diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:26:08 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:26:08 -0700 |
| commit | 0385053a02f5ca1908061d1fc7ba636838969921 (patch) | |
| tree | be293897a5a93985e5c21c0d5f6a637c9b33ff25 | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 5757-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 193053 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 5757-h/5757-h.htm | 11031 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 5757.txt | 9253 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 5757.zip | bin | 0 -> 182060 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/mdmdn10.txt | 9150 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/mdmdn10.zip | bin | 0 -> 181361 bytes |
9 files changed, 29450 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5757-h.zip b/5757-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cecefaa --- /dev/null +++ b/5757-h.zip diff --git a/5757-h/5757-h.htm b/5757-h/5757-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bae3b8f --- /dev/null +++ b/5757-h/5757-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,11031 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta content="pg2html (binary v0.17)" name="linkgenerator" /> + <title> + The Maid of Maiden Lane, by Amelia E. Barr + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .75em; margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%; text-align: justify; font-size: 80%; font-style: italic;} + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + .xx-small {font-size: 60%;} + .x-small {font-size: 75%;} + .small {font-size: 85%;} + .large {font-size: 115%;} + .x-large {font-size: 130%;} + .indent5 { margin-left: 5%;} + .indent10 { margin-left: 10%;} + .indent15 { margin-left: 15%;} + .indent20 { margin-left: 20%;} + .indent25 { margin-left: 25%;} + .indent30 { margin-left: 30%;} + .indent35 { margin-left: 35%;} + .indent40 { margin-left: 40%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; right: 1%; font-size: 0.6em; + font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; + text-align: right; background-color: #FFFACD; + border: 1px solid; padding: 0.3em;text-indent: 0em;} + .side { float: left; font-size: 75%; width: 15%; padding-left: 0.8em; + border-left: dashed thin; text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; + font-weight: bold; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: solid 1px;} + .head { float: left; font-size: 90%; width: 98%; padding-left: 0.8em; + border-left: dashed thin; text-align: center; + text-indent: 0; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; + font-weight: bold; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: solid 1px;} + p.pfirst, p.noindent {text-indent: 0} + span.dropcap { float: left; margin: 0 0.1em 0 0; line-height: 0.8 } + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Maid of Maiden Lane, by Amelia E. Barr + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Maid of Maiden Lane + +Author: Amelia E. Barr + +Release Date: May, 2004 [EBook #5757] +First Posted: August 28, 2002 +Last Updated: November 21, 2018 + + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAID OF MAIDEN LANE *** + + +Etext produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +HTML file produced by David Widger + + + + +</pre> + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + THE MAID OF MAIDEN LANE + </h1> + <h3> + A Sequel to “The Bow of Orange Ribbon.” A Love Story + </h3> + <h2> + By Amelia E. Barr + </h2> + <h3> + Author of “The Bow of Orange Ribbon,” “Friend Olivia,” + etc. + </h3> + <h4> + 1900 + </h4> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <p> + <b>CONTENTS</b> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I — THE HOME OF CORNELIA MORAN </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II — THIS IS THE WAY OF LOVE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III — HYDE AND ARENTA </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV — THROWING THINGS INTO CONFUSION + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V — TURNING OVER A NEW LEAF </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI — AUNT ANGELICA </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII — ARENTA’S MARRIAGE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII — TWO PROPOSALS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX — MISDIRECTED LETTERS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X — LIFE TIED IN A KNOT </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI — WE HAVE DONE WITH TEARS AND + TREASONS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII — A HEART THAT WAITS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII — THE NEW DAYS COME </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV — “HUSH! LOVE IS HERE!” + </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I — THE HOME OF CORNELIA MORAN + </h2> + <p> + Never, in all its history, was the proud and opulent city of New York more + glad and gay than in the bright spring days of + Seventeen-Hundred-and-Ninety-One. It had put out of sight every trace of + British rule and occupancy, all its homes had been restored and + re-furnished, and its sacred places re-consecrated and adorned. Like a + young giant ready to run a race, it stood on tiptoe, eager for adventure + and discovery—sending ships to the ends of the world, and round the + world, on messages of commerce and friendship, and encouraging with + applause and rewards that wonderful spirit of scientific invention, which + was the Epic of the youthful nation. The skies of Italy were not bluer + than the skies above it; the sunshine of Arcadia not brighter or more + genial. It was a city of beautiful, and even splendid, homes; and all the + length and breadth of its streets were shaded by trees, in whose green + shadows dwelt and walked some of the greatest men of the century. + </p> + <p> + These gracious days of Seventeen-Hundred-and-Ninety-One were also the + early days of the French Revolution, and fugitives from the French court—princes + and nobles, statesmen and generals, sufficient for a new Iliad, loitered + about the pleasant places of Broadway and Wall Street, Broad Street, and + Maiden Lane. They were received with courtesy, and even with hospitality, + although America at that date almost universally sympathized with the + French Republicans, whom they believed to be the pioneers of political + freedom on the aged side of the Atlantic. The merchants on Exchange, the + Legislators in their Council Chambers, the working men on the wharves and + streets, the loveliest women in their homes, and walks, and drives, alike + wore the red cockade. The Marseillaise was sung with The Star Spangled + Banner; and the notorious Carmagnole could be heard every hour of the day—on + stated days, officially, at the Belvedere Club. Love for France, hatred + for England, was the spirit of the age; it effected the trend of commerce, + it dominated politics, it was the keynote of conversation wherever men and + women congregated. + </p> + <p> + Yet the most pronounced public feeling always carries with it a note of + dissent, and it was just at this day that dissenting opinion began to make + itself heard. The horrors of Avignon, and of Paris, the brutality with + which the royal family had been treated, and the abolition of all + religious ties and duties, had many and bitter opponents. The clergy + generally declared that “men had better be without liberty, than + without God,” and a prominent judge had ventured to say publicly + that “Revolution was a dangerous chief justice.” + </p> + <p> + In these days of wonderful hopes and fears there was, in Maiden Lane, a + very handsome residence—an old house even in the days of Washington, + for Peter Van Clyffe had built it early in the century as a bridal present + to his daughter when she married Philip Moran, a lawyer who grew to + eminence among colonial judges. The great linden trees which shaded the + garden had been planted by Van Clyffe; so also had the high hedges of cut + boxwood, and the wonderful sweet briar, which covered the porch and framed + all the windows filling the open rooms in summer time with the airs of + Paradise. On all these lovely things the old Dutchman had stamped his + memory, so that, even to the third generation, he was remembered with an + affection, that every springtime renewed. + </p> + <p> + One afternoon in April, 1791, two men were standing talking opposite to + the entrance gates of this pleasant place. They were Captain Joris Van + Heemskirk, a member of the Congress then sitting in Federal Hall, Broad + Street, and Jacobus Van Ariens, a wealthy citizen, and a deacon in the + Dutch Church. Van Heemskirk had helped to free his own country and was now + eager to force the centuries and abolish all monarchies. Consequently, he + believed in France; the tragedies she had been enacting in the holy name + of Liberty, though they had saddened, had, hitherto, not discouraged him. + He only pitied the more men who were trying to work out their social + salvation, without faith in either God or man. But the news received that + morning had almost killed his hopes for the spread of republican ideas in + Europe. + </p> + <p> + “Van Ariens,” he said warmly, “this treatment of King + Louis and his family is hardly to be believed. It is too much, and too + far. If King George had been our prisoner we should have behaved towards + him with humanity. After this, no one can foresee what may happen in + France.” + </p> + <p> + “That is the truth, my friend,” answered Van Ariens. “The + good Domine thinks that any one who can do so might also understand the + Revelations. The French have gone mad. They are tigers, sir, and I care + not whether tigers walk on four feet or on two. WE won our freedom without + massacres.” + </p> + <p> + “WE had Washington and Franklin, and other good and wise leaders who + feared God and loved men.” + </p> + <p> + “So I said to the Count de Moustier but one hour ago. But I did not + speak to him of the Almighty, because he is an atheist. Yet if we were + prudent and merciful it was because we are religious. When men are + irreligious, the Lord forsakes them; and if bloodshed and bankruptcy + follow it is not to be wondered at.” + </p> + <p> + “That is true, Van Ariens; and it is also the policy of England to + let France destroy herself.” “Well, then, if France likes the + policy of England, it is her own affair. But I am angry at France; she has + stabbed Liberty in Europe for one thousand years. A French Republic! Bah! + France is yet fit for nothing but a despotism. I wish the Assembly had + more control—” + </p> + <p> + “The Assembly!” cried Van Heemskirk scornfully. “I wish + that Catherine of Russia were now Queen of France in the place of that + poor Marie Antoinette. Catherine would make Frenchmen write a different + page in history. As to Paris, I think, then, the devil never sowed a + million crimes in more fruitful ground.” + </p> + <p> + “Look now, Captain, I am but a tanner and currier, as you know, but + I have had experiences; and I do not believe in the future of a people who + are without a God and without a religion.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, so it is, Van Ariens. I will now be silent, and wait for the + echo; but I fear that God has not yet said ‘Let there be peace.’ + I saw you last night at Mr. Hamilton’s with your son and daughter. + You made a noble entrance.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, then, the truth is the truth. My Arenta is worth looking at; + and as for Rem, he was not made in a day. There are generations of Zealand + sailors behind him; and, to be sure, you may see the ocean in his grey + eyes and fresh open face. God is good, who gives us boys and girls to sit + so near our hearts.” + </p> + <p> + “And such a fair, free city for a home!” said Van Heemskirk as + he looked up and down the sunshiny street. “New York is not perfect, + but we love her. Right or wrong, we love her; just as we love our mother, + and our little children.” + </p> + <p> + “That, also, is what the Domine says,” answered Van Ariens; + “and yet, he likes not that New York favours the French so much. + When Liberty has no God, and no Sabbath day, and no heaven, and no hell, + the Domine is not in favour of Liberty. He is uneasy for the country, and + for his church; and if he could take his whole flock to heaven at once, + that would please him most of all.” + </p> + <p> + “He is a good man. With you, last night, was a little maid—a + great beauty I thought her—but I knew her not. Is she then a + stranger?” + </p> + <p> + “A stranger! Come, come! The little one is a very child of New York. + She is the daughter of Dr. Moran—Dr. John, as we all call him.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, look now, I thought in her face there was something that went + to my heart and memory.” + </p> + <p> + “And, as you know, that is his house across the street from us, and + it was his father’s house, and his grandfather’s house; and + before that, the Morans lived in Winckle Street; and before that, in the + Lady’s Valley; so, then, when Van Clyffe built this house for them, + they only came back to their first home. Yes, it is so. The Morans have + seen the birth of this city. Who, then, can be less of a stranger in it + than the little beauty, Cornelia?” + </p> + <p> + “As you say, Van Ariens.” + </p> + <p> + “And yet, in one way, she is a stranger. Such a little one she was, + when the coming of the English sent the family apart and away. To the army + went the Doctor, and there he stayed, till the war was over. Mrs. Moran + took her child, and went to her father’s home in Philadelphia. When + those redcoats went away forever from New York, the Morans came back here, + but the little girl they left in the school at Bethlehem, where those good + Moravian Sisters have made her so sweet as themselves; so pure! so + honest-hearted! so clever! It was only last month she came back to New + York, and few people have seen her; and yet this is the truth—she is + the sweetest maid in Maiden Lane; though up this side, and down that side, + are some beauties—the daughters of Peter Sylvester; and of Jacob + Beckley; and of Claes Vandolsom. Oh, yes! and many others. I speak not of + my Arenta. But look now! It is the little maid herself, that is coming + down the street.” + </p> + <p> + “And it is my grandson who is at her side. The rascal! He ought now + to be reading his law books in Mr. Hamilton’s office. But what will + you? The race of young men with old heads on their shoulders is not yet + born—a God’s mercy it is not!” + </p> + <p> + “We also have been young, Van Heemskirk.” + </p> + <p> + “I forget not, my friend. My Joris sees not me, and I will not see + him.” Then the two old men were silent, but their eyes were fixed on + the youth and maiden, who were slowly advancing towards them; the sun’s + westering rays making a kind of glory for them to walk in. + </p> + <p> + She might have stepped out of the folded leaves of a rosebud, so lovely + was her face, framed in its dark curls, and shaded by a gypsy bonnet of + straw tied under her chin with primrose-coloured ribbons. Her dress was of + some soft, green material; and she carried in her hand a bunch of + daffodils. She was small, but exquisitely formed, and she walked with + fearlessness and distinction Yet there was around her an angelic gravity, + and that indefinable air of solitude, which she had brought from innocent + studies and long seclusion from the tumult and follies of life. + </p> + <p> + Of all this charming womanhood the young man at her side was profoundly + conscious. He was the gallant gentleman of his day, hardly touching the + tips of her fingers, but quite ready to fall on his knees before her. A + tall, sunbrowned, military-looking young man, as handsome as a Greek god, + with eyes of heroic form; lustrous, and richly fringed; and a beautiful + mouth, at once sensitive and seductive. He was also very finely dressed, + in the best and highest mode; and he wore his sword as if it were a part + of himself. It was no more in his way than if it were his right arm. + Indeed, all his movements were full of confidence and ease; and yet it was + the vivacity, vitality, and ready response of his face that was most + attractive. + </p> + <p> + His wonderful eyes were bent upon the maid at his side; he saw no other + earthly thing. With a respectful eagerness, full of admiration, he talked + to her; and she answered his words—whatever they were—with a + smile that might have moved mountains. They passed the two old men without + any consciousness of their presence, and Van Heemskirk smiled, and then + sighed, and then said softly— + </p> + <p> + “So much youth, and beauty, and happiness! It is a benediction to + have seen it! I shall not reprove Joris at this time. But now I must go + back to Federal Hall; the question of the Capital makes me very anxious. + Every man of standing must feel so.” + </p> + <p> + “And I must go to my tan pits, for it is the eye of the master that + makes the good servant. You will vote for New York, Van Heemskirk?—that + is a question I need not to ask?” + </p> + <p> + “Where else should the capital of our nation be? I think that + Philadelphia has great presumptions to propose herself against New York:—this + beautiful city between the two rivers, with the Atlantic Ocean at her + feet!” + </p> + <p> + “You say what is true, Van Heemskirk. God has made New York the + capital, and the capital she will be; and no man can prevent it. It was + only yesterday that Senator Greyson from Virginia told me that the + Southern States are against Philadelphia. She is very troublesome to the + Southern States, day by day dogging them with her schemes for + emancipation. It is the way to make us unfriends.” + </p> + <p> + “I think this, Van Ariens: Philadelphia may win the vote at this + time; she has the numbers, and she has ‘persuasions’; but look + you! NEW YORK HAS THE SHIPS AND THE COMMERCE, AND THE SEA WILL CROWN HER! + ‘The harvest of the rivers is her revenue; and she is the mart of + nations.’ That is what Domine Kunz said in the House this morning, + and you may find the words in the prophecy of Isaiah, the twenty-third + chapter.” + </p> + <p> + During this conversation they had forgotten all else, and when their eyes + turned to the Moran house the vision of youth and beauty had dissolved. + Van Heemskirk’s grandson, Lieutenant Hyde, was hastening towards + Broadway; and the lovely Cornelia Moran was sauntering up the garden of + her home, stooping occasionally to examine the pearl-powdered auriculas or + to twine around its support some vine, straggling out of its proper place. + </p> + <p> + Then Van Ariens hurried down to his tanning pits in the swamp; and Van + Heemskirk went thoughtfully to Broad Street; walking slowly, with his left + arm laid across his back, and his broad, calm countenance beaming with + that triumph which he foresaw for the city he loved. When he reached + Federal Hall, he stood a minute in the doorway; and with inspired eyes + looked at the splendid, moving picture; then he walked proudly toward the + Hall of Representatives, saying to himself, with silent exultation as he + went: + </p> + <p> + “The Seat of Government! Let who will, have it; New York is the + Crowning City. Her merchants shall be princes, her traffickers the + honourable of the earth; the harvest of her rivers shall be her royal + revenue, and the marts of all nations shall be in her streets.” + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II — THIS IS THE WAY OF LOVE + </h2> + <p> + Cornelia lingered in the garden, because she had suddenly, and as yet + unconsciously, entered into that tender mystery, so common and so + sovereign, which we call Love. In Hyde’s presence she had been + suffused with a bewildering, profound emotion, which had fallen on her as + the gentle showers fall, to make the flowers of spring. A shy happiness, a + trembling delightful feeling never known before, filled her heart. This + handsome youth, whom she had only seen twice, and in the most formal + manner, affected her as no other mortal had ever done. She was a little + afraid; something, she knew not what, of mystery and danger and delight, + was between them; and she did not feel that she could speak of it. It + seemed, indeed, as if she would need a special language to do so. + </p> + <p> + “I have met him but twice,” she thought; “and it is as + if I had a new, strange, exquisite life. Ought I tell my mother? But how + can I? I have no words to explain—I do not understand—I + thought it would break my heart to leave the good Sisters and my studies, + and the days so calm and holy; and now—I do not even wish to go + back. Sister Langaard told me it would be so if I let the world come into + my soul—Alas! if I should be growing wicked!” + </p> + <p> + The thought made her start; she hastened her steps towards the large + entrance door, and as she approached it a negro in a fine livery of blue + and white threw the door wide open for her. Answering his bow with a kind + word, she turned quickly out of the hall, into a parlour full of sunshine. + A lady sat there hemstitching a damask napkin; a lady of dainty plainness, + with a face full of graven experiences and mellowed character. Purity was + the first, and the last, impression she gave. And when her eyes were + dropped this idea was emphasized by their beautiful lids; for nowhere is + the flesh so divine as in the eyelids. And Ava Moran’s eyelids were + full of holy secrets; they gave the impression of a spiritual background + which was not seen, but which could be felt. As Cornelia entered she + looked up with a smile, and said, as she slightly raised her work, “it + is the last of the dozen, Cornelia.” + </p> + <p> + “You make me ashamed of my idleness, mother. Have I been a long time + away?” + </p> + <p> + “Longer than was unnecessary, I think.” + </p> + <p> + “I went to Embree’s for the linen thread, and he had just + opened some English gauzes and lute-strings. Mrs. Willets was choosing a + piece for a new gown, for she is to dine with the President next week, and + she was so polite as to ask my opinion about the goods. Afterwards, I + walked to Wall Street with her; and coming back I met, on Broadway, + Lieutenant Hyde—and he gave me these flowers—they came from + Prince’s nursery gardens—and, then, he walked home with me. + Was it wrong? I mean was it polite—I mean the proper thing to + permit? I knew not how to prevent it.” + </p> + <p> + “How often have you met Lieutenant Hyde?” + </p> + <p> + “I met him for the first time last night. He was at the Sylvesters’, + and I danced three times with him.” + </p> + <p> + “That was too often.” + </p> + <p> + “He talked with father, and father did not oppose my dancing.” + </p> + <p> + “Your father thinks of nothing, now, but the Capital question. I + dare say, after he had asked Lieutenant Hyde how he felt on that subject + he never thought of the young man again. And pray what did Lieutenant Hyde + say to you this afternoon?” + </p> + <p> + “He gave me the flowers, and he told me about a beautiful opera, of + which I have never before heard. It is called Figaro. He says, in Europe, + nothing is played, or sung, or whistled, but—Figaro; that nobody + goes to any opera but—Figaro; and that I do not know the most + charming music in the world if I do not know—Figaro. He asked + permission to bring me some of the airs to-night, and I said some + civilities. I think they meant ‘Yes.’ Did I do wrong, mother?” + </p> + <p> + “I will say ‘no,’ my dear; as you have given the + invitation. But to prevent an appearance of too exclusive intimacy, write + to Arenta, and ask her and Rem to take tea with us. Balthazar will carry + the note at once.” + </p> + <p> + “Mother, Arenta has bought a blue lute string. Shall I not also have + a new gown? The gauzes are very sweet and genteel, and I think Mrs. Jay + will not forget to ask me to her dance next week. Mr. Jefferson is sure to + be there, and I wish to walk a minuet with him.” + </p> + <p> + “Your father does not approve of Mr. Jefferson. He has not spoken to + him since his return from France. He goes too far—IN HIS WORDS.” + </p> + <p> + “But all the ladies of distinction are proud to be seen in his + company; and pray what is there against him?” + </p> + <p> + “Only his politics, Cornelia. I think New York has gone mad on that + subject. Madame Barens will not speak to her son, because he is a + Federalist; and Madame Lefferts will not speak to HER son, because he is + NOT a Federalist. Mr. Jefferson, also, is thought to favour Philadelphia + for the capital; and your father is as hot on this subject as he was on + the Constitution. My dear, you will find that society is torn in two by + politics.” + </p> + <p> + “But women have nothing to do with politics.” + </p> + <p> + “They have everything to do with politics. They always have had. You + are not now in a Moravian school, Cornelia; and Bethlehem is not New York. + The two places look at life from different standpoints.” + </p> + <p> + “Then, as I am to live in New York, why was I sent to Bethlehem?” + </p> + <p> + “You were sent to Bethlehem to learn how to live in New York,—or + in any other place. Where have you seen Mr. Jefferson?” + </p> + <p> + “I saw him this afternoon, in Cedar Street. He wore his red coat and + breeches; and it was then I formed the audacious intention of dancing with + him. I told Mrs. Willets of it; and she said, ‘Mr. Jefferson carried + the Declaration on his shoulders, and would not dare to bow;’ and + then with such a queer little laugh she asked me ‘if his red + breeches did not make me think of the guillotine?’ I do not think + Mrs. Willets likes Mr. Jefferson very much; but, all the same, I wish to + dance once with him. I think it will be something to talk about when I am + an old woman.” + </p> + <p> + “My dear one, that is so far off. Go now, and write to Arenta. Young + Mr. Hyde and Figaro will doubtless bring her here.” + </p> + <p> + “I hope so; for Arenta has an agreeableness that fits every + occasion.” She had been folding up, with deliberate neatness, the + strings of her bonnet, as she talked, and she rose with these words and + went out of the parlour; but she went slowly, with a kind of hesitation, + as if something had been left unsaid. + </p> + <p> + About six o’clock Arenta Van Ariens made a personal response to her + friend’s message. She was all excitement and expectation. “What + a delightful surprise!” she cried. “To-day has been a day to + be praised. It has ticked itself away to wonders and astonishments. Who do + you think called on me this afternoon?” + </p> + <p> + “Tell me plainly, Arenta. I never could guess for an answer.” + </p> + <p> + “No less a person than Madame Kippon. Gertrude Kippon is going to be + married! She is going to marry a French count! And madame is beside + herself with the great alliance.” + </p> + <p> + “I heard my father say that Madame Kippon had ‘the French + disease’ in a dangerous form.” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed, that is certain. She has put the Sabbath day out of her + calendar; and her daughter’s marriage is to be a legal one only. I + wonder what good Dr. Kunz will say to that! As for me, I lost all patience + with madame’s rigmarole of philosophies—for I am not inclined + to philosophy—and indeed I had some difficulty to keep my temper; + you know that it is occasionally quite unmanageable.” + </p> + <p> + Cornelia smiled understandingly, and answered with a smile, “I hope, + however, that you did not put her to death, Arenta.” + </p> + <p> + “I have, at least, buried her, as far as I am concerned. And my + father says I am not to go to the marriage; that I am not even to drink a + cup of tea with her again. If my father had been at home—or even Rem—she + would not have left our house with all her colours flying; but I am + good-natured, I have no tongue worth speaking of.” + </p> + <p> + “Come, come, Arenta! I shall be indeed astonished if you did not say + one or two provoking words.” + </p> + <p> + “I said only three, Cornelia. When madame finally declared—‘she + really must go home,’ I did answer, as sweetly as possible, ‘Thank + you, madame!’ That was something I could say with becoming + politeness.” + </p> + <p> + Cornelia was tying the scarlet ribbon which held back her flowing hair, + but she turned and looked at Arenta, and asked, “Did madame boast + any afterwards?” + </p> + <p> + “No; she went away very modestly, and I was not sorry to see the + angry surprise on her face. Gertrude Kippon a countess! Only imagine it! + Well, then, I have no doubt the Frenchman will make of Gertrude—whatever + can be made of her.” + </p> + <p> + “Our drawing-rooms, and even our streets, are full of titles,” + said Cornelia; “I think it is a distinction to be plain master and + mistress.” + </p> + <p> + “That is the truth; even this handsome dandy, Joris Hyde, is a + lieutenant.” + </p> + <p> + “He was in the field two years. He told me so this afternoon. I dare + say, he has earned his title, even if he is a lieutenant.” + </p> + <p> + “Don’t be so highty-tighty, Cornelia. I have no objections to + military titles. They mean something; for they at least imply, that a man + is willing to fight if his country will find him a quarrel to fight in. In + fact, I rather lean to official titles of every kind.” + </p> + <p> + “I have not thought of them at all.” + </p> + <p> + “But I have. They affect me like the feathers in a cock’s + tail; of course the bird would be as good without them, but fancy him!” + and Arenta laughed mirthfully at her supposition. “As for women,” + she continued, “lady, or countess, or Marquise, what an air it + gives! It finishes a woman like a lace ruff round her neck. Every woman + ought to have a title—I mean every woman of respectability. I have a + fancy to be a marquise, and Aunt Jacobus says I look Frenchy enough. I + have heard that there is a title in the Hyde family. I must ask Aunt + Jacobus. She knows everything about everybody. Lieutenant Hyde! I do + wonder what he is coming for!” + </p> + <p> + The words dropped slowly, one by one, from her lips; and with a kind of + fateful import; but neither of the girls divined the significance of the + inquiry. Both were too intent on those last little touches to the toilet, + which make its effectiveness, to take into consideration reflections + without form; and probably, at that time, without personal intention. + </p> + <p> + Then Arenta, having arranged her ringlets, tied her sash, and her sandals, + began to talk of her own affairs; for she was a young lady who found it + impossible to be sufficient for herself. There had been trouble with the + slaves in the Van Ariens’ household, and she told Cornelia every + particular. Also, she had VERY NEAR had an offer of marriage from George + Van Berckel; and she went into explanations about her diplomacies in + avoiding it. + </p> + <p> + “Poor George!” she sighed, and then, looking up, was a trifle + dismayed at the expression upon Cornelia’s face. For Cornelia was as + reticent, as Arenta was garrulous; and the girls were incomprehensible to + each other in their deepest natures, though, superficially, they were much + on the same plane, and really thought themselves to be distinctly + sympathetic friends. + </p> + <p> + “Why do you look so strangely at me, Cornelia?” asked Arenta. + “Am I not properly dressed?” + </p> + <p> + “You are perfectly dressed, Arenta. Women as fair as you are, know + instinctively how to dress.” And then Arenta stood up before the + mirror and put her hand upon Cornelia’s shoulder, and they both + looked at the reflection in it. + </p> + <p> + A very pretty reflection it was!—a slender girl with a round, fair + face, and a long, white throat, and sloping shoulders. Her pale brown hair + fell in ripples and curls around her until they touched a robe of heavenly + blue, and half hid a singular necklace of large pearls:—pearls taken + from some Spanish ship and strung in old Zierikzee, and worn for centuries + by the maids and dames of the house of Van Ariens. + </p> + <p> + “It is the necklace!” said Cornelia after a pause, “It + is the pearl necklace, which gives you such an air of mystery and romance, + and changes you from an everyday maiden into an old-time princess.” + </p> + <p> + “No doubt, it is the necklace,” answered Arenta. “It is + my Aunt Angelica’s, but she permits me to wear it. When she was + young, she called every pearl after one of her lovers; and she had a lover + for every pearl. She was near to forty years old when she married; and she + had many lovers, even then.” + </p> + <p> + “It would have been better if she had married before she was near to + forty years old—that is, if she had taken a good husband.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps that; but good husbands come not on every day in the week. + I have three beads named already—one for George Van Berckel—one + for Fred De Lancey—and one for Willie Nichols. What do you think of + that?” + </p> + <p> + “I think, if you copy your Aunt Angelica, you will not marry any of + your lovers till you are forty years old. Come, let us go downstairs.” + </p> + <p> + She spoke a little peremptorily—indeed, she was in the habit, quite + unconsciously of using this tone with her companion, consequently it was + not noticed by her. And it was further remarkable, that the girls did not + walk down the broad stairs together, but Cornelia went first, and Arenta + followed her. There was no intention or consideration in this procedure; + it was the natural expression of underlying qualities, as yet not + realized. + </p> + <p> + Cornelia’s self-contained, independent nature was further revealed + by the erect dignity of her carriage down the centre of the stairway, one + hand slightly lifting her silk robe, the other laid against the daffodils + at her breast. Her face was happy and serene, her steps light, and without + hesitation or hurry. Arenta was a little behind her friend. She stepped + idly and irresolutely, with one hand slipping along the baluster, and the + other restlessly busy with her curls, her ribbons, the lace that partially + hid her bosom, and the pearls that made a moonlight radiance on her snowy + throat. At the foot of the staircase Cornelia had to wait for her, and + they went into the parlour together. + </p> + <p> + Doctor Moran, Rem Van Ariens, and Lieutenant Hyde were present. The girls + had a momentary glance at the latter ere he assumed the manner he thought + suitable for youth and beauty. He was talking seriously to the Doctor and + playing with an ivory paper knife as he did so, but whatever remark he was + making he cut it in two, and stood up, pleased and expectant, to receive + Beauty so fresh and so conspicuous. + </p> + <p> + He was handsomely dressed in a dark-blue velvet coat, silver-laced, a long + white satin vest and black satin breeches. His hair was thrown backwards + and tied with the customary black ribbon, and his linen and laces were of + the finest quality. He met Cornelia as he might have met a princess; and + he flashed into Arenta’s eyes a glance of admiration which turned + her senses upside down, and made her feel, for a moment or two, as if she + could hardly breathe. + </p> + <p> + Upon Arenta’s brother he had not produced a pleasant impression. + Without intention, he had treated young Van Ariens with that negative + politeness which dashes a sensitive man and makes him resentfully + conscious that he has been rendered incapable of doing himself justice. + And Rem could neither define the sense of humiliation he felt, nor yet + ruffle the courteous urbanity of Hyde; though he tried in various ways to + introduce some conversation which would afford him the pleasure of + contradiction. Equally he failed to consider that his barely veiled + antagonism compelled from the Doctor, and even from Cornelia and Arenta, + attentions he might not otherwise have received. The Doctor was indeed + much annoyed that Rem did not better respect the position of guest; while + Mrs. Moran was keenly sensitive to the false note in the evening’s + harmony, and anxious to atone for it by many little extra courtesies. So + Hyde easily became the hero of the hour; he was permitted to teach the + girls the charming old-world step of the Pas de Quatre, and afterwards to + sing with them merry airs from Figaro, and sentimental airs from Lodoiska, + and to make Rem’s heart burn with anger at the expression he threw + into the famous ballad “My Heart and Lute” which the trio sang + twice over with great feeling. + </p> + <p> + Fortunately, some of Doctor Moran’s neighbours called early in the + evening. Then whist parties were formed; and while the tables were being + arranged Cornelia found an opportunity to reason with Rem. “I never + could have believed you would behave so unlike yourself,” she said; + and Rem answered bluntly—“That Englishman has insulted me ever + since he came into the room.” + </p> + <p> + “He is not an Englishman,” said Cornelia. + </p> + <p> + “His father is an Englishman, and the man himself was born in + England. The way he looks at me, the way he speaks to me, is insulting.” + </p> + <p> + “I have seen nothing but courtesy to you, Rem.” + </p> + <p> + “You have not the key to his impertinences. To-morrow, I will tell + you something about Lieutenant Hyde.” + </p> + <p> + “I shall not permit you to talk evil of him. I have no wish to hear + ill reports about my acquaintances, Their behaviour is their own affair; + at any rate, it is not mine. Be good-tempered, Rem; you are to be my + partner, and we must win in every game.” + </p> + <p> + But though Cornelia was all sweetness and graciousness; though Rem played + well, and Lieutenant Hyde played badly; though Rem had the satisfaction of + watching Hyde depart in his chair, while he stood with a confident + friendship by Cornelia’s side, he was not satisfied. There was an + air of weariness and constraint in the room, and the little stir of + departing visitors did not hide it. Doctor Moran had been at an unusual + social tension; he was tired, and not pleased at Rem for keeping him on + the watch. Cornelia was silent. Rem then approached his sister and said, + “it is time to go home.” Arenta looked at her friend; she + expected to be asked to remain, and she was offended when Cornelia did not + give her the invitation. + </p> + <p> + On the contrary, Cornelia went with her for her cloak and bonnet, and said + not a word as they trod the long stairway but “Oh dear! How warm the + evening is!” + </p> + <p> + “I expected you would ask me to stay with you, Cornelia.” + Arenta was tying her bonnet strings as she made this remark, and her + fingers trembled, and her voice was full of hurt feeling. + </p> + <p> + “Rem behaved so badly, Arenta.” + </p> + <p> + “I think that is not so. Did I also behave badly?” + </p> + <p> + “You were charming every moment of the evening; but Rem was on the + point of quarrelling with Lieutenant Hyde. You must have seen it. In my + father’s house, this was not proper.” + </p> + <p> + “I never saw Rem behave badly in my life. Suppose he does quarrel + with that dandy Englishman, Rem would not get the worst of it. I have no + fear for my brother Rem! No, indeed!” + </p> + <p> + “Bulk does not stand for much in a sword game.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you mean they might fight a duel?” + </p> + <p> + “I think it is best for you to go home with Rem. Otherwise, he + might, in his present temper, find himself near Becker’s; and if a + man is quarrelsome he may always get principals and seconds there. You + have told me this yourself. In the morning Rem will, I hope, be + reasonable.” + </p> + <p> + “I thought you and I would talk things over to-night. I like to talk + over a new pleasure.” + </p> + <p> + “Dear Arenta, we shall have so much more time, to-morrow. Come + to-morrow.” + </p> + <p> + But Arenta was not pleased. She left her friend with an air of repressed + injury, and afterwards made little remarks about Cornelia to her brother, + which exactly fitted his sense of wounded pride. Indeed, they stood a few + minutes in the Van Ariens’ parlour to exchange their opinions still + further— + </p> + <p> + “I think Cornelia was jealous of me, Rem. That, in plain Dutch, is + what it all means. Does she imagine that I desire the attentions of a man + who is neither an American nor a Dutchman? I do not. I speak the truth + always, for I love the truth.” + </p> + <p> + “Cornelia does desire them; I think that—and it makes me + wretched.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, indeed, it is plain to see that she has fallen in love with + that black-eyed man of many songs and dances. Well, then, we must admit + that he danced to perfection. One may dislike the creature, and yet tell + the truth.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you truly believe that Cornelia is in love with him?” + </p> + <p> + “Rem, there are things a woman observes. Cornelia is changed + to-night. She did not wish me to stay and talk about this man Hyde—she + preferred thinking about him—such reveries are suspicious. I have + felt the symptom. But, however, I may be wrong. Perhaps Cornelia was angry + at Hyde, and anxious about you—Do you think that?” + </p> + <p> + Rem would not admit any such explanation; and, indeed, Arenta only made + such suppositions to render more poignant those entirely contrary. + </p> + <p> + “Ever since she was a little girl, twelve, eleven years old, I have + loved her,” said Rem; “and she knows it.” + </p> + <p> + “She knows it; that is so. When I was at Bethlehem, I read her all + your letters; and many a time you spoke in them of her as your ‘little + wife.’ To be sure, it was a joke; but she understood that you, at + least, put your heart in it. Girls do not need to have such things + explained. Come, come, we must go to our rooms; for that is our father I + hear moving about. In a few minutes he will be angry, and then—” + </p> + <p> + She did not finish the sentence; there was no necessity; Rem knew what + unpleasantness the threat implied, and he slipped off his shoes and stole + quietly upstairs. Arenta was not disinclined to a few words if her father + wished them; so she did not hurry, though the great Flemish clock on the + stair-landing chimed eleven as she entered her room. It was an + extraordinarily late hour, but she only smiled, as she struck her pretty + fore-fingers together in time with it. She was not disposed to curtail the + day; it was her method, always, to take the full flavour of every event + that was not disagreeable. + </p> + <p> + “And, after all,” she mused, “the evening was a + possibility. It was a door on the latch—I may push it open and go in—who + can tell? I saw how amazed he was at my beauty when I first entered the + parlour—and he is but a man—and a young man who likes his own + way—so much is evident.” She was meanwhile unclasping her + pearl necklace, and at this point she held it in her hands taking the + fourth bead between her fingers, and smiled speculatively. + </p> + <p> + Then she heard her brother moving about the floor of the room above her, + and a shadow darkened her face. She had strong family affections, and she + was angry that Rem should be troubled by any man or woman, living: + </p> + <p> + “I have always thought Cornelia a very saint,” she muttered; + “but Love is the great revealer. I wonder if she is in love—to + tell the truth, she was past finding out. I cannot say that I saw the + least sign of it—and between me and myself, Rem was unreasonable; + however, I am not pleased that Rem felt himself to be badly used.” + </p> + <p> + It was to this touch of resentment in her drifting thoughts that she + performed her last duties. She did not hurry them. “Very soon there + will be the noise of chairmen and carriages to disturb me,” she + thought; “and I may as well think a little, and put my things away.” + </p> + <p> + So she folded each dainty blue morocco slipper in its separate piece of + fine paper, and straightened out her ribbons, and wrapped her pale blue + robe in its holland covering, and put every comb and pin in its proper + place, all the time treading as softly as a mouse. And by and by the + street was dark and still, and her room in the most perfect order. These + things gave her the comfort of a good conscience; and she said her + prayers, and fell calmly asleep, to the flattering thought, “I would + not much wonder if, at this moment, Lieutenant Hyde is thinking about me.” + </p> + <p> + In reality, Lieutenant Hyde was at that moment in the Belvedere Club, + singing the Marseillaise, and listening to a very inflammatory speech from + the French Minister. But a couple of hours later, Arenta’s “wonder” + would have touched the truth. He was then alone, and very ill satisfied; + for, after some restless reflections, he said impatiently— + </p> + <p> + “I have again made a fool of myself. I have now all kinds of + unpleasant feelings; and when I left that good Doctor’s house I was + well satisfied. His daughter is an angel. I praise myself for finding that + out. She made me believe in all goodness; yes, even in patriotism! I, that + have seen it sold a dozen times! Oh, how divinely shy and proud she is! I + could not get her one step beyond the first civilities; even my eyes + failed me to-night—her calm glances killed their fire—and she + barely touched my hand, though I offered it with a respectful ardour, she + must have understood:”—then he looked admiringly at the long, + white hand and thoroughbred wrist which lay idly on the velvet cushion of + his armchair; an exquisite ruffle of lace just touched it, and his eyes + wandered from the ruffle to the velvet and silver embroidery of his coat; + and the delicate laced lawn of his cravat. + </p> + <p> + “I have the reputation of beauty,” he continued; “and I + am perfectly dressed, and yet—yet—this little Beauty seemed + unconscious of my advantages. But I cannot accept failure in this case. + The girl is unparagoned. I am in love with her; sincerely in love. She + fills my thoughts, and has done so, ever since I first saw her. It is a + pure delight to think of her.” + </p> + <p> + Then he rose, threw off his velvet and lace, and designedly let his + thoughts turn to Arenta. “She is pretty beyond all prettiness,” + he said softly as he moved about, “She dances well, talks from hand + to mouth, and she gave me one sweet glance; and I think if she has gone so + far—she might go further.” At this reflection he smiled again, + and lifting a decanter slowly poured into a goblet some amber-coloured + sherry; saying— + </p> + <p> + “I dare not yet drink to the unapproachable Cornelia; but I may at + least pour the wine to the blue-eyed goddess, with the pearl necklace, and + the golden hair;” and as he lifted the glass, a memory from some + past mirthful hour came into his remembrance; and he began to hum a strain + of the song it brought to his mind— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Let the toast pass, + Drink to the lass + I’ll warrant, she’ll prove an excuse for the glass.” + </pre> + <p> + It was remarkable that he did not take Arenta’s brother into his + speculations at all, and yet Rem Van Ariens was at that very hour chafing + restlessly and sleeplessly under insults he conceived himself to have + received, in such fashion and under such circumstances as made reprisal + impossible. In reality, however, Van Ariens had not been intentionally + wounded by Hyde. The situation was the natural result of incipient + jealousy and sensitive pride on Rem’s part; and of that calm + indifference and complaisance on Hyde’s part, which appeared tacitly + to assert its own superiority and expect its recognition as a matter of + course. Indeed, at their introduction, Rem had affected Hyde rather + pleasantly; and when the young Dutch gentleman’s opposition became + evident, Hyde had simply ignored it. For as yet the thought of Rem as a + rival had not entered his mind. + </p> + <p> + But this is the way of Love; its filmiest threads easily spin themselves + further; and a man once entangled is bound by that unseen chain which + links the soul to its destiny. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III — HYDE AND ARENTA + </h2> + <p> + Seldom is Love ushered into any life with any pomp of circumstance or + ceremony; there is no overture to our opera, no prologue to our play, and + the most momentous meetings occur as if by mere accident. A friend delayed + Cornelia a while on the street; and turning, she met Hyde face to face; a + moment more, or less, and the meeting had not been. Ah, but some Power had + set that moment for their meeting, and the delay had been intended, and + the consequences foreseen! + </p> + <p> + In a dim kind of way Hyde realized this fact as he sat the next day with + an open book before him. He was not reading it; he was thinking of + Cornelia—of her pure, fresh beauty; and of that adorable air of + reserve, which enhanced, even while it veiled her charms. “For her + love I could resign all adventures and prison myself in a law book,” + he said, “I could forget all other beauties; in a word, I could + marry, and live in the country. Oh how exquisite she is! I lose my speech + when I think of her!” + </p> + <p> + Then he closed his book with impatience, and went to Prince’s and + bought a little rush basket filled with sweet violets. Into their midst he + slipped his visiting card, and saw the boy on his way with the flowers to + Cornelia ere he was satisfied they would reach her quickly enough. This + finished, he began to consider what he should do with his day. Study was + impossible; and he could think of nothing that was possible. “It is + the most miserable thing,” he muttered, “to be in love, unless + you can go to the adored one, every hour, and tell her so,”—then + turning aimlessly into Pearl Street, he saw Cornelia. + </p> + <p> + She was dressed only in a little morning gown of Indian chintz, but in + such simple toilet had still more distinctively that air of youthful + modesty which he had found so charmingly tantalizing. He hasted to her + side. He blessed his good angel for sending him such an enchanting + surprise. He said the most extravagant things, in the most truthful + manner, as he watched the blushes of pleasure come and go on her lovely + face, and saw by glimpses, under the veiling eyelids, that tender light + that never was on sea or land, but only on a woman’s face when her + soul is awakening to Love. + </p> + <p> + Cornelia was going to the “Universal Store” of Gerardus + Duyckinck, and Hyde begged to go with her. He said he was used to + shopping; that he always went with his mother, and with Lady Christina + Griffin, and Mrs. White, and many others; that he had good taste, and + could tell the value of laces, and knew how to choose a piece of silk, or + match the crewels for her embroidery; and, indeed, pleaded his case so + merrily, that there was no refusing his offer. And how it happened lovers + can tell, but after the shopping was finished they found themselves + walking towards the Battery with the fresh sea wind, and the bright + sunshine and the joy of each other’s presence all around them. + </p> + <p> + “Such a miraculous piece of happiness!” the young fellow + ejaculated; and his joy was so evident that Cornelia could not bear to + spoil it with any reluctances, or with half-way graciousness. She fell + into his joyous mood, and as star to star vibrates light, so his soul + touched her soul, through some finer element than ordinary life is + conscious of. A delightsome gladness was between them, and their words had + such heart gaiety, that they seemed to dance as they spoke; while the wind + blowing Cornelia’s curls, and scarf, and drapery, was like a merry + playfellow. + </p> + <p> + Now Love has always something in it of the sea; and the murmur of the tide + against the pier, the hoarse voices of the sailor men, the scent of the + salt water, and all the occult unrecognized, but keenly felt life of the + ocean, were ministers to their love, and forever and ever blended in the + heart and memory of the youth and maid who had set their early dream of + each other to its potent witchery. Time went swiftly, and suddenly + Cornelia remembered that she was subject to hours and minutes, A little + fear came into her heart, and closed it, and she said, with a troubled + air, “My mother will be anxious. I had forgotten. I must go home.” + So they turned northward again, and Cornelia was silent, and the ardour of + her lover was a little chilled; but yet never before had Cornelia heard + simple conversation which seemed so eloquent, and so full of meanings—only, + now and then, a few brief words; but oh! what long, long thoughts, they + carried with them! + </p> + <p> + At the gates of her home they stood a moment, and there Hyde touched her + hand, and said, “I have never, in all my life, been so happy. It has + been a walk beyond hope, and beyond expression!” And she lifted her + face, and the smile on her lips and the light in her eyes answered him. + Then the great white door shut her from his sight, and he walked rapidly + away, saying to his impetuous steps— + </p> + <p> + “An enchanting creature! An adorable girl! I have given her my + heart; and lost, is lost; and gone, is gone forever. That I am sure of. + But, by St. George! every man has his fate, and I rejoice that mine is so + sweet and fair! so sweet! so sweet! so fair!” + </p> + <p> + Cornelia trembled as she opened the parlour door, she feared to look into + her mother’s face, but it was as serene as usual, and she met her + daughter’s glance with one of infinite affection and some little + expectancy. This was a critical moment, and Cornelia hesitated slightly. + Some little false sprite put a ready excuse into her heart, but she + banished it at once, and with the courage of one who fears lest they are + not truthful enough, she said with a blunt directness which put all + subterfuge out of the question— + </p> + <p> + “Mother, I have been a long time, but I met Lieutenant Hyde, and we + walked down to the Battery; and I think I have stayed beyond the hour I + ought to have stayed—but the weather was so delightful.” + </p> + <p> + “The weather is very delightful, and Lieutenant Hyde is very polite. + Did he speak of the violets he sent you?” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose he forgot them. Ah, there they are! How beautiful! How + fragrant! I will give them to you, mother.” + </p> + <p> + “They are your own, my dear. I would not give them away.” + </p> + <p> + Then Cornelia lifted them, and shyly buried her face in their beauty and + sweetness; and afterwards took the card in her hand and read “Lieutenant + George Hyde.” “But, mother,” she said, “Arenta + called him Joris.” + </p> + <p> + “Joris is George, my dear.” + </p> + <p> + “Certainly, I had forgotten. Joris is the Dutch, George is the + English form. I think I like George better.” + </p> + <p> + “As you have neither right nor occasion to call him by either name, + it is of no consequence Take away your flowers and put them in water—the + young man is very extravagant, I think. Do you know that it is quite noon, + and your father will be home in a little while?” + </p> + <p> + And there was such kind intent, such a divining sympathy in the simple + words, that Cornelia’s heart grew warm with pleasure; and she felt + that her mother understood, and did not much blame her. At the same time + she was glad to escape all questioning, and with the violets pressed to + her heart, and her shining eyes dropped to them, she went with some haste + to her room. There she kissed the flowers, one by one, as she put them in + the refreshing water; and then, forgetting all else, sat down and + permitted herself to enter the delicious land of Reverie. She let the + thought of Hyde repossess her; and present again and again to her + imagination his form, his face, his voice, and those long caressing looks + she had seen and felt, without seeming to be aware of them. + </p> + <p> + A short time after Cornelia came home, Doctor Moran returned from his + professional visits. As he entered the room, his wife looked at him with a + curious interest. In the first place, the tenor of her thoughts led her to + this observation. She wished to assure herself again that the man for whom + she had given up everything previously dear to her was worthy of such + sacrifice. A momentary glance satisfied her. Nature had left the impress + of her nobility on his finely-formed forehead; nothing but truth and + kindness looked from his candid eyes; and his manner, if a little + dogmatic, had also an unmistakable air of that distinction which comes + from long and honourable ancestry and a recognized position. He had also + this morning an air of unusual solemnity, and on entering the room, he + drew his wife close to his heart and kissed her affectionately, a token of + love he was not apt to give without thought, or under every circumstance. + </p> + <p> + “You are a little earlier to day,” she said. “I am glad + of it.” + </p> + <p> + “I have had a morning full of feeling. There is no familiarity with + Death, however often you meet him.” + </p> + <p> + “And you have met Death this morning, I see that, John?” + </p> + <p> + “As soon as I went out, I heard of the death of Franklin. We have + truly been expecting the news, but who can prepare for the final ‘He + is gone.’ Congress will wear mourning for two months, I hear, and + all good citizens who can possibly do so will follow their example. The + flags are at half-mast, and there is sorrow everywhere.” + </p> + <p> + “And yet, John, why?” asked Mrs. Moran. “Franklin has + quite finished his work; and has also seen the fruit of all his labours. + Not many men are so happy. I, for one, shall rejoice with him, and not + weep for him.” + </p> + <p> + “You are right, Ava. I must now tell you that Elder Semple died this + morning. He has been long sick, but the end came suddenly at last.” + </p> + <p> + “The dear old man! He has been sick and sorrowful, ever since his + wife died. Were any of his sons present?” + </p> + <p> + “None of them. The two eldest have been long away. Neil was obliged + to leave New York when the Act forbidding Tory lawyers to practice was + passed. But he was not quite alone, his old friend Joris Van Heemskirk was + with him to the last moment. The love of these old men for each other was + a very beautiful thing.” + </p> + <p> + “He was once rich. Did he lose everything in the war?” + </p> + <p> + “Very near all. His home was saved by Van Heemskirk, and he had a + little money ‘enough to die wi’’ he said one day to me; + and then he continued, ‘there’s compensations, Doctor, in + having naething to leave. My lads will find no bone to quarrel over.’ + I met a messenger coming for me this morning, and when I went to his + bedside, he said, with a pleasant smile, ‘I’ll be awa’ + in an hour or twa now, Doctor; and then I’ll hae no mair worrying + anent rebellion and democrats; I’ll be under the dominion o’ + the King o’ kings and His throned Powers and Principalities; and + after a’ this weary voting, and confiscations, and guillotining, it + will be Peace—Peace—Peace:’—and with that word on + his lips, the ‘flitting’ as he called it was accomplished.” + </p> + <p> + “There is nothing to mourn in such a death, John.” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed, no. It was just as he said ‘a flitting.’ And it + was strange that, standing watching what he so fitly called the ‘flitting,’ + I thought of some lines I have not consciously remembered for many years. + They reflect only the old Greek spirit, with its calm acceptance of death + and its untroubled resignation, but they seemed to me very applicable to + the elder’s departure: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Not otherwise to the hall of Hades dim + He fares, than if some summer eventide + A Message, not unlooked for, came to him; + Bidding him rise up presently, and ride + Some few hours’ journey, to a friendly home.” + </pre> + <p> + “There is nothing to fear in such a death.” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing at all. Last week when Cornelia and I passed his house, he + was leaning on the garden gate, and he spoke pleasantly to her and told + her she was a ‘bonnie lassie.’ Where is Cornelia?” + </p> + <p> + “In her room. John, she went to Duyckinck’s this morning for + me, and George Hyde met her again, and they took a walk together on the + Battery. It was near the noon hour when she returned.” + </p> + <p> + “She told you about it?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh yes, and without inquiry.” + </p> + <p> + “Very good. I must look after that young fellow.” But he said + the words without much care, and Mrs. Moran was not satisfied. + </p> + <p> + “Then you do not disapprove the meeting, John?” she asked. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I do. I disapprove of any young man meeting my daughter every + time she goes out. Cornelia is too young for lovers, and it is not + desirable that she should have attentions from young men who have no + intentions. I do not want her to be what is called a belle. Certainly not.” + </p> + <p> + “But the young men do not think her too young to be loved. I can see + that Rem Van Ariens is very fond of her.” + </p> + <p> + “Rem is a very fine young man. If Cornelia was old enough to marry, + I should make no objections to Rem. He has some money. He promises to be a + good lawyer. I like the family. It is as pure Dutch as any in the country. + There is no objection to Rem Van Ariens.” + </p> + <p> + “And George Hyde?” + </p> + <p> + “Has too many objectionable qualities to be worth considering.” + </p> + <p> + “Such as?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, Ava, I will only name one, and one for which he is not + responsible; but yet it would be insuperable, as far as I am concerned. + His father is an Englishman of the most pronounced type, and this young + man is quite like him. I want no Englishman in my family.” + </p> + <p> + “My family are of English descent.” + </p> + <p> + “Thoroughly Americanized. They are longer in this country than the + Washingtons.” + </p> + <p> + “There have been many Dutch marriages among the Morans.” + </p> + <p> + “That is a different thing. The Dutch, as a race, have every + desirable quality. The English are natural despots. Rem was quite right + last night. I saw and felt, as much as he did, the quiet but sovereign + arrogance of young Hyde. His calm assumption of superiority was in reality + insufferable. The young man’s faults are racial; they are in the + blood. Cornelia shall not have anything to do with him. Why do you speak + of such disagreeable things, Ava?” + </p> + <p> + “It is well to look forward, John.” + </p> + <p> + “No. It is time enough to meet annoyances when they arrive. But this + is one not even to be thought of—to tell the last truth, Ava, I + dislike his father, General Hyde, very much indeed.” + </p> + <p> + “Why?” + </p> + <p> + “I cannot tell you ‘why.’ Yes, I will be honest and + acknowledge that he always gives me a sense of hostility. He arrogates + himself too much. When I was in the army, a good many were angry at + General Washington, for making so close a friend of him—but + Washington has much of the same exclusive air. I hope it is no treason to + say that much, for a good deal of dignity is permissible, even peremptory, + when a man fills great positions. As for the Hydes, father and son, I + would prefer to hear no more about them. When the youth was my guest, I + was civil to him; but Arenta. You know that I have never seen her.” + </p> + <p> + “That is the truth. I had forgotten. Well, then, I went to her with + the news; and she rubbed her chin, and called to her man Govert, to get a + bow of crape and put it on the front door. ‘It is moral, and proper, + and respectable, Arenta,’ she said, ‘and I advise you to do + the same.’ But then she laughed and added, ‘Shall I tell you, + niece, what I think of the great men I have met? They are disagreeable, + conceited creatures; and ought, all of them, to have died before they were + born; and for my part, I am satisfied not to have had the fate to marry + one of them. As for Benjamin Franklin,’ she continued, ‘he was + a particularly great man, and I am particularly grateful that I never saw + him but once. I formed my opinion of him then; for I only need to see a + person once, to form an opinion—and he is dead! Well, then, every + one dies at their own time.’” + </p> + <p> + “My father says Congress goes into mourning for him.” + </p> + <p> + “Does it?” asked Arenta, with indifference. “Aunt was + beginning to tell me something about him when he was in France, but I just + put a stop to talk like that, and said, ‘Now, aunt, for a little of + my own affairs.’ So I told her about George Berckel, and asked her + if she thought I might marry George; and she answered, ‘If you are + tired of easy days, Arenta, go, and take a husband,’ After a while I + spoke to her about Lieutenant Hyde, and she said, ‘she had seen the + little cockrel strutting about Pearl Street.’” + </p> + <p> + “That was not a proper thing to say. Lieutenant Hyde carries himself + in the most distinguished manner.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, then, that is exactly so; but Aunt Angelica has her own way + of saying things. She intended nothing unkind or disrespectful. She told + me that she had frequently danced with his father when she was a girl and + a beauty; and she added with a laugh, ‘I can assure you, Arenta, + that in those days he was no saint; although he is now, I hear, the very + pink of propriety.’” + </p> + <p> + “Is not that as it should be, Arenta? We ought surely to grow better + as we grow older.” + </p> + <p> + “That is not to be denied, Cornelia. Now I can tell you something + worth hearing about General Hyde.” + </p> + <p> + “If it is anything wrong, or unkind, I will not listen to it, + Arenta. Have you forgotten that the good Sisters always forbid us to + listen to an evil report?” + </p> + <p> + “Then one must shut one’s ears if one lives in New York. But, + indeed, it is nothing wrong—only something romantic and delightful, + and quite as good as a story book. Shall I tell you?” + </p> + <p> + “As you wish.” + </p> + <p> + “As you wish.” + </p> + <p> + “Then I would like to hear it.” + </p> + <p> + “Listen! When Madame Hyde was Katherine Van Heemskirk, and younger + than you are, she had two lovers; one, Captain Dick Hyde, and the other a + young man called Neil Semple; and they fought a duel about her, and nearly + cut each other to pieces.” + </p> + <p> + “Arenta!” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, it is the truth! It is the very truth, I assure you! And while + Hyde still lay between life and death, Miss Van Heemskirk married him; and + as soon as he was able, he carried her off at midnight to England; and + there they lived in a fine old house until the war. Then they came back to + New York, and Hyde went into the Continental army and did great things, I + suppose, for as we all knew, he was made a general. You should have heard + Aunt Angelica tell the story. She remembered the whole affair. It was a + delightful story to listen to, as we drank our chocolate. And will you + please only try to imagine it of Mrs. General Hyde! A woman so lofty! So + calm! So afar off from every impropriety that you always feel it + impossible in her presence to commit the least bit of innocent folly. Will + you imagine her as Katherine Van Heemskirk in a short, quilted petticoat, + with her hair hanging in two braids down her back, running away at + midnight with General Hyde!” + </p> + <p> + “He was her husband. She committed no fault.” + </p> + <p> + “I was thinking of the quilted petticoat, and the two braids; for + who now dresses so extravagantly and so magnificently as Madame Hyde? She + has an Indian shawl that cost two hundred pounds. Aunt Angelica says John + Embree told her ‘THAT much at the very least’—and as for + the General! is there any man in New York so proud, and so full of dignity—and + morality? He is in St. Paul’s Chapel every Sunday, and when you see + him there, how could you imagine that he had fought half-a-dozen duels, + for half-a-dozen beauties?” + </p> + <p> + “Half-a-dozen duels! Oh, Arenta!” + </p> + <p> + “About that number—more or less—before and after the Van + Heemskirk incident. Look at him next Sunday, and then try and believe that + he was the topmost leader in all the fashionable follies, until he went to + the war. People say it is General Washington—” + </p> + <p> + “General Washington?” + </p> + <p> + “That has changed him so much. They have been a great deal together, + and I do believe the proprieties are catching. If evil is to be taken in + bad company, why not good in the presence of all that is moral and + respectable? At any rate, who is now more proper than General Hyde? + Indeed, as Aunt Angelica says, we must all pay our respects to the Hydes, + if we desire our own caps to set straight. Cornelia, shall I tell you why + you are working so close to the window this afternoon?” + </p> + <p> + “You are going to say something I would rather not hear, Arenta.” + </p> + <p> + “Truth is wholesome, if not agreeable; and the truth is, you expect + Lieutenant Hyde to pass. But he will not do so. I saw him booted and + spurred, on a swift horse, going up the river road. He was bound for Hyde + Manor, I am sure. Now, Cornelia, you need not move your frame; for no one + will disturb you, and I wish to tell you some of my affairs.” + </p> + <p> + “About your lovers?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. I have met a certain French marquis, who is attached to the + Count de Moustier’s embassy. I met him at intervals all last winter, + and to-day, I have a love letter from him—a real love letter—and + he desires to ask my father for my hand. I shall now have something to say + to Madame Kippon.” + </p> + <p> + “But you would not marry a Frenchman? That is an impossible thought, + Arenta.” + </p> + <p> + “No more so than an Englishman. In fact, Englishmen are not to be + thought of at all; while Frenchmen are the fashion. Just consider the + drawing-rooms of our great American ladies; they are full of French + nobles.” + </p> + <p> + “But they are exiles, for the most part very poor, and devoted to + the idea of monarchy.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, but my Frenchman is different. He is rich, he is in the + confidence of the present French government, and he adores republican + principles. Indeed he wore at Lady Griffin’s, last week, his red cap + of Liberty, and looked quite distinguished in it.” + </p> + <p> + “I am astonished that Lady Griffin permitted such a spectacle. I am + sure it was a vulgar thing to do. Only the san-culottes, make such + exhibition of their private feelings.” + </p> + <p> + “I think it was a very brave thing to do—and Lady Griffin, + with her English prejudices and aristocratic notions, had to tolerate it. + He is very tall and dark, and he was dressed in scarlet, with a long black + satin vest; and you may believe that the scarlet cap on his black curling + hair was very imposing.” + </p> + <p> + “Imposing! How could it possibly be that? It is only associated with + mobs, and mob law—and guillotining.” + </p> + <p> + “I shall not contradict you—though I could do so easily. I + will say, then, that it was very picturesque. He asked me to dance a + minuet with him, and when I did not refuse he was beside himself with + pleasure and gratitude. And after I had opened the way, several of the + best ladies in the town followed. After all, it was a matter of political + opinion; and it is against our American ideas to send any man to Jersey + for his politics. Mr. Jefferson was in red also.” + </p> + <p> + “I wish to dance with Mr. Jefferson, but I now think of waiting till + he gets a new suit.” + </p> + <p> + “I am sure that no one ever made a finer figure in a dance than I, + in my white satin and pearls, and the Marquis Athanase de Tounnerre in his + scarlet dress and Liberty cap. Every one regarded us. He tells me, to-day, + that the emotion I raised in his soul that hour has not been stilled for a + moment.” + </p> + <p> + “Have you thought of your father? He would never consent to such a + marriage—and what will Rem say?” + </p> + <p> + “My father will storm, and speak words he should not speak; but I am + not afraid of words. Rem is more to be dreaded. He will not talk his anger + away. Yes, I should be afraid of Rem.” + </p> + <p> + “But you have not really decided to accept the Marquis Tounnerre?” + </p> + <p> + “No. I have not quite decided. I like to stand between Yes and No. I + like to be entreated to marry, and then again, to be entreated NOT to + marry. I like to hesitate between the French and the Dutch. I am not in + the least sure on which side I shall finally range myself.” + </p> + <p> + “Then do not decide in a hurry.” + </p> + <p> + “Have I not told you I like to waver, and vacillate, and oscillate, + and make scruples? These are things a woman can do, both with privilege + and inclination. I think myself to be very clever in such ways.” + </p> + <p> + “I would not care, nor dare, to venture—” + </p> + <p> + “You are a very baby yet. I am two years older than you. But indeed + you are progressing with some rapidity. What about George Hyde?” + </p> + <p> + “You said he had gone out of town.” + </p> + <p> + “And I am glad of it. He will not now be insinuating himself with + violets, and compelling you to take walks with him on the Battery. Oh, + Cornelia! you see I am not to be put out of your confidence. Why did you + not tell me?” + </p> + <p> + “You have given me no opportunity; and, as you know all, why should + I say any more about it?” + </p> + <p> + “Cornelia, my dear companion, I fear you are inclined to concealment + and to reticence, qualities a young girl should not cultivate—I am + now speaking for dear Sister Maria Beroth—and I hope you will + carefully consider the advantages you will derive from cultivating a more + open disposition.” + </p> + <p> + “You are making a mockery of the good Sisters; and I do not wish to + hear you commit such a great fault. Indeed, I would be pleased to return + to their peaceful care again.” + </p> + <p> + “And wear the little linen cap and collar, and all the other + simplicities? Cornelia! Cornelia! You are as fond as I am of French + fashions and fripperies. Let us be honest, if we die for it. And you may + as well tell me all your little coquetries with George Hyde; for I shall + be sure to find them out. Now I am going home; for I must look after the + tea-table. But you will not be sorry, for it will leave you free to think + of—” + </p> + <p> + “Please, Arenta!” + </p> + <p> + “Very well. I will have ‘considerations.’ Good-bye!” + </p> + <p> + Then the door closed, and Cornelia was left alone. But the atmosphere of + the room was charged with Arenta’s unrest, and a feeling of + disappointment was added to it. She suddenly realized that her lover’s + absence from the city left a great vacancy. What were all the thousands in + its streets, if he was not there? She might now indeed remove her frame + from the window; if Hyde was an impossibility, there was no one else she + wished to see pass. And her heart told her the report was a true one; she + did not doubt for a moment Arenta’s supposition, that he had gone to + Hyde Manor. But the thought made her lonely. Something, she knew not what, + had altered her life. She had a new strange happiness, new hopes, new + fears and new wishes; but they were not an unmixed delight; for she was + also aware of a vague trouble, a want that nothing in her usual duties + satisfied:—in a word, she had crossed the threshold of womanhood and + was no longer a girl, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Singing alone in the morning of life, + In the happy morning of life, and May.” + </pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV — THROWING THINGS INTO CONFUSION + </h2> + <p> + Prudence declares that whenever a person is in that disagreeable situation + which compels him to ask “what shall I do?” that the wisest + answer is, “nothing.” But such answer did not satisfy George + Hyde. He was too young, too sure of his own good fortune, too restless and + impulsive, to accept Prudence as a councillor. He might have considered, + that, hitherto, affairs had happened precisely as he wished them; and that + it would be good policy to trust to his future opportunities. But he was + so much in earnest, so honestly in love, that he felt his doubts and + anxieties could only be relieved by action. Sympathy, at least, he must + have; and he knew no man, to whom he would willingly talk of Cornelia. The + little jests and innuendoes sure to follow his confidence would be + intolerable if associated with a creature so pure and so ingenuous. + </p> + <p> + “I will go to my mother!” he thought. And this resolution + satisfied him so well, that he carried it out at once. But it was after + dark when he reached the tall stone portals of Hyde Manor House. The ride, + however, had given him back his best self. For when we leave society and + come into the presence of Nature, we become children again; and the + fictions of thought and action assumed among men drop off like a garment. + The beauty of the pale green hills, and the flowing river, and the budding + trees, and the melody of birds singing as if they never would grow old, + were all but charming accessories and horizons to his constant pictures of + Cornelia. It was she who gave life and beauty to all he saw; for as a + rule, if men notice nature at all, it is ever through some painted window + of their own souls. Few indeed are those who hear— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +“The Ancient Word, + That walked among the silent trees.” + </pre> + <p> + Yet Hyde was keenly conscious of some mystical sympathy between himself + and the lovely scenes through which he passed—conscious still more + of it when the sun had set and the moon rose—dim and inscrutable—over + the lonely way, and filled the narrow glen which was at the entrance to + the Manor House full of brooding power. + </p> + <p> + The great building loomed up dark and silent; there was but one light + visible. It was in his mother’s usual sitting-room, and as soon as + he saw it, he began to whistle. She heard him afar off, and was at the + door to give him a welcome. + </p> + <p> + “Joris, my dear one, we were talking of you!” she cried, as he + leaped from the saddle to her arms. “So glad are we! Come in + quickly! Such a good surprise! It is our hearts’ wish granted! Well, + are you? Quite well? Now, then, I am happy. Happy as can be! Look now, + Richard!” she called, as she flung the door open, and entered with + the handsome, smiling youth at her side. + </p> + <p> + In his way the father was just as much pleased. He pushed some papers he + had been busy with impatiently aside, and stood up with outstretched hand + to meet his son. + </p> + <p> + “Kate, my dear heart,” he cried, “let us have something + to eat. The boy will be hungry as a hunter after his ride. And George, + what brings you home? We were just telling each other—your mother + and I—that you were in the height of the city’s follies.” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed, sir, there will be few follies for some days. Mr. Franklin + is dead, and the city goes into mourning.” + </p> + <p> + “‘Tis a fate that all must meet,” said the General; + “but death and Franklin would look each other in the face as friends—He + had a work to do, he did it well, and it is finished. That is all. What + other news do you bring?” + </p> + <p> + “It is said that Mirabeau is arrested somewhere, for something. I + did not hear the particulars.” + </p> + <p> + “Probably, for the very least of his crimes. Marat hates him; and + Marat represents the fury of the Revolution. The monster wished to erect + eight hundred gibbets, and hang Mirabeau first.” + </p> + <p> + “And the deputies are returning to the Provinces, drunk with their + own importance. They have abolished titles, and coats of arms, and + liveries; and published a list of the names the nobles are to assume—as + if people did not know their own names. Mr. Hamilton says Revolution in + France has gone raving mad, and converted twenty-four millions of people + into savages.’” + </p> + <p> + “I hate the French!” said the General passionately. “It + is a natural instinct with me, just as tame animals are born with an + antipathy to wild beasts. If I thought I had one drop of French blood in + me, I would let it out with a dagger.” + </p> + <p> + George winced a little. He remembered that the Morans were of French + extraction; and he answered— + </p> + <p> + “After all, father, we must judge people individually. Mere race is + not much.” + </p> + <p> + “George Hyde! What are you saying? RACE is everything. It is the + strongest and deepest of all human feelings. Nothing conquers its + prejudices.” + </p> + <p> + “Except love. I have heard, father, that Love never asks ‘of + what race art thou?’ or even ‘whose son, or daughter, art + thou?’” + </p> + <p> + “You have heard many foolish things, George; that is one of them. + Men and women marry out of their own nationality, AT THEIR PERIL. I took + my life in my hand for your mother’s love.” + </p> + <p> + “She was worthy of the peril.” + </p> + <p> + “God knows it.” + </p> + <p> + At this moment Mrs. Hyde entered the room, her fair face alight with love. + A servant carrying a tray full of good things to eat, followed her; and it + was delightful to watch her eager happiness as she arranged meats, and + sweetmeats, in tempting order for the hungry young man. He thoroughly + enjoyed this provision for his comfort; and as he ate, he talked to his + father of those things interesting to him, answering all questions with + that complaisant positiveness of youth which decides everything at once, + and without reservation. No one understood this better than General Hyde, + but it pleased him to draw out his son’s opinions; and it also + pleased him to watch the pride of the fond mother, who evidently + considered her boy a paragon of youthful judgment. + </p> + <p> + “And pray,” he asked, “what can you tell me about the + seat of government? Will New York be chosen?” + </p> + <p> + “I am sure it will be Philadelphia; and, indeed, I care not. It + would, however, amuse you to hear some of the opinions on the matter; for + every one hangs his judgment on the peg of his own little interests or + likings. Young De Witt says New York wants no government departments; that + she is far too busy a city, to endure government idlers hanging around her + best streets. Doctor Rush says the government is making our city a sink of + political vice. Mr. Wolcott says honesty is the fashion in New York. Some + of the clergy think Wall Street as wicked as the most fashionable streets + in Tyre and Sodom; and the street-singers—thanks to Mr. Freneau—have + each, and all, their little audiences on the subject. As I came up + Broadway, a man was shouting a rhyme advising the Philadelphians to + ‘get ready their dishcloths and brooms, and begin scouring their + knockers, and scrubbing their rooms.’ Perhaps the most sensible + thing on the subject came from one of the New England senators. He thought + the seat of government ought to be ‘in some wilderness, where there + would be no social attractions, where members could go and attend strictly + to business.’ Upon my word, sir, the opinions are endless in number + and variety; but, in truth, Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Morris are arranging the + matter. This is without doubt. There is to be some sort of compromise with + the Southern senators, who are promised the capital on the Potomac, + finally, if they no longer oppose the assumption of the State debts. I + hear that Mr. Jefferson has been brought to agree to this understanding. + And Mr. Morris doubtless thinks, if the government offices are once opened + in Philadelphia, they will remain there.” + </p> + <p> + “And Joris, the ladies? What say they on the subject?” asked + Mrs. Hyde. + </p> + <p> + “Indeed, mother, some of them are lamenting, and some looking + forward to the change. All are talking of the social deposition of the + beautiful Mrs. Bingham. ‘She will have to abate herself a little + before Mrs. Washington,’ I heard one lady say; while others declare, + that her association with our Republican Court will be harmonious and + advantageous; especially, as she is beloved in the home of the President.” + </p> + <p> + “OUR REPUBLICAN COURT! The definition is absurd!” said General + Hyde, with both scorn and temper. “A court pre-supposes both royalty + and nobility!” + </p> + <p> + “We have both of them intrinsically, father.” + </p> + <p> + “In faith, George! you will find, that intrinsic qualities have no + social value. What people require is their external evidence.” + </p> + <p> + “And their external evidence would be extremely offensive here, sir. + For my part, I think, the sneaking hankering after titles and ceremonies, + among our wealthy men and women is a very great weakness. Every one knows + that nothing would please fussy Mr. Adams better than to be a duke, or + even a lord—and he is by no means alone in such desires.” + </p> + <p> + “They may be yet realized.” + </p> + <p> + “They will not, sir—not, at least, while Thomas Jefferson + lives. He is the bulldog of Democracy, and he would be at the throat of + any such pretences as soon as they were suggested.” + </p> + <p> + “Very well, George! I have no objections.” + </p> + <p> + “I knew, sir, that you were a thorough Democrat.” + </p> + <p> + “Do not go too far, George. I love Democracy; but I hate Democrats! + Now I am sleepy, and as Mr. Jefferson is on the watch, I may go to sleep + comfortably. I will talk to you more on these subjects in the morning. + Good-night!” He put his hand on his son’s shoulder, and looked + with a proud confidence into the bright face, lifted to the touch. + </p> + <p> + Then George was alone with his mother; but she was full of little + household affairs; and he could not bring into them a subject so close, + and so sacred to his heart. He listened a little wearily to her plans, and + was glad when she recollected the late hour and hurried him away to his + chamber—a large, lofty room in the front of the house, on which she + had realized all the ideas that her great love, and her really exquisite + taste suggested. He entered it with a sense of delight, and readily + surrendered himself to its dreamy air of sleep and rest. “I will + speak to my mother in the morning,” he thought. “To-night, her + mind is full of other things.” + </p> + <p> + But in the morning Mrs. Hyde was still more interested in “other + things.” She had an architect with her, her servants were to order, + her house to look after; and George readily felt that his hour was + certainly not in the early morning. He had slept a little late, and his + mother did not approve of sleep beyond the normal hour. He saw that he had + delayed household matters, and made an environment not quite harmonious. + So he ate his breakfast rapidly, and went out to the new stables. He + expected to find the General there, and he was not disappointed. He had, + however, finished his inspection of the horses, and he proposed a walk to + the upper end of the Glen, where a great pond was being dug for Mrs. Hyde’s + swans, and other aquatic birds. + </p> + <p> + There was much to interest them as they walked: men were busy draining, + and building stone walls; ploughing and sowing, and digging, and planting. + Yet, in the midst of all this busy life, George detected in his father’s + manner an air of melancholy. He looked into his son’s face with + affection, and pointed out to him with an apparent interest, the + improvements in progress, but George knew—though he could not have + explained why he knew—that his father’s heart was not really + in these things. Presently he asked, “How goes it with your law + books, George?” + </p> + <p> + “Faith, sir, I must confess, very indifferently. I have no senses + that way; and ‘tis only your desire that keeps my books open. I + would far rather read my Plutarch, or write with my sword.” + </p> + <p> + “Let me tell you, soberly, that it is a matter of personal interest + to you. There is now no question of the law as a profession, for since + your cousin’s death your prospects have entirely changed. But + consider, George, that not only this estate, but also the estate of your + Grandfather Van Heemskirk must eventually come to you. Much of both has + been bought from confiscated properties, and it is not improbable that + claimants may arise who will cause you trouble. How necessary, then, that + you should know something of the laws affecting land and property in this + country.” + </p> + <p> + “My grandfather is in trouble. I forgot to tell you last night, that + his friend, Elder Semple, is dead.” + </p> + <p> + “Dead!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, sir.” + </p> + <p> + For a few minutes General Hyde remained silent; then he said with much + feeling, “Peace to the old Tory! He was once very kind to me and to + my family. Ah, George, I have again defrauded myself of a satisfaction! + For a long time I have intended to go and see him—it is now too + late! But I will return to the city with you and pay him the last respect + possible. Who told you this news?” + </p> + <p> + “I was walking on Broadway with young McAllister, and Doctor Moran + stopped us and sent word to Elder McAllister of the death of his friend. I + think, indeed, they were relatives.” + </p> + <p> + “Was Doctor Moran his physician?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, sir. A very good physician, I believe; I know, that he is a + very courteous and entertaining gentleman.” + </p> + <p> + “And pray, George, how do you come by such an opinion?” + </p> + <p> + “I had the honour of spending an evening at Doctor Moran’s + house this week; and if you will believe me, sir, he has a daughter that + shames every other beauty. Such bewildering loveliness! Such entrancing + freshness and purity I never saw before!” + </p> + <p> + “In love again, George. Faith, you make me ashamed of my own youth! + But this enchanting creature cannot make of her father—anything but + what he is.” + </p> + <p> + “This time I am desperately, and really, in love.” + </p> + <p> + “So you were with Mollie Trefuses, with Sarah Talbot, with Eliza + Capel, with Matilda Howard—and a galaxy of minor beauties.” + </p> + <p> + “But it has come to this—I wish to marry Miss Moran; and I + never wished to marry any other woman.” + </p> + <p> + “You have forgotten—And by Heaven! you must forget Miss Moran. + She is not to be thought of as a wife—for one moment.” + </p> + <p> + “Sir, you are not so unjust as to make such a statement without + giving me a reason for it.” + </p> + <p> + “Giving you a reason! My reason ought to have sprung up voluntary in + your own heart. It is an incredible thing if you are not already familiar + with it.” + </p> + <p> + “Simply, sir, I profess my ignorance.” + </p> + <p> + “Look around you. Look east, and west, and north, and south,—all + these rich lands were bought with your Uncle William’s money. He + made himself poor, to make me rich; because, having brought me up as his + heir, he thought his marriage late in life had in a manner defrauded me. + You know that the death of his two sons has again made me the heir to the + Hyde earldom; and that after me, the succession is yours. Tell me now what + child is left to your uncle?” + </p> + <p> + “Only his daughter Annie, a girl of fourteen or fifteen years.” + </p> + <p> + “What will become of her when her father dies?” + </p> + <p> + “Sir, how can I divine her future?” + </p> + <p> + “It is your duty to divine her future. Her father has no gold to + leave her—he gave it to me—and the land he cannot leave her; + yet she has a natural right, beyond either mine or yours.” + </p> + <p> + “I give her my right, cheerfully.” + </p> + <p> + “You cannot give it to her—unless you outlaw yourself from + your native country—strip yourself of your citizenship—declare + yourself unworthy to be a son of the land that gave you birth. Even if you + perpetrated such a civil crime, you would render no service to Annie. Your + right would simply lapse to the son of Herbert Hyde—the young man + you met at Oxford—” + </p> + <p> + “Surely, sir, we need not talk of that fellow. I have already told + you what a very sycophant he is. He licks the dust before any man of + wealth or authority; his tongue hangs down to his shoe-buckles.” + </p> + <p> + “Well then, sir, what is your duty to Annie Hyde?” + </p> + <p> + “I do not conceive myself to have any special duty to Annie Hyde.” + </p> + <p> + “Upon my honour, you are then perversely stupid! But it is + impossible that you do not realize what justice, honour, gratitude and + generosity demand from you! When your uncle wrote me that pitiful letter + which informed me of the death of his last son, my first thought was that + his daughter must be assured her right in the succession. There is one way + to compass this. You know what that way is.—Why do you not speak?” + </p> + <p> + “Because, sir, if I confess your evident opinion to be just, I bind + myself to carry it out, because of its justice.” + </p> + <p> + “Is it not just?” + </p> + <p> + “It might be just to Annie and very unjust to me.” + </p> + <p> + “No, sir. Justice is a thing absolute; it is not altered by + circumstances, especially for a circumstance so trivial as a young man’s + idle fancy.” + </p> + <p> + “‘Tis no idle fancy. I love Cornelia Moran.” + </p> + <p> + “You have already loved a score of beauties—and forgotten + them.” + </p> + <p> + “I have admired, and forgot. If I had loved, I should not have + forgotten. Now, I love.” + </p> + <p> + “Then, sir, be a man, a noble man, and put your personal + gratification below justice, honour, and gratitude. This is the first real + trial of your life, George, are you going to play the coward in it?” + </p> + <p> + “If you could only see Miss Moran!” + </p> + <p> + “I should find it difficult to be civil to her. George, I put before + you a duty that no gentleman can by any possibility evade.” + </p> + <p> + “If this arrangement is so important, why was I not told of it, ere + this?” + </p> + <p> + “It is scarcely a year since your Cousin Harry’s death. Annie + is not fifteen years old. I did not wish to force matters. I intended you + to go to England next year, and I hoped that a marriage might come without + my advice or my interference. It seemed to me that Annie’s position + would itself open your heart to her.” + </p> + <p> + “I have no heart to give her.” + </p> + <p> + “Then you must at least give her your hand. I myself proposed this + arrangement, and your uncle’s pleasure and gratitude were of the + most touching kind. Further, if you will have the very truth, then know, + that under no circumstances, will I sanction a marriage with Doctor Moran’s + daughter.” + </p> + <p> + “You cannot possibly object to her, sir. She is perfection itself.” + </p> + <p> + “I object to her in-toto. I detest Doctor Moran, personally. I know + not why, nor care wherefore. I detest him still more sincerely as a man of + French extraction. I was brought very much in contact with him for three + years, and if we had not been in camp, and under arms, I would have + challenged him a score of times. He is the most offensive of men. He + brought his race prejudices continually to the front. When Lafayette was + wounded, with some of his bragging company, nothing would do but Doctor + Moran must go with them to the hospital at Bethlehem; yes, and stay there, + until the precious marquis was out of danger. I’ll swear that he + would not have done this for Washington—he would have blustered + about the poor fellows lying sick in camp. Moran talks about being an + American, and the Frenchman crops out at every corner. But HE is neither + here, nor there, in our affairs; what I wish you to remember is, that rank + has its duties as well as its privileges; and you would be a poltroon to + accept one and ignore the other. What are you going to do?” + </p> + <p> + “I know not. I must think—” + </p> + <p> + “I am ashamed of you! In the name of all that is honourable, what is + there to think about? Have you told this Miss Moran that you love her?” + </p> + <p> + “Not in precise words. I have only seen her three or four times.” + </p> + <p> + “Then, sir, you have only YOURSELF to think about. Have I a son with + so little proper feeling that he needs to think a moment when the case is + between honour and himself? George, it is high time that you set out to + travel. In the neighbourhood of your mother, and your grandparents, and + your flatterers in the city, you never get beyond the atmosphere of your + own whims and fancies. This conversation has come sooner than I wished; + but after it, there is nothing worth talking about.” + </p> + <p> + “Sir, you are more cruel and unreasonable than I could believe + possible.” + </p> + <p> + “The railings of a losing lover are not worth answering. Give your + anger sway, and when you are reasonable again, tell me. A man mad in love + has some title to my pity.” + </p> + <p> + “And, sir, if you were any other man but my father, I would say + Confound your pity!’ I am not sensible of deserving it, except as + the result of your own unreasonable demands on me—Our conversation + is extremely unpleasant, and I desire to put an end to it. Permit me to + return to the house.” + </p> + <p> + “With all my heart. But let me advise you to say nothing to your + mother, at present, on this subject:” then with an air of dejection + he added—“What is past, must go; and whatever is to come is + very sure to happen.” + </p> + <p> + “Sir, nothing past, present, or future, can change me. I shall obey + the wishes of my heart, and be true to its love.” + </p> + <p> + “Let me tell you, George, that Love is now grown wise. He follows + Fortune.” + </p> + <p> + “Good-morning, sir.” + </p> + <p> + “Let it be so. I will see you to-morrow in town. Ten to one, you + will be more reasonable then.” + </p> + <p> + He stood in the centre of the roadway watching his son’s angry + carriage. The poise of his head, and his rapid, uneven steps, were + symptoms the anxious father understood very well. “He is in a naked + temper, without even civil disguise,” he muttered; “and I hope + his own company will satisfy him until the first fever is past. Do I not + know that to be in love is to be possessed? It is in the head—the + heart—the blood—it is indeed an uncontrollable fever! I hope, + first and foremost, that he will keep away from his mother in his present + unreason.” + </p> + <p> + His mother was, however, George’s first desire. He did not believe + she would sanction his sacrifice to Annie Hyde. Justice, honour, + gratitude! these were fine names of his father’s invention to adorn + a ceremony which would celebrate his life-long misery, and he rebelled + against such an immolation of his youth and happiness. When he reached the + house, he found that his mother had gone to the pond to feed her swans; + and he decided to ride a little out of his way in order to see her there. + Presently he came to a spot where tall, shadowing pines surrounded a large + sheet of water, dipping their lowest branches into it. Mrs. Hyde stood + among them, and the white, stately birds were crowding to her very feet. + He reined in his horse to watch her, and though accustomed to her beauty, + he marvelled again at it. Like a sylvan goddess she stood, divinely tall, + and divinely fair; her whole presence suffused with a heavenly serenity + and happiness! Upon the soft earth the hoofs of his horse had not been + audible, but when he came within her sight, it was wonderful to watch the + transformation on her countenance. A great love, a great joy, swept away + like a gust of wind, the peace on its surface; and a glowing, loving + intelligence made her instantly restless. She called him with sweet + imperiousness, “George! Joris! Joris! My dear one!” and he + answered her with the one word ever near, and ever dear, to a woman’s + heart—“MOTHER!” + </p> + <p> + “I thought you were with your father. Where have you left him?” + </p> + <p> + “In the wilderness. There is need for me to go to the city. My + father will tell you WHY. I come only to see you—to kiss you—” + </p> + <p> + “Joris, I see that you are angry. Well then, my dear one, what is + it? What has your father been saying to you?” + </p> + <p> + “He will tell you.” + </p> + <p> + “SO! Whatever it is, your part I shall take. Right or wrong, your + part I shall take.” + </p> + <p> + “There is nothing wrong, dear mother.” + </p> + <p> + “Money, is it?” + </p> + <p> + “It is not money. My father is generous to me.” + </p> + <p> + “Then, some woman it is?” + </p> + <p> + “Kiss me, mother. After all, there is no woman like unto you.” + </p> + <p> + She drew close to him, and he stooped his handsome face to hers, and + kissed her many times. Her smile comforted him, for it was full of + confidence, as she said— + </p> + <p> + “Trouble not yourself, Joris. At the last, your father sees through + my eyes. Must you go? Well then, the Best of Beings go with you!” + </p> + <p> + “When are you coming to town, mother?” + </p> + <p> + “Next week. There is a dinner party at the President’s, and + your father will not be absent—nor I—nor you?” + </p> + <p> + “If I am invited, I shall go, just that I may see you enter the + room. Let me tell you, that sight always fills my heart with a tumultuous + pride and love.” + </p> + <p> + “A great flatterer are you, Joris!” but she lifted her face + again, and George kissed it, and then rode rapidly away. + </p> + <p> + He hardly drew rein until he reached his grandfather’s house, a + handsome Dutch residence, built of yellow brick, and standing in a garden + that was, at this season, a glory of tulips and daffodils, hyacinths and + narcissus—the splendid colouring of the beds being wonderfully + increased by their borderings of clipped box. An air of sunshiny peace was + over the place, and as the upper-half of the side-door stood open he tied + his horse and went in. The ticking of the tall house-clock was the only + sound he heard at first, but as he stood irresolute, a sweet, thin voice + in an adjoining room began to sing a hymn. + </p> + <p> + “Grandmother! Grandmother!! Grandmother!!!” he called, and + before the last appeal was echoed the old lady appeared. She came forward + rapidly, her knitting in her hand. She was singularly bright and alert, + with rosy cheeks, and snow-white hair under a snow-white cap of + clear-starched lace. A snow-white kerchief of lawn was crossed over her + breast, and the rest of her dress was so perfectly Dutch that she might + have stepped out of one of Tenier’s pictures. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, my Joris!” she cried, “Joris! Joris! I am so happy + to see thee. But what, then, is the matter? Thy eyes are full of trouble.” + </p> + <p> + “I will tell you, grandmother.” And he sat down by her side + and went over the conversation he had had with his father. She never + interrupted him, but he knew by the rapid clicking of her knitting needles + that she was moved far beyond her usual quietude. When he ceased speaking, + she answered— + </p> + <p> + “To sell thee, Joris, is a great shame, and for nothing to sell thee + is still worse. This is what I think: Let half of the income from the + earldom go to the poor young lady, but THYSELF into the bargain, is beyond + all reason. And if with Cornelia Moran thou art in love, a good thing it + is;—so I say.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you know Cornelia, grandmother?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, then, I have seen her; more than once. A great beauty I think + her; and Doctor John has Money—plenty of money—and a very good + family are the Morans. I remember his father—a very fine gentleman.” + </p> + <p> + “But my father hates Doctor Moran.” + </p> + <p> + “Very wicked is he to hate any one. Why, then?” + </p> + <p> + “He gave me only one reason—that his family is French.” + </p> + <p> + “SO! Thy mother was Dutch. Every one cannot be English—a God’s + mercy they cannot! Now, then, thy grandfather is coming; thy trouble tell + to him. Good advice he will give thee.” + </p> + <p> + Senator Van Heemskirk however went first into his garden and gathering + great handfuls of white narcissus and golden daffodils, he called a slave + woman and bade her carry them to the Semple house, and lay them in, and + around, his friend’s coffin. One white lily he kept in his hand as + he came towards his wife and grandson, with eyes fixed on its beauty. + </p> + <p> + “Lysbet,” he said,—but he clasped George’s hand as + he spoke—“My Lysbet, if in the Dead Valley of this earth grow + such heavenly flowers as this, we will not fear the grave. It is only to + sleep on the breast that gives us the lily and the rose, and the wheat, + and the corn. Oh, how sweet is this flower! It has the scent of Paradise.” + </p> + <p> + He laid it gently down while he put off his fine broadcloth coat and lace + ruffles and assumed the long vest and silk skull cap, which was his home + dress; then he put it in a buttonhole of his vest, and seemed to joy + himself in its delicate fragrance. With these preliminaries neither Joris + nor Lysbet interfered; but when he had lit his long pipe and seated + himself comfortably in his chair, Lysbet said— + </p> + <p> + “Where hast thou been all this afternoon?” + </p> + <p> + “I have been sealing up my friend’s desk and drawers until his + sons arrive. Very happy he looks. He is now ONE OF THOSE THAT KNOW.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, then, after the long strife, ‘He Rests.’” + </p> + <p> + “Men have written it. What know they about it? Rest would not be + heaven to my friend Alexander Semple. To work, to be up and doing His + Will, that would be his delight.” + </p> + <p> + “I wonder, Joris, if in the next life we shall know each other?” + </p> + <p> + “My Lysbet, in this life do we know each other?” + </p> + <p> + “I think not. Here has come our dear Joris full of trouble to thee, + for his father has said such things as I could not have believed. Joris, + tell thy grandfather what they are.” + </p> + <p> + And this time George, being very sure of hearty sympathy, told his tale + with great feeling—perhaps even with a little anger. His grandfather + listened patiently to the youth’s impatience, but he did not answer + exactly to his expectations. + </p> + <p> + “My Joris,” he said, “so hard it is to accept what goes + against our wishes. If Cornelia Moran you had not met, would your father’s + desires be so impossible to you? Noble and generous would they not seem—” + </p> + <p> + “But I have seen Cornelia, and I love her.” + </p> + <p> + “Two or three times you have seen her. How can you be sure that you + love her?” + </p> + <p> + “In the first hour I was sure.” + </p> + <p> + “Of nothing are we quite sure. In too great a hurry are you. Miss + Moran may not love you. She may refuse ever to love you. Her mind you have + not asked. Beside this, in his family her father may not wish you. A very + proud man is Doctor John.” + </p> + <p> + “Grandfather, I may be an earl some day.” + </p> + <p> + “An English earl. Doctor John may not endure to think of his only + child living in that far-off country. I, myself, know how this thought can + work a father to madness. And, again, your Cousin Annie may not wish to + marry you.” + </p> + <p> + “Faith, sir, I had not thought of myself as so very disagreeable.” + </p> + <p> + “No. Vain and self-confident is a young man. See, then, how many + things may work this way, that way, and if wise you are you will be quiet + and wait for events. One thing, move not in your anger; it is like putting + to sea in a tempest. Now I shall just say a word or two on the other side. + If your father is so set in his mind about the Hydes, let him do the + justice to them he wishes to do; but it is not right that he should make + YOU do it for him.” + </p> + <p> + “He says that only I can give Annie justice.” + </p> + <p> + “But that is not good sense. When the present Earl dies, and she is + left an orphan, who shall prevent your father from adopting her as his own + daughter, and leaving her a daughter’s portion of the estate? In + such case, she would be in exactly the same position as if her brother had + lived and become earl. Is not that so?” + </p> + <p> + “My dear, dear grandfather, you carry wisdom with you! Now I shall + have the pleasure to propose to my father that he do his own justice! O + wise, wise grandfather! You have made me happy to a degree!” + </p> + <p> + “Very well, but say not that <i>I</i> gave you such counsel. When + your father speaks to me, as he is certain to do, then I will say such and + such words to him; but my words in your mouth will be a great offence; and + very justly so, for it is hard to carry words, and carry nothing else. + Your dear mother—how is she?” + </p> + <p> + “Well and happy. She builds, and she plants, and the days are too + short for her. But my father is not so happy. I can see that he is wearied + of everything.” + </p> + <p> + “Not here, is his heart. It is in England. And no longer has he + great hopes to keep him young. If of Liberty I now speak to him, he has a + smile so hopeless that both sad and angry it makes me. No faith has he + left in any man, except Washington; and I think, also, he is disappointed + that Washington was not crowned King George the First.” + </p> + <p> + “I can assure you, sir, that others share his disappointment. Mr. + Adams would not object to be Duke of New York, and even little Burr would + like a lordship.” + </p> + <p> + “I have heard; my ears are not dull, nor my eyes blind. But too much + out of the world lives your father; men who do so grow unfit to live in + the world. He dreams dreams impossible to us—impossible to France—and + then he says ‘Liberty is a dream.’ Well, well, Life also is a + dream—when we awake—” + </p> + <p> + Then he ceased speaking, and there was silence until Lysbet Van Heemskirk + said, softly, “When we awake, WE SHALL BE SATISFIED.” + </p> + <p> + Van Heernskirk smiled at his wife’s cheerful assurance, and + continued, “It is true, Lysbet, what you say; and even here, in our + dreaming, what satisfaction! As for me, I expect not too much. The old + order and the new order fight yet for the victory; and what passes now + will be worth talking about fifty years hence.” + </p> + <p> + “It is said, grandfather, that the Dutch church is anti-Federal to a + man.” + </p> + <p> + “Not true are such sayings. The church will be very like old Van + Steenwyck, who boasts of his impartiality, and who votes for the Federals + once, and for the anti-Federals once, and the third time does not vote at + all. If taken was the vote of the Church, it would be six for the Federals + and half-a-dozen for the anti-Federals.” + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Burr—” + </p> + <p> + “Of Mr. Burr I will not talk. I like not his little dirty politics.” + </p> + <p> + “He is very clever.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, then, you have to praise him for being clever; for being + honest you cannot praise him.” + </p> + <p> + “‘Tis a monstrous pity that Right can only be on one side; yet + sometimes Right and Mr. Burr may happen to be on the same side.” + </p> + <p> + “The right way is too straight for Aaron Burr. If into it he wanders + tis for a wrong reason.” + </p> + <p> + “My dear grandfather, how your words bite!” + </p> + <p> + “I wish not to say biting things; but Aaron Burr stands for those + politicians who turn patriotism into shopkeeping and their own interest—men + who care far more for WHO governs us than for HOW we are governed. And + what will be the end of such ways? I will tell you. We shall have a + Democracy that will be the reign of those who know the least and talk the + loudest.” + </p> + <p> + At this point in the conversation Van Heemskirk was called to the door + about some business matter and George was left alone with his grandmother. + She was setting the tea-table, and her hands were full of china; but she + put the cups quickly down, and going to George’s side, said— + </p> + <p> + “Cornelia Moran spends this evening with her friend Arenta Van + Ariens. Well then, would thou like an excuse to call on Arenta?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, grandmother! Do you indeed know Arenta? Can you send me there?” + </p> + <p> + “Since she was one month old I have known Arenta. This morning, she + came here to borrow for her Aunt Jacobus my ivory winders. Now then, I did + not wish to lend Angelica Jacobus my winders; and I said to Arenta that + ‘by and by I would look for them.’ Not far are they to seek; + and for thy pleasure I will get them, and thou canst take them this + evening to Arenta.” + </p> + <p> + “O you dear, dear grandmother!” and he stood up, and lifted + her rosy face between his hands and kissed her. + </p> + <p> + “I am so fond of thee,” she continued. “I love thee so + much; and thy pleasure is my pleasure; and I see no harm—no harm at + all—in thy love for the beautiful Cornelia. I think, with thee, she + is a girl worth any man’s heart; and if thou canst win her, I, for + one, will be joyful with thee. Perhaps, though, I am a selfish old woman—it + is so easy to be selfish.” + </p> + <p> + “Let me tell you, grandmother, you know not how to be selfish.” + </p> + <p> + “Let me tell thee, Joris, I was thinking of myself, as well as of + thee. For while thy grandfather talked of Aaron Burr, this thought came + into my mind—if to Annie Hyde my Joris is married, he will live in + England, and I shall see him no more in this world. But if to Cornelia + Moran he is married, when his father goes to England, then here he will + stay; he will live at Hyde Manor, and I shall go to see him, and he will + call here to see me;—and then, many good days came into my thoughts. + Yes, yes, in every kind thing, in every good thing, somewhere there is hid + a little bit of our own will and way. Always, if I look with straight + eyes, I can find it.” “Get me the winders, grandmother; for + now you have given me a reason to hurry.” + </p> + <p> + “But why so quickly must you go?” + </p> + <p> + “Look at me! It will take me two hours to dress. I have had no + dinner—I want to think—you understand, grandmother?” + </p> + <p> + Then she went into the best parlour, and opening one of the shutters let + in sufficient light to find in the drawer of a little Chinese cabinet some + ivory winders of very curious design and workmanship. She folded them in + soft tissue paper and handed them to her grandson with a pleasant nod; and + the young man slipped them into his waistcoat pocket, and then went + hurriedly away. + </p> + <p> + He had spoken of his dinner, but though somewhat hungry, he made but a + light meal. His dress seemed to him the most vitally important thing of + the hour; and no girl choosing her first ball gown could have felt more + anxious and critical on the subject. His call was to be considered an + accidental one; and he could not therefore dress as splendidly as if it + were a ceremonious or expected visit. After much hesitation, he selected a + coat and breeches of black velvet, a pearl-coloured vest, and cravat and + ruffles of fine English bone lace. Yet when his toilet was completed, he + was dissatisfied. He felt sure more splendid apparel set off his dark + beauty to greater advantage; and yet he was equally sure that more + splendid apparel would not—on this occasion—be as suitable. + </p> + <p> + Doubting and hoping, he reached the Van Ariens’ house soon after + seven o’clock. It was not quite dark, and Jacob Van Ariens stood on + the stoop, smoking his pipe and talking to a man who had the appearance of + a workman; and who was, in fact, the foreman of his business quarters in + the Swamp. + </p> + <p> + “Good-evening, sir,” said George with smiling politeness. + “Is Miss Van Ariens within?” + </p> + <p> + “Within? Yes. But company she has tonight,” said the watchful + father, as he stood suspicious and immovable in the entrance. + </p> + <p> + It did not seem to George as if it would be an easy thing to pass such a + porter at the door, but he continued, + </p> + <p> + “I have come with a message to Miss Van Ariens.” + </p> + <p> + “A very fine messenger!” answered Van Ariens, slightly + smiling. + </p> + <p> + “A fine lady deserves a fine messenger. But, sir, if you will do my + errand for me, I am content. ‘Tis from Madame Van Heemskirk—” + </p> + <p> + “SO then? That is good.” + </p> + <p> + “I am George Hyde, her grandson, you know.” + </p> + <p> + “Well then, I did not know. ‘Tis near dark, and I see not as + well as once I did.” + </p> + <p> + “I have brought from Madame Van Heemskirk some ivory winders for + Madame Jacobus.” + </p> + <p> + “Come in, come in, and tell my Arenta the message thyself. I know + nothing of such things. Come in, I did not think of thee as my friend Van + Heemskirk’s grandson. Welcome art thou!” and Van Ariens + himself opened the parlour door, saying, “Arenta, here is George + Hyde. A message he brings for thy Aunt Angelica.” + </p> + <p> + And while these words were being uttered, George delighted his eyes with + the vision of Cornelia, who sat at a small table with some needlework in + her hand. Arenta’s tatting was over her foot, and she had to remove + it in order to rise and meet Hyde. Rem sat idly fingering a pack of + playing cards and talking to Cornelia. This situation George took in at a + glance; though his sense of sight was quite satisfied when it rested on + the lovely girl who dropped her needle as he entered, for he saw the + bright flush which overspread her face and throat, and the light of + pleasure which so filled her eyes that they seemed to make her whole face + luminous. + </p> + <p> + In a few moments, Arenta’s pretty enthusiasms and welcomes + dissipated all constraint, and Hyde placed his chair among the happy group + and fell easily into his most charming mood. Even Rem could not resist the + atmosphere of gaiety and real enjoyment that soon pervaded the room. They + sang, they played, they had a game at whist, and everything that happened + was in some subtle, secret way, a vehicle for Hyde’s love to express + itself. Yet it was to Arenta he appeared to be most attentive; and Rem was + good-naturedly inclined to permit his sister to be appropriated, if only + he was first in the service of Cornelia. + </p> + <p> + But though Hyde’s attentions were so little obvious, Cornelia was + satisfied. It would have been a poor lover who could not have said under + such circumstances “I love you” a hundred times over; and + George Hyde was not a poor lover. He had naturally the ardent confidence + and daring which delight women, and he had not passed several seasons in + the highest London society without learning all those sweet, occult ways + of making known admiration, which the presence of others renders both + necessary and possible. + </p> + <p> + About half-past nine, a negro woman came with Cornelia’s cloak and + hood. George took them from Arenta’s hand and folded the warm + circular round Cornelia’s slight figure; and then watched her tie + her pretty pink hood, managing amid the pleasant stir of leave-taking to + whisper some words that sang all night like sweetest music in her heart. + It was Rem, however, that gave her his arm and escorted her to her own + door; and with this rightful privilege to his guest young Hyde was far too + gentlemanly and just to interfere. However, even in this moment of seeming + secondary consideration, he heard a few words which gave him a delightful + assurance of coming satisfaction. For as the two girls stood in the hall, + Arenta said— + </p> + <p> + “You will come over in the morning, Cornelia?” + </p> + <p> + “I cannot,” answered Cornelia. “After breakfast, I have + to go to Richmond Hill with a message from my mother to Mrs. Adams; and + though father will drive me there I shall most likely have to walk home. + But I will come to you in the afternoon.” + </p> + <p> + “Very well. Then in the morning I will go to Aunt Angelica’s + with the winders. I shall then have some news to tell you in the afternoon—that + is, if the town makes us any.” + </p> + <p> + And George, hearing these words, could hardly control his delight. For he + was one of Mrs. Adams’ favourites, and so much at home in her house + that he could visit her at any hour of the day without a ceremonious + invitation. And it immediately struck him that his mother had often + desired to know how Mrs. Adams fed her swans, and also that she had wished + for some seeds from her laburnum trees. These things would make a valid + excuse for an early call, as Mrs. Adams might naturally suppose he was on + his way to Hyde Manor. + </p> + <p> + He took a merry leave of Arenta, and with his mind full of this plan, went + directly to his rooms. The Belvedere Club was this night, impossible to + him. After the angelic Cornelia, he could not take into his consciousness + the hideous Marat, and the savage orgies of the French Revolution. Such a + thought transference would be an impossible profanation. Indeed, he could + consider no other thing, but the miraculous fact, that Cornelia was going + to Mrs. Adams’; and that it was quite within his power to meet her + there. + </p> + <p> + “‘Tis my destiny! ‘Tis my happy destiny to love her!” + he said softly to himself. “Such an adorable girl! Such a ravishing + beauty is not elsewhere on this earth!” And he was not conscious of + any exaggeration in such language. Nor was there. He was young, he was + rich, he had no business to consider, no sorrow to sober him, no care of + any kind to mingle with the rapturous thoughts which his transported + imagination and his captivated heart blended with the image of Cornelia. + </p> + <p> + “I shall tell Mrs. Adams how far gone in love I am,” he + continued. “She is herself set on that clever little husband of + hers; and ‘tis said, theirs was a love match, beyond all + speculation. I shall say to her, Help me, madame, to an opportunity’; + and I think she will not refuse. As for my father, I heard him this + morning with as much patience as any Christian could do; but I am resolved + to marry Cornelia. I will not give her up; not for an earldom! not for a + dukedom! not for the crown of England!” + </p> + <p> + And to these thoughts he flung off, with a kind of passion, his coat and + vest. The action was but the affirmation of his resolve, a materialization + of his will. To have used an oath in connection with Cornelia would have + offended him; but this passionate action asserted with equal emphasis his + unalterable resolve. A tender, gallant, courageous spirit possessed him. + He was carried away by the feelings it inspired: and nobly so, for alas + for that man who professes to be in love and is not carried away by his + feelings; in such case, he has no feelings worth speaking of! + </p> + <p> + Joris Hyde allowed the sweet emotions Cornelia had inspired to have, and + to hold, and to occupy his whole being. His heart burned within him; + memories of Cornelia closed his eyes, and then filled them with adorable + visions of her pure, fresh loveliness; his pulses bounded; his blood ran + warm and free as the ethereal ichor of the gods. Sleep was a thousand + leagues away; he was so vivid, that the room felt hot; and he flung open + the casement and sat in a beatitude of blissful hopes and imaginations. + </p> + <p> + And after midnight, when dreams fall, the moon came up over Nassau and + Cedar Streets and threw poetic glamours over the antique churches, and + grassy graveyards, and the pretty houses, covered with vines and budding + rosebushes; and this soft shadow of light calmed and charmed him. In it, + he could believe all his dreams possible. He leaned forward and watched + the silvery disc, struggling in soft, white clouds; parting them, as with + hands, when they formed in baffling, airy masses in her way. And the + heavenly traveller was not silent; she had a language he understood; for + as he watched the sweet, strong miracle, he said softly to himself— + </p> + <p> + “It is a sign to me! It is a sign! So will I put away every baffling + hindrance between Cornelia and myself. Barriers will only be as those + vaporous clouds. I shall part them with my strong resolves—I shall—I + shall—I—” and he fell asleep with this sense of victory + thrilling his whole being. Then the moon rose higher, and soon came in + broad white bars through the window and lay on his young, handsome, + smiling face, with the same sweet radiance that in the days of the gods + glorified the beautiful shepherd, sleeping on the Ephesian plains. