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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Husks, by Marion Harland
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world 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.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+Title: Husks
+
+Author: Marion Harland
+
+Release Date: March 11, 2015 [EBook #48461]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HUSKS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Whitehead, Demian Katz and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (Images
+courtesy of the Digital Library@Villanova University
+(http://digital.library.villanova.edu/))
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  Price,
+  Ten Cents.      THE ARM CHAIR LIBRARY.       No. 141.
+
+
+
+  [Illustration: _HUSKS_
+
+
+  _By Marion Harland_]
+
+
+
+  F. M. LUPTON, - PUBLISHER, - NEW YORK.
+
+
+
+
+HUSKS.
+
+BY MARION HARLAND.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+It was a decided uncompromising rainy day. There were no showers,
+coquetted with by veering winds or dubious mists, that at times grew
+brighter, as if the sun were burning away their lining; but a uniform
+expanse of iron-gray clouds--kept in close, grim column by a steady,
+although not violent east wind--sent straight lines of heavy rain upon
+the earth. The naked trees, that, during the earlier hours of the
+deluge had seemed to shiver for the immature leaf-buds, so unfit to
+endure the rough handling of the storm, now held out still, patient
+arms, the rising sap curdled within their hearts. The gutters were
+brimming streams, and the sidewalks were glazed with thin sheets of
+water.
+
+The block of buildings before which our story pauses, was, as a glance
+would have showed the initiated in the grades of Gotham life, highly
+respectable, even in the rain. On a clear day when the half-folded
+blinds revealed the lace, silken and damask draperies within, when
+young misses and masters--galvanized show-blocks of purple and fine
+linen, that would have passed muster behind the plate-glass of Genin
+or Madame Demorest--tripped after hoops or promenaded the smooth
+pavement; when pretty, jaunty one-horse carriages, and more pretentious
+equipages, each with a pair of prancing steeds, and two "outside
+passengers" in broadcloth and tinsel hatbands, received and discharged
+their loads before the brown-stone fronts--had the afore-mentioned
+spectator chanced to perambulate this not spacious street, he would
+have conceded to it some degree of the fashion claimed for it by its
+inhabitants. There were larger houses and wider pavements to be had for
+the same price a few blocks further on, in more than one direction,
+but these were unanimously voted "less eligible" and "deficient in
+style," in spite of the fact that as good and better materials were
+employed in their construction, and they were in all respects equal in
+external show and inside finish to those in this model quarter. "But
+our block has a certain air--well--I don't know what; but it is just
+the thing, you know, and so convenient! So near the avenue!" would be
+the concluding argument.
+
+The nameless, indescribable charm of the locality lay in the last
+clause. "Just step around the corner and you are in the avenue," said
+the favored dwellers in this vicinity, as the climax in the description
+of their abode, and "that way fashion lies" to every right-minded New
+Yorker of the feminine gender.
+
+But the aristocratic quiet of the neighborhood, rendered oppressive
+and depressing by the gloom of the day, was disturbed by a discordant
+sound--a child's cry, and what was especially martyrizing to refined
+auriculars, the lament had the unmistakable plebeian accent. The
+passionate scream with which the pampered darling of the nursery
+resents interference with his rights and liberty of tyranny or the
+angry remonstrance of his injured playmates, would have been quite
+another species of natural eloquence, as regards both quality and
+force, from the weak, broken wail that sobbed along the wet streets.
+Moreover, what respectable child could be abroad on foot in this
+weather? So, the disrespectable juvenile pursued her melancholy way
+unnoticed and unquestioned until she reached the middle of the square.
+There a face appeared at a window in the second story of a house--which
+only differed from those to its right, left and opposite in the number
+upon the door--vanished and in half a minute more a young lady appeared
+in the sheltered vestibule.
+
+"What is the matter, little girl?"
+
+The tone was not winning, yet the sobs ceased, and the child looked
+up, as to a friendly questioner. She was about eleven years of age, if
+one had judged from her size and form; but her features were pinched
+into unnatural maturity. Her attire was wretched, at its best estate;
+now, soaked by the rain, the dingy hood drooped over her eyes; the dark
+cotton shawl retained not one of its original colors, and the muddy
+dress flapped and dripped about her ankles. Upon one foot she wore an
+old cloth gaiter, probably picked up from an ash heap; the remains of a
+more sorry slipper were tied around the other.
+
+"I am so cold and wet, and my matches is all sp'ilt," she answered in
+a dolorous tone, lifting the corner of a scrap of oil-cloth, which
+covered a basket, tucked for further security under her shawl.
+
+"No wonder! What else could you expect, if you would go out to sell
+them on a day like this? Go down into the area, there, and wait until I
+let you in."
+
+The precaution was a wise one. No servant in that well-regulated
+household would have admitted so questionable a figure as that which
+crept after their young mistress into the comfortable kitchen. The cook
+paused in the act of dissecting a chicken; the butler--on carriage
+days the footman--checked his flirtation with the plump and laughing
+chambermaid, to stare at the wretched apparition. The scrutiny of the
+first named functionary was speedily diverted to the dirty trail left
+by the intruder upon the carpet. A scowl puckered her red face, and
+her wrathful glance included both of the visitants as alike guilty of
+this desecration of her premises. The housemaid rolled up her eyes and
+clasped her hands in dumb show of horror and contempt to her gallant,
+who replied with a shrug and a grin. But not a word of remonstrance or
+inquiry was spoken. It was rather a habit of this young lady's to have
+her own way whenever she could, and that she was bent upon doing this
+now was clear.
+
+"Sit down," she said, bringing up a chair to the fire.
+
+The storm beaten wanderer obeyed, and eagerly held up her sodden feet
+to the red grate.
+
+"Have you no better shoes than those?"
+
+"No, ma'am."
+
+"Humph! Nor dress, nor shawl?"
+
+"No, ma'am."
+
+"Are you hungry?"
+
+A ray shot from the swollen eyes. "Yes, ma'am."
+
+The lady disappeared in the pantry and presently returned with five or
+six slices of bread and butter hastily cut and thickly spread, with
+cheese and cold meat between them.
+
+"Eat!" She thrust them into the match-girl's fingers. "Wait here, while
+I go and look for some clothes for you."
+
+As may be supposed, the insulted oracle of kitchen mysteries improved
+the time of the benefactress's absence by a very plain expression of
+her sentiments towards beggars in general, and this one in particular;
+which harangue was received with applause by her fellow-servants and
+perfect equanimity by its object. She munched her sandwiches with
+greedy satisfaction, watching, the while, the little clouds of steam
+that ascended from her heated toes. She was, to all appearances,
+neither a sensitive nor intelligent child, and had known too much of
+animal want and suffering to allow trifles to spoil her enjoyment of
+whatever physical comfort fell to her lot. Her mother at home could
+scold quite as violently as the cook was now doing, and she was more
+afraid of her anger, because she beat while she berated her. She was
+convinced that she stood in no such peril here, for her protectress was
+one in power.
+
+"Have you eaten enough?" said the clear, abrupt voice behind her, as
+she held two sandwiches in her fingers, without offering to put them to
+her lips.
+
+"Yes, ma'am. May I take 'em home?"
+
+"Certainly, if you like. Stand up and take off your shawl."
+
+She put around the forlorn figure a thick cloak, rusty and obsolete
+in fashion, but which was a warm and ample covering for the child,
+extending to the hem of her dress. The damp elf-locks were hidden by
+a knitted hood, and for the feet there were stockings and shoes and a
+pair of India-rubbers to protect these last from the water.
+
+"Now," said the Humane Society of One, when the refitting was at an
+end, "where do you live? Never mind--I don't care to know that yet!
+Here is a small umbrella--a good one--which belongs to me. I have no
+other for myself when I go out in bad weather. I mean to lend it to
+you, to-day, upon the condition that you will bring it back to-morrow,
+or the first clear day. Will you do it?"
+
+The promise was readily given.
+
+"Here's an old thing, Miss Sarah," ventured the butler, respectfully,
+producing a bulky, ragged cotton umbrella from a corner of the kitchen
+closet. "It's risky--trusting such as that with your nice silk one."
+
+"That will let in the rain, and it is entirely too large for her to
+carry. You understand, child? You are to bring this safely back to me,
+the first time the sun shines. Can you find your way to this house
+again?"
+
+"Oh, yes, ma'am, easy. Thank you, ma'am!"
+
+She dropped an awkward curtsey as Miss Sarah held open the door for her
+to pass, and went out into the rain--warm, dry and shielded against
+further damage from the storm.
+
+Unheeding the significant looks of the culinary cabinet, Sarah Hunt
+turned away and ascended the stairs. She was a striking-looking girl,
+although her features, when in repose, could claim neither beauty of
+form nor expression. Her complexion was dark and pale, with a slight
+tinge of olive, and her hair a deep brown, lips whose compression was
+habitual, an aquiline nose, and eyes that changed from dreamy hazel
+to midnight blackness at the call of mind or feeling, gave marked
+character to her countenance. Her sententious style of address to the
+child she had just dismissed was natural, and usual to her in ordinary
+conversation, as was also the gravity, verging upon sombreness, which
+had not once during the interview relaxed into a smile.
+
+The family sitting-room, her destination at present, and to which we
+will take the liberty of preceding her, was furnished elegantly and
+substantially, and there, leaning back in lounging chairs, were Miss
+Lucy Hunt, the eldest daughter of the household, and her bosom friend,
+Miss Victoria West. Each held and wielded a crochet needle, and had
+upon her lap a basket of many-hued balls of double or single zephyr
+worsted, or Shetland or Saxony wool, or whatever was the fashionable
+article for such pretty trifling at that date. Miss West had completed
+one-quarter of a shawl for herself, white and scarlet, and her friend
+had made precisely the same progress in the arduous manufacture of one
+whose centre was white and its border blue.
+
+"Yours will be the prettiest," remarked Lucy regretfully. "Blue never
+looks well in worsteds. Why, I can't say, I'm sure. It is too bad that
+I can wear so few other colors. But I am such a fright in pink or
+scarlet or any shade of red!"
+
+"As if you could be a fright in anything," returned her companion, with
+seeming indignation.
+
+Lucy smiled, showing a set of faultless teeth that, to a stranger's
+first glance, would have appeared by far the most attractive point of
+her physiognomy. If closer examination discovered that her skin was
+pearly in whiteness and transparency, that her form was exquisite, with
+a sort of voluptuous grace; her hands worthy, in shape and hue, to
+become a sculptor's model; still, in the cold, unflattering light of
+this rainy afternoon her want of color, her light gray eyes, her yellow
+hair, drawn straight back from the broad, low brow, precluded the idea
+that she could ever, with all the accessories of artificial glare,
+dress and animation, be more than a merely pretty girl. Miss West knew
+better, and Lucy realized the power of her own charms with full and
+complete complacency. Secure in this pleasant self-appreciation, she
+could afford to be careless as to her every-day looks and home people.
+She saw and enjoyed the manifest surprise of those who, having seen
+her once in morning deshabille, beheld her afterwards in elaborate
+evening toilet. Then the abundant hair waved in golden ripples about
+the classic head, the most artfully simple of tasteful ornaments--a
+camellia, a rosebud, or a pearl hairpin, its sole adornment; her eyes,
+large, full and soft, were blue instead of gray, while the heat of
+the assembly-room, the excitement of the crowd, or the exultation of
+gratified vanity supplied the rounded cheek with rich bloom and dewy
+vermillion to the lips. But nature's rarest gift to her was her voice,
+a mellow contralto, whose skillful modulations stole refreshingly to
+the senses amid the sharp clash of strained and higher tones, the
+castanet-like jingle which most American belles ring unmercifully
+into the ears of their auditors. Lucy Hunt was not "a great talker,"
+still less was she profound or brilliant when she did speak; yet she
+invariably conveyed the impression to the mind of a new acquaintance of
+a thoroughly cultivated woman, one whose acquirements were far beyond
+her modest exhibition of thought and sentiment. The most commonplace
+phrase came smoothly and roundly from her tongue, and he was censorious
+indeed who was willing to lose the pleasure afforded by its musical
+utterance in weighing its meaning. At school she had never been
+diligent, except in the study of music, and her painstaking in this
+respect was rewarded by the reputation, justly earned, of being the
+finest vocalist in her circle of associates. In society she shone as
+a rising star of the first magnitude; at home she was happy, cheerful
+and indolently amiable. Why should she be otherwise? From her babyhood
+she had been petted and admired by her family, and the world--her
+world--was as ready with its meed of the adulation which was her
+element.
+
+There were, besides the two sisters already introduced to the reader,
+three other children in the Hunt household--a couple of sturdy lads,
+twelve and fourteen years of age, and little Jeannie, a delicate child
+of six, whom Lucy caressed with pet titles and sugar-plums of flattery,
+and Sarah served in secret and idolatrous fondness. This family it was
+Mrs. Hunt's care and pride to rear and maintain, not only in comfort,
+but apparent luxury, upon the salary which her husband received as
+cashier of a prominent city bank, an income sufficient to support
+them in modest elegance, but which few besides Mrs. Hunt could have
+stretched to cover the expense of their ostensible style of living.
+But this notable manager had learned economy in excellent schools,
+primarily as a country girl, whose holiday finery was purchased with
+the proceeds of her own butter-making and poultry-yard; then as the
+brisk, lively wife of the young clerk, whose slender salary had, up
+to the time of his marriage, barely sufficed to pay for his own board
+and clothes, and whose only vested capital was his pen, his good
+character and perfect knowledge of book-keeping. But if his help-meet
+was a clever housewife, she was likewise ambitious. With the exception
+of the sum requisite for the yearly payment of the premium upon Mr.
+Hunt's life insurance policy, their annual expenses devoured every cent
+of their receipts. Indeed, it was currently believed among outsiders
+that they had other resources than the cashier's wages, and Mrs. Hunt
+indirectly encouraged the report that she held property in her own
+right. They lived "as their neighbors did," as "everybody in their
+position in society was bound to do," and "everybody" else was too
+intent upon his personal affairs, too busy with his private train
+of plans and operations to examine closely the cogs and levers and
+boilers of the locomotive Hunt. If it went ahead, and kept upon the
+track assigned it, was always "up to time," and avoided unpleasant
+collisions, it was nobody's business how the steam was gotten up.
+
+Every human plant of note has its parasite, and Miss Lucy Hunt was not
+without hers. There existed no reason in the outward circumstances of
+the two girls why Miss Hunt should not court Miss West rather than Miss
+West toady Miss Hunt. In a business--that is, a pecuniary--point of
+view, the former appeared the more likely state of the case, inasmuch
+as Victoria's father was a stock-broker of reputed wealth, and with a
+probable millionaireship in prospective, if his future good fortune
+equalled his past, while Mr. Hunt, as has been stated, depended
+entirely upon a certain and not an extravagant stipend. But the girls
+became intimate at school, "came out" the same winter at the same
+party, where Lucy created a "sensation," and Victoria would have been
+overlooked but for the sentimental connection between the debutantes.
+Since then, although the confidante would have scouted the imputation
+of interested motives with virtuous indignation of wounded affection,
+she had nevertheless "made a good thing of it," as her respected
+father would have phrased it, by playing hanger-on, second fiddle, and
+trumpeter general to the belle.
+
+"As if you could be a fright in anything," she had said, naturally and
+perhaps sincerely.
+
+Lucy's smile was succeeded by a serious look. "I am sadly tempted
+sometimes! Those lovely peach-blossom hats that you and Sarah wore this
+past winter were absolute trials to my sense of right. And no longer
+ago than Mrs. Crossman's party I was guilty of the sin of coveting the
+complexion that enabled Maria Johnston to wear that sweet rose-colored
+silk, with the lace skirt looped with rosebuds."
+
+"You envy Maria Johnston's complexion? Why don't you go further and
+fall in love with her small eyes and pug nose?" inquired Victoria,
+severely ironical. "I have heard that people were never contented with
+their own gifts, but such a case of blindness as this has never before
+come under my observation."
+
+"No, no! I am not quite so humble with regard to my personal appearance
+as you would make out. Yet"--and the plaintive voice might have been
+the murmur of a grieving angel--"I think that there are compensations
+in the lot of plain people that we know nothing about. They escape the
+censure and unkind remarks that uncharitable and envious women heap
+upon those who happen to be attractive. Now, there is Sarah, who never
+cares a button about her looks, so long as her hair is smooth and her
+dress clean and whole. She hates parties and is glad of any excuse to
+stay out of the parlor when gentlemen call. Give her her books and that
+'snuggery,' as she calls it, of a room upstairs, and she is happier
+than if she were in the gayest company in the world. Who criticises
+her? Nobody is jealous of her face or manners or conversation. And she
+would not mind it if they were."
+
+"She has a more independent nature than yours, my dear. I, for one, am
+rejoiced that you two are unlike. I could not endure to lose my darling
+friend, and somehow I never could understand Sarah; never could get
+near to her, you know."
+
+"I do not wonder at that. It is just so with me, sisters though we are.
+However, Sarah means well, if her manner is blunt and sometimes cold."
+
+The entrance of the person under discussion checked the conversation
+at this point, and both young ladies began to count their stitches
+aloud, to avoid the appearance of the foolish embarrassment that ever
+overtakes a brace of gossips at being thus interrupted.
+
+Sarah's work lay on her stand near the window, where she had thrown it
+when the crying child attracted her notice, and she resumed it now. It
+was a dress for Jeannie. It was a rare occurrence for the second sister
+to fashion anything so pretty and gay for her own wear.
+
+"Have you taken to fancy work at last?" asked Victoria, seeing that the
+unmade skirt was stamped with a rich, heavy pattern for embroidery.
+
+"No!" Sarah did not affect her sister's friend, and did not trouble
+herself to disguise her feelings towards her.
+
+Lucy explained: "She is making it for Jeannie. She does everything for
+that child."
+
+"You are very sisterly and kind, I am sure," Victoria continued,
+patronizingly. "You must quite despise Lucy and myself for thinking
+of and doing so much for ourselves, while you are such a pattern of
+self-denial."
+
+A blaze shot up in Sarah's eye; then she said, coldly: "I am not
+self-denying. Have I ever found fault with you or Lucy for doing as you
+like?"
+
+"Oh, no, my dear. But you take no interest in what we enjoy. I dare
+say, now, you would think it a dull business to work day after day for
+three or four weeks together, crocheting a shawl which may go out of
+fashion before one has a chance to sport it at a watering-place."
+
+"I certainly should!" The curl of the thin upper lip would have
+answered for her had she not spoken.
+
+"And you hate the very sight of shellwork and cone-frames, and Grecian
+painting, and all such vanities?"
+
+"If I must speak the truth, I do--most heartily."
+
+Victoria was not easily turned from her purpose.
+
+"Come, Sarah! Tell us what you would have us, poor trifling, silly
+things, do to kill the time."
+
+"If you must be a murderer, do it in your own way. I have nothing to
+say in the matter."
+
+"Do you mean that time never hangs upon your hands--that you are never
+ennuyee--blasee?"
+
+"Speak English, and I will answer you."
+
+"I want to know," said the persevering tormentor, "if the hum-drum
+books upstairs, your paint-box and your easel are such good company
+that you are contented and happy always when you are with them--if you
+never get cross with yourself and everybody else, and wonder what you
+were put into the world for, and why the world itself was made, and
+wish that you could sleep until doomsday. Do you ever feel like this?"
+
+Sarah lifted her eyes with a wondering, incredulous stare at the
+flippant inquisitor.
+
+"I have felt thus, but I did not suppose that you had."
+
+"Oh, I have a 'blue' turn now and then, but the disease is always more
+dangerous with girls of your sort--the reading, thinking, strong-minded
+kind. And the older you grow, the worse you will get. I haven't as
+much book knowledge as you have, but I know more of the world we live
+in. Take my advice and settle down to woman's right sphere. Drive away
+the vapors with beaux and fancy-work now. By-and-by a husband and an
+establishment will give you something else to think about."
+
+Sarah would have replied, but Lucy broke in with a laugh, light and
+sweet.
+
+"You two are always at cross-questions! Why can't you be satisfied to
+let one another alone? Sarah and I never quarrel, Vic.. We agree to
+disagree. She gives me my way, and I don't meddle with her. If she
+likes the blues (they say some people enjoy them), where's the harm of
+her having them? They never come near me. If I get stupid, I go to bed
+and sleep it off. Don't you think I have done ten rows since breakfast?
+What a godsend a rainy day is, when one has a fascinating piece of work
+on hand!"
+
+Too proud to seem to abandon the field, Sarah sat for half an hour
+longer, stitching steadily away at the complicated tracery upon the
+ground to be worked; then, as the dimmer daylight caused the others to
+draw near to the windows, she pushed aside her table and put by her
+sewing.
+
+"Don't let us drive you away!" said Victoria's mock-polite tones, and
+Lucy added, kindly, "We do not mean to disturb you, Sarah, dear."
+
+"You do not disturb me!" was the reply to the latter. The other had
+neither glance nor word.
+
+Up another flight she mounted to a room, much smaller than that she had
+left and far plainer in its appointments. The higher one went in Mrs.
+Hunt's house the less splendid everything became. In the state spare
+chamber--a story below--nothing of comfort and luxury was wanting,
+from the carved rosewood bedstead, with the regal-looking canopy
+overshadowing its pillows, down to the Bohemian and cut-glass scent
+bottles upon the marble of the dressing-cabinet. Sarah's carpet was
+common ingrain, neither pretty nor new; a cottage bedstead of painted
+wood; bureau and washstand of the same material; two chairs and a small
+table were all the furniture her mother adjudged needful. To these the
+girl had added, from her pittance of pocket-money, a set of hanging
+bookshelves, a portable desk, an easel and two or three good engravings
+that adorned the walls.
+
+She locked the door after her, with a kind of angry satisfaction in
+her face, and going straight to the window leaned upon the sash and
+looked down into the flooded street. Her eyes were dry, but there was
+a heaving in her throat, a tightening of the muscles about the mouth
+that would have made most women weep for very relief. Sarah Hunt would
+have scorned the ease purchased by such weakness. She did not despise
+the sad loneliness that girt her around, any more than the captive
+warrior does his cell of iron or stone, but she held that it would be
+a cowardly succumbing to Fate to wound herself by dashing against the
+grim walls, or bring out their sleeping echoes by womanish wailings.
+So, presently, her throat ached and throbbed no longer, the rigid
+muscles compressed the lips no more than was their wont, the hands
+loosened their vise-like grasp of one another--the brain was free to
+think.
+
+The rain fell still with a solemn stateliness that befitted the coming
+twilight. It was a silent storm for one so heavy. The faint hum of the
+city, the tinkle of the car-bell, three blocks off, arose to her window
+above its plashing fall upon the pavement, and the trickle of the drops
+from sash to sill. A stream of light from the lamp-post at the corner
+flashed athwart the sidewalk, glittered upon the swollen gutter, made
+gold and silver blocks of the paving stones. As if they had waited for
+this signal, other lights now shone out from the windows across the
+way, and from time to time a broad, transient gleam from opening doors
+told of the return of fathers, brothers, husbands from their day's
+employment.
+
+    "In happy homes he sees the light."
+
+What was there in the line that should make the watcher catch her
+breath in sudden pain and lay her hand, with stifled moan, over her
+heart, as she repeated it aloud?
+
+Witness with me, ye maternal Hunts, who read this page--you, the
+careful and solicitous about many things--in nothing more ambitious
+than for the advancement and success in life of your offspring--add
+your testimony to mine that this girl had all that was desirable for
+one of her age and in her circumstances. A house as handsome as her
+neighbors, an education unsurpassed by any of her late school-fellows,
+a "position in society;" a reasonable share of good looks, which only
+required care and cultivation on her part to become really distingue;
+indulgent parents and peaceably inclined brothers and sisters--read
+the list, and solve me, if you can, the enigma of this perturbed
+spirit--this hungering and thirsting after contraband or unattainable
+pleasures.
+
+"Some girls will do so!" Mrs. Hunt assured her husband when he "thought
+that Sarah did not seem so happy as Lucy. He hoped nothing ailed the
+child. Perhaps the doctor had better drop in to see her. Could she be
+fretting for anything, or had her feelings been hurt?"
+
+"Bless your soul, Mr. H. There's nothing the matter with her. She
+always was kind o' queer!" (Mrs. Hunt did not use her company grammar
+every day.) "And she's jest eighteen year old. That's the whole of it!
+She'll come 'round in good time, 'specially if Lucy should marry off
+pretty soon. When Sarah is 'Miss Hunt,' she'll be as crazy for beaux
+and company and as ready to jump at a prime offer as any of 'em. I know
+girls' ways!"
+
+Nor am I prepared to say that Sarah, as she quitted her look-out at the
+high window at the sound of the dinner bell, could have given a more
+satisfactory reason for her discontent and want of spirits.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+Mrs. Hunt's china, like her grammar, was of two sorts. When her duty
+to "society" or the necessity of circumstances forced her to be
+hospitable, she "did the thing" well. At a notice of moderate length
+she could get up a handsome, if not a bountiful, entertainment, to
+which no man need have been ashamed to seat his friends, and when the
+occasion warranted the display she grudged not the "other" china, the
+other silver, nor the other table-linen.
+
+She did, however, set her face, like a broad flint, against the
+irregularity of inviting chance visitors to partake of the family
+bread and salt. Intimate as Victoria West was with Lucy, she met only
+a civil show of regretful acquiescence in her proposal to go home as
+the dinner hour approached, and Robbie or Richard Hunt was promptly
+offered to escort her to her abode upon the next block. If she remained
+to luncheon, as she would do occasionally, Lucy, in her hearing, begged
+her mother to excuse them from going down, and to send up two cups
+of tea and a few sandwiches to the sitting-room. This slight repast
+was served by the butler upon a neat little tray, in a tete-a-tete
+service--a Christmas gift to Lucy "from her ever-loving Victoria," and
+sentimentally dedicated to the use of the pair of adopted sisters.
+
+Therefore, Sarah was not surprised to find Victoria gone, despite the
+storm, when she entered the dining-room. An immense crumb-cloth covered
+the carpet; a row of shrouded chairs, packed elbow to elbow, stood
+against the further end of the apartment, and a set of very ordinary
+ones were around the table. The cloth was of whity-brown material, and
+the dishes a motley collection of halt and maimed--for all Mrs. Hunt's
+vigilance could not make servants miraculously careful. There was no
+propriety, however, according to her system of economy, in condemning
+a plate or cup as past service because it had come off second best, to
+the extent of a crack or nick or an amputated handle, in an encounter
+with some other member of the crockery tribe. "While there is life
+there is hope," was, in these cases, paraphrased by her to the effect
+that while a utensil would hold water it was too good to be thrown away.
+
+It was not a sumptuous repast to which Sarah sat down after she had
+placed Jeannie in her high chair and tied the great gingham bib around
+her neck. On the contrary, it came near being a scant provision for
+the healthy appetites of seven people. Before Mr. Hunt, a mild, quiet
+little man, was a dish of stew, which was, in its peculiar line, a
+thing--not of beauty, but wonder.
+
+Only a few days since, as I stood near the stall of a poultry vender in
+market, a lady inquired for chickens.
+
+"Yes, ma'am. Roasting size, ma'am?"
+
+"No. I want them for a fricassee."
+
+"Ah"--with a look of shrewd intelligence. "Then, ma'am, I take it, you
+don't care to have 'em overly tender. Most ladies prefers the old ones
+for fricassee. They come cheaper and very often bile tender."
+
+"Thank you," was the amused rejoinder. "The difference in the price is
+no consideration where the safety of our teeth is concerned."
+
+Mrs. Hunt suffered not these scruples to hinder her negotiations with
+knowing poultry merchants. A cent less per pound would be three cents
+saved upon the chicken, and three cents would buy enough turnips for
+dinner. It is an ignorant housekeeper who needs to be informed that
+stewed chicken "goes further" than the same fowl made into any other
+savory combination. Mrs. Hunt's stews were concocted after a recipe of
+her own invention. Imprimis, one chicken, weight varying from two and a
+half to three pounds; salt pork, a quarter of a pound; gravy abundant;
+dumplings innumerable. It was all "stew," and if Jeannie's share was
+but a bare drumstick, swimming in gravy and buried in boiled dough,
+there was the chicken flavor through the portion.
+
+For classic antecedent the reader is referred to the fable of the
+rose-scented clay.
+
+To leave the principal dish, which justice to Mrs. Hunt's genius would
+not permit me to pass with briefer mention, there were, besides,
+potatoes, served whole (mashed ones required butter and cream), turnips
+and bread, and Mrs. Hunt presided over a shallow platter of pork and
+beans. What was left of that dish would be warmed over to piece out
+breakfast next morning. The children behaved well, and the most minute
+by-law of table etiquette was observed with a strictness that imparted
+an air of ceremonious restraint to the meal. If Mrs. Hunt's young
+people were not in time finished ladies and gentlemen, it was not her
+fault, nor was it for the lack of drilling.
+
+"Do as I tell you; not as I do," were her orders in these matters.
+Since Lucy had completed her education, the mother added, "Look at
+your sister; she is never awkward." This was true. Lucy was born the
+fine lady. Refinement of manner and grace of movement, an instinctive
+avoidance of whatever looked common or underbred were a part of her
+nature. Only the usage of years had accustomed her to her mother's
+somewhat "fussy" ways.
+
+Had she met her in company as Mrs. Anybody else, she would have yielded
+her the right of way with a feeling of amazement and amiable pity that
+one who meant so well should so often overdo the thing she aimed to
+accomplish easily and gracefully. Following out her excellent system
+of training, the worthy dame demanded as diligent and alert watching
+from her butler as if she were having a dinner party. The eggless rice
+pudding was brought on with a state that was absolutely ludicrous; but
+the family were used to the unsubstantial show and took it as a matter
+of course.
+
+After the meal was over Mrs. Hunt withdrew to the kitchen for a short
+conference with the cook and a sharp glance through the closets. It was
+impossible that the abstraction of six slices of bread from the baking
+of the preceding day, three thick pieces of cheese and more than half
+of the cold meat she had decided would, in the form of hash, supply the
+other piece of the breakfast at which the beans were to assist, should
+escape her notice.
+
+Mr. Hunt was reading the evening paper by the droplight in the
+sitting-room, Lucy was busy with her shawl, and Sarah told a simple
+tale in a low voice to Jeannie as she leaned upon her lap, when the
+wife and mother entered, with something like a bluster. All present
+looked up, and each one remarked the cloud upon her brow.
+
+"What is the matter, mother?" said Mr. Hunt, in a tone not free from
+alarm.
+
+"I am worried! That's the whole of it. I am downright vexed with you,
+Sarah, and surprised, too! What upon earth possessed you, child, to
+take that beggar into my kitchen to-day? After all I have told you and
+tried to learn you about these shameful impostors! I declare I was beat
+out when I heard it. And to throw away provisions and clothes upon such
+a brat!"
+
+Lucy opened her great eyes at her sister, and Mr. Hunt looked
+perplexedly towards his favorite, for at heart he was partial to his
+second child.
+
+"I took the poor creature to the fire, mother, because she was wet
+and cold; I fed her because she was hungry; I gave her some old, warm
+clothes of mine because hers were thin and soaked with rain."
+
+"Poor little girl!" murmured Jeannie compassionately.
+
+Sarah's hand closed instantly over the little fingers. The
+simple-hearted babe understood and sympathized with her motive and act
+better than did her wiser elders.
+
+"Oh, I have no doubt she told a pitiful story, and shed enough tears
+to wet her through, if the rain had not done it already. If you listen
+to what these wretches say, and undertake to relieve their wants, you
+will soon have not a dress to your back nor a house over your head. Why
+didn't you send her to some society for the relief of the poor?"
+
+"I did not know where to find one, ma'am."
+
+This plain truth, respectfully uttered, confounded Mrs. Hunt for a
+second.
+
+"Mrs. James is one of the managers in a benevolent association," she
+said, recovering herself. "You had ought to have given your beggar her
+address."
+
+"Even if I had known that fact, mother, the girl would have been
+obliged to walk half a mile in the storm to find this one manager. What
+do you suppose Mrs. James would have done for her that was not in my
+power to perform?"
+
+"She would have asked the child whereabouts she lived, and to-morrow
+she would have gone to hunt her up. If she found all as she had been
+told, which is not likely--these creatures don't give a right direction
+once in ten times--why, she would have brought the case before the
+board at their next meeting, and they would help them, if neither of
+her parents was a drinking character."
+
+"God help the poor!" ejaculated Sarah, energetically. "God help the
+poor, if this is man's style of relieving his starving brother! Mother,
+do you think that hunger pinches any the less when the famished being
+is told that next week or next month may bring him one good meal? Will
+the promise of a bushel of coal or a blanket, to be given ten days
+hence, warm the limbs that are freezing to-night? Is present help for
+present need, then always unsafe, imprudent, insane?"
+
+"That all sounds very fine, my dear." Mrs. Hunt grew cool as her
+daughter waxed warm. "But when you have seen as much of the world as
+I have you will understand how necessary it is to be careful about
+believing all that we hear. Another thing you must not forget, and
+that is that we are not able to give freely, no matter how much
+disposed we may be to do so. It's pretty hard for a generous person
+to say 'No,' but it can't be helped. People in our circumstances must
+learn this lesson." Mrs. Hunt sighed at thought of the curb put upon
+her benevolent desires by bitter necessity. "And, after all, very
+few--you've no idea how few--of these pretended sufferers are really in
+want."
+
+This preluded a recital of sundry barefaced impositions and successful
+swindles practiced upon herself and acquaintances, to which Mr. Hunt
+subjoined certain of his personal experiences, all tending to establish
+the principle that in a vast majority of cases of seeming destitution
+the supplicant was an accomplished rogue and the giver of alms the
+victim of his own soft heart and a villain's wiles. Jeannie drank in
+every syllable, until her ideal beggar quite equalled the ogre who
+would have made a light supper off of Hop-o'-my-Thumb and brothers.
+
+"You gave this match-girl no money, I hope?" said Mrs. Hunt, at length.
+
+"I did not, madam. I had none to give her." Impelled by her
+straightforward sense of honesty that would not allow her to receive
+commendation for prudence she had not shown, she said, bravely: "But I
+lent her my umbrella upon her promise to return it to-morrow."
+
+"Well!"
+
+Mrs. Hunt dropped her hands in her lap, and stared in speechless dismay
+at her daughter. Even her husband felt it his duty to express his
+disapprobation.
+
+"That was very unwise, my daughter. You will never see it again."
+
+"I think differently, father."
+
+"You are too easily imposed upon, Sarah. There is not the least
+probability that your property will be returned. Was it a good
+umbrella?"
+
+"It was the one I always use."
+
+"Black silk, the best make, with a carved ivory handle--cost six
+dollars a month ago!" gasped Mrs. Hunt. "I never heard of such a piece
+of shameful imprudence in all my born days. And I shouldn't wonder if
+you never once thought to ask her where she lived, that you might send
+a police officer after it, if the little thief didn't bring it back to
+you?"
+
+"I did think of it." Sarah paused, then forced out the confession she
+foresaw would subject her to the charge of yet more ridiculous folly.
+"I did think of it, but concluded to throw the girl upon her honor, not
+to suggest the theft to her by insinuating a doubt of her integrity."
+
+Mr. Hunt was annoyed with and sorry for the culprit, yet he could not
+help smiling at this high-flown generosity of confidence. "You are
+certainly the most unsophisticated girl of your age I ever met with,
+my daughter. I shall not mind the loss of the umbrella if it prove to
+be the means of giving you a lesson in human nature. In this world,
+dear, it will not do to wear your heart upon your sleeve. Never believe
+a pretty story until you have had the opportunity to ascertain for
+yourself whether it is true or false." And with these titbits of wordly
+wisdom, the cashier picked up his paper.
+
+"Six dollars! I declare I don't know what to say to you, Sarah!"
+persisted the ruffled mother. "You cannot expect me to buy you another
+umbrella this season. You must give up your walks in damp weather after
+this. I can't say that I'm very sorry for that, though. I never did
+fancy your traipsing off two or three miles, rain or shine, like a
+sewing girl."
+
+"Very well, madam!"
+
+But, steadied by pride as was her voice, her heart sank at the
+possibility of resigning the exercise upon which she deemed that so
+much of her health, physical and mental, depended. These long, solitary
+walks were one of the un-American habits that earned for Sarah Hunt the
+reputation of eccentricity. They were usually taken immediately after
+breakfast, and few in the neighborhood who were abroad or happened
+to look out at that hour, were not familiar with the straight, proud
+figure, habited in its walking dress of gray and black, stout boots,
+and gray hat with black plume. It was a uniform selected by herself,
+and which her mother permitted her to assume, because it "looked
+genteel," and became the wearer. Especially did she enjoy these tramps
+when the threatening storm, in its early stages, kept others of her
+class and sex at home. The untamed spirit found a fierce pleasure in
+wrestling with the wind; the hail that ushered in the snow-storm, as
+it beat in her face, called up lustre to the eye and warm color to the
+cheek. To a soul sickening of the glare and perfume of the artificial
+life to which she was confined, the roughest and wildest aspects of
+nature were a welcome change.
+
+I remember laughing heartily, as I doubt not you did also, dear reader,
+if you saw it, at a cut which appeared several years ago in the Punch
+department of "Harper's Magazine." A "wee toddler," perhaps four years
+old, with a most lack-a-daisical expression upon her chubby visage,
+accosts her grandmother after this fashion: "I am tired of life,
+grandmamma! The world is hollow, and my doll is stuffed with sawdust,
+and if you please, ma'am, I should like to go to a nunnery!"
+
+Yet, that there are natures upon which the feeling of emptiness and
+longing herein burlesqued seizes in mere babyhood is sadly true. And
+what wonder? From their cradles, hundreds of children, in our so-called
+better classes, are fed upon husks. A superficial education, in which
+all that is not showy accomplishment is so dry and uninviting that the
+student has little disposition to seek further for the rich kernel,
+the strong meat of knowledge, is the preparatory course to a premature
+introduction into the world, to many the only phase of life they are
+permitted to see, a scene where all is flash and froth, empty bubbles
+of prizes, chased by men and women with empty heads, and oh, how often
+empty, aching hearts! Outside principles, outside affections, outside
+smiles, and most pitiable of all, outside piety! Penury of heart
+and stomach at home; abroad a parade of reckless extravagance and
+ostentatious profession of fine feeling and liberal sentiments!
+
+"Woe," cried the preacher, "to them that make haste to be rich!" If he
+had lived in our day, in what biting terms of reprobation and contempt
+would he have declaimed against the insane ambition of those who forego
+the solid comforts of judicious expenditure of a moderate income would
+afford; spurn the holy quiet of domestic joys--neglect soul with heart
+culture--in their haste to seem rich, when Providence has seen that
+wealth is not to be desired for them! Out upon the disgusting, indecent
+race and scramble! The worship of the golden calf is bad enough, but
+when this bestial idolatry rises to such a pitch of fanaticism, that in
+thousands of households copies in pinchbeck and plated-ware are set up
+and served, the spectacle is too monstrous in its abomination! This it
+is that crowds our counting-rooms with bankrupts and our state-prisons
+with defaulters; that is fast turning our ball-rooms and other places
+of fashionable rendezvous into vile caricatures of foreign courts,
+foreign manners, and foreign vices; while the people we ape--our
+chosen models and exemplars--hold their side in inextinguishable
+laughter at the grave absurdity of our laborious imitation. It is no
+cause for marvel that, in just retribution, there should be sent a
+panic-earthquake, every three years, to shake men to their senses.
+
+Such was the atmosphere in which Sarah Hunt had always lived. In the
+code subscribed to by her mother, and the many who lived and felt and
+panted and pushed as she did for social distinction, nothing was of
+real, absolute value except the hard cash. Gold and silver were facts.
+All things else were comparative in use and worth. The garment which,
+last winter, no lady felt dressed without, was an obsolete horror this
+season. The pattern of curtains and furniture that nearly drove the
+fortunate purchaser wild with delight, three years back, was now only
+fit for the auction room. In vain might the poor depleted husband plead
+for and extol their beauties. The fiat of fashion had gone forth, and
+his better half seasoned his food with lamentations, and moistened her
+pillow with tears until she carried her point. We have intimated that
+Sarah was a peculiar girl. Whence she derived her vigorous intellect;
+her strong, original turn of thought; her deep heart, was a puzzle
+to those who knew her parents. The mother was energetic, the father
+sensible, but both were commonplace, and followed, like industrious
+puppets, in the wake of others. They were pleased that Sarah brought
+home all the prizes offered at school, and both considered that she
+gained a right, by these victories, to pursue her studies at home,
+provided she did not obtrude her singular views and tastes upon other
+people. Mrs. Hunt sighed, frequently and loudly, in her presence, that
+her genius had not been for shell, or bead, or worsted work, instead of
+for reading volumes, that did not even decorate the show book-case in
+the library.
+
+"If you must have so many books, why don't you pick out them with the
+tasty bindings?" she had asked her daughter more than once. "And I wish
+you would paint some bright, lively pictures, that would look handsome
+on the walls, instead of those queer men and women and cloudy things
+you have got upstairs. I'd have 'em framed right away, and be real
+proud to tell who done them."
+
+Sarah remained proof against such hints and temptation, and, shrinking
+more and more from the uncongenial whirl around her, she turned her
+eager, restless spirit into her secret, inner life, where, at times,
+it was flattered into content by the idealities upon which it was fed;
+at others, ramped and raved, like any other chained wild thing. The
+sweetest drop of pleasure she had tasted for many a day was the thrill
+she experienced when the forlorn object she had rescued from the power
+of the storm stood before her, decently and comfortably clad. The rash
+confidence she had reposed in so suspicious a stranger was the outgoing
+of a heart too noble and true in every impulse to pause, for a moment,
+to speculate upon the chances of another's good or bad faith. The great
+world of the confessedly poor was an unknown field to her--one she
+longed to explore. Her footsteps loitered more often near the entrance
+of some narrow, reeking street or alley, down which she had promised
+her mother not to go, than on the spacious pave, where over-dressed
+women and foppish men halted at, and hung around bewitching shop
+windows. She wondered how such throngs of breathing beings contrived to
+exist in those fetid, cramped quarters; how they lived, spoke, acted,
+felt. The great tie of human brotherhood became daily more tense, as
+she pondered these things in her heart.
+
+On this particular day, as she sat, silent and thoughtful, at her
+needle, the chit-chat of her companions less heeded than the continual
+dropping of the rain without, the wail of the shivering wanderer
+caused a painful vibration through every nerve. The deed was done! the
+experiment was tried. She was ashamed that an event so trivial held
+her eyes waking, far into the night. At least, she said to herself,
+she would not be without a lesson of some kind; would learn whether
+deceit and falsehood prevailed in the lowest, as well as the higher
+ranks of society. If, as she still strove to believe would be the case,
+the child returned the borrowed property, she would make use of her,
+as the means of entering upon a new sphere of research and action.
+After so complete a refutation of her theories respecting the utter
+corruption of all people, who had not enough to eat and to wear, her
+mother could not withhold her consent to her petition that she might
+become a lay-missionary--a present relief committee to a small portion
+of the suffering, toiling, ill-paid masses. She would then have a work
+to do--something to call out energy and engage feeling in healthy
+exercise--and soothed by the romantic vision, she fell asleep with a
+smile upon her lips.
+
+The morning dawned between breaking clouds, that soon left the sky
+clear and bright. All through the day Sarah watched for her visitor
+of the preceding day--watched with nervousness she could not wholly
+conceal, from morn to night, for two, three days--for a week. Then she
+looked no longer while at home; her question, at entering the house,
+after a drive or walk, ceased to be, "Has any thing been left for me?"
+So palpable was her disappointment that her father forbore to make
+any allusion to her loss, and Lucy, albeit she was somewhat obtuse to
+the finer points of her sister's character, good-naturedly interposed
+to change the subject when her mother sought to improve the incident
+to her daughter's edification and future profit. Mr. Hunt was right
+in supposing that the "unsophisticated girl" had learned something.
+Whether she were happier or better for the lesson thus acquired was
+another thing.
+
+Once again Sarah had an opportunity for speech with her delinquent
+protege. Two months later she was passing through a by-street in a
+mean neighborhood, very far up town, in her morning ramble, when her
+progress was arrested, for an instant, by two boys, who ran out of an
+alley across the walk. One overtook the other just in front of the
+lady, and catching him by his ragged collar, threw him down.
+
+"That's right! beat him well! I'll help!" screeched a girl, rushing out
+of the court whence they had come.
+
+Grinning with delight, she flung herself upon the prostrate form and
+commenced a vigorous assault, accompanied by language alike foul and
+profane.
