grace Dudley, 50 + The Guerilla Chief, 75 + The Quaker Soldier, paper, 1 50 + do. do. cloth, 1 75 + + + EMERSON BENNETT'S WORKS. + + The Border Rover, 1 50 + Ciara Moreland, 1 50 + Viola; or Adventures in the + Far South-West, 1 50 + Bride of the Wilderness, 1 50 + Ellen Norbury, 1 50 + The Forged Will, 1 50 + Kate Clarendon, 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + The Heiress of Bellefonte, and + Walde-Warren, 75 + Pioneer's Daughter and the + Unknown Countess, 75 + + + T. S. ARTHUR'S HOUSEHOLD NOVELS. + + The Lost Bride, 50 + The Two Brides, 50 + Love in a Cottage, 50 + Love in High Life, 50 + Year after Marriage, 50 + The Lady at Home, 50 + Cecelia Howard, 50 + Orphan Children, 50 + Debtor's Daughter, 50 + Mary Moreton, 50 + The Divorced Wife, 50 + Pride and Prudence, 50 + Agnes; or, the Possessed, 50 + Lucy Sandford, 50 + The Banker's Wife, 50 + The Two Merchants, 50 + Trial and Triumph, 50 + The Iron Rule, 50 + Insubordination; or, the Shoe-maker's + Daughters, 50 + Six Nights with the Washingtonians. With + nine original Illustrations. By + Cruikshank. One volume, cloth $1 75; + or in paper, $1.50 + Lizzy Glenn; or, the Trials of a + Seamstress. Cloth $1.75; or paper, 1.50 + + + EXCITING SEA TALES. + + Adventures of Ben Brace, 75 + Jack Adams, the Mutineer, 75 + Jack Ariel's Adventures, 75 + Petrel; or, Life on the Ocean, 75 + Life of Paul Periwinkle, 75 + Life of Tom Bowling, 75 + Percy Effingham, 75 + Cruising in the Last War, 75 + Red King, 50 + The Corsair, 50 + The Doomed Ship, 50 + The Three Pirates, 50 + The Flying Dutchman, 50 + The Flying Yankee, 50 + The Yankee Middy, 50 + The Gold Seekers, 50 + The King's Cruisers, 50 + Life of Alexander Tardy, 50 + Red Wing, 50 + Yankee Jack, 50 + Yankees in Japan, 50 + Morgan, the Buccaneer, 50 + Jack Junk, 50 + Davis, the Pirate, 50 + Valdez, the Pirate, 50 + Gallant Tom, 50 + Harry Helm, 50 + Harry Tempest, 50 + Rebel and Rover, 50 + Man-of-War's-Man, 50 + Dark Shades of City Life, 25 + The Rats of the Seine, 25 + Charles Ransford, 25 + The Iron Cross, 25 + The River Pirates, 25 + The Pirate's Son, 25 + Jacob Faithful, 50 + Phantom Ship, 50 + Midshipman Easy, 50 + Pacha of Many Tales, 50 + Naval Officer, 50 + Snarleyow, 50 + Newton Forster, 50 + King's Own, 50 + Japhet, 50 + Pirate and Three Cutters, 50 + Peter Simple, 50 + Percival Keene, 50 + Poor Jack, 50 + Sea King, 50 + + + GEORGE LIPPARD'S GREAT BOOKS. + + The Quaker City, 1 50 + Paul Ardenheim, 1 50 + Blanche of Brandywine, 1 50 + Washington and his Generals; + or, Legends of the American + Revolution, 1 50 + Mysteries of Florence, 1 00 + +Above in cloth at $2.00 each. + + The Empire City, 75 + Memoirs of a Preacher, 75 + The Nazarene, 75 + Washington and his Men, 75 + Legends of Mexico, 50 + The Entranced, 25 + The Robbers, 25 + The Bank Director's Son, 25 + + + MILITARY NOVELS. BY BEST AUTHORS. + +With Illuminated Military Covers, in five Colors. + + Charles O'Malley, 75 + Jack Hinton, the Guardsman, 75 + The Knight of Gwynne, 75 + Harry Lorrequer, 75 + Tom Burke of Ours, 75 + Arthur O'Leary, 75 + Con Cregan, 75 + Kate O'Donoghue, 75 + Horace Templeton, 75 + Davenport Dunn, 75 + Jack Adams' Adventures, 75 + Valentine Vox, 75 + Twin Lieutenants, 75 + Stories of Waterloo, 75 + The Soldier's Wife, 75 + Guerilla Chief, 75 + The Three Guardsmen, 75 + Twenty Years After, 75 + Bragelonne, Son of Athos, 75 + Forty-five Guardsmen, 75 + Tom Bowling's Adventures, 75 + Life of Robert Bruce, 75 + The Gipsy Chief, 75 + Massacre of Glencoe, 75 + Life of Guy Fawkes, 75 + Child of Waterloo, 75 + Adventures of Ben Brace, 75 + Life of Jack Ariel, 75 + Wallace, the Hero of Scotland, 1 00 + Following the Drum, 50 + The Conscript, a Tale of War. + By Alexander Dumas, 1 50 + + + GUSTAVE AIMARD'S WORKS. + + The White Scalper, 50 + The Freebooters, 50 + The Prairie Flower, 75 + The Indian Scout, 75 + The Trail Hunter, 75 + The Indian Chief, 75 + The Red Track, 75 + Trapper's Daughter, 75 + The Tiger Slayer, 75 + The Gold Seekers, 75 + The Rebel Chief, 75 + The Smuggler Chief, 75 + The Border Rifles, 75 + Pirates of the Prairies, 75 + + + LANGUAGES WITHOUT A MASTER. + + French without a Master, 40 + Spanish without a Master, 40 + Latin without a Master, 40 + German without a Master, 40 + Italian without a Master, 40 + +The above five works on the French, German, Spanish, Latin, and Italian +Languages, whereby any one or all of these Languages can be learned by +any one without a Teacher, with the aid of this book, by A. H. Monteith, +Esq., is also published in finer style, in one volume, bound, price, +$1.75. + + + HARRY COCKTON'S WORKS. + + Sylvester Sound, 75 + Valentine Vox, in paper, 75 + do. finer edition, cloth, 2 00 + The Sisters, 75 + The Steward, 75 + Percy Effingham, 75 + + + WAR NOVELS. BY HENRY MORFORD. + + Shoulder-Straps, 1 50 + The Coward, 1 50 + The Days of Shoddy. A History + of the late War, 1 50 + +Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $1.75 each. + + + LIVES OF HIGHWAYMEN. + + Life of John A. Murrel, 50 + Life of Joseph T. Hare, 50 + Life of Col. 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Blood and the Beagles, 25 + Sixteen-Stringed Jack's Fight + for Life, 25 + Highwayman's Avenger, 25 + Life of Raoul De Surville, 25 + Life of Rody the Rover, 25 + Life of Galloping Dick, 25 + Life of Guy Fawkes, 75 + Life and Adventures of Vidocq, 1 50 + + + MILITARY AND ARMY BOOKS. + + Ellsworth's Zouave Drill, 25 + U. S. Government Infantry & + Rifle Tactics, 25 + U. S. Light Infantry Drill, 25 + The Soldier's Companion, 25 + The Soldier's Guide, 25 + + + WORKS AT 75 CENTS. BY BEST AUTHORS. + + Hans Breitman's Party. With other Ballads. New and Enlarged + Edition, printed on Tinted paper. By Charles G. Leland, 75 + Webster and Hayne's Speeches in Reply to Colonel Foote, 75 + The Brigand; or, the Demon of the North. By Victor Hugo, 75 + Roanoke; or, Where is Utopia? By C. H. Wiley. Illustrated, 75 + Banditti of the Prairie, 75 + Tom Racquet, 75 + Red Indians of Newfoundland, 75 + Salathiel, by Croly, 75 + Corinne; or, Italy, 75 + Ned Musgrave, 75 + Aristocracy, 75 + Inquisition in Spain, 75 + Elsie's Married Life, 75 + Leyton Hall. By Mark Lemon, 75 + Flirtations in America, 75 + The Coquette, 75 + Thackeray's Irish Sketch Book, 75 + Whitehall, 75 + The Beautiful Nun, 75 + Mysteries of Three Cities, 75 + Genevra. By Miss Fairfield, 75 + New Hope; or, the Rescue, 75 + Crock of Gold. By Tupper, 75 + Twins and Heart. By Tupper, 75 + + + WORKS AT 50 CENTS. BY BEST AUTHORS. + + The Woman in Red. A Companion to the "Woman in Black," 50 + Twelve Months of Matrimony. By Emelie F. 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BY BEST AUTHORS. + + Aunt Margaret's Trouble, 25 + The Woman in Grey, 25 + The Deformed, 25 + Two Prima Donnas, 25 + The Mysterious Marriage, 25 + Jack Downing's Letters, 25 + The Mysteries of a Convent, 25 + Rose Warrington, 25 + The Iron Cross, 25 + Charles Ransford, 25 + The Mysteries of Bedlam, 25 + The Nobleman's Daughter, 25 + Madison's Exposition of Odd + Fellowship, 25 + Ghost Stories. Illustrated, 25 + Ladies' Science of Etiquette, 25 + The Abbey of Innismoyle, 25 + Gliddon's Ancient Egypt, 25 + Philip in Search of a Wife, 25 + Rifle Shots, 25 + + + THE SHAKSPEARE NOVELS. + + The Secret Passion, 1 00 + The Youth of Shakspeare, 1 00 + Shakspeare and his Friends, 1 00 + +The three above Books are also published complete in one large octavo +volume, bound in cloth. Price Four Dollars. + + + PETERSONS' ILLUMINATED STORIES. + +Each Book being in an "Illuminated Cover," in five colors, full of +Illustrations. This is the most saleable series of 25 cent books ever +printed. + + Rebel and Rover, 25 + First Love, 25 + The Two Merchants, 25 + A Year After Marriage, 25 + Love in High Life, 25 + The Divorced Wife, 25 + The Debtor's Daughter, 25 + The Lady at Home, 25 + Mary Moreton, 25 + The Two Brides, 25 + Dick Parker, 25 + Jack Ketch, 25 + Mother Brownrigg, 25 + Galloping Dick, 25 + Mary Bateman, 25 + Raoul de Surville, 25 + Life of Harry Thomas, 25 + Mrs. Whipple & Jesse Strang's + Adventures, 25 + Jonathan Wild's Adventures, 25 + Ninon De L'Enclos' Life, 25 + The Iron Cross, 25 + Biddy Woodhull, the Beautiful + Haymaker, 25 + The River Pirates, 25 + Dark Shades of City Life, 25 + The Rats of the Seine, 25 + Mysteries of Bedlam, 25 + Charles Ransford, 25 + Mysteries of a Convent, 25 + The Mysterious Marriage, 25 + Capt. Blood, the Highwayman, 25 + Capt. 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Price 50 cents in paper, or in cloth, 75 + Life of Archbishop Hughes, first Archbishop of New York, 25 + + + LIEBIG'S WORKS ON CHEMISTRY. + + Agricultural Chemistry, 25 + Animal Chemistry, 25 + Liebig's celebrated Letters on + the Potato Disease, 25 + +Liebig's Complete Works on Chemistry, is also issued in one large +octavo volume, bound in cloth. Price Two Dollars. + + + SIR E. L. BULWER'S NOVELS. + + The Roue, 65 + The Oxonians, 50 + The Courtier, 25 + Falkland, 25 + + + DR. HOLLICK'S WORKS. + + Dr. Hollick's great work on the Anatomy and Physiology of the + Human Figure, with colored dissected plates of the Human + Figure, 1 25 + Dr. Hollick's Family Physician, a Pocket Guide for Everybody, 25 + + + GEORGE FRANCIS TRAIN'S SPEECHES. + + Union Speeches. In 2 vols., each 25 + Speech to the Fenians, 25 + Downfall of England, 10 + Slavery and Emancipation, 10 + + + REV. CHAS. WADSWORTH'S SERMONS. + + America's Mission, 25 + Thankfulness and Character, 25 + A Thanksgiving Sermon, 15 + Politics in Religion, 12 + Henry Ward Beecher on War and Emancipation, 15 + Rev. William T. Brantley's Union Sermon, 15 + + + EXPOSITIONS OF SECRET ORDERS, ETC. + + Odd Fellowship Exposed, 13 + Sons of Malta Exposed, 13 + Life of Rev. John N. Maffit, 13 + Dr. Berg's Answer to Archbishop + Hughes, 13 + Dr. Berg on the Jesuits, 13 + + + RIDDELL'S MODEL ARCHITECT. + +Architectural Designs of Model Country Residences. By John Riddell, +Practical Architect. Illustrated with twenty-two full page Front +Elevations, colored, with forty-four Plates of Ground Plans, including +the First and Second Stories, with plans of the stories, full +specifications of all the articles used, and estimate of price. 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Cloth, 1 00 + + + CURVED-POINT STEEL PENS. + + The Slip Pen, per dozen .25, per gross, $2.50 + The Barrel Pen, per " .50, " 5.00 + Magnum Bonum Pen, per " .75, " 8.00 + + +[Symbol: Right]Books sent, postage paid, on receipt of the Retail Price, +by T. B. Peterson & Brothers, Philadelphia, Pa. + + +T. B. Peterson & BROTHERS; + +=No. 306 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia= + + +Have in Press, and are now issuing an entire new, complete, +and uniform edition of all the celebrated Novels, (which have +been out of print for years,) written by the late + +MRS. CAROLINE LEE HENTZ. + +The whole of the novels and stories of Mrs. CAROLINE LEE HENTZ will be +issued complete in twelve large duodecimo volumes. Two volumes will be +issued each month, until the series is complete, _one volume on the +first, and another on the fifteenth of the month_. They will be printed +on the finest paper, and bound in the most beautiful style, in fine +Morocco cloth, with a new full gilt back, and sold at the low price of +$1.75 each, in Morocco cloth; or in paper cover, at $1.50 each. + +The Novels of Mrs. CAROLINE LEE HENTZ will be found, on perusal by all, +to be the most exciting and popular works that have ever emanated from +the American press. They are written in a charming style, and will +elicit through all a thrill of deep and exquisite pleasure. They are +works which the oldest and the youngest may alike read with pleasure and +profit. They abound with the most beautiful scenic descriptions, and +display an intimate acquaintance with all phases of human character--all +the characters being exceedingly well drawn. They are delightful books, +full of incident, oftentimes bold and startling, and they describe the +warm feelings of the Southerner in glowing colors. Indeed, all of Mrs. +Hentz's stories aptly describe Southern life, and are highly moral in +their application. In this field Mrs. Hentz wields a keen sickle, and +harvests a rich and abundant crop. They will be found, in plot, +incident, and management, to be superior to any other novels ever +issued. In the whole range of elegant moral fiction, there cannot be +found anything of more inestimable value, or superior to the charming +works of Mrs. Caroline Lee Hentz, and they are all gems that will well +repay a careful perusal. The Publishers feel assured that this series of +Novels, by Mrs. Caroline Lee Hentz, will give entire satisfaction to the +whole reading community; that they will encourage good taste and good +morals, and while away many leisure hours with great pleasure and +profit, and that they will also be recommended to others by all that +peruse them. + +The first volume was issued on November 1st, 1869, and was +=LINDA; OR, THE YOUNG PILOT OF THE BELLE CREOLE=. + +The first volume, "Linda," contains a full and complete Biography of the +late Mrs. CAROLINE LEE HENTZ, which has never before been published. + +The second volume was issued on November 15th, 1869, and was +=ROBERT GRAHAM=. A Sequel to "Linda; or, The Young Pilot +of the Belle Creole." + +The third volume was issued on December 1st, 1869, and was +=RENA; or, THE SNOW BIRD=. A Tale of Real Life. + +The fourth volume was issued on December 15th, 1869, and was +=MARCUS WARLAND=; or, The Long Moss Spring. + +These will be followed, _one on the first, and one on the fifteenth of +each month, in the following order_, by + +=EOLINE; or, MAGNOLIA VALE=; or, The Heiress of Glenmore. + +=ERNEST LINWOOD=; or, The Inner Life of the Author. + +=THE PLANTER'S NORTHERN BRIDE=; or, Scenes in Mrs. Hentz's +Childhood. + +=HELEN AND ARTHUR=; or, Miss Thusa's Spinning-Wheel. + +=COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE=; or, The Joys and Sorrows of +American Life. + +=LOVE AFTER MARRIAGE=; and other Stories of the Heart. + +=THE LOST DAUGHTER=; and other Stories of the Heart. + +=THE BANISHED SON=; and other Stories of the Heart. + +This series will no doubt prove to be the most popular series +of Novels ever issued in this country, as they are written by +one of the most popular Female Novelists that ever lived. + +Address all orders, at once, to receive immediate attention, +for all or any of the above books, to + +[Symbol: Right] _Above Books are for sale by all Booksellers, or copies +of any or all of them will be sent post-paid to any one, to any place, +on receipt of their price by the publishers._ + + +=T. B. PETERSON AND BROTHERS,= + +PUBLISHERS AND BOOKSELLERS, + +PHILADELPHIA, PA., + +Take pleasure in calling the attention of the public to their Choice and +Extensive Stock of Books, comprising a collection of the most popular +and choice, in all styles of binding, by all the favorite and standard +American and English Authors. + +To Collectors of Libraries, or those desiring to form them. + +Many who have the taste, and wish to form a Library, are deterred by +fear of the cost. To all such we would say, that a large number of books +may be furnished for even One Hundred Dollars--which, by a yearly +increase of a small amount, will before long place the purchaser in +possession of a Library in almost every branch of knowledge, and afford +satisfaction not only to the collector, but to all those who are so +fortunate as to possess his acquaintance. + +For the convenience of Book buyers, and those seeking suitable Works for +Presentation, great care is taken in having a large and varied +collection, and all the current works of the day. Show counters and +shelves, with an excellent selection of Standard, Illustrated, and +Illuminated works, varying in price to suit all buyers, are available to +those visiting our establishment, where purchases may be made with +facility, and the time of the visitor greatly economized. Here may be +seen not only books of the simplest kind for children, but also +exquisite works of art, of the most sumptuous character, suitable alike +to adorn the drawing-room table and the study of the connoisseur. + +Our arrangements for supplying STANDARD AMERICAN BOOKS, suitable for +Public Libraries and Private Families, are complete, and our stock +second to none in the country. + +[Symbol: Right]Catalogues are sent, on application, and great attention +is paid to communications from the country, and the goods ordered +carefully packed and forwarded with expedition on receipt of orders +accompanied with the cash. + + +To Booksellers and Librarians. + +T. B. Peterson & Brothers issue New Books every month, comprising the +most entertaining and absorbing works published, suitable for the +Parlor, Library, Sitting Room, Railroad or Steamboat reading, by the +best and most popular writers in the world. + +Any person wanting books will find it to their advantage to send their +orders to the "PUBLISHING HOUSE" OF T. B. PETERSON & BROS., 306 Chestnut +St., Philadelphia, who have the largest stock in the country, and will +supply them at very low prices for cash. We have just issued a new and +complete Catalogue and Wholesale Price Lists, which we send gratuitously +to any Bookseller or Librarians on application. + +Orders solicited from Librarians, Booksellers, Canvassers, News Agents, +and all others in want of good and fast selling books, and they will +please send on their orders. + +Enclose ten, twenty, fifty, or a hundred dollars, or more, to us in a +letter, and write what kind of books you wish, and on its receipt the +books will be sent to you at once, per first express, or any way you +direct, with circulars, show bills, etc., gratis. + +Agents and Canvassers are requested to send for our Canvassers' +Confidential Circular containing instructions. Large wages can be made, +as we supply our Agents at very low rates. + +Address all cash orders, retail or wholesale, to meet with prompt +attention, to + +T. B. PETERSON AND BROTHERS, + +306 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Penns. + + +Books sent, postage paid, on receipt of retail price, to any address in +the country. + +All the NEW BOOKS are for sale at PETERSONS' Book Store, as soon as +published. + +[Symbol: Right]Publishers of "PETERSONS' DETECTOR and BANK NOTE LIST," a +Business Journal and valuable Advertising medium. Price $1.50 a year, +monthly; or $3.00 a year, semi-monthly. Every Business man should +subscribe at once. + + +PETERSON'S MAGAZINE + +THE CHEAPEST AND BEST IN THE WORLD + +=Splendid Offers for 1870.= + +This popular Monthly Magazine _gives more for the money than any in the +world_. For 1870, it will be greatly improved. It will contain + + =ONE THOUSAND PAGES!= + =FOURTEEN SPLENDID STEEL PLATES!= + =TWELVE MAMMOTH FASHION PLATES!= + =TWELVE COLORED BERLIN PATTERNS!= + =NINE HUNDRED WOOD CUTS!= + =TWENTY-FOUR PAGES OF MUSIC!= + +All this will be given for only TWO DOLLARS a year, or a dollar less +than Magazines of the class of "Peterson." Its + +=THRILLING TALES AND NOVELETTES= + +Are the best published anywhere. _All the most popular writers are +employed to write originally for "Peterson."_ In 1870, in addition to +its usual quantity of short stories, FIVE ORIGINAL COPYRIGHT NOVELETS +will be given, viz.: "The Prisoner of the Bastile," by Mrs. Ann S. +Stephens; "The Secret at Bartram's Holme," by Mrs. Jane G. Austin; +"Kathleen's Love Story," by the author of "Ethel's Sir Launcelot;" "An +Enemy's Revenge," by the author of "The Second Life;" "How it Ended," by +Frank Lee Benedict. + +=MAMMOTH COLORED FASHION PLATES= + +Ahead of all others. These plates are engraved on steel, TWICE THE USUAL +SIZE, and contain six figures. They will be superbly colored. Also, a +pattern, from which a Dress, Mantilla, or Child's Dress can be cut out, +without the aid of a mantua-maker. Also, several pages of Household and +other receipts; in short, everything interesting to ladies. + +=SUPERB PREMIUM ENGRAVING=! + +To every person getting up a Club for 1870 will be sent GRATIS, a copy +of our new and splendid Mezzotint for framing, (size 24 inches by 16), +"Our Father Who Art in Heaven." This is the most desirable premium ever +offered. For large Clubs, as will be seen below, an extra copy will be +sent in addition. + +TERMS--Always in Advance: + +One Copy, for one year $2 00 +Two Copies, for one year 4 00 +Three Copies, for one year 5 00 +Four Copies, for one year 6 00 +Five Copies, for one year, (and one to getter up of Club,) 8 00 +Eight Copies, for one year, (and one to getter up of Club,) 12 00 +Fourteen Copies, for one year, (and one to getter up of Club,) 20 00 + +_Address, Post-paid_, + CHARLES J. PETERSON, + No. 306 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. + +[Symbol: Right] Specimens sent to those wishing to get up Clubs. + + +NEW BOOKS BY MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS. + + +RUBY GRAY'S STRATEGY. + +BY MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS. + +Price $1.75 in Cloth; or, $1.50 in Paper Cover. + + +_Fourth Edition Now Ready._ + +=THE CURSE OF GOLD.= + +BY MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS. + +Price $1.75 in Cloth; or, $1.50 in Paper Cover. + + +_Fifth Edition Now Ready._ + +=MABEL'S MISTAKE=. + +BY MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS. + +Price $1.75 in Cloth; or, $1.50 in Paper Cover. + + +T. B. Peterson & Brothers have just issued a new and uniform edition +of all the popular works written by Mrs. Ann S. Stephens. Their names +are as follows. Price of each, $1.75 in cloth; or $1.50 in paper cover. + + +ANN S. STEPHENS' COMPLETE WORKS. + + Ruby Gray's Strategy, $1 75 + The Curse of Gold, 1 75 + Mabel's Mistake, 1 75 + Doubly False, 1 75 + The Soldier's Orphans, 1 75 + Silent Struggles, 1 75 + The Wife's Secret, 1 75 + The Rejected Wife, 1 75 + Mary Derwent, 1 75 + The Gold Brick, 1 75 + Fashion and Famine, 1 75 + The Old Homestead, 1 75 + The Heiress, 1 75 + +Each of the above books are published in one large duodecimo volume, +bound in cloth, at $1.75 each, or in paper cover, at $1.50 each. + + +For sale by all Booksellers. Copies of any of the above books will be +sent to any one, free of postage, on receipt of price by the Publishers. + + +NEW BOOKS BY MRS. E. D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH. + + +=THE BRIDE'S FATE.= + +A SEQUEL TO "THE CHANGED BRIDES." + +BY MRS. EMMA D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH. + + +=THE CHANGED BRIDES.= + +BY MRS. EMMA D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH. + + +=HOW HE WON HER.= + +A SEQUEL TO "FAIR PLAY." + +BY MRS. EMMA D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH. + + +=FAIR PLAY.= + +BY MRS. EMMA D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH. + + +MRS. SOUTHWORTH'S COMPLETE WORKS. + + The Bride's Fate, $1 75 + The Changed Brides, 1 75 + How He Won Her, 1 75 + Fair Play, 1 75 + The Prince of Darkness, 1 75 + Fallen Pride, 1 75 + The Widow's Son, 1 75 + Bride of Llewellyn, 1 75 + The Fortune Seeker, 1 75 + Allworth Abbey, 1 75 + The Bridal Eve, 1 75 + The Fatal Marriage, 1 75 + Love's Labor Won, 1 75 + Deserted Wife, 1 75 + The Lost Heiress, 1 75 + The Two Sisters, 1 75 + The Three Beauties, 1 75 + Vivia; or, the Secret of Power, 1 75 + Lady of the Isle, 1 75 + The Gipsy's Prophecy, 1 75 + The Missing Bride, 1 75 + Wife's Victory, 1 75 + The Mother-in-Law, 1 75 + Haunted Homestead, 1 75 + Retribution, 1 75 + India; Pearl of Pearl River, 1 75 + Curse of Clifton, 1 75 + Discarded Daughter, 1 75 + +Each of the above books are published in one large duodecimo volume, +bound in cloth, at $1.75 each, or in paper cover, at $1.50 each. + +For sale by all Booksellers. Copies of any of the above books will be +sent to any one, free of postage, on receipt of price by the Publishers. + +T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS, + No. 306 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. + + * * * * * + + + + +TRANSCRIBER NOTES: + + + page 1: "Orpaans" changed to "Orphans" (The Soldiers' Orphans). + + page 3: "Montagu's" changed to "Montague's" (author of Lord + Montague's Page). + + page 164: "?" changed to "!" to better fit the sentence (How kind + it was of you!). + + page 379: "millionnaire" changed to "millionaire" (Bosworth is a + millionaire). + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Wives and Widows; or The Broken Life, by +Ann S. 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Stephens + +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: Wives and Widows; or The Broken Life + +Author: Ann S. Stephens + +Release Date: June 11, 2011 [EBook #36374] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WIVES AND WIDOWS *** + + + + +Produced by Roberta Staehlin, Pat McCoy and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h1> +<big><span class="smcap">Wives and Widows</span>;</big><br /> +<br /> +OR,<br /> +<br /> +THE BROKEN LIFE.<br /> +<br /> +BY<br /> +<br /> +MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS.<br /></h1> + +<p class="title">AUTHOR OF "RUBY GRAY'S STRATEGY," "FASHION AND FAMINE," "THE CURSE OF GOLD,"<br /> +"THE REJECTED WIFE," "THE OLD HOMESTEAD," "THE WIFE'S SECRET,"<br /> +"MABEL'S MISTAKE," "THE GOLD BRICK," "SILENT STRUGGLES,"<br /> +"MARY DERWENT," "DOUBLY FALSE," "THE HEIRESS,"<br /> +"THE SOLDIER'S ORPHANS," ETC., ETC.<br /></p> + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<div class="poem" style="width: 28em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When falsehood genders in a human soul,</span> +<span class="i1">Blossoms may hide the reptile in his creeping,</span> +<span class="i0">But every pulse will stir at his control,</span> +<span class="i1">Or feel the burden of his poisonous sleeping,</span> +<span class="i0">Until the tight'ning circle of his coils</span> +<span class="i0">Binds down the heart, which God alone assoils.</span> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In honest hearts the gentle truth reposes;</span> +<span class="i1">As nightingales, with rapturous music filled,</span> +<span class="i0">Nestle down, softly, in the clust'ring roses,</span> +<span class="i1">While the sweet night and moonlit air is thrilled</span> +<span class="i0">With perfect harmonies,—truth will arise</span> +<span class="i0">And send its voice, upringing, to the skies.</span> +</div></div> + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> + +<div class="center">PHILADELPHIA:<br /> +T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS;<br /> +306 CHESTNUT STREET.<br /></div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> + +<div class="center"> +TO<br /> +<br /> +MISS ELIZA S. ORMSBEE,<br /> +<br /> +OF<br /> +<br /> +PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND,<br /> +<br /> +THIS BOOK IS<br /> +<br /> +MOST AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.<br /> +<br /></div> +<p><span class="ralign">ANN S. STEPHENS.</span><br /> +<br /></p> +<p><span class="smcap">St. Cloud Hotel, New York,<br /> +November, 1869.</span><br /></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + + +<ul class="none"><li> +<span class="smcap">Chapter</span><span class="ralign"><span class="smcap">Page</span></span><br /> +<br /> +I. LEAVING MY HOME<span class="ralign"><a href="#page25"> 25</a></span><br /> +<br /> +II. MY NEW HOME<span class="ralign"><a href="#page31"> 31</a></span><br /> +<br /> +III. A NEW LIFE<span class="ralign"><a href="#page35"> 35</a></span><br /> +<br /> +IV. THREATENED WITH SEPARATION<span class="ralign"><a href="#page40"> 40</a></span><br /> +<br /> +V. AFTER THE WEDDING<span class="ralign"><a href="#page48"> 48</a></span><br /> +<br /> +VI. TELLING HOW LOTTIE INTRODUCED HERSELF<span class="ralign"><a href="#page53"> 53</a></span><br /> +<br /> +VII. OUT IN THE WORLD<span class="ralign"><a href="#page59"> 59</a></span><br /> +<br /> +VIII. OUR GUEST<span class="ralign"><a href="#page63"> 63</a></span><br /> +<br /> +IX. FANCIES AND PREMONITIONS<span class="ralign"><a href="#page70"> 70</a></span><br /> +<br /> +X. NEW VISITORS<span class="ralign"><a href="#page76"> 76</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XI. THE BASKET OF FRUIT<span class="ralign"><a href="#page81"> 81</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XII. BREAKFAST WITH OUR GUEST<span class="ralign"><a href="#page86"> 86</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XIII. JESSIE LEE AND HER MOTHER<span class="ralign"><a href="#page88"> 88</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XIV. INTRUSIVE KINDNESS<span class="ralign"><a href="#page92"> 92</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XV. THE TRAIL OF THE SERPENT<span class="ralign"><a href="#page97"> 97</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XVI. AFTER DREAMING<span class="ralign"><a href="#page101"> 101</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XVII. LOTTIE EXPRESSES HER OPINION OF THE WIDOW<span class="ralign"><a href="#page106"> 106</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XVIII. THE UNWELCOME PROPOSAL<span class="ralign"><a href="#page109"> 109</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XIX. OUT UPON THE RIDGE<span class="ralign"><a href="#page112"> 112</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XX. ADROIT CROSS-QUESTIONING<span class="ralign"><a href="#page118"> 118</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XXI. THE EVENING AFTER BOSWORTH'S PROPOSAL<span class="ralign"><a href="#page121"> 121</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XXII. SOWING SEED FOR ANOTHER DAY<span class="ralign"><a href="#page125"> 125</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XXIII. AN OUTBREAK OF JEALOUSY<span class="ralign"><a href="#page130"> 130</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XXIV. THE OLD PENNSYLVANIA MANSION<span class="ralign"><a href="#page135"> 135</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XXV. THE MOTHER AND GRANDMOTHER<span class="ralign"><a href="#page139"> 139</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XXVI. SICK-BED FANCIES<span class="ralign"><a href="#page143"> 143</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XXVII. THE FIRST SOUND SLEEP<span class="ralign"><a href="#page147"> 147</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XXVIII. THE INTERVIEW IN THE WOODS<span class="ralign"><a href="#page150"> 150</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XXIX. TROUBLES GATHER ABOUT OUR JESSIE<span class="ralign"><a href="#page155"> 155</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XXX. MRS. DENNISON GATHERS WILD FLOWERS<span class="ralign"><a href="#page159"> 159</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XXXI. LOTTIE'S ADVICE<span class="ralign"><a href="#page165"> 165</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XXXII. MRS. LEE DREAMS OF PASSION-FLOWERS<span class="ralign"><a href="#page169"> 169</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XXXIII. COMPANY FROM TOWN<span class="ralign"><a href="#page173"> 173</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XXXIV. OUR VISIT TO THE OLD MANSION<span class="ralign"><a href="#page177"> 177</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XXXV. YOUNG BOSWORTH'S SICK-ROOM<span class="ralign"><a href="#page181"> 181</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XXXVI. LOTTIE'S REPORT<span class="ralign"><a href="#page184"> 184</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XXXVII. MY FIRST QUARREL WITH MR. LEE<span class="ralign"><a href="#page188"> 188</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XXXVIII. MR. LAWRENCE MAKES A CALL<span class="ralign"><a href="#page192"> 192</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XXXIX. LOTTIE AS A LETTER-WRITER<span class="ralign"><a href="#page197"> 197</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XL. YOUNG BOSWORTH RECEIVES A LETTER<span class="ralign"><a href="#page200"> 200</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XLI. OUT IN THE STORM<span class="ralign"><a href="#page206"> 206</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XLII. JESSIE GETS TIRED OF HER GUEST<span class="ralign"><a href="#page208"> 208</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XLIII. A CONSULTATION WITH LOTTIE<span class="ralign"><a href="#page211"> 211</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XLIV. THE MIDNIGHT DISCOVERY<span class="ralign"><a href="#page216"> 216</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XLV. BAFFLED AND DEFEATED<span class="ralign"><a href="#page221"> 221</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XLVI. LOTTIE OWNS HERSELF BEATEN<span class="ralign"><a href="#page225"> 225</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XLVII. MR. LEE SENDS IN THE ACCOUNT OF HIS GUARDIANSHIP<span class="ralign"><a href="#page227"> 227</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XLVIII. COMING OUT OF A DANGEROUS ILLNESS<span class="ralign"><a href="#page231"> 231</a></span><br /> +<br /> +XLIX. LOTTIE SEEMS TREACHEROUS<span class="ralign"><a href="#page237"> 237</a></span><br /> +<br /> +L. CONFIDENTIAL CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE WIDOW AND MRS. LEE<span class="ralign"><a href="#page240"> 240</a></span><br /> +<br /> +LI. THE FATHER AND DAUGHTER<span class="ralign"><a href="#page247"> 247</a></span><br /> +<br /> +LII. THE FATAL LETTER<span class="ralign"><a href="#page252"> 252</a></span><br /> +<br /> +LIII. DEATH IN THE TOWER-CHAMBER<span class="ralign"><a href="#page257"> 257</a></span><br /> +<br /> +LIV. MRS. LEE'S FUNERAL<span class="ralign"><a href="#page261"> 261</a></span><br /> +<br /> +LV. OLD MRS. BOSWORTH'S VISIT<span class="ralign"><a href="#page265"> 265</a></span><br /> +<br /> +LVI. LOTTIE'S REVELATIONS<span class="ralign"><a href="#page268"> 268</a></span><br /> +<br /> +LVII. MRS. DENNISON URGES LAWRENCE TO PROPOSE<span class="ralign"><a href="#page272"> 272</a></span><br /> +<br /> +LVIII. AFTER THE PROPOSAL<span class="ralign"><a href="#page277"> 277</a></span><br /> +<br /> +LIX. A HEART-STORM ABATING<span class="ralign"><a href="#page282"> 282</a></span><br /> +<br /> +LX. THE TWO LETTERS<span class="ralign"><a href="#page286"> 286</a></span><br /> +<br /> +LXI. THE DEPARTING GUEST<span class="ralign"><a href="#page290"> 290</a></span><br /> +<br /> +LXII. WHOLLY DESERTED<span class="ralign"><a href="#page297"> 297</a></span><br /> +<br /> +LXIII. OLD-FASHIONED POLITENESS<span class="ralign"><a href="#page302"> 302</a></span><br /> +<br /> +LXIV. NEWS FROM ABROAD<span class="ralign"><a href="#page306"> 306</a></span><br /> +<br /> +LXV. LOTTIE LEAVES A LETTER AND A BOOK<span class="ralign"><a href="#page313"> 313</a></span><br /> +<br /> +LXVI. MRS. DENNISON'S JOURNAL<span class="ralign"><a href="#page316"> 316</a></span><br /> +<br /> +LXVII. OUR FIRST VISITOR<span class="ralign"><a href="#page323"> 323</a></span><br /> +<br /> +LXVIII. THE WATERFALL<span class="ralign"><a href="#page329"> 329</a></span><br /> +<br /> +LXIX. THE THREATENED DEPARTURE<span class="ralign"><a href="#page338"> 338</a></span><br /> +<br /> +LXX. THE MIDNIGHT WALK<span class="ralign"><a href="#page348"> 348</a></span><br /> +<br /> +LXXI. AWAY FROM HOME<span class="ralign"><a href="#page355"> 355</a></span><br /> +<br /> +LXXII. OUT IN THE WORLD AGAIN<span class="ralign"><a href="#page358"> 358</a></span><br /> +<br /> +LXXIII. FIRST WIDOWHOOD<span class="ralign"><a href="#page362"> 362</a></span><br /> +<br /> +LXXIV. LOTTIE'S LETTER<span class="ralign"><a href="#page385"> 385</a></span><br /> +<br /> +LXXV. LOTTIE IN PARIS<span class="ralign"><a href="#page392"> 392</a></span><br /> +<br /> +LXXVI. THE CASKET OF DIAMONDS<span class="ralign"><a href="#page395"> 395</a></span><br /> +<br /> +LXXVII. ALL TOGETHER AGAIN<span class="ralign"><a href="#page404"> 404</a></span><br /> +</li></ul> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>WIVES AND WIDOWS.</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page25" name="page25"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER I.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">LEAVING MY HOME.</span></h2> + + +<p>At ten years of age I was the unconscious mistress of a +heavy stone farm-house and extensive lands in the interior +of Pennsylvania, with railroad-bonds and bank-stock +enough to secure me a moderate independence. I shall +never, never forget the loneliness of that old house the day +my mother was carried out of it and laid down by her husband +in the churchyard behind the village. The most intense +suffering of life often comes in childhood. My mother +was dead; I could almost feel her last cold kisses on my lip +as I sat down in that desolate parlor, waiting for the guardian +who was expected to take me from my dear old home to his. +The window opened into a field of white clover, where some +cows and lambs were pasturing drowsily, as I had seen them +a hundred times; but now their very tranquillity grieved me. +It seemed strange that they would stand there so content, +with the white clover dropping from their mouths, and I +going away forever. My mother's canary-bird, which hung +in the window, began to sing joyously over my head, as if +no funeral had passed from that room, leaving its shadows +behind, and, more grievous still, as if it did not care that I +might never sit and listen to it again.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p> + +<p>One of the neighbors had kindly volunteered to take +charge of the gloomy old house till my guardian came, but +her presence disturbed me more than funereal stillness would +have done. I had a family of dolls up stairs, and any +amount of tiny household furniture, which I would have +given the world to take with me; but this thrifty neighbor +protested against it. She said that I was almost a young +lady and must forget such childish things, now that I was +going into the world to be properly educated.</p> + +<p>To a shy, sensitive child, this was enough. So, with a +double sense of bereavement, I saw my pretty dolls and +delicate toys swept into a basket and carried off to the +woman's house, between two stout Irish girls, who seemed +to be taking my heart off with them.</p> + +<p>In less than half an hour one of this woman's children +came down the road with my prettiest doll under her arm. +Its flaxen curls were all disordered, and its tiny feet, with +their slippers of rose-colored kid, had evidently been in the +mud, where she had probably insisted on making the doll +walk. While I sat by the window, waiting and watching, +this bare-headed little girl sat down by a fragment of stone +that had fallen from the wall close by, and began pounding +the head of my doll upon it with all her might. A cry +broke from me that made the little wretch start and run +away, leaving my poor mutilated doll by the stone.</p> + +<p>I ran out, seized upon my ruined doll, and came back to +the house, crying over it in bitter grief. With trembling +hands I unlocked my trunk, which was ready packed for +travelling, and laid my broken treasure down among the +most precious of my belongings. Just then Mrs. Pierce, our +neighbor, came in, and in a half jeering, half kind way, expostulated +with me for being such a little goose as to cry +over a doll. This woman did not mean to be hard with me; +far from it. Persons exist who are really kind-hearted, and +seem cruel only because they cannot comprehend feelings<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +utterly unknown to themselves. To me that doll was a type +of my wrecked home; to her it was a combination of wax, +sawdust, and leather, which a few dollars could at any time +replace; besides that, she was put a little on the defensive +by the fault of her child.</p> + +<p>While she reasoned with me in her coarse kindness, which +only wounded me deeper, a carriage had driven up, and two +persons entered through the outer door, which had been left +open by the little girl when she ran into the house to claim +her mother's protection. I was sitting on the floor by my +trunk, with both hands pressed to my face, sobbing piteously, +when a sweet, strange voice checked the force of that +woman's harangue; some one sank down to the floor by +me, and I was all at once drawn into a close embrace.</p> + +<p>"Don't cry, dear; it is all very sad, no doubt, but you are +going with us, and to-morrow will be brighter."</p> + +<p>I looked through a mist of tears that half blinded me, +and saw the kindest, sweetest face that my eyes ever dwelt +upon. It was that of a young woman, perhaps twenty or +twenty-two years of age. "You must not feel yourself +alone, dear child," she said, smoothing my hair with one +hand, from which she had drawn off the glove.</p> + +<p>"Oh," said Mrs. Pierce, pushing her daughter behind her, +"you will never believe, marm, what she is crying about,—leaving +home, you think it is? Oh, no; Miss is just taking +on about a snip of a doll which my little girl here smashed +a trifle, not meaning any harm, for children will be children, +you know."</p> + +<p>Here Mrs. Pierce patted her child's head, who cast sidelong +glances at me and attempted to hide herself behind +her mother's dress.</p> + +<p>I looked up at the young lady, blushing red, and begging +her in my heart not to think me so very ridiculous.</p> + +<p>She smiled encouragingly, and turning upon Mrs. Pierce, +said, very gravely,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"I am surprised, madam, that you should think this a +slight cause of grief. The smallest thing connected with +the child's home must be dear to her."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Pierce gave her head a fling, and muttered that she +meant no harm. Miss was welcome to all her things back +again; her children did not want them, not they.</p> + +<p>"You are right," said the young lady, quite seriously; +"have everything she has owned or loved packed up at once."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Pierce went out muttering; the child followed her +with a finger in her mouth.</p> + +<p>"Now," said the young lady, "is there anything else you +would like to take away,—a bird, a little dog, or the cat you +have loved; we can find room for them?"</p> + +<p>My heart leaped. I had the dear old canary-bird; and +lying upon the crimson cushions of my mother's easy-chair +was "Fanny," a pretty chestnut-colored dog, that had all +the grace of an Italian greyhound, and the brightness of +a terrier.</p> + +<p>"May I take her with me?" I cried, springing up and +falling on my knees before my mother's arm-chair, and +hugging Fanny to my bosom. "I am so glad, so grateful, +so—"</p> + +<p>Here I broke down, and burying my face in Fanny's fur, +cried and laughed out my thankfulness. When I looked +up, one of the handsomest men I ever saw stood by the +young lady, who was smiling upon him, though I saw bright +tears in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"So this is your father's ward," said the gentleman, reaching +out his hand as if he had known me all his life.</p> + +<p>I put my hand in his, and felt my heart grow warm, as +if it had found shelter from its loneliness. He exchanged +glances with the lady, and I felt sure that they were pleased +with me.</p> + +<p>"Now," said the gentleman, "we have a little time, if +you want to take leave of anything."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, I have been taking leave ever since she died," I +answered, saddened by his words. "I couldn't do it again."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps that is best," said the gentleman; "so get on +your things; we have a long ride before us."</p> + +<p>I started to obey him, but all at once a doubt seized upon +me. Who were these people? I did not know them. Mr. +Olmsly, my guardian, I had been informed, was an old +man. What right had these people to take me away from +my home?</p> + +<p>I stole back to the gentleman, trembling, and filled with +sudden apprehension.</p> + +<p>"Please tell me who you are," I said; "Mr. Olmsly! I +thought he was an old man."</p> + +<p>"And so he is," answered the gentleman, smiling pleasantly, +"but he is not very well, and so his daughter came +after you in his place. This is Miss Olmsly."</p> + +<p>The young lady stooped down and kissed me. My arms +stole around her neck unawares, and from that moment I +loved her dearly. When I turned away from the young +lady's caresses, her companion said,—</p> + +<p>"Now you would like to know who I am; isn't that so?"</p> + +<p>I nodded my head, feeling that I could tell at once who +he was.</p> + +<p>"Her brother, I am sure of that, you are both so—so—pleasant."</p> + +<p>I was about to say "handsome," but changed it to the +less flattering word.</p> + +<p>They both laughed, and the gentleman glanced at Miss +Olmsly's face, which, I was surprised to see, turned red as a +wild rose.</p> + +<p>"No, I am not her brother," he said, flushing up himself; +"but I shall be a great deal at your guardian's, and I +shall think that you are almost my sister. Will you like +that?"</p> + +<p>"So much!" I replied, with a light heart, for all my +anxieties were put to rest. "Now I will get my things."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p> + +<p>I went up-stairs and entered my own little room for the +last time. How homelike and familiar everything looked: +the little bed in the corner, with its draperies of white net; +the muslin window-curtains, through which I could see great +clusters of old-fashioned white roses, still wet with morning +dew, and lying like snow among the vivid green of the +thick leaves; my little walnut-wood desk, where I had got +my first lessons,—all appealed to me with a force that swept +away the dawning cheerfulness which the conversation down-stairs +had inspired. I sat down by the window and looked +sadly out. The sash was open, and a sweet fragrance came +up from the white clover-field, mingling with that of the +great rose-bush, which had reached the second-story windows, +ever since I could remember. I could not bear to leave all +these things. Yet the house had been so lonely that I had +no clear wish to stay. To me there was something terrible +in leaving that safe home-shelter. I grew cold, and began +to cry again. Afar off I could see the graveyard where my +mother was lying. Her presence was close to me then. +How could I go away and leave her resting there within +sight of the old house? But she had herself arranged that +I should live with my guardian. Why should these bitter +regrets depress me, while obeying her? It was that strong +home feeling which has never left me during my life,—the +feeling which prompted me to gather a handful of those +white roses, and keep them till they crumbled into nothing +but the ashes of a flower. Oh, how my heart ached when +we drove away from that old stone house! the picture is even +yet burned in on my brain. That tall hickory-tree at one +end—the willow in front. Those fine old lilac-bushes, and +the clustering roses reaching luxuriantly to the upper windows, +in the full rich blossoming of early June. Many a +time since, when in sadness and sorrow this picture has come +back to my mind, I have wondered if it might not have +been better had I stayed in that quiet old home.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page31" name="page31"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER II.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">MY NEW HOME.</span></h2> + + +<p>Mr. Olmsly was a very wealthy man. His property +stretched far into an iron and coal district of Pennsylvania, +and every day increased its value. It lay in and +around a fine inland town, situated among some of the most +picturesque scenery to be found in the State. His residence +was about five miles from this town, and a most beautiful spot +it was. The house was built on the last spur of a range of +hills, which ran for some distance down the valley of the +Delaware. Around this tall ridge the noble river made a +bold sweep, turned an old stone mill on its outer curve, and +went careering down one of the richest and most beautiful +valleys that the eye ever dwelt upon. The whole of this +mountain spur, the mill and the land down to the river, +which swept around it like an ox-bow, was the property of +Mr. Olmsly. His house of heavy stone was built half-way +up the side of the ridge, in the form of the letter T, which +ran lengthwise along the face of the hill, presenting a +pointed roof, and one sharp gable in the front view. The +walls were stuccoed like many houses to be found in +European countries, and were settled back on the hill by +three curving terraces, two of them blooming with rare +flowers. These terraces cut the hill as with a girdle of blossoms +about half-way up from its base. The first was a carriage-road, +which was connected with the house by a long flight of +steps leading across the first flower-terrace to the front door.</p> + +<p>In front, the house was three stories high. The basement +story opened on the first broad terrace, with its wreathing +vines, and glowing blossoms. An oriel window curved out +from the gable, and a square balcony surrounded by an arabesque +railing, formed a pleasant lounging-place over the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +front entrance. At the back of the house the entrance was +from the third terrace, directly to the second story, which +was half occupied by a broad hall, ending in the square +balcony; a noble drawing-room, whose latticed windows +opened on every side save the front, from which the oriel +jutted, opened upon a platform some ten feet wide, which +formed a promenade around one end of the second story, +and along the back of the building, surrounded by a low +balustrade, to which a hundred rare plants and vines were +clinging; beyond this was a labyrinth of flower-beds, through +which a broad gravel-path wound gracefully, separating the +green turf of the hill-side from the third and last terrace, +which was most beautiful of all.</p> + +<p>These terraces threw broad belts of flowers half across +the face of the hill, and ended in pleasant footpaths which +led through the turf and under some sheltering trees to the +top of the ridge. There everything was wild as nature left +to herself can be. At noonday the sunshine was darkened +by the woven branches of pines, hemlocks, beech, and oak +trees, with a tangle of blossoming laurel among the dusky +undergrowth. From this eminence, you commanded a glorious +sight of two magnificent valleys,—one stretching off +toward the Blue Ridge and overlooking the town, the other +opening in rich luxuriance down the banks of the Delaware, +mile after mile, league after league, till villages in the distance +seemed scarcely more than a handful of snow-flakes.</p> + +<p>Half-way down you saw the house I have been describing, +the carriage-road that wound beneath it, and below that, the +hill sloping downward in a broad, rolling lawn, which lost +itself with gentle undulations in the green bosom of the +valley.</p> + +<p>This was the home to which I was brought, and this beautiful +view lay before me as I stood upon the terrace-steps, +wondering that the earth could be so lovely. Miss Olmsly +paused by my side, enjoying my surprise.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You like it," she said; "we shall be very happy here, +for I know how it will be with my father when he sees your +demure little face."</p> + +<p>"Happy," I said, looking at the flowers which bloomed +around me everywhere. "I did not know that there was +any place in the world so lovely as this."</p> + +<p>"I am glad you are pleased, young lady."</p> + +<p>I started, turned toward the speaker, and saw a fine old +gentleman, with soft brown eyes, and hair as white as snow, +standing on the step above me.</p> + +<p>"It is my father, dear," said Miss Olmsly, mounting a +step higher and offering the old man a kiss; "she is a dear, +good child, papa, and we love her already."</p> + +<p>"I am glad of that," he said, stooping down and kissing +me on the forehead. "Your father was my friend, child, +and I will be yours. Come into the house; you must be +tired and hungry."</p> + +<p>We entered the house which was henceforth to be my +home. Miss Olmsly took me directly to a pretty chamber, +that had been evidently prepared for my coming. Everything +was simple, neat, and pure as snow. As if they had +known how I loved flowers, they were placed in the deep +window-seats, on the white marble of the mantelpiece, and +the principal window opened on the loveliest portion of the +third terrace, where a world of flowers were in bloom from +May till November.</p> + +<p>There I hung up the bird-cage which I had brought from +home in the carriage, and the little inmate began to sing +joyously, as if he understood all the beauties of our new +home and rejoiced over them.</p> + +<p>Fanny, too, put her paws on the window-seat, and looked +out demurely, as if taking a survey of the landscape. She +dropped down with what seemed a little bark of approval, +and curling herself up on my travelling-shawl, which had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> +dropped to the floor, watched me as I unlocked my trunk +and prepared for dinner.</p> + +<p>Miss Olmsly was right. I had a demure little face, but it +looked upon me from the glass less sorrowfully than I had +seen it since my mother's death. The sombre blackness of +my dress threw it all into shadow and made the deep blue-gray +of my eyes darker, by far, than was natural. This, +contrasting with the slightness of my form, made me look +like a little woman who had known suffering, rather than the +sensitive child that I really was.</p> + +<p>The dinner filled me with awe; the bright silver, the cut-glass, +and delicate china impressed me greatly, and I was +half afraid to tell the waiter what I wanted, he seemed so +great a gentleman. Everybody was kind, the conversation +was bright and cheerful; I understood it all, and felt myself +brightening under it. Once or twice I caught myself laughing +at the pleasant things the old gentleman was saying.</p> + +<p>After dinner, when Mr. Olmsly was asleep in his great +easy-chair, Mr. Lee and Miss Olmsly went out on the platform, +lifted a little from the third terrace, and walked up +and down, now and then looking in through one of the open +French windows, and saying a kind word to me. I remember +thinking what a splendid couple they were, and how +happy they seemed to be in each other's company. No +wonder; she was a lovely creature, slender, graceful, and +caressing in all her ways, while he was like a demigod to +my imagination, grand as a monarch, and good as he was +kingly. Even then, young as I was, the smile with which +he occasionally bent to her, made my heart yearn with a +strange desire that I, too, might be so smiled upon.</p> + +<p>Still, I was neither lonely nor home-sick, for my whole +heart had gone out toward those young people, and I had +begun to connect the old gentleman lovingly with my own +father, whose face and kind ways I could just remember.</p> + +<p>After a while I stole up to my own room again, unpacked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> +my trunk, hung up my mourning dresses, and lingered +regretfully over my doll a few moments, ashamed of having +loved it so; for the sneers of Mrs. Pierce had made a deep +impression on me, and I began to feel that I ought to be +something more than a child. Still I could not put the +poor, broken thing entirely away, but a sight of it always +gave me a heart-ache. It is a terrible thing when one's +childhood is broken up with harsh words and coarse jeers.</p> + +<p>Where refinement is, illusions remain beautiful far beyond +childhood. They belong to innocence, and seldom dwell +long with the worldly and the bad.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Pierce had swept away one joy from my life, but a +beautiful compensation had been sent me in my new home +and my new friends. It all seemed like paradise to me +when I went to bed that night.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page35" name="page35"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER III.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">A NEW LIFE.</span></h2> + + +<p>The next morning, Miss Olmsly came into my room and +helped me arrange my little mementos in a homelike +fashion. My work-box was brought forth and placed on +the little table provided for it. My pretty writing-desk was +unlocked and placed convenient for use. Brackets were ready +for the ornaments that had been so dear that I could not +leave them behind. From that hour, this room became in +fact my home; the old stone farm-house receded into the +shadows of the past. I thought of it sometimes sadly, as I +thought of the graves where my parents lay. The sight of +an old-fashioned damask-rose has still power to bring tears +into my eyes, and my heart would thrill if I passed a white<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +clover-patch, years and years after that I left at home had +been ploughed out of existence. But after all, the brightest +sunshine of my life fell through the latticed windows of +my room on the Ridge.</p> + +<p>No humming-bird ever loved flowers as I did;—no artist +ever gave himself up to the enjoyment of a fine landscape more +completely than it was in my nature to do. I have no doubt +that the beauty that surrounded me was one great cause of +the tranquil happiness which settled upon my whole being as +I became accustomed to the place. I loved to spend whole +mornings alone on the Ridge, collecting mosses and searching +for birds'-nests, which were abundant in the pines and the +drooping hemlock boughs. Among Miss Olmsly's old school-books +I found one that gave me an elementary knowledge +of botany; I did not consider it a dry study, but loved to sit +upon a rock carpeted with moss, and look into the fragrant +hearts of the wild-flowers, searching out their sweet secrets +with a feeling of profound sympathy in their loveliness and +in the races to which they belonged. Child as I was, these +things satisfied me, and I wanted no other companionship.</p> + +<p>Mr. Olmsly's land covered extensive woods beside those +on the Ridge. There was nothing likely to harm me anywhere +in the grounds, and I was allowed to run wild out of +doors wherever I pleased. Thus I made acquaintance with +many things beside the flowers; gray squirrels and pretty +striped chipmunks, with bushy tails curled over their backs, +would sit upon the tree-boughs just over my head and look +at me with shy friendliness. Now and then, I saw a rabbit +peeping at me through the ferns. These pretty creatures +were not afraid, for no sportsman was ever allowed to bring +his gun into those woods, and I think they knew how far I +was from wishing to harm them.</p> + +<p>My mother had been a timid woman, and her love for me +always rendered her unduly careful. She had a terror +of allowing me out of her sight, and being feeble herself,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +kept me mostly indoors, where I had learned to content myself +in a passionate love of my dolls, that really seemed to +me like living creatures capable of loving me as I worshipped +them.</p> + +<p>But at the Ridge I really did enjoy living companionship. +Nature lay all before me, wild as the first creation; +or so blended with art that its richest beauties were enhanced +threefold. There was also vitality and intelligence in these +living creatures that stirred my heart with a strange sympathy.</p> + +<p>My dog Fanny sometimes troubled me a little: she would +insist upon routing the ground-birds from their nests, and +in an effort to become friendly with the rabbits, would send +them scampering wildly into the underbrush. I loved +Fanny dearly, but it was not pleasant to see my pets driven +off by her frolicsome way of making herself agreeable.</p> + +<p>One day I had gone farther than usual into the woods, and +come out upon the outer verge of Mr. Olmsly's estate. Here +the trees grew thin and scattered off into a pasture, where a +flock of sheep was grazing; beyond that, some fine meadow +sloped down toward the valley, cut in two by the highway, +on which a large stone house was visible through the trees +growing thickly around it.</p> + +<p>A flat rock, half in sunshine, half in shadow, lay hidden +in the grass close by the footpath I had been pursuing, and +I sat down upon it, somewhat tired from my long walk in +the woods. Fanny was with me and sprang with a leap to +my side, but kept moving restlessly about, as if she did not +quite like the position, or saw something that displeased her.</p> + +<p>I had gathered some spotted leaves of the adder's-tongue, +with a few of its golden flowers, and had found some lovely +specimens of cup-moss on an old stump, which nature was +embellishing like a fairy palace, and sat admiring them in +the pleasant sunshine, when Fanny gave a sudden yelp, and +bounded from the rock, barking furiously.</p> + +<p>I dropped the flowers into my lap, half frightened by her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> +sudden outburst; but as she continued wheeling around the +rock, darting off and back again, yelping like a fury, I +ordered her to be quiet, and fell to arranging my treasures +once more.</p> + +<p>All at once Fanny ceased barking, but crept close to +me, seized upon my dress with her teeth and began to pull +backward, almost tearing the fabric. Just then I heard a +rustling sound on the rock behind me; forcing my dress +from the dog's teeth, I sprang up, and saw quivering upon +the moss what seemed to be a dusky shimmer of jewels all +in motion. In an instant the glitter left my eyes. I felt +myself turning into marble. There, coiled up ready for a +spring, its head flattened, its eyes glittering venomously, +was a checkered adder preparing to lance out upon me.</p> + +<p>I could not move, I could not scream; my strained eyes +refused to turn from the reptile, who, quivering with its own +poison, seemed to draw me toward him. For my life I +could not have moved; my lips seemed frozen,—a fearful +fascination possessed me utterly. It was broken by the +rush of a fragment of rock, under which I saw the reptile +writhing fiercely. Then my faculties were unchained, and a +shriek broke from my cold lips. I sprang from the rock +and was running madly away, when Mr. Lee caught me in +his arms, and I shuddered into insensibility there.</p> + +<p>When I came to, the crushed adder lay dead upon the +rock, from a crevice of which he had crept forth upon me. +Fanny was barking furiously around it, and Mr. Lee had +carried me to a spring close by, where he was bathing my +face with water.</p> + +<p>I looked around in terror. "Is it gone? is it dead?" I +questioned, shuddering.</p> + +<p>He pointed out the adder, which hung supine and dead +over the edge of the rock, and attempted to soothe my fears, +but I trembled still, and could hardly force myself to take +a second look at my dead foe.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p> + +<p>How kind Mr. Lee was then; how tenderly he compassionated +my terror, and assured me of safety. Fanny, too, +forgot her rage, and came leaping around me. Oh, how +grateful I was to that man. My heart yearned to say all it +felt, but found no language. I could only lift my eyes to +him now and then in dumb thankfulness, wondering if he +cared that I was so grateful, or dreamed how much a girl +of my years could feel.</p> + +<p>How foolish all these thoughts were; of course, he only +thought of me as a frightened child. From that day I +never knelt to God, morning or evening, without asking +some blessing on the head of Mr. Lee. Gratitude had +deepened my reverence for that man into such worship as +only a sensitive child can feel. Yes, worship is the word, +for this young man in the grandeur of his fine person, gentle +manners, and superior age, seemed as far above me as the +clouds of heaven are above the daisies in a meadow. Even +now I cannot comprehend the feelings with which I regarded +him.</p> + +<p>Have I said that Mr. Lee was a partner in the Olmsly +Iron Works, and though he boarded in town, half his time +was of necessity spent at the Ridge? My guardian only +attended to business through him, and expected a report at +least twice a week.</p> + +<p>Many and many a time, when I knew that he was coming, +have I wandered down the carriage-road to the grove +where it curved off from the highway, and was closed into +our private ground by a gate. There, sheltered by the +spruce-trees and hidden by the laurel-bushes, I have waited +hours, listening for the tread of his horse, and feeling supremely +rewarded by a brief glimpse of his manly figure, +as it dashed up the road, unconscious alike of my presence +and my worship.</p> + +<p>I never mentioned these feelings, or all the secret sources +of happiness to which my soul awoke, not even to Miss<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> +Olmsly. I would have died rather than breathe them to +any human being; they were sacred to me as my prayers. +Sometimes I would be days together without speaking to +Mr. Lee, but I was seldom out of the sound of his voice when +he visited the Ridge, and would follow him and Miss Olmsly +like a pet dog about the garden, glad to see her brighten +and smile when he looked upon her, and loving them both +with my whole heart.</p> + +<p>Sometimes other company came from the town. We frequently +drove over there and brought Mr. Lee home with +us; indeed, he was one of the family in every respect, save +that he did not sleep at the Ridge, and called himself a +visitor. One thing is very certain—on the days he did not +come Miss Olmsly was sure to grow serious, almost sad; +only there never was any real sadness at our house in those +days.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page40" name="page40"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER IV.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">THREATENED WITH SEPARATION.</span></h2> + + +<p>This beautiful life must have an end. Even childhood +has its duties, and mine could no longer be evaded.</p> + +<p>One day Miss Olmsly came into my room, and looking +around, sighed; but there was a smile on her lip and an expression +in her face that made me wonder at the sigh; for I +had not learned that superabundant joy has sometimes the +same expression as grief; but oh, how different the feeling.</p> + +<p>She sat down by the window, and drawing me close to +her, kissed my forehead two or three times with so much +feeling that I began to tremble.</p> + +<p>"Is anything the matter?" I said, winding my arms +around her neck; "have I done wrong?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Wrong, my sweet child, no; who ever accused you of +being anything but the best girl in the world? I was only +thinking how lonesome you would be without us."</p> + +<p>"Without you?" I faltered,—"without you?"</p> + +<p>I felt myself growing pale, my arms fell away from that +white neck, and I looked piteously in her kind face, afraid +to ask the meaning of these words.</p> + +<p>"Don't look so frightened, dear," said Miss Olmsly, +drawing me fondly to her side. "Even if we were not going, +you must have been sent to school. No young lady can get +along without education, you know; still, I shall feel very +anxious about you."</p> + +<p>"Are you going away; am I to be left?"</p> + +<p>I could ask no more; the very idea of parting with them +choked me.</p> + +<p>Miss Olmsly drew my face to hers as if she wanted to keep +me from looking at her so earnestly. My cheek was wet +with tears, but hers was red as it touched mine, and I could +feel that it was burning.</p> + +<p>"I am about to tell you something that I hope you will be +glad to hear, darling," she said, almost in a whisper. "In two +weeks Mr. Lee and I are going to be married. Why, how +you shiver, child! I should have told you of this first; the +very thought of a school terrifies you."</p> + +<p>I heard this and no more. Another death seemed upon +me; I fell upon my knees and caught at her dress with both +hands.</p> + +<p>"Oh, do not leave me—I shall die! I shall die!" She +lifted me from the floor and attempted to soothe me, but I +was not to be pacified. To live without him—never to see +him! There would be nothing worth loving in my life after +that.</p> + +<p>"Is it so hard to part with us," she said, smoothing my +hair with both hands.</p> + +<p>I flung my arms around her neck in passionate grief.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Let me go too; oh, take me, take me!"</p> + +<p>"But we are going to Europe."</p> + +<p>"Over the sea? I know, I know, take me!"</p> + +<p>She kissed me again, and seemed thoughtful. My heart +rose: I began to plead with hope. She listened tenderly; +told me not to cry, and left me in a state of suspense hard +to bear. An hour after this I saw her walking in the garden +with Mr. Lee. She was addressing him with sweet +earnestness. He looked smilingly down into her face and +seemed to expostulate against something that she was urging. +At last he appeared to give way, but shook his head +and threatened her with his finger, which she answered by +tossing the ripe leaves of an autumn rose in his face. As +he shook them laughingly away, his eyes fell on me where I +leaned from the window, and he made a sign for me to come +down.</p> + +<p>Breathless, and wild with anxiety, I ran down to the garden +and stood beside him, panting for breath, eager to speak, +and yet afraid.</p> + +<p>"Well, little lady," he said, holding out a hand; "you +are determined that we shall not leave you behind."</p> + +<p>"It would kill me," I murmured, striving to read my fate +in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"But we shall be gone from home a long time."</p> + +<p>"My home is where—where she is," I answered.</p> + +<p>Why did I hesitate to include him. I think he noticed +it, for he said, laughing, "Then you care everything for her, +nothing for me?"</p> + +<p>I burst into tears and cried out in my trouble, "Oh, you +are cruel to me; you laugh when I am so unhappy."</p> + +<p>"But no one shall be made so unhappy when—when—" +Here Miss Olmsly broke off what she had begun to say, and +flushed like the rose she had just torn to pieces.</p> + +<p>"When we are married; that is what she will not say, +sweetheart," broke in Mr. Lee, blushing a little himself;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> +"and if it really will make you unhappy to stay behind, +why, there must be some way found by which you can go +with us."</p> + +<p>I caught a deep breath and felt a glow of keen happiness +rush up to my face, but no word would leave my lips.</p> + +<p>"Now, this will make you happy?" questioned Miss Olmsly, +looking into my eyes,—I think as much to avoid his, as from +a wish to read my joy there.</p> + +<p>"So happy," I answered.</p> + +<p>"But we shall be gone a long time and shall travel a great +deal, while you must be put to school."</p> + +<p>This dampened my spirits a little, but I answered, bravely, +that I did not mind, so long as there was no ocean between +us.</p> + +<p>Then they informed me that Mr. Olmsly had consented +that I should go with them to Paris and remain in school +while they travelled. Then he would join us and make new +arrangements for the future.</p> + +<p>After explaining all this to me, the young people walked +off together, satisfied that I was made happy as themselves; +and so I ought to have been; but my poor heart would not +rest, and I went off into the woods like a wild bird, wondering +why it was that a flutter of pain still kept stirring in +my bosom.</p> + +<p>They were married just two weeks from that day. All +the principal families of the place were invited, and the +entertainment proved a grand affair. All the grounds were +illuminated for the occasion. The house was one blaze of +lights. Every tree on the hill-side or the sloping lawn +seemed blossoming with fire, or drooping with translucent +fruit, so numerous were the colored lamps and gorgeous lanterns +that hung amid their foliage.</p> + +<p>It was like fairy-land to me. The moon was at its +golden fulness, and never before had the purple skies seemed +so full of stars; but, spite of this, I was sad and restless.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> +Miss Olmsly insisted upon it that my mourning should be +laid aside, and I felt strange in the cloudy whiteness of my +dress, simple and plain as it was. Indeed, the whole thing +seemed to me like a dream which must pass away on the +morrow. Perhaps it was this abrupt change in my dress +which made me feel so lonely when all the world was gay +and brilliant beyond anything my short life had witnessed. +Perhaps I felt sad at the thought of leaving my native land. +Be this as it may, I can look back upon few nights of my +life more dreary than that upon which the two best friends +I ever had, or ever shall have, were married.</p> + +<p>Memory is full of pictures; events fade away, feelings die +out, but so long as the heart keeps a sentiment or the brain +holds an image, groups will start up from the past and bring +back scenes which no effort of the mind can displace. It is +strange, but such pictures are burned, as it were, upon the +soul unawares, and often without any remarkable event +which can be said to have impressed them there. You may +have known a person all your life, yet remember him only +as he was presented to you at some given moment. Whole +years may pass in which you scarcely seem to have observed +him; but at some one moment he comes out upon your +recollection with all his features perfect and clearly cut as a +cameo.</p> + +<p>Of all the pictures burned in upon my life, that of Mr. +Lee and his bride, as they stood up in that long drawing-room +to be married, will be the last to die out from my +mind. No bridesmaids were in attendance; no ushers +coming and going drew attention from that noble couple. +This was the picture,—a woman standing at the left hand +of a tall, stately man. He was upright, firm, and self-poised +as the pillar of some old Grecian temple. She drooped +gently forward, her hands unconsciously clasped, the long +black lashes sweeping her cheeks; a soft tremor, as of red +rose-leaves stirred by the wind, passing over her lips; dra<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>peries +of satin, glossy and white as crusted snow, fell around +her; a garland of blush-roses crowned the braids of purplish-black +hair thickly coiled around a most queenly head. +Draperies of rich, warm crimson fell from the windows +just behind them, and swept around the foot of a noble +vase of Oriental alabaster, from which a tall crimson and +purple fuchsia-tree dropped its profuse bells. Directly the +clergyman, with a book in his hand, broke into the picture; +but my mind rejects him and falls back upon the man, and +the woman who stood with lovelight in her eyes and prayers +at her heart, waiting to become his wife.</p> + +<p>There was great rejoicing after the picture was lost in a +crowd of congratulating friends; music sent its soft reverberations +out among the flowers, that gave back rich odors +in return; for it was a lovely autumnal night, and the whole +platform to which the windows opened was garlanded in +with hot-house plants. I remember seeing groups of persons +wandering about in the illuminated grounds. Their +laughter reached me as I sat solitary and alone in the oriel +window, over which lace curtains fell, and were kindled up +like snow by the lights from without.</p> + +<p>I was very sad that night, and felt the tears stealing slowly +into my eyes. Every one was happy, but joy had forgotten +to find me out. All at once the lace curtains were lifted +softly and fell rustling down again. <i>She</i> had thought of me +even in her happiest moments. Her arms were folded around +me; her lips, warm with smiles, were pressed to my face.</p> + +<p>"All alone and looking so sad! why will you not enjoy +yourself like the rest?" she said.</p> + +<p>"I am so young and so wicked," I answered, wiping the +tears from my eyes.</p> + +<p>"Wicked! oh, not that, only there is no one of your +own age here; come out a little while; he has been asking +for you."</p> + +<p>"For me?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Of course; who else should he think of? Why, child, +you will never know how dearly we both love you."</p> + +<p>"And you always will?" I asked, holding my breath in +expectation of her answer.</p> + +<p>"And always will, be sure of that. Ah! here he comes +to promise for himself."</p> + +<p>Yes; there he stood holding back the curtains, proud, +smiling, and strong, as I shall always remember him.</p> + +<p>"Ah! you have found her, silly thing, hiding away by +herself," he exclaimed, kindly.</p> + +<p>"I have just made a promise for you," answered the bride +with gentle seriousness.</p> + +<p>"Which I will keep; for henceforth, fair lady, am I not +your slave."</p> + +<p>"I have promised to love this girl so long as I shall live, +and that you will be her very best friend, and love her +dearly."</p> + +<p>"Dearly, you say?"</p> + +<p>"Most dearly."</p> + +<p>"Next to yourself?"</p> + +<p>"Next to myself; and after me, best of all."</p> + +<p>"Ah, it is easy to promise that, for, next to yourself, sweet +wife, she is the dearest creature in existence." She held my +hand in hers while he was speaking. When he uttered the +word wife, I felt her finger quiver as if some strange thrill +had flashed down from her heart, and the broad white lids +drooped suddenly, veiling the radiance of her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Now that I have promised, let us seal the compact," he +said, with touching seriousness; and lifting me for a moment +in his arms, he pressed a kiss upon my lips.</p> + +<p>"Why, how she trembles; don't be afraid, you sensitive +little thing; come, come go with us and see how the people +are making themselves happy."</p> + +<p>The bride took his arm, and leading me with his disengaged +hand, he crossed the drawing-room and went out on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> +the flower-wreathed platform, where a band of music was +filling the night with harmonies.</p> + +<p>Here an ecstasy of feeling came upon me; I remembered +all that both these persons had promised, and that it would +be a solemn compact which they would never think of breaking. +I should be with them, not for a time only, but so long +as I lived. Remember, I was an imaginative girl, and knew +but little of the mutability of human affairs. I only felt in +my soul that these two persons whom I loved so entirely, +would be faithful to the promise they had made that night, +and this certainly filled me with exultation that was, for the +time, something better than happiness. After a while, Mr. +Lee dropped my hand, but it crept back to his, and I made +a signal that he should bend his head.</p> + +<p>"It is a promise," I whispered; "you will never, never +send me away from you?"</p> + +<p>"It is a promise," he answered, smiling down upon me.</p> + +<p>"Good night," I said, longing to be alone in my room +where I could feel of a certainty that the few words spoken +that night had anchored me for life. "Good night; I shall +never leave you or her while I live."</p> + +<p>It seemed a rash promise, but I made it to God in my +prayers that night. The reader shall see how I kept it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page48" name="page48"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER V.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">AFTER THE WEDDING.</span></h2> + + +<p>Our Jessie was born in Paris, a little more than a year +after her parents were married, and a lovelier child +never drew breath. I was in school then, and she was two +months old before I saw her, but she had learned to smile, +and was a beautiful, bright little creature even then. How +I worshipped the child! no elder sister ever rendered her heart +more completely up to an infant of her own blood, than I +gave mine. All the affection I had ever felt for the parents +was intensified and softened into infinite tenderness for their +little girl. In her I resolved to repay some of the kindness +which had been so lavishly bestowed on me. How this was +to be done, I could not tell, but I had dreams of great sacrifices, +unlimited devotion, and such care as one human +being never took of another. Thus the first existence of +this child was woven into my own better life and became a +part of it.</p> + +<p>Our Jessie was two years old when Mr. Olmsly joined us +in Europe, and for the first time saw his little grandchild; +before she had counted another year, the good old man was +dead and buried in a strange country. He left a will contrary +to all expectation, written after he had seen and +loved little Jessie. All his vast property was left to Mr. Lee +and his wife, but on the death of Mrs. Lee, even though +the husband was still living, one half the estate was to revert, +unrestricted and uncontrolled, to her daughter.</p> + +<p>This was all, and with it the persons in interest were +satisfied; indeed, the property was large enough to have +been pided half a dozen times, and still have been sufficient +for the ambition of any reasonable person.</p> + +<p>Mr. Lee did not return to the United States at the death<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> +of his father-in-law; there was, in reality, nothing to +call him home. He had retired from active business soon +after his marriage, and the old world had so many resources +of knowledge and pleasure, for persons of their fine cultivation, +that they lingered on, year after year, without a wish +for change, sometimes travelling from country to country, +but making Paris their head-quarters so long as I remained +in school.</p> + +<p>After that, we spent a year in Italy, and some months in +Germany and Spain, where I became perfect mistress of the +languages, and found happiness in imparting them to "Our +Jessie," who became more lovely and lovable every year of +her life.</p> + +<p>At last we went to the Holy Land, and lingered a while in +Egypt, where Mrs. Lee was taken ill, almost for the first +time in her life, and then came the only real sorrow that we +had known since Mr. Olmsly's death.</p> + +<p>The moment it was possible, we returned to Paris, in order +to get the best medical advice. It came all too soon; Mrs. +Lee was pronounced a confirmed invalid, some disease of the +nerves, in which the spine was implicated, threatened a +tedious, if not incurable illness.</p> + +<p>At this time Jessie was ten years old, and I had entered +the first stages of womanhood; as her mother became more +and more frail, the dear child was almost entirely given up +to me, and my love for her became absolute idolatry. The +child had always been taught to call me aunt, and for her +sake I was ready to give up all the bright social prospects +that opened to me just then. Indeed, there never was a +time in my life that I could not have found pleasure in sacrificing +anything to the parents or the child.</p> + +<p>One thing troubled Mrs. Lee at this time,—a craving desire +to go home seized upon her. With an invalid's incessant longing, +she wearied of the objects that had so pleasantly amused +her, and sighed for rest. But it had been arranged that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> +Jessie should be educated at the same school which I had +left, and the gentle mother could not find it in her heart to +be separated from that dear one.</p> + +<p>Now came the time for my dream to be realized. Why +should "Our Jessie" be given up to the hard routine of a +school, when I could make her studies easy and her life +pleasant. It was in my power to keep the mother and +child in one home.</p> + +<p>I found Mr. Lee and his wife together one day, and made +my proposition. I would become Jessie's governess.</p> + +<p>My generous friends protested against this. It was, they +said, the opening of my life. In order to do this, I must +give up the society which I had but just entered, and perhaps +injure my own prospects in the future. No, no, they +could not permit a sacrifice like this.</p> + +<p>But if they were generous, I was resolute. To have Jessie +always with me, had been the brightest dream of my girlhood. +I could not be persuaded to give it up. What did I +care for society, if she was to suffer the dreary routine of +the school-life from which I had but just been emancipated? +I really think it would have broken my heart had the dear +child been left behind. But great love always prevails. +We sailed for America a united family, happy even with the +drawback of Mrs. Lee's illness, which in itself was seldom +painful, and her untiring cheerfulness was never broken.</p> + +<p>The valley of the Delaware had become highly cultivated +in our long absence. A railroad ran up the banks of the +river, from which our house could be seen standing on the +hill-side miles and miles away. I started with surprise when +it first met our view. A square stone tower, three stories +high, loomed up behind the pointed gables and balconied +front, giving a castellated air to the whole building.</p> + +<p>This had been done by Mr. Lee's orders. He had drawn +the plans, and his architect had carried them out splendidly. +Our first view of the house was accompanied with exclama<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>tions +of pleasure which delighted Mr. Lee, who had kept all +his improvements a secret, that he might enjoy our surprise. +Indeed, the site of the house was so finely uplifted from the +valley, that the effect was that of many lordly mansions we +had seen on the Continent, though I do not remember one +more picturesque in itself, or that could command a landscape +to compare with this in extent or varied beauty.</p> + +<p>It was a lovely June day when we reached the Ridge; +everything had been prepared for our reception. In the +years of our absence nothing had been permitted to go to +decay, but many improvements presented themselves as we +turned up the carriage-road. A young peach-orchard had +grown into bearing trees; grape trellices were tangled +thickly with vines; choice fruit-trees of every kind had just +lost their blossoms. A range of hot-houses glittered through +the trees. All this made the Ridge more beautiful by far than +it had been years before when it seemed a paradise to me. +On entering the house, we were still more pleasantly surprised. +Everything rich and rare that a long residence +abroad had enabled Mr. Lee to collect, was arranged through +the rooms,—bronzes, statuettes of marble, old china carvings, +pictures, ornaments of malachite, and Lapes lazula, met +us on every hand. All this might have seemed out of place +in a country house of almost any ordinary description, where +the occupant was likely to spend half the year in town; but +Mr. Lee had fitted up this place as his principal and permanent +residence. The health of his wife demanded quiet; +her tastes required beautiful objects, and all these rare +articles had been carefully selected for her pleasure. Here +she found many a precious gem of art which she had seen +in her travels, admired, but never thought to possess. But +he had remembered her faintest preference, and the proofs +of his unbounded devotion met her at every turn, as we +entered, what was, in fact, the blending of an old and new +home.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p> + +<p>Not one article of the old furniture was missing, every +sweet association had been preserved with religious care; +but affection had grafted the new life she had been leading +on the reminiscences of her girlhood, and, spite of her +infirmity and fatigue, Mrs. Lee was supremely happy as +she entered her home. The square tower was entirely +modern, and everything it contained had been sent from +abroad. The lower room was a library, with pointed windows, +a black-walnut floor, and a small Gobeline carpet in +the centre of the room, upon which a heavily carved table +was placed. From floor to ceiling the walls were lined with +books, richly bound, and carefully selected; the book-cases +were each surmounted with a bas-relief in bronze, representing +some classical subject, while the glass that shut in +the books was pure as crystal. Easy-chairs of every conceivable +pattern stood about this room, and between each +book-case a bronze statuette reminded you of some classic +name, or hero known to history.</p> + +<p>The second story of the tower opened into the main building; +thus the large square chamber fitted up for Mrs. Lee +was connected with two smaller rooms, one intended for her +personal attendant, the other a dressing-room.</p> + +<p>The principal window of this room opened upon a balcony, +which overlooked the brightest portion of the terraces; +near this window a couch was drawn, from which even an +invalid might attain lovely glimpses of the clustering flowers, +without changing her position. A carpet, thick and +soft as a meadow in spring, covered the floor, and in the +back part of the room stood a bed, surmounted by a canopy +carved from some rare dark-hued wood, from which curtains +of lace that a countess might have worn, swept to the +floor, and clouded the bed, without in any degree obstructing +the air. In this room everything invited to repose. +The pictures were all dreamily beautiful. On one side of +the large window a marble child lay sleeping, with a smile<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> +on its lips. On the other, just within the frost-like shadow +of the curtains, an angel, of the same size, knelt, with +downcast face, and hands pressed softly together, praying. +This was the room into which Mr. Lee carried his wife, +after she had rested a few minutes in the drawing-room. +He laid her upon the couch with gentle care, but she rose +at once, and leaning upon her elbow, looked around. Everything +was new and strange; but, oh, how beautiful! tears +came into her eyes; she leaned back upon the cushions, and +held out both hands.</p> + +<p>"And you have done all this," she said. "Was ever a +woman so blessed?"</p> + +<p>Then she turned her eyes upon the window and saw the +flowers gleaming through.</p> + +<p>"The garden is as he left it," she murmured. "I am +glad of that—I am glad of that."</p> + +<p>Mr. Lee sat down by her couch, smiling, and evidently +rejoiced that he had given her so much pleasure. Jessie +was moving about the room, happy as a bird; to her everything +was new and charming, and the restlessness of childhood +was upon her.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page53" name="page53"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VI.<br/> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">TELLING HOW LOTTIE INTRODUCED HERSELF.</span></h2> + + +<p>As we were settling down to a quiet admiration of all +these things, a strange little girl appeared at the door, +where she hesitated, and peeped in as if half afraid. Thinking +that she wished to speak with some of us, I went toward +her, but she waved me off with an air, saying,—</p> + +<p>"It's no use your coming, you're not the madam, I'll +bet."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p> + +<p>With these words she walked into the room and took a +general survey of our party. First she cast a sharp glance +at Mr. Lee, but withdrew it directly; passed a careless look +over my person, broke into a broad smile as Jessie came +under her observation, and having thus disposed of us, came +up to Mrs. Lee, who opened her eyes wide, and was for a +moment astonished by the sudden appearance of the girl.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you don't want me here, now that so many +other folks are coming," said the girl, clasping and unclasping +her hands, which at last fell loosely before her. "They +tell me down-stairs that I don't belong here nohow, and +hadn't ought to put myself forward. But I haven't got +no one to speak up for me, being an orphan, so here I am; +do you want me, or must I up and go."</p> + +<p>"Who are you, my girl?" asked Mrs. Lee, in her gentle +way.</p> + +<p>"My father was the gardener here, marm, but he's dead; +so is my mother, long ago. My name is Lottie, and I've +stayed on here doing things about, because I hadn't anywhere +else to go. That's pretty much all about it."</p> + +<p>"And you wish to stay?"</p> + +<p>"Do I wish to stay, is it? Yes, I do, awfully. I can +earn my board and more, too, in the kitchen, cleaning silver +and scouring knives and feeding chickens, but since I catched +sight of you being carried up them steps, marm, my ideas +have ris a notch. I should like to tend on you dreadfully. +You could tell me how, you know, and I'm cute to learn; +ask 'em down below, if you don't believe me."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lee broke into a faint laugh; the manners and abrupt +speech of the girl struck her as comical in the extreme. +As for myself, I have seldom seen a creature so awkward, +so brusque, and yet so interesting. She was, I should fancy, +about eight years of age, square, angular, restless, but no +lily was ever more pure than her complexion, and her hair, +thick and soft, was of that delicate golden tint we find in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> +new silk, before it is reeled from the cocoon. Altogether, +she was a strange creature, full of vivid feeling and dreadfully +in earnest. Mrs. Lee liked her, I could make sure of +that, from the serene pleasure which came to her face as +she looked into the girl's large gray eyes, which were shaded +with lashes much darker than her hair.</p> + +<p>"And you would like to make yourself useful up here," +she said, smiling at the girl's intense eagerness.</p> + +<p>"Goodness—wouldn't I?"</p> + +<p>"But, can you be quiet?"</p> + +<p>"As a bird on its nest."</p> + +<p>"And cheerful?"</p> + +<p>"Why, marm, I'm the cheerfullest creature on these +premises. You may count in the squirrels, rabbits, and +robins, and after that, I can say it."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lee turned her eyes on her husband, who sat near +her couch, greatly amused by the dialogue.</p> + +<p>"What do you think? She seems bright, and I dare say +will try her best."</p> + +<p>"At any rate, she promises to be amusing," answered Mr. +Lee, and a good-natured smile quivered about his lips.</p> + +<p>"And kind-hearted, I will answer for that, don't you +think so, Martha?"</p> + +<p>"I am sure of it."</p> + +<p>As the words left my lips, Lottie made a pe at me, took +my hand in both hers, and kissed it with a wild outgush of +feeling. "You're good as gold, silver, and diamonds," she +said. "I was sure that you would be on my side, though +you do look as if butter wouldn't melt in your mouth. Tell +me just what to do about the lady, and see if I don't come +up to the mark. It's in me, I know that."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lee closed her eyes wearily; even this short conversation +was too much for her weak nerves.</p> + +<p>"Go down-stairs now," I said to the girl in a low voice; +"by-and-by you shall be told about your duties. The first +and greatest is quietness."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p> + +<p>She nodded her head, put a finger to her lips, and went +out of the room on tiptoe.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lee opened her eyes as the girl went out, and beckoned +to Jessie.</p> + +<p>"Do you like that strange little orphan?" she questioned.</p> + +<p>"Like her? indeed I do, mamma," said the kind-hearted +girl. "She is so warm, so earnest, and uses such queer words. +But Aunt Martha will cure her of that. I was just thinking +how pleasant it would be to teach her."</p> + +<p>"That is a good idea, child; who knows what we may do +for her?"</p> + +<p>Here Mrs. Lee turned upon her cushions a little wearily, +and from that time, Lottie became her attendant.</p> + +<p>Now our domestic life began in earnest. Mrs. Lee's disease +was not often painful, nor immediately dangerous. +Contented with the love that surrounded her, she fell gently +into the invalid habits, which had something pleasant in +them when incited by a home like that.</p> + +<p>For my part, I knew no more attractive spot than her +room. There Jessie took her lessons in the morning, and in +the afternoon, Mr. Lee always sat with us, reading to her +while we worked or studied. Never in this world, I do think, +was a family more closely united, or that seemed so completely +uplifted from care or trouble as ours.</p> + +<p>Sometimes Mrs. Lee would regret what she called the +waste of my youth in her daughter's behalf, but I had no +such feeling. Society was nothing to me, while those I loved +so dearly were part of my every-day life. Of course I had +seen my share of social life in Europe, had met many +agreeable people, and knew what it was to be admired,—perhaps +loved,—but my heart had never, for one moment, +swerved from its old affections. Ardently as in my childhood, +I loved those two first and last friends. As for "Our +Jessie," I cannot trust myself to speak of her. If ever one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> +human being adored another, I adored that bright, beautiful +girl. They talked of sacrifices; why, it would have broken +my heart had Jessie been taken from me and sent to school. +Of course, we had plenty of society, the best people from the +town visited us often, and sometimes an old friend whom we +had met on our travels would find us out. But Mrs. Lee's +state of health precluded much hospitality, and so we were +left almost entirely to the quiet home-life which all of us +loved so well.</p> + +<p>Thus months and years rolled on, stealing the freshness +and bloom from me, and giving them tenfold to my darling.</p> + +<p>If I have dwelt somewhat at length on my early life, it is +not because I am attempting to give prominence to my +own feelings or actions, but that the reader may understand +how intense and all-absorbing a feeling of affectionate gratitude +may become,—how it may color and pervade a whole +existence.</p> + +<p>In my helpless orphanage, two noble young people had +found me lonely, despondent, and almost friendless. At +once, without question or reservation, they took me into +their hearts and gave me a permanent home. Now that +my benefactress had fallen into entire dependence upon those +she loved for happiness, was it strange that I stood ready to +give up my youth for her and her beautiful child?</p> + +<p>This generous woman was forever speaking of my action +as a noble sacrifice. But to my thinking it was happiness in +itself. I loved to watch what might have been my own life, +dawning brightly in the youth of Jessie Lee; and when her +first lover appeared, I was almost as much interested as the +girl herself, who was, in fact, quite unconscious, for a long +time, that the young man loved her at all.</p> + +<p>He was a splendid young fellow, though, and even "Our +Jessie" might have been proud of the conquest she had unconsciously +made.</p> + +<p>Young Bosworth was the grandson of a fine old lady,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> +born in England, I think, who inhabited the large stone +house I have spoken of as forming a picturesque feature in +the landscape, on the day I was rescued from the adder. He +was interested in an iron company near the town, financially, +and was about to enter into active business in the partnership, +having just completed his minority. His business +brought him frequently to our house, for Mr. Lee was considered +a safe adviser in such matters; thus an intimacy +sprung up between the young man and "Our Jessie" just +when the first bloom of her girlhood was deepening into the +rare beauty for which she was so remarkable in after-years.</p> + +<p>But Jessie was all unconscious of the love that I could +detect in every glance of those fine eyes, and in every tone +of the voice that grew tender and musical whenever it +addressed her. Indeed, the young man took no pains to +conceal the feelings that seemed to possess him entirely. +No one but a person utterly innocent and unconscious of her +own attractions could have remained an hour ignorant of +such devotion.</p> + +<p>I think Jessie liked this man, and if nothing had happened +to intervene, that liking would have ripened gently +into love, as fruit exposed to the sweet dews of night and +the warm noonday sun, ripens and grows crimson so gradually +that we mark the result without observing the progress.</p> + +<p>But something did happen, which not only interrupted +the pleasant relations which had been established between +this young man and our family, but which broke up all the +quiet and happiness of our domestic life.</p> + +<p>Hitherto our lives had been so tranquil that there was +little to describe. We had, to an extent, isolated ourselves +from the general world, and so surrounded ourselves with +blessings, that the one misfortune of our lives had proved +almost a beneficence, for Mrs. Lee's illness had only drawn +us closer together. But all was to be changed now.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page59" name="page59"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">OUT IN THE WORLD.</span></h2> + + +<p>When Jessie reached her eighteenth year, Mrs. Lee +became more languid than usual, and early in the +season her physician suggested a few weeks at the sea-side.</p> + +<p>I think the dear lady was induced to follow his advice +from a desire to give our girl a glimpse of the life which +should have been opened to her about that time, rather than +from any hopes of benefit from sea-bathing. She entered +into the project at once, and brightened visibly under the +influence of Jessie's openly expressed enthusiasm. The dear +girl had in reality seen nothing of life, and she was happy +as a bird at the prospect of entering what seemed to her like +an enchanted land.</p> + +<p>Late in June, that year, we went to Long Branch upon +the Jersey shore, and there among the crowd of fashionables +from Philadelphia and New York, a new life opened to our +Jessie, whose wealth and exceeding beauty soon made her +an object of general admiration.</p> + +<p>I cannot tell you how we first became acquainted with +Mrs. Dennison. She was a Southern woman, about whom +there was a vague reputation of wealth inherited from an +old man, whom she had married in his dotage, and of a +very luxurious life which had commenced so soon after the +funeral as to create some scandal. She was certainly a very +beautiful woman, tall, exquisitely formed, lithe and graceful +as a leopardess. Her manners were caressing, her voice +sweetly modulated, and her powers of conversation wonderfully +varied. At first I was fascinated by the woman. She +occupied rooms that opened on the same veranda with +ours, and had stolen so completely into our companionship +by a thousand little attentions to Mrs. Lee, before we really<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> +knew anything about her, that afterward it seemed unnecessary +to make further inquiry. It would have proved of little +avail had our research been ever so rigid, for no one seemed +really to have any positive knowledge about her. Even the +gossip I have mentioned could always be traced back to a +remarkably bright mulatto lady's-maid, who was generally in +attendance upon her, and who conversed freely with every +one who chose to question her. But all the intelligence so +gathered was sure to add to the power and wealth of a +mistress whom the mulatto pronounced to be one of the +most distinguished and beautiful women of the South. All +this rather interested Mr. Lee, who found this lady so often +bestowing little attentions upon his wife, that he came to +recognize her as a friend, and, after a time, seemed to take +great pleasure in her conversation. All this troubled me a +little. Why? surely the feeling which turned my heart +from that woman was not jealousy. Had I indeed so completely +identified myself with my friends, that the approach +to confidential relations with another person gave me pain? +I could not understand the feeling, but, struggle against it +as I would, the presence of that woman made me restless. +She never touched Mrs. Lee that I did not long to dash her +hand away.</p> + +<p>Jessie, like the rest, was fascinated with her new friend. +They would walk together for hours on the shore, where a +crowd of admirers was sure to gather around them, while I +sat upon the veranda with my benefactress, anxious and +disturbed.</p> + +<p>After a time, another person was introduced into our +party. He first became acquainted with Mrs. Lee, and +seemed to drop into our companionship in that way without +any connection with Mrs. Dennison; but I learned afterward +that Mr. Lawrence had been very attentive to her from her +first appearance at the Branch, and that a rumor had for a +time prevailed that they were engaged.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p> + +<p>All this might not have interested me much but for something +that I observed in Jessie, who was evidently far better +acquainted with the man than any of us; for it seems he +had been in the habit of joining her and Mrs. Dennison in +their walks long before he attained an introduction to Mrs. +Lee. Lawrence was a tall, powerful man, very distinguished +and elegant in his bearing, wonderfully brilliant in conversation, +and one who always would be a leader for good or +evil among his fellow-men. He had been a good deal connected +with the politics of the country, and at one time was +considered a power in Wall Street, from which he had withdrawn, +it was impossible to say whether penniless, or with +a large fortune.</p> + +<p>This man was soon on terms of cordial intimacy with our +family, but I watched him with distrust. He was just the +person to dazzle and fascinate an ardent, inexperienced girl +like our Jessie, and I saw with pain that her color would +rise and fade beneath his glances, and that a look of triumph +lighted up his eyes when he remarked it.</p> + +<p>Here was another source of anxiety. This man of the +world, who had spent half his life in the struggles of Wall +Street and a tangle of politics, was no match for a creature +so pure and true as our Jessie. Yet I greatly feared that +her heart was turning to him at the expense of that brave, +honorable young man whose very existence seemed to have +been forgotten among us.</p> + +<p>But young Bosworth came at last, and I was more at rest. +Jessie was certainly glad to see him, and, much to my surprise, +he dropped at once into intimate relations with Lawrence, +and recognized him as an old friend whom he had +met during the few months that he had spent abroad.</p> + +<p>I have not said that Lottie was one of the attendants whom +we brought from the Ridge. This girl had grown somewhat +in stature, but was still very small. Her light-yellow hair +was wonderfully abundant, and she had a dozen fantastic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> +ways of dressing it, which added to the singularity of her +appearance. At times, her eyes were clear and steady in +their glances; but, if a feeling of distrust came over her, +both eyes would cross ominously, and she seemed to be glancing +inward with the sharp vigilance of a fox.</p> + +<p>There always had been a remarkable sympathy between +me and this strange girl. From the day I first saw her, she +seemed to pine my feelings, conceal them as I would, and +to share all my dislikes almost before they were formed. At +first, she had kept aloof from the servants of the hotel. +This was not strange, for Lottie was, in fact, better educated +than some of their mistresses. She had managed to pick +up a great deal of knowledge as she sat by while Jessie took +her lessons, and I had found pleasure in teaching her such +English branches as befitted her station in life. In fact, +Lottie had become more like a companion than a servant +with us all.</p> + +<p>To my surprise, after keeping aloof for a whole week, +Lottie fell into the closest intimacy with Cora, Mrs. Dennison's +maid, and I could see that she lost no opportunity of +watching the mistress and Mr. Lawrence.</p> + +<p>What all this might have ended in I cannot tell, for just +as our intimacy became closest, the strong sea-air began to +have an unfavorable effect on our patient.</p> + +<p>A sudden longing for home seized upon her one day, +after Lottie had been with her talking about the Ridge, and +it was decided that we should leave the Branch at once, +though the season was at its height, and Jessie had entered +into its gayeties with all the zest of her ardent nature.</p> + +<p>I think Mr. Lee was rather reluctant to go away so suddenly. +He had been so long excluded from this form of +social life that it had all the charm of novelty to him; but +the least wish of his wife was enough to change all this, and +he became only anxious to get her safely home again.</p> + +<p>I do not know how it happened, or who really gave the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> +invitation, but on the night before I left we learned from Mrs. +Dennison herself, that she had promised to make us an early +visit; and half an hour later, as I sat alone in the lower +veranda, young Bosworth and Mr. Lawrence passed me, +talking earnestly. "Of course, my dear fellow, I shall +come if a careless person like me will be acceptable to that +fine old lady, your grandmother. That promise of partridge-shooting +is beyond my powers of resistance."</p> + +<p>It was Mr. Lawrence who spoke, and I knew by this +fragment of conversation that he too was coming into our +neighborhood.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page63" name="page63"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">OUR GUEST.</span></h2> + + +<p>I stood in the oriel window that curved out from one +end of the large parlor and looked toward the east; that is, +it commanded a broad view from all points, save the direct +west. The heavenly glimpses of scenery that you caught at +every turn through the small diamond panes were enough +to drive an artist mad, that so much unpainted poetry could +exist, and not glow warm and fresh on his canvas. I am +an artist, at soul, and have a gallery of the most superb +brain-pictures stowed away in my thoughts, but among them +all there is nothing to equal the scene, or rather scenes, I +was gazing upon.</p> + +<p>The window was deep, and when that rich volume of curtains +shut it out from the parlor, it was the most cosy little +spot in the world. A deep easy-chair, and a tiny marble +stand, filled it luxuriously. On the outside, white jasmines, +passion-flowers, and choice roses, crept up to the edge of the +glass in abundance, encircling you with massive wreaths +of foliage and blossoms.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p> + +<p>This window had always been my favorite retreat, when +sadness or care oppressed me, as it had begun to do seriously +of late, for a degree of estrangement had arisen between +Jessie and myself, after our return from the sea-side. +I could not share her enthusiasm regarding some of the persons +we had met there, and for the first time in her life she +was half offended with me.</p> + +<p>I can hardly express the pain this gave me. All her life +she had come to me in her troubles; and her bright, innocent +joys I always shared; for, like a flower-garden, she +sent back the sunshine that passed over her, enriched and +more golden from a contact with her loveliness. I can +hardly tell you what a thing of beauty she was; yet, I doubt +if you would have thought her so very lovely as I did, for +my admiration was almost idolatry. Of late I had remarked +a certain reserve about her, the reticence which kept a +sanctuary of feeling and thought quite away from the world, +and alas, from me also. Yet she was frank and truthful, +as the flower which always folds the choicest perfume close +in its own heart. What secret feeling was it that kept her +from me, her oldest and best friend.</p> + +<p>I was thinking of Jessie while I sat in the easy-chair, +looking down the carriage-road that led through our private +grounds from the highway; for ours was an isolated dwelling, +and no carriage that was not destined for the house +ever came up that sweep of road. I looked down upon it +with a sad, heavy feeling, though my eyes passed over a terrace +crowned with a wilderness of flowers, reached by a flight +of steps. The gleam of these flowers, and the green slope +beyond, were a part of the scenery on which I gazed, yet I +saw nothing of them.</p> + +<p>We expected Mrs. Dennison. The carriage had gone +over to the country town which lay behind the hills piled +up at my left, and I was listening for the sound of its wheels +on the gravel with a strange thrill of anxiety. Why was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> +this? What did I care about the young widow who had +been invited to spend a few days with our Jessie? She was +only a watering-place acquaintance—a clever, beautiful +woman of the world, who, having a little time on her hands, +had condescended to remember Mrs. Lee's half-extorted invitation, +and was expected accordingly.</p> + +<p>Jessie was rather excited with the idea of a guest, for it +so chanced that we had been alone for a week or two; and +though I never saw a family more independent of society +than Mrs. Lee's, guests always bring expectation and cheerfulness +with them in a well-appointed country house.</p> + +<p>"I wonder what keeps them?" said my darling, softly +lifting one side of the silken curtains, and unconsciously +dropping them into the background of as lovely a picture +as you ever saw. "Here are some flowers for the stand, +Aunt Matty. She'll catch their bloom through the window, +and know it is my welcome."</p> + +<p>I took the crystal vase from her hand, and set it on the +little table before me.</p> + +<p>"Hush!" she said, lifting the drapery higher, and bending +forward to listen. "Hush! Isn't that the carriage +coming through the pine grove?"</p> + +<p>I turned in my chair, for Jessie was well worth looking +at, even by a person who loved her less fondly than I did. +Standing there, draped to artistic perfection in her pretty +white dress, gathered in surplice folds over her bosom, and +fastened there with an antique head, cut in coral, with its +loose sleeves falling back from the uplifted arm, till its +beautiful contour could be seen almost to the shoulder, she +was a subject for Sir Joshua Reynolds. I am sure that great +master would not have changed the grouping in a single +point.</p> + +<p>"No," I said, listening; "it is the gardener's rake on +the gravel walk, I think."</p> + +<p>She bent her head sideways, listening, and incredulous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> +of my explanation. Some gleams of sunshine fell through +the glass, and lay richly on the heavy braid of hair that +crowned her head in a raven coronal.</p> + +<p>We always remember those we love in some peculiar moment +which lifts itself out of ordinary life by important associations; +or, as in this case, by the singular combinations +of grace that render them attractive. To my last breath, I +shall never forget Jessie Lee, as she stood before me that +morning.</p> + +<p>"Well," she said, with an impatient movement that left +the curtains falling between us like the entrance of a tent, +"watched rose-buds never open. I'll go back to the piano, +and let her take me by surprise. I'm glad you're looking so +nice, aunt. She'll be sure to like you now in spite of herself, +though you were so cold and stiff with her at the Branch, +and I defy you to help liking her in the end."</p> + +<p>As Jessie said this, her hand fell on the keys of the piano, +and instantly a gush of music burst through the room, so +joyous that the birds that haunted the old forest-trees around +the house burst into a riot of rival melody. Amid this delicious +serenade the carriage drove up.</p> + +<p>I saw Mr. Lee alight, in his usual stately way; then Mrs. +Dennison sprang upon the lowest step of the broad stairs +that led up to the terrace, scarcely touching Mr. Lee's offered +hand. There she stood a moment, her silk flounces fluttering +in the sunlight, and her neatly gloved hands playing +with the clasp of her travelling satchel, as the servant took a +scarlet shawl and some books from the carriage. Then she +gave a rapid glance over the grounds, and looked up to the +house, smiling pleasantly, and doubtless paying Mr. Lee +some compliment, for his usually sedate face brightened +pleasantly, and he took the lady's satchel, with a gallant +bow, which few young men of his time could have equalled.</p> + +<p>Certainly our guest was a beautiful woman: tall, queenly, +and conscious of it all; but I did not like her. One of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> +those warnings, or antipathies, if you please, which makes +the heart take shelter in distrust, seized upon me again that +moment, and I felt like flying to my darling, who sat amid +the sweet harmonies she was herself creating, to shield her +from some unknown danger.</p> + +<p>I left my seat and passed through the curtains, thinking +to warn Jessie of her friend's arrival; but when I was half +across the room, our visitor came smiling and rustling +through the door. She motioned me to be still, and, darting +across the carpet, seized Jessie's head between both +hands, bent it back, and, stooping with the grace of a Juno, +kissed her two or three times, while her clear, ringing laugh +mingled with the notes which had broken into sudden discords +under Jessie's fingers.</p> + +<p>"So I have chased my bird to its nest, at last," she said, +releasing her captive with a movement that struck even me—who +disliked her from the beginning—as one of exquisite +grace. "Hunted it to the mountains, and find it in full +song, while I searched every window in the house, as we +drove up, and fancied all sorts of things: a cold welcome +among the least."</p> + +<p>"That you will never have," cried Jessie, and the smile +with which she greeted her guest was enough of welcome +for any one. "The truth is, I got out of patience, and so +played to quiet myself while Aunt Matty watched."</p> + +<p>"And how is the dear Aunt Matty?" said the guest, coming +toward me with both hands extended. "Ah! Jessie +Lee, you are a fortunate girl to have so sweet a friend."</p> + +<p>"I am fortunate in everything," said Jessie, turning her +large, earnest eyes on my face with a look of tenderness +that went to my heart, "and most of all here."</p> + +<p>"And I," said Mrs. Dennison, with a suppressed breath, +and a look of graceful sadness. "Well, well, one can't +expect everything."</p> + +<p>Jessie laughed. This bit of sentiment in her guest rather +amused her.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Ah, you never will believe in sorrow of any kind, until +it comes in earnest," said the widow, with an entire change +in her countenance; "but I, who have seen it in so many +forms, cannot always forget."</p> + +<p>"But," said Jessie, with one of her caressing movements, +"you must forget it now. We are to be happy as the day +is long while you are here. Isn't that so, aunt? We have +laid out such walks, and rides, and pleasant evenings—of +course, you have brought your habit."</p> + +<p>"Of course. What would one be in the country without +riding?"</p> + +<p>"And your guitar? I want Aunt Matty to hear you +sing. She never was with us when you had an instrument."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Aunt Matty shall have enough of that, I promise +her; the man who follows with my luggage has the guitar +somewhere among his plunder."</p> + +<p>"I'm very glad," said Jessie, smiling archly. "Now +everything is provided for except—"</p> + +<p>"Except what, lady-bird?"</p> + +<p>"Except that we have no gentlemen to admire you."</p> + +<p>"No gentlemen!"</p> + +<p>"Not a soul but papa."</p> + +<p>The widow certainly looked a little disappointed for the +first instant, but she rallied before any eye less keen than +mine could have observed it, and laughed joyously.</p> + +<p>"Thank heaven, we sha'n't be bothered with compliments, +nor tormented with adoration. Oh! Jessie Lee, Jessie Lee! +I am so glad of a little rest from all that sort of thing: +a'n't you?"</p> + +<p>"I never was persecuted with it like you, fair lady, remember +that," replied Jessie, demurely.</p> + +<p>"Hypocrite! don't attempt to deceive me; I had eyes at +the sea-side."</p> + +<p>"And very beautiful ones they were—everybody agreed +in that."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p> + +<p>"There it is!" cried the widow, lifting her hands in +affected horror; "when gentlemen are absent, ladies will +flatter each other. Pray, put a stop to this, Miss,——"</p> + +<p>"Miss Hyde," I said, rather tired of these trivialities; +"but Jessie, in the eagerness of her welcome, forgets that +our guest has scarcely time to prepare for dinner."</p> + +<p>"Ah! is it so late?" said Mrs. Dennison.</p> + +<p>"Shall I show the way to your chamber?"</p> + +<p>"We will all go," said Jessie, circling her friend's waist +with her arm and moving off.</p> + +<p>We crossed the hall, a broad, open passage, furnished +with easy-chairs and sofas, for it was a favorite resort for +the whole family, and opened into a square balcony at one +end, which commanded one of the heavenly views I have +spoken of. The widow stopped to admire it an instant, and +then we entered the room I had been careful to arrange +pleasantly for her reception.</p> + +<p>It was a square, pleasant chamber, which commanded +a splendid prospect from the east; curtains like frostwork, +and a bed like snow, harmonized pleasantly with +walls hung with satin paper of a delicate blue, and fine +India matting with which the floor was covered. We had +placed vases and baskets of flowers on the deep window-sills, +those of the richest fragrance we could find, which a +soft, pure wind wafted through the room; the couch, the +easy-chair, and the low dressing-chair were draped with +delicate blue chintz, with a pattern of wild roses running +over it.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dennison made a pretty exclamation of surprise as +she entered the room. She was full of these graceful flatteries, +that proved the more effective because of their seeming +spontaneousness. She took off her bonnet, and, sitting +down before the toilet which stood beneath the dressing-glass, +a cloud of lace and embroidery, began to smooth +her hair between both hands, laughing at its disorder, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> +wondered if anybody on earth ever looked so hideous as +she did.</p> + +<p>"This woman," I said, in uncharitable haste,—"this +woman is insatiable. She is not content with the flattery +of one sex, but challenges it from all." Yet, spite of +myself, I could not resist the influence of her sweet voice +and graceful ways; she interested me far more than I wished.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Jessie, coming into the hall with her eyes +sparkling pleasantly,—"now what do you think? Have I +praised her too much? Are you beginning to like her +yet?"</p> + +<p>I kissed her, but gave no other answer. A vague desire +to shield her from that woman's influence possessed me, but +the feeling was misty, and had no reasonable foundation. +I could not have explained why this impulse of protection +sprung up in my heart, or how Jessie, the dear girl, guessed +at its existence.</p> + +<p>But she was perfectly content with the approval which +my kiss implied, and went into the parlor to await the +coming of her guest. That moment Mrs. Lee's maid came +down with a message from her mistress, and I went up-stairs +at once.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page70" name="page70"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER IX.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">FANCIES AND PREMONITIONS.</span></h2> + + +<p>It seemed a wonder that Mrs. Lee ever could have been +a beautiful woman like her daughter, for she had faded +sadly during her illness. Her hair was still thick and long, +but the mountain snow was not whiter. Her face, too, was +of opaque paleness; while her delicate eyebrows were black<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> +as jet; and the large eyes beneath them had lost nothing of +their penetrating brightness.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lee was lying on the couch, in the light of a broad +window which opened to the south; the balcony was as +usual filled with plants, and every morning her couch was +moved, and the window drapery put back that she might +command some feature in the landscape over which her +eye had not wearied the day before. It was a harmless +enjoyment, and one which the whole family loved to +encourage. Indeed, there was not a fancy or caprice of +hers which was ever questioned in that house.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Martha, it is you; I am glad of it. For when I +am ill at ease, you always do me good."</p> + +<p>She held out her little thin hand while speaking, and +pressed mine almost imperceptibly.</p> + +<p>"What has happened, Martha? During the last half +hour something oppresses me, as if the atmosphere were +disturbed; yet it is a clear day, and the roses on the terrace +look brighter than usual."</p> + +<p>"Nothing has happened, dear lady. Mr. Lee has come +back from town, bringing the lady we all expected."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Dennison?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mrs. Dennison. She has just gone to her room."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lee closed her eyes a moment and opened them +with a faint smile, which seemed to ask pardon for some +weakness.</p> + +<p>"Have you seen her?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I was in the parlor when she came, and went with +her to her room."</p> + +<p>"And you like her better than at first, I hope?"</p> + +<p>I hesitated.</p> + +<p>"She is beautiful!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, in a certain way," I answered; "but when one has +got used to our Jessie's style, nothing else seems to equal it."</p> + +<p>The mother smiled and held out her hand again.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You love Jessie?"</p> + +<p>I felt the tears filling my eyes. There was something so +tender and sweet in this question that it made a child of me. +The mother turned upon her couch, bent her lips to my +hand, and dropped it gently from her hold.</p> + +<p>"Martha Hyde, what is this which troubles me?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed, I cannot tell."</p> + +<p>"Does Jessie seem happy with her friend?"</p> + +<p>"Very happy; I have seldom seen her so animated."</p> + +<p>"But you have not told me plainly. Do you like this +lady?"</p> + +<p>"I—I cannot tell. She is beautiful; at least most people +would think her so;—rich, I believe?"</p> + +<p>I rather put this as a question.</p> + +<p>"I think so. She had splendid rooms at the hotel, you +know, and spent money freely, so Mr. Lee was told; but that +is of little consequence; we want nothing of her riches if +she has them."</p> + +<p>"Certainly not; but if she has expensive habits without +the means of gratifying them within herself, it is an important +proof of character," I said. "May I ask, dear lady, +who really recommended Mrs. Dennison to you or your +daughter?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! a good many people spoke highly of her; she was +a general favorite!"</p> + +<p>"Yes; but did you meet any person who had known her +long?—who had been acquainted with her husband, for +instance?"</p> + +<p>"No, I cannot remember any such person."</p> + +<p>"And you invited her? she said so."</p> + +<p>"That is it. I cannot quite call to mind that I did invite +her. Something was said about our house being among +pleasant scenery, and she expressed a desire to see it. I may +have said that I really hoped she would see it some time; +and then she thanked me as if I had urged her to come.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> +Still Jessie liked her so much that I was rather pleased than +otherwise, and so it rested."</p> + +<p>"Well," I said, "if Jessie is pleased, that is everything, +you know, madam. I sometimes think the dear girl ought +to have the company of younger persons about her."</p> + +<p>"Yes, certainly; but with a girl like my Jessie, so sensitive, +so proud, for she is very proud, Martha."</p> + +<p>"I know it," was my answer. "I have never seen more +sensitive pride in any person of her age."</p> + +<p>"Well, with a disposition like that, the kind of young +person she is intimate with is very important. This is the +reason I wished to see you and learn if your opinion has not +changed regarding our guests; my own feelings are strangely +disturbed."</p> + +<p>"You are not as well as usual this morning," I replied. +"Let me draw the couch nearer and open a leaf of the +window."</p> + +<p>She assented, and I drew the couch so close to the window +that with a sash open she could command a view of the +richest corner of the flower-garden and a slope of the lawn. +The wind swept pleasantly over the balcony, in which pots +of rose geraniums and heliotrope had been placed. Mrs. +Lee loved the breath of these flowers, and sighed faintly as +it floated over her with the fresh morning air.</p> + +<p>She lay some time in this pleasant position without speaking. +When she was disposed to be thoughtful, we seldom +disturbed her, for so sensitive had disease rendered her +nerves, that the sudden sound of a voice would make her +start and tremble like a criminal. So I kept my place +behind the couch, looking down into the garden, and +thinking of many things.</p> + +<p>All at once, sweet, dear voices rose from among the +flowers, and I saw our Jessie and the widow Dennison +turning a corner of the house, each with an arm around the +other's waist, laughing and chatting together. Jessie had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> +not changed her dress, but a cluster of crimson roses +glowed in her hair, and coral bracelets tinted the transparency +of her sleeves. The sun touched the black braid +which surrounded her head as she came out of the shadow, +and no raven's plumage was ever more glossy.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dennison was strangely attired. The period of +which I speak was about the time the Zouave jacket took +its brief picturesque reign. This woman was, in a degree, +her own inventor of fashions, and something very similar to +this jacket fell over the loose habit-skirt that draped her +bosom and arms. This garment of black silk, richly braided, +matched the rustling skirt of her dress, and the Oriental +design of the whole was completed by a net of blue and +gold, which shaded half her rich brown hair, and fell in +tassels to her left shoulder.</p> + +<p>In my whole life I never saw a more striking contrast +than these two persons presented. I cannot tell you where +it lay. Not in the superiority which the widow possessed +in height—not in her elaborate grace. Jessie was a little +above the medium height herself, and a more elegant creature +did not live. But there was something which struck +you at once. It is of no use attempting to define it. The +difference was to be imagined, not explained. The mother +felt it, I am certain, for her eyes took a strange, anxious +lustre as they fell on those two young persons, and she began +to breathe irregularly, as if something oppressed her.</p> + +<p>She looked up to me at last to see if I was watching them. +I smiled and said, "At any rate, she is a splendid creature."</p> + +<p>"No one can dispute that! But our Jessie! Do you +know, as I was looking at them, something came across me. +Through the hazy light which settled around me, I saw a +bird with its wings outspread flitting in the folds of a serpent? +The picture passed through my brain one instant, +and was gone—gone before Jessie, who had stooped to +gather something, regained her position. This has happened +before in my life—what can it be?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You are anxious and nervous, dear lady, that is all. +Since your visit to the sea-side, these strange visions have +become more common."</p> + +<p>"I hope they will pass off," she murmured, pressing a pale +hand over her eyes. "But there was another in the group; +behind Jessie's frightened face, I saw that of Mr. Lee."</p> + +<p>While she was speaking, I saw Mr. Lee come out of the +hall-door, and cross the platform which led to the garden, +where his daughter and her guest were walking. He was a +handsome man, still in the very prime of life, one of the +most distinguished persons that I ever saw. It was from +him that our Jessie had inherited her queenly pride, which +the exquisite sensibility of the mother's nature had softened +into grace.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lee closed her eyes, and I saw her lips turn pale; +but she repulsed my approach with a motion of the hand. +I have no idea what she had seen which escaped me. But +when I looked again, Mr. Lee was talking with his daughter; +while the widow stood by, grouping some flowers which she +held coquettishly in her hand. I saw Mr. Lee look at her, +indifferently at first, then with smiling interest. They were +evidently talking of her graceful work, for she held it up +for both father and daughter to admire.</p> + +<p>As Jessie lifted her eyes, she saw us near the window, +and, forgetting the bouquet, waved a kiss to her mother. +That instant I saw the widow press the bouquet lightly to +her lips.</p> + +<p>Mr. Lee reached forth his hand; but she shook her head, +laughed, and placed the flowers in her bosom.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lee was not in a position to see this. I stood up and +had a better view; but she instantly complained of dizziness, +and faint spasms of pain contracted her forehead.</p> + +<p>I had seen nothing, absolutely nothing. Yet the glances +of that woman, as she looked at Mr. Lee over the cluster of +flowers, seemed absolutely like wafting kisses with her eyes.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> +Jessie saw nothing, save that the little cluster of blossoms +somehow found its way into her friend's bosom. So, in her +sweet unconsciousness, she passed on, and was lost on the +other side of the tower.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page76" name="page76"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER X.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">NEW VISITORS.</span></h2> + + +<p>Mrs. Lee never went down to dinner, or, if she did, it +was so rarely that we looked upon her presence as a +sort of holiday. She was very dainty in her appetite, and +on ordinary occasions was served by her own maid, or of +late by Lottie. I think she had rather intended to come +down that day in honor of our guest, but the illness that +seized upon her drove this idea from her mind; so, leaving +her with Lottie, I went away restless and unaccountably +unhappy.</p> + +<p>How bright and blooming they came in from the garden, +bringing its fragrance with them to the dinner-table! What +a joyous, piquant conversation it was, that commenced with +the soup and sparkled with the wine! There is no disputing +it, our guest was a wonderful creature, her graceful wit +sparkled, her sentiment fascinated. She was calculated to +keep the man her beauty should win,—no doubt of that. +Her conversation charmed even me.</p> + +<p>Jessie was constantly challenging admiration for her +friend—interrogating me with her eyes, and looking at her +father to be sure that he fully appreciated the brilliancy +which filled her own heart with a sort of adoration. But +the widow seemed quite unconscious that she was an object +of special admiration to any one. Nothing could be more +natural than her manner. At times she was really child-like.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p> + +<p>Still I did not like her. Why, it is useless to ask. Perhaps +Mrs. Lee had left an impression of her strange fancies +on my mind,—perhaps the atmosphere which surrounded +her mingled with the subtile vitality of my intelligence and +gave me the truth.</p> + +<p>We had music in the evening. Our Jessie possessed +the purest of soprano voices. Many a celebrated prima +donna has won laurels from inferior capacity. As in +all other things, her musical education had been perfect. +Mrs. Dennison was her inferior in this. She performed +splendidly, and her rich contralto voice possessed many +fine qualities; but our birdie swept far above her, and +soared away upon an ocean of harmonies that seemed born +of heaven.</p> + +<p>The windows were open, and we knew that this heaven +of sweet sounds would float to the invalid's chamber. Indeed, +when I went out upon the platform, back of the house, +I saw Mrs. Lee lying in her white, loose dress, on the couch, +as if the music had lulled her to sleep.</p> + +<p>I think Mrs. Dennison was not quite satisfied with herself. +The glorious voice of our Jessie seemed to take her +by surprise, for after the first trial she refused to sing again, +but still kept the piano, and dashed through some fine opera +music with spirit. Was she exhausting her ill-humor in +those stormy sounds?</p> + +<p>On the next day, our young ladies rode on horseback. +Both were superb equestrians; and Mr. Lee's stately management +of his coal-black horse was something worth looking +at. As they dashed round a curve of the road, Jessie +turned on her saddle and waved me a kiss, where I stood +on the square balcony watching them. What a happy, +bright creature she looked!</p> + +<p>It took me by surprise; but when the equestrians came +back, two gentlemen had joined the party. One was young +Bosworth, who had returned to the old country place, a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> +mile down the valley, directly after we left Long Branch, +and since then had managed to join our Jessie in her rides +oftener than any supposition of mere accident could warrant. +The dear girl seemed a little annoyed when these +meetings became more frequent; but she bore our joking on +the subject pleasantly, and up to that morning had, I fancy, +given little thought to his movements. The other man I +recognized at once. It was Mr. Lawrence.</p> + +<p>This gentleman rode up with Mr. Lee and Mrs. Dennison, +who was evidently piding her fascinations very equally +between the two gentlemen. Jessie followed them with her +cavalier, and I observed, as they dismounted, that her cheeks +were flushed, and her lips lightly curved, as if something +had disturbed her.</p> + +<p>The gentlemen did not dismount, for Jessie left Mrs. +Dennison on the foot of the terrace-steps, and, without +pausing to give an invitation, ran into the house.</p> + +<p>I left the balcony and went up to her chamber. She was +walking to and fro in the room, with a quick, proud step, +the tears sparkling in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" I said, going up to where she stood, and +kissing her. "Who has wounded you?"</p> + +<p>"No one," she answered, and the proud tears flashed +down to her cheek, and lay there like rain-drops hanging +on the leaves of the wild rose,—"no one. Only, only—"</p> + +<p>"Well, dear?"</p> + +<p>"You were right, Aunt Matty. That man really had +just the feelings you suspected; I could hardly prevent him +from expressing them broadly. Keep as close to papa as I +would, he found means to say things that made my blood +burn. What right has any man to talk of love to a girl, +until she has given him some sort of encouragement, I +should like to know?"</p> + +<p>"But perhaps he fancies that you have given him a little +encouragement."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Encouragement! I? Indeed, Aunt Matty, I never +dreamed of this until now!"</p> + +<p>"I am sure of it; but then you allowed him to join your +rides, and seemed rather pleased."</p> + +<p>"Why, the idea that he meant anything never entered +my mind. Ah! Aunt Matty, haven't we said a thousand +times that there must be some blame, some coquetry on the +lady's part, before a man, whom she is sure to reject, could +presume to offer himself?"</p> + +<p>"But has he gone so far as that?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Let me think. Alas! I was so confused, so angry, that +it is impossible to remember just what he did say."</p> + +<p>"But your answer?"</p> + +<p>"Why, as to that," she cried, with a little nervous laugh, +"I gave Flash a cut with the whip and dashed on after the +rest. Aunt Matty, upon my word, I doubt if I spoke at all."</p> + +<p>"My dear child, he may half imagine himself accepted +then."</p> + +<p>"Accepted! What can you mean?" she exclaimed, +grasping her whip with both hands and bending it double. +"I shall go wild if you say that."</p> + +<p>"Why, do you dislike him so much?"</p> + +<p>"Dislike! no. What is there to dislike about him?"</p> + +<p>"Well, then," I said, a little mischievously, "he is rather +good-looking, well educated, of irreproachable family, and +rich."</p> + +<p>"Don't, don't, Aunt Matty, or I shall hate you."</p> + +<p>"Not quite so bad as that," I cried, kissing her hot cheek. +"Now, let us be serious. All young ladies must expect offers +of this kind."</p> + +<p>"But I don't want them. It distresses me."</p> + +<p>I saw that she was in earnest, and that young Bosworth's +attentions had really distressed her. So, drawing her to a +sofa, we sat down and talked the matter over more quietly.</p> + +<p>I told her that it was useless annoying herself; that, until<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> +the young gentleman spoke out more definitely, she had +nothing to torment herself about; and when he did, a few +quiet words would settle the whole matter.</p> + +<p>"But can't we prevent him saying anything more? Or, +if he does, will you just tell him how it is?" she said, +anxiously.</p> + +<p>I could not help smiling; there was no affectation here. +I knew very well that Jessie would give the world to avoid +this refusal; but in such cases young ladies must take their +own responsibilities: the interference of third parties can +only produce mischief.</p> + +<p>She began to see the thing in its true light after a little, +and talked it over more calmly. Many a girl would have +been delighted with this homage to her charms; but Jessie +was no common person, and she felt a sort of degradation +in inspiring a passion she could not return. Besides, it +placed upon her the necessity of giving pain where it was +in every way undeserved; and that she had never done in +her life.</p> + +<p>While we were talking, a light knock at the door heralded +Mrs. Dennison. There was nothing to call her to that part +of the house, and her first words conveyed an apology for +the intrusion, for we both probably looked a little surprised.</p> + +<p>"I beg ten thousand pardons for rushing in upon you; +but the gentlemen are waiting in the road to know if they +can join us to-morrow. I could only answer for myself, you +know."</p> + +<p>"Let them join you," I whispered; "the sooner it is over +with the better."</p> + +<p>Jessie stood up, gathered the long riding-skirt in one +hand, while she walked past her guest with the air of a +princess, and stepped out on the balcony, from which she +made a gesture of invitation, which the two gentlemen +acknowledged with profound bows, and rode away.</p> + +<p>"That's an angel!" exclaimed Mrs. Dennison, laying her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> +hand on Jessie's shoulder. "I almost thought something +had gone wrong, by the way you left us. Poor Mr. Bosworth +was quite crestfallen."</p> + +<p>Jessie made a little gesture of annoyance, which the +widow was quick to observe, and instantly changed the +subject.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page81" name="page81"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XI.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">THE BASKET OF FRUIT.</span></h2> + + +<p>"I should not have thought, by the way you parted, +that you and Mr. Bosworth were old friends."</p> + +<p>Jessie seemed annoyed, and replied, with a flush on her +cheek, "that it was rather difficult to be demonstrative on +horseback."</p> + +<p>"At any rate, he's a splendid man," said the widow. +"Rich or poor? Bond or free? Tell us all about him. +I never thought to inquire before, but this looks serious."</p> + +<p>"What strange questions you ask!" answered Jessie, and +the color deepened in her cheek.</p> + +<p>"Well, well, but the answer?"</p> + +<p>Here I interposed: "Mr. Bosworth is not very rich. At +least I never heard that he was."</p> + +<p>"What a pity!" whispered the widow. "But the other +questions?"</p> + +<p>"If having no wife is to be free, you can hardly call him +a bondman. Yes."</p> + +<p>"What has he ever done to distinguish himself, then? +Can you tell me that, Miss Hyde?"</p> + +<p>"He is considered a man of brilliant parts, certainly," I +answered; "but at his age few men have won permanent +distinction, I fancy."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p> + +<p>"At his age! Why, the man must be over eight-and-twenty, +and half the great men that ever lived had made +their mark in the world before they reached that age."</p> + +<p>"Well, that may be," I replied; "but in these times +greatness is not so easily won. The level of general intelligence, +in our country at least, is raised, and it requires +great genius, indeed, to lift a man suddenly above his fellows. +In a dead sea of ignorance, superior ability looms up +with imposing conspicuousness. This is why the great men +of past times have cast the reflection of their minds on history;—not +entirely because they excelled men of the present +age, but from the low grade of popular intelligence that +existed around them."</p> + +<p>"Why, you talk like a statesman," said the widow, laughing. +"I had no idea that anything so near politics existed +in the ladies of this house."</p> + +<p>"What is history but the politics of the past?" said +Jessie. "What is politics but a history of the present?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you are right," said the widow, flinging off her +careless manner, and sitting down on one of the rustic chairs, +where she began to dust her skirt with the fanciful whip +fastened to her wrist. "I have often wondered why it should +be considered unfeminine for an educated woman to understand +the institutions of her own or any other country."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dennison looked at me as she spoke. Was the +woman playing with my weakness? Or, did she really +speak from her heart? If the former, she must have been +amused at my credulity, for I answered in honest frankness:</p> + +<p>"Nor I, either; except in evil, which is always better unknown. +I can fancy no case where ignorance is a merit. +Imagine Queen Victoria pluming herself on lady-like ignorance +of the political state of her kingdom, when she opens +Parliament in person."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dennison laughed, and chimed in with, "Or the +Empress of France being appointed Regent of a realm, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> +position of which it was deemed unwomanly to understand; +yet, on the face of the earth, there are not two females more +womanly than Victoria of England, and Eugenie of +France."</p> + +<p>"What true ideas this woman possesses!" I said to myself. +"How could I dislike her so? Really, the most charming +person in the world is a woman who, under the light, +graceful talk of conventional society, cultivates serious +thought." While these reflections passed through my mind, +the widow was looking at me from under her eyelashes, as +if she expected me to speak again; so I went on,—</p> + +<p>"It is not the knowledge of politics in itself of which refined +people complain; but its passion and the vindictive +feelings which partisanship is sure to foster. The woman +who loves her country cannot understand it too well. The +unwomanliness lies in the fact that she sometimes plunges +into a turmoil of factions, thus becoming passionate and +bitter."</p> + +<p>"How plainly you draw the distinction between knowledge +and prejudice!" she said, with one of her fascinating smiles. +"But you must have discussed this subject often—with +Mr. Lee, perhaps?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, we talk on all subjects here. Nothing is forbidden, +because few things that are not noble and true ever present +themselves."</p> + +<p>"I was sure of it!" exclaimed the lady, starting up with +enthusiasm. "I have never been in a house where everything +gave such evidence of high-toned intelligence."</p> + +<p>She sat down again thoughtfully, dusting her habit with +the little whip.</p> + +<p>"I have not yet seen my hostess, but that does not arise +from increased ill health, I trust. She seemed very feeble +when we met on the sea-shore, last season—somewhat consumptive, +we all thought."</p> + +<p>I did not like the tone of her voice. There was some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>thing +stealthy and creeping in it which checked the rising +confidence in my heart.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Lee is very far from well," I answered, coldly.</p> + +<p>"Not essentially worse, I trust."</p> + +<p>She was looking at me keenly from the corners of her +almond-shaped eyes. It was only a glance, but a gleam of +suspicion sprung from my heart and met it half-way.</p> + +<p>"It is difficult to tell. In a lingering disease like hers, +one can never be sure."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Lee must find himself lonesome at times without +his lady's society, for she struck us all as a very superior +person."</p> + +<p>"On the contrary," I replied, with a quick impulse, for +she still kept that sidelong glance on my face; "on the contrary, +he spends most of his leisure time in her chamber, +reads to her when she can bear it, and sits gently silent +when she prefers that. A more devoted husband I never +knew."</p> + +<p>I saw that she was biting her red lips, but as my glance +caught hers, the action turned to a smile.</p> + +<p>"There is Mr. Lee going to his wife's room now," I remarked, +as that gentleman passed the hall-door, with a little +basket in his hand filled with delicate wood-moss, in which +lay two or three peaches, the first of the season.</p> + +<p>The exclamation that broke from Mrs. Dennison at the +sight of the fruit arrested his steps, and he turned into the +hall, asking if either of us had called.</p> + +<p>She went forward at once, sweeping the cloth skirt after +her like the train of an empress.</p> + +<p>"Oh, what splendid peaches—and the basket! The +bijou!" She held out both hands to receive the fruit, quite +in a glow of pleasure.</p> + +<p>"I am very sorry," said Mr. Lee, drawing back a step, +"but this is—is for my wife. She is an invalid, you +know."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You misunderstand," replied the lady, coloring to the +temples. "I only wish to admire the arrangement. It is +really the prettiest fancy I ever saw."</p> + +<p>He hesitated an instant; then held out the basket and +placed it between her hands, with some little reluctance, I +thought. Her side-face was toward me; but the look, half +grieved, half reproachful, which she lifted to his face did +not escape me.</p> + +<p>"Shall I take the basket to Mrs. Lee?" I said, reaching +out my hand. "She must have heard the horses return +some time ago, and will expect some one."</p> + +<p>"No," said the gentleman, bending his head, and taking +the fruit. "I cannot allow you to deprive me of that +pleasure."</p> + +<p>"And I," rejoined the widow, with animation, "I must +take off this cumbersome riding-dress."</p> + +<p>I went to my room early that evening. Indeed, I had no +heart to enter the parlor. Anxieties that I could not define +pressed heavily upon me—so heavily that I longed for +solitude. In passing through the hall, I met Mrs. Dennison's +mulatto maid, who had, I forgot to say, followed our +guest with the luggage. She was going to her mistress's +chamber, carrying something carefully in her hand. When +she saw me, her little silk apron was slyly lifted, and the +burdened hand stole under it, but in the action something +was disturbed, and the half of a peach fell at my feet.</p> + +<p>I took up the cleft fruit very quietly, told the girl to remove +her apron, that I might see what mischief had been +done, and discovered a second basket filled with mossrose-buds +from which the half peach had fallen.</p> + +<p>I laid the fruit in its bed, saw the girl pass with it to her +lady's chamber, and then went to my own room sick at +heart. The half of a peach, offered among the Arabs, +means atonement for some offence. What offence had Mr. +Lee given to our guest in carrying a little fruit to his invalid +wife?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page86" name="page86"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">BREAKFAST WITH OUR GUEST.</span></h2> + + +<p>Mrs. Dennison was late the next morning. Indeed, +she generally was late. It was sure to produce a little +excitement when she entered, if the family were grouped in +expectation, and her system of elegant selfishness rendered +any consideration of the convenience of others a matter of +slight importance. She was always lavish in apologies, +those outgrowths of insincerity; and, in fact, managed to +weave a sort of a fascination out of her own faults.</p> + +<p>This certainly was the case here. If Mr. Lee was resolute +about anything in his household, it was that punctuality +at meals should be observed: indeed, I have seldom seen +him out of humor on any other subject. But this morning +he had been moving about in the upper hall a full hour, +glancing impatiently at the papers which always reached us +before breakfast, and walking up and down with manifest +annoyance. Yet the moment that woman appeared with +her coquettish little breakfast-cap just hovering on the back +of her head, and robed in one of the freshest and most graceful +morning dresses you ever saw, his face cleared up. +With a smile that no one could witness without a throb of +the heart, he received her apologies and compliments all +mingled together on her lips like honey in the heart of a +flower, as if they had been favors of which we were all quite +undeserving.</p> + +<p>We went down to breakfast at last; but just as we were +sitting down, our guest took a fancy to run out on the terrace +and gather a handful of heliotrope which she laid by +her plate, exhaling the odor sensuously between the pauses +of the meal. I don't know what the rest thought of all this, +but I was disgusted. It is a strong word, I know, but I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> +have no other for the repulsion that seizes upon me even +now when I think of that woman. Her very passion for +flowers, to me almost a heavenly taste in itself, was so combined +with materialism, that the perfume of the heliotrope +sickened me.</p> + +<p>Jessie did not seem to sympathize in these feelings, nor +care that her own choice flower-plot had been rifled of its +sweetest blossoms. In fact, the fascination of that woman's +manner seemed more powerful with her than it had proved +with the proud, strong man who sat opposite me.</p> + +<p>Jessie, the darling, either because she did not like the restraint, +or, what was more like her, wishing to give me dignity +in the household, always insisted that I should preside +at the table; Mrs. Lee, from her feeble state of health, being +at all times unequal to the task. Three times did that insatiable +woman return her coffee-cup: first, for an additional +lump of sugar, again for a few drops more cream, +and then for the slightest possible dilution of its strength. +While I performed these smiling behests, she sat brushing a +branch of heliotrope across her lips, exclaiming at the +beauty of the scene from an opposite window, and behaving +generally like an empress who had honored her subjects +with a visit, and was resolved to put them quite at ease in +her presence.</p> + +<p>But Jessie could not see things in this light. She was +evidently as well pleased with her guest as she had been +the night before, but, though she smiled and joined in the +pleasant conversation, I saw by the heavy shadows under +her eyes that some anxiety disturbed her. The fact that +she had made an appointment to ride with a suitor whom +she must reject accounted sufficiently for this; Jessie had +the finest traits of a purely proud nature, and the idea of +giving pain was to her in itself a great trial. Still, these +observations only applied to the undercurrent that morning; +on the surface everything was sparkling and pleasant.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mr. Lee was more than usually animated, and, before the +meal was ended, quite a war of complimentary badinage had +commenced and was kept up between him and our guest.</p> + +<p>Jessie always went to her mother after breakfast. So, +immediately on quitting the table, she stole away to the +tower, looking a little serious, but not more so than her +peculiar trial of the day accounted for.</p> + +<p>I followed her directly, leaving Mrs. Dennison and Mr. +Lee on the square balcony, on which the early sunshine lay +in golden warmth.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lee had not rested well; her eyes, usually so bright, +were heavy from want of sleep; and the pillow, from which +she had not yet risen, bore marks of a thousand restless +movements, which betrayed unusual excitement.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page88" name="page88"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">JESSIE LEE AND HER MOTHER.</span></h2> + + +<p>Jessie was sitting on one side of the bed holding a +Parian cup in her hand; the amber gleam of coffee +shone through the transparent vine-leaves that embossed it, +and she was stirring the fragrant beverage gently with a +spoon.</p> + +<p>"Try, dear mother, and drink just a little," she was saying, +in her sweet, caressing way. "It makes me very unhappy +to see you looking so ill."</p> + +<p>"Indeed I am not ill, only a little restless, Jessie," answered +the sweet lady, rising languidly from her pillow and +reaching forth her hand for the cup. She tasted the coffee +and looked gratefully at her daughter. "It is nice; no one +understands me like you, my daughter."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p> + +<p>Jessie blushed with pleasure, and began to mellow a +delicate slice of toast with the silver knife that lay beside +it, making a parade of her efforts, which she evidently +hoped would entice her mother's appetite: and so it did. I +am sure no one besides her could have tempted that frail +woman to eat a mouthful. As it was, one of the birds that +was picking seeds from the terrace could almost have rivalled +her appetite: the presence of her daughter, I fancy, gave her +more strength than anything else.</p> + +<p>"So you have had a bad night, my mother," said Jessie, +tenderly; "once or twice I awoke and felt that you did not +sleep."</p> + +<p>"Indeed!" said the mother, with an earnest look breaking +through the heaviness of her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed; but then I never wake in the night without +wondering if you sleep well."</p> + +<p>"Did you see me?" questioned the mother, anxiously.</p> + +<p>"See you, mother?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lee smiled faintly, and shook her head as if to cast +off some strange thought.</p> + +<p>"Of course, it was impossible. I must have slept long +enough to dream; but it seems to me as if I was in your +room last night. Something called me there, a faint, white +shadow, that sometimes took the outline of an angel, sometimes +floated before me like a cloud."</p> + +<p>"Oh, my good mother! it was kind to come, even in +your dreams," said Jessie, kissing the little hand that lay +in hers.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lee looked troubled, and seemed to be searching +her memory for something.</p> + +<p>"It took me—the cloud-angel—you know, into the +blue room."</p> + +<p>"The blue room!" Jessie and I exclaimed together, for +that was the apartment in which Mrs. Dennison slept, +though the fact had never been mentioned to Mrs. Lee,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> +and another chamber had at first been intended for our +guest. "The blue room?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, the blue room!" she said; "but like all dreams, +nothing was like the reality. Instead of the enamelled furniture, +everything was covered with the prettiest blue +chintz, with a wild-rose pattern running over it."</p> + +<p>Jessie and I looked at each other in consternation, for +the furniture which Mrs. Lee described as familiar to the +blue room had been removed to the chamber we had first +intended for Mrs. Dennison, and that with which we had +replaced it being too rich for a sleeping-room, we had covered +it with the pretty chintz, without mentioning the fact +to Mrs. Lee or any one else.</p> + +<p>"There was a toilet instead of the dressing-table, I remember," +continued the lady, "with quantities of frost-like +lace falling around it and on it; with other things, a little +basket, prettier than mine, full of mossrose-buds."</p> + +<p>"Was there nothing else in the basket?" I questioned, +holding my breath for the reply.</p> + +<p>"Nothing else," answered the lady, smiling; "oh! yes, +combs and hair-pins, rings and bracelets, the whole toilet +was in a glitter."</p> + +<p>"But nothing else in the basket?" I persisted.</p> + +<p>"No; rose-buds—mossrose-buds, red and white. Nothing +more," she answered, languidly.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lee paused a moment with her eyes closed. Then +starting as if from sleep, she almost cried out,—</p> + +<p>"There was a woman in the room—in the bed—a +beautiful woman. The ruffles of her night-gown were open +at the throat, the sleeves were broad and loose; you could +see her arms almost to the shoulders. She wore no cap, +and her hair fell in bright, heavy coils down to her waist. +She had something in her hand; don't speak, I shall remember +in a minute: the color was rich. It was, yes, it +was half a peach, with the brown stone partly bedded in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> +the centre; the fragrance of it hung about the basket of +roses."</p> + +<p>"And you saw all this, dear lady?" I exclaimed, startled +by the reality of her picture, which, as a whole, I recognized +far more closely than Jessie could.</p> + +<p>"In my dream, yes; but one fancies such strange things +when asleep, you know, dear Miss Hyde."</p> + +<p>"Strange, very strange," murmured Jessie; "but for the +basket of roses and the fruit, we might have recognized the +picture. Don't you think so, Aunt Matty?"</p> + +<p>"Did you get a look at the lady's face?" I inquired, suppressing +Jessie's question.</p> + +<p>"No, no; I think not. The thick hair shaded it, but the +arms and neck were white as lilies. She had bitten the +peach; I remember seeing marks of her teeth on one side. +Strange, isn't it, how real such fancies will seem?"</p> + +<p>"It is, indeed, strange," I said, feeling cold chills creeping +over me.</p> + +<p>"Besides," continued the invalid, while a scarcely perceptible +shiver disturbed her, "notwithstanding the freshness +and beauty of everything, I felt oppressed in that room—just +as flowers may be supposed to grow faint when vipers +creep over them; the air seemed close till I got to your +chamber, Jessie."</p> + +<p>"And there?" said the sweet girl, kissing her mother's +hand again.</p> + +<p>"There, the angel that had been a cloud took form again. +It beckoned me—beckoned me—I cannot tell where; but +you were sleeping, I know that."</p> + +<p>"It was a strange dream," said Jessie, thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"The impression was very strong," answered the mother, +drawing a hand across her eyes,—"so powerful that it tired +me. This morning it seemed as if I had been on a journey."</p> + +<p>"But you are better now," I said; "this sense of fatigue +is wearing off, I hope."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, yes!" she answered, languidly.</p> + +<p>"And you will be well enough to see Mrs. Dennison before +dinner, I hope," whispered Jessie.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps, child."</p> + +<p>"Father will persuade you."</p> + +<p>"Where is your father, Jessie?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! somewhere about. On the front balcony, I believe, +with Mrs. Dennison, who declares that she never will get +tired of looking down the valley."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is a lovely view. We used to sit on the balcony +for hours—your father and I—but now—" Mrs. Lee +turned away her face and shaded her eyes with one pale hand.</p> + +<p>I walked to the window and lifted the curtain; but there +was a mist over my eyes, and I could not discern a feature +of the landscape.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page92" name="page92"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">INTRUSIVE KINDNESS.</span></h2> + + +<p>Some one knocked at the door. I went to open it, and +found Cora, Mrs. Dennison's maid, who had been brushing +her mistress's riding-habit on the back terrace, and flung +it across her arm before coming up-stairs. The girl was a +pretty mulatto, with teeth that an empress might have coveted, +and eyes like diamonds; but there was something in +her face that I did not like—a way of looking at you from +under her black eyelashes that was both searching and +sinister.</p> + +<p>"Mistress told me to run up, and inquire if it wasn't time +for Miss Lee to put on her habit," she said, shooting a quick +glance into the room; "the horses are ordered round."</p> + +<p>I felt the color burning in my face. The impertinence of +this intrusion angered me greatly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Miss Lee is with her mother," I said, "and cannot be +disturbed; when she is ready, I will let your mistress know. +Until then the horses must wait."</p> + +<p>The girl gave the habit on her arm a shake, and went +away, casting one or two glances behind. What possible +business could the creature have in that part of the house? +Had the mistress really sent her? It was an hour before +the time for riding, and it had not been our custom to hurry +Jessie away from her mother's room.</p> + +<p>While I stood by the window, thinking angrily of this +intrusion, another knock called me back to the door. It +was the mulatto again, with her mistress's compliments, and, +if Mrs. Lee was well enough, she would pay her respects +while the horses waited.</p> + +<p>I went down myself at this, and meeting Mrs. Dennison +on the terrace, informed her, very curtly, I fear, that Mrs. +Lee was not out of her bedroom, having spent a restless +night, and was quite incapable of seeing strangers.</p> + +<p>I put a little malicious emphasis on the word <i>strangers</i>, +which brought a deeper color into her cheeks; but she answered +with elaborate expressions of sympathy, inquired so +minutely into the symptoms and causes of Mrs. Lee's prostration, +that I felt at a loss how to answer.</p> + +<p>"Dear lady!" she went on, "I'm afraid these severe attacks +will exhaust the little strength she has left; they must +make life a burden."</p> + +<p>"On the contrary," I said, "there is not, I am sure, a +person living who so keenly enjoys the highest and most +lofty principles of existence. With the love of God in her +heart, and domestic love all around her, life can never be a +burden."</p> + +<p>"Indeed!" she answered, with something in her voice +that approached a sneer; "I never was sick in my life, that +is, perhaps, why it seems so terrible to me. Nothing could +reconcile me, I am sure, to a life like Mrs. Lee's. At her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> +age, too, with disease helping time to chase away what beauty +one has left, how she must feel it!"</p> + +<p>"You quite mistake the case, madam," I answered; "Mrs. +Lee never depended on her beauty, which, however, no one can +dispute, as a means of winning love; her sincerity, intelligence, +and gentle wisdom are enough to outlive the loveliness +of a Venus."</p> + +<p>"You are enthusiastic, Miss Hyde."</p> + +<p>"I love Mrs. Lee, and speak as I feel."</p> + +<p>"I am afraid," she said, in her blandest manner, "that +my interest in the dear lady has led me into obtrusiveness, +or, at least, that you think so. But she is so very superior—so +perfect, in fact, that one cannot shake off the interest +she inspires. It was this feeling which tempted me to ask +for the privilege of paying my respects;—I see now that it +was inopportune; but a warm heart is always getting one +into scrapes, Miss Hyde. I shall never learn how to tame +mine down. It seemed to me that the sweet invalid yonder +must feel lonely in her room, and this was why that importunate +request was made."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Lee is a woman who would find something of paradise +in any position. Her sitting-room, up in the tower +yonder, has always been considered the pleasantest apartment +in the house."</p> + +<p>"No doubt; it was this conviction which made me anxious +to be admitted. Still, I must think that a confinement, +that only promises to be relieved by death, must be a painful +thing."</p> + +<p>Why did the woman always return to that point? In +my whole life I had never heard the probable result of Mrs. +Lee's illness alluded to so often, as it had been hardly mentioned +since Mrs. Dennison's arrival. It shocked me, and +became the more repulsive from the usual levity of her +manner. She seemed to weave the idea of my dear friend's +death with every luxury that surrounded her dwelling; to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> +my prejudiced fancy, she even exulted in it. I stood looking +her in the face while these thoughts troubled my mind. +What my eyes may have spoken I cannot tell, but hers fell +beneath them, and, with an uneasy smile, she turned to +walk away.</p> + +<p>That moment Jessie came out to the terrace, looking a +little anxious.</p> + +<p>"Where is father?" she said; "mother is up and waiting +for him."</p> + +<p>I saw a faint smile quiver around the widow's lips, but +she busied herself with some branches of ivy that had broken +loose from the terrace-wall, and did not seem to heed us. +Just then the tramp of horses sounded from the front of the +house, and Jessie exclaiming with a little impatience, "Dear +me!" walked quickly to the square balcony. I followed +her, and saw Mr. Lee standing at the foot of the steps ready +to mount. He was giving some orders to the groom, and +seemed particularly anxious about the horse which Mrs. +Dennison was to ride.</p> + +<p>Jessie's face flushed, and a look of proud surprise came +across it. Mr. Lee turned his head that way and called +out,—</p> + +<p>"Why, Jessie, where is your habit? I never found you +late before."</p> + +<p>Jessie did not answer, but passed me, descending to the +terrace and down the flight of steps. She spoke to her +father, looking back anxiously. After the first words, he +started and seemed taken by surprise. Even from the distance +I could see a flood of crimson rush to his forehead. +They both ascended the steps together. Mr. Lee went to +the tower, and Jessie ran up-stairs to put on her riding-dress.</p> + +<p>I went up to help her, but walked slowly; everything +conspired to depress me that morning. One serpent was +enough to destroy the perfect happiness of Eden. Our little<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> +paradise seemed changing after the same fashion, and yet +no one could tell why.</p> + +<p>Jessie was buttoning her habit as I went in. She looked +restless and hurt.</p> + +<p>"Aunt Matty," she said, "I have a great mind to give +up this ride; the thought of meeting that gentleman troubles +me. Look how my hands tremble."</p> + +<p>Yes, the serpent was doing its work. Even our sweet, +honest Jessie was beginning to cover up her true feelings +under false issues. It was something nearer home than the +dread of an unwelcome offer that made her so nervous. +For the first time since her remembrance Mr. Lee had forgotten +his wife. But for Jessie's interposition, he would +have ridden away without inquiring after her. I recollected +how he had blushed when reminded of this.</p> + +<p>Of course, I could not speak of the true cause of this discontent, +the delicate reticence becoming to a daughter was +too sacred for that; but I said quickly,—</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, darling, you must go. It is your duty."</p> + +<p>She looked at me earnestly, then dropping her eyes, went +on with her preparations.</p> + +<p>A second time Mrs. Dennison came to her chamber. +Our coldness the day before had left no impression on the +materialism of her nature. Sparkling with cheerfulness, +and brilliant with smiles, she swept in, bending her flexible +whip into a ring, with both hands, and letting it free again +with a prolonged snap.</p> + +<p>"All ready? That's right, my Lady Jess! The day is +heavenly, and our cavaliers are coming up the road!"</p> + +<p>"Thank heaven!" I heard Jessie whisper, as she drew on +her gantlets.</p> + +<p>If she fancied that the coming of Mr. Bosworth and his +friend would release Mr. Lee, and leave him at liberty to +spend his morning with the invalid, she was disappointed in +the result, though not in the fact. Just as the party were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> +mounting, he appeared on the terrace, and, descending the +steps, joined them, whip in hand.</p> + +<p>I watched all these movements keenly; why, it would +have been impossible for me to explain even to my own +judgment; but shadows tormented me at this time, and all +my senses were on the alert. Mr. Lee rode by his daughter, +leaving his guest to the other gentlemen, between whom she +rode triumphantly, as Queen Elizabeth may have entered +Kenilworth, flirting royally with her handsomest subjects. +Jessie and her father seemed to be conversing quietly, as I +had seen them a hundred times riding down that road.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page97" name="page97"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XV.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">THE TRAIL OF THE SERPENT.</span></h2> + + +<p>After the party was out of sight, I went into Mrs. Dennison's +room to see that the maid had performed her +duty, as was my custom; for I had assumed these light +cares in the household, and loved them from the fact that +they attached an idea of usefulness to my residence in the +house.</p> + +<p>Everything seemed in order. Cora, the mulatto girl, was +busily arranging the dress her mistress had just taken off. +Ear-rings and a brooch of blue lava were lying on the toilet, +and the pretty cap, with its streamers of black velvet and +azure ribbon, hung upon one of the supports of the dressing-table, +as she had left them.</p> + +<p>I looked for the basket of mossrose-buds, but it was gone; +some buds were opening in one of the toilet-glasses, but that +was all. Why had the widow Dennison taken such pains +to put the basket out of sight?</p> + +<p>"What have you done with the basket?" I inquired very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> +quietly of the girl. "If you wet the moss again, we can +fill it with fresh flowers."</p> + +<p>"What basket, Miss?" inquired the girl, lifting her black +eyes innocently to my face.</p> + +<p>"The basket you brought in here last evening."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that!" she continued, dropping her eyes; "I've +made so many of them things that mistress doesn't seem +to care for 'em any more."</p> + +<p>"You—you make them?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed! Is there any harm, Miss?" she said, lifting +her eyes again, with a look of genuine earnestness.</p> + +<p>"And you arranged those buds in the moss?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed!"</p> + +<p>"And placed the half peach among them?"</p> + +<p>"Was there any harm, Miss?"</p> + +<p>"The half peach—after an Oriental fashion?"</p> + +<p>"Dear me! I hope there wasn't any harm in the gardener's +letting me have that one. It was the first I had seen +this year, so I couldn't give up more than I did; but it +was the biggest half that I saved for the mistress."</p> + +<p>Nothing could be more natural than her dawning contrition, +nothing more satisfactory than the solution she had +given to a subject that had kept me awake half the night. +What a fool I had been! Was I, in fact, becoming fanciful +and old-maidish—ready to find error in shadows, and crimes +in everything? Heaven forbid that anything so unwomanly +and indelicate as this should come upon me.</p> + +<p>Was it possible that I, in the waning freshness of my life, +had begun to envy brighter and handsomer women the homage +due to their attraction, and had thus become suspicious? +The very idea humiliated me; I felt abashed before that +mulatto girl, who sat so demurely smoothing the folds of +her mistress's breakfast-dress across her lap. It seemed as +if she must have some knowledge of the mean suspicion +that had brought me there. How artful and indirect my con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>duct +had been! In my heart I had rather plumed myself +on the adroit way in which my questions had been put regarding +that annoying basket. Now, I was heartily ashamed +of it all, and stole out of the room bitterly discomfited.</p> + +<p>In shutting the door, I glanced back; the girl was looking +up from her work. The demure expression had left her face, +the black eyes flashed and danced as they followed me; but +the moment my look met hers, all this passed away so completely, +that my very senses were confused, and the doubts +that I had put aside came crowding back upon me.</p> + +<p>I went up to Mrs. Lee's room. She was resting on the +lounge, sound asleep; but her face seemed cold as well as +pale. There was a strange look about it, as if all the vitality +were stricken out; yet she breathed evenly, and though +I made some noise in entering, it did not disturb her in the +least.</p> + +<p>I sat down on a low chair by the side of her couch; for +Jessie had desired me to sit by her during all the time +I could command. Thus I was placed close to the gentle +sleeper. The deathly stillness in which she lay troubled me; +it seemed too profound for healthy slumber. One little hand +fell over the couch. I took it in my own, and passed my +other hand softly over it. Strange enough, she did not move, +but began to murmur in her sleep, while a cold, troubled +cloud contracted her forehead.</p> + +<p>"Ah! now I can see everything—everything; they are +cantering by the old mill. I haven't seen it before in +years. How beautifully the shadows fall on the water; the +waves are tipped with silver; the trees rustle pleasantly! +No wonder they draw up to look at the mill; it always was +a picturesque object!"</p> + +<p>She was following the equestrians in her dreams—those +strange dreams that seemed to drink up all the color and +warmth from her body.</p> + +<p>According to the best calculation I could make, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> +party would have reached the old mill about this time. It +stood under the curve of the precipitous banks, a mile or +two up the river, and Mr. Lee had spoken of riding that +way at breakfast. Thus it seemed more than probable that +the party was exactly as she fancied it. Mr. Lee had +doubtless informed her what route he would take, and so +her imagination followed him while her frail form slumbered.</p> + +<p>She stirred uneasily on her pillow, drew her black eyebrows +together, and spoke again:—</p> + +<p>"Why does he leave my Jessie? She don't want to be +left with that young man;—and he, poor fellow! how +frightened he is! What is that he is saying? Wants to +marry my Jessie! Alas! how the heart shrinks in her +bosom! My poor child! he should not distress you so! +Yet it is an honest heart he offers—full of warmth, full of +goodness! Can't you understand that, my darling?"</p> + +<p>After this speech she lay quiet a few minutes, and then +spoke like one who had been examining something that +puzzled her.</p> + +<p>"Jessie, Jessie! what is this? Why does your heart stand +still while he speaks to her? It troubles me, darling. I +am your mother, and this thing disturbs me more than you +can guess. You have driven one away—he retreats to +the rear, heart-broken. That other one comes up. Who is +he? what is he? Ask her, for she is watching him, and +her loaded heart follows after, though he, my husband, is +by her side."</p> + +<p>Here she dropped into silence again, only breaking it by +faint moans, and a single ejaculation, "Oh, not that! not +that!"</p> + +<p>Her face grew so painfully wan, and she gave evidence +of so much inward anguish, that I was constrained to +arouse her. My voice made no impression, and the clasp +of my hand only threw her into a more deathly slumber. I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> +began to comprehend her state. I had heard of deep +trances, when the soul seems released from the body, or is +gifted with something like prophecy. I knew, or believed, +that this was an unhealthy state, the result of disease, or +the offspring of a badly balanced organization; and this +thought horrified me; there was something of the supernatural +in it that filled my soul with awe. By the contraction +of her pale forehead, I saw that there was some distress +in the head; so lifting my hand, I passed it across her +brow, hoping to soothe away the pain.</p> + +<p>Certainly, the face became calm, a smile stole across the +lips, and after a moment her eyes opened, and looked +vaguely around, as a child awakes from its sleep.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page101" name="page101"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVI.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">AFTER DREAMING.</span></h2> + + +<p>"I have been asleep," said Mrs. Lee, pleasantly; "sound +asleep. When did you come in?"</p> + +<p>"Only a short time since."</p> + +<p>"And you have been sitting here while I slept?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; after a restless night, I fancied a quiet sleep +would do you no harm."</p> + +<p>"Harm? It has given me strength."</p> + +<p>"Do you think so?"</p> + +<p>She smiled.</p> + +<p>"Have you been dreaming again?" I inquired, a little +anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Dreaming? No, my sleep was profound, perfect rest. +But where is Jessie? She sat where you are when I fell +off."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Indeed!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I remember—her left hand held mine, with her +right she was soothing the pain from my forehead."</p> + +<p>"That was some time ago; she has gone out to ride since, +and I am quite sure Mr. Lee came up here after she left +you," I said.</p> + +<p>"I am glad of it," she answered, gently. "He was +rather late this morning, I remember thinking; but Jessie +would not own it. So he came up, and I did not hear him. +Miss Hyde, this is the first time in my whole life that his +lightest footstep failed to awake me,—what can it mean?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," broke in Lottie, who had been hanging around +the door, unnoticed; for we had all become so used to her +presence in that room, that it was no more heeded than +that of the canary-bird in its cage on the balcony,—"yes, +ma'am, Mr. Lee came up with his spurs on, and his whip +all ready, just like a trooper, clang, clang, clang. I thought +the noise would make you jump out of the window in that +white, loose gown, just like an angel with its wings spread; +but law! there you were, ma'am, snoozing away right in +his face, and he making up his mind, with the whip in his +hand, whether to kiss you good-bye or not."</p> + +<p>"And did he?" inquired the lady, with a faint flush of +the cheek.</p> + +<p>"No, ma'am; I suppose he was afraid of scaring you out +of that nice sleep. He only looked at you sort of earnestly, +and went off trying to walk on tiptoe; but mercy! didn't +them boots creak?"</p> + +<p>"I thought not," murmured the lady, with infinite tenderness +in her voice; "I must have been dead if that failed +to arouse me."</p> + +<p>"Lor, Mrs. Lee," continued the maid, spreading her flail-like +arms in illustration, "I wish you could have seen that +new widder-woman when them two gentlemen helped her +on to the horse. Didn't her dress swell out—and didn't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> +she keep Mr. Lawrence a-tinkering away at her stirrups, +with one foot in his hand, till it made me sick looking on. +Awful 'cute lady that is, Miss Hyde; you ain't no match +for her, nohow!"</p> + +<p>I really think that witch of a girl was gifted with something +almost like second sight. I never had a secret taste +or dislike that she did not understand at once, and drag +it out in some blundering way before the whole world.</p> + +<p>"What makes you think so, Lottie?" I inquired, a little +annoyed.</p> + +<p>"Because you're straightforward right out, and flat-footed +honest; and she—oh my!"</p> + +<p>"What makes you say, 'oh my!' Lottie?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing, Miss Hyde; only I've got eyes, and can see +right through a mill-stone, especially when there's a hole +in the middle. Perhaps you can't, then again perhaps you +can; I don't dispute anything; only, as I said before, that +widder-woman is too 'cute for such a mealy-mouthed lady +as you are. My!—wouldn't she ride over you rough-shod +and with spurs to her slippers!"</p> + +<p>We spoiled that girl. She was neither servant, companion, +nor protégée, and yet partook of the position which +three such persons might have occupied in the family. She +waited upon every one with the faithfulness of a hound +and the speed of a lapwing, seemed to be always in the +kitchen, constantly flitting through the parlor, yet never +beyond the sound of her mistress's voice. She belonged +everywhere and nowhere in the household. She had taken +her position out of the kitchen entirely, by refusing to sit +down at the table there, whatever the temptation was, she +invariably carrying off the tray into her own little room, +after the mistress was served, taking her meals in solitary +grandeur from frosted silver and china so delicate that you +could see a shadow through it. Nay, she affected great +elegance in this little room, which was a sort of select hos<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>pital +for all the old finery in the household. Lace curtains, +condemned as too much worn for the parlor-windows, after +passing through her adroit hands, appeared at the casement +of her little room transparent as new; silk hangings, when +faded from their first splendor, she managed to revive into +almost pristine brightness. She would cut out the freshest +medallions from an old carpet, and make it bloom out anew +under her own feet. Then she had pretty knick-knacks and +keepsakes scattered about, which made her little nook quite +a boudoir—indeed, almost the prettiest one in the family.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lee was rather proud of her unique handmaiden's +retreat; it gratified her own exquisite sense of the beautiful; +and, as the room opened into her own, it was but a continuation +of the refinements that surrounded her.</p> + +<p>In her dress, too, Lottie was more original than half the +old pictures one sees offered for sale. Jessie's cast-off dresses +were remodelled by her nimble fingers into a variety of garments +really marvellous. Indeed, Lottie was generally the +most perfectly costumed person in our household. No one +felt disposed to check this exuberant taste in the strange +girl: it pleased the invalid, and that was reason enough for +anything in our family.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I say it again," persisted the strange little creature, +folding her arms and setting her head on one side, "widders +are monstrous smart, up to a'most anything. I've often +wished that I'd been born a widder with both eye-teeth cut, +as theirs always is—are, I meant. Lor! Miss Hyde, you +ain't a circumstance; just leave this one to me."</p> + +<p>"Lottie, Lottie," said Mrs. Lee, shaking her head, "you +speak too loud and look bold, it isn't becoming. Besides, +the guests in a house must always be honored, never made +subjects of criticism: in short, my good child, we are spoiling +you."</p> + +<p>Lottie withered into penitence with the first words of this +reproof. When it was ended, a deep flush settled around +her eyes, as if tears were suppressed with difficulty.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Spoiling me! not with kindness, I should die without +that," she said, half sitting down on the ottoman, half +kneeling by the couch. "I won't speak another word against +that—that lady. There, I've got it out; say you are not +angry with me."</p> + +<p>"Angry! no, my child. Only be careful not to say harsh +things of any one, it is a bad habit."</p> + +<p>"I am sorry!"</p> + +<p>"Well, well."</p> + +<p>"Very sorry!"</p> + +<p>"There, there, child, it is not so very terrible."</p> + +<p>"I'll never call the lady a widder again. Never!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lee smiled, and sent her into the next room. She +seemed troubled after the girl went out; for certainly tears +had glittered in Lottie's eyes, a thing I had never witnessed +before.</p> + +<p>"Go in, Miss Hyde, and comfort her, poor thing! It was +cruel to reprove her so harshly; but my temper is getting +ungovernable."</p> + +<p>It was almost amusing to hear that gentle creature condemn +herself with so little reason; but she would not be convinced +that something of the spirit of a Nero had not been +manifest in that mild reprimand; so I went into Lottie's +room, much better disposed to give her a second lesson than +to console her for the first.</p> + +<p>Miss Lottie had curled herself up in the window-seat, +with both hands clasped around her knees, and her face +buried upon them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page106" name="page106"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">LOTTIE EXPRESSES HER OPINION OF THE WIDOW.</span></h2> + + +<p>"Lottie," I said, going up to the girl, "what are you +huddled up in that place for? Is there nothing you +can find to do more profitable than pouting?"</p> + +<p>"I'm not pouting, Miss Hyde," she said; "only grinding +my teeth in peace and comfort. Why can't you let me +alone, I should like to know?"</p> + +<p>"What folly! Do get down and act like a sensible creature."</p> + +<p>"Well," she said, throwing herself off the window-seat +with a demi-summersault, which landed her in the middle +of the room, "here I am. What's wanted?"</p> + +<p>It was rather difficult for me to say just that instant what +I did want, having only a charge of consolation on hand.</p> + +<p>"Well," she added, "what have I done to you, Miss Hyde, +that I can't be allowed to sit still in my own room?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing, Lottie; I was only afraid that you might be +fretting."</p> + +<p>Her eyes instantly filled with tears, which she dashed +aside with her hand.</p> + +<p>"So I was; what's the use of denying it? She never +said a cross word to me before, and wouldn't now but for +that Mrs. Babylon. I hate that widder; I want to stomp +her down under my feet. It makes me grit my teeth when +she comes sailing out into the garden, and looks up to Mrs. +Lee's window, just like a dog hankering after a bone."</p> + +<p>"Why, how can you feel so bitterly, Lottie, about a person +you never spoke to a dozen times in your life?" I said, +shocked and surprised by her vehemence.</p> + +<p>"Didn't I, though? How 'cute people can be with their +eyes shut! Well, I fancy that the widder and I are slightly +acquainted—better than she thinks for."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Why, how can that be possible; you are always in Mrs. +Lee's room?"</p> + +<p>"Generally, generally—not always. There is hours in +the morning, before she gets up; hours in the evening, after +she goes to bed; when I break out, and do a little exploring +about the premises. This morning I was in Mrs. Babylon's +room before any of you were up."</p> + +<p>"Indeed! How did that happen?"</p> + +<p>"That sneaking mulatto girl came to the chamber-door +as I was passing, and beckoned me to come in."</p> + +<p>"And you went?"</p> + +<p>"Me! Why not? If a girl never sinsatiates around, +how is she to find out what's going on? Besides, I wanted +to know just how Babylon looked in her own room; so, +being invited, I went in."</p> + +<p>"But what did she want of you?"</p> + +<p>"Don't know. Something besides doing a braid up in +eleven strands, I surmise; but that was what she made believe +it was about—just as if that mulatto creature didn't +understand that much of her business. I did it though, +meek as Moses—such hair! a yard long in the shortest +part. It was worth while trying a hand at it; but, after all, +it seemed like braiding copperheads and rattlesnakes. I +hate to touch anybody's hair if I don't like 'em; it makes +me crawl all over."</p> + +<p>"But why don't you like Mrs. Dennison?"</p> + +<p>"Why—because I don't; and because you don't either."</p> + +<p>I could not help smiling, and yet was half angry with +the girl. She shook her head gravely and went on:</p> + +<p>"It wasn't the hair, Miss Hyde; that copper-colored girl +knew more than I did about it, often as I've braided for +Miss Jessie."</p> + +<p>"Then what did she want?"</p> + +<p>"I've found out—never you fear."</p> + +<p>"Well?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Can't tell anything about it. It's like a patch-work +quilt in my mind, the pieces all sorted, but not laid together; +the colors will get ship-shape by-and-by, and then I'll +answer everything. She wants me to come into her room +every morning, and I'm going."</p> + +<p>"What, when you dislike her so much?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, in spite of that, and fifty times as much. I'm +going to do up Mrs. Babylon's hair for her."</p> + +<p>"Well, well, I am glad you are not heart-broken about +Mrs. Lee's mild rebuke."</p> + +<p>"Heart-broken! I'd die rather than have a real cross +word from her; for I tell you, Miss Hyde, if ever there was +an angel with a morning-dress and slippers on as a general +thing, that angel is the lady in yonder. Miss Jessie is considerable, +and you sometimes come almost up to the mark, +but you can't hold a candle to her, neither one of you."</p> + +<p>It was of no use reproving or questioning Lottie; she was +in reality the most independent person in the house, so I +went away rather amused by my efforts at consolation.</p> + +<p>Earlier than I expected, the riding party came back. +Everybody seemed a little out of sorts. Jessie was pale and +looked harassed. Young Bosworth rode by her side, but it +was with the appearance of a man returning from a funeral. +He lifted Jessie from the saddle. She reached forth her +hand before ascending the steps, and seemed to be speaking +earnestly. I saw him wring the hand with unusual energy, +and spring to his saddle again.</p> + +<p>As he was turning his horse, Mrs. Dennison rode up with +Lawrence and Mr. Lee. For a voice so musical, hers was +rather loud, so I could distinctly hear her call out,—</p> + +<p>"Remember, Mr. Bosworth, your engagement for this +evening; don't hope to be excused."</p> + +<p>Bosworth bowed, and rode slowly away; but Lawrence +sprang from his horse, and ran up the steps after Jessie, +leaving Mr. Lee to help the other lady from her saddle.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p> + +<p>Jessie heard him coming, and fairly ran into the house, a +piece of rudeness that seemed to surprise him very much; +but unlike as this was to her usual manner, it did not astonish +me. The dear girl's face was toward me, and I saw that +it was flushed with tears. Bosworth had offered himself, +and been refused, poor fellow! I was sure of that.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dennison laughed till her clear voice rang far out +among the flowers as she witnessed Lawrence's discomfiture. +He colored a little angrily, and would have passed her on +the steps, but she took his arm with exquisite coolness, and +smilingly forced him into the house.</p> + +<p>"Babylon's got two strings to her bow,—smart!"</p> + +<p>This strange speech was uttered at my elbow. I looked +round and saw Lottie close to me.</p> + +<p>"Better go up-stairs," she said, pointing over her shoulder; +"she wouldn't let me help her; you must."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dennison entered the upper hall. Her eyes sparkled, +her lips curved triumphantly. She had carried away her +captive and exulted over him with charming playfulness, +which he answered in a low, impressive voice.</p> + +<p>I went up-stairs, leaving them together: Jessie stood in +the upper passage leaning against the banister. She was +pale as death, and her lips quivered like those of a wronged +child; but the moment she saw me, the proud air natural +to her returned, and she moved toward her room, waving me +back.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page109" name="page109"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">THE UNWELCOME PROPOSAL.</span></h2> + + +<p>It was true, Jessie had received the proposal she so much +dreaded, received it exactly as her mother had described +the scene. If other and deeper feelings prevailed with her,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> +they were buried far out of sight by the delicate reticence +of a nature which shrunk from any revelation of feelings +which would, perhaps, never receive a generous response. +Though the most single-hearted and frank creature in the +world, Jessie would have died rather than confess feelings +such as I fear occupied her heart even at this time.</p> + +<p>"Well, Aunt Matty, I have obeyed you," she said, with a +sorrowful look of the eyes, the moment we were alone together. +"It breaks my heart, but I have listened to all he +could say, poor fellow! and it is over. What a terrible, +terrible thing it must be to love a person who does not care +for you. Oh! Aunt Matty, Aunt Matty! it is—" She hesitated, +turned crimson, and added, "it must be like death, +worse than death; for to crush one's pride is to deprive life +of its dignity, and this thing I have done for him."</p> + +<p>"And do you begin to regret it?" I said, sitting down, +and drawing her head to my shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Regret it? The thought oppresses me; I am so sorry +for him; my heart aches when I think of the look he gave +me. Oh! why is it that love cannot always be mutual?"</p> + +<p>"That would destroy half its romance, I fear," said I, +smiling in spite of my sympathy in her distress.</p> + +<p>She gave a little nervous laugh and said, "she supposed +so; but it was very hard to see a good man suffer disappointment +and mortification such as she had just witnessed. +Some ladies might glory in these things, but, for her part, +she hoped never to have another offer in her life. It was +hard to give pain, harder by far than to endure it. Poor +John Bosworth, how wretched he must be!"</p> + +<p>I strove to comfort her, for there was no affectation in all +this. She really did suffer all her broken speech implied, +but she felt the humiliation she had given too keenly for +argument.</p> + +<p>"He bowed himself before me as if I were a queen; and +to be rejected after all, it was very cruel!" she exclaimed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> +excitedly; "but what could I do? There was Mrs. Dennison—but +no matter about her."</p> + +<p>Jessie stopped suddenly, and a flame of crimson spread +and glowed in her cheeks.</p> + +<p>"You don't like Mrs. Dennison, Aunt Matty?" she said, +after a moment's silence.</p> + +<p>"No, I never did like her," was my prompt reply.</p> + +<p>"She is a strange woman," said Jessie, thoughtfully; "so +brilliant, so full of attractions, everybody is charmed with +her at first sight. I was."</p> + +<p>"And now?" I suggested.</p> + +<p>She looked at me a moment, then smiled, a little bitterly, +I thought, and said,—</p> + +<p>"Who can help like—admiring her?"</p> + +<p>Something was wrong in that quarter; I was sure of +it. Two natures so opposite as those of our Jessie and +Mrs. Dennison could not long harmonize under the same +roof.</p> + +<p>"Well," I said, smoothing the raven braids of Jessie's +hair, "the worst is over now. Mr. Bosworth will think all +the better of you for being truthful and honest; we shall +have him for a friend still, never fear."</p> + +<p>Jessie shook her head quite dejectedly.</p> + +<p>"No, that can never be; these rides and invitations have +been misunderstood. He really thought I was encouraging +him, when you know, dear Aunt Matty, I hadn't the least +idea of what it all meant. He talks of going to Europe at +once, or—or—"</p> + +<p>"Or what?" I inquired, with an inclination to smile; +"drown himself by the old mill, perhaps?"