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V — TURNING OVER A NEW LEAF + </h2> + <p> + When Hyde awakened, he was in that borderland between dreams and day which + we call dawn. And as the ear is the last sense to go to sleep, and the + first sense to throw off its lethargy, the voices of men calling “Milk + Ho!” and the shrill childish cries of “Sweep Ho!” were + the first intruders into that pleasant condition between sleeping and + waking, so hard for any of us to leave without a sigh of regret. These + sounds were quickly supplemented by the roll of the heavy carts which + purveyed the only water suitable for drinking and culinary purposes; and + by the sounds of wood-sawing and wood-chopping before the doors of the + adjacent houses—sounds quickly blending themselves with the + shuffling feet of the slaves cleaning the doorsteps and sidewalks, and + chattering, singing, quarrelling the while with their neighbours, or with + other early ministers to the city’s domestic wants. + </p> + <p> + These noises had never before made any impression on him. “I am more + alive than ever I was in my life,” he said; and he laughed gayly, + and went to the window. “It is a lovely day; and that is so much in + my favour,” he added, “for if it were raining, Cornelia would + not leave the house.” Then a big man, with a voice like a bull of + Bashan, went down the opposite side of the street, shouting as he went—“Milk + Ho!” and Hyde considered him. He had a heavy wooden yoke across his + shoulders; and large tin pails, full of milk, hanging from it. + </p> + <p> + “How English we are!” he exclaimed, with a touch of irony. + “We have not thrown off the yoke, by any means—at Mr. Adams’, + for instance, I could believe myself in England. How exclusive is the + pompous little Minister! What respect for office! What adoration for + landed gentry! What supercilious tolerance for tradesmen! Oh, indeed, it + confounds me! But why should I trouble myself? I, who have the most + adorable mistress in the world to think about! What are the kings, + presidents, ministers, knaves of the world to me? Let Destiny shuffle them + back and forth. I am indifferent to whichever is trumps.” + </p> + <p> + Then he fell into a reverie about his proposed visit to Mrs. Adams. Last + night it had appeared to him an easy and natural thing to do. He was not + so sure of his position this morning. Mr. Adams might be present; he was + punctilious in the extreme, and a call without an invitation at that early + hour might be considered an impertinence—especially if he had no + opportunity to enlighten Mrs. Adams about his love for Miss Moran, and so + ask her assistance. Then he began to doubt whether his mother was on + sufficient terms of intimacy to warrant his speaking about the swans and + laburnum seeds—in short, the visit that had seemed so natural and + proper when he first conceived it, assumed, on reflection, an aspect of + difficulty and almost of impropriety. + </p> + <p> + But there are times when laissez-aller carries all before it, and Hyde was + in just such a mood. “I’ll run the chance,” he said. + “I’ll risk it. I’ll let things take their course.” + Then he began to dress, and as doubt of any kind is best ended by action, + he gathered confidence as he did so. Fortunately, there was no hesitation + this morning in his mind about his dress. He was going to ride to Richmond + Hill, and he was quite satisfied with his riding suit. He knew that it was + the next thing to a becoming uniform. He knew that he looked well in it; + and he remembered with complaisance that it was old enough to be + individual; and new enough to be handsome and striking. + </p> + <p> + And, after all, when a man is in love, to be reasonable is often to be + cowardly. But Hyde was no coward; so then, it was not long ere he put all + fears and doubts behind him and set his musings to the assertion: “I + said to my heart, last night, that I would meet Cornelia at Richmond Hill + this morning. I will not go back on my word. Such fluctuability is only + fit for failure.” + </p> + <p> + When he was dressed he went to his hotel and breakfasted there; for the + “cup of coffee” he had intended to ask of Mrs. Adams appeared, + now, a little presumptuous. In the enthusiasm of the previous night, with + Cornelia’s smiles warming his imagination and her words thrilling + his heart, everything had seemed possible and natural; but last night and + this morning were different epochs. Last night, he had been better, + stronger than himself; this morning, he felt all the limitations of social + conveniences and tyrannies. Early as it was, there were many members and + senators present—eating, drinking coffee, and talking of Franklin, + or of the question of the Senate sitting with closed doors, or of some + other of the great little subjects then agitating society. Hyde took no + notice of any of these disputes until a man—evidently an Englishman—called + Franklin “a beggar-on-horseback-Yankee.” Then he put down his + knife and fork, and looked steadily at the speaker, saying with the utmost + coolness and firmness— + </p> + <p> + “You are mistaken, sir. The beggar-on-horseback is generally + supposed to ride to the devil. Franklin rode to the highest posts of + political honour and to the esteem and affection of worthy men in all the + civilized world.” + </p> + <p> + “I understand, I understand, sir,” was the reply. “The + infatuation of a nation for some particular genius or leader is very like + that of a man for an ugly woman. When they do get their eyes opened, they + wonder what bewitched them.” + </p> + <p> + “Sir, what is unreasonable is irrefutable.” With these words + he rose, pushed aside his chair with a little temper, and, turning, met + Jefferson face to face. The great man smiled, and put his hand + affectionately on Hyde’s shoulder. He had evidently heard the + conversation, for when he had made the usual greetings, he added— + </p> + <p> + “You spoke well, my young friend. Now, I will give you a piece of + advice—when any one abuses a great man in your presence, ask them + what kind of people, THEY admire. You will certainly be consoled.” + With these words he took Hyde’s chair; and Hyde, casting his eyes a + moment on this tall, loose-limbed man, whose cold blue eyes and red hair + emphasized the stern anger of his whole appearance, was well disposed to + leave the scurrilous Englishman to his power of reproof. Besides, the + badge of mourning which Jefferson wore had reminded him of his own + neglect. Probably, it was the want of this badge that had made the + stranger believe he was speaking to one who would sympathize with his + views. + </p> + <p> + So he went at once to his tailor’s and procured the necessary band + of crape for his arm. But these events took time, and though he rode hard + afterwards, it was quite half-past nine when he drew rein at the door of + Richmond Hill. A slave in a fine livery was lounging there; and he gave + him his card. In a few moments the man returned with an invitation to + dismount and come into the breakfast-room. Thus far, he had suffered + himself to be carried forward by the impulse of his heart; and he still + put firmly down any wonder as to what he should say or do. + </p> + <p> + He was shown into a bright little parlour with open windows. A table, + elegantly and plentifully spread, occupied the centre of the room; and + sitting at it were the Vice-President and Mrs. Adams; and also their only + daughter, the beautiful, but not very intellectual, Mrs. Smith. It was + easy to see that the meal was really over, and that the trio had been + simply lingering over the table because of some interesting discussion; + and it was quite as easy to understand that his entrance had put an end to + the conversation. Mrs. Adams met him with genuine, though formal, + kindness; Mrs. Smith with courtesy; and the Vice-President rose, bowed + handsomely, hoped he was well, and then after a minute’s reflection + said— + </p> + <p> + “We were talking about the official title proper for General + Washington. What do you think, Lieutenant? Or have you heard General Hyde + express any opinion on the subject?” + </p> + <p> + “Sir, I do not presume to understand the ceremonials of government. + My father is of the opinion, that ‘The President of the United + States’ has a Roman and republican simplicity, and that any addition + to it would be derogatory and childish.” + </p> + <p> + “My dear young man, the eyes of the world are upon us. To give a + title to our leaders and rulers belongs to history. In the Roman republic + great conquerors assumed even distinctive titles, as well as national + ones.” + </p> + <p> + “Then our Washington is superior to them. Let us be grateful that he + has not yet called himself—Americanus. I like Doctor Kunz’s + idea of Washington best, but I see not how it could be put into a civil + title.” + </p> + <p> + “Doctor Kunz! Doctor Kunz! Oh yes, of the Dutch congregation. Pray + what is it?” + </p> + <p> + “‘And there came up a lion out of Judah.’ My grandfather + is an elder in that church, and he said the verse and the sermon on it + lifted the people to their feet.” + </p> + <p> + “That might do very well for one side of a state seal; but it is a + proper prefix we need. I don’t think we can say ‘Your Majesty + the President.’” + </p> + <p> + “I should think not,” replied Mrs. Adams with an air of + decision. + </p> + <p> + “Chief Justice McKean thinks ‘His Serene Highness the + President of the United States’ is very suitable. Roger Sherman is + of the opinion that neither ‘His Highness’ nor ‘His + Excellency’ are novel and dignified enough; and General Muhlenberg + says Washington himself is in favour of High Mightiness,’ the title + used by the Stadtholder of Holland.” + </p> + <p> + “That would please the Dutch-Americans,” said Mrs. Adams—“if + a title at all is necessary, which I confess I cannot understand. Is it to + be High Mightiness’ then?” she asked with a little laugh. + </p> + <p> + “I think not. Muhlenberg, however, has seriously offended the + President by making a joke of the proposition; and I must say, it was + ill-timed of Muhlenberg, and not what I should have expected of him.” + </p> + <p> + “But what was the joke?” + </p> + <p> + “Something to the effect that if the office was certain to be held + by men as large as Washington, the title of ‘High Mightiness’ + would not be amiss; but that if a little man—say like Aaron Burr—should + be elected, the title would be a ridiculous one. The fact is, Muhlenberg + is against any title whatever but that of ‘President of the United + States.’” + </p> + <p> + “And how will you vote, John?” + </p> + <p> + “In favour of a title. Certainly, I shall. Your Majesty is a very + good prefix. It would draw the attention of England, and show her that we + were not afraid to assume ‘the majesty’ of our conquest.” + </p> + <p> + “And if you wish to please France,” continued Mrs. Adams—“which + seems the thing in fashion—you might have the prefix ‘Citizen.’ + ‘Citizen Washington’ is not bad.” + </p> + <p> + “It is execrable, Mrs. Adams; and I am ashamed that you should make + it, even as a pleasantry.” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed, my friend, there is no foretelling what may be. The French + fever is rising every day. I even may be compelled to drop the offensive + ‘Mistress’ and call myself Citoyenne Adams. And, after all, I + do believe that the President regards his citizenship far above his + office. What say you, Lieutenant?” + </p> + <p> + “I think, madame, that fifty, one hundred, one thousand years after + this day, it will be of little importance what prefix is put before the + name of the President. He will be simply GEORGE WASHINGTON in every heart + and on every page.” + </p> + <p> + “That is true,” said Mrs. Adams. “Fame uses no prefixes. + It is Pompey, Julius Caesar, Pericles, Alfred, Hampden, Oliver Cromwell. + Or it is a suffix like Alexander the Great; or Richard Coeur-de-Lion. I + have no objection to Washington the Great, or Washington Coeur-de-Lion.” + </p> + <p> + “Washington will do for love and for fame,” continued Hyde. + “The next generation may say MR. Madison, or MR. Monroe, or MR. Jay; + but they will want neither prefix nor suffix to Washington, Jefferson, + Franklin,—and, if you permit me, sir—Adams.” + </p> + <p> + The Vice-president was much pleased. He said “Pooh! Pooh!” and + stood up and stepped loftily across the hearth-rug, but the subtle + compliment went warm to his heart, and the real worth of the man’s + nature came straight to the front, as he looked, under its influence, the + honest, positive, honourable gentleman that every great occasion found him + to be. + </p> + <p> + “Well, well,” he answered; “heartily, and from our + souls, we must do our best, and then trust to Truth and Time, our name and + our memory. But I must now go to town—our affairs give us no + holidays.” And then instantly the room was in a fuss and a flurry. + No Englishman could have made a more bustling exit; and, indeed, even in + his physical aspect, John Adams was a perfect picture of the traditional + John Bull. His natural temperament carried out this likeness: high-mettled + as a game-cock during the Revolutionary war, he was, in politics, + passionate, dogmatic and unconciliating, and in social life ceremonious + and showy as any Englishman could be. + </p> + <p> + After he had gone, Mrs. Adams proposed a walk in the lovely garden; and + Hyde hoped then to obtain a few words with her. But Mrs. Smith accompanied + them, and introduced immediately a grievance she had evidently been + previously discussing. With a provoking petulance she told and re-told + some slight which Sir John Temple had offered Mr. Smith: adding always + “Lady Temple is very civil to me; but I cannot, and I will not, + exchange visits with any lady who does not pay my William an equal + civility.” Enlarging and enlarging on this text, Hyde found no + opportunity to get a word in on his own affairs; and then, suddenly, as + they turned into the main avenue, Doctor Moran and Cornelia appeared. + </p> + <p> + Quite as suddenly, Mrs. Adams divined the motive of Hyde’s early + visit; she opened her eyes wide, and looked at him with a comprehension so + clear and real that Hyde was compelled to answer, and acknowledge her + suspicion by a look and movement quite as unequivocal. Yet this + instantaneous understanding contained neither promise nor sympathy; and he + could not tell whether he had gained a friend or simply made a confession. + </p> + <p> + Doctor Moran was evidently both astonished and annoyed. He stepped out of + his carriage and joined Mrs. Adams but kept Cornelia by his side, so that + Hyde was compelled to escort Mrs. Smith. And Cornelia, beyond a very civil + “Good-morning, sir,” gave him no sign. He could watch her + slight, virginal figure, and the bend of her head in answering Mrs. Adams + gave him transient glimpses of her fair face; but there was no message in + all its changes for him. In fact, in spite of Mrs. Smith’s little + rill of social complaining, he felt quite “out” of the inner + circle of the company’s interests, and he was also deeply mortified + at Cornelia’s apparent indifference. + </p> + <p> + When the party reached the steps before the house door, though Mrs. Adams + certainly invited him to remain, he had come to the conclusion that he was + just the one person NOT wanted at that time; yet as he had plenty of + self-command he completely hid beneath a gay and charming manner the + chagrin and disappointment that were really tormenting him. For one moment + he caught Cornelia’s eyes, but his glance was too rapid and + inquisitive. She was embarrassed, and a little frightened by it; and with + a deep blush turned towards Mrs. Smith and said something trivial about + the weather and the fine view. He could not understand this attitude. + Feelings of tenderness, anger, mortification,—feelings strong and + threefold crowded his beating heart and vivid brain. He longed to set his + restless thoughts to rapid movement—to gallop—to ejaculate—to + do any foolish thing that would relieve his sense of vexation and defeat. + But until he was out of sight and hearing he rode slowly, with the easy + air of a man who was only sensitive to the beauty of his surroundings, and + thoroughly enjoying them. + </p> + <p> + He kept this pace till quite outside the precincts of Richmond Hill, then + he struck his horse with a passion that astonished the animal and the next + moment shamed himself. He stooped instantly and apologized to the + quivering creature; and was as instantly forgiven. Then he began to talk + to himself in those elliptical, unfinished sentences, which the inner man + understands, and so thoroughly finishes—“If I were not morally + sure—It is as plain as can be—How in the name of wonder?—I’ll + say so much for myself—I am sorry that I went there—A couple + of uninteresting women—This for you, sir!—Whistled myself up + this morning on a fool’s errand—No more! no more to save my + life!—Grant me patience—Mrs. Smith giving herself a parcel of + airs—Oh, adorable Cornelia!” + </p> + <p> + Such reflections, blended with pet names and apologies to his horse, + brought him in sight of the Van Heemskirk house, and he instantly felt how + good his grandmother’s sympathy would be. He saw her at the door, + leaning over the upper-half and watching his approach. + </p> + <p> + “I knew it was thee!” she cried; “always, the clatter of + thy horse’s hoofs says plainly to me, ‘Grand-moth-er! + grand-moth-er! grand-moth-er!’ Now, then, what is the matter with + thee? Disappointed, wert thou last night?” + </p> + <p> + “No—but this morning I have been badly used; and I am angry at + it.” Then he told her all the circumstances of his visit to Richmond + Hill, and she listened patiently, as was her way with all complainers. + </p> + <p> + “In too great haste art thou,” were her first words. “No + worse I think of Cornelia, because a little she draws back. To want, and + to have thy want, that has been the way with thee all thy life long. Even + thy sword and the battlefield were not denied thee; but a woman’s + love!—that is to be won. Little wouldst thou value it, lightly + wouldst thou hold it, if it were thine for the wishing. Thy mother has + taught thee to expect too much.” + </p> + <p> + “And my grandmother?” + </p> + <p> + “That is so. A very foolish old woman is thy grandmother. Too much + she loves thee, or she had not sent thee to Arenta’s last night with + her best ivory winders.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Arenta is a very darling! Had she been present this morning, + she had taken the starch out of all our fine talk and fine manners. We + should have chattered like the swallows about pleasant homely things; and + left title-making to graver fools.” + </p> + <p> + “If, now, thou had fallen in love with Arenta, it had been a good + thing.” + </p> + <p> + “If I had not seen Cornelia, I might have adored Arenta—but, + then, Arenta has already a lover.” + </p> + <p> + “So? And pray who is it?” + </p> + <p> + “Of all men in the world, the gay, handsome Frenchman, Athanase + Tounnerre, a member of the French embassy. How a girl so plainly Dutch can + endure the creature confounds me.” + </p> + <p> + “Stop a little. The grandmother of Arenta was French. Very well I + remember her—a girl all alive, from head to foot; never still. Thy + grandfather used to say, ‘In her veins is quick-silver, not blood,’ + And, too soon, she wore away her life; Arenta’s mother was but a + baby, when she died.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah! So it is! We are the past, as well as the present. As for + myself—” + </p> + <p> + “Thou art thy father over again; only sweeter, and better—that + is the Dutch in thee—the happy, easy-going Dutch—if only thou + wert not so lazy.” + </p> + <p> + “That is the English in me—the self-indulgent, masterful + English. So then, Arenta, being partly French, back to the French she + goes. ‘Tis passing strange.” + </p> + <p> + “Of this, art thou sure?” + </p> + <p> + “I have listened to the man. Every one has. He wears Arenta’s + name on his sleeve. He drinks her health in all companies. He will talk to + any stranger he meets, for an hour at a time, about his ‘fair + Arenta.’ I can but wonder at the fellow. It is inconceivable to me; + for though I am passionately taken with Cornelia Moran, I hide her close + in my heart. I should want to strike any man who breathed her name. Yet it + is said of Athanase de Tounnerre that he paid a visit to every one he + knew, in order to tell them of his felicity.” + </p> + <p> + “And her father? To such a marriage what will he say?” + </p> + <p> + Hyde stretched out his legs and struck them lightly with his riding whip. + Then, with a smile, he answered, “He will be proud enough in his + heart. Arenta would certainly leave him soon, and the Dutch are very + sensible to the charm of a title. His daughter, the Marquise de Tounnerre, + will be a very great woman in his eyes.” + </p> + <p> + “That is the truth. I was glad for thy mother to be a lady, and go + to Court, and see the Queen. Yes, indeed! in my heart I was proud of it + Twas about that very thing poor Janet Semple and I became unfriends.” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed, it is the common failing; and at present, there is no one + like the French. I will except the President, and Mr. Adams, and Mr. + Hamilton, and say the rest of us are French mad.” + </p> + <p> + “Thy grandfather, and thy grandmother too, thou may except. And as + for thy father, with a great hatred he names them.” + </p> + <p> + “My father is English; and the English and French are natural and + salutary enemies. I once heard Lord Exmouth say that France was to England + all that Carthage was to Rome—the natural outlet for the temper of a + people so quarrelsome that they would fight each other if they had not the + French to fight.” + </p> + <p> + “Listen! That is thy father’s gallop. Far off, I know it. So + early in the morning, what is he coming for?” + </p> + <p> + “He had an intention to go to Mr. Semple’s funeral.” + </p> + <p> + “That is good. Thy grandfather is already gone—” and she + looked so pointedly down at her black petticoat and bodice, that Hyde + answered— + </p> + <p> + “Yes; I see that you are in mourning. Is it for Mr. Franklin, or for + Mr. Semple?” + </p> + <p> + “Franklin was far off; by my fireside Alexander Semple often sat; + and at my table often he ate. Good friends were we once—good friends + are we now; for all but Love, Death buries.” + </p> + <p> + At this moment General Hyde entered the room. Hurry and excitement were in + his face, though they were well controlled. He gave his hand to Madame Van + Heemskirk, saying— + </p> + <p> + “Good-morning, mother! You look well, as you always do:”—then + turning to his son and regarding the young man’s easy, smiling + indifference, he said with some temper, “What the devil, George, are + you doing here, so early in the day? I have been through the town seeking + you—everywhere—even at that abominable Club, where Frenchmen + and vagabonds of all kinds congregate.” + </p> + <p> + “I was at the Vice-President’s, sir,” answered George, + with a comical assumption of the Vice-President’s manner. + </p> + <p> + “You were WHERE?” + </p> + <p> + “At Richmond Hill. I made an early call on Mrs. Adams.” + </p> + <p> + Then General Hyde laughed heartily. “You swaggering dandy!” he + replied. “Did you take a bet at the Belvedere to intrude on His + Loftiness? And have you a guinea or two on supping a cup of coffee with + him? Upon my honour, you must now be nearly at the end of your follies. + Mother, where is the Colonel?” + </p> + <p> + “He has gone to Elder Semple’s house. You know—” + </p> + <p> + “I know well. For a long time I have purposed to call on the old + gentleman, and what I have neglected I am now justly denied. I meant, at + least, to pay him the last respect; but even that is to-day impossible. + For I must leave for England this afternoon at five o’clock, and I + have more to do than I can well accomplish.” + </p> + <p> + George leaped to his feet at these words. Nothing could have been more + unexpected; but that is the way with Destiny, her movements are ever + unforeseen and inevitable. “Sir,” he cried, “what has + happened?” + </p> + <p> + “Your uncle is dying—perhaps dead. I received a letter this + morning urging me to take the first packet. The North Star sails this + afternoon, and I do not wish to miss her, for she flies English colours, + and they are the only ones the Barbary pirates pretend to respect. Now, + George, you must come with me to Mr. Hamilton’s office; we have much + business to arrange there; then, while I pay a farewell visit to the + President, you can purchase for me the things I shall require for the + voyage.” + </p> + <p> + So far his manner had been peremptory and decided, but, suddenly, a sweet + and marvellous change occurred. He went close to Madame Van Heemskirk, and + taking both her hands, said in a voice full of those tones that captivate + women’s hearts— + </p> + <p> + “Mother! mother! I bid you a loving, grateful farewell! You have + ever been to me good, and gentle, and wise—the very best of mothers. + God bless you!” Then he kissed her with a solemn tenderness, and + Lysbet understood that he believed their parting to be a final one. She + sat down, weeping, and Hyde with an authoritative motion of the head, + commanding his son’s attendance, went hastily out. It was then + eleven o’clock, and there was business that kept both men hurrying + here and there until almost the last hour. It had been agreed that they + were to meet at the City Hotel at four o’clock; and soon after that + hour General Hyde joined his son. He looked weary and sad, and began + immediately to charge George concerning his mother. + </p> + <p> + “We parted with kisses and smiles this morning,” he said; + “and I am glad of it; if I went back, we should both weep; and a wet + parting is not a lucky one. I leave her in your charge, George; and when I + send her word to come to England, look well to her comfort. And be sure to + come with her. Do you hear me?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, sir.” + </p> + <p> + “On no account—even if she wishes it—permit her to come + alone. Promise me.” + </p> + <p> + “I promise you, sir. What is there that I would not do for my + mother? What is there I would not do to please you, sir?” + </p> + <p> + “Let me tell you, George, such words are very sweet to me. As to + yourself, I do not fear for you. It is above, and below reason, that you + should do anything to shame your kindred, living or dead—the living + indeed, you might reconcile; the dead are implacable; and their vengeance + is to be feared.” + </p> + <p> + “I fear not the dead, and I love the living. The honour of Hyde is + safe in my keeping. If you have any advice to give me, sir, pray speak + plainly.” + </p> + <p> + “With all my soul. I ask you, then, to play with some moderation. I + ask you to avoid any entanglement with women. I ask you to withdraw + yourself, as soon as possible, from those blusterers for French liberty—or + rather French license, robbery, and assassination—I tell you there + is going to be a fierce national fracas on the subject. Stand by the + President, and every word he says. Every word is sure to be wise and + right.” + </p> + <p> + “Father, I learnt the word ‘Liberty’ from your lips. I + drew my sword under your command for ‘Liberty.’ I know not how + to discard an idea that has grown into my nature as the veining grows into + the wood.” + </p> + <p> + “Liberty! Yes; cherish it with your life-blood. But France has + polluted the name and outraged the idea. Neither you nor I can wish to be + swept into the common sewers, being by birth, nobles and aristocrats. Earl + Stanhope, who was heart and soul with the French Revolution while it was a + movement for liberty, has just scratched his name with his own hand from + the revolutionary Club. And Burke, who was once its most enthusiastic + defender, has now written a pamphlet which has given it, in England, a + fatal blow. This news came in my letters to-day.” Then taking out + his watch, he rose, saying, “Come, it is time to go to the ship—MY + DEAR GEORGE!” + </p> + <p> + George could not speak. He clasped his father’s hand, and then + walked by his side to Coffee House Slip, where the North Star was lying. + There was no time to spare, and the General was glad of it; for oh, these + last moments! Youth may prolong them, but age has lost youth’s + rebound, and willingly escapes their disintegrating emotion. Before either + realized the fact, the General had crossed the narrow plank; it was + quickly withdrawn; the anchor was lifted to the chanty of “Homeward + bound boys,” and the North Star, with wind and tide in her favour, + was facing the great separating ocean. + </p> + <p> + George turned from the ship in a maze. He felt as if his life had been cut + sharply asunder; at any rate, its continuity was broken, and what other + changes this change might bring it was impossible to foresee. In any + extremity, however, there is generally some duty to do; and the doing of + that duty is the first right step onward. Without reasoning on the matter, + George followed this plan. He had a letter to deliver to his mother; it + was right that it should be delivered as soon as possible; and indeed he + felt as if her voice and presence would be the best of all comfort at that + hour; so late as it was, he rode out to Hyde Manor. His mother, with a + lighted candle in her hand, opened the door for him. + </p> + <p> + “I thought it was thy father, Joris,” she said; “but + what? Is there anything wrong? Why art thou alone?” + </p> + <p> + “There is nothing wrong, dear mother. Come, I will tell you what has + happened.” + </p> + <p> + Then she locked the door carefully, and followed her son into the small + parlour, where she had been sitting. He gave her his father’s + letter, and assumed for her sake, the air of one who has brought good + tidings. She silently read, and folded it; and George said, “It was + the most fortunate thing, the North Star being ready for sea. Father could + hardly have had a better boat; and they started with wind and tide in + their favour. We shall hear in a few weeks from him. Are you not pleased, + mother?” + </p> + <p> + “It is too late, Joris;—twenty years too late. And I wish not + to go to England. Very unhappy was I in that cold, grey country. Very + happy am I here.” + </p> + <p> + “But you must have expected this change?” + </p> + <p> + “Not until your cousin died was there any thought of such a thing. + And long before that, we had built and begun to love dearly this home. I + wish, then, it had been God’s will that your cousin had not died.” + </p> + <p> + “My father—” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, Joris, your father has always longed in his heart for England. + Like a weaning babe that never could be weaned was he. In many ways, he + has lately shown me that he felt himself to be a future English earl. And + thou too? Wilt thou become an Englishman? Then this fair home I have made + for thee will forget thy voice and thy footstep. Woe is me! I have planted + and planned, for whom I know not.” + </p> + <p> + “You have planned and planted for your Joris. I swear to you that I + like England as little as you do. I despise the tomfoolery of courts and + ceremonies. I count an earl no better than any other honourable gentleman. + I desire most of all to marry the woman I love, and live here in the home + that reminds me of you wherever I turn. I want your likeness on the great + stairway, and in all the rooms; so that those who may never see your face + may love you; and say, ‘How good she looks! How beautiful she is!’” + </p> + <p> + “So true art thou! So loving! So dear to me! Even in England I can + be happy if I think of thee Here—filling these big rooms with good + company; riding, shooting, over thine own land, fishing in thy own waters, + telling thy boys and girls how dear grandmother had this pond dug—this + hedge planted—these woods filled with game—these streams set + with willows—these summerhouses built for pleasure. Oh, I have + thought ever as I worked, I shall leave my memory here—and here—and + here again—for never, Joris, never, dear Joris, while thou art in + this world, must thou forget me!” + </p> + <p> + “Never! Never, oh never, dear, dear mother!” + </p> + <p> + And that night they said no more. Both felt there would be plenty of time + in the future to consider whatever changes it might have in store for + them. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI — AUNT ANGELICA + </h2> + <p> + The first changes referred especially to Hyde’s life, and were not + altogether approved by him. His pretence of reading law had to be + abandoned, for he had promised to remain at home with his mother, and it + would not therefore be possible for him to dawdle about Pearl Street and + Maiden Lane watching for Cornelia. But he had that happy and fortunate + temper that trusts to events; and also, he soon began to realize that if + circumstances alter cases, they also alter feelings. + </p> + <p> + For, looking upon Hyde Manor as the future home of himself and his wife—and + that wife, happily, Cornelia—he found it very easy to take an almost + eager interest in all that concerned its welfare and beauty. “How + good! How unselfish he is!” thought his mother. “Never before + has he been so ready to listen and so willing to please me.” But, + really, the work soon became delightful to him. The passion for land and + for its improvement—the ruling passion of an Englishman—was + not absent in George; it was only latent, and the idea of home, of his own + personal home, developed it with amazing rapidity. He was soon able to + make excellent suggestions to his mother; for her ideas, beautiful enough + in the cultivation of flat surfaces, did not embody the grander + possibilities of the higher lands near the river. But George saw every + advantage, and with great ability directed his little gang of labourers + among the rocks and woody crags of the yet unplanted wilderness. + </p> + <p> + In spite of their anxiety about the General, in spite of George’s + longing to see Cornelia, these early summer days, with their glory of + sunshine and shade and their miracles of growth, were very happy days; + though madame reached her happiness by putting the future quite out of her + thoughts, and George reached his by anticipating the future as the + fruition of the present. Never since his early boyhood had madame and her + son been so near and so dear to each other; for her brother-in-law’s + probable death and her husband’s dangerous journeying released her + from social engagements, and permitted her to spend her time in the + employments and the companionship she loved best of all. + </p> + <p> + George, while accepting for himself the same partial seclusion, had more + freedom. He rode into town three or four times every week; got the news of + the clubs and the streets; loitered about Maiden Lane and the shopping + district; and when disappointed and vexed at events went to his + Grandmother Van Heemskirk for sympathy. For, as yet, he hesitated about + naming Cornelia to his mother. He was sure she was aware of his passion, + and her reticence on the subject made him fear she was going to advocate + the fulfilment of his father’s promise. And he had such a singular + delicacy about the girl he loved that he could not endure the thought of + bandying her name about in an angry discussion. Added to this fine sense + was an adoring love for his mother. She was in anxiety enough, and would + be, until she heard of her husband’s safety; why, then, should he + add his anxiety to hers? + </p> + <p> + Yet he was not happy about Cornelia. Since that unfortunate morning at + Richmond Hill they had never met. If she saw him go up or down Maiden + Lane, she made no sign. Several times Arenta’s face at her parlour + window had given him a passing hope; but Arenta’s own love affairs + were just then at a very interesting point; and, besides, she regarded the + young Lieutenant’s admiration for her friend as only one of his many + transient enthusiasms. + </p> + <p> + “If there was anything real in it,” she reflected, “Cornelia + would have talked about him; and that she has never done.” Then she + began to remember, with pride, the very sensible behaviour of her own + lover. “My Athanase,” she reflected, “did not give me an + hour’s rest until we were engaged. He insisted on talking to father + about our marriage settlements and our future—in fact, he made of + love a thing possible and practical. A lover like Joris Hyde is not, I + think, very fortunate.” + </p> + <p> + She did not understand that the quality of love in its finest revelation + desires, after its first sweet inception, a little period of withdrawal—it + wonders at its strange happiness—broods over it—is fearful of + disturbing emotions so exquisite—prefers the certainty of its + delicious suspense to a more definite understanding, and finds a keen + strange delight in its own poignant anxieties and hopes. These are the + birth pangs of an immortal love—of a love that knows within itself, + that it is born for Eternity, and need not to hurry the + three-score-and-ten years of time to a consummation. + </p> + <p> + Of such noble lineage was the love of Cornelia for Joris Hyde. His + gracious, beautiful youth, seemed a part of her own youth; his ardent, + tender glances had filled her heart with a sweet trouble that she did not + understand. It was the most natural thing in the world that she should + wish to be apart; that she should desire to brood over feelings so + strangely happy; and that in this very brooding they should grow to the + perfect stature of a luminous and unquenchable affection. + </p> + <p> + Joris was moved by a sentiment of the same kind, though in a lesser + degree. The masculine desire to obtain, and the delightful consciousness + that he possessed, at least, the tremendous advantage of asking for the + love he craved, roused him from the sweet torpor to which delicious, + dreamy love had inclined him. + </p> + <p> + “I have thought of Cornelia long enough,” he said one + delightful summer morning; “with all my soul I now long to see her. + And it is not an impossible thing I desire. In short, there is some way to + compass it.” Then a sudden, invincible persuasion of success came to + him; he believed in his own good fortune; he had a conviction that the + very stars connived with a true lover to work his will. And under this + enthusiasm he galloped into town, took his horse to a stable, and then + walked towards Maiden Lane. + </p> + <p> + In a few moments he saw Arenta Van Ariens. She was in a mist of blue and + white, with flowing curls, and fluttering ribbons; and a general air of + happiness. He placed himself directly in her path, and doffed his beaver + to the ground as she approached. + </p> + <p> + “Well, then,” she cried, with an affected air of astonishment, + “who would have thought of seeing you? Your retirement is the talk + of the town.” + </p> + <p> + “And pray what does the town say?” + </p> + <p> + “Some part of it says you have lost your fortune at cards; another + part says you have lost your heart and got no compensation for it. ‘Tis + strange to see the folly of young people of this age,” she added, + with a little pretended sigh of superior wisdom. + </p> + <p> + “As if you, also, had not lost your heart!” exclaimed Hyde. + </p> + <p> + “No, sir! I have exchanged mine for its full value. Where are you + going?” + </p> + <p> + “With you.” + </p> + <p> + “In a word, no. For I am going to Aunt Angelica’s.” + </p> + <p> + “Upon my honour, it is to your Aunt Angelica’s I desire to go + most of all!” + </p> + <p> + “Now I understand. You have found out that Cornelia Moran is going + there. Are you still harping on that string? And Cornelia never said one + word to me. I do not approve of such deceit. In my love affairs I have + always been open as the day.” + </p> + <p> + “I assure you that I did NOT know Miss Moran was going there. I had + not a thought of Madame Jacobus until we met. To tell the very truth, I + came into town to look for you.” + </p> + <p> + “For me? And why, pray?” + </p> + <p> + “I want to see Miss Moran. If I cannot see her, then I want to hear + about her. I thought you, of all people, could tell me the most and the + best. I assured myself that you had infinite good temper. Now, pray do not + disappoint me.” + </p> + <p> + “Listen! We meet this afternoon at my aunt’s, to discuss the + dresses and ceremonies proper for a very fine wedding.” + </p> + <p> + “For your own wedding, in fact—Is not that so?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, then?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, then, who knows more on that subject than Joris Hyde? Was I + not, last year, at Lady Betty Somer’s splendid nuptials; and at + Fanny Paget’s, and the Countess of Carlisle’s? Indeed, I + maintain that in such a discussion <i>I</i> am an absolute necessity. And + I wish to know Madame Jacobus. I have long wished to know her. Upon my + honour, I think her to be one of the most interesting women in New York!” + </p> + <p> + “I will advise you a little. Save your compliments until you can say + them to my aunt. I never carry a word to any one.” + </p> + <p> + “Then take me with you, and I will repeat them to her face.” + </p> + <p> + “So? Well, then, here we are, at her very door. I know not what she + will say—you must make your own excuses, sir.” + </p> + <p> + As she was speaking, they ascended the white steps leading to a very + handsome brick house on the west side of Broadway. It had wide iron + piazzas and a fine shady garden at the back, sloping down to the river + bank; and had altogether, on the outside, the very similitude of a wealthy + and fashionable residence. The door was opened by a very dark man, who was + not a negro, and who was dressed in a splendid and outlandish manner—a + scarlet turban above his straight black hair, and gold-hooped earrings, + and a long coat or tunic, heavily embroidered in strange devices. + </p> + <p> + “He was an Algerine pirate,” whispered Arenta. “My Uncle + Jacob brought him here—and my aunt trusts him—I would not, not + for a moment.” + </p> + <p> + As soon as the front door closed, Joris perceived that he was in an + unusual house. The scents and odours of strange countries floated about + it. The hall contained many tall jars, full of pungent gums and roots; and + upon its walls the weapons of savage nations were crossed in idle and + harmless fashion. They went slowly up the highly polished stairway into a + large, low parlour, facing the vivid, everyday business drama of Broadway; + but the room itself was like an Arabian Night’s dream, for the + Eastern atmosphere was supplemented by divans and sofas covered with rare + cashmere shawls, and rugs of Turkestan, and with cushions of all kinds of + oriental splendour. Strange tables of wonderful mosaic work held ivory + carvings of priceless worth; and porcelain from unknown lands. Gods and + goddesses from the yellow Gehenna of China and the utterable idolatry of + India, looked out with brute cruelty, or sempiternal smiles from every odd + corner; or gazed with a fascinating prescience from the high chimney-piece + upon all who entered. + </p> + <p> + The effect upon Hyde was instantaneous and uncanny. His Saxon-Dutch nature + was in instant revolt against influences so foreign and unnatural. Arenta + was unconsciously in sympathy with him; for she said with a shrug of her + pretty shoulders, as she looked around, “I have always bad dreams + after a visit to this room. Do these things have a life of their own? Look + at the creature on that corner shelf! What a serene disdain is in his + smile! He seems to gaze into the very depths of your soul. I see that + there is a curtain to his shrine; and I shall take leave to draw it.” + With these words she went to the scornful divinity, and shut his offending + eyes behind the folds of his gold-embroidered curtain. + </p> + <p> + Hyde watched her flitting about the strange room, and thought of a little + brown wren among the poisonous, vivid splendours of tropical swamp + flowers. So out of place the pretty, thoughtless Dutch girl looked among + the spoils of far India, and Central America, and of Arabian and African + worship and workmanship. But when the door opened, and Madame Jacobus, + with soft, gliding footsteps entered, Hyde understood how truly the soul, + if given the wherewithal, builds the habitation it likes best. Once + possessed of marvellous beauty, and yet extraordinarily interesting, she + seemed the very genius of the room and its strange, suggestive belongings. + She was unusually tall, and her figure had kept its undulating, stately + grace. Her hair, dazzlingly white, was piled high above her ample brow, + held in place with jewelled combs and glittering pins. Her face had lost + its fine oval and youthful freshness, but who of any feeling or + intelligence would not have far preferred the worn countenance, expressing + in a thousand sensitive shades and emotions the story of her life and + love? And if every other beauty had failed, Angelica’s eyes would + have atoned for the loss. They were large, softly-black, slow-moving, or + again, in a moment, flashing with the fire that lay hidden in the dark pit + of the iris. + </p> + <p> + It was said that her slaves adored her, and that no man who came within + her influence had been able to resist her power—no man, perhaps, but + Captain Jacobus; and he had not resisted, he had been content to exercise + over her a power greater than her own. He had made her his wife; he had + lavished on her for ten years the spoils of the four quarters of the + world; and his worship of her had only been equalled by her passionate + attachment to him. Ten years of love, and then parting and silence—unbroken + silence. Yet she still insisted that he was alive, and would certainly + come back to her. With this faith in her heart, she had refused to put on + any symbol of loss or mourning. She kept his fine house open, his room + ready, and herself constantly adorned for his home-coming. Society, which + insists on uniformity, did not approve of this unreasonable hope. It + expected her to adopt the garments of widowhood for a time, and then make + a match in accordance with the great fortune Captain Jacobus had left her. + But Angelica Jacobus was a law unto herself; and society was compelled to + take her with those apologizing shrugs it gives to whatever is original + and individual. + </p> + <p> + She came in with a smile of welcome. She was always pleased that her fine + home should be seen by those strange to it; and perhaps was particularly + pleased that General Hyde’s son should be her visitor. And as Joris + was determined to win her favour, there was an almost instantaneous birth + of good-will. + </p> + <p> + “Let me kiss your hand, madame,” said the handsome young + fellow, lifting the jewelled fingers in his own. “I have heard that + my father had once that honour. Do not put me below him;” and with + the words he touched with his warm lips the long white fingers. + </p> + <p> + Her laugh rang merrily through the dim room, and she answered—“You + are Dick Hyde’s own son—nothing else. I see that”—and + she drew the young man towards the light and looked with a steady pleasure + into his smiling face as she asked— + </p> + <p> + “What brought you here this morning, sir?” + </p> + <p> + “Madame, I have heard my father speak of you; I have seen you; can + you wonder that I desired to know you? This morning I met Miss Van Ariens, + and when she said she was coming here, I found myself unable to resist the + temptation of coming with her.” + </p> + <p> + “Let me tell you something, aunt. I think Lieutenant Hyde can be of + great service to us. He took part in several noble English weddings last + year, and he offers his advice in our consultation to-day.” + </p> + <p> + “But where is Cornelia? I thought she would come with you.” + </p> + <p> + “She will be here in a few minutes. I saw her half-an-hour ago.” + </p> + <p> + “What a beautiful girl she has become!” said madame. + </p> + <p> + “She is an angel,” said Hyde. + </p> + <p> + Angelica laughed. “The man who calls a woman an angel has never had + any sisters,” she answered; “but, however, she has beauty + enough to set young hearts ablaze. I like the girl, and I wonder not that + others do the same.” + </p> + <p> + Even as she spoke Cornelia entered. There was a little flush and hurry on + her face; but oh, how innocent and joyous it was! Quick-glancing, sweetly + smiling, she entered the musky, scented parlour, and in her white robe and + white hat stood like a lily in its light and gloom. And when she turned to + Hyde an ineffable charm and beauty illumed her countenance. “How + glad I am to see you!” she said, and the very ring of gladness was + in her voice. “And how strange that we should meet here!” + </p> + <p> + “That is so,” replied Madame Jacobus. “One can never see + where the second little bird comes from.” + </p> + <p> + “Am I late, madame? Surely your clock is wrong.” + </p> + <p> + “My clock is never wrong, Cornelia, A Dutch clock will always go + just about so. Come, now, sit down, and let us talk of such follies as + weddings and wedding gowns.” + </p> + <p> + In this conversation Hyde triumphantly redeemed his promise of assistance. + He could describe with a delightful accuracy—or inaccuracy—the + lovely toilets and pretty accessories of the high English wedding feasts + of the previous year. And in some subtle way he threw into these + descriptions such a glamour of romance, such backgrounds of old castles + and chiming bells, of noble dames glittering with gems, and village maids + scattering roses, of martial heroes, and rejoicing lovers, all moving in + an atmosphere of song and sunshine, that the little party sat listening, + entranced, with sympathetic eyes drinking in his wonderful descriptions. + </p> + <p> + Madame Jacobus was the first to interrupt these pretty reminiscences. + “All this is very fine,” she said, “but the most of it + is no good for us. The satin and the lace and even the gems, we can have; + the music can be somehow managed, and we shall not make a bad show as to + love and beauty. But castles and lords and military pomp, and old + cathedrals hung with battle flags— Such things are not to be had + here, and, in plain truth, they are not necessary for the wedding of a + simple maid like our Arenta.” + </p> + <p> + “You forget, then, that my Athanase is of almost royal descent,” + said Arenta. “A very old family are the Tounnerres—older, + indeed, than the royal Capets.” + </p> + <p> + “No one is to-day so poor as to envy the royal Capets; and as for an + ancient family, Captain Jacobus used to speak of his forefathers as the + old fellows whom the flood could not wash away.’ Jacobus always put + his ideas in such clear, forcible words. What I want to know is this—where + is the ceremony to be performed?” + </p> + <p> + “The civil ceremony is to be at the French Embassy,” answered + Arenta with some pride. + </p> + <p> + “Is that all there is to it?” + </p> + <p> + “Aunt! How could you imagine that I should be satisfied with a civil + ceremony? My father also insists upon a religious ceremony; and my + Athanase told him he was willing to marry me in every church in America. I + am not Gertrude Kippon! No, indeed! I insist on everything being done in a + moral and respectable manner. My father spoke of Doctor Kunz for the + religious part.” + </p> + <p> + “I like not Doctor Kunz,” answered madame. “Bishop + Provoost and the Episcopal service is the proper thing. Doctor Kunz will + be sure to say some sharp words—his tongue is full of them—he + stands too stiff—he does not use his hands gracefully—his walk + and carriage is not dignified—and he looks at you through spectacles—and + I, for one, do not like to be looked at through spectacles. We must decide + for the Episcopal church.” + </p> + <p> + “And the little trip after it,” continued Arenta. “Lieutenant + Hyde says that, in England, it is now the proper thing.” + </p> + <p> + “But in America it is not the proper thing. It is a rude unmannerly + way to run off with a bride. We are not red Indians, nor is the Marquis + carrying you by force from some hostile tribe. The nuptial trip is a + barbarism. I am now weary. Lieutenant, take Miss Moran and show her my + garden. I tell you, it is worth walking through; and when you have seen + the flowers, Arenta and I will give you a cup of tea.” + </p> + <p> + Arenta would gladly have gone into the garden also, but her aunt detained + her. “Can you not see,” she asked, “that those two are + in love with each other? Give love its hour. They do not want your + company.” + </p> + <p> + “And for that very reason I wish to go with them. My brother is in + love with Cornelia, and I am for Rem, and not for a stranger—also, + my father and Cornelia’s father are both for Rem; and, besides, + Doctor Moran hates the Hydes. He will not let Cornelia marry the man.” + </p> + <p> + “HE WILL NOT LET! When did Doctor John become omnipotent? Love + laughs at fathers, as well as at locksmiths. And if Doctor John is against + young Hyde, then I shall the more cheerfully be for him—a pleasant, + handsome youth as ever I saw, is he; and Doctor John—well, he is + neither pleasant nor handsome.” + </p> + <p> + “Aunt Angelica! I am astonished at you! Every one will contradict + what you say.” + </p> + <p> + “For that reason, I will maintain it. It is not my way to shout with + the multitude.” + </p> + <p> + With some hesitation, yet quite carried away by Hyde’s personal + longing and impulse, Cornelia went into the garden with her lover. It was + a green, shady place, full of great maple-trees and flowering vines and + shrubs, and patches of green grass. All kinds of sweet old-fashioned + flowers grew there, mingling their scent with the strawberries’ + perfume and the woody odours of the ripening cherries. They were alone in + this lovely place; the high privet hedges hid them from the outside world, + and the babble and rumble of Broadway came to them only as the murmur of + noise in a dream. Speechless with joy, Hyde clasped Cornelia’s + slender fingers, and they went together down the few broad low steps which + led them into the green shadows of the trees. How soft was the grassy + turf! How exquisite the westering sunlight, sifting through the maple + leaves! They looked into each other’s eyes and smiled, but were too + happy to speak. For they had suddenly come into that land, which is east + of the sun, and west of the moon; that land not laid down on any chart, + but which we feel to be our rightful heritage. + </p> + <p> + Slowly, as they stepped, they came at length to a little summerhouse. It + was covered with a thick jessamin vine; and the mysterious, languorous + perfume of its starlike flowers filled the narrow resting-place with the + very atmosphere of love. They sat down there, and in a few moments the + seal was broken and Hyde’s heart found out all the sweetest words + that love could speak. Cornelia trembled; she blushed, she smiled, she + suffered herself to be drawn close to his side; and, at last, in some + sweet, untranslatable way, she gave him the assurance of her love. Then + they found in delicious silence the eloquence that words were incompetent + to translate; time was forgotten, and on earth there was once more an + interlude of heavenly harmony in which two souls became one and Paradise + was regained. + </p> + <p> + Arenta’s voice, petulant and not pleasant, broke the charm. With a + sigh they rose, dropped each other’s hand, and went out of their + heaven on earth to meet her. + </p> + <p> + “Tea is waiting,” she said, “and Rem is waiting, and my + aunt is tired, and you two have forgotten that the clock moves.” + Then they laughed, and laughter is always fatal to feeling; the magical + land of love was suddenly far away, and there was the sound of china, and + the heavy tones of Rem’s voice—dissatisfied, if not angry—and + Arenta’s lighter fret; and they stood once more among fetishes and + forms so foreign, fabulous and fantastical, that it was difficult to pass + from the land of love, and all its pure delights, into their atmosphere. + </p> + <p> + It would have been harder but for Madame Jacobus. She understood; and she + sympathized; and there was a kindly element in her nature which disposed + her to side with the lovers. Her smile,—quick and short as a flash + of the eyes—revealed to Hyde her intention of favour, and without + one spoken word, these two knew themselves to be of the same mind. And, in + parting, she held his hand while she talked, saying at last the very words + he longed to hear— + </p> + <p> + “We shall expect you again on Thursday, Lieutenant. Everything is + yet undecided, and the work you have begun, it is right that you should + finish.” + </p> + <p> + He answered only, “Thank you, madame!” but he accompanied the + words with a look which asked so much, and confessed so much, that madame + felt herself to be a silent confidante and a not unwilling accomplice. And + when she had closed the door on her guests, she acknowledged it. “But + then,” she whispered, “I always did dearly love a lover; and + this promises to be a love affair that will need my help—plenty of + good honest hatred for it to combat—and wealth and rank and all + sorts of conflicting conditions to get the better of—Well, then, my + help is ready. In plain truth, I don’t like such perfection as + Doctor John; and my nephew Rem is not interesting. He is sulky, and Hyde + is good-tempered, just like his father, too; and there never was a more + fascinating man than Dick Hyde. HE-HO! I remember!—I remember!—and + yet I dare say Dick has forgotten my very name—this is a marriage + that will exactly suit me—I don’t care who is against it!” + Then she said softly to herself— + </p> + <p> + “REM went to Cornelia as they were about to leave, and he reminded + her that, by her permission, he had come to walk home with her. + </p> + <p> + “CORNELIA turned to Hyde, excused herself, and, cool and silent, + took her place by Rem’s side. + </p> + <p> + “HYDE accepted the position with a smile, and a gracious bow, and + then joined Arenta. + </p> + <p> + “ARENTA was far less agreeable than she ought to have been; for both + she and her brother had a kind of divination. They knew, in spite of + appearances, that Rem had not got the best of Joris Hyde. I am quick in my + observations, and I know this is so. Well then, it is a very interesting + affair as it stands—and it is like to grow far more interesting. I + am not opposed to that. I shall enjoy it. Hyde and Cornelia ought to marry—and + they have my good wishes.” + </p> + <p> + As for Hyde, no thought that could mar the sweetness and joy of this + fortunate hour came into his mind. Neither Rem’s evident hatred, nor + Arenta’s disapproval, nor yet Cornelia’s silence, troubled + him. He had within his heart a talisman that made everything propitious. + And he was so joyous that the people whom he passed on the street caught + happiness from him. Men and women alike turned to look after the youth, + for they felt the virtue of his passing presence, and wondered what it + might mean. Even the necessary parting from Cornelia was only a phase of + this wonderful gladness; for Love never fails of his token, and, though + Arenta’s sharp eyes could not discover it, Hyde received the silent + message that was meant for him, and for him only. That one thought made + his heart bound and falter with its exquisite delight—for him only—for + him only, was that swift but certain assurance; that instantaneous bright + flash of love that held in it all heaven and earth, and left him, as he + told himself again and again, the happiest man in all the world. + </p> + <p> + He was hardly responsible for his actions at this hour; for when a swift + gallop brought him to the Van Heemskirk house, he quite unconsciously + struck the door some rapid, forceful blows, with his riding whip. His + grandfather opened it with an angry face. + </p> + <p> + “I thought it was thee,” he said. “Now, then, in such + lordly fashion, whom didst thou summon? dog or slave, was it?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, grandfather, I intended no harm. Did I strike so hard? Upon my + word, I meant it not.” + </p> + <p> + At this moment Madame Van Heemskirk came quickly forward. She turned a + face of disapproval on her husband, and asked sharply, “Why dost + thou complain?” + </p> + <p> + “I like not my house-door struck so rudely, Lysbet. No man in all + America, but Joris Hyde, would dare to do it.” + </p> + <p> + At these words Joris flung himself from his horse and clasped his + grandfather’s hand. “I did wrong,” he said warmly; + “but I am beside myself with happiness; and I thought of nothing but + telling you. My heart was in such a hurry that my hands forgot how to + behave themselves.” + </p> + <p> + “So happy as that, art thou? Good! Come in, and tell us what has + happened to thee.” + </p> + <p> + But Lysbet divined the joy in her grandson’s face; and she said + softly as he seated himself at the open window where his grandfather’s + chair was placed— + </p> + <p> + “It is Cornelia?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, it is Cornelia. She loves me! The most charming girl the sun + ever shone upon loves me. It is incredible! It is amazing! I cannot + believe in my good fortune. Will you assure me it is possible? I want to + hear some one say so—and who is there but my grandfather and you? I + do not like to tell my mother, just yet. What do you say?” + </p> + <p> + “I say that thou hast chosen a good girl for a wife. God bless thee,” + answered Lysbet with great emotion. + </p> + <p> + Van Heemskirk smiled, but was silent; and Hyde stooped forward, gently + moved his long pipe away from his lips, and said, “Grandfather, + speak, You know Cornelia Moran?” + </p> + <p> + “I have seen her. With thee I saw her—walking with thee—dancing + with thee. A great beauty I thought her. Thy grandmother says she is good. + Well, then, the love of a good, beautiful girl, is something to be glad + over. Not twice in a lifetime comes such great fortune. But make up thy + mind to expect much opposition. Doctor John and thy father were ever + unfriends. Thy father has other plans for thee; Cornelia’s father + has doubtless other plans for her. Few men can stand against Doctor John; + he has the word, and the way, to carry all before him. I know not how the + little Cornelia can dare to disobey him.” + </p> + <p> + “She has said ‘yes’ to me; and, before heaven and earth, + she will stand by it.” + </p> + <p> + “Say that much. And of thyself, art thou sure?” + </p> + <p> + “Why art thou throwing cold water on such sweet hopes?” said + Lysbet to her husband. + </p> + <p> + “Because, when love flames beyond duty and honour and all + expediences, Lysbet, some one a little cold water ought to throw. And THOU + will not do it. No! Rather, would thou add fuel to the flame.” + </p> + <p> + “I know not what you mean, sir,” said Hyde, vaguely troubled + by his grandfather’s words. + </p> + <p> + “I think thou knowest well what I mean. Thy father has told thee + that thy duty and thy honour are pledged to Annie Hyde.” + </p> + <p> + “I never pledged! Never!” + </p> + <p> + “But, as in thy baptism thy father made vows for thee, so also for + thy marriage he made promises. Noble birth has responsibility, as well as + privilege. For thyself alone it is not permitted thee to live, from both + the past and the future there are demands on thee.” + </p> + <p> + “Grandfather, this living for the future is the curse of the English + land-owners. They enjoy not the present, for they are busy taking care of + the years they will never see. Their sons are in their way; it is their + grandsons and their great-grandsons that interest them. Why should my + father plan for my marriage? He may be Earl Hyde for twenty years—and + I hope he will. For twenty years Cornelia and I can be happy here in + America; and twenty years is a great opportunity. Everything can happen in + twenty years. Of one thing I am sure—I will marry Cornelia Moran, + even if I run away with her to the ends of the earth.” + </p> + <p> + “‘Run away with her.’ To be sure! That is in the blood;” + and the old man looked sternly back to the days when Hyde’s father + ran away with his own little daughter. + </p> + <p> + With some anger Lysbet answered his thoughts. “What art thou talking + about? What art thou thinking of? Many good men have run away with their + wives. This almighty Doctor John ran away with his wife. Did not Ava + Willing leave her father’s house and her friends and her faith for + him? And did not the Quakers read her out of their Meeting for her + marriage?—and I blame them not. Doctor John was no match for Ava + Willing. More, too, if thou must look back; remember one May night, when + thou and I sat by the Collect in the moonlight, and thou gave me this + ring. What did thou say to me that night?” + </p> + <p> + “‘Tis years ago, Lysbet, and If I have forgotten—” + </p> + <p> + “Forgotten! Well, then, men do forget; but they may be thankful that + God has so made women that they do NOT forget. The words thou said that + night have been singing in my heart for fifty years; and yet, if thou must + be told, some of those words were about RUNNING AWAY WITH THEE;—for, + at the first, my father liked thee not.” + </p> + <p> + “Lysbet! My sweet Lysbet! I have not forgotten. For thy dear sake I + will stand by Joris, though in doing so I am sure I shall make some + unfriends.” + </p> + <p> + “Good, my husband. I take leave to say that thou art doing right.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, then,” said Hyde, “if my grandmother stand by me, + and you also, sir; and also Madame Jacobus—” + </p> + <p> + “Madame Jacobus!” cried Lysbet. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, indeed!” answered Hyde. “‘Tis to her + understanding and kindness I owe my opportunity; and she gave me, also, + one look which I cannot pretend to misunderstand—a look of clear + sympathy—a look that promised help.” + </p> + <p> + “She is a clever woman,” said Van Heemskirk. “If Joris + has her good will it is not to be thrown away.” + </p> + <p> + “I like her not,” said Lysbet. “With my grandson, with + my affairs, why should she meddle? Pray, now, what took thee, Joris, to + her house? It is full of idolatries and graven images. Doctor Kunz once + wrote to her a letter about them. He said she ought to remember the Second + Commandment. And she wrote to him a letter, and told him to trouble + himself with his own business. Much anger and shame there might have been + out of this, but Angelica Jacobus is rich, and she is generous to the + church, and to the poor; and Doctor Kunz said to the elders, ‘Let + her alone, for there is a savour of righteousness in her;’ and when + she heard of that, she was pleased with the Doctor, and sent him one + hundred dollars for the Indian Mission. But, Joris, she is no good to + thee. I hear many queer stories of her.” + </p> + <p> + “Downright lies, all of them,” replied Hyde. Then he rose, + saying, “I must ride onward. My mother will not sleep until she sees + me.” + </p> + <p> + “It is nearly dark,” said Van Heemskirk, “and to-night + thou art in the clouds. The land and the water will be alike to thee. Rest + until the morning.” + </p> + <p> + “I fear not the dark. I know the road by night or by day.” + </p> + <p> + “Yet, even so, mind what I tell thee—if thou ride in the dark, + be not wiser than thy beast.” + </p> + <p> + Then they walked with him to the door, and watched him leap to his saddle + and ride into the twilight trembling over the misty meadows, trickling + with dews. And a great melancholy fell over them, and they could not + resume the conversation. Joris re-lit his pipe, and Lysbet went softly and + thoughtfully about her household duties. It was one of those hours in + which Life distills for us her vague melancholy wine; and Joris and Lysbet + drank deeply of it. + </p> + <p> + The moon was in its third day, and the silent crescent has no calmer and + sweeter time; yet Joris it inclined to a sad presentiment. “In my + heart there is a fear, Lysbet,” he said softly. “I think our + boy has gone a road he will dearly rue. I foresee disputing, and wounded + hearts, and lives made barren by many disappointed hopes.” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing of the kind,” answered Lysbet cheerfully. “Our + little Joris is so happy to-night, why wilt thou think evil for him? To + think evil is to bring evil. Out of foolishness or perchance such a great + love has not come. No, indeed! That it comes from heaven I am sure; and to + heaven I will leave its good fortune.” + </p> + <p> + “Pleasant are thy hopes, Lysbet; but, too often, vain and foolish.” + </p> + <p> + “Thy reasoning, is it any wiser? No. Often I have found it wrong. + One thing the years have said to me, it is this—‘Lysbet put + not thy judgment in the place of Providence. If thou trust Providence, + thou hast the easy heart of a child of God; if thou trust to thine own + judgment, thou hast the troubled heart of an anxious woman.’” + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII — ARENTA’S MARRIAGE + </h2> + <p> + For a few weeks, Hyde’s belief that the very stars would connive + with a true lover seemed a reliable one. Madame Jacobus, attracted at + their first meeting to the youth, soon gave him an astonishing affection. + And yet this warm love of an old woman for youth and beauty was a very + natural one—a late development of the maternal instinct leading her + even to what seemed an abnormal preference. For she put aside her nephew’s + claims with hardly a thought, and pleased herself day by day in so + managing and arranging events that Hyde and Cornelia met, as a matter of + course. Arenta was not, however, deceived; she understood every maneuvre, + but the success of her own affairs depended very much on her aunt’s + cooperation and generosity, and so she could not afford, at this time, to + interfere for her brother. + </p> + <p> + “But I shall alter things a little as soon as I am married,” + she told herself. “I will take care of that. At this time I must + see, and hear, and say nothing. I must act politely—for I am always + polite—and Athanase also is in favour of politeness—but I take + leave to say that Joris Hyde shall not carry so much sail when a few weeks + are gone by. So happy he looks! So pleased with himself! So sure of all he + says and does! I am angry at him all the time. Well, then, it will be a + satisfaction to abate a little the confidence of this cock-sure young man.” + </p> + <p> + Arenta’s feelings were in kind and measure shared by several other + people; Doctor Moran held them in a far bitterer mood; but he, also,—environed + by circumstances he could neither alter nor command,—was compelled + to satisfy his disapproval with promises of a future change. For the + wedding of Arenta Van Ariens had assumed a great social importance. Arenta + herself had talked about the affair until all classes were on the tiptoe + of expectation. The wealthy Dutch families, the exclusive American set, + the home and foreign diplomatic circles, were alike looking forward to the + splendid ceremony, and to the great breakfast at Peter Van Ariens’ + house, and to the ball which Madame Jacobus was to give in the evening. + None of the younger people had ever been in madame’s fantastic + ballroom, and they were eager for this entry into her wonderful house. For + their mothers—seeing things through the mists of Time—had, + innocently enough, exaggerated the marvels of the Chinese lanterns, the + feather flowers and gorgeously plumed birds, the cases of tropical + butterflies and beetles, and the fascination of the pagan deities, until + they were ready to listen to any tale about Madame Jacobus and to swallow + it like cream. + </p> + <p> + So Doctor Moran, being physician and family friend to most of the invited + guests, had to listen to such reminiscences and anticipations wherever he + went. He knew that he could not talk against the great public current, and + that in the excited state of social feeling it would be a kind of treason + even to hint disapproval of Arenta, or of any of her friends or doings. + But he suffered. He was questioned by some, he was enlightened by others; + his opinion was asked about dresses and ceremonies, he was constantly + congratulated on his daughter’s prominence as bridesmaid, and he was + sent for professionally, that he might be talked to socially. Yet if he + ventured to hint dissatisfaction, or to express himself by a scornful + “Pooh! Pooh!” he was answered by looks of such astonishment, + of such quick-springing womanly suspicions, that he could not doubt the + kind of conversation which followed his exit: + </p> + <p> + “Do you think Doctor Moran VERY clever?” + </p> + <p> + “Most people think so.” + </p> + <p> + “He is so unsympathetic. Doctor Moore knows everything Madame + Jacobus is going to have, and to do. I think doctors ought to be chatty. + It is so good for their patients to be cheered up a little.” + </p> + <p> + Doctor Moran divined perfectly this taste for gossip and MEDICINAL + sympathy combined, and to administer it was, to him, more nauseous than + his own bitterest drugs. So in these days he was not a cheerful man to + live with, and Cornelia’s beauty and radiant happiness affected him + very much as Hyde’s pronounced satisfaction affected Arenta. One + morning, as he was returning home after a round of disagreeable visits, he + saw Cornelia and Hyde coming up Broadway together. They were sauntering + side by side in all the lazy happiness of perfect love; and as he looked + at them the sorrow of an immense disillusion filled him to the lips. He + had believed himself, as yet, to be the first and the dearest in his child’s + love; but in that moment his eyes were opened, and he felt as if he had + been suddenly thrust out from it and the door closed upon him. + </p> + <p> + He did the wisest thing possible: he went home to his wife. She heard him + ride with clattering haste into the stone court, and soon after enter the + house from the back, banging every door after him. She knew then that + something had angered him—that he was in that temper which makes a + woman cry, but which a man can only relieve by noisy or emphatic movement + of some kind. A resolute look came into her face and she said to herself, + “John has always had his own way—and my way also; but Cornelia’s + way—the child must surely have something to say about that.” + </p> + <p> + “Where is Cornelia, Ava?” He asked the question with a quick + glance round the room, as if he expected to find her present. + </p> + <p> + “Cornelia is not at home to-day.” + </p> + <p> + “Is she ever at home now?” + </p> + <p> + “You know that Arenta’s wedding—” + </p> + <p> + “Arenta’s wedding! I am tired to death of it: I have heard + nothing this morning but Arenta’s wedding. Why the deuce! should my + house be turned upside down and inside out for Arenta’s wedding? + Women have been married before Arenta Van Ariens, and women will be + married after her. What is all this fuss about?” + </p> + <p> + “You know—” + </p> + <p> + “Bless my soul! of course I know. I know one thing at least, that I + have just met Cornelia and that young fop George Hyde coming up the street + together, as if they two alone were in the world. They never saw me, they + could see nothing but themselves.” + </p> + <p> + “Men and women have done such a thing before, John, and they will do + it again. Cornelia is a beautiful girl; it is natural that she should have + a lover.” + </p> + <p> + “It is very unnatural that she should choose for her lover the son + of my worst enemy.” + </p> + <p> + “I am sure you wrong General Hyde. When was he your enemy? How could + he be your enemy?” + </p> + <p> + “When was he my enemy? Ever since the first hour we met. Often he + tried to injure me with General Washington; often he accused me of showing + partiality to certain officers in the army; only last year he prevented my + election to the Senate by using all his influence in favour of Joris Van + Heemskirk. If he has not done me more injury and more injustice, tis + because he has not had the opportunity. And you want me to give Cornelia + to his son! Yes, you do, Ava! I see it on your face. You stretch my + patience too far. Can I not see—” + </p> + <p> + “Can an angry man ever see? No, he cannot. You feed your own + suspicions, John. You might just as well link Cornelia’s name with + Rem Van Ariens as with Joris Hyde. She is continually in Rem’s + company. He is devoted to her. She cannot possibly misunderstand his looks + and words, she must perceive that he is her ardent lover. You might have + seen them the last three evenings sitting together at that table preparing + the invitations for the wedding breakfast and ball; arranging the cards + and favours.—So happy! So pleasantly familiar! So confidential! I + think Rem Van Ariens has as much of Cornelia’s liking as George + Hyde; and perhaps neither of them have enough of it to win her hand. All + lovers do not grow to husbands.” + </p> + <p> + “Thank God, they do not! But what you say about Rem is only cobweb + stuff. She is too friendly, too pleasantly familiar, I would like to see + her more shy and silent with him. Every one has already given my daughter + to Hyde, and, say what you will, common fame is seldom to blame.” + </p> + <p> + “Dinner is waiting, John, and whether you eat it or not Destiny will + go straight to her mark. Love is destiny; and the heart is its own fate. + There are those to whom we are spiritually related, and the tie is kinder + than flesh and blood. Can you, or I, count such kindred? No; but souls see + each other at a glance. Did I not know thee, John, the very moment that we + met?” + </p> + <p> + She spoke softly, with a voice sweeter than music, and her husband was + touched and calmed. He took the hand she stretched out to him and kissed + it, and she added— + </p> + <p> + “Let us be patient. Love has reasons that reason does not + understand; and if Cornelia is Hyde’s by predestination, as well as + by choice, vainly we shall worry and fret; all our opposition will come to + nothing. Give Cornelia this interval, and tithe it not; in a few days + Arenta will have gone away; and as for Hyde, any hour may summon him to + join his father in England; and this summons, as it will include his + mother, he can neither evade nor put off. Then Rem will have his + opportunity.” + </p> + <p> + “To be patient—to wait—to say nothing—it is to + give opportunity too much scope. I must tell that young fellow a little of + my mind—” + </p> + <p> + “You must not make yourself a town’s talk, John. Just now New + York is all for lovers. If you interfere between Hyde and Cornelia while + it is in this temper, every one will cry out, ‘Oh, the pity of it!’ + and you will be bayed into doing some mad thing or other. Do I not know + you, dear one?” + </p> + <p> + “God’s precious!” and he took her in his arms, saying, + “the man who learns nothing from his wife will never learn anything + from anybody. Come, then, and we will eat our meal. I had forgotten Rem, + and as you say, Hyde may have to go to England to-morrow; putting-off has + broken up many an ill marriage.” + </p> + <p> + “Time and absence against any love affair that is not destiny! And + if it be destiny, there is only submission, nothing else. But life has a + maybe’ in everything dear; a maybe that is just as likely to please + us as not.” + </p> + <p> + Then Doctor John looked up with a smile. “You are right, Ava,” + he said cheerfully. “I will take the maybe. Maybes have a deal to do + with life. When you come to think of it, there is not a victory of any + kind gained, nor a good deed done except on a maybe. So maybe all I fear + may pass like a summer cloud. Yet, take my word for it, there is, I think, + no maybe in Rem’s chances with Cornelia.” + </p> + <p> + “We shall see. I think there is.” + </p> + <p> + Certainly Rem was of this opinion. The past few weeks had been very + favourable to him. In them he had been continually associated with + Cornelia, and her manner towards him had been so frankly kind and + familiar, so confidential and sympathetic, that he could not help but + contrast it with their previous intercourse, when she had appeared to + withdraw herself from all his approaches and to forbid by her retiring + manner even the courtesies to which his long acquaintance with her + entitled him. + </p> + <p> + If he had known more of women he would not have given himself any hope on + this change of attitude. It simply meant that Cornelia had arrived at that + certainty with regard to her own affections which permitted her a more + general latitude. She knew that she loved Hyde, and she knew that Hyde + loved her. They had a most complete confidence in each other; and she was + not afraid, either for his sake or her own, to give to Rem that friendship + which the circumstances warranted. That this friendship could ever grow to + love on her part was an impossible thing; and if she thought of Rem’s + feelings, it was to suppose that he must understand this position as well + as she did herself. + </p> + <p> + Rem, however, was quite aware of his rival, and with the blunt directness + of his nature watched with jealous dislike, and often with rude + impatience, the familiar intercourse which his aunt’s partiality + permitted Hyde. He was, indeed, often so rude that a less sweet-tempered, + a less just youth than George Hyde would have pointedly resented many + offences that he passed by with that “noble not caring” which + is often the truest courage. + </p> + <p> + Still the situation was one of great tension, and it required not only the + wise forbearance of Hyde and Cornelia, but the domineering selfishness of + Arenta and the suave clever diplomacies of Madame Jacobus to preserve at + times the merely decent conventionalities of polite life. To keep the + peace until the wedding was over—that was all that Rem promised + himself; THEN! He often gave voice to this last word, though he had no + distinct idea as to what measures he included in those four letters. + </p> + <p> + He told himself, however, that it would be well for George Hyde to be in + England, and that if he were there, the General might be trusted to look + after the marriage of his son. For he knew that an English noble would be + of necessity bound by his caste and his connections, and that Hyde would + have to face obligations he would not be able to shirk. “Then, then, + his opportunity to win Cornelia would come!” And it was at this + point the hopeful “maybe” entered into Rem’s desires and + anticipations. + </p> + <p> + But wrath covered carries fate. Every one was in some measure conscious of + this danger and glad when the wedding day approached. Even Arenta had + grown a little weary of the prolonged excitement she had provoked, for + everything had gone so well with her that she had taken the public very + much into her confidence. There had been frequent little notices in the + Gazette and Journal of the approaching day—of the wedding presents, + the wedding favours, the wedding guests, and the wedding garments. And, as + if to add the last touch of glory to the event, just a week before Arenta’s + nuptials a French armed frigate came to New York bearing despatches for + the Count de Moustier; and the Marquis de Tounnerre was selected to bear + back to France the Minister’s Message. So the marriage was put + forward a few days for this end, and Arenta in the most unexpected way + obtained the bridal journey which she desired; and also with it the + advantage of entering France in a semi-public and stately manner. + </p> + <p> + “I am the luckiest girl in the world,” she said to Cornelia + and her brother when this point had been decided. They were tying up + “dream-cake” for the wedding guests in madame’s queer, + uncanny drawing-room as she spoke, and the words were yet on her lips when + madame entered with a sandal wood box in her hands. + </p> + <p> + “Rem,” she said, “go with Cornelia into the dining-room + a few minutes. I have something to say to Arenta that concerns no one + else.” + </p> + <p> + As soon as they were alone madame opened the box and upon a white velvet + cushion lay the string of oriental pearls which Arenta on certain + occasions had been permitted to wear. Arenta’s eyes flashed with + delight. She had longed for them to complete her wedding costume, but + having a very strong hope that her aunt would offer her this favour, she + had resolved to wait for her generosity until the last hour. Now she was + going; to receive the reward of her prudent patience, and she said to + herself, “How good it is to be discreet!” With an intense + desire and interest she looked at the beautiful beads, but madame’s + face was troubled and sombre, and she said almost reluctantly— + </p> + <p> + “Arenta, I am going to make you an offer. This necklace will be + yours when I die, at any rate; but I think there is in your heart a wish + to have it now. Is this so?” + </p> + <p> + “Aunt, I should like—oh, indeed I long to wear the beads at my + marriage. I shall only be half-dressed without them.” + </p> + <p> + “You shall wear the necklace. And as you are going to what is left + of the French Court, I will give it to you now, if the gift will be to + your mind.” + </p> + <p> + “There is nothing that could be more to my mind, dear aunt. I would + rather have the necklace, than twice its money’s worth. Thank you, + aunt. You always know what is in a young girl’s heart.” + </p> + <p> + “First, listen to what I say. No woman of our family has escaped + calamity of some kind, if they owned these beads. My mother lost her + husband the year she received them. My Aunt Hildegarde lost her fortune as + soon as they were hers. As for myself, on the very day they became mine + your Uncle Jacobus sailed away, and he has never come back. Are you not + afraid of such fatality?” + </p> + <p> + “No, I am not. Things just happen that way. What power can a few + beads have over human life or happiness? To say so, to think so, is + foolishness.” + </p> + <p> + “I know not. Yet I have heard that both pearls and opals have the + power to attract to themselves the ill fortune of their wearers. If they + happen to be maiden pearls or gems that would be good; but would you wish + to inherit the evil fortune of all the women who have possessed before + you?” + </p> + <p> + “Poor pearls! It is they who are the unfortunates.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, but a time comes when they have taken all of misfortune they + can take; then the pearls grow black and die, really die. Yes, indeed! I + have seen dead pearls. And if the necklace were of opals, when that time + came for them the gems would lose their fire and colour, grow ashy grey, + fall apart and become dust, nothing but dust.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you believe such tales, aunt? I do not. And your pearls are yet + as white as moonlight. I do not fear them. Give them to me, aunt. I snap + my fingers at such fables.” + </p> + <p> + “Give them to you, I will not, Arenta; but you may take them from + the box with your own hands.” + </p> + <p> + “I am delighted to take them. I have always longed for them.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps then they longed for you, for what is another’s + yearns for its owner.” + </p> + <p> + Then madame left the room and Arenta lifted the box and carried it nearer + to the light. And a little shiver crept through her heart and she closed + the lid quickly and said irritably— + </p> + <p> + “It is my aunt’s words. She is always speaking dark and + doubtful things. However, the pearls are mine at last!” and she + carried them with her downstairs, throwing back her head as if they were + round her white throat and—as was her way—spreading herself as + she went. + </p> + <p> + All fine weddings are much alike. It was only in such accidentals as + costume that Arenta’s differed from the fine weddings of to-day. + There was the same crush of gayly attired women, of men in full dress, or + military dress, or distinguished by diplomatic insignia:—the same + low flutter of silk, and stir of whispered words, and suppressed + excitement—the same eager crowd along the streets and around the + church to watch the advent of the bride and bridegroom. All of the guests + had seen them very often before, yet they too looked at the dazzling girl + in white as if they expected an entirely different person. The murmur of + pleasure, the indefinable stir of human emotion, the solemn mystical words + at the altar that were making two one, the triumphant peal of music when + they ceased, and the quick crescendo of rising congratulation—all + these things were present then, as now. And then, as now, all these things + failed to conceal from sensitive minds that odour of human sacrifice, not + to be disguised with the scent of bridal flowers—that immolation of + youth and beauty and charming girlhood upon the altar of an unknown and an + untried love. + </p> + <p> + New York was not then too busy making money to take an interest in such a + wedding, and Arenta’s drive through its pleasant streets was a kind + of public invitation. For Jacob Van Ariens was one of a guild of wealthy + merchants, and they were at their shop doors to express their sympathy by + lifted hats and smiling faces; while the women looked from every window, + and the little children followed, their treble voices heralding and + acclaiming the beautiful bride. Then came the breakfast and the + health-drinking and the speech-making and the rather sadder drive to the + wharf at which lay La Belle France. And even Arenta was by this time weary + of the excitement, so that it was almost with a sense of relief she + stepped across the little carpeted gangway to her deck. Then the anchor + was lifted, the cable loosened, and with every sail set La Belle France + went dancing down the river on the tide-top to the open sea. + </p> + <p> + Van Ariens and his son Rem turned silently away. A great and evident + depression had suddenly taken the place of their assumed satisfaction. + “I am going to the Swamp office,” said Rem after a few moments’ + silence, “there is something to be done there.” + </p> + <p> + “That is well,” answered Peter. “To my Cousin Deborah I + will give some charges about the silver, and then I will follow you.” + </p> + <p> + Both men were glad to be alone. They had outworn emotion and knew + instinctively that some common duty was the best restorer. The same + feeling affected, in one way or another, all the watchers of this destiny. + Women whose household work was belated, whose children were strayed, who + had used up their nervous strength in waiting and feeling, were now cross + and inclined to belittle the affair and to be angry at Arenta and + themselves for their lost day. And men, young and old, all went back to + their ledgers and counters and manufacturing with a sense of lassitude and + dejection. + </p> + <p> + Peter had nearly reached his own house when he met Doctor Moran. The + doctor was more irritable than depressed. He looked at his friend and said + sharply, “You have a fever, Van Ariens. Go to bed and sleep.” + </p> + <p> + “To work I will go. That is the best thing to do. My house has no + comfort in it. Like a milliner’s or a mercer’s store it has + been for many weeks. Well, then, my Cousin Deborah is at work there, and + in a little while—a little while—” He suddenly stopped + and looked at the doctor with brimming eyes. In that moment he understood + that no putting to rights could ever make his home the same. His little + saucy, selfish, but dearly loved Arenta would come there no more; and he + found not one word that could express the tide of sorrow rising in his + heart. Doctor John understood. He remained quiet, silent, clasping Van + Ariens’ hand until the desolate father with a great effort blurted + out— + </p> + <p> + “She is gone!—and smiling, also, she went.” + </p> + <p> + “It is the curse of Adam,” answered Doctor Moran bitterly—“to + bring up daughters, to love them, to toil and save and deny ourselves for + them, and then to see some strange man, of whom we have no certain + knowledge, carry them off captive to his destiny and his desires. ‘Tis + a thankless portion to be a father—a bitter pleasure.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, then, to be a mother is worse.” + </p> + <p> + “Who can tell that? Women take for compensations things that do not + deceive a father. And, also, they have one grand promise to help them bear + loss and disappointment—the assurance of the Holy Scripture that + they shall have salvation through child-bearing. And I, who have seen so + much of family love and life, can tell you that this promise is all many a + mother has for her travail and sorrowful love.” + </p> + <p> + “It is enough. Pray God that we miss not of that reward some share,” + and with a motion of adieu he turned into his house. Very thoughtfully the + Doctor went on to William Street where he had a patient,—a young + girl of about Arenta’s age—very ill. A woman opened the door—a + woman weeping bitterly. + </p> + <p> + “She is gone, Doctor.” + </p> + <p> + “At what hour?” + </p> + <p> + “The clock was striking three—she went smiling.” + </p> + <p> + Then he bowed his head and turned away. + </p> + <p> + There was nothing more that he could do; but he remembered that Arenta had + stepped on board the La Belle France as the clock struck three, and that + she also had gone smiling to her unknown destiny. + </p> + <p> + “Two emigrants,” he thought, “pilgrims of Love and + Death, and both went smiling!” An unwonted tenderness came into his + heart; he thought of the bright, lovely bride clinging so trustfully to + her husband’s arm, and he voiced this gentle feeling to his wife in + very sincere wishes for the safety and happiness of the little emigrant + for Love. He had a singular reluctance to name her—he knew not why—with + the other little maid who also had left smiling at three o’clock, an + emigrant for whom Death had opened eternal vistas of delight. + </p> + <p> + “I do not know,” said Mrs. Moran, “how Van Ariens could + suffer his daughter to go to a country full of turmoil and bloodshed.” + </p> + <p> + “He was very unhappy to do so, Ava. But when things have gone a + certain length they have fatality. The Marquis had promised to become + eventually a citizen of this Republic, and Van Ariens had no idea in + sanctioning the marriage that his daughter would leave New York. It was + even supposed the Marquis would remain here in the Count de Moustier’s + place, and the sudden turn of events which sent de Tounnerre to France was + a severe blow to Van Ariens. But what could he do?” + </p> + <p> + “He might have delayed the marriage until the return of de + Tounnerre.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, Ava! you are counting without consideration. He could not have + detained Arenta against her will, and if he had, a miserable life would + have been before both of them—domestic discomfort, public queries + and suspicions, questions, doubts, offending sympathies—all the + griefs and vexations that are sure to follow a Fate that is crossed. He + did the best thing possible when he let the wilful girl go as pleasantly + as he could. Arenta needs a wide horizon.” + </p> + <p> + “Is she in any danger from the state of affairs in Paris?” + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Jefferson says in no danger whatever. Our Minister is living + there in safety. Arenta will have his friendship and protection; and her + husband has many friends in the most powerful party. She will have a + brilliant visit and be very happy.” + </p> + <p> + “How can she be very happy with the guillotine daily enacting such + murders?” + </p> + <p> + “She need not be present at such murders. And Mr. Jefferson may be + right, and we outsiders may make too much of circumstances that France, + and France alone, can properly estimate. He says that the God that made + iron wished not slaves to exist, and thinks there is a profound and + eternal justice in this desolation and retribution of aristocrats who have + committed unmentionable oppressions. I know not; good and evil are so + interwoven in life that every good, traced up far enough, is found to + involve evil. This is the great mystery of life. However, Ava, I am a + great believer in sequences; there are few events that break off + absolutely. In Arenta’s life there will be sequences; let us hope + that they will be happy ones. Where is Cornelia?” + </p> + <p> + “I know not. She is asleep. The ball to-night is to be fairy-land + and love-land, an Arabian night’s dream and a midsummer night’s + dream all in one. I told her to rest, for she was weary and nervous with + expectation.” + </p> + <p> + “I dare say. But what is the good of being young if it is not to + expect miracles?” + </p> + <p> + “George Hyde calls for her at eight o’clock. I shall let her + sleep until seven, give her some refreshment, and then assist her to + dress.” + </p> + <p> + “George Hyde! So you still believe in trusting the cat with the + cream?” + </p> + <p> + “I still believe in Cornelia. Come, now, and drink a cup of tea. + To-morrow the Van Ariens’ excitement will be over, and we shall have + rest.” + </p> + <p> + “I think not. The town is now ready to move to Philadelphia. I hear + that Mrs. Adams is preparing to leave Richmond Hill. Washington has + already gone, and Congress is to meet in December. Even the Quakers are + intending all sorts of social festivities.” + </p> + <p> + “But this will not concern us.” + </p> + <p> + “It may. If George Hyde does not go very soon to England, we shall + go to Philadelphia. I wish to rid myself and Cornelia of his airs and + graces and wearisome good temper, his singing and reciting and + tringham-trangham poetry. This story has been long enough; we will turn + over and end it.” + </p> + <p> + “It will be a great trial to Cornelia.” + </p> + <p> + “It may, or it may not—there is Rem—Rem is your own + suggestion. However, we have all to sing the hymn of Renunciation at some + time; it is well to sing it in youth.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Moran did not answer. When answering was likely to provoke anger, she + kept silence and talked the matter over with herself. A very wise plan. + For where shall we find a friend so intimate, so discreet, so conciliating + as self? Who can speak to us so well?—without obscurity, without + words, without passion. Yes, indeed: “I will talk to myself” + is a very significant phrase. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII — TWO PROPOSALS + </h2> + <p> + The ruling idea of any mind assumes the foreground of thought; and after + Arenta’s marriage the dominant desire of George Hyde was to have his + betrothal to Cornelia recognized and assured. He was in haste to light his + own nuptial torch, and afraid every day of that summons to England which + would delay the event. Hitherto, both had been satisfied with the + delicious certainty of their own hearts. To bring Love to discussion and + catechism, to talk of Love in connection with house and money matters, to + put him into bonds, however light those bonds might be, was indeed a safe + and prudent thing for their future happiness; but, so far, the present + with its sweet freedom and uncertainty had been more charming to their + imagination. Suddenly, however, Hyde felt the danger and stress of this + uncertainty and the fear of losing what he appeared to hold so lightly. + </p> + <p> + “I may have to go away with mother at any time—I may be + detained by events I cannot help—and I have not bound Cornelia to me + by any personal recognized tie—and Rem Van Ariens will be ever near + her. Oh, indeed, this state of affairs will never do! I will write to + Cornelia this very moment and tell her I must see her father this evening. + I cannot possibly delay it longer. I have been a fool—a careless, + happy fool—too long. There is not now a day to lose. I have already + wasted more time than was reasonable over the love affairs of other + people; now I must look after my own. Safe bind, safe find; I will bind + Cornelia to me before I leave her, then I have a good right to find her + safe when I return to claim her.” + </p> + <p> + While such thoughts were passing through his mind he had risen hastily + from the chair in which he had been musing. He opened his secretary and + sitting resolutely down, began a letter to Doctor Moran. He poured out his + heart and desires, and then he read what he had written. It would not do + at all. It was a love letter and not a business letter. He wrote another, + and then another. The first was too long, it left nothing in the inkstand; + the last was not to be thought of. When he had finished reading them over, + he was in a passion with himself. + </p> + <p> + “A fool in your teeth twice over, Joris Hyde!” he cried, + “yes, sir, three times, and far too good for you! Since you cannot + write a decent business letter, write, then, to the adorable Cornelia; the + words will be at your finger ends for that letter, and will slip from your + pen as if they were dancing: + </p> + <h3> + “MY SWEET CORNELIA: + </h3> + <p> + “I have not seen you for two days, and ‘tis a miracle that I + have endured it. I can tell you, beloved, that I am much concerned about + our affairs, and now that I have begun to talk wisely I may talk a little + more without wearying you. You know that I may have to go to England soon, + and go I will not until I have asked your father what favour he will show + us. On the street, he gets out of my way as if I had the plague. Tell me + at what hour I may call and see him in his house. I will then ask him + point blank for your hand, and he is so candid that I shall have in a word + Yes or No on the matter. Do not keep me waiting longer than seven this + very night. I have a fever of anxiety, and I shall not grow better, but + worse, until I settle our engagement. Oh, my peerless Cornelia, pearl and + flower of womanhood, I speak your speech, I think your thought; you are + the noblest thing in my life, and to remember you is to remember the hours + when I was the very best and the very happiest. Your image has become part + of me, your memory is a perfume which makes sweet my heart. I wish this + moment to give you thousands and thousands of kisses. Bid me come to you + soon, very soon, sooner than seven, if possible, for your love is my life. + Send your answer to my city lodging. I shall follow this letter and be + impatiently waiting for it. Oh, Cornelia, am I not ever and entirely + yours? + </p> + <h3> + “GEORGE HYDE.” + </h3> + <p> + It was not more than eight o’clock in the morning when he wrote this + letter, and as soon as possible he despatched a swift messenger with it to + Cornelia. He hoped that she would receive it soon after the Doctor had + left his home for his usual round of professional visits; then she might + possibly write to him at once, and if so, he would get the letter very + soon after he reached the city. + </p> + <p> + Probably Madame Hyde divined something of the importance and tenor of a + missive sent in such a hurry of anxious love, so early in the day, but she + showed neither annoyance nor curiosity regarding it. In the first place, + she knew that opposition would only strengthen whatever resolve her son + had made; in the second place, she was conscious of a singular + restlessness of her own spirit. She was apprehending change, and she could + think of no change but that call to leave her home and her native land + which she so much dreaded. If this event happened, then the affairs of + Joris would assume an entirely different aspect. He would be obliged to + leave everything which now interested him, and he could not live without + interests; very well, then, he would be compelled to accept such as a new + Fate thrown into his new life. She had a great faith in circumstances. She + knew that in the long run every one wrote beneath that potent word, + “Your obedient servant.” Circumstances would either positively + deny all her son’s hopes, or they would so powerfully aid them that + opposition would be useless; and she mentally bowed herself to an + influence so powerful and perhaps so favourable. + </p> + <p> + “Joris, my dear one,” she said, as they rose from the + breakfast table; “Joris, I think there is a letter from your father. + To the city you must go as soon as you can, for I have had a restless + night, full of feeling it has been.” + </p> + <p> + “You should not go to bed to feel, mother. Night is the time for + sleep.” + </p> + <p> + “And for dreams, and for many good things to come, that come not in + the day. Yes, indeed, the nighttime of the body is the daytime of the + soul.” + </p> + <p> + Then Joris smiled and kissing her, said, “I am going at once. If + there is a letter I will send a quick rider with it.” + </p> + <p> + “But come thyself.” + </p> + <p> + “That I cannot.” “But why, then?” + </p> + <p> + “To-morrow, I will tell you.” + </p> + <p> + “That is well. Into thy mother’s heart drop all thy joys and + sorrows. Thine are mine.” And she kissed him, and he went away glad + and hopeful and full of tender love for the mother who understood him so + sympathetically. He stood up in his stirrups to wave her a last adieu, and + then he said to himself, “How fortunate I am about women! Could I + have a sweeter, lovelier mistress? No! Mother? No! Grandmother? No! + Friend? No! Cornelia, mother, grandmother, Madame Jacobus, all of them + just what I love and need, sweet souls between me and the angels.” + </p> + <p> + It happened—but doubtless happened because so ordered—that the + very hour in which Joris left Hyde Manor, Peter Van Ariens received a + letter that made him very anxious. He left his office and went to see his + son. “Rem,” he said, “there is now an opportunity for + thee. Here has come a letter from Boston, and some one must go there; and + that too in a great hurry. The house of Blume and Otis is likely to fail, + and in it we have some great interests. A lawyer we must have to look + after them; go thyself, and it shall be well for both of us.” + </p> + <p> + “I am ready to go—that is, I can be ready in one or two days.” + </p> + <p> + “There are not one or two days to spare. Gerard will take care of + thy work here. To-day is the best time of all.” + </p> + <p> + “I cannot go with a happy mind to-day. I will tell you, father. I + think now my case with Cornelia will bear putting to the question. As you + know, it has been step with step between Joris Hyde and myself in that + affair, and if I go away now without securing the ground I have gained, + what can hinder Hyde from taking advantage over me? He too must go soon, + but he will try and secure his position before he leaves. To do the same + thing is my only way. I wish, then, the time to give myself this security.” + </p> + <p> + “That is fair. A man is not a man till he has won a wife. Cornelia + Moran is much to my mind. Tell her my home is thine, and she will be a + mistress dearly loved and honoured. And if a thing is to be done, there is + no time like the hour that has not struck. Go and see her now. She was in + the garden gathering asters when I left home this morning.” + </p> + <p> + “I will write to her. I will tell her what is in my heart—though + she knows it well—and ask her for her love and her hand. If she is + kind to my offer she will tell me to come and see her to-night, then I can + go to Boston with a free heart and look after your money and your + business.” + </p> + <p> + “If things be this way, thou art reasonable. A good wife must not be + lost for the peril of some gold sovereigns. At once write to the maid; + such letters are best done at the first thought, some prudences or some + fears may come with the second thoughts.” + </p> + <p> + “I have no fear but Joris Hyde. That Englishman I hate. His calm + confidence, his smiling insolent air is intolerable.” + </p> + <p> + “It is the English way. But Cornelia is American—as thou art.” + </p> + <p> + “She thinks much of that, but yet—” + </p> + <p> + “Be not afraid. The brave either find, or make, a way to success. + What is in a girl’s heart no man can tell, if she be cold and shy + that should not cause thee to doubt. When water is ice, who would suspect + what great heat is stored away in it? Write thy letter at once. Put thy + heart into thy pen. Not always prudent is this way, but once in a man’s + life it is wisdom.” + </p> + <p> + “My pen is too small for my heart.” + </p> + <p> + “My opinion is that thou hast wavered too long. It is a great + foolishness to let the cherry knock against the lips too often or too + long. A pretty pastime, perhaps, to will, and not will, to dare, and not + dare; but at last the knock comes that drops the cherry—it may be + into some other mouth.” + </p> + <p> + “I fear no one but that rascal, Joris Hyde.” + </p> + <p> + “A rascal he is not, because the same woman he loves as thyself. + Such words weaken any cause. No wrong have I seen or known of Lieutenant + Hyde.” + </p> + <p> + “I will call him a rascal, and I will give him no other title, + though his father leave him an earl.” + </p> + <p> + “Now, then, I shall go. I like not ill words. Write thy letter, but + put out of thy mind all bad thoughts first. A love letter from a bitter + heart is not lucky. And of all thy wit thou wilt have great need if to a + woman thou write.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, they are intolerable, aching joys! A man who dares to love a + woman, or dares to believe in her, dares to be mad.” + </p> + <p> + “Come, come! No evil must thou speak of good women, I swear that I + was never out of it yet, when I judged men as they judged women. The art + of loving a woman is the art of trusting her—yes, though the heavens + fall. Now, then, haste with thy letter. Thou may have ‘Yes’ to + it ere thou sleep to-night.” + </p> + <p> + “And I may have ‘No.’” + </p> + <p> + “To be sure, if thou think ‘no.’ But, even so, if thou + lose the wedding ring, the hand is still left; another ring may be found.” + </p> + <p> + “‘No,’ would be a deathblow to me.” + </p> + <p> + “It will not. While a man has meat and drink love will not starve + him; with world’s business and world’s pleasure an unkind love + he makes shift to forget. Bring to me word of thy good fortune this night, + and in the morning there is the Boston business. Longer it can hardly + wait.” + </p> + <p> + But the letter to Cornelia which Hyde found to slip off his pen like + dancing was a much more difficult matter to Rem. He wrote and destroyed, + and wrote again and destroyed, and this so often that he finally resolved + to go to Maiden Lane for his inspiration. “I may see Cornelia in the + garden, or at the window, and when I see what I desire, surely I shall + have the wit to ask for it.” + </p> + <p> + So he thought, and with the thought he locked his desk and went towards + his home in Maiden Lane. He met George Hyde sauntering up the street + looking unhappy and restless, and he suspected at once that he had been + walking past Doctor Moran’s house in the hope of seeing Cornelia and + had been disappointed. The thought delighted him. He was willing to bear + disappointment himself, if by doing so some of Hyde’s smiling + confidence was changed to that unhappy uneasiness which he detected in his + rival’s face and manner. The young men bowed to each other but did + not speak. In some occult way they divined a more positive antagonism than + they had ever before been conscious of. + </p> + <p> + “I cannot go out of the house,” thought Rem, “without + meeting that fop. He is in at one door, and out at another; this way, that + way, up street, and down street—the devil take the fellow!” + </p> + <p> + “What a mere sullen creature that Rem Van Ariens is!” thought + Hyde, “and with all the good temper in the world I affirm it. I + wonder what he is on the street for at this hour! Shall I watch him? No, + that would be vile work. I will let him alone; he may as well play the + ill-natured fool on the street as in the house—better, indeed, for + some one may have a title to tell him so. But I may assure myself of one + thing, when I met him he was building castles in the future, for he was + looking straight before him; and if he had been thinking of the past, he + would have been looking down. I should not wonder if it was Cornelia that + filled his dreams. Faith, we have blockheads of all ages; but on that road + he will never overtake his thought”—then with a movement of + impatience he added, + </p> + <p> + “Why should I let him into my mind?—for he is the least + welcome of all intruders.—Good gracious! how long the minutes are! + It is plain to me that Cornelia is not at home, and my letter may not even + have touched her hands yet. How shall I endure another hour?