+
+Sarah recognized her instantly, and while she paused in mingled
+amazement and anger, the child looked up and saw her. In a twinkling
+she relinquished her grip of the boy's hair--jumped up and sped back
+into the dirty alley, with the blind haste of guilty fear.
+
+Yes! Mr. Hunt was a wise man, who knew the world, and trebly sage in
+her generation was his spouse. If their daughter had never acknowledged
+this before, she did now, in her disgust and dismay at this utter
+overthrow of her dreams of the virtuous simplicity to be found in lowly
+homes, where riches and fashions were things unknown.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+Summer had come to the country with its bloom and its beauty, its
+harvests and its holidays. In town, its fever heat drew noisome smells
+from overcharged sewers, and the black, oily paste to which the shower
+that should have been refreshing had changed the dust of crowded
+thoroughfares. Cleaner pavements, in the higher portions of the city,
+burned through shoe-soles; glass radiated heat to polished stone, and
+stone radiated, in its turn, to brick, that waited until the evening
+to throw off its surplus caloric in hot, suffocating waves that made
+yet more oppressive the close nights. The gay procession of fashionable
+humming birds had commenced their migrations, steamboats and excursion
+craft multiplied at the wharves, and the iron steed put forth all his
+tremendous might to bear onward the long train of self-exiled travelers.
+
+The Hunts, too, must leave town; Lucy must, at all events, have a
+full season, and a brilliant one, if possible, for it was her second
+summer, and much might depend upon it. Her mother would accompany her,
+of course; and equally of course her father could not; that is, he
+must return after escorting them to Saratoga, and spend the remainder
+of the warm months at home. His business would not allow him to take
+an extended vacation. The boys were easily disposed of, being boarded
+every summer at the farmhouse of an early friend of Mr. Hunt, where
+they were acceptable inmates, their clothes as well cared for as they
+were at home, and their morals more diligently cultivated. The younger
+girls caused that excellent manager, their mother, more perplexity.
+This was not the first time she had repented her indiscretion in
+allowing Sarah to "come out" before her elder sister had "gone off."
+But "Sarah was so tall and so womanly in her appearance that it looked
+queer, and would set people to talking if I kept her back," she was
+accustomed to excuse her impolitic move to her friends. This summer she
+realized, as she had not done before, the inconvenience of having two
+full-fledged young ladies upon the carpet at once. Lucy's elegant and
+varied wardrobe, and the certain expenses in prospect for her and her
+chaperon at Spa, seaside, and en route, left a balance in hand of the
+sum allotted for the season's expenditure that was startling in its
+meagerness. Mrs. Hunt was a capital financier, a peerless economist,
+but the exigency taxed her resources to the utmost.
+
+One morning she arose with a lightened heart and a smoother brow.
+"I've settled it!" she exclaimed to her husband, shaking him from his
+matutinal doze.
+
+The "Eureka!" of the Syracusan mathematician was not more lofty in its
+exultation. Forthwith she unfolded to him her scheme. She was a native
+of New Jersey, "the Jarseys" she had heard it called in her father's
+house--had probably thus denominated the gallant little state herself
+in her girlhood. In and around the pretty, quiet village of Shrewsbury
+there were still resident scores of her relatives whose very names she
+had sedulously forgotten. One alone she could not, in conscience or in
+nature, dismiss to such oblivion. This was her elder and only sister,
+long married to a respectable and worthy farmer, and living within a
+mile of "the old place," where both sisters had drawn the first breath
+of life. Twice since Mrs. Hunt had lived in the city had this kind
+friend been summoned on account of the dangerous illness of the former,
+and her presence and nursing had restored peace, order, and health to
+the household. The earlier of these occasions was that of the second
+child's birth, and in the softened mood of her convalescence Mrs. Hunt
+had bestowed upon the babe her sister's name--Sarah Benson--a homely
+appellative she had ofttimes regretted since. At distant and irregular
+intervals, one, two, three years, Mr. or Mrs. Benson visited their
+connections in "York;" but the intercourse grew more difficult and
+broken as time rolled on and the distance widened between the plain
+country folk and their rising relations. Then, again, death had been
+busy in the farmhouse; coffin after coffin, of varying lengths, but
+all short, was lifted over the threshold and laid away in the village
+graveyard, until but one was left to the parents of the seven little
+ones that had been given to them, and to that one nature had denied the
+gifts of speech and hearing. Grief and the infirmities of approaching
+old age disinclined the worthy pair to stir from home, and their
+ambitious sister was too busy in building up a "set" of her own, and
+paving the way for her daughters' distinction, to hide her light for
+ever so short a period in so obscure a corner as her former home.
+
+Aunt Sarah, however, could not forget her nurseling. Every few months
+there arrived some simple token of affectionate remembrance to "the
+child" she had not seen since she wore short frocks and pinafores. The
+reception of a basket of fruit, thus despatched, was the suggestive
+power to Mrs. Hunt's present plan. She had made up her mind, so she
+informed her husband straightway, to write that very day--yes! that
+very forenoon, to "Sister Benson," and inquire whether she would board
+Sarah and Jeannie for a couple of months.
+
+"I don't s'pose she will let me pay board for them, but she will be
+pleased to have 'em as long as they like to stay. It's never been
+exactly convenient for me to let any of the children go there for so
+many years, and it's so fur off. But dear me! sometimes I feel real bad
+about seeing so little of my only sister!"--a heavy sigh. "And there'll
+be the expenses of two saved, out and out, for they won't need a great
+variety of clothes in that out-of-the-way place."
+
+"But how will the girls, Sarah and Jeannie, fancy being sent off so?"
+inquired Mr. Hunt.
+
+"Oh, as to that, it is late in the day for my children to dispute what
+I say shall be done; and Sarah's jest that odd that she'll like this
+notion twenty times better than going to Newport or Saratoga. I know
+her! As to Jeannie, she is satisfied to be with her sister anywhere.
+She is getting thin, too; she looks real peaked, and there's nothing in
+creation so good for ailing children as the salt-water bath. They have
+first-rate still-water bathing not a quarter of a mile from sister's.
+It's jest the thing, I tell you! The wonder is it never came into my
+head before."
+
+Mr. Hunt had his sigh now. "Somehow or other he was always down in the
+mouth when the family broke up for the summer," his wife frequently
+complained, and his lack of sympathy now excited her just ire.
+
+"Upon my word, Mr. H.! anybody would think that I was the poorest
+wife in the world to you to see and hear you whenever I talk to you
+of my plans and household affairs. You look as if you was about to be
+hanged, instead of feeling obliged to me for turning, and twisting,
+and contriving, and studying, day and night, how to save your money,
+and spend what we must lay out to the best advantage. I can tell you
+what--there's few women would make your income go as far as I do."
+
+"I know that, my dear. The question is"--Mr. Hunt paused, cleared his
+throat and strained his nerves for a mighty effort, an unprecedented
+exercise of moral courage--"the question is, Betsy, whether our income
+is stretched in the right direction!" Mistaking the stare of petrified
+incredulity he received for fixed attention, the infatuated man went
+on: "This doubt is always forced upon me when we separate in July,
+some to go to one place, some to another, a broken, wandering family
+for months together. I am growing old, and I love to have my children
+about me; I begin to feel the want of a home. There is Johnson, in
+the ---- Bank, gets five hundred less per annum than I do; yet, after
+living quietly here a few years, he bought himself a snug cottage up
+the river, and has his family there in their own house, everything
+handsome and comfortable about them. I have been in the harness for a
+long while; I expect to die in it. I don't mind work--hard work! but
+it seems to me sometimes that we would all be better satisfied if we
+had more to show, or to hold, for our money; if there were less of this
+straining after appearances, this constant study to make both ends
+meet."
+
+"And it has come to this!" Mrs. Hunt sank into a chair and began to
+cry. "This is my thanks for slaving and toiling for better than twenty
+years to get you and your children a stand in the world! It isn't for
+myself that I care. I can work my fingers to the bone, and live upon
+a crust! I can scrape and save five dollars or so a month! I can bury
+myself in the country! But your children! those dear, sweet girls, that
+have had the best education money can buy, and that to-day visit such
+people as the Murrays, and Sandersons, and Hoopers, and Baylors, and
+meet the Castors and Crinnalls at parties--millionaires, all of 'em,
+the cream of the upper crust! I don't deny that I have been ambitious
+for them, and I did hope that you had something of the same spirit; and
+now to think of your complaining, and moping, and groaning over the
+money you say I've been and wasted; oh! oh! oh!"
+
+"You misunderstand me, my dear; I merely questioned whether we were
+acting wisely in making so much display upon so little substance. We
+are not millionaires, whatever may be said of the girls' visiting
+acquaintances, and I tremble sometimes to think how all this false show
+may end."
+
+Mr. Hunt's borrowed courage had not evaporated entirely.
+
+"That's distrusting Providence, Mr. H.! It's downright sinful, and what
+I shouldn't have looked for from you. I can tell you how it will end.
+If both of us live ten years longer, you will see your daughters riding
+in their own carriages, and leaders of the tong, and your sons among
+the first gentlemen of the city. If this does not turn out true, you
+needn't ever trust my word again. I've set my head upon getting Lucy
+off my hands this summer, and well off; and mark my words, Mr. H., it
+shall be done."
+
+One part of her mother's prophecy was fulfilled in Sarah's manner of
+receiving the proposition so nearly affecting her comfort during the
+summer. Lucy wondered at the cheerful alacrity with which she consented
+to be "hidden away in that horrid bore of a farmhouse," and Jeannie
+cried as her elder sister "supposed that they would eat in Aunt Sarah's
+kitchen, along with the servant men."
+
+"Lucy, be quiet!" interposed her mother. "Your aunt is not a common
+poor person. Mr. Benson is a man of independent means, quite rich for
+the country. They live very nicely, and I have no doubt but that your
+sisters will be happy there."
+
+Sarah had drawn Jeannie to her, and was telling her of the rides and
+walks they would take together, the ducks and chickens they would feed,
+and the merry plunges in the salt water that were to be daily luxuries.
+Ere the recital was concluded, the child was impatient for the hour of
+departure, and indignant when she heard that Aunt Sarah must be heard
+from before they could venture to present themselves, bag and baggage,
+at her door. There was nothing feigned in Sarah's satisfaction; her
+preparations were made with far more pleasure than if she were to
+accompany Lucy. The seclusion that would have been slow death to the
+latter was full of charms for the book-loving sister. Aunt Sarah would
+be kind; the novel phases of human nature she would meet would amuse
+and interest her; and, besides these, there was Jeannie to love and
+pet, and river, field, and grove for studies and society. She panted
+for the country and liberty from the tyrannous shackles of city customs.
+
+Aunt Sarah wrote promptly and cordially, rejecting the offered
+compensation, and begging for her nieces' company as long as they
+could content themselves in so retired a place. Simple-minded as she
+was, she knew enough to be sure that the belles and beaux of the
+neighborhood would be very unsuitable mates for her expected visitors.
+If her own girls had lived, she would have asked nothing higher for
+them in this world than to have them grow up respected, beloved, and
+happy, among the acquaintances and friends of their parents; but
+"Sister Betsy's children had been raised so differently!" she said to
+her husband. "I don't know what we will do to amuse them."
+
+"They will find amusement--never fear," was the farmer's response. "Let
+city folks alone for seeing wonders where those that have lived among
+them all their lives never found anything uncommon. They are welcome
+to the pony whenever they've a mind to ride, and Jim or I will find
+time to drive them around a'most every day; and what with riding, and
+boating, and bathing, I guess they can get rid of the time."
+
+Before the day set for the coming of the guests there appeared upon the
+stage an unexpected and welcome ally to Aunt Sarah's benevolent design
+of making her nieces' sojourn agreeable. This personage we will let the
+good woman herself describe.
+
+"You needn't trouble yourself to fix up for tea, dear," she said to
+Sarah, the afternoon of her arrival, as she prepared to remove her
+traveling dress. "There's nobody here besides husband, and me, and
+Charley, except husband's nephew, Philip Benson, from the South. He
+comes North 'most every summer, and never goes back without paying us a
+visit. He's been here three days now. But he is just as easy as an old
+shoe, and sociable as can be, so you won't mind him."
+
+"Uncle Benson has relatives at the South, then?" said Sarah, seeing
+herself called upon to say something.
+
+"One brother--James. He went to Georgy when he wasn't more than sixteen
+years old, and has lived there ever since. He married a rich wife, I
+believe"--sinking her voice--"and has made money fast, I've heard.
+Philip never says a word about their wealth, but his father owns a
+great plantation, for husband asked him how many acres they worked.
+Then the children--there are four of them--have had fine educations,
+and always spend money freely. Philip is not the sort to boast of
+anything that belongs to him or his. He is a good-hearted boy. He was
+here the August my last daughter--my Betsy--died, and I shall never
+forget how kind and tender he was then. I can't look at him without
+thinking how my Alick would have been just his age if he had lived. One
+was born on the fourth and the other the fifth of the same April."
+
+Keeping up a decent show of interest in these family details, Sarah
+divested Jeannie of her sacque and dress, and substituted a cool blue
+gingham and a muslin apron. Then, as the child was wild to run out of
+doors, she suffered her to go, charging her not to pass the boundary of
+the yard fence. Aunt Sarah was dressed in a second mourning delaine,
+with a very plain cap, and while the heat obliged Sarah to lay aside
+the thick and dusty garment she had worn all day, she had too much
+tact to offer a strong contrast in her own attire to her unpretending
+surroundings. A neat sprigged lawn, modest and inexpensive, was not
+out of place among the old-fashioned furniture of her chamber, nor in
+the "best room," to which they presently descended.
+
+Aunt Sarah ushered her into the apartment with some stiffness of
+ceremony. In truth, she was not herself there often, or long enough to
+feel quite at ease, her property though it was. Alleging the necessity
+of "seeing to the tea," she bade her niece "make herself at home,"
+threw open a blind that she "might see the river," and left her.
+
+First, Sarah looked around the room. It was large and square, and
+had four windows, two in front and two in the rear. The floor was
+covered by a well-saved carpet, of a pattern so antique that it was in
+itself a curiosity; heavy tables of a mahogany dark with age; upright
+chairs, with slippery leathern seats; a ponderous sofa, covered with
+haircloth; small mirrors, with twisted frames, between the windows; two
+black profiles, of life-size, over the mantel, and in the fireplace a
+jar of asparagus boughs, were appointments that might have repelled
+the looker-on, but for the scrupulous, shining cleanliness of every
+article. It was a scene so strange to Sarah that she could not but
+smile as she withdrew her eyes and turned to the landscape commanded by
+her window.
+
+The sight changed the gleam of good-humored amusement to one of more
+heartfelt pleasure. Beyond the grassy walks and flower-borders of the
+garden behind the house lay green meadows, sloping down to the river,
+broad and smooth at this point, so placid now that it mirrored every
+rope and seam of the sails resting quietly upon its surface, and the
+white cottages along the banks, while the banks themselves, with their
+tufts and crowns of foliage, drooping willows and lofty elms, found
+a faithful yet a beautified counterpart in the stream. The reflected
+blush of the crimson west upon its bosom was shot with flickers of
+golden light, and faded in the distance into the blue-gray twilight.
+The air seemed to grow more deliciously cool as the gazer thought of
+the hot, pent-up city, and the beds of thyme and lavender added their
+evening incense.
+
+The hum of cheerful voices joined pleasantly with the soothing
+influences of the hour, and, changing her position slightly, Sarah
+beheld the speakers. Upon a turfy mound, at the foot of an apple tree,
+sat Jeannie beside a gentleman, whose hands she watched with pleased
+interest, as did also a boy of fifteen or thereabouts, who knelt on the
+grass before them. Sarah divined at once that this was her aunt's deaf
+and dumb son. The gentleman was apparently interpreting to Jeannie all
+that passed between himself and the lad, and her gleeful laugh showed
+it to be a lively dialogue. Could this be Mr. Benson's nephew, the
+beardless youth Sarah had pictured him to herself from Aunt Sarah's
+description? He could not have been less than six-and-twenty, had
+dark hair and a close curling beard, an intelligent, handsome face,
+and notwithstanding his loose summer sack and lounging attitude, one
+discerned plainly traces of uncommon grace and strength in his form.
+
+"What is he, I wonder? A gallant, professional beau, who will entangle
+me in my speech, and be an inevitable appendage in the excursions?
+I flattered myself I would be safe from all such drawbacks," thought
+Sarah, in genuine vexation, as she obeyed her aunt's summons to tea.
+
+Perhaps Mr. Benson read as much in her countenance, for, beyond a few
+polite, very unremarkable observations, addressed to her when his hosts
+made it necessary for him to do so, he paid her no visible attention
+during the whole of the evening. The next day he set off, the minute
+breakfast was over, with his gun and game-bag, and was gone until
+sunset.
+
+Sarah sat at her chamber window as he came up to the back door; and,
+screened by the vine trained over the sash, she watched him as he
+tossed his game-bag to Charley and shook hands with Jeannie, who ran up
+to him with the familiarity of an old acquaintance.
+
+"What luck?" questioned his uncle.
+
+"Nothing to boast of, sir; yet enough to repay me for my tramp. I have
+been down to the shore."
+
+"Philip Benson! Well, you beat everything! I suppose you have walked
+as much as ten miles in all!" exclaimed Aunt Sarah, with a sort of
+reproachful admiration.
+
+"I dare say, madam, and am none the worse for it to-night. I am getting
+used to your sand, uncle; it used to tire me, I confess."
+
+He disappeared into the kitchen, probably to perform the ablutions
+needful after his day's walk and work, for it was several minutes
+before he returned. Charley had carried the game-bag to the mound under
+the tree, and was exhibiting its contents--mostly snipe and red-winged
+black birds--to his little cousin.
+
+"It is refreshing to see something in the shape of man that is neither
+an effeminate dandy nor a business machine," soliloquized Sarah.
+"Ten miles on foot! I would like to set that task for certain of our
+Broadway exquisites!"
+
+"She isn't a bit like a city girl!" Aunt Sarah was saying, as she
+followed Philip into the outer air.
+
+"I am glad to hear that she is likely to be a nice companion for you,
+madam. I thought, from her appearance, that you would suit each other,"
+was the reply, certainly respectful enough, but whose lurking accent of
+dry indifference sent the blood to Sarah's face.
+
+Hastily withdrawing from the open window, and beyond the reach of
+the voices that discussed her merits, she waited to recover her
+equanimity before going downstairs. In vain she chided herself for
+her sudden heat. Mortified she was, and even more ashamed of herself
+than angry with the cool young man who had pronounced her to be a
+fitting associate for her excellent but unpolished aunt. While his
+every look and intonation bespoke the educated gentleman, a being as
+different in mental as in physical muscle from the fops who formed her
+sister's train, had he weighed her against the refined woman of his
+own class and clime, and adjudged her this place? At heart she felt
+the injustice, and, stimulated by the sting, arose the resolve that
+he should learn and confess his error. Not tamely or willingly would
+she accept an ignoble station at the hands of one whom she inwardly
+recognized as capable of a true valuation of what she esteemed worthy.
+
+She looked haughty, not humbled, when she took her seat opposite her
+critic at the tea-table. "A nice companion," she was saying over
+to herself. The very phrase, borrowed, as it was, from Aunt Sarah's
+vocabulary, seemed to her seasoned with contempt. She kept down fire
+and scorn, however, when Mr. Benson accosted her with the tritest
+of remarks upon the probable heat of the day in town as contrasted
+with the invigorating breeze, with its faint, delicious sea flavor,
+that rustled the grapevines and fluttered the white curtains at the
+dining-room door and windows. Her answer was not exactly gracious, but
+it advanced the one tempting step beyond a mere reply.
+
+Thus was the ice broken, and for the rest of the meal, Aunt Sarah and
+"Uncle Nathan"--as he requested his nieces to style him--had respite
+from the duty of active entertainment, so far as conversation went. To
+Sarah's surprise, Mr. Benson talked to her almost as he would have done
+to another man. He spoke of notable persons, places, and books--things
+of which she had heard and read--without affectation of reserve or a
+shade of pretension; and to her rejoinders--brief and constrained for
+awhile--then, as she forgot herself in her subject, pertinent, earnest,
+salient, he gave more than courteous heed. It was the unaffected
+interest of an inquirer; the entire attention of one who felt that he
+received more than he gave.
+
+They parted for the night with a bow and a smile that was with each
+a mute acknowledgment of pleasure derived from the companionship of
+the other; and if neither looked forward to the meeting of the morrow
+as a renewal of congenial intercourse, both carried to their rest the
+effects of an agreeable surprise in the events of the evening.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+A week had passed since the arrival of the city nieces at the
+farmhouse. An early tea, one of Aunt Sarah's generous and appetizing
+repasts, was over; and through the garden, out at the gate that
+terminated the middle walk, and across the strip of meadow-land, danced
+Charley and Jeannie, followed at a more sedate pace by Philip Benson
+and Sarah. Seven days' rustication had wrought a marked change in the
+town-bred girl. There was a lighter bound in her step, and in her
+cheek a clear, pink glow, while her eyes looked softly, yet brightly,
+from out the shadow of her gypsy hat, a look of half surprise, half
+confidence in her companion's face.
+
+"One week ago," he was saying, "how firmly I made up my mind that
+you and I could never be anything but strangers to each other! How I
+disliked you for coming down here to interfere with my liberty and
+leisure!"
+
+"But even then you thought that I would prove a 'nice companion for
+Aunt Sarah'--perceived my suitableness to her society," was the demure
+reply.
+
+"Who told you that I said so?"
+
+"Not Aunt Sarah herself, although she considered it honest praise. I
+overheard it accidentally from my window, and I can assure you properly
+appreciated the compliment, which, by the way, was more in the tone
+than the words."
+
+"And you were thereby piqued to a different style of behavior. Bravo!
+did ever another seed so worthless bring forth so rich a harvest? I am
+glad I said it! Here is the boat."
+
+It was a pretty little affair--Charley's property and care, and he was
+already in his seat at the bow, oar in hand. Philip helped Sarah in,
+placed Jeannie beside her, and stationing himself upon the middle bench
+took up a second pair of oars. A noiseless dip of the four, and the
+craft glided out into the stream, then up against the tide, the water
+rippling into a foamy wake on either side of the sharp bow. A row was
+now the regular sequel to the day's enjoyments, and to Jeannie, at
+least, the climax of its pleasures.
+
+"Pull that way, please, Mr. Benson!" she cried. "There! right through
+that beautiful red water!"
+
+A skilful sweep brought them to the spot designated, but the crimson
+deserted the wave as they neared it, and left dull gray in its stead.
+
+"It is too bad!" complained the child, pointing back to the track
+of their boat, quivering amidst the fickle radiance she had thought
+to reach by this change of course. "It is behind us and before
+us--everywhere but where we are!"
+
+"Is there a moral in that?" questioned Philip, smiling at Sarah.
+
+"Perhaps so."
+
+A fortnight before, how assured would have been her reply! How gloomy
+her recognition of the analogy! Changed as was her mood, a shade fell
+over her countenance. Was it of apprehension, and did Philip thus
+interpret it?
+
+"I could not love life and this fair world as I do, if I conceded this
+to be universally true," he said. "That there comes, sometimes, a glory
+to the present, besides which the hues of past and future fade and are
+forgotten, I must and will believe. Such, it seems to me, must be the
+rapture of reciprocal and acknowledged affection; the joy of reunion
+after long separation from the beloved one; the bliss of reconciliation
+after estrangement. Have you ever thought how much happier we would be
+if we were to live only in the Now we have, and never strain our eyes
+with searching for, the lights and shades of what may be before us, or
+with 'mournful looking' after what is gone?"
+
+"Yet is this possible?" asked Sarah, earnestly. "Does not the very
+constitution of our natures forbid it? To me that would be a miserably
+tame, dead-level existence over which Hope sheds no enchanting
+illusions; like this river, as we saw it three days ago, cold and
+sombre as the rain-clouds that hung above it. Oh, no! give me anything
+but the chill, neutral tint of such a life as thousands are content to
+lead--people who expect nothing, fear nothing--I had almost said, feel
+nothing!"
+
+"That is because every principle of your being is at war with
+common-places. Tell me frankly, Miss Sarah, did you ever meet another
+woman who had as much character as yourself?"
+
+"I do not know that I understand the full bearing of your question."
+She leaned on the side of the boat, her hand playing in the water, her
+lips working in an irresolute timidity that was oddly at variance with
+their habitual firmness.
+
+"I am aware," she began slowly and gravely, "that I express myself too
+strongly at times; that I am more abrupt in language and action than
+most other girls. I have always been told so; but it is natural to me.
+My character has many rough and sharp edges that need softening and
+rounding"--
+
+"In order to render you one of the pretty automatons, the well-draped,
+thoroughly-oiled pieces of human clockwork that decorates men's
+homes--falsely so called--in these days of gloss and humbug!"
+interrupted Philip with energy. "I am sick to death of the dollish
+'sweet creatures' every boarding-school turns out by the score. I
+understand all the wires that work the dear puppets--flatter myself
+that I can put them through their paces (excuse the slang!) in as
+short a time as any other man of my age in the country. The delightful
+divinities! A little music, and a little less French; a skimming of
+the arts and sciences; and it is a rare thing to meet one who can tell
+an art from a science ten days after she has graduated--a stock of pet
+phrases--all hyperbolical, consequently unmeaning--a glib utterance
+of the same; a steady devotion to balls, beau-catching, gossip, and
+fancy-work; voila the modern fine lady--the stuff we are expected to
+make wives of! Wives! save the mark! I never think of the possibility
+of being thus ensnared without an involuntary repetition of a portion
+of the Litany--'From all such, etc., etc.!'"
+
+He plied his oars with renewed activity for a moment, then suspended
+them to continue, in a softer tone: "And this is the representative
+woman of your Utopia, Miss Sarah?"
+
+"Did I intimate, much less assert, such a heresy?" responded she,
+laughing. "But there is a golden mean somewhere--a union of gentleness
+and energy; of domestic and literary taste; of independence and
+submission. I have seen such in my day dreams. She is my ideal."
+
+"Which you will one day embody. No reproachful looks! This is the
+sincerity of a friend. I have promised never to flatter you again, and
+do not violate the pledge in speaking thus. From my boyhood, I have
+made human nature my study, and it would be hard to convince me that I
+err in this case."
+
+"You do! indeed you do!" exclaimed Sarah, with a look of real pain. "I
+lack the first characteristic of the portrait I have drawn. I am not
+gentle! I never was. I fear that I never will be!"
+
+"Let us hear a competent witness on that head. Jeannie!" to the child,
+who was busy spelling on her fingers to Charley; his nods and smiles to
+her, from the far end of the boat, being more intelligible to her than
+were her attempts to signal her meaning to him. "Jeannie!" repeated
+Philip, as he caught her eye. "Come, and whisper in my ear which of
+your sisters you love the best. Maybe I won't tell tales out of school
+to the one you care least for."
+
+"I don't care who knows!" said the saucy, but affectionate child. "Sis'
+Lucy is the prettiest, and she never scolds me either; but she doesn't
+make my clothes, and tell me nice stories, and help me with my lessons,
+and all that, you know. She isn't my dear, best sister!" And, springing
+up suddenly, she threw her arms around Sarah's neck, with a kiss that
+answered the question with emphasis.
+
+Sarah's lip trembled. The share of affection she had hitherto dared to
+claim as her own had barely sufficed to keep her heart from starving
+outright. She had often dreamed of fulness of love as a stay and
+comfort, as solace and nutriment in a world whose wrong side was ever
+turned to her. Now there dawned upon her the sweetness and beauty of
+a new revelation, the bliss of loving and being beloved. Over life
+floated a warm, purple tinge, like the sunset light upon the river. For
+the first time within the reach of her memory her heart rested!
+
+In the smile whose overflowing gave a tender loveliness to her
+features, Philip saw the effect he had wished and anticipated, and,
+motioning to Charley to let the boat drift with the current, he picked
+up the guitar, that by Sarah's request was always taken along in these
+excursions.
+
+    "The dew is on the blossom,
+      And the young moon on the sea;
+    It is the twilight hour--
+      The hour for you and me;
+    The time when memory lingers
+      Across life's dreary track,
+    When the past floats up before us,
+      And the lost comes stealing back."
+
+It was a love song, inimitable in its purity and tenderness, with just
+the touch of sadness that insured its passage to the heart. Sarah's
+smile was softer, but it was a smile still, as the melody arose on the
+quiet air. When the ballad was concluded, she only said, "Another,
+please!"
+
+Philip sang more than well. Without extraordinary power, his voice had
+a rich and flexible quality of tone and a delicacy of expression that
+never failed to fascinate. To the rapt and listening girl it seemed
+as if time could bring no more delicious fate than thus to glide on
+ever upon this empurpled, enchanted stream, the summer heavens above
+her, and, thrilling ear and soul, the witching lullaby that rocked her
+spirit to dreams of the youth she had never had, the love for which she
+had longed with all the wild intensity, the fervent yearning, her deep
+heart could feel.
+
+Still they floated on with the receding tide, its low washing against
+the sides of their boat filling up the pauses of the music. The burning
+red and gold of the sky cooled into the mellower tints of twilight,
+and the pale curve of the young moon shone with increasing lustre.
+Jeannie fell asleep, her head upon her sister's lap; the dumb boy sat
+motionless as stone, his dark eyes fixed on the moon; there seemed
+some spell upon the little party. Boat after boat passed them, almost
+noiselessly, for far into the clear evening went the tones of the
+singer's voice, and the dullest hearer could not withhold the tribute
+of admiring silence until beyond its reach.
+
+And Sarah, happy in the strange, restful languor that locked her senses
+to all except the blessed present, dreamed on, the music but a part of
+her ideal world, this new and beautiful life. Into it stole presently
+a theme of sadness, a strain of grief, a heart-cry, that, ere she was
+aware, wrung her own heart-strings with anguish.
+
+        "The long, long weary day
+        Is passed in tears away,
+    And still at evening I am weeping.
+        When from my window's height
+        I look out on the night,
+        I am still weeping,
+        My lone watch keeping.
+
+        "When I, his truth to prove,
+        Would trifle with my love,
+    He'd say, 'For me thou wilt be weeping,
+        When, at some future day,
+        I shall be far away;
+        Thou wilt be weeping,
+        Thy lone watch keeping.'
+
+        "Alas! if land or sea
+        Had parted him from me,
+    I would not these sad tears be weeping;
+        But hope he'd come once more,
+        And love me as before;
+        And say, 'Cease weeping,
+        Thy lone watch keeping.'
+
+        "But he is dead and gone,
+        Whose heart was mine alone,
+    And now for him I'm sadly weeping.
+        His face I ne'er shall see,
+        And naught is left to me
+        But bitter weeping,
+        My lone watch keeping."
+
+If ever a pierced and utterly hopeless soul poured forth its plaint
+in musical measure, it was in the wondrously simple and unspeakably
+plaintive air to which these words are set. There breathes in it a
+spirit wail so mournfully sincere that one recognizes its sob in the
+very chords of the accompaniment. The mere murmur of the melody, were
+no words uttered, tells the story of grieving desolation.
+
+Sarah did not move or speak, yet upon her enchanted ground a cloud had
+fallen. She saw the high casement and its tearful gazer into the night,
+a night not of music, and moonlight, and love, but chill, and wet, and
+dreary. Rain dripped from eaves and trees; stone steps and pavements
+caught a ghastly gleam from street lamps; save that sorrowful watcher,
+there was no living creature abroad or awake. She grew cold and sick
+with looking into those despairing eyes; the gloom, the loneliness, the
+woe of that vigil became her own, and her heart sank swooning beneath
+the burden.
+
+As he ceased the song, Philip looked up for some comment or request.
+To his surprise, she only clasped her hands in a gesture that might
+have been either relief from or abandonment to woe, and bowed her head
+upon them. Puzzled, yet flattered by her emotion, he refrained from
+interrupting her; and, resuming his oars, lent the impetus of their
+stroke to that of the tide. Nothing was said until the keel grated upon
+the shelly beach opposite the farmhouse. Then, as Philip stooped to
+lift the unconscious Jeannie, he imagined that he discerned the gleam
+of the sinking moon upon Sarah's dripping eyelashes.
+
+The fancy pursued him after he had gone up to his room. Seated at his
+window, looking out upon the now starlit sky, he smoked more than one
+cigar before his musing fit was ended. It was not the love-reverie
+of a smitten boy. He believed that he had passed that stage of
+sentimentalism ten years before. That Southerner of the male gender
+who has not been consumed by the fires and risen as good as new from
+the ashes of half a dozen never-dying passions before he is eighteen,
+who has not offered the heart and hand, which as often as otherwise
+constitute his chiefest earthly possessions, to some elect fair one by
+the time he is one-and-twenty, is voted "slow" invulnerable. If these
+susceptible sons of a fervid clime did not take to love-making as
+naturally as does a duckling to the pond by the time the eggshell is
+fairly off its head, they would certainly be initiated while in the
+callow state by the rules and customs of society. Courtship is at first
+a pastime, then an art, then when the earnestness of a real attachment
+takes hold of their impassioned natures, it is the one all-absorbing,
+eager pursuit of existence, until rewarded by the acquisition of its
+object or thwarted by the decided refusal of the hard-hearted Dulcinea.
+
+This state of things, this code of Cupid, every Southern girl
+understands, and shapes her conduct accordingly. Sportively, yet
+warily, she plays around the hook, and he is a very fortunate angler
+who does not in the moment of fancied success discover that she has
+carried off the bait as a trophy upon which to feed her vanity, and
+left him to be the laughing-stock of the curious spectators of this
+double game. She is imperturbable to meaning equivoques, receives
+pretty speeches and tender glances at their current value, and not
+until the suit becomes close and ardent, the attachment palpable to
+every one else, and is confessed in so many words, does she allow
+herself to be persuaded that her adorer is "in earnest," and really
+desires to awaken a sympathetic emotion in her bosom.
+
+Philip Benson was no wanton trifler with woman's feelings. On the
+contrary, he had gained the reputation in his circle of an invincible,
+indifferent looker-on of the pseudo and real combats, in Love's name,
+that were continually transpiring around him. Chivalrous in tone,
+gallant in action, as he was, the girls feared while they liked and
+admired him. They called him critical, fastidious, cold; and mockingly
+wondered why he persisted in going into company that, judging the
+future by the past, was so unlikely to furnish him with the consort
+he must be seeking. In reality, he was what he had avowed himself to
+Sarah--a student of human nature; an amateur in this species of social
+research--than which no other so frequently results in the complete
+deception of the inquirer. Certainly no other is so apt to find its
+culmination of devotion in a cold-blooded dissection of motive, morals,
+and sentiment; an unprincipled, reckless application of trial and test
+to the hearts and lives of its victims and final infidelity in all
+human good, except what is concentrated in the inspector's individual,
+personal self. Grown dainty amid the abundant supply of ordinary
+material, he comes at length to disdain common "subjects." Still less
+would he touch one already loathsome in the popular estimation, through
+excess of known and actual crime. But a character fresh and noble from
+the Creator's hand; a soul that dares to think and feel according to
+its innate sense of right; an intellect unhackneyed, not vitiated
+by worldly policy or the dogmas of the schools; a heart, tender and
+delicate--yet passionate in love or abhorrence; what an opportunity is
+here presented for the scalpel, the detective acid, the crucible, the
+microscope! It is not in fallible mortality to resist the temptation,
+and even professors of this ennobling pursuit, whose motto is, "The
+proper study of mankind is Man," are, as they allow with shame and
+confusion of face, themselves mortal. Of all the dignified humbugs of
+the solemn farce of life, deliver me from that creature self-styled "a
+student and judge of character!"
+
+In Sarah Hunt, Philip discovered, to his surprise, a rare "specimen;"
+a volume, each leaf of which revealed new matter of interest. The
+attentions he had considered himself bound to pay her, in order to
+avoid wounding their kind hosts, were soon rendered from a widely
+different motive. It did not occur to him that he was transcending the
+limits of merely friendly courtesy, as prescribed by the etiquette
+of the region in which he was now a sojourner. He was by no means
+deficient in appreciation of his personal gifts; rated his powers of
+pleasing quite as highly as did his warmest admirers, although he had
+the common sense and tact to conceal this; but he would have repelled,
+as an aspersion upon his honor, the charge that he was endeavoring to
+win this young girl's affections, his heart being as yet untouched.
+
+"Was it then altogether whole?" he asked himself to-night, with a
+coolness that should have been an immediate reply to the suggestion.
+
+Side by side, he set two mental portraits, and strove deliberately,
+impartially, to discern any traces of resemblance between the two. The
+future Mrs. Benson was a personage that engrossed much of his thoughts,
+and by long practice in the portrayal of her lineaments, he had brought
+his fancy sketch very nearly to perfection. A tall, Juno-like figure,
+with raven locks, and large, melting eyes, unfathomable as clear;
+features of classic mould; an elastic, yet stately form; a disposition
+in which amiability tempered natural impetuosity, and generous impulse
+gave direction to gentle word and deed; a mind profoundly imbued with
+the love of learning, and in cultivation, if not strength, equal to his
+own; discretion, penetration, and docility combined in such proportions
+as should render her her husband's safest counsellor, yet willing
+follower; and controlling and toning the harmonious whole, a devotion
+to himself only second in degree, not inferior in quality, to worship
+of her Creator. This was the ideal for whose embodiment our reasonable,
+modest Coelebs was patiently waiting. Answer, oh ye expectant,
+incipient Griseldas! who, from your beauteous ranks, will step into the
+prepared niche, and make the goddess a reality?
+
+And how appeared the rival picture in comparison?
+
+"No, no!" he ejaculated, tossing the remnant of his third cigar into
+the garden. "I must seek further for the 'golden mean.' Intellect and
+heart are here, undoubtedly. I must have beauty and grace as well.
+Yet," he continued, relentingly, "there are times when she would be
+quite handsome if she dressed better. It is a pity her love for the
+beautiful does not enter into her choice of wearing apparel!"
+
+In ten minutes more he was asleep, and dreamed that he stood at the
+altar with his long sought ideal, when, as the last binding words were
+spoken, she changed to Sarah Hunt, arrayed in a light blue lawn of last
+year's fashion, that made her look as sallow as a lemon, and, to his
+taste, as little to be desired for "human nature's daily food."
+
+Poor Sarah! The visionary robe was a faithful reflection upon the
+dreamer's mental retina of a certain organdie which had formed a part
+of Lucy's wardrobe the previous summer, and having become antiquated
+in six months' time, was altogether inadmissible in the belle's outfit
+of this season.
+
+"Yet it cost an awful sum when it was new!" reasoned Mrs. Hunt, "and
+will make you a very useful dress while you are with your Aunt Sarah.
+It's too good to cut up for Jeannie!"
+
+"But the color, mother?" objected the unwilling recipient.
+
+"Pooh! who will notice that? Besides, if you had a good complexion, you
+could wear blue as well as anybody."
+
+Sarah's stock of thin dresses was not plentiful, and, recalling this
+observation, she coupled it with the fact that she was growing rosy,
+and dared to equip herself in the azure garment, with what effect she
+did not dream and Mr. Philip Benson did!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+On a pleasant, although rather cloudy forenoon in July, our young
+pleasure-seekers carried into execution a long-talked-of expedition to
+the Deal Beach, distant about ten miles from Shrewsbury.
+
+By Aunt Sarah's arrangement, Charley and Jeannie occupied the back
+seat of the light wagon, and Sarah was to sit by Philip in front,
+that she "might see the country." Having accomplished this apparently
+artless manoeuvre, the good woman handed up to them a portly basket of
+luncheon, and two or three additional shawls, in case of rain or change
+of weather, and bade the gay party "good-bye" with a satisfied glow in
+heart and face. To her guileless apprehension there was no question how
+affairs were progressing between her niece and her nephew-in-law; and
+in sundry conferences on the subject between "husband" and herself, it
+had been agreed that a matrimonial alliance would be the best thing
+that could happen to either of the supposed lovers. In her simple,
+pious soul, the dear old lady already blessed the Providence that had
+accomplished the meeting and intercourse under her roof, while she
+wondered at "the strange things that come about in this world."
+
+Philip had been aware of her innocent attempts to facilitate his suit
+for several days past, and Sarah's blush, as she hesitated before
+accepting the proffered seat by the driver, showed that this move
+was so transparent as to convey the alarm to her also. For a full
+half mile Philip did not speak, except a word now and then to the
+pair of stout grays, who were Uncle Nathan's greatest earthly boast.
+He appeared thoughtful, perhaps perturbed--so Sarah's single stolen
+glance at him showed--and in the eyes that looked straight onward to
+the horizon, there was a hardness she had never seen there before. She
+was surprised, therefore, when he broke the silence by an unimportant
+observation, uttered in his usual friendly tone, and for the remainder
+of the ride was gay and kind, with a show of light-heartedness that was
+not surpassed by the merry children behind them.
+
+There was hardly enough variety in the unpicturesque country bordering
+their route to give the shadow of reasonableness to Aunt Sarah's
+pretext in selecting her namesake's seat, and, despite her escort's
+considerate attentions, Sarah had an uncomfortable ride; while her
+manner evinced more of the haughty reserve of their introduction than
+she had shown at any subsequent stage of their acquaintance. The grays
+traveled well, and a little after noon they were detached from the
+carriage, and tied in the grove of scrub-oaks skirting the beach.
+
+While Philip was busied with them, the others continued their course
+down to the shore; the children, hand-in-hand, skipping over the
+sand-hills, and stopping to pick up stones; Sarah strolling slowly
+after them. She had seen the ocean surf before, but never aught like
+this, with its huge swells of water, a mile in length, gathering
+blackness and height on their landward career; as they struck the
+invisible barriers that commanded, "Thus far and no farther!"
+breaking in white fury, with the leap of a baffled fiend, and a roar
+like thunder, against their resistless opponent, then recoiling,
+sullenly, to gather new force for another, and as useless an attack.
+The beach was wide and uneven, of sand, whose whiteness would have
+glared intolerably had the day been sunny, drifted into hillocks and
+undulating ridges, like the waves of the sea. Here and there the hardy
+heather found a foothold amid the otherwise blank sterility, the green
+patches adding to, rather than lessening the wild, desolate aspect
+of the tract. Fragments of timber were strewn in all directions, and
+Sarah's quick eye perceived that it was not formless, chance driftwood.
+There were hewn beams and shapely spars, and planks in which great iron
+bolts were still fast. When Philip overtook her, she was standing by an
+immense piece of solid wood, lying far beyond the reach of the highest
+summer tides. One end was buried in the sand; the other, bleached by
+sun and wind, and seamed with cracks, was curved like the extremity of
+a bow. Her late embarrassment or hauteur was forgotten in the direct
+earnestness of her appealing look.
+
+"Am I mistaken?" she said, in a low, awed tone. "Is not this the keel
+of a ship?"
+
+"It is. There have been many wrecked on this coast."
+
+"Here!" She glanced from the fierce, bellowing breakers to the
+melancholy testimonials of their destructive might. "I have never heard
+that this was esteemed a dangerous point."
+
+"You can form an imperfect idea of what this beach is in winter,"
+remarked Philip, signing to her to seat herself upon the sand and
+throwing himself down beside her. "I was here once, late in the autumn,
+and saw a vessel go to pieces, scarcely a stone's throw from where we
+are now sitting. The sea was high, the wind blowing a perfect gale,
+and this schooner, having lost one of her most important sails, was at
+the mercy of the elements. She was cast upon the shore, and her crew,
+watching their opportunity, sprang overboard as the waves receded and
+reached firm ground in safety. Then came a monster billow, and lifting
+the vessel farther upon the sand, left her careened towards the land.
+It was pitiful to see the poor thing! So like life were her shudders
+and groans as the cruel surf beat against her, that my heart fairly
+ached. The spray at every dash rose nearly as high as her mast-head,
+and a cataract of water swept over her deck. Piece by piece she broke
+up, and we could only stand and look on, while the scattered portions
+were thrown to our feet. I shall never forget the sight. It taught me
+the truth of man's impotence and nature's strength as I had never read
+it before."
+
+"But there were no lives lost! You were spared the spectacle of that
+most terrible scene in the tragedy of shipwreck?"
+
+"Yes. But the light of many a life has been quenched in that raging
+caldron. A young man, a resident of Shrewsbury, with whom I hunted last
+year, described to me a catalogue of horrors which he had beheld here,
+that has visited me in dreams often since. An emigrant ship was cast
+away on this coast in midwinter. High above the roar of the wind and
+the booming surf was heard the cry of the doomed wretches, perishing
+within hail of the crowd of fellow-beings who had collected at news
+of the catastrophe. The cold was intense; mast and sail and rope were
+coated with ice, and the benumbed, freezing wretches were exposed every
+instant to the torrents of brine that swept over them like sleet. The
+agony was horrible beyond description, but it was soon over. Before the
+vessel parted, the accent of mortal woe was hushed. Not a man survived
+to tell the tale."