</p> + +<p>She glanced at me a little roguishly, and said, with a half-sigh, +"Yes, aunt, I believe he almost threatened that."</p> + +<p>"So much the better," I said, gravely enough; for she +was on the alert for any signs of ridicule. "The disappointment +that takes that form is not killing."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Don't!" she said, with a contraction of the forehead, +which gave evidence of real pain, "the very remembrance +of his face is a reproach to me; and there <i>they</i> sat so quietly +in the shade of a tree enjoying the scenery. To them, I +dare say, the world contained nothing else to think of. +Mrs. Dennison even pointed at us with her whip, as if we +made up the figures of a picture."</p> + +<p>"Well, but she did not know," I suggested.</p> + +<p>"Heaven forbid!"</p> + +<p>We were interrupted then, and Jessie went to her mother, +whose gentle sympathy was always at command, though +the cause of grief might be unexplained. The presence of +that woman was like a calm autumn day—it saddened while +it made you better.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page112" name="page112"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIX.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">OUT UPON THE RIDGE.</span></h2> + + +<p>I could not pine why it was, but for some reason +Mrs. Dennison appeared ill at ease after her ride that +morning. Mr. Lee was about the house all day; but she +rather avoided him, and disappeared altogether from the +square balcony, where he was in the habit of reading when +the shadows crept round to that side of the house.</p> + +<p>Late in the day I went out for a walk, and, mounting +the hill back of the house, wandered along its upper ridge, +where a thick growth of hemlocks and forest-trees shut out +a glorious landscape on either hand; for this hill formed a +spur of the mountains which partially separated two broad +valleys. That on the east I have already described; but +the other and broader space of country could only be commanded +from one or two prominent points on the ridge. A<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> +large rock, fringed with ferns and mountain pinks, marked +one of these spots. A footpath led to it through the trees, +and, as the rock crowned a precipitous declivity of several +hundred feet, it ended there.</p> + +<p>I sat down upon the rock weary from my long walk, and +gazed dreamily upon the broad plain at my feet. It was +in a state of beautiful cultivation: a large county-town lay +under the shelter of the near mountains, over which a cloud +of smoke floated from the numerous iron foundries in full +blast in the environs. The breaks and gossamer floating +of this cloud interested me, not the less because its source +was in the useful development of the resources of a great +commonwealth. I loved to think that with every wreath +of that graceful vapor came assurance of bread for the +working-man, and profits to the capitalist; for to me such +thoughts give dignity to the beautiful. I am not one of +those who would object to having the waters of Niagara +lowered half an inch, if it would give the poor better and +cheaper flour.</p> + +<p>Well, as I was saying, the hives of industry which lay in +the hazy distance made the landscape one of peculiar interest. +The signs of rich cultivation upon the undulating +grounds stretching to a range of the Blue Ridge, so far +away that the mountain peaks seemed embankments of +clouds, took a new aspect every time I saw them.</p> + +<p>Like the busy city, every beautiful object conveyed an +under-thought of prosperity; even the distant noise of some +forges under the mountain sounded harmonious in connection +with the broad scene.</p> + +<p>As I sat looking upon this glorious picture, reflecting +that my beloved country could boast of thousands on thousands +equally rich, both in beauty and thrift, a footstep in +the grass disturbed me, and, turning my head, I saw Mrs. +Dennison walking slowly along the footpath.</p> + +<p>The woman was in deep thought, and evidently did not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> +observe me, for I was sitting on a slope of the rock, and a +mossy fragment rose up between us. She held a letter in +her hand, which seemed to give her anything but pleasure, +for as she read, a cloud fell heavily on her forehead, and +the beautiful brows contracted. She stopped in the middle +of the footpath, and seemed to read the letter over a second +time. During all this time she was so near to me, that I +could distinguish the heavy sigh with which she folded the +paper.</p> + +<p>After this she stood a moment gazing upon the landscape +at her feet. She seemed to feel the beauties this glorious +point of view presented, and her face cleared up.</p> + +<p>That moment I spoke to her. She gave a little start, hid +the letter away somewhere in the folds of her dress, and sat +down upon the rock. That woman, I do think, never took +a position which did not at once settle into lines of grace. +Just then the scarlet folds of her shawl fell in rich contrast +with the green mosses of the rock and cool foliage of the +trees, and I could not help observing that, even for my +sake, she condescended to be artistic.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Miss Hyde, I am glad to find you here; these woods +were getting lonesome," she said, pleasantly.</p> + +<p>"But it is not lonesome here," I replied; "this moment I +was thinking what a cheerful idea of life the whole scene +yonder presented."</p> + +<p>"Yes," she answered, looking toward the distant city; +"after all, civilization has its fine points, even in a picture. +I do not wonder you love this spot, if it were only from its +contrasts. A moment back, I was almost chilled by the +lonely murmur of the pines, and the dull sweep of waters +answering them; surely there is some river near, Miss +Hyde."</p> + +<p>"Yes, at the foot of this hill."</p> + +<p>"Oh! true, I can see gleams of water through the gloom. +How steep it is!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, almost a precipice," I answered. "One would not +like to attempt a descent."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, I would rather like it. If one had a mania for +suicide now, it would be a romance. A single false step, +and you could hardly hear the plunge or a cry for help, if +the actor were coward enough to give it. The waters are +very black and sullen down yonder."</p> + +<p>I turned away from them with a shudder; this idea of +death and crime which she had advanced chilled me. The +waters did, indeed, look black as we saw them weltering on +through the piny gloom far below us.</p> + +<p>"Do you know," she said, smiling blandly upon me, "I +found a pretty bird's-nest under a tuft of fern-leaves up +yonder, with four lovely speckled eggs? My red shawl +frightened the poor birds, and they made a terrible fluttering; +so, in pity to the little creatures, I came away only +half satisfied."</p> + +<p>"Oh! you have found my nest!" I exclaimed, thanking +her kindness from the depths of my heart. "My own little +birds; they have built in that spot for three years; I dare +say some of the birds hatched under those broken leaves are +singing to us now. No one ever molests them here."</p> + +<p>"Indeed I did them no harm; only took one little peep +at the eggs and ran away; so, don't look so terrified; the +birds did not seem half so much frightened."</p> + +<p>I smiled and dropped the subject. The truth is, I really +am silly about my birds, and always keep their hiding-places +secret, if I can, even from Jessie, who does not understand +their dainty habits as I do.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dennison busied herself looking about on the landscape.</p> + +<p>"Tell me," she said, "whereabouts is that delightful old +mill which we stopped at this morning? I do assure you, +Miss Hyde, it is the most picturesque bit that I ever saw +out of a picture; this river must be the stream on which it +stands."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes," I answered; "but the mill is not visible from +here."</p> + +<p>"We had a delightful five minutes examining it," she +resumed, "that is, my good host, Mr. Lawrence, and myself. +As for our sweet Jessie and her cavalier-lover, must I +say—"</p> + +<p>"Jessie Lee has no lovers," I answered, coldly, for there +was something in the side-glance of her almond-shaped eyes +that I did not like,—a sinister questioning that aroused all +the original distrust that her simple manner had, for a time, +laid to rest.</p> + +<p>"Indeed! What, no lover? and she so beautiful, such a +peculiar style! I thought young Bosworth was something +more than a neighborly cavalier; a fine young fellow, Miss +Hyde, and a catch, isn't he?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know exactly what you mean by a catch, madam," +I replied, more and more repulsed.</p> + +<p>"Oh! I see; not worldly enough for boarding-school +vulgarisms; but I, who am naughty enough to remember +them now and then, will explain that there is nothing very +terrible in a 'good catch.' It only means a handsome, +fashionable, and rich man, whom every marriageable young +lady is dying for and only one can get."</p> + +<p>"Then our young neighbor will not answer to the character, +for he is neither fashionable nor more than comfortably +rich; nor has he any number of young ladies dying +for him."</p> + +<p>"Only one, perhaps?"</p> + +<p>The same sidelong glance, the same crafty undercurrent +in her questioning.</p> + +<p>"If you mean Jessie, Mrs. Dennison, I am very sure she +has no such feelings as you suspect, toward any one."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I dare say not; one always likes to talk nonsense +about such things, but it amounts to nothing. Of course, +people are always expecting hosts of lovers when an heiress<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> +is in question, and Miss Lee has the reputation of immense +expectations."</p> + +<p>"Yes," I answered, artfully, "I am afraid Jessie will be +very rich, indeed. Along that valley she will own land +enough for a small principality, if such things were recognized +in this country, and many a smoke-wreath that you +see curling up from the city yonder comes from the dwellings +that will yet be hers, and so will several foundries that +are coining money for her out of iron."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dennison's eyes kindled. "Show me," she said, +eagerly, and shading her eyes with one hand, "where does +the land lie—this principality of which Jessie will be +mistress?"</p> + +<p>"Yonder to the left, around and far beyond that hill."</p> + +<p>"The hill with so many grassy slopes, and crested with +groves? That hill, and the lands around it, will it surely +be Jessie Lee's inheritance?"</p> + +<p>"Every foot of land, every smoke that curls from several +blocks of houses in the centre of the city."</p> + +<p>"And does Mr. Lee have all this income?"</p> + +<p>"Every cent."</p> + +<p>Her eyes sparkled. Fresh roses bloomed out on her +cheeks. She threw out her arm, and waved it inward, as if +gathering the property in one sweeping embrace.</p> + +<p>"Ah! what a world of enjoyment you or I could get out +of all that if it were ours!" she said, with unaccountable +exultation in her voice. "No wonder he lives like a prince."</p> + +<p>I answered her with constraint. This enthusiasm disturbed +me.</p> + +<p>"I am not sure, madam, that either you or I would be +happier for possessing so much care as this wealth would +bring; for my part, that which I enjoy without responsibility, +is enough."</p> + +<p>Her beautiful mouth curled with a sneer, the first I ever +saw on those lips.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Ah! it requires taste and habits of power to prepare one +for these things; some people are born with them. Some +people are born for them, and others—"</p> + +<p>"Well?" I said, smiling with satisfaction that she had at +last broken loose from her system of crafty adulation.</p> + +<p>"And others," she said, adroitly, "are so gentle and unselfish, +that they live in the happiness of their friends. It +would be a pity to cumber such with all the anxieties of +wealth; one would as soon think of weighing the angels +down with gold."</p> + +<p>I declare, the quickness of that woman frightened me. +The sneer left her lips in a glow of smiles before it was +formed. Her eyes were bent on my face innocent as a +child's. She sat down by me, folding the scarlet shawl +lightly around her.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page118" name="page118"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XX.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">ADROIT CROSS-QUESTIONING.</span></h2> + + +<p>"Now that we are talking of rich people," said Mrs. +Dennison, with an air of the most natural confidence, +"do tell me about this Mr. Lawrence. Is he very +much in love with our Jessie, or not?"</p> + +<p>"I never heard or thought that he was in love with her, +Mrs. Dennison."</p> + +<p>"Nor she with him?"</p> + +<p>The question stung me. It gave form to a painful thought +that had been growing in my heart, and I felt myself blushing +hotly under her glance.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Dennison, are such questions honorable?"</p> + +<p>"Not if you cannot answer them without blushes. I beg +pardon."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Are they delicate?" I urged, angrily.</p> + +<p>"Not if they touch her friends so keenly. Again I beg +pardon."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Dennison," I said, conquering the anger that +burned in me like a fire, "excuse me if I seem rude, but if +there is anything of excitement in my manner, it is because +I am not used to canvassing the feelings of my friends, even +with those nearest and dearest to me."</p> + +<p>"And me you consider a stranger," she said, deprecatingly.</p> + +<p>"Almost," I replied, with blunt truth.</p> + +<p>"And one whom you cannot like?"</p> + +<p>I bit my lips to keep back the words that pressed against +them.</p> + +<p>"At my age, Mrs. Dennison, new feelings spring up slowly +in the heart."</p> + +<p>She made another desperate attempt at my weak side.</p> + +<p>"At your age? My dear Miss Hyde, am I to judge what +it is by that smooth cheek, or by your words?"</p> + +<p>"I am afraid it is best to be judged of by the slow growth +of feelings such as we speak of," I replied, gravely.</p> + +<p>She looked down sadly, and tears came trembling into her +eyes. I really think she felt it. Her habits of fascination +were such that she was doubtless wounded that they could +fail even with so unimportant a person as I was.</p> + +<p>"You are unkind, I would say unjust; only that feeling +is seldom a matter of choice. But I, who was prepared to +love you as the friend of dear Jessie, who did like you so +much at the first sight, it does seem a little cruel that you +should meet all this with repulsion."</p> + +<p>Her tears made me uncomfortable; one had fallen to her +cheek, and hung on its roses like a dew-drop. A man, I +think, would have yielded to her then and there; a quiet +person of her own sex was not likely to be so impressible. +But her grief touched me, and feeling that there had been +something of rudeness in my speech, I strove to soften it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Not repulsion, Mrs. Dennison, but we country people +are a little on the reserve always. Do not think me unkind +because I do not care to talk much of those who trust and +shelter me."</p> + +<p>She laid her hands on mine and smiled sweetly through +her tears.</p> + +<p>"You are right. It was all rash childishness, not curiosity; +how could it be when dear Jessie tells me everything with +her own sweet lips?"</p> + +<p>I longed to draw my hand from under hers, but conquered +the impulse, and seemed to listen with patience at least.</p> + +<p>"But we will drop our sweet Jessie," she said, "and talk +of some one else—Mr. Lawrence, for instance. Are you +sure that he is not really poor?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed, I cannot tell. He lives in another State, and +may be rich or poor, for aught we know of a certainty; all +that I can say is, that his friend Bosworth never represented +him as wealthy to us."</p> + +<p>"That is a pity," she said, thoughtfully, "a great pity; +an heiress stands no chance with such men."</p> + +<p>I started, feeling as if it were Jessie she was speaking of.</p> + +<p>"And why, pray?" was my sharp response.</p> + +<p>"Ah! these splendid men, proud and poor, how can you +expect them to face the world as fortune-hunters? After +all, wealth has its drawback. I often pity a girl with money, +for the most sensitive and the most noble keep aloof. I can +imagine a man like this Lawrence now wearing his heart +out, or turning it to iron if it brought him to the feet of an +heiress. Such men like to grant, not take."</p> + +<p>"Isn't that a sort of proud selfishness?" I asked, struck +by the force and truth of her worldly knowledge.</p> + +<p>"Selfishness? Of course it is. What else do we find in +the noblest nature? But you are looking serious, and I +have watched that cloud of smoke till it wearies me."</p> + +<p>She arose while speaking, and walked away, passing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> +through the trees like some gorgeous bird whose home was +beneath the branches.</p> + +<p>I watched her with a strange feeling of excitement. What +would her object be in cross-questioning me as she did? +Was it mere vulgar curiosity, or some deep-seated purpose? +Why this anxiety about Jessie's expectations? In short, +had the woman come to us bent on mischief of some kind, +or was I a suspicious wretch, determined to find evil in +everything?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page121" name="page121"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXI.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">THE EVENING AFTER BOSWORTH'S PROPOSAL.</span></h2> + + +<p>That evening Messrs. Lawrence and Bosworth came, +according to some previous engagement. I was a little +surprised at this, but after awhile saw that a generous and +noble motive lay at the bottom of it all. Jessie had besought +Bosworth to remain her friend; he had promised, +and thus generously kept an engagement made before his +proposal, and when it must have been a painful sacrifice.</p> + +<p>Nothing could be more delicate and lovely than Jessie's +manner of receiving him. She neither colored nor looked +down, but came toward him with a deprecating stoop of the +whole person, while there was a depth of sadness in her eyes +that more than begged pardon for the wound she had given.</p> + +<p>Bosworth was grave, but very gentle in his reception of +this kindness. He moved toward a far end of the room, +and they sat down together, talking earnestly to each other.</p> + +<p>Mr. Lee was in the room and watched them rather gravely, +I thought; but Mrs. Dennison, who was chatting merrily +with Lawrence, called him to her side, and after that he +seemed to forget everything but her.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p> + +<p>Being left to myself, I was crossing the room to go out, +when Jessie beckoned me to the sofa, where she was sitting.</p> + +<p>"Ah! Miss Hyde," she said, earnestly, "try and persuade +Mr. Bosworth to give up his wild plan of going away."</p> + +<p>"And have you really formed such an idea?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said, striving to smile; "one cannot loiter forever +in these pleasant country places. I have been a dreamer +too long."</p> + +<p>"But not yet," I pleaded, answering the appeal in Jessie's +eyes; "you will not go in this unfriendly way."</p> + +<p>"Unfriendly?" he repeated, glancing at Jessie. "No, I +shall never do that; never feel unfriendly toward any of +you, Miss Hyde."</p> + +<p>"But we cannot spare you, and I am quite sure Mrs. Dennison +will be heart-broken if—" I hesitated, conscious of +the impropriety contained in these impulsive words.</p> + +<p>"Oh! Mrs. Dennison will never be quite heart-broken +at anything, I fancy," he replied, with a faint smile; "but +if you really desire it, I will not break up the arrangements +of our guests. A few weeks more or less need make little +difference in a life-time."</p> + +<p>Jessie brightened at this, and looked so gratefully on her +rejected lover, that he smiled, but very mournfully, as if +reproaching her for being so kindly and yet so firm.</p> + +<p>Early in the evening, Mrs. Lee's little maid, Lottie, came +into the parlor, and after casting her bright eyes in every +corner of the room, went up to her master and whispered +something. Mr. Lee arose and went out. I beckoned Lottie, +and asked if her mistress was worse?</p> + +<p>"No, Miss Hyde, I can't say that she is, or that she isn't; +because she hasn't said a word about it. But she isn't +asleep, and it seems lonesome up there, within hearing of +all the fun, and not know what it is about. For how Mrs. +Bab—how that lady's voice rings through the tower when +she laughs."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes," said I, "she has a clear, sweet voice."</p> + +<p>Lottie gave an almost imperceptible toss of the head.</p> + +<p>"Besides," she said, drawing me aside, and speaking in a +low voice, "mistress can look right into the window where +those people stand; I don't know as she did, but I can."</p> + +<p>"Well; could you discover more than we did, who are in +the room, Lottie?"</p> + +<p>The toss of her head was defiant now, but she made no +other reply, except to whisper, "Mrs. Babylon is coming +this way, and I'm off."</p> + +<p>"Stop," I said; "did Mrs. Lee send for—for any of +us?"</p> + +<p>"Send? No; but she expected, and being all alone evenings +is what she isn't used to."</p> + +<p>"I'll go up at once."</p> + +<p>"There now, always flying off! It isn't you she wants."</p> + +<p>"How do you know that, if she asked for no one in particular?"</p> + +<p>"How do I know? Well, that's good! As if I didn't +know the difference between her wanting you and him! +When she wants you, it's all quiet and don't-care-much-about-it +in her looks. When he ought to be there, and +isn't, something comes into her eyes that makes your heart +ache. I never saw it till lately; but that look is growing +on her, and would more, if it wasn't for me."</p> + +<p>"Why, how can you prevent it, Lottie?"</p> + +<p>"Well, in a good many ways, Miss Hyde. One of 'em is +by nice little lies that hurt nobody, but do her lots of good. +I know just how he makes bouquets, and when they don't +come at the right time, I run down and make up a bunch +of flowers myself. I stole some pink and blue ribbons from +his room to tie 'em with. Oh! it's worth while to see her +eyes sparkle when I bring them in. Then I've studied his +way of sending compliments and messages. Don't pretend +to be a genius like you that write poetry."</p> + +<p>"Lottie!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh! don't be frightened. I sha'n't bring you to disgrace +about it. Made up my mind to that from the first. +You needn't get mad and blush so; I ain't a genius, but I +can make up stories in my head; and why not tell 'em to +her? Why not, I say, when they please her? You should +hear the elegant messages I bring from Mr. Lee, at least +four times a day. When she gets a nice little dish for dinner, +it gives her appetite to think he ordered it; but the +cook knows."</p> + +<p>"But, Lottie, this is wrong."</p> + +<p>"Wrong! Well, I like that, Miss Hyde."</p> + +<p>"It isn't the truth, Lottie."</p> + +<p>"The truth! Who said it was? As if I didn't know it +was lying, and glory in it!"</p> + +<p>I could hardly keep my countenance. As for arguing a +moral question with Lottie, the thought was too ridiculous. +She had her own ideas, and kept to them without the slightest +regard to those of other people.</p> + +<p>While we were talking, Lottie had gradually edged herself +out of the room, and her last speech was delivered on +the platform of the terrace. Mrs. Lee's window was up, +and I saw her husband enter the room with what seemed to +me a reluctant step. He sat down, and opened a book, as +if to read aloud. This had been his usual custom, but the +last few evenings he had spent in the drawing-room. I +would have taken his place, but she rejected my offer with +one of those deep sighs that excite so much pity when they +come from an invalid.</p> + +<p>"You talk against fibs, Miss Hyde; now what do you +think of that? She never would 'a' sent for him—died first, +like a lamb starving in the cold. Hist! there comes Mrs. +Babylon and her private beau."</p> + +<p>True enough, Mrs. Dennison and Lawrence had passed +through one of the drawing-room windows, and were slowly +coming down the terrace platform, which, as I have said,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> +ran around one end and the back of the house. It afforded +a fine promenade, and they were enjoying the moonlight +that fell upon it. My attention was occupied by them a +moment, during which Lottie disappeared. The railing of +this platform was lined with a rich shrubbery of hot-house +plants, lemon-trees, tall roses, and such creeping vines as +bear most choice blossoms. These cast heavy shadows, and +I fancy that the girl disappeared among them,—listening, +perhaps, being considered as one of the accomplishments +which she devoted to the benefit of her mistress.</p> + +<p>When I went back to the drawing-room, Jessie was at the +piano, and Bosworth sat near, watching her sadly as she +played. She did not attempt to sing, and he offered no request +of the kind. Altogether, it was a gloomy evening. +Really, I think this idea of turning love into friendship is +an absurd way of settling things. Throwing ashes on hot +embers only keeps the fire in more certain glow. Jessie was +young, and had no idea of prudence in such matters. I did +not quite understand the undercurrent of her nature, but, +in my heart, thought it best that Bosworth should leave the +neighborhood.</p> + +<p>The next morning I saw Lottie coming out of Mrs. Dennison's +room, looking demure as a house-cat.</p> + +<p>"I've taught 'em how to do another braid," she said, innocently. +"If they tangle it, you know, I ain't to blame."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page125" name="page125"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">SOWING SEED FOR ANOTHER DAY.</span></h2> + + +<p>After our conversation on the ridge, Mrs. Dennison +made the best of her advantages, and, having ingratiated +herself into the room of our invalid, managed to pass<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> +a good deal of her time there. I think Mrs. Lee, without +knowing it herself, exercised a little selfishness in this; for +it happened—so naturally that I never should have observed +it but for Lottie—that Mr. Lee visited his wife more +frequently when his guest was there than at any other time. +Indeed, it was not many days before the invalid ceased +almost entirely to see him alone.</p> + +<p>After my attention was drawn to this by one of Lottie's +curt sayings, I noticed another thing that troubled me more +than Mrs. Dennison's visits. Cora, the mulatto girl, was +constantly following her mistress to the room, asking for +orders, or reminding Mrs. Dennison of something that she +had been desired to remember. She made one or two efforts +to fix herself in Lottie's apartment, but that singular female +rebuffed the first attempt, by standing square in the door, +and asking point-blank if there were anything in that room +which Cora wanted. The girl answered, "No," and went +away rather crestfallen.</p> + +<p>It is very difficult to repress the aggressions of a guest +under your own roof, especially one who invariably disarms +you with honeyed words and apologies for anything that +threatens to offend. It was not for me to regulate a visitor's +movements in Mr. Lee's house; and so adroitly were they +managed, that no power, however on the alert, could have +reached them.</p> + +<p>To my surprise, Lottie, all of a sudden, not only seemed +to lose her animosity to the widow, but hung about her with +assiduity almost equal to that bestowed on her mistress. +But one thing was remarkable: none of her bright sayings, +or exhibitions of sharp, good sense were manifested in Mrs. +Dennison's presence. With her she was dull and quiet, +nay, almost stolid. I have heard her ask questions with the +most innocent air, which a child of three years old could +have answered. It was surprising how anything so near a +witch in her real nature could tame herself into that lump<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> +of stupidity. She was a great deal in Mrs. Dennison's +room; and once I saw them seated together on the hill-side, +talking earnestly. Still, for several days nothing happened +worthy of remembrance.</p> + +<p>Mr. Lee and the widow rode out once or twice without +Jessie, who, feeling a little hurt for her mother's sake, decided +to remain at home and sit with the gentle invalid. I +do not know that she observed it, but there certainly was +very little entreaty used to induce her to join them. Indeed, +upon the third morning nothing was said on the subject; +Jessie was not even invited.</p> + +<p>One day, just after Mr. Lee and his guest had ridden from +the door, Mr. Lawrence called. He had seen them from a +distance, he said, and came to inquire after Miss Lee's +health. The flood of crimson that rushed over Jessie's face, +when I told her this, made my heart beat heavily. She +arose, and went down, avoiding my anxious glance as she +passed me.</p> + +<p>The doors were all open, but I heard no voices in the +drawing-room; they must have been talking very low: what +did that portend between two persons perfectly alone? So +anxious had I become that it seemed to me as if some harm +were intended our Jessie among these strange people. She +had never seemed really happy since their advent among +us. Indeed, there had been little of comfort for any one.</p> + +<p>What passed between Jessie and Lawrence I learned +afterward. But only so far as a young girl can force herself +to speak of things pertaining to her affections. One +thing is certain: when she came up-stairs, after his departure, +a look of uncertain joy pervaded her face, and she +breathed quickly. I asked no questions, and was not surprised +that she said little about the interview. After that +day Jessie's manner became more elastic; and from some +words that escaped, I am confident that, up to this time, she +had fancied Lawrence engaged to Mrs. Dennison; or, at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> +least, ready at any moment to assume that position. Indeed, +the widow had told her as much.</p> + +<p>The next day Jessie was invited to join Mr. Lee and his +guest in their ride; but she refused it coldly, nay, almost +haughtily. Her father, for the first time in his life, seemed +really angry with her. He said nothing, however, but rode +forth with a flush on his brow.</p> + +<p>Again Mr. Lawrence called, or would have called, but +that he saw Jessie wandering off toward the pine woods, and +followed her. I saw them sitting a long time on a garden-chair +stationed on the skirts of the grove, but said nothing +to any one, not even to herself when she came down the +hill, alone, with a light in her eyes that I had never seen +there before.</p> + +<p>I think Lawrence must have made five or six of these +morning visits before they were suspected by any one in the +house. Cora was generally busy in her mistress's room all +the forenoon, and Lottie took the occasion of Mrs. Dennison's +absence to sit with loving watchfulness by our invalid, +only too happy if a low word or patient smile rewarded her +devotion. But it came out at last.</p> + +<p>One day I went suddenly upon the terrace platform, and +found Cora standing close by one of the drawing-room windows, +with her shoulder against the framework. The blind +swinging open concealed her from any person within; and +the position she maintained, while sorting the shades from +some skeins of worsted that she held, was that of careless +rest. She moved indolently, and sauntered away on seeing +me; but it was with a heavy, sullen manner, as if she had +been unwarrantably disturbed. I looked into the sitting-room +in passing, and, as I expected, Lawrence and Jessie +were sitting on a sofa close to that window.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dennison was in splendid spirits when she came +back from her ride that day. There was something triumphant +in her step which put one in mind of some hand<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>some +Amazon returning from battle. She leaned heavily +on Mr. Lee, as he lifted her from the saddle; nay, I am +certain that she rested against him a moment longer than +was necessary.</p> + +<p>Jessie was standing near me, but noticed none of these +things. Noble girl, she was never on the lookout for evil. +Her upright mind tinted everything with its own pure +hues.</p> + +<p>Mr. Lee stayed a long time, giving orders about the +horses. When he came up the steps, I had an opportunity +of observing him closely. He was pale, and looked strange. +I cannot describe what I wish to be understood, but all the +influences that had so long dwelt around that man seemed +swept away. The very dignity of his tread was gone. +What had occasioned this? I know now, and never doubted +then. The woman sweeping through our hall, at the moment, +had produced this transformation; yet no words had +passed between them that his own daughter might not have +heard without reproof.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dennison gave us a triumphant glance, as she +passed the balcony where we were standing, and proclaimed +that she had never enjoyed a ride so much. It was a +heavenly day, and the landscape transcendent.</p> + +<p>Jessie smiled softly, and turned a bright glance on my +face, which said, more plainly than Mrs. Dennison's words, +"I, too, have had a heavenly day, which will go with my +dreams into many another day, making an Eden of them all."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page130" name="page130"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">AN OUTBREAK OF JEALOUSY.</span></h2> + + +<p>In a few moments Mrs. Dennison came out of her chamber, +still in her riding-habit. She was pale as death, +her eyes gleamed, and her lips quivered. She dashed into +the balcony, and laid her hand on Jessie's shoulder with +such rude suddenness, that the young girl drew back with +an impulse of surprise.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter, Mrs. Dennison?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dennison looked at her a moment, subdued the +quivering of her lips with a great effort, and broke into a +laugh so hoarse and constrained that Jessie shrunk back.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter?" she said. "Why, nothing; only +we have but just time to dress for dinner, and here you +stand as if the whole world could wait."</p> + +<p>I could see that her frame was trembling from head to +foot. The color would not come back to her face. With +all her powers, she was but a woman, and a jealous woman +at the best. From that moment I felt very sure that Cora +had performed her mission promptly. Jessie could not +understand it, but stood looking at her guest in blank +amazement.</p> + +<p>"You have ridden too far," she said, coldly, "and the +fatigue has shaken your nerves, I fear. Shall I send for a +glass of wine? it will be some time before dinner."</p> + +<p>"Wine? no; but—but I will take a glass of water, if +you please, Miss Hyde."</p> + +<p>Jessie seemed anxious to get away, for she started before +I could anticipate her to order the water, and I was left +alone with Mrs. Dennison. Her self-command was giving +way again. She sat down, and, covering her face with both +hands, shook from head to foot; but she did not weep. +Something too hard and fiery for tears possessed her.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes," she said at last, "Miss Lee is right! These long +rides do shake one's nerves terribly!"</p> + +<p>Directly Jessie came bringing a glass of water. With +her usual delicacy, she would not intrust the duty to a servant, +who might witness her friend's discomposure and comment +upon it.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dennison held the water a moment, regarding Jessie +with gleaming eyes, as if she longed to dash the contents in +her face; but the insane fit went off. She drank the water, +and arose to leave the balcony.</p> + +<p>"I am not usually nervous, but this ride has completely +upset me."</p> + +<p>With these words she left the balcony and went back to +her room.</p> + +<p>"She is very ill, I am sure, Aunt Matty," said Jessie, +full of gentle sympathy; "pray go and see if nothing more +can be done?"</p> + +<p>I went to Mrs. Dennison's chamber and knocked; no one +came or spoke. But the door stood upon the latch, and the +vibration of my hand unclosed it. Mrs. Dennison was standing +in the middle of the room, white with rage, and with +specks of foam on her lips. She was tearing open her habit +with a violence that made the buttons start. The face with +which she met my intrusion was that of a beautiful fiend.</p> + +<p>I closed the door and went back repulsed. But without +giving me time to cross the hall, she came to the door, +opened it wide, and called me in with a laugh.</p> + +<p>"Come back one moment," she said, "and tell me which +of these two dresses is most becoming. That which I had +intended for dinner, Cora has been altering, and she has +spoiled it entirely. I confess, Miss Hyde, that my temper +is not good enough to stand a pet dress in ruins. The fact +is, I have frightened poor Cora half to death."</p> + +<p>Quick as lightning, while her mistress spoke, Cora laid +some dresses on the bed, apologizing, in a low voice, for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> +mischief she had done. If I had possessed no clue to the +scene, it would have deceived me completely; but I comprehended +it too well, and absolutely felt myself growing +faint with disgust.</p> + +<p>"I am no judge in these matters," I said, without any +pretence at cordiality; "nor would my opinion be of the +least consequence if I were. Your dresses always prove +becoming, Mrs. Dennison."</p> + +<p>"The first compliment I ever received from you," she +answered, impressively; "I shall remember it with gratitude."</p> + +<p>I went quietly out of the room, tired of the scene.</p> + +<p>A little while after this, Lottie came to me with one of +her keen smiles, and, opening her hands, which were folded +palm to palm, gave me one glimpse of a little note, primrose-tinted, +and sealed with a drop of green wax, in which +an antique head was stamped.</p> + +<p>"What is it? whom is it for?" I inquired, thinking that +it must be intended for Jessie.</p> + +<p>"You'll see to-night, or to-morrow morning," she answered. +"Mrs. Babylon writes on handsome paper; I +won't use white any more. I'll say this for her: when it +comes to dress and pretty things, she can't be beat easy. +Don't quite come up to Mrs. Lee: who can?—but putting +her aside, I don't know Mrs. Babylon's match."</p> + +<p>"And is that Mrs. Dennison's note?"</p> + +<p>"Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no lies."</p> + +<p>"But how came it in your possession?"</p> + +<p>She eyed me a moment sideways, then broke forth as if +some grand thought had just seized upon her.</p> + +<p>"Now, I'll make a bargain with you, Miss Hyde. If +you'll just persuade my mistress, or Miss Jessie, to buy me +half a dozen sheets of that straw-colored paper, I'll tell you +all about it."</p> + +<p>"But what can you want of primrose paper, Lottie,—you +that never write letters?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No; but I may take to writing poetry; who knows?"</p> + +<p>She said this with a twinkle of the eye that provoked +me. How on earth had that creature got hold of my secret +weakness?</p> + +<p>"It isn't at all likely that you'll want paper for that +purpose, Miss Lottie."</p> + +<p>"Miss Lottie—Miss! Well now, I have always said +that if there was a genuine lady, and no nonsense in this +house, it was you, ma'am. Even my mistress hasn't got +up to that mark—Miss Lottie! Wouldn't that look +beautiful on a yellow note like this? Miss Lottie—"</p> + +<p>She plumed herself, like a bird, in the ecstasy of my +random speech, and both her hands and her heart opened +at once.</p> + +<p>"Now, I'll tell you all about it! There's no secret, and +if there is, I didn't promise not to tell; that is, down in my +heart. Cora came to me just now, and says she, 'Lottie, +you know all the men about the premises, I suppose?'</p> + +<p>"'Well, pretty much,' says I.</p> + +<p>"'I thought so,' she said. 'Now, here is a little note +that my mistress wants to have sent right off. If you can +coax one of the men to take a horse from the stable, and +just gallop over to Mr. Bosworth's with it, and bring an +answer back, she'll give you that dress you took such a +fancy to.'</p> + +<p>"'Well,' says I, 'hand over the note; I'll get it done.' +She had been holding the note seal up all the time, and +says she, 'Lottie'—not Miss Lottie, mind—but, 'Lottie, +can you read writing?'</p> + +<p>"'Can you?' says I.</p> + +<p>"'No,' says she; 'colored people seldom do.'</p> + +<p>"'Well, then I don't.'</p> + +<p>"'Well, this note is for a lady that is staying at Mr. +Bosworth's; she's an old friend of Mrs. Dennison's, and we +want to hear from her.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'All right,' says I. 'If you hadn't told this, it would +be Greek and Latin to me.'</p> + +<p>"She handed over the note, and told me to put it in my +bosom for fear of its being seen. So I did; and came here, +but not till I had read Mr. Lawrence's name on the outside. +Now, Miss Hyde, just tell me what to do."</p> + +<p>"There is one thing you must not do, Lottie, and that is, +tempt any of the men from their duty."</p> + +<p>"But then that dress! Light green foulard, with bunches +of roses—sweet roses!"</p> + +<p>"Wait a moment, Lottie; we must not do anything without +Mr. Lee's sanction: that will never answer."</p> + +<p>I went up to Mr. Lee, who was sitting in the window recess, +apparently reading, and asked if he could spare a +horse and man long enough to ride over to Mr. Bosworth's.</p> + +<p>"Who wishes to send?" he inquired, indifferently.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Dennison," I answered, not unwilling to give him +the information.</p> + +<p>He held the paper a little tighter in his hand, repeating:</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Dennison! What correspondent has she at Mrs. +Bosworth's?"</p> + +<p>There was an effort at indifference in his voice, but it did +not conceal that he was touched.</p> + +<p>I did not feel at liberty to answer his question, and said +nothing.</p> + +<p>After a moment's silence, he said,—</p> + +<p>"Certainly, Miss Hyde. Our guests always command +here."</p> + +<p>I went back to Lottie, and told her to carry Mr. Lee's +orders to the stable, and, if she wished it, claim her reward. +She seized my hand in an ecstasy of delight.</p> + +<p>"Oh! Miss Hyde, I never will talk about poetry again, +never so long as I live; but I'll tell everybody that you +don't know a thing about it, no more than I do; and I believe +it."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p> + +<p>With this outburst she went away. Directly after, I saw +one of the grooms riding down the road. Two hours after, +he came back, and gave Lottie, who was waiting near the +pine woods, with great appearance of secrecy, a note, with +which she went at once to Mrs. Dennison, evidently resolved +to keep up appearances, and leave her employers in the belief +that the whole thing had been managed privately.</p> + +<p>I had thrown the subject of the note quite off my thoughts, +when the groom, who had been to Mr. Bosworth's, came to +me in the garden with distressing news.</p> + +<p>Poor young Bosworth was ill—so ill, that he had not +been out of his room for some days; and his mother desired +very much that I should come over and see him. He had +spoken of it several times, and, now that he was growing +worse, she could refuse him nothing. It was asking a great +deal, but would I come at the earliest time possible?</p> + +<p>This was indeed sad news. I liked the young man. He +was honorable, generous, and in all respects a person to fix +one's affections upon—that is, such affections as a lady +just dropping the bloom of her youth may bestow on the +man who looks upon her as a sort of relative.</p> + +<p>Of course I would go to see Bosworth in his sickness. +"God bless and help the young man," I whispered; "if she +could only think of him as I do!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page135" name="page135"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIV.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">THE OLD PENNSYLVANIA MANSION.</span></h2> + + +<p>The Bosworths lived behind the spur of the mountain +which shut out a portion of the valley from our house +by its crown of forest-trees. I had taken little exercise in +the open air of late, for Mrs. Dennison monopolized the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> +horse I had been in the habit of riding, with my usual +seat in the carriage. Perhaps I felt a little hurt at this, +and would not ask favors that had until now been mine +without solicitation. In my love of out-door exercise I am +half an English woman. So, mentioning to Mrs. Lee and +Jessie that I was going out for a long walk across the fields, +I started for Mrs. Bosworth's house.</p> + +<p>It was a splendid afternoon. The sunshine, warm and +golden, without being oppressive, was softened by transparent +clouds that drifted like currents and waves of gauze +athwart the sky. The meadows were full of daisies, buttercups, +and crimson clover, through which the blue-flies and +bumble-bees fluttered and hummed their drowsy music. +In the pastures clouds of grasshoppers sprang up, with a +whir, from the clusters of white everlasting that sprinkled +the slopes like a snow-storm; and little birds bent down the +stately mullein-stalks with their weight, and sang cheerily +after me from the crooks of the fences.</p> + +<p>How I loved these little creatures with their bright eyes and +graceful ways! How quietly they opened my heart to those +sweet impulses that make one grateful and child-like! My +step grew buoyant, and I felt a cool, fresh color mounting +to my cheeks. The walk had done me good. I had been +too much in the house, indulging in strange fancies that +were calculated to make no one happy, and were, perhaps, +unjust. How could I have sunk into this state of mind? +Was I jealous of Mrs. Dennison? Yes, possibly! But not +as another would have understood the feeling. It was +rather hard to hear the whole household singing her +praises from morning till night; and Jessie, my own Jessie, +seemed so bound up in the woman.</p> + +<p>Well, after all, these things seemed much more important +in the house, where I felt like an involuntary prisoner, than +they appeared to me, with the open fields breathing fragrance +around me, and the blue skies speaking beautifully +of the beneficent God who reigned above them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p> + +<p>I really think the birds in that neighborhood had learned +to love me a little, they gave such quaint little looks, and +burst into such volumes of song among the hazel-bushes as +I passed. Before I knew it, fragments of melodies were on +my own lips. I gathered handful after handful of the +meadow-flowers, grouping the choicest into bouquets, and +scattering the rest along my path. Thus you might have +tracked my progress by tufts of grass, and golden lilies, as +the little boy in fairy history was traced by the pebble-stones +he dropped.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bosworth's house was one of the oldest and finest of +those ponderous Dutch mansions that are scattered over +Pennsylvania. There were rich lands to back that old-fashioned +building, and any amount of invested property, independent +of the lands. After all, young Bosworth was no +contemptible match for our Jessie, even in a worldly point +of view. If his residence lacked something of the elegance +and modern appointments for which ours was remarkable, +it had an aspect of age and affluence quite as imposing. Indeed, +in some respects it possessed advantages which our +house could not boast.</p> + +<p>Majestic trees that struck their roots in a virgin soil, and +shrubbery that had grown almost into trees, surrounded the +old house. One great, white lilac-bush lifted itself above +the second-story windows, and old-fashioned white roses +clambered half over the stone front. Then there was a huge +honeysuckle that spread itself like a banner upon one corner, +garlanding the eaves, and dropping down in rich festoons +from the roof itself.</p> + +<p>But all this was nothing compared to that magnificent +elm-tree, which overhung a wing of the building with its +tent-like branches, through which the wind was eternally +whispering, and the sunshine was broken into faint flashes +before it reached the roof. I had never been so much impressed +with the dignity of old times, as when I approached<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> +this dwelling. It possessed all the respectability of a family +mansion, growing antique in the prosperity which surrounded +it, without any attempt at modern improvements.</p> + +<p>The very flowers on the premises were old-fashioned; +great snow-ball bushes and rows of fruit-trees predominating. +In the square garden, with its pointed picket-fence, +that ran along the road, I saw clusters of smallage, and thickets +of delicate fennel. On each side the broad threshold-stone +stood green boxes running over with live-forever and house-leeks, +while all around the lower edges of the stone foundation +that exquisite velvet moss, which we oftenest find on old +houses, was creeping.</p> + +<p>I lifted the heavy brass knocker very cautiously, for it +was ponderous enough to have reverberated through the +house. Even the light blow I gave frightened me. No +wonder people felt constrained to muffle knockers like that +in the good old times, when sickness came to the family.</p> + +<p>A quiet, middle-aged colored woman came to the door. +She knew me at once, though it was the first time I had +entered the house in years.</p> + +<p>"Come in, Miss Hyde," she said, welcoming me with a +genial look. "Mrs. Bosworth said, if you called she would +come right straight down and see you; so walk in."</p> + +<p>She opened the door of a sitting-room on the right of the +hall. It was old-fashioned like the exterior of the building. +Windows sunk deep into the wall, ponderous chairs, and a +capacious, high-backed sofa with crimson cushions, and embroidered +footstools standing before it,—all had an air of +comfortable ease. The carpet had been very rich in its +time, and harmonized well with the rest of the apartment.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page139" name="page139"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXV.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">THE MOTHER AND GRANDMOTHER.</span></h2> + + +<p>I seated myself on the sofa, and waited with some +anxiety. Surely, my young friend must be very ill to +have abandoned this room for his own! What a comfortable +look the place had! How delightfully all the tints +were toned down! There stood a queer, old work-table, +with any amount of curiously twisted legs, and on it an +antique bible, mounted and clasped with silver. Such books +are only to be found now in the curiosity shops of the country. +Under this table, and somehow lodged among its complication +of legs, was the old lady's work-basket, in which I +detected a silver-mounted case for knitting-needles, some +balls of worsted, and an embroidered needle-book. Ladies +are always noticing these little feminine details; they aid +us greatly in that quick knowledge of character which men +are apt to set down as intuition.</p> + +<p>While I was thinking over these speculations, a step in +the hall, and the rich, heavy rustle of those old silks that +our grandmothers were so proud of, disturbed me. The +door opened, and an old lady, very old indeed, came into +the room.</p> + +<p>I stood up involuntarily, for the person of this old lady +was so imposing, that it exacted a degree of homage which +I had never felt before. I can imagine a figure like that, +wandering through the vast picture-galleries of some fine +English castle, and there I should have given her a title at +first sight. As it was, her person struck me with amazement. +Not that it was out of keeping with the premises, +but because this lady was altogether a grander and older +person than I had expected to see in that house.</p> + +<p>She received my salutation with a slow curtsy, very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> +slight and dignified in its movement, and, advancing to a +huge, crimson easy-chair that stood near the work-table, sat +down.</p> + +<p>"My daughter is in her son's room," she said, in a soft +and measured voice, glancing at me with her placid eyes. +"He is very ill, and we are frightened about him."</p> + +<p>"Is not this sudden?" I inquired.</p> + +<p>"Yes, very; we don't know what to make of it. He is +always so healthy and so cheerful; something has gone wrong +with him, Miss Hyde."</p> + +<p>She looked at me earnestly, as if expecting that I would +explain the something which was beyond her understanding.</p> + +<p>I felt myself blushing. It was not for me to speak of +Jessie's affairs to any one, certainly not in a case like this.</p> + +<p>The old lady dropped her eyes, and, taking her knitting-case +from the basket, laid it in her lap, evidently disposed +to give me time. At length she spoke again.</p> + +<p>"My grandson has enjoyed himself so much since we came +to the country, especially since his friend, Mr. Lawrence, +arrived; and now to have him struck down all at once—it +is disheartening!"</p> + +<p>"Is he so very ill?" I inquired.</p> + +<p>"He has been restless and excited, more or less, for a week +or more, but during the last three days has fallen seriously +ill. Now he is entirely out of his head; my daughter sat +up with him all last night; the doctor was here this morning. +He pronounces it a brain-fever."</p> + +<p>I was really disturbed. She saw it and went on.</p> + +<p>"He asked for you three or four times during the night; +and—and for another person whom we could not venture +to invite here."</p> + +<p>"I am glad you sent for me," I replied, anxious to waive +all explanation. "At home they consider me a tolerable +nurse."</p> + +<p>She looked at me seriously a moment, and then said, in a +gentle, impressive way,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"Miss Hyde, be kind to an old woman who has nothing +but the good of her child at heart, and tell me if Miss Lee +has—has repulsed my grandson?"</p> + +<p>"No, not that, madam; but, but—"</p> + +<p>"She has rejected him, I see it by your face; I suspected +it from his wanderings," she said, sorrowfully.</p> + +<p>I was silent; the mournful accents of her voice touched +my heart.</p> + +<p>"You have no hope to give the old woman?" she said. +"Yet to her it seems impossible for any one not to love Bosworth."</p> + +<p>"I am sure there is no man living for whom Miss Lee +has more respect," I answered.</p> + +<p>She smiled a little sadly.</p> + +<p>"Respect! That is a cold word to the young heart, Miss +Hyde."</p> + +<p>That moment the door opened and Bosworth's mother +came in. She was altogether unlike the stately old lady +with whom I was conversing. Her small figure, wavering +black eyes, and restless manner, spoke of an entirely different +organism, which was natural enough, as she was only +connected with the stately dame by marriage with her son, +a union that had been consecrated by an early widowhood.</p> + +<p>It was easy to see that the elder lady was mistress of that +house, and that the daughter-in-law held her in profound +reverence. Poor lady! she was in great distress, and came +up to me at once.</p> + +<p>"You are kind, very kind," she exclaimed; "he has +asked for you so often. Oh! Miss Hyde, it is terrible to see +him in this state with no way of helping."</p> + +<p>"It is indeed," I answered, pitying her from my heart.</p> + +<p>"Will you go up now? He asked for you and some one +else only a few minutes ago," she said, walking up and down +the room in nervous distress. "It was an out-of-the-way +thing to send for you, almost a stranger, for the Ridge has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> +been empty so long that you all seem like new people, but +I am sure you will excuse it. Oh! Miss Hyde, we love him +so. We two lonely women, and to lose him!"</p> + +<p>Here the poor mother burst into a passion of tears; while +the old lady sat down by her work-table and looked on with +a sorrowful countenance.</p> + +<p>A noise from up-stairs arrested the younger Mrs. Bosworth +in her walk.</p> + +<p>"He is calling," she said. "Oh! Miss Hyde, he cannot +bear me out of his sight! Just as it was years ago, when +he would plead with me to sit by his bed, after our mother +there insisted on the lamp being put out."</p> + +<p>The old lady shook her head, and smiled sadly. "You +were spoiling the boy, Hester, making a little coward of +him; but he soon ceased to be afraid of the dark,—a brave +young man, Miss Hyde, and a comfort to his mother; God +spare him to us!"</p> + +<p>Hester Bosworth began to cry afresh at these encomiums; +and, going up to her mother-in-law's chair, bent her head +upon the back, sobbing aloud.</p> + +<p>The old lady reached up her soft, little hand, and patted +the poor mother on the cheek as if she had been a child.</p> + +<p>"Don't fret so, Hester. Our boy is young, and his constitution +will not give way easily. A little sleep—if we +could only induce a few hours' sleep!"</p> + +<p>"I have made a hop pillow for him, and done everything," +sobbed the mother; "but there he lies, looking, +looking, looking, now at the wall, now at the ceiling, and +muttering to himself."</p> + +<p>"I know—I know," said the grandmother, hastily lifting +her hand, as if the description wounded her. "Will +nothing give him a little sleep?"</p> + +<p>I remembered how often Mrs. Lee, in her nervous paroxysms, +had been soothed to rest by the gentle force of my +own will. Indeed, I sometimes fancy that some peculiar<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> +gift has been granted to me, by which physical suffering +grows less in my presence.</p> + +<p>"Shall I go up with you, Mrs. Bosworth?" I said, inspired +with hope by this new idea. "He may recognize +me as an old friend."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, yes!" she exclaimed, leading the way. +"Mother, will you come?"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page143" name="page143"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVI.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">SICK-BED FANCIES.</span></h2> + + +<p>We mounted the staircase, a broad, old-fashioned flight +of steps, surmounted with heavy balustrades of black +oak. There was a thick carpet running up them; but, +lightly as we trod, the keen ear of the invalid detected a +strange presence, and I heard his voice, muffled and rough +with fever, calling out, "Yes, yes, I knew, I knew, I knew +that she would come!" Then he broke into the notes of +some opera-song.</p> + +<p>There was a cool, artificial twilight in the chamber when +we entered it; but through the bars of the outer blinds a +gleam of sunshine shot across the room, and broke against +the wall opposite the great, high-posted bed on which young +Bosworth was lying. The chamber was large, and but for +the closed blinds would have been cheerful. As it was, a +great easy-chair, draped with white dimity, loomed up like +a snow-drift near the bed; which being clothed in like spotless +fashion, gave a ghastly appearance to everything +around.</p> + +<p>Young Bosworth lay upon the bed with his arms feebly +uplifted, and his great, wild eyes wandering almost fiercely +after the sunbeams which came and went like golden arrows,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> +as the branches of an elm-tree near the window changed +their position.</p> + +<p>I went up to the bed, and touched the young man's wrist. +The pulse that leaped against my fingers was like the blows +of a tiny hammer; his eyes turned on my face, and he +clutched my hand, laughing pleasantly.</p> + +<p>"How cool your hand is!" he said, with a child-like +murmur. "You have been among the clover-blossoms; +their breath is all around me."</p> + +<p>"Yes," I said, dropping into his own monotone without +an effort, "I came through the meadows, and brought some +of the flowers with me. See how fresh and sweet they are."</p> + +<p>He took the flowers eagerly, grasping them with both +hands.</p> + +<p>"Did she send them?" he whispered, mysteriously. "Did +she?"</p> + +<p>I smiled, but would not answer. The delusion seemed +pleasant, and it would be cruelty to disturb it. He held +the blossoms caressingly in his hand; a smile wandered +over his lips, and he whispered over soft fragments of some +melody that I remembered as one of Jessie's favorites.</p> + +<p>Directly the flowers dropped from his grasp, and he began +to search after the sunbeam again, clutching at it feverishly, +and looking in his hands with vague wonder when he found +them empty.</p> + +<p>I do not think the young man recognized me at all; but +my presence certainly aroused new associations.</p> + +<p>He looked wistfully into my face with that vacant stare +of delirium which is so painful, and then his eyes wandered +away, as if in search of some object they could not find.</p> + +<p>"Jessie," he murmured; "Jessie Lee, are you there? +Won't you speak to me once more, Jessie?"</p> + +<p>The expression of his countenance changed so entirely—a +look of such tender, earnest entreaty settled about his +handsome, sensitive mouth—that I felt the tears come into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> +my eyes. When I looked up, I saw the stately old grandmother +gazing directly upon me; while little Mrs. Bosworth, +in her very efforts to be at the same time perfectly +quiet and extremely useful, fluttered about in a feeble way +that would have annoyed me beyond endurance had I been +the sick person.</p> + +<p>But the young man, apparently susceptible neither to +outer sights nor sounds, saw nothing and heard nothing but +the fanciful shapes and mocking whispers of his fever-visions.</p> + +<p>"Put these flowers in your hair, Jessie," he said, somewhat +brokenly, "they are wild flowers such as you love, +and I love them for your sake—for your sake."</p> + +<p>He put out his hands, moving them to and fro over the +counterpane, to gather up the blossoms he had scattered +there; but his fingers wandered so uncertainly, that even +when he succeeded in collecting a few, they would drop +from his grasp. I saw he began to grow impatient, and I +knew that the least thing would excite his fever and thereby +increase the delirium, so I put the flowers softly into his +palm. He smiled in a satisfied way.</p> + +<p>"Here they are," he said; "take them, Jessie; see what +a pretty wreath they make."</p> + +<p>Then the smile changed to a look of pain. He let the +flowers fall to the counterpane with a low moan.</p> + +<p>"She has a wreath on now!" he exclaimed. "Jessie Lee, +who gave you that? White flowers! Bridal flowers!"</p> + +<p>He started up in the bed with such violence, that his +mother hurried forward with a cry of dismay, and, getting +into mischief, as people in a flurry are sure to do, she upset +a bottle of cologne and a goblet, but fortunately the old +lady caught them before they reached the floor.</p> + +<p>"Oh my!" sobbed little Mrs. Bosworth, in nervous fright, +"what have I done? Oh! dear, dear!"</p> + +<p>"Sit down, my dear," said her mother-in-law, with a good +deal of steadiness; "you only disturb him."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But he looks so wild. Hadn't I better send for the +doctor?"</p> + +<p>"No, no. He will be here before long. Leave my grandson +to Miss Hyde; she will quiet him."</p> + +<p>The old lady looked at me, with confidence in my powers, +and the mother joined her in a helpless, despairing manner, +mixed with a little maternal jealousy, at seeing me in the +place that was hers by right. I felt quite nervous and disturbed +by this joint appeal; however, I was not foolish +enough to give way to any weakness or nonsense when composure +was required, so I drew close to the bed, and laid my +hand on Bosworth's arm. He was muttering wildly, and I +could catch the words,—</p> + +<p>"Are they bridal flowers, Jessie Lee?"</p> + +<p>"She has taken off the wreath," I whispered.</p> + +<p>"No, no; it is there on her forehead. Who gave it to +her?"</p> + +<p>"She has thrown it aside," I protested; "she would not +wear it a moment after she knew it pained you. It is gone +now."</p> + +<p>He looked earnestly at the place where he thought Jessie +stood, and fell back on his pillows with a sigh of satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"Kind Jessie," he said, "kind Jessie!"</p> + +<p>But that quiet only lasted for a few moments. He grew +more restless than before; and I saw old Mrs. Bosworth +looking at me still, as if she had fully made up her mind +that I could compose him, and nothing less than that desirable +effect would satisfy her. Really, with those old-world +eyes fastened upon me, I could not avoid exerting all my +powers, although in my heart I fairly wished the fidgety +little mother safe in her own room.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page147" name="page147"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">THE FIRST SOUND SLEEP.</span></h2> + + +<p>I sat down by the young man's bed; I talked to him +in a low voice—a great deal of nonsense, I dare say; +I was not thinking how it might sound, but was only anxious +to soothe him; and while I talked I smoothed his hair and +passed my hand slowly across his forehead, after a fashion +which I had acquired in my attendance upon Mrs. Lee, +during her numerous illnesses.</p> + +<p>I cannot pretend to account for it, but from my earliest +girlhood I always had a faculty for taking care of sick +people, and of soothing them when no other person could.</p> + +<p>My art did not fail that time. Bosworth's voice grew +lower and lower; his hands crossed themselves upon the +counterpane; his eyes closed, and very soon his measured +breathing proved that he was quietly asleep. When I +looked up, that stately old duchess of a grandmother was regarding +me with such a blessing in her eyes, that I felt the +dew steal into mine; while the younger lady, subdued out of +her fidgetiness, appeared almost tranquil, and was quite silent.</p> + +<p>Nobody stirred or spoke. There we sat and watched the +sick man as he slept—that quiet sleep which the physician +had pronounced so necessary for him, and which his art had +failed to procure. It is not often that I feel thoroughly +satisfied with Martha Hyde, but I confess that just then I +did; not that it proceeded from a sense of self-importance, +or anything of that sort, but it is seldom that a quiet person +like me has an opportunity of doing good to anybody, and +when the occasion does arrive, it is more pleasant than I +can at all describe.</p> + +<p>Bosworth must have slept nearly an hour; the instant he +opened his eyes, I saw that the fever had abated a little.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> +He smiled faintly at his mother and the old lady; then his +glance fell upon me. Through the feverish flush still on +his face there appeared a glow of thankfulness and pleasure, +which was beautiful to behold.</p> + +<p>"Is that you, Miss Hyde?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes," I said; "I have been sitting here for some time. +You have had a nice sleep; to-morrow you will be better."</p> + +<p>"Thank you; I hope so."</p> + +<p>Little Mrs. Bosworth began to flutter; but the old lady +put her down with a strong hand, and the weak female subsided +into her chair, meek as a hen-pigeon that has been +unexpectedly pecked by her mate.</p> + +<p>I saw, by the way Bosworth looked at them, that he wished +to speak with me alone; the old duchess saw it too, and +said, with the decision which was evidently habitual to her:</p> + +<p>"My daughter, if Miss Hyde will sit with our boy a little +longer, we will go into the garden for a breath of air."</p> + +<p>Bosworth called them to him, kissed his mother's cheek, +and the grandmother's hand, and the old lady went out in +her stately way, while the small woman followed in her +wake, like a little boat tacked to a graceful yacht.</p> + +<p>"Miss Hyde," said the young man, the moment the door +closed, "you came alone?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," I replied; "I hurried off without telling any one +where I was going."</p> + +<p>"You are very kind," he repeated. "They are all well, +I hope, at the house?"</p> + +<p>"Very well; they will be sorry to hear that you are sick."</p> + +<p>"Miss Hyde!" he exclaimed, hurriedly,—so weak from +sickness that he forgot all the reticence and self-command +which characterized him in health,—"Miss Hyde, do you +think she would come to see me?"</p> + +<p>I knew whom he meant—there was no necessity for mentioning +any name.</p> + +<p>"Would she come, do you believe?" he asked again.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I am certain that she would," I replied. "You are an +old friend to all of us; why should she not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, an old friend," he answered, sadly; "I know, I +know! I won't pain her; she shall not be troubled; promise +to bring her, Miss Hyde."</p> + +<p>"I can promise unhesitatingly," I said; "I have no doubt +Mr. Lee will bring her himself, to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"To-morrow—oh! how much I thank you!" And he +smiled like a tired child. "Will you call my mother +now?" he continued; "she will feel troubled if she thinks I +can do without her."</p> + +<p>I went out into the hall, where the two ladies stood, and +beckoned them into the room. We all remained about the +bed for a few moments, talking cheerfully; then I bade +Bosworth good-bye, answered the entreaty in his eyes with +a smile, and went down-stairs.</p> + +<p>The grandmother followed me, and, when we reached the +outer door, took my hand between both of hers.</p> + +<p>"You are very good!" she said. "We have long been +strangers to each other, Miss Hyde; but an old woman's +blessing cannot hurt you, and I give it to you."</p> + +<p>I was so much affected, that it was all I could do to keep +from crying like a child; but I did not give way, and, +mutually anxious to restrain our feelings, we parted with a +certain degree of haste, which an unobservant looker-on +might have construed into indifference. But I think that +grand old woman understood me, even from that short interview, +and I know that, for my part, I went forth from +her presence solemnized and calmed as one leaves a church.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page150" name="page150"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVIII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">THE INTERVIEW IN THE WOODS.</span></h2> + + +<p>I walked slowly homeward, reflecting upon the +events of the morning, and waiting, oh, how fervently! +that Jessie Lee might learn to know young Bosworth as I +did, and be able to shed a ray of light into the darkness +wherein he had fallen.</p> + +<p>I left the path through the fields, and took my way into +the woods, as I knew a short cut that would lead me more +quickly into our grounds.</p> + +<p>I had passed half through the grove, perhaps, scarcely +heeding anything around me, but on reaching a little ascent, +I saw, through a break in the trees, two persons standing +at a considerable distance from the path. Their backs +were toward me, but I recognized them instantly. They +were Mrs. Dennison and Mr. Lawrence.</p> + +<p>I understood at once the meaning of the note which she +had sent to him—it was to ask for that interview.</p> + +<p>Every day my dislike of that woman increased; each +effort that I made to conquer the feeling only seemed to +make it grow more intense, and this last plot that I had +unintentionally discovered filled me with something very +like abhorrence. Of course, I was not so silly as to conjure +anything really wrong out of the request she had made; +but I was certain that something more than trivial coquetry +was hidden under it.</p> + +<p>Instinctively, I began to tremble for Jessie: by what +series of ideas I managed to connect her with that meeting, +I cannot say; but I did so, and after that first glance I +went on, burning with indignation against the artful woman, +who seemed to have brought numberless shadows into the +sunshine, which, before her coming, had pervaded our pleasant +home.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p> + +<p>Once, as I hastened on through the dark woods, I looked +back at the pair,—they were conversing earnestly. In +Lawrence's manner there was a degree of impetuosity and +impatience; while from Mrs. Dennison's attitude and gestures +I felt certain that she was pleading with him to change +some purpose he had formed.</p> + +<p>Just as I passed from the woods into the grounds, I saw +that ubiquitous Lottie steal out from among the trees, and +flit like a lapwing toward the house.</p> + +<p>It was not difficult to imagine what new mischief she had +been at—spying and listening, no doubt. Lottie did not +count it a sin, and I knew very well that she had been coolly +out into the woods to overhear Mrs. Dennison's conversation +with Lawrence.</p> + +<p>Some noise that I made attracted her attention; she +dropped down on her knees—like a rabbit trying to hide +itself in the grass—and began hunting for four-leaved +clovers where clover had never grown since the memory of +man.</p> + +<p>"What are you doing, Lottie?" I asked, walking toward her.</p> + +<p>She looked round with a fine show of innocence, although +her eyes twinkled suspiciously.</p> + +<p>"Oh! it's you, Miss Hyde," she said, in no wise confused, +rising from her knees with great deliberation and majesty.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is I. And what brings you here?" I inquired.</p> + +<p>"There's several things I might have been doing," she +answered, walking on by my side; "picking flowers, or saying +my prayers, or—"</p> + +<p>"Well—what else?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! anything you please; poetry people ought to be +able to guess."</p> + +<p>"Lottie! Lottie!"</p> + +<p>"There—I won't say a word more! I'm dumb as Miss +Jessie's canary in moulting-time."</p> + +<p>"Then, perhaps, you will manage to find voice enough to +tell me where you have been?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Of course, Miss Hyde; I never have any secrets—that's +just what I was saying to Cora, this morning."</p> + +<p>"Never mind Cora."</p> + +<p>"But I do; she's worth minding, and so's her mistress. +Mrs. Babylon and I are alike in one thing—we are both +fond of fresh air."</p> + +<p>"Indeed! You seem well acquainted with the lady's +tastes."</p> + +<p>"Well, I may say I am; and you needn't take the trouble +to contradict! Acquainted with them? Well, if I ain't, I +flatter myself there's nobody in our house that is."</p> + +<p>I did not answer; the girl's conversation was too quaint +and amusing even to sound impertinent, still, I did not wish +to encourage her by any sign of approval.</p> + +<p>"Miss Hyde," she asked, "did you see any strange birds +in the woods?"</p> + +<p>"None, Lottie."</p> + +<p>"Buy a pair of spectacles, Miss Hyde; don't put it off a +day longer! I tell you, out yonder there's two birds well +worth watching;—the queerest part is, that it's the female +that sings—ain't she a red fellar?"</p> + +<p>"I saw Mrs. Dennison and Mr. Lawrence, if you mean +them," I replied.</p> + +<p>"Hush! don't mention names! You mean Babylon and +her prey! Oh my! that Babylon! Well, I declare, sometimes +I'm ready to give up beat; that woman goes ahead of +anything <i>I</i> ever came across."</p> + +<p>Lottie paused, took a long breath, flung up her arms, and +performed a variety of singular and dizzy evolutions, by +way of expressing her astonishment; then she went on,—</p> + +<p>"What do you think she's at now?"</p> + +<p>I shook my head.</p> + +<p>"It's as good a thing as you can do," said Lottie, approvingly; +"but you might shake it till doomsday before +you'd get Mrs. Babylon's man[oe]uvres through it, I can tell +you that, Miss Hyde."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span></p> + +<p>I wanted to reprove the girl; I felt mean, dishonest; yet +I was so anxious about Jessie that I could not prevent +myself listening to any revelations the little imp might see +fit to make.</p> + +<p>"She's put a hornet into Lawrence's hair this time, and +no mistake," said Lottie; "and Lord! don't it sting, and +make him jump?"</p> + +<p>"What do you mean, you ridiculous child?"</p> + +<p>"Mean, Miss Hyde? A whole bucketful—a seaful! +Why, Babylon's been telling Lawrence that young Mr. Bosworth +and our Miss Jessie are engaged."</p> + +<p>"Impossible, Lottie! She could not assert so unblushing +a falsehood!"</p> + +<p>"Oh! couldn't she?" cried Lottie, clapping her arms as +if they were wings, and giving vent to a crow to express +her enjoyment. "As for blushing, don't she know the rub +of mullein-leaves? But she did tell him so. She said she +was sure that they had been engaged, and that he, Lawrence, +had innocently made trouble between them by flirting with +Miss Lee;—now, what is flirting, Miss Hyde?"</p> + +<p>"The abominable woman!" I involuntarily exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," said Lottie, "she's only Babylon. But I tell +you what, that Lawrence isn't much of a snoop. He's a +nicer fellow than I took him for. What do you think he +did?"</p> + +<p>"I can't imagine."</p> + +<p>"He just turned on Babylon, like a hawk on a June-bug. +'I cannot believe this,' says he; 'but I will go to Bosworth +this very day and explain.'</p> + +<p>"Then Babylon began to flutter; she didn't want that to +happen, you know.</p> + +<p>"'He's sick,' says she; 'not expected to live.'</p> + +<p>"'The more reason why I should explain,' says he.</p> + +<p>"Then she twisted, and fluttered, and coaxed, and finally +got him to promise not to say a word to anybody, to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> +regulated by her advice, and so on—she would be his +friend—oh! how sincere a friend!—and then she took his +hand, squeezed out a tear or so, and before long she had +him in her clutch. Oh! it was as good as one of Miss +Jessie's play-books."</p> + +<p>I had not interrupted Lottie; when she paused, I was +speechless still.</p> + +<p>"What do you think now?" she demanded, triumphantly.</p> + +<p>"I do not know," I answered, so troubled and despondent +that I had no courage to rebuke the girl.</p> + +<p>"We'll fix her yet," said Lottie; "don't you fret, Miss +Hyde. I'll pay Babylon off before she's many weeks older, +or you may call my head a puff-ball."</p> + +<p>"You silly child," I returned, smiling in spite of myself, +"what can you do?"</p> + +<p>"Come, I like that!" snapped Lottie. "Why, what sort +of a state would you all be in if it wasn't for me—tell me +that? I've got my dear mistress, and Miss Jessie, and +you, and everybody on my hands; but I'll bring you out +square, I will, Miss Hyde."</p> + +<p>"I wish you would leave things as they are, Lottie, and +attend to your own affairs."</p> + +<p>"These are my affairs, Miss Hyde, now don't say they +ain't! I'm not a bad girl; I love them that have been +kind to me, and I'd sooner have my hand burned off than +not try to help them when I see they need it."</p> + +<p>"Be careful that you get into no mischief."</p> + +<p>"I'll take care of myself! Only wait, Miss Hyde. Keep +tranquil and cool, Lottie's around!"</p> + +<p>She gave another jump, a louder crow, and lighted on +her feet, in no way discomposed by her impromptu leap.</p> + +<p>By this time we had come in sight of the house. Lottie +looked back.</p> + +<p>"I see Babylon's red shawl," said she; "off's the word. +Good-bye, Miss Hyde."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span></p> + +<p>She darted away before I could speak, and I walked on +toward the house, in no mood to encounter the woman at +that moment. I saw Jessie and Mr. Lee standing upon the +terrace; he turned and went into the house after a few +seconds. I paused a moment, collected myself as well as I +was able, and walked toward the spot where Jessie stood, +determined to tell her at once of my visit to Mr. Bosworth, +and urge her to comply with the request which he had +made.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page155" name="page155"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIX.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">TROUBLES GATHER ABOUT OUR JESSIE.</span></h2> + + +<p>Jessie did not look up as I approached; she stood +absently pulling the flowers from a vine that fell in +luxuriant masses over a trellis by her side, and appeared so +much engrossed by her own thoughts, that she did not even +hear my footsteps.</p> + +<p>They were not pleasant reflections which filled her mind. +Sunny visions, such as those which, a few weeks since, had +made her face so bright and beautiful, were seldom on her +features now. I could see by the mournful expression of +her mouth, and the despondency of her whole attitude,—so +unlike anything I was accustomed to remark in our Jessie, +that something was troubling her.</p> + +<p>"You naughty girl!" I said, as I ascended the steps; +"how can you find the heart to spoil that pretty vine?"</p> + +<p>She started, turned quickly round, and a burning blush +shot up to her forehead, while she looked at me in a confused +way, as if she supposed me able to read her very +thoughts.</p> + +<p>"Oh! is it you, Aunt Matty?" she exclaimed, trying to +laugh and seem more at ease.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I believe so," was my answer; "I have every reason to +suppose that I am that person, and very tired into the +bargain."</p> + +<p>"You look fatigued," she said, with her usual kindness; +"do go up-stairs and lie down before dinner."</p> + +<p>"Now, my dear, you know I am never guilty of that +weakness."</p> + +<p>"I forgot."</p> + +<p>"How could you? I am astonished—when you know +how much I pride myself on regular habits and a systematic +disposal of my time!"</p> + +<p>She laughed a little at my nonsense, which was the thing +I desired; for it pained me greatly to see her look so weary +and disconsolate.</p> + +<p>"At all events, you will sit down, I suppose," she said, +running into the hall and bringing out a chair. "Your +rigid principles do not prevent that!"</p> + +<p>"Thank you, my dear. I am happy to say they do not."</p> + +<p>I seated myself, really glad of an opportunity to rest; for +now that excitement had passed, I was astonished to find +myself worn out in body and mind. The mere walk could +never have produced that sensation—I was too much accustomed +to out-door exercise for any fine lady feebleness +of that kind; but my interview with Bosworth and his +friends, the sight of Mrs. Dennison and Mr. Lawrence in +the wood, together with Lottie's revelations, had so worked +upon my mind, that I had no strength left.</p> + +<p>"Dear me! Aunt Matty!" exclaimed Jessie; "how tired +and pale you look! I never saw you so overcome!"</p> + +<p>"It is nothing. I walked faster than I ought, perhaps."</p> + +<p>"That is not all," she answered; "I am sure something +troubles you."</p> + +<p>"So there does!" I said,—"very greatly!"</p> + +<p>"Can I help you? You know how gladly I will do it."</p> + +<p>She began untying my bonnet-strings, drawing off my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> +shawl, and performing every little office possible to show +her solicitude.</p> + +<p>Generally, I dislike to have anybody touch me, or assist +me in any way; but it was always a pleasure to feel Jessie's +fingers smoothing my hair, or arranging my collar; and +just then her assiduity quieted me more than anything +else could have done.</p> + +<p>"Did you take a long walk?" Jessie asked, apparently +anxious to turn my thoughts from the painful theme upon +which she supposed them to be dwelling.</p> + +<p>"Yes, very long, Jessie; I have been over to old Mrs. +Bosworth's."</p> + +<p>She looked at me in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Why, you hardly know the ladies! How came you to +go there, Aunt Matty?"</p> + +<p>"The old lady sent for me."</p> + +<p>"Sent for you!" interrupted Jessie, in wonder and displeasure, +while her great eyes gave me a searching glance.</p> + +<p>"Young Bosworth is very sick, and he wished so much +to see me that his grandmother put aside all ceremony, and +desired me to go as soon as possible."</p> + +<p>Jessie turned very pale while I spoke, and leaned heavily +against the arm of my chair.</p> + +<p>"Was it sudden?" she asked, trembling. "Has he been +sick long, Matty?"</p> + +<p>"For several days, I believe."</p> + +<p>I had not the heart to tell her that he was stricken down +the very day after his last visit to her father's house, lest +she should accuse herself as the cause.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter?"</p> + +<p>"He has brain-fever, Jessie."</p> + +<p>She uttered a cry.</p> + +<p>"Oh! Aunt Matty! Aunt Matty!"</p> + +<p>"I hope he is not in great danger," I said, anxious to +soothe her. "He was able to talk with me, and he had a +comfortable sleep."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p> + +<p>She put her hands in mine, with a look so beseeching and +helpless, that I answered as if she had spoken.</p> + +<p>"He asked for you," I said. "He wants to see you, Jessie."</p> + +<p>She shrunk back, and held up her hands like a child +pleading for pity.</p> + +<p>"Oh! I cannot go! indeed I cannot!"</p> + +<p>"That is unlike you, Jessie. I did not think you would +have refused a sick friend any request!"</p> + +<p>"Don't blame me—please don't! I would do anything +for him; but, indeed, I have not the courage to go there."</p> + +<p>"Why, what do you fear, my child? I am sure he would +not for the world speak a syllable that could pain you."</p> + +<p>"I know that, Aunt Matty—I am certain of it."</p> + +<p>"Then what is it?"</p> + +<p>"Old Mrs. Bosworth has such a stately way; so soft, yet +decided. She will look at me so sharply."</p> + +<p>"I found her very kind and grateful."</p> + +<p>"But she may think that I have done wrong."</p> + +<p>"She is too just, too noble, Jessie, to blame any one for +that which was not a fault."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Aunt Matty! even you speak and look so grave! +I cannot bear it—indeed I cannot!"</p> + +<p>I was softened at once. How could I speak so coldly to +my Jessie, while she stood there trembling, with her great +eyes full of tears.</p> + +<p>"My own darling!" I said, quickly. "You know I +could never feel anything but love for you. Don't shake +so, dear! We won't speak of this, if it troubles you."</p> + +<p>"No, no! I ought to hear—I must not be so weak."</p> + +<p>She struggled against her feelings, brushed away her +tears, and stood up so firm and determined, that I felt a +new respect for her. It was beautiful to see how the true +womanhood that lay at the bottom of her nature roused +itself, and asserted its supremacy in that moment of doubt +and distress.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You are a brave girl!" I exclaimed,—"my dear, honest-hearted +Jessie!"</p> + +<p>"You must not praise me," she said. "I feel so guilty +and wicked."</p> + +<p>"That is wrong; you should not give way to these morbid +feelings."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, Aunt Matty, I am not like the same girl I was +a few months ago."</p> + +<p>I knew whence the change came—I could have given its +exact date; but it did not extend back over a period of +months—a few weeks had served to bring that unrest and +trouble upon the sweet girl. With the coming of Mrs. +Dennison all those shadows had crept into the house, gathering +silently but surely about every heart, piding those who +before had no thought nor wish that was not common to all. +I felt, too, that she was preparing the way for deeper and +darker troubles, which lingered not far off, only awaiting +the command of the arch-magician to approach and wrap +us in their folds.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page159" name="page159"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXX.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">MRS. DENNISON GATHERS WILD FLOWERS.</span></h2> + + +<p>While I was lost in gloomy thoughts which those words +had aroused, Jessie turned from my chair and walked +slowly up and down the terrace, after a habit she had inherited +from her father in any season of doubt or perplexity. +At last she came softly back and leaned over me again.</p> + +<p>"Aunt Matty," she whispered, timidly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, dear."</p> + +<p>"I have made up my mind."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p> + +<p>I looked in her face, and its expression told me at once +what her decision had been.</p> + +<p>"You will go," I said.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I will. It is right—it is my duty! If he were +never to get well, I should reproach myself bitterly for not +having granted his request."</p> + +<p>"God bless you, Jessie! I knew you would not refuse."</p> + +<p>"I am sure that my parents will have no objection."</p> + +<p>"I can answer for that—the most scrupulous person +could see no harm. Besides, Bosworth is a favorite both +with your father and mother."</p> + +<p>"Yes. Dear mamma will be so sorry to hear that he is +ill—poor young man!"</p> + +<p>"We will go to-morrow, Jessie. I dare say your father +will accompany you."</p> + +<p>"But I want you also, Aunt Matty; I should have no +courage if you were not there."</p> + +<p>"I will go, of course. You must speak to Mr. Lee about +it—don't forget."</p> + +<p>"I am not likely to; I will tell him this evening. But +Aunt Matty—"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Don't hesitate so. One would think you were +afraid of your old friend. Not a cross one, am I?"</p> + +<p>That made her laugh again; but the merriment died +quickly. Her sensitive heart was so sorely troubled that +her usual gayety was quite gone.</p> + +<p>"I shall never fear you; but what I meant was that I +don't wish Mrs. Dennison to know that I am going."</p> + +<p>"She is not likely to learn it from me, Jessie."</p> + +<p>"She would laugh at me—and this is no subject nor time +for a jest."</p> + +<p>"I should think not, indeed. The woman who could +make a mockery of such feelings would be a libel on her +sex."</p> + +<p>"Ah! you must not be harsh."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Only the old bitterness—don't mind it, Jessie. But +we won't tell Mrs. Dennison."</p> + +<p>At that moment I detected a rustle in the hall. My +hearing was always singularly acute,—Jessie used to say +that I was like a wild animal in that respect,—and I +felt confident that I heard some one stealing away from +behind us.</p> + +<p>I started up at once, hurried into the hall, and met Cora, +Mrs. Dennison's maid, face to face. She was running off—I +could have sworn to that; but the moment she heard my +step she turned toward me with her usual composure and +pleasant smile.</p> + +<p>"What do you want here, Cora?" I asked, more sharply +than I often spoke to a dependant; for, of all people in the +world, it is my habit to treat servants kindly. "Pray, what +brings you into this hall?"</p> + +<p>"I was just coming to look for my mistress, ma'am. +Excuse me; I didn't know it was wrong."</p> + +<p>"I have not said that it was," I answered, still convinced +that she had been listening; "but our own domestics are +never permitted to pass through this hall unless called."</p> + +<p>"I will remember—I beg pardon."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Dennison is not here."</p> + +<p>"Oh! excuse me—"</p> + +<p>She stopped. I saw her curtsy, turned, and there stood +Mr. Lee, looking at me gravely. He had heard my ill-natured +tone, and could see the flush of anger on my face.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter, Miss Hyde?" he asked, quietly +enough; but the tone displeased me, and I replied with a +good deal of sharpness,—</p> + +<p>"I am not aware of anything, sir; Cora was searching +for her mistress."</p> + +<p>"That is right enough, I am sure."</p> + +<p>"She is not here," I continued, feeling a savage pleasure<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> +in the words I spoke; "she is out in the woods with Mr. +Lawrence."</p> + +<p>Mr. Lee colored slightly, but managed to conceal his discomposure.</p> + +<p>Cora hurried away after giving me a spiteful glance, and +Jessie, who had heard my words, came into the hall.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Dennison told me that she should be busy all the +morning in her room," she said, quickly.</p> + +<p>"I can't help what she said, my dear; I only know that +I saw her walking with Mr. Lawrence."</p> + +<p>"Surely it is her privilege, if she feels disposed, to walk +with any person," Mr. Lee said, laughing with a very bad +grace, while Jessie looked much disturbed.</p> + +<p>"I have no desire to interfere with the lady's movements," +I said, my temper still in the ascendant; "but I see no necessity +for saying one thing and doing another."</p> + +<p>Mr. Lee appeared surprised at my outburst. I dare say +it was not lady-like; but I am not made of stone, and my +real feelings will peep out occasionally.</p> + +<p>"I am afraid Mrs. Dennison would think you spoke +harshly to her servant," he said. "I shouldn't like a guest +in this house to be annoyed."</p> + +<p>For the first time I was angry with Mr. Lee. I was not +a dependant; I was not accustomed to anything but affection +and respect in that house, and the reproof in his voice, +added to my own feeling of self-dissatisfaction, made me +quite furious.</p> + +<p>"Sir," I said, "you have always requested us not to permit +servants to enter this hall; when you wish to change +any of your regulations, be good enough to inform me in +advance."</p> + +<p>I turned away before he could speak, and Jessie went to +him, saying something in a low voice.</p> + +<p>"Miss Hyde!" he called out, approaching me and extending +his hand. "Why, dear friend, you are not angry<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> +with me? I would rather cut off this right hand than have +that happen."</p> + +<p>My anger evaporated at once; like a silly fool as I am, +the tears gathered in my eyes. He shook my hand heartily, +while Jessie hovered about us like an anxious bird.</p> + +<p>"I really meant no harm," he began; but I would not +hear a word.</p> + +<p>"I am ashamed of myself," I said, "and that is the end +of it; I am tired and cross."</p> + +<p>"You are not well," he replied, kindly. "Jessie, make +her go and lie down."</p> + +<p>"She never will, papa."</p> + +<p>She put her arm caressingly about my waist, and Mr. Lee +stood holding my hand, petting me as if my words had been +a matter of the greatest consequence. Suddenly Mrs. Dennison +entered from the terrace, and exclaimed, with a gay +laugh,—</p> + +<p>"What a pretty scene! Are you acting a comedy, Mr. +Lee? How well you do it!"</p> + +<p>He dropped my hand in some confusion, and turned toward +her.</p> + +<p>"Better comedy than tragedy," he said.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, a thousand times! But Miss Hyde's role seems +to be a sentimental one—she looks very lugubrious!"</p> + +<p>I longed to strike her full in her insolent mouth; but as +that was impossible, I determined to pay her off for once in +her own coin. A spirit of retaliation was roused within me +that I had never before possessed.</p> + +<p>"You seem gay enough to make amends," I said. "Did +you and Mr. Lawrence have a pleasant walk?"</p> + +<p>What a fool I was to think I could send a blow that would +have any effect upon that piece of marble!</p> + +<p>She laughed outright, and clapped her hands in childish +exultation.</p> + +<p>"She wants to accuse me of being a flirt!" she exclaimed;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> +"Oh, you naughty Miss Hyde! I did meet Mr. Lawrence, +but I had no idea of doing so when I went out. I think +now I shall make a merit of my intention!"</p> + +<p>"You might always do so, I am sure," said Mr. Lee, gallantly.</p> + +<p>She held up a beautiful bouquet of wild flowers.</p> + +<p>"I heard Mrs. Lee wish for some blossoms fresh from the +woods last night," she said; "so I went to gather them."</p> + +<p>Mr. Lee's face grew all sunshine at once; even Jessie was +appeased, and, unseen by either, the widow shot me a quick +glance of scorn.</p> + +<p>"How kind it was of you!" Jessie said. "Mamma will +be so much obliged!"</p> + +<p>"I wanted to please her, darling Jessie," replied the widow. +"But I must make one confession; will you grant me absolution, +Mr. Lee?"</p> + +<p>"I can safely do that in advance. I am sure you have +no very terrible sin to reveal."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I told a fib!" And she laughed archly. "I +wanted to go all alone, so that dear Mrs. Lee would give +me full credit for my thoughtfulness.—You see how vain +and selfish I am!—so I told Jessie that I was going to be +occupied in my own room."</p> + +<p>"I think when selfishness takes a form like this, it is a +very valuable quality to possess," returned Mr. Lee.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dennison treated me to another flash from her +scornful eyes, then added,—</p> + +<p>"And while I was picking flowers, who should pass but +Mr. Lawrence; so I made him stop. But I might as well +have let him go on."</p> + +<p>"Why so?" demanded Mr. Lee.</p> + +<p>"Because he was very ungallant; did nothing but talk +of Jessie, and never said a pretty thing to me."</p> + +<p>Jessie blushed, but the smile on her lips showed that she +was far from annoyed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span></p> + +<p>"So that is all my secret," continued Mrs. Dennison. +"Now, we will take this unfortunate bouquet up to Mrs. +Lee. Come, Jessie."</p> + +<p>"May I go?" asked the gentleman.</p> + +<p>"If you will be very good. But mind you do not tease +for the flowers—we cannot spare a single one!"</p> + +<p>"I promise."</p> + +<p>"Then come with us."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page165" name="page165"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXI.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">LOTTIE'S ADVICE.</span></h2> + + +<p>Mrs. Dennison had one arm about Jessie's waist; +she kept Mr. Lee close at her side, and so engrossed +and fascinated both father and daughter, that they passed +on without remembering that I was there.</p> + +<p>It was just what the woman intended: she wished to +make me feel of how little consequence I was in the house +when she chose to exercise her supremacy. That was her +way of revenging herself for my rude speech in regard to +her ramble.</p> + +<p>If it is absolutely necessary for me to tell the entire and +exact truth, I must admit that she succeeded perfectly in +wounding me. I was greatly pained, but not altogether +from jealousy or sensitiveness. Hurt as I was to see how +completely my friends were made to forget their solicitude +at that woman's bidding, I was still more troubled to perceive +how, every day, her influence in that house increased, +how artfully she wove the threads of her net about us, and +entangled everybody more helplessly in its meshes.</p> + +<p>While I stood thinking of those things, I was startled by +a sound close at hand—a very singular noise, such as one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> +might expect from an antiquated raven troubled with bronchitis. +From behind a screen that stood in the hall bounded +Miss Lottie, emitting another of those unearthly croaks, +and stationing herself directly in front of me with one of +her most impish looks.</p> + +<p>"I am astonished at you!" said she, shaking her head, +and pursing up her lips until her words came out in a sort +of strangled whistle. "I really am more astonished, Miss +Hyde, than I should be to see two Christmases come in the +same year!"</p> + +<p>"What is the matter now?" I asked, laughing in spite +of myself.</p> + +<p>"To think of your going and trying to circumvent Babylon! +Why, she's almost more'n a match for me, and to +see you floppin' up at her quite took my breath away!"</p> + +<p>"You are impertinent, Lottie!"</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't mean to be! But just let me caution you +a trifle. Don't try any such game—she'll only fling it +back right in your teeth, as she did just now, sail off with +her feathers spread, and leave you feeling as flat as a pancake!"</p> + +<p>I had an internal conviction that Lottie was correct in +her judgment; but not considering it necessary to admit as +much, I made an effort to turn the subject.</p> + +<p>"What were you doing behind that screen? I hope you +haven't taken to listening to the whole house."</p> + +<p>"Now, Miss Hyde, I didn't think you'd accuse me in +that way. But I don't blame you—Babylon's made you +huffy! Cut in agin, Miss Matty, if you want to!"</p> + +<p>"But you should not do those things, Lottie!"</p> + +<p>"Not quite so fast, if you please. I can tell you what I +went behind there for."</p> + +<p>"I do not wish to inquire into your proceedings," I said, +coldly, and was moving away; but she caught me by the +arm.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Please don't go off mad, Miss Hyde," she pleaded; "I'll +tell you the truth. I was in the little room looking out a +book Mrs. Lee wanted, when I heard you and Miss Jessie +talking on the terrace. I didn't know what you said, and +didn't want to; but just then I saw Cora creep through the +hall, and stand listening by the door. So I slips out, got +behind the screen, and, once there, I had to stay till the +folks got off."</p> + +<p>"Then she was listening?" I said.</p> + +<p>"I should rather guess she was! and a-shaking them big +ear-rings. She didn't miss a word, you may be sure!"</p> + +<p>"Why does she do those things?"</p> + +<p>"Why? Come, now, that's good! 'Cause Babylon tells +her to, and 'cause her heart's blacker than her face, and +she loves mischief as well as the gray cat does cream."</p> + +<p>"You cannot think her mistress would countenance her +in such proceedings."</p> + +<p>"I don't think nothing about it—I know, Miss Hyde. +She's got countenance of her own, though, to help her +through a'most anything! But I tell you she's sot on to +spy and listen."</p> + +<p>"That is a fault you ought to judge leniently, Lottie."</p> + +<p>"No, 'tain't, Miss Hyde! I've always been above things +of that sort; but since Babylon's come the world's changed, +and I have to fix myself according to circumstances. But +don't you fall foul o' either of them again—'tain't no use! +Why, she walked Mr. Lee and Miss Jessie right off afore +your eyes, and you may bet your front teeth that by this +time she's made them believe you're cross-grained, and +jealous as a lap-dog!"</p> + +<p>"I begin to think I am, Lottie."</p> + +<p>"No, you ain't—you can't stay cross two minutes! And +as for good looks—wal, if you furbelowed yourself off like +some folks that shall be nameless, you'd be more than as +young-looking as some folks themselves."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span></p> + +<p>I turned again to go, but Lottie had, as usual, a few last +words which must be spoken.</p> + +<p>"See here, Miss Hyde," said she; "Babylon'll carry Mr. +Lee off, I know, and Miss Jessie's got her heart so full that +she'll slip away to her own room; so you must go and sit +with Mrs. Lee."</p> + +<p>"I will go to her room as soon as Mrs. Dennison leaves."</p> + +<p>"That won't be long. She ain't going to coop herself up +for nobody; trust her!"</p> + +<p>"Very well; I shall be ready."</p> + +<p>"And, Miss Hyde—"</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"Now, don't be mad—I must say it! Just leave Babylon +to me—you ain't no shakes where she is concerned; +you'll only get yourself into a brile, and muddle matters—leave +her to me!"</p> + +<p>She gave her head a consequential toss and darted away, +singing some dolorous ditty about "Long Ago."</p> + +<p>I went up to my chamber, sad and sick at heart. Our +little world seemed going very wrong; but how to remedy +that which was amiss I could not tell. I was powerless, +and could only remain quiet and let things take their course, +praying that God would shield those so dear to me from +sorrow and harm.</p> + +<p>Perhaps an hour after, there was a low tap at my door, +and, in obedience to my summons, Lottie danced into the +room.</p> + +<p>"She's all alone, Miss Hyde. Babylon's trotted Mr. +Lee into the garden, and Miss Jessie's in her own chamber. +Come right along and sit with Mrs. Lee."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page169" name="page169"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">MRS. LEE DREAMS OF PASSION-FLOWERS.</span></h2> + + +<p>I rose at once and went to the chamber of our dear +invalid. She was lying on a sofa, supported by pillows, +and looking with pleasure at the bouquet of wild flowers +that had been placed on her table.</p> + +<p>"I am glad to see you, Miss Hyde," she said. "Come in +and sit here close by me. Look at my pretty flowers."</p> + +<p>"They are very lovely!" I replied.</p> + +<p>"They make me feel as if I were in the woods."</p> + +<p>She sighed, checked the vain regret, and added cheerfully.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Dennison brought them to me. Was it not +thoughtful of her? I was wishing for them last night."</p> + +<p>"Very thoughtful," I said.</p> + +<p>"You look tired," she observed; "sit down and we will +have one of our old, quiet hours. Mr. Lee had to go out, +and Mrs. Dennison has gone to Jessie's room; so we shall +be all alone."</p> + +<p>Another falsehood! My blood fairly boiled! Lottie had +just seen the pair in the garden. But I could not speak—a +word, a look might have destroyed that poor creature's +peace forever! No syllable from my lips should send a +thought of suspicion to her heart!</p> + +<p>I did sit down, and we had a long, pleasant conversation; +for with those whom she knew well, Mrs. Lee was an exceedingly +agreeable companion, although ill-health had +made her nervous in the presence of strangers.</p> + +<p>After a time she began to speak of Jessie, and then it occurred +to me that it would be a favorable opportunity to +tell her of Jessie's desire to visit Mrs. Bosworth.</p> + +<p>She was shocked to hear of her young favorite's illness,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> +and when I told her how anxious he was to see Jessie, and +how necessary it seemed that he should not be opposed, she +agreed with me that her daughter ought to go.</p> + +<p>"Certainly, certainly," she said. "Mr. Lee will think so +too. You were quite right to promise, Miss Hyde."</p> + +<p>"I thought so."</p> + +<p>"Poor young man! Do you know, Martha Hyde, I used +to think he was very fond of our Jessie? But of late I have +so seldom left my room, or seen any one, that I don't know +what goes on."</p> + +<p>I did not answer, and she changed the subject, with the +excitability of all sick people.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Dennison makes the house very gay," she said.</p> + +<p>"Very! Her manners are charming!"</p> + +<p>"She seems a superior woman. Do you begin to like her, +Martha?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am difficult to please, you know," I replied, trying +to laugh. "Girls, old or young, and widows seldom agree; +besides, I can only care for people whom I have known a +long time."</p> + +<p>She did not answer, but pushed her hair back from her +forehead, and looked absently at the flowers.</p> + +<p>"I have such bad dreams," she said; "I never can recall +them distinctly; but they seem full of trouble."</p> + +<p>"Of whom do you dream?"</p> + +<p>"All of you—principally of Jessie. Sometimes I think +I must be awake and standing in her room—the vision is +so real."</p> + +<p>"Such fancies are very common to an invalid," I said.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes; I don't mind them."</p> + +<p>She pulled the flowers toward her, and began playing +with them after Jessie's childish fashion. It gave me a +strange feeling to see those blossoms in her hand; when I +remembered whose gift they had been, I felt as if my friend +held Cleopatra's venomous asp in every flower that she +touched.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Will you read to me a while?" she asked, at length. +"There is a new poem on the table; take that."</p> + +<p>Of course, I complied at once, and read to her for some +time; then I saw the flowers drop from her hand—her head +sank back among the pillows, and soon her regular breathing +proved that she was sleeping quietly.</p> + +<p>I laid down the volume, and looked at her with pain and +solicitude. She was so helpless! The least shock might +terminate that frail existence; and I had grown so nervous +that I was always expecting some trouble to force itself into +that room, which, until lately, had been securely guarded +by a husband's love.</p> + +<p>She moved restlessly in her sleep; broken words fell from +her lips; very soon they framed themselves into complete +sentences. She had sunk into one of those singular somnambulistic +slumbers which formed such a strange feature +of her illness.</p> + +<p>"I am tired," she said; "I have walked so fast! How +pretty the summer-house looks! It is so long since I have +been here! There is Mr. Lee—"</p> + +<p>She paused and breathed rapidly.</p> + +<p>"Why, Mrs. Dennison is with him! She said she was +going to Jessie's room! How earnestly she talks to him! +She lays her hand on his arm!"</p> + +<p>She paused again, with a sort of cry.</p> + +<p>"Martha Hyde! Martha! my husband is giving her flowers—passion-flowers! +She asks him to put them in her +hair! What does that mean, say?"</p> + +<p>She became so violently agitated that I thought it best to +rouse her. I leaned over her and shook her arm slightly. +The change of position seemed to alter the dream, and once +more she slept quietly.</p> + +<p>I went back to the window, and sat looking out behind +the curtains. It was sunset, and gorgeously beautiful. But +in the distraction of my thoughts I could not heed its loveliness.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p> + +<p>While I sat there I saw Mr. Lee and Mrs. Dennison pass +along one of the paths. They had been out on the upper +terrace, and were approaching the house. The lady had no +bonnet on, and wreathed in her hair I saw some superb passion-flowers +which the poor wife had described in her dream.</p> + +<p>I grew sick and faint with doubt and horror. I must do +something; I could not longer sit passive and dumb, and see +that woman wreck all our lives. But what to do? which +way to turn?</p> + +<p>Alas! I was very helpless after all! There was no one to +whom I could confide my suspicions—no one to whom I +could open my heart, and the only hope I had was in that +wild girl, who had understood the real character of our visitor +so much more quickly than any of her superiors.</p> + +<p>While I was thinking of this thus painfully, the door of +the inner room opened, and Lottie stood there, beckoning +to me.</p> + +<p>I went into her chamber, and she closed the door. She +was in great excitement and glee.</p> + +<p>"Babylon's been at it," she whispered.</p> + +<p>"At what?"</p> + +<p>"Talking about you. Oh, my! hain't you woke up a hornet's +nest! Cora's mad too; golly, don't she go on. I told +you to let things alone."</p> + +<p>"I care very little for Mrs. Dennison's anger," I said.</p> + +<p>"I don't suppose you do. But she'll pay you off if she +can. So look sharp, Miss Hyde; these are times for sleeping +with both eyes open. No chance to dream or make +verses now."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, child!"</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, if you choose; but that don't alter the matter. +Babylon's brought Mr. Lee back to the house; she had him +out in the garden to make all right about Lawrence."</p> + +<p>"Stop, Lottie!"</p> + +<p>"I have stopped—sha'n't say no more! Hark! what was +that?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was a call—an appeal for help. A voice from Mrs. +Lee's room cried with energy,—</p> + +<p>"Martha Hyde! Martha Hyde!"</p> + +<p>I rushed into the chamber, followed by Lottie, and found +Mrs. Lee half risen on her sofa, tossing her arms about, and +calling still upon my name, although she was yet asleep.</p> + +<p>Many moments passed before I could rouse her, and when +I did, she sank back on the pillows perfectly exhausted. I +administered such restoratives as were at hand, and, with +Lottie's assistance, succeeded in bringing her out of the half +swoon into which she had fallen; but she was fearfully weak, +and much excited.</p> + +<p>"I have had such terrible dreams," she moaned, "I am +afraid to go to sleep."</p> + +<p>"They are over now," I said, soothingly; "you shall sit +up and have your tea."</p> + +<p>"Yes, please. Don't let me sleep any more, don't, +Martha Hyde."</p> + +<p>All the while she held fast to my hand and looked wildly +in my eyes, repeating,—</p> + +<p>"Such dreadful dreams, Martha Hyde—oh! such dreadful +dreams!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page173" name="page173"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXIII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">COMPANY FROM TOWN.</span></h2> + + +<p>That evening we had a number of visitors from the +town, and so much gayety that it quite passed from my +mind to speak with Mr. Lee concerning the call upon young +Bosworth. Indeed, I was not in the parlors much of the +time, for he came to me and asked if I would sit a while +with his wife, as he could not leave his guests, and she was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> +so much more nervous than usual, he did not like trusting +her entirely with Lottie.</p> + +<p>I felt grateful to him for remembering her, and went +away at once. As I passed toward the hall, I saw Jessie at +the piano surrounded by a group of gentlemen, Lawrence +nearest, turning over the music, and talking to her at +intervals.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dennison was flitting about like a gorgeous butterfly, +making merriment and pleasant conversation wherever she +went.</p> + +<p>Her quick eyes detected me as I passed the music-room +door. She moved along, smelling carelessly at her flowers, +the sight of which made me sick; they were roses from the +choicest varieties that Mrs. Lee considered peculiarly her +own.</p> + +<p>"Going to preserve your bloom by an early sleep, Miss +Hyde?" she asked, pleasantly.</p> + +<p>"I am going to sit with Mrs. Lee," I replied, coldly +enough, I dare say. I was not accustomed to dissimulation, +and when I disliked and doubted a person as I did her, it +was very difficult for me to conceal it.</p> + +<p>"You are quite the guardian-angel of the house," she +returned, so sweetly that no one except a suspicious creature +like me would have perceived the covert insult under her +words; "I expect every day to see you unfold your wings +and fly off."</p> + +<p>"This is my home," I answered, quietly, "so I shall not +fly very far from it in all probability."</p> + +<p>She laughed in her charming way; but there was an expression +in her eyes which would have startled me, had I +not felt that she was powerless to do me personal injury.</p> + +<p>"And a pleasant home you have," she said, with a sigh; +"you can't think, Miss Hyde, how delightful it seems to a +tired worldling like me."</p> + +<p>I was in no humor to listen to sentiment, and I replied +curtly,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"Not tired, Mrs. Dennison, or, of course, you would forsake +the society that wearies you."</p> + +<p>She shook her head patronizingly and smiled, oh, such a +sweet, sad smile—she must have practised for days to attain +such perfection in it.</p> + +<p>"How innocent you are!" she said; "I envy you, dear, +kind Miss Hyde!"</p> + +<p>How I longed to fling back her affectionate epithets with +the scorn they deserved; but, of course, that was impossible, +so I made a movement to go, trembling all over with repressed +indignation.</p> + +<p>"You are running away from me as usual," she said, reproachfully; +"I never get a moment now of your honest, +sensible conversation."</p> + +<p>"I trust you do not suffer much from the loss," was all +the answer I made.</p> + +<p>I know I am not very wise; I do not deny having my +share of little vanities; but Mrs. Dennison had not found +the road which led to them.</p> + +<p>"I do indeed," she replied; "but I see you will not believe +me."</p> + +<p>"You have not an exalted opinion of my courtesy, Mrs. +Dennison."</p> + +<p>"Ah, now you are going to be sarcastic—my dear Miss +Hyde, that is not in your way."</p> + +<p>She added a few more playful words, then I was resolute +to go. I left her standing there in one of her graceful attitudes, +playing negligently with her roses.</p> + +<p>Once in the hall, I glanced back; the widow had changed +her position,—she was stationed by a window,—I saw Mr. +Lee approach her, and they began an earnest conversation. +I turned and went up-stairs, growing sadder and more sick +at heart.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lee slept quietly nearly the whole time, so that I +had ample opportunity for my sorrowful reflections,—more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> +than I desired, since dwelling upon the things which troubled +me only increased my restlessness, without bringing me +any nearer a conclusion that could have been of the least +value.</p> + +<p>After Mrs. Lee had gone to bed, I went into my own +room, and saw no one again that night. When it was too +late, I remembered that I had not spoken to Mr. Lee, but +consoled myself with fancying that Jessie would tell him, +or that I should have an opportunity in the morning.</p> + +<p>I was disappointed both ways. When I went down to +breakfast, I found that Mr. Lee had been obliged to ride +over to the iron works. He had gone before any one was +stirring, and would not return until late in the afternoon.</p> + +<p>While one of the servants was giving me that information, +Mrs. Dennison passed through the hall. She hurried on +with a smile, but I noticed that the skirt of her dress was +wet and soiled; I felt certain that she knew of Mr. Lee's intention, +and had gone out to meet him, and hold one of her +private conversations.</p> + +<p>Before she appeared again, Jessie joined me in the breakfast-room.</p> + +<p>"How late we all are!" she said; "it is too bad."</p> + +<p>"I quite overslept myself," I replied; then I remembered +my thought of the last night. "Oh, my dear! did you ask +your father to go with us to Mrs. Bosworth's?"</p> + +<p>"I had no opportunity," she answered, blushing crimson. +"I am afraid, too, that I half forgot it."</p> + +<p>I knew the reason of that; Lawrence had been talking to +her all the evening.</p> + +<p>"It does not make much difference," I said; "I will go +with you."</p> + +<p>"I am sure papa would be willing," she observed, looking +troubled at the idea of the visit.</p> + +<p>"I spoke of it to your mother; she desired you to go."</p> + +<p>"Very well then," replied Jessie; "suppose we start after<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> +breakfast; we can get back before mamma will want us in +her room."</p> + +<p>"I shall be ready; we can walk across the fields."</p> + +<p>"Yes; then Mrs. Dennison need not know anything about +it."</p> + +<p>"Hush!" I said; "there she is."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page177" name="page177"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXIV.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">OUR VISIT TO THE OLD MANSION.</span></h2> + + +<p>Mrs. Dennison came in airy and graceful as usual; +I noticed that she had changed her dress. She kissed +Jessie with as much affection as if she had not seen her for +a week, and began discoursing with great volubility.</p> + +<p>"I was up before either of you," she said; "I have been +out in the garden, ruining my white dress, and racing among +the beds, to the great astonishment of the old gardener."</p> + +<p>"You look fresh and charming as the roses themselves," +Jessie replied.</p> + +<p>"Of course. But don't pay compliments; Miss Hyde does +not like them."</p> + +<p>"If they are sincere, I do," I said.</p> + +<p>"Ah! then you must like mine. Indeed, I should be +afraid to tell you a story; I am certain those honest eyes of +yours would detect it at once."</p> + +<p>I disclaimed any such extraordinary powers for my poor +eyes, and the widow rattled on about something else. She +always went from one subject to another in a rapid, graceful +way, like a bird flying about in the trees.</p> + +<p>"Why, where is Mr. Lee?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Gone out," said Jessie; "he went early."</p> + +<p>"How ungallant," she returned; but she looked so very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> +innocent that I was more than ever convinced she had seen +him before his departure.</p> + +<p>One thing I could say for Mrs. Dennison, she never troubled +her hosts to entertain her. Directly after breakfast, +she went, as usual, her own way, and Jessie and I were free +to start upon our expedition.</p> + +<p>"We had better go at once," I said; "there is no telling +when she may dance in upon us again."</p> + +<p>"You don't like her, Aunt Matty," replied Jessie; "I am +sure you don't, yet she is very charming."</p> + +<p>"Never mind; there is no time to discuss my fancies," I +said. "Get your bonnet, Jessie."</p> + +<p>She hesitated and grew a little pale, but complied at once. +We were ready in a few moments, and, passing through the +garden, went down the path by the grove, and took our way +across the fields to the old house.</p> + +<p>Jessie was very silent during our walk, and I was so much +occupied with my plans and my fancies that I had little +time to break the thread of her thoughts.</p> + +<p>When we reached the gate that led into the door-yard, +Jessie stopped.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am so frightened," she said.</p> + +<p>Poor child! she was very pale, and shook from head to +foot with an agitation that reminded me painfully of her +mother's nervous excitements. I did my best to soothe her, +but, in spite of her efforts, it was some moments before she +could go on.</p> + +<p>"You will not mind it after the first meeting," I said.</p> + +<p>"I am very foolish, I know. There, I am ready now."</p> + +<p>As we turned into the avenue, I saw Mr. Lawrence pass +along the road on horseback. He gave a sharp, quick look, +and rode on. I said nothing to Jessie; it was useless to +agitate her further. His passing at that time might have +been mere chance.</p> + +<p>Jessie clung to me as we went up the two broad steps and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> +entered the hall. I did not speak, contenting myself with +a reassuring pressure of the hand; for I knew from experience +that in cases of nervous dread one is only made +worse by persuasions and cheering speeches.</p> + +<p>We were shown into the room where I had before waited +for old Mrs. Bosworth, and very soon I heard the rustle of +her dress in the hall.</p> + +<p>The old lady came in with her stately manner, but I could +see that trouble and watching had left their effect upon her, +and it seemed to me that I could discover smothered pain +in her eyes when she greeted Jessie. But she was exceedingly +kind,—so gentle and caressing, that the girl soon recovered +from her fright and began to look like herself.</p> + +<p>"You will excuse my daughter's absence, I hope," the old +lady said; "she is lying down. She is not very strong, and +watching has quite worn her out."</p> + +<p>"But you think your grandson better?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Much better; yes, much better."</p> + +<p>There was thanksgiving in her very voice. Jessie said, +tremulously,—</p> + +<p>"We were very sorry to hear of his sickness."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Miss Lee; I was sure you would be."</p> + +<p>The old lady's fingers worked nervously; I knew, in spite +of her pride, what was in her heart. She longed to take +Jessie in her arms, to beseech her to speak the one word that +would bring her boy back to life and happiness.</p> + +<p>"He suffers less with his head, I suppose?" I said, breaking +the little pause which would soon have proved awkward.</p> + +<p>"It is quite easy this morning; indeed, last night he slept +for several hours undisturbed. He is so patient," she continued, +"so gentle; but that is natural to him."</p> + +<p>I knew she was glad to have that opportunity of praising +Bosworth; she felt as if it was indirectly doing something +to interest Jessie in his favor.</p> + +<p>"It was very kind of you to come, Miss Lee," she said.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> +"I thought you would be willing to humor a sick man's fancies, +and he pined so to see all his old friends," she added, +quickly, with her old-world tact, for the color began to +flicker on Jessie's cheek.</p> + +<p>"My father would have come also," said the girl, talking +rapidly, "but he was obliged to go out very early; and you +know my mother seldom leaves her room."</p> + +<p>"It is sad that she should be so great an invalid," said +the old duchess—I must call her so. "My daughter and +I go out very little. We have often wished to see more of +you, but age and infirmity are by force unsocial."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Lee is fond of company," I said. I longed to do +all I could to draw the two families together.</p> + +<p>"Ah, if that is the case, we shall call frequently upon +her. It may do her some good;" she looked at Jessie as +she spoke.</p> + +<p>"Mamma will be so pleased," she said, quite firmly; "it +is very monotonous to live always shut up in her room; +she is naturally very social, and to such, solitude is mournful."</p> + +<p>"So it is; but I pity the young most! If I could only +have taken my poor boy's illness in his stead."</p> + +<p>She was checked by the entrance of an old servant, who +whispered something in her ear.</p> + +<p>"Will you go up-stairs?" she said, turning to me; "my +grandson knows you are here."</p> + +<p>She took Jessie's hand softly, leading her away, and I +followed. Jessie bore up like a little Spartan, but I could +see what an effort it was,—I pitied her far more than any +one else.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page181" name="page181"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXV.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">YOUNG BOSWORTH'S SICK-ROOM.</span></h2> + + +<p>When we entered the sick-room, it was a shock to +Jessie. In spite of all I had said, she was not prepared +to find Bosworth so changed. They had put a dressing-gown +upon him, but its gay colors only increased the +ghastliness of his face, already wasted and worn by fever.</p> + +<p>He was so happy to see us—so like a child that fears to +give pain by its own pleasure. I think Jessie took heart +after the first few moments; and I could see the old lady +watching her in secret, as if she thought that, unless she +were only a beautiful piece of marble, she must be softened +now.</p> + +<p>"It was very selfish of me, Miss Jessie," he said, "to call +you away from your amusements to visit a poor, sick +fellow."</p> + +<p>"I was very glad to come," she replied; "my mother is +so anxious about you, she could not rest till some of us had +been here."</p> + +<p>"She is very kind," he said, with the touching smile of +illness.</p> + +<p>At last we fell to talking quite cheerfully. I did my best +to prevent the restraint we were all under becoming perceptible; +I dare say it was blunderingly done, but it succeeded +tolerably well.</p> + +<p>Bosworth made Jessie tell him all about her flowers—he +was a great botanist—and I chimed in with the wonderful +history of a nest of young birds I had found, and really +made him laugh at my nonsense.</p> + +<p>But he was weak, and soon grew weary,—I saw it, and +made Jessie a sign to go.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Not yet," he said, as we rose; "stay a while longer, +please."</p> + +<p>So we sat down again, but I saw by his eyes that his senses +began to cloud a little.</p> + +<p>"What is that hymn you sing, Miss Jessie?" he asked, +suddenly; "it has been running in my head all the morning."</p> + +<p>Jessie could not speak; she was trying with all her might +to keep back her tears; so I said,—</p> + +<p>"You mean that little gem of Mrs. Hemans—'Child +Amid the Flowers at Play.'"</p> + +<p>"Yes," he replied, "that is it. Won't you sing it for me?"</p> + +<p>It really was heroic, the way that poor girl struggled with +herself and forced back her composure. She turned her +face a little from the light and began to sing; her voice was +very low and tremulous, but I never heard it sound so sweet; +Bosworth lay back on his pillow and listened with a happy +smile.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," he said, when she finished; "I can sleep +now—you were very kind to come."</p> + +<p>He tried to take her hand, said a few more broken words, +and then we went away. I saw that Jessie could endure +nothing more. Old Mrs. Bosworth detected it too; she must +have felt for the girl, and was grateful to her for that visit. +She did not accompany us down-stairs, and I was glad to +make our farewell as short as possible.</p> + +<p>The moment we were out of the house, Jessie gave way +completely, and sobbed and wept as I never before saw her.</p> + +<p>"Do you think he will die, Aunt Matty?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"I do not; he is certainly better."</p> + +<p>"But he looks dreadfully; I never saw anybody altered +so much."</p> + +<p>"You are not accustomed to fevers, my dear. I am, and +he will get better. I am glad you have made this visit; it +will do him good."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Then I am glad, too," she replied, wiping away her +tears. "Oh! if anything had happened, I never should +have forgiven myself."</p> + +<p>In reality, there was no blame to be attached to her; she +had been guilty of no encouragement or coquetry. I could +not bear that she should brood over his illness, until she accused +herself as the cause, and really grew horrified at what +she might fancy her own wickedness.</p> + +<p>"He is in God's hands," I said; "either way it would +have been as He willed."</p> + +<p>"Then you do not think that any trouble—any—"</p> + +<p>"I think he would have been sick," I replied, seeing her +unable to go on; "he has not looked well for some time +past, and his grandmother told me that he had always been +somewhat subject to fevers."</p> + +<p>Jessie breathed heavily, and looked relieved.</p> + +<p>In our preoccupation we had passed from the grounds +into the high-road, instead of taking the footpath.</p> + +<p>"We must strike into the clover-field at the turn," I said, +when I observed our error; "it would make too long a +walk to follow the road."</p> + +<p>Jessie did not answer. I heard the tramp of horses' hoofs, +and looking up saw Mr. Lawrence riding rapidly toward us. +He did not check his horse, but lifted his riding-cap, gave a +low, stately bow, a quick glance at Jessie's tear-stained face, +and galloped on.</p> + +<p>I heard Jessie utter a smothered exclamation, but she did +not speak a word.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Lawrence seems in great haste," I observed, but +she did not answer.</p> + +<p>I was confident Mrs. Dennison had been besetting him +again, for he was pale and looked fiercely excited.</p> + +<p>"Here is the path," said Jessie, suddenly.</p> + +<p>We turned into it and walked home, scarcely once breaking +that unusual silence.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page184" name="page184"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXVI.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">LOTTIE'S REPORT.</span></h2> + + +<p>When we reached the house, Jessie went directly up to +her room. I did not attempt to detain her, knowing +that she would be much better alone.</p> + +<p>I went to my chamber, likewise, but I was not left long +to my bewildering meditations, for Lottie's quick tap sounded +at the door, and in she danced in the fantastic manner +which always betrayed great excitement.</p> + +<p>She closed the door carefully, and stood before me with +her hands folded behind her back.</p> + +<p>"I told you how it would be!" she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Why, you're flying out at Babylon; she's mad, and +you'll take the consequences, you will."</p> + +<p>"I do not imagine they will be very terrible, Lottie."</p> + +<p>"That's as a body may happen to think. There's been +a great time since you started."</p> + +<p>"What has happened?" I inquired, losing all scruples +as to the manner in which Lottie might have obtained her +information.</p> + +<p>"In the first place, we had Lawrence—"</p> + +<p>"Was he here?"</p> + +<p>"No, no. Babylon went out to walk for her health—you +see Babylon needs exercise. After you stole away, I +had my eye on her—"</p> + +<p>"Why, you did not see us go."</p> + +<p>"Oh, didn't I?" she demanded, ironically, nodding her +head with great significance. "I was at my window, Miss +Hyde, and I always keep my eyes open. Howsumever, I +wasn't watching you; I'm above such tricks, unless I feel +it my duty, then I never stop at nothing—anything, I +mean, thinking of the grammar."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Did she see us, too?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know; but she knew where you were going."</p> + +<p>"Why, how did you find that out?"</p> + +<p>"Heard her tell Mr. Lee, to be sure."</p> + +<p>I was so angry that I felt myself growing pale. Lottie +saw it and tittered.</p> + +<p>"You would like to choke her, now, wouldn't you, Miss +Hyde? What a pity! it's agin religion and the law. I +should just enjoy fixing her myself."</p> + +<p>"For shame!" I said, but I am afraid it was only because +I thought it a duty to check such expressions, not +from any lack of sympathy with them.</p> + +<p>Lottie tossed her head; but she was in too great haste to +communicate her intelligence for much indignation.</p> + +<p>"After you'd gone I watched her; she went about very +uneasy for a while, then she put on her shawl and streaked +off to the grove. I wanted some wild grass, so I went along, +but Babylon didn't see me. She waited in the grove till +Mr. Lawrence rode by, when she hailed him.</p> + +<p>"'Where are you going?' said she.</p> + +<p>"He stammered a little, and said something about it +being his custom to ride every morning, and at that she +laughed right out in her tantalizing way. Oh, she's awful +tantalizing is Babylon.</p> + +<p>"'You'd better tell the truth,' says she; 'you didn't +believe what I told you last night, and you've been to see +with your own eyes. Did you meet them?'</p> + +<p>"'Miss Jessie and her friend have just entered Mrs. +Bosworth's gate,' he answered, cross as two sticks.</p> + +<p>"'Of course,' says Babylon; 'I tell you he is her lover. +It was to be expected she'd visit him during the sickness +brought on by jealousy. You see a grand flirtation has its +inconveniences.'</p> + +<p>"He shook uneasily in his saddle, but she hadn't any +pity, and went on at an awful rate about all of you. Then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> +she tried the old dodge—she was his friend—he might +trust her. She went up to him and reached her hand, but +he didn't seem to see it.</p> + +<p>"'I must go,' said he.</p> + +<p>"She tried to stop him, but he wouldn't hear a word.</p> + +<p>"'When will you come again?' she asked.</p> + +<p>"'God knows!' was all he said, and rode off like a whirlwind.</p> + +<p>"Babylon watched him as long as he was in sight, then +she gave way to the awfullest mad fit I ever see. I really +thought she'd break a blood-vessel. She danced and wrung +her hands, and clenched 'em both into fists, which she shook +after him, and she bit her lips to keep from screaming; and +then all of a sudden she started for the house on a fierce +run. I went after her, and as I got into the garden I saw +Mr. Lee ride up. She followed him into the house.</p> + +<p>"I went round the corner and stood on the veranda, +picking roses and humming 'Katy Darling;' only I chose +all the low parts, and heard quite comfortable."</p> + +<p>"That was wrong," I said, "very wrong."</p> + +<p>"Oh! I didn't listen to him," she replied; "but I had to +keep watch of Babylon."</p> + +<p>I may as well confess my weakness. I longed to ask +Lottie all she heard. However, I did not have to wait long +for the communication.</p> + +<p>"'Jessie has gone out,' said she. He asked her where, +and she put on such an innocent face. 'You must know,' +says she; 'your daughter would not have taken such a step +without your permission. No, no; I understand Jessie's +womanly prudence too well.'</p> + +<p>"He just stared at her; then he asked in that voice he +has when he's angry, what she meant. She hemmed and +hawed, and put him off; said he knew, and wouldn't speak.</p> + +<p>"'Mrs. Dennison,' said he, 'what does this mean? Where +has Jessie gone?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p> + +<p>"She put on the innocent look again; she really did it +beautifully.</p> + +<p>"'Don't you know?' she asked; 'don't you actually?'</p> + +<p>"She worked him up almost into a fit. Goodness knows +what fancy he got into his head.</p> + +<p>"I have seen no one this morning,' he said; 'there were +none of the family down when I went away. Where has +Jessie gone?'</p> + +<p>"Then she pretended to back out; she had been wrong—it +was doubtless an innocent little secret of Jessie's—she +ought not to have spoken—she was so frank and indiscreet—she +would rather bite her tongue off than tell what Jessie +wanted kept private, and all that. He grew white as death; +you know nothing makes him so mad as to think there's +any mystery in the house, or anything going on he don't +understand.</p> + +<p>"'Mrs. Dennison,' says he, 'if you won't speak, I must +go to my wife.'</p> + +<p>"'Don't, don't,' she said; 'she is so feeble; don't agitate +her.'</p> + +<p>"'Then tell me yourself,' says he.</p> + +<p>"Then she went all through the old performance, but at +last it came out—Jessie had gone to visit Mr. Bosworth in +his sick-room. Lord, how mad he was! She told him you +was with her, said she didn't blame Jessie, guessed it was +all one of your old-maidish romances, and made him furious +against you."</p> + +<p>"How did it end?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"It didn't really have no end; some man called him off on +business. Just then you and Miss Jessie came up the steps, +and I cut round here to tell you. Babylon—she sat down +to the piano, and went to playing a jig; she likes the fun. +I tell you she's all right when there's a row. But I'm +going to Mrs. Lee; she must want to get up by this time. +You're in a hobble, Miss Hyde—a precious hobble—was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> +sure you would be. You playing a game with her—the +idea!"</p> + +<p>Away she danced, trying to hide her uneasiness; but at +the door she stopped and exclaimed,—</p> + +<p>"I can't think what ails my head, I'm so dizzy."</p> + +<p>She staggered and would have fallen, but I caught her; +she was deadly pale. I gave her some water, and she soon +grew better.</p> + +<p>"Are you ill?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"No, I guess not; but lately my head feels so queer every +morning. Yesterday, when I went to get out of bed, I fell +flat on the floor like a great awkward lobster."</p> + +<p>She laughed, but I was very uneasy about her, though +she declared she was well again, and hurried away to her +duties; for, wild as she was, Lottie was an orderly little +thing, and always punctual.</p> + +<p>I sat and thought over what she had told me, with some +anxiety; but that did no good, so I went down-stairs.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page188" name="page188"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXVII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">MY FIRST QUARREL WITH MR. LEE.</span></h2> + + +<p>As I entered the lower hall, I met Mr. Lee. He gave +me a look such as I never before saw in his face; it so +increased my indignation, that, if it had not been for Jessie, +I would have walked out of the house that instant.</p> + +<p>"Miss Hyde," he said, in the low, measured tone his +voice always took when he was angry, "will you step into +the library for a moment?"</p> + +<p>"Do you wish to speak with me?" I asked, rebelliously.</p> + +<p>"If you have leisure."</p> + +<p>I swept before him into the room. Every drop of blood<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> +in my veins tingled as if on fire. He followed me, and +closed the door.</p> + +<p>"How does it happen," he began, "that you and Jessie +went upon an expedition like that of this morning without +consulting me?"</p> + +<p>I did my best to answer quietly, although his manner +aggravated me almost beyond endurance.</p> + +<p>"Simply because you were not here to consult," I replied.</p> + +<p>"But you could have told me last night."</p> + +<p>Then I flashed up a little, and said,—</p> + +<p>"Mr. Lee, I am not a school-girl, to be crowded into a +corner and catechized."</p> + +<p>"Madam," he returned, "I think I have a right to know +everything connected with my daughter; I will permit no +mysteries in this house."</p> + +<p>"There have been none on my part or Jessie's," I replied.</p> + +<p>"Then be good enough to give me an explanation of what, +I own, seems to me a singular proceeding in a lady of your +acknowledged discretion."</p> + +<p>"It is easily done," I answered, still remembering Jessie, +and so remaining reasonably calm. "Yesterday, old Mrs. +Bosworth sent for me; her grandson is very ill—he has +brain-fever. He begged to see us particularly. I came +home and told your wife; she said Jessie should go to-day. +We expected you to accompany us. Last night there was +no opportunity of speaking to you, every moment of your +time was occupied. This morning, you were gone; but as I +had the mother's permission, I thought it no harm to start. +A visit to a sick, almost a dying man, can never injure your +daughter, Mr. Lee."</p> + +<p>His face flushed at once.</p> + +<p>"I was mistaken," he said.</p> + +<p>"You must have been cruelly mistaken or misinformed," +I replied, coldly, "when you could address me as you have +done."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, Miss Hyde," he returned.</p> + +<p>I granted it with a sullen bend of the head.</p> + +<p>"Who told you where we had gone?" I asked, bluntly.</p> + +<p>He hesitated, and I followed up my advantage.</p> + +<p>"No one knew of it but Mrs. Lee," I said; "you have not +seen her to-day. Yesterday you reproved me for sending +Cora out of the hall; sir, she was listening while I told Jessie, +and repeated it to her mistress. I don't know what you +may think of such conduct on the part of a guest; but to +me the idea of making trouble in a house where one has +been hospitably treated, seems very contemptible."</p> + +<p>"Miss Hyde! Miss Hyde!" he exclaimed, "I assure you +Mrs. Dennison did it thoughtlessly—she had no idea."</p> + +<p>"Excuse me," said I, still burning with indignation, "I +am quite capable of forming and holding my own opinions; +it is a right I shall not readily relinquish."</p> + +<p>I am sorry to say we very nearly had a serious quarrel; +but I was so dissatisfied, so indignant that a man of his sense +and refinement could be duped in the way he was, that I +could not control myself.</p> + +<p>We parted civilly enough, however; and when I went up-stairs, +Jessie knew all about the affair; Mrs. Dennison had been +to her crying and begging for forgiveness. She had thoughtlessly +repeated to her father where we had gone, he was angry, +and the whole thing was breaking her heart.</p> + +<p>"I dare say she meant no harm," added Jessie; "she is +so giddy."</p> + +<p>"Pray, how did she know?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"She fancied it, she said."</p> + +<p>"That was a falsehood," I retorted. "Cora told her—I +knew she was listening yesterday."</p> + +<p>Jessie was as much shocked with me as her father had +been. With their exaggerated ideas of hospitality, they +considered it little less than a crime to acknowledge that a +guest could have any fault.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, Aunt Matty!" she said, "I never knew you unjust +before."</p> + +<p>I was forced to go out of the room; my anger was over, +and I felt the tears rushing to my eyes. I passed a very +uncomfortable day. Jessie and her father came to an understanding; +Mrs. Dennison soon had them both under her +spell again, and I knew they blamed me exceedingly.</p> + +<p>I loved them too well for real indignation; but I was +broken-hearted at the idea that this woman could come between +Jessie and her love for me.</p> + +<p>There was company at dinner. I spent the evening in +Mrs. Lee's room—the first comfortable hour I had passed +since morning. She did not know that anything had gone +wrong, pitied my head, which she was sure ached terribly, +and by her sweet and tender kindness made me somewhat +more reconciled to life.</p> + +<p>I sat in my own room after I left her, but did not retire +until very late. I heard the guests go away—heard the +different members of the family pass up to their rooms; but +still I sat by the window, sad and lonely. At last the clock +struck one. I rose, startled into common-sense again, +stopped star-gazing, and closing my window, prepared for +rest.</p> + +<p>Suddenly I heard a noise—very faint, but my nerves +were wonderfully acute that night. I opened the door and +looked into the hall; as I did so, I saw a figure clad in +white glide out of Lottie's chamber, and disappear down the +passage.</p> + +<p>I fairly thought it something supernatural at first, then I +ran out, but there was nothing to be seen. I stole to Lottie's +room and looked in; she was sleeping soundly, so I went +back to my own apartment. That incident, added to the +excitement of the day, kept me awake for hours. I tried to +convince myself that it was only one of my ridiculous fancies: +but the effort was in vain; I knew that I had seen that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> +white shape steal by—it was no delusion. Who was it? +What was it?</p> + +<p>I determined to say nothing, feeling certain that everybody +would laugh at me. I knew that it was silly, but I could +not drive away the terror that chilled my heart. Everything +had gone so wrong of late, that quiet house was so +changed, that the least thing disturbed me more than events +of importance would once have done.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page192" name="page192"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXVIII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">MR. LAWRENCE MAKES A CALL.</span></h2> + + +<p>Lawrence called upon us the next day: that is, he +came to the house and inquired for Mrs. Dennison, +without one word regarding the rest of the family. Mr. +Lee was sitting in the square balcony when the gentleman +rode up, and cast a meaning glance at Jessie, as if he felt +certain that the visit was for her. She shrunk from his +look with something like affright; and when the servant +came up with word that Mr. Lawrence was in the drawing-room, +waiting for Mrs. Dennison, she gave me a look of wild +reproof, as if I had been the cause of his evident displeasure.</p> + +<p>Mr. Lee sat with his eyes upon her; and when Mrs. Dennison +came from her chamber, the expression of his face became +so like that which pained me in Jessie's, that I could +not escape the idea that both suffered from the same cause.</p> + +<p>The shock of this thought made me tremble. It had never +fastened upon me as a reality before. Why did I turn so +faint? Why did my soul rise up in such bitter protest? +God help me, I am not wise enough to answer; the tumult +of trouble within me was something I had never, till then,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> +experienced. Still the idea was a terrible one. How could +a woman of right principles feel otherwise? Thus I explained +it away, and soothed myself into a belief that any +true-hearted person living in that family as I did must have +felt all the miserable sensations that tortured me.</p> + +<p>These thoughts made me dizzy. When I could see clearly +again, Jessie was gone, and Mr. Lee sat a little more upright +in his chair, looking hard at the wall over the top of his +book. I was glad those stern eyes were not turned on me.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dennison came sweeping out of her chamber, leaving +a scarcely perceptible perfume in the hall as she passed. +She did not observe me, for I sat a little out of range from +the door, and she evidently was not conscious that Mr. Lee +was looking after her. She caught his glance, however, in +turning to go down stairs, paused abruptly, and came back +as if she were eager to explain something; but again she +stopped short on seeing that I occupied a seat which commanded +the balcony, and saying hastily, "Oh, I thought +Miss Jessie was here," went down the hall again, evidently +discomfited.</p> + +<p>Mr. Lee resumed his volume, but there were no signs of +reading. He simply looked hard at the page without turning +it over, and sat gnawing at his under lip with a kind of +ferocity I had never witnessed in him before. I was getting +sadly nervous, and felt a painful sensation in my throat; +what was all this coming to? What did it mean?</p> + +<p>I left the balcony and went up to Mrs. Lee's chamber; +here everything was pure and quiet. The invalid lay upon +her couch, with a book before her; one slender and almost +transparent hand rested upon the opposite page to that which +she was reading. It started like a frightened bird as I came +in, and she turned her head with one of those heavenly +smiles I have never seen equalled. But her face clouded +over in an instant. Evidently Martha Hyde was not the +person that gentle invalid had hoped to see.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span></p> + +<p>I went up to the couch and sat down on the low seat at +its head. She handed me the book with a smile, saying +that it made her eyes ache. "Would I read a little till Mr. +Lee came up?"</p> + +<p>She said this languidly, and there was a strange look about +her eyes, as if they had been overtaxed. I received the +volume, but fell into thought with it in my hand, forgetting +that she was observing me.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter?" she said, touching me with her +shadowy hand. "Has anything gone wrong? No bad news +about our young friend, I hope."</p> + +<p>"No," I answered, starting; "I have not heard from him +this morning."</p> + +<p>"Well, what is it then? You look strangely, as if something +had frightened you."</p> + +<p>"Do I? No, indeed, nothing has frightened me."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," she said, with a little hesitation, "you are +getting anxious about me; these heavy feelings that hang +about my head in the morning are a little depressing; I don't +really know what to make of them."</p> + +<p>I looked at her anxiously; there certainly was a singular +expression in her eyes which made me thoughtful. She went +on in a soft, dreamy way, as if talking to herself.</p> + +<p>"Then I used to sleep so lightly. It was a great affliction,—that +state of semi-wakefulness which left everything +unreal, but was not sleep, wore me out; now I fall into such +profound slumber, but it gives me no more rest than the +other state; and I awake with the sensation of a person who +has been struggling hard through the night."</p> + +<p>"But this may arise from opiates."</p> + +<p>"Opiates! Indeed, you know that I never take them, +Miss Hyde."</p> + +<p>I answered with some surprise that I had accounted for +the strange feeling which oppressed her by the idea that it +must be something of that kind; but omitted to say that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> +Mrs. Dennison had bewailed to me the habit of taking preparations +of opium which Mrs. Lee had fallen into.</p> + +<p>The invalid seemed a little hurt by this suggestion, and +said over and over again in her sweet way,—</p> + +<p>"No, no, my dear. It must be terrible pain which can +force me to take these things; and thanks to Him and to all +the loving care around me, I do not suffer greatly."</p> + +<p>"Still you are changed, dear lady," I said. "How, I +cannot explain; but in your face I find that look of struggle +which you complain of."</p> + +<p>"It is oppressive," she said, putting a hand to her forehead, +"and I am afraid makes me but dull company. Mr. +Lee is not here quite so much as usual: or is that a sick +fancy, Miss Hyde?"</p> + +<p>I answered with a tremor in my voice, for her earnest look +troubled me, that we all thought quiet better for her, even +than the pleasant excitement which his company might bring.</p> + +<p>She shook her head, and observed with one of her touching +smiles, "that it did not help the flowers to keep back +the dew when they thirsted for it."</p> + +<p>I had no answer; all my petty evasions against her affectionate +entreaties were like straw flung on the surface of a +brook; I had no heart to attempt more.</p> + +<p>She had fallen into silence, and lay shading her eyes with +one hand, when Mr. Lee came in with a heavy, ringing step, +and a cloud on his face. His wife started up, and her eyes +sparkled as she held out her hand.</p> + +<p>"Were you asleep? Have I disturbed you?" he said, +abruptly.</p> + +<p>"Oh! no, that is impossible, I think; but—but you +look troubled. What is it?"</p> + +<p>"Troubled? Do I? Nothing of the kind. How fanciful +you are, my dear! What should any of us have to do +with trouble?"</p> + +<p>"Not while we are together," she said, touching the seat<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> +I had abandoned with her hand, thus delicately inviting +him to her side.</p> + +<p>But he strode to the window, and looked out with anxiety. +Something was evidently on his mind. Just then I heard +voices in the garden. It was Mrs. Dennison calling aloud +for Jessie.</p> + +<p>"Jessie, Jessie, darling, where have you hidden yourself? +Here is some one wishes to see you."</p> + +<p>The voice came ringing up clear and distinct; Mr. Lee +heard it, and the frown grew lighter upon his forehead. +Directly a light step came up the stairs. Mr. Lee turned +and looked toward the door. Mrs. Dennison entered the +chamber without waiting for her knock to be answered.</p> + +<p>"Where is Jessie?" she cried, all cheerfulness and animation; +"she is wanted, and I am quite out of breath +searching for her in the garden, Mr. Lee. Dear Miss Hyde, +pray help me to find her."</p> + +<p>Mr. Lee came forward at this challenge, almost smiling.</p> + +<p>"Have you been to her room?" he said.</p> + +<p>She answered him that she had not, but added something +in a low, hurried voice. Guarded as it was, I caught the +sense.</p> + +<p>"There was a little misunderstanding between them," +she said; "he wanted me to mediate, and is waiting for her +in the garden."</p> + +<p>Mr. Lee listened, and one of the rare smiles I have spoken +of beamed over his face. He made a movement as if to go +out with the widow; but seeing the anxiety in Mrs. Lee's +eyes, I went forward at once, saying, as I hurried by the +couple,—</p> + +<p>"As you are here to sit with Mrs. Lee, sir, I will look for +Jessie."</p> + +<p>The smile that crept across Mrs. Dennison's lips was like +a reptile feeding on a rose.</p> + +<p>"You are very kind," she said. "I had no idea of enlisting +Mr. Lee; his duties here are too sacred for that."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page197" name="page197"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXIX.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">LOTTIE AS A LETTER-WRITER.</span></h2> + + +<p>I hurried on to escape the sound of Mrs. Dennison's +voice, for in any tone it filled me with loathing; but as +the door closed after me, that of Lottie's opened, and the +imp thrust out her head and emitted a mellow crow, clapping +her arms as if they had been wings, thus indicating +that for once my conduct had met her full approval.</p> + +<p>I could not help laughing; at which she put a finger to +her lips, and darted back of the door, closing it softly in +the process.</p> + +<p>I went up to Jessie's room, but she was not there, nor +could she be found in any part of the house. When assured +of this, I went into the garden and found Lawrence walking +leisurely toward the grove where his horse was tied. He +turned as I called him by name, and looked back with an +expression of surprise.</p> + +<p>"I have been searching for Miss Lee to inform her of +your wish to see her," I said; "but she has gone out."</p> + +<p>He drew his fine figure up proudly, and said, with a smile +that had more of irony than sweetness in it,—</p> + +<p>"I beg pardon; but my visit here was to Mrs. Dennison. +I was only waiting for her to return with her parasol, as +she found the sun rather warm."</p> + +<p>I felt myself coloring, but answered the moment I could +find voice,—</p> + +<p>"Then you did not inquire for Miss Lee?—did not ask +Mrs. Dennison to go in search of her?"</p> + +<p>"Not that I am aware of," he replied, with the same +smile. "I supposed it more than probable that the young +lady had gone to visit her sick-lo—friend, over yonder. +Heaven forbid that I should disturb an arrangement so full +of delicate romance!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span></p> + +<p>I looked at him steadily. There was more of insult in +his tone than these words conveyed. At first I was prompted +to explain and defend: but wherefore? If he could distrust +a creature like our Jessie, any attempt at exculpation appeared +to me like a sacrifice of dignity, so I turned away in +silence. He followed me a few paces, as if wishing to continue +the conversation; but I hurried on, burning with indignation. +Why had those abominable people entered our +pleasant homes? Why did they remain there, making us +all miserable? Oh! how I wished for authority to send +them away together; for in my resentment, I, perhaps unjustly, +coupled the gentleman with the lady, and forgot +that he was her dupe rather than associate.</p> + +<p>When Lawrence was yet almost on a level with me, the +widow came out from the tower, looking flurried and anxious. +She saw me apparently in conversation with her +friend, and turned crimson to the temples; but adroitly +dropping the open parasol over her face, she came slowly +on, concealing the agitation but too visible a moment before. +Without heeding me in the least, she sauntered up +to Lawrence, drooping her parasol almost in my face, and +said with careless insolence,—</p> + +<p>"Now, my good friend, with Miss Hyde's permission, we +will go on with the history of that little affair."</p> + +<p>So she swept him off, somewhat bewildered, I fancy, and +I went into the house, detesting her more than ever.</p> + +<p>Before entering Mrs. Lee's room, I opened the door of +Lottie's little apartment, intending to inquire if Mr. Lee +had gone out. The young girl was seated at a small gilded +table, which had been broken in the drawing-room and +mended by her deft hands, after which, of course, it became +her property; an open letter lay on the table, and +she was busy writing. When I opened the door, she started +up, snatched at the letter and held it behind her, looking at +me with a comical sort of defiance.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Miss Hyde," said she, "if you'll just tell me what's +wanting, I'll come out; but this room isn't large enough for +two—no, not if its owner had a twin sister wandering +about in want of a bed to sleep in."</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, Lottie, but I only want to know if Mrs. +Lee is left alone."</p> + +<p>"No, Miss Hyde, that thing don't happen while I am on +hand. Mr. Lee's in there, and that angel of a woman is +talking to him with tears in her throat, if they haven't got +up to her eyes yet. I can hear the sound without listening, +and I hope it will do him good, that's all!"</p> + +<p>I turned to go away, but she followed me to the door, +still with one hand behind her, in which I could hear paper +rustling.</p> + +<p>"Miss Hyde, I can't help but say, if it does puff you up, +that are dodge of yours was a crowner; I heard it and all +Babylon said: my! isn't she a thing or so? For once you +were too smart for her. Didn't her face blaze up when she +saw you walking with that chap? I couldn't 'a' done it better +myself. Now, mind I say that to encourage you, not to +lift you on a high horse; so don't make a bad use of kindness."</p> + +<p>"You are very kind, and I try not to be spoiled, Lottie."</p> + +<p>"I'm your friend out and out, and the friend of this +family, if ever there was one. Never fear about that; but +this thing is getting beyond me and destroying my usefulness. +I wish you wouldn't give me no more lectures about +listening and finding out things. True enough, I don't pay +no regard to such ridiculous notions; but then just as a +creature gets nestled down under a bush, or fits her ear to a +keyhole, comes the thought, 'Now Miss Hyde would call +this mean,' and it drags your attention away from what's +going on and takes all the relish out of it. I don't like it, +Miss Hyde; such peaked notions do well enough for an old +maid; but I ain't a going to be that, if there is a man cute +enough to match me in all creation."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, Lottie," I said, almost laughing, "as my preaching +only annoys you, it is hardly worth while to repeat it."</p> + +<p>"That's a good soul!" answered Lottie, with benign condescension. +"You hoe your row and I'll hoe mine, we shall +come out together at the end of the lot, never fear."</p> + +<p>The next morning, when our man brought the letters +from town, I noticed Mrs. Dennison examining one which +she took from among those left on the hall-table, with the +keen look of a person whose suspicion has been aroused. +In tearing it open, she examined the adhesive edge a second +time, and apparently found it all right, for her face cleared +up, and she put the letter in her pocket without reading it. +Still she could not have been quite satisfied, for after that +no letters of hers were ever left with those of the family to +be mailed.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page200" name="page200"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XL.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">YOUNG BOSWORTH RECEIVES A LETTER.</span></h2> + + +<p>That day I resolved to go and see young Bosworth. I +had no lover to get jealous or find fault with this; indeed, +it was doubtful if any one cared enough about my +movements to observe them when disconnected from the +family.</p> + +<p>I had no heart to enjoy the walk; it was a cold, raw day, +with gloomy clouds floating along the sky, and gloomier +shadows sweeping the earth. The dampness of a night +succeeded by no sunshine lay upon the meadows; spiders' +webs were stretched across my path; and a rain of moisture +fell from the hazel-bushes as my garments brushed +them in walking. Still, it was not absolutely stormy, and +the gray shadows harmonized with my feelings so completely,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> +that I had no wish to change them. Nothing could be more +gloomy than my own heart.</p> + +<p>When I reached the house, old Mrs. Bosworth came to +the door herself. She seemed a good deal disturbed, and I +fancied, from the heaviness of her eyes, that she had been +crying.</p> + +<p>"Come in, Miss Hyde," she said, taking my hand. "He +is not so well this morning. Indeed, indeed he is much +worse. A letter came here last night, and I was foolish +enough to let it go to him. One of your people brought it, +and I fancied, perhaps, that it might do him good, for it was +a lady's handwriting, and she was so kind that morning."</p> + +<p>"You thought it was from our Jessie," I answered, in the +first impulse of my surprise.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it was a foolish thought, I dare say,—but that was +my idea."</p> + +<p>"And have you learned whom it did come from?"</p> + +<p>"No," answered the noble old lady. "He fainted, and +it fell from his hand; but I laid it under his pillow without +even looking at it; it might have wounded him, you know."</p> + +<p>"And is he so much worse?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Miss Hyde, the fever has come back; he is wild +again."</p> + +<p>"And had you no way of guessing the cause?"</p> + +<p>"I think it was something about Mr. Lawrence, for he +called for him till the house rang with his cries, after the +first dumb shock went off."</p> + +<p>"Did Mr. Lawrence know of this?"</p> + +<p>"He was away at the time; and after that your young +friend's name was so wildly mingled up with it all, that I +could not think it right to bring Mr. Lawrence to the +room. It would have seemed like challenging his compassion."</p> + +<p>My heart ached, for I saw that her penetration had discovered +Jessie's secret, and that she was protecting it with +much delicacy.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Besides, he is our guest," she said, prompted by that old-fashioned +feeling of honor which rendered the shelter of a +friend's roof a sanctuary, "and he might have construed my +grandson's words into a reproach; altogether, we thought it +best to keep them apart."</p> + +<p>There was a mystery about all this that baffled me. Who +could have written that letter brought by one of Mr. Lee's +servants? Not Jessie, I was sure of that, for she never could +have taken a step of so much importance thus privately. +Besides, save for the brief time of Lawrence's visit that day, +when, wounded and heart-sick, she left the house, and wandered +off into the thickest of the woods, she had not been +absent from her mother's room scarcely a moment. Mrs. +Dennison had seen her passing through the outskirt of the +woods, or she would never have ventured to call for her so +loudly.</p> + +<p>All this I knew, but it was unnecessary; a thorough understanding +of Jessie's character rendered conjectures regarding +her part in this matter quite superfluous. But who +had written the letter? and what was its import? Of course, +my suspicions fell on that woman; but what was her object? +Surely she was not anxious to ensnare this young man also—her +vanity could not be so insatiable as that.</p> + +<p>Perhaps it was Mr. Lee; his handwriting was exquisitely +clear and delicate as a woman's; what if his displeasure +against our visit had been expressed here? But no, Mr. Lee +was not a man to rudely force his anger into a sick-room.</p> + +<p>Again my thoughts fell back on the widow; what unprincipled +work was she doing here? What benefit could +she find in sowing discord upon that poor young man's +pillow?</p> + +<p>Of course, one thinks rapidly, and all these broken ideas +took but little time in flashing through my brain. The old +lady stood with one hand on the back of her easy-chair, +observing me with a troubled look.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You think the letter was not from your young friend?" +she said, reading my thoughts with that subtile magnetism +which is a part of true womanliness.</p> + +<p>"I am sure it was not, dear lady!"</p> + +<p>"Nor from her father?"</p> + +<p>"Not if it gave him pain; Mr. Lee is incapable of that."</p> + +<p>The old lady drew a deep breath, as if infinitely relieved, +and sat down, spreading out her ample skirts mechanically +after her usual dainty habit.</p> + +<p>"Miss Hyde," she said, with a little tremor of the voice, +and a movement of the hands, which fell into her lap and +clasped themselves nervously, "Miss Hyde, I am sure you +are my poor boy's friend!"</p> + +<p>"I am indeed!" was my earnest response.</p> + +<p>"And you know—"</p> + +<p>"Yes, dear madam, all that an affectionate heart can +learn by its own observation."</p> + +<p>"I have thought, perhaps," said the dear old lady, coloring +as she spoke, "that Mr. Lee, with his enormous wealth, +might have considered the modest property of my grandson +insufficient, and for this reason have influenced his daughter."</p> + +<p>I had nothing to answer. If Mr. Lee knew of this unhappy +attachment, he had given no sign; but I told her +that his general character was opposed to anything so mercenary.</p> + +<p>"If this were so," answered the old lady, growing more +anxious, "I think it would be easily remedied. My grandson, +it is true, has little more than a handsome independence; +but I, Miss Hyde, am perhaps richer than our neighbors +think. In fact," she added, blushing, as if there were something +to be ashamed of in the confession, "my income, if I +chose to use it, would not compare meanly with that of Mr. +Lee. When one spends but little, with tolerably fair possessions, +property accumulates rapidly at the end of a long +life. I had intended to endow charities, perhaps; but the +sight of my boy up yonder has changed all this."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span></p> + +<p>I could only say, "You are very liberal, madam;" for I +felt sure that the trouble did not lie where she supposed.</p> + +<p>"If you could in any way make this understood, Miss +Hyde, without bringing it prominently forward, I should +be so grateful. I called you in here for this purpose. You +have been so kind, so truly good to us."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, no," I protested.</p> + +<p>"So delicate," she persisted; "and now when his life is +in such fearful peril, I am forced to take liberties—forced +to think if anything can be done to save him, forced to beg +for help."</p> + +<p>"Oh, if I could help you!" I exclaimed, feeling the tears +rush to my eyes.</p> + +<p>"You have, you can; already we are greatly indebted to +your kindness. I am not eloquent to express thanks, sometimes +feeling that silence is most delicate; but I feel all this, +Miss Hyde, and so did he, my poor boy!"</p> + +<p>Again I expressed the happiness it would give me to help +her or him.</p> + +<p>"I am an old woman," she continued; "very old, and require +so little that property has become burdensome. If—if +this thing can be arranged, all that I have, every cent, +shall go to him; not after my death, but now, while I can +see them enjoy it. They will remember my habits, and my +little wants, I am sure; and it will be very pleasant to have +young voices around me again. Will you take an opportunity +to suggest this to Mr. Lee?—not the young lady—my +grandson must owe everything to himself there; but +with a parent these are important considerations, sometimes."</p> + +<p>I could not see her face, for tears half blinded me. The +feeling which could induce this fine old woman to give up +all the appliances of her pride, all the power of her life, in +order to purchase happiness for her grandson, was one of +those noble outgushes of human nature that always make +me weep. I could have kissed the hem of her garments,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> +and felt ennobled by the act. It was no little thing to uproot +the fixed habits of almost a century. With all that love of +property which grows strong in age, from a sentiment of +generosity another might have thought of piding, but she +was ready to give up all.</p> + +<p>I had no heart to discourage her. Warmly and truly as +my wishes went with hers, I would not uproot all hope in my +own mind. Time, I whispered to myself, has many changes, +and so has the human heart. So I took the old lady's hand +in mine and kissed it with affectionate reverence. She smiled +upon me in her benign way, and called me "her dear young +friend, her fair, sweet friend."</p> + +<p>Oh! I am getting to be a forlorn creature, or these words +would never have swelled my heart with such throbs of +gratitude. Have I indeed anything lovable or attractive +about me which the old lady's deeper penetration has discovered, +or is it only because I have been a little kind to her +grandson? I wish it were possible to know about this, for +since Mrs. Dennison has been at our house, I have begun to +doubt and fear about myself in a way that never possessed +me before. Her overpowering elegance has put down all +my little quiet claims to notice so completely, that it seems +as if I never should lift up my head again. No wonder I +cried and kissed that soft hand like a child. People don't +think how much we require praise and petting, at all stages +of existence, or how much of childhood runs from the cradle +to the grave in every human life.</p> + +<p>It was very foolish and romantic, but without at all knowing +it, I had fallen on my knees by the old lady; and when +she saw my eyes so full of tears, she smoothed my hair, and +called me a good girl. With this I laid my head on her +lap, and begged her to let me love her always, telling her +that sometimes I was lonely for the want of a right to love +anything. Then I grew ashamed and stood up, blushing +through the tears that had betrayed me into such weakness, +but her gracious look reassured me.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page206" name="page206"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XLI.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">OUT IN THE STORM.</span></h2> + + +<p>After this the younger Mrs. Bosworth came into the +parlor, her eyes red with weeping, and looking weaker +and more in affliction than ever. She had done everything, +she said, dropping helplessly into a chair, and nothing would +pacify him. There he was, trying to read over a letter that +he kept hid away under the pillow, that shook and shook in +his hands till the whole room was full of its rustling, and it +made her so nervous she was afraid to stay alone with him—muttering, +muttering as if he were angry with her, that had +been a good mother to him all his days; no one could say to +the contrary of that, she was sure.</p> + +<p>Another woman of a character so much above the level +of that poor mother's, might have become impatient; but +the old lady listened to her with great sympathy, excused +her futile grief by half implied apologies, and finally succeeded +in persuading her to lie down on the sofa, while we +went up-stairs and watched by her son.</p> + +<p>The young man was indeed very ill, entirely out of his +head, and talking angrily to himself. The letter which Mrs. +Bosworth had mentioned was crushed in his hand, and he +was rolling it into a round ball between his two palms. +While I stood looking upon him, thus troubled by some +unseen enemy, and flung back upon a sick-bed, it seemed +impossible that any one could be cruel enough for such work, +unless the heart of a fiend had somewhere taken human form.</p> + +<p>I would have stayed in the sick-room longer, for my poor +talent for nursing was never more required, but the old lady +seemed anxious to send me home. Having done her utmost +to relieve the unhappy situation of our patient, she was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> +restless till her object was put in some state of forwardness; +so I went away, leaving her rather hopeful, but very desponding +myself.</p> + +<p>As I went home, the clouds that had been broken and +scattered were gathered into vast tent-like masses, and a +slow rain began to fall, which gradually wet me through. +I did not heed it; nothing could be gloomier than my feelings. +It seemed to me as if I were going to a house of +strangers, so completely had the machinations of that +woman shut me out from my old place in the family. So +I let it rain on, without a wish to escape the discomfort.</p> + +<p>When I was nearly across the fields, I saw a figure approaching +through the gray mists, and would gladly have +avoided it by turning into the woods; but a voice called me +by name, and I stopped at once. It was Jessie, who had +come out into the storm to meet me. Lawrence had called +at the house and informed the family of young Bosworth's +relapse.</p> + +<p>"He is there now, I suppose," she said, excitedly; "but +I came away, guessing where you had gone. I cannot +breathe in the house when they are together, and he lying +so ill and helpless."</p> + +<p>I looked up at these words. The storm was beating in +her face, but her cheeks were like fire underneath. It +might have been all rain that flashed down the burning +surface; but I thought not, for there were suppressed sobs +in her voice when she spoke.</p> + +<p>"Is—is your father at home?" I inquired, hesitating in +my speech, I cannot tell wherefore.</p> + +<p>"No; he rode over to town before the storm came on. +They have the house to themselves."</p> + +<p>She spoke bitterly. In truth, I scarcely recognized my +own sweet Jessie with those wet garments clinging around +her, and that excited face. We walked on in silence, for +she turned to retrace her steps. At last she said, abruptly:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p> + +<p>"How is he, Aunt Matty? Does he suffer?"</p> + +<p>"Greatly, I think, Jessie."</p> + +<p>"No wonder he is ill," she said, passionately. "It is +enough to break down anything human."</p> + +<p>"I am glad you can feel for him, Jessie."</p> + +<p>"Feel for him! Who can help it? But who feels for—for—"</p> + +<p>She broke off abruptly, turning pale and cold.</p> + +<p>I walked on, distressed by this broken confidence, but +knew well that Jessie was too proud for anything more +definite.</p> + +<p>As we came into the field bordered by the carriage sweep, +a horseman dashed up to the gate, which had been left +open, and was passing at a swift gallop toward the house. +It was Mr. Lee returning from town, and riding fast to +escape the rain. He saw us dragging our way through the +grass, and drew up, regarding our condition with a look so +stern that it chilled me.</p> + +<p>"He is angry with me for going out, I suppose," said +Jessie, drearily. "Well, I could not help it."</p> + +<p>After regarding us for a full minute with that hard look, +Mr. Lee rode on, his horse tramping heavier than before, +and sending back broken flakes of mud, as if casting it purposely +against us. He rode directly to the stables. Jessie +and I slunk into the house by the back entrance like culprits.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page208" name="page208"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XLII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">JESSIE GETS TIRED OF HER GUEST.</span></h2> + + +<p>I kept my chamber that day, striving to make up my +mind about what course was best for me to pursue. My +life at Mr. Lee's had become so harassing, that it was abso<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>lutely +burdensome. I did not know friends from enemies +in that house, for every being in it seemed changed. I sat +down alone and wept in bitter grief. Should I go away +and leave the ill-contested field to that woman, who was +surely working out some great evil to the whole family? I +was not dependent. Considerable property was vested in +my favor, but it was in Mr. Lee's hands; and so generously +had he provided for every possible want, that even the income +remained untouched.</p> + +<p>I had ability, and could have earned my bread anywhere, +either as a governess or a teacher, had that been necessary. +Thus, personal considerations could not have bowed down +my spirits to the state of depression that fell upon me. +Something deeper lay at my heart. Was it love for Jessie? +was it fear that the poor girl would be left without defence, +to the machinations of that cruel woman? I cannot +tell. If other and more selfish feelings existed in my bosom, +I did not know it. Indeed, so absorbed were all my faculties +in the difficulties that thickened around us, that I had +no time for self-examination. Dear, dear Jessie! how could +I help her? That was the burden of my thoughts.</p> + +<p>The thorough drenching which I had received made me +hoarse and really ill. In my anxiety, I had neglected to +change my clothes; but the cold shudders that crept over +me aroused my attention to the danger, and, changing my +damp garments, I lay down, striving to get warm.</p> + +<p>I have a vague recollection that the sun broke out, and +came flashing through the leaves into my chamber. Then +I heard voices in the garden beneath, which chilled me +worse than the cold.</p> + +<p>Mr. Lee and Mrs. Dennison were conversing together on +the terrace, where camp-stools and garden-chairs were +always standing. I could have heard everything; the +temptation was great, but I put it away, burying my head +in my pillow, and drowning their voices with my sobs.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span></p> + +<p>Toward night Jessie came to my room. She was sad and +disheartened; Mr. Lee had not spoken to her since our return; +and even her mother was vexed that she should have +exposed herself to the storm.</p> + +<p>I inquired if Mr. Lawrence was at the house when her +father returned. Jessie thought not, but could not say positively; +only he seldom was there, except in her father's +absence.</p> + +<p>She said this abruptly, and turned the conversation; the +very name of Lawrence seemed to distress her.</p> + +<p>"Aunt Matty," she said, after a dreary silence, "will this +widow never leave our house? Shall we remain in this state +till it brings ruin on us all? Mother seems fading away, +and no one appears to care. You look years older; and as +for me—"</p> + +<p>"Well, Jessie?"</p> + +<p>"No matter about me; but something must be done. So +long as it was myself only, I made an effort to bear it; but +we are all changed, all unhappy—dear, sweet mamma, and +even Lottie. There is poison in the very atmosphere, I +think."</p> + +<p>"Let us have patience, Jessie; this cannot last much +longer; but while Mrs. Dennison remains here, do not forget +that she is your mother's guest."</p> + +<p>"But how long—how long, I say, will this last? My +father is getting more distant and estranged every hour. I +feel like an alien under his roof—a stranger to my very self."</p> + +<p>She was greatly excited, and wrung her hands with passionate +vehemence. The proud reticence of her character +was all swept away; she fell upon her knees by the bed on +which I lay, and sobbed aloud. I am sure this would not +have happened with any one else; but I had become almost +a second self to the dear girl, and she was not ashamed to +give way to her grief in my presence.</p> + +<p>While she was on her knees, Lottie opened my chamber<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>-door +and looked in. Seeing Miss Jessie, she drew back, +placed a finger on her lips, and performed a series of pantomime +that would have been exceedingly ludicrous but for +the anxiety that beset me. As it was, I saw that she had +something to communicate, but was afraid to ask her in +while Jessie was so disturbed.</p> + +<p>She saw this, and darting a finger backward over her +shoulder and forward at me, as if it had been a weapon, retreated, +making up faces that grew more ludicrous with +every step.</p> + +<p>Jessie had seen nothing of this. She arose, after a little, +and went out, sighing heavily.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page211" name="page211"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XLIII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">A CONSULTATION WITH LOTTIE.</span></h2> + + +<p>Directly after she was gone, Lottie came back, and, +closing the door, bolted it inside and stole up to my +bed on tiptoe. She looked pale and frightened, but her +eyes shone through the shadows that had suddenly settled +around them, and she moved like a hound doubling on its +prey.</p> + +<p>"Miss Hyde," she said, "just listen while you have time; +that red Babylon has gone and done it. I've had my hands +full all day scooting about among the wet bushes, and +holding my breath behind window-shutters. Now, would +you believe it? I've been two hull hours squinched up in +that big rosewood book-case with the green silk lining; for +them new painted winders in the tower library are the most +aggravating things to one as wants to keep her eyes open. +Thanks be to goodness! the new books haven't arrived, and +I should have had lots of room if human beings had been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> +built flat. As it was, I got along by holding in my breath +and bowing the doors a trifle."</p> + +<p>"But what did you go into the book-case for, Lottie?" +I inquired, anxious to bring her to some point in her communication.</p> + +<p>"What did I go into the book-case for? Why, only to +hear what was going on in that room, to be sure. Wasn't +that Mr. Lawrence and Mrs. Babylon there, sitting on the +sofa together two hull hours?"</p> + +<p>"And you listened to the conversation?"</p> + +<p>"In course I did."</p> + +<p>She seemed waiting for me to ask more questions, but I +could not force myself thus indirectly to partake in a dishonorable +act.</p> + +<p>"You won't ask what they said, and yet are a-dying to +know, any fool can see that. Well, thanks be to goodness! +I ain't a lady, and if I was, for <i>her</i> sake I'd do worse things +than that; my ears were made to hear with, and I ain't +going to fight agin nature."</p> + +<p>"But you came to see me for something, Lottie?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly I did. But how is one to tell things without +talking right out? Well, if you won't ask what I heard in +the book-case, I must tell you promiscuous. This she-sarpent +has about done up your business for you, as she means to +for me and the rest of 'em before long."</p> + +<p>"Done my business for me, Lottie! What does that +mean? I do not understand."</p> + +<p>"Likely enough; but I'll tell you; Babylon is in love +with Mr. Lawrence."</p> + +<p>"I wish from my heart he'd marry her," I thought.</p> + +<p>"But she won't have him," said Lottie, as if answering +my thought. "At any rate, not yet."</p> + +<p>"Well, well, Lottie, tell me what brings you here? My +head aches."</p> + +<p>"So does mine," said Lottie, lifting a hand to her head,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> +and pressing her forehead hard with the palm. "Well, +Miss Hyde, a little while ago, Mr. Lee and Mrs. Babylon +were sitting on the platform under this very window. It +was just after the rain, and they happened to meet as he was +coming out to enjoy the sunshine. I happened in the same +way to be dusting the sofa close by the window, and it took +me a good while. Don't put up your hand, Miss Hyde, +you'd 'a' listened yourself. She was talking about you."</p> + +<p>"About me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I can't give the words; but she was saying, in +her silky way, that Miss Jessie was so much altered since +she met her at the sea-shore, so obstinate and demonstrative, +vulgarized, as one might say, if anything so very beautiful +could be vulgarized. But didn't Mr. Lee think that a +companion who followed her pupil into society was rather a +drawback, and apt to get a predominating influence over +that of the parents? Was he certain of Miss Jessie's friend,—of +her prudence and disinterestedness? Of course, she had +no right to give an opinion: but when the time came for a +young lady to enter society, was there no reason to think that +a household companion, like Miss Hyde, might become a +dangerous counsellor? Of course, Mr. Lee knew best, his +wisdom was never at fault; but would not a companion, +perfectly dependent, and who had some experience in society, +produce a better result?</p> + +<p>"I wish you could 'a' seen Mr. Lee's face, Miss Hyde. He +looked up all of a sudden, and his eyes flashed fire; Babylon +saw it, and looked down as if butter wouldn't melt in +her mouth; and then he took her hand in his,—it wasn't +the first time, Miss Hyde, I'd bet my head on that, for it all +came too easy—and I've seen what I have seen;—then he +said how difficult it was to find such a person,—one who +was an ornament to society, and yet willing to live in a +place like that which Mrs. Lee's illness made, in some sort, +like a prison.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span></p> + +<p>"She left her hand in his, and lifted her eyes to his face +sideways—you know how—and said a few words almost in +a whisper. I couldn't catch the first word, but he turned +red as fire and lifted her hand to his lips, almost; then he +dropped it again and begged her pardon."</p> + +<p>I had no power to stop Lottie's narrative. The import +of this conversation struck me with a sudden pang. It +seemed as if sentence of death had been pronounced upon +me. What could I do? Where on earth was a home like +that to be found? What would Jessie and Mrs. Lee do +without me? That woman in my place! The thought was +anguish. I almost hated her.</p> + +<p>Lottie stood by the bed, looking at me, with trouble in her +face.</p> + +<p>"I knew that it would be a blow; but this is worse than +I expected," she said. "How white you are—how your +lips quiver! But don't take on so. Let them try it; let +Babylon do her worst—she'll find her match. I've learned +a thing or two, since she came, that I didn't know before,—especially +how to droop your eyelids and look meek, then +open 'em quick and flash out fire. It's taking, I've tried it +with—with—"</p> + +<p>"With whom, Lottie?"</p> + +<p>"With—but no matter; when the birds sing, chickens +have a right to peep. Babylon isn't the only person who +can turn a feller's head, and good looks is according to one's +taste. Then there's a difference in flirting, when the object +is a good one; don't you think so, Miss Hyde?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know, Lottie," was my dreary answer; "you +must ask about these matters of some one who has had more +experience."</p> + +<p>"Oh! I don't care about asking; it all comes natural +enough after the first lesson. But you won't let them drive +you away—it would break her heart, I know it would."</p> + +<p>Lottie's eyes were full of tears. Poor girl! she had a +good heart.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span></p> + +<p>This sympathy touched me deeply. I was so desolate +and felt so wronged, that a kind word filled me with gratitude, +even from Lottie.</p> + +<p>"Oh! ma'am, don't mind it! Babylon sha'n't hurt you +while I can help it. Only be firm, and don't go off in a fit +of pride. Stand your ground to the last, and when the +worst comes to the worst, depend on me."</p> + +<p>The girl took my hand and kissed it; then, kneeling down +by the bed, laid her face close to mine.</p> + +<p>"Miss Hyde—"</p> + +<p>"Well, my good girl."</p> + +<p>"I have something to say, something that worries me +dreadfully; are you listening?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, child."</p> + +<p>"It is about mistress. Don't you see how dreadfully thin +she is getting? You can almost look through her hand."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Lottie, it makes my heart ache to think of it. +Have you any idea of the cause?"</p> + +<p>"<i>He</i> don't visit her much now."</p> + +<p>"You have noticed it, you—"</p> + +<p>"I count the minutes every day."</p> + +<p>"This might vex her, but not to the extent that seems so +visible."</p> + +<p>"No, there is something else. I cannot understand it; +but wait awhile, Miss Hyde, I'm on hand."</p> + +<p>I hardly heard this. The idea that my presence in that +house had become a burden, that I might be at any moment +desired to leave my place in the family for that woman to +fill, absorbed my faculties, and in the selfishness of my distress, +I gave less heed than the subject claimed to what the +girl was saying.</p> + +<p>She saw this, I suppose; for, with renewed entreaties that +I should hold firmly to my position and trust to her for the +rest, she crept from the room, almost crying.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page216" name="page216"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XLIV.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">THE MIDNIGHT DISCOVERY.</span></h2> + + +<p>About an hour after this I arose, bathed my forehead, +and went into Mrs. Lee's chamber, for the pain of my +solitary thoughts became unendurable. The poor lady was +lying on the sofa, with her eyes closed, looking more wan +than ever. Something troubled her, I am sure; for tears +were swelling under the transparent whiteness of her eyelids, +and her hands were clasped over her bosom. This was +an attitude habitual to her when disturbed by any grief, +and seeing it, I turned to go away; but she heard my footstep +and opened her eyes. There was something in her +manner that went to my heart—a sort of mournful constraint, +as if she shrunk from my presence. Still she held +forth her hand.</p> + +<p>I sat down in my old place, and she closed her eyes again, +as if any effort at speech was beyond her strength. In the +broader light which fell upon her face, I saw that she had +been crying—an unusual thing with her at any time; for +all sources of trouble had been kept so sedulously from that +room, that grief amounting to tears seldom found its way +there.</p> + +<p>After a prolonged silence that chilled me to the heart, +she laid her hand on mine, and I saw that her earnest eyes +were searching my face.</p> + +<p>"Dear Miss Hyde, we have been so happy together—I +thought no family was ever united like ours!"</p> + +<p>I understood the pathos in her voice, the meaning of her +words. Mr. Lee had begun the subject; already they were +about to prove how troublesome and useless I had been—how +much my place was wanted for another.</p> + +<p>"You do not speak," she said, "surely, nothing has been +said to wound you?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No," I answered, "I only come to see if you were in +want of anything."</p> + +<p>"Ah! you have always been so attentive, so kind! How +shall I get along without you?"</p> + +<p>So it was decided. He had spoken, and they had settled +my destiny; the gentle invalid yielding without a murmur +while her best friend was driven from under her roof. I +had no heart to continue the conversation, and she, poor +lady! evidently lacked the courage to speak plainer. Thus, +with apprehensions and grief, we remained together in silence. +Her eyes were closed, but not with sleep, I am sure of that; +and I felt a dead heaviness creeping over me, which carried +with it a dreary sense of pain.</p> + +<p>It was getting dark when I left the chamber. The depression +was so heavy upon me that I went down to the +kitchen, thinking to ask the cook for a cup of warm tea. +Lottie was there busy at the range, and, singular enough, +making tea, as if my wants had been pined.</p> + +<p>"A handful, cook," she said, holding out the silver teapot +for a renewed supply. "I want it good and strong, +something that will make one's eyes snap."</p> + +<p>When the cook turned to put her canister in its place, Lottie +went to the closet and brought out two cups and saucers.</p> + +<p>"Miss Hyde," she said, "you have just come in time. I +knew it'd be wanted: try a good, strong cup, it will have +the ache out of your head in no time."</p> + +<p>I thanked her and took the cup she offered. It was +strong to bitterness, and I did not like the taste; but when +I passed it back, Lottie put in more sugar and cream, but +no water. I was too weary for protest, and drank the bitterness +without further comment.</p> + +<p>Lottie seemed pleased, and insisted earnestly that I should +take a second cup, filling her own for the third time, and +draining it with what I thought must be heroism instead +of desire.</p> + +<p>"There," she said, setting her cup down, "that will do, I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> +reckon; it makes my head as light as a cork. How do you +feel, Miss Hyde?"</p> + +<p>"It is very, very strong, Lottie, and I fear it will keep +me awake all night."</p> + +<p>"Fear!" cried the girl, "fear! Why, of course it will! +To tell you the truth," she added, bending toward me, and +whispering, "I begin to think this isn't the house where one +can sleep honestly. Now just go up to your room, if you +please, and don't let them see you looking so miserable. +There's trouble enough without that."</p> + +<p>The cook came toward us before I could answer. She +was preparing to send up tea for the family, and muttered +something about ladies always being in the way in a kitchen. +So great was the depression of my spirits, that I allowed this +to wound me, and went away in deeper dejection.</p> + +<p>No human soul came near me during the evening. I +could not sleep—the stimulus urged my brain into swift +action. I reviewed all the difficulties of my position over +and over again; strange projects came into my mind, ways +by which my wrongs—for I had been wronged—should be +redressed; speeches more eloquent than ever could reach my +lips inspired me, and these were to be addressed to Mr. Lee, +in the presence of that woman. A thousand wild fancies +seized upon my brain and held it. I had no wish to change +my position. Having thrown myself on the bed in my +clothes, I remained there, thinking, thinking, thinking till +my brain ached, but would not pause for rest—a terrible +inspiration was upon me.</p> + +<p>I heard a bustle in the house, as if the family were retiring; +then the clock struck eleven, twelve, one. The +hours did not seem long, but the stillness almost terrified +me. All at once, it was after midnight some time, a sound +approached my chamber like the rush of a bird through the +air. I started up and listened. The door opened softly, and +a figure glided in.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Miss Hyde, are you awake? Get up this minute and +come with me; if your shoes are on, take them off. Come."</p> + +<p>I sprang up and followed Lottie swiftly and silently as +she had reached my chamber. She drew me through the +passage into her own little room. As I passed along the +hall which led from the main building to the tower, it seemed +to me that my dress brushed against some one crouching in +a dark corner; but Lottie had not seen it, and I followed +her, holding my breath. She glided through her own room +into the chamber where Mrs. Lee slept. The carpets were +thick as wood-moss, and our feet gave no sound. When she +was fairly in the room, Lottie paused, and I heard a slight, +scraping noise; then the sudden flash of a match was followed +by the blaze of a candle which the girl carried in +her hand.</p> + +<p>As the light broke up, a faint cry came from the bed; a +figure which bent over it rose up suddenly, and I stood face +to face with Mrs. Dennison, the whitest woman that ever my +eyes dwelt upon. She held a crystal toilet-bottle in one +hand, and in the other a wet pocket-handkerchief.</p> + +<p>"Stand by the door, Miss Hyde. Don't let her move a +foot. I'll be back in a flash."</p> + +<p>Lottie darted from the room as she spoke, leaving the +candlestick on the carpet.</p> + +<p>The woman turned upon me then with the spirit of a +tigress. Her eyes flashed fire, the white teeth shone through +her curved lips. She attempted to pass me, but I retreated +to the door and kept the threshold. She came forward as +if to force me away, still holding the bottle and handkerchief +in her hands. Never in my life had I seen a face so +beautiful and so fiendish. There was desperation in her +eyes, violence in her action; but though weaker and smaller +than her, I would have died on the threshold of that door +rather than have allowed her to cross it.</p> + +<p>All at once her face changed. She was looking, not at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> +me, but over my shoulder; a flash of quick intelligence shot +from her eyes, and the next moment she had thrown both +arms about my neck and pressed my face to her bosom. I +knew that some one came close up behind me, and heard +the clink of glass; then a rush of feet through Lottie's +room, and along the passage. All this could not have +lasted a minute. I struggled from the woman's embrace, +and pushed her from me with a violence that made her +stagger. Her face had changed to its old look of triumph. +She laughed, not naturally—that was beyond even her +powers of self-command—but in a way that made me +shiver.