—perhaps + many hours. Where can she have gone? Not unlikely to Madame Jacobus. Why + did I not think of this before? For who can help me to bear suspense + better than madame? I will go to her at once.” + </p> + <p> + He hastened his steps and soon arrived at the well-known residence of his + friend. He was amazed as soon as the door was opened to find preparations + of the most evident kind for some change. The corded trunk in the hall, + the displaced furniture, all things he saw were full of the sad hurry of + parting. “What is the matter?” he asked in a voice of fear. + </p> + <p> + “I am going away for a time, Joris, my good friend,” answered + madame, coming out of a shrouded and darkened parlour as she spoke. She + had on her cloak and bonnet, and before Joris could ask her another + question a coach drove to the door. “I think it is a piece of good + fortune,” she continued, “to see you before I go.” + </p> + <p> + “But where are you going?” + </p> + <p> + “To Charleston.” + </p> + <p> + “But why?” + </p> + <p> + “I am going because my sister Sabrina is sick—dying; and there + is no one so near to her as I am.” + </p> + <p> + “I knew not you had a sister.” + </p> + <p> + “She is the sister of my husband. So, then, she is twice my sister. + When Jacobus comes home he will thank me for going to his dear Sabrina. + But what brings you here so early? Yesterday I asked for you, and I was + told that you were waiting on your good mother.” + </p> + <p> + “My mother felt sure there was a letter from father, and I came at + once to get it for her.” + </p> + <p> + “Was there one?” + </p> + <p> + “There was none.” + </p> + <p> + “It will come in good time. Now, I must go. I have not one moment to + lose. Good-bye, dear Joris!” + </p> + <p> + “For how long, my friend?” + </p> + <p> + “I know not. Sabrina is incurably ill. I shall stay with her till + she departs.” She said these words as they went down the steps + together, and with eyes full of tears he placed her carefully in the coach + and then turned sorrowfully to his own rooms. He could not speak of his + own affairs at such a moment, and he realized that there was nothing for + him to do but wait as patiently as possible for Cornelia’s answer. + </p> + <p> + In the meantime Rem was writing his proposal. He was not assisted in the + effort by any sight of his mistress. It was evident Cornelia was not in + her home, and he looked in vain for any shadow of the sweet face that he + was certain would have made his words come easily. Finally, after many + trials, he desisted with the following, though it was the least affective + of any form he had written: + </p> + <p> + To MISS MORAN, + </p> + <p> + Honoured and Beloved Friend: + </p> + <p> + Twenty times this day I have tried to write a letter worthy to come into + your hands and worthy to tell you how beyond all words I love you, But + what can I say more than that I love you? This you know. It has been no + secret to you since ever you were a little girl. Many years I have sought + your love,—pardon me if now I ask you to tell me I have not sought + in vain. To-morrow I must leave New York, and I may be away for some time. + Pray, then, give me some hope to-night to take with me. Say but one word + to make me the proudest and happiest lover in the world. Give me the + permission to come and show to your father that I am able to maintain you + in every comfort that is your right; and all my life long I will prove to + you the devotion that attests my undying affection and gratitude. I am + sick with longing for the promise of your love. May I presume to hope so + great a blessing? O dearest Cornelia, I am, as you know well, your humble + servant, REMBRANDT VAN ARIENS. + </p> + <p> + When he had finished this letter, he folded and sealed it, and walked to + the window with it in his hand. Then he saw Cornelia returning home from + some shopping or social errand, and hastily calling a servant, ordered him + to deliver the letter at once to Miss Moran. And as Cornelia lingered a + little among the aster beds, the man put it into her own hands. She bowed + and smiled as she accepted it, but Rem, watching with his heart in his + eyes, could see that it awakened no special interest. She kept it unopened + as she wandered among the purple and pink, and gold and white flowers, + until Mrs. Moran came to the door to hurry her movements; then she + followed her mother hastily into the house, “Do you know how late it + is, Cornelia? Dinner is nearly ready. There is a letter on your dressing + table that came by Lieutenant Hyde’s servant two or three hours ago.” + </p> + <p> + “And Tobias has just brought me a letter from Rem—at least the + direction is in Rem’s handwriting.” + </p> + <p> + “Some farewell dance I suppose, before our dancers go to gay + Philadelphia.” + </p> + <p> + “I dare say it is.” She made the supposition as she went up + the stairs, and did not for a moment anticipate any more important + information. As she entered her room an imposing looking letter met her + eyes—a letter written upon the finest paper, squarely folded, and + closed with a large seal of scarlet wax carrying the Hyde arms. Poor Rem’s + message lost instantly whatever interest it possessed; she let it fall + from her hand, and lifting Hyde’s, opened it with that marvellous + womanly impetuosity which love teaches. Then all the sweet intimate ardour + and passionate disquietude of her lover took possession of her. In a + moment she felt all that he felt; all the ecstasy and tumult of a great + affection not sure. For this letter was the “little more” in + Hyde’s love, and, oh, how much it was! + </p> + <p> + She pondered it until she was called to dinner. There was then no time to + read Rem’s letter, but she broke the seal and glanced at its tenor, + and an expression of pity and annoyance came into her eyes. Hastily she + locked both letters away in a drawer of her desk, and as she did so, + smilingly said to herself, “I wonder if papers are sensitive! Shut + close together in one little drawer will they like it? I hope they will + lie peaceably and not quarrel.” + </p> + <p> + Doctor Moran was not at home, nor was he expected until sundown, so mother + and daughter enjoyed together the confidence which Hyde’s letter + induced. Mrs. Moran thought the young man was right, and promised, to a + certain extent, to favour his proposal. “However, Cornelia,” + she added, “unless your father is perfectly agreeable and satisfied, + I would not advise you to make any engagement. Clandestine engagements + come to grief in some way or other, and if your marriage with Joris Hyde + is prearranged by THOSE who know what is best for your good, then, my + dear, it is as sure to take place as the sun is sure to rise to-morrow. It + is only waiting for the appointed hour, and you may as well wait in a + happy home as in one you make wretched by the fret and complaining which a + secret in any life is certain to produce.” + </p> + <p> + Now, it is not often that a girl has to answer in one hour two such + epistles as those received by Cornelia. Yet perhaps such an event occurs + more frequently than is suspected, for Love—like other things—has + its critical moment; and when that moment arrives it finds a voice as + surely as the flower ready to bloom opens its petals. And if there be two + lovers equally sincere, both are likely to feel at the same moment the + same impetus to revelation. Besides which, Fate of any kind seeks the + unusual and the unexpected; it desires to startle, and to force events by + surprises. + </p> + <p> + The answering of these letters was naturally Cornelia’s first + afternoon thought. It troubled her to remember that Joris had already been + waiting some hours for a reply, for she had no hesitation as to what that + reply should be. To write to Joris was a delightful thing, an unusual + pleasure, and she sat down, smiling, to pen the lines which she thought + would bring her much happiness, but which were doomed to bring her a great + sorrow. + </p> + <p> + MY JORIS! My dear Friend: + </p> + <p> + Tis scarce an hour since I received your letter, but I have read it over + four times. And whatever you desire, that also is my desire; and I am + deceived as much as you, if you think I do not love you as much as I am + loved by you. You know my heart, and from you I shall never hide it; and I + think if I were asleep, I should tell you how much I love you; for, + indeed, I often dream that I do so. Come, then, this very night as soon as + you think convenient. If my father is in a suitable temper it will be well + to speak plainly to him, and I am sure that my mother will say in our + favour all that is wise. + </p> + <p> + Our love, with no recognition but our own, has been so strangely sweet + that I could be content never to alter that condition; and yet I fear no + bond, and am ready to put it all to the trial. For if our love is not such + as will uphold an engagement, it will sink of itself; and if it is true as + we believe it to be, then it may last eternally. What more is to say I + will keep for your ear, for you are enough in my heart to know all my + thoughts, and to know better than I can tell you how dearly, how + constantly, how entirely I love you. + </p> + <p> + Yours forever, CORNELIA. + </p> + <p> + Without a pause, without an erasure this letter had transcribed itself + from Cornelia’s heart to the small gilt-edged note paper; but she + found it a much more difficult thing to answer the request of Rem Van + Ariens. She was angry at him for putting her in such a dilemma. She + thought that she had made plain as possible to him the fact that she was + pleased to be a companion, a friend, a sister, if he so desired, but that + love between them was not to be thought of. She had told Arenta this many + times, and she had done so because she was certain Arenta would make this + position clear to her brother. And under ordinary circumstances Arenta + would have been frank and free enough with Rem, but while her own marriage + was such an important question she was not inclined to embarrass or shadow + its arrangements by suggesting things to Rem likely to cause disagreements + when she wished all to be harmonious and cheerful. So Arenta had + encouraged, rather than dashed, Rem’s hopes, for she did not doubt + that Cornelia would finally undo very thoroughly what she had done. + </p> + <p> + “A little love experience will be a good thing for Rem,” she + said to herself—“it will make a man of him; and I do hope he + has more self-respect and courage than to die of her denial.” + </p> + <p> + It is easy, then, to understand how Cornelia, relying on Arenta’s + usually ready advice and confidences, was sure that Rem had accepted the + friendship that was all in her power to give him, and that this belief + gave to their intercourse a frank and kindly intimacy that it would not + otherwise have obtained. This state of things was desirable and + comfortable for Arenta, and Cornelia also had found a great satisfaction + in a friendship which she trusted had fully recognized and accepted its + limitations. Now, all these pleasant moderate emotions were stirred into + uncomfortable agitation by Rem’s unlooked-for and unreasonable + request. She was hurt and agitated and withal a little sorry for Rem, and + she was also in a hurry, for the letter for Joris was waiting, as she + wished to send both by the same messenger. Finally she wrote the following + words, not noticing at the time, but remembering afterwards, what a + singular soul reluctance she experienced; how some uncertain presentiment, + vague and dark and drear, stifled her thoughts and tried to make her + understand, or at least pause. But alas! the doom that walks side by side + with us, never warns; it seems rather to stand sarcastic at our ignorance, + and to watch speculatively the cloud of trouble coming—coming on + purpose because we foolishly or carelessly call it to us. + </p> + <h3> + MY DEAR AND HONOURED FRIEND: + </h3> + <p> + Your letter has given me very great sorrow. You must have known for many + weeks, even months, that marriage between us was impossible. It has always + been so, it always will be so. Why could you not be content? We have been + so happy! So happy! and now you will end all. But Fortune, though often + cruel, cannot call back times that are past, and I shall never forget our + friendship. I grieve at your going away; I pray that your absence may + bring you some consolation. Do not, I beg you, attempt to call on my + father. Without explanations, I tell you very sincerely, such a call will + cause me great trouble; for you know well a girl must trust somewhat to + others’ judgment in her disposal. It gives me more pain than I can + say to write in this mood, but necessity permits me no kinder words. I + want you to be sure that the wrench, the “No” here is + absolute. My dear friend, pity rather than blame me; and I will be so + unselfish as to hope you may not think so kindly of me as to be cruel to + yourself. Please to consider your letter as never written, it is the + greatest kindness you can do me; and, above all, I beg you will not take + my father into your confidence. With a sad sense of the pain my words must + cause you, I remain for all time your faithful friend and obedient + servant, + </p> + <h3> + CORNELIA MORAN. + </h3> + <p> + Then she rang for a lighted candle, and while waiting for its arrival + neatly folded her letters. Her white wax and seal were at hand, and she + delayed the servant until she had closed and addressed them. + </p> + <p> + “You will take Lieutenant Hyde’s letter first,” she + said; “and make no delay about it, for it is very important. Mr. Van + Ariens’ note you can deliver as you return.” + </p> + <p> + As soon as this business was quite out of her hands, she sank with a happy + sigh into a large comfortable chair; let her arms drop gently, and closed + her eyes to think over what she had done. She was quite satisfied. She was + sure that no length of reflection could have made her decide differently. + She had Hyde’s letter in her bosom, and she pressed her hand against + it, and vowed to her heart that he was worthy of her love, and that he + only should have it. As for Rem, she had a decided feeling of annoyance, + almost of fear, as he entered her mind. She was angry that he had chosen + that day to urge his unwelcome suit, and thus thrust his personality into + Hyde’s special hour. + </p> + <p> + “He always makes himself unwelcome,” she thought, “he + ever has the way to come when he was least wanted; but Joris! Oh there is + nothing I would alter in him, even at the cost of a wish! JORIS! JORIS!” + and she let the dear name sweeten her lips, while the light of love + brightened and lengthened her eyes, and spread over her lovely face a + blushing glow. + </p> + <p> + After a while she rose up and adorned herself for her lover’s visit. + And when she entered the parlor Mrs. Moran looked at her with a little + wonder. For she had put on with her loveliest gown a kind of bewildering + prettiness. There was no cloud in her eyes, only a glow of soft dark fire. + Her soul was in her face, it spoke in her bright glances, her sweet + smiles, and her light step; it softened her speech to music, it made her + altogether so delightful that her mother thought “Fortune must give + her all she wishes, she is so charming.” + </p> + <p> + The tea tray was brought in at five o’clock, but Doctor Moran had + not returned, and there was in both women’s hearts a little sense of + disappointment. Mrs. Moran was wondering at his unusual delay, Cornelia + feared he would be too weary and perhaps, too much interested in other + matters to permit her lover to speak. “But even so,” she + thought, “Joris can come again. To-night is not the only + opportunity.” + </p> + <p> + It was nearly seven o’clock when the doctor came, and Cornelia was + sure her lover would not be much behind that hour; but tea time was ever a + good time to her father, he was always amiable and gracious with a cup in + his hand, and the hour after it when his pipe kept him company, was his + best hour. She told her heart that things had fallen out better than if + she had planned them so; and she was so thoughtful for the weary man’s + comfort, so attentive and so amusing, that he found it easy to respond to + the happy atmosphere surrounding him. He had a score of pleasant things to + tell about the fashionable exodus to Philadelphia, about the handsome + dresses that had been shown him, and the funny household dilemmas that had + been told him. And he was much pleased because Harry De Lancey had been a + great part of the day with him, and was very eloquent indeed about the + young man’s good sense and good disposition, and the unnecessary, + and almost cruel, confiscation of property his family had suffered, for + their Tory principles. + </p> + <p> + And in the midst of the De Lancey lamentation, seven o’clock struck + and Cornelia began to listen for the shutting of the garden gate, and the + sound of Hyde’s step upon the flagged walk. It did not come as soon + as she hoped it would, and the minutes went slowly on until eight struck. + Then the doctor was glooming and nodding, and waking up and saying a word + or two, and relapsing again into semi-unconsciousness. She felt that the + favourable hour had passed, and now the minutes went far too quickly. Why + did he net come? With her work in her hand-making laborious stitches by a + drawn thread—she sat listening with all her being. The street itself + was strangely silent, no one passed, and the fitful talk at the fireside + seemed full of fatality; she could feel the influence, though she did not + inquire of her heart what it was, of what it might signify. + </p> + <p> + Half-past eight! She looked up and caught her mother’s eyes, and the + trouble and question in them, and the needle going through the fine + muslin, seemed to go through her heart. At nine the watching became + unbearable. She said softly “I must go to bed. I am tired;” + but she put away with her usual neatness her work, and her spools of + thread, her thimble and her scissors. Her movement in the room roused the + doctor thoroughly. He stood up, stretched his arms outward and upward, and + said “he believed he had been sleeping, and must ask their pardon + for his indifference.” And then he walked to the window and looking + out added “It is a lovely night but the moon looks like storm. Oh!”—and + he turned quickly with the exclamation—“I forgot to tell you + that I heard a strange report to-day, nothing less than that General Hyde + returned on the Mary Pell this morning, bringing with him a child.” + </p> + <p> + “A child!” said Mrs. Moran. + </p> + <p> + “A girl, then, a little mite of a creature. Mrs. Davy told me the + Captain carried her in his arms to the carriage which took them to Hyde + Manor.” + </p> + <p> + “And how should Mrs. Davy know?” + </p> + <p> + “The Davys live next door to the Pells, and the servants of one + house carried the news to the other house. She said the General sent to + his son’s lodging to see if he was in town, but he was not. It was + then only eight o’clock in the morning.” + </p> + <p> + “How unlikely such a story is! Do you believe it?” + </p> + <p> + “Ask to-morrow. As for me, I neither know nor care. That is the + report. Who can tell what the Hydes will do?” + </p> + <p> + Then Cornelia said a hasty “good-night” and went to her room. + She was sick at heart; she trembled, something in her life had lost its + foot-hold, and a sudden bewildering terror—she knew not how to + explain—took possession of her. For once she forgot her habitual + order and neatness; her pretty dress was thrown heedlessly across a chair, + and she fell upon her knees weeping, and yet she could not pray. + </p> + <p> + Still the very posture and the sweet sense of help and strength it + implied, brought her the power to take into consideration such unexpected + news, and such unexplained neglect on her lover’s part, “General + Hyde has returned; that much I feel certain of,” she thought, + “and Joris must have left Hyde Manor about the time his father + reached New York. Joris would take the river road, being the shortest, his + father would take the highway as the best for the carriage. Consequently, + they passed each other and did not know it. Then Joris has been sent for, + and it was right and natural that he should go—but oh, he might have + written!—ten words would have been enough—It was right he + should go—but he might have written!—he might have written!”—and + she buried her face in her pillow and wept bitterly. Alas! Alas! Love + wounds as cruelly when he fails, as when he strikes; and even when + Cornelia had outworn thought and feeling, and fallen into a sorrowful + sleep, she was conscious of this failure, and her soul sighed all night + long “He might have written!” + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX — MISDIRECTED LETTERS + </h2> + <p> + The night so unhappy to Cornelia was very much more unhappy to Hyde. He + had sent his letter to her before eleven in the morning, and if Fortune + were kind to him, he expected an answer soon after leaving Madame Jacobus. + Her departure from New York depressed him very much. She had been the good + genius of his love, but he told himself that it had now “grown to + perfection, and could, he hoped, stand in its own strength.” + Restlessly he watched the hours away, now blaming, now excusing, anon + dreaming of his coming bliss, then fidgeting and fearing disappointment + from being too forward in its demanding. When noon passed, and one o’clock + struck, he rang for some refreshment; for he guessed very accurately the + reason of delay. + </p> + <p> + “Cornelia has been visiting or shopping,” he thought; “and + if it were visiting, no one would part with her until the last moment; so + then if she get home by dinner-time it is as much as I can expect. I may + as well eat, and then wait in what patience I can, another hour or two—yes, + it will be two hours. I will give her two hours—for she will be + obliged to serve others before me. Well, well, patience is my penance.” + </p> + <p> + But in truth he expected the letter to be in advance of three o’clock. + “Twenty words will answer me,” he thought; “yes, ten + words; and she will find or make the time to write them;” and + between this hope and the certainty of three o’clock, he worried the + minutes away until three struck. Then there was a knock at his door and he + went hastily to answer it. Balthazar stood there with the longed-for + letter in his hand. He felt first of all that he must be quite alone with + it. So he turned the key and then stood a moment to examine the outside. A + letter from Cornelia! It was a joy to see his own name written by her + hand. He kissed the superscription, and kissed the white seal, and sank + into his chair with a sigh of delight to read it. + </p> + <p> + In a few moments a change beyond all expression came over his face—perplexity, + anger, despair cruelly assailed him. It was evident that some irreparable + thing had ruined all his hopes. He was for some moments dumb. He felt what + he could not express, for a great calamity had opened a chamber of + feeling, which required new words to explain it. This trance of grief was + followed by passionate imprecations and reproaches, wearing themselves + away to an utter amazement and incredulity. He had flung the letter to the + floor, but he lifted it again and went over the cruel words, forcing + himself to read them slowly and aloud. Every period was like a fresh + sentence of death. + </p> + <p> + “‘YOUR LETTER HAS GIVEN ME VERY GREAT SORROW;’ let me + die if that is not what she says; ‘VERY GREAT SORROW. YOU MUST HAVE + KNOWN FOR WEEKS, EVEN MONTHS, THAT MARRIAGE BETWEEN US WAS IMPOSSIBLE;’ + am I perfectly in my senses? ‘IT ALWAYS HAS BEEN AND ALWAYS WILL BE;’ + why, ‘tis heart treason of the worst kind! Can I bear it? Can I bear + it? Can I bear it? Oh Cornelia! Cornelia! ‘WE HAVE BEEN SO HAPPY.’ + Oh it is piteous, sad. So young, so fair, so false! and she ‘GRIEVES + AT MY GOING AWAY,’ and bids me on ‘NO ACCOUNT CALL ON HER + FATHER’—and takes pains to tell me the ‘NO IS ABSOLUTE’—and + I am not to ‘BLAME HER.’ Oh this is the vilest treachery! She + might as well have played the coquette in speech as writing. It is Rem Van + Ariens who is at the bottom of it. May the devil take the fellow! I shall + need some heavenly power to keep my hands off him. This is a grief beyond + all griefs—I believed she loved me so entirely. Fool! a thousand + times fool! Have I not found all women of a piece? Did not Molly Trefuses + throw me over for a duke? and Sarah Talbot tell me my love was only + calf-love and had to be weaned? and Eliza Capel regret that I was too + young to guide a wife, and so marry a cabinet minister old enough for her + grandfather? Women are all just so, not a cherry stone to choose between + them—I will never wonder again at anything a woman does—Was + ever a lover so betrayed? Oh Cornelia! your ink should have frozen in your + pen, ere you wrote such words to me.” + </p> + <p> + Thus his passionate grief and anger tortured him until midnight. Then he + had a high fever and a distracting headache, and, the physical torment + being the most insistent and distressing, he gave way before it. With such + agonizing tears as spring from despairing wounded love he threw himself + upon his bed, and his craving, suffering heart at length found rest in + sleep from the terrible egotism of its sorrow. + </p> + <p> + Never for one instant did he imagine this sorrow to be a mistaken and + quite unnecessary one. Indeed it was almost impossible for him to conceive + of a series of events, which though apparently accidental, had a fatality + more pronounced than anything that could have been arranged. Not taking + Rem Van Ariens seriously into his consideration, and not fearing his rival + in any way, it was beyond all his suspicions that Rem should write to + Cornelia in the same hour, and for the same purpose as himself. He had no + knowledge of Rem’s intention to go to Boston, and could not + therefore imagine Cornelia “grieving” at any journey but his + own impending one to England. And that she should be forced by + circumstances to answer both Rem and himself in the same hour, and in the + very stress and hurry of her great love and anxiety should misdirect the + letters, were likelihoods outside his consciousness. + </p> + <p> + It was far otherwise with Rem. The moment he opened the letter brought him + by Cornelia’s messenger, in that very moment he knew that it was NOT + his letter. He understood at once the position, and perceived that he held + in his hand an instrument, which if affairs went as he desired, was likely + to make trouble he could perchance turn to his own advantage. The fate + that had favoured him so far would doubtless go further—if he let it + alone. These thoughts sprang at once into his reflection, but were barely + entertained before nobler ones displaced them. As a Christian gentleman he + knew what he ought to do without cavil and without delay, and he rose to + follow the benignant justice of his conscience. Into this obedience, + however, there entered an hesitation of a second of time, and that + infinitesimal period was sufficient for his evil genius. + </p> + <p> + “Why will you meddle?” it asked. “This is a very dubious + matter, and common prudence suggests a little consideration. It will be + far wiser to let Hyde take the first step. If the letter he has received + is so worded, that he knows it is your letter, it is his place to make the + transfer—and he will be sure to do it. Why should you continue the + chase? let the favoured one look after his own affairs—being a + lawyer, you may well tell yourself, that it is not your interest to move + the question.” + </p> + <p> + And he hesitated and then sat down, and as there is wickedness even in + hesitating about a wicked act, Rem easily drifted from the negative to the + positive of the crime contemplated. + </p> + <p> + “I had better keep it,” he mused, “and see what will + come of the keeping. All things are fair in love and war”—a + stupid and slanderous assertion, as far as love is concerned, for love + that is noble and true, will not justify anything which Christian ethics + do not justify. + </p> + <p> + He suffered in this decision, suffered in his own way quite as much as + Hyde did. Cornelia had been his dream from his youth up, and Hyde had been + his aversion from the moment he first saw him. The words were not to seek + with which he expressed himself, and they were such words as do not bear + repeating. But of all revelations, the revelation of grief is the + plainest. He saw clearly in that hour that Cornelia had never loved him, + that his hopes had always been vain, and he experienced all the bitterness + of being slighted and humbled for an enemy. + </p> + <p> + After a little while he remembered that Hyde might possibly do the thing + which he had resolved not to do. Involuntarily he did Hyde this justice, + and he said to himself, “if there is anything in the letter intended + for me, which determines its ownership, Hyde will bring it. He will + understand that I have the answer to his proposal, and demand it from me—and + whether I shall feel in a mood to give it to him, will depend on the + manner in which the demand is made. If he is in one of his lordly ways he + will get no satisfaction from me. I am not apt to give myself, nor + anything I have, away; in fact it will be best not to see him—if he + holds a letter of mine he may keep it. I know its tenor and I am not eager + to know the very words in which my lady says ‘No.’ HO! HO! HO!” + he laughed, “I will go to the Swamp; my scented rival in his + perfumed clothing, will hardly wish the smell of the tanning pits to come + between him and his gentility.” + </p> + <p> + The thought of Hyde’s probable visit and this way of escaping it + made him laugh again; but it was a laughter that had that something + terrible in it which makes the laughter of the insane and drunken and + cruel, worse than the bitterest lamentation. He felt a sudden haste to + escape himself, and seizing his hat walked rapidly to his father’s + office. Peter looked up as he entered, and the question in his eyes hardly + needed the simple interrogatary— + </p> + <p> + “Well then?” + </p> + <p> + “It is ‘No.’ I shall go to Boston early in the morning. + I wish to go over the business with Blume and Otis, and to possess myself + of all particulars.” + </p> + <p> + “I have just heard that General Hyde came back this morning. He is + now the Right Honourable the Earl of Hyde, and his son is, as you know, + Lord George Hyde. Has this made a difference?” + </p> + <p> + “It has not. Let us count up what is owing to us. After all there is + a certain good in gold.” + </p> + <p> + “That is the truth. I am an old man and I have seen what altitudes + the want of gold can abase, and what impossible things it makes possible. + In any adversity gold can find friends.” + </p> + <p> + “I shall count every half-penny after Blume and Otis.” + </p> + <p> + “Be not too strict—too far east is west. You may lose all by + demanding all.” + </p> + <p> + Then the two men spent several hours in going over their accounts, and + during this time no one called on Rem and he received no message. When he + returned home he found affairs just as he had left them. “So far + good,” he thought, “I will let sleeping dogs lie. Why should I + set them baying about my affairs? I will not do it”—and with + this determination in his heart he fell asleep. + </p> + <p> + But Rem’s sleep was the sleep of pure matter; his soul never knew + the expansion and enlightenment and discipline of the oracles that speak + in darkness. The winged dreams had no message or comfort for him, and he + took no counsel from his pillow. His sleep was the sleep of tired flesh + and blood, and heavy as lead. But the waking from such sleep—if + there is trouble to meet—is like being awakened with a blow. He + leaped to his feet, and the thought of his loss and the shame of it, and + the horror of the dishonourable thing he had done, assailed him with a + brutal force and swiftness. He was stunned by the suddenness and the + inexorable character of his trouble. And he told himself it was “best + to run away from what he could not fight.” He had no fear of Hyde’s + interference so early in the morning, and once in Boston all attacks would + lose much of their hostile virulence, by the mere influence of distance. + He knew these were cowardly thoughts, but when a man knows he is in the + wrong, he does not challenge his thoughts, he excuses them. And as soon as + he was well on the road to Boston, he even began to assume that Hyde, full + of the glory of his new position, would doubtless be well disposed to let + all old affairs drop quietly “and if so,” he mused, “Cornelia + will not be so dainty, and I may get ‘Yes’ where I got ‘No.’” + </p> + <p> + He was of course arguing from altogether wrong premises, for Hyde at that + hour was unconscious of his new dignity, and if he had been aware of it, + would have been indifferent to its small honour. He had spent a miserable + night, and a sense of almost intolerable desertion and injury awoke with + him. His soul had been in desolate places, wandering in immense woods, + vaguely apprehended as stretches of time before this life. He had called + the lost Cornelia through all their loneliness, and answers faint as the + faintest echo, had come back to that sense of spiritual hearing attuned in + other worlds than this. But sad as such experience was, the sole effort + had strengthened him. He was indeed in better case mentally than + physically. + </p> + <p> + “I must get into the fresh air,” he said. “I am faint + and weak. I must have movement. I must see my mother. I will tell her + everything.” Then he went to his mirror, and looked with a grim + smile at its reflection. “I have the face of a lover kicked out of + doors,” he continued scornfully. He took but small pains with his + toilet, and calling for some breakfast sat down to eat it. Then for the + first time in his life, he was conscious of that soul sickness which turns + from all physical comfort; and of that singular obstruction in the throat + which is the heart’s sob, and which would not suffer him to swallow. + </p> + <p> + “I am most wretched,” he said mournfully; “and no + trouble comes alone. Of all the days in all the years, why should Madame + Jacobus have to take herself out of town yesterday? It is almost + incredible, and she could, and would have helped me. She would have sent + for Cornelia. I might have pleaded my cause face to face with her.” + Then angrily— “Faith! can I yet care for a girl so cruel and + so false? I am not to be pitied if I do. I will go to my dear mother. + Mother-love is always sure, and always young. Whatever befalls, it keeps + constant truth. I will go to my mother.” + </p> + <p> + He rode rapidly through the city and spoke to no one, but when he reached + his Grandfather Van Heemskirk’s house, he saw him leaning over the + half-door smoking his pipe. He drew rein then, and the old gentleman came + to his side: + </p> + <p> + “Why art thou here?” he asked. “Is thy father, or Lady + Annie sick?” + </p> + <p> + “I know nothing new. There was no letter yesterday.” + </p> + <p> + “Yesterday! Surely thou must know that they are now at home? + Yesterday, very early in the morning, they landed.” + </p> + <p> + “My father at home!” + </p> + <p> + “That is the truth. Where wert thou, not to know this?” + </p> + <p> + “I came to town yesterday morning. I had a great trouble. I was sick + and kept my room.” + </p> + <p> + “And sick thou art now, I can see that,” said Madame Van + Heemskirk coming forward—“What is the matter with thee, my + Joris?” + </p> + <p> + “Cornelia has refused me. I know not how it is, that no woman will + love me. Am I so very disagreeable?” + </p> + <p> + “Thou art as handsome and as charming as can be; and it is not + Cornelia that has said ‘no’ to thee, it is her father. Now he + will be sorry, for thy uncle is dead and thy father is Earl Hyde, and thou + thyself art a lord.” + </p> + <p> + “I care not for such things. I am a poor lord, if Cornelia be not my + lady.” “I wonder they sent not after thee!” + </p> + <p> + “They would be expecting me every hour. If there had been a letter I + should have gone directly back with it, but it was beyond all surmising, + that my father should return. Grandfather, will you see Doctor Moran for + me? You can speak a word that will prevail.” + </p> + <p> + “I will not, my Joris. If thy father were not here, that would be + different. He is the right man to move in the matter. Ever thou art in too + much of a hurry. Think now of thy life as a book of uncut leaves, and do + not turn a page till thou hast read it to the very last word.” + </p> + <p> + “<i>I</i> will see Cornelia for thee,” said Madame Van + Heernskirk. “<i>I</i> will ask the girl what she means. Very often + she passes here, sometimes she comes in. I will say to her—why did + thou throw my grandson’s love away like an old shoe? Art thou not + ashamed to be so light of love, for I know well thou said to my Joris, + thou loved him. And she will tell me the truth. Yes, indeed, if into my + house she comes, out of it she goes not, until I have the why, and the + wherefore.” + </p> + <p> + “Do not be unkind to her, grandmother—perhaps it is not her + fault—if she had only said a few sorrowful words—Let me show + you her letter.” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Van Heernskirk. “One thing at a time, Joris. + Now it is the time to go and welcome thy father and thy cousin—too + long has been the delay already.” + </p> + <p> + “Then good-bye! Grandmother, you will speak or me?” And she + smiled and nodded, and stood on her tiptoe while Joris stooped and kissed + her—“Fret not thyself at all. I will see Cornelia and speak + for thee.” And then he kissed her again and rode away. + </p> + <p> + Very near the great entrance gates of Hyde Manor he met his father and + mother walking. Madame, the Right Honourable the Countess of Hyde, was + pointing out the many improvements she had made; and the Earl looked + pleased and happy. George threw himself off his horse with a loving + impetuosity, and his mother questioned him about his manner of spending + the previous day. “How could thou help knowing thy father had + landed?” she asked. “Was not the whole city talking of the + circumstance?” + </p> + <p> + “I was not in the city, mother. I went to the post office and from + there to Madame Jacobus. She was just leaving for Charleston, and I went + with her to the boat.” + </p> + <p> + “What an incredible thing! Madame Jacobus leaving New York! For + what? For why?” + </p> + <p> + “She has gone to nurse her sister-in-law, who is dying. That is of + all things the most likely—for she has a great heart.” + </p> + <p> + “You say that—I know not.” + </p> + <p> + “It is the truth itself. Afterwards I had my lunch and then came on + a fever and a distracting headache, and I was compelled to keep my room; + and so heard nothing at all until my grandfather told me the good news + this morning.” + </p> + <p> + “Madame Kippon was on the dock and saw thy father and cousin land. + The news would be a hot coal in her mouth till she told it, and I am + amazed she did not call at thy lodging. Now go forward; when thy father + and I have been round the land, we will come to thee. Thy cousin Annie is + here.” + </p> + <p> + “That confounds me. I could hardly believe it true.” + </p> + <p> + “She is frail, and her physicians thought the sea voyage might give + her the vitality she needs. It was at least a chance, and she was + determined to take it. Then thy father put all his own desires behind him, + and came with her. We will talk more in a little while. I see thy dress is + untidy, and I dare say thou art hungry. Go, eat and dress, by that time we + shall be home.” + </p> + <p> + But though his mother gave him a final charge “to make haste,” + he went slowly. The thought of Cornelia had returned to his memory with a + sweet, strong insistence that carried all before it. He wondered what she + was doing—how she was dressed—what she was thinking—what + she was feeling—-He wondered if she was suffering—if she + thought he was suffering—if she was sorry for him—He made + himself as wretched as possible, and then some voice of comfort anteceding + all reasoning, told him to be of good cheer; for if Cornelia had ever + loved him, she must love him still; and if she had only been amusing + herself with his devotion, then what folly to break his heart for a girl + who had no heart worth talking about. + </p> + <p> + Poor Cornelia! She was at that moment the most unhappy woman in New York. + She had excused the “ten words” he might have written + yesterday. She had found in the unexpected return of his father and cousin + reason sufficient for his neglect; but it was now past ten o’clock + of another day, and there was yet no word from him. Perhaps then he was + coming. She sat at her tambour frame listening till all her senses and + emotions seemed to have fled to her ear. And the ear has memory, it + watches for an accustomed sound, it will not suffer us to forget the + voice, the step of those we love. Many footsteps passed, but none stopped + at the gate; none came up the garden path, and no one lifted the knocker. + The house itself was painfully still; there was no sound but the faint + noise made by Mrs. Moran as she put down her Dobbin or her scissors. The + tension became distressing. She longed for her father—for a caller—for + any one to break this unbearable pause in life. + </p> + <p> + Yet she could not give up hope. A score of excuses came into her mind; she + was sure he would come in the afternoon. He MUST come. She read and reread + his letter. She dressed herself with delightful care and sat down to watch + for him. He came not. He sent no word, no token, and as hour after hour + slipped away, she was compelled to drop her needle. + </p> + <p> + “Mother,” she said, “I am not well. I must go upstairs.” + She had been holding despair at bay so many hours she could bear it no + longer. For she was so young, and this was the first time she had been + yoke-fellow with sorrow. She was amazed at her own suffering. It seemed so + impossible. It had come upon her so swiftly, so suddenly, and as yet she + was not able to seek any comfort or sympathy from God or man. For to do + so, was to admit the impossibility of things yet turning out right; and + this conclusion she would not admit; she was angry at a word or a look + that suggested such a termination. + </p> + <p> + The next morning she called Balthazar to her and closely questioned him. + It had struck her in the night, that the slave might have lost the letter, + and be afraid to confess the accident. But Balthazar’s manner and + frank speech was beyond suspicion. He told her exactly what clothing + Lieutenant Hyde was wearing, how he looked, what words he said, and then + with a little hesitation took a silver crown piece from his pocket and + added “he gave it to me. When he took the letter in his hand he + looked down at it and laughed like he was very happy; and he gave me the + money for bringing it to him; that is the truth, sure, Miss Cornelia.” + </p> + <p> + She could not doubt it. There was then nothing to be done but wait in + patience for the explanation she was certain would yet come. But on with + what leaden motion the hours went by! For a few days she made a pretence + of her usual employments, but at the end of a week her embroidery frame + stood uncovered, her books were unopened her music silent, and she + declared herself unable to take her customary walk. Her mother watched her + with unspeakable sympathy, but Cornelia’s grief was dumb; it made no + audible moan, and preserved an attitude which repelled all discussion. As + yet she would not acknowledge a doubt of her lover’s faith; his + conduct was certainly a mystery, but she told her heart with a passionate + iteration that it would positively be cleared up. + </p> + <p> + Now and then the Doctor, or a visitor, made a remark which might have + broken this implicit trust, and probably did facilitate that end; for it + was evident from them, that Hyde was in health, and that he was taking his + share in the usual routine of daily life:—thus, one day Mrs. Wiley + while making a call said— + </p> + <p> + “I met the new Countess and the Lady Annie Hyde, and I can tell you + the new Countess is very much of a Countess. As for the Lady Annie,” + she added, “she was wrapped to her nose in furs, and you could see + nothing of her but two large black eyes, that even at a distance made you + feel sad and uncomfortable. However Lord George Hyde appeared to be very + much her servant.” + </p> + <p> + “There has been talk of a marriage between them,” answered + Mrs. Moran, for she was anxious to put her daughter out of all question. + “I should think it would be a very proper marriage.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, indeed, ‘proper marriages’ seldom come off. Love + marriages are the fashion at present.” + </p> + <p> + “Are they not the most proper of all?” + </p> + <p> + “On the contrary, is there anything more indiscreet? Of a thousand + couples who marry for love, hardly one will convince us that the thing can + be done, and not repented of afterwards.” + </p> + <p> + “I think you are mistaken,” said Mrs. Moran coldly. “Love + should always seek its match, and that is love—or nothing.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh indeed! It is you are mistaken,” continued Mrs. Wiley. + “As the times go, Cupid has grown to cupidity, and seeks his match + in money or station, or such things.” + </p> + <p> + “Money, or station, or such things find their match in money, or + station, or such things.—They are not love.” + </p> + <p> + “Well then the three may go together in this case. But the girl has + an uncanny, unworldlike face. Captain Wiley says he has seen mermaids with + the same long look in their eyes. Do you know that Rem Van Ariens has gone + to Boston?” + </p> + <p> + “We have heard so;”—and then the Doctor entered, and + after the usual formalities said, “I have just met Earl Hyde and his + Countess parading themselves in the fine carriage he brought with him, + ‘Tis a thousand pities the President did not wait in New York to see + the sight.” + </p> + <p> + “Was Lady Annie with them?” asked Mrs. Wiley, “we were + just talking about her.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, but one forgets that she is there—or anywhere. She seems + as if she were an accident.” + </p> + <p> + “And the young lord?” + </p> + <p> + “The young lord affects the democratic.” + </p> + <p> + Such conversations were not uncommon, and Mrs. Moran could not with any + prudence put a sudden stop to them. They kept Cornelia full of wondering + irritation, and gradually drove the doubt into her soul—the doubt of + her lover’s sincerity which was the one thing she could not fight + against. It loosened all the props of life; she ceased to struggle and to + hope. The world went on, but Cornelia’s heart stood still; and at + the end of the third week things came to this—her father looked at + her keenly one morning and sent her instantly to bed. At the last the + breakdown had come in a night, but it had found all ready for it. + </p> + <p> + “She has typhoid, or I am much mistaken,” he said to the + anxious mother. “Why have you said nothing to me? How has it come + about? I have heard no complaining. To have let things go thus far without + help is dreadful—it is almost murder.” + </p> + <p> + “John! John! What could I do? She could not bear me to ask after her + health. She said always that she was not sick. She would not hear of my + speaking to you. I thought it was only sorrow and heart-ache.” + </p> + <p> + “Only sorrow and heart-ache. Is not that enough to call typhoid or + any other death? What is the trouble? Oh I need not ask, I know it is that + young Hyde. I feel it. I saw this trouble coming; now let me know the + whole truth.” + </p> + <p> + He listened to it with angry amazement. He said he ought to have been told + at the time—he threw aside all excuses—for being a man how + could he understand why women put off, and hope, and suffer? He was sure + the rascal ought to have been brought to explanation the very first day:—and + then he broke down and wept his wife’s tears, and echoed all her + piteous moan for her daughter’s wronged love and breaking heart. + </p> + <p> + “What is left us now, is to try and save her dear life,” said + the miserable father. “Suffering we cannot spare her. She must pass + alone through the Valley of the Shadow; but it may be she will lose this + sorrow in its dreadful paths. I have known this to happen often; for THERE + the soul has to strip itself of all encumbrances, and fight for life, and + life only.” + </p> + <p> + This was the battle waged in Doctor Moran’s house for many awful + weeks. The girl lay at Death’s door, and her father and mother + watched every breath she drew. One day, while she was in extremity, the + Doctor went himself to the apothecary’s for medicine. This medicine + was his last hope and he desired to prepare it himself. As he came out of + the store with it in his hand, Hyde looked at him with a steady + imploration. He had evidently been waiting his exit. + </p> + <p> + “Sir!” he said, “I have heard a report that I cannot, I + dare not believe.” + </p> + <p> + “Believe the worst—and stand aside, sir. I have neither + patience nor words for you.” + </p> + <p> + “I beseech you, sir—” + </p> + <p> + “Touch me not! Out of my sight! Broadway is not wide enough for us + two, unless you take the other side.” + </p> + <p> + “Your daughter? Oh sir, have some pity!” + </p> + <p> + “My daughter is dying.” + </p> + <p> + “Then sir, let me tell you, that your behaviour has been so brutal + to her, and to me, that the Almighty shows both kindness and intelligence + in taking her away:”—and with these words uttered in a blazing + passion of indignation and pity, the young lord crossed to the other side + of the street, leaving the Doctor confounded by his words and manner. + </p> + <p> + “There is something strange here,” he said to himself; “the + fellow may be as bad as bad can be, but he neither looked nor spoke as if + he had wronged Cornelia. If she lives I must get to the bottom of this + affair. I should not wonder if it is the work of Dick Hyde—earl or + general—as detestable a man as ever crossed my path.” + </p> + <p> + With this admission and wonder, the thought of Hyde passed from his mind; + for at that hour the issue he had to consider was one of life or death. + And although it was beyond all hope or expectation, Cornelia came back to + life; came back very slowly, but yet with a solemn calm and a certain air + of conscious dignity, as of one victorious over death and the grave. But + she was perilously delicate, and the Doctor began to consider the dangers + of her convalescence. + </p> + <p> + “Ava,” he said one evening when Cornelia had been downstairs + awhile—“it will not do for the child to run the risk of + meeting that man. I see him on the street frequently. The apothecary says + he comes to his store to ask after her recovery nearly every day. He has + not given her up, I am sure of that. He spoke to me once about her, and + was outrageously impudent. There is something strange in the affair, but + how can I move in it?” + </p> + <p> + “It is impossible. Can you quarrel with a man because he has + deceived Cornelia? How cruel that would be to the child! You must bear and + I must bear. Anything must be borne, rather than set the town wondering + and talking.” + </p> + <p> + “It is a terrible position. I see not how I can endure it.” + </p> + <p> + “Put Cornelia before everything.” + </p> + <p> + “The best plan is to remove Cornelia out of danger. Why not take her + to visit your brother Joseph? He has long desired you to do so.” + </p> + <p> + “Go to Philadelphia NOW! Joseph tells me Congress is in session, and + the city gone mad over its new dignity. Nothing but balls and dinners are + thought of; even the Quakers are to be seen in the finest modes and + materials at entertainments; and Cornelia will hardly escape the fever of + fashion and social gaiety. She has many acquaintances there.” + </p> + <p> + “I do not wish her to escape it. A change of human beings is as + necessary as a change of air, or diet. She has had too much of George + Hyde, and Madame Jacobus, and Rem Van Ariens.” + </p> + <p> + “I hear that Rem is greatly taken with Boston, and thinks of opening + an office there.” + </p> + <p> + “Very prudent of Rem. What chance has he in New York with Hamilton + and Burr, to carry off all the big prey? Make your arrangements as soon as + possible to leave New York.” + </p> + <p> + “You are sure that you are right in choosing Philadelphia?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes—while Hyde is in New York. Write to your brother to-day; + and as soon as Cornelia is a little stronger, I will go with you to + Philadelphia.” + </p> + <p> + “And stay with us?” + </p> + <p> + “That is not to be expected. I have too much to do here,” + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER X — LIFE TIED IN A KNOT + </h2> + <p> + One morning soon after the New Year, Hyde was returning to the Manor House + from New York. It was a day to oppress thought, and tighten the heart, and + kill all hope and energy. There was a monotonous rain and a sky like that + of a past age—solemn and leaden—and the mud of the roads was + unspeakable. He was compelled to ride slowly and to feel in its full + force, as it were, the hostility of Nature. As he reached his home the + rain ceased, and a thick mist, with noiseless entrance, pervaded all the + environment; but no life, or sound of life, broke the melancholy sense of + his utter desolation. + </p> + <p> + He took the road by the lake because it was the nearest road to the + stables, where he wished to alight; but the sight of the livid water, and + of the herons standing motionless under the huge cedars by its frozen + edges, brought to speech and expression that stifled grief, which Nature + this morning had intensified, not relieved. + </p> + <p> + “Those unearthly birds!” he said petulantly, “they look + as if they had escaped the deluge by some mistake. Oh if I could forget! + If I could only forget! And now she has gone! She has gone! I shall never + see her again!” Grief feels it a kind of luxury to repeat some + supreme cry of misery, and this lamentation for his lost love had this + poignant satisfaction. He felt New York to be empty and void and dreary, + and the Manor House with its physical cheer and comfort, and its store of + affection, could not lift the stone from his heart. + </p> + <p> + In spite of the chilling mist the Earl had gone to see a neighbour about + some land and local affairs, and his mother—oblivious of the coronet + of a countess—was helping her housekeeper to make out the list of + all household property at the beginning of the year 1792. She seemed a + little annoyed at his intrusion, and recommended to him a change of + apparel. Then he smiled at his forlorn, draggled condition, and went to + his room. + </p> + <p> + Now it is a fact that in extreme dejection something good to eat, and + something nice to wear, will often restore the inner man to his normal + complacency; and when Hyde’s valet had seen to his master’s + refreshment in every possible way, Hyde was at least reconciled to the + idea of living a little longer. The mud-stained garments had disappeared, + and as he walked up and down the luxurious room, brightened by the blazing + oak logs, he caught reflections of his handsome person in the mirror, and + he began to be comforted. For it is not in normal youth to disdain the + smaller joys of life; and Hyde was thinking as his servant dressed him in + satin and velvet, that at least there was Annie. Annie was always glad to + see him, and he had a great respect for Annie’s opinions. Indeed + during the past few weeks they had been brought into daily companionship, + they had become very good friends. So then the absence of the Earl and the + preoccupation of his mother was not beyond comfort, if Annie was able to + receive him. In spite of his grief for Cornelia’s removal from New + York, he was not insensible to the pleasure of Annie’s approval. He + liked to show himself to her when he knew he could appear to advantage; + and there was nothing more in this desire, than that healthy wish for + approbation that is natural to self-respecting youth. + </p> + <p> + He heard her singing as he approached the drawing-room, and he opened the + door noiselessly and went in. If she was conscious of his entrance she + made no sign of it, and Hyde did not seem to expect it. He glanced at her + as he might have glanced at a priest by the altar, and went softly to the + fireside and sat down. At this moment she had a solemn, saintly beauty; + her small pale face was luminous with spiritual joy, her eyes glowing with + rapture, and her hands moving among the ivory keys of the piano made + enchanting melody to her inspired longing + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Jerusalem the golden, + With milk and honey blest, + Beneath thy contemplation + Sink heart and voice oppressed. + O one, O only mansion, + O paradise of joy! + Where tears are ever banished + And smiles have no alloy. + O sweet and blessed country! + Shall I ever see thy face? + O sweet and blessed country! + Shall I ever win thy grace? +</pre> + <p> + and as these eager impassioned words rose heavenward, it seemed to Hyde + that her innocent, longing soul was half-way out of her frail little body. + He did not in any way disturb her. She ceased when the hymn was finished + and sat still a few moments, realizing, as far as she could, the glory + which doth not yet appear. As her eyes dropped, the light faded from her + face; she smiled at Hyde, a smile that seemed to light all the space + between them. Then he stood up and she came towards him. No wonder that + strangers spoke of her as a child; she had the size and face and figure of + a child, and her look of extreme youth was much accentuated by the simple + black gown she wore, and by her carriage, for she leaned slightly forward + as she walked, her feet appearing to take no hold upon the floor; a + movement springing INTERIORLY from the soul eagerness which dominated her. + Hyde placed her in a chair before the fire, and then drew his own chair to + her side. + </p> + <p> + “Cousin,” she said, “I am most glad to see you. + Everybody has some work to do to-day.” + </p> + <p> + “And you, Annie?” + </p> + <p> + “In this world I have no work to do,” she answered. “My + soul is here for a purchase; when I have made it I shall go home again.” + And Hyde looked at her with such curious interest that she added—“I + am buying Patience.” + </p> + <p> + “O indeed, that is a commodity not in the market.” + </p> + <p> + “I assure you it is. I buy it daily. Once I used to wonder what for + I had come to earth. I had no strength, no beauty, nothing at all to buy + Earth’s good things with. Three years ago I found out that I had + come to buy for my soul, the grace of Patience. Do you remember what an + imperious, restless, hard-to-please, hard-to-serve girl I was? Now it is + different. If people do not come on the instant I call them, I rock my + soul to rest, and say to it ‘anon, anon, be quiet, soul.’ If I + suffer much pain—and that is very often—I say Soul, it is His + Will, you must not cry out against it. If I do not get my own way, I say, + Soul, His Way is best; and thus, day by day, I am buying Patience.” + </p> + <p> + “But it is not possible this can content you. You must have some + other hope and desire, Annie?” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps I once had—and to-day is a good time to speak of it + to you, because now it troubles me no longer. You know what my father + desired, and what your father promised, for us both?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. Did you desire it, Annie?” + </p> + <p> + “I do not desire it now. You were ever against it?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh Annie!—” + </p> + <p> + “It makes no matter, George. I shall never marry you.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you dislike me so much?” + </p> + <p> + “I am very fond of you. You are of my race and my kindred, and I + love every soul of the Hydes that has ever tarried on this earth.” + </p> + <p> + “Well then?” + </p> + <p> + “I shall marry no one. I will show you the better way. Few can walk + in it, but Doctor Roslyn says, he thinks it may be my part—my happy + part—to do so:” and as she spoke she took from the little + pocket at her side a small copy of the gospels, and it opened of its own + account at the twentieth chapter of St. Luke. “See!” she said, + “and read it for yourself, George—” + </p> + <p> + “The children of this world marry and are given in marriage. But + they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the + resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage. + </p> + <p> + “Neither can they die any more; for they are equal unto the angels, + and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.” + [Footnote: St. Luke, chap. xx. 34-36.] + </p> + <p> + “To die no more! To be like unto the angels! To be the children of + God! This is the end and aim of my desires, to be among ‘the + children of God!’” + </p> + <p> + “Dear Annie, I cannot understand this.” + </p> + <p> + “Not yet. It is not your time. My soul, I think, is ages older than + yours. It takes ages of schooling to get into that class that may leave + Earth forever, and be as the angels. Even now I know, I am sure that you + are fretting and miserable for the love of some woman. For whose love, + George? Tell me.” + </p> + <p> + Then Hyde plunged with headlong precipitancy into the story of his love + for Cornelia, and of the inexplicably cruel way in which it had been + brought to a close. “And yesterday,” he continued with a sob + in his voice—“yesterday I heard that her father had taken her + to Philadelphia. I shall see her no more. He will marry her to Rem Van + Arenas, or to one of her Quaker cousins, and the taste is taken out of my + life, and I am only a walking misery.” + </p> + <p> + “I do not believe it is Cornelia’s fault.” + </p> + <p> + “Here is her letter. Read it.” Then Annie look the letter and + after reading it said, “If she be all you say, I will vow she wrote + this in her sleep. I should like to see her. Why do you think wrong of + her? What is love without faith in the one you love? Do you know first and + finally what true love is? It is THINKING kindly and nobly. For if we GIVE + all we have, and DO all we can do, and yet THINK unkindly, it profits us + nothing. Doctor Roslyn told me so. You remember him?” + </p> + <p> + “Your teacher?” + </p> + <p> + “My teacher, my friend, my father after the spirit. He told me that + our thoughts moulded our fate, because thought and life are one. So then, + if you really love Cornelia, you must think good of her, and then good + will come.” + </p> + <p> + “If thought and life are one, Annie, if doing good, and giving good, + are nothing to thinking good, and we are to be judged by our quality of + thinking, there will be a greater score against all of us, than we can + imagine. I, for one, should not like to be brought face to face with what + I think, and have thought about people; it would be an accounting beyond + my power to settle.” + </p> + <p> + “There is no accounting. If all the priests in Christendom tell you + so, believe them not. Do you think God keeps a score against you? Do you + think the future is some torture chamber, or condemned cell? Oh, how you + wrong God!” + </p> + <p> + “But we are taught, Annie, that the future must correct the past.” + </p> + <p> + “True, but the future, like the present, is a school—only a + school. And the Great Master is so compassionate, so ready to help, so + ready to enlighten, so sure to make out of our foolishness some wise + thing. If we learn the lesson we came here to learn, He will say to us + ‘Well done’—and then we shall go higher.” + </p> + <p> + “If we do not learn it?” + </p> + <p> + “Ah then, we are turned back to try it over again! I should not like + to be turned back—would you?” + </p> + <p> + “But He will punish us for failure.” + </p> + <p> + “Our earthly fathers are often impatient with us; His compassions + fail not. Oh this good God!” she cried in an ecstasy—“Oh + that I knew where I might find Him! Oh that I could come into His + presence!” and her eyes dilated, and were full of an incomparable + joy, as if they were gazing upon some glorious vision, and glad with the + gladness of the angels. + </p> + <p> + Hyde looked at her with an intense interest. He wondered if this angelic + little creature had ever known the frailties and temptations of mortal + life, and she answered his thought as if he had spoken it aloud. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, cousin, I have known all temptations, and come through all + tribulations. My soul has wandered and lost its way, and been brought back + many and many a time, and bought every grace with much suffering. But God + is always present to help, while quest followed quest, and lesson followed + lesson, and goal succeeded goal; ever leaving some evil behind, and + carrying forward some of those gains which are eternal.” + </p> + <p> + “If Adam had not fallen!” sighed George, “things might + have been so different.” + </p> + <p> + “But the angels fell before Adam,” she answered. “I + wonder if Adam knew about the fallen angels? Did he know about death + before he saw Abel dead? He was all day in the garden of Eden after eating + of the fruit of sin and death, and yet he did not put out his hand to take + of the Tree of Life. Did he know that he was already immortal? Was he—and + are we—fallen angels, working our way back to our first estate + through many trials and much suffering? Doctor Roslyn talked to me of + these things till I thought I felt wings stirring within me. Wings! Wings! + Wings to fly away and be at rest. Wings! they have been the dream of every + race and every age. Are they a memory of our past greatness, for they + haunt us, and draw us on and on, and higher and higher?—but why do + you look so troubled and reluctant?” + </p> + <p> + Before Hyde could answer, the Earl came into the room and the young man + was glad to see his father. A conversation so unusual, so suggestive and + cleaving made him unhappy. It took him up the high places that indeed gave + him a startling outlook of life, but he was not comfortable at such + altitude. He rose with something of this strange air about him, and the + Earl understood what the trend of the conversation had been. For Annie had + talked much to him on such subjects, and he had been sensibly moved and + impressed by the wisdom which the little maid had learned from her + venerable teacher. He lifted her head in passing, and kissed her brow with + that reverent affection we feel for those who bring out what is noblest + and best in our character, and who lead us higher than our daily walk. + </p> + <p> + “My dear George,” he said, “I am delighted to see you. I + was afraid you would stay in the city this dreadful weather. Is there any + news?” + </p> + <p> + “A great deal, sir. I have brought you English and French papers.” + </p> + <p> + “I will read them at my leisure. Give me the English news first. + What is it in substance?” + </p> + <p> + “The conquest of Mysore and Madras. Seringapatam has fallen; and + Tippoo has ceded to England one half his dominions and three millions of + pounds. The French have not now a foothold left in India, and ‘Citizen + Tippoo’ can no longer help the agents of the French Republic. Faith, + sir! Cornwallis has given England in the east, a compensation for what she + lost in the west.” + </p> + <p> + “To make nations of free men, is the destiny of our race,” + replied the Earl. + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps so; for it seems the new colony planted at Sydney Cove, + Australia, is doing wonderfully; and that would mean an English empire in + the south.” + </p> + <p> + “Yet, I have just read a proclamation of the French Assembly, + calling on the people of France ‘TO ANNIHILATE AT ONCE, the white, + clay-footed colossus of English power and diplomacy.’ Anything else?” + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Fox and Mr. Burke are quarrelling as usual, and Mr. Pitt is + making the excesses of France the excuse for keeping back reform in + England. It is the old story. I did not care to read it. The French papers + tell their side of it. They call Burke a madman, and Pitt a monster, and + the Moniteur accuses them of having misrepresented the great French + nation, and says, ‘they will soon be laid prostrate before the + statue of Liberty, from which they shall only rise to mount the scaffold, + etc., etc.’” + </p> + <p> + “What bombastic nonsense!” + </p> + <p> + “Minister Morris is in the midst of horrors unmentionable. The other + foreign ministers have left France, and the French government is deserted + by all the world; yet Mr. Morris remains at his post, though he was lately + arrested in the street, and his house searched by armed men.” + </p> + <p> + “But this is an insult to the American nation! Why does he endure + it? He ought to return home.” + </p> + <p> + “Because he will not abandon his duty in the hour of peril and + difficulty. Neither has the President given him permission to do so. How + could he desert American citizens unlawfully imprisoned, American vessels + unlawfully seized by French privateers, and American captains detained in + French ports on all kinds of pretences. I think Minister Morris is + precisely where he should be, saving the lives of American citizens; many + of whom are trembling to-day in the shadow of the guillotine.” + </p> + <p> + “It is to be hoped that Jefferson is now convinced of the execrable + nature of these brutal revolutionists.” + </p> + <p> + “I can assure you, sir, he is not. He still excuses all their + abominations and says Minister Morris is a high-flying monarchy man, and + not to be taken without great allowance. I hear that Madame Kippon’s + daughter, whom Mr. Morris rescued at the last hour, has arrived in New + York; and yesterday I met Mr. Van Ariens, who is exceedingly anxious + concerning his daughter, the Marquise de Tounnerre.” “Is she + in danger? I thought her husband was a leader in the new National + Assembly.” + </p> + <p> + “He is among the Girondists. They are giving themselves airs and + making fine speeches at present—but—” + </p> + <p> + “But what?” + </p> + <p> + “Their day will be short.” + </p> + <p> + “What of the king?” + </p> + <p> + “The royal family are all prisoners in the Temple Tower. I do not + dare to read the particulars; but not a single protest against their + barbarity is made. Frenchmen who silently saw the Abbaye, the Force, and + the Carmes turned into human shambles three months ago, now hold their + peace while murders no less horrible are being slowly done in the Temple.” + </p> + <p> + “They are inconceivable monsters. Poor little Arenta! What will she + do?” + </p> + <p> + “I am not very uneasy for her; she has wit enough to save her life + if put to such extremes; her father is much to be pitied; and it is + incredible, though true, that the great majority of our people are still + singing the MARSEILLAISE, though every letter of it is washed in blood and + tears.” + </p> + <p> + “I am troubled about that pretty little Marquise.” + </p> + <p> + “She is clever and full of resource. I have had only one letter from + her since her marriage, and it was written to the word ‘glories!’ + She seemed to be living in a blaze of triumph and very happy. But change + is the order of the day in France.” + </p> + <p> + “Say of the hour, and you are nearer the truth.” + </p> + <p> + “If Arenta is in trouble she will cry out, and call for help on + every hand. I never knew her to make a mistake where her own interests + were concerned. I told her father yesterday that it would be very + difficult to corner Arenta, and comforted him beyond my hope.” + </p> + <p> + During this conversation Annie was in a reverie which it in no way + touched. She had the faculty of shutting her ears to sounds she did not + wish to take into her consciousness, and the French Revolution did not + exist for her. She was thinking all the time of her Cousin George, and of + the singular abruptness with which his love life had been cut short; and + it was this train of thought which led her—when the murmur of voices + ceased for a moment—to say impulsively: + </p> + <p> + “Uncle, it is my desire to go to Philadelphia,” The Earl + looked at her with incredulity. “What nonsense, Annie!” he + exclaimed. “The thing is impossible.” + </p> + <p> + “Why impossible?” + </p> + <p> + “For you, I mean. You would be very ill before the journey was + half-finished. The roads, as George will tell you, are nearly impassable; + and the weather after this fog may be intensely cold. For you a journey to + Philadelphia would be an arduous undertaking, and one without any + reasonable motive.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, indeed! Do you call George Washington an unreasonable motive? I + wish to see him. Imagine me within one hundred miles of this supreme hero, + and turning back to England without kissing his hand. I should be laughed + at—I should deserve to be laughed at.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, if the journey were an easier one.” + </p> + <p> + “To be sure, the roads and the cold will be trials; but then my + uncle, you can give them to me, as God gives trials to His Beloved. He + breaks them up into small portions, and puts a night’s sleep between + the portions. Can you not also do this?” + </p> + <p> + “You little Methodist!” answered the Earl, with a tender gleam + in his eyes. “I see that I shall have to give you your own way. Will + you go with us, George?” + </p> + <p> + “It will be a relief. New York is in the dumps. Little Burr having + beaten the Schuyler faction, thinks himself omnipotent; and this quarrel + between Mr. Jay and Governor Clinton keeps every one else on the edge of + ill-humour. All the dancing part of the town are gone to Philadelphia; I + have scarcely a partner left; and there is no conversation now in New York + that is not political. Burr, Schuyler, Jay, Clinton! even the clergy have + gone horse and foot into these disputes.” + </p> + <p> + “Burr has a kind of cleverness; one must admit that.” + </p> + <p> + “He is under the curse of knowing everything.” + </p> + <p> + “Nevertheless his opinions will not alter the axis of the earth. It + is however a dangerous thing to live in a community where politics are the + staple of talk, quarrels spring full armed from a word in such an + atmosphere.” + </p> + <p> + “I have accommodated my politics, sir, to my own satisfaction; and I + make shift to answer people according to their idols. I vow, I am so weary + of the words ‘honour and honesty’ that they beat a tattoo on + my brain.” + </p> + <p> + “When you are as old as I am, George, you will understand that these + words are the coin, with which men buy office. The corruption of courtiers + is a general article of faith, but the impudence of patriots going to + market with their honesty, beats courtly corruption to nothing. However, + let us go to Philadelphia and see the play. That is what Annie desires.” + </p> + <p> + “I desire to see Washington. I wish to see the greatest of + Americans.” + </p> + <p> + “Let me tell you, Annie,” said the Earl, “that there + never was a man in America less American in character and habits, than + Washington.” + </p> + <p> + “For all that,” interrupted George, “there will never + come a man after him, that will be able to rob Washington of the first + place in the hearts of the American nation.” + </p> + <p> + “Nor at this day can we judge him as he deserves,” added the + Earl; “for he is cramped and hustled by the crowd of nobodies around + him.” + </p> + <p> + “I shall look at him, and I shall know him,” said Annie. + “George tells me that he is good and handsome to look at.” + </p> + <p> + “On horseback,” continued the Earl, “there is none like + him; he is the ideally perfect cavalier—graceful, dignified, + commanding. Indeed so superb a man comes not twice in a generation. At + Monmouth, where I commanded a division, I remember him flying along the + lines, cheering the men and restoring by his tremendous enthusiasm the + fortunes of the fight to our standard. The grandest of men! You are right, + Annie, it would be a stupidity to go back to England without seeing him.” + </p> + <p> + This was the initial conversation which after some opposition, and a + little temper from madame the Countess, resulted in the Hyde family + visiting Philadelphia. It was a great trial to the Countess to leave her + own well ordered, comfortable home for apartments in an hotel; and she was + never done asserting it to be a great imprudence, as far as Annie was + concerned. But the girl was immovable, and as she was supported by her + uncle and cousin, the Countess was compelled to acquiesce. But really she + was so ready to find her pleasure in the pleasure of those she loved, that + this acquiescence was not an unmitigated trial. She suspected the motive + for her son’s eager desire for Philadelphia, and as she had + abandoned without much regret the hope of his marriage with Annie Hyde, + she was far from being disinclined to Cornelia. She had accustomed herself + to the idea of Cornelia as mistress of the beautiful home she had made. + She was an American, and madame loved her country and wished her + daughter-in-law to be of American lineage. She was aware that some trouble + had come between the lovers, and she trusted that this visit might be the + ground of a reconciliation. Without question, or plan, or even strong + desire, she felt the wisdom of making opportunities, and then leaving the + improvement of them to circumstances. + </p> + <p> + So about the beginning of February the Hydes were settled in Philadelphia + more comfortably than could have been expected. A handsome house, + handsomely furnished, had been found; and madame had brought with her the + servants necessary to care for it, and for the family’s comfort. And + she was glad, when the weariness of the journey was over, to see how + naturally and pleasantly her husband and son took their places in the gay + world around them. She watched the latter constantly, being sure she would + be able to read on his face, and by his manner and temper, whether affairs + relating to Cornelia were favourable. + </p> + <p> + In a week she had come to the conclusion that he was disappointed; which + indeed was very much the case. He could hear nothing of Cornelia. He had + never once got a glimpse of her lovely countenance, and no scrutiny had + revealed to him the place of her abode. Every house inhabited by a person + of the name of Willing, had been the object of his observation; but no + form that by any possibility could be mistaken for hers, had passed in or + out of their doors. He became ashamed of haunting particular streets, and + fancied the ladies of certain houses watched him; and that the maids and + menservants chattered and speculated about his motives. + </p> + <p> + Every day when he went out Annie gave him an assuring smile, every day + when he returned, she opened her eyes on him with the question in them she + did not care to formulate; and every day she received in an answer an + almost imperceptible negative shake of the head, that slight as it was, + said despairingly, “I have not seen her.” + </p> + <p> + A month passed in this unfruitful searching misery, and Hyde was almost + hopeless. The journey appeared to be altogether a failure; and he said to + Annie, “I am to be blamed for my selfishness in permitting you to + come here. I see that you have tired yourself to death for nothing at all.” + </p> + <p> + She gave her head a resolute little shake and answered, “Wait and + see. Something is coming. You have no patience.” + </p> + <p> + “I assure you, Annie, I ought to have. I have been buying it every + day since we came to this detestable place.” + </p> + <p> + “The place is not to blame. Do you know that I am going to Mrs. + Washington’s reception to-morrow evening? I shall see the President. + He may even speak to me; for my uncle says he appears there, only as a + private gentleman. Cousin, you are to be my cavalier if it please you; and + my uncle and aunt will attend us.” + </p> + <p> + “I am devotedly at your service, Annie; and I will at least point + out to you some of the dazzling beauties of our court—the splendid + Mrs. Bingham, the Miss Allens, and Miss Chews, and the brilliant Sally + McKean.” + </p> + <p> + “And the lovely Cornelia Moran?” + </p> + <p> + “She will not be there.” + </p> + <p> + “My aunt says I must wear a white gown, and I shah do you all the + justice it is in my power to do.” + </p> + <p> + “I am always proud of you, Annie. There is no one like you.” + </p> + <p> + “Do not say that, George!” The few words were almost a cry; + and she closed her eyes, and clasped her small hands tightly. + </p> + <p> + “What have I said, Annie?” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing—nothing—only do not flatter me.” + </p> + <p> + “It is the very truth.” + </p> + <p> + “Let it pass?—it is nothing.” She was silent afterwards, + like a person in pain; all her childlike gaiety gone; and Hyde having a + full share of a man’s stupidity about matters of pure feeling, did + not for one moment suspect why his praise should give her pain. He thought + her objection must come from some religious scruple. + </p> + <p> + The next evening however he had every reason to feel proud of his cousin. + She was really an exquisite little creature; angels would have given her + all she wished, she was so charming. The touch of phantasy and flame in + her nature illumined her face, and no one could look at her without + feeling that a fervent and transparent soul gazed from eyes, so lambent + with soft spiritual fire. This impression was enhanced by her childlike + gown of white crape over soft white silk; it suggested her sweet fretless + life, and also something unknown and unseen in her very simplicity. + </p> + <p> + Hyde, who was dressed in the very finest mode, was proud to take her on + his arm; and the Earl watched them with a fond and faithful hope that all + would soon fall out as he desired it. He could not indeed imagine a man + remaining unimpressed by a beauty so captivating to the highest senses. + “It will be as we wish,” he said to his Countess as they + watched them entering the waiting coach; and she answered with that smile + of admission, which has always its reserved opinion. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Washington’s parlours were crowded when they entered them, but + the splendid throng gave the highest expression of their approval + possible, by that involuntary silence which indicates a pleased + astonishment. The Earl at once presented his niece to Mrs. Washington, and + afterwards to the President, who as a guest of Mrs. Washington was walking + about the rooms talking to the ladies present. Resplendent in purple and + white satin and the finest of laces, the august man captivated Lady Annie + at the first glance. She curtsied with inimitable grace, and would have + kissed the hand he held out to her, had he permitted the homage. For a few + minutes he remained in conversation with the party, then he went forward, + and Hyde turning with his beautiful charge, met Cornelia face to face. + </p> + <p> + They looked at each other as two disembodied souls might meet and look + after death—reproaching, questioning, entreating, longing. Hyde + flushed and paled, and could not for his very life make the slightest + effort at recognition or speech. Not a word would come. He knew not what + word to say. Cornelia who had seen his entry was more prepared. She gave + him one long look of tender reproach as she passed, but she made no + movement of recognition. If she had said one syllable—if she had + paused one moment—if she had shown in any way the least desire for a + renewal of their acquaintance, Hyde was sure his heart would have + instantly responded. As it was, they had met and parted in a moment, and + every circumstance had been against him. For it was the most natural thing + in life, that he should, after his cousin’s interview with + Washington, stoop to her words with delight and interest; and it was + equally natural for Cornelia to put the construction on his attentions + which every one else did. Then being angry at her apparent indifference, + he made these attentions still more prominent; and Cornelia heard on every + hand the confirmation of her own suspicions: “They are to be married + at Easter. What a delightful little creature!” + </p> + <p> + “They have loved each other all their lives.” + </p> + <p> + “The Earl is delighted with the marriage.” + </p> + <p> + “He is the most devoted of lovers.” + </p> + <p> + And there was not a word of dissent from this opinion until pretty Sally + McKean said, “A fig for your prophecies! George Hyde has loved and + galloped away a score of times. I would not pay any more attention to his + proposals and promises, than I would pay to the wind that blows where it + listeth; here to-day, and somewhere else to-morrow.” + </p> + <p> + To all these speculations Cornelia forced herself to listen with a calm + unalterable; and Hyde and Annie watched her from a distance. “So + that is the marvellous beauty!” said Annie. + </p> + <p> + “Is she not marvellously beautiful?” asked Hyde. + </p> + <p> + “Yes. I will say that much. But why did she look at you with so much + of reproach? What have you done to her?” + </p> + <p> + “That is it. What have I done? Or left undone?” + </p> + <p> + “Who is the gentleman with her?” + </p> + <p> + “I know not. She has many relatives here; wealthy Quakers, and some + of them doubtless of the new order, who do not disdain the frivolity of + fine clothing.” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed, I assure you the Quakers were ever nice in their taste for + silks and velvets and laces. The man is handsome enough even to be her + escort. And to judge by appearances he is her devoted servant. Will you + regard them, cousin?” + </p> + <p> + “I do. Alas, I see nothing else! She is more lovely then ever.” + </p> + <p> + “She is wonderfully dressed. That gown of pale blue and silver would + make any woman look like an angel?-but indeed she is lovely beyond + comparison. There are none like her in this room. It will be a thousand + pities if you lose her.” + </p> + <p> + “I shall be inconsolable.” + </p> + <p> + “You may have another opportunity even tonight. I see that my aunt + is approaching with a young lady, if you do not wish to make a new + acquaintance, go and try to meet Cornelia again.” + </p> + <p> + “Thank you, Annie. You can tell me what I have missed afterwards.” + </p> + <p> + He wandered through the parlours speaking to one and another but ever on + the watch for Cornelia. He saw her no more that night. She had withdrawn + as soon as possible after meeting Hyde, and he was so miserably + disappointed, so angry at the unpropitious circumstances which had + dominated their casual meeting, that he hardly spoke to anyone as they + returned home; and was indeed so little interested in other affairs that + he forgot until the next day to ask Annie whose acquaintance he had rather + palpably refused. + </p> + <p> + “You cannot guess who it was,” said Annie in answer to his + query; “so I will make a favour of telling you. Do you remember the + Rev. Mr. Darner, rector of Downhill Market?” + </p> + <p> + “Very well. He preached very tiresome sermons.” + </p> + <p> + “The young lady was his daughter Mary.” + </p> + <p> + “‘Tis a miracle! What is Mary Darner doing in America?” + </p> + <p> + “She is on a visit to her cousin, who is married to the Governor of + Massachusetts. He is here on some state matter, and as Miss Damer also + wished to see Washington, he brought her with him.” + </p> + <p> + “Mary Damer! We went nutting together one autumn. She came often to + Hyde Court when I was a lad.” + </p> + <p> + “And she promises to come often to see me when I return to England. + I wonder what we have been brought together for. There must be a reason + for a meeting so unlikely—Can it be Cornelia?” + </p> + <p> + “‘Tis the most improbable of suppositions. I do not suppose + she ever saw Cornelia.” + </p> + <p> + “She had not even heard of her—and yet my mind will connect + them.” + </p> + <p> + “You have no reason to do so; and it is beyond all likelihood. I am + sorry I went away from Mary.” + </p> + <p> + “She took no notice of your desertion.” + </p> + <p> + “That is, as maybe. I was a mere lad when I saw her last. Is she + passable?” + </p> + <p> + “She is extremely handsome. My aunt heard that she is to marry a + Boston gentleman of good promise and estate. I dare say it is true.” + </p> + <p> + It was so true that even while they were speaking of the matter Mary was + writing these words to her betrothed: “Yesterday I met the Hydes. + You know my father has the living of Downhill Market from them, and I had + a constraint on me to be agreeable. The young Lord got out of my way. Did + he imagine I had designs on him? I look for a better man. What fate + brought us together in Philadelphia, I know not. I may see a great deal of + them in the coming summer, and then I may find out. At present I will + dismiss the Hydes. I have met pleasanter company.” + </p> + <p> + Annie dismissed the subject with the same sort of impatience. It seemed to + no one a matter of any importance, and even Annie that day had none of the + penetrative insight which belongs to + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “that finer atmosphere, + Where footfalls of appointed things, + Reverberant of days to be, + Are heard in forecast echoings, + Like wave beats from a viewless sea.” + </pre> + <p> + As for Hyde, he was shaken, confused, lifted off his feet, as it were; but + after another day had passed, he had come to one steady resolution—HE + WOULD SPEAL TO CORNELIA WHEN NEXT HE MET HER, NO MATTER WHERE IT WAS, OR + WHO WAS WITH HER. And that passionate stress of spirit which induced this + resolve, led him also to go out and seek for this opportunity. + </p> + <p> + For nearly a week he kept this conscious, constant watch. Its insisting + sorrowful longing was like a cry from Love’s watch towers, but it + did not reach the beloved one; or else she did not answer it. One bright + morning he resolved to walk through the great dry goods stores—Whiteside’s, + Guest’s, and the famous Mrs. Holland’s, where the beauties of + the “gay Quakers” bought their choicest fabrics in foreign + chintzes, lawns, and Indian muslins. All along Front, Arch, and Walnut + Streets, the pavements were lumbered with boxes and bales of fine imported + goods, and he was getting impatient of the bustle and pushing, when he saw + Anthony Clymer approaching him. The young man was driving a new and very + spirited team, and as he with some difficulty held them, he called to Hyde + to come and drive with him. Hyde was just in the weary mood that welcomed + change, and he leaped to his friend’s side, and felt a sudden + exhilaration in the rapid motion of the buoyant, active animals. After an + hour’s driving they came to a famous hostelry, and Clymer said, + “Let us give ourselves lunch, and the horses bait and a rest, then + we will make them show their mettle home again.” + </p> + <p> + The proposal met with a hearty response, and the young men had a luxurious + meal and more good wine than they ought to have taken. But Hyde had at + last found some one who could talk of Cornelia; rave of her face and + figure, and vow she was the topmost beauty in Philadelphia. He listened, + and finally asked where she dwelt, and learned that she was staying with + Mr. Theodore Willing, a wealthy gentleman of the strictest Quaker + principles, but whose son was one of the “feeble men or wet Quakers” + who wore powder and ruffles and dressed like a person of fashion. + </p> + <p> + “He dangles around the bewitching Miss Moran, and gives no other man + a chance,” said Clymer spitefully. “It is the talk from east + to west, and tis said, he is so enamoured of the beauty, that he will have + her, if he buy her.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you talk in your sleep? Or do you tell your dreams for truth?” + asked Hyde angrily. “‘Tis not to be believed that a girl so + lovely can be bought by mere pounds sterling. A woman’s heart lies + not so near her hand—God’s mercy for it! or any fool might + seize it.” + </p> + <p> + “What are you raging at? She is not your mistress.” + </p> + <p> + “Let us talk of horses—or politics—or the last play—or + anything but women. They breed quarrels, if you do but name them.” + </p> + <p> + “Content. I will tell you a good story about Tom Herring,” + </p> + <p> + The story was evidently a good one, for Hyde laughed at the recital with a + noisy merriment very unusual to him. The champ and gallop of the horses, + and Clymer’s vociferous enjoyment of his own wit, blended with it; + and for a moment or two Hyde was under a physical exhilaration as + intoxicating as the foam of the champagne they had been drinking. In the + height of this meretricious gaiety, a carriage, driving at a rather rapid + rate turned into the road; and Cornelia suddenly raised her eyes to the + festive young men, and then dropped them with an abrupt, even angry + expression. + </p> + <p> + Hyde became silent and speechless, and Clymer was quickly infected by the + very force and potency of his companion’s agitation and distressed + surprise. He heard him mutter, “Oh this is intolerable!” and + then, it was, as if a cold sense of dislike had sprung up between them.—Both + were glad to escape the other’s company, and Hyde fled to the + privacy of his own room, that he might hide there the almost unbearable + chagrin and misery this unfortunate meeting had caused him. + </p> + <p> + “Where shall I run to avoid myself?” he cried as he paced the + floor in an agony of shame. “She will never respect me again. She + ought not. I am the most wretched of lovers. Such a tom-fool to betray me + as Anthony Clymer! A man like a piece of glass, that I have seen through a + dozen times!” Then he threw himself into a chair and covered his + face with his hands, and wept tears full of anger and shameful distress. + </p> + <p> + For some days sorrow, and confusion, and distraction bound his senses; he + refused all company, would neither eat, nor sleep, nor talk, and he looked + as white and wan as a spectre. A stupid weight, a dismal sullen stillness + succeeded the storm of shame and grief; and he felt himself to be the most + forlorn of human beings. If it had been only possible to undo things done! + he would have bought the privilege with years. At length, however, the + first misery of that wretched meeting passed away, and then he resolved to + forget. + </p> + <p> + “It is all past!” he said despairingly. “She is lost to + me forever! Her memory breaks my heart! I will not remember any longer! I + will forfeit all to forgetfulness. Alas, alas, Cornelia! Though you would + not believe me, it was the perfectest love that I gave you!” + </p> + <p> + Cornelia’s sorrow, though quite as profound, was different in + character. Her sex and various other considerations taught her more + restraint; but she also felt the situation to be altogether unendurable, + and after a few moments of bitterly eloquent silence, she said— + </p> + <p> + “Mother, let us go home. I can bear this place no longer. Let us go + home to-morrow. Twice this past week I have been made to suffer more than + you can imagine. The man is apparently worthless—but I love him.” + </p> + <p> + “You say ‘apparently’ Cornelia?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, how can I tell? There may be excuses—compulsions—I + do not know what. I am only sure of one thing, that I love and suffer.” + </p> + <p> + For despite all reason, despite even the evidence of her own eyes, + Cornelia kept a reserve. And in that pitiful last meeting, there had been + a flash from Hyde’s eyes, that said to her—she knew not what + of unconquerable love and wrong and sorrow—a flash swifter than + lightning and equally potential. It had stirred into tumult and revolt all + the platitudes with which she had tried to quiet her restless heart; made + her doubtful, pitiful and uncertain of all things, even while her lover’s + reckless gaiety seemed to confirm her worst suspicions. And she felt + unable to face constantly this distressing dubious questioning, so that it + was with almost irritable entreaty she said, “Let us go home, + mother.” + </p> + <p> + “I have desired to do so for two weeks, Cornelia,” answered + Mrs. Moran. “I think our visit has already been too long.” + </p> + <p> + “My Cousin Silas has now begun to make love to me; and his mother + and sisters like it no better than I do. I hate this town with its + rampant, affected fashion and frivolities! It is all a pretence! The + people are naturally saints, and they are absurd and detestable, scheming + to make the most of both worlds—going to meeting and quoting texts—and + then playing that they are men and women of fashion. Mother, let us go + home at once. Lucinda can pack our trunks to-day, and we will leave in the + morning.” + </p> + <p> + “Can we go without an escort?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh yes, we can. Lucinda will wait on us—she too is longing + for New York—and who can drive us more carefully than Cato? And my + dear mother, if Silas wants to escort us, do not permit him. Please be + very positive. I am at the end of my patience. I am like to cry out! I am + so unhappy, mother!” + </p> + <p> + “My dear, we will go home to-morrow. We can make the journey in + short stages. Do not break down now, Cornelia. It is only a little longer.” + </p> + <p> + “I shall not break down—if we go home.” And as the + struggle to resist sorrow proves the capacity to resist it, Cornelia kept + her promise. As they reached New York her cheerfulness increased, and when + they turned into Maiden Lane, she clapped her hands for very joy. And oh, + how delightful was the pleasant sunny street, the familiar houses, the + brisk wind blowing, the alert cheerful looking men and women that greeted + each other in passing with lively words, and bright smiles! O how + delightful the fresh brown garden, in which the crocuses were just + beginning to peep, the bright looking home, the dear father running with + glad surprise to greet them, the handsome, pleasant rooms, the refreshing + tea, the thousand small nameless joys that belong to the little darling + word “HOME.” + </p> + <p> + She ran upstairs to her own dear room, laid her head on her pillow, sat + down in her favourite chair, opened her desk, let in all the sunshine she + could, and then fell with holy gratitude on her knees and thanked God for + her sweet home, and for the full cup of mercies He had given her to drink + in it. + </p> + <p> + When she went downstairs the mail had just come in, and the Doctor sat + before a desk covered with newspapers and letters. “Cornelia,” + he cried in a voice full of interest, “here is a letter for you—a + long letter. It is from Paris.” + </p> + <p> + “It is from Arenta!” she exclaimed, as she examined the large + sheets closed with a great splash of red wax, bearing the de Tounnerre + crest. It had indeed come from Paris, the city of dreadful slaughter, yet + Cornelia opened it with a smiling excitement, as she said again:— + </p> + <p> + “It is from Arenta!” + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XI — WE HAVE DONE WITH TEARS AND TREASONS + </h2> + <p> + “Here is a letter from Arenta!” repeated the Doctor to his + wife, who was just entering the room, “Come, Ava, and listen to what + she has to say. I have no doubt it will be interesting.” Then + Cornelia read aloud the following words: + </p> + <h3> + MY DEAR FRIEND CORNELIA: + </h3> + <p> + If to-day I could walk down Maiden Lane, if to-day I could see you and + talk to you, I should imagine myself in heaven. For as to this city, I + think that in hell the name of “Paris” must have spread itself + far and wide. Indeed I often wonder if I am yet on the earth, or if I have + gone away in my sleep to the country of the devil and his angels. Even as + I am writing to you, my pen is shaking with terror, for I hear the tumbrel + come jolting along, and I know that it is loaded with innocent men and + women who are going to the guillotine; and I know also that it is + accompanied by a mob of dreadful creatures—mostly women—for I + hear them singing—no, screaming—in a kind of rage, + </p> + <p> + “Ca ira les aristocrates a la lanterne!” + </p> + <p> + Do you remember our learning in those happy days at Bethlehem of the + slaughter of Christians by Nero? Very well; right here in the Paris of + Marat and Robespierre, you may hear constantly the same brutal cry that + filled the Rome of the Caesars—“DEATH TO THE CHRISTIANS!” + Famine, anarchy, murder, are everywhere; and I live from moment to moment, + trembling if a step comes near me. For Athanase is imprudence itself. His + opinions will be the death of him. He will not desert the Girondists, + though Mr. Morris tells him their doom is certain. Marat is against them, + and the Jacobins—who are deliriously wicked—are against them, + and the mob of the Faubourgs is against them; and this mob is always of + one mind, always on the spot, and always hungry and ready for anarchy and + blood. Besides which, they are already accused of having sold themselves + to Mr. Pitt. Very often I have heard my dear father talking of universal + suffrage as the bulwark of liberty; well then, we have now, and here, an + universal suffrage that is neither a fraud nor a fiction; and as Athanase + says, “it is expressing itself every minute, in the crimes of the + Holy Guillotine.” + </p> + <p> + And yet Paris makes a pretence of being gay and of enjoying itself. We go + to the theatre and the opera, and we dance, as it were, red, wet-shod to + the hideous strains of the Carmagnole. It is indeed a dance of death. The + other night we were at a reception given by Madame Talma to the victorious + General Dumouriez. All the Brissot party were there. Your father will + remember Brissot de Warville very well. He was greatly petted by Mrs. Jay + and the aristocracy of New York and Philadelphia. Jefferson made a friend + of him, and even Washington talked with him about his book on our country. + Then he passed himself off as a noble, but he is really the son of an + innkeeper. I had so often heard of him, that I regarded with interest his + pale face and grave, melancholy manner. He was accompanied by Camille + Desmoulins, and by Danton; the latter a man almost terrible in his + ugliness. David, the painter of Socrates, was there; he had his hair + frizzed, and was dressed splendidly; and with him was Chenier, more tragic + looking than any of his plays. The salons were filled with flowers and + beautiful women; among them the majestic Madame Vestris, and the lovely + Mademoiselle Candeille, who was singing a song when there arose a sudden + indescribable noise, growing louder and louder, and then the cry of MARAT! + MARAT! and the “Friend of the People” entered. Now I shall + spare a few minutes to tell you, that no one has made frightful enough his + large bony face, his thin lips and his livid complexion. He wore an old + carmagnole, a dirty handkerchief twisted about his neck, leather breeches, + shoes without stockings, and a piece of red cotton round his head, from + which there hung a few locks of greasy hair. A nervous twitching keeps him + constantly moving, and he has the leprosy:—this is well known. He + walked straight to Dumouriez, who said disdainfully, “Ah! are you + the man they call Marat?” Marat immediately demanded from him an + account of military measures he had taken. They had some sharp + conversation which I did not hear, and Marat finally went away uttering + the most insulting threats, and leaving every one in a state of mortal + terror. The next day the newsboys were shouting “the discovery of a + great plot by Marat, the Friend of the People! Great meeting of + Aristocrats at Talmas, etc.” + </p> + <p> + This is the kind of pleasure we have; as to religion, there is no longer + any religion. Everywhere the Almighty is spoken of as the “soi-disant + God.” The monarchy is abolished, and yet so ignorant are the leaders + of the people, that when Brissot mentioned the word Republic in Petion’s + house, Robespierre said with a grin, “Republic! Republic! what’s + a republic?” Spying, and fear, and death penetrate into the most + private houses; above all, fear, constant fear of every one with whom you + come in contact. This feeling is so universal, that some one has + conjugated it thus—I am afraid—Thou art afraid—He is + afraid—We are afraid—You are afraid—They are afraid—For + as death has been officially declared “an endless sleep” any + crime is possible; the mob have no fear of hell, and as for the + guillotine, it is their opera and their perpetual comedy. Very soon these + things must bring on France the chastisement of the Lord; and I shall not + be sorry for it. + </p> + <p> + I have told you the truth about our condition, because I have just had a + letter from my father, and he talks of leaving his business in Claus + Bergen’s care, and coming here to look after me. You must convince + him, that he could do me no good whatever, and that he might do me much + harm. He is outspoken as a Zealander, and what is in his head and his + heart, would come to his lips; also, if it should come to flight, he would + embarrass me very much. Tell him not to fear; Arenta says, not to fear. I + may indeed have to take a seat in “the terrible armchair” + [Footnote: The chair in which the accused sat before the Revolutionary + Tribunal and from which they usually went to the guillotine.] but I shall + not go to the guillotine; I know that. While Minister Morris is here I + have a friend that can do all that can be done. I have had a few letters + from Rem, but they do not satisfy me. He is in love, AND NOT WITH YOU. + Will you please inform me what that means? Say to Aunt Angelica that I am + astonished at her silence; and ask our good Domine to pray that I may soon + return to a country where God reigns. Never again do I wish to spend one + minute in a place where there is no God; for whatever they may call that + place, its real name is hell. Write me a long letter and tell me all the + news of New York, and with my respectful remembrance to your dear father + and mother, I am always your loving friend, ARENTA, MARQUISE DE TOUNNERRE. + </p> + <p> + “Poor Arenta!” said the Doctor when Cornelia had finished the + wretched epistle. “She is however showing the mettle of the race + from which she sprang. The spirit of the men who fought Alva is in her, + and I think she will be a match for Marat, if it comes to that. Suppose + you go and see Van Ariens, and give him all the comfort you can. Are you + too weary?” + </p> + <p> + “I should like to see him, I am not tired now. Home is such a good + doctor.” + </p> + <p> + “I think you will find him in his house. He comes from his office + very early these days.” + </p> + <p> + Cornelia crossed the street and was going to knock at the door, when Van + Ariens hastily opened it. His broad face shone with pleasure, and when + Cornelia told him her errand, he was in a hurry of loving anxiety to hear + what his child had written. + </p> + <p> + “I understand,” he said, when he had heard the letter. “She + is frightened, the poor little one! but she will smile and say ‘it + is nothing.’ That is her way. However, I yet think I must go to her.” + </p> + <p> + “Do not,” urged Cornelia. “France is now at war with + Holland, and you would be recognized as a Dutchman.” + </p> + <p> + “That is so. My tongue would tell tales on me; and to go—even + to heaven—by the guillotine, is not what a good man would wish. No + indeed!” + </p> + <p> + “And you may see by Arenta’s letter, that she does not fear + the guillotine. Come over to-night and talk to my father and mother, and I + will tell you what I saw in Philadelphia.” + </p> + <p> + “Well then, I will come.” + </p> + <p> + “Is Madame Jacobus back in New York yet?” + </p> + <p> + “She is in London.” + </p> + <p> + “But why in London?” + </p> + <p> + “That, I know not. Two reasons I can suppose, but which is right, or + if either be right, that is beyond my certainty.” + </p> + <p> + “Is her sister-in-law dead?” + </p> + <p> + “She is dead. Her husband was an Englishman; perhaps then it is + about some property in England she has gone. If it is not that, of nothing + else can I think but Captain Jacobus. But my sister Angelica had ever two + ways—nothing at all she would say about her money or her business; + but constantly, to every one, she would talk of her husband. I think then + it is money or property that has taken her to England. For if it had been + Jacobus, to the whole town she would have told it.” Then he took + both Cornelia’s hands in his, and looking at her earnestly said— + </p> + <p> + “Poor Rem! Impossible is it?” + </p> + <p> + “Quite impossible, sir,” she answered. + </p> + <p> + “When he got thy letter refusing his love and offer, he went to + Boston. I think he will not come back to me. I am very sorry,” he + said simply, and he let her hands drop. + </p> + <p> + “I am sorry also—for your sake. I hear however that Rem is + doing well in Boston.” + </p> + <p> + “Better than his hopes. Very good fortune has come to him.” + </p> + <p> + “And you, sir?” + </p> + <p> + “I am not doing much at present—but Smith and Warren do less. + In an hour or two to your house I will come. There is plenty to talk + about.” + </p> + <p> + The next day Cornelia walked down Broadway to Madame Jacobus’ house. + It was closed and desolate looking, and she sighed as she compared its old + bright spotless comfort, with its present empty forlornness. The change + typified the change in her heart and love, but ere she could entertain the + thought, her eyes fell upon the trees in the garden, full of the pale + crinkled leaves of spring, and she saw the early flowers breaking through + the dark earth, and the early shrubs bursting into white and golden + blooms. In some way they had a message for her; and she went home with + hope budding in her heart. Soon after Mrs. Moran heard her singing at her + work, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “The far east glows, + The morning wind blows fresh and free; + Should not the hour that wakes the rose + Awaken thee? + No longer sleep— + Oh listen now! + I wait and weep, + But where art thou?” + </pre> + <p> + From one to another song she went, simple melodies all of them, delightful + little warblings of love, which except for their gladness and loyalty, had + nothing in them to charm. + </p> + <p> + She was a deserted maiden. Her lover had palpably and with extreme cruelty + deceived her; but she had grieved, and forgiven. And love brings its + reward, even if unrequited. Those who love, and have loved, are the better + for the revelation; for love for love’s sake enriches and blesses + the lover to the very end of life. She did not forget, for love has + everlasting remembrance; and she did not wish to forget, for a great + affection is a great happiness, and the whole soul can find shelter in it. + </p> + <p> + Neither were her days monotonous or unhappy. All the real pleasures of + life lie in narrow compass; and she found herself very often a little + hurried for want of time. She had not, it is true, the resources of the + woman of to-day—no literary, musical, social, or sporting clubs + existed for Cornelia; but she had duties and devices that made every + moment pleasant or profitable. Many hours daily were given to fine + needlework—calm quiet hours full of thought as well as work; she had + her music to practice, new books and papers to read, calls to make, mantua + makers and milliners to interview, dinners and dances and tea-parties to + attend, shopping to look after, delicate bits of darning and mending to + exercise her skill on, creams and pasties and cakes to prepare, visitors + to welcome and entertain, and many other duties which sprang up—as + extras do—unexpectedly, and yet which opened the door for very + pleasant surprises and events. + </p> + <p> + Besides which, there was her father. After her return from school she had + always driven with him to some extent; but his claim on her now was often + a little exacting. He said the fresh spring winds were good for her, and + that she stayed in the house too much, and there was no evading the dictum + that came with both parental and medical authority. Perhaps this demand + upon her time would not have been made if the Hydes had been in New York; + but Doctor Moran by frequent inquiries satisfied himself that they were + yet in Philadelphia; and for his daughter’s satisfaction he + frequently said as they drove up Maiden Lane, “We will take the + Greenwich Road, there is no fear of our meeting any one we do not wish to + see.” She understood the allusion, and was satisfied to escape + meetings that promised her nothing but pain. + </p> + <p> + In the month of May there occurred one of those wet spells which are so + irritating “growing weather” of course, but very tiresome to + those who felt the joy of spring escaping them. Week after week it was too + damp, or the winds were too sharp, or the roads too heavy for quick + driving, and thus the month of all months went out of the calendar with + few red letter days to brighten it. Then June came in royally, and + Cornelia was glad of the sunshine and the breeze and the rapid canter; and + for a week or two she was much out with her father. But he was now ever on + the watch, and she judged from the circumstance that the Hydes were back + in New York. Besides which, he did not any longer give her the assurance + of not meeting any one they did not wish to see. + </p> + <p> + One exquisite day as they went up Maiden Lane the Doctor said—“My + friend General Hewitt sails for England to-day, and we will go and wish + him a good voyage.” So to the pier they went, and the Doctor left + his carriage, and taking Cornelia on his arm walked down to where the + English packet was lying. They were a little too late to go on board, for + the shoremen were taking away the gang-plank, and the sailors preparing to + lift the anchor; but the General stood leaning over the side of the + vessel, and exchanged some last words with his friend. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Illustration: “SHE WAVED HIM AN ADIEU”] +</pre> + <p> + While Cornelia listened, she became suddenly conscious of the powerful + magnetism of some human eye, and obeying its irresistible attraction she + saw George Hyde steadily regarding her. He stood by the side of his + father, as handsome as on that May morning when he had first looked love + into her heart. She was enthralled again by his glance, and never for one + moment thought of resisting the appeal it made to her. With a conscious + tenderness she waved him an adieu whose spirit he could not but feel. In + the same moment he lifted his hat and stood bareheaded looking at her with + a pathetic inquiry, which made her inwardly cry out, “Oh, what does + he mean?” The packet was moving—the wind filled the blowing + sails—the hoarse crying of the sailormen blended with the “good-byes” + of the passengers—and the Earl, aware of the sad and silent parting + within his sight—moved away as Cornelia again waved a mute farewell + to her lost lover. Then the Doctor touched her— + </p> + <p> + “Why do you do that?” he asked angrily. + </p> + <p> + “Because I must do it, father; I cannot help it. I desire to do it.” + </p> + <p> + “I am in a hurry; let us go home.” + </p> + <p> + Filling her eyes with the beauty of the splendid looking youth still + standing bareheaded watching her, seeing even such trivial things as his + long cloak thrown backward over his shoulder, his white hand holding his + lifted hat, and the wind-tossed curls of his handsome head, she turned + away with a sigh. The Doctor drove rapidly to Maiden Lane and did not on + the way speak a word; and Cornelia was glad of it. That image of her lover + standing on the moving ship watching her with his heart in his eyes, + filled her whole consciousness. Never would it be possible for her to + forget it, or to put any other image in its place. She thanked her good + angel for giving her such a comforting memory; it seemed as if the sting + had been taken out of her sorrow. Henceforward she was resolved to love + without a doubt. She would believe in Joris, no matter what she had seen, + or what she had heard. There were places in life to which alas! truth + could not come; and this might be one of them. Though all the world blamed + her lover, she would excuse him. Her heart might ache, her eyes might + weep, but in that aching heart and in those weeping eyes, his splendid + image would live in that radiant dimness which makes the unseen face, + often more real than the present one. + </p> + <p> + Doctor Moran divined something of this resolute temper, and it made him + silent. He felt that his daughter had come to a place where she had put + reason firmly aside, and given her whole assent to the assurances of her + intuition. He had no arguments for an antagonism of this kind. What could + he say to a soul that presaged a something, and then believed it? His + instinctive sagacity told him that silence was now the part of wisdom. But + though he took her silently home he was conscious of a great relief. His + watch was over. + </p> + <p> + Now a woman’s intuition is like a leopard’s spring, it seizes + the truth—if it seize it at all—at the first bound; and it was + by this unaccountable mental agility Cornelia had arrived at the + conviction of her lover’s fidelity. At any rate, she felt confident, + that if circumstances had compelled him to be false to her, the wrong had + been sincerely mourned; and she was able to forgive the offence that was + blotted out with tears. She reflected also, that now he was so far away, + it would be possible for her to call upon Madame Van Heemskirk, and also + upon Madame Jacobus as soon as she returned; but if Hyde had remained in + New York, these houses would necessarily be closed to her, for he was a + constant visitor at both. + </p> + <p> + She resolved therefore to call upon Madame Van Heemskirk the following + week. She expected the old lady might treat her a little formally, perhaps + even with some coldness, but she thought it worth while to test her + kindness. Joris had once told her that his grandfather and grandmother + both approved their love, and they must know of his desertion, and also of + the reason for it. Yet there was in her heart such a reluctance to take + any step that had the appearance of seeking her lost lover, that she put + off this visit day after day, finding in the weather or in some household + duty always a fair excuse for doing so, until one morning the Doctor said + at breakfast: + </p> + <p> + “Councillor De Vrees died yesterday, and there is to be a great + funeral. Every Dutchman in town will be there, and many others beside, He + has left an immense fortune.” + </p> + <p> + “Who told you this?” asked Mrs. Moran. + </p> + <p> + “I met Van Heemskirk and his wife going there. Madame De Vrees is + their daughter. Now you will see great changes take place.” + </p> + <p> + “What do you mean, John?” + </p> + <p> + “Madame De Vrees has long wanted to build a mansion equal to their + wealth, but the Councillor would never leave the house he built at their + marriage. Madame will now build, and her children take their places among + the great ones of the city. De Vrees was an oddity; very few people will + be sorry to lose him. He had no good quality but money, and he was the + most unhappy of men about its future disposal. I never understood until I + knew him, how wretched a thing it is to be merely rich.” + </p> + <p> + This conversation again put off Cornelia’s visit, and she virtually + abandoned the idea. Then one morning Mrs. Moran said, “Cornelia, I + wish you to go to William Irvin’s for some hosiery and Kendal + cottons. It is a new store down the Lane at number ninety, and I hear his + cloths are strangely cheap. Go and examine them for me.” + </p> + <p> + “Very well, mother. I will also look in at Fisher’s;” + and it was at Fisher’s that she saw Madame Van Heemskirk. She was + talking to Mr. Henry Fisher as they advanced from the back of the store, + and Cornelia had time to observe that madame was in deep mourning, and + that she had grown older looking since she had last seen her. As they came + forward madame raised her eyes and saw Cornelia, and then hastily leaving + the merchant, she approached her. + </p> + <p> + “Good-morning, madame,” said Cornelia, with a cheerful smile. + </p> + <p> + “Good-morning, miss. Step aside once with me. A few words I have to + say to you;” and as she spoke she drew Cornelia a little apart from + the crowd at the counter, and looking at her sternly, said— + </p> + <p> + “One question only—why then did you treat my grandson so + badly? A shameful thing it is to be a flirt.” + </p> + <p> + “I am not a flirt, madame. And I did not treat your grandson badly. + No, indeed!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, indeed! He told me so himself.” + </p> + <p> + “He told you so?” + </p> + <p> + “He told me so. Surely he did.” + </p> + <p> + “That I treated him badly?” + </p> + <p> + “Pray then what else? You let a young man love you—you let him + tell you so—you tell him ‘yes, I love you’ and then when + he says marry me, you say, ‘no.’ Such ways I call bad, very + bad! Not worthy of my Joris are you, and so then, I am glad you said + ‘no.’” + </p> + <p> + “I do not understand you.” + </p> + <p> + “Neither did you understand my Joris—a great mistake he made—and + he did not understand you; and I do not understand such ways of the girls + of this day. They are shameless, and I am ashamed for you.” + </p> + <p> + “Madame, you are very rude.” + </p> + <p> + “And very false are you.” + </p> + <p> + “I am not false.” + </p> + <p> + “My Joris told me so. Truth itself is Joris. He would not lie. He + would not deceive.” + </p> + <p> + “If your grandson told you I had deceived him, and refused to marry + him,—let it be so. I have no wish to contradict your grandson.” + </p> + <p> + “That you cannot do. I am ashamed—” + </p> + <p> + “Madame, I wish you good morning;” and with these words + Cornelia left the store. Her cheeks were burning; the old lady’s + angry voice was in her ears, she felt the eyes of every one in the store + upon her, and she was indignant and mortified at a meeting so inopportune. + Her heart had also received a new stab; and she had not at the moment any + philosophy to meet it. Joris had evidently told his grandmother exactly + what the old lady affirmed. She had not a doubt of that, but why? Why had + he lied about her? Was there no other way out of his entanglement with + her? She walked home in a hurry, and as soon as possible shut herself in + her room to consider this fresh wrong and injustice. + </p> + <p> + She could arrive at only one conclusion—Annie’s most + unexpected appearance had happened immediately after his proposal to + herself. He was pressed for time, his grandparents would be especially + likely to embarrass him concerning her claims, and of course the quickest + and surest way to prevent questioning on the matter, was to tell them that + she had refused him. That fact would close their mouths in sympathy for + his disappointment, and there would be no further circumstances to clear + up. It was the only explanation of madame’s attitude that was + possible, and she was compelled to accept it, much as it humiliated her. + And then after it had been accepted and sorrowed over, there came back to + her those deeper assurances, those soul assertions, which she could not + either examine or define, but which she felt compelled to receive—He + loves me! I feel it! It is not his fault! I must not think wrong of him. + </p> + <p> + There was still Madame Jacobus to hope for. She was so shrewd and so + kindly, that Cornelia felt certain of her sympathy and wise advice. But + month after month passed away and madame’s house remained empty and + forlorn-looking. Now and then there came short fateful letters from + Arenta, and Van Ariens—utterly miserable—visited them + frequently that he might be comforted with their assurances of his child’s + ability to manage the very worst circumstances in which she could be + placed. + </p> + <p> + And so the long summer days passed and the winter approached again; but + before that time Cornelia had at least attained to the wisest of all the + virtues—that calm, hushed contentment, which is only another name + for happiness—that contentment which accepts the fact that there is + a chain of causes linked to effects by an invincible necessity; and that + whatever is, could not have wisely been but so. And if this was fatalism, + it was at least a brighter thing than the languid pessimism, which would + have led her life among quicksands, to end it in wreck. + </p> + <p> + One day at the close of October she put down her needlework with a little + impatience. “I am tired of sewing, mother,” she said, “and + I will walk down to the Battery and get a breath of the sea. I shall not + stay long.” + </p> + <p> + On her way to the Battery she was thinking of Hyde, and of their frequent + walks together there; and for once she passed the house of Madame Jacobus + without a glance at its long-closed windows. It was growing dark as she + returned, and ere she quite reached it she was aware of a glow of fire + light and candle light from the windows. She quickened her steps, and saw + a servant well known to her standing at the open door directing two men + who were carrying in trunks and packages. She immediately accosted him. + </p> + <p> + “Has madame returned at last, Ameer?” she asked joyfully. + </p> + <p> + “Madame has returned home,” he answered. “She is weary—she + is not alone—she will not receive to-night.” + </p> + <p> + “Surely not. I did not think of such a thing. Tell her only that I + am glad, and will call as soon as she can see me.” + </p> + <p> + The man’s manner—usually so friendly—was shy and + peculiar, and Cornelia felt saddened and disappointed. “And yet why?” + she asked herself. “Madame has but reached home—I did not wish + to intrude upon her—Ameer need not have thought so—however I + am glad she is back again”—and she walked rapidly home to the + thoughts which this unexpected arrival induced. They were hopeful + thoughts, leaning—however she directed them—towards her absent + lover. She felt sure madame would see clearly to the very bottom of what + she could not understand. She went into her mother’s presence full + of renewed expectations, and met her smile with one of unusual brightness. + </p> + <p> + “Madame Jacobus is at home,” said Mrs. Moran, before Cornelia + could speak. “She sent for your father just after you left the + house, and I suppose that he is still there.” + </p> + <p> + “Is she sick?” + </p> + <p> + “I do not know. I fear so, for the visit is a long one.” + </p> + <p> + It continued so much longer that the two ladies took their tea alone, nor + could they talk of any other subject than madame, and her most unexpected + call for Doctor Moran’s services. “It was always the Dutch + Doctor Gansvoort she had before,” said Mrs. Moran; “and she + was ever ready to scoff at all others, as pretenders.