+
+For an hour they sat thus and talked. The subject had, for Sarah, a
+fearful fascination, and, led on by her absorbed attention, Philip
+rehearsed to her wonders and stories of the mysterious old ocean, that
+to-day stretched before them, blanched and angry, under the veil of
+summer cloud, until to his auditor there were bitter wailings blent
+with the surge's roar; arms, strained and bare, were tossed above the
+dark, serpent-like swell of water, in unavailing supplication, and
+livid, dead faces stared upon her from beneath the curling crests of
+the breakers.
+
+That day on the Deal Beach! How quietly happy was its seeming! How full
+of event, emotion, fate--was its reality! Charley and Jeannie wandered
+up and down the coast, filling their baskets with shells and pebbles;
+chasing the retiring waves as far as they dared, and scampering back,
+with shrieks of laughter, as the succeeding billow rolled rapidly after
+them; building sand-houses, and digging wells to be filled by salt
+water; exulting greatly when a rough coralline fragment or a jelly-fish
+of unusual dimensions was thrown in their way. They all lunched
+together, seated upon the heather-clumps, around Aunt Sarah's liberal
+hamper.
+
+"Sister," said Jeannie, when the edge of her seaside appetite was
+somewhat blunted by her repast, "I like living here better than in New
+York--don't you?"
+
+"It is more pleasant in summer, my dear."
+
+"But I mean that I am happier here. I wish you would write to mother
+and ask her to let us live here always."
+
+"But what would she do without her baby?" asked Philip, emphasizing the
+last word.
+
+The little lady bridled instantly.
+
+"Cousin Philip, I do wish you would never call me a 'baby' again. I
+am seven years and two weeks old. I could get along very well without
+mother for awhile. Of course, I would go over sometimes and pay her
+a visit and get new dresses. Shrewsbury is a nice place; I would
+like to buy that pretty white house next to Uncle Nathan's, and live
+there--sister and Charley and I--and you--if you would promise not to
+tease me ever."
+
+"Thank you!" said Philip, with admirable gravity, seeming not to notice
+Sarah's heightened color at this proposal of co-partnership. "You are
+very kind to include me in your household arrangements, and nothing
+would please me better, if I could stay here. But you know, Jeannie,
+my dear little cousin, that my home is far away from this quarter of
+the world. I have remained here too long already." There was a touch
+of feeling or nervousness in his voice. "I had a letter last night,
+reminding me that I ought to have left a week ago to join a party of
+friends, whom I promised to meet in New York and travel with them until
+the time for our return to the South."
+
+He did not look at Sarah, but she felt that the explanation was
+intended for her--that, whether intentionally or not, he was preparing
+her for a blow to heart and hope.
+
+"I shall be obliged to leave Shrewsbury and all my friends there
+to-morrow morning, Jeannie."
+
+The child's exclamation of dismay, and Charley's quick, mute
+remonstrance to his cousin, as his playfellow communicated the news to
+him, gave Sarah time to rally firmness and words.
+
+"This is unexpected intelligence," she said, calmly. "We shall miss
+you. Your kindness has, directly and indirectly, been the means of
+affording us much pleasure during our visit to our good aunt. It will
+seem dull when you are gone."
+
+There was a flash in Philip's eye that looked like pleasure--a mixture
+of relief and surprise, as he turned to her.
+
+"I am selfish enough to hope that you will miss me for a time, at
+least. I shall not then be so soon forgotten. We have had some pleasant
+days and weeks together, have we not?"
+
+"I have enjoyed them, assuredly."
+
+She was a little pale, Philip thought, but that might be the effect of
+fatigue. Her cheek was seldom blooming, unless when flushed in animated
+speech, or by brisk exercise. She spoke of his going with politeness,
+that seemed scarce one remove from carelessness; and, man-like, his
+pleasure at the thought that their association in the country house
+had not been followed by the results Aunt Sarah wished and predicted,
+gave way to a feeling of wounded vanity and vexation, that his summer's
+companion could relinquish him so easily. While he repeated to himself
+his congratulations that his friendly and gallant attentions had not
+been misconstrued, had not awakened any inconvenient because futile
+"expectations," he wondered if it were a possibility for a girl of
+so much sense and feeling, such genuine appreciation of his talents
+and tastes, to know him well--even intimately--without experiencing a
+warmer sentiment than mere approval of an agreeable associate's mind
+and manners, and Platonic liking for him on these accounts.
+
+With the respectful familiarity of a privileged acquaintance, he
+drew her hand within his arm as they arose at the conclusion of the
+collation.
+
+"We have yet two hours and more to spend here, before we set out for
+home. We can have one more walk and talk together."
+
+They took but one turn on the beach, and returning to their morning's
+seat beside the half-buried keel tried to talk as they had done then.
+It was hard work, even to the man of the world, the heart-free student
+of human nature. Gradually the conversation languished and died away,
+and for awhile both sat silent, looking out upon the sea. Then Philip's
+gaze came back to his companion--stealthily at first, and, as she
+remained unconscious of his scrutiny, it lingered long and searchingly
+upon features, form and attire.
+
+There were white, tight lines about her mouth, and a slight knitting of
+the brow, that imparted a care-worn look to the young face it pained
+him to see. Her hands were clasped upon her knee, and the fingers were
+bloodless where they interlaced one another. Was she suffering? Was the
+threatened parting the cause of her disquiet? If this were so, what was
+his duty as a man of honor--of common humanity? And if he were forced
+to admit that he held her happiness in his power, and to accept the
+consequences that must ensue from his idle gallantry and her mistaken
+reading of the same, was the thought really repulsive? Would it be a
+total sacrifice of feeling to a sense of right? It was a repetition,
+grave and careful, of the revery of that July night two weeks ago.
+
+Sarah's hat--a broad-brimmed "flat" of brown straw--had fallen back
+upon her shoulders, and the sea breeze played in her hair, raising
+the short and loose strands and giving to the whole a rough, "frowzy"
+look. Her plain linen collar and undersleeves showed her complexion
+and hands to the worst possible advantage. Upon her cheeks, this same
+unfriendly wind had bestowed a coat of tan and a few freckles, that
+were all the more conspicuous from her pallor, while her fingers were
+as brown as a gypsy's. Her gray poplin dress had lost most of its
+original gloss, and being one of Mrs. Hunt's bargains--"a cheap thing,
+but plenty good for that outlandish Shrewsbury"--already betrayed
+its cotton warp by creases that would not be smoothed, and an aspect
+of general limpness--a prophecy of speedy, irremediable shabbiness.
+Cast loosely about her shoulders was a light shawl, green, with black
+sprigs--another bargain; and beyond the skirt of her robe appeared
+the toe and instep of a thick-soled gaiter, very suitable for a tramp
+through damp sand, yet anything but becoming to the foot it protected.
+
+With an impatient shake of the head, involuntary and positive, Philip
+closed his final observation. And cutting off a large splinter from the
+weather-beaten timber against which he leaned, set about trimming it,
+wearing a serious, settled face, that said his mind was fully made up.
+
+What had Sarah seen all this while?
+
+Heavens, over which the films of the forenoon had thickened into dun
+cloud-curtains, stretching above and enwrapping the world; a wild,
+dreary expanse of troubled waters, whose horizon line was lost in the
+misty blending of sea and sky, ever hurrying and heaving to moan out
+their unrest upon the barren beach. In the distance was a solitary
+sail; nearer to the land, a large sea-bird flew heavily against the
+wind. In such mateless, weary night must her life be passed; that lone,
+frail craft was not so hopelessly forlorn upon a gloomy sea, beneath
+a sky that gloomed yet more darkly--as was her heart, torn suddenly
+from its moorings--anchor and rudder and compass gone. Yet who could
+syllable the mighty sorrow of the complaining sea? And were there words
+in human language that could tell the anguish of the swelling flood
+beating within her breast?
+
+"Going away! To-morrow!" For a little space this was all the lament
+she kept repeating over to herself. Pregnant with woe she knew it to
+be, yet it was not until she was allowed to meditate in silence upon
+the meaning of the words that she realized what had truly come upon
+her. She had thrown away all her hope of earthly happiness--risked
+it as madly, lost it as surely, as if she had tossed it--a tangible
+pearl--into the yawning ocean. Her instinct assured her that, were it
+otherwise, the tidings of Philip's intended departure, his suddenly
+formed resolution to leave her, would have been conveyed to her in a
+far different manner. Her keen backward glance penetrated Aunt Sarah's
+simple wiles; his obvious annoyance thereat; his determination to
+save himself from suspicion; his honorable fear lest she, too, should
+imagine him loving, where he was only civil and kind. Yes, it was all
+over! The best thing she could hope to do, the brightest prospect life
+had now for her, was that her secret should remain hers alone, until
+the troubled heart moaned itself into rest which knows no waking.
+She was used to concealment. All her existence, excepting the sweet
+delusive dream of the past three weeks, had been a stern preparation
+for this trial. But she was already weary and faint--fit to lie down
+and die, so intense had been the throe of this one struggle.
+
+"How long is this to last? How long?"
+
+The exclamation actually broke, in an inarticulate murmur, from her
+lips.
+
+"Did you speak?" inquired Philip.
+
+"I think not. I am not sure. I did not intend to do so."
+
+"Grant me credit for my forebearance in not obtruding my prosaic
+talk upon your musings," he went on, playfully. "It was a powerful
+temptation--for I remember, constantly, that this is our last
+opportunity for a genuine heart and head confabulation, such as I shall
+often linger for after I leave you--and sincerity! You have done me
+good, Miss Sarah; taught me Faith, Hope, Charity--a blessed sisterhood!"
+
+"May they ever attend you!"
+
+"Amen! and thank you! And what wish shall I make in return for your
+beautiful benediction?"
+
+"Whatever you like. My desires are not many or extravagant."
+
+"You are wrong. You have a craving heart and a craving mind. May both
+be fed to the full, with food convenient for them--in measures pressed
+down, shaken together and running over."
+
+"Of what? Husks?" was Sarah's unspoken and bitter reply. She could not
+thank him, as he had done her. She only bowed, and, bending forward,
+took up a handful of the fine white sand that formed the shore. Slowly
+sifting it through her fingers, she waited for him to speak again.
+
+Was this careless equanimity real or feigned? The judge of character,
+the harpist upon heart-chords, made the next move--not the candid,
+manly friend.
+
+"I am going to ask a favor of you--a bold one."
+
+"Say on."
+
+"By the time I am ready to retrace my steps southward you will be
+again settled in New York. Will you think me presumptuous if I call at
+your father's house to continue an acquaintance which has been, to me,
+at once agreeable and profitable?"
+
+The fingers were still, suddenly. A warm glow, like sunrise, swept over
+cheek and forehead. A smile, slight but sweet, quivered upon her lips.
+Drowning in the depths, she heard across the billow a hail that spoke
+of hope, life, happiness.
+
+"We will all be glad to see you," she said, with affected composure.
+
+"Not half so glad as I shall be to come. Will you now, while you think
+of it, give me your address?"
+
+He handed her a card and a pencil. She wrote the required direction
+and received in exchange for it the now smooth bit of wood, which had
+afforded occupation to Philip for half an hour past. It was tendered
+in mock ceremony, and accepted smilingly. Upon the gray tablet was
+inscribed "Philip Benson, Deal Beach, July 27th, 1856." A playful or
+thoughtless impulse caused him to extend his hand for it, after she had
+read it, and to add a motto, stale as innocent in his eyes: "Pensez a
+moi!"
+
+"I shall preserve it as a souvenir of the day and place," observed
+Sarah, slipping it into her pocket.
+
+Twilight overtook them before they reached home, and the night was too
+cloudy and damp for a promenade, such as they often had in the garden
+walks and lane, or for the customary family gathering in the long
+porch. Yet Aunt Sarah was surprised that Philip was apparently content
+to spend the evening in the sitting-room, with herself and husband by
+to spoil the tete-a-tete he must be longing for.
+
+Still more confounded was she, when, after her clever strategy of
+coaxing Uncle Nathan into the kitchen, that the coast might be clear,
+she heard Philip's step close behind them.
+
+"I must clean my gun to-night, aunt," he said, taking it from the
+corner. "I shall not have time to do it to-morrow."
+
+With the utmost nonchalance he began the operation, whistling softly
+a lively air over his work. Aunt Sarah gave her partner a look of
+bewildered despair, which he returned by a confirmatory nod, and a
+smile, half comic, half regretful.
+
+After breakfast next morning the nephew-guest said affectionate
+farewells to his relatives and Jeannie; a grave, gentle adieu to Sarah,
+accompanied by a momentary pressure of the hand, that may have meant
+much or little, and upon the snug homestead settled a quiet that was
+dreariness itself to one of its inmates.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+Meanwhile, how had the time sped to the nominal head of the Hunt
+household--the solitary, toiling father and husband? The servants were
+dismissed when "the family" left town, although Mr. Hunt continued
+to sleep at home. A peripatetic maid-of-all-work--what the English
+denominate a charwoman--was engaged to come early every morning to
+clear up the only room in the establishment that was used before the
+cashier went out for his breakfast, which he procured at a restaurant
+pretty far down town. The same quiet coffee-house furnished him with
+dinner and an early tea, after which last refreshment he was at
+liberty to pass the evening in whatever manner he liked best. There
+was nothing in the city worth seeing at this season, even if he had
+not lost all taste for shows and gayety. Those of his acquaintances
+who were not absent with their wives and daughters were living like
+himself, furniture in overalls, carpets covered, apartments closed,
+with the exception, perhaps, of one bedroom, and had no place in which
+to receive him if he had been in the habit of visiting, which he was
+not. He was very tired, moreover, by the time night came on, and as the
+heat increased and the days grew longer, his strength waned more and
+more, and his spirits with it. Meekly and uncomplainingly he plodded
+through his routine of bank duties, so steady and so faithful that
+his fellow-workers and customers had come to regard him as a reliable
+fixture, a piece of machinery, whose winding up was self-performed and
+whose accuracy was infallible.
+
+When, therefore, on a sultry August afternoon, he turned to leave his
+desk at the close of business hours, grew terribly pale and dropped
+upon the floor in a fit of death-like faintness, there was great
+consternation, and as much wonder as if no human clock-work had ever
+given out before, under a like process of exhausting demands.
+
+Clumsily, but with the best of intentions, they brought him to his
+senses, and in half an hour or so he was sufficiently recovered to be
+taken home. There was a twitching of the lips that might have passed
+for a sarcastic smile, as he heard the proposal to convey him to his
+house; but he only gave his street and number, and lay silently back
+in the carriage, supported by his friends, two of whom insisted upon
+seeing him safely to his own abode.
+
+"Is this the place? Why, it is all shut up!" exclaimed one of these
+gentlemen as the driver drew up before the dusty steps.
+
+Mrs. Hunt's orders were that the entrance to her mansion should
+present the most desolate air possible during her absence. It had "an
+aristocratical look in the summer time, when everybody but nobodies was
+rusticating."
+
+Again that singular contortion of the mouth, and the master (?) of the
+forlorn-looking habitation prepared to descend, fumbling in his pocket
+for his pass-key.
+
+"I am obliged to you, gentlemen, for your great kindness, and
+will--not--trouble--you--longer."
+
+In trying to raise his hand to his hat for a bow, the ghastly hue again
+overspread his face, and he staggered. Without further parley his two
+aids laid hold of him, one on each side, and supported him into the
+house, up one, two flights of linen-draped stairs, to a back bedroom.
+
+Mrs. Hunt would have let her husband faint on the sidewalk before she
+would have received company in that chamber in its present condition;
+for the handsomest articles of furniture stood covered up in another
+apartment, and their place was supplied by a plain bureau, wash-stand
+and bed belonging to the boys' room, a story higher up. The wisdom of
+this precaution was manifest in the signs of neglect and slovenliness
+displayed on all sides. One could have written his name in the dust
+upon the glass; there was dirt in every corner and under each chair and
+table; the wash-basin was partly full of dirty suds, and the towels
+and counterpane shockingly dingy.
+
+These things were not remarked by the intruders until they had got
+their charge to bed, resisted no longer by him, for he began to
+comprehend his inability to help himself.
+
+"There is no one besides ourselves on the premises, not even a
+servant," one of them said apart to his associate, after a brief
+absence from the room. "If you will stay with him until I come back I
+will go for a doctor."
+
+The invalid caught the last word.
+
+"Indeed, Mr. Hammond, there is no need for you to do anything more--no
+necessity for calling in a physician. I am quite comfortable now, and
+shall be well by morning."
+
+Mr. Hammond, who was a director in the bank, and sincerely honored the
+honest veteran now prostrated by his devoted performance of duty, took
+the hot, tremulous hand in his.
+
+"I cannot allow you to peril your valuable health, my dear sir. Unless
+you positively forbid it, I shall not only call your physician, but
+drop in again myself this evening, and satisfy my mind as to whether
+you require my presence through the night."
+
+He was as good as his word; but no amount of persuasion could induce
+Mr. Hunt to accept his offered watch. He would be "uneasy, unhappy,
+if his young friend sacrificed his own rest so uselessly," and loath
+as he was to leave him to solitude and suffering, Mr. Hammond had to
+yield. At his morning visit, he found the patient more tractable. After
+tedious hours of fevered wakefulness, he had endeavored to rise, only
+to sink back again upon his pillow--dizzy, sick, and now thoroughly
+alarmed at the state of his system. He did not combat his friend's
+proposal to obtain a competent nurse, and to look in on him in person
+as often as practicable; still, utterly refused to allow his wife to be
+written to on the subject of his indisposition.
+
+"I shall be better in a day or two, probably before she could reach me.
+I have never had a spell of illness. It is not likely that this will
+be anything of consequence. I greatly prefer that she should not be
+apprised of this attack."
+
+Mr. Hammond was resolute on his part--the more determined, when the
+physician had paid another visit, and pronounced the malady a low
+fever, that would, doubtless, confine the sick man to his bed for
+several days, if not weeks.
+
+"It is not just to your wife and children, Mr. Hunt, to keep them in
+ignorance of so important a matter!" he urged. "They will have cause to
+feel themselves aggrieved by you, and ill-treated by me, if we practice
+this deception upon them."
+
+Mr. Hunt lay quiet for some minutes.
+
+"Perhaps you are in the right," he said. "Sarah would be wounded, I
+know. I will send for her!" he concluded, with more animation. "She
+will come as soon as she receives the letter."
+
+"Of course she will!" rejoined Mr. Hammond, confidently; "you are not
+able to write. Suffer me to be your amanuensis." He sat down at a
+stand, and took out his pen. "Where is Mrs. Hunt at present?"
+
+"I am not sure. Either at Saratoga or Newport."
+
+Mr. Hammond looked surprised. "But it is necessary, sir, that we should
+know with some degree of certainty, or the letter may miscarry. Perhaps
+it would be well to write to both places."
+
+"The letter! Both places!" repeated Mr. Hunt, with perplexity. "I
+alluded to my daughter Sarah, sir, my second child, who is spending the
+summer with her aunt in Shrewsbury, New Jersey. May I take the liberty
+of asking you to write her a short note, mentioning my sickness in as
+guarded terms as you can use, and requesting her to come up to the city
+for a few days? She has my youngest child--a little girl--with her. If
+she can be contented to remain with her aunt, Sarah had better leave
+her there. She would be an additional burden to her sister if she were
+here."
+
+Whatever Mr. Hammond thought of the marked preference shown to the
+daughter above the wife, he said nothing, but proceeded to indite the
+desired epistle, adding, in a postscript, on his own account, that he
+would take pleasure in meeting Miss Hunt at the wharf, on her arrival,
+and for this purpose would be at the boat each day, until she made her
+appearance in New York.
+
+He went, accordingly, the next afternoon, although very confident that
+she could not have received his letter in season to take that boat. Mr.
+Hunt had proved to him and to himself the utter impossibility of her
+coming, yet his eyes brightened with expectancy as his friend entered,
+and faded into sadness as he reported the ill-success of his errand.
+
+"He is evidently extremely partial to this one of his children,"
+thought Mr. Hammond, as he paced the wharf on the second evening,
+watching, amid noisy hack-drivers and expressmen, for the steamer. "I
+have seen the girls at parties, but do not remember their names. One of
+them is very pretty. I wonder if she is 'Sarah!'"
+
+It was growing dusk as the boat touched the pier. So dim was the light,
+that Mr. Hammond was obliged to station himself close beside the
+gangway, and inspect the features of each lady passenger more narrowly
+than politeness would, in other circumstances, have warranted. They
+hurried across, men and women, tall and short, stout and slender, until
+there tripped towards him the figure of a young girl, attired in a gray
+dress and mantle, and carrying a small traveling bag in her hand. She
+would have passed him, had he not stepped forward and spoken.
+
+"Miss Hunt, I believe!"
+
+In the uncertain twilight, he could see that she grew very pale.
+
+"How is my father?"
+
+There was no preamble of civility or diffidence; no reserve in
+addressing him, a mere stranger; no trembling, preparatory queries; but
+a point-blank question, in a tone whose impatient anguish moved his
+kind heart; a piercing look, that would know the truth then and there!
+
+"He is better, to-day"--and he led her out of the press of the onward
+stream. "He has not been dangerously ill. We hope and believe that he
+will not be."
+
+"Is that true?" Her fingers tightened upon his arm.
+
+"It is! I would not, for the world, deceive you in such a matter."
+
+"I believe you! Thank Heaven! I feared the worst!" She covered her
+face with her hands, and burst into tears.
+
+Hammond beckoned a hackman, close by, and when the short-lived reaction
+of overwrought feeling subsided so far as to allow Sarah to notice
+surrounding objects, she was seated in the carriage, screened from
+curious or impertinent gazers, and her escort was nowhere to be seen.
+Several minutes elapsed before he again showed himself at the window.
+
+"I must trouble you for your checks, Miss Hunt, in order to get your
+baggage."
+
+Already ashamed of her emotion, she obeyed his demand without speaking.
+
+"You have given me but one," he said, turning it over in his hand.
+
+"That is all, sir."
+
+"Indeed! You are a model traveler! I thought no young lady, in these
+days, ever stirred from home without half a dozen trunks." To himself
+he added, "A sensible girl! An exception to most of her sex, in one
+thing, at any rate!"
+
+Sarah sat well back into her corner, as they drove up lighted Broadway,
+and was almost rudely taciturn, while her companion related the
+particulars of her father's seizure and subsequent confinement to his
+room. Yet, that she listened with intense interest, the narrator knew
+by her irregular breathing and immovable attitude. As they neared their
+destination, this fixedness of attention and posture was exchanged for
+an eager restlessness. She leaned forward to look out of the window,
+and when they turned into the last street, quick as was Mr. Hammond's
+motion to unfasten the door of the vehicle, her hand was first upon
+the lock. It was cold as ice, and trembled so much as to be powerless.
+Gently removing it, he undid the catch, and assisted her to alight.
+
+The hired nurse answered their ring, and while Sarah brushed past
+her, and flew up the stairway, Mr. Hammond detained the woman to make
+inquiries and issue directions.
+
+"It is all very dreary-like, sir," she complained. "Everything is
+packed away and locked up. There's no getting at a lump of sugar
+without a hunt for the key, and all he's seemed to care for this
+blessed day, was that his daughter should be made comfortable. He sent
+me out this afternoon to buy biscuits, and sardines, and peaches for
+her tea, and told me where I'd find silver and china. It is not at all
+the thing for him to be worrying at such a rate. He'll be worse for it
+to-morrow, and so I've told him, Mr. Hammond."
+
+"Perhaps not, Mrs. Kerr. His daughter's coming will cheer him and quiet
+him, too, I doubt not. I will not go up now. Please present my regards
+to Mr. Hunt, and say that I will call to-morrow."
+
+He purposely deferred his visit until the afternoon, supposing that
+Miss Hunt might object to his early and unceremonious appearance in
+the realms now under her control; nor when he went did he ascend at
+once to the sick-chamber, as was his custom before the transfer of its
+superintendence. Sending up his name by the nurse, he awaited a formal
+invitation, among the shrouded sofas and chairs of the sitting-room.
+
+"You'll please to walk up, sir!" was the message he received; and the
+woman subjoined, confidentially, "Things is brighter to-day, sir."
+
+They certainly were. With wonderfully little noise and confusion,
+Sarah, assisted by the nurse, had wrought an utter change in the
+desolate apartment. With the exception of the bureau, which had
+been drawn out of sight into the adjoining dressing-room, and the
+bedstead, the common, defaced furniture had disappeared, and its place
+was supplied by more comfortable and elegant articles. The windows
+were shaded, without giving an aspect of gloom to the chamber; the
+bed-coverings were clean and fresh; and the sick man, supported by
+larger and plumper pillows than those among which he had tossed for
+many a weary night, greeted his visitor with a cordial smile and
+outstretched hand.
+
+"I thank you for your kind care of my daughter last evening, sir.
+Sarah, my dear, this is my friend, Mr. Hammond, to whose goodness I am
+so much indebted."
+
+"The debt is mine no less," was the frank reply, as she shook hands
+with her new acquaintance. "We can never thank you sufficiently, Mr.
+Hammond, for all you have done for us, in taking care of him."
+
+"A genuine woman! a dutiful, affectionate daughter!" was now Hammond's
+comment, as he disclaimed all right to her gratitude. "None of your
+sentimental, affected absurdities, with nothing in either head or
+heart!"
+
+This impression was confirmed by daily observation; for politeness
+first, then inclination, induced him to continue his "professional"
+calls, as Sarah styled them. He seemed to divide with her the
+responsibility of her position. Its duties were onerous; but for this
+she did not care. She was strong and active, and love made labor
+light--even welcome to her. A competent cook was inducted into office
+below stairs, and household matters went forward with system and
+despatch. The eye of the mistress, pro tem., was over all; her hand
+ever ready to lift her share of the load, yet her attendance at her
+father's bedside appeared unremitting. His disease, without being
+violent, was distressing and wearing, destroying sleep and appetite,
+and preying constantly upon the nerves. To soothe these, Sarah read and
+talked cheerfully, and often, at his request, sang old-time ballads and
+childish lullabys to court diversion and slumber.
+
+Occasionally Lewis Hammond paused without the door until the strain was
+concluded, drinking in the notes with more pleasure than he was wont to
+feel in listening to the bravuras and startling, astonishing cadenzas
+that were warbled in his ears by the amateur cantatrices of the "best
+circles;" then, when the sounds from within ceased, he delayed his
+entrance some moments longer, lest the songstress should suspect his
+eavesdropping. He ceased to speculate upon the reasons of Mrs. Hunt's
+protracted absence at a time when no true-hearted wife could, from
+choice, remain away from her rightful post. When, at the expiration
+of a fortnight from the day of the attack, the physician declared his
+patient feebly, but surely convalescent, his young friend had decided,
+to his entire satisfaction, that things were best as they were. Mr.
+Hunt had made a most judicious selection from the female portion of his
+family, and what need of more nurses when this one was so efficient
+and willing? He caught himself hoping that the fussy dame he had met
+in society would not abridge her summer's recreation on account of
+an ailing husband. He had designed going to Saratoga himself, for ten
+days or two weeks; but he was very well. It was difficult to get away
+from business, and this affair of Mr. Hunt's enlisted his sympathies
+so deeply, that he could not resolve upon leaving him. If he had never
+before enjoyed the bliss that flows from a disinterested action, he
+tasted it now.
+
+Mrs. Hunt was not kept in total ignorance of what was transpiring at
+home. Sarah had written, cautiously and hopefully, of her father's
+sickness and her recall; repeating Mr. Hunt's wish that his consort
+should not hurry back through mistaken solicitude for his health and
+comfort; and they were taken at their word. A week elapsed before an
+answer arrived--a lengthy missive, that had cost the writer more pains
+and time than the preparation for her annual "crush" generally did. She
+was an indifferent penman, and sadly out of practice; but there was
+much to be said, and "Lucy, of course, circumstanced as she was, could
+not spare time to be her scribe."
+
+This significant phrase quickened Sarah's inborn curiosity; but there
+was nothing for the next three pages that fed or quieted it. They were
+filled with minute directions about housewifery--economical details,
+that would have served as capital illustrations of "Poor Richard's"
+maxims; injunctions, warnings, and receipts sufficient in quantity to
+last a young, frugally-disposed housekeeper for the remainder of her
+natural existence. It was a trial to this exemplary wife and mother,
+she confessed, to absent herself so long from her home duties; but
+circumstances had compelled her to stay at Saratoga. Of their nature,
+Sarah had already been informed in her sister's last letter.
+
+"Which I cannot have received, then"--Sarah interrupted herself to say,
+as she read to her father: "I have not heard from Lucy in four weeks. I
+have thought hard of her for not writing."
+
+ "But," concluded Mrs. Hunt, "matters looks well just now, and I know
+ your father will aggree, when he heers all about our season's work,
+ that our labor and Money has been a good investment. Take care of the
+ keys yourself, Sarah. Be pruedent, keep a sharp Lookout on the cook,
+ and don't negleck your poor father.
+
+     "Your Affectionate mother,
+
+     "E. Hunt."
+
+ "P. S. Your kitchen Girl must have a Great deel of spair Time. Set her
+ to work cleening the House, for you may expeckt us home in two weeks,
+ or maybe Less.
+
+     "E. H."
+
+Lucy had slipped a note in the same envelope--a thin, satiny sheet,
+hardly larger than the little hand that had moved over its perfumed
+page. Her chirography was very running, very light, very ladylike, and,
+we need not say, very italical.
+
+ "Mamma tells me, Sarah dear, that she has given you a hint of how
+ matters are progressing between your humble servant and our particular
+ friend, of whom I wrote in my last. The poor, dear woman flatters
+ herself that it is all her work; but somebody else may have his
+ own opinion, and I certainly have mine. I have had to caution her
+ repeatedly, to prevent her from showing her delight too plainly to my
+ 'Goldfinch,' as Vic. and I have dubbed him. Don't be in a hurry with
+ your congratulations, ma chere. 'There's many a slip 'twixt the cup
+ and the lip;' and although the season is so near over, I may yet see
+ some one whom I like better than His Highness. Vic. has a beau, too--a
+ rich widower, less fascinating than my devoted; but a very agreeable
+ man, without encumbrance, and very much smitten. So we pair off nicely
+ in our rides and promenades, and, entre nous, are quite the talk. You
+ are a good little thing to nurse papa so sweetly--a great deal better
+ than I am. I told my knight of this proof of your excellence the other
+ day, and he said it was only what might have been expected from my
+ sister! Don't you feel flattered? Poor fellow! Love is blind, you know.
+
+ "Love to papa. I am sorry he has been so unwell. I do not imagine
+ that I shall have time to write again before we leave this paradise.
+ We will telegraph you when to expect us. Perhaps I may have an escort
+ home--some one who would like to have a private conference with my
+ respected father. Nous verrons!
+
+     "Lovingly,
+
+     "Lucie."
+
+Mr. Hunt twisted himself uneasily in his arm-chair as his daughter,
+by his desire, reluctantly read aloud the double letter. A shade of
+dissatisfaction and shame clouded his countenance when she finished,
+and he sighed heavily.
+
+"I am glad they are still enjoying themselves," said Sarah, forcing a
+smile. "Lucy has secured a captive too, it appears--one whom she is
+likely to bring home at her chariot wheels."
+
+"In my day daughters were in the habit of consulting their fathers
+before giving decided encouragement to any admirers, strangers
+especially," said Mr. Hunt, with displeasure. "In these times there are
+no parents! There is the 'old man' and 'the Governor,' who makes the
+money his children honor him by wasting, and the 'poor, dear woman,'
+who plays propriety in the belle's flirtations, and helps, or hinders,
+in snaring some booby 'Goldfinch.' It is a lying, cheating, hollow
+world! I have been sick of it for twenty years!"
+
+"Father! my dear father," exclaimed Sarah, kneeling beside him, and
+winding her arms about his neck. "You misjudge your children, and their
+love for you!"
+
+"I believe in you, child! I cannot understand how you have contrived
+to grow up so unlike your sister and your"--The recollection of the
+respect his daughter owed her mother, checked the word.
+
+"You do not deal fairly with Lucy's character, father. She has one of
+the kindest hearts and most amiable dispositions in the world. I wish
+I had caused you as little anxiety as she has. Remember her obedience
+and my wilfulness; her gentleness and my obstinacy, and blush at your
+verdict, Sir Judge!"
+
+She seated herself upon his foot-cushion and rested her chin upon his
+knee, looking archly up in his face. She was surprised and troubled at
+this degree of acrimony in one whose habitual manner was so placid, and
+his judgment so mild; but, for his sake, she was resolute not to show
+her feeling. He laid his hand caressingly upon her shoulder, and sank
+into a revery, profound, and seemingly not pleasant.
+
+Sarah took advantage of his abstraction to remove the wrapper of a
+newspaper received by the same mail that had brought her letters.
+The operation was carefully performed, so as not to invite notice,
+and the envelope laid away in her work-box. She knew well who had
+traced the clear, bold superscription, and what initials composed the
+mysterious cipher in one corner of the cover; nor was this the only
+token of recollection she had from this source. The article marked in
+the number of the literary journal he had selected as the medium of
+correspondence, was an exquisite little poem from an author whose works
+Philip had read to her in the vine-covered porch at Shrewsbury. Slowly,
+longingly she perused it; gathering sweetness from every word, and
+fancying how his intonations would bring out beauties she could not of
+herself discover. Then she took out the wrapper again, and studied the
+postmark. On the former papers he had sent the stamp was illegible, but
+this was easily deciphered--"Albany."
+
+"So near! He is returning homewards!" was the glad reflection that
+flooded her face with joy.
+
+"Sarah!" said her father, abruptly. "Do you ever think of marriage?"
+
+"Sir?" stammered the girl, confused beyond measure.
+
+"I mean, have you imbibed your sister's ideas on this subject? the
+notions of ninety-nine hundredths of girls in your walk of life.
+Do you intend to seek a husband, boldly and unblushingly, in all
+public places? to degrade yourself by practising the arts they
+understand so well to catch an 'eligible' partner, who may repay your
+insincerity and mercenary views by insult and infidelity--at best by
+indifference! Child! you do not know the risk match-making mothers
+and husband-hunting daughters run; the terrible retribution that
+may be--that often is in store for such! I had rather see you and
+your sister dead, than the victims of that most hateful of heartless
+shows--a fashionable marriage! Poor Lucy! poor Lucy!"
+
+"I hope you are distressing yourself without reason, sir. Mother is
+not the person to surrender her child to one whose character and
+respectability are not indisputable. Nor is Lucy sentimental. I do not
+fear her suffering very acutely from any cause."
+
+"I grant that. You would be more to be pitied as an unloved or unloving
+wife, than she. I tremble for you sometimes, when I think of this
+chance. My daughter, when you marry, look beyond the outside show. Seek
+for moral worth and a true heart, instead of dollars and cents!"
+
+"I will! I promise!" said Sarah, her amazement at his earnestness and
+choice of topics combining to shake her voice and constrain her smile.
+"But there is time enough for that, father dear. When the man of heart
+and worth sues for my poor hand, I will refer him to you, and abide
+entirely by your decision."
+
+"Mr. Hammond is downstairs," said the servant at the door. And Sarah,
+gathering up her papers, escaped from the room before he entered.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+Mr. Hunt was able to resume his place in the bank several days before
+his wife returned. Uncle Nathan had brought Jeannie home as soon as her
+father could leave his room, and the boys had likewise been written
+for; so that the family reunion was apparently near at hand.
+
+Weak as he was, Mr. Hunt met his spouse and daughter at the depot, and
+the noise of their entrance in the lower hall first apprised Sarah of
+their arrival. To the bound of pleasurable excitement her heart gave at
+the certainty that they had come, succeeded a sigh at the termination
+of the free, yet busy life she had led of late--the probability that
+she would be compelled to resume her old habits of feeling and action.
+Driving back the selfish regret, she ran down to welcome the travellers.
+
+"How well you're looking, Sarah!" said Mrs. Hunt, after kissing her. "I
+declare, if you was to arrange your hair different, and study dress a
+bit, you would come near being right down handsome."
+
+"'Handsome is as handsome does!'" quoted Mr. Hunt, stoutly. "According
+to that rule, she is a beauty."
+
+"Thank you, sir!" said Sarah, bowing low. And she tried to forget,
+in her sister's affectionate greeting, the chill and heart-sickness
+produced by her mother's business-like manner and compliment.
+
+"Having disposed of one daughter, she means to work the other into
+merchantable shape!" was her cynical deduction from the dubious praise
+bestowed upon herself.
+
+Mrs. Hunt pursued her way up the steps, examining and remarking upon
+everything she saw.
+
+"Them stair-rods ain't so clean as they had ought to be, Sarah. I'm
+afraid your girls are careless, or shirks. When did you uncover the
+carpet?"
+
+"Some time ago, mother, while father was sick. There were gentlemen
+calling constantly, and the cover looked shabby, I thought."
+
+"It couldn't be helped, I s'pose; but the carpet is more worn than I
+expected to see it. With the heavy expenses that will be crowding on
+us this fall and winter, we can't afford to get any new things for the
+house."
+
+Lucy, who preceded her sister, glanced back and laughed meaningly. And
+Sarah was very glad that her father had not overheard the observation,
+which confirmed her belief that the beauty's hand was disposed of
+without the form of consultation with her natural and legal guardian.
+
+Dinner was announced by the time the traveling habiliments and dust
+were removed. Sarah had spared no pains to provide a bountiful and
+tasteful repast, at the risk of incurring her mother's reproof for her
+extravagant proclivities. But the dame was in high good-humor, and the
+youthful purveyor received but a single sentence of deprecation.
+
+"I hope you have not been living as high as this all the time, Sarah!"
+
+"No, ma'am. Father's wants and mine were very few. I foresaw that you
+would need substantial refreshment after your journey."
+
+"You was very thoughtful. We both have good appetites, I guess. I know
+that I have."
+
+"Mine will speak for itself," said Lucy.
+
+"You have no idea how that girl has enjoyed everything since she has
+been away," observed Mrs. Hunt to her husband. "There was Vic. West,
+who took it into her head that she ought to look die-away and peaking,
+and refuse food, when her beau was by; but Lu., she just went right
+along and behaved natural, and I'm sure that somebody thought more of
+her for it."
+
+Mr. Hunt's face darkened for a moment; but he could not find fault with
+his eldest child on her first evening at home.
+
+"So you have been quite a belle, Lucy," he said, pleasantly.
+
+"Better than that, Mr. H.!" Mrs. Hunt checked her triumphant
+announcement as the butler re-entered the room. "I shouldn't wonder,"
+she resumed, rather mysteriously, "if Lucy was disposed to settle down
+into a steady, sedate matron after her holiday."
+
+"Don't deceive yourself with that hope!" laughed Lucy.
+
+She was evidently pleased by these not over-delicate allusions to her
+love-affairs, and, like her mother, extremely complacent over the
+result of her recent campaign. Sarah felt that, were she in her place,
+she would shrink from this open jesting upon a sacred subject; still
+she had not expected that her sister would behave differently. Lucy's
+nature was gentle without being fine; affectionate but shallow. She
+would have had no difficulty in attaching herself to any man whom her
+friends recommended as "a good match," provided he were pleasing in
+exterior, and her most devoted servitor.
+
+The sisters had no opportunity of private converse until they adjourned
+to the parlor for the evening. Lucy was very beautiful in a blue silk,
+whose low corsage and short sleeves revealed her superb shoulders and
+rounded arms. Her complexion was a rich carmine, deepening or softening
+with every motion--one would have said, with every breath. Her blue
+eyes fairly danced in a sort of subdued glee, very charming and very
+becoming but altogether unlike the tender, dewy light of "Love's first
+young dream."
+
+"How lovely you have grown, sister!" said Sarah, earnestly. "Oh, Lucy,
+I don't believe you rightly value the gift of beauty--as I would do if
+it were mine!"
+
+"Nonsense!" The dimples, that made her smile so bewitching, broke her
+blushes into rosy waves as the conscious fair one turned her face
+towards the mirror. "I am pleased to hear that I am passable to-night.
+We may have visitors. A friend of ours has expressed a great desire to
+see me in my home--'in the bosom of my family.' Ahem!"
+
+She smoothed out an imaginary wrinkle in her bodice, an excuse for
+tarrying longer before the glass.
+
+"He came to town with you, then?" ventured Sarah.
+
+Lucy nodded.
+
+"And promised to call this evening?"
+
+"Right again, my dear!"
+
+She was graver now, for she had conceived the happy notion of
+appropriating to her own use a cluster of white roses and buds she
+discovered in the vase on the marble slab under the mirror. If anything
+could have enhanced the elegance of her figure and toilet, it was
+the coiffure she immediately set about arranging. The flowers were a
+present to Sarah from Lewis Hammond; but she thought little of him or
+of them, as Lucy laid them first on one, then on the other side of
+head, to try the effect.
+
+"And you really care for him, sister?" came forth in such a timid,
+anxious tone, that Lucy burst into a fit of laughter.
+
+"You dear little modest piece of romantic simplicity! One would suppose
+that you were popping the question yourself, from your behavior. Care
+for him? Why shouldn't I? I need not say 'yes' unless I do, need I?"
+
+"But you take it so coolly! A betrothal is, to me, such a solemn thing."
+
+"And to most other girls, perhaps. (There! if I only had a hair-pin.
+Don't rob yourself! thank you! Isn't that an improvement?) As I was
+saying, why should I pretend to be pensive and doleful, when I am as
+merry as a lark? or lovesick, when I have never lost a meal or an
+hour's sleep from the commencement of the courtship until now? That
+is not my style, Sarah. I am very practical in my views and feelings.
+Not that I don't play talking sentiment in our genuine lovescenes, and
+I really like unbounded devotion on the other side. It is decidedly
+pleasant to be adored. I was surprised to find how I enjoyed it."
+
+"Oh, sister! sister!" Sarah leaned her forehead on the mantel, repelled
+and well-nigh disgusted by this heartless trifling--this avowed
+counterfeit--so abhorrent to her feelings. But Lucy was as much in
+earnest as she could be on such a theme. She went on, unheeding her
+sister's ejaculation.
+
+"You must understand, of course, that we are not positively engaged.
+I gave him--Goldfinch--a good scolding for violating the rules of
+etiquette by addressing me while I was away from home; but it was just
+like him. He is as impulsive as he can live. To punish him I refused to
+answer him until after our return to New York, and his interview with
+father. He would have written to him on the spot, had I not forbidden
+him. He behaved so beautifully, that I consented to his taking charge
+of us to the city, and I suppose the rest must follow in good time. How
+melancholy your face is! Are you very much afflicted at the thought of
+losing me? Why, Sarah! my dear child, are those tears in your eyes? If
+she isn't crying in good earnest!"
+
+And Lucy's musical laugh rolled through the rooms in her enjoyment
+of the joke. What else could it be to her, elate with her success in
+achieving the chief end of woman--the capture of a rich and handsome,
+in every respect an unexceptionable lover?
+
+"Hist!" she said, raising her finger. "He has come! Your eyes are red!
+Run, and make yourself presentable!"
+
+The door opening from the hall into the front parlor, swung on its
+hinges as Sarah gained the comparative obscurity of the third and rear
+room. A strong impulse of interest or curiosity there arrested her
+flight to enable her to get a glimpse of her destined brother-in-law.
+Lucy had not mentioned his proper name, since her earliest letter from
+Newport had eulogized a certain George Finch, a Bostonian, wealthy, and
+attentive to herself. Sarah's backward glance fell upon the visitor as
+he met his queenly bride-elect directly under the blazing chandelier.
+
+It was Philip Benson!
+
+Chained to the spot by weakness or horror, the looker-on stood
+motionless, while the suitor raised the lily fingers he held to his
+lips, and then led Lucy to a seat. His voice broke the spell. As the
+familiar cadences smote her ear, the sharp pain that ran through every
+fiber of her frame awakened Sarah from her stupor.
+
+How she gained her room she never knew; but she had sense enough left
+to direct her flight to this refuge--and, when within, to lock the
+door. Then she threw up her arms with a piteous, wailing cry, and fell
+across the bed, dead for the time to further woe.
+
+Alone and painfully she struggled back to consciousness. Sitting
+upright, she stared wonderingly around her, unable to recollect what
+had stricken her down. The chamber was imperfectly lighted by the rays
+of the street lamp opposite, and with the recognition of objects within
+its narrow limits there crept back to her all that had preceded her
+retreat thither. For the next hour she sat still--her head bowed upon
+her knees, amid the wrecks of her dream world.