</p> + +<p>"Dear Miss Hyde, is it you?" she said, in a voice that +quaked in spite of herself. "How terribly frightened I +was! Poor Mrs. Lee must have been very ill. I heard her +moaning and calling for help in my room, and came at once; +she seems quite insensible now."</p> + +<p>I looked toward the bed. Mrs. Lee lay upon it, white, +and still as a corpse, her eyes closed, and her lips of a bluish +white. Was she dead? Had the woman killed her? A +strong, pungent smell filled the room—a smell of chloroform. +It was almost suffocating.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dennison seemed to think of this suddenly, and, +darting toward the window, flung open two of the sashes +before I knew what she was about. A gush of fresh air +swept through the room; the pungent odor grew fainter and +fainter, at which she smiled on me triumphantly.</p> + +<p>I looked at her, as she stood in the light; a toilet-bottle +was still in her hand, but it was of crimson glass, spotted +with gold; that which she held, when I came in, was white +and pure as water. How had she managed to change the +crystal flask? What had become of the handkerchief?</p> + +<p>Still smiling on me, she approached the bed and scattered +fragrant drops from the crimson flask over the pillows and +the deathly face of my poor friend. How still she lay!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> +The whiteness of her face was terrible, but I dared not approach +her; my post was by the door till Lottie came; but +it made my blood run cold to see that woman bending over +her, smoothing the pillows with her hand, and filling the +room with that lying fragrance.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page221" name="page221"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XLV.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">BAFFLED AND DEFEATED.</span></h2> + + +<p>It seemed an eternity before Lottie came back, yet she +had not been absent three minutes. She came alone, +and stood by me at the door, regarding Mrs. Dennison's +movements with the keen vigilance of a fox. But a glimpse +of Mrs. Lee's face made her start forward with a cry of +dismay.</p> + +<p>"My mistress, she is dead! They have killed her!"</p> + +<p>She would have fallen upon her knees by the bed, but Mrs. +Dennison put her aside. It was an easy thing, for Lottie +had lost all her strength in that terrible fear.</p> + +<p>"Foolish child! she has only fainted," said Mrs. Dennison, +holding her back; "the air will bring her to."</p> + +<p>Lottie's courage returned with these words, and struggling +from Mrs. Dennison's hold, she sat down upon the bed, +chafing Mrs. Lee's cold hands and kissing them with loving +tenderness.</p> + +<p>"Is she really and truly alive?" said the poor girl, appealing +to me.</p> + +<p>I could not resist the wistful anxiety of that look, but +came forward, holding my breath, with a dread that her +fears might be true.</p> + +<p>That moment Mr. Lee entered the room, and directly +came Jessie, with a look of terror on her face. She trembled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> +like a leaf at the sight of her mother, and turned to me, +looking the question which she could not frame in speech.</p> + +<p>"It is not death! I hope and believe that it is not death!" +I said.</p> + +<p>Jessie fell upon a chair and burst into tears.</p> + +<p>"Hush, child!" said her father; "let us learn what has +happened. Mrs. Dennison, can you tell me?"</p> + +<p>"I hardly know myself," answered the widow, innocently. +"I heard moans and a cry for help coming from this room, +and, springing up from my sleep, ran to see what it meant. +There was no light in the room, but I felt that Mrs. Lee was +cold and still as she lies now—alive, but motionless. I had +snatched a bottle from my toilet, and was bathing her head +with its contents, when Miss Hyde and the servant came in. +They were very much terrified, and alarmed the house, I +hope unnecessarily. It is a deep fainting fit. I am sure +she will come out safely in time."</p> + +<p>As the woman said this, Lottie stood looking in her face, +dumb with astonishment. She saw the red flask in Mrs. +Dennison's hand, felt the changed atmosphere of the room, +and, for once, her presence of mind gave way.</p> + +<p>"Poor thing! she was half frightened to death," said Mrs. +Dennison, casting a patronizing glance at the crestfallen +girl, "I never saw anything so wild in my life."</p> + +<p>"And I never saw anything so wicked!" Lottie burst +forth, clinching her hands and almost shaking them at the +woman.</p> + +<p>"Wicked! Oh, not so bad as that, my good girl," said +the woman, gently. "One can be frightened, you know, +without being wicked."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Lottie, with a sob, "and a person can be +wicked without being frightened, I know that well enough."</p> + +<p>"Lottie!" exclaimed Mr. Lee.</p> + +<p>Lottie stood for one instant like a wild animal at bay; but +directly her eyes fell upon her mistress, her form relaxed, +and, creeping to the bedside, she began to cry.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, bring her to! bring her to! and I won't say another +word," she pleaded, looking piteously at the widow.</p> + +<p>"I am not omnipotent, poor child!" was the sweet reply. +"But see! I think there is a movement of her eyelids."</p> + +<p>Lottie rose from her knees and looked eagerly in that +worn face. "Yes, yes, she is alive; she is coming to herself. +Oh, my mistress! my mistress! I will never, never leave +you again. I'll sleep on the floor at the foot of your bed, +like a dog, before anybody reaches you!"</p> + +<p>Tears rained down poor Lottie's face, and her voice was so +full of grief that no one had the heart to chide her, though it +seemed to disturb the invalid, who was slowly recovering +consciousness.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lee at last opened her eyes, and looked vaguely +around at the people near her bed, without seeming to recognize +them; when Lottie caught her vacant gaze, she burst +forth,—</p> + +<p>"Oh, ma'am, don't you know me? It's Lottie—it's Lottie!"</p> + +<p>This pathetic cry gained no response. Those dreamy +eyes wandered from face to face, with a helpless, appealing +look indescribably touching. Jessie bent over her mother, +striving to make herself known; but her sweet voice passed +unheeded. Every kind effort failed to draw her from this +dull state of half-consciousness, till Mr. Lee passed his arm +under her head and drew it to his bosom. Then a thrill +seemed to pass through her whole frame, a smile dawned on +her pale mouth.</p> + +<p>"Have I been ill?" she murmured, resting her head +against the bosom to which he gently lifted her,—"very ill, +that you all come here in the night?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Mr. Lee, very tenderly; for he seemed +to forget everything in her danger. "But for our kind +guest, I fear it might have gone hard with you."</p> + +<p>Lottie, who was crouching at her mistress' feet, with her +face buried in the bed-clothes, uttered a sudden, "Oh! oh!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> +I can't bear it!" and, starting up, rushed into her room, +looking at Mrs. Dennison over her shoulders like a wild cat.</p> + +<p>"Poor Lottie!" muttered Mrs. Lee. "How it troubles +her to see any one suffer! And you, my kind guest—"</p> + +<p>The gentle lady held out her hand to Mrs. Dennison, +smiling wanly, but too feeble for any other expression of +gratitude.</p> + +<p>"Mamma," said Jessie, quickly, "do not try to speak, +but rest. This has been a terrible attack."</p> + +<p>"You here, my child, and I not know it!" whispered the +invalid; "forgive me."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dennison pressed forward; but Jessie stepped between +her and the invalid, not rudely, but with quiet decision +which became the daughter of that proud man.</p> + +<p>"Aunt Matty," she said, glancing past the widow, "had +you not better leave her to papa and me? So many faces +excite her."</p> + +<p>Jessie was very pale, and I saw that her lips were quivering +with agitation. Something had wounded her almost +beyond bearing.</p> + +<p>"Yes," I answered, promptly, "we will withdraw;" and, +looking at Mrs. Dennison steadily, I waited for her to move +first.</p> + +<p>"This may be of service," she said, sweetly, placing the +ruby-tinted bottle in Jessie's hand. "I found it very useful +in reviving her."</p> + +<p>Jessie took the bottle, but set it down at once. Indeed, +her hand shook so violently that it must otherwise have fallen.</p> + +<p>"Now, Miss Hyde, I do not see that our presence will be +of further use," said the widow, gliding toward the door.</p> + +<p>I stepped back to avoid contact even with her garments. +My heart was full of bitter loathing. I grew cold as she +passed me, and answered her smile with a look that frightened +it from her lips. We passed through Lottie's room, +but I could not force myself to enter it till even her shadow +had disappeared.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page225" name="page225"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XLVI.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">LOTTIE OWNS HERSELF BEATEN.</span></h2> + + +<p>When the woman was gone, I went in and spoke to +Lottie, who had curled herself up in the window-seat, +with her knees drawn up, and both hands locked over +them.</p> + +<p>"Don't speak to me; don't anybody dare to speak to +me!" she said, motioning me off with her head. "I ain't +worth noticing. I'd give something to any decent person +that'd whip me within an inch of my life, or bite me—I +don't care which—so long as it hurt."</p> + +<p>"Lottie," I whispered, pressing my hand on her shoulder +to enforce what I said, "do not speak a word of this till I +have seen you. Come up to my room."</p> + +<p>"I won't. Nothing on earth shall take me out of her +sight again. There'll be murder if I do."</p> + +<p>"Hush! Lottie, I do not understand all this."</p> + +<p>"But <i>I</i> do; and I give up, she's out-generalled me. I'll +never pretend to crow over her again; but it's awful, oh! +it's awful!"</p> + +<p>She shuddered all over, and crouched closer together, +winding both arms tightly around her knees.</p> + +<p>"Tell me all about it, Lottie. I must know, in order to +judge how to act."</p> + +<p>She moved on the window-seat, that I might sit closer to +her; then drawing my head down with her arm, whispered,—</p> + +<p>"I knew that she was doing something, and that Mrs. +Lee was suffering by it; but what? that was the question. +I tried to keep awake at nights, but it was of no use; no +log ever slept as I did. Last night, you remember, I drank +that strong tea. It wasn't because I liked it; but I was +determined to keep awake. I wanted you to be on hand as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> +well, and gave you a powerful dose; and wasn't you wide +awake as a night-hawk when I came into your room?</p> + +<p>"Well, I went to bed just as I always do, and lay down +with my eyes shut, waiting. Babylon had gone to her +room; but Cora was floating about in the passages a good +while; finally she went in, and everything was still. It +seemed to me as if I kept growing sharper and wider awake +every minute; but I never heard that woman's step till she +stood over me, and her shadow fell clear across the bed; I +bit my lips to keep from screaming, but lay still and waited.</p> + +<p>"She called my name two or three times, whispering +louder each time; but I drew my breath even and deep, +waiting for her. All at once that strange smell that was in +the room when you came almost strangled me; but as I bit +my lips harder, down came a wet cloth over my face. It +almost smothered me, for she pressed it close with her hand +till I felt a strange falling away, as if she had forced me +over a rock, and I was myself sinking. One minute more, +and I should have been nowhere; but some noise in the +entry took her away.</p> + +<p>"I snatched the cloth from my face and crept softly out +of bed. The whirl and weight made me so dizzy, I could +not walk, but crept on my hands and knees through the +door which she had left open. Here the fresh air blew over +me, and I felt steady enough to run to your room.</p> + +<p>"You know how we found her, and how she put us down. +I thought we had her, safe and sure; but here we are worse +off than ever. I believe she would kill that blessed angel +before his face, and no one would believe it."</p> + +<p>I sat in silence, wondering what course it was best for me +to pursue. That this woman was undermining Mrs. Lee's +feeble life, by repeated applications of chloroform, I could +not doubt; but how convince the family of this? It was +an act so hideous in itself, that the very charge, if unbelieved, +would be considered a crime. I was sure that, with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> +the help of her maid, she had changed the bottle which +contained the chloroform while struggling with me at the +door; but how was I to prove this? Lottie—alas! this +woman had so fascinated those who held power in the family, +that her story would be of no avail without some indisputable +proof to sustain it.</p> + +<p>Jessie would believe us, I was sure; but the belief, without +power to remedy a state of things so terrible that it +made my heart sink, would only produce pain. What +could I do? Helplessly I asked the question. Yet a terrible +necessity required all my energies.</p> + +<p>The dejection of poor Lottie had a numbing effect upon +me. She, usually so full of resources, so ardent in her +courage, sat on the window-seat, crestfallen and beaten like +myself. One thing was certain, Lottie would keep strict +guard now. Whatever the woman's motives were, the events +of that night would never be repeated, so long as that faithful +creature kept her place in the household. But how long +would she keep that place? How long should I be left +under the same roof with her?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page227" name="page227"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XLVII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">MR. LEE SENDS IN THE ACCOUNT OF HIS GUARDIANSHIP.</span></h2> + + +<p>The pain of my apprehensions hunted me out of all society. +I crept away into the woods, the next day, wondering +what I should do, how it was my duty to act. I could not +bear to see any of the family. No charge had been made, +no suspicion cast on Mrs. Dennison; but it seemed to me +that every member of the household must read my thoughts +and condemn me for them. I felt broken down and driven +forth by this woman.</p> + +<p>I did not remember or care for the hours of breakfast or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> +dinner; excitement had driven all thoughts of food from +my mind. This increased my languor and made me more +helpless still. Why had this beautiful woman come to torment +me? What had I done to be thus virtually driven +into the fields like a wild animal? I wandered off to the +ridge, and sat down on the rock where I had once conversed +with Mrs. Dennison. I do not know what time of the day +it was; for the sun was obscured and the heavens were fleecy +with black clouds. My head ached sadly; but that was +nothing to the pain at my heart.</p> + +<p>A storm came up while I sat there; but I was quite unconscious +of it till my clothes were wet through, and I felt +all my limbs shivering with the cold. I did not think of +the consequences; it seemed so natural that I should be +beaten down, that I cowered under the fierce rain like a +poor flower that grew by me on the rock. The sunshine +might revive that—would it ever come to me?</p> + +<p>I remember feeling a mournful companionship with this +solitary blossom, and sheltering it with a corner of my wet +shawl. It was some distraction to the thoughts that harassed +me to fancy the pretty thing as wretched as myself. Still +I sat upon the rock, and still the rain beat down upon me. +At last I heard Lottie's voice through the drifting storm, +calling for me anxiously.</p> + +<p>I arose and stood up, trembling from head to foot—the +wet had chilled the very heart in my bosom.</p> + +<p>"Why, what is this? Where have you been? What's +the matter? Ain't you a fool, good and strong? Mercy! +how you look—how your teeth do chatter! Now, speak +out and let's know if you really are alive!" cried the kind-hearted +creature, attempting to shake the wet from my +shawl, but, finding that hopeless, wringing it between both +hands, like a washerwoman.</p> + +<p>"I've been with her all day; haven't left her one minute +alone—not even with him. When he came, I planted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> +myself by the bed, and there I stood like a monument. +She kept asking for you."</p> + +<p>"For me?" I faltered, smitten with compunction. "I +did not think of that."</p> + +<p>"You've given up thinking of anything, I'm afraid," +said Lottie, shivering. "It wasn't just the thing to run +off and leave me to bear the brunt of all their looks and +questions! Not that I answered them—oh, no! but I +wanted to get off and have a good cry as well as you."</p> + +<p>"I am very sorry, Lottie."</p> + +<p>"But that was nothing till she asked for you over and +over again; then I'd 'a' given anything to have jumped up +and after you. Besides, Miss Jessie was hunting up and +down, wondering where you were, and Mr. Lee looked like +a thunder-cloud."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Lee?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mr. Lee! But there you stand with your teeth +going chatter—chatter—chatter—like a squirrel cracking +hickory-nuts. Do come into the house!"</p> + +<p>I followed her, meekly enough; she scolding and reviling, +and petting me all the way as if I had been a lap-dog out +of favor.</p> + +<p>When we reached the house, it was late in the afternoon. +I had eaten nothing that day, and still loathing the idea of +food, felt its want in all my frame.</p> + +<p>"Go up to your chamber, quick," said Lottie, hurrying +me through the hall. "Babylon is in the drawing-room, +and I wouldn't have her see you looking so like a drowned +hen for nothing. Wouldn't it tickle her!"</p> + +<p>This speech aroused me a little, and I struggled up the +stairs and entered my room. Lottie followed me to the +door, said something very peremptory about changing my +clothes, and went away.</p> + +<p>What possessed me, I do not know; I remember flinging +off my wet shawl and shuddering, with a sense of extreme<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> +coldness, as it fell with a splash on the carpet; I remember, +also, feeling how necessary it was that I should exchange +my clothes for dry ones. But as I went toward the toilet, a +letter lying upon it drew my attention from everything else. +I had not the courage to touch it—a reptile coiled there +could not have disturbed me more. So I stood looking at +it in the dreary wetness of my garments, knowing what it +meant, and dreading it. I took the letter up at last. It +was thick and heavy; my heart sunk beneath its weight, +my limbs trembled so violently, that I was obliged to sit +down on the bed.</p> + +<p>I broke the envelope. A thick paper covered with figures +fell into my lap, a leaf of note-paper on which there +was writing, fluttered after it.</p> + +<p>I knew what it was. For the first time in my life Mr. +Lee had sent me an account of his guardianship. Those +figures, dancing in such fantastic rows before my eyes, contained +an exact statement of my property, its growth, and +aggregate amount. I knew this without the power to read +or make an estimate. I knew also what it all meant. I +had long been of age; my guardian, in that tedious combination +of figures, was giving up his trust. That woman +had prevailed; I was no longer welcome under Mr. Lee's +roof. The paper fell from my hands. I took up the note, +but only read the first few lines. They were very kind, +but confirmed my fears. I could not read the note through—the +whole room swam around me—a faint sickness crept +to my vitals—nothing but darkness; into this I sank helplessly, +and lay in its sombre depths for weeks.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page231" name="page231"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XLVIII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">COMING OUT OF A DANGEROUS ILLNESS.</span></h2> + + +<p>I asked if it was late—if I had overslept myself. It +was Lottie to whom I spoke. She bent her face to mine; +she looked into my eyes with a fervor of gladness in hers +that made my nerves shrink. She caught up both my +hands and kissed them; then burst into tears, and ran into +the hall, crying out,—</p> + +<p>"Miss Jessie, oh, Miss Jessie!"</p> + +<p>My darling came, looking pale and harassed; but for the +moment her face lighted up, and she approached me eager +and breathless.</p> + +<p>"You are better, dear Aunt Matty? Say that you know +me."</p> + +<p>"Know you, my darling?"</p> + +<p>I tried to say this, and felt very helpless when my voice +died away in a strange whisper; but a glow was on my face, +and I know that my lips smiled, though they could not +speak.</p> + +<p>"You know me!" she cried, joyously.—"Oh! Lottie, it +is true, she knows us—she will get well!"</p> + +<p>Had I been ill? Was that the reason I felt so like a +little child?</p> + +<p>Jessie read this question in my eyes and answered it, +kissing my forehead with her cool lips.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, Aunt Matty, <i>so</i> ill! Out of your head, poor +soul!"</p> + +<p>Out of my head! The thought troubled me. Why? +Had I anything to conceal? To question one's soul requires +strength, for it is a stern task. I was very weak, and so +put the subject aside. The very sight of Jessie's face had +wearied me.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span></p> + +<p>She sat down on the bed, and then I saw how sad and +thoughtful she had become. Her very lips were pale, and +her eyes were shaded by their inky lashes, which threw her +whole face into mourning. Had she suffered so much because +I was ill, or were other sorrows distressing her?</p> + +<p>She held my hand in hers, clasping it tenderly. I strove +to return the caress; but my poor fingers only fluttered in +hers like the wings of a birdling when it first sees food. +She knew that I wanted to return her love, and smiled upon +me; but oh! how sad her smile was! Then I fell off into +a quiet sleep.</p> + +<p>The next day I could ask questions. How long was it? +Four weeks—four weeks, in which they had been so anxious! +The doctors had given me up, but she and Lottie +had always hoped. It seemed as if I could not be taken +from her just when she wanted me so much.</p> + +<p>"And her mother, was all well?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lee was better, stronger, and more cheerful than +she had been for weeks before I was taken ill. Indeed, +she had once crept to my chamber, and cried over me like +a child.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Lee better, and more cheerful? Then why was +Jessie so sad?"</p> + +<p>The dear girl turned away her face and made no answer. +Her silence cut me to the heart.</p> + +<p>Then I remembered the letter; that sheet of paper, with +its red lines, and crowded with figures, came before me with +a pang, as if some one had struck me on the heart. The +grief that convulsed my face frightened Jessie; she understood +it and strove to reassure me.</p> + +<p>"It is all well," she said; "never think of it again."</p> + +<p>She might as well have asked a wounded man to forget +the bullet rankling in his flesh. How much that package +had hurt me, no human being could ever tell!</p> + +<p>"Father has been very anxious about you," she said; "I +never saw him suffer so much."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What have you done with it?" I inquired.</p> + +<p>She knew what I meant, and answered, gently,—</p> + +<p>"I gave them back to my father—all except the letter, +which I burned."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, dear child."</p> + +<p>There was silence awhile. I wanted to ask a question, +but it made me faint. I think she would have answered +that without waiting for words, only that the subject was a +pain to her, as it was agony to me.</p> + +<p>"Is <i>she</i> here yet?"</p> + +<p>I knew that a whiteness was creeping over my lips as I +uttered the words, and I felt a thrill of disgust pass over +Jessie.</p> + +<p>"She is here."</p> + +<p>The bitter distress in her voice told me all that was in her +heart. But it was a subject we could not speak upon.</p> + +<p>"I have done everything in my power to send her away; +but she will understand no hint, and I have no right to take +decisive steps while my parents both like her so much."</p> + +<p>"Both?" I questioned.</p> + +<p>"Yes; I think so. Mother seemed pleased to have her +in the room."</p> + +<p>"And is she much there?" I questioned, faintly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, very often, and for hours together."</p> + +<p>"Alone?" I inquired, starting from my pillow and falling +back from weakness.</p> + +<p>"Seldom—never, I think. Father is generally with +them, and Lottie—what a dear, faithful creature she is!—will +never leave the room. If they drive her out, she is +sure to retreat into her own little den and will leave the door +ajar."</p> + +<p>"Faithful, good Lottie!" I murmured.</p> + +<p>Jessie kissed me and said, with mournful lovingness, that +I must not talk, for I was all the friend she had to stand by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> +her. She hesitated a moment and added, "Except, of +course, my parents."</p> + +<p>Obedient to her gentle command, I closed my eyes; but +the anxieties that had taken flight in temporary insanity +crowded back upon me, and my poor brain labored fearfully +under them.</p> + +<p>Was I right—knowing what I knew, and thinking what +I thought—to keep anything back from Jessie? I had +been so in the habit of mingling Mrs. Dennison's acts with +those of Mr. Lee, that it seemed impossible to separate them, +or speak of her without condemning him, at least by implication. +I could not do this with his own child; for it was +very doubtful if Jessie's entire and now very evident dislike +of the woman had not sprung exclusively from the course +she had taken with Lawrence. By word or look she had +never given a sign of any other thought.</p> + +<p>After pondering over these things in my mind, I remembered +that, after all, Mr. Lee was not connected with anything +I knew, except in my own suspicions; and even then +I was not base enough to impute a wrong motive, much less +a wrong act to him. Why should I fear, then, to speak +openly to Jessie? While chained to that pillow—as I must +be for days to come—who could guard Mrs. Lee as well as +her own daughter?</p> + +<p>While these reflections passed through my brain, Jessie +had been sitting motionless on the bed, afraid to move lest +she might disturb the sleep into which she fancied me to +have fallen. When I opened my eyes, she smiled down +upon me.</p> + +<p>"You have been a little troubled with dreams, I fear," +she said, smoothing the hair back from my temples.</p> + +<p>"No, Jessie; I have not been asleep, but thinking. Lie +down here on my pillow; I want to tell you something."</p> + +<p>She laid her beautiful face close to mine. In a weak +voice, and at intervals, I told her everything, but never once<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> +mentioning her father, even remotely. Indeed, there was no +occasion; for I am certain he knew as little as the innocent +girl at my side of that wicked night-work, in which our +invalid had sunk so rapidly.</p> + +<p>I never saw horror and dismay exhibit itself so forcibly +on any countenance as it appeared on that lovely face. It +touched mine like marble.</p> + +<p>"What can we do?—what must we do?" she said. "Why +did you not tell papa at once?"</p> + +<p>"I had no proof—he would not have believed me."</p> + +<p>"But your word—who ever doubted that?"</p> + +<p>"Her word would have prevailed against mine. Oh! +Jessie, Jessie, she is a terrible woman!"</p> + +<p>"And my mother—my poor, suffering mother! What +can her object be? No dove was ever more blameless than +poor, dear mamma!" she said, with tender pathos. "Was +she not content with what she had done against me? But I +will go at once to papa and tell him everything about her."</p> + +<p>"No," I said, trying to hold her with my feeble hand; +"he will not believe you."</p> + +<p>"Not believe me, Aunt Matty?"</p> + +<p>"I fear not—Jessie, don't look so wounded! But he +would demand your authority, and you would, of course, +give me."</p> + +<p>"Not without your permission."</p> + +<p>"You would have it; but all might end in her triumph +over us both. You remember the letter which came to me, +that account of his stewardship? Ask yourself if it was +the work of Mr. Lee's own heart."</p> + +<p>"No, no, I am sure it was not!"</p> + +<p>"Yet it came on the very next day."</p> + +<p>"And broke your heart, dear Aunt Matty. I could not +understand it. The first lines about money fastened themselves +upon me I don't know how. I did not think, in my +fright, when Lottie told me that you were ill, about its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> +being a private letter; still I only read that and carried the +paper back. What was in the letter I did not know; but I +burned it to pacify you."</p> + +<p>"The rest was only a kind dismissal from the house, +Jessie!"</p> + +<p>"A dismissal from the house! You—you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I am only here now on sufferance," I answered, +with feeble bitterness, which ended in a flood of more feeble +tears.</p> + +<p>Jessie was terribly distressed; but she made gentle efforts +at soothing me, and at last I sobbed myself into quietness +like a child, with my head resting on her shoulder.</p> + +<p>"But you shall never go—never while I live," she said, +with her old queenliness of manner. "I may stand by and +see this woman robbing me of the love that was mine, when +pride forbids me to cry out; but you, my oldest, my best +friend! She must not attempt that."</p> + +<p>Her eyes sparkled, her beautiful face took a positive expression. +How I loved her!</p> + +<p>"But about my poor mother," she said; "what can we +do?"</p> + +<p>"Wait and watch," I answered.</p> + +<p>She was very thoughtful, and the look of distress upon +her face made my heart ache.</p> + +<p>"Lottie is honest," she said. "Now I understand why +she would never leave the room even to nurse you. Good +girl! she has been more faithful to my mother than her own +child; but who could have known this?"</p> + +<p>"Be dutiful!" I whispered, for this conversation had +taken away my last remnant of strength.</p> + +<p>"I will,—and watchful. Others may doubt this,—I believe +it."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page237" name="page237"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XLIX.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">LOTTIE SEEMS TREACHEROUS.</span></h2> + + +<p>Lottie came into the room while we were talking, and, +after closing the door, Jessie began to question her +about the events of that night. To my astonishment, Lottie +looked blankly in her face, and protested that she could not +understand what we were thinking of. Mrs. Lee had fainted, +and Miss Hyde had been called, of course, and that raised +a fuss, as such things generally did. This was all she knew +about it.</p> + +<p>Jessie looked at her steadily a moment and turned away.</p> + +<p>I was astonished and grieved. What could the girl mean?</p> + +<p>After Jessie went out, the creature came up to my bed, +and, doubling up her fist, shook it in my face, thus mocking +my indignant weakness.</p> + +<p>"You're a pretty Miss Hyde to trust a secret with, you +are! What possessed you to tell that? How many cooks +do you mean to have in one mess of soup? She can't keep +it more than you could; and the next thing will be, you and +I'll be swept out of this house like a nest of wasps. Not +that I'd go, but there'd be a tussel, such as never was seen +here before. Of course, you'd give in, and curl up like a +caterpillar on a dry leaf; but I'll never do it while she lives +and wants me. But all that don't mean that I'm going to +fly in the face of Providence, and give Babylon a chance to +turn me out, for it mightn't be convenient for me to get +sick—not that I think your sickness isn't the genuine +article, mind; I know it is, more shame to 'em, but I'm +bound to be on hand with a sharp eye and close tongue. +Trust Miss Jessie, indeed! Well, crazy folks will be crazy +folks, any way you can fix it."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p> + +<p>I was so weary that all this scarcely made an impression +on my poor brain. But I had a vague feeling that the girl +was right, and that I had acted very rashly. Indeed, I was +not sure that Lottie's stout denial of that woman's work +might not shake even Jessie's confidence in me. The distress +and excitement of these thoughts shook my poor, quivering +nerves, till I fell back into the old delirium, and after that +no talking was allowed in my room for a long time.</p> + +<p>No wonder Mr. Lee started as if he had seen a ghost, when +I crept by him in the passage leading to his wife's chamber, +the first time that I was permitted to move from my room. +The color mounted to his face. He paused, turned back +and gave me his hand, striving to smile.</p> + +<p>I could not touch his hand, or even attempt to smile. He +had wounded me too deeply for that.</p> + +<p>"My dear Miss Hyde," he said, dropping the hand which +I had no strength to touch, "no one can be more rejoiced +than I am at your recovery. Pray forget everything that +might make you think otherwise; it was all a misunderstanding."</p> + +<p>I did not speak, but tears swelled into my eyes, and I +turned away wounded a second time by his confused explanation.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lee was so overjoyed to have me with her again. +She looked much better, and seemed more cheerful than I +had seen her since Mrs. Dennison's advent in the family.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dennison came into the chamber while I was there. +She recognized me with careless politeness, called my attention +to the improvement in Mrs. Lee, and, in a thousand +adroit ways, triumphed in showing me how completely I +was crowded out from my place in the household—even in +that sick-chamber, where my chief usefulness lay.</p> + +<p>I was feeble and unduly sensitive, or this conduct would +not have wounded me so keenly as it did. Spite of myself, +the pain of this interview would make itself visible; so I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> +arose and went into Lottie's room, for my strength availed +no farther than that.</p> + +<p>The young girl sat quietly in her little domicile close by +the door, sewing upon some second-hand finery, but with +every stitch she cast a vigilant glance into Mrs. Lee's chamber, +as if such watchfulness had become a habit, of which +she was herself unconscious.</p> + +<p>Lottie was always exceedingly repugnant to permitting +any one into her room; but when she saw me come toward +her, looking so miserably feeble, the frown left her face, +and, starting up, she arranged the pillows on her little +white bed, and, sweeping back the curtains, motioned me +to lie down. I fell helplessly on the pretty couch, and she +drew the curtains around it, clouding me in lace.</p> + +<p>"Do you feel like sleeping?" she whispered.</p> + +<p>"No, Lottie, my heart aches too much for that."</p> + +<p>"Then lie still, and keep watch while I go out. It is ten +days since I have breathed the fresh air. Can I trust you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Lottie."</p> + +<p>The creature bent down and kissed me with great feeling; +she too was affected by the general depression. All her +wild animal spirits seemed hushed for the time.</p> + +<p>"I didn't mean to be hard with you the other day," she +whispered, "so don't mind it. Nobody thinks more of you +than this child, you may believe that."</p> + +<p>She glided out of the room, leaving the door open. Mrs. +Dennison turned her head quickly as she went out, but did +not seem to observe that the bed was occupied.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page240" name="page240"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER L.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">CONFIDENTIAL CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE WIDOW AND +MRS. LEE.</span></h2> + + +<p>I was greatly exhausted. The walk from my room to the +tower, and that brief interview with Mrs. Lee, had +proved more than I could bear. So I lay helplessly on the +bed, watching the scene in the inner room like one in a +dream. How softly that woman moved about the chamber—how +low and sweet were the tones of her voice! No +wonder the invalid grew calm and cheerful under such +ministration; it soothed even me.</p> + +<p>Our invalid had left her sofa, and sat in the easy-chair. +The widow arranged her footstool, and settled down upon it, +covering those small feet with a cloud of muslin, while her +beautiful face was uplifted, and her neck curved back with +the fascinating grace of a serpent. Mrs. Lee's dark eyes +were bent upon her, so full of affection that the look made +my heart ache. In the stillness, I could hear every word +that passed between them. I was too much exhausted for +thought; but even in another state my position would have +been the same, knowing what I knew, and suspecting what +I did, no refinement of honor would have driven me from +my post.</p> + +<p>"Then I am beginning to be a little comfort to you, dear +lady," said the haughty woman, looking sweetly in that +gentle face, with her eyes full of solicitude, as if the great +hope of her life lay in the idea of being useful.</p> + +<p>"Oh, a great comfort. If Jessie now were—"</p> + +<p>The sensitive heart checked her speech, and she broke off +with a sigh.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dennison drooped her eyes in delicate sympathy, +and, taking a fold of the muslin dress, which fell like bil<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>lows +of snow over the carpet, began to plait it thoughtfully +between her fingers.</p> + +<p>"You must not think that Jessie neglects you," she said. +"The confinements of a sick-room are so irksome to youth. +I am sure she loves you."</p> + +<p>"But she used to spend half her time with me. In the +morning, she would bring her work or her drawing, and we +had such pleasant hours in my chamber."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but it was before she came into society; that is +sure to distract the attention. Still, the dear girl must be +unaware of the higher and purer happiness she sacrifices."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lee's face clouded, and she said, with a sad smile,—</p> + +<p>"Well, you have not permitted me to feel this. By-and-by +Jessie will get some of your thoughtfulness."</p> + +<p>"You must not think of this, my dear friend," said the +widow, caressingly. "Only remember how well you are +getting. I say nothing of my own poor efforts; but surely +Mr. Lee makes up for all deficiencies in our sweet Jessie."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lee's face brightened beautifully. "Oh, yes," she +said, "he is with me so much now; you charm him this +way, I think."</p> + +<p>"Me? Oh! nothing like it. This change in yourself, +dear friend, constitutes the charm. You were dropping +into such dreary ways, and looked so ill in that eternal +white dress; but now that you have consented to brighten +it up with ribbons, and pretty French caps, the change is +marvellous."</p> + +<p>"You think so," was the sweet reply. "I dare say it is +true; but Jessie always liked my dress, and she has fine +taste."</p> + +<p>"But he likes something fresher and more worldly; and +one dresses for a husband."</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes; and these things do give something bright to +the toilet, though Lottie scouts them."</p> + +<p>"Well, never mind, so long as <i>he</i> is pleased. We need<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> +not trouble ourselves about the opinion of a wild, crazy girl +like her, or of that prudish thing, Miss Hyde."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lee drew her hand from the widow's caressing clasp, +and sat upright in her chair.</p> + +<p>"Oh! don't say a word against Miss Hyde," she protested, +with unusual resolution. "She is the dearest, best creature."</p> + +<p>"I know, I know," persisted the widow, drawing a quick +breath. "She is everything that is good, if she only had +the power to make her amiability a little more interesting, +and, I may add, useful; but when any person comes into a +family to attach herself particularly to one member of it, +there is a possibility of her gaining too much influence. I +know Miss Hyde is very deserving, but has it never struck +you that your daughter's heart lies a little too exclusively +with her friend?"</p> + +<p>"No; I had not thought of that," answered Mrs. Lee.</p> + +<p>"It was not my business, and, I dare say, there is impertinence +in the observation, but when Miss Hyde was sick, +your daughter scarcely left her room. I never witnessed +such devoted attention."</p> + +<p>The widow sat playing with the knots of lilac ribbon that +fastened Mrs. Lee's dress, as she made the observation. I +saw the poor lady's face cloud, and her lips began to quiver. +She was evidently drawing the contrast between Jessie's +devotion to me, and the almost total desertion of her own +room. Dear lady! she had no means of knowing that the +eternal presence of that woman in her chamber had drawn +the most devoted daughter that ever lived from her bedside.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dennison went on with her crafty work, still playing +with the knots of ribbon, and pausing now and then to blow +them about, till they fluttered like butterflies under her concentrated +breath.</p> + +<p>"If we only had sweet Jessie entirely to ourselves now to +join our pleasant morning readings, wouldn't it be charming? +But that is hopeless, so long as she gives herself entirely +to one person, you know."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mrs. Lee lifted her slender hand, passing it with troubled +haste repeatedly across her forehead.</p> + +<p>"But Miss Hyde has been such a true friend, so faithful, +so every way worthy and agreeable, it seems as if Jessie +could not love her too much. Then she is such a favorite +with Mr. Lee."</p> + +<p>"Is she?" was the dry question which followed these +remarks.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes! Besides, I never can forget her kindness to +myself when Mr. Lee was absent. You know that my husband +has a great many duties, and it is only of late that it +has been in his power to stay with me so much."</p> + +<p>"But his heart—his heart is always with you, dear friend; +I noticed that from the first day of my entrance to your +house. In conversation, your name is always on his lips, and +it is easy to see that you are never for a moment out of his +thoughts."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lee leaned back in her chair, and her fine eyes filled +with the brightest drops that ever sprung from a loving heart.</p> + +<p>"I ought to be more grateful," she murmured, sweetly; +"the blessed Lord has been so good to me. Oh! if all this +should lead me to think less of Him, and more—sinfully +more of my—my family."</p> + +<p>"But this will never be; your nature is too well regulated."</p> + +<p>"Ah! but Mrs. Dennison, you cannot imagine—you can +form no idea how I have worshipped—how I do worship my +husband. From the first hour I saw him to this, when we +have sunk into mid-life together, it has been one struggle to +keep him from overshadowing the love of God in this heart."</p> + +<p>A heavenly expression came over that pale face, as the +noble woman spoke words that the reticence of her nature +had kept back even from me, her tried friend up to that +hour; and now they were poured forth to the greedy ear +of that woman like an overflow of wine upon the sand<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>vile +sand, which a thousand repulsive things had trodden +over.</p> + +<p>I could scarcely keep from crying out under the pressure +of disgust that seized upon me when the creature lifted her +eyes to the heaven of that face. In my whole life I had +never seen an expression like that—so quick, so unutterably +vicious. That instant some evil idea was born in the woman's +brain; I saw it clearly, as if the map of her bad heart had +been laid out before me. This idea, gendered from the +loving goodness of Mrs. Lee's speech, broke into her eyes +as the serpent bursts the mother-egg when hot sunshine is +upon it.</p> + +<p>This expression revelled in her eyes a moment, and then +crept away as if a reptile had left her eyes and coiled itself +in the depths of her soul. I could detect a tone of exultation +in her voice when she spoke again; but it was low still, +and vibrated with strange fascination on the ear.</p> + +<p>"And you love him so much?"</p> + +<p>"I thought in my youth that it was impossible to love +him better—that it was wrong to love any human being so +much. Night and morning I prayed God to keep me clear of +man-worship; but how can one pray against love to a God +who is love itself? When I saw how completely my whole +being gave itself to my husband, how impossible it was to +weaken one throb of the joy which filled me at his approach, +I gave up the struggle, and soon rendered double +gratitude to the Divine Being for giving him to me. It was +all I could do."</p> + +<p>"And did he love you so much?"</p> + +<p>With what insidious craft the question was put! How +quietly the new-born serpent coiled itself in her eyes as the +lashes drooped over them!</p> + +<p>"So much? That is impossible! No man—no woman +ever gave so great worship to a fellow-being! He was not +even aware of it, I think; for this love was a treasure that +I kept closely locked. It must have been tender question<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>ing, +indeed, that could have drawn such feelings into expression."</p> + +<p>"But still he loved you?"</p> + +<p>"Loved me? Oh, yes; I never doubted it, even then; +but after I became so helpless, so dependent on him for my +very life—for if he had failed me I must have died—the +beautiful affection of his nature manifested itself. He became +my support, my very being. Oh! God has been exceedingly +good to me!"</p> + +<p>"And in all this devotion, this excess of love—for so I +must think it—has no distrust ever arisen between you?"</p> + +<p>"Distrust? Who could distrust him?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dennison did not seem to hear—she was musing, +with her eyes on the floor. At last she murmured, vaguely,</p> + +<p>"But jealousy is the natural growth of inordinate affection. +I wonder it never sprung up between you. What if +he had loved another person?"</p> + +<p>"Loved another person, and I know it? That would +have been death!"</p> + +<p>Again the woman's eyes gleamed so brightly that I could +see the flash through her thick lashes. She arose and walked +hurriedly up and down the room.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lee looked at her wonderingly.</p> + +<p>"You think it wrong—you condemn me, as I have condemned +myself a thousand times," she said, with meek +pathos.</p> + +<p>The woman returned to her seat, smiling.</p> + +<p>"No, no. How can one woman condemn another for a +fault so angelic? I only envied you the delicacy that could +deem it wrong to give one's whole being up to the first element +of a woman's nature—entire love."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lee drew a heavy breath and lay back in her chair, +smiling.</p> + +<p>"You have seen him," she said, at last. "How grand, +how magnanimous he is, never forgetting me, never feeling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> +the solitude of this room irksome, but loving it more and +more; giving me hours out of each day till, of late, he +almost lives in my apartment and never finds it tiresome!"</p> + +<p>A strange smile stole over Mrs. Dennison's lips; but she +did not look up, and it passed unnoticed by its object.</p> + +<p>As the two ladies sat together, Jessie came into the room. +Mrs. Dennison did not move, but, on the contrary, leaned +nearer to Mrs. Lee. Jessie paused by the door and seemed +about to retire; but Mrs. Lee spoke to her, holding out +a hand.</p> + +<p>The daughter saw this and came close to her mother's +chair, leaning over it; while the widow kept her place, so +that every word which passed between the mother and child +was subject to her vigilance. Thus the conversation was +constrained, and Jessie went away with a sad look, which +went to my heart.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Lee came into the chamber, and all was bright +as sunshine again. Mrs. Dennison kept her position, and +Mr. Lee bent over his wife's chair. It was a beautiful +group—I have never seen three more distinguished-looking +people in one tableau.</p> + +<p>They fell into conversation, in which Mrs. Lee took her +gentle part. I listened, with a strange feeling of pain, to +the graceful dialogue, and ceased to wonder that the invalid +had grown more cheerful under the influence of scenes +like this. Perhaps my jealous thoughts invested all they +said with unreal attractiveness; for jealousy, like love, +creates qualities which do not exist, and I acknowledged +now that the feeling which burned at my heart had many +a jealous pang in it. How could this be otherwise? For +years I had been the closest friend that lady possessed; and, +within the hour, had I not heard a woman, who should have +been a stranger, decrying me to her as if I had been a servant +she wished to see discharged?</p> + +<p>In this way I excused the bitterness that filled my heart<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> +as the cruel scene passed before me. It was hard to bear +when that woman's sweet laugh came ringing through the +chamber after some witty saying which brought a thousand +animated expressions into the faces of the two persons I +prized above all others, but from whom she had separated +me.</p> + +<p>All the morning they spent in Mrs. Lee's room. Lottie +informed me afterward that this had been their habit during +my sickness. Why, she could not tell, unless it was that +Babylon was hoping to find another chance to finish her work.</p> + +<p>I could not sleep that night, and for many a long night +after that. The fever had left me very low and nervous; +I could not bear to meet the annoyances which were sure +to beset me if I went into the family, and seldom left my +room. I think Mrs. Lee hardly missed me. Indeed, it is +doubtful if my absence was a matter of regret to any one; +for Jessie came to my room as a sort of shelter from the +scenes that I had witnessed, and thus our family became +more and more a pided one.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page247" name="page247"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LI.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">THE FATHER AND DAUGHTER.</span></h2> + + +<p>I had soon cause to regret my rashness in having opened +my heart to Jessie. The dear girl was too frank and +high-minded for a secret of that kind to rest safely with her. +She believed all that I suspected, and with this conviction +came a perfect loathing of the woman, who was now her +forced guest. I saw that this subject was preying upon her, +and repented keenly having given up the bitter fruit of +knowledge before it was an absolute necessity; Lottie was +wiser in the rude kindness of her attempt to put me down.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span></p> + +<p>I did not grow strong; the harassing trouble at my heart +kept me nervous and irritable. If a person entered my room +suddenly, I would start and cry out; if I met any of the +family in the grounds, my first impulse was to hide away, or +pretend to be occupied till they passed. Lottie scolded me, +not in her old way, but with a sort of tearful authority. The +humor and drollery of her rare character was changed into +quaint sarcasm. The serpent creeping through our house +had bitten her most severely of all. To Mrs. Lee the girl +was more humble and heedful than ever; to us she was +abrupt.</p> + +<p>This state of things could not continue without results. +With feelings smouldering like the fire which turns wood +into charcoal, this general irritation would break forth.</p> + +<p>Jessie was the first to give way. For some time she had +scarcely spoken to Mrs. Dennison, except in a grave, quiet +fashion, which was as far from rudeness as it was from cordial +hospitality. Sometimes this checked Mrs. Dennison's +great flow of spirits, and she would take on a look of gentle +martyrdom that must have had a peculiar fascination to one +who did not understand her.</p> + +<p>I do not know how it arose, for I had left the table; but +one day Jessie came into the library, to which I had retreated, +looking greatly excited; her eyes were full of troubled +fire, and there was a stern pressure of the beautiful lips that +I had never seen before. She did not speak, but walking up +to the window, stood looking through it steadily, as if some +beautiful landscape lay beyond, which she was examining +through the gorgeous coloring, and which admitted of nothing +beyond its own richness.</p> + +<p>It was a gloomy day outside, and her face looked more +sorrowfully sombre from all our surroundings.</p> + +<p>I had arisen and was going toward her, when the door +opened and Mr. Lee came in. How much the father and +child looked alike at the moment! I had never seen either +of them so imperial in their anger before.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mr. Lee did not observe me, I think, but he walked across +the library and laid one hand on Jessie's shoulder as she +stood with her back toward him. She drew aside and looked +up in her father's face.</p> + +<p>"Jessie," he said, "what is the meaning of this? +What have you been saying to wound Mrs. Dennison so +terribly?"</p> + +<p>Jessie struggled with herself; I could detect it by the blue +veins that rose along her neck and forehead; but her countenance +changed in nothing, and she answered his stern +question steadily.</p> + +<p>"I have done nothing that should wound Mrs. Dennison, +father."</p> + +<p>"But I left you at the breakfast-table with our guest tranquil +as usual. When I came back, you were gone, and I +found her in tears."</p> + +<p>"I cannot answer for the lady's tears, father. She was +shedding none when I came out of the breakfast-room."</p> + +<p>"This is an evasion, Jessie. I insist upon knowing what +passed between you and our guest after I left the room."</p> + +<p>"You have a right to question me, father; but indeed I +cannot tell you. Mrs. Dennison said something about what +we should do next winter; and I looked at her a moment, +in displeasure perhaps, for she has already stayed far beyond +the time usual for our guests; and I am not aware that any +one has extended a second invitation to her. I certainly +have not."</p> + +<p>Mr. Lee's face darkened.</p> + +<p>"And is this what you have done?—given her one of +your haughty looks, and at my table, Jessie Lee?"</p> + +<p>"Father!"</p> + +<p>"Do not call me father. Do not speak to me again +until you have apologized to the lady for this rudeness."</p> + +<p>Mr. Lee's voice was stern, almost cruel, as he said this. +Jessie grew pale as death.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Father, I cannot apologize for anything I have done; it +is impossible when the lady entered a complaint to you—"</p> + +<p>Mr. Lee interrupted her.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Dennison entered no complaint."</p> + +<p>"Oh, father! and you were ready to condemn me without +a word. When was this so before?"</p> + +<p>"When were you rebellious before?"</p> + +<p>Jessie's lips began to quiver.</p> + +<p>"When did we have trouble like this? When was it +that we became a pided family?" she said. "Never till +I was unhappy enough to invite this lady here."</p> + +<p>"She was your own guest, and you have treated her +cruelly," said Mr. Lee, softening a little.</p> + +<p>"No, father, not cruelly; coldly, perhaps, but not cruelly!"</p> + +<p>"And why coldly?"</p> + +<p>"Because I do not like Mrs. Dennison."</p> + +<p>"And why, pray?"</p> + +<p>"Because she comes between you and your own child—between +you and your own wife—because—"</p> + +<p>"Jessie," I said, rising from my seat, and for the first +time becoming visible to Mr. Lee,—"Jessie—"</p> + +<p>"It is well, Martha, that you are here to check her. +Another word, and she would have been no longer a daughter +of mine."</p> + +<p>He was white as marble. Never in my life had I seen +him so agitated.</p> + +<p>Jessie looked at him sorrowfully. There was something +more than anger in his face—a wild, troubled doubt, that +made him tremble. Jessie laid her hand on his arm, and +her lips quivered into a smile.</p> + +<p>"Oh, father! listen to me. Let this lady go; take us +back to your heart again; her influence here has been terrible."</p> + +<p>He shook off her hand, drew himself up, and spoke with +proud calmness,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"Jessie, be careful, if you would not forfeit my love—at +once be careful."</p> + +<p>Jessie drew back, and leaned on my shoulder, trembling +from head to foot. The idea that her father could ever +really turn against her had entered her heart for the first +time. She was so white that her very face terrified me.</p> + +<p>"Speak to him," she whispered,—"speak to him."</p> + +<p>I was about to say something, but Mr. Lee waved his +hand, silencing me with a haughty gesture. Jessie stood +up, and spoke in a low, sad voice,—</p> + +<p>"Father, if I have done wrong, tell me how to atone for +it, and I will obey you."</p> + +<p>Mr. Lee turned away, walking the room three or four +times before he answered. Then he took Jessie's cold hand, +with some degree of returning kindness, while she stood, +with downcast eyes, waiting for the humiliation his words +would convey.</p> + +<p>"Be yourself, my child; conquer your unreasonable prejudice +against the lady who has been of great service to +your mother, and is in every way estimable. I do not ask +any unnecessary humiliation of my daughter; but be your +own gracious self again, Jessie, and she will understand +that you are sorry."</p> + +<p>Jessie bent her bowed face a little lower, in token of +acquiescence, and, bending his grand head, Mr. Lee kissed +her. Then, turning to me, he said, with stern significance,—</p> + +<p>"You will remember, Miss Hyde, these scenes are not to +be renewed."</p> + +<p>When he was gone, Jessie threw herself on the floor, and, +folding her arms in the seat of an easy-chair, moaned piteously. +She did not cry—the pain at her proud heart +seemed too hot for tears. I tried to console her; but she +only murmured,—</p> + +<p>"You were right; I am not fit to be trusted with such +things. They burn me like fire."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page252" name="page252"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">THE FATAL LETTER.</span></h2> + + +<p>After this scene, our house was quiet as the grave—not +a laugh sounded within its walls, not a brilliant +word enlightened the stiff monotony. Jessie kept her promise. +Nothing could be sweeter or more gracious than +her manner toward Mrs. Dennison; but all this was accompanied +by no warmth. It was impossible to find fault with +anything she did or said, yet her submission seemed to +annoy our guest more than anything. It proved how deep +was the gulf which lay between them.</p> + +<p>As for me, nothing could render my position more disagreeable +than it had already become. A few days after +that scene in the library, I was sitting with Mrs. Lee, while +Lottie went out for a little recreation. Mr. Lee, Mrs. Dennison, +and Jessie, had gone out on horseback, and, with +the enemy away, Lottie thought that I might be trusted +with her charge; but while Mrs. Dennison was in the mansion, +she never would leave her post on any consideration. +With all the keen longings of youth for change, this confinement, +voluntary though it was, told painfully on the +young girl, and when she did get a few moments of freedom, +it was seized upon as a bird darts from its cage.</p> + +<p>That morning she was gone some time, having taken a +run through the grounds with a favorite dog that always +followed her footsteps. I saw them rioting up and down +among the flower-beds, with a feeling of thankfulness that +anything on earth could find enjoyment when my heart was +so heavy!</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lee was unusually silent that day, and, without +asking me to read, amused herself with a book of engravings<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> +that Mr. Lee had ordered for her from the town. I felt the +change. Every day this lady, who had been my dear friend +so long, seemed more and more independent of me. Lottie +she still clung to, but I had become a useless waif in the +household.</p> + +<p>While thinking over these depressing truths, I watched +with a vague sensation of regret. All at once I saw her +stop, beat the dog back, and shade her eyes with one hand. +It was only one of our people, who had been over to the +town, and had attracted her observation. I saw the man +beckon to her. She darted down the walk, along the sloping +lawn, and over the wall, holding out her hands for a package +which he held out. There was some talk between them as +the man gathered up his bridle, while she examined something +in her hands which seemed like a letter. Then, nodding +her head repeatedly, she ran toward the house.</p> + +<p>I cannot tell why it was, but these movements interested +me greatly. A strange apprehension took possession of me, +and I began to wonder what the letters could be about—if +any of them related to me, and if new trouble was coming.</p> + +<p>In the midst of these vague thoughts, Lottie came into the +room, with a letter in her hands.</p> + +<p>"I left all the rest, papers, books, and trash, on the hall-table," +she cried, joyously; "but here's a letter for the dear +mistress, and I brought it up. Such a nice letter—white +and satiny as the leaves of a water-lily! I know there is +something sweet and good in it that will make you smile."</p> + +<p>She went up to Mrs. Lee, dropped on one knee at her +feet—a common thing with the strange girl—and held up +the letter between her hands.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lee took it, with a pink flush of the cheek. During +her long illness she had gradually given up writing, and a +letter, directly to herself, was an event sufficiently rare to +create a little excitement. Lottie's prophecy regarding the +letter brought a smile to those usually pale lips. She broke<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> +the seal, took the letter from its envelope, and murmured, +pleasantly,—</p> + +<p>"If it is something very pleasant, you shall have a new +dress, Lottie."</p> + +<p>This promise kept the girl on her knees, reading the face +of her mistress with keen eagerness. She saw it change as +if a flash of fire passed from neck to forehead; then a cold, +gray tint settled over it so gradually, that no one could tell +when it came.</p> + +<p>Lottie sprang to her feet with a sharp cry.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lee had fainted—no, not that; no common fainting +fit ever took a form so painful—a look of unutterable +misery had settled on the face, impressive as the agony +which has become immortal in the features of that marble +father who strives to rescue his children from the writhing +serpents in the Vatican.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lee had fallen sideway in her chair. The movement +had been gradual, and accompanied the gray changes +of her face with such stillness, that its meaning did not +strike Lottie till she sprang up and uttered that cry.</p> + +<p>We lifted the lady from her chair and laid her on the +bed. She gave no sign of life, but seemed to be growing +colder and colder. Lottie attempted to draw the letter from +her hand, but her fingers clung to it with a tenacity which +could not be forced without wounding the hand; so we left +the paper in her grasp.</p> + +<p>What we did I cannot tell. Everything that two frightened +creatures could devise we attempted, in order to restore +her; but it seemed to me an age before any sign of life returned.</p> + +<p>At last a shiver passed over her, and, with her disengaged +hand, she tore at the muslin over her bosom as if some pain +were burning at her heart, and then I saw her poor lips +redden for the first time—but it was with blood. Piteously +she opened her eyes and looked into ours. She had not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> +recovered then, nor did she remember what event had produced +this illness.</p> + +<p>I could tell when the first dawn of a recollection came +upon her, for she rustled the letter in her hand as if to be +sure it was there, and a reality; then the pain all came +back to her features, and the blood came in heavier drops +up from her broken heart.</p> + +<p>They came back from a long ride while she lay thus. +We had sent for the doctor, and sat by her in helpless grief, +waiting his arrival. I went out to meet Jessie, intending to +break the painful intelligence of her mother's attack to her +with gentleness. She was coming up the steps with a +harassed look. The weight of her skirts seemed to drag at +her frail strength. Mrs. Dennison was lower down the +steps, looking over her shoulder at Mr. Lee, and talking in +a gay, excited manner that did not seem quite natural. +Jessie looked upward, with a weary, sad glance as I came +down the walk, and I saw that the company of this woman +was oppressing her dreadfully.</p> + +<p>I was so pale in those days that my countenance did not +frighten Jessie as it might have done in happier times; thus +I was obliged to tell her in words that something had happened +to injure her mother, and that she lay in great danger +in the tower-room. I shall never forget the wild agony of +those eyes. She did not speak a word, but passed me like +a shadow.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dennison's strained laugh followed her with a sound +of the most cruel mockery I ever heard. It was altogether +unintentional. The woman had not seen me, nor was she +aware that Jessie had disappeared; she was only bantering +words with her host in her usual fashion, while he was preparing +to follow up the steps.</p> + +<p>I stood upon the edge of the terrace and watched them +as they came up. There was no cheerfulness in the woman. +Her cheeks were hot and red, her eyes full of restless fire.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> +She understood my countenance better than Jessie had done; +for a look of something like affright swept her face, and the +heavy riding-skirt dropped from her hold, entangling her +feet till she stumbled and almost fell.</p> + +<p>Mr. Lee sprang forward and saved her.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter? What has happened?" he questioned.</p> + +<p>She laughed nervously.</p> + +<p>"Nothing. It was Miss Hyde standing there like a +Nemesis that startled me."</p> + +<p>Mr. Lee glanced upward, and said something in an under-tone, +at which she said,—</p> + +<p>"How unkind you are to the poor thing."</p> + +<p>I had hesitated to tell Mr. Lee that his wife was on her +death-bed—the shock at my own heart was so painful that +I pitied him; but now a cruel strength came over me, and +I said at once, in a cold, hard way,—</p> + +<p>"Your wife is ill, sir, very ill—I fear dying."</p> + +<p>He left that woman standing alone in her cowardly sin, +and went swiftly, as his daughter had done, toward the +tower-room. Mrs. Dennison gave a light scream and followed, +demanding of me how it had happened, and who had +been near to harm the dear saint.</p> + +<p>I gave her no answer. The very sound of her voice made +me shudder with fresh loathing. She had been pale for a +moment, but now all the fire came into her countenance +again, and she passed me haughtily, saying,—</p> + +<p>"Stupid as ever—I will inquire for myself."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page257" name="page257"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LIII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">DEATH IN THE TOWER-CHAMBER.</span></h2> + + +<p>The woman did inquire, and the very sound of her voice +made the poor victim on the bed shake till the counterpane +moved like snow disturbed by the wind. Jessie was +holding the pale hand, and, feeling it quiver, she clasped it +closer, and said to Mrs. Dennison,—</p> + +<p>"Madam, your voice troubles my mother; please to leave +us alone."</p> + +<p>Mr. Lee looked from his daughter to the woman; but it +was no time for anger—he only lifted one hand to deprecate +further noise, and bent over his wife with such solemn +tenderness in his eyes as I had never seen there before.</p> + +<p>"My wife, my poor wife!" he said, sheltering the frail +form with his arm, as if that could keep death away.</p> + +<p>She heard him, and the tension on her delicate nerves +relaxed. The letter, which had hitherto been clenched in +one hand, fell away and rustled to the floor. Mrs. Dennison +picked it up, folded it deliberately, and held it toward Mr. Lee.</p> + +<p>"This has just fallen from her hand," she said; "it may +have some reference to this strange attack."</p> + +<p>Again that shiver ran through Mrs. Lee's form, and her +face contracted with the pain, while fresh drops of crimson +gathered on her lips.</p> + +<p>"Madam, your presence tortures her," said Jessie; "these +attacks come and go with your voice."</p> + +<p>"My friend, my dear, sweet friend; will you not give me +one look before I go?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dennison bent over the bed as she spoke, and, sure +enough, Mrs. Lee opened her eyes wide, and turned them on +the woman's face. Never shall I forget that look! Its +wounded expression haunts me yet. Those great, mournful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> +eyes dwelt on that face, which grew slowly pallid, for a full +half-minute, and then turned away.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dennison was awed; but, feeling our eyes upon her, +she took strength, and, with a pathetic "Farewell!" on her +lips, pressed them to those of Mrs. Lee.</p> + +<p>There was a faint struggle, a gasping cry broke from the +bed, and when Mrs. Dennison lifted her face, a drop of fresh +blood crimsoned her lips. She did not know it; but with +the red blood burning there, retreated into Lottie's room, +where she hovered over the scene as if afraid to leave it +entirely.</p> + +<p>Mr. Lee forgot everything in keen anxiety for his wife. +When her eyes turned sorrowfully upon him, he cried out,—</p> + +<p>"Oh! speak to me, speak to me, my wife! Give some +sign that I have not come too late!"</p> + +<p>The most wonderful expression I ever saw stole over that +face; it came like moonlight on dark waters,—a gleam of +hope breaking through the agonies of death. Her lips +moved. He bent down and listened.</p> + +<p>"You have loved me?"</p> + +<p>There was no noise; but we knew that she was saying +this by the movement of her lips.</p> + +<p>For an instant, Mr. Lee seemed stunned. The question +struck him to the soul; then his noble head was uplifted, +and, looking tenderly into those wistful eyes, he said, "I +have always loved you, my wife. God is my witness, I have +always loved you."</p> + +<p>That expression deepened on her face. She lifted her +hands feebly, and, understanding the sign, he raised her to +his bosom. The muslin drapery of her sleeve got entangled +in his dress. I attempted to disengage it while her face lay +on his bosom. In doing this I touched her hand; the frail +fingers clasped mine with the tenacious feebleness of an infant's; +and, laying my palm on Mr. Lee's hand, she pressed +them softly together, whispering,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"Be good to her."</p> + +<p>He shook all over, while my poor hand lay quivering on +his. I drew it away with hushed breath.</p> + +<p>She was dying on his bosom; her eyes were uplifted to +his; her breath came in faint gasps; the two frail hands +folded themselves; and, as the mists of night settle on a lily, +that dear face hardened into the marble of death.</p> + +<p>I cannot remember all that passed after this, who came +into the room, or who went out. I only know that the stillness +of death was in the house, the pain of life in our hearts. +Sweet sufferer, gentle lady! How white and still she lay on +the pretty French bed, with its volumes of lace brooding +over her like the clouds in which we imagine seraphs to be +sleeping! There was no noisy grief in the room. Even +Mrs. Dennison had fled to her own apartment; the suddenness +of our calamity shocked even her.</p> + +<p>Lottie knelt by the bed, her face buried in the clothes, +dumb and still. Jessie clung to her father, who was striving +to comfort her; but struggle against it as he would, the +force of a mighty anguish spoke out in his broken words.</p> + +<p>Those were mournful days during which she lay in that +tower-room. We had the dead to ourselves—that woman +never intruded on us. Cora came each day informing us +that her mistress was ill from grief. <i>He</i> heard the message, +but gave no sign beyond a grave inquiry. The sadness in +his face deepened every hour; stern thoughts perhaps had +stamped the sorrow deeply in his soul. There was something +more than natural grief there; gleams of remorse +broke through all the rest.</p> + +<p>The night before Mrs. Lee was buried, I went into her +room; to sleep was impossible, and I longed to be alone +with her once more. I am no enthusiast, and have little +superstition, but it seems to me impossible to doubt that the +dead are often with us on this side the eternal shore. We +feel their presence in our heart of hearts without caring to +see it with the sense.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span></p> + +<p>How young she looked—how good and quiet! Some +white flowers lay on the pillow with rich colors burning in +their hearts, that cast a sort of illumination over the frozen +stillness of her face. The white draperies gathered above +her, the shaded lights stealing like star-gleams through the +room, made the stillness of death holy!</p> + +<p>I sat down by the bed, in the great easy-chair which she +had occupied when Lottie came in with the letter. A faint +perfume of violets hung about the cushions, and on the seat +lay the delicate handkerchief she had been using. It seemed +only a moment since I had seen her resting tranquilly +upon the seat that supported me. Could death be so cruelly +sudden?</p> + +<p>I wept quietly as these thoughts filled my mind, and with +them came vague conjectures regarding the letter which had +apparently produced a result so fatal. Who had written +that letter? What could the subject have been? Where +was it now? I remembered that Mr. Lee had taken it mechanically +from Mrs. Dennison's hand and put it in his +pocket, evidently unconscious of its mysterious importance. +Surely the woman could have nothing to fear from that +letter; at any rate, she had held no part in its fatal delivery. +Then who could have possessed the power to break the frail +life which had been quenched? It was all a painful enigma, +impossible to solve; but the great, mournful fact lay +before me,—my friend—the best friend I had ever known +on earth—was dead.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page261" name="page261"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LIV.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">MRS. LEE'S FUNERAL.</span></h2> + + +<p>As I sat buried in miserable thoughts, a faint stir in the +bed draperies made me start and hold my breath. It +was Lottie, who had been all the time crouching close to +the floor, guarding the remains of her mistress in profound +stillness. The light was so dim that I had not been aware +of her presence till then. Such companionship did not disturb +me; indeed, without the faithful girl that death-chamber +would have been desolate indeed.</p> + +<p>"Lottie," I said, in a whisper,—"Lottie, is it you?"</p> + +<p>She was sitting on the floor, with both arms locked around +her knees, on which her forehead rested. The girl looked +up, and her heavy eyes met mine.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it's me, Miss Hyde; I haven't left her a minute +since then," she said, drearily. "Don't ask me to go away—I +couldn't do it."</p> + +<p>"Ask you to go away, Lottie? Oh! no, my poor girl! +We have watched together in this room many a time; but +never in this sad way."</p> + +<p>"I know it," she said; "you were always good to her, and +she felt it. But tell me, Miss Hyde, do you think it was +the letter I brought that laid her there?"</p> + +<p>"I cannot tell. Still it must have been, she was so well +only a moment before it touched her hand. Who could +have written it?"</p> + +<p>"I have been thinking and thinking, Miss Hyde. The +writing was like Miss Jessie's; I thought so at the time."</p> + +<p>"Miss Jessie's? Are you sure?"</p> + +<p>"So it seemed to me; but I've got the envelope, look for +yourself."</p> + +<p>I took the crumpled envelope which she took from her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> +bosom and held toward me. It was of creamy-white paper, +very thick, and with an inner lining of blue, a color that +Jessie affected where it could be delicately introduced among +her stationery. The writing was like hers, but with a slight +appearance of disguise.</p> + +<p>"You see," said Lottie, still in a whisper, "it looks like +Miss Jessie's; but what could she write to <i>her</i> about?"</p> + +<p>"It is strange," I murmured.</p> + +<p>"Terribly strange! I can't make it out. All the time, +for two whole nights and days, I have thought of it; and +the more I think the darker it all grows. Oh, if she could +only speak; but that will never be again—"</p> + +<p>Her voice broke here, and clasping her knees tighter, she +began rocking to and fro, uttering faint, dry moans, that +went to my heart. Lottie had not shed a tear since her +mistress's death.</p> + +<p>"Never again—never again!" she kept whispering.</p> + +<p>"Don't Lottie," I said; "it breaks my heart to hear you +go on in this way."</p> + +<p>She looked at me earnestly; then dropped her face and +said, with infinite pathos,—</p> + +<p>"Oh! that <i>my</i> heart could break!"</p> + +<p>I bent over her.</p> + +<p>"Be comforted, Lottie. If our friend could speak, this +is what she would say—"</p> + +<p>"Don't, don't. Who could be comforted, and she lying +there like a beautiful lily broken off at the stem? Look at +her, Miss Hyde, and see if the smile is there yet."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Lottie, there is a heavenly look on her face. See +for yourself."</p> + +<p>"No, no, I cannot stand it; in the morning I will kiss +her hands for the last time. Let her sleep with the angels +to-night; I won't come between her and them. They will +take care of her now she don't want me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Lottie!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span></p> + +<p>She shook her head disconsolately, then it sunk on her +knees once more, and was not lifted again all night; still I +do not think she slept a moment.</p> + +<p>Jessie came to her mother's room late that night. Lottie +did not move; I arose to go, knowing how sacred were the +rights of an only child; but she asked me to stay, saying—oh, +how sadly—that her mother's true friend could not be +in the way even there.</p> + +<p>I told her that Lottie was watching, and had not once +left her place by the bed. She went round to where the +girl was crouching and kissed that portion of the forehead +left exposed by the folded arms. Then, for the first time, I +heard low sobs break from the faithful creature, and felt +glad to know that she was crying.</p> + +<p>"She is happier far than I am," said Jessie, with unutterable +sadness. "It seems as if I should never shed tears +again."</p> + +<p>She came back to where I was sitting, and sinking on the +footstool that always stood near the chair, her head fell on +my lap, her hands clasped themselves under the pale forehead, +and thus she lay, heavy and still, weary with pain, +but sleepless, till the day dawned.</p> + +<p>That morning Mrs. Lee was to be buried.</p> + +<p>With the first gray of dawn, we heard Mr. Lee's step +coming up from the library below, where he had passed the +night. Jessie and I arose, and, bending over that calm face, +left our solemn kisses on the lips and went away, giving her +up to the man she had loved so devotedly. Even Lottie +was aroused by his approach, and, rising to her feet, went +heavily into her own little room, which was soon filled with +bitter sobs.</p> + +<p>We met Mr. Lee on the stairs. He had not been in bed +that night and looked strangely haggard. No words passed +among us; but Jessie and her father exchanged a mournful +glance that was more eloquent than language.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span></p> + +<p>It rained when we took her away from her home, and a +heavy gloom lay upon the beautiful landscape she had loved +so well. Across the terrace, and down the flight of steps +bordered with flowers that wept heavy drops, she passed +away into the valley—away to her eternal rest. On a rise +of ground on the verge of the hills, we paused amid a cluster +of white stones where sods lay in a heap, and the torn +earth contrasted mournfully with the fresh grass.</p> + +<p>As we neared the hill, a burst of sunshine broke the +clouds asunder and lighted us forward. There were no sobs +at the grave; our sorrow was very silent, and solemn as death +itself. The very air seemed thrilled with awe as the funeral +service rose upon it. Some one, Lottie I suppose, had laid +a garland of white flowers on the coffin, knotted together +with snowy ribbons. As they lowered the coffin the wind +took these ribbons, and they fluttered up from the grave +like the wings of an angel striving to rise heavenward; and +through the first shovelful of earth rose a faint perfume +pressed from the flowers which the gravel had bruised upon +her coffin.</p> + +<p>It was all over, and we returned to the house. On the +steps, Mrs. Dennison stood to receive us clothed in white, +with black ribbons knotting up the sleeves and clustering +at the bosom of her dress. This was the first time I had +seen her since that fatal day.</p> + +<p>Nothing could have been more decorous than her demeanor; +her beautiful eyes seemed heavy with unshed tears, +and Christianity itself is not more gentle than her tone and +manner.</p> + +<p>"Come," she said, addressing our Jessie, "let us mourn +together as friends who have lost one who is dearest to us. +If I have ever pained you, dear Jessie, forgive me for her +sake."</p> + +<p>Mr. Lee heard this, and looked wistfully at his daughter. +Poor girl! she was too heart-broken for resentment, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> +held forth her hand. Mr. Lee stepped forward and laid his +hand on those that the beautiful woman had just clasped.</p> + +<p>"Jessie," he said, in a voice that thrilled all within its +influence, "remember this lady was very dear to your +mother."</p> + +<p>Jessie did not answer; I think she could not command +words, but she bent her head in acquiescence and passed +into the house.</p> + +<p>It is a strange thing to say, but I believe that the few +weeks that followed Mrs. Lee's funeral were the most tranquil +of any that had preceded them since Mrs. Dennison +came to our house. The great central object of interest in +the household was at rest. All the little cares that had +occupied us were over; the very altar of our household had +been torn away, and for a long time we found it impossible +to find new channels of interest, or settle ourselves down to +anything. There was no longer an attempt at amusing our +guest, and she did not seem to require it; indeed, from all +appearances she had become a member of the family. We +seldom met now, but kept our own rooms. Jessie became +sadder and sadder each day; nothing interested her; she +absolutely pined to follow her mother.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page265" name="page265"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LV.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">OLD MRS. BOSWORTH'S VISIT.</span></h2> + + +<p>Compacts made in a state of excitement are seldom +lasting. If Jessie's heart had softened toward Mrs. +Dennison in the extremity of her grief, it came back to the +old standpoint as that grief took thought. Something more +subtile than her own will held her confidence back. But +this was no time for excitement of any kind; the depth of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> +grief into which we had fallen kept all worldly passions +back. So, as I have said, we were more tranquil than of old.</p> + +<p>Poor, poor Lottie! she went about the house like a +wounded bird that had seen its nest destroyed. Without +asking for leave, she had arranged Mrs. Lee's room, in the +tower-chamber, exactly as it had been during her mistress's +life, and guarded it from her own pretty den with all the +vigilance of old time. If any one entered the chamber and +touched an article that had been Mrs. Lee's, Lottie would +cry out as if struck by a sudden pang, and fall into a nervous +tremor till the intruder had departed. She never +allowed any one, not even Jessie, to enter the room without +following her like a watch-dog.</p> + +<p>No one was surprised at this. The devotion of that girl +to her mistress had been something wonderful. That she +should feel great attachment to anything belonging to her +was beautifully natural. So it happened that she fell into +possession of the rooms in the tower, and secluded herself +there, taking little interest in anything else.</p> + +<p>Some days after things had settled into this state, old +Mrs. Bosworth came over in her heavy family carriage. In +our sadness, this became an event, and both Jessie and I +left our room to meet her, grateful for anything that showed +real sympathy for our bereavement.</p> + +<p>The sorrows which this good old lady had passed through, +placed her in delicate sympathy with us. She met Jessie +with such motherly gentleness, that tears came into the +young creature's eyes almost for the first time since our loss. +The old lady saw this, and, drawing the agitated face to +hers, kissed it.</p> + +<p>"We have been very sorry for you, Miss Lee. Indeed, +ours has been a house of mourning also; for there are cases +where the same grief touches many hearts. I have wept +for you, my child—prayed for you."</p> + +<p>"I know it—I was sure of it," answered Jessie, resting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> +her proud young head on the old lady's shoulder, and weeping +those soft, warm tears that relieve the heart so much. +"I have thought of you and of him. Tell me that your +grandson is no worse."</p> + +<p>The old lady kissed her again, and tenderly smoothed the +glossy hair upon her temples.</p> + +<p>"He is no worse, dear child—a little better, I think, +since we have been quite alone—the tranquillity has done +him good."</p> + +<p>"I should like to see him," said Jessie. "Miss Hyde +and I have missed him so much in our loneliness."</p> + +<p>The old lady cast a grateful glance at me; then, turning +to Jessie, she said,—</p> + +<p>"It would make him strong enough to come, if he knew +that his sweet friend desired it."</p> + +<p>Jessie looked at that dear old face earnestly, and smiled +through her tears.</p> + +<p>"You are very kind."</p> + +<p>While we were sitting together, Mr. Lee came in. He +had seen Mrs. Bosworth's carriage at the door, and, knowing +how seldom the old lady went out, sought her to pay +his respects.</p> + +<p>It is seldom that two persons so thoroughly bred, and so +singularly intelligent as Mr. Lee and our visitor, ever meet. +Notwithstanding the sorrow that oppressed us, the conversation +which sprang out of the first greeting brought cheerfulness +with it. They did not talk directly of our loss, but +every subject touched upon had a tinge of sadness in it, +which betrayed the buried feelings and sympathy which +lay behind.</p> + +<p>I had not believed that such power of pleasing could be +carried into extreme old age, as this old lady manifested.</p> + +<p>While we were conversing, Mrs. Dennison came in, much +to our astonishment; for of late she had rather avoided +both Jessie and myself. Mr. Lee presented her to our vis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span>itor, +who put on her stateliest manner, and, after rising, +stood as if ready to go; but her clear eyes were fixed on +Mrs. Dennison's face, and she seemed reading her to the +soul.</p> + +<p>I think that Mrs. Dennison was, for once, awed by the +moral force opposed to her; for such it really was. The +graceful flippancy of manner, which most people considered +so captivating, refused to come into action, and, for the +moment, she really was awkward.</p> + +<p>"I did not know that you had guests," said the old lady, +with a stiff bend of the head. "If I remember, Mr. Lawrence +told me that this lady would leave the neighborhood +about the time he did."</p> + +<p>The color flashed into Mrs. Dennison's face, and she replied, +with suppressed anger,—</p> + +<p>"Mr. Lawrence presumed, madam, when he ventured to +regulate my movements by his own."</p> + +<p>Again the old lady gave her a quiet, searching look, and, +without replying, moved toward the door.</p> + +<p>Jessie and I went down to the terrace with Mrs. Bosworth, +while Mr. Lee took her to the carriage.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page268" name="page268"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LVI.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">LOTTIE'S REVELATIONS.</span></h2> + + +<p>The conduct of old Mrs. Bosworth made a profound +impression in our family. Nothing could have been +more unfortunate for Mrs. Dennison. Mr. Lee, up to that +time, had been so occupied with the genuine grief which +sprung out of his wife's death, that he had evidently given +little thought to the real condition of his household; but +the grave look of disapproval which met Mrs. Dennison's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> +entrance, when the dear old lady made her visit, was too +decided for him or any one else to ignore. Jessie's ill-timed +remarks had affected him but little, for, alas! he was prejudiced +there; but the evident condemnation of this fine old +lady had its effect.</p> + +<p>Mr. Lee began to understand that a guest in our house +just then, not sanctioned by ties of blood, or even of old +friendship, must have a strange appearance in the neighborhood. +His own fine sense of propriety was disturbed, +and this gave his intercourse with the lady, all the rest of +that day, an air of constraint which she was not slow to +comprehend. She grew more quiet and thoughtful, all her +fine spirits vanished, and, more than once, I caught her +lifting her beautiful eyes to Mr. Lee's with a sad, misty +look of appeal, that would have touched the heart of a +savage. It almost reached mine.</p> + +<p>This lasted all that day and evening. There was little +conversation; but the eloquence of that woman's face was +above all language.</p> + +<p>At night I went into Jessie's room, as usual; not to talk; +everything had become too painful for those little confidential +chats that make a home so pleasant; but Jessie was +always sad now, and the news about young Bosworth had +affected her greatly, in what way it was difficult to determine; +so I went to her room, knowing that the presence of +an old friend would be some comfort to her.</p> + +<p>As we sat together talking on vague household affairs, +Lottie knocked at the door and came in.</p> + +<p>"I don't want you to be taken by surprise or anything," +she said, bluntly, "but Mr. Lawrence will be here to-morrow; +and, before twenty-four hours, he will beg Miss Jessie's +pardon for slighting her, on his bended knees, and ask her +to marry him right out."</p> + +<p>Jessie started up, pale as death, her eyes flashed and her +lips quivered.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Lottie!"</p> + +<p>The voice was low, but it made the girl hold her breath.</p> + +<p>"Don't let her get mad!" cried the strange creature, appealing +to me; "I didn't bring him, gracious knows. Mrs. +Babylon has done it, that's what you ought to know, and +I've told it."</p> + +<p>"But how did you find this out, Lottie?" I said, for +Jessie had fallen back to her seat, and was shrouding her +face with one hand.</p> + +<p>"I won't tell you! If I did, some of your queer notions +would come in and I should catch it. Just you take care +of honor and dignity, and all that. I don't pretend to no +such nonsense; I know he's coming, because Babylon sent +for him; she's ready to take claws off now that—oh, dear! +oh, dear!"</p> + +<p>Here the strange girl flung herself down on the floor, and, +burying her face, began to cry bitterly.</p> + +<p>I knew how she would have finished that sentence but for +Jessie's presence, and shrunk from drawing forth another +word.</p> + +<p>At length Lottie lifted her wet face and shook the hair +back from her eyes.</p> + +<p>"I'm a queer jewsharp, ain't I?" she said, with a giggle +that broke up the sob in her throat; "but it's true as the +gospel. Mr. Lawrence is coming, and you mark if he don't +go through with that very performance, kneeling and all!"</p> + +<p>"Well, well! It was right to tell us, and Miss Jessie +thanks you in her heart," I said, raising the girl from her +lowly position. "Now go to your room."</p> + +<p>She arose, looked wistfully at Jessie an instant; then +creeping to her side, knelt down as she had often done at +the feet of Mrs. Lee, and, taking the hand which fell listlessly +down, kissed it.</p> + +<p>Jessie started at the touch, and gently releasing the hand, +laid it on the young girl's hair.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I thank you," she said, looking down to the honest eyes +into which great tears were crowding fast; "my mother +loved you, and so do I."</p> + +<p>"I—I'm a-trying to do my best and be a mother to you +myself, now that she is dead and gone," answered Lottie, +with a look of honest affection beaming over her face.</p> + +<p>Jessie almost smiled; at which Lottie blushed like a +child, and, starting to her feet, went away, closing the door +softly after her.</p> + +<p>"Can you believe this?" said Jessie, after she was gone.</p> + +<p>"Yes," I answered. "Whatever her sources of information +may be, Lottie is always correct."</p> + +<p>"And he will dare—at her request—by her consent, +perhaps—he will dare!"</p> + +<p>She arose and walked the room, her black dress sweeping +the carpet like an imperial robe.</p> + +<p>I did not speak; anxiety kept me dumb. Was this a +burst of anger that would pass away? When that man, +with all his bewildering attractions, should stand before +her—humble, imploring—how would it be? The hopes +which had begun to dawn in my heart for young Bosworth +faltered, notwithstanding this queenly manifestation of pride.</p> + +<p>"<i>She</i> has sent for him indeed!" burst from those curved +lips; "there is nothing humiliating in this, Aunt Matty. +She invites gentlemen to my father's house and allows them +to approach me. Perhaps she has found out that half this +property is mine now, and sent him word."</p> + +<p>I started. This might be true. There certainly was +something inexplicable in the evident understanding between +Lawrence and our guest.</p> + +<p>"Well, let him come," said Jessie, drawing a deep breath. +"Let him come; I understand myself now."</p> + +<p>"You will not accept him then?" I inquired, anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Accept him!" she replied, with a calm smile, which +told how deep and settled her pride had become, far more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> +clearly than the flashing eye and writhing lip that had +startled me a moment before. "You need not fear that, my +friend."</p> + +<p>"And you do not love him?"</p> + +<p>"No, my friend, I do not love him; nor am I sure that +he is worthy of any good woman's love."</p> + +<p>I clasped my hands in thankfulness. Her words had +lifted a painful weight from my bosom.</p> + +<p>"Thank God!" I murmured.</p> + +<p>She looked at me gratefully, and we parted for the night.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page272" name="page272"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LVII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">MRS. DENNISON URGES LAWRENCE TO PROPOSE.</span></h2> + + +<p>The next morning Mrs. Dennison kept up the subdued +character of the previous night. Her eyes were heavy +and full of troubled mist, her movements had lost their elasticity, +and an air of touching depression supplanted the +graceful audacity of her usual manner.</p> + +<p>Mr. Lee was grave and silent; he once or twice glanced +at our guest, with some anxiety in his look, but made no +comment on her changed appearance.</p> + +<p>After breakfast I went out for a walk. The morning was +bright and cool, inviting me to a long ramble. But my +health was not altogether restored, and anxiety made me +listless; so I walked slowly across the face of the hill, came +out at the footpath on the ridge, and wandered on till I came +to the rock which terminated it. I had been sitting on it a +little while, gazing languidly down at the gleams of water +that came up through the green hemlocks, some two hundred +feet beneath, when the sound of voices from the grove disturbed +me.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span></p> + +<p>I had a nervous dread of being seen by Mrs. Dennison or +her friends, and let myself down from the rock to the face +of the precipitous descent—a perilous exploit—for a false +step might have sent me headlong to the river below. I +became sensible of the danger of my position after the first +moment, and, clinging to a young ash-tree, pressed myself +against the leaning trunk of a hemlock and waited for the +persons, whose voices I had heard, to pass.</p> + +<p>Directly two persons came winding down the path, and +stood upon the rock I had just left. It was Mrs. Dennison +and Mr. Lawrence, talking eagerly. The languor that had +marked her appearance at breakfast was gone. She was +sharp and animated, spoke with earnestness, and seemed +now pleading, now explaining. I caught a glimpse of his +face. It was flushed with anger, not to say rage.</p> + +<p>"It is useless to upbraid me. I loved you; it was death +to give you up. At a distance it seemed easy enough; but +when I saw you together and marked something too real in +your devotion, it drove me mad. I could not marry you +myself, poverty-stricken wretches that we are! but you cannot +blame me if the trial of giving you to another was beyond +human strength."</p> + +<p>"But you were false. You told me that she also was +false; that she secretly encouraged young Bosworth; that I +was treacherously undermining my own friend."</p> + +<p>Lawrence spoke in a loud, angry voice. The look which +he bent on her was stormy with passion.</p> + +<p>"Lawrence, this rage is useless. I did all that lay in my +power to break up the work I had helped to do. For a +time, poverty, anything seemed better than the possibility +of seeing you the husband of that proud girl. Then my +own future was uncertain; now it is assured. Between them +the father and daughter have unbounded wealth. It is +worth a great sacrifice—I make it. This is my first step, +my first humiliation. It was false. All that I told you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> +was false. She did not love that young man, she did love +you. I fancied—and here the trouble arose—that you +were beginning to love her, that it gave you no pain to +change. This embittered me. I misrepresented her, told you +that she visited Bosworth's sick-chamber from affection, when +I knew that it was only the persuasion of that troublesome +Miss Hyde which sent her to the house. Now I take it all +back. She is heart-whole save in love for you. She never +cared for him in the least. It was you she loved."</p> + +<p>I caught a second glimpse of his face as he turned it from +her; a flash of triumph passed over it, breaking its frowns +as lightning cleaves a thunder-cloud. My heart fell. The +man loved our Jessie. With his strength and power of +character, could she resist a passion that was evidently +genuine?</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dennison looked at him sharply; but his face was +dark enough under her glance, and she went on, perhaps +satisfied of his indifference.</p> + +<p>"There is no time for hesitation, Lawrence. It will be +impossible for me to keep my post here many days longer. +The young lady scarcely endures me, Miss Hyde turns to +marble when I enter her presence, and there is that imp of +a girl crossing my path at every turn. I must leave the +house—and that within a few days—unless you forgive me +and find means of appeasing the young lady. That accomplished, +I shall be more necessary to the household than +ever. Everything will be on velvet then."</p> + +<p>"Are you so sure of the old gentleman then?" inquired +Lawrence, with a half sneer.</p> + +<p>She smiled, and gave her head a disdainful movement.</p> + +<p>"Am I sure of my life?"</p> + +<p>He turned upon her with a look of scornful approbation.</p> + +<p>"You are an extraordinary woman, widow."</p> + +<p>"You have said as much, in a more complimentary fashion, +before this," she answered.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Perhaps," he answered, carelessly; "but we understand +each other too well for fine speeches. Now, let us talk +clearly. On your word of honor as a lady, all that you +told me regarding Miss Lee before I took that rude departure, +was false?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; though you might use a softer word."</p> + +<p>"And you believe she loves me yet in spite of my ungentlemanly +withdrawal?"</p> + +<p>"I am certain of it."</p> + +<p>"You wish me to beg pardon and propose?"</p> + +<p>"Wish!"</p> + +<p>The woman locked her hands passionately, and turned +her pale face upon him.</p> + +<p>"Wish! You know I <i>cannot</i> wish it; but it is inevitable."</p> + +<p>"In order to smooth your way with this grand old gentleman."</p> + +<p>The woman shuddered visibly, and clasped her hands +once more till the blood flew back under the almond-shaped +nails, leaving them white as pearls.</p> + +<p>"How indifferently you speak of a thing which drives +me mad!"</p> + +<p>"Indifferently? No. You have made your arrangements, +and do me the honor to include mine with them."</p> + +<p>"You are angry with me—hurt that I can decide on +this marriage."</p> + +<p>"No, neither angry nor hurt on that point."</p> + +<p>She looked at him imploringly.</p> + +<p>"Is this said in order to wound me?"</p> + +<p>"It is said because I feel it."</p> + +<p>"And you do not care that I bind myself for life to this +man?"</p> + +<p>"Care? Yes; why not?"</p> + +<p>"I have thought it all over hundreds of times, when we +talked of marriage those lovely nights on the beach. It +was a sweet dream, worthy of two young people in their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> +teens. We forgot everything,—the luxurious habits which +had become second nature to us both,—the impossibility of +making even love wild as ours suffice with everything else +wanting. We were neither young enough nor foolish enough +to carry that idea out."</p> + +<p>"Or, even then, to entertain it seriously for a moment," +said Lawrence, coldly breaking in upon her.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not," she said, mournfully. "It was a dream, +and as such we discussed it; but the wish—oh! that was +strong with us both!"</p> + +<p>A cloud of disgustful feelings swept over the man's face, +such as fill a refined heart while reviving some passion that +has died out in contempt.</p> + +<p>"Well, we will not dwell upon these moonlight dreams, +but the future."</p> + +<p>"Which will, at least, give us the right to see each other, +and will secure between us one of the largest fortunes in +the United States. If we cannot be all in all to each other, +everything else necessary to happiness will be ours."</p> + +<p>Again that expression swept over his face, but she was +not looking at him; the thoughts in her mind were such as +turn the eyes away from any human countenance. I could +read all this plainly in their two faces.</p> + +<p>"Let us pass over these things," he said, gravely regarding +her. "You and I ought to know that human will seldom +regulates events; let us try to act rightly and leave +them with a higher power."</p> + +<p>She looked at him in amazement an instant; then answered, +with a self-sustained laugh,—</p> + +<p>"Strong spirits make their own circumstances! We are +making ours!"</p> + +<p>"I know that is your opinion; but no matter, this is no +place for discussion. Once again, let me understand. I am +not disposed to criticise your motives for this—I will use +the softer word—mystification; but now we must take<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> +clear ground. You again assure me that, in seeking Miss +Lee, I shall not meet with a rebuff either from the lady or +her father?"</p> + +<p>"I am sure of it."</p> + +<p>"Then I will go at once. But how can I explain?"</p> + +<p>"Say that you were informed of her visit to Bosworth, +and went off in a fit of jealousy."</p> + +<p>"And if she asks of my informant?"</p> + +<p>"Say that you saw her with your own eyes."</p> + +<p>"Don't you think it would be as well to speak the truth +for once?" said Lawrence, with a grave smile.</p> + +<p>"That <i>is</i> the truth; you saw her returning home."</p> + +<p>Lawrence sat down upon the rock, and, covering his forehead +with one hand, seemed to reflect.</p> + +<p>"You find this task an unpleasant one?" said the woman, +touching his hand with her own.</p> + +<p>He swept the hand across his forehead, scattering rich +waves of hair over the temples.</p> + +<p>"It is very painful," he said, bitterly; "but, thank +heaven! the mischief was not of my own making. No +matter; I will go now."</p> + +<p>He turned to leave her. She grew pale and troubled.</p> + +<p>"Where shall I see you after it is over?"</p> + +<p>"Here, if you have the patience to wait."</p> + +<p>"Yes," she answered, "I will wait; it will not be long. +Oh, heavens! how little time it takes to separate us forever +and ever!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page277" name="page277"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LVIII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">AFTER THE PROPOSAL.</span></h2> + + +<p>He did not answer this; but his footsteps were still heard +among the leaves that had fallen along the footpath,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> +and she followed his retreating figure with eyes so full of +anguish that I could not help pitying her.</p> + +<p>When Lawrence could no longer be seen through the +trees, she sunk to the rock, folded both her hands over her +knees, and fairly moaned with pain. There was no weeping; +but dry sobs broke from her lips like gushes of lava +from a crater.</p> + +<p>I remained still crouching at the foot of the hemlock, and +sheltered completely by one of its wing-like branches. I +was safe from detection, so steep was the descent that, without +stepping to the very verge, there was no chance that any +person could discover me. I had no compunction or question +of honor to contend against. The contest going on in +our household had become too serious for shrinking from +anything that was not absolutely criminal in our defence. +So bracing my foot against the ash, and sheltering my presence +under the dusky hemlock, I too waited, determined not +to move till that wretched woman left the ridge.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dennison was very restless, changing her position +every moment, and starting up if the least sound reached +her from the woods. As time wore on, she seemed to listen +till the very breath upon her lips paused. The birds, that, +as I have said before, were very tame on the ground, made +her restive with their singing. She hated them, I am sure, +for the sweet noise that prevented her hearing his footsteps.</p> + +<p>I softly took out my watch and counted the time. He +had not been absent more than fifteen minutes, when she +sprang up, clenching both hands as if about to strike some +one, and began to prowl up and down the path like a leopardess +searching for her cubs. Now and then her voice +broke through the foliage, and I could see her wringing her +hands, or stamping her feet upon the dead leaves.</p> + +<p>At last a footstep sounded from the woods; it was a man's +step coming rapidly through the leaves. It had a hard sound, +and I felt sure that the man was desperate. She evidently<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> +thought otherwise. Her arms fell helplessly down, and she +crept back to the rock, white and still, but with her face +turned away as if she would not let him see how anxious +she was.</p> + +<p>He came up to the rock from the woods, crossed the footpath +with a single stride, and stood before her so stern, so +bitterly incensed, that she shrunk away from his first glance, +yet a flash of irresistible joy shot to the eyes with which she +eagerly questioned him.</p> + +<p>"Well!"</p> + +<p>The lips from which this word came were almost smiling. +Nature was strong in the woman, and, spite of her selfishness, +she exulted over the ruin of her own plans.</p> + +<p>"Well!" was the bitter response; "I have humiliated +myself like a hound—proposed and am rejected."</p> + +<p>The woman sprang toward him with both hands extended; +but he stepped back, and she clasped them in an +outgush of joy.</p> + +<p>"Then it is over! Oh, heavens, how glad I am! this +hour has been such torture! What would a whole life +be? I should go mad. Let the property go—sweep the +whole thing aside! How many poor people in the world +are happy! In poverty or out of it, you and I will be all +in all to each other!"</p> + +<p>She was "pure womanly" then, notwithstanding her +crafty nature and bad heart; there was something in her +abandonment that made my blood thrill.</p> + +<p>But Lawrence stepped back, and his face clouded.</p> + +<p>She looked at him in amazement.</p> + +<p>"What is this? Can wounded vanity affect you so +much?"</p> + +<p>"Wounded vanity, madam? Will you forever misunderstand +me? How dare you consider me as an accomplice +in your odious designs? If I have passed them by in +silence, it was no sign that I approved or shared them."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span></p> + +<p>These words were uttered with the force of terrible indignation. +The woman to whom they were addressed stood +confounded before the speaker, whom she had evidently, up +to that moment, believed to be her lover.</p> + +<p>"Lawrence—Lawrence! can this be real?" at last broke +from her quivering lips.</p> + +<p>While speaking, she laid her hand on his arm, but he +pushed it off loathingly, as if a reptile had been creeping +over him.</p> + +<p>At this repulse, all the queenliness of her air fell away, +and she seemed to shrink into a smaller person. The anguish +so evident in her face appeared to touch his compassion; +his features cleared themselves of stormy rage and hardened +like marble. He took one of her hands in a firm grasp, +and addressed her from that moment in a low, concentrated +voice, that thrilled through one as nothing but true feeling +can.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Dennison, this is the last time that you and I shall +ever converse together."</p> + +<p>The woman uttered a low cry, and seized his arm with +her disengaged hand. He paused an instant, glanced calmly +down at her hand, which clung trembling to his sleeve, and +went on:—</p> + +<p>"We met at a watering-place unknown to each other, +people of the world, adventurers, if you will, and between +us sprang up one of those flirtations which are so far removed +from genuine affection that the two never exist together. +We called it love—perhaps thought it so—for a +brief time; for I confess to a sentiment regarding you which +no ordinary person could have inspired."</p> + +<p>The woman lifted her eyes at his softened voice, and with +an expression that must have gone to his soul; never in my +life had I seen so much gratitude in a glance.</p> + +<p>"But this was not love!"</p> + +<p>The white hand dropped away from his arm; he grasped<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> +the other tighter, as if to impress his words more forcibly +on her.</p> + +<p>"I never did love you, Mrs. Dennison. Such expressions +as are admitted in society, without real meaning, I may have +used, and you perhaps construed them into deeper significance +than they possessed. I—"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dennison lifted her two hands with impatient deprecation.</p> + +<p>"Enough, enough!" she said; "more words are useless; +I comprehend you."</p> + +<p>"And hold me blameless, I trust?"</p> + +<p>"Blameless? Oh, yes!" There was bitter whiteness on +her lips, and her eyes flashed fiercely.</p> + +<p>The sneer relieved him. There had been something of +compassion, even of regret, in his voice till then; but the +curl of her lips drove all such feeling away.</p> + +<p>"At least," he continued, promptly, "any blame that I +might myself feel it just to assume, has been a thousand +times overbalanced by your conduct, regarding one of the +brightest and sweetest creatures that the sun ever shone +upon."</p> + +<p>The bitter sneer spread all over the woman's face, leaving +it cold and white.</p> + +<p>"You speak of Miss Lee?"</p> + +<p>The voice in which she uttered these words was fearfully +concentrated, and her agitation kept her still as a serpent +before it springs.</p> + +<p>"Yes, madam, I speak of the lady who once, at least, received +me kindly; but who, yielding to your machinations, +has just sent me from her presence forever, a rejected, desperate +man, for I love her better than my own soul!"</p> + +<p>A faint sound, sharp as a cry, deep as a grave, broke +from the woman. Lawrence did not heed it, but turned +away and left her, seemingly forgetful that it was a farewell. +She followed him with her great, wild eyes, struggled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> +with herself, and evidently strove to cry out; but her locked +features refused to stir. The cold lips took a blue tinge, +but gave no sound. She stood like Lot's wife, with all the +vitality stricken from her limbs, listening to his footsteps as +they died among the leaves. Then she uttered a low cry, +sprang forward to follow him, and fell prone across the +footpath.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page282" name="page282"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LIX.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">A HEART-STORM ABATING.</span></h2> + + +<p>I seized the lithe stem of the ash, and lifted myself up +the bank, prompted by an irresistible impulse of humanity. +The woman lay upon the ground in a position so like +death, that it frightened me. Her white face was half +hidden by the turf. The folds of an India shawl were entangled +around her, like the broken wings of some great +tropical bird; one hand was clenched deep in a fleece of +wood-moss, where its jewels flashed like rain-drops.</p> + +<p>I attempted to raise her face from the turf, but it fell +back like lead from my hands; the cheek which rested for +a moment on my arm was cold as snow. There was no life +perceptible; I looked around for water. A hundred feet +below me it was rushing forward in abundance, but that +was unattainable. The house was some distance, but there +alone could I hope for succor.</p> + +<p>I detested that woman in my soul; but some pure womanly +feeling impelled me to keep her terrible condition +a secret. I could not find it in my heart to expose her +humiliation. So entering the hall unseen, I seized a pitcher +of water that stood on the marble console and hurried back, +carrying it so unsteadily that the ice-drops rained over my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> +hands at every step. When I reached the rock, breathless +with haste, the woman was gone, and but for the crushed +grass, and a handful of moss torn up by the roots, there +remained no proof of the scene I had just witnessed.</p> + +<p>Where had she gone? Not to the house. I must have +seen her had she taken that direction. Surely she had not +followed Lawrence! I stepped to the rock, which gave me +a view of the footpath and the precipitous bank. She was +not in the woods, nor on the line of the ridge. Had she +thrown herself down the bank, and so perished in the river +below?</p> + +<p>I seized the ash-tree, and, supporting myself by it, leaned +over, searching the depths with a trembling dread of what +I might find.</p> + +<p>Half-way down the descent, I saw the gorgeous colors of +a shawl shrouding some object crouched upon a point of +rock that jutted out from the bank, and fairly overhung +the black waters fifty feet below. In my fright, the ash-tree +escaped my hold, and, starting back with a sharp recoil, +made a great rustling among the leaves.</p> + +<p>The woman sprang up, lifted her white face toward me, +and for a moment stood poised over the water, with her +garments fluttering in the wind so violently, that their very +motion threatened to destroy her balance.</p> + +<p>I threw out my arms, pleading with her to come back; +but she sprang forward into a heavy covert of pine-boughs +that swept the descent, and disappeared.</p> + +<p>I waited some minutes, hoping that she would appear +again; but everything was still; and after lingering about +the rock some time, I returned to the house.</p> + +<p>When I entered the hall, Mrs. Dennison was leaning over +the balustrade of the square balcony, gazing down upon the +scenery of the valley, to all appearance tranquil as a child.</p> + +<p>She looked around with a furtive movement of the head +as I set the pitcher upon the console, and then I saw that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> +her face was still deathly pale. I said nothing to any one +of what I had seen; it could have availed little; my report +would only have met with denial and discredence. I felt +sure of this and went to my room, there most earnestly praying +God to direct me how to act.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dennison did not come down to dinner that afternoon, +and Cora reported that she was in her room, suffering +greatly. Something was the matter; the dear lady had been +crying for hours together as if her heart were broken.</p> + +<p>This was said in the presence of Mr. Lee, and I saw that +he listened keenly.</p> + +<p>"Do you know any reason for this distress?" he inquired +of the pretty mulatto.</p> + +<p>"No, sir; no reason in the world, without it is the high +airs that old lady took with her. I was in the hall, sir, and +saw it; since then my lady has been crying half the time."</p> + +<p>We were at the table when Cora came down with this +account of her mistress. Mr. Lee poured out a glass of +champagne and placed it on the silver tray, upon which +Jessie was arranging some delicacies from the desert.</p> + +<p>"Ask your mistress to try and join us in the drawing-room +this evening," he said, kindly; "solitude will only +depress her."</p> + +<p>Cora bowed and went away, but returned directly with +a message from Mrs. Dennison. She had a severe headache, +and was afraid that it would be impossible for her to meet the +family that evening. To-morrow she trusted to be better.</p> + +<p>Poor woman! she was true for once, though even her +real illness was afterward turned to account.</p> + +<p>After dinner, I found myself alone with Jessie. She had +been a little excited after Lawrence left; but as the day +wore on, her self-poise returned, and a sweet gravity settled +upon her. As I sat by the window, she left the piano, from +which a plaintive air had been stealing, and came to my side.</p> + +<p>"Aunt Matty," she said, in her sweet, trustful way, "I +have something to tell you. Mr. Lawrence has been here."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span></p> + +<p>I did not express any knowledge of the fact, but looked +at her, waiting for more. A faint flush rose to her cheek; +but her eyes looked clearly into mine.</p> + +<p>"You know what he came for?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose so, Jessie; and that he went away disappointed."</p> + +<p>"I think he loved me, Aunt Matty."</p> + +<p>"And you?" I questioned, anxiously.</p> + +<p>She shook her head and smiled wistfully.</p> + +<p>"You remember the violets we took from the spring +down in the meadow yonder? How fresh and hardy they +looked! But we tore them up too roughly, and they never +would take root again! They were young plants, you said, +and hard usage withered them. The violets are all uprooted +and dead here."</p> + +<p>She pressed one hand to her heart, and, stooping down, +kissed me to hide the sadness that crept into her eyes.</p> + +<p>"And you do not regret it?" I whispered, drawing her +close to me.</p> + +<p>"As I regretted the death of our violets, with a little sadness +for the perfume that is gone."</p> + +<p>"And it is decided?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing can change me. His intimacy with that woman +gave her influence enough to poison his mind with thoughts +that should never enter the heart of a true man. This was +reason enough, if love ever reasoned; but his power is gone +from me. I could never live with a man who had once +been, even partially, controlled by a woman like that."</p> + +<p>"Did you give him this reason?"</p> + +<p>"As I have given it now."</p> + +<p>"And he considers it as final?"</p> + +<p>"Undoubtedly. I am glad he came—glad that he has +spoken; for it sets me free—heart and soul."</p> + +<p>I kissed her fervently, thanking God for this great deliverance.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page286" name="page286"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LX.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">THE TWO LETTERS.</span></h2> + + +<p>That very evening young Bosworth came to the house, +looking almost well, and <i>so</i> animated. It was not +quite dark, and he saw me walking on the terrace; for I +had need of air and solitude. He took my hand with the +old cordiality, and would not let it go.</p> + +<p>"Lawrence has been at our house," he said. "You know +what has happened. She rejected him—she does not love +him. This he told me with his own lips. It was generous; +but he is a noble fellow. Indeed, I pity him."</p> + +<p>I pressed the hand which grasped mine, and, reading the +question that spoke from his face, told him to go in, that +Jessie was in the drawing-room—and alone.</p> + +<p>He listened for a moment to the music which came stealing +through the windows, holding his breath in sweet suspense; +then he lifted my hand to his lips and went into the +house. The roses were bright on Jessie's cheek when I entered +the drawing-room an hour after, and, for one night, we +had something like a dream of happiness in that gloomy +dwelling.</p> + +<p>The next day Mrs. Dennison kept her word, and came +out from her solitude. She must have suffered terribly; for +I have never seen a face so altered. All her bloom was +gone in one night; her eyes had grown larger with hidden +anguish, which left dusky circles around them. Both +Jessie and Mr. Lee were struck visibly by the change.</p> + +<p>We were all in the library when she came in, grave, sad, +and with that look of deep sorrow in her face. Mr. Lee was +greatly disturbed and went forward to meet her, inquiring +anxiously about her health.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span></p> + +<p>The woman let her hand rest in his clasp a moment, and +drew it away with a sorrowful glance from beneath her +drooping lashes. Advancing up the room, she leaned one +hand on a table for support, trembling visibly from agitation +or weakness.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Lee!"</p> + +<p>The voice faltered with his name, and once more she +lifted those mournful eyes to his.</p> + +<p>"Are you ill, or has some trouble come upon you?" inquired +Mr. Lee, greatly agitated.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am ill, and in deep trouble," she answered. "Oh! +Mr. Lee, let me beseech you to protect my good name from +the enemies that have assailed it!"</p> + +<p>"Your good name, my dear madam? Who would dare +say a word against any one sheltered under my roof?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know—the whole thing bewilders me; but +some great wrong has been done—some cruel slander said, +or I should not be called upon to endure such insults as met +me from that proud old lady—should not be outraged by +letters like this!"</p> + +<p>She took a letter from her pocket and gave it to Mr. Lee, +watching him as he read it.</p> + +<p>The letter was a brief one; but Mr. Lee was a long time +in reading it. His eyes went back upon every line, and the +fire burned hotly in them when he came to an end. There +was something very startling in the changes of his face as +he glanced from the paper to Jessie and from her to me. +Never have I seen a look so terribly stern.</p> + +<p>"Where did you get this letter?" he inquired, crushing +the paper in his hand.</p> + +<p>"It came to me by the mail; you will see by the post-mark," +was the reply.</p> + +<p>He glanced at the post-mark, which was that of the nearest +town; then, striding up to his daughter, held the open +letter before her eyes.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span></p> + +<p>Jessie read it bewildered; but at last her features settled +into a look of astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Is this your writing, Miss Lee?"</p> + +<p>"No," she answered, but in a hesitating way. "No, no; +I never wrote that!"</p> + +<p>She had read a portion of the letter, when this emphatic +denial broke from her lips.</p> + +<p>"Yet a disinterested person would swear that it was your +handwriting, Jessie Lee."</p> + +<p>The color flashed into Jessie's cheek; but she constrained +herself, answering calmly,—</p> + +<p>"I did not write it, father."</p> + +<p>Mr. Lee searched her through and through with his stern +glances; then, coldly taking the letter from her hand, he +held it toward me.</p> + +<p>"Say, madam, you should be acquainted with that young +lady's handwriting; is this hers?"</p> + +<p>I took the letter and read it. The handwriting was certainly +like Jessie's, but with an attempt to disguise. The +contents convinced me that she never wrote it. They ran +thus:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">Madam</span>: You have wrought mischief enough in the +family of an honorable man to be content without bringing +disgrace upon your own name. It should be enough that +you have broken the life of as good a woman as ever lived; +that you have alienated a father from his only child, and +separated Mr. Lee from his best friends. If you have still +any regard for your own reputation, or for the welfare of +those who have never wronged you, leave this house.</p> + +<p class="quotsig">"<span class="smcap">A Friend.</span>"</p></blockquote> + +<p>"No," I answered, "Jessie did not write this; the thing +is impossible!"</p> + +<p>"I make no charges—heaven forbid!" said Mrs. Dennison; +"but it is enough that a letter like that could have +been written to me while under your roof, sir. Self-respect<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> +forbids that I should remain here another day. I have sent +to the town for a carriage."</p> + +<p>"You cannot intend it!" exclaimed Mr. Lee. "Not till +this thing has been thoroughly explained and atoned for, +must you leave a house that has been honored by your presence. +Jessie Lee, have you nothing to say?"</p> + +<p>"Father, what can I say?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing, my dear Miss Lee; I ask nothing, and accuse +no one further than is necessary to my own exculpation," +said Mrs. Dennison, in a grieved voice. "But I have been +cruelly assailed. One word more, Mr. Lee, and I am ready +to go. Forgive me if I speak on a subject painful to us +all; but the death of your wife has been alluded to in that +infamous paper—alluded to in connection with myself. +When Mrs. Lee was taken ill, she had in her hand a letter, +which only left her hold in the last moment. It was open. +You may remember I picked it up from the floor, folded it, +and gave it into your own hands. Of course, I did not read +the letter, and am, to this day, ignorant of its contents; but +I did glance at the handwriting, and it was like this."</p> + +<p>I felt myself growing cold; the faces before me swam in +mist. Had not Lottie said that the envelope was directed +in Jessie's handwriting? Had I not myself recognized the +fact?</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dennison spoke again:—</p> + +<p>"Another thing has haunted me since that mournful day. +As I bent over the dying angel, she whispered three words +in my ear; they were: 'Read the letter.' Sir, there is a +connection between this and the letter which your wife held +in her grasp when she died. I entreat, nay, I demand, that +you tell me what the connection is."</p> + +<p>"The letter!" said Mr. Lee, with a start. "She did hold +a paper, and you gave it to me, I remember. It is here; I +had no heart to read it." Thrusting a hand beneath his +vest, he drew forth a small pocket-book, and took from it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> +the paper which I remembered so well. It was crushed +and had been hastily folded; but even from the distance I +could see that the handwriting was that of the note I had +just read.</p> + +<p>In Mr. Lee's eyes alone you saw the agony of astonishment +that possessed him. At last he turned his gaze from +the letter and fixed it on Jessie. She was greatly disturbed—the +very sight of the paper in her father's hand was enough +for this; but she met his glance with a mournful look. +There was neither terror nor surprise in it; simply deep +sorrow, such as springs from a renewal of painful memories.</p> + +<p>He walked toward her with the paper in his hand, touched +it with his finger, and tried to speak, but could not—the +anguish that locked his features chained his voice also. +Jessie was frightened and sprang up.</p> + +<p>"Father, father! what is the matter? What have I done?"</p> + +<p>He laid his hand heavily on the paper, and bent his white +face toward her.</p> + +<p>"Jessie Lee, you have slandered the father that loved you +better than his own life. You have killed your mother!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page290" name="page290"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LXI.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">THE DEPARTING GUEST.</span></h2> + + +<p>They were gone, and a gloom like that of the grave fell +on everything in that room. While Jessie Lee lay cold +and insensible on my bosom, smitten to the heart by her +father's denunciation, Mrs. Dennison took the letter from +Mr. Lee and read it from end to end. After that she +uttered some words which I did not understand—for the +cold head upon my bosom had frozen up my faculties<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span>—and +went her way from the room, and oh! thank my God! +from our presence, I prayed inly, forever and ever.</p> + +<p>I do not know when or how Mr. Lee left the room, but I +was alone with Jessie, and she dead, for the moment, as if in +her winding-sheet.</p> + +<p>I had no strength to lift her, or remove her from the +room, but I laid her gently on the carpet, and, taking the +crimson pillows from a couch, rested her head upon them. +All this had been done with great quietness; no unusually +loud word had been spoken during that terrible scene—not +a soul in the house, except us four, knew that anything had +happened.</p> + +<p>Striving to subdue my agitation, I went up-stairs in search +of restoratives. The crystal flasks in poor Mrs. Lee's chamber +had never been emptied of their contents, so I went +there hoping to find something that would bring the stricken +girl out of her deathly sleep.</p> + +<p>The room was dim, but filled with the breath of flowers, +as it had been in its owner's life-time. Every article of furniture +was in its old place. The white bed gleamed out +from the twilight of the apartment like a snow-bank; the soft +lace curtains covered the windows, flowing down beneath +the silken over-curtains like ripples of falling sleet. Everything +was so natural, so almost holy in its stillness, that +even in the terrible anxiety that filled my soul, I felt like +falling down by the bed and praying that sainted one to +help me save her child.</p> + +<p>A wild petition did spring to my lips; but it was a time +for action; so, snatching a flask from the dressing-table, I +was turning to leave the room, when Lottie arose from a +stool, at the foot of Mrs. Lee's easy-chair, and stood before +me like a ghost.</p> + +<p>"What are you doing here, Miss Hyde?" she said, in a +whisper. "She does not like people to come to her room."</p> + +<p>I held up the flask and was going on; but she seized it +between both hands.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It is for Miss Jessie—for her child—she is ill."</p> + +<p>The girl's hands dropped.</p> + +<p>"Take it—take it," she said, and followed me from the +room.</p> + +<p>When Lottie saw her young mistress lying so still and +marble-like on the floor, a cry of anguish broke from her.</p> + +<p>"Oh! my poor, poor lady! how much she looks like her—how +much she looks like her!"</p> + +<p>Jessie came to at last: that is, she breathed again, and +her eyes opened; but this was all. She had no strength, +and all the rich, young life that made her so beautiful had +left her frame.</p> + +<p>While she lay thus but half conscious, swift footsteps +passed through the hall, a spasm swept over that pale face, +and Jessie made a struggle to move and get away from the +hateful sound. It was but a faint motion, and she was still +again. Then came a low smothered sound of conversation +near the door, and all was silent after that.</p> + +<p>I had hoped that Mr. Lee would come back and help me +save his child from the depths of her trouble; but he did not +appear, and I dared not send for him.</p> + +<p>"Lottie," I said, at last, "will you help me? Can you +and I carry her up to her room, or must I call one of the +people?"</p> + +<p>"You and I—no one else."</p> + +<p>We lifted Jessie from the floor, and carried her up-stairs, +meeting no one.</p> + +<p>As we came to the passage which led to Mrs. Lee's +chamber, Lottie paused and drew a heavy breath; then +looking down on that still face, she turned toward the +sacred chamber.</p> + +<p>I did not protest. That room seemed the most natural +place for Mrs. Lee's daughter when driven forth from her +father's heart.</p> + +<p>Poor Jessie! We laid her down on her mother's bed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> +and there she rested for many a long day and night—if +rest was ever known to a nervous fever like that which fell +upon her from the hour of her father's wrath.</p> + +<p>While Jessie lay on the bed with her eyes wide open, and +shudders of distress passing over her, Lottie drew me to +another part of the room, and asked, in a troubled voice, +what had made her young lady so ill.</p> + +<p>I had no other friend in whom it was possible to confide. +Lottie, with all her eccentricities, was true as steel, but I did +not myself know the entire cause of all this disturbance, +and could not speak of it with anything like certainty, so I +only answered her, as quietly as I could, that Mrs. Dennison +was going away.</p> + +<p>A quick light flashed into Lottie's eyes. She looked from +side to side, as if wondering what direction to take. Her +sharp intellect almost caught the truth.</p> + +<p>"But Miss Jessie isn't fretting so about that. There's +something else. Oh, Miss Hyde! do tell me what it is!"</p> + +<p>"I cannot tell you, Lottie, what I do not understand myself."</p> + +<p>"And you won't listen. High notions will be the death +of you yet. Oh, how I hate airs! Now, if it had been me, I'd +have known all about it, by hook or by crook, but it's of +no use talking. Are you sure Babylon is going; if she is, +her last trump has been played, and she thinks she's won +High, Low, Game, and a Jack turned up. Oh, if I only had +time to make this all out, but it's hop, skip, and a jump; +here they jump right into the dark."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean, Lottie?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, nothing particular. You keep your secrets, and +I'll keep mine. That's fair."</p> + +<p>As Lottie spoke, the door of our room was open, and this +gave us a view of the hall, at the other end of which was +Mrs. Dennison's chamber. The door of that room also was +wide open, and we saw the widow talking earnestly with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> +her mulatto maid, who had drawn a couple of trunks from +the closet, and was now emptying a wardrobe in what +seemed to be angry haste. With three or four dresses flung +over her arm, she turned fiercely upon her mistress, and +seemed to be upbraiding her.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dennison answered with an imperative gesture, at +which Cora tossed her head, like a racer under curb, and +flung the dresses in a heap upon the bed, stamping angrily on +the floor as Mrs. Dennison left the room and turned down +the staircase which led to the library.</p> + +<p>"By gracious! they are packing up, sure enough!" exclaimed +Lottie, "and I standing here like a frightened +goose. Take care of Miss Jessie, ma'am. I couldn't help +you now—no, not if she were dying. Babylon is playing +that last trump this minute."</p> + +<p>Lottie left me instantly, and I saw her draw close to +Cora, with whom she had become very intimate during the +last few weeks.</p> + +<p>"Do tell me what all this fuss is about," I heard her say. +"Miss Jessie is off in hysterics, and your madam looks +like a thunder-gust—quarrelling, I should surmise."</p> + +<p>"Quarrelling? I should think so," answered the mulatto. +"Here she comes all in a storm, and orders me to get ready +in an hour, as if I had a dozen hands—no consideration—no +feeling. In an hour, and all her dresses to fold! It's +too bad! I believe she thinks I'm her slave yet; but I'll +show her—I will! Just look at the pile of dresses on the +bed, all to fold and pack in an hour."</p> + +<p>"I'll help you," answered Lottie, in her stolid fashion, +which I noticed she had always used with Cora, who seemed +to hold her in profound contempt. "I can fold dresses +first-rate."</p> + +<p>"Oh! she would never trust you with them; but I'll tell +you what will help just as well; there is her writing-table, +with the drawer running over, and the top loaded with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> +books; just pack that heap of things away in the smallest +trunk."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll do that, if you'd rather," said Lottie, with +apparent reluctance; "but not knowing how to read, you see +I might get the wrong things."</p> + +<p>"No, everything belongs to her; just empty the drawer, +and pack them nicely away."</p> + +<p>"But you're not really going?" inquired Lottie.</p> + +<p>"In an hour."</p> + +<p>I saw Lottie move toward the table, and begin to gather +up books and papers with great indifference; but when +Cora's back was turned, she grew vigilant as a fox, and +seemed to be searching for some particular object with +breathless anxiety. I saw her take a book, bound in purple +leather, from a back part of the drawer, examine it closely, +and thrust it back again as Cora turned toward her, when +she became active in tying up other parcels, and packing +them away.</p> + +<p>All at once Cora seemed to have some doubt regarding +the dress she was to leave out for travelling.</p> + +<p>"Just like her, not to tell me. Goes off on her own hook +in everything without a word, as if I was of no account +when she wants to move. Which way did she go?"</p> + +<p>"Toward the library," said Lottie; "gone to say good-bye +to Mr. Lee, I suppose. You can hear him tramp, +tramp, tramp, up and down the floor."</p> + +<p>"Tramp or no tramp, I'll know what she wants," said +Cora, who was evidently enraged at this sudden movement.</p> + +<p>"I'll be back in a minute."</p> + +<p>Away Cora darted along the hall, and down the stairs. +Just as quickly Lottie seized upon the purple book, flung +her apron over it, and ran into her own room, slamming +the door in my face. After a moment's absence, she flitted +back again, with both hands under her apron, as she had +come forth.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Don't sit there; don't seem to be looking after me. +That yellow witch will think something is going on if you +do," she said, in a hurried whisper, darting in at the door, +and out again.</p> + +<p>"But what are you taking away, Lottie?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing—not a thing. I'm taking it back again; +don't you see?"</p> + +<p>Back she went, and directly after I heard her talking +with the mulatto girl in the most friendly manner possible.</p> + +<p>In half an hour I heard Mrs. Dennison sweep past the +door, and knew that she was finding fault with Cora, because +everything was not in readiness. The girl answered +her sharply, and some angry words passed, such as might +have been tolerated in equals, but which sounded strangely +out of place between mistress and servant. I knew that +this lady was going in anger from our house, but had no desire +to see her before she went; for since the scene which +had flung poor Jessie almost insensible on that bed, my +dislike of the woman had deepened into absolute horror.</p> + +<p>In a little more than an hour I heard the sound of heavy +trunks being dragged through the hall, and the roll of a +carriage along the lower terrace. Then I could distinguish +the tread of Mr. Lee, words spoken in a low tone, and a +rustle of garments moving down-stairs.</p> + +<p>Then all was still for a moment. Lottie stood in the hall, +listening intently; I could not breathe, my heart so longed +for the sound of that woman's sure departure.</p> + +<p>It came at last. I heard the carriage-wheels and the +tramp of hoofs bearing her away. I saw Lottie fling up +her arms in silent thankfulness. Jessie, too, unlocked her +hands, and turned her eyes upon me, drawing a deep, deep +breath, as if something had cleared the atmosphere that +weighed her down.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page297" name="page297"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LXII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">WHOLLY DESERTED.</span></h2> + + +<p>That night I received a message from Mr. Lee, and +went to him in the breakfast-room. The passions that +had locked his features so fearfully still kept their hold. +He was not a man to be reasoned with, or touched by appeal +in that state; the ice must melt, and the storm burst, before +human sympathies could reach him.</p> + +<p>I saw this, and stood silent in his presence—silent, but +with a sort of solemn courage. The worst had come, and +with that thought strength always lies.</p> + +<p>"Miss Hyde," he said, in a voice of ice, "to-morrow +morning I leave this house, and in a week this country, +possibly forever. I do not stop to ask how far you are to +blame for the evil developed in the person who was once +my child; but she loves you, and I will not deprive her +of any comfort. She will be left in full possession of this +place, with everything that a woman can desire. The law +gives her this and more. So long as she wishes it, stay with +her; for myself, I go alone, wifeless and childless."</p> + +<p>I was about to speak, for there was a touch of regretful +feeling in his voice; but he motioned me to keep silent and +went on:—</p> + +<p>"Let there be no explanation to the neighbors or servants. +What has passed must rest with the four persons +who parted in that library; for this secrecy I trust to you."</p> + +<p>I bent my head and tried to speak, but could not. He +looked searchingly into my face, and his stern eyes softened +a little.</p> + +<p>I went up to him, reaching forth my trembling hands; +the ache of pain broke away from my heart in a flood of +tears. What I said, even a word I cannot recollect; but I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> +have the remembrance of a frail woman standing before +that haughty man, with her hands clasped and tears falling +down her face like rain. She was eloquent, I know; for +the man's face changed gradually, and his eyes grew misty +as they looked into hers. But just as an outgush of hope +thrilled her heart, a name dropped from her lips—a name +that she loathed, and uttered bitterly, no doubt; then all the +gentle light left his face, and he was iron again. So the +woman went away wounded to the soul, and with limbs that +almost refused to support her. She sat up all night watching +with the sick girl, while her own heart scarcely beat +beneath its load of dull pain.</p> + +<p>At daylight, this unhappy creature heard faint noises in +the house; but she did not move. Then came the sound +of wheels upon the terrace-road; still she sat motionless. +You might have shot her through the heart, and she would +not have lifted a hand to put back the threatened death.</p> + +<p>The sound of those carriage-wheels moving away through +the pine grove aroused the beautiful invalid. She started +up from her pillow, and throwing out both arms toward the +window, cried out,—</p> + +<p>"Father, oh, my father!"</p> + +<p>No one answered. Her father was gone.</p> + +<p>We were alone now—I had no explanations to make. +All the family knew that Mrs. Dennison had gone away, +and all except Lottie had been informed that Mr. Lee had +started on a long tour in Europe. She, good, noble girl, +had been so busy caring for Jessie, that the news only +reached her after Mr. Lee had been gone some hours. Then +she seemed greatly disturbed, and questioned me on the +subject in her usual blunt, searching way.</p> + +<p>My conversation with Lottie passed in her own room, and +I cautioned her against speaking of Mr. Lee in his daughter's +presence, telling her truly that no one had an idea how ill +her mistress was except ourselves.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span></p> + +<p>There was something more than curiosity on the young +girl's mind. I am sure of that, for she was like a wild +creature, and seemed frantic to know which way Mr. Lee +had gone. But no one could tell her. The coachman saw +him take the train for New York, that was all he knew +about it; if she wanted to find out, it was not the road Mrs. +Dennison had taken. She went the other way—no disputing +that. He had taken pains to inquire.</p> + +<p>That night, notwithstanding Jessie's illness was becoming +more threatening each hour, Lottie, usually so kind-hearted, +called me from the room to inquire if she could be spared +for a day or two, and if I could lend her ten dollars. It +was a great sum, she knew, but she'd pay it back faithfully; +yes, if she had to sell the brooch and ear-rings that Miss +Jessie gave her out of the dear lady's things.</p> + +<p>Shall I own it? This hard-heartedness in Lottie gave me +something like hope—the girl was sharp and courageous. +She had thoughts which no one could fathom, and which +she was evidently hoarding for the good of her benefactors. +Still, I was left, in some degree, her guardian. Should I +permit her to go off on some wild adventure, only from a +forlorn hope that it might benefit her young mistress?</p> + +<p>The strange girl did not put me to the test; but judging +from my hesitation that I was about to refuse her the money, +flew off, saying it was no matter, maybe she should change +her mind after all.</p> + +<p>The next morning, when I inquired for Lottie, she was +gone.</p> + +<p>Three days after she came back, looking very much depressed +and so cross, except in the sick-room, that all the +servants in the house were complaining of her temper.</p> + +<p>She gave no explanation of her absence, except that, +directly after her return, she gave me a New York paper—one +that seldom reached our household—in which Mr. +Lee's name was announced among the list of passengers in +a steamer that had sailed the day after he left home.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span></p> + +<p>All this time Jessie had been delirious, and knew nothing +of the trouble that had swept half our household away. It +was a mercy. Had she comprehended everything as I did, +that delicate organism, so unused to suffering of any kind, +must have given way with more lamentable consequences; +as it was, the young life was scarcely kept afire in her +bosom.</p> + +<p>In her delirium, Jessie was always wandering off into the +past, and her pure heart broke forth in a thousand sweet +fancies, in which her father and mother were always the +moving spirits. Strange enough, she never once mentioned +Lawrence or Mrs. Dennison, even in her wildest moments; +but once, when Lottie came into the chamber, holding a +bottle of perfume such as Mrs. Dennison always used, the +dear girl fell back on her pillow and fainted quite away.</p> + +<p>The moment news of Jessie's illness got abroad in the +neighborhood, old Mrs. Bosworth came to see us—the dear, +old motherly lady—how gentle and kind she was! There +seemed to be a charm in that plump hand, with the old-fashioned +diamond-rings lighting up its whiteness; for when +it had rested awhile on Jessie's forehead, the dear girl would +drop into a soft slumber, and awake with less tremulous +nerves and a clearer brain.</p> + +<p>At last the fever burned itself out, and Jessie awoke to a +consciousness of actual life. She was too weak for any +powerful emotion; and when we were at last forced to admit +that her father had gone, and that we had no means of communicating +with him, she only heaved a feeble sigh, and, +turning her head, lay, weeping softly, on her pillow, till the +very exhaustion left her calmed.</p> + +<p>Slowly, but with a steady progress, Jessie gained her +strength; and, as her mother had rested among the crimson +cushions of that couch, sat one day, when Mrs. Bosworth +came to spend the morning with us. We had braided her +hair for the first time that morning, and prisoned its coils<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> +in a crimson net, with drops of gold in the web, and flashes +of gold in the tassels. The reflection of its rich Magenta +tints gave a faint color to her cheeks; her white morning +dress, with its profusion of Valenciennes lace about the +sleeves and bosom, lost its chilly look under a rich India +shawl that we had folded over it. Indeed, altogether, the +dear child looked so like herself, that we were rejoicing +over her when the old lady came in.</p> + +<p>They had become very good friends during those sick-hours—that +dear old duchess and our Jessie. So when the +lady came in, rustling across the floor like a rich autumn, +our invalid smiled almost for the first time since her illness, +and held out her hand.</p> + +<p>I was in the habit of leaving Mrs. Bosworth and Jessie +to themselves, and was stealing from the room, when the +old lady called me back.</p> + +<p>"Come, Miss Hyde," she said, "help me to gain a favor +of our child. She is looking so well, her hand feels so cool; +do you think a little company would harm her?"</p> + +<p>Jessie colored faintly and lifted her eyes to the old lady's +face.</p> + +<p>"He has been here every day—don't start, dear! What +was more natural than that an old lady like me should +want the care of a man strong enough to help her if her +staff gives way? Nothing has been done that could wound +you; but he is very anxious—and now that you are so well, +and looking so pretty, what if we let him come up? Eh, +Miss Hyde?"</p> + +<p>Before I could answer, Lottie had left the room; with a +chuckle and a leap she cleared the staircase, and, finding +young Bosworth in the square balcony, presented Miss +Hyde's compliments, and desired him to walk up to the +tower-chamber.</p> + +<p>I was going down to perform the same ceremony, in a +different way, when Lottie met me on the stairs. I stopped<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> +on the landing to let the young gentleman pass; Lottie followed, +opened the door, closed it softly, and came back.</p> + +<p>"What's the use of shuffling about in this way?" she +said. "She wants him to go up, and he wants to go. When +people want a good slide down hill, what's the use of putting +jumpers in the way? I'm getting sick of your notions, +Miss Hyde. Wouldn't give a copper for delicacy; and as +for honor, see what it's done. Don't talk to me!"</p> + +<p>With a sort of Jim-Crow step, Lottie whirled about on +the landing, gave a leap down three stairs at a time, and +went off somewhat in her former style.</p> + +<p>I was glad to see a dash of the old spirit coming back to +the strange creature; but a moment after I looked out and +saw her crying like a child, behind one of the large garden +vases. After all, there was no real cheerfulness about +Lottie. Spasmodic flashes of her nature would break out, +but at heart she mourned continually.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page302" name="page302"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LXIII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">OLD-FASHIONED POLITENESS.</span></h2> + + +<p>When I entered Jessie's room, the old lady was busy +arranging some flowers, which they had brought, in +a vase near the window. She had put on her gold spectacles, +and was examining the tints so carefully, that there +was no room for attention anywhere else.</p> + +<p>Bosworth was sitting near Jessie, looking so pleased at +being permitted to her presence, that I could not help a +throb of sympathetic pleasure. He had, I am sure, been +holding Jessie's hand; for as I came in, she withdrew it +with a hasty movement, and its delicate whiteness was +flushed, as if warm lips had touched it. No wonder the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> +young man was happy! Jessie Lee would never have permitted +that bearded mouth to approach her hand unless a +true heart had beaten quicker to the touch. Lawrence had +gained no favor like that in the time of his greatest power.</p> + +<p>The old duchess was looking through her spectacles just +as I came in; but not exactly at the flowers, or that bland +little smile would never have made her mouth look so +young, or that demure blush have settled on her soft cheek. +Dear old lady! All those years, while they taught her +limbs the uses of a staff, had left her heart fresh and modest +as a girl's. How transparent was the gentle artifice with +which she beguiled me out of the room, to search for some +purple heliotrope that might soften the tints of her bouquet!</p> + +<p>As Jessie grew better, these visits were repeated. Young +Bosworth seldom failed to come with his grandmother; and +after a little the old lady would often stay behind, contenting +herself with some message, or a present of fruit and +flowers. Then no excuse became necessary, except that +Jessie required a stronger arm than mine to support her +first walks in the garden; and after that the young man +seemed more at home in our house than he could have been +in the fine old mansion behind the hill.</p> + +<p>Spite of the painful circumstances that had left us so +lonely, we were beginning to feel the strength of our lives +slowly returning. True, there was an undercurrent of deep, +deep trouble all the time sweeping through an existence +that seemed so bright to others.</p> + +<p>The cruel absence of Mr. Lee, his determined silence, +always lay heavily upon us; but it was not as if we had +deserved the stern displeasure which had driven him away; +and if we mourned over this great sorrow, there was some +relief in the oppression that Mrs. Dennison's departure had +taken away.</p> + +<p>Of this woman we heard nothing, and her name was seldom +mentioned, even by Lottie. We all shrunk in terror<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> +from the reminiscences connected with her. Still our lives +were more endurable than they had been for many a month; +and but for the aching pain which sprung out of that scene +in the library, we might have been tranquil,—sad with the +great loss which had fallen upon the house, but hopeful for +the future.</p> + +<p>But with that gentle woman, lying in her last sleep down +in the valley, and the power of our house gone from us, we +could only wait and hope that God, in his infinite justice, +would yet unfold the truth to Mr. Lee, and give him back +to his home.</p> + +<p>Sometimes Jessie and I would talk over these matters +when quite alone in her room; but the whole chain of events +was too inexplicable and full of pain for frequent mention. +Jessie hardly yet comprehended the enormity of the charge +brought against her. What was in the letter which her +dying mother had grasped so tightly to the last moment? +Who had written it? Was the handwriting like hers—did +I think? Her head had been so dizzy that she could not +make out a line of it.</p> + +<p>These were the questions she would now and then put to +me. I told her what the anonymous letter to Mrs. Dennison +contained, but I had no heart to enlighten her with +regard to my conjectures about the other. Nor could I for +one moment guess what its import might have been, except +from Mr. Lee's words, and the terrible effect it had produced +upon him. Never for an instant did I doubt Jessie's +innocence in the matter, whatever it might prove. She +was truth itself.</p> + +<p>Sometimes I wondered if Lottie had not written those +fatal missives. The girl was bright and sharp as steel. She +was not without education; and I remembered, in confirmation +of these doubts, that of late I had often found her writing +something which she endeavored to conceal. Had she +not, in her practice, copied Jessie's handwriting, and taken<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> +this method of warning her mistress? Nothing was more +natural. The girl might thus unconsciously have cast suspicion +on her young lady.</p> + +<p>That Lottie was capable of writing the letters, I had no +doubt—not with malice, but from an ardent desire to drive +the woman who had wounded us so deeply from the house. +With her crude ideas, and intense devotion to us all, she +might have settled on this method of ridding the house of +its torment.</p> + +<p>I questioned Lottie on this subject, so far as I could venture, +without informing her of what had passed in the +library, of which she was entirely ignorant; but she declared +that she knew nothing of the letter, which had been given +to her mistress, till it was placed in her own hands by the +man who brought our mails from the town. As for Mrs. +Dennison, she would as soon touch a copperhead as write a +word to that she-Babylon.</p> + +<p>All this might be true. At any rate, Lottie looked truthful +when she said it; but in her sayings and doings, the girl +was not altogether as clear as crystal, and, spite of her protestations, +I had some doubt left.</p> + +<p>No person except Jessie and myself, either in the house +or neighborhood, knew the reason of Mr. Lee's sudden departure. +It was understood that, broken down by the +death of his wife, he had sought distraction from grief in +travelling. So the secret, growing more and more bitter +every day—for we received no letters—rested between us +two. As the time wore on, we became miserably anxious.</p> + +<p>Had Mr. Lee utterly abandoned his daughter? Would +he never return to his home and prove how true and loving +she had always been? His cruel anger had thrown her +almost upon a bed of death, yet he could go from his home +without a word of inquiry or comfort.</p> + +<p>Jessie was a proud girl, as I have said more than once, +and as young Lawrence had good reason to know; but all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> +her haughty self-esteem gave way where her father was concerned. +She never blamed him, nor ceased to pine for his +presence. What it was that had separated them she could +not understand; but that her father was unjust or wrong, +never entered her mind for an instant.</p> + +<p>As for me—but what right had I in the matter? The +right of anxiety such as eats all happiness out of a human +life—the hungry feeling of a beggar that dares not ask for +food.</p> + +<p>I think we should have gone insane—Jessie and I—if +this terrible anxiety had been without its relief; but, as days +and weeks passed, bringing no letter, no message, we sunk +gradually into a state of despair, not the less wearying that +it was silent.</p> + +<p>Thus six months crept by. The duties of life went on—the +household routine met with no obstruction. It was +wonderful how little change appeared around us. Yet the +tower-chamber was empty, and <i>he</i> was gone,—we, two lonely +women, lived on, to all appearance, the same; but oh! how +changed at heart!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page306" name="page306"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LXIV.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">NEWS FROM ABROAD.</span></h2> + + +<p>We heard of Mr. Lee once or twice through the public +journals, now travelling in the Holy Land, again in +the heart of Russia, but no letters came. We wrote to him +more than once, but directed at random, and our letters +probably never reached him.</p> + +<p>One day, when Lottie was in the room, I took up a New +York journal, and read this paragraph from a Paris correspondent,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span>—</p> + +<p class="blockquot">"A wedding is expected to take place within the month, +at the American Legation in Paris. Mr. Lee, a wealthy +landholder of Pennsylvania, is to be married to Mrs. Dennison, +a beautiful and fashionable widow, who is said to +have been the intimate friend of his first wife."</p> + +<p>I read this paragraph through. My face must have betrayed +the deathly feeling that came over me, for Lottie +came behind my chair, read a few words over my shoulder, +and snatched the paper from my hand with a suddenness +that tore it almost in two.</p> + +<p>"What is it," inquired Jessie, started by this action—"any—anything +about <i>him</i>?"</p> + +<p>"About him? I should think so. Sin, iniquity, and +pestilence. Read it, Miss Jessie, I can't; it seems as if a +snake were crawling over it."</p> + +<p>Jessie took the paper, read it, and fainted in her chair.</p> + +<p>Lottie did not seem to regard the condition of her young +mistress, but ran out of the room, clenching her hand +fiercely, as if she longed for bitter contest with some one.</p> + +<p>These paroxysms of feeling had been very unusual with +her of late; for in the quiet of our mournful lives, she had +been left a good deal to her loneliness in the tower, where +she still kept guard over Mrs. Lee's chamber.</p> + +<p>Sometimes she reverted to the past, and would ask anxiously +if I knew where Babylon was spreading her plumes. +But I had no means of informing her, being in profound +ignorance of that lady's movements from the time she left +our house.</p> + +<p>This would satisfy Lottie; but I remarked that she had +taken a sudden and deep interest in her geographical +studies, for I seldom went to her room without finding an +atlas open upon the table, and a gazetteer close by, which +she seemed to have been diligently studying.</p> + +<p>I had thought but little of these things at the time; but +they came back to me with force on the very next day,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> +when Lottie came to me in the garden, and inquired anxiously +if Miss Jessie wasn't just breaking her heart over +that paragraph in the newspaper.</p> + +<p>I answered that Miss Lee was very sad and unhappy, +certainly.</p> + +<p>"I knew it—I was sure of it," cried the girl, with quick +tears in her eyes. "It will kill her—she will pine away +like her mother. You know she will, Miss Hyde."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid so, Lottie."</p> + +<p>"Afraid, and stand by doing nothing but bathe her head +with cologne, and cry over her. That isn't the way to +cure all this, Miss Hyde."</p> + +<p>"But what else can I do, Lottie?"</p> + +<p>"You? Nothing."</p> + +<p>She went off to a flower-bed, tore some mignonette up by +the roots, tossed it from her, and came back again.</p> + +<p>"Miss Hyde, I am tired to death of all this. The house +isn't fit to live in since my dear, sweet lady was taken from +it. There's been nothing but sickness, and quarrelling, +and going away since, and I've about made up my mind +to go away too. I can't stand it, and I won't, so there!"</p> + +<p>"Why, Lottie," I cried, lost in astonishment, "what does +this mean?"</p> + +<p>"It means that I'm tired of doing nothing—of being +slighted, and made of no account. It means that I want to +see the world, and know a thing or two about life. You +and Miss Jessie just mope about like sick kittens; and as +for the servants—well, I don't belong in that crew, anyhow—but +they are getting worse and worse. The long +and the short of it all is, I have made up my mind to go +away right off, and do something worth while. I only wish +you would ask Miss Jessie to settle up with me now, right +on the nail, for I'm in an awful hurry to get off."</p> + +<p>Settle up! I should have been less astonished if the +house-dog had made a sudden claim for wages. Lottie had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> +always been considered as a child of the establishment, to +be cared for and petted beyond all idea of payment. She +had never seemed to care for money, nor know how to use +it. But while enjoying her life in a state of luxurious ease, +almost equalling that of her young mistress, she descended +upon us with a rough demand for wages—wages from the +time she entered the house, a mere child, up to that very +day—no inconsiderable sum, according to her own estimate.</p> + +<p>This singular outbreak of cupidity astonished me, and +half indignantly I expostulated with the girl. But though +her cheeks blazed with seeming shame, and her eyes sunk +under mine, she persisted in this grave demand. All that +she had received, her dear, dear mistress had given out and +out—that had nothing to do with wages; there was her +bill—four hundred dollars—and she wanted it in gold—hard +gold, nothing else.</p> + +<p>I went to Jessie with the bill. She did not seem to heed +the amount, but was distressed at the idea of parting with +her mother's faithful attendant. Hoping that something +had gone wrong, and that this was a sudden impulse, she +sent for Lottie, in order to expostulate with her; for it +seemed like turning a bird, which had become used to its +cage, loose upon the world, if we allowed the girl to have +her way.</p> + +<p>Lottie came in, looking dogged and shy; Jessie held out +her hand, with a piteous smile, for she was thinking of her +mother.</p> + +<p>"Lottie, what have we done that you wish to leave us?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing on earth, Miss Jess. I ain't mad at you, nor +any one; but yet I want to go down to York and get a +place. It's lonesome here."</p> + +<p>Jessie's eyes filled with tears. It was indeed very lonesome.</p> + +<p>"And will you leave us for that, Lottie?"</p> + +<p>The girl was troubled; her color came and went. She +was about to burst into tears—but answered still,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"It's lonesome, and I want to go. Why can't you let +me, without all this? I ain't made of cast-iron, nor yet of +brass. Please give me my money and let me go."</p> + +<p>"But you are so helpless. What will become of you in +a great city?" pleaded Jessie.</p> + +<p>Lottie came up to her and knelt in her old way.</p> + +<p>"Let me go, Miss Jessie, and don't try to stop me, for +it'll be of no use, only to make my heart ache worse than +it does now. Don't be afraid about me! If God shows the +birds their way through the woods, He won't let me get +lost."</p> + +<p>"Poor Lottie!" said the young mistress, looking kindly +on the girl through her tears, "I would rather give up anything +than you."</p> + +<p>Lottie seized her hand, pressing her lips upon it.</p> + +<p>"Don't, don't!" she pleaded. "You would not say a +word if you only—"</p> + +<p>"Only what, girl?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing, nothing. I must go, that is the long and the +short of it."</p> + +<p>Lottie shook off her tears as a dog scatters the rain from +his coat, and, starting up, assumed her rude manner.</p> + +<p>"I will not keep you against your will, my poor girl," +said Jessie, sadly; "but how can you find the way?"</p> + +<p>"Easy enough, Miss. I've been studying geography and +the maps, these last three months, besides reading about +everything."</p> + +<p>"And have you got any idea of a place?"</p> + +<p>"Plenty, Miss. I shall be settled the first week. Only +give me my wages, and don't try to persuade me again what +my mind is made up to."</p> + +<p>"Well, Lottie, you shall have the money. I am sure +that can never repay all you have done for my mother!"</p> + +<p>"Don't, don't, Miss Jessie! I want to make my heart +like a grinding mill-stone, and you won't let me. Now +don't!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, I will not distress you," replied Jessie, gently; +"but remember, Lottie, when you get tired of this new life, +or have spent your money, come back to your old home. +No person shall fill your place."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Miss Jess, Miss Jess! can't you stop?" cried the +wild creature, absolutely flinging up her arms in desperation.</p> + +<p>Jessie looked at her thoughtfully a moment; then, unlocking +her parlor safe, counted out the gold Lottie had +demanded.</p> + +<p>"Be careful that the money does not get you into trouble, +Lottie," I said, really anxious about the young thing.</p> + +<p>Lottie took the gold in her apron, and her tears dropped +over it as she turned away. She really seemed heart-broken.</p> + +<p>"If anything should happen," said Jessie, regarding her +troubles with tenderness,—"if you should lose it, or fall +into want, and still not wish to come back, write to me and +I will send you more."</p> + +<p>"Would you?—would you?" cried Lottie, with quick +animation; "then, oh! Miss Jess! make it six hundred +now. I never, never shall want money so much again in +my life."</p> + +<p>"Six hundred, Lottie?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, six! I tried and tried to cipher it out that much; +but it wouldn't multiply or add up to the mark; but if you +would now—"</p> + +<p>She paused and looked wistfully at the gold through her +tears.</p> + +<p>Jessie looked at me for encouragement. Dear girl! she +had less idea of the value of money than Lottie herself.</p> + +<p>"She was so kind to <i>her</i>!" whispered the mistress, drawing +close to me.</p> + +<p>"Or if you'd just lend it to me," pleaded Lottie. "Now, +Miss Hyde, don't go to killing the white dove that I see<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> +spreading its wings in her bosom this very minute; I +wouldn't turn against you, nor tell anything, you know +that."</p> + +<p>"I will give her the money—the good child; how could +it be in my heart to refuse her?" said Jessie.</p> + +<p>Lottie went to the open safe and began to count out the +other twenty pieces of gold, which she jingled one by one +against their companions in her apron. Her breath came +quickly; and when she had done she came toward us eagerly, +gathering the apron in her hand, and hugging it with the +gold to her bosom.</p> + +<p>"Oh! I'm ready to jump out of my skin with joy and +thankfulness!" she exclaimed. "Good-bye, young mistress—good-bye, +Miss Hyde, I'm so sorry that I ever twitted you +about writing poetry, and some other things I won't mention."</p> + +<p>Lottie went out of the room in great excitement, and left +us astonished and very anxious. We talked the matter +over without result. If the girl was determined to go, we +had not a shadow of power to prevent it, and we could not +yet make up our minds that she was absolutely wrong. +There was something in the bottom of her heart that we +were unable to fathom.</p> + +<p>But we determined that night to make another attempt +to detain the strange girl; if that proved impossible, to +send a trusty person to protect her on her way to New York +and bring back news of her safety. Somewhat consoled by +these resolutions, we separated for the night. The next +morning, when we sent for Lottie, the servants told us that +she had been gone two hours, having ridden to town with +the man who brought over the morning papers, before any +one but the servants was astir. We sent over to the town +immediately, and learned that she had left by a train that +passed ten minutes after she reached the depot.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page313" name="page313"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LXV.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">LOTTIE LEAVES A LETTER AND A BOOK.</span></h2> + + +<p>The departure of Lottie added to our trouble. We had +learned to love the girl very much, and this wild work, +in a creature so utterly unused to the world, distressed us +greatly. Unconsciously even to ourselves, we had begun to +rely upon Lottie as a friend, and bright, if not safe counsellor. +Her untiring spirit amused us when nothing else +could. Indeed, she was like an April day in the house, +half storm, half sunshine, but interesting in any phase of her +erratic life. It seemed as if half the light had left our +house, when the man came back from the railroad and told +us that she was absolutely gone. Jessie went off to her own +room with tears in her eyes. I would have given the world +to know where that strange young creature was going, and +half my life could I have followed her.</p> + +<p>Sadness is sure to seek shelter in shadowy places. Mine +carried me into the chamber of my lost friend. It was dim +and orderly, like a church closed after service. The white +bed on which she died, gleamed upon me through the dim +light like an altar. The blinds were closed, the sashes down; +a funereal stillness had settled on everything she once loved +to look upon. I sunk down upon my knees by the bed, +weeping bitterly. Would that woman ever dare to stand in +Mrs. Lee's room, its mistress? Had she ever yet been able to +wipe the blood-stain from her own lips gathered from the +heart she had broken by a Judas kiss?</p> + +<p>Upon my knees in that room, I felt and knew that a murder, +so crafty that the criminal herself could torture it +into accident to her own conscience, had been perpetrated +there. The voice of my dead friend seemed calling on me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span> +to avenge her, and save the man she had loved better than +her own soul, from a thraldom worse than death. In my +anguish I cried out, "What can I do? what can I do?"</p> + +<p>Nothing answered me. I was alone, doubly alone, since +that girl had left us. Never before had my helplessness +been so complete. Perhaps I had indulged in some wild +hope connected with Lottie, and that had been cut from +under my feet by her desertion. If so, I was unconscious of +it; but no lame man ever felt the loss of his staff, as I felt +the cruel ingratitude of this girl. Still I had a vague trust +in her, a hope changing and fantastic as the wind, but +still a hope that she might not prove the thoughtless creature +her conduct seemed to bespeak her.</p> + +<p>One end of the room was less gloomy than the rest, and +a bar of light cutting across it disturbed me. It came +through the partially opened door of Lottie's little chamber, +in which a blind had been left unclosed. I went into the +room, and there, directly beneath the window, saw the girl's +writing-desk, on which lay a letter and a blank-book, which +I remembered to have given Lottie one day, when she had +pressed me earnestly for something of the kind. The letter +was placed ostentatiously on its edge, and I saw that it was +addressed to me. I opened it with some trepidation and +read:—</p> + +<p class="blockquot"><span class="smcap">My Dear, Dear Miss Hyde</span>:—Please do not think me +a heathen and a viper of ingratitude, because I have done +what I couldn't help, but remember me kindly, and make +Miss Jessie do the same. It isn't in me to be really bad, +or anything like it, though I sometimes do things out of the +common, and make you angry, because you cannot understand +why I do them; not knowing everything, how should +you? There is one thing on my conscience, and I am going +to own up to it. You remember when Babylon went away, +I was going in a hurry into my room with something in my +hand, when you wanted to know what it was. I bluffed you +off and wouldn't tell, thinking to get the article back in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span>good order before she went. But Babylon was in a terrible +hurry, and I had no chance to do anything before her +trunks were locked; so without meaning it at all, I was +what some people might call a—well, I won't use the name, +it looks dreadfully on paper, but her journal was left in my +hand promiscuously, as one may say. Still I meant to return +it to her, and mean to yet, if I ever get a good chance. +I only thought at the time to get Mr. Lee to read it, but +before I could do that, off he went, circumventing me in all +respects, and making us wretched. For my part, with that +book on hand—of no use too—I felt like a thief. If he +had only waited till I could have seen him; but he didn't, +and that has made me so unhappy that I cannot stay at +home. I have copied off that she-Babylon's book, almost +the whole of it, and I leave the copy for you—read it, and +then say if Judas Iscariot wasn't a gentleman and philosopher, +compared to this woman. I have got her book in my +trunk. You wondered what I was writing so much about. +Well, it was that. When she went out to ride days, Cora +was sure to be down-stairs, and I knew where she kept her +keys, so after awhile I had only to copy what Babylon wrote +over-night, having got the rest copied by hard work. Well, +at last everything was huddled up of a sudden, and I was +behind-hand three or four days—so I made a dash for the +book and hadn't time to put it back. I wonder if she's +missed it? Mercy on us! what a time there will be when +she does. I wouldn't be in that yellow girl's skin for something; +but never mind, it will do her good—the black +snake!</p> + +<p class="blockquot">Read the book, and then you will find out what a rattlesnake +we have had curled up in the bosom of our family.</p> + +<p class="blockquot">Good-bye, Miss Hyde; don't think I'm crying because +there is a drop just here. It's something else, I don't just +know what, but crying is out of my—my—Oh, Miss Hyde! +Miss Hyde! I do think my heart is breaking. I can't stand +it. Don't expect me to say good-bye. Don't think hard of +me for going. What else can I say. Oh, do, do think well +of me; I am not a bad girl, nor ungrateful, believe that, and +believe me your true <span class="smcap">Lottie</span> till death.</p> + +<p>I read the letter through more than once. Then I sat +down and deliberated with my eyes on the book. Had I a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> +right to read it, after all I had seen and heard of this woman; +was I justified in searching out her secrets in that way?</p> + +<p>But for the suspicions that still haunted me regarding Mrs. +Lee's death, I should have decided against it, but I had +learned too much for continued hesitation. Still, my very +soul recoiled from the task of searching the life of this +woman. When I reached forth my hand for the book, it +seemed as if my fingers were poisoned with the touch. I +would not take the volume to my own room, but sat down +by the window and read it through before I arose from my +seat. The pages frenzied me.</p> + +<p>Lottie wrote a bold, plain hand, copying anything before +her clearly enough. In places the writing gave evidence +of hurry and nervousness, but it was in no part really difficult +to read. The journal began at the marriage of Miss +Wells with old Mr. Dennison, and seemed to have been detached +from the other portion of her life about that time. +If anything preceded it, Lottie had failed to take a copy.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page316" name="page316"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LXVI.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">MRS. DENNISON'S JOURNAL.</span></h2> + + +<p>How many years will this last? I did not expect that +this dull stagnation of life would oppress me so. I +knew that he was seventy years of age, and thought it would +be no great hardship to be petted as an old man's darling, +for the few years that might follow. Indeed, he is a gentleman, +and loves me, I am sure, more devotedly than ever a +young man loved his bride. At first I really thought myself +almost happy. It was so pleasant to get away from my +old home, after it had been torn to pieces by hungry creditors, +and all the old servants driven into new places, that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> +protection and kindness made everything seem like a blessed +new life. Mr. Dennison told me that he has loved me ever +since I was a little girl, and always intended to make me +his wife. He has been a firm, firm friend to my father, I +know that well enough, and never would have permitted +the old home to be torn up had poor papa lived. As it is, +he let all the rest go, and rescuing Cora and myself from +the wreck, made me his wife and gave her the liberty she +would not take.</p> + +<p>"He was kind in showing us something of the world, before +he brought us here for good, yet I am not sure that it +was wise to throw me suddenly into the society from which +I was to be withdrawn so soon. I learned one thing there +which sometimes stirs the wish in my heart that I had +waited. This thing I have become assured of: I am beautiful, +and beauty is a great power. No matter, it has done +something for me in winning this fine old gentleman; but +when I think what it might have accomplished, I feel defrauded +out of half my life. No, no, I do not often feel this. +My life was pleasant enough at first, when our wedding +brought so many gay and clever people around us. But +now that we have retreated to the plantation, everything is +dull as the grave. Cotton-fields here, blossoming all over, +as with snow by the handful, corn there, tall and thrifty, +great live-oaks bearded with moss, and half strangled under +the everlasting clasp of mistletoe, make the landscape beautiful, +and these things interested me greatly for a time. +But I am getting weary of them, and of the grand old house, +with its endless verandas and clinging roses, its delicate +India matting, and the snowy whiteness of its draperies. I +long for change—pine for society, while he seems to think +that his presence alone should make this place a heaven. +What is it to me, that even in mid-winter I can stoop from +my window and gather oranges from the green boughs that +bend across it? The novelty has worn away, and this pro<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span>fusion +of roses satiates me. You find them everywhere, +hiding the fences in ridges and slopes of glossy foliage, +studded thickly with great stars of whiteness, that would be +exquisite but for the commonness, the negroes bringing them +to me by the basketful, until I sicken with the fragrance,—yellow, +white, crimson, and damask, all heaped together in +gorgeous masses that delight you at first, and then become +tiresome, are every day brought to me from the grounds.</p> + +<p>"Yesterday one of the negroes came in with a whole +armful of magnolias in full bloom. The marvellous white +blossoms, with their great chalices running over with fragrance, +filled the air with such richness as I have never +dreamed of before. I sat down upon a low stool on the +front veranda, and with the quivering shadows from a great +catalpa-tree falling around me, had these noble blossoms +heaped at my feet, yielding myself to the exquisite perfume, +till the atmosphere made me faint with delight. It was a +delicious, sensuous enjoyment which I shall never forget, but +one cannot repeat such things, and 'not even love can live +on flowers.' Where love is not and never can be, such +things sicken one.</p> + +<p>"While I sat there, with the great white blossoms breathing +at my feet, and a mocking-bird up in the catalpa-tree thrilling +the air with music, a horseman came riding up the avenue, +now in the sunshine, now in the shadow of the great +live-oaks, leisurely, as if he found pleasure in lingering on +a road so beautiful and tranquil. He was a young man, +tall and well-formed, who rode his horse with an easy military +air full of command. Even at the distance I could +see that his bearing was noble and his face a grand one.</p> + +<p>"The sight of this man aroused me from the dreamy languor +which had been so delightful, and I watched his approach +with interest. Directly I was sensible that he had +discovered me sitting there in the shadows; for his horse +quickened its pace, and in a moment he drew up, and, leaning +from his saddle, addressed me,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"'Excuse me, madam; but I have been unable to discover +any servant on the ground, and may have intruded. Does +this place belong to Mr. Dennison?'</p> + +<p>"I answered that it did, and arising from my seat, desired +him to dismount. Mr. Dennison, I said, would be at home +in a short time, and would doubtless be happy to see him.</p> + +<p>"The stranger sprang from his horse, and flung the bridle +to one of the men who came lazily from the house to receive +it. I made a movement toward the door, but he gave a +glance around at the beautiful view—the flowery thickets +and rich slopes of grass—as if reluctant to leave them. +Then his eyes fell upon me, and I saw them light up with +sudden admiration. I did not intend it, but at the moment +I must have taken some attitude of grace to bring such +light into a stranger's countenance. He stood for a whole +minute gazing on me as if I had been a picture. I felt myself +blushing, and drew the flowing muslin of my sleeve over +the arm on which his glance fell as it left my face. Then +he turned away, and as I sunk to my seat again, placed himself +in a garden-chair, drawing a deep breath.</p> + +<p>"'Ah, forgive me,' he said, 'what awkwardness. I have +trodden upon one of your beautiful flowers.'</p> + +<p>"'But there still remain more than enough to make the +air oppressive,' I answered.</p> + +<p>"'For my part,' he said, smiling pleasantly, 'I could +breathe it forever. Indeed, lady, you have a paradise here.'</p> + +<p>"Was it indeed so lovely? A moment before my soul had +wearied of its very beauties; now a feeling of pride that they +were mine stole into my thoughts. It certainly was something +to be mistress of a place like that. While our visitor +seemed to give himself up to enjoyment of the scene, I saw +that his eyes were constantly returning to me. I had been +sitting in the open air a long time, and felt that my hair +and dress must be in some disorder. This idea made me +anxious. I arose, and asking him to excuse me, ran up to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> +my room to make sure that I was not altogether hideous. +One glance in the great swinging mirror reassured me. No +cloud was ever more pure than the muslin of my white +dress; a cluster of red and white roses held back the thick +ringlets of my hair, and a single half-open bud fastened the +white folds on my bosom. My maid Cora had followed me +out on the veranda that morning, and thus arranged the +finest flowers she could gather. Had I studied at my glass +an hour, nothing more becoming could have been invented. +That girl is a treasure; she loves and serves me as no other +creature ever did or ever will. She was my dower, my inheritance. +The only possession I had in the world was this +one girl, when Mr. Dennison married me. I sometimes +wonder if he knows why I love and prize her so much. I +heard her voice through the window. The stranger was +asking her some question which she answered modestly, +and was going away. I wonder if he thinks her beautiful. +To me the pure olive of her complexion, which just admits +of a tinge of carnation in the cheek, is wonderfully effective. +She is a brunette intensified, but oh, how the poor thing +hates the blood that separates her from us by that one dark +shade. No wonder! no wonder!</p> + +<p>"Why should I think of this, while looking in the glass +to assure myself that I was presentable? I cannot tell, except +that this unhappy girl is an object of such profound +compassion with me at all times. The education which she +has received, I sometimes think, renders her life more bitter +than it might have been; but my father would have it so, +and perhaps he was right.</p> + +<p>"I went down to the veranda again, and found the +stranger talking to Cora, who stood with her back against +one of the pillars, answering his questions with downcast +eyes. She moved away as I appeared, and went into the +house. I saw the stranger follow her lithe movements with +his eyes, and felt myself coloring with anger. Was he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span> +searching her features from admiration or curiosity? I +wish it were possible to discover.</p> + +<p>"I had been reading, and left a book on one of the little +marble tables that stood in the veranda. Some richly +colored embroidery lay in my work-basket close by it, and +in taking it up, the volume fell.</p> + +<p>"The stranger stooped to replace it on the table, but his +eye caught the title; a flash of crimson shot across his forehead, +and he cast a quick glance at me, as if the question +in my eyes disturbed him.</p> + +<p>"'A new book, I see; have you read it?'</p> + +<p>"He was turning over the leaves, as he asked the question.</p> + +<p>"'Yes,' I replied, 'I have read it more than once.'</p> + +<p>"'More than once?'</p> + +<p>"'Yes, it is a book that requires some thought. Full of +ideas and original suggestions. The story itself is a painful +one. Indeed, I have my doubts—'</p> + +<p>"'Well, you have your doubts?'</p> + +<p>"His face flushed, his eyes searched mine with a look +almost of defiance in them.</p> + +<p>"'Yes,' I continued, coloring painfully, for I am young +and afraid to express adverse opinions, 'I sometimes doubt +if it is not a little wicked.'</p> + +<p>"He laughed, 'Oh, you are young, and a woman.'</p> + +<p>"'Well,' I answered, 'this is what I mean, when I finished +reading that book, it made me restless, unhappy—discontented +with everything around me.'</p> + +<p>"'That is, perhaps, because you did not understand it.'</p> + +<p>"'But goodness is so simple, I can understand that +always.'</p> + +<p>"'I grant you, but human life is not all perfection; unfortunately, +good and evil are pretty nearly balanced on +this earth, and there is nothing picturesque enough in a +dead-level of goodness to interest the reader through an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span> +entire story. To attempt that, would be like painting a +picture without shadows. Your real author understands the +force of contrasts.'</p> + +<p>"'But a book which has so little of the virtuous and pure +in it, yields up this power of contrast, by letting no sunshine +into its pages,' I said. 'The fault of this work is, that it +dwells too entirely on the dark passions.'</p> + +<p>"'Then you condemn it?'</p> + +<p>"'No, indeed, the pictures are too grand, the passions too +strongly portrayed for that. The author, whoever he is, +must be a man of powerful genius. I only wish he had +softened his pictures and let in a few of the gentler sentiments.'</p> + +<p>"'And so do I.'</p> + +<p>"He spoke with emphasis, closing the book. Then I +noticed that a flush was on his face, and he cast the volume +from him with a gesture of dislike.</p> + +<p>"'You know the author of that book?' I said on the impulse.</p> + +<p>"'Yes, lady, I know him well—some day he shall be +made the wiser, by learning your opinion.'</p> + +<p>"'Oh, I hope not. It was rash, perhaps altogether wrong. +I am no critic, and only spoke as the book impressed me.'</p> + +<p>"'That is criticism,' he answered, 'and I dare say correct, +but the volume is hardly worthy of so much consideration. +The author is too much honored, that you have read +it at all.'</p> + +<p>"I was about to answer, when Mr. Dennison rode up in +his carriage, and seeing my companion, waved his hand with +that cordial welcome so universal in the South. The moment +he appeared, I felt chilled, and took up my embroidery, +knowing well that no more conversation that I could join +in, would be offered that day.</p> + +<p>"Certainly, Mr. Dennison is a handsome old gentleman. +As a father, one might be very proud of him, but now a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> +strange feeling comes over me at his approach. I turn from +his elaborate elegance of speech and manner with a wish for +something fresher. Cora is not more my slave than I could +make him, but the task of perpetual fondness is too much. +Oh, if he had only adopted me!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page323" name="page323"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LXVII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">OUR FIRST VISITOR.</span></h2> + + +<p>"Mr. Dennison descended from his carriage and came +forward with more haste and animation than was +usual to him. He was evidently delighted to see his guest.</p> + +<p>"'Why, Lawrence, is it you; when and how did you +reach us?' he said, extending his hand.</p> + +<p>"'Half an hour ago, by rail and steamer,' answered the +gentleman, meeting Mr. Dennison half-way, and shaking +hands with him.</p> + +<p>"'Made the acquaintance of my wife, I see?'</p> + +<p>"As he spoke, Mr. Dennison glanced smilingly toward +me.</p> + +<p>"'Oh, yes, I think so; if this young lady is your wife.'</p> + +<p>"The gentleman hesitated in some confusion. I think he +had taken me for Mr. Dennison's daughter.</p> + +<p>"The old gentleman turned suddenly red, and laughed a +little unnaturally.</p> + +<p>"'My wife, yes, almost a bride yet, but we are making +her blush. My love, this is Mr. Lawrence, of New York, +one of the best friends I have. You must take him into +especial favor for your husband's sake.'</p> + +<p>"I am sure there was color enough in my face then. +Why will Mr. Dennison constantly drag that odious word, +husband, into everything he says? Does he think I can +ever forget it?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We sat down in company, enjoying the cool shadows of +the veranda. All my pleasure was at an end; the conversation +turned upon stocks, railroads, and mining. I gathered +from it that Mr. Lawrence was a stock-broker or something +of that kind, and that Mr. Dennison was connected with +him in an enterprise for which money was to be supplied. +Once or twice I caught the stranger looking at me while my +husband conversed, but I was occupied with my embroidery, +and did not seem to notice him; perhaps he was admiring +the contrast between the pure white of my dress and the +gorgeous richness of the worsteds in my lap.</p> + +<p>"While they were talking, Mr. Dennison insisted that I +should sit closer to him, and more than once he placed his +hand on my work and prevented me going on with it, as if I +had been a child. This annoyed me. After all, one does +not care to be so obviously exhibited as 'the old man's +darling.' It is embarrassing when the fine eyes of a man +like that are upon you.</p> + +<p>"After dinner that day, Mr. Dennison stole off to a low +pan in the library for his half-hour of sleep. I usually +occupied my own room at this hour, but as I went that way, +our guest came in from the veranda, where he had been +smoking a cigar, and laughingly entreated that I should +not leave him alone.</p> + +<p>"I ran up-stairs, threw a black lace shawl over my head, +Spanish mantilla fashion, and joined him. It was sunset, +and all the beautiful landscape lay wrapped in a veil of +purplish mist, through which trembled a soft golden glow +that brightened all the west, and shimmered through the +tree-tops like flashes of fire.</p> + +<p>"We walked on through the delicious atmosphere, to +which the perfume of innumerable flowers gave forth their +sweetness, as they brightened under the soft dews that had +just began to fall.</p> + +<p>"Unconsciously, we turned out of the oak-avenue and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> +walked toward a pretty pond, or miniature lake, which lay +to our right, sheltered by one live-oak and a cluster of +magnolia-trees, from which the blossoms brought to me that +morning had been cut. A shrub-like species of the magnolia +grew around the pond, hedging it in with great white +blossoms, and the sedgy borders were aglow with wild flowers. +It was not yet time for the water-lilies to be in blossom, but +in some places their large green pads covered the lake with +patches of glossy greenness, while a light wind rippled through +them, stirring the waters like ridges of diamonds between the +trembling leaves.</p> + +<p>"How beautiful it was! The birds were no longer musical, +but we watched them fluttering through the leaves and +settling down in safe places among the rushes, while the +sweet stillness of the closing day fell upon them.</p> + +<p>"My hand rested on the arm of our guest; he was talking +earnestly, and his eloquence thrilled me with sensations +unlike anything I had felt before. There was unmeasured +poetry in every word he uttered. We had, I do not know +how, got on to the subject of that book again, and he was +defending it in language warm, fervid, and startling, as the +story itself. My hand shook on his arm; a new idea had +seized upon me, and against my own will I spoke.</p> + +<p>"'You wrote the book,' I said, 'I know it by your language. +I can read the fact in this defence.'</p> + +<p>"'And you will like me no longer. You will condemn +me as you have that poor volume,' he answered, turning +suddenly, and looking into my eyes with the glance of an +eagle.</p> + +<p>"'Condemn you!' I said. 'What, I?'</p> + +<p>"'But you condemn my book?'</p> + +<p>"'No, I did not. To question a thing, is not to condemn it.'</p> + +<p>"'But the doubt wounds me. You might have found +sympathy for much that the book contains. It should appeal +to a heart like yours.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span></p> + +<p>"He held my hand firmly in his clasp. How it got +there, I do not know. I struggled a little to free it, but +his fingers closed around mine like a vice.</p> + +<p>"'Say that you will read my book again.'</p> + +<p>"'I will. Nothing could prevent me now.'</p> + +<p>"'And you will read it with a new inspiration?'</p> + +<p>"'After this conversation, yes.'</p> + +<p>"'That is, for one day you will think my thoughts, and +give them fresh beauties as they pass through your own +vivid imagination.'</p> + +<p>"'I will read them, and remember all that you have +said.'</p> + +<p>"'Sweet woman, I thank you. If my poor words can +touch a heart like yours, it is enough.'</p> + +<p>"He bent and kissed my hand, thus releasing it from his +clasp. It seemed as if some of my strength went out as he +did this. The intense eloquence of this man had inspired +me for the time, now I was weak and silent.</p> + +<p>"'Tell me,' he said, 'what particular passages you disliked +in my poor volume.'