—I do wonder + what keeps your father so long?” + </p> + <p> + It was near ten o’clock when Doctor Moran returned, and his face was + sombre and thoughtful—the face of a man who had been listening for + hours to grave matters, and who had not been able to throw off their + physical reflection. + </p> + <p> + “Have you had tea, John?” asked Mrs. Moran. + </p> + <p> + “No. Give me a good strong cup, Ava. I am tired with listening and + feeling.” + </p> + <p> + She poured it out quickly, and after he had taken the refreshing drink, + Cornelia asked— + </p> + <p> + “Is madame very ill?” + </p> + <p> + “She is wonderfully well. It is her husband.” + </p> + <p> + “Captain Jacobus?” + </p> + <p> + “Who else? She has brought him home, and I doubt if she has done + wisely.” + </p> + <p> + “What has happened, John? Surely you will tell us!” + </p> + <p> + “There is nothing to conceal. I have heard the whole story—a + very pitiful story—but yet like enough to end well, Madame told me + that the day after her sister-in-law’s burial, James Lauder, a + Scotchman who had often sailed with Captain Jacobus, came down to + Charleston to see her. He had sought her in New York, and been directed by + her lawyer to Charleston. He declared that having had occasion to go to + Guy’s Hospital in London to visit a sick comrade, he saw there + Captain Jacobus. He would not admit any doubt of his identity, but said + the Captain had forgotten his name, and everything in connection with his + past life; and was hanging about the premises by favour of the physicians, + holding their horses, and doing various little services for them.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh how well I can imagine madame’s hurry and distress,” + said Cornelia. + </p> + <p> + “She hardly knew how to reach London quickly enough. She said + thought would have been too slow for her. But Lauder’s tale proved + to be true. Her first action was to take possession of the demented man, + and surround him with every comfort. He appeared quite indifferent to her + care, and she obtained no shadow of recognition from him. She then brought + to his case all the medical skill money could procure, and in the + consultation which followed, the physicians decided to perform the + operation of trepanning.” + </p> + <p> + “But why? Had he been injured, John?” + </p> + <p> + “Very badly. The hospital books showed that he had been brought + there by two sailors, who said he had been struck in a gale by a falling + mast. The wound healed, but left him mentally a wreck. The physicians + decided that the brain was suffering from pressure, and that trepanning + would relieve, if it did not cure.” + </p> + <p> + “Then why was it not done at first?” + </p> + <p> + “Whose interest was it to inquire? No money was left with the + injured man. The sailors who took him to the hospital gave false names, + and address, and he received only such treatment as a pauper patient was + likely to receive. But he made friends, and was supported about the place. + Imagine now what a trial was before madame! It was a difficult matter to + perform the operation, for the patient could not be made to understand its + necessity; and he was very hard to manage. Then picture to yourselves, the + terrible strain of nursing which followed; though madame says it was soon + brightened and lightened by her husband’s recognition of her. After + that event all weariness was rest, and suffering ease; and as soon as he + was able to travel both were determined to return at once to their own + home. He is yet however a sick man, and may never quite recover a slight + paralysis of the lower limbs.” + </p> + <p> + “Does he remember how he was hurt?” + </p> + <p> + “He declares his men mutinied, because instead of returning to New + York, he had taken on a cargo for the East India Company; and that the + blow was given him either by his first, or second mate. He thinks they + sailed his ship out of the Thames, for her papers were all made out, and + she was ready to drop down the river with the next tide. He vows he will + get well and find his ship and the rascals that stole her; and I should + not wonder if he does. He has will enough for anything. Madame desires to + see you, Cornelia. Can you go there with me in the morning?” + </p> + <p> + “I shall be glad to go. Madame is like no one else.” + </p> + <p> + “She is not like herself at present. I think you may be a little + disappointed in her. She has but one thought, one care, one end and aim in + life—her husband.” + </p> + <p> + The Doctor had judged correctly. Cornelia was disappointed from the first + moment. She was taken to the dim uncanny drawing-room by Ameer, and left + among its ill-omened gods, and odd treasure-trove for nearly half an hour + before madame came to her. The rudely graven faces, so marvellously + instinct with life, made her miserable; she fancied a thousand mockeries + and scorns in them; and no thought of Hyde, or Arenta, or of the happy + hours spent in that ill-boding room, could charm away its sinister + influence. + </p> + <p> + When madame at length came to her, she appeared like the very genius of + the place. The experiences of the past year had left traces which no after + experience would be able to obliterate. She looked ten years older. Her + wonderful dark eyes, glowing with a soft tender fire alone remained + untouched by the withering hand of anxious love. They were as vital as + ever they had been, and when Cornelia said so, she answered, “That + is because my soul dwells in them, and my soul is always young. I have had + a year, Cornelia, to crumble the body to dust; but my soul made light of + it for love’s sake. Did your father tell you how much Captain + Jacobus had suffered?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, madame.” + </p> + <p> + But in spite of this assurance, madame went over the whole story in + detail, and Cornelia could not help but remember that Mr. Van Ariens had + said “about her husband she will talk constantly, and to the whole + town.” For however far the conversation diverged for a moment, + madame always brought it sharply back to the one subject that interested + her. Even Arenta’s peculiarly dangerous position could not detain + her thoughts and interest for many minutes. + </p> + <p> + “I am sorry for Arenta,” she said; “no greater hell can + there be, than to live in constant fear. But she has the gift of a clever + tongue, and every one has not the like talent; and also if a woman with + the decency of her sex may be a scholar, Arenta has learning enough to + compass the fools who might injure her.” + </p> + <p> + “Marat and Robespierre are both against her husband, and she may + share his fate.” + </p> + <p> + “Marat and Robespierre!” she cried. “Both of the + creatures have a devil. I wish them to go to the guillotine together, and + I would bury them together with their faces downwards. Let them pass out + of your memory. Poor Jacobus was in a worse case than Arenta. Till I be + key-cold dead, I shall never forget my first sight of him in that dreadful + place—” and then she described again her overwhelming emotions + when she perceived he was alike apathetic to his pauper condition, and to + her love and presence. There never came a moment during the whole visit + when it was possible to speak of Hyde. Madame seemed to have quite + forgotten her liking for the handsome youth; it had been swallowed up in + her adoring affection for her restored husband. + </p> + <p> + Cornelia would not force the memory upon her. Some day she might remember; + but for a little while madame had more than enough of fresh material for + her conversation. Every one who had known Captain Jacobus or herself, + called with congratulations for their happy return; and when Cornelia made + a nearly daily visit with her father, madame had these calls to talk over + with her. + </p> + <p> + One morning, however, the long-looked-for topic was introduced. “I + had a visit from Madame Van Heemskirk yesterday afternoon,” she + said; “and the dear old Senator came with her to see Captain + Jacobus. While they talked, madame told me that you had refused that + handsome young fellow, her grandson. What could you mean by such a + stupidity, Miss Moran?” + </p> + <p> + Her voice had just that tone of indifference, mingled with sarcastic + disapproval, that hurt and offended Cornelia. She felt that it was not + worth while to explain herself, for madame had evidently accepted the + offended grandmother’s opinion; and the memory of the young Lord was + lively enough to make her sympathize with his supposed wrong. + </p> + <p> + “I never considered you to be a flirt,” she continued, “and + I am astonished. If, now, it had been Arenta, I could have understood it. + I told Madame Van Heemskirk that I had not the least doubt Doctor Moran + dictated the refusal.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, indeed,” answered Cornelia, with a good deal of spirit + and some anger, “you shall not blame my father. He knew nothing + whatever of Lord Hyde’s offer, until I had been subjected to such + insult and wrong as drove me to the grave’s mouth. Only the mercy of + God, and my father’s skill, brought me back to life.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I think your father to be wonderfully skilful. He has done + Jacobus a great deal of good, and he now gives him hope of a perfect + recovery. Doctor Moran is a fine physician; Jacobus says so.” + </p> + <p> + Cornelia remained silent. If madame did not feel interest sufficient in + her affairs to ask for the particulars of one so nearly fatal to her, she + determined not to force the subject on her. Then Jacobus rang his bell, + and madame flew to his room to see whether his want had received proper + attention. Cornelia sat still a few moments, her heart swelling, her eyes + filling with the sense of that injustice, harder to bear than any other + form of wrong. She was going away, when madame returned to her, and + something in her eyes went to the heart of the older woman. She turned her + back, with a kind but peremptory word, and taking her hand, said— + </p> + <p> + “I have been thoughtless, Cornelia, selfish, I dare say; but I do + not wish to be so. Tell me, my dear, what has happened. Did you quarrel + with George Hyde? And pray what was it about?” + </p> + <p> + “We never had one word of any kind, but words of affection. He wrote + and asked me if he could come and see my father about our marriage, on a + certain night. I answered his letter with all the love that was in my + heart for him, and told him to come and see my father that very night. He + never came. He never sent me the least explanation. He never wrote to me, + or spoke to me again.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, but this is a different story! His grandmother told me that you + refused him.” + </p> + <p> + “That is not the truth. Lady Annie Hyde came most unexpectedly that + very day, and I suppose the easiest way to stop all inquiries about Miss + Moran, was to say ‘she refused me.’” + </p> + <p> + “And after Lady Annie’s arrival, what happened?” + </p> + <p> + “I was absolutely deserted. That is the truth. I may as well admit + it. Perhaps you think it impossible for a young man so good-natured to + behave in a manner so cruel and dishonourable; but I assure you it is the + truth.” + </p> + <p> + “My dear, I have lived to see it almost impossible to think worse of + people than they are; and if you can bear to hear more on this subject, I + will tell it to you myself.” + </p> + <p> + “I can always bear the truth. If I have lost my heart, I have not + lost my head; nor will I surrender to useless grief the happiness which I + can yet make for others, and for myself.” + </p> + <p> + “If what you have told me be so—and I believe it is—then + I say Lord George Hyde is an intolerable scoundrel.” + </p> + <p> + “I would rather not hear him spoken of in that way.” + </p> + <p> + “I ask your pardon, but I must give myself a little Christian + liberty of railing. The man is false clean through. He was evidently + engaged to Lady Annie when he first sought your love, and therefore as + soon as she came here, he deserted you. I will tell you plainly that I saw + him last summer very frequently, and he was always with her—always + listening with ears and heart to what she said—always watching her + with all his soul in his eyes—ever on the lookout to see that not a + breath of wind ruffled her soft wraps, or blew too strongly on her little + white face.” + </p> + <p> + “That was his way, madame. I have seen him devoting himself to you + in the same manner; yes, and to Madame Griffin, and Miss White, and a + score of other ladies—old and young. You know how good-natured he + was. When did you hear him say a wrong word of any one? even of Rem Van + Ariens who was often intolerably rude.” + </p> + <p> + “Very well! I would rather have a man ‘intolerably rude’ + like my nephew Rem, than one like Lord Hyde who speaks well of everybody. + Upon my word, I think that is the worst kind of slander!” + </p> + <p> + “I think not.” + </p> + <p> + “It is; for it takes away the reputation of good men, by making all + men alike. But this, that, or the other, I saw Lord Hyde in devoted + attendance on Lady Annie. Give him up totally. He is in his kingdom when + he has a pretty woman to make a fool of. As for marriage, these young men + who have the world, or the better part of it, they marry where Cupidity, + not Cupid leads them. Give him up entirely.” + </p> + <p> + “I have done so,” answered Cornelia. And then she felt a + sudden anger at herself, so much so, that as she walked home, she kept + assuring her heart with an almost passionate insistence, “I have not + given him up! I will not give him up! I believe in him yet.” + </p> + <p> + Madame’s advice might be wise, but there are counsels of perfection + that cannot be followed; because they are utterly at variance with that + intuitive knowledge, which the soul has of old; and which it will not + surrender; and whose wisdom it is interiorly sure of. And after this + confidence Cornelia did not go so often to madame’s. Something + jarred between them. We know that a single drop taken from a glass of + water changes the water level swift as thought, and the same law is + certain in all human relations. Madame was not quite the same; something + had been taken away; the level of their friendship was changed; and when + Doctor Moran could not but perceive this fact, he said— + </p> + <p> + “Go less frequently to madame’s, Cornelia. You do not enjoy + your visits; dissolve a friendship that begins to be incomplete. It is the + best plan.” + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XII — A HEART THAT WAITS + </h2> + <p> + Late summer on the Norfolk Broads! And where on earth can the lover of + boats find a more charming resort? How alluring are the mysterious + entrances to these Broads! where a boat seems to make an insane dive into + a hopeless cul de sac of a ditch, and then suddenly emerges on a wide + expanse of water, teeming with pike and bream and eels; and fringed with a + border of plashy ground, full of reeds and willows and flowering flags; + and alive with water fowl. + </p> + <p> + Now close to the Manor of Hyde, the country home of Earl Hyde in Norfolk, + there was one of these delightful Broads—flat as a billiard table, + and hidden by the tall reeds which bordered it. But Annie Hyde lying at + the open window of her room in the Manor House could see its silvery + waters, and the black-sailed wherry floating on them, and the young man + sitting at the prow fishing, and idling, among the lilies and languors of + these hot summer days. Her hands were folded, her lips moved, she was + asking of some intelligence among the angels, grace and favour for one who + was dearer to her than her own life or happiness. + </p> + <p> + An aged man sat silently by her, a man of noble beauty, whose soul was in + every part of his body, expressive and impressive—a fiery particle + not always at its window, but when there, infecting and going through + observers, whether they would or not. He was dressed altogether in black, + and had fine small hands, a thin austere face and clean sensitive lips + which seemed to say, “He hath made us kings and priests”—a + man of celestial race, valuing things at their eternal, not at their + temporal worth. + </p> + <p> + There had been silence for some time between them, and he did not appear + disposed to break it; but Annie longed for him to do so, because she had a + mystical appetite for sacred things, and was never so happy and so much at + rest as when he was talking to her of them. For she loved God, and had + been led to the love of God by a kind of thirst for God. + </p> + <p> + “Dear father,” she said finally, “I have been thinking + of the past years, in which you have taught me so much.” + </p> + <p> + “It is better to look forward, Annie,” he answered. “The + traveller to Eternity must not continually turn back to count his steps; + for if God be leading him, no matter how dangerous or lonely the road, + ‘He will pluck thy feet out of the net.’” + </p> + <p> + “Even in the valley of death?” + </p> + <p> + “‘BE NOT AFRAID! NOTHING OF THEE WILL DIE!’ Take these + sweet compassionate words of Jesus, as He wept by the dying bed of Joseph, + His father, into thy heart. Blessed are the homesick, Annie! for they + shall get home.” + </p> + <p> + “All my life I have loved God, and His love has been over me.” + </p> + <p> + “Date not God’s love from thy nativity; look far, far back of + it—to the everlasting love.” + </p> + <p> + “After death, I SHALL KNOW.” + </p> + <p> + “Death!” he repeated, “Death that deceitful word. What + is it? A dream, that wakes us at the end of the night. This is the great + saying that men forget—Death is Life!” + </p> + <p> + “Yet life ceases.” + </p> + <p> + “It does not, Annie. Death, is like the setting of the sun. The sun + never sets; life never ceases. Certain phenomena occur which deceive us, + because human vision is so feeble—we think the sun sets, and it + never ceases shining; we think our friends die, and they never cease + living.” + </p> + <p> + As he spoke these words Mary Damer entered, and she laid her hand on his + shoulder and said, “My dear Doctor Roslyn, after death what then? we + are not all good—what then?” + </p> + <p> + He looked at her wistfully and answered, “I will give you one + thought, Mary, to ponder—the blessedness of heaven, is it not an + eternity older than the misery of hell? Let your soul fearlessly follow + where this fact leads it; for there is no limit to God’s mercy. Do + you think it is His way to worry a wandering sheep eternally? Jesus Christ + thought better of His father. He told us that the Great Shepherd of souls + followed such sheep into the wilderness, and brought them home in His + arms, or on His shoulder, and then called on the angels of heaven to + rejoice because they were found. Find out what that parable means, Mary. + He whose name is ‘Love’ can teach you.” + </p> + <p> + Then he rose and went away, and Mary sat down in his place, and Annie + gradually came back to the material plane of everyday life and duty. + Indeed Mary brought this element in a very decided form with her; for she + had a letter in her hand from an old lover, and she was much excited by + its advent, and eager to discuss the particulars with Annie. + </p> + <p> + “It is from Captain Seabright, who is now in Pondicherry,” she + explained. “He loves me, Annie. He loved me long ago, and went to + India to make money; now he says he has enough and to spare; and he asks + me if I have forgotten.” + </p> + <p> + “There is Mr. Van Ariens to consider. You have promised to marry + him, Mary. It is not hard to find the right way on this road, I think.” + </p> + <p> + “Of course. I would scorn to do a dishonourable or unhandsome thing. + But is it not very strange Willie Seabright should write to me at this + time? How contradictory life is! I had also a letter from Mr. Van Ariens + by the same mail, and I shall answer them both this evening.” Then + she laughed a little, and added, “I must take care and not make the + mistake an American girl made, under much the same circumstances.” + </p> + <p> + “What was it?” inquired Annie languidly. + </p> + <p> + “She misdirected her letters and thus sent ‘No’ to the + man whom of all others, she wished to marry.” + </p> + <p> + As Mary spoke a soft brightness seemed to pervade Annie’s brain + cells, and she could hardly restrain the exclamation of sudden + enlightenment that rose to her lips. She raised herself slightly, and in + so doing, her eyes fell upon the tall figure of Hyde standing clearly out + in the intense, white sunshine of the Broads; and perhaps her soul may + have whispered to his soul, for he turned his face to the house, and + lifted the little red fishing cap from his head. The action stimulated to + the utmost Annie’s intuitive powers. + </p> + <p> + “Mary,” she said, “what a strange incident! Did you know + the girl?” + </p> + <p> + “I saw her once in Philadelphia. Mr. Van Ariens told me about her. + She is the friend of his sister the Marquise de Tounnerre.” + </p> + <p> + “How did Mr. Van Ariens know of such an event?” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose the Marquise told him of it.” + </p> + <p> + “I am interested. Is she pretty? Who, and what is her father? Did + she lose her lover through the mistake?” + </p> + <p> + “You are more interested in this American girl, than in me. I think + you might ask a little concerning my love affair with Captain Seabright.” + </p> + <p> + “I always ask you about Mr. Van Ariens. A girl cannot have two + lovers,” + </p> + <p> + “But if one is gone away?” + </p> + <p> + “Then he has gone away; and that is the end of him. He must not + trouble the one who has come to stay, eh, Mary?” + </p> + <p> + “You are right, Annie. But one’s first lover has always a + charm above reason; and Willie Seabright was once very dear to me.” + </p> + <p> + “I am sorry for that unfortunate American girl.” + </p> + <p> + “So am I. She is a great beauty. Her name is Cornelia Moran; and her + father is a famous physician in New York.” + </p> + <p> + “And this beauty had two lovers?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; an Englishman of noble birth; and an American. They both loved + her, and she loved the Englishman. They must have both asked her hand on + the same day, and she must have answered both letters in the same hour; + and the letter she intended for the man she loved, went to the man she did + not love. Presumably, the man she loved got the refusal she intended for + the other, for he never sought her society again; and Mr. Van Ariens told + me she nearly died in consequence. I know not as to this part of the + story; when I saw her in Philadelphia, she had no more of fragility than + gave delicacy to all her charms.” + </p> + <p> + “And what became of the two lovers, Mary?” + </p> + <p> + “The Englishman went back to England; and the American found another + girl more kind to him.” + </p> + <p> + “I wonder what made Mr. Van Ariens tell you this story?” + </p> + <p> + “He talked much of his sister, and this young lady was her chief + friend and confidante.” + </p> + <p> + “When did it happen?” + </p> + <p> + “A few days after his sister’s marriage.” + </p> + <p> + “Then the Marquise could not know of it; and so she could not have + told her brother. However in the world could he have found out the + mistake? Do you think the girl herself found it out?” + </p> + <p> + “That is inconceivable,” answered Mary. “She would have + written to her lover and explained the affair.” + </p> + <p> + “Certainly. It is a very singular incident. I want to think it over—how—did—Mr. + Van Ariens—find—it—out, I wonder!” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps the rejected lover confided in him.” + </p> + <p> + “But why did not the rejected lover send the letter he received—and + which he must have known he had no right to retain—to Miss Moran, or + to the Englishman for whom it was intended? A man who could keep a letter + like that, must have some envious sneaking devil in his body. A bad man, + Mary, a bad man—the air must be unclean in any room he comes into.” + </p> + <p> + “Why Annie! How angry you are. Let us drop the subject. I really do + want to tell you something about Willie Seabright.” + </p> + <p> + “What did Mr. Van Ariens say about the matter? What did he think? + Why did he tell you?” + </p> + <p> + “We were talking of the Marquise. The story came up quite naturally. + I think Mr. Van Ariens felt very sorry for Miss Moran. Of course he did. + Will you listen to Captain Seabright’s letter? I had no idea it + could affect me so much.” + </p> + <p> + “But you loved him once?” + </p> + <p> + “Very dearly.” + </p> + <p> + “Well then, Mary, I think no one has a double in love or friendship. + If the loved one dies, or goes away, his place remains empty forever. We + have lost feelings that he, and he only, could call up.” + </p> + <p> + At this point in the conversation Hyde entered, brown and wind-blown, the + scent of the sedgy water and the flowery woods about him. + </p> + <p> + “Your servant, ladies,” he said gayly, “I have bream + enough for a dozen families, Mary; and I have sent a string to the + rectory.” + </p> + <p> + “Poor little fish!” answered Annie. “They could not cry + out, or plead with you, or beg for their lives, and because they were dumb + and opened not their mouths, they were wounded and strangled to death.” + </p> + <p> + “Don’t say such things, Annie. How can I enjoy my sport if you + do?” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t think you ought to enjoy sport which is murder. You + have your wherry to sail, is not that sport enough? I have heard you say + nothing that floats on fresh water, can beat a Norfolk wherry.” + </p> + <p> + “I vow it is the truth. With her fine lines and strong sails she can + lie closer to the wind than any other craft. She is safe, and fast, and + handy to manage. Three feet of water will do her, though she be sixty tons + burden; and I will sail her where nothing but a row boat can follow me.” + </p> + <p> + “Is not that sport enough?” + </p> + <p> + “I must have something to get. I would have brought you armfuls of + flowers, but you do not like me to cut them.” + </p> + <p> + “I like my flowers alive, George. You must be dull indeed if you + make no difference between the scent of growing flowers, and cut ones. + Tomorrow Mary is going to Ranforth, you must go with her, and you may + bring me some peaches from the Hall, if you please to do so.” + </p> + <p> + Then Hyde and Mary had a game of battledore, and she watched them tossing + the gayly painted corks, until amid their light laughter and merry talk + she fell asleep. And when she awakened it was sunset, and there was no one + in her room but her maid. She had slept long, but in spite of its + refreshment, she had a sense of something uneasy. Then she recalled the + story Mary Damer had told her, and because she comprehended the truth, she + was instantly at rest. The whole secret was clear as daylight to her. She + knew now every turn of an event so full of sorrow. She was positive Rem + Van Ariens was himself the thief of her cousin’s love and happiness, + and the bringer of grief—almost of death—to Cornelia. All the + facts she did not have, but facts are little; intuition is everything. She + said to herself, “I shall not be long here, and before I go away, I + must put right love’s wrong.” + </p> + <p> + She considered then what she ought to do, and gradually the plan that + pleased her best, grew distinctly just, and even-handed in her mind. She + would write to Cornelia. Her word would be indisputable. Then she would + dismiss the subject from her conversations with Mary, until Cornelia’s + answer arrived; nor until that time would she say a word of her suspicions + to Hyde. In pursuance of these resolutions the following letter to + Cornelia left Hyde Manor for New York the next mail: + </p> + <p> + To Miss CORNELIA MORAN: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +Because you are very dear to one of my dear kindred, and because I feel +that you are worthy of his great love, I also love you. Will you trust +me now? There has been a sad mistake. I believe I can put it right. You +must recollect the day on which George Hyde wrote asking you to fix an +hour when he could call on Doctor Moran about your marriage. Did any +other lover ask you on that day to marry him? Was that other lover Mr. +Van Ariens? Did you write to both about the same time? If so, you +misdirected your letters; and the one intended for Lord Hyde went to +Mr. Van Ariens; and the one intended for Mr. Van Ariens, went to Lord +Hyde. Now you will understand many things. I found out this mistake +through the young lady Mr. Van Ariens is intending to marry. Can you +send to me, for Lord Hyde, a copy of the letter you intended for him. +When I receive it, you may content your heart. I may never see you +again, but I would like you to remember me by this act of loving +kindness; and I wish you all the joy in your love, that I could wish +myself. The shadows will soon flee away, and when your wedding bells +ring, I shall know; and rejoice with you, and with my dear cousin. +Delay not to answer this, why should you delay your happiness? I send +you as love gifts my thoughts, desires, prayers, all that is best in +me, al! that I give to one high in my esteem, and whom I wish to place +high in my affection, This to your hand and heart, with all sincerity, + ANNIE HYDE. +</pre> + <p> + When she had signed her name she was full of content, her face was + transfigured with the joy she foresaw for others, and she thought not of + her own gain, though it was great—even the riches of that divine + self-culture, that comes only through self-sacrifice. She calculated her + letter would reach Cornelia about the end of September, and she thought + how pleasantly the hope it brought, would brighten her life. And without + permitting Hyde to suspect any change in his love affair, she very often + led the conversation to Cornelia, and to the circumstances of her life. + Hyde was always willing to talk on this subject, and thus she learned so + much about Arenta, and Madame Jacobus, and Rem Van Ariens, that the people + became her familiars. Arenta particularly interested her, and she spoke + and thought continually of the gay little Dutch girl among the human + tigers of Paris. And the thought of her ended ever in a silent prayer for + her safety. “I must ask some strong angel to go and help her,” + she said to Hyde, “a city full of blood, must be a city full of evil + spirits, and she will need the wings of angels round her—like a + pavilion—so when she comes into my mind I say ‘angels of + deliverance go to her.’ And I think she must be in a great strait + now, or I should not feel so constrained to pray for her.” + </p> + <p> + “And you believe such prayer avails for deliverance, Annie?” + </p> + <p> + “I am sure it avails. When we invoke earnestly and sincerely the + help of any higher and stronger intelligence than ourselves, the angels + are with us. They come when the heart calls them; for they are appointed + to be ministers unto those who shall inherit eternal life.” And Hyde + listened silently, yet the words fell into his deepest consciousness, and + after many years brought him strength and consolation when he needed it. + Thus it is, that a good woman is a priestess standing by the altar of the + heart, thus it is, that the very noblest education any man ever gets is + what some woman—mother, wife, sister, friend—gives him. + </p> + <p> + Certainly the letter sent to Cornelia sped on its way all the more rapidly + and joyfully for the good wishes and unselfish prayers accompanying it. + The very ship might have known it was the bearer of good tidings; for if + there had been one of the mighty angels whose charge is on the great deep + at the helm of the Good Intent she could not have gone more swiftly and + surely to her haven. One morning, nearly a week in advance of Annie’s + calculation, the wonderful letter was put into Cornelia’s hand. She + was passing through the hall on her way to her room, when Balthazar + brought in the mail, and she took the little white messenger without any + feeling but one of curiosity concerning it. The handwriting was strange, + it was an English letter, what could it mean? + </p> + <p> + Let any one who has loved and been parted from the beloved by some + misunderstanding, try to realize what it meant to Cornelia. She read it + through in an indescribable hurry and emotion, and then in the most + natural and womanly way, began to cry. No one could have loved her the + less for that sincere overflow of emotions she could not separate or + define, and which indeed she never tried to understand. It was only one + wonderful thought she could entertain—IT WAS NOT THE FAULT OF JORIS. + This was the assurance that turned her joyful tears into gladder smiles, + and that made her step light as a bird on the wing, as she ran down the + stairs to find her mother; for her happiness was not perfect till she + shared it with the heart that had borne her sorrow, and carried her grief + through many weary months, with her. + </p> + <p> + Oh, how glad were these two women! They were almost too glad to speak. + Sitting still was impossible to Cornelia, but as she stepped swiftly + to-and-fro across the parlour floor, she stopped frequently at her mother’s + chair and kissed her. She kissed Annie’s letter just as frequently. + It was such a gracious, noble letter. It was such a delight to know that + friendship so unselfish was waiting for her. It was altogether such a + marvellous thing that had come to her, that she could not behave as a + superior woman ought to have done. But then she was not a superior woman, + she was only lovable and loving, and therefore restless and inconsequent. + </p> + <p> + In the first hours of her recovered gladness she did not even remember Rem’s + great fault, nor yet her own carelessness. These things were only + accidentals, not worthy to be taken into account while the great sweet + hope that had come to her, flooded like a springtide every nook and corner + of her heart. In such a mood how easy it was to answer Annie’s + letter. She recollected every word she had written to Hyde that fateful + day, and she wrote them again with a tenfold joy. She told Annie every + particular, and she forgot to say a word of reproach concerning the + dishonourable retention of her letter by Rem. “It is altogether my + own fault,” she confessed. + </p> + <p> + Even when this letter was on its way to Annie she was under such + excitement that her whole body appeared to think and to feel; her + beautiful hair had an unusual freedom, as if some happy wind blew it into + exquisite unrestraint; her eyes shone like stars; her garments fluttered; + her steps were like dancing; and every now and then, a bar or two of love + music warbled in her throat. And oh with what joy the mother watched the + return of happiness to her dear child! With her own milk she had fed her. + In her own bosom she had carried and tended her. Night and day for nearly + twenty years, like a bird, she had feverishly, prayfully, tenderly hovered + over her; so there was great joy in the Doctor’s home and though he + would say little, his heart grew lighter in his wife’s and daughter’s + cheerfulness; for the women in any house make the moral and mental + atmosphere of that house just as decidedly, as the sunshine or rain affect + the natural atmosphere outside of it. + </p> + <p> + Now it is very noticeable that when unusual events begin to happen in any + life, there is a succession of such events, and not unfrequently they + arrive in similar ways. At any rate about ten days after the receipt of + Annie’s letter, Cornelia was almost equally amazed by the receipt of + another letter. It came one day about noon, and a slave of Van Ariens + brought it—a piece of paper twisted carelessly but containing these + few pregnant words: + </p> + <p> + Cornelia, dear, come to me. Bring me something to wear. I have just + arrived, saved by the skin of my teeth, and I have not a decent garment of + any kind to put on. ARENTA. + </p> + <p> + A thunderbolt from a clear sky could hardly have caused such surprise, but + Cornelia did not wait to talk about the wonder. She loaded a maid with + clothing of every description, and ran across the street to her friend. + Arerita saw her coming, and met her with a cry of joy, and as Van Ariens + was sick and trembling with the sight of his daughter, and the tale of her + sufferings, Cornelia persuaded him to go to sleep, and leave Arenta to her + care. Poor Arenta, she was ill with the privations she had suffered, she + was half-starved, and nearly without clothing, but she did not complain + much until she had been fed, and bathed, and “dressed” as she + said “like a New York woman ought to be.” + </p> + <p> + “You know what trunks and trunks full of beautiful things I took + away with me, Cornelia,” she complained; “Well I have not a + rag left. I have nothing left at all.” + </p> + <p> + “Your husband, Arenta?” + </p> + <p> + “He was guillotined.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, my dear Arenta!” + </p> + <p> + “Guillotined. I told him to be quiet. I begged him to go over to + Marat, but no! his nobility obliged him to stand by his order and his + king. So for them, he died. Poor Athanase! He expected me to follow him, + but I could not make up my mind to the knife. Oh how terrible it was!” + Then she began to sob bitterly, and Cornelia let her talk of her + sufferings until she fell into a sleep—a sleep easy to see, still + haunted by the furies and terrors through which she had passed. + </p> + <p> + For a week Cornelia remained with her friend, and Madame Jacobus joined + them as often as possible, and gradually the half-distraught woman + recovered something of her natural spirits and resolution. In this week + she talked out all her frightful experiences in the great prison of La + Force, and was completely overwhelmed at their remembrance. But the + trouble which has been removed, soon grows far off; and Arenta quickly + took her place in her home, and resumed her old life. Of course with many + differences. She could not be the same Arenta, she had outlived many of + her illusions. She took but little interest for a while in the life around + her; her thoughts and conversation were still in Paris, and this was + evident from the fact, that during the whole week of Cornelia’s stay + with her, she never once named Cornelia’s love, or life, or + prospects. Rem she did talk about, but chiefly because he was going to + marry an English girl, an intention she angrily deplored. + </p> + <p> + “I am sure,” she said, “Rem might have learned a lesson + from my sad fortune. What does he want to marry a foreigner for? He ought + to have prevented me from doing so, instead of following my foolish + example.” + </p> + <p> + “No one could have prevented you, Arenta. You would not listen even + to your father.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh indeed, it was my fate. We must all submit to fate. Why did you + refuse Rem?” + </p> + <p> + “He was not my fate, Arenta.” + </p> + <p> + “Well then, neither is George Hyde your fate. Aunt Jacobus has told + me some things about him. She says he is to marry his cousin. You ought to + marry Rem.” + </p> + <p> + As she said these words Van Ariens, accompanied by Joris Van Heemskirk + entered the room, and Cornelia was glad to escape. She knew that Arenta + would again relate all her experiences, and she disliked to mingle them + with her renewed dreams of love and her lover. + </p> + <p> + “She will talk and talk,” said Cornelia to her mother, “and + then there will be tea and chocolate and more talk, and I have heard all I + wish to hear about that dreadful city, and the demons who walk in blood.” + </p> + <p> + “Arenta has made a great sensation, Cornelia,” answered Mrs. + Moran. “She has received half the town. Gertrude Kippon stole + quietly home and has hardly been seen, or heard tell of.” + </p> + <p> + “But mother, Arenta has far more genius than Gertrude. She has made + of her misfortunes a great drama, and wherever you go, it is of the + Marquise de Tounnerre people are talking. Senator Van Heemskirk came in + with her father as I left.” + </p> + <p> + “I hope he treated you more civilly than madame did.” + </p> + <p> + “He was delightful. I courtesied to him, and he lifted my hand and + kissed it, and said, ‘I grew lovelier every day,’ and I kissed + his cheek and said, ‘I wished always to be lovely in his sight.’ + Then I came home, because I would not, just yet, speak of George to him.” + </p> + <p> + “Arenta would hardly have given you any opportunity. I wonder at + what hour she will release Joris Van Heemskirk!” + </p> + <p> + “It will be later than it ought to be.” + </p> + <p> + Indeed it was so late that Madame Van Heemskirk had locked up her house + for the night, and was troubled at her husband’s delay—even a + little cross: + </p> + <p> + “An old man like you, Joris,” she said in a tone of vexation—“sitting + till nine o’clock with the last runaway from Paris; a cold you have + already, and all for a girl that threw her senses behind her, to marry a + Frenchman.” + </p> + <p> + “Much she has suffered, Lysbet.” + </p> + <p> + “Much she ought to suffer. And I believe not in Arenta Van Ariens’ + suffering. In some way, by hook or crook, by word or deed, she would out + of any trouble work her way.” + </p> + <p> + “I will sit a little by the fire, Lysbet. Sit down by me. My mind is + full of her story.” + </p> + <p> + “That is it. And sleep you will not, and tomorrow sick you will be; + and anxious and tired I shall be; and who for? The Marquise de Tounnerre! + Well then, Joris, in thy old age it is late for thee to bow down to the + Marquise de Tounnerre!” + </p> + <p> + “To God Almighty only I bow down, Lysbet, and as for titles what + care of them has Jons Van Heemskirk? Think you, when God calls me He will + say ‘Councillor’ or ‘Senator’? No, He will say + ‘Jons Van Heemskirk!’ and I shall answer to that name. But you + know well, Lysbet, this bloody trial of liberty in Paris touches all the + world beside.” + </p> + <p> + “Forgive me, Joris! A shame it is to be cross with thee, nor am I + cross even with that poor Arenta. A child, a very child she is.” + </p> + <p> + “But bitter fears and suffering she has come through. Her husband + was guillotined last May, and from her home she was taken—no time to + write to a friend—no time to save anything she had, except a string + of pearls, which round her waist for many weeks, she had worn. From prison + to prison she was sent, until at last she was ordered before the + Revolutionary Tribunal. From that tribunal to the guillotine is only a + step, and she would surely have taken it but for—” + </p> + <p> + “Minister Morris?” + </p> + <p> + “No. Twenty miles outside the city, Minister Morris now lives; and + no time was there to send him word of her strait. Hungry and sick upon the + floor of her prison she was sitting, when her name was called, for bead + after bead of her pearl necklace had gone to her jailor, only for a little + black bread and a cup of milk twice a day; and this morning for + twenty-four hours she had been without food or milk.” + </p> + + <p> + “This is what she did, and blame her I will not. When in that + terrible iron armchair before those bloody judges, she says she forgot + then to be afraid. She looked at Fouquier-Tinville the public prosecutor, + and at the fifteen jurymen, and flinched not. She had no dress to help her + beauty, but she declares she never felt more beautiful, and well I can + believe it. They asked her name, and my Lysbet, think of this child’s + answer! ‘I am called Arenta JEFFERSON de Tounnerre,’ she said; + and at the name of ‘Jefferson’ there were exclamations, and + one of the jurymen rose to his feet and asked excitedly, ‘What is it + you mean? Jefferson! The great Jefferson! The great Thomas Jefferson! The + great American who loves France and Liberty?’ ‘It is the same,’ + she answered, and then she sat silent, asking no favour, so wise was she, + and Fouquier-Tinville looked at the President and said—‘among + my friends I count this great American!’ and a juryman added, + ‘when I was very poor and hungry he fed and helped me,’ and he + bowed to Arenta as he spoke. And after that Fouquier-Tinville asked who + would certify to her claim, and she answered boldly, ‘Minister + Morris.’ When questioned further she answered, ‘I adore + Liberty, I believe in France, I married a Frenchman, for Thomas Jefferson + told me I was coming to a great nation and might trust both its government + and its generosity.’ They asked her then if she had been used kindly + in prison, and she told them her jailor had been to her very unkind, and + that he had taken from her the pearl necklace which was her wedding gift, + and if you can believe Arenta, they were all extremely polite to her, and + gave her at once the papers which permitted her to leave France. The next + day a little money she got from Minister Morris, but a very hard passage + she had home. And listen now, her jailor was guillotined before she left, + and she declares it was the necklace—very unfortunate beads they + were, and Madame Jacobus said when she heard of their fate, ‘let + them go! With blood and death they came, it is fit they should go as they + came!’ Arenta thinks as soon as Fouquier-Tinville heard of them, he + doomed the man, for she saw in his eyes that he meant to have them for + himself. Well, then, she is also sure that they will take + Fouquier-Tinville to the guillotine.” + </p> + <p> + “After all, it was a lie she told, Joris.” + </p> + <p> + “That is so, but I think her life was worth a few words. And Thomas + Jefferson says she was ten thousand times welcome to the protection his + name gave her. I thank my God I have never had such temptation. I will say + one thing though, Lysbet, that if coming home some night, a thief should + say to me ‘your money I must have’ and if in my pocket I had + some false money, as well as true money, the false money I would give the + thief and think no shame to do it. Overly righteous we must not be, + Lysbet.” + </p> + <p> + “I am astonished also. I thought Arenta would cry out and that only.” + </p> + <p> + “What a man or a woman will do and suffer, and how they will do and + suffer, no one knows till comes some great occasion. When the water is + ice, who could believe that it would boil, unless they had seen ice become + boiling water? All the human heart wants, is the chance.” + </p> + <p> + “As men and women have in Paris to live, I wonder me, that they can + wish to live at all! Welcome to them must be death.” + </p> + <p> + “So wrong are you, Lysbet. Trouble and hardship make us love life. A + zest they give to it. It is when we have too much money, too much good + food and wine, too much pleasure of all kinds, that we grow melancholy and + sad, and say all is vanity and vexation. You may see that it is always so, + if you look in the Holy Scriptures. It was not from the Jews in exile and + captivity, but from the Jews of Solomon’s glory came the only + dissatisfied, hopeless words in the Bible. Yes, indeed! it is the souls + that have too much, who cry out vanity, vanity, all is vanity! For myself, + I like not the petty prudencies of Solomon. There is better reading in + Isaiah, and in the Psalms, and in the blessed Gospels.” + </p> + <p> + “To-morrow, Joris, I will go and see Arenta. She is fair, and she + knows it; witty, and she knows it; of good courage, and she knows it; the + fashion, and she knows it; and when she speaks, she speaks oracles that + one must believe, even though one does not understand them. To Aurelia Van + Zandt she said, my heart will ache forever for my beloved Athanase, and + Aurelia says, that her old lover Willie Nicholls is at her feet sitting + all the day long—yet for all these things, she is a brave woman and + I will go and see her.” + </p> + <p> + “Willie Nicholls is a good young man, and he is rich also; but of + him I saw nothing at all. Cornelia Moran was there and no flower of + Paradise is so sweet, so fair!” + </p> + <p> + “A very proud girl! I am glad she said ‘no’ to my Joris.” + </p> + <p> + “Come, my Lysbet, we will now pray and sleep. There is so much NOT + to say.” + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIII — THE NEW DAYS COME + </h2> + <p> + One afternoon in the late autumn Annie was sitting watching Hyde playing + with his dog, a big mastiff of noble birth and character. The creature sat + erect with his head leaning against Hyde, and Hyde’s arm was thrown + around his neck as he talked to him of their adventures on the Broad that + day. Annie’s small face, though delicate and fragile looking was + full of peace, and her eyes, soft, deep and heavenly, held thoughts that + linked her with heaven. + </p> + <p> + Outside there was in the air that November feeling which chills like the + passing breath of death, the deserted garden looked sad and closed-in, and + everywhere there was a sense of the languishing end of the year, of the + fading and dropping of all living things. But in the house Annie and Hyde + and the dog sat within the circle of warmth and light made by the blazing + ash logs, and in that circle there was at least an atmosphere of sweet + content. Suddenly George looked up and his eyes caught those of Annie + watching him. “What have you been reading, Annie?” he asked, + as he stooped forward and took a thin volume from her lap. “Why!” + he cried, “‘tis Paul and Virginia. Do you indeed read love + stories?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. The mystery of a love affair pleases every one; and I think we + shall not tire of love stories till we tire of the mystery of spring, or + of primroses and daffodils. Every one I know takes their tale of love to + be quite a new tale.” + </p> + <p> + “Love has been cruel to me. It has made a cloud on my life that will + help to cover me in my grave.” + </p> + <p> + “You still love Cornelia?” + </p> + <p> + “I cannot cure myself of a passion so hopeless. However, as I see no + end to my unhappiness, I try to submit to what I cannot avoid. What is the + use of longing for that which I have no hope to get?” + </p> + <p> + “My uncle grows anxious for you to marry. He would be glad to see + the succession of Hyde assured.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, indeed, I have no mind to take a wife. I hear every day that + some of my acquaintance have married, I hear of none that have done worse.” + </p> + <p> + “You believe nothing of what you say. My uncle was much pleased with + Sarah Capel. What did you think of the beauty?” + </p> + <p> + “Cornelia has made all other women so indifferent to me, that if I + cannot marry her, my father may dispose of me as he chooses.” + </p> + <p> + “Cannot you forget Cornelia?” + </p> + <p> + “It is impossible. Every day I resolve to think of her no more, and + then I continue thinking; and every day I am more and more in love with + her. Her very name moves me beyond words.” + </p> + <p> + “There is no name, George, however sweet and dear, however lovingly + spoken, whose echo does not at last grow faint.” + </p> + <p> + “Cornelia will echo in my heart as long as my heart beats.” + </p> + <p> + Then they were silent, and Hyde drew his dog closer and watched the blaze + among some lighter branches, which a servant had just brought in. At his + entrance he had also given Annie a letter, which she was eagerly reading. + Hyde had no speculation about it; and even when he found Annie regarding + him with her whole soul in her face, he failed to understand, as he always + had done, the noble love which had been so long and so faithfully his—a + love holding itself above endearments; self-repressed, self-sacrificing, + kept down in the inmost heart-chamber a dignified prisoner behind very + real bars. Yet he was conscious that the letter was of more than usual + interest, and when the servant had closed the door behind him, he asked, + “Whom is your letter from, Annie? It seems to please you very much.” + </p> + <p> + She leaned forward to him with the paper in her little trembling hand, and + said, + </p> + <p> + “It is from Cornelia.” + </p> + <p> + “My God!” he ejaculated; and the words were fraught with such + feeling, as could have found no other vehicle of expression. + </p> + <p> + “She has sent you, dear George, a copy of the letter you ought to + have received more than two years ago. Read it.” + </p> + <p> + His eyes ran rapidly over the sweet words, his face flamed, his hands + trembled, he cried out impetuously— + </p> + <p> + “But what does it mean? Am I quite in my senses? How has this letter + been delayed? Why do I get only a copy?” + </p> + <p> + “Because Mr. Van Ariens has the original.” + </p> + <p> + “It is all incredible. What do you mean, Annie? Do not keep me in + such torturing suspense.” + </p> + <p> + “It means that Mr. Van Ariens asked Cornelia to marry him on the + same day that you wrote to her about your marriage. She answered both + letters in the same hour, and misdirected them.” + </p> + <p> + “GOD’S DEATH! How can I punish so mean a scoundrel? I will + have my letter from him, if I follow him round the world for it.” + </p> + <p> + “You have your letter now. I asked Cornelia to write it again for + you; and you see she has done it gladly.” + </p> + <p> + “Angel of goodness! But I will have my first letter.” + </p> + <p> + “It has been in that man’s keeping for more than two years. I + would not touch it. ‘Twould infect a gentleman, and make of him a + rascal just as base.” + </p> + <p> + “He shall write me then an apology in his own blood. I will make him + do it, at the point of my sword.” + </p> + <p> + “If I were you, I would scorn to wet my sword in blood so base.” + </p> + <p> + “Remember, Annie, what this darling girl suffered. For his treachery + she nearly died. I speak not of my own wrong—it is as nothing to + hers.” + </p> + <p> + “However, she might have been more careful.” + </p> + <p> + “Annie, she was in the happy hurry of love. Your calm soul knows not + what a confusing thing that is—she made a mistake, and that sneaking + villain turned her mistake into a crime. By a God’s mercy, it is + found out—but how? Annie! Annie, how much I owe you! What can I say? + What can I do?” + </p> + <p> + “Be reasonable. Mary Damer really found it out. His guilty restless + conscience forced him to tell her the story, though to be sure he put the + wrong on people he did not name. But I knew so much of the mystery of your + love sorrow, as to put the two stories together, and find them fit. Then I + wrote to Cornelia.” + </p> + <p> + “How long ago?” + </p> + <p> + “About two months.” + </p> + <p> + “Why then did you not give me hope ere this?” + </p> + <p> + “I would not give you hope, till hope was certain. Two years is a + long time in a girl’s life. It was a possible thing for Cornelia to + have forgotten—to have changed.” + </p> + <p> + “Impossible! Quite impossible! She could not forget. She could not + change. Why did you not tell me? I should have known her heart by mine + own.” + </p> + <p> + “I wished to be sure,” repeated Annie, a little sadly. + </p> + <p> + “Forgive me, dear Annie. But this news throws me into an unspeakable + condition. You see that I must leave for America at once.” + </p> + <p> + “No. I do not see that, George.” + </p> + <p> + “But if you consider—” + </p> + <p> + “I have been considering for two months. Let me decide for you now, + for you are not able to do so wisely. Write at once to Cornelia, that is + your duty as well as your pleasure. But before you go to her, there are + things indispensable to be done. Will you ask Doctor Moran for his child, + and not be able to show him that you can care for her as she deserves to + be cared for? Lawyers will not be hurried, there will be consultations, + and engrossings, and signings, and love—in your case—will have + to wait upon law.” + </p> + <p> + “‘Tis hard for love, and harder perhaps for anger to wait. For + I am in a passion of wrath at Van Ariens. I long to be near him. Oh what + suffering his envy and hatred have caused others!” + </p> + <p> + “And himself also. Be sure of that, or he had not tried to find some + ease in a kind of confession. Doctor Roslyn will tell you that it is an + eternal law, that wherever sin is, sorrow will answer it.” + </p> + <p> + “The man is hateful to me.” + </p> + <p> + “He has done a thing that makes him hateful; but perhaps for all + that, he has been so miserable about it, as to have the pity of the + Uncondemning One. I hear your father coming. I am sure you will have his + sympathy in all things.” + </p> + <p> + She left the room as the Earl entered it. He was in unusually high + spirits. Some political news had delighted him, and without noticing his + son’s excitement he said— + </p> + <p> + “The Commons have taken things in their own hands, George. I said + they would. They listen to the King and the Lords very respectfully, and + then obey themselves. Most of the men in the Lower House are unfit to + enter it.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, sir, the Lords as a rule send them there—you have sent + three of them yourself—and unfit men in public places, suppose prior + unfitness in those who have the places to dispose of. But the government + is not interesting. I have something else, father, to think about.” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed, I think the government is extremely interesting. It is very + like three horses arranged in tandem fashion—first, you know, the + King, a little out of the reach of the whip; then the Lords follow the + King, and the Commons are in the shafts, a more ignoble position, but yet—as + we see to-day, possessing a special power of upsetting the coach.” + </p> + <p> + “Father, I have very important news from America. Will you listen to + it?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, if you will tell it to me straight, and not blunder about your + meaning.” “Sir, I have just discovered that a letter sent to + me more than two years ago, has been knowingly and purposely detained from + me.” + </p> + <p> + “By whom?” + </p> + <p> + “A man into whose hands it fell by misdirection.” + </p> + <p> + “Did the letter contain means of identifying it, as belonging to + you?” + </p> + <p> + “Ample means.” + </p> + <p> + “Then the man is outside your recognition. You might as well go to + the Bridewell, and seek a second among its riff-raff of scoundrels. Tell + me shortly whom it concerns.” + </p> + <p> + “Miss Moran.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh indeed! Are we to have that subject opened again?” + </p> + <p> + His face darkened, and George, with an impetuosity that permitted no + interruption, told the whole story. As he proceeded the Earl became + interested, then sympathetic. He looked with moist eyes at the youth so + dear to him, and saw that his heart was filled with the energy and + tenderness of his love. His handsome face, his piercingly bright eyes, his + courteous, but obstinately masterful manner, his almost boyish passion of + anger and impatience, his tall, serious figure, erect, as if ready for + opposition; even that sentiment of deadly steel, of being impatient to + toss his sheath from his sword, pleased very much the elder man; and won + both his respect and his admiration. He felt that his son had rights all + his own, and that he must cheerfully and generously allow them. + </p> + <p> + “George,” he answered, “you have won my approval. You + have shown me that you can suffer and be faithful, and the girl able to + inspire such an affection, must be worthy of it. What do you wish to do?” + </p> + <p> + “I am going to America by the next packet.” + </p> + <p> + “Sit down, then we can talk without feeling that every word is a + last word, and full of hurry and therefore of unreason. You desire to see + Miss Moran without delay, that is very natural.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, sir. I am impatient also to get my letter.” + </p> + <p> + “I think that of no importance.” + </p> + <p> + “What would you have done in my case, and at my age, father?” + </p> + <p> + “Something extremely foolish. I should have killed the man, or been + killed by him. I hope that you have more sense. Society does not now + compel you to answer insult with murder. The noble not caring of the + spirit, is beyond the mere passion of the animal. What does Annie say?” + </p> + <p> + “Annie is an angel. I walk far below her—and I hate the man + who has so wronged—Cornelia. I think, sir, you must also hate him.” + </p> + <p> + “I hate nobody. God send, that I may be treated the same. George, + you have flashed your sword only in a noble quarrel, will you now stain it + with the blood of a man below your anger or consideration? You have had + your follies, and I have smiled at them; knowing well, that a man who has + no follies in his youth, will have in his maturity no power. But now you + have come of age, not only in years but in suffering cheerfully endured + and well outlived; so I may talk to you as a man, and not command you as a + father.” + </p> + <p> + “What do you wish me to do, sir?” + </p> + <p> + “I advise you to write to Miss Moran at once. Tell her you are more + anxious now to redeem your promise, than ever you were before. Say to her + that I already look upon her as a dear daughter, and am taking immediate + steps to settle upon you the American Manor, and also such New York + property as will provide for the maintenance of your family in the state + becoming your order and your expectations. Tell her that my lawyers will + go to this business to-morrow, and that as soon as the deeds are in your + hand, you will come and ask for the interview with Doctor Moran, so long + and cruelly delayed.” + </p> + <p> + “My dear father! How wise and kind you are!” + </p> + <p> + “It is my desire to be so, George. You cannot, after this + unfortunate delay, go to Doctor Moran without the proofs of your ability + to take care of his daughter’s future.” + </p> + <p> + “How soon can this business be accomplished?” + </p> + <p> + “In about three weeks, I should think. But wait your full time, and + do not go without the credentials of your position. This three or four + weeks is necessary to bring to perfection the waiting of two years.” + </p> + <p> + “I will take your advice, sir. I thank you for your generosity.” + </p> + <p> + “All that I have is yours, George. And you can write to this dear + girl every day in the interim. Go now and tell her what I say. I had other + dreams for you as you know—they are over now—I have awakened.” + </p> + <p> + “Dear Annie!” ejaculated George. + </p> + <p> + “Dear Annie!” replied the Earl with a sigh. “She is one + of the daughters of God, I am not worthy to call her mine; but I have sat + at her feet, and learned how to love, and how to forgive, and how to bear + disappointment. I will tell you, that when Colonel Saye insulted me last + year, and I felt for my sword and would have sent him a letter on its + point—Annie stepped before him. ‘Forget, and go on, dear + uncle,’ she said; and I did so with a proud, sore heart at first, + but quite cheerfully in a week or two; and at the last Hunt dinner he came + to me with open hand, and we ate and drank together, and are now firm + friends. Yet, but for Annie, one of us might be dead; and the other flying + like Cain exiled and miserable. Think of these things, George. The good of + being a son, is to be able to profit from your father’s mistakes.” + </p> + <p> + They parted with a handclasp that went to both hearts, and as Hyde passed + his mother’s loom, he went in, and told her all that happened to + him, She listened with a smile and a heartache. She knew now that the time + had come to say “farewell” to the boy who had made her life + for twenty-seven years. “He must marry like the rest of the world, + and go away from her,” and only mothers know what supreme + self-sacrifice a pleasant acquiescence in this event implies. But she + bravely put down all the clamouring selfishness of her long sweet care and + affection, and said cheerfully— + </p> + <p> + “Very much to my liking is Cornelia Moran, She is world-like and + heaven-like, and her good heart and sweet nature every one knows. A loving + wife and a noble mother she will make, and if I must lose thee, my Joris, + there is no girl in America that I like better to have thee.” + </p> + <p> + “Never will you lose me, mother.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah then! that is what all sons say. The common lot, I look for + nothing better. But see now! I give thee up cheerfully. If God please, I + shall see thy sons and daughters; and thy father has been anxious about + the Hydes. He would not have a stranger here—nor would I. Our hope + is in thee and thy sweet wife, and very glad am I that thy wife is to be + Cornelia Moran.” + </p> + <p> + And even after Joris had left her she smiled, though the tears dropped + down upon her work. She thought of the presents she would send her + daughter, and she told herself that Cornelia was an American, and that she + had made for her, with her own hands and brain, a lovely home wherein HER + memory must always dwell. Indeed she let her thoughts go far forward to + see, and to listen to the happy boys and girls who might run and shout + gleefully through the fair large rooms, and the sweet shady gardens her + skill and taste had ordered and planted. Thus her generosity made her a + partaker of her children’s happiness, and whoever partakes of a + pleasure has his share of it, and comes into contact—not only with + the happiness—but with the other partakers of that happiness—a + divine kind of interest for generous deeds, which we may all appropriate. + </p> + <p> + Nothing is more contagious than joy, and Hyde was now a living joy through + all the house. His voice had caught a new tone, his feet a more buoyant + step, he carried himself like a man expectant of some glorious heritage. + So eager, so ardent, so ready to be happy, he inspired every one with his + buoyant gladness of heart. He could at least talk to Cornelia with his pen + every day, yes, every hour if he desired; and if it had been possible to + transfer in a letter his own light-heartedness, the words he wrote would + have shone upon the paper. + </p> + <p> + The next morning Mary Damer called. She knew that a letter from Cornelia + was possible, and she knew also that it would really be as fateful to + herself, as to Hyde. If, as she suspected, it was Rem Van Ariens who had + detained the misdirected letter, there was only one conceivable result as + regarded herself. She, an upright, honourable English girl, loving truth + with all her heart, and despising whatever was underhand and disloyal, had + but one course to take—she must break off her engagement with a man + so far below her standard of simple morality. She could not trust his + honour, and what security has love in a heart without honour? + </p> + <p> + So she looked anxiously at Annie as she entered, and Annie would not keep + her in suspense. “There was a letter from Miss Moran last night,” + she said. “She loves George yet. She re-wrote the unfortunate + letter, and this time it found its owner. I think he has it next his heart + at this very moment.” + </p> + <p> + “I am glad of that, Annie. But who has the first letter?” + </p> + <p> + “I think you know, Mary.” + </p> + <p> + “You mean Mr. Van Ariens?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Then there is no more to be said. I shall write to him as soon as + possible.” + </p> + <p> + “I am sorry—” + </p> + <p> + “No, no! Be content, Annie. The right must always come right. + Neither you nor I could desire any other end, even to our own love story.” + </p> + <p> + “But you must suffer.” + </p> + <p> + “Not much. None of us weep if we lose what is of no value. And I + have noticed that the happiness of any one is always conditioned by the + unhappiness of some one else. Love usually builds his home out of the + wrecks of other homes. Your cousin and Cornelia will be happy, but there + are others that must suffer, that they may be so. I will go now, Annie, + because until I have written to Mr. Van Ariens, I shall not feel free. And + also, I do not wish him to come here, and in his last letter he spoke of + such an intention.” + </p> + <p> + So the two letters—that of Hyde to Cornelia, and that of Mary Darner + to Van Ariens, left England for America in the same packet; and though + Mary Darner undoubtedly had some suffering and disappointment to conquer, + the fight was all within her. To her friends at the Manor she was just the + same bright, courageous girl; ready for every emergency, and equally ready + to make the most of every pleasure. + </p> + <p> + And the tone of the Manor House was now set to a key of the highest joy + and expectation. Hyde unconsciously struck the note, for he was happily + busy from morning to night about affairs relating either to his marriage, + or to his future as the head of a great household. All his old exigent, + extravagant liking for rich clothing returned to him. He had constant + visits from his London tailor, a dapper little artist, who brought with + him a profusion of rich cloth, silk and satin, and who firmly believed + that the tailor made the man. There were also endless interviews with the + family lawyer, endless readings of law papers, and endless consultations + about rights and successions, which Hyde was glad and grateful to leave + very much to his father’s wisdom and generosity. + </p> + <p> + At the beginning of this happy period, Hyde had been sure that the + business of his preparations would be arranged in three weeks; a month had + appeared to be a quite unreasonable and impossible delay; but the month + passed, and it was nearly the middle of November when all things were + ready for his voyage. His mother would then have urged a postponement + until spring, but she knew that George would brook no further delay; and + she was wise enough to accept the inevitable cheerfully. And thus by + letting her will lead her, in the very road necessity drove her, she + preserved not only her liberty, but her desire. + </p> + <p> + Some of these last days were occupied in selecting from her jewels + presents for Cornelia, with webs of gold and silver tissues, and + Spitalfields silks so rich and heavy, that no mortal woman might hope to + outwear them. To these Annie added from her own store of lace, many very + valuable pieces; and the happy bridegroom was proud to see that love was + going to send him away, with both arms full for the beloved. + </p> + <p> + The best gift however came last, and it was from the Earl. It was not gold + or land, though he gave generously of both these; but one which Hyde felt + made his way straight before him, and which he knew must have cost his + father much self-abnegation. It was the following letter to Dr. John + Moran. + </p> + <h3> + MY DEAR SIR: + </h3> + <p> + It seems then, that our dear children love each other so well, that it is + beyond our right, even as parents, to forbid their marriage. I ask from + you, for my son, who is a humble and ardent suitor for Miss Moran’s + hand, all the favour his sincere devotion to her deserves, We have both + been young, we have both loved, accept then his affection as some + atonement for any grievance or injustice you remember against myself. Had + we known each other better, we should doubtless have loved each other + better; but now that marriage will make us kin, I offer you my hand, with + all it implies of regret for the past, and of respect for the future. Your + servant to command, + </p> + <h3> + RICHARD HYDE. + </h3> + <p> + “It is the greatest proof of my love I can give you, George,” + said the Earl, when the letter had been read; “and it is Annie you + must thank for it. She dropped the thought into my heart, and if the + thought has silently grown to these written words, it is because she had + put many other good thoughts there, and that these helped this one to come + to perfection.” + </p> + <p> + “Have you noticed, father, how small and fragile-looking she is? Can + she really be slowly dying?” + </p> + <p> + “No, she is not dying; she is only going a little further away—a + little further away, every hour. Some hour she will be called, and she + will answer, and we shall see her no more—HERE. But I do not call + that dying, and if it be dying, Annie will go as calmly and simply, as if + she were fulfilling some religious rite or duty. She loves God, and she + will go to Him.” + </p> + <p> + The next morning Hyde left his father’s home forever. It was + impossible that such a parting should be happy. No hopes, no dreams of + future joy, could make him forget the wealth of love he was leaving. Nor + did he wish to forget. And woe to the man or woman who would buy composure + and contentment by forgetting!—by really forfeiting a portion of + their existence—by being a suicide of their own moral nature. + </p> + <p> + The day was a black winter day, with a monotonous rain and a dark sky + troubled by a ghostly wind. Inside the house the silence fell on the heart + like a weight. The Earl and Countess watched their son’s carriage + turn from the door, and then looked silently into each other’s face. + The Earl’s lips were firmly set, and his eyes full of tears; the + Countess was weeping bitterly. He went with her to her room, and with all + his old charm and tenderness comforted her for her great loss. + </p> + <p> + At that moment Annie was forgotten, yet no one was suffering more than she + was. Hyde had knelt by her sofa, and taken her in his arms, and covered + her face with tears and kisses, and she had not been able to oppose a + parting so heart-breaking and so final. The last tears she was ever to + shed dropped from her closed eyes, as she listened to his departing steps; + and the roll of the carriage carrying him away forever, seemed to roll + over her shrinking heart. She cried out feebly—a pitiful little + shrill cry, that she hushed with a sob still more full of anguish. Then + she began to cast over her suffering soul the balm of prayer, and + prostrate with closed eyes, and hands feebly hanging down, Doctor Roslyn + found her. He did not need to ask a question, he had long known the brave + self-sacrifice that was consecrating the child-heart suffering so sharply + that day; and he said only— + </p> + <p> + “We are made perfect through suffering, Annie.” + </p> + <p> + “I know, dear father.” + </p> + <p> + “And you have found before this, that the sorrow well borne is full + of strange joys—joys, whose long lasting perfumes, show that they + were grown in heaven and not on earth.” + </p> + <p> + “This is the last sorrow that can come to me, father.” + </p> + <p> + “And my dear Annie, you would have been a loser without it. Every + grief has its meaning, and the web of life could not be better woven, if + only love touched it.” + </p> + <p> + “I have been praying, father.” + </p> + <p> + “Nay, but God Himself prayed in you, while your soul waited in deep + resignation. God gave you both the resignation and the answer.” + </p> + <p> + “My heart failed me at the last—then I prayed as well as I + could.” + </p> + <p> + “And then, visited by the NOT YOURSELF in you, your head was lifted + up. Do not be frightened at what you want. Strive for it little by little. + All that is bitter in outward things, or in interior things, all that + befalls you in the course of a day, is YOUR DAILY BREAD if you will take + it from His hand.” + </p> + <p> + Then she was silent and quite still, and he sat and watched the gradual + lifting of the spirit’s cloud—watched, until the pallor of her + face grew luminous with the inner light, and her wide open eyes saw, as in + a vision, things, invisible to mortal sight; but open to the spirit on + that dazzling line where mortal and immortal verge. + </p> + <p> + And as he went home, stepping slowly through the misty world, he himself + hardly knew whether he was in the body or out of it. He felt not the + dripping rain, he was not conscious of the encompassing earthly vapours, + he had passed within the veil and was worshipping + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “In dazzling temples opened straight to Him, + Where One who had great lightnings for His crown + Was suddenly made present; vast and dim + Through crowded pinions of the Cherubim.” + </pre> + <p> + And his feet stumbled not, nor was he aware of anything around, until the + Earl met him at the park gates and touching him said reverently— + </p> + <p> + “Father, you are close to the highway. Have you seen Annie?” + </p> + <p> + “I have just left her.” + </p> + <p> + “She is further from us than ever.” + </p> + <p> + “Richard Hyde,” he answered, “she is on her way to God, + and she can rest nothing short of that.” + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIV — “HUSH! LOVE IS HERE!” + </h2> + <p> + On the morning that Hyde sailed for America, Cornelia received the letter + he had written her on the discovery of Rem’s dishonourable conduct. + So much love, so much joy, sent to her in the secret foldings of a sheet + of paper! In a hurry of delight and expectation she opened it, and her + beaming eyes ran all over the joyful words it brought her—sweet + fluttering pages, that his breath had moved, and his face been aware of. + How he would have rejoiced to see her pressing them to her bosom, at some + word of fonder memory or desire. + </p> + <p> + There was much in this letter which it was necessary her father and mother + should hear—the Earl’s message to them—Hyde’s own + proposition for an immediate marriage, and various necessities referring + to this event. But she was proud and happy to read words of such noble, + straightforward affection; and the Doctor was especially pleased by the + deference expressed for his wishes. When he left the house that day he + kissed his daughter with pride and tenderness, and said to Mrs. Moran— + </p> + <p> + “Ava, there will be much to get, and much to do in a short time, but + money manages all things Do not spare where it is necessary.” And + then what important and interesting consultations followed! what lists of + lovely garments became imperative, which an hour before had not been + dreamed of! what discussions as to mantua makers and milliners! as to + guests and ceremonies! as to all the details of a life unknown, but + invested by love and youth, with a delightfully overwhelming importance. + </p> + <p> + Cornelia was so happy that her ordinary dress of grey camelot did not + express her; she felt constrained to add to it some bows of bright scarlet + ribbon, and then she looked round about her room, and went through her + drawers, to find something else to be a visible witness to the light heart + singing within her. And she came across some coral combs that Madame + Jacobus had given her, and felt their vivid colouring in the shining + masses of her dark hair, to be one of the right ways of saying to herself, + and all she loved, “See how happy I am!” + </p> + <p> + In the afternoon, when the shopping for the day had been accomplished, she + went to Captain Jacobus, to play with him the game of backgammon which had + become an almost daily duty, and to which the Captain attached a great + importance. Indeed, for many weeks it had been the event of every day to + him; and if he was no longer dependent on it, he was grateful enough to + acknowledge all the good it had done him. “I owe your daughter as + much as I owe you, sir,” he would say to Doctor Moran, “and I + owe both of you a bigger debt than I can clear myself of.” + </p> + <p> + This afternoon he looked at his visitor with a wondering speculation. + There was something in her face, and manner, and voice, he had never + before seen or heard, and madame—who watched every expression of her + husband—was easily led to the same observation. She observed + Cornelia closely, and her gay laugh especially revealed some change. It + was like the burst of bird song in early spring, and she followed the + happy girl to the front door, and called her back when she had gone down + the steps, and said, as she looked earnestly in her face— + </p> + <p> + “You have heard from Joris Hyde? I know you have!” and + Cornelia nodded her head, and blushed, and smiled, and ran away from + further question. + </p> + <p> + When she reached home she found Madame Van Heemskirk sitting with her + mother, and the sweet old lady rose to meet her, and said before Cornelia + could utter a word: + </p> + <p> + “Come to me, Cornelia. This morning a letter we have had from my + Joris, and sorry am I that I did thee so much wrong.” + </p> + <p> + “Madame, I have long ago forgotten it; and there was a mistake all + round,” answered Cornelia, cheerfully. + </p> + <p> + “That is so—and thy mistake first of all. Hurry is misfortune; + even to be happy, it is not wise to hurry. Listen now! Joris has written + to his grandfather, and also to me, and very busy he will keep us both. + His grandfather is to look after the stables and the horses, and to buy + more horses, and to hire serving men of all kinds. And a long letter also + I have had from my daughter Katherine, and she tells me to make her duty + to thee my duty. That is my pleasure also, and I have been talking with + thy mother about the house. Now I shall go there, and a very pleasant home + I shall make it. Many things Joris will bring with him—two new + carriages and much fine furniture—and I know not what else beside.” + </p> + <p> + Then Cornelia kissed madame, and afterwards removed her bonnet; and madame + looked at her smiling. The vivid coral in her dark hair, the modest grey + dress with its knots of colour, and above all the lovely face alight with + love and hope, delighted her. + </p> + <p> + “Very pretty art thou, very pretty indeed!” she said, + impulsively; and then she added, “Many other girls are very pretty + also, but my Joris loves thee, and I am glad that it is thee, and very + welcome art thou to me, and very proud is my husband of thee. And now I + must go, because there is much to do, and little time to do it in.” + </p> + <p> + For nearly a week Cornelia was too busy to take Arenta into her + consideration. She did not care to tell her about Rem’s cruel and + dishonourable conduct, and she was afraid the shrewd little Marquise would + divine some change, and get the secret out of her. Indeed, Arenta was not + long in suspecting something unusual in the Doctor’s household—the + number of parcels and of work people astonished her; and she was not a + little offended at Madame Van Heemskirk spending a whole afternoon so near + to her, and “never even,” as she said to her father, “turning + her head this way.” For Arenta had drunk a rather long draught of + popular interest, and she could not bear to believe it was declining. Was + she not the American heroine of 1793? It was almost a want of patriotism + in Madame Van Heemskirk to neglect her. + </p> + <p> + After a week had elapsed Cornelia went over one morning to see her friend. + But by this time Arenta knew everything. Her brother Rem had been with her + and confessed all to his sister. It had not been a pleasant meeting by any + means. She heard the story with indignation, but contrived to feel that + somehow Rem was not so much to blame as Cornelia, and other people. + </p> + <p> + “You are right served,” she said to her brother, “for + meddling with foreigners, and especially for mixing your love affairs up + with an English girl. Proud, haughty creatures all of them! And you are a + very fool to tell any woman such a—crime. Yes, it is a crime. I won’t + say less. That girl over the way nearly died, and you would have let her + die. It was a shame. I don’t love Cornelia—but it was a shame.” + </p> + <p> + “The letter was addressed to me, Arenta.” + </p> + <p> + “Fiddlesticks! You knew it was not yours. You knew it was Hyde’s. + Where is it now?” + </p> + <p> + She asked the question in her usual dominant way, and Rem did not feel + able to resist it. He looked for a moment at the angry woman, and was + subdued by her air of authority. He opened his pocketbook and from a + receptacle in it, took the fateful letter. She seized and read it, and + then without a word, or a moment’s hesitation threw it into the + fire. + </p> + <p> + Rem blustered and fumed, and she stood smiling defiantly at him. “You + are like all criminals,” she said; “you must keep something to + accuse yourself with. I love you too well to permit you to carry that bit + of paper about you. It has worked you harm enough. What are you going to + do? Is Miss Darner’s refusal quite final?” + </p> + <p> + “Quite. It was even scornful.” + </p> + <p> + “Plenty of nice girls in Boston.” + </p> + <p> + “I cannot go back to Boston.” + </p> + <p> + “Why then?” + </p> + <p> + “Because Mary’s cousin has told the whole affair.” + </p> + <p> + “Nonsense!” + </p> + <p> + “She has. I know it. Men, whom I had been friendly with, got out of + my way; women excused themselves at their homes, and did not see me on the + streets. I have no doubt all Boston is talking of the affair.” + </p> + <p> + “Then come back to New York. New Yorkers attend strictly to their + own love affairs. Father will stand by you; and I will.” + </p> + <p> + “Father will not. He called me a scoundrel, when I told him last + night, and advised me to go to the frontier. Joris Van Heemskirk will not + talk, but madame will chatter for him, and I could not bear to meet Doctor + Moran. As for Captain Jacobus, he would invent new words and oaths to + abuse me with, and Aunt Angelica would, of course, say amen to all he + says;—and there are others.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, there is Lord Hyde.” + </p> + <p> + “Curse him! But I intended to give him his letter—now you have + burnt it.” + </p> + <p> + “You intended nothing of the kind, Rem. Go away as soon as you can. + I don’t want to know where you go just yet. New York is impossible, + and Boston is impossible. Father says go to the frontier, I say go South. + What you have done, you have done; and it cannot be undone; so don’t + carry it about with you. And I would let women alone—they are beyond + you—go in for politics.” + </p> + <p> + That day Rem lingered with his sister, seeing no one else; and in the + evening shadows he slipped quietly away. He was very wretched, for he + really loved Mary Damer, and his disappointment was bitterly keen and + humiliating. Besides which, he felt that his business efforts for two + years were forfeited, and that he had the world to begin over again. + Without a friend to wish him a Godspeed the wretched man went on board the + Southern packet, and in her dim lonely cabin sat silent and despondent, + while she fought her way through swaying curtains of rain to the open sea. + Its great complaining came up through the darkness to him, and seemed to + be the very voice of the miserable circumstances, that had separated and + estranged his life from all he loved and desired. + </p> + <p> + This sudden destruction of all her hopes for her brother distressed + Arenta. Her own marriage had been a most unfortunate one, but its + misfortunes had the importance of national tragedy. She had even plucked + honour to herself from the bloody tumbril and guillotine. But Rem’s + matrimonial failure had not one redeeming quality; it was altogether a + shameful and well-deserved retribution. And she had boasted to her friends + not a little of the great marriage her brother was soon to make, and even + spoken of Miss Damer, as if a sisterly affection already existed between + them. She could anticipate very well the smiles and shrugs, the + exclamations and condolences she might have to encounter, and she was not + pleased with her brother for putting her in a position likely to make her + disagreeable to people. + </p> + <p> + But the heart of her anger was Cornelia—“but for that girl,” + Rem would have married Mary Damer, and his home in Boston might have been + full of opportunities for her, as well as a desirable change when she + wearied of New York. Altogether it was a hard thing for her, as well as a + dreadful sorrow for Rem; and she could not think of Cornelia without + anger, “Just for her,” she kept saying as she dressed herself + with an elaborate simplicity, “Just for her! Very much she intruded + herself into my affairs; my marriage was her opportunity with Lord Hyde, + and now all she can do is to break up poor Rem’s marriage.” + </p> + <p> + When Cornelia entered the Van Ariens parlour Arenta was already there. She + was dressed in a gown of the blackest and softest bombazine and crape. It + had a distinguishing want of all ornament, but it was for that reason + singularly effective against her delicate complexion and pale golden hair. + She looked offended, and hardly spoke to her old friend, but Cornelia was + prepared for some exhibition of anger. She had not been to see Arenta for + a whole week, and she did not doubt she had been well aware of something + unusual in progress. But that Rem had accused himself did not occur to + her; therefore she was hardly prepared for the passionate accusations with + which Arenta assailed her. + </p> + <p> + “I think,” she said, “you have behaved disgracefully to + poor Rem! You would not have him yourself, and yet you prevent another + girl—whom he loves far better than ever he loved you—from + marrying him. He has gone away ‘out of the world,’ he says, + and indeed I should not wonder if he kills himself. It is most certain you + have done all you can to drive him to it.” + </p> + <p> + “Arenta! I have no idea what you mean. I have not seen Rem, nor + written to Rem, for more than two years.” + </p> + <p> + “Very likely, but you have written about him. You wrote to Miss + Darner, and told her Rem purposely kept a letter, which you had sent to + Lord Hyde.” + </p> + <p> + “I did not write to Miss Damer. I do not know the lady. But Rem DID + keep a letter that belonged to Lord Hyde.” + </p> + <p> + Then anger gave falsehood the bit and she answered, “Rem did NOT + keep any letter that belonged to Lord Hyde. Prove that he did so, before + you accuse him. You cannot.” + </p> + <p> + “I unfortunately directed Lord Hyde’s letter to Rem, and Rem’s + letter to Lord Hyde. Rem knew that he had Lord Hyde’s letter, and he + should have taken it at once to him.” + </p> + <p> + “Lord Hyde had Rem’s letter; he ought to have taken it at once + to Rem.” + </p> + <p> + “There was not a word in Rem’s letter to identify it as + belonging to him.” + </p> + <p> + “Then you ought to be ashamed to write love letters that would do + for any man that received them. A poor hand you must be, to blunder over + two love letters. I have had eight, and ten, at once to answer, and I + never failed to distinguish each; and while rivers run into the sea I + never shall misdirect my love letters. I do not believe Rem ever got your + letter, and I will not believe it, either now or ever. I dare be bound, + Balthazar lost it on the way. Prove to me he did not.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, indeed! I think you know better.” + </p> + <p> + “Very clever is Lord Hyde to excuse himself by throwing the blame on + poor Rein. Very mean indeed to accuse him to the girl he was going to + marry. To be sure, any one with an ounce of common sense to guide them, + must see through the whole affair.” + </p> + <p> + “Arenta, I have the most firm conviction of Rem’s guilt, and + the greatest concern for his disappointment. I assure you I have.” + </p> + <p> + “Kindly reserve your concern, Miss Moran, till Rem Van Ariens asks + for it. As for his guilt, there is no guilt in question. Even supposing + that Rem did keep Lord Hyde’s letter, what then? All things are fair + in love and war, Willie Nicholls told me last night, he would keep a + hundred letters, if he thought he could win me by doing so. Any man of + sense would.” + </p> + <p> + “All I blame Rem for is—” + </p> + <p> + “All I blame Rem for is, that he asked you to marry him. So much for + that! I hope if he meddles with women again, he will seek an all-round + common-sense Dutch girl, who will know how to direct her letters—or + else be content with one lover.” + </p> + <p> + “Arenta, I shall go now. I have given you an opportunity to be rude + and unkind. You cannot expect me to do that again.” + </p> + <p> + She watched Cornelia across the street, and then turned to the mirror, and + wound her ringlets over her fingers. “I don’t care,” she + muttered. “It was her fault to begin with. She tempted Rem, and he + fell. Men always fall when women tempt them; it is their nature to. I am + going to stand by Rem, right or wrong, and I only wish I could tell Mary + Damer what I think of her. She has another lover, of course she has—or + she would not have talked about her ‘honour’ to Rem.” + </p> + <p> + To such thoughts she was raging, when Peter Van Ariens came home to + dinner, and she could not restrain them. He listened for a minute or two, + and then struck the table no gentle blow? + </p> + <p> + “In my house, Arenta,” he said, “I will have no such + words. What you think, you think; but such thoughts must be shut close in + your mind. In keeping that letter, I say Rem behaved like a scoundrel; he + was cruel, and he was a coward. Because he is my son I will not excuse + him. No indeed! For that very reason, the more angry am I at such a deed. + Now then, he shall acknowledge to George Hyde and Cornelia Moran the wrong + he did them, ere in my home and my heart, he rights himself.” + </p> + <p> + “Is Cornelia going to be married?” + </p> + <p> + “That is what I hear.” + </p> + <p> + “To Lord Hyde?” + </p> + <p> + “That also, is what I hear.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, as I am in mourning, I cannot go to the wedding; so then I am + delighted to have told her a little of my mind.” + </p> + <p> + “It is a great marriage for the Doctor’s daughter; a countess + she will be.” + </p> + <p> + “And a marquise I am. And will you please say, if either countess or + marquise is better than mistress or madame? Thank all the powers that be! + I have learned the value of a title, and I shall change marquise for + mistress, as soon as I can do so.” + </p> + <p> + “If always you had thought thus, a great deal of sorrow we had both + been spared.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, then, a girl cannot get her share of wisdom, till she comes + to it. After all, I am now sorry I have quarrelled with Cornelia. In New + York and Philadelphia she will be a great woman.” + </p> + <p> + “To take offence is a great folly, and to give offence is a great + folly—I know not which is the greater, Arenta.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, indeed, father,” she answered, “if I am hurt and + angry, I shall take the liberty to say so. Anger that is hidden cannot be + gratified; and if people use me badly, it is my way to tell them I am + aware of it. One may be obliged to eat brown bread, but I, for one, will + say it is brown bread, and not white.” + </p> + <p> + “Your own way you will take, until into some great trouble you + stumble.” + </p> + <p> + “And then my own way I shall take, until out of it I stumble.” + </p> + <p> + “I have told Rem what he must do. Like a man he must say, ‘I + did wrong, and I am sorry for it,’ and so well I think of those he + has wronged, as to be sure they will answer, ‘It is forgiven.’” + </p> + <p> + “And forgotten.” + </p> + <p> + “That is different. To forgive freely, is what we owe to our enemy; + to forget not, is what we owe to ourselves.” + </p> + <p> + “But if Rem’s fault is forgiven, and not forgotten, what good + will it do him? I have seen that every one forgives much in themselves + that they find unpardonable in other people.” + </p> + <p> + “In so far, Arenta, we are all at fault.” + </p> + <p> + “I think it is cruel, father, to ask Rem to speak truth to his own + injury. Even the law is kinder than you, it asks no man to accuse himself.” + </p> + <p> + “Right wrongs no man. Till others move in this matter, you be quiet. + If you talk, evil words you will say; and mind this, Arenta, the evil that + comes out of your lips, into your own bosom will fall. All my life I have + seen this.” + </p> + <p> + But Arenta could not be quiet. She would sow thorns, though she had to + walk unshod; and her father’s advice moved her no more than a breath + moves a mountain. In the same afternoon she saw Madame Jacobus going to + Doctor Moran’s, and the hour she remained there, was full of misery + to her impetuous self-adoring heart. She was sure they were talking of Rem + and herself; and as she had all their conversation to imagine, she came to + conclusions in accord with her suspicions. + </p> + <p> + But she met her aunt at the door and brought her eagerly into the parlour. + She had had no visitors that day, and was bored and restless and longing + for conversation. “I saw you go to the Doctor’s an hour ago, + aunt,” she said. “I hope the Captain is well.” + </p> + <p> + “Jacobus is quite well, thank God and Doctor Moran—and + Cornelia. I have been looking at some of her wedding gowns. A girl so + happy, and who deserves to be so happy, I never saw. What a darling she + is!” + </p> + <p> + “It is now the fashion to rave about her. I suppose they found time + enough to abuse poor Rem. And you could listen to them! I would not have + done so! No! not if listening had meant salvation for the whole Moran + family.” + </p> + <p> + “You are a remarkably foolish young woman. They never named Rem. + People so happy, do not remember the bringer of sorrow. He has been shut + out—in the darkness and cold. But I heard from Madame Van Heemskirk + why Cornelia and that delightful young man were not married two years ago. + I am ashamed of Rem. I can never forgive him. He is a disgrace to the + family. And that is why I came here to-day. I wish you to make Rem + understand that he must not come near his Uncle Jacobus. When Jacobus is + angry, he will call heaven and earth and hell to help him speak his mind, + and I have nearly cured him of a habit which is so distressing to me, and + such a great wrong to his own soul. The very sight of Rem would break + every barrier down, and let a flood of words loose, that would make him + suffer afterwards. I will not have Jacobus led into such temptation. I + have not heard an oath from him for six months.” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose you would never forgive Jacobus, if you did hear one?” + </p> + <p> + “That is another matter. I hope I have a heart to forgive whatever + Jacobus does, or says—he is my husband.” + </p> + <p> + “It is then less wicked to blaspheme Almighty God, than to keep one + of Lord Hyde’s love letters. One fault may be forgiven, the other is + unpardonable. Dear me! how religiously ignorant I am. As for my uncle + swearing—and the passions that thus express themselves—everybody + knows that anything that distantly resembles good temper, will suit + Captain Jacobus.” + </p> + <p> + “You look extremely handsome when you are scornful, Arenta; but it + is not worthwhile wasting your charms on me. I am doing what I can to help + Jacobus to keep his tongue clean, and I will not have Rem lead him into + temptation. As for Rem, he is guilty of a great wrong; and he must now do + what his father told him to do—work day and night, as men work, when + a bridge is broken down. The ruin must be got out of the way, and the + bridge rebuilt, then it will be possible to open some pleasant and + profitable traffic with human beings again—not to speak of heaven.” + </p> + <p> + “You are right—not to speak of heaven, I think heaven would be + more charitable. Rem will not trouble Captain Jacobus. For my part I think + a man that cannot bear temptation is very poorly reformed. If my uncle + could see Rem, and yet keep his big and little oaths under bonds, I should + believe in his clean tongue.” + </p> + <p> + “Arenta, you are tormenting yourself with anger and ill-will, and + above all with jealousy. In this way you are going to miss a deal of + pleasure. I advise you not to quarrel with Cornelia. She will be a great + resource. I myself am looking forward to the delightful change Jacobus may + have at Hyde Manor. It will make a new life for him, and also for me. This + afternoon something is vexing you. I shall take no offence. You will + regret your bad temper to-morrow.” + </p> + <p> + To-morrow Arenta did regret; but people do not always say they are sorry, + when they feel so. She sat in the shadow of her window curtains and + watched the almost constant stream of visitors, and messengers, and + tradespeople at Doctor Moran’s house; and she longed to have her + hands among the lovely things, and to give her opinion about the + delightful events sure to make the next few weeks full of interest and + pleasure. And after she had received a letter from Rem, she resolved to + humble herself that she might be exalted. + </p> + <p> + “Rem is already fortunate, and I can’t help him by fighting + his battle. Forgetfulness, is the word. For this wrong can have no + victory, and to be forgotten, is the only hope for it. Beside, Cornelia + had her full share in my happiness, and I will not let myself be defrauded + of my share in her happiness—not for a few words—no! certainly + not.” + </p> + <p> + This reflection a few times reiterated resulted in the following note— + </p> + <h3> + MY DEAR CORNELIA: + </h3> + <p> + I want to say so much, that I cannot say anything but—forgive me. I + am shaken to pieces by my dreadful sufferings, and sometimes, I do not + know what I say, even to those I love. Blame my sad fortune for my bad + words, and tell me you long to forgive me, as I long to be forgiven. + </p> + <p> + Your ARENTA. + </p> + <p> + “That will be sufficient,” she reflected; “and after + all, Cornelia is a sweet girl. I am her first and dearest friend, and I am + determined to keep my place. It has made me very angry to see those Van + Dien girls, and those Sherman girls, running in and out of the Moran house + as if they owned Cornelia. Well then, if I have had to eat humble pie, I + have had my say, and that takes the bitter taste out of my mouth—and + a sensible woman must look to her future. I dare warrant, Cornelia is now + answering my letter. I dare warrant, she will forgive me very sweetly.” + </p> + <p> + She spent half-an-hour in such reflections, and then Cornelia entered with + a smiling face. She would not permit Arenta to say another word of regret; + she stifled all her self-reproaches in an embrace, and she took her back + with her to her own home. And no further repentance embarrassed Arenta. + She put her ready wit, and her clever hands to a score of belated things; + and snubbed and contradicted the Van Dien and Sherman girls into a + respectful obedience to her earlier friendship, and wider experience. + Everything that she directed, or took charge of, went with an unmistakable + vigour to completion; and even Madame Van Heemskirk was delighted with her + ability, and grateful for her assistance. + </p> + <p> + “The poor Arenta!” she said to Mrs. Moran; “very helpful + she is to us, and for her brother’s fault she is not to blame. Wrong + it would be to visit it on her.” + </p> + <p> + And Arenta not only felt this gracious justice for herself, she looked + much further forward, for she said to her father, “It is really for + Rem’s sake I am so obliging. By and by people will say ‘there + is no truth in that letter story. The Marquise is the friend of Lady Hyde; + they are like clasped hands, and that could not be so, if Rem Van Ariens + had done such a dreadful thing. It is all nonsense.’ And if I hear a + word about it, I shall know how to smile, and lift my shoulders, and kill + suspicion with contempt. Yes, for Rem’s sake, I have done the best + thing.” + </p> + <p> + So happily the time went on, that it appeared wonderful when Christmas was + close at hand. Every preparation was then complete. The Manor House was a + very picture of splendid comfort and day by day Cornelia’s exquisite + wardrobe came nearer to perfection. It was a very joy to go into the Moran + house. The mother, with a happy light upon her face, went to-and-fro with + that habitual sweet serenity, which kept the temperature of expectant + pleasure at a degree not too exhausting for continuance. The doctor was so + satisfied with affairs, that he was often heard timing his firm, strong + steps to snatches of long forgotten military songs; and Cornelia, knowing + her lover was every day coming nearer and nearer, was just as happy as a + girl loving and well beloved, ought to be. Sorrow was all behind her, and + a great joy was coming to meet her. Until mortal love should become + immortal, she could hope for no sweeter interlude in life. + </p> + <p> + Her beauty had increased wonderfully; hope had more than renewed her + youth, and confident love had given to her face and form, a splendour of + colour and expression, that captivated everybody; though why, or how, they + never asked—she charmed, because she charmed. She was the love, the + honey, the milk of sweetest human nature. + </p> + <p> + One day the little bevy of feminine councillors looked at their work, and + pronounced all beautiful, and all finished; and then there was a lull in + the busy household, and then every one was conscious of being a little + weary; and every one also felt, that it would be well to let heart, and + brain, and fingers, and feet rest. In a few days there would likely be + another English letter, and they could then form some idea as to when Lord + Hyde would arrive. The last letter received from him had been written in + London, and the ship in which he was to sail, was taking on her cargo, + while he impatiently waited at his hotel for notice of her being ready to + lift her anchor. The doctor thought it highly probable Hyde would follow + this letter in a week, or perhaps less. + </p> + <p> + During this restful interval, Doctor and Mrs. Moran drove out one + afternoon to Hyde Manor House. A message from Madame Van Heemskirk asked + this favour from them; she wished naturally that they should see how + exquisitely beautiful and comfortable was the home, which her Joris had + trusted her to prepare for his bride. But she did not wish Cornelia to see + it, until the bride-groom himself took her across its threshold. “An + old woman’s fancy it is,” she said to Mrs. Moran; “but + no harm is there in it, and not much do I like women who bustle about + their houses, and have no fancies at all.” + </p> + <p> + “Nor I,” answered Mrs. Moran with a merry little laugh. + “Do you know, that I told John to buy my wedding ring too wide, + because I often heard my mother say that a tight wedding ring was unlucky.” + Then both women smiled, and began delightedly to look over together the + stores of fine linen and damask, which the mother of Joris had laid up for + her son’s use. + </p> + <p> + It was a charming visit, and the sweet pause in the vivid life of the past + few weeks, was equally charming to Cornelia. She rested in her room till + the short daylight ended; then she went to the parlour and drank a cup of + tea, and closed the curtains, and sat down by the hearth to wait for her + father and mother. It was likely they would be a little late, but the moon + was full and the sleighing perfect, and then she was sure they would have + so much to tell her, when they did reach home. + </p> + <p> + So still was the house, so still was the little street, that she easily + went to the land of reverie, and lost herself there. She thought over + again all her life with her lover; recalled his sweet spirit, his loyal + affection, his handsome face, and enchanting manner. “Heaven has + made me so fortunate,” she thought, “and now my fortune has + arrived at my wishes. Even his delay is sweet. I desire to think of him, + until all other thoughts are forgotten! Oh, what lover could be loved as I + love him!” + </p> + <p> + Then with a soft but quick movement the door flew open, she lifted her + eyes, to fill them with love’s very image and vesture; and with a + cry of joy flew to meet the bliss so long afar, but now so near. “O + lovely and beloved! O my love!” Hyde cried, and then there was a + twofold silence; the very ecstasy that no mortal words can utter. The + sacred hour for which all their lives had longed, was at last dropt down + to them from heaven. Between their kisses they spoke of things remembered, + and of things to be, leaning to each other in visible sweetness, while + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Love breathed in sighs and silences + Through two blent souls, one rapturous undersong.” + </pre> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Maid of Maiden Lane, by Amelia E. Barr + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAID OF MAIDEN LANE *** + +***** This file should be named 5757-h.htm or 5757-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/5/7/5/5757/ + +Etext produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +HTML file produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at + www.gutenberg.org/license. + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at 809 +North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email +contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the +Foundation's web site and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For forty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + + +</pre> + </body> +</html> diff --git a/5757.txt b/5757.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e5bd518 --- /dev/null +++ b/5757.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9253 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Maid of Maiden Lane, by Amelia E. Barr + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Maid of Maiden Lane + +Author: Amelia E. Barr + +Posting Date: September 10, 2012 [EBook #5757] +Release Date: May, 2004 +First Posted: August 28, 2002 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAID OF MAIDEN LANE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + +THE MAID OF MAIDEN LANE A Sequel to "The Bow of Orange Ribbon." A Love +Story + +BY AMELIA E. BARR Author of "The Bow of Orange Ribbon," "Friend +Olivia," etc. + + +1900 + + + +CONTENTS + + + +I. THE HOME OF CORNELIA MORAN +II. THIS IS THE WAY OF LOVE +III. HYDE AND ARENTA +IV. THROWING THINGS INTO CONFUSION +V. TURNING OVER A NEW LEAF +VI. AUNT ANGELICA +VII. ARENTA'S MARRIAGE +VIII. TWO PROPOSALS +IX. MISDIRECTED LETTERS +X. LIFE TIED IN A KNOT +XI. WE HAVE DONE WITH TEARS AND TREASONS +XII. A HEART THAT WAITS +XIII. THE NEW DAYS COME +XIV. HUSH! LOVE IS HERE! + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE HOME OF CORNELIA MORAN + + +Never, in all its history, was the proud and opulent city of New York +more glad and gay than in the bright spring days of +Seventeen-Hundred-and-Ninety-One. It had put out of sight every trace +of British rule and occupancy, all its homes had been restored and +re-furnished, and its sacred places re-consecrated and adorned. Like a +young giant ready to run a race, it stood on tiptoe, eager for +adventure and discovery--sending ships to the ends of the world, and +round the world, on messages of commerce and friendship, and +encouraging with applause and rewards that wonderful spirit of +scientific invention, which was the Epic of the youthful nation. The +skies of Italy were not bluer than the skies above it; the sunshine of +Arcadia not brighter or more genial. It was a city of beautiful, and +even splendid, homes; and all the length and breadth of its streets +were shaded by trees, in whose green shadows dwelt and walked some of +the greatest men of the century. + +These gracious days of Seventeen-Hundred-and-Ninety-One were also the +early days of the French Revolution, and fugitives from the French +court--princes and nobles, statesmen and generals, sufficient for a new +Iliad, loitered about the pleasant places of Broadway and Wall Street, +Broad Street, and Maiden Lane. They were received with courtesy, and +even with hospitality, although America at that date almost universally +sympathized with the French Republicans, whom they believed to be the +pioneers of political freedom on the aged side of the Atlantic. The +merchants on Exchange, the Legislators in their Council Chambers, the +working men on the wharves and streets, the loveliest women in their +homes, and walks, and drives, alike wore the red cockade. The +Marseillaise was sung with The Star Spangled Banner; and the notorious +Carmagnole could be heard every hour of the day--on stated days, +officially, at the Belvedere Club. Love for France, hatred for England, +was the spirit of the age; it effected the trend of commerce, it +dominated politics, it was the keynote of conversation wherever men and +women congregated. + +Yet the most pronounced public feeling always carries with it a note of +dissent, and it was just at this day that dissenting opinion began to +make itself heard. The horrors of Avignon, and of Paris, the brutality +with which the royal family had been treated, and the abolition of all +religious ties and duties, had many and bitter opponents. The clergy +generally declared that "men had better be without liberty, than +without God," and a prominent judge had ventured to say publicly that +"Revolution was a dangerous chief justice." + +In these days of wonderful hopes and fears there was, in Maiden Lane, a +very handsome residence--an old house even in the days of Washington, +for Peter Van Clyffe had built it early in the century as a bridal +present to his daughter when she married Philip Moran, a lawyer who +grew to eminence among colonial judges. The great linden trees which +shaded the garden had been planted by Van Clyffe; so also had the high +hedges of cut boxwood, and the wonderful sweet briar, which covered the +porch and framed all the windows filling the open rooms in summer time +with the airs of Paradise. On all these lovely things the old Dutchman +had stamped his memory, so that, even to the third generation, he was +remembered with an affection, that every springtime renewed. + +One afternoon in April, 1791, two men were standing talking opposite to +the entrance gates of this pleasant place. They were Captain Joris Van +Heemskirk, a member of the Congress then sitting in Federal Hall, Broad +Street, and Jacobus Van Ariens, a wealthy citizen, and a deacon in the +Dutch Church. Van Heemskirk had helped to free his own country and was +now eager to force the centuries and abolish all monarchies. +Consequently, he believed in France; the tragedies she had been +enacting in the holy name of Liberty, though they had saddened, had, +hitherto, not discouraged him. He only pitied the more men who were +trying to work out their social salvation, without faith in either God +or man. But the news received that morning had almost killed his hopes +for the spread of republican ideas in Europe. + +"Van Ariens," he said warmly, "this treatment of King Louis and his +family is hardly to be believed. It is too much, and too far. If King +George had been our prisoner we should have behaved towards him with +humanity. After this, no one can foresee what may happen in France." + +"That is the truth, my friend," answered Van Ariens. "The good Domine +thinks that any one who can do so might also understand the +Revelations. The French have gone mad. They are tigers, sir, and I care +not whether tigers walk on four feet or on two. WE won our freedom +without massacres." + +"WE had Washington and Franklin, and other good and wise leaders who +feared God and loved men." + +"So I said to the Count de Moustier but one hour ago. But I did not +speak to him of the Almighty, because he is an atheist. Yet if we were +prudent and merciful it was because we are religious. When men are +irreligious, the Lord forsakes them; and if bloodshed and bankruptcy +follow it is not to be wondered at." + +"That is true, Van Ariens; and it is also the policy of England to let +France destroy herself." "Well, then, if France likes the policy of +England, it is her own affair. But I am angry at France; she has +stabbed Liberty in Europe for one thousand years. A French Republic! +Bah! France is yet fit for nothing but a despotism. I wish the Assembly +had more control--" + +"The Assembly!" cried Van Heemskirk scornfully. "I wish that Catherine +of Russia were now Queen of France in the place of that poor Marie +Antoinette. Catherine would make Frenchmen write a different page in +history. As to Paris, I think, then, the devil never sowed a million +crimes in more fruitful ground." + +"Look now, Captain, I am but a tanner and currier, as you know, but I +have had experiences; and I do not believe in the future of a people +who are without a God and without a religion." + +"Well, so it is, Van Ariens. I will now be silent, and wait for the +echo; but I fear that God has not yet said 'Let there be peace.' I saw +you last night at Mr. Hamilton's with your son and daughter. You made a +noble entrance." + +"Well, then, the truth is the truth. My Arenta is worth looking at; and +as for Rem, he was not made in a day. There are generations of Zealand +sailors behind him; and, to be sure, you may see the ocean in his grey +eyes and fresh open face. God is good, who gives us boys and girls to +sit so near our hearts." + +"And such a fair, free city for a home!" said Van Heemskirk as he +looked up and down the sunshiny street. "New York is not perfect, but we +love her. Right or wrong, we love her; just as we love our mother, and +our little children." + +"That, also, is what the Domine says," answered Van Ariens; "and yet, +he likes not that New York favours the French so much. When Liberty has +no God, and no Sabbath day, and no heaven, and no hell, the Domine is +not in favour of Liberty. He is uneasy for the country, and for his +church; and if he could take his whole flock to heaven at once, that +would please him most of all." + +"He is a good man. With you, last night, was a little maid--a great +beauty I thought her--but I knew her not. Is she then a stranger?" + +"A stranger! Come, come! The little one is a very child of New York. +She is the daughter of Dr. Moran--Dr. John, as we all call him." + +"Well, look now, I thought in her face there was something that went to +my heart and memory." + +"And, as you know, that is his house across the street from us, and it +was his father's house, and his grandfather's house; and before that, +the Morans lived in Winckle Street; and before that, in the Lady's +Valley; so, then, when Van Clyffe built this house for them, they only +came back to their first home. Yes, it is so. The Morans have seen the +birth of this city. Who, then, can be less of a stranger in it than the +little beauty, Cornelia?" + +"As you say, Van Ariens." + +"And yet, in one way, she is a stranger. Such a little one she was, +when the coming of the English sent the family apart and away. To the +army went the Doctor, and there he stayed, till the war was over. Mrs. +Moran took her child, and went to her father's home in Philadelphia. +When those redcoats went away forever from New York, the Morans came +back here, but the little girl they left in the school at Bethlehem, +where those good Moravian Sisters have made her so sweet as themselves; +so pure! so honest-hearted! so clever! It was only last month she came +back to New York, and few people have seen her; and yet this is the +truth--she is the sweetest maid in Maiden Lane; though up this side, +and down that side, are some beauties--the daughters of Peter +Sylvester; and of Jacob Beckley; and of Claes Vandolsom. Oh, yes! and +many others. I speak not of my Arenta. But look now! It is the little +maid herself, that is coming down the street." + +"And it is my grandson who is at her side. The rascal! He ought now to +be reading his law books in Mr. Hamilton's office. But what will you? +The race of young men with old heads on their shoulders is not yet +born--a God's mercy it is not!" + +"We also have been young, Van Heemskirk." + +"I forget not, my friend. My Joris sees not me, and I will not see +him." Then the two old men were silent, but their eyes were fixed on +the youth and maiden, who were slowly advancing towards them; the sun's +westering rays making a kind of glory for them to walk in. + +She might have stepped out of the folded leaves of a rosebud, so lovely +was her face, framed in its dark curls, and shaded by a gypsy bonnet of +straw tied under her chin with primrose-coloured ribbons. Her dress was +of some soft, green material; and she carried in her hand a bunch of +daffodils. She was small, but exquisitely formed, and she walked with +fearlessness and distinction Yet there was around her an angelic +gravity, and that indefinable air of solitude, which she had brought +from innocent studies and long seclusion from the tumult and follies of +life. + +Of all this charming womanhood the young man at her side was profoundly +conscious. He was the gallant gentleman of his day, hardly touching the +tips of her fingers, but quite ready to fall on his knees before her. A +tall, sunbrowned, military-looking young man, as handsome as a Greek +god, with eyes of heroic form; lustrous, and richly fringed; and a +beautiful mouth, at once sensitive and seductive. He was also very +finely dressed, in the best and highest mode; and he wore his sword as +if it were a part of himself. It was no more in his way than if it were +his right arm. Indeed, all his movements were full of confidence and +ease; and yet it was the vivacity, vitality, and ready response of his +face that was most attractive. + +His wonderful eyes were bent upon the maid at his side; he saw no other +earthly thing. With a respectful eagerness, full of admiration, he +talked to her; and she answered his words--whatever they were--with a +smile that might have moved mountains. They passed the two old men +without any consciousness of their presence, and Van Heemskirk smiled, +and then sighed, and then said softly-- + +"So much youth, and beauty, and happiness! It is a benediction to have +seen it! I shall not reprove Joris at this time. But now I must go back +to Federal Hall; the question of the Capital makes me very anxious. +Every man of standing must feel so." + +"And I must go to my tan pits, for it is the eye of the master that +makes the good servant. You will vote for New York, Van +Heemskirk?