+
+Dreary and loveless as had been most of her previous life, she had
+never endured anything like this, unless one miserable hour upon the
+Deal Beach, when Philip broke the tidings of his intended departure,
+were a slight foretaste of the agony, the utter despair, that claimed
+her now for its victim. Since then, she had been hopeful. His promise
+of a visit, the tokens of remembrance he had transmitted to her
+every week, had kept alive memory and expectation, and this was his
+coming! this the occasion she had pictured so fondly, painted with
+the brightest hues Love could borrow from imagination! She had heard
+again the voice that had haunted her dreams, from their parting until
+now--heard it in deeper, softer tones than it had ever taken in speech
+with her; heart-music which told that his seekings and yearnings for
+the one and only beloved were over. And was not her quest of years
+ended likewise? Truly, there are two senses in which every search,
+every combat may be said to be closed; one when the victor grasps his
+prize, or waves aloft his sword in the moment of triumph; the other,
+when, bleeding, maimed, or dying, the vanquished sinks to the earth
+without power to rise!
+
+A tap at her door startled Sarah. She did not stir until it was
+repeated, and her father called her name. A stream of light from the
+hall fell upon her face as she admitted him.
+
+"Daughter, what ails you?" was his exclamation.
+
+"I am not very well, father."
+
+"I should think not, indeed! Come in here and lie down!" He led her to
+the bed, and, lighting the gas in the chamber, came back to her and
+felt her pulse.
+
+She knew what was the direction of his fears; but to correct his
+misapprehension was to subject herself to further questioning.
+Passively she received the pressure of his hand upon her head, the
+gentle stroking of the disordered hair; but when he stooped to kiss
+her, he felt that she trembled.
+
+"Dear child! I shall never forgive myself if you have taken the fever
+from me!"
+
+"I do not fear that, father. My head aches, and I am very tired. I have
+been so busy all day, you know."
+
+"Yes, and for many other days. You are, without doubt, overworked. I
+hope this may prove to be all the matter with you. A night's rest may
+quite cure you."
+
+"Yes sir," she answered, chokingly. "You will excuse me to ----,
+downstairs?"
+
+"Certainly. Would you like to have your mother come up to you?"
+
+"Oh, no, sir! Please tell her there is no need of it. I shall be better
+to-morrow."
+
+"Your sister"--and he looked more serious, instead of smiling--"has a
+visitor. Her friend is an acquaintance of yours, also, it appears--the
+Mr. Benson whom you met at your aunt's in July."
+
+"Yes, sir. I know it."
+
+"I understood you to say that Lucy had never said positively who her
+lover was; but this was not the name you told me of, as the person whom
+you imagined him to be."
+
+"I was misled for a time myself, sir," replied the poor girl, pressing
+her temples between her palms.
+
+"I see that I am tiring you. Forgive me! but it is so natural to
+consult you in everything. I must trouble you with some questions,
+which it is important should be answered to-night, before this
+gentleman and myself have any conversation. Is Mr. Benson a man
+whom you consider worthy of trust? Your mother represents him to be
+enormously wealthy--a reputation I had concluded he possessed, from
+Lucy's pet name for him. It is well that your sister has a prospect
+of marrying advantageously in this respect, for she would never be
+happy in an humble sphere; but antiquated people like myself regard
+other things as of greater consequence in concluding a bargain for a
+lifetime. Is your opinion of Mr. Benson favorable as to disposition,
+principles, and conduct?"
+
+Sarah's head rested on the foot-board of her couch, in weariness or
+pain, as she rejoined: "I saw and heard nothing of him, during our
+intercourse in the country, that was not creditable. His uncle and aunt
+are very partial to him, and speak of his character in high terms.
+Their testimony ought to have weight with you, for they have known him
+from his boyhood up."
+
+"It ought and does. I am relieved to hear all this! very much pleased!"
+said Mr. Hunt, enthusiastically. "I have all confidence in Nathan
+Benson's judgment and integrity. I hope his nephew is as sterling a
+man. Thus far," he continued, playfully, "I have learned but one thing
+to his discredit, and that is, having seen this one of my daughters, he
+could afterwards fall in love with the other."
+
+"I am not beautiful and good like Lucy, father."
+
+"Very dear and lovely in my eyes, my child! Again forgive me for having
+worried your poor head with my inquiries. I was unwilling to decide
+a matter where Lucy's happiness was involved, without obtaining your
+evidence in the case. A last good-night! and God bless you, my dearest,
+best daughter!"
+
+Sarah held up her face for his kiss without attempting to speak. This
+burning ordeal, the harder to endure because unexpected, was over. She
+was as weak as a child with conflicting passions when she arose and
+endeavored to undress. After stooping several times to regain breath
+and strength, she was at last ready to creep into bed, there to lie
+until morning broke, sleepless and suffering.
+
+Her sharpened senses could discern her father's and mother's voices
+in the sitting-room, in confidential talk--interrupted, by-and-by, by
+Lucy's pure, mellow tones, apparently conveying some message to the
+former. Its import was easily surmised, for his step was then heard in
+the hall and on the stairs, until he reached the parlor where Philip
+awaited him. Their conference did not occupy more than twenty minutes,
+which time Lucy spent with her mother--how gayly, Sarah could judge by
+the laugh that, again and again, reached her room. Mr. Hunt returned,
+spoke a few sentences in his calm, grave way, and the closing door was
+followed by a flutter of silk and fall of gliding footsteps, as Lucy
+went down to her now formally and fully betrothed husband.
+
+"Husband!" Yes! it was even so! Henceforth the lives of the pair
+were to be as one in interest, in aims, in affection. Ere long, they
+would have no separate outward existence in the eyes of the world.
+Was his chosen love, then, in a truer and higher sense, his other
+self--the being sought so long and carefully? The pretty fiancee
+would have stretched her cerulean orbs in amazed wonder at the
+ridiculous doubt, and asked, in her matter-of-fact way, how the thing
+could have happened, if it had not been intended? Philip's indignant
+affirmative would have gained fervor from his exultant consciousness of
+possession--so novel and sweet. But one above stairs, taught sagacity
+by the depth of her grief, looked further into the future than did
+they, and read there a different reply.
+
+She heard the clang of the front door as it shut after the young
+lover, and in the still midnight, the echoes, faint and fainter, of
+his retreating footsteps--the same free, light tread she used to
+hearken for in porch and hall of that riverside farm house; and as the
+remembrance came over her she turned her face to the wall, murmuring
+passionately: "Oh! if I could never, never see him again!"
+
+This feeling, whether born of cowardice or desperation, was the ruling
+one, when her mother looked in upon her before breakfast, and expressed
+her concern at finding her still in bed.
+
+"I am not well enough to get up, mother," Sarah said sincerely, and
+Mrs. Hunt, reading in the parched lips and bloodshot eyes proof of the
+justice of the fears her husband had expressed to her the preceding
+evening, resolved that the doctor should see her "before she was two
+hours older."
+
+In vain Sarah entreated that this should not be done, and prophesied
+her recovery without his assistance. For once her parents were a unit
+in sentiment and action, and the physician was summoned to his second
+patient.
+
+"All febrile symptoms were to some extent contagious," he affirmed;
+"and while Mr. Hunt's malady was not generally classed with such,
+it was very possible that his daughter had contracted an analogous
+affection, in her constant attendance upon him."
+
+This decision Sarah dared not overthrow, much as she wished to do so,
+when she saw how it afflicted her father.
+
+Undaunted by any fears of infection, Lucy repaired to her sister's
+chamber when she had despatched her breakfast.
+
+"Isn't it too provoking that you should be sick just at this time?"
+she began, perching herself, school-girl fashion on the foot of the
+bed. "I really admired your staying upstairs last night; but I did not
+dream that you really were not well. I promise you that I made capital
+of your absence. I told Philip (how odd it sounds, doesn't it?) that
+you ran away when he rang the bell, because you had made a fright of
+yourself by crying over the prospect of my leaving you, and that I had
+no doubt that you had grieved yourself into a headache. He wanted to
+know forthwith if you objected to my marrying him; but I said 'No';
+that you were charmed with the match, and preferred him to any other
+admirer I had ever had; but that we--you and I--were so devoted to one
+another, that it was acute agony to us to think of parting. About ten
+o'clock he asked to see father, and they soon settled affairs. When I
+went down again, he tried a little ring on my finger that he always
+wears, and it fitted nicely. So I knew what it meant when he put it
+back upon his own hand, and that with that for a measure he could
+not go wrong in getting the engagement ring. I do hope it will be a
+diamond. Vic. West declares that she would not accept anything else.
+I considered for a while whether I couldn't give him a delicate hint
+on the subject, but I did not see how I could manage it. And don't you
+think, while I was studying about this, he fancied I was sober over
+'the irrevocable step I had taken,' and became miserable and eloquent
+at the suspicion! I wish I could remember all he said! It was more in
+your line than mine! But he is a good, sensible fellow, with all his
+romantic notions. He has a handsome fortune, independent of his father,
+left him by his grandfather, and we are to live in Georgia part of the
+year only, and travel every summer. Mother says his account of his
+prospects and so forth to father was very satisfactory, but she has
+not got at all the particulars yet. Father is so worried about your
+sickness that he cannot spare a thought for anything or anybody else.
+The light from that window hurts your eyes--doesn't it? I will let down
+the shade."
+
+But Sarah lay with her hand protecting her eyes, when her sister
+resumed her position and narration.
+
+"We are to be married in December. He begged hard for an earlier day,
+but I was sure that I could not be ready before then. As it is, we
+shall have to hurry when it comes to the dresses, for, in order to
+get the latest fashions, we must wait until the eleventh hour. Won't
+I 'astonish the natives' down South? I couldn't state this to Philip,
+you know; so I referred him to mother, who is to say, when he asks
+her, that her preference would be to keep me just as long as she
+possibly can. Entre nous, my dear, our good mamma has said truer things
+than this bit of sentiment--but n'importe! These embellishments are
+necessary to such transactions."
+
+Miss West's friendship or curiosity could not endure longer suspense,
+and the intelligence that she was below checked the monologue.
+
+"I will run up again whenever I can," promised Lucy, by way of
+compensation for her abrupt departure, "and keep up your spirits by
+telling you all that I can about our concerns. But Philip is to take me
+to ride this afternoon. I forbade him to come here before then, but I
+don't much think he can stay away. Don't be vexed if you don't see me
+again in some hours. Vic. and I are about to settle our trousseaux. If
+you believe me, we have never been able yet to decide upon the wedding
+dresses!"
+
+And she vanished, warbling delicious roulades from a duet she had
+engaged to sing that evening with her betrothed. She showed herself
+upstairs again, when she was ready for her ride, and the carriage at
+the door--very fair, very bright, and very happy. She was exquisitely
+dressed, and called on her sister to admire her toilet and envy her her
+escort.
+
+Sarah listened to the cheerful exchange of cautions and promises
+between her mother and Philip, at the door beneath her open window, and
+to the rolling wheels that bore them away.
+
+Mrs. Hunt received none of her friends that day, being busy "getting
+things to rights"; and for a like reason she absented herself from
+her child's sickroom, content with sending up Jeannie, now and then,
+to inquire how she was getting on. In the abject loneliness that
+oppressed her, when the first violence of passions had spent itself,
+Sarah would have been relieved in some measure by the society of this
+pet sister, the sole object upon earth, besides her father, that had
+ever repaid her love with anything like equal attachment. But the child
+shrank, like most others of her age, from the quiet dark chamber of
+illness, and longed to follow her mother through the house, in her tour
+of observation and renovation. Sarah detected her restlessness and
+ill-concealed dislike of the confinement imposed upon her by compliance
+with her humble petition--
+
+"Please, Jeannie, stay a little while with your poor sister!" And her
+sensitive spirit turned upon itself, as a final stroke of torture, the
+conviction that here, also, love and care had been wasted.
+
+"Go, then!" she said, rather roughly, as Jeannie wavered, "and you need
+not come up again to-day. I know it is not pleasant for you to be here.
+Tell mother I want nothing but quiet."
+
+"I have had a splendid drive!" said Lucy, rustling her many flounces
+into the door at dusk.
+
+The figure upon the bed made no response by motion or word.
+
+"I do believe she is asleep!" added the intruder, lowering her voice.
+"I suppose she is tired and needs rest." And she went out on tiptoe.
+
+Sarah was awake a minute later, when her father came in to see her.
+She smiled at him, as he "hoped she was better," and asked whether she
+might not get up on the morrow. Mr. Hunt thought not. The doctor's
+opinion was that perfect repose might ward off the worse features of
+the disease. She had better keep to her bed for a couple of days yet,
+even should she feel well enough to be about. He sent up her dinner to
+her room with his own hands; and when she learned this, she strove to
+do some feeble justice to the viands, but without success.
+
+Philip dined with the family that day by special appointment; and,
+shortly after his arrival, Lucy again presented herself in that small
+third-story bedroom.
+
+"Choose! which hand will you take?" she cried, hiding both behind her.
+
+Sarah would make no selection; and, after a little more trifling, the
+elder sister brought into sight two elegant bouquets, and laid them
+beside the invalid.
+
+"This is Philip's present--'a fraternal remembrance,' he told me to
+say. Here is his card. Doesn't he write a lovely hand? The other is
+from your admirer, Mr. Hammond. What a sly puss you were to make such
+a catch as he is, without dropping us a hint! He is rather too sober
+for my notions; but he is getting rich fast, they say. He left those
+flowers at the door himself, and insisted upon seeing father for a
+moment, to know exactly how you were. Cannot you hurry up somewhat, and
+let us have a double wedding? I showed the bouquet to Philip, and told
+him of your conquest, and he was as much pleased at your prospects as
+I was. Did you ever see such magnificent roses? your beau paid five
+dollars, at the lowest computation, for these flowers. I congratulate
+you upon these signs of liberality."
+
+Sarah had heard only a portion of this speech. Her eyes were fixed upon
+the card her sister had put into her hand: "Will Miss Sarah accept this
+trifling token of regard from one who is her stanch friend, and hopes,
+in time, to have a nearer claim upon her esteem?"
+
+"Very neatly turned, is it not?" said Lucy, satisfiedly. She had read
+it on her way upstairs. "What shall I say to him from you?"
+
+"Thank him, and explain that I am not able to write a reply."
+
+This meagre return of compliments assumed a tone both grateful and
+sisterly as Lucy rehearsed it to the donor of the fragrant offering.
+The barest phrase of civility came gracefully and meaningly from her
+tongue. Serene in mind and countenance, she seated herself at the
+piano, and, as Philip took his stand at her side, he wondered if the
+world held another couple more entirely adapted each to the peculiar
+soul-needs of the other, more perfectly happy in the knowledge of
+mutual affection. Like the generality of theorists, your student of
+human nature is prone to grievous error when he reduces his flawless
+system to practice.
+
+In one respect, the two certainly harmonized well. Both loved music;
+both sang finely, and their voices accorded without a jarring note.
+
+Mr. Hunt read the evening papers in Sarah's room; turning and folding
+them with great circumspection, lest their rattling might annoy her,
+and detract from her enjoyment of the music. How could he guess the
+infatuation that caused her to listen greedily to sounds, under whose
+potent spell feeling was writhing and brain reeling? In every pause
+between the songs there arose in her memory two lines of a poem read
+long ago, when or where she knew not:
+
+    "Seek not to soothe that proud, forsaken heart
+    With strains whose sweetness maddens as they fall!"
+
+The performers had just completed a duet, in which each voice supported
+and developed, while blending with the other, when Lucy took up
+the prelude to a simpler lay; repeating it twice over with skilful
+variations, as if she were, meantime, carrying on a colloquy with her
+companion, that delayed the vocal part. This was ended by Philip's
+raising alone the burden of the plaintive German air Sarah remembered
+so truly--"The long, long, weary day."
+
+As his voice, full and strong, with its indescribable and
+irresistible undercurrent of pathos--flowing out here into passionate
+melancholy--swelled and floated through the quiet house, Sarah sat
+upright.
+
+"Father! father!" she whispered, huskily, "I cannot bear that! Shut the
+doors!--all of them, or I shall go mad!"
+
+She was obeyed; Mr. Hunt hurrying down to the parlor to silence the
+lovers, with the representation that Sarah was too nervous to endure
+the excitement of music. For the remainder of the evening, a profound
+stillness pervaded the upper part of the mansion--a silence that,
+to Sarah, throbbed with the melody she had tried to hush; and look
+where she might, she gazed into that rainy, ghastly night--the pale,
+comfortless watcher, the shadowy type of her deeper, more blighting
+sorrow.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+For three days Philip Benson lingered near his beautiful enslaver; on
+the fourth, he carried a sad, yet trustful heart upon his Southern
+journey. Sarah had not seen him once since the evening of his coming.
+Through Lucy, she received his adieux and wishes for her speedy
+recovery. On the next day but one she left her room, and appeared again
+in the family circle--now complete in all its parts.
+
+In that short season of bodily prostration, the work of years had been
+wrought upon her inner life. Outwardly there was little alteration
+save that effected by physical weakness; but in her views of existence
+and character, of affections and motives, the doubter had become the
+skeptic; the dreamer the misanthrope. To the gentle and more womanly
+aspirations that had for a season supplanted the somewhat masculine
+tendencies of her mind and tastes had succeeded a stoicism, like the
+frozen calm of a winter's day, uniform as relentless. This was the
+surface that locked and concealed the lower depths she had sworn should
+be forever covered. Others could and did live without hearts. She could
+thrive as well upon the husks and Sodom apples of this world's goods as
+did they; holding as Life's chief good, complete and final subjugation
+of all genuine emotion, which, at the best, was but the rough ore--fit
+for nothing until purged, refined, and polished in its glitter. She
+found no other creed that suited her present desperate mood so well as
+the heartless code of the thorough worldling--the devotee to show, and
+fashion, and wealth.
+
+Such was her mother, whose domestic virtues were extolled by all who
+knew her; such, behind her mask of tender grace and amiability, the
+sister who had won, by these factitious attractions, the heart for
+which Sarah would have perilled life, sacrificed ease and inclination,
+bowed her proud spirit to the estate of bond-servant to his every
+caprice, become the willing slave to his tyrannical behest. Yet Philip
+Benson was a professed judge of character; a man of sense, education,
+and experience, and, knowing both girls as he did, he had made his
+choice; set the stamp of his approval upon the shining, rather than the
+solid metal. The world, as its young would-be disciple believed she had
+at length learned, was made up of two classes; those who floated, and
+those who sank. To the latter she determined that she would not belong.
+
+These and kindred thoughts were rife in her mind, and stirring up many
+a spring of gall within her bosom, one morning as she lay back in
+an armchair in the sitting-room, listening with secret scorn to the
+prattle of the pair of betrothed maidens--Lucy and her friend. Lucy's
+engagement ring was a diamond, or, rather, a modest cluster of these
+precious stones, whose extreme beauty did not strike the casual eye
+with the startling effect of Victoria's more showy gage d'amour. This
+apparent difference in the value of the two was the source of many
+discussions and considerable heart-burning, disguised, of course, and
+threatened in time to produce a decided coolness between the attached
+wearers of the articles under debate.
+
+On this particular day, Victoria, after some adroit skirmishing,
+brought out as a "poser" the fact that, to lay the question to rest
+without more ado, she had, since their last interview, been to
+Tiffany's, and had her ring valued. Lucy's face was all aglow as her
+soul-sister named the price of her treasure. She clapped her hands
+joyously.
+
+"Isn't that the joke of the season, mother?"--as that personage
+entered. "Don't you think that Vic. was as cunning as we were? She
+carried her ring to Tiffany's yesterday, too. Wouldn't it have been too
+funny if we had met there? Mine came from there, they said, and it cost
+a cool fifty dollars more than yours did, dear!"
+
+Victoria flashed hotly; but further controversy being useless and
+dangerous to her, she acquiesced with assumed carelessness in Lucy's
+proposal that, since both were suited, the rival brilliants should not
+be again referred to as a disputed matter. They accordingly turned to
+the safer and endless conferences upon the trousseaux, whose purchase
+must be commenced immediately.
+
+Their incomplete lists were produced, compared, and lengthened--Mrs.
+Hunt suggesting and amending; Sarah surveying the busy group with the
+same intense disdain she had experienced throughout the conversation.
+
+"Oh, I forgot to tell you! Margaret Hauton called on me yesterday!"
+exclaimed Victoria. "Did she come here, too?"
+
+"Yes; but we were out. What did she say?" queried Lucy, breathlessly.
+
+"Why, the stupid creature never alluded to my engagement; and when I
+mentioned yours, pretended not to have heard of it before. I took care
+she should not go away as ignorant on the subject as she had come,
+and--I know it was wicked in me, but she deserved it--all the time I
+was praising your Goldfinch, and telling how handsome and liberal he
+was, I sat looking at my new ring, slipping it up and down my finger,
+as if I were not thinking of it, but of the giver. She could not help
+seeing it, and, to save her life, she could not keep from changing
+countenance."
+
+"Good!" said Lucy. "Do tell me how she is looking now?"
+
+"Common enough! She had on that everlasting lilac silk, with the
+embroidered flounces, although the style is as old as the hills--and
+that black lace mantle, which, happening to be real, she never leaves
+off until near Christmas. But her hat! black and corn-color. Think
+of it! corn-color against her saffron skin. When I pretend to lead
+society, I hope to dress decently. But I had my revenge for her
+supercilious airs. Mr. Bond--George--called in the afternoon to take
+me to ride. I told you of the handsome span of fast horses he has been
+buying. Well! we concluded to try the Bloomingdale road, and just as
+we were sailing along, like the wind, whom should we overtake but my
+Lady Hauton, lounging her lazy way (she thinks it aristocratic!) on
+the back seat of her father's heavy, clumsy barouche--not a soul in it
+but her mother and herself. Didn't I bow graciously to her as we flew
+by! and again, as we met them creeping along, when we were coming back?
+I wouldn't have missed the chance of mortifying her for a thousand
+dollars."
+
+Lucy laughed, with no sign of disapprobation at the coarse, vindictive
+spirit displayed in this petty triumph of a small soul.
+
+"How many evening dresses have you put down on your paper, Vic.?"
+
+"Half a dozen only. I will get others as I need them. The styles in
+these change so often that I do not care to have too many at a time."
+
+"There you will have the advantage of me," said Lucy, ingenuously. "It
+will not be so easy a matter to replenish my stock of wearable dresses.
+I wish I had asked Philip about the Savannah stores. I wonder if he
+knows anything about them?"
+
+"He ought to--being such a connoisseur in ladies' dress. I declare
+I have been absolutely afraid of him since I heard him say that he
+considered a lady's apparel a criterion of her character."
+
+"He has exquisite taste!" said Lucy, with pardonable pride in her
+lover. "It is a positive pleasure to dress for him. He sees and
+appreciates everything that I could wish to have him notice. He has
+often described to me what I wore, and how I looked and acted the
+evening he fell in love. How little we can guess what is before us! I
+did not care to go to the hop that night, for Mr. Finch was to wait
+on me, and he was so stupid, you know, after we discovered that it
+was a mistake about his being rich. I think I see him now, with his
+red face and short neck! Oh, dear! the fun we had over that poor man!
+I told you--didn't I, Sarah--that we named him Bullfinch, because
+he looked so much like one? When Phil came we called him Goldfinch,
+and the two went by these names among us girls. The Bullfinch heard
+of it, and he was ridiculously angry! So I put on a white tarlatan,
+that one with the double jupe, you know, Vic., festooned with white
+moss rosebuds, and I had nothing but a tea-rose in my hair. I danced
+once with the Bullfinch--one of those solemn quadrilles that are only
+fit for grandmothers--and vowed to myself that I would not stand up
+again, except for a polka or the lancers. While I was sitting down by
+the window, saying 'Yes' and 'No,' when Bullfinch spoke, Mr. Newman
+introduced 'Mr. Benson' to 'Miss Hunt,' and the work was done!"
+
+"No more waltzing, then!" was Victoria's slyly malicious sequel.
+
+"I did not care so much for that as I thought I should!" replied
+easy-tempered Lucy. "You cannot find a man who has not some drawback.
+Before I had a chance for another round, mother there managed to
+telegraph me that my fresh acquaintance was worth catching. She had
+gotten his whole story out of Mrs. Newman. He let me know pretty soon,
+that he had some queer scruples about fancy dances, and I thought it
+best to humor him for one evening, or until I should ascertain whether
+he was really 'taken' or not. I have never repented my self-denial,
+although I grant that it cost me a struggle to give up 'the german.'"
+
+"George lets me waltz to my heart's content," said Victoria. "He is
+the very soul of indulgence. As to laces--I have not a thing fit to
+wear. I must get everything new. I am glad of it! I enjoy shopping for
+them. If I have a passion, it is for laces!"
+
+A sneer curled Sarah's lips, and Victoria happening to glance that way,
+could not mistake its application, whatever she might surmise as to its
+origin.
+
+"I suppose you despise us as a couple of lovesick girls, Sarah?" she
+said, with a simper designed to be sentimental, whereas it was spiteful
+instead.
+
+"I think love the least dangerous of your complaints," was the
+rejoinder.
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Just what I said."
+
+"She means that people do not die of love in these days," exclaimed
+Lucy, whose pleasure-loving nature always shuddered at the idea of
+altercation in her presence; her sensations, during the occasional
+sparrings of her sister and her friend, bearing a strong resemblance
+to those of an innocent white rabbit, into whose burrow a couple of
+belligerent hedgehogs have forced their way.
+
+"You will understand us better one day, when your turn comes," said
+Victoria, with magnanimous condescension. "I shall remind you then of
+your good opinion of us."
+
+"You may."
+
+"I would give anything to have you engaged, just to see how you would
+behave. Would not you, Lucy?"
+
+"Yes; if she were likely to do as well as we are doing. Philip says
+that you have many fine qualities, Sarah. He quite admires you."
+
+The complacent betrothed had none but the most amiable intentions in
+making this patronizing speech; therefore, the angry blood that surged
+over her sister's face at hearing it would have been to her but the
+blush of gratified vanity, had not the sparkle of her eye and the
+contemptuous contortion of her mouth undeceived her.
+
+"Indeed he did say so!" she hastened to repeat. "And he was in earnest!
+He said something else which I don't mind telling, now that he belongs
+to me fast and sure. He said that he sat up until twelve o'clock one
+night after you had been out boating deliberating whether he should be
+smitten with you or not. There!"
+
+The color retreated as quickly as it had come. But for the
+consciousness of Victoria's malicious scrutiny, Sarah could not have
+summoned strength to utter a word.
+
+"An equivocal compliment, I must say!" she retorted, sarcastically.
+"Your gallant Georgian's confessions must have been ample and minute
+indeed, if they comprised such distant approaches to love affairs as
+the one you honor me by mentioning. I do not think that I have ever
+heard of another case where a gentleman considered it necessary to
+enumerate to his fiancee, not merely the ladies he had loved, but those
+whom he had not!" She arose and left the room.
+
+Poor Lucy, rebuffed and overwhelmed, caught her astonished breath with
+a sigh. "Can anybody tell me what I have done now to fret Sarah? She is
+so cross since she was sick!"
+
+"And before, too!" mutely added Victoria's shrug and lifted eyebrows.
+
+"We must bear with her, my dear!" said the prudent mother. "Her nerves
+are affected, the doctor says."
+
+Victoria made random pencillings upon the important list--her thoughts
+in fast pursuit of a notion that had just struck her. She was neither
+witty nor intelligent; but she possessed some natural shrewdness and
+a great deal more acquired cunning. She detested Sarah Hunt, and
+the prospect of obtaining an engine that should humble her arrogant
+spirit was scarcely less tempting than her own chance of effecting an
+advantageous matrimonial settlement.
+
+While she was engaged in defining her suspicion to herself, and
+concerting measures for gathering information with regard to it, Mrs.
+Hunt went out on some household errand, and Lucy was obliged to descend
+to the parlor to see callers.
+
+"Don't go until I come back, Vic.. It is the Dunhams, and they never
+stay long," she said, at quitting her associate.
+
+"Oh, I always make myself at home here, you know, my dear!" was the
+reply.
+
+Jeannie was sitting on a cushion near the chair Sarah had occupied,
+dressing her doll.
+
+"It won't fit!" she cried, fretfully, snatching off a velvet basque she
+had been endeavoring to adjust to the lay-figure.
+
+"Bring it to me! I can fix it!" offered Victoria, winningly. "It's too
+tight just here, you see. I will rip open the seam and alter it. Who
+makes your dolly's clothes?"
+
+She was well aware that but one member of the family ever had leisure
+to bestow upon such follies; but it suited her plan for Jeannie to
+introduce the name.
+
+"Sister Sarah."
+
+"This is a pretty basque. When did she make it?"
+
+"Yesterday."
+
+"Oh! I thought perhaps she did it while you were in the country, and
+that the doll had fattened as much as you did there."
+
+Jeannie laughed heartily.
+
+"You had a nice time there, I suppose?" pursued Victoria.
+
+"I guess we did!" Her eyes danced at the recollection. "A splendid
+time! I wish we lived at Aunt Sarah's! There isn't room for me to move
+in this narrow house."
+
+"Mr. Benson was there a day or two, was he not?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am--a great many days! He took us all around the country in
+Uncle Nathan's carriage. I love him very dearly."
+
+"Did you ever go sailing with him?"
+
+"Every evening, when it was clear, in a pretty rowboat. He used to take
+his guitar along, and sing for us. He sings beautifully! Did you ever
+hear him?"
+
+"Oh, yes! Did your sister always go boating with you?"
+
+The spy, with all her hardihood, lowered her voice, and felt her face
+warm as she put this leading question.
+
+"Yes, ma'am, always. Mr. Benson would not have gone without her, I
+guess."
+
+"Why do you guess so?"
+
+The little girl smiled knowingly. "Because--you won't tell, will you?"
+
+"Why no! Of course I will not."
+
+"Charley said it was a secret, and that I mustn't say anything to
+sister or Mr. Benson about it, for they would be angry."
+
+"Who is Charley?"
+
+"Don't you know? He is Aunt Sarah's son. He is deaf and dumb; but he
+showed me how to spell on my fingers. He is a nice boy"--
+
+"Yes; but what was the secret?"
+
+"He said that Mr. Benson--Cousin Phil I call him when I am talking to
+him--was sister's beau; and he would take me off with him when we went
+to drive or walk, because, you know, they might not like to have me
+hear what they were talking about. They used to talk, and talk, and
+talk! and sister had a great deal more to say, and looked prettier than
+she does at home. I will tell you something else, if you won't ever let
+anybody know it. I never told Aunt Sarah even, only Charley. Sister
+cried ever so long the night after Cousin Phil went away. She woke me
+up sobbing; but I made believe that I was asleep; and in the morning
+her pillow was right wet. Charley said that all ladies that he had read
+about in his books did so when their beaux left them."
+
+"See here, my little lady!" said the dissembler, with a startling
+change of tone. "You are altogether mistaken--you and Charley both!
+Mr. Benson is going to marry your sister Lucy, and never was a beau
+of Sarah's. Be very careful not to talk about Charley's wicked story
+to your father, or mother, or sisters, for they would be very much
+displeased, and maybe punish you for repeating such fibs. Little girls
+ought never to hear or know anything about courting or beaux--it's
+naughty! I won't tell on you, if you will promise never to do so again.
+I am shocked at you! Now take your doll and go!"
+
+The frightened child encountered Lucy at the door. Miss West had
+calculated her time to a minute. Her eyes swimming in tears, her
+features convulsed with the effort to keep back sob and outcry, Jeannie
+started up to her attic playroom. Sarah's door was ajar, and engaged
+as she was with thoughts of her own troubles and insults, she could
+not but remark the expression of her darling's face, in the momentary
+glimpse she had as it passed.
+
+"Jeannie! come back!" she called.
+
+The child hesitated, half way up the next flight. Sarah repeated the
+summons, and seeing that it was not obeyed, went up and took the rebel
+by the hand.
+
+"What is the matter with you?"
+
+A reddening and distortion of visage, and no reply. Her sister led her
+back to her chamber, shut the door, and put her arms around her.
+
+"Tell me what ails you, dear!"
+
+Jeannie fell upon her comforter's neck--the repressed torrent breaking
+through all restraint. "Oh, sister, I can't help crying! Miss Vic. West
+has been scolding me!"
+
+"Scolding you! She! I will go down and speak to her this instant! How
+dared she?"
+
+"No, no! please don't! She told me not to say anything about it."
+
+"The contemptible coward!" said Sarah, between her teeth. "How came you
+to have anything to do with her?"
+
+"Mother and sister Lucy went downstairs, and she said she would alter
+my doll's basque and--and--and"--a fresh burst of lamentation.
+
+"There, that will do, pet! I see that she only made it worse!" soothed
+Sarah, believing that, in the unfinished state of dolly's wardrobe, she
+had discovered the root of the trouble. "Never mind, dear! I will set
+all that to rights directly. Now wipe your eyes, and let me tell you
+something. This afternoon father is to take me to ride, and you shall
+go, too. As for Miss Victoria, we will let her pass, and keep out of
+her way, hereafter."
+
+Secretly, she was very angry--far more so than she was willing to
+have the child suspect. As the patient fingers repaired the effects
+of the original bad fit, and Miss West's meddling, Jeannie stood by,
+thankful and interested, yet ashamed to look her wronged sister in the
+eyes. Not that she had the remotest conception of the mischief that
+might grow out of her imprudent disclosures; but she had broken faith
+with Charley, been accused of tattling and indelicacy, and warned too
+stringently against repeating the offence to suffer her to relieve her
+conscience by a full confession to the being she most loved and honored.
+
+At four o'clock Sarah and her charge were ready, according to Mr.
+Hunt's appointment. The carriage was likewise punctual; but from it
+stepped, not the parent of the expectant girls, but a younger and
+taller man--in short, Mr. Hunt's particular favorite--Lewis Hammond.
+Jeannie, who had stationed herself at an upper window to watch for her
+father's appearance, was still exclaiming over this disappointment, and
+wondering why "Mr. Hammond must call just now to keep sister at home,"
+when the footman brought up a note to Sarah.
+
+It was from Mr. Hunt, explaining the cause of his unlooked-for
+detention at the bank, and stating that Mr. Hammond, whom he had
+met earlier in the day, and acquainted with his design of giving
+his daughter this ride, happened to drop in, and seeing him engaged
+with business, had asked leave to officiate as his substitute in the
+proposed airing. He urged Sarah to take Jeannie along, and not hesitate
+to accept Mr. Hammond's polite attendance, adding, in phrase brief, but
+sincere, how lightly he should esteem his hour of extra labor, if he
+knew that she was not a sufferer by it.
+
+Sarah passed the note to her mother, and drew her shawl about her
+shoulders.
+
+"Of course you'll go!" said Mrs. Hunt, radiant with gratification. "It
+is perfectly proper, and Mr. Hammond is very kind, I'm sure."
+
+She was hurrying towards the door to convey in person her thanks for
+his gallantry, when Sarah spoke firmly and very coolly:
+
+"I will say whatever is necessary to Mr. Hammond, if you please,
+mother. I shall go because father wishes it, and for no other reason.
+Come, Jeannie!"
+
+"Won't she be in your way?" asked Mrs. Hunt, awed, but not extinguished.
+
+"No, madam."
+
+Sarah suffered Mr. Hammond to place her in the carriage, and himself
+opposite to her; and keeping before her mind carefully the fact that he
+was her father's friend, perhaps the savior of his life, she unbent,
+as much as she could, from her distant, ungracious bearing, to sustain
+her part of the conversation. She must have been purblind not to see
+through her mother's wishes, and manoeuvres for their accomplishment;
+but to these views she was persuaded that Mr. Hammond was no party.
+She saw in him a sedate, rather reserved gentleman of thirty-two or
+three, who had passed the heyday of youthful loves and joy; sensible
+and cultivated to an uncommon degree for a man of business--for such he
+emphatically was.
+
+A poor boy in the beginning, he had fortunately attracted the regard
+of a thriving New York merchant, and retained that favor through the
+years that had elevated him from the lowest clerkship to a partnership
+in the now opulent firm. For probity and punctuality no man in the city
+had a higher reputation; but his virtues were of that quiet nature
+which, while they inevitably retain regard once won, are slow to gain
+admiration. To matrimonial speculators, as in financial circles, he
+was known as a "safe chance," and many a prudent mamma on his list
+of acquaintances would have rejoiced had he selected her daughter as
+mistress of his heart and fortune. Whether he was aware of this or not
+could not have been determined by his modest, but dignified deportment.
+He did not avoid company; went whither he was invited, and, when there,
+comported himself like a conscientious member of society, talking,
+dancing, or listening, with as due regard to law and order as he
+manifested in his daily business life. Fast girls called him "awfully
+matter-of-fact," and "terribly sensible"; fast youths of the other sex
+put him down among the "old fogies," and wondered what he did with his
+money. "Could it be possible that he saved it!" He was intimate nowhere
+except in the household of his whilom employer and present partner,
+whose daughters were all married and settled in houses of their own. If
+he had ever cared to look twice at the same lady, the watchful world
+had not yet laid hold of this marvellous departure from his fixed
+habits.
+
+His intercourse with Mr. Hunt's family was, as we know, purely
+accidental in its commencement, and in its earlier stages might have
+been induced by humanity or friendship for the sick father. In Sarah's
+brain there had never arisen a suspicion of any ulterior motives in the
+pointed attentions directed of late to herself. Before Lucy's return,
+the care of her invalid parent and her day-dreams had engrossed heart
+and thought to an extent that precluded much inquiry into other themes.
+Since that memorable night, inward torture had abstracted her mind
+still more from outward impressions.
+
+This afternoon she talked calmly and indifferently to Mr. Hammond,
+without an idea that he made any greater effort to please her. To
+Jeannie she was tender beyond her usual showing, in remembrance of the
+wrong done the sensitive child in the forenoon. Mr. Hammond emulated
+her in kindness to the third member of their party; and in the course
+of their ride, raised himself unwittingly to the rank of rivalship with
+"Cousin Philip," her model gentleman.
+
+Mr. Hunt came out to assist his daughter to alight, upon their
+return. There was a heartiness in his acknowledgment of his deputy's
+politeness, and invitation to enter the house and pass the evening with
+them, which Sarah had seldom heard him employ towards any visitor.
+Mr. Hammond may have remarked it likewise, for his declinature was
+evidently against his inclination, and coupled with a promise to
+call at an early day. His visits were not altogether so agreeable as
+formerly, for he was received in the spacious parlors on a footing
+with other callers, and in the presence of several members of the
+family; still he came repeatedly, with pretext and without, until his
+sentiments and design were a secret to no one except their object.
+
+Wrapped in the sad thoughts that isolated her from the rest of the
+world, even while she made a part of its show, Sarah omitted to mark
+many things that should have been significant signs of undercurrents,
+and tokens of important issues to her and those about her. Lucy had
+ceased to harp perpetually upon her lover's perfections and idolatrous
+flattery to herself, and while the wedding arrangements went vigorously
+forward, the disengaged sister was rarely annoyed by references to
+her taste and demands for her sympathy. There had never existed
+much congeniality between the two, and their common ground was now
+exceedingly narrow. Lucy was gentle and pleasant, peacefully egotistic
+as ever, and Sarah understood her too well to expect active affection
+or disinterestedness. The only part of her behavior to herself to
+which she took mental exception was a certain pitying forbearance, a
+compassionate leniency with respect to her faults and foibles, that had
+grown upon her of late. Once or twice the younger sister had become
+so restive under this gratuitous charity as to reply sharply to the
+whey-like speeches of the mild elder, and, without any appearance of
+wounded feeling, yet with not a word of apology or reason for so doing,
+Lucy had left the apartment, and never hinted at the circumstances
+afterwards.
+
+Lucy was certainly the soul, the very cream of amiability. It
+was unaccountable to her admirers--and they included most of her
+associates--that Lewis Hammond, with his peculiar habits and tastes,
+should prefer that severe-looking, strong-minded Sarah. But, be
+it remembered, that he had learned this love under far different
+influences; in circumstances wholly unlike those in which he now beheld
+its object. His respect for unobtrusive intent and feeling; his longing
+for a home which should be the abode of sacred domestic virtues; and
+the sweet peace that had fled from the habitations frequented only by
+the frivolous, heartless, and vain--these found in the sick-room of
+the father, and the affectionate fidelity of the daughter, something
+so like the embodiment of his fancy of earthly happiness, that he
+accepted as a benignant fate the accident which had admitted him to the
+arcana of their private life. Sarah's temporary illness had taught him
+the meaning of his dreams, by seeming to peril the chances of their
+fulfilment; and from that hour he strove patiently and sedulously, as
+it was his habit, to seek all great ends for the acquisition of the
+heart whose depth he perhaps, of all who knew her, best understood.
+
+The most impatient person of those directly or indirectly concerned
+in the progress of this wooing was Mrs. Hunt. Her husband, with
+unwonted firmness, had forbidden that anyone of the household should
+speak a word in raillery or otherwise to Sarah touching Mr. Hammond's
+intentions. "However earnestly I may desire his success," he said to
+his wife--"and there is no man living whom I would rather call 'son'--I
+would not influence her by the weight of a single syllable. Hers is the
+happiness or the misery of a life with her husband--whomsoever she may
+choose, and hers shall be the entire choice. If she can love and marry
+Lewis Hammond, I shall be gratified; if not, she shall never guess at
+my disappointment."
+
+"La, Mr. H.! you are as foolish and sentimental as the girl herself!
+For my part, I ain't such a saint, and I do say, that if Sarah Hunt
+allows such a catch as this to slip through her fingers, she shall hear
+a piece of my mind!"
+
+"I insist," said Mr. Hunt, with immovable resolution, "that Sarah shall
+be allowed to follow the guidance of her own will in this matter. It is
+not often that I interfere with your plans; but in this one instance I
+must be obeyed!"
+
+With which astounding declaration of equal rights, if not of
+sovereignty, he left his consort to her reflections.
+
+Ignorant of the delicate watchfulness maintained over her by this
+best of friends, Sarah walked on her beclouded way--without hope,
+without one anticipation of any future dissimilar to her present,
+until awakened with a shock by a formal declaration of love from Lewis
+Hammond.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+It was at the close of an evening party which both the Hunts attended,
+and where Mr. Hammond's devotion was as marked as anything so modest
+could be, that Sarah felt him slip an envelope into her hand, as he
+put her into the carriage. Surprised as she was at the singularity of
+the occurrence, and disposed to take offence at the familiarity it
+implied, she had yet the presence of mind to conceal the missive from
+Lucy, and talk about other things, until they were set down at home. In
+the privacy of her chamber, she broke the seal and read her first love
+letter.
+
+It was a characteristic composition. If the strong hand had trembled
+above the lines, the clear, clerkly penmanship did not witness to the
+weakness. Nor was there anything in the subject matter that did not
+appear to Sarah as business-like and unimpassioned. It was a frank and
+manly avowal of attachment for her; a compliment implied, rather than
+broadly stated, to her virtues; the traits that had gained his esteem,
+then his love--a deprecatory sentence as to his ability to deserve the
+treasure he dared to ask--and then the question! in plain black and
+white, unequivocal to bluntness, simple and direct to curtness.
+
+"As he would ask the price of a bale of goods!" burst forth Sarah,
+indignant, as she threw the paper on the floor, and buried her burning
+face in her hands.
+
+"That there comes sometimes a glory to the Present, besides which
+the hues of Past and Future fade and are forgotten, I must and will
+believe. Such, it seems to me, must be the rapture of acknowledged and
+reciprocal affection!" This was an echo memory repeated to her soul.
+She saw again the gently gliding river, with its waves of crimson and
+gold; breathed the pure fragrance of the summer evening; floated on,
+towards the sunset, with the loved voice in her ear; the dawn of a
+strange and beautiful life, shedding blissful calm throughout her being.
+
+And from this review, dangerous as it was for one fleeting instant
+sweet, she returned to the proposal that had amazed and angered her.
+Lewis' undemonstrative exterior had misled her, as it did most
+persons, in the estimate of his inner nature. Kind, she was compelled
+to confess that he was, in remembrance of his goodness to her father;
+his demeanor was always gentlemanly, and she had caught here and there
+rumors of his generosity to the needy that prevented a suspicion of
+sordidness. No doubt he was very well in his way, but he wanted to
+marry her! With the intensity of her fiery spirit, her will arose
+against the presumptuous request. It was the natural recoil of the
+woman who already loves, at the suggestion of a union with another
+than the man of her choice; the spontaneous outspeaking of a heart
+whose allegiance vows have been pledged and cannot be nullified. But
+she would not see this. Upon the unfortunate letter and its writer
+descended the storm of passionate repugnance aroused by its contents.