</p> + +<p>"I could not answer; the book itself had gone out of my +mind. I had only power to think of the man who stood +before me, with that earnest protest burning on his lip, +and those eyes, dark and luminous, bent upon me. I think +that he did not observe my trepidation. He was carried +away by a wish to protect the offspring of his brain from +misconception or censure. I had read the volume hastily, +and found it too brilliantly intense for the idle lassitude of +my humor. It had startled me into more thought than I +cared to exercise. The quiet of my home seemed like dulness +after reading it. Now this man, its author, had come +and completed the discontent his book had engendered. I +had never seen a man of his class before, and to me the +charm of novelty and romance surrounded him with a sort +of glory.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'Tell me,' he repeated, 'in what a thought of mine +could have offended a creature so lovely and so rich in +talent.'</p> + +<p>"Was he mocking me because of my absurd criticism? +I looked up suddenly, and met the full glance of those eyes. +The blood rushed to my face, and my eyelids drooped.</p> + +<p>"'You will not help me to amend a fault,' he said, in a +tone of reproach.</p> + +<p>"'Because I cannot. It was no particular thought—no +description in itself that disturbed me; but, if I may so express +it, the entire atmosphere of the book. It made me +unhappy.'</p> + +<p>"I was driven to desperate frankness by his persistency, +and spoke out almost with tears in my eyes.</p> + +<p>"'Then some thought in the volume, or the narrative +itself, struck upon your heart, or disturbed your conscience?' +he answered, in a low voice.</p> + +<p>"I started. Was this true?</p> + +<p>"'Perhaps some points of the story were not unlike your +own experience?' he continued.</p> + +<p>"I felt the tears starting to my eyes. Yes, he was right. +It was a sense of the barrenness of my own future that had +made me so restless. If the volume had produced this +effect, how much greater was the disturbance when its +author stood by my side, with looks and voice more eloquent +than his writings. He waited in silence for my answer; +it only came in low sobs.</p> + +<p>"'Forgive me; I have wounded you unthinkingly.'</p> + +<p>"His voice was like that of a penitent man in prayer; +his face grew earnest and sad.</p> + +<p>"'Look on me, and say that I am forgiven.'</p> + +<p>"I did look at him, and met the tender penitence in his +eyes with a thrill of pain. How had the man won the +power of arousing such feelings in a few brief hours? Was +it because I had been familiar with his thoughts so long?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span> +I could not answer; but the very presence of this stranger +disturbed me. Sensations never dreamed of in my previous +existence rose and swelled in my bosom. The impulse to +flee from his presence seized upon me. I did turn to go, +but he walked quietly forward at the same time.</p> + +<p>"The sunset was now fading into soft violet and pale +gray tints. Dew was falling thickly in the grass, and fire-flies +began to sparkle all around us. In the stillness and +beauty of coming night, we walked on together almost in +silence. I had no words for conversation, and our guest +seemed to have fallen into deep thought. As we drew near +the house, Mr. Dennison came out to meet us. He had +been smoking a cigar in the veranda, and flung it away as +he drew near us. How heavily he walked. How dull his +eyes seemed as he bent them upon me, after the passion +and feeling I had read so clearly in those of our guest.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Dennison took my hand and placed it on his arm, +laughing pleasantly, as he asked Lawrence how far we had +been walking. Lawrence did not answer. He was regarding +us with an earnest questioning look, from which I turned +away half in anger. Was he reading me and my position +so closely as that?</p> + +<p>"Why should I think of this man so much? Has the +isolation in which we have been living made the advent of +a stranger of so great importance that his presence must +fill all my being? The first thing this morning I looked +out of my window, wondering if he would be visible anywhere +in the grounds. Yes, there he was standing by Mr. +Dennison, admiring a blood-horse that a colored groom had +brought from the stable. It was a beautiful animal, coal-black, +wonderfully symmetrical and full of graceful action. +Mr. Dennison had bought him only the week before, and +this groom had been ordered to break him for my use as a +saddle-horse. The gentlemen seemed to be examining him +critically, as the groom led him to and fro upon the lawn.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span> +For the first time I took an interest in the beautiful animal. +Being up to that time a timid and inexperienced rider, my +husband's purchase had afforded me little pleasure. He +had long since given up horseback exercise, and a solitary +ride, followed perhaps by a groom, did not hold forth much +promise of happiness for me, so I had allowed his new purchase +to stand in the stable unnoticed. But now I looked +upon the creature with interest, as he stood restlessly, with +the sun shining upon his glossy coat, and shimmering like +quicksilver down his arched neck.</p> + +<p>"All at once, I saw Lawrence spring upon the horse and +dash off across the lawn, sitting bravely as if he and the +beautiful animal were one creation. The horse was restive +at first and plunged furiously, for they had put a sharp +curb in his mouth, and Lawrence was bringing him to subjection +with a heavy hand. I shrieked aloud at the first +plunge, but there was little need of fear. The next moment +horse and rider were in full career over the lawn. That +day week I rode my new purchase for the first time.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page329" name="page329"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LXVIII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">THE WATERFALL.</span></h2> + + +<p>"I did not know that the world was so beautiful. This +spot is indeed like paradise to me now. There is joy in +the very breath of the mornings. When I open my window +and let in the gushing song of the mocking-birds, and the +sweet breath of the flowers, sighs of exquisite delight break +to my lips. Things that wearied me two weeks ago are +taking new beauty in my eyes. It seems to me that I love +everything in the world except this one old man.</p> + +<p>"We have been riding every day miles and miles over<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span> +the country. There is not a broad prospect or a pleasant +nook within a ten-hours' ride, that we have not visited in +company. Mr. Dennison encouraged these excursions. He +is anxious that I should learn to ride freely, and seems +grateful that Lawrence is willing to teach me. The weather +has been more than pleasant, and these two weeks have +gone by like a dream. How brief the time has been, yet +how long it seems, one lives so much in a few hours.</p> + +<p>"My heart is full, so full that I cannot write anything +that it feels. In fact, there is nothing tangible enough for +words. Dreams, dreams all, but such delirious dreams. +Last night I lay awake till a rosy flash broke through the +curtains telling me that it was morning. All night long I +lay with the curtains brooding over me like a cloud, and the +silver moonlight shimmering through the windows half illuminating +the room and the bed upon which I rested, which +was all whiteness like a snow-drift. There I lay hour after +hour, with both hands folded on my breast, whispering over +the words that he had said to me. They were nothing +when separated from his looks, or disentangled from the +exquisite tenderness of his voice, but oh, how much, when +so richly combined, for never in one human being, I am +sure, were looks and voice so eloquent.</p> + +<p>"I could hear the deep breathing of my husband in the +next room, and this made me restless. But for him those +words, meaningless in themselves perhaps, would have taken +life and force. Ah, why is youth and ambition so rash. +Had I only waited before these golden fetters were riveted +upon me!</p> + +<p>"A vase of moss-roses stood upon the little table near my +bed. He had gathered them for me just as the sun was +setting, while the first dew bathed them. I took some of +these flowers together in my hands, and kissed away their +perfume, with a delightful consciousness that he had given it +to me. Out of all the wilderness of flowers, now fresh<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> +from the dew, these were the gems, for he had brought them +to me.</p> + +<p>"When daylight came, I arose and went down to the veranda, +not weary from sleeplessness, but with a gentle languor +upon me which was better than rest. For the first +time since Lawrence had been with us, I opened the book +he had written, and read passages from it at random. How +beautiful they were! and I not discover this before. The +truth is, their very excellence carried with it exaltation.</p> + +<p>"I read them with a new sense and a keener relish. Their +very intensity had, at the first reading, disturbed me almost +painfully, now each sentence brought thrills of appreciation. +In all respects it was a new book to me.</p> + +<p>"I felt that this second reading was dangerous, but the +thoughts fascinated me, and I read on, while orioles and +mocking-birds held a carnival of music in the thickets +around me, and a bright sun drove all the rose-tints from the +sky. All at once I looked up, a shadow had fallen across +the page I was reading; I closed the book at once, blushing +like a guilty creature.</p> + +<p>"'Confess,' said Lawrence, with a gleam of laughing triumph +in his eyes, 'that you have in some degree changed +your opinion.'</p> + +<p>"'I have no opinion to change,' was my answer; 'for +until now I never really understood your book.'</p> + +<p>"'And you understand it now?'</p> + +<p>"'Yes.'</p> + +<p>"'And feel it?'</p> + +<p>"'Too much.'</p> + +<p>"I felt the blood rush into my face with very shame at this +hasty admission. When I ventured to look up, a faint wave +of color was dying out from his face, leaving it grave and +pale. Was he condemning me already? That moment +Mr. Dennison came through the front door, looking cool +and tranquil in his dress of pure linen, which was scarcely +whiter than his hair.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'Come,' he said, in jovial good humor, 'throw by your +books, and let us have breakfast.'</p> + +<p>"I was glad to see him,—grateful that he had released me +from the thraldom of those eyes.</p> + +<p>"We rode out that day. A waterfall some eight miles off +was almost the only point of interest that I had not visited, +and there our ride terminated. A colored groom always +rode after us, but his presence was no check upon conversation, +and sometimes he loitered behind so far that we lost +sight of him altogether. In fact, our whole excursion was +one long <i>tête-à-tête</i>.</p> + +<p>"Lawrence had been grave and preoccupied all the way, +but when we quitted our horses and went down to the fall, +his spirits rose, and he looked around upon the scene with +animation. The cataract, for it was little more, leaped +through a chasm between two precipices, formed by a vast +rock, which some convulsion of nature had split asunder. +Down this chasm the crystal waters plunged nearly a hundred +feet, like a stream of shooting diamonds, covering the +sides of each precipice with fleeces of emerald-green moss. +From these mosses sprung ferns that waved like ten thousand +plumes in the current of air that blew coolly down the +ravine, keeping every thing in graceful motion. Young +trees added their luxuriance to the scene, crowning the summit +of the rocks like a diadem, and a host of clustering +vines fell over the edge of the precipice, streaming downwards +like banners on a battlement, and sometimes sweeping +out with the current.</p> + +<p>"We entered the ravine first, and stood within the very +spray of the cataract; for the stream widened out directly +after it left the chasm, and went rioting off among boulders +and broken rocks, across which a plank bridge had been +flung, which commanded a full view of the fall. We stood +a while enjoying the view, and then moved up a footpath +that ran along the right-hand precipice, from which we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> +could look down the ravine, and attain an entirely different +view from the one we had left. The path was broken and +abrupt, but this was scarcely an objection to us. There +was something exhilarating in the exercise, and I rather +liked the vigorous climbing after so long a ride on horseback; +even with the obstruction of a long skirt flung over +one arm, it was scarcely fatiguing. We had nearly reached +the top of the precipice, I had taken Mr. Lawrence's arm, +for he insisted that I must be out of breath, and I was protesting +against his assertion, when a large dog rushed out +of the undergrowth, which grew thickly on that side of the +path, as if frightened at something, and made a plunge +directly against me.</p> + +<p>"My arm was torn from its support, I staggered—reeled +on the verge of the precipice, flung out my arms, and plunged +down—down—down into chaos. I had neither struck +the earth nor water, something hard and firm girded my body. +My face was smothered in green, damp leaves, and my hair +already dripped with falling spray.</p> + +<p>"I heard the roar and rush of waters all around me, and +through it a fierce cry as of some one in agony. I attempted +to move, but the branches that supported me swayed downward, +and with a desperate spring I caught at the stem of a +wild vine, which clung to and spread over the face of the +precipice, twisting itself in with the young tree, which but +for that would have broken under my weight. Looking +upward through the blinding mist, I saw a white face bending +over the precipice, and heard a voice hoarse with terror +calling upon me to hold firmly and keep still.</p> + +<p>"I did hold firmly, but the trembling of my frame shook +the tree and clinging shrubs with a dangerous vibration, +and it seemed to me that their roots were slowly tearing out +from the soil which held them in the cleft of the rock. This +shook me with an awful terror; I tried to close my eyes and +be still, but that was impossible. I saw the blue sky bend<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span>ing +so calm and quiet above me. I saw the quivering greenness +that clothed the rocky face of the precipice, and ten +thousand tiny white flowers trembling through it so close +that my face almost touched them. The fall, like a sheet +of melted glass, rolled and plunged so near, that it seemed +ready to leap upon me. My appalled eyes turned shuddering +from a vast whirlpool of foam that rioted thirty feet +beneath me, shooting forward, curving over, and plunging +down great watery hollows, then leaping suddenly upward, +as if maddened that their prey had not fallen at once into +the white caldron of their wrath.</p> + +<p>"In vain my eyes closed upon all this threatening horror. +Then all was darkness, and the roar of the fall became terrific. +The spray swept over me like a storm of shooting +diamonds, wetting my habit through and through till it +dragged me downward with heavier weight and fresh peril. +I could feel the drops falling like rain from my hair, and my +poor hands grew cold as they clung to the vine. A cry +broke from my lips. Surely the tree was uprooting beneath +me. I could feel it giving way inch by inch. A handful +of loose earth broke away and rolled over me, rattling down +to the white gulf below. Shriek after shriek—oh, my +God! they were smothered and lost in that roar of waters, +and could warn no one of this new peril. I seized upon +the wild vine higher up, and strove to press less heavily on +that breaking tree; my foot found a crevice in the rock, and, +forcing itself through the wet moss, in some degree sufficed +to lessen the weight that was dragging me down to death. +But still my support was slowly giving way, I could hear +the small roots snap, and feel the earth break from around +them. My hands were numb and cold, my brain began to +reel, and ten thousand broken rainbows seemed shooting up +from the falls, and tangling themselves around me, dragging +me down—down—down.</p> + +<p>"A human voice brought me back; a wild, cheerful shout<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span> +forbade me to give way, and broke the delirium, which +in a moment more would have loosened my hold, and +sent me whirling through that white gulf of waters into +eternity. 'Hold fast one moment! For God's sake, be +firm!' It was his voice. A thrill of hope drove back the +delirium that had seized upon me. I pressed my foot more +firmly into the crevice, and forced myself against the rock, +clinging with both hands to the vine. A trail of blackness +fell over the face of the precipice, and I heard the clank of +iron striking against the rock. Directly the air above was +darkened, and, with a thrill of horror, I saw Lawrence fling +himself over the face of the precipice, and glide slowly down +to my side. He crowded his foot close to mine, thus attaining +a foothold, but otherwise supported himself by the line of +leathern straps that had aided his descent. With one hand +clinging firmly to this support, he placed the stirrups from +my saddle under my feet, told me how to seize upon the +straps to which they were attached when he should call out, +and seizing the double straps above my head, swung himself +upward, and left me alone, shaken with double terror. +Then I knew that a life dearer than mine was in peril, and +my soul went up with him, uttering a cry of thankfulness +when his voice reached me, calling out, cheerfully, from the +edge of the precipice,—</p> + +<p>"'Stand firm; do not move till you feel the straps tighten +around you!'</p> + +<p>"I obeyed, holding desperately to the vine with one hand, +while the other was ready for action. I felt the stirrups +tighten under my feet,—the leather straps were taut and +motionless,—I grasped one with my left hand, but still +clung to the vine, afraid to swing out over that awful abyss. +It was a moment of sickening horror.</p> + +<p>"'Be bold—fear nothing—trust yourself to me!'</p> + +<p>"Instantly my hand left its hold on the vine, my feet were +lifted from their frail support, and with the stirrups beneath<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span> +them, swung out from the rock. Oh, how fearfully those +lines strained and quivered! how those white waters +leaped and roared under me! I drew no breath; my heart +stood still; a shock of awful terror seized upon me; the +minute in which I swung out into mid-air seems to me even +now as a long, long day. Oh, it was terrible!</p> + +<p>"The faces of the angels, when they meet you after death, +must give such promise of new life, as his gave to me when +my frightened eyes first saw him bending over that precipice. +The trust of the angels must be like mine when I felt his +arms around me, and knew that he had lifted me out of +chaos. Never, on this side of heaven, shall I have another +sensation like that.</p> + +<p>"How long I remained in those arms it is impossible for me +to say. When I came to life, he was sitting upon the turf, +where they had laid me, with my head resting on his knee. +Some brandy from a flask, which the groom always carried +with him, had been forced through my lips, where I felt the +taste still burning. That had checked the shudders of cold +which were creeping over me, and for a while I lay speechless, +feeble as a child, but oh, how happy! He had saved +me. It was his strength which had rescued me from that +whirlpool of waters, from the horrible death, for which I +was so unprepared.</p> + +<p>"These were the first thoughts that came to my brain, as +I lay there so deathly and motionless. The light fell rosily +on my eyelids, but I had no strength or wish to unclose +them; nay, I checked the very breath as it rose to my lips, +fearing that it would betray the life rekindling in my bosom, +and thus break the dream which was so like Elysium.</p> + +<p>"He bent his face to mine and called me by name. +His voice shook with apprehension; I could feel that he +trembled.</p> + +<p>"I could not help it: a smile crept to my lips and warmed +them into redness. He held my hand, and was chafing it +between his smooth white palms.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'She is recovering,' he exclaimed, joyfully.</p> + +<p>"'So she am, marser,' answered Tom, the groom; 'beginning +to look mighty natral. Lor' knows dis darky thought +she was done gone sure 'nuff.'</p> + +<p>"I moved then. Tom's voice had broken up my dream.</p> + +<p>"'Are you better? Speak, dear lady, and tell me that +you are not seriously hurt.'</p> + +<p>"Opening my eyes wide, I looked into his, and closed +them again, feeling the warm, fresh life rushing to my face +with a glow.</p> + +<p>"'Ah, your looks tell me that no serious evil will come +from this,' he said. 'Let us thank God.'</p> + +<p>"'I do thank God, but you most of all,' I whispered; +'without that, life would—'</p> + +<p>"What was I about to say. My voice was weak, I do +not think he heard me. I listened for some response, but +none came, and when my eyes turned upon him, the look +with which he met them was grave and thoughtful.</p> + +<p>"Tom was busy about the saddles at some distance. +With that prompt action which is in itself success, Lawrence +had taken the girths and stirrups from the saddles, +the martingales and bridles, all of which he had buckled +and knotted together into the cable that saved my life. +While Tom was repairing all damages, I grew strong enough +to sit up, but my habit was so wet and heavy that it seemed +impossible for me to walk. A slight lunch had been prepared +for us which Tom had brought with him. Lawrence +found a bottle of champagne in the basket, and poured +out a brimming cup which he entreated me to drink while +the sparkles were rising. I drank eagerly, again and again, +till the slight chills that had begun to creep over me were +broken up, and a glow of strength enabled me to rise.</p> + +<p>"'Now,' said Lawrence, 'that you have some color in +those cheeks, and the deathly look is gone, let us mount and +away. It will be a miracle if you are not ill from this shock.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I arose and prepared to go, but faltered, and found the +weight of my skirt oppressive. Lawrence threw one arm +around my waist, and almost carried me to the horse. For +one moment he folded me close in his arms before lifting me +to the saddle, and whispered,—</p> + +<p>"'Forgive me, that I led you into this danger.'</p> + +<p>"I could not answer. The man who had saved my life, +at a terrible risk to his own, asked me to forgive him. Did +he guess that it was worship, not forgiveness, that I felt.</p> + +<p>"We rode home at a gallop. Exercise drove the chills +from my frame, and a strange excitement took possession +of me. When I reached home, my cheeks were on fire. It +was not fever, but a sensation stranger and wilder than I had +ever felt before. Instead of returning home, I would have +given the world to turn my horse and flee to the uttermost +parts of the earth, where no one but the man who had saved +me could ever know of my existence.</p> + +<p>"Still, the horse was bearing me forward at the top of his +speed, and no one attempted to check him or turn him aside. +In the madness of my folly, I almost hoped to see Lawrence +seize the bridle, and swerve his course away from the +home I was beginning to hate."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page338" name="page338"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LXIX.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">THE THREATENED DEPARTURE.</span></h2> + + +<p>"We reached home. The groom had ridden on in advance, +to have dry clothes prepared for me; but it +was of little use, for my habit had gradually lost its dampness, +and I was feverish rather than chilly. Mr. Dennison +came forth to meet us, his face full of alarm, his walk +unsteady as if fright had shaken him. The old man lifted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span> +me from my saddle, and held me fondly in his arms, kissing +my lips and forehead with passionate thankfulness before +he set me down. Drops like rain fell upon my face, and I +knew that the stout old man was weeping, though I had +never seen tears in his eyes before.</p> + +<p>"'My darling—my own beautiful wife,' he said, in the +abandonment of his gratitude, 'what should I have done without +you?'</p> + +<p>"Mr. Dennison spoke so earnestly, that Lawrence must +have heard him; but he was busy about the horses, and +seemed quite unconscious of the tenderness which disturbed +me so.</p> + +<p>"'Thank God! you have not suffered as I feared,' continued +my husband, encircling me with his arm, and almost +carrying me into the house. 'Your cheeks are flushed, +your eyes bright. Oh! my poor darling, I expected to see +you white and drooping.'</p> + +<p>"I leaned on him heavily, for my limbs were stiff, and I +could hardly walk, besides a dead heaviness had seized upon +my heart. When I shrank from the open caresses of my +husband, this man did not seem to observe them. Was it +that he did not care? This question drove all the unnatural +excitement from me. I was white and cold enough +then.</p> + +<p>"No, I would not be forced into a dreary bed, and left to +my thoughts. Exhausted as I was, anything seemed better +than that. After Cora had taken off my soiled and torn +habit, smoothed my hair and bathed my head with cologne, +I girded a wrapper of soft white cashmere around me, +with a scarf of scarlet silk which lay upon the sofa, and went +down, spite of the girl's remonstrance.</p> + +<p>"They were sitting together, those two men, conversing +earnestly. I think Lawrence was giving an account of the +terrible danger I had escaped, for Mr. Dennison was saying +as I came up, treading so softly, that he had no idea of my +presence:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'My friend, it would be a little thing compared to this, +that you had saved my life, for no human being will ever +guess how much dearer this sweet creature is to me than +that.'</p> + +<p>"'She is indeed a most lovely woman,' answered Lawrence; +'any man might hold his existence light, in comparison +with hers.'</p> + +<p>"He spoke quietly, but I observed that his eyes did not +seek those of my husband, and a cold whiteness lay upon +his face. Was it the shock of that scene at the falls harassing +him yet, or were unrevealed thoughts struggling with +him?</p> + +<p>"My husband started up joyfully when I appeared. He +drew an easy-chair to the window, placed me in it, brought +a stool for my feet, and sat down upon it, lifting his glad +eager eyes to my face, with the devotion of a spaniel, while +he patted and caressed the feet his movement had displaced.</p> + +<p>"I felt myself growing angry. Why would the old man +thus expose his folly before our guest, who seemed hewn +from marble, so little did he regard the fondness that filled +me with repulsion and shame.</p> + +<p>"'Ah, my friend, see how she blushes at her husband's +great joy and thankfulness. My poor child, Lawrence has +been telling me all, how brave and steady you were, held +almost by a thread over that fearful whirlpool without a +shriek, and obeying orders like a veteran. He would not +tell me all, but Tom did, so far as the fright would let him. +Now say, my angel, what reward can we give our brave +friend? He will not take my gratitude.'</p> + +<p>"'But he must take mine,' I cried, reaching out both +hands, with sudden appeal. 'He must not sit there cold +and calm as if he had no interest in my safety. I cannot +bear it.'</p> + +<p>"Lawrence started up, and the quick fire leaped to his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span> +eyes. He took both my hands in his, with a firm, almost +painful grasp.</p> + +<p>"'Not gratitude. I will not have that, because—because +it is all so undeserved. I did nothing that Tom himself +would not have thought of. It was her own sublime courage, +sir, that saved us from a terrible calamity.'</p> + +<p>"Mr. Dennison gave me a look that seemed almost like +adoration.</p> + +<p>"'I am sure she would behave like an angel anywhere,' +he said, 'but that does not lessen the value of your own +brave action, my friend, and for that we are both bound to +you forever.'</p> + +<p>"'Well, let it rest so,' answered Lawrence, with an uneasy +laugh. 'Just now I feel more like thanking God for a great +mercy given, and terrible peril escaped, than anything +else. Upon my word, Dennison, I can almost feel those +white waters boiling around me now.'</p> + +<p>"'They would have made an awful winding-sheet,' I said, +with a shudder. 'But you saved me, oh, yes, you saved +me.'</p> + +<p>"'And your husband also, dear one,' said Mr. Dennison; +'for what would my life have been without you. Why, +Lawrence, I have worshipped her ever since she was a little +girl; even then, her proud saucy ways had their enchantment. +She did not know it; how could she? but the old +man's heart was set upon her while she was playing with +her doll and bowling her hoop. Her own father never +watched her growth with more interest than I felt, and +when she learned to love me, why then, Lawrence, I knew +for the first time what heaven was.'</p> + +<p>"Lawrence looked at me steadily while the old man was +speaking, so steadily, that I felt the hot blood rush to my +face. Mr. Dennison observed this, and went on triumphing +in the love he so truly believed to be his.</p> + +<p>"'You see, my friend, how the very remembrance of that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span> +sweet confession bathes her face with blushes. She had +taken a fancy to the old fellow long before a younger +rival could think of entering the field against him, and +married him for true love only, not because he was considered +the richest planter in this district. She was innocent +as a lamb, and as disinterested.'</p> + +<p>"'Oh, Mr. Dennison,' I broke forth, 'do not talk about +these things, they only weary Mr. Lawrence.'</p> + +<p>"'Certainly not. I am deeply interested in everything +that makes the happiness or misery of my friend,' said +Lawrence, coldly.</p> + +<p>"'Ah, she is too modest, I have always told her so, and +far too careless about her own interests. Why, would you +believe it, Lawrence, I could not get her to look into the +state of my property, and learn how much or how little +might hereafter come to her. She did not marry my property, +but my own dear self; these were her very words, and for +such words you cannot blame me if I adore her.'</p> + +<p>"I felt myself glowing with shame. If I had ever used +such words, it was when this old man seemed the only refuge +left to me in my utter desolation. Perhaps I said them and +felt them just then, for quiet home, protection, and a shelter +were all I asked or hoped for in life; but now, with that +man drinking in every word, I felt such protestations as a +bitter humiliation.</p> + +<p>"I arose to go. The conversation had become unbearable. +I felt my lips quiver, and tears of intense mortification +gathering to my eyes.</p> + +<p>"Lawrence came toward me a step or two, and then retreated, +for Mr. Dennison had given me his arm, and I left +the room, bowed down with humiliation, and burning with +shame. Why would the old man talk of me as he did? +Even if I had loved him, it would have been embarrassing; +as it was, all the pride of my nature rose up in revolt against +him. At the foot of the stairs I dropped his arm, and in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span>sisted +on going up alone. He seemed astonished and a little +hurt. How would it have been had I dared to express all +the rage that was struggling in my bosom?</p> + +<p>"Cora was waiting for me. Poor girl! she had been sadly +shocked by the abrupt account of my danger, which Tom +had repeated to every one he met. She is a wayward creature, +and at times, I really believe, hates herself with bitter +detestation for the black tinge which taints every drop of +blood in her veins. Never in my whole life have I seen a +human being so sensitive. No matter to her that she is +beautiful, and that even the blacks look upon her as apart +from themselves, this bitter truth is always uppermost in +her mind. She has black blood in her veins, and she was +born a slave. I remember how this beautiful girl hated her +mother, because it was through her that the taint and the +bonds came. One would have thought this wretched woman +was the slave of her own child, for one was made to feel all +the degradation of her lot, and the other was, to a certain +extent, lifted out of it, from the day she was given to me—a +child myself—as my especial maid. How it used to amuse +my father when this colored child would domineer over and +scorn her own mother.</p> + +<p>"Sometimes I think Cora is seized with a venomous dislike +of myself. I do not wonder at it. In her way, she is quite +as beautiful as I ever was, and as for talent, the girl surpasses +me in everything. Her industry is untiring, her perceptions +quick as lightning. In some other country she +might marry well, and take rank in social life scarcely +second to my own. Sometimes I think her ambition turns +that way, for she is constantly teasing me to take her to +Europe. I only wish it were in my power, for I love the +poor girl dearly, and should rejoice to see her lifted out of +the pitiful condition that all of her race must occupy here, +bond or free, for at least a century to come.</p> + +<p>"I have been writing about this girl Cora, because she is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span> +so connected with my own life that nothing can separate +us. We played together on equal terms as children, and +when she gradually dropped into the habits of a servant, it +made no change in my affection for her. In my chamber +we have always been friends, more than that—more than +that!</p> + +<p>"Cora saw that I was disturbed, and sitting down at my +feet, besought me to tell her the cause.</p> + +<p>"For the first time in my life I had a secret to keep from +this girl. I could not own to her that a few garrulous words +from an old man, who had been so kind to us both, had +filled my heart with indignant shame, for she would have +asked why such fond words had the power to offend me, +and there was no answer ready to my lips.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps Cora guessed this, for she was quick as the +flash of a star in her intelligence; at any rate, she asked me +no questions, but contented herself with braiding my hair, +smoothing it with her soft palms, and stooping to kiss my +forehead when she saw a shadow of discontent pass over it.</p> + +<p>"'Do not fret,' she said, softly, whispering back the +thoughts I was striving to drive from my brain; 'seventy +years is longer than most men live. Only have patience +and wait.'</p> + +<p>"I was angry with her for understanding that, which I +wished buried from the whole world. Dashing her hands +away, I swept the hair she was braiding in a coil around +my head, and turned upon her with such sharp rebuke, that +she retreated from me frightened.</p> + +<p>"'Ah! has it gone so far?' she muttered, shaking her head. +'Well, after this there will be neither patience nor peace for +any of us.'</p> + +<p>"I ordered her to be silent, and directly after heard her +sobbing in the next room as if her heart were broken.</p> + +<p>"Why did Cora's words haunt me all that night? are +evil thoughts the only ones which cling tenaciously to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span> +brain? I tried to cast them off, heaven knows I did! but +that was impossible, nor could I sleep. The shock upon my +nerves had been far too severe for that.</p> + +<p>"Why would the old man haunt my room and sit by the +pillow on which I could find no rest? His presence tortured +me. I could not keep my aching eyes from his white +hair and the wrinkles on his forehead, which seemed to +deepen and grow prominent in the moonlight of my shaded +lamp. How could I forget his seventy years, with such +things before me in my wakefulness? But he would not +leave me; anxiety kept him watchful. It seemed to me that +those bright, earnest eyes read all the dark thoughts that +haunted my brain. I turned my face to the wall and pretended +to sleep. He sat motionless, holding his very breath, +for he knew how much rest must be needed after the awful +shock I had received, and would not frighten it away by a +single motion. After a while, when everything was still, I +felt him bending over me; directly his quivering old lips +touched my forehead, and what appeared to me like a heavy +rain-drop fell upon my closed eyelid.</p> + +<p>"'Thank God,' he murmured; 'she is asleep at last!'</p> + +<p>"This child-like gratitude touched me more than the +protest of a thousand clergymen could have done. How +purely and dearly the old man loved me, and how unworthy +I was! Great heavens, why did I ever marry him, and +thus make deception almost a duty? There is one excuse +for me—I did not then know what love meant.</p> + +<p>"Toward morning, Mr. Dennison went into his own room; +then I breathed again; true, he was very near, and by changing +my position I could see his white head and grand old +face upon the pillow, where he had fallen asleep with a +smile of thankfulness upon his lips. After all, he is generous, +good, and rich in intelligence. Why is it that love +will not go with the reason?</p> + +<p>"They would have kept me in bed the next day, but I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span> +resisted. The minutes were too precious for such waste. I +went down-stairs, feeling like a criminal and looking like +one, Cora said, but the two gentlemen regarded my sadness +and my pallor as a proof of illness, and would scarcely +allow me to speak, such was their anxiety for my welfare. +So I sat in my easy-chair languid and still, listening to +them as they conversed, and yet gathering but few of their +words into my mind. All at once a blow seemed to have +struck me. It was only a word, but that one word took +away my breath. Mr. Dennison had been asking some +question, and Lawrence answered,—</p> + +<p>"'To-morrow.'</p> + +<p>"'Not so soon as that. Indeed, my friend, we cannot +spare you,' said Mr. Dennison.</p> + +<p>"I held my breath. It seemed as if my heart would +never beat again. A slow faintness crept over me while +Lawrence answered,—</p> + +<p>"'But I must: the business which brings me South is too +important for delay. Already I have spent nearly a month +that may cost me dear.'</p> + +<p>"His eyes turned full upon mine. They were dark and +heavy with sadness. God forgive me if mine expressed too +much!</p> + +<p>"'But my wife will never consent to this. Speak, dear, +and give him one of your pretty commands. It must be +important business indeed, which can win him to disobey you.'</p> + +<p>"I opened my lips to speak, but no words followed the +effort. A choking sensation came into my throat, and the +very light went out from before my eyes. They thought +me insensible, but my faculties were locked up; I knew +everything.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Dennison ran into the house, crying out for Cora. +That instant Lawrence took me in his arms; I felt his +breath upon my face when he drew back with a faint exclamation. +Cora stood close by him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'She is faint, she is insensible,' he said, hurriedly. His +voice was confused, and I could feel that the arm which +held me was seized with sudden trembling. 'It was imprudent +to let her come down.'</p> + +<p>"Cora put him aside, and took my hand from his, just as +Mr. Dennison came back to the veranda.</p> + +<p>"'Ah,' he cried, joyfully; 'she is better, the color is coming +back to her mouth! poor child, poor child! we have let +you come out too soon.'</p> + +<p>"He stooped down and kissed me tenderly, but I shrunk +from him with sudden recoil, and leaning upon Cora, entered +the house, so weary and sick at heart that I almost prayed +to die.</p> + +<p>"There was no rest for me that day. One thought occupied +my whole mind: he was going in the morning—going +I knew not whither, and the history of the last two +weeks would be henceforth all of life that I should care to +remember. I wandered from room to room, wondering +what course I could take, and how it would be possible to +appease the aching pain at my heart. Sometimes I could +hear his voice rising up from the veranda. It was low and +grave, sometimes I thought constrained, as if the words he +uttered came from a preoccupied heart.</p> + +<p>"No criminal ever listened for the steps that were to +bring him a reprieve with more interest, than I felt in gathering +up the broken sentences of that conversation. He +was going away, first to New Orleans, then back to New +York, where business must suffer until his return. I heard +this clearly. It was no rash speech, but a settled determination;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">yet up to that morning he had never spoken</span><br /> +of it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span>"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page348" name="page348"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LXX.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">THE MIDNIGHT WALK.</span></h2> + + +<p>"I could not sleep, though I had seemed tranquil all the +evening. Mr. Dennison, having been broken in his rest +the night before, slumbered heavily, and this made my +wakeful solitude unendurable. The moon shone brightly, +and the cool air came through the window with enticing +sweetness. All day long I had been cramped and restless +in the house, which was growing hateful to me. Oh how I +longed for that grand solitude which lies in space! A wild +desire to escape from the deep breathing of my husband +seized upon my mind. I dressed myself in noiseless haste, +and gliding down-stairs, opened a French window, and fled +through it breathlessly. I had no object in view, and all +places were alike to me, so long as I could breathe freely, +and cry aloud without fear of being overheard. But a footpath +lay before me, and I followed it on and on till I came +to the pond, or lake, which I had visited with Lawrence on +the first day of his coming. It was perfectly beautiful that +night. Here and there a ripple, as of ten thousand diamond +chains tossed on the waters, followed some current, +and died off in the shadows. The dusky green of the magnolia-tree +was kindled up with gleams and touches of silver, +while its sleeping flowers filled their great chalices of snow +with moonlight, and bathed themselves in its dewy radiance. +If my heart had not been sad before, the exquisite stillness +of this scene would have rendered it so; the very ripple of +the waters among the lily pads affected me like music, and +the dark trailing of the mistletoe-boughs, which were strangling +the great live-oak with ten thousand leafy caresses, +made me almost afraid, they were so ghostly.</p> + +<p>"I went into the black shadow of this grand old tree, sat<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span> +down with my back against its trunk, and fell into a passion +of bitter weeping. Why had I become all at once so +unhappy? What sorrow, or cause of sorrow, had fallen +upon me? I would not even attempt to answer this question, +but asked it over and over again, as if the solution +were not in my own heart reproaching me.</p> + +<p>"All at once I heard a noise in the grass—the steady fall +of a man's foot. I hushed my tears, and drew my shawl +over the white dress that threatened to betray me, even +buried as I was in deep shadows. A tall figure directly +after appeared in the moonlight, standing by the lake. I +knew it at once. He also had come out into the beautiful +night, unhappy, perhaps, and restless as myself. He stood +awhile motionless, then I saw him move away, and walk +quickly up and down the shore, as if the beauty of the night +filled him with irrepressible inquietude. Then I asked +myself why he could not rest, and what feelings had driven +him forth. My heart gave a reply which turned its sadness +into excitement. Still I neither moved nor spoke, but +watched his abrupt movements to and fro with breathless +interest. Ah, he was wretched as myself—the thought of +parting had driven him forth. I was sure of that, and the +certainty was like a triumph.</p> + +<p>"All at once Lawrence turned from the moonlight, and +plunged into the black shadows of the oak, where he walked +up and down like a disturbed spirit. I could hear broken +words fall from his lips, as if he found it a relief to speak +aloud in the solitude. There was passion and pathos in his +voice, but I gathered no other meaning from the sounds +that reached me.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I stirred, and by a movement of my shawl revealed +the whiteness of my dress, for he came toward me, +exclaiming,—</p> + +<p>"'Great heavens! what is this?'</p> + +<p>"I shrunk back against the body of the oak, and huddled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span> +the shawl around my person, hoping thus to escape his observations; +but he came close to me, and said very quietly, +though his voice trembled a little,—</p> + +<p>"'Do not hide yourself, but come out into the moonlight. +I felt that you would be here.'</p> + +<p>"I arose, obedient as a little child, and walked by his side +toward the magnolia-tree, where the moonlight fell in white +radiance.</p> + +<p>"'Why did you come out at this late hour?' he said, +looking down upon me with gentle compassion in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"'I could not sleep. I was so unhappy that the close air +of the house stifled me.'</p> + +<p>"'I understand,' he replied, almost mournfully. 'It is +the old story. I too—but what matters that—the air of +the house was oppressive. No matter, I shall quit it to-morrow.'</p> + +<p>"'To-morrow,—and you will go?'</p> + +<p>"'Yes; Dennison is an old friend—a dear old friend. I +shall go to-morrow.'</p> + +<p>"'To-morrow, and forever!' I cried, in a burst of passionate +despair, which frightened me the moment it left my lips.</p> + +<p>"He did not answer in words, but took my two hands +between his, and bent his eyes upon me with a glance so +searching, that I shrunk away from him, for the moonlight +gave supernatural intensity to his face.</p> + +<p>"'To-morrow, and I think forever; believe me, it is better +so.'</p> + +<p>"'Better? Forever! forever! Oh, these are terrible +words!' I cried, scarcely caring to conceal the anguish +which wrung such expressions from me.</p> + +<p>"'They seem terrible to youth, I know,' he answered, +sadly; 'but after a while you will learn that time softens even +our ideas of eternity. Life is, and must be, one continued +scene of parting.'</p> + +<p>"'But parting is such pain,' I pleaded.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'Pain does not last forever.'</p> + +<p>"'Oh, it will; it must!' I cried out, in a passionate protest.</p> + +<p>"The man smiled, and shook his head, sadly enough.</p> + +<p>"'It seems so now; but you will know more of the world +some day, and learn to cast deep feeling from you. It is a +sad drawback in life.'</p> + +<p>"'And you have learned this lesson?' I asked, half in +tears, half angrily.</p> + +<p>"He paused a moment, made a gesture as if he were casting +some great restraint upon himself, and then answered:</p> + +<p>"'Yes, I have learned the lesson. So must you.'</p> + +<p>"'But I can not. God made me as I am. It is my nature +to feel and suffer keenly.'</p> + +<p>"'I think so. Yet in a little time how all this may +change!'</p> + +<p>"'Never!'</p> + +<p>"'Ah, yes; and when that change comes—when you are +brilliant, careless, a beautiful coquette, perhaps we can +meet again, and play with the foam of life pleasantly, as it +is tossed to our feet by the waves of society; but deep waters +are treacherous; we must not trust to them.'</p> + +<p>"'You talk strangely,' I said, feeling an angry fire kindling +against him in my bosom.</p> + +<p>"'I talk honestly, as you will admit some day.'</p> + +<p>"I turned from him, angry with the tone of protection and +superiority which he had assumed. Surely I was no school-girl +to be thus adroitly put upon my good behavior.</p> + +<p>"'You are angry with me?'</p> + +<p>"'Yes; I have cause. You seem to speak from premises +which I do not understand. What have I done that you +should lecture me so?'</p> + +<p>"My anger seemed to amuse him. His eyes flashed, and +he laughed a low, sweet laugh, that the rippling wind carried +off in its murmurs.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'What have you done, child? Why, wandered off here, +at the peril of your health, when you should have been +quietly sleeping!'</p> + +<p>"'But you have done the same thing!'</p> + +<p>"'Yes; but nothing harms me. Being a man, I know how +to take care of myself.'</p> + +<p>"'Is it a part of manhood to be without feeling?'</p> + +<p>"'And you charge me with that?'</p> + +<p>"'Yes, I do, or you would never speak of me with an idea +that I could become a brilliant coquette.'</p> + +<p>"'Indeed! Why, are you not a woman?'</p> + +<p>"I turned to move away. There was something bitter in +his utterance of the last word that irritated me.</p> + +<p>"He followed me.</p> + +<p>"'You did not hear me out,' he said;—'and a beautiful +woman—can such rare beings escape admiration?'</p> + +<p>"Still I walked on, leaving the live-oak and magnolia-tree +behind. His last speech seemed hollow and conventional. +Did he think to appease me by commonplace flattery like +that?</p> + +<p>"He walked by my side in silence some minutes, looking +earnestly in my face when it turned to the moonlight. All +at once he broke out earnestly, passionately, throwing off +all the constraint that had made him seem so artificial.</p> + +<p>"'Let us be frank with each other,' he said. 'You are +my friend's wife. I go from his house to-morrow, because I +am afraid of loving you more than an honorable man +should. Is this honest? Are you angry with me?'</p> + +<p>"My face was lifted to his; my hands unconsciously +clasped themselves. I trembled in every limb; but it was +neither with anger nor pain.</p> + +<p>"'Am I not right?' he demanded, turning his face away.</p> + +<p>"I did not answer, for I knew well that, right or wrong, +his going would leave me miserable.</p> + +<p>"'I thought myself stronger and wiser,' he continued,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span> +without seeming to heed my silence; 'but that day when +you were in such peril I learned how deep was the impression +your beauty and loveliness had made upon me. Since +then I have been resolved to go—my honor and my happiness +demand it.'</p> + +<p>"Still I was silent, partly from a wild sense of triumph, +partly from terror lest he should guess at the feeling.</p> + +<p>"'You will not answer me; my frankness offends you.'</p> + +<p>"He seemed touched and hurt by the silence, which I +could not force myself to break. All at once I was sobbing. +He took my hand gently in his, and led me back along the +path we had been walking. I cannot repeat all that he said +to me. It was himself on whom all blame rested. This +was the spirit of his conversation. Not for one moment did +he hint that I could have been interested in anything he +did, save as the hospitable lady of a mansion in which he +was a guest. Was he deceived? I cannot tell; but this I +do know, every word he uttered was full of loyal respect for +my husband. He did not seem to understand or notice the +tears I was shedding, but quietly led me toward the house. +At last he stopped, took my hand, pressed it to his lips, and +left me standing alone within sight of my dwelling.</p> + +<p>"Lawrence left the next morning at daylight. I had been +dreaming on my sleepless pillow that scene by the lake over +and over again. Every word that man had uttered passed +through my brain, and made a sweet lodgment in my heart. +How careful he had been to save my pride while confessing +his own weakness. If he had been masterful, and treated +me like a child, no word of his had conveyed a suspicion +that I too was in danger. His delicacy enthralled me more +by far than persuasion could have done. He spoke only of +his own struggles and his own danger, never hinting that I +might share in one or the other. How magnanimous, how +self-sacrificing he was—and this man loved me!</p> + +<p>"All at once I heard a noise of wheels in front of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span> +house. A sharp apprehension broke up my dreams. I +sprang out of bed, lifted the lace curtain, and saw my husband's +light buggy drawn up on the carriage-drive. While +Tom was packing a valice under the seat, Mr. Lawrence +stood near drawing on his gloves.</p> + +<p>"He was going without one word of farewell. The thought +made me wild. I flung up the window with a violence that +tore the valenciennes from the sleeve of my night-dress, and +called out,—</p> + +<p>"'Not yet, not yet!'</p> + +<p>"He did not hear me, or perhaps would not. That instant +he sprang into the buggy, snatched the reins from +Tom, and drove off. As he passed a curve in the road, he +drew up and looked back at the house, as if unable to leave +it without a farewell-glance. I was still at the window, half +shrouded by the curtains, but leaning out, with wild unconsciousness +of my position. He waved one hand, drew his +horse up with the other so sharply that the buggy was half +wheeled across the road; the next instant the horse made a +plunge forward, seemingly unmanageable, and in an instant +bore him out of sight.</p> + +<p>"I knelt by the window a long time, looking upon the +spot where he had disappeared in blank despair. In one +minute my life seemed to have become a barren waste. Points +in the landscape that had been so beautiful over-night, +struck me with a dreary appearance of change. My eyes +grew hot and ached with the pain of my sudden desolation. +I could neither weep nor cry out, but knelt there with a +dull sense of sorrow and utter loneliness creeping over me. +Burdened with these wretched feelings, I crept back to my +couch, and burying my face in the pillows, suffered silently.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span>"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page355" name="page355"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LXXI.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">AWAY FROM HOME.</span></h2> + + +<p>"This house is not the same now; its stillness oppresses +me, its magnificence palls on my senses. Wherever I +turn, some memory starts up to pain me. Why have I filled +every beautiful spot with associations that sting me so?</p> + +<p>"I think that my husband is watching me with more interest +than formerly. If he sees a cloud on my face, some +gentle act of attention seeks to drive it away. Sometimes +he asks, in a troubled voice, what makes me so sad and +thoughtful, as if he guessed at the truth, and the suspicion +wounded him. Then I fly from the stillness of my sorrow, +and force a wild sort of spirits, that make him still more +depressed. This old man has seen a great deal of the world +in his life, and perhaps reads me better than I think. Is +deception ever a duty? At any rate, it is the refuge of cowards, +and sometimes of kindness. Now, I should not really +be afraid to lay the whole truth before this old man, so far +as its effect on myself is concerned; but when I think of him +and all the pain it would certainly give, my heart recoils +from its expression. If he would only be a little unkind, I +should not care so much. But, after all, what is there to +explain? No word of <i>his</i>, or act of mine, could be censured +justly. True, I met him at night, unknown to the family, in +a beautiful and solitary spot, where some conversation passed +which made me both sad and happy, but no wrong was done +to any one, and the whole scene, if thoroughly explained, +should bring no blame with it. I left the house without +one thought of meeting any human being. If he saw and +followed me, it was for a most honorable purpose—honorably, +but, oh, most cruelly carried out.</p> + +<p>"How miserably slow the weeks and months roll on. I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span> +can endure this irksome sameness of life no longer; the very +fragrance of the air sickens me. I long for change—for +excitement. Youth has no need of rest; its aspirations are +always pressing onward. <i>He</i> said that I was beautiful. +My husband has told me this a hundred times, but it made +little impression, for what is the worth of beauty in a great +dull house like this? I long to go out into the world again, +for there is a chance that I may—no, no, I will not think +of that. He did not even tell me where he was going. But +change I must and will have; it is the want of excitement +that makes me a slave to these fits of depression. While +surrounded by the homage of other men, I shall learn to +forget that this one refused it to me.</p> + +<p>"This evening I ventured upon the subject which has +been haunting me for weeks. Mr. Dennison remarked that +I was getting pale, and had lost all the brilliant glow of +spirits which made my first coming home like an opening +of paradise to him. Was I ill, or had he failed in anything +that could have made me happy?</p> + +<p>"I did not complain, but smiled upon him in a way that +brought light into his eyes, and said pleasantly enough, that +I was not quite myself in splendid solitude, that female +friends were necessary to me, and I had parted with them +perhaps a little too suddenly. Sometimes, I confessed, a +feeling of discontent would creep over me, and but for him +and all his generous attentions, I should grow weary of our +grand lonely life.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Dennison became anxious at once. 'Would I have +guests invited? It was the easiest thing in life to have the +great house filled with the most agreeable company to be +found in the State.'</p> + +<p>"'Guests? Oh, nothing of the kind! The duties of a +hostess were beyond me just then,—but a little journey +somewhere—how would he like that?—say to New Orleans?—the +approaching autumnal weather would render<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span> +a trip to the city pleasant, and we could come back any +day.'</p> + +<p>"Mr. Dennison accepted this proposal at once. He had +seemed a little anxious at first when I spoke of leaving +home, as if some doubt rested in his mind; but when I mentioned +New Orleans, the cloud left his face, and he fell in +with the suggestion.</p> + +<p>"My suspicions were right. Mr. Dennison was not altogether +at rest about Lawrence. At first he suspected that +I was anxious to be thrown in his way again. I could see +it in his face, and dared not speak of Saratoga, Newport, +or any Northern watering-place, which it had been my first +intention to suggest. So I mentioned New Orleans, and he +was satisfied, while I fairly bit my lips white with the vexation +of my failure. But New Orleans was better than +nothing. There, at least, we should find society, amusement +and distraction. Besides, our names would be announced in +the public journals, and <i>he</i> might learn of our presence +there. Yes, yes, New Orleans was preferable to home, especially +as the autumn was near, and the gay season northward +already breaking up.</p> + +<p>"Cora was in ecstasies when I told her that we were going +away. Poor girl, she had found my domestic life very dull +and depressing; I could see that by the alacrity with +which she went to work. Once more she became bright and +animated as a bird. My wardrobe was speedily put in +order, and we left the plantation, much happier to go away +than we had been to enter it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span>"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page358" name="page358"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LXXII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">OUT IN THE WORLD AGAIN.</span></h2> + + +<p>"Lawrence was right. Beauty is a great power, and +I am beautiful. I know it in a thousand ways, but +best of all by the homage of men and the envy of women. +Both are sweet to me. I love to see these envious creatures +turn pale and whisper their venom to each other, as I am +besieged by the attentions of their favorites. At first I was +a little timid about asserting the power that I felt myself +to possess. Mr. Dennison, I thought, might be displeased, +were his wife to accept the position offered her as a belle +and leader in the best social circles of the South. I think +he was at first annoyed by the great popularity which followed +my advent into society, but I soon forgot to notice +these indications, and resolved to live my life whether he +was pleased or not. After all, there is a great deal in this +world worth living for besides love as a grand passion. +The adoration which others are forced to give you has its +charms; besides, there arise episodes of love in one's life, +which come and go like the rosy dawn and golden sunset +of a summer-day, which for the time charm one's heart out +of its one deep passion. In society here I forget how deeply +I loved that one man, and better still, I forget to think of +my husband. For his sake my heart was thrown back +upon itself, and he had become the cause of my humiliation; +but for that, Lawrence might have been my slave, as +other men have been, and will be, so long as I allow them to +kneel at the altar of my vanity. Had I remained at the +plantation, this conviction would, I do believe, have deepened +into hatred of my husband; but I was too pleasantly +occupied, brain and sense, for any deep feeling to reach me +in that whirl of society; just then it would have been as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span> +impossible for me to hate, as to love my husband. I simply +cared nothing about him, save as he was the source from +whence I obtained gold in which to frame my beauty. +Without that, half my power would have disappeared.</p> + +<p>"Lawrence was right. The time has come when I am a +careless, brilliant, beautiful coquette, and this he has made +me. 'Then,' he said, 'we can meet in safety and play with +the foam of life pleasantly, as it is tossed to our feet by the +waves of society.'</p> + +<p>"I understand all this now. When I am heartless, and +altogether given up to vanity, he will not be afraid of loving +me, because, to a man like him, love for a woman so transformed +would be impossible. But am I transformed? Is +not the old nature still alive in my bosom? I have no time +for a serious answer. The foam he speaks of is mounting +too whitely around my feet.</p> + +<p>"'What is this? Mr. Dennison ill? Falling away? Forgetting +to smile? Looking the very ghost of himself?' +These were the very words I overheard this morning, as I +stood unnoticed behind two ladies conversing in the great +drawing-room of the St. Charles. Was this true? I had +not noticed. The old man never complained, and I saw +nothing. If he had fallen away in his appetite, no one was +less likely to be aware of it than myself, for it was very seldom +that we breakfasted at the same hour, and at dinner +I was always too pleasantly occupied for any thought of his +appetite. But one thing was true, he did look thin and +terribly depressed. His white linen coat was hanging +loosely around his person. The silvery hair, which everybody +admired so much, seemed to have grown thinner. +Never in my life have I looked on so sad a face.</p> + +<p>"I crossed the room at once, and sat down by Mr. Dennison. +His face brightened, he swept the white hair back +from his forehead, and smiled upon me.</p> + +<p>"'Are you ill?' I said, laying my hand on his.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'No, not ill; only a little lonesome.'</p> + +<p>"'Lonesome among all these people?' I answered, still +pressing his hand.</p> + +<p>"He looked down at my hand, which was blazing with +great diamonds that he had given me.</p> + +<p>"'There is room for one more,' he said, with a sigh. 'I +bought it for you weeks ago, but have found no time in +which you could receive it.'</p> + +<p>"He took a star of diamonds from his pocket, and placed +it on the only one of my fingers that was not already ornamented. +His old white hands trembled a little as he put the +ring on my finger, and I could see tears trembling up to his +eyes.</p> + +<p>"'How kind, but how childish you are,' I said, kissing +the ring, for it was well worth that small sign of gratitude. +'Now tell me what makes you look so pale and so—'</p> + +<p>"'Old, you hesitate to say; but I know it. You are not +the only one, child, who has discovered that you are married +to an old, old man.'</p> + +<p>"'I have not thought of it. Indeed, indeed the idea never +enters my mind,' I answered, honestly enough, for he had +very seldom been in my memory at all; 'but what makes +you look so miserable? Not that idea, I am sure. Is it +because I have been so extravagant, and spent such loads +of money? Sometimes I do get frightened about that.'</p> + +<p>"'But I scarcely regard it—perhaps I ought; but money +seems so trivial compared to other things.'</p> + +<p>"'Your health, for instance; for you are ill,' I answered, +brushing the white hair back from his temple with my +hand, while the ladies opposite were watching me in a flutter +of curiosity.</p> + +<p>"'You are kind to think of that,' he said, gently; 'but I +am not ill, only reproaching myself.'</p> + +<p>"'Why?'</p> + +<p>"'For the bondage which you are beginning to feel so +heavily.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I looked at him earnestly a moment, and in that glance +gathered a knowledge of all he had suffered. My heart +smote me, for that moment I was ready to make any sacrifice +that would do him good. In truth, the life I had been +leading had already become wearisome. After all, empty +homage satisfies no real want of the heart.</p> + +<p>"'Shall we go home?' I said, with a sudden impulse of +kindness.</p> + +<p>"He grasped my hand so tightly that the diamonds hurt +me.</p> + +<p>"'If you would—if you only would!'</p> + +<p>"'Let us go to-morrow, then,' I answered. 'No, that +cannot be, I have engagements; but next week. We shall +get home in full time for the orange-blossoms.'</p> + +<p>"'And you <i>will</i> go?'</p> + +<p>"'Certainly. All this is getting very tiresome. Even the +spite of the women has lost its charm.'</p> + +<p>"That morning we went into the breakfast-room together, +and then I remarked how completely Mr. Dennison's appetite +had failed. This made me very thoughtful. What if +he should die?'</p> + +<p>"'Cora,' I said that night, as the girl was undressing me, +'have you observed how ill Mr. Dennison looks?'</p> + +<p>"'Yes, I have, young mistress, and it has frightened me +dreadfully.'</p> + +<p>"'Frightened you, Cora? Is he so far gone as that? I +did not dream of your caring so much for him.'</p> + +<p>"'Neither do I. It is you that I care for.'</p> + +<p>"'And you think that I would grieve?'</p> + +<p>"'Yes, I do.'</p> + +<p>"'It should be so. Indeed, Cora, he is a good man, and +has been kind to us.'</p> + +<p>"'But that won't last forever, young mistress. The old +master is keen as he is kind. If he was to make his will +now, have you much idea that his property would go to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span> +the wife, who scarcely speaks to him once in twenty-four +hours?'</p> + +<p>"I started, and turned upon the girl.</p> + +<p>"'Why, Cora, you frighten me!'</p> + +<p>"'Not so much as you have frightened me. Poor white +widows aren't to my taste. We have tried that once, and +I didn't like it.'</p> + +<p>"'Cora, we will go back to the plantation.'</p> + +<p>"'That is the best thing you can do,' answered the girl, +quietly. 'Home is the place for a man to die in.'</p> + +<p>"'Why, girl!' I cried out, in nervous dread, 'you speak +as if he were really in danger.'</p> + +<p>"'And so he is; people seldom get over the disease that +has been creeping on him ever since we came here.'</p> + +<p>"'What disease? What are you speaking of, Cora? +What disease do you think Mr. Dennison has?'</p> + +<p>"'A broken heart.'</p> + +<p>"'Cora!'</p> + +<p>"'None of your sudden fits—people get over them; but +slow and sure: I have been watching it from the first.'</p> + +<p>"'And you think I have done this?'</p> + +<p>"'Of course. Who else?'</p> + +<p>"'Cora, we will go home next week.'"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page362" name="page362"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LXXIII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">FIRST WIDOWHOOD.</span></h2> + + +<p>"I am a widow. The name fills me with awe, as if I had +never heard it before. It has a new meaning now—a +terrible meaning of death, which is full of reproach +and horror. He lies yonder, cold and still, the smile which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span> +he had almost forgotten of late frozen on his white lips, +the lines of age graven deeply in his face,—with something +more terrible still, which makes me shiver and shrink as I +gaze upon it.</p> + +<p>"Have I done this? Is that look of sorrow but the +shadow of a charge which the recording angel is now writing +down in the eternal book against me? Am I the murderer +of this good old man? How he loved me! how +kind, how generous, how delicate he was! And I—no, +no! it must have been old age. Men of seventy do not sink +down and perish in silence because they are not loved with +the intensity given to youth. Oh, how I wish it were all +over! While he lies in the house, so frozen and cold, I shall +not draw a free breath. It seems to me as if he could rise +up any moment out of that marble sleep with the power to +search every thought that has been in my heart during the +last year. His knowledge is perfect now; he reads my +soul as I dare not read it myself. <i>Have</i> I wished his death? +Have I ever thought of what might happen after that? +God forgive me, for I seem terrible to myself.</p> + +<p>"Death in the house; this great lonely dwelling, with all +its luxurious appliances, is but a tomb. The air chills me; +its solitude is terrible. Cora comes to me once in a while +with her silky flatteries, and attempts to convince me that I +have never been blamable as a wife. I know that she +does not believe this, and almost hate her for thinking that +her sophistry can reconcile me with myself. Yet what have +I done? Amused myself—gathered crowds of admirers +around me—neglected the only true love that ever +lightened my life. Shall I ever be worshipped again as +that old man worshipped me?...</p> + +<p>"They have carried him out from his home forever, and +now the old house seems more vast and lonely than before. +I still hear the tramping of his bearers' feet, and shudder as +the pall seems to rustle and sweep by me. Ah! the first<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span> +feelings of widowhood must be mournful indeed to a +devoted wife; to me they are terrible. The very air seems +to reproach me. I start at each sound as if it were a +denunciation. The very air I breathe seems heavy with +funereal shadows....</p> + +<p>"The first great horror has left me, but a feeling of blank +desolation still remains. I have not yet thought of the +future, or asked myself what may be in store for the woman +whom so many are loading with praises and commiseration +which she knows in her heart are undeserved.</p> + +<p>"This morning I was aroused from the heavy apathy +which has made my life a blank, by the arrival of my husband's +solicitor. Mr. Dennison has left a will making me +the inheritor of everything he had on earth. The lawyer +told me this, and, for the first time since my widowhood, I +felt the heart in my bosom stir like a living thing. Was +I indeed so wealthy, and free, too!</p> + +<p>"I observed in a dreamy way that the lawyer looked +anxious and oppressed, as if something yet remained to be +told.</p> + +<p>"'Is this all,' I said; 'has he mentioned no other person +in the will?'</p> + +<p>"'No other person,' was the reply; 'but I have something +to explain which may change the aspect of my news. +It seems that within the past few months a heavy mortgage +has been laid upon the plantation, and it must be sold.'</p> + +<p>"'A mortgage!' I said; 'that is something which prevents +a man holding or selling his own land, is it not?'</p> + +<p>"'It is a debt for which the estate is pledged,' answered +the lawyer; 'but I wonder you do not understand it better, +for your own signature is attached.'</p> + +<p>"Then I remembered that, during the stay of Mr. Lawrence +at our house, Mr. Dennison had called me to the table +in his library and asked me to sign a paper. He explained +to me clearly enough, no doubt, that the paper might de<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span>prive +me of some claim for dower; but I did not heed it at +the time, and now it was to fall upon me with all its force. +The plantation must be sold, the lawyer said, for he was +one of the executors to the will. The mortgage once cleared +off and the debts paid, there would still be a handsome +property left.</p> + +<p>"All at once I was seized with intense love for the old +place. Where should I ever find a home so rich in comforts, +so beautifully surrounded?</p> + +<p>"'Is it not possible to keep the place?' I demanded, with +growing interest.</p> + +<p>"'No; the mortgage was given, I imagine, in order to +raise funds for some dazzling speculation in which Mr. Lawrence +was concerned. At any rate, there is no money to +pay it with, and the estate must go to the hammer.'</p> + +<p>"'This is cruel, it is unjust,' I said, angrily.</p> + +<p>"'It was wrong and foolish to involve the estate as Mr. +Dennison has,' answered the executor, 'and the loss is a +heavy one. Let us be thankful that our good friend has +left enough without that.'</p> + +<p>"'But his losses were brought on by Mr. Lawrence?' I +questioned, speaking the name with a thrill of pain.</p> + +<p>"'No! they were fellow-sufferers. It is understood that +Lawrence has lost heavily, and will perhaps be ruined.'</p> + +<p>"Instantly my heart swelled with sympathy for the man +who had helped to impoverish me.</p> + +<p>"'Oh! if he had but left the estate unburdened, I should +not care.'</p> + +<p>"Heaven knows I was thinking of the man who had, perhaps, +wronged me, but the executor misunderstood my words +and looked at me wonderingly. I saw this, but could not +explain that the great wish of my heart was that there +might be enough to redeem the losses that had fallen upon +Lawrence. I could not endure to think of him as a poor +man. A poor man—that is a terrible word to the ears of +a Southern lady.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The executor tried to explain everything clearly, and I +made an effort to understand. He was anxious about the +property, and thought the times unpropitious. The North +and South were that hour verging closer and closer toward +a civil war, in which the value of property would become +uncertain, and I might be a sufferer.</p> + +<p>"I knew all this before; rumors of political strife had +reached even our secluded home. I knew that the bitter +animosity which had been long growing between the North +and South had even then broken into open hostilities. +Southern statesmen had retreated in a body from the +United States Senate, and resigned their seats in the House. +I had taken a blind interest in this matter, and, in a loose +way, hated everything that opposed the dominant power of +my own section; but it was as a child takes sides. I did +not, and do not, really understand the questions which give +rise to all this turmoil. Of course, the whole affair will be +settled somehow; people never do fight when they threaten +so much. Besides, the South is so reasonable; she only +asks to set up for herself, and be let alone. What objection +can there be to this? I dare say the Northern people +will acquiesce; but if not, it will only take a month or so +to gain our independence. I think the executor is right +to put off the sale till then; for of course property will +rise enormously, and this may compensate me for that +great drawback, the mortgage. But until the estate is +settled, I must remain a slave here. Perhaps that is best; +it would not be proper for a widow to seek society under a +year; but oh! how dreary that year will be!</p> + +<p>"I wonder if Mr. Lawrence has heard of his friend's death? +Months have gone by and not a word from him, not even +the usual letter of condolence. Perhaps he is coming. +Surely the share he has taken in the ruin of this property +ought to bring some explanation. There is no reason now +why he should keep aloof.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span></p> + +<p>"At last I have heard from him. A letter came to the +executor, enclosing one for me. It is in my bosom. I have +covered the senseless paper with kisses. Yet there is nothing +in it but gentle condolence for sorrow. The reason he +has not written before is that the news of Mr. Dennison's +death reached him in Europe, where he will remain +until the end of this year. His letter to the executor was +long and thoroughly explanatory of all the business which +lay between him and Mr. Dennison. This mortgage, it seems, +was only the accumulation of many others that had from +year to year been a burden on the estate. Through the +influence of Mr. Lawrence, a New York capitalist had +paid up these mortgages, and concentrated them into one +which, after all, does not cover half the value of the estate. +It was this act of friendship which brought Mr. Lawrence to +our house. There was neither risk nor speculation in the +whole business. Even with this encumbrance, Mr. Dennison's +will would have left me wealthy, but for the terrible +civil war which has broken over us. As it is, there are three +hundred slaves, which the mortgage does not touch, and +they are a handsome property in themselves.</p> + +<p>"The estate is sold, and the result scarcely covers the mortgage. +Still the slaves are left, and my jewels are of great +value. Sometimes, when my hand rests upon my black +dress, the diamonds with which my husband loaded it +flame up and burn into my conscience. How could I be +so negligent and cold to him?</p> + +<p>"Some months longer I shall remain on the estate. The +new owner wishes to hire most of my slaves; that arrangement +will supply me with an ample income, and permit me +to go anywhere; that is, if I can get away, when the whole +country is swarming with armed men. Thank heaven! my +home has escaped all these military disturbances; but they +build a wall of bayonets between me and <i>him</i>. I cannot +even get letters....<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I am going: an opportunity offers. This very day I +start for the North. My pass is ready, my escort waiting. +How my heart swells! how my courage rises! The dangers +of war have no terrors for me. I am going to the +North, and <i>he</i> is there....</p> + +<p>"How long it is since I have written a line in my journal, +or even seen it! In our rough journey there was little time +or opportunity for writing, but here I have rest and am +entirely out of danger.</p> + +<p>"Lawrence is in the Federal army, commanding one of the +city regiments which have gone down to the war for special +duty. How vast and lonely this hotel seems! I am lost in +this great wilderness of people. The streets are full of +military men; regiments are constantly passing through on +their way to the war. Great heavens! did our people hope +to wrest away any portion of this great country from men +like these? For the first time I understand the madness of +the rebellion. It is no light thing to rend a great nation +asunder. I begin to feel this, and tremble for the people +of the South. In the insanity of their ambition they have +sacrificed everything....</p> + +<p>"He is coming. His regiment is ordered home. I am +here at the Fifth Avenue Hotel—his home when he is in +the city. Lawrence must not find me here. His fastidious +delicacy might take the alarm! Besides, I have made acquaintances, +and am almost acting over the <i>rôle</i> that made +me so popular at New Orleans; else the suspense of this +long waiting would have been intolerable. Yes, it is far +better that I should be away when he comes. If he hears +of me, it will only be from admirers. Even with the women, +I think that I have left no enemies. It is early for the season, +but this very day my rooms at Long Branch shall be +taken. Will he follow me there? The question drives the +breath back from my lips....</p> + +<p>"I have been at the Branch three weeks. His regiment<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span> +has returned to New York, but I have not seen him: this +suspense is terrible. Yesterday I sent Cora to the city, +ostensibly to get some articles that I left at the hotel, but +in fact to bring me intelligence of him, for which my soul +was thirsting.</p> + +<p>"She came back radiant, for the poor girl understands +how anxious I am. She saw him—talked with him. He +has been very busy with his regiment, and attending to +neglected business on Wall Street; but next week—next +week—oh, how long the days will seem till then!...</p> + +<p>"He is here. I have seen him; we have walked together, +free as birds upon the shore, where the sea rolls in with +bewildering harmonies for the happy, and solemn anthems +for those who suffer. To-day the very air was jubilant; +the waves came rolling in crested with foam, and dashing +the sand with shimmering silver. How the sunshine danced +and broke and laughed over the broad expanse of water! +The sea-gulls, as they swooped down and dipped their wings +in the curling foam, were like doves to us. Indeed, this +flat, treeless shore on which the ocean is eternally beating, +is just now the brightest paradise I ever knew.</p> + +<p>"Weeks roll on, and our companionship is perfect; but +he says nothing of the future. We talk of books, of friendship—love +even—but in a vague, dreamy way, that confirms +nothing. I wonder at this, and it disturbs me. Is it +that he is no longer a rich man? I have heard this, but am +not sure, for the rumor is often met with contradiction. If +this should prove true, it will account for his conduct. I +know him well enough to be sure that his sensitive honor +would take alarm at the thought of marrying a woman +whose property would more than match his own; and mine, +notwithstanding all losses, is of no ordinary value.</p> + +<p>"These thoughts trouble me. Nothing can be more impressive +than his devotion; my society seems all in all to +him, but our relationship remains the same.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span></p> + +<p>"A rather singular family has just arrived—some rich +iron-man from the interior of Pennsylvania. His wife is a +confirmed invalid, but one of the most refined and lovable +women I ever saw. She must have been very beautiful in +her youth, for her features are singularly like those of her +daughter, who is considered the most lovely girl at the +Branch this season. The rooms which Mr. Lee occupies open +on to the same veranda with mine, and as the lady spends +a great deal of her time in looking out upon the ocean from +her luxurious easy-chair, I managed to open an acquaintance +with her and a lady who is her constant companion, +and either an elder sister of the beautiful girl I have spoken +of, or some near friend of the family. My first advances to +this lady were rather coldly received. She has evidently +been out of society a long time, and appears shy and reserved. +The younger lady seemed to be reading my face +with more scrutiny than pleased me. She is not really +handsome, but has lovely hair and an abundance of it, with +deep gray eyes that are almost always shaded by long +curling lashes, which gives them intense expression when +she lifts them suddenly and meets your gaze. Her complexion +is pure and bright, but the mouth is a little too large +for harmony with the other features. Still, her smile is peculiarly +expressive when she does smile, which is not often.</p> + +<p>"I can hardly tell why this person impressed me so forcibly, +but a strange sensation came over me when those +eyes were first lifted to my face. She is not imposing in her +presence, but very modest and very unobtrusive. Her +attentions to Mrs. Lee were more than affectionate; and +with the young lady she has the air and manner of a sister +who feels her superiority in age, and nothing more.</p> + +<p>"This morning I met Mr. Lee on the shore, walking alone. +He is a princely man in appearance, taller than Mr. Lawrence, +and of more noble proportions. Still, his finely-cut +features lack the keen intelligence which is only seen where<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span> +great genius exists. The years he has already numbered +scarcely count to his disadvantage. Not very long ago I +should have considered this man as far the handsomest of +the two; but now the splendor of genius alone can satisfy +me....</p> + +<p>"I have had terrible news. President Lincoln has issued +a proclamation which emancipates all slaves in the rebellious +States. If this act is lawful, and can be enforced, I +am almost a beggar. All the property to which I have a +right lies in the strong arms of nearly three hundred negro +slaves. A single word, the mere writing of a man's name, +has swept all my wealth away. With the exception of my +jewels, I have nothing. This is a terrible blow, for I have +endured poverty, and shrink from it with absolute dread. +To me a luxurious ease and elegance are a fixed habit, and +so necessary that I could not live without them.</p> + +<p>"One consolation comes out of all this ruin. I am sure +that Lawrence has hesitated to say all that is in his heart +on account of my wealth, which, if rumor speaks truly, was +far greater than anything he can command. When I think +of this and glory in his sensitive delicacy, the loss of all my +slaves seems a less crushing calamity. This very day I +will tell him how suddenly the Act of Emancipation has +placed me on his level.</p> + +<p>"I have told him of the sweeping misfortune which has +left me on the verge of poverty. He looked at me in +alarm. His face clouded over, his eyes turned away from +mine. It was moments before he spoke.</p> + +<p>"'It is a misfortune,' he said, at last, and there was bitterness +in his voice, as if some wrong had been done himself. +'Poverty is a terrible thing; from my heart I pity you.'</p> + +<p>"'But it is not everything,' I faltered; 'surely happiness +can exist without wealth: you must not frighten me with +the thought that my future is all broken up.'</p> + +<p>"He shook his head, moved away from me abruptly, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span> +stood for a moment looking out upon the ocean in gloomy +silence. At last he came back and took my hand, which +was growing cold.</p> + +<p>"'It is a misfortune,' he said, 'but you will hardly feel +it. Something is left, if properly managed. You are young +and splendidly beautiful. A few smiles—a little condescension—and +fortunes will be laid at your feet, compared +to which that which you have lost will be nothing. As for +me—but I will not talk of myself. It is only another +dream broken up.' He turned abruptly, dropped my cold +hand from his clasp, and walked away, leaving me stranded, +as it were, like a wreck upon the shore.</p> + +<p>"What does this mean? 'It is only another dream broken +up.' These were his words. Merciful heavens! has this +ruin fallen on my whole life. Will poverty frighten back +the heart that was mine?</p> + +<p>"'Another dream broken up.' These words signify everything +that is humiliating and painful. If they have any +meaning at all, he is ready to give me up rather than face +the difficulties of my position. And I thought him so disinterested, +so proud!</p> + +<p>"Alas! I thought myself unhappy before, but this is perfect +desolation. 'Another dream broken up' for him—a +life broken up for me.</p> + +<p>"I do not believe it. I mistook the meaning of his words. +He loved me; I know he did. Was it not a consciousness +of too passionate tenderness that drove him away from me +when I was a married woman? Has he not sought me +since, and told me in a thousand ways how dear I was to +him? Has he not so mingled our future lives in his conversation +that there could be no mistaking the drift of his +thoughts? I am foolish to think that this will make any +lasting difference. Besides, Lincoln must be master of the +South before my slaves can be reached by any act of his.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"It is true: Lawrence, during the last week, has been +gradually withdrawing himself from my society. I have +seen him less frequently of late; he seldom joins me unless +I am surrounded by others. Our walks on the beach are +entirely broken up, and he no longer seeks me when I purposely +sit apart on the veranda of the hotel.</p> + +<p>"I have been so annoyed and felt so wronged by his conduct, +that a spirit of bitter retaliation is aroused in my +bosom. The most aristocratic and splendid man here is +Mr. Lee. I have noticed once or twice that Lawrence has +seemed a little disturbed by the slight interest this gentleman +has taken in me. He shall feel this more keenly before +the week is over. By that time a prouder and more fastidious +man than he is shall be my slave. That idea of the +power a brilliant coquette may wield, which he first planted +in my mind, shall bring forth bitter fruit for his eating +before I have done with him.</p> + +<p>"This man shall be at my feet again—I do not know +whether in love or hate; but no living creature shall ever +cast me off in this slow, heartless fashion. I am young, +beautiful, the fashion—but these things count for but little +in a contest with men like Lawrence. He it was who first +told me that I possess something far more powerful than +all these—intellect, talent, powers of combination, and +that subtle magnetism which no man has ever yet had +power to resist: compared with this, beauty, youth, and +fashion are trivial possessions. But I have them all, and +it shall go hard if this proud man is not made to feel their +influence. He thinks I accept the position, and do not feel. +Let him. I have not mingled in society and practised his +lessons for nothing. The 'brilliant coquette' with whom he +could associate with safety has at least learned how to conceal +her anguish. He shall yet find how fatal and poisonous +is the hatred growing up like a upas-tree in the desert +he has made. My acquaintance with Mr. Lee thrives. I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span> +have become the intimate friend of his daughter, a tender +nurse to his invalid wife. They are a singularly refined +and intelligent family, so loving and true that I almost +envy the simplicity which springs from so much goodness. +In my friendship for his wife and daughter I find the surest +means of interesting Mr. Lee.</p> + +<p>"What do I purpose by this? Why, to triumph over that +ingrate Lawrence by a conquest of the only man within +reach who is admitted to be his superior. He has humiliated +my pride, wounded my vanity, and, oh heavens! thrown +back the most passionate love that woman ever bestowed on +man, as too worthless for his acceptance without money. +Were Mr. Lee an unmarried man, this Lawrence should be +invited to act as his groomsman within the month. As it +is, he is distinguished and unapproachable to the common +herd. As to the rest, wait and see—wait and see!</p> + +<p>"Even here that man seems determined to thwart and +wound me. Once, when I was talking with Mr. Lee in a +low voice, watching the effect of this intimacy on Lawrence, +who stood near, from under my half-closed eyelashes, he +came up quietly, and desired to be introduced to my companion, +who that moment moved away unconscious of the +request.</p> + +<p>"Lawrence has become acquainted with the young lady. +I do not know how he managed it, but this morning when +I looked out upon the sea, thinking only of him, they were +standing together on the shore, conversing like old friends. +My heart stood still; I felt my very lips turn white. The +girl is rich, beautiful, and of good family. Almost her entire +life has been spent in France, and she has undoubtedly +brought all the arts and graces learned in foreign society in +order to insure her conquests here. How did she manage +to attract Lawrence? No woman has been able to do that +since he came here. Until now my influence has been supreme, +my society sufficient to his happiness;—<i>now</i> he is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span> +standing by her—yes, looking down into the eyes of that girl +with the air of a man entranced. What can it mean? +what can it mean?...</p> + +<p>"I have not slept all night. My brain whirls, my heart +aches; all the pride in my nature rises up in rebellion. I +hate that man. He loves her. I can see it in his eyes; I +can hear it in his speech. There is homage in the very bend +of his person when he salutes her. Never, even in the +first days of our acquaintance, has he addressed me with +such tender admiration. Oh, how I hate her! The blood +burns hotly in my veins when she approaches me. I long +to strike her down. But be quiet, proud heart! the time +will come—the time will come!</p> + +<p>"A gentleman has just arrived at the Branch from the +neighborhood of Mr. Lee's residence in Pennsylvania. He +is a bright, chivalrous, noble-hearted young fellow, evidently +in love with Jessie Lee, who looks upon him only as a generous +young man whom she has known all her life, and cannot +be particularly interested in. I discovered all this at +the first interview. Besides the disadvantage of a long intimacy, +she does not care for him because of the fascinations +this other man has thrown around her. Poor fellow! +how sad and bewildered he looks when she turns from him +with such unconscious indifference to listen for the footsteps +of his rival. How her cheek burns and her eyelids droop +when the one man approaches her! Ah! I know the feeling, +and could almost give pity for the disappointment in store +for her; for she shall be disappointed. His 'brilliant coquette' +is on the watch, softly, stealthily, but vigilant as a +fox. Where two men are in love with the same woman, +opportunities for complications are always arising. I shall +neither overlook or throw them aside.</p> + +<p>"Days and weeks have worn away,—that is the word,—worn +away with such dull joylessness that they seem to me +like the heavy dreams of a sick man. It is true this man<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span> +would have married me out of lukewarm love and a thirst +for money; but it is all over now. Both inclinations have +kindled up into fiery passion for this Jessie Lee, and she is +in love with him—a first love, deep and shy, but positive. +He sees this and exults in it, utterly careless that I see and +suffer.</p> + +<p>"My friends reproach me for my reckless gayety. They +complain that I am too greedy of pleasure, and give myself +no rest. Greedy of pleasure! I am only fleeing from pain; +I cannot pause to think without loathing the past and dreading +the future. I rush onward like a wounded animal, afraid +to pause lest I should be tempted to lie down and bleed to +death.</p> + +<p>"Lawrence has become close friends with young Bosworth. +They have known each other before, it seems, and +the acquaintance has been warmly renewed. There is craft +and calculation in this. Let me watch and wait. I knew +it. Lawrence seldom attempts to attract man or woman in +vain. This morning the blinds of my window were closed, +and I sat thoughtfully in the twilight of my room, listening +to the murmurs of the ocean, that seemed to grow softer and +more slumberous as the sun poured its silvery radiance upon +them. I was very sad. No one would have complained of +my spirits could they have seen me then.</p> + +<p>"All at once, voices startled me. Lawrence and young +Bosworth had paused near the closed blinds of my room. +Just before this, some invitation had evidently been extended +to Lawrence, and he accepted it with evident satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"'Of course I will come, my good fellow. Fine shooting, +a good horse, and such neighbors as the Lees, would draw a +man out of paradise. You may count on me for a month.'</p> + +<p>"'Then it is settled,' answered Bosworth, with a little +reserve; perhaps he was not altogether pleased that the +Lees were considered as an inducement for the visit. 'Then +it is settled. We will do our best to make your visit to the +old house pleasant.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span></p> + +<p>"They passed on after this, and left me trembling with indignation. +Lawrence had made arrangements to follow +Jessie Lee in a way that would commit him to nothing. +Here, my presence has been some restraint upon him. In +the country, his opportunities to see her will be far greater, +and he will become thoroughly acquainted with all the advantages +of her position.</p> + +<p>"Lawrence is going to visit his rival, Mr. Bosworth. I +will visit my rival, Miss Jessie Lee, at the same time. Before +the night closes in, I will have an invitation from both +the young lady and her invalid mother. As for Miss Hyde, +it would be a thousand years before I got one from her. She +does not like me, but I will become an inmate of her friends' +house nevertheless. I can almost smile when I think of the +confusion this arrangement will make.</p> + +<p>"The night has not darkened yet, and I am invited to The +Ridge. This is the name of Mrs. Lee's place in the country. +How easily these gentle and truthful women are managed. +They had not the least idea of inviting me when I entered +their parlor, but in ten minutes after it was all arranged. I +did not promise to go, however, but left the acceptance for +a future day. This uncertainty will prevent them mentioning +the visit to Lawrence....</p> + +<p>"I am here at The Ridge, an honored guest, welcome to +every one except Miss Hyde, who never has even pretended +to like me. She has great influence in the family; but how +long will it last? My enemies usually get into trouble in +some unexpected way before I have been with them long.</p> + +<p>"Lawrence is here, but I have managed that he shall not +know of my presence until we meet face to face. We have +a delicate game to play, and I shall enjoy the first move.</p> + +<p>"I have seen him. We went out on horseback this afternoon, +and he joined us. I was in my saddle when he rode +up, and smiled upon him as if we had met only yesterday. +His face flushed scarlet when he saw me. I made no effort<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span> +to have him near me, but rode on with Mr. Lee, who is +really one of the most charming men I ever saw. I watched +Lawrence closely, to detect some annoyance at this intimacy; +but his face was inscrutable. One thing was positive: my +presence annoyed him.</p> + +<p>"I think there was an effort made by Miss Hyde to keep +me from Mrs. Lee's sick-room, but all her petty obstacles +were swept away like a handful of rushes. Let this dainty +little person take care, or she may not long remain the +friend <i>par excellence</i> of the family. Mrs. Lee is very delicate, +and may at any hour drop out of life. They are +enormously rich, and most of the money comes from her +real estate. I suppose Lawrence knows all this, or he would +not have been in the neighborhood; but he shall never +marry this girl—never—never!</p> + +<p>"I am gaining something of my old ascendency over this +man; and as I gain, she loses—no matter how—but she +does. There are things which we never write, or care to see +on record even in our own hearts. I think the devoted attentions +of my host wound his vanity a little; and it is +for this reason I encourage them—with another, so vague and +remote that it scarcely takes shape as yet. But this is certain: +I will not be made bankrupt in everything. If love +fails me, I will have power and wealth. If he attains this +girl, I will sweep everything else out of his reach. The pale +woman up yonder in her tower-chamber cannot live forever.</p> + +<p>"There is a little imp of Satan in this house, who is constantly +with Mrs. Lee, vigilant as a fox, but, to all appearance, +stolid enough in everything where her mistress is not +concerned. She is completely uneducated, and seems to +observe or know nothing beyond her duties in the sick-room; +but she is forever there, and, I am sure, listens sometimes to +our conversation, though it makes no visible impression upon +her. I have told Cora to gain some influence over this +strange creature. Since then she has been in my room fre<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span>quently, +and yesterday proposed to dress my head, which +was beautifully done. She is very quiet, and takes no interest +in anything around her, but talks to Cora when I am +away, and the two are becoming very intimate. I shall find +her useful. In her simplicity she will tell Cora everything.</p> + +<p>"Young Bosworth has proposed to Jessie and been rejected; +I am sure of this, though she is honorably reticent, +and Miss Hyde refuses to speak. My relations with Lawrence +are getting more and more confidential and friendly. Yesterday +he even hinted at his attachment for Jessie. I listened +in dead stillness, holding my breath, for it seemed as if +some cruel hand were clutching at my heart. Does he think +that I have no feeling, no pride? Sometimes I hate the +man. How would he open this subject? How was I endowed +with power to listen without shrieking forth the agony +it inflicted?</p> + +<p>"He asked me, with an effort at carelessness, if I thought +there was anything serious in young Bosworth's attentions +to Miss Lee. His voice faltered a little, and I knew that he +was anxious. So I answered with gentle deliberation that +I knew very little of the matter. Cora had gathered from +the servants that they were mutually attached, but Mr. Lee +opposed the marriage, as young Bosworth's fortune was in +no reasonable proportion to that Miss Lee would inherit. +Lawrence winced at this, unless I am greatly mistaken. +Bosworth is a millionaire compared to him. If he has +property of any amount, I have been unable to learn the +fact. Indeed, he speaks of himself always as a poor man; +but that may be from calculation. Thinking that Bosworth +might know and have spoken of his friend's affairs, I have +brought up the subject once or twice when conversing with +Miss Hyde, but she evidently knew little or nothing about +it. Oh, why is he not a rich man! The temptation of Miss +Lee's fortune would be nothing to him then, and that girl +and I would stand on equal ground. With the odds so com<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span>pletely +against me, I have sworn to myself that he shall +never, never marry her.</p> + +<p>"She loves him, and I think he loves her; still he turns +to me for sympathy and counsel, believing that I forget +and forgive.</p> + +<p>"Yes, she has rejected young Bosworth, and he is ill, very +ill. That fine old lady, his grandmother, has sent for Miss +Hyde, who will take Jessie Lee to visit her sick lover. +Lawrence shall know this. He shall watch for her, going +and coming. What, but intense love, can account for a +step so singular—taken, too, without the knowledge of her +father, for I will see that no communication of the fact shall +reach him.</p> + +<p>"It is exactly as I wished. He saw her on the road; he +knows how angry her father was. His mortification is complete. +He suffers enough to make my soul rise up in arms +against him. To-day he betrayed one fact. The hope of +gaining her property was a powerful incentive, however +much he may love her. The man is worse than poor—heavily +in debt—and feels himself compelled to marry riches. Perhaps +this is the sole motive that brings him to the feet of +this beautiful heiress. If I thought so, he might marry her; +and I would wait a little till that frail woman—no, that is +a terrible thought; let it sleep—let it sleep. Still, what +would I do, even if Lawrence loved me? With extravagant +tastes like ours, and high social positions to maintain without +means, and he in debt, a marriage would be madness. +If I were only sure that he sought her for her money alone—but +I will not think of it.</p> + +<p>"Lawrence has gone. I could not endure to see his disappointment, +and let him depart supposing her engaged.</p> + +<p>"I cannot live without him. This beautiful place is a +desert, with all its blossoming flowers and rich appliances. +When I feel that he has gone, a gloom falls upon everything +around me. I am more lonely and miserable than his devo<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span>tion +to this young heiress could make me. Without his +society, life would be a heavy burden. But how is that to +be attained?</p> + +<p>"These few days have been important ones to me. I have +conjectured and thought till my brain aches and my heart is +sore. To-day I stood upon the top of the Ridge, looking out +upon the town and the vast landed estate owned by this +man. Miss Hyde was with me, and something she said led +me into a new train of thought. It seems that Jessie Lee is +an heiress in spite of her father. At her mother's death, +she will come in possession of half the estate. Of course, +she will always live near the homestead, and the man she +marries must necessarily be almost an inmate there. I have +thought of this a great deal. New combinations are arranging +themselves in my mind. If this rich man were +free—but I dare not think of it.</p> + +<p>"This lady is very lovely, but life must be a burden to +any invalid. I should think death a mercy compared to +the dull monotony of a sick-room. He is very tender and +kind to her; but full health and continued illness cannot +long remain in sympathy. He has learned this within the +last two months, or I am greatly mistaken. Jessie Lee is +getting distrustful of me. Miss Hyde has disliked me from +the first, but in the sick-room I am all-potent, and this +proud man does not himself dream of the power I have +attained over him....</p> + +<p>"I will do it; what choice have I? Poverty on one side, +loneliness, desolation. On the other, wealth, position, his +society. Oh, if I could only be sure that he does not love +her!</p> + +<p>"Having made up my mind, I am not one to falter. Yesterday +I was talking with her about opiates. She is very +nervous and wakeful at night, but refused to take laudanum. +Very well; I have persuaded her that chloroform will bring +rest, and she has some in her room. If she should take an +overdose, who can be astonished?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Last night I had a fearful struggle in her room. That +girl seems endowed with wonderful resistance. I cannot put +her so deeply into insensibility that she does not come out +with a suddenness that frightens me. Perhaps I am nervous; +everything startles me, and I feel panic-stricken at +the least sound.</p> + +<p>"After several failures I at last got the imp into perfect +unconsciousness. <i>She</i> was lying on her white bed, more like +a ghost than a human being. I stood over her; the dim +outline of her person was just visible, but my hand crept +slowly through the darkness, grasping the bottle, which was +already uncorked. I was resolute. There was no tremor +of heart or hand to hold me back. Slowly and steadily she +inhaled the drug. Her breath stopped—her hand, which +I grasped in mine, was growing cold, when I heard a +scraping noise behind me. In an instant the room was illuminated +with pale blue light. I turned in horror, and saw +the girl Lottie and Miss Hyde, both pale as death, gazing +upon me. I escaped them almost by a miracle. Cora came +to my aid, and, quick as a flash of lightning, changed the +bottle in my hand for another, while Miss Hyde was absolutely +holding me in her arms. The whole family were +aroused, but I received them calmly: the moment of peril +had passed, and, instead of sinking, my energies rose to the +conflict. But after I reached my room, the reaction was +terrible. I fell from one fainting fit to another until morning.</p> + +<p>"That girl Lottie suspects me. No fox waiting for prey +was ever more vigilant. I dare not venture to that room +again.</p> + +<p>"An idea struck me this afternoon. A few words, spoken +sadly and secretly by the sick woman, revealed means of +reaching the end I wish, which are entirely free from danger, +and may lead to other results. Let me think; let me plan. +Why did this idea never present itself before?</p> + +<p>"'To think that he did not love me, would be death,' she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span> +said. I felt the blood leap from my heart. This sentence +revealed a terrible power which might safely be used. A +power so subtle and deep-working that no human being +would ever guess at its fatal effects.</p> + +<p>"I have written this woman a letter, so completely imitating +Jessie Lee's handwriting that no human being can +detect the difference. In that letter I have accused myself +of attempting to entrap Mr. Lee, and of usurping the affections +that should belong to his wife. I have pointed out +proof after proof that he has ceased to regard her, and is +becoming weary of the life her illness forces upon him. I +have warned her that his love is already given to another, +and that her very life is becoming burdensome to him.</p> + +<p>"The letter is adroitly written, but has no signature. +Who could suppose any woman capable of maligning herself? +I have sent it to the mail. It will reach her to-morrow. +I cannot sleep to-night. Work like this requires a +heart of brass and nerves of steel.</p> + +<p>"It is done. She got the letter while we were out riding. +When we came back, her heart was broken—poor thing, +poor woman! I almost wish it had not been done. The +feeling of terror that seized upon me when I saw their white +faces, was awful. A faint sickness crept over me, but I +must go on and face the work I had done.</p> + +<p>"I kissed her while she was dying. Did Judas feel so +when he betrayed the Saviour? No wonder he went out +and killed himself. A drop of her life-blood clung to my +lips. I washed it off again and again, but it burns there yet—it +burns there yet....</p> + +<p>"Weeks have passed, mostly in solitude, for we keep apart +from each other, and meet gloomily when forced into domestic +companionship. I am sure this man loves me, though as +yet he has given no sign. I am equally sure that the other +inmates of the house hate me.</p> + +<p>"I have written to Lawrence, explaining away many things<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span> +that drove him from the neighborhood. I have told him +that Jessie Lee is not engaged—that she has loved him from +the first. This will bring him back. Let him marry her; +his presence is my life. That much at least will be secured.</p> + +<p>"He has been here, she has refused him utterly, and he is +furious. Oh, such words as he used, such cruel, hard truths +as he told me! They pierce my heart like arrows poison-tipped. +He does not love me—never did. This thought +makes me hard as iron, resolute as a tigress.</p> + +<p>"I am about to leave the Ridge. I have separated him +from his household. It was the necessity of my position. +Had these two women regained their influence over Mr. +Lee, I should have lost him too. As it is, they will be left +alone. I shall not be absent from his house twenty-four +hours before he will depart also.</p> + +<p>"He intends to leave home at once and travel in Europe. +About the end of this year he will be in Paris. He asked +no questions about my movements, but there was anxiety +and deep distress in his eyes that I understood.</p> + +<p>"I shall go at once to New York, sell my jewels, and hold +myself in readiness for anything that comes. But one thing +is certain—this man and I meet again."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Mrs. Dennison's journal closed here. I read it through, +word by word, until my very heart grew cold with horror +and dread. It is a terrible thing to be made the custodian +of a great crime. It haunted me night and day, until the +very burden of it threatened to undermine my health.</p> + +<p>I hid the book away, and locked it close from all knowledge +but my own. For the universe I would not have told +Jessie one word of the awful crime it revealed. I think it +would have killed her. But all this time my soul grew +faint with apprehension. The year was wellnigh at its +close. Would this woman carry out her project and meet +Mr. Lee in Paris? The thought drove me wild. I resolved<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span> +to leave home and cross the ocean rather than allow a +noble and good man to be wiled on to a union with that terrible +woman. But this was difficult. How could I leave +Jessie to such perfect loneliness? These thoughts filled my +mind day and night, haunting me almost into insanity.</p> + +<p>Sometimes I thought of Lottie with a gleam of hope: +possibly she had undertaken the daring enterprise which I +contemplated with so much terror. I resolved to wait +a while, hoping that she might send us some intelligence.</p> + +<p>Weeks went by and we heard nothing of her. She had +not promised to write—still we anxiously expected to hear +of her welfare; but nothing came. Like Mr. Lee, Lottie +seemed to have been swept out of our lives.</p> + +<p>All this was very sad; but we received a little sunshine +in the constant visits of young Bosworth, who was so happy +now in his but half acknowledged engagement to our Jessie +that all our troubles were chased away in his presence. As +for the old lady—but it is impossible to explain what a +protection and comfort her society proved to us at this time.</p> + +<p>A month—six weeks went by, and still nothing of Mr. +Lee or of Lottie; both had deserted us, and we were indeed +alone. Jessie had some consolation in the dawning tenderness +of her second love; but I—oh! those were dreary, +dreary days to me!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page385" name="page385"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LXXIV.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">LOTTIE'S LETTER.</span></h2> + + +<p>One morning I found a letter on the hall-table, which +sent all the blood from my heart. The handwriting I +did not know, but it had a foreign post-mark, and that set my +hand to trembling as I touched it. The address was to myself.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span></p> + +<p>Jessie was still in the room; so, like a thief, I snatched +the precious messenger, and went off to my old place on the +Ridge, where I could be sure of solitude. I was breathless +on reaching the rock, and sat down with a hand pressed +hard against my heart, which throbbed with suffocating violence.</p> + +<p>I sat down and tore open the envelope. It was a long, +heavy letter, closely written. I recognized the handwriting +with a thrill of dread. With a sinking heart I turned +over the pages, and saw "Lottie" written on the extreme +corner of the last sheet.</p> + +<p>"Lottie!" and the letter dated in Paris! What could it +mean? It was some moments before I composed myself +sufficiently to make out the first few lines, though they +were characteristic enough.</p> + +<p>"My very dear Miss Hyde," the letter began, "I a'n't +much used to writing letters, and it seems to me as if this +would be long and hard work; but things must be told, and +if I don't write them, who will?</p> + +<p>"You thought hard of me, I dare say, for leaving you +just as I did; but I thought just the other way about it, +and haven't changed my mind yet. It was tough work, +though, to get away from home and bid you both good-bye, +as I did. I hope to goodness you will never have to go +through with anything like it. I could not tell you then +what it was that set me off; but I will now.</p> + +<p>"That very morning, before I came down on you for the +money, the man from town brought over some things done +up in a newspaper more than six weeks old, and in it I read +that Mrs. Bab—I beg pardon—Madam Dennison had set +sail in a steamboat for a place called Havre, across the +Atlantic Ocean; I know more of places and things than +you might believe. I was sure that Havre was in Europe, +and knew well enough that Mr. Lee was there—a rich +widower—with no one in the wide world to keep him from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[Pg 387]</a></span> +getting into scrapes. Of course, anybody that could see +through a mill-stone might have known what that she-Bab—no, +I mean that lady and servant—went to Havre for.</p> + +<p>"Well, I thought it all over, and made up my mind what +to do. First, I concluded to keep a close mouth in regard to +Miss Jessie, for I was sure that she would wilt right down; +and as for you—well, no matter: that little secret lies between +you and me. Silent was the word then; but I had +made up my mind to travel, and was bound to do it. But +people can't sail across oceans, and gulfs, and inlets, and +such kind of waterworks, without money, and I hadn't but +two half-dollars in the world. You know how I came down +on you and the dear young lady like a roaring lion, and got +that six hundred dollars; I'd rather have danced on red-hot +coals an hour than do what I did. It was just highway +burglary, and nothing less. I hate myself for it yet.</p> + +<p>"Well, after I got the money I made quick work of it, +sat up all night, did a little packing, a little praying, and a +great deal of crying till daylight came; then I put for the +railroad and flashed down to New York. A newspaper that +I bought of a little boy in the cars told me that a steamer +sailed for Havre that very day. The minute we stopped in +New York I got lost in a crowd of carriage-drivers and +long whips, that seemed terribly glad to see me; and one +of them took me on one side as kind as could be, asking +where I wanted to go, promising to take me right there—that +is, to the steamer—trunk and all, in no time.</p> + +<p>"The man kept his word. I got into his carriage, and +we drove through long streets, and cross-streets, down among +acres of ships that looked like blasted trees, and at last we +got to a steamer with stairs down its black sides, and +smoke puffing out from its chimneys in a frightful way.</p> + +<p>"The man climbed up the stairs with my trunk on his +shoulder; I followed. He set it down, and I sat down on +it. Then the man wanted two dollars, and I gave him one,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span> +at which he grumbled a little; but I told him that I had +travelled, and knew what was what. Then he went away +and left me alone in the crowd; so I had a good cry all to +myself, thinking of you folks at home, and wondering what +would become of me in the end.</p> + +<p>"While I was sitting there <i>so</i> heavy-hearted, the bells +started out a-ringing, the steamer began to heave and groan, +half the people went helter-skelter down the side of the vessel, +and the other half crowded toward one end. Then we +began to move, and I felt the blood creep up and down my +limbs as shivery as ice. I remember seeing, through the +tears that almost blinded me, handkerchiefs waving and +people crying on the deck and down on the wharf; but there +was nobody to cry about me, nor shake away their sorrow +from a white handkerchief; so I just huddled down on the +trunk and gave right up.</p> + +<p>"Oh! how my heart sunk as the steamer swung round +and dashed out into the great river; and, to scare me worse, +a gun went off, bang! sending a stream of smoke behind us. +I covered my face in my hands and cried—oh! how I did +cry!</p> + +<p>"When I looked up again, New York was a great way +off; the ships looked like a forest of dead pine-trees, and +everything else lay in a blue fog. I looked the other way, +where the sun was going down in the deep, deep water. +There everything was lonesome as the grave, and I almost +wished that I was dead. But the steamer kept on prowling +along the water, like a great wild beast, worrying us all into +the next world. It seemed as if I was going off, far, far +away from where my mistress had gone.</p> + +<p>"I had been lonesome before in my life; but this was +worse than that. I wanted to creep into some corner and +die. Then I remembered that I had promised <i>her</i>, when she +lay dead in the tower-chamber, to be a mother to you and +Miss Jessie, and made a little prayer to God that He would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[Pg 389]</a></span> +help me in the thing that I was going about. It was all +I could do.</p> + +<p>"When the steamer was out in the deep waters, and the +dark came on, a man stood by my trunk and asked why it +was that I stayed out of my room. Then I told him my trunk +was room enough for me just then; so he went away and +brought another man, who asked if I had a state-room and +a ticket.</p> + +<p>"I told him the truth—that I didn't know what a state-room +was; but that something I had eaten must have made +me sick, and I wanted to lie down dreadfully.</p> + +<p>"The man told me that a state-room would cost more +than a hundred dollars; so I told him I'd rather stay on +deck, for there was no certainty how much money I might +want to spend before I got back.</p> + +<p>"Then they began talking about second cabins, and asked +how much money I could pay; but, somehow, I was too sick +to care much, and let 'em pay themselves; so they took me +down into a room with beds made like shelves along the +sides, and I fell into one. Oh, mercy! I can't think of it +now without being dizzy.</p> + +<p>"Day and night—day and night—rock, rock—plunge, +plunge—till at last there was an end of the eternal waters, +and we landed at Havre,—an old fussy place that seemed +as unsteady as the ship.</p> + +<p>"Europe is a large place, Miss Hyde, and I didn't know +whereabouts in it Mr. Lee or that woman was to be found; +but I had money, and the mistress always taught me to +trust in God when I couldn't do anything on my own hook. +So I watched everything that went on among the passengers, +and kept a prayer for help stirring in the bottom of my +heart.</p> + +<p>"At first I was about to ask some of the passengers which +way I'd better turn, but concluded to wait. So I followed +the crowd when it left the steamer, and it took me into a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[Pg 390]</a></span> +hotel as old as the hills, where women were running round +in their nightcaps and chattering like tame crows.</p> + +<p>"I went into a room with the rest, and sat down with my +satchel on my lap, keeping a keen eye on everything. We +had to wait a good while; for the men at the wharf wanted +to see if everything was put up nicely in my trunk; but +they promised to give it back, and a passenger said he +would send it with his to the hotel, as I was alone. I had to +wait.</p> + +<p>"As I sat there watching, some gentlemen came in that +seemed to know some of our passengers. They had just +run down from Paris, I heard them say, to meet their friends +on landing. They were nice, genteel men, and I listened to +their talk, having nothing else to busy myself with. After +a good deal of shaking hands and questioning about the +voyage, they began to talk about Paris, especially about its +hotels, and what Americans were at them.</p> + +<p>"I held my breath and listened. The Hotel de Louvre, or +Loofer, or something like that, they said, was the hotel where +Americans went most. There was a great number of distinguished +persons there now, and they went over a list of +names. When they came to that of Mr. Lee, I caught my +breath, and sprang up, dropping my satchel, with the gold +in it, with a clank to the floor. No one minded me; so I +sat down again, trembling all over, and listened. Then +Mrs. Dennison's name was huddled in among the rest, and +I knew that the persons I was in search of were in the same +town together, and very near too; for the men who had run +down from Paris didn't seem out of breath or the least tired. +So I made up my mind to go there at once, and come back +in an hour or two after my trunk.</p> + +<p>"'Please, sir,' said I to one of the gentlemen, 'can you +tell me just how far Paris is from this hotel, and which way +I must turn?'</p> + +<p>"He looked at me a minute, and smiled with his eyes.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'It is about six hours, I think,' he answered; 'any +coachman will take you to the depot.'</p> + +<p>"I was rather discouraged. If it took him six hours to +run the distance, I should find it a long walk. So I concluded +to hire a carriage and take my trunk along.</p> + +<p>"After awhile my trunk came up with a heap of other +baggage, and, as everybody else was starting off in carriages, +I hired one too; and when the man asked where I +wanted to go, I told him to the Louvre Hotel in Paris. He +drove away at once, and after a few minutes stopped at a +railroad depot, and opened the door for me to get out.</p> + +<p>"'This is the right train,' he said, in the queerest English +I ever heard. 'I will get you a ticket.'</p> + +<p>"I felt myself blushing, but said nothing. He didn't +know that I had thought of walking. In less than ten +minutes I was whizzing along like anything over the most +beautiful country, and through the queerest old towns, and +by the strangest houses with points and caps and corners +like great table-casters cut in stone. Then the dark came +on, and I fell sound asleep, till a great crash and jar awoke +me in a depot right in the midst of a city larger than New +York, all blazing with lights and crowded with folks.</p> + +<p>"I had learned a thing or two by this time, and when a +driver put himself in my way, told him that I wanted to go +to Mr. Louvre's Hotel, and that he'd better get my trunk. +He didn't seem to understand a word except the name of +Mr. Louvre; but he caught that at once and nodded his head.</p> + +<p>"'<i>We, we!</i>'</p> + +<p>"'Yes,' I said, 'both of us. You couldn't very well drive +me without going too, I should think.'</p> + +<p>"So up he came with a little one-horse concern, and in I +got. Oh! what streets, and lanes, and roads of lamps I went +through! What crowds of people—what tall, tall houses! +They made me more dizzy than I had been, and that was +bad enough.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[Pg 392]</a></span>"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page392" name="page392"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LXXV.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">LOTTIE IN PARIS.</span></h2> + + +<p>"At last we reached the hotel—a great, grand house, +that frightens one by its size; it must cover acres +and acres; you could not count the number of lights, and +crowds of people going up and down the stairs.</p> + +<p>"They took me into a room half-way up to the sky, and +there I sat down with my head aching and clear tired out. +You didn't know, I suppose, that I have learned a good +many French words from the mistress: such as <i>du pain</i>, +which means bread; and <i>le the</i>, for tea; and <i>sucre</i>, which +a'n't much different from our sugar, only you mumble it +up in your mouth before speaking, and let it all out at once.</p> + +<p>"Well, I was dying with thirst, and my head throbbed +terribly. The man called me <i>madmoiselle</i>, and looked polite +and sorry; so I said:</p> + +<p>"'<i>Donna moia</i> a cup of <i>the</i>, if you please, <i>mousheu</i>.'</p> + +<p>"He looked bewildered a minute, and then brightened +up so pleasant:</p> + +<p>"'<i>Ah! le the! We, we!</i>'</p> + +<p>"'No,' said I, thinking how improper it would be for +that strange man to sit down to tea with a young girl in her +room that time of night; 'only for myself; one cup will +do. Excuse me.'</p> + +<p>"He did not stop to hear, but went off and came back +with a china cup and saucer on a little silver tray, as if I +had been a born lady. I stirred up the tea and tasted it.</p> + +<p>"'<i>Donna moia un petite</i> more <i>sucre</i>, if <i>vous</i> please,' said I.</p> + +<p>"'<i>We, madmoiselle, toot sweet,</i>' says he.</p> + +<p>"The fellow pronounced 'too' as if it had a <i>t</i> in it; but +then, how could he understand good English?</p> + +<p>"'No, no—not too sweet' said I; 'the contrary way. I +want more <i>la sucre</i>, sugar, you know.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[Pg 393]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The fellow really did not understand his own language, +but stood there looking wild as a fish-hawk. All at once +he brightened up and ran out of the room. Directly he +came back with another man. The moment I saw his face +I jumped up, ready to scream with joy, and—and—yes, +Miss Hyde, don't blush! but I sprang right into his arms +and gave him a kiss.</p> + +<p>"Who was it? Why, James, Mr. Lee's own man—a person—well, +Miss Hyde, we all have secrets; but if ever a +girl had a right to kiss a friend in a strange place, I had—that's +all.</p> + +<p>"'Oh! James, James Grant! It's Providence that sent +you here!'</p> + +<p>"'No,' he said, holding me tight and stopping my mouth +while choke-full of words, 'I rather think it was your bad +French, Lottie.'</p> + +<p>"I would have struck him; only he held me so near and +so tight it was impossible.</p> + +<p>"The waiter went out softly. What sensible people these +Frenchmen are! Then I forgot my headache and everything +but the business in hand. James is a good scholar, +you know, and understands French like a book. If ever +Providence sent a friend at the right time, He did it that +night. First I began asking questions.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Lee had been away down East in Jerusalem, Palestine, +across deserts, and over pyramids, for almost the +whole time since he left home. Sorrowful as a man could +be, but always going ahead, as if comfort lay in sharp work. +Then he had come back into Italy, and so into France, +which is Paris, you know.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Dennison was in the hotel when Mr. Lee got there; +James thinks, unexpectedly to his master, but is not certain. +He knows that she wrote letters to him, any way.</p> + +<p>"'She is here, then—she has been setting her traps,' I +said. 'Tell me everything, James, if you ever loved the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[Pg 394]</a></span> +sweet lady who is dead, or her child, who is pining herself +to death at our own dear home. Tell me everything!'</p> + +<p>"'Yes,' he said, 'it's no use going over the tracks; but +she's got him, and to-morrow they will be married at the +American Embassy.'</p> + +<p>"'To-morrow! Married, to-morrow!' I almost screamed.</p> + +<p>"'Yes,' he answered; 'nothing can stop it. I passed a +woman who brought home the wedding-dress as I came up-stairs.'</p> + +<p>"I caught hold of James and held his arms down tight.</p> + +<p>"'Nothing can stop it, James? Yes, sir, you and I can +stop it; you and I <i>will</i> stop it! I never promised right out +before, James; but if you'll help me to expose this woman, +I'll—I'll—yes, you and I'll take their place, and be +married at the American Embassy right off ourselves.'</p> + +<p>"He—well, Miss Hyde, I won't worry you by telling +what he said or did just then; but my face burned like fire +half an hour after.</p> + +<p>"Now comes the hardest part of my story. Don't clasp +your hands and pray for me, as the worst sinner that ever +was; for I a'n't quite that! Still, you think so much of a +little fib, and listening, and breaking open seals, that I'd +rather not write it if a great deep ocean of water wasn't +rolling between you and me. Miss Hyde, I own it, lies +a'n't my delight; but I can tell 'em. Peeping through keyholes +and windows isn't my nature; but, anyhow, I did it. +More than that: I never let one of Mrs. Dennison's letters +leave our house without reading it. One or two letters I +kept back altogether, because they were written in French, +and I couldn't read that. They are with me here. It was +to give them into Mr. Lee's hand that I came across the +wide ocean. She suspected me—or her girl Cora did—and +hired one of the men to mail them safely; but I knew a +better way of bribing him to give them up. True, it made +James jealous to see how thick I was with the man; but I +couldn't help that.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[Pg 395]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Babylon was cute, though; she wrote carefully. It was +to some old friend—who was as bad as herself—to whom +the letters were sent. I have some of her answers, too, as +well as the journal; these were the papers that I laid before +James Grant that night.</p> + +<p>"I could only make out a word here and there in the +French letters. If you hadn't been so crank about honor +and all that, I would have brought them to you; I couldn't +make up my mind to take the preaching. But I watched. +You know, Miss Hyde, no dog ever kept watch as I did over +that angel!</p> + +<p>"She died. The worst came while I was wondering what +to do. There was no use in telling what I had done. She +was dead; and I thought then that the woman would go +away and leave us to our mourning. If she came back +again, I meant to give the journal up and have you read the +French letters. You know how she left, and why it was +Mr. Lee went off in that strange way; I could only guess. +You wouldn't trust me; so I wouldn't trust you. But +when I found that Babylon had gone chasing after Mr. Lee, +just as his year of mourning was over, I followed her.</p> + +<p>"I gave the journal and letters to James, and we read +them over together. James reads French, and can turn it +into English as easy as talking. So he gave me the English, +which was a good deal like her journal, full of sin and iniquity."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page395" name="page395"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LXXVI.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">THE CASKET OF DIAMONDS.</span></h2> + + +<p>"When we had read the letters and the journal, I tied +them together, and sat down to talk the matter over +with James, who is as good as a lawyer any day.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[Pg 396]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'Where is our master now?' I said. 'What time is it?'</p> + +<p>"'It is nine. I think he may soon be in Mrs. Dennison's +parlor; for Cora told me that her lady wished to try on the +wedding-dress, and hoped Mr. Lee would come in when it +was complete. I took the message, and he answered, 'Very +well.'</p> + +<p>"'James,' I said, 'we have no time to lose. Is there no +way by which I can get into Mrs. Dennison's rooms before +the master comes in?'</p> + +<p>"James thought a little, and said, 'Yes, it will be easy. +When Mrs. Dennison is dressed they will go into her parlor. +It opens from her bedroom by an arched doorway hung +with silk curtains. When they leave the bedroom, I will +let you in.'</p> + +<p>"He went out to see what was going on, and came back +all in a hurry, opened the door, and whispered, 'Come, +quick!'</p> + +<p>"I went, and in two minutes was in a large bedroom, +warmed up like sunset with the light that came pouring +through the broad red curtains which hung between it and +the next room.</p> + +<p>"'Step softly, and hide somewhere if they come in,' whispered +James.</p> + +<p>"'I will,' says I.</p> + +<p>"Then I crept up to the curtain, pushed the red folds +back a trifle, and looked in.</p> + +<p>"It was a large room, lighted, like our drawing-room, +with a great chandelier, and furnished beautifully. <i>She</i> +and Cora were standing under the blaze of lights, all in a +flutter of pride. It's no use, Miss Hyde: I've wanted to +think that woman wasn't good-looking, but it's fighting +against one's own eyes. There she stood, with that wedding-dress +of white moire antique a-sweeping down her tall figure, +and lying behind her like ridges of snow on the carpet. +All down the front and around the neck, which was smooth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[Pg 397]</a></span> +as a japonica leaf, lace was fluttering, till the whole dress +looked soft as snow. On her head she wore a sort of crown +made of pearls like the mistress's necklace that she thought +so much of, and from under that fell a lace veil that looked +like frostwork on a window, and covered her from head to +foot.</p> + +<p>"Cora was spreading down the veil as I looked in. Then +she stepped back and had a good survey.</p> + +<p>"'Will it do?' said Mrs. Dennison, drawing herself up +proud as a peacock.</p> + +<p>"'It's superb!' answered Cora.</p> + +<p>"'We will make it a little more perfect before he comes +in,' says Babylon; and, going to a desk, she took out a long +morocco case, and opened it under the light, when a flame +of fire flashed out of it.</p> + +<p>"Cora took the box out of Babylon's hand.</p> + +<p>"'From him?' says she.</p> + +<p>"'Yes,' answers Babylon, curving her neck.</p> + +<p>"'How much did they cost?'</p> + +<p>"'Of course he did not tell me that, Cora. Ten or fifteen +thousand dollars, I suppose; but they are nothing to what +I'll yet have.'</p> + +<p>"'You will not wear them to-morrow?'</p> + +<p>"'Well, no. It would be a little too much, I fear; but +we will put them on now, just to try the effect.'</p> + +<p>"'No,' says Cora, looking very stubborn; 'I want these. +It's no more than fair.'</p> + +<p>"'Cora!' cried Babylon, with fire in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"'Why not?' says Cora. 'You have promised over and +over again to provide for me when you had the means. +Here is something sure.'</p> + +<p>"'Cora, this is too impudent!'</p> + +<p>"'Why? Is it wrong for sisters to share each other's +good fortune, especially when one has done as much to earn +it as the other?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[Pg 398]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Babylon doubled up her white fist, and looked a whole +thunder-gust from under her bent eyebrows.</p> + +<p>"'Sisters! How dare you?'</p> + +<p>"'Because I am your sister.'</p> + +<p>"'You! whose mother was a black slave!'</p> + +<p>"'And my father your father! What can you say +against him?'</p> + +<p>"Babylon seemed to struggle against her temper, and got +the better of it.</p> + +<p>"'Give me those diamonds, Cora. Of course I do not dispute +what you say, and always meant to make you independent; +but not after this fashion. Wait till this ceremony is +over and I have control of sufficient means. You must see +that it would be ruin to part with these.'</p> + +<p>"'I cannot help that. What security have I that you +will keep your word when you are married? It never has +been kept. The truth is, I mean to stay in this country, +where my color is not sneered at, and I must have the +means.'</p> + +<p>"'But have I not promised?'</p> + +<p>"'Yes, a good many times; and I mean that you shall +perform too! This ceremony shall never take place till I +am sure of that!'</p> + +<p>"Babylon grew pale as a ghost; something seemed to +swell in her throat.</p> + +<p>"'Give back the diamonds,' she said, speaking as if she +had a cold; and you shall have a written promise for twice +their amount three months after I am married.'</p> + +<p>"'When?'</p> + +<p>"'Now. I will write out the paper at once.'</p> + +<p>"'Well, but remember it is made out to Cora, <i>your half-sister</i>, +or I will not take it.'</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Dennison came to a little table that stood close by +the arch, and, kneeling down on one knee, began to write. She +seemed to hold her breath, and was pale as the pearls on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[Pg 399]</a></span> +her head. I could have touched her with my hand, but I +stood still as a mouse until the paper was written. Cora +came and looked over her shoulders as she signed her name. +Just as it was done, there came a knock at the door, and +both the women started away from the table, leaving the +paper on it. I reached my hand softly through the curtain, +and got it safe just as Mr. Lee came in.</p> + +<p>"Babylon was white as a sheet, and shook so that the +dress rustled around her.</p> + +<p>"'Is she not beautiful, sir?' says Cora, looking as innocent +as a lamb.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Lee smiled. Oh! Miss Hyde, isn't he grand? +But in a minute his face changed, and, coming up to Mrs. +Dennison, he took her hand and kissed it.</p> + +<p>"'How pale you are! Does the thought of to-morrow +terrify you so much?'</p> + +<p>"She gave him one of her looks, and drew closer to him, +like a lamb wanting shelter. He bent toward her, and, as +Cora slid out of the room, put his arm around her waist, +whispering something that I was too mad to hear.</p> + +<p>"I couldn't stand it. My poor mistress seemed to whisper, +'Now, Lottie, I trust to you!' I pushed the curtains +aside, and, walking right straight in, stood before them.</p> + +<p>"'Mrs. Dennison,' says I, 'let go of my dead lady's husband. +Mr. Lee, an angel has just come down from heaven +to save you from a wicked, wicked fiend. I, a poor girl, am +doing her work. Step back, Mrs. Dennison, till my master +reads these letters, and this journal, with its purple cover +and heaps of sin inside. If you want to know all about the +bad heart of this woman, read it,' says I to Mr. Lee again; +'then ask her to look into your eyes if she dares.'</p> + +<p>"The woman turned on me with her great scared eyes—saw +the journal in my hand—gave a wild look at the table—staggered +toward the curtains—flung them back with an +outward dash of her arms, and fell upon the floor of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[Pg 400]</a></span> +other room. As the red curtains closed over her, I reached +out the papers to Mr. Lee, and whispered, with tears in my +eyes:</p> + +<p>"'Oh, master! read them for her sake, who loved you so +dearly.'</p> + +<p>"Mr. Lee put me back so fiercely that I almost fell. He +went right up to the woman where she lay shivering and +shaking till her white dress heaved and fluttered like a +snow-heap in the wind. He was pale as a sheet, and his +eyes looked mad as fire when he turned them toward me; +but I stood my ground like a marble image planted on a +rock. I hadn't come sailing over the raging ocean, like a +pelican in the wilderness, to be looked down by him or +fainted down by her—not I, if I know myself, which I think +I do.</p> + +<p>"'My darling,' says he, bending over her, 'why should +the sight of this wild girl agitate you so? She can have +no influence on me.'</p> + +<p>"Babylon seemed to get strength from this. She lifted up +her head, flung the veil back from her face, and looked me +through and through with her wild eyes.</p> + +<p>"'She is put up to this. They hate me. It is another +effort to prejudice you against me. You remember the last. +Now they will no doubt resort to forgery. People who write +anonymous letters will not hesitate to go further. Oh! they +will separate us—they will separate us!'</p> + +<p>"'Is this book a forgery?' says I, holding up the purple +journal. 'Is this writing yours?'</p> + +<p>"Her face seemed to cramp up; her lips turned blue-white.</p> + +<p>"That moment Cora made a leap upon me, and snatched +at the book like a hungry wolf; but I wrenched it away +from her, and pressed myself back against the wall, holding +it behind me.</p> + +<p>"That moment James came in and stood by me like a +hero, as he is.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[Pg 401]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'No you don't,' said I; 'no person touches this book +till Mr. Lee has read it.'</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Dennison turned her eyes upon me—such beautiful +begging eyes—that, if it hadn't been for my dead lady, I +might have given up the book; but I thought of her, and +was firm as a rock. 'Leave this room,' said Mr. Lee, turning +upon me like a lion. 'How dare you come here!'</p> + +<p>"'My dead lady, your wife, commanded me to come,' I +answered, feeling myself grow tall and strong. 'She was +murdered by that woman, and you are bound to know it. +Read this—it is in her own handwriting.'</p> + +<p>"'It belongs to my lady. The imp of Satan stole it!' cried +Cora, fierce as a wild-cat. 'No one has a right to read it.'</p> + +<p>"Mr. Lee had helped Babylon to her feet, and stood, with +one arm around her waist, looking from her to me.</p> + +<p>"'It is mine,' she whispered; 'make her give it up.'</p> + +<p>"'But I have read every word of it. I have left a copy +at home, which Miss Hyde has now. A minute ago you said +it was a forgery; now, you both own up—you and your +yellow sister there.'</p> + +<p>"At this, Mr. Lee seemed to be turning into stone, all +but his eyes, that shot fire at me.</p> + +<p>"'What does she mean?' asked Babylon. The words +dropped from her like lead. It seemed as if she hadn't +the strength to speak.</p> + +<p>"'She's crazy!' says Cora. 'My mistress never had +either brother or sister.'</p> + +<p>"'Hadn't she?' says I. 'Just look at this paper, Mr. +Lee, and then ask her how she came to write there that this +yellow girl is her father's child. I heard the impudent +creature threaten her, if she didn't give up the diamonds you +sent here this morning, or write this promise just so.'</p> + +<p>"'The diamonds!' said Mr. Lee, loosening his arm from +Babylon's waist and looking in her face. 'How could this +girl know about them?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[Pg 402]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Babylon shivered, and her eyes seemed to shrink back +under her eyelids when she looked at the table and saw that +the paper was gone. Cora crept softly up to where I was +standing, and whispered: 'Half the money if you hold +your tongue. If you don't, I'll kill you!'</p> + +<p>"I gave the creature one of my looks, handed the journal +over to James, and held the paper open between my two +hands, before Mr. Lee's eyes. He could not help but read +it. Babylon lifted her hand as if to strike it down, but it +dropped by her side when she saw that he was reading, and +she leaned against the door-frame, clenching at the red curtains +in a spasm. Oh! she looked awful splendid with her +white dress pressed against the red curtains, that shook around +her like flaming fire. The diamonds on her head seemed to +burn through and through her veil, but her white face was +cramped worse than ever, and I almost thought she would +drop down dead at Mr. Lee's feet.</p> + +<p>"He took the paper from my hands and read it through. +Then he looked once or twice from Mrs. Dennison to Cora, +who was turning whitish-gray, and looked awfully.</p> + +<p>"'Is there any explanation of this strange paper?' he +said; and his voice seemed to come out of a heap of ice, it +had changed so.</p> + +<p>"Babylon opened her lips, but they would not give out +the lie that was ready, I haven't the least doubt. But +Cora came forward bold as brass.</p> + +<p>"'It is a forgery!' she said; 'the lady never promised +me anything after she was married. I am no more her sister +than that imp of Satan is.</p> + +<p>"'But if this paper was a forgery, how did you know +what it contained?' said Mr. Lee, in the same cold way. +And, with this, he walked out of the room without saying +another word.</p> + +<p>"Babylon made a spring toward the door when he went +out of it, with her hands clenched together, and her veil<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[Pg 403]</a></span> +streaming out behind; but when she saw that he never +turned or looked back, her knees gave way, and she fell in +a white heap on the carpet.</p> + +<p>"I began to feel sorry for the poor creature then, and +tried to help her up, but Cora pushed me away; and +would have sent me whirling through the door, but +James caught me in his arms, and so seemed to lead me out. +When we were safe in the passage, I told James to take the +journal right to his master's room and strike while the iron +was hot, or those two sea-serpents would get around him +again.</p> + +<p>"He went—like a good fellow as he is—and I shut +myself up in my room, knowing well enough that I had done +right, but feeling sorry in my heart for poor Babylon all +the same. So I sat down by the window and had a good cry +all to myself.</p> + +<p>"In half an hour James called me to his master's room. +He was white as marble, and tears stood in his eyes. He +took my two hands in his, pressed them hard, then, leaning +one elbow on the table, covered his face with his hand. I +saw great tears drop through his fingers; they broke my +heart. The first thing I knew, down I had fallen on my two +knees, and was kissing his other hand as if he had been my +dear mistress who is dead and gone. That night I told him +everything about Miss Jessie, and all your goodness. Oh! +how he thanked me! Miss Hyde, don't ever want to see a +man cry; it's enough to break one's heart!</p> + +<p>"The next morning Mrs. Dennison and her servant had +left the hotel. In three days I shall be on my way home. +Do be glad to see Lottie; for she feels like a bird far away +from its nest, and has been, ever since she left the Ridge.</p> + +<p> +"Your old friend till death, <span class="smcap">Lottie</span>."<br /> +</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[Pg 404]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a id="page404" name="page404"></a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LXXVII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller">ALL TOGETHER AGAIN.</span></h2> + + +<p>After reading this letter, I told Jessie everything. She +had no heart to read the journal in my possession, and +its worst points—those which related to her mother's death—I +kept from her in common mercy. Of course, all that she +did learn was a relief to her. She knew that her father +would soon be at home again, and that no cause of estrangement +now existed between them. This removed the only +shadow now falling upon her young life. That very day +she began preparations for her father's return; and when +young Bosworth came, there was a joyous consultation between +them about the best way of receiving him. I saw +them looking toward me and whispering mysteriously. +Were they consulting about the propriety of my residence +in the house after they left it? The thought fell upon me +with a shock of such pain as I pray God may never be repeated. +Let what will come, my fate seems to be one of +utter loneliness. But I am glad to see these young people +so happy: never, I do think, was love more complete than +that which exists between them now.</p> + +<p>It scarcely seemed possible for a letter to reach us from +Europe, when Lottie herself rushed in upon us with an +exquisite French bonnet on her head, and a dress that trailed +sumptuously behind her little figure. In she came, darting +through the room like an arrow, and was in my arms, bathing +my face with tears and smothering me with kisses, before +I was quite aware of her presence. When Jessie came in +with Mr. Bosworth, who had been walking with her in the +garden, Lottie sprang upon her like a pet spaniel, clung to +her neck, her waist, and at last fell to the floor in an outburst +of gladness, and embraced her knees, crying, laughing,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[Pg 405]</a></span> +and murmuring words of tender endearment, in which some +rather curious French was mingled.</p> + +<p>After this Lottie resumed her self-poise. She shook hands +with young Bosworth in a patronizing way, and gave the +servants an audience in the basement sitting-room, informing +them all that she had just returned from a pleasure-trip +to Europe, where she had seen the Emperor, and should, +doubtless, have been invited to court, only the Empress did +not happen to be very well while she was in Paris.</p> + +<p>In this way that strange, heroic girl came back to her old +home, which was brighter and more cheerful after she resumed +her place, not as a servant, but as a tried friend of +the family, which she retained till her marriage with James.</p> + +<p>A fortnight after Lottie's return, Mr. Lee came home. +He sent us a letter from New York, saying that he had +landed there, and desiring that the cause and events connected +with his absence might never be mentioned among +us after his return. Everything was understood and explained; +all that he asked now was a perfect reunion.</p> + +<p>One night about dusk, Mr. Lee came home very quietly +and quite unannounced. He was calm, cheerful, and his +own noble self again, and his absence seemed almost like a +dream to us.</p> + +<p>That night, before he retired, I saw him going toward +the library with his arm around Jessie's waist. When they +came out again, I could see that Jessie had been crying; +but she looked happy notwithstanding these traces of tears, +and when she bade her father good-night, he left a blessing +upon her forehead.</p> + +<p>In the solitude of that half-hour, the proud man had +asked forgiveness of his own child, and she came forth with +a heart almost broken with tenderness for him.</p> + +<p>After this his love for Jessie became a part of his life; +he fairly worshipped her. But his manner to me changed. +He was kind, gentle, generous; but all this was accompanied<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[Pg 406]</a></span> +with a sort of reserve almost amounting to shyness. Had I +indeed offended him beyond forgiveness? How often I asked +myself this question, and each time my heart sunk into +deeper depression; for who could answer it? Let who would +be happy, it seemed that I was always to suffer. Indeed, it +required some little magnanimity not to feel the difference +between the lonely, unloved existence reserved for me, and +Jessie's brilliant lot.</p> + +<p>A few months after Mr. Lee's return, wedding preparations +were making cheerful progress in our house. Jessie +would leave us on a bridal tour, and then come back to the +old mansion behind the hill, which the two Mrs. Bosworths +had vacated for a pretty cottage on the grounds, and refurnished +sumptuously for the young people. Everybody +was pleased—everybody was happy, except myself. What +could become of me? When Jessie was gone, my home +would be broken up again. I must be cast forth a waif +upon the world. How could I help being sad?</p> + +<p>Just a week before Jessie's wedding, I sat alone in the +deep window of the drawing-room, thinking of my desolated +future, and weeping those still tears that one learns to shed +after much sorrow. It was sunset. Young Bosworth and +Jessie were in the garden, and I could hear their happy +voices coming up from among the flowers.</p> + +<p>As I sat there, so dreary and loveless, some person entered +the room. I knew by the tread that it was Mr. Lee, +and tried to conceal myself; but he came directly to the +window and stood at my side, looking out upon the glorious +view. In those times I was timid, and almost afraid of his +presence; so, rising quietly, I attempted to leave the window. +But he begged me to remain. There was something +that he wished to say.</p> + +<p>I sat down, trembling with dread. Was he about to tell +me, what I knew already, that Jessie's marriage would render +my stay at the Ridge impossible? I would not wait for +that, but said at once,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[Pg 407]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mr. Lee, it is quite unnecessary. I know what +propriety demands. The very day she leaves home, I shall +go back to the old farm-house. It will not be an unhappy +life."</p> + +<p>"But I have come to prevent this," he said, in a low, +strange voice. I looked up in sudden surprise, a smile was +trembling on his lips. "Never, if I can help it, shall you +leave a home which owes half its sunshine to your presence. +Without you, the old place would be lonely indeed. You +must not all forsake me at once."</p> + +<p>"But it is impossible!" I faltered. "Even kind old +Mrs. Bosworth would set her face against it. I might, perhaps, +stay with Jessie," I added, with a piteous attempt to +smile; "but she has not invited me."</p> + +<p>"Because she knew from the first that I could not give +you up. She guessed how dearly I loved you, almost before +I was sure of it myself."</p> + +<p>I felt myself turning white. This great happiness was +beyond all realization. I looked timidly in his face, and +read in his eyes what I had never dreamed of before. He +sat down by me very quietly, and, with a little gentle violence, +drew my head upon his bosom. I could hear the +strong, irregular beating of his heart, and his words, so persuasive, +so manly, charmed away the shock and tremor of +his first sudden avowal.</p> + +<p>"I have not spoken till now," he said, "because circumstances, +that we will never speak of, have made me for a +time doubtful if they ever would be forgiven by a proud, +good woman like yourself. But I love you, dear girl, with +my whole heart and soul; first for your own sake, and next +because the angel who blessed our home so long, owed everything +to your care. She loved you dearly, and said it with +her last breath."</p> + +<p>I was sobbing upon his bosom. The memories so sad and +touching which sprung out of his words flooded my heart<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[Pg 408]</a></span> +with tender grief. Yes, she loved me; and that, perhaps, +was the golden link which had drawn his soul to mine.</p> + +<p>"Do not weep," he pleaded; "but look up and bless me +with one smile, one word. Do you love me a little in return +for all I feel? Can you love me entirely some day?"</p> + +<p>I looked up and my eyes met his. "You know; you are +sure. Why ask that?" I whispered. "There has never +been a time since I was a little girl that I have not loved +you; first as my kind, kind guardian, then as the being <i>she</i> +loved better than anything on earth, and now—"</p> + +<p>"Now as your own husband!" he exclaimed, folding me +close to his bosom, and pressing kisses upon my lips. "Oh, +my darling, you have made me completely happy."</p> + +<p>In twenty different ways he told me of his happiness, his +love, and the sweet necessity there was for my presence in +his life. At first it seemed impossible for me to believe +him; but after a while my heart received the full conviction +of his love, and settled down into that fulness of content +which makes some one hour of every human life a heaven.</p> + +<p>As we sat together, with the twilight gathering around us, +the curtains falling over the recess of the window rustled +apart, and Jessie came through them. Her father did not +move, but looked up smiling. I felt a flood of crimson burn +across my face. She looked at him a moment, then at me, +but obtained only a timid glance in return: it was enough. +She bent down and kissed me with affectionate warmth; +then disappeared quietly as she had come, leaving me the +happiest mortal that God ever blessed.</p> + +<p>One week from that day two weddings were solemnized in +that house; but only one couple went away. That home +was too dear for any thoughts of fashionable travel with us.</p> + +<p>The last year of the war we took a trip to the White +Mountains, and made some stay at New York on our return +home. Having nothing special to occupy us, one evening +we joined a party from the hotel, and went to hear a read<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[Pg 409]</a></span>ing +from the poets, to be given at a public hall in Broadway. +It so happened that no one mentioned the name of +the reader, and we had not thought enough about the matter +to inquire.</p> + +<p>The hall was full of what seemed to be persons from the +upper classes, and some little excitement prevailed, as if +there was a peculiar interest taken either in the subject or +reader. This aroused our curiosity a little, and we waited +with more than usual impatience for the lady to appear.</p> + +<p>She came at last from the side platform, a radiantly beautiful +woman, with the air of an empress. Her black lace +dress, richly flounced, swept the floor; her white neck was +exposed, and her superb arms uncovered to the shoulder. +A cluster of scarlet flowers glowed in her hair and on her +bosom. My heart gave one bound, and settled back with +a sickening recoil.</p> + +<p>It was Mrs. Dennison.</p> + +<p>She approached the reading-desk, rested her hand upon +the volume that lay upon it, and looked around upon the +audience. Her eyes fell upon us. She recoiled a step; a +flash of red shot across her face. But instantly she resumed +her former position, looked steadily in our faces, and then +quietly allowed her eyes to pass over the crowd.</p> + +<p>While her hand rested on the book, a cry broke over us +from the street. Some newsboy, shouting as he sped along, +sent his voice ringing through the open doors:</p> + +<p>"Further particulars of the battle of the Wilderness! +Death of Colonel Lawrence!"</p> + +<p>The woman heard this cry. Her hand fell heavily away +from the book—her face grew livid under the gas-lights—she +staggered, and fell to the floor.</p> + +<p class="center gap4"><span class="smcap"><b>THE END.</b></span><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[Pg 410]</a></span></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[Pg 411]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="center"><b>T. B. PETERSON AND BROTHERS' PUBLICATIONS.</b></div> + + +<div class="center">NEW BOOKS ISSUED EVERY WEEK.</div> + +<p>Comprising the most entertaining and absorbing Works published, +suitable for the Parlor, Library, Sitting Room, Railroad or +Steamboat Reading, by the best writers in the world.</p> + +<p>☞ Orders solicited from Booksellers, Librarians, Canvassers, News +Agents, and all others in want of good and fast selling +books, which will be supplied at very Low Prices. ☜</p> + + +<div class="center"><b>MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS' WORKS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +The Curse of Gold,<span class="ralign">$1 50</span><br /> +Mabel's Mistake,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Doubly False,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Soldiers' Orphans,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Silent Struggles,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Heiress,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Wife's Secret,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Rejected Wife,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Fashion and Famine,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Old Homestead,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Gold Brick,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Mary Derwent,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +</li></ul> + +<div class="center">The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. +<br /> +<br /></div> + + +<div class="center"><b>MRS. EMMA D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH'S WORKS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +The Changed Brides,<span class="ralign">$1 50</span><br /> +The Brides' Fate. A Sequel to +"The Changed Brides,"<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Fair Play,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +How He Won Her. A Sequel +to "Fair Play,"<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Fallen Pride,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Prince of Darkness,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Widow's Son,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Bride of Llewellyn,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Fortune Seeker,<span class="ralign"> 1 50</span><br /> +Allworth Abbey,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Bridal Eve,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Fatal Marriage,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Haunted Homestead,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Lost Heiress,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Lady of the Isle,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Vivia; or the Secret of Power,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Love's Labor Won,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Deserted Wife,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Gipsy's Prophecy,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Mother-in-Law,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Missing Bride,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Two Sisters,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Three Beauties,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Wife's Victory,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Retribution,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +India; Pearl of Pearl River,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Curse of Clifton,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Discarded Daughter,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +</li></ul> +<div class="center">The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. +<br /> +<br /></div> + + +<div class="center"><b>MRS. CAROLINE LEE HENTZ'S WORKS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +The Planter's Northern Bride,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Linda; or, the Young Pilot of +the Belle Creole,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Robert Graham. The Sequel +to "Linda,"<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Courtship and Marriage,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Ernest Linwood,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Marcus Warland,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Rena; or, the Snow Bird,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Lost Daughter,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Love after Marriage,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Eoline; or, Magnolia Vale,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Banished Son,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Helen and Arthur,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Forsaken Daughter,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Planter's Daughter,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +</li></ul> +<div class="center">The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price 1.75 each. +<br /> +<br /></div> + + +<div class="center"><b>FREDRIKA BREMER'S WORKS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +The Neighbors,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Home,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Father and Daughter,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Four Sisters,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +</li></ul> +<div class="center">The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each.<br /></div> + +<p>Life in the Old World; or, Two Tears in Switzerland and Italy. +By Miss Bremer, in two volumes, cloth, price $3.50<br /><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p> + + +<div class="center"><b>BEST COOK BOOKS PUBLISHED.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Mrs. Goodfellow's Cookery as it Should Be,<span class="ralign">Cloth, $1 75</span><br /> +Petersons' New Cook Book,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 1 75</span><br /> +Miss Leslie's New Cookery Book,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 1 75</span><br /> +Widdifield's New Cook Book,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 1 75</span><br /> +The National Cook Book. By a Practical Housewife,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 1 75</span><br /> +The Family Save-All. By author of "National Cook Book,"<span class="ralign">Cloth, 1 75</span><br /> +Mrs. Hale's Receipts for the Million,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 1 75</span><br /> +Miss Leslie's New Receipts for Cooking,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 1 75</span><br /> +Mrs. Hale's New Cook Book,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 1 75</span><br /> +Francateli's Celebrated French, Italian, German, and English +Cook Book. The Modern Cook.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">With Sixty-two illustrations. +Complete in six hundred large octavo pages,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 5 00</span></span><br /> +<br /> +</li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>WORKS BY THE VERY BEST AUTHORS.</b></div> + +<p><i>The following books are each issued in one large, duodecimo volume, in +paper cover, at $1.50 each, or each one is bound in cloth, at $1.75 each.</i></p> + +<ul class="none"><li> +The Initials. A Love Story. By Baroness Tautphoeus,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Family Pride. By author of "Pique," "Family Secrets," etc.<span class="ralign"> 1 50</span><br /> +Self-Sacrifice. By author of "Margaret Maitland," etc.<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Woman in Black. A Companion to the "Woman in White,"<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +A Woman's Thoughts about Women. By Miss Muloch,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Flirtations in Fashionable Life. By Catharine Sinclair,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Rose Douglas. A Companion to "Family Pride," and "Self Sacrifice,"<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +False Pride; or, Two Ways to Matrimony. A Charming Book,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Family Secrets. A Companion to "Family Pride," and "Pique,"<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Morrisons. By Mrs. Margaret Hosmer,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Beppo. The Conscript. By T. A. Trollope, author of "Gemma," <span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Gemma. An Italian Story. By T. A. Trollope, author of "Beppo,"<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Marietta. By T. A. Trollope, author of "Gemma,"<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +My Son's Wife. By author of "Caste," "Mr. Arle," etc.<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Rich Husband. By author of "George Geith,"<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Harem Life in Egypt and Constantinople. By Emmeline Lott,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Rector's Wife; or, the Valley of a Hundred Fires,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Woodburn Grange. A Novel. By William Howitt,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Country Quarters. By the Countess of Blessington,<span class="ralign"> 1 50</span><br /> +Out of the Depths. The Story of a "Woman's Life,"<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Coquette; or, the Life and Letters of Eliza Wharton,<span class="ralign"> 1 50</span><br /> +The Pride of Life. A Story of the Heart. By Lady Jane Scott,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Lost Beauty. By a Noted Lady of the Spanish Court,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Saratoga. An Indian Tale of Frontier Life. A true Story of 1787,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Married at Last. A Love Story. By Annie Thomas,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Quaker Soldier. A Revolutionary Romance. By Judge Jones,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Man of the World. An Autobiography. By William North,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Queen's Favorite; or, The Price of a Crown. A Love Story,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Self Love; or, The Afternoon of Single and Married Life,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Cora Belmont; or, The Sincere Lover. A True Story of the Heart,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Lover's Trials; or Days before 1776. By Mrs. Mary A. Denison,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +High Life in Washington. A Life Picture. By Mrs. N. P. Lasselle,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Beautiful Widow; or, Lodore. By Mrs. Percy B. Shelley,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Love and Money. By J. B. Jones, author of the "Rival Belles,"<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Matchmaker. A Story of High Life. By Beatrice Reynolds,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Brother's Secret; or, the Count De Mara. By William Godwin,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Lost Love. By Mrs. Oliphant, author of "Margaret Maitland,"<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Roman Traitor. By Henry William Herbert. A Roman Story,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +</li></ul> + +<div class="center">The above books are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each.<br /><br /></div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><b>WORKS BY THE VERY BEST AUTHORS.</b></div> + +<p><i>The following books are each issued in one large duodecimo volume, in +paper cover, at $1.50 each, or each one is bound in cloth, at $1.75 each.</i></p> + +<ul class="none"><li> +The Dead Secret. By Wilkie Collins, author of "The Crossed Path,"<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Memoirs of Vidocq, the French Detective. His Life and Adventures,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Crossed Path; or Basil. By Wilkie Collins,<span class="ralign"> 1 50</span><br /> +Indiana. A Love Story. By George Sand, author of "Consuelo,"<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Belle of Washington. With her Portrait. By Mrs. N. P. Lasselle,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Bohemians of London. By Edward M. Whitty,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Rival Belles; or, Life in Washington. By J. B. Jones,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Devoted Bride. A Story of the Heart. By St. George Tucker,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Love and Duty. By Mrs. Hubback, author of "May and December,"<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Wild Sports and Adventures in Africa. By Major W. C. Harris,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Courtship and Matrimony. By Robert Morris. With a Portrait,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Jealous Husband. By Annette Marie Maillard,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Refugee. By Herman Melville, author of "Omoo," "Typee,"<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Life, Writings, Lectures, and Marriages of Fanny Fern,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Life and Lectures of Lola Montez, with her portrait, on steel,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Wild Southern Scenes. By author of "Wild Western Scenes,"<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Currer Lyle; or, the Autobiography of an Actress. By Louise Reeder,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Coal, Coal Oil, and all other Minerals in the Earth. By Eli Bowen,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Cabin and Parlor. By J. Thornton Randolph. Illustrated,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Jealousy. By George Sand, author of "Consuelo," "Indiana," etc.<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Little Beauty. A Love Story. By Mrs. Grey,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Adopted Heir. A Love Story. By Miss Pardoe,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Secession, Coercion, and Civil War. By J. B. Jones,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Count of Monte Cristo. By Alexander Dumas. Illustrated,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Camille; or, the Fate of a Coquette. By Alexander Dumas,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Six Nights with the Washingtonians. By T. S. Arthur,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Lizzie Glenn; or, the Trials of a Seamstress. By T. S. Arthur,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Lady Maud; or, the Wonder of Kingswood Chase. By Pierce Egan,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Wilfred Montressor; or, High Life in New York. Illustrated,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Old Stone Mansion. By C. J. Peterson, author "Kate Aylesford,"<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Kate Aylesford. By Chas. J. Peterson, author "Old Stone Mansion,"<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Lorrimer Littlegood, by author "Harry Coverdale's Courtship,"<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Red Court Farm. By Mrs. Henry Wood, author of "East Lynne,"<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Mildred Arkell. By Mrs. Henry Wood, author of "Red Court Farm,"<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Earl's Secret. A Love Story. By Miss Pardoe,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Adopted Heir. By Miss Pardoe, author of "The Earl's Secret,"<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Lord Montague's Page. By G. P. R. James,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Cavalier. By G. P. R. James, author of "Lord Montague's Page,"<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Cousin Harry. By Mrs. Grey, author of "The Gambler's Wife," etc.<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Conscript. A Tale of War. By Alexander Dumas,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Tower of London. By W. Harrison Ainsworth. Illustrated,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Shoulder Straps. By Henry Morford, author of "Days of Shoddy,"<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Days of Shoddy. By Henry Morford, author of "Shoulder Straps,"<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Coward. By Henry Morford, author of "Days of Shoddy,"<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +</li></ul> + +<div class="center">The above books are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each.<br /> +<br /></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +The Wandering Jew. By Eugene Sue. Full of Illustrations,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Mysteries of Paris; and its Sequel, Gerolstein. By Eugene Sue,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Martin, the Foundling. By Eugene Sue. Full of Illustrations,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Ten Thousand a Year. By Samuel C. Warren. With Illustrations,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Washington and His Generals. By George Lippard,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Quaker City; or, the Monks of Monk Hall. By George Lippard,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Blanche of Brandywine. By George Lippard,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Paul Ardenheim; the Monk of Wissahickon. By George Lippard,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> + +</li></ul> + +<div class="center">The above books are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $2.00 each. +<br /><br /></div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><b>NEW AND GOOD BOOKS BY BEST AUTHORS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +The Last Athenian. From the Swedish of Victor Rydberg.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Highly recommended by Fredrika Bremer. Paper $1.50, or in cloth,</span><span class="ralign">$2 00</span><br /> +Comstock's Elocution and Reader. Enlarged. By Andrew Comstock and Philip Lawrence.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"> With 236 Illustrations. Half morocco,</span><span class="ralign">2 00</span><br /> +Comstock's Colored Chart. Every School should have a copy of it,<span class="ralign">5 00</span><br /> +Across the Atlantic. Letters from France, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, and England.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">By C. H. Haeseler, M.D. Bound in cloth,</span><span class="ralign">2 00</span><br /> +Colonel John W. Forney's Letters from Europe. Bound in cloth,<span class="ralign">1 75</span><br /> +The Ladies' Guide to True Politeness and Perfect Manners. By Miss Leslie.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"> Every lady should have it. Cloth, full gilt back,</span><span class="ralign">1 75</span><br /> +The Ladies' Complete Guide to Needlework and Embroidery. With 113 illustrations.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"> By Miss Lambert. Cloth, full gilt back,</span><span class="ralign">1 75</span><br /> +The Ladies' Work Table Book. With 27 illustrations. Cloth, gilt,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Story of Elizabeth. By Miss Thackeray, paper $1.00, or cloth,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Life and Adventures of Don Quixote and his Squire Sancho Panza,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">complete in one large volume, paper cover, for $1.00, or in cloth,</span><span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Laws and Practice of Game of Euchre. By a Professor. Cloth,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +Whitefriars; or, The Days of Charles the Second. Illustrated,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +<br /> +</li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>HUMOROUS ILLUSTRATED WORKS.</b></div> + +<p><i>Each one full of Illustrations, by Felix O. C. Darley, and bound in Cloth.</i></p> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Major Jones' Courtship and Travels. With 21 Illustrations,<span class="ralign">1 75</span><br /> +Major Jones' Scenes in Georgia. With 16 Illustrations,<span class="ralign">1 75</span><br /> +Simon Suggs' Adventures and Travels. With 17 Illustrations,<span class="ralign">1 75</span><br /> +Swamp Doctor's Adventures in the South-West. 14 Illustrations,<span class="ralign">1 75</span><br /> +Col. Thorpe's Scenes in Arkansaw. With 16 Illustrations,<span class="ralign">1 75</span><br /> +The Big Bear's Adventures and Travels. With 18 Illustrations,<span class="ralign">1 75</span><br /> +High Life in New York, by Jonathan Slick. With Illustrations,<span class="ralign">1 75</span><br /> +Judge Haliburton's Yankee Stories. Illustrated,<span class="ralign">1 75</span><br /> +Harry Coverdale's Courtship and Marriage. Illustrated,<span class="ralign">1 75</span><br /> +Piney Wood's Tavern; or, Sam Slick in Texas. Illustrated,<span class="ralign">1 75</span><br /> +Sam Slick, the Clockmaker. By Judge Haliburton. Illustrated,<span class="ralign">1 75</span><br /> +Humors of Falconbridge. By J. F. Kelley. With Illustrations,<span class="ralign">1 75</span><br /> +Modern Chivalry. By Judge Breckenridge. Two vols., each<span class="ralign">1 75</span><br /> +Neal's Charcoal Sketches. By Joseph C. Neal. 21 Illustrations,<span class="ralign">2 50</span><br /> +<br/></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>ALEXANDER DUMAS' WORKS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Count of Monte Cristo,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Iron Mask,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +Louise La Valliere,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +Adventures of a Marquis,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +Diana of Meridor,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +The Three Guardsmen,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Twenty Years After,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Bragelonne,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +The Conscript. A Tale of War,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Memoirs of a Physician,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +Queen's Necklace,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +Six Years Later,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +Countess of Charney,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +Andree de Taverney,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +The Chevalier,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +Forty-five Guardsmen,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +The Iron Hand,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Camille, "The Camelia Lady,"<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +</li></ul> + +<div class="center">The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each.</div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Edmond Dantes,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Felina de Chambure,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +The Horrors of Paris,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +The Fallen Angel,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Sketches in France,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Isabel of Bavaria,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Man with Five Wives,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Twin Lieutenants,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Annette, Lady of the Pearls,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Mohicans of Paris,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +The Marriage Verdict,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +The Corsican Brothers,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Count of Moret,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +George,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Buried Alive,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><b>CHARLES DICKENS' WORKS.</b><br /> +<br /></div> + +<div class="center">☞<b> GREAT REDUCTION IN THEIR PRICES.</b>☜<br /> +<br /></div> + +<div class="center"><b>PEOPLE'S DUODECIMO EDITION. ILLUSTRATED.</b><br /> +<br /></div> + +<div class="center"><i>Reduced in price from $2.50 to $1.50 a volume.</i><br /> +<br /></div> + +<p><i>This edition is printed on fine paper, from large, clear type, leaded, that +all can read, containing One Hundred and Eighty Illustrations on tinted +paper, and each book is complete in one large duodecimo volume.</i></p> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Our Mutual Friend,<span class="ralign">Cloth, $1.50</span><br /> +Pickwick Papers,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 1.50</span><br /> +Nicholas Nickleby,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 1.50</span><br /> +Great Expectations,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 1.50</span><br /> +David Copperfield,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 1.50</span><br /> +Oliver Twist,<span class="ralign"> Cloth, 1.50</span><br /> +Bleak House,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 1.50</span><br /> +A Tale of Two Cities,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 1.50</span><br /> +Little Dorrit,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 1.50</span><br /> +Dombey and Son,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 1.50</span><br /> +Christmas Stories,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 1.50</span><br /> +Sketches by "Boz,"<span class="ralign">Cloth, 1.50</span><br /> +Barnaby Rudge,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 1.50</span><br /> +Martin Chuzzlewit,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 1.50</span><br /> +Old Curiosity Shop,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 1.50</span><br /> +Dickens' New Stories,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 1.50</span><br /> +American Notes; and The Uncommercial Traveler,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 1.50</span><br /> +Hunted Down; and other Reprinted Pieces,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 1.50</span><br /> +The Holly-Tree Inn; and other Stories,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 1.50</span><br /> +<br /> +Price of a set, in Black cloth, in nineteen volumes,<span class="ralign">$28.00</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" " Full sheep, Library style,</span><span class="ralign">38.00</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" " Half calf, sprinkled edges,</span><span class="ralign">47.00</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" " Half calf, marbled edges,</span><span class="ralign">53.00</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" " Half calf, antique,</span><span class="ralign">57.00</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" " Half calf, full gilt backs, etc.,</span><span class="ralign">57.00</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>ILLUSTRATED DUODECIMO EDITION.</b></div> + +<div class="center"><i>Reduced in price from $2.00 to $1.50 a volume.</i></div> + +<p><i>This edition is printed on the finest paper, from large, clear type, leaded, +Long Primer in size, that all can read, the whole containing near Six +Hundred full page Illustrations, printed on tinted paper, from designs by +Cruikshank, Phiz, Browne, Maclise, McLenan, and other artists. The following +books are each contained in two volumes.</i></p> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Our Mutual Friend,<span class="ralign">Cloth, $3.00</span><br /> +Pickwick Papers,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 3.00</span><br /> +Tale of Two Cities,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 3.00</span><br /> +Nicholas Nickleby,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 3.00</span><br /> +David Copperfield,<span class="ralign"> Cloth, 3.00</span><br /> +Oliver Twist,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 3.00</span><br /> +Christmas Stories,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 3.00</span><br /> +Bleak House,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 3.00</span><br /> +Sketches by "Boz,"<span class="ralign"> Cloth, 3.00</span><br /> +Barnaby Rudge,<span class="ralign"> Cloth, 3.00</span><br /> +Martin Chuzzlewit,<span class="ralign"> Cloth, 3.00</span><br /> +Old Curiosity Shop,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 3.00</span><br /> +Little Dorrit,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 3.00</span><br /> +Dombey and Son,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 3.00</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + +<p><i>The following are each complete in one volume, and are reduced in price +from $2.50 to $1.50 a volume.</i></p> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Great Expectations,<span class="ralign">Cloth. $1.50</span><br /> +Dickens' New Stories,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 1.50</span><br /> +American Notes; and The Uncommercial Traveler,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 1.50</span><br /> +Hunted Down; and other Reprinted Pieces,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 1.50</span><br /> +The Holly-Tree Inn; and other Stories,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 1.50</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Price of a set, in thirty-three volumes, bound in cloth,<span class="ralign"> $49.00</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" " Full sheep, Library style,</span><span class="ralign">66.00</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" " Half calf, antique,</span><span class="ralign"> 99.00</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" " Half calf, full gilt backs, etc.,</span><span class="ralign">99.00</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><b>CHARLES DICKENS' WORKS.</b><br /><br /></div> + + +<div class="center">ILLUSTRATED OCTAVO EDITION.<br /></div> + +<div class="center"><i>Reduced in price from $2.50 to $2.00 a volume.</i></div> + +<p><i>This edition is printed from large type, double column, octavo page, each +book being complete in one volume, the whole containing near Six Hundred +Illustrations, by Cruikshank, Phiz, Browne, Maclise, and other artists.</i></p> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Our Mutual Friend,<span class="ralign">Cloth, $2.00</span><br /> +Pickwick Papers,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 2.00</span><br /> +Nicholas Nickleby,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 2.00</span><br /> +Great Expectations,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 2.00</span><br /> +Lamplighter's Story,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 2.00</span><br /> +Oliver Twist,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 2.00</span><br /> +Bleak House,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 2.00</span><br /> +Little Dorrit,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 2.00</span><br /> +Dombey and Son,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 2.00</span><br /> +Sketches by "Boz,"<span class="ralign">Cloth, 2.00</span><br /> +David Copperfield,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 2.00</span><br /> +Barnaby Rudge,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 2.00</span><br /> +Martin Chuzzlewit,<span class="ralign"> Cloth, 2.00</span><br /> +Old Curiosity Shop,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 2.00</span><br /> +Christmas Stories,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 2.00</span><br /> +Dickens' New Stories,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 2.00</span><br /> +A Tale of Two Cities,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 2.00</span><br /> +American Notes and +Pic-Nic Papers,<span class="ralign">Cloth, 2.00</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Price of a set, in Black cloth, in eighteen volumes,<span class="ralign">$36.00</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" " Full sheep, Library style,</span><span class="ralign"> 45.00</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" " Half calf, sprinkled edges,</span><span class="ralign">55.00</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" " Half calf, marbled edges,</span><span class="ralign">62.00</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" " Half calf, antique,</span> <span class="ralign">70.00</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" " Half calf, full gilt backs, etc.,</span><span class="ralign">70.00</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + +<div class="center"><b>"NEW NATIONAL EDITION" OF DICKENS' WORKS.</b></div> + +<p>This is the cheapest complete edition of the works of Charles Dickens, +"Boz," published in the world, being contained in <i>seven large octavo volumes</i>, +with a portrait of Charles Dickens, and other illustrations, the whole +making nearly <i>six thousand very large double columned pages</i>, in large, clear +type, and handsomely printed on fine white paper, and bound in the +strongest and most substantial manner.</p> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Price of a set, in Black cloth, in seven volumes,<span class="ralign">$20.00</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" " Full sheep, Library style,</span><span class="ralign">25.00</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" " Half calf, antique,</span><span class="ralign">30.00</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" " Half calf, full gilt back, etc.,</span><span class="ralign">30.00</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + +<div class="center"><b>CHEAP SALMON PAPER COVER EDITION.</b></div> + +<div class="center"><i>Each book being complete in one large octavo volume.</i></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Pickwick Papers,<span class="ralign">35</span><br /> +Nicholas Nickleby,<span class="ralign">35</span><br /> +Dombey and Son,<span class="ralign">35</span><br /> +David Copperfield,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Martin Chuzzlewit,<span class="ralign">35</span><br /> +Old Curiosity Shop,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Oliver Twist,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +American Notes,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Great Expectations,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Hard Times,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +A Tale of Two Cities,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Somebody's Luggage,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Message from the Sea,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Barnaby Rudge,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Sketches by "Boz,"<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Christmas Stories,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +The Haunted House,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Uncommercial Traveler,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +A House to Let,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Perils of English Prisoners,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Wreck of the Golden Mary,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Tom Tiddler's Ground,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Our Mutual Friend,<span class="ralign">35</span><br /> +Bleak House,<span class="ralign">35</span><br /> +Little Dorrit,<span class="ralign">35</span><br /> +Joseph Grimaldi,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +The Pic-Nic Papers,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +No Thoroughfare,<span class="ralign">10</span><br /> +Hunted Down,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +The Holly-Tree Inn,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Mrs. Lirriper's Lodgings and Mrs. Lirriper's Legacy,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Mugby Junction and Dr. Marigold's Prescriptions,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p> + + +<div class="center"><b>CHARLES LEVER'S BEST WORKS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Charles O'Malley,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Harry Lorrequer,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Jack Hinton, <span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Tom Burke of Ours,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Knight of Gwynne,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Arthur O'Leary,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Con Cregan,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Davenport Dunn,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +</li></ul> + +<div class="center">Above are each in paper, or finer edition in cloth, price $2.00 each.</div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Horace Templeton,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Kate O'Donoghue,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>MADAME GEORGE SAND'S WORKS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Consuelo,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Countess of Rudolstadt,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +First and True Love, <span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +The Corsair,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Jealousy, paper,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Do. cloth,</span><span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +Fanchon, the Cricket, paper,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Do. do. cloth,</span><span class="ralign"> 1 50</span><br /> +Indiana, a Love Story, paper, <span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Do. do. cloth,</span><span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +Consuelo and Rudolstadt, both in one volume, cloth,<span class="ralign">2 00</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>WILKIE COLLINS' BEST WORKS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +The Crossed Path, or Basil,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Dead Secret. 12mo.<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +</li></ul> + +<div class="center">The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each.</div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Hide and Seek,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +After Dark, <span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +The Dead Secret. 8vo.<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +</li></ul> + +<div class="center">Above in cloth at $1.00 each.</div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +The Queen's Revenge,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Mad Monkton, <span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Sights a-Foot,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +The Stolen Mask,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +The Yellow Mask,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Sister Rose,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>MISS PARDOE'S WORKS</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Confessions of a Pretty Woman,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +The Wife's Trials,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +The Jealous Wife,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Rival Beauties,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Romance of the Harem, <span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + +<div class="center">The five above books are also bound in one volume, cloth, for $4.00.