--that is a question I need not to ask?" + +"Where else should the capital of our nation be? I think that +Philadelphia has great presumptions to propose herself against New +York:--this beautiful city between the two rivers, with the Atlantic +Ocean at her feet!" + +"You say what is true, Van Heemskirk. God has made New York the +capital, and the capital she will be; and no man can prevent it. It was +only yesterday that Senator Greyson from Virginia told me that the +Southern States are against Philadelphia. She is very troublesome to +the Southern States, day by day dogging them with her schemes for +emancipation. It is the way to make us unfriends." + +"I think this, Van Ariens: Philadelphia may win the vote at this time; +she has the numbers, and she has 'persuasions'; but look you! NEW YORK +HAS THE SHIPS AND THE COMMERCE, AND THE SEA WILL CROWN HER! 'The +harvest of the rivers is her revenue; and she is the mart of nations.' +That is what Domine Kunz said in the House this morning, and you may +find the words in the prophecy of Isaiah, the twenty-third chapter." + +During this conversation they had forgotten all else, and when their +eyes turned to the Moran house the vision of youth and beauty had +dissolved. Van Heemskirk's grandson, Lieutenant Hyde, was hastening +towards Broadway; and the lovely Cornelia Moran was sauntering up the +garden of her home, stooping occasionally to examine the pearl-powdered +auriculas or to twine around its support some vine, straggling out of +its proper place. + +Then Van Ariens hurried down to his tanning pits in the swamp; and Van +Heemskirk went thoughtfully to Broad Street; walking slowly, with his +left arm laid across his back, and his broad, calm countenance beaming +with that triumph which he foresaw for the city he loved. When he +reached Federal Hall, he stood a minute in the doorway; and with +inspired eyes looked at the splendid, moving picture; then he walked +proudly toward the Hall of Representatives, saying to himself, with +silent exultation as he went: + +"The Seat of Government! Let who will, have it; New York is the +Crowning City. Her merchants shall be princes, her traffickers the +honourable of the earth; the harvest of her rivers shall be her royal +revenue, and the marts of all nations shall be in her streets." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THIS IS THE WAY OF LOVE + + +Cornelia lingered in the garden, because she had suddenly, and as yet +unconsciously, entered into that tender mystery, so common and so +sovereign, which we call Love. In Hyde's presence she had been suffused +with a bewildering, profound emotion, which had fallen on her as the +gentle showers fall, to make the flowers of spring. A shy happiness, a +trembling delightful feeling never known before, filled her heart. This +handsome youth, whom she had only seen twice, and in the most formal +manner, affected her as no other mortal had ever done. She was a little +afraid; something, she knew not what, of mystery and danger and +delight, was between them; and she did not feel that she could speak of +it. It seemed, indeed, as if she would need a special language to do so. + +"I have met him but twice," she thought; "and it is as if I had a new, +strange, exquisite life. Ought I tell my mother? But how can I? I have +no words to explain--I do not understand--I thought it would break my +heart to leave the good Sisters and my studies, and the days so calm +and holy; and now--I do not even wish to go back. Sister Langaard told +me it would be so if I let the world come into my soul--Alas! if I +should be growing wicked!" + +The thought made her start; she hastened her steps towards the large +entrance door, and as she approached it a negro in a fine livery of +blue and white threw the door wide open for her. Answering his bow with +a kind word, she turned quickly out of the hall, into a parlour full of +sunshine. A lady sat there hemstitching a damask napkin; a lady of +dainty plainness, with a face full of graven experiences and mellowed +character. Purity was the first, and the last, impression she gave. And +when her eyes were dropped this idea was emphasized by their beautiful +lids; for nowhere is the flesh so divine as in the eyelids. And Ava +Moran's eyelids were full of holy secrets; they gave the impression of +a spiritual background which was not seen, but which could be felt. As +Cornelia entered she looked up with a smile, and said, as she slightly +raised her work, "it is the last of the dozen, Cornelia." + +"You make me ashamed of my idleness, mother. Have I been a long time +away?" + +"Longer than was unnecessary, I think." + +"I went to Embree's for the linen thread, and he had just opened some +English gauzes and lute-strings. Mrs. Willets was choosing a piece for +a new gown, for she is to dine with the President next week, and she +was so polite as to ask my opinion about the goods. Afterwards, I +walked to Wall Street with her; and coming back I met, on Broadway, +Lieutenant Hyde--and he gave me these flowers--they came from Prince's +nursery gardens--and, then, he walked home with me. Was it wrong? I +mean was it polite--I mean the proper thing to permit? I knew not how +to prevent it." + +"How often have you met Lieutenant Hyde?" + +"I met him for the first time last night. He was at the Sylvesters', +and I danced three times with him." + +"That was too often." + +"He talked with father, and father did not oppose my dancing." + +"Your father thinks of nothing, now, but the Capital question. I dare +say, after he had asked Lieutenant Hyde how he felt on that subject he +never thought of the young man again. And pray what did Lieutenant Hyde +say to you this afternoon?" + +"He gave me the flowers, and he told me about a beautiful opera, of +which I have never before heard. It is called Figaro. He says, in +Europe, nothing is played, or sung, or whistled, but--Figaro; that +nobody goes to any opera but--Figaro; and that I do not know the most +charming music in the world if I do not know--Figaro. He asked +permission to bring me some of the airs to-night, and I said some +civilities. I think they meant 'Yes.' Did I do wrong, mother?" + +"I will say 'no,' my dear; as you have given the invitation. But to +prevent an appearance of too exclusive intimacy, write to Arenta, and +ask her and Rem to take tea with us. Balthazar will carry the note at +once." + +"Mother, Arenta has bought a blue lute string. Shall I not also have a +new gown? The gauzes are very sweet and genteel, and I think Mrs. Jay +will not forget to ask me to her dance next week. Mr. Jefferson is sure +to be there, and I wish to walk a minuet with him." + +"Your father does not approve of Mr. Jefferson. He has not spoken to +him since his return from France. He goes too far--IN HIS WORDS." + +"But all the ladies of distinction are proud to be seen in his company; +and pray what is there against him?" + +"Only his politics, Cornelia. I think New York has gone mad on that +subject. Madame Barens will not speak to her son, because he is a +Federalist; and Madame Lefferts will not speak to HER son, because he +is NOT a Federalist. Mr. Jefferson, also, is thought to favour +Philadelphia for the capital; and your father is as hot on this subject +as he was on the Constitution. My dear, you will find that society is +torn in two by politics." + +"But women have nothing to do with politics." + +"They have everything to do with politics. They always have had. You +are not now in a Moravian school, Cornelia; and Bethlehem is not New +York. The two places look at life from different standpoints." + +"Then, as I am to live in New York, why was I sent to Bethlehem?" + +"You were sent to Bethlehem to learn how to live in New York,--or in +any other place. Where have you seen Mr. Jefferson?" + +"I saw him this afternoon, in Cedar Street. He wore his red coat and +breeches; and it was then I formed the audacious intention of dancing +with him. I told Mrs. Willets of it; and she said, 'Mr. Jefferson +carried the Declaration on his shoulders, and would not dare to bow;' +and then with such a queer little laugh she asked me 'if his red +breeches did not make me think of the guillotine?' I do not think Mrs. +Willets likes Mr. Jefferson very much; but, all the same, I wish to +dance once with him. I think it will be something to talk about when I +am an old woman." + +"My dear one, that is so far off. Go now, and write to Arenta. Young +Mr. Hyde and Figaro will doubtless bring her here." + +"I hope so; for Arenta has an agreeableness that fits every occasion." +She had been folding up, with deliberate neatness, the strings of her +bonnet, as she talked, and she rose with these words and went out of +the parlour; but she went slowly, with a kind of hesitation, as if +something had been left unsaid. + +About six o'clock Arenta Van Ariens made a personal response to her +friend's message. She was all excitement and expectation. "What a +delightful surprise!" she cried. "To-day has been a day to be praised. +It has ticked itself away to wonders and astonishments. Who do you +think called on me this afternoon?" + +"Tell me plainly, Arenta. I never could guess for an answer." + +"No less a person than Madame Kippon. Gertrude Kippon is going to be +married! She is going to marry a French count! And madame is beside +herself with the great alliance." + +"I heard my father say that Madame Kippon had 'the French disease' in a +dangerous form." + +"Indeed, that is certain. She has put the Sabbath day out of her +calendar; and her daughter's marriage is to be a legal one only. I +wonder what good Dr. Kunz will say to that! As for me, I lost all +patience with madame's rigmarole of philosophies--for I am not inclined +to philosophy--and indeed I had some difficulty to keep my temper; you +know that it is occasionally quite unmanageable." + +Cornelia smiled understandingly, and answered with a smile, "I hope, +however, that you did not put her to death, Arenta." + +"I have, at least, buried her, as far as I am concerned. And my father +says I am not to go to the marriage; that I am not even to drink a cup +of tea with her again. If my father had been at home--or even Rem--she +would not have left our house with all her colours flying; but I am +good-natured, I have no tongue worth speaking of." + +"Come, come, Arenta! I shall be indeed astonished if you did not say +one or two provoking words." + +"I said only three, Cornelia. When madame finally declared--'she really +must go home,' I did answer, as sweetly as possible, 'Thank you, +madame!' That was something I could say with becoming politeness." + +Cornelia was tying the scarlet ribbon which held back her flowing hair, +but she turned and looked at Arenta, and asked, "Did madame boast any +afterwards?" + +"No; she went away very modestly, and I was not sorry to see the angry +surprise on her face. Gertrude Kippon a countess! Only imagine it! +Well, then, I have no doubt the Frenchman will make of +Gertrude--whatever can be made of her." + +"Our drawing-rooms, and even our streets, are full of titles," said +Cornelia; "I think it is a distinction to be plain master and mistress." + +"That is the truth; even this handsome dandy, Joris Hyde, is a +lieutenant." + +"He was in the field two years. He told me so this afternoon. I dare +say, he has earned his title, even if he is a lieutenant." + +"Don't be so highty-tighty, Cornelia. I have no objections to military +titles. They mean something; for they at least imply, that a man is +willing to fight if his country will find him a quarrel to fight in. In +fact, I rather lean to official titles of every kind." + +"I have not thought of them at all." + +"But I have. They affect me like the feathers in a cock's tail; of +course the bird would be as good without them, but fancy him!" and +Arenta laughed mirthfully at her supposition. "As for women," she +continued, "lady, or countess, or Marquise, what an air it gives! It +finishes a woman like a lace ruff round her neck. Every woman ought to +have a title--I mean every woman of respectability. I have a fancy to +be a marquise, and Aunt Jacobus says I look Frenchy enough. I have +heard that there is a title in the Hyde family. I must ask Aunt +Jacobus. She knows everything about everybody. Lieutenant Hyde! I do +wonder what he is coming for!" + +The words dropped slowly, one by one, from her lips; and with a kind of +fateful import; but neither of the girls divined the significance of +the inquiry. Both were too intent on those last little touches to the +toilet, which make its effectiveness, to take into consideration +reflections without form; and probably, at that time, without personal +intention. + +Then Arenta, having arranged her ringlets, tied her sash, and her +sandals, began to talk of her own affairs; for she was a young lady who +found it impossible to be sufficient for herself. There had been +trouble with the slaves in the Van Ariens' household, and she told +Cornelia every particular. Also, she had VERY NEAR had an offer of +marriage from George Van Berckel; and she went into explanations about +her diplomacies in avoiding it. + +"Poor George!" she sighed, and then, looking up, was a trifle dismayed +at the expression upon Cornelia's face. For Cornelia was as reticent, +as Arenta was garrulous; and the girls were incomprehensible to each +other in their deepest natures, though, superficially, they were much +on the same plane, and really thought themselves to be distinctly +sympathetic friends. + +"Why do you look so strangely at me, Cornelia?" asked Arenta. "Am I not +properly dressed?" + +"You are perfectly dressed, Arenta. Women as fair as you are, know +instinctively how to dress." And then Arenta stood up before the mirror +and put her hand upon Cornelia's shoulder, and they both looked at the +reflection in it. + +A very pretty reflection it was!--a slender girl with a round, fair +face, and a long, white throat, and sloping shoulders. Her pale brown +hair fell in ripples and curls around her until they touched a robe of +heavenly blue, and half hid a singular necklace of large +pearls:--pearls taken from some Spanish ship and strung in old +Zierikzee, and worn for centuries by the maids and dames of the house +of Van Ariens. + +"It is the necklace!" said Cornelia after a pause, "It is the pearl +necklace, which gives you such an air of mystery and romance, and +changes you from an everyday maiden into an old-time princess." + +"No doubt, it is the necklace," answered Arenta. "It is my Aunt +Angelica's, but she permits me to wear it. When she was young, she +called every pearl after one of her lovers; and she had a lover for +every pearl. She was near to forty years old when she married; and she +had many lovers, even then." + +"It would have been better if she had married before she was near to +forty years old--that is, if she had taken a good husband." + +"Perhaps that; but good husbands come not on every day in the week. I +have three beads named already--one for George Van Berckel--one for +Fred De Lancey--and one for Willie Nichols. What do you think of that?" + +"I think, if you copy your Aunt Angelica, you will not marry any of +your lovers till you are forty years old. Come, let us go downstairs." + +She spoke a little peremptorily--indeed, she was in the habit, quite +unconsciously of using this tone with her companion, consequently it +was not noticed by her. And it was further remarkable, that the girls +did not walk down the broad stairs together, but Cornelia went first, +and Arenta followed her. There was no intention or consideration in +this procedure; it was the natural expression of underlying qualities, +as yet not realized. + +Cornelia's self-contained, independent nature was further revealed by +the erect dignity of her carriage down the centre of the stairway, one +hand slightly lifting her silk robe, the other laid against the +daffodils at her breast. Her face was happy and serene, her steps +light, and without hesitation or hurry. Arenta was a little behind her +friend. She stepped idly and irresolutely, with one hand slipping along +the baluster, and the other restlessly busy with her curls, her +ribbons, the lace that partially hid her bosom, and the pearls that +made a moonlight radiance on her snowy throat. At the foot of the +staircase Cornelia had to wait for her, and they went into the parlour +together. + +Doctor Moran, Rem Van Ariens, and Lieutenant Hyde were present. The +girls had a momentary glance at the latter ere he assumed the manner he +thought suitable for youth and beauty. He was talking seriously to the +Doctor and playing with an ivory paper knife as he did so, but whatever +remark he was making he cut it in two, and stood up, pleased and +expectant, to receive Beauty so fresh and so conspicuous. + +He was handsomely dressed in a dark-blue velvet coat, silver-laced, a +long white satin vest and black satin breeches. His hair was thrown +backwards and tied with the customary black ribbon, and his linen and +laces were of the finest quality. He met Cornelia as he might have met +a princess; and he flashed into Arenta's eyes a glance of admiration +which turned her senses upside down, and made her feel, for a moment or +two, as if she could hardly breathe. + +Upon Arenta's brother he had not produced a pleasant impression. +Without intention, he had treated young Van Ariens with that negative +politeness which dashes a sensitive man and makes him resentfully +conscious that he has been rendered incapable of doing himself justice. +And Rem could neither define the sense of humiliation he felt, nor yet +ruffle the courteous urbanity of Hyde; though he tried in various ways +to introduce some conversation which would afford him the pleasure of +contradiction. Equally he failed to consider that his barely veiled +antagonism compelled from the Doctor, and even from Cornelia and +Arenta, attentions he might not otherwise have received. The Doctor was +indeed much annoyed that Rem did not better respect the position of +guest; while Mrs. Moran was keenly sensitive to the false note in the +evening's harmony, and anxious to atone for it by many little extra +courtesies. So Hyde easily became the hero of the hour; he was +permitted to teach the girls the charming old-world step of the Pas de +Quatre, and afterwards to sing with them merry airs from Figaro, and +sentimental airs from Lodoiska, and to make Rem's heart burn with anger +at the expression he threw into the famous ballad "My Heart and Lute" +which the trio sang twice over with great feeling. + +Fortunately, some of Doctor Moran's neighbours called early in the +evening. Then whist parties were formed; and while the tables were +being arranged Cornelia found an opportunity to reason with Rem. "I +never could have believed you would behave so unlike yourself," she +said; and Rem answered bluntly--"That Englishman has insulted me ever +since he came into the room." + +"He is not an Englishman," said Cornelia. + +"His father is an Englishman, and the man himself was born in England. +The way he looks at me, the way he speaks to me, is insulting." + +"I have seen nothing but courtesy to you, Rem." + +"You have not the key to his impertinences. To-morrow, I will tell you +something about Lieutenant Hyde." + +"I shall not permit you to talk evil of him. I have no wish to hear ill +reports about my acquaintances, Their behaviour is their own affair; at +any rate, it is not mine. Be good-tempered, Rem; you are to be my +partner, and we must win in every game." + +But though Cornelia was all sweetness and graciousness; though Rem +played well, and Lieutenant Hyde played badly; though Rem had the +satisfaction of watching Hyde depart in his chair, while he stood with +a confident friendship by Cornelia's side, he was not satisfied. There +was an air of weariness and constraint in the room, and the little stir +of departing visitors did not hide it. Doctor Moran had been at an +unusual social tension; he was tired, and not pleased at Rem for +keeping him on the watch. Cornelia was silent. Rem then approached his +sister and said, "it is time to go home." Arenta looked at her friend; +she expected to be asked to remain, and she was offended when Cornelia +did not give her the invitation. + +On the contrary, Cornelia went with her for her cloak and bonnet, and +said not a word as they trod the long stairway but "Oh dear! How warm +the evening is!" + +"I expected you would ask me to stay with you, Cornelia." Arenta was +tying her bonnet strings as she made this remark, and her fingers +trembled, and her voice was full of hurt feeling. + +"Rem behaved so badly, Arenta." + +"I think that is not so. Did I also behave badly?" + +"You were charming every moment of the evening; but Rem was on the +point of quarrelling with Lieutenant Hyde. You must have seen it. In my +father's house, this was not proper." + +"I never saw Rem behave badly in my life. Suppose he does quarrel with +that dandy Englishman, Rem would not get the worst of it. I have no +fear for my brother Rem! No, indeed!" + +"Bulk does not stand for much in a sword game." + +"Do you mean they might fight a duel?" + +"I think it is best for you to go home with Rem. Otherwise, he might, +in his present temper, find himself near Becker's; and if a man is +quarrelsome he may always get principals and seconds there. You have +told me this yourself. In the morning Rem will, I hope, be reasonable." + +"I thought you and I would talk things over to-night. I like to talk +over a new pleasure." + +"Dear Arenta, we shall have so much more time, to-morrow. Come +to-morrow." + +But Arenta was not pleased. She left her friend with an air of +repressed injury, and afterwards made little remarks about Cornelia to +her brother, which exactly fitted his sense of wounded pride. Indeed, +they stood a few minutes in the Van Ariens' parlour to exchange their +opinions still further-- + +"I think Cornelia was jealous of me, Rem. That, in plain Dutch, is what +it all means. Does she imagine that I desire the attentions of a man +who is neither an American nor a Dutchman? I do not. I speak the truth +always, for I love the truth." + +"Cornelia does desire them; I think that--and it makes me wretched." + +"Oh, indeed, it is plain to see that she has fallen in love with that +black-eyed man of many songs and dances. Well, then, we must admit that +he danced to perfection. One may dislike the creature, and yet tell the +truth." + +"Do you truly believe that Cornelia is in love with him?" + +"Rem, there are things a woman observes. Cornelia is changed to-night. +She did not wish me to stay and talk about this man Hyde--she preferred +thinking about him--such reveries are suspicious. I have felt the +symptom. But, however, I may be wrong. Perhaps Cornelia was angry at +Hyde, and anxious about you--Do you think that?" + +Rem would not admit any such explanation; and, indeed, Arenta only made +such suppositions to render more poignant those entirely contrary. + +"Ever since she was a little girl, twelve, eleven years old, I have +loved her," said Rem; "and she knows it." + +"She knows it; that is so. When I was at Bethlehem, I read her all your +letters; and many a time you spoke in them of her as your 'little +wife.' To be sure, it was a joke; but she understood that you, at +least, put your heart in it. Girls do not need to have such things +explained. Come, come, we must go to our rooms; for that is our father +I hear moving about. In a few minutes he will be angry, and then--" + +She did not finish the sentence; there was no necessity; Rem knew what +unpleasantness the threat implied, and he slipped off his shoes and +stole quietly upstairs. Arenta was not disinclined to a few words if +her father wished them; so she did not hurry, though the great Flemish +clock on the stair-landing chimed eleven as she entered her room. It +was an extraordinarily late hour, but she only smiled, as she struck +her pretty fore-fingers together in time with it. She was not disposed +to curtail the day; it was her method, always, to take the full flavour +of every event that was not disagreeable. + +"And, after all," she mused, "the evening was a possibility. It was a +door on the latch--I may push it open and go in--who can tell? I saw +how amazed he was at my beauty when I first entered the parlour--and he +is but a man--and a young man who likes his own way--so much is +evident." She was meanwhile unclasping her pearl necklace, and at this +point she held it in her hands taking the fourth bead between her +fingers, and smiled speculatively. + +Then she heard her brother moving about the floor of the room above +her, and a shadow darkened her face. She had strong family affections, +and she was angry that Rem should be troubled by any man or woman, +living: + +"I have always thought Cornelia a very saint," she muttered; "but Love +is the great revealer. I wonder if she is in love--to tell the truth, +she was past finding out. I cannot say that I saw the least sign of +it--and between me and myself, Rem was unreasonable; however, I am not +pleased that Rem felt himself to be badly used." + +It was to this touch of resentment in her drifting thoughts that she +performed her last duties. She did not hurry them. "Very soon there +will be the noise of chairmen and carriages to disturb me," she +thought; "and I may as well think a little, and put my things away." + +So she folded each dainty blue morocco slipper in its separate piece of +fine paper, and straightened out her ribbons, and wrapped her pale blue +robe in its holland covering, and put every comb and pin in its proper +place, all the time treading as softly as a mouse. And by and by the +street was dark and still, and her room in the most perfect order. +These things gave her the comfort of a good conscience; and she said +her prayers, and fell calmly asleep, to the flattering thought, "I +would not much wonder if, at this moment, Lieutenant Hyde is thinking +about me." + +In reality, Lieutenant Hyde was at that moment in the Belvedere Club, +singing the Marseillaise, and listening to a very inflammatory speech +from the French Minister. But a couple of hours later, Arenta's +"wonder" would have touched the truth. He was then alone, and very ill +satisfied; for, after some restless reflections, he said impatiently-- + +"I have again made a fool of myself. I have now all kinds of unpleasant +feelings; and when I left that good Doctor's house I was well +satisfied. His daughter is an angel. I praise myself for finding that +out. She made me believe in all goodness; yes, even in patriotism! I, +that have seen it sold a dozen times! Oh, how divinely shy and proud +she is! I could not get her one step beyond the first civilities; even +my eyes failed me to-night--her calm glances killed their fire--and she +barely touched my hand, though I offered it with a respectful ardour, +she must have understood:"--then he looked admiringly at the long, +white hand and thoroughbred wrist which lay idly on the velvet cushion +of his armchair; an exquisite ruffle of lace just touched it, and his +eyes wandered from the ruffle to the velvet and silver embroidery of +his coat; and the delicate laced lawn of his cravat. + +"I have the reputation of beauty," he continued; "and I am perfectly +dressed, and yet--yet--this little Beauty seemed unconscious of my +advantages. But I cannot accept failure in this case. The girl is +unparagoned. I am in love with her; sincerely in love. She fills my +thoughts, and has done so, ever since I first saw her. It is a pure +delight to think of her." + +Then he rose, threw off his velvet and lace, and designedly let his +thoughts turn to Arenta. "She is pretty beyond all prettiness," he said +softly as he moved about, "She dances well, talks from hand to mouth, +and she gave me one sweet glance; and I think if she has gone so +far--she might go further." At this reflection he smiled again, and +lifting a decanter slowly poured into a goblet some amber-coloured +sherry; saying-- + + +"I dare not yet drink to the unapproachable Cornelia; but I may at +least pour the wine to the blue-eyed goddess, with the pearl necklace, +and the golden hair;" and as he lifted the glass, a memory from some +past mirthful hour came into his remembrance; and he began to hum a +strain of the song it brought to his mind-- + + "Let the toast pass, + Drink to the lass + I'll warrant, she'll prove an excuse for the glass." + +It was remarkable that he did not take Arenta's brother into his +speculations at all, and yet Rem Van Ariens was at that very hour +chafing restlessly and sleeplessly under insults he conceived himself +to have received, in such fashion and under such circumstances as made +reprisal impossible. In reality, however, Van Ariens had not been +intentionally wounded by Hyde. The situation was the natural result of +incipient jealousy and sensitive pride on Rem's part; and of that calm +indifference and complaisance on Hyde's part, which appeared tacitly to +assert its own superiority and expect its recognition as a matter of +course. Indeed, at their introduction, Rem had affected Hyde rather +pleasantly; and when the young Dutch gentleman's opposition became +evident, Hyde had simply ignored it. For as yet the thought of Rem as a +rival had not entered his mind. + +But this is the way of Love; its filmiest threads easily spin +themselves further; and a man once entangled is bound by that unseen +chain which links the soul to its destiny. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +HYDE AND ARENTA + + +Seldom is Love ushered into any life with any pomp of circumstance or +ceremony; there is no overture to our opera, no prologue to our play, +and the most momentous meetings occur as if by mere accident. A friend +delayed Cornelia a while on the street; and turning, she met Hyde face +to face; a moment more, or less, and the meeting had not been. Ah, but +some Power had set that moment for their meeting, and the delay had +been intended, and the consequences foreseen! + +In a dim kind of way Hyde realized this fact as he sat the next day +with an open book before him. He was not reading it; he was thinking of +Cornelia--of her pure, fresh beauty; and of that adorable air of +reserve, which enhanced, even while it veiled her charms. "For her love +I could resign all adventures and prison myself in a law book," he +said, "I could forget all other beauties; in a word, I could marry, and +live in the country. Oh how exquisite she is! I lose my speech when I +think of her!" + +Then he closed his book with impatience, and went to Prince's and +bought a little rush basket filled with sweet violets. Into their midst +he slipped his visiting card, and saw the boy on his way with the +flowers to Cornelia ere he was satisfied they would reach her quickly +enough. This finished, he began to consider what he should do with his +day. Study was impossible; and he could think of nothing that was +possible. "It is the most miserable thing," he muttered, "to be in +love, unless you can go to the adored one, every hour, and tell her +so,"--then turning aimlessly into Pearl Street, he saw Cornelia. + +She was dressed only in a little morning gown of Indian chintz, but in +such simple toilet had still more distinctively that air of youthful +modesty which he had found so charmingly tantalizing. He hasted to her +side. He blessed his good angel for sending him such an enchanting +surprise. He said the most extravagant things, in the most truthful +manner, as he watched the blushes of pleasure come and go on her lovely +face, and saw by glimpses, under the veiling eyelids, that tender light +that never was on sea or land, but only on a woman's face when her soul +is awakening to Love. + +Cornelia was going to the "Universal Store" of Gerardus Duyckinck, and +Hyde begged to go with her. He said he was used to shopping; that he +always went with his mother, and with Lady Christina Griffin, and Mrs. +White, and many others; that he had good taste, and could tell the +value of laces, and knew how to choose a piece of silk, or match the +crewels for her embroidery; and, indeed, pleaded his case so merrily, +that there was no refusing his offer. And how it happened lovers can +tell, but after the shopping was finished they found themselves walking +towards the Battery with the fresh sea wind, and the bright sunshine +and the joy of each other's presence all around them. + +"Such a miraculous piece of happiness!" the young fellow ejaculated; +and his joy was so evident that Cornelia could not bear to spoil it +with any reluctances, or with half-way graciousness. She fell into his +joyous mood, and as star to star vibrates light, so his soul touched +her soul, through some finer element than ordinary life is conscious +of. A delightsome gladness was between them, and their words had such +heart gaiety, that they seemed to dance as they spoke; while the wind +blowing Cornelia's curls, and scarf, and drapery, was like a merry +playfellow. + +Now Love has always something in it of the sea; and the murmur of the +tide against the pier, the hoarse voices of the sailor men, the scent +of the salt water, and all the occult unrecognized, but keenly felt +life of the ocean, were ministers to their love, and forever and ever +blended in the heart and memory of the youth and maid who had set their +early dream of each other to its potent witchery. Time went swiftly, +and suddenly Cornelia remembered that she was subject to hours and +minutes, A little fear came into her heart, and closed it, and she +said, with a troubled air, "My mother will be anxious. I had forgotten. +I must go home." So they turned northward again, and Cornelia was +silent, and the ardour of her lover was a little chilled; but yet never +before had Cornelia heard simple conversation which seemed so eloquent, +and so full of meanings--only, now and then, a few brief words; but oh! +what long, long thoughts, they carried with them! + +At the gates of her home they stood a moment, and there Hyde touched +her hand, and said, "I have never, in all my life, been so happy. It +has been a walk beyond hope, and beyond expression!" And she lifted her +face, and the smile on her lips and the light in her eyes answered him. +Then the great white door shut her from his sight, and he walked +rapidly away, saying to his impetuous steps-- + +"An enchanting creature! An adorable girl! I have given her my heart; +and lost, is lost; and gone, is gone forever. That I am sure of. But, +by St. George! every man has his fate, and I rejoice that mine is so +sweet and fair! so sweet! so sweet! so fair!" + +Cornelia trembled as she opened the parlour door, she feared to look +into her mother's face, but it was as serene as usual, and she met her +daughter's glance with one of infinite affection and some little +expectancy. This was a critical moment, and Cornelia hesitated +slightly. Some little false sprite put a ready excuse into her heart, +but she banished it at once, and with the courage of one who fears lest +they are not truthful enough, she said with a blunt directness which +put all subterfuge out of the question-- + +"Mother, I have been a long time, but I met Lieutenant Hyde, and we +walked down to the Battery; and I think I have stayed beyond the hour I +ought to have stayed--but the weather was so delightful." + +"The weather is very delightful, and Lieutenant Hyde is very polite. +Did he speak of the violets he sent you?" + +"I suppose he forgot them. Ah, there they are! How beautiful! How +fragrant! I will give them to you, mother." + +"They are your own, my dear. I would not give them away." + +Then Cornelia lifted them, and shyly buried her face in their beauty +and sweetness; and afterwards took the card in her hand and read +"Lieutenant George Hyde." "But, mother," she said, "Arenta called him +Joris." + +"Joris is George, my dear." + +"Certainly, I had forgotten. Joris is the Dutch, George is the English +form. I think I like George better." + +"As you have neither right nor occasion to call him by either name, it +is of no consequence Take away your flowers and put them in water--the +young man is very extravagant, I think. Do you know that it is quite +noon, and your father will be home in a little while?" + +And there was such kind intent, such a divining sympathy in the simple +words, that Cornelia's heart grew warm with pleasure; and she felt that +her mother understood, and did not much blame her. At the same time she +was glad to escape all questioning, and with the violets pressed to her +heart, and her shining eyes dropped to them, she went with some haste +to her room. There she kissed the flowers, one by one, as she put them +in the refreshing water; and then, forgetting all else, sat down and +permitted herself to enter the delicious land of Reverie. She let the +thought of Hyde repossess her; and present again and again to her +imagination his form, his face, his voice, and those long caressing +looks she had seen and felt, without seeming to be aware of them. + +A short time after Cornelia came home, Doctor Moran returned from his +professional visits. As he entered the room, his wife looked at him +with a curious interest. In the first place, the tenor of her thoughts +led her to this observation. She wished to assure herself again that +the man for whom she had given up everything previously dear to her was +worthy of such sacrifice. A momentary glance satisfied her. Nature had +left the impress of her nobility on his finely-formed forehead; nothing +but truth and kindness looked from his candid eyes; and his manner, if +a little dogmatic, had also an unmistakable air of that distinction +which comes from long and honourable ancestry and a recognized +position. He had also this morning an air of unusual solemnity, and on +entering the room, he drew his wife close to his heart and kissed her +affectionately, a token of love he was not apt to give without thought, +or under every circumstance. + +"You are a little earlier to day," she said. "I am glad of it." + +"I have had a morning full of feeling. There is no familiarity with +Death, however often you meet him." + +"And you have met Death this morning, I see that, John?" + +"As soon as I went out, I heard of the death of Franklin. We have truly +been expecting the news, but who can prepare for the final 'He is +gone.' Congress will wear mourning for two months, I hear, and all good +citizens who can possibly do so will follow their example. The flags +are at half-mast, and there is sorrow everywhere." + +"And yet, John, why?" asked Mrs. Moran. "Franklin has quite finished +his work; and has also seen the fruit of all his labours. Not many men +are so happy. I, for one, shall rejoice with him, and not weep for him." + +"You are right, Ava. I must now tell you that Elder Semple died this +morning. He has been long sick, but the end came suddenly at last." + +"The dear old man! He has been sick and sorrowful, ever since his wife +died. Were any of his sons present?" + +"None of them. The two eldest have been long away. Neil was obliged to +leave New York when the Act forbidding Tory lawyers to practice was +passed. But he was not quite alone, his old friend Joris Van Heemskirk +was with him to the last moment. The love of these old men for each +other was a very beautiful thing." + +"He was once rich. Did he lose everything in the war?" + +"Very near all. His home was saved by Van Heemskirk, and he had a +little money 'enough to die wi'' he said one day to me; and then he +continued, 'there's compensations, Doctor, in having naething to leave. +My lads will find no bone to quarrel over.' I met a messenger coming +for me this morning, and when I went to his bedside, he said, with a +pleasant smile, 'I'll be awa' in an hour or twa now, Doctor; and then +I'll hae no mair worrying anent rebellion and democrats; I'll be under +the dominion o' the King o' kings and His throned Powers and +Principalities; and after a' this weary voting, and confiscations, and +guillotining, it will be Peace--Peace--Peace:'--and with that word on +his lips, the 'flitting' as he called it was accomplished." + +"There is nothing to mourn in such a death, John." + +"Indeed, no. It was just as he said 'a flitting.' And it was strange +that, standing watching what he so fitly called the 'flitting,' I +thought of some lines I have not consciously remembered for many years. +They reflect only the old Greek spirit, with its calm acceptance of +death and its untroubled resignation, but they seemed to me very +applicable to the elder's departure: + + Not otherwise to the hall of Hades dim + He fares, than if some summer eventide + A Message, not unlooked for, came to him; + Bidding him rise up presently, and ride + Some few hours' journey, to a friendly home." + +"There is nothing to fear in such a death." + +"Nothing at all. Last week when Cornelia and I passed his house, he was +leaning on the garden gate, and he spoke pleasantly to her and told her +she was a 'bonnie lassie.' Where is Cornelia?" + +"In her room. John, she went to Duyckinck's this morning for me, and +George Hyde met her again, and they took a walk together on the +Battery. It was near the noon hour when she returned." + +"She told you about it?" + +"Oh yes, and without inquiry." + +"Very good. I must look after that young fellow." But he said the words +without much care, and Mrs. Moran was not satisfied. + +"Then you do not disapprove the meeting, John?" she asked. + +"Yes, I do. I disapprove of any young man meeting my daughter every +time she goes out. Cornelia is too young for lovers, and it is not +desirable that she should have attentions from young men who have no +intentions. I do not want her to be what is called a belle. Certainly +not." + +"But the young men do not think her too young to be loved. I can see +that Rem Van Ariens is very fond of her." + +"Rem is a very fine young man. If Cornelia was old enough to marry, I +should make no objections to Rem. He has some money. He promises to be +a good lawyer. I like the family. It is as pure Dutch as any in the +country. There is no objection to Rem Van Ariens." + +"And George Hyde?" + +"Has too many objectionable qualities to be worth considering." + +"Such as?" + +"Well, Ava, I will only name one, and one for which he is not +responsible; but yet it would be insuperable, as far as I am concerned. +His father is an Englishman of the most pronounced type, and this young +man is quite like him. I want no Englishman in my family." + +"My family are of English descent." + +"Thoroughly Americanized. They are longer in this country than the +Washingtons." + +"There have been many Dutch marriages among the Morans." + +"That is a different thing. The Dutch, as a race, have every desirable +quality. The English are natural despots. Rem was quite right last +night. I saw and felt, as much as he did, the quiet but sovereign +arrogance of young Hyde. His calm assumption of superiority was in +reality insufferable. The young man's faults are racial; they are in +the blood. Cornelia shall not have anything to do with him. Why do you +speak of such disagreeable things, Ava?" + +"It is well to look forward, John." + +"No. It is time enough to meet annoyances when they arrive. But this is +one not even to be thought of--to tell the last truth, Ava, I dislike +his father, General Hyde, very much indeed." + +"Why?" + +"I cannot tell you 'why.' Yes, I will be honest and acknowledge that he +always gives me a sense of hostility. He arrogates himself too much. +When I was in the army, a good many were angry at General Washington, +for making so close a friend of him--but Washington has much of the +same exclusive air. I hope it is no treason to say that much, for a +good deal of dignity is permissible, even peremptory, when a man fills +great positions. As for the Hydes, father and son, I would prefer to +hear no more about them. When the youth was my guest, I was civil to +him; but Arenta. You know that I have never seen her." + +"That is the truth. I had forgotten. Well, then, I went to her with the +news; and she rubbed her chin, and called to her man Govert, to get a +bow of crape and put it on the front door. 'It is moral, and proper, +and respectable, Arenta,' she said, 'and I advise you to do the same.' +But then she laughed and added, 'Shall I tell you, niece, what I think +of the great men I have met? They are disagreeable, conceited +creatures; and ought, all of them, to have died before they were born; +and for my part, I am satisfied not to have had the fate to marry one +of them. As for Benjamin Franklin,' she continued, 'he was a +particularly great man, and I am particularly grateful that I never saw +him but once. I formed my opinion of him then; for I only need to see a +person once, to form an opinion--and he is dead! Well, then, every one +dies at their own time.'" + +"My father says Congress goes into mourning for him." + +"Does it?" asked Arenta, with indifference. "Aunt was beginning to tell +me something about him when he was in France, but I just put a stop to +talk like that, and said, 'Now, aunt, for a little of my own affairs.' +So I told her about George Berckel, and asked her if she thought I +might marry George; and she answered, 'If you are tired of easy days, +Arenta, go, and take a husband,' After a while I spoke to her about +Lieutenant Hyde, and she said, 'she had seen the little cockrel +strutting about Pearl Street.'" + +"That was not a proper thing to say. Lieutenant Hyde carries himself in +the most distinguished manner." + +"Well, then, that is exactly so; but Aunt Angelica has her own way of +saying things. She intended nothing unkind or disrespectful. She told +me that she had frequently danced with his father when she was a girl +and a beauty; and she added with a laugh, 'I can assure you, Arenta, +that in those days he was no saint; although he is now, I hear, the +very pink of propriety.'" + +"Is not that as it should be, Arenta? We ought surely to grow better as +we grow older." + +"That is not to be denied, Cornelia. Now I can tell you something worth +hearing about General Hyde." + +"If it is anything wrong, or unkind, I will not listen to it, Arenta. +Have you forgotten that the good Sisters always forbid us to listen to +an evil report?" + +"Then one must shut one's ears if one lives in New York. But, indeed, +it is nothing wrong--only something romantic and delightful, and quite +as good as a story book. Shall I tell you?" + +"As you wish." + +"As you wish." + +"Then I would like to hear it." + +"Listen! When Madame Hyde was Katherine Van Heemskirk, and younger than +you are, she had two lovers; one, Captain Dick Hyde, and the other a +young man called Neil Semple; and they fought a duel about her, and +nearly cut each other to pieces." + +"Arenta!" + +"Oh, it is the truth! It is the very truth, I assure you! And while +Hyde still lay between life and death, Miss Van Heemskirk married him; +and as soon as he was able, he carried her off at midnight to England; +and there they lived in a fine old house until the war. Then they came +back to New York, and Hyde went into the Continental army and did great +things, I suppose, for as we all knew, he was made a general. You +should have heard Aunt Angelica tell the story. She remembered the +whole affair. It was a delightful story to listen to, as we drank our +chocolate. And will you please only try to imagine it of Mrs. General +Hyde! A woman so lofty! So calm! So afar off from every impropriety +that you always feel it impossible in her presence to commit the least +bit of innocent folly. Will you imagine her as Katherine Van Heemskirk +in a short, quilted petticoat, with her hair hanging in two braids down +her back, running away at midnight with General Hyde!" + +"He was her husband. She committed no fault." + +"I was thinking of the quilted petticoat, and the two braids; for who +now dresses so extravagantly and so magnificently as Madame Hyde? She +has an Indian shawl that cost two hundred pounds. Aunt Angelica says +John Embree told her 'THAT much at the very least'--and as for the +General! is there any man in New York so proud, and so full of +dignity--and morality? He is in St. Paul's Chapel every Sunday, and +when you see him there, how could you imagine that he had fought +half-a-dozen duels, for half-a-dozen beauties?" + +"Half-a-dozen duels! Oh, Arenta!" + +"About that number--more or less--before and after the Van Heemskirk +incident. Look at him next Sunday, and then try and believe that he was +the topmost leader in all the fashionable follies, until he went to the +war. People say it is General Washington--" + +"General Washington?" + +"That has changed him so much. They have been a great deal together, +and I do believe the proprieties are catching. If evil is to be taken +in bad company, why not good in the presence of all that is moral and +respectable? At any rate, who is now more proper than General Hyde? +Indeed, as Aunt Angelica says, we must all pay our respects to the +Hydes, if we desire our own caps to set straight. Cornelia, shall I +tell you why you are working so close to the window this afternoon?" + +"You are going to say something I would rather not hear, Arenta." + +"Truth is wholesome, if not agreeable; and the truth is, you expect +Lieutenant Hyde to pass. But he will not do so. I saw him booted and +spurred, on a swift horse, going up the river road. He was bound for +Hyde Manor, I am sure. Now, Cornelia, you need not move your frame; for +no one will disturb you, and I wish to tell you some of my affairs." + +"About your lovers?" + +"Yes. I have met a certain French marquis, who is attached to the Count +de Moustier's embassy. I met him at intervals all last winter, and +to-day, I have a love letter from him--a real love letter--and he +desires to ask my father for my hand. I shall now have something to say +to Madame Kippon." + +"But you would not marry a Frenchman? That is an impossible thought, +Arenta." + +"No more so than an Englishman. In fact, Englishmen are not to be +thought of at all; while Frenchmen are the fashion. Just consider the +drawing-rooms of our great American ladies; they are full of French +nobles." + +"But they are exiles, for the most part very poor, and devoted to the +idea of monarchy." + +"Ah, but my Frenchman is different. He is rich, he is in the confidence +of the present French government, and he adores republican principles. +Indeed he wore at Lady Griffin's, last week, his red cap of Liberty, +and looked quite distinguished in it." + +"I am astonished that Lady Griffin permitted such a spectacle. I am +sure it was a vulgar thing to do. Only the san-culottes, make such +exhibition of their private feelings." + +"I think it was a very brave thing to do--and Lady Griffin, with her +English prejudices and aristocratic notions, had to tolerate it. He is +very tall and dark, and he was dressed in scarlet, with a long black +satin vest; and you may believe that the scarlet cap on his black +curling hair was very imposing." + +"Imposing! How could it possibly be that? It is only associated with +mobs, and mob law--and guillotining." + +"I shall not contradict you--though I could do so easily. I will say, +then, that it was very picturesque. He asked me to dance a minuet with +him, and when I did not refuse he was beside himself with pleasure and +gratitude. And after I had opened the way, several of the best ladies +in the town followed. After all, it was a matter of political opinion; +and it is against our American ideas to send any man to Jersey for his +politics. Mr. Jefferson was in red also." + +"I wish to dance with Mr. Jefferson, but I now think of waiting till he +gets a new suit." + +"I am sure that no one ever made a finer figure in a dance than I, in +my white satin and pearls, and the Marquis Athanase de Tounnerre in his +scarlet dress and Liberty cap. Every one regarded us. He tells me, +to-day, that the emotion I raised in his soul that hour has not been +stilled for a moment." + +"Have you thought of your father? He would never consent to such a +marriage--and what will Rem say?" + +"My father will storm, and speak words he should not speak; but I am +not afraid of words. Rem is more to be dreaded. He will not talk his +anger away. Yes, I should be afraid of Rem." + +"But you have not really decided to accept the Marquis Tounnerre?" + +"No. I have not quite decided. I like to stand between Yes and No. I +like to be entreated to marry, and then again, to be entreated NOT to +marry. I like to hesitate between the French and the Dutch. I am not in +the least sure on which side I shall finally range myself." + +"Then do not decide in a hurry." + +"Have I not told you I like to waver, and vacillate, and oscillate, and +make scruples? These are things a woman can do, both with privilege and +inclination. I think myself to be very clever in such ways." + +"I would not care, nor dare, to venture--" + +"You are a very baby yet. I am two years older than you. But indeed you +are progressing with some rapidity. What about George Hyde?" + +"You said he had gone out of town." + +"And I am glad of it. He will not now be insinuating himself with +violets, and compelling you to take walks with him on the Battery. Oh, +Cornelia! you see I am not to be put out of your confidence. Why did +you not tell me?" + +"You have given me no opportunity; and, as you know all, why should I +say any more about it?" + +"Cornelia, my dear companion, I fear you are inclined to concealment +and to reticence, qualities a young girl should not cultivate--I am now +speaking for dear Sister Maria Beroth--and I hope you will carefully +consider the advantages you will derive from cultivating a more open +disposition." + +"You are making a mockery of the good Sisters; and I do not wish to +hear you commit such a great fault. Indeed, I would be pleased to +return to their peaceful care again." + +"And wear the little linen cap and collar, and all the other +simplicities? Cornelia! Cornelia! You are as fond as I am of French +fashions and fripperies. Let us be honest, if we die for it. And you +may as well tell me all your little coquetries with George Hyde; for I +shall be sure to find them out. Now I am going home; for I must look +after the tea-table. But you will not be sorry, for it will leave you +free to think of--" + +"Please, Arenta!" + +"Very well. I will have 'considerations.' Good-bye!" + +Then the door closed, and Cornelia was left alone. But the atmosphere +of the room was charged with Arenta's unrest, and a feeling of +disappointment was added to it. She suddenly realized that her lover's +absence from the city left a great vacancy. What were all the thousands +in its streets, if he was not there? She might now indeed remove her +frame from the window; if Hyde was an impossibility, there was no one +else she wished to see pass. And her heart told her the report was a +true one; she did not doubt for a moment Arenta's supposition, that he +had gone to Hyde Manor. But the thought made her lonely. Something, she +knew not what, had altered her life. She had a new strange happiness, +new hopes, new fears and new wishes; but they were not an unmixed +delight; for she was also aware of a vague trouble, a want that nothing +in her usual duties satisfied:--in a word, she had crossed the +threshold of womanhood and was no longer a girl, + + "Singing alone in the morning of life, + In the happy morning of life, and May." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THROWING THINGS INTO CONFUSION + + +Prudence declares that whenever a person is in that disagreeable +situation which compels him to ask "what shall I do?" that the wisest +answer is, "nothing." But such answer did not satisfy George Hyde. He +was too young, too sure of his own good fortune, too restless and +impulsive, to accept Prudence as a councillor. He might have +considered, that, hitherto, affairs had happened precisely as he wished +them; and that it would be good policy to trust to his future +opportunities. But he was so much in earnest, so honestly in love, that +he felt his doubts and anxieties could only be relieved by action. +Sympathy, at least, he must have; and he knew no man, to whom he would +willingly talk of Cornelia. The little jests and innuendoes sure to +follow his confidence would be intolerable if associated with a +creature so pure and so ingenuous. + +"I will go to my mother!" he thought. And this resolution satisfied him +so well, that he carried it out at once. But it was after dark when he +reached the tall stone portals of Hyde Manor House. The ride, however, +had given him back his best self. For when we leave society and come +into the presence of Nature, we become children again; and the fictions +of thought and action assumed among men drop off like a garment. The +beauty of the pale green hills, and the flowing river, and the budding +trees, and the melody of birds singing as if they never would grow old, +were all but charming accessories and horizons to his constant pictures +of Cornelia. It was she who gave life and beauty to all he saw; for as +a rule, if men notice nature at all, it is ever through some painted +window of their own souls. Few indeed are those who hear-- + +"The Ancient Word, + That walked among the silent trees." + +Yet Hyde was keenly conscious of some mystical sympathy between himself +and the lovely scenes through which he passed--conscious still more of +it when the sun had set and the moon rose--dim and inscrutable--over +the lonely way, and filled the narrow glen which was at the entrance to +the Manor House full of brooding power. + +The great building loomed up dark and silent; there was but one light +visible. It was in his mother's usual sitting-room, and as soon as he +saw it, he began to whistle. She heard him afar off, and was at the +door to give him a welcome. + +"Joris, my dear one, we were talking of you!" she cried, as he leaped +from the saddle to her arms. "So glad are we! Come in quickly! Such a +good surprise! It is our hearts' wish granted! Well, are you? Quite +well? Now, then, I am happy. Happy as can be! Look now, Richard!" she +called, as she flung the door open, and entered with the handsome, +smiling youth at her side. + +In his way the father was just as much pleased. He pushed some papers +he had been busy with impatiently aside, and stood up with outstretched +hand to meet his son. + +"Kate, my dear heart," he cried, "let us have something to eat. The boy +will be hungry as a hunter after his ride. And George, what brings you +home? We were just telling each other--your mother and I--that you were +in the height of the city's follies." + +"Indeed, sir, there will be few follies for some days. Mr. Franklin is +dead, and the city goes into mourning." + +"'Tis a fate that all must meet," said the General; "but death and +Franklin would look each other in the face as friends--He had a work to +do, he did it well, and it is finished. That is all. What other news do +you bring?" + +"It is said that Mirabeau is arrested somewhere, for something. I did +not hear the particulars." + +"Probably, for the very least of his crimes. Marat hates him; and Marat +represents the fury of the Revolution. The monster wished to erect +eight hundred gibbets, and hang Mirabeau first." + +"And the deputies are returning to the Provinces, drunk with their own +importance. They have abolished titles, and coats of arms, and +liveries; and published a list of the names the nobles are to +assume--as if people did not know their own names. Mr. Hamilton says +'Revolution in France has gone raving mad, and converted twenty-four +millions of people into savages.'" + +"I hate the French!" said the General passionately. "It is a natural +instinct with me, just as tame animals are born with an antipathy to +wild beasts. If I thought I had one drop of French blood in me, I would +let it out with a dagger." + +George winced a little. He remembered that the Morans were of French +extraction; and he answered-- + +"After all, father, we must judge people individually. Mere race is not +much." + +"George Hyde! What are you saying? RACE is everything. It is the +strongest and deepest of all human feelings. Nothing conquers its +prejudices." + +"Except love. I have heard, father, that Love never asks 'of what race +art thou?' or even 'whose son, or daughter, art thou?'" + +"You have heard many foolish things, George; that is one of them. Men +and women marry out of their own nationality, AT THEIR PERIL. I took my +life in my hand for your mother's love." + +"She was worthy of the peril." + +"God knows it." + +At this moment Mrs. Hyde entered the room, her fair face alight with +love. A servant carrying a tray full of good things to eat, followed +her; and it was delightful to watch her eager happiness as she arranged +meats, and sweetmeats, in tempting order for the hungry young man. He +thoroughly enjoyed this provision for his comfort; and as he ate, he +talked to his father of those things interesting to him, answering all +questions with that complaisant positiveness of youth which decides +everything at once, and without reservation. No one understood this +better than General Hyde, but it pleased him to draw out his son's +opinions; and it also pleased him to watch the pride of the fond +mother, who evidently considered her boy a paragon of youthful judgment. + +"And pray," he asked, "what can you tell me about the seat of +government? Will New York be chosen?" + +"I am sure it will be Philadelphia; and, indeed, I care not. It would, +however, amuse you to hear some of the opinions on the matter; for +every one hangs his judgment on the peg of his own little interests or +likings. Young De Witt says New York wants no government departments; +that she is far too busy a city, to endure government idlers hanging +around her best streets. Doctor Rush says the government is making our +city a sink of political vice. Mr. Wolcott says honesty is the fashion +in New York. Some of the clergy think Wall Street as wicked as the most +fashionable streets in Tyre and Sodom; and the street-singers--thanks +to Mr. Freneau--have each, and all, their little audiences on the +subject. As I came up Broadway, a man was shouting a rhyme advising the +Philadelphians to 'get ready their dishcloths and brooms, and begin +scouring their knockers, and scrubbing their rooms.' Perhaps the most +sensible thing on the subject came from one of the New England +senators. He thought the seat of government ought to be 'in some +wilderness, where there would be no social attractions, where members +could go and attend strictly to business.' Upon my word, sir, the +opinions are endless in number and variety; but, in truth, Mr. Hamilton +and Mr. Morris are arranging the matter. This is without doubt. There +is to be some sort of compromise with the Southern senators, who are +promised the capital on the Potomac, finally, if they no longer oppose +the assumption of the State debts. I hear that Mr. Jefferson has been +brought to agree to this understanding. And Mr. Morris doubtless +thinks, if the government offices are once opened in Philadelphia, they +will remain there." + +"And Joris, the ladies? What say they on the subject?" asked Mrs. Hyde. + +"Indeed, mother, some of them are lamenting, and some looking forward +to the change. All are talking of the social deposition of the +beautiful Mrs. Bingham. 'She will have to abate herself a little before +Mrs. Washington,' I heard one lady say; while others declare, that her +association with our Republican Court will be harmonious and +advantageous; especially, as she is beloved in the home of the +President." + +"OUR REPUBLICAN COURT! The definition is absurd!" said General Hyde, +with both scorn and temper. "A court pre-supposes both royalty and +nobility!" + +"We have both of them intrinsically, father." + +"In faith, George! you will find, that intrinsic qualities have no +social value. What people require is their external evidence." + +"And their external evidence would be extremely offensive here, sir. +For my part, I think, the sneaking hankering after titles and +ceremonies, among our wealthy men and women is a very great weakness. +Every one knows that nothing would please fussy Mr. Adams better than +to be a duke, or even a lord--and he is by no means alone in such +desires." + +"They may be yet realized." + +"They will not, sir--not, at least, while Thomas Jefferson lives. He is +the bulldog of Democracy, and he would be at the throat of any such +pretences as soon as they were suggested." + +"Very well, George! I have no objections." + +"I knew, sir, that you were a thorough Democrat." + +"Do not go too far, George. I love Democracy; but I hate Democrats! Now +I am sleepy, and as Mr. Jefferson is on the watch, I may go to sleep +comfortably. I will talk to you more on these subjects in the morning. +Good-night!" He put his hand on his son's shoulder, and looked with a +proud confidence into the bright face, lifted to the touch. + +Then George was alone with his mother; but she was full of little +household affairs; and he could not bring into them a subject so close, +and so sacred to his heart. He listened a little wearily to her plans, +and was glad when she recollected the late hour and hurried him away to +his chamber--a large, lofty room in the front of the house, on which +she had realized all the ideas that her great love, and her really +exquisite taste suggested. He entered it with a sense of delight, and +readily surrendered himself to its dreamy air of sleep and rest. "I +will speak to my mother in the morning," he thought. "To-night, her +mind is full of other things." + +But in the morning Mrs. Hyde was still more interested in "other +things." She had an architect with her, her servants were to order, her +house to look after; and George readily felt that his hour was +certainly not in the early morning. He had slept a little late, and his +mother did not approve of sleep beyond the normal hour. He saw that he +had delayed household matters, and made an environment not quite +harmonious. So he ate his breakfast rapidly, and went out to the new +stables. He expected to find the General there, and he was not +disappointed. He had, however, finished his inspection of the horses, +and he proposed a walk to the upper end of the Glen, where a great pond +was being dug for Mrs. Hyde's swans, and other aquatic birds. + +There was much to interest them as they walked: men were busy draining, +and building stone walls; ploughing and sowing, and digging, and +planting. Yet, in the midst of all this busy life, George detected in +his father's manner an air of melancholy. He looked into his son's face +with affection, and pointed out to him with an apparent interest, the +improvements in progress, but George knew--though he could not have +explained why he knew--that his father's heart was not really in these +things. Presently he asked, "How goes it with your law books, George?" + +"Faith, sir, I must confess, very indifferently. I have no senses that +way; and 'tis only your desire that keeps my books open. I would far +rather read my Plutarch, or write with my sword." + +"Let me tell you, soberly, that it is a matter of personal interest to +you. There is now no question of the law as a profession, for since +your cousin's death your prospects have entirely changed. But consider, +George, that not only this estate, but also the estate of your +Grandfather Van Heemskirk must eventually come to you. Much of both has +been bought from confiscated properties, and it is not improbable that +claimants may arise who will cause you trouble. How necessary, then, +that you should know something of the laws affecting land and property +in this country." + +"My grandfather is in trouble. I forgot to tell you last night, that +his friend, Elder Semple, is dead." + +"Dead!" + +"Yes, sir." + +For a few minutes General Hyde remained silent; then he said with much +feeling, "Peace to the old Tory! He was once very kind to me and to my +family. Ah, George, I have again defrauded myself of a satisfaction! +For a long time I have intended to go and see him--it is now too late! +But I will return to the city with you and pay him the last respect +possible. Who told you this news?" + +"I was walking on Broadway with young McAllister, and Doctor Moran +stopped us and sent word to Elder McAllister of the death of his +friend. I think, indeed, they were relatives." + +"Was Doctor Moran his physician?" + +"Yes, sir. A very good physician, I believe; I know, that he is a very +courteous and entertaining gentleman." + +"And pray, George, how do you come by such an opinion?" + +"I had the honour of spending an evening at Doctor Moran's house this +week; and if you will believe me, sir, he has a daughter that shames +every other beauty. Such bewildering loveliness! Such entrancing +freshness and purity I never saw before!" + +"In love again, George. Faith, you make me ashamed of my own youth! But +this enchanting creature cannot make of her father--anything but what +he is." + +"This time I am desperately, and really, in love." + +"So you were with Mollie Trefuses, with Sarah Talbot, with Eliza Capel, +with Matilda Howard--and a galaxy of minor beauties." + +"But it has come to this--I wish to marry Miss Moran; and I never +wished to marry any other woman." + +"You have forgotten--And by Heaven! you must forget Miss Moran. She is +not to be thought of as a wife--for one moment." + +"Sir, you are not so unjust as to make such a statement without giving +me a reason for it." + +"Giving you a reason! My reason ought to have sprung up voluntary in +your own heart. It is an incredible thing if you are not already +familiar with it." + +"Simply, sir, I profess my ignorance." + +"Look around you. Look east, and west, and north, and south,--all these +rich lands were bought with your Uncle William's money. He made himself +poor, to make me rich; because, having brought me up as his heir, he +thought his marriage late in life had in a manner defrauded me. You +know that the death of his two sons has again made me the heir to the +Hyde earldom; and that after me, the succession is yours. Tell me now +what child is left to your uncle?" + +"Only his daughter Annie, a girl of fourteen or fifteen years." + +"What will become of her when her father dies?" + +"Sir, how can I divine her future?" + +"It is your duty to divine her future. Her father has no gold to leave +her--he gave it to me--and the land he cannot leave her; yet she has a +natural right, beyond either mine or yours." + +"I give her my right, cheerfully." + +"You cannot give it to her--unless you outlaw yourself from your native +country--strip yourself of your citizenship--declare yourself unworthy +to be a son of the land that gave you birth. Even if you perpetrated +such a civil crime, you would render no service to Annie. Your right +would simply lapse to the son of Herbert Hyde--the young man you met at +Oxford--" + +"Surely, sir, we need not talk of that fellow. I have already told you +what a very sycophant he is. He licks the dust before any man of wealth +or authority; his tongue hangs down to his shoe-buckles." + +"Well then, sir, what is your duty to Annie Hyde?" + +"I do not conceive myself to have any special duty to Annie Hyde." + +"Upon my honour, you are then perversely stupid! But it is impossible +that you do not realize what justice, honour, gratitude and generosity +demand from you! When your uncle wrote me that pitiful letter which +informed me of the death of his last son, my first thought was that his +daughter must be assured her right in the succession. There is one way +to compass this. You know what that way is.--Why do you not speak?" + +"Because, sir, if I confess your evident opinion to be just, I bind +myself to carry it out, because of its justice." + +"Is it not just?" + +"It might be just to Annie and very unjust to me." + +"No, sir. Justice is a thing absolute; it is not altered by +circumstances, especially for a circumstance so trivial as a young +man's idle fancy." + +"'Tis no idle fancy. I love Cornelia Moran." + +"You have already loved a score of beauties--and forgotten them." + +"I have admired, and forgot. If I had loved, I should not have +forgotten. Now, I love." + +"Then, sir, be a man, a noble man, and put your personal gratification +below justice, honour, and gratitude. This is the first real trial of +your life, George, are you going to play the coward in it?" + +"If you could only see Miss Moran!" + +"I should find it difficult to be civil to her. George, I put before +you a duty that no gentleman can by any possibility evade." + +"If this arrangement is so important, why was I not told of it, ere +this?" + +"It is scarcely a year since your Cousin Harry's death. Annie is not +fifteen years old. I did not wish to force matters. I intended you to +go to England next year, and I hoped that a marriage might come without +my advice or my interference. It seemed to me that Annie's position +would itself open your heart to her." + +"I have no heart to give her." + +"Then you must at least give her your hand. I myself proposed this +arrangement, and your uncle's pleasure and gratitude were of the most +touching kind. Further, if you will have the very truth, then know, +that under no circumstances, will I sanction a marriage with Doctor +Moran's daughter." + +"You cannot possibly object to her, sir. She is perfection itself." + +"I object to her in-toto. I detest Doctor Moran, personally. I know not +why, nor care wherefore. I detest him still more sincerely as a man of +French extraction. I was brought very much in contact with him for +three years, and if we had not been in camp, and under arms, I would +have challenged him a score of times. He is the most offensive of men. +He brought his race prejudices continually to the front. When Lafayette +was wounded, with some of his bragging company, nothing would do but +Doctor Moran must go with them to the hospital at Bethlehem; yes, and +stay there, until the precious marquis was out of danger. I'll swear +that he would not have done this for Washington--he would have +blustered about the poor fellows lying sick in camp. Moran talks about +being an American, and the Frenchman crops out at every corner. But HE +is neither here, nor there, in our affairs; what I wish you to remember +is, that rank has its duties as well as its privileges; and you would +be a poltroon to accept one and ignore the other. What are you going to +do?" + +"I know not. I must think--" + +"I am ashamed of you! In the name of all that is honourable, what is +there to think about? Have you told this Miss Moran that you love her?" + +"Not in precise words. I have only seen her three or four times." + +"Then, sir, you have only YOURSELF to think about. Have I a son with so +little proper feeling that he needs to think a moment when the case is +between honour and himself? George, it is high time that you set out to +travel. In the neighbourhood of your mother, and your grandparents, and +your flatterers in the city, you never get beyond the atmosphere of +your own whims and fancies. This conversation has come sooner than I +wished; but after it, there is nothing worth talking about." + +"Sir, you are more cruel and unreasonable than I could believe +possible." + +"The railings of a losing lover are not worth answering. Give your +anger sway, and when you are reasonable again, tell me. A man mad in +love has some title to my pity." + +"And, sir, if you were any other man but my father, I would say +'Confound your pity!' I am not sensible of deserving it, except as the +result of your own unreasonable demands on me--Our conversation is +extremely unpleasant, and I desire to put an end to it. Permit me to +return to the house." + +"With all my heart. But let me advise you to say nothing to your +mother, at present, on this subject:" then with an air of dejection he +added--"What is past, must go; and whatever is to come is very sure to +happen." + +"Sir, nothing past, present, or future, can change me. I shall obey the +wishes of my heart, and be true to its love." + +"Let me tell you, George, that Love is now grown wise. He follows +Fortune." + +"Good-morning, sir." + +"Let it be so. I will see you to-morrow in town. Ten to one, you will +be more reasonable then." + +He stood in the centre of the roadway watching his son's angry +carriage. The poise of his head, and his rapid, uneven steps, were +symptoms the anxious father understood very well. "He is in a naked +temper, without even civil disguise," he muttered; "and I hope his own +company will satisfy him until the first fever is past. Do I not know +that to be in love is to be possessed? It is in the head--the +heart--the blood--it is indeed an uncontrollable fever! I hope, first +and foremost, that he will keep away from his mother in his present +unreason." + +His mother was, however, George's first desire. He did not believe she +would sanction his sacrifice to Annie Hyde. Justice, honour, gratitude! +these were fine names of his father's invention to adorn a ceremony +which would celebrate his life-long misery, and he rebelled against +such an immolation of his youth and happiness. When he reached the +house, he found that his mother had gone to the pond to feed her swans; +and he decided to ride a little out of his way in order to see her +there. Presently he came to a spot where tall, shadowing pines +surrounded a large sheet of water, dipping their lowest branches into +it. Mrs. Hyde stood among them, and the white, stately birds were +crowding to her very feet. He reined in his horse to watch her, and +though accustomed to her beauty, he marvelled again at it. Like a +sylvan goddess she stood, divinely tall, and divinely fair; her whole +presence suffused with a heavenly serenity and happiness! Upon the soft +earth the hoofs of his horse had not been audible, but when he came +within her sight, it was wonderful to watch the transformation on her +countenance. A great love, a great joy, swept away like a gust of wind, +the peace on its surface; and a glowing, loving intelligence made her +instantly restless. She called him with sweet imperiousness, "George! +Joris! Joris! My dear one!" and he answered her with the one word ever +near, and ever dear, to a woman's heart--"MOTHER!" + +"I thought you were with your father. Where have you left him?" + +"In the wilderness. There is need for me to go to the city. My father +will tell you WHY. I come only to see you--to kiss you--" + +"Joris, I see that you are angry. Well then, my dear one, what is it? +What has your father been saying to you?" + +"He will tell you." + +"SO! Whatever it is, your part I shall take. Right or wrong, your part +I shall take." + +"There is nothing wrong, dear mother." + +"Money, is it?" + +"It is not money. My father is generous to me." + +"Then, some woman it is?" + +"Kiss me, mother. After all, there is no woman like unto you." + +She drew close to him, and he stooped his handsome face to hers, and +kissed her many times. Her smile comforted him, for it was full of +confidence, as she said-- + +"Trouble not yourself, Joris. At the last, your father sees through my +eyes. Must you go? Well then, the Best of Beings go with you!" + +"When are you coming to town, mother?" + +"Next week. There is a dinner party at the President's, and your father +will not be absent--nor I--nor you?" + +"If I am invited, I shall go, just that I may see you enter the room. +Let me tell you, that sight always fills my heart with a tumultuous +pride and love." + +"A great flatterer are you, Joris!" but she lifted her face again, and +George kissed it, and then rode rapidly away. + +He hardly drew rein until he reached his grandfather's house, a +handsome Dutch residence, built of yellow brick, and standing in a +garden that was, at this season, a glory of tulips and daffodils, +hyacinths and narcissus--the splendid colouring of the beds being +wonderfully increased by their borderings of clipped box. An air of +sunshiny peace was over the place, and as the upper-half of the +side-door stood open he tied his horse and went in. The ticking of the +tall house-clock was the only sound he heard at first, but as he stood +irresolute, a sweet, thin voice in an adjoining room began to sing a +hymn. + +"Grandmother! Grandmother!! Grandmother!!!" he called, and before the +last appeal was echoed the old lady appeared. She came forward rapidly, +her knitting in her hand. She was singularly bright and alert, with +rosy cheeks, and snow-white hair under a snow-white cap of +clear-starched lace. A snow-white kerchief of lawn was crossed over her +breast, and the rest of her dress was so perfectly Dutch that she might +have stepped out of one of Tenier's pictures. + +"Oh, my Joris!" she cried, "Joris! Joris! I am so happy to see thee. +But what, then, is the matter? Thy eyes are full of trouble." + +"I will tell you, grandmother." And he sat down by her side and went +over the conversation he had had with his father. She never interrupted +him, but he knew by the rapid clicking of her knitting needles that she +was moved far beyond her usual quietude. When he ceased speaking, she +answered-- + +"To sell thee, Joris, is a great shame, and for nothing to sell thee is +still worse. This is what I think: Let half of the income from the +earldom go to the poor young lady, but THYSELF into the bargain, is +beyond all reason. And if with Cornelia Moran thou art in love, a good +thing it is;--so I say." + +"Do you know Cornelia, grandmother?" + +"Well, then, I have seen her; more than once. A great beauty I think +her; and Doctor John has Money--plenty of money--and a very good family +are the Morans. I remember his father--a very fine gentleman." + +"But my father hates Doctor Moran." + +"Very wicked is he to hate any one. Why, then?" + +"He gave me only one reason--that his family is French." + +"SO! Thy mother was Dutch. Every one cannot be English--a God's mercy +they cannot! Now, then, thy grandfather is coming; thy trouble tell to +him. Good advice he will give thee." + +Senator Van Heemskirk however went first into his garden and gathering +great handfuls of white narcissus and golden daffodils, he called a +slave woman and bade her carry them to the Semple house, and lay them +in, and around, his friend's coffin. One white lily he kept in his hand +as he came towards his wife and grandson, with eyes fixed on its beauty. + +"Lysbet," he said,--but he clasped George's hand as he spoke--"My +Lysbet, if in the Dead Valley of this earth grow such heavenly flowers +as this, we will not fear the grave. It is only to sleep on the breast +that gives us the lily and the rose, and the wheat, and the corn. Oh, +how sweet is this flower! It has the scent of Paradise." + +He laid it gently down while he put off his fine broadcloth coat and +lace ruffles and assumed the long vest and silk skull cap, which was +his home dress; then he put it in a buttonhole of his vest, and seemed +to joy himself in its delicate fragrance. With these preliminaries +neither Joris nor Lysbet interfered; but when he had lit his long pipe +and seated himself comfortably in his chair, Lysbet said-- + +"Where hast thou been all this afternoon?" + +"I have been sealing up my friend's desk and drawers until his sons +arrive. Very happy he looks. He is now ONE OF THOSE THAT KNOW." + +"Well, then, after the long strife, 'He Rests.'" + +"Men have written it. What know they about it? Rest would not be heaven +to my friend Alexander Semple. To work, to be up and doing His Will, +that would be his delight." + +"I wonder, Joris, if in the next life we shall know each other?" + +"My Lysbet, in this life do we know each other?" + +"I think not. Here has come our dear Joris full of trouble to thee, for +his father has said such things as I could not have believed. Joris, +tell thy grandfather what they are." + +And this time George, being very sure of hearty sympathy, told his tale +with great feeling--perhaps even with a little anger. His grandfather +listened patiently to the youth's impatience, but he did not answer +exactly to his expectations. + +"My Joris," he said, "so hard it is to accept what goes against our +wishes. If Cornelia Moran you had not met, would your father's desires +be so impossible to you? Noble and generous would they not seem--" + +"But I have seen Cornelia, and I love her." + +"Two or three times you have seen her. How can you be sure that you +love her?" + +"In the first hour I was sure." + +"Of nothing are we quite sure. In too great a hurry are you. Miss Moran +may not love you. She may refuse ever to love you. Her mind you have +not asked. Beside this, in his family her father may not wish you. A +very proud man is Doctor John." + +"Grandfather, I may be an earl some day." + +"An English earl. Doctor John may not endure to think of his only child +living in that far-off country. I, myself, know how this thought can +work a father to madness. And, again, your Cousin Annie may not wish to +marry you." + +"Faith, sir, I had not thought of myself as so very disagreeable." + +"No. Vain and self-confident is a young man. See, then, how many things +may work this way, that way, and if wise you are you will be quiet and +wait for events. One thing, move not in your anger; it is like putting +to sea in a tempest. Now I shall just say a word or two on the other +side. If your father is so set in his mind about the Hydes, let him do +the justice to them he wishes to do; but it is not right that he should +make YOU do it for him." + +"He says that only I can give Annie justice." + +"But that is not good sense. When the present Earl dies, and she is +left an orphan, who shall prevent your father from adopting her as his +own daughter, and leaving her a daughter's portion of the estate? In +such case, she would be in exactly the same position as if her brother +had lived and become earl. Is not that so?" + +"My dear, dear grandfather, you carry wisdom with you! Now I shall have +the pleasure to propose to my father that he do his own justice! O +wise, wise grandfather! You have made me happy to a degree!" + +"Very well, but say not that _I_ gave you such counsel. When your +father speaks to me, as he is certain to do, then I will say such and +such words to him; but my words in your mouth will be a great offence; +and very justly so, for it is hard to carry words, and carry nothing +else. Your dear mother--how is she?" + +"Well and happy. She builds, and she plants, and the days are too short +for her. But my father is not so happy. I can see that he is wearied of +everything." + +"Not here, is his heart. It is in England. And no longer has he great +hopes to keep him young. If of Liberty I now speak to him, he has a +smile so hopeless that both sad and angry it makes me. No faith has he +left in any man, except Washington; and I think, also, he is +disappointed that Washington was not crowned King George the First." + +"I can assure you, sir, that others share his disappointment. Mr. Adams +would not object to be Duke of New York, and even little Burr would +like a lordship." + +"I have heard; my ears are not dull, nor my eyes blind. But too much +out of the world lives your father; men who do so grow unfit to live in +the world. He dreams dreams impossible to us--impossible to France--and +then he says 'Liberty is a dream.' Well, well, Life also is a +dream--when we awake--" + +Then he ceased speaking, and there was silence until Lysbet Van +Heemskirk said, softly, "When we awake, WE SHALL BE SATISFIED." + +Van Heernskirk smiled at his wife's cheerful assurance, and continued, +"It is true, Lysbet, what you say; and even here, in our dreaming, what +satisfaction! As for me, I expect not too much. The old order and the +new order fight yet for the victory; and what passes now will be worth +talking about fifty years hence." + +"It is said, grandfather, that the Dutch church is anti-Federal to a +man." + +"Not true are such sayings. The church will be very like old Van +Steenwyck, who boasts of his impartiality, and who votes for the +Federals once, and for the anti-Federals once, and the third time does +not vote at all. If taken was the vote of the Church, it would be six +for the Federals and half-a-dozen for the anti-Federals." + +"Mr. Burr--" + +"Of Mr. Burr I will not talk. I like not his little dirty politics." + +"He is very clever." + +"Well, then, you have to praise him for being clever; for being honest +you cannot praise him." + +"'Tis a monstrous pity that Right can only be on one side; yet +sometimes Right and Mr. Burr may happen to be on the same side." + +"The right way is too straight for Aaron Burr. If into it he wanders +'tis for a wrong reason." + +"My dear grandfather, how your words bite!" + +"I wish not to say biting things; but Aaron Burr stands for those +politicians who turn patriotism into shopkeeping and their own +interest--men who care far more for WHO governs us than for HOW we are +governed. And what will be the end of such ways? I will tell you. We +shall have a Democracy that will be the reign of those who know the +least and talk the loudest." + +At this point in the conversation Van Heemskirk was called to the door +about some business matter and George was left alone with his +grandmother. She was setting the tea-table, and her hands were full of +china; but she put the cups quickly down, and going to George's side, +said-- + +"Cornelia Moran spends this evening with her friend Arenta Van Ariens. +Well then, would thou like an excuse to call on Arenta?" + +"Oh, grandmother! Do you indeed know Arenta? Can you send me there?" + +"Since she was one month old I have known Arenta. This morning, she +came here to borrow for her Aunt Jacobus my ivory winders. Now then, I +did not wish to lend Angelica Jacobus my winders; and I said to Arenta +that 'by and by I would look for them.' Not far are they to seek; and +for thy pleasure I will get them, and thou canst take them this evening +to Arenta." + +"O you dear, dear grandmother!" and he stood up, and lifted her rosy +face between his hands and kissed her. + +"I am so fond of thee," she continued. "I love thee so much; and thy +pleasure is my pleasure; and I see no harm--no harm at all--in thy love +for the beautiful Cornelia. I think, with thee, she is a girl worth any +man's heart; and if thou canst win her, I, for one, will be joyful with +thee. Perhaps, though, I am a selfish old woman--it is so easy to be +selfish." + +"Let me tell you, grandmother, you know not how to be selfish." + +"Let me tell thee, Joris, I was thinking of myself, as well as of thee. +For while thy grandfather talked of Aaron Burr, this thought came into +my mind--if to Annie Hyde my Joris is married, he will live in England, +and I shall see him no more in this world. But if to Cornelia Moran he +is married, when his father goes to England, then here he will stay; he +will live at Hyde Manor, and I shall go to see him, and he will call +here to see me;--and then, many good days came into my thoughts. Yes, +yes, in every kind thing, in every good thing, somewhere there is hid a +little bit of our own will and way. Always, if I look with straight +eyes, I can find it." "Get me the winders, grandmother; for now you +have given me a reason to hurry." + +"But why so quickly must you go?" + +"Look at me! It will take me two hours to dress. I have had no +dinner--I want to think--you understand, grandmother?" + +Then she went into the best parlour, and opening one of the shutters +let in sufficient light to find in the drawer of a little Chinese +cabinet some ivory winders of very curious design and workmanship. She +folded them in soft tissue paper and handed them to her grandson with a +pleasant nod; and the young man slipped them into his waistcoat pocket, +and then went hurriedly away. + +He had spoken of his dinner, but though somewhat hungry, he made but a +light meal. His dress seemed to him the most vitally important thing of +the hour; and no girl choosing her first ball gown could have felt more +anxious and critical on the subject. His call was to be considered an +accidental one; and he could not therefore dress as splendidly as if it +were a ceremonious or expected visit. After much hesitation, he +selected a coat and breeches of black velvet, a pearl-coloured vest, +and cravat and ruffles of fine English bone lace. Yet when his toilet +was completed, he was dissatisfied. He felt sure more splendid apparel +set off his dark beauty to greater advantage; and yet he was equally +sure that more splendid apparel would not--on this occasion--be as +suitable. + +Doubting and hoping, he reached the Van Ariens' house soon after seven +o'clock. It was not quite dark, and Jacob Van Ariens stood on the +stoop, smoking his pipe and talking to a man who had the appearance of +a workman; and who was, in fact, the foreman of his business quarters +in the Swamp. + +"Good-evening, sir," said George with smiling politeness. "Is Miss Van +Ariens within?" + +"Within? Yes. But company she has tonight," said the watchful father, +as he stood suspicious and immovable in the entrance. + +It did not seem to George as if it would be an easy thing to pass such +a porter at the door, but he continued, + +"I have come with a message to Miss Van Ariens." + +"A very fine messenger!" answered Van Ariens, slightly smiling. + +"A fine lady deserves a fine messenger. But, sir, if you will do my +errand for me, I am content. 'Tis from Madame Van Heemskirk--" + +"SO then? That is good." + +"I am George Hyde, her grandson, you know." + +"Well then, I did not know. 'Tis near dark, and I see not as well as +once I did." + +"I have brought from Madame Van Heemskirk some ivory winders for Madame +Jacobus." + +"Come in, come in, and tell my Arenta the message thyself. I know +nothing of such things. Come in, I did not think of thee as my friend +Van Heemskirk's grandson. Welcome art thou!" and Van Ariens himself +opened the parlour door, saying, "Arenta, here is George Hyde. A +message he brings for thy Aunt Angelica." + +And while these words were being uttered, George delighted his eyes +with the vision of Cornelia, who sat at a small table with some +needlework in her hand. Arenta's tatting was over her foot, and she had +to remove it in order to rise and meet Hyde. Rem sat idly fingering a +pack of playing cards and talking to Cornelia. This situation George +took in at a glance; though his sense of sight was quite satisfied when +it rested on the lovely girl who dropped her needle as he entered, for +he saw the bright flush which overspread her face and throat, and the +light of pleasure which so filled her eyes that they seemed to make her +whole face luminous. + +In a few moments, Arenta's pretty enthusiasms and welcomes dissipated +all constraint, and Hyde placed his chair among the happy group and +fell easily into his most charming mood. Even Rem could not resist the +atmosphere of gaiety and real enjoyment that soon pervaded the room. +They sang, they played, they had a game at whist, and everything that +happened was in some subtle, secret way, a vehicle for Hyde's love to +express itself. Yet it was to Arenta he appeared to be most attentive; +and Rem was good-naturedly inclined to permit his sister to be +appropriated, if only he was first in the service of Cornelia. + +But though Hyde's attentions were so little obvious, Cornelia was +satisfied. It would have been a poor lover who could not have said +under such circumstances "I love you" a hundred times over; and George +Hyde was not a poor lover. He had naturally the ardent confidence and +daring which delight women, and he had not passed several seasons in +the highest London society without learning all those sweet, occult +ways of making known admiration, which the presence of others renders +both necessary and possible. + +About half-past nine, a negro woman came with Cornelia's cloak and +hood. George took them from Arenta's hand and folded the warm circular +round Cornelia's slight figure; and then watched her tie her pretty +pink hood, managing amid the pleasant stir of leave-taking to whisper +some words that sang all night like sweetest music in her heart. It was +Rem, however, that gave her his arm and escorted her to her own door; +and with this rightful privilege to his guest young Hyde was far too +gentlemanly and just to interfere. However, even in this moment of +seeming secondary consideration, he heard a few words which gave him a +delightful assurance of coming satisfaction. For as the two girls stood +in the hall, Arenta said-- + +"You will come over in the morning, Cornelia?" + +"I cannot," answered Cornelia. "After breakfast, I have to go to +Richmond Hill with a message from my mother to Mrs. Adams; and though +father will drive me there I shall most likely have to walk home. But I +will come to you in the afternoon." + +"Very well. Then in the morning I will go to Aunt Angelica's with the +winders. I shall then have some news to tell you in the afternoon--that +is, if the town makes us any." + +And George, hearing these words, could hardly control his delight. For +he was one of Mrs. Adams' favourites, and so much at home in her house +that he could visit her at any hour of the day without a ceremonious +invitation. And it immediately struck him that his mother had often +desired to know how Mrs. Adams fed her swans, and also that she had +wished for some seeds from her laburnum trees. These things would make +a valid excuse for an early call, as Mrs. Adams might naturally suppose +he was on his way to Hyde Manor. + +He took a merry leave of Arenta, and with his mind full of this plan, +went directly to his rooms. The Belvedere Club was this night, +impossible to him. After the angelic Cornelia, he could not take into +his consciousness the hideous Marat, and the savage orgies of the +French Revolution. Such a thought transference would be an impossible +profanation. Indeed, he could consider no other thing, but the +miraculous fact, that Cornelia was going to Mrs. Adams'; and that it +was quite within his power to meet her there. + +"'Tis my destiny! 'Tis my happy destiny to love her!" he said softly to +himself. "Such an adorable girl! Such a ravishing beauty is not +elsewhere on this earth!" And he was not conscious of any exaggeration +in such language. Nor was there. He was young, he was rich, he had no +business to consider, no sorrow to sober him, no care of any kind to +mingle with the rapturous thoughts which his transported imagination +and his captivated heart blended with the image of Cornelia. + +"I shall tell Mrs. Adams how far gone in love I am," he continued. "She +is herself set on that clever little husband of hers; and 'tis said, +theirs was a love match, beyond all speculation. I shall say to her, +'Help me, madame, to an opportunity'; and I think she will not refuse. +As for my father, I heard him this morning with as much patience as any +Christian could do; but I am resolved to marry Cornelia. I will not +give her up; not for an earldom! not for a dukedom! not for the crown +of England!" + +And to these thoughts he flung off, with a kind of passion, his coat +and vest. The action was but the affirmation of his resolve, a +materialization of his will. To have used an oath in connection with +Cornelia would have offended him; but this passionate action asserted +with equal emphasis his unalterable resolve. A tender, gallant, +courageous spirit possessed him. He was carried away by the feelings it +inspired: and nobly so, for alas for that man who professes to be in +love and is not carried away by his feelings; in such case, he has no +feelings worth speaking of! + +Joris Hyde allowed the sweet emotions Cornelia had inspired to have, +and to hold, and to occupy his whole being. His heart burned within +him; memories of Cornelia closed his eyes, and then filled them with +adorable visions of her pure, fresh loveliness; his pulses bounded; his +blood ran warm and free as the ethereal ichor of the gods. Sleep was a +thousand leagues away; he was so vivid, that the room felt hot; and he +flung open the casement and sat in a beatitude of blissful hopes and +imaginations. + +And after midnight, when dreams fall, the moon came up over Nassau and +Cedar Streets and threw poetic glamours over the antique churches, and +grassy graveyards, and the pretty houses, covered with vines and +budding rosebushes; and this soft shadow of light calmed and charmed +him. In it, he could believe all his dreams possible. He leaned forward +and watched the silvery disc, struggling in soft, white clouds; parting +them, as with hands, when they formed in baffling, airy masses in her +way. And the heavenly traveller was not silent; she had a language he +understood; for as he watched the sweet, strong miracle, he said softly +to himself-- + +"It is a sign to me! It is a sign! So will I put away every baffling +hindrance between Cornelia and myself. Barriers will only be as those +vaporous clouds. I shall part them with my strong resolves--I shall--I +shall--I--" and he fell asleep with this sense of victory thrilling his +whole being. Then the moon rose higher, and soon came in broad white +bars through the window and lay on his young, handsome, smiling face, +with the same sweet radiance that in the days of the gods glorified the +beautiful shepherd, sleeping on the Ephesian plains. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +TURNING OVER A NEW LEAF + + +When Hyde awakened, he was in that borderland between dreams and day +which we call dawn. And as the ear is the last sense to go to sleep, +and the first sense to throw off its lethargy, the voices of men +calling "Milk Ho!" and the shrill childish cries of "Sweep Ho!" were +the first intruders into that pleasant condition between sleeping and +waking, so hard for any of us to leave without a sigh of regret. These +sounds were quickly supplemented by the roll of the heavy carts which +purveyed the only water suitable for drinking and culinary purposes; +and by the sounds of wood-sawing and wood-chopping before the doors of +the adjacent houses--sounds quickly blending themselves with the +shuffling feet of the slaves cleaning the doorsteps and sidewalks, and +chattering, singing, quarrelling the while with their neighbours, or +with other early ministers to the city's domestic wants. + +These noises had never before made any impression on him. "I am more +alive than ever I was in my life," he said; and he laughed gayly, and +went to the window. "It is a lovely day; and that is so much in my +favour," he added, "for if it were raining, Cornelia would not leave +the house." Then a big man, with a voice like a bull of Bashan, went +down the opposite side of the street, shouting as he went--"Milk Ho!" +and Hyde considered him. He had a heavy wooden yoke across his +shoulders; and large tin pails, full of milk, hanging from it. + +"How English we are!" he exclaimed, with a touch of irony. "We have not +thrown off the yoke, by any means--at Mr. Adams', for instance, I could +believe myself in England. How exclusive is the pompous little +Minister! What respect for office! What adoration for landed gentry! +What supercilious tolerance for tradesmen! Oh, indeed, it confounds me! +But why should I trouble myself? I, who have the most adorable mistress +in the world to think about! What are the kings, presidents, ministers, +knaves of the world to me? Let Destiny shuffle them back and forth. I +am indifferent to whichever is trumps." + +Then he fell into a reverie about his proposed visit to Mrs. Adams. +Last night it had appeared to him an easy and natural thing to do. He +was not so sure of his position this morning. Mr. Adams might be +present; he was punctilious in the extreme, and a call without an +invitation at that early hour might be considered an +impertinence--especially if he had no opportunity to enlighten Mrs. +Adams about his love for Miss Moran, and so ask her assistance. Then he +began to doubt whether his mother was on sufficient terms of intimacy +to warrant his speaking about the swans and laburnum seeds--in short, +the visit that had seemed so natural and proper when he first conceived +it, assumed, on reflection, an aspect of difficulty and almost of +impropriety. + +But there are times when laissez-aller carries all before it, and Hyde +was in just such a mood. "I'll run the chance," he said. "I'll risk it. +I'll let things take their course." Then he began to dress, and as +doubt of any kind is best ended by action, he gathered confidence as he +did so. Fortunately, there was no hesitation this morning in his mind +about his dress. He was going to ride to Richmond Hill, and he was +quite satisfied with his riding suit. He knew that it was the next +thing to a becoming uniform. He knew that he looked well in it; and he +remembered with complaisance that it was old enough to be individual; +and new enough to be handsome and striking. + +And, after all, when a man is in love, to be reasonable is often to be +cowardly. But Hyde was no coward; so then, it was not long ere he put +all fears and doubts behind him and set his musings to the assertion: +"I said to my heart, last night, that I would meet Cornelia at Richmond +Hill this morning. I will not go back on my word. Such fluctuability is +only fit for failure." + +When he was dressed he went to his hotel and breakfasted there; for the +"cup of coffee" he had intended to ask of Mrs. Adams appeared, now, a +little presumptuous. In the enthusiasm of the previous night, with +Cornelia's smiles warming his imagination and her words thrilling his +heart, everything had seemed possible and natural; but last night and +this morning were different epochs. Last night, he had been better, +stronger than himself; this morning, he felt all the limitations of +social conveniences and tyrannies. Early as it was, there were many +members and senators present--eating, drinking coffee, and talking of +Franklin, or of the question of the Senate sitting with closed doors, +or of some other of the great little subjects then agitating society. +Hyde took no notice of any of these disputes until a man--evidently an +Englishman--called Franklin "a beggar-on-horseback-Yankee." Then he put +down his knife and fork, and looked steadily at the speaker, saying +with the utmost coolness and firmness-- + +"You are mistaken, sir. The beggar-on-horseback is generally supposed +to ride to the devil. Franklin rode to the highest posts of political +honour and to the esteem and affection of worthy men in all the +civilized world." + +"I understand, I understand, sir," was the reply. "The infatuation of a +nation for some particular genius or leader is very like that of a man +for an ugly woman. When they do get their eyes opened, they wonder what +bewitched them." + +"Sir, what is unreasonable is irrefutable." With these words he rose, +pushed aside his chair with a little temper, and, turning, met +Jefferson face to face. The great man smiled, and put his hand +affectionately on Hyde's shoulder. He had evidently heard the +conversation, for when he had made the usual greetings, he added-- + +"You spoke well, my young friend. Now, I will give you a piece of +advice--when any one abuses a great man in your presence, ask them what +kind of people, THEY admire. You will certainly be consoled." With +these words he took Hyde's chair; and Hyde, casting his eyes a moment +on this tall, loose-limbed man, whose cold blue eyes and red hair +emphasized the stern anger of his whole appearance, was well disposed +to leave the scurrilous Englishman to his power of reproof. Besides, +the badge of mourning which Jefferson wore had reminded him of his own +neglect. Probably, it was the want of this badge that had made the +stranger believe he was speaking to one who would sympathize with his +views. + +So he went at once to his tailor's and procured the necessary band of +crape for his arm. But these events took time, and though he rode hard +afterwards, it was quite half-past nine when he drew rein at the door +of Richmond Hill. A slave in a fine livery was lounging there; and he +gave him his card. In a few moments the man returned with an invitation +to dismount and come into the breakfast-room. Thus far, he had suffered +himself to be carried forward by the impulse of his heart; and he still +put firmly down any wonder as to what he should say or do. + +He was shown into a bright little parlour with open windows. A table, +elegantly and plentifully spread, occupied the centre of the room; and +sitting at it were the Vice-President and Mrs. Adams; and also their +only daughter, the beautiful, but not very intellectual, Mrs. Smith. It +was easy to see that the meal was really over, and that the trio had +been simply lingering over the table because of some interesting +discussion; and it was quite as easy to understand that his entrance +had put an end to the conversation. Mrs. Adams met him with genuine, +though formal, kindness; Mrs. Smith with courtesy; and the +Vice-President rose, bowed handsomely, hoped he was well, and then +after a minute's reflection said-- + +"We were talking about the official title proper for General +Washington. What do you think, Lieutenant? Or have you heard General +Hyde express any opinion on the subject?" + +"Sir, I do not presume to understand the ceremonials of government. My +father is of the opinion, that 'The President of the United States' has +a Roman and republican simplicity, and that any addition to it would be +derogatory and childish." + +"My dear young man, the eyes of the world are upon us. To give a title +to our leaders and rulers belongs to history. In the Roman republic +great conquerors assumed even distinctive titles, as well as national +ones." + +"Then our Washington is superior to them. Let us be grateful that he +has not yet called himself--Americanus. I like Doctor Kunz's idea of +Washington best, but I see not how it could be put into a civil title." + +"Doctor Kunz! Doctor Kunz! Oh yes, of the Dutch congregation. Pray what +is it?" + +"'And there came up a lion out of Judah.' My grandfather is an elder in +that church, and he said the verse and the sermon on it lifted the +people to their feet." + +"That might do very well for one side of a state seal; but it is a +proper prefix we need. I don't think we can say 'Your Majesty the +President.'" + +"I should think not," replied Mrs. Adams with an air of decision. + +"Chief Justice McKean thinks 'His Serene Highness the President of the +United States' is very suitable. Roger Sherman is of the opinion that +neither 'His Highness' nor 'His Excellency' are novel and dignified +enough; and General Muhlenberg says Washington himself is in favour of +'High Mightiness,' the title used by the Stadtholder of Holland." + +"That would please the Dutch-Americans," said Mrs. Adams--"if a title +at all is necessary, which I confess I cannot understand. Is it to be +'High Mightiness' then?" she asked with a little laugh. + +"I think not. Muhlenberg, however, has seriously offended the President +by making a joke of the proposition; and I must say, it was ill-timed +of Muhlenberg, and not what I should have expected of him." + +"But what was the joke?" + +"Something to the effect that if the office was certain to be held by +men as large as Washington, the title of 'High Mightiness' would not be +amiss; but that if a little man--say like Aaron Burr--should be +elected, the title would be a ridiculous one. The fact is, Muhlenberg +is against any title whatever but that of 'President of the United +States.'" + +"And how will you vote, John?" + +"In favour of a title. Certainly, I shall. Your Majesty is a very good +prefix. It would draw the attention of England, and show her that we +were not afraid to assume 'the majesty' of our conquest." + +"And if you wish to please France," continued Mrs. Adams--"which seems +the thing in fashion--you might have the prefix 'Citizen.' 'Citizen +Washington' is not bad." + +"It is execrable, Mrs. Adams; and I am ashamed that you should make it, +even as a pleasantry." + +"Indeed, my friend, there is no foretelling what may be. The French +fever is rising every day. I even may be compelled to drop the +offensive 'Mistress' and call myself Citoyenne Adams. And, after all, I +do believe that the President regards his citizenship far above his +office. What say you, Lieutenant?" + +"I think, madame, that fifty, one hundred, one thousand years after +this day, it will be of little importance what prefix is put before the +name of the President. He will be simply GEORGE WASHINGTON in every +heart and on every page." + +"That is true," said Mrs. Adams. "Fame uses no prefixes. It is Pompey, +Julius Caesar, Pericles, Alfred, Hampden, Oliver Cromwell. Or it is a +suffix like Alexander the Great; or Richard Coeur-de-Lion. I have no +objection to Washington the Great, or Washington Coeur-de-Lion." + +"Washington will do for love and for fame," continued Hyde. "The next +generation may say MR. Madison, or MR. Monroe, or MR. Jay; but they +will want neither prefix nor suffix to Washington, Jefferson, +Franklin,--and, if you permit me, sir--Adams." + +The Vice-president was much pleased. He said "Pooh! Pooh!" and stood up +and stepped loftily across the hearth-rug, but the subtle compliment +went warm to his heart, and the real worth of the man's nature came +straight to the front, as he looked, under its influence, the honest, +positive, honourable gentleman that every great occasion found him to +be. + +"Well, well," he answered; "heartily, and from our souls, we must do +our best, and then trust to Truth and Time, our name and our memory. +But I must now go to town--our affairs give us no holidays." And then +instantly the room was in a fuss and a flurry. No Englishman could have +made a more bustling exit; and, indeed, even in his physical aspect, +John Adams was a perfect picture of the traditional John Bull. His +natural temperament carried out this likeness: high-mettled as a +game-cock during the Revolutionary war, he was, in politics, +passionate, dogmatic and unconciliating, and in social life ceremonious +and showy as any Englishman could be. + +After he had gone, Mrs. Adams proposed a walk in the lovely garden; and +Hyde hoped then to obtain a few words with her. But Mrs. Smith +accompanied them, and introduced immediately a grievance she had +evidently been previously discussing. With a provoking petulance she +told and re-told some slight which Sir John Temple had offered Mr. +Smith: adding always "Lady Temple is very civil to me; but I cannot, +and I will not, exchange visits with any lady who does not pay my +William an equal civility." Enlarging and enlarging on this text, Hyde +found no opportunity to get a word in on his own affairs; and then, +suddenly, as they turned into the main avenue, Doctor Moran and +Cornelia appeared. + +Quite as suddenly, Mrs. Adams divined the motive of Hyde's early visit; +she opened her eyes wide, and looked at him with a comprehension so +clear and real that Hyde was compelled to answer, and acknowledge her +suspicion by a look and movement quite as unequivocal. Yet this +instantaneous understanding contained neither promise nor sympathy; and +he could not tell whether he had gained a friend or simply made a +confession. + +Doctor Moran was evidently both astonished and annoyed. He stepped out +of his carriage and joined Mrs. Adams but kept Cornelia by his side, so +that Hyde was compelled to escort Mrs. Smith. And Cornelia, beyond a +very civil "Good-morning, sir," gave him no sign. He could watch her +slight, virginal figure, and the bend of her head in answering Mrs. +Adams gave him transient glimpses of her fair face; but there was no +message in all its changes for him. In fact, in spite of Mrs. Smith's +little rill of social complaining, he felt quite "out" of the inner +circle of the company's interests, and he was also deeply mortified at +Cornelia's apparent indifference. + +When the party reached the steps before the house door, though Mrs. +Adams certainly invited him to remain, he had come to the conclusion +that he was just the one person NOT wanted at that time; yet as he had +plenty of self-command he completely hid beneath a gay and charming +manner the chagrin and disappointment that were really tormenting him. +For one moment he caught Cornelia's eyes, but his glance was too rapid +and inquisitive. She was embarrassed, and a little frightened by it; +and with a deep blush turned towards Mrs. Smith and said something +trivial about the weather and the fine view. He could not understand +this attitude. Feelings of tenderness, anger, mortification,--feelings +strong and threefold crowded his beating heart and vivid brain. He +longed to set his restless thoughts to rapid movement--to gallop--to +ejaculate--to do any foolish thing that would relieve his sense of +vexation and defeat. But until he was out of sight and hearing he rode +slowly, with the easy air of a man who was only sensitive to the beauty +of his surroundings, and thoroughly enjoying them. + +He kept this pace till quite outside the precincts of Richmond Hill, +then he struck his horse with a passion that astonished the animal and +the next moment shamed himself. He stooped instantly and apologized to +the quivering creature; and was as instantly forgiven. Then he began to +talk to himself in those elliptical, unfinished sentences, which the +inner man understands, and so thoroughly finishes--"If I were not +morally sure--It is as plain as can be--How in the name of +wonder?--I'll say so much for myself--I am sorry that I went there--A +couple of uninteresting women--This for you, sir!--Whistled myself up +this morning on a fool's errand--No more! no more to save my +life!--Grant me patience--Mrs. Smith giving herself a parcel of +airs--Oh, adorable Cornelia!" + +Such reflections, blended with pet names and apologies to his horse, +brought him in sight of the Van Heemskirk house, and he instantly felt +how good his grandmother's sympathy would be. He saw her at the door, +leaning over the upper-half and watching his approach. + +"I knew it was thee!" she cried; "always, the clatter of thy horse's +hoofs says plainly to me, 'Grand-moth-er! grand-moth-er! +grand-moth-er!' Now, then, what is the matter with thee? Disappointed, +wert thou last night?" + +"No--but this morning I have been badly used; and I am angry at it." +Then he told her all the circumstances of his visit to Richmond Hill, +and she listened patiently, as was her way with all complainers. + +"In too great haste art thou," were her first words. "No worse I think +of Cornelia, because a little she draws back. To want, and to have thy +want, that has been the way with thee all thy life long. Even thy sword +and the battlefield were not denied thee; but a woman's love!