+With the reaction of excited feeling came tears--a plentiful shower
+that relaxed the overwrought nerves, until they were ready to receive
+the benediction of sleep.
+
+Lewis had not asked a written or verbal reply.
+
+ "I will call to take you to drive to-morrow afternoon," he wrote.
+ "Should your decision upon the question I have proposed be favorable,
+ your consent to accompany me in my ride will be understood as a
+ signal that you have accepted my graver suit. If your conclusion is
+ adverse to my hopes, you can signify the same to me in a letter,
+ to be handed me when I ask for you. This course will spare us both
+ embarrassment--perhaps pain. In any event, be assured that you will
+ ever have a firm friend in, Yours truly,
+
+     "Lewis Hammond."
+
+Sarah's lip curled as she reperused this clause of the letter on the
+following morning.
+
+"It is a comfort to know that I have not to answer for the sin of
+breaking my ardent suitor's heart!" she said, as she drew towards
+her the sheet upon which she was to indite her refusal. It was brief
+and courteous--freezing in its punctilious civility, and prepared
+without a pang, or a solitary misgiving that its reception would not
+be philosophically calm. Her design was to intrust it to the footman,
+to be delivered when Mr. Hammond called; and as the hour approached at
+which the expectant was to present himself, she took the note from the
+desk and started downstairs with it.
+
+The sitting-room door was open, and, aware that Victoria West was in
+there with Lucy, Sarah trod very softly as she neared it. Her own name
+arrested her as she was going by. She stopped involuntarily.
+
+"I thought Sarah a girl of better regulated mind," said Victoria, in a
+tone of censorious pity. "Of course she suffers! It is the inevitable
+consequence of an unrequited attachment. Such miserable folly, such
+unpardonable weakness brings its punishment with it. But my sympathies
+are all yours, my dearest. I only wish you were not so sensitive. You
+are not to blame for her blind mistake."
+
+"I cannot help it!" said Lucy, plaintively. "It seems so sad that I
+should be made the means of depriving her of happiness. I wish I had
+never known that she was attached to poor Philip. I can't tell you how
+awkward I feel when any allusion is made in her hearing to the dear
+fellow, or to our marriage."
+
+"I meant it for the best, dear, in telling you of my discovery,"
+replied Victoria, slightly hurt.
+
+"I know that, my dear creature! And it is well that I should not be
+kept in the dark as to the state of her affections. I only hope that
+Philip never penetrated her secret. I should die of mortification for
+her if he were to find it out. It is a lamentable affair--and I am sure
+that he is not in fault. What did you say that you gave for that set of
+handkerchiefs you showed me yesterday?"
+
+"The cheapest things you ever saw! I got them at Stewart's, and they
+averaged six dollars apiece! As to Mr. Benson, I trust, with you, that
+he is as unsuspecting as he seems; but he has remarkable discernment,
+you know. What I could not help seeing, before I had any other proof
+than her behavior, is not likely to have escaped him."
+
+Half an hour later the twain were disturbed in their confidences by
+the sound of wheels stopping before the house, followed by a ring at
+the door. Victoria, ever on the alert, peeped, with feline caution and
+curiosity, around the edge of the curtain.
+
+"What is going to happen? Look, Lucy! Mr. Hammond in a handsome light
+carriage, and driving a lovely pair of horses! I never thought to see
+him go in such style. How well he looks! Take care! he will see you!"
+
+Both dodged as he glanced up at the upper windows; but resumed their
+lookout in time to see the light that was kindled in his face when
+Sarah emerged from the front door. He was at her side in a second,
+to lead her down the steps, and his manner in this movement, and in
+assisting her into the carriage, the more striking in one generally
+so self-contained and deliberate, inspired the pair of initiated
+observers with the same conviction. As the spirited horses disappeared
+into the avenue, the friends drew back from their loophole, and stared
+each other in the eyes, with the simultaneous exclamation--"They are
+engaged!"
+
+They were engaged! Lewis felt it with a glad bound of the heart--but a
+minute before sickening in deadly suspense; felt, as he seated himself
+by her side, that the sorrows of a lonely and struggling youth, the
+years of manhood's isolation and unsatisfied longings, were swept from
+memory by this hour of abundant, unalloyed happiness.
+
+And Sarah felt it! As her hand touched his, at their meeting upon the
+steps, a chill ran through her frame that told the consummation of the
+sacrifice which was to atone for past folly; to silence, and brand as
+a lying rumor, the fearful tale that bruited abroad the revelation of
+that weakness. In her mad horror at the knowledge of its discovery, she
+had rushed upon this alternative. Better an estate of honorable misery,
+than to live on, solitary, disgraced, condemned and pitied by her
+meanest foe! Now that the irreversible step was taken, she experienced
+no sharp regret, no wild impulse of retreat, but a gradual sinking of
+spirit into hopeless apathy.
+
+Her veil concealed her dull eyes and stolid features, and to Lewis'
+happy mood there was nothing surprising or discouraging in her
+disposition to silence. With a tact for which she had not given him
+credit, and did not now value aright, he refrained from any direct
+reference to their altered relation until they were returning homeward.
+Then changing his tone of pleasant chat for one of deeper meaning, he
+said:
+
+"I have dared to hope much--everything--from your consent to become
+my companion for this afternoon. Before I ventured to address you
+directly, I had a long and frank conversation with your father."
+
+"What did he say?" asked Sarah, turning towards him for the first time.
+
+"He referred me to you for my answer, which, he said, must be final and
+positive, since he would never attempt to influence your choice. In the
+event of an affirmative reply from you, he promised that his sanction
+should not be withheld."
+
+Sarah was silent. She comprehended fully her father's warm interest in
+his friend's suit, which the speaker was too diffident to imply, and
+how this expression of his wishes set the seal upon her fate.
+
+"We are poor and proud! Mr. Hammond is rich and seeks to marry me!"
+was her bitter thought. "It is a fine bargain in the eyes of both my
+parents. It would be high treason for me to dispute their will. Mr.
+Hammond has conceived the notion that I am a useful domestic character,
+a good housekeeper and nurse, and he is willing to bid liberally
+for my services. It is all arranged between them! Mine is a passive
+part, to copy Lucy's sweet, submissive ways for a season, for fear of
+frightening away the game, afterwards to attend to my business, while
+he looks after his. I have chosen my lot, and I will abide by it!"
+
+"Have I your permission to call this evening and inform your father of
+my success--may I say of our engagement?" asked Lewis.
+
+"It is best, I suppose, to call things by their right names," replied
+Sarah, in a cold voice, that was to him only coy. He smiled, and was
+about to speak, when she resumed: "Since we are virtually engaged"--she
+caught her breath as she brought out the word--"I see no reason why we
+should hesitate to announce it to those whose right it is to know it."
+
+"Thank you! That was spoken like the noble, unaffected woman you are!
+Will you always be equally sincere with me--Sarah?" His accent trembled
+with excess of emotion in calling the name.
+
+Is it, then, an easy lot that you have chosen, Sarah Hunt? You, whose
+pride and glory it was to be truthful, who spurned whatever assimilated
+in the least degree to deception, what think you of a life where a lie
+meets you on the threshold and must be accepted and perpetuated if you
+would preserve your name and position in his eyes and those of the
+world. "It is the way two-thirds of the married people live!" you were
+saying to yourself, just now. It may be so; but it is none the less a
+career of duplicity, perjury--crime!
+
+"I will endeavor to please you!" she faltered, her face in a flame of
+shame and confusion.
+
+And this was the hue that met Lewis' eye, as her veil was blown aside,
+in her descent to the pavement, a blush he interpreted to suit his own
+wishes. Mr. Hunt appeared in the doorway as she alighted, and read
+in Hammond's smile and joyous salutation all that he most desired to
+learn. When the door was closed upon the departing suitor, the father
+drew his best-beloved child to him, and kissed her, without a word of
+uttered blessing.
+
+"It would break his heart were I to recede now!" thought Sarah, as she
+bore hers--heavy, hard--up to her room.
+
+That evening was the proudest era of Mrs. Hunt's existence. Two
+daughters well engaged--unexceptionably paired off! What mother more
+blest than she? Where could be found other children so dutiful? other
+sons-in-law so acceptable? By breakfast time, next day, she had
+arranged everything--Sarah's trousseau, her house, and the double
+wedding.
+
+Lucy expostulated here. "But, mother, this is the first of November."
+
+"I know that, my dear; but the ceremony will not come off until
+Christmas, and much can be done in six weeks for your sister--your
+work is so forward. Then, again, 'tisn't as if Sarah couldn't get
+everything she needs right here, if she shouldn't have enough. It will
+be tremendously expensive--awful, in fact; but we must make sacrifices.
+We can live economical after you're married and gone, and save enough
+to meet the bills."
+
+"If you please, madam, I prefer a plain outfit and no debts," said
+Sarah's most abrupt tones.
+
+"If you please, my dear, I understand my affairs, and mean to do as I
+think proper," retorted the no less strong-willed mother.
+
+Sarah was not cowed. "And as to the time you set, I cannot agree to
+it. I presume that in this matter I have some voice. I say six months
+instead of six weeks!"
+
+"Very well, my love." Mrs. Hunt went on polishing a tumbler with her
+napkin. She always washed her silver and glass herself. "You must
+settle that with your father and Mr. Hammond. They are crazy for this
+plan. They were talking to me about it last night, and I told them
+that I would engage to have everything ready in time; but you must be
+consulted. I never saw your father more set upon anything. He said to
+me, private, that he did hope that you wouldn't raise any squeamish
+objections, and upset their arrangements."
+
+Mrs. Hunt took up a handful of spoons as composedly as if she had never
+stretched her conscience in her life.
+
+Sarah's head drooped upon the table. She was very, very miserable. In
+her morbid state of mind she did not dream of questioning the accuracy
+of her mother's assertion. That a marriageable single daughter was
+a burden to one parent, she knew but too well; that to this able
+financier the prospect of getting two out of the way, with the eclat
+of a double ceremony that should cost no more than Lucy's nuptials
+would have done, was a stupendous temptation, she also perceived.
+But that the father whom she so loved; whose sickbed she had tended
+so faithfully; whose lonely hours it was her province and delight to
+solace--that he should acquiesce--nay more, rejoice in this indelicate
+haste to get rid of her, was a cruel stab.
+
+"Very well," she said, raising an ashy face. "Let it be as you say. The
+sooner it is over, the better."
+
+This clause was unheeded by her mother and sister. Had they heard it,
+they might have understood it as little as they did the composure
+with which she joined in the work which was begun, without an hour's
+delay. In this trying juncture, Mrs. Hunt came out in all her strength.
+Her sewing machine (she was one of the earliest purchasers of these
+inestimable time, labor, and money savers) went night and day; she
+shopped largely and judiciously, giving orders to tradespeople with the
+air of a princess; "Jewed" her butcher; watched her pantry, and served
+up poorer dinners than ever. Jeannie's winter outfit was ingeniously
+contrived from her sister's cast-off wardrobe; Mr. Hunt's and the boys'
+shirts and socks were patched and darned until but a trifling quantity
+of the original material remained; and this pearl of mothers had her
+two-year-old cloak and last season's hat "done over" for this year's
+wear.
+
+Foremost among the visitors to the Hunts, after this latest engagement
+was made public, was Mrs. Marlow, the wife of Mr. Hammond's benefactor
+and partner. Sarah was out when she called; so Mrs. Hunt received
+her, and discovering very soon that in spite of her husband's wealth
+and her splendid establishment, she was not, as Mrs. Hunt phrased it
+to her daughters, "one mite proud, and thought the world and all of
+Lewis"--the mother opened her heart to her so freely, with regard to
+the prospective weddings and her material anxieties, that Mrs. Marlow
+was emboldened to introduce a subject which had taken hold of her
+thoughts so soon as she heard from Mr. Hammond of his expected marriage.
+
+She had a daughter, resident for the winter in Paris, whose taste in
+female attire was unquestionable, and her good-nature as praiseworthy.
+If Miss Sarah Hunt would prepare a memorandum of such articles as she
+would like to have selected in that emporium of fashion, she would
+promise, for her daughter, that they should be forwarded in time for
+"the occasion."
+
+"Some friends of mine, now abroad, have kindly offered to bring me over
+any quantity of fine dresses with their baggage," said the complaisant
+old lady; "and, as I do not need their services for myself, I can
+smuggle in whatever your daughter may order. You would be surprised at
+the difference in prices here and there--to say nothing of the superior
+excellence and variety of the assortment from which one can choose. My
+friends will return early in December. Therefore, should you like this
+arrangement, I ought to have the list and write my letters to-morrow."
+
+Energetic, fussy, snobbish Mrs. Hunt! She stood an inch taller in
+her shoes at the imagination of this climax to the glory of the dual
+ceremony. "Trousseau ordered directly from Paris!" She seemed already
+to hear the envious and admiring buzz of her set; saw herself the most
+blessed of women--her daughters the brides of the season. She would
+order for Lucy, also; for the longer the list the more importance would
+the future Mrs. Hammond acquire in the sight of her husband's friends.
+They could not know that it was not for her alone. Then, as Mrs. Marlow
+intimated, it would be a saving. Here, like a cold shower-bath, came
+the agonizing query, "Where was the money to come from?" It would
+never do to run in debt to such people as the Marlows. If they were
+hard-pressed shopkeepers, who needed the money, it would be another
+thing. No! the cash in hand, or its representative, must accompany the
+memorandum.
+
+Sarah was secretly pleased at this obstacle, for she despised the
+ostentation and extravagance going on in their hungry household. Strive
+as she did, with wicked pertinacity, to conform herself to the world's
+code, there was as yet too much of the ancient and better leaven left
+to permit more than an outward obedience to the dictates of customs so
+irrational and tyrannical.
+
+That very evening there arrived a letter that settled the question,
+and inflated Mrs. Hunt's collapsed spirits to an expansion hitherto
+unequalled. It was from Aunt Sarah to her namesake niece; a guileless,
+fervent expression of good wishes and unabated affection, and a request
+from "husband" and herself that she would accept the enclosure as a
+mark of that hopeful regard.
+
+"Since our daughters died"--wrote this true and gentle mother--"we have
+always intended to give you just exactly what we would have done one of
+them, as a wedding present--as you were named for me, and I had nursed
+you before your mother ever did, and you seemed in some way to belong
+to us. But since you paid us a visit we have felt nearer to you than
+ever, and seeing that the Lord has prospered us in this world's goods,
+we have made up our minds to give you a double portion, dear, what both
+of our girls would have had, if it had pleased our Father to spare them
+to have homes of their own upon earth. Living is high in New York, but
+we have calculated that what we send will buy your wedding clothes and
+furnish your house."
+
+The enclosed gift, to Sarah's astonishment, was a check upon a city
+bank for a thousand dollars!
+
+"Was there ever such a child for luck?" exclaimed Mrs. Hunt, clapping
+her hands. "What a fortunate thing we sent you down there when we did!
+That was one of my plans, you remember, Mr. H. Really, Lucy, our little
+Sarah understands how to play her cards, after all. I never did you
+justice, my dear daughter. I ain't ashamed to confess it. This puts all
+straight, and is real handsome in sister Benson--more than I expected.
+Go to work right away upon your list, girls! We'll have to set up the
+best part of the night to get it ready. Ah, well! this comes of putting
+one's trust in Providence and going ahead!"
+
+Sarah thought, with aching heart and moistened eyes, of Aunt Sarah's
+mind-pictures of the neat apparel and snug dwelling she deemed proper
+for a young couple just beginning housekeeping, and rebelled at this
+waste, this frivolous expenditure of her love-portion. Mr. Hunt sided
+with her, so far as to urge the propriety of her doing as she pleased
+with what was her exclusive property; but, as in a majority of former
+altercations, their arguments and powers of endurance were no match for
+the determination and mind of the real head of the family. With a sigh
+of pain, disgust, and despair, Mr. Hunt succumbed, and, deserted by her
+ally, Sarah contended but a short time longer ere she yielded up the
+cause of the combat to the indomitable victress.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+The bridal day came; frosty and clear, dazzlingly bright, by reason of
+the reflection from the snow, which lay deep and firm upon the ground.
+
+"What a delightful novelty this is, coming to a wedding in a sleigh!"
+lisped one of the triad of bridesmaids, who were to do double duty for
+the sisters. "How very gay it makes one to hear the bells outside! Have
+they come, Vic.?"
+
+Victoria, whose marriage was but one week off, was, true to instinct
+and habit, on the lookout behind the friendly curtain.
+
+She nodded. "Yes--both of them, but not together. What a magnificent
+sleigh that is of the Marlows! They brought Mr. Hammond. See the
+bridegrooms shake hands on the sidewalk! That looks so sweet and
+brotherly! They will be up here almost directly, I suppose."
+
+The attendants immediately began to shake out their robes and stroke
+their white gloves. They were collected in the sitting-room so often
+mentioned, and the sisters were also present. In accordance with the
+ridiculous custom of very parvenu modern marriages, although the
+ceremony was to take place precisely at twelve o'clock, daylight
+was carefully excluded from the parlors below, gas made its sickly
+substitute, and the whole company was in full evening costume.
+
+"Am I all right?" inquired Lucy, with a cautious wave of her flowing
+veil. "Look at me, Vic.!"
+
+"You are perfect, my dearest!" replied the devoted parasite. "How
+I admire your beautiful self-possession! And as for you, Sarah,
+your calmness is wonderful! I fear that I should be terribly
+agitated"--blushing, and casting a meaning smile at Lucy.
+
+Sarah's statuesque repose was broken by a ray of scorn from the
+eye, and a slight disdainful smile. Whatever were the feelings
+working beneath her marble mask, she was not reduced to the depth of
+wretchedness that would humble her to accept the insolent pity couched
+under the pretended praise. She vouchsafed no other reply; but remained
+standing a little apart from the rest; her gloved hands crossed
+carelessly before her; her gaze bent downwards; her whole posture that
+of one who neither waited, nor hoped, nor feared.
+
+"Who would have thought that she could be made such an elegant-looking
+woman?" whispered one of the bridesmaids aside to another.
+
+"She has actually a high-bred air! I never imagined it was in her. So
+much for a Parisian toilette!"
+
+"I am so much afraid that I shall lose my color when we enter the
+room," said Lucy, surveying her pink cheeks in the mirror. "They say it
+is so trying to the nerves, and I am odious when I am pale."
+
+"Never fear, my sweetest. It is more likely that the unavoidable
+excitement will improve your complexion. There they are!" returned
+Victoria, hurriedly, and--unconsciously, no doubt--the three attendants
+and one of the principals in the forthcoming transaction, "struck an
+attitude," as the sound of footsteps approached the door.
+
+Lucy had only time for a whisper--a last injunction--to her faithful
+crony. "Remember to see that my veil and dress hang right when we get
+downstairs." And the masculine portion of the procession marched in in
+order.
+
+Sarah did not look up. She bent her head as the formal exchange of
+salutations was executed, and yielded her hand to the person who took
+it in his warm pressure, and then transferred it to his arm. It was one
+of the freaks, thus denominated by her acquaintances, in which she had
+been indulged, that she desired to have her marriage ceremony precede
+her sister's. She assigned what Lucy at least considered a sufficient
+reason for this caprice.
+
+"Nobody will care to look at me after you stand aside, Lucy. Keep the
+best wine until the last. My only chance of getting an approving glance
+lies in going in before you attract and fix the public gaze."
+
+She had her way. A limited number of select friends were admitted
+to behold "the ceremony;" yet the parlors were comfortably filled,
+excepting in the magical semicircle described by an invisible line, in
+the center of which stood the clergyman in his robes.
+
+Still dull and calm, Sarah went through the brief role that fell to
+her share. "Behaved charmingly," was the unanimous verdict of the
+beholders, and surprised other people, as well as the complimentary
+bridesmaid, by her thoroughbred air and Parisian toilette. Without the
+pause of a second, so perfect was the drill of the performers, the
+wedded pair stepped aside, and made way for the second happy couple.
+Lucy's solicitude on the score of her complexion was needless. As the
+solemn words were commenced, a rosy blush flickered up to its appointed
+resting-place--another and another--until, when Philip released her
+to the congratulatory throng, she was the most enchanting type of a
+radiant Hebe that poet ever sang, or painter burned to immortalize on
+canvas.
+
+Philip stood beside her and sustained his portion of the hand-shaking
+and felicitations until the press diminished, then stepped hastily over
+to where Hammond and his bride were undergoing a similar martyrdom.
+Until this moment Sarah had not looked at, or spoken to him--had never
+met him face to face since their parting in the summer at Aunt Sarah's.
+Now, not aware who it was that approached her, she raised her eyes with
+the serious dignity with which she had received all other salutations,
+and met his downward gaze--full of warm and honest feeling.
+
+"Sister!" he said, and in brotherly fondness he bent towards her, and
+left a kiss upon her mouth.
+
+A hot glow, the lurid red of offended modesty or self-convicted guilt,
+overspread her face; the lips parted, quivered, and closed tightly,
+after an ineffectual effort to articulate; the room swam around her,
+and Mr. Hammond caught her just in time to save her from falling. It
+was Nature's vengeful reaction for the long and unnatural strain upon
+her energies. She did not faint entirely away, although several moments
+elapsed before she regained perfect consciousness of her situation
+and surrounding objects. She had been placed in an easy-chair; her
+head rested against her father's shoulder, and on the other side stood
+Lewis, almost as pale as herself, holding a glass of wine to her lips.
+Around her were grouped her mother, Lucy, and Philip. The guests had
+withdrawn politely to the background, and maintained a respectful
+silence.
+
+"What have I betrayed?" was her first coherent reflection; and, with an
+instinctive perception of the quarter where such disclosures would do
+most harm, her eye turned with a sort of appealing terror to Lewis.
+His heart leaped at the movement, revealing, as he fancied it did,
+dependence upon his strength, recognition of his right to be with and
+nearest to her.
+
+"You are better," he said, with a moved tenderness he could not and
+cared not to restrain.
+
+The words, the manner, were an inexpressible relief to her fears, and
+trying to return his smile, she would have arisen but for her father's
+interposition.
+
+"Sit still," he advised. "Mrs. Hunt, Lucy, Mr. Benson, will you
+entertain our friends? She will be all right in a little while, Mr.
+Hammond."
+
+"Tableaux vivants!" said Lucy's soft, rich voice, as she advanced
+towards the reassured guests. "This is a part of the performance not
+set down in the programme. Quite theatrical, was it not?"
+
+It is very possible that Philip Benson would not have regarded this as
+an apropos or refined witticism, had any one else been the speaker; but
+as the round, liquid tones rolled it forth, and her delicious laugh
+led off the instant revival of mirth and badinage, he marvelled at
+her consummate tact, her happy play of fancy (!), and returned devout
+thanks to the stars that had bestowed upon him this prodigy of grace,
+wit, and beauty. Sarah rallied speedily; and, contrary to the advice of
+her father and husband, maintained her post in the drawing-room during
+all the reception, which continued from half-past twelve to half-past
+two.
+
+It was a gay and shifting scene--a sparkling, murmuring tide, that
+ebbed and flowed to and from the quartette who formed the attractive
+power. Silks, laces, velvets, furs, and diamonds; faces young, old,
+and middle-aged; handsome, fair, and homely; all decked in the same
+conventional holiday smile; bodies tall and short, executing every
+variety of bow and courtesy; voices sweet, sharp, and guttural,
+uttering the senseless formula of congratulation--these were Sarah's
+impressions of the tedious ceremonial. Restored to her rigid composure,
+she too bowed and spoke the word or sentence custom exacted--an
+emotionless automaton in seeming, while Lucy's matchless inflections
+lent interest and beauty to the like nothings, as she rehearsed them
+in her turn; and Philip Benson, having no solicitude for his bride's
+health or ability to endure the fatigue, was collected enough to
+compare the two, and, while exulting in his selection, to commiserate
+the proprietor of the colder and less gifted sister.
+
+At last the trial was over; the hospitable mansion was closed; the
+parlors deserted; the preparation for travelling hurried through;
+and the daughters went forth from their girlhood's home. Philip had
+cordially invited Sarah and Lewis, by letter, to accompany Lucy and
+himself to Georgia; but Sarah would not hear of it, and Lewis, while he
+left the decision to her, was not sorry that she preferred to journey
+instead with him alone. It was too cold to go northward, and the
+Hammond's now proposed to proceed with the others as far as Baltimore,
+there to diverge upon a Western and Southern tour, which was to occupy
+three weeks, perhaps four.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+During the month preceding his marriage, Lewis Hammond had spent much
+time and many thoughts in providing and furnishing a house for his
+wife. His coadjutor in this labor of love was not, as one might have
+expected, Mrs. Hunt, but his early friend, Mrs. Marlow. His omission
+of his future mother-in-law, in his committee of consultation, he
+explained to her by representing the number of duties already pressing
+upon her, and his unwillingness to add aught to their weight. But when
+both girls were married and gone, and the work of "getting to rights"
+was all over, this indefatigable woman paid Mrs. Marlow a visit, and
+offered her assistance in completing the arrangements for the young
+housekeepers.
+
+"There is nothing for us to do," said Mrs. Marlow. "Lewis attended
+to the purchase of everything before leaving; and the orders are all
+in the hands of a competent upholsterer whom he has employed, as
+is also the key of the house. I offered to have the house-cleaning
+done, but Lewis refused to let me help him even in this. He is very
+methodical, and rather strict in some of his ideas. When the premises
+are pronounced ready for the occupancy of the future residents, you and
+I will play inspectors, and find as much fault as we can."
+
+Mrs. Hunt went around by the house on her way home. It was new and
+handsome, a brown stone front, with stone balconies and balustrades;
+but three stories high, it was true, yet of ample width and pitch of
+ceiling, and--as she discovered by skirting the square--at least three
+rooms deep all the way up. The location was unobjectionable; not more
+than four blocks from the paternal residence, and in a wider street. On
+the whole, she had no fault to find, provided Mr. Hammond had furnished
+it in such style as she would have recommended. She had her fears lest
+his sober taste in other respects should extend to these matters, and
+hinted something of the kind to her husband.
+
+"I have confidence in Mr. Hammond to believe that he will allow his
+wife every indulgence compatible with his means," was the reply.
+
+Mr. Hunt did not deem it obligatory upon him to state that his
+son-in-law had conferred with him upon numerous questions pertaining to
+Sarah's likes and probable wishes; that he had examined and approved
+of the entire collection of furniture, etc., selected for her use. Why
+should he, how could he, without engendering in his wife's bosom the
+suspicion that he had accounted to him for Lewis' choice of the father
+as an adviser? namely, that the newly-made husband had gained a pretty
+correct estimate of this managing lady's character, her penny-wise and
+pound-foolish policy, and intended to inaugurate altogether a different
+one in his house.
+
+Regardless of Mrs. Marlow's polite insinuation that their room was
+preferable to their company until all things should be in readiness for
+inspection, the ambitious mother made sundry visits to the premises
+while they were being fitted up, and delivered herself of divers
+suggestions and recommendations, which fell like sand on a rock upon
+the presiding man of business.
+
+On the day appointed for the tourists' return, Mrs. Marlow's carriage
+drew up at Mr. Hunt's door, by appointment, to take the mistress of
+the house upon the proposed visit of criticism of her daughter's
+establishment. Mrs. Marlow was in a sunny mood, and indisposed to
+censure, as was evinced by ejaculations of pleasure at the general
+effect of each apartment as they entered, and praise of its component
+parts. Mrs. Hunt was not so undiscriminating. The millionaire's wife
+must not imagine that she was dazzled by any show of elegance, or that
+she was overjoyed at the prospect of her child's having so beautiful
+and commodious a home.
+
+"The everlasting oak and green!" she uttered, as they reached the
+dining-room. "It is a pity Mr. Hammond did not select walnut and
+crimson instead! Green is very unbecoming to Sarah."
+
+"Then we must impress upon her the importance of cultivating
+healthy roses in her cheeks, and wearing bright warm colors. This
+combination--green and oak--is pretty and serviceable, I think. The
+table is very neatly set, Mary," continued Mrs. Marlow, kindly, to the
+tidy serving-maid. "Keep an eye on the silver, my good girl, until
+your mistress comes. Mrs. Hunt, shall we peep into the china closets
+before we go to the kitchen? I have taken the liberty, at Lewis'
+request, of offering to your daughter the service of a couple of my
+protegees, excellent servants, who lived for years with one of my own
+children--Mrs. Morland, now in Paris. They are honest, willing, and, I
+think, competent. The man-servant, if Lewis sees fit to keep one, he
+must procure himself."
+
+The china, glass, and pantries were in capital order; the kitchen well
+stocked, light, and clean, and dinner over the fire.
+
+"You will be punctual to the minute, Katy, please!" was the warning
+here. "Mr. Hammond is particular in the matter of time."
+
+"And you will see that my daughter has a cup of clear, strong coffee!"
+ordered Mrs. Hunt, magisterially. "She is delicate, and accustomed to
+the very best of cookery." And, having demonstrated her importance and
+superior housewifery to the round-eyed cook, she swept out.
+
+To an unprejudiced eye, the whole establishment was without a flaw;
+and, undisturbed by the captious objections of her companion in the
+survey, Mrs. Marlow saw and judged for herself, and carried home with
+her a most pleasing imagination of Lewis' gratification, and Sarah's
+delighted surprise with the scene that was to close their way of cold
+and weariness.
+
+By Mr. Hammond's expressed desire to his father-in-law, there was
+no one except the domestics in the house when they arrived. As the
+carriage stopped, the listening maid opened the door, and a stream of
+radiance shot into the misty night across the wet pavement upon the two
+figures that stepped from the conveyance.
+
+"In happy homes he sees the light." The mental quotation brought back
+to Sarah the vision of that lonely evening, ten months before, when
+she had moaned it in her dreary twilight musings at the window of her
+little room. "Dreary then, hopeless now!" and with this voiceless sigh,
+she crossed the threshold of her destined abode. With a kindly greeting
+to the servants in the hall; Lewis hurried his wife onward, past the
+parlor doors, into a library sitting-room, back of the show apartments,
+warm and bright, smiling a very home welcome.
+
+Here he placed her in a deep cushioned chair, and, pressing her hands
+in his, kissed her, with a heartfelt--"May you be very happy in our
+home, dear wife!"
+
+"Thank you!" she replied. "It is pleasant here, and you are too kind."
+
+"That is impossible where you are concerned. Sit here, while I see to
+the trunks. When they are carried upstairs, you can go to your room.
+Throw off your hat and cloak."
+
+He was very thoughtful of her comfort--too thoughtful, because his love
+made him watchful of her every look, word, and gesture. She was glad
+of the brief respite from this vigilance, that allowed her to bury her
+face in her hands and groan aloud. She had no heart to look around her
+cage. No doubt it was luxurious; the bars softly and richly lined; the
+various arrangements the best of their kind; still, it was nothing but
+a cage--a prison, from which death only could release her.
+
+The trim maid came for her wrappings, and directly afterwards Lewis, to
+take her upstairs.
+
+"Not a very elaborate toilet, dear," he said, as he left her for his
+dressing-room. "You will see no one this evening but our father and
+mother, and they will remember that you have been travelling all day."
+
+When she was ready, it lacked still a quarter of an hour of
+dinner-time, and she acceded to Lewis' proposal that they should go
+over their dwelling. By his order, there were lights in every room.
+The graceful furniture, the well-contrasted hues of the soft carpets,
+the curtains and pictures showed to fine advantage. Every thing was in
+place, from cellar to attic; not a symptom of parsimony or cheapness
+in the whole; and all betokened, besides excellent judgment, such
+conformity to, or unison with her taste, that Sarah, with all her
+heaviness of heart, was pleased. She was touched too with gratitude or
+remorse; for, when they were back in the cozy sitting-room, she laid
+her hand timidly on that of her husband, and said, falteringly:
+
+"I do not deserve that you should take so much pains to gratify me, Mr.
+Hammond."
+
+Over Lewis' face there flushed one of the rare smiles that made him
+positively handsome while they lasted. He grasped the shrinking fingers
+firmly, and drew his wife close to his side.
+
+"Shall I tell you how to repay me for all that I have done, or ever can
+do, to promote your ease and enjoyment?"
+
+"If you please." But her heart sank, as she foresaw some demands upon
+a love that had never existed--a treasure that, to him, was sealed and
+empty; yet whose poverty she dared not avow.
+
+"Call me 'Lewis,' now that we are at home, dear. I cannot realize that
+you are indeed all mine--that our lives are one and the same, while you
+continue that very proper 'Mr. Hammond.'"
+
+"It comes more naturally to my tongue, and don't you think it more
+respectful than--than--the other?"
+
+"I ask no such form of respect from you. I do not fear lest you should
+fail to 'honor and obey' me, you little paragon of duty! Believe me,
+dearest, I fully understand and reverence the modest reserve that has
+not yet ceased to be shyness, in the expression of your sentiments
+towards me. You are not demonstrative by nature. Neither am I. But
+since you are my other self, and there is no living being nearer to
+you than myself, ought we not to overcome this propensity to, or custom
+of, locking up our feelings in our own breasts? Let me begin by a
+confession of one uncomfortable complaint, under which I have labored
+ever since our engagement. Do you know, darling, that I absolutely
+hunger--I cannot give any other name to the longing--I hunger and
+thirst to hear you say that you love me! Do you remember that you
+have never told me in so many words what you have given me other good
+reasons for believing? I need but one thing this evening to fill my cup
+with purest content. It is to have you say--openly, fearlessly, as my
+wife has a right to do--'Lewis, I love you!'"
+
+"It need be a source of no unhappiness to be married to a man whom one
+does not love, provided he is kind and generous!" say match-makers and
+worldly-wise mothers. Perhaps not, after one's conscience is seared in
+callosity by perjuries, and her forehead grown bold as brass; but the
+neophyte in the laudable work of adaptation to such circumstances will
+trip in her words and color awkwardly while acquiring this enviable
+hardihood.
+
+Sarah's head fell, and her face was stained with blushes. One wild
+impulse was to throw herself at the feet of him whom she had wronged
+so foully, and, confessing her mad, wicked deception upon his holiest
+feelings, pray him to send her away--to cast her adrift, and rid
+himself of a curse, while he freed her from the gentle, yet intolerable
+bondage of his love.
+
+"Dinner is ready!" announced the servant. Sarah's senses returned,
+and with them self-control. With a strange smile, she glanced up at
+him--a look he did not understand, yet could not guess was born of
+anguish--and said, with a hesitation that seemed pretty and coquettish
+to him--"Lewis! do you hear? May it please your worship, I am very
+hungry!"
+
+"Tease! I will have my revenge yet! See if I do not!"
+
+Laughing lightly, she eluded his outstretched arm, and sprang past
+him into the hall leading to the dining-room. She assumed the seat at
+the table with a burlesque of dignity, and throughout the meal was
+more talkative and frolicsome than he had ever seen her before. So
+captivated was he by her lively discourse and bright looks, that he
+was sorry to hear the ring, proclaiming the coming of the expected
+visitors. The dessert had not been removed, and the girl was instructed
+to show them immediately into the dining-room.
+
+A toast was drunk to the prosperity of the lately established
+household, and the gentlemen went off to the library.
+
+"Always see to putting away your silver, Sarah!" counselled the mother.
+"And you had ought to get a common set of dinner and breakfast things.
+This china is too nice for every-day use. Of course, Mr. Hammond can
+afford to get more when this is broken; but it's a first-rate rule,
+child, as you'll find, to put your money where it will show most.
+That's the secret of my management. Mr. Hammond must give you an
+allowance for housekeeping and pin-money. Speak to him about it right
+away. Men are more liberal while the honeymoon lasts than they ever
+are afterwards. Strike while the iron is hot. You can't complain of
+your husband, so far. He has set you up very handsome. If I had been
+consulted about furnishing, I would have saved enough off of those
+third-story chambers and the kitchen to buy another pair of mirrors
+for your parlors. The mantel has a bare look. I noticed it directly I
+went in. To be sure, the Parisian ornaments are pretty and tasty, and
+expensive enough--dear knows! but they don't make much of a display."
+
+"I do not like the fashion of lining walls with mirrors," said Sarah,
+in her old, short way; "and am satisfied with the house as it is. Shall
+we join the gentlemen?"
+
+Nothing had ever showed her more plainly the degradation of her false
+position than the confident air her mother wore in making her coarse
+observations, and instructing her as to the method of managing her
+generous, confiding husband. It was the free-masonry of a mercenary
+wife, whose spouse would have been better represented to her mind by
+his money-bag than his own proper person, towards another of the same
+craft, who rated her lawful banker by corresponding rules.
+
+"Will I then really grow to be like her and her associates?" Sarah
+questioned inly. "Will a fine house and its fixtures, will dress and
+equipage and pin-money so increase in importance as to fill this
+aching vacuum in my heart? Will a position in life, and the envy of my
+neighbors, make up to me for the loss of the love of which I used to
+dream, the happiness which the world owes me yet? Is this the coin in
+which it would redeem its promises?"
+
+Mr. Hunt's mild features wore their happiest expression this evening.
+He arose at the ladies' entrance, and beckoned his daughter to a seat
+on the sofa beside him.
+
+"You are a little travel-worn!" he said. "Your cheeks are not very
+ruddy."
+
+"Did you ever see them when they were?" asked Sarah, playfully.
+
+"She was always just that pale when she was a baby," said Mrs. Hunt,
+setting herself in the arm-chair proffered by her son-in-law. "Lucy
+stole all the roses from her." Sarah may have thought that other and
+more grievous thefts had succeeded this doubtful one, but she neither
+looked nor said this. "And that reminds me, Mr. H.! Did you bring
+Lucy's letter for Sarah to read?"
+
+"I did." Mr. Hunt produced it. "Keep it, and read it at your leisure,
+Sarah."
+
+"They are supremely happy, I suppose?" remarked Lewis, with the
+benevolent interest incident to his fellowship of feeling with them.
+
+"For all the world like two turtle-doves!" Mrs. Hunt rejoined. "Their
+letters are a curiosity. It is 'Phil.' and 'Lucy' from one end to the
+other. I mean to save them to show them five years from now. Hot love
+is soon cool, and by-and-by they will settle down as sensible as any of
+the rest of us. You don't begin so, I see, Sarah, and I am pleased at
+it. Between me and you, it's two-thirds of it humbug! There is Victoria
+West that was! She looks ready, in company, to eat up that lean monkey
+of a George Bond. I don't believe but she shows him the other side of
+the picture in private."
+
+Sarah heard her father's suppressed sigh, and felt, without looking
+up, that her husband's eyes sought hers wistfully. The unobservant
+dame pursued her free and easy discourse. Mr. Hammond was "one of the
+family" now, and there was no more occasion for choice grammar or fine
+sentiments before him.
+
+"Not that I blame Victoria for taking him. He was a good offer, and she
+wasn't much admired by the gentlemen--rich as Mr. West is. Mr. Bond
+is twenty-five years older than she is, and wears false teeth and a
+toupee; but I suppose she is willing to overlook trifles. She watches
+out for the main chance, and will help him take care of his money, as
+well as spend it. Vic. is a prudent girl."
+
+"Lucy--Mrs. Benson--was at home when she wrote, was she not?"
+interrogated Mr. Hammond.
+
+"Yes, at his father's. His mother keeps house, and Lucy has nothing
+to do but ride, visit, and entertain company. She says the house is
+crowded the whole time, and she has so many beaux that Philip stands no
+chance of speaking a word to her. She is perfectly happy."
+
+Notwithstanding the various feelings of the listeners, none of them
+could resist this picture of a felicitous honeymoon, so naively spoken.
+Lewis' laugh cleared the vapors from his brow, and the pain at Sarah's
+heart did not hinder her from joining in.
+
+"And the ousted bridegroom, perforce, seeks consolation in the society
+of his fair friends?" said Lewis. "If this is the way young married
+people show the love-sickness you complained of just now, Mrs. Hunt, I
+am content with our more staid ways--eh, Sarah?"
+
+"Quiet ways suit me best," was the answer.
+
+"'Still water runs deep,'" quoted Mrs. Hunt. "I used to worry over your
+stay-at-home habits and eternal study of books, Sarah; but I'm ready to
+say now that you was sensible to behave as you did, as it has turned
+out. I don't mean to flatter Mr. Hammond, but I'd ten times rather you
+had taken him than a dried-up widower like George Bond."
+
+"Thank you!" bowed Lewis, desirous of diverting attention from Sarah's
+growing uneasiness beneath her mother's congratulations.
+
+Mrs. Hunt held on her way. "I never had a fear lest Lucy shouldn't
+marry well. She was pretty and attractive, and knew too much about the
+world to throw herself away for the sake of love in a cottage. But
+now the danger is over, I will allow that I used to mistrust Sarah
+here sometimes. You was just queer enough to fall in love with some
+adventurer with a foreign name, and never a cent in his pocket--yes,
+and marry him, too, in spite of all that could be said and done to
+prevent it. I was forever in a 'feaze' about you; fancying that you was
+born to make an out-and-out love-match--the silliest thing a girl can
+do, in my opinion."
+
+"You never dreamed of her 'taking up,' as the phrase is, with a humdrum
+individual like myself," said Lewis. "Nor, to be candid, did I, for
+a long time, Mrs. Hunt. Yet I cannot say that I regret her action,
+disadvantageous to herself though it was. I wrote to you of our visit
+to New Orleans, did I not, sir?" he continued to Mr. Hunt, inwardly a
+little disgusted by the frank revelations his mamma-in-law was making
+of her principles and plans.
+
+The subject so interesting to most wedded people, so embarrassing to
+one of the present party, was not again introduced during the elder
+couple's stay. When Lewis returned to the library, after seeing them
+out, Sarah sat where he had left her, her hand shading her eyes--deep
+in thought, or overcome by weariness.
+
+"You had better go up to your room, dear," said Lewis. "I wonder you
+are not worn out completely."
+
+She arose to obey; walked as far as the door, then came back to him.
+
+"It may appear strange to you that I should speak openly to such a
+suspicion; but I must beg you not to suppose for an instant that in
+my acceptance of your offer of marriage, I was actuated by mercenary
+motives. You look surprised"--she hurried on yet faster while her
+resolution lasted--"but I could not rest without doing myself this act
+of justice. Much that mother said to-night might--must have led you to
+this conclusion. I would not have you think worse of me than I deserve,
+and of this one act of baseness I am innocent."
+
+"My precious little wife, how excited you are! and over what a
+nonsensical imagination! Suspect you--the noblest as well as the
+dearest of women--of selling yourself, body and soul, for money? Listen
+to my speech now, dear Sarah!"
+
+He sat down and pulled her to his knee. "I esteem you, as I love
+you, above all the rest of your sex--above any other created mortal.
+I know you to be a pure, high-minded woman. When I part with this
+persuasion, may I part also with the life that doubt on this point
+would render wretched! Judge, then, whether it be possible for me to
+link this holy realization of womanhood with the thought of another
+character, which I will describe. I hold that she who enters the
+hallowed state of wedlock through motives of pecuniary interest, or
+ambition, or convenience--indeed, through any consideration save that
+of love, single and entire, for him to whom she pledges her vows,
+stands, in the sight of her Maker and the angels, on a level with the
+most abandoned outcast that pollutes the earth she treads. I shock
+you, I see; but on this subject I feel strongly. I have seen much, too
+much, of fashionable marriages formed for worldly aggrandizement--for
+riches; sometimes in pique at having lost a coveted lover. With my
+peculiar sentiments, I feel that I could endure no heavier curse than
+to contract an alliance like any of these. I repeat it, I believe in
+Woman as God made her and intended she should live, if for no other
+reason than because I recollect my mother, boy as I was when she died;
+and because I know and have you, my true, blessed wife!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+A year and five months had passed away since the evening when Lewis
+Hammond held his conscience-stricken wife upon his knee, and told
+her--in fervid words that singularly belied his calm and even demeanor
+at other times--of his faith in and love for her, and his abhorrence
+of the sin she felt in her trembling soul that she had committed. Yet
+she had not the superhuman courage required to contradict a trust like
+this. There was no alternative but to keep up the weary, wicked mockery.
+
+"But in all these months she must have learned to care for him!" cries
+Mrs. Common Sense. "There is nothing disagreeable about the man. He is
+not brilliant; yet he has intelligence and feeling, and is certainly
+attached to his wife. I have no doubt but that he indulges her in
+every reasonable request, and comports himself in all respects like an
+exemplary husband."
+
+Granted, to each and every head of your description, my dear madam!
+But, for all that, his obdurate wife had not come to love him. I blush
+to say it; but while we are stripping hearts let us not be squeamish!