</div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +The Adopted Heir. One volume, paper, $1.50; or in cloth,<span class="ralign"> $1 75</span><br /> +The Earl's Secret. One volume, paper, $1.50; or in cloth, <span class="ralign">1 75</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>MRS. HENRY WOOD'S BOOKS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Red Court Farm,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Elster's Folly,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +St. Martin's Eve,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Mildred Arkell,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Shadow of Ashlydyat,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Oswald Cray,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Verner's Pride,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Lord Oakburn's Daughters; or, the Earl's Heirs,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Squire Trevlyn's Heir; or, Trevlyn Hold,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Castle's Heir; or, Lady Adelaide's Oath,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + +<div class="center">Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $1.75 each.</div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +The Mystery,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +A Life's Secret,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + +<div class="center">Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $1.00 each.</div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +The Channings,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +Aurora Floyd,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + +<div class="center">Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $1.50 each.</div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Orville College,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +The Runaway Match,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +The Lost Will,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +The Haunted Tower,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +The Lost Bank Note,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Better for Worse,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Foggy Night at Offord,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +The Lawyer's Secret,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +William Allair,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +A Light and a Dark Christmas,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><b>GEORGE W. M. REYNOLDS' WORKS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Mysteries of Court of London,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +Rose Foster. Sequel to it,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Caroline of Brunswick,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +Venetia Trelawney,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +Lord Saxondale,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +Count Christoval,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +Rosa Lambert,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +Mary Price,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +Eustace Quentin,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +Joseph Wilmot,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +Banker's Daughter,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +Kenneth,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +The Rye-House Plot,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +The Necromancer,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + +<div class="center">The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each.</div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +The Opera Dancer,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Child of Waterloo,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Robert Bruce,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Discarded Queen,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +The Gipsy Chief,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Wallace, the Hero of Scotland,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +Isabella Vincent,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Vivian Bertram,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Countess of Lascelles,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Loves of the Harem,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Ellen Percy,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Agnes Evelyn,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +The Soldier's Wife,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +May Middleton,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Duke of Marchmont,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Massacre of Glencoe,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Queen Joanna; Court Naples,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Pickwick Abroad,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Parricide,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +The Ruined Gamester,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Ciprina; or, the Secrets of a Picture Gallery,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Life in Paris,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Countess and the Page,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Edgar Montrose,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>WAVERLEY NOVELS. BY SIR WALTER SCOTT.</b><br /><br /></div> + +<div class="center">CHEAPEST EDITION IN THE WORLD.<br /><br /></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Ivanhoe,<span class="ralign">20</span><br /> +Rob Roy,<span class="ralign">20</span><br /> +Guy Mannering,<span class="ralign">20</span><br /> +The Antiquary,<span class="ralign">20</span><br /> +Old Mortality,<span class="ralign">20</span><br /> +Heart of Mid Lothian,<span class="ralign">20</span><br /> +Bride of Lammermoor,<span class="ralign">20</span><br /> +Waverley,<span class="ralign">20</span><br /> +St. Ronan's Well,<span class="ralign">20</span><br /> +Kenilworth,<span class="ralign">20</span><br /> +The Pirate,<span class="ralign">20</span><br /> +The Monastery,<span class="ralign">20</span><br /> +The Abbot,<span class="ralign">20</span><br /> +The Fortunes of Nigel,<span class="ralign">20</span><br /> +The Betrothed,<span class="ralign">20</span><br /> +Peveril of the Peak,<span class="ralign">20</span><br /> +Quentin Durward,<span class="ralign">20</span><br /> +Red Gauntlet,<span class="ralign">20</span><br /> +The Talisman,<span class="ralign">20</span><br /> +Woodstock,<span class="ralign">20</span><br /> +Highland Widow, etc.<span class="ralign">20</span><br /> +The Fair Maid of Perth,<span class="ralign">20</span><br /> +Anne of Geierstein,<span class="ralign">20</span><br /> +Count Robert of Paris,<span class="ralign">20</span><br /> +The Black Dwarf and Legend of Montrose,<span class="ralign">20</span><br /> +Castle Dangerous, and Surgeon's Daughter, <span class="ralign">20</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + +<p>Above edition is the cheapest in the world, and is complete in twenty-six +volumes, price Twenty cents each, or Five Dollars for the complete set.</p> + +<p>A finer edition is also published of each of the above, complete in twenty-six +volumes, price Fifty cents each, or Ten Dollars for the complete set.</p> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Moredun. A Tale of 1210,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Tales of a Grandfather,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Scott's Poetical Works,<span class="ralign">5 00</span><br /> +Life of Scott, cloth,<span class="ralign">2 50</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>"NEW NATIONAL EDITION" OF "WAVERLEY NOVELS."</b></div> + +<p>This edition of the Waverley Novels is contained in <i>five large octavo volumes</i>, +with a portrait of Sir Walter Scott, making <i>four thousand very large +double columned pages</i>, in good type, and handsomely printed on the finest +of white paper, and bound in the strongest and most substantial manner.</p> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Price of a set, in Black cloth, in five volumes,<span class="ralign">$15 00</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" " Full sheep, Library style,</span><span class="ralign">17 50</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" " Half calf, antique, or Half calf, gilt,</span><span class="ralign">25 00</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + +<ul class="none"><li> +The Complete Prose and Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott, are also +published in ten volumes, bound in half calf, for<span class="ralign">$60.00</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<p>☞ Books sent, postage paid, on receipt of the Retail Price, by +T. B. Peterson & Brothers, Philadelphia, Pa.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p> + + +<div class="center"><b>HUMOROUS AMERICAN WORKS.</b><br /><br /></div> + +<div class="center"><i>Beautifully Illustrated by Felix O. C. Darley.</i></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Major Jones' Courtship,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Major Jones' Travels,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Simon Suggs' Adventures and Travels,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Major Jones' Chronicles of Pineville,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Polly Peablossom's Wedding,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Mysteries of the Backwoods,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Widow Rugby's Husband,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Big Bear of Arkansas,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Western Scenes; or, Life on the Prairie,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Streaks of Squatter Life,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Pickings from the Picayune,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Stray Subjects, Arrested and Bound Over, <span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Louisiana Swamp Doctor,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Charcoal Sketches, <span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Misfortunes of Peter Faber,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Yankee among the Mermaids,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +New Orleans Sketch Book,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Drama in Pokerville,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +The Querndon Hounds,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +My Shooting Box,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Warwick Woodlands,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +The Deer Stalkers,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Peter Ploddy,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Adventures of Captain Farrago,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Major O'Regan's Adventures,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Sol. Smith's Theatrical Apprenticeship,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Sol. Smith's Theatrical Journey-Work,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +The Quarter Race in Kentucky,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Aunt Patty's Scrap Bag, <span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Percival Mayberry's Adventures and Travels,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Sam Slick's Yankee Yarns and Yankee Letters,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Adventures of Fudge Fumble,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +American Joe Miller,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Following the Drum,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + +<div class="center"><b>D'ISRAELI'S WORKS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Henrietta Temple,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Vivian Grey,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Venetia,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Young Duke,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +Miriam Alroy,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Contarina Fleming,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + +<div class="center"><b>FRANK FAIRLEGH'S WORKS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Frank Fairlegh,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Lewis Arundel,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Harry Racket Scapegrace,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Tom Racquet,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> +<div class="center">Finer editions of above are also issued in cloth, at $1.75 each.</div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Harry Coverdale's Courtship,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Lorrimer Littlegood,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> +<div class="center">The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each.<br /><br /></div> + +<div class="center"><b>C. J. PETERSON'S WORKS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +The Old Stone Mansion,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Kate Aylesford,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + +<div class="center">The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each.</div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Cruising in the Last War,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Valley Farm,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Grace Dudley; or, Arnold at Saratoga,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + +<div class="center"><b>JAMES A. MAITLAND'S WORKS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +The Old Patroon,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Watchman,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Wanderer,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Lawyer's Story,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Diary of an Old Doctor,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Sartaroe,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Three Cousins,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +</li></ul> + +<div class="center">The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each.<br /><br /></div> + + +<div class="center"><b>WILLIAM H. MAXWELL'S WORKS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Wild Sports of the West,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Stories of Waterloo,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Brian O'Lynn,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><b>WILLIAM HARRISON AINSWORTH'S WORKS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Life of Jack Sheppard,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Life of Guy Fawkes, <span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +</li></ul> + +<div class="center">Above in 1 vol., cloth, $1.75.</div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Court of the Stuarts,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Windsor Castle,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +The Star Chamber,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Old St. Paul's,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +Court of Queen Anne,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Life of Dick Turpin,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Life of Davy Crockett,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +<br /> +Tower of London,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Miser's Daughter,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +</li></ul> + +<div class="center">Above in cloth $1.75 each.</div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Life of Grace O'Malley,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Life of Henry Thomas,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Desperadoes of the New World,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Life of Ninon De L'Enclos,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Life of Arthur Spring,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Life of Mrs. Whipple and Jessee +Strang,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>G. P. R. JAMES'S BEST BOOKS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Lord Montague's Page,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Cavalier,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +</li></ul> + +<div class="center">The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each.</div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +The Man in Black,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Mary of Burgundy,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Arrah Neil,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Eva St. Clair,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>DOW'S PATENT SERMONS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Dow's Patent Sermons, 1st +Series, $1.00; cloth,<span class="ralign"> 1 50</span><br /> +Dow's Patent Sermons, 2d +Series, $1.00; cloth,<span class="ralign"> 1 50</span><br /> +Dow's Patent Sermons, 3d +Series, $1.00; cloth,<span class="ralign"> 1 50</span><br /> +Dow's Patent Sermons, 4th +Series, $1.00; cloth,<span class="ralign"> 1 50</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>SAMUEL C. WARREN'S BEST BOOKS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Ten Thousand a Year, paper,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Do. do. cloth,</span><span class="ralign"> 2 00</span><br /> +Diary of a Medical Student,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>Q. K. PHILANDER DOESTICKS' WORKS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Doesticks' Letters,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Plu-Ri-Bus-Tah,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Elephant Club,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Witches of New York,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + +<div class="center">The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each.<br /><br /></div> + + +<div class="center"><b>GREEN'S WORKS ON GAMBLING.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Gambling Exposed,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Gambler's Life,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Reformed Gambler,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Secret Band of Brothers, <span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + +<div class="center">Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $1.75 each.<br /><br /></div> + + +<div class="center"><b>MISS ELLEN PICKERING'S WORKS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +The Grumbler,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Marrying for Money,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Poor Cousin,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +Kate Walsingham, <span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Orphan Niece,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Who Shall be Heir? <span class="ralign">38</span><br /> +The Squire,<span class="ralign">38</span><br /> +Ellen Wareham, <span class="ralign">38</span><br /> +Nan Darrel,<span class="ralign">38</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>CAPTAIN MARRYATT'S WORKS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Jacob Faithful,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Japhet in Search of a Father,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Phantom Ship,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Midshipman Easy,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Pacha of Many Tales,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Frank Mildmay, Naval Officer, <span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Snarleyow,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Newton Forster,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +King's Own,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Pirate and Three Cutters,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Peter Simple,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Percival Keene,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Poor Jack,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Sea King,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><b>EUGENE SUE'S GREAT WORKS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Wandering Jew,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Mysteries of Paris,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Martin, the Foundling,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +</li></ul> + +<div class="center">Above in cloth at $2.00 each.</div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +First Love,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Woman's Love,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Female Bluebeard,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +Man-of-War's-Man,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Life and Adventures of Raoul De Surville,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>MRS. GREY'S WORKS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Cousin Harry,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Little Beauty, <span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +</li></ul> + +<div class="center">The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each.</div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Gipsy's Daughter,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Old Dower House,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Belle of the Family,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Duke and Cousin,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +The Little Wife,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Lena Cameron,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Sybil Lennard,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Manoeuvring Mother,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Baronet's Daughters,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Young Prima Donna,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Hyacinthe,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Alice Seymour,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Mary Seaham, <span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Passion and Principle,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +The Flirt,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Good Society,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Lion-Hearted,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>J. F. SMITH'S WORKS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +The Usurer's Victim; or, +Thomas Balscombe,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +Adelaide Waldegrave; or, the +Trials of a Governess,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + +<div class="center"><b>REVOLUTIONARY TALES.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +The Brigand,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Ralph Runnion,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Seven Brothers of Wyoming, <span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +The Rebel Bride,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +The Flying Artillerist,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Wau-nan-gee, <span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Old Put; or, Days of 1776,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Legends of Mexico,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +Grace Dudley,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +The Guerilla Chief, <span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +The Quaker Soldier, paper,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">do. do. cloth,</span><span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>EMERSON BENNETT'S WORKS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +The Border Rover,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Ciara Moreland,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Viola; or Adventures in the +Far South-West,<span class="ralign"> 1 50</span><br /> +Bride of the Wilderness,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Ellen Norbury,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Forged Will, <span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Kate Clarendon,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +</li></ul> + +<div class="center">The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each.<br /><br /></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +The Heiress of Bellefonte, and +Walde-Warren,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +Pioneer's Daughter and the +Unknown Countess,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>T. S. ARTHUR'S HOUSEHOLD NOVELS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +The Lost Bride,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +The Two Brides,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +Love in a Cottage,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Love in High Life,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +Year after Marriage,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +The Lady at Home,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Cecelia Howard,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Orphan Children,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +Debtor's Daughter,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Mary Moreton,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +The Divorced Wife,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Pride and Prudence,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Agnes; or, the Possessed,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Lucy Sandford,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +The Banker's Wife,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +The Two Merchants,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Trial and Triumph,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +The Iron Rule,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Insubordination; or, the Shoe-maker's +Daughters,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +Six Nights with the Washingtonians. With +nine original Illustrations.<br /> By +Cruikshank. One volume, cloth $1 75; +or in paper,<span class="ralign"> $1.50</span><br /> +Lizzy Glenn; or, the Trials of a +Seamstress. Cloth $1.75; or paper,<span class="ralign"> 1.50</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><b>EXCITING SEA TALES.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Adventures of Ben Brace,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Jack Adams, the Mutineer,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Jack Ariel's Adventures,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Petrel; or, Life on the Ocean,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Life of Paul Periwinkle,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Life of Tom Bowling,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Percy Effingham,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Cruising in the Last War,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Red King,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +The Corsair,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +The Doomed Ship,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +The Three Pirates,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +The Flying Dutchman,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +The Flying Yankee,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +The Yankee Middy,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +The Gold Seekers,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +The King's Cruisers,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Life of Alexander Tardy,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Red Wing,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Yankee Jack,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Yankees in Japan,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Morgan, the Buccaneer,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Jack Junk,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Davis, the Pirate,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Valdez, the Pirate,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Gallant Tom,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Harry Helm,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Harry Tempest,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Rebel and Rover,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Man-of-War's-Man,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Dark Shades of City Life,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +The Rats of the Seine,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Charles Ransford,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +The Iron Cross,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +The River Pirates,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +The Pirate's Son,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Jacob Faithful,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Phantom Ship,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Midshipman Easy,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Pacha of Many Tales,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Naval Officer,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Snarleyow, <span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Newton Forster,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +King's Own,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Japhet,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Pirate and Three Cutters,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Peter Simple,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Percival Keene,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Poor Jack,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Sea King,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>GEORGE LIPPARD'S GREAT BOOKS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +The Quaker City,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Paul Ardenheim, <span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Blanche of Brandywine, <span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Washington and his Generals; +or, Legends of the American +Revolution,<span class="ralign"> 1 50</span><br /> +Mysteries of Florence,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +</li></ul> + +<div class="center">Above in cloth at $2.00 each.</div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +The Empire City,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Memoirs of a Preacher,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +The Nazarene, <span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Washington and his Men,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Legends of Mexico,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +The Entranced,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +The Robbers,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +The Bank Director's Son,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>MILITARY NOVELS. BY BEST AUTHORS.</b><br /></div> + +<div class="center">With Illuminated Military Covers, in five Colors.</div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Charles O'Malley,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Jack Hinton, the Guardsman,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +The Knight of Gwynne,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Harry Lorrequer, <span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Tom Burke of Ours,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Arthur O'Leary,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Con Cregan,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Kate O'Donoghue,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +Horace Templeton,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Davenport Dunn,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Jack Adams' Adventures,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Valentine Vox,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Twin Lieutenants,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +Stories of Waterloo,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +The Soldier's Wife,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Guerilla Chief,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +The Three Guardsmen,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Twenty Years After,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Bragelonne, Son of Athos,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Forty-five Guardsmen,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +Tom Bowling's Adventures,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Life of Robert Bruce,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +The Gipsy Chief,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +Massacre of Glencoe,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Life of Guy Fawkes,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Child of Waterloo,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Adventures of Ben Brace,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Life of Jack Ariel,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Wallace, the Hero of Scotland,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +Following the Drum,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +The Conscript, a Tale of War. +By Alexander Dumas,<span class="ralign"> 1 50</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><b>GUSTAVE AIMARD'S WORKS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +The White Scalper,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +The Freebooters,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +The Prairie Flower,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +The Indian Scout,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +The Trail Hunter,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +The Indian Chief,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +The Red Track,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +Trapper's Daughter,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +The Tiger Slayer,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +The Gold Seekers,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +The Rebel Chief,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +The Smuggler Chief,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +The Border Rifles,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Pirates of the Prairies,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>LANGUAGES WITHOUT A MASTER.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +French without a Master,<span class="ralign">40</span><br /> +Spanish without a Master,<span class="ralign">40</span><br /> +Latin without a Master, <span class="ralign">40</span><br /> +German without a Master,<span class="ralign">40</span><br /> +Italian without a Master,<span class="ralign">40</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + +<p>The above five works on the French, German, Spanish, Latin, and Italian +Languages, whereby any one or all of these Languages can be learned by +any one without a Teacher, with the aid of this book, by A. H. Monteith, +Esq., is also published in finer style, in one volume, bound, price, $1.75.</p> + + +<div class="center"><b>HARRY COCKTON'S WORKS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Sylvester Sound,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Valentine Vox, in paper,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">do. finer edition, cloth,</span><span class="ralign"> 2 00</span><br /> +The Sisters,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +The Steward,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Percy Effingham,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>WAR NOVELS. BY HENRY MORFORD.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Shoulder-Straps,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Coward,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Days of Shoddy. A History +of the late War,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +</li></ul> + +<div class="center">Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $1.75 each.<br /><br /></div> + + +<div class="center"><b>LIVES OF HIGHWAYMEN.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Life of John A. Murrel,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Life of Joseph T. Hare,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Life of Col. Monroe Edwards,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Life of Jack Sheppard,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Life of Jack Rann,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Life of Dick Turpin,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Life of Helen Jewett,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Desperadoes of the New World,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Mysteries of New Orleans,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +The Robber's Wife,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Obi; or, Three Fingered Jack,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Kit Clayton,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Life of Tom Waters,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Nat Blake,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Bill Horton,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Galloping Gus,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Life & Trial of Antoine Probst,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Ned Hastings,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Eveleen Wilson,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Diary of a Pawnbroker,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Silver and Pewter,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Sweeney Todd,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Life of Grace O'Malley,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Life of Davy Crockett,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Life of Sybil Grey,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Life of Jonathan Wild,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Life of Henry Thomas,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Life of Arthur Spring,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Life of Jack Ketch,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Life of Ninon De L'Enclos,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Lives of the Felons,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Life of Mrs. Whipple,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Life of Biddy Woodhull,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Life of Mother Brownrigg,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Dick Parker, the Pirate, <span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Life of Mary Bateman,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Life of Captain Blood,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Capt. Blood and the Beagles,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Sixteen-Stringed Jack's Fight +for Life,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Highwayman's Avenger,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Life of Raoul De Surville,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Life of Rody the Rover,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Life of Galloping Dick,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Life of Guy Fawkes,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Life and Adventures of Vidocq,<span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>MILITARY AND ARMY BOOKS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Ellsworth's Zouave Drill,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +U. S. Government Infantry & +Rifle Tactics,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +U. S. Light Infantry Drill,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +The Soldier's Companion,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +The Soldier's Guide,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><b>WORKS AT 75 CENTS. BY BEST AUTHORS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Hans Breitman's Party. With other Ballads. New and Enlarged +Edition, printed on Tinted paper.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By Charles G. Leland,</span><span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Webster and Hayne's Speeches in Reply to Colonel Foote,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +The Brigand; or, the Demon of the North. By Victor Hugo,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +Roanoke; or, Where is Utopia? By C. H. Wiley. Illustrated,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +Banditti of the Prairie,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +Tom Racquet,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +Red Indians of Newfoundland,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +Salathiel, by Croly,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +Corinne; or, Italy,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +Ned Musgrave,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +Aristocracy,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +Inquisition in Spain,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +Elsie's Married Life,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +Leyton Hall. By Mark Lemon,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +Flirtations in America,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +The Coquette,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +Thackeray's Irish Sketch Book,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +Whitehall,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +The Beautiful Nun,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +Mysteries of Three Cities,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +Genevra. By Miss Fairfield,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +New Hope; or, the Rescue,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +Crock of Gold. By Tupper,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +Twins and Heart. By Tupper,<span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>WORKS AT 50 CENTS. BY BEST AUTHORS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +The Woman in Red. A Companion to the "Woman in Black,"<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +Twelve Months of Matrimony. By Emelie F. Carlen,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +Leah; or the Forsaken,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +The Greatest Plague of Life,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +Clifford and the Actress,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +Two Lovers, <span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +Ryan's Mysteries of Marriage,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +The Orphans and Caleb Field,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +Moreton Hall,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +Bell Brandon,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +Sybil Grey,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +Female Life in New York,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +Agnes Grey,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +Diary of a Physician,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +The Emigrant Squire,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +The Monk, by Lewis,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +The Beautiful French Girl,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +Father Clement, paper,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">do. do. cloth,</span><span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +Miser's Heir, paper,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">do. do. cloth,</span><span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +The Admiral's Daughter,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +The American Joe Miller,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +Ella Stratford,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +Josephine, by Grace Aguilar,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +The Fortune Hunter, <span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +The Orphan Sisters,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +Robert Oaklands; or, the Outcast +Orphan,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +Abednego, the Money Lender,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +Jenny Ambrose,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +Father Tom and the Pope, in +cloth gilt, 75 cents, or paper,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +The Romish Confessional,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +Victims of Amusements,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +Violet,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +Alieford, a Family History,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +General Scott's $5 Portrait,<span class="ralign"> 1 00</span><br /> +Henry Clay's $5 Portrait, <span class="ralign"> 1 00</span><br /> +Tangarua, a Poem,<span class="ralign"> 1 00</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>WORKS AT 25 CENTS. BY BEST AUTHORS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Aunt Margaret's Trouble,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +The Woman in Grey, <span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +The Deformed,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Two Prima Donnas,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +The Mysterious Marriage,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Jack Downing's Letters,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +The Mysteries of a Convent,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Rose Warrington,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +The Iron Cross,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Charles Ransford,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +The Mysteries of Bedlam,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +The Nobleman's Daughter,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Madison's Exposition of Odd +Fellowship,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Ghost Stories. Illustrated,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Ladies' Science of Etiquette,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +The Abbey of Innismoyle,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Gliddon's Ancient Egypt,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Philip in Search of a Wife,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Rifle Shots,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>THE SHAKSPEARE NOVELS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +The Secret Passion,<span class="ralign"> 1 00</span><br /> +The Youth of Shakspeare, <span class="ralign"> 1 00</span><br /> +Shakspeare and his Friends,<span class="ralign"> 1 00</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + +<p>The three above Books are also published complete in one large octavo +volume, bound in cloth. Price Four Dollars.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><b>PETERSONS' ILLUMINATED STORIES.</b></div> + +<p>Each Book being in an "Illuminated Cover," in five colors, full of +Illustrations. This is the most saleable series of 25 cent books ever printed.</p> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Rebel and Rover,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +First Love,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +The Two Merchants, <span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +A Year After Marriage, <span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Love in High Life,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +The Divorced Wife,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +The Debtor's Daughter,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +The Lady at Home,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Mary Moreton, <span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +The Two Brides,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Dick Parker,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Jack Ketch, <span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Mother Brownrigg,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Galloping Dick, <span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Mary Bateman, <span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Raoul de Surville,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Life of Harry Thomas,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Mrs. Whipple & Jesse Strang's +Adventures,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Jonathan Wild's Adventures,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Ninon De L'Enclos' Life,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +The Iron Cross,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Biddy Woodhull, the Beautiful +Haymaker,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +The River Pirates,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Dark Shades of City Life, <span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +The Rats of the Seine,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Mysteries of Bedlam,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Charles Ransford,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Mysteries of a Convent,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +The Mysterious Marriage,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Capt. Blood, the Highwayman, <span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Capt. Blood and the Beagles,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Highwayman's Avenger,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Rody the Rover's Adventures,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Sixteen-Stringed Jack's Fight +for Life,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Ghost Stories. Illustrated,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Arthur Spring,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +The Valley Farm, <span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>USEFUL BOOKS FOR ALL.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Lady's and Gentleman's Science of Etiquette. By Count D'Orsay +and Countess de Calabrella,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"> with their portraits,</span><span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Lardner's One Thousand and Ten Things Worth Knowing,<span class="ralign"> 50</span><br /> +Knowlson's Complete Farrier and Horse Doctor,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Knowlson's Complete Cow and Cattle Doctor,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +The Complete Kitchen and Fruit Gardener,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +The Complete Florist and Flower Gardener,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Arthur's Receipts for Preserving Fruits, etc.,<span class="ralign"> 12</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>LIVES OF GENERALS AND OTHER NOTED MEN.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Moore's Life of Hon. Schuyler Colfax. By Rev. A. Y. Moore, of South Bend.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">With a Fine Steel Portrait. One vol. cloth. Price,</span><span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +The Lives of Grant and Colfax. With life-like portraits of each, and other engravings.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"> Cloth, $1.00; or in paper cover,</span><span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Illustrated Life, Speeches, Martyrdom and Funeral of President Abraham Lincoln.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Cloth, $1.75; or in paper cover,</span><span class="ralign"> 1 50</span><br /> +Life and Services of General Sheridan. Cloth, $1.00; or in +paper,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Life, Battles, Reports, and Public Services of General George B. McClellan.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"> Price in paper 50 cents, or in cloth,</span><span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +Life and Public Services of General George G. Meade, the Hero of +Gettysburg,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Life and Public Service of General Benjamin F. Butler, the Hero +of New Orleans,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Life of President Andrew Johnson. Cloth, $1.00; or in paper,<span class="ralign">75</span><br /> +The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson, cheap paper cover +edition, price 50 cents,<br /><span style="margin-left: 2em;"> or a finer edition, bound in cloth, +price,</span><span class="ralign">1 50</span><br /> +Trial of the Assassins and Conspirators for the murder of +President Abraham Lincoln. Cloth, $1.50;<br /><span style="margin-left: 2em;"> or cheap edition in +paper cover,</span><span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +Lives of Horatio Seymour and Francis P. Blair, Jr. Complete in +one duodecimo volume.<br /><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Price 50 cents in paper, or in cloth,</span><span class="ralign"> 75</span><br /> +Life of Archbishop Hughes, first Archbishop of New York,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><b>LIEBIG'S WORKS ON CHEMISTRY.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Agricultural Chemistry,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Animal Chemistry,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Liebig's celebrated Letters on +the Potato Disease,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + +<p>Liebig's Complete Works on Chemistry, is also issued in one large +octavo volume, bound in cloth. Price Two Dollars.</p> + + +<div class="center"><b>SIR E. L. BULWER'S NOVELS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +The Roue,<span class="ralign">65</span><br /> +The Oxonians,<span class="ralign">50</span><br /> +The Courtier,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +Falkland,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>DR. HOLLICK'S WORKS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Dr. Hollick's great work on the Anatomy and Physiology of the +Human Figure,<br /><span style="margin-left: 2em;"> with colored dissected plates of the Human +Figure,</span><span class="ralign">1 25</span><br /> +Dr. Hollick's Family Physician, a Pocket Guide for Everybody,<span class="ralign">25</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>GEORGE FRANCIS TRAIN'S SPEECHES.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Union Speeches. In 2 vols., each <span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Speech to the Fenians,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Downfall of England,<span class="ralign"> 10</span><br /> +Slavery and Emancipation,<span class="ralign"> 10</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>REV. CHAS. WADSWORTH'S SERMONS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +America's Mission,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +Thankfulness and Character,<span class="ralign"> 25</span><br /> +A Thanksgiving Sermon,<span class="ralign"> 15</span><br /> +Politics in Religion,<span class="ralign"> 12</span><br /> +Henry Ward Beecher on War and Emancipation,<span class="ralign"> 15</span><br /> +Rev. William T. Brantley's Union Sermon,<span class="ralign"> 15</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>EXPOSITIONS OF SECRET ORDERS, ETC.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Odd Fellowship Exposed,<span class="ralign"> 13</span><br /> +Sons of Malta Exposed,<span class="ralign"> 13</span><br /> +Life of Rev. John N. Maffit,<span class="ralign"> 13</span><br /> +Dr. Berg's Answer to Archbishop +Hughes,<span class="ralign"> 13</span><br /> +Dr. Berg on the Jesuits,<span class="ralign"> 13</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>RIDDELL'S MODEL ARCHITECT.</b></div> + +<p>Architectural Designs of Model Country Residences. By John Riddell, +Practical Architect. Illustrated with twenty-two full page Front Elevations, +colored, with forty-four Plates of Ground Plans, including the First +and Second Stories, with plans of the stories, full specifications of all the +articles used, and estimate of price. Price Fifteen Dollars a copy.</p> + + +<div class="center"><b>GOOD BOOKS FOR EVERYBODY.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Southern Life; or, Inside Views of Slavery,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +The Rich Men of Philadelphia, Income Tax List of Residents,<span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +Childbirth. Its pains lessened and its perils obviated.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Showing that the pains of childbirth may be mitigated, if not entirely +prevented,</span><span class="ralign"> 1 00</span><br /> +Peterson's Complete Coin Book, containing fac-similes of all the Coins in the World,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"> with the U. S. Mint value of each coin,</span><span class="ralign">1 00</span><br /> +New Card of Stamp Duties, approved by the last Acts of Congress,<span class="ralign">15</span><br /> +Political Lyrics. New Hampshire and Nebraska. Illustrated,<span class="ralign">12</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>CHRISTY & WHITE'S SONG BOOKS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Christy & Wood's Song Book,<span class="ralign">10</span><br /> +Melodeon Song Book,<span class="ralign">10</span><br /> +Plantation Melodies,<span class="ralign">10</span><br /> +Ethiopian Song Book,<span class="ralign"> 10</span><br /> +Serenader's Song Book,<span class="ralign">10</span><br /> +Budworth's Songs,<span class="ralign">10</span><br /> +Christy and White's Complete +Ethiopian Melodies. Cloth,<span class="ralign"> 1 00</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center"><b>CURVED-POINT STEEL PENS.</b></div> + +<ul class="none"><li> +The Slip Pen,<span class="ralign">per dozen .25, per gross, $2.50</span><br /> +The Barrel Pen,<span class="ralign">per " .50, " 5.00</span><br /> +Magnum Bonum Pen,<span class="ralign">per " .75, " 8.00</span><br /> +<br /></li></ul> + + +<div class="center">☞ <b>Books sent, postage paid, on receipt of the Retail Price, by +T. B. Peterson & Brothers, Philadelphia, Pa.</b></div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p> + +<p class="title"><big><b>T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS;</b></big><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smaller"><b>No. 306 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia</b></span></p> + + +<p>Have in Press, and are now issuing an entire new, complete, +and uniform edition of all the celebrated Novels, (which have +been out of print for years,) written by the late</p> + +<p class="center"><big>MRS. CAROLINE LEE HENTZ.</big></p> + +<p>The whole of the novels and stories of Mrs. <span class="smcap">Caroline Lee +Hentz</span> will be issued complete in twelve large duodecimo volumes. +Two volumes will be issued each month, until the series +is complete, <i>one volume on the first, and another on the fifteenth +of the month</i>. They will be printed on the finest paper, and bound +in the most beautiful style, in fine Morocco cloth, with a new full +gilt back, and sold at the low price of $1.75 each, in Morocco +cloth; or in paper cover, at $1.50 each.</p> + +<p>The Novels of Mrs. <span class="smcap">Caroline Lee Hentz</span> will be found, on perusal +by all, to be the most exciting and popular works that +have ever emanated from the American press. They are written +in a charming style, and will elicit through all a thrill of deep +and exquisite pleasure. They are works which the oldest and +the youngest may alike read with pleasure and profit. They +abound with the most beautiful scenic descriptions, and display +an intimate acquaintance with all phases of human character—all +the characters being exceedingly well drawn. They are delightful +books, full of incident, oftentimes bold and startling, +and they describe the warm feelings of the Southerner in glowing +colors. Indeed, all of Mrs. Hentz's stories aptly describe +Southern life, and are highly moral in their application. In +this field Mrs. Hentz wields a keen sickle, and harvests a rich +and abundant crop. They will be found, in plot, incident, and +management, to be superior to any other novels ever issued. +In the whole range of elegant moral fiction, there cannot be +found anything of more inestimable value, or superior to the +charming works of Mrs. Caroline Lee Hentz, and they are all +gems that will well repay a careful perusal. The Publishers +feel assured that this series of Novels, by Mrs. Caroline Lee +Hentz, will give entire satisfaction to the whole reading community; +that they will encourage good taste and good morals, +and while away many leisure hours with great pleasure and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[Pg 412]</a></span> +profit, and that they will also be recommended to others by +all that peruse them.</p> + +<p class="center">The first volume was issued on November 1st, 1869, and was<br /> +<b>LINDA; OR, THE YOUNG PILOT OF THE BELLE CREOLE</b>.</p> + +<p>The first volume, "Linda," contains a full and complete +Biography of the late Mrs. <span class="smcap">Caroline Lee Hentz</span>, which has never +before been published.</p> + +<p class="center">The second volume was issued on November 15th, 1869, and was<br /> +<b>ROBERT GRAHAM. A Sequel to "Linda; or, The Young Pilot +of the Belle Creole."</b></p> + +<p class="center">The third volume was issued on December 1st, 1869, and was<br /> +<b>RENA; or, THE SNOW BIRD. A Tale of Real Life.</b></p> + +<p class="center">The fourth volume was issued on December 15th, 1869, and was<br /> +<b>MARCUS WARLAND; or, The Long Moss Spring.</b></p> + +<p>These will be followed, <i>one on the first, and one on the fifteenth of +each month, in the following order</i>, by</p> + +<p class="center"><b>EOLINE; or, MAGNOLIA VALE; or, The Heiress of Glenmore.</b></p> + +<p class="center"><b>ERNEST LINWOOD; or, The Inner Life of the Author.</b></p> + +<p class="center"><b>THE PLANTER'S NORTHERN BRIDE; or, Scenes in Mrs. Hentz's +Childhood.</b></p> + +<p class="center"><b>HELEN AND ARTHUR; or, Miss Thusa's Spinning-Wheel.</b></p> + +<p class="center"><b>COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE; or, The Joys and Sorrows of +American Life.</b></p> + +<p class="center"><b>LOVE AFTER MARRIAGE; and other Stories of the Heart.</b></p> + +<p class="center"><b>THE LOST DAUGHTER; and other Stories of the Heart.</b></p> + +<p class="center"><b>THE BANISHED SON; and other Stories of the Heart.</b></p> + + +<p>This series will no doubt prove to be the most popular series +of Novels ever issued in this country, as they are written by +one of the most popular Female Novelists that ever lived.</p> + +<p>Address all orders, at once, to receive immediate attention, +for all or any of the above books, to</p> + +<p class="center"><b>T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS,</b></p> + +<p><span class="ralign">Publishers, No. 306 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa.</span><br /></p> + +<p>☞ <i>Above Books are for sale by all Booksellers, or copies of any or +all of them will be sent post-paid to any one, to any place, on receipt of +their price by the publishers.</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[Pg 413]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><b>T. B. PETERSON AND BROTHERS,</b></p> + +<p class="center">PUBLISHERS AND BOOKSELLERS,</p> + +<p class="center">PHILADELPHIA, PA.,</p> + +<p class="center">Take pleasure in calling the attention of the public to their<br /> +Choice and Extensive Stock of Books, comprising a collection<br /> +of the most popular and choice, in all styles<br /> +of binding, by all the favorite and standard<br /> +American and English Authors.</p> + +<p class="center">To Collectors of Libraries, or those desiring to form them.</p> + +<p>Many who have the taste, and wish to form a Library, are deterred by fear of the cost. +To all such we would say, that a large number of books may be furnished for even One +Hundred Dollars—which, by a yearly increase of a small amount, will before long place +the purchaser in possession of a Library in almost every branch of knowledge, and +afford satisfaction not only to the collector, but to all those who are so fortunate as to +possess his acquaintance.</p> + +<p>For the convenience of Book buyers, and those seeking suitable Works for Presentation, +great care is taken in having a large and varied collection, and all the current +works of the day. Show counters and shelves, with an excellent selection of Standard, +Illustrated, and Illuminated works, varying in price to suit all buyers, are available to +those visiting our establishment, where purchases may be made with facility, and the +time of the visitor greatly economized. Here may be seen not only books of the simplest +kind for children, but also exquisite works of art, of the most sumptuous character, +suitable alike to adorn the drawing-room table and the study of the connoisseur.</p> + +<p>Our arrangements for supplying <span class="smcap">Standard American Books</span>, suitable for Public Libraries +and Private Families, are complete, and our stock second to none in the country.</p> + +<p>☞ Catalogues are sent, on application, and great attention is paid to communications +from the country, and the goods ordered carefully packed and forwarded with expedition +on receipt of orders accompanied with the cash.</p> + +<p class="center">To Booksellers and Librarians.</p> + +<p>T. B. Peterson & Brothers issue New Books every month, comprising the most entertaining +and absorbing works published, suitable for the Parlor, Library, Sitting Room, +Railroad or Steamboat reading, by the best and most popular writers in the world.</p> + +<p>Any person wanting books will find it to their advantage to send their orders to the +"PUBLISHING HOUSE" OF T. B. PETERSON & BROS., 306 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, +who have the largest stock in the country, and will supply them at very low prices for +cash. We have just issued a new and complete Catalogue and Wholesale Price Lists, +which we send gratuitously to any Bookseller or Librarians on application.</p> + +<p>Orders solicited from Librarians, Booksellers, Canvassers, News Agents, and all others +in want of good and fast selling books, and they will please send on their orders.</p> + +<p>Enclose ten, twenty, fifty, or a hundred dollars, or more, to us in a letter, and write +what kind of books you wish, and on its receipt the books will be sent to you at once, +per first express, or any way you direct, with circulars, show bills, etc., gratis.</p> + +<p>Agents and Canvassers are requested to send for our Canvassers' Confidential Circular +containing instructions. Large wages can be made, as we supply our Agents at very +low rates.</p> + +<p>Address all cash orders, retail or wholesale, to meet with prompt attention, to</p> + +<p class="center"><big>T. B. PETERSON <span class="smcap">AND</span> BROTHERS,</big></p> + +<p><span class="ralign"> +306 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Penns.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Books sent, postage paid, on receipt of retail price, to any address in the country.</p> + +<p>All the NEW BOOKS are for sale at PETERSONS' Book Store, as soon as published.</p> + +<p>☞ Publishers of "PETERSONS' DETECTOR and BANK NOTE LIST," a Business +Journal and valuable Advertising medium. Price $1.50 a year, monthly; or $3.00 a +year, semi-monthly. Every Business man should subscribe at once.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[Pg 414]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p class="center"><big>PETERSON'S MAGAZINE</big></p> + +<p class="center">THE CHEAPEST AND BEST IN THE WORLD</p> + +<p class="center"><b>Splendid Offers for 1870.</b></p> + +<p>This popular Monthly Magazine <i>gives more for the money than any in the world</i>. +For 1870, it will be greatly improved. It will contain</p> + +<p class="center"> +<b>ONE THOUSAND PAGES!</b><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><b>FOURTEEN SPLENDID STEEL PLATES!</b></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><b>TWELVE MAMMOTH FASHION PLATES!</b></span><br /> +<b>TWELVE COLORED BERLIN PATTERNS!</b><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><b>NINE HUNDRED WOOD CUTS!</b></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;"><b>TWENTY-FOUR PAGES OF MUSIC!</b></span><br /> +</p> + +<p>All this will be given for only TWO DOLLARS a year, or a dollar less than +Magazines of the class of "Peterson." Its</p> + +<p class="center"><b>THRILLING TALES AND NOVELETTES</b></p> + +<p>Are the best published anywhere. <i>All the most popular writers are employed to write +originally for "Peterson."</i> In 1870, in addition to its usual quantity of short stories, +FIVE ORIGINAL COPYRIGHT NOVELETS will be given, viz.: "The Prisoner +of the Bastile," by Mrs. Ann S. Stephens; "The Secret at Bartram's Holme," by +Mrs. Jane G. Austin; "Kathleen's Love Story," by the author of "Ethel's Sir +Launcelot;" "An Enemy's Revenge," by the author of "The Second Life;" "How +it Ended," by Frank Lee Benedict.</p> + +<p class="center"><b>MAMMOTH COLORED FASHION PLATES</b></p> + +<p>Ahead of all others. These plates are engraved on steel, <span class="smcap">TWICE THE USUAL SIZE</span>, and +contain six figures. They will be superbly colored. Also, a pattern, from which a +Dress, Mantilla, or Child's Dress can be cut out, without the aid of a mantua-maker. +Also, several pages of Household and other receipts; in short, everything interesting +to ladies.</p> + +<p class="center"><b>SUPERB PREMIUM ENGRAVING!</b></p> + +<p>To every person getting up a Club for 1870 will be sent GRATIS, a copy of our +new and splendid Mezzotint for framing, (size 24 inches by 16), "Our Father Who +Art in Heaven." This is the most desirable premium ever offered. For large +Clubs, as will be seen below, an extra copy will be sent in addition.</p> + +<p class="center">TERMS—Always in Advance:</p> + +<ul class="none"><li> +One Copy, for one year <span class="ralign"> $2 00</span><br /> +Two Copies, for one year <span class="ralign"> 4 00</span><br /> +Three Copies, for one year <span class="ralign"> 5 00</span><br /> +Four Copies, for one year <span class="ralign"> 6 00</span><br /> +Five Copies, for one year, (and one to getter up of Club,) <span class="ralign"> 8 00</span><br /> +Eight Copies, for one year, (and one to getter up of Club,)<span class="ralign"> 12 00</span><br /> +Fourteen Copies, for one year, (and one to getter up of Club,) <span class="ralign"> 20 00</span><br /> +</li></ul> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;"><i>Address, Post-paid</i>,</span></p> +<p class="center">CHARLES J. PETERSON,<br /> +<span class="ralign">No. 306 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p class="center">☞ Specimens sent to those wishing to get up Clubs.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[Pg 415]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p class="center"><b>NEW BOOKS BY MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS.</b></p> + + +<p class="center gap4"><big>RUBY GRAY'S STRATEGY.</big></p> + +<p class="center">BY MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS.</p> + +<p class="center">Price $1.75 in Cloth; or, $1.50 in Paper Cover.</p> + + +<p class="center"><i>Fourth Edition Now Ready.</i></p> + +<p class="center gap4"><big><b>THE CURSE OF GOLD.</b></big></p> + +<p class="center">BY MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS.</p> + +<p class="center">Price $1.75 in Cloth; or, $1.50 in Paper Cover.</p> + + +<p class="center"><i>Fifth Edition Now Ready.</i></p> + +<p class="center gap4"><big><b>MABEL'S MISTAKE.</b></big></p> + +<p class="center">BY MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS.</p> + +<p class="center">Price $1.75 in Cloth; or, $1.50 in Paper Cover.</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> +<p>T. B. Peterson & Brothers have just issued a new and uniform edition +of all the popular works written by Mrs. Ann S. Stephens. Their names +are as follows. Price of each, $1.75 in cloth; or $1.50 in paper cover.</p> + + +<p class="center">ANN S. STEPHENS' COMPLETE WORKS.</p> + +<ul class="none"><li> +Ruby Gray's Strategy,<span class="ralign"> $1 75</span><br /> +The Curse of Gold,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +Mabel's Mistake,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +Doubly False,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +The Soldier's Orphans,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +Silent Struggles,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +The Wife's Secret,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +The Rejected Wife,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +Mary Derwent,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +The Gold Brick, <span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +Fashion and Famine,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +The Old Homestead,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +The Heiress,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +</li></ul> + +<p>Each of the above books are published in one large duodecimo volume, +bound in cloth, at $1.75 each, or in paper cover, at $1.50 each.</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> +<p>For sale by all Booksellers. Copies of any of the above books will be +sent to any one, free of postage, on receipt of price by the Publishers.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<b>T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS,</b><br /> +<span class="ralign">No. 306 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa.</span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[Pg 416]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p class="center"><b>NEW BOOKS BY MRS. E. D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH.</b></p> + + +<p class="center gap4"><big><b>THE BRIDE'S FATE.</b></big></p> + +<p class="center">A SEQUEL TO "THE CHANGED BRIDES."</p> + +<p class="center">BY MRS. EMMA D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH.</p> + + +<p class="center gap4"><big><b>THE CHANGED BRIDES.</b></big></p> + +<p class="center">BY MRS. EMMA D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH.</p> + + +<p class="center gap4"><big><b>HOW HE WON HER.</b></big></p> + +<p class="center">A SEQUEL TO "FAIR PLAY."</p> + +<p class="center">BY MRS. EMMA D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH.</p> + + +<p class="center gap4"><big><b>FAIR PLAY.</b></big></p> + +<p class="center">BY MRS. EMMA D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH.</p> + + +<p class="center gap4">MRS. SOUTHWORTH'S COMPLETE WORKS.</p> + +<ul class="none"><li> +The Bride's Fate,<span class="ralign"> $1 75</span><br /> +The Changed Brides,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +How He Won Her,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +Fair Play,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +The Prince of Darkness,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +Fallen Pride,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +The Widow's Son,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +Bride of Llewellyn,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +The Fortune Seeker,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +Allworth Abbey,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +The Bridal Eve,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +The Fatal Marriage,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +Love's Labor Won,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +Deserted Wife,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +The Lost Heiress,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +The Two Sisters,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +The Three Beauties,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +Vivia; or, the Secret of Power,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +Lady of the Isle,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +The Gipsy's Prophecy, <span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +The Missing Bride,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +Wife's Victory,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +The Mother-in-Law,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +Haunted Homestead,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +Retribution,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +India; Pearl of Pearl River,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +Curse of Clifton,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +Discarded Daughter,<span class="ralign"> 1 75</span><br /> +</li></ul> + +<p>Each of the above books are published in one large duodecimo volume, +bound in cloth, at $1.75 each, or in paper cover, at $1.50 each.</p> + +<p>For sale by all Booksellers. Copies of any of the above books will be +sent to any one, free of postage, on receipt of price by the Publishers.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<b>T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS,</b><br /> +<span class="ralign">No. 306 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa.</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>TRANSCRIBER NOTES:</p> + +<p>punctuation corrected without note.</p> + +<p>page 1: "Orpaans" changed to "Orphans" (The Soldiers' Orphans).</p> + +<p>page 3: "Montagu's" changed to "Montague's" (author of Lord Montague's Page).</p> + +<p>page 3: "Hary" changed to "Harry" ("Harry Coverdale's Courtship,").</p> + +<p>page 164: "?" changed to "!" to better fit the sentence (How kind it was of you!).</p> + +<p>page 379: "millionnaire" changed to "millionaire" (Bosworth is a millionaire).</p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Wives and Widows; or The Broken Life, by +Ann S. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Wives and Widows; or The Broken Life + +Author: Ann S. Stephens + +Release Date: June 11, 2011 [EBook #36374] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WIVES AND WIDOWS *** + + + + +Produced by Roberta Staehlin, Pat McCoy and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + +TRANSCRIBER NOTES: + + Words enclosed in ='s are indicated as BOLD-FACED TYPE. + + Words enclosed in _'s are indicated as ITALIC TYPE. + + [Symbol: Right] indicates a small illustrated hand pointing + towards the right. + + [Symbol: Left] indicates a small illustrated hand pointing towards + the left. + + Additional notes may be found at the end of the text. + + + + + WIVES AND WIDOWS; + + OR, + + THE BROKEN LIFE. + + BY + + MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS. + +AUTHOR OF "RUBY GRAY'S STRATEGY," "FASHION AND FAMINE," "THE CURSE OF +GOLD," "THE REJECTED WIFE," "THE OLD HOMESTEAD," "THE WIFE'S SECRET," +"MABEL'S MISTAKE," "THE GOLD BRICK," "SILENT STRUGGLES," "MARY DERWENT," +"DOUBLY FALSE," "THE HEIRESS," "THE SOLDIER'S ORPHANS," ETC., ETC. + + + When falsehood genders in a human soul, + Blossoms may hide the reptile in his creeping, + But every pulse will stir at his control, + Or feel the burden of his poisonous sleeping, + Until the tight'ning circle of his coils + Binds down the heart, which God alone assoils. + + In honest hearts the gentle truth reposes; + As nightingales, with rapturous music filled, + Nestle down, softly, in the clust'ring roses, + While the sweet night and moonlit air is thrilled + With perfect harmonies,--truth will arise + And send its voice, upringing, to the skies. + + +PHILADELPHIA: +T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS; +306 CHESTNUT STREET. + + + + + TO + + MISS ELIZA S. ORMSBEE, + + OF + + PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, + + THIS BOOK IS + + MOST AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. + + ANN S. STEPHENS. + + ST. CLOUD HOTEL, NEW YORK, + NOVEMBER, 1869. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. LEAVING MY HOME 25 + + II. MY NEW HOME 31 + + III. A NEW LIFE 35 + + IV. THREATENED WITH SEPARATION 40 + + V. AFTER THE WEDDING 48 + + VI. TELLING HOW LOTTIE INTRODUCED HERSELF 53 + + VII. OUT IN THE WORLD 59 + + VIII. OUR GUEST 63 + + IX. FANCIES AND PREMONITIONS 70 + + X. NEW VISITORS 76 + + XI. THE BASKET OF FRUIT 81 + + XII. BREAKFAST WITH OUR GUEST 86 + + XIII. JESSIE LEE AND HER MOTHER 88 + + XIV. INTRUSIVE KINDNESS 92 + + XV. THE TRAIL OF THE SERPENT 97 + + XVI. AFTER DREAMING 101 + + XVII. LOTTIE EXPRESSES HER OPINION OF THE + WIDOW 106 + + XVIII. THE UNWELCOME PROPOSAL 109 + + XIX. OUT UPON THE RIDGE 112 + + XX. ADROIT CROSS-QUESTIONING 118 + + XXI. THE EVENING AFTER BOSWORTH'S PROPOSAL 121 + + XXII. SOWING SEED FOR ANOTHER DAY 125 + + XXIII. AN OUTBREAK OF JEALOUSY 130 + + XXIV. THE OLD PENNSYLVANIA MANSION 135 + + XXV. THE MOTHER AND GRANDMOTHER 139 + + XXVI. SICK-BED FANCIES 143 + + XXVII. THE FIRST SOUND SLEEP 147 + + XXVIII. THE INTERVIEW IN THE WOODS 150 + + XXIX. TROUBLES GATHER ABOUT OUR JESSIE 155 + + XXX. MRS. DENNISON GATHERS WILD FLOWERS 159 + + XXXI. LOTTIE'S ADVICE 165 + + XXXII. MRS. LEE DREAMS OF PASSION-FLOWERS 169 + + XXXIII. COMPANY FROM TOWN 173 + + XXXIV. OUR VISIT TO THE OLD MANSION 177 + + XXXV. YOUNG BOSWORTH'S SICK-ROOM 181 + + XXXVI. LOTTIE'S REPORT 184 + + XXXVII. MY FIRST QUARREL WITH MR. LEE 188 + +XXXVIII. MR. LAWRENCE MAKES A CALL 192 + + XXXIX. LOTTIE AS A LETTER-WRITER 197 + + XL. YOUNG BOSWORTH RECEIVES A LETTER 200 + + XLI. OUT IN THE STORM 206 + + XLII. JESSIE GETS TIRED OF HER GUEST 208 + + XLIII. A CONSULTATION WITH LOTTIE 211 + + XLIV. THE MIDNIGHT DISCOVERY 216 + + XLV. BAFFLED AND DEFEATED 221 + + XLVI. LOTTIE OWNS HERSELF BEATEN 225 + + XLVII. MR. LEE SENDS IN THE ACCOUNT OF HIS GUARDIANSHIP 227 + + XLVIII. COMING OUT OF A DANGEROUS ILLNESS 231 + + XLIX. LOTTIE SEEMS TREACHEROUS 237 + + L. CONFIDENTIAL CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE WIDOW AND + MRS. LEE 240 + + LI. THE FATHER AND DAUGHTER 247 + + LII. THE FATAL LETTER 252 + + LIII. DEATH IN THE TOWER-CHAMBER 257 + + LIV. MRS. LEE'S FUNERAL 261 + + LV. OLD MRS. BOSWORTH'S VISIT 265 + + LVI. LOTTIE'S REVELATIONS 268 + + LVII. MRS. DENNISON URGES LAWRENCE TO PROPOSE 272 + + LVIII. AFTER THE PROPOSAL 277 + + LIX. A HEART-STORM ABATING 282 + + LX. THE TWO LETTERS 286 + + LXI. THE DEPARTING GUEST 290 + + LXII. WHOLLY DESERTED 297 + + LXIII. OLD-FASHIONED POLITENESS 302 + + LXIV. NEWS FROM ABROAD 306 + + LXV. LOTTIE LEAVES A LETTER AND A BOOK 313 + + LXVI. MRS. DENNISON'S JOURNAL 316 + + LXVII. OUR FIRST VISITOR 323 + + LXVIII. THE WATERFALL 329 + + LXIX. THE THREATENED DEPARTURE 338 + + LXX. THE MIDNIGHT WALK 348 + + LXXI. AWAY FROM HOME 355 + + LXXII. OUT IN THE WORLD AGAIN 358 + + LXXIII. FIRST WIDOWHOOD 362 + + LXXIV. LOTTIE'S LETTER 385 + + LXXV. LOTTIE IN PARIS 392 + + LXXVI. THE CASKET OF DIAMONDS 395 + + LXXVII. ALL TOGETHER AGAIN 404 + + + + +WIVES AND WIDOWS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +LEAVING MY HOME. + + +At ten years of age I was the unconscious mistress of a heavy stone +farm-house and extensive lands in the interior of Pennsylvania, with +railroad-bonds and bank-stock enough to secure me a moderate +independence. I shall never, never forget the loneliness of that old +house the day my mother was carried out of it and laid down by her +husband in the churchyard behind the village. The most intense suffering +of life often comes in childhood. My mother was dead; I could almost +feel her last cold kisses on my lip as I sat down in that desolate +parlor, waiting for the guardian who was expected to take me from my +dear old home to his. The window opened into a field of white clover, +where some cows and lambs were pasturing drowsily, as I had seen them a +hundred times; but now their very tranquillity grieved me. It seemed +strange that they would stand there so content, with the white clover +dropping from their mouths, and I going away forever. My mother's +canary-bird, which hung in the window, began to sing joyously over my +head, as if no funeral had passed from that room, leaving its shadows +behind, and, more grievous still, as if it did not care that I might +never sit and listen to it again. + +One of the neighbors had kindly volunteered to take charge of the gloomy +old house till my guardian came, but her presence disturbed me more than +funereal stillness would have done. I had a family of dolls up stairs, +and any amount of tiny household furniture, which I would have given the +world to take with me; but this thrifty neighbor protested against it. +She said that I was almost a young lady and must forget such childish +things, now that I was going into the world to be properly educated. + +To a shy, sensitive child, this was enough. So, with a double sense of +bereavement, I saw my pretty dolls and delicate toys swept into a basket +and carried off to the woman's house, between two stout Irish girls, who +seemed to be taking my heart off with them. + +In less than half an hour one of this woman's children came down the +road with my prettiest doll under her arm. Its flaxen curls were all +disordered, and its tiny feet, with their slippers of rose-colored kid, +had evidently been in the mud, where she had probably insisted on making +the doll walk. While I sat by the window, waiting and watching, this +bare-headed little girl sat down by a fragment of stone that had fallen +from the wall close by, and began pounding the head of my doll upon it +with all her might. A cry broke from me that made the little wretch +start and run away, leaving my poor mutilated doll by the stone. + +I ran out, seized upon my ruined doll, and came back to the house, +crying over it in bitter grief. With trembling hands I unlocked my +trunk, which was ready packed for travelling, and laid my broken +treasure down among the most precious of my belongings. Just then Mrs. +Pierce, our neighbor, came in, and in a half jeering, half kind way, +expostulated with me for being such a little goose as to cry over a +doll. This woman did not mean to be hard with me; far from it. Persons +exist who are really kind-hearted, and seem cruel only because they +cannot comprehend feelings utterly unknown to themselves. To me that +doll was a type of my wrecked home; to her it was a combination of wax, +sawdust, and leather, which a few dollars could at any time replace; +besides that, she was put a little on the defensive by the fault of her +child. + +While she reasoned with me in her coarse kindness, which only wounded me +deeper, a carriage had driven up, and two persons entered through the +outer door, which had been left open by the little girl when she ran +into the house to claim her mother's protection. I was sitting on the +floor by my trunk, with both hands pressed to my face, sobbing +piteously, when a sweet, strange voice checked the force of that woman's +harangue; some one sank down to the floor by me, and I was all at once +drawn into a close embrace. + +"Don't cry, dear; it is all very sad, no doubt, but you are going with +us, and to-morrow will be brighter." + +I looked through a mist of tears that half blinded me, and saw the +kindest, sweetest face that my eyes ever dwelt upon. It was that of a +young woman, perhaps twenty or twenty-two years of age. "You must not +feel yourself alone, dear child," she said, smoothing my hair with one +hand, from which she had drawn off the glove. + +"Oh," said Mrs. Pierce, pushing her daughter behind her, "you will never +believe, marm, what she is crying about,--leaving home, you think it is? +Oh, no; Miss is just taking on about a snip of a doll which my little +girl here smashed a trifle, not meaning any harm, for children will be +children, you know." + +Here Mrs. Pierce patted her child's head, who cast sidelong glances at +me and attempted to hide herself behind her mother's dress. + +I looked up at the young lady, blushing red, and begging her in my heart +not to think me so very ridiculous. + +She smiled encouragingly, and turning upon Mrs. Pierce, said, very +gravely,-- + +"I am surprised, madam, that you should think this a slight cause of +grief. The smallest thing connected with the child's home must be dear +to her." + +Mrs. Pierce gave her head a fling, and muttered that she meant no harm. +Miss was welcome to all her things back again; her children did not want +them, not they. + +"You are right," said the young lady, quite seriously; "have everything +she has owned or loved packed up at once." + +Mrs. Pierce went out muttering; the child followed her with a finger in +her mouth. + +"Now," said the young lady, "is there anything else you would like to +take away,--a bird, a little dog, or the cat you have loved; we can find +room for them?" + +My heart leaped. I had the dear old canary-bird; and lying upon the +crimson cushions of my mother's easy-chair was "Fanny," a pretty +chestnut-colored dog, that had all the grace of an Italian greyhound, +and the brightness of a terrier. + +"May I take her with me?" I cried, springing up and falling on my knees +before my mother's arm-chair, and hugging Fanny to my bosom. "I am so +glad, so grateful, so--" + +Here I broke down, and burying my face in Fanny's fur, cried and laughed +out my thankfulness. When I looked up, one of the handsomest men I ever +saw stood by the young lady, who was smiling upon him, though I saw +bright tears in her eyes. + +"So this is your father's ward," said the gentleman, reaching out his +hand as if he had known me all his life. + +I put my hand in his, and felt my heart grow warm, as if it had found +shelter from its loneliness. He exchanged glances with the lady, and I +felt sure that they were pleased with me. + +"Now," said the gentleman, "we have a little time, if you want to take +leave of anything." + +"Oh, I have been taking leave ever since she died," I answered, saddened +by his words. "I couldn't do it again." + +"Perhaps that is best," said the gentleman; "so get on your things; we +have a long ride before us." + +I started to obey him, but all at once a doubt seized upon me. Who were +these people? I did not know them. Mr. Olmsly, my guardian, I had been +informed, was an old man. What right had these people to take me away +from my home? + +I stole back to the gentleman, trembling, and filled with sudden +apprehension. + +"Please tell me who you are," I said; "Mr. Olmsly! I thought he was an +old man." + +"And so he is," answered the gentleman, smiling pleasantly, "but he is +not very well, and so his daughter came after you in his place. This is +Miss Olmsly." + +The young lady stooped down and kissed me. My arms stole around her neck +unawares, and from that moment I loved her dearly. When I turned away +from the young lady's caresses, her companion said,-- + +"Now you would like to know who I am; isn't that so?" + +I nodded my head, feeling that I could tell at once who he was. + +"Her brother, I am sure of that, you are both so--so--pleasant." + +I was about to say "handsome," but changed it to the less flattering +word. + +They both laughed, and the gentleman glanced at Miss Olmsly's face, +which, I was surprised to see, turned red as a wild rose. + +"No, I am not her brother," he said, flushing up himself; "but I shall +be a great deal at your guardian's, and I shall think that you are +almost my sister. Will you like that?" + +"So much!" I replied, with a light heart, for all my anxieties were put +to rest. "Now I will get my things." + +I went up-stairs and entered my own little room for the last time. How +homelike and familiar everything looked: the little bed in the corner, +with its draperies of white net; the muslin window-curtains, through +which I could see great clusters of old-fashioned white roses, still wet +with morning dew, and lying like snow among the vivid green of the thick +leaves; my little walnut-wood desk, where I had got my first +lessons,--all appealed to me with a force that swept away the dawning +cheerfulness which the conversation down-stairs had inspired. I sat down +by the window and looked sadly out. The sash was open, and a sweet +fragrance came up from the white clover-field, mingling with that of the +great rose-bush, which had reached the second-story windows, ever since +I could remember. I could not bear to leave all these things. Yet the +house had been so lonely that I had no clear wish to stay. To me there +was something terrible in leaving that safe home-shelter. I grew cold, +and began to cry again. Afar off I could see the graveyard where my +mother was lying. Her presence was close to me then. How could I go away +and leave her resting there within sight of the old house? But she had +herself arranged that I should live with my guardian. Why should these +bitter regrets depress me, while obeying her? It was that strong home +feeling which has never left me during my life,--the feeling which +prompted me to gather a handful of those white roses, and keep them till +they crumbled into nothing but the ashes of a flower. Oh, how my heart +ached when we drove away from that old stone house! the picture is even +yet burned in on my brain. That tall hickory-tree at one end--the willow +in front. Those fine old lilac-bushes, and the clustering roses reaching +luxuriantly to the upper windows, in the full rich blossoming of early +June. Many a time since, when in sadness and sorrow this picture has +come back to my mind, I have wondered if it might not have been better +had I stayed in that quiet old home. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +MY NEW HOME. + + +Mr. Olmsly was a very wealthy man. His property stretched far into an +iron and coal district of Pennsylvania, and every day increased its +value. It lay in and around a fine inland town, situated among some of +the most picturesque scenery to be found in the State. His residence was +about five miles from this town, and a most beautiful spot it was. The +house was built on the last spur of a range of hills, which ran for some +distance down the valley of the Delaware. Around this tall ridge the +noble river made a bold sweep, turned an old stone mill on its outer +curve, and went careering down one of the richest and most beautiful +valleys that the eye ever dwelt upon. The whole of this mountain spur, +the mill and the land down to the river, which swept around it like an +ox-bow, was the property of Mr. Olmsly. His house of heavy stone was +built half-way up the side of the ridge, in the form of the letter T, +which ran lengthwise along the face of the hill, presenting a pointed +roof, and one sharp gable in the front view. The walls were stuccoed +like many houses to be found in European countries, and were settled +back on the hill by three curving terraces, two of them blooming with +rare flowers. These terraces cut the hill as with a girdle of blossoms +about half-way up from its base. The first was a carriage-road, which +was connected with the house by a long flight of steps leading across +the first flower-terrace to the front door. + +In front, the house was three stories high. The basement story opened on +the first broad terrace, with its wreathing vines, and glowing blossoms. +An oriel window curved out from the gable, and a square balcony +surrounded by an arabesque railing, formed a pleasant lounging-place +over the front entrance. At the back of the house the entrance was from +the third terrace, directly to the second story, which was half occupied +by a broad hall, ending in the square balcony; a noble drawing-room, +whose latticed windows opened on every side save the front, from which +the oriel jutted, opened upon a platform some ten feet wide, which +formed a promenade around one end of the second story, and along the +back of the building, surrounded by a low balustrade, to which a hundred +rare plants and vines were clinging; beyond this was a labyrinth of +flower-beds, through which a broad gravel-path wound gracefully, +separating the green turf of the hill-side from the third and last +terrace, which was most beautiful of all. + +These terraces threw broad belts of flowers half across the face of the +hill, and ended in pleasant footpaths which led through the turf and +under some sheltering trees to the top of the ridge. There everything +was wild as nature left to herself can be. At noonday the sunshine was +darkened by the woven branches of pines, hemlocks, beech, and oak trees, +with a tangle of blossoming laurel among the dusky undergrowth. From +this eminence, you commanded a glorious sight of two magnificent +valleys,--one stretching off toward the Blue Ridge and overlooking the +town, the other opening in rich luxuriance down the banks of the +Delaware, mile after mile, league after league, till villages in the +distance seemed scarcely more than a handful of snow-flakes. + +Half-way down you saw the house I have been describing, the +carriage-road that wound beneath it, and below that, the hill sloping +downward in a broad, rolling lawn, which lost itself with gentle +undulations in the green bosom of the valley. + +This was the home to which I was brought, and this beautiful view lay +before me as I stood upon the terrace-steps, wondering that the earth +could be so lovely. Miss Olmsly paused by my side, enjoying my +surprise. + +"You like it," she said; "we shall be very happy here, for I know how it +will be with my father when he sees your demure little face." + +"Happy," I said, looking at the flowers which bloomed around me +everywhere. "I did not know that there was any place in the world so +lovely as this." + +"I am glad you are pleased, young lady." + +I started, turned toward the speaker, and saw a fine old gentleman, with +soft brown eyes, and hair as white as snow, standing on the step above +me. + +"It is my father, dear," said Miss Olmsly, mounting a step higher and +offering the old man a kiss; "she is a dear, good child, papa, and we +love her already." + +"I am glad of that," he said, stooping down and kissing me on the +forehead. "Your father was my friend, child, and I will be yours. Come +into the house; you must be tired and hungry." + +We entered the house which was henceforth to be my home. Miss Olmsly +took me directly to a pretty chamber, that had been evidently prepared +for my coming. Everything was simple, neat, and pure as snow. As if they +had known how I loved flowers, they were placed in the deep +window-seats, on the white marble of the mantelpiece, and the principal +window opened on the loveliest portion of the third terrace, where a +world of flowers were in bloom from May till November. + +There I hung up the bird-cage which I had brought from home in the +carriage, and the little inmate began to sing joyously, as if he +understood all the beauties of our new home and rejoiced over them. + +Fanny, too, put her paws on the window-seat, and looked out demurely, as +if taking a survey of the landscape. She dropped down with what seemed a +little bark of approval, and curling herself up on my travelling-shawl, +which had dropped to the floor, watched me as I unlocked my trunk and +prepared for dinner. + +Miss Olmsly was right. I had a demure little face, but it looked upon me +from the glass less sorrowfully than I had seen it since my mother's +death. The sombre blackness of my dress threw it all into shadow and +made the deep blue-gray of my eyes darker, by far, than was natural. +This, contrasting with the slightness of my form, made me look like a +little woman who had known suffering, rather than the sensitive child +that I really was. + +The dinner filled me with awe; the bright silver, the cut-glass, and +delicate china impressed me greatly, and I was half afraid to tell the +waiter what I wanted, he seemed so great a gentleman. Everybody was +kind, the conversation was bright and cheerful; I understood it all, and +felt myself brightening under it. Once or twice I caught myself laughing +at the pleasant things the old gentleman was saying. + +After dinner, when Mr. Olmsly was asleep in his great easy-chair, Mr. +Lee and Miss Olmsly went out on the platform, lifted a little from the +third terrace, and walked up and down, now and then looking in through +one of the open French windows, and saying a kind word to me. I remember +thinking what a splendid couple they were, and how happy they seemed to +be in each other's company. No wonder; she was a lovely creature, +slender, graceful, and caressing in all her ways, while he was like a +demigod to my imagination, grand as a monarch, and good as he was +kingly. Even then, young as I was, the smile with which he occasionally +bent to her, made my heart yearn with a strange desire that I, too, +might be so smiled upon. + +Still, I was neither lonely nor home-sick, for my whole heart had gone +out toward those young people, and I had begun to connect the old +gentleman lovingly with my own father, whose face and kind ways I could +just remember. + +After a while I stole up to my own room again, unpacked my trunk, hung +up my mourning dresses, and lingered regretfully over my doll a few +moments, ashamed of having loved it so; for the sneers of Mrs. Pierce +had made a deep impression on me, and I began to feel that I ought to be +something more than a child. Still I could not put the poor, broken +thing entirely away, but a sight of it always gave me a heart-ache. It +is a terrible thing when one's childhood is broken up with harsh words +and coarse jeers. + +Where refinement is, illusions remain beautiful far beyond childhood. +They belong to innocence, and seldom dwell long with the worldly and the +bad. + +Mrs. Pierce had swept away one joy from my life, but a beautiful +compensation had been sent me in my new home and my new friends. It all +seemed like paradise to me when I went to bed that night. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +A NEW LIFE. + + +The next morning, Miss Olmsly came into my room and helped me arrange my +little mementos in a homelike fashion. My work-box was brought forth and +placed on the little table provided for it. My pretty writing-desk was +unlocked and placed convenient for use. Brackets were ready for the +ornaments that had been so dear that I could not leave them behind. From +that hour, this room became in fact my home; the old stone farm-house +receded into the shadows of the past. I thought of it sometimes sadly, +as I thought of the graves where my parents lay. The sight of an +old-fashioned damask-rose has still power to bring tears into my eyes, +and my heart would thrill if I passed a white clover-patch, years and +years after that I left at home had been ploughed out of existence. But +after all, the brightest sunshine of my life fell through the latticed +windows of my room on the Ridge. + +No humming-bird ever loved flowers as I did;--no artist ever gave +himself up to the enjoyment of a fine landscape more completely than it +was in my nature to do. I have no doubt that the beauty that surrounded +me was one great cause of the tranquil happiness which settled upon my +whole being as I became accustomed to the place. I loved to spend whole +mornings alone on the Ridge, collecting mosses and searching for +birds'-nests, which were abundant in the pines and the drooping hemlock +boughs. Among Miss Olmsly's old school-books I found one that gave me an +elementary knowledge of botany; I did not consider it a dry study, but +loved to sit upon a rock carpeted with moss, and look into the fragrant +hearts of the wild-flowers, searching out their sweet secrets with a +feeling of profound sympathy in their loveliness and in the races to +which they belonged. Child as I was, these things satisfied me, and I +wanted no other companionship. + +Mr. Olmsly's land covered extensive woods beside those on the Ridge. +There was nothing likely to harm me anywhere in the grounds, and I was +allowed to run wild out of doors wherever I pleased. Thus I made +acquaintance with many things beside the flowers; gray squirrels and +pretty striped chipmunks, with bushy tails curled over their backs, +would sit upon the tree-boughs just over my head and look at me with shy +friendliness. Now and then, I saw a rabbit peeping at me through the +ferns. These pretty creatures were not afraid, for no sportsman was ever +allowed to bring his gun into those woods, and I think they knew how far +I was from wishing to harm them. + +My mother had been a timid woman, and her love for me always rendered +her unduly careful. She had a terror of allowing me out of her sight, +and being feeble herself, kept me mostly indoors, where I had learned +to content myself in a passionate love of my dolls, that really seemed +to me like living creatures capable of loving me as I worshipped them. + +But at the Ridge I really did enjoy living companionship. Nature lay all +before me, wild as the first creation; or so blended with art that its +richest beauties were enhanced threefold. There was also vitality and +intelligence in these living creatures that stirred my heart with a +strange sympathy. + +My dog Fanny sometimes troubled me a little: she would insist upon +routing the ground-birds from their nests, and in an effort to become +friendly with the rabbits, would send them scampering wildly into the +underbrush. I loved Fanny dearly, but it was not pleasant to see my pets +driven off by her frolicsome way of making herself agreeable. + +One day I had gone farther than usual into the woods, and come out upon +the outer verge of Mr. Olmsly's estate. Here the trees grew thin and +scattered off into a pasture, where a flock of sheep was grazing; beyond +that, some fine meadow sloped down toward the valley, cut in two by the +highway, on which a large stone house was visible through the trees +growing thickly around it. + +A flat rock, half in sunshine, half in shadow, lay hidden in the grass +close by the footpath I had been pursuing, and I sat down upon it, +somewhat tired from my long walk in the woods. Fanny was with me and +sprang with a leap to my side, but kept moving restlessly about, as if +she did not quite like the position, or saw something that displeased +her. + +I had gathered some spotted leaves of the adder's-tongue, with a few of +its golden flowers, and had found some lovely specimens of cup-moss on +an old stump, which nature was embellishing like a fairy palace, and sat +admiring them in the pleasant sunshine, when Fanny gave a sudden yelp, +and bounded from the rock, barking furiously. + +I dropped the flowers into my lap, half frightened by her sudden +outburst; but as she continued wheeling around the rock, darting off and +back again, yelping like a fury, I ordered her to be quiet, and fell to +arranging my treasures once more. + +All at once Fanny ceased barking, but crept close to me, seized upon my +dress with her teeth and began to pull backward, almost tearing the +fabric. Just then I heard a rustling sound on the rock behind me; +forcing my dress from the dog's teeth, I sprang up, and saw quivering +upon the moss what seemed to be a dusky shimmer of jewels all in motion. +In an instant the glitter left my eyes. I felt myself turning into +marble. There, coiled up ready for a spring, its head flattened, its +eyes glittering venomously, was a checkered adder preparing to lance out +upon me. + +I could not move, I could not scream; my strained eyes refused to turn +from the reptile, who, quivering with its own poison, seemed to draw me +toward him. For my life I could not have moved; my lips seemed +frozen,--a fearful fascination possessed me utterly. It was broken by +the rush of a fragment of rock, under which I saw the reptile writhing +fiercely. Then my faculties were unchained, and a shriek broke from my +cold lips. I sprang from the rock and was running madly away, when Mr. +Lee caught me in his arms, and I shuddered into insensibility there. + +When I came to, the crushed adder lay dead upon the rock, from a crevice +of which he had crept forth upon me. Fanny was barking furiously around +it, and Mr. Lee had carried me to a spring close by, where he was +bathing my face with water. + +I looked around in terror. "Is it gone? is it dead?" I questioned, +shuddering. + +He pointed out the adder, which hung supine and dead over the edge of +the rock, and attempted to soothe my fears, but I trembled still, and +could hardly force myself to take a second look at my dead foe. + +How kind Mr. Lee was then; how tenderly he compassionated my terror, and +assured me of safety. Fanny, too, forgot her rage, and came leaping +around me. Oh, how grateful I was to that man. My heart yearned to say +all it felt, but found no language. I could only lift my eyes to him now +and then in dumb thankfulness, wondering if he cared that I was so +grateful, or dreamed how much a girl of my years could feel. + +How foolish all these thoughts were; of course, he only thought of me as +a frightened child. From that day I never knelt to God, morning or +evening, without asking some blessing on the head of Mr. Lee. Gratitude +had deepened my reverence for that man into such worship as only a +sensitive child can feel. Yes, worship is the word, for this young man +in the grandeur of his fine person, gentle manners, and superior age, +seemed as far above me as the clouds of heaven are above the daisies in +a meadow. Even now I cannot comprehend the feelings with which I +regarded him. + +Have I said that Mr. Lee was a partner in the Olmsly Iron Works, and +though he boarded in town, half his time was of necessity spent at the +Ridge? My guardian only attended to business through him, and expected a +report at least twice a week. + +Many and many a time, when I knew that he was coming, have I wandered +down the carriage-road to the grove where it curved off from the +highway, and was closed into our private ground by a gate. There, +sheltered by the spruce-trees and hidden by the laurel-bushes, I have +waited hours, listening for the tread of his horse, and feeling +supremely rewarded by a brief glimpse of his manly figure, as it dashed +up the road, unconscious alike of my presence and my worship. + +I never mentioned these feelings, or all the secret sources of happiness +to which my soul awoke, not even to Miss Olmsly. I would have died +rather than breathe them to any human being; they were sacred to me as +my prayers. Sometimes I would be days together without speaking to Mr. +Lee, but I was seldom out of the sound of his voice when he visited the +Ridge, and would follow him and Miss Olmsly like a pet dog about the +garden, glad to see her brighten and smile when he looked upon her, and +loving them both with my whole heart. + +Sometimes other company came from the town. We frequently drove over +there and brought Mr. Lee home with us; indeed, he was one of the family +in every respect, save that he did not sleep at the Ridge, and called +himself a visitor. One thing is very certain--on the days he did not +come Miss Olmsly was sure to grow serious, almost sad; only there never +was any real sadness at our house in those days. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THREATENED WITH SEPARATION. + + +This beautiful life must have an end. Even childhood has its duties, and +mine could no longer be invaded. + +One day Miss Olmsly came into my room, and looking around, sighed; but +there was a smile on her lip and an expression in her face that made me +wonder at the sigh; for I had not learned that superabundant joy has +sometimes the same expression as grief; but oh, how different the +feeling. + +She sat down by the window, and drawing me close to her, kissed my +forehead two or three times with so much feeling that I began to +tremble. + +"Is anything the matter?" I said, winding my arms around her neck; "have +I done wrong?" + +"Wrong, my sweet child, no; who ever accused you of being anything but +the best girl in the world? I was only thinking how lonesome you would +be without us." + +"Without you?" I faltered,--"without you?" + +I felt myself growing pale, my arms fell away from that white neck, and +I looked piteously in her kind face, afraid to ask the meaning of these +words. + +"Don't look so frightened, dear," said Miss Olmsly, drawing me fondly to +her side. "Even if we were not going, you must have been sent to school. +No young lady can get along without education, you know; still, I shall +feel very anxious about you." + +"Are you going away; am I to be left?" + +I could ask no more; the very idea of parting with them choked me. + +Miss Olmsly drew my face to hers as if she wanted to keep me from +looking at her so earnestly. My cheek was wet with tears, but hers was +red as it touched mine, and I could feel that it was burning. + +"I am about to tell you something that I hope you will be glad to hear, +darling," she said, almost in a whisper. "In two weeks Mr. Lee and I are +going to be married. Why, how you shiver, child! I should have told you +of this first; the very thought of a school terrifies you." + +I heard this and no more. Another death seemed upon me; I fell upon my +knees and caught at her dress with both hands. + +"Oh, do not leave me--I shall die! I shall die!" She lifted me from the +floor and attempted to soothe me, but I was not to be pacified. To live +without him--never to see him! There would be nothing worth loving in my +life after that. + +"Is it so hard to part with us," she said, smoothing my hair with both +hands. + +I flung my arms around her neck in passionate grief. + +"Let me go too; oh, take me, take me!" + +"But we are going to Europe." + +"Over the sea? I know, I know, take me!" + +She kissed me again, and seemed thoughtful. My heart rose: I began to +plead with hope. She listened tenderly; told me not to cry, and left me +in a state of suspense hard to bear. An hour after this I saw her +walking in the garden with Mr. Lee. She was addressing him with sweet +earnestness. He looked smilingly down into her face and seemed to +expostulate against something that she was urging. At last he appeared +to give way, but shook his head and threatened her with his finger, +which she answered by tossing the ripe leaves of an autumn rose in his +face. As he shook them laughingly away, his eyes fell on me where I +leaned from the window, and he made a sign for me to come down. + +Breathless, and wild with anxiety, I ran down to the garden and stood +beside him, panting for breath, eager to speak, and yet afraid. + +"Well, little lady," he said, holding out a hand; "you are determined +that we shall not leave you behind." + +"It would kill me," I murmured, striving to read my fate in his eyes. + +"But we shall be gone from home a long time." + +"My home is where--where she is," I answered. + +Why did I hesitate to include him. I think he noticed it, for he said, +laughing, "Then you care everything for her, nothing for me?" + +I burst into tears and cried out in my trouble, "Oh, you are cruel to +me; you laugh when I am so unhappy." + +"But no one shall be made so unhappy when--when--" Here Miss Olmsly +broke off what she had begun to say, and flushed like the rose she had +just torn to pieces. + +"When we are married; that is what she will not say, sweetheart," broke +in Mr. Lee, blushing a little himself; "and if it really will make you +unhappy to stay behind, why, there must be some way found by which you +can go with us." + +I caught a deep breath and felt a glow of keen happiness rush up to my +face, but no word would leave my lips. + +"Now, this will make you happy?" questioned Miss Olmsly, looking into my +eyes,--I think as much to avoid his, as from a wish to read my joy +there. + +"So happy," I answered. + +"But we shall be gone a long time and shall travel a great deal, while +you must be put to school." + +This dampened my spirits a little, but I answered, bravely, that I did +not mind, so long as there was no ocean between us. + +Then they informed me that Mr. Olmsly had consented that I should go +with them to Paris and remain in school while they travelled. Then he +would join us and make new arrangements for the future. + +After explaining all this to me, the young people walked off together, +satisfied that I was made happy as themselves; and so I ought to have +been; but my poor heart would not rest, and I went off into the woods +like a wild bird, wondering why it was that a flutter of pain still kept +stirring in my bosom. + +They were married just two weeks from that day. All the principal +families of the place were invited, and the entertainment proved a grand +affair. All the grounds were illuminated for the occasion. The house was +one blaze of lights. Every tree on the hill-side or the sloping lawn +seemed blossoming with fire, or drooping with translucent fruit, so +numerous were the colored lamps and gorgeous lanterns that hung amid +their foliage. + +It was like fairy-land to me. The moon was at its golden fulness, and +never before had the purple skies seemed so full of stars; but, spite of +this, I was sad and restless. Miss Olmsly insisted upon it that my +mourning should be laid aside, and I felt strange in the cloudy +whiteness of my dress, simple and plain as it was. Indeed, the whole +thing seemed to me like a dream which must pass away on the morrow. +Perhaps it was this abrupt change in my dress which made me feel so +lonely when all the world was gay and brilliant beyond anything my short +life had witnessed. Perhaps I felt sad at the thought of leaving my +native land. Be this as it may, I can look back upon few nights of my +life more dreary than that upon which the two best friends I ever had, +or ever shall have, were married. + +Memory is full of pictures; events fade away, feelings die out, but so +long as the heart keeps a sentiment or the brain holds an image, groups +will start up from the past and bring back scenes which no effort of the +mind can displace. It is strange, but such pictures are burned, as it +were, upon the soul unawares, and often without any remarkable event +which can be said to have impressed them there. You may have known a +person all your life, yet remember him only as he was presented to you +at some given moment. Whole years may pass in which you scarcely seem to +have observed him; but at some one moment he comes out upon your +recollection with all his features perfect and clearly cut as a cameo. + +Of all the pictures burned in upon my life, that of Mr. Lee and his +bride, as they stood up in that long drawing-room to be married, will be +the last to die out from my mind. No bridesmaids were in attendance; no +ushers coming and going drew attention from that noble couple. This was +the picture,--a woman standing at the left hand of a tall, stately man. +He was upright, firm, and self-poised as the pillar of some old Grecian +temple. She drooped gently forward, her hands unconsciously clasped, the +long black lashes sweeping her cheeks; a soft tremor, as of red +rose-leaves stirred by the wind, passing over her lips; draperies of +satin, glossy and white as crusted snow, fell around her; a garland of +blush-roses crowned the braids of purplish-black hair thickly coiled +around a most queenly head. Draperies of rich, warm crimson fell from +the windows just behind them, and swept around the foot of a noble vase +of Oriental alabaster, from which a tall crimson and purple fuchsia-tree +dropped its profuse bells. Directly the clergyman, with a book in his +hand, broke into the picture; but my mind rejects him and falls back +upon the man, and the woman who stood with lovelight in her eyes and +prayers at her heart, waiting to become his wife. + +There was great rejoicing after the picture was lost in a crowd of +congratulating friends; music sent its soft reverberations out among the +flowers, that gave back rich odors in return; for it was a lovely +autumnal night, and the whole platform to which the windows opened was +garlanded in with hot-house plants. I remember seeing groups of persons +wandering about in the illuminated grounds. Their laughter reached me as +I sat solitary and alone in the oriel window, over which lace curtains +fell, and were kindled up like snow by the lights from without. + +I was very sad that night, and felt the tears stealing slowly into my +eyes. Every one was happy, but joy had forgotten to find me out. All at +once the lace curtains were lifted softly and fell rustling down again. +_She_ had thought of me even in her happiest moments. Her arms were +folded around me; her lips, warm with smiles, were pressed to my face. + +"All alone and looking so sad! why will you not enjoy yourself like the +rest?" she said. + +"I am so young and so wicked," I answered, wiping the tears from my +eyes. + +"Wicked! oh, not that, only there is no one of your own age here; come +out a little while; he has been asking for you." + +"For me?" + +"Of course; who else should he think of? Why, child, you will never know +how dearly we both love you." + +"And you always will?" I asked, holding my breath in expectation of her +answer. + +"And always will, be sure of that. Ah! here he comes to promise for +himself." + +Yes; there he stood holding back the curtains, proud, smiling, and +strong, as I shall always remember him. + +"Ah! you have found her, silly thing, hiding away by herself," he +exclaimed, kindly. + +"I have just made a promise for you," answered the bride with gentle +seriousness. + +"Which I will keep; for henceforth, fair lady, am I not your slave." + +"I have promised to love this girl so long as I shall live, and that you +will be her very best friend, and love her dearly." + +"Dearly, you say?" + +"Most dearly." + +"Next to yourself?" + +"Next to myself; and after me, best of all." + +"Ah, it is easy to promise that, for, next to yourself, sweet wife, she +is the dearest creature in existence." She held my hand in hers while he +was speaking. When he uttered the word wife, I felt her finger quiver as +if some strange thrill had flashed down from her heart, and the broad +white lids drooped suddenly, veiling the radiance of her eyes. + +"Now that I have promised, let us seal the compact," he said, with +touching seriousness; and lifting me for a moment in his arms, he +pressed a kiss upon my lips. + +"Why, how she trembles; don't be afraid, you sensitive little thing; +come, come go with us and see how the people are making themselves +happy." + +The bride took his arm, and leading me with his disengaged hand, he +crossed the drawing-room and went out on the flower-wreathed platform, +where a band of music was filling the night with harmonies. + +Here an ecstasy of feeling came upon me; I remembered all that both +these persons had promised, and that it would be a solemn compact which +they would never think of breaking. I should be with them, not for a +time only, but so long as I lived. Remember, I was an imaginative girl, +and knew but little of the mutability of human affairs. I only felt in +my soul that these two persons whom I loved so entirely, would be +faithful to the promise they had made that night, and this certainly +filled me with exultation that was, for the time, something better than +happiness. After a while, Mr. Lee dropped my hand, but it crept back to +his, and I made a signal that he should bend his head. + +"It is a promise," I whispered; "you will never, never send me away from +you?" + +"It is a promise," he answered, smiling down upon me. + +"Good night," I said, longing to be alone in my room where I could feel +of a certainty that the few words spoken that night had anchored me for +life. "Good night; I shall never leave you or her while I live." + +It seemed a rash promise, but I made it to God in my prayers that night. +The reader shall see how I kept it. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +AFTER THE WEDDING. + + +Our Jessie was born in Paris, a little more than a year after her +parents were married, and a lovelier child never drew breath. I was in +school then, and she was two months old before I saw her, but she had +learned to smile, and was a beautiful, bright little creature even then. +How I worshipped the child! no elder sister ever rendered her heart more +completely up to an infant of her own blood, than I gave mine. All the +affection I had ever felt for the parents was intensified and softened +into infinite tenderness for their little girl. In her I resolved to +repay some of the kindness which had been so lavishly bestowed on me. +How this was to be done, I could not tell, but I had dreams of great +sacrifices, unlimited devotion, and such care as one human being never +took of another. Thus the first existence of this child was woven into +my own better life and became a part of it. + +Our Jessie was two years old when Mr. Olmsly joined us in Europe, and +for the first time saw his little grandchild; before she had counted +another year, the good old man was dead and buried in a strange country. +He left a will contrary to all expectation, written after he had seen +and loved little Jessie. All his vast property was left to Mr. Lee and +his wife, but on the death of Mrs. Lee, even though the husband was +still living, one half the estate was to revert, unrestricted and +uncontrolled, to her daughter. + +This was all, and with it the persons in interest were satisfied; +indeed, the property was large enough to have been divided half a dozen +times, and still have been sufficient for the ambition of any reasonable +person. + +Mr. Lee did not return to the United States at the death of his +father-in-law; there was, in reality, nothing to call him home. He had +retired from active business soon after his marriage, and the old world +had so many resources of knowledge and pleasure, for persons of their +fine cultivation, that they lingered on, year after year, without a wish +for change, sometimes travelling from country to country, but making +Paris their head-quarters so long as I remained in school. + +After that, we spent a year in Italy, and some months in Germany and +Spain, where I became perfect mistress of the languages, and found +happiness in imparting them to "Our Jessie," who became more lovely and +lovable every year of her life. + +At last we went to the Holy Land, and lingered a while in Egypt, where +Mrs. Lee was taken ill, almost for the first time in her life, and then +came the only real sorrow that we had known since Mr. Olmsly's death. + +The moment it was possible, we returned to Paris, in order to get the +best medical advice. It came all too soon; Mrs. Lee was pronounced a +confirmed invalid, some disease of the nerves, in which the spine was +implicated, threatened a tedious, if not incurable illness. + +At this time Jessie was ten years old, and I had entered the first +stages of womanhood; as her mother became more and more frail, the dear +child was almost entirely given up to me, and my love for her became +absolute idolatry. The child had always been taught to call me aunt, and +for her sake I was ready to give up all the bright social prospects that +opened to me just then. Indeed, there never was a time in my life that I +could not have found pleasure in sacrificing anything to the parents or +the child. + +One thing troubled Mrs. Lee at this time,--a craving desire to go home +seized upon her. With an invalid's incessant longing, she wearied of the +objects that had so pleasantly amused her, and sighed for rest. But it +had been arranged that Jessie should be educated at the same school +which I had left, and the gentle mother could not find it in her heart +to be separated from that dear one. + +Now came the time for my dream to be realized. Why should "Our Jessie" +be given up to the hard routine of a school, when I could make her +studies easy and her life pleasant. It was in my power to keep the +mother and child in one home. + +I found Mr. Lee and his wife together one day, and made my proposition. +I would become Jessie's governess. + +My generous friends protested against this. It was, they said, the +opening of my life. In order to do this, I must give up the society +which I had but just entered, and perhaps injure my own prospects in the +future. No, no, they could not permit a sacrifice like this. + +But if they were generous, I was resolute. To have Jessie always with +me, had been the brightest dream of my girlhood. I could not be +persuaded to give it up. What did I care for society, if she was to +suffer the dreary routine of the school-life from which I had but just +been emancipated? I really think it would have broken my heart had the +dear child been left behind. But great love always prevails. We sailed +for America a united family, happy even with the drawback of Mrs. Lee's +illness, which in itself was seldom painful, and her untiring +cheerfulness was never broken. + +The valley of the Delaware had become highly cultivated in our long +absence. A railroad ran up the banks of the river, from which our house +could be seen standing on the hill-side miles and miles away. I started +with surprise when it first met our view. A square stone tower, three +stories high, loomed up behind the pointed gables and balconied front, +giving a castellated air to the whole building. + +This had been done by Mr. Lee's orders. He had drawn the plans, and his +architect had carried them out splendidly. Our first view of the house +was accompanied with exclamations of pleasure which delighted Mr. Lee, +who had kept all his improvements a secret, that he might enjoy our +surprise. Indeed, the site of the house was so finely uplifted from the +valley, that the effect was that of many lordly mansions we had seen on +the Continent, though I do not remember one more picturesque in itself, +or that could command a landscape to compare with this in extent or +varied beauty. + +It was a lovely June day when we reached the Ridge; everything had been +prepared for our reception. In the years of our absence nothing had been +permitted to go to decay, but many improvements presented themselves as +we turned up the carriage-road. A young peach-orchard had grown into +bearing trees; grape trellices were tangled thickly with vines; choice +fruit-trees of every kind had just lost their blossoms. A range of +hot-houses glittered through the trees. All this made the Ridge more +beautiful by far than it had been years before when it seemed a paradise +to me. On entering the house, we were still more pleasantly surprised. +Everything rich and rare that a long residence abroad had enabled Mr. +Lee to collect, was arranged through the rooms,--bronzes, statuettes of +marble, old china carvings, pictures, ornaments of malachite, and Lapes +lazula, met us on every hand. All this might have seemed out of place in +a country house of almost any ordinary description, where the occupant +was likely to spend half the year in town; but Mr. Lee had fitted up +this place as his principal and permanent residence. The health of his +wife demanded quiet; her tastes required beautiful objects, and all +these rare articles had been carefully selected for her pleasure. Here +she found many a precious gem of art which she had seen in her travels, +admired, but never thought to possess. But he had remembered her +faintest preference, and the proofs of his unbounded devotion met her at +every turn, as we entered, what was, in fact, the blending of an old and +new home. + +Not one article of the old furniture was missing, every sweet +association had been preserved with religious care; but affection had +grafted the new life she had been leading on the reminiscences of her +girlhood, and, spite of her infirmity and fatigue, Mrs. Lee was +supremely happy as she entered her home. The square tower was entirely +modern, and everything it contained had been sent from abroad. The lower +room was a library, with pointed windows, a black-walnut floor, and a +small Gobeline carpet in the centre of the room, upon which a heavily +carved table was placed. From floor to ceiling the walls were lined with +books, richly bound, and carefully selected; the book-cases were each +surmounted with a bas-relief in bronze, representing some classical +subject, while the glass that shut in the books was pure as crystal. +Easy-chairs of every conceivable pattern stood about this room, and +between each book-case a bronze statuette reminded you of some classic +name, or hero known to history. + +The second story of the tower opened into the main building; thus the +large square chamber fitted up for Mrs. Lee was connected with two +smaller rooms, one intended for her personal attendant, the other a +dressing-room. + +The principal window of this room opened upon a balcony, which +overlooked the brightest portion of the terraces; near this window a +couch was drawn, from which even an invalid might attain lovely glimpses +of the clustering flowers, without changing her position. A carpet, +thick and soft as a meadow in spring, covered the floor, and in the back +part of the room stood a bed, surmounted by a canopy carved from some +rare dark-hued wood, from which curtains of lace that a countess might +have worn, swept to the floor, and clouded the bed, without in any +degree obstructing the air. In this room everything invited to repose. +The pictures were all dreamily beautiful. On one side of the large +window a marble child lay sleeping, with a smile on its lips. On the +other, just within the frost-like shadow of the curtains, an angel, of +the same size, knelt, with downcast face, and hands pressed softly +together, praying. This was the room into which Mr. Lee carried his +wife, after she had rested a few minutes in the drawing-room. He laid +her upon the couch with gentle care, but she rose at once, and leaning +upon her elbow, looked around. Everything was new and strange; but, oh, +how beautiful! tears came into her eyes; she leaned back upon the +cushions, and held out both hands. + +"And you have done all this," she said. "Was ever a woman so blessed?" + +Then she turned her eyes upon the window and saw the flowers gleaming +through. + +"The garden is as he left it," she murmured. "I am glad of that--I am +glad of that." + +Mr. Lee sat down by her couch, smiling, and evidently rejoiced that he +had given her so much pleasure. Jessie was moving about the room, happy +as a bird; to her everything was new and charming, and the restlessness +of childhood was upon her. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +TELLING HOW LOTTIE INTRODUCED HERSELF. + + +As we were settling down to a quiet admiration of all these things, a +strange little girl appeared at the door, where she hesitated, and +peeped in as if half afraid. Thinking that she wished to speak with some +of us, I went toward her, but she waved me off with an air, saying,-- + +"It's no use your coming, you're not the madam, I'll bet." + +With these words she walked into the room and took a general survey of +our party. First she cast a sharp glance at Mr. Lee, but withdrew it +directly; passed a careless look over my person, broke into a broad +smile as Jessie came under her observation, and having thus disposed of +us, came up to Mrs. Lee, who opened her eyes wide, and was for a moment +astonished by the sudden appearance of the girl. + +"Perhaps you don't want me here, now that so many other folks are +coming," said the girl, clasping and unclasping her hands, which at last +fell loosely before her. "They tell me down-stairs that I don't belong +here nohow, and hadn't ought to put myself forward. But I haven't got no +one to speak up for me, being an orphan, so here I am; do you want me, +or must I up and go." + +"Who are you, my girl?" asked Mrs. Lee, in her gentle way. + +"My father was the gardener here, marm, but he's dead; so is my mother, +long ago. My name is Lottie, and I've stayed on here doing things about, +because I hadn't anywhere else to go. That's pretty much all about it." + +"And you wish to stay?" + +"Do I wish to stay, is it? Yes, I do, awfully. I can earn my board and +more, too, in the kitchen, cleaning silver and scouring knives and +feeding chickens, but since I catched sight of you being carried up them +steps, marm, my ideas have ris a notch. I should like to tend on you +dreadfully. You could tell me how, you know, and I'm cute to learn; ask +'em down below, if you don't believe me." + +Mrs. Lee broke into a faint laugh; the manners and abrupt speech of the +girl struck her as comical in the extreme. As for myself, I have seldom +seen a creature so awkward, so brusque, and yet so interesting. She was, +I should fancy, about eight years of age, square, angular, restless, but +no lily was ever more pure than her complexion, and her hair, thick and +soft, was of that delicate golden tint we find in new silk, before it +is reeled from the cocoon. Altogether, she was a strange creature, full +of vivid feeling and dreadfully in earnest. Mrs. Lee liked her, I could +make sure of that, from the serene pleasure which came to her face as +she looked into the girl's large gray eyes, which were shaded with +lashes much darker than her hair. + +"And you would like to make yourself useful up here," she said, smiling +at the girl's intense eagerness. + +"Goodness--wouldn't I?" + +"But, can you be quiet?" + +"As a bird on its nest." + +"And cheerful?" + +"Why, marm, I'm the cheerfullest creature on these premises. You may +count in the squirrels, rabbits, and robins, and after that, I can say +it." + +Mrs. Lee turned her eyes on her husband, who sat near her couch, greatly +amused by the dialogue. + +"What do you think? She seems bright, and I dare say will try her best." + +"At any rate, she promises to be amusing," answered Mr. Lee, and a +good-natured smile quivered about his lips. + +"And kind-hearted, I will answer for that, don't you think so, Martha?" + +"I am sure of it." + +As the words left my lips, Lottie made a dive at me, took my hand in +both hers, and kissed it with a wild outgush of feeling. "You're good as +gold, silver, and diamonds," she said. "I was sure that you would be on +my side, though you do look as if butter wouldn't melt in your mouth. +Tell me just what to do about the lady, and see if I don't come up to +the mark. It's in me, I know that." + +Mrs. Lee closed her eyes wearily; even this short conversation was too +much for her weak nerves. + +"Go down-stairs now," I said to the girl in a low voice; "by-and-by you +shall be told about your duties. The first and greatest is quietness." + +She nodded her head, put a finger to her lips, and went out of the room +on tiptoe. + +Mrs. Lee opened her eyes as the girl went out, and beckoned to Jessie. + +"Do you like that strange little orphan?" she questioned. + +"Like her? indeed I do, mamma," said the kind-hearted girl. "She is so +warm, so earnest, and uses such queer words. But Aunt Martha will cure +her of that. I was just thinking how pleasant it would be to teach her." + +"That is a good idea, child; who knows what we may do for her?" + +Here Mrs. Lee turned upon her cushions a little wearily, and from that +time, Lottie became her attendant. + +Now our domestic life began in earnest. Mrs. Lee's disease was not often +painful, nor immediately dangerous. Contented with the love that +surrounded her, she fell gently into the invalid habits, which had +something pleasant in them when incited by a home like that. + +For my part, I knew no more attractive spot than her room. There Jessie +took her lessons in the morning, and in the afternoon, Mr. Lee always +sat with us, reading to her while we worked or studied. Never in this +world, I do think, was a family more closely united, or that seemed so +completely uplifted from care or trouble as ours. + +Sometimes Mrs. Lee would regret what she called the waste of my youth in +her daughter's behalf, but I had no such feeling. Society was nothing to +me, while those I loved so dearly were part of my every-day life. Of +course I had seen my share of social life in Europe, had met many +agreeable people, and knew what it was to be admired,--perhaps +loved,--but my heart had never, for one moment, swerved from its old +affections. Ardently as in my childhood, I loved those two first and +last friends. As for "Our Jessie," I cannot trust myself to speak of +her. If ever one human being adored another, I adored that bright, +beautiful girl. They talked of sacrifices; why, it would have broken my +heart had Jessie been taken from me and sent to school. Of course, we +had plenty of society, the best people from the town visited us often, +and sometimes an old friend whom we had met on our travels would find us +out. But Mrs. Lee's state of health precluded much hospitality, and so +we were left almost entirely to the quiet home-life which all of us +loved so well. + +Thus months and years rolled on, stealing the freshness and bloom from +me, and giving them tenfold to my darling. + +If I have dwelt somewhat at length on my early life, it is not because I +am attempting to give prominence to my own feelings or actions, but that +the reader may understand how intense and all-absorbing a feeling of +affectionate gratitude may become,--how it may color and pervade a whole +existence. + +In my helpless orphanage, two noble young people had found me lonely, +despondent, and almost friendless. At once, without question or +reservation, they took me into their hearts and gave me a permanent +home. Now that my benefactress had fallen into entire dependence upon +those she loved for happiness, was it strange that I stood ready to give +up my youth for her and her beautiful child? + +This generous woman was forever speaking of my action as a noble +sacrifice. But to my thinking it was happiness in itself. I loved to +watch what might have been my own life, dawning brightly in the youth of +Jessie Lee; and when her first lover appeared, I was almost as much +interested as the girl herself, who was, in fact, quite unconscious, for +a long time, that the young man loved her at all. + +He was a splendid young fellow, though, and even "Our Jessie" might have +been proud of the conquest she had unconsciously made. + +Young Bosworth was the grandson of a fine old lady, born in England, I +think, who inhabited the large stone house I have spoken of as forming a +picturesque feature in the landscape, on the day I was rescued from the +adder. He was interested in an iron company near the town, financially, +and was about to enter into active business in the partnership, having +just completed his minority. His business brought him frequently to our +house, for Mr. Lee was considered a safe adviser in such matters; thus +an intimacy sprung up between the young man and "Our Jessie" just when +the first bloom of her girlhood was deepening into the rare beauty for +which she was so remarkable in after-years. + +But Jessie was all unconscious of the love that I could detect in every +glance of those fine eyes, and in every tone of the voice that grew +tender and musical whenever it addressed her. Indeed, the young man took +no pains to conceal the feelings that seemed to possess him entirely. No +one but a person utterly innocent and unconscious of her own attractions +could have remained an hour ignorant of such devotion. + +I think Jessie liked this man, and if nothing had happened to intervene, +that liking would have ripened gently into love, as fruit exposed to the +sweet dews of night and the warm noonday sun, ripens and grows crimson +so gradually that we mark the result without observing the progress. + +But something did happen, which not only interrupted the pleasant +relations which had been established between this young man and our +family, but which broke up all the quiet and happiness of our domestic +life. + +Hitherto our lives had been so tranquil that there was little to +describe. We had, to an extent, isolated ourselves from the general +world, and so surrounded ourselves with blessings, that the one +misfortune of our lives had proved almost a beneficence, for Mrs. Lee's +illness had only drawn us closer together. But all was to be changed +now. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +OUT IN THE WORLD. + + +When Jessie reached her eighteenth year, Mrs. Lee became more languid +than usual, and early in the season her physician suggested a few weeks +at the sea-side. + +I think the dear lady was induced to follow his advice from a desire to +give our girl a glimpse of the life which should have been opened to her +about that time, rather than from any hopes of benefit from sea-bathing. +She entered into the project at once, and brightened visibly under the +influence of Jessie's openly expressed enthusiasm. The dear girl had in +reality seen nothing of life, and she was happy as a bird at the +prospect of entering what seemed to her like an enchanted land. + +Late in June, that year, we went to Long Branch upon the Jersey shore, +and there among the crowd of fashionables from Philadelphia and New +York, a new life opened to our Jessie, whose wealth and exceeding beauty +soon made her an object of general admiration. + +I cannot tell you how we first became acquainted with Mrs. Dennison. She +was a Southern woman, about whom there was a vague reputation of wealth +inherited from an old man, whom she had married in his dotage, and of a +very luxurious life which had commenced so soon after the funeral as to +create some scandal. She was certainly a very beautiful woman, tall, +exquisitely formed, lithe and graceful as a leopardess. Her manners were +caressing, her voice sweetly modulated, and her powers of conversation +wonderfully varied. At first I was fascinated by the woman. She occupied +rooms that opened on the same veranda with ours, and had stolen so +completely into our companionship by a thousand little attentions to +Mrs. Lee, before we really knew anything about her, that afterward it +seemed unnecessary to make further inquiry. It would have proved of +little avail had our research been ever so rigid, for no one seemed +really to have any positive knowledge about her. Even the gossip I have +mentioned could always be traced back to a remarkably bright mulatto +lady's-maid, who was generally in attendance upon her, and who conversed +freely with every one who chose to question her. But all the +intelligence so gathered was sure to add to the power and wealth of a +mistress whom the mulatto pronounced to be one of the most distinguished +and beautiful women of the South. All this rather interested Mr. Lee, +who found this lady so often bestowing little attentions upon his wife, +that he came to recognize her as a friend, and, after a time, seemed to +take great pleasure in her conversation. All this troubled me a little. +Why? surely the feeling which turned my heart from that woman was not +jealousy. Had I indeed so completely identified myself with my friends, +that the approach to confidential relations with another person gave me +pain? I could not understand the feeling, but, struggle against it as I +would, the presence of that woman made me restless. She never touched +Mrs. Lee that I did not long to dash her hand away. + +Jessie, like the rest, was fascinated with her new friend. They would +walk together for hours on the shore, where a crowd of admirers was sure +to gather around them, while I sat upon the veranda with my +benefactress, anxious and disturbed. + +After a time, another person was introduced into our party. He first +became acquainted with Mrs. Lee, and seemed to drop into our +companionship in that way without any connection with Mrs. Dennison; but +I learned afterward that Mr. Lawrence had been very attentive to her +from her first appearance at the Branch, and that a rumor had for a time +prevailed that they were engaged. + +All this might not have interested me much but for something that I +observed in Jessie, who was evidently far better acquainted with the man +than any of us; for it seems he had been in the habit of joining her and +Mrs. Dennison in their walks long before he attained an introduction to +Mrs. Lee. Lawrence was a tall, powerful man, very distinguished and +elegant in his bearing, wonderfully brilliant in conversation, and one +who always would be a leader for good or evil among his fellow-men. He +had been a good deal connected with the politics of the country, and at +one time was considered a power in Wall Street, from which he had +withdrawn, it was impossible to say whether penniless, or with a large +fortune. + +This man was soon on terms of cordial intimacy with our family, but I +watched him with distrust. He was just the person to dazzle and +fascinate an ardent, inexperienced girl like our Jessie, and I saw with +pain that her color would rise and fade beneath his glances, and that a +look of triumph lighted up his eyes when he remarked it. + +Here was another source of anxiety. This man of the world, who had spent +half his life in the struggles of Wall Street and a tangle of politics, +was no match for a creature so pure and true as our Jessie. Yet I +greatly feared that her heart was turning to him at the expense of that +brave, honorable young man whose very existence seemed to have been +forgotten among us. + +But young Bosworth came at last, and I was more at rest. Jessie was +certainly glad to see him, and, much to my surprise, he dropped at once +into intimate relations with Lawrence, and recognized him as an old +friend whom he had met during the few months that he had spent abroad. + +I have not said that Lottie was one of the attendants whom we brought +from the Ridge. This girl had grown somewhat in stature, but was still +very small. Her light-yellow hair was wonderfully abundant, and she had +a dozen fantastic ways of dressing it, which added to the singularity +of her appearance. At times, her eyes were clear and steady in their +glances; but, if a feeling of distrust came over her, both eyes would +cross ominously, and she seemed to be glancing inward with the sharp +vigilance of a fox. + +There always had been a remarkable sympathy between me and this strange +girl. From the day I first saw her, she seemed to divine my feelings, +conceal them as I would, and to share all my dislikes almost before they +were formed. At first, she had kept aloof from the servants of the +hotel. This was not strange, for Lottie was, in fact, better educated +than some of their mistresses. She had managed to pick up a great deal +of knowledge as she sat by while Jessie took her lessons, and I had +found pleasure in teaching her such English branches as befitted her +station in life. In fact, Lottie had become more like a companion than a +servant with us all. + +To my surprise, after keeping aloof for a whole week, Lottie fell into +the closest intimacy with Cora, Mrs. Dennison's maid, and I could see +that she lost no opportunity of watching the mistress and Mr. Lawrence. + +What all this might have ended in I cannot tell, for just as our +intimacy became closest, the strong sea-air began to have an unfavorable +effect on our patient. + +A sudden longing for home seized upon her one day, after Lottie had been +with her talking about the Ridge, and it was decided that we should +leave the Branch at once, though the season was at its height, and +Jessie had entered into its gayeties with all the zest of her ardent +nature. + +I think Mr. Lee was rather reluctant to go away so suddenly. He had been +so long excluded from this form of social life that it had all the charm +of novelty to him; but the least wish of his wife was enough to change +all this, and he became only anxious to get her safely home again. + +I do not know how it happened, or who really gave the invitation, but +on the night before I left we learned from Mrs. Dennison herself, that +she had promised to make us an early visit; and half an hour later, as I +sat alone in the lower veranda, young Bosworth and Mr. Lawrence passed +me, talking earnestly. "Of course, my dear fellow, I shall come if a +careless person like me will be acceptable to that fine old lady, your +grandmother. That promise of partridge-shooting is beyond my powers of +resistance." + +It was Mr. Lawrence who spoke, and I knew by this fragment of +conversation that he too was coming into our neighborhood. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +OUR GUEST. + + +I stood in the oriel window that curved out from one end of the large +parlor and looked toward the east; that is, it commanded a broad view +from all points, save the direct west. The heavenly glimpses of scenery +that you caught at every turn through the small diamond panes were +enough to drive an artist mad, that so much unpainted poetry could +exist, and not glow warm and fresh on his canvas. I am an artist, at +soul, and have a gallery of the most superb brain-pictures stowed away +in my thoughts, but among them all there is nothing to equal the scene, +or rather scenes, I was gazing upon. + +The window was deep, and when that rich volume of curtains shut it out +from the parlor, it was the most cosy little spot in the world. A deep +easy-chair, and a tiny marble stand, filled it luxuriously. On the +outside, white jasmines, passion-flowers, and choice roses, crept up to +the edge of the glass in abundance, encircling you with massive wreaths +of foliage and blossoms. + +This window had always been my favorite retreat, when sadness or care +oppressed me, as it had begun to do seriously of late, for a degree of +estrangement had arisen between Jessie and myself, after our return from +the sea-side. I could not share her enthusiasm regarding some of the +persons we had met there, and for the first time in her life she was +half offended with me. + +I can hardly express the pain this gave me. All her life she had come to +me in her troubles; and her bright, innocent joys I always shared; for, +like a flower-garden, she sent back the sunshine that passed over her, +enriched and more golden from a contact with her loveliness. I can +hardly tell you what a thing of beauty she was; yet, I doubt if you +would have thought her so very lovely as I did, for my admiration was +almost idolatry. Of late I had remarked a certain reserve about her, the +reticence which kept a sanctuary of feeling and thought quite away from +the world, and alas, from me also. Yet she was frank and truthful, as +the flower which always folds the choicest perfume close in its own +heart. What secret feeling was it that kept her from me, her oldest and +best friend. + +I was thinking of Jessie while I sat in the easy-chair, looking down the +carriage-road that led through our private grounds from the highway; for +ours was an isolated dwelling, and no carriage that was not destined for +the house ever came up that sweep of road. I looked down upon it with a +sad, heavy feeling, though my eyes passed over a terrace crowned with a +wilderness of flowers, reached by a flight of steps. The gleam of these +flowers, and the green slope beyond, were a part of the scenery on which +I gazed, yet I saw nothing of them. + +We expected Mrs. Dennison. The carriage had gone over to the country +town which lay behind the hills piled up at my left, and I was listening +for the sound of its wheels on the gravel with a strange thrill of +anxiety. Why was this? What did I care about the young widow who had +been invited to spend a few days with our Jessie? She was only a +watering-place acquaintance--a clever, beautiful woman of the world, +who, having a little time on her hands, had condescended to remember +Mrs. Lee's half-extorted invitation, and was expected accordingly. + +Jessie was rather excited with the idea of a guest, for it so chanced +that we had been alone for a week or two; and though I never saw a +family more independent of society than Mrs. Lee's, guests always bring +expectation and cheerfulness with them in a well-appointed country +house. + +"I wonder what keeps them?" said my darling, softly lifting one side of +the silken curtains, and unconsciously dropping them into the background +of as lovely a picture as you ever saw. "Here are some flowers for the +stand, Aunt Matty. She'll catch their bloom through the window, and know +it is my welcome." + +I took the crystal vase from her hand, and set it on the little table +before me. + +"Hush!" she said, lifting the drapery higher, and bending forward to +listen. "Hush! Isn't that the carriage coming through the pine grove?" + +I turned in my chair, for Jessie was well worth looking at, even by a +person who loved her less fondly than I did. Standing there, draped to +artistic perfection in her pretty white dress, gathered in surplice +folds over her bosom, and fastened there with an antique head, cut in +coral, with its loose sleeves falling back from the uplifted arm, till +its beautiful contour could be seen almost to the shoulder, she was a +subject for Sir Joshua Reynolds. I am sure that great master would not +have changed the grouping in a single point. + +"No," I said, listening; "it is the gardener's rake on the gravel walk, +I think." + +She bent her head sideways, listening, and incredulous of my +explanation. Some gleams of sunshine fell through the glass, and lay +richly on the heavy braid of hair that crowned her head in a raven +coronal. + +We always remember those we love in some peculiar moment which lifts +itself out of ordinary life by important associations; or, as in this +case, by the singular combinations of grace that render them attractive. +To my last breath, I shall never forget Jessie Lee, as she stood before +me that morning. + +"Well," she said, with an impatient movement that left the curtains +falling between us like the entrance of a tent, "watched rose-buds never +open. I'll go back to the piano, and let her take me by surprise. I'm +glad you're looking so nice, aunt. She'll be sure to like you now in +spite of herself, though you were so cold and stiff with her at the +Branch, and I defy you to help liking her in the end." + +As Jessie said this, her hand fell on the keys of the piano, and +instantly a gush of music burst through the room, so joyous that the +birds that haunted the old forest-trees around the house burst into a +riot of rival melody. Amid this delicious serenade the carriage drove +up. + +I saw Mr. Lee alight, in his usual stately way; then Mrs. Dennison +sprang upon the lowest step of the broad stairs that led up to the +terrace, scarcely touching Mr. Lee's offered hand. There she stood a +moment, her silk flounces fluttering in the sunlight, and her neatly +gloved hands playing with the clasp of her travelling satchel, as the +servant took a scarlet shawl and some books from the carriage. Then she +gave a rapid glance over the grounds, and looked up to the house, +smiling pleasantly, and doubtless paying Mr. Lee some compliment, for +his usually sedate face brightened pleasantly, and he took the lady's +satchel, with a gallant bow, which few young men of his time could have +equalled. + +Certainly our guest was a beautiful woman: tall, queenly, and conscious +of it all; but I did not like her. One of those warnings, or +antipathies, if you please, which makes the heart take shelter in +distrust, seized upon me again that moment, and I felt like flying to my +darling, who sat amid the sweet harmonies she was herself creating, to +shield her from some unknown danger. + +I left my seat and passed through the curtains, thinking to warn Jessie +of her friend's arrival; but when I was half across the room, our +visitor came smiling and rustling through the door. She motioned me to +be still, and, darting across the carpet, seized Jessie's head between +both hands, bent it back, and, stooping with the grace of a Juno, kissed +her two or three times, while her clear, ringing laugh mingled with the +notes which had broken into sudden discords under Jessie's fingers. + +"So I have chased my bird to its nest, at last," she said, releasing her +captive with a movement that struck even me--who disliked her from the +beginning--as one of exquisite grace. "Hunted it to the mountains, and +find it in full song, while I searched every window in the house, as we +drove up, and fancied all sorts of things: a cold welcome among the +least." + +"That you will never have," cried Jessie, and the smile with which she +greeted her guest was enough of welcome for any one. "The truth is, I +got out of patience, and so played to quiet myself while Aunt Matty +watched." + +"And how is the dear Aunt Matty?" said the guest, coming toward me with +both hands extended. "Ah! Jessie Lee, you are a fortunate girl to have +so sweet a friend." + +"I am fortunate in everything," said Jessie, turning her large, earnest +eyes on my face with a look of tenderness that went to my heart, "and +most of all here." + +"And I," said Mrs. Dennison, with a suppressed breath, and a look of +graceful sadness. "Well, well, one can't expect everything." + +Jessie laughed. This bit of sentiment in her guest rather amused her. + +"Ah, you never will believe in sorrow of any kind, until it comes in +earnest," said the widow, with an entire change in her countenance; "but +I, who have seen it in so many forms, cannot always forget." + +"But," said Jessie, with one of her caressing movements, "you must +forget it now. We are to be happy as the day is long while you are here. +Isn't that so, aunt? We have laid out such walks, and rides, and +pleasant evenings--of course, you have brought your habit." + +"Of course. What would one be in the country without riding?" + +"And your guitar? I want Aunt Matty to hear you sing. She never was with +us when you had an instrument." + +"Oh! Aunt Matty shall have enough of that, I promise her; the man who +follows with my luggage has the guitar somewhere among his plunder." + +"I'm very glad," said Jessie, smiling archly. "Now everything is +provided for except--" + +"Except what, lady-bird?" + +"Except that we have no gentlemen to admire you." + +"No gentlemen!" + +"Not a soul but papa." + +The widow certainly looked a little disappointed for the first instant, +but she rallied before any eye less keen than mine could have observed +it, and laughed joyously. + +"Thank heaven, we sha'n't be bothered with compliments, nor tormented +with adoration. Oh! Jessie Lee, Jessie Lee! I am so glad of a little +rest from all that sort of thing: a'n't you?" + +"I never was persecuted with it like you, fair lady, remember that," +replied Jessie, demurely. + +"Hypocrite! don't attempt to deceive me; I had eyes at the sea-side." + +"And very beautiful ones they were--everybody agreed in that." + +"There it is!" cried the widow, lifting her hands in affected horror; +"when gentlemen are absent, ladies will flatter each other. Pray, put a +stop to this, Miss,----" + +"Miss Hyde," I said, rather tired of these trivialities; "but Jessie, in +the eagerness of her welcome, forgets that our guest has scarcely time +to prepare for dinner." + +"Ah! is it so late?" said Mrs. Dennison. + +"Shall I show the way to your chamber?" + +"We will all go," said Jessie, circling her friend's waist with her arm +and moving off. + +We crossed the hall, a broad, open passage, furnished with easy-chairs +and sofas, for it was a favorite resort for the whole family, and opened +into a square balcony at one end, which commanded one of the heavenly +views I have spoken of. The widow stopped to admire it an instant, and +then we entered the room I had been careful to arrange pleasantly for +her reception. + +It was a square, pleasant chamber, which commanded a splendid prospect +from the east; curtains like frostwork, and a bed like snow, harmonized +pleasantly with walls hung with satin paper of a delicate blue, and fine +India matting with which the floor was covered. We had placed vases and +baskets of flowers on the deep window-sills, those of the richest +fragrance we could find, which a soft, pure wind wafted through the +room; the couch, the easy-chair, and the low dressing-chair were draped +with delicate blue chintz, with a pattern of wild roses running over it. + +Mrs. Dennison made a pretty exclamation of surprise as she entered the +room. She was full of these graceful flatteries, that proved the more +effective because of their seeming spontaneousness. She took off her +bonnet, and, sitting down before the toilet which stood beneath the +dressing-glass, a cloud of lace and embroidery, began to smooth her hair +between both hands, laughing at its disorder, and wondered if anybody +on earth ever looked so hideous as she did. + +"This woman," I said, in uncharitable haste,--"this woman is insatiable. +She is not content with the flattery of one sex, but challenges it from +all." Yet, spite of myself, I could not resist the influence of her +sweet voice and graceful ways; she interested me far more than I wished. + +"Now," said Jessie, coming into the hall with her eyes sparkling +pleasantly,--"now what do you think? Have I praised her too much? Are +you beginning to like her yet?" + +I kissed her, but gave no other answer. A vague desire to shield her +from that woman's influence possessed me, but the feeling was misty, and +had no reasonable foundation. I could not have explained why this +impulse of protection sprung up in my heart, or how Jessie, the dear +girl, guessed at its existence. + +But she was perfectly content with the approval which my kiss implied, +and went into the parlor to await the coming of her guest. That moment +Mrs. Lee's maid came down with a message from her mistress, and I went +up-stairs at once. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +FANCIES AND PREMONITIONS. + + +It seemed a wonder that Mrs. Lee ever could have been a beautiful woman +like her daughter, for she had faded sadly during her illness. Her hair +was still thick and long, but the mountain snow was not whiter. Her +face, too, was of opaque paleness; while her delicate eyebrows were +black as jet; and the large eyes beneath them had lost nothing of their +penetrating brightness. + +Mrs. Lee was lying on the couch, in the light of a broad window which +opened to the south; the balcony was as usual filled with plants, and +every morning her couch was moved, and the window drapery put back that +she might command some feature in the landscape over which her eye had +not wearied the day before. It was a harmless enjoyment, and one which +the whole family loved to encourage. Indeed, there was not a fancy or +caprice of hers which was ever questioned in that house. + +"Ah, Martha, it is you; I am glad of it. For when I am ill at ease, you +always do me good." + +She held out her little thin hand while speaking, and pressed mine +almost imperceptibly. + +"What has happened, Martha? During the last half hour something +oppresses me, as if the atmosphere were disturbed; yet it is a clear +day, and the roses on the terrace look brighter than usual." + +"Nothing has happened, dear lady. Mr. Lee has come back from town, +bringing the lady we all expected." + +"Mrs. Dennison?" + +"Yes, Mrs. Dennison. She has just gone to her room." + +Mrs. Lee closed her eyes a moment and opened them with a faint smile, +which seemed to ask pardon for some weakness. + +"Have you seen her?" + +"Yes. I was in the parlor when she came, and went with her to her room." + +"And you like her better than at first, I hope?" + +I hesitated. + +"She is beautiful!" + +"Yes, in a certain way," I answered; "but when one has got used to our +Jessie's style, nothing else seems to equal it." + +The mother smiled and held out her hand again. + +"You love Jessie?" + +I felt the tears filling my eyes. There was something so tender and +sweet in this question that it made a child of me. The mother turned +upon her couch, bent her lips to my hand, and dropped it gently from her +hold. + +"Martha Hyde, what is this which troubles me?" + +"Indeed, I cannot tell." + +"Does Jessie seem happy with her friend?" + +"Very happy; I have seldom seen her so animated." + +"But you have not told me plainly. Do you like this lady?" + +"I--I cannot tell. She is beautiful; at least most people would think +her so;--rich, I believe?" + +I rather put this as a question. + +"I think so. She had splendid rooms at the hotel, you know, and spent +money freely, so Mr. Lee was told; but that is of little consequence; we +want nothing of her riches if she has them." + +"Certainly not; but if she has expensive habits without the means of +gratifying them within herself, it is an important proof of character," +I said. "May I ask, dear lady, who really recommended Mrs. Dennison to +you or your daughter?" + +"Oh! a good many people spoke highly of her; she was a general +favorite!" + +"Yes; but did you meet any person who had known her long?--who had been +acquainted with her husband, for instance?" + +"No, I cannot remember any such person." + +"And you invited her? she said so." + +"That is it. I cannot quite call to mind that I did invite her. +Something was said about our house being among pleasant scenery, and she +expressed a desire to see it. I may have said that I really hoped she +would see it some time; and then she thanked me as if I had urged her to +come. Still Jessie liked her so much that I was rather pleased than +otherwise, and so it rested." + +"Well," I said, "if Jessie is pleased, that is everything, you know, +madam. I sometimes think the dear girl ought to have the company of +younger persons about her." + +"Yes, certainly; but with a girl like my Jessie, so sensitive, so proud, +for she is very proud, Martha." + +"I know it," was my answer. "I have never seen more sensitive pride in +any person of her age." + +"Well, with a disposition like that, the kind of young person she is +intimate with is very important. This is the reason I wished to see you +and learn if your opinion has not changed regarding our guests; my own +feelings are strangely disturbed." + +"You are not as well as usual this morning," I replied. "Let me draw the +couch nearer and open a leaf of the window." + +She assented, and I drew the couch so close to the window that with a +sash open she could command a view of the richest corner of the +flower-garden and a slope of the lawn. The wind swept pleasantly over +the balcony, in which pots of rose geraniums and heliotrope had been +placed. Mrs. Lee loved the breath of these flowers, and sighed faintly +as it floated over her with the fresh morning air. + +She lay some time in this pleasant position without speaking. When she +was disposed to be thoughtful, we seldom disturbed her, for so sensitive +had disease rendered her nerves, that the sudden sound of a voice would +make her start and tremble like a criminal. So I kept my place behind +the couch, looking down into the garden, and thinking of many things. + +All at once, sweet, dear voices rose from among the flowers, and I saw +our Jessie and the widow Dennison turning a corner of the house, each +with an arm around the other's waist, laughing and chatting together. +Jessie had not changed her dress, but a cluster of crimson roses glowed +in her hair, and coral bracelets tinted the transparency of her sleeves. +The sun touched the black braid which surrounded her head as she came +out of the shadow, and no raven's plumage was ever more glossy. + +Mrs. Dennison was strangely attired. The period of which I speak was +about the time the Zouave jacket took its brief picturesque reign. This +woman was, in a degree, her own inventor of fashions, and something very +similar to this jacket fell over the loose habit-skirt that draped her +bosom and arms. This garment of black silk, richly braided, matched the +rustling skirt of her dress, and the Oriental design of the whole was +completed by a net of blue and gold, which shaded half her rich brown +hair, and fell in tassels to her left shoulder. + +In my whole life I never saw a more striking contrast than these two +persons presented. I cannot tell you where it lay. Not in the +superiority which the widow possessed in height--not in her elaborate +grace. Jessie was a little above the medium height herself, and a more +elegant creature did not live. But there was something which struck you +at once. It is of no use attempting to define it. The difference was to +be imagined, not explained. The mother felt it, I am certain, for her +eyes took a strange, anxious lustre as they fell on those two young +persons, and she began to breathe irregularly, as if something oppressed +her. + +She looked up to me at last to see if I was watching them. I smiled and +said, "At any rate, she is a splendid creature." + +"No one can dispute that! But our Jessie! Do you know, as I was looking +at them, something came across me. Through the hazy light which settled +around me, I saw a bird with its wings outspread flitting in the folds +of a serpent? The picture passed through my brain one instant, and was +gone--gone before Jessie, who had stooped to gather something, regained +her position. This has happened before in my life--what can it be?" + +"You are anxious and nervous, dear lady, that is all. Since your visit +to the sea-side, these strange visions have become more common." + +"I hope they will pass off," she murmured, pressing a pale hand over her +eyes. "But there was another in the group; behind Jessie's frightened +face, I saw that of Mr. Lee." + +While she was speaking, I saw Mr. Lee come out of the hall-door, and +cross the platform which led to the garden, where his daughter and her +guest were walking. He was a handsome man, still in the very prime of +life, one of the most distinguished persons that I ever saw. It was from +him that our Jessie had inherited her queenly pride, which the exquisite +sensibility of the mother's nature had softened into grace. + +Mrs. Lee closed her eyes, and I saw her lips turn pale; but she repulsed +my approach with a motion of the hand. I have no idea what she had seen +which escaped me. But when I looked again, Mr. Lee was talking with his +daughter; while the widow stood by, grouping some flowers which she held +coquettishly in her hand. I saw Mr. Lee look at her, indifferently at +first, then with smiling interest. They were evidently talking of her +graceful work, for she held it up for both father and daughter to +admire. + +As Jessie lifted her eyes, she saw us near the window, and, forgetting +the bouquet, waved a kiss to her mother. That instant I saw the widow +press the bouquet lightly to her lips. + +Mr. Lee reached forth his hand; but she shook her head, laughed, and +placed the flowers in her bosom. + +Mrs. Lee was not in a position to see this. I stood up and had a better +view; but she instantly complained of dizziness, and faint spasms of +pain contracted her forehead. + +I had seen nothing, absolutely nothing. Yet the glances of that woman, +as she looked at Mr. Lee over the cluster of flowers, seemed absolutely +like wafting kisses with her eyes. Jessie saw nothing, save that the +little cluster of blossoms somehow found its way into her friend's +bosom. So, in her sweet unconsciousness, she passed on, and was lost on +the other side of the tower. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +NEW VISITORS. + + +Mrs. Lee never went down to dinner, or, if she did, it was so rarely +that we looked upon her presence as a sort of holiday. She was very +dainty in her appetite, and on ordinary occasions was served by her own +maid, or of late by Lottie. I think she had rather intended to come down +that day in honor of our guest, but the illness that seized upon her +drove this idea from her mind; so, leaving her with Lottie, I went away +restless and unaccountably unhappy. + +How bright and blooming they came in from the garden, bringing its +fragrance with them to the dinner-table! What a joyous, piquant +conversation it was, that commenced with the soup and sparkled with the +wine! There is no disputing it, our guest was a wonderful creature, her +graceful wit sparkled, her sentiment fascinated. She was calculated to +keep the man her beauty should win,--no doubt of that. Her conversation +charmed even me. + +Jessie was constantly challenging admiration for her +friend--interrogating me with her eyes, and looking at her father to be +sure that he fully appreciated the brilliancy which filled her own heart +with a sort of adoration. But the widow seemed quite unconscious that +she was an object of special admiration to any one. Nothing could be +more natural than her manner. At times she was really child-like. + +Still I did not like her. Why, it is useless to ask. Perhaps Mrs. Lee +had left an impression of her strange fancies on my mind,--perhaps the +atmosphere which surrounded her mingled with the subtile vitality of my +intelligence and gave me the truth. + +We had music in the evening. Our Jessie possessed the purest of soprano +voices. Many a celebrated prima donna has won laurels from inferior +capacity. As in all other things, her musical education had been +perfect. Mrs. Dennison was her inferior in this. She performed +splendidly, and her rich contralto voice possessed many fine qualities; +but our birdie swept far above her, and soared away upon an ocean of +harmonies that seemed born of heaven. + +The windows were open, and we knew that this heaven of sweet sounds +would float to the invalid's chamber. Indeed, when I went out upon the +platform, back of the house, I saw Mrs. Lee lying in her white, loose +dress, on the couch, as if the music had lulled her to sleep. + +I think Mrs. Dennison was not quite satisfied with herself. The glorious +voice of our Jessie seemed to take her by surprise, for after the first +trial she refused to sing again, but still kept the piano, and dashed +through some fine opera music with spirit. Was she exhausting her +ill-humor in those stormy sounds? + +On the next day, our young ladies rode on horseback. Both were superb +equestrians; and Mr. Lee's stately management of his coal-black horse +was something worth looking at. As they dashed round a curve of the +road, Jessie turned on her saddle and waved me a kiss, where I stood on +the square balcony watching them. What a happy, bright creature she +looked! + +It took me by surprise; but when the equestrians came back, two +gentlemen had joined the party. One was young Bosworth, who had returned +to the old country place, a mile down the valley, directly after we +left Long Branch, and since then had managed to join our Jessie in her +rides oftener than any supposition of mere accident could warrant. The +dear girl seemed a little annoyed when these meetings became more +frequent; but she bore our joking on the subject pleasantly, and up to +that morning had, I fancy, given little thought to his movements. The +other man I recognized at once. It was Mr. Lawrence. + +This gentleman rode up with Mr. Lee and Mrs. Dennison, who was evidently +dividing her fascinations very equally between the two gentlemen. Jessie +followed them with her cavalier, and I observed, as they dismounted, +that her cheeks were flushed, and her lips lightly curved, as if +something had disturbed her. + +The gentlemen did not dismount, for Jessie left Mrs. Dennison on the +foot of the terrace-steps, and, without pausing to give an invitation, +ran into the house. + +I left the balcony and went up to her chamber. She was walking to and +fro in the room, with a quick, proud step, the tears sparkling in her +eyes. + +"What is it?" I said, going up to where she stood, and kissing her. "Who +has wounded you?" + +"No one," she answered, and the proud tears flashed down to her cheek, +and lay there like rain-drops hanging on the leaves of the wild +rose,--"no one. Only, only--" + +"Well, dear?" + +"You were right, Aunt Matty. That man really had just the feelings you +suspected; I could hardly prevent him from expressing them broadly. Keep +as close to papa as I would, he found means to say things that made my +blood burn. What right has any man to talk of love to a girl, until she +has given him some sort of encouragement, I should like to know?" + +"But perhaps he fancies that you have given him a little +encouragement." + +"Encouragement! I? Indeed, Aunt Matty, I never dreamed of this until +now!" + +"I am sure of it; but then you allowed him to join your rides, and +seemed rather pleased." + +"Why, the idea that he meant anything never entered my mind. Ah! Aunt +Matty, haven't we said a thousand times that there must be some blame, +some coquetry on the lady's part, before a man, whom she is sure to +reject, could presume to offer himself?" + +"But has he gone so far as that?" I asked. + +"Let me think. Alas! I was so confused, so angry, that it is impossible +to remember just what he did say." + +"But your answer?" + +"Why, as to that," she cried, with a little nervous laugh, "I gave Flash +a cut with the whip and dashed on after the rest. Aunt Matty, upon my +word, I doubt if I spoke at all." + +"My dear child, he may half imagine himself accepted then." + +"Accepted! What can you mean?" she exclaimed, grasping her whip with +both hands and bending it double. "I shall go wild if you say that." + +"Why, do you dislike him so much?" + +"Dislike! no. What is there to dislike about him?" + +"Well, then," I said, a little mischievously, "he is rather +good-looking, well educated, of irreproachable family, and rich." + +"Don't, don't, Aunt Matty, or I shall hate you." + +"Not quite so bad as that," I cried, kissing her hot cheek. "Now, let us +be serious. All young ladies must expect offers of this kind." + +"But I don't want them. It distresses me." + +I saw that she was in earnest, and that young Bosworth's attentions had +really distressed her. So, drawing her to a sofa, we sat down and talked +the matter over more quietly. + +I told her that it was useless annoying herself; that, until the young +gentleman spoke out more definitely, she had nothing to torment herself +about; and when he did, a few quiet words would settle the whole matter. + +"But can't we prevent him saying anything more? Or, if he does, will you +just tell him how it is?" she said, anxiously. + +I could not help smiling; there was no affectation here. I knew very +well that Jessie would give the world to avoid this refusal; but in such +cases young ladies must take their own responsibilities: the +interference of third parties can only produce mischief. + +She began to see the thing in its true light after a little, and talked +it over more calmly. Many a girl would have been delighted with this +homage to her charms; but Jessie was no common person, and she felt a +sort of degradation in inspiring a passion she could not return. +Besides, it placed upon her the necessity of giving pain where it was in +every way undeserved; and that she had never done in her life. + +While we were talking, a light knock at the door heralded Mrs. Dennison. +There was nothing to call her to that part of the house, and her first +words conveyed an apology for the intrusion, for we both probably looked +a little surprised. + +"I beg ten thousand pardons for rushing in upon you; but the gentlemen +are waiting in the road to know if they can join us to-morrow. I could +only answer for myself, you know." + +"Let them join you," I whispered; "the sooner it is over with the +better." + +Jessie stood up, gathered the long riding-skirt in one hand, while she +walked past her guest with the air of a princess, and stepped out on the +balcony, from which she made a gesture of invitation, which the two +gentlemen acknowledged with profound bows, and rode away. + +"That's an angel!" exclaimed Mrs. Dennison, laying her hand on Jessie's +shoulder. "I almost thought something had gone wrong, by the way you +left us. Poor Mr. Bosworth was quite crestfallen." + +Jessie made a little gesture of annoyance, which the widow was quick to +observe, and instantly changed the subject. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE BASKET OF FRUIT. + + +"I should not have thought, by the way you parted, that you and Mr. +Bosworth were old friends." + +Jessie seemed annoyed, and replied, with a flush on her cheek, "that it +was rather difficult to be demonstrative on horseback." + +"At any rate, he's a splendid man," said the widow. "Rich or poor? Bond +or free? Tell us all about him. I never thought to inquire before, but +this looks serious." + +"What strange questions you ask!" answered Jessie, and the color +deepened in her cheek. + +"Well, well, but the answer?" + +Here I interposed: "Mr. Bosworth is not very rich. At least I never +heard that he was." + +"What a pity!" whispered the widow. "But the other questions?" + +"If having no wife is to be free, you can hardly call him a bondman. +Yes." + +"What has he ever done to distinguish himself, then? Can you tell me +that, Miss Hyde?" + +"He is considered a man of brilliant parts, certainly," I answered; "but +at his age few men have won permanent distinction, I fancy." + +"At his age! Why, the man must be over eight-and-twenty, and half the +great men that ever lived had made their mark in the world before they +reached that age." + +"Well, that may be," I replied; "but in these times greatness is not so +easily won. The level of general intelligence, in our country at least, +is raised, and it requires great genius, indeed, to lift a man suddenly +above his fellows. In a dead sea of ignorance, superior ability looms up +with imposing conspicuousness. This is why the great men of past times +have cast the reflection of their minds on history;--not entirely +because they excelled men of the present age, but from the low grade of +popular intelligence that existed around them." + +"Why, you talk like a statesman," said the widow, laughing. "I had no +idea that anything so near politics existed in the ladies of this +house." + +"What is history but the politics of the past?" said Jessie. "What is +politics but a history of the present?" + +"Perhaps you are right," said the widow, flinging off her careless +manner, and sitting down on one of the rustic chairs, where she began to +dust her skirt with the fanciful whip fastened to her wrist. "I have +often wondered why it should be considered unfeminine for an educated +woman to understand the institutions of her own or any other country." + +Mrs. Dennison looked at me as she spoke. Was the woman playing with my +weakness? Or, did she really speak from her heart? If the former, she +must have been amused at my credulity, for I answered in honest +frankness: + +"Nor I, either; except in evil, which is always better unknown. I can +fancy no case where ignorance is a merit. Imagine Queen Victoria pluming +herself on lady-like ignorance of the political state of her kingdom, +when she opens Parliament in person." + +Mrs. Dennison laughed, and chimed in with, "Or the Empress of France +being appointed Regent of a realm, the position of which it was deemed +unwomanly to understand; yet, on the face of the earth, there are not +two females more womanly than Victoria of England, and Eugenie of +France." + +"What true ideas this woman possesses!" I said to myself. "How could I +dislike her so? Really, the most charming person in the world is a woman +who, under the light, graceful talk of conventional society, cultivates +serious thought." While these reflections passed through my mind, the +widow was looking at me from under her eyelashes, as if she expected me +to speak again; so I went on,-- + +"It is not the knowledge of politics in itself of which refined people +complain; but its passion and the vindictive feelings which partisanship +is sure to foster. The woman who loves her country cannot understand it +too well. The unwomanliness lies in the fact that she sometimes plunges +into a turmoil of factions, thus becoming passionate and bitter." + +"How plainly you draw the distinction between knowledge and prejudice!" +she said, with one of her fascinating smiles. "But you must have +discussed this subject often--with Mr. Lee, perhaps?" + +"Yes, we talk on all subjects here. Nothing is forbidden, because few +things that are not noble and true ever present themselves." + +"I was sure of it!" exclaimed the lady, starting up with enthusiasm. "I +have never been in a house where everything gave such evidence of +high-toned intelligence." + +She sat down again thoughtfully, dusting her habit with the little whip. + +"I have not yet seen my hostess, but that does not arise from increased +ill health, I trust. She seemed very feeble when we met on the +sea-shore, last season--somewhat consumptive, we all thought." + +I did not like the tone of her voice. There was something stealthy and +creeping in it which checked the rising confidence in my heart. + +"Mrs. Lee is very far from well," I answered, coldly. + +"Not essentially worse, I trust." + +She was looking at me keenly from the corners of her almond-shaped eyes. +It was only a glance, but a gleam of suspicion sprung from my heart and +met it half-way. + +"It is difficult to tell. In a lingering disease like hers, one can +never be sure." + +"Mr. Lee must find himself lonesome at times without his lady's society, +for she struck us all as a very superior person." + +"On the contrary," I replied, with a quick impulse, for she still kept +that sidelong glance on my face; "on the contrary, he spends most of his +leisure time in her chamber, reads to her when she can bear it, and sits +gently silent when she prefers that. A more devoted husband I never +knew." + +I saw that she was biting her red lips, but as my glance caught hers, +the action turned to a smile. + +"There is Mr. Lee going to his wife's room now," I remarked, as that +gentleman passed the hall-door, with a little basket in his hand filled +with delicate wood-moss, in which lay two or three peaches, the first of +the season. + +The exclamation that broke from Mrs. Dennison at the sight of the fruit +arrested his steps, and he turned into the hall, asking if either of us +had called. + +She went forward at once, sweeping the cloth skirt after her like the +train of an empress. + +"Oh, what splendid peaches--and the basket! The bijou!" She held out +both hands to receive the fruit, quite in a glow of pleasure. + +"I am very sorry," said Mr. Lee, drawing back a step, "but this is--is +for my wife. She is an invalid, you know." + +"You misunderstand," replied the lady, coloring to the temples. "I only +wish to admire the arrangement. It is really the prettiest fancy I ever +saw." + +He hesitated an instant; then held out the basket and placed it between +her hands, with some little reluctance, I thought. Her side-face was +toward me; but the look, half grieved, half reproachful, which she +lifted to his face did not escape me. + +"Shall I take the basket to Mrs. Lee?" I said, reaching out my hand. +"She must have heard the horses return some time ago, and will expect +some one." + +"No," said the gentleman, bending his head, and taking the fruit. "I +cannot allow you to deprive me of that pleasure." + +"And I," rejoined the widow, with animation, "I must take off this +cumbersome riding-dress." + +I went to my room early that evening. Indeed, I had no heart to enter +the parlor. Anxieties that I could not define pressed heavily upon +me--so heavily that I longed for solitude. In passing through the hall, +I met Mrs. Dennison's mulatto maid, who had, I forgot to say, followed +our guest with the luggage. She was going to her mistress's chamber, +carrying something carefully in her hand. When she saw me, her little +silk apron was slyly lifted, and the burdened hand stole under it, but +in the action something was disturbed, and the half of a peach fell at +my feet. + +I took up the cleft fruit very quietly, told the girl to remove her +apron, that I might see what mischief had been done, and discovered a +second basket filled with mossrose-buds from which the half peach had +fallen. + +I laid the fruit in its bed, saw the girl pass with it to her lady's +chamber, and then went to my own room sick at heart. The half of a +peach, offered among the Arabs, means atonement for some offence. What +offence had Mr. Lee given to our guest in carrying a little fruit to his +invalid wife? + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +BREAKFAST WITH OUR GUEST. + + +Mrs. Dennison was late the next morning. Indeed, she generally was late. +It was sure to produce a little excitement when she entered, if the +family were grouped in expectation, and her system of elegant +selfishness rendered any consideration of the convenience of others a +matter of slight importance. She was always lavish in apologies, those +outgrowths of insincerity; and, in fact, managed to weave a sort of a +fascination out of her own faults. + +This certainly was the case here. If Mr. Lee was resolute about anything +in his household, it was that punctuality at meals should be observed: +indeed, I have seldom seen him out of humor on any other subject. But +this morning he had been moving about in the upper hall a full hour, +glancing impatiently at the papers which always reached us before +breakfast, and walking up and down with manifest annoyance. Yet the +moment that woman appeared with her coquettish little breakfast-cap just +hovering on the back of her head, and robed in one of the freshest and +most graceful morning dresses you ever saw, his face cleared up. With a +smile that no one could witness without a throb of the heart, he +received her apologies and compliments all mingled together on her lips +like honey in the heart of a flower, as if they had been favors of which +we were all quite undeserving. + +We went down to breakfast at last; but just as we were sitting down, our +guest took a fancy to run out on the terrace and gather a handful of +heliotrope which she laid by her plate, exhaling the odor sensuously +between the pauses of the meal. I don't know what the rest thought of +all this, but I was disgusted. It is a strong word, I know, but I have +no other for the repulsion that seizes upon me even now when I think of +that woman. Her very passion for flowers, to me almost a heavenly taste +in itself, was so combined with materialism, that the perfume of the +heliotrope sickened me. + +Jessie did not seem to sympathize in these feelings, nor care that her +own choice flower-plot had been rifled of its sweetest blossoms. In +fact, the fascination of that woman's manner seemed more powerful with +her than it had proved with the proud, strong man who sat opposite me. + +Jessie, the darling, either because she did not like the restraint, or, +what was more like her, wishing to give me dignity in the household, +always insisted that I should preside at the table; Mrs. Lee, from her +feeble state of health, being at all times unequal to the task. Three +times did that insatiable woman return her coffee-cup: first, for an +additional lump of sugar, again for a few drops more cream, and then for +the slightest possible dilution of its strength. While I performed these +smiling behests, she sat brushing a branch of heliotrope across her +lips, exclaiming at the beauty of the scene from an opposite window, and +behaving generally like an empress who had honored her subjects with a +visit, and was resolved to put them quite at ease in her presence. + +But Jessie could not see things in this light. She was evidently as well +pleased with her guest as she had been the night before, but, though she +smiled and joined in the pleasant conversation, I saw by the heavy +shadows under her eyes that some anxiety disturbed her. The fact that +she had made an appointment to ride with a suitor whom she must reject +accounted sufficiently for this; Jessie had the finest traits of a +purely proud nature, and the idea of giving pain was to her in itself a +great trial. Still, these observations only applied to the undercurrent +that morning; on the surface everything was sparkling and pleasant. + +Mr. Lee was more than usually animated, and, before the meal was ended, +quite a war of complimentary badinage had commenced and was kept up +between him and our guest. + +Jessie always went to her mother after breakfast. So, immediately on +quitting the table, she stole away to the tower, looking a little +serious, but not more so than her peculiar trial of the day accounted +for. + +I followed her directly, leaving Mrs. Dennison and Mr. Lee on the square +balcony, on which the early sunshine lay in golden warmth. + +Mrs. Lee had not rested well; her eyes, usually so bright, were heavy +from want of sleep; and the pillow, from which she had not yet risen, +bore marks of a thousand restless movements, which betrayed unusual +excitement. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +JESSIE LEE AND HER MOTHER. + + +Jessie was sitting on one side of the bed holding a Parian cup in her +hand; the amber gleam of coffee shone through the transparent +vine-leaves that embossed it, and she was stirring the fragrant beverage +gently with a spoon. + +"Try, dear mother, and drink just a little," she was saying, in her +sweet, caressing way. "It makes me very unhappy to see you looking so +ill." + +"Indeed I am not ill, only a little restless, Jessie," answered the +sweet lady, rising languidly from her pillow and reaching forth her hand +for the cup. She tasted the coffee and looked gratefully at her +daughter. "It is nice; no one understands me like you, my daughter." + +Jessie blushed with pleasure, and began to mellow a delicate slice of +toast with the silver knife that lay beside it, making a parade of her +efforts, which she evidently hoped would entice her mother's appetite: +and so it did. I am sure no one besides her could have tempted that +frail woman to eat a mouthful. As it was, one of the birds that was +picking seeds from the terrace could almost have rivalled her appetite: +the presence of her daughter, I fancy, gave her more strength than +anything else. + +"So you have had a bad night, my mother," said Jessie, tenderly; "once +or twice I awoke and felt that you did not sleep." + +"Indeed!" said the mother, with an earnest look breaking through the +heaviness of her eyes. + +"Yes, indeed; but then I never wake in the night without wondering if +you sleep well." + +"Did you see me?" questioned the mother, anxiously. + +"See you, mother?" + +Mrs. Lee smiled faintly, and shook her head as if to cast off some +strange thought. + +"Of course, it was impossible. I must have slept long enough to dream; +but it seems to me as if I was in your room last night. Something called +me there, a faint, white shadow, that sometimes took the outline of an +angel, sometimes floated before me like a cloud." + +"Oh, my good mother! it was kind to come, even in your dreams," said +Jessie, kissing the little hand that lay in hers. + +Mrs. Lee looked troubled, and seemed to be searching her memory for +something. + +"It took me--the cloud-angel--you know, into the blue room." + +"The blue room!" Jessie and I exclaimed together, for that was the +apartment in which Mrs. Dennison slept, though the fact had never been +mentioned to Mrs. Lee, and another chamber had at first been intended +for our guest. "The blue room?" + +"Yes, the blue room!" she said; "but like all dreams, nothing was like +the reality. Instead of the enamelled furniture, everything was covered +with the prettiest blue chintz, with a wild-rose pattern running over +it." + +Jessie and I looked at each other in consternation, for the furniture +which Mrs. Lee described as familiar to the blue room had been removed +to the chamber we had first intended for Mrs. Dennison, and that with +which we had replaced it being too rich for a sleeping-room, we had +covered it with the pretty chintz, without mentioning the fact to Mrs. +Lee or any one else. + +"There was a toilet instead of the dressing-table, I remember," +continued the lady, "with quantities of frost-like lace falling around +it and on it; with other things, a little basket, prettier than mine, +full of mossrose-buds." + +"Was there nothing else in the basket?" I questioned, holding my breath +for the reply. + +"Nothing else," answered the lady, smiling; "oh! yes, combs and +hair-pins, rings and bracelets, the whole toilet was in a glitter." + +"But nothing else in the basket?" I persisted. + +"No; rose-buds--mossrose-buds, red and white. Nothing more," she +answered, languidly. + +Mrs. Lee paused a moment with her eyes closed. Then starting as if from +sleep, she almost cried out,-- + +"There was a woman in the room--in the bed--a beautiful woman. The +ruffles of her night-gown were open at the throat, the sleeves were +broad and loose; you could see her arms almost to the shoulders. She +wore no cap, and her hair fell in bright, heavy coils down to her waist. +She had something in her hand; don't speak, I shall remember in a +minute: the color was rich. It was, yes, it was half a peach, with the +brown stone partly bedded in the centre; the fragrance of it hung about +the basket of roses." + +"And you saw all this, dear lady?" I exclaimed, startled by the reality +of her picture, which, as a whole, I recognized far more closely than +Jessie could. + +"In my dream, yes; but one fancies such strange things when asleep, you +know, dear Miss Hyde." + +"Strange, very strange," murmured Jessie; "but for the basket of roses +and the fruit, we might have recognized the picture. Don't you think so, +Aunt Matty?" + +"Did you get a look at the lady's face?" I inquired, suppressing +Jessie's question. + +"No, no; I think not. The thick hair shaded it, but the arms and neck +were white as lilies. She had bitten the peach; I remember seeing marks +of her teeth on one side. Strange, isn't it, how real such fancies will +seem?" + +"It is, indeed, strange," I said, feeling cold chills creeping over me. + +"Besides," continued the invalid, while a scarcely perceptible shiver +disturbed her, "notwithstanding the freshness and beauty of everything, +I felt oppressed in that room--just as flowers may be supposed to grow +faint when vipers creep over them; the air seemed close till I got to +your chamber, Jessie." + +"And there?" said the sweet girl, kissing her mother's hand again. + +"There, the angel that had been a cloud took form again. It beckoned +me--beckoned me--I cannot tell where; but you were sleeping, I know +that." + +"It was a strange dream," said Jessie, thoughtfully. + +"The impression was very strong," answered the mother, drawing a hand +across her eyes,--"so powerful that it tired me. This morning it seemed +as if I had been on a journey." + +"But you are better now," I said; "this sense of fatigue is wearing off, +I hope." + +"Oh, yes!" she answered, languidly. + +"And you will be well enough to see Mrs. Dennison before dinner, I +hope," whispered Jessie. + +"Perhaps, child." + +"Father will persuade you." + +"Where is your father, Jessie?" + +"Oh! somewhere about. On the front balcony, I believe, with Mrs. +Dennison, who declares that she never will get tired of looking down the +valley." + +"Yes, it is a lovely view. We used to sit on the balcony for hours--your +father and I--but now--" Mrs. Lee turned away her face and shaded her +eyes with one pale hand. + +I walked to the window and lifted the curtain; but there was a mist over +my eyes, and I could not discern a feature of the landscape. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +INTRUSIVE KINDNESS. + + +Some one knocked at the door. I went to open it, and found Cora, Mrs. +Dennison's maid, who had been brushing her mistress's riding-habit on +the back terrace, and flung it across her arm before coming up-stairs. +The girl was a pretty mulatto, with teeth that an empress might have +coveted, and eyes like diamonds; but there was something in her face +that I did not like--a way of looking at you from under her black +eyelashes that was both searching and sinister. + +"Mistress told me to run up, and inquire if it wasn't time for Miss Lee +to put on her habit," she said, shooting a quick glance into the room; +"the horses are ordered round." + +I felt the color burning in my face. The impertinence of this intrusion +angered me greatly. + +"Miss Lee is with her mother," I said, "and cannot be disturbed; when +she is ready, I will let your mistress know. Until then the horses must +wait." + +The girl gave the habit on her arm a shake, and went away, casting one +or two glances behind. What possible business could the creature have in +that part of the house? Had the mistress really sent her? It was an hour +before the time for riding, and it had not been our custom to hurry +Jessie away from her mother's room. + +While I stood by the window, thinking angrily of this intrusion, another +knock called me back to the door. It was the mulatto again, with her +mistress's compliments, and, if Mrs. Lee was well enough, she would pay +her respects while the horses waited. + +I went down myself at this, and meeting Mrs. Dennison on the terrace, +informed her, very curtly, I fear, that Mrs. Lee was not out of her +bedroom, having spent a restless night, and was quite incapable of +seeing strangers. + +I put a little malicious emphasis on the word _strangers_, which brought +a deeper color into her cheeks; but she answered with elaborate +expressions of sympathy, inquired so minutely into the symptoms and +causes of Mrs. Lee's prostration, that I felt at a loss how to answer. + +"Dear lady!" she went on, "I'm afraid these severe attacks will exhaust +the little strength she has left; they must make life a burden." + +"On the contrary," I said, "there is not, I am sure, a person living who +so keenly enjoys the highest and most lofty principles of existence. +With the love of God in her heart, and domestic love all around her, +life can never be a burden." + +"Indeed!" she answered, with something in her voice that approached a +sneer; "I never was sick in my life, that is, perhaps, why it seems so +terrible to me. Nothing could reconcile me, I am sure, to a life like +Mrs. Lee's. At her age, too, with disease helping time to chase away +what beauty one has left, how she must feel it!" + +"You quite mistake the case, madam," I answered; "Mrs. Lee never +depended on her beauty, which, however, no one can dispute, as a means +of winning love; her sincerity, intelligence, and gentle wisdom are +enough to outlive the loveliness of a Venus." + +"You are enthusiastic, Miss Hyde." + +"I love Mrs. Lee, and speak as I feel." + +"I am afraid," she said, in her blandest manner, "that my interest in +the dear lady has led me into obtrusiveness, or, at least, that you +think so. But she is so very superior--so perfect, in fact, that one +cannot shake off the interest she inspires. It was this feeling which +tempted me to ask for the privilege of paying my respects;--I see now +that it was inopportune; but a warm heart is always getting one into +scrapes, Miss Hyde. I shall never learn how to tame mine down. It seemed +to me that the sweet invalid yonder must feel lonely in her room, and +this was why that importunate request was made." + +"Mrs. Lee is a woman who would find something of paradise in any +position. Her sitting-room, up in the tower yonder, has always been +considered the pleasantest apartment in the house." + +"No doubt; it was this conviction which made me anxious to be admitted. +Still, I must think that a confinement, that only promises to be +relieved by death, must be a painful thing." + +Why did the woman always return to that point? In my whole life I had +never heard the probable result of Mrs. Lee's illness alluded to so +often, as it had been hardly mentioned since Mrs. Dennison's arrival. It +shocked me, and became the more repulsive from the usual levity of her +manner. She seemed to weave the idea of my dear friend's death with +every luxury that surrounded her dwelling; to my prejudiced fancy, she +even exulted in it. I stood looking her in the face while these thoughts +troubled my mind. What my eyes may have spoken I cannot tell, but hers +fell beneath them, and, with an uneasy smile, she turned to walk away. + +That moment Jessie came out to the terrace, looking a little anxious. + +"Where is father?" she said; "mother is up and waiting for him." + +I saw a faint smile quiver around the widow's lips, but she busied +herself with some branches of ivy that had broken loose from the +terrace-wall, and did not seem to heed us. Just then the tramp of horses +sounded from the front of the house, and Jessie exclaiming with a little +impatience, "Dear me!" walked quickly to the square balcony. I followed +her, and saw Mr. Lee standing at the foot of the steps ready to mount. +He was giving some orders to the groom, and seemed particularly anxious +about the horse which Mrs. Dennison was to ride. + +Jessie's face flushed, and a look of proud surprise came across it. Mr. +Lee turned his head that way and called out,-- + +"Why, Jessie, where is your habit? I never found you late before." + +Jessie did not answer, but passed me, descending to the terrace and down +the flight of steps. She spoke to her father, looking back anxiously. +After the first words, he started and seemed taken by surprise. Even +from the distance I could see a flood of crimson rush to his forehead. +They both ascended the steps together. Mr. Lee went to the tower, and +Jessie ran up-stairs to put on her riding-dress. + +I went up to help her, but walked slowly; everything conspired to +depress me that morning. One serpent was enough to destroy the perfect +happiness of Eden. Our little paradise seemed changing after the same +fashion, and yet no one could tell why. + +Jessie was buttoning her habit as I went in. She looked restless and +hurt. + +"Aunt Matty," she said, "I have a great mind to give up this ride; the +thought of meeting that gentleman troubles me. Look how my hands +tremble." + +Yes, the serpent was doing its work. Even our sweet, honest Jessie was +beginning to cover up her true feelings under false issues. It was +something nearer home than the dread of an unwelcome offer that made her +so nervous. For the first time since her remembrance Mr. Lee had +forgotten his wife. But for Jessie's interposition, he would have ridden +away without inquiring after her. I recollected how he had blushed when +reminded of this. + +Of course, I could not speak of the true cause of this discontent, the +delicate reticence becoming to a daughter was too sacred for that; but I +said quickly,-- + +"Yes, yes, darling, you must go. It is your duty." + +She looked at me earnestly, then dropping her eyes, went on with her +preparations. + +A second time Mrs. Dennison came to her chamber. Our coldness the day +before had left no impression on the materialism of her nature. +Sparkling with cheerfulness, and brilliant with smiles, she swept in, +bending her flexible whip into a ring, with both hands, and letting it +free again with a prolonged snap. + +"All ready? That's right, my Lady Jess! The day is heavenly, and our +cavaliers are coming up the road!" + +"Thank heaven!" I heard Jessie whisper, as she drew on her gantlets. + +If she fancied that the coming of Mr. Bosworth and his friend would +release Mr. Lee, and leave him at liberty to spend his morning with the +invalid, she was disappointed in the result, though not in the fact. +Just as the party were mounting, he appeared on the terrace, and, +descending the steps, joined them, whip in hand. + +I watched all these movements keenly; why, it would have been impossible +for me to explain even to my own judgment; but shadows tormented me at +this time, and all my senses were on the alert. Mr. Lee rode by his +daughter, leaving his guest to the other gentlemen, between whom she +rode triumphantly, as Queen Elizabeth may have entered Kenilworth, +flirting royally with her handsomest subjects. Jessie and her father +seemed to be conversing quietly, as I had seen them a hundred times +riding down that road. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE TRAIL OF THE SERPENT. + + +After the party was out of sight, I went into Mrs. Dennison's room to +see that the maid had performed her duty, as was my custom; for I had +assumed these light cares in the household, and loved them from the fact +that they attached an idea of usefulness to my residence in the house. + +Everything seemed in order. Cora, the mulatto girl, was busily arranging +the dress her mistress had just taken off. Ear-rings and a brooch of +blue lava were lying on the toilet, and the pretty cap, with its +streamers of black velvet and azure ribbon, hung upon one of the +supports of the dressing-table, as she had left them. + +I looked for the basket of mossrose-buds, but it was gone; some buds +were opening in one of the toilet-glasses, but that was all. Why had the +widow Dennison taken such pains to put the basket out of sight? + +"What have you done with the basket?" I inquired very quietly of the +girl. "If you wet the moss again, we can fill it with fresh flowers." + +"What basket, Miss?" inquired the girl, lifting her black eyes +innocently to my face. + +"The basket you brought in here last evening." + +"Oh, that!" she continued, dropping her eyes; "I've made so many of them +things that mistress doesn't seem to care for 'em any more." + +"You--you make them?" + +"Yes, indeed! Is there any harm, Miss?" she said, lifting her eyes +again, with a look of genuine earnestness. + +"And you arranged those buds in the moss?" + +"Yes, indeed!" + +"And placed the half peach among them?" + +"Was there any harm, Miss?" + +"The half peach--after an Oriental fashion?" + +"Dear me! I hope there wasn't any harm in the gardener's letting me have +that one. It was the first I had seen this year, so I couldn't give up +more than I did; but it was the biggest half that I saved for the +mistress." + +Nothing could be more natural than her dawning contrition, nothing more +satisfactory than the solution she had given to a subject that had kept +me awake half the night. What a fool I had been! Was I, in fact, +becoming fanciful and old-maidish--ready to find error in shadows, and +crimes in everything? Heaven forbid that anything so unwomanly and +indelicate as this should come upon me. + +Was it possible that I, in the waning freshness of my life, had begun to +envy brighter and handsomer women the homage due to their attraction, +and had thus become suspicious? The very idea humiliated me; I felt +abashed before that mulatto girl, who sat so demurely smoothing the +folds of her mistress's breakfast-dress across her lap. It seemed as if +she must have some knowledge of the mean suspicion that had brought me +there. How artful and indirect my conduct had been! In my heart I had +rather plumed myself on the adroit way in which my questions had been +put regarding that annoying basket. Now, I was heartily ashamed of it +all, and stole out of the room bitterly discomfited. + +In shutting the door, I glanced back; the girl was looking up from her +work. The demure expression had left her face, the black eyes flashed +and danced as they followed me; but the moment my look met hers, all +this passed away so completely, that my very senses were confused, and +the doubts that I had put aside came crowding back upon me. + +I went up to Mrs. Lee's room. She was resting on the lounge, sound +asleep; but her face seemed cold as well as pale. There was a strange +look about it, as if all the vitality were stricken out; yet she +breathed evenly, and though I made some noise in entering, it did not +disturb her in the least. + +I sat down on a low chair by the side of her couch; for Jessie had +desired me to sit by her during all the time I could command. Thus I was +placed close to the gentle sleeper. The deathly stillness in which she +lay troubled me; it seemed too profound for healthy slumber. One little +hand fell over the couch. I took it in my own, and passed my other hand +softly over it. Strange enough, she did not move, but began to murmur in +her sleep, while a cold, troubled cloud contracted her forehead. + +"Ah! now I can see everything--everything; they are cantering by the old +mill. I haven't seen it before in years. How beautifully the shadows +fall on the water; the waves are tipped with silver; the trees rustle +pleasantly! No wonder they draw up to look at the mill; it always was a +picturesque object!" + +She was following the equestrians in her dreams--those strange dreams +that seemed to drink up all the color and warmth from her body. + +According to the best calculation I could make, the party would have +reached the old mill about this time. It stood under the curve of the +precipitous banks, a mile or two up the river, and Mr. Lee had spoken of +riding that way at breakfast. Thus it seemed more than probable that the +party was exactly as she fancied it. Mr. Lee had doubtless informed her +what route he would take, and so her imagination followed him while her +frail form slumbered. + +She stirred uneasily on her pillow, drew her black eyebrows together, +and spoke again:-- + +"Why does he leave my Jessie? She don't want to be left with that young +man;--and he, poor fellow! how frightened he is! What is that he is +saying? Wants to marry my Jessie! Alas! how the heart shrinks in her +bosom! My poor child! he should not distress you so! Yet it is an honest +heart he offers--full of warmth, full of goodness! Can't you understand +that, my darling?" + +After this speech she lay quiet a few minutes, and then spoke like one +who had been examining something that puzzled her. + +"Jessie, Jessie! what is this? Why does your heart stand still while he +speaks to her? It troubles me, darling. I am your mother, and this thing +disturbs me more than you can guess. You have driven one away--he +retreats to the rear, heart-broken. That other one comes up. Who is he? +what is he? Ask her, for she is watching him, and her loaded heart +follows after, though he, my husband, is by her side." + +Here she dropped into silence again, only breaking it by faint moans, +and a single ejaculation, "Oh, not that! not that!" + +Her face grew so painfully wan, and she gave evidence of so much inward +anguish, that I was constrained to arouse her. My voice made no +impression, and the clasp of my hand only threw her into a more deathly +slumber. I began to comprehend her state. I had heard of deep trances, +when the soul seems released from the body, or is gifted with something +like prophecy. I knew, or believed, that this was an unhealthy state, +the result of disease, or the offspring of a badly balanced +organization; and this thought horrified me; there was something of the +supernatural in it that filled my soul with awe. By the contraction of +her pale forehead, I saw that there was some distress in the head; so +lifting my hand, I passed it across her brow, hoping to soothe away the +pain. + +Certainly, the face became calm, a smile stole across the lips, and +after a moment her eyes opened, and looked vaguely around, as a child +awakes from its sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +AFTER DREAMING. + + +"I have been asleep," said Mrs. Lee, pleasantly; "sound asleep. When did +you come in?" + +"Only a short time since." + +"And you have been sitting here while I slept?" + +"Yes; after a restless night, I fancied a quiet sleep would do you no +harm." + +"Harm? It has given me strength." + +"Do you think so?" + +She smiled. + +"Have you been dreaming again?" I inquired, a little anxiously. + +"Dreaming? No, my sleep was profound, perfect rest. But where is Jessie? +She sat where you are when I fell off." + +"Indeed!" + +"Yes, I remember--her left hand held mine, with her right she was +soothing the pain from my forehead." + +"That was some time ago; she has gone out to ride since, and I am quite +sure Mr. Lee came up here after she left you," I said. + +"I am glad of it," she answered, gently. "He was rather late this +morning, I remember thinking; but Jessie would not own it. So he came +up, and I did not hear him. Miss Hyde, this is the first time in my +whole life that his lightest footstep failed to awake me,--what can it +mean?" + +"Yes," broke in Lottie, who had been hanging around the door, unnoticed; +for we had all become so used to her presence in that room, that it was +no more heeded than that of the canary-bird in its cage on the +balcony,--"yes, ma'am, Mr. Lee came up with his spurs on, and his whip +all ready, just like a trooper, clang, clang, clang. I thought the noise +would make you jump out of the window in that white, loose gown, just +like an angel with its wings spread; but law! there you were, ma'am, +snoozing away right in his face, and he making up his mind, with the +whip in his hand, whether to kiss you good-bye or not." + +"And did he?" inquired the lady, with a faint flush of the cheek. + +"No, ma'am; I suppose he was afraid of scaring you out of that nice +sleep. He only looked at you sort of earnestly, and went off trying to +walk on tiptoe; but mercy! didn't them boots creak?" + +"I thought not," murmured the lady, with infinite tenderness in her +voice; "I must have been dead if that failed to arouse me." + +"Lor, Mrs. Lee," continued the maid, spreading her flail-like arms in +illustration, "I wish you could have seen that new widder-woman when +them two gentlemen helped her on to the horse. Didn't her dress swell +out--and didn't she keep Mr. Lawrence a-tinkering away at her stirrups, +with one foot in his hand, till it made me sick looking on. Awful 'cute +lady that is, Miss Hyde; you ain't no match for her, nohow!" + +I really think that witch of a girl was gifted with something almost +like second sight. I never had a secret taste or dislike that she did +not understand at once, and drag it out in some blundering way before +the whole world. + +"What makes you think so, Lottie?" I inquired, a little annoyed. + +"Because you're straightforward right out, and flat-footed honest; and +she--oh my!" + +"What makes you say, 'oh my!' Lottie?" + +"Nothing, Miss Hyde; only I've got eyes, and can see right through a +mill-stone, especially when there's a hole in the middle. Perhaps you +can't, then again perhaps you can; I don't dispute anything; only, as I +said before, that widder-woman is too 'cute for such a mealy-mouthed +lady as you are. My!--wouldn't she ride over you rough-shod and with +spurs to her slippers!" + +We spoiled that girl. She was neither servant, companion, nor protegee, +and yet partook of the position which three such persons might have +occupied in the family. She waited upon every one with the faithfulness +of a hound and the speed of a lapwing, seemed to be always in the +kitchen, constantly flitting through the parlor, yet never beyond the +sound of her mistress's voice. She belonged everywhere and nowhere in +the household. She had taken her position out of the kitchen entirely, +by refusing to sit down at the table there, whatever the temptation was, +she invariably carrying off the tray into her own little room, after the +mistress was served, taking her meals in solitary grandeur from frosted +silver and china so delicate that you could see a shadow through it. +Nay, she affected great elegance in this little room, which was a sort +of select hospital for all the old finery in the household. Lace +curtains, condemned as too much worn for the parlor-windows, after +passing through her adroit hands, appeared at the casement of her little +room transparent as new; silk hangings, when faded from their first +splendor, she managed to revive into almost pristine brightness. She +would cut out the freshest medallions from an old carpet, and make it +bloom out anew under her own feet. Then she had pretty knick-knacks and +keepsakes scattered about, which made her little nook quite a +boudoir--indeed, almost the prettiest one in the family. + +Mrs. Lee was rather proud of her unique handmaiden's retreat; it +gratified her own exquisite sense of the beautiful; and, as the room +opened into her own, it was but a continuation of the refinements that +surrounded her. + +In her dress, too, Lottie was more original than half the old pictures +one sees offered for sale. Jessie's cast-off dresses were remodelled by +her nimble fingers into a variety of garments really marvellous. Indeed, +Lottie was generally the most perfectly costumed person in our +household. No one felt disposed to check this exuberant taste in the +strange girl: it pleased the invalid, and that was reason enough for +anything in our family. + +"Yes, I say it again," persisted the strange little creature, folding +her arms and setting her head on one side, "widders are monstrous smart, +up to a'most anything. I've often wished that I'd been born a widder +with both eye-teeth cut, as theirs always is--are, I meant. Lor! Miss +Hyde, you ain't a circumstance; just leave this one to me." + +"Lottie, Lottie," said Mrs. Lee, shaking her head, "you speak too loud +and look bold, it isn't becoming. Besides, the guests in a house must +always be honored, never made subjects of criticism: in short, my good +child, we are spoiling you." + +Lottie withered into penitence with the first words of this reproof. +When it was ended, a deep flush settled around her eyes, as if tears +were suppressed with difficulty. + +"Spoiling me! not with kindness, I should die without that," she said, +half sitting down on the ottoman, half kneeling by the couch. "I won't +speak another word against that--that lady. There, I've got it out; say +you are not angry with me." + +"Angry! no, my child. Only be careful not to say harsh things of any +one, it is a bad habit." + +"I am sorry!" + +"Well, well." + +"Very sorry!" + +"There, there, child, it is not so very terrible." + +"I'll never call the lady a widder again. Never!" + +Mrs. Lee smiled, and sent her into the next room. She seemed troubled +after the girl went out; for certainly tears had glittered in Lottie's +eyes, a thing I had never witnessed before. + +"Go in, Miss Hyde, and comfort her, poor thing! It was cruel to reprove +her so harshly; but my temper is getting ungovernable." + +It was almost amusing to hear that gentle creature condemn herself with +so little reason; but she would not be convinced that something of the +spirit of a Nero had not been manifest in that mild reprimand; so I went +into Lottie's room, much better disposed to give her a second lesson +than to console her for the first. + +Miss Lottie had curled herself up in the window-seat, with both hands +clasped around her knees, and her face buried upon them. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +LOTTIE EXPRESSES HER OPINION OF THE WIDOW. + + +"Lottie," I said, going up to the girl, "what are you huddled up in that +place for? Is there nothing you can find to do more profitable than +pouting?" + +"I'm not pouting, Miss Hyde," she said; "only grinding my teeth in peace +and comfort. Why can't you let me alone, I should like to know?" + +"What folly! Do get down and act like a sensible creature." + +"Well," she said, throwing herself off the window-seat with a +demi-summersault, which landed her in the middle of the room, "here I +am. What's wanted?" + +It was rather difficult for me to say just that instant what I did want, +having only a charge of consolation on hand. + +"Well," she added, "what have I done to you, Miss Hyde, that I can't be +allowed to sit still in my own room?" + +"Nothing, Lottie; I was only afraid that you might be fretting." + +Her eyes instantly filled with tears, which she dashed aside with her +hand. + +"So I was; what's the use of denying it? She never said a cross word to +me before, and wouldn't now but for that Mrs. Babylon. I hate that +widder; I want to stomp her down under my feet. It makes me grit my +teeth when she comes sailing out into the garden, and looks up to Mrs. +Lee's window, just like a dog hankering after a bone." + +"Why, how can you feel so bitterly, Lottie, about a person you never +spoke to a dozen times in your life?" I said, shocked and surprised by +her vehemence. + +"Didn't I, though? How 'cute people can be with their eyes shut! Well, I +fancy that the widder and I are slightly acquainted--better than she +thinks for." + +"Why, how can that be possible; you are always in Mrs. Lee's room?" + +"Generally, generally--not always. There is hours in the morning, before +she gets up; hours in the evening, after she goes to bed; when I break +out, and do a little exploring about the premises. This morning I was in +Mrs. Babylon's room before any of you were up." + +"Indeed! How did that happen?" + +"That sneaking mulatto girl came to the chamber-door as I was passing, +and beckoned me to come in." + +"And you went?" + +"Me! Why not? If a girl never sinsatiates around, how is she to find out +what's going on? Besides, I wanted to know just how Babylon looked in +her own room; so, being invited, I went in." + +"But what did she want of you?" + +"Don't know. Something besides doing a braid up in eleven strands, I +surmise; but that was what she made believe it was about--just as if +that mulatto creature didn't understand that much of her business. I did +it though, meek as Moses--such hair! a yard long in the shortest part. +It was worth while trying a hand at it; but, after all, it seemed like +braiding copperheads and rattlesnakes. I hate to touch anybody's hair if +I don't like 'em; it makes me crawl all over." + +"But why don't you like Mrs. Dennison?" + +"Why--because I don't; and because you don't either." + +I could not help smiling, and yet was half angry with the girl. She +shook her head gravely and went on: + +"It wasn't the hair, Miss Hyde; that copper-colored girl knew more than +I did about it, often as I've braided for Miss Jessie." + +"Then what did she want?" + +"I've found out--never you fear." + +"Well?" + +"Can't tell anything about it. It's like a patch-work quilt in my mind, +the pieces all sorted, but not laid together; the colors will get +ship-shape by-and-by, and then I'll answer everything. She wants me to +come into her room every morning, and I'm going." + +"What, when you dislike her so much?" + +"Yes, in spite of that, and fifty times as much. I'm going to do up Mrs. +Babylon's hair for her." + +"Well, well, I am glad you are not heart-broken about Mrs. Lee's mild +rebuke." + +"Heart-broken! I'd die rather than have a real cross word from her; for +I tell you, Miss Hyde, if ever there was an angel with a morning-dress +and slippers on as a general thing, that angel is the lady in yonder. +Miss Jessie is considerable, and you sometimes come almost up to the +mark, but you can't hold a candle to her, neither one of you." + +It was of no use reproving or questioning Lottie; she was in reality the +most independent person in the house, so I went away rather amused by my +efforts at consolation. + +Earlier than I expected, the riding party came back. Everybody seemed a +little out of sorts. Jessie was pale and looked harassed. Young Bosworth +rode by her side, but it was with the appearance of a man returning from +a funeral. He lifted Jessie from the saddle. She reached forth her hand +before ascending the steps, and seemed to be speaking earnestly. I saw +him wring the hand with unusual energy, and spring to his saddle again. + +As he was turning his horse, Mrs. Dennison rode up with Lawrence and Mr. +Lee. For a voice so musical, hers was rather loud, so I could distinctly +hear her call out,-- + +"Remember, Mr. Bosworth, your engagement for this evening; don't hope to +be excused." + +Bosworth bowed, and rode slowly away; but Lawrence sprang from his +horse, and ran up the steps after Jessie, leaving Mr. Lee to help the +other lady from her saddle. + +Jessie heard him coming, and fairly ran into the house, a piece of +rudeness that seemed to surprise him very much; but unlike as this was +to her usual manner, it did not astonish me. The dear girl's face was +toward me, and I saw that it was flushed with tears. Bosworth had +offered himself, and been refused, poor fellow! I was sure of that. + +Mrs. Dennison laughed till her clear voice rang far out among the +flowers as she witnessed Lawrence's discomfiture. He colored a little +angrily, and would have passed her on the steps, but she took his arm +with exquisite coolness, and smilingly forced him into the house. + +"Babylon's got two strings to her bow,--smart!" + +This strange speech was uttered at my elbow. I looked round and saw +Lottie close to me. + +"Better go up-stairs," she said, pointing over her shoulder; "she +wouldn't let me help her; you must." + +Mrs. Dennison entered the upper hall. Her eyes sparkled, her lips curved +triumphantly. She had carried away her captive and exulted over him with +charming playfulness, which he answered in a low, impressive voice. + +I went up-stairs, leaving them together: Jessie stood in the upper +passage leaning against the banister. She was pale as death, and her +lips quivered like those of a wronged child; but the moment she saw me, +the proud air natural to her returned, and she moved toward her room, +waving me back. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE UNWELCOME PROPOSAL. + + +It was true, Jessie had received the proposal she so much dreaded, +received it exactly as her mother had described the scene. If other and +deeper feelings prevailed with her, they were buried far out of sight +by the delicate reticence of a nature which shrunk from any revelation +of feelings which would, perhaps, never receive a generous response. +Though the most single-hearted and frank creature in the world, Jessie +would have died rather than confess feelings such as I fear occupied her +heart even at this time. + +"Well, Aunt Matty, I have obeyed you," she said, with a sorrowful look +of the eyes, the moment we were alone together. "It breaks my heart, but +I have listened to all he could say, poor fellow! and it is over. What a +terrible, terrible thing it must be to love a person who does not care +for you. Oh! Aunt Matty, Aunt Matty! it is--" She hesitated, turned +crimson, and added, "it must be like death, worse than death; for to +crush one's pride is to deprive life of its dignity, and this thing I +have done for him." + +"And do you begin to regret it?" I said, sitting down, and drawing her +head to my shoulder. + +"Regret it? The thought oppresses me; I am so sorry for him; my heart +aches when I think of the look he gave me. Oh! why is it that love +cannot always be mutual?" + +"That would destroy half its romance, I fear," said I, smiling in spite +of my sympathy in her distress. + +She gave a little nervous laugh and said, "she supposed so; but it was +very hard to see a good man suffer disappointment and mortification such +as she had just witnessed. Some ladies might glory in these things, but, +for her part, she hoped never to have another offer in her life. It was +hard to give pain, harder by far than to endure it. Poor John Bosworth, +how wretched he must be!" + +I strove to comfort her, for there was no affectation in all this. She +really did suffer all her broken speech implied, but she felt the +humiliation she had given too keenly for argument. + +"He bowed himself before me as if I were a queen; and to be rejected +after all, it was very cruel!" she exclaimed, excitedly; "but what +could I do? There was Mrs. Dennison--but no matter about her." + +Jessie stopped suddenly, and a flame of crimson spread and glowed in her +cheeks. + +"You don't like Mrs. Dennison, Aunt Matty?" she said, after a moment's +silence. + +"No, I never did like her," was my prompt reply. + +"She is a strange woman," said Jessie, thoughtfully; "so brilliant, so +full of attractions, everybody is charmed with her at first sight. I +was." + +"And now?" I suggested. + +She looked at me a moment, then smiled, a little bitterly, I thought, +and said,-- + +"Who can help like--admiring her?" + +Something was wrong in that quarter; I was sure of it. Two natures so +opposite as those of our Jessie and Mrs. Dennison could not long +harmonize under the same roof. + +"Well," I said, smoothing the raven braids of Jessie's hair, "the worst +is over now. Mr. Bosworth will think all the better of you for being +truthful and honest; we shall have him for a friend still, never fear." + +Jessie shook her head quite dejectedly. + +"No, that can never be; these rides and invitations have been +misunderstood. He really thought I was encouraging him, when you know, +dear Aunt Matty, I hadn't the least idea of what it all meant. He talks +of going to Europe at once, or--or--" + +"Or what?" I inquired, with an inclination to smile; "drown himself by +the old mill, perhaps?" + +She glanced at me a little roguishly, and said, with a half-sigh, "Yes, +aunt, I believe he almost threatened that." + +"So much the better," I said, gravely enough; for she was on the alert +for any signs of ridicule. "The disappointment that takes that form is +not killing." + +"Don't!" she said, with a contraction of the forehead, which gave +evidence of real pain, "the very remembrance of his face is a reproach +to me; and there _they_ sat so quietly in the shade of a tree enjoying +the scenery. To them, I dare say, the world contained nothing else to +think of. Mrs. Dennison even pointed at us with her whip, as if we made +up the figures of a picture." + +"Well, but she did not know," I suggested. + +"Heaven forbid!" + +We were interrupted then, and Jessie went to her mother, whose gentle +sympathy was always at command, though the cause of grief might be +unexplained. The presence of that woman was like a calm autumn day--it +saddened while it made you better. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +OUT UPON THE RIDGE. + + +I could not divine why it was, but for some reason Mrs. Dennison +appeared ill at ease after her ride that morning. Mr. Lee was about the +house all day; but she rather avoided him, and disappeared altogether +from the square balcony, where he was in the habit of reading when the +shadows crept round to that side of the house. + +Late in the day I went out for a walk, and, mounting the hill back of +the house, wandered along its upper ridge, where a thick growth of +hemlocks and forest-trees shut out a glorious landscape on either hand; +for this hill formed a spur of the mountains which partially separated +two broad valleys. That on the east I have already described; but the +other and broader space of country could only be commanded from one or +two prominent points on the ridge. A large rock, fringed with ferns and +mountain pinks, marked one of these spots. A footpath led to it through +the trees, and, as the rock crowned a precipitous declivity of several +hundred feet, it ended there. + +I sat down upon the rock weary from my long walk, and gazed dreamily +upon the broad plain at my feet. It was in a state of beautiful +cultivation: a large county-town lay under the shelter of the near +mountains, over which a cloud of smoke floated from the numerous iron +foundries in full blast in the environs. The breaks and gossamer +floating of this cloud interested me, not the less because its source +was in the useful development of the resources of a great commonwealth. +I loved to think that with every wreath of that graceful vapor came +assurance of bread for the working-man, and profits to the capitalist; +for to me such thoughts give dignity to the beautiful. I am not one of +those who would object to having the waters of Niagara lowered half an +inch, if it would give the poor better and cheaper flour. + +Well, as I was saying, the hives of industry which lay in the hazy +distance made the landscape one of peculiar interest. The signs of rich +cultivation upon the undulating grounds stretching to a range of the +Blue Ridge, so far away that the mountain peaks seemed embankments of +clouds, took a new aspect every time I saw them. + +Like the busy city, every beautiful object conveyed an under-thought of +prosperity; even the distant noise of some forges under the mountain +sounded harmonious in connection with the broad scene. + +As I sat looking upon this glorious picture, reflecting that my beloved +country could boast of thousands on thousands equally rich, both in +beauty and thrift, a footstep in the grass disturbed me, and, turning my +head, I saw Mrs. Dennison walking slowly along the footpath. + +The woman was in deep thought, and evidently did not observe me, for I +was sitting on a slope of the rock, and a mossy fragment rose up between +us. She held a letter in her hand, which seemed to give her anything but +pleasure, for as she read, a cloud fell heavily on her forehead, and the +beautiful brows contracted. She stopped in the middle of the footpath, +and seemed to read the letter over a second time. During all this time +she was so near to me, that I could distinguish the heavy sigh with +which she folded the paper. + +After this she stood a moment gazing upon the landscape at her feet. She +seemed to feel the beauties this glorious point of view presented, and +her face cleared up. + +That moment I spoke to her. She gave a little start, hid the letter away +somewhere in the folds of her dress, and sat down upon the rock. That +woman, I do think, never took a position which did not at once settle +into lines of grace. Just then the scarlet folds of her shawl fell in +rich contrast with the green mosses of the rock and cool foliage of the +trees, and I could not help observing that, even for my sake, she +condescended to be artistic. + +"Ah, Miss Hyde, I am glad to find you here; these woods were getting +lonesome," she said, pleasantly. + +"But it is not lonesome here," I replied; "this moment I was thinking +what a cheerful idea of life the whole scene yonder presented." + +"Yes," she answered, looking toward the distant city; "after all, +civilization has its fine points, even in a picture. I do not wonder you +love this spot, if it were only from its contrasts. A moment back, I was +almost chilled by the lonely murmur of the pines, and the dull sweep of +waters answering them; surely there is some river near, Miss Hyde." + +"Yes, at the foot of this hill." + +"Oh! true, I can see gleams of water through the gloom. How steep it +is!" + +"Yes, almost a precipice," I answered. "One would not like to attempt a +descent." + +"Indeed, I would rather like it. If one had a mania for suicide now, it +would be a romance. A single false step, and you could hardly hear the +plunge or a cry for help, if the actor were coward enough to give it. +The waters are very black and sullen down yonder." + +I turned away from them with a shudder; this idea of death and crime +which she had advanced chilled me. The waters did, indeed, look black as +we saw them weltering on through the piny gloom far below us. + +"Do you know," she said, smiling blandly upon me, "I found a pretty +bird's-nest under a tuft of fern-leaves up yonder, with four lovely +speckled eggs? My red shawl frightened the poor birds, and they made a +terrible fluttering; so, in pity to the little creatures, I came away +only half satisfied." + +"Oh! you have found my nest!" I exclaimed, thanking her kindness from +the depths of my heart. "My own little birds; they have built in that +spot for three years; I dare say some of the birds hatched under those +broken leaves are singing to us now. No one ever molests them here." + +"Indeed I did them no harm; only took one little peep at the eggs and +ran away; so, don't look so terrified; the birds did not seem half so +much frightened." + +I smiled and dropped the subject. The truth is, I really am silly about +my birds, and always keep their hiding-places secret, if I can, even +from Jessie, who does not understand their dainty habits as I do. + +Mrs. Dennison busied herself looking about on the landscape. + +"Tell me," she said, "whereabouts is that delightful old mill which we +stopped at this morning? I do assure you, Miss Hyde, it is the most +picturesque bit that I ever saw out of a picture; this river must be the +stream on which it stands." + +"Yes," I answered; "but the mill is not visible from here." + +"We had a delightful five minutes examining it," she resumed, "that is, +my good host, Mr. Lawrence, and myself. As for our sweet Jessie and her +cavalier-lover, must I say--" + +"Jessie Lee has no lovers," I answered, coldly, for there was something +in the side-glance of her almond-shaped eyes that I did not like,--a +sinister questioning that aroused all the original distrust that her +simple manner had, for a time, laid to rest. + +"Indeed! What, no lover? and she so beautiful, such a peculiar style! I +thought young Bosworth was something more than a neighborly cavalier; a +fine young fellow, Miss Hyde, and a catch, isn't he?" + +"I don't know exactly what you mean by a catch, madam," I replied, more +and more repulsed. + +"Oh! I see; not worldly enough for boarding-school vulgarisms; but I, +who am naughty enough to remember them now and then, will explain that +there is nothing very terrible in a 'good catch.' It only means a +handsome, fashionable, and rich man, whom every marriageable young lady +is dying for and only one can get." + +"Then our young neighbor will not answer to the character, for he is +neither fashionable nor more than comfortably rich; nor has he any +number of young ladies dying for him." + +"Only one, perhaps?" + +The same sidelong glance, the same crafty undercurrent in her +questioning. + +"If you mean Jessie, Mrs. Dennison, I am very sure she has no such +feelings as you suspect, toward any one." + +"Oh, I dare say not; one always likes to talk nonsense about such +things, but it amounts to nothing. Of course, people are always +expecting hosts of lovers when an heiress is in question, and Miss Lee +has the reputation of immense expectations." + +"Yes," I answered, artfully, "I am afraid Jessie will be very rich, +indeed. Along that valley she will own land enough for a small +principality, if such things were recognized in this country, and many a +smoke-wreath that you see curling up from the city yonder comes from the +dwellings that will yet be hers, and so will several foundries that are +coining money for her out of iron." + +Mrs. Dennison's eyes kindled. "Show me," she said, eagerly, and shading +her eyes with one hand, "where does the land lie--this principality of +which Jessie will be mistress?" + +"Yonder to the left, around and far beyond that hill." + +"The hill with so many grassy slopes, and crested with groves? That +hill, and the lands around it, will it surely be Jessie Lee's +inheritance?" + +"Every foot of land, every smoke that curls from several blocks of +houses in the centre of the city." + +"And does Mr. Lee have all this income?" + +"Every cent." + +Her eyes sparkled. Fresh roses bloomed out on her cheeks. She threw out +her arm, and waved it inward, as if gathering the property in one +sweeping embrace. + +"Ah! what a world of enjoyment you or I could get out of all that if it +were ours!" she said, with unaccountable exultation in her voice. "No +wonder he lives like a prince." + +I answered her with constraint. This enthusiasm disturbed me. + +"I am not sure, madam, that either you or I would be happier for +possessing so much care as this wealth would bring; for my part, that +which I enjoy without responsibility, is enough." + +Her beautiful mouth curled with a sneer, the first I ever saw on those +lips. + +"Ah! it requires taste and habits of power to prepare one for these +things; some people are born with them. Some people are born for them, +and others--" + +"Well?" I said, smiling with satisfaction that she had at last broken +loose from her system of crafty adulation. + +"And others," she said, adroitly, "are so gentle and unselfish, that +they live in the happiness of their friends. It would be a pity to +cumber such with all the anxieties of wealth; one would as soon think of +weighing the angels down with gold." + +I declare, the quickness of that woman frightened me. The sneer left her +lips in a glow of smiles before it was formed. Her eyes were bent on my +face innocent as a child's. She sat down by me, folding the scarlet +shawl lightly around her. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +ADROIT CROSS-QUESTIONING. + + +"Now that we are talking of rich people," said Mrs. Dennison, with an +air of the most natural confidence, "do tell me about this Mr. Lawrence. +Is he very much in love with our Jessie, or not?" + +"I never heard or thought that he was in love with her, Mrs. Dennison." + +"Nor she with him?" + +The question stung me. It gave form to a painful thought that had been +growing in my heart, and I felt myself blushing hotly under her glance. + +"Mrs. Dennison, are such questions honorable?" + +"Not if you cannot answer them without blushes. I beg pardon." + +"Are they delicate?" I urged, angrily. + +"Not if they touch her friends so keenly. Again I beg pardon." + +"Mrs. Dennison," I said, conquering the anger that burned in me like a +fire, "excuse me if I seem rude, but if there is anything of excitement +in my manner, it is because I am not used to canvassing the feelings of +my friends, even with those nearest and dearest to me." + +"And me you consider a stranger," she said, deprecatingly. + +"Almost," I replied, with blunt truth. + +"And one whom you cannot like?" + +I bit my lips to keep back the words that pressed against them. + +"At my age, Mrs. Dennison, new feelings spring up slowly in the heart." + +She made another desperate attempt at my weak side. + +"At your age? My dear Miss Hyde, am I to judge what it is by that smooth +cheek, or by your words?" + +"I am afraid it is best to be judged of by the slow growth of feelings +such as we speak of," I replied, gravely. + +She looked down sadly, and tears came trembling into her eyes. I really +think she felt it. Her habits of fascination were such that she was +doubtless wounded that they could fail even with so unimportant a person +as I was. + +"You are unkind, I would say unjust; only that feeling is seldom a +matter of choice. But I, who was prepared to love you as the friend of +dear Jessie, who did like you so much at the first sight, it does seem a +little cruel that you should meet all this with repulsion." + +Her tears made me uncomfortable; one had fallen to her cheek, and hung +on its roses like a dew-drop. A man, I think, would have yielded to her +then and there; a quiet person of her own sex was not likely to be so +impressible. But her grief touched me, and feeling that there had been +something of rudeness in my speech, I strove to soften it. + +"Not repulsion, Mrs. Dennison, but we country people are a little on the +reserve always. Do not think me unkind because I do not care to talk +much of those who trust and shelter me." + +She laid her hands on mine and smiled sweetly through her tears. + +"You are right. It was all rash childishness, not curiosity; how could +it be when dear Jessie tells me everything with her own sweet lips?" + +I longed to draw my hand from under hers, but conquered the impulse, and +seemed to listen with patience at least. + +"But we will drop our sweet Jessie," she said, "and talk of some one +else--Mr. Lawrence, for instance. Are you sure that he is not really +poor?" + +"Indeed, I cannot tell. He lives in another State, and may be rich or +poor, for aught we know of a certainty; all that I can say is, that his +friend Bosworth never represented him as wealthy to us." + +"That is a pity," she said, thoughtfully, "a great pity; an heiress +stands no chance with such men." + +I started, feeling as if it were Jessie she was speaking of. + +"And why, pray?" was my sharp response. + +"Ah! these splendid men, proud and poor, how can you expect them to face +the world as fortune-hunters? After all, wealth has its drawback. I +often pity a girl with money, for the most sensitive and the most noble +keep aloof. I can imagine a man like this Lawrence now wearing his heart +out, or turning it to iron if it brought him to the feet of an heiress. +Such men like to grant, not take." + +"Isn't that a sort of proud selfishness?" I asked, struck by the force +and truth of her worldly knowledge. + +"Selfishness? Of course it is. What else do we find in the noblest +nature? But you are looking serious, and I have watched that cloud of +smoke till it wearies me." + +She arose while speaking, and walked away, passing through the trees +like some gorgeous bird whose home was beneath the branches. + +I watched her with a strange feeling of excitement. What would her +object be in cross-questioning me as she did? Was it mere vulgar +curiosity, or some deep-seated purpose? Why this anxiety about Jessie's +expectations? In short, had the woman come to us bent on mischief of +some kind, or was I a suspicious wretch, determined to find evil in +everything? + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +THE EVENING AFTER BOSWORTH'S PROPOSAL. + + +That evening Messrs. Lawrence and Bosworth came, according to some +previous engagement. I was a little surprised at this, but after awhile +saw that a generous and noble motive lay at the bottom of it all. Jessie +had besought Bosworth to remain her friend; he had promised, and thus +generously kept an engagement made before his proposal, and when it must +have been a painful sacrifice. + +Nothing could be more delicate and lovely than Jessie's manner of +receiving him. She neither colored nor looked down, but came toward him +with a deprecating stoop of the whole person, while there was a depth of +sadness in her eyes that more than begged pardon for the wound she had +given. + +Bosworth was grave, but very gentle in his reception of this kindness. +He moved toward a far end of the room, and they sat down together, +talking earnestly to each other. + +Mr. Lee was in the room and watched them rather gravely, I thought; but +Mrs. Dennison, who was chatting merrily with Lawrence, called him to her +side, and after that he seemed to forget everything but her. + +Being left to myself, I was crossing the room to go out, when Jessie +beckoned me to the sofa, where she was sitting. + +"Ah! Miss Hyde," she said, earnestly, "try and persuade Mr. Bosworth to +give up his wild plan of going away." + +"And have you really formed such an idea?" I asked. + +"Yes," he said, striving to smile; "one cannot loiter forever in these +pleasant country places. I have been a dreamer too long." + +"But not yet," I pleaded, answering the appeal in Jessie's eyes; "you +will not go in this unfriendly way." + +"Unfriendly?" he repeated, glancing at Jessie. "No, I shall never do +that; never feel unfriendly toward any of you, Miss Hyde." + +"But we cannot spare you, and I am quite sure Mrs. Dennison will be +heart-broken if--" I hesitated, conscious of the impropriety contained +in these impulsive words. + +"Oh! Mrs. Dennison will never be quite heart-broken at anything, I +fancy," he replied, with a faint smile; "but if you really desire it, I +will not break up the arrangements of our guests. A few weeks more or +less need make little difference in a life-time." + +Jessie brightened at this, and looked so gratefully on her rejected +lover, that he smiled, but very mournfully, as if reproaching her for +being so kindly and yet so firm. + +Early in the evening, Mrs. Lee's little maid, Lottie, came into the +parlor, and after casting her bright eyes in every corner of the room, +went up to her master and whispered something. Mr. Lee arose and went +out. I beckoned Lottie, and asked if her mistress was worse? + +"No, Miss Hyde, I can't say that she is, or that she isn't; because she +hasn't said a word about it. But she isn't asleep, and it seems lonesome +up there, within hearing of all the fun, and not know what it is about. +For how Mrs. Bab--how that lady's voice rings through the tower when she +laughs." + +"Yes," said I, "she has a clear, sweet voice." + +Lottie gave an almost imperceptible toss of the head. + +"Besides," she said, drawing me aside, and speaking in a low voice, +"mistress can look right into the window where those people stand; I +don't know as she did, but I can." + +"Well; could you discover more than we did, who are in the room, +Lottie?" + +The toss of her head was defiant now, but she made no other reply, +except to whisper, "Mrs. Babylon is coming this way, and I'm off." + +"Stop," I said; "did Mrs. Lee send for--for any of us?" + +"Send? No; but she expected, and being all alone evenings is what she +isn't used to." + +"I'll go up at once." + +"There now, always flying off! It isn't you she wants." + +"How do you know that, if she asked for no one in particular?" + +"How do I know? Well, that's good! As if I didn't know the difference +between her wanting you and him! When she wants you, it's all quiet and +don't-care-much-about-it in her looks. When he ought to be there, and +isn't, something comes into her eyes that makes your heart ache. I never +saw it till lately; but that look is growing on her, and would more, if +it wasn't for me." + +"Why, how can you prevent it, Lottie?" + +"Well, in a good many ways, Miss Hyde. One of 'em is by nice little lies +that hurt nobody, but do her lots of good. I know just how he makes +bouquets, and when they don't come at the right time, I run down and +make up a bunch of flowers myself. I stole some pink and blue ribbons +from his room to tie 'em with. Oh! it's worth while to see her eyes +sparkle when I bring them in. Then I've studied his way of sending +compliments and messages. Don't pretend to be a genius like you that +write poetry." + +"Lottie!" + +"Oh! don't be frightened. I sha'n't bring you to disgrace about it. Made +up my mind to that from the first. You needn't get mad and blush so; I +ain't a genius, but I can make up stories in my head; and why not tell +'em to her? Why not, I say, when they please her? You should hear the +elegant messages I bring from Mr. Lee, at least four times a day. When +she gets a nice little dish for dinner, it gives her appetite to think +he ordered it; but the cook knows." + +"But, Lottie, this is wrong." + +"Wrong! Well, I like that, Miss Hyde." + +"It isn't the truth, Lottie." + +"The truth! Who said it was? As if I didn't know it was lying, and glory +in it!" + +I could hardly keep my countenance. As for arguing a moral question with +Lottie, the thought was too ridiculous. She had her own ideas, and kept +to them without the slightest regard to those of other people. + +While we were talking, Lottie had gradually edged herself out of the +room, and her last speech was delivered on the platform of the terrace. +Mrs. Lee's window was up, and I saw her husband enter the room with what +seemed to me a reluctant step. He sat down, and opened a book, as if to +read aloud. This had been his usual custom, but the last few evenings he +had spent in the drawing-room. I would have taken his place, but she +rejected my offer with one of those deep sighs that excite so much pity +when they come from an invalid. + +"You talk against fibs, Miss Hyde; now what do you think of that? She +never would 'a' sent for him--died first, like a lamb starving in the +cold. Hist! there comes Mrs. Babylon and her private beau." + +True enough, Mrs. Dennison and Lawrence had passed through one of the +drawing-room windows, and were slowly coming down the terrace platform, +which, as I have said, ran around one end and the back of the house. It +afforded a fine promenade, and they were enjoying the moonlight that +fell upon it. My attention was occupied by them a moment, during which +Lottie disappeared. The railing of this platform was lined with a rich +shrubbery of hot-house plants, lemon-trees, tall roses, and such +creeping vines as bear most choice blossoms. These cast heavy shadows, +and I fancy that the girl disappeared among them,--listening, perhaps, +being considered as one of the accomplishments which she devoted to the +benefit of her mistress. + +When I went back to the drawing-room, Jessie was at the piano, and +Bosworth sat near, watching her sadly as she played. She did not attempt +to sing, and he offered no request of the kind. Altogether, it was a +gloomy evening. Really, I think this idea of turning love into +friendship is an absurd way of settling things. Throwing ashes on hot +embers only keeps the fire in more certain glow. Jessie was young, and +had no idea of prudence in such matters. I did not quite understand the +undercurrent of her nature, but, in my heart, thought it best that +Bosworth should leave the neighborhood. + +The next morning I saw Lottie coming out of Mrs. Dennison's room, +looking demure as a house-cat. + +"I've taught 'em how to do another braid," she said, innocently. "If +they tangle it, you know, I ain't to blame." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +SOWING SEED FOR ANOTHER DAY. + + +After our conversation on the ridge, Mrs. Dennison made the best of her +advantages, and, having ingratiated herself into the room of our +invalid, managed to pass a good deal of her time there. I think Mrs. +Lee, without knowing it herself, exercised a little selfishness in this; +for it happened--so naturally that I never should have observed it but +for Lottie--that Mr. Lee visited his wife more frequently when his guest +was there than at any other time. Indeed, it was not many days before +the invalid ceased almost entirely to see him alone. + +After my attention was drawn to this by one of Lottie's curt sayings, I +noticed another thing that troubled me more than Mrs. Dennison's visits. +Cora, the mulatto girl, was constantly following her mistress to the +room, asking for orders, or reminding Mrs. Dennison of something that +she had been desired to remember. She made one or two efforts to fix +herself in Lottie's apartment, but that singular female rebuffed the +first attempt, by standing square in the door, and asking point-blank if +there were anything in that room which Cora wanted. The girl answered, +"No," and went away rather crestfallen. + +It is very difficult to repress the aggressions of a guest under your +own roof, especially one who invariably disarms you with honeyed words +and apologies for anything that threatens to offend. It was not for me +to regulate a visitor's movements in Mr. Lee's house; and so adroitly +were they managed, that no power, however on the alert, could have +reached them. + +To my surprise, Lottie, all of a sudden, not only seemed to lose her +animosity to the widow, but hung about her with assiduity almost equal +to that bestowed on her mistress. But one thing was remarkable: none of +her bright sayings, or exhibitions of sharp, good sense were manifested +in Mrs. Dennison's presence. With her she was dull and quiet, nay, +almost stolid. I have heard her ask questions with the most innocent +air, which a child of three years old could have answered. It was +surprising how anything so near a witch in her real nature could tame +herself into that lump of stupidity. She was a great deal in Mrs. +Dennison's room; and once I saw them seated together on the hill-side, +talking earnestly. Still, for several days nothing happened worthy of +remembrance. + +Mr. Lee and the widow rode out once or twice without Jessie, who, +feeling a little hurt for her mother's sake, decided to remain at home +and sit with the gentle invalid. I do not know that she observed it, but +there certainly was very little entreaty used to induce her to join +them. Indeed, upon the third morning nothing was said on the subject; +Jessie was not even invited. + +One day, just after Mr. Lee and his guest had ridden from the door, Mr. +Lawrence called. He had seen them from a distance, he said, and came to +inquire after Miss Lee's health. The flood of crimson that rushed over +Jessie's face, when I told her this, made my heart beat heavily. She +arose, and went down, avoiding my anxious glance as she passed me. + +The doors were all open, but I heard no voices in the drawing-room; they +must have been talking very low: what did that portend between two +persons perfectly alone? So anxious had I become that it seemed to me as +if some harm were intended our Jessie among these strange people. She +had never seemed really happy since their advent among us. Indeed, there +had been little of comfort for any one. + +What passed between Jessie and Lawrence I learned afterward. But only so +far as a young girl can force herself to speak of things pertaining to +her affections. One thing is certain: when she came up-stairs, after his +departure, a look of uncertain joy pervaded her face, and she breathed +quickly. I asked no questions, and was not surprised that she said +little about the interview. After that day Jessie's manner became more +elastic; and from some words that escaped, I am confident that, up to +this time, she had fancied Lawrence engaged to Mrs. Dennison; or, at +the least, ready at any moment to assume that position. Indeed, the +widow had told her as much. + +The next day Jessie was invited to join Mr. Lee and his guest in their +ride; but she refused it coldly, nay, almost haughtily. Her father, for +the first time in his life, seemed really angry with her. He said +nothing, however, but rode forth with a flush on his brow. + +Again Mr. Lawrence called, or would have called, but that he saw Jessie +wandering off toward the pine woods, and followed her. I saw them +sitting a long time on a garden-chair stationed on the skirts of the +grove, but said nothing to any one, not even to herself when she came +down the hill, alone, with a light in her eyes that I had never seen +there before. + +I think Lawrence must have made five or six of these morning visits +before they were suspected by any one in the house. Cora was generally +busy in her mistress's room all the forenoon, and Lottie took the +occasion of Mrs. Dennison's absence to sit with loving watchfulness by +our invalid, only too happy if a low word or patient smile rewarded her +devotion. But it came out at last. + +One day I went suddenly upon the terrace platform, and found Cora +standing close by one of the drawing-room windows, with her shoulder +against the framework. The blind swinging open concealed her from any +person within; and the position she maintained, while sorting the shades +from some skeins of worsted that she held, was that of careless rest. +She moved indolently, and sauntered away on seeing me; but it was with a +heavy, sullen manner, as if she had been unwarrantably disturbed. I +looked into the sitting-room in passing, and, as I expected, Lawrence +and Jessie were sitting on a sofa close to that window. + +Mrs. Dennison was in splendid spirits when she came back from her ride +that day. There was something triumphant in her step which put one in +mind of some handsome Amazon returning from battle. She leaned heavily +on Mr. Lee, as he lifted her from the saddle; nay, I am certain that she +rested against him a moment longer than was necessary. + +Jessie was standing near me, but noticed none of these things. Noble +girl, she was never on the lookout for evil. Her upright mind tinted +everything with its own pure hues. + +Mr. Lee stayed a long time, giving orders about the horses. When he came +up the steps, I had an opportunity of observing him closely. He was +pale, and looked strange. I cannot describe what I wish to be +understood, but all the influences that had so long dwelt around that +man seemed swept away. The very dignity of his tread was gone. What had +occasioned this? I know now, and never doubted then. The woman sweeping +through our hall, at the moment, had produced this transformation; yet +no words had passed between them that his own daughter might not have +heard without reproof. + +Mrs. Dennison gave us a triumphant glance, as she passed the balcony +where we were standing, and proclaimed that she had never enjoyed a ride +so much. It was a heavenly day, and the landscape transcendent. + +Jessie smiled softly, and turned a bright glance on my face, which said, +more plainly than Mrs. Dennison's words, "I, too, have had a heavenly +day, which will go with my dreams into many another day, making an Eden +of them all." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +AN OUTBREAK OF JEALOUSY. + + +In a few moments Mrs. Dennison came out of her chamber, still in her +riding-habit. She was pale as death, her eyes gleamed, and her lips +quivered. She dashed into the balcony, and laid her hand on Jessie's +shoulder with such rude suddenness, that the young girl drew back with +an impulse of surprise. + +"What is the matter, Mrs. Dennison?" + +Mrs. Dennison looked at her a moment, subdued the quivering of her lips +with a great effort, and broke into a laugh so hoarse and constrained +that Jessie shrunk back. + +"What is the matter?" she said. "Why, nothing; only we have but just +time to dress for dinner, and here you stand as if the whole world could +wait." + +I could see that her frame was trembling from head to foot. The color +would not come back to her face. With all her powers, she was but a +woman, and a jealous woman at the best. From that moment I felt very +sure that Cora had performed her mission promptly. Jessie could not +understand it, but stood looking at her guest in blank amazement. + +"You have ridden too far," she said, coldly, "and the fatigue has shaken +your nerves, I fear. Shall I send for a glass of wine? it will be some +time before dinner." + +"Wine? no; but--but I will take a glass of water, if you please, Miss +Hyde." + +Jessie seemed anxious to get away, for she started before I could +anticipate her to order the water, and I was left alone with Mrs. +Dennison. Her self-command was giving way again. She sat down, and, +covering her face with both hands, shook from head to foot; but she did +not weep. Something too hard and fiery for tears possessed her. + +"Yes," she said at last, "Miss Lee is right! These long rides do shake +one's nerves terribly!" + +Directly Jessie came bringing a glass of water. With her usual delicacy, +she would not intrust the duty to a servant, who might witness her +friend's discomposure and comment upon it. + +Mrs. Dennison held the water a moment, regarding Jessie with gleaming +eyes, as if she longed to dash the contents in her face; but the insane +fit went off. She drank the water, and arose to leave the balcony. + +"I am not usually nervous, but this ride has completely upset me." + +With these words she left the balcony and went back to her room. + +"She is very ill, I am sure, Aunt Matty," said Jessie, full of gentle +sympathy; "pray go and see if nothing more can be done?" + +I went to Mrs. Dennison's chamber and knocked; no one came or spoke. But +the door stood upon the latch, and the vibration of my hand unclosed it. +Mrs. Dennison was standing in the middle of the room, white with rage, +and with specks of foam on her lips. She was tearing open her habit with +a violence that made the buttons start. The face with which she met my +intrusion was that of a beautiful fiend. + +I closed the door and went back repulsed. But without giving me time to +cross the hall, she came to the door, opened it wide, and called me in +with a laugh. + +"Come back one moment," she said, "and tell me which of these two +dresses is most becoming. That which I had intended for dinner, Cora has +been altering, and she has spoiled it entirely. I confess, Miss Hyde, +that my temper is not good enough to stand a pet dress in ruins. The +fact is, I have frightened poor Cora half to death." + +Quick as lightning, while her mistress spoke, Cora laid some dresses on +the bed, apologizing, in a low voice, for the mischief she had done. If +I had possessed no clue to the scene, it would have deceived me +completely; but I comprehended it too well, and absolutely felt myself +growing faint with disgust. + +"I am no judge in these matters," I said, without any pretence at +cordiality; "nor would my opinion be of the least consequence if I were. +Your dresses always prove becoming, Mrs. Dennison." + +"The first compliment I ever received from you," she answered, +impressively; "I shall remember it with gratitude." + +I went quietly out of the room, tired of the scene. + +A little while after this, Lottie came to me with one of her keen +smiles, and, opening her hands, which were folded palm to palm, gave me +one glimpse of a little note, primrose-tinted, and sealed with a drop of +green wax, in which an antique head was stamped. + +"What is it? whom is it for?" I inquired, thinking that it must be +intended for Jessie. + +"You'll see to-night, or to-morrow morning," she answered. "Mrs. Babylon +writes on handsome paper; I won't use white any more. I'll say this for +her: when it comes to dress and pretty things, she can't be beat easy. +Don't quite come up to Mrs. Lee: who can?--but putting her aside, I +don't know Mrs. Babylon's match." + +"And is that Mrs. Dennison's note?" + +"Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no lies." + +"But how came it in your possession?" + +She eyed me a moment sideways, then broke forth as if some grand thought +had just seized upon her. + +"Now, I'll make a bargain with you, Miss Hyde. If you'll just persuade +my mistress, or Miss Jessie, to buy me half a dozen sheets of that +straw-colored paper, I'll tell you all about it." + +"But what can you want of primrose paper, Lottie,--you that never write +letters?" + +"No; but I may take to writing poetry; who knows?" + +She said this with a twinkle of the eye that provoked me. How on earth +had that creature got hold of my secret weakness? + +"It isn't at all likely that you'll want paper for that purpose, Miss +Lottie." + +"Miss Lottie--Miss! Well now, I have always said that if there was a +genuine lady, and no nonsense in this house, it was you, ma'am. Even my +mistress hasn't got up to that mark--Miss Lottie! Wouldn't that look +beautiful on a yellow note like this? Miss Lottie--" + +She plumed herself, like a bird, in the ecstasy of my random speech, and +both her hands and her heart opened at once. + +"Now, I'll tell you all about it! There's no secret, and if there is, I +didn't promise not to tell; that is, down in my heart. Cora came to me +just now, and says she, 'Lottie, you know all the men about the +premises, I suppose?' + +"'Well, pretty much,' says I. + +"'I thought so,' she said. 'Now, here is a little note that my mistress +wants to have sent right off. If you can coax one of the men to take a +horse from the stable, and just gallop over to Mr. Bosworth's with it, +and bring an answer back, she'll give you that dress you took such a +fancy to.' + +"'Well,' says I, 'hand over the note; I'll get it done.' She had been +holding the note seal up all the time, and says she, 'Lottie'--not Miss +Lottie, mind--but, 'Lottie, can you read writing?' + +"'Can you?' says I. + +"'No,' says she; 'colored people seldom do.' + +"'Well, then I don't.' + +"'Well, this note is for a lady that is staying at Mr. Bosworth's; she's +an old friend of Mrs. Dennison's, and we want to hear from her.' + +"'All right,' says I. 'If you hadn't told this, it would be Greek and +Latin to me.' + +"She handed over the note, and told me to put it in my bosom for fear of +its being seen. So I did; and came here, but not till I had read Mr. +Lawrence's name on the outside. Now, Miss Hyde, just tell me what to +do." + +"There is one thing you must not do, Lottie, and that is, tempt any of +the men from their duty." + +"But then that dress! Light green foulard, with bunches of roses--sweet +roses!" + +"Wait a moment, Lottie; we must not do anything without Mr. Lee's +sanction: that will never answer." + +I went up to Mr. Lee, who was sitting in the window recess, apparently +reading, and asked if he could spare a horse and man long enough to ride +over to Mr. Bosworth's. + +"Who wishes to send?" he inquired, indifferently. + +"Mrs. Dennison," I answered, not unwilling to give him the information. + +He held the paper a little tighter in his hand, repeating: + +"Mrs. Dennison! What correspondent has she at Mrs. Bosworth's?" + +There was an effort at indifference in his voice, but it did not conceal +that he was touched. + +I did not feel at liberty to answer his question, and said nothing. + +After a moment's silence, he said,-- + +"Certainly, Miss Hyde. Our guests always command here." + +I went back to Lottie, and told her to carry Mr. Lee's orders to the +stable, and, if she wished it, claim her reward. She seized my hand in +an ecstasy of delight. + +"Oh! Miss Hyde, I never will talk about poetry again, never so long as I +live; but I'll tell everybody that you don't know a thing about it, no +more than I do; and I believe it." + +With this outburst she went away. Directly after, I saw one of the +grooms riding down the road. Two hours after, he came back, and gave +Lottie, who was waiting near the pine woods, with great appearance of +secrecy, a note, with which she went at once to Mrs. Dennison, evidently +resolved to keep up appearances, and leave her employers in the belief +that the whole thing had been managed privately. + +I had thrown the subject of the note quite off my thoughts, when the +groom, who had been to Mr. Bosworth's, came to me in the garden with +distressing news. + +Poor young Bosworth was ill--so ill, that he had not been out of his +room for some days; and his mother desired very much that I should come +over and see him. He had spoken of it several times, and, now that he +was growing worse, she could refuse him nothing. It was asking a great +deal, but would I come at the earliest time possible? + +This was indeed sad news. I liked the young man. He was honorable, +generous, and in all respects a person to fix one's affections +upon--that is, such affections as a lady just dropping the bloom of her +youth may bestow on the man who looks upon her as a sort of relative. + +Of course I would go to see Bosworth in his sickness. "God bless and +help the young man," I whispered; "if she could only think of him as I +do!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +THE OLD PENNSYLVANIA MANSION. + + +The Bosworths lived behind the spur of the mountain which shut out a +portion of the valley from our house by its crown of forest-trees. I had +taken little exercise in the open air of late, for Mrs. Dennison +monopolized the horse I had been in the habit of riding, with my usual +seat in the carriage. Perhaps I felt a little hurt at this, and would +not ask favors that had until now been mine without solicitation. In my +love of out-door exercise I am half an English woman. So, mentioning to +Mrs. Lee and Jessie that I was going out for a long walk across the +fields, I started for Mrs. Bosworth's house. + +It was a splendid afternoon. The sunshine, warm and golden, without +being oppressive, was softened by transparent clouds that drifted like +currents and waves of gauze athwart the sky. The meadows were full of +daisies, buttercups, and crimson clover, through which the blue-flies +and bumble-bees fluttered and hummed their drowsy music. In the pastures +clouds of grasshoppers sprang up, with a whir, from the clusters of +white everlasting that sprinkled the slopes like a snow-storm; and +little birds bent down the stately mullein-stalks with their weight, and +sang cheerily after me from the crooks of the fences. + +How I loved these little creatures with their bright eyes and graceful +ways! How quietly they opened my heart to those sweet impulses that make +one grateful and child-like! My step grew buoyant, and I felt a cool, +fresh color mounting to my cheeks. The walk had done me good. I had been +too much in the house, indulging in strange fancies that were calculated +to make no one happy, and were, perhaps, unjust. How could I have sunk +into this state of mind? Was I jealous of Mrs. Dennison? Yes, possibly! +But not as another would have understood the feeling. It was rather hard +to hear the whole household singing her praises from morning till night; +and Jessie, my own Jessie, seemed so bound up in the woman. + +Well, after all, these things seemed much more important in the house, +where I felt like an involuntary prisoner, than they appeared to me, +with the open fields breathing fragrance around me, and the blue skies +speaking beautifully of the beneficent God who reigned above them. + +I really think the birds in that neighborhood had learned to love me a +little, they gave such quaint little looks, and burst into such volumes +of song among the hazel-bushes as I passed. Before I knew it, fragments +of melodies were on my own lips. I gathered handful after handful of the +meadow-flowers, grouping the choicest into bouquets, and scattering the +rest along my path. Thus you might have tracked my progress by tufts of +grass, and golden lilies, as the little boy in fairy history was traced +by the pebble-stones he dropped. + +Mrs. Bosworth's house was one of the oldest and finest of those +ponderous Dutch mansions that are scattered over Pennsylvania. There +were rich lands to back that old-fashioned building, and any amount of +invested property, independent of the lands. After all, young Bosworth +was no contemptible match for our Jessie, even in a worldly point of +view. If his residence lacked something of the elegance and modern +appointments for which ours was remarkable, it had an aspect of age and +affluence quite as imposing. Indeed, in some respects it possessed +advantages which our house could not boast. + +Majestic trees that struck their roots in a virgin soil, and shrubbery +that had grown almost into trees, surrounded the old house. One great, +white lilac-bush lifted itself above the second-story windows, and +old-fashioned white roses clambered half over the stone front. Then +there was a huge honeysuckle that spread itself like a banner upon one +corner, garlanding the eaves, and dropping down in rich festoons from +the roof itself. + +But all this was nothing compared to that magnificent elm-tree, which +overhung a wing of the building with its tent-like branches, through +which the wind was eternally whispering, and the sunshine was broken +into faint flashes before it reached the roof. I had never been so much +impressed with the dignity of old times, as when I approached this +dwelling. It possessed all the respectability of a family mansion, +growing antique in the prosperity which surrounded it, without any +attempt at modern improvements. + +The very flowers on the premises were old-fashioned; great snow-ball +bushes and rows of fruit-trees predominating. In the square garden, with +its pointed picket-fence, that ran along the road, I saw clusters of +smallage, and thickets of delicate fennel. On each side the broad +threshold-stone stood green boxes running over with live-forever and +house-leeks, while all around the lower edges of the stone foundation +that exquisite velvet moss, which we oftenest find on old houses, was +creeping. + +I lifted the heavy brass knocker very cautiously, for it was ponderous +enough to have reverberated through the house. Even the light blow I +gave frightened me. No wonder people felt constrained to muffle knockers +like that in the good old times, when sickness came to the family. + +A quiet, middle-aged colored woman came to the door. She knew me at +once, though it was the first time I had entered the house in years. + +"Come in, Miss Hyde," she said, welcoming me with a genial look. "Mrs. +Bosworth said, if you called she would come right straight down and see +you; so walk in." + +She opened the door of a sitting-room on the right of the hall. It was +old-fashioned like the exterior of the building. Windows sunk deep into +the wall, ponderous chairs, and a capacious, high-backed sofa with +crimson cushions, and embroidered footstools standing before it,--all +had an air of comfortable ease. The carpet had been very rich in its +time, and harmonized well with the rest of the apartment. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +THE MOTHER AND GRANDMOTHER. + + +I seated myself on the sofa, and waited with some anxiety. Surely, my +young friend must be very ill to have abandoned this room for his own! +What a comfortable look the place had! How delightfully all the tints +were toned down! There stood a queer, old work-table, with any amount of +curiously twisted legs, and on it an antique bible, mounted and clasped +with silver. Such books are only to be found now in the curiosity shops +of the country. Under this table, and somehow lodged among its +complication of legs, was the old lady's work-basket, in which I +detected a silver-mounted case for knitting-needles, some balls of +worsted, and an embroidered needle-book. Ladies are always noticing +these little feminine details; they aid us greatly in that quick +knowledge of character which men are apt to set down as intuition. + +While I was thinking over these speculations, a step in the hall, and +the rich, heavy rustle of those old silks that our grandmothers were so +proud of, disturbed me. The door opened, and an old lady, very old +indeed, came into the room. + +I stood up involuntarily, for the person of this old lady was so +imposing, that it exacted a degree of homage which I had never felt +before. I can imagine a figure like that, wandering through the vast +picture-galleries of some fine English castle, and there I should have +given her a title at first sight. As it was, her person struck me with +amazement. Not that it was out of keeping with the premises, but because +this lady was altogether a grander and older person than I had expected +to see in that house. + +She received my salutation with a slow curtsy, very slight and +dignified in its movement, and, advancing to a huge, crimson easy-chair +that stood near the work-table, sat down. + +"My daughter is in her son's room," she said, in a soft and measured +voice, glancing at me with her placid eyes. "He is very ill, and we are +frightened about him." + +"Is not this sudden?" I inquired. + +"Yes, very; we don't know what to make of it. He is always so healthy +and so cheerful; something has gone wrong with him, Miss Hyde." + +She looked at me earnestly, as if expecting that I would explain the +something which was beyond her understanding. + +I felt myself blushing. It was not for me to speak of Jessie's affairs +to any one, certainly not in a case like this. + +The old lady dropped her eyes, and, taking her knitting-case from the +basket, laid it in her lap, evidently disposed to give me time. At +length she spoke again. + +"My grandson has enjoyed himself so much since we came to the country, +especially since his friend, Mr. Lawrence, arrived; and now to have him +struck down all at once--it is disheartening!" + +"Is he so very ill?" I inquired. + +"He has been restless and excited, more or less, for a week or more, but +during the last three days has fallen seriously ill. Now he is entirely +out of his head; my daughter sat up with him all last night; the doctor +was here this morning. He pronounces it a brain-fever." + +I was really disturbed. She saw it and went on. + +"He asked for you three or four times during the night; and--and for +another person whom we could not venture to invite here." + +"I am glad you sent for me," I replied, anxious to waive all +explanation. "At home they consider me a tolerable nurse." + +She looked at me seriously a moment, and then said, in a gentle, +impressive way,-- + +"Miss Hyde, be kind to an old woman who has nothing but the good of her +child at heart, and tell me if Miss Lee has--has repulsed my grandson?" + +"No, not that, madam; but, but--" + +"She has rejected him, I see it by your face; I suspected it from his +wanderings," she said, sorrowfully. + +I was silent; the mournful accents of her voice touched my heart. + +"You have no hope to give the old woman?" she said. "Yet to her it seems +impossible for any one not to love Bosworth." + +"I am sure there is no man living for whom Miss Lee has more respect," I +answered. + +She smiled a little sadly. + +"Respect! That is a cold word to the young heart, Miss Hyde." + +That moment the door opened and Bosworth's mother came in. She was +altogether unlike the stately old lady with whom I was conversing. Her +small figure, wavering black eyes, and restless manner, spoke of an +entirely different organism, which was natural enough, as she was only +connected with the stately dame by marriage with her son, a union that +had been consecrated by an early widowhood. + +It was easy to see that the elder lady was mistress of that house, and +that the daughter-in-law held her in profound reverence. Poor lady! she +was in great distress, and came up to me at once. + +"You are kind, very kind," she exclaimed; "he has asked for you so +often. Oh! Miss Hyde, it is terrible to see him in this state with no +way of helping." + +"It is indeed," I answered, pitying her from my heart. + +"Will you go up now? He asked for you and some one else only a few +minutes ago," she said, walking up and down the room in nervous +distress. "It was an out-of-the-way thing to send for you, almost a +stranger, for the Ridge has been empty so long that you all seem like +new people, but I am sure you will excuse it. Oh! Miss Hyde, we love him +so. We two lonely women, and to lose him!" + +Here the poor mother burst into a passion of tears; while the old lady +sat down by her work-table and looked on with a sorrowful countenance. + +A noise from up-stairs arrested the younger Mrs. Bosworth in her walk. + +"He is calling," she said. "Oh! Miss Hyde, he cannot bear me out of his +sight! Just as it was years ago, when he would plead with me to sit by +his bed, after our mother there insisted on the lamp being put out." + +The old lady shook her head, and smiled sadly. "You were spoiling the +boy, Hester, making a little coward of him; but he soon ceased to be +afraid of the dark,--a brave young man, Miss Hyde, and a comfort to his +mother; God spare him to us!" + +Hester Bosworth began to cry afresh at these encomiums; and, going up to +her mother-in-law's chair, bent her head upon the back, sobbing aloud. + +The old lady reached up her soft, little hand, and patted the poor +mother on the cheek as if she had been a child. + +"Don't fret so, Hester. Our boy is young, and his constitution will not +give way easily. A little sleep--if we could only induce a few hours' +sleep!" + +"I have made a hop pillow for him, and done everything," sobbed the +mother; "but there he lies, looking, looking, looking, now at the wall, +now at the ceiling, and muttering to himself." + +"I know--I know," said the grandmother, hastily lifting her hand, as if +the description wounded her. "Will nothing give him a little sleep?" + +I remembered how often Mrs. Lee, in her nervous paroxysms, had been +soothed to rest by the gentle force of my own will. Indeed, I sometimes +fancy that some peculiar gift has been granted to me, by which physical +suffering grows less in my presence. + +"Shall I go up with you, Mrs. Bosworth?" I said, inspired with hope by +this new idea. "He may recognize me as an old friend." + +"Oh, yes, yes!" she exclaimed, leading the way. "Mother, will you come?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +SICK-BED FANCIES. + + +We mounted the staircase, a broad, old-fashioned flight of steps, +surmounted with heavy balustrades of black oak. There was a thick carpet +running up them; but, lightly as we trod, the keen ear of the invalid +detected a strange presence, and I heard his voice, muffled and rough +with fever, calling out, "Yes, yes, I knew, I knew, I knew that she +would come!" Then he broke into the notes of some opera-song. + +There was a cool, artificial twilight in the chamber when we entered it; +but through the bars of the outer blinds a gleam of sunshine shot across +the room, and broke against the wall opposite the great, high-posted bed +on which young Bosworth was lying. The chamber was large, and but for +the closed blinds would have been cheerful. As it was, a great +easy-chair, draped with white dimity, loomed up like a snow-drift near +the bed; which being clothed in like spotless fashion, gave a ghastly +appearance to everything around. + +Young Bosworth lay upon the bed with his arms feebly uplifted, and his +great, wild eyes wandering almost fiercely after the sunbeams which came +and went like golden arrows, as the branches of an elm-tree near the +window changed their position. + +I went up to the bed, and touched the young man's wrist. The pulse that +leaped against my fingers was like the blows of a tiny hammer; his eyes +turned on my face, and he clutched my hand, laughing pleasantly. + +"How cool your hand is!" he said, with a child-like murmur. "You have +been among the clover-blossoms; their breath is all around me." + +"Yes," I said, dropping into his own monotone without an effort, "I came +through the meadows, and brought some of the flowers with me. See how +fresh and sweet they are." + +He took the flowers eagerly, grasping them with both hands. + +"Did she send them?" he whispered, mysteriously. "Did she?" + +I smiled, but would not answer. The delusion seemed pleasant, and it +would be cruelty to disturb it. He held the blossoms caressingly in his +hand; a smile wandered over his lips, and he whispered over soft +fragments of some melody that I remembered as one of Jessie's favorites. + +Directly the flowers dropped from his grasp, and he began to search +after the sunbeam again, clutching at it feverishly, and looking in his +hands with vague wonder when he found them empty. + +I do not think the young man recognized me at all; but my presence +certainly aroused new associations. + +He looked wistfully into my face with that vacant stare of delirium +which is so painful, and then his eyes wandered away, as if in search of +some object they could not find. + +"Jessie," he murmured; "Jessie Lee, are you there? Won't you speak to me +once more, Jessie?" + +The expression of his countenance changed so entirely--a look of such +tender, earnest entreaty settled about his handsome, sensitive +mouth--that I felt the tears come into my eyes. When I looked up, I saw +the stately old grandmother gazing directly upon me; while little Mrs. +Bosworth, in her very efforts to be at the same time perfectly quiet and +extremely useful, fluttered about in a feeble way that would have +annoyed me beyond endurance had I been the sick person. + +But the young man, apparently susceptible neither to outer sights nor +sounds, saw nothing and heard nothing but the fanciful shapes and +mocking whispers of his fever-visions. + +"Put these flowers in your hair, Jessie," he said, somewhat brokenly, +"they are wild flowers such as you love, and I love them for your +sake--for your sake." + +He put out his hands, moving them to and fro over the counterpane, to +gather up the blossoms he had scattered there; but his fingers wandered +so uncertainly, that even when he succeeded in collecting a few, they +would drop from his grasp. I saw he began to grow impatient, and I knew +that the least thing would excite his fever and thereby increase the +delirium, so I put the flowers softly into his palm. He smiled in a +satisfied way. + +"Here they are," he said; "take them, Jessie; see what a pretty wreath +they make." + +Then the smile changed to a look of pain. He let the flowers fall to the +counterpane with a low moan. + +"She has a wreath on now!" he exclaimed. "Jessie Lee, who gave you that? +White flowers! Bridal flowers!" + +He started up in the bed with such violence, that his mother hurried +forward with a cry of dismay, and, getting into mischief, as people in a +flurry are sure to do, she upset a bottle of cologne and a goblet, but +fortunately the old lady caught them before they reached the floor. + +"Oh my!" sobbed little Mrs. Bosworth, in nervous fright, "what have I +done? Oh! dear, dear!" + +"Sit down, my dear," said her mother-in-law, with a good deal of +steadiness; "you only disturb him." + +"But he looks so wild. Hadn't I better send for the doctor?" + +"No, no. He will be here before long. Leave my grandson to Miss Hyde; +she will quiet him." + +The old lady looked at me, with confidence in my powers, and the mother +joined her in a helpless, despairing manner, mixed with a little +maternal jealousy, at seeing me in the place that was hers by right. I +felt quite nervous and disturbed by this joint appeal; however, I was +not foolish enough to give way to any weakness or nonsense when +composure was required, so I drew close to the bed, and laid my hand on +Bosworth's arm. He was muttering wildly, and I could catch the words,-- + +"Are they bridal flowers, Jessie Lee?" + +"She has taken off the wreath," I whispered. + +"No, no; it is there on her forehead. Who gave it to her?" + +"She has thrown it aside," I protested; "she would not wear it a moment +after she knew it pained you. It is gone now." + +He looked earnestly at the place where he thought Jessie stood, and fell +back on his pillows with a sigh of satisfaction. + +"Kind Jessie," he said, "kind Jessie!" + +But that quiet only lasted for a few moments. He grew more restless than +before; and I saw old Mrs. Bosworth looking at me still, as if she had +fully made up her mind that I could compose him, and nothing less than +that desirable effect would satisfy her. Really, with those old-world +eyes fastened upon me, I could not avoid exerting all my powers, +although in my heart I fairly wished the fidgety little mother safe in +her own room. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +THE FIRST SOUND SLEEP. + + +I sat down by the young man's bed; I talked to him in a low voice--a +great deal of nonsense, I dare say; I was not thinking how it might +sound, but was only anxious to soothe him; and while I talked I smoothed +his hair and passed my hand slowly across his forehead, after a fashion +which I had acquired in my attendance upon Mrs. Lee, during her numerous +illnesses. + +I cannot pretend to account for it, but from my earliest girlhood I +always had a faculty for taking care of sick people, and of soothing +them when no other person could. + +My art did not fail that time. Bosworth's voice grew lower and lower; +his hands crossed themselves upon the counterpane; his eyes closed, and +very soon his measured breathing proved that he was quietly asleep. When +I looked up, that stately old duchess of a grandmother was regarding me +with such a blessing in her eyes, that I felt the dew steal into mine; +while the younger lady, subdued out of her fidgetiness, appeared almost +tranquil, and was quite silent. + +Nobody stirred or spoke. There we sat and watched the sick man as he +slept--that quiet sleep which the physician had pronounced so necessary +for him, and which his art had failed to procure. It is not often that I +feel thoroughly satisfied with Martha Hyde, but I confess that just then +I did; not that it proceeded from a sense of self-importance, or +anything of that sort, but it is seldom that a quiet person like me has +an opportunity of doing good to anybody, and when the occasion does +arrive, it is more pleasant than I can at all describe. + +Bosworth must have slept nearly an hour; the instant he opened his eyes, +I saw that the fever had abated a little. He smiled faintly at his +mother and the old lady; then his glance fell upon me. Through the +feverish flush still on his face there appeared a glow of thankfulness +and pleasure, which was beautiful to behold. + +"Is that you, Miss Hyde?" he asked. + +"Yes," I said; "I have been sitting here for some time. You have had a +nice sleep; to-morrow you will be better." + +"Thank you; I hope so." + +Little Mrs. Bosworth began to flutter; but the old lady put her down +with a strong hand, and the weak female subsided into her chair, meek as +a hen-pigeon that has been unexpectedly pecked by her mate. + +I saw, by the way Bosworth looked at them, that he wished to speak with +me alone; the old duchess saw it too, and said, with the decision which +was evidently habitual to her: + +"My daughter, if Miss Hyde will sit with our boy a little longer, we +will go into the garden for a breath of air." + +Bosworth called them to him, kissed his mother's cheek, and the +grandmother's hand, and the old lady went out in her stately way, while +the small woman followed in her wake, like a little boat tacked to a +graceful yacht. + +"Miss Hyde," said the young man, the moment the door closed, "you came +alone?" + +"Yes," I replied; "I hurried off without telling any one where I was +going." + +"You are very kind," he repeated. "They are all well, I hope, at the +house?" + +"Very well; they will be sorry to hear that you are sick." + +"Miss Hyde!" he exclaimed, hurriedly,--so weak from sickness that he +forgot all the reticence and self-command which characterized him in +health,--"Miss Hyde, do you think she would come to see me?" + +I knew whom he meant--there was no necessity for mentioning any name. + +"Would she come, do you believe?" he asked again. + +"I am certain that she would," I replied. "You are an old friend to all +of us; why should she not?" + +"Yes, an old friend," he answered, sadly; "I know, I know! I won't pain +her; she shall not be troubled; promise to bring her, Miss Hyde." + +"I can promise unhesitatingly," I said; "I have no doubt Mr. Lee will +bring her himself, to-morrow." + +"To-morrow--oh! how much I thank you!" And he smiled like a tired child. +"Will you call my mother now?" he continued; "she will feel troubled if +she thinks I can do without her." + +I went out into the hall, where the two ladies stood, and beckoned them +into the room. We all remained about the bed for a few moments, talking +cheerfully; then I bade Bosworth good-bye, answered the entreaty in his +eyes with a smile, and went down-stairs. + +The grandmother followed me, and, when we reached the outer door, took +my hand between both of hers. + +"You are very good!" she said. "We have long been strangers to each +other, Miss Hyde; but an old woman's blessing cannot hurt you, and I +give it to you." + +I was so much affected, that it was all I could do to keep from crying +like a child; but I did not give way, and, mutually anxious to restrain +our feelings, we parted with a certain degree of haste, which an +unobservant looker-on might have construed into indifference. But I +think that grand old woman understood me, even from that short +interview, and I know that, for my part, I went forth from her presence +solemnized and calmed as one leaves a church. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +THE INTERVIEW IN THE WOODS. + + +I walked slowly homeward, reflecting upon the events of the morning, and +waiting, oh, how fervently! that Jessie Lee might learn to know young +Bosworth as I did, and be able to shed a ray of light into the darkness +wherein he had fallen. + +I left the path through the fields, and took my way into the woods, as I +knew a short cut that would lead me more quickly into our grounds. + +I had passed half through the grove, perhaps, scarcely heeding anything +around me, but on reaching a little ascent, I saw, through a break in +the trees, two persons standing at a considerable distance from the +path. Their backs were toward me, but I recognized them instantly. They +were Mrs. Dennison and Mr. Lawrence. + +I understood at once the meaning of the note which she had sent to +him--it was to ask for that interview. + +Every day my dislike of that woman increased; each effort that I made to +conquer the feeling only seemed to make it grow more intense, and this +last plot that I had unintentionally discovered filled me with something +very like abhorrence. Of course, I was not so silly as to conjure +anything really wrong out of the request she had made; but I was certain +that something more than trivial coquetry was hidden under it. + +Instinctively, I began to tremble for Jessie: by what series of ideas I +managed to connect her with that meeting, I cannot say; but I did so, +and after that first glance I went on, burning with indignation against +the artful woman, who seemed to have brought numberless shadows into the +sunshine, which, before her coming, had pervaded our pleasant home. + +Once, as I hastened on through the dark woods, I looked back at the +pair,--they were conversing earnestly. In Lawrence's manner there was a +degree of impetuosity and impatience; while from Mrs. Dennison's +attitude and gestures I felt certain that she was pleading with him to +change some purpose he had formed. + +Just as I passed from the woods into the grounds, I saw that ubiquitous +Lottie steal out from among the trees, and flit like a lapwing toward +the house. + +It was not difficult to imagine what new mischief she had been +at--spying and listening, no doubt. Lottie did not count it a sin, and I +knew very well that she had been coolly out into the woods to overhear +Mrs. Dennison's conversation with Lawrence. + +Some noise that I made attracted her attention; she dropped down on her +knees--like a rabbit trying to hide itself in the grass--and began +hunting for four-leaved clovers where clover had never grown since the +memory of man. + +"What are you doing, Lottie?" I asked, walking toward her. + +She looked round with a fine show of innocence, although her eyes +twinkled suspiciously. + +"Oh! it's you, Miss Hyde," she said, in no wise confused, rising from +her knees with great deliberation and majesty. + +"Yes, it is I. And what brings you here?" I inquired. + +"There's several things I might have been doing," she answered, walking +on by my side; "picking flowers, or saying my prayers, or--" + +"Well--what else?" + +"Oh! anything you please; poetry people ought to be able to guess." + +"Lottie! Lottie!" + +"There--I won't say a word more! I'm dumb as Miss Jessie's canary in +moulting-time." + +"Then, perhaps, you will manage to find voice enough to tell me where +you have been?" + +"Of course, Miss Hyde; I never have any secrets--that's just what I was +saying to Cora, this morning." + +"Never mind Cora." + +"But I do; she's worth minding, and so's her mistress. Mrs. Babylon and +I are alike in one thing--we are both fond of fresh air." + +"Indeed! You seem well acquainted with the lady's tastes." + +"Well, I may say I am; and you needn't take the trouble to contradict! +Acquainted with them? Well, if I ain't, I flatter myself there's nobody +in our house that is." + +I did not answer; the girl's conversation was too quaint and amusing +even to sound impertinent, still, I did not wish to encourage her by any +sign of approval. + +"Miss Hyde," she asked, "did you see any strange birds in the woods?" + +"None, Lottie." + +"Buy a pair of spectacles, Miss Hyde; don't put it off a day longer! I +tell you, out yonder there's two birds well worth watching;--the +queerest part is, that it's the female that sings--ain't she a red +fellar?" + +"I saw Mrs. Dennison and Mr. Lawrence, if you mean them," I replied. + +"Hush! don't mention names! You mean Babylon and her prey! Oh my! that +Babylon! Well, I declare, sometimes I'm ready to give up beat; that +woman goes ahead of anything _I_ ever came across." + +Lottie paused, took a long breath, flung up her arms, and performed a +variety of singular and dizzy evolutions, by way of expressing her +astonishment; then she went on,-- + +"What do you think she's at now?" + +I shook my head. + +"It's as good a thing as you can do," said Lottie, approvingly; "but you +might shake it till doomsday before you'd get Mrs. Babylon's +manoeuvres through it, I can tell you that, Miss Hyde." + +I wanted to reprove the girl; I felt mean, dishonest; yet I was so +anxious about Jessie that I could not prevent myself listening to any +revelations the little imp might see fit to make. + +"She's put a hornet into Lawrence's hair this time, and no mistake," +said Lottie; "and Lord! don't it sting, and make him jump?" + +"What do you mean, you ridiculous child?" + +"Mean, Miss Hyde? A whole bucketful--a seaful! Why, Babylon's been +telling Lawrence that young Mr. Bosworth and our Miss Jessie are +engaged." + +"Impossible, Lottie! She could not assert so unblushing a falsehood!" + +"Oh! couldn't she?" cried Lottie, clapping her arms as if they were +wings, and giving vent to a crow to express her enjoyment. "As for +blushing, don't she know the rub of mullein-leaves? But she did tell him +so. She said she was sure that they had been engaged, and that he, +Lawrence, had innocently made trouble between them by flirting with Miss +Lee;--now, what is flirting, Miss Hyde?" + +"The abominable woman!" I involuntarily exclaimed. + +"Oh, no," said Lottie, "she's only Babylon. But I tell you what, that +Lawrence isn't much of a snoop. He's a nicer fellow than I took him for. +What do you think he did?" + +"I can't imagine." + +"He just turned on Babylon, like a hawk on a June-bug. 'I cannot believe +this,' says he; 'but I will go to Bosworth this very day and explain.' + +"Then Babylon began to flutter; she didn't want that to happen, you +know. + +"'He's sick,' says she; 'not expected to live.' + +"'The more reason why I should explain,' says he. + +"Then she twisted, and fluttered, and coaxed, and finally got him to +promise not to say a word to anybody, to be regulated by her advice, +and so on--she would be his friend--oh! how sincere a friend!--and then +she took his hand, squeezed out a tear or so, and before long she had +him in her clutch. Oh! it was as good as one of Miss Jessie's +play-books." + +I had not interrupted Lottie; when she paused, I was speechless still. + +"What do you think now?" she demanded, triumphantly. + +"I do not know," I answered, so troubled and despondent that I had no +courage to rebuke the girl. + +"We'll fix her yet," said Lottie; "don't you fret, Miss Hyde. I'll pay +Babylon off before she's many weeks older, or you may call my head a +puff-ball." + +"You silly child," I returned, smiling in spite of myself, "what can you +do?" + +"Come, I like that!" snapped Lottie. "Why, what sort of a state would +you all be in if it wasn't for me--tell me that? I've got my dear +mistress, and Miss Jessie, and you, and everybody on my hands; but I'll +bring you out square, I will, Miss Hyde." + +"I wish you would leave things as they are, Lottie, and attend to your +own affairs." + +"These are my affairs, Miss Hyde, now don't say they ain't! I'm not a +bad girl; I love them that have been kind to me, and I'd sooner have my +hand burned off than not try to help them when I see they need it." + +"Be careful that you get into no mischief." + +"I'll take care of myself! Only wait, Miss Hyde. Keep tranquil and cool, +Lottie's around!" + +She gave another jump, a louder crow, and lighted on her feet, in no way +discomposed by her impromptu leap. + +By this time we had come in sight of the house. Lottie looked back. + +"I see Babylon's red shawl," said she; "off's the word. Good-bye, Miss +Hyde." + +She darted away before I could speak, and I walked on toward the house, +in no mood to encounter the woman at that moment. I saw Jessie and Mr. +Lee standing upon the terrace; he turned and went into the house after a +few seconds. I paused a moment, collected myself as well as I was able, +and walked toward the spot where Jessie stood, determined to tell her at +once of my visit to Mr. Bosworth, and urge her to comply with the +request which he had made. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +TROUBLES GATHER ABOUT OUR JESSIE. + + +Jessie did not look up as I approached; she stood absently pulling the +flowers from a vine that fell in luxuriant masses over a trellis by her +side, and appeared so much engrossed by her own thoughts, that she did +not even hear my footsteps. + +They were not pleasant reflections which filled her mind. Sunny visions, +such as those which, a few weeks since, had made her face so bright and +beautiful, were seldom on her features now. I could see by the mournful +expression of her mouth, and the despondency of her whole attitude,--so +unlike anything I was accustomed to remark in our Jessie, that something +was troubling her. + +"You naughty girl!" I said, as I ascended the steps; "how can you find +the heart to spoil that pretty vine?" + +She started, turned quickly round, and a burning blush shot up to her +forehead, while she looked at me in a confused way, as if she supposed +me able to read her very thoughts. + +"Oh! is it you, Aunt Matty?" she exclaimed, trying to laugh and seem +more at ease. + +"I believe so," was my answer; "I have every reason to suppose that I am +that person, and very tired into the bargain." + +"You look fatigued," she said, with her usual kindness; "do go up-stairs +and lie down before dinner." + +"Now, my dear, you know I am never guilty of that weakness." + +"I forgot." + +"How could you? I am astonished--when you know how much I pride myself +on regular habits and a systematic disposal of my time!" + +She laughed a little at my nonsense, which was the thing I desired; for +it pained me greatly to see her look so weary and disconsolate. + +"At all events, you will sit down, I suppose," she said, running into +the hall and bringing out a chair. "Your rigid principles do not prevent +that!" + +"Thank you, my dear. I am happy to say they do not." + +I seated myself, really glad of an opportunity to rest; for now that +excitement had passed, I was astonished to find myself worn out in body +and mind. The mere walk could never have produced that sensation--I was +too much accustomed to out-door exercise for any fine lady feebleness of +that kind; but my interview with Bosworth and his friends, the sight of +Mrs. Dennison and Mr. Lawrence in the wood, together with Lottie's +revelations, had so worked upon my mind, that I had no strength left. + +"Dear me! Aunt Matty!" exclaimed Jessie; "how tired and pale you look! I +never saw you so overcome!" + +"It is nothing. I walked faster than I ought, perhaps." + +"That is not all," she answered; "I am sure something troubles you." + +"So there does!" I said,--"very greatly!" + +"Can I help you? You know how gladly I will do it." + +She began untying my bonnet-strings, drawing off my shawl, and +performing every little office possible to show her solicitude. + +Generally, I dislike to have anybody touch me, or assist me in any way; +but it was always a pleasure to feel Jessie's fingers smoothing my hair, +or arranging my collar; and just then her assiduity quieted me more than +anything else could have done. + +"Did you take a long walk?" Jessie asked, apparently anxious to turn my +thoughts from the painful theme upon which she supposed them to be +dwelling. + +"Yes, very long, Jessie; I have been over to old Mrs. Bosworth's." + +She looked at me in astonishment. + +"Why, you hardly know the ladies! How came you to go there, Aunt Matty?" + +"The old lady sent for me." + +"Sent for you!" interrupted Jessie, in wonder and displeasure, while her +great eyes gave me a searching glance. + +"Young Bosworth is very sick, and he wished so much to see me that his +grandmother put aside all ceremony, and desired me to go as soon as +possible." + +Jessie turned very pale while I spoke, and leaned heavily against the +arm of my chair. + +"Was it sudden?" she asked, trembling. "Has he been sick long, Matty?" + +"For several days, I believe." + +I had not the heart to tell her that he was stricken down the very day +after his last visit to her father's house, lest she should accuse +herself as the cause. + +"What is the matter?" + +"He has brain-fever, Jessie." + +She uttered a cry. + +"Oh! Aunt Matty! Aunt Matty!" + +"I hope he is not in great danger," I said, anxious to soothe her. "He +was able to talk with me, and he had a comfortable sleep." + +She put her hands in mine, with a look so beseeching and helpless, that +I answered as if she had spoken. + +"He asked for you," I said. "He wants to see you, Jessie." + +She shrunk back, and held up her hands like a child pleading for pity. + +"Oh! I cannot go! indeed I cannot!" + +"That is unlike you, Jessie. I did not think you would have refused a +sick friend any request!" + +"Don't blame me--please don't! I would do anything for him; but, indeed, +I have not the courage to go there." + +"Why, what do you fear, my child? I am sure he would not for the world +speak a syllable that could pain you." + +"I know that, Aunt Matty--I am certain of it." + +"Then what is it?" + +"Old Mrs. Bosworth has such a stately way; so soft, yet decided. She +will look at me so sharply." + +"I found her very kind and grateful." + +"But she may think that I have done wrong." + +"She is too just, too noble, Jessie, to blame any one for that which was +not a fault." + +"Oh, Aunt Matty! even you speak and look so grave! I cannot bear +it--indeed I cannot!" + +I was softened at once. How could I speak so coldly to my Jessie, while +she stood there trembling, with her great eyes full of tears. + +"My own darling!" I said, quickly. "You know I could never feel anything +but love for you. Don't shake so, dear! We won't speak of this, if it +troubles you." + +"No, no! I ought to hear--I must not be so weak." + +She struggled against her feelings, brushed away her tears, and stood up +so firm and determined, that I felt a new respect for her. It was +beautiful to see how the true womanhood that lay at the bottom of her +nature roused itself, and asserted its supremacy in that moment of doubt +and distress. + +"You are a brave girl!" I exclaimed,--"my dear, honest-hearted Jessie!" + +"You must not praise me," she said. "I feel so guilty and wicked." + +"That is wrong; you should not give way to these morbid feelings." + +"Indeed, Aunt Matty, I am not like the same girl I was a few months +ago." + +I knew whence the change came--I could have given its exact date; but it +did not extend back over a period of months--a few weeks had served to +bring that unrest and trouble upon the sweet girl. With the coming of +Mrs. Dennison all those shadows had crept into the house, gathering +silently but surely about every heart, dividing those who before had no +thought nor wish that was not common to all. I felt, too, that she was +preparing the way for deeper and darker troubles, which lingered not far +off, only awaiting the command of the arch-magician to approach and wrap +us in their folds. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +MRS. DENNISON GATHERS WILD FLOWERS. + + +While I was lost in gloomy thoughts which those words had aroused, +Jessie turned from my chair and walked slowly up and down the terrace, +after a habit she had inherited from her father in any season of doubt +or perplexity. At last she came softly back and leaned over me again. + +"Aunt Matty," she whispered, timidly. + +"Yes, dear." + +"I have made up my mind." + +I looked in her face, and its expression told me at once what her +decision had been. + +"You will go," I said. + +"Yes, I will. It is right--it is my duty! If he were never to get well, +I should reproach myself bitterly for not having granted his request." + +"God bless you, Jessie! I knew you would not refuse." + +"I am sure that my parents will have no objection." + +"I can answer for that--the most scrupulous person could see no harm. +Besides, Bosworth is a favorite both with your father and mother." + +"Yes. Dear mamma will be so sorry to hear that he is ill--poor young +man!" + +"We will go to-morrow, Jessie. I dare say your father will accompany +you." + +"But I want you also, Aunt Matty; I should have no courage if you were +not there." + +"I will go, of course. You must speak to Mr. Lee about it--don't +forget." + +"I am not likely to; I will tell him this evening. But Aunt Matty--" + +"Yes. Don't hesitate so. One would think you were afraid of your old +friend. Not a cross one, am I?" + +That made her laugh again; but the merriment died quickly. Her sensitive +heart was so sorely troubled that her usual gayety was quite gone. + +"I shall never fear you; but what I meant was that I don't wish Mrs. +Dennison to know that I am going." + +"She is not likely to learn it from me, Jessie." + +"She would laugh at me--and this is no subject nor time for a jest." + +"I should think not, indeed. The woman who could make a mockery of such +feelings would be a libel on her sex." + +"Ah! you must not be harsh." + +"Only the old bitterness--don't mind it, Jessie. But we won't tell Mrs. +Dennison." + +At that moment I detected a rustle in the hall. My hearing was always +singularly acute,--Jessie used to say that I was like a wild animal in +that respect,--and I felt confident that I heard some one stealing away +from behind us. + +I started up at once, hurried into the hall, and met Cora, Mrs. +Dennison's maid, face to face. She was running off--I could have sworn +to that; but the moment she heard my step she turned toward me with her +usual composure and pleasant smile. + +"What do you want here, Cora?" I asked, more sharply than I often spoke +to a dependant; for, of all people in the world, it is my habit to treat +servants kindly. "Pray, what brings you into this hall?" + +"I was just coming to look for my mistress, ma'am. Excuse me; I didn't +know it was wrong." + +"I have not said that it was," I answered, still convinced that she had +been listening; "but our own domestics are never permitted to pass +through this hall unless called." + +"I will remember--I beg pardon." + +"Mrs. Dennison is not here." + +"Oh! excuse me--" + +She stopped. I saw her curtsy, turned, and there stood Mr. Lee, looking +at me gravely. He had heard my ill-natured tone, and could see the flush +of anger on my face. + +"What is the matter, Miss Hyde?" he asked, quietly enough; but the tone +displeased me, and I replied with a good deal of sharpness,-- + +"I am not aware of anything, sir; Cora was searching for her mistress." + +"That is right enough, I am sure." + +"She is not here," I continued, feeling a savage pleasure in the words +I spoke; "she is out in the woods with Mr. Lawrence." + +Mr. Lee colored slightly, but managed to conceal his discomposure. + +Cora hurried away after giving me a spiteful glance, and Jessie, who had +heard my words, came into the hall. + +"Mrs. Dennison told me that she should be busy all the morning in her +room," she said, quickly. + +"I can't help what she said, my dear; I only know that I saw her walking +with Mr. Lawrence." + +"Surely it is her privilege, if she feels disposed, to walk with any +person," Mr. Lee said, laughing with a very bad grace, while Jessie +looked much disturbed. + +"I have no desire to interfere with the lady's movements," I said, my +temper still in the ascendant; "but I see no necessity for saying one +thing and doing another." + +Mr. Lee appeared surprised at my outburst. I dare say it was not +lady-like; but I am not made of stone, and my real feelings will peep +out occasionally. + +"I am afraid Mrs. Dennison would think you spoke harshly to her +servant," he said. "I shouldn't like a guest in this house to be +annoyed." + +For the first time I was angry with Mr. Lee. I was not a dependant; I +was not accustomed to anything but affection and respect in that house, +and the reproof in his voice, added to my own feeling of +self-dissatisfaction, made me quite furious. + +"Sir," I said, "you have always requested us not to permit servants to +enter this hall; when you wish to change any of your regulations, be +good enough to inform me in advance." + +I turned away before he could speak, and Jessie went to him, saying +something in a low voice. + +"Miss Hyde!" he called out, approaching me and extending his hand. "Why, +dear friend, you are not angry with me? I would rather cut off this +right hand than have that happen." + +My anger evaporated at once; like a silly fool as I am, the tears +gathered in my eyes. He shook my hand heartily, while Jessie hovered +about us like an anxious bird. + +"I really meant no harm," he began; but I would not hear a word. + +"I am ashamed of myself," I said, "and that is the end of it; I am tired +and cross." + +"You are not well," he replied, kindly. "Jessie, make her go and lie +down." + +"She never will, papa." + +She put her arm caressingly about my waist, and Mr. Lee stood holding my +hand, petting me as if my words had been a matter of the greatest +consequence. Suddenly Mrs. Dennison entered from the terrace, and +exclaimed, with a gay laugh,-- + +"What a pretty scene! Are you acting a comedy, Mr. Lee? How well you do +it!" + +He dropped my hand in some confusion, and turned toward her. + +"Better comedy than tragedy," he said. + +"Oh, yes, a thousand times! But Miss Hyde's role seems to be a +sentimental one--she looks very lugubrious!" + +I longed to strike her full in her insolent mouth; but as that was +impossible, I determined to pay her off for once in her own coin. A +spirit of retaliation was roused within me that I had never before +possessed. + +"You seem gay enough to make amends," I said. "Did you and Mr. Lawrence +have a pleasant walk?" + +What a fool I was to think I could send a blow that would have any +effect upon that piece of marble! + +She laughed outright, and clapped her hands in childish exultation. + +"She wants to accuse me of being a flirt!" she exclaimed; "Oh, you +naughty Miss Hyde! I did meet Mr. Lawrence, but I had no idea of doing +so when I went out. I think now I shall make a merit of my intention!" + +"You might always do so, I am sure," said Mr. Lee, gallantly. + +She held up a beautiful bouquet of wild flowers. + +"I heard Mrs. Lee wish for some blossoms fresh from the woods last +night," she said; "so I went to gather them." + +Mr. Lee's face grew all sunshine at once; even Jessie was appeased, and, +unseen by either, the widow shot me a quick glance of scorn. + +"How kind it was of you!" Jessie said. "Mamma will be so much obliged!" + +"I wanted to please her, darling Jessie," replied the widow. "But I must +make one confession; will you grant me absolution, Mr. Lee?" + +"I can safely do that in advance. I am sure you have no very terrible +sin to reveal." + +"Oh, I told a fib!" And she laughed archly. "I wanted to go all alone, +so that dear Mrs. Lee would give me full credit for my thoughtfulness.-- +You see how vain and selfish I am!--so I told Jessie that I was going to +be occupied in my own room." + +"I think when selfishness takes a form like this, it is a very valuable +quality to possess," returned Mr. Lee. + +Mrs. Dennison treated me to another flash from her scornful eyes, then +added,-- + +"And while I was picking flowers, who should pass but Mr. Lawrence; so I +made him stop. But I might as well have let him go on." + +"Why so?" demanded Mr. Lee. + +"Because he was very ungallant; did nothing but talk of Jessie, and +never said a pretty thing to me." + +Jessie blushed, but the smile on her lips showed that she was far from +annoyed. + +"So that is all my secret," continued Mrs. Dennison. "Now, we will take +this unfortunate bouquet up to Mrs. Lee. Come, Jessie." + +"May I go?" asked the gentleman. + +"If you will be very good. But mind you do not tease for the flowers--we +cannot spare a single one!" + +"I promise." + +"Then come with us." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +LOTTIE'S ADVICE. + + +Mrs. Dennison had one arm about Jessie's waist; she kept Mr. Lee close +at her side, and so engrossed and fascinated both father and daughter, +that they passed on without remembering that I was there. + +It was just what the woman intended: she wished to make me feel of how +little consequence I was in the house when she chose to exercise her +supremacy. That was her way of revenging herself for my rude speech in +regard to her ramble. + +If it is absolutely necessary for me to tell the entire and exact truth, +I must admit that she succeeded perfectly in wounding me. I was greatly +pained, but not altogether from jealousy or sensitiveness. Hurt as I was +to see how completely my friends were made to forget their solicitude at +that woman's bidding, I was still more troubled to perceive how, every +day, her influence in that house increased, how artfully she wove the +threads of her net about us, and entangled everybody more helplessly in +its meshes. + +While I stood thinking of those things, I was startled by a sound close +at hand--a very singular noise, such as one might expect from an +antiquated raven troubled with bronchitis. From behind a screen that +stood in the hall bounded Miss Lottie, emitting another of those +unearthly croaks, and stationing herself directly in front of me with +one of her most impish looks. + +"I am astonished at you!" said she, shaking her head, and pursing up her +lips until her words came out in a sort of strangled whistle. "I really +am more astonished, Miss Hyde, than I should be to see two Christmases +come in the same year!" + +"What is the matter now?" I asked, laughing in spite of myself. + +"To think of your going and trying to circumvent Babylon! Why, she's +almost more'n a match for me, and to see you floppin' up at her quite +took my breath away!" + +"You are impertinent, Lottie!" + +"Well, I don't mean to be! But just let me caution you a trifle. Don't +try any such game--she'll only fling it back right in your teeth, as she +did just now, sail off with her feathers spread, and leave you feeling +as flat as a pancake!" + +I had an internal conviction that Lottie was correct in her judgment; +but not considering it necessary to admit as much, I made an effort to +turn the subject. + +"What were you doing behind that screen? I hope you haven't taken to +listening to the whole house." + +"Now, Miss Hyde, I didn't think you'd accuse me in that way. But I don't +blame you--Babylon's made you huffy! Cut in agin, Miss Matty, if you +want to!" + +"But you should not do those things, Lottie!" + +"Not quite so fast, if you please. I can tell you what I went behind +there for." + +"I do not wish to inquire into your proceedings," I said, coldly, and +was moving away; but she caught me by the arm. + +"Please don't go off mad, Miss Hyde," she pleaded; "I'll tell you the +truth. I was in the little room looking out a book Mrs. Lee wanted, when +I heard you and Miss Jessie talking on the terrace. I didn't know what +you said, and didn't want to; but just then I saw Cora creep through the +hall, and stand listening by the door. So I slips out, got behind the +screen, and, once there, I had to stay till the folks got off." + +"Then she was listening?" I said. + +"I should rather guess she was! and a-shaking them big ear-rings. She +didn't miss a word, you may be sure!" + +"Why does she do those things?" + +"Why? Come, now, that's good! 'Cause Babylon tells her to, and 'cause +her heart's blacker than her face, and she loves mischief as well as the +gray cat does cream." + +"You cannot think her mistress would countenance her in such +proceedings." + +"I don't think nothing about it--I know, Miss Hyde. She's got +countenance of her own, though, to help her through a'most anything! But +I tell you she's sot on to spy and listen." + +"That is a fault you ought to judge leniently, Lottie." + +"No, 'tain't, Miss Hyde! I've always been above things of that sort; but +since Babylon's come the world's changed, and I have to fix myself +according to circumstances. But don't you fall foul o' either of them +again--'tain't no use! Why, she walked Mr. Lee and Miss Jessie right off +afore your eyes, and you may bet your front teeth that by this time +she's made them believe you're cross-grained, and jealous as a lap-dog!" + +"I begin to think I am, Lottie." + +"No, you ain't--you can't stay cross two minutes! And as for good +looks--wal, if you furbelowed yourself off like some folks that shall be +nameless, you'd be more than as young-looking as some folks +themselves." + +I turned again to go, but Lottie had, as usual, a few last words which +must be spoken. + +"See here, Miss Hyde," said she; "Babylon'll carry Mr. Lee off, I know, +and Miss Jessie's got her heart so full that she'll slip away to her own +room; so you must go and sit with Mrs. Lee." + +"I will go to her room as soon as Mrs. Dennison leaves." + +"That won't be long. She ain't going to coop herself up for nobody; +trust her!" + +"Very well; I shall be ready." + +"And, Miss Hyde--" + +"Well?" + +"Now, don't be mad--I must say it! Just leave Babylon to me--you ain't +no shakes where she is concerned; you'll only get yourself into a brile, +and muddle matters--leave her to me!" + +She gave her head a consequential toss and darted away, singing some +dolorous ditty about "Long Ago." + +I went up to my chamber, sad and sick at heart. Our little world seemed +going very wrong; but how to remedy that which was amiss I could not +tell. I was powerless, and could only remain quiet and let things take +their course, praying that God would shield those so dear to me from +sorrow and harm. + +Perhaps an hour after, there was a low tap at my door, and, in obedience +to my summons, Lottie danced into the room. + +"She's all alone, Miss Hyde. Babylon's trotted Mr. Lee into the garden, +and Miss Jessie's in her own chamber. Come right along and sit with Mrs. +Lee." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +MRS. LEE DREAMS OF PASSION-FLOWERS. + + +I rose at once and went to the chamber of our dear invalid. She was +lying on a sofa, supported by pillows, and looking with pleasure at the +bouquet of wild flowers that had been placed on her table. + +"I am glad to see you, Miss Hyde," she said. "Come in and sit here close +by me. Look at my pretty flowers." + +"They are very lovely!" I replied. + +"They make me feel as if I were in the woods." + +She sighed, checked the vain regret, and added cheerfully. + +"Mrs. Dennison brought them to me. Was it not thoughtful of her? I was +wishing for them last night." + +"Very thoughtful," I said. + +"You look tired," she observed; "sit down and we will have one of our +old, quiet hours. Mr. Lee had to go out, and Mrs. Dennison has gone to +Jessie's room; so we shall be all alone." + +Another falsehood! My blood fairly boiled! Lottie had just seen the pair +in the garden. But I could not speak--a word, a look might have +destroyed that poor creature's peace forever! No syllable from my lips +should send a thought of suspicion to her heart! + +I did sit down, and we had a long, pleasant conversation; for with those +whom she knew well, Mrs. Lee was an exceedingly agreeable companion, +although ill-health had made her nervous in the presence of strangers. + +After a time she began to speak of Jessie, and then it occurred to me +that it would be a favorable opportunity to tell her of Jessie's desire +to visit Mrs. Bosworth. + +She was shocked to hear of her young favorite's illness, and when I +told her how anxious he was to see Jessie, and how necessary it seemed +that he should not be opposed, she agreed with me that her daughter +ought to go. + +"Certainly, certainly," she said. "Mr. Lee will think so too. You were +quite right to promise, Miss Hyde." + +"I thought so." + +"Poor young man! Do you know, Martha Hyde, I used to think he was very +fond of our Jessie? But of late I have so seldom left my room, or seen +any one, that I don't know what goes on." + +I did not answer, and she changed the subject, with the excitability of +all sick people. + +"Mrs. Dennison makes the house very gay," she said. + +"Very! Her manners are charming!" + +"She seems a superior woman. Do you begin to like her, Martha?" + +"Oh, I am difficult to please, you know," I replied, trying to laugh. +"Girls, old or young, and widows seldom agree; besides, I can only care +for people whom I have known a long time." + +She did not answer, but pushed her hair back from her forehead, and +looked absently at the flowers. + +"I have such bad dreams," she said; "I never can recall them distinctly; +but they seem full of trouble." + +"Of whom do you dream?" + +"All of you--principally of Jessie. Sometimes I think I must be awake +and standing in her room--the vision is so real." + +"Such fancies are very common to an invalid," I said. + +"Oh, yes; I don't mind them." + +She pulled the flowers toward her, and began playing with them after +Jessie's childish fashion. It gave me a strange feeling to see those +blossoms in her hand; when I remembered whose gift they had been, I felt +as if my friend held Cleopatra's venomous asp in every flower that she +touched. + +"Will you read to me a while?" she asked, at length. "There is a new +poem on the table; take that." + +Of course, I complied at once, and read to her for some time; then I saw +the flowers drop from her hand--her head sank back among the pillows, +and soon her regular breathing proved that she was sleeping quietly. + +I laid down the volume, and looked at her with pain and solicitude. She +was so helpless! The least shock might terminate that frail existence; +and I had grown so nervous that I was always expecting some trouble to +force itself into that room, which, until lately, had been securely +guarded by a husband's love. + +She moved restlessly in her sleep; broken words fell from her lips; very +soon they framed themselves into complete sentences. She had sunk into +one of those singular somnambulistic slumbers which formed such a +strange feature of her illness. + +"I am tired," she said; "I have walked so fast! How pretty the +summer-house looks! It is so long since I have been here! There is Mr. +Lee--" + +She paused and breathed rapidly. + +"Why, Mrs. Dennison is with him! She said she was going to Jessie's +room! How earnestly she talks to him! She lays her hand on his arm!" + +She paused again, with a sort of cry. + +"Martha Hyde! Martha! my husband is giving her flowers--passion-flowers! +She asks him to put them in her hair! What does that mean, say?" + +She became so violently agitated that I thought it best to rouse her. I +leaned over her and shook her arm slightly. The change of position +seemed to alter the dream, and once more she slept quietly. + +I went back to the window, and sat looking out behind the curtains. It +was sunset, and gorgeously beautiful. But in the distraction of my +thoughts I could not heed its loveliness. + +While I sat there I saw Mr. Lee and Mrs. Dennison pass along one of the +paths. They had been out on the upper terrace, and were approaching the +house. The lady had no bonnet on, and wreathed in her hair I saw some +superb passion-flowers which the poor wife had described in her dream. + +I grew sick and faint with doubt and horror. I must do something; I +could not longer sit passive and dumb, and see that woman wreck all our +lives. But what to do? which way to turn? + +Alas! I was very helpless after all! There was no one to whom I could +confide my suspicions--no one to whom I could open my heart, and the +only hope I had was in that wild girl, who had understood the real +character of our visitor so much more quickly than any of her superiors. + +While I was thinking of this thus painfully, the door of the inner room +opened, and Lottie stood there, beckoning to me. + +I went into her chamber, and she closed the door. She was in great +excitement and glee. + +"Babylon's been at it," she whispered. + +"At what?" + +"Talking about you. Oh, my! hain't you woke up a hornet's nest! Cora's +mad too; golly, don't she go on. I told you to let things alone." + +"I care very little for Mrs. Dennison's anger," I said. + +"I don't suppose you do. But she'll pay you off if she can. So look +sharp, Miss Hyde; these are times for sleeping with both eyes open. No +chance to dream or make verses now." + +"Nonsense, child!" + +"Nonsense, if you choose; but that don't alter the matter. Babylon's +brought Mr. Lee back to the house; she had him out in the garden to make +all right about Lawrence." + +"Stop, Lottie!" + +"I have stopped--sha'n't say no more! Hark! what was that?" + +It was a call--an appeal for help. A voice from Mrs. Lee's room cried +with energy,-- + +"Martha Hyde! Martha Hyde!" + +I rushed into the chamber, followed by Lottie, and found Mrs. Lee half +risen on her sofa, tossing her arms about, and calling still upon my +name, although she was yet asleep. + +Many moments passed before I could rouse her, and when I did, she sank +back on the pillows perfectly exhausted. I administered such +restoratives as were at hand, and, with Lottie's assistance, succeeded +in bringing her out of the half swoon into which she had fallen; but she +was fearfully weak, and much excited. + +"I have had such terrible dreams," she moaned, "I am afraid to go to +sleep." + +"They are over now," I said, soothingly; "you shall sit up and have your +tea." + +"Yes, please. Don't let me sleep any more, don't, Martha Hyde." + +All the while she held fast to my hand and looked wildly in my eyes, +repeating,-- + +"Such dreadful dreams, Martha Hyde--oh! such dreadful dreams!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +COMPANY FROM TOWN. + + +That evening we had a number of visitors from the town, and so much +gayety that it quite passed from my mind to speak with Mr. Lee +concerning the call upon young Bosworth. Indeed, I was not in the +parlors much of the time, for he came to me and asked if I would sit a +while with his wife, as he could not leave his guests, and she was so +much more nervous than usual, he did not like trusting her entirely with +Lottie. + +I felt grateful to him for remembering her, and went away at once. As I +passed toward the hall, I saw Jessie at the piano surrounded by a group +of gentlemen, Lawrence nearest, turning over the music, and talking to +her at intervals. + +Mrs. Dennison was flitting about like a gorgeous butterfly, making +merriment and pleasant conversation wherever she went. + +Her quick eyes detected me as I passed the music-room door. She moved +along, smelling carelessly at her flowers, the sight of which made me +sick; they were roses from the choicest varieties that Mrs. Lee +considered peculiarly her own. + +"Going to preserve your bloom by an early sleep, Miss Hyde?" she asked, +pleasantly. + +"I am going to sit with Mrs. Lee," I replied, coldly enough, I dare say. +I was not accustomed to dissimulation, and when I disliked and doubted a +person as I did her, it was very difficult for me to conceal it. + +"You are quite the guardian-angel of the house," she returned, so +sweetly that no one except a suspicious creature like me would have +perceived the covert insult under her words; "I expect every day to see +you unfold your wings and fly off." + +"This is my home," I answered, quietly, "so I shall not fly very far +from it in all probability." + +She laughed in her charming way; but there was an expression in her eyes +which would have startled me, had I not felt that she was powerless to +do me personal injury. + +"And a pleasant home you have," she said, with a sigh; "you can't think, +Miss Hyde, how delightful it seems to a tired worldling like me." + +I was in no humor to listen to sentiment, and I replied curtly,-- + +"Not tired, Mrs. Dennison, or, of course, you would forsake the society +that wearies you." + +She shook her head patronizingly and smiled, oh, such a sweet, sad +smile--she must have practised for days to attain such perfection in it. + +"How innocent you are!" she said; "I envy you, dear, kind Miss Hyde!" + +How I longed to fling back her affectionate epithets with the scorn they +deserved; but, of course, that was impossible, so I made a movement to +go, trembling all over with repressed indignation. + +"You are running away from me as usual," she said, reproachfully; "I +never get a moment now of your honest, sensible conversation." + +"I trust you do not suffer much from the loss," was all the answer I +made. + +I know I am not very wise; I do not deny having my share of little +vanities; but Mrs. Dennison had not found the road which led to them. + +"I do indeed," she replied; "but I see you will not believe me." + +"You have not an exalted opinion of my courtesy, Mrs. Dennison." + +"Ah, now you are going to be sarcastic--my dear Miss Hyde, that is not +in your way." + +She added a few more playful words, then I was resolute to go. I left +her standing there in one of her graceful attitudes, playing negligently +with her roses. + +Once in the hall, I glanced back; the widow had changed her +position,--she was stationed by a window,--I saw Mr. Lee approach her, +and they began an earnest conversation. I turned and went up-stairs, +growing sadder and more sick at heart. + +Mrs. Lee slept quietly nearly the whole time, so that I had ample +opportunity for my sorrowful reflections,--more than I desired, since +dwelling upon the things which troubled me only increased my +restlessness, without bringing me any nearer a conclusion that could +have been of the least value. + +After Mrs. Lee had gone to bed, I went into my own room, and saw no one +again that night. When it was too late, I remembered that I had not +spoken to Mr. Lee, but consoled myself with fancying that Jessie would +tell him, or that I should have an opportunity in the morning. + +I was disappointed both ways. When I went down to breakfast, I found +that Mr. Lee had been obliged to ride over to the iron works. He had +gone before any one was stirring, and would not return until late in the +afternoon. + +While one of the servants was giving me that information, Mrs. Dennison +passed through the hall. She hurried on with a smile, but I noticed that +the skirt of her dress was wet and soiled; I felt certain that she knew +of Mr. Lee's intention, and had gone out to meet him, and hold one of +her private conversations. + +Before she appeared again, Jessie joined me in the breakfast-room. + +"How late we all are!" she said; "it is too bad." + +"I quite overslept myself," I replied; then I remembered my thought of +the last night. "Oh, my dear! did you ask your father to go with us to +Mrs. Bosworth's?" + +"I had no opportunity," she answered, blushing crimson. "I am afraid, +too, that I half forgot it." + +I knew the reason of that; Lawrence had been talking to her all the +evening. + +"It does not make much difference," I said; "I will go with you." + +"I am sure papa would be willing," she observed, looking troubled at the +idea of the visit. + +"I spoke of it to your mother; she desired you to go." + +"Very well then," replied Jessie; "suppose we start after breakfast; we +can get back before mamma will want us in her room." + +"I shall be ready; we can walk across the fields." + +"Yes; then Mrs. Dennison need not know anything about it." + +"Hush!" I said; "there she is." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +OUR VISIT TO THE OLD MANSION. + + +Mrs. Dennison came in airy and graceful as usual; I noticed that she had +changed her dress. She kissed Jessie with as much affection as if she +had not seen her for a week, and began discoursing with great +volubility. + +"I was up before either of you," she said; "I have been out in the +garden, ruining my white dress, and racing among the beds, to the great +astonishment of the old gardener." + +"You look fresh and charming as the roses themselves," Jessie replied. + +"Of course. But don't pay compliments; Miss Hyde does not like them." + +"If they are sincere, I do," I said. + +"Ah! then you must like mine. Indeed, I should be afraid to tell you a +story; I am certain those honest eyes of yours would detect it at once." + +I disclaimed any such extraordinary powers for my poor eyes, and the +widow rattled on about something else. She always went from one subject +to another in a rapid, graceful way, like a bird flying about in the +trees. + +"Why, where is Mr. Lee?" she asked. + +"Gone out," said Jessie; "he went early." + +"How ungallant," she returned; but she looked so very innocent that I +was more than ever convinced she had seen him before his departure. + +One thing I could say for Mrs. Dennison, she never troubled her hosts to +entertain her. Directly after breakfast, she went, as usual, her own +way, and Jessie and I were free to start upon our expedition. + +"We had better go at once," I said; "there is no telling when she may +dance in upon us again." + +"You don't like her, Aunt Matty," replied Jessie; "I am sure you don't, +yet she is very charming." + +"Never mind; there is no time to discuss my fancies," I said. "Get your +bonnet, Jessie." + +She hesitated and grew a little pale, but complied at once. We were +ready in a few moments, and, passing through the garden, went down the +path by the grove, and took our way across the fields to the old house. + +Jessie was very silent during our walk, and I was so much occupied with +my plans and my fancies that I had little time to break the thread of +her thoughts. + +When we reached the gate that led into the door-yard, Jessie stopped. + +"Oh, I am so frightened," she said. + +Poor child! she was very pale, and shook from head to foot with an +agitation that reminded me painfully of her mother's nervous +excitements. I did my best to soothe her, but, in spite of her efforts, +it was some moments before she could go on. + +"You will not mind it after the first meeting," I said. + +"I am very foolish, I know. There, I am ready now." + +As we turned into the avenue, I saw Mr. Lawrence pass along the road on +horseback. He gave a sharp, quick look, and rode on. I said nothing to +Jessie; it was useless to agitate her further. His passing at that time +might have been mere chance. + +Jessie clung to me as we went up the two broad steps and entered the +hall. I did not speak, contenting myself with a reassuring pressure of +the hand; for I knew from experience that in cases of nervous dread one +is only made worse by persuasions and cheering speeches. + +We were shown into the room where I had before waited for old Mrs. +Bosworth, and very soon I heard the rustle of her dress in the hall. + +The old lady came in with her stately manner, but I could see that +trouble and watching had left their effect upon her, and it seemed to me +that I could discover smothered pain in her eyes when she greeted +Jessie. But she was exceedingly kind,--so gentle and caressing, that the +girl soon recovered from her fright and began to look like herself. + +"You will excuse my daughter's absence, I hope," the old lady said; "she +is lying down. She is not very strong, and watching has quite worn her +out." + +"But you think your grandson better?" I asked. + +"Much better; yes, much better." + +There was thanksgiving in her very voice. Jessie said, tremulously,-- + +"We were very sorry to hear of his sickness." + +"Thank you, Miss Lee; I was sure you would be." + +The old lady's fingers worked nervously; I knew, in spite of her pride, +what was in her heart. She longed to take Jessie in her arms, to beseech +her to speak the one word that would bring her boy back to life and +happiness. + +"He suffers less with his head, I suppose?" I said, breaking the little +pause which would soon have proved awkward. + +"It is quite easy this morning; indeed, last night he slept for several +hours undisturbed. He is so patient," she continued, "so gentle; but +that is natural to him." + +I knew she was glad to have that opportunity of praising Bosworth; she +felt as if it was indirectly doing something to interest Jessie in his +favor. + +"It was very kind of you to come, Miss Lee," she said. "I thought you +would be willing to humor a sick man's fancies, and he pined so to see +all his old friends," she added, quickly, with her old-world tact, for +the color began to flicker on Jessie's cheek. + +"My father would have come also," said the girl, talking rapidly, "but +he was obliged to go out very early; and you know my mother seldom +leaves her room." + +"It is sad that she should be so great an invalid," said the old +duchess--I must call her so. "My daughter and I go out very little. We +have often wished to see more of you, but age and infirmity are by force +unsocial." + +"Mrs. Lee is fond of company," I said. I longed to do all I could to +draw the two families together. + +"Ah, if that is the case, we shall call frequently upon her. It may do +her some good;" she looked at Jessie as she spoke. + +"Mamma will be so pleased," she said, quite firmly; "it is very +monotonous to live always shut up in her room; she is naturally very +social, and to such, solitude is mournful." + +"So it is; but I pity the young most! If I could only have taken my poor +boy's illness in his stead." + +She was checked by the entrance of an old servant, who whispered +something in her ear. + +"Will you go up-stairs?" she said, turning to me; "my grandson knows you +are here." + +She took Jessie's hand softly, leading her away, and I followed. Jessie +bore up like a little Spartan, but I could see what an effort it was,--I +pitied her far more than any one else. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +YOUNG BOSWORTH'S SICK-ROOM. + + +When we entered the sick-room, it was a shock to Jessie. In spite of all +I had said, she was not prepared to find Bosworth so changed. They had +put a dressing-gown upon him, but its gay colors only increased the +ghastliness of his face, already wasted and worn by fever. + +He was so happy to see us--so like a child that fears to give pain by +its own pleasure. I think Jessie took heart after the first few moments; +and I could see the old lady watching her in secret, as if she thought +that, unless she were only a beautiful piece of marble, she must be +softened now. + +"It was very selfish of me, Miss Jessie," he said, "to call you away +from your amusements to visit a poor, sick fellow." + +"I was very glad to come," she replied; "my mother is so anxious about +you, she could not rest till some of us had been here." + +"She is very kind," he said, with the touching smile of illness. + +At last we fell to talking quite cheerfully. I did my best to prevent +the restraint we were all under becoming perceptible; I dare say it was +blunderingly done, but it succeeded tolerably well. + +Bosworth made Jessie tell him all about her flowers--he was a great +botanist--and I chimed in with the wonderful history of a nest of young +birds I had found, and really made him laugh at my nonsense. + +But he was weak, and soon grew weary,--I saw it, and made Jessie a sign +to go. + +"Not yet," he said, as we rose; "stay a while longer, please." + +So we sat down again, but I saw by his eyes that his senses began to +cloud a little. + +"What is that hymn you sing, Miss Jessie?" he asked, suddenly; "it has +been running in my head all the morning." + +Jessie could not speak; she was trying with all her might to keep back +her tears; so I said,-- + +"You mean that little gem of Mrs. Hemans--'Child Amid the Flowers at +Play.'" + +"Yes," he replied, "that is it. Won't you sing it for me?" + +It really was heroic, the way that poor girl struggled with herself and +forced back her composure. She turned her face a little from the light +and began to sing; her voice was very low and tremulous, but I never +heard it sound so sweet; Bosworth lay back on his pillow and listened +with a happy smile. + +"Thank you," he said, when she finished; "I can sleep now--you were very +kind to come." + +He tried to take her hand, said a few more broken words, and then we +went away. I saw that Jessie could endure nothing more. Old Mrs. +Bosworth detected it too; she must have felt for the girl, and was +grateful to her for that visit. She did not accompany us down-stairs, +and I was glad to make our farewell as short as possible. + +The moment we were out of the house, Jessie gave way completely, and +sobbed and wept as I never before saw her. + +"Do you think he will die, Aunt Matty?" she asked. + +"I do not; he is certainly better." + +"But he looks dreadfully; I never saw anybody altered so much." + +"You are not accustomed to fevers, my dear. I am, and he will get +better. I am glad you have made this visit; it will do him good." + +"Then I am glad, too," she replied, wiping away her tears. "Oh! if +anything had happened, I never should have forgiven myself." + +In reality, there was no blame to be attached to her; she had been +guilty of no encouragement or coquetry. I could not bear that she should +brood over his illness, until she accused herself as the cause, and +really grew horrified at what she might fancy her own wickedness. + +"He is in God's hands," I said; "either way it would have been as He +willed." + +"Then you do not think that any trouble--any--" + +"I think he would have been sick," I replied, seeing her unable to go +on; "he has not looked well for some time past, and his grandmother told +me that he had always been somewhat subject to fevers." + +Jessie breathed heavily, and looked relieved. + +In our preoccupation we had passed from the grounds into the high-road, +instead of taking the footpath. + +"We must strike into the clover-field at the turn," I said, when I +observed our error; "it would make too long a walk to follow the road." + +Jessie did not answer. I heard the tramp of horses' hoofs, and looking +up saw Mr. Lawrence riding rapidly toward us. He did not check his +horse, but lifted his riding-cap, gave a low, stately bow, a quick +glance at Jessie's tear-stained face, and galloped on. + +I heard Jessie utter a smothered exclamation, but she did not speak a +word. + +"Mr. Lawrence seems in great haste," I observed, but she did not answer. + +I was confident Mrs. Dennison had been besetting him again, for he was +pale and looked fiercely excited. + +"Here is the path," said Jessie, suddenly. + +We turned into it and walked home, scarcely once breaking that unusual +silence. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +LOTTIE'S REPORT. + + +When we reached the house, Jessie went directly up to her room. I did +not attempt to detain her, knowing that she would be much better alone. + +I went to my chamber, likewise, but I was not left long to my +bewildering meditations, for Lottie's quick tap sounded at the door, and +in she danced in the fantastic manner which always betrayed great +excitement. + +She closed the door carefully, and stood before me with her hands folded +behind her back. + +"I told you how it would be!" she exclaimed. + +"What do you mean?" I asked. + +"Why, you're flying out at Babylon; she's mad, and you'll take the +consequences, you will." + +"I do not imagine they will be very terrible, Lottie." + +"That's as a body may happen to think. There's been a great time since +you started." + +"What has happened?" I inquired, losing all scruples as to the manner in +which Lottie might have obtained her information. + +"In the first place, we had Lawrence--" + +"Was he here?" + +"No, no. Babylon went out to walk for her health--you see Babylon needs +exercise. After you stole away, I had my eye on her--" + +"Why, you did not see us go." + +"Oh, didn't I?" she demanded, ironically, nodding her head with great +significance. "I was at my window, Miss Hyde, and I always keep my eyes +open. Howsumever, I wasn't watching you; I'm above such tricks, unless I +feel it my duty, then I never stop at nothing--anything, I mean, +thinking of the grammar." + +"Did she see us, too?" + +"I don't know; but she knew where you were going." + +"Why, how did you find that out?" + +"Heard her tell Mr. Lee, to be sure." + +I was so angry that I felt myself growing pale. Lottie saw it and +tittered. + +"You would like to choke her, now, wouldn't you, Miss Hyde? What a pity! +it's agin religion and the law. I should just enjoy fixing her myself." + +"For shame!" I said, but I am afraid it was only because I thought it a +duty to check such expressions, not from any lack of sympathy with them. + +Lottie tossed her head; but she was in too great haste to communicate +her intelligence for much indignation. + +"After you'd gone I watched her; she went about very uneasy for a while, +then she put on her shawl and streaked off to the grove. I wanted some +wild grass, so I went along, but Babylon didn't see me. She waited in +the grove till Mr. Lawrence rode by, when she hailed him. + +"'Where are you going?' said she. + +"He stammered a little, and said something about it being his custom to +ride every morning, and at that she laughed right out in her tantalizing +way. Oh, she's awful tantalizing is Babylon. + +"'You'd better tell the truth,' says she; 'you didn't believe what I +told you last night, and you've been to see with your own eyes. Did you +meet them?' + +"'Miss Jessie and her friend have just entered Mrs. Bosworth's gate,' he +answered, cross as two sticks. + +"'Of course,' says Babylon; 'I tell you he is her lover. It was to be +expected she'd visit him during the sickness brought on by jealousy. You +see a grand flirtation has its inconveniences.' + +"He shook uneasily in his saddle, but she hadn't any pity, and went on +at an awful rate about all of you. Then she tried the old dodge--she +was his friend--he might trust her. She went up to him and reached her +hand, but he didn't seem to see it. + +"'I must go,' said he. + +"She tried to stop him, but he wouldn't hear a word. + +"'When will you come again?' she asked. + +"'God knows!' was all he said, and rode off like a whirlwind. + +"Babylon watched him as long as he was in sight, then she gave way to +the awfullest mad fit I ever see. I really thought she'd break a +blood-vessel. She danced and wrung her hands, and clenched 'em both into +fists, which she shook after him, and she bit her lips to keep from +screaming; and then all of a sudden she started for the house on a +fierce run. I went after her, and as I got into the garden I saw Mr. Lee +ride up. She followed him into the house. + +"I went round the corner and stood on the veranda, picking roses and +humming 'Katy Darling;' only I chose all the low parts, and heard quite +comfortable." + +"That was wrong," I said, "very wrong." + +"Oh! I didn't listen to him," she replied; "but I had to keep watch of +Babylon." + +I may as well confess my weakness. I longed to ask Lottie all she heard. +However, I did not have to wait long for the communication. + +"'Jessie has gone out,' said she. He asked her where, and she put on +such an innocent face. 'You must know,' says she; 'your daughter would +not have taken such a step without your permission. No, no; I understand +Jessie's womanly prudence too well.' + +"He just stared at her; then he asked in that voice he has when he's +angry, what she meant. She hemmed and hawed, and put him off; said he +knew, and wouldn't speak. + +"'Mrs. Dennison,' said he, 'what does this mean? Where has Jessie +gone?' + +"She put on the innocent look again; she really did it beautifully. + +"'Don't you know?' she asked; 'don't you actually?' + +"She worked him up almost into a fit. Goodness knows what fancy he got +into his head. + +"I have seen no one this morning,' he said; 'there were none of the +family down when I went away. Where has Jessie gone?' + +"Then she pretended to back out; she had been wrong--it was doubtless an +innocent little secret of Jessie's--she ought not to have spoken--she +was so frank and indiscreet--she would rather bite her tongue off than +tell what Jessie wanted kept private, and all that. He grew white as +death; you know nothing makes him so mad as to think there's any mystery +in the house, or anything going on he don't understand. + +"'Mrs. Dennison,' says he, 'if you won't speak, I must go to my wife.' + +"'Don't, don't,' she said; 'she is so feeble; don't agitate her.' + +"'Then tell me yourself,' says he. + +"Then she went all through the old performance, but at last it came +out--Jessie had gone to visit Mr. Bosworth in his sick-room. Lord, how +mad he was! She told him you was with her, said she didn't blame Jessie, +guessed it was all one of your old-maidish romances, and made him +furious against you." + +"How did it end?" I asked. + +"It didn't really have no end; some man called him off on business. Just +then you and Miss Jessie came up the steps, and I cut round here to tell +you. Babylon--she sat down to the piano, and went to playing a jig; she +likes the fun. I tell you she's all right when there's a row. But I'm +going to Mrs. Lee; she must want to get up by this time. You're in a +hobble, Miss Hyde--a precious hobble--was sure you would be. You +playing a game with her--the idea!" + +Away she danced, trying to hide her uneasiness; but at the door she +stopped and exclaimed,-- + +"I can't think what ails my head, I'm so dizzy." + +She staggered and would have fallen, but I caught her; she was deadly +pale. I gave her some water, and she soon grew better. + +"Are you ill?" I asked. + +"No, I guess not; but lately my head feels so queer every morning. +Yesterday, when I went to get out of bed, I fell flat on the floor like +a great awkward lobster." + +She laughed, but I was very uneasy about her, though she declared she +was well again, and hurried away to her duties; for, wild as she was, +Lottie was an orderly little thing, and always punctual. + +I sat and thought over what she had told me, with some anxiety; but that +did no good, so I went down-stairs. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +MY FIRST QUARREL WITH MR. LEE. + + +As I entered the lower hall, I met Mr. Lee. He gave me a look such as I +never before saw in his face; it so increased my indignation, that, if +it had not been for Jessie, I would have walked out of the house that +instant. + +"Miss Hyde," he said, in the low, measured tone his voice always took +when he was angry, "will you step into the library for a moment?" + +"Do you wish to speak with me?" I asked, rebelliously. + +"If you have leisure." + +I swept before him into the room. Every drop of blood in my veins +tingled as if on fire. He followed me, and closed the door. + +"How does it happen," he began, "that you and Jessie went upon an +expedition like that of this morning without consulting me?" + +I did my best to answer quietly, although his manner aggravated me +almost beyond endurance. + +"Simply because you were not here to consult," I replied. + +"But you could have told me last night." + +Then I flashed up a little, and said,-- + +"Mr. Lee, I am not a school-girl, to be crowded into a corner and +catechized." + +"Madam," he returned, "I think I have a right to know everything +connected with my daughter; I will permit no mysteries in this house." + +"There have been none on my part or Jessie's," I replied. + +"Then be good enough to give me an explanation of what, I own, seems to +me a singular proceeding in a lady of your acknowledged discretion." + +"It is easily done," I answered, still remembering Jessie, and so +remaining reasonably calm. "Yesterday, old Mrs. Bosworth sent for me; +her grandson is very ill--he has brain-fever. He begged to see us +particularly. I came home and told your wife; she said Jessie should go +to-day. We expected you to accompany us. Last night there was no +opportunity of speaking to you, every moment of your time was occupied. +This morning, you were gone; but as I had the mother's permission, I +thought it no harm to start. A visit to a sick, almost a dying man, can +never injure your daughter, Mr. Lee." + +His face flushed at once. + +"I was mistaken," he said. + +"You must have been cruelly mistaken or misinformed," I replied, coldly, +"when you could address me as you have done." + +"I beg your pardon, Miss Hyde," he returned. + +I granted it with a sullen bend of the head. + +"Who told you where we had gone?" I asked, bluntly. + +He hesitated, and I followed up my advantage. + +"No one knew of it but Mrs. Lee," I said; "you have not seen her to-day. +Yesterday you reproved me for sending Cora out of the hall; sir, she was +listening while I told Jessie, and repeated it to her mistress. I don't +know what you may think of such conduct on the part of a guest; but to +me the idea of making trouble in a house where one has been hospitably +treated, seems very contemptible." + +"Miss Hyde! Miss Hyde!" he exclaimed, "I assure you Mrs. Dennison did it +thoughtlessly--she had no idea." + +"Excuse me," said I, still burning with indignation, "I am quite capable +of forming and holding my own opinions; it is a right I shall not +readily relinquish." + +I am sorry to say we very nearly had a serious quarrel; but I was so +dissatisfied, so indignant that a man of his sense and refinement could +be duped in the way he was, that I could not control myself. + +We parted civilly enough, however; and when I went up-stairs, Jessie +knew all about the affair; Mrs. Dennison had been to her crying and +begging for forgiveness. She had thoughtlessly repeated to her father +where we had gone, he was angry, and the whole thing was breaking her +heart. + +"I dare say she meant no harm," added Jessie; "she is so giddy." + +"Pray, how did she know?" I asked. + +"She fancied it, she said." + +"That was a falsehood," I retorted. "Cora told her--I knew she was +listening yesterday." + +Jessie was as much shocked with me as her father had been. With their +exaggerated ideas of hospitality, they considered it little less than a +crime to acknowledge that a guest could have any fault. + +"Oh, Aunt Matty!" she said, "I never knew you unjust before." + +I was forced to go out of the room; my anger was over, and I felt the +tears rushing to my eyes. I passed a very uncomfortable day. Jessie and +her father came to an understanding; Mrs. Dennison soon had them both +under her spell again, and I knew they blamed me exceedingly. + +I loved them too well for real indignation; but I was broken-hearted at +the idea that this woman could come between Jessie and her love for me. + +There was company at dinner. I spent the evening in Mrs. Lee's room--the +first comfortable hour I had passed since morning. She did not know that +anything had gone wrong, pitied my head, which she was sure ached +terribly, and by her sweet and tender kindness made me somewhat more +reconciled to life. + +I sat in my own room after I left her, but did not retire until very +late. I heard the guests go away--heard the different members of the +family pass up to their rooms; but still I sat by the window, sad and +lonely. At last the clock struck one. I rose, startled into common-sense +again, stopped star-gazing, and closing my window, prepared for rest. + +Suddenly I heard a noise--very faint, but my nerves were wonderfully +acute that night. I opened the door and looked into the hall; as I did +so, I saw a figure clad in white glide out of Lottie's chamber, and +disappear down the passage. + +I fairly thought it something supernatural at first, then I ran out, but +there was nothing to be seen. I stole to Lottie's room and looked in; +she was sleeping soundly, so I went back to my own apartment. That +incident, added to the excitement of the day, kept me awake for hours. I +tried to convince myself that it was only one of my ridiculous fancies: +but the effort was in vain; I knew that I had seen that white shape +steal by--it was no delusion. Who was it? What was it? + +I determined to say nothing, feeling certain that everybody would laugh +at me. I knew that it was silly, but I could not drive away the terror +that chilled my heart. Everything had gone so wrong of late, that quiet +house was so changed, that the least thing disturbed me more than events +of importance would once have done. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +MR. LAWRENCE MAKES A CALL. + + +Lawrence called upon us the next day: that is, he came to the house and +inquired for Mrs. Dennison, without one word regarding the rest of the +family. Mr. Lee was sitting in the square balcony when the gentleman +rode up, and cast a meaning glance at Jessie, as if he felt certain that +the visit was for her. She shrunk from his look with something like +affright; and when the servant came up with word that Mr. Lawrence was +in the drawing-room, waiting for Mrs. Dennison, she gave me a look of +wild reproof, as if I had been the cause of his evident displeasure. + +Mr. Lee sat with his eyes upon her; and when Mrs. Dennison came from her +chamber, the expression of his face became so like that which pained me +in Jessie's, that I could not escape the idea that both suffered from +the same cause. + +The shock of this thought made me tremble. It had never fastened upon me +as a reality before. Why did I turn so faint? Why did my soul rise up in +such bitter protest? God help me, I am not wise enough to answer; the +tumult of trouble within me was something I had never, till then, +experienced. Still the idea was a terrible one. How could a woman of +right principles feel otherwise? Thus I explained it away, and soothed +myself into a belief that any true-hearted person living in that family +as I did must have felt all the miserable sensations that tortured me. + +These thoughts made me dizzy. When I could see clearly again, Jessie was +gone, and Mr. Lee sat a little more upright in his chair, looking hard +at the wall over the top of his book. I was glad those stern eyes were +not turned on me. + +Mrs. Dennison came sweeping out of her chamber, leaving a scarcely +perceptible perfume in the hall as she passed. She did not observe me, +for I sat a little out of range from the door, and she evidently was not +conscious that Mr. Lee was looking after her. She caught his glance, +however, in turning to go down stairs, paused abruptly, and came back as +if she were eager to explain something; but again she stopped short on +seeing that I occupied a seat which commanded the balcony, and saying +hastily, "Oh, I thought Miss Jessie was here," went down the hall again, +evidently discomfited. + +Mr. Lee resumed his volume, but there were no signs of reading. He +simply looked hard at the page without turning it over, and sat gnawing +at his under lip with a kind of ferocity I had never witnessed in him +before. I was getting sadly nervous, and felt a painful sensation in my +throat; what was all this coming to? What did it mean? + +I left the balcony and went up to Mrs. Lee's chamber; here everything +was pure and quiet. The invalid lay upon her couch, with a book before +her; one slender and almost transparent hand rested upon the opposite +page to that which she was reading. It started like a frightened bird as +I came in, and she turned her head with one of those heavenly smiles I +have never seen equalled. But her face clouded over in an instant. +Evidently Martha Hyde was not the person that gentle invalid had hoped +to see. + +I went up to the couch and sat down on the low seat at its head. She +handed me the book with a smile, saying that it made her eyes ache. +"Would I read a little till Mr. Lee came up?" + +She said this languidly, and there was a strange look about her eyes, as +if they had been overtaxed. I received the volume, but fell into thought +with it in my hand, forgetting that she was observing me. + +"What is the matter?" she said, touching me with her shadowy hand. "Has +anything gone wrong? No bad news about our young friend, I hope." + +"No," I answered, starting; "I have not heard from him this morning." + +"Well, what is it then? You look strangely, as if something had +frightened you." + +"Do I? No, indeed, nothing has frightened me." + +"Perhaps," she said, with a little hesitation, "you are getting anxious +about me; these heavy feelings that hang about my head in the morning +are a little depressing; I don't really know what to make of them." + +I looked at her anxiously; there certainly was a singular expression in +her eyes which made me thoughtful. She went on in a soft, dreamy way, as +if talking to herself. + +"Then I used to sleep so lightly. It was a great affliction,--that state +of semi-wakefulness which left everything unreal, but was not sleep, +wore me out; now I fall into such profound slumber, but it gives me no +more rest than the other state; and I awake with the sensation of a +person who has been struggling hard through the night." + +"But this may arise from opiates." + +"Opiates! Indeed, you know that I never take them, Miss Hyde." + +I answered with some surprise that I had accounted for the strange +feeling which oppressed her by the idea that it must be something of +that kind; but omitted to say that Mrs. Dennison had bewailed to me the +habit of taking preparations of opium which Mrs. Lee had fallen into. + +The invalid seemed a little hurt by this suggestion, and said over and +over again in her sweet way,-- + +"No, no, my dear. It must be terrible pain which can force me to take +these things; and thanks to Him and to all the loving care around me, I +do not suffer greatly." + +"Still you are changed, dear lady," I said. "How, I cannot explain; but +in your face I find that look of struggle which you complain of." + +"It is oppressive," she said, putting a hand to her forehead, "and I am +afraid makes me but dull company. Mr. Lee is not here quite so much as +usual: or is that a sick fancy, Miss Hyde?" + +I answered with a tremor in my voice, for her earnest look troubled me, +that we all thought quiet better for her, even than the pleasant +excitement which his company might bring. + +She shook her head, and observed with one of her touching smiles, "that +it did not help the flowers to keep back the dew when they thirsted for +it." + +I had no answer; all my petty evasions against her affectionate +entreaties were like straw flung on the surface of a brook; I had no +heart to attempt more. + +She had fallen into silence, and lay shading her eyes with one hand, +when Mr. Lee came in with a heavy, ringing step, and a cloud on his +face. His wife started up, and her eyes sparkled as she held out her +hand. + +"Were you asleep? Have I disturbed you?" he said, abruptly. + +"Oh! no, that is impossible, I think; but--but you look troubled. What +is it?" + +"Troubled? Do I? Nothing of the kind. How fanciful you are, my dear! +What should any of us have to do with trouble?" + +"Not while we are together," she said, touching the seat I had +abandoned with her hand, thus delicately inviting him to her side. + +But he strode to the window, and looked out with anxiety. Something was +evidently on his mind. Just then I heard voices in the garden. It was +Mrs. Dennison calling aloud for Jessie. + +"Jessie, Jessie, darling, where have you hidden yourself? Here is some +one wishes to see you." + +The voice came ringing up clear and distinct; Mr. Lee heard it, and the +frown grew lighter upon his forehead. Directly a light step came up the +stairs. Mr. Lee turned and looked toward the door. Mrs. Dennison entered +the chamber without waiting for her knock to be answered. + +"Where is Jessie?" she cried, all cheerfulness and animation; "she is +wanted, and I am quite out of breath searching for her in the garden, +Mr. Lee. Dear Miss Hyde, pray help me to find her." + +Mr. Lee came forward at this challenge, almost smiling. + +"Have you been to her room?" he said. + +She answered him that she had not, but added something in a low, hurried +voice. Guarded as it was, I caught the sense. + +"There was a little misunderstanding between them," she said; "he wanted +me to mediate, and is waiting for her in the garden." + +Mr. Lee listened, and one of the rare smiles I have spoken of beamed +over his face. He made a movement as if to go out with the widow; but +seeing the anxiety in Mrs. Lee's eyes, I went forward at once, saying, +as I hurried by the couple,-- + +"As you are here to sit with Mrs. Lee, sir, I will look for Jessie." + +The smile that crept across Mrs. Dennison's lips was like a reptile +feeding on a rose. + +"You are very kind," she said. "I had no idea of enlisting Mr. Lee; his +duties here are too sacred for that." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +LOTTIE AS A LETTER-WRITER. + + +I hurried on to escape the sound of Mrs. Dennison's voice, for in any +tone it filled me with loathing; but as the door closed after me, that +of Lottie's opened, and the imp thrust out her head and emitted a mellow +crow, clapping her arms as if they had been wings, thus indicating that +for once my conduct had met her full approval. + +I could not help laughing; at which she put a finger to her lips, and +darted back of the door, closing it softly in the process. + +I went up to Jessie's room, but she was not there, nor could she be +found in any part of the house. When assured of this, I went into the +garden and found Lawrence walking leisurely toward the grove where his +horse was tied. He turned as I called him by name, and looked back with +an expression of surprise. + +"I have been searching for Miss Lee to inform her of your wish to see +her," I said; "but she has gone out." + +He drew his fine figure up proudly, and said, with a smile that had more +of irony than sweetness in it,-- + +"I beg pardon; but my visit here was to Mrs. Dennison. I was only +waiting for her to return with her parasol, as she found the sun rather +warm." + +I felt myself coloring, but answered the moment I could find voice,-- + +"Then you did not inquire for Miss Lee?--did not ask Mrs. Dennison to go +in search of her?" + +"Not that I am aware of," he replied, with the same smile. "I supposed +it more than probable that the young lady had gone to visit her +sick-lo--friend, over yonder. Heaven forbid that I should disturb an +arrangement so full of delicate romance!" + +I looked at him steadily. There was more of insult in his tone than +these words conveyed. At first I was prompted to explain and defend: but +wherefore? If he could distrust a creature like our Jessie, any attempt +at exculpation appeared to me like a sacrifice of dignity, so I turned +away in silence. He followed me a few paces, as if wishing to continue +the conversation; but I hurried on, burning with indignation. Why had +those abominable people entered our pleasant homes? Why did they remain +there, making us all miserable? Oh! how I wished for authority to send +them away together; for in my resentment, I, perhaps unjustly, coupled +the gentleman with the lady, and forgot that he was her dupe rather than +associate. + +When Lawrence was yet almost on a level with me, the widow came out from +the tower, looking flurried and anxious. She saw me apparently in +conversation with her friend, and turned crimson to the temples; but +adroitly dropping the open parasol over her face, she came slowly on, +concealing the agitation but too visible a moment before. Without +heeding me in the least, she sauntered up to Lawrence, drooping her +parasol almost in my face, and said with careless insolence,-- + +"Now, my good friend, with Miss Hyde's permission, we will go on with +the history of that little affair." + +So she swept him off, somewhat bewildered, I fancy, and I went into the +house, detesting her more than ever. + +Before entering Mrs. Lee's room, I opened the door of Lottie's little +apartment, intending to inquire if Mr. Lee had gone out. The young girl +was seated at a small gilded table, which had been broken in the +drawing-room and mended by her deft hands, after which, of course, it +became her property; an open letter lay on the table, and she was busy +writing. When I opened the door, she started up, snatched at the letter +and held it behind her, looking at me with a comical sort of defiance. + +"Miss Hyde," said she, "if you'll just tell me what's wanting, I'll come +out; but this room isn't large enough for two--no, not if its owner had +a twin sister wandering about in want of a bed to sleep in." + +"Excuse me, Lottie, but I only want to know if Mrs. Lee is left alone." + +"No, Miss Hyde, that thing don't happen while I am on hand. Mr. Lee's in +there, and that angel of a woman is talking to him with tears in her +throat, if they haven't got up to her eyes yet. I can hear the sound +without listening, and I hope it will do him good, that's all!" + +I turned to go away, but she followed me to the door, still with one +hand behind her, in which I could hear paper rustling. + +"Miss Hyde, I can't help but say, if it does puff you up, that are dodge +of yours was a crowner; I heard it and all Babylon said: my! isn't she a +thing or so? For once you were too smart for her. Didn't her face blaze +up when she saw you walking with that chap? I couldn't 'a' done it +better myself. Now, mind I say that to encourage you, not to lift you on +a high horse; so don't make a bad use of kindness." + +"You are very kind, and I try not to be spoiled, Lottie." + +"I'm your friend out and out, and the friend of this family, if ever +there was one. Never fear about that; but this thing is getting beyond +me and destroying my usefulness. I wish you wouldn't give me no more +lectures about listening and finding out things. True enough, I don't +pay no regard to such ridiculous notions; but then just as a creature +gets nestled down under a bush, or fits her ear to a keyhole, comes the +thought, 'Now Miss Hyde would call this mean,' and it drags your +attention away from what's going on and takes all the relish out of it. +I don't like it, Miss Hyde; such peaked notions do well enough for an +old maid; but I ain't a going to be that, if there is a man cute enough +to match me in all creation." + +"Well, Lottie," I said, almost laughing, "as my preaching only annoys +you, it is hardly worth while to repeat it." + +"That's a good soul!" answered Lottie, with benign condescension. "You +hoe your row and I'll hoe mine, we shall come out together at the end of +the lot, never fear." + +The next morning, when our man brought the letters from town, I noticed +Mrs. Dennison examining one which she took from among those left on the +hall-table, with the keen look of a person whose suspicion has been +aroused. In tearing it open, she examined the adhesive edge a second +time, and apparently found it all right, for her face cleared up, and +she put the letter in her pocket without reading it. Still she could not +have been quite satisfied, for after that no letters of hers were ever +left with those of the family to be mailed. + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +YOUNG BOSWORTH RECEIVES A LETTER. + + +That day I resolved to go and see young Bosworth. I had no lover to get +jealous or find fault with this; indeed, it was doubtful if any one +cared enough about my movements to observe them when disconnected from +the family. + +I had no heart to enjoy the walk; it was a cold, raw day, with gloomy +clouds floating along the sky, and gloomier shadows sweeping the earth. +The dampness of a night succeeded by no sunshine lay upon the meadows; +spiders' webs were stretched across my path; and a rain of moisture fell +from the hazel-bushes as my garments brushed them in walking. Still, it +was not absolutely stormy, and the gray shadows harmonized with my +feelings so completely, that I had no wish to change them. Nothing +could be more gloomy than my own heart. + +When I reached the house, old Mrs. Bosworth came to the door herself. +She seemed a good deal disturbed, and I fancied, from the heaviness of +her eyes, that she had been crying. + +"Come in, Miss Hyde," she said, taking my hand. "He is not so well this +morning. Indeed, indeed he is much worse. A letter came here last night, +and I was foolish enough to let it go to him. One of your people brought +it, and I fancied, perhaps, that it might do him good, for it was a +lady's handwriting, and she was so kind that morning." + +"You thought it was from our Jessie," I answered, in the first impulse +of my surprise. + +"Yes, it was a foolish thought, I dare say,--but that was my idea." + +"And have you learned whom it did come from?" + +"No," answered the noble old lady. "He fainted, and it fell from his +hand; but I laid it under his pillow without even looking at it; it +might have wounded him, you know." + +"And is he so much worse?" + +"Oh, Miss Hyde, the fever has come back; he is wild again." + +"And had you no way of guessing the cause?" + +"I think it was something about Mr. Lawrence, for he called for him till +the house rang with his cries, after the first dumb shock went off." + +"Did Mr. Lawrence know of this?" + +"He was away at the time; and after that your young friend's name was so +wildly mingled up with it all, that I could not think it right to bring +Mr. Lawrence to the room. It would have seemed like challenging his +compassion." + +My heart ached, for I saw that her penetration had discovered Jessie's +secret, and that she was protecting it with much delicacy. + +"Besides, he is our guest," she said, prompted by that old-fashioned +feeling of honor which rendered the shelter of a friend's roof a +sanctuary, "and he might have construed my grandson's words into a +reproach; altogether, we thought it best to keep them apart." + +There was a mystery about all this that baffled me. Who could have +written that letter brought by one of Mr. Lee's servants? Not Jessie, I +was sure of that, for she never could have taken a step of so much +importance thus privately. Besides, save for the brief time of +Lawrence's visit that day, when, wounded and heart-sick, she left the +house, and wandered off into the thickest of the woods, she had not been +absent from her mother's room scarcely a moment. Mrs. Dennison had seen +her passing through the outskirt of the woods, or she would never have +ventured to call for her so loudly. + +All this I knew, but it was unnecessary; a thorough understanding of +Jessie's character rendered conjectures regarding her part in this +matter quite superfluous. But who had written the letter? and what was +its import? Of course, my suspicions fell on that woman; but what was +her object? Surely she was not anxious to ensnare this young man +also--her vanity could not be so insatiable as that. + +Perhaps it was Mr. Lee; his handwriting was exquisitely clear and +delicate as a woman's; what if his displeasure against our visit had +been expressed here? But no, Mr. Lee was not a man to rudely force his +anger into a sick-room. + +Again my thoughts fell back on the widow; what unprincipled work was she +doing here? What benefit could she find in sowing discord upon that poor +young man's pillow? + +Of course, one thinks rapidly, and all these broken ideas took but +little time in flashing through my brain. The old lady stood with one +hand on the back of her easy-chair, observing me with a troubled look. + +"You think the letter was not from your young friend?" she said, reading +my thoughts with that subtile magnetism which is a part of true +womanliness. + +"I am sure it was not, dear lady!" + +"Nor from her father?" + +"Not if it gave him pain; Mr. Lee is incapable of that." + +The old lady drew a deep breath, as if infinitely relieved, and sat +down, spreading out her ample skirts mechanically after her usual dainty +habit. + +"Miss Hyde," she said, with a little tremor of the voice, and a movement +of the hands, which fell into her lap and clasped themselves nervously, +"Miss Hyde, I am sure you are my poor boy's friend!" + +"I am indeed!" was my earnest response. + +"And you know--" + +"Yes, dear madam, all that an affectionate heart can learn by its own +observation." + +"I have thought, perhaps," said the dear old lady, coloring as she +spoke, "that Mr. Lee, with his enormous wealth, might have considered +the modest property of my grandson insufficient, and for this reason +have influenced his daughter." + +I had nothing to answer. If Mr. Lee knew of this unhappy attachment, he +had given no sign; but I told her that his general character was opposed +to anything so mercenary. + +"If this were so," answered the old lady, growing more anxious, "I think +it would be easily remedied. My grandson, it is true, has little more +than a handsome independence; but I, Miss Hyde, am perhaps richer than +our neighbors think. In fact," she added, blushing, as if there were +something to be ashamed of in the confession, "my income, if I chose to +use it, would not compare meanly with that of Mr. Lee. When one spends +but little, with tolerably fair possessions, property accumulates +rapidly at the end of a long life. I had intended to endow charities, +perhaps; but the sight of my boy up yonder has changed all this." + +I could only say, "You are very liberal, madam;" for I felt sure that +the trouble did not lie where she supposed. + +"If you could in any way make this understood, Miss Hyde, without +bringing it prominently forward, I should be so grateful. I called you +in here for this purpose. You have been so kind, so truly good to us." + +"Oh, no, no," I protested. + +"So delicate," she persisted; "and now when his life is in such fearful +peril, I am forced to take liberties--forced to think if anything can be +done to save him, forced to beg for help." + +"Oh, if I could help you!" I exclaimed, feeling the tears rush to my +eyes. + +"You have, you can; already we are greatly indebted to your kindness. I +am not eloquent to express thanks, sometimes feeling that silence is +most delicate; but I feel all this, Miss Hyde, and so did he, my poor +boy!" + +Again I expressed the happiness it would give me to help her or him. + +"I am an old woman," she continued; "very old, and require so little +that property has become burdensome. If--if this thing can be arranged, +all that I have, every cent, shall go to him; not after my death, but +now, while I can see them enjoy it. They will remember my habits, and my +little wants, I am sure; and it will be very pleasant to have young +voices around me again. Will you take an opportunity to suggest this to +Mr. Lee?--not the young lady--my grandson must owe everything to himself +there; but with a parent these are important considerations, sometimes." + +I could not see her face, for tears half blinded me. The feeling which +could induce this fine old woman to give up all the appliances of her +pride, all the power of her life, in order to purchase happiness for her +grandson, was one of those noble outgushes of human nature that always +make me weep. I could have kissed the hem of her garments, and felt +ennobled by the act. It was no little thing to uproot the fixed habits +of almost a century. With all that love of property which grows strong +in age, from a sentiment of generosity another might have thought of +dividing, but she was ready to give up all. + +I had no heart to discourage her. Warmly and truly as my wishes went +with hers, I would not uproot all hope in my own mind. Time, I whispered +to myself, has many changes, and so has the human heart. So I took the +old lady's hand in mine and kissed it with affectionate reverence. She +smiled upon me in her benign way, and called me "her dear young friend, +her fair, sweet friend." + +Oh! I am getting to be a forlorn creature, or these words would never +have swelled my heart with such throbs of gratitude. Have I indeed +anything lovable or attractive about me which the old lady's deeper +penetration has discovered, or is it only because I have been a little +kind to her grandson? I wish it were possible to know about this, for +since Mrs. Dennison has been at our house, I have begun to doubt and +fear about myself in a way that never possessed me before. Her +overpowering elegance has put down all my little quiet claims to notice +so completely, that it seems as if I never should lift up my head again. +No wonder I cried and kissed that soft hand like a child. People don't +think how much we require praise and petting, at all stages of +existence, or how much of childhood runs from the cradle to the grave in +every human life. + +It was very foolish and romantic, but without at all knowing it, I had +fallen on my knees by the old lady; and when she saw my eyes so full of +tears, she smoothed my hair, and called me a good girl. With this I laid +my head on her lap, and begged her to let me love her always, telling +her that sometimes I was lonely for the want of a right to love +anything. Then I grew ashamed and stood up, blushing through the tears +that had betrayed me into such weakness, but her gracious look reassured +me. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +OUT IN THE STORM. + + +After this the younger Mrs. Bosworth came into the parlor, her eyes red +with weeping, and looking weaker and more in affliction than ever. She +had done everything, she said, dropping helplessly into a chair, and +nothing would pacify him. There he was, trying to read over a letter +that he kept hid away under the pillow, that shook and shook in his +hands till the whole room was full of its rustling, and it made her so +nervous she was afraid to stay alone with him--muttering, muttering as +if he were angry with her, that had been a good mother to him all his +days; no one could say to the contrary of that, she was sure. + +Another woman of a character so much above the level of that poor +mother's, might have become impatient; but the old lady listened to her +with great sympathy, excused her futile grief by half implied apologies, +and finally succeeded in persuading her to lie down on the sofa, while +we went up-stairs and watched by her son. + +The young man was indeed very ill, entirely out of his head, and talking +angrily to himself. The letter which Mrs. Bosworth had mentioned was +crushed in his hand, and he was rolling it into a round ball between his +two palms. While I stood looking upon him, thus troubled by some unseen +enemy, and flung back upon a sick-bed, it seemed impossible that any one +could be cruel enough for such work, unless the heart of a fiend had +somewhere taken human form. + +I would have stayed in the sick-room longer, for my poor talent for +nursing was never more required, but the old lady seemed anxious to send +me home. Having done her utmost to relieve the unhappy situation of our +patient, she was restless till her object was put in some state of +forwardness; so I went away, leaving her rather hopeful, but very +desponding myself. + +As I went home, the clouds that had been broken and scattered were +gathered into vast tent-like masses, and a slow rain began to fall, +which gradually wet me through. I did not heed it; nothing could be +gloomier than my feelings. It seemed to me as if I were going to a house +of strangers, so completely had the machinations of that woman shut me +out from my old place in the family. So I let it rain on, without a wish +to escape the discomfort. + +When I was nearly across the fields, I saw a figure approaching through +the gray mists, and would gladly have avoided it by turning into the +woods; but a voice called me by name, and I stopped at once. It was +Jessie, who had come out into the storm to meet me. Lawrence had called +at the house and informed the family of young Bosworth's relapse. + +"He is there now, I suppose," she said, excitedly; "but I came away, +guessing where you had gone. I cannot breathe in the house when they are +together, and he lying so ill and helpless." + +I looked up at these words. The storm was beating in her face, but her +cheeks were like fire underneath. It might have been all rain that +flashed down the burning surface; but I thought not, for there were +suppressed sobs in her voice when she spoke. + +"Is--is your father at home?" I inquired, hesitating in my speech, I +cannot tell wherefore. + +"No; he rode over to town before the storm came on. They have the house +to themselves." + +She spoke bitterly. In truth, I scarcely recognized my own sweet Jessie +with those wet garments clinging around her, and that excited face. We +walked on in silence, for she turned to retrace her steps. At last she +said, abruptly: + +"How is he, Aunt Matty? Does he suffer?" + +"Greatly, I think, Jessie." + +"No wonder he is ill," she said, passionately. "It is enough to break +down anything human." + +"I am glad you can feel for him, Jessie." + +"Feel for him! Who can help it? But who feels for--for--" + +She broke off abruptly, turning pale and cold. + +I walked on, distressed by this broken confidence, but knew well that +Jessie was too proud for anything more definite. + +As we came into the field bordered by the carriage sweep, a horseman +dashed up to the gate, which had been left open, and was passing at a +swift gallop toward the house. It was Mr. Lee returning from town, and +riding fast to escape the rain. He saw us dragging our way through the +grass, and drew up, regarding our condition with a look so stern that it +chilled me. + +"He is angry with me for going out, I suppose," said Jessie, drearily. +"Well, I could not help it." + +After regarding us for a full minute with that hard look, Mr. Lee rode +on, his horse tramping heavier than before, and sending back broken +flakes of mud, as if casting it purposely against us. He rode directly +to the stables. Jessie and I slunk into the house by the back entrance +like culprits. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +JESSIE GETS TIRED OF HER GUEST. + + +I kept my chamber that day, striving to make up my mind about what +course was best for me to pursue. My life at Mr. Lee's had become so +harassing, that it was absolutely burdensome. I did not know friends +from enemies in that house, for every being in it seemed changed. I sat +down alone and wept in bitter grief. Should I go away and leave the +ill-contested field to that woman, who was surely working out some great +evil to the whole family? I was not dependent. Considerable property was +vested in my favor, but it was in Mr. Lee's hands; and so generously had +he provided for every possible want, that even the income remained +untouched. + +I had ability, and could have earned my bread anywhere, either as a +governess or a teacher, had that been necessary. Thus, personal +considerations could not have bowed down my spirits to the state of +depression that fell upon me. Something deeper lay at my heart. Was it +love for Jessie? was it fear that the poor girl would be left without +defence, to the machinations of that cruel woman? I cannot tell. If +other and more selfish feelings existed in my bosom, I did not know it. +Indeed, so absorbed were all my faculties in the difficulties that +thickened around us, that I had no time for self-examination. Dear, dear +Jessie! how could I help her? That was the burden of my thoughts. + +The thorough drenching which I had received made me hoarse and really +ill. In my anxiety, I had neglected to change my clothes; but the cold +shudders that crept over me aroused my attention to the danger, and, +changing my damp garments, I lay down, striving to get warm. + +I have a vague recollection that the sun broke out, and came flashing +through the leaves into my chamber. Then I heard voices in the garden +beneath, which chilled me worse than the cold. + +Mr. Lee and Mrs. Dennison were conversing together on the terrace, where +camp-stools and garden-chairs were always standing. I could have heard +everything; the temptation was great, but I put it away, burying my head +in my pillow, and drowning their voices with my sobs. + +Toward night Jessie came to my room. She was sad and disheartened; Mr. +Lee had not spoken to her since our return; and even her mother was +vexed that she should have exposed herself to the storm. + +I inquired if Mr. Lawrence was at the house when her father returned. +Jessie thought not, but could not say positively; only he seldom was +there, except in her father's absence. + +She said this abruptly, and turned the conversation; the very name of +Lawrence seemed to distress her. + +"Aunt Matty," she said, after a dreary silence, "will this widow never +leave our house? Shall we remain in this state till it brings ruin on us +all? Mother seems fading away, and no one appears to care. You look +years older; and as for me--" + +"Well, Jessie?" + +"No matter about me; but something must be done. So long as it was +myself only, I made an effort to bear it; but we are all changed, all +unhappy--dear, sweet mamma, and even Lottie. There is poison in the very +atmosphere, I think." + +"Let us have patience, Jessie; this cannot last much longer; but while +Mrs. Dennison remains here, do not forget that she is your mother's +guest." + +"But how long--how long, I say, will this last? My father is getting +more distant and estranged every hour. I feel like an alien under his +roof--a stranger to my very self." + +She was greatly excited, and wrung her hands with passionate vehemence. +The proud reticence of her character was all swept away; she fell upon +her knees by the bed on which I lay, and sobbed aloud. I am sure this +would not have happened with any one else; but I had become almost a +second self to the dear girl, and she was not ashamed to give way to her +grief in my presence. + +While she was on her knees, Lottie opened my chamber-door and looked +in. Seeing Miss Jessie, she drew back, placed a finger on her lips, and +performed a series of pantomime that would have been exceedingly +ludicrous but for the anxiety that beset me. As it was, I saw that she +had something to communicate, but was afraid to ask her in while Jessie +was so disturbed. + +She saw this, and darting a finger backward over her shoulder and +forward at me, as if it had been a weapon, retreated, making up faces +that grew more ludicrous with every step. + +Jessie had seen nothing of this. She arose, after a little, and went +out, sighing heavily. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +A CONSULTATION WITH LOTTIE. + + +Directly after she was gone, Lottie came back, and, closing the door, +bolted it inside and stole up to my bed on tiptoe. She looked pale and +frightened, but her eyes shone through the shadows that had suddenly +settled around them, and she moved like a hound doubling on its prey. + +"Miss Hyde," she said, "just listen while you have time; that red +Babylon has gone and done it. I've had my hands full all day scooting +about among the wet bushes, and holding my breath behind +window-shutters. Now, would you believe it? I've been two hull hours +squinched up in that big rosewood book-case with the green silk lining; +for them new painted winders in the tower library are the most +aggravating things to one as wants to keep her eyes open. Thanks be to +goodness! the new books haven't arrived, and I should have had lots of +room if human beings had been built flat. As it was, I got along by +holding in my breath and bowing the doors a trifle." + +"But what did you go into the book-case for, Lottie?" I inquired, +anxious to bring her to some point in her communication. + +"What did I go into the book-case for? Why, only to hear what was going +on in that room, to be sure. Wasn't that Mr. Lawrence and Mrs. Babylon +there, sitting on the sofa together two hull hours?" + +"And you listened to the conversation?" + +"In course I did." + +She seemed waiting for me to ask more questions, but I could not force +myself thus indirectly to partake in a dishonorable act. + +"You won't ask what they said, and yet are a-dying to know, any fool can +see that. Well, thanks be to goodness! I ain't a lady, and if I was, for +_her_ sake I'd do worse things than that; my ears were made to hear +with, and I ain't going to fight agin nature." + +"But you came to see me for something, Lottie?" + +"Certainly I did. But how is one to tell things without talking right +out? Well, if you won't ask what I heard in the book-case, I must tell +you promiscuous. This she-sarpent has about done up your business for +you, as she means to for me and the rest of 'em before long." + +"Done my business for me, Lottie! What does that mean? I do not +understand." + +"Likely enough; but I'll tell you; Babylon is in love with Mr. +Lawrence." + +"I wish from my heart he'd marry her," I thought. + +"But she won't have him," said Lottie, as if answering my thought. "At +any rate, not yet." + +"Well, well, Lottie, tell me what brings you here? My head aches." + +"So does mine," said Lottie, lifting a hand to her head, and pressing +her forehead hard with the palm. "Well, Miss Hyde, a little while ago, +Mr. Lee and Mrs. Babylon were sitting on the platform under this very +window. It was just after the rain, and they happened to meet as he was +coming out to enjoy the sunshine. I happened in the same way to be +dusting the sofa close by the window, and it took me a good while. Don't +put up your hand, Miss Hyde, you'd 'a' listened yourself. She was +talking about you." + +"About me?" + +"Yes. I can't give the words; but she was saying, in her silky way, that +Miss Jessie was so much altered since she met her at the sea-shore, so +obstinate and demonstrative, vulgarized, as one might say, if anything +so very beautiful could be vulgarized. But didn't Mr. Lee think that a +companion who followed her pupil into society was rather a drawback, and +apt to get a predominating influence over that of the parents? Was he +certain of Miss Jessie's friend,--of her prudence and disinterestedness? +Of course, she had no right to give an opinion: but when the time came +for a young lady to enter society, was there no reason to think that a +household companion, like Miss Hyde, might become a dangerous +counsellor? Of course, Mr. Lee knew best, his wisdom was never at fault; +but would not a companion, perfectly dependent, and who had some +experience in society, produce a better result? + +"I wish you could 'a' seen Mr. Lee's face, Miss Hyde. He looked up all +of a sudden, and his eyes flashed fire; Babylon saw it, and looked down +as if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth; and then he took her hand in +his,--it wasn't the first time, Miss Hyde, I'd bet my head on that, for +it all came too easy--and I've seen what I have seen;--then he said how +difficult it was to find such a person,--one who was an ornament to +society, and yet willing to live in a place like that which Mrs. Lee's +illness made, in some sort, like a prison. + +"She left her hand in his, and lifted her eyes to his face sideways--you +know how--and said a few words almost in a whisper. I couldn't catch the +first word, but he turned red as fire and lifted her hand to his lips, +almost; then he dropped it again and begged her pardon." + +I had no power to stop Lottie's narrative. The import of this +conversation struck me with a sudden pang. It seemed as if sentence of +death had been pronounced upon me. What could I do? Where on earth was a +home like that to be found? What would Jessie and Mrs. Lee do without +me? That woman in my place! The thought was anguish. I almost hated her. + +Lottie stood by the bed, looking at me, with trouble in her face. + +"I knew that it would be a blow; but this is worse than I expected," she +said. "How white you are--how your lips quiver! But don't take on so. +Let them try it; let Babylon do her worst--she'll find her match. I've +learned a thing or two, since she came, that I didn't know +before,--especially how to droop your eyelids and look meek, then open +'em quick and flash out fire. It's taking, I've tried it with--with--" + +"With whom, Lottie?" + +"With--but no matter; when the birds sing, chickens have a right to +peep. Babylon isn't the only person who can turn a feller's head, and +good looks is according to one's taste. Then there's a difference in +flirting, when the object is a good one; don't you think so, Miss Hyde?" + +"I don't know, Lottie," was my dreary answer; "you must ask about these +matters of some one who has had more experience." + +"Oh! I don't care about asking; it all comes natural enough after the +first lesson. But you won't let them drive you away--it would break her +heart, I know it would." + +Lottie's eyes were full of tears. Poor girl! she had a good heart. + +This sympathy touched me deeply. I was so desolate and felt so wronged, +that a kind word filled me with gratitude, even from Lottie. + +"Oh! ma'am, don't mind it! Babylon sha'n't hurt you while I can help it. +Only be firm, and don't go off in a fit of pride. Stand your ground to +the last, and when the worst comes to the worst, depend on me." + +The girl took my hand and kissed it; then, kneeling down by the bed, +laid her face close to mine. + +"Miss Hyde--" + +"Well, my good girl." + +"I have something to say, something that worries me dreadfully; are you +listening?" + +"Yes, child." + +"It is about mistress. Don't you see how dreadfully thin she is getting? +You can almost look through her hand." + +"Yes, Lottie, it makes my heart ache to think of it. Have you any idea +of the cause?" + +"_He_ don't visit her much now." + +"You have noticed it, you--" + +"I count the minutes every day." + +"This might vex her, but not to the extent that seems so visible." + +"No, there is something else. I cannot understand it; but wait awhile, +Miss Hyde, I'm on hand." + +I hardly heard this. The idea that my presence in that house had become +a burden, that I might be at any moment desired to leave my place in the +family for that woman to fill, absorbed my faculties, and in the +selfishness of my distress, I gave less heed than the subject claimed to +what the girl was saying. + +She saw this, I suppose; for, with renewed entreaties that I should hold +firmly to my position and trust to her for the rest, she crept from the +room, almost crying. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + +THE MIDNIGHT DISCOVERY. + + +About an hour after this I arose, bathed my forehead, and went into Mrs. +Lee's chamber, for the pain of my solitary thoughts became unendurable. +The poor lady was lying on the sofa, with her eyes closed, looking more +wan than ever. Something troubled her, I am sure; for tears were +swelling under the transparent whiteness of her eyelids, and her hands +were clasped over her bosom. This was an attitude habitual to her when +disturbed by any grief, and seeing it, I turned to go away; but she +heard my footstep and opened her eyes. There was something in her manner +that went to my heart--a sort of mournful constraint, as if she shrunk +from my presence. Still she held forth her hand. + +I sat down in my old place, and she closed her eyes again, as if any +effort at speech was beyond her strength. In the broader light which +fell upon her face, I saw that she had been crying--an unusual thing +with her at any time; for all sources of trouble had been kept so +sedulously from that room, that grief amounting to tears seldom found +its way there. + +After a prolonged silence that chilled me to the heart, she laid her +hand on mine, and I saw that her earnest eyes were searching my face. + +"Dear Miss Hyde, we have been so happy together--I thought no family was +ever united like ours!" + +I understood the pathos in her voice, the meaning of her words. Mr. Lee +had begun the subject; already they were about to prove how troublesome +and useless I had been--how much my place was wanted for another. + +"You do not speak," she said, "surely, nothing has been said to wound +you?" + +"No," I answered, "I only come to see if you were in want of anything." + +"Ah! you have always been so attentive, so kind! How shall I get along +without you?" + +So it was decided. He had spoken, and they had settled my destiny; the +gentle invalid yielding without a murmur while her best friend was +driven from under her roof. I had no heart to continue the conversation, +and she, poor lady! evidently lacked the courage to speak plainer. Thus, +with apprehensions and grief, we remained together in silence. Her eyes +were closed, but not with sleep, I am sure of that; and I felt a dead +heaviness creeping over me, which carried with it a dreary sense of +pain. + +It was getting dark when I left the chamber. The depression was so heavy +upon me that I went down to the kitchen, thinking to ask the cook for a +cup of warm tea. Lottie was there busy at the range, and, singular +enough, making tea, as if my wants had been divined. + +"A handful, cook," she said, holding out the silver teapot for a renewed +supply. "I want it good and strong, something that will make one's eyes +snap." + +When the cook turned to put her canister in its place, Lottie went to +the closet and brought out two cups and saucers. + +"Miss Hyde," she said, "you have just come in time. I knew it'd be +wanted: try a good, strong cup, it will have the ache out of your head +in no time." + +I thanked her and took the cup she offered. It was strong to bitterness, +and I did not like the taste; but when I passed it back, Lottie put in +more sugar and cream, but no water. I was too weary for protest, and +drank the bitterness without further comment. + +Lottie seemed pleased, and insisted earnestly that I should take a +second cup, filling her own for the third time, and draining it with +what I thought must be heroism instead of desire. + +"There," she said, setting her cup down, "that will do, I reckon; it +makes my head as light as a cork. How do you feel, Miss Hyde?" + +"It is very, very strong, Lottie, and I fear it will keep me awake all +night." + +"Fear!" cried the girl, "fear! Why, of course it will! To tell you the +truth," she added, bending toward me, and whispering, "I begin to think +this isn't the house where one can sleep honestly. Now just go up to +your room, if you please, and don't let them see you looking so +miserable. There's trouble enough without that." + +The cook came toward us before I could answer. She was preparing to send +up tea for the family, and muttered something about ladies always being +in the way in a kitchen. So great was the depression of my spirits, that +I allowed this to wound me, and went away in deeper dejection. + +No human soul came near me during the evening. I could not sleep--the +stimulus urged my brain into swift action. I reviewed all the +difficulties of my position over and over again; strange projects came +into my mind, ways by which my wrongs--for I had been wronged--should be +redressed; speeches more eloquent than ever could reach my lips inspired +me, and these were to be addressed to Mr. Lee, in the presence of that +woman. A thousand wild fancies seized upon my brain and held it. I had +no wish to change my position. Having thrown myself on the bed in my +clothes, I remained there, thinking, thinking, thinking till my brain +ached, but would not pause for rest--a terrible inspiration was upon me. + +I heard a bustle in the house, as if the family were retiring; then the +clock struck eleven, twelve, one. The hours did not seem long, but the +stillness almost terrified me. All at once, it was after midnight some +time, a sound approached my chamber like the rush of a bird through the +air. I started up and listened. The door opened softly, and a figure +glided in. + +"Miss Hyde, are you awake? Get up this minute and come with me; if your +shoes are on, take them off. Come." + +I sprang up and followed Lottie swiftly and silently as she had reached +my chamber. She drew me through the passage into her own little room. As +I passed along the hall which led from the main building to the tower, +it seemed to me that my dress brushed against some one crouching in a +dark corner; but Lottie had not seen it, and I followed her, holding my +breath. She glided through her own room into the chamber where Mrs. Lee +slept. The carpets were thick as wood-moss, and our feet gave no sound. +When she was fairly in the room, Lottie paused, and I heard a slight, +scraping noise; then the sudden flash of a match was followed by the +blaze of a candle which the girl carried in her hand. + +As the light broke up, a faint cry came from the bed; a figure which +bent over it rose up suddenly, and I stood face to face with Mrs. +Dennison, the whitest woman that ever my eyes dwelt upon. She held a +crystal toilet-bottle in one hand, and in the other a wet +pocket-handkerchief. + +"Stand by the door, Miss Hyde. Don't let her move a foot. I'll be back +in a flash." + +Lottie darted from the room as she spoke, leaving the candlestick on the +carpet. + +The woman turned upon me then with the spirit of a tigress. Her eyes +flashed fire, the white teeth shone through her curved lips. She +attempted to pass me, but I retreated to the door and kept the +threshold. She came forward as if to force me away, still holding the +bottle and handkerchief in her hands. Never in my life had I seen a face +so beautiful and so fiendish. There was desperation in her eyes, +violence in her action; but though weaker and smaller than her, I would +have died on the threshold of that door rather than have allowed her to +cross it. + +All at once her face changed. She was looking, not at me, but over my +shoulder; a flash of quick intelligence shot from her eyes, and the next +moment she had thrown both arms about my neck and pressed my face to her +bosom. I knew that some one came close up behind me, and heard the clink +of glass; then a rush of feet through Lottie's room, and along the +passage. All this could not have lasted a minute. I struggled from the +woman's embrace, and pushed her from me with a violence that made her +stagger. Her face had changed to its old look of triumph. She laughed, +not naturally--that was beyond even her powers of self-command--but in a +way that made me shiver. + +"Dear Miss Hyde, is it you?" she said, in a voice that quaked in spite +of herself. "How terribly frightened I was! Poor Mrs. Lee must have been +very ill. I heard her moaning and calling for help in my room, and came +at once; she seems quite insensible now." + +I looked toward the bed. Mrs. Lee lay upon it, white, and still as a +corpse, her eyes closed, and her lips of a bluish white. Was she dead? +Had the woman killed her? A strong, pungent smell filled the room--a +smell of chloroform. It was almost suffocating. + +Mrs. Dennison seemed to think of this suddenly, and, darting toward the +window, flung open two of the sashes before I knew what she was about. A +gush of fresh air swept through the room; the pungent odor grew fainter +and fainter, at which she smiled on me triumphantly. + +I looked at her, as she stood in the light; a toilet-bottle was still in +her hand, but it was of crimson glass, spotted with gold; that which she +held, when I came in, was white and pure as water. How had she managed +to change the crystal flask? What had become of the handkerchief? + +Still smiling on me, she approached the bed and scattered fragrant drops +from the crimson flask over the pillows and the deathly face of my poor +friend. How still she lay! The whiteness of her face was terrible, but +I dared not approach her; my post was by the door till Lottie came; but +it made my blood run cold to see that woman bending over her, smoothing +the pillows with her hand, and filling the room with that lying +fragrance. + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + +BAFFLED AND DEFEATED. + + +It seemed an eternity before Lottie came back, yet she had not been +absent three minutes. She came alone, and stood by me at the door, +regarding Mrs. Dennison's movements with the keen vigilance of a fox. +But a glimpse of Mrs. Lee's face made her start forward with a cry of +dismay. + +"My mistress, she is dead! They have killed her!" + +She would have fallen upon her knees by the bed, but Mrs. Dennison put +her aside. It was an easy thing, for Lottie had lost all her strength in +that terrible fear. + +"Foolish child! she has only fainted," said Mrs. Dennison, holding her +back; "the air will bring her to." + +Lottie's courage returned with these words, and struggling from Mrs. +Dennison's hold, she sat down upon the bed, chafing Mrs. Lee's cold +hands and kissing them with loving tenderness. + +"Is she really and truly alive?" said the poor girl, appealing to me. + +I could not resist the wistful anxiety of that look, but came forward, +holding my breath, with a dread that her fears might be true. + +That moment Mr. Lee entered the room, and directly came Jessie, with a +look of terror on her face. She trembled like a leaf at the sight of +her mother, and turned to me, looking the question which she could not +frame in speech. + +"It is not death! I hope and believe that it is not death!" I said. + +Jessie fell upon a chair and burst into tears. + +"Hush, child!" said her father; "let us learn what has happened. Mrs. +Dennison, can you tell me?" + +"I hardly know myself," answered the widow, innocently. "I heard moans +and a cry for help coming from this room, and, springing up from my +sleep, ran to see what it meant. There was no light in the room, but I +felt that Mrs. Lee was cold and still as she lies now--alive, but +motionless. I had snatched a bottle from my toilet, and was bathing her +head with its contents, when Miss Hyde and the servant came in. They +were very much terrified, and alarmed the house, I hope unnecessarily. +It is a deep fainting fit. I am sure she will come out safely in time." + +As the woman said this, Lottie stood looking in her face, dumb with +astonishment. She saw the red flask in Mrs. Dennison's hand, felt the +changed atmosphere of the room, and, for once, her presence of mind gave +way. + +"Poor thing! she was half frightened to death," said Mrs. Dennison, +casting a patronizing glance at the crestfallen girl, "I never saw +anything so wild in my life." + +"And I never saw anything so wicked!" Lottie burst forth, clinching her +hands and almost shaking them at the woman. + +"Wicked! Oh, not so bad as that, my good girl," said the woman, gently. +"One can be frightened, you know, without being wicked." + +"Yes," said Lottie, with a sob, "and a person can be wicked without +being frightened, I know that well enough." + +"Lottie!" exclaimed Mr. Lee. + +Lottie stood for one instant like a wild animal at bay; but directly her +eyes fell upon her mistress, her form relaxed, and, creeping to the +bedside, she began to cry. + +"Oh, bring her to! bring her to! and I won't say another word," she +pleaded, looking piteously at the widow. + +"I am not omnipotent, poor child!" was the sweet reply. "But see! I +think there is a movement of her eyelids." + +Lottie rose from her knees and looked eagerly in that worn face. "Yes, +yes, she is alive; she is coming to herself. Oh, my mistress! my +mistress! I will never, never leave you again. I'll sleep on the floor +at the foot of your bed, like a dog, before anybody reaches you!" + +Tears rained down poor Lottie's face, and her voice was so full of grief +that no one had the heart to chide her, though it seemed to disturb the +invalid, who was slowly recovering consciousness. + +Mrs. Lee at last opened her eyes, and looked vaguely around at the +people near her bed, without seeming to recognize them; when Lottie +caught her vacant gaze, she burst forth,-- + +"Oh, ma'am, don't you know me? It's Lottie--it's Lottie!" + +This pathetic cry gained no response. Those dreamy eyes wandered from +face to face, with a helpless, appealing look indescribably touching. +Jessie bent over her mother, striving to make herself known; but her +sweet voice passed unheeded. Every kind effort failed to draw her from +this dull state of half-consciousness, till Mr. Lee passed his arm under +her head and drew it to his bosom. Then a thrill seemed to pass through +her whole frame, a smile dawned on her pale mouth. + +"Have I been ill?" she murmured, resting her head against the bosom to +which he gently lifted her,--"very ill, that you all come here in the +night?" + +"Yes," answered Mr. Lee, very tenderly; for he seemed to forget +everything in her danger. "But for our kind guest, I fear it might have +gone hard with you." + +Lottie, who was crouching at her mistress' feet, with her face buried in +the bed-clothes, uttered a sudden, "Oh! oh! I can't bear it!" and, +starting up, rushed into her room, looking at Mrs. Dennison over her +shoulders like a wild cat. + +"Poor Lottie!" muttered Mrs. Lee. "How it troubles her to see any one +suffer! And you, my kind guest--" + +The gentle lady held out her hand to Mrs. Dennison, smiling wanly, but +too feeble for any other expression of gratitude. + +"Mamma," said Jessie, quickly, "do not try to speak, but rest. This has +been a terrible attack." + +"You here, my child, and I not know it!" whispered the invalid; "forgive +me." + +Mrs. Dennison pressed forward; but Jessie stepped between her and the +invalid, not rudely, but with quiet decision which became the daughter +of that proud man. + +"Aunt Matty," she said, glancing past the widow, "had you not better +leave her to papa and me? So many faces excite her." + +Jessie was very pale, and I saw that her lips were quivering with +agitation. Something had wounded her almost beyond bearing. + +"Yes," I answered, promptly, "we will withdraw;" and, looking at Mrs. +Dennison steadily, I waited for her to move first. + +"This may be of service," she said, sweetly, placing the ruby-tinted +bottle in Jessie's hand. "I found it very useful in reviving her." + +Jessie took the bottle, but set it down at once. Indeed, her hand shook +so violently that it must otherwise have fallen. + +"Now, Miss Hyde, I do not see that our presence will be of further use," +said the widow, gliding toward the door. + +I stepped back to avoid contact even with her garments. My heart was +full of bitter loathing. I grew cold as she passed me, and answered her +smile with a look that frightened it from her lips. We passed through +Lottie's room, but I could not force myself to enter it till even her +shadow had disappeared. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + +LOTTIE OWNS HERSELF BEATEN. + + +When the woman was gone, I went in and spoke to Lottie, who had curled +herself up in the window-seat, with her knees drawn up, and both hands +locked over them. + +"Don't speak to me; don't anybody dare to speak to me!" she said, +motioning me off with her head. "I ain't worth noticing. I'd give +something to any decent person that'd whip me within an inch of my life, +or bite me--I don't care which--so long as it hurt." + +"Lottie," I whispered, pressing my hand on her shoulder to enforce what +I said, "do not speak a word of this till I have seen you. Come up to my +room." + +"I won't. Nothing on earth shall take me out of her sight again. +There'll be murder if I do." + +"Hush! Lottie, I do not understand all this." + +"But _I_ do; and I give up, she's out-generalled me. I'll never pretend +to crow over her again; but it's awful, oh! it's awful!" + +She shuddered all over, and crouched closer together, winding both arms +tightly around her knees. + +"Tell me all about it, Lottie. I must know, in order to judge how to +act." + +She moved on the window-seat, that I might sit closer to her; then +drawing my head down with her arm, whispered,-- + +"I knew that she was doing something, and that Mrs. Lee was suffering by +it; but what? that was the question. I tried to keep awake at nights, +but it was of no use; no log ever slept as I did. Last night, you +remember, I drank that strong tea. It wasn't because I liked it; but I +was determined to keep awake. I wanted you to be on hand as well, and +gave you a powerful dose; and wasn't you wide awake as a night-hawk when +I came into your room? + +"Well, I went to bed just as I always do, and lay down with my eyes +shut, waiting. Babylon had gone to her room; but Cora was floating about +in the passages a good while; finally she went in, and everything was +still. It seemed to me as if I kept growing sharper and wider awake +every minute; but I never heard that woman's step till she stood over +me, and her shadow fell clear across the bed; I bit my lips to keep from +screaming, but lay still and waited. + +"She called my name two or three times, whispering louder each time; but +I drew my breath even and deep, waiting for her. All at once that +strange smell that was in the room when you came almost strangled me; +but as I bit my lips harder, down came a wet cloth over my face. It +almost smothered me, for she pressed it close with her hand till I felt +a strange falling away, as if she had forced me over a rock, and I was +myself sinking. One minute more, and I should have been nowhere; but +some noise in the entry took her away. + +"I snatched the cloth from my face and crept softly out of bed. The +whirl and weight made me so dizzy, I could not walk, but crept on my +hands and knees through the door which she had left open. Here the fresh +air blew over me, and I felt steady enough to run to your room. + +"You know how we found her, and how she put us down. I thought we had +her, safe and sure; but here we are worse off than ever. I believe she +would kill that blessed angel before his face, and no one would believe +it." + +I sat in silence, wondering what course it was best for me to pursue. +That this woman was undermining Mrs. Lee's feeble life, by repeated +applications of chloroform, I could not doubt; but how convince the +family of this? It was an act so hideous in itself, that the very +charge, if unbelieved, would be considered a crime. I was sure that, +with the help of her maid, she had changed the bottle which contained +the chloroform while struggling with me at the door; but how was I to +prove this? Lottie--alas! this woman had so fascinated those who held +power in the family, that her story would be of no avail without some +indisputable proof to sustain it. + +Jessie would believe us, I was sure; but the belief, without power to +remedy a state of things so terrible that it made my heart sink, would +only produce pain. What could I do? Helplessly I asked the question. Yet +a terrible necessity required all my energies. + +The dejection of poor Lottie had a numbing effect upon me. She, usually +so full of resources, so ardent in her courage, sat on the window-seat, +crestfallen and beaten like myself. One thing was certain, Lottie would +keep strict guard now. Whatever the woman's motives were, the events of +that night would never be repeated, so long as that faithful creature +kept her place in the household. But how long would she keep that place? +How long should I be left under the same roof with her? + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + +MR. LEE SENDS IN THE ACCOUNT OF HIS GUARDIANSHIP. + + +The pain of my apprehensions hunted me out of all society. I crept away +into the woods, the next day, wondering what I should do, how it was my +duty to act. I could not bear to see any of the family. No charge had +been made, no suspicion cast on Mrs. Dennison; but it seemed to me that +every member of the household must read my thoughts and condemn me for +them. I felt broken down and driven forth by this woman. + +I did not remember or care for the hours of breakfast or dinner; +excitement had driven all thoughts of food from my mind. This increased +my languor and made me more helpless still. Why had this beautiful woman +come to torment me? What had I done to be thus virtually driven into the +fields like a wild animal? I wandered off to the ridge, and sat down on +the rock where I had once conversed with Mrs. Dennison. I do not know +what time of the day it was; for the sun was obscured and the heavens +were fleecy with black clouds. My head ached sadly; but that was nothing +to the pain at my heart. + +A storm came up while I sat there; but I was quite unconscious of it +till my clothes were wet through, and I felt all my limbs shivering with +the cold. I did not think of the consequences; it seemed so natural that +I should be beaten down, that I cowered under the fierce rain like a +poor flower that grew by me on the rock. The sunshine might revive +that--would it ever come to me? + +I remember feeling a mournful companionship with this solitary blossom, +and sheltering it with a corner of my wet shawl. It was some distraction +to the thoughts that harassed me to fancy the pretty thing as wretched +as myself. Still I sat upon the rock, and still the rain beat down upon +me. At last I heard Lottie's voice through the drifting storm, calling +for me anxiously. + +I arose and stood up, trembling from head to foot--the wet had chilled +the very heart in my bosom. + +"Why, what is this? Where have you been? What's the matter? Ain't you a +fool, good and strong? Mercy! how you look--how your teeth do chatter! +Now, speak out and let's know if you really are alive!" cried the +kind-hearted creature, attempting to shake the wet from my shawl, but, +finding that hopeless, wringing it between both hands, like a +washerwoman. + +"I've been with her all day; haven't left her one minute alone--not even +with him. When he came, I planted myself by the bed, and there I stood +like a monument. She kept asking for you." + +"For me?" I faltered, smitten with compunction. "I did not think of +that." + +"You've given up thinking of anything, I'm afraid," said Lottie, +shivering. "It wasn't just the thing to run off and leave me to bear the +brunt of all their looks and questions! Not that I answered them--oh, +no! but I wanted to get off and have a good cry as well as you." + +"I am very sorry, Lottie." + +"But that was nothing till she asked for you over and over again; then +I'd 'a' given anything to have jumped up and after you. Besides, Miss +Jessie was hunting up and down, wondering where you were, and Mr. Lee +looked like a thunder-cloud." + +"Mr. Lee?" + +"Yes, Mr. Lee! But there you stand with your teeth going +chatter--chatter--chatter--like a squirrel cracking hickory-nuts. Do +come into the house!" + +I followed her, meekly enough; she scolding and reviling, and petting me +all the way as if I had been a lap-dog out of favor. + +When we reached the house, it was late in the afternoon. I had eaten +nothing that day, and still loathing the idea of food, felt its want in +all my frame. + +"Go up to your chamber, quick," said Lottie, hurrying me through the +hall. "Babylon is in the drawing-room, and I wouldn't have her see you +looking so like a drowned hen for nothing. Wouldn't it tickle her!" + +This speech aroused me a little, and I struggled up the stairs and +entered my room. Lottie followed me to the door, said something very +peremptory about changing my clothes, and went away. + +What possessed me, I do not know; I remember flinging off my wet shawl +and shuddering, with a sense of extreme coldness, as it fell with a +splash on the carpet; I remember, also, feeling how necessary it was +that I should exchange my clothes for dry ones. But as I went toward the +toilet, a letter lying upon it drew my attention from everything else. I +had not the courage to touch it--a reptile coiled there could not have +disturbed me more. So I stood looking at it in the dreary wetness of my +garments, knowing what it meant, and dreading it. I took the letter up +at last. It was thick and heavy; my heart sunk beneath its weight, my +limbs trembled so violently, that I was obliged to sit down on the bed. + +I broke the envelope. A thick paper covered with figures fell into my +lap, a leaf of note-paper on which there was writing, fluttered after +it. + +I knew what it was. For the first time in my life Mr. Lee had sent me an +account of his guardianship. Those figures, dancing in such fantastic +rows before my eyes, contained an exact statement of my property, its +growth, and aggregate amount. I knew this without the power to read or +make an estimate. I knew also what it all meant. I had long been of age; +my guardian, in that tedious combination of figures, was giving up his +trust. That woman had prevailed; I was no longer welcome under Mr. Lee's +roof. The paper fell from my hands. I took up the note, but only read +the first few lines. They were very kind, but confirmed my fears. I +could not read the note through--the whole room swam around me--a faint +sickness crept to my vitals--nothing but darkness; into this I sank +helplessly, and lay in its sombre depths for weeks. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + +COMING OUT OF A DANGEROUS ILLNESS. + + +I asked if it was late--if I had overslept myself. It was Lottie to whom +I spoke. She bent her face to mine; she looked into my eyes with a +fervor of gladness in hers that made my nerves shrink. She caught up +both my hands and kissed them; then burst into tears, and ran into the +hall, crying out,-- + +"Miss Jessie, oh, Miss Jessie!" + +My darling came, looking pale and harassed; but for the moment her face +lighted up, and she approached me eager and breathless. + +"You are better, dear Aunt Matty? Say that you know me." + +"Know you, my darling?" + +I tried to say this, and felt very helpless when my voice died away in a +strange whisper; but a glow was on my face, and I know that my lips +smiled, though they could not speak. + +"You know me!" she cried, joyously.--"Oh! Lottie, it is true, she knows +us--she will get well!" + +Had I been ill? Was that the reason I felt so like a little child? + +Jessie read this question in my eyes and answered it, kissing my +forehead with her cool lips. + +"Oh, yes, Aunt Matty, _so_ ill! Out of your head, poor soul!" + +Out of my head! The thought troubled me. Why? Had I anything to conceal? +To question one's soul requires strength, for it is a stern task. I was +very weak, and so put the subject aside. The very sight of Jessie's face +had wearied me. + +She sat down on the bed, and then I saw how sad and thoughtful she had +become. Her very lips were pale, and her eyes were shaded by their inky +lashes, which threw her whole face into mourning. Had she suffered so +much because I was ill, or were other sorrows distressing her? + +She held my hand in hers, clasping it tenderly. I strove to return the +caress; but my poor fingers only fluttered in hers like the wings of a +birdling when it first sees food. She knew that I wanted to return her +love, and smiled upon me; but oh! how sad her smile was! Then I fell off +into a quiet sleep. + +The next day I could ask questions. How long was it? Four weeks--four +weeks, in which they had been so anxious! The doctors had given me up, +but she and Lottie had always hoped. It seemed as if I could not be +taken from her just when she wanted me so much. + +"And her mother, was all well?" + +Mrs. Lee was better, stronger, and more cheerful than she had been for +weeks before I was taken ill. Indeed, she had once crept to my chamber, +and cried over me like a child. + +"Mrs. Lee better, and more cheerful? Then why was Jessie so sad?" + +The dear girl turned away her face and made no answer. Her silence cut +me to the heart. + +Then I remembered the letter; that sheet of paper, with its red lines, +and crowded with figures, came before me with a pang, as if some one had +struck me on the heart. The grief that convulsed my face frightened +Jessie; she understood it and strove to reassure me. + +"It is all well," she said; "never think of it again." + +She might as well have asked a wounded man to forget the bullet rankling +in his flesh. How much that package had hurt me, no human being could +ever tell! + +"Father has been very anxious about you," she said; "I never saw him +suffer so much." + +"What have you done with it?" I inquired. + +She knew what I meant, and answered, gently,-- + +"I gave them back to my father--all except the letter, which I burned." + +"Thank you, dear child." + +There was silence awhile. I wanted to ask a question, but it made me +faint. I think she would have answered that without waiting for words, +only that the subject was a pain to her, as it was agony to me. + +"Is _she_ here yet?" + +I knew that a whiteness was creeping over my lips as I uttered the +words, and I felt a thrill of disgust pass over Jessie. + +"She is here." + +The bitter distress in her voice told me all that was in her heart. But +it was a subject we could not speak upon. + +"I have done everything in my power to send her away; but she will +understand no hint, and I have no right to take decisive steps while my +parents both like her so much." + +"Both?" I questioned. + +"Yes; I think so. Mother seemed pleased to have her in the room." + +"And is she much there?" I questioned, faintly. + +"Yes, very often, and for hours together." + +"Alone?" I inquired, starting from my pillow and falling back from +weakness. + +"Seldom--never, I think. Father is generally with them, and Lottie--what +a dear, faithful creature she is!--will never leave the room. If they +drive her out, she is sure to retreat into her own little den and will +leave the door ajar." + +"Faithful, good Lottie!" I murmured. + +Jessie kissed me and said, with mournful lovingness, that I must not +talk, for I was all the friend she had to stand by her. She hesitated a +moment and added, "Except, of course, my parents." + +Obedient to her gentle command, I closed my eyes; but the anxieties that +had taken flight in temporary insanity crowded back upon me, and my poor +brain labored fearfully under them. + +Was I right--knowing what I knew, and thinking what I thought--to keep +anything back from Jessie? I had been so in the habit of mingling Mrs. +Dennison's acts with those of Mr. Lee, that it seemed impossible to +separate them, or speak of her without condemning him, at least by +implication. I could not do this with his own child; for it was very +doubtful if Jessie's entire and now very evident dislike of the woman +had not sprung exclusively from the course she had taken with Lawrence. +By word or look she had never given a sign of any other thought. + +After pondering over these things in my mind, I remembered that, after +all, Mr. Lee was not connected with anything I knew, except in my own +suspicions; and even then I was not base enough to impute a wrong +motive, much less a wrong act to him. Why should I fear, then, to speak +openly to Jessie? While chained to that pillow--as I must be for days to +come--who could guard Mrs. Lee as well as her own daughter? + +While these reflections passed through my brain, Jessie had been sitting +motionless on the bed, afraid to move lest she might disturb the sleep +into which she fancied me to have fallen. When I opened my eyes, she +smiled down upon me. + +"You have been a little troubled with dreams, I fear," she said, +smoothing the hair back from my temples. + +"No, Jessie; I have not been asleep, but thinking. Lie down here on my +pillow; I want to tell you something." + +She laid her beautiful face close to mine. In a weak voice, and at +intervals, I told her everything, but never once mentioning her father, +even remotely. Indeed, there was no occasion; for I am certain he knew +as little as the innocent girl at my side of that wicked night-work, in +which our invalid had sunk so rapidly. + +I never saw horror and dismay exhibit itself so forcibly on any +countenance as it appeared on that lovely face. It touched mine like +marble. + +"What can we do?--what must we do?" she said. "Why did you not tell papa +at once?" + +"I had no proof--he would not have believed me." + +"But your word--who ever doubted that?" + +"Her word would have prevailed against mine. Oh! Jessie, Jessie, she is +a terrible woman!" + +"And my mother--my poor, suffering mother! What can her object be? No +dove was ever more blameless than poor, dear mamma!" she said, with +tender pathos. "Was she not content with what she had done against me? +But I will go at once to papa and tell him everything about her." + +"No," I said, trying to hold her with my feeble hand; "he will not +believe you." + +"Not believe me, Aunt Matty?" + +"I fear not--Jessie, don't look so wounded! But he would demand your +authority, and you would, of course, give me." + +"Not without your permission." + +"You would have it; but all might end in her triumph over us both. You +remember the letter which came to me, that account of his stewardship? +Ask yourself if it was the work of Mr. Lee's own heart." + +"No, no, I am sure it was not!" + +"Yet it came on the very next day." + +"And broke your heart, dear Aunt Matty. I could not understand it. The +first lines about money fastened themselves upon me I don't know how. I +did not think, in my fright, when Lottie told me that you were ill, +about its being a private letter; still I only read that and carried +the paper back. What was in the letter I did not know; but I burned it +to pacify you." + +"The rest was only a kind dismissal from the house, Jessie!" + +"A dismissal from the house! You--you?" + +"Yes. I am only here now on sufferance," I answered, with feeble +bitterness, which ended in a flood of more feeble tears. + +Jessie was terribly distressed; but she made gentle efforts at soothing +me, and at last I sobbed myself into quietness like a child, with my +head resting on her shoulder. + +"But you shall never go--never while I live," she said, with her old +queenliness of manner. "I may stand by and see this woman robbing me of +the love that was mine, when pride forbids me to cry out; but you, my +oldest, my best friend! She must not attempt that." + +Her eyes sparkled, her beautiful face took a positive expression. How I +loved her! + +"But about my poor mother," she said; "what can we do?" + +"Wait and watch," I answered. + +She was very thoughtful, and the look of distress upon her face made my +heart ache. + +"Lottie is honest," she said. "Now I understand why she would never +leave the room even to nurse you. Good girl! she has been more faithful +to my mother than her own child; but who could have known this?" + +"Be dutiful!" I whispered, for this conversation had taken away my last +remnant of strength. + +"I will,--and watchful. Others may doubt this,--I believe it." + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + +LOTTIE SEEMS TREACHEROUS. + + +Lottie came into the room while we were talking, and, after closing the +door, Jessie began to question her about the events of that night. To my +astonishment, Lottie looked blankly in her face, and protested that she +could not understand what we were thinking of. Mrs. Lee had fainted, and +Miss Hyde had been called, of course, and that raised a fuss, as such +things generally did. This was all she knew about it. + +Jessie looked at her steadily a moment and turned away. + +I was astonished and grieved. What could the girl mean? + +After Jessie went out, the creature came up to my bed, and, doubling up +her fist, shook it in my face, thus mocking my indignant weakness. + +"You're a pretty Miss Hyde to trust a secret with, you are! What +possessed you to tell that? How many cooks do you mean to have in one +mess of soup? She can't keep it more than you could; and the next thing +will be, you and I'll be swept out of this house like a nest of wasps. +Not that I'd go, but there'd be a tussel, such as never was seen here +before. Of course, you'd give in, and curl up like a caterpillar on a +dry leaf; but I'll never do it while she lives and wants me. But all +that don't mean that I'm going to fly in the face of Providence, and +give Babylon a chance to turn me out, for it mightn't be convenient for +me to get sick--not that I think your sickness isn't the genuine +article, mind; I know it is, more shame to 'em, but I'm bound to be on +hand with a sharp eye and close tongue. Trust Miss Jessie, indeed! Well, +crazy folks will be crazy folks, any way you can fix it." + +I was so weary that all this scarcely made an impression on my poor +brain. But I had a vague feeling that the girl was right, and that I had +acted very rashly. Indeed, I was not sure that Lottie's stout denial of +that woman's work might not shake even Jessie's confidence in me. The +distress and excitement of these thoughts shook my poor, quivering +nerves, till I fell back into the old delirium, and after that no +talking was allowed in my room for a long time. + +No wonder Mr. Lee started as if he had seen a ghost, when I crept by him +in the passage leading to his wife's chamber, the first time that I was +permitted to move from my room. The color mounted to his face. He +paused, turned back and gave me his hand, striving to smile. + +I could not touch his hand, or even attempt to smile. He had wounded me +too deeply for that. + +"My dear Miss Hyde," he said, dropping the hand which I had no strength +to touch, "no one can be more rejoiced than I am at your recovery. Pray +forget everything that might make you think otherwise; it was all a +misunderstanding." + +I did not speak, but tears swelled into my eyes, and I turned away +wounded a second time by his confused explanation. + +Mrs. Lee was so overjoyed to have me with her again. She looked much +better, and seemed more cheerful than I had seen her since Mrs. +Dennison's advent in the family. + +Mrs. Dennison came into the chamber while I was there. She recognized me +with careless politeness, called my attention to the improvement in Mrs. +Lee, and, in a thousand adroit ways, triumphed in showing me how +completely I was crowded out from my place in the household--even in +that sick-chamber, where my chief usefulness lay. + +I was feeble and unduly sensitive, or this conduct would not have +wounded me so keenly as it did. Spite of myself, the pain of this +interview would make itself visible; so I arose and went into Lottie's +room, for my strength availed no farther than that. + +The young girl sat quietly in her little domicile close by the door, +sewing upon some second-hand finery, but with every stitch she cast a +vigilant glance into Mrs. Lee's chamber, as if such watchfulness had +become a habit, of which she was herself unconscious. + +Lottie was always exceedingly repugnant to permitting any one into her +room; but when she saw me come toward her, looking so miserably feeble, +the frown left her face, and, starting up, she arranged the pillows on +her little white bed, and, sweeping back the curtains, motioned me to +lie down. I fell helplessly on the pretty couch, and she drew the +curtains around it, clouding me in lace. + +"Do you feel like sleeping?" she whispered. + +"No, Lottie, my heart aches too much for that." + +"Then lie still, and keep watch while I go out. It is ten days since I +have breathed the fresh air. Can I trust you?" + +"Yes, Lottie." + +The creature bent down and kissed me with great feeling; she too was +affected by the general depression. All her wild animal spirits seemed +hushed for the time. + +"I didn't mean to be hard with you the other day," she whispered, "so +don't mind it. Nobody thinks more of you than this child, you may +believe that." + +She glided out of the room, leaving the door open. Mrs. Dennison turned +her head quickly as she went out, but did not seem to observe that the +bed was occupied. + + + + +CHAPTER L. + +CONFIDENTIAL CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE WIDOW AND MRS. LEE. + + +I was greatly exhausted. The walk from my room to the tower, and that +brief interview with Mrs. Lee, had proved more than I could bear. So I +lay helplessly on the bed, watching the scene in the inner room like one +in a dream. How softly that woman moved about the chamber--how low and +sweet were the tones of her voice! No wonder the invalid grew calm and +cheerful under such ministration; it soothed even me. + +Our invalid had left her sofa, and sat in the easy-chair. The widow +arranged her footstool, and settled down upon it, covering those small +feet with a cloud of muslin, while her beautiful face was uplifted, and +her neck curved back with the fascinating grace of a serpent. Mrs. Lee's +dark eyes were bent upon her, so full of affection that the look made my +heart ache. In the stillness, I could hear every word that passed +between them. I was too much exhausted for thought; but even in another +state my position would have been the same, knowing what I knew, and +suspecting what I did, no refinement of honor would have driven me from +my post. + +"Then I am beginning to be a little comfort to you, dear lady," said the +haughty woman, looking sweetly in that gentle face, with her eyes full +of solicitude, as if the great hope of her life lay in the idea of being +useful. + +"Oh, a great comfort. If Jessie now were--" + +The sensitive heart checked her speech, and she broke off with a sigh. + +Mrs. Dennison drooped her eyes in delicate sympathy, and, taking a fold +of the muslin dress, which fell like billows of snow over the carpet, +began to plait it thoughtfully between her fingers. + +"You must not think that Jessie neglects you," she said. "The +confinements of a sick-room are so irksome to youth. I am sure she loves +you." + +"But she used to spend half her time with me. In the morning, she would +bring her work or her drawing, and we had such pleasant hours in my +chamber." + +"Yes, but it was before she came into society; that is sure to distract +the attention. Still, the dear girl must be unaware of the higher and +purer happiness she sacrifices." + +Mrs. Lee's face clouded, and she said, with a sad smile,-- + +"Well, you have not permitted me to feel this. By-and-by Jessie will get +some of your thoughtfulness." + +"You must not think of this, my dear friend," said the widow, +caressingly. "Only remember how well you are getting. I say nothing of +my own poor efforts; but surely Mr. Lee makes up for all deficiencies in +our sweet Jessie." + +Mrs. Lee's face brightened beautifully. "Oh, yes," she said, "he is with +me so much now; you charm him this way, I think." + +"Me? Oh! nothing like it. This change in yourself, dear friend, +constitutes the charm. You were dropping into such dreary ways, and +looked so ill in that eternal white dress; but now that you have +consented to brighten it up with ribbons, and pretty French caps, the +change is marvellous." + +"You think so," was the sweet reply. "I dare say it is true; but Jessie +always liked my dress, and she has fine taste." + +"But he likes something fresher and more worldly; and one dresses for a +husband." + +"Yes, yes; and these things do give something bright to the toilet, +though Lottie scouts them." + +"Well, never mind, so long as _he_ is pleased. We need not trouble +ourselves about the opinion of a wild, crazy girl like her, or of that +prudish thing, Miss Hyde." + +Mrs. Lee drew her hand from the widow's caressing clasp, and sat upright +in her chair. + +"Oh! don't say a word against Miss Hyde," she protested, with unusual +resolution. "She is the dearest, best creature." + +"I know, I know," persisted the widow, drawing a quick breath. "She is +everything that is good, if she only had the power to make her +amiability a little more interesting, and, I may add, useful; but when +any person comes into a family to attach herself particularly to one +member of it, there is a possibility of her gaining too much influence. +I know Miss Hyde is very deserving, but has it never struck you that +your daughter's heart lies a little too exclusively with her friend?" + +"No; I had not thought of that," answered Mrs. Lee. + +"It was not my business, and, I dare say, there is impertinence in the +observation, but when Miss Hyde was sick, your daughter scarcely left +her room. I never witnessed such devoted attention." + +The widow sat playing with the knots of lilac ribbon that fastened Mrs. +Lee's dress, as she made the observation. I saw the poor lady's face +cloud, and her lips began to quiver. She was evidently drawing the +contrast between Jessie's devotion to me, and the almost total desertion +of her own room. Dear lady! she had no means of knowing that the eternal +presence of that woman in her chamber had drawn the most devoted +daughter that ever lived from her bedside. + +Mrs. Dennison went on with her crafty work, still playing with the knots +of ribbon, and pausing now and then to blow them about, till they +fluttered like butterflies under her concentrated breath. + +"If we only had sweet Jessie entirely to ourselves now to join our +pleasant morning readings, wouldn't it be charming? But that is +hopeless, so long as she gives herself entirely to one person, you +know." + +Mrs. Lee lifted her slender hand, passing it with troubled haste +repeatedly across her forehead. + +"But Miss Hyde has been such a true friend, so faithful, so every way +worthy and agreeable, it seems as if Jessie could not love her too much. +Then she is such a favorite with Mr. Lee." + +"Is she?" was the dry question which followed these remarks. + +"Oh, yes! Besides, I never can forget her kindness to myself when Mr. +Lee was absent. You know that my husband has a great many duties, and it +is only of late that it has been in his power to stay with me so much." + +"But his heart--his heart is always with you, dear friend; I noticed +that from the first day of my entrance to your house. In conversation, +your name is always on his lips, and it is easy to see that you are +never for a moment out of his thoughts." + +Mrs. Lee leaned back in her chair, and her fine eyes filled with the +brightest drops that ever sprung from a loving heart. + +"I ought to be more grateful," she murmured, sweetly; "the blessed Lord +has been so good to me. Oh! if all this should lead me to think less of +Him, and more--sinfully more of my--my family." + +"But this will never be; your nature is too well regulated." + +"Ah! but Mrs. Dennison, you cannot imagine--you can form no idea how I +have worshipped--how I do worship my husband. From the first hour I saw +him to this, when we have sunk into mid-life together, it has been one +struggle to keep him from overshadowing the love of God in this heart." + +A heavenly expression came over that pale face, as the noble woman spoke +words that the reticence of her nature had kept back even from me, her +tried friend up to that hour; and now they were poured forth to the +greedy ear of that woman like an overflow of wine upon the sandvile +sand, which a thousand repulsive things had trodden over. + +I could scarcely keep from crying out under the pressure of disgust that +seized upon me when the creature lifted her eyes to the heaven of that +face. In my whole life I had never seen an expression like that--so +quick, so unutterably vicious. That instant some evil idea was born in +the woman's brain; I saw it clearly, as if the map of her bad heart had +been laid out before me. This idea, gendered from the loving goodness of +Mrs. Lee's speech, broke into her eyes as the serpent bursts the +mother-egg when hot sunshine is upon it. + +This expression revelled in her eyes a moment, and then crept away as if +a reptile had left her eyes and coiled itself in the depths of her soul. +I could detect a tone of exultation in her voice when she spoke again; +but it was low still, and vibrated with strange fascination on the ear. + +"And you love him so much?" + +"I thought in my youth that it was impossible to love him better--that +it was wrong to love any human being so much. Night and morning I prayed +God to keep me clear of man-worship; but how can one pray against love +to a God who is love itself? When I saw how completely my whole being +gave itself to my husband, how impossible it was to weaken one throb of +the joy which filled me at his approach, I gave up the struggle, and +soon rendered double gratitude to the Divine Being for giving him to me. +It was all I could do." + +"And did he love you so much?" + +With what insidious craft the question was put! How quietly the new-born +serpent coiled itself in her eyes as the lashes drooped over them! + +"So much? That is impossible! No man--no woman ever gave so great +worship to a fellow-being! He was not even aware of it, I think; for +this love was a treasure that I kept closely locked. It must have been +tender questioning, indeed, that could have drawn such feelings into +expression." + +"But still he loved you?" + +"Loved me? Oh, yes; I never doubted it, even then; but after I became so +helpless, so dependent on him for my very life--for if he had failed me +I must have died--the beautiful affection of his nature manifested +itself. He became my support, my very being. Oh! God has been +exceedingly good to me!" + +"And in all this devotion, this excess of love--for so I must think +it--has no distrust ever arisen between you?" + +"Distrust? Who could distrust him?" + +Mrs. Dennison did not seem to hear--she was musing, with her eyes on the +floor. At last she murmured, vaguely, + +"But jealousy is the natural growth of inordinate affection. I wonder it +never sprung up between you. What if he had loved another person?" + +"Loved another person, and I know it? That would have been death!" + +Again the woman's eyes gleamed so brightly that I could see the flash +through her thick lashes. She arose and walked hurriedly up and down the +room. + +Mrs. Lee looked at her wonderingly. + +"You think it wrong--you condemn me, as I have condemned myself a +thousand times," she said, with meek pathos. + +The woman returned to her seat, smiling. + +"No, no. How can one woman condemn another for a fault so angelic? I +only envied you the delicacy that could deem it wrong to give one's +whole being up to the first element of a woman's nature--entire love." + +Mrs. Lee drew a heavy breath and lay back in her chair, smiling. + +"You have seen him," she said, at last. "How grand, how magnanimous he +is, never forgetting me, never feeling the solitude of this room +irksome, but loving it more and more; giving me hours out of each day +till, of late, he almost lives in my apartment and never finds it +tiresome!" + +A strange smile stole over Mrs. Dennison's lips; but she did not look +up, and it passed unnoticed by its object. + +As the two ladies sat together, Jessie came into the room. Mrs. Dennison +did not move, but, on the contrary, leaned nearer to Mrs. Lee. Jessie +paused by the door and seemed about to retire; but Mrs. Lee spoke to +her, holding out a hand. + +The daughter saw this and came close to her mother's chair, leaning over +it; while the widow kept her place, so that every word which passed +between the mother and child was subject to her vigilance. Thus the +conversation was constrained, and Jessie went away with a sad look, +which went to my heart. + +Then Mr. Lee came into the chamber, and all was bright as sunshine +again. Mrs. Dennison kept her position, and Mr. Lee bent over his wife's +chair. It was a beautiful group--I have never seen three more +distinguished-looking people in one tableau. + +They fell into conversation, in which Mrs. Lee took her gentle part. I +listened, with a strange feeling of pain, to the graceful dialogue, and +ceased to wonder that the invalid had grown more cheerful under the +influence of scenes like this. Perhaps my jealous thoughts invested all +they said with unreal attractiveness; for jealousy, like love, creates +qualities which do not exist, and I acknowledged now that the feeling +which burned at my heart had many a jealous pang in it. How could this +be otherwise? For years I had been the closest friend that lady +possessed; and, within the hour, had I not heard a woman, who should +have been a stranger, decrying me to her as if I had been a servant she +wished to see discharged? + +In this way I excused the bitterness that filled my heart as the cruel +scene passed before me. It was hard to bear when that woman's sweet +laugh came ringing through the chamber after some witty saying which +brought a thousand animated expressions into the faces of the two +persons I prized above all others, but from whom she had separated me. + +All the morning they spent in Mrs. Lee's room. Lottie informed me +afterward that this had been their habit during my sickness. Why, she +could not tell, unless it was that Babylon was hoping to find another +chance to finish her work. + +I could not sleep that night, and for many a long night after that. The +fever had left me very low and nervous; I could not bear to meet the +annoyances which were sure to beset me if I went into the family, and +seldom left my room. I think Mrs. Lee hardly missed me. Indeed, it is +doubtful if my absence was a matter of regret to any one; for Jessie +came to my room as a sort of shelter from the scenes that I had +witnessed, and thus our family became more and more a divided one. + + + + +CHAPTER LI. + +THE FATHER AND DAUGHTER. + + +I had soon cause to regret my rashness in having opened my heart to +Jessie. The dear girl was too frank and high-minded for a secret of that +kind to rest safely with her. She believed all that I suspected, and +with this conviction came a perfect loathing of the woman, who was now +her forced guest. I saw that this subject was preying upon her, and +repented keenly having given up the bitter fruit of knowledge before it +was an absolute necessity; Lottie was wiser in the rude kindness of her +attempt to put me down. + +I did not grow strong; the harassing trouble at my heart kept me nervous +and irritable. If a person entered my room suddenly, I would start and +cry out; if I met any of the family in the grounds, my first impulse was +to hide away, or pretend to be occupied till they passed. Lottie scolded +me, not in her old way, but with a sort of tearful authority. The humor +and drollery of her rare character was changed into quaint sarcasm. The +serpent creeping through our house had bitten her most severely of all. +To Mrs. Lee the girl was more humble and heedful than ever; to us she +was abrupt. + +This state of things could not continue without results. With feelings +smouldering like the fire which turns wood into charcoal, this general +irritation would break forth. + +Jessie was the first to give way. For some time she had scarcely spoken +to Mrs. Dennison, except in a grave, quiet fashion, which was as far +from rudeness as it was from cordial hospitality. Sometimes this checked +Mrs. Dennison's great flow of spirits, and she would take on a look of +gentle martyrdom that must have had a peculiar fascination to one who +did not understand her. + +I do not know how it arose, for I had left the table; but one day Jessie +came into the library, to which I had retreated, looking greatly +excited; her eyes were full of troubled fire, and there was a stern +pressure of the beautiful lips that I had never seen before. She did not +speak, but walking up to the window, stood looking through it steadily, +as if some beautiful landscape lay beyond, which she was examining +through the gorgeous coloring, and which admitted of nothing beyond its +own richness. + +It was a gloomy day outside, and her face looked more sorrowfully sombre +from all our surroundings. + +I had arisen and was going toward her, when the door opened and Mr. Lee +came in. How much the father and child looked alike at the moment! I had +never seen either of them so imperial in their anger before. + +Mr. Lee did not observe me, I think, but he walked across the library +and laid one hand on Jessie's shoulder as she stood with her back toward +him. She drew aside and looked up in her father's face. + +"Jessie," he said, "what is the meaning of this? What have you been +saying to wound Mrs. Dennison so terribly?" + +Jessie struggled with herself; I could detect it by the blue veins that +rose along her neck and forehead; but her countenance changed in +nothing, and she answered his stern question steadily. + +"I have done nothing that should wound Mrs. Dennison, father." + +"But I left you at the breakfast-table with our guest tranquil as usual. +When I came back, you were gone, and I found her in tears." + +"I cannot answer for the lady's tears, father. She was shedding none +when I came out of the breakfast-room." + +"This is an evasion, Jessie. I insist upon knowing what passed between +you and our guest after I left the room." + +"You have a right to question me, father; but indeed I cannot tell you. +Mrs. Dennison said something about what we should do next winter; and I +looked at her a moment, in displeasure perhaps, for she has already +stayed far beyond the time usual for our guests; and I am not aware that +any one has extended a second invitation to her. I certainly have not." + +Mr. Lee's face darkened. + +"And is this what you have done?--given her one of your haughty looks, +and at my table, Jessie Lee?" + +"Father!" + +"Do not call me father. Do not speak to me again until you have +apologized to the lady for this rudeness." + +Mr. Lee's voice was stern, almost cruel, as he said this. Jessie grew +pale as death. + +"Father, I cannot apologize for anything I have done; it is impossible +when the lady entered a complaint to you--" + +Mr. Lee interrupted her. + +"Mrs. Dennison entered no complaint." + +"Oh, father! and you were ready to condemn me without a word. When was +this so before?" + +"When were you rebellious before?" + +Jessie's lips began to quiver. + +"When did we have trouble like this? When was it that we became a +divided family?" she said. "Never till I was unhappy enough to invite +this lady here." + +"She was your own guest, and you have treated her cruelly," said Mr. +Lee, softening a little. + +"No, father, not cruelly; coldly, perhaps, but not cruelly!" + +"And why coldly?" + +"Because I do not like Mrs. Dennison." + +"And why, pray?" + +"Because she comes between you and your own child--between you and your +own wife--because--" + +"Jessie," I said, rising from my seat, and for the first time becoming +visible to Mr. Lee,--"Jessie--" + +"It is well, Martha, that you are here to check her. Another word, and +she would have been no longer a daughter of mine." + +He was white as marble. Never in my life had I seen him so agitated. + +Jessie looked at him sorrowfully. There was something more than anger in +his face--a wild, troubled doubt, that made him tremble. Jessie laid her +hand on his arm, and her lips quivered into a smile. + +"Oh, father! listen to me. Let this lady go; take us back to your heart +again; her influence here has been terrible." + +He shook off her hand, drew himself up, and spoke with proud +calmness,-- + +"Jessie, be careful, if you would not forfeit my love--at once be +careful." + +Jessie drew back, and leaned on my shoulder, trembling from head to +foot. The idea that her father could ever really turn against her had +entered her heart for the first time. She was so white that her very +face terrified me. + +"Speak to him," she whispered,--"speak to him." + +I was about to say something, but Mr. Lee waved his hand, silencing me +with a haughty gesture. Jessie stood up, and spoke in a low, sad +voice,-- + +"Father, if I have done wrong, tell me how to atone for it, and I will +obey you." + +Mr. Lee turned away, walking the room three or four times before he +answered. Then he took Jessie's cold hand, with some degree of returning +kindness, while she stood, with downcast eyes, waiting for the +humiliation his words would convey. + +"Be yourself, my child; conquer your unreasonable prejudice against the +lady who has been of great service to your mother, and is in every way +estimable. I do not ask any unnecessary humiliation of my daughter; but +be your own gracious self again, Jessie, and she will understand that +you are sorry." + +Jessie bent her bowed face a little lower, in token of acquiescence, +and, bending his grand head, Mr. Lee kissed her. Then, turning to me, he +said, with stern significance,-- + +"You will remember, Miss Hyde, these scenes are not to be renewed." + +When he was gone, Jessie threw herself on the floor, and, folding her +arms in the seat of an easy-chair, moaned piteously. She did not +cry--the pain at her proud heart seemed too hot for tears. I tried to +console her; but she only murmured,-- + +"You were right; I am not fit to be trusted with such things. They burn +me like fire." + + + + +CHAPTER LII. + +THE FATAL LETTER. + + +After this scene, our house was quiet as the grave--not a laugh sounded +within its walls, not a brilliant word enlightened the stiff monotony. +Jessie kept her promise. Nothing could be sweeter or more gracious than +her manner toward Mrs. Dennison; but all this was accompanied by no +warmth. It was impossible to find fault with anything she did or said, +yet her submission seemed to annoy our guest more than anything. It +proved how deep was the gulf which lay between them. + +As for me, nothing could render my position more disagreeable than it +had already become. A few days after that scene in the library, I was +sitting with Mrs. Lee, while Lottie went out for a little recreation. +Mr. Lee, Mrs. Dennison, and Jessie, had gone out on horseback, and, with +the enemy away, Lottie thought that I might be trusted with her charge; +but while Mrs. Dennison was in the mansion, she never would leave her +post on any consideration. With all the keen longings of youth for +change, this confinement, voluntary though it was, told painfully on the +young girl, and when she did get a few moments of freedom, it was seized +upon as a bird darts from its cage. + +That morning she was gone some time, having taken a run through the +grounds with a favorite dog that always followed her footsteps. I saw +them rioting up and down among the flower-beds, with a feeling of +thankfulness that anything on earth could find enjoyment when my heart +was so heavy! + +Mrs. Lee was unusually silent that day, and, without asking me to read, +amused herself with a book of engravings that Mr. Lee had ordered for +her from the town. I felt the change. Every day this lady, who had been +my dear friend so long, seemed more and more independent of me. Lottie +she still clung to, but I had become a useless waif in the household. + +While thinking over these depressing truths, I watched with a vague +sensation of regret. All at once I saw her stop, beat the dog back, and +shade her eyes with one hand. It was only one of our people, who had +been over to the town, and had attracted her observation. I saw the man +beckon to her. She darted down the walk, along the sloping lawn, and +over the wall, holding out her hands for a package which he held out. +There was some talk between them as the man gathered up his bridle, +while she examined something in her hands which seemed like a letter. +Then, nodding her head repeatedly, she ran toward the house. + +I cannot tell why it was, but these movements interested me greatly. A +strange apprehension took possession of me, and I began to wonder what +the letters could be about--if any of them related to me, and if new +trouble was coming. + +In the midst of these vague thoughts, Lottie came into the room, with a +letter in her hands. + +"I left all the rest, papers, books, and trash, on the hall-table," she +cried, joyously; "but here's a letter for the dear mistress, and I +brought it up. Such a nice letter--white and satiny as the leaves of a +water-lily! I know there is something sweet and good in it that will +make you smile." + +She went up to Mrs. Lee, dropped on one knee at her feet--a common thing +with the strange girl--and held up the letter between her hands. + +Mrs. Lee took it, with a pink flush of the cheek. During her long +illness she had gradually given up writing, and a letter, directly to +herself, was an event sufficiently rare to create a little excitement. +Lottie's prophecy regarding the letter brought a smile to those usually +pale lips. She broke the seal, took the letter from its envelope, and +murmured, pleasantly,-- + +"If it is something very pleasant, you shall have a new dress, Lottie." + +This promise kept the girl on her knees, reading the face of her +mistress with keen eagerness. She saw it change as if a flash of fire +passed from neck to forehead; then a cold, gray tint settled over it so +gradually, that no one could tell when it came. + +Lottie sprang to her feet with a sharp cry. + +Mrs. Lee had fainted--no, not that; no common fainting fit ever took a +form so painful--a look of unutterable misery had settled on the face, +impressive as the agony which has become immortal in the features of +that marble father who strives to rescue his children from the writhing +serpents in the Vatican. + +Mrs. Lee had fallen sideway in her chair. The movement had been gradual, +and accompanied the gray changes of her face with such stillness, that +its meaning did not strike Lottie till she sprang up and uttered that +cry. + +We lifted the lady from her chair and laid her on the bed. She gave no +sign of life, but seemed to be growing colder and colder. Lottie +attempted to draw the letter from her hand, but her fingers clung to it +with a tenacity which could not be forced without wounding the hand; so +we left the paper in her grasp. + +What we did I cannot tell. Everything that two frightened creatures +could devise we attempted, in order to restore her; but it seemed to me +an age before any sign of life returned. + +At last a shiver passed over her, and, with her disengaged hand, she +tore at the muslin over her bosom as if some pain were burning at her +heart, and then I saw her poor lips redden for the first time--but it +was with blood. Piteously she opened her eyes and looked into ours. She +had not recovered then, nor did she remember what event had produced +this illness. + +I could tell when the first dawn of a recollection came upon her, for +she rustled the letter in her hand as if to be sure it was there, and a +reality; then the pain all came back to her features, and the blood came +in heavier drops up from her broken heart. + +They came back from a long ride while she lay thus. We had sent for the +doctor, and sat by her in helpless grief, waiting his arrival. I went +out to meet Jessie, intending to break the painful intelligence of her +mother's attack to her with gentleness. She was coming up the steps with +a harassed look. The weight of her skirts seemed to drag at her frail +strength. Mrs. Dennison was lower down the steps, looking over her +shoulder at Mr. Lee, and talking in a gay, excited manner that did not +seem quite natural. Jessie looked upward, with a weary, sad glance as I +came down the walk, and I saw that the company of this woman was +oppressing her dreadfully. + +I was so pale in those days that my countenance did not frighten Jessie +as it might have done in happier times; thus I was obliged to tell her +in words that something had happened to injure her mother, and that she +lay in great danger in the tower-room. I shall never forget the wild +agony of those eyes. She did not speak a word, but passed me like a +shadow. + +Mrs. Dennison's strained laugh followed her with a sound of the most +cruel mockery I ever heard. It was altogether unintentional. The woman +had not seen me, nor was she aware that Jessie had disappeared; she was +only bantering words with her host in her usual fashion, while he was +preparing to follow up the steps. + +I stood upon the edge of the terrace and watched them as they came up. +There was no cheerfulness in the woman. Her cheeks were hot and red, her +eyes full of restless fire. She understood my countenance better than +Jessie had done; for a look of something like affright swept her face, +and the heavy riding-skirt dropped from her hold, entangling her feet +till she stumbled and almost fell. + +Mr. Lee sprang forward and saved her. + +"What is the matter? What has happened?" he questioned. + +She laughed nervously. + +"Nothing. It was Miss Hyde standing there like a Nemesis that startled +me." + +Mr. Lee glanced upward, and said something in an under-tone, at which +she said,-- + +"How unkind you are to the poor thing." + +I had hesitated to tell Mr. Lee that his wife was on her death-bed--the +shock at my own heart was so painful that I pitied him; but now a cruel +strength came over me, and I said at once, in a cold, hard way,-- + +"Your wife is ill, sir, very ill--I fear dying." + +He left that woman standing alone in her cowardly sin, and went swiftly, +as his daughter had done, toward the tower-room. Mrs. Dennison gave a +light scream and followed, demanding of me how it had happened, and who +had been near to harm the dear saint. + +I gave her no answer. The very sound of her voice made me shudder with +fresh loathing. She had been pale for a moment, but now all the fire +came into her countenance again, and she passed me haughtily, saying,-- + +"Stupid as ever--I will inquire for myself." + + + + +CHAPTER LIII. + +DEATH IN THE TOWER-CHAMBER. + + +The woman did inquire, and the very sound of her voice made the poor +victim on the bed shake till the counterpane moved like snow disturbed +by the wind. Jessie was holding the pale hand, and, feeling it quiver, +she clasped it closer, and said to Mrs. Dennison,-- + +"Madam, your voice troubles my mother; please to leave us alone." + +Mr. Lee looked from his daughter to the woman; but it was no time for +anger--he only lifted one hand to deprecate further noise, and bent over +his wife with such solemn tenderness in his eyes as I had never seen +there before. + +"My wife, my poor wife!" he said, sheltering the frail form with his +arm, as if that could keep death away. + +She heard him, and the tension on her delicate nerves relaxed. The +letter, which had hitherto been clenched in one hand, fell away and +rustled to the floor. Mrs. Dennison picked it up, folded it +deliberately, and held it toward Mr. Lee. + +"This has just fallen from her hand," she said; "it may have some +reference to this strange attack." + +Again that shiver ran through Mrs. Lee's form, and her face contracted +with the pain, while fresh drops of crimson gathered on her lips. + +"Madam, your presence tortures her," said Jessie; "these attacks come +and go with your voice." + +"My friend, my dear, sweet friend; will you not give me one look before +I go?" + +Mrs. Dennison bent over the bed as she spoke, and, sure enough, Mrs. Lee +opened her eyes wide, and turned them on the woman's face. Never shall I +forget that look! Its wounded expression haunts me yet. Those great, +mournful eyes dwelt on that face, which grew slowly pallid, for a full +half-minute, and then turned away. + +Mrs. Dennison was awed; but, feeling our eyes upon her, she took +strength, and, with a pathetic "Farewell!" on her lips, pressed them to +those of Mrs. Lee. + +There was a faint struggle, a gasping cry broke from the bed, and when +Mrs. Dennison lifted her face, a drop of fresh blood crimsoned her lips. +She did not know it; but with the red blood burning there, retreated +into Lottie's room, where she hovered over the scene as if afraid to +leave it entirely. + +Mr. Lee forgot everything in keen anxiety for his wife. When her eyes +turned sorrowfully upon him, he cried out,-- + +"Oh! speak to me, speak to me, my wife! Give some sign that I have not +come too late!" + +The most wonderful expression I ever saw stole over that face; it came +like moonlight on dark waters,--a gleam of hope breaking through the +agonies of death. Her lips moved. He bent down and listened. + +"You have loved me?" + +There was no noise; but we knew that she was saying this by the movement +of her lips. + +For an instant, Mr. Lee seemed stunned. The question struck him to the +soul; then his noble head was uplifted, and, looking tenderly into those +wistful eyes, he said, "I have always loved you, my wife. God is my +witness, I have always loved you." + +That expression deepened on her face. She lifted her hands feebly, and, +understanding the sign, he raised her to his bosom. The muslin drapery +of her sleeve got entangled in his dress. I attempted to disengage it +while her face lay on his bosom. In doing this I touched her hand; the +frail fingers clasped mine with the tenacious feebleness of an infant's; +and, laying my palm on Mr. Lee's hand, she pressed them softly together, +whispering,-- + +"Be good to her." + +He shook all over, while my poor hand lay quivering on his. I drew it +away with hushed breath. + +She was dying on his bosom; her eyes were uplifted to his; her breath +came in faint gasps; the two frail hands folded themselves; and, as the +mists of night settle on a lily, that dear face hardened into the marble +of death. + +I cannot remember all that passed after this, who came into the room, or +who went out. I only know that the stillness of death was in the house, +the pain of life in our hearts. Sweet sufferer, gentle lady! How white +and still she lay on the pretty French bed, with its volumes of lace +brooding over her like the clouds in which we imagine seraphs to be +sleeping! There was no noisy grief in the room. Even Mrs. Dennison had +fled to her own apartment; the suddenness of our calamity shocked even +her. + +Lottie knelt by the bed, her face buried in the clothes, dumb and still. +Jessie clung to her father, who was striving to comfort her; but +struggle against it as he would, the force of a mighty anguish spoke out +in his broken words. + +Those were mournful days during which she lay in that tower-room. We had +the dead to ourselves--that woman never intruded on us. Cora came each +day informing us that her mistress was ill from grief. _He_ heard the +message, but gave no sign beyond a grave inquiry. The sadness in his +face deepened every hour; stern thoughts perhaps had stamped the sorrow +deeply in his soul. There was something more than natural grief there; +gleams of remorse broke through all the rest. + +The night before Mrs. Lee was buried, I went into her room; to sleep was +impossible, and I longed to be alone with her once more. I am no +enthusiast, and have little superstition, but it seems to me impossible +to doubt that the dead are often with us on this side the eternal shore. +We feel their presence in our heart of hearts without caring to see it +with the sense. + +How young she looked--how good and quiet! Some white flowers lay on the +pillow with rich colors burning in their hearts, that cast a sort of +illumination over the frozen stillness of her face. The white draperies +gathered above her, the shaded lights stealing like star-gleams through +the room, made the stillness of death holy! + +I sat down by the bed, in the great easy-chair which she had occupied +when Lottie came in with the letter. A faint perfume of violets hung +about the cushions, and on the seat lay the delicate handkerchief she +had been using. It seemed only a moment since I had seen her resting +tranquilly upon the seat that supported me. Could death be so cruelly +sudden? + +I wept quietly as these thoughts filled my mind, and with them came +vague conjectures regarding the letter which had apparently produced a +result so fatal. Who had written that letter? What could the subject +have been? Where was it now? I remembered that Mr. Lee had taken it +mechanically from Mrs. Dennison's hand and put it in his pocket, +evidently unconscious of its mysterious importance. Surely the woman +could have nothing to fear from that letter; at any rate, she had held +no part in its fatal delivery. Then who could have possessed the power +to break the frail life which had been quenched? It was all a painful +enigma, impossible to solve; but the great, mournful fact lay before +me,--my friend--the best friend I had ever known on earth--was dead. + + + + +CHAPTER LIV. + +MRS. LEE'S FUNERAL. + + +As I sat buried in miserable thoughts, a faint stir in the bed draperies +made me start and hold my breath. It was Lottie, who had been all the +time crouching close to the floor, guarding the remains of her mistress +in profound stillness. The light was so dim that I had not been aware of +her presence till then. Such companionship did not disturb me; indeed, +without the faithful girl that death-chamber would have been desolate +indeed. + +"Lottie," I said, in a whisper,--"Lottie, is it you?" + +She was sitting on the floor, with both arms locked around her knees, on +which her forehead rested. The girl looked up, and her heavy eyes met +mine. + +"Yes, it's me, Miss Hyde; I haven't left her a minute since then," she +said, drearily. "Don't ask me to go away--I couldn't do it." + +"Ask you to go away, Lottie? Oh! no, my poor girl! We have watched +together in this room many a time; but never in this sad way." + +"I know it," she said; "you were always good to her, and she felt it. +But tell me, Miss Hyde, do you think it was the letter I brought that +laid her there?" + +"I cannot tell. Still it must have been, she was so well only a moment +before it touched her hand. Who could have written it?" + +"I have been thinking and thinking, Miss Hyde. The writing was like Miss +Jessie's; I thought so at the time." + +"Miss Jessie's? Are you sure?" + +"So it seemed to me; but I've got the envelope, look for yourself." + +I took the crumpled envelope which she took from her bosom and held +toward me. It was of creamy-white paper, very thick, and with an inner +lining of blue, a color that Jessie affected where it could be +delicately introduced among her stationery. The writing was like hers, +but with a slight appearance of disguise. + +"You see," said Lottie, still in a whisper, "it looks like Miss +Jessie's; but what could she write to _her_ about?" + +"It is strange," I murmured. + +"Terribly strange! I can't make it out. All the time, for two whole +nights and days, I have thought of it; and the more I think the darker +it all grows. Oh, if she could only speak; but that will never be +again--" + +Her voice broke here, and clasping her knees tighter, she began rocking +to and fro, uttering faint, dry moans, that went to my heart. Lottie had +not shed a tear since her mistress's death. + +"Never again--never again!" she kept whispering. + +"Don't Lottie," I said; "it breaks my heart to hear you go on in this +way." + +She looked at me earnestly; then dropped her face and said, with +infinite pathos,-- + +"Oh! that _my_ heart could break!" + +I bent over her. + +"Be comforted, Lottie. If our friend could speak, this is what she would +say--" + +"Don't, don't. Who could be comforted, and she lying there like a +beautiful lily broken off at the stem? Look at her, Miss Hyde, and see +if the smile is there yet." + +"Yes, Lottie, there is a heavenly look on her face. See for yourself." + +"No, no, I cannot stand it; in the morning I will kiss her hands for the +last time. Let her sleep with the angels to-night; I won't come between +her and them. They will take care of her now she don't want me." + +"Oh, Lottie!" + +She shook her head disconsolately, then it sunk on her knees once more, +and was not lifted again all night; still I do not think she slept a +moment. + +Jessie came to her mother's room late that night. Lottie did not move; I +arose to go, knowing how sacred were the rights of an only child; but +she asked me to stay, saying--oh, how sadly--that her mother's true +friend could not be in the way even there. + +I told her that Lottie was watching, and had not once left her place by +the bed. She went round to where the girl was crouching and kissed that +portion of the forehead left exposed by the folded arms. Then, for the +first time, I heard low sobs break from the faithful creature, and felt +glad to know that she was crying. + +"She is happier far than I am," said Jessie, with unutterable sadness. +"It seems as if I should never shed tears again." + +She came back to where I was sitting, and sinking on the footstool that +always stood near the chair, her head fell on my lap, her hands clasped +themselves under the pale forehead, and thus she lay, heavy and still, +weary with pain, but sleepless, till the day dawned. + +That morning Mrs. Lee was to be buried. + +With the first gray of dawn, we heard Mr. Lee's step coming up from the +library below, where he had passed the night. Jessie and I arose, and, +bending over that calm face, left our solemn kisses on the lips and went +away, giving her up to the man she had loved so devotedly. Even Lottie +was aroused by his approach, and, rising to her feet, went heavily into +her own little room, which was soon filled with bitter sobs. + +We met Mr. Lee on the stairs. He had not been in bed that night and +looked strangely haggard. No words passed among us; but Jessie and her +father exchanged a mournful glance that was more eloquent than +language. + +It rained when we took her away from her home, and a heavy gloom lay +upon the beautiful landscape she had loved so well. Across the terrace, +and down the flight of steps bordered with flowers that wept heavy +drops, she passed away into the valley--away to her eternal rest. On a +rise of ground on the verge of the hills, we paused amid a cluster of +white stones where sods lay in a heap, and the torn earth contrasted +mournfully with the fresh grass. + +As we neared the hill, a burst of sunshine broke the clouds asunder and +lighted us forward. There were no sobs at the grave; our sorrow was very +silent, and solemn as death itself. The very air seemed thrilled with +awe as the funeral service rose upon it. Some one, Lottie I suppose, had +laid a garland of white flowers on the coffin, knotted together with +snowy ribbons. As they lowered the coffin the wind took these ribbons, +and they fluttered up from the grave like the wings of an angel striving +to rise heavenward; and through the first shovelful of earth rose a +faint perfume pressed from the flowers which the gravel had bruised upon +her coffin. + +It was all over, and we returned to the house. On the steps, Mrs. +Dennison stood to receive us clothed in white, with black ribbons +knotting up the sleeves and clustering at the bosom of her dress. This +was the first time I had seen her since that fatal day. + +Nothing could have been more decorous than her demeanor; her beautiful +eyes seemed heavy with unshed tears, and Christianity itself is not more +gentle than her tone and manner. + +"Come," she said, addressing our Jessie, "let us mourn together as +friends who have lost one who is dearest to us. If I have ever pained +you, dear Jessie, forgive me for her sake." + +Mr. Lee heard this, and looked wistfully at his daughter. Poor girl! she +was too heart-broken for resentment, and held forth her hand. Mr. Lee +stepped forward and laid his hand on those that the beautiful woman had +just clasped. + +"Jessie," he said, in a voice that thrilled all within its influence, +"remember this lady was very dear to your mother." + +Jessie did not answer; I think she could not command words, but she bent +her head in acquiescence and passed into the house. + +It is a strange thing to say, but I believe that the few weeks that +followed Mrs. Lee's funeral were the most tranquil of any that had +preceded them since Mrs. Dennison came to our house. The great central +object of interest in the household was at rest. All the little cares +that had occupied us were over; the very altar of our household had been +torn away, and for a long time we found it impossible to find new +channels of interest, or settle ourselves down to anything. There was no +longer an attempt at amusing our guest, and she did not seem to require +it; indeed, from all appearances she had become a member of the family. +We seldom met now, but kept our own rooms. Jessie became sadder and +sadder each day; nothing interested her; she absolutely pined to follow +her mother. + + + + +CHAPTER LV. + +OLD MRS. BOSWORTH'S VISIT. + + +Compacts made in a state of excitement are seldom lasting. If Jessie's +heart had softened toward Mrs. Dennison in the extremity of her grief, +it came back to the old standpoint as that grief took thought. Something +more subtile than her own will held her confidence back. But this was no +time for excitement of any kind; the depth of grief into which we had +fallen kept all worldly passions back. So, as I have said, we were more +tranquil than of old. + +Poor, poor Lottie! she went about the house like a wounded bird that had +seen its nest destroyed. Without asking for leave, she had arranged Mrs. +Lee's room, in the tower-chamber, exactly as it had been during her +mistress's life, and guarded it from her own pretty den with all the +vigilance of old time. If any one entered the chamber and touched an +article that had been Mrs. Lee's, Lottie would cry out as if struck by a +sudden pang, and fall into a nervous tremor till the intruder had +departed. She never allowed any one, not even Jessie, to enter the room +without following her like a watch-dog. + +No one was surprised at this. The devotion of that girl to her mistress +had been something wonderful. That she should feel great attachment to +anything belonging to her was beautifully natural. So it happened that +she fell into possession of the rooms in the tower, and secluded herself +there, taking little interest in anything else. + +Some days after things had settled into this state, old Mrs. Bosworth +came over in her heavy family carriage. In our sadness, this became an +event, and both Jessie and I left our room to meet her, grateful for +anything that showed real sympathy for our bereavement. + +The sorrows which this good old lady had passed through, placed her in +delicate sympathy with us. She met Jessie with such motherly gentleness, +that tears came into the young creature's eyes almost for the first time +since our loss. The old lady saw this, and, drawing the agitated face to +hers, kissed it. + +"We have been very sorry for you, Miss Lee. Indeed, ours has been a +house of mourning also; for there are cases where the same grief touches +many hearts. I have wept for you, my child--prayed for you." + +"I know it--I was sure of it," answered Jessie, resting her proud young +head on the old lady's shoulder, and weeping those soft, warm tears that +relieve the heart so much. "I have thought of you and of him. Tell me +that your grandson is no worse." + +The old lady kissed her again, and tenderly smoothed the glossy hair +upon her temples. + +"He is no worse, dear child--a little better, I think, since we have +been quite alone--the tranquillity has done him good." + +"I should like to see him," said Jessie. "Miss Hyde and I have missed +him so much in our loneliness." + +The old lady cast a grateful glance at me; then, turning to Jessie, she +said,-- + +"It would make him strong enough to come, if he knew that his sweet +friend desired it." + +Jessie looked at that dear old face earnestly, and smiled through her +tears. + +"You are very kind." + +While we were sitting together, Mr. Lee came in. He had seen Mrs. +Bosworth's carriage at the door, and, knowing how seldom the old lady +went out, sought her to pay his respects. + +It is seldom that two persons so thoroughly bred, and so singularly +intelligent as Mr. Lee and our visitor, ever meet. Notwithstanding the +sorrow that oppressed us, the conversation which sprang out of the first +greeting brought cheerfulness with it. They did not talk directly of our +loss, but every subject touched upon had a tinge of sadness in it, which +betrayed the buried feelings and sympathy which lay behind. + +I had not believed that such power of pleasing could be carried into +extreme old age, as this old lady manifested. + +While we were conversing, Mrs. Dennison came in, much to our +astonishment; for of late she had rather avoided both Jessie and myself. +Mr. Lee presented her to our visitor, who put on her stateliest manner, +and, after rising, stood as if ready to go; but her clear eyes were +fixed on Mrs. Dennison's face, and she seemed reading her to the soul. + +I think that Mrs. Dennison was, for once, awed by the moral force +opposed to her; for such it really was. The graceful flippancy of +manner, which most people considered so captivating, refused to come +into action, and, for the moment, she really was awkward. + +"I did not know that you had guests," said the old lady, with a stiff +bend of the head. "If I remember, Mr. Lawrence told me that this lady +would leave the neighborhood about the time he did." + +The color flashed into Mrs. Dennison's face, and she replied, with +suppressed anger,-- + +"Mr. Lawrence presumed, madam, when he ventured to regulate my movements +by his own." + +Again the old lady gave her a quiet, searching look, and, without +replying, moved toward the door. + +Jessie and I went down to the terrace with Mrs. Bosworth, while Mr. Lee +took her to the carriage. + + + + +CHAPTER LVI. + +LOTTIE'S REVELATIONS. + + +The conduct of old Mrs. Bosworth made a profound impression in our +family. Nothing could have been more unfortunate for Mrs. Dennison. Mr. +Lee, up to that time, had been so occupied with the genuine grief which +sprung out of his wife's death, that he had evidently given little +thought to the real condition of his household; but the grave look of +disapproval which met Mrs. Dennison's entrance, when the dear old lady +made her visit, was too decided for him or any one else to ignore. +Jessie's ill-timed remarks had affected him but little, for, alas! he +was prejudiced there; but the evident condemnation of this fine old lady +had its effect. + +Mr. Lee began to understand that a guest in our house just then, not +sanctioned by ties of blood, or even of old friendship, must have a +strange appearance in the neighborhood. His own fine sense of propriety +was disturbed, and this gave his intercourse with the lady, all the rest +of that day, an air of constraint which she was not slow to comprehend. +She grew more quiet and thoughtful, all her fine spirits vanished, and, +more than once, I caught her lifting her beautiful eyes to Mr. Lee's +with a sad, misty look of appeal, that would have touched the heart of a +savage. It almost reached mine. + +This lasted all that day and evening. There was little conversation; but +the eloquence of that woman's face was above all language. + +At night I went into Jessie's room, as usual; not to talk; everything +had become too painful for those little confidential chats that make a +home so pleasant; but Jessie was always sad now, and the news about +young Bosworth had affected her greatly, in what way it was difficult to +determine; so I went to her room, knowing that the presence of an old +friend would be some comfort to her. + +As we sat together talking on vague household affairs, Lottie knocked at +the door and came in. + +"I don't want you to be taken by surprise or anything," she said, +bluntly, "but Mr. Lawrence will be here to-morrow; and, before +twenty-four hours, he will beg Miss Jessie's pardon for slighting her, +on his bended knees, and ask her to marry him right out." + +Jessie started up, pale as death, her eyes flashed and her lips +quivered. + +"Lottie!" + +The voice was low, but it made the girl hold her breath. + +"Don't let her get mad!" cried the strange creature, appealing to me; "I +didn't bring him, gracious knows. Mrs. Babylon has done it, that's what +you ought to know, and I've told it." + +"But how did you find this out, Lottie?" I said, for Jessie had fallen +back to her seat, and was shrouding her face with one hand. + +"I won't tell you! If I did, some of your queer notions would come in +and I should catch it. Just you take care of honor and dignity, and all +that. I don't pretend to no such nonsense; I know he's coming, because +Babylon sent for him; she's ready to take claws off now that--oh, dear! +oh, dear!" + +Here the strange girl flung herself down on the floor, and, burying her +face, began to cry bitterly. + +I knew how she would have finished that sentence but for Jessie's +presence, and shrunk from drawing forth another word. + +At length Lottie lifted her wet face and shook the hair back from her +eyes. + +"I'm a queer jewsharp, ain't I?" she said, with a giggle that broke up +the sob in her throat; "but it's true as the gospel. Mr. Lawrence is +coming, and you mark if he don't go through with that very performance, +kneeling and all!" + +"Well, well! It was right to tell us, and Miss Jessie thanks you in her +heart," I said, raising the girl from her lowly position. "Now go to +your room." + +She arose, looked wistfully at Jessie an instant; then creeping to her +side, knelt down as she had often done at the feet of Mrs. Lee, and, +taking the hand which fell listlessly down, kissed it. + +Jessie started at the touch, and gently releasing the hand, laid it on +the young girl's hair. + +"I thank you," she said, looking down to the honest eyes into which +great tears were crowding fast; "my mother loved you, and so do I." + +"I--I'm a-trying to do my best and be a mother to you myself, now that +she is dead and gone," answered Lottie, with a look of honest affection +beaming over her face. + +Jessie almost smiled; at which Lottie blushed like a child, and, +starting to her feet, went away, closing the door softly after her. + +"Can you believe this?" said Jessie, after she was gone. + +"Yes," I answered. "Whatever her sources of information may be, Lottie +is always correct." + +"And he will dare--at her request--by her consent, perhaps--he will +dare!" + +She arose and walked the room, her black dress sweeping the carpet like +an imperial robe. + +I did not speak; anxiety kept me dumb. Was this a burst of anger that +would pass away? When that man, with all his bewildering attractions, +should stand before her--humble, imploring--how would it be? The hopes +which had begun to dawn in my heart for young Bosworth faltered, +notwithstanding this queenly manifestation of pride. + +"_She_ has sent for him indeed!" burst from those curved lips; "there is +nothing humiliating in this, Aunt Matty. She invites gentlemen to my +father's house and allows them to approach me. Perhaps she has found out +that half this property is mine now, and sent him word." + +I started. This might be true. There certainly was something +inexplicable in the evident understanding between Lawrence and our +guest. + +"Well, let him come," said Jessie, drawing a deep breath. "Let him come; +I understand myself now." + +"You will not accept him then?" I inquired, anxiously. + +"Accept him!" she replied, with a calm smile, which told how deep and +settled her pride had become, far more clearly than the flashing eye +and writhing lip that had startled me a moment before. "You need not +fear that, my friend." + +"And you do not love him?" + +"No, my friend, I do not love him; nor am I sure that he is worthy of +any good woman's love." + +I clasped my hands in thankfulness. Her words had lifted a painful +weight from my bosom. + +"Thank God!" I murmured. + +She looked at me gratefully, and we parted for the night. + + + + +CHAPTER LVII. + +MRS. DENNISON URGES LAWRENCE TO PROPOSE. + + +The next morning Mrs. Dennison kept up the subdued character of the +previous night. Her eyes were heavy and full of troubled mist, her +movements had lost their elasticity, and an air of touching depression +supplanted the graceful audacity of her usual manner. + +Mr. Lee was grave and silent; he once or twice glanced at our guest, +with some anxiety in his look, but made no comment on her changed +appearance. + +After breakfast I went out for a walk. The morning was bright and cool, +inviting me to a long ramble. But my health was not altogether restored, +and anxiety made me listless; so I walked slowly across the face of the +hill, came out at the footpath on the ridge, and wandered on till I came +to the rock which terminated it. I had been sitting on it a little +while, gazing languidly down at the gleams of water that came up through +the green hemlocks, some two hundred feet beneath, when the sound of +voices from the grove disturbed me. + +I had a nervous dread of being seen by Mrs. Dennison or her friends, and +let myself down from the rock to the face of the precipitous descent--a +perilous exploit--for a false step might have sent me headlong to the +river below. I became sensible of the danger of my position after the +first moment, and, clinging to a young ash-tree, pressed myself against +the leaning trunk of a hemlock and waited for the persons, whose voices +I had heard, to pass. + +Directly two persons came winding down the path, and stood upon the rock +I had just left. It was Mrs. Dennison and Mr. Lawrence, talking eagerly. +The languor that had marked her appearance at breakfast was gone. She +was sharp and animated, spoke with earnestness, and seemed now pleading, +now explaining. I caught a glimpse of his face. It was flushed with +anger, not to say rage. + +"It is useless to upbraid me. I loved you; it was death to give you up. +At a distance it seemed easy enough; but when I saw you together and +marked something too real in your devotion, it drove me mad. I could not +marry you myself, poverty-stricken wretches that we are! but you cannot +blame me if the trial of giving you to another was beyond human +strength." + +"But you were false. You told me that she also was false; that she +secretly encouraged young Bosworth; that I was treacherously undermining +my own friend." + +Lawrence spoke in a loud, angry voice. The look which he bent on her was +stormy with passion. + +"Lawrence, this rage is useless. I did all that lay in my power to break +up the work I had helped to do. For a time, poverty, anything seemed +better than the possibility of seeing you the husband of that proud +girl. Then my own future was uncertain; now it is assured. Between them +the father and daughter have unbounded wealth. It is worth a great +sacrifice--I make it. This is my first step, my first humiliation. It +was false. All that I told you was false. She did not love that young +man, she did love you. I fancied--and here the trouble arose--that you +were beginning to love her, that it gave you no pain to change. This +embittered me. I misrepresented her, told you that she visited +Bosworth's sick-chamber from affection, when I knew that it was only the +persuasion of that troublesome Miss Hyde which sent her to the house. +Now I take it all back. She is heart-whole save in love for you. She +never cared for him in the least. It was you she loved." + +I caught a second glimpse of his face as he turned it from her; a flash +of triumph passed over it, breaking its frowns as lightning cleaves a +thunder-cloud. My heart fell. The man loved our Jessie. With his +strength and power of character, could she resist a passion that was +evidently genuine? + +Mrs. Dennison looked at him sharply; but his face was dark enough under +her glance, and she went on, perhaps satisfied of his indifference. + +"There is no time for hesitation, Lawrence. It will be impossible for me +to keep my post here many days longer. The young lady scarcely endures +me, Miss Hyde turns to marble when I enter her presence, and there is +that imp of a girl crossing my path at every turn. I must leave the +house--and that within a few days--unless you forgive me and find means +of appeasing the young lady. That accomplished, I shall be more +necessary to the household than ever. Everything will be on velvet +then." + +"Are you so sure of the old gentleman then?" inquired Lawrence, with a +half sneer. + +She smiled, and gave her head a disdainful movement. + +"Am I sure of my life?" + +He turned upon her with a look of scornful approbation. + +"You are an extraordinary woman, widow." + +"You have said as much, in a more complimentary fashion, before this," +she answered. + +"Perhaps," he answered, carelessly; "but we understand each other too +well for fine speeches. Now, let us talk clearly. On your word of honor +as a lady, all that you told me regarding Miss Lee before I took that +rude departure, was false?" + +"Yes; though you might use a softer word." + +"And you believe she loves me yet in spite of my ungentlemanly +withdrawal?" + +"I am certain of it." + +"You wish me to beg pardon and propose?" + +"Wish!" + +The woman locked her hands passionately, and turned her pale face upon +him. + +"Wish! You know I _cannot_ wish it; but it is inevitable." + +"In order to smooth your way with this grand old gentleman." + +The woman shuddered visibly, and clasped her hands once more till the +blood flew back under the almond-shaped nails, leaving them white as +pearls. + +"How indifferently you speak of a thing which drives me mad!" + +"Indifferently? No. You have made your arrangements, and do me the honor +to include mine with them." + +"You are angry with me--hurt that I can decide on this marriage." + +"No, neither angry nor hurt on that point." + +She looked at him imploringly. + +"Is this said in order to wound me?" + +"It is said because I feel it." + +"And you do not care that I bind myself for life to this man?" + +"Care? Yes; why not?" + +"I have thought it all over hundreds of times, when we talked of +marriage those lovely nights on the beach. It was a sweet dream, worthy +of two young people in their teens. We forgot everything,--the +luxurious habits which had become second nature to us both,--the +impossibility of making even love wild as ours suffice with everything +else wanting. We were neither young enough nor foolish enough to carry +that idea out." + +"Or, even then, to entertain it seriously for a moment," said Lawrence, +coldly breaking in upon her. + +"Perhaps not," she said, mournfully. "It was a dream, and as such we +discussed it; but the wish--oh! that was strong with us both!" + +A cloud of disgustful feelings swept over the man's face, such as fill a +refined heart while reviving some passion that has died out in contempt. + +"Well, we will not dwell upon these moonlight dreams, but the future." + +"Which will, at least, give us the right to see each other, and will +secure between us one of the largest fortunes in the United States. If +we cannot be all in all to each other, everything else necessary to +happiness will be ours." + +Again that expression swept over his face, but she was not looking at +him; the thoughts in her mind were such as turn the eyes away from any +human countenance. I could read all this plainly in their two faces. + +"Let us pass over these things," he said, gravely regarding her. "You +and I ought to know that human will seldom regulates events; let us try +to act rightly and leave them with a higher power." + +She looked at him in amazement an instant; then answered, with a +self-sustained laugh,-- + +"Strong spirits make their own circumstances! We are making ours!" + +"I know that is your opinion; but no matter, this is no place for +discussion. Once again, let me understand. I am not disposed to +criticise your motives for this--I will use the softer word-- +mystification; but now we must take clear ground. You again assure me +that, in seeking Miss Lee, I shall not meet with a rebuff either from +the lady or her father?" + +"I am sure of it." + +"Then I will go at once. But how can I explain?" + +"Say that you were informed of her visit to Bosworth, and went off in a +fit of jealousy." + +"And if she asks of my informant?" + +"Say that you saw her with your own eyes." + +"Don't you think it would be as well to speak the truth for once?" said +Lawrence, with a grave smile. + +"That _is_ the truth; you saw her returning home." + +Lawrence sat down upon the rock, and, covering his forehead with one +hand, seemed to reflect. + +"You find this task an unpleasant one?" said the woman, touching his +hand with her own. + +He swept the hand across his forehead, scattering rich waves of hair +over the temples. + +"It is very painful," he said, bitterly; "but, thank heaven! the +mischief was not of my own making. No matter; I will go now." + +He turned to leave her. She grew pale and troubled. + +"Where shall I see you after it is over?" + +"Here, if you have the patience to wait." + +"Yes," she answered, "I will wait; it will not be long. Oh, heavens! how +little time it takes to separate us forever and ever!" + + + + +CHAPTER LVIII. + +AFTER THE PROPOSAL. + + +He did not answer this; but his footsteps were still heard among the +leaves that had fallen along the footpath, and she followed his +retreating figure with eyes so full of anguish that I could not help +pitying her. + +When Lawrence could no longer be seen through the trees, she sunk to the +rock, folded both her hands over her knees, and fairly moaned with pain. +There was no weeping; but dry sobs broke from her lips like gushes of +lava from a crater. + +I remained still crouching at the foot of the hemlock, and sheltered +completely by one of its wing-like branches. I was safe from detection, +so steep was the descent that, without stepping to the very verge, there +was no chance that any person could discover me. I had no compunction or +question of honor to contend against. The contest going on in our +household had become too serious for shrinking from anything that was +not absolutely criminal in our defence. So bracing my foot against the +ash, and sheltering my presence under the dusky hemlock, I too waited, +determined not to move till that wretched woman left the ridge. + +Mrs. Dennison was very restless, changing her position every moment, and +starting up if the least sound reached her from the woods. As time wore +on, she seemed to listen till the very breath upon her lips paused. The +birds, that, as I have said before, were very tame on the ground, made +her restive with their singing. She hated them, I am sure, for the sweet +noise that prevented her hearing his footsteps. + +I softly took out my watch and counted the time. He had not been absent +more than fifteen minutes, when she sprang up, clenching both hands as +if about to strike some one, and began to prowl up and down the path +like a leopardess searching for her cubs. Now and then her voice broke +through the foliage, and I could see her wringing her hands, or stamping +her feet upon the dead leaves. + +At last a footstep sounded from the woods; it was a man's step coming +rapidly through the leaves. It had a hard sound, and I felt sure that +the man was desperate. She evidently thought otherwise. Her arms fell +helplessly down, and she crept back to the rock, white and still, but +with her face turned away as if she would not let him see how anxious +she was. + +He came up to the rock from the woods, crossed the footpath with a +single stride, and stood before her so stern, so bitterly incensed, that +she shrunk away from his first glance, yet a flash of irresistible joy +shot to the eyes with which she eagerly questioned him. + +"Well!" + +The lips from which this word came were almost smiling. Nature was +strong in the woman, and, spite of her selfishness, she exulted over the +ruin of her own plans. + +"Well!" was the bitter response; "I have humiliated myself like a +hound--proposed and am rejected." + +The woman sprang toward him with both hands extended; but he stepped +back, and she clasped them in an outgush of joy. + +"Then it is over! Oh, heavens, how glad I am! this hour has been such +torture! What would a whole life be? I should go mad. Let the property +go--sweep the whole thing aside! How many poor people in the world are +happy! In poverty or out of it, you and I will be all in all to each +other!" + +She was "pure womanly" then, notwithstanding her crafty nature and bad +heart; there was something in her abandonment that made my blood thrill. + +But Lawrence stepped back, and his face clouded. + +She looked at him in amazement. + +"What is this? Can wounded vanity affect you so much?" + +"Wounded vanity, madam? Will you forever misunderstand me? How dare you +consider me as an accomplice in your odious designs? If I have passed +them by in silence, it was no sign that I approved or shared them." + +These words were uttered with the force of terrible indignation. The +woman to whom they were addressed stood confounded before the speaker, +whom she had evidently, up to that moment, believed to be her lover. + +"Lawrence--Lawrence! can this be real?" at last broke from her quivering +lips. + +While speaking, she laid her hand on his arm, but he pushed it off +loathingly, as if a reptile had been creeping over him. + +At this repulse, all the queenliness of her air fell away, and she +seemed to shrink into a smaller person. The anguish so evident in her +face appeared to touch his compassion; his features cleared themselves +of stormy rage and hardened like marble. He took one of her hands in a +firm grasp, and addressed her from that moment in a low, concentrated +voice, that thrilled through one as nothing but true feeling can. + +"Mrs. Dennison, this is the last time that you and I shall ever converse +together." + +The woman uttered a low cry, and seized his arm with her disengaged +hand. He paused an instant, glanced calmly down at her hand, which clung +trembling to his sleeve, and went on:-- + +"We met at a watering-place unknown to each other, people of the world, +adventurers, if you will, and between us sprang up one of those +flirtations which are so far removed from genuine affection that the two +never exist together. We called it love--perhaps thought it so--for a +brief time; for I confess to a sentiment regarding you which no ordinary +person could have inspired." + +The woman lifted her eyes at his softened voice, and with an expression +that must have gone to his soul; never in my life had I seen so much +gratitude in a glance. + +"But this was not love!" + +The white hand dropped away from his arm; he grasped the other tighter, +as if to impress his words more forcibly on her. + +"I never did love you, Mrs. Dennison. Such expressions as are admitted +in society, without real meaning, I may have used, and you perhaps +construed them into deeper significance than they possessed. I--" + +Mrs. Dennison lifted her two hands with impatient deprecation. + +"Enough, enough!" she said; "more words are useless; I comprehend you." + +"And hold me blameless, I trust?" + +"Blameless? Oh, yes!" There was bitter whiteness on her lips, and her +eyes flashed fiercely. + +The sneer relieved him. There had been something of compassion, even of +regret, in his voice till then; but the curl of her lips drove all such +feeling away. + +"At least," he continued, promptly, "any blame that I might myself feel +it just to assume, has been a thousand times overbalanced by your +conduct, regarding one of the brightest and sweetest creatures that the +sun ever shone upon." + +The bitter sneer spread all over the woman's face, leaving it cold and +white. + +"You speak of Miss Lee?" + +The voice in which she uttered these words was fearfully concentrated, +and her agitation kept her still as a serpent before it springs. + +"Yes, madam, I speak of the lady who once, at least, received me kindly; +but who, yielding to your machinations, has just sent me from her +presence forever, a rejected, desperate man, for I love her better than +my own soul!" + +A faint sound, sharp as a cry, deep as a grave, broke from the woman. +Lawrence did not heed it, but turned away and left her, seemingly +forgetful that it was a farewell. She followed him with her great, wild +eyes, struggled with herself, and evidently strove to cry out; but her +locked features refused to stir. The cold lips took a blue tinge, but +gave no sound. She stood like Lot's wife, with all the vitality stricken +from her limbs, listening to his footsteps as they died among the +leaves. Then she uttered a low cry, sprang forward to follow him, and +fell prone across the footpath. + + + + +CHAPTER LIX. + +A HEART-STORM ABATING. + + +I seized the lithe stem of the ash, and lifted myself up the bank, +prompted by an irresistible impulse of humanity. The woman lay upon the +ground in a position so like death, that it frightened me. Her white +face was half hidden by the turf. The folds of an India shawl were +entangled around her, like the broken wings of some great tropical bird; +one hand was clenched deep in a fleece of wood-moss, where its jewels +flashed like rain-drops. + +I attempted to raise her face from the turf, but it fell back like lead +from my hands; the cheek which rested for a moment on my arm was cold as +snow. There was no life perceptible; I looked around for water. A +hundred feet below me it was rushing forward in abundance, but that was +unattainable. The house was some distance, but there alone could I hope +for succor. + +I detested that woman in my soul; but some pure womanly feeling impelled +me to keep her terrible condition a secret. I could not find it in my +heart to expose her humiliation. So entering the hall unseen, I seized a +pitcher of water that stood on the marble console and hurried back, +carrying it so unsteadily that the ice-drops rained over my hands at +every step. When I reached the rock, breathless with haste, the woman +was gone, and but for the crushed grass, and a handful of moss torn up +by the roots, there remained no proof of the scene I had just witnessed. + +Where had she gone? Not to the house. I must have seen her had she taken +that direction. Surely she had not followed Lawrence! I stepped to the +rock, which gave me a view of the footpath and the precipitous bank. She +was not in the woods, nor on the line of the ridge. Had she thrown +herself down the bank, and so perished in the river below? + +I seized the ash-tree, and, supporting myself by it, leaned over, +searching the depths with a trembling dread of what I might find. + +Half-way down the descent, I saw the gorgeous colors of a shawl +shrouding some object crouched upon a point of rock that jutted out from +the bank, and fairly overhung the black waters fifty feet below. In my +fright, the ash-tree escaped my hold, and, starting back with a sharp +recoil, made a great rustling among the leaves. + +The woman sprang up, lifted her white face toward me, and for a moment +stood poised over the water, with her garments fluttering in the wind so +violently, that their very motion threatened to destroy her balance. + +I threw out my arms, pleading with her to come back; but she sprang +forward into a heavy covert of pine-boughs that swept the descent, and +disappeared. + +I waited some minutes, hoping that she would appear again; but +everything was still; and after lingering about the rock some time, I +returned to the house. + +When I entered the hall, Mrs. Dennison was leaning over the balustrade +of the square balcony, gazing down upon the scenery of the valley, to +all appearance tranquil as a child. + +She looked around with a furtive movement of the head as I set the +pitcher upon the console, and then I saw that her face was still +deathly pale. I said nothing to any one of what I had seen; it could +have availed little; my report would only have met with denial and +discredence. I felt sure of this and went to my room, there most +earnestly praying God to direct me how to act. + +Mrs. Dennison did not come down to dinner that afternoon, and Cora +reported that she was in her room, suffering greatly. Something was the +matter; the dear lady had been crying for hours together as if her heart +were broken. + +This was said in the presence of Mr. Lee, and I saw that he listened +keenly. + +"Do you know any reason for this distress?" he inquired of the pretty +mulatto. + +"No, sir; no reason in the world, without it is the high airs that old +lady took with her. I was in the hall, sir, and saw it; since then my +lady has been crying half the time." + +We were at the table when Cora came down with this account of her +mistress. Mr. Lee poured out a glass of champagne and placed it on the +silver tray, upon which Jessie was arranging some delicacies from the +desert. + +"Ask your mistress to try and join us in the drawing-room this evening," +he said, kindly; "solitude will only depress her." + +Cora bowed and went away, but returned directly with a message from Mrs. +Dennison. She had a severe headache, and was afraid that it would be +impossible for her to meet the family that evening. To-morrow she +trusted to be better. + +Poor woman! she was true for once, though even her real illness was +afterward turned to account. + +After dinner, I found myself alone with Jessie. She had been a little +excited after Lawrence left; but as the day wore on, her self-poise +returned, and a sweet gravity settled upon her. As I sat by the window, +she left the piano, from which a plaintive air had been stealing, and +came to my side. + +"Aunt Matty," she said, in her sweet, trustful way, "I have something to +tell you. Mr. Lawrence has been here." + +I did not express any knowledge of the fact, but looked at her, waiting +for more. A faint flush rose to her cheek; but her eyes looked clearly +into mine. + +"You know what he came for?" + +"I suppose so, Jessie; and that he went away disappointed." + +"I think he loved me, Aunt Matty." + +"And you?" I questioned, anxiously. + +She shook her head and smiled wistfully. + +"You remember the violets we took from the spring down in the meadow +yonder? How fresh and hardy they looked! But we tore them up too +roughly, and they never would take root again! They were young plants, +you said, and hard usage withered them. The violets are all uprooted and +dead here." + +She pressed one hand to her heart, and, stooping down, kissed me to hide +the sadness that crept into her eyes. + +"And you do not regret it?" I whispered, drawing her close to me. + +"As I regretted the death of our violets, with a little sadness for the +perfume that is gone." + +"And it is decided?" + +"Nothing can change me. His intimacy with that woman gave her influence +enough to poison his mind with thoughts that should never enter the +heart of a true man. This was reason enough, if love ever reasoned; but +his power is gone from me. I could never live with a man who had once +been, even partially, controlled by a woman like that." + +"Did you give him this reason?" + +"As I have given it now." + +"And he considers it as final?" + +"Undoubtedly. I am glad he came--glad that he has spoken; for it sets me +free--heart and soul." + +I kissed her fervently, thanking God for this great deliverance. + + + + +CHAPTER LX. + +THE TWO LETTERS. + + +That very evening young Bosworth came to the house, looking almost well, +and _so_ animated. It was not quite dark, and he saw me walking on the +terrace; for I had need of air and solitude. He took my hand with the +old cordiality, and would not let it go. + +"Lawrence has been at our house," he said. "You know what has happened. +She rejected him--she does not love him. This he told me with his own +lips. It was generous; but he is a noble fellow. Indeed, I pity him." + +I pressed the hand which grasped mine, and, reading the question that +spoke from his face, told him to go in, that Jessie was in the +drawing-room--and alone. + +He listened for a moment to the music which came stealing through the +windows, holding his breath in sweet suspense; then he lifted my hand to +his lips and went into the house. The roses were bright on Jessie's +cheek when I entered the drawing-room an hour after, and, for one night, +we had something like a dream of happiness in that gloomy dwelling. + +The next day Mrs. Dennison kept her word, and came out from her +solitude. She must have suffered terribly; for I have never seen a face +so altered. All her bloom was gone in one night; her eyes had grown +larger with hidden anguish, which left dusky circles around them. Both +Jessie and Mr. Lee were struck visibly by the change. + +We were all in the library when she came in, grave, sad, and with that +look of deep sorrow in her face. Mr. Lee was greatly disturbed and went +forward to meet her, inquiring anxiously about her health. + +The woman let her hand rest in his clasp a moment, and drew it away with +a sorrowful glance from beneath her drooping lashes. Advancing up the +room, she leaned one hand on a table for support, trembling visibly from +agitation or weakness. + +"Mr. Lee!" + +The voice faltered with his name, and once more she lifted those +mournful eyes to his. + +"Are you ill, or has some trouble come upon you?" inquired Mr. Lee, +greatly agitated. + +"Yes, I am ill, and in deep trouble," she answered. "Oh! Mr. Lee, let me +beseech you to protect my good name from the enemies that have assailed +it!" + +"Your good name, my dear madam? Who would dare say a word against any +one sheltered under my roof?" + +"I do not know--the whole thing bewilders me; but some great wrong has +been done--some cruel slander said, or I should not be called upon to +endure such insults as met me from that proud old lady--should not be +outraged by letters like this!" + +She took a letter from her pocket and gave it to Mr. Lee, watching him +as he read it. + +The letter was a brief one; but Mr. Lee was a long time in reading it. +His eyes went back upon every line, and the fire burned hotly in them +when he came to an end. There was something very startling in the +changes of his face as he glanced from the paper to Jessie and from her +to me. Never have I seen a look so terribly stern. + +"Where did you get this letter?" he inquired, crushing the paper in his +hand. + +"It came to me by the mail; you will see by the post-mark," was the +reply. + +He glanced at the post-mark, which was that of the nearest town; then, +striding up to his daughter, held the open letter before her eyes. + +Jessie read it bewildered; but at last her features settled into a look +of astonishment. + +"Is this your writing, Miss Lee?" + +"No," she answered, but in a hesitating way. "No, no; I never wrote +that!" + +She had read a portion of the letter, when this emphatic denial broke +from her lips. + +"Yet a disinterested person would swear that it was your handwriting, +Jessie Lee." + +The color flashed into Jessie's cheek; but she constrained herself, +answering calmly,-- + +"I did not write it, father." + +Mr. Lee searched her through and through with his stern glances; then, +coldly taking the letter from her hand, he held it toward me. + +"Say, madam, you should be acquainted with that young lady's +handwriting; is this hers?" + +I took the letter and read it. The handwriting was certainly like +Jessie's, but with an attempt to disguise. The contents convinced me +that she never wrote it. They ran thus:-- + + "MADAM: You have wrought mischief enough in the family of an + honorable man to be content without bringing disgrace upon your + own name. It should be enough that you have broken the life of as + good a woman as ever lived; that you have alienated a father from + his only child, and separated Mr. Lee from his best friends. If + you have still any regard for your own reputation, or for the + welfare of those who have never wronged you, leave this house. + + "A FRIEND." + +"No," I answered, "Jessie did not write this; the thing is impossible!" + +"I make no charges--heaven forbid!" said Mrs. Dennison; "but it is +enough that a letter like that could have been written to me while under +your roof, sir. Self-respect forbids that I should remain here another +day. I have sent to the town for a carriage." + +"You cannot intend it!" exclaimed Mr. Lee. "Not till this thing has been +thoroughly explained and atoned for, must you leave a house that has +been honored by your presence. Jessie Lee, have you nothing to say?" + +"Father, what can I say?" + +"Nothing, my dear Miss Lee; I ask nothing, and accuse no one further +than is necessary to my own exculpation," said Mrs. Dennison, in a +grieved voice. "But I have been cruelly assailed. One word more, Mr. +Lee, and I am ready to go. Forgive me if I speak on a subject painful to +us all; but the death of your wife has been alluded to in that infamous +paper--alluded to in connection with myself. When Mrs. Lee was taken +ill, she had in her hand a letter, which only left her hold in the last +moment. It was open. You may remember I picked it up from the floor, +folded it, and gave it into your own hands. Of course, I did not read +the letter, and am, to this day, ignorant of its contents; but I did +glance at the handwriting, and it was like this." + +I felt myself growing cold; the faces before me swam in mist. Had not +Lottie said that the envelope was directed in Jessie's handwriting? Had +I not myself recognized the fact? + +Mrs. Dennison spoke again:-- + +"Another thing has haunted me since that mournful day. As I bent over +the dying angel, she whispered three words in my ear; they were: 'Read +the letter.' Sir, there is a connection between this and the letter +which your wife held in her grasp when she died. I entreat, nay, I +demand, that you tell me what the connection is." + +"The letter!" said Mr. Lee, with a start. "She did hold a paper, and you +gave it to me, I remember. It is here; I had no heart to read it." +Thrusting a hand beneath his vest, he drew forth a small pocket-book, +and took from it the paper which I remembered so well. It was crushed +and had been hastily folded; but even from the distance I could see that +the handwriting was that of the note I had just read. + +In Mr. Lee's eyes alone you saw the agony of astonishment that possessed +him. At last he turned his gaze from the letter and fixed it on Jessie. +She was greatly disturbed--the very sight of the paper in her father's +hand was enough for this; but she met his glance with a mournful look. +There was neither terror nor surprise in it; simply deep sorrow, such as +springs from a renewal of painful memories. + +He walked toward her with the paper in his hand, touched it with his +finger, and tried to speak, but could not--the anguish that locked his +features chained his voice also. Jessie was frightened and sprang up. + +"Father, father! what is the matter? What have I done?" + +He laid his hand heavily on the paper, and bent his white face toward +her. + +"Jessie Lee, you have slandered the father that loved you better than +his own life. You have killed your mother!" + + + + +CHAPTER LXI. + +THE DEPARTING GUEST. + + +They were gone, and a gloom like that of the grave fell on everything in +that room. While Jessie Lee lay cold and insensible on my bosom, smitten +to the heart by her father's denunciation, Mrs. Dennison took the letter +from Mr. Lee and read it from end to end. After that she uttered some +words which I did not understand--for the cold head upon my bosom had +frozen up my faculties--and went her way from the room, and oh! thank +my God! from our presence, I prayed inly, forever and ever. + +I do not know when or how Mr. Lee left the room, but I was alone with +Jessie, and she dead, for the moment, as if in her winding-sheet. + +I had no strength to lift her, or remove her from the room, but I laid +her gently on the carpet, and, taking the crimson pillows from a couch, +rested her head upon them. All this had been done with great quietness; +no unusually loud word had been spoken during that terrible scene--not a +soul in the house, except us four, knew that anything had happened. + +Striving to subdue my agitation, I went up-stairs in search of +restoratives. The crystal flasks in poor Mrs. Lee's chamber had never +been emptied of their contents, so I went there hoping to find something +that would bring the stricken girl out of her deathly sleep. + +The room was dim, but filled with the breath of flowers, as it had been +in its owner's life-time. Every article of furniture was in its old +place. The white bed gleamed out from the twilight of the apartment like +a snow-bank; the soft lace curtains covered the windows, flowing down +beneath the silken over-curtains like ripples of falling sleet. +Everything was so natural, so almost holy in its stillness, that even in +the terrible anxiety that filled my soul, I felt like falling down by +the bed and praying that sainted one to help me save her child. + +A wild petition did spring to my lips; but it was a time for action; so, +snatching a flask from the dressing-table, I was turning to leave the +room, when Lottie arose from a stool, at the foot of Mrs. Lee's +easy-chair, and stood before me like a ghost. + +"What are you doing here, Miss Hyde?" she said, in a whisper. "She does +not like people to come to her room." + +I held up the flask and was going on; but she seized it between both +hands. + +"It is for Miss Jessie--for her child--she is ill." + +The girl's hands dropped. + +"Take it--take it," she said, and followed me from the room. + +When Lottie saw her young mistress lying so still and marble-like on the +floor, a cry of anguish broke from her. + +"Oh! my poor, poor lady! how much she looks like her--how much she looks +like her!" + +Jessie came to at last: that is, she breathed again, and her eyes +opened; but this was all. She had no strength, and all the rich, young +life that made her so beautiful had left her frame. + +While she lay thus but half conscious, swift footsteps passed through +the hall, a spasm swept over that pale face, and Jessie made a struggle +to move and get away from the hateful sound. It was but a faint motion, +and she was still again. Then came a low smothered sound of conversation +near the door, and all was silent after that. + +I had hoped that Mr. Lee would come back and help me save his child from +the depths of her trouble; but he did not appear, and I dared not send +for him. + +"Lottie," I said, at last, "will you help me? Can you and I carry her up +to her room, or must I call one of the people?" + +"You and I--no one else." + +We lifted Jessie from the floor, and carried her up-stairs, meeting no +one. + +As we came to the passage which led to Mrs. Lee's chamber, Lottie paused +and drew a heavy breath; then looking down on that still face, she +turned toward the sacred chamber. + +I did not protest. That room seemed the most natural place for Mrs. +Lee's daughter when driven forth from her father's heart. + +Poor Jessie! We laid her down on her mother's bed, and there she rested +for many a long day and night--if rest was ever known to a nervous fever +like that which fell upon her from the hour of her father's wrath. + +While Jessie lay on the bed with her eyes wide open, and shudders of +distress passing over her, Lottie drew me to another part of the room, +and asked, in a troubled voice, what had made her young lady so ill. + +I had no other friend in whom it was possible to confide. Lottie, with +all her eccentricities, was true as steel, but I did not myself know the +entire cause of all this disturbance, and could not speak of it with +anything like certainty, so I only answered her, as quietly as I could, +that Mrs. Dennison was going away. + +A quick light flashed into Lottie's eyes. She looked from side to side, +as if wondering what direction to take. Her sharp intellect almost +caught the truth. + +"But Miss Jessie isn't fretting so about that. There's something else. +Oh, Miss Hyde! do tell me what it is!" + +"I cannot tell you, Lottie, what I do not understand myself." + +"And you won't listen. High notions will be the death of you yet. Oh, +how I hate airs! Now, if it had been me, I'd have known all about it, by +hook or by crook, but it's of no use talking. Are you sure Babylon is +going; if she is, her last trump has been played, and she thinks she's +won High, Low, Game, and a Jack turned up. Oh, if I only had time to +make this all out, but it's hop, skip, and a jump; here they jump right +into the dark." + +"What do you mean, Lottie?" + +"Oh, nothing particular. You keep your secrets, and I'll keep mine. +That's fair." + +As Lottie spoke, the door of our room was open, and this gave us a view +of the hall, at the other end of which was Mrs. Dennison's chamber. The +door of that room also was wide open, and we saw the widow talking +earnestly with her mulatto maid, who had drawn a couple of trunks from +the closet, and was now emptying a wardrobe in what seemed to be angry +haste. With three or four dresses flung over her arm, she turned +fiercely upon her mistress, and seemed to be upbraiding her. + +Mrs. Dennison answered with an imperative gesture, at which Cora tossed +her head, like a racer under curb, and flung the dresses in a heap upon +the bed, stamping angrily on the floor as Mrs. Dennison left the room +and turned down the staircase which led to the library. + +"By gracious! they are packing up, sure enough!" exclaimed Lottie, "and +I standing here like a frightened goose. Take care of Miss Jessie, +ma'am. I couldn't help you now--no, not if she were dying. Babylon is +playing that last trump this minute." + +Lottie left me instantly, and I saw her draw close to Cora, with whom +she had become very intimate during the last few weeks. + +"Do tell me what all this fuss is about," I heard her say. "Miss Jessie +is off in hysterics, and your madam looks like a thunder-gust--quarrelling, +I should surmise." + +"Quarrelling? I should think so," answered the mulatto. "Here she comes +all in a storm, and orders me to get ready in an hour, as if I had a +dozen hands--no consideration--no feeling. In an hour, and all her +dresses to fold! It's too bad! I believe she thinks I'm her slave yet; +but I'll show her--I will! Just look at the pile of dresses on the bed, +all to fold and pack in an hour." + +"I'll help you," answered Lottie, in her stolid fashion, which I noticed +she had always used with Cora, who seemed to hold her in profound +contempt. "I can fold dresses first-rate." + +"Oh! she would never trust you with them; but I'll tell you what will +help just as well; there is her writing-table, with the drawer running +over, and the top loaded with books; just pack that heap of things away +in the smallest trunk." + +"Well, I'll do that, if you'd rather," said Lottie, with apparent +reluctance; "but not knowing how to read, you see I might get the wrong +things." + +"No, everything belongs to her; just empty the drawer, and pack them +nicely away." + +"But you're not really going?" inquired Lottie. + +"In an hour." + +I saw Lottie move toward the table, and begin to gather up books and +papers with great indifference; but when Cora's back was turned, she +grew vigilant as a fox, and seemed to be searching for some particular +object with breathless anxiety. I saw her take a book, bound in purple +leather, from a back part of the drawer, examine it closely, and thrust +it back again as Cora turned toward her, when she became active in tying +up other parcels, and packing them away. + +All at once Cora seemed to have some doubt regarding the dress she was +to leave out for travelling. + +"Just like her, not to tell me. Goes off on her own hook in everything +without a word, as if I was of no account when she wants to move. Which +way did she go?" + +"Toward the library," said Lottie; "gone to say good-bye to Mr. Lee, I +suppose. You can hear him tramp, tramp, tramp, up and down the floor." + +"Tramp or no tramp, I'll know what she wants," said Cora, who was +evidently enraged at this sudden movement. + +"I'll be back in a minute." + +Away Cora darted along the hall, and down the stairs. Just as quickly +Lottie seized upon the purple book, flung her apron over it, and ran +into her own room, slamming the door in my face. After a moment's +absence, she flitted back again, with both hands under her apron, as she +had come forth. + +"Don't sit there; don't seem to be looking after me. That yellow witch +will think something is going on if you do," she said, in a hurried +whisper, darting in at the door, and out again. + +"But what are you taking away, Lottie?" + +"Nothing--not a thing. I'm taking it back again; don't you see?" + +Back she went, and directly after I heard her talking with the mulatto +girl in the most friendly manner possible. + +In half an hour I heard Mrs. Dennison sweep past the door, and knew that +she was finding fault with Cora, because everything was not in +readiness. The girl answered her sharply, and some angry words passed, +such as might have been tolerated in equals, but which sounded strangely +out of place between mistress and servant. I knew that this lady was +going in anger from our house, but had no desire to see her before she +went; for since the scene which had flung poor Jessie almost insensible +on that bed, my dislike of the woman had deepened into absolute horror. + +In a little more than an hour I heard the sound of heavy trunks being +dragged through the hall, and the roll of a carriage along the lower +terrace. Then I could distinguish the tread of Mr. Lee, words spoken in +a low tone, and a rustle of garments moving down-stairs. + +Then all was still for a moment. Lottie stood in the hall, listening +intently; I could not breathe, my heart so longed for the sound of that +woman's sure departure. + +It came at last. I heard the carriage-wheels and the tramp of hoofs +bearing her away. I saw Lottie fling up her arms in silent thankfulness. +Jessie, too, unlocked her hands, and turned her eyes upon me, drawing a +deep, deep breath, as if something had cleared the atmosphere that +weighed her down. + + + + +CHAPTER LXII. + +WHOLLY DESERTED. + + +That night I received a message from Mr. Lee, and went to him in the +breakfast-room. The passions that had locked his features so fearfully +still kept their hold. He was not a man to be reasoned with, or touched +by appeal in that state; the ice must melt, and the storm burst, before +human sympathies could reach him. + +I saw this, and stood silent in his presence--silent, but with a sort of +solemn courage. The worst had come, and with that thought strength +always lies. + +"Miss Hyde," he said, in a voice of ice, "to-morrow morning I leave this +house, and in a week this country, possibly forever. I do not stop to +ask how far you are to blame for the evil developed in the person who +was once my child; but she loves you, and I will not deprive her of any +comfort. She will be left in full possession of this place, with +everything that a woman can desire. The law gives her this and more. So +long as she wishes it, stay with her; for myself, I go alone, wifeless +and childless." + +I was about to speak, for there was a touch of regretful feeling in his +voice; but he motioned me to keep silent and went on:-- + +"Let there be no explanation to the neighbors or servants. What has +passed must rest with the four persons who parted in that library; for +this secrecy I trust to you." + +I bent my head and tried to speak, but could not. He looked searchingly +into my face, and his stern eyes softened a little. + +I went up to him, reaching forth my trembling hands; the ache of pain +broke away from my heart in a flood of tears. What I said, even a word I +cannot recollect; but I have the remembrance of a frail woman standing +before that haughty man, with her hands clasped and tears falling down +her face like rain. She was eloquent, I know; for the man's face changed +gradually, and his eyes grew misty as they looked into hers. But just as +an outgush of hope thrilled her heart, a name dropped from her lips--a +name that she loathed, and uttered bitterly, no doubt; then all the +gentle light left his face, and he was iron again. So the woman went +away wounded to the soul, and with limbs that almost refused to support +her. She sat up all night watching with the sick girl, while her own +heart scarcely beat beneath its load of dull pain. + +At daylight, this unhappy creature heard faint noises in the house; but +she did not move. Then came the sound of wheels upon the terrace-road; +still she sat motionless. You might have shot her through the heart, and +she would not have lifted a hand to put back the threatened death. + +The sound of those carriage-wheels moving away through the pine grove +aroused the beautiful invalid. She started up from her pillow, and +throwing out both arms toward the window, cried out,-- + +"Father, oh, my father!" + +No one answered. Her father was gone. + +We were alone now--I had no explanations to make. All the family knew +that Mrs. Dennison had gone away, and all except Lottie had been +informed that Mr. Lee had started on a long tour in Europe. She, good, +noble girl, had been so busy caring for Jessie, that the news only +reached her after Mr. Lee had been gone some hours. Then she seemed +greatly disturbed, and questioned me on the subject in her usual blunt, +searching way. + +My conversation with Lottie passed in her own room, and I cautioned her +against speaking of Mr. Lee in his daughter's presence, telling her +truly that no one had an idea how ill her mistress was except +ourselves. + +There was something more than curiosity on the young girl's mind. I am +sure of that, for she was like a wild creature, and seemed frantic to +know which way Mr. Lee had gone. But no one could tell her. The coachman +saw him take the train for New York, that was all he knew about it; if +she wanted to find out, it was not the road Mrs. Dennison had taken. She +went the other way--no disputing that. He had taken pains to inquire. + +That night, notwithstanding Jessie's illness was becoming more +threatening each hour, Lottie, usually so kind-hearted, called me from +the room to inquire if she could be spared for a day or two, and if I +could lend her ten dollars. It was a great sum, she knew, but she'd pay +it back faithfully; yes, if she had to sell the brooch and ear-rings +that Miss Jessie gave her out of the dear lady's things. + +Shall I own it? This hard-heartedness in Lottie gave me something like +hope--the girl was sharp and courageous. She had thoughts which no one +could fathom, and which she was evidently hoarding for the good of her +benefactors. Still, I was left, in some degree, her guardian. Should I +permit her to go off on some wild adventure, only from a forlorn hope +that it might benefit her young mistress? + +The strange girl did not put me to the test; but judging from my +hesitation that I was about to refuse her the money, flew off, saying it +was no matter, maybe she should change her mind after all. + +The next morning, when I inquired for Lottie, she was gone. + +Three days after she came back, looking very much depressed and so +cross, except in the sick-room, that all the servants in the house were +complaining of her temper. + +She gave no explanation of her absence, except that, directly after her +return, she gave me a New York paper--one that seldom reached our +household--in which Mr. Lee's name was announced among the list of +passengers in a steamer that had sailed the day after he left home. + +All this time Jessie had been delirious, and knew nothing of the trouble +that had swept half our household away. It was a mercy. Had she +comprehended everything as I did, that delicate organism, so unused to +suffering of any kind, must have given way with more lamentable +consequences; as it was, the young life was scarcely kept afire in her +bosom. + +In her delirium, Jessie was always wandering off into the past, and her +pure heart broke forth in a thousand sweet fancies, in which her father +and mother were always the moving spirits. Strange enough, she never +once mentioned Lawrence or Mrs. Dennison, even in her wildest moments; +but once, when Lottie came into the chamber, holding a bottle of perfume +such as Mrs. Dennison always used, the dear girl fell back on her pillow +and fainted quite away. + +The moment news of Jessie's illness got abroad in the neighborhood, old +Mrs. Bosworth came to see us--the dear, old motherly lady--how gentle +and kind she was! There seemed to be a charm in that plump hand, with +the old-fashioned diamond-rings lighting up its whiteness; for when it +had rested awhile on Jessie's forehead, the dear girl would drop into a +soft slumber, and awake with less tremulous nerves and a clearer brain. + +At last the fever burned itself out, and Jessie awoke to a consciousness +of actual life. She was too weak for any powerful emotion; and when we +were at last forced to admit that her father had gone, and that we had +no means of communicating with him, she only heaved a feeble sigh, and, +turning her head, lay, weeping softly, on her pillow, till the very +exhaustion left her calmed. + +Slowly, but with a steady progress, Jessie gained her strength; and, as +her mother had rested among the crimson cushions of that couch, sat one +day, when Mrs. Bosworth came to spend the morning with us. We had +braided her hair for the first time that morning, and prisoned its +coils in a crimson net, with drops of gold in the web, and flashes of +gold in the tassels. The reflection of its rich Magenta tints gave a +faint color to her cheeks; her white morning dress, with its profusion +of Valenciennes lace about the sleeves and bosom, lost its chilly look +under a rich India shawl that we had folded over it. Indeed, altogether, +the dear child looked so like herself, that we were rejoicing over her +when the old lady came in. + +They had become very good friends during those sick-hours--that dear old +duchess and our Jessie. So when the lady came in, rustling across the +floor like a rich autumn, our invalid smiled almost for the first time +since her illness, and held out her hand. + +I was in the habit of leaving Mrs. Bosworth and Jessie to themselves, +and was stealing from the room, when the old lady called me back. + +"Come, Miss Hyde," she said, "help me to gain a favor of our child. She +is looking so well, her hand feels so cool; do you think a little +company would harm her?" + +Jessie colored faintly and lifted her eyes to the old lady's face. + +"He has been here every day--don't start, dear! What was more natural +than that an old lady like me should want the care of a man strong +enough to help her if her staff gives way? Nothing has been done that +could wound you; but he is very anxious--and now that you are so well, +and looking so pretty, what if we let him come up? Eh, Miss Hyde?" + +Before I could answer, Lottie had left the room; with a chuckle and a +leap she cleared the staircase, and, finding young Bosworth in the +square balcony, presented Miss Hyde's compliments, and desired him to +walk up to the tower-chamber. + +I was going down to perform the same ceremony, in a different way, when +Lottie met me on the stairs. I stopped on the landing to let the young +gentleman pass; Lottie followed, opened the door, closed it softly, and +came back. + +"What's the use of shuffling about in this way?" she said. "She wants +him to go up, and he wants to go. When people want a good slide down +hill, what's the use of putting jumpers in the way? I'm getting sick of +your notions, Miss Hyde. Wouldn't give a copper for delicacy; and as for +honor, see what it's done. Don't talk to me!" + +With a sort of Jim-Crow step, Lottie whirled about on the landing, gave +a leap down three stairs at a time, and went off somewhat in her former +style. + +I was glad to see a dash of the old spirit coming back to the strange +creature; but a moment after I looked out and saw her crying like a +child, behind one of the large garden vases. After all, there was no +real cheerfulness about Lottie. Spasmodic flashes of her nature would +break out, but at heart she mourned continually. + + + + +CHAPTER LXIII. + +OLD-FASHIONED POLITENESS. + + +When I entered Jessie's room, the old lady was busy arranging some +flowers, which they had brought, in a vase near the window. She had put +on her gold spectacles, and was examining the tints so carefully, that +there was no room for attention anywhere else. + +Bosworth was sitting near Jessie, looking so pleased at being permitted +to her presence, that I could not help a throb of sympathetic pleasure. +He had, I am sure, been holding Jessie's hand; for as I came in, she +withdrew it with a hasty movement, and its delicate whiteness was +flushed, as if warm lips had touched it. No wonder the young man was +happy! Jessie Lee would never have permitted that bearded mouth to +approach her hand unless a true heart had beaten quicker to the touch. +Lawrence had gained no favor like that in the time of his greatest +power. + +The old duchess was looking through her spectacles just as I came in; +but not exactly at the flowers, or that bland little smile would never +have made her mouth look so young, or that demure blush have settled on +her soft cheek. Dear old lady! All those years, while they taught her +limbs the uses of a staff, had left her heart fresh and modest as a +girl's. How transparent was the gentle artifice with which she beguiled +me out of the room, to search for some purple heliotrope that might +soften the tints of her bouquet! + +As Jessie grew better, these visits were repeated. Young Bosworth seldom +failed to come with his grandmother; and after a little the old lady +would often stay behind, contenting herself with some message, or a +present of fruit and flowers. Then no excuse became necessary, except +that Jessie required a stronger arm than mine to support her first walks +in the garden; and after that the young man seemed more at home in our +house than he could have been in the fine old mansion behind the hill. + +Spite of the painful circumstances that had left us so lonely, we were +beginning to feel the strength of our lives slowly returning. True, +there was an undercurrent of deep, deep trouble all the time sweeping +through an existence that seemed so bright to others. + +The cruel absence of Mr. Lee, his determined silence, always lay heavily +upon us; but it was not as if we had deserved the stern displeasure +which had driven him away; and if we mourned over this great sorrow, +there was some relief in the oppression that Mrs. Dennison's departure +had taken away. + +Of this woman we heard nothing, and her name was seldom mentioned, even +by Lottie. We all shrunk in terror from the reminiscences connected +with her. Still our lives were more endurable than they had been for +many a month; and but for the aching pain which sprung out of that scene +in the library, we might have been tranquil,--sad with the great loss +which had fallen upon the house, but hopeful for the future. + +But with that gentle woman, lying in her last sleep down in the valley, +and the power of our house gone from us, we could only wait and hope +that God, in his infinite justice, would yet unfold the truth to Mr. +Lee, and give him back to his home. + +Sometimes Jessie and I would talk over these matters when quite alone in +her room; but the whole chain of events was too inexplicable and full of +pain for frequent mention. Jessie hardly yet comprehended the enormity +of the charge brought against her. What was in the letter which her +dying mother had grasped so tightly to the last moment? Who had written +it? Was the handwriting like hers--did I think? Her head had been so +dizzy that she could not make out a line of it. + +These were the questions she would now and then put to me. I told her +what the anonymous letter to Mrs. Dennison contained, but I had no heart +to enlighten her with regard to my conjectures about the other. Nor +could I for one moment guess what its import might have been, except +from Mr. Lee's words, and the terrible effect it had produced upon him. +Never for an instant did I doubt Jessie's innocence in the matter, +whatever it might prove. She was truth itself. + +Sometimes I wondered if Lottie had not written those fatal missives. The +girl was bright and sharp as steel. She was not without education; and I +remembered, in confirmation of these doubts, that of late I had often +found her writing something which she endeavored to conceal. Had she +not, in her practice, copied Jessie's handwriting, and taken this +method of warning her mistress? Nothing was more natural. The girl might +thus unconsciously have cast suspicion on her young lady. + +That Lottie was capable of writing the letters, I had no doubt--not with +malice, but from an ardent desire to drive the woman who had wounded us +so deeply from the house. With her crude ideas, and intense devotion to +us all, she might have settled on this method of ridding the house of +its torment. + +I questioned Lottie on this subject, so far as I could venture, without +informing her of what had passed in the library, of which she was +entirely ignorant; but she declared that she knew nothing of the letter, +which had been given to her mistress, till it was placed in her own +hands by the man who brought our mails from the town. As for Mrs. +Dennison, she would as soon touch a copperhead as write a word to that +she-Babylon. + +All this might be true. At any rate, Lottie looked truthful when she +said it; but in her sayings and doings, the girl was not altogether as +clear as crystal, and, spite of her protestations, I had some doubt +left. + +No person except Jessie and myself, either in the house or neighborhood, +knew the reason of Mr. Lee's sudden departure. It was understood that, +broken down by the death of his wife, he had sought distraction from +grief in travelling. So the secret, growing more and more bitter every +day--for we received no letters--rested between us two. As the time wore +on, we became miserably anxious. + +Had Mr. Lee utterly abandoned his daughter? Would he never return to his +home and prove how true and loving she had always been? His cruel anger +had thrown her almost upon a bed of death, yet he could go from his home +without a word of inquiry or comfort. + +Jessie was a proud girl, as I have said more than once, and as young +Lawrence had good reason to know; but all her haughty self-esteem gave +way where her father was concerned. She never blamed him, nor ceased to +pine for his presence. What it was that had separated them she could not +understand; but that her father was unjust or wrong, never entered her +mind for an instant. + +As for me--but what right had I in the matter? The right of anxiety such +as eats all happiness out of a human life--the hungry feeling of a +beggar that dares not ask for food. + +I think we should have gone insane--Jessie and I--if this terrible +anxiety had been without its relief; but, as days and weeks passed, +bringing no letter, no message, we sunk gradually into a state of +despair, not the less wearying that it was silent. + +Thus six months crept by. The duties of life went on--the household +routine met with no obstruction. It was wonderful how little change +appeared around us. Yet the tower-chamber was empty, and _he_ was +gone,--we, two lonely women, lived on, to all appearance, the same; but +oh! how changed at heart! + + + + +CHAPTER LXIV. + +NEWS FROM ABROAD. + + +We heard of Mr. Lee once or twice through the public journals, now +travelling in the Holy Land, again in the heart of Russia, but no +letters came. We wrote to him more than once, but directed at random, +and our letters probably never reached him. + +One day, when Lottie was in the room, I took up a New York journal, and +read this paragraph from a Paris correspondent,-- + + "A wedding is expected to take place within the month, at the + American Legation in Paris. Mr. Lee, a wealthy landholder of + Pennsylvania, is to be married to Mrs. Dennison, a beautiful and + fashionable widow, who is said to have been the intimate friend + of his first wife." + +I read this paragraph through. My face must have betrayed the deathly +feeling that came over me, for Lottie came behind my chair, read a few +words over my shoulder, and snatched the paper from my hand with a +suddenness that tore it almost in two. + +"What is it," inquired Jessie, started by this action--"any--anything +about _him_?" + +"About him? I should think so. Sin, iniquity, and pestilence. Read it, +Miss Jessie, I can't; it seems as if a snake were crawling over it." + +Jessie took the paper, read it, and fainted in her chair. + +Lottie did not seem to regard the condition of her young mistress, but +ran out of the room, clenching her hand fiercely, as if she longed for +bitter contest with some one. + +These paroxysms of feeling had been very unusual with her of late; for +in the quiet of our mournful lives, she had been left a good deal to her +loneliness in the tower, where she still kept guard over Mrs. Lee's +chamber. + +Sometimes she reverted to the past, and would ask anxiously if I knew +where Babylon was spreading her plumes. But I had no means of informing +her, being in profound ignorance of that lady's movements from the time +she left our house. + +This would satisfy Lottie; but I remarked that she had taken a sudden +and deep interest in her geographical studies, for I seldom went to her +room without finding an atlas open upon the table, and a gazetteer close +by, which she seemed to have been diligently studying. + +I had thought but little of these things at the time; but they came back +to me with force on the very next day, when Lottie came to me in the +garden, and inquired anxiously if Miss Jessie wasn't just breaking her +heart over that paragraph in the newspaper. + +I answered that Miss Lee was very sad and unhappy, certainly. + +"I knew it--I was sure of it," cried the girl, with quick tears in her +eyes. "It will kill her--she will pine away like her mother. You know +she will, Miss Hyde." + +"I'm afraid so, Lottie." + +"Afraid, and stand by doing nothing but bathe her head with cologne, and +cry over her. That isn't the way to cure all this, Miss Hyde." + +"But what else can I do, Lottie?" + +"You? Nothing." + +She went off to a flower-bed, tore some mignonette up by the roots, +tossed it from her, and came back again. + +"Miss Hyde, I am tired to death of all this. The house isn't fit to live +in since my dear, sweet lady was taken from it. There's been nothing but +sickness, and quarrelling, and going away since, and I've about made up +my mind to go away too. I can't stand it, and I won't, so there!" + +"Why, Lottie," I cried, lost in astonishment, "what does this mean?" + +"It means that I'm tired of doing nothing--of being slighted, and made +of no account. It means that I want to see the world, and know a thing +or two about life. You and Miss Jessie just mope about like sick +kittens; and as for the servants--well, I don't belong in that crew, +anyhow--but they are getting worse and worse. The long and the short of +it all is, I have made up my mind to go away right off, and do something +worth while. I only wish you would ask Miss Jessie to settle up with me +now, right on the nail, for I'm in an awful hurry to get off." + +Settle up! I should have been less astonished if the house-dog had made +a sudden claim for wages. Lottie had always been considered as a child +of the establishment, to be cared for and petted beyond all idea of +payment. She had never seemed to care for money, nor know how to use it. +But while enjoying her life in a state of luxurious ease, almost +equalling that of her young mistress, she descended upon us with a rough +demand for wages--wages from the time she entered the house, a mere +child, up to that very day--no inconsiderable sum, according to her own +estimate. + +This singular outbreak of cupidity astonished me, and half indignantly I +expostulated with the girl. But though her cheeks blazed with seeming +shame, and her eyes sunk under mine, she persisted in this grave demand. +All that she had received, her dear, dear mistress had given out and +out--that had nothing to do with wages; there was her bill--four hundred +dollars--and she wanted it in gold--hard gold, nothing else. + +I went to Jessie with the bill. She did not seem to heed the amount, but +was distressed at the idea of parting with her mother's faithful +attendant. Hoping that something had gone wrong, and that this was a +sudden impulse, she sent for Lottie, in order to expostulate with her; +for it seemed like turning a bird, which had become used to its cage, +loose upon the world, if we allowed the girl to have her way. + +Lottie came in, looking dogged and shy; Jessie held out her hand, with a +piteous smile, for she was thinking of her mother. + +"Lottie, what have we done that you wish to leave us?" + +"Nothing on earth, Miss Jess. I ain't mad at you, nor any one; but yet I +want to go down to York and get a place. It's lonesome here." + +Jessie's eyes filled with tears. It was indeed very lonesome. + +"And will you leave us for that, Lottie?" + +The girl was troubled; her color came and went. She was about to burst +into tears--but answered still,-- + +"It's lonesome, and I want to go. Why can't you let me, without all +this? I ain't made of cast-iron, nor yet of brass. Please give me my +money and let me go." + +"But you are so helpless. What will become of you in a great city?" +pleaded Jessie. + +Lottie came up to her and knelt in her old way. + +"Let me go, Miss Jessie, and don't try to stop me, for it'll be of no +use, only to make my heart ache worse than it does now. Don't be afraid +about me! If God shows the birds their way through the woods, He won't +let me get lost." + +"Poor Lottie!" said the young mistress, looking kindly on the girl +through her tears, "I would rather give up anything than you." + +Lottie seized her hand, pressing her lips upon it. + +"Don't, don't!" she pleaded. "You would not say a word if you only--" + +"Only what, girl?" + +"Nothing, nothing. I must go, that is the long and the short of it." + +Lottie shook off her tears as a dog scatters the rain from his coat, +and, starting up, assumed her rude manner. + +"I will not keep you against your will, my poor girl," said Jessie, +sadly; "but how can you find the way?" + +"Easy enough, Miss. I've been studying geography and the maps, these +last three months, besides reading about everything." + +"And have you got any idea of a place?" + +"Plenty, Miss. I shall be settled the first week. Only give me my wages, +and don't try to persuade me again what my mind is made up to." + +"Well, Lottie, you shall have the money. I am sure that can never repay +all you have done for my mother!" + +"Don't, don't, Miss Jessie! I want to make my heart like a grinding +mill-stone, and you won't let me. Now don't!" + +"Well, I will not distress you," replied Jessie, gently; "but remember, +Lottie, when you get tired of this new life, or have spent your money, +come back to your old home. No person shall fill your place." + +"Oh! Miss Jess, Miss Jess! can't you stop?" cried the wild creature, +absolutely flinging up her arms in desperation. + +Jessie looked at her thoughtfully a moment; then, unlocking her parlor +safe, counted out the gold Lottie had demanded. + +"Be careful that the money does not get you into trouble, Lottie," I +said, really anxious about the young thing. + +Lottie took the gold in her apron, and her tears dropped over it as she +turned away. She really seemed heart-broken. + +"If anything should happen," said Jessie, regarding her troubles with +tenderness,--"if you should lose it, or fall into want, and still not +wish to come back, write to me and I will send you more." + +"Would you?--would you?" cried Lottie, with quick animation; "then, oh! +Miss Jess! make it six hundred now. I never, never shall want money so +much again in my life." + +"Six hundred, Lottie?" + +"Yes, six! I tried and tried to cipher it out that much; but it wouldn't +multiply or add up to the mark; but if you would now--" + +She paused and looked wistfully at the gold through her tears. + +Jessie looked at me for encouragement. Dear girl! she had less idea of +the value of money than Lottie herself. + +"She was so kind to _her_!" whispered the mistress, drawing close to me. + +"Or if you'd just lend it to me," pleaded Lottie. "Now, Miss Hyde, don't +go to killing the white dove that I see spreading its wings in her +bosom this very minute; I wouldn't turn against you, nor tell anything, +you know that." + +"I will give her the money--the good child; how could it be in my heart +to refuse her?" said Jessie. + +Lottie went to the open safe and began to count out the other twenty +pieces of gold, which she jingled one by one against their companions in +her apron. Her breath came quickly; and when she had done she came +toward us eagerly, gathering the apron in her hand, and hugging it with +the gold to her bosom. + +"Oh! I'm ready to jump out of my skin with joy and thankfulness!" she +exclaimed. "Good-bye, young mistress--good-bye, Miss Hyde, I'm so sorry +that I ever twitted you about writing poetry, and some other things I +won't mention." + +Lottie went out of the room in great excitement, and left us astonished +and very anxious. We talked the matter over without result. If the girl +was determined to go, we had not a shadow of power to prevent it, and we +could not yet make up our minds that she was absolutely wrong. There was +something in the bottom of her heart that we were unable to fathom. + +But we determined that night to make another attempt to detain the +strange girl; if that proved impossible, to send a trusty person to +protect her on her way to New York and bring back news of her safety. +Somewhat consoled by these resolutions, we separated for the night. The +next morning, when we sent for Lottie, the servants told us that she had +been gone two hours, having ridden to town with the man who brought over +the morning papers, before any one but the servants was astir. We sent +over to the town immediately, and learned that she had left by a train +that passed ten minutes after she reached the depot. + + + + +CHAPTER LXV. + +LOTTIE LEAVES A LETTER AND A BOOK. + + +The departure of Lottie added to our trouble. We had learned to love the +girl very much, and this wild work, in a creature so utterly unused to +the world, distressed us greatly. Unconsciously even to ourselves, we +had begun to rely upon Lottie as a friend, and bright, if not safe +counsellor. Her untiring spirit amused us when nothing else could. +Indeed, she was like an April day in the house, half storm, half +sunshine, but interesting in any phase of her erratic life. It seemed as +if half the light had left our house, when the man came back from the +railroad and told us that she was absolutely gone. Jessie went off to +her own room with tears in her eyes. I would have given the world to +know where that strange young creature was going, and half my life could +I have followed her. + +Sadness is sure to seek shelter in shadowy places. Mine carried me into +the chamber of my lost friend. It was dim and orderly, like a church +closed after service. The white bed on which she died, gleamed upon me +through the dim light like an altar. The blinds were closed, the sashes +down; a funereal stillness had settled on everything she once loved to +look upon. I sunk down upon my knees by the bed, weeping bitterly. Would +that woman ever dare to stand in Mrs. Lee's room, its mistress? Had she +ever yet been able to wipe the blood-stain from her own lips gathered +from the heart she had broken by a Judas kiss? + +Upon my knees in that room, I felt and knew that a murder, so crafty +that the criminal herself could torture it into accident to her own +conscience, had been perpetrated there. The voice of my dead friend +seemed calling on me to avenge her, and save the man she had loved +better than her own soul, from a thraldom worse than death. In my +anguish I cried out, "What can I do? what can I do?" + +Nothing answered me. I was alone, doubly alone, since that girl had left +us. Never before had my helplessness been so complete. Perhaps I had +indulged in some wild hope connected with Lottie, and that had been cut +from under my feet by her desertion. If so, I was unconscious of it; but +no lame man ever felt the loss of his staff, as I felt the cruel +ingratitude of this girl. Still I had a vague trust in her, a hope +changing and fantastic as the wind, but still a hope that she might not +prove the thoughtless creature her conduct seemed to bespeak her. + +One end of the room was less gloomy than the rest, and a bar of light +cutting across it disturbed me. It came through the partially opened +door of Lottie's little chamber, in which a blind had been left +unclosed. I went into the room, and there, directly beneath the window, +saw the girl's writing-desk, on which lay a letter and a blank-book, +which I remembered to have given Lottie one day, when she had pressed me +earnestly for something of the kind. The letter was placed +ostentatiously on its edge, and I saw that it was addressed to me. I +opened it with some trepidation and read:-- + + MY DEAR, DEAR MISS HYDE:--Please do not think me a heathen and a + viper of ingratitude, because I have done what I couldn't help, + but remember me kindly, and make Miss Jessie do the same. It isn't + in me to be really bad, or anything like it, though I sometimes do + things out of the common, and make you angry, because you cannot + understand why I do them; not knowing everything, how should you? + There is one thing on my conscience, and I am going to own up to + it. You remember when Babylon went away, I was going in a hurry + into my room with something in my hand, when you wanted to know + what it was. I bluffed you off and wouldn't tell, thinking to get + the article back in good order before she went. But Babylon was + in a terrible hurry, and I had no chance to do anything before her + trunks were locked; so without meaning it at all, I was what some + people might call a--well, I won't use the name, it looks + dreadfully on paper, but her journal was left in my hand + promiscuously, as one may say. Still I meant to return it to her, + and mean to yet, if I ever get a good chance. I only thought at + the time to get Mr. Lee to read it, but before I could do that, + off he went, circumventing me in all respects, and making us + wretched. For my part, with that book on hand--of no use too--I + felt like a thief. If he had only waited till I could have seen + him; but he didn't, and that has made me so unhappy that I cannot + stay at home. I have copied off that she-Babylon's book, almost + the whole of it, and I leave the copy for you--read it, and then + say if Judas Iscariot wasn't a gentleman and philosopher, compared + to this woman. I have got her book in my trunk. You wondered what + I was writing so much about. Well, it was that. When she went out + to ride days, Cora was sure to be down-stairs, and I knew where + she kept her keys, so after awhile I had only to copy what Babylon + wrote over-night, having got the rest copied by hard work. Well, + at last everything was huddled up of a sudden, and I was + behind-hand three or four days--so I made a dash for the book and + hadn't time to put it back. I wonder if she's missed it? Mercy on + us! what a time there will be when she does. I wouldn't be in that + yellow girl's skin for something; but never mind, it will do her + good--the black snake! + + Read the book, and then you will find out what a rattlesnake we + have had curled up in the bosom of our family. + + Good-bye, Miss Hyde; don't think I'm crying because there is a + drop just here. It's something else, I don't just know what, but + crying is out of my--my--Oh, Miss Hyde! Miss Hyde! I do think my + heart is breaking. I can't stand it. Don't expect me to say + good-bye. Don't think hard of me for going. What else can I say. + Oh, do, do think well of me; I am not a bad girl, nor ungrateful, + believe that, and believe me your true LOTTIE till death. + +I read the letter through more than once. Then I sat down and +deliberated with my eyes on the book. Had I a right to read it, after +all I had seen and heard of this woman; was I justified in searching out +her secrets in that way? + +But for the suspicions that still haunted me regarding Mrs. Lee's death, +I should have decided against it, but I had learned too much for +continued hesitation. Still, my very soul recoiled from the task of +searching the life of this woman. When I reached forth my hand for the +book, it seemed as if my fingers were poisoned with the touch. I would +not take the volume to my own room, but sat down by the window and read +it through before I arose from my seat. The pages frenzied me. + +Lottie wrote a bold, plain hand, copying anything before her clearly +enough. In places the writing gave evidence of hurry and nervousness, +but it was in no part really difficult to read. The journal began at the +marriage of Miss Wells with old Mr. Dennison, and seemed to have been +detached from the other portion of her life about that time. If anything +preceded it, Lottie had failed to take a copy. + + + + +CHAPTER LXVI. + +MRS. DENNISON'S JOURNAL. + + +How many years will this last? I did not expect that this dull +stagnation of life would oppress me so. I knew that he was seventy years +of age, and thought it would be no great hardship to be petted as an old +man's darling, for the few years that might follow. Indeed, he is a +gentleman, and loves me, I am sure, more devotedly than ever a young man +loved his bride. At first I really thought myself almost happy. It was +so pleasant to get away from my old home, after it had been torn to +pieces by hungry creditors, and all the old servants driven into new +places, that protection and kindness made everything seem like a +blessed new life. Mr. Dennison told me that he has loved me ever since I +was a little girl, and always intended to make me his wife. He has been +a firm, firm friend to my father, I know that well enough, and never +would have permitted the old home to be torn up had poor papa lived. As +it is, he let all the rest go, and rescuing Cora and myself from the +wreck, made me his wife and gave her the liberty she would not take. + +"He was kind in showing us something of the world, before he brought us +here for good, yet I am not sure that it was wise to throw me suddenly +into the society from which I was to be withdrawn so soon. I learned one +thing there which sometimes stirs the wish in my heart that I had +waited. This thing I have become assured of: I am beautiful, and beauty +is a great power. No matter, it has done something for me in winning +this fine old gentleman; but when I think what it might have +accomplished, I feel defrauded out of half my life. No, no, I do not +often feel this. My life was pleasant enough at first, when our wedding +brought so many gay and clever people around us. But now that we have +retreated to the plantation, everything is dull as the grave. +Cotton-fields here, blossoming all over, as with snow by the handful, +corn there, tall and thrifty, great live-oaks bearded with moss, and +half strangled under the everlasting clasp of mistletoe, make the +landscape beautiful, and these things interested me greatly for a time. +But I am getting weary of them, and of the grand old house, with its +endless verandas and clinging roses, its delicate India matting, and the +snowy whiteness of its draperies. I long for change--pine for society, +while he seems to think that his presence alone should make this place a +heaven. What is it to me, that even in mid-winter I can stoop from my +window and gather oranges from the green boughs that bend across it? The +novelty has worn away, and this profusion of roses satiates me. You +find them everywhere, hiding the fences in ridges and slopes of glossy +foliage, studded thickly with great stars of whiteness, that would be +exquisite but for the commonness, the negroes bringing them to me by the +basketful, until I sicken with the fragrance,--yellow, white, crimson, +and damask, all heaped together in gorgeous masses that delight you at +first, and then become tiresome, are every day brought to me from the +grounds. + +"Yesterday one of the negroes came in with a whole armful of magnolias +in full bloom. The marvellous white blossoms, with their great chalices +running over with fragrance, filled the air with such richness as I have +never dreamed of before. I sat down upon a low stool on the front +veranda, and with the quivering shadows from a great catalpa-tree +falling around me, had these noble blossoms heaped at my feet, yielding +myself to the exquisite perfume, till the atmosphere made me faint with +delight. It was a delicious, sensuous enjoyment which I shall never +forget, but one cannot repeat such things, and 'not even love can live +on flowers.' Where love is not and never can be, such things sicken one. + +"While I sat there, with the great white blossoms breathing at my feet, +and a mocking-bird up in the catalpa-tree thrilling the air with music, +a horseman came riding up the avenue, now in the sunshine, now in the +shadow of the great live-oaks, leisurely, as if he found pleasure in +lingering on a road so beautiful and tranquil. He was a young man, tall +and well-formed, who rode his horse with an easy military air full of +command. Even at the distance I could see that his bearing was noble and +his face a grand one. + +"The sight of this man aroused me from the dreamy languor which had been +so delightful, and I watched his approach with interest. Directly I was +sensible that he had discovered me sitting there in the shadows; for his +horse quickened its pace, and in a moment he drew up, and, leaning from +his saddle, addressed me,-- + +"'Excuse me, madam; but I have been unable to discover any servant on +the ground, and may have intruded. Does this place belong to Mr. +Dennison?' + +"I answered that it did, and arising from my seat, desired him to +dismount. Mr. Dennison, I said, would be at home in a short time, and +would doubtless be happy to see him. + +"The stranger sprang from his horse, and flung the bridle to one of the +men who came lazily from the house to receive it. I made a movement +toward the door, but he gave a glance around at the beautiful view--the +flowery thickets and rich slopes of grass--as if reluctant to leave +them. Then his eyes fell upon me, and I saw them light up with sudden +admiration. I did not intend it, but at the moment I must have taken +some attitude of grace to bring such light into a stranger's +countenance. He stood for a whole minute gazing on me as if I had been a +picture. I felt myself blushing, and drew the flowing muslin of my +sleeve over the arm on which his glance fell as it left my face. Then he +turned away, and as I sunk to my seat again, placed himself in a +garden-chair, drawing a deep breath. + +"'Ah, forgive me,' he said, 'what awkwardness. I have trodden upon one +of your beautiful flowers.' + +"'But there still remain more than enough to make the air oppressive,' I +answered. + +"'For my part,' he said, smiling pleasantly, 'I could breathe it +forever. Indeed, lady, you have a paradise here.' + +"Was it indeed so lovely? A moment before my soul had wearied of its +very beauties; now a feeling of pride that they were mine stole into my +thoughts. It certainly was something to be mistress of a place like +that. While our visitor seemed to give himself up to enjoyment of the +scene, I saw that his eyes were constantly returning to me. I had been +sitting in the open air a long time, and felt that my hair and dress +must be in some disorder. This idea made me anxious. I arose, and asking +him to excuse me, ran up to my room to make sure that I was not +altogether hideous. One glance in the great swinging mirror reassured +me. No cloud was ever more pure than the muslin of my white dress; a +cluster of red and white roses held back the thick ringlets of my hair, +and a single half-open bud fastened the white folds on my bosom. My maid +Cora had followed me out on the veranda that morning, and thus arranged +the finest flowers she could gather. Had I studied at my glass an hour, +nothing more becoming could have been invented. That girl is a treasure; +she loves and serves me as no other creature ever did or ever will. She +was my dower, my inheritance. The only possession I had in the world was +this one girl, when Mr. Dennison married me. I sometimes wonder if he +knows why I love and prize her so much. I heard her voice through the +window. The stranger was asking her some question which she answered +modestly, and was going away. I wonder if he thinks her beautiful. To me +the pure olive of her complexion, which just admits of a tinge of +carnation in the cheek, is wonderfully effective. She is a brunette +intensified, but oh, how the poor thing hates the blood that separates +her from us by that one dark shade. No wonder! no wonder! + +"Why should I think of this, while looking in the glass to assure myself +that I was presentable? I cannot tell, except that this unhappy girl is +an object of such profound compassion with me at all times. The +education which she has received, I sometimes think, renders her life +more bitter than it might have been; but my father would have it so, and +perhaps he was right. + +"I went down to the veranda again, and found the stranger talking to +Cora, who stood with her back against one of the pillars, answering his +questions with downcast eyes. She moved away as I appeared, and went +into the house. I saw the stranger follow her lithe movements with his +eyes, and felt myself coloring with anger. Was he searching her +features from admiration or curiosity? I wish it were possible to +discover. + +"I had been reading, and left a book on one of the little marble tables +that stood in the veranda. Some richly colored embroidery lay in my +work-basket close by it, and in taking it up, the volume fell. + +"The stranger stooped to replace it on the table, but his eye caught the +title; a flash of crimson shot across his forehead, and he cast a quick +glance at me, as if the question in my eyes disturbed him. + +"'A new book, I see; have you read it?' + +"He was turning over the leaves, as he asked the question. + +"'Yes,' I replied, 'I have read it more than once.' + +"'More than once?' + +"'Yes, it is a book that requires some thought. Full of ideas and +original suggestions. The story itself is a painful one. Indeed, I have +my doubts--' + +"'Well, you have your doubts?' + +"His face flushed, his eyes searched mine with a look almost of defiance +in them. + +"'Yes,' I continued, coloring painfully, for I am young and afraid to +express adverse opinions, 'I sometimes doubt if it is not a little +wicked.' + +"He laughed, 'Oh, you are young, and a woman.' + +"'Well,' I answered, 'this is what I mean, when I finished reading that +book, it made me restless, unhappy--discontented with everything around +me.' + +"'That is, perhaps, because you did not understand it.' + +"'But goodness is so simple, I can understand that always.' + +"'I grant you, but human life is not all perfection; unfortunately, good +and evil are pretty nearly balanced on this earth, and there is nothing +picturesque enough in a dead-level of goodness to interest the reader +through an entire story. To attempt that, would be like painting a +picture without shadows. Your real author understands the force of +contrasts.' + +"'But a book which has so little of the virtuous and pure in it, yields +up this power of contrast, by letting no sunshine into its pages,' I +said. 'The fault of this work is, that it dwells too entirely on the +dark passions.' + +"'Then you condemn it?' + +"'No, indeed, the pictures are too grand, the passions too strongly +portrayed for that. The author, whoever he is, must be a man of powerful +genius. I only wish he had softened his pictures and let in a few of the +gentler sentiments.' + +"'And so do I.' + +"He spoke with emphasis, closing the book. Then I noticed that a flush +was on his face, and he cast the volume from him with a gesture of +dislike. + +"'You know the author of that book?' I said on the impulse. + +"'Yes, lady, I know him well--some day he shall be made the wiser, by +learning your opinion.' + +"'Oh, I hope not. It was rash, perhaps altogether wrong. I am no critic, +and only spoke as the book impressed me.' + +"'That is criticism,' he answered, 'and I dare say correct, but the +volume is hardly worthy of so much consideration. The author is too much +honored, that you have read it at all.' + +"I was about to answer, when Mr. Dennison rode up in his carriage, and +seeing my companion, waved his hand with that cordial welcome so +universal in the South. The moment he appeared, I felt chilled, and took +up my embroidery, knowing well that no more conversation that I could +join in, would be offered that day. + +"Certainly, Mr. Dennison is a handsome old gentleman. As a father, one +might be very proud of him, but now a strange feeling comes over me at +his approach. I turn from his elaborate elegance of speech and manner +with a wish for something fresher. Cora is not more my slave than I +could make him, but the task of perpetual fondness is too much. Oh, if +he had only adopted me!" + + + + +CHAPTER LXVII. + +OUR FIRST VISITOR. + + +"Mr. Dennison descended from his carriage and came forward with more +haste and animation than was usual to him. He was evidently delighted to +see his guest. + +"'Why, Lawrence, is it you; when and how did you reach us?' he said, +extending his hand. + +"'Half an hour ago, by rail and steamer,' answered the gentleman, +meeting Mr. Dennison half-way, and shaking hands with him. + +"'Made the acquaintance of my wife, I see?' + +"As he spoke, Mr. Dennison glanced smilingly toward me. + +"'Oh, yes, I think so; if this young lady is your wife.' + +"The gentleman hesitated in some confusion. I think he had taken me for +Mr. Dennison's daughter. + +"The old gentleman turned suddenly red, and laughed a little +unnaturally. + +"'My wife, yes, almost a bride yet, but we are making her blush. My +love, this is Mr. Lawrence, of New York, one of the best friends I have. +You must take him into especial favor for your husband's sake.' + +"I am sure there was color enough in my face then. Why will Mr. Dennison +constantly drag that odious word, husband, into everything he says? Does +he think I can ever forget it? + +"We sat down in company, enjoying the cool shadows of the veranda. All +my pleasure was at an end; the conversation turned upon stocks, +railroads, and mining. I gathered from it that Mr. Lawrence was a +stock-broker or something of that kind, and that Mr. Dennison was +connected with him in an enterprise for which money was to be supplied. +Once or twice I caught the stranger looking at me while my husband +conversed, but I was occupied with my embroidery, and did not seem to +notice him; perhaps he was admiring the contrast between the pure white +of my dress and the gorgeous richness of the worsteds in my lap. + +"While they were talking, Mr. Dennison insisted that I should sit closer +to him, and more than once he placed his hand on my work and prevented +me going on with it, as if I had been a child. This annoyed me. After +all, one does not care to be so obviously exhibited as 'the old man's +darling.' It is embarrassing when the fine eyes of a man like that are +upon you. + +"After dinner that day, Mr. Dennison stole off to a low divan in the +library for his half-hour of sleep. I usually occupied my own room at +this hour, but as I went that way, our guest came in from the veranda, +where he had been smoking a cigar, and laughingly entreated that I +should not leave him alone. + +"I ran up-stairs, threw a black lace shawl over my head, Spanish +mantilla fashion, and joined him. It was sunset, and all the beautiful +landscape lay wrapped in a veil of purplish mist, through which trembled +a soft golden glow that brightened all the west, and shimmered through +the tree-tops like flashes of fire. + +"We walked on through the delicious atmosphere, to which the perfume of +innumerable flowers gave forth their sweetness, as they brightened under +the soft dews that had just began to fall. + +"Unconsciously, we turned out of the oak-avenue and walked toward a +pretty pond, or miniature lake, which lay to our right, sheltered by one +live-oak and a cluster of magnolia-trees, from which the blossoms +brought to me that morning had been cut. A shrub-like species of the +magnolia grew around the pond, hedging it in with great white blossoms, +and the sedgy borders were aglow with wild flowers. It was not yet time +for the water-lilies to be in blossom, but in some places their large +green pads covered the lake with patches of glossy greenness, while a +light wind rippled through them, stirring the waters like ridges of +diamonds between the trembling leaves. + +"How beautiful it was! The birds were no longer musical, but we watched +them fluttering through the leaves and settling down in safe places +among the rushes, while the sweet stillness of the closing day fell upon +them. + +"My hand rested on the arm of our guest; he was talking earnestly, and +his eloquence thrilled me with sensations unlike anything I had felt +before. There was unmeasured poetry in every word he uttered. We had, I +do not know how, got on to the subject of that book again, and he was +defending it in language warm, fervid, and startling, as the story +itself. My hand shook on his arm; a new idea had seized upon me, and +against my own will I spoke. + +"'You wrote the book,' I said, 'I know it by your language. I can read +the fact in this defence.' + +"'And you will like me no longer. You will condemn me as you have that +poor volume,' he answered, turning suddenly, and looking into my eyes +with the glance of an eagle. + +"'Condemn you!' I said. 