--that is +to be won. Little wouldst thou value it, lightly wouldst thou hold it, +if it were thine for the wishing. Thy mother has taught thee to expect +too much." + +"And my grandmother?" + +"That is so. A very foolish old woman is thy grandmother. Too much she +loves thee, or she had not sent thee to Arenta's last night with her +best ivory winders." + +"Oh, Arenta is a very darling! Had she been present this morning, she +had taken the starch out of all our fine talk and fine manners. We +should have chattered like the swallows about pleasant homely things; +and left title-making to graver fools." + +"If, now, thou had fallen in love with Arenta, it had been a good +thing." + +"If I had not seen Cornelia, I might have adored Arenta--but, then, +Arenta has already a lover." + +"So? And pray who is it?" + +"Of all men in the world, the gay, handsome Frenchman, Athanase +Tounnerre, a member of the French embassy. How a girl so plainly Dutch +can endure the creature confounds me." + +"Stop a little. The grandmother of Arenta was French. Very well I +remember her--a girl all alive, from head to foot; never still. Thy +grandfather used to say, 'In her veins is quick-silver, not blood,' +And, too soon, she wore away her life; Arenta's mother was but a baby, +when she died." + +"Ah! So it is! We are the past, as well as the present. As for myself--" + +"Thou art thy father over again; only sweeter, and better--that is the +Dutch in thee--the happy, easy-going Dutch--if only thou wert not so +lazy." + +"That is the English in me--the self-indulgent, masterful English. So +then, Arenta, being partly French, back to the French she goes. 'Tis +passing strange." + +"Of this, art thou sure?" + +"I have listened to the man. Every one has. He wears Arenta's name on +his sleeve. He drinks her health in all companies. He will talk to any +stranger he meets, for an hour at a time, about his 'fair Arenta.' I +can but wonder at the fellow. It is inconceivable to me; for though I +am passionately taken with Cornelia Moran, I hide her close in my +heart. I should want to strike any man who breathed her name. Yet it is +said of Athanase de Tounnerre that he paid a visit to every one he +knew, in order to tell them of his felicity." + +"And her father? To such a marriage what will he say?" + +Hyde stretched out his legs and struck them lightly with his riding +whip. Then, with a smile, he answered, "He will be proud enough in his +heart. Arenta would certainly leave him soon, and the Dutch are very +sensible to the charm of a title. His daughter, the Marquise de +Tounnerre, will be a very great woman in his eyes." + +"That is the truth. I was glad for thy mother to be a lady, and go to +Court, and see the Queen. Yes, indeed! in my heart I was proud of it +'Twas about that very thing poor Janet Semple and I became unfriends." + +"Indeed, it is the common failing; and at present, there is no one like +the French. I will except the President, and Mr. Adams, and Mr. +Hamilton, and say the rest of us are French mad." + +"Thy grandfather, and thy grandmother too, thou may except. And as for +thy father, with a great hatred he names them." + +"My father is English; and the English and French are natural and +salutary enemies. I once heard Lord Exmouth say that France was to +England all that Carthage was to Rome--the natural outlet for the +temper of a people so quarrelsome that they would fight each other if +they had not the French to fight." + +"Listen! That is thy father's gallop. Far off, I know it. So early in +the morning, what is he coming for?" + +"He had an intention to go to Mr. Semple's funeral." + +"That is good. Thy grandfather is already gone--" and she looked so +pointedly down at her black petticoat and bodice, that Hyde answered-- + +"Yes; I see that you are in mourning. Is it for Mr. Franklin, or for +Mr. Semple?" + +"Franklin was far off; by my fireside Alexander Semple often sat; and +at my table often he ate. Good friends were we once--good friends are +we now; for all but Love, Death buries." + +At this moment General Hyde entered the room. Hurry and excitement were +in his face, though they were well controlled. He gave his hand to +Madame Van Heemskirk, saying-- + +"Good-morning, mother! You look well, as you always do:"--then turning +to his son and regarding the young man's easy, smiling indifference, he +said with some temper, "What the devil, George, are you doing here, so +early in the day? I have been through the town seeking +you--everywhere--even at that abominable Club, where Frenchmen and +vagabonds of all kinds congregate." + +"I was at the Vice-President's, sir," answered George, with a comical +assumption of the Vice-President's manner. + +"You were WHERE?" + +"At Richmond Hill. I made an early call on Mrs. Adams." + +Then General Hyde laughed heartily. "You swaggering dandy!" he replied. +"Did you take a bet at the Belvedere to intrude on His Loftiness? And +have you a guinea or two on supping a cup of coffee with him? Upon my +honour, you must now be nearly at the end of your follies. Mother, +where is the Colonel?" + +"He has gone to Elder Semple's house. You know--" + +"I know well. For a long time I have purposed to call on the old +gentleman, and what I have neglected I am now justly denied. I meant, +at least, to pay him the last respect; but even that is to-day +impossible. For I must leave for England this afternoon at five +o'clock, and I have more to do than I can well accomplish." + +George leaped to his feet at these words. Nothing could have been more +unexpected; but that is the way with Destiny, her movements are ever +unforeseen and inevitable. "Sir," he cried, "what has happened?" + +"Your uncle is dying--perhaps dead. I received a letter this morning +urging me to take the first packet. The North Star sails this +afternoon, and I do not wish to miss her, for she flies English +colours, and they are the only ones the Barbary pirates pretend to +respect. Now, George, you must come with me to Mr. Hamilton's office; +we have much business to arrange there; then, while I pay a farewell +visit to the President, you can purchase for me the things I shall +require for the voyage." + +So far his manner had been peremptory and decided, but, suddenly, a +sweet and marvellous change occurred. He went close to Madame Van +Heemskirk, and taking both her hands, said in a voice full of those +tones that captivate women's hearts-- + +"Mother! mother! I bid you a loving, grateful farewell! You have ever +been to me good, and gentle, and wise--the very best of mothers. God +bless you!" Then he kissed her with a solemn tenderness, and Lysbet +understood that he believed their parting to be a final one. She sat +down, weeping, and Hyde with an authoritative motion of the head, +commanding his son's attendance, went hastily out. It was then eleven +o'clock, and there was business that kept both men hurrying here and +there until almost the last hour. It had been agreed that they were to +meet at the City Hotel at four o'clock; and soon after that hour +General Hyde joined his son. He looked weary and sad, and began +immediately to charge George concerning his mother. + +"We parted with kisses and smiles this morning," he said; "and I am +glad of it; if I went back, we should both weep; and a wet parting is +not a lucky one. I leave her in your charge, George; and when I send +her word to come to England, look well to her comfort. And be sure to +come with her. Do you hear me?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"On no account--even if she wishes it--permit her to come alone. +Promise me." + +"I promise you, sir. What is there that I would not do for my mother? +What is there I would not do to please you, sir?" + +"Let me tell you, George, such words are very sweet to me. As to +yourself, I do not fear for you. It is above, and below reason, that +you should do anything to shame your kindred, living or dead--the +living indeed, you might reconcile; the dead are implacable; and their +vengeance is to be feared." + +"I fear not the dead, and I love the living. The honour of Hyde is safe +in my keeping. If you have any advice to give me, sir, pray speak +plainly." + +"With all my soul. I ask you, then, to play with some moderation. I ask +you to avoid any entanglement with women. I ask you to withdraw +yourself, as soon as possible, from those blusterers for French +liberty--or rather French license, robbery, and assassination--I tell +you there is going to be a fierce national fracas on the subject. Stand +by the President, and every word he says. Every word is sure to be wise +and right." + +"Father, I learnt the word 'Liberty' from your lips. I drew my sword +under your command for 'Liberty.' I know not how to discard an idea +that has grown into my nature as the veining grows into the wood." + +"Liberty! Yes; cherish it with your life-blood. But France has polluted +the name and outraged the idea. Neither you nor I can wish to be swept +into the common sewers, being by birth, nobles and aristocrats. Earl +Stanhope, who was heart and soul with the French Revolution while it +was a movement for liberty, has just scratched his name with his own +hand from the revolutionary Club. And Burke, who was once its most +enthusiastic defender, has now written a pamphlet which has given it, +in England, a fatal blow. This news came in my letters to-day." Then +taking out his watch, he rose, saying, "Come, it is time to go to the +ship--MY DEAR GEORGE!" + +George could not speak. He clasped his father's hand, and then walked +by his side to Coffee House Slip, where the North Star was lying. There +was no time to spare, and the General was glad of it; for oh, these +last moments! Youth may prolong them, but age has lost youth's rebound, +and willingly escapes their disintegrating emotion. Before either +realized the fact, the General had crossed the narrow plank; it was +quickly withdrawn; the anchor was lifted to the chanty of "Homeward +bound boys," and the North Star, with wind and tide in her favour, was +facing the great separating ocean. + +George turned from the ship in a maze. He felt as if his life had been +cut sharply asunder; at any rate, its continuity was broken, and what +other changes this change might bring it was impossible to foresee. In +any extremity, however, there is generally some duty to do; and the +doing of that duty is the first right step onward. Without reasoning on +the matter, George followed this plan. He had a letter to deliver to +his mother; it was right that it should be delivered as soon as +possible; and indeed he felt as if her voice and presence would be the +best of all comfort at that hour; so late as it was, he rode out to +Hyde Manor. His mother, with a lighted candle in her hand, opened the +door for him. + +"I thought it was thy father, Joris," she said; "but what? Is there +anything wrong? Why art thou alone?" + +"There is nothing wrong, dear mother. Come, I will tell you what has +happened." + +Then she locked the door carefully, and followed her son into the small +parlour, where she had been sitting. He gave her his father's letter, +and assumed for her sake, the air of one who has brought good tidings. +She silently read, and folded it; and George said, "It was the most +fortunate thing, the North Star being ready for sea. Father could +hardly have had a better boat; and they started with wind and tide in +their favour. We shall hear in a few weeks from him. Are you not +pleased, mother?" + +"It is too late, Joris;--twenty years too late. And I wish not to go to +England. Very unhappy was I in that cold, grey country. Very happy am I +here." + +"But you must have expected this change?" + +"Not until your cousin died was there any thought of such a thing. And +long before that, we had built and begun to love dearly this home. I +wish, then, it had been God's will that your cousin had not died." + +"My father--" + +"Ah, Joris, your father has always longed in his heart for England. +Like a weaning babe that never could be weaned was he. In many ways, he +has lately shown me that he felt himself to be a future English earl. +And thou too? Wilt thou become an Englishman? Then this fair home I +have made for thee will forget thy voice and thy footstep. Woe is me! I +have planted and planned, for whom I know not." + +"You have planned and planted for your Joris. I swear to you that I +like England as little as you do. I despise the tomfoolery of courts +and ceremonies. I count an earl no better than any other honourable +gentleman. I desire most of all to marry the woman I love, and live +here in the home that reminds me of you wherever I turn. I want your +likeness on the great stairway, and in all the rooms; so that those who +may never see your face may love you; and say, 'How good she looks! How +beautiful she is!'" + +"So true art thou! So loving! So dear to me! Even in England I can be +happy if I think of thee Here--filling these big rooms with good +company; riding, shooting, over thine own land, fishing in thy own +waters, telling thy boys and girls how dear grandmother had this pond +dug--this hedge planted--these woods filled with game--these streams +set with willows--these summerhouses built for pleasure. Oh, I have +thought ever as I worked, I shall leave my memory here--and here--and +here again--for never, Joris, never, dear Joris, while thou art in this +world, must thou forget me!" + +"Never! Never, oh never, dear, dear mother!" + +And that night they said no more. Both felt there would be plenty of +time in the future to consider whatever changes it might have in store +for them. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +AUNT ANGELICA + + +The first changes referred especially to Hyde's life, and were not +altogether approved by him. His pretence of reading law had to be +abandoned, for he had promised to remain at home with his mother, and +it would not therefore be possible for him to dawdle about Pearl Street +and Maiden Lane watching for Cornelia. But he had that happy and +fortunate temper that trusts to events; and also, he soon began to +realize that if circumstances alter cases, they also alter feelings. + +For, looking upon Hyde Manor as the future home of himself and his +wife--and that wife, happily, Cornelia--he found it very easy to take +an almost eager interest in all that concerned its welfare and beauty. +"How good! How unselfish he is!" thought his mother. "Never before has +he been so ready to listen and so willing to please me." But, really, +the work soon became delightful to him. The passion for land and for +its improvement--the ruling passion of an Englishman--was not absent in +George; it was only latent, and the idea of home, of his own personal +home, developed it with amazing rapidity. He was soon able to make +excellent suggestions to his mother; for her ideas, beautiful enough in +the cultivation of flat surfaces, did not embody the grander +possibilities of the higher lands near the river. But George saw every +advantage, and with great ability directed his little gang of labourers +among the rocks and woody crags of the yet unplanted wilderness. + +In spite of their anxiety about the General, in spite of George's +longing to see Cornelia, these early summer days, with their glory of +sunshine and shade and their miracles of growth, were very happy days; +though madame reached her happiness by putting the future quite out of +her thoughts, and George reached his by anticipating the future as the +fruition of the present. Never since his early boyhood had madame and +her son been so near and so dear to each other; for her +brother-in-law's probable death and her husband's dangerous journeying +released her from social engagements, and permitted her to spend her +time in the employments and the companionship she loved best of all. + +George, while accepting for himself the same partial seclusion, had +more freedom. He rode into town three or four times every week; got the +news of the clubs and the streets; loitered about Maiden Lane and the +shopping district; and when disappointed and vexed at events went to +his Grandmother Van Heemskirk for sympathy. For, as yet, he hesitated +about naming Cornelia to his mother. He was sure she was aware of his +passion, and her reticence on the subject made him fear she was going +to advocate the fulfilment of his father's promise. And he had such a +singular delicacy about the girl he loved that he could not endure the +thought of bandying her name about in an angry discussion. Added to +this fine sense was an adoring love for his mother. She was in anxiety +enough, and would be, until she heard of her husband's safety; why, +then, should he add his anxiety to hers? + +Yet he was not happy about Cornelia. Since that unfortunate morning at +Richmond Hill they had never met. If she saw him go up or down Maiden +Lane, she made no sign. Several times Arenta's face at her parlour +window had given him a passing hope; but Arenta's own love affairs were +just then at a very interesting point; and, besides, she regarded the +young Lieutenant's admiration for her friend as only one of his many +transient enthusiasms. + +"If there was anything real in it," she reflected, "Cornelia would have +talked about him; and that she has never done." Then she began to +remember, with pride, the very sensible behaviour of her own lover. "My +Athanase," she reflected, "did not give me an hour's rest until we were +engaged. He insisted on talking to father about our marriage +settlements and our future--in fact, he made of love a thing possible +and practical. A lover like Joris Hyde is not, I think, very fortunate." + +She did not understand that the quality of love in its finest +revelation desires, after its first sweet inception, a little period of +withdrawal--it wonders at its strange happiness--broods over it--is +fearful of disturbing emotions so exquisite--prefers the certainty of +its delicious suspense to a more definite understanding, and finds a +keen strange delight in its own poignant anxieties and hopes. These are +the birth pangs of an immortal love--of a love that knows within +itself, that it is born for Eternity, and need not to hurry the +three-score-and-ten years of time to a consummation. + +Of such noble lineage was the love of Cornelia for Joris Hyde. His +gracious, beautiful youth, seemed a part of her own youth; his ardent, +tender glances had filled her heart with a sweet trouble that she did +not understand. It was the most natural thing in the world that she +should wish to be apart; that she should desire to brood over feelings +so strangely happy; and that in this very brooding they should grow to +the perfect stature of a luminous and unquenchable affection. + +Joris was moved by a sentiment of the same kind, though in a lesser +degree. The masculine desire to obtain, and the delightful +consciousness that he possessed, at least, the tremendous advantage of +asking for the love he craved, roused him from the sweet torpor to +which delicious, dreamy love had inclined him. + +"I have thought of Cornelia long enough," he said one delightful summer +morning; "with all my soul I now long to see her. And it is not an +impossible thing I desire. In short, there is some way to compass it." +Then a sudden, invincible persuasion of success came to him; he +believed in his own good fortune; he had a conviction that the very +stars connived with a true lover to work his will. And under this +enthusiasm he galloped into town, took his horse to a stable, and then +walked towards Maiden Lane. + +In a few moments he saw Arenta Van Ariens. She was in a mist of blue +and white, with flowing curls, and fluttering ribbons; and a general +air of happiness. He placed himself directly in her path, and doffed +his beaver to the ground as she approached. + +"Well, then," she cried, with an affected air of astonishment, "who +would have thought of seeing you? Your retirement is the talk of the +town." + +"And pray what does the town say?" + +"Some part of it says you have lost your fortune at cards; another part +says you have lost your heart and got no compensation for it. 'Tis +strange to see the folly of young people of this age," she added, with +a little pretended sigh of superior wisdom. + +"As if you, also, had not lost your heart!" exclaimed Hyde. + +"No, sir! I have exchanged mine for its full value. Where are you +going?" + +"With you." + +"In a word, no. For I am going to Aunt Angelica's." + +"Upon my honour, it is to your Aunt Angelica's I desire to go most of +all!" + +"Now I understand. You have found out that Cornelia Moran is going +there. Are you still harping on that string? And Cornelia never said +one word to me. I do not approve of such deceit. In my love affairs I +have always been open as the day." + +"I assure you that I did NOT know Miss Moran was going there. I had not +a thought of Madame Jacobus until we met. To tell the very truth, I +came into town to look for you." + +"For me? And why, pray?" + +"I want to see Miss Moran. If I cannot see her, then I want to hear +about her. I thought you, of all people, could tell me the most and the +best. I assured myself that you had infinite good temper. Now, pray do +not disappoint me." + +"Listen! We meet this afternoon at my aunt's, to discuss the dresses +and ceremonies proper for a very fine wedding." + +"For your own wedding, in fact--Is not that so?" + +"Well, then?" + +"Well, then, who knows more on that subject than Joris Hyde? Was I not, +last year, at Lady Betty Somer's splendid nuptials; and at Fanny +Paget's, and the Countess of Carlisle's? Indeed, I maintain that in +such a discussion _I_ am an absolute necessity. And I wish to know +Madame Jacobus. I have long wished to know her. Upon my honour, I think +her to be one of the most interesting women in New York!" + +"I will advise you a little. Save your compliments until you can say +them to my aunt. I never carry a word to any one." + +"Then take me with you, and I will repeat them to her face." + +"So? Well, then, here we are, at her very door. I know not what she +will say--you must make your own excuses, sir." + +As she was speaking, they ascended the white steps leading to a very +handsome brick house on the west side of Broadway. It had wide iron +piazzas and a fine shady garden at the back, sloping down to the river +bank; and had altogether, on the outside, the very similitude of a +wealthy and fashionable residence. The door was opened by a very dark +man, who was not a negro, and who was dressed in a splendid and +outlandish manner--a scarlet turban above his straight black hair, and +gold-hooped earrings, and a long coat or tunic, heavily embroidered in +strange devices. + +"He was an Algerine pirate," whispered Arenta. "My Uncle Jacob brought +him here--and my aunt trusts him--I would not, not for a moment." + +As soon as the front door closed, Joris perceived that he was in an +unusual house. The scents and odours of strange countries floated about +it. The hall contained many tall jars, full of pungent gums and roots; +and upon its walls the weapons of savage nations were crossed in idle +and harmless fashion. They went slowly up the highly polished stairway +into a large, low parlour, facing the vivid, everyday business drama of +Broadway; but the room itself was like an Arabian Night's dream, for +the Eastern atmosphere was supplemented by divans and sofas covered +with rare cashmere shawls, and rugs of Turkestan, and with cushions of +all kinds of oriental splendour. Strange tables of wonderful mosaic +work held ivory carvings of priceless worth; and porcelain from unknown +lands. Gods and goddesses from the yellow Gehenna of China and the +utterable idolatry of India, looked out with brute cruelty, or +sempiternal smiles from every odd corner; or gazed with a fascinating +prescience from the high chimney-piece upon all who entered. + +The effect upon Hyde was instantaneous and uncanny. His Saxon-Dutch +nature was in instant revolt against influences so foreign and +unnatural. Arenta was unconsciously in sympathy with him; for she said +with a shrug of her pretty shoulders, as she looked around, "I have +always bad dreams after a visit to this room. Do these things have a +life of their own? Look at the creature on that corner shelf! What a +serene disdain is in his smile! He seems to gaze into the very depths +of your soul. I see that there is a curtain to his shrine; and I shall +take leave to draw it." With these words she went to the scornful +divinity, and shut his offending eyes behind the folds of his +gold-embroidered curtain. + +Hyde watched her flitting about the strange room, and thought of a +little brown wren among the poisonous, vivid splendours of tropical +swamp flowers. So out of place the pretty, thoughtless Dutch girl +looked among the spoils of far India, and Central America, and of +Arabian and African worship and workmanship. But when the door opened, +and Madame Jacobus, with soft, gliding footsteps entered, Hyde +understood how truly the soul, if given the wherewithal, builds the +habitation it likes best. Once possessed of marvellous beauty, and yet +extraordinarily interesting, she seemed the very genius of the room and +its strange, suggestive belongings. She was unusually tall, and her +figure had kept its undulating, stately grace. Her hair, dazzlingly +white, was piled high above her ample brow, held in place with jewelled +combs and glittering pins. Her face had lost its fine oval and youthful +freshness, but who of any feeling or intelligence would not have far +preferred the worn countenance, expressing in a thousand sensitive +shades and emotions the story of her life and love? And if every other +beauty had failed, Angelica's eyes would have atoned for the loss. They +were large, softly-black, slow-moving, or again, in a moment, flashing +with the fire that lay hidden in the dark pit of the iris. + +It was said that her slaves adored her, and that no man who came within +her influence had been able to resist her power--no man, perhaps, but +Captain Jacobus; and he had not resisted, he had been content to +exercise over her a power greater than her own. He had made her his +wife; he had lavished on her for ten years the spoils of the four +quarters of the world; and his worship of her had only been equalled by +her passionate attachment to him. Ten years of love, and then parting +and silence--unbroken silence. Yet she still insisted that he was +alive, and would certainly come back to her. With this faith in her +heart, she had refused to put on any symbol of loss or mourning. She +kept his fine house open, his room ready, and herself constantly +adorned for his home-coming. Society, which insists on uniformity, did +not approve of this unreasonable hope. It expected her to adopt the +garments of widowhood for a time, and then make a match in accordance +with the great fortune Captain Jacobus had left her. But Angelica +Jacobus was a law unto herself; and society was compelled to take her +with those apologizing shrugs it gives to whatever is original and +individual. + +She came in with a smile of welcome. She was always pleased that her +fine home should be seen by those strange to it; and perhaps was +particularly pleased that General Hyde's son should be her visitor. And +as Joris was determined to win her favour, there was an almost +instantaneous birth of good-will. + +"Let me kiss your hand, madame," said the handsome young fellow, +lifting the jewelled fingers in his own. "I have heard that my father +had once that honour. Do not put me below him;" and with the words he +touched with his warm lips the long white fingers. + +Her laugh rang merrily through the dim room, and she answered--"You are +Dick Hyde's own son--nothing else. I see that"--and she drew the young +man towards the light and looked with a steady pleasure into his +smiling face as she asked-- + +"What brought you here this morning, sir?" + +"Madame, I have heard my father speak of you; I have seen you; can you +wonder that I desired to know you? This morning I met Miss Van Ariens, +and when she said she was coming here, I found myself unable to resist +the temptation of coming with her." + +"Let me tell you something, aunt. I think Lieutenant Hyde can be of +great service to us. He took part in several noble English weddings +last year, and he offers his advice in our consultation to-day." + +"But where is Cornelia? I thought she would come with you." + +"She will be here in a few minutes. I saw her half-an-hour ago." + +"What a beautiful girl she has become!" said madame. + +"She is an angel," said Hyde. + +Angelica laughed. "The man who calls a woman an angel has never had any +sisters," she answered; "but, however, she has beauty enough to set +young hearts ablaze. I like the girl, and I wonder not that others do +the same." + +Even as she spoke Cornelia entered. There was a little flush and hurry +on her face; but oh, how innocent and joyous it was! Quick-glancing, +sweetly smiling, she entered the musky, scented parlour, and in her +white robe and white hat stood like a lily in its light and gloom. And +when she turned to Hyde an ineffable charm and beauty illumed her +countenance. "How glad I am to see you!" she said, and the very ring of +gladness was in her voice. "And how strange that we should meet here!" + +"That is so," replied Madame Jacobus. "One can never see where the +second little bird comes from." + +"Am I late, madame? Surely your clock is wrong." + +"My clock is never wrong, Cornelia, A Dutch clock will always go just +about so. Come, now, sit down, and let us talk of such follies as +weddings and wedding gowns." + +In this conversation Hyde triumphantly redeemed his promise of +assistance. He could describe with a delightful accuracy--or +inaccuracy--the lovely toilets and pretty accessories of the high +English wedding feasts of the previous year. And in some subtle way he +threw into these descriptions such a glamour of romance, such +backgrounds of old castles and chiming bells, of noble dames glittering +with gems, and village maids scattering roses, of martial heroes, and +rejoicing lovers, all moving in an atmosphere of song and sunshine, +that the little party sat listening, entranced, with sympathetic eyes +drinking in his wonderful descriptions. + +Madame Jacobus was the first to interrupt these pretty reminiscences. +"All this is very fine," she said, "but the most of it is no good for +us. The satin and the lace and even the gems, we can have; the music +can be somehow managed, and we shall not make a bad show as to love and +beauty. But castles and lords and military pomp, and old cathedrals +hung with battle flags-- Such things are not to be had here, and, in +plain truth, they are not necessary for the wedding of a simple maid +like our Arenta." + +"You forget, then, that my Athanase is of almost royal descent," said +Arenta. "A very old family are the Tounnerres--older, indeed, than the +royal Capets." + +"No one is to-day so poor as to envy the royal Capets; and as for an +ancient family, Captain Jacobus used to speak of his forefathers as +'the old fellows whom the flood could not wash away.' Jacobus always +put his ideas in such clear, forcible words. What I want to know is +this--where is the ceremony to be performed?" + +"The civil ceremony is to be at the French Embassy," answered Arenta +with some pride. + +"Is that all there is to it?" + +"Aunt! How could you imagine that I should be satisfied with a civil +ceremony? My father also insists upon a religious ceremony; and my +Athanase told him he was willing to marry me in every church in +America. I am not Gertrude Kippon! No, indeed! I insist on everything +being done in a moral and respectable manner. My father spoke of Doctor +Kunz for the religious part." + +"I like not Doctor Kunz," answered madame. "Bishop Provoost and the +Episcopal service is the proper thing. Doctor Kunz will be sure to say +some sharp words--his tongue is full of them--he stands too stiff--he +does not use his hands gracefully--his walk and carriage is not +dignified--and he looks at you through spectacles--and I, for one, do +not like to be looked at through spectacles. We must decide for the +Episcopal church." + +"And the little trip after it," continued Arenta. "Lieutenant Hyde says +that, in England, it is now the proper thing." + +"But in America it is not the proper thing. It is a rude unmannerly way +to run off with a bride. We are not red Indians, nor is the Marquis +carrying you by force from some hostile tribe. The nuptial trip is a +barbarism. I am now weary. Lieutenant, take Miss Moran and show her my +garden. I tell you, it is worth walking through; and when you have seen +the flowers, Arenta and I will give you a cup of tea." + +Arenta would gladly have gone into the garden also, but her aunt +detained her. "Can you not see," she asked, "that those two are in love +with each other? Give love its hour. They do not want your company." + +"And for that very reason I wish to go with them. My brother is in love +with Cornelia, and I am for Rem, and not for a stranger--also, my +father and Cornelia's father are both for Rem; and, besides, Doctor +Moran hates the Hydes. He will not let Cornelia marry the man." + +"HE WILL NOT LET! When did Doctor John become omnipotent? Love laughs +at fathers, as well as at locksmiths. And if Doctor John is against +young Hyde, then I shall the more cheerfully be for him--a pleasant, +handsome youth as ever I saw, is he; and Doctor John--well, he is +neither pleasant nor handsome." + +"Aunt Angelica! I am astonished at you! Every one will contradict what +you say." + +"For that reason, I will maintain it. It is not my way to shout with +the multitude." + +With some hesitation, yet quite carried away by Hyde's personal longing +and impulse, Cornelia went into the garden with her lover. It was a +green, shady place, full of great maple-trees and flowering vines and +shrubs, and patches of green grass. All kinds of sweet old-fashioned +flowers grew there, mingling their scent with the strawberries' perfume +and the woody odours of the ripening cherries. They were alone in this +lovely place; the high privet hedges hid them from the outside world, +and the babble and rumble of Broadway came to them only as the murmur +of noise in a dream. Speechless with joy, Hyde clasped Cornelia's +slender fingers, and they went together down the few broad low steps +which led them into the green shadows of the trees. How soft was the +grassy turf! How exquisite the westering sunlight, sifting through the +maple leaves! They looked into each other's eyes and smiled, but were +too happy to speak. For they had suddenly come into that land, which is +east of the sun, and west of the moon; that land not laid down on any +chart, but which we feel to be our rightful heritage. + +Slowly, as they stepped, they came at length to a little summerhouse. +It was covered with a thick jessamin vine; and the mysterious, +languorous perfume of its starlike flowers filled the narrow +resting-place with the very atmosphere of love. They sat down there, +and in a few moments the seal was broken and Hyde's heart found out all +the sweetest words that love could speak. Cornelia trembled; she +blushed, she smiled, she suffered herself to be drawn close to his +side; and, at last, in some sweet, untranslatable way, she gave him the +assurance of her love. Then they found in delicious silence the +eloquence that words were incompetent to translate; time was forgotten, +and on earth there was once more an interlude of heavenly harmony in +which two souls became one and Paradise was regained. + +Arenta's voice, petulant and not pleasant, broke the charm. With a sigh +they rose, dropped each other's hand, and went out of their heaven on +earth to meet her. + +"Tea is waiting," she said, "and Rem is waiting, and my aunt is tired, +and you two have forgotten that the clock moves." Then they laughed, +and laughter is always fatal to feeling; the magical land of love was +suddenly far away, and there was the sound of china, and the heavy +tones of Rem's voice--dissatisfied, if not angry--and Arenta's lighter +fret; and they stood once more among fetishes and forms so foreign, +fabulous and fantastical, that it was difficult to pass from the land +of love, and all its pure delights, into their atmosphere. + +It would have been harder but for Madame Jacobus. She understood; and +she sympathized; and there was a kindly element in her nature which +disposed her to side with the lovers. Her smile,--quick and short as a +flash of the eyes--revealed to Hyde her intention of favour, and +without one spoken word, these two knew themselves to be of the same +mind. And, in parting, she held his hand while she talked, saying at +last the very words he longed to hear-- + +"We shall expect you again on Thursday, Lieutenant. Everything is yet +undecided, and the work you have begun, it is right that you should +finish." + +He answered only, "Thank you, madame!" but he accompanied the words +with a look which asked so much, and confessed so much, that madame +felt herself to be a silent confidante and a not unwilling accomplice. +And when she had closed the door on her guests, she acknowledged it. +"But then," she whispered, "I always did dearly love a lover; and this +promises to be a love affair that will need my help--plenty of good +honest hatred for it to combat--and wealth and rank and all sorts of +conflicting conditions to get the better of--Well, then, my help is +ready. In plain truth, I don't like such perfection as Doctor John; and +my nephew Rem is not interesting. He is sulky, and Hyde is +good-tempered, just like his father, too; and there never was a more +fascinating man than Dick Hyde. HE-HO! I remember!--I remember!--and +yet I dare say Dick has forgotten my very name--this is a marriage that +will exactly suit me--I don't care who is against it!" Then she said +softly to herself-- + +"REM went to Cornelia as they were about to leave, and he reminded her +that, by her permission, he had come to walk home with her. + +"CORNELIA turned to Hyde, excused herself, and, cool and silent, took +her place by Rem's side. + +"HYDE accepted the position with a smile, and a gracious bow, and then +joined Arenta. + +"ARENTA was far less agreeable than she ought to have been; for both +she and her brother had a kind of divination. They knew, in spite of +appearances, that Rem had not got the best of Joris Hyde. I am quick in +my observations, and I know this is so. Well then, it is a very +interesting affair as it stands--and it is like to grow far more +interesting. I am not opposed to that. I shall enjoy it. Hyde and +Cornelia ought to marry--and they have my good wishes." + +As for Hyde, no thought that could mar the sweetness and joy of this +fortunate hour came into his mind. Neither Rem's evident hatred, nor +Arenta's disapproval, nor yet Cornelia's silence, troubled him. He had +within his heart a talisman that made everything propitious. And he was +so joyous that the people whom he passed on the street caught happiness +from him. Men and women alike turned to look after the youth, for they +felt the virtue of his passing presence, and wondered what it might +mean. Even the necessary parting from Cornelia was only a phase of this +wonderful gladness; for Love never fails of his token, and, though +Arenta's sharp eyes could not discover it, Hyde received the silent +message that was meant for him, and for him only. That one thought made +his heart bound and falter with its exquisite delight--for him +only--for him only, was that swift but certain assurance; that +instantaneous bright flash of love that held in it all heaven and +earth, and left him, as he told himself again and again, the happiest +man in all the world. + +He was hardly responsible for his actions at this hour; for when a +swift gallop brought him to the Van Heemskirk house, he quite +unconsciously struck the door some rapid, forceful blows, with his +riding whip. His grandfather opened it with an angry face. + +"I thought it was thee," he said. "Now, then, in such lordly fashion, +whom didst thou summon? dog or slave, was it?" + +"Oh, grandfather, I intended no harm. Did I strike so hard? Upon my +word, I meant it not." + +At this moment Madame Van Heemskirk came quickly forward. She turned a +face of disapproval on her husband, and asked sharply, "Why dost thou +complain?" + +"I like not my house-door struck so rudely, Lysbet. No man in all +America, but Joris Hyde, would dare to do it." + +At these words Joris flung himself from his horse and clasped his +grandfather's hand. "I did wrong," he said warmly; "but I am beside +myself with happiness; and I thought of nothing but telling you. My +heart was in such a hurry that my hands forgot how to behave +themselves." + +"So happy as that, art thou? Good! Come in, and tell us what has +happened to thee." + +But Lysbet divined the joy in her grandson's face; and she said softly +as he seated himself at the open window where his grandfather's chair +was placed-- + +"It is Cornelia?" + +"Yes, it is Cornelia. She loves me! The most charming girl the sun ever +shone upon loves me. It is incredible! It is amazing! I cannot believe +in my good fortune. Will you assure me it is possible? I want to hear +some one say so--and who is there but my grandfather and you? I do not +like to tell my mother, just yet. What do you say?" + +"I say that thou hast chosen a good girl for a wife. God bless thee," +answered Lysbet with great emotion. + +Van Heemskirk smiled, but was silent; and Hyde stooped forward, gently +moved his long pipe away from his lips, and said, "Grandfather, speak, +You know Cornelia Moran?" + +"I have seen her. With thee I saw her--walking with thee--dancing with +thee. A great beauty I thought her. Thy grandmother says she is good. +Well, then, the love of a good, beautiful girl, is something to be glad +over. Not twice in a lifetime comes such great fortune. But make up thy +mind to expect much opposition. Doctor John and thy father were ever +unfriends. Thy father has other plans for thee; Cornelia's father has +doubtless other plans for her. Few men can stand against Doctor John; +he has the word, and the way, to carry all before him. I know not how +the little Cornelia can dare to disobey him." + +"She has said 'yes' to me; and, before heaven and earth, she will stand +by it." + +"Say that much. And of thyself, art thou sure?" + +"Why art thou throwing cold water on such sweet hopes?" said Lysbet to +her husband. + +"Because, when love flames beyond duty and honour and all expediences, +Lysbet, some one a little cold water ought to throw. And THOU will not +do it. No! Rather, would thou add fuel to the flame." + +"I know not what you mean, sir," said Hyde, vaguely troubled by his +grandfather's words. + +"I think thou knowest well what I mean. Thy father has told thee that +thy duty and thy honour are pledged to Annie Hyde." + +"I never pledged! Never!" + +"But, as in thy baptism thy father made vows for thee, so also for thy +marriage he made promises. Noble birth has responsibility, as well as +privilege. For thyself alone it is not permitted thee to live, from +both the past and the future there are demands on thee." + +"Grandfather, this living for the future is the curse of the English +land-owners. They enjoy not the present, for they are busy taking care +of the years they will never see. Their sons are in their way; it is +their grandsons and their great-grandsons that interest them. Why +should my father plan for my marriage? He may be Earl Hyde for twenty +years--and I hope he will. For twenty years Cornelia and I can be happy +here in America; and twenty years is a great opportunity. Everything +can happen in twenty years. Of one thing I am sure--I will marry +Cornelia Moran, even if I run away with her to the ends of the earth." + +"'Run away with her.' To be sure! That is in the blood;" and the old +man looked sternly back to the days when Hyde's father ran away with +his own little daughter. + +With some anger Lysbet answered his thoughts. "What art thou talking +about? What art thou thinking of? Many good men have run away with +their wives. This almighty Doctor John ran away with his wife. Did not +Ava Willing leave her father's house and her friends and her faith for +him? And did not the Quakers read her out of their Meeting for her +marriage?--and I blame them not. Doctor John was no match for Ava +Willing. More, too, if thou must look back; remember one May night, +when thou and I sat by the Collect in the moonlight, and thou gave me +this ring. What did thou say to me that night?" + +"'Tis years ago, Lysbet, and If I have forgotten--" + +"Forgotten! Well, then, men do forget; but they may be thankful that +God has so made women that they do NOT forget. The words thou said that +night have been singing in my heart for fifty years; and yet, if thou +must be told, some of those words were about RUNNING AWAY WITH +THEE;--for, at the first, my father liked thee not." + +"Lysbet! My sweet Lysbet! I have not forgotten. For thy dear sake I +will stand by Joris, though in doing so I am sure I shall make some +unfriends." + +"Good, my husband. I take leave to say that thou art doing right." + +"Well, then," said Hyde, "if my grandmother stand by me, and you also, +sir; and also Madame Jacobus--" + +"Madame Jacobus!" cried Lysbet. + +"Yes, indeed!" answered Hyde. "'Tis to her understanding and kindness I +owe my opportunity; and she gave me, also, one look which I cannot +pretend to misunderstand--a look of clear sympathy--a look that +promised help." + +"She is a clever woman," said Van Heemskirk. "If Joris has her good +will it is not to be thrown away." + +"I like her not," said Lysbet. "With my grandson, with my affairs, why +should she meddle? Pray, now, what took thee, Joris, to her house? It +is full of idolatries and graven images. Doctor Kunz once wrote to her +a letter about them. He said she ought to remember the Second +Commandment. And she wrote to him a letter, and told him to trouble +himself with his own business. Much anger and shame there might have +been out of this, but Angelica Jacobus is rich, and she is generous to +the church, and to the poor; and Doctor Kunz said to the elders, 'Let +her alone, for there is a savour of righteousness in her;' and when she +heard of that, she was pleased with the Doctor, and sent him one +hundred dollars for the Indian Mission. But, Joris, she is no good to +thee. I hear many queer stories of her." + +"Downright lies, all of them," replied Hyde. Then he rose, saying, "I +must ride onward. My mother will not sleep until she sees me." + +"It is nearly dark," said Van Heemskirk, "and to-night thou art in the +clouds. The land and the water will be alike to thee. Rest until the +morning." + +"I fear not the dark. I know the road by night or by day." + +"Yet, even so, mind what I tell thee--if thou ride in the dark, be not +wiser than thy beast." + +Then they walked with him to the door, and watched him leap to his +saddle and ride into the twilight trembling over the misty meadows, +trickling with dews. And a great melancholy fell over them, and they +could not resume the conversation. Joris re-lit his pipe, and Lysbet +went softly and thoughtfully about her household duties. It was one of +those hours in which Life distills for us her vague melancholy wine; +and Joris and Lysbet drank deeply of it. + +The moon was in its third day, and the silent crescent has no calmer +and sweeter time; yet Joris it inclined to a sad presentiment. "In my +heart there is a fear, Lysbet," he said softly. "I think our boy has +gone a road he will dearly rue. I foresee disputing, and wounded +hearts, and lives made barren by many disappointed hopes." + +"Nothing of the kind," answered Lysbet cheerfully. "Our little Joris is +so happy to-night, why wilt thou think evil for him? To think evil is +to bring evil. Out of foolishness or perchance such a great love has +not come. No, indeed! That it comes from heaven I am sure; and to +heaven I will leave its good fortune." + +"Pleasant are thy hopes, Lysbet; but, too often, vain and foolish." + +"Thy reasoning, is it any wiser? No. Often I have found it wrong. One +thing the years have said to me, it is this--'Lysbet put not thy +judgment in the place of Providence. If thou trust Providence, thou +hast the easy heart of a child of God; if thou trust to thine own +judgment, thou hast the troubled heart of an anxious woman.'" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +ARENTA'S MARRIAGE + + +For a few weeks, Hyde's belief that the very stars would connive with a +true lover seemed a reliable one. Madame Jacobus, attracted at their +first meeting to the youth, soon gave him an astonishing affection. And +yet this warm love of an old woman for youth and beauty was a very +natural one--a late development of the maternal instinct leading her +even to what seemed an abnormal preference. For she put aside her +nephew's claims with hardly a thought, and pleased herself day by day +in so managing and arranging events that Hyde and Cornelia met, as a +matter of course. Arenta was not, however, deceived; she understood +every maneuvre, but the success of her own affairs depended very much +on her aunt's cooperation and generosity, and so she could not afford, +at this time, to interfere for her brother. + +"But I shall alter things a little as soon as I am married," she told +herself. "I will take care of that. At this time I must see, and hear, +and say nothing. I must act politely--for I am always polite--and +Athanase also is in favour of politeness--but I take leave to say that +Joris Hyde shall not carry so much sail when a few weeks are gone by. +So happy he looks! So pleased with himself! So sure of all he says and +does! I am angry at him all the time. Well, then, it will be a +satisfaction to abate a little the confidence of this cock-sure young +man." + +Arenta's feelings were in kind and measure shared by several other +people; Doctor Moran held them in a far bitterer mood; but he, +also,--environed by circumstances he could neither alter nor +command,--was compelled to satisfy his disapproval with promises of a +future change. For the wedding of Arenta Van Ariens had assumed a great +social importance. Arenta herself had talked about the affair until all +classes were on the tiptoe of expectation. The wealthy Dutch families, +the exclusive American set, the home and foreign diplomatic circles, +were alike looking forward to the splendid ceremony, and to the great +breakfast at Peter Van Ariens' house, and to the ball which Madame +Jacobus was to give in the evening. None of the younger people had ever +been in madame's fantastic ballroom, and they were eager for this entry +into her wonderful house. For their mothers--seeing things through the +mists of Time--had, innocently enough, exaggerated the marvels of the +Chinese lanterns, the feather flowers and gorgeously plumed birds, the +cases of tropical butterflies and beetles, and the fascination of the +pagan deities, until they were ready to listen to any tale about Madame +Jacobus and to swallow it like cream. + +So Doctor Moran, being physician and family friend to most of the +invited guests, had to listen to such reminiscences and anticipations +wherever he went. He knew that he could not talk against the great +public current, and that in the excited state of social feeling it +would be a kind of treason even to hint disapproval of Arenta, or of +any of her friends or doings. But he suffered. He was questioned by +some, he was enlightened by others; his opinion was asked about dresses +and ceremonies, he was constantly congratulated on his daughter's +prominence as bridesmaid, and he was sent for professionally, that he +might be talked to socially. Yet if he ventured to hint +dissatisfaction, or to express himself by a scornful "Pooh! Pooh!" he +was answered by looks of such astonishment, of such quick-springing +womanly suspicions, that he could not doubt the kind of conversation +which followed his exit: + +"Do you think Doctor Moran VERY clever?" + +"Most people think so." + +"He is so unsympathetic. Doctor Moore knows everything Madame Jacobus +is going to have, and to do. I think doctors ought to be chatty. It is +so good for their patients to be cheered up a little." + +Doctor Moran divined perfectly this taste for gossip and MEDICINAL +sympathy combined, and to administer it was, to him, more nauseous than +his own bitterest drugs. So in these days he was not a cheerful man to +live with, and Cornelia's beauty and radiant happiness affected him +very much as Hyde's pronounced satisfaction affected Arenta. One +morning, as he was returning home after a round of disagreeable visits, +he saw Cornelia and Hyde coming up Broadway together. They were +sauntering side by side in all the lazy happiness of perfect love; and +as he looked at them the sorrow of an immense disillusion filled him to +the lips. He had believed himself, as yet, to be the first and the +dearest in his child's love; but in that moment his eyes were opened, +and he felt as if he had been suddenly thrust out from it and the door +closed upon him. + +He did the wisest thing possible: he went home to his wife. She heard +him ride with clattering haste into the stone court, and soon after +enter the house from the back, banging every door after him. She knew +then that something had angered him--that he was in that temper which +makes a woman cry, but which a man can only relieve by noisy or +emphatic movement of some kind. A resolute look came into her face and +she said to herself, "John has always had his own way--and my way also; +but Cornelia's way--the child must surely have something to say about +that." + +"Where is Cornelia, Ava?" He asked the question with a quick glance +round the room, as if he expected to find her present. + +"Cornelia is not at home to-day." + +"Is she ever at home now?" + +"You know that Arenta's wedding--" + +"Arenta's wedding! I am tired to death of it: I have heard nothing this +morning but Arenta's wedding. Why the deuce! should my house be turned +upside down and inside out for Arenta's wedding? Women have been +married before Arenta Van Ariens, and women will be married after her. +What is all this fuss about?" + +"You know--" + +"Bless my soul! of course I know. I know one thing at least, that I +have just met Cornelia and that young fop George Hyde coming up the +street together, as if they two alone were in the world. They never saw +me, they could see nothing but themselves." + +"Men and women have done such a thing before, John, and they will do it +again. Cornelia is a beautiful girl; it is natural that she should have +a lover." + +"It is very unnatural that she should choose for her lover the son of +my worst enemy." + +"I am sure you wrong General Hyde. When was he your enemy? How could he +be your enemy?" + +"When was he my enemy? Ever since the first hour we met. Often he tried +to injure me with General Washington; often he accused me of showing +partiality to certain officers in the army; only last year he prevented +my election to the Senate by using all his influence in favour of Joris +Van Heemskirk. If he has not done me more injury and more injustice, +'tis because he has not had the opportunity. And you want me to give +Cornelia to his son! Yes, you do, Ava! I see it on your face. You +stretch my patience too far. Can I not see--" + +"Can an angry man ever see? No, he cannot. You feed your own +suspicions, John. You might just as well link Cornelia's name with Rem +Van Ariens as with Joris Hyde. She is continually in Rem's company. He +is devoted to her. She cannot possibly misunderstand his looks and +words, she must perceive that he is her ardent lover. You might have +seen them the last three evenings sitting together at that table +preparing the invitations for the wedding breakfast and ball; arranging +the cards and favours.--So happy! So pleasantly familiar! So +confidential! I think Rem Van Ariens has as much of Cornelia's liking +as George Hyde; and perhaps neither of them have enough of it to win +her hand. All lovers do not grow to husbands." + +"Thank God, they do not! But what you say about Rem is only cobweb +stuff. She is too friendly, too pleasantly familiar, I would like to +see her more shy and silent with him. Every one has already given my +daughter to Hyde, and, say what you will, common fame is seldom to +blame." + +"Dinner is waiting, John, and whether you eat it or not Destiny will go +straight to her mark. Love is destiny; and the heart is its own fate. +There are those to whom we are spiritually related, and the tie is +kinder than flesh and blood. Can you, or I, count such kindred? No; but +souls see each other at a glance. Did I not know thee, John, the very +moment that we met?" + +She spoke softly, with a voice sweeter than music, and her husband was +touched and calmed. He took the hand she stretched out to him and +kissed it, and she added-- + +"Let us be patient. Love has reasons that reason does not understand; +and if Cornelia is Hyde's by predestination, as well as by choice, +vainly we shall worry and fret; all our opposition will come to +nothing. Give Cornelia this interval, and tithe it not; in a few days +Arenta will have gone away; and as for Hyde, any hour may summon him to +join his father in England; and this summons, as it will include his +mother, he can neither evade nor put off. Then Rem will have his +opportunity." + +"To be patient--to wait--to say nothing--it is to give opportunity too +much scope. I must tell that young fellow a little of my mind--" + +"You must not make yourself a town's talk, John. Just now New York is +all for lovers. If you interfere between Hyde and Cornelia while it is +in this temper, every one will cry out, 'Oh, the pity of it!' and you +will be bayed into doing some mad thing or other. Do I not know you, +dear one?" + +"God's precious!" and he took her in his arms, saying, "the man who +learns nothing from his wife will never learn anything from anybody. +Come, then, and we will eat our meal. I had forgotten Rem, and as you +say, Hyde may have to go to England to-morrow; putting-off has broken +up many an ill marriage." + +"Time and absence against any love affair that is not destiny! And if +it be destiny, there is only submission, nothing else. But life has a +'maybe' in everything dear; a maybe that is just as likely to please us +as not." + +Then Doctor John looked up with a smile. "You are right, Ava," he said +cheerfully. "I will take the maybe. Maybes have a deal to do with life. +When you come to think of it, there is not a victory of any kind +gained, nor a good deed done except on a maybe. So maybe all I fear may +pass like a summer cloud. Yet, take my word for it, there is, I think, +no maybe in Rem's chances with Cornelia." + +"We shall see. I think there is." + +Certainly Rem was of this opinion. The past few weeks had been very +favourable to him. In them he had been continually associated with +Cornelia, and her manner towards him had been so frankly kind and +familiar, so confidential and sympathetic, that he could not help but +contrast it with their previous intercourse, when she had appeared to +withdraw herself from all his approaches and to forbid by her retiring +manner even the courtesies to which his long acquaintance with her +entitled him. + +If he had known more of women he would not have given himself any hope +on this change of attitude. It simply meant that Cornelia had arrived +at that certainty with regard to her own affections which permitted her +a more general latitude. She knew that she loved Hyde, and she knew +that Hyde loved her. They had a most complete confidence in each other; +and she was not afraid, either for his sake or her own, to give to Rem +that friendship which the circumstances warranted. That this friendship +could ever grow to love on her part was an impossible thing; and if she +thought of Rem's feelings, it was to suppose that he must understand +this position as well as she did herself. + +Rem, however, was quite aware of his rival, and with the blunt +directness of his nature watched with jealous dislike, and often with +rude impatience, the familiar intercourse which his aunt's partiality +permitted Hyde. He was, indeed, often so rude that a less +sweet-tempered, a less just youth than George Hyde would have pointedly +resented many offences that he passed by with that "noble not caring" +which is often the truest courage. + +Still the situation was one of great tension, and it required not only +the wise forbearance of Hyde and Cornelia, but the domineering +selfishness of Arenta and the suave clever diplomacies of Madame +Jacobus to preserve at times the merely decent conventionalities of +polite life. To keep the peace until the wedding was over--that was all +that Rem promised himself; THEN! He often gave voice to this last word, +though he had no distinct idea as to what measures he included in those +four letters. + +He told himself, however, that it would be well for George Hyde to be +in England, and that if he were there, the General might be trusted to +look after the marriage of his son. For he knew that an English noble +would be of necessity bound by his caste and his connections, and that +Hyde would have to face obligations he would not be able to shirk. +"Then, then, his opportunity to win Cornelia would come!" And it was at +this point the hopeful "maybe" entered into Rem's desires and +anticipations. + +But wrath covered carries fate. Every one was in some measure conscious +of this danger and glad when the wedding day approached. Even Arenta +had grown a little weary of the prolonged excitement she had provoked, +for everything had gone so well with her that she had taken the public +very much into her confidence. There had been frequent little notices +in the Gazette and Journal of the approaching day--of the wedding +presents, the wedding favours, the wedding guests, and the wedding +garments. And, as if to add the last touch of glory to the event, just +a week before Arenta's nuptials a French armed frigate came to New York +bearing despatches for the Count de Moustier; and the Marquis de +Tounnerre was selected to bear back to France the Minister's Message. +So the marriage was put forward a few days for this end, and Arenta in +the most unexpected way obtained the bridal journey which she desired; +and also with it the advantage of entering France in a semi-public and +stately manner. + +"I am the luckiest girl in the world," she said to Cornelia and her +brother when this point had been decided. They were tying up +"dream-cake" for the wedding guests in madame's queer, uncanny +drawing-room as she spoke, and the words were yet on her lips when +madame entered with a sandal wood box in her hands. + +"Rem," she said, "go with Cornelia into the dining-room a few minutes. +I have something to say to Arenta that concerns no one else." + +As soon as they were alone madame opened the box and upon a white +velvet cushion lay the string of oriental pearls which Arenta on +certain occasions had been permitted to wear. Arenta's eyes flashed +with delight. She had longed for them to complete her wedding costume, +but having a very strong hope that her aunt would offer her this +favour, she had resolved to wait for her generosity until the last +hour. Now she was going; to receive the reward of her prudent patience, +and she said to herself, "How good it is to be discreet!" With an +intense desire and interest she looked at the beautiful beads, but +madame's face was troubled and sombre, and she said almost reluctantly-- + +"Arenta, I am going to make you an offer. This necklace will be yours +when I die, at any rate; but I think there is in your heart a wish to +have it now. Is this so?" + +"Aunt, I should like--oh, indeed I long to wear the beads at my +marriage. I shall only be half-dressed without them." + +"You shall wear the necklace. And as you are going to what is left of +the French Court, I will give it to you now, if the gift will be to +your mind." + +"There is nothing that could be more to my mind, dear aunt. I would +rather have the necklace, than twice its money's worth. Thank you, +aunt. You always know what is in a young girl's heart." + +"First, listen to what I say. No woman of our family has escaped +calamity of some kind, if they owned these beads. My mother lost her +husband the year she received them. My Aunt Hildegarde lost her fortune +as soon as they were hers. As for myself, on the very day they became +mine your Uncle Jacobus sailed away, and he has never come back. Are +you not afraid of such fatality?" + +"No, I am not. Things just happen that way. What power can a few beads +have over human life or happiness? To say so, to think so, is +foolishness." + +"I know not. Yet I have heard that both pearls and opals have the power +to attract to themselves the ill fortune of their wearers. If they +happen to be maiden pearls or gems that would be good; but would you +wish to inherit the evil fortune of all the women who have possessed +before you?" + +"Poor pearls! It is they who are the unfortunates." + +"Yes, but a time comes when they have taken all of misfortune they can +take; then the pearls grow black and die, really die. Yes, indeed! I +have seen dead pearls. And if the necklace were of opals, when that +time came for them the gems would lose their fire and colour, grow ashy +grey, fall apart and become dust, nothing but dust." + +"Do you believe such tales, aunt? I do not. And your pearls are yet as +white as moonlight. I do not fear them. Give them to me, aunt. I snap +my fingers at such fables." + +"Give them to you, I will not, Arenta; but you may take them from the +box with your own hands." + +"I am delighted to take them. I have always longed for them." + +"Perhaps then they longed for you, for what is another's yearns for its +owner." + +Then madame left the room and Arenta lifted the box and carried it +nearer to the light. And a little shiver crept through her heart and +she closed the lid quickly and said irritably-- + +"It is my aunt's words. She is always speaking dark and doubtful +things. However, the pearls are mine at last!" and she carried them +with her downstairs, throwing back her head as if they were round her +white throat and--as was her way--spreading herself as she went. + +All fine weddings are much alike. It was only in such accidentals as +costume that Arenta's differed from the fine weddings of to-day. There +was the same crush of gayly attired women, of men in full dress, or +military dress, or distinguished by diplomatic insignia:--the same low +flutter of silk, and stir of whispered words, and suppressed +excitement--the same eager crowd along the streets and around the +church to watch the advent of the bride and bridegroom. All of the +guests had seen them very often before, yet they too looked at the +dazzling girl in white as if they expected an entirely different +person. The murmur of pleasure, the indefinable stir of human emotion, +the solemn mystical words at the altar that were making two one, the +triumphant peal of music when they ceased, and the quick crescendo of +rising congratulation--all these things were present then, as now. And +then, as now, all these things failed to conceal from sensitive minds +that odour of human sacrifice, not to be disguised with the scent of +bridal flowers--that immolation of youth and beauty and charming +girlhood upon the altar of an unknown and an untried love. + +New York was not then too busy making money to take an interest in such +a wedding, and Arenta's drive through its pleasant streets was a kind +of public invitation. For Jacob Van Ariens was one of a guild of +wealthy merchants, and they were at their shop doors to express their +sympathy by lifted hats and smiling faces; while the women looked from +every window, and the little children followed, their treble voices +heralding and acclaiming the beautiful bride. Then came the breakfast +and the health-drinking and the speech-making and the rather sadder +drive to the wharf at which lay La Belle France. And even Arenta was by +this time weary of the excitement, so that it was almost with a sense +of relief she stepped across the little carpeted gangway to her deck. +Then the anchor was lifted, the cable loosened, and with every sail set +La Belle France went dancing down the river on the tide-top to the open +sea. + +Van Ariens and his son Rem turned silently away. A great and evident +depression had suddenly taken the place of their assumed satisfaction. +"I am going to the Swamp office," said Rem after a few moments' +silence, "there is something to be done there." + +"That is well," answered Peter. "To my Cousin Deborah I will give some +charges about the silver, and then I will follow you." + +Both men were glad to be alone. They had outworn emotion and knew +instinctively that some common duty was the best restorer. The same +feeling affected, in one way or another, all the watchers of this +destiny. Women whose household work was belated, whose children were +strayed, who had used up their nervous strength in waiting and feeling, +were now cross and inclined to belittle the affair and to be angry at +Arenta and themselves for their lost day. And men, young and old, all +went back to their ledgers and counters and manufacturing with a sense +of lassitude and dejection. + +Peter had nearly reached his own house when he met Doctor Moran. The +doctor was more irritable than depressed. He looked at his friend and +said sharply, "You have a fever, Van Ariens. Go to bed and sleep." + +"To work I will go. That is the best thing to do. My house has no +comfort in it. Like a milliner's or a mercer's store it has been for +many weeks. Well, then, my Cousin Deborah is at work there, and in a +little while--a little while--" He suddenly stopped and looked at the +doctor with brimming eyes. In that moment he understood that no putting +to rights could ever make his home the same. His little saucy, selfish, +but dearly loved Arenta would come there no more; and he found not one +word that could express the tide of sorrow rising in his heart. Doctor +John understood. He remained quiet, silent, clasping Van Ariens' hand +until the desolate father with a great effort blurted out-- + +"She is gone!--and smiling, also, she went." + +"It is the curse of Adam," answered Doctor Moran bitterly--"to bring up +daughters, to love them, to toil and save and deny ourselves for them, +and then to see some strange man, of whom we have no certain knowledge, +carry them off captive to his destiny and his desires. 'Tis a thankless +portion to be a father--a bitter pleasure." + +"Well, then, to be a mother is worse." + +"Who can tell that? Women take for compensations things that do not +deceive a father. And, also, they have one grand promise to help them +bear loss and disappointment--the assurance of the Holy Scripture that +they shall have salvation through child-bearing. And I, who have seen +so much of family love and life, can tell you that this promise is all +many a mother has for her travail and sorrowful love." + +"It is enough. Pray God that we miss not of that reward some share," +and with a motion of adieu he turned into his house. Very thoughtfully +the Doctor went on to William Street where he had a patient,--a young +girl of about Arenta's age--very ill. A woman opened the door--a woman +weeping bitterly. + +"She is gone, Doctor." + +"At what hour?" + +"The clock was striking three--she went smiling." + +Then he bowed his head and turned away. + +There was nothing more that he could do; but he remembered that Arenta +had stepped on board the La Belle France as the clock struck three, and +that she also had gone smiling to her unknown destiny. + +"Two emigrants," he thought, "pilgrims of Love and Death, and both went +smiling!" An unwonted tenderness came into his heart; he thought of the +bright, lovely bride clinging so trustfully to her husband's arm, and +he voiced this gentle feeling to his wife in very sincere wishes for +the safety and happiness of the little emigrant for Love. He had a +singular reluctance to name her--he knew not why--with the other little +maid who also had left smiling at three o'clock, an emigrant for whom +Death had opened eternal vistas of delight. + +"I do not know," said Mrs. Moran, "how Van Ariens could suffer his +daughter to go to a country full of turmoil and bloodshed." + +"He was very unhappy to do so, Ava. But when things have gone a certain +length they have fatality. The Marquis had promised to become +eventually a citizen of this Republic, and Van Ariens had no idea in +sanctioning the marriage that his daughter would leave New York. It was +even supposed the Marquis would remain here in the Count de Moustier's +place, and the sudden turn of events which sent de Tounnerre to France +was a severe blow to Van Ariens. But what could he do?" + +"He might have delayed the marriage until the return of de Tounnerre." + +"Ah, Ava! you are counting without consideration. He could not have +detained Arenta against her will, and if he had, a miserable life would +have been before both of them--domestic discomfort, public queries and +suspicions, questions, doubts, offending sympathies--all the griefs and +vexations that are sure to follow a Fate that is crossed. He did the +best thing possible when he let the wilful girl go as pleasantly as he +could. Arenta needs a wide horizon." + +"Is she in any danger from the state of affairs in Paris?" + +"Mr. Jefferson says in no danger whatever. Our Minister is living there +in safety. Arenta will have his friendship and protection; and her +husband has many friends in the most powerful party. She will have a +brilliant visit and be very happy." + +"How can she be very happy with the guillotine daily enacting such +murders?" + +"She need not be present at such murders. And Mr. Jefferson may be +right, and we outsiders may make too much of circumstances that France, +and France alone, can properly estimate. He says that the God that made +iron wished not slaves to exist, and thinks there is a profound and +eternal justice in this desolation and retribution of aristocrats who +have committed unmentionable oppressions. I know not; good and evil are +so interwoven in life that every good, traced up far enough, is found +to involve evil. This is the great mystery of life. However, Ava, I am +a great believer in sequences; there are few events that break off +absolutely. In Arenta's life there will be sequences; let us hope that +they will be happy ones. Where is Cornelia?" + +"I know not. She is asleep. The ball to-night is to be fairy-land and +love-land, an Arabian night's dream and a midsummer night's dream all +in one. I told her to rest, for she was weary and nervous with +expectation." + +"I dare say. But what is the good of being young if it is not to expect +miracles?" + +"George Hyde calls for her at eight o'clock. I shall let her sleep +until seven, give her some refreshment, and then assist her to dress." + +"George Hyde! So you still believe in trusting the cat with the cream?" + +"I still believe in Cornelia. Come, now, and drink a cup of tea. +To-morrow the Van Ariens' excitement will be over, and we shall have +rest." + +"I think not. The town is now ready to move to Philadelphia. I hear +that Mrs. Adams is preparing to leave Richmond Hill. Washington has +already gone, and Congress is to meet in December. Even the Quakers are +intending all sorts of social festivities." + +"But this will not concern us." + +"It may. If George Hyde does not go very soon to England, we shall go +to Philadelphia. I wish to rid myself and Cornelia of his airs and +graces and wearisome good temper, his singing and reciting and +tringham-trangham poetry. This story has been long enough; we will turn +over and end it." + +"It will be a great trial to Cornelia." + +"It may, or it may not--there is Rem--Rem is your own suggestion. +However, we have all to sing the hymn of Renunciation at some time; it +is well to sing it in youth." + +Mrs. Moran did not answer. When answering was likely to provoke anger, +she kept silence and talked the matter over with herself. A very wise +plan. For where shall we find a friend so intimate, so discreet, so +conciliating as self? Who can speak to us so well?--without obscurity, +without words, without passion. Yes, indeed: "I will talk to myself" is +a very significant phrase. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +TWO PROPOSALS + + +The ruling idea of any mind assumes the foreground of thought; and +after Arenta's marriage the dominant desire of George Hyde was to have +his betrothal to Cornelia recognized and assured. He was in haste to +light his own nuptial torch, and afraid every day of that summons to +England which would delay the event. Hitherto, both had been satisfied +with the delicious certainty of their own hearts. To bring Love to +discussion and catechism, to talk of Love in connection with house and +money matters, to put him into bonds, however light those bonds might +be, was indeed a safe and prudent thing for their future happiness; +but, so far, the present with its sweet freedom and uncertainty had +been more charming to their imagination. Suddenly, however, Hyde felt +the danger and stress of this uncertainty and the fear of losing what +he appeared to hold so lightly. + +"I may have to go away with mother at any time--I may be detained by +events I cannot help--and I have not bound Cornelia to me by any +personal recognized tie--and Rem Van Ariens will be ever near her. Oh, +indeed, this state of affairs will never do! I will write to Cornelia +this very moment and tell her I must see her father this evening. I +cannot possibly delay it longer. I have been a fool--a careless, happy +fool--too long. There is not now a day to lose. I have already wasted +more time than was reasonable over the love affairs of other people; +now I must look after my own. Safe bind, safe find; I will bind +Cornelia to me before I leave her, then I have a good right to find her +safe when I return to claim her." + +While such thoughts were passing through his mind he had risen hastily +from the chair in which he had been musing. He opened his secretary and +sitting resolutely down, began a letter to Doctor Moran. He poured out +his heart and desires, and then he read what he had written. It would +not do at all. It was a love letter and not a business letter. He wrote +another, and then another. The first was too long, it left nothing in +the inkstand; the last was not to be thought of. When he had finished +reading them over, he was in a passion with himself. + +"A fool in your teeth twice over, Joris Hyde!" he cried, "yes, sir, +three times, and far too good for you! Since you cannot write a decent +business letter, write, then, to the adorable Cornelia; the words will +be at your finger ends for that letter, and will slip from your pen as +if they were dancing: + +"MY SWEET CORNELIA: + +"I have not seen you for two days, and 'tis a miracle that I have +endured it. I can tell you, beloved, that I am much concerned about our +affairs, and now that I have begun to talk wisely I may talk a little +more without wearying you. You know that I may have to go to England +soon, and go I will not until I have asked your father what favour he +will show us. On the street, he gets out of my way as if I had the +plague. Tell me at what hour I may call and see him in his house. I +will then ask him point blank for your hand, and he is so candid that I +shall have in a word Yes or No on the matter. Do not keep me waiting +longer than seven this very night. I have a fever of anxiety, and I +shall not grow better, but worse, until I settle our engagement. Oh, my +peerless Cornelia, pearl and flower of womanhood, I speak your speech, +I think your thought; you are the noblest thing in my life, and to +remember you is to remember the hours when I was the very best and the +very happiest. Your image has become part of me, your memory is a +perfume which makes sweet my heart. I wish this moment to give you +thousands and thousands of kisses. Bid me come to you soon, very soon, +sooner than seven, if possible, for your love is my life. Send your +answer to my city lodging. I shall follow this letter and be +impatiently waiting for it. Oh, Cornelia, am I not ever and entirely +yours? + +"GEORGE HYDE." + +It was not more than eight o'clock in the morning when he wrote this +letter, and as soon as possible he despatched a swift messenger with it +to Cornelia. He hoped that she would receive it soon after the Doctor +had left his home for his usual round of professional visits; then she +might possibly write to him at once, and if so, he would get the letter +very soon after he reached the city. + +Probably Madame Hyde divined something of the importance and tenor of a +missive sent in such a hurry of anxious love, so early in the day, but +she showed neither annoyance nor curiosity regarding it. In the first +place, she knew that opposition would only strengthen whatever resolve +her son had made; in the second place, she was conscious of a singular +restlessness of her own spirit. She was apprehending change, and she +could think of no change but that call to leave her home and her native +land which she so much dreaded. If this event happened, then the +affairs of Joris would assume an entirely different aspect. He would be +obliged to leave everything which now interested him, and he could not +live without interests; very well, then, he would be compelled to +accept such as a new Fate thrown into his new life. She had a great +faith in circumstances. She knew that in the long run every one wrote +beneath that potent word, "Your obedient servant." Circumstances would +either positively deny all her son's hopes, or they would so powerfully +aid them that opposition would be useless; and she mentally bowed +herself to an influence so powerful and perhaps so favourable. + +"Joris, my dear one," she said, as they rose from the breakfast table; +"Joris, I think there is a letter from your father. To the city you +must go as soon as you can, for I have had a restless night, full of +feeling it has been." + +"You should not go to bed to feel, mother. Night is the time for sleep." + +"And for dreams, and for many good things to come, that come not in the +day. Yes, indeed, the nighttime of the body is the daytime of the soul." + +Then Joris smiled and kissing her, said, "I am going at once. If there +is a letter I will send a quick rider with it." + +"But come thyself." + +"That I cannot." "But why, then?" + +"To-morrow, I will tell you." + +"That is well. Into thy mother's heart drop all thy joys and sorrows. +Thine are mine." And she kissed him, and he went away glad and hopeful +and full of tender love for the mother who understood him so +sympathetically. He stood up in his stirrups to wave her a last adieu, +and then he said to himself, "How fortunate I am about women! Could I +have a sweeter, lovelier mistress? No! Mother? No! Grandmother? No! +Friend? No! Cornelia, mother, grandmother, Madame Jacobus, all of them +just what I love and need, sweet souls between me and the angels." + +It happened--but doubtless happened because so ordered--that the very +hour in which Joris left Hyde Manor, Peter Van Ariens received a letter +that made him very anxious. He left his office and went to see his son. +"Rem," he said, "there is now an opportunity for thee. Here has come a +letter from Boston, and some one must go there; and that too in a great +hurry. The house of Blume and Otis is likely to fail, and in it we have +some great interests. A lawyer we must have to look after them; go +thyself, and it shall be well for both of us." + +"I am ready to go--that is, I can be ready in one or two days." + +"There are not one or two days to spare. Gerard will take care of thy +work here. To-day is the best time of all." + +"I cannot go with a happy mind to-day. I will tell you, father. I think +now my case with Cornelia will bear putting to the question. As you +know, it has been step with step between Joris Hyde and myself in that +affair, and if I go away now without securing the ground I have gained, +what can hinder Hyde from taking advantage over me? He too must go +soon, but he will try and secure his position before he leaves. To do +the same thing is my only way. I wish, then, the time to give myself +this security." + +"That is fair. A man is not a man till he has won a wife. Cornelia +Moran is much to my mind. Tell her my home is thine, and she will be a +mistress dearly loved and honoured. And if a thing is to be done, there +is no time like the hour that has not struck. Go and see her now. She +was in the garden gathering asters when I left home this morning." + +"I will write to her. I will tell her what is in my heart--though she +knows it well--and ask her for her love and her hand. If she is kind to +my offer she will tell me to come and see her to-night, then I can go +to Boston with a free heart and look after your money and your +business." + +"If things be this way, thou art reasonable. A good wife must not be +lost for the peril of some gold sovereigns. At once write to the maid; +such letters are best done at the first thought, some prudences or some +fears may come with the second thoughts." + +"I have no fear but Joris Hyde. That Englishman I hate. His calm +confidence, his smiling insolent air is intolerable." + +"It is the English way. But Cornelia is American--as thou art." + +"She thinks much of that, but yet--" + +"Be not afraid. The brave either find, or make, a way to success. What +is in a girl's heart no man can tell, if she be cold and shy that +should not cause thee to doubt. When water is ice, who would suspect +what great heat is stored away in it? Write thy letter at once. Put thy +heart into thy pen. Not always prudent is this way, but once in a man's +life it is wisdom." + +"My pen is too small for my heart." + +"My opinion is that thou hast wavered too long. It is a great +foolishness to let the cherry knock against the lips too often or too +long. A pretty pastime, perhaps, to will, and not will, to dare, and +not dare; but at last the knock comes that drops the cherry--it may be +into some other mouth." + +"I fear no one but that rascal, Joris Hyde." + +"A rascal he is not, because the same woman he loves as thyself. Such +words weaken any cause. No wrong have I seen or known of Lieutenant +Hyde." + +"I will call him a rascal, and I will give him no other title, though +his father leave him an earl." + +"Now, then, I shall go. I like not ill words. Write thy letter, but put +out of thy mind all bad thoughts first. A love letter from a bitter +heart is not lucky. And of all thy wit thou wilt have great need if to +a woman thou write." + +"Oh, they are intolerable, aching joys! A man who dares to love a +woman, or dares to believe in her, dares to be mad." + +"Come, come! No evil must thou speak of good women, I swear that I was +never out of it yet, when I judged men as they judged women. The art of +loving a woman is the art of trusting her--yes, though the heavens +fall. Now, then, haste with thy letter. Thou may have 'Yes' to it ere +thou sleep to-night." + +"And I may have 'No.'" + +"To be sure, if thou think 'no.' But, even so, if thou lose the wedding +ring, the hand is still left; another ring may be found." + +"'No,' would be a deathblow to me." + +"It will not. While a man has meat and drink love will not starve him; +with world's business and world's pleasure an unkind love he makes +shift to forget. Bring to me word of thy good fortune this night, and +in the morning there is the Boston business. Longer it can hardly wait." + +But the letter to Cornelia which Hyde found to slip off his pen like +dancing was a much more difficult matter to Rem. He wrote and +destroyed, and wrote again and destroyed, and this so often that he +finally resolved to go to Maiden Lane for his inspiration. "I may see +Cornelia in the garden, or at the window, and when I see what I desire, +surely I shall have the wit to ask for it." + +So he thought, and with the thought he locked his desk and went towards +his home in Maiden Lane. He met George Hyde sauntering up the street +looking unhappy and restless, and he suspected at once that he had been +walking past Doctor Moran's house in the hope of seeing Cornelia and +had been disappointed. The thought delighted him. He was willing to +bear disappointment himself, if by doing so some of Hyde's smiling +confidence was changed to that unhappy uneasiness which he detected in +his rival's face and manner. The young men bowed to each other but did +not speak. In some occult way they divined a more positive antagonism +than they had ever before been conscious of. + +"I cannot go out of the house," thought Rem, "without meeting that fop. +He is in at one door, and out at another; this way, that way, up +street, and down street--the devil take the fellow!" + +"What a mere sullen creature that Rem Van Ariens is!" thought Hyde, +"and with all the good temper in the world I affirm it. I wonder what +he is on the street for at this hour! Shall I watch him? No, that would +be vile work. I will let him alone; he may as well play the ill-natured +fool on the street as in the house--better, indeed, for some one may +have a title to tell him so. But I may assure myself of one thing, when +I met him he was building castles in the future, for he was looking +straight before him; and if he had been thinking of the past, he would +have been looking down. I should not wonder if it was Cornelia that +filled his dreams. Faith, we have blockheads of all ages; but on that +road he will never overtake his thought"--then with a movement of +impatience he added, + +"Why should I let him into my mind?--for he is the least welcome of all +intruders.--Good gracious! how long the minutes are! It is plain to me +that Cornelia is not at home, and my letter may not even have touched +her hands yet. How shall I endure another hour?--perhaps many hours. +Where can she have gone? Not unlikely to Madame Jacobus. Why did I not +think of this before? For who can help me to bear suspense better than +madame? I will go to her at once." + +He hastened his steps and soon arrived at the well-known residence of +his friend. He was amazed as soon as the door was opened to find +preparations of the most evident kind for some change. The corded trunk +in the hall, the displaced furniture, all things he saw were full of +the sad hurry of parting. "What is the matter?" he asked in a voice of +fear. + +"I am going away for a time, Joris, my good friend," answered madame, +coming out of a shrouded and darkened parlour as she spoke. She had on +her cloak and bonnet, and before Joris could ask her another question a +coach drove to the door. "I think it is a piece of good fortune," she +continued, "to see you before I go." + +"But where are you going?" + +"To Charleston." + +"But why?" + +"I am going because my sister Sabrina is sick--dying; and there is no +one so near to her as I am." + +"I knew not you had a sister." + +"She is the sister of my husband. So, then, she is twice my sister. +When Jacobus comes home he will thank me for going to his dear Sabrina. +But what brings you here so early? Yesterday I asked for you, and I was +told that you were waiting on your good mother." + +"My mother felt sure there was a letter from father, and I came at once +to get it for her." + +"Was there one?" + +"There was none." + +"It will come in good time. Now, I must go. I have not one moment to +lose. Good-bye, dear Joris!" + +"For how long, my friend?" + +"I know not. Sabrina is incurably ill. I shall stay with her till she +departs." She said these words as they went down the steps together, +and with eyes full of tears he placed her carefully in the coach and +then turned sorrowfully to his own rooms. He could not speak of his own +affairs at such a moment, and he realized that there was nothing for +him to do but wait as patiently as possible for Cornelia's answer. + +In the meantime Rem was writing his proposal. He was not assisted in +the effort by any sight of his mistress. It was evident Cornelia was +not in her home, and he looked in vain for any shadow of the sweet face +that he was certain would have made his words come easily. Finally, +after many trials, he desisted with the following, though it was the +least affective of any form he had written: + +To MISS MORAN, + +Honoured and Beloved Friend: + +Twenty times this day I have tried to write a letter worthy to come +into your hands and worthy to tell you how beyond all words I love you, +But what can I say more than that I love you? This you know. It has +been no secret to you since ever you were a little girl. Many years I +have sought your love,--pardon me if now I ask you to tell me I have +not sought in vain. To-morrow I must leave New York, and I may be away +for some time. Pray, then, give me some hope to-night to take with me. +Say but one word to make me the proudest and happiest lover in the +world. Give me the permission to come and show to your father that I am +able to maintain you in every comfort that is your right; and all my +life long I will prove to you the devotion that attests my undying +affection and gratitude. I am sick with longing for the promise of your +love. May I presume to hope so great a blessing? O dearest Cornelia, I +am, as you know well, your humble servant, REMBRANDT VAN +ARIENS. + +When he had finished this letter, he folded and sealed it, and walked +to the window with it in his hand. Then he saw Cornelia returning home +from some shopping or social errand, and hastily calling a servant, +ordered him to deliver the letter at once to Miss Moran. And as +Cornelia lingered a little among the aster beds, the man put it into +her own hands. She bowed and smiled as she accepted it, but Rem, +watching with his heart in his eyes, could see that it awakened no +special interest. She kept it unopened as she wandered among the purple +and pink, and gold and white flowers, until Mrs. Moran came to the door +to hurry her movements; then she followed her mother hastily into the +house, "Do you know how late it is, Cornelia? Dinner is nearly ready. +There is a letter on your dressing table that came by Lieutenant Hyde's +servant two or three hours ago." + +"And Tobias has just brought me a letter from Rem--at least the +direction is in Rem's handwriting." + +"Some farewell dance I suppose, before our dancers go to gay +Philadelphia." + +"I dare say it is." She made the supposition as she went up the stairs, +and did not for a moment anticipate any more important information. As +she entered her room an imposing looking letter met her eyes--a letter +written upon the finest paper, squarely folded, and closed with a large +seal of scarlet wax carrying the Hyde arms. Poor Rem's message lost +instantly whatever interest it possessed; she let it fall from her +hand, and lifting Hyde's, opened it with that marvellous womanly +impetuosity which love teaches. Then all the sweet intimate ardour and +passionate disquietude of her lover took possession of her. In a moment +she felt all that he felt; all the ecstasy and tumult of a great +affection not sure. For this letter was the "little more" in Hyde's +love, and, oh, how much it was! + +She pondered it until she was called to dinner. There was then no time +to read Rem's letter, but she broke the seal and glanced at its tenor, +and an expression of pity and annoyance came into her eyes. Hastily she +locked both letters away in a drawer of her desk, and as she did so, +smilingly said to herself, "I wonder if papers are sensitive! Shut +close together in one little drawer will they like it? I hope they will +lie peaceably and not quarrel." + +Doctor Moran was not at home, nor was he expected until sundown, so +mother and daughter enjoyed together the confidence which Hyde's letter +induced. Mrs. Moran thought the young man was right, and promised, to a +certain extent, to favour his proposal. "However, Cornelia," she added, +"unless your father is perfectly agreeable and satisfied, I would not +advise you to make any engagement. Clandestine engagements come to +grief in some way or other, and if your marriage with Joris Hyde is +prearranged by THOSE who know what is best for your good, then, my +dear, it is as sure to take place as the sun is sure to rise to-morrow. +It is only waiting for the appointed hour, and you may as well wait in +a happy home as in one you make wretched by the fret and complaining +which a secret in any life is certain to produce." + +Now, it is not often that a girl has to answer in one hour two such +epistles as those received by Cornelia. Yet perhaps such an event +occurs more frequently than is suspected, for Love--like other +things--has its critical moment; and when that moment arrives it finds +a voice as surely as the flower ready to bloom opens its petals. And if +there be two lovers equally sincere, both are likely to feel at the +same moment the same impetus to revelation. Besides which, Fate of any +kind seeks the unusual and the unexpected; it desires to startle, and +to force events by surprises. + +The answering of these letters was naturally Cornelia's first afternoon +thought. It troubled her to remember that Joris had already been +waiting some hours for a reply, for she had no hesitation as to what +that reply should be. To write to Joris was a delightful thing, an +unusual pleasure, and she sat down, smiling, to pen the lines which she +thought would bring her much happiness, but which were doomed to bring +her a great sorrow. + +MY JORIS! My dear Friend: + +'Tis scarce an hour since I received your letter, but I have read it +over four times. And whatever you desire, that also is my desire; and I +am deceived as much as you, if you think I do not love you as much as I +am loved by you. You know my heart, and from you I shall never hide it; +and I think if I were asleep, I should tell you how much I love you; +for, indeed, I often dream that I do so. Come, then, this very night as +soon as you think convenient. If my father is in a suitable temper it +will be well to speak plainly to him, and I am sure that my mother will +say in our favour all that is wise. + +Our love, with no recognition but our own, has been so strangely sweet +that I could be content never to alter that condition; and yet I fear +no bond, and am ready to put it all to the trial. For if our love is +not such as will uphold an engagement, it will sink of itself; and if +it is true as we believe it to be, then it may last eternally. What +more is to say I will keep for your ear, for you are enough in my heart +to know all my thoughts, and to know better than I can tell you how +dearly, how constantly, how entirely I love you. + +Yours forever, CORNELIA. + +Without a pause, without an erasure this letter had transcribed itself +from Cornelia's heart to the small gilt-edged note paper; but she found +it a much more difficult thing to answer the request of Rem Van Ariens. +She was angry at him for putting her in such a dilemma. She thought +that she had made plain as possible to him the fact that she was +pleased to be a companion, a friend, a sister, if he so desired, but +that love between them was not to be thought of. She had told Arenta +this many times, and she had done so because she was certain Arenta +would make this position clear to her brother. And under ordinary +circumstances Arenta would have been frank and free enough with Rem, +but while her own marriage was such an important question she was not +inclined to embarrass or shadow its arrangements by suggesting things +to Rem likely to cause disagreements when she wished all to be +harmonious and cheerful. So Arenta had encouraged, rather than dashed, +Rem's hopes, for she did not doubt that Cornelia would finally undo +very thoroughly what she had done. + +"A little love experience will be a good thing for Rem," she said to +herself--"it will make a man of him; and I do hope he has more +self-respect and courage than to die of her denial." + +It is easy, then, to understand how Cornelia, relying on Arenta's +usually ready advice and confidences, was sure that Rem had accepted +the friendship that was all in her power to give him, and that this +belief gave to their intercourse a frank and kindly intimacy that it +would not otherwise have obtained. This state of things was desirable +and comfortable for Arenta, and Cornelia also had found a great +satisfaction in a friendship which she trusted had fully recognized and +accepted its limitations. Now, all these pleasant moderate emotions +were stirred into uncomfortable agitation by Rem's unlooked-for and +unreasonable request. She was hurt and agitated and withal a little +sorry for Rem, and she was also in a hurry, for the letter for Joris +was waiting, as she wished to send both by the same messenger. Finally +she wrote the following words, not noticing at the time, but +remembering afterwards, what a singular soul reluctance she +experienced; how some uncertain presentiment, vague and dark and drear, +stifled her thoughts and tried to make her understand, or at least +pause. But alas! the doom that walks side by side with us, never warns; +it seems rather to stand sarcastic at our ignorance, and to watch +speculatively the cloud of trouble coming--coming on purpose because we +foolishly or carelessly call it to us. + +MY DEAR AND HONOURED FRIEND: + +Your letter has given me very great sorrow. You must have known for +many weeks, even months, that marriage between us was impossible. It +has always been so, it always will be so. Why could you not be content? +We have been so happy! So happy! and now you will end all. But Fortune, +though often cruel, cannot call back times that are past, and I shall +never forget our friendship. I grieve at your going away; I pray that +your absence may bring you some consolation. Do not, I beg you, attempt +to call on my father. Without explanations, I tell you very sincerely, +such a call will cause me great trouble; for you know well a girl must +trust somewhat to others' judgment in her disposal. It gives me more +pain than I can say to write in this mood, but necessity permits me no +kinder words. I want you to be sure that the wrench, the "No" here is +absolute. My dear friend, pity rather than blame me; and I will be so +unselfish as to hope you may not think so kindly of me as to be cruel +to yourself. Please to consider your letter as never written, it is the +greatest kindness you can do me; and, above all, I beg you will not +take my father into your confidence. With a sad sense of the pain my +words must cause you, I remain for all time your faithful friend and +obedient servant, + +CORNELIA MORAN. + +Then she rang for a lighted candle, and while waiting for its arrival +neatly folded her letters. Her white wax and seal were at hand, and she +delayed the servant until she had closed and addressed them. + +"You will take Lieutenant Hyde's letter first," she said; "and make no +delay about it, for it is very important. Mr. Van Ariens' note you can +deliver as you return." + +As soon as this business was quite out of her hands, she sank with a +happy sigh into a large comfortable chair; let her arms drop gently, +and closed her eyes to think over what she had done. She was quite +satisfied. She was sure that no length of reflection could have made +her decide differently. She had Hyde's letter in her bosom, and she +pressed her hand against it, and vowed to her heart that he was worthy +of her love, and that he only should have it. As for Rem, she had a +decided feeling of annoyance, almost of fear, as he entered her mind. +She was angry that he had chosen that day to urge his unwelcome suit, +and thus thrust his personality into Hyde's special hour. + +"He always makes himself unwelcome," she thought, "he ever has the way +to come when he was least wanted; but Joris! Oh there is nothing I +would alter in him, even at the cost of a wish! JORIS! JORIS!" and she +let the dear name sweeten her lips, while the light of love brightened +and lengthened her eyes, and spread over her lovely face a blushing +glow. + +After a while she rose up and adorned herself for her lover's visit. +And when she entered the parlor Mrs. Moran looked at her with a little +wonder. For she had put on with her loveliest gown a kind of +bewildering prettiness. There was no cloud in her eyes, only a glow of +soft dark fire. Her soul was in her face, it spoke in her bright +glances, her sweet smiles, and her light step; it softened her speech +to music, it made her altogether so delightful that her mother thought +"Fortune must give her all she wishes, she is so charming." + +The tea tray was brought in at five o'clock, but Doctor Moran had not +returned, and there was in both women's hearts a little sense of +disappointment. Mrs. Moran was wondering at his unusual delay, Cornelia +feared he would be too weary and perhaps, too much interested in other +matters to permit her lover to speak. "But even so," she thought, +"Joris can come again. To-night is not the only opportunity." + +It was nearly seven o'clock when the doctor came, and Cornelia was sure +her lover would not be much behind that hour; but tea time was ever a +good time to her father, he was always amiable and gracious with a cup +in his hand, and the hour after it when his pipe kept him company, was +his best hour. She told her heart that things had fallen out better +than if she had planned them so; and she was so thoughtful for the +weary man's comfort, so attentive and so amusing, that he found it easy +to respond to the happy atmosphere surrounding him. He had a score of +pleasant things to tell about the fashionable exodus to Philadelphia, +about the handsome dresses that had been shown him, and the funny +household dilemmas that had been told him. And he was much pleased +because Harry De Lancey had been a great part of the day with him, and +was very eloquent indeed about the young man's good sense and good +disposition, and the unnecessary, and almost cruel, confiscation of +property his family had suffered, for their Tory principles. + +And in the midst of the De Lancey lamentation, seven o'clock struck and +Cornelia began to listen for the shutting of the garden gate, and the +sound of Hyde's step upon the flagged walk. It did not come as soon as +she hoped it would, and the minutes went slowly on until eight struck. +Then the doctor was glooming and nodding, and waking up and saying a +word or two, and relapsing again into semi-unconsciousness. She felt +that the favourable hour had passed, and now the minutes went far too +quickly. Why did he net come? With her work in her hand-making +laborious stitches by a drawn thread--she sat listening with all her +being. The street itself was strangely silent, no one passed, and the +fitful talk at the fireside seemed full of fatality; she could feel the +influence, though she did not inquire of her heart what it was, of what +it might signify. + +Half-past eight! She looked up and caught her mother's eyes, and the +trouble and question in them, and the needle going through the fine +muslin, seemed to go through her heart. At nine the watching became +unbearable. She said softly "I must go to bed. I am tired;" but she put +away with her usual neatness her work, and her spools of thread, her +thimble and her scissors. Her movement in the room roused the doctor +thoroughly. He stood up, stretched his arms outward and upward, and +said "he believed he had been sleeping, and must ask their pardon for +his indifference." And then he walked to the window and looking out +added "It is a lovely night but the moon looks like storm. Oh!"--and he +turned quickly with the exclamation--"I forgot to tell you that I heard +a strange report to-day, nothing less than that General Hyde returned +on the Mary Pell this morning, bringing with him a child." + +"A child!" said Mrs. Moran. + +"A girl, then, a little mite of a creature. Mrs. Davy told me the +Captain carried her in his arms to the carriage which took them to Hyde +Manor." + +"And how should Mrs. Davy know?" + +"The Davys live next door to the Pells, and the servants of one house +carried the news to the other house. She said the General sent to his +son's lodging to see if he was in town, but he was not. It was then +only eight o'clock in the morning." + +"How unlikely such a story is! Do you believe it?" + +"Ask to-morrow. As for me, I neither know nor care. That is the report. +Who can tell what the Hydes will do?" + +Then Cornelia said a hasty "good-night" and went to her room. She was +sick at heart; she trembled, something in her life had lost its +foot-hold, and a sudden bewildering terror--she knew not how to +explain--took possession of her. For once she forgot her habitual order +and neatness; her pretty dress was thrown heedlessly across a chair, +and she fell upon her knees weeping, and yet she could not pray. + +Still the very posture and the sweet sense of help and strength it +implied, brought her the power to take into consideration such +unexpected news, and such unexplained neglect on her lover's part, +"General Hyde has returned; that much I feel certain of," she thought, +"and Joris must have left Hyde Manor about the time his father reached +New York. Joris would take the river road, being the shortest, his +father would take the highway as the best for the carriage. +Consequently, they passed each other and did not know it. Then Joris +has been sent for, and it was right and natural that he should go--but +oh, he might have written!--ten words would have been enough--It was +right he should go--but he might have written!--he might have +written!"--and she buried her face in her pillow and wept bitterly. +Alas! Alas! Love wounds as cruelly when he fails, as when he strikes; +and even when Cornelia had outworn thought and feeling, and fallen into +a sorrowful sleep, she was conscious of this failure, and her soul +sighed all night long "He might have written!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +MISDIRECTED LETTERS + + +The night so unhappy to Cornelia was very much more unhappy to Hyde. He +had sent his letter to her before eleven in the morning, and if Fortune +were kind to him, he expected an answer soon after leaving Madame +Jacobus. Her departure from New York depressed him very much. She had +been the good genius of his love, but he told himself that it had now +"grown to perfection, and could, he hoped, stand in its own strength." +Restlessly he watched the hours away, now blaming, now excusing, anon +dreaming of his coming bliss, then fidgeting and fearing disappointment +from being too forward in its demanding. When noon passed, and one +o'clock struck, he rang for some refreshment; for he guessed very +accurately the reason of delay. + +"Cornelia has been visiting or shopping," he thought; "and if it were +visiting, no one would part with her until the last moment; so then if +she get home by dinner-time it is as much as I can expect. I may as +well eat, and then wait in what patience I can, another hour or +two--yes, it will be two hours. I will give her two hours--for she will +be obliged to serve others before me. Well, well, patience is my +penance." + +But in truth he expected the letter to be in advance of three o'clock. +"Twenty words will answer me," he thought; "yes, ten words; and she +will find or make the time to write them;" and between this hope and +the certainty of three o'clock, he worried the minutes away until three +struck. Then there was a knock at his door and he went hastily to +answer it. Balthazar stood there with the longed-for letter in his +hand. He felt first of all that he must be quite alone with it. So he +turned the key and then stood a moment to examine the outside. A letter +from Cornelia! It was a joy to see his own name written by her hand. He +kissed the superscription, and kissed the white seal, and sank into his +chair with a sigh of delight to read it. + +In a few moments a change beyond all expression came over his +face--perplexity, anger, despair cruelly assailed him. It was evident +that some irreparable thing had ruined all his hopes. He was for some +moments dumb. He felt what he could not express, for a great calamity +had opened a chamber of feeling, which required new words to explain +it. This trance of grief was followed by passionate imprecations and +reproaches, wearing themselves away to an utter amazement and +incredulity. He had flung the letter to the floor, but he lifted it +again and went over the cruel words, forcing himself to read them +slowly and aloud. Every period was like a fresh sentence of death. + +"'YOUR LETTER HAS GIVEN ME VERY GREAT SORROW;' let me die if that is +not what she says; 'VERY GREAT SORROW. YOU MUST HAVE KNOWN FOR WEEKS, +EVEN MONTHS, THAT MARRIAGE BETWEEN US WAS IMPOSSIBLE;' am I perfectly +in my senses? 'IT ALWAYS HAS BEEN AND ALWAYS WILL BE;' why, 'tis heart +treason of the worst kind! Can I bear it? Can I bear it? Can I bear it? +Oh Cornelia! Cornelia! 