+There had been seasons, lasting sometimes for weeks, when her existence
+was a continual warfare between repugnance to him and her sense of
+duty; when she dreaded to hear his step in the hall, and shrank
+inwardly from his caress; watched and fought, until strength and mind
+were well-nigh gone. Mark me! I do not deny that this was as irrational
+as it was reprehensible; but I have never held up my poor Sarah as
+a model of reason or propriety. From the beginning, I have made her
+case a warning. The fates forbid that I should commend it to any as an
+example for imitation! A passionate, proud, reticent girl; a trusting,
+loving, deceived woman; a hopeless, desperate bride--whose heart lay
+like a pulseless stone in her breast at the most ardent love-words of
+her husband, and throbbed with wild, uncontrollable emotion at the
+fraternal tone and kiss of her lost and only love--I have no plea for
+her, save the words of Infinite compassion and Divine knowledge of
+human nature and human woe: "Let him that is without sin among you cast
+the first stone at her!"
+
+The highly respectable firm of which Mr. Hammond was the junior member,
+was adding, if not field to field, thousand to thousand, of the
+wherewithal for the purchase of fields, or, what was better still, city
+lots. Mrs. Lewis Hammond had set up her carriage about a year after her
+marriage; said equipage being a gift from her generous husband on the
+occasion of the first airing of the little "Baby Belle," as she was
+always called in the family. Not until subsequent events had endowed
+it with deeper and saddest interest did Sarah read Aldrich's beautiful
+poem bearing the above title. Lewis' mother's name was Isabella. Her
+grandchild received the same, which became "Belle" on the mother's
+tongue, and then, because it was natural to say "Baby" too, the pretty
+alliteration was adopted.
+
+To a man of Lewis' domestic tastes the advent of this child was a
+source of the liveliest pleasure, and the tiny inmate of his household
+was another and a powerful tie, binding him to a home already dear. But
+to the mother's lonely life, so bare of real comfort or joy--haunted
+by memory and darkened by remorse--the precious gift came like a ray
+of Heaven's purest light, a strain of angel music, saying to care,
+"Sleep!" to hope, "Awake, the morning cometh!" Beneath the sunshine of
+so much love, the infant throve finely, and without being a greater
+prodigy than the nine hundred and ninety-nine miracles of beauty and
+sprightliness who, with it, composed the thousand "blessed babies"
+of the day, was still a pretty, engaging creature, whose gurgling
+laugh and communicative "coo" beguiled the mother's solitude and made
+cheerful the lately silent house.
+
+It was late in the June afternoon, and arrayed in clean white frock,
+broad sash, and shoulder-knots of pink ribbon, the small lady sat on
+her mother's lap at the front window, awaiting the appearance of
+the husband and father. Sarah had altered much since her marriage;
+"improved wonderfully," said her acquaintances. There was still in
+her mien a touch of haughtiness; in her countenance the look that
+spoke profound thought and introspection. Still, when in repose, her
+brow had a cast of seriousness that bordered on melancholy; but over
+her features had passed a change like that wrought by the sculptor's
+last stroke to the statue. The mould was the same--the chiselling
+more clear and fine. Especially after the birth of her child was this
+refining process most apparent in its effects. There was a softness in
+her smile, a gentle sweetness in her voice, as she now talked to the
+babe, directing its attention to the window, lest the father's approach
+should be unnoticed, and he disappointed in his shout of welcome.
+
+"How affected! gotten up for show!" sneered the childless Mrs. Bond, as
+she rolled by in her carriage, on her way to her handsome, cheerless
+home and its cross master.
+
+"She has chosen her position well, at all events," rejoined her
+companion, a neighbor and gossip, who had taken Lucy's place in
+Victoria's confidence.
+
+"Ridiculous!" She spat out the ejaculation from the overflowing of her
+spleen. "I could laugh at her airs, if they did not make me mad! One
+would think, to see her as she sits there, that she had decked herself
+and the child to please a man that she doted upon--like the good wives
+we read of in novels."
+
+"And why shouldn't she be fond of him? He is a good-hearted fellow, and
+lets her do pretty much as she pleases, I imagine, besides waiting on
+her like any lover. I often meet them riding out together. That is more
+than your husband or mine ever does, my dear."
+
+"They go quite as often as we desire their company, I fancy. Mine
+does, I know. Perhaps if we had the reason for parading our conjugal
+devotion that Mrs. Hammond has, we might wheedle our lawful lords into
+taking a seat alongside of us once in a while. There's nothing like
+keeping up appearances, particularly if the reality is lacking. If
+Lewis Hammond knew some of the pretty stories I could tell him about
+Sarah's love-scrapes, he would not look so sublimely contented with his
+three-story paradise. The elegant clothes he piles upon that squaw of
+his are preposterous, and she carries them off as if she had dressed
+well all her days. I tell you, she never looked decent until she put on
+her wedding-dress. You have heard of the fainting-scene that took place
+that morning, I suppose? Old Mother Hunt said it was 'sensibility,'
+and 'nervous agitation;' the company laid it to the heat of the room;
+and I laughed in my sleeve, and said nothing. If that woman aggravates
+me much more, I will remind her of some passages in her experience she
+does not dream that I know."
+
+"Do tell me what you mean? I am dying of curiosity! Did she flirt very
+hard before she was married?"
+
+"She never had the chance. Lewis Hammond was her only offer."
+
+"What was the matter, then?"
+
+"I can't tell you now. It is too long a story. The next time she frets
+me, as she does whenever she crosses my path, maybe you will hear the
+romance. Shall I set you down at your door, or will you enliven me
+by spending the evening with me? I do not expect other company, and
+George falls asleep over his newspaper as soon as he has despatched his
+dinner. Come in, and I will show you the loveliest sofa-pillow you ever
+beheld; a new pattern I have just finished."
+
+"Thank you! I would accept the invitation with pleasure, but I have not
+been home since breakfast, and James makes such a fuss if he does not
+find me in the nursery, tending that whimpering baby, when he comes up
+at night, that it is as much as my life is worth to stay out after six
+o'clock. Anything for peace, you know; and since we wives are slaves,
+it is best to keep on the blind side of our masters."
+
+The day had been warm down town, and as Lewis Hammond stepped from the
+stage at the corner nearest his house, he felt jaded and dispirited--a
+physical depression, augmented by a slight headache. A business
+question which he had talked over with Mr. Marlow, before leaving
+the store, contributed its weight of thoughtfulness, and he was not
+conscious how near he was to his dwelling until, aroused by a sharp tap
+upon the window-pane, he glanced up at the animated tableau framed by
+the sash--the smiling mother, and the babe leaping and laughing, and
+stretching its hands towards him.
+
+"This is the sweetest refreshment a man can ask after his day of toil,"
+he said, when, having kissed his wife and child, he took the latter
+in his arms. He was not addicted to complimentary speeches, and while
+his esteem and attachment for his chosen partner were even stronger
+than they had been in the heart of the month-old bridegroom, he was
+less apt to express them to her now than then. In one respect, and
+only one, his wedded life had brought him disappointment. Unreserved
+confidence and demonstrative affection on his side failed to draw forth
+similar exhibitions of feeling from Sarah. Kind, thoughtful, dutiful,
+scrupulously faithful to him and his interests in word, look, and deed,
+she ever was. Yet he saw that she was a changed being from the fond,
+impulsive daughter, whose ministry in her father's sick-room had won
+for her a husband's love. Her reception of his affectionate advances
+was passive--a reception merely, without apparent return. Never, and he
+had ceased now to ask it, had she once said to him the phrase he had
+craved to hear--"I love you!" Yet he would as soon have questioned the
+reality of his existence as that she did love him. He held inviolate
+his trust in the motive that had induced her to become his wife,
+and in this calm confidence he was fain to rest, in the absence of
+protestations that would have gladdened his soul, while they could
+hardly have strengthened his faith in her affection.
+
+Few wives, however loving, have been more truly cherished than was
+Sarah, and of this she was partially aware. If she had remained
+ignorant of Lewis' sentiments and wishes with regard to herself, until
+the grieved and unrequited love had subsided into the dull aching that
+does not, like a green wound, create, by its very smart, a species
+of excitement that helps one bear the pain; had he glided gradually
+into the joyless routine of her life's duties, and abided his time of
+speaking until he had made himself necessary to her comfort and peace,
+he might have won a willing bride. But what omniscient spirit was there
+to instruct and caution him? He met and loved her, supposing her to be
+as free as himself; like an honest, upright man, he told that love,
+and, without a misgiving placed his honor and his happiness in her
+hands.
+
+Sarah could not have told why she revolved all this in her unquiet
+mind as he sat near her, playing with their child; yet she did think
+of their strange sad history, and from the review arose a feeling
+of pity, sincere, almost tender for him, so worthy and so deceived.
+She remembered with abasement of spirit how often she had been ready
+to hate him as the instrument of her bondage; how wrathful words
+had arisen to her lips at the moment of his greatest kindness; how
+patiently he had borne her coldness; how unflagging was his care of
+and for her. Over the dark, turbulent gulf of the unforgotten past
+that sundered their hearts, she longed, as she had never done before,
+to call to him, and confessing her sin against Heaven and against him,
+to implore pardon for the sake of the spotless babe that smiled into
+the father's face with its mother's eyes. Would he be merciful? Slowly
+and emphatically memory repeated in her ear his denunciation of the
+unloving wife, and courage died before the menaced curse.
+
+"Fudge! Fiddlesticks! what frippery nonsense!" cry out, in a vehement
+storm of indignation, a bevy of the Common Sense connection. "Are we
+not staid and respectable matrons all? Do we not rear our daughters
+virtuously, and teach our sons to honor father as well as mother? Yet
+who of us troubles herself with raking in the cold ashes of her 'long
+ago' for the bones of some dead and gone love--a girlish folly of
+which she would be ashamed now? What cares Mr. Common Sense, among his
+day-books and ledgers, in his study or in his office, how many times
+his now correct helpmeet pledged eternal fidelity to other lovers
+before she put her last crop of wild oats into the ground, and settled
+for life with him? What if some of us, may be all, if driven hard,
+should admit that when we stood up before the minister we underwent
+certain qualms--call them pangs, if you like--at the thought of Tom
+This, or Harry That, or Dick The Other, who, if circumstances had
+permitted, we would have preferred should occupy the place of 'The
+man whom we actually held by the hand!' While men can choose their
+mates, and women can only take such as propose to them, these things
+will happen. After all, who is hurt? You aver that none of you are,
+mesdames, and we would not call your word in question. Ladies so
+conscientious must, of necessity, be veracious, even in love affairs."
+
+"I am a thoughtless animal!" said Lewis at the dinner-table. "There is
+a letter from Lucy! Open it--don't mind me! I will crack your nuts for
+you while you read it."
+
+There was a troubled look in Sarah's eye when she laid it down. "Lucy
+says they are certainly coming North this year--that we may look for
+them in a week from the date of this. This is rather sooner than mother
+expected them. Her housecleaning is late this season, in consequence of
+her rheumatic spell in May."
+
+"Let them come straight here! What should prevent them? There is an
+abundance of room for them--baby, nurse, and all. It will be a grand
+arrangement!" said Lewis, heartily.
+
+Sarah was backward in replying. "Father and mother may object. I would
+not wound them by interference with their guests."
+
+"I will answer that mother will thank us to take care of them until her
+scrubbing and scalding are done. And Lucy would not be willing to risk
+her baby's health in a damp house."
+
+"I will go and see mother to-morrow about it," concluded Sarah. She
+still appeared dubious as to the expediency of the proposed step, a
+thoughtfulness that did not wear away during the whole evening.
+
+The Bensons had not visited New York the preceding year. They were
+detained at the South by a combination of causes, the principal of
+which was the long and fatal illness of Philip's mother. Lucy had
+written repeatedly of her intense desire to see her home once more,
+declaiming against the providences that had thwarted their projects,
+like an impatient, unreasonable child.
+
+"Philip says it is not convenient for him to go just yet," said her
+letter to her sister, "and that our part of the country is as healthy
+as Saratoga itself; but I have vowed that I will not wait one day
+beyond the time I have set. It sets me wild to think of being in
+Broadway again--of visiting and shopping, and seeing you all. We have
+been so dull here since Mrs. Benson's death, and Philip is as solemn as
+a judge. One of his married sisters will stay with the old gentleman
+while we are away. O Sarah, I am sick of housekeeping and baby-nursing!
+It will do well enough for me when I need spectacles and a wig; but
+now, while I am young enough to enjoy life, it is insufferable!"
+
+"Not very domestic, is she?" observed Lewis, folding up the letter,
+which Sarah had handed him. "Ah! it is not every man who has such a
+gem of a wife as I have! It appears to me that the married women of
+these days are not satisfied unless they have a string of beaux as long
+as that of a popular single belle. How is it, little one? Do you ever
+catch yourself wishing that your husband were not such an old-fashioned
+piece of constancy, and would give some other fellow a chance to say a
+pretty thing, when you are in company?"
+
+"I do not complain," said Sarah, demurely.
+
+"Not in words, perhaps; your patience is wonderful in everything. But
+how do you feel when you see your old neighbor, Mrs. Bond, waltzing
+every set with the gayest gallant in the ball-room, while your jailor
+does not like to have you 'polk' at all, and favors your dancing only
+with men whom he knows to be respectable?"
+
+"I feel that Mr. Hammond is a sensible man, and careful of his wife's
+reputation, even in trifles, while Mr. Bond"--
+
+"Go on! finish your sentence!"
+
+"And his lady are a well-matched pair!"
+
+Much as she disliked Victoria, and knowing that she was hated still
+by her, Sarah deemed it a necessary and common act of courtesy to her
+sister's friend to call and apprise her of Lucy's probable visit.
+
+"It is not convenient for mother to receive them for a week yet, on
+account of certain household arrangements," she stated, in making
+known the object of her visit to her ancient enemy. "So you will find
+Lucy at our house, where her friends will be received as if they were
+my own."
+
+"You are very polite, I am sure!" replied Mrs. Bond, smothering her
+displeasure at Sarah's studied civility, and noting, with her quick,
+reptile perceptions, that she was to be tolerated as she fancied Sarah
+would imply, merely as Lucy's early associate. "And the Bensons are to
+be with you! I shall call immediately upon their arrival. Poor, dear
+Lucy! I long to see her. She has had a vast deal of trouble since her
+marriage--has she not?"
+
+"Except the death of her mother-in-law, she has had nothing to trouble
+her that I have heard of," answered Sarah, rising to go.
+
+"My dear creature! what do you call the wear and tear of managing a
+husband, and a pack of unruly servants, and looking after a baby? And
+she was such a belle! I wonder if she is much broken!"
+
+"Come and see!"
+
+Mrs. Hammond was at the parlor door.
+
+"I will--most assuredly! How do you like their being quartered upon
+you? What does that pattern husband of yours say to this?"
+
+"Madam!" said Sarah, surprised and offended by the rude query.
+
+"Oh! I don't mean that it would not be very delightful to you to have
+your sister with you; but there was a foolish rumor, about the time of
+your marriage, that you and Mr. Benson had some kind of a love-passage
+down in the country; and I thought that Mr. Hammond, with his
+particularly nice notions, might retain an unpleasant recollection of
+the story, which would prevent him from being on brotherly terms with
+his old rival. Men are terribly unreasonable mortals, and perfect Turks
+in jealousy! We cannot be too careful not to provoke their suspicions."
+
+Not for the universe would Sarah have betrayed any feeling at this
+insolence, save a righteous and dignified resentment at its base
+insinuations; but the ungovernable blood streamed in crimson violence
+to her temples, and her voice shook when she would have held it firm.
+
+"Mr. Hammond is not one to be influenced by malicious gossip, Mrs.
+Bond, if, indeed, the report you have taken the liberty of repeating
+was ever circulated except by its author. I cannot thank you for your
+warning, as I recognize no occasion for jealousy in my conduct or
+character. I am accountable for my actions to my conscience and my
+husband, and I release you from what you have assumed to be your duty
+of watching and criticising my personal affairs. Good-morning."
+
+"I struck a sore spot! no doubt of that!" soliloquized Mrs. Bond,
+recalling Sarah's start of pain and blush at the indelicate allusion
+to Philip Benson. "That woman stirs up all the bile in my system if I
+talk two minutes with her. If there were half the material to work upon
+in that vain, weak Lucy, that there is in this sister, I would have my
+revenge. As for Lewis Hammond, he is a love-sick fool!"
+
+Sarah's cheeks had not lost their flush, nor had her heart ceased
+its angry throbbings, when she reached home. In the solitude of her
+chamber, she summoned strength and resolution to ask herself the
+question, so long avoided, shunned, as she had imagined, in prudence,
+as she now began to fear, in dread of a truthful reply.
+
+When she married Lewis Hammond, she loved another. Fearful as was this
+sin, it would be yet more terrible were she now to discover a lurking
+fondness, an unconquered weakness for that other, in the heart of the
+trusted wife, the mother who, from that guilty bosom, nourished the
+little being that was, as yet, the embodiment of unsullied purity.
+It was a trying and a perilous task, to unfold deliberately, to pry
+searchingly into the record of that one short month that had held all
+the bloom and fragrance of her life's spring season; to linger over
+souvenirs and compare sensations--a painful and revolting process; but,
+alas! the revulsion was not at memories of that olden time; and as this
+appalling conviction dawned upon her, her heart died within her.
+
+The nurse was arranging Baby Belle for the possible reception of her
+unknown aunt and uncle, that afternoon, when Mrs. Hammond came into
+the nursery, her face as pale and set as marble, and silently lifted
+the child from the girl's lap to her own. For one instant her cheek
+was laid against the velvet of the babe's; the ringlets of fair hair
+mingled with her dark locks, before she set about completing its
+unfinished toilette. With a nicety and care that would have seemed
+overstrained, had other than mother's hands been busied in the work,
+the stockings and slippers were fitted on the plump feet; the sunny
+curls rolled around the fingers of the tiring woman, and brushed back
+from the brow; the worked cambric robe lowered cautiously over the
+head, lest the effect of the coiffure should be marred; the sleeves
+looped up with bands of coral and gold, a necklace, belonging to the
+same set, clasped around the baby's white throat, and she was ready for
+survey.
+
+"Now, Baby Belle and mamma will go down to meet papa!"
+
+And with the little one still clinging to her neck, she met, in the
+lower hall, her husband ushering in Lucy and Philip Benson.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+Breakfast was kept back an hour next morning to await Lucy's tardy
+appearance. "She was sadly wearied with her journey," apologized
+Philip, and Sarah begged that she would keep her room and have her
+meals sent up to her--an hospitable offer, which Mr. Benson negatived.
+
+Lucy did look tired and unrefreshed, and, to speak more plainly,
+very cross. Her hair, in its dryest state of pale yellow, was combed
+straight back above her temples; her skin was sallow; her wrapper
+carelessly put on, and its dead white unrelieved by even a bow of
+ribbon at the throat. Involuntarily Lewis glanced from the uninviting
+picture to his household deity, in her neat breakfast-dress of gray
+silk faced with pink, her glossy hair and tranquil features, and said
+to himself, in secret triumph, "Which is now the beauty? None of your
+trumpery ornamental articles for me!"
+
+Philip's eyes were as keen as his host's, and the probability is that
+he instituted a similar comparison, however well his pride succeeded in
+concealing the act and its result. Cutting short his wife's querulous
+plaints of the discomforts of travel, and the horrors of nervous
+sleeplessness, he opened a conversation with Mr. Hammond in the
+subdued, perfectly-managed tones Sarah remembered so well, selecting
+such topics as would interest a business man and a citizen of a
+commercial metropolis. Lucy pouted, and applied herself for consolation
+to her breakfast.
+
+With a strange mingling of emotions, Sarah listened to the dialogue
+between the gentlemen. She was anxious that Lewis should acquit himself
+creditably. Brilliant, like Philip, he could never be; but in sterling
+sense, not many men were his superiors. She had never had cause to
+be ashamed of him; for one so unpretending and judicious was not
+liable to make himself ridiculous. Whence, then, the solicitude with
+which she hung upon his every word? her disappointment when he did
+not equal the ideal reply she had fashioned, as she heard the words
+that called it forth? Several times she joined in the conversation,
+invariably to corroborate Lewis' assertions, or to supply something
+he had omitted to state. Philip Benson was a student of human nature.
+Was his mind sufficiently abstracted from his domestic annoyances to
+divine the motive that Sarah herself only perceived afterwards in
+solitary self-examination? Not love of, or admiration for the intrinsic
+excellence of the man whose name she bore; not fear lest his modesty
+should lessen his merits in the eyes of others; but a selfish dread
+that his acute interlocutor, discerning in him nothing likely to
+attract or win the affection of a woman such as he knew her to be,
+might guess her true reason for marrying Mr. Hammond. The timorous
+progeny of one guilty secret can only be numbered by the minutes during
+which it is borne in the bosom. Like the fabled Lacedæmonian boy,
+Sarah carried the gnawing horror with a fortitude that looked like
+cheerfulness. Habit cannot lighten the weight of a clinging curse; but
+strength and hardness come in time, if the burdened one is not early
+crushed by his load.
+
+The sisters spent most of the day in Lucy's room; the latter stretched
+upon the lounge, as she declared, "completely used up." Mrs. Hunt
+came around early in the forenoon, and into her sympathizing ears the
+spoiled child poured the story of her woes and wrongs; Sarah sitting
+by with a swelling, rebellious heart. With indecorous contempt for
+one of the most binding laws of married state--inviolable secrecy as
+to the faults of the other party to the momentous compact--mother and
+daughter compared notes upon their husbands, and criticised the class
+generally as the most wrong-headed, perverse, and dictatorial of all
+the necessary evils of society.
+
+Mrs. Benson, the elder, and her pleasure-loving daughter-in-law had
+differed seriously several months before the death of the former.
+Philip, while espousing his wife's cause to the rest of his family,
+had, in private, taken her to task for what he considered objectionable
+in her conduct; her heads of offence being mainly extravagant love of
+gay company, and the gallant attentions of gentleman visitors; neglect
+of dress and all efforts to please, when there was no company by; and
+a decided indisposition to share in the household duties, which his
+mother's increasing feebleness made onerous to her.
+
+"Ah, mother!" sighed the interesting complainant, raising herself
+to shake up her pillow, then sinking again upon it. "If girls only
+realized what is before them when they marry, few would be brave
+enough to change their condition. When I picture to myself what I was
+at home--a petted darling--never allowed to inconvenience myself when
+it could possibly be avoided; courted in society; free as air and
+light-hearted as a child; and then think of all that I have endured
+from the unkindness of strangers, and the--well--the want of sympathy
+in him for whom I had given up my dear old home and friends--I ask
+myself why I did not remain single!"
+
+The prudent matchmaker shook her head. "Marriage is a lottery, they
+say, my dear; but I am very sure that single life is a blank. You
+had no fortune, and in the event of your father's death would have
+been almost destitute. I am sorry your father did not insist upon Mr.
+Benson's giving you your own establishment at once. I hope, now the old
+lady is out of the way, you will have things more according to your
+notions."
+
+"Don't you believe that! As if there were not two sisters-in-law,
+living but four miles off, and driving over every other day to 'see how
+pa is.' That means, to see whether Lucy is letting things go to wreck
+and ruin. I understand their spiteful ways! Philip shuts his ears when
+I talk about them; but I am determined that I will not bear much more
+meddling!"
+
+Decidedly, Lucy Benson married was a woeful declension from the
+seraphic spinster depicted in our earlier chapters; but, as in time
+past, so in time present and to come, the sparkling sugar, whose
+integrity and sweetness appeared indestructible, while it was kept
+dry and cool, if dampened, undergoes an acetous fermentation, and the
+delicate sweet-meat, exposed to the air at a high temperature, becomes
+speedily a frothing mass, evolving pungent gases. The pretty doll who
+anticipates, in the connubial state, one long fete-day of adoration
+received, and benign condescension dispensed, is as certain to awake
+from this dream as from any other, and upon the temper in which she
+sustains the disenchantment, depends a vast proportion of her future
+welfare and peace.
+
+Lucy's behavior to her babe was a mixture of childish fondling and
+neglect. Fortunately, the little "Hunt's" special attendant was an
+elderly woman, long established as "Maumer" in the Benson family, and
+her devotion to her charge prevented any present evil effects from his
+mother's incompetence or carelessness. Philip's pride in, and love
+for his boy were extreme. When he came in that evening, Sarah chanced
+to be in the nursery adjoining her chamber, watching and inciting the
+two babies to a game of romps. She held one on each knee, the nurses
+standing by in amused gratification.
+
+"That is surely my little man's voice!" said Philip, as he and Lewis
+came up the stairs.
+
+"Let me see!"--and Mr. Hammond peeped into the playroom. "Walk in!" he
+continued, throwing the door wide open. "Isn't there a pair of them?"
+
+"And a nurse worthy of the twain!" returned Philip. He stooped to the
+invitation of the lifted arms, fluttering, as if the owner would fly to
+his embrace. "What do you say of him, aunty? Is he not a passable boy?"
+
+"More than passable! he is a noble-looking fellow. He resembles you, I
+think," said Sarah, quietly.
+
+"Do you hear that, Hammond? Your wife pronounces me 'more than
+passable--a noble-looking fellow!' So much for an adroit hint. Is she
+given to flattery?"
+
+"Not she!" returned Lewis, laughing. "She never said as much as that
+for my looks in all her life. I have one consolation, however; the
+less she says the more she means!" He went into the dressing-room, and
+Philip, still holding the child, seated himself by Sarah.
+
+"How odd, yet how familiar it seems, to be with you once more, my good
+sister! What a succession of mischances has made us virtual strangers
+for many months past! I had almost despaired of ever holding friendly
+converse with you again. I wonder if your recollections of our visit
+to Aunt Sarah are as vivid as mine. Do you remember that last sad, yet
+dear day on the Deal Beach?"
+
+Baby Belle was standing in her mother's lap, her soft, warm arms about
+her neck; and around the frail, sinking human heart invisible arms, as
+warm and close, were upholding and strengthening it in the moment of
+mortal weakness.
+
+"Very distinctly. Many changes have come to us both since then."
+
+"To me very many! I have grown older in heart than in years." Then,
+evidently fearing that she might otherwise interpret his meaning, he
+subjoined: "We have had a heavy bereavement in our household, you know.
+Your changes have all been happy ones. The enthusiastic, restless girl
+has ripened into the more sedate, yet more blessed wife and mother."
+
+Press your sweet mouth to the convulsed lips, Baby Belle! Veil with
+your silky curls the tell-tale features, whose agitation would
+bewilder, if not betray! Philip was stroking the head of his boy, and
+did not see the uneasiness of his companion.
+
+"Have you heard of Uncle Nathan's death?" she asked, clearing her
+throat.
+
+He looked surprised at the inquiry. "Yes! Aunt Sarah wrote immediately
+to my father."
+
+"Ah! I had forgotten that they were brothers. My memory is treacherous.
+Excuse me! I am wanted in the dining-room!"
+
+Lewis met her just outside the door, and stopped her to bestow the
+evening kiss he had not cared to offer in Philip's presence.
+
+"Why, you are as rosy as a peony!" he said, jestingly. "Has Benson been
+paying you compliments, in return for yours to him? I must look after
+you two, if you carry on at this rate."
+
+With a look he had reason subsequently to recall, but which only
+pleased him at the time, she raised his hand to her lips--a look of
+humility, gratitude, and appeal, such as one might cast upon a slighted
+benefactor--and vanished.
+
+A merry family party gather around the Hammond's generous table, that
+afternoon. All the Hunts were there--from the father down to Jeannie,
+who was fast shooting up into a tall girl, somewhat pert in manner, but
+lovable despite this, at times, unpleasant foible.
+
+"Sister Lucy," she said, after an interval of silence, "Ellen West
+said, at school, to-day that you were a great belle when you were a
+young lady; were you?"
+
+"You must not ask me, Jeannie!" The old smile of conscious beauty stole
+into Lucy's cheeks.
+
+"Was she, sister?" Jeannie referred the case to Sarah.
+
+"Yes, my dear, she was very beautiful," replied the latter, simply.
+
+"She isn't now--not so very handsome, I mean--no handsomer than you
+are, sister!"
+
+"Jeannie! you forget yourself!" interposed Mrs. Hunt.
+
+"Why, mamma, I did not intend to be rude! Only I thought that belles
+were always the prettiest ladies that could be found anywhere."
+
+"By no means!" corrected Lewis, willing to help his wife's pet out of
+a scrape. "There are many descriptions of belles, Jeannie: handsome,
+rich, fast, and intellectual."
+
+"And as papa was not rich, I suppose you were either fast or
+intellectual, sister Lucy!" persisted the child.
+
+"I thought her pretty fast when I tried to catch her," said
+Philip.--"Mrs. Hunt, Mrs. Hammond, Mrs. Benson, have you ladies decided
+in the course of to-day's congress what watering-place is to be made
+the fashion by our clique next month?"
+
+Mrs. Hunt replied that they inclined to Newport; principally on account
+of Lucy and the children, who would all be benefited by the bathing.
+
+Lucy was sure that she should tire of Saratoga or the Catskills in a
+week, whereas she adored the ocean.
+
+"What says Madame Discretion?" said Lewis, merrily, to his wife.
+
+"Except that it would break up the family party, I had rather stay at
+home as long as it is prudent to keep the baby in town; then, if you
+could go with us, spend a month at some mountain farmhouse or seaside
+cottage," she answered.
+
+"Hear! hear!" commanded Philip. "Behold a modern wedded dame who
+prefers seclusion with her liege lord to gayety without him! The age of
+miracles is returning!"
+
+"Is the case, then, so anomalous?" retorted Sarah, the red spot in her
+cheek alone testifying to her embarrassment. "Are your Southern matrons
+all public characters?"
+
+"I can answer that!" said Lucy. "They are slaves! housekeeping
+machines--nothing better!"
+
+"How many more weak places are there in this crust of family chit-chat,
+I should like to be informed!" thought the annoyed and uninitiated
+Hammond. "Here goes for the spot where there is no danger of anybody's
+breaking in!" He spoke aloud. "A tempting proposal was made to me this
+morning. It is considered advisable for one of our firm to go abroad
+for a couple of months, perhaps longer, to divide his time among the
+principal manufacturing districts of England, Scotland, and France.
+Expenses paid by the firm, and the term of absence indefinitely
+prolonged, if the traveler wishes it. Mr. Marlow is tired of crossing
+the ocean, and presses me to accept the mission."
+
+"What did you tell him?"
+
+It was Sarah who spoke in a startled voice that drew general notice to
+her alarmed face. Her concern was a delicious tribute to her husband's
+self-love, if he possessed such a quality. At least he loved her well
+enough to be pleased at her manifest reluctance to have him leave her.
+
+"I told him that I must ask my wife," said he in a meek tone, belied
+by the humorous twinkle in his eye, and loving half-smile about his
+mouth. "See what it is to be one under authority, Benson! A man dare
+not conclude an ordinary business transaction without the approval of
+the powers that be."
+
+When Sarah accompanied her sister to her chamber that night, the passee
+belle put a direct question.
+
+"Tell me, Sarah, are you as much in love with Mr. Hammond as you seem
+to be, or is it all put on for the benefit of outsiders?"
+
+"I am not apt to do anything for the sake of mere show; nor do I care
+for the opinion of 'outsiders,' as you call them," rejoined Sarah,
+amazed at the cool audacity of the inquiry, and disposed to resent
+Lucy's confident expectation that she would avow the cheat, if such
+there were, in her deportment.
+
+"You used to be shockingly independent, I know. What a ridiculously
+honest little puss you were! How you despised all our pretty arts
+and necessary affectations! How you hated our economical mother's
+second-best furniture and dinners! I don't believe Victoria West has
+ever forgiven you for the way in which you used to take to pieces what
+you styled our 'surface talk and surface life!' I thought, however,
+that you had discovered by this time, that one cannot live in the world
+without deceiving herself or other people; I prefer making fools to
+being one. Heigh-ho! this life is a very unsatisfactory business at the
+best. What a heavenly collar that is of yours! One thing I do wish, and
+that is--that my husband were half as fond of me, or as good to me, as
+Lewis is to you!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+Lewis Hammond had thrown the whole weight of his influence in the
+family conclave into the Newport scale; and to this popular resort
+Sarah went, in July, in company with the Bensons, her mother and
+Jeannie, who was made one of the party at Lewis' request and expense.
+The generous fellow acted in conformity with conscience and judgment in
+this temporary exile of his treasures; and, consistent in his purpose
+of rendering it a pleasure excursion to his wife, he made very light of
+his prospects of lonely widowerhood, representing, instead, the benefit
+she and the babe would draw from the sea-breezes, and his enhanced
+enjoyment of his weekly visits, because they were so far apart. He
+went with them to the shore, at their general flitting, and spent two
+days; saw for himself that those whose comfort was nearest his heart
+were properly accommodated; privately feed chambermaid and waiter,
+with hints of future emolument to accrue to them from special regard
+to the wants of Mrs. Hammond and her infant, and returned to town with
+the unenviable consciousness of having left at least three-fourths of
+himself behind him.
+
+A brisk rush of business beguiled him of the aching, hollow void for
+a few hours after he got back. Not even Baby Belle's accents could be
+heard amid that roar and whir. But at luncheon-time, while waiting for
+his order to be filled at a restaurant, the dreary, solitary void
+overtook him--a fit of unmistakable home-sickness, that yet caused
+him to recoil at the idea of entering the deserted house uptown, when
+evening should oblige him to seek a lodging. How were Sarah and baby
+getting along without him? He was afraid that Lucy was not, in all
+respects, as congenial a companion as he could have wished his wife to
+have, and that Mrs. Hunt's undisguised worldliness, her foolish love
+of fashion and display, would often annoy and mortify her sensible and
+right-judging daughter. Benson was capital company, though--a gentleman
+every inch of him! and very friendly to Sarah. But for her reserved
+manners he would act the part of a real brother to her; in any case, he
+would be kind, and see that she wanted for nothing.
+
+Then--shot into his head by some unseen and unaccountable
+machinery--there darted across his mind a fragment of a conversation he
+had overheard, at entering his parlor, the day before the Bensons left.
+Philip and Lucy were standing before a miniature painting of Sarah and
+her child, completed and brought home a short time previous. Although
+seemingly intent upon the picture, their conversation must have strayed
+far from the starting-point, for the first sentence that reached the
+unintentional listener was a tart, scornful speech from Lucy, that
+could by no stretch of the imagination be made to apply to her sister.
+
+"If you admire her so much, why did you not marry her when you had the
+opportunity? She was willing enough!"
+
+"Take care you do not make me regret that I did not do so!" was
+Philip's stern rejoinder as he turned from her.
+
+The change of position showed him that Lewis was present, and for a
+second his inimitable self-possession wavered. Recovering himself,
+he reverted to the picture, and called upon his host to decide some
+disputed point in its artistic execution which he and Lucy were
+discussing.
+
+"Poor fellow! he has learned that all is not gold that glitters!"
+mused Lewis to the newspaper he was pretending to read. "Lucy had a
+high reputation for amiability before she was Mrs. Benson. There is no
+touchstone like the wedding ring to bring out one's true qualities."
+
+He sat with his back to the entrance of the saloon, and the table
+directly behind him was now taken possession of by three or four new
+arrivals--all gentlemen, and apparently on familiar terms with one
+another. They called for a bountiful lunch, including wine, and plunged
+into a lively, rather noisy talk. Lewis closed his ears, and applied
+himself in earnest to his paper. He started presently at a word he
+could have declared was his name. Restraining the impulse to look
+around and see who of the group was known to him, he yet could not help
+trying to determine this point by their voices. One, a thin falsetto,
+he fancied belonged to George Bond, who was no more of a favorite
+with him than was his better half with Sarah. Lewis regarded him as
+a conceited rattlepate, whose sole talent lay in the art of making
+money--whose glory was his purse. "Why should he be talking about me
+here? Nonsense; I was mistaken!" and another page of the newspaper was
+turned.
+
+"When I leave my wife at Newport, or anywhere else, in the particular
+and brotherly care of one of her former flames, publish me as a crazy
+fool!" said the wiry voice again, almost in the reader's ear.
+
+"He doesn't know old stories as well as you do, perhaps," remarked some
+one.
+
+"I should think not! When my wife pulls the wool over my eyes in that
+style, horsewhip me around town, and I won't cry 'Quarter!' Sister's
+husband or not, I'll be hanged if I would have him in my house for two
+weeks, and he is such a good-looking dog, too!"
+
+He stopped, as if his neighbor had jogged him, as Lewis looked over his
+shoulder in the direction of the gossip. A dead and awkward silence
+ensued, ended at last by the pertinent observation that the "waiter was
+a long time bringing their lunch."
+
+In a maze of angry doubt and incredulity as to the evidence of his
+senses and suspicions, Lewis finished his meal, and stalked out past
+the subdued and now voracious quartette, favoring them with a searching
+look as he went by, which they sustained with great meekness. All the
+afternoon a heavy load lay upon his heart, an indefinable dread he dared
+not analyze; a foreboding he would not face, yet could not dismiss.
+
+"You are blue, Lewis," said Mr. Marlow, kindly, as they started uptown
+together. "This is the worst of having a wife and children; you miss
+them so terribly when they are away. But you will get used to it. Make
+up your mind at the eleventh hour to cross the water, and stay abroad
+three months. You will be surprised to find how easy your mind will
+become after a couple of weeks."
+
+"I am satisfied, sir, without making personal trial of the matter,
+that men become inured to misery, which seemed in the beginning to be
+insupportable."
+
+Mr. Marlow laughed, and they separated.
+
+Lewis sighed as he looked up at the blinds of his house, shut fast
+and grim, and still more deeply as he admitted himself to the front
+hall, that echoed dismally the sound of the closing door. His next
+movement was to walk into the parlor, throw open a shutter, and let
+in the evening light upon the portraits of the dear absent ones.
+There he stood, scanning their faces--eyes and soul full of love and
+longing--until the mellow glow passed away and left them in darkness.
+
+The comfortless evening repast was over, and he betook himself to the
+library, Sarah's favorite room, as it was also his. Her low easy-chair
+stood in its usual place opposite his at the center-table, but her
+workbasket was missing; likewise the book with its silver marker,
+that he was wont to see lying side by side with some volume he had
+selected for his own reading. But one lay there now, and there was
+an odd choking in his throat as he read the title on the back. He
+had expressed a wish for it in Sarah's hearing some days before, and
+her delicate forethought had left it here as a solace and keepsake,
+one that should, while reminding him of her, yet charm away sad
+feelings in her absence. Even in the exterior of the gift, she had
+been regardful of his taste. The binding was solid and rich; no gaudy
+coloring or tawdry gilt; the thick smooth paper and clear type were a
+luxury to touch and sight. Lewis was no sentimentalist in the ordinary
+acceptation of the term, yet he kissed the name his wife had traced
+upon the fly-leaf ere he sat down to employ the evening as she by her
+gift tacitly requested him to do. But it was a useless attempt. The
+book was not in fault, and he should have read it intently if only
+because she had bestowed it; still the hand that held it sank lower and
+lower, until it rested upon his knee, and the reader was the thinker
+instead.
+
+The most prosaic of human beings have their seasons of
+reverie--pleasing or mournful, which are, unknown often to themselves,
+the poetry of their lives. Such was the drama Lewis Hammond was now
+rehearsing in his retrospective dreams.
+
+The wan and weary mother, whom he remembered as always clothed in
+widow's weeds, and toiling in painful drudgery to maintain herself
+and her only boy; who had smiled and wept, rendered thanksgivings and
+uttered prayers for strength, alternately, as she heard Mr. Marlow's
+proposal to protect and help the lad through the world that had borne
+so hardly upon her; who had strained him to her bosom, and shed fast,
+hot tears of speechless anguish at their parting--a farewell that was
+never to be forgotten in any meeting on this side of eternity; this was
+the vision, hers the palladium of love, that had nerved him for the
+close wrestle with fortune, guarded him amid the burning ploughshares
+of temptation, carried him unscathed past the hundred mouths of hell,
+that gape upon the innocent and unwary in all large cities. Cold and
+unsusceptible as he was deemed in society, he kept unpolluted in his
+breast a fresh living stream of genuine romantic feeling, such as we
+are apt to think went out of fashion--aye, and out of being--with the
+belted knights of yore; wealth he had vowed never to squander, never
+reveal, until he should pour it, without one thought of self-reserve,
+upon his wife! He never hinted this to a living creature before the
+moment came for revealing it to the object of his choice. He was a
+"predestined old bachelor!" and "infidel to love and the sex," said and
+believed the gay and frivolous, and he let them talk. His ideal woman,
+his mother's representative and successor--the beauty and crown of
+his existence--was too sacred for the gaze and comment of indifferent
+worldlings. For her he labored and studied and lived; confident in a
+fatalistic belief that, at the right moment, the dream would become a
+reality--the phantasm leave her cloudy height for his arms.
+
+Love so beautiful and intense as this, like snow in its purity, like
+fire in its fervor, cannot be won to full and eloquent utterance but
+by answering love--a sentiment identical in kind, if not equal in
+degree; and Sarah Hammond's estimate of her husband's affection was, in
+consequence of this want in herself, cruelly unjust in its coldness and
+poverty. His patience with her transient fits of gloom or waywardness
+in the early months of their married life; his noble forgetfulness of
+her faults, and grateful acknowledgment of her most trifling effort
+to please him; his unceasing care; his lavish bounty--all these she
+attributed too much to natural amiability and conscientious views
+of duty; too little to his warm regard for her personally. In this
+persuasion she had copied his conduct in externals so far as she
+could; and applauding observers adjudged the mock gem to be a fair and
+equitable equivalent for the rare pearl she had received.
+
+Lest this digression, into which I have been inadvertently betrayed,
+should mislead any with the idea that I have some design of dignifying
+into a hero this respectable, but very commonplace personage, return
+we to him as he hears eleven o'clock rung out by the monitor on the
+mantel, and says to himself, "Baby Belle has been asleep these three
+hours, and mamma, caring nothing for beaux and ball-room, is preparing
+to follow her."
+
+Beaux and ball-room! Pshaw! why should the nonsensical talk of that
+jackanapes, George Bond, come to his mind just then? The whole tenor of
+the remarks that succeeded the name that he imagined was his disproved
+that imagination. But who had left his wife at Newport in the care of a
+"good-looking" brother-in-law? who had been domesticated in the family
+of the deluded husband for a fortnight?
+
+Pshaw again! What concern had he with that scandalous, doubtless
+slanderous tattle?
+
+"Why did you not marry her when you had the opportunity? She was
+willing enough!"
+
+Could Lucy have spoken thus of her sister? Sarah was barely acquainted
+with Philip Benson when Lucy wedded him, having met him but once prior
+to the wedding day at the house of her aunt in the country, from which
+place his own letter, penned by her father's sick-bed, recalled her.
+How far from his thoughts then was the rapid train of consequences that
+followed upon this preliminary act of their intercourse!
+
+Did that scoundrel Bond say "Hammond"? It was not a common name, and
+came quite distinctly to his ears in the high, unpleasant key he
+so disliked. A flush of honest shame arose to his forehead at this
+uncontrollable straying of his ideas to a topic so disagreeable, and so
+often rejected by his mind.
+
+"As if--even had I been the person insulted by his pity--I would
+believe one syllable he said of a woman as far above him in virtue and
+intellect, in everything good and lovable, as the heavens are above
+the earth! I would despise myself as much as I do him if I could lend
+my ear for an instant to so degrading a whisper! I wish I had faced
+him and demanded the whole tale; yet no! that would have been rash and
+absurd. Better as it is! By to-morrow I shall laugh at my ridiculous
+fancies!"
+
+"Scratch! scratch! scratch!" The house was so still in the approaching
+midnight that the slight noise caused him a shock and quiver in the
+excited state of his nerves. The interruption was something between a
+scrape and a rap, three times repeated, and proceeding, apparently,
+from the bookcase at his right. What could it be? He had never seen
+or heard of a mouse on the premises, nor did the sound much resemble
+the nibbling of that animal. Ashamed of the momentary thrill he had
+experienced, he remained still and collected, awaiting its repetition.
+
+"Scratch! scratch! rap!" It was in the bookcase--in the lower part
+where were drawers shut in by solid doors. These he had never explored,
+but knew that his wife kept pamphlets and papers in them. He opened
+the outer doors cautiously, and listened again, until assured by the
+scratching that his search was in the right direction. There were
+three drawers--two deep, the third and upper shallow. This he drew out
+and examined. It contained writing-paper and envelopes, all in good
+order. Nor was there any sign of the intruder amongst the loose music
+and periodicals in the second. The lower one was locked--no doubt
+accidentally, for he had never seen Sarah lock up anything except
+jewels and money. Their servants were honest, and she had no cause to
+fear investigation on his part.