'What, I?' + +"'But you condemn my book?' + +"'No, I did not. To question a thing, is not to condemn it.' + +"'But the doubt wounds me. You might have found sympathy for much that +the book contains. It should appeal to a heart like yours.' + +"He held my hand firmly in his clasp. How it got there, I do not know. I +struggled a little to free it, but his fingers closed around mine like a +vice. + +"'Say that you will read my book again.' + +"'I will. Nothing could prevent me now.' + +"'And you will read it with a new inspiration?' + +"'After this conversation, yes.' + +"'That is, for one day you will think my thoughts, and give them fresh +beauties as they pass through your own vivid imagination.' + +"'I will read them, and remember all that you have said.' + +"'Sweet woman, I thank you. If my poor words can touch a heart like +yours, it is enough.' + +"He bent and kissed my hand, thus releasing it from his clasp. It seemed +as if some of my strength went out as he did this. The intense eloquence +of this man had inspired me for the time, now I was weak and silent. + +"'Tell me,' he said, 'what particular passages you disliked in my poor +volume.' + +"I could not answer; the book itself had gone out of my mind. I had only +power to think of the man who stood before me, with that earnest protest +burning on his lip, and those eyes, dark and luminous, bent upon me. I +think that he did not observe my trepidation. He was carried away by a +wish to protect the offspring of his brain from misconception or +censure. I had read the volume hastily, and found it too brilliantly +intense for the idle lassitude of my humor. It had startled me into more +thought than I cared to exercise. The quiet of my home seemed like +dulness after reading it. Now this man, its author, had come and +completed the discontent his book had engendered. I had never seen a man +of his class before, and to me the charm of novelty and romance +surrounded him with a sort of glory. + +"'Tell me,' he repeated, 'in what a thought of mine could have offended +a creature so lovely and so rich in talent.' + +"Was he mocking me because of my absurd criticism? I looked up suddenly, +and met the full glance of those eyes. The blood rushed to my face, and +my eyelids drooped. + +"'You will not help me to amend a fault,' he said, in a tone of +reproach. + +"'Because I cannot. It was no particular thought--no description in +itself that disturbed me; but, if I may so express it, the entire +atmosphere of the book. It made me unhappy.' + +"I was driven to desperate frankness by his persistency, and spoke out +almost with tears in my eyes. + +"'Then some thought in the volume, or the narrative itself, struck upon +your heart, or disturbed your conscience?' he answered, in a low voice. + +"I started. Was this true? + +"'Perhaps some points of the story were not unlike your own experience?' +he continued. + +"I felt the tears starting to my eyes. Yes, he was right. It was a sense +of the barrenness of my own future that had made me so restless. If the +volume had produced this effect, how much greater was the disturbance +when its author stood by my side, with looks and voice more eloquent +than his writings. He waited in silence for my answer; it only came in +low sobs. + +"'Forgive me; I have wounded you unthinkingly.' + +"His voice was like that of a penitent man in prayer; his face grew +earnest and sad. + +"'Look on me, and say that I am forgiven.' + +"I did look at him, and met the tender penitence in his eyes with a +thrill of pain. How had the man won the power of arousing such feelings +in a few brief hours? Was it because I had been familiar with his +thoughts so long? I could not answer; but the very presence of this +stranger disturbed me. Sensations never dreamed of in my previous +existence rose and swelled in my bosom. The impulse to flee from his +presence seized upon me. I did turn to go, but he walked quietly forward +at the same time. + +"The sunset was now fading into soft violet and pale gray tints. Dew was +falling thickly in the grass, and fire-flies began to sparkle all around +us. In the stillness and beauty of coming night, we walked on together +almost in silence. I had no words for conversation, and our guest seemed +to have fallen into deep thought. As we drew near the house, Mr. +Dennison came out to meet us. He had been smoking a cigar in the +veranda, and flung it away as he drew near us. How heavily he walked. +How dull his eyes seemed as he bent them upon me, after the passion and +feeling I had read so clearly in those of our guest. + +"Mr. Dennison took my hand and placed it on his arm, laughing +pleasantly, as he asked Lawrence how far we had been walking. Lawrence +did not answer. He was regarding us with an earnest questioning look, +from which I turned away half in anger. Was he reading me and my +position so closely as that? + +"Why should I think of this man so much? Has the isolation in which we +have been living made the advent of a stranger of so great importance +that his presence must fill all my being? The first thing this morning I +looked out of my window, wondering if he would be visible anywhere in +the grounds. Yes, there he was standing by Mr. Dennison, admiring a +blood-horse that a colored groom had brought from the stable. It was a +beautiful animal, coal-black, wonderfully symmetrical and full of +graceful action. Mr. Dennison had bought him only the week before, and +this groom had been ordered to break him for my use as a saddle-horse. +The gentlemen seemed to be examining him critically, as the groom led +him to and fro upon the lawn. For the first time I took an interest in +the beautiful animal. Being up to that time a timid and inexperienced +rider, my husband's purchase had afforded me little pleasure. He had +long since given up horseback exercise, and a solitary ride, followed +perhaps by a groom, did not hold forth much promise of happiness for me, +so I had allowed his new purchase to stand in the stable unnoticed. But +now I looked upon the creature with interest, as he stood restlessly, +with the sun shining upon his glossy coat, and shimmering like +quicksilver down his arched neck. + +"All at once, I saw Lawrence spring upon the horse and dash off across +the lawn, sitting bravely as if he and the beautiful animal were one +creation. The horse was restive at first and plunged furiously, for they +had put a sharp curb in his mouth, and Lawrence was bringing him to +subjection with a heavy hand. I shrieked aloud at the first plunge, but +there was little need of fear. The next moment horse and rider were in +full career over the lawn. That day week I rode my new purchase for the +first time." + + + + +CHAPTER LXVIII. + +THE WATERFALL. + + +"I did not know that the world was so beautiful. This spot is indeed +like paradise to me now. There is joy in the very breath of the +mornings. When I open my window and let in the gushing song of the +mocking-birds, and the sweet breath of the flowers, sighs of exquisite +delight break to my lips. Things that wearied me two weeks ago are +taking new beauty in my eyes. It seems to me that I love everything in +the world except this one old man. + +"We have been riding every day miles and miles over the country. There +is not a broad prospect or a pleasant nook within a ten-hours' ride, +that we have not visited in company. Mr. Dennison encouraged these +excursions. He is anxious that I should learn to ride freely, and seems +grateful that Lawrence is willing to teach me. The weather has been more +than pleasant, and these two weeks have gone by like a dream. How brief +the time has been, yet how long it seems, one lives so much in a few +hours. + +"My heart is full, so full that I cannot write anything that it feels. +In fact, there is nothing tangible enough for words. Dreams, dreams all, +but such delirious dreams. Last night I lay awake till a rosy flash +broke through the curtains telling me that it was morning. All night +long I lay with the curtains brooding over me like a cloud, and the +silver moonlight shimmering through the windows half illuminating the +room and the bed upon which I rested, which was all whiteness like a +snow-drift. There I lay hour after hour, with both hands folded on my +breast, whispering over the words that he had said to me. They were +nothing when separated from his looks, or disentangled from the +exquisite tenderness of his voice, but oh, how much, when so richly +combined, for never in one human being, I am sure, were looks and voice +so eloquent. + +"I could hear the deep breathing of my husband in the next room, and +this made me restless. But for him those words, meaningless in +themselves perhaps, would have taken life and force. Ah, why is youth +and ambition so rash. Had I only waited before these golden fetters were +riveted upon me! + +"A vase of moss-roses stood upon the little table near my bed. He had +gathered them for me just as the sun was setting, while the first dew +bathed them. I took some of these flowers together in my hands, and +kissed away their perfume, with a delightful consciousness that he had +given it to me. Out of all the wilderness of flowers, now fresh from +the dew, these were the gems, for he had brought them to me. + +"When daylight came, I arose and went down to the veranda, not weary +from sleeplessness, but with a gentle languor upon me which was better +than rest. For the first time since Lawrence had been with us, I opened +the book he had written, and read passages from it at random. How +beautiful they were! and I not discover this before. The truth is, their +very excellence carried with it exaltation. + +"I read them with a new sense and a keener relish. Their very intensity +had, at the first reading, disturbed me almost painfully, now each +sentence brought thrills of appreciation. In all respects it was a new +book to me. + +"I felt that this second reading was dangerous, but the thoughts +fascinated me, and I read on, while orioles and mocking-birds held a +carnival of music in the thickets around me, and a bright sun drove all +the rose-tints from the sky. All at once I looked up, a shadow had +fallen across the page I was reading; I closed the book at once, +blushing like a guilty creature. + +"'Confess,' said Lawrence, with a gleam of laughing triumph in his eyes, +'that you have in some degree changed your opinion.' + +"'I have no opinion to change,' was my answer; 'for until now I never +really understood your book.' + +"'And you understand it now?' + +"'Yes.' + +"'And feel it?' + +"'Too much.' + +"I felt the blood rush into my face with very shame at this hasty +admission. When I ventured to look up, a faint wave of color was dying +out from his face, leaving it grave and pale. Was he condemning me +already? That moment Mr. Dennison came through the front door, looking +cool and tranquil in his dress of pure linen, which was scarcely whiter +than his hair. + +"'Come,' he said, in jovial good humor, 'throw by your books, and let us +have breakfast.' + +"I was glad to see him,--grateful that he had released me from the +thraldom of those eyes. + +"We rode out that day. A waterfall some eight miles off was almost the +only point of interest that I had not visited, and there our ride +terminated. A colored groom always rode after us, but his presence was +no check upon conversation, and sometimes he loitered behind so far that +we lost sight of him altogether. In fact, our whole excursion was one +long _tete-a-tete_. + +"Lawrence had been grave and preoccupied all the way, but when we +quitted our horses and went down to the fall, his spirits rose, and he +looked around upon the scene with animation. The cataract, for it was +little more, leaped through a chasm between two precipices, formed by a +vast rock, which some convulsion of nature had split asunder. Down this +chasm the crystal waters plunged nearly a hundred feet, like a stream of +shooting diamonds, covering the sides of each precipice with fleeces of +emerald-green moss. From these mosses sprung ferns that waved like ten +thousand plumes in the current of air that blew coolly down the ravine, +keeping every thing in graceful motion. Young trees added their +luxuriance to the scene, crowning the summit of the rocks like a diadem, +and a host of clustering vines fell over the edge of the precipice, +streaming downwards like banners on a battlement, and sometimes sweeping +out with the current. + +"We entered the ravine first, and stood within the very spray of the +cataract; for the stream widened out directly after it left the chasm, +and went rioting off among boulders and broken rocks, across which a +plank bridge had been flung, which commanded a full view of the fall. We +stood a while enjoying the view, and then moved up a footpath that ran +along the right-hand precipice, from which we could look down the +ravine, and attain an entirely different view from the one we had left. +The path was broken and abrupt, but this was scarcely an objection to +us. There was something exhilarating in the exercise, and I rather liked +the vigorous climbing after so long a ride on horseback; even with the +obstruction of a long skirt flung over one arm, it was scarcely +fatiguing. We had nearly reached the top of the precipice, I had taken +Mr. Lawrence's arm, for he insisted that I must be out of breath, and I +was protesting against his assertion, when a large dog rushed out of the +undergrowth, which grew thickly on that side of the path, as if +frightened at something, and made a plunge directly against me. + +"My arm was torn from its support, I staggered--reeled on the verge of +the precipice, flung out my arms, and plunged down--down--down into +chaos. I had neither struck the earth nor water, something hard and firm +girded my body. My face was smothered in green, damp leaves, and my hair +already dripped with falling spray. + +"I heard the roar and rush of waters all around me, and through it a +fierce cry as of some one in agony. I attempted to move, but the +branches that supported me swayed downward, and with a desperate spring +I caught at the stem of a wild vine, which clung to and spread over the +face of the precipice, twisting itself in with the young tree, which but +for that would have broken under my weight. Looking upward through the +blinding mist, I saw a white face bending over the precipice, and heard +a voice hoarse with terror calling upon me to hold firmly and keep +still. + +"I did hold firmly, but the trembling of my frame shook the tree and +clinging shrubs with a dangerous vibration, and it seemed to me that +their roots were slowly tearing out from the soil which held them in the +cleft of the rock. This shook me with an awful terror; I tried to close +my eyes and be still, but that was impossible. I saw the blue sky +bending so calm and quiet above me. I saw the quivering greenness that +clothed the rocky face of the precipice, and ten thousand tiny white +flowers trembling through it so close that my face almost touched them. +The fall, like a sheet of melted glass, rolled and plunged so near, that +it seemed ready to leap upon me. My appalled eyes turned shuddering from +a vast whirlpool of foam that rioted thirty feet beneath me, shooting +forward, curving over, and plunging down great watery hollows, then +leaping suddenly upward, as if maddened that their prey had not fallen +at once into the white caldron of their wrath. + +"In vain my eyes closed upon all this threatening horror. Then all was +darkness, and the roar of the fall became terrific. The spray swept over +me like a storm of shooting diamonds, wetting my habit through and +through till it dragged me downward with heavier weight and fresh peril. +I could feel the drops falling like rain from my hair, and my poor hands +grew cold as they clung to the vine. A cry broke from my lips. Surely +the tree was uprooting beneath me. I could feel it giving way inch by +inch. A handful of loose earth broke away and rolled over me, rattling +down to the white gulf below. Shriek after shriek--oh, my God! they were +smothered and lost in that roar of waters, and could warn no one of this +new peril. I seized upon the wild vine higher up, and strove to press +less heavily on that breaking tree; my foot found a crevice in the rock, +and, forcing itself through the wet moss, in some degree sufficed to +lessen the weight that was dragging me down to death. But still my +support was slowly giving way, I could hear the small roots snap, and +feel the earth break from around them. My hands were numb and cold, my +brain began to reel, and ten thousand broken rainbows seemed shooting up +from the falls, and tangling themselves around me, dragging me +down--down--down. + +"A human voice brought me back; a wild, cheerful shout forbade me to +give way, and broke the delirium, which in a moment more would have +loosened my hold, and sent me whirling through that white gulf of waters +into eternity. 'Hold fast one moment! For God's sake, be firm!' It was +his voice. A thrill of hope drove back the delirium that had seized upon +me. I pressed my foot more firmly into the crevice, and forced myself +against the rock, clinging with both hands to the vine. A trail of +blackness fell over the face of the precipice, and I heard the clank of +iron striking against the rock. Directly the air above was darkened, +and, with a thrill of horror, I saw Lawrence fling himself over the face +of the precipice, and glide slowly down to my side. He crowded his foot +close to mine, thus attaining a foothold, but otherwise supported +himself by the line of leathern straps that had aided his descent. With +one hand clinging firmly to this support, he placed the stirrups from my +saddle under my feet, told me how to seize upon the straps to which they +were attached when he should call out, and seizing the double straps +above my head, swung himself upward, and left me alone, shaken with +double terror. Then I knew that a life dearer than mine was in peril, +and my soul went up with him, uttering a cry of thankfulness when his +voice reached me, calling out, cheerfully, from the edge of the +precipice,-- + +"'Stand firm; do not move till you feel the straps tighten around you!' + +"I obeyed, holding desperately to the vine with one hand, while the +other was ready for action. I felt the stirrups tighten under my +feet,--the leather straps were taut and motionless,--I grasped one with +my left hand, but still clung to the vine, afraid to swing out over that +awful abyss. It was a moment of sickening horror. + +"'Be bold--fear nothing--trust yourself to me!' + +"Instantly my hand left its hold on the vine, my feet were lifted from +their frail support, and with the stirrups beneath them, swung out from +the rock. Oh, how fearfully those lines strained and quivered! how those +white waters leaped and roared under me! I drew no breath; my heart +stood still; a shock of awful terror seized upon me; the minute in which +I swung out into mid-air seems to me even now as a long, long day. Oh, +it was terrible! + +"The faces of the angels, when they meet you after death, must give such +promise of new life, as his gave to me when my frightened eyes first saw +him bending over that precipice. The trust of the angels must be like +mine when I felt his arms around me, and knew that he had lifted me out +of chaos. Never, on this side of heaven, shall I have another sensation +like that. + +"How long I remained in those arms it is impossible for me to say. When +I came to life, he was sitting upon the turf, where they had laid me, +with my head resting on his knee. Some brandy from a flask, which the +groom always carried with him, had been forced through my lips, where I +felt the taste still burning. That had checked the shudders of cold +which were creeping over me, and for a while I lay speechless, feeble as +a child, but oh, how happy! He had saved me. It was his strength which +had rescued me from that whirlpool of waters, from the horrible death, +for which I was so unprepared. + +"These were the first thoughts that came to my brain, as I lay there so +deathly and motionless. The light fell rosily on my eyelids, but I had +no strength or wish to unclose them; nay, I checked the very breath as +it rose to my lips, fearing that it would betray the life rekindling in +my bosom, and thus break the dream which was so like Elysium. + +"He bent his face to mine and called me by name. His voice shook with +apprehension; I could feel that he trembled. + +"I could not help it: a smile crept to my lips and warmed them into +redness. He held my hand, and was chafing it between his smooth white +palms. + +"'She is recovering,' he exclaimed, joyfully. + +"'So she am, marser,' answered Tom, the groom; 'beginning to look mighty +natral. Lor' knows dis darky thought she was done gone sure 'nuff.' + +"I moved then. Tom's voice had broken up my dream. + +"'Are you better? Speak, dear lady, and tell me that you are not +seriously hurt.' + +"Opening my eyes wide, I looked into his, and closed them again, feeling +the warm, fresh life rushing to my face with a glow. + +"'Ah, your looks tell me that no serious evil will come from this,' he +said. 'Let us thank God.' + +"'I do thank God, but you most of all,' I whispered; 'without that, life +would--' + +"What was I about to say. My voice was weak, I do not think he heard me. +I listened for some response, but none came, and when my eyes turned +upon him, the look with which he met them was grave and thoughtful. + +"Tom was busy about the saddles at some distance. With that prompt +action which is in itself success, Lawrence had taken the girths and +stirrups from the saddles, the martingales and bridles, all of which he +had buckled and knotted together into the cable that saved my life. +While Tom was repairing all damages, I grew strong enough to sit up, but +my habit was so wet and heavy that it seemed impossible for me to walk. +A slight lunch had been prepared for us which Tom had brought with him. +Lawrence found a bottle of champagne in the basket, and poured out a +brimming cup which he entreated me to drink while the sparkles were +rising. I drank eagerly, again and again, till the slight chills that +had begun to creep over me were broken up, and a glow of strength +enabled me to rise. + +"'Now,' said Lawrence, 'that you have some color in those cheeks, and +the deathly look is gone, let us mount and away. It will be a miracle if +you are not ill from this shock.' + +"I arose and prepared to go, but faltered, and found the weight of my +skirt oppressive. Lawrence threw one arm around my waist, and almost +carried me to the horse. For one moment he folded me close in his arms +before lifting me to the saddle, and whispered,-- + +"'Forgive me, that I led you into this danger.' + +"I could not answer. The man who had saved my life, at a terrible risk +to his own, asked me to forgive him. Did he guess that it was worship, +not forgiveness, that I felt. + +"We rode home at a gallop. Exercise drove the chills from my frame, and +a strange excitement took possession of me. When I reached home, my +cheeks were on fire. It was not fever, but a sensation stranger and +wilder than I had ever felt before. Instead of returning home, I would +have given the world to turn my horse and flee to the uttermost parts of +the earth, where no one but the man who had saved me could ever know of +my existence. + +"Still, the horse was bearing me forward at the top of his speed, and no +one attempted to check him or turn him aside. In the madness of my +folly, I almost hoped to see Lawrence seize the bridle, and swerve his +course away from the home I was beginning to hate." + + + + +CHAPTER LXIX. + +THE THREATENED DEPARTURE. + + +"We reached home. The groom had ridden on in advance, to have dry +clothes prepared for me; but it was of little use, for my habit had +gradually lost its dampness, and I was feverish rather than chilly. Mr. +Dennison came forth to meet us, his face full of alarm, his walk +unsteady as if fright had shaken him. The old man lifted me from my +saddle, and held me fondly in his arms, kissing my lips and forehead +with passionate thankfulness before he set me down. Drops like rain fell +upon my face, and I knew that the stout old man was weeping, though I +had never seen tears in his eyes before. + +"'My darling--my own beautiful wife,' he said, in the abandonment of his +gratitude, 'what should I have done without you?' + +"Mr. Dennison spoke so earnestly, that Lawrence must have heard him; but +he was busy about the horses, and seemed quite unconscious of the +tenderness which disturbed me so. + +"'Thank God! you have not suffered as I feared,' continued my husband, +encircling me with his arm, and almost carrying me into the house. 'Your +cheeks are flushed, your eyes bright. Oh! my poor darling, I expected to +see you white and drooping.' + +"I leaned on him heavily, for my limbs were stiff, and I could hardly +walk, besides a dead heaviness had seized upon my heart. When I shrank +from the open caresses of my husband, this man did not seem to observe +them. Was it that he did not care? This question drove all the unnatural +excitement from me. I was white and cold enough then. + +"No, I would not be forced into a dreary bed, and left to my thoughts. +Exhausted as I was, anything seemed better than that. After Cora had +taken off my soiled and torn habit, smoothed my hair and bathed my head +with cologne, I girded a wrapper of soft white cashmere around me, with +a scarf of scarlet silk which lay upon the sofa, and went down, spite of +the girl's remonstrance. + +"They were sitting together, those two men, conversing earnestly. I +think Lawrence was giving an account of the terrible danger I had +escaped, for Mr. Dennison was saying as I came up, treading so softly, +that he had no idea of my presence: + +"'My friend, it would be a little thing compared to this, that you had +saved my life, for no human being will ever guess how much dearer this +sweet creature is to me than that.' + +"'She is indeed a most lovely woman,' answered Lawrence; 'any man might +hold his existence light, in comparison with hers.' + +"He spoke quietly, but I observed that his eyes did not seek those of my +husband, and a cold whiteness lay upon his face. Was it the shock of +that scene at the falls harassing him yet, or were unrevealed thoughts +struggling with him? + +"My husband started up joyfully when I appeared. He drew an easy-chair +to the window, placed me in it, brought a stool for my feet, and sat +down upon it, lifting his glad eager eyes to my face, with the devotion +of a spaniel, while he patted and caressed the feet his movement had +displaced. + +"I felt myself growing angry. Why would the old man thus expose his +folly before our guest, who seemed hewn from marble, so little did he +regard the fondness that filled me with repulsion and shame. + +"'Ah, my friend, see how she blushes at her husband's great joy and +thankfulness. My poor child, Lawrence has been telling me all, how brave +and steady you were, held almost by a thread over that fearful whirlpool +without a shriek, and obeying orders like a veteran. He would not tell +me all, but Tom did, so far as the fright would let him. Now say, my +angel, what reward can we give our brave friend? He will not take my +gratitude.' + +"'But he must take mine,' I cried, reaching out both hands, with sudden +appeal. 'He must not sit there cold and calm as if he had no interest in +my safety. I cannot bear it.' + +"Lawrence started up, and the quick fire leaped to his eyes. He took +both my hands in his, with a firm, almost painful grasp. + +"'Not gratitude. I will not have that, because--because it is all so +undeserved. I did nothing that Tom himself would not have thought of. It +was her own sublime courage, sir, that saved us from a terrible +calamity.' + +"Mr. Dennison gave me a look that seemed almost like adoration. + +"'I am sure she would behave like an angel anywhere,' he said, 'but that +does not lessen the value of your own brave action, my friend, and for +that we are both bound to you forever.' + +"'Well, let it rest so,' answered Lawrence, with an uneasy laugh. 'Just +now I feel more like thanking God for a great mercy given, and terrible +peril escaped, than anything else. Upon my word, Dennison, I can almost +feel those white waters boiling around me now.' + +"'They would have made an awful winding-sheet,' I said, with a shudder. +'But you saved me, oh, yes, you saved me.' + +"'And your husband also, dear one,' said Mr. Dennison; 'for what would +my life have been without you. Why, Lawrence, I have worshipped her ever +since she was a little girl; even then, her proud saucy ways had their +enchantment. She did not know it; how could she? but the old man's heart +was set upon her while she was playing with her doll and bowling her +hoop. Her own father never watched her growth with more interest than I +felt, and when she learned to love me, why then, Lawrence, I knew for +the first time what heaven was.' + +"Lawrence looked at me steadily while the old man was speaking, so +steadily, that I felt the hot blood rush to my face. Mr. Dennison +observed this, and went on triumphing in the love he so truly believed +to be his. + +"'You see, my friend, how the very remembrance of that sweet confession +bathes her face with blushes. She had taken a fancy to the old fellow +long before a younger rival could think of entering the field against +him, and married him for true love only, not because he was considered +the richest planter in this district. She was innocent as a lamb, and as +disinterested.' + +"'Oh, Mr. Dennison,' I broke forth, 'do not talk about these things, +they only weary Mr. Lawrence.' + +"'Certainly not. I am deeply interested in everything that makes the +happiness or misery of my friend,' said Lawrence, coldly. + +"'Ah, she is too modest, I have always told her so, and far too careless +about her own interests. Why, would you believe it, Lawrence, I could +not get her to look into the state of my property, and learn how much or +how little might hereafter come to her. She did not marry my property, +but my own dear self; these were her very words, and for such words you +cannot blame me if I adore her.' + +"I felt myself glowing with shame. If I had ever used such words, it was +when this old man seemed the only refuge left to me in my utter +desolation. Perhaps I said them and felt them just then, for quiet home, +protection, and a shelter were all I asked or hoped for in life; but +now, with that man drinking in every word, I felt such protestations as +a bitter humiliation. + +"I arose to go. The conversation had become unbearable. I felt my lips +quiver, and tears of intense mortification gathering to my eyes. + +"Lawrence came toward me a step or two, and then retreated, for Mr. +Dennison had given me his arm, and I left the room, bowed down with +humiliation, and burning with shame. Why would the old man talk of me as +he did? Even if I had loved him, it would have been embarrassing; as it +was, all the pride of my nature rose up in revolt against him. At the +foot of the stairs I dropped his arm, and insisted on going up alone. +He seemed astonished and a little hurt. How would it have been had I +dared to express all the rage that was struggling in my bosom? + +"Cora was waiting for me. Poor girl! she had been sadly shocked by the +abrupt account of my danger, which Tom had repeated to every one he met. +She is a wayward creature, and at times, I really believe, hates herself +with bitter detestation for the black tinge which taints every drop of +blood in her veins. Never in my whole life have I seen a human being so +sensitive. No matter to her that she is beautiful, and that even the +blacks look upon her as apart from themselves, this bitter truth is +always uppermost in her mind. She has black blood in her veins, and she +was born a slave. I remember how this beautiful girl hated her mother, +because it was through her that the taint and the bonds came. One would +have thought this wretched woman was the slave of her own child, for one +was made to feel all the degradation of her lot, and the other was, to a +certain extent, lifted out of it, from the day she was given to me--a +child myself--as my especial maid. How it used to amuse my father when +this colored child would domineer over and scorn her own mother. + +"Sometimes I think Cora is seized with a venomous dislike of myself. I +do not wonder at it. In her way, she is quite as beautiful as I ever +was, and as for talent, the girl surpasses me in everything. Her +industry is untiring, her perceptions quick as lightning. In some other +country she might marry well, and take rank in social life scarcely +second to my own. Sometimes I think her ambition turns that way, for she +is constantly teasing me to take her to Europe. I only wish it were in +my power, for I love the poor girl dearly, and should rejoice to see her +lifted out of the pitiful condition that all of her race must occupy +here, bond or free, for at least a century to come. + +"I have been writing about this girl Cora, because she is so connected +with my own life that nothing can separate us. We played together on +equal terms as children, and when she gradually dropped into the habits +of a servant, it made no change in my affection for her. In my chamber +we have always been friends, more than that--more than that! + +"Cora saw that I was disturbed, and sitting down at my feet, besought me +to tell her the cause. + +"For the first time in my life I had a secret to keep from this girl. I +could not own to her that a few garrulous words from an old man, who had +been so kind to us both, had filled my heart with indignant shame, for +she would have asked why such fond words had the power to offend me, and +there was no answer ready to my lips. + +"Perhaps Cora guessed this, for she was quick as the flash of a star in +her intelligence; at any rate, she asked me no questions, but contented +herself with braiding my hair, smoothing it with her soft palms, and +stooping to kiss my forehead when she saw a shadow of discontent pass +over it. + +"'Do not fret,' she said, softly, whispering back the thoughts I was +striving to drive from my brain; 'seventy years is longer than most men +live. Only have patience and wait.' + +"I was angry with her for understanding that, which I wished buried from +the whole world. Dashing her hands away, I swept the hair she was +braiding in a coil around my head, and turned upon her with such sharp +rebuke, that she retreated from me frightened. + +"'Ah! has it gone so far?' she muttered, shaking her head. 'Well, after +this there will be neither patience nor peace for any of us.' + +"I ordered her to be silent, and directly after heard her sobbing in the +next room as if her heart were broken. + +"Why did Cora's words haunt me all that night? are evil thoughts the +only ones which cling tenaciously to the brain? I tried to cast them +off, heaven knows I did! but that was impossible, nor could I sleep. The +shock upon my nerves had been far too severe for that. + +"Why would the old man haunt my room and sit by the pillow on which I +could find no rest? His presence tortured me. I could not keep my aching +eyes from his white hair and the wrinkles on his forehead, which seemed +to deepen and grow prominent in the moonlight of my shaded lamp. How +could I forget his seventy years, with such things before me in my +wakefulness? But he would not leave me; anxiety kept him watchful. It +seemed to me that those bright, earnest eyes read all the dark thoughts +that haunted my brain. I turned my face to the wall and pretended to +sleep. He sat motionless, holding his very breath, for he knew how much +rest must be needed after the awful shock I had received, and would not +frighten it away by a single motion. After a while, when everything was +still, I felt him bending over me; directly his quivering old lips +touched my forehead, and what appeared to me like a heavy rain-drop fell +upon my closed eyelid. + +"'Thank God,' he murmured; 'she is asleep at last!' + +"This child-like gratitude touched me more than the protest of a +thousand clergymen could have done. How purely and dearly the old man +loved me, and how unworthy I was! Great heavens, why did I ever marry +him, and thus make deception almost a duty? There is one excuse for +me--I did not then know what love meant. + +"Toward morning, Mr. Dennison went into his own room; then I breathed +again; true, he was very near, and by changing my position I could see +his white head and grand old face upon the pillow, where he had fallen +asleep with a smile of thankfulness upon his lips. After all, he is +generous, good, and rich in intelligence. Why is it that love will not +go with the reason? + +"They would have kept me in bed the next day, but I resisted. The +minutes were too precious for such waste. I went down-stairs, feeling +like a criminal and looking like one, Cora said, but the two gentlemen +regarded my sadness and my pallor as a proof of illness, and would +scarcely allow me to speak, such was their anxiety for my welfare. So I +sat in my easy-chair languid and still, listening to them as they +conversed, and yet gathering but few of their words into my mind. All at +once a blow seemed to have struck me. It was only a word, but that one +word took away my breath. Mr. Dennison had been asking some question, +and Lawrence answered,-- + +"'To-morrow.' + +"'Not so soon as that. Indeed, my friend, we cannot spare you,' said Mr. +Dennison. + +"I held my breath. It seemed as if my heart would never beat again. A +slow faintness crept over me while Lawrence answered,-- + +"'But I must: the business which brings me South is too important for +delay. Already I have spent nearly a month that may cost me dear.' + +"His eyes turned full upon mine. They were dark and heavy with sadness. +God forgive me if mine expressed too much! + +"'But my wife will never consent to this. Speak, dear, and give him one +of your pretty commands. It must be important business indeed, which can +win him to disobey you.' + +"I opened my lips to speak, but no words followed the effort. A choking +sensation came into my throat, and the very light went out from before +my eyes. They thought me insensible, but my faculties were locked up; I +knew everything. + +"Mr. Dennison ran into the house, crying out for Cora. That instant +Lawrence took me in his arms; I felt his breath upon my face when he +drew back with a faint exclamation. Cora stood close by him. + +"'She is faint, she is insensible,' he said, hurriedly. His voice was +confused, and I could feel that the arm which held me was seized with +sudden trembling. 'It was imprudent to let her come down.' + +"Cora put him aside, and took my hand from his, just as Mr. Dennison +came back to the veranda. + +"'Ah,' he cried, joyfully; 'she is better, the color is coming back to +her mouth! poor child, poor child! we have let you come out too soon.' + +"He stooped down and kissed me tenderly, but I shrunk from him with +sudden recoil, and leaning upon Cora, entered the house, so weary and +sick at heart that I almost prayed to die. + +"There was no rest for me that day. One thought occupied my whole mind: +he was going in the morning--going I knew not whither, and the history +of the last two weeks would be henceforth all of life that I should care +to remember. I wandered from room to room, wondering what course I could +take, and how it would be possible to appease the aching pain at my +heart. Sometimes I could hear his voice rising up from the veranda. It +was low and grave, sometimes I thought constrained, as if the words he +uttered came from a preoccupied heart. + +"No criminal ever listened for the steps that were to bring him a +reprieve with more interest, than I felt in gathering up the broken +sentences of that conversation. He was going away, first to New Orleans, +then back to New York, where business must suffer until his return. I +heard this clearly. It was no rash speech, but a settled determination; +yet up to that morning he had never spoken of it." + + + + +CHAPTER LXX. + +THE MIDNIGHT WALK. + + +"I could not sleep, though I had seemed tranquil all the evening. Mr. +Dennison, having been broken in his rest the night before, slumbered +heavily, and this made my wakeful solitude unendurable. The moon shone +brightly, and the cool air came through the window with enticing +sweetness. All day long I had been cramped and restless in the house, +which was growing hateful to me. Oh how I longed for that grand solitude +which lies in space! A wild desire to escape from the deep breathing of +my husband seized upon my mind. I dressed myself in noiseless haste, and +gliding down-stairs, opened a French window, and fled through it +breathlessly. I had no object in view, and all places were alike to me, +so long as I could breathe freely, and cry aloud without fear of being +overheard. But a footpath lay before me, and I followed it on and on +till I came to the pond, or lake, which I had visited with Lawrence on +the first day of his coming. It was perfectly beautiful that night. Here +and there a ripple, as of ten thousand diamond chains tossed on the +waters, followed some current, and died off in the shadows. The dusky +green of the magnolia-tree was kindled up with gleams and touches of +silver, while its sleeping flowers filled their great chalices of snow +with moonlight, and bathed themselves in its dewy radiance. If my heart +had not been sad before, the exquisite stillness of this scene would +have rendered it so; the very ripple of the waters among the lily pads +affected me like music, and the dark trailing of the mistletoe-boughs, +which were strangling the great live-oak with ten thousand leafy +caresses, made me almost afraid, they were so ghostly. + +"I went into the black shadow of this grand old tree, sat down with my +back against its trunk, and fell into a passion of bitter weeping. Why +had I become all at once so unhappy? What sorrow, or cause of sorrow, +had fallen upon me? I would not even attempt to answer this question, +but asked it over and over again, as if the solution were not in my own +heart reproaching me. + +"All at once I heard a noise in the grass--the steady fall of a man's +foot. I hushed my tears, and drew my shawl over the white dress that +threatened to betray me, even buried as I was in deep shadows. A tall +figure directly after appeared in the moonlight, standing by the lake. I +knew it at once. He also had come out into the beautiful night, unhappy, +perhaps, and restless as myself. He stood awhile motionless, then I saw +him move away, and walk quickly up and down the shore, as if the beauty +of the night filled him with irrepressible inquietude. Then I asked +myself why he could not rest, and what feelings had driven him forth. My +heart gave a reply which turned its sadness into excitement. Still I +neither moved nor spoke, but watched his abrupt movements to and fro +with breathless interest. Ah, he was wretched as myself--the thought of +parting had driven him forth. I was sure of that, and the certainty was +like a triumph. + +"All at once Lawrence turned from the moonlight, and plunged into the +black shadows of the oak, where he walked up and down like a disturbed +spirit. I could hear broken words fall from his lips, as if he found it +a relief to speak aloud in the solitude. There was passion and pathos in +his voice, but I gathered no other meaning from the sounds that reached +me. + +"Perhaps I stirred, and by a movement of my shawl revealed the whiteness +of my dress, for he came toward me, exclaiming,-- + +"'Great heavens! what is this?' + +"I shrunk back against the body of the oak, and huddled the shawl +around my person, hoping thus to escape his observations; but he came +close to me, and said very quietly, though his voice trembled a +little,-- + +"'Do not hide yourself, but come out into the moonlight. I felt that you +would be here.' + +"I arose, obedient as a little child, and walked by his side toward the +magnolia-tree, where the moonlight fell in white radiance. + +"'Why did you come out at this late hour?' he said, looking down upon me +with gentle compassion in his eyes. + +"'I could not sleep. I was so unhappy that the close air of the house +stifled me.' + +"'I understand,' he replied, almost mournfully. 'It is the old story. I +too--but what matters that--the air of the house was oppressive. No +matter, I shall quit it to-morrow.' + +"'To-morrow,--and you will go?' + +"'Yes; Dennison is an old friend--a dear old friend. I shall go +to-morrow.' + +"'To-morrow, and forever!' I cried, in a burst of passionate despair, +which frightened me the moment it left my lips. + +"He did not answer in words, but took my two hands between his, and bent +his eyes upon me with a glance so searching, that I shrunk away from +him, for the moonlight gave supernatural intensity to his face. + +"'To-morrow, and I think forever; believe me, it is better so.' + +"'Better? Forever! forever! Oh, these are terrible words!' I cried, +scarcely caring to conceal the anguish which wrung such expressions from +me. + +"'They seem terrible to youth, I know,' he answered, sadly; 'but after a +while you will learn that time softens even our ideas of eternity. Life +is, and must be, one continued scene of parting.' + +"'But parting is such pain,' I pleaded. + +"'Pain does not last forever.' + +"'Oh, it will; it must!' I cried out, in a passionate protest. + +"The man smiled, and shook his head, sadly enough. + +"'It seems so now; but you will know more of the world some day, and +learn to cast deep feeling from you. It is a sad drawback in life.' + +"'And you have learned this lesson?' I asked, half in tears, half +angrily. + +"He paused a moment, made a gesture as if he were casting some great +restraint upon himself, and then answered: + +"'Yes, I have learned the lesson. So must you.' + +"'But I can not. God made me as I am. It is my nature to feel and suffer +keenly.' + +"'I think so. Yet in a little time how all this may change!' + +"'Never!' + +"'Ah, yes; and when that change comes--when you are brilliant, careless, +a beautiful coquette, perhaps we can meet again, and play with the foam +of life pleasantly, as it is tossed to our feet by the waves of society; +but deep waters are treacherous; we must not trust to them.' + +"'You talk strangely,' I said, feeling an angry fire kindling against +him in my bosom. + +"'I talk honestly, as you will admit some day.' + +"I turned from him, angry with the tone of protection and superiority +which he had assumed. Surely I was no school-girl to be thus adroitly +put upon my good behavior. + +"'You are angry with me?' + +"'Yes; I have cause. You seem to speak from premises which I do not +understand. What have I done that you should lecture me so?' + +"My anger seemed to amuse him. His eyes flashed, and he laughed a low, +sweet laugh, that the rippling wind carried off in its murmurs. + +"'What have you done, child? Why, wandered off here, at the peril of +your health, when you should have been quietly sleeping!' + +"'But you have done the same thing!' + +"'Yes; but nothing harms me. Being a man, I know how to take care of +myself.' + +"'Is it a part of manhood to be without feeling?' + +"'And you charge me with that?' + +"'Yes, I do, or you would never speak of me with an idea that I could +become a brilliant coquette.' + +"'Indeed! Why, are you not a woman?' + +"I turned to move away. There was something bitter in his utterance of +the last word that irritated me. + +"He followed me. + +"'You did not hear me out,' he said;--'and a beautiful woman--can such +rare beings escape admiration?' + +"Still I walked on, leaving the live-oak and magnolia-tree behind. His +last speech seemed hollow and conventional. Did he think to appease me +by commonplace flattery like that? + +"He walked by my side in silence some minutes, looking earnestly in my +face when it turned to the moonlight. All at once he broke out +earnestly, passionately, throwing off all the constraint that had made +him seem so artificial. + +"'Let us be frank with each other,' he said. 'You are my friend's wife. +I go from his house to-morrow, because I am afraid of loving you more +than an honorable man should. Is this honest? Are you angry with me?' + +"My face was lifted to his; my hands unconsciously clasped themselves. I +trembled in every limb; but it was neither with anger nor pain. + +"'Am I not right?' he demanded, turning his face away. + +"I did not answer, for I knew well that, right or wrong, his going would +leave me miserable. + +"'I thought myself stronger and wiser,' he continued, without seeming +to heed my silence; 'but that day when you were in such peril I learned +how deep was the impression your beauty and loveliness had made upon me. +Since then I have been resolved to go--my honor and my happiness demand +it.' + +"Still I was silent, partly from a wild sense of triumph, partly from +terror lest he should guess at the feeling. + +"'You will not answer me; my frankness offends you.' + +"He seemed touched and hurt by the silence, which I could not force +myself to break. All at once I was sobbing. He took my hand gently in +his, and led me back along the path we had been walking. I cannot repeat +all that he said to me. It was himself on whom all blame rested. This +was the spirit of his conversation. Not for one moment did he hint that +I could have been interested in anything he did, save as the hospitable +lady of a mansion in which he was a guest. Was he deceived? I cannot +tell; but this I do know, every word he uttered was full of loyal +respect for my husband. He did not seem to understand or notice the +tears I was shedding, but quietly led me toward the house. At last he +stopped, took my hand, pressed it to his lips, and left me standing +alone within sight of my dwelling. + +"Lawrence left the next morning at daylight. I had been dreaming on my +sleepless pillow that scene by the lake over and over again. Every word +that man had uttered passed through my brain, and made a sweet lodgment +in my heart. How careful he had been to save my pride while confessing +his own weakness. If he had been masterful, and treated me like a child, +no word of his had conveyed a suspicion that I too was in danger. His +delicacy enthralled me more by far than persuasion could have done. He +spoke only of his own struggles and his own danger, never hinting that I +might share in one or the other. How magnanimous, how self-sacrificing +he was--and this man loved me! + +"All at once I heard a noise of wheels in front of the house. A sharp +apprehension broke up my dreams. I sprang out of bed, lifted the lace +curtain, and saw my husband's light buggy drawn up on the +carriage-drive. While Tom was packing a valice under the seat, Mr. +Lawrence stood near drawing on his gloves. + +"He was going without one word of farewell. The thought made me wild. I +flung up the window with a violence that tore the valenciennes from the +sleeve of my night-dress, and called out,-- + +"'Not yet, not yet!' + +"He did not hear me, or perhaps would not. That instant he sprang into +the buggy, snatched the reins from Tom, and drove off. As he passed a +curve in the road, he drew up and looked back at the house, as if unable +to leave it without a farewell-glance. I was still at the window, half +shrouded by the curtains, but leaning out, with wild unconsciousness of +my position. He waved one hand, drew his horse up with the other so +sharply that the buggy was half wheeled across the road; the next +instant the horse made a plunge forward, seemingly unmanageable, and in +an instant bore him out of sight. + +"I knelt by the window a long time, looking upon the spot where he had +disappeared in blank despair. In one minute my life seemed to have +become a barren waste. Points in the landscape that had been so +beautiful over-night, struck me with a dreary appearance of change. My +eyes grew hot and ached with the pain of my sudden desolation. I could +neither weep nor cry out, but knelt there with a dull sense of sorrow +and utter loneliness creeping over me. Burdened with these wretched +feelings, I crept back to my couch, and burying my face in the pillows, +suffered silently." + + + + +CHAPTER LXXI. + +AWAY FROM HOME. + + +"This house is not the same now; its stillness oppresses me, its +magnificence palls on my senses. Wherever I turn, some memory starts up +to pain me. Why have I filled every beautiful spot with associations +that sting me so? + +"I think that my husband is watching me with more interest than +formerly. If he sees a cloud on my face, some gentle act of attention +seeks to drive it away. Sometimes he asks, in a troubled voice, what +makes me so sad and thoughtful, as if he guessed at the truth, and the +suspicion wounded him. Then I fly from the stillness of my sorrow, and +force a wild sort of spirits, that make him still more depressed. This +old man has seen a great deal of the world in his life, and perhaps +reads me better than I think. Is deception ever a duty? At any rate, it +is the refuge of cowards, and sometimes of kindness. Now, I should not +really be afraid to lay the whole truth before this old man, so far as +its effect on myself is concerned; but when I think of him and all the +pain it would certainly give, my heart recoils from its expression. If +he would only be a little unkind, I should not care so much. But, after +all, what is there to explain? No word of _his_, or act of mine, could +be censured justly. True, I met him at night, unknown to the family, in +a beautiful and solitary spot, where some conversation passed which made +me both sad and happy, but no wrong was done to any one, and the whole +scene, if thoroughly explained, should bring no blame with it. I left +the house without one thought of meeting any human being. If he saw and +followed me, it was for a most honorable purpose--honorably, but, oh, +most cruelly carried out. + +"How miserably slow the weeks and months roll on. I can endure this +irksome sameness of life no longer; the very fragrance of the air +sickens me. I long for change--for excitement. Youth has no need of +rest; its aspirations are always pressing onward. _He_ said that I was +beautiful. My husband has told me this a hundred times, but it made +little impression, for what is the worth of beauty in a great dull house +like this? I long to go out into the world again, for there is a chance +that I may--no, no, I will not think of that. He did not even tell me +where he was going. But change I must and will have; it is the want of +excitement that makes me a slave to these fits of depression. While +surrounded by the homage of other men, I shall learn to forget that this +one refused it to me. + +"This evening I ventured upon the subject which has been haunting me for +weeks. Mr. Dennison remarked that I was getting pale, and had lost all +the brilliant glow of spirits which made my first coming home like an +opening of paradise to him. Was I ill, or had he failed in anything that +could have made me happy? + +"I did not complain, but smiled upon him in a way that brought light +into his eyes, and said pleasantly enough, that I was not quite myself +in splendid solitude, that female friends were necessary to me, and I +had parted with them perhaps a little too suddenly. Sometimes, I +confessed, a feeling of discontent would creep over me, and but for him +and all his generous attentions, I should grow weary of our grand lonely +life. + +"Mr. Dennison became anxious at once. 'Would I have guests invited? It +was the easiest thing in life to have the great house filled with the +most agreeable company to be found in the State.' + +"'Guests? Oh, nothing of the kind! The duties of a hostess were beyond +me just then,--but a little journey somewhere--how would he like +that?--say to New Orleans?--the approaching autumnal weather would +render a trip to the city pleasant, and we could come back any day.' + +"Mr. Dennison accepted this proposal at once. He had seemed a little +anxious at first when I spoke of leaving home, as if some doubt rested +in his mind; but when I mentioned New Orleans, the cloud left his face, +and he fell in with the suggestion. + +"My suspicions were right. Mr. Dennison was not altogether at rest about +Lawrence. At first he suspected that I was anxious to be thrown in his +way again. I could see it in his face, and dared not speak of Saratoga, +Newport, or any Northern watering-place, which it had been my first +intention to suggest. So I mentioned New Orleans, and he was satisfied, +while I fairly bit my lips white with the vexation of my failure. But +New Orleans was better than nothing. There, at least, we should find +society, amusement and distraction. Besides, our names would be +announced in the public journals, and _he_ might learn of our presence +there. Yes, yes, New Orleans was preferable to home, especially as the +autumn was near, and the gay season northward already breaking up. + +"Cora was in ecstasies when I told her that we were going away. Poor +girl, she had found my domestic life very dull and depressing; I could +see that by the alacrity with which she went to work. Once more she +became bright and animated as a bird. My wardrobe was speedily put in +order, and we left the plantation, much happier to go away than we had +been to enter it." + + + + +CHAPTER LXXII. + +OUT IN THE WORLD AGAIN. + + +"Lawrence was right. Beauty is a great power, and I am beautiful. I know +it in a thousand ways, but best of all by the homage of men and the envy +of women. Both are sweet to me. I love to see these envious creatures +turn pale and whisper their venom to each other, as I am besieged by the +attentions of their favorites. At first I was a little timid about +asserting the power that I felt myself to possess. Mr. Dennison, I +thought, might be displeased, were his wife to accept the position +offered her as a belle and leader in the best social circles of the +South. I think he was at first annoyed by the great popularity which +followed my advent into society, but I soon forgot to notice these +indications, and resolved to live my life whether he was pleased or not. +After all, there is a great deal in this world worth living for besides +love as a grand passion. The adoration which others are forced to give +you has its charms; besides, there arise episodes of love in one's life, +which come and go like the rosy dawn and golden sunset of a summer-day, +which for the time charm one's heart out of its one deep passion. In +society here I forget how deeply I loved that one man, and better still, +I forget to think of my husband. For his sake my heart was thrown back +upon itself, and he had become the cause of my humiliation; but for +that, Lawrence might have been my slave, as other men have been, and +will be, so long as I allow them to kneel at the altar of my vanity. Had +I remained at the plantation, this conviction would, I do believe, have +deepened into hatred of my husband; but I was too pleasantly occupied, +brain and sense, for any deep feeling to reach me in that whirl of +society; just then it would have been as impossible for me to hate, as +to love my husband. I simply cared nothing about him, save as he was the +source from whence I obtained gold in which to frame my beauty. Without +that, half my power would have disappeared. + +"Lawrence was right. The time has come when I am a careless, brilliant, +beautiful coquette, and this he has made me. 'Then,' he said, 'we can +meet in safety and play with the foam of life pleasantly, as it is +tossed to our feet by the waves of society.' + +"I understand all this now. When I am heartless, and altogether given up +to vanity, he will not be afraid of loving me, because, to a man like +him, love for a woman so transformed would be impossible. But am I +transformed? Is not the old nature still alive in my bosom? I have no +time for a serious answer. The foam he speaks of is mounting too whitely +around my feet. + +"'What is this? Mr. Dennison ill? Falling away? Forgetting to smile? +Looking the very ghost of himself?' These were the very words I +overheard this morning, as I stood unnoticed behind two ladies +conversing in the great drawing-room of the St. Charles. Was this true? +I had not noticed. The old man never complained, and I saw nothing. If +he had fallen away in his appetite, no one was less likely to be aware +of it than myself, for it was very seldom that we breakfasted at the +same hour, and at dinner I was always too pleasantly occupied for any +thought of his appetite. But one thing was true, he did look thin and +terribly depressed. His white linen coat was hanging loosely around his +person. The silvery hair, which everybody admired so much, seemed to +have grown thinner. Never in my life have I looked on so sad a face. + +"I crossed the room at once, and sat down by Mr. Dennison. His face +brightened, he swept the white hair back from his forehead, and smiled +upon me. + +"'Are you ill?' I said, laying my hand on his. + +"'No, not ill; only a little lonesome.' + +"'Lonesome among all these people?' I answered, still pressing his hand. + +"He looked down at my hand, which was blazing with great diamonds that +he had given me. + +"'There is room for one more,' he said, with a sigh. 'I bought it for +you weeks ago, but have found no time in which you could receive it.' + +"He took a star of diamonds from his pocket, and placed it on the only +one of my fingers that was not already ornamented. His old white hands +trembled a little as he put the ring on my finger, and I could see tears +trembling up to his eyes. + +"'How kind, but how childish you are,' I said, kissing the ring, for it +was well worth that small sign of gratitude. 'Now tell me what makes you +look so pale and so--' + +"'Old, you hesitate to say; but I know it. You are not the only one, +child, who has discovered that you are married to an old, old man.' + +"'I have not thought of it. Indeed, indeed the idea never enters my +mind,' I answered, honestly enough, for he had very seldom been in my +memory at all; 'but what makes you look so miserable? Not that idea, I +am sure. Is it because I have been so extravagant, and spent such loads +of money? Sometimes I do get frightened about that.' + +"'But I scarcely regard it--perhaps I ought; but money seems so trivial +compared to other things.' + +"'Your health, for instance; for you are ill,' I answered, brushing the +white hair back from his temple with my hand, while the ladies opposite +were watching me in a flutter of curiosity. + +"'You are kind to think of that,' he said, gently; 'but I am not ill, +only reproaching myself.' + +"'Why?' + +"'For the bondage which you are beginning to feel so heavily.' + +"I looked at him earnestly a moment, and in that glance gathered a +knowledge of all he had suffered. My heart smote me, for that moment I +was ready to make any sacrifice that would do him good. In truth, the +life I had been leading had already become wearisome. After all, empty +homage satisfies no real want of the heart. + +"'Shall we go home?' I said, with a sudden impulse of kindness. + +"He grasped my hand so tightly that the diamonds hurt me. + +"'If you would--if you only would!' + +"'Let us go to-morrow, then,' I answered. 'No, that cannot be, I have +engagements; but next week. We shall get home in full time for the +orange-blossoms.' + +"'And you _will_ go?' + +"'Certainly. All this is getting very tiresome. Even the spite of the +women has lost its charm.' + +"That morning we went into the breakfast-room together, and then I +remarked how completely Mr. Dennison's appetite had failed. This made me +very thoughtful. What if he should die?' + +"'Cora,' I said that night, as the girl was undressing me, 'have you +observed how ill Mr. Dennison looks?' + +"'Yes, I have, young mistress, and it has frightened me dreadfully.' + +"'Frightened you, Cora? Is he so far gone as that? I did not dream of +your caring so much for him.' + +"'Neither do I. It is you that I care for.' + +"'And you think that I would grieve?' + +"'Yes, I do.' + +"'It should be so. Indeed, Cora, he is a good man, and has been kind to +us.' + +"'But that won't last forever, young mistress. The old master is keen as +he is kind. If he was to make his will now, have you much idea that his +property would go to the wife, who scarcely speaks to him once in +twenty-four hours?' + +"I started, and turned upon the girl. + +"'Why, Cora, you frighten me!' + +"'Not so much as you have frightened me. Poor white widows aren't to my +taste. We have tried that once, and I didn't like it.' + +"'Cora, we will go back to the plantation.' + +"'That is the best thing you can do,' answered the girl, quietly. 'Home +is the place for a man to die in.' + +"'Why, girl!' I cried out, in nervous dread, 'you speak as if he were +really in danger.' + +"'And so he is; people seldom get over the disease that has been +creeping on him ever since we came here.' + +"'What disease? What are you speaking of, Cora? What disease do you +think Mr. Dennison has?' + +"'A broken heart.' + +"'Cora!' + +"'None of your sudden fits--people get over them; but slow and sure: I +have been watching it from the first.' + +"'And you think I have done this?' + +"'Of course. Who else?' + +"'Cora, we will go home next week.'" + + + + +CHAPTER LXXIII. + +FIRST WIDOWHOOD. + + +"I am a widow. The name fills me with awe, as if I had never heard it +before. It has a new meaning now--a terrible meaning of death, which is +full of reproach and horror. He lies yonder, cold and still, the smile +which he had almost forgotten of late frozen on his white lips, the +lines of age graven deeply in his face,--with something more terrible +still, which makes me shiver and shrink as I gaze upon it. + +"Have I done this? Is that look of sorrow but the shadow of a charge +which the recording angel is now writing down in the eternal book +against me? Am I the murderer of this good old man? How he loved me! how +kind, how generous, how delicate he was! And I--no, no! it must have +been old age. Men of seventy do not sink down and perish in silence +because they are not loved with the intensity given to youth. Oh, how I +wish it were all over! While he lies in the house, so frozen and cold, I +shall not draw a free breath. It seems to me as if he could rise up any +moment out of that marble sleep with the power to search every thought +that has been in my heart during the last year. His knowledge is perfect +now; he reads my soul as I dare not read it myself. _Have_ I wished his +death? Have I ever thought of what might happen after that? God forgive +me, for I seem terrible to myself. + +"Death in the house; this great lonely dwelling, with all its luxurious +appliances, is but a tomb. The air chills me; its solitude is terrible. +Cora comes to me once in a while with her silky flatteries, and attempts +to convince me that I have never been blamable as a wife. I know that +she does not believe this, and almost hate her for thinking that her +sophistry can reconcile me with myself. Yet what have I done? Amused +myself--gathered crowds of admirers around me--neglected the only true +love that ever lightened my life. Shall I ever be worshipped again as +that old man worshipped me?... + +"They have carried him out from his home forever, and now the old house +seems more vast and lonely than before. I still hear the tramping of his +bearers' feet, and shudder as the pall seems to rustle and sweep by me. +Ah! the first feelings of widowhood must be mournful indeed to a +devoted wife; to me they are terrible. The very air seems to reproach +me. I start at each sound as if it were a denunciation. The very air I +breathe seems heavy with funereal shadows.... + +"The first great horror has left me, but a feeling of blank desolation +still remains. I have not yet thought of the future, or asked myself +what may be in store for the woman whom so many are loading with praises +and commiseration which she knows in her heart are undeserved. + +"This morning I was aroused from the heavy apathy which has made my life +a blank, by the arrival of my husband's solicitor. Mr. Dennison has left +a will making me the inheritor of everything he had on earth. The lawyer +told me this, and, for the first time since my widowhood, I felt the +heart in my bosom stir like a living thing. Was I indeed so wealthy, and +free, too! + +"I observed in a dreamy way that the lawyer looked anxious and +oppressed, as if something yet remained to be told. + +"'Is this all,' I said; 'has he mentioned no other person in the will?' + +"'No other person,' was the reply; 'but I have something to explain +which may change the aspect of my news. It seems that within the past +few months a heavy mortgage has been laid upon the plantation, and it +must be sold.' + +"'A mortgage!' I said; 'that is something which prevents a man holding +or selling his own land, is it not?' + +"'It is a debt for which the estate is pledged,' answered the lawyer; +'but I wonder you do not understand it better, for your own signature is +attached.' + +"Then I remembered that, during the stay of Mr. Lawrence at our house, +Mr. Dennison had called me to the table in his library and asked me to +sign a paper. He explained to me clearly enough, no doubt, that the +paper might deprive me of some claim for dower; but I did not heed it +at the time, and now it was to fall upon me with all its force. The +plantation must be sold, the lawyer said, for he was one of the +executors to the will. The mortgage once cleared off and the debts paid, +there would still be a handsome property left. + +"All at once I was seized with intense love for the old place. Where +should I ever find a home so rich in comforts, so beautifully +surrounded? + +"'Is it not possible to keep the place?' I demanded, with growing +interest. + +"'No; the mortgage was given, I imagine, in order to raise funds for +some dazzling speculation in which Mr. Lawrence was concerned. At any +rate, there is no money to pay it with, and the estate must go to the +hammer.' + +"'This is cruel, it is unjust,' I said, angrily. + +"'It was wrong and foolish to involve the estate as Mr. Dennison has,' +answered the executor, 'and the loss is a heavy one. Let us be thankful +that our good friend has left enough without that.' + +"'But his losses were brought on by Mr. Lawrence?' I questioned, +speaking the name with a thrill of pain. + +"'No! they were fellow-sufferers. It is understood that Lawrence has +lost heavily, and will perhaps be ruined.' + +"Instantly my heart swelled with sympathy for the man who had helped to +impoverish me. + +"'Oh! if he had but left the estate unburdened, I should not care.' + +"Heaven knows I was thinking of the man who had, perhaps, wronged me, +but the executor misunderstood my words and looked at me wonderingly. I +saw this, but could not explain that the great wish of my heart was that +there might be enough to redeem the losses that had fallen upon +Lawrence. I could not endure to think of him as a poor man. A poor +man--that is a terrible word to the ears of a Southern lady. + +"The executor tried to explain everything clearly, and I made an effort +to understand. He was anxious about the property, and thought the times +unpropitious. The North and South were that hour verging closer and +closer toward a civil war, in which the value of property would become +uncertain, and I might be a sufferer. + +"I knew all this before; rumors of political strife had reached even our +secluded home. I knew that the bitter animosity which had been long +growing between the North and South had even then broken into open +hostilities. Southern statesmen had retreated in a body from the United +States Senate, and resigned their seats in the House. I had taken a +blind interest in this matter, and, in a loose way, hated everything +that opposed the dominant power of my own section; but it was as a child +takes sides. I did not, and do not, really understand the questions +which give rise to all this turmoil. Of course, the whole affair will be +settled somehow; people never do fight when they threaten so much. +Besides, the South is so reasonable; she only asks to set up for +herself, and be let alone. What objection can there be to this? I dare +say the Northern people will acquiesce; but if not, it will only take a +month or so to gain our independence. I think the executor is right to +put off the sale till then; for of course property will rise enormously, +and this may compensate me for that great drawback, the mortgage. But +until the estate is settled, I must remain a slave here. Perhaps that is +best; it would not be proper for a widow to seek society under a year; +but oh! how dreary that year will be! + +"I wonder if Mr. Lawrence has heard of his friend's death? Months have +gone by and not a word from him, not even the usual letter of +condolence. Perhaps he is coming. Surely the share he has taken in the +ruin of this property ought to bring some explanation. There is no +reason now why he should keep aloof. + +"At last I have heard from him. A letter came to the executor, enclosing +one for me. It is in my bosom. I have covered the senseless paper with +kisses. Yet there is nothing in it but gentle condolence for sorrow. The +reason he has not written before is that the news of Mr. Dennison's +death reached him in Europe, where he will remain until the end of this +year. His letter to the executor was long and thoroughly explanatory of +all the business which lay between him and Mr. Dennison. This mortgage, +it seems, was only the accumulation of many others that had from year to +year been a burden on the estate. Through the influence of Mr. Lawrence, +a New York capitalist had paid up these mortgages, and concentrated them +into one which, after all, does not cover half the value of the estate. +It was this act of friendship which brought Mr. Lawrence to our house. +There was neither risk nor speculation in the whole business. Even with +this encumbrance, Mr. Dennison's will would have left me wealthy, but +for the terrible civil war which has broken over us. As it is, there are +three hundred slaves, which the mortgage does not touch, and they are a +handsome property in themselves. + +"The estate is sold, and the result scarcely covers the mortgage. Still +the slaves are left, and my jewels are of great value. Sometimes, when +my hand rests upon my black dress, the diamonds with which my husband +loaded it flame up and burn into my conscience. How could I be so +negligent and cold to him? + +"Some months longer I shall remain on the estate. The new owner wishes +to hire most of my slaves; that arrangement will supply me with an ample +income, and permit me to go anywhere; that is, if I can get away, when +the whole country is swarming with armed men. Thank heaven! my home has +escaped all these military disturbances; but they build a wall of +bayonets between me and _him_. I cannot even get letters.... + +"I am going: an opportunity offers. This very day I start for the North. +My pass is ready, my escort waiting. How my heart swells! how my courage +rises! The dangers of war have no terrors for me. I am going to the +North, and _he_ is there.... + +"How long it is since I have written a line in my journal, or even seen +it! In our rough journey there was little time or opportunity for +writing, but here I have rest and am entirely out of danger. + +"Lawrence is in the Federal army, commanding one of the city regiments +which have gone down to the war for special duty. How vast and lonely +this hotel seems! I am lost in this great wilderness of people. The +streets are full of military men; regiments are constantly passing +through on their way to the war. Great heavens! did our people hope to +wrest away any portion of this great country from men like these? For +the first time I understand the madness of the rebellion. It is no light +thing to rend a great nation asunder. I begin to feel this, and tremble +for the people of the South. In the insanity of their ambition they have +sacrificed everything.... + +"He is coming. His regiment is ordered home. I am here at the Fifth +Avenue Hotel--his home when he is in the city. Lawrence must not find me +here. His fastidious delicacy might take the alarm! Besides, I have made +acquaintances, and am almost acting over the _role_ that made me so +popular at New Orleans; else the suspense of this long waiting would +have been intolerable. Yes, it is far better that I should be away when +he comes. If he hears of me, it will only be from admirers. Even with +the women, I think that I have left no enemies. It is early for the +season, but this very day my rooms at Long Branch shall be taken. Will +he follow me there? The question drives the breath back from my lips.... + +"I have been at the Branch three weeks. His regiment has returned to +New York, but I have not seen him: this suspense is terrible. Yesterday +I sent Cora to the city, ostensibly to get some articles that I left at +the hotel, but in fact to bring me intelligence of him, for which my +soul was thirsting. + +"She came back radiant, for the poor girl understands how anxious I am. +She saw him--talked with him. He has been very busy with his regiment, +and attending to neglected business on Wall Street; but next week--next +week--oh, how long the days will seem till then!... + +"He is here. I have seen him; we have walked together, free as birds +upon the shore, where the sea rolls in with bewildering harmonies for +the happy, and solemn anthems for those who suffer. To-day the very air +was jubilant; the waves came rolling in crested with foam, and dashing +the sand with shimmering silver. How the sunshine danced and broke and +laughed over the broad expanse of water! The sea-gulls, as they swooped +down and dipped their wings in the curling foam, were like doves to us. +Indeed, this flat, treeless shore on which the ocean is eternally +beating, is just now the brightest paradise I ever knew. + +"Weeks roll on, and our companionship is perfect; but he says nothing of +the future. We talk of books, of friendship--love even--but in a vague, +dreamy way, that confirms nothing. I wonder at this, and it disturbs me. +Is it that he is no longer a rich man? I have heard this, but am not +sure, for the rumor is often met with contradiction. If this should +prove true, it will account for his conduct. I know him well enough to +be sure that his sensitive honor would take alarm at the thought of +marrying a woman whose property would more than match his own; and mine, +notwithstanding all losses, is of no ordinary value. + +"These thoughts trouble me. Nothing can be more impressive than his +devotion; my society seems all in all to him, but our relationship +remains the same. + +"A rather singular family has just arrived--some rich iron-man from the +interior of Pennsylvania. His wife is a confirmed invalid, but one of +the most refined and lovable women I ever saw. She must have been very +beautiful in her youth, for her features are singularly like those of +her daughter, who is considered the most lovely girl at the Branch this +season. The rooms which Mr. Lee occupies open on to the same veranda +with mine, and as the lady spends a great deal of her time in looking +out upon the ocean from her luxurious easy-chair, I managed to open an +acquaintance with her and a lady who is her constant companion, and +either an elder sister of the beautiful girl I have spoken of, or some +near friend of the family. My first advances to this lady were rather +coldly received. She has evidently been out of society a long time, and +appears shy and reserved. The younger lady seemed to be reading my face +with more scrutiny than pleased me. She is not really handsome, but has +lovely hair and an abundance of it, with deep gray eyes that are almost +always shaded by long curling lashes, which gives them intense +expression when she lifts them suddenly and meets your gaze. Her +complexion is pure and bright, but the mouth is a little too large for +harmony with the other features. Still, her smile is peculiarly +expressive when she does smile, which is not often. + +"I can hardly tell why this person impressed me so forcibly, but a +strange sensation came over me when those eyes were first lifted to my +face. She is not imposing in her presence, but very modest and very +unobtrusive. Her attentions to Mrs. Lee were more than affectionate; and +with the young lady she has the air and manner of a sister who feels her +superiority in age, and nothing more. + +"This morning I met Mr. Lee on the shore, walking alone. He is a +princely man in appearance, taller than Mr. Lawrence, and of more noble +proportions. Still, his finely-cut features lack the keen intelligence +which is only seen where great genius exists. The years he has already +numbered scarcely count to his disadvantage. Not very long ago I should +have considered this man as far the handsomest of the two; but now the +splendor of genius alone can satisfy me.... + +"I have had terrible news. President Lincoln has issued a proclamation +which emancipates all slaves in the rebellious States. If this act is +lawful, and can be enforced, I am almost a beggar. All the property to +which I have a right lies in the strong arms of nearly three hundred +negro slaves. A single word, the mere writing of a man's name, has swept +all my wealth away. With the exception of my jewels, I have nothing. +This is a terrible blow, for I have endured poverty, and shrink from it +with absolute dread. To me a luxurious ease and elegance are a fixed +habit, and so necessary that I could not live without them. + +"One consolation comes out of all this ruin. I am sure that Lawrence has +hesitated to say all that is in his heart on account of my wealth, +which, if rumor speaks truly, was far greater than anything he can +command. When I think of this and glory in his sensitive delicacy, the +loss of all my slaves seems a less crushing calamity. This very day I +will tell him how suddenly the Act of Emancipation has placed me on his +level. + +"I have told him of the sweeping misfortune which has left me on the +verge of poverty. He looked at me in alarm. His face clouded over, his +eyes turned away from mine. It was moments before he spoke. + +"'It is a misfortune,' he said, at last, and there was bitterness in his +voice, as if some wrong had been done himself. 'Poverty is a terrible +thing; from my heart I pity you.' + +"'But it is not everything,' I faltered; 'surely happiness can exist +without wealth: you must not frighten me with the thought that my future +is all broken up.' + +"He shook his head, moved away from me abruptly, and stood for a moment +looking out upon the ocean in gloomy silence. At last he came back and +took my hand, which was growing cold. + +"'It is a misfortune,' he said, 'but you will hardly feel it. Something +is left, if properly managed. You are young and splendidly beautiful. A +few smiles--a little condescension--and fortunes will be laid at your +feet, compared to which that which you have lost will be nothing. As for +me--but I will not talk of myself. It is only another dream broken up.' +He turned abruptly, dropped my cold hand from his clasp, and walked +away, leaving me stranded, as it were, like a wreck upon the shore. + +"What does this mean? 'It is only another dream broken up.' These were +his words. Merciful heavens! has this ruin fallen on my whole life. Will +poverty frighten back the heart that was mine? + +"'Another dream broken up.' These words signify everything that is +humiliating and painful. If they have any meaning at all, he is ready to +give me up rather than face the difficulties of my position. And I +thought him so disinterested, so proud! + +"Alas! I thought myself unhappy before, but this is perfect desolation. +'Another dream broken up' for him--a life broken up for me. + +"I do not believe it. I mistook the meaning of his words. He loved me; I +know he did. Was it not a consciousness of too passionate tenderness +that drove him away from me when I was a married woman? Has he not +sought me since, and told me in a thousand ways how dear I was to him? +Has he not so mingled our future lives in his conversation that there +could be no mistaking the drift of his thoughts? I am foolish to think +that this will make any lasting difference. Besides, Lincoln must be +master of the South before my slaves can be reached by any act of his." + + * * * * * + +"It is true: Lawrence, during the last week, has been gradually +withdrawing himself from my society. I have seen him less frequently of +late; he seldom joins me unless I am surrounded by others. Our walks on +the beach are entirely broken up, and he no longer seeks me when I +purposely sit apart on the veranda of the hotel. + +"I have been so annoyed and felt so wronged by his conduct, that a +spirit of bitter retaliation is aroused in my bosom. The most +aristocratic and splendid man here is Mr. Lee. I have noticed once or +twice that Lawrence has seemed a little disturbed by the slight interest +this gentleman has taken in me. He shall feel this more keenly before +the week is over. By that time a prouder and more fastidious man than he +is shall be my slave. That idea of the power a brilliant coquette may +wield, which he first planted in my mind, shall bring forth bitter fruit +for his eating before I have done with him. + +"This man shall be at my feet again--I do not know whether in love or +hate; but no living creature shall ever cast me off in this slow, +heartless fashion. I am young, beautiful, the fashion--but these things +count for but little in a contest with men like Lawrence. He it was who +first told me that I possess something far more powerful than all +these--intellect, talent, powers of combination, and that subtle +magnetism which no man has ever yet had power to resist: compared with +this, beauty, youth, and fashion are trivial possessions. But I have +them all, and it shall go hard if this proud man is not made to feel +their influence. He thinks I accept the position, and do not feel. Let +him. I have not mingled in society and practised his lessons for +nothing. The 'brilliant coquette' with whom he could associate with +safety has at least learned how to conceal her anguish. He shall yet +find how fatal and poisonous is the hatred growing up like a upas-tree +in the desert he has made. My acquaintance with Mr. Lee thrives. I have +become the intimate friend of his daughter, a tender nurse to his +invalid wife. They are a singularly refined and intelligent family, so +loving and true that I almost envy the simplicity which springs from so +much goodness. In my friendship for his wife and daughter I find the +surest means of interesting Mr. Lee. + +"What do I purpose by this? Why, to triumph over that ingrate Lawrence +by a conquest of the only man within reach who is admitted to be his +superior. He has humiliated my pride, wounded my vanity, and, oh +heavens! thrown back the most passionate love that woman ever bestowed +on man, as too worthless for his acceptance without money. Were Mr. Lee +an unmarried man, this Lawrence should be invited to act as his +groomsman within the month. As it is, he is distinguished and +unapproachable to the common herd. As to the rest, wait and see--wait +and see! + +"Even here that man seems determined to thwart and wound me. Once, when +I was talking with Mr. Lee in a low voice, watching the effect of this +intimacy on Lawrence, who stood near, from under my half-closed +eyelashes, he came up quietly, and desired to be introduced to my +companion, who that moment moved away unconscious of the request. + +"Lawrence has become acquainted with the young lady. I do not know how +he managed it, but this morning when I looked out upon the sea, thinking +only of him, they were standing together on the shore, conversing like +old friends. My heart stood still; I felt my very lips turn white. The +girl is rich, beautiful, and of good family. Almost her entire life has +been spent in France, and she has undoubtedly brought all the arts and +graces learned in foreign society in order to insure her conquests here. +How did she manage to attract Lawrence? No woman has been able to do +that since he came here. Until now my influence has been supreme, my +society sufficient to his happiness;--_now_ he is standing by her--yes, +looking down into the eyes of that girl with the air of a man entranced. +What can it mean? what can it mean?... + +"I have not slept all night. My brain whirls, my heart aches; all the +pride in my nature rises up in rebellion. I hate that man. He loves her. +I can see it in his eyes; I can hear it in his speech. There is homage +in the very bend of his person when he salutes her. Never, even in the +first days of our acquaintance, has he addressed me with such tender +admiration. Oh, how I hate her! The blood burns hotly in my veins when +she approaches me. I long to strike her down. But be quiet, proud heart! +the time will come--the time will come! + +"A gentleman has just arrived at the Branch from the neighborhood of Mr. +Lee's residence in Pennsylvania. He is a bright, chivalrous, +noble-hearted young fellow, evidently in love with Jessie Lee, who looks +upon him only as a generous young man whom she has known all her life, +and cannot be particularly interested in. I discovered all this at the +first interview. Besides the disadvantage of a long intimacy, she does +not care for him because of the fascinations this other man has thrown +around her. Poor fellow! how sad and bewildered he looks when she turns +from him with such unconscious indifference to listen for the footsteps +of his rival. How her cheek burns and her eyelids droop when the one man +approaches her! Ah! I know the feeling, and could almost give pity for +the disappointment in store for her; for she shall be disappointed. His +'brilliant coquette' is on the watch, softly, stealthily, but vigilant +as a fox. Where two men are in love with the same woman, opportunities +for complications are always arising. I shall neither overlook or throw +them aside. + +"Days and weeks have worn away,--that is the word,--worn away with such +dull joylessness that they seem to me like the heavy dreams of a sick +man. It is true this man would have married me out of lukewarm love and +a thirst for money; but it is all over now. Both inclinations have +kindled up into fiery passion for this Jessie Lee, and she is in love +with him--a first love, deep and shy, but positive. He sees this and +exults in it, utterly careless that I see and suffer. + +"My friends reproach me for my reckless gayety. They complain that I am +too greedy of pleasure, and give myself no rest. Greedy of pleasure! I +am only fleeing from pain; I cannot pause to think without loathing the +past and dreading the future. I rush onward like a wounded animal, +afraid to pause lest I should be tempted to lie down and bleed to death. + +"Lawrence has become close friends with young Bosworth. They have known +each other before, it seems, and the acquaintance has been warmly +renewed. There is craft and calculation in this. Let me watch and wait. +I knew it. Lawrence seldom attempts to attract man or woman in vain. +This morning the blinds of my window were closed, and I sat thoughtfully +in the twilight of my room, listening to the murmurs of the ocean, that +seemed to grow softer and more slumberous as the sun poured its silvery +radiance upon them. I was very sad. No one would have complained of my +spirits could they have seen me then. + +"All at once, voices startled me. Lawrence and young Bosworth had paused +near the closed blinds of my room. Just before this, some invitation had +evidently been extended to Lawrence, and he accepted it with evident +satisfaction. + +"'Of course I will come, my good fellow. Fine shooting, a good horse, +and such neighbors as the Lees, would draw a man out of paradise. You +may count on me for a month.' + +"'Then it is settled,' answered Bosworth, with a little reserve; perhaps +he was not altogether pleased that the Lees were considered as an +inducement for the visit. 'Then it is settled. We will do our best to +make your visit to the old house pleasant.' + +"They passed on after this, and left me trembling with indignation. +Lawrence had made arrangements to follow Jessie Lee in a way that would +commit him to nothing. Here, my presence has been some restraint upon +him. In the country, his opportunities to see her will be far greater, +and he will become thoroughly acquainted with all the advantages of her +position. + +"Lawrence is going to visit his rival, Mr. Bosworth. I will visit my +rival, Miss Jessie Lee, at the same time. Before the night closes in, I +will have an invitation from both the young lady and her invalid mother. +As for Miss Hyde, it would be a thousand years before I got one from +her. She does not like me, but I will become an inmate of her friends' +house nevertheless. I can almost smile when I think of the confusion +this arrangement will make. + +"The night has not darkened yet, and I am invited to The Ridge. This is +the name of Mrs. Lee's place in the country. How easily these gentle and +truthful women are managed. They had not the least idea of inviting me +when I entered their parlor, but in ten minutes after it was all +arranged. I did not promise to go, however, but left the acceptance for +a future day. This uncertainty will prevent them mentioning the visit to +Lawrence.... + +"I am here at The Ridge, an honored guest, welcome to every one except +Miss Hyde, who never has even pretended to like me. She has great +influence in the family; but how long will it last? My enemies usually +get into trouble in some unexpected way before I have been with them +long. + +"Lawrence is here, but I have managed that he shall not know of my +presence until we meet face to face. We have a delicate game to play, +and I shall enjoy the first move. + +"I have seen him. We went out on horseback this afternoon, and he joined +us. I was in my saddle when he rode up, and smiled upon him as if we had +met only yesterday. His face flushed scarlet when he saw me. I made no +effort to have him near me, but rode on with Mr. Lee, who is really one +of the most charming men I ever saw. I watched Lawrence closely, to +detect some annoyance at this intimacy; but his face was inscrutable. +One thing was positive: my presence annoyed him. + +"I think there was an effort made by Miss Hyde to keep me from Mrs. +Lee's sick-room, but all her petty obstacles were swept away like a +handful of rushes. Let this dainty little person take care, or she may +not long remain the friend _par excellence_ of the family. Mrs. Lee is +very delicate, and may at any hour drop out of life. They are enormously +rich, and most of the money comes from her real estate. I suppose +Lawrence knows all this, or he would not have been in the neighborhood; +but he shall never marry this girl--never--never! + +"I am gaining something of my old ascendency over this man; and as I +gain, she loses--no matter how--but she does. There are things which we +never write, or care to see on record even in our own hearts. I think +the devoted attentions of my host wound his vanity a little; and it is +for this reason I encourage them--with another, so vague and remote that +it scarcely takes shape as yet. But this is certain: I will not be made +bankrupt in everything. If love fails me, I will have power and wealth. +If he attains this girl, I will sweep everything else out of his reach. +The pale woman up yonder in her tower-chamber cannot live forever. + +"There is a little imp of Satan in this house, who is constantly with +Mrs. Lee, vigilant as a fox, but, to all appearance, stolid enough in +everything where her mistress is not concerned. She is completely +uneducated, and seems to observe or know nothing beyond her duties in +the sick-room; but she is forever there, and, I am sure, listens +sometimes to our conversation, though it makes no visible impression +upon her. I have told Cora to gain some influence over this strange +creature. Since then she has been in my room frequently, and yesterday +proposed to dress my head, which was beautifully done. She is very +quiet, and takes no interest in anything around her, but talks to Cora +when I am away, and the two are becoming very intimate. I shall find her +useful. In her simplicity she will tell Cora everything. + +"Young Bosworth has proposed to Jessie and been rejected; I am sure of +this, though she is honorably reticent, and Miss Hyde refuses to speak. +My relations with Lawrence are getting more and more confidential and +friendly. Yesterday he even hinted at his attachment for Jessie. I +listened in dead stillness, holding my breath, for it seemed as if some +cruel hand were clutching at my heart. Does he think that I have no +feeling, no pride? Sometimes I hate the man. How would he open this +subject? How was I endowed with power to listen without shrieking forth +the agony it inflicted? + +"He asked me, with an effort at carelessness, if I thought there was +anything serious in young Bosworth's attentions to Miss Lee. His voice +faltered a little, and I knew that he was anxious. So I answered with +gentle deliberation that I knew very little of the matter. Cora had +gathered from the servants that they were mutually attached, but Mr. Lee +opposed the marriage, as young Bosworth's fortune was in no reasonable +proportion to that Miss Lee would inherit. Lawrence winced at this, +unless I am greatly mistaken. Bosworth is a millionaire compared to him. +If he has property of any amount, I have been unable to learn the fact. +Indeed, he speaks of himself always as a poor man; but that may be from +calculation. Thinking that Bosworth might know and have spoken of his +friend's affairs, I have brought up the subject once or twice when +conversing with Miss Hyde, but she evidently knew little or nothing +about it. Oh, why is he not a rich man! The temptation of Miss Lee's +fortune would be nothing to him then, and that girl and I would stand on +equal ground. With the odds so completely against me, I have sworn to +myself that he shall never, never marry her. + +"She loves him, and I think he loves her; still he turns to me for +sympathy and counsel, believing that I forget and forgive. + +"Yes, she has rejected young Bosworth, and he is ill, very ill. That +fine old lady, his grandmother, has sent for Miss Hyde, who will take +Jessie Lee to visit her sick lover. Lawrence shall know this. He shall +watch for her, going and coming. What, but intense love, can account for +a step so singular--taken, too, without the knowledge of her father, for +I will see that no communication of the fact shall reach him. + +"It is exactly as I wished. He saw her on the road; he knows how angry +her father was. His mortification is complete. He suffers enough to make +my soul rise up in arms against him. To-day he betrayed one fact. The +hope of gaining her property was a powerful incentive, however much he +may love her. The man is worse than poor--heavily in debt--and feels +himself compelled to marry riches. Perhaps this is the sole motive that +brings him to the feet of this beautiful heiress. If I thought so, he +might marry her; and I would wait a little till that frail woman--no, +that is a terrible thought; let it sleep--let it sleep. Still, what +would I do, even if Lawrence loved me? With extravagant tastes like +ours, and high social positions to maintain without means, and he in +debt, a marriage would be madness. If I were only sure that he sought +her for her money alone--but I will not think of it. + +"Lawrence has gone. I could not endure to see his disappointment, and +let him depart supposing her engaged. + +"I cannot live without him. This beautiful place is a desert, with all +its blossoming flowers and rich appliances. When I feel that he has +gone, a gloom falls upon everything around me. I am more lonely and +miserable than his devotion to this young heiress could make me. +Without his society, life would be a heavy burden. But how is that to be +attained? + +"These few days have been important ones to me. I have conjectured and +thought till my brain aches and my heart is sore. To-day I stood upon +the top of the Ridge, looking out upon the town and the vast landed +estate owned by this man. Miss Hyde was with me, and something she said +led me into a new train of thought. It seems that Jessie Lee is an +heiress in spite of her father. At her mother's death, she will come in +possession of half the estate. Of course, she will always live near the +homestead, and the man she marries must necessarily be almost an inmate +there. I have thought of this a great deal. New combinations are +arranging themselves in my mind. If this rich man were free--but I dare +not think of it. + +"This lady is very lovely, but life must be a burden to any invalid. I +should think death a mercy compared to the dull monotony of a sick-room. +He is very tender and kind to her; but full health and continued illness +cannot long remain in sympathy. He has learned this within the last two +months, or I am greatly mistaken. Jessie Lee is getting distrustful of +me. Miss Hyde has disliked me from the first, but in the sick-room I am +all-potent, and this proud man does not himself dream of the power I +have attained over him.... + +"I will do it; what choice have I? Poverty on one side, loneliness, +desolation. On the other, wealth, position, his society. Oh, if I could +only be sure that he does not love her! + +"Having made up my mind, I am not one to falter. Yesterday I was talking +with her about opiates. She is very nervous and wakeful at night, but +refused to take laudanum. Very well; I have persuaded her that +chloroform will bring rest, and she has some in her room. If she should +take an overdose, who can be astonished? + +"Last night I had a fearful struggle in her room. That girl seems +endowed with wonderful resistance. I cannot put her so deeply into +insensibility that she does not come out with a suddenness that +frightens me. Perhaps I am nervous; everything startles me, and I feel +panic-stricken at the least sound. + +"After several failures I at last got the imp into perfect +unconsciousness. _She_ was lying on her white bed, more like a ghost +than a human being. I stood over her; the dim outline of her person was +just visible, but my hand crept slowly through the darkness, grasping +the bottle, which was already uncorked. I was resolute. There was no +tremor of heart or hand to hold me back. Slowly and steadily she inhaled +the drug. Her breath stopped--her hand, which I grasped in mine, was +growing cold, when I heard a scraping noise behind me. In an instant the +room was illuminated with pale blue light. I turned in horror, and saw +the girl Lottie and Miss Hyde, both pale as death, gazing upon me. I +escaped them almost by a miracle. Cora came to my aid, and, quick as a +flash of lightning, changed the bottle in my hand for another, while +Miss Hyde was absolutely holding me in her arms. The whole family were +aroused, but I received them calmly: the moment of peril had passed, +and, instead of sinking, my energies rose to the conflict. But after I +reached my room, the reaction was terrible. I fell from one fainting fit +to another until morning. + +"That girl Lottie suspects me. No fox waiting for prey was ever more +vigilant. I dare not venture to that room again. + +"An idea struck me this afternoon. A few words, spoken sadly and +secretly by the sick woman, revealed means of reaching the end I wish, +which are entirely free from danger, and may lead to other results. Let +me think; let me plan. Why did this idea never present itself before? + +"'To think that he did not love me, would be death,' she said. I felt +the blood leap from my heart. This sentence revealed a terrible power +which might safely be used. A power so subtle and deep-working that no +human being would ever guess at its fatal effects. + +"I have written this woman a letter, so completely imitating Jessie +Lee's handwriting that no human being can detect the difference. In that +letter I have accused myself of attempting to entrap Mr. Lee, and of +usurping the affections that should belong to his wife. I have pointed +out proof after proof that he has ceased to regard her, and is becoming +weary of the life her illness forces upon him. I have warned her that +his love is already given to another, and that her very life is becoming +burdensome to him. + +"The letter is adroitly written, but has no signature. Who could suppose +any woman capable of maligning herself? I have sent it to the mail. It +will reach her to-morrow. I cannot sleep to-night. Work like this +requires a heart of brass and nerves of steel. + +"It is done. She got the letter while we were out riding. When we came +back, her heart was broken--poor thing, poor woman! I almost wish it had +not been done. The feeling of terror that seized upon me when I saw +their white faces, was awful. A faint sickness crept over me, but I must +go on and face the work I had done. + +"I kissed her while she was dying. Did Judas feel so when he betrayed +the Saviour? No wonder he went out and killed himself. A drop of her +life-blood clung to my lips. I washed it off again and again, but it +burns there yet--it burns there yet.... + +"Weeks have passed, mostly in solitude, for we keep apart from each +other, and meet gloomily when forced into domestic companionship. I am +sure this man loves me, though as yet he has given no sign. I am equally +sure that the other inmates of the house hate me. + +"I have written to Lawrence, explaining away many things that drove him +from the neighborhood. I have told him that Jessie Lee is not +engaged--that she has loved him from the first. This will bring him +back. Let him marry her; his presence is my life. That much at least +will be secured. + +"He has been here, she has refused him utterly, and he is furious. Oh, +such words as he used, such cruel, hard truths as he told me! They +pierce my heart like arrows poison-tipped. He does not love me--never +did. This thought makes me hard as iron, resolute as a tigress. + +"I am about to leave the Ridge. I have separated him from his household. +It was the necessity of my position. Had these two women regained their +influence over Mr. Lee, I should have lost him too. As it is, they will +be left alone. I shall not be absent from his house twenty-four hours +before he will depart also. + +"He intends to leave home at once and travel in Europe. About the end of +this year he will be in Paris. He asked no questions about my movements, +but there was anxiety and deep distress in his eyes that I understood. + +"I shall go at once to New York, sell my jewels, and hold myself in +readiness for anything that comes. But one thing is certain--this man +and I meet again." + + * * * * * + +Mrs. Dennison's journal closed here. I read it through, word by word, +until my very heart grew cold with horror and dread. It is a terrible +thing to be made the custodian of a great crime. It haunted me night and +day, until the very burden of it threatened to undermine my health. + +I hid the book away, and locked it close from all knowledge but my own. +For the universe I would not have told Jessie one word of the awful +crime it revealed. I think it would have killed her. But all this time +my soul grew faint with apprehension. The year was wellnigh at its +close. Would this woman carry out her project and meet Mr. Lee in Paris? +The thought drove me wild. I resolved to leave home and cross the ocean +rather than allow a noble and good man to be wiled on to a union with +that terrible woman. But this was difficult. How could I leave Jessie to +such perfect loneliness? These thoughts filled my mind day and night, +haunting me almost into insanity. + +Sometimes I thought of Lottie with a gleam of hope: possibly she had +undertaken the daring enterprise which I contemplated with so much +terror. I resolved to wait a while, hoping that she might send us some +intelligence. + +Weeks went by and we heard nothing of her. She had not promised to +write--still we anxiously expected to hear of her welfare; but nothing +came. Like Mr. Lee, Lottie seemed to have been swept out of our lives. + +All this was very sad; but we received a little sunshine in the constant +visits of young Bosworth, who was so happy now in his but half +acknowledged engagement to our Jessie that all our troubles were chased +away in his presence. As for the old lady--but it is impossible to +explain what a protection and comfort her society proved to us at this +time. + +A month--six weeks went by, and still nothing of Mr. Lee or of Lottie; +both had deserted us, and we were indeed alone. Jessie had some +consolation in the dawning tenderness of her second love; but I--oh! +those were dreary, dreary days to me! + + + + +CHAPTER LXXIV. + +LOTTIE'S LETTER. + + +One morning I found a letter on the hall-table, which sent all the blood +from my heart. The handwriting I did not know, but it had a foreign +post-mark, and that set my hand to trembling as I touched it. The +address was to myself. + +Jessie was still in the room; so, like a thief, I snatched the precious +messenger, and went off to my old place on the Ridge, where I could be +sure of solitude. I was breathless on reaching the rock, and sat down +with a hand pressed hard against my heart, which throbbed with +suffocating violence. + +I sat down and tore open the envelope. It was a long, heavy letter, +closely written. I recognized the handwriting with a thrill of dread. +With a sinking heart I turned over the pages, and saw "Lottie" written +on the extreme corner of the last sheet. + +"Lottie!" and the letter dated in Paris! What could it mean? It was some +moments before I composed myself sufficiently to make out the first few +lines, though they were characteristic enough. + +"My very dear Miss Hyde," the letter began, "I a'n't much used to +writing letters, and it seems to me as if this would be long and hard +work; but things must be told, and if I don't write them, who will? + +"You thought hard of me, I dare say, for leaving you just as I did; but +I thought just the other way about it, and haven't changed my mind yet. +It was tough work, though, to get away from home and bid you both +good-bye, as I did. I hope to goodness you will never have to go through +with anything like it. I could not tell you then what it was that set me +off; but I will now. + +"That very morning, before I came down on you for the money, the man +from town brought over some things done up in a newspaper more than six +weeks old, and in it I read that Mrs. Bab--I beg pardon--Madam Dennison +had set sail in a steamboat for a place called Havre, across the +Atlantic Ocean; I know more of places and things than you might believe. +I was sure that Havre was in Europe, and knew well enough that Mr. Lee +was there--a rich widower--with no one in the wide world to keep him +from getting into scrapes. Of course, anybody that could see through a +mill-stone might have known what that she-Bab--no, I mean that lady and +servant--went to Havre for. + +"Well, I thought it all over, and made up my mind what to do. First, I +concluded to keep a close mouth in regard to Miss Jessie, for I was sure +that she would wilt right down; and as for you--well, no matter: that +little secret lies between you and me. Silent was the word then; but I +had made up my mind to travel, and was bound to do it. But people can't +sail across oceans, and gulfs, and inlets, and such kind of waterworks, +without money, and I hadn't but two half-dollars in the world. You know +how I came down on you and the dear young lady like a roaring lion, and +got that six hundred dollars; I'd rather have danced on red-hot coals an +hour than do what I did. It was just highway burglary, and nothing less. +I hate myself for it yet. + +"Well, after I got the money I made quick work of it, sat up all night, +did a little packing, a little praying, and a great deal of crying till +daylight came; then I put for the railroad and flashed down to New York. +A newspaper that I bought of a little boy in the cars told me that a +steamer sailed for Havre that very day. The minute we stopped in New +York I got lost in a crowd of carriage-drivers and long whips, that +seemed terribly glad to see me; and one of them took me on one side as +kind as could be, asking where I wanted to go, promising to take me +right there--that is, to the steamer--trunk and all, in no time. + +"The man kept his word. I got into his carriage, and we drove through +long streets, and cross-streets, down among acres of ships that looked +like blasted trees, and at last we got to a steamer with stairs down its +black sides, and smoke puffing out from its chimneys in a frightful way. + +"The man climbed up the stairs with my trunk on his shoulder; I +followed. He set it down, and I sat down on it. Then the man wanted two +dollars, and I gave him one, at which he grumbled a little; but I told +him that I had travelled, and knew what was what. Then he went away and +left me alone in the crowd; so I had a good cry all to myself, thinking +of you folks at home, and wondering what would become of me in the end. + +"While I was sitting there _so_ heavy-hearted, the bells started out +a-ringing, the steamer began to heave and groan, half the people went +helter-skelter down the side of the vessel, and the other half crowded +toward one end. Then we began to move, and I felt the blood creep up and +down my limbs as shivery as ice. I remember seeing, through the tears +that almost blinded me, handkerchiefs waving and people crying on the +deck and down on the wharf; but there was nobody to cry about me, nor +shake away their sorrow from a white handkerchief; so I just huddled +down on the trunk and gave right up. + +"Oh! how my heart sunk as the steamer swung round and dashed out into +the great river; and, to scare me worse, a gun went off, bang! sending a +stream of smoke behind us. I covered my face in my hands and cried--oh! +how I did cry! + +"When I looked up again, New York was a great way off; the ships looked +like a forest of dead pine-trees, and everything else lay in a blue fog. +I looked the other way, where the sun was going down in the deep, deep +water. There everything was lonesome as the grave, and I almost wished +that I was dead. But the steamer kept on prowling along the water, like +a great wild beast, worrying us all into the next world. It seemed as if +I was going off, far, far away from where my mistress had gone. + +"I had been lonesome before in my life; but this was worse than that. I +wanted to creep into some corner and die. Then I remembered that I had +promised _her_, when she lay dead in the tower-chamber, to be a mother +to you and Miss Jessie, and made a little prayer to God that He would +help me in the thing that I was going about. It was all I could do. + +"When the steamer was out in the deep waters, and the dark came on, a +man stood by my trunk and asked why it was that I stayed out of my room. +Then I told him my trunk was room enough for me just then; so he went +away and brought another man, who asked if I had a state-room and a +ticket. + +"I told him the truth--that I didn't know what a state-room was; but +that something I had eaten must have made me sick, and I wanted to lie +down dreadfully. + +"The man told me that a state-room would cost more than a hundred +dollars; so I told him I'd rather stay on deck, for there was no +certainty how much money I might want to spend before I got back. + +"Then they began talking about second cabins, and asked how much money I +could pay; but, somehow, I was too sick to care much, and let 'em pay +themselves; so they took me down into a room with beds made like shelves +along the sides, and I fell into one. Oh, mercy! I can't think of it now +without being dizzy. + +"Day and night--day and night--rock, rock--plunge, plunge--till at last +there was an end of the eternal waters, and we landed at Havre,--an old +fussy place that seemed as unsteady as the ship. + +"Europe is a large place, Miss Hyde, and I didn't know whereabouts in it +Mr. Lee or that woman was to be found; but I had money, and the mistress +always taught me to trust in God when I couldn't do anything on my own +hook. So I watched everything that went on among the passengers, and +kept a prayer for help stirring in the bottom of my heart. + +"At first I was about to ask some of the passengers which way I'd better +turn, but concluded to wait. So I followed the crowd when it left the +steamer, and it took me into a hotel as old as the hills, where women +were running round in their nightcaps and chattering like tame crows. + +"I went into a room with the rest, and sat down with my satchel on my +lap, keeping a keen eye on everything. We had to wait a good while; for +the men at the wharf wanted to see if everything was put up nicely in my +trunk; but they promised to give it back, and a passenger said he would +send it with his to the hotel, as I was alone. I had to wait. + +"As I sat there watching, some gentlemen came in that seemed to know +some of our passengers. They had just run down from Paris, I heard them +say, to meet their friends on landing. They were nice, genteel men, and +I listened to their talk, having nothing else to busy myself with. After +a good deal of shaking hands and questioning about the voyage, they +began to talk about Paris, especially about its hotels, and what +Americans were at them. + +"I held my breath and listened. The Hotel de Louvre, or Loofer, or +something like that, they said, was the hotel where Americans went most. +There was a great number of distinguished persons there now, and they +went over a list of names. When they came to that of Mr. Lee, I caught +my breath, and sprang up, dropping my satchel, with the gold in it, with +a clank to the floor. No one minded me; so I sat down again, trembling +all over, and listened. Then Mrs. Dennison's name was huddled in among +the rest, and I knew that the persons I was in search of were in the +same town together, and very near too; for the men who had run down from +Paris didn't seem out of breath or the least tired. So I made up my mind +to go there at once, and come back in an hour or two after my trunk. + +"'Please, sir,' said I to one of the gentlemen, 'can you tell me just +how far Paris is from this hotel, and which way I must turn?' + +"He looked at me a minute, and smiled with his eyes. + +"'It is about six hours, I think,' he answered; 'any coachman will take +you to the depot.' + +"I was rather discouraged. If it took him six hours to run the distance, +I should find it a long walk. So I concluded to hire a carriage and take +my trunk along. + +"After awhile my trunk came up with a heap of other baggage, and, as +everybody else was starting off in carriages, I hired one too; and when +the man asked where I wanted to go, I told him to the Louvre Hotel in +Paris. He drove away at once, and after a few minutes stopped at a +railroad depot, and opened the door for me to get out. + +"'This is the right train,' he said, in the queerest English I ever +heard. 'I will get you a ticket.' + +"I felt myself blushing, but said nothing. He didn't know that I had +thought of walking. In less than ten minutes I was whizzing along like +anything over the most beautiful country, and through the queerest old +towns, and by the strangest houses with points and caps and corners like +great table-casters cut in stone. Then the dark came on, and I fell +sound asleep, till a great crash and jar awoke me in a depot right in +the midst of a city larger than New York, all blazing with lights and +crowded with folks. + +"I had learned a thing or two by this time, and when a driver put +himself in my way, told him that I wanted to go to Mr. Louvre's Hotel, +and that he'd better get my trunk. He didn't seem to understand a word +except the name of Mr. Louvre; but he caught that at once and nodded his +head. + +"'_We, we!_' + +"'Yes,' I said, 'both of us. You couldn't very well drive me without +going too, I should think.' + +"So up he came with a little one-horse concern, and in I got. Oh! what +streets, and lanes, and roads of lamps I went through! What crowds of +people--what tall, tall houses! They made me more dizzy than I had been, +and that was bad enough." + + + + +CHAPTER LXXV. + +LOTTIE IN PARIS. + + +"At last we reached the hotel--a great, grand house, that frightens one +by its size; it must cover acres and acres; you could not count the +number of lights, and crowds of people going up and down the stairs. + +"They took me into a room half-way up to the sky, and there I sat down +with my head aching and clear tired out. You didn't know, I suppose, +that I have learned a good many French words from the mistress: such as +_du pain_, which means bread; and _le the_, for tea; and _sucre_, which +a'n't much different from our sugar, only you mumble it up in your mouth +before speaking, and let it all out at once. + +"Well, I was dying with thirst, and my head throbbed terribly. The man +called me _madmoiselle_, and looked polite and sorry; so I said: + +"'_Donna moia_ a cup of _the_, if you please, _mousheu_.' + +"He looked bewildered a minute, and then brightened up so pleasant: + +"'_Ah! le the! We, we!_' + +"'No,' said I, thinking how improper it would be for that strange man to +sit down to tea with a young girl in her room that time of night; 'only +for myself; one cup will do. Excuse me.' + +"He did not stop to hear, but went off and came back with a china cup +and saucer on a little silver tray, as if I had been a born lady. I +stirred up the tea and tasted it. + +"'_Donna moia un petite_ more _sucre_, if _vous_ please,' said I. + +"'_We, madmoiselle, toot sweet,_' says he. + +"The fellow pronounced 'too' as if it had a _t_ in it; but then, how +could he understand good English? + +"'No, no--not too sweet' said I; 'the contrary way. I want more _la +sucre_, sugar, you know.' + +"The fellow really did not understand his own language, but stood there +looking wild as a fish-hawk. All at once he brightened up and ran out of +the room. Directly he came back with another man. The moment I saw his +face I jumped up, ready to scream with joy, and--and--yes, Miss Hyde, +don't blush! but I sprang right into his arms and gave him a kiss. + +"Who was it? Why, James, Mr. Lee's own man--a person--well, Miss Hyde, +we all have secrets; but if ever a girl had a right to kiss a friend in +a strange place, I had--that's all. + +"'Oh! James, James Grant! It's Providence that sent you here!' + +"'No,' he said, holding me tight and stopping my mouth while choke-full +of words, 'I rather think it was your bad French, Lottie.' + +"I would have struck him; only he held me so near and so tight it was +impossible. + +"The waiter went out softly. What sensible people these Frenchmen are! +Then I forgot my headache and everything but the business in hand. James +is a good scholar, you know, and understands French like a book. If ever +Providence sent a friend at the right time, He did it that night. First +I began asking questions. + +"Mr. Lee had been away down East in Jerusalem, Palestine, across +deserts, and over pyramids, for almost the whole time since he left +home. Sorrowful as a man could be, but always going ahead, as if comfort +lay in sharp work. Then he had come back into Italy, and so into France, +which is Paris, you know. + +"Mrs. Dennison was in the hotel when Mr. Lee got there; James thinks, +unexpectedly to his master, but is not certain. He knows that she wrote +letters to him, any way. + +"'She is here, then--she has been setting her traps,' I said. 'Tell me +everything, James, if you ever loved the sweet lady who is dead, or her +child, who is pining herself to death at our own dear home. Tell me +everything!' + +"'Yes,' he said, 'it's no use going over the tracks; but she's got him, +and to-morrow they will be married at the American Embassy.' + +"'To-morrow! Married, to-morrow!' I almost screamed. + +"'Yes,' he answered; 'nothing can stop it. I passed a woman who brought +home the wedding-dress as I came up-stairs.' + +"I caught hold of James and held his arms down tight. + +"'Nothing can stop it, James? Yes, sir, you and I can stop it; you and I +_will_ stop it! I never promised right out before, James; but if you'll +help me to expose this woman, I'll--I'll--yes, you and I'll take their +place, and be married at the American Embassy right off ourselves.' + +"He--well, Miss Hyde, I won't worry you by telling what he said or did +just then; but my face burned like fire half an hour after. + +"Now comes the hardest part of my story. Don't clasp your hands and pray +for me, as the worst sinner that ever was; for I a'n't quite that! +Still, you think so much of a little fib, and listening, and breaking +open seals, that I'd rather not write it if a great deep ocean of water +wasn't rolling between you and me. Miss Hyde, I own it, lies a'n't my +delight; but I can tell 'em. Peeping through keyholes and windows isn't +my nature; but, anyhow, I did it. More than that: I never let one of +Mrs. Dennison's letters leave our house without reading it. One or two +letters I kept back altogether, because they were written in French, and +I couldn't read that. They are with me here. It was to give them into +Mr. Lee's hand that I came across the wide ocean. She suspected me--or +her girl Cora did--and hired one of the men to mail them safely; but I +knew a better way of bribing him to give them up. True, it made James +jealous to see how thick I was with the man; but I couldn't help that. + +"Babylon was cute, though; she wrote carefully. It was to some old +friend--who was as bad as herself--to whom the letters were sent. I have +some of her answers, too, as well as the journal; these were the papers +that I laid before James Grant that night. + +"I could only make out a word here and there in the French letters. If +you hadn't been so crank about honor and all that, I would have brought +them to you; I couldn't make up my mind to take the preaching. But I +watched. You know, Miss Hyde, no dog ever kept watch as I did over that +angel! + +"She died. The worst came while I was wondering what to do. There was no +use in telling what I had done. She was dead; and I thought then that +the woman would go away and leave us to our mourning. If she came back +again, I meant to give the journal up and have you read the French +letters. You know how she left, and why it was Mr. Lee went off in that +strange way; I could only guess. You wouldn't trust me; so I wouldn't +trust you. But when I found that Babylon had gone chasing after Mr. Lee, +just as his year of mourning was over, I followed her. + +"I gave the journal and letters to James, and we read them over +together. James reads French, and can turn it into English as easy as +talking. So he gave me the English, which was a good deal like her +journal, full of sin and iniquity." + + + + +CHAPTER LXXVI. + +THE CASKET OF DIAMONDS. + + +"When we had read the letters and the journal, I tied them together, and +sat down to talk the matter over with James, who is as good as a lawyer +any day. + +"'Where is our master now?' I said. 'What time is it?' + +"'It is nine. I think he may soon be in Mrs. Dennison's parlor; for Cora +told me that her lady wished to try on the wedding-dress, and hoped Mr. +Lee would come in when it was complete. I took the message, and he +answered, 'Very well.' + +"'James,' I said, 'we have no time to lose. Is there no way by which I +can get into Mrs. Dennison's rooms before the master comes in?' + +"James thought a little, and said, 'Yes, it will be easy. When Mrs. +Dennison is dressed they will go into her parlor. It opens from her +bedroom by an arched doorway hung with silk curtains. When they leave +the bedroom, I will let you in.' + +"He went out to see what was going on, and came back all in a hurry, +opened the door, and whispered, 'Come, quick!' + +"I went, and in two minutes was in a large bedroom, warmed up like +sunset with the light that came pouring through the broad red curtains +which hung between it and the next room. + +"'Step softly, and hide somewhere if they come in,' whispered James. + +"'I will,' says I. + +"Then I crept up to the curtain, pushed the red folds back a trifle, and +looked in. + +"It was a large room, lighted, like our drawing-room, with a great +chandelier, and furnished beautifully. _She_ and Cora were standing +under the blaze of lights, all in a flutter of pride. It's no use, Miss +Hyde: I've wanted to think that woman wasn't good-looking, but it's +fighting against one's own eyes. There she stood, with that +wedding-dress of white moire antique a-sweeping down her tall figure, +and lying behind her like ridges of snow on the carpet. All down the +front and around the neck, which was smooth as a japonica leaf, lace +was fluttering, till the whole dress looked soft as snow. On her head +she wore a sort of crown made of pearls like the mistress's necklace +that she thought so much of, and from under that fell a lace veil that +looked like frostwork on a window, and covered her from head to foot. + +"Cora was spreading down the veil as I looked in. Then she stepped back +and had a good survey. + +"'Will it do?' said Mrs. Dennison, drawing herself up proud as a +peacock. + +"'It's superb!' answered Cora. + +"'We will make it a little more perfect before he comes in,' says +Babylon; and, going to a desk, she took out a long morocco case, and +opened it under the light, when a flame of fire flashed out of it. + +"Cora took the box out of Babylon's hand. + +"'From him?' says she. + +"'Yes,' answers Babylon, curving her neck. + +"'How much did they cost?' + +"'Of course he did not tell me that, Cora. Ten or fifteen thousand +dollars, I suppose; but they are nothing to what I'll yet have.' + +"'You will not wear them to-morrow?' + +"'Well, no. It would be a little too much, I fear; but we will put them +on now, just to try the effect.' + +"'No,' says Cora, looking very stubborn; 'I want these. It's no more +than fair.' + +"'Cora!' cried Babylon, with fire in her eyes. + +"'Why not?' says Cora. 'You have promised over and over again to provide +for me when you had the means. Here is something sure.' + +"'Cora, this is too impudent!' + +"'Why? Is it wrong for sisters to share each other's good fortune, +especially when one has done as much to earn it as the other?' + +"Babylon doubled up her white fist, and looked a whole thunder-gust from +under her bent eyebrows. + +"'Sisters! How dare you?' + +"'Because I am your sister.' + +"'You! whose mother was a black slave!' + +"'And my father your father! What can you say against him?' + +"Babylon seemed to struggle against her temper, and got the better of +it. + +"'Give me those diamonds, Cora. Of course I do not dispute what you say, +and always meant to make you independent; but not after this fashion. +Wait till this ceremony is over and I have control of sufficient means. +You must see that it would be ruin to part with these.' + +"'I cannot help that. What security have I that you will keep your word +when you are married? It never has been kept. The truth is, I mean to +stay in this country, where my color is not sneered at, and I must have +the means.' + +"'But have I not promised?' + +"'Yes, a good many times; and I mean that you shall perform too! This +ceremony shall never take place till I am sure of that!' + +"Babylon grew pale as a ghost; something seemed to swell in her throat. + +"'Give back the diamonds,' she said, speaking as if she had a cold; and +you shall have a written promise for twice their amount three months +after I am married.' + +"'When?' + +"'Now. I will write out the paper at once.' + +"'Well, but remember it is made out to Cora, _your half-sister_, or I +will not take it.' + +"Mrs. Dennison came to a little table that stood close by the arch, and, +kneeling down on one knee, began to write. She seemed to hold her +breath, and was pale as the pearls on her head. I could have touched +her with my hand, but I stood still as a mouse until the paper was +written. Cora came and looked over her shoulders as she signed her name. +Just as it was done, there came a knock at the door, and both the women +started away from the table, leaving the paper on it. I reached my hand +softly through the curtain, and got it safe just as Mr. Lee came in. + +"Babylon was white as a sheet, and shook so that the dress rustled +around her. + +"'Is she not beautiful, sir?' says Cora, looking as innocent as a lamb. + +"Mr. Lee smiled. Oh! Miss Hyde, isn't he grand? But in a minute his face +changed, and, coming up to Mrs. Dennison, he took her hand and kissed +it. + +"'How pale you are! Does the thought of to-morrow terrify you so much?' + +"She gave him one of her looks, and drew closer to him, like a lamb +wanting shelter. He bent toward her, and, as Cora slid out of the room, +put his arm around her waist, whispering something that I was too mad to +hear. + +"I couldn't stand it. My poor mistress seemed to whisper, 'Now, Lottie, +I trust to you!' I pushed the curtains aside, and, walking right +straight in, stood before them. + +"'Mrs. Dennison,' says I, 'let go of my dead lady's husband. Mr. Lee, an +angel has just come down from heaven to save you from a wicked, wicked +fiend. I, a poor girl, am doing her work. Step back, Mrs. Dennison, till +my master reads these letters, and this journal, with its purple cover +and heaps of sin inside. If you want to know all about the bad heart of +this woman, read it,' says I to Mr. Lee again; 'then ask her to look +into your eyes if she dares.' + +"The woman turned on me with her great scared eyes--saw the journal in +my hand--gave a wild look at the table--staggered toward the +curtains--flung them back with an outward dash of her arms, and fell +upon the floor of the other room. As the red curtains closed over her, +I reached out the papers to Mr. Lee, and whispered, with tears in my +eyes: + +"'Oh, master! read them for her sake, who loved you so dearly.' + +"Mr. Lee put me back so fiercely that I almost fell. He went right up to +the woman where she lay shivering and shaking till her white dress +heaved and fluttered like a snow-heap in the wind. He was pale as a +sheet, and his eyes looked mad as fire when he turned them toward me; +but I stood my ground like a marble image planted on a rock. I hadn't +come sailing over the raging ocean, like a pelican in the wilderness, to +be looked down by him or fainted down by her--not I, if I know myself, +which I think I do. + +"'My darling,' says he, bending over her, 'why should the sight of this +wild girl agitate you so? She can have no influence on me.' + +"Babylon seemed to get strength from this. She lifted up her head, flung +the veil back from her face, and looked me through and through with her +wild eyes. + +"'She is put up to this. They hate me. It is another effort to prejudice +you against me. You remember the last. Now they will no doubt resort to +forgery. People who write anonymous letters will not hesitate to go +further. Oh! they will separate us--they will separate us!' + +"'Is this book a forgery?' says I, holding up the purple journal. 'Is +this writing yours?' + +"Her face seemed to cramp up; her lips turned blue-white. + +"That moment Cora made a leap upon me, and snatched at the book like a +hungry wolf; but I wrenched it away from her, and pressed myself back +against the wall, holding it behind me. + +"That moment James came in and stood by me like a hero, as he is. + +"'No you don't,' said I; 'no person touches this book till Mr. Lee has +read it.' + +"Mrs. Dennison turned her eyes upon me--such beautiful begging +eyes--that, if it hadn't been for my dead lady, I might have given up +the book; but I thought of her, and was firm as a rock. 'Leave this +room,' said Mr. Lee, turning upon me like a lion. 'How dare you come +here!' + +"'My dead lady, your wife, commanded me to come,' I answered, feeling +myself grow tall and strong. 'She was murdered by that woman, and you +are bound to know it. Read this--it is in her own handwriting.' + +"'It belongs to my lady. The imp of Satan stole it!' cried Cora, fierce +as a wild-cat. 'No one has a right to read it.' + +"Mr. Lee had helped Babylon to her feet, and stood, with one arm around +her waist, looking from her to me. + +"'It is mine,' she whispered; 'make her give it up.' + +"'But I have read every word of it. I have left a copy at home, which +Miss Hyde has now. A minute ago you said it was a forgery; now, you both +own up--you and your yellow sister there.' + +"At this, Mr. Lee seemed to be turning into stone, all but his eyes, +that shot fire at me. + +"'What does she mean?' asked Babylon. The words dropped from her like +lead. It seemed as if she hadn't the strength to speak. + +"'She's crazy!' says Cora. 'My mistress never had either brother or +sister.' + +"'Hadn't she?' says I. 'Just look at this paper, Mr. Lee, and then ask +her how she came to write there that this yellow girl is her father's +child. I heard the impudent creature threaten her, if she didn't give up +the diamonds you sent here this morning, or write this promise just so.' + +"'The diamonds!' said Mr. Lee, loosening his arm from Babylon's waist +and looking in her face. 'How could this girl know about them?' + +"Babylon shivered, and her eyes seemed to shrink back under her eyelids +when she looked at the table and saw that the paper was gone. Cora crept +softly up to where I was standing, and whispered: 'Half the money if you +hold your tongue. If you don't, I'll kill you!' + +"I gave the creature one of my looks, handed the journal over to James, +and held the paper open between my two hands, before Mr. Lee's eyes. He +could not help but read it. Babylon lifted her hand as if to strike it +down, but it dropped by her side when she saw that he was reading, and +she leaned against the door-frame, clenching at the red curtains in a +spasm. Oh! she looked awful splendid with her white dress pressed +against the red curtains, that shook around her like flaming fire. The +diamonds on her head seemed to burn through and through her veil, but +her white face was cramped worse than ever, and I almost thought she +would drop down dead at Mr. Lee's feet. + +"He took the paper from my hands and read it through. Then he looked +once or twice from Mrs. Dennison to Cora, who was turning whitish-gray, +and looked awfully. + +"'Is there any explanation of this strange paper?' he said; and his +voice seemed to come out of a heap of ice, it had changed so. + +"Babylon opened her lips, but they would not give out the lie that was +ready, I haven't the least doubt. But Cora came forward bold as brass. + +"'It is a forgery!' she said; 'the lady never promised me anything after +she was married. I am no more her sister than that imp of Satan is. + +"'But if this paper was a forgery, how did you know what it contained?' +said Mr. Lee, in the same cold way. And, with this, he walked out of the +room without saying another word. + +"Babylon made a spring toward the door when he went out of it, with her +hands clenched together, and her veil streaming out behind; but when +she saw that he never turned or looked back, her knees gave way, and she +fell in a white heap on the carpet. + +"I began to feel sorry for the poor creature then, and tried to help her +up, but Cora pushed me away; and would have sent me whirling through the +door, but James caught me in his arms, and so seemed to lead me out. +When we were safe in the passage, I told James to take the journal right +to his master's room and strike while the iron was hot, or those two +sea-serpents would get around him again. + +"He went--like a good fellow as he is--and I shut myself up in my room, +knowing well enough that I had done right, but feeling sorry in my heart +for poor Babylon all the same. So I sat down by the window and had a +good cry all to myself. + +"In half an hour James called me to his master's room. He was white as +marble, and tears stood in his eyes. He took my two hands in his, +pressed them hard, then, leaning one elbow on the table, covered his +face with his hand. I saw great tears drop through his fingers; they +broke my heart. The first thing I knew, down I had fallen on my two +knees, and was kissing his other hand as if he had been my dear mistress +who is dead and gone. That night I told him everything about Miss +Jessie, and all your goodness. Oh! how he thanked me! Miss Hyde, don't +ever want to see a man cry; it's enough to break one's heart! + +"The next morning Mrs. Dennison and her servant had left the hotel. In +three days I shall be on my way home. Do be glad to see Lottie; for she +feels like a bird far away from its nest, and has been, ever since she +left the Ridge. + + "Your old friend till death, LOTTIE." + + + + +CHAPTER LXXVII. + +ALL TOGETHER AGAIN. + + +After reading this letter, I told Jessie everything. She had no heart to +read the journal in my possession, and its worst points--those which +related to her mother's death--I kept from her in common mercy. Of +course, all that she did learn was a relief to her. She knew that her +father would soon be at home again, and that no cause of estrangement +now existed between them. This removed the only shadow now falling upon +her young life. That very day she began preparations for her father's +return; and when young Bosworth came, there was a joyous consultation +between them about the best way of receiving him. I saw them looking +toward me and whispering mysteriously. Were they consulting about the +propriety of my residence in the house after they left it? The thought +fell upon me with a shock of such pain as I pray God may never be +repeated. Let what will come, my fate seems to be one of utter +loneliness. But I am glad to see these young people so happy: never, I +do think, was love more complete than that which exists between them +now. + +It scarcely seemed possible for a letter to reach us from Europe, when +Lottie herself rushed in upon us with an exquisite French bonnet on her +head, and a dress that trailed sumptuously behind her little figure. In +she came, darting through the room like an arrow, and was in my arms, +bathing my face with tears and smothering me with kisses, before I was +quite aware of her presence. When Jessie came in with Mr. Bosworth, who +had been walking with her in the garden, Lottie sprang upon her like a +pet spaniel, clung to her neck, her waist, and at last fell to the floor +in an outburst of gladness, and embraced her knees, crying, laughing, +and murmuring words of tender endearment, in which some rather curious +French was mingled. + +After this Lottie resumed her self-poise. She shook hands with young +Bosworth in a patronizing way, and gave the servants an audience in the +basement sitting-room, informing them all that she had just returned +from a pleasure-trip to Europe, where she had seen the Emperor, and +should, doubtless, have been invited to court, only the Empress did not +happen to be very well while she was in Paris. + +In this way that strange, heroic girl came back to her old home, which +was brighter and more cheerful after she resumed her place, not as a +servant, but as a tried friend of the family, which she retained till +her marriage with James. + +A fortnight after Lottie's return, Mr. Lee came home. He sent us a +letter from New York, saying that he had landed there, and desiring that +the cause and events connected with his absence might never be mentioned +among us after his return. Everything was understood and explained; all +that he asked now was a perfect reunion. + +One night about dusk, Mr. Lee came home very quietly and quite +unannounced. He was calm, cheerful, and his own noble self again, and +his absence seemed almost like a dream to us. + +That night, before he retired, I saw him going toward the library with +his arm around Jessie's waist. When they came out again, I could see +that Jessie had been crying; but she looked happy notwithstanding these +traces of tears, and when she bade her father good-night, he left a +blessing upon her forehead. + +In the solitude of that half-hour, the proud man had asked forgiveness +of his own child, and she came forth with a heart almost broken with +tenderness for him. + +After this his love for Jessie became a part of his life; he fairly +worshipped her. But his manner to me changed. He was kind, gentle, +generous; but all this was accompanied with a sort of reserve almost +amounting to shyness. Had I indeed offended him beyond forgiveness? How +often I asked myself this question, and each time my heart sunk into +deeper depression; for who could answer it? Let who would be happy, it +seemed that I was always to suffer. Indeed, it required some little +magnanimity not to feel the difference between the lonely, unloved +existence reserved for me, and Jessie's brilliant lot. + +A few months after Mr. Lee's return, wedding preparations were making +cheerful progress in our house. Jessie would leave us on a bridal tour, +and then come back to the old mansion behind the hill, which the two +Mrs. Bosworths had vacated for a pretty cottage on the grounds, and +refurnished sumptuously for the young people. Everybody was +pleased--everybody was happy, except myself. What could become of me? +When Jessie was gone, my home would be broken up again. I must be cast +forth a waif upon the world. How could I help being sad? + +Just a week before Jessie's wedding, I sat alone in the deep window of +the drawing-room, thinking of my desolated future, and weeping those +still tears that one learns to shed after much sorrow. It was sunset. +Young Bosworth and Jessie were in the garden, and I could hear their +happy voices coming up from among the flowers. + +As I sat there, so dreary and loveless, some person entered the room. I +knew by the tread that it was Mr. Lee, and tried to conceal myself; but +he came directly to the window and stood at my side, looking out upon +the glorious view. In those times I was timid, and almost afraid of his +presence; so, rising quietly, I attempted to leave the window. But he +begged me to remain. There was something that he wished to say. + +I sat down, trembling with dread. Was he about to tell me, what I knew +already, that Jessie's marriage would render my stay at the Ridge +impossible? I would not wait for that, but said at once,-- + +"Oh, Mr. Lee, it is quite unnecessary. I know what propriety demands. +The very day she leaves home, I shall go back to the old farm-house. It +will not be an unhappy life." + +"But I have come to prevent this," he said, in a low, strange voice. I +looked up in sudden surprise, a smile was trembling on his lips. "Never, +if I can help it, shall you leave a home which owes half its sunshine to +your presence. Without you, the old place would be lonely indeed. You +must not all forsake me at once." + +"But it is impossible!" I faltered. "Even kind old Mrs. Bosworth would +set her face against it. I might, perhaps, stay with Jessie," I added, +with a piteous attempt to smile; "but she has not invited me." + +"Because she knew from the first that I could not give you up. She +guessed how dearly I loved you, almost before I was sure of it myself." + +I felt myself turning white. This great happiness was beyond all +realization. I looked timidly in his face, and read in his eyes what I +had never dreamed of before. He sat down by me very quietly, and, with a +little gentle violence, drew my head upon his bosom. I could hear the +strong, irregular beating of his heart, and his words, so persuasive, so +manly, charmed away the shock and tremor of his first sudden avowal. + +"I have not spoken till now," he said, "because circumstances, that we +will never speak of, have made me for a time doubtful if they ever would +be forgiven by a proud, good woman like yourself. But I love you, dear +girl, with my whole heart and soul; first for your own sake, and next +because the angel who blessed our home so long, owed everything to your +care. She loved you dearly, and said it with her last breath." + +I was sobbing upon his bosom. The memories so sad and touching which +sprung out of his words flooded my heart with tender grief. Yes, she +loved me; and that, perhaps, was the golden link which had drawn his +soul to mine. + +"Do not weep," he pleaded; "but look up and bless me with one smile, one +word. Do you love me a little in return for all I feel? Can you love me +entirely some day?" + +I looked up and my eyes met his. "You know; you are sure. Why ask that?" +I whispered. "There has never been a time since I was a little girl that +I have not loved you; first as my kind, kind guardian, then as the being +_she_ loved better than anything on earth, and now--" + +"Now as your own husband!" he exclaimed, folding me close to his bosom, +and pressing kisses upon my lips. "Oh, my darling, you have made me +completely happy." + +In twenty different ways he told me of his happiness, his love, and the +sweet necessity there was for my presence in his life. At first it +seemed impossible for me to believe him; but after a while my heart +received the full conviction of his love, and settled down into that +fulness of content which makes some one hour of every human life a +heaven. + +As we sat together, with the twilight gathering around us, the curtains +falling over the recess of the window rustled apart, and Jessie came +through them. Her father did not move, but looked up smiling. I felt a +flood of crimson burn across my face. She looked at him a moment, then +at me, but obtained only a timid glance in return: it was enough. She +bent down and kissed me with affectionate warmth; then disappeared +quietly as she had come, leaving me the happiest mortal that God ever +blessed. + +One week from that day two weddings were solemnized in that house; but +only one couple went away. That home was too dear for any thoughts of +fashionable travel with us. + +The last year of the war we took a trip to the White Mountains, and made +some stay at New York on our return home. Having nothing special to +occupy us, one evening we joined a party from the hotel, and went to +hear a reading from the poets, to be given at a public hall in +Broadway. It so happened that no one mentioned the name of the reader, +and we had not thought enough about the matter to inquire. + +The hall was full of what seemed to be persons from the upper classes, +and some little excitement prevailed, as if there was a peculiar +interest taken either in the subject or reader. This aroused our +curiosity a little, and we waited with more than usual impatience for +the lady to appear. + +She came at last from the side platform, a radiantly beautiful woman, +with the air of an empress. Her black lace dress, richly flounced, swept +the floor; her white neck was exposed, and her superb arms uncovered to +the shoulder. A cluster of scarlet flowers glowed in her hair and on her +bosom. My heart gave one bound, and settled back with a sickening +recoil. + +It was Mrs. Dennison. + +She approached the reading-desk, rested her hand upon the volume that +lay upon it, and looked around upon the audience. Her eyes fell upon us. +She recoiled a step; a flash of red shot across her face. But instantly +she resumed her former position, looked steadily in our faces, and then +quietly allowed her eyes to pass over the crowd. + +While her hand rested on the book, a cry broke over us from the street. +Some newsboy, shouting as he sped along, sent his voice ringing through +the open doors: + +"Further particulars of the battle of the Wilderness! Death of Colonel +Lawrence!" + +The woman heard this cry. Her hand fell heavily away from the book--her +face grew livid under the gas-lights--she staggered, and fell to the +floor. + + THE END. + + + * * * * * + + + =T. B. PETERSON AND BROTHERS' PUBLICATIONS.= + + + NEW BOOKS ISSUED EVERY WEEK. + +Comprising the most entertaining and absorbing Works published, suitable +for the Parlor, Library, Sitting Room, Railroad or Steamboat Reading, by +the best writers in the world. + +[Symbol: Right]Orders solicited from Booksellers, Librarians, +Canvassers, News Agents, and all others in want of good and fast selling +books, which will be supplied at very Low Prices.[Symbol: Left] + + + =MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS' WORKS.= + + The Curse of Gold, $1 50 + Mabel's Mistake, 1 50 + Doubly False, 1 50 + The Soldiers' Orphans, 1 50 + Silent Struggles, 1 50 + The Heiress, 1 50 + The Wife's Secret, 1 50 + The Rejected Wife, 1 50 + Fashion and Famine, 1 50 + The Old Homestead, 1 50 + The Gold Brick, 1 50 + Mary Derwent, 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + + =MRS. EMMA D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH'S WORKS.= + + The Changed Brides, $1 50 + The Brides' Fate. A Sequel to + "The Changed Brides," 1 50 + Fair Play, 1 50 + How He Won Her. A Sequel + to "Fair Play," 1 50 + Fallen Pride, 1 50 + The Prince of Darkness, 1 50 + The Widow's Son, 1 50 + The Bride of Llewellyn, 1 50 + The Fortune Seeker, 1 50 + Allworth Abbey, 1 50 + The Bridal Eve, 1 50 + The Fatal Marriage, 1 50 + Haunted Homestead, 1 50 + The Lost Heiress, 1 50 + Lady of the Isle, 1 50 + Vivia; or the Secret of Power, 1 50 + Love's Labor Won, 1 50 + Deserted Wife, 1 50 + The Gipsy's Prophecy, 1 50 + The Mother-in-Law, 1 50 + The Missing Bride, 1 50 + The Two Sisters, 1 50 + The Three Beauties, 1 50 + Wife's Victory, 1 50 + Retribution, 1 50 + India; Pearl of Pearl River, 1 50 + Curse of Clifton, 1 50 + Discarded Daughter, 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + + =MRS. CAROLINE LEE HENTZ'S WORKS.= + + The Planter's Northern Bride, 1 50 + Linda; or, the Young Pilot of + the Belle Creole, 1 50 + Robert Graham. The Sequel + to "Linda," 1 50 + Courtship and Marriage, 1 50 + Ernest Linwood, 1 50 + Marcus Warland, 1 50 + Rena; or, the Snow Bird, 1 50 + The Lost Daughter, 1 50 + Love after Marriage, 1 50 + Eoline; or, Magnolia Vale, 1 50 + The Banished Son, 1 50 + Helen and Arthur, 1 50 + Forsaken Daughter, 1 50 + Planter's Daughter, 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price 1.75 each. + + + =FREDRIKA BREMER'S WORKS.= + + The Neighbors, 1 50 + The Home, 1 50 + Father and Daughter, 1 50 + The Four Sisters, 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + +Life in the Old World; or, Two Tears in Switzerland and Italy. +By Miss Bremer, in two volumes, cloth, price $3.50 + + + BEST COOK BOOKS PUBLISHED. + + Mrs. Goodfellow's Cookery as it Should Be, Cloth, $1 75 + Petersons' New Cook Book, Cloth, 1 75 + Miss Leslie's New Cookery Book, Cloth, 1 75 + Widdifield's New Cook Book, Cloth, 1 75 + The National Cook Book. By a Practical Housewife, Cloth, 1 75 + The Family Save-All. By author of "National Cook Book," Cloth, 1 75 + Mrs. Hale's Receipts for the Million, Cloth, 1 75 + Miss Leslie's New Receipts for Cooking, Cloth, 1 75 + Mrs. Hale's New Cook Book, Cloth, 1 75 + Francatelli's Celebrated French, Italian, German, and English + Cook Book. The Modern Cook. With Sixty-two illustrations. + Complete in six hundred large octavo pages, Cloth, 5 00 + + + WORKS BY THE VERY BEST AUTHORS. + +_The following books are each issued in one large, duodecimo volume, in +paper cover, at $1.50 each, or each one is bound in cloth, at $1.75 +each._ + +The Initials. A Love Story. By Baroness Tautphoeus, 1 50 +Family Pride. By author of "Pique," "Family Secrets," etc. 1 50 +Self-Sacrifice. By author of "Margaret Maitland," etc. 1 50 +The Woman in Black. A Companion to the "Woman in White," 1 50 +A Woman's Thoughts about Women. By Miss Muloch, 1 50 +Flirtations in Fashionable Life. By Catharine Sinclair, 1 50 +Rose Douglas. A Companion to "Family Pride," and "Self Sacrifice," 1 50 +False Pride; or, Two Ways to Matrimony. A Charming Book, 1 50 +Family Secrets. A Companion to "Family Pride," and "Pique," 1 50 +The Morrisons. By Mrs. Margaret Hosmer, 1 50 +Beppo. The Conscript. By T. A. Trollope, author of "Gemma," 1 50 +Gemma. An Italian Story. By T. A. Trollope, author of "Beppo," 1 50 +Marietta. By T. A. Trollope, author of "Gemma," 1 50 +My Son's Wife. By author of "Caste," "Mr. Arle," etc. 1 50 +The Rich Husband. By author of "George Geith," 1 50 +Harem Life in Egypt and Constantinople. By Emmeline Lott, 1 50 +The Rector's Wife; or, the Valley of a Hundred Fires, 1 50 +Woodburn Grange. A Novel. By William Howitt, 1 50 +Country Quarters. By the Countess of Blessington, 1 50 +Out of the Depths. The Story of a "Woman's Life," 1 50 +The Coquette; or, the Life and Letters of Eliza Wharton, 1 50 +The Pride of Life. A Story of the Heart. By Lady Jane Scott, 1 50 +The Lost Beauty. By a Noted Lady of the Spanish Court, 1 50 +Saratoga. An Indian Tale of Frontier Life. A true Story of 1787, 1 50 +Married at Last. A Love Story. By Annie Thomas, 1 50 +The Quaker Soldier. A Revolutionary Romance. By Judge Jones, 1 50 +The Man of the World. An Autobiography. By William North, 1 50 +The Queen's Favorite; or, The Price of a Crown. A Love Story, 1 50 +Self Love; or, The Afternoon of Single and Married Life, 1 50 +Cora Belmont; or, The Sincere Lover. A True Story of the Heart, 1 50 +The Lover's Trials; or Days before 1776. By Mrs. Mary A. Denison, 1 50 +High Life in Washington. A Life Picture. By Mrs. N. P. Lasselle, 1 50 +The Beautiful Widow; or, Lodore. By Mrs. Percy B. Shelley, 1 50 +Love and Money. By J. B. Jones, author of the "Rival Belles," 1 50 +The Matchmaker. A Story of High Life. By Beatrice Reynolds, 1 50 +The Brother's Secret; or, the Count De Mara. By William Godwin, 1 50 +The Lost Love. By Mrs. Oliphant, author of "Margaret Maitland," 1 50 +The Roman Traitor. By Henry William Herbert. A Roman Story, 1 50 + +The above books are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + + WORKS BY THE VERY BEST AUTHORS. + +_The following books are each issued in one large duodecimo volume, in +paper cover, at $1.50 each, or each one is bound in cloth, at $1.75 +each._ + +The Dead Secret. By Wilkie Collins, author of "The Crossed Path," 1 50 +Memoirs of Vidocq, the French Detective. His Life and Adventures, 1 50 +The Crossed Path; or Basil. By Wilkie Collins, 1 50 +Indiana. A Love Story. By George Sand, author of "Consuelo," 1 50 +The Belle of Washington. With her Portrait. By Mrs. N. P. Lasselle, 1 50 +The Bohemians of London. By Edward M. Whitty, 1 50 +The Rival Belles; or, Life in Washington. By J. B. Jones, 1 50 +The Devoted Bride. A Story of the Heart. By St. George Tucker, 1 50 +Love and Duty. By Mrs. Hubback, author of "May and December," 1 50 +Wild Sports and Adventures in Africa. By Major W. C. Harris, 1 50 +Courtship and Matrimony. By Robert Morris. With a Portrait, 1 50 +The Jealous Husband. By Annette Marie Maillard, 1 50 +The Refugee. By Herman Melville, author of "Omoo," "Typee," 1 50 +The Life, Writings, Lectures, and Marriages of Fanny Fern, 1 50 +The Life and Lectures of Lola Montez, with her portrait, on steel, 1 50 +Wild Southern Scenes. By author of "Wild Western Scenes," 1 50 +Currer Lyle; or, the Autobiography of an Actress. By Louise Reeder, 1 50 +Coal, Coal Oil, and all other Minerals in the Earth. By Eli Bowen, 1 50 +The Cabin and Parlor. By J. Thornton Randolph. Illustrated, 1 50 +Jealousy. By George Sand, author of "Consuelo," "Indiana," etc. 1 50 +The Little Beauty. A Love Story. By Mrs. Grey, 1 50 +The Adopted Heir. A Love Story. By Miss Pardoe, 1 50 +Secession, Coercion, and Civil War. By J. B. Jones, 1 50 +The Count of Monte Cristo. By Alexander Dumas. Illustrated, 1 50 +Camille; or, the Fate of a Coquette. By Alexander Dumas, 1 50 +Six Nights with the Washingtonians. By T. S. Arthur, 1 50 +Lizzie Glenn; or, the Trials of a Seamstress. By T. S. Arthur, 1 50 +Lady Maud; or, the Wonder of Kingswood Chase. By Pierce Egan, 1 50 +Wilfred Montressor; or, High Life in New York. Illustrated, 1 50 +The Old Stone Mansion. By C. J. Peterson, author "Kate Aylesford," 1 50 +Kate Aylesford. By Chas. J. Peterson, author "Old Stone Mansion," 1 50 +Lorrimer Littlegood, by author "Hary Coverdale's Courtship," 1 50 +The Red Court Farm. By Mrs. Henry Wood, author of "East Lynne," 1 50 +Mildred Arkell. By Mrs. Henry Wood, author of "Red Court Farm," 1 50 +The Earl's Secret. A Love Story. By Miss Pardoe, 1 50 +The Adopted Heir. By Miss Pardoe, author of "The Earl's Secret," 1 50 +Lord Montague's Page. By G. P. R. James, 1 50 +The Cavalier. By G. P. R. James, author of "Lord Montague's Page," 1 50 +Cousin Harry. By Mrs. Grey, author of "The Gambler's Wife," etc. 1 50 +The Conscript. A Tale of War. By Alexander Dumas, 1 50 +The Tower of London. By W. Harrison Ainsworth. Illustrated, 1 50 +Shoulder Straps. By Henry Morford, author of "Days of Shoddy," 1 50 +Days of Shoddy. By Henry Morford, author of "Shoulder Straps," 1 50 +The Coward. By Henry Morford, author of "Days of Shoddy," 1 50 + +The above books are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + +The Wandering Jew. By Eugene Sue. Full of Illustrations, 1 50 +Mysteries of Paris; and its Sequel, Gerolstein. By Eugene Sue, 1 50 +Martin, the Foundling. By Eugene Sue. Full of Illustrations, 1 50 +Ten Thousand a Year. By Samuel C. Warren. With Illustrations, 1 50 +Washington and His Generals. By George Lippard, 1 50 +The Quaker City; or, the Monks of Monk Hall. By George Lippard, 1 50 +Blanche of Brandywine. By George Lippard, 1 50 +Paul Ardenheim; the Monk of Wissahickon. By George Lippard, 1 50 + +The above books are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $2.00 each. + + + NEW AND GOOD BOOKS BY BEST AUTHORS. + +The Last Athenian. From the Swedish of Victor Rydberg. Highly +recommended by Fredrika Bremer. Paper $1.50, or in cloth, $2 00 + +Comstock's Elocution and Reader. Enlarged. By Andrew Comstock +and Philip Lawrence. With 236 Illustrations. Half morocco, 2 00 + +Comstock's Colored Chart. Every School should have a copy of it, 5 00 + +Across the Atlantic. Letters from France, Switzerland, Germany, +Italy, and England. By C. H. Haeseler, M.D. Bound in cloth, 2 00 + +Colonel John W. Forney's Letters from Europe. Bound in cloth, 1 75 + +The Ladies' Guide to True Politeness and Perfect Manners. By +Miss Leslie. Every lady should have it. Cloth, full gilt back, 1 75 + +The Ladies' Complete Guide to Needlework and Embroidery. With +113 illustrations. By Miss Lambert. Cloth, full gilt back, 1 75 + +The Ladies' Work Table Book. With 27 illustrations. Cloth, gilt, 1 50 + +The Story of Elizabeth. By Miss Thackeray, paper $1.00, or cloth, 1 50 + +Life and Adventures of Don Quixote and his Squire Sancho Panza, +complete in one large volume, paper cover, for $1.00, or in cloth, 1 50 + +The Laws and Practice of Game of Euchre. By a Professor. Cloth, 1 00 + +Whitefriars; or, The Days of Charles the Second. Illustrated, 1 00 + + + HUMOROUS ILLUSTRATED WORKS. + +_Each one full of Illustrations, by Felix O. C. Darley, and bound in +Cloth._ + +Major Jones' Courtship and Travels. With 21 Illustrations, 1 75 +Major Jones' Scenes in Georgia. With 16 Illustrations, 1 75 +Simon Suggs' Adventures and Travels. With 17 Illustrations, 1 75 +Swamp Doctor's Adventures in the South-West. 14 Illustrations, 1 75 +Col. Thorpe's Scenes in Arkansaw. With 16 Illustrations, 1 75 +The Big Bear's Adventures and Travels. With 18 Illustrations, 1 75 +High Life in New York, by Jonathan Slick. With Illustrations, 1 75 +Judge Haliburton's Yankee Stories. Illustrated, 1 75 +Harry Coverdale's Courtship and Marriage. Illustrated, 1 75 +Piney Wood's Tavern; or, Sam Slick in Texas. Illustrated, 1 75 +Sam Slick, the Clockmaker. By Judge Haliburton. Illustrated, 1 75 +Humors of Falconbridge. By J. F. Kelley. With Illustrations, 1 75 +Modern Chivalry. By Judge Breckenridge. Two vols., each 1 75 +Neal's Charcoal Sketches. By Joseph C. Neal. 21 Illustrations, 2 50 + + + ALEXANDER DUMAS' WORKS. + + Count of Monte Cristo, 1 50 + The Iron Mask, 1 00 + Louise La Valliere, 1 00 + Adventures of a Marquis, 1 00 + Diana of Meridor, 1 00 + The Three Guardsmen, 75 + Twenty Years After, 75 + Bragelonne, 75 + The Conscript. A Tale of War, 1 50 + Memoirs of a Physician, 1 00 + Queen's Necklace, 1 00 + Six Years Later, 1 00 + Countess of Charney, 1 00 + Andree de Taverney, 1 00 + The Chevalier, 1 00 + Forty-five Guardsmen, 75 + The Iron Hand, 75 + Camille, "The Camelia Lady," 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + Edmond Dantes, 75 + Felina de Chambure, 75 + The Horrors of Paris, 75 + The Fallen Angel, 75 + Sketches in France, 75 + Isabel of Bavaria, 75 + Man with Five Wives, 75 + Twin Lieutenants, 75 + Annette, Lady of the Pearls, 50 + Mohicans of Paris, 50 + The Marriage Verdict, 50 + The Corsican Brothers, 50 + Count of Moret, 50 + George, 50 + Buried Alive, 25 + + + CHARLES DICKENS' WORKS. + +[Symbol: Right]GREAT REDUCTION IN THEIR PRICES.[Symbol: Left] + + +PEOPLE'S DUODECIMO EDITION. ILLUSTRATED. + +_Reduced in price from $2.50 to $1.50 a volume._ + +_This edition is printed on fine paper, from large, clear type, leaded, +that all can read, containing One Hundred and Eighty Illustrations on +tinted paper, and each book is complete in one large duodecimo volume._ + + Our Mutual Friend, Cloth, $1.50 + Pickwick Papers, Cloth, 1.50 + Nicholas Nickleby, Cloth, 1.50 + Great Expectations, Cloth, 1.50 + David Copperfield, Cloth, 1.50 + Oliver Twist, Cloth, 1.50 + Bleak House, Cloth, 1.50 + A Tale of Two Cities, Cloth, 1.50 + Little Dorrit, Cloth, 1.50 + Dombey and Son, Cloth, 1.50 + Christmas Stories, Cloth, 1.50 + Sketches by "Boz," Cloth, 1.50 + Barnaby Rudge, Cloth, 1.50 + Martin Chuzzlewit, Cloth, 1.50 + Old Curiosity Shop, Cloth, 1.50 + Dickens' New Stories, Cloth, 1.50 + American Notes; and The Uncommercial Traveler, Cloth, 1.50 + Hunted Down; and other Reprinted Pieces, Cloth, 1.50 + The Holly-Tree Inn; and other Stories, Cloth, 1.50 + +Price of a set, in Black cloth, in nineteen volumes, $28.00 + " " Full sheep, Library style, 38.00 + " " Half calf, sprinkled edges, 47.00 + " " Half calf, marbled edges, 53.00 + " " Half calf, antique, 57.00 + " " Half calf, full gilt backs, etc., 57.00 + + + ILLUSTRATED DUODECIMO EDITION. + +_Reduced in price from $2.00 to $1.50 a volume._ + +_This edition is printed on the finest paper, from large, clear type, +leaded, Long Primer in size, that all can read, the whole containing +near Six Hundred full page Illustrations, printed on tinted paper, from +designs by Cruikshank, Phiz, Browne, Maclise, McLenan, and other +artists. The following books are each contained in two volumes._ + + Our Mutual Friend, Cloth, $3.00 + Pickwick Papers, Cloth, 3.00 + Tale of Two Cities, Cloth, 3.00 + Nicholas Nickleby, Cloth, 3.00 + David Copperfield, Cloth, 3.00 + Oliver Twist, Cloth, 3.00 + Christmas Stories, Cloth, 3.00 + Bleak House, Cloth, 3.00 + Sketches by "Boz," Cloth, 3.00 + Barnaby Rudge, Cloth, 3.00 + Martin Chuzzlewit, Cloth, 3.00 + Old Curiosity Shop, Cloth, 3.00 + Little Dorrit, Cloth, 3.00 + Dombey and Son, Cloth, 3.00 + +_The following are each complete in one volume, and are reduced in price +from $2.50 to $1.50 a volume._ + + Great Expectations, Cloth. $1.50 + Dickens' New Stories, Cloth, 1.50 + American Notes; and The Uncommercial Traveler, Cloth, 1.50 + Hunted Down; and other Reprinted Pieces, Cloth, 1.50 + The Holly-Tree Inn; and other Stories, Cloth, 1.50 + +Price of a set, in thirty-three volumes, bound in cloth, $49.00 + " " Full sheep, Library style, 66.00 + " " Half calf, antique, 99.00 + " " Half calf, full gilt backs, etc., 99.00 + + + =CHARLES DICKENS' WORKS.= + + ILLUSTRATED OCTAVO EDITION. + +_Reduced in price from $2.50 to $2.00 a volume._ + +_This edition is printed from large type, double column, octavo page, each +book being complete in one volume, the whole containing near Six Hundred +Illustrations, by Cruikshank, Phiz, Browne, Maclise, and other artists._ + + Our Mutual Friend, Cloth, $2.00 + Pickwick Papers, Cloth, 2.00 + Nicholas Nickleby, Cloth, 2.00 + Great Expectations, Cloth, 2.00 + Lamplighter's Story, Cloth, 2.00 + Oliver Twist, Cloth, 2.00 + Bleak House, Cloth, 2.00 + Little Dorrit, Cloth, 2.00 + Dombey and Son, Cloth, 2.00 + Sketches by "Boz," Cloth, 2.00 + David Copperfield, Cloth, 2.00 + Barnaby Rudge, Cloth, 2.00 + Martin Chuzzlewit, Cloth, 2.00 + Old Curiosity Shop, Cloth, 2.00 + Christmas Stories, Cloth, 2.00 + Dickens' New Stories, Cloth, 2.00 + A Tale of Two Cities, Cloth, 2.00 + American Notes and + Pic-Nic Papers, Cloth, 2.00 + +Price of a set, in Black cloth, in eighteen volumes, $36.00 +" " Full sheep, Library style, 45.00 +" " Half calf, sprinkled edges, 55.00 +" " Half calf, marbled edges, 62.00 +" " Half calf, antique, 70.00 +" " Half calf, full gilt backs, etc., 70.00 + + + ="NEW NATIONAL EDITION" OF DICKENS' WORKS.= + +This is the cheapest complete edition of the works of Charles Dickens, +"Boz," published in the world, being contained in _seven large octavo +volumes_, with a portrait of Charles Dickens, and other illustrations, +the whole making nearly _six thousand very large double columned pages_, +in large, clear type, and handsomely printed on fine white paper, and +bound in the strongest and most substantial manner. + +Price of a set, in Black cloth, in seven volumes, $20.00 +" " Full sheep, Library style, 25.00 +" " Half calf, antique, 30.00 +" " Half calf, full gilt back, etc., 30.00 + + + =CHEAP SALMON PAPER COVER EDITION.= + +_Each book being complete in one large octavo volume._ + + Pickwick Papers, 35 + Nicholas Nickleby, 35 + Dombey and Son, 35 + David Copperfield, 25 + Martin Chuzzlewit, 35 + Old Curiosity Shop, 25 + Oliver Twist, 25 + American Notes, 25 + Great Expectations, 25 + Hard Times, 25 + A Tale of Two Cities, 25 + Somebody's Luggage, 25 + Message from the Sea, 25 + Barnaby Rudge, 25 + Sketches by "Boz," 25 + Christmas Stories, 25 + The Haunted House, 25 + Uncommercial Traveler, 25 + A House to Let, 25 + Perils of English Prisoners, 25 + Wreck of the Golden Mary, 25 + Tom Tiddler's Ground, 25 + Our Mutual Friend, 35 + Bleak House, 35 + Little Dorrit, 35 + Joseph Grimaldi, 50 + The Pic-Nic Papers, 50 + No Thoroughfare, 10 + Hunted Down, 25 + The Holly-Tree Inn, 25 + Mrs. Lirriper's Lodgings and Mrs. Lirriper's Legacy, 25 + Mugby Junction and Dr. Marigold's Prescriptions, 25 + +=Books sent, postage paid, on receipt of the Retail Price, by +T. B. Peterson & Brothers, Philadelphia, Pa.= + + + CHARLES LEVER'S BEST WORKS. + + Charles O'Malley, 75 + Harry Lorrequer, 75 + Jack Hinton, 75 + Tom Burke of Ours, 75 + Knight of Gwynne, 75 + Arthur O'Leary, 75 + Con Cregan, 75 + Davenport Dunn, 75 + +Above are each in paper, or finer edition in cloth, price $2.00 each. + + Horace Templeton, 75 + Kate O'Donoghue, 75 + + + MADAME GEORGE SAND'S WORKS. + + Consuelo, 75 + Countess of Rudolstadt, 75 + First and True Love, 75 + The Corsair, 50 + Jealousy, paper, 1 50 + Do. cloth, 1 75 + Fanchon, the Cricket, paper, 1 00 + Do. do. cloth, 1 50 + Indiana, a Love Story, paper, 1 50 + Do. do. cloth, 1 75 + Consuelo and Rudolstadt, both in one volume, cloth, 2 00 + + + WILKIE COLLINS' BEST WORKS. + + The Crossed Path, or Basil, 1 50 + The Dead Secret. 12mo. 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + Hide and Seek, 75 + After Dark, 75 + The Dead Secret. 8vo. 75 + +Above in cloth at $1.00 each. + + The Queen's Revenge, 75 + Mad Monkton, 50 + Sights a-Foot, 50 + The Stolen Mask, 25 + The Yellow Mask, 25 + Sister Rose, 25 + + + MISS PARDOE'S WORKS + + Confessions of a Pretty Woman, 75 + The Wife's Trials, 75 + The Jealous Wife, 50 + Rival Beauties, 75 + Romance of the Harem, 75 + +The five above books are also bound in one volume, cloth, for $4.00. + + The Adopted Heir. One volume, paper, $1.50; or in cloth, $1 75 + The Earl's Secret. One volume, paper, $1.50; or in cloth, 1 75 + + + MRS. HENRY WOOD'S BOOKS. + + Red Court Farm, 1 50 + Elster's Folly, 1 50 + St. Martin's Eve, 1 50 + Mildred Arkell, 1 50 + Shadow of Ashlydyat, 1 50 + Oswald Cray, 1 50 + Verner's Pride, 1 50 + Lord Oakburn's Daughters; or, the Earl's Heirs, 1 50 + Squire Trevlyn's Heir; or, Trevlyn Hold, 1 50 + The Castle's Heir; or, Lady Adelaide's Oath, 1 50 + +Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $1.75 each. + + The Mystery, 75 + A Life's Secret, 50 + +Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $1.00 each. + + The Channings, 1 00 + Aurora Floyd, 75 + +Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $1.50 each. + + Orville College, 50 + The Runaway Match, 50 + The Lost Will, 50 + The Haunted Tower, 50 + The Lost Bank Note, 75 + Better for Worse, 75 + Foggy Night at Offord, 25 + The Lawyer's Secret, 25 + William Allair, 25 + A Light and a Dark Christmas, 25 + + + GEORGE W. M. REYNOLDS' WORKS. + + Mysteries of Court of London, 1 00 + Rose Foster. Sequel to it, 1 50 + Caroline of Brunswick, 1 00 + Venetia Trelawney, 1 00 + Lord Saxondale, 1 00 + Count Christoval, 1 00 + Rosa Lambert, 1 00 + Mary Price, 1 00 + Eustace Quentin, 1 00 + Joseph Wilmot, 1 00 + Banker's Daughter, 1 00 + Kenneth, 1 00 + The Rye-House Plot, 1 00 + The Necromancer, 1 00 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + The Opera Dancer, 75 + Child of Waterloo, 75 + Robert Bruce, 75 + Discarded Queen, 75 + The Gipsy Chief, 75 + Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, 75 + Wallace, the Hero of Scotland, 1 00 + Isabella Vincent, 75 + Vivian Bertram, 75 + Countess of Lascelles, 75 + Loves of the Harem, 75 + Ellen Percy, 75 + Agnes Evelyn, 75 + The Soldier's Wife, 75 + May Middleton, 75 + Duke of Marchmont, 75 + Massacre of Glencoe, 75 + Queen Joanna; Court Naples, 75 + Pickwick Abroad, 75 + Parricide, 75 + The Ruined Gamester, 50 + Ciprina; or, the Secrets of a Picture Gallery, 50 + Life in Paris, 50 + Countess and the Page, 50 + Edgar Montrose, 50 + + + WAVERLEY NOVELS. BY SIR WALTER SCOTT. + +CHEAPEST EDITION IN THE WORLD. + + Ivanhoe, 20 + Rob Roy, 20 + Guy Mannering, 20 + The Antiquary, 20 + Old Mortality, 20 + Heart of Mid Lothian, 20 + Bride of Lammermoor, 20 + Waverley, 20 + St. Ronan's Well, 20 + Kenilworth, 20 + The Pirate, 20 + The Monastery, 20 + The Abbot, 20 + The Fortunes of Nigel, 20 + The Betrothed, 20 + Peveril of the Peak, 20 + Quentin Durward, 20 + Red Gauntlet, 20 + The Talisman, 20 + Woodstock, 20 + Highland Widow, etc. 20 + The Fair Maid of Perth, 20 + Anne of Geierstein, 20 + Count Robert of Paris, 20 + The Black Dwarf and Legend of Montrose, 20 + Castle Dangerous, and Surgeon's Daughter, 20 + +Above edition is the cheapest in the world, and is complete in +twenty-six volumes, price Twenty cents each, or Five Dollars for the +complete set. + +A finer edition is also published of each of the above, complete in +twenty-six volumes, price Fifty cents each, or Ten Dollars for the +complete set. + + Moredun. A Tale of 1210, 50 + Tales of a Grandfather, 25 + Scott's Poetical Works, 5 00 + Life of Scott, cloth, 2 50 + + + "NEW NATIONAL EDITION" OF "WAVERLEY NOVELS." + +This edition of the Waverley Novels is contained in _five large octavo +volumes_, with a portrait of Sir Walter Scott, making _four thousand +very large double columned pages_, in good type, and handsomely printed +on the finest of white paper, and bound in the strongest and most +substantial manner. + +Price of a set, in Black cloth, in five volumes, $15 00 + " " Full sheep, Library style, 17 50 + " " Half calf, antique, or Half calf, gilt, 25 00 + +The Complete Prose and Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott, are also +published in ten volumes, bound in half calf, for $60.00 + + +[Symbol: Right]Books sent, postage paid, on receipt of the Retail +Price, by T. B. Peterson & Brothers, Philadelphia, Pa. + + + HUMOROUS AMERICAN WORKS. + +_Beautifully Illustrated by Felix O. C. Darley._ + + Major Jones' Courtship, 75 + Major Jones' Travels, 75 + Simon Suggs' Adventures and Travels, 75 + Major Jones' Chronicles of Pineville, 75 + Polly Peablossom's Wedding, 75 + Mysteries of the Backwoods, 75 + Widow Rugby's Husband, 75 + Big Bear of Arkansas, 75 + Western Scenes; or, Life on the Prairie, 75 + Streaks of Squatter Life, 75 + Pickings from the Picayune, 75 + Stray Subjects, Arrested and Bound Over, 75 + Louisiana Swamp Doctor, 75 + Charcoal Sketches, 75 + Misfortunes of Peter Faber, 75 + Yankee among the Mermaids, 75 + New Orleans Sketch Book, 75 + Drama in Pokerville, 75 + The Querndon Hounds, 75 + My Shooting Box, 75 + Warwick Woodlands, 75 + The Deer Stalkers, 75 + Peter Ploddy, 75 + Adventures of Captain Farrago, 75 + Major O'Regan's Adventures, 75 + Sol. Smith's Theatrical Apprenticeship, 75 + Sol. Smith's Theatrical Journey-Work, 75 + The Quarter Race in Kentucky, 75 + Aunt Patty's Scrap Bag, 75 + Percival Mayberry's Adventures and Travels, 75 + Sam Slick's Yankee Yarns and Yankee Letters, 75 + Adventures of Fudge Fumble, 75 + American Joe Miller, 50 + Following the Drum, 50 + + + D'ISRAELI'S WORKS. + + Henrietta Temple, 50 + Vivian Grey, 75 + Venetia, 50 + Young Duke, 50 + Miriam Alroy, 50 + Contarina Fleming, 50 + + + FRANK FAIRLEGH'S WORKS. + + Frank Fairlegh, 75 + Lewis Arundel, 75 + Harry Racket Scapegrace, 75 + Tom Racquet, 75 + +Finer editions of above are also issued in cloth, at $1.75 each. + + Harry Coverdale's Courtship, 1 50 + Lorrimer Littlegood, 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + + C. J. PETERSON'S WORKS. + + The Old Stone Mansion, 1 50 + Kate Aylesford, 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + Cruising in the Last War, 75 + Valley Farm, 25 + Grace Dudley; or, Arnold at Saratoga, 50 + + + JAMES A. MAITLAND'S WORKS. + + The Old Patroon, 1 50 + The Watchman, 1 50 + The Wanderer, 1 50 + The Lawyer's Story, 1 50 + Diary of an Old Doctor, 1 50 + Sartaroe, 1 50 + The Three Cousins, 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + +WILLIAM H. MAXWELL'S WORKS. + + Wild Sports of the West, 75 + Stories of Waterloo, 75 + Brian O'Lynn, 75 + + + WILLIAM HARRISON AINSWORTH'S WORKS. + + Life of Jack Sheppard, 50 + Life of Guy Fawkes, 75 + +Above in 1 vol., cloth, $1.75. + + Court of the Stuarts, 75 + Windsor Castle, 75 + The Star Chamber, 75 + Old St. Paul's, 75 + Court of Queen Anne, 50 + Life of Dick Turpin, 50 + Life of Davy Crockett, 50 + + Tower of London, 1 50 + Miser's Daughter, 1 00 + +Above in cloth $1.75 each. + + Life of Grace O'Malley, 50 + Life of Henry Thomas, 25 + Desperadoes of the New World, 25 + Life of Ninon De L'Enclos, 25 + Life of Arthur Spring, 25 + Life of Mrs. Whipple and Jessee + Strang, 25 + + + G. P. R. JAMES'S BEST BOOKS. + + Lord Montague's Page, 1 50 + The Cavalier, 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + The Man in Black, 75 + Mary of Burgundy, 75 + Arrah Neil, 75 + Eva St. Clair, 50 + + + DOW'S PATENT SERMONS. + + Dow's Patent Sermons, 1st + Series, $1.00; cloth, 1 50 + Dow's Patent Sermons, 2d + Series, $1.00; cloth, 1 50 + Dow's Patent Sermons, 3d + Series, $1.00; cloth, 1 50 + Dow's Patent Sermons, 4th + Series, $1.00; cloth, 1 50 + + + SAMUEL C. WARREN'S BEST BOOKS. + + Ten Thousand a Year, paper, 1 50 + Do. do. cloth, 2 00 + Diary of a Medical Student, 75 + + + Q. K. PHILANDER DOESTICKS' WORKS. + + Doesticks' Letters, 1 50 + Plu-Ri-Bus-Tah, 1 50 + The Elephant Club, 1 50 + Witches of New York, 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + + GREEN'S WORKS ON GAMBLING. + + Gambling Exposed, 1 50 + The Gambler's Life, 1 50 + The Reformed Gambler, 1 50 + Secret Band of Brothers, 1 50 + +Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $1.75 each. + + + MISS ELLEN PICKERING'S WORKS. + + The Grumbler, 75 + Marrying for Money, 75 + Poor Cousin, 50 + Kate Walsingham, 50 + Orphan Niece, 50 + Who Shall be Heir? 38 + The Squire, 38 + Ellen Wareham, 38 + Nan Darrel, 38 + + + CAPTAIN MARRYATT'S WORKS. + + Jacob Faithful, 50 + Japhet in Search of a Father, 50 + Phantom Ship, 50 + Midshipman Easy, 50 + Pacha of Many Tales, 50 + Frank Mildmay, Naval Officer, 50 + Snarleyow, 50 + Newton Forster, 50 + King's Own, 50 + Pirate and Three Cutters, 50 + Peter Simple, 50 + Percival Keene, 50 + Poor Jack, 50 + Sea King, 50 + + + EUGENE SUE'S GREAT WORKS. + + Wandering Jew, 1 50 + Mysteries of Paris, 1 50 + Martin, the Foundling, 1 50 + +Above in cloth at $2.00 each. + + First Love, 50 + Woman's Love, 50 + Female Bluebeard, 50 + Man-of-War's-Man, 50 + Life and Adventures of Raoul De Surville, 25 + + + MRS. GREY'S WORKS. + + Cousin Harry, 1 50 + The Little Beauty, 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + Gipsy's Daughter, 50 + Old Dower House, 50 + Belle of the Family, 50 + Duke and Cousin, 50 + The Little Wife, 50 + Lena Cameron, 50 + Sybil Lennard, 50 + Manoeuvring Mother, 50 + Baronet's Daughters, 50 + Young Prima Donna, 50 + Hyacinthe, 25 + Alice Seymour, 25 + Mary Seaham, 75 + Passion and Principle, 75 + The Flirt, 75 + Good Society, 75 + Lion-Hearted, 75 + + + J. F. SMITH'S WORKS. + + The Usurer's Victim; or, + Thomas Balscombe, 75 + Adelaide Waldegrave; or, the + Trials of a Governess, 75 + + + REVOLUTIONARY TALES. + + The Brigand, 50 + Ralph Runnion, 50 + Seven Brothers of Wyoming, 50 + The Rebel Bride, 50 + The Flying Artillerist, 50 + Wau-nan-gee, 50 + Old Put; or, Days of 1776, 50 + Legends of Mexico, 50 + Grace Dudley, 50 + The Guerilla Chief, 75 + The Quaker Soldier, paper, 1 50 + do. do. cloth, 1 75 + + + EMERSON BENNETT'S WORKS. + + The Border Rover, 1 50 + Ciara Moreland, 1 50 + Viola; or Adventures in the + Far South-West, 1 50 + Bride of the Wilderness, 1 50 + Ellen Norbury, 1 50 + The Forged Will, 1 50 + Kate Clarendon, 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + The Heiress of Bellefonte, and + Walde-Warren, 75 + Pioneer's Daughter and the + Unknown Countess, 75 + + + T. S. ARTHUR'S HOUSEHOLD NOVELS. + + The Lost Bride, 50 + The Two Brides, 50 + Love in a Cottage, 50 + Love in High Life, 50 + Year after Marriage, 50 + The Lady at Home, 50 + Cecelia Howard, 50 + Orphan Children, 50 + Debtor's Daughter, 50 + Mary Moreton, 50 + The Divorced Wife, 50 + Pride and Prudence, 50 + Agnes; or, the Possessed, 50 + Lucy Sandford, 50 + The Banker's Wife, 50 + The Two Merchants, 50 + Trial and Triumph, 50 + The Iron Rule, 50 + Insubordination; or, the Shoe-maker's + Daughters, 50 + Six Nights with the Washingtonians. With + nine original Illustrations. By + Cruikshank. One volume, cloth $1 75; + or in paper, $1.50 + Lizzy Glenn; or, the Trials of a + Seamstress. Cloth $1.75; or paper, 1.50 + + + EXCITING SEA TALES. + + Adventures of Ben Brace, 75 + Jack Adams, the Mutineer, 75 + Jack Ariel's Adventures, 75 + Petrel; or, Life on the Ocean, 75 + Life of Paul Periwinkle, 75 + Life of Tom Bowling, 75 + Percy Effingham, 75 + Cruising in the Last War, 75 + Red King, 50 + The Corsair, 50 + The Doomed Ship, 50 + The Three Pirates, 50 + The Flying Dutchman, 50 + The Flying Yankee, 50 + The Yankee Middy, 50 + The Gold Seekers, 50 + The King's Cruisers, 50 + Life of Alexander Tardy, 50 + Red Wing, 50 + Yankee Jack, 50 + Yankees in Japan, 50 + Morgan, the Buccaneer, 50 + Jack Junk, 50 + Davis, the Pirate, 50 + Valdez, the Pirate, 50 + Gallant Tom, 50 + Harry Helm, 50 + Harry Tempest, 50 + Rebel and Rover, 50 + Man-of-War's-Man, 50 + Dark Shades of City Life, 25 + The Rats of the Seine, 25 + Charles Ransford, 25 + The Iron Cross, 25 + The River Pirates, 25 + The Pirate's Son, 25 + Jacob Faithful, 50 + Phantom Ship, 50 + Midshipman Easy, 50 + Pacha of Many Tales, 50 + Naval Officer, 50 + Snarleyow, 50 + Newton Forster, 50 + King's Own, 50 + Japhet, 50 + Pirate and Three Cutters, 50 + Peter Simple, 50 + Percival Keene, 50 + Poor Jack, 50 + Sea King, 50 + + + GEORGE LIPPARD'S GREAT BOOKS. + + The Quaker City, 1 50 + Paul Ardenheim, 1 50 + Blanche of Brandywine, 1 50 + Washington and his Generals; + or, Legends of the American + Revolution, 1 50 + Mysteries of Florence, 1 00 + +Above in cloth at $2.00 each. + + The Empire City, 75 + Memoirs of a Preacher, 75 + The Nazarene, 75 + Washington and his Men, 75 + Legends of Mexico, 50 + The Entranced, 25 + The Robbers, 25 + The Bank Director's Son, 25 + + + MILITARY NOVELS. BY BEST AUTHORS. + +With Illuminated Military Covers, in five Colors. + + Charles O'Malley, 75 + Jack Hinton, the Guardsman, 75 + The Knight of Gwynne, 75 + Harry Lorrequer, 75 + Tom Burke of Ours, 75 + Arthur O'Leary, 75 + Con Cregan, 75 + Kate O'Donoghue, 75 + Horace Templeton, 75 + Davenport Dunn, 75 + Jack Adams' Adventures, 75 + Valentine Vox, 75 + Twin Lieutenants, 75 + Stories of Waterloo, 75 + The Soldier's Wife, 75 + Guerilla Chief, 75 + The Three Guardsmen, 75 + Twenty Years After, 75 + Bragelonne, Son of Athos, 75 + Forty-five Guardsmen, 75 + Tom Bowling's Adventures, 75 + Life of Robert Bruce, 75 + The Gipsy Chief, 75 + Massacre of Glencoe, 75 + Life of Guy Fawkes, 75 + Child of Waterloo, 75 + Adventures of Ben Brace, 75 + Life of Jack Ariel, 75 + Wallace, the Hero of Scotland, 1 00 + Following the Drum, 50 + The Conscript, a Tale of War. + By Alexander Dumas, 1 50 + + + GUSTAVE AIMARD'S WORKS. + + The White Scalper, 50 + The Freebooters, 50 + The Prairie Flower, 75 + The Indian Scout, 75 + The Trail Hunter, 75 + The Indian Chief, 75 + The Red Track, 75 + Trapper's Daughter, 75 + The Tiger Slayer, 75 + The Gold Seekers, 75 + The Rebel Chief, 75 + The Smuggler Chief, 75 + The Border Rifles, 75 + Pirates of the Prairies, 75 + + + LANGUAGES WITHOUT A MASTER. + + French without a Master, 40 + Spanish without a Master, 40 + Latin without a Master, 40 + German without a Master, 40 + Italian without a Master, 40 + +The above five works on the French, German, Spanish, Latin, and Italian +Languages, whereby any one or all of these Languages can be learned by +any one without a Teacher, with the aid of this book, by A. H. Monteith, +Esq., is also published in finer style, in one volume, bound, price, +$1.75. + + + HARRY COCKTON'S WORKS. + + Sylvester Sound, 75 + Valentine Vox, in paper, 75 + do. finer edition, cloth, 2 00 + The Sisters, 75 + The Steward, 75 + Percy Effingham, 75 + + + WAR NOVELS. BY HENRY MORFORD. + + Shoulder-Straps, 1 50 + The Coward, 1 50 + The Days of Shoddy. A History + of the late War, 1 50 + +Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $1.75 each. + + + LIVES OF HIGHWAYMEN. + + Life of John A. Murrel, 50 + Life of Joseph T. Hare, 50 + Life of Col. 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Blood and the Beagles, 25 + Sixteen-Stringed Jack's Fight + for Life, 25 + Highwayman's Avenger, 25 + Life of Raoul De Surville, 25 + Life of Rody the Rover, 25 + Life of Galloping Dick, 25 + Life of Guy Fawkes, 75 + Life and Adventures of Vidocq, 1 50 + + + MILITARY AND ARMY BOOKS. + + Ellsworth's Zouave Drill, 25 + U. S. Government Infantry & + Rifle Tactics, 25 + U. S. Light Infantry Drill, 25 + The Soldier's Companion, 25 + The Soldier's Guide, 25 + + + WORKS AT 75 CENTS. BY BEST AUTHORS. + + Hans Breitman's Party. With other Ballads. New and Enlarged + Edition, printed on Tinted paper. By Charles G. Leland, 75 + Webster and Hayne's Speeches in Reply to Colonel Foote, 75 + The Brigand; or, the Demon of the North. By Victor Hugo, 75 + Roanoke; or, Where is Utopia? By C. H. Wiley. Illustrated, 75 + Banditti of the Prairie, 75 + Tom Racquet, 75 + Red Indians of Newfoundland, 75 + Salathiel, by Croly, 75 + Corinne; or, Italy, 75 + Ned Musgrave, 75 + Aristocracy, 75 + Inquisition in Spain, 75 + Elsie's Married Life, 75 + Leyton Hall. By Mark Lemon, 75 + Flirtations in America, 75 + The Coquette, 75 + Thackeray's Irish Sketch Book, 75 + Whitehall, 75 + The Beautiful Nun, 75 + Mysteries of Three Cities, 75 + Genevra. By Miss Fairfield, 75 + New Hope; or, the Rescue, 75 + Crock of Gold. By Tupper, 75 + Twins and Heart. By Tupper, 75 + + + WORKS AT 50 CENTS. BY BEST AUTHORS. + + The Woman in Red. A Companion to the "Woman in Black," 50 + Twelve Months of Matrimony. By Emelie F. 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BY BEST AUTHORS. + + Aunt Margaret's Trouble, 25 + The Woman in Grey, 25 + The Deformed, 25 + Two Prima Donnas, 25 + The Mysterious Marriage, 25 + Jack Downing's Letters, 25 + The Mysteries of a Convent, 25 + Rose Warrington, 25 + The Iron Cross, 25 + Charles Ransford, 25 + The Mysteries of Bedlam, 25 + The Nobleman's Daughter, 25 + Madison's Exposition of Odd + Fellowship, 25 + Ghost Stories. Illustrated, 25 + Ladies' Science of Etiquette, 25 + The Abbey of Innismoyle, 25 + Gliddon's Ancient Egypt, 25 + Philip in Search of a Wife, 25 + Rifle Shots, 25 + + + THE SHAKSPEARE NOVELS. + + The Secret Passion, 1 00 + The Youth of Shakspeare, 1 00 + Shakspeare and his Friends, 1 00 + +The three above Books are also published complete in one large octavo +volume, bound in cloth. Price Four Dollars. + + + PETERSONS' ILLUMINATED STORIES. + +Each Book being in an "Illuminated Cover," in five colors, full of +Illustrations. This is the most saleable series of 25 cent books ever +printed. + + Rebel and Rover, 25 + First Love, 25 + The Two Merchants, 25 + A Year After Marriage, 25 + Love in High Life, 25 + The Divorced Wife, 25 + The Debtor's Daughter, 25 + The Lady at Home, 25 + Mary Moreton, 25 + The Two Brides, 25 + Dick Parker, 25 + Jack Ketch, 25 + Mother Brownrigg, 25 + Galloping Dick, 25 + Mary Bateman, 25 + Raoul de Surville, 25 + Life of Harry Thomas, 25 + Mrs. Whipple & Jesse Strang's + Adventures, 25 + Jonathan Wild's Adventures, 25 + Ninon De L'Enclos' Life, 25 + The Iron Cross, 25 + Biddy Woodhull, the Beautiful + Haymaker, 25 + The River Pirates, 25 + Dark Shades of City Life, 25 + The Rats of the Seine, 25 + Mysteries of Bedlam, 25 + Charles Ransford, 25 + Mysteries of a Convent, 25 + The Mysterious Marriage, 25 + Capt. Blood, the Highwayman, 25 + Capt. 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Price 50 cents in paper, or in cloth, 75 + Life of Archbishop Hughes, first Archbishop of New York, 25 + + + LIEBIG'S WORKS ON CHEMISTRY. + + Agricultural Chemistry, 25 + Animal Chemistry, 25 + Liebig's celebrated Letters on + the Potato Disease, 25 + +Liebig's Complete Works on Chemistry, is also issued in one large +octavo volume, bound in cloth. Price Two Dollars. + + + SIR E. L. BULWER'S NOVELS. + + The Roue, 65 + The Oxonians, 50 + The Courtier, 25 + Falkland, 25 + + + DR. HOLLICK'S WORKS. + + Dr. Hollick's great work on the Anatomy and Physiology of the + Human Figure, with colored dissected plates of the Human + Figure, 1 25 + Dr. Hollick's Family Physician, a Pocket Guide for Everybody, 25 + + + GEORGE FRANCIS TRAIN'S SPEECHES. + + Union Speeches. In 2 vols., each 25 + Speech to the Fenians, 25 + Downfall of England, 10 + Slavery and Emancipation, 10 + + + REV. CHAS. WADSWORTH'S SERMONS. + + America's Mission, 25 + Thankfulness and Character, 25 + A Thanksgiving Sermon, 15 + Politics in Religion, 12 + Henry Ward Beecher on War and Emancipation, 15 + Rev. William T. Brantley's Union Sermon, 15 + + + EXPOSITIONS OF SECRET ORDERS, ETC. + + Odd Fellowship Exposed, 13 + Sons of Malta Exposed, 13 + Life of Rev. John N. Maffit, 13 + Dr. Berg's Answer to Archbishop + Hughes, 13 + Dr. Berg on the Jesuits, 13 + + + RIDDELL'S MODEL ARCHITECT. + +Architectural Designs of Model Country Residences. By John Riddell, +Practical Architect. Illustrated with twenty-two full page Front +Elevations, colored, with forty-four Plates of Ground Plans, including +the First and Second Stories, with plans of the stories, full +specifications of all the articles used, and estimate of price. 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Cloth, 1 00 + + + CURVED-POINT STEEL PENS. + + The Slip Pen, per dozen .25, per gross, $2.50 + The Barrel Pen, per " .50, " 5.00 + Magnum Bonum Pen, per " .75, " 8.00 + + +[Symbol: Right]Books sent, postage paid, on receipt of the Retail Price, +by T. B. Peterson & Brothers, Philadelphia, Pa. + + +T. B. Peterson & BROTHERS; + +=No. 306 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia= + + +Have in Press, and are now issuing an entire new, complete, +and uniform edition of all the celebrated Novels, (which have +been out of print for years,) written by the late + +MRS. CAROLINE LEE HENTZ. + +The whole of the novels and stories of Mrs. CAROLINE LEE HENTZ will be +issued complete in twelve large duodecimo volumes. Two volumes will be +issued each month, until the series is complete, _one volume on the +first, and another on the fifteenth of the month_. They will be printed +on the finest paper, and bound in the most beautiful style, in fine +Morocco cloth, with a new full gilt back, and sold at the low price of +$1.75 each, in Morocco cloth; or in paper cover, at $1.50 each. + +The Novels of Mrs. CAROLINE LEE HENTZ will be found, on perusal by all, +to be the most exciting and popular works that have ever emanated from +the American press. They are written in a charming style, and will +elicit through all a thrill of deep and exquisite pleasure. They are +works which the oldest and the youngest may alike read with pleasure and +profit. They abound with the most beautiful scenic descriptions, and +display an intimate acquaintance with all phases of human character--all +the characters being exceedingly well drawn. They are delightful books, +full of incident, oftentimes bold and startling, and they describe the +warm feelings of the Southerner in glowing colors. Indeed, all of Mrs. +Hentz's stories aptly describe Southern life, and are highly moral in +their application. In this field Mrs. Hentz wields a keen sickle, and +harvests a rich and abundant crop. They will be found, in plot, +incident, and management, to be superior to any other novels ever +issued. In the whole range of elegant moral fiction, there cannot be +found anything of more inestimable value, or superior to the charming +works of Mrs. Caroline Lee Hentz, and they are all gems that will well +repay a careful perusal. The Publishers feel assured that this series of +Novels, by Mrs. Caroline Lee Hentz, will give entire satisfaction to the +whole reading community; that they will encourage good taste and good +morals, and while away many leisure hours with great pleasure and +profit, and that they will also be recommended to others by all that +peruse them. + +The first volume was issued on November 1st, 1869, and was +=LINDA; OR, THE YOUNG PILOT OF THE BELLE CREOLE=. + +The first volume, "Linda," contains a full and complete Biography of the +late Mrs. CAROLINE LEE HENTZ, which has never before been published. + +The second volume was issued on November 15th, 1869, and was +=ROBERT GRAHAM=. A Sequel to "Linda; or, The Young Pilot +of the Belle Creole." + +The third volume was issued on December 1st, 1869, and was +=RENA; or, THE SNOW BIRD=. A Tale of Real Life. + +The fourth volume was issued on December 15th, 1869, and was +=MARCUS WARLAND=; or, The Long Moss Spring. + +These will be followed, _one on the first, and one on the fifteenth of +each month, in the following order_, by + +=EOLINE; or, MAGNOLIA VALE=; or, The Heiress of Glenmore. + +=ERNEST LINWOOD=; or, The Inner Life of the Author. + +=THE PLANTER'S NORTHERN BRIDE=; or, Scenes in Mrs. Hentz's +Childhood. + +=HELEN AND ARTHUR=; or, Miss Thusa's Spinning-Wheel. + +=COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE=; or, The Joys and Sorrows of +American Life. + +=LOVE AFTER MARRIAGE=; and other Stories of the Heart. + +=THE LOST DAUGHTER=; and other Stories of the Heart. + +=THE BANISHED SON=; and other Stories of the Heart. + +This series will no doubt prove to be the most popular series +of Novels ever issued in this country, as they are written by +one of the most popular Female Novelists that ever lived. + +Address all orders, at once, to receive immediate attention, +for all or any of the above books, to + +[Symbol: Right] _Above Books are for sale by all Booksellers, or copies +of any or all of them will be sent post-paid to any one, to any place, +on receipt of their price by the publishers._ + + +=T. B. PETERSON AND BROTHERS,= + +PUBLISHERS AND BOOKSELLERS, + +PHILADELPHIA, PA., + +Take pleasure in calling the attention of the public to their Choice and +Extensive Stock of Books, comprising a collection of the most popular +and choice, in all styles of binding, by all the favorite and standard +American and English Authors. + +To Collectors of Libraries, or those desiring to form them. + +Many who have the taste, and wish to form a Library, are deterred by +fear of the cost. To all such we would say, that a large number of books +may be furnished for even One Hundred Dollars--which, by a yearly +increase of a small amount, will before long place the purchaser in +possession of a Library in almost every branch of knowledge, and afford +satisfaction not only to the collector, but to all those who are so +fortunate as to possess his acquaintance. + +For the convenience of Book buyers, and those seeking suitable Works for +Presentation, great care is taken in having a large and varied +collection, and all the current works of the day. Show counters and +shelves, with an excellent selection of Standard, Illustrated, and +Illuminated works, varying in price to suit all buyers, are available to +those visiting our establishment, where purchases may be made with +facility, and the time of the visitor greatly economized. Here may be +seen not only books of the simplest kind for children, but also +exquisite works of art, of the most sumptuous character, suitable alike +to adorn the drawing-room table and the study of the connoisseur. + +Our arrangements for supplying STANDARD AMERICAN BOOKS, suitable for +Public Libraries and Private Families, are complete, and our stock +second to none in the country. + +[Symbol: Right]Catalogues are sent, on application, and great attention +is paid to communications from the country, and the goods ordered +carefully packed and forwarded with expedition on receipt of orders +accompanied with the cash. + + +To Booksellers and Librarians. + +T. B. Peterson & Brothers issue New Books every month, comprising the +most entertaining and absorbing works published, suitable for the +Parlor, Library, Sitting Room, Railroad or Steamboat reading, by the +best and most popular writers in the world. + +Any person wanting books will find it to their advantage to send their +orders to the "PUBLISHING HOUSE" OF T. B. PETERSON & BROS., 306 Chestnut +St., Philadelphia, who have the largest stock in the country, and will +supply them at very low prices for cash. We have just issued a new and +complete Catalogue and Wholesale Price Lists, which we send gratuitously +to any Bookseller or Librarians on application. + +Orders solicited from Librarians, Booksellers, Canvassers, News Agents, +and all others in want of good and fast selling books, and they will +please send on their orders. + +Enclose ten, twenty, fifty, or a hundred dollars, or more, to us in a +letter, and write what kind of books you wish, and on its receipt the +books will be sent to you at once, per first express, or any way you +direct, with circulars, show bills, etc., gratis. + +Agents and Canvassers are requested to send for our Canvassers' +Confidential Circular containing instructions. Large wages can be made, +as we supply our Agents at very low rates. + +Address all cash orders, retail or wholesale, to meet with prompt +attention, to + +T. B. PETERSON AND BROTHERS, + +306 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Penns. + + +Books sent, postage paid, on receipt of retail price, to any address in +the country. + +All the NEW BOOKS are for sale at PETERSONS' Book Store, as soon as +published. + +[Symbol: Right]Publishers of "PETERSONS' DETECTOR and BANK NOTE LIST," a +Business Journal and valuable Advertising medium. Price $1.50 a year, +monthly; or $3.00 a year, semi-monthly. Every Business man should +subscribe at once. + + +PETERSON'S MAGAZINE + +THE CHEAPEST AND BEST IN THE WORLD + +=Splendid Offers for 1870.= + +This popular Monthly Magazine _gives more for the money than any in the +world_. For 1870, it will be greatly improved. It will contain + + =ONE THOUSAND PAGES!= + =FOURTEEN SPLENDID STEEL PLATES!= + =TWELVE MAMMOTH FASHION PLATES!= + =TWELVE COLORED BERLIN PATTERNS!= + =NINE HUNDRED WOOD CUTS!= + =TWENTY-FOUR PAGES OF MUSIC!= + +All this will be given for only TWO DOLLARS a year, or a dollar less +than Magazines of the class of "Peterson." Its + +=THRILLING TALES AND NOVELETTES= + +Are the best published anywhere. _All the most popular writers are +employed to write originally for "Peterson."_ In 1870, in addition to +its usual quantity of short stories, FIVE ORIGINAL COPYRIGHT NOVELETS +will be given, viz.: "The Prisoner of the Bastile," by Mrs. Ann S. +Stephens; "The Secret at Bartram's Holme," by Mrs. Jane G. Austin; +"Kathleen's Love Story," by the author of "Ethel's Sir Launcelot;" "An +Enemy's Revenge," by the author of "The Second Life;" "How it Ended," by +Frank Lee Benedict. + +=MAMMOTH COLORED FASHION PLATES= + +Ahead of all others. These plates are engraved on steel, TWICE THE USUAL +SIZE, and contain six figures. They will be superbly colored. Also, a +pattern, from which a Dress, Mantilla, or Child's Dress can be cut out, +without the aid of a mantua-maker. Also, several pages of Household and +other receipts; in short, everything interesting to ladies. + +=SUPERB PREMIUM ENGRAVING=! + +To every person getting up a Club for 1870 will be sent GRATIS, a copy +of our new and splendid Mezzotint for framing, (size 24 inches by 16), +"Our Father Who Art in Heaven." This is the most desirable premium ever +offered. For large Clubs, as will be seen below, an extra copy will be +sent in addition. + +TERMS--Always in Advance: + +One Copy, for one year $2 00 +Two Copies, for one year 4 00 +Three Copies, for one year 5 00 +Four Copies, for one year 6 00 +Five Copies, for one year, (and one to getter up of Club,) 8 00 +Eight Copies, for one year, (and one to getter up of Club,) 12 00 +Fourteen Copies, for one year, (and one to getter up of Club,) 20 00 + +_Address, Post-paid_, + CHARLES J. PETERSON, + No. 306 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. + +[Symbol: Right] Specimens sent to those wishing to get up Clubs. + + +NEW BOOKS BY MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS. + + +RUBY GRAY'S STRATEGY. + +BY MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS. + +Price $1.75 in Cloth; or, $1.50 in Paper Cover. + + +_Fourth Edition Now Ready._ + +=THE CURSE OF GOLD.= + +BY MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS. + +Price $1.75 in Cloth; or, $1.50 in Paper Cover. + + +_Fifth Edition Now Ready._ + +=MABEL'S MISTAKE=. + +BY MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS. + +Price $1.75 in Cloth; or, $1.50 in Paper Cover. + + +T. B. Peterson & Brothers have just issued a new and uniform edition +of all the popular works written by Mrs. Ann S. Stephens. Their names +are as follows. Price of each, $1.75 in cloth; or $1.50 in paper cover. + + +ANN S. STEPHENS' COMPLETE WORKS. + + Ruby Gray's Strategy, $1 75 + The Curse of Gold, 1 75 + Mabel's Mistake, 1 75 + Doubly False, 1 75 + The Soldier's Orphans, 1 75 + Silent Struggles, 1 75 + The Wife's Secret, 1 75 + The Rejected Wife, 1 75 + Mary Derwent, 1 75 + The Gold Brick, 1 75 + Fashion and Famine, 1 75 + The Old Homestead, 1 75 + The Heiress, 1 75 + +Each of the above books are published in one large duodecimo volume, +bound in cloth, at $1.75 each, or in paper cover, at $1.50 each. + + +For sale by all Booksellers. Copies of any of the above books will be +sent to any one, free of postage, on receipt of price by the Publishers. + + +NEW BOOKS BY MRS. E. D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH. + + +=THE BRIDE'S FATE.= + +A SEQUEL TO "THE CHANGED BRIDES." + +BY MRS. EMMA D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH. + + +=THE CHANGED BRIDES.= + +BY MRS. EMMA D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH. + + +=HOW HE WON HER.= + +A SEQUEL TO "FAIR PLAY." + +BY MRS. EMMA D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH. + + +=FAIR PLAY.= + +BY MRS. EMMA D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH. + + +MRS. SOUTHWORTH'S COMPLETE WORKS. + + The Bride's Fate, $1 75 + The Changed Brides, 1 75 + How He Won Her, 1 75 + Fair Play, 1 75 + The Prince of Darkness, 1 75 + Fallen Pride, 1 75 + The Widow's Son, 1 75 + Bride of Llewellyn, 1 75 + The Fortune Seeker, 1 75 + Allworth Abbey, 1 75 + The Bridal Eve, 1 75 + The Fatal Marriage, 1 75 + Love's Labor Won, 1 75 + Deserted Wife, 1 75 + The Lost Heiress, 1 75 + The Two Sisters, 1 75 + The Three Beauties, 1 75 + Vivia; or, the Secret of Power, 1 75 + Lady of the Isle, 1 75 + The Gipsy's Prophecy, 1 75 + The Missing Bride, 1 75 + Wife's Victory, 1 75 + The Mother-in-Law, 1 75 + Haunted Homestead, 1 75 + Retribution, 1 75 + India; Pearl of Pearl River, 1 75 + Curse of Clifton, 1 75 + Discarded Daughter, 1 75 + +Each of the above books are published in one large duodecimo volume, +bound in cloth, at $1.75 each, or in paper cover, at $1.50 each. + +For sale by all Booksellers. Copies of any of the above books will be +sent to any one, free of postage, on receipt of price by the Publishers. + +T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS, + No. 306 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. + + * * * * * + + + + +TRANSCRIBER NOTES: + + + page 1: "Orpaans" changed to "Orphans" (The Soldiers' Orphans). + + page 3: "Montagu's" changed to "Montague's" (author of Lord + Montague's Page). + + page 164: "?" changed to "!" to better fit the sentence (How kind + it was of you!). + + page 379: "millionnaire" changed to "millionaire" (Bosworth is a + millionaire). + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Wives and Widows; or The Broken Life, by +Ann S. 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