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+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: 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.
+
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+
+    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.
+
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+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. Monroe Edwards,                   50
+  Life of Jack Sheppard,                         50
+  Life of Jack Rann,                             50
+  Life of Dick Turpin,                           50
+  Life of Helen Jewett,                          50
+  Desperadoes of the New World,                  50
+  Mysteries of New Orleans,                      50
+  The Robber's Wife,                             50
+  Obi; or, Three Fingered Jack,                  50
+  Kit Clayton,                                   50
+  Life of Tom Waters,                            50
+  Nat Blake,                                     50
+  Bill Horton,                                   50
+  Galloping Gus,                                 50
+  Life & Trial of Antoine Probst,                50
+  Ned Hastings,                                  50
+  Eveleen Wilson,                                50
+  Diary of a Pawnbroker,                         50
+  Silver and Pewter,                             50
+  Sweeney Todd,                                  50
+  Life of Grace O'Malley,                        50
+  Life of Davy Crockett,                         50
+  Life of Sybil Grey,                            50
+  Life of Jonathan Wild,                         25
+  Life of Henry Thomas,                          25
+  Life of Arthur Spring,                         25
+  Life of Jack Ketch,                            25
+  Life of Ninon De L'Enclos,                     25
+  Lives of the Felons,                           25
+  Life of Mrs. Whipple,                          25
+  Life of Biddy Woodhull,                        25
+  Life of Mother Brownrigg,                      25
+  Dick Parker, the Pirate,                       25
+  Life of Mary Bateman,                          25
+  Life of Captain Blood,                         25
+  Capt. 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. Carlen,                    50
+  Leah; or the Forsaken,                                              50
+  The Greatest Plague of Life,                                        50
+  Clifford and the Actress,                                           50
+  Two Lovers,                                                         50
+  Ryan's Mysteries of Marriage,                                       50
+  The Orphans and Caleb Field,                                        50
+  Moreton Hall,                                                       50
+  Bell Brandon,                                                       50
+  Sybil Grey,                                                         50
+  Female Life in New York,                                            50
+  Agnes Grey,                                                         50
+  Diary of a Physician,                                               50
+  The Emigrant Squire,                                                50
+  The Monk, by Lewis,                                                 50
+  The Beautiful French Girl,                                          50
+  Father Clement, paper,                                              50
+    do.     do.   cloth,                                              75
+  Miser's Heir, paper,                                                50
+    do.    do.  cloth,                                                75
+  The Admiral's Daughter,                                             50
+  The American Joe Miller,                                            50
+  Ella Stratford,                                                     50
+  Josephine, by Grace Aguilar,                                        50
+  The Fortune Hunter,                                                 50
+  The Orphan Sisters,                                                 50
+  Robert Oaklands; or, the Outcast
+    Orphan,                                                           50
+  Abednego, the Money Lender,                                         50
+  Jenny Ambrose,                                                      50
+  Father Tom and the Pope, in
+    cloth gilt, 75 cents, or paper,                                   50
+  The Romish Confessional,                                            50
+  Victims of Amusements,                                              50
+  Violet,                                                             50
+  Alieford, a Family History,                                         50
+  General Scott's $5 Portrait,                                      1 00
+  Henry Clay's $5 Portrait,                                         1 00
+  Tangarua, a Poem,                                                 1 00
+
+
+  WORKS AT 25 CENTS. 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. Blood and the Beagles,                                        25
+  Highwayman's Avenger,                                               25
+  Rody the Rover's Adventures,                                        25
+  Sixteen-Stringed Jack's Fight
+    for Life,                                                         25
+  Ghost Stories. Illustrated,                                         25
+  Arthur Spring,                                                      25
+  The Valley Farm,                                                    25
+
+
+  USEFUL BOOKS FOR ALL.
+
+  Lady's and Gentleman's Science of Etiquette. By Count D'Orsay
+    and Countess de Calabrella, with their portraits,                 50
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+  The Complete Kitchen and Fruit Gardener,                            25
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+  Arthur's Receipts for Preserving Fruits, etc.,                      12
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+
+  Moore's Life of Hon. Schuyler Colfax. By Rev. A. Y. Moore, of
+    South Bend. With a Fine Steel Portrait. One vol. cloth.
+    Price,                                                          1 50
+  The Lives of Grant and Colfax. With life-like portraits of
+    each, and other engravings. Cloth, $1.00; or in paper cover,      75
+  Illustrated Life, Speeches, Martyrdom and Funeral of President
+    Abraham Lincoln. Cloth, $1.75; or in paper cover,               1 50
+  Life and Services of General Sheridan. Cloth, $1.00; or in
+    paper,                                                            75
+  Life, Battles, Reports, and Public Services of General George
+    B. McClellan. Price in paper 50 cents, or in cloth,               75
+  Life and Public Services of General George G. Meade, the Hero of
+    Gettysburg,                                                       25
+  Life and Public Service of General Benjamin F. Butler, the Hero
+    of New Orleans,                                                   25
+  Life of President Andrew Johnson. Cloth, $1.00; or in paper,        75
+  The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson, cheap paper cover
+    edition, price 50 cents, or a finer edition, bound in cloth,
+    price,                                                          1 50
+  Trial of the Assassins and Conspirators for the murder of
+    President Abraham Lincoln. Cloth, $1.50; or cheap edition in
+    paper cover,                                                      50
+  Lives of Horatio Seymour and Francis P. Blair, Jr. Complete in
+    one duodecimo volume. 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
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+specifications of all the articles used, and estimate of price. Price
+Fifteen Dollars a copy.
+
+
+  GOOD BOOKS FOR EVERYBODY.
+
+  Southern Life; or, Inside Views of Slavery,                       1 00
+  The Rich Men of Philadelphia, Income Tax List of Residents,       1 00
+  Childbirth. Its pains lessened and its perils obviated. Showing
+    that the pains of childbirth may be mitigated, if not entirely
+    prevented,                                                      1 00
+  Peterson's Complete Coin Book, containing fac-similes of all the
+    Coins in the World, with the U. S. Mint value of each coin,     1 00
+  New Card of Stamp Duties, approved by the last Acts of Congress,    15
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+
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+  CHRISTY & WHITE'S SONG BOOKS.
+
+  Christy & Wood's Song Book,                                         10
+  Melodeon Song Book,                                                 10
+  Plantation Melodies,                                                10
+  Ethiopian Song Book,                                                10
+  Serenader's Song Book,                                              10
+  Budworth's Songs,                                                   10
+  Christy and White's Complete
+    Ethiopian Melodies. Cloth,                                      1 00
+
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+  CURVED-POINT STEEL PENS.
+
+  The Slip Pen,                          per dozen .25, per gross, $2.50
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+
+
+[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
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+those visiting our establishment, where purchases may be made with
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+seen not only books of the simplest kind for children, but also
+exquisite works of art, of the most sumptuous character, suitable alike
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+
+Our arrangements for supplying STANDARD AMERICAN BOOKS, suitable for
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+second to none in the country.
+
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+
+
+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
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+
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+
+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.
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+PETERSON'S MAGAZINE
+
+THE CHEAPEST AND BEST IN THE WORLD
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+
+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
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+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
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+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
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+TERMS--Always in Advance:
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+One Copy, for one year                                            $2 00
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+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
+
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+    CHARLES J. PETERSON,
+        No. 306 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
+
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+
+
+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
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