+
+Feeling, rather than arguing thus, he removed the drawer above,
+leaving exposed the locked one, and thrust his hand down into it. It
+encountered the polished surface of a small box or case, which he was
+in the act of drawing through the aperture left by the second drawer,
+when something dark and swift ran over his hand and up his sleeve.
+With a violent start, he dashed the casket to the floor, and another
+energetic fling of his arm dislodged the mouse. His first care was
+to pursue and kill it; his next to examine into the damage it had
+indirectly produced. The box--ebony, lined with sandal-wood--had fallen
+with such force as to loosen the spring, and lay on its side wide open;
+its treasures strewed over the carpet. They were neither numerous, nor
+in themselves valuable. A bouquet of dried flowers, enveloped in silver
+paper, lay nearest Lewis' hand, as he knelt to pick up the scattered
+articles. The paper was tied about the stalks of the flowers with black
+ribbon, and to this was attached a card: "Will Miss Sarah accept this
+trifling token of regard from one who is her stanch friend, and hopes,
+in time, to have a nearer claim upon her esteem?"
+
+The hand was familiar to the reader as Philip Benson's. Why should
+Sarah preserve this, while the many floral tokens of his love which
+she had received were flung away when withered like worthless weeds?
+The pang of jealousy was new--sharp as the death-wrench to the
+heart-strings, cruel as the grave! The card was without date, or he
+would have read, with a different apprehension of its meaning, the
+harmless clause--"And hopes in time to have a nearer claim upon her
+esteem." There was a time, then, when, as Lucy had taunted her husband,
+he might have married her sister! when Sarah loved him, and had reason
+to think herself beloved in return! What was this sable badge but
+the insignia of a bereaved heart, that mourned still in secret the
+faithlessness of her early love, or the adverse fate that had sundered
+him from her, and given him to another?
+
+Crushing the frail, dead stems in his hand, he threw them back into the
+box, and took up a bit of dark gray wood, rough on one side--smoothed
+on the other into a rude tablet. "Philip Benson, Deal Beach, July 27th,
+1856. Pensez a moi!" But ten days before he met her at the wharf in
+New York to take her to her sick father! but three months before she
+plighted her troth to him, promised to wed him, while in spirit she
+was still weeping tears of blood over the inconstant! for he did not
+forget that Philip's engagement to Lucy preceded his own to Sarah by
+eight or nine weeks. There were other relics in the box; a half-worn
+glove, retaining the shape of the manly hand it had inclosed--which, he
+learned afterwards, Philip had left in his chamber at the farm-house
+when he departed to seek gayer scenes; a white shell, upon whose rosy
+lining were scratched with the point of a knife the ominous initials,
+"P. B." and beneath them "S. B. H.," a faded rosebud, and several
+printed slips, cut from the columns of newspapers. He unfolded but two
+of these.
+
+One was an extract from Tennyson's "Maud"--the invitation to the
+garden. Breathlessly, by reason of the terrible stricture tightening
+around his heart, Lewis ran his eyes over the charming whimsical
+morceau. They rested upon and reviewed the last verse:
+
+    "She is coming--my own, my sweet!
+      Were it ever so airy a tread,
+    My heart would hear her and beat;
+      Were it earth in an earthy bed,
+
+    "My dust would hear her and beat;
+      Had I laid for a century dead,
+    Would start and tremble under her feet,
+      And blossom in purple and red."
+
+He did not discriminate now between printed and written verses. These
+were love stanzas sent by another man to his wife, received and
+cherished by her, hidden away with a care that, in itself, bordered
+on criminality, for was not its object the deception of the injured
+husband? The most passionate autograph love-letter could hardly have
+stabbed him more keenly.
+
+The other was Mrs. Browning's exquisite "Portrait."
+
+And here the reader can have an explanation the tortured man could not
+obtain. With the acumen for which Cupid's votaries are proverbial,
+Philip Benson, then at the "summer heat" degree of his flame for
+the Saratoga belle, had recognized in this poem the most correct
+and beautiful description of his lady-love. Curiosity to see if the
+resemblance were apparent to other eyes, and a desire for sympathy
+tempted him to forward it to Sarah. She must perceive the likeness to
+her divine sister, and surmise the sentiment that had induced him to
+send it. A little alteration in the opening stanza was requisite to
+make it a "perfect fit." Thus it was when the change was made:
+
+    "I will paint her as I see her:
+    ---- times have the lilies blown
+    Since she looked upon the sun."
+
+The poetess, guiltless of any intention to cater for the wants of
+grown-up lovers, had written "Ten" in the space made blank by Philip's
+gallantry and real ignorance of his charmer's age. For the rest, the
+"lily-clear face," the "forehead fair and saintly," the "trail of
+golden hair," the blue eyes, "like meek prayers before a shrine," the
+voice that
+
+          "Murmurs lowly
+    As a silver stream may run,
+    Which yet feels you feel the sun,"
+
+were, we may safely assert, quite as much like poor Sarah, when he sent
+the poem, as they were now like the portrait he would--if put upon his
+oath--sketch of his unidealized Lucy.
+
+It was not unnatural then, in Lewis Hammond, to overlook in his present
+state, these glaring discrepancies in the picture as applied by him.
+With a blanched and rigid countenance he put all the things back in the
+box, shut it, and restored it to its place. Then he knelt on the floor
+and hid his face in his wife's chair; and there struggled out into the
+still air of the desecrated hometemple, made sacred by his love and her
+abiding, deep sobs from the strong man's stricken heart--a grief as
+much more fearful than that of widowhood, as the desertion and dishonor
+of the loved one are worse than death.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+
+It was the "grand hop" night at the headquarters of Newport fashion.
+Sarah, characteristically indifferent to gaieties "made to order," had
+determined not to appear below. The air of her room was fresh and pure,
+and a book, yet unread, lay under the lamp upon her table. Her sister
+and mother had withdrawn to dress, when Jeannie's curly head peeped in
+at Mrs. Hammond's door. Her features wore a most woe-begone expression.
+
+"What has gone wrong, Jeannie?" inquired Sarah.
+
+"Why, mamma says that I will be in her way if I go into the ball-room;
+and it will be so stupid to stay out the whole evening, while all the
+other girls can see the dancing and dresses, and hear the music. And
+sister Lucy says that children are 'bores' in company."
+
+"A sad state of affairs, certainly! Perhaps I may persuade mother to
+let you go."
+
+"Yes; but if she does, she will sit close against the wall with a lot
+of other fat old ladies, and they will talk over my head, and squeeze
+me almost to death, besides rumpling my dress; and I so want to wear my
+tucked pink grenadine, sister!"
+
+"And you would like to have me to go down with you; is that it?"
+
+Jeannie's eyes beamed delightedly. "Oh, if you only would!"
+
+Sarah looked down into the eager face and saw, in anticipation, her own
+little Belle imploring some boon, as important to her, as easy to be
+granted by another as this, and consented with a kiss.
+
+"Run away and bring your finery here! Mother is too busy to attend to
+you. Mary can dress you."
+
+The order was obeyed with lightning speed; and Sarah, still holding
+in the excited child the foreshadowing of her darling's girlhood,
+superintended the toilet, while she made herself ready.
+
+"What shall I wear, Jeannie?" she asked carelessly, holding open the
+door of her wardrobe.
+
+"Oh, that lovely fawn-colored silk, please! the one with the black
+lace flounces! It is the prettiest color I ever saw; and I heard Mrs.
+Greyling tell another lady the night you wore it, when brother Lewis
+was here, you know, that it was one of the richest dresses in the room,
+modest as it looked, and that the flounce must have cost a penny!"
+
+"Probably more!"
+
+Sarah proceeded to array herself in the fortunate robe that had won the
+praises of the fashionably distinguished Mrs. Greyling. Her abundant
+dark hair was lighted by two coral sprigs, which formed the heads of
+her hair-pins, and, handkerchief and gloves in hand, she was taking
+a last survey of Jeannie's more brilliant costume, when there came a
+knock at the door.
+
+"Mr. Benson!" said Mary, unclosing it.
+
+"May I come in?" he asked.
+
+The tidy Mary had removed all trace of the recent tiring operations
+from the apartment, which was a compound of parlor and dressing-room, a
+necessary adjunct to the small chamber and smaller nursery, leading out
+of it, at the side and rear.
+
+"You may!" replied Sarah. "Here is an aspirant for ball-room honors,
+who awaits your approval."
+
+"Mademoiselle, que vous etes charmante! I am penetrated with profound
+admiration!" exclaimed the teasing brother-in-law, raising his hands in
+true melodramatic style.
+
+Jeannie laughed and blushed until her cheeks matched the grenadine.
+
+"Mrs. Hunt told me that you had changed your mind, and intended
+to grace the festive scene with your presence," continued Philip,
+addressing Sarah. "She and Lucy are there, and the dancing has begun.
+I came to escort you and our fair debutante here--that is, unless some
+one else has offered his services and been accepted."
+
+"That is not likely, since Mr. Hammond left us in your care. Do not
+your fourfold duties oppress you?"
+
+"Not in the least. If all my charges were as chary of their calls upon
+me as you are, my time would hang heavily upon my hands. No one would
+imagine, from your reluctance to be waited upon, that you had been
+spoiled at home. If Mr. Hammond were here now, he would tell you to
+draw that shawl"--
+
+"It is an opera cloak!" interrupted Jeannie.
+
+"A ball-cloak to-night, then, is it not? I was saying that, although
+the night is not cool for sea air, you had better wrap that mantle
+about your chest and throat as we go out."
+
+Just outside the door a waiter passed them with a note in his hand. He
+stopped, on seeing Philip.
+
+"Mr. Benson! I was on my way to your rooms with this, sir."
+
+Philip stepped back within the parlor to read it by the light. It was a
+line from a friend who had just arrived at another hotel notifying him
+of this fact. It required no reply, and, leaving it upon the table, he
+rejoined his companions.
+
+"See mamma! Isn't it just as I said?" whispered Jeannie, as she
+established herself beside her sister in a comfortable corner that
+commanded a view of the spacious hall and its gay, restless sea of
+figures.
+
+Sarah smiled at discovering her mother sandwiched between two portly
+dowagers; one in purple, the other in lavender silk; all three bobbing
+and waving in their earnest confabulations, in a style that presented
+a ludicrously marked resemblance to the gesticulations of a group of
+Muscovy ducks, on the margin of a mud-puddle, held by them in their
+capacity of a joint-stock company.
+
+"I see that Lucy has taken the floor," observed Philip. "She will not
+thank me for any devoirs I could render her for the next three hours.
+If they get up anything so humble as quadrilles, may I ask the pleasure
+of your company for the set?"
+
+"If you wish it--and my dress is not too grave in hue"--
+
+"And too decorous in its make, you were about to add, I presume;" he
+finished the sentence bluntly. "It forms a refreshing contrast to the
+prevailing style around us."
+
+Lucy here flitted into sight, and her very bare arms and shoulders
+pointed her husband's strictures. A stool, brought into the room for
+the use of some child or invalid looker-on of the festivities, now
+stood empty under Sarah's chair, and Philip, espying it, seized upon
+and drew it forth. When seated, his mouth was nearly on a level with
+Sarah's ear.
+
+"This is pleasant!" he said. "We are quite as much isolated from the
+rest of mankind as if we were sitting among the heathery hillocks on
+Deal Beach. You do not love the visions of those tranquil sunny days as
+I do. You never allude to them voluntarily. Yet you have had less to
+convert your dreams into every-day actualities, tedious and prosaic,
+than I have. I stand in direful need of one of the old lectures,
+inculcating more charity, and less study of complex motives and biassed
+tendencies in the machine we call Man. Begin! I am at your mercy."
+
+"I have forgotten how to deliver them. I am out of practice."
+
+"That is not surprising. Your husband is behind the age he lives
+in--and so are you. You two would make Barnum's fortune, could he ever
+persuade the public of your idiosyncrasies."
+
+"What are you talking about?"
+
+"Look around and through this room, and you will understand one
+part of my meaning. Do you remark the preponderance of married over
+single belles? and that the most tenderly deferential cavaliers are
+husbands, and not dancing with their wives? I could point out to you
+three men, leaders of the ton in this extremely reputable, eminently
+moral assembly, who, it is whispered among the knowing ones, are
+married, and, having left their domestic associations for a season of
+recreation, boldly attach themselves to certain stylish young ladies
+here, and challenge observation, defy public censure, by their marked
+and increasing devotion. I meet them strolling along the beach in the
+morning; riding together in the afternoon; and when not engaged in this
+evening exhibition of toilet and muscle, you will find them pacing the
+moon or star-lit piazza, or, perchance, again sentimentalizing on the
+shore until the witching hour draws near."
+
+"You surprise me!"
+
+"You have no right to be surprised. You have the same thing continually
+before you in your city. Every fashionable hotel or boarding-house
+can supply you with such flirtations by the dozen. A married woman
+who declines the polite services of all gentlemen, except her husband
+and near relatives, is a prude, with false scruples of propriety
+and delicacy. Let her legal partner complain--he is cried out upon
+as a despot, and you can trust the sweet angel of an abused wife to
+elude his vigilance--violence, she terms it--for the future, without
+altering her conduct in aught else. Do you see that pretty woman in
+blue--the one with the madonna-like face? Her tyrant is here but once
+a week--from Saturday until Monday--then hies back to the business he
+loves as well as she does her pleasure. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
+Thursday, Friday, and the forenoon of Saturday, any mustachioed puppy
+may walk, talk, drive, and flirt with her--bask in the rays of those
+liquid orbs. When the rightful lord appears, she is demure as a nun,
+patient as a saint, dutiful as Griselda, to him and him alone. Do you
+begin to understand why I congratulated you upon having a husband
+of the olden stamp? Why, I do from my heart felicitate my friend
+Hammond upon having gained, as a helpmeet, one of that nearly obsolete
+species--Woman!"
+
+Sarah's embarrassment was painful and but indifferently concealed. She
+felt that it was barely excusable, in consideration of his fraternal
+relation to her, for Philip to speak so plainly of this social blemish;
+and altogether unpardonable, while he did not, or could not, prevent
+his wife's participation in the questionable gaieties he assailed
+so unsparingly. Reply she could not, without implicating Lucy in
+her reprobation, and he must perceive her difficulty. This was the
+trouble that lay uppermost. At her heart's core, the uneasy feeling
+she ever experienced in conversation with him; the stirring of the
+entombed love, of whose actual death she had horrible misgivings;
+the incongruous blending of past emotion with present duty, were now
+aggravated by the enforced acceptance of unmerited praise. Her woman's
+instinct, her experience as a wife, told her that the cause of the
+sinful recklessness, the contempt of the true spirit of the marriage
+tie, was not the fruit merely of the vanity and thirst for adulation,
+to which it was properly attributed. With the recollection of her own
+life, the education she had received at home, the hateful, yet even to
+her independent spirit, resistless decrees of society, there swelled up
+within her bosom something akin to Philip's bitter cynicism. Under this
+spur, she spoke.
+
+"And from these signs of the times, you would argue an inherent
+degeneracy of womanhood--a radical change in its composition, such
+as some anatomists tell us has taken place in the structure of our
+bodies--our blood--our very teeth. A dentist, who filled a tooth for me
+the other day, imparted divers scientific items of information to me
+that may illustrate your position. 'Enamel, madam, is not what enamel
+was in the days of our ancestors!' he affirmed pathetically; 'the
+color, the very ingredients of the bone, the calcareous base of the
+teeth, differ sadly from the indestructible molars of fifty years ago.'
+At this passage of his jeremiade, he chanced to touch the nerve in the
+unhappy 'molar' he was excavating, and I am persuaded that I suffered
+as really as my grandmother would have done, had she sat in my place."
+
+She paused, and beat time with her fingers on Jeannie's shoulder to the
+wild, varying waltz that swept the giddy crowd around the room in fast
+and flying circles.
+
+"Your analogy asserts, then, that at heart women are alike in all ages?"
+
+"Why not, as well as men?"
+
+"Then why does not action remain the same, if that be true?"
+
+"Because custom--fashion, if you prefer this name--an unaccountable,
+irresponsible power--owing its birth oftenest to accident or caprice,
+says, 'Do this!' and it is done! be it to perpetrate a cravat-bow, a
+marriage, or a murder!"
+
+Another pause--in which music and dancers seemed sweeping on to sweet
+intoxication--so joyous in their abandon were the gushing strains; so
+swift the whirl of the living ring. The fingers played lightly and
+rapidly on Jeannie's plump shoulder--then rested on a half-beat.
+
+"Yes!" She was looking towards the crowd, but her eye was fixed, and
+her accents slow and grave. "Hearts live and hearts love, while time
+endures. The heart selects its mate in life's springtime, with judgment
+as untaught as that of the silly bird that asks no companion but the
+one the God of Nature has bestowed upon it. But you see not, my good
+brother"--she faced him, a smile wreathing her lip--a strange glitter
+in her eye--"see you not to what woeful disorders these untrained
+desires, this unsophisticated following out of unregulated affections
+would give rise? It would sap the foundations of caste; level all
+wholesome distinctions of society; consign the accomplished daughters
+of palatial halls--hoary with a semi-decade of years--to one-story
+cottages and a maid-of-all work; doom nice young men to the drudgery of
+business for the remainder of their wretched lives, to maintain wives
+whose dowries would not keep their lily-handed lords in French kids
+for a year; cover managing mammas with ignominy, and hasten ambitious
+papas to their costly vaults in--as Dickens has it--'some genteel place
+of interment.' Come what may of blasted hopes and wrecked hearts, the
+decencies of life must be observed. Every heart has its nerve--genuine,
+sensitive, sometimes vulgarly tenacious of life--but there are
+corrosives that will eat it out; fine, deadly wires, that can probe
+and torture and extract it. And when the troublesome thing is finally
+gotten rid of, there is an end to all obstacles to judicious courtships
+and eligible alliances!" She laughed scornfully, and Philip recoiled,
+without knowing why he did so, as he heard her.
+
+"That is all very well, when the nature of the contract is understood
+on both sides," he said, gloomily. "I doubt, however, whether the
+beautiful economy of your system will be appreciated by those whose
+living hearts are bound to the bloodless plaster-casts you describe."
+
+"These accidents will occur in spite of caution on the part of the
+best managers of suitable marriages. By far the larger proportion of
+the shocks inflicted upon polite circles arise from this very cause.
+Pygmalion grows weary of wooing his statue, and wants sympathy in his
+disappointment and loneliness."
+
+The dance was ended. The fantastic variations of the waltz were
+exchanged for a noble march--pealing through the heated rooms like a
+rush of the healthful sea-breeze. The spark died in Sarah's eye. Her
+voice took its habitual pitch.
+
+"I have permitted myself to become excited, and, I am afraid, have said
+many things that I had no right to think--much less to utter. If my
+freedom has displeased you, I am sorry."
+
+"The error--if error there were--was mine," rejoined Philip. "I led the
+conversation into the channel; you, after awhile, followed. I believe
+there is no danger of our misunderstanding each other."
+
+"Darby and Joan! good children in the corner!" cried Lucy, flushed
+with exercise and radiant with good humor, as she promenaded past them
+leaning on the arm of a young West Pointer, a native Southerner and an
+acquaintance of Philip's. If his wife must flirt and frolic, he was
+watchful that she did not compromise him by association with doubtful
+characters. On several occasions, the advances of gay gentlemen, whose
+toilets were more nearly irreproachable than their reputations, had
+been checked by his cool and significant resumption of the husband's
+post beside the belle, and, if need existed, by the prompt withdrawal
+of the unwilling lady from the scene. The cadet laughed, and, convinced
+that she had said a witty thing, Lucy swam by.
+
+"The common sense of our tropes, rodomontades, and allegories is this!"
+said Philip, biting his lip, and speaking in a hard tone. "The only
+safe ground in marriage is mutual, permanent affection. You meant to
+convey the idea that if each of these dressy matrons, humming around
+our ears, had a sincere, abiding love for her husband--and each of
+these gallant benedicts the right kind of regard for his wedded
+Beatrice, the vocation of us corner censors would be gone?"
+
+"Well said, Mr. Interpreter!" she responded, in affected jest.
+
+"This point settled, will you take my arm for a turn through the room
+before the next set is formed? They are talking of quadrilles. I shall
+claim your promise if a set is made up, unless you are not courageous
+enough to brave the public sneer by dancing with your brother. Come,
+Jeannie, and walk with us."
+
+Two sets of quadrilles were arranged at different ends of the saloon.
+Philip led Sarah through one, with Lucy--who considered it a capital
+joke--and her partner vis-a-vis to them, Jeannie, meanwhile, remaining
+by her mother.
+
+The summer nights were short; and, when the dance was over, Sarah
+intimated to her younger sister the propriety of retiring. Mrs. Hunt's
+head ached, and she esteemed the sacrifice comparatively light,
+therefore, that she, too, had to leave the revels and accompany the
+child to her chamber. Sarah's apartments were on the same floor,
+several doors further on. Having said "Good-night" to the others,
+she and Philip walked slowly along the piazza, light as day in the
+moonbeams, until they reached the outer room, the parlor.
+
+"I hope you will experience no ill effects from your dissipation,"
+said Philip, in playful irony. "In a lady of your staid habits, this
+disposition to gaiety is alarming. Absolutely eleven o'clock! What
+will Hammond say when he hears the story? Good-night! Don't let your
+conscience keep you awake!"
+
+Sarah opened the door softly, that she might not startle the
+baby-sleeper in the inner room. The lamp was shining brightly, and by
+it sat--her husband!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+
+Lewis had entered his wife's room within fifteen minutes after she left
+it. He looked so ill and weary that the girl, Mary, gave a stifled
+scream of fright and surprise.
+
+"Are you sick, sir?" she asked hastily, as he threw off his hat, and
+wiped his pale forehead. "Shall I tell Mrs. Hammond that you are here?
+She went down to the ball-room awhile ago."
+
+"What did you say? No!" replied he, shortly.
+
+His frown, rather than his tone, silenced her. He had picked up the
+envelope Philip had dropped on the table, and his face darkened still
+more. Too proud to question a servant of her mistress' actions and
+associates, he believed that he had gathered from this mute witness
+all that was needful to know. As a privileged habitue of the cosy
+boudoir he had been at such pain to procure and make fit for his wife's
+occupancy, another had sat here and read his evening mail, while
+awaiting her leisure; careless of appearances, since the deceived one
+would not be there to notice them, had tossed this note down with as
+much freedom as he would have done in his own apartment.
+
+Through the open windows poured the distant strains of the band; and,
+seized by a sudden thought, he caught up his hat and strode out, along
+piazzas and through halls, to the entrance door of the ball saloon. As
+Sarah's ill-fortune ordained it, the piercing glance that ran over and
+beyond the crowd of spectators and dancers detected her at the instant
+of Philip's taking his lowly seat at her side. Jeannie's pink attire
+was concealed by the drapery of a lady, whose place in the set then
+forming was directly in front of her. Lewis saw but the two, virtually
+tete-a-tete; and, as he obtained fleeting glimpses of them through the
+shifting throng, marked Philip's energetic, yet confidential discourse,
+and the intentness with which she listened, until, warmed or excited by
+his theme, Sarah lifted her downcast eyes and spoke, with what feeling
+and effect her auditor's varying expression showed.
+
+The gazer stood there like a statue, unheeding the surprised and
+questioning looks cast by passers-by upon his traveling-dress, streaked
+with dust--his sad and settled visage, so unbefitting the scene
+within--while Philip made the tour of the room, with Sarah upon his
+arm, until they took their stations for the dance; he, courteous and
+attentive--she, smiling and happy, more beautiful in her husband's eyes
+than her blonde sister opposite; and he could stay no longer. If Mary
+had thought him sick and cross at his former entrance, she considered
+him savage now, for one who was ordinarily a kind and gentle master.
+
+"You can go to your room!" he ordered, not advised. "I will sit up for
+Mrs. Hammond!"
+
+"I have slept in the nursery, sir, while you were away."
+
+"That cannot be to-night. I will find you some other place."
+
+He had no intention that the anticipated conversation with his wife
+should be overheard.
+
+"I can stay with a friend of mine, sir, only a few doors off."
+
+"Very well!"
+
+Quickly and quietly the nurse arranged the night-lamp and the child's
+food, that her mistress might have no trouble during her absence, and
+went out.
+
+Baby Belle slumbered on, happily wandering through the guileless
+mazes of baby dreamland; one little arm, bared from the sleeve of
+her gown, thrown above her head--the hand of the other cradling her
+cheek. The father ventured to press a light kiss upon the red lips.
+In his desolation, he craved this trifling solace. The child's face
+was contorted by an expression of discomfort, and, still dreaming, she
+murmured, in her inarticulate language, some pettish expression of
+disgust.
+
+"My very child shrinks from me! It is in the blood!" said the unhappy
+man, drawing back from the crib.
+
+If his resolution had waned at sight of the sleeper, it was fixed
+again when he returned to his chair in the outer room. He raised his
+head from his folded arms when he heard Philip and Sarah approaching,
+but did not otherwise alter his position. The low tone of their
+parting words--one soon learned by the sojourners in hotels and
+watering-places, where thin partitions and ventilators abound--was,
+to him, the cautiously repressed voice of affectionate good-nights.
+But one clause was distinct--"What will Hammond say, when he hears the
+story?" They jested thus of him, then. One of them, at least, should
+learn ere long what he would say.
+
+"Lewis, you here!"
+
+Sarah changed color with amazement and vague alarm--emotion that
+paralyzed her momentarily. Then, as she discerned the tokens of
+disorder in his dress and countenance, she hurried forward.
+
+"What has brought you so unexpectedly? Are you sick? Has anything
+happened?"
+
+He did not rise; and, resting her hand on his shoulder, she stooped
+for a kiss. But his stern gaze never moved from hers--anxious and
+inquiring--and his lips were like stone.
+
+"Lewis, speak to me! If you have dreadful news to tell me, for pity's
+sake, do not keep me in suspense!"
+
+"I have nothing to say that will be new to you," he said, without
+relaxing his hard, cold manner, "and not a great deal that ought to
+have been kept back from me when I wished to marry you, believing that
+you had a heart to give me with your hand."
+
+As if struck in the face, Sarah sank back into a chair, speechless and
+trembling.
+
+"Yes! had you been sincere with me then, grieved and disappointed as
+I would have felt, I would have respected you the more, and loved you
+none the less for the disclosure. But when, after a year and a half
+of married life, I learn that the woman I have loved and trusted with
+my whole soul--from whom I have never concealed a thought that it
+could interest her to know--has all the while been playing a false
+part--vowing at the altar to love me and me alone, when she secretly
+idolized another; bearing my name, living beneath my roof, sleeping in
+my bosom--yet thinking of, and caring for him, treasuring his keepsakes
+as the most precious of her possessions--is it strange that, when
+the tongue of a vulgar gossip proclaims my shame in my hearing, and
+other evidence proves what I thought was his vile slander to be true
+as gospel--is it strange, I say, that I am incensed at the deception
+practised upon me--at the infamous outrage of my dearest hopes--my most
+holy feelings?"
+
+She threw herself at his feet, clasped his knees, and implored him,
+chokingly, to "forgive" her. "Oh! if you knew what I have suffered!"
+
+"What you have suffered!" He folded his arms and looked sorrowfully
+down at her crouching figure. "Yes! you were not by nature coarse and
+unfeeling! The violence you have committed upon your heart and every
+principle of delicacy and truth must have cost you pain. Then you loved
+him!"
+
+"Once! a long while ago!" said Sarah, hiding her face in her hands.
+
+"Take care!" There was no softness now in his tone. "Remember that
+I have seen you together day by day, and that glances and actions,
+unnoticed at the time in my stupid blindness, recur to me now with
+terrible meaning. For once, speak the true voice of feeling, and own
+what I know already, that all the love you ever had to give belongs
+still to your sister's husband!"
+
+"I will speak the truth!" Sarah arose and stood before him--face livid
+and eyes burning. "I did love this man! I married you, partly to please
+my parents, partly because I found out that by some means my secret
+had fallen into unscrupulous hands, and I was mad with dread of its
+exposure! It seemed to me that no worse shame could come upon me than
+to have it trumpeted abroad that I had bestowed my love unsought, and
+was ready to die because it was slighted. I have learned since that
+it is far, far worse to live a lie--to despise myself! Oh! that I had
+died then!" She battled with the emotion that threatened to overwhelm
+her and went on. "Once bound to you, it has been my hourly endeavor
+to feel and act as became the faithful wife of a kind, noble man. If,
+sometimes, I have erred in thought--if my feelings have failed me in
+the moment of trial--yet, in word and deed, in look and gesture, I have
+been true to you. No one have I deceived more thoroughly than Philip
+Benson. He never suspected my unfortunate partiality for himself; he
+believes me still, what I would give worlds to become in truth, your
+loyal, loving wife! It is well that you know the truth at last. I do
+not ask you how you have obtained the outlines of a disgraceful story,
+that I have tried a thousand times to tell you, but was prevented by
+the fear of losing your favour forever. This is my poor defence--not
+against your charges, but in palliation of the sin of which they justly
+accuse me. I can say nothing more. Do with me as you will!"
+
+"It is but just to myself that you should hear the circumstances which
+accidentally revealed this matter to me."
+
+He narrated the scene at the restaurant, and the discovery of the
+evening. He evinced neither relenting nor sympathy in the recital. Her
+confession had extinguished the last ray of hope, cherished, though
+unacknowledged by himself, that she might extenuate her error or give
+a more favorable construction to the evidence against her. It was not
+singular that, in the reaction of disappointment, he was ready to
+believe that he had not heard all; to imagine that he could perceive
+throughout her statement a disposition to screen Philip, that was,
+in itself, a proof of disingenuousness, if not deliberate falsehood.
+She denied that he had ever been aware of her attachment or had
+reciprocated it. What meant then those words--"hopes in time to have a
+nearer claim?" What those impassioned verses? What the linking of their
+initials within the shell? the motto on the wooden tablet? While these
+subtle queries were insinuated into his soul by some mocking spirit, he
+concluded the history of the discovery of the casket.
+
+"I have never opened it since the night before I was married," said
+Sarah, with no haste of self-justification. "I put it into the drawer
+the day after we went to our house. It has not been unlocked from that
+day to this."
+
+"Why keep it at all, unless as a memento of one still dear to you?"
+
+"I felt as if I had buried it. I said to myself: 'If the time ever
+comes when I can disinter these relics and show them to my husband,
+without a pang or fear, as mementoes of a dead and almost forgotten
+folly, he shall destroy them, and I shall have gained a victory that
+will insure my lifelong happiness.'"
+
+"And that time has never arrived."
+
+She would have spoken, but her tongue proved traitorous. She crimsoned
+and was silent.
+
+Lewis smiled drearily. "You see that I know you better than you do
+yourself. It is well, as you have said, that I know all at last. I pity
+you! If I could, I would release you from your bondage. As it is, I
+will do all that I can for this end."
+
+"Never!" cried Sarah, shuddering. "Have you forgotten our child?"
+
+"I have not!" His voice shook for a second. "She is all that unites
+us now. For the sake of her future--her good name--an open separation
+ought to be avoided, if possible--if it be inevitable, your conduct
+must not be the ostensible cause. To quiet malicious tongues, you must
+remain here awhile longer under your mother's care. To accomplish the
+same end, I must appear once more in public, and on apparently friendly
+terms with--your brother-in-law. When your mother returns to the city,
+you had best go, too, and to your own house. Your brother Robert is now
+sixteen years old--steady and manly enough to act as your protector.
+Invite him to stay with you, and also Jeannie, if you find it lonely."
+
+"What are you saying? Where will you be that you speak of my choosing
+another protector?"
+
+"A very important one I have proved myself to be!" he returned, with
+the same sad smile. "I have not been able to shield you from invidious
+reports; still less to save you from yourself. I sail for Europe day
+after to-morrow."
+
+"Lewis, you will not! If you ever loved me, do not desert me and our
+child now! I will submit to any punishment but this!" She clung anew to
+his knees as she poured out her prayer.
+
+Not a month ago she had turned pale with fright at the suggestion of
+this voyage. It was sheer acting then! why not now?
+
+"Objections are useless!" he said. "My arrangements are made. I have
+passed my word."
+
+"But you will not leave me in anger! Say that you will forgive me! that
+you will return soon, and this miserable night be forgotten!"
+
+"Shall I tell you when I will return?" He raised her head, and looked
+straight into her eyes. "When you write to me, and tell me that you
+have destroyed the love-tokens in that box; when you bid me come back
+for your sake--not for our child's! Until then, I shall believe that my
+presence would be irksome to you. It is necessary for our house to have
+a resident partner in England. It is my expectation to fill that place
+for some time to come; it shall be for you to say how long."
+
+Bowed as Sarah's spirit was beneath the burst of the long-dreaded
+storm and her accusing conscience, her womanly pride revolted at this
+speech. She had humbled herself in the dust at the feet of a man whom
+she did not love; had borne meekly his reproaches; submitted dumbly
+to the degrading suspicions that far transcended her actual sin; but
+as the idea of her suing servilely for the love she had never yet
+valued; of him, indifferent and independent, awaiting afar off for
+her petition--hers, whom he had abandoned to the scornful sneers of
+the keen-witted hyenas of society; to the cross-examination of her
+distrustful relatives; the stings of remorse; left in one word to
+herself!--as this picture grew up clearly before her mind, the tide of
+feeling turned.
+
+"You reject my prayers and despise my tears!" she said proudly. "You
+refuse to accept of my humiliation. Yet you do not doubt me, as you
+would have me believe that you do! Else you would not dare to trust
+me--the keeper of your honor and your child's fair name--out of your
+sight! I throw back the charge in your teeth, and tell you that your
+conduct gives it the lie! I have asked you--shame on me that I did!--to
+continue to me the shelter of your name and presence; to shield me, a
+helpless woman, more unhappy than guilty, from the ban of the world;
+and you deny me everything but a contemptible shadow of respectability,
+which the veriest fool can penetrate. I would not have you suppose that
+your generous confidence in my integrity"--she brought out the words
+with scathing contempt--"will deter me from sinking to the level you
+are pleased to assign me. If the native dignity of my womanhood, the
+principles I inherit from my father, my love for my innocent babe do
+not hold me back from ruin, be assured that the hope of winning your
+approval will not. To you I make no pledges of reformation; I offer but
+one promise. If you choose to remain abroad until I, in spirit, kiss
+your feet, and pray you to receive a love such as most men are glad to
+win by assiduity of attention, and every pleasing art--which you would
+force into being by wilful and revengeful absence--you will never see
+your native land again until the grass grows upon my grave!"
+
+She paused for breath, and continued more slowly. "While your child
+lives, and I remain her guardian, I will use your means for her
+maintenance--will reside in your house. If she dies, or you take her
+from me, I will not owe you my support for a single day more!"
+
+Lewis grew pallid to his lips; but he, too, was proud, and his stubborn
+will was called into bold exercise.
+
+"Very well! It is in your choice to accede to my propositions, or
+not. A share in all that I have is yours; not only during the child's
+life, but as long as you live. Before I leave America, I shall deposit
+for you in your father's bank a sum which, I hope, you will find
+sufficient to maintain you in comfort. Your father will be my executor
+in this matter. I shall not confide to him the peculiar circumstances
+of my departure, leaving you at liberty to act in this respect, as in
+everything else, according to the dictates of your will and pleasure.
+At the end of a certain term of years specified by law, you can, if
+you wish, procure a divorce; on the ground of my wilful and continued
+desertion of you; in which case, the provision for your support will
+remain unchanged. As to the child--the mother's is the strongest claim.
+I shall never take her from you. Do not let me keep you up longer. It
+is late!"
+
+With a silent inclination of the head, she withdrew, and he cast
+himself upon the sofa, there to lie during the few hours of the night
+that were yet unspent.
+
+He had arisen, and was standing at the window when Sarah entered in the
+morning. But for the dark shadows under the eyes, and the tight-drawn
+look about the mouth, she appeared as usual; and her "Good-morning," if
+cold, was yet polite.
+
+"I imagine," she said, as the gong clashed out its second call, "that
+you wish me to accompany you to breakfast, and to preserve my ordinary
+manner towards you when others are by. Am I right?"
+
+"You are. This is all I ask. The effort will not be a tedious one. I
+leave here at noon."
+
+Arm in arm they directed their steps towards the great dining-hall--to
+the view of the spectator as comfortable and happy a pair as any that
+pursued that route on that summer morning. Together they sat down at
+table, and Mr. Hammond ordered "his lady's" breakfast with his own.
+Mrs. Hunt bustled in shortly after they were seated, full of wonderment
+at having heard from Sarah's maid of her master's unexpected arrival;
+while Jeannie gave his hand a squeeze as hearty as was the welcome in
+her smiling face. The Bensons were always late. So much the better.
+There were more people present to observe the cordial meeting between
+the brothers-in-law, made the more conspicuous by Philip's surprise.
+The genuineness of his good spirits, his easy, unembarrassed manner,
+was the best veil that could have been devised for Sarah's constraint
+and Lewis' counterfeit composure.
+
+It did not escape Philip's eye that Sarah ate nothing, and spoke
+only to avoid the appearance of singularity; and he believed that
+he had discovered the origin of her trouble when Lewis communicated
+his purpose of foreign travel. When the burst of surprise subsided,
+the latter tried successfully to represent his plan as a business
+necessity. Lucy, who never saw an inch beyond her nose--morally and
+mentally speaking--except when her intuitions were quickened by
+self-love, was the questioner most to be dreaded.
+
+"Why don't you go with him?" she inquired of her sister. "He should
+not stir one step without me, if I were in your place. Only think! you
+might spend six months in Paris!"
+
+"How would Baby Belle relish a sea voyage!" returned Sarah.
+
+"Nonsense! How supremely silly! One would suppose that she was the
+only member of the family whose comfort was to be consulted. Rather
+than expose her to the possibility of inconvenience, you will deprive
+yourself of profit and pleasure, and be separated from your husband for
+nobody knows how long. This shows how much these model married people
+really care for one another. When put to the test they are no better
+than we poor sinners, whom everybody calls flirts. Phil, are those
+muffins warm? This one of mine has grown cold while I was talking."
+
+"How are the horses, Benson?" inquired Lewis. "Have they been exercised
+regularly?"
+
+"Yes, and are in capital order. You could have left us no more
+acceptable reminder of yourself than those same fine bays."
+
+"If you have no other engagement, suppose we have them up before the
+light carriage after breakfast, and take a short drive."
+
+"Agreed, with all my heart! unless Mrs. Hammond quarrels with me for
+robbing her of a portion of your last morning with her."
+
+"She will forgive you!" Lewis rejoined, to spare her the effort of
+reply.
+
+From her window Sarah saw them whirl off along the beach in sight of
+the hundreds of spectators on the sands and about the hotels, and
+recognized the ingenuity of this scheme for proclaiming the amicable
+feeling between the two.
+
+"But one more scene, and the hateful mockery is over!" thought the
+wife, as she heard her husband's step outside the door on his return.
+
+She snatched a paper from the table, and seemed absorbed in its
+contents, not looking up at his entrance. Lewis made several turns
+through the room, sighed heavily, and once paused, as if about to
+address her, but changed his mind.
+
+Then sounded from without the fresh, gurgling laugh of a child, and the
+nurse came in with the baby--rosy and bright--from her morning walk on
+the shore. She almost sprang from Mary's hold at sight of her father,
+and dismissing the woman with a word, he took his darling into his
+arms and sat down behind his wife. Inflexibly sullen, Sarah tried not
+to listen, as she would not see them; but she heard every sound: the
+child's soft coo of satisfaction as she nestled in the father's bosom;
+the many kisses he imprinted upon her pure face and mouth with what
+agony Sarah well knew--the irregular respiration, sometimes repressed,
+until its breaking forth was like sobs; and the proud, miserable heart
+confessed reluctantly that, in one respect, his share of their divided
+lot was heavier than hers. She was not to witness his final resignation
+of his idol. Under color of summoning Mary, he carried the infant from
+the room, and came back without her.
+
+"It is time for me to go now, Sarah!"
+
+His voice was calm, and its firmness destroyed what slender
+encouragement she might have drawn from the scene with his child, to
+hope for some modification of his resolution.
+
+"Will you write to me, at regular intervals, to give me news of Belle?"
+
+"Certainly, if such is your wish."
+
+"And yourself? you will be careful of your health, will you not? And if
+I can ever serve you in any way, you will let me know?"
+
+"It is not likely that you can; thank you."
+
+There was a silence of some moments. Sarah stood playing with the
+tassel of her morning robe, pale and composed.
+
+"Sarah!" Lewis took her hand. "We have both been hasty, both violent!
+Unfeeling as you think me, and as I may have seemed in this affair,
+believe me that it almost kills me to part from you so coldly. It is
+not like me to retract a determination, but if you will say now what
+you did last night--'Do not go!' I will stay, and be as good a husband
+to you as I can. Shall we not forgive, and try to forget?"
+
+The demon of resentful pride was not so easily exorcised. At a breath
+of repentance--a suggestion of compromise, the fell legion rallied an
+impregnable phalanx. She was frozen, relentless; her eyes, black and
+haughty, met his with an answer her tongue could not have framed in
+words.
+
+"I have nothing to say!"
+
+"'Nothing!' The ocean must then separate us for years--it may be
+forever!"
+
+"It was your choice. I will not reverse it."
+
+"Not if you knew that if you let me go I would never return?"
+
+"Not if I knew that you would never return!"
+
+Without another word, without a farewell look, or the hand-grasp mere
+strangers exchange, he left her there--the stony monument of her
+ill-directed life and affections; the victim of a worldly mother and a
+backbiting tongue!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+
+"How gay Mrs. Hammond has grown lately!" said Mrs. Greyling, the
+fashionable critic of the ---- House drawing-room. "Do you see that she
+is actually waltzing to-night? She moves well, too! That pearl-colored
+moire antique is handsome, and must have cost every cent of nine
+dollars a yard. She is partial to heavy silks, it seems. It gives an
+air of sameness to her dress; otherwise she shows very tolerable taste."
+
+"I have heard it said that she was a regular dowdy before she was
+married," observed Mrs. Parton, who was also on the "committee of
+censure"--a self-appointed organization, which found ample employment
+in this crowded nest of pleasure-seekers. "Her husband is perpetually
+making her presents, and she dresses to please him."
+
+"Humph! I distrust these pattern couples! 'My husband doesn't approve
+of my doing this--won't hear of my acting so!' are phrases easily
+learned, and sound so fine that one soon falls into the habit of using
+them. What a flirt Mrs. Benson is! That is the fifth young man she has
+danced with this evening. I pity her husband and baby!"
+
+"He does not look inconsolable! I tell you what my notion is: he may
+love his wife--of course he does--but he admires her sister more. See
+how he watches her! Mrs. Tomes told me that she was standing near him
+the first time Mrs. Hammond waltzed, and that he seemed real worried.
+When the set was through, she came to look for a seat, and he got one
+for her. As she took it, he said something to her which Mrs. Tomes
+could not hear, but she laughed out in his face as saucy as could be,
+and said: 'Oh, I am learning when I am in Rome to do as Romans do!
+Doesn't my elder sister set the example?'"
+
+"He could say nothing then," said Mrs. Greyling. "Those girls played
+their cards well. The Hunts have very little, if anything, besides the
+father's salary, and the family was very obscure."
+
+Mrs. Greyling's paternal progenitor was an opulent soap-boiler, who
+was not ashamed, during her childhood, to drive an unsavory cart from
+one kitchen door to another. But he counted his thousands now by the
+hundred, and his children ranked, as a consequence, among the "upper
+ten."
+
+She continued her charitable remarks: "Somehow the old lady contrived
+to keep up the appearance of wealth, and married both daughters off
+before their second season. Mr. Benson is reputed to be rich; but for
+that matter these Southern planters are all said to be rolling in
+money. Mr. Hammond is certainly making money. Mr. Greyling says he is a
+splendid business man."
+
+"He sailed for Europe a week ago, you know."
+
+"Yes; and since then madame has been the belle of the ball. The old
+story--'When the cat is away, the mice will play.'"
+
+"Sarah," said Philip, an hour later, "will you walk on the balcony with
+me? You are heated, and the air is balmy as Georgian breezes. It will
+do you good."
+
+"Are you going to scold me?" she asked, archly, before she would take
+his arm.
+
+"No. I have no right to do it if I had the disposition."