'WE HAVE BEEN SO HAPPY.' Oh it is piteous, sad. +So young, so fair, so false! and she 'GRIEVES AT MY GOING AWAY,' and +bids me on 'NO ACCOUNT CALL ON HER FATHER'--and takes pains to tell me +the 'NO IS ABSOLUTE'--and I am not to 'BLAME HER.' Oh this is the +vilest treachery! She might as well have played the coquette in speech +as writing. It is Rem Van Ariens who is at the bottom of it. May the +devil take the fellow! I shall need some heavenly power to keep my +hands off him. This is a grief beyond all griefs--I believed she loved +me so entirely. Fool! a thousand times fool! Have I not found all women +of a piece? Did not Molly Trefuses throw me over for a duke? and Sarah +Talbot tell me my love was only calf-love and had to be weaned? and +Eliza Capel regret that I was too young to guide a wife, and so marry a +cabinet minister old enough for her grandfather? Women are all just so, +not a cherry stone to choose between them--I will never wonder again at +anything a woman does--Was ever a lover so betrayed? Oh Cornelia! your +ink should have frozen in your pen, ere you wrote such words to me." + +Thus his passionate grief and anger tortured him until midnight. Then +he had a high fever and a distracting headache, and, the physical +torment being the most insistent and distressing, he gave way before +it. With such agonizing tears as spring from despairing wounded love he +threw himself upon his bed, and his craving, suffering heart at length +found rest in sleep from the terrible egotism of its sorrow. + +Never for one instant did he imagine this sorrow to be a mistaken and +quite unnecessary one. Indeed it was almost impossible for him to +conceive of a series of events, which though apparently accidental, had +a fatality more pronounced than anything that could have been arranged. +Not taking Rem Van Ariens seriously into his consideration, and not +fearing his rival in any way, it was beyond all his suspicions that Rem +should write to Cornelia in the same hour, and for the same purpose as +himself. He had no knowledge of Rem's intention to go to Boston, and +could not therefore imagine Cornelia "grieving" at any journey but his +own impending one to England. And that she should be forced by +circumstances to answer both Rem and himself in the same hour, and in +the very stress and hurry of her great love and anxiety should +misdirect the letters, were likelihoods outside his consciousness. + +It was far otherwise with Rem. The moment he opened the letter brought +him by Cornelia's messenger, in that very moment he knew that it was +NOT his letter. He understood at once the position, and perceived that +he held in his hand an instrument, which if affairs went as he desired, +was likely to make trouble he could perchance turn to his own +advantage. The fate that had favoured him so far would doubtless go +further--if he let it alone. These thoughts sprang at once into his +reflection, but were barely entertained before nobler ones displaced +them. As a Christian gentleman he knew what he ought to do without +cavil and without delay, and he rose to follow the benignant justice of +his conscience. Into this obedience, however, there entered an +hesitation of a second of time, and that infinitesimal period was +sufficient for his evil genius. + +"Why will you meddle?" it asked. "This is a very dubious matter, and +common prudence suggests a little consideration. It will be far wiser +to let Hyde take the first step. If the letter he has received is so +worded, that he knows it is your letter, it is his place to make the +transfer--and he will be sure to do it. Why should you continue the +chase? let the favoured one look after his own affairs--being a lawyer, +you may well tell yourself, that it is not your interest to move the +question." + +And he hesitated and then sat down, and as there is wickedness even in +hesitating about a wicked act, Rem easily drifted from the negative to +the positive of the crime contemplated. + +"I had better keep it," he mused, "and see what will come of the +keeping. All things are fair in love and war"--a stupid and slanderous +assertion, as far as love is concerned, for love that is noble and +true, will not justify anything which Christian ethics do not justify. + +He suffered in this decision, suffered in his own way quite as much as +Hyde did. Cornelia had been his dream from his youth up, and Hyde had +been his aversion from the moment he first saw him. The words were not +to seek with which he expressed himself, and they were such words as do +not bear repeating. But of all revelations, the revelation of grief is +the plainest. He saw clearly in that hour that Cornelia had never loved +him, that his hopes had always been vain, and he experienced all the +bitterness of being slighted and humbled for an enemy. + +After a little while he remembered that Hyde might possibly do the +thing which he had resolved not to do. Involuntarily he did Hyde this +justice, and he said to himself, "if there is anything in the letter +intended for me, which determines its ownership, Hyde will bring it. He +will understand that I have the answer to his proposal, and demand it +from me--and whether I shall feel in a mood to give it to him, will +depend on the manner in which the demand is made. If he is in one of +his lordly ways he will get no satisfaction from me. I am not apt to +give myself, nor anything I have, away; in fact it will be best not to +see him--if he holds a letter of mine he may keep it. I know its tenor +and I am not eager to know the very words in which my lady says 'No.' +HO! HO! HO!" he laughed, "I will go to the Swamp; my scented rival in +his perfumed clothing, will hardly wish the smell of the tanning pits +to come between him and his gentility." + +The thought of Hyde's probable visit and this way of escaping it made +him laugh again; but it was a laughter that had that something terrible +in it which makes the laughter of the insane and drunken and cruel, +worse than the bitterest lamentation. He felt a sudden haste to escape +himself, and seizing his hat walked rapidly to his father's office. +Peter looked up as he entered, and the question in his eyes hardly +needed the simple interrogatary-- + +"Well then?" + +"It is 'No.' I shall go to Boston early in the morning. I wish to go +over the business with Blume and Otis, and to possess myself of all +particulars." + +"I have just heard that General Hyde came back this morning. He is now +the Right Honourable the Earl of Hyde, and his son is, as you know, +Lord George Hyde. Has this made a difference?" + +"It has not. Let us count up what is owing to us. After all there is a +certain good in gold." + +"That is the truth. I am an old man and I have seen what altitudes the +want of gold can abase, and what impossible things it makes possible. +In any adversity gold can find friends." + +"I shall count every half-penny after Blume and Otis." + +"Be not too strict--too far east is west. You may lose all by demanding +all." + +Then the two men spent several hours in going over their accounts, and +during this time no one called on Rem and he received no message. When +he returned home he found affairs just as he had left them. "So far +good," he thought, "I will let sleeping dogs lie. Why should I set them +baying about my affairs? I will not do it"--and with this determination +in his heart he fell asleep. + +But Rem's sleep was the sleep of pure matter; his soul never knew the +expansion and enlightenment and discipline of the oracles that speak in +darkness. The winged dreams had no message or comfort for him, and he +took no counsel from his pillow. His sleep was the sleep of tired flesh +and blood, and heavy as lead. But the waking from such sleep--if there +is trouble to meet--is like being awakened with a blow. He leaped to +his feet, and the thought of his loss and the shame of it, and the +horror of the dishonourable thing he had done, assailed him with a +brutal force and swiftness. He was stunned by the suddenness and the +inexorable character of his trouble. And he told himself it was "best +to run away from what he could not fight." He had no fear of Hyde's +interference so early in the morning, and once in Boston all attacks +would lose much of their hostile virulence, by the mere influence of +distance. He knew these were cowardly thoughts, but when a man knows he +is in the wrong, he does not challenge his thoughts, he excuses them. +And as soon as he was well on the road to Boston, he even began to +assume that Hyde, full of the glory of his new position, would +doubtless be well disposed to let all old affairs drop quietly "and if +so," he mused, "Cornelia will not be so dainty, and I may get 'Yes' +where I got 'No.'" + +He was of course arguing from altogether wrong premises, for Hyde at +that hour was unconscious of his new dignity, and if he had been aware +of it, would have been indifferent to its small honour. He had spent a +miserable night, and a sense of almost intolerable desertion and injury +awoke with him. His soul had been in desolate places, wandering in +immense woods, vaguely apprehended as stretches of time before this +life. He had called the lost Cornelia through all their loneliness, and +answers faint as the faintest echo, had come back to that sense of +spiritual hearing attuned in other worlds than this. But sad as such +experience was, the sole effort had strengthened him. He was indeed in +better case mentally than physically. + +"I must get into the fresh air," he said. "I am faint and weak. I must +have movement. I must see my mother. I will tell her everything." Then +he went to his mirror, and looked with a grim smile at its reflection. +"I have the face of a lover kicked out of doors," he continued +scornfully. He took but small pains with his toilet, and calling for +some breakfast sat down to eat it. Then for the first time in his life, +he was conscious of that soul sickness which turns from all physical +comfort; and of that singular obstruction in the throat which is the +heart's sob, and which would not suffer him to swallow. + +"I am most wretched," he said mournfully; "and no trouble comes alone. +Of all the days in all the years, why should Madame Jacobus have to +take herself out of town yesterday? It is almost incredible, and she +could, and would have helped me. She would have sent for Cornelia. I +might have pleaded my cause face to face with her." Then angrily-- +"Faith! can I yet care for a girl so cruel and so false? I am not to be +pitied if I do. I will go to my dear mother. Mother-love is always +sure, and always young. Whatever befalls, it keeps constant truth. I +will go to my mother." + +He rode rapidly through the city and spoke to no one, but when he +reached his Grandfather Van Heemskirk's house, he saw him leaning over +the half-door smoking his pipe. He drew rein then, and the old +gentleman came to his side: + +"Why art thou here?" he asked. "Is thy father, or Lady Annie sick?" + +"I know nothing new. There was no letter yesterday." + +"Yesterday! Surely thou must know that they are now at home? Yesterday, +very early in the morning, they landed." + +"My father at home!" + +"That is the truth. Where wert thou, not to know this?" + +"I came to town yesterday morning. I had a great trouble. I was sick +and kept my room." + +"And sick thou art now, I can see that," said Madame Van Heemskirk +coming forward--"What is the matter with thee, my Joris?" + +"Cornelia has refused me. I know not how it is, that no woman will love +me. Am I so very disagreeable?" + +"Thou art as handsome and as charming as can be; and it is not Cornelia +that has said 'no' to thee, it is her father. Now he will be sorry, for +thy uncle is dead and thy father is Earl Hyde, and thou thyself art a +lord." + +"I care not for such things. I am a poor lord, if Cornelia be not my +lady." "I wonder they sent not after thee!" + +"They would be expecting me every hour. If there had been a letter I +should have gone directly back with it, but it was beyond all +surmising, that my father should return. Grandfather, will you see +Doctor Moran for me? You can speak a word that will prevail." + +"I will not, my Joris. If thy father were not here, that would be +different. He is the right man to move in the matter. Ever thou art in +too much of a hurry. Think now of thy life as a book of uncut leaves, +and do not turn a page till thou hast read it to the very last word." + +"_I_ will see Cornelia for thee," said Madame Van Heernskirk. "_I_ will +ask the girl what she means. Very often she passes here, sometimes she +comes in. I will say to her--why did thou throw my grandson's love away +like an old shoe? Art thou not ashamed to be so light of love, for I +know well thou said to my Joris, thou loved him. And she will tell me +the truth. Yes, indeed, if into my house she comes, out of it she goes +not, until I have the why, and the wherefore." + +"Do not be unkind to her, grandmother--perhaps it is not her fault--if +she had only said a few sorrowful words--Let me show you her letter." + +"No," said Van Heernskirk. "One thing at a time, Joris. Now it is the +time to go and welcome thy father and thy cousin--too long has been the +delay already." + +"Then good-bye! Grandmother, you will speak or me?" And she smiled and +nodded, and stood on her tiptoe while Joris stooped and kissed +her--"Fret not thyself at all. I will see Cornelia and speak for thee." +And then he kissed her again and rode away. + +Very near the great entrance gates of Hyde Manor he met his father and +mother walking. Madame, the Right Honourable the Countess of Hyde, was +pointing out the many improvements she had made; and the Earl looked +pleased and happy. George threw himself off his horse with a loving +impetuosity, and his mother questioned him about his manner of spending +the previous day. "How could thou help knowing thy father had landed?" +she asked. "Was not the whole city talking of the circumstance?" + +"I was not in the city, mother. I went to the post office and from +there to Madame Jacobus. She was just leaving for Charleston, and I +went with her to the boat." + +"What an incredible thing! Madame Jacobus leaving New York! For what? +For why?" + +"She has gone to nurse her sister-in-law, who is dying. That is of all +things the most likely--for she has a great heart." + +"You say that--I know not." + +"It is the truth itself. Afterwards I had my lunch and then came on a +fever and a distracting headache, and I was compelled to keep my room; +and so heard nothing at all until my grandfather told me the good news +this morning." + +"Madame Kippon was on the dock and saw thy father and cousin land. The +news would be a hot coal in her mouth till she told it, and I am amazed +she did not call at thy lodging. Now go forward; when thy father and I +have been round the land, we will come to thee. Thy cousin Annie is +here." + +"That confounds me. I could hardly believe it true." + +"She is frail, and her physicians thought the sea voyage might give her +the vitality she needs. It was at least a chance, and she was +determined to take it. Then thy father put all his own desires behind +him, and came with her. We will talk more in a little while. I see thy +dress is untidy, and I dare say thou art hungry. Go, eat and dress, by +that time we shall be home." + +But though his mother gave him a final charge "to make haste," he went +slowly. The thought of Cornelia had returned to his memory with a +sweet, strong insistence that carried all before it. He wondered what +she was doing--how she was dressed--what she was thinking--what she was +feeling---He wondered if she was suffering--if she thought he was +suffering--if she was sorry for him--He made himself as wretched as +possible, and then some voice of comfort anteceding all reasoning, told +him to be of good cheer; for if Cornelia had ever loved him, she must +love him still; and if she had only been amusing herself with his +devotion, then what folly to break his heart for a girl who had no +heart worth talking about. + +Poor Cornelia! She was at that moment the most unhappy woman in New +York. She had excused the "ten words" he might have written yesterday. +She had found in the unexpected return of his father and cousin reason +sufficient for his neglect; but it was now past ten o'clock of another +day, and there was yet no word from him. Perhaps then he was coming. +She sat at her tambour frame listening till all her senses and emotions +seemed to have fled to her ear. And the ear has memory, it watches for +an accustomed sound, it will not suffer us to forget the voice, the +step of those we love. Many footsteps passed, but none stopped at the +gate; none came up the garden path, and no one lifted the knocker. The +house itself was painfully still; there was no sound but the faint +noise made by Mrs. Moran as she put down her Dobbin or her scissors. +The tension became distressing. She longed for her father--for a +caller--for any one to break this unbearable pause in life. + +Yet she could not give up hope. A score of excuses came into her mind; +she was sure he would come in the afternoon. He MUST come. She read and +reread his letter. She dressed herself with delightful care and sat +down to watch for him. He came not. He sent no word, no token, and as +hour after hour slipped away, she was compelled to drop her needle. + +"Mother," she said, "I am not well. I must go upstairs." She had been +holding despair at bay so many hours she could bear it no longer. For +she was so young, and this was the first time she had been yoke-fellow +with sorrow. She was amazed at her own suffering. It seemed so +impossible. It had come upon her so swiftly, so suddenly, and as yet +she was not able to seek any comfort or sympathy from God or man. For +to do so, was to admit the impossibility of things yet turning out +right; and this conclusion she would not admit; she was angry at a word +or a look that suggested such a termination. + +The next morning she called Balthazar to her and closely questioned +him. It had struck her in the night, that the slave might have lost the +letter, and be afraid to confess the accident. But Balthazar's manner +and frank speech was beyond suspicion. He told her exactly what +clothing Lieutenant Hyde was wearing, how he looked, what words he +said, and then with a little hesitation took a silver crown piece from +his pocket and added "he gave it to me. When he took the letter in his +hand he looked down at it and laughed like he was very happy; and he +gave me the money for bringing it to him; that is the truth, sure, Miss +Cornelia." + +She could not doubt it. There was then nothing to be done but wait in +patience for the explanation she was certain would yet come. But on +with what leaden motion the hours went by! For a few days she made a +pretence of her usual employments, but at the end of a week her +embroidery frame stood uncovered, her books were unopened her music +silent, and she declared herself unable to take her customary walk. Her +mother watched her with unspeakable sympathy, but Cornelia's grief was +dumb; it made no audible moan, and preserved an attitude which repelled +all discussion. As yet she would not acknowledge a doubt of her lover's +faith; his conduct was certainly a mystery, but she told her heart with +a passionate iteration that it would positively be cleared up. + +Now and then the Doctor, or a visitor, made a remark which might have +broken this implicit trust, and probably did facilitate that end; for +it was evident from them, that Hyde was in health, and that he was +taking his share in the usual routine of daily life:--thus, one day +Mrs. Wiley while making a call said-- + +"I met the new Countess and the Lady Annie Hyde, and I can tell you the +new Countess is very much of a Countess. As for the Lady Annie," she +added, "she was wrapped to her nose in furs, and you could see nothing +of her but two large black eyes, that even at a distance made you feel +sad and uncomfortable. However Lord George Hyde appeared to be very +much her servant." + +"There has been talk of a marriage between them," answered Mrs. Moran, +for she was anxious to put her daughter out of all question. "I should +think it would be a very proper marriage." + +"Oh, indeed, 'proper marriages' seldom come off. Love marriages are the +fashion at present." + +"Are they not the most proper of all?" + +"On the contrary, is there anything more indiscreet? Of a thousand +couples who marry for love, hardly one will convince us that the thing +can be done, and not repented of afterwards." + +"I think you are mistaken," said Mrs. Moran coldly. "Love should always +seek its match, and that is love--or nothing." + +"Oh indeed! It is you are mistaken," continued Mrs. Wiley. "As the +times go, Cupid has grown to cupidity, and seeks his match in money or +station, or such things." + +"Money, or station, or such things find their match in money, or +station, or such things.--They are not love." + +"Well then the three may go together in this case. But the girl has an +uncanny, unworldlike face. Captain Wiley says he has seen mermaids with +the same long look in their eyes. Do you know that Rem Van Ariens has +gone to Boston?" + +"We have heard so;"--and then the Doctor entered, and after the usual +formalities said, "I have just met Earl Hyde and his Countess parading +themselves in the fine carriage he brought with him, 'Tis a thousand +pities the President did not wait in New York to see the sight." + +"Was Lady Annie with them?" asked Mrs. Wiley, "we were just talking +about her." + +"Yes, but one forgets that she is there--or anywhere. She seems as if +she were an accident." + +"And the young lord?" + +"The young lord affects the democratic." + +Such conversations were not uncommon, and Mrs. Moran could not with any +prudence put a sudden stop to them. They kept Cornelia full of +wondering irritation, and gradually drove the doubt into her soul--the +doubt of her lover's sincerity which was the one thing she could not +fight against. It loosened all the props of life; she ceased to +struggle and to hope. The world went on, but Cornelia's heart stood +still; and at the end of the third week things came to this--her father +looked at her keenly one morning and sent her instantly to bed. At the +last the breakdown had come in a night, but it had found all ready for +it. + +"She has typhoid, or I am much mistaken," he said to the anxious +mother. "Why have you said nothing to me? How has it come about? I have +heard no complaining. To have let things go thus far without help is +dreadful--it is almost murder." + +"John! John! What could I do? She could not bear me to ask after her +health. She said always that she was not sick. She would not hear of my +speaking to you. I thought it was only sorrow and heart-ache." + +"Only sorrow and heart-ache. Is not that enough to call typhoid or any +other death? What is the trouble? Oh I need not ask, I know it is that +young Hyde. I feel it. I saw this trouble coming; now let me know the +whole truth." + +He listened to it with angry amazement. He said he ought to have been +told at the time--he threw aside all excuses--for being a man how could +he understand why women put off, and hope, and suffer? He was sure the +rascal ought to have been brought to explanation the very first +day:--and then he broke down and wept his wife's tears, and echoed all +her piteous moan for her daughter's wronged love and breaking heart. + +"What is left us now, is to try and save her dear life," said the +miserable father. "Suffering we cannot spare her. She must pass alone +through the Valley of the Shadow; but it may be she will lose this +sorrow in its dreadful paths. I have known this to happen often; for +THERE the soul has to strip itself of all encumbrances, and fight for +life, and life only." + +This was the battle waged in Doctor Moran's house for many awful weeks. +The girl lay at Death's door, and her father and mother watched every +breath she drew. One day, while she was in extremity, the Doctor went +himself to the apothecary's for medicine. This medicine was his last +hope and he desired to prepare it himself. As he came out of the store +with it in his hand, Hyde looked at him with a steady imploration. He +had evidently been waiting his exit. + +"Sir!" he said, "I have heard a report that I cannot, I dare not +believe." + +"Believe the worst--and stand aside, sir. I have neither patience nor +words for you." + +"I beseech you, sir--" + +"Touch me not! Out of my sight! Broadway is not wide enough for us two, +unless you take the other side." + +"Your daughter? Oh sir, have some pity!" + +"My daughter is dying." + +"Then sir, let me tell you, that your behaviour has been so brutal to +her, and to me, that the Almighty shows both kindness and intelligence +in taking her away:"--and with these words uttered in a blazing passion +of indignation and pity, the young lord crossed to the other side of +the street, leaving the Doctor confounded by his words and manner. + +"There is something strange here," he said to himself; "the fellow may +be as bad as bad can be, but he neither looked nor spoke as if he had +wronged Cornelia. If she lives I must get to the bottom of this affair. +I should not wonder if it is the work of Dick Hyde--earl or general--as +detestable a man as ever crossed my path." + +With this admission and wonder, the thought of Hyde passed from his +mind; for at that hour the issue he had to consider was one of life or +death. And although it was beyond all hope or expectation, Cornelia +came back to life; came back very slowly, but yet with a solemn calm +and a certain air of conscious dignity, as of one victorious over death +and the grave. But she was perilously delicate, and the Doctor began to +consider the dangers of her convalescence. + +"Ava," he said one evening when Cornelia had been downstairs +awhile--"it will not do for the child to run the risk of meeting that +man. I see him on the street frequently. The apothecary says he comes +to his store to ask after her recovery nearly every day. He has not +given her up, I am sure of that. He spoke to me once about her, and was +outrageously impudent. There is something strange in the affair, but +how can I move in it?" + +"It is impossible. Can you quarrel with a man because he has deceived +Cornelia? How cruel that would be to the child! You must bear and I +must bear. Anything must be borne, rather than set the town wondering +and talking." + +"It is a terrible position. I see not how I can endure it." + +"Put Cornelia before everything." + +"The best plan is to remove Cornelia out of danger. Why not take her to +visit your brother Joseph? He has long desired you to do so." + +"Go to Philadelphia NOW! Joseph tells me Congress is in session, and +the city gone mad over its new dignity. Nothing but balls and dinners +are thought of; even the Quakers are to be seen in the finest modes and +materials at entertainments; and Cornelia will hardly escape the fever +of fashion and social gaiety. She has many acquaintances there." + +"I do not wish her to escape it. A change of human beings is as +necessary as a change of air, or diet. She has had too much of George +Hyde, and Madame Jacobus, and Rem Van Ariens." + +"I hear that Rem is greatly taken with Boston, and thinks of opening an +office there." + +"Very prudent of Rem. What chance has he in New York with Hamilton and +Burr, to carry off all the big prey? Make your arrangements as soon as +possible to leave New York." + +"You are sure that you are right in choosing Philadelphia?" + +"Yes--while Hyde is in New York. Write to your brother to-day; and as +soon as Cornelia is a little stronger, I will go with you to +Philadelphia." + +"And stay with us?" + +"That is not to be expected. I have too much to do here," + + + + +CHAPTER X + +LIFE TIED IN A KNOT + + +One morning soon after the New Year, Hyde was returning to the Manor +House from New York. It was a day to oppress thought, and tighten the +heart, and kill all hope and energy. There was a monotonous rain and a +sky like that of a past age--solemn and leaden--and the mud of the +roads was unspeakable. He was compelled to ride slowly and to feel in +its full force, as it were, the hostility of Nature. As he reached his +home the rain ceased, and a thick mist, with noiseless entrance, +pervaded all the environment; but no life, or sound of life, broke the +melancholy sense of his utter desolation. + +He took the road by the lake because it was the nearest road to the +stables, where he wished to alight; but the sight of the livid water, +and of the herons standing motionless under the huge cedars by its +frozen edges, brought to speech and expression that stifled grief, +which Nature this morning had intensified, not relieved. + +"Those unearthly birds!" he said petulantly, "they look as if they had +escaped the deluge by some mistake. Oh if I could forget! If I could +only forget! And now she has gone! She has gone! I shall never see her +again!" Grief feels it a kind of luxury to repeat some supreme cry of +misery, and this lamentation for his lost love had this poignant +satisfaction. He felt New York to be empty and void and dreary, and the +Manor House with its physical cheer and comfort, and its store of +affection, could not lift the stone from his heart. + +In spite of the chilling mist the Earl had gone to see a neighbour +about some land and local affairs, and his mother--oblivious of the +coronet of a countess--was helping her housekeeper to make out the list +of all household property at the beginning of the year 1792. She seemed +a little annoyed at his intrusion, and recommended to him a change of +apparel. Then he smiled at his forlorn, draggled condition, and went to +his room. + +Now it is a fact that in extreme dejection something good to eat, and +something nice to wear, will often restore the inner man to his normal +complacency; and when Hyde's valet had seen to his master's refreshment +in every possible way, Hyde was at least reconciled to the idea of +living a little longer. The mud-stained garments had disappeared, and +as he walked up and down the luxurious room, brightened by the blazing +oak logs, he caught reflections of his handsome person in the mirror, +and he began to be comforted. For it is not in normal youth to disdain +the smaller joys of life; and Hyde was thinking as his servant dressed +him in satin and velvet, that at least there was Annie. Annie was +always glad to see him, and he had a great respect for Annie's +opinions. Indeed during the past few weeks they had been brought into +daily companionship, they had become very good friends. So then the +absence of the Earl and the preoccupation of his mother was not beyond +comfort, if Annie was able to receive him. In spite of his grief for +Cornelia's removal from New York, he was not insensible to the pleasure +of Annie's approval. He liked to show himself to her when he knew he +could appear to advantage; and there was nothing more in this desire, +than that healthy wish for approbation that is natural to +self-respecting youth. + +He heard her singing as he approached the drawing-room, and he opened +the door noiselessly and went in. If she was conscious of his entrance +she made no sign of it, and Hyde did not seem to expect it. He glanced +at her as he might have glanced at a priest by the altar, and went +softly to the fireside and sat down. At this moment she had a solemn, +saintly beauty; her small pale face was luminous with spiritual joy, +her eyes glowing with rapture, and her hands moving among the ivory +keys of the piano made enchanting melody to her inspired longing + + Jerusalem the golden, + With milk and honey blest, + Beneath thy contemplation + Sink heart and voice oppressed. + O one, O only mansion, + O paradise of joy! + Where tears are ever banished + And smiles have no alloy. + O sweet and blessed country! + Shall I ever see thy face? + O sweet and blessed country! + Shall I ever win thy grace? + +and as these eager impassioned words rose heavenward, it seemed to Hyde +that her innocent, longing soul was half-way out of her frail little +body. He did not in any way disturb her. She ceased when the hymn was +finished and sat still a few moments, realizing, as far as she could, +the glory which doth not yet appear. As her eyes dropped, the light +faded from her face; she smiled at Hyde, a smile that seemed to light +all the space between them. Then he stood up and she came towards him. +No wonder that strangers spoke of her as a child; she had the size and +face and figure of a child, and her look of extreme youth was much +accentuated by the simple black gown she wore, and by her carriage, for +she leaned slightly forward as she walked, her feet appearing to take +no hold upon the floor; a movement springing INTERIORLY from the soul +eagerness which dominated her. Hyde placed her in a chair before the +fire, and then drew his own chair to her side. + +"Cousin," she said, "I am most glad to see you. Everybody has some work +to do to-day." + +"And you, Annie?" + +"In this world I have no work to do," she answered. "My soul is here +for a purchase; when I have made it I shall go home again." And Hyde +looked at her with such curious interest that she added--"I am buying +Patience." + +"O indeed, that is a commodity not in the market." + +"I assure you it is. I buy it daily. Once I used to wonder what for I +had come to earth. I had no strength, no beauty, nothing at all to buy +Earth's good things with. Three years ago I found out that I had come +to buy for my soul, the grace of Patience. Do you remember what an +imperious, restless, hard-to-please, hard-to-serve girl I was? Now it +is different. If people do not come on the instant I call them, I rock +my soul to rest, and say to it 'anon, anon, be quiet, soul.' If I +suffer much pain--and that is very often--I say Soul, it is His Will, +you must not cry out against it. If I do not get my own way, I say, +Soul, His Way is best; and thus, day by day, I am buying Patience." + +"But it is not possible this can content you. You must have some other +hope and desire, Annie?" + +"Perhaps I once had--and to-day is a good time to speak of it to you, +because now it troubles me no longer. You know what my father desired, +and what your father promised, for us both?" + +"Yes. Did you desire it, Annie?" + +"I do not desire it now. You were ever against it?" + +"Oh Annie!--" + +"It makes no matter, George. I shall never marry you." + +"Do you dislike me so much?" + +"I am very fond of you. You are of my race and my kindred, and I love +every soul of the Hydes that has ever tarried on this earth." + +"Well then?" + +"I shall marry no one. I will show you the better way. Few can walk in +it, but Doctor Roslyn says, he thinks it may be my part--my happy +part--to do so:" and as she spoke she took from the little pocket at +her side a small copy of the gospels, and it opened of its own account +at the twentieth chapter of St. Luke. "See!" she said, "and read it for +yourself, George--" + +"The children of this world marry and are given in marriage. But they +which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the +resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage. + +"Neither can they die any more; for they are equal unto the angels, and +are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection." +[Footnote: St. Luke, chap. xx. 34-36.] + +"To die no more! To be like unto the angels! To be the children of God! +This is the end and aim of my desires, to be among 'the children of +God!'" + +"Dear Annie, I cannot understand this." + +"Not yet. It is not your time. My soul, I think, is ages older than +yours. It takes ages of schooling to get into that class that may leave +Earth forever, and be as the angels. Even now I know, I am sure that +you are fretting and miserable for the love of some woman. For whose +love, George? Tell me." + +Then Hyde plunged with headlong precipitancy into the story of his love +for Cornelia, and of the inexplicably cruel way in which it had been +brought to a close. "And yesterday," he continued with a sob in his +voice--"yesterday I heard that her father had taken her to +Philadelphia. I shall see her no more. He will marry her to Rem Van +Arenas, or to one of her Quaker cousins, and the taste is taken out of +my life, and I am only a walking misery." + +"I do not believe it is Cornelia's fault." + +"Here is her letter. Read it." Then Annie look the letter and after +reading it said, "If she be all you say, I will vow she wrote this in +her sleep. I should like to see her. Why do you think wrong of her? +What is love without faith in the one you love? Do you know first and +finally what true love is? It is THINKING kindly and nobly. For if we +GIVE all we have, and DO all we can do, and yet THINK unkindly, it +profits us nothing. Doctor Roslyn told me so. You remember him?" + +"Your teacher?" + +"My teacher, my friend, my father after the spirit. He told me that our +thoughts moulded our fate, because thought and life are one. So then, +if you really love Cornelia, you must think good of her, and then good +will come." + +"If thought and life are one, Annie, if doing good, and giving good, +are nothing to thinking good, and we are to be judged by our quality of +thinking, there will be a greater score against all of us, than we can +imagine. I, for one, should not like to be brought face to face with +what I think, and have thought about people; it would be an accounting +beyond my power to settle." + +"There is no accounting. If all the priests in Christendom tell you so, +believe them not. Do you think God keeps a score against you? Do you +think the future is some torture chamber, or condemned cell? Oh, how +you wrong God!" + +"But we are taught, Annie, that the future must correct the past." + +"True, but the future, like the present, is a school--only a school. +And the Great Master is so compassionate, so ready to help, so ready to +enlighten, so sure to make out of our foolishness some wise thing. If +we learn the lesson we came here to learn, He will say to us 'Well +done'--and then we shall go higher." + +"If we do not learn it?" + +"Ah then, we are turned back to try it over again! I should not like to +be turned back--would you?" + +"But He will punish us for failure." + +"Our earthly fathers are often impatient with us; His compassions fail +not. Oh this good God!" she cried in an ecstasy--"Oh that I knew where +I might find Him! Oh that I could come into His presence!" and her eyes +dilated, and were full of an incomparable joy, as if they were gazing +upon some glorious vision, and glad with the gladness of the angels. + +Hyde looked at her with an intense interest. He wondered if this +angelic little creature had ever known the frailties and temptations of +mortal life, and she answered his thought as if he had spoken it aloud. + +"Yes, cousin, I have known all temptations, and come through all +tribulations. My soul has wandered and lost its way, and been brought +back many and many a time, and bought every grace with much suffering. +But God is always present to help, while quest followed quest, and +lesson followed lesson, and goal succeeded goal; ever leaving some evil +behind, and carrying forward some of those gains which are eternal." + +"If Adam had not fallen!" sighed George, "things might have been so +different." + +"But the angels fell before Adam," she answered. "I wonder if Adam knew +about the fallen angels? Did he know about death before he saw Abel +dead? He was all day in the garden of Eden after eating of the fruit of +sin and death, and yet he did not put out his hand to take of the Tree +of Life. Did he know that he was already immortal? Was he--and are +we--fallen angels, working our way back to our first estate through +many trials and much suffering? Doctor Roslyn talked to me of these +things till I thought I felt wings stirring within me. Wings! Wings! +Wings to fly away and be at rest. Wings! they have been the dream of +every race and every age. Are they a memory of our past greatness, for +they haunt us, and draw us on and on, and higher and higher?--but why +do you look so troubled and reluctant?" + +Before Hyde could answer, the Earl came into the room and the young man +was glad to see his father. A conversation so unusual, so suggestive +and cleaving made him unhappy. It took him up the high places that +indeed gave him a startling outlook of life, but he was not comfortable +at such altitude. He rose with something of this strange air about him, +and the Earl understood what the trend of the conversation had been. +For Annie had talked much to him on such subjects, and he had been +sensibly moved and impressed by the wisdom which the little maid had +learned from her venerable teacher. He lifted her head in passing, and +kissed her brow with that reverent affection we feel for those who +bring out what is noblest and best in our character, and who lead us +higher than our daily walk. + +"My dear George," he said, "I am delighted to see you. I was afraid you +would stay in the city this dreadful weather. Is there any news?" + +"A great deal, sir. I have brought you English and French papers." + +"I will read them at my leisure. Give me the English news first. What +is it in substance?" + +"The conquest of Mysore and Madras. Seringapatam has fallen; and Tippoo +has ceded to England one half his dominions and three millions of +pounds. The French have not now a foothold left in India, and 'Citizen +Tippoo' can no longer help the agents of the French Republic. Faith, +sir! Cornwallis has given England in the east, a compensation for what +she lost in the west." + +"To make nations of free men, is the destiny of our race," replied the +Earl. + +"Perhaps so; for it seems the new colony planted at Sydney Cove, +Australia, is doing wonderfully; and that would mean an English empire +in the south." + +"Yet, I have just read a proclamation of the French Assembly, calling +on the people of France 'TO ANNIHILATE AT ONCE, the white, clay-footed +colossus of English power and diplomacy.' Anything else?" + +"Mr. Fox and Mr. Burke are quarrelling as usual, and Mr. Pitt is making +the excesses of France the excuse for keeping back reform in England. +It is the old story. I did not care to read it. The French papers tell +their side of it. They call Burke a madman, and Pitt a monster, and the +Moniteur accuses them of having misrepresented the great French nation, +and says, 'they will soon be laid prostrate before the statue of +Liberty, from which they shall only rise to mount the scaffold, etc., +etc.'" + +"What bombastic nonsense!" + +"Minister Morris is in the midst of horrors unmentionable. The other +foreign ministers have left France, and the French government is +deserted by all the world; yet Mr. Morris remains at his post, though +he was lately arrested in the street, and his house searched by armed +men." + +"But this is an insult to the American nation! Why does he endure it? +He ought to return home." + +"Because he will not abandon his duty in the hour of peril and +difficulty. Neither has the President given him permission to do so. +How could he desert American citizens unlawfully imprisoned, American +vessels unlawfully seized by French privateers, and American captains +detained in French ports on all kinds of pretences. I think Minister +Morris is precisely where he should be, saving the lives of American +citizens; many of whom are trembling to-day in the shadow of the +guillotine." + +"It is to be hoped that Jefferson is now convinced of the execrable +nature of these brutal revolutionists." + +"I can assure you, sir, he is not. He still excuses all their +abominations and says Minister Morris is a high-flying monarchy man, +and not to be taken without great allowance. I hear that Madame +Kippon's daughter, whom Mr. Morris rescued at the last hour, has +arrived in New York; and yesterday I met Mr. Van Ariens, who is +exceedingly anxious concerning his daughter, the Marquise de +Tounnerre." "Is she in danger? I thought her husband was a leader in +the new National Assembly." + +"He is among the Girondists. They are giving themselves airs and making +fine speeches at present--but--" + +"But what?" + +"Their day will be short." + +"What of the king?" + +"The royal family are all prisoners in the Temple Tower. I do not dare +to read the particulars; but not a single protest against their +barbarity is made. Frenchmen who silently saw the Abbaye, the Force, +and the Carmes turned into human shambles three months ago, now hold +their peace while murders no less horrible are being slowly done in the +Temple." + +"They are inconceivable monsters. Poor little Arenta! What will she do?" + +"I am not very uneasy for her; she has wit enough to save her life if +put to such extremes; her father is much to be pitied; and it is +incredible, though true, that the great majority of our people are +still singing the MARSEILLAISE, though every letter of it is washed in +blood and tears." + +"I am troubled about that pretty little Marquise." + +"She is clever and full of resource. I have had only one letter from +her since her marriage, and it was written to the word 'glories!' She +seemed to be living in a blaze of triumph and very happy. But change is +the order of the day in France." + +"Say of the hour, and you are nearer the truth." + +"If Arenta is in trouble she will cry out, and call for help on every +hand. I never knew her to make a mistake where her own interests were +concerned. I told her father yesterday that it would be very difficult +to corner Arenta, and comforted him beyond my hope." + +During this conversation Annie was in a reverie which it in no way +touched. She had the faculty of shutting her ears to sounds she did not +wish to take into her consciousness, and the French Revolution did not +exist for her. She was thinking all the time of her Cousin George, and +of the singular abruptness with which his love life had been cut short; +and it was this train of thought which led her--when the murmur of +voices ceased for a moment--to say impulsively: + +"Uncle, it is my desire to go to Philadelphia," The Earl looked at her +with incredulity. "What nonsense, Annie!" he exclaimed. "The thing is +impossible." + +"Why impossible?" + +"For you, I mean. You would be very ill before the journey was +half-finished. The roads, as George will tell you, are nearly +impassable; and the weather after this fog may be intensely cold. For +you a journey to Philadelphia would be an arduous undertaking, and one +without any reasonable motive." + +"Oh, indeed! Do you call George Washington an unreasonable motive? I +wish to see him. Imagine me within one hundred miles of this supreme +hero, and turning back to England without kissing his hand. I should be +laughed at--I should deserve to be laughed at." + +"Yes, if the journey were an easier one." + +"To be sure, the roads and the cold will be trials; but then my uncle, +you can give them to me, as God gives trials to His Beloved. He breaks +them up into small portions, and puts a night's sleep between the +portions. Can you not also do this?" + +"You little Methodist!" answered the Earl, with a tender gleam in his +eyes. "I see that I shall have to give you your own way. Will you go +with us, George?" + +"It will be a relief. New York is in the dumps. Little Burr having +beaten the Schuyler faction, thinks himself omnipotent; and this +quarrel between Mr. Jay and Governor Clinton keeps every one else on +the edge of ill-humour. All the dancing part of the town are gone to +Philadelphia; I have scarcely a partner left; and there is no +conversation now in New York that is not political. Burr, Schuyler, +Jay, Clinton! even the clergy have gone horse and foot into these +disputes." + +"Burr has a kind of cleverness; one must admit that." + +"He is under the curse of knowing everything." + +"Nevertheless his opinions will not alter the axis of the earth. It is +however a dangerous thing to live in a community where politics are the +staple of talk, quarrels spring full armed from a word in such an +atmosphere." + +"I have accommodated my politics, sir, to my own satisfaction; and I +make shift to answer people according to their idols. I vow, I am so +weary of the words 'honour and honesty' that they beat a tattoo on my +brain." + +"When you are as old as I am, George, you will understand that these +words are the coin, with which men buy office. The corruption of +courtiers is a general article of faith, but the impudence of patriots +going to market with their honesty, beats courtly corruption to +nothing. However, let us go to Philadelphia and see the play. That is +what Annie desires." + +"I desire to see Washington. I wish to see the greatest of Americans." + +"Let me tell you, Annie," said the Earl, "that there never was a man in +America less American in character and habits, than Washington." + +"For all that," interrupted George, "there will never come a man after +him, that will be able to rob Washington of the first place in the +hearts of the American nation." + +"Nor at this day can we judge him as he deserves," added the Earl; "for +he is cramped and hustled by the crowd of nobodies around him." + +"I shall look at him, and I shall know him," said Annie. "George tells +me that he is good and handsome to look at." + +"On horseback," continued the Earl, "there is none like him; he is the +ideally perfect cavalier--graceful, dignified, commanding. Indeed so +superb a man comes not twice in a generation. At Monmouth, where I +commanded a division, I remember him flying along the lines, cheering +the men and restoring by his tremendous enthusiasm the fortunes of the +fight to our standard. The grandest of men! You are right, Annie, it +would be a stupidity to go back to England without seeing him." + +This was the initial conversation which after some opposition, and a +little temper from madame the Countess, resulted in the Hyde family +visiting Philadelphia. It was a great trial to the Countess to leave +her own well ordered, comfortable home for apartments in an hotel; and +she was never done asserting it to be a great imprudence, as far as +Annie was concerned. But the girl was immovable, and as she was +supported by her uncle and cousin, the Countess was compelled to +acquiesce. But really she was so ready to find her pleasure in the +pleasure of those she loved, that this acquiescence was not an +unmitigated trial. She suspected the motive for her son's eager desire +for Philadelphia, and as she had abandoned without much regret the hope +of his marriage with Annie Hyde, she was far from being disinclined to +Cornelia. She had accustomed herself to the idea of Cornelia as +mistress of the beautiful home she had made. She was an American, and +madame loved her country and wished her daughter-in-law to be of +American lineage. She was aware that some trouble had come between the +lovers, and she trusted that this visit might be the ground of a +reconciliation. Without question, or plan, or even strong desire, she +felt the wisdom of making opportunities, and then leaving the +improvement of them to circumstances. + +So about the beginning of February the Hydes were settled in +Philadelphia more comfortably than could have been expected. A handsome +house, handsomely furnished, had been found; and madame had brought +with her the servants necessary to care for it, and for the family's +comfort. And she was glad, when the weariness of the journey was over, +to see how naturally and pleasantly her husband and son took their +places in the gay world around them. She watched the latter constantly, +being sure she would be able to read on his face, and by his manner and +temper, whether affairs relating to Cornelia were favourable. + +In a week she had come to the conclusion that he was disappointed; +which indeed was very much the case. He could hear nothing of Cornelia. +He had never once got a glimpse of her lovely countenance, and no +scrutiny had revealed to him the place of her abode. Every house +inhabited by a person of the name of Willing, had been the object of +his observation; but no form that by any possibility could be mistaken +for hers, had passed in or out of their doors. He became ashamed of +haunting particular streets, and fancied the ladies of certain houses +watched him; and that the maids and menservants chattered and +speculated about his motives. + +Every day when he went out Annie gave him an assuring smile, every day +when he returned, she opened her eyes on him with the question in them +she did not care to formulate; and every day she received in an answer +an almost imperceptible negative shake of the head, that slight as it +was, said despairingly, "I have not seen her." + +A month passed in this unfruitful searching misery, and Hyde was almost +hopeless. The journey appeared to be altogether a failure; and he said +to Annie, "I am to be blamed for my selfishness in permitting you to +come here. I see that you have tired yourself to death for nothing at +all." + +She gave her head a resolute little shake and answered, "Wait and see. +Something is coming. You have no patience." + +"I assure you, Annie, I ought to have. I have been buying it every day +since we came to this detestable place." + +"The place is not to blame. Do you know that I am going to Mrs. +Washington's reception to-morrow evening? I shall see the President. He +may even speak to me; for my uncle says he appears there, only as a +private gentleman. Cousin, you are to be my cavalier if it please you; +and my uncle and aunt will attend us." + +"I am devotedly at your service, Annie; and I will at least point out +to you some of the dazzling beauties of our court--the splendid Mrs. +Bingham, the Miss Allens, and Miss Chews, and the brilliant Sally +McKean." + +"And the lovely Cornelia Moran?" + +"She will not be there." + +"My aunt says I must wear a white gown, and I shah do you all the +justice it is in my power to do." + +"I am always proud of you, Annie. There is no one like you." + +"Do not say that, George!" The few words were almost a cry; and she +closed her eyes, and clasped her small hands tightly. + +"What have I said, Annie?" + +"Nothing--nothing--only do not flatter me." + +"It is the very truth." + +"Let it pass?--it is nothing." She was silent afterwards, like a person +in pain; all her childlike gaiety gone; and Hyde having a full share of +a man's stupidity about matters of pure feeling, did not for one moment +suspect why his praise should give her pain. He thought her objection +must come from some religious scruple. + +The next evening however he had every reason to feel proud of his +cousin. She was really an exquisite little creature; angels would have +given her all she wished, she was so charming. The touch of phantasy +and flame in her nature illumined her face, and no one could look at +her without feeling that a fervent and transparent soul gazed from +eyes, so lambent with soft spiritual fire. This impression was enhanced +by her childlike gown of white crape over soft white silk; it suggested +her sweet fretless life, and also something unknown and unseen in her +very simplicity. + +Hyde, who was dressed in the very finest mode, was proud to take her on +his arm; and the Earl watched them with a fond and faithful hope that +all would soon fall out as he desired it. He could not indeed imagine a +man remaining unimpressed by a beauty so captivating to the highest +senses. "It will be as we wish," he said to his Countess as they +watched them entering the waiting coach; and she answered with that +smile of admission, which has always its reserved opinion. + +Mrs. Washington's parlours were crowded when they entered them, but the +splendid throng gave the highest expression of their approval possible, +by that involuntary silence which indicates a pleased astonishment. The +Earl at once presented his niece to Mrs. Washington, and afterwards to +the President, who as a guest of Mrs. Washington was walking about the +rooms talking to the ladies present. Resplendent in purple and white +satin and the finest of laces, the august man captivated Lady Annie at +the first glance. She curtsied with inimitable grace, and would have +kissed the hand he held out to her, had he permitted the homage. For a +few minutes he remained in conversation with the party, then he went +forward, and Hyde turning with his beautiful charge, met Cornelia face +to face. + +They looked at each other as two disembodied souls might meet and look +after death--reproaching, questioning, entreating, longing. Hyde +flushed and paled, and could not for his very life make the slightest +effort at recognition or speech. Not a word would come. He knew not +what word to say. Cornelia who had seen his entry was more prepared. +She gave him one long look of tender reproach as she passed, but she +made no movement of recognition. If she had said one syllable--if she +had paused one moment--if she had shown in any way the least desire for +a renewal of their acquaintance, Hyde was sure his heart would have +instantly responded. As it was, they had met and parted in a moment, +and every circumstance had been against him. For it was the most +natural thing in life, that he should, after his cousin's interview +with Washington, stoop to her words with delight and interest; and it +was equally natural for Cornelia to put the construction on his +attentions which every one else did. Then being angry at her apparent +indifference, he made these attentions still more prominent; and +Cornelia heard on every hand the confirmation of her own suspicions: +"They are to be married at Easter. What a delightful little creature!" + +"They have loved each other all their lives." + +"The Earl is delighted with the marriage." + +"He is the most devoted of lovers." + +And there was not a word of dissent from this opinion until pretty +Sally McKean said, "A fig for your prophecies! George Hyde has loved +and galloped away a score of times. I would not pay any more attention +to his proposals and promises, than I would pay to the wind that blows +where it listeth; here to-day, and somewhere else to-morrow." + +To all these speculations Cornelia forced herself to listen with a calm +unalterable; and Hyde and Annie watched her from a distance. "So that +is the marvellous beauty!" said Annie. + +"Is she not marvellously beautiful?" asked Hyde. + +"Yes. I will say that much. But why did she look at you with so much of +reproach? What have you done to her?" + +"That is it. What have I done? Or left undone?" + +"Who is the gentleman with her?" + +"I know not. She has many relatives here; wealthy Quakers, and some of +them doubtless of the new order, who do not disdain the frivolity of +fine clothing." + +"Indeed, I assure you the Quakers were ever nice in their taste for +silks and velvets and laces. The man is handsome enough even to be her +escort. And to judge by appearances he is her devoted servant. Will you +regard them, cousin?" + +"I do. Alas, I see nothing else! She is more lovely then ever." + +"She is wonderfully dressed. That gown of pale blue and silver would +make any woman look like an angel?-but indeed she is lovely beyond +comparison. There are none like her in this room. It will be a thousand +pities if you lose her." + +"I shall be inconsolable." + +"You may have another opportunity even tonight. I see that my aunt is +approaching with a young lady, if you do not wish to make a new +acquaintance, go and try to meet Cornelia again." + +"Thank you, Annie. You can tell me what I have missed afterwards." + +He wandered through the parlours speaking to one and another but ever +on the watch for Cornelia. He saw her no more that night. She had +withdrawn as soon as possible after meeting Hyde, and he was so +miserably disappointed, so angry at the unpropitious circumstances +which had dominated their casual meeting, that he hardly spoke to +anyone as they returned home; and was indeed so little interested in +other affairs that he forgot until the next day to ask Annie whose +acquaintance he had rather palpably refused. + +"You cannot guess who it was," said Annie in answer to his query; "so I +will make a favour of telling you. Do you remember the Rev. Mr. Darner, +rector of Downhill Market?" + +"Very well. He preached very tiresome sermons." + +"The young lady was his daughter Mary." + +"'Tis a miracle! What is Mary Darner doing in America?" + +"She is on a visit to her cousin, who is married to the Governor of +Massachusetts. He is here on some state matter, and as Miss Damer also +wished to see Washington, he brought her with him." + +"Mary Damer! We went nutting together one autumn. She came often to +Hyde Court when I was a lad." + +"And she promises to come often to see me when I return to England. I +wonder what we have been brought together for. There must be a reason +for a meeting so unlikely--Can it be Cornelia?" + +"'Tis the most improbable of suppositions. I do not suppose she ever +saw Cornelia." + +"She had not even heard of her--and yet my mind will connect them." + +"You have no reason to do so; and it is beyond all likelihood. I am +sorry I went away from Mary." + +"She took no notice of your desertion." + +"That is, as maybe. I was a mere lad when I saw her last. Is she +passable?" + +"She is extremely handsome. My aunt heard that she is to marry a Boston +gentleman of good promise and estate. I dare say it is true." + +It was so true that even while they were speaking of the matter Mary +was writing these words to her betrothed: "Yesterday I met the Hydes. +You know my father has the living of Downhill Market from them, and I +had a constraint on me to be agreeable. The young Lord got out of my +way. Did he imagine I had designs on him? I look for a better man. What +fate brought us together in Philadelphia, I know not. I may see a great +deal of them in the coming summer, and then I may find out. At present +I will dismiss the Hydes. I have met pleasanter company." + +Annie dismissed the subject with the same sort of impatience. It seemed +to no one a matter of any importance, and even Annie that day had none +of the penetrative insight which belongs to + + "that finer atmosphere, + Where footfalls of appointed things, + Reverberant of days to be, + Are heard in forecast echoings, + Like wave beats from a viewless sea." + +As for Hyde, he was shaken, confused, lifted off his feet, as it were; +but after another day had passed, he had come to one steady +resolution--HE WOULD SPEAL TO CORNELIA WHEN NEXT HE MET HER, NO MATTER +WHERE IT WAS, OR WHO WAS WITH HER. And that passionate stress of spirit +which induced this resolve, led him also to go out and seek for this +opportunity. + +For nearly a week he kept this conscious, constant watch. Its insisting +sorrowful longing was like a cry from Love's watch towers, but it did +not reach the beloved one; or else she did not answer it. One bright +morning he resolved to walk through the great dry goods +stores--Whiteside's, Guest's, and the famous Mrs. Holland's, where the +beauties of the "gay Quakers" bought their choicest fabrics in foreign +chintzes, lawns, and Indian muslins. All along Front, Arch, and Walnut +Streets, the pavements were lumbered with boxes and bales of fine +imported goods, and he was getting impatient of the bustle and pushing, +when he saw Anthony Clymer approaching him. The young man was driving a +new and very spirited team, and as he with some difficulty held them, +he called to Hyde to come and drive with him. Hyde was just in the +weary mood that welcomed change, and he leaped to his friend's side, +and felt a sudden exhilaration in the rapid motion of the buoyant, +active animals. After an hour's driving they came to a famous hostelry, +and Clymer said, "Let us give ourselves lunch, and the horses bait and +a rest, then we will make them show their mettle home again." + +The proposal met with a hearty response, and the young men had a +luxurious meal and more good wine than they ought to have taken. But +Hyde had at last found some one who could talk of Cornelia; rave of her +face and figure, and vow she was the topmost beauty in Philadelphia. He +listened, and finally asked where she dwelt, and learned that she was +staying with Mr. Theodore Willing, a wealthy gentleman of the strictest +Quaker principles, but whose son was one of the "feeble men or wet +Quakers" who wore powder and ruffles and dressed like a person of +fashion. + +"He dangles around the bewitching Miss Moran, and gives no other man a +chance," said Clymer spitefully. "It is the talk from east to west, and +'tis said, he is so enamoured of the beauty, that he will have her, if +he buy her." + +"Do you talk in your sleep? Or do you tell your dreams for truth?" +asked Hyde angrily. "'Tis not to be believed that a girl so lovely can +be bought by mere pounds sterling. A woman's heart lies not so near her +hand--God's mercy for it! or any fool might seize it." + +"What are you raging at? She is not your mistress." + +"Let us talk of horses--or politics--or the last play--or anything but +women. They breed quarrels, if you do but name them." + +"Content. I will tell you a good story about Tom Herring," + +The story was evidently a good one, for Hyde laughed at the recital +with a noisy merriment very unusual to him. The champ and gallop of the +horses, and Clymer's vociferous enjoyment of his own wit, blended with +it; and for a moment or two Hyde was under a physical exhilaration as +intoxicating as the foam of the champagne they had been drinking. In +the height of this meretricious gaiety, a carriage, driving at a rather +rapid rate turned into the road; and Cornelia suddenly raised her eyes +to the festive young men, and then dropped them with an abrupt, even +angry expression. + +Hyde became silent and speechless, and Clymer was quickly infected by +the very force and potency of his companion's agitation and distressed +surprise. He heard him mutter, "Oh this is intolerable!" and then, it +was, as if a cold sense of dislike had sprung up between them.--Both +were glad to escape the other's company, and Hyde fled to the privacy +of his own room, that he might hide there the almost unbearable chagrin +and misery this unfortunate meeting had caused him. + +"Where shall I run to avoid myself?" he cried as he paced the floor in +an agony of shame. "She will never respect me again. She ought not. I +am the most wretched of lovers. Such a tom-fool to betray me as Anthony +Clymer! A man like a piece of glass, that I have seen through a dozen +times!" Then he threw himself into a chair and covered his face with +his hands, and wept tears full of anger and shameful distress. + +For some days sorrow, and confusion, and distraction bound his senses; +he refused all company, would neither eat, nor sleep, nor talk, and he +looked as white and wan as a spectre. A stupid weight, a dismal sullen +stillness succeeded the storm of shame and grief; and he felt himself +to be the most forlorn of human beings. If it had been only possible to +undo things done! he would have bought the privilege with years. At +length, however, the first misery of that wretched meeting passed away, +and then he resolved to forget. + +"It is all past!" he said despairingly. "She is lost to me forever! Her +memory breaks my heart! I will not remember any longer! I will forfeit +all to forgetfulness. Alas, alas, Cornelia! Though you would not +believe me, it was the perfectest love that I gave you!" + +Cornelia's sorrow, though quite as profound, was different in +character. Her sex and various other considerations taught her more +restraint; but she also felt the situation to be altogether +unendurable, and after a few moments of bitterly eloquent silence, she +said-- + +"Mother, let us go home. I can bear this place no longer. Let us go +home to-morrow. Twice this past week I have been made to suffer more +than you can imagine. The man is apparently worthless--but I love him." + +"You say 'apparently' Cornelia?" + +"Oh, how can I tell? There may be excuses--compulsions--I do not know +what. I am only sure of one thing, that I love and suffer." + +For despite all reason, despite even the evidence of her own eyes, +Cornelia kept a reserve. And in that pitiful last meeting, there had +been a flash from Hyde's eyes, that said to her--she knew not what of +unconquerable love and wrong and sorrow--a flash swifter than lightning +and equally potential. It had stirred into tumult and revolt all the +platitudes with which she had tried to quiet her restless heart; made +her doubtful, pitiful and uncertain of all things, even while her +lover's reckless gaiety seemed to confirm her worst suspicions. And she +felt unable to face constantly this distressing dubious questioning, so +that it was with almost irritable entreaty she said, "Let us go home, +mother." + +"I have desired to do so for two weeks, Cornelia," answered Mrs. Moran. +"I think our visit has already been too long." + +"My Cousin Silas has now begun to make love to me; and his mother and +sisters like it no better than I do. I hate this town with its rampant, +affected fashion and frivolities! It is all a pretence! The people are +naturally saints, and they are absurd and detestable, scheming to make +the most of both worlds--going to meeting and quoting texts--and then +playing that they are men and women of fashion. Mother, let us go home +at once. Lucinda can pack our trunks to-day, and we will leave in the +morning." + +"Can we go without an escort?" + +"Oh yes, we can. Lucinda will wait on us--she too is longing for New +York--and who can drive us more carefully than Cato? And my dear +mother, if Silas wants to escort us, do not permit him. Please be very +positive. I am at the end of my patience. I am like to cry out! I am so +unhappy, mother!" + +"My dear, we will go home to-morrow. We can make the journey in short +stages. Do not break down now, Cornelia. It is only a little longer." + +"I shall not break down--if we go home." And as the struggle to resist +sorrow proves the capacity to resist it, Cornelia kept her promise. As +they reached New York her cheerfulness increased, and when they turned +into Maiden Lane, she clapped her hands for very joy. And oh, how +delightful was the pleasant sunny street, the familiar houses, the +brisk wind blowing, the alert cheerful looking men and women that +greeted each other in passing with lively words, and bright smiles! O +how delightful the fresh brown garden, in which the crocuses were just +beginning to peep, the bright looking home, the dear father running +with glad surprise to greet them, the handsome, pleasant rooms, the +refreshing tea, the thousand small nameless joys that belong to the +little darling word "HOME." + +She ran upstairs to her own dear room, laid her head on her pillow, sat +down in her favourite chair, opened her desk, let in all the sunshine +she could, and then fell with holy gratitude on her knees and thanked +God for her sweet home, and for the full cup of mercies He had given +her to drink in it. + +When she went downstairs the mail had just come in, and the Doctor sat +before a desk covered with newspapers and letters. "Cornelia," he cried +in a voice full of interest, "here is a letter for you--a long letter. +It is from Paris." + +"It is from Arenta!" she exclaimed, as she examined the large sheets +closed with a great splash of red wax, bearing the de Tounnerre crest. +It had indeed come from Paris, the city of dreadful slaughter, yet +Cornelia opened it with a smiling excitement, as she said again:-- + +"It is from Arenta!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +WE HAVE DONE WITH TEARS AND TREASONS + + +"Here is a letter from Arenta!" repeated the Doctor to his wife, who +was just entering the room, "Come, Ava, and listen to what she has to +say. I have no doubt it will be interesting." Then Cornelia read aloud +the following words: + +MY DEAR FRIEND CORNELIA: + +If to-day I could walk down Maiden Lane, if to-day I could see you and +talk to you, I should imagine myself in heaven. For as to this city, I +think that in hell the name of "Paris" must have spread itself far and +wide. Indeed I often wonder if I am yet on the earth, or if I have gone +away in my sleep to the country of the devil and his angels. Even as I +am writing to you, my pen is shaking with terror, for I hear the +tumbrel come jolting along, and I know that it is loaded with innocent +men and women who are going to the guillotine; and I know also that it +is accompanied by a mob of dreadful creatures--mostly women--for I hear +them singing--no, screaming--in a kind of rage, + +"Ca ira les aristocrates a la lanterne!" + +Do you remember our learning in those happy days at Bethlehem of the +slaughter of Christians by Nero? Very well; right here in the Paris of +Marat and Robespierre, you may hear constantly the same brutal cry that +filled the Rome of the Caesars--"DEATH TO THE CHRISTIANS!" Famine, +anarchy, murder, are everywhere; and I live from moment to moment, +trembling if a step comes near me. For Athanase is imprudence itself. +His opinions will be the death of him. He will not desert the +Girondists, though Mr. Morris tells him their doom is certain. Marat is +against them, and the Jacobins--who are deliriously wicked--are against +them, and the mob of the Faubourgs is against them; and this mob is +always of one mind, always on the spot, and always hungry and ready for +anarchy and blood. Besides which, they are already accused of having +sold themselves to Mr. Pitt. Very often I have heard my dear father +talking of universal suffrage as the bulwark of liberty; well then, we +have now, and here, an universal suffrage that is neither a fraud nor a +fiction; and as Athanase says, "it is expressing itself every minute, +in the crimes of the Holy Guillotine." + +And yet Paris makes a pretence of being gay and of enjoying itself. We +go to the theatre and the opera, and we dance, as it were, red, +wet-shod to the hideous strains of the Carmagnole. It is indeed a dance +of death. The other night we were at a reception given by Madame Talma +to the victorious General Dumouriez. All the Brissot party were there. +Your father will remember Brissot de Warville very well. He was greatly +petted by Mrs. Jay and the aristocracy of New York and Philadelphia. +Jefferson made a friend of him, and even Washington talked with him +about his book on our country. Then he passed himself off as a noble, +but he is really the son of an innkeeper. I had so often heard of him, +that I regarded with interest his pale face and grave, melancholy +manner. He was accompanied by Camille Desmoulins, and by Danton; the +latter a man almost terrible in his ugliness. David, the painter of +Socrates, was there; he had his hair frizzed, and was dressed +splendidly; and with him was Chenier, more tragic looking than any of +his plays. The salons were filled with flowers and beautiful women; +among them the majestic Madame Vestris, and the lovely Mademoiselle +Candeille, who was singing a song when there arose a sudden +indescribable noise, growing louder and louder, and then the cry of +MARAT! MARAT! and the "Friend of the People" entered. Now I shall spare +a few minutes to tell you, that no one has made frightful enough his +large bony face, his thin lips and his livid complexion. He wore an old +carmagnole, a dirty handkerchief twisted about his neck, leather +breeches, shoes without stockings, and a piece of red cotton round his +head, from which there hung a few locks of greasy hair. A nervous +twitching keeps him constantly moving, and he has the leprosy:--this is +well known. He walked straight to Dumouriez, who said disdainfully, +"Ah! are you the man they call Marat?" Marat immediately demanded from +him an account of military measures he had taken. They had some sharp +conversation which I did not hear, and Marat finally went away uttering +the most insulting threats, and leaving every one in a state of mortal +terror. The next day the newsboys were shouting "the discovery of a +great plot by Marat, the Friend of the People! Great meeting of +Aristocrats at Talmas, etc." + +This is the kind of pleasure we have; as to religion, there is no +longer any religion. Everywhere the Almighty is spoken of as the +"soi-disant God." The monarchy is abolished, and yet so ignorant are +the leaders of the people, that when Brissot mentioned the word +Republic in Petion's house, Robespierre said with a grin, "Republic! +Republic! what's a republic?" Spying, and fear, and death penetrate +into the most private houses; above all, fear, constant fear of every +one with whom you come in contact. This feeling is so universal, that +some one has conjugated it thus--I am afraid--Thou art afraid--He is +afraid--We are afraid--You are afraid--They are afraid--For as death +has been officially declared "an endless sleep" any crime is possible; +the mob have no fear of hell, and as for the guillotine, it is their +opera and their perpetual comedy. Very soon these things must bring on +France the chastisement of the Lord; and I shall not be sorry for it. + +I have told you the truth about our condition, because I have just had +a letter from my father, and he talks of leaving his business in Claus +Bergen's care, and coming here to look after me. You must convince him, +that he could do me no good whatever, and that he might do me much +harm. He is outspoken as a Zealander, and what is in his head and his +heart, would come to his lips; also, if it should come to flight, he +would embarrass me very much. Tell him not to fear; Arenta says, not to +fear. I may indeed have to take a seat in "the terrible armchair" +[Footnote: The chair in which the accused sat before the Revolutionary +Tribunal and from which they usually went to the guillotine.] but I +shall not go to the guillotine; I know that. While Minister Morris is +here I have a friend that can do all that can be done. I have had a few +letters from Rem, but they do not satisfy me. He is in love, AND NOT +WITH YOU. Will you please inform me what that means? Say to Aunt +Angelica that I am astonished at her silence; and ask our good Domine +to pray that I may soon return to a country where God reigns. Never +again do I wish to spend one minute in a place where there is no God; +for whatever they may call that place, its real name is hell. Write me +a long letter and tell me all the news of New York, and with my +respectful remembrance to your dear father and mother, I am always your +loving friend, ARENTA, MARQUISE DE TOUNNERRE. + +"Poor Arenta!" said the Doctor when Cornelia had finished the wretched +epistle. "She is however showing the mettle of the race from which she +sprang. The spirit of the men who fought Alva is in her, and I think +she will be a match for Marat, if it comes to that. Suppose you go and +see Van Ariens, and give him all the comfort you can. Are you too +weary?" + +"I should like to see him, I am not tired now. Home is such a good +doctor." + +"I think you will find him in his house. He comes from his office very +early these days." + +Cornelia crossed the street and was going to knock at the door, when +Van Ariens hastily opened it. His broad face shone with pleasure, and +when Cornelia told him her errand, he was in a hurry of loving anxiety +to hear what his child had written. + +"I understand," he said, when he had heard the letter. "She is +frightened, the poor little one! but she will smile and say 'it is +nothing.' That is her way. However, I yet think I must go to her." + +"Do not," urged Cornelia. "France is now at war with Holland, and you +would be recognized as a Dutchman." + +"That is so. My tongue would tell tales on me; and to go--even to +heaven--by the guillotine, is not what a good man would wish. No +indeed!" + +"And you may see by Arenta's letter, that she does not fear the +guillotine. Come over to-night and talk to my father and mother, and I +will tell you what I saw in Philadelphia." + +"Well then, I will come." + +"Is Madame Jacobus back in New York yet?" + +"She is in London." + +"But why in London?" + +"That, I know not. Two reasons I can suppose, but which is right, or if +either be right, that is beyond my certainty." + +"Is her sister-in-law dead?" + +"She is dead. Her husband was an Englishman; perhaps then it is about +some property in England she has gone. If it is not that, of nothing +else can I think but Captain Jacobus. But my sister Angelica had ever +two ways--nothing at all she would say about her money or her business; +but constantly, to every one, she would talk of her husband. I think +then it is money or property that has taken her to England. For if it +had been Jacobus, to the whole town she would have told it." Then he +took both Cornelia's hands in his, and looking at her earnestly said-- + +"Poor Rem! Impossible is it?" + +"Quite impossible, sir," she answered. + +"When he got thy letter refusing his love and offer, he went to Boston. +I think he will not come back to me. I am very sorry," he said simply, +and he let her hands drop. + +"I am sorry also--for your sake. I hear however that Rem is doing well +in Boston." + +"Better than his hopes. Very good fortune has come to him." + +"And you, sir?" + +"I am not doing much at present--but Smith and Warren do less. In an +hour or two to your house I will come. There is plenty to talk about." + +The next day Cornelia walked down Broadway to Madame Jacobus' house. It +was closed and desolate looking, and she sighed as she compared its old +bright spotless comfort, with its present empty forlornness. The change +typified the change in her heart and love, but ere she could entertain +the thought, her eyes fell upon the trees in the garden, full of the +pale crinkled leaves of spring, and she saw the early flowers breaking +through the dark earth, and the early shrubs bursting into white and +golden blooms. In some way they had a message for her; and she went +home with hope budding in her heart. Soon after Mrs. Moran heard her +singing at her work, + + "The far east glows, + The morning wind blows fresh and free; + Should not the hour that wakes the rose + Awaken thee? + No longer sleep-- + Oh listen now! + I wait and weep, + But where art thou?" + +From one to another song she went, simple melodies all of them, +delightful little warblings of love, which except for their gladness +and loyalty, had nothing in them to charm. + +She was a deserted maiden. Her lover had palpably and with extreme +cruelty deceived her; but she had grieved, and forgiven. And love +brings its reward, even if unrequited. Those who love, and have loved, +are the better for the revelation; for love for love's sake enriches +and blesses the lover to the very end of life. She did not forget, for +love has everlasting remembrance; and she did not wish to forget, for a +great affection is a great happiness, and the whole soul can find +shelter in it. + +Neither were her days monotonous or unhappy. All the real pleasures of +life lie in narrow compass; and she found herself very often a little +hurried for want of time. She had not, it is true, the resources of the +woman of to-day--no literary, musical, social, or sporting clubs +existed for Cornelia; but she had duties and devices that made every +moment pleasant or profitable. Many hours daily were given to fine +needlework--calm quiet hours full of thought as well as work; she had +her music to practice, new books and papers to read, calls to make, +mantua makers and milliners to interview, dinners and dances and +tea-parties to attend, shopping to look after, delicate bits of darning +and mending to exercise her skill on, creams and pasties and cakes to +prepare, visitors to welcome and entertain, and many other duties which +sprang up--as extras do--unexpectedly, and yet which opened the door +for very pleasant surprises and events. + +Besides which, there was her father. After her return from school she +had always driven with him to some extent; but his claim on her now was +often a little exacting. He said the fresh spring winds were good for +her, and that she stayed in the house too much, and there was no +evading the dictum that came with both parental and medical authority. +Perhaps this demand upon her time would not have been made if the Hydes +had been in New York; but Doctor Moran by frequent inquiries satisfied +himself that they were yet in Philadelphia; and for his daughter's +satisfaction he frequently said as they drove up Maiden Lane, "We will +take the Greenwich Road, there is no fear of our meeting any one we do +not wish to see." She understood the allusion, and was satisfied to +escape meetings that promised her nothing but pain. + +In the month of May there occurred one of those wet spells which are so +irritating "growing weather" of course, but very tiresome to those who +felt the joy of spring escaping them. Week after week it was too damp, +or the winds were too sharp, or the roads too heavy for quick driving, +and thus the month of all months went out of the calendar with few red +letter days to brighten it. Then June came in royally, and Cornelia was +glad of the sunshine and the breeze and the rapid canter; and for a +week or two she was much out with her father. But he was now ever on +the watch, and she judged from the circumstance that the Hydes were +back in New York. Besides which, he did not any longer give her the +assurance of not meeting any one they did not wish to see. + +One exquisite day as they went up Maiden Lane the Doctor said--"My +friend General Hewitt sails for England to-day, and we will go and wish +him a good voyage." So to the pier they went, and the Doctor left his +carriage, and taking Cornelia on his arm walked down to where the +English packet was lying. They were a little too late to go on board, +for the shoremen were taking away the gang-plank, and the sailors +preparing to lift the anchor; but the General stood leaning over the +side of the vessel, and exchanged some last words with his friend. + + [Illustration: "SHE WAVED HIM AN ADIEU"] + +While Cornelia listened, she became suddenly conscious of the powerful +magnetism of some human eye, and obeying its irresistible attraction +she saw George Hyde steadily regarding her. He stood by the side of his +father, as handsome as on that May morning when he had first looked +love into her heart. She was enthralled again by his glance, and never +for one moment thought of resisting the appeal it made to her. With a +conscious tenderness she waved him an adieu whose spirit he could not +but feel. In the same moment he lifted his hat and stood bareheaded +looking at her with a pathetic inquiry, which made her inwardly cry +out, "Oh, what does he mean?" The packet was moving--the wind filled +the blowing sails--the hoarse crying of the sailormen blended with the +"good-byes" of the passengers--and the Earl, aware of the sad and +silent parting within his sight--moved away as Cornelia again waved a +mute farewell to her lost lover. Then the Doctor touched her-- + +"Why do you do that?" he asked angrily. + +"Because I must do it, father; I cannot help it. I desire to do it." + +"I am in a hurry; let us go home." + +Filling her eyes with the beauty of the splendid looking youth still +standing bareheaded watching her, seeing even such trivial things as +his long cloak thrown backward over his shoulder, his white hand +holding his lifted hat, and the wind-tossed curls of his handsome head, +she turned away with a sigh. The Doctor drove rapidly to Maiden Lane +and did not on the way speak a word; and Cornelia was glad of it. That +image of her lover standing on the moving ship watching her with his +heart in his eyes, filled her whole consciousness. Never would it be +possible for her to forget it, or to put any other image in its place. +She thanked her good angel for giving her such a comforting memory; it +seemed as if the sting had been taken out of her sorrow. Henceforward +she was resolved to love without a doubt. She would believe in Joris, +no matter what she had seen, or what she had heard. There were places +in life to which alas! truth could not come; and this might be one of +them. Though all the world blamed her lover, she would excuse him. Her +heart might ache, her eyes might weep, but in that aching heart and in +those weeping eyes, his splendid image would live in that radiant +dimness which makes the unseen face, often more real than the present +one. + +Doctor Moran divined something of this resolute temper, and it made him +silent. He felt that his daughter had come to a place where she had put +reason firmly aside, and given her whole assent to the assurances of +her intuition. He had no arguments for an antagonism of this kind. What +could he say to a soul that presaged a something, and then believed it? +His instinctive sagacity told him that silence was now the part of +wisdom. But though he took her silently home he was conscious of a +great relief. His watch was over. + +Now a woman's intuition is like a leopard's spring, it seizes the +truth--if it seize it at all--at the first bound; and it was by this +unaccountable mental agility Cornelia had arrived at the conviction of +her lover's fidelity. At any rate, she felt confident, that if +circumstances had compelled him to be false to her, the wrong had been +sincerely mourned; and she was able to forgive the offence that was +blotted out with tears. She reflected also, that now he was so far +away, it would be possible for her to call upon Madame Van Heemskirk, +and also upon Madame Jacobus as soon as she returned; but if Hyde had +remained in New York, these houses would necessarily be closed to her, +for he was a constant visitor at both. + +She resolved therefore to call upon Madame Van Heemskirk the following +week. She expected the old lady might treat her a little formally, +perhaps even with some coldness, but she thought it worth while to test +her kindness. Joris had once told her that his grandfather and +grandmother both approved their love, and they must know of his +desertion, and also of the reason for it. Yet there was in her heart +such a reluctance to take any step that had the appearance of seeking +her lost lover, that she put off this visit day after day, finding in +the weather or in some household duty always a fair excuse for doing +so, until one morning the Doctor said at breakfast: + +"Councillor De Vrees died yesterday, and there is to be a great +funeral. Every Dutchman in town will be there, and many others beside, +He has left an immense fortune." + +"Who told you this?" asked Mrs. Moran. + +"I met Van Heemskirk and his wife going there. Madame De Vrees is their +daughter. Now you will see great changes take place." + +"What do you mean, John?" + +"Madame De Vrees has long wanted to build a mansion equal to their +wealth, but the Councillor would never leave the house he built at +their marriage. Madame will now build, and her children take their +places among the great ones of the city. De Vrees was an oddity; very +few people will be sorry to lose him. He had no good quality but money, +and he was the most unhappy of men about its future disposal. I never +understood until I knew him, how wretched a thing it is to be merely +rich." + +This conversation again put off Cornelia's visit, and she virtually +abandoned the idea. Then one morning Mrs. Moran said, "Cornelia, I wish +you to go to William Irvin's for some hosiery and Kendal cottons. It is +a new store down the Lane at number ninety, and I hear his cloths are +strangely cheap. Go and examine them for me." + +"Very well, mother. I will also look in at Fisher's;" and it was at +Fisher's that she saw Madame Van Heemskirk. She was talking to Mr. +Henry Fisher as they advanced from the back of the store, and Cornelia +had time to observe that madame was in deep mourning, and that she had +grown older looking since she had last seen her. As they came forward +madame raised her eyes and saw Cornelia, and then hastily leaving the +merchant, she approached her. + +"Good-morning, madame," said Cornelia, with a cheerful smile. + +"Good-morning, miss. Step aside once with me. A few words I have to say +to you;" and as she spoke she drew Cornelia a little apart from the +crowd at the counter, and looking at her sternly, said-- + +"One question only--why then did you treat my grandson so badly? A +shameful thing it is to be a flirt." + +"I am not a flirt, madame. And I did not treat your grandson badly. No, +indeed!" + +"Yes, indeed! He told me so himself." + +"He told you so?" + +"He told me so. Surely he did." + +"That I treated him badly?" + +"Pray then what else? You let a young man love you--you let him tell +you so--you tell him 'yes, I love you' and then when he says marry me, +you say, 'no.' Such ways I call bad, very bad! Not worthy of my Joris +are you, and so then, I am glad you said 'no.'" + +"I do not understand you." + +"Neither did you understand my Joris--a great mistake he made--and he +did not understand you; and I do not understand such ways of the girls +of this day. They are shameless, and I am ashamed for you." + +"Madame, you are very rude." + +"And very false are you." + +"I am not false." + +"My Joris told me so. Truth itself is Joris. He would not lie. He would +not deceive." + +"If your grandson told you I had deceived him, and refused to marry +him,--let it be so. I have no wish to contradict your grandson." + +"That you cannot do. I am ashamed--" + +"Madame, I wish you good morning;" and with these words Cornelia left +the store. Her cheeks were burning; the old lady's angry voice was in +her ears, she felt the eyes of every one in the store upon her, and she +was indignant and mortified at a meeting so inopportune. Her heart had +also received a new stab; and she had not at the moment any philosophy +to meet it. Joris had evidently told his grandmother exactly what the +old lady affirmed. She had not a doubt of that, but why? Why had he +lied about her? Was there no other way out of his entanglement with +her? She walked home in a hurry, and as soon as possible shut herself +in her room to consider this fresh wrong and injustice. + +She could arrive at only one conclusion--Annie's most unexpected +appearance had happened immediately after his proposal to herself. He +was pressed for time, his grandparents would be especially likely to +embarrass him concerning her claims, and of course the quickest and +surest way to prevent questioning on the matter, was to tell them that +she had refused him. That fact would close their mouths in sympathy for +his disappointment, and there would be no further circumstances to +clear up. It was the only explanation of madame's attitude that was +possible, and she was compelled to accept it, much as it humiliated +her. And then after it had been accepted and sorrowed over, there came +back to her those deeper assurances, those soul assertions, which she +could not either examine or define, but which she felt compelled to +receive--He loves me! I feel it! It is not his fault! I must not think +wrong of him. + +There was still Madame Jacobus to hope for. She was so shrewd and so +kindly, that Cornelia felt certain of her sympathy and wise advice. But +month after month passed away and madame's house remained empty and +forlorn-looking. Now and then there came short fateful letters from +Arenta, and Van Ariens--utterly miserable--visited them frequently that +he might be comforted with their assurances of his child's ability to +manage the very worst circumstances in which she could be placed. + +And so the long summer days passed and the winter approached again; but +before that time Cornelia had at least attained to the wisest of all +the virtues--that calm, hushed contentment, which is only another name +for happiness--that contentment which accepts the fact that there is a +chain of causes linked to effects by an invincible necessity; and that +whatever is, could not have wisely been but so. And if this was +fatalism, it was at least a brighter thing than the languid pessimism, +which would have led her life among quicksands, to end it in wreck. + +One day at the close of October she put down her needlework with a +little impatience. "I am tired of sewing, mother," she said, "and I +will walk down to the Battery and get a breath of the sea. I shall not +stay long." + +On her way to the Battery she was thinking of Hyde, and of their +frequent walks together there; and for once she passed the house of +Madame Jacobus without a glance at its long-closed windows. It was +growing dark as she returned, and ere she quite reached it she was +aware of a glow of fire light and candle light from the windows. She +quickened her steps, and saw a servant well known to her standing at +the open door directing two men who were carrying in trunks and +packages. She immediately accosted him. + +"Has madame returned at last, Ameer?" she asked joyfully. + +"Madame has returned home," he answered. "She is weary--she is not +alone--she will not receive to-night." + +"Surely not. I did not think of such a thing. Tell her only that I am +glad, and will call as soon as she can see me." + +The man's manner--usually so friendly--was shy and peculiar, and +Cornelia felt saddened and disappointed. "And yet why?" she asked +herself. "Madame has but reached home--I did not wish to intrude upon +her--Ameer need not have thought so--however I am glad she is back +again"--and she walked rapidly home to the thoughts which this +unexpected arrival induced. They were hopeful thoughts, +leaning--however she directed them--towards her absent lover. She felt +sure madame would see clearly to the very bottom of what she could not +understand. She went into her mother's presence full of renewed +expectations, and met her smile with one of unusual brightness. + +"Madame Jacobus is at home," said Mrs. Moran, before Cornelia could +speak. "She sent for your father just after you left the house, and I +suppose that he is still there." + +"Is she sick?" + +"I do not know. I fear so, for the visit is a long one." + +It continued so much longer that the two ladies took their tea alone, +nor could they talk of any other subject than madame, and her most +unexpected call for Doctor Moran's services. "It was always the Dutch +Doctor Gansvoort she had before," said Mrs. Moran; "and she was ever +ready to scoff at all others, as pretenders.--I do wonder what keeps +your father so long?" + +It was near ten o'clock when Doctor Moran returned, and his face was +sombre and thoughtful--the face of a man who had been listening for +hours to grave matters, and who had not been able to throw off their +physical reflection. + +"Have you had tea, John?" asked Mrs. Moran. + +"No. Give me a good strong cup, Ava. I am tired with listening and +feeling." + +She poured it out quickly, and after he had taken the refreshing drink, +Cornelia asked-- + +"Is madame very ill?" + +"She is wonderfully well. It is her husband." + +"Captain Jacobus?" + +"Who else? She has brought him home, and I doubt if she has done +wisely." + +"What has happened, John? Surely you will tell us!" + +"There is nothing to conceal. I have heard the whole story--a very +pitiful story--but yet like enough to end well, Madame told me that the +day after her sister-in-law's burial, James Lauder, a Scotchman who had +often sailed with Captain Jacobus, came down to Charleston to see her. +He had sought her in New York, and been directed by her lawyer to +Charleston. He declared that having had occasion to go to Guy's +Hospital in London to visit a sick comrade, he saw there Captain +Jacobus. He would not admit any doubt of his identity, but said the +Captain had forgotten his name, and everything in connection with his +past life; and was hanging about the premises by favour of the +physicians, holding their horses, and doing various little services for +them." + +"Oh how well I can imagine madame's hurry and distress," said Cornelia. + +"She hardly knew how to reach London quickly enough. She said thought +would have been too slow for her. But Lauder's tale proved to be true. +Her first action was to take possession of the demented man, and +surround him with every comfort. He appeared quite indifferent to her +care, and she obtained no shadow of recognition from him. She then +brought to his case all the medical skill money could procure, and in +the consultation which followed, the physicians decided to perform the +operation of trepanning." + +"But why? Had he been injured, John?" + +"Very badly. The hospital books showed that he had been brought there +by two sailors, who said he had been struck in a gale by a falling +mast. The wound healed, but left him mentally a wreck. The physicians +decided that the brain was suffering from pressure, and that trepanning +would relieve, if it did not cure." + +"Then why was it not done at first?" + +"Whose interest was it to inquire? No money was left with the injured +man. The sailors who took him to the hospital gave false names, and +address, and he received only such treatment as a pauper patient was +likely to receive. But he made friends, and was supported about the +place. Imagine now what a trial was before madame! It was a difficult +matter to perform the operation, for the patient could not be made to +understand its necessity; and he was very hard to manage. Then picture +to yourselves, the terrible strain of nursing which followed; though +madame says it was soon brightened and lightened by her husband's +recognition of her. After that event all weariness was rest, and +suffering ease; and as soon as he was able to travel both were +determined to return at once to their own home. He is yet however a +sick man, and may never quite recover a slight paralysis of the lower +limbs." + +"Does he remember how he was hurt?" + +"He declares his men mutinied, because instead of returning to New +York, he had taken on a cargo for the East India Company; and that the +blow was given him either by his first, or second mate. He thinks they +sailed his ship out of the Thames, for her papers were all made out, +and she was ready to drop down the river with the next tide. He vows he +will get well and find his ship and the rascals that stole her; and I +should not wonder if he does. He has will enough for anything. Madame +desires to see you, Cornelia. Can you go there with me in the morning?" + +"I shall be glad to go. Madame is like no one else." + +"She is not like herself at present. I think you may be a little +disappointed in her. She has but one thought, one care, one end and aim +in life--her husband." + +The Doctor had judged correctly. Cornelia was disappointed from the +first moment. She was taken to the dim uncanny drawing-room by Ameer, +and left among its ill-omened gods, and odd treasure-trove for nearly +half an hour before madame came to her. The rudely graven faces, so +marvellously instinct with life, made her miserable; she fancied a +thousand mockeries and scorns in them; and no thought of Hyde, or +Arenta, or of the happy hours spent in that ill-boding room, could +charm away its sinister influence. + +When madame at length came to her, she appeared like the very genius of +the place. The experiences of the past year had left traces which no +after experience would be able to obliterate. She looked ten years +older. Her wonderful dark eyes, glowing with a soft tender fire alone +remained untouched by the withering hand of anxious love. They were as +vital as ever they had been, and when Cornelia said so, she answered, +"That is because my soul dwells in them, and my soul is always young. I +have had a year, Cornelia, to crumble the body to dust; but my soul +made light of it for love's sake. Did your father tell you how much +Captain Jacobus had suffered?" + +"Yes, madame." + +But in spite of this assurance, madame went over the whole story in +detail, and Cornelia could not help but remember that Mr. Van Ariens +had said "about her husband she will talk constantly, and to the whole +town." For however far the conversation diverged for a moment, madame +always brought it sharply back to the one subject that interested her. +Even Arenta's peculiarly dangerous position could not detain her +thoughts and interest for many minutes. + +"I am sorry for Arenta," she said; "no greater hell can there be, than +to live in constant fear. But she has the gift of a clever tongue, and +every one has not the like talent; and also if a woman with the decency +of her sex may be a scholar, Arenta has learning enough to compass the +fools who might injure her." + +"Marat and Robespierre are both against her husband, and she may share +his fate." + +"Marat and Robespierre!" she cried. "Both of the creatures have a +devil. I wish them to go to the guillotine together, and I would bury +them together with their faces downwards. Let them pass out of your +memory. Poor Jacobus was in a worse case than Arenta. Till I be +key-cold dead, I shall never forget my first sight of him in that +dreadful place--" and then she described again her overwhelming +emotions when she perceived he was alike apathetic to his pauper +condition, and to her love and presence. There never came a moment +during the whole visit when it was possible to speak of Hyde. Madame +seemed to have quite forgotten her liking for the handsome youth; it +had been swallowed up in her adoring affection for her restored husband. + +Cornelia would not force the memory upon her. Some day she might +remember; but for a little while madame had more than enough of fresh +material for her conversation. Every one who had known Captain Jacobus +or herself, called with congratulations for their happy return; and +when Cornelia made a nearly daily visit with her father, madame had +these calls to talk over with her. + +One morning, however, the long-looked-for topic was introduced. "I had +a visit from Madame Van Heemskirk yesterday afternoon," she said; "and +the dear old Senator came with her to see Captain Jacobus. While they +talked, madame told me that you had refused that handsome young fellow, +her grandson. What could you mean by such a stupidity, Miss Moran?" + +Her voice had just that tone of indifference, mingled with sarcastic +disapproval, that hurt and offended Cornelia. She felt that it was not +worth while to explain herself, for madame had evidently accepted the +offended grandmother's opinion; and the memory of the young Lord was +lively enough to make her sympathize with his supposed wrong. + +"I never considered you to be a flirt," she continued, "and I am +astonished. If, now, it had been Arenta, I could have understood it. I +told Madame Van Heemskirk that I had not the least doubt Doctor Moran +dictated the refusal." + +"Oh, indeed," answered Cornelia, with a good deal of spirit and some +anger, "you shall not blame my father. He knew nothing whatever of Lord +Hyde's offer, until I had been subjected to such insult and wrong as +drove me to the grave's mouth. Only the mercy of God, and my father's +skill, brought me back to life." + +"Yes, I think your father to be wonderfully skilful. He has done +Jacobus a great deal of good, and he now gives him hope of a perfect +recovery. Doctor Moran is a fine physician; Jacobus says so." + +Cornelia remained silent. If madame did not feel interest sufficient in +her affairs to ask for the particulars of one so nearly fatal to her, +she determined not to force the subject on her. Then Jacobus rang his +bell, and madame flew to his room to see whether his want had received +proper attention. Cornelia sat still a few moments, her heart swelling, +her eyes filling with the sense of that injustice, harder to bear than +any other form of wrong. She was going away, when madame returned to +her, and something in her eyes went to the heart of the older woman. +She turned her back, with a kind but peremptory word, and taking her +hand, said-- + +"I have been thoughtless, Cornelia, selfish, I dare say; but I do not +wish to be so. Tell me, my dear, what has happened. Did you quarrel +with George Hyde? And pray what was it about?" + +"We never had one word of any kind, but words of affection. He wrote +and asked me if he could come and see my father about our marriage, on +a certain night. I answered his letter with all the love that was in my +heart for him, and told him to come and see my father that very night. +He never came. He never sent me the least explanation. He never wrote +to me, or spoke to me again." + +"Oh, but this is a different story! His grandmother told me that you +refused him." + +"That is not the truth. Lady Annie Hyde came most unexpectedly that +very day, and I suppose the easiest way to stop all inquiries about +Miss Moran, was to say 'she refused me.'" + +"And after Lady Annie's arrival, what happened?" + +"I was absolutely deserted. That is the truth. I may as well admit it. +Perhaps you think it impossible for a young man so good-natured to +behave in a manner so cruel and dishonourable; but I assure you it is +the truth." + +"My dear, I have lived to see it almost impossible to think worse of +people than they are; and if you can bear to hear more on this subject, +I will tell it to you myself." + +"I can always bear the truth. If I have lost my heart, I have not lost +my head; nor will I surrender to useless grief the happiness which I +can yet make for others, and for myself." + +"If what you have told me be so--and I believe it is--then I say Lord +George Hyde is an intolerable scoundrel." + +"I would rather not hear him spoken of in that way." + +"I ask your pardon, but I must give myself a little Christian liberty +of railing. The man is false clean through. He was evidently engaged to +Lady Annie when he first sought your love, and therefore as soon as she +came here, he deserted you. I will tell you plainly that I saw him last +summer very frequently, and he was always with her--always listening +with ears and heart to what she said--always watching her with all his +soul in his eyes--ever on the lookout to see that not a breath of wind +ruffled her soft wraps, or blew too strongly on her little white face." + +"That was his way, madame. I have seen him devoting himself to you in +the same manner; yes, and to Madame Griffin, and Miss White, and a +score of other ladies--old and young. You know how good-natured he was. +When did you hear him say a wrong word of any one? even of Rem Van +Ariens who was often intolerably rude." + +"Very well! I would rather have a man 'intolerably rude' like my nephew +Rem, than one like Lord Hyde who speaks well of everybody. Upon my +word, I think that is the worst kind of slander!" + +"I think not." + +"It is; for it takes away the reputation of good men, by making all men +alike. But this, that, or the other, I saw Lord Hyde in devoted +attendance on Lady Annie. Give him up totally. He is in his kingdom +when he has a pretty woman to make a fool of. As for marriage, these +young men who have the world, or the better part of it, they marry +where Cupidity, not Cupid leads them. Give him up entirely." + +"I have done so," answered Cornelia. And then she felt a sudden anger +at herself, so much so, that as she walked home, she kept assuring her +heart with an almost passionate insistence, "I have not given him up! I +will not give him up! I believe in him yet." + +Madame's advice might be wise, but there are counsels of perfection +that cannot be followed; because they are utterly at variance with that +intuitive knowledge, which the soul has of old; and which it will not +surrender; and whose wisdom it is interiorly sure of. And after this +confidence Cornelia did not go so often to madame's. Something jarred +between them. We know that a single drop taken from a glass of water +changes the water level swift as thought, and the same law is certain +in all human relations. Madame was not quite the same; something had +been taken away; the level of their friendship was changed; and when +Doctor Moran could not but perceive this fact, he said-- + +"Go less frequently to madame's, Cornelia. You do not enjoy your +visits; dissolve a friendship that begins to be incomplete. It is the +best plan." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A HEART THAT WAITS + + +Late summer on the Norfolk Broads! And where on earth can the lover of +boats find a more charming resort? How alluring are the mysterious +entrances to these Broads! where a boat seems to make an insane dive +into a hopeless cul de sac of a ditch, and then suddenly emerges on a +wide expanse of water, teeming with pike and bream and eels; and +fringed with a border of plashy ground, full of reeds and willows and +flowering flags; and alive with water fowl. + +Now close to the Manor of Hyde, the country home of Earl Hyde in +Norfolk, there was one of these delightful Broads--flat as a billiard +table, and hidden by the tall reeds which bordered it. But Annie Hyde +lying at the open window of her room in the Manor House could see its +silvery waters, and the black-sailed wherry floating on them, and the +young man sitting at the prow fishing, and idling, among the lilies and +languors of these hot summer days. Her hands were folded, her lips +moved, she was asking of some intelligence among the angels, grace and +favour for one who was dearer to her than her own life or happiness. + +An aged man sat silently by her, a man of noble beauty, whose soul was +in every part of his body, expressive and impressive--a fiery particle +not always at its window, but when there, infecting and going through +observers, whether they would or not. He was dressed altogether in +black, and had fine small hands, a thin austere face and clean +sensitive lips which seemed to say, "He hath made us kings and +priests"--a man of celestial race, valuing things at their eternal, not +at their temporal worth. + +There had been silence for some time between them, and he did not +appear disposed to break it; but Annie longed for him to do so, because +she had a mystical appetite for sacred things, and was never so happy +and so much at rest as when he was talking to her of them. For she +loved God, and had been led to the love of God by a kind of thirst for +God. + +"Dear father," she said finally, "I have been thinking of the past +years, in which you have taught me so much." + +"It is better to look forward, Annie," he answered. "The traveller to +Eternity must not continually turn back to count his steps; for if God +be leading him, no matter how dangerous or lonely the road, 'He will +pluck thy feet out of the net.'" + +"Even in the valley of death?" + +"'BE NOT AFRAID! NOTHING OF THEE WILL DIE!' Take these sweet +compassionate words of Jesus, as He wept by the dying bed of Joseph, +His father, into thy heart. Blessed are the homesick, Annie! for they +shall get home." + +"All my life I have loved God, and His love has been over me." + +"Date not God's love from thy nativity; look far, far back of it--to +the everlasting love." + +"After death, I SHALL KNOW." + +"Death!" he repeated, "Death that deceitful word. What is it? A dream, +that wakes us at the end of the night. This is the great saying that +men forget--Death is Life!" + +"Yet life ceases." + +"It does not, Annie. Death, is like the setting of the sun. The sun +never sets; life never ceases. Certain phenomena occur which deceive +us, because human vision is so feeble--we think the sun sets, and it +never ceases shining; we think our friends die, and they never cease +living." + +As he spoke these words Mary Damer entered, and she laid her hand on +his shoulder and said, "My dear Doctor Roslyn, after death what then? +we are not all good--what then?" + +He looked at her wistfully and answered, "I will give you one thought, +Mary, to ponder--the blessedness of heaven, is it not an eternity older +than the misery of hell? Let your soul fearlessly follow where this +fact leads it; for there is no limit to God's mercy. Do you think it is +His way to worry a wandering sheep eternally? Jesus Christ thought +better of His father. He told us that the Great Shepherd of souls +followed such sheep into the wilderness, and brought them home in His +arms, or on His shoulder, and then called on the angels of heaven to +rejoice because they were found. Find out what that parable means, +Mary. He whose name is 'Love' can teach you." + +Then he rose and went away, and Mary sat down in his place, and Annie +gradually came back to the material plane of everyday life and duty. +Indeed Mary brought this element in a very decided form with her; for +she had a letter in her hand from an old lover, and she was much +excited by its advent, and eager to discuss the particulars with Annie. + +"It is from Captain Seabright, who is now in Pondicherry," she +explained. "He loves me, Annie. He loved me long ago, and went to India +to make money; now he says he has enough and to spare; and he asks me +if I have forgotten." + +"There is Mr. Van Ariens to consider. You have promised to marry him, +Mary. It is not hard to find the right way on this road, I think." + +"Of course. I would scorn to do a dishonourable or unhandsome thing. +But is it not very strange Willie Seabright should write to me at this +time? How contradictory life is! I had also a letter from Mr. Van +Ariens by the same mail, and I shall answer them both this evening." +Then she laughed a little, and added, "I must take care and not make +the mistake an American girl made, under much the same circumstances." + +"What was it?" inquired Annie languidly. + +"She misdirected her letters and thus sent 'No' to the man whom of all +others, she wished to marry." + +As Mary spoke a soft brightness seemed to pervade Annie's brain cells, +and she could hardly restrain the exclamation of sudden enlightenment +that rose to her lips. She raised herself slightly, and in so doing, +her eyes fell upon the tall figure of Hyde standing clearly out in the +intense, white sunshine of the Broads; and perhaps her soul may have +whispered to his soul, for he turned his face to the house, and lifted +the little red fishing cap from his head. The action stimulated to the +utmost Annie's intuitive powers. + +"Mary," she said, "what a strange incident! Did you know the girl?" + +"I saw her once in Philadelphia. Mr. Van Ariens told me about her. She +is the friend of his sister the Marquise de Tounnerre." + +"How did Mr. Van Ariens know of such an event?" + +"I suppose the Marquise told him of it." + +"I am interested. Is she pretty? Who, and what is her father? Did she +lose her lover through the mistake?" + +"You are more interested in this American girl, than in me. I think you +might ask a little concerning my love affair with Captain Seabright." + +"I always ask you about Mr. Van Ariens. A girl cannot have two lovers," + +"But if one is gone away?" + +"Then he has gone away; and that is the end of him. He must not trouble +the one who has come to stay, eh, Mary?" + +"You are right, Annie. But one's first lover has always a charm above +reason; and Willie Seabright was once very dear to me." + +"I am sorry for that unfortunate American girl." + +"So am I. She is a great beauty. Her name is Cornelia Moran; and her +father is a famous physician in New York." + +"And this beauty had two lovers?" + +"Yes; an Englishman of noble birth; and an American. They both loved +her, and she loved the Englishman. They must have both asked her hand +on the same day, and she must have answered both letters in the same +hour; and the letter she intended for the man she loved, went to the +man she did not love. Presumably, the man she loved got the refusal she +intended for the other, for he never sought her society again; and Mr. +Van Ariens told me she nearly died in consequence. I know not as to +this part of the story; when I saw her in Philadelphia, she had no more +of fragility than gave delicacy to all her charms." + +"And what became of the two lovers, Mary?" + +"The Englishman went back to England; and the American found another +girl more kind to him." + +"I wonder what made Mr. Van Ariens tell you this story?" + +"He talked much of his sister, and this young lady was her chief friend +and confidante." + +"When did it happen?" + +"A few days after his sister's marriage." + +"Then the Marquise could not know of it; and so she could not have told +her brother. However in the world could he have found out the mistake? +Do you think the girl herself found it out?" + +"That is inconceivable," answered Mary. "She would have written to her +lover and explained the affair." + +"Certainly. It is a very singular incident. I want to think it +over--how--did--Mr. Van Ariens--find--it--out, I wonder!" + +"Perhaps the rejected lover confided in him." + +"But why did not the rejected lover send the letter he received--and +which he must have known he had no right to retain--to Miss Moran, or +to the Englishman for whom it was intended? A man who could keep a +letter like that, must have some envious sneaking devil in his body. A +bad man, Mary, a bad man--the air must be unclean in any room he comes +into." + +"Why Annie! How angry you are. Let us drop the subject. I really do +want to tell you something about Willie Seabright." + +"What did Mr. Van Ariens say about the matter? What did he think? Why +did he tell you?" + +"We were talking of the Marquise. The story came up quite naturally. I +think Mr. Van Ariens felt very sorry for Miss Moran. Of course he did. +Will you listen to Captain Seabright's letter? I had no idea it could +affect me so much." + +"But you loved him once?" + +"Very dearly." + +"Well then, Mary, I think no one has a double in love or friendship. If +the loved one dies, or goes away, his place remains empty forever. We +have lost feelings that he, and he only, could call up." + +At this point in the conversation Hyde entered, brown and wind-blown, +the scent of the sedgy water and the flowery woods about him. + +"Your servant, ladies," he said gayly, "I have bream enough for a dozen +families, Mary; and I have sent a string to the rectory." + +"Poor little fish!" answered Annie. "They could not cry out, or plead +with you, or beg for their lives, and because they were dumb and opened +not their mouths, they were wounded and strangled to death." + +"Don't say such things, Annie. How can I enjoy my sport if you do?" + +"I don't think you ought to enjoy sport which is murder. You have your +wherry to sail, is not that sport enough? I have heard you say nothing +that floats on fresh water, can beat a Norfolk wherry." + +"I vow it is the truth. With her fine lines and strong sails she can +lie closer to the wind than any other craft. She is safe, and fast, and +handy to manage. Three feet of water will do her, though she be sixty +tons burden; and I will sail her where nothing but a row boat can +follow me." + +"Is not that sport enough?" + +"I must have something to get. I would have brought you armfuls of +flowers, but you do not like me to cut them." + +"I like my flowers alive, George. You must be dull indeed if you make +no difference between the scent of growing flowers, and cut ones. +Tomorrow Mary is going to Ranforth, you must go with her, and you may +bring me some peaches from the Hall, if you please to do so." + +Then Hyde and Mary had a game of battledore, and she watched them +tossing the gayly painted corks, until amid their light laughter and +merry talk she fell asleep. And when she awakened it was sunset, and +there was no one in her room but her maid. She had slept long, but in +spite of its refreshment, she had a sense of something uneasy. Then she +recalled the story Mary Damer had told her, and because she +comprehended the truth, she was instantly at rest. The whole secret was +clear as daylight to her. She knew now every turn of an event so full +of sorrow. She was positive Rem Van Ariens was himself the thief of her +cousin's love and happiness, and the bringer of grief--almost of +death--to Cornelia. All the facts she did not have, but facts are +little; intuition is everything. She said to herself, "I shall not be +long here, and before I go away, I must put right love's wrong." + +She considered then what she ought to do, and gradually the plan that +pleased her best, grew distinctly just, and even-handed in her mind. +She would write to Cornelia. Her word would be indisputable. Then she +would dismiss the subject from her conversations with Mary, until +Cornelia's answer arrived; nor until that time would she say a word of +her suspicions to Hyde. In pursuance of these resolutions the following +letter to Cornelia left Hyde Manor for New York the next mail: + +To Miss CORNELIA MORAN: + +Because you are very dear to one of my dear kindred, and because I feel +that you are worthy of his great love, I also love you. Will you trust +me now? There has been a sad mistake. I believe I can put it right. You +must recollect the day on which George Hyde wrote asking you to fix an +hour when he could call on Doctor Moran about your marriage. Did any +other lover ask you on that day to marry him? Was that other lover Mr. +Van Ariens? Did you write to both about the same time? If so, you +misdirected your letters; and the one intended for Lord Hyde went to +Mr. Van Ariens; and the one intended for Mr. Van Ariens, went to Lord +Hyde. Now you will understand many things. I found out this mistake +through the young lady Mr. Van Ariens is intending to marry. Can you +send to me, for Lord Hyde, a copy of the letter you intended for him. +When I receive it, you may content your heart. I may never see you +again, but I would like you to remember me by this act of loving +kindness; and I wish you all the joy in your love, that I could wish +myself. The shadows will soon flee away, and when your wedding bells +ring, I shall know; and rejoice with you, and with my dear cousin. +Delay not to answer this, why should you delay your happiness? I send +you as love gifts my thoughts, desires, prayers, all that is best in +me, al! that I give to one high in my esteem, and whom I wish to place +high in my affection, This to your hand and heart, with all sincerity, + ANNIE HYDE. + +When she had signed her name she was full of content, her face was +transfigured with the joy she foresaw for others, and she thought not +of her own gain, though it was great--even the riches of that divine +self-culture, that comes only through self-sacrifice. She calculated +her letter would reach Cornelia about the end of September, and she +thought how pleasantly the hope it brought, would brighten her life. +And without permitting Hyde to suspect any change in his love affair, +she very often led the conversation to Cornelia, and to the +circumstances of her life. Hyde was always willing to talk on this +subject, and thus she learned so much about Arenta, and Madame Jacobus, +and Rem Van Ariens, that the people became her familiars. Arenta +particularly interested her, and she spoke and thought continually of +the gay little Dutch girl among the human tigers of Paris. And the +thought of her ended ever in a silent prayer for her safety. "I must +ask some strong angel to go and help her," she said to Hyde, "a city +full of blood, must be a city full of evil spirits, and she will need +the wings of angels round her--like a pavilion--so when she comes into +my mind I say 'angels of deliverance go to her.' And I think she must +be in a great strait now, or I should not feel so constrained to pray +for her." + +"And you believe such prayer avails for deliverance, Annie?" + +"I am sure it avails. When we invoke earnestly and sincerely the help +of any higher and stronger intelligence than ourselves, the angels are +with us. They come when the heart calls them; for they are appointed to +be ministers unto those who shall inherit eternal life." And Hyde +listened silently, yet the words fell into his deepest consciousness, +and after many years brought him strength and consolation when he +needed it. Thus it is, that a good woman is a priestess standing by the +altar of the heart, thus it is, that the very noblest education any man +ever gets is what some woman--mother, wife, sister, friend--gives him. + +Certainly the letter sent to Cornelia sped on its way all the more +rapidly and joyfully for the good wishes and unselfish prayers +accompanying it. The very ship might have known it was the bearer of +good tidings; for if there had been one of the mighty angels whose +charge is on the great deep at the helm of the Good Intent she could +not have gone more swiftly and surely to her haven. One morning, nearly +a week in advance of Annie's calculation, the wonderful letter was put +into Cornelia's hand. She was passing through the hall on her way to +her room, when Balthazar brought in the mail, and she took the little +white messenger without any feeling but one of curiosity concerning it. +The handwriting was strange, it was an English letter, what could it +mean? + +Let any one who has loved and been parted from the beloved by some +misunderstanding, try to realize what it meant to Cornelia. She read it +through in an indescribable hurry and emotion, and then in the most +natural and womanly way, began to cry. No one could have loved her the +less for that sincere overflow of emotions she could not separate or +define, and which indeed she never tried to understand. It was only one +wonderful thought she could entertain--IT WAS NOT THE FAULT OF JORIS. +This was the assurance that turned her joyful tears into gladder +smiles, and that made her step light as a bird on the wing, as she ran +down the stairs to find her mother; for her happiness was not perfect +till she shared it with the heart that had borne her sorrow, and +carried her grief through many weary months, with her. + +Oh, how glad were these two women! They were almost too glad to speak. +Sitting still was impossible to Cornelia, but as she stepped swiftly +to-and-fro across the parlour floor, she stopped frequently at her +mother's chair and kissed her. She kissed Annie's letter just as +frequently. It was such a gracious, noble letter. It was such a delight +to know that friendship so unselfish was waiting for her. It was +altogether such a marvellous thing that had come to her, that she could +not behave as a superior woman ought to have done. But then she was not +a superior woman, she was only lovable and loving, and therefore +restless and inconsequent. + +In the first hours of her recovered gladness she did not even remember +Rem's great fault, nor yet her own carelessness. These things were only +accidentals, not worthy to be taken into account while the great sweet +hope that had come to her, flooded like a springtide every nook and +corner of her heart. In such a mood how easy it was to answer Annie's +letter. She recollected every word she had written to Hyde that fateful +day, and she wrote them again with a tenfold joy. She told Annie every +particular, and she forgot to say a word of reproach concerning the +dishonourable retention of her letter by Rem. "It is altogether my own +fault," she confessed. + +Even when this letter was on its way to Annie she was under such +excitement that her whole body appeared to think and to feel; her +beautiful hair had an unusual freedom, as if some happy wind blew it +into exquisite unrestraint; her eyes shone like stars; her garments +fluttered; her steps were like dancing; and every now and then, a bar +or two of love music warbled in her throat. And oh with what joy the +mother watched the return of happiness to her dear child! With her own +milk she had fed her. In her own bosom she had carried and tended her. +Night and day for nearly twenty years, like a bird, she had feverishly, +prayfully, tenderly hovered over her; so there was great joy in the +Doctor's home and though he would say little, his heart grew lighter in +his wife's and daughter's cheerfulness; for the women in any house make +the moral and mental atmosphere of that house just as decidedly, as the +sunshine or rain affect the natural atmosphere outside of it. + +Now it is very noticeable that when unusual events begin to happen in +any life, there is a succession of such events, and not unfrequently +they arrive in similar ways. At any rate about ten days after the +receipt of Annie's letter, Cornelia was almost equally amazed by the +receipt of another letter. It came one day about noon, and a slave of +Van Ariens brought it--a piece of paper twisted carelessly but +containing these few pregnant words: + +Cornelia, dear, come to me. Bring me something to wear. I have just +arrived, saved by the skin of my teeth, and I have not a decent garment +of any kind to put on. ARENTA. + +A thunderbolt from a clear sky could hardly have caused such surprise, +but Cornelia did not wait to talk about the wonder. She loaded a maid +with clothing of every description, and ran across the street to her +friend. Arerita saw her coming, and met her with a cry of joy, and as +Van Ariens was sick and trembling with the sight of his daughter, and +the tale of her sufferings, Cornelia persuaded him to go to sleep, and +leave Arenta to her care. Poor Arenta, she was ill with the privations +she had suffered, she was half-starved, and nearly without clothing, +but she did not complain much until she had been fed, and bathed, and +"dressed" as she said "like a New York woman ought to be." + +"You know what trunks and trunks full of beautiful things I took away +with me, Cornelia," she complained; "Well I have not a rag left. I have +nothing left at all." + +"Your husband, Arenta?" + +"He was guillotined." + +"Oh, my dear Arenta!" + +"Guillotined. I told him to be quiet. I begged him to go over to Marat, +but no! his nobility obliged him to stand by his order and his king. So +for them, he died. Poor Athanase! He expected me to follow him, but I +could not make up my mind to the knife. Oh how terrible it was!" Then +she began to sob bitterly, and Cornelia let her talk of her sufferings +until she fell into a sleep--a sleep easy to see, still haunted by the +furies and terrors through which she had passed. + +For a week Cornelia remained with her friend, and Madame Jacobus joined +them as often as possible, and gradually the half-distraught woman +recovered something of her natural spirits and resolution. In this week +she talked out all her frightful experiences in the great prison of La +Force, and was completely overwhelmed at their remembrance. But the +trouble which has been removed, soon grows far off; and Arenta quickly +took her place in her home, and resumed her old life. Of course with +many differences. She could not be the same Arenta, she had outlived +many of her illusions. She took but little interest for a while in the +life around her; her thoughts and conversation were still in Paris, and +this was evident from the fact, that during the whole week of +Cornelia's stay with her, she never once named Cornelia's love, or +life, or prospects. Rem she did talk about, but chiefly because he was +going to marry an English girl, an intention she angrily deplored. + +"I am sure," she said, "Rem might have learned a lesson from my sad +fortune. What does he want to marry a foreigner for? He ought to have +prevented me from doing so, instead of following my foolish example." + +"No one could have prevented you, Arenta. You would not listen even to +your father." + +"Oh indeed, it was my fate. We must all submit to fate. Why did you +refuse Rem?" + +"He was not my fate, Arenta." + +"Well then, neither is George Hyde your fate. Aunt Jacobus has told me +some things about him. She says he is to marry his cousin. You ought to +marry Rem." + +As she said these words Van Ariens, accompanied by Joris Van Heemskirk +entered the room, and Cornelia was glad to escape. She knew that Arenta +would again relate all her experiences, and she disliked to mingle them +with her renewed dreams of love and her lover. + +"She will talk and talk," said Cornelia to her mother, "and then there +will be tea and chocolate and more talk, and I have heard all I wish to +hear about that dreadful city, and the demons who walk in blood." + +"Arenta has made a great sensation, Cornelia," answered Mrs. Moran. +"She has received half the town. Gertrude Kippon stole quietly home and +has hardly been seen, or heard tell of." + +"But mother, Arenta has far more genius than Gertrude. She has made of +her misfortunes a great drama, and wherever you go, it is of the +Marquise de Tounnerre people are talking. Senator Van Heemskirk came in +with her father as I left." + +"I hope he treated you more civilly than madame did." + +"He was delightful. I courtesied to him, and he lifted my hand and +kissed it, and said, 'I grew lovelier every day,' and I kissed his +cheek and said, 'I wished always to be lovely in his sight.' Then I +came home, because I would not, just yet, speak of George to him." + +"Arenta would hardly have given you any opportunity. I wonder at what +hour she will release Joris Van Heemskirk!" + +"It will be later than it ought to be." + +Indeed it was so late that Madame Van Heemskirk had locked up her house +for the night, and was troubled at her husband's delay--even a little +cross: + +"An old man like you, Joris," she said in a tone of vexation--"sitting +till nine o'clock with the last runaway from Paris; a cold you have +already, and all for a girl that threw her senses behind her, to marry +a Frenchman." + +"Much she has suffered, Lysbet." + +"Much she ought to suffer. And I believe not in Arenta Van Ariens' +suffering. In some way, by hook or crook, by word or deed, she would +out of any trouble work her way." + +"I will sit a little by the fire, Lysbet. Sit down by me. My mind is +full of her story." + +"That is it. And sleep you will not, and tomorrow sick you will be; and +anxious and tired I shall be; and who for? The Marquise de Tounnerre! +Well then, Joris, in thy old age it is late for thee to bow down to the +Marquise de Tounnerre!" + +"To God Almighty only I bow down, Lysbet, and as for titles what care +of them has Jons Van Heemskirk? Think you, when God calls me He will +say 'Councillor' or 'Senator'? No, He will say 'Jons Van Heemskirk!' +and I shall answer to that name. But you know well, Lysbet, this bloody +trial of liberty in Paris touches all the world beside." + +"Forgive me, Joris! A shame it is to be cross with thee, nor am I cross +even with that poor Arenta. A child, a very child she is." + +"But bitter fears and suffering she has come through. Her husband was +guillotined last May, and from her home she was taken--no time to write +to a friend--no time to save anything she had, except a string of +pearls, which round her waist for many weeks, she had worn. From prison +to prison she was sent, until at last she was ordered before the +Revolutionary Tribunal. From that tribunal to the guillotine is only a +step, and she would surely have taken it but for--" + +"Minister Morris?" + +"No. Twenty miles outside the city, Minister Morris now lives; and no +time was there to send him word of her strait. Hungry and sick upon the +floor of her prison she was sitting, when her name was called, for bead +after bead of her pearl necklace had gone to her jailor, only for a +little black bread and a cup of milk twice a day; and this morning for +twenty-four hours she had been without food or milk." + +[Illustration: "ARENTA BEFORE THE REVOLUTIONARY TRIBUNAL"] + +"The poor little one! What did she do?" + +"This is what she did, and blame her I will not. When in that terrible +iron armchair before those bloody judges, she says she forgot then to +be afraid. She looked at Fouquier-Tinville the public prosecutor, and +at the fifteen jurymen, and flinched not. She had no dress to help her +beauty, but she declares she never felt more beautiful, and well I can +believe it. They asked her name, and my Lysbet, think of this child's +answer! 