+
+There was no moon; but the sky was strewed thickly with stars, and the
+white foam of the surf caught and held tremulously the sparkles from
+the bright watchers above. Philip did not appear disposed to converse,
+and Sarah waited for him to begin. Meanwhile, they strolled on and
+on, until the murmur of the ocean was louder than the music of the
+saloon band. The sea moaned to the stars, as it had done to the sunless
+July heavens on that day so memorable in the history of one of the
+pair--the day of shipwreck stories and a real shipwreck--none the less
+disastrous, that the treasures and their loss were hidden from all but
+the bereaved one.
+
+To many it is appointed to lead two lives; to think and feel as well
+as to act a double part; to separate, as inexorably as human will
+can decree, past hopes and joys--past sorrows, and, if practicable,
+past memories from the thoughts and emotions of the to-day in which
+they exist. Thousands keep up the barrier until death ends the need
+of watchfulness and labor; the coffin-lid covers the faithful mask
+that has smiled so patiently and so long above an aching heart. Yet
+dammed up passion is a dangerous thing. If hearts were so constituted
+that they could be drained like pestilential marshes, the flood
+conducted off in harmless and straight channels, then, indeed, might
+hypocrisy rejoice, and sleek decorum sit down at ease. As it is,
+genteel propriety and refined reticence are perpetually endangered by
+the unforeseen swell of some intermittent spring, or the thawing of
+some ice-bound stream, that is liable to overleap or tear away the
+dike--ingulfing in an instant the elaborate structures years of toil
+have cheaply purchased.
+
+Such was the moment when, withdrawing her hand from Philip's arm, Sarah
+struck suddenly--fiercely--upon her breast, and cried: "Oh! why cannot
+I die and end this misery!"
+
+"Sarah!"
+
+"I say I can bear it no longer! Others do not suffer thus! If they do,
+they die, or lose their reason. I will not endure it, I tell you!"
+
+"Sister!"
+
+"Do not call me by that name, Philip Benson! You know better!"
+
+She leaned forward on the balcony railing, her eyes fixed on the sea.
+Her deep, hurried breathing was like the pant of some worried animal,
+gathering strength, and, with it, courage for renewed conflict. To
+her last words the mysterious plaint of the sea lent meaning. Philip,
+too, remembered that barren shore, the tumbling breakers, the solitary
+sea-bird's labored flight landward. Was this his work? It was but a
+flicker of truth--dashed out the next second by a blow of indignant
+will.
+
+"You may forbid me to address you by this title, Sarah; but you cannot
+hinder me from sympathizing with you in your sorrow, and trying to
+befriend you. If my companionship is unwelcome, allow me to conduct you
+to your room. I cannot leave you alone here, where there is continual
+passing."
+
+"You are right. Regard for appearances is the one thing needful," she
+said, mockingly. "I must be a dull scholar if I have not learned that
+I am sane again now--fit to associate with other sane people. If you
+please, we will go to the ball-room instead of upstairs. I am not a
+candidate for solitary confinement yet!"
+
+"Mrs. Hammond, I heard a gentleman inquiring anxiously for you just
+now!" called out a lady, in passing. "He said that you promised to
+dance with him."
+
+"I did. Thank you for reminding me. A little faster, my good brother!"
+
+She hurried him into the saloon, where they were met immediately by
+her would-be partner. Philip, bewildered and uneasy, watched her
+through the evolutions of the dance. She talked rapidly and animatedly,
+keeping her cavalier in a broad smile, and confirming her lately won
+reputation of a wit. Her eyes shone; her color was high; she was
+"really handsome"--as the "censure committee" had occasion to remember
+at a later day, when it was spoken of in a very different tone from
+that employed by a member of the distinguished sisterhood in addressing
+Mrs. Hunt on this night.
+
+"You are a fortunate mother, my dear madam, to have two such brilliant
+daughters. They eclipse the girls entirely."
+
+"I have nothing to complain of in my children, ma'am. I done--I did my
+best by them, and they have repaid me a thousandfold."
+
+"Now, I am ready!" said Sarah, to her brother-in-law. "I release you,
+Mr. Burley!" waving her hand to her late attendant as a princess might
+to a courtier.
+
+Vexed and disturbed by her unsettled manner and queer freaks, Philip
+gave her his arm, and conducted her through the throng.
+
+"Lewis has had fair winds, and must now be nearing the end of his
+voyage," he remarked, as they sauntered along the piazza.
+
+"Ah! he is on the sea to-night! How strange! I had not thought of that!"
+
+"I see nothing wonderful in the idea, as he has not had time to cross
+the Atlantic since he left these shores," returned Philip, dryly. "The
+oddest thing I can think of at present is yourself, Sarah!"
+
+"I am aware of that, Philip. Do not speak harshly to me! You may be
+sorry for it some day."
+
+They were at her door. Her softened manner moved him, and as she
+offered her hand, he took it with fraternal warmth.
+
+"Forgive me, if I was rough! I have not understood you this evening."
+
+"It is not likely that you ever will. Time was--but it is folly to
+allude to that now! Think of me as kindly as you can--will you? You
+have wounded me sometimes, but never knowingly. I cannot say that of
+many others with whom I have had dealings. Good-night."
+
+The little parlor was still. Mrs. Hammond never kept her maid up to
+assist in her disrobing, if she intended remaining out until a late
+hour. Nurse and child were quiet in the adjacent nursery. Closing
+the door of communication, Sarah stripped her hair and arms of their
+ornaments; took off her diamond pin, then her rings, and laid them
+away in her jewelry case; divested herself of her rich dress, and drew
+from her wardrobe a plain, dark wrapper, which she put on. Next she
+sat down at her writing-desk, selected a sheet of paper, and wrote a
+single line--when a thought struck her, and she stopped. A momentary
+irresolution ended in her tearing off a strip containing what she had
+penned, and holding it in the flame of the lamp until it was consumed.
+"Best not! best not!" she muttered. "Doubt may bring comfort to the one
+or two who will need it. Let them doubt! Save appearances if you can,
+my poor mother would say." A smile of unutterable scorn glimmered over
+her face. She pushed away the desk and walked to the window.
+
+From the distant ball-room the throbbing waves of music still rolled
+past on the summer air, and blent with them was the solemn undertone
+of the surf. Did men call its mighty voice a monotone? To her it was
+eloquent of many and awful things--not frightful. What was there of
+terror in thoughts of rest, endless sleep, rocked for ages by the
+rising and falling tide, hushed into dreamless repose by the music of
+the billows? No more of a vain and wearisome life; no more baffled
+aspirations and crushed affections; no more disheartening attempts
+to find and reach the right--to follow in the steep, rugged path of
+duty, and shun the easy, alluring way to which heart and memory were
+ever pointing; no more of stern rebuke and sneering taunt; no more
+galled pride and outraged womanhood; no more lying gayety, smiles, and
+repartee, when the spirit was writhing in impotent agony, longing to
+shriek out its intensity of woe! Only sleep, rest, peace!
+
+"Sleep! rest peace!" She gasped the words feverishly, as they seemed
+to come to her on the breeze. Might she not seek these now! now!
+Not yet! The grounds, the beach were still populous with groups of
+strollers. She would be seen--perhaps recognized--probably frustrated
+in her purpose. Leaning her head against the casement, she sat there an
+hour--not debating, still less wavering in her resolve, only waiting
+until flight would be safe--and thinking! thinking! thinking! until her
+brain whirled.
+
+A thwarted, warped, disjointed existence had hers been from its
+beginning. Denied food suitable for the mental and spiritual need;
+denied sympathy, air, and expression of suffering; under the slow
+torture of this starvation, every avenue to goodness and liberty
+hedged up, and, for the future, temptation, repudiation, loneliness,
+perhaps a sullied name--who could dispute her right to try release by
+one brief pang she alone could feel? Who would miss her? Not the world
+that flattered her wealth and wit, her laces, silks, and diamonds; not
+the mother and sister who worshipped the gilded Juggernaut "Society;"
+not he who was that night sleeping soundly on the same sea that would
+embosom her in her sweeter, deeper slumber. Shocked he might be at an
+event so unexpected and uncommon. His next sensation would be a relief
+at his deliverance from a burden, at his freedom to come and go as he
+liked--no longer banished by her obstinacy and his own. He had loved
+her as most other men do their wives--a bond too weak to bear a heavy
+blow at their self-love. She had sinned beyond forgiveness in his eyes.
+
+Of Philip she thought with a mingling of tenderness and resentment.
+His unthinking gallantry had been the root of her sorest trouble; but
+it was unthinking, not wilful wrong. Nor was she the only sufferer.
+His heart was well-nigh as hungry as hers. Within the past week she
+had seen this more clearly than ever before, and he had felt it!
+Lucy's narrow mind, her insipidity, her inordinate vanity, her selfish
+idolatry of pleasures that wearied him; her disrelish for intellectual
+and domestic enjoyments, displayed in its most objectionable form, in
+her indifference to his company, and her neglect of her child--these
+were working out their legitimate result in his alienation from her,
+and attraction towards the once slighted sister, whose large heart
+and mental gifts he now valued at their true worth. To repel him, as
+much as to drown her cares, Sarah had plunged into the vortex she had
+heretofore avoided. She had heard that there was temporary solace
+in this species of dissipation. The cup was, for her, sparkless and
+bitter, from surface to dregs.
+
+She was saving him with herself by this final step! He would realize
+this truth, in the throe that would shake his soul when he found she
+was gone; perhaps, even in that anguished hour, would bless her for
+having showed to him, while she drove him back from, the abyss they
+were together approaching. It was no idle vaunt she had made to Lewis,
+that the principles inherited from her father would save her from overt
+sin. Thus, thus would she flee the temptation, when the heart had left
+the will to battle unaided.
+
+Her father! the gray old man who was toiling through this summer's
+heat, in his deserted home, as he had through so many summers gone! he
+who had never given her an impatient or angry word--whose pride and
+joy she still was! The stroke would be severe upon him. Yet he would
+not refuse comfort. There were still left to him his boys--fine, manly
+fellows; Jeannie and his baby grandchild--his lost daughter's gift.
+Tears rushed into the hot, wild eyes with this last image, but she
+would not let them flow.
+
+"Is it not better that I should leave her now, when the parting will
+give her no pain, when one little week will blot out my memory entirely
+from her mind, than to wait until she can recollect and miss me?"
+
+The music had ceased. The revellers had dropped away faster than they
+had collected, when once the movement was made to retire. The murmur of
+the deep was the only sound abroad; the stars were the only sentinels.
+Sarah arose, threw a shawl over her head, and cautiously unlocked the
+door. A strong rush of air blew it from her hold, and as she caught
+it, to draw it after her, she trod upon some object lying on the floor.
+Mechanically she stooped to pick it up. It was an infant's shoe, a
+dainty little gaiter, that peeped, during the day, from beneath Baby
+Belle's white skirt. To Sarah's touch it seemed that the lining still
+retained the warmth of the child's foot.
+
+Never, oh, never, was the patter of those baby feet to make glad music
+for the mother's ear! Others must guide and sustain her trial steps;
+others smooth her daily path; others direct the inexperience of the
+girl in the perilous passes where that mother had fallen and perished!
+
+"Oh, may I not bless her before I leave her forever?" she cried to
+stern Resolution. And Conscience rejoined, with meaning severity: "Is
+it you who would breathe a blessing above her purity?"
+
+"Suffer me, then, to take the farewell look I dared not grant myself
+before!"
+
+And while Resolution faltered at the impassioned appeal, she opened the
+nursery door and stole to the side of the crib. The night-lamp shed a
+feeble halo over the table whereon it stood. The rest of the room was
+in darkness. Mary's light bedstead was close to the crib. Was hers that
+hard, short breathing, that sent a start and chill through the hearer?
+A touch to the lamp threw a blaze of light over nurse and child. A
+sharp cry rang through the chamber.
+
+"Mary, Mary! get up!"
+
+The girl sprang to the floor before she comprehended the meaning of the
+alarm. Mrs. Hammond had sunk into a chair beside the crib, from which
+she had snatched her infant. Baby Belle's head was strained back; her
+hands clenched; her limbs stiffened in a death-like spasm. The eyes
+were rolled out of sight under the lids; and the four little teeth--her
+"most precious pearls," the fond mother had called them--were
+hard-locked within the purple lips.
+
+Terrified as she was, Mary had the presence of mind to run for
+assistance. Mrs. Hunt and a physician were soon on the spot, and every
+appliance of the healing art that promised relief to the sufferer was
+used, but with partial effect. Sarah saw nothing but the child; heard
+nothing but the doctor's calm orders.
+
+"You do not try to help her!" she said, impatiently, as a convulsion,
+more fearful than any that had preceded it, seized the delicate frame.
+
+"I could not do more, were it my own child, madam!"
+
+He was an elderly man, whose charity for fashionable mothers was very
+scant, and, having seen Mrs. Hammond in the ball-room the evening
+before, he was not prepared for the solicitude she manifested.
+
+"You had better let the nurse take her!" he said, more gently, as
+Sarah, with difficulty, held down the struggling hands that might do
+hurt to the head and face.
+
+"No! I will have no one touch her but myself!"
+
+The morning broke, the day heightened into noon, and the paroxysms only
+abated in violence as the babe's strength declined. Steadfast to her
+word, the mother had not once resigned her. She had herself immersed
+her in the warm baths, applied the poultices, and administered the
+medicines prescribed. Mrs. Hunt was compassionate and active; Mary
+sorrowful, and prompt with whatever service she could perform; Lucy
+frightened and idle.
+
+Philip, who had often been in the outer room to make inquiries and
+offer aid, if any were required of him, was told, just before sunset,
+that he could go into the chamber. Mrs. Hunt invited him, and the
+information she added gave to his countenance a look of heartfelt
+sadness as he followed her. Sarah sat in the middle of the room, so
+altered that he could scarcely credit the fact of her identity with the
+being he had parted from the previous night. Her eyes were sunken, her
+features sharpened, and her complexion had the dead, grayish hue of an
+old woman's. In her arms lay the babe, and, as she crouched over it,
+her mien of defiant protection suggested to him the idea of a savage
+animal guarding her young. He could not say whether or not she was
+aware of his presence, until he knelt by the dying child and called it
+by name.
+
+"Baby Belle, do you know Uncle Philip?"
+
+The dark eyes, soft still through the gathering film, moved slightly,
+and Sarah said--
+
+"Speak to her again!"
+
+"Will Baby Belle come to uncle?"
+
+This time there was no sign of consciousness. The wee hands clasped in
+the mother's grew colder and colder, and the breath fluttered slowly
+through the parted lips. The end was near, and Philip's pitying accent
+expressed his sense of this.
+
+"Give her to me, dear Sarah! It is not right for you to keep her
+longer."
+
+"She is mine!"
+
+The glare that came to her eye with the three words revealed a
+desperation that would have done battle with the King of Terrors, had
+he appeared in visible shape to claim his victim.
+
+More faintly, slowly, trembled the life over the sweet mouth, and
+the hands, like waxen shapes, lay pulseless in the mother's clasp;
+while through the silent room flowed the dirge of the sea. Shaken by
+the freshening breeze of evening, the shutters of the western window
+swung ajar, letting in a golden ray upon mother and child, and along
+that path of light the untarnished soul of Baby Belle was borne by its
+waiting angel--home!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+
+Aunt Sarah sat in the wide porch at the back of her house, knitting
+in hand. It was a still, but not oppressive August afternoon. There
+was not a ruffle on the bright surface of the river, and the long
+meadow grass was as smoothly spread out in the yellow sunshine. From
+the poultry-yard on the left arose a pleasant murmur, and now and then
+a stray hen tiptoed around the end of the house, singing idly as she
+rambled. Charley lay on the green mound--his old reading-room--with
+a book before him, and to him Aunt Sarah's motherly eyes turned most
+frequently. Those kindly orbs were dimmer than they were two summers
+ago, and the gentle face was a thought more pensive. A glance into the
+sitting-room window, from where she sat, would have showed one Uncle
+Nathan's empty arm-chair in the chimney corner, and above it were
+suspended his cane and broad-brimmed hat, just as he had put them off
+when he took his departure for a country where neither shelter nor
+staff is needed. Aunt Sarah's cap had a widow's border now; and in her
+faithful heart there was a sadder void than the death of her children
+had created--loving parent though she was--and yet more plentiful
+springs of sympathy for others bereaved and suffering.
+
+Her rocking-chair was set near the entrance of the hall that bisected
+the dwelling; and the front and back doors being open, she had a fair
+view of the public road, whenever she chose to look up the lane. The
+Shrewsbury stage met the boat at four o'clock, or soon after; and
+hearing a rumbling along the highway, which she knew presaged its
+transit through this end of the village, the old lady leaned forward to
+catch a glimpse of the trunks upon the roof; this being all she could
+distinguish with certainty above the fence.
+
+"Why, it is stopping here!" she ejaculated, getting up to obtain a
+better look. "Who upon earth can it be?"
+
+The coach rolled on, and the passenger for the farm-house came through
+the gate and down the lane. She was dressed in black, wore a crape
+veil, and carried a small hand-trunk. With a hospitable instinct, Aunt
+Sarah advanced to the front porch to meet her, still entirely in the
+dark as to who it could be.
+
+"She has a different look from any of the neighbors; and there's nobody
+in York that would be likely to come to see me, except Betsy's people,
+and it can't be either of her girls!"
+
+At this stage of her cogitations, the visitant reached the step on
+which the hostess stood, and put away the long veil from a face so
+worn and seamed with grief, so hollow-eyed and old, that the good aunt
+screamed outright in her distressed astonishment--
+
+"Sarah, dear child! can this be you?"
+
+"What I am now, Aunt Sarah. May I come in and stay with you a little
+while?"
+
+"Stay with me, poor darling! As long as you like, and welcome! Come
+right in; you don't look fit to stand!"
+
+She was not; for, now that the necessity for exertion was removed, she
+was faint and trembling. Aunt Sarah helped her upstairs to the room she
+had occupied at her former visit, undressed her, and put her to bed.
+Sarah submitted like a child, too much exhausted to resist being made
+an invalid of, or to offer any explanation of her singular apparition.
+She had not slept an hour at a time for many nights; yet when she had
+drunk a cup of tea, and tried to eat a bit of toast her aunt prepared
+and brought up to her, she fell into a profound slumber, which lasted
+until long after sunrise on the following morning. Unclosing her eyes
+then, they rested upon the dear face, shaded by the widow's cap, that
+watched at her bedside. A shadowy phantom of a smile flitted over her
+features at the recognition.
+
+"It was not a dream, then?" she said languidly. "But I have dreamed of
+you often, of late--every night in which I have had any sleep. Aunt
+Sarah, I must tell you why I came to you!"
+
+"Not now, dear," Aunt Sarah hastened to say, seeing the wild stare and
+the cloud return to her countenance. "Wait until you are stronger.
+I will bring up your breakfast, and when you have eaten it, you may
+try to dress, if you like. There will be time enough for your story,
+by-and-by. Charley is in a great fidget to see you."
+
+Sarah submitted to the delay; but it was plain that she was not
+satisfied with it, and that her mind would be easier when once the tale
+was told. Aunt Sarah hindered her no longer a time than sufficed for
+her to take the much needed refreshment, to bathe and dress, and to see
+and exchange a few sentences with Charley, who supported her down to
+the sitting-room. There, resting among the pillows of the lounge, Aunt
+Sarah beside her, with the ubiquitous knitting-work in hand, lest too
+close observation should confuse her niece, the stricken one unfolded
+the whole of her sad history.
+
+No more affecting proof could have been given of her prostrated
+mind and will than this unreserved recital. The secret she had sold
+conscience and liberty to preserve, she communicated now without a
+blush. Here--where she had formed the intimacy that had shadowed so
+darkly her after days--she detailed every step of the wrong course to
+which this weakness was a key; went over all--the stormy parting with
+her husband; her conviction of the mutual peril she and Philip were
+tempting in their daily communion; her resolve of self-destruction--as
+circumstantially as if she were relating the biography of another.
+
+Aunt Sarah, horrified and pitiful by turns, struggled with indifferent
+success to maintain equal composure, and against growing doubts of
+the narrator's sanity. It was a striking and instructive contrast:
+the world-weary woman returning for consolation and advice to the
+simple-minded matron, to whom the artificial existence she now heard
+depicted--its gilded vices and giddy round of vanities; its trials and
+temptations--were a wonderful, a monstrous tale, as foreign to her
+sphere of principles and feelings as if they had transpired in another
+world. But when Sarah came to speak of her child, her manner changed,
+her voice was hoarse and uneven, and over the careworn visage there
+went such alterations of fierceness and heart-breaking sorrow that the
+listening mother, upon whose soul the shadow of her own children's
+graves still lay long and dark, could hear no more in silence.
+
+"My poor girl!" she cried, falling on her knees, and throwing her arms
+around the reclining figure. "Dear child! Our Father in heaven pity and
+comfort you! There is no help in man for such trouble as yours!"
+
+Sarah had not shed a tear in the course of her story. She said
+afterwards that she had not wept since they took her dead baby from
+her clasp; but at this burst of unfeigned sympathy, this gush of
+pure love and compassion, the burning rock was cleft, and a blessed
+flood streamed from it. For some minutes they wept together without
+restraint, and when the more quiet grief of the elder mourner was
+repressed, the other still clung, sobbing to her bosom.
+
+Aunt Sarah held and soothed her as she would have done a sorrowful
+child; stroking away the hair from her forehead, drying and kissing the
+tear-stained cheeks, with many an epithet of fond reassurance.
+
+"Let me finish! There is very little more!" resumed Sarah, keeping
+her aunt's hand fast in both of hers. "We went back to the city, and
+the next day we laid her in Greenwood. We stayed at father's--I would
+not return to the house that used to be mine. Father was very kind,
+and mother meant to be; but she tormented me with suggestions and
+consultations about my black clothes. Lucy was pining to get back to
+Newport. She said it was hot and dull in New York. Philip wanted to
+comfort me, but I shunned him, and I think he was hurt by my conduct;
+but it was best, was it not, Aunt Sarah?"
+
+"Certainly, dear!"
+
+"I had often imagined myself lonely before; but I never dreamed of
+such a horror of desolation as filled my soul during the two days that
+I remained there, after all was over. Twenty times each night I would
+start from a feverish doze, thinking that I heard my baby cry or moan
+as she did in the intervals of those awful convulsions; and then would
+come in upon me, as if I had never felt it until then, the truth that
+I could never see her again, and that my wicked, wicked intention of
+deserting her had brought this judgment upon me. I could not stay
+there, Aunt Sarah! I heard other voices besides my child's in the air,
+and saw strange, grinning faces in the darkness. But the worst was to
+see that, to every one but me, the world was the same that it had ever
+been. Father looked grave when I was in his sight; but the children
+could laugh and talk as if nothing had happened, and I have seen mother
+and Lucy chattering merrily in the room with the dressmaker over my
+new dresses, while they were criticizing the crape trimmings. And I
+had buried my last earthly hope in my baby's grave! Then I remembered
+you, and how you had talked to me of your lost children, and how you
+had assured me of a home in your heart and house whenever I chose to
+claim it, and I believed in you, Aunt Sarah! There are not many whom I
+do trust; but I was sure you never said what you did not mean. I would
+not tell them that I was coming for I feared they would prevent me. I
+slipped out of the house when none of them were at home, and went to
+the nearest hack-stand, where I got into a carriage and drove down to
+the boat."
+
+"My dear, did you leave no letter to let them know where you had gone?"
+
+"No, ma'am. I was afraid they would come or send for me, and I cannot
+go back."
+
+"But your father--your mother! Did you not think how distressed they
+would be when they missed you? And your reputation? What will be said
+when it's known that you have left your father's house, and no one
+knows where you are? You are very weak and tired, dear; but you must
+sit up, right away, and write a note home. Tell them that I will take
+care of you as long as you like to stay with me, but don't lose a
+minute! You may be in time for the afternoon boat."
+
+Sarah obeyed; and the careful old lady hurried Charley off to the boat,
+with directions to place the billet in the hands of the captain, who
+was a personal friend, and could be relied upon to post it directly he
+reached the city.
+
+Mr. Hunt replied without delay. Sarah's absence had given rise
+to the most harrowing conjectures, made plausible by her extreme
+melancholy and fitful behavior since her infant's death. The police
+had been privately notified of her disappearance, and cautiously
+worded advertisements inserted in the papers. He regretted to add
+that Mr. Marlow, who, as Mr. Hammond's nearest friend, was informed
+of the distressing occurrence, had thought proper to communicate the
+intelligence to Mr. H. before Sarah's note arrived, and the steamer
+bearing the letter had sailed. Mr. Hunt expressed himself as entirely
+willing that his daughter should remain in her present retreat until
+her health of mind and body was re-established, but did not conceal his
+disapprobation of the manner of her leaving home.
+
+Aunt Sarah looked concerned as she read this epistle, which her niece
+had passed over to her.
+
+"I am sorry for your husband, my dear. This affliction, coming so close
+upon the other, will be a dreadful blow. It is a pity they did not wait
+awhile, until they knew something of your whereabouts, before writing
+to him.
+
+"I am more sorry that the news must be contradicted," was the reply.
+"As we are now situated, the certainty of my death would be a relief
+to him. This was my reflection that night"--She left the sentence
+unfinished.
+
+"My dear!" Aunt Sarah removed her spectacles, and surveyed her niece
+with her kind, serious eyes. "Have you made up your mind to live
+separate from your husband for the rest of your life?"
+
+"What else should I do, aunt? He will never come back unless I promise
+to love him, and that cannot be."
+
+"That doesn't alter the fact of your duty, as I look at it. You ought
+to make him an offer to do right, at any rate. It would have been
+easier and pleasanter to live with him, if you had felt for him as a
+woman should for the man she marries; but you are married to him, and
+in the sight of the Lord you ought to cleave to him, and him only. That
+is a solemn covenant, dear--'for richer, for poorer; for better, for
+worse!' 'Those whom God hath joined together, let not man put asunder!'
+It doesn't excuse people, who take these vows upon them when the right
+spirit is wanting, that they never thought how awful the engagement
+was. Their obligations are just the same, whether they love or not."
+
+"The responsibility does not rest with me. I performed my duty while
+we were together. The separation was his act, and he must abide the
+consequences. I have erred greatly, Aunt Sarah; but ever since the
+night of our rupture, my conscience has been easy with respect to Mr.
+Hammond. I confessed that I had misled him, and begged his pardon.
+Could I do more?"
+
+"Put the case to yourself, child! Do not be angry if I speak out my
+mind, and use against you some things you have told me. When you saw
+that Philip was growing to like you better and better, and that you
+felt nearer to him every day, why did you determine to die sooner than
+to have things go on so?"
+
+"Because it would have been a crime for us to love each other--infamous
+treachery to my sister, to his wife, for us to name the word between
+us."
+
+"And how would Lucy have felt, if you had come to an understanding and
+spoken out the true feeling of your hearts?"
+
+"Hers is a careless, indolent nature, but this insult would have
+aroused her. She would never have forgiven him or me, had she suspected
+a warmer sentiment on either side than that of friendship."
+
+"But an honorable, affectionate man like your husband, who thought
+his wife the most precious thing in the world, was to forget his
+disappointment, overlook your lack of love and truth towards him, only
+because you allowed that he had found out your real feelings at last,
+and all the excuse you could give was that you could not help them! You
+were the one in fault all the way through, from the day you engaged to
+marry him, up to the minute when you would not say the word he begged
+from you to keep him at home. It is right that all the advance should
+come from you."
+
+High-spirited as Sarah was, she was not angered by this plain-speaking.
+"Faithful are the wounds of a friend;" and she felt that she had but
+this one. Aunt Sarah studied her thoughtful countenance before she
+renewed the argument.
+
+"I am an old-fashioned woman, dear--born and bred in the country,
+where, thank God! I have spent all my life. But I've been thinking
+about your story of the way people act and feel up there in York, and
+maybe in all other great, fine, money-making cities, and my notion is
+just this. I look back of their pushing and straining after riches, and
+show, and worldly vanities; every man for himself, and the one that
+climbs highest, forgetting as soon as he gets there that he was ever
+any lower, and ready to kick over anybody that tries to get alongside
+of him; and I see that they have lost sight of the second great
+commandment--'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.' Then I look
+back of this too, and I see where the greatest sin is, and--dear, bear
+with me! I see where you have gone furthest astray. Here's a passage I
+was reading this morning that tells the whole story." She raised the
+Bible from the table, and laid it upon Sarah's lap, pointing as she did
+so to these words enclosed in brackets:
+
+"Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not
+been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant
+pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips. In the day thou
+shalt make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy
+seed to flourish; but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief
+and desperate sorrow!"
+
+Mrs. Hunt would have regarded as an insult any expressed doubt of
+her religious principles and practice. She had a desirable pew in
+the fashionable church which was nearest her residence, and, stormy
+Sabbaths excepted, it was generally full at morning service. When her
+children were presentable as to looks, very young babies being seldom
+pretty, they were offered in fine lawn and Valenciennes at the font
+for the rite of baptism; and not a confirmation had passed since her
+daughters were grown, that she did not fancy how interesting they
+would look, kneeling before the surpliced bishop, heads gracefully
+bowed, and the regards of the whole congregation fixed upon them. Sarah
+never could be brought to the performance of the commonest act of
+public worship, unless it was to rise with the rest, when a standing
+posture was prescribed by the prayer-book; and she shocked her mother
+by declaring that she only did this because she was tired of sitting!
+Lucy's serene grace of devoutness was beautiful, if not edifying to
+behold. Those who occupied adjacent pews involuntarily suppressed
+their responses as her mellow tones repeated, with melancholy
+sweetness--"Have mercy upon us, miserable sinners!" And as the melting
+cadences entranced their ears, the lovely penitent was speculating upon
+the probable cost of Miss Hauton's Parisian hat, or coveting Mrs. Beau
+Monde's sable cloak.
+
+If Sarah had even heard of regeneration, it was as a technical phrase
+of the church articles and christening service. Of its practical
+meaning, its inward application, its absolute necessity to the safety
+of the soul, she had as vague a conception as a Parsee or New Zealand
+cannibal would have formed. She had read the Bible in connection with
+rhetorical lectures, and admired it as a noble specimen of Oriental
+literature. What other associations could she have with it? A handsome
+copy of the Holy Scriptures, surmounted by a book of common prayer, lay
+on a stand in Mrs. Hunt's third and rear parlor, and was dusted when a
+like attention was paid to the other ornaments of tables and etageres.
+An Oxford edition, russet antique, formed one of the wedding-gifts of
+each of the sisters, and in due time was laid in pious pomp on its
+purple pillow in the library corner. It was hardly strange, then, that
+the quotation, so apposite to the case in point, should fail to impress
+her very strongly. Aunt Sarah had gone out, deeming solitary reflection
+the best means of enforcing the lesson she had tried to inculcate, and,
+after re-reading the two verses, without further appropriation of their
+meaning, Sarah turned leaf after leaf of the volume, catching here and
+there a sentence of the large print, so grateful to the failing sight
+of her who was its daily student.
+
+"David said unto his servants--'Is the child dead?' And they said, 'He
+is dead!'"
+
+The smitten chord in the mother's heart sent out a ring of pain, and
+her listless hand paused upon the open page. It is a simple story--the
+royal parent's unavailing wrestle with the Chastener, the dread
+end of his suspense, and the affliction, made manifest in the calm
+resignation, the sanctified trust of the mourner. But when received as
+Sarah read it, with the vision of a similar death-scene intermixing
+itself with its unadorned details, the fresh blood still welling from
+the wound made by the tearing away of a portion of one's own life,
+every line is fraught with truth and pathos.
+
+"Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return
+to me!"
+
+"Go to her! Oh, if I could! My baby! my baby!"
+
+To the low, sad cry succeeded a season of yearning and of tears. It
+was an echo of the wail of the heathen mother who, centuries ago,
+having seen her babes slain before her eyes, cried aloud, in unselfish
+agony, as the sword, reeking with their blood, was plunged into her own
+bosom--"Oh, my children! where are ye?"
+
+Sleep on, in thy lowly bed upon the hillside, sweet Baby Belle! Like
+the pale buds that are fading with thee in thy narrow resting-place,
+thy mission on earth is accomplished. Joy, young freed spirit, if,
+stealing through the melodies of heaven, there comes to thee the
+whisper of that mother's call! Fair lamb! the love that folded thee in
+the Shepherd's arms designed likewise, in recalling thee, to lure the
+wandering parent home!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+
+ "My Dear Lewis: Before you receive this letter, you will have had the
+ explanation of my disappearance from New York. A merciful Providence
+ directed me, in my partial derangement, to this peaceful retreat. Here
+ I have found rest for body and soul--peace such as the world could
+ never give the heart, even were it not bowed down by a sorrow like
+ mine. Not that I forget past errors; nor that the review does not
+ humble me in the dust. I confess, with shame and bitterness of spirit,
+ my wasted years, my unsanctified affections, my evil passions. But
+ for the assurance of the Father's pardon, the Saviour's loving pity,
+ the black catalogue would strike me dead with horror and anguish. It
+ is a fearful thing to be made to see one's self as she is; to scan
+ in terrified solicitude the record of a life, and find there nothing
+ better than pride, misanthropy, falsehood, hatred of men--rebellion
+ against God. It is a sweet experience to taste, however tremblingly,
+ the consolations of the Friend who invites the weary and heavy-laden
+ to draw near and learn of Him. In His strength--not in that feebleness
+ I once called power--have I resolved to lead a new life. Of the causes
+ which have contributed to produce this change, we will speak more at
+ length when we meet.
+
+ "'When we meet!' Lewis, will you, can you forget your manifold wrongs
+ and come back to me? I do not plead, now, 'for the sake of our child.'
+ Her sinless soul henceforth can know no pain or woe. God saw that I
+ was not worthy of her, and He took her. In the earlier weeks of my
+ selfish mourning, I had no thought of your bereavement. Latterly, I
+ have longed to comfort you, for I know that your heart is riven by
+ this stroke. She was your joy, as she was my angel of peace. Her loss
+ is our common sorrow. Shall it not draw us together? Yet, as I have
+ said, our estrangement cannot now affect her. Thoughtless of evil,
+ she passed away. Had she lived, the Omniscient only knows what grief
+ and mortification might have darkened her pathway. Nor do I desire a
+ reconciliation as a shield from the world's sneer or ban. I hold its
+ applause and its censure alike cheaply. In prosperity, its favors were
+ painted, tasteless fruit; in adversity, it would have fed my starving
+ heart with husks. But for my sake--by the thought of my late and sore
+ repentance; by the remorse that must gnaw my spirit, when I remember
+ your noble trust in me, your unswerving fidelity, your generous love
+ and my base requital of it all; by the sorrow that never leaves me
+ by day or by night--forgive me, and return to the home we have both
+ forsaken! I will serve you very faithfully, my husband! I have gained
+ other and higher views of the marriage relation within a short time
+ past. However presumptuously I may have assumed its responsibilities,
+ however unworthily I performed its duties in former days, I would
+ enter upon our re-engagement with a solemn sense of what I owe to you
+ and to Him who united us. You must have despised me at our parting,
+ and since. Perhaps you have come to think of me with dislike as well
+ as contempt. I will bear this--grievous though the burden will be--as
+ a part of my righteous punishment. I will never murmur--never, even
+ in thought, accuse you of unjust harshness, if you will grant me
+ the opportunity to make what amends I can for all you have lost and
+ suffered through my fault."
+
+Sarah was still far from strong; and wearied as much by the intensity
+of her feelings as by the manual effort of writing, she laid the pen
+down, and leaned back in the cushioned chair. Her table stood in the
+parlor beneath the window overlooking the river. The room was prim
+and clean, as of yore, with its straight lines of chairs; its shining
+specks of mirrors; the grim black profiles above the mantel, and the
+green boughs in the fireplace. The outer scene was in its general
+features, that which the girl had surveyed, with pleased surprise, the
+July evening of her arrival here two years ago.
+
+Only two years! The sufferings and life-lessons of twenty had been
+crowded into that brief space. The meadows were growing sere, as
+if scorching winds had swept over them, and the stream reflected
+truthfully, yet, one could have fancied, sadly, the changing foliage
+fringing its borders. But the sky, with its tender blue and its fleecy
+clouds, ever shifting, yet ever retaining their likeness to one
+another--the river's smooth, steady flow, were the same; fit emblems
+both of them of counsels which are mercy and truth through all their
+workings; of love that abideth forever!
+
+The train of thought was replete with refreshing to the spirit that
+was striving, in prayer and watchfulness, to adhere to the right, to
+accept, with meek submission, all that her cup yet held of pungent
+or nauseous lees. There was no affectation in the humble tone of her
+letter. She would not begin it until she had mastered the stubborn
+remnant of her native pride. It should be nothing to her that her
+husband had wilfully separated himself from her, and refused her
+overtures of reconcilement. If this was unkindness it was all she could
+reproach him with in the course of time they had spent together. He had
+been a true friend, an honorable protector, and dimly still, but more
+justly than ever before, she perceived that into his love for her there
+had entered none of the merely prudential considerations, the cool
+calculations, wherewith she used to account for his choice of herself
+as a helpmeet. Where, in the world's heartless circles, could she point
+out another wife as much indulged, as much honored in public and in
+private, as she once was by him? Mournfully, if not lovingly, she dwelt
+upon the countless evidences of his cordial fulfillment, in letter and
+in spirit, of his part of their mutual engagement, with something of
+the sinking heart the alchemist may have felt when, after he had, by
+a mechanical and habitual fling of his arm, tossed the eagerly-sought
+philosopher's stone into the sea as a worthless pebble, he discovered
+that the divining steel he held had been changed to gold by its touch.
+
+To whom of us has not an experience similar to this come? It may be
+that the eyes which once besought affection with dumb and disregarded
+eloquence are closed and rayless for all future time; the lips that
+told, with modest frankness, how dear we were to hearts we cared
+not then to win, are now but silent dust. Or, perchance, grieved
+by indifference, repelled by unkindness, those hearts have sought
+and found in other loves solace for the pain we, in our blindness
+inflicted. It matters little whether they be dead to all the world, or
+only to us. In either case, the longing and despair of our lonely lives
+are rendered the more unendurable from the flash of tardy truth that
+shows us, side by side with our actual poverty of heart riches, the
+tranquil beauty of the pictured "might have been."
+
+Aunt Sarah had gone on a visit to a neighbor; the hired girl was in
+the distant wash-house; and Charley considered it his duty to linger
+within easy reach of his cousin, should she need him for any purpose.
+To guard her from all chance of intrusion, he stationed himself on
+the front porch steps, with his book on his knee. For an hour he read
+on uninterruptedly; then, glancing up as he turned a leaf, he saw a
+gentleman coming down the gravel walk. He looked thin and anxious,
+and his restless eye wandered from door to windows, as in expectation
+of seeing some one beside the boy. With a ready apprehension of his
+infirmity, only to be accounted for by some prior knowledge of the
+person he saluted, he took from his pocket a card, which he presented
+before he shook hands with the silent host. Charley's intelligent
+face was one beam of pleasure as he read, and his warm grasp showed
+his sympathy in the happiness he fancied was in store for his cousin.
+Inviting the guest by a gesture to follow him, he went softly to the
+parlor-door, tapped lightly--too lightly, indeed, to attract the notice
+of the musing occupant of the room, then drew back the bolt, admitted
+the stranger, and delicately withdrew.
+
+Sarah heard the door open and Charley's retreating footsteps, and,
+supposing that he had peeped in to see that she was comfortable and
+wanted for nothing, she did not look around. The intruder stood still
+one step within the room, as if unable to advance or speak. The
+languid attitude of the figure before him, so unlike the self-poise
+and quiet energy of her former deportment, her black dress, even the
+wasted hands dropped so wearily upon her lap, told of the storm that
+had passed over her, the utter revolution in her life and nature. A
+struggling sigh he could not repress broke from the gazer's breast, and
+Sarah turned hastily towards him. She did not swoon, as he feared she
+would. A thrill, like an electric shock, shook her from head to foot;
+a wild inquiry looked from her eyes; a question or the reality of the
+appearance, succeeding so closely to--did it grow out of her revery?
+
+Lewis put this imagination to flight.
+
+"Sarah!" he said, pressing in his the hands she extended mutely. "They
+told me you were lost, and I hurried home to find you. I could not
+wait for your permission to come to you, when I learned in New York
+that I had a living wife! The loss of the child was heavy enough; but
+this"--He could say no more.
+
+"I am thankful! I am glad that you are here!" A faint, beautiful smile
+shone over her wan features. "And our baby, Lewis! We must remember
+that she is an angel now!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+
+To no one except Aunt Sarah were the facts of the estrangement and
+reconciliation of her relatives ever revealed, and within her faithful
+bosom the secret was hidden as securely as in a tomb.
+
+Great was the chagrin of gossips, male and female, when it was known
+that Mrs. Hammond's strange flight from her father's house, which
+had leaked out nobody knew how, and been variously construed into
+an elopement, a freak of derangement, and a deliberate intention
+of suicide, according to the degrees of charity possessed by the
+theorists, was a very innocent and unromantic journey to the country
+home of her favorite aunt and godmother, a lady of ample fortune and
+benevolent heart, who would, in all probability, make her namesake
+her heiress. Under her care, and for the benefit of the seclusion so
+congenial to one in her affliction, and the salt air so necessary for
+the restoration of her impaired health, Mrs. Hammond had remained until
+her husband's return from abroad.
+
+Mrs. Hunt had told Mrs. A., who had told Mrs. B., who repeated it to
+Mrs. C., how he had not stopped in New York an hour after he stepped
+ashore from the "Adriatic." He hurried to the bank, and ascertained
+from Mr. Hunt that his wife was with her aunt, and that a boat which
+would land him near Shrewsbury was to leave in fifteen minutes. So he
+drove down post-haste, and jumped on board of her after the plank had
+been drawn and the wheels began to move. There never was a more devoted
+husband or a more attached pair, Mrs. Hunt affirmed.
+
+"More than she could say for that flirting Mrs. Benson and her other
+half," agreed A., B. and C., unanimously.
+
+"Her conduct at Newport was scandalous, and would have been outrageous
+if he had not watched her like a lynx!" said Mrs. Beau Monde, who had
+never been able to secure one-half as many admirers as had Lucy, and
+hated her as honestly as if they were a couple of Biddies pulling caps
+for Patrick or Murphy.
+
+"I don't see why he should have felt jealous, I am sure. He wasn't
+dying of love for her! That could be seen with half an eye. They say
+he loved Mrs. Hammond before he addressed her sister, and married this
+one out of spite," rejoined Mrs. Townes, who had made beaux yeux at the
+distingue Southerner for three whole evenings, and won only the most
+indifferent glances in requital.
+
+"Mrs. Hammond behaved very prudently!" pronounced Mrs. Greyling, "and
+dressed very well. I suppose Mr. Hammond brought her some elegant
+things from abroad. Pity she is in mourning, and must dress plainly at
+present! If I were in her place--as it was only a baby--I would not
+wear black more than six months, unless it was very becoming."
+
+"She has become very religious, you know," said Mrs. Parton.
+
+"Indeed! People are apt to, I think, when there has been death in the
+family," concluded Mrs. Greyling, pensively. "I remember, when my poor
+sister died, I used to look forward to church and Sunday with real
+pleasure. I could not go anywhere on week-days, you know, although
+there were piles of tickets lying in my card-receiver, and we had just
+taken a box at the opera that very winter! I declare, I should have
+lost the run of the fashions entirely, and forgotten people's faces, if
+I had not gone to church. I dare say, too, that she finds some comfort
+in religion--poor woman! if what the preachers and good books tell us
+be true."
+
+Had Sarah found comfort?
+
+Look we, for reply, to the chastened lustre of the eye, where once
+burned restless fires, like the sunward gaze of the imprisoned eagle;
+to the holy serenity struggling through and finally dispelling the
+clouds of memory and regret that, at times, would roll in between
+her soul and the bright, sustaining hope upon which Faith would have
+its regards forever fixed; to her daily life, sanctified by prayer,
+beneficent in good works, and by its unostentatious loveliness winning
+others, first to admire, then to imitate; to the wifely submission and
+loving kindness of her bearing to her husband, her grateful estimate of
+the affection he lavished upon her, the deep, true tenderness growing
+up in her heart for this fond and noble companion; look we, lastly,
+to the snowy marble guarding that tiny mound in Greenwood, where the
+mother once believed that hope and joy were buried to know no awakening.
+
+    "BABY BELLE,"
+    infant daughter of
+    LEWIS AND SARAH HAMMOND.
+    She went home
+    July 16, 1858, aged 8 months.
+    "Is it well with thee?  Is it well with thy husband?
+    Is it well with the child?"
+    And she answered, "It is well!"
+
+
+[THE END.]
+
+
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:
+
+Obvious printer errors have been corrected. Otherwise, the author's
+original spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been left intact.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Husks, by Marion Harland
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