'I am called Arenta JEFFERSON de Tounnerre,' she said; and at +the name of 'Jefferson' there were exclamations, and one of the jurymen +rose to his feet and asked excitedly, 'What is it you mean? Jefferson! +The great Jefferson! The great Thomas Jefferson! The great American who +loves France and Liberty?' 'It is the same,' she answered, and then she +sat silent, asking no favour, so wise was she, and Fouquier-Tinville +looked at the President and said--'among my friends I count this great +American!' and a juryman added, 'when I was very poor and hungry he fed +and helped me,' and he bowed to Arenta as he spoke. And after that +Fouquier-Tinville asked who would certify to her claim, and she +answered boldly, 'Minister Morris.' When questioned further she +answered, 'I adore Liberty, I believe in France, I married a Frenchman, +for Thomas Jefferson told me I was coming to a great nation and might +trust both its government and its generosity.' They asked her then if +she had been used kindly in prison, and she told them her jailor had +been to her very unkind, and that he had taken from her the pearl +necklace which was her wedding gift, and if you can believe Arenta, +they were all extremely polite to her, and gave her at once the papers +which permitted her to leave France. The next day a little money she +got from Minister Morris, but a very hard passage she had home. And +listen now, her jailor was guillotined before she left, and she +declares it was the necklace--very unfortunate beads they were, and +Madame Jacobus said when she heard of their fate, 'let them go! With +blood and death they came, it is fit they should go as they came!' +Arenta thinks as soon as Fouquier-Tinville heard of them, he doomed the +man, for she saw in his eyes that he meant to have them for himself. +Well, then, she is also sure that they will take Fouquier-Tinville to +the guillotine." + +"After all, it was a lie she told, Joris." + +"That is so, but I think her life was worth a few words. And Thomas +Jefferson says she was ten thousand times welcome to the protection his +name gave her. I thank my God I have never had such temptation. I will +say one thing though, Lysbet, that if coming home some night, a thief +should say to me 'your money I must have' and if in my pocket I had +some false money, as well as true money, the false money I would give +the thief and think no shame to do it. Overly righteous we must not be, +Lysbet." + +"I am astonished also. I thought Arenta would cry out and that only." + +"What a man or a woman will do and suffer, and how they will do and +suffer, no one knows till comes some great occasion. When the water is +ice, who could believe that it would boil, unless they had seen ice +become boiling water? All the human heart wants, is the chance." + +"As men and women have in Paris to live, I wonder me, that they can +wish to live at all! Welcome to them must be death." + +"So wrong are you, Lysbet. Trouble and hardship make us love life. A +zest they give to it. It is when we have too much money, too much good +food and wine, too much pleasure of all kinds, that we grow melancholy +and sad, and say all is vanity and vexation. You may see that it is +always so, if you look in the Holy Scriptures. It was not from the Jews +in exile and captivity, but from the Jews of Solomon's glory came the +only dissatisfied, hopeless words in the Bible. Yes, indeed! it is the +souls that have too much, who cry out vanity, vanity, all is vanity! +For myself, I like not the petty prudencies of Solomon. There is better +reading in Isaiah, and in the Psalms, and in the blessed Gospels." + +"To-morrow, Joris, I will go and see Arenta. She is fair, and she knows +it; witty, and she knows it; of good courage, and she knows it; the +fashion, and she knows it; and when she speaks, she speaks oracles that +one must believe, even though one does not understand them. To Aurelia +Van Zandt she said, my heart will ache forever for my beloved Athanase, +and Aurelia says, that her old lover Willie Nicholls is at her feet +sitting all the day long--yet for all these things, she is a brave +woman and I will go and see her." + +"Willie Nicholls is a good young man, and he is rich also; but of him I +saw nothing at all. Cornelia Moran was there and no flower of Paradise +is so sweet, so fair!" + +"A very proud girl! I am glad she said 'no' to my Joris." + +"Come, my Lysbet, we will now pray and sleep. There is so much NOT to +say." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE NEW DAYS COME + + +One afternoon in the late autumn Annie was sitting watching Hyde +playing with his dog, a big mastiff of noble birth and character. The +creature sat erect with his head leaning against Hyde, and Hyde's arm +was thrown around his neck as he talked to him of their adventures on +the Broad that day. Annie's small face, though delicate and fragile +looking was full of peace, and her eyes, soft, deep and heavenly, held +thoughts that linked her with heaven. + +Outside there was in the air that November feeling which chills like +the passing breath of death, the deserted garden looked sad and +closed-in, and everywhere there was a sense of the languishing end of +the year, of the fading and dropping of all living things. But in the +house Annie and Hyde and the dog sat within the circle of warmth and +light made by the blazing ash logs, and in that circle there was at +least an atmosphere of sweet content. Suddenly George looked up and his +eyes caught those of Annie watching him. "What have you been reading, +Annie?" he asked, as he stooped forward and took a thin volume from her +lap. "Why!" he cried, "'tis Paul and Virginia. Do you indeed read love +stories?" + +"Yes. The mystery of a love affair pleases every one; and I think we +shall not tire of love stories till we tire of the mystery of spring, +or of primroses and daffodils. Every one I know takes their tale of +love to be quite a new tale." + +"Love has been cruel to me. It has made a cloud on my life that will +help to cover me in my grave." + +"You still love Cornelia?" + +"I cannot cure myself of a passion so hopeless. However, as I see no +end to my unhappiness, I try to submit to what I cannot avoid. What is +the use of longing for that which I have no hope to get?" + +"My uncle grows anxious for you to marry. He would be glad to see the +succession of Hyde assured." + +"Oh, indeed, I have no mind to take a wife. I hear every day that some +of my acquaintance have married, I hear of none that have done worse." + +"You believe nothing of what you say. My uncle was much pleased with +Sarah Capel. What did you think of the beauty?" + +"Cornelia has made all other women so indifferent to me, that if I +cannot marry her, my father may dispose of me as he chooses." + +"Cannot you forget Cornelia?" + +"It is impossible. Every day I resolve to think of her no more, and +then I continue thinking; and every day I am more and more in love with +her. Her very name moves me beyond words." + +"There is no name, George, however sweet and dear, however lovingly +spoken, whose echo does not at last grow faint." + +"Cornelia will echo in my heart as long as my heart beats." + +Then they were silent, and Hyde drew his dog closer and watched the +blaze among some lighter branches, which a servant had just brought in. +At his entrance he had also given Annie a letter, which she was eagerly +reading. Hyde had no speculation about it; and even when he found Annie +regarding him with her whole soul in her face, he failed to understand, +as he always had done, the noble love which had been so long and so +faithfully his--a love holding itself above endearments; +self-repressed, self-sacrificing, kept down in the inmost heart-chamber +a dignified prisoner behind very real bars. Yet he was conscious that +the letter was of more than usual interest, and when the servant had +closed the door behind him, he asked, "Whom is your letter from, Annie? +It seems to please you very much." + +She leaned forward to him with the paper in her little trembling hand, +and said, + +"It is from Cornelia." + +"My God!" he ejaculated; and the words were fraught with such feeling, +as could have found no other vehicle of expression. + +"She has sent you, dear George, a copy of the letter you ought to have +received more than two years ago. Read it." + +His eyes ran rapidly over the sweet words, his face flamed, his hands +trembled, he cried out impetuously-- + +"But what does it mean? Am I quite in my senses? How has this letter +been delayed? Why do I get only a copy?" + +"Because Mr. Van Ariens has the original." + +"It is all incredible. What do you mean, Annie? Do not keep me in such +torturing suspense." + +"It means that Mr. Van Ariens asked Cornelia to marry him on the same +day that you wrote to her about your marriage. She answered both +letters in the same hour, and misdirected them." + +"GOD'S DEATH! How can I punish so mean a scoundrel? I will have my +letter from him, if I follow him round the world for it." + +"You have your letter now. I asked Cornelia to write it again for you; +and you see she has done it gladly." + +"Angel of goodness! But I will have my first letter." + +"It has been in that man's keeping for more than two years. I would not +touch it. 'Twould infect a gentleman, and make of him a rascal just as +base." + +"He shall write me then an apology in his own blood. I will make him do +it, at the point of my sword." + +"If I were you, I would scorn to wet my sword in blood so base." + +"Remember, Annie, what this darling girl suffered. For his treachery +she nearly died. I speak not of my own wrong--it is as nothing to hers." + +"However, she might have been more careful." + +"Annie, she was in the happy hurry of love. Your calm soul knows not +what a confusing thing that is--she made a mistake, and that sneaking +villain turned her mistake into a crime. By a God's mercy, it is found +out--but how? Annie! Annie, how much I owe you! What can I say? What +can I do?" + +"Be reasonable. Mary Damer really found it out. His guilty restless +conscience forced him to tell her the story, though to be sure he put +the wrong on people he did not name. But I knew so much of the mystery +of your love sorrow, as to put the two stories together, and find them +fit. Then I wrote to Cornelia." + +"How long ago?" + +"About two months." + +"Why then did you not give me hope ere this?" + +"I would not give you hope, till hope was certain. Two years is a long +time in a girl's life. It was a possible thing for Cornelia to have +forgotten--to have changed." + +"Impossible! Quite impossible! She could not forget. She could not +change. Why did you not tell me? I should have known her heart by mine +own." + +"I wished to be sure," repeated Annie, a little sadly. + +"Forgive me, dear Annie. But this news throws me into an unspeakable +condition. You see that I must leave for America at once." + +"No. I do not see that, George." + +"But if you consider--" + +"I have been considering for two months. Let me decide for you now, for +you are not able to do so wisely. Write at once to Cornelia, that is +your duty as well as your pleasure. But before you go to her, there are +things indispensable to be done. Will you ask Doctor Moran for his +child, and not be able to show him that you can care for her as she +deserves to be cared for? Lawyers will not be hurried, there will be +consultations, and engrossings, and signings, and love--in your +case--will have to wait upon law." + +"'Tis hard for love, and harder perhaps for anger to wait. For I am in +a passion of wrath at Van Ariens. I long to be near him. Oh what +suffering his envy and hatred have caused others!" + +"And himself also. Be sure of that, or he had not tried to find some +ease in a kind of confession. Doctor Roslyn will tell you that it is an +eternal law, that wherever sin is, sorrow will answer it." + +"The man is hateful to me." + +"He has done a thing that makes him hateful; but perhaps for all that, +he has been so miserable about it, as to have the pity of the +Uncondemning One. I hear your father coming. I am sure you will have +his sympathy in all things." + +She left the room as the Earl entered it. He was in unusually high +spirits. Some political news had delighted him, and without noticing +his son's excitement he said-- + +"The Commons have taken things in their own hands, George. I said they +would. They listen to the King and the Lords very respectfully, and +then obey themselves. Most of the men in the Lower House are unfit to +enter it." + +"Well, sir, the Lords as a rule send them there--you have sent three of +them yourself--and unfit men in public places, suppose prior unfitness +in those who have the places to dispose of. But the government is not +interesting. I have something else, father, to think about." + +"Indeed, I think the government is extremely interesting. It is very +like three horses arranged in tandem fashion--first, you know, the +King, a little out of the reach of the whip; then the Lords follow the +King, and the Commons are in the shafts, a more ignoble position, but +yet--as we see to-day, possessing a special power of upsetting the +coach." + +"Father, I have very important news from America. Will you listen to +it?" + +"Yes, if you will tell it to me straight, and not blunder about your +meaning." "Sir, I have just discovered that a letter sent to me more +than two years ago, has been knowingly and purposely detained from me." + +"By whom?" + +"A man into whose hands it fell by misdirection." + +"Did the letter contain means of identifying it, as belonging to you?" + +"Ample means." + +"Then the man is outside your recognition. You might as well go to the +Bridewell, and seek a second among its riff-raff of scoundrels. Tell me +shortly whom it concerns." + +"Miss Moran." + +"Oh indeed! Are we to have that subject opened again?" + +His face darkened, and George, with an impetuosity that permitted no +interruption, told the whole story. As he proceeded the Earl became +interested, then sympathetic. He looked with moist eyes at the youth so +dear to him, and saw that his heart was filled with the energy and +tenderness of his love. His handsome face, his piercingly bright eyes, +his courteous, but obstinately masterful manner, his almost boyish +passion of anger and impatience, his tall, serious figure, erect, as if +ready for opposition; even that sentiment of deadly steel, of being +impatient to toss his sheath from his sword, pleased very much the +elder man; and won both his respect and his admiration. He felt that +his son had rights all his own, and that he must cheerfully and +generously allow them. + +"George," he answered, "you have won my approval. You have shown me +that you can suffer and be faithful, and the girl able to inspire such +an affection, must be worthy of it. What do you wish to do?" + +"I am going to America by the next packet." + +"Sit down, then we can talk without feeling that every word is a last +word, and full of hurry and therefore of unreason. You desire to see +Miss Moran without delay, that is very natural." + +"Yes, sir. I am impatient also to get my letter." + +"I think that of no importance." + +"What would you have done in my case, and at my age, father?" + +"Something extremely foolish. I should have killed the man, or been +killed by him. I hope that you have more sense. Society does not now +compel you to answer insult with murder. The noble not caring of the +spirit, is beyond the mere passion of the animal. What does Annie say?" + +"Annie is an angel. I walk far below her--and I hate the man who has so +wronged--Cornelia. I think, sir, you must also hate him." + +"I hate nobody. God send, that I may be treated the same. George, you +have flashed your sword only in a noble quarrel, will you now stain it +with the blood of a man below your anger or consideration? You have had +your follies, and I have smiled at them; knowing well, that a man who +has no follies in his youth, will have in his maturity no power. But +now you have come of age, not only in years but in suffering cheerfully +endured and well outlived; so I may talk to you as a man, and not +command you as a father." + +"What do you wish me to do, sir?" + +"I advise you to write to Miss Moran at once. Tell her you are more +anxious now to redeem your promise, than ever you were before. Say to +her that I already look upon her as a dear daughter, and am taking +immediate steps to settle upon you the American Manor, and also such +New York property as will provide for the maintenance of your family in +the state becoming your order and your expectations. Tell her that my +lawyers will go to this business to-morrow, and that as soon as the +deeds are in your hand, you will come and ask for the interview with +Doctor Moran, so long and cruelly delayed." + +"My dear father! How wise and kind you are!" + +"It is my desire to be so, George. You cannot, after this unfortunate +delay, go to Doctor Moran without the proofs of your ability to take +care of his daughter's future." + +"How soon can this business be accomplished?" + +"In about three weeks, I should think. But wait your full time, and do +not go without the credentials of your position. This three or four +weeks is necessary to bring to perfection the waiting of two years." + +"I will take your advice, sir. I thank you for your generosity." + +"All that I have is yours, George. And you can write to this dear girl +every day in the interim. Go now and tell her what I say. I had other +dreams for you as you know--they are over now--I have awakened." + +"Dear Annie!" ejaculated George. + +"Dear Annie!" replied the Earl with a sigh. "She is one of the +daughters of God, I am not worthy to call her mine; but I have sat at +her feet, and learned how to love, and how to forgive, and how to bear +disappointment. I will tell you, that when Colonel Saye insulted me +last year, and I felt for my sword and would have sent him a letter on +its point--Annie stepped before him. 'Forget, and go on, dear uncle,' +she said; and I did so with a proud, sore heart at first, but quite +cheerfully in a week or two; and at the last Hunt dinner he came to me +with open hand, and we ate and drank together, and are now firm +friends. Yet, but for Annie, one of us might be dead; and the other +flying like Cain exiled and miserable. Think of these things, George. +The good of being a son, is to be able to profit from your father's +mistakes." + +They parted with a handclasp that went to both hearts, and as Hyde +passed his mother's loom, he went in, and told her all that happened to +him, She listened with a smile and a heartache. She knew now that the +time had come to say "farewell" to the boy who had made her life for +twenty-seven years. "He must marry like the rest of the world, and go +away from her," and only mothers know what supreme self-sacrifice a +pleasant acquiescence in this event implies. But she bravely put down +all the clamouring selfishness of her long sweet care and affection, +and said cheerfully-- + +"Very much to my liking is Cornelia Moran, She is world-like and +heaven-like, and her good heart and sweet nature every one knows. A +loving wife and a noble mother she will make, and if I must lose thee, +my Joris, there is no girl in America that I like better to have thee." + +"Never will you lose me, mother." + +"Ah then! that is what all sons say. The common lot, I look for nothing +better. But see now! I give thee up cheerfully. If God please, I shall +see thy sons and daughters; and thy father has been anxious about the +Hydes. He would not have a stranger here--nor would I. Our hope is in +thee and thy sweet wife, and very glad am I that thy wife is to be +Cornelia Moran." + +And even after Joris had left her she smiled, though the tears dropped +down upon her work. She thought of the presents she would send her +daughter, and she told herself that Cornelia was an American, and that +she had made for her, with her own hands and brain, a lovely home +wherein HER memory must always dwell. Indeed she let her thoughts go +far forward to see, and to listen to the happy boys and girls who might +run and shout gleefully through the fair large rooms, and the sweet +shady gardens her skill and taste had ordered and planted. Thus her +generosity made her a partaker of her children's happiness, and whoever +partakes of a pleasure has his share of it, and comes into contact--not +only with the happiness--but with the other partakers of that +happiness--a divine kind of interest for generous deeds, which we may +all appropriate. + +Nothing is more contagious than joy, and Hyde was now a living joy +through all the house. His voice had caught a new tone, his feet a more +buoyant step, he carried himself like a man expectant of some glorious +heritage. So eager, so ardent, so ready to be happy, he inspired every +one with his buoyant gladness of heart. He could at least talk to +Cornelia with his pen every day, yes, every hour if he desired; and if +it had been possible to transfer in a letter his own light-heartedness, +the words he wrote would have shone upon the paper. + +The next morning Mary Damer called. She knew that a letter from +Cornelia was possible, and she knew also that it would really be as +fateful to herself, as to Hyde. If, as she suspected, it was Rem Van +Ariens who had detained the misdirected letter, there was only one +conceivable result as regarded herself. She, an upright, honourable +English girl, loving truth with all her heart, and despising whatever +was underhand and disloyal, had but one course to take--she must break +off her engagement with a man so far below her standard of simple +morality. She could not trust his honour, and what security has love in +a heart without honour? + +So she looked anxiously at Annie as she entered, and Annie would not +keep her in suspense. "There was a letter from Miss Moran last night," +she said. "She loves George yet. She re-wrote the unfortunate letter, +and this time it found its owner. I think he has it next his heart at +this very moment." + +"I am glad of that, Annie. But who has the first letter?" + +"I think you know, Mary." + +"You mean Mr. Van Ariens?" + +"Yes." + +"Then there is no more to be said. I shall write to him as soon as +possible." + +"I am sorry--" + +"No, no! Be content, Annie. The right must always come right. Neither +you nor I could desire any other end, even to our own love story." + +"But you must suffer." + +"Not much. None of us weep if we lose what is of no value. And I have +noticed that the happiness of any one is always conditioned by the +unhappiness of some one else. Love usually builds his home out of the +wrecks of other homes. Your cousin and Cornelia will be happy, but +there are others that must suffer, that they may be so. I will go now, +Annie, because until I have written to Mr. Van Ariens, I shall not feel +free. And also, I do not wish him to come here, and in his last letter +he spoke of such an intention." + +So the two letters--that of Hyde to Cornelia, and that of Mary Darner +to Van Ariens, left England for America in the same packet; and though +Mary Darner undoubtedly had some suffering and disappointment to +conquer, the fight was all within her. To her friends at the Manor she +was just the same bright, courageous girl; ready for every emergency, +and equally ready to make the most of every pleasure. + +And the tone of the Manor House was now set to a key of the highest joy +and expectation. Hyde unconsciously struck the note, for he was happily +busy from morning to night about affairs relating either to his +marriage, or to his future as the head of a great household. All his +old exigent, extravagant liking for rich clothing returned to him. He +had constant visits from his London tailor, a dapper little artist, who +brought with him a profusion of rich cloth, silk and satin, and who +firmly believed that the tailor made the man. There were also endless +interviews with the family lawyer, endless readings of law papers, and +endless consultations about rights and successions, which Hyde was glad +and grateful to leave very much to his father's wisdom and generosity. + +At the beginning of this happy period, Hyde had been sure that the +business of his preparations would be arranged in three weeks; a month +had appeared to be a quite unreasonable and impossible delay; but the +month passed, and it was nearly the middle of November when all things +were ready for his voyage. His mother would then have urged a +postponement until spring, but she knew that George would brook no +further delay; and she was wise enough to accept the inevitable +cheerfully. And thus by letting her will lead her, in the very road +necessity drove her, she preserved not only her liberty, but her desire. + +Some of these last days were occupied in selecting from her jewels +presents for Cornelia, with webs of gold and silver tissues, and +Spitalfields silks so rich and heavy, that no mortal woman might hope +to outwear them. To these Annie added from her own store of lace, many +very valuable pieces; and the happy bridegroom was proud to see that +love was going to send him away, with both arms full for the beloved. + +The best gift however came last, and it was from the Earl. It was not +gold or land, though he gave generously of both these; but one which +Hyde felt made his way straight before him, and which he knew must have +cost his father much self-abnegation. It was the following letter to +Dr. John Moran. + +MY DEAR SIR: + +It seems then, that our dear children love each other so well, that it +is beyond our right, even as parents, to forbid their marriage. I ask +from you, for my son, who is a humble and ardent suitor for Miss +Moran's hand, all the favour his sincere devotion to her deserves, We +have both been young, we have both loved, accept then his affection as +some atonement for any grievance or injustice you remember against +myself. Had we known each other better, we should doubtless have loved +each other better; but now that marriage will make us kin, I offer you +my hand, with all it implies of regret for the past, and of respect for +the future. Your servant to command, + +RICHARD HYDE. + +"It is the greatest proof of my love I can give you, George," said the +Earl, when the letter had been read; "and it is Annie you must thank +for it. She dropped the thought into my heart, and if the thought has +silently grown to these written words, it is because she had put many +other good thoughts there, and that these helped this one to come to +perfection." + +"Have you noticed, father, how small and fragile-looking she is? Can +she really be slowly dying?" + +"No, she is not dying; she is only going a little further away--a +little further away, every hour. Some hour she will be called, and she +will answer, and we shall see her no more--HERE. But I do not call that +dying, and if it be dying, Annie will go as calmly and simply, as if +she were fulfilling some religious rite or duty. She loves God, and she +will go to Him." + +The next morning Hyde left his father's home forever. It was impossible +that such a parting should be happy. No hopes, no dreams of future joy, +could make him forget the wealth of love he was leaving. Nor did he +wish to forget. And woe to the man or woman who would buy composure and +contentment by forgetting!--by really forfeiting a portion of their +existence--by being a suicide of their own moral nature. + +The day was a black winter day, with a monotonous rain and a dark sky +troubled by a ghostly wind. Inside the house the silence fell on the +heart like a weight. The Earl and Countess watched their son's carriage +turn from the door, and then looked silently into each other's face. +The Earl's lips were firmly set, and his eyes full of tears; the +Countess was weeping bitterly. He went with her to her room, and with +all his old charm and tenderness comforted her for her great loss. + +At that moment Annie was forgotten, yet no one was suffering more than +she was. Hyde had knelt by her sofa, and taken her in his arms, and +covered her face with tears and kisses, and she had not been able to +oppose a parting so heart-breaking and so final. The last tears she was +ever to shed dropped from her closed eyes, as she listened to his +departing steps; and the roll of the carriage carrying him away +forever, seemed to roll over her shrinking heart. She cried out +feebly--a pitiful little shrill cry, that she hushed with a sob still +more full of anguish. Then she began to cast over her suffering soul +the balm of prayer, and prostrate with closed eyes, and hands feebly +hanging down, Doctor Roslyn found her. He did not need to ask a +question, he had long known the brave self-sacrifice that was +consecrating the child-heart suffering so sharply that day; and he said +only-- + +"We are made perfect through suffering, Annie." + +"I know, dear father." + +"And you have found before this, that the sorrow well borne is full of +strange joys--joys, whose long lasting perfumes, show that they were +grown in heaven and not on earth." + +"This is the last sorrow that can come to me, father." + +"And my dear Annie, you would have been a loser without it. Every grief +has its meaning, and the web of life could not be better woven, if only +love touched it." + +"I have been praying, father." + +"Nay, but God Himself prayed in you, while your soul waited in deep +resignation. God gave you both the resignation and the answer." + +"My heart failed me at the last--then I prayed as well as I could." + +"And then, visited by the NOT YOURSELF in you, your head was lifted up. +Do not be frightened at what you want. Strive for it little by little. +All that is bitter in outward things, or in interior things, all that +befalls you in the course of a day, is YOUR DAILY BREAD if you will +take it from His hand." + +Then she was silent and quite still, and he sat and watched the gradual +lifting of the spirit's cloud--watched, until the pallor of her face +grew luminous with the inner light, and her wide open eyes saw, as in a +vision, things, invisible to mortal sight; but open to the spirit on +that dazzling line where mortal and immortal verge. + +And as he went home, stepping slowly through the misty world, he +himself hardly knew whether he was in the body or out of it. He felt +not the dripping rain, he was not conscious of the encompassing earthly +vapours, he had passed within the veil and was worshipping + + "In dazzling temples opened straight to Him, + Where One who had great lightnings for His crown + Was suddenly made present; vast and dim + Through crowded pinions of the Cherubim." + +And his feet stumbled not, nor was he aware of anything around, until +the Earl met him at the park gates and touching him said reverently-- + +"Father, you are close to the highway. Have you seen Annie?" + +"I have just left her." + +"She is further from us than ever." + +"Richard Hyde," he answered, "she is on her way to God, and she can +rest nothing short of that." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +"HUSH! LOVE IS HERE!" + + +On the morning that Hyde sailed for America, Cornelia received the +letter he had written her on the discovery of Rem's dishonourable +conduct. So much love, so much joy, sent to her in the secret foldings +of a sheet of paper! In a hurry of delight and expectation she opened +it, and her beaming eyes ran all over the joyful words it brought +her--sweet fluttering pages, that his breath had moved, and his face +been aware of. How he would have rejoiced to see her pressing them to +her bosom, at some word of fonder memory or desire. + +There was much in this letter which it was necessary her father and +mother should hear--the Earl's message to them--Hyde's own proposition +for an immediate marriage, and various necessities referring to this +event. But she was proud and happy to read words of such noble, +straightforward affection; and the Doctor was especially pleased by the +deference expressed for his wishes. When he left the house that day he +kissed his daughter with pride and tenderness, and said to Mrs. Moran-- + +"Ava, there will be much to get, and much to do in a short time, but +money manages all things Do not spare where it is necessary." And then +what important and interesting consultations followed! what lists of +lovely garments became imperative, which an hour before had not been +dreamed of! what discussions as to mantua makers and milliners! as to +guests and ceremonies! as to all the details of a life unknown, but +invested by love and youth, with a delightfully overwhelming importance. + +Cornelia was so happy that her ordinary dress of grey camelot did not +express her; she felt constrained to add to it some bows of bright +scarlet ribbon, and then she looked round about her room, and went +through her drawers, to find something else to be a visible witness to +the light heart singing within her. And she came across some coral +combs that Madame Jacobus had given her, and felt their vivid colouring +in the shining masses of her dark hair, to be one of the right ways of +saying to herself, and all she loved, "See how happy I am!" + +In the afternoon, when the shopping for the day had been accomplished, +she went to Captain Jacobus, to play with him the game of backgammon +which had become an almost daily duty, and to which the Captain +attached a great importance. Indeed, for many weeks it had been the +event of every day to him; and if he was no longer dependent on it, he +was grateful enough to acknowledge all the good it had done him. "I owe +your daughter as much as I owe you, sir," he would say to Doctor Moran, +"and I owe both of you a bigger debt than I can clear myself of." + +This afternoon he looked at his visitor with a wondering speculation. +There was something in her face, and manner, and voice, he had never +before seen or heard, and madame--who watched every expression of her +husband--was easily led to the same observation. She observed Cornelia +closely, and her gay laugh especially revealed some change. It was like +the burst of bird song in early spring, and she followed the happy girl +to the front door, and called her back when she had gone down the +steps, and said, as she looked earnestly in her face-- + +"You have heard from Joris Hyde? I know you have!" and Cornelia nodded +her head, and blushed, and smiled, and ran away from further question. + +When she reached home she found Madame Van Heemskirk sitting with her +mother, and the sweet old lady rose to meet her, and said before +Cornelia could utter a word: + +"Come to me, Cornelia. This morning a letter we have had from my Joris, +and sorry am I that I did thee so much wrong." + +"Madame, I have long ago forgotten it; and there was a mistake all +round," answered Cornelia, cheerfully. + +"That is so--and thy mistake first of all. Hurry is misfortune; even to +be happy, it is not wise to hurry. Listen now! Joris has written to his +grandfather, and also to me, and very busy he will keep us both. His +grandfather is to look after the stables and the horses, and to buy +more horses, and to hire serving men of all kinds. And a long letter +also I have had from my daughter Katherine, and she tells me to make +her duty to thee my duty. That is my pleasure also, and I have been +talking with thy mother about the house. Now I shall go there, and a +very pleasant home I shall make it. Many things Joris will bring with +him--two new carriages and much fine furniture--and I know not what +else beside." + +Then Cornelia kissed madame, and afterwards removed her bonnet; and +madame looked at her smiling. The vivid coral in her dark hair, the +modest grey dress with its knots of colour, and above all the lovely +face alight with love and hope, delighted her. + +"Very pretty art thou, very pretty indeed!" she said, impulsively; and +then she added, "Many other girls are very pretty also, but my Joris +loves thee, and I am glad that it is thee, and very welcome art thou to +me, and very proud is my husband of thee. And now I must go, because +there is much to do, and little time to do it in." + +For nearly a week Cornelia was too busy to take Arenta into her +consideration. She did not care to tell her about Rem's cruel and +dishonourable conduct, and she was afraid the shrewd little Marquise +would divine some change, and get the secret out of her. Indeed, Arenta +was not long in suspecting something unusual in the Doctor's +household--the number of parcels and of work people astonished her; and +she was not a little offended at Madame Van Heemskirk spending a whole +afternoon so near to her, and "never even," as she said to her father, +"turning her head this way." For Arenta had drunk a rather long draught +of popular interest, and she could not bear to believe it was +declining. Was she not the American heroine of 1793? It was almost a +want of patriotism in Madame Van Heemskirk to neglect her. + +After a week had elapsed Cornelia went over one morning to see her +friend. But by this time Arenta knew everything. Her brother Rem had +been with her and confessed all to his sister. It had not been a +pleasant meeting by any means. She heard the story with indignation, +but contrived to feel that somehow Rem was not so much to blame as +Cornelia, and other people. + +"You are right served," she said to her brother, "for meddling with +foreigners, and especially for mixing your love affairs up with an +English girl. Proud, haughty creatures all of them! And you are a very +fool to tell any woman such a--crime. Yes, it is a crime. I won't say +less. That girl over the way nearly died, and you would have let her +die. It was a shame. I don't love Cornelia--but it was a shame." + +"The letter was addressed to me, Arenta." + +"Fiddlesticks! You knew it was not yours. You knew it was Hyde's. Where +is it now?" + +She asked the question in her usual dominant way, and Rem did not feel +able to resist it. He looked for a moment at the angry woman, and was +subdued by her air of authority. He opened his pocketbook and from a +receptacle in it, took the fateful letter. She seized and read it, and +then without a word, or a moment's hesitation threw it into the fire. + +Rem blustered and fumed, and she stood smiling defiantly at him. "You +are like all criminals," she said; "you must keep something to accuse +yourself with. I love you too well to permit you to carry that bit of +paper about you. It has worked you harm enough. What are you going to +do? Is Miss Darner's refusal quite final?" + +"Quite. It was even scornful." + +"Plenty of nice girls in Boston." + +"I cannot go back to Boston." + +"Why then?" + +"Because Mary's cousin has told the whole affair." + +"Nonsense!" + +"She has. I know it. Men, whom I had been friendly with, got out of my +way; women excused themselves at their homes, and did not see me on the +streets. I have no doubt all Boston is talking of the affair." + +"Then come back to New York. New Yorkers attend strictly to their own +love affairs. Father will stand by you; and I will." + +"Father will not. He called me a scoundrel, when I told him last night, +and advised me to go to the frontier. Joris Van Heemskirk will not +talk, but madame will chatter for him, and I could not bear to meet +Doctor Moran. As for Captain Jacobus, he would invent new words and +oaths to abuse me with, and Aunt Angelica would, of course, say amen to +all he says;--and there are others." + +"Yes, there is Lord Hyde." + +"Curse him! But I intended to give him his letter--now you have burnt +it." + +"You intended nothing of the kind, Rem. Go away as soon as you can. I +don't want to know where you go just yet. New York is impossible, and +Boston is impossible. Father says go to the frontier, I say go South. +What you have done, you have done; and it cannot be undone; so don't +carry it about with you. And I would let women alone--they are beyond +you--go in for politics." + +That day Rem lingered with his sister, seeing no one else; and in the +evening shadows he slipped quietly away. He was very wretched, for he +really loved Mary Damer, and his disappointment was bitterly keen and +humiliating. Besides which, he felt that his business efforts for two +years were forfeited, and that he had the world to begin over again. +Without a friend to wish him a Godspeed the wretched man went on board +the Southern packet, and in her dim lonely cabin sat silent and +despondent, while she fought her way through swaying curtains of rain +to the open sea. Its great complaining came up through the darkness to +him, and seemed to be the very voice of the miserable circumstances, +that had separated and estranged his life from all he loved and desired. + +This sudden destruction of all her hopes for her brother distressed +Arenta. Her own marriage had been a most unfortunate one, but its +misfortunes had the importance of national tragedy. She had even +plucked honour to herself from the bloody tumbril and guillotine. But +Rem's matrimonial failure had not one redeeming quality; it was +altogether a shameful and well-deserved retribution. And she had +boasted to her friends not a little of the great marriage her brother +was soon to make, and even spoken of Miss Damer, as if a sisterly +affection already existed between them. She could anticipate very well +the smiles and shrugs, the exclamations and condolences she might have +to encounter, and she was not pleased with her brother for putting her +in a position likely to make her disagreeable to people. + +But the heart of her anger was Cornelia--"but for that girl," Rem +would have married Mary Damer, and his home in Boston might have been +full of opportunities for her, as well as a desirable change when she +wearied of New York. Altogether it was a hard thing for her, as well as +a dreadful sorrow for Rem; and she could not think of Cornelia without +anger, "Just for her," she kept saying as she dressed herself with an +elaborate simplicity, "Just for her! Very much she intruded herself +into my affairs; my marriage was her opportunity with Lord Hyde, and +now all she can do is to break up poor Rem's marriage." + +When Cornelia entered the Van Ariens parlour Arenta was already there. +She was dressed in a gown of the blackest and softest bombazine and +crape. It had a distinguishing want of all ornament, but it was for +that reason singularly effective against her delicate complexion and +pale golden hair. She looked offended, and hardly spoke to her old +friend, but Cornelia was prepared for some exhibition of anger. She had +not been to see Arenta for a whole week, and she did not doubt she had +been well aware of something unusual in progress. But that Rem had +accused himself did not occur to her; therefore she was hardly prepared +for the passionate accusations with which Arenta assailed her. + +"I think," she said, "you have behaved disgracefully to poor Rem! You +would not have him yourself, and yet you prevent another girl--whom he +loves far better than ever he loved you--from marrying him. He has gone +away 'out of the world,' he says, and indeed I should not wonder if he +kills himself. It is most certain you have done all you can to drive +him to it." + +"Arenta! I have no idea what you mean. I have not seen Rem, nor written +to Rem, for more than two years." + +"Very likely, but you have written about him. You wrote to Miss Darner, +and told her Rem purposely kept a letter, which you had sent to Lord +Hyde." + +"I did not write to Miss Damer. I do not know the lady. But Rem DID +keep a letter that belonged to Lord Hyde." + +Then anger gave falsehood the bit and she answered, "Rem did NOT keep +any letter that belonged to Lord Hyde. Prove that he did so, before you +accuse him. You cannot." + +"I unfortunately directed Lord Hyde's letter to Rem, and Rem's letter +to Lord Hyde. Rem knew that he had Lord Hyde's letter, and he should +have taken it at once to him." + +"Lord Hyde had Rem's letter; he ought to have taken it at once to Rem." + +"There was not a word in Rem's letter to identify it as belonging to +him." + +"Then you ought to be ashamed to write love letters that would do for +any man that received them. A poor hand you must be, to blunder over +two love letters. I have had eight, and ten, at once to answer, and I +never failed to distinguish each; and while rivers run into the sea I +never shall misdirect my love letters. I do not believe Rem ever got +your letter, and I will not believe it, either now or ever. I dare be +bound, Balthazar lost it on the way. Prove to me he did not." + +"Oh, indeed! I think you know better." + +"Very clever is Lord Hyde to excuse himself by throwing the blame on +poor Rein. Very mean indeed to accuse him to the girl he was going to +marry. To be sure, any one with an ounce of common sense to guide them, +must see through the whole affair." + +"Arenta, I have the most firm conviction of Rem's guilt, and the +greatest concern for his disappointment. I assure you I have." + +"Kindly reserve your concern, Miss Moran, till Rem Van Ariens asks for +it. As for his guilt, there is no guilt in question. Even supposing +that Rem did keep Lord Hyde's letter, what then? All things are fair in +love and war, Willie Nicholls told me last night, he would keep a +hundred letters, if he thought he could win me by doing so. Any man of +sense would." + +"All I blame Rem for is--" + +"All I blame Rem for is, that he asked you to marry him. So much for +that! I hope if he meddles with women again, he will seek an all-round +common-sense Dutch girl, who will know how to direct her letters--or +else be content with one lover." + +"Arenta, I shall go now. I have given you an opportunity to be rude and +unkind. You cannot expect me to do that again." + +She watched Cornelia across the street, and then turned to the mirror, +and wound her ringlets over her fingers. "I don't care," she muttered. +"It was her fault to begin with. She tempted Rem, and he fell. Men +always fall when women tempt them; it is their nature to. I am going to +stand by Rem, right or wrong, and I only wish I could tell Mary Damer +what I think of her. She has another lover, of course she has--or she +would not have talked about her 'honour' to Rem." + +To such thoughts she was raging, when Peter Van Ariens came home to +dinner, and she could not restrain them. He listened for a minute or +two, and then struck the table no gentle blow? + +"In my house, Arenta," he said, "I will have no such words. What you +think, you think; but such thoughts must be shut close in your mind. In +keeping that letter, I say Rem behaved like a scoundrel; he was cruel, +and he was a coward. Because he is my son I will not excuse him. No +indeed! For that very reason, the more angry am I at such a deed. Now +then, he shall acknowledge to George Hyde and Cornelia Moran the wrong +he did them, ere in my home and my heart, he rights himself." + +"Is Cornelia going to be married?" + +"That is what I hear." + +"To Lord Hyde?" + +"That also, is what I hear." + +"Well, as I am in mourning, I cannot go to the wedding; so then I am +delighted to have told her a little of my mind." + +"It is a great marriage for the Doctor's daughter; a countess she will +be." + +"And a marquise I am. And will you please say, if either countess or +marquise is better than mistress or madame? Thank all the powers that +be! I have learned the value of a title, and I shall change marquise +for mistress, as soon as I can do so." + +"If always you had thought thus, a great deal of sorrow we had both +been spared." + +"Well, then, a girl cannot get her share of wisdom, till she comes to +it. After all, I am now sorry I have quarrelled with Cornelia. In New +York and Philadelphia she will be a great woman." + +"To take offence is a great folly, and to give offence is a great +folly--I know not which is the greater, Arenta." + +"Oh, indeed, father," she answered, "if I am hurt and angry, I shall +take the liberty to say so. Anger that is hidden cannot be gratified; +and if people use me badly, it is my way to tell them I am aware of it. +One may be obliged to eat brown bread, but I, for one, will say it is +brown bread, and not white." + +"Your own way you will take, until into some great trouble you stumble." + +"And then my own way I shall take, until out of it I stumble." + +"I have told Rem what he must do. Like a man he must say, 'I did wrong, +and I am sorry for it,' and so well I think of those he has wronged, as +to be sure they will answer, 'It is forgiven.'" + +"And forgotten." + +"That is different. To forgive freely, is what we owe to our enemy; to +forget not, is what we owe to ourselves." + +"But if Rem's fault is forgiven, and not forgotten, what good will it +do him? I have seen that every one forgives much in themselves that +they find unpardonable in other people." + +"In so far, Arenta, we are all at fault." + +"I think it is cruel, father, to ask Rem to speak truth to his own +injury. Even the law is kinder than you, it asks no man to accuse +himself." + +"Right wrongs no man. Till others move in this matter, you be quiet. If +you talk, evil words you will say; and mind this, Arenta, the evil that +comes out of your lips, into your own bosom will fall. All my life I +have seen this." + +But Arenta could not be quiet. She would sow thorns, though she had to +walk unshod; and her father's advice moved her no more than a breath +moves a mountain. In the same afternoon she saw Madame Jacobus going to +Doctor Moran's, and the hour she remained there, was full of misery to +her impetuous self-adoring heart. She was sure they were talking of Rem +and herself; and as she had all their conversation to imagine, she came +to conclusions in accord with her suspicions. + +But she met her aunt at the door and brought her eagerly into the +parlour. She had had no visitors that day, and was bored and restless +and longing for conversation. "I saw you go to the Doctor's an hour +ago, aunt," she said. "I hope the Captain is well." + +"Jacobus is quite well, thank God and Doctor Moran--and Cornelia. I +have been looking at some of her wedding gowns. A girl so happy, and +who deserves to be so happy, I never saw. What a darling she is!" + +"It is now the fashion to rave about her. I suppose they found time +enough to abuse poor Rem. And you could listen to them! I would not +have done so! No! not if listening had meant salvation for the whole +Moran family." + +"You are a remarkably foolish young woman. They never named Rem. People +so happy, do not remember the bringer of sorrow. He has been shut +out--in the darkness and cold. But I heard from Madame Van Heemskirk +why Cornelia and that delightful young man were not married two years +ago. I am ashamed of Rem. I can never forgive him. He is a disgrace to +the family. And that is why I came here to-day. I wish you to make Rem +understand that he must not come near his Uncle Jacobus. When Jacobus +is angry, he will call heaven and earth and hell to help him speak his +mind, and I have nearly cured him of a habit which is so distressing to +me, and such a great wrong to his own soul. The very sight of Rem would +break every barrier down, and let a flood of words loose, that would +make him suffer afterwards. I will not have Jacobus led into such +temptation. I have not heard an oath from him for six months." + +"I suppose you would never forgive Jacobus, if you did hear one?" + +"That is another matter. I hope I have a heart to forgive whatever +Jacobus does, or says--he is my husband." + +"It is then less wicked to blaspheme Almighty God, than to keep one of +Lord Hyde's love letters. One fault may be forgiven, the other is +unpardonable. Dear me! how religiously ignorant I am. As for my uncle +swearing--and the passions that thus express themselves--everybody +knows that anything that distantly resembles good temper, will suit +Captain Jacobus." + +"You look extremely handsome when you are scornful, Arenta; but it is +not worthwhile wasting your charms on me. I am doing what I can to help +Jacobus to keep his tongue clean, and I will not have Rem lead him into +temptation. As for Rem, he is guilty of a great wrong; and he must now +do what his father told him to do--work day and night, as men work, +when a bridge is broken down. The ruin must be got out of the way, and +the bridge rebuilt, then it will be possible to open some pleasant and +profitable traffic with human beings again--not to speak of heaven." + +"You are right--not to speak of heaven, I think heaven would be more +charitable. Rem will not trouble Captain Jacobus. For my part I think a +man that cannot bear temptation is very poorly reformed. If my uncle +could see Rem, and yet keep his big and little oaths under bonds, I +should believe in his clean tongue." + +"Arenta, you are tormenting yourself with anger and ill-will, and above +all with jealousy. In this way you are going to miss a deal of +pleasure. I advise you not to quarrel with Cornelia. She will be a +great resource. I myself am looking forward to the delightful change +Jacobus may have at Hyde Manor. It will make a new life for him, and +also for me. This afternoon something is vexing you. I shall take no +offence. You will regret your bad temper to-morrow." + +To-morrow Arenta did regret; but people do not always say they are +sorry, when they feel so. She sat in the shadow of her window curtains +and watched the almost constant stream of visitors, and messengers, and +tradespeople at Doctor Moran's house; and she longed to have her hands +among the lovely things, and to give her opinion about the delightful +events sure to make the next few weeks full of interest and pleasure. +And after she had received a letter from Rem, she resolved to humble +herself that she might be exalted. + +"Rem is already fortunate, and I can't help him by fighting his battle. +Forgetfulness, is the word. For this wrong can have no victory, and to +be forgotten, is the only hope for it. Beside, Cornelia had her full +share in my happiness, and I will not let myself be defrauded of my +share in her happiness--not for a few words--no! certainly not." + +This reflection a few times reiterated resulted in the following note-- + + +MY DEAR CORNELIA: + +I want to say so much, that I cannot say anything but--forgive me. I am +shaken to pieces by my dreadful sufferings, and sometimes, I do not +know what I say, even to those I love. Blame my sad fortune for my bad +words, and tell me you long to forgive me, as I long to be forgiven. + +Your ARENTA. + + +"That will be sufficient," she reflected; "and after all, Cornelia is a +sweet girl. I am her first and dearest friend, and I am determined to +keep my place. It has made me very angry to see those Van Dien girls, +and those Sherman girls, running in and out of the Moran house as if +they owned Cornelia. Well then, if I have had to eat humble pie, I have +had my say, and that takes the bitter taste out of my mouth--and a +sensible woman must look to her future. I dare warrant, Cornelia is now +answering my letter. I dare warrant, she will forgive me very sweetly." + +She spent half-an-hour in such reflections, and then Cornelia entered +with a smiling face. She would not permit Arenta to say another word of +regret; she stifled all her self-reproaches in an embrace, and she took +her back with her to her own home. And no further repentance +embarrassed Arenta. She put her ready wit, and her clever hands to a +score of belated things; and snubbed and contradicted the Van Dien and +Sherman girls into a respectful obedience to her earlier friendship, +and wider experience. Everything that she directed, or took charge of, +went with an unmistakable vigour to completion; and even Madame Van +Heemskirk was delighted with her ability, and grateful for her +assistance. + +"The poor Arenta!" she said to Mrs. Moran; "very helpful she is to us, +and for her brother's fault she is not to blame. Wrong it would be to +visit it on her." + +And Arenta not only felt this gracious justice for herself, she looked +much further forward, for she said to her father, "It is really for +Rem's sake I am so obliging. By and by people will say 'there is no +truth in that letter story. The Marquise is the friend of Lady Hyde; +they are like clasped hands, and that could not be so, if Rem Van +Ariens had done such a dreadful thing. It is all nonsense.' And if I +hear a word about it, I shall know how to smile, and lift my shoulders, +and kill suspicion with contempt. Yes, for Rem's sake, I have done the +best thing." + +So happily the time went on, that it appeared wonderful when Christmas +was close at hand. Every preparation was then complete. The Manor House +was a very picture of splendid comfort and day by day Cornelia's +exquisite wardrobe came nearer to perfection. It was a very joy to go +into the Moran house. The mother, with a happy light upon her face, +went to-and-fro with that habitual sweet serenity, which kept the +temperature of expectant pleasure at a degree not too exhausting for +continuance. The doctor was so satisfied with affairs, that he was +often heard timing his firm, strong steps to snatches of long forgotten +military songs; and Cornelia, knowing her lover was every day coming +nearer and nearer, was just as happy as a girl loving and well beloved, +ought to be. Sorrow was all behind her, and a great joy was coming to +meet her. Until mortal love should become immortal, she could hope for +no sweeter interlude in life. + +Her beauty had increased wonderfully; hope had more than renewed her +youth, and confident love had given to her face and form, a splendour +of colour and expression, that captivated everybody; though why, or +how, they never asked--she charmed, because she charmed. She was the +love, the honey, the milk of sweetest human nature. + +One day the little bevy of feminine councillors looked at their work, +and pronounced all beautiful, and all finished; and then there was a +lull in the busy household, and then every one was conscious of being a +little weary; and every one also felt, that it would be well to let +heart, and brain, and fingers, and feet rest. In a few days there would +likely be another English letter, and they could then form some idea as +to when Lord Hyde would arrive. The last letter received from him had +been written in London, and the ship in which he was to sail, was +taking on her cargo, while he impatiently waited at his hotel for +notice of her being ready to lift her anchor. The doctor thought it +highly probable Hyde would follow this letter in a week, or perhaps +less. + +During this restful interval, Doctor and Mrs. Moran drove out one +afternoon to Hyde Manor House. A message from Madame Van Heemskirk +asked this favour from them; she wished naturally that they should see +how exquisitely beautiful and comfortable was the home, which her Joris +had trusted her to prepare for his bride. But she did not wish Cornelia +to see it, until the bride-groom himself took her across its threshold. +"An old woman's fancy it is," she said to Mrs. Moran; "but no harm is +there in it, and not much do I like women who bustle about their +houses, and have no fancies at all." + +"Nor I," answered Mrs. Moran with a merry little laugh. "Do you know, +that I told John to buy my wedding ring too wide, because I often heard +my mother say that a tight wedding ring was unlucky." Then both women +smiled, and began delightedly to look over together the stores of fine +linen and damask, which the mother of Joris had laid up for her son's +use. + +It was a charming visit, and the sweet pause in the vivid life of the +past few weeks, was equally charming to Cornelia. She rested in her +room till the short daylight ended; then she went to the parlour and +drank a cup of tea, and closed the curtains, and sat down by the hearth +to wait for her father and mother. It was likely they would be a little +late, but the moon was full and the sleighing perfect, and then she was +sure they would have so much to tell her, when they did reach home. + +So still was the house, so still was the little street, that she easily +went to the land of reverie, and lost herself there. She thought over +again all her life with her lover; recalled his sweet spirit, his loyal +affection, his handsome face, and enchanting manner. "Heaven has made +me so fortunate," she thought, "and now my fortune has arrived at my +wishes. Even his delay is sweet. I desire to think of him, until all +other thoughts are forgotten! Oh, what lover could be loved as I love +him!" + +Then with a soft but quick movement the door flew open, she lifted her +eyes, to fill them with love's very image and vesture; and with a cry +of joy flew to meet the bliss so long afar, but now so near. "O lovely +and beloved! O my love!" Hyde cried, and then there was a twofold +silence; the very ecstasy that no mortal words can utter. The sacred +hour for which all their lives had longed, was at last dropt down to +them from heaven. Between their kisses they spoke of things remembered, +and of things to be, leaning to each other in visible sweetness, while + + "Love breathed in sighs and silences + Through two blent souls, one rapturous undersong." + + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Maid of Maiden Lane, by Amelia E. Barr + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAID OF MAIDEN LANE *** + +***** This file should be named 5757.txt or 5757.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/5/7/5/5757/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at + www.gutenberg.org/license. + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at 809 +North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email +contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the +Foundation's web site and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For forty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/5757.zip b/5757.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b5d59c5 --- /dev/null +++ b/5757.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2ce1d31 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #5757 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5757) diff --git a/old/mdmdn10.txt b/old/mdmdn10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e61215d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/mdmdn10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9150 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Maid of Maiden Lane, by Amelia E. Barr +#3 in our series by Amelia E. Barr + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Maid of Maiden Lane + +Author: Amelia E. Barr + +Release Date: May, 2004 [EBook #5757] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on August 28, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAID OF MAIDEN LANE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +THE MAID OF MAIDEN LANE +A Sequel to "The Bow of Orange Ribbon." +A Love Story + +BY AMELIA E. BARR +Author of "The Bow of Orange Ribbon," "Friend Olivia," etc. + + +1900 + + + +CONTENTS + + + +I. THE HOME OF CORNELIA MORAN +II. THIS IS THE WAY OF LOVE +III. HYDE AND ARENTA +IV. THROWING THINGS INTO CONFUSION +V. TURNING OVER A NEW LEAF +VI. AUNT ANGELICA +VII. ARENTA'S MARRIAGE +VIII. TWO PROPOSALS +IX. MISDIRECTED LETTERS +X. LIFE TIED IN A KNOT +XI. WE HAVE DONE WITH TEARS AND TREASONS +XII. A HEART THAT WAITS +XIII. THE NEW DAYS COME +XIV. HUSH! LOVE IS HERE! + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE HOME OF CORNELIA MORAN + + +Never, in all its history, was the proud and opulent city of New York +more glad and gay than in the bright spring days of Seventeen-Hundred- +and-Ninety-One. It had put out of sight every trace of British rule and +occupancy, all its homes had been restored and re-furnished, and its +sacred places re-consecrated and adorned. Like a young giant ready to +run a race, it stood on tiptoe, eager for adventure and discovery-- +sending ships to the ends of the world, and round the world, on messages +of commerce and friendship, and encouraging with applause and rewards +that wonderful spirit of scientific invention, which was the Epic of the +youthful nation. The skies of Italy were not bluer than the skies above +it; the sunshine of Arcadia not brighter or more genial. It was a city +of beautiful, and even splendid, homes; and all the length and breadth +of its streets were shaded by trees, in whose green shadows dwelt and +walked some of the greatest men of the century. + +These gracious days of Seventeen-Hundred-and-Ninety-One were also the +early days of the French Revolution, and fugitives from the French +court--princes and nobles, statesmen and generals, sufficient for a new +Iliad, loitered about the pleasant places of Broadway and Wall Street, +Broad Street, and Maiden Lane. They were received with courtesy, and +even with hospitality, although America at that date almost universally +sympathized with the French Republicans, whom they believed to be the +pioneers of political freedom on the aged side of the Atlantic. The +merchants on Exchange, the Legislators in their Council Chambers, the +working men on the wharves and streets, the loveliest women in their +homes, and walks, and drives, alike wore the red cockade. The +Marseillaise was sung with The Star Spangled Banner; and the notorious +Carmagnole could be heard every hour of the day--on stated days, +officially, at the Belvedere Club. Love for France, hatred for England, +was the spirit of the age; it effected the trend of commerce, it +dominated politics, it was the keynote of conversation wherever men and +women congregated. + +Yet the most pronounced public feeling always carries with it a note of +dissent, and it was just at this day that dissenting opinion began to +make itself heard. The horrors of Avignon, and of Paris, the brutality +with which the royal family had been treated, and the abolition of all +religious ties and duties, had many and bitter opponents. The clergy +generally declared that "men had better be without liberty, than without +God," and a prominent judge had ventured to say publicly that +"Revolution was a dangerous chief justice." + +In these days of wonderful hopes and fears there was, in Maiden Lane, a +very handsome residence--an old house even in the days of Washington, +for Peter Van Clyffe had built it early in the century as a bridal +present to his daughter when she married Philip Moran, a lawyer who grew +to eminence among colonial judges. The great linden trees which shaded +the garden had been planted by Van Clyffe; so also had the high hedges +of cut boxwood, and the wonderful sweet briar, which covered the porch +and framed all the windows filling the open rooms in summer time with +the airs of Paradise. On all these lovely things the old Dutchman had +stamped his memory, so that, even to the third generation, he was +remembered with an affection, that every springtime renewed. + +One afternoon in April, 1791, two men were standing talking opposite to +the entrance gates of this pleasant place. They were Captain Joris Van +Heemskirk, a member of the Congress then sitting in Federal Hall, Broad +Street, and Jacobus Van Ariens, a wealthy citizen, and a deacon in the +Dutch Church. Van Heemskirk had helped to free his own country and was +now eager to force the centuries and abolish all monarchies. +Consequently, he believed in France; the tragedies she had been enacting +in the holy name of Liberty, though they had saddened, had, hitherto, +not discouraged him. He only pitied the more men who were trying to work +out their social salvation, without faith in either God or man. But the +news received that morning had almost killed his hopes for the spread of +republican ideas in Europe, + +"Van Ariens," he said warmly, "this treatment of King Louis and his +family is hardly to be believed. It is too much, and too far. If King +George had been our prisoner we should have behaved towards him with +humanity. After this, no one can foresee what may happen in France." + +"That is the truth, my friend," answered Van Ariens. "The good Domine +thinks that any one who can do so might also understand the Revelations. +The French have gone mad. They are tigers, sir, and I care not whether +tigers walk on four feet or on two. WE won our freedom without +massacres." + +"WE had Washington and Franklin, and other good and wise leaders who +feared God and loved men." + +"So I said to the Count de Moustier but one hour ago. But I did not +speak to him of the Almighty, because he is an atheist. Yet if we were +prudent and merciful it was because we are religious. When men are +irreligious, the Lord forsakes them; and if bloodshed and bankruptcy +follow it is not to be wondered at." + +"That is true, Van Ariens; and it is also the policy of England to let +France destroy herself." "Well, then, if France likes the policy of +England, it is her own affair. But I am angry at France; she has stabbed +Liberty in Europe for one thousand years. A French Republic! Bah! France +is yet fit for nothing but a despotism. I wish the Assembly had more +control--" + +"The Assembly!" cried Van Heemskirk scornfully. "I wish that Catherine +of Russia were now Queen of France in the place of that poor Marie +Antoinette. Catherine would make Frenchmen write a different page in +history. As to Paris, I think, then, the devil never sowed a million +crimes in more fruitful ground." + +"Look now, Captain, I am but a tanner and currier, as you know, but I +have had experiences; and I do not believe in the future of a people who +are without a God and without a religion." + +"Well, so it is, Van Ariens. I will now be silent, and wait for the +echo; but I fear that God has not yet said 'Let there be peace.' I saw +you last night at Mr. Hamilton's with your son and daughter. You made a +noble entrance." + +"Well, then, the truth is the truth. My Arenta is worth looking at; and +as for Rem, he was not made in a day. There are generations of Zealand +sailors behind him; and, to be sure, you may see the ocean in his grey +eyes and fresh open face. God is good, who gives us boys and girls to +sit so near our hearts." + +"And such a fair, free city for a home!" said Van Heemskirk as he looked +up and down the sunshiny street. New York is not perfect, but we love +her. Right or wrong, we love her; just as we love our mother, and our +little children." + +"That, also, is what the Domine says," answered Van Ariens; "and yet, he +likes not that New York favours the French so much. When Liberty has no +God, and no Sabbath day, and no heaven, and no hell, the Domine is not +in favour of Liberty. He is uneasy for the country, and for his church; +and if he could take his whole flock to heaven at once, that would +please him most of all." + +"He is a good man. With you, last night, was a little maid--a great +beauty I thought her--but I knew her not. Is she then a stranger?" + +"A stranger! Come, come! The little one is a very child of New York. She +is the daughter of Dr. Moran--Dr. John, as we all call him." + +"Well, look now, I thought in her face there was something that went to +my heart and memory." + +"And, as you know, that is his house across the street from us, and it +was his father's house, and his grandfather's house; and before that, +the Morans lived in Winckle Street; and before that, in the Lady's +Valley; so, then, when Van Clyffe built this house for them, they only +came back to their first home. Yes, it is so. The Morans have seen the +birth of this city. Who, then, can be less of a stranger in it than the +little beauty, Cornelia?" + +"As you say, Van Ariens." + +"And yet, in one way, she is a stranger. Such a little one she was, when +the coming of the English sent the family apart and away. To the army +went the Doctor, and there he stayed, till the war was over. Mrs. Moran +took her child, and went to her father's home in Philadelphia. When +those redcoats went away forever from New York, the Morans came back +here, but the little girl they left in the school at Bethlehem, where +those good Moravian Sisters have made her so sweet as themselves; so +pure! so honest-hearted! so clever! It was only last month she came back +to New York, and few people have seen her; and yet this is the truth-- +she is the sweetest maid in Maiden Lane; though up this side, and down +that side, are some beauties--the daughters of Peter Sylvester; and of +Jacob Beckley; and of Claes Vandolsom. Oh, yes! and many others. I speak +not of my Arenta. But look now! It is the little maid herself, that is +coming down the street." + +"And it is my grandson who is at her side. The rascal! He ought now to +be reading his law books in Mr. Hamilton's office. But what will you? +The race of young men with old heads on their shoulders is not yet born-- +a God's mercy it is not!" + +"We also have been young, Van Heemskirk." + +"I forget not, my friend. My Joris sees not me, and I will not see him." +Then the two old men were silent, but their eyes were fixed on the youth +and maiden, who were slowly advancing towards them; the sun's westering +rays making a kind of glory for them to walk in. + +She might have stepped out of the folded leaves of a rosebud, so lovely +was her face, framed in its dark curls, and shaded by a gypsy bonnet of +straw tied under her chin with primrose-coloured ribbons. Her dress was +of some soft, green material; and she carried in her hand a bunch of +daffodils. She was small, but exquisitely formed, and she walked with +fearlessness and distinction Yet there was around her an angelic +gravity, and that indefinable air of solitude, which she had brought +from innocent studies and long seclusion from the tumult and follies of +life. + +Of all this charming womanhood the young man at her side was profoundly +conscious. He was the gallant gentleman of his day, hardly touching the +tips of her fingers, but quite ready to fall on his knees before her. A +tall, sunbrowned, military-looking young man, as handsome as a Greek +god, with eyes of heroic form; lustrous, and richly fringed; and a +beautiful mouth, at once sensitive and seductive. He was also very +finely dressed, in the best and highest mode; and he wore his sword as +if it were a part of himself. It was no more in his way than if it were +his right arm. Indeed, all his movements were full of confidence and +ease; and yet it was the vivacity, vitality, and ready response of his +face that was most attractive. + +His wonderful eyes were bent upon the maid at his side; he saw no other +earthly thing. With a respectful eagerness, full of admiration, he +talked to her; and she answered his words--whatever they were--with a +smile that might have moved mountains. They passed the two old men +without any consciousness of their presence, and Van Heemskirk smiled, +and then sighed, and then said softly-- + +"So much youth, and beauty, and happiness! It is a benediction to have +seen it! I shall not reprove Joris at this time. But now I must go back +to Federal Hall; the question of the Capital makes me very anxious. +Every man of standing must feel so." + +"And I must go to my tan pits, for it is the eye of the master that +makes the good servant. You will vote for New York, Van Heemskirk?--that +is a question I need not to ask?" + +"Where else should the capital of our nation be? I think that +Philadelphia has great presumptions to propose herself against New +York:--this beautiful city between the two rivers, with the Atlantic +Ocean at her feet!" + +"You say what is true, Van Heemskirk. God has made New York the capital, +and the capital she will be; and no man can prevent it. It was only +yesterday that Senator Greyson from Virginia told me that the Southern +States are against Philadelphia. She is very troublesome to the Southern +States, day by day dogging them with her schemes for emancipation. It is +the way to make us unfriends." + +"I think this, Van Ariens: Philadelphia may win the vote at this time; +she has the numbers, and she has 'persuasions'; but look you! NEW YORK +HAS THE SHIPS AND THE COMMERCE, AND THE SEA WILL CROWN HER! 'The harvest +of the rivers is her revenue; and she is the mart of nations.' That is +what Domine Kunz said in the House this morning, and you may find the +words in the prophecy of Isaiah, the twenty-third chapter." + +During this conversation they had forgotten all else, and when their +eyes turned to the Moran house the vision of youth and beauty had +dissolved. Van Heemskirk's grandson, Lieutenant Hyde, was hastening +towards Broadway; and the lovely Cornelia Moran was sauntering up the +garden of her home, stooping occasionally to examine the pearl-powdered +auriculas or to twine around its support some vine, straggling out of +its proper place. + +Then Van Ariens hurried down to his tanning pits in the swamp; and Van +Heemskirk went thoughtfully to Broad Street; walking slowly, with his +left arm laid across his back, and his broad, calm countenance beaming +with that triumph which he foresaw for the city he loved. When he +reached Federal Hall, he stood a minute in the doorway; and with +inspired eyes looked at the splendid, moving picture; then he walked +proudly toward the Hall of Representatives, saying to himself, with +silent exultation as he went: + +"The Seat of Government! Let who will, have it; New York is the Crowning +City. Her merchants shall be princes, her traffickers the honourable of +the earth; the harvest of her rivers shall be her royal revenue, and the +marts of all nations shall be in her streets." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THIS IS THE WAY OF LOVE + + +Cornelia lingered in the garden, because she had suddenly, and as yet +unconsciously, entered into that tender mystery, so common and so +sovereign, which we call Love. In Hyde's presence she had been suffused +with a bewildering, profound emotion, which had fallen on her as the +gentle showers fall, to make the flowers of spring. A shy happiness, a +trembling delightful feeling never known before, filled her heart. This +handsome youth, whom she had only seen twice, and in the most formal +manner, affected her as no other mortal had ever done. She was a little +afraid; something, she knew not what, of mystery and danger and delight, +was between them; and she did not feel that she could speak of it. It +seemed, indeed, as if she would need a special language to do so. + +"I have met him but twice," she thought; "and it is as if I had a new, +strange, exquisite life. Ought I tell my mother? But how can I? I have +no words to explain--I do not understand--I thought it would break my +heart to leave the good Sisters and my studies, and the days so calm and +holy; and now--I do not even wish to go back. Sister Langaard told me it +would be so if I let the world come into my soul--Alas! if I should be +growing wicked!" + +The thought made her start; she hastened her steps towards the large +entrance door, and as she approached it a negro in a fine livery of blue +and white threw the door wide open for her. Answering his bow with a +kind word, she turned quickly out of the hall, into a parlour full of +sunshine. A lady sat there hemstitching a damask napkin; a lady of +dainty plainness, with a face full of graven experiences and mellowed +character. Purity was the first, and the last, impression she gave. And +when her eyes were dropped this idea was emphasized by their beautiful +lids; for nowhere is the flesh so divine as in the eyelids. And Ava +Moran's eyelids were full of holy secrets; they gave the impression of a +spiritual background which was not seen, but which could be felt. As +Cornelia entered she looked up with a smile, and said, as she slightly +raised her work, "it is the last of the dozen, Cornelia." + +"You make me ashamed of my idleness, mother. Have I been a long time +away?" + +"Longer than was unnecessary, I think." + +"I went to Embree's for the linen thread, and he had just opened some +English gauzes and lute-strings. Mrs. Willets was choosing a piece for a +new gown, for she is to dine with the President next week, and she was +so polite as to ask my opinion about the goods. Afterwards, I walked to +Wall Street with her; and coming back I met, on Broadway, Lieutenant +Hyde--and he gave me these flowers--they came from Prince's nursery +gardens--and, then, he walked home with me. Was it wrong? I mean was it +polite--I mean the proper thing to permit? I knew not how to prevent +it." + +"How often have you met Lieutenant Hyde?" + +"I met him for the first time last night. He was at the Sylvesters', and +I danced three times with him." + +"That was too often." + +"He talked with father, and father did not oppose my dancing." + +"Your father thinks of nothing, now, but the Capital question. I dare +say, after he had asked Lieutenant Hyde how he felt on that subject he +never thought of the young man again. And pray what did Lieutenant Hyde +say to you this afternoon?" + +"He gave me the flowers, and he told me about a beautiful opera, of +which I have never before heard. It is called Figaro. He says, in +Europe, nothing is played, or sung, or whistled, but--Figaro; that +nobody goes to any opera but--Figaro; and that I do not know the most +charming music in the world if I do not know--Figaro. He asked +permission to bring me some of the airs to-night, and I said some +civilities. I think they meant 'Yes.' Did I do wrong, mother?" + +"I will say 'no,' my dear; as you have given the invitation. But to +prevent an appearance of too exclusive intimacy, write to Arenta, and +ask her and Rem to take tea with us. Balthazar will carry the note at +once." + +"Mother, Arenta has bought a blue lute string. Shall I not also have a +new gown? The gauzes are very sweet and genteel, and I think Mrs. Jay +will not forget to ask me to her dance next week. Mr. Jefferson is sure +to be there, and I wish to walk a minuet with him." + +"Your father does not approve of Mr. Jefferson. He has not spoken to him +since his return from France. He goes too far--IN HIS WORDS." + +"But all the ladies of distinction are proud to be seen in his company; +and pray what is there against him?" + +"Only his politics, Cornelia. I think New York has gone mad on that +subject. Madame Barens will not speak to her son, because he is a +Federalist; and Madame Lefferts will not speak to HER son, because he is +NOT a Federalist. Mr. Jefferson, also, is thought to favour Philadelphia +for the capital; and your father is as hot on this subject as he was on +the Constitution. My dear, you will find that society is torn in two by +politics." + +"But women have nothing to do with politics." + +"They have everything to do with politics. They always have had. You are +not now in a Moravian school, Cornelia; and Bethlehem is not New York. +The two places look at life from different standpoints." + +"Then, as I am to live in New York, why was I sent to Bethlehem?" + +"You were sent to Bethlehem to learn how to live in New York,--or in any +other place. Where have you seen Mr. Jefferson?" + +"I saw him this afternoon, in Cedar Street. He wore his red coat and +breeches; and it was then I formed the audacious intention of dancing +with him. I told Mrs. Willets of it; and she said, 'Mr. Jefferson +carried the Declaration on his shoulders, and would not dare to bow;' +and then with such a queer little laugh she asked me 'if his red +breeches did not make me think of the guillotine?' I do not think Mrs. +Willets likes Mr. Jefferson very much; but, all the same, I wish to +dance once with him. I think it will be something to talk about when I +am an old woman." + +"My dear one, that is so far off. Go now, and write to Arenta. Young Mr. +Hyde and Figaro will doubtless bring her here." + +"I hope so; for Arenta has an agreeableness that fits every occasion." +She had been folding up, with deliberate neatness, the strings of her +bonnet, as she talked, and she rose with these words and went out of the +parlour; but she went slowly, with a kind of hesitation, as if something +had been left unsaid. + +About six o'clock Arenta Van Ariens made a personal response to her +friend's message. She was all excitement and expectation. "What a +delightful surprise!" she cried. "To-day has been a day to be praised. +It has ticked itself away to wonders and astonishments. Who do you think +called on me this afternoon?" + +"Tell me plainly, Arenta. I never could guess for an answer." + +"No less a person than Madame Kippon. Gertrude Kippon is going to be +married! She is going to marry a French count! And madame is beside +herself with the great alliance." + +"I heard my father say that Madame Kippon had 'the French disease' in a +dangerous form." + +"Indeed, that is certain. She has put the Sabbath day out of her +calendar; and her daughter's marriage is to be a legal one only. I +wonder what good Dr. Kunz will say to that! As for me, I lost all +patience with madame's rigmarole of philosophies--for I am not inclined +to philosophy--and indeed I had some difficulty to keep my temper; you +know that it is occasionally quite unmanageable." + +Cornelia smiled understandingly, and answered with a smile, "I hope, +however, that you did not put her to death, Arenta." + +"I have, at least, buried her, as far as I am concerned. And my father +says I am not to go to the marriage; that I am not even to drink a cup +of tea with her again. If my father had been at home--or even Rem--she +would not have left our house with all her colours flying; but I am +good-natured, I have no tongue worth speaking of." + +"Come, come, Arenta! I shall be indeed astonished if you did not say one +or two provoking words." + +"I said only three, Cornelia. When madame finally declared--'she really +must go home,' I did answer, as sweetly as possible, 'Thank you, +madame!' That was something I could say with becoming politeness." + +Cornelia was tying the scarlet ribbon which held back her flowing hair, +but she turned and looked at Arenta, and asked, "Did madame boast any +afterwards?" + +"No; she went away very modestly, and I was not sorry to see the angry +surprise on her face. Gertrude Kippon a countess! Only imagine it! Well, +then, I have no doubt the Frenchman will make of Gertrude--whatever can +be made of her." + +"Our drawing-rooms, and even our streets, are full of titles," said +Cornelia; "I think it is a distinction to be plain master and mistress." + +"That is the truth; even this handsome dandy, Joris Hyde, is a +lieutenant." + +"He was in the field two years. He told me so this afternoon. I dare +say, he has earned his title, even if he is a lieutenant." + +"Don't be so highty-tighty, Cornelia. I have no objections to military +titles. They mean something; for they at least imply, that a man is +willing to fight if his country will find him a quarrel to fight in. In +fact, I rather lean to official titles of every kind." + +"I have not thought of them at all." + +"But I have. They affect me like the feathers in a cock's tail; of +course the bird would be as good without them, but fancy him!" and +Arenta laughed mirthfully at her supposition. "As for women," she +continued, "lady, or countess, or Marquise, what an air it gives! It +finishes a woman like a lace ruff round her neck. Every woman ought to +have a title--I mean every woman of respectability. I have a fancy to be +a marquise, and Aunt Jacobus says I look Frenchy enough. I have heard +that there is a title in the Hyde family. I must ask Aunt Jacobus. She +knows everything about everybody. Lieutenant Hyde! I do wonder what he +is coming for!" + +The words dropped slowly, one by one, from her lips; and with a kind of +fateful import; but neither of the girls divined the significance of the +inquiry. Both were too intent on those last little touches to the +toilet, which make its effectiveness, to take into consideration +reflections without form; and probably, at that time, without personal +intention. + +Then Arenta, having arranged her ringlets, tied her sash, and her +sandals, began to talk of her own affairs; for she was a young lady who +found it impossible to be sufficient for herself. There had been trouble +with the slaves in the Van Ariens' household, and she told Cornelia +every particular. Also, she had VERY NEAR had an offer of marriage from +George Van Berckel; and she went into explanations about her diplomacies +in avoiding it. + +"Poor George!" she sighed, and then, looking up, was a trifle dismayed +at the expression upon Cornelia's face. For Cornelia was as reticent, as +Arenta was garrulous; and the girls were incomprehensible to each other +in their deepest natures, though, superficially, they were much on the +same plane, and really thought themselves to be distinctly sympathetic +friends. + +"Why do you look so strangely at me, Cornelia?" asked Arenta. "Am I not +properly dressed?" + +"You are perfectly dressed, Arenta. Women as fair as you are, know +instinctively how to dress." And then Arenta stood up before the mirror +and put her hand upon Cornelia's shoulder, and they both looked at the +reflection in it. + +A very pretty reflection it was!--a slender girl with a round, fair +face, and a long, white throat, and sloping shoulders. Her pale brown +hair fell in ripples and curls around her until they touched a robe of +heavenly blue, and half hid a singular necklace of large pearls:--pearls +taken from some Spanish ship and strung in old Zierikzee, and worn for +centuries by the maids and dames of the house of Van Ariens. + +"It is the necklace!" said Cornelia after a pause, "It is the pearl +necklace, which gives you such an air of mystery and romance, and +changes you from an everyday maiden into an old-time princess." + +"No doubt, it is the necklace," answered Arenta. "It is my Aunt +Angelica's, but she permits me to wear it. When she was young, she +called every pearl after one of her lovers; and she had a lover for +every pearl. She was near to forty years old when she married; and she +had many lovers, even then." + +"It would have been better if she had married before she was near to +forty years old--that is, if she had taken a good husband." + +"Perhaps that; but good husbands come not on every day in the week. I +have three beads named already--one for George Van Berckel--one for Fred +De Lancey--and one for Willie Nichols. What do you think of that?" + +"I think, if you copy your Aunt Angelica, you will not marry any of your +lovers till you are forty years old. Come, let us go downstairs." + +She spoke a little peremptorily--indeed, she was in the habit, quite +unconsciously of using this tone with her companion, consequently it was +not noticed by her. And it was further remarkable, that the girls did +not walk down the broad stairs together, but Cornelia went first, and +Arenta followed her. There was no intention or consideration in this +procedure; it was the natural expression of underlying qualities, as yet +not realized. + +Cornelia's self-contained, independent nature was further revealed by +the erect dignity of her carriage down the centre of the stairway, one +hand slightly lifting her silk robe, the other laid against the +daffodils at her breast. Her face was happy and serene, her steps light, +and without hesitation or hurry. Arenta was a little behind her friend. +She stepped idly and irresolutely, with one hand slipping along the +baluster, and the other restlessly busy with her curls, her ribbons, the +lace that partially hid her bosom, and the pearls that made a moonlight +radiance on her snowy throat. At the foot of the staircase Cornelia had +to wait for her, and they went into the parlour together. + +Doctor Moran, Rem Van Ariens, and Lieutenant Hyde were present. The +girls had a momentary glance at the latter ere he assumed the manner he +thought suitable for youth and beauty. He was talking seriously to the +Doctor and playing with an ivory paper knife as he did so, but whatever +remark he was making he cut it in two, and stood up, pleased and +expectant, to receive Beauty so fresh and so conspicuous. + +He was handsomely dressed in a dark-blue velvet coat, silver-laced, a +long white satin vest and black satin breeches. His hair was thrown +backwards and tied with the customary black ribbon, and his linen and +laces were of the finest quality. He met Cornelia as he might have met a +princess; and he flashed into Arenta's eyes a glance of admiration which +turned her senses upside down, and made her feel, for a moment or two, +as if she could hardly breathe. + +Upon Arenta's brother he had not produced a pleasant impression. Without +intention, he had treated young Van Ariens with that negative politeness +which dashes a sensitive man and makes him resentfully conscious that he +has been rendered incapable of doing himself justice. And Rem could +neither define the sense of humiliation he felt, nor yet ruffle the +courteous urbanity of Hyde; though he tried in various ways to introduce +some conversation which would afford him the pleasure of contradiction. +Equally he failed to consider that his barely veiled antagonism +compelled from the Doctor, and even from Cornelia and Arenta, attentions +he might not otherwise have received. The Doctor was indeed much annoyed +that Rem did not better respect the position of guest; while Mrs. Moran +was keenly sensitive to the false note in the evening's harmony, and +anxious to atone for it by many little extra courtesies. So Hyde easily +became the hero of the hour; he was permitted to teach the girls the +charming old-world step of the Pas de Quatre, and afterwards to sing +with them merry airs from Figaro, and sentimental airs from Lodoiska, +and to make Rem's heart burn with anger at the expression he threw into +the famous ballad "My Heart and Lute" which the trio sang twice over +with great feeling. + +Fortunately, some of Doctor Moran's neighbours called early in the +evening. Then whist parties were formed; and while the tables were being +arranged Cornelia found an opportunity to reason with Rem. "I never +could have believed you would behave so unlike yourself," she said; and +Rem answered bluntly--"That Englishman has insulted me ever since he +came into the room." + +"He is not an Englishman," said Cornelia. + +"His father is an Englishman, and the man himself was born in England. +The way he looks at me, the way he speaks to me, is insulting." + +"I have seen nothing but courtesy to you, Rem." + +"You have not the key to his impertinences. To-morrow, I will tell you +something about Lieutenant Hyde." + +"I shall not permit you to talk evil of him. I have no wish to hear ill +reports about my acquaintances, Their behaviour is their own affair; at +any rate, it is not mine. Be good-tempered, Rem; you are to be my +partner, and we must win in every game." + +But though Cornelia was all sweetness and graciousness; though Rem +played well, and Lieutenant Hyde played badly; though Rem had the +satisfaction of watching Hyde depart in his chair, while he stood with a +confident friendship by Cornelia's side, he was not satisfied. There was +an air of weariness and constraint in the room, and the little stir of +departing visitors did not hide it. Doctor Moran had been at an unusual +social tension; he was tired, and not pleased at Rem for keeping him on +the watch. Cornelia was silent. Rem then approached his sister and said, +"it is time to go home." Arenta looked at her friend; she expected to be +asked to remain, and she was offended when Cornelia did not give her the +invitation. + +On the contrary, Cornelia went with her for her cloak and bonnet, and +said not a word as they trod the long stairway but "Oh dear! How warm +the evening is!" + +"I expected you would ask me to stay with you, Cornelia." Arenta was +tying her bonnet strings as she made this remark, and her fingers +trembled, and her voice was full of hurt feeling. + +"Rem behaved so badly, Arenta." + +"I think that is not so. Did I also behave badly?" + +"You were charming every moment of the evening; but Rem was on the point +of quarrelling with Lieutenant Hyde. You must have seen it. In my +father's house, this was not proper." + +"I never saw Rem behave badly in my life. Suppose he does quarrel with +that dandy Englishman, Rem would not get the worst of it. I have no fear +for my brother Rem! No, indeed!" + +"Bulk does not stand for much in a sword game." + +"Do you mean they might fight a duel?" + +"I think it is best for you to go home with Rem. Otherwise, he might, in +his present temper, find himself near Becker's; and if a man is +quarrelsome he may always get principals and seconds there. You have +told me this yourself. In the morning Rem will, I hope, be reasonable." + +"I thought you and I would talk things over to-night. I like to talk +over a new pleasure." + +"Dear Arenta, we shall have so much more time, to-morrow. Come to- +morrow." + +But Arenta was not pleased. She left her friend with an air of repressed +injury, and afterwards made little remarks about Cornelia to her +brother, which exactly fitted his sense of wounded pride. Indeed, they +stood a few minutes in the Van Ariens' parlour to exchange their +opinions still further-- + +"I think Cornelia was jealous of me, Rem. That, in plain Dutch, is what +it all means. Does she imagine that I desire the attentions of a man who +is neither an American nor a Dutchman? I do not. I speak the truth +always, for I love the truth." + +"Cornelia does desire them; I think that--and it makes me wretched." + +"Oh, indeed, it is plain to see that she has fallen in love with that +black-eyed man of many songs and dances. Well, then, we must admit that +he danced to perfection. One may dislike the creature, and yet tell the +truth." + +"Do you truly believe that Cornelia is in love with him?" + +"Rem, there are things a woman observes. Cornelia is changed to-night. +She did not wish me to stay and talk about this man Hyde--she preferred +thinking about him--such reveries are suspicious. I have felt the +symptom. But, however, I may be wrong. Perhaps Cornelia was angry at +Hyde, and anxious about you--Do you think that?" + +Rem would not admit any such explanation; and, indeed, Arenta only made +such suppositions to render more poignant those entirely contrary. + +"Ever since she was a little girl, twelve, eleven years old, I have +loved her," said Rem; "and she knows it." + +"She knows it; that is so. When I was at Bethlehem, I read her all your +letters; and many a time you spoke in them of her as your 'little wife.' +To be sure, it was a joke; but she understood that you, at least, put +your heart in it. Girls do not need to have such things explained. Come, +come, we must go to our rooms; for that is our father I hear moving +about. In a few minutes he will be angry, and then--" + +She did not finish the sentence; there was no necessity; Rem knew what +unpleasantness the threat implied, and he slipped off his shoes and +stole quietly upstairs. Arenta was not disinclined to a few words if her +father wished them; so she did not hurry, though the great Flemish clock +on the stair-landing chimed eleven as she entered her room. It was an +extraordinarily late hour, but she only smiled, as she struck her pretty +fore-fingers together in time with it. She was not disposed to curtail +the day; it was her method, always, to take the full flavour of every +event that was not disagreeable. + +"And, after all," she mused, "the evening was a possibility. It was a +door on the latch--I may push it open and go in--who can tell? I saw how +amazed he was at my beauty when I first entered the parlour--and he is +but a man--and a young man who likes his own way--so much is evident." +She was meanwhile unclasping her pearl necklace, and at this point she +held it in her hands taking the fourth bead between her fingers, and +smiled speculatively. + +Then she heard her brother moving about the floor of the room above her, +and a shadow darkened her face. She had strong family affections, and +she was angry that Rem should be troubled by any man or woman, living: + +"I have always thought Cornelia a very saint," she muttered; "but Love +is the great revealer. I wonder if she is in love--to tell the truth, +she was past finding out. I cannot say that I saw the least sign of it-- +and between me and myself, Rem was unreasonable; however, I am not +pleased that Rem felt himself to be badly used." + +It was to this touch of resentment in her drifting thoughts that she +performed her last duties. She did not hurry them. "Very soon there will +be the noise of chairmen and carriages to disturb me," she thought; "and +I may as well think a little, and put my things away." + +So she folded each dainty blue morocco slipper in its separate piece of +fine paper, and straightened out her ribbons, and wrapped her pale blue +robe in its holland covering, and put every comb and pin in its proper +place, all the time treading as softly as a mouse. And by and by the +street was dark and still, and her room in the most perfect order. These +things gave her the comfort of a good conscience; and she said her +prayers, and fell calmly asleep, to the flattering thought, "I would not +much wonder if, at this moment, Lieutenant Hyde is thinking about me." + +In reality, Lieutenant Hyde was at that moment in the Belvedere Club, +singing the Marseillaise, and listening to a very inflammatory speech +from the French Minister. But a couple of hours later, Arenta's "wonder" +would have touched the truth. He was then alone, and very ill satisfied; +for, after some restless reflections, he said impatiently-- + +"I have again made a fool of myself. I have now all kinds of unpleasant +feelings; and when I left that good Doctor's house I was well satisfied. +His daughter is an angel. I praise myself for finding that out. She made +me believe in all goodness; yes, even in patriotism! I, that have seen +it sold a dozen times! Oh, how divinely shy and proud she is! I could +not get her one step beyond the first civilities; even my eyes failed me +to-night--her calm glances killed their fire--and she barely touched my +hand, though I offered it with a respectful ardour, she must have +understood:"--then he looked admiringly at the long, white hand and +thoroughbred wrist which lay idly on the velvet cushion of his armchair; +an exquisite ruffle of lace just touched it, and his eyes wandered from +the ruffle to the velvet and silver embroidery of his coat; and the +delicate laced lawn of his cravat. + +"I have the reputation of beauty," he continued; "and I am perfectly +dressed, and yet--yet--this little Beauty seemed unconscious of my +advantages. But I cannot accept failure in this case. The girl is +unparagoned. I am in love with her; sincerely in love. She fills my +thoughts, and has done so, ever since I first saw her. It is a pure +delight to think of her." + +Then he rose, threw off his velvet and lace, and designedly let his +thoughts turn to Arenta. "She is pretty beyond all prettiness," he said +softly as he moved about, "She dances well, talks from hand to mouth, +and she gave me one sweet glance; and I think if she has gone so far-- +she might go further." At this reflection he smiled again, and lifting a +decanter slowly poured into a goblet some amber-coloured sherry; saying-- + + +"I dare not yet drink to the unapproachable Cornelia; but I may at least +pour the wine to the blue-eyed goddess, with the pearl necklace, and the +golden hair;" and as he lifted the glass, a memory from some past +mirthful hour came into his remembrance; and he began to hum a strain of +the song it brought to his mind-- + + "Let the toast pass, + Drink to the lass + I'll warrant, she'll prove an excuse for the glass." + +It was remarkable that he did not take Arenta's brother into his +speculations at all, and yet Rem Van Ariens was at that very hour +chafing restlessly and sleeplessly under insults he conceived himself to +have received, in such fashion and under such circumstances as made +reprisal impossible. In reality, however, Van Ariens had not been +intentionally wounded by Hyde. The situation was the natural result of +incipient jealousy and sensitive pride on Rem's part; and of that calm +indifference and complaisance on Hyde's part, which appeared tacitly to +assert its own superiority and expect its recognition as a matter of +course. Indeed, at their introduction, Rem had affected Hyde rather +pleasantly; and when the young Dutch gentleman's opposition became +evident, Hyde had simply ignored it. For as yet the thought of Rem as a +rival had not entered his mind. + +But this is the way of Love; its filmiest threads easily spin themselves +further; and a man once entangled is bound by that unseen chain which +links the soul to its destiny. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +HYDE AND ARENTA + + +Seldom is Love ushered into any life with any pomp of circumstance or +ceremony; there is no overture to our opera, no prologue to our play, +and the most momentous meetings occur as if by mere accident. A friend +delayed Cornelia a while on the street; and turning, she met Hyde face +to face; a moment more, or less, and the meeting had not been. Ah, but +some Power had set that moment for their meeting, and the delay had been +intended, and the consequences foreseen! + +In a dim kind of way Hyde realized this fact as he sat the next day with +an open book before him. He was not reading it; he was thinking of +Cornelia--of her pure, fresh beauty; and of that adorable air of +reserve, which enhanced, even while it veiled her charms. "For her love +I could resign all adventures and prison myself in a law book," he said, +"I could forget all other beauties; in a word, I could marry, and live +in the country. Oh how exquisite she is! I lose my speech when I think +of her!" + +Then he closed his book with impatience, and went to Prince's and bought +a little rush basket filled with sweet violets. Into their midst he +slipped his visiting card, and saw the boy on his way with the flowers +to Cornelia ere he was satisfied they would reach her quickly enough. +This finished, he began to consider what he should do with his day. +Study was impossible; and he could think of nothing that was possible. +"It is the most miserable thing," he muttered, "to be in love, unless +you can go to the adored one, every hour, and tell her so,"--then +turning aimlessly into Pearl Street, he saw Cornelia. + +She was dressed only in a little morning gown of Indian chintz, but in +such simple toilet had still more distinctively that air of youthful +modesty which he had found so charmingly tantalizing. He hasted to her +side. He blessed his good angel for sending him such an enchanting +surprise. He said the most extravagant things, in the most truthful +manner, as he watched the blushes of pleasure come and go on her lovely +face, and saw by glimpses, under the veiling eyelids, that tender light +that never was on sea or land, but only on a woman's face when her soul +is awakening to Love. + +Cornelia was going to the "Universal Store" of Gerardus Duyckinck, and +Hyde begged to go with her. He said he was used to shopping; that he +always went with his mother, and with Lady Christina Griffin, and Mrs. +White, and many others; that he had good taste, and could tell the value +of laces, and knew how to choose a piece of silk, or match the crewels +for her embroidery; and, indeed, pleaded his case so merrily, that there +was no refusing his offer. And how it happened lovers can tell, but +after the shopping was finished they found themselves walking towards +the Battery with the fresh sea wind, and the bright sunshine and the joy +of each other's presence all around them. + +"Such a miraculous piece of happiness!" the young fellow ejaculated; and +his joy was so evident that Cornelia could not bear to spoil it with any +reluctances, or with half-way graciousness. She fell into his joyous +mood, and as star to star vibrates light, so his soul touched her soul, +through some finer element than ordinary life is conscious of. A +delightsome gladness was between them, and their words had such heart +gaiety, that they seemed to dance as they spoke; while the wind blowing +Cornelia's curls, and scarf, and drapery, was like a merry playfellow. + +Now Love has always something in it of the sea; and the murmur of the +tide against the pier, the hoarse voices of the sailor men, the scent of +the salt water, and all the occult unrecognized, but keenly felt life of +the ocean, were ministers to their love, and forever and ever blended in +the heart and memory of the youth and maid who had set their early dream +of each other to its potent witchery. Time went swiftly, and suddenly +Cornelia remembered that she was subject to hours and minutes, A little +fear came into her heart, and closed it, and she said, with a troubled +air, "My mother will be anxious. I had forgotten. I must go home." So +they turned northward again, and Cornelia was silent, and the ardour of +her lover was a little chilled; but yet never before had Cornelia heard +simple conversation which seemed so eloquent, and so full of meanings-- +only, now and then, a few brief words; but oh! what long, long thoughts, +they carried with them! + +At the gates of her home they stood a moment, and there Hyde touched her +hand, and said, "I have never, in all my life, been so happy. It has +been a walk beyond hope, and beyond expression!" And she lifted her +face, and the smile on her lips and the light in her eyes answered him. +Then the great white door shut her from his sight, and he walked rapidly +away, saying to his impetuous steps-- + +"An enchanting creature! An adorable girl! I have given her my heart; +and lost, is lost; and gone, is gone forever. That I am sure of. But, by +St. George! every man has his fate, and I rejoice that mine is so sweet +and fair! so sweet! so sweet! so fair!" + +Cornelia trembled as she opened the parlour door, she feared to look +into her mother's face, but it was as serene as usual, and she met her +daughter's glance with one of infinite affection and some little +expectancy. This was a critical moment, and Cornelia hesitated slightly. +Some little false sprite put a ready excuse into her heart, but she +banished it at once, and with the courage of one who fears lest they are +not truthful enough, she said with a blunt directness which put all +subterfuge out of the question-- + +"Mother, I have been a long time, but I met Lieutenant Hyde, and we +walked down to the Battery; and I think I have stayed beyond the hour I +ought to have stayed--but the weather was so delightful." + +"The weather is very delightful, and Lieutenant Hyde is very polite. Did +he speak of the violets he sent you?" + +"I suppose he forgot them. Ah, there they are! How beautiful! How +fragrant! I will give them to you, mother." + +"They are your own, my dear. I would not give them away." + +Then Cornelia lifted them, and shyly buried her face in their beauty and +sweetness; and afterwards took the card in her hand and read "Lieutenant +George Hyde." "But, mother," she said, "Arenta called him Joris." + +"Joris is George, my dear." + +"Certainly, I had forgotten. Joris is the Dutch, George is the English +form. I think I like George better." + +"As you have neither right nor occasion to call him by either name, it +is of no consequence Take away your flowers and put them in water--the +young man is very extravagant, I think. Do you know that it is quite +noon, and your father will be home in a little while?" + +And there was such kind intent, such a divining sympathy in the simple +words, that Cornelia's heart grew warm with pleasure; and she felt that +her mother understood, and did not much blame her. At the same time she +was glad to escape all questioning, and with the violets pressed to her +heart, and her shining eyes dropped to them, she went with some haste to +her room. There she kissed the flowers, one by one, as she put them in +the refreshing water; and then, forgetting all else, sat down and +permitted herself to enter the delicious land of Reverie. She let the +thought of Hyde repossess her; and present again and again to her +imagination his form, his face, his voice, and those long caressing +looks she had seen and felt, without seeming to be aware of them. + +A short time after Cornelia came home, Doctor Moran returned from his +professional visits. As he entered the room, his wife looked at him with +a curious interest. In the first place, the tenor of her thoughts led +her to this observation. She wished to assure herself again that the man +for whom she had given up everything previously dear to her was worthy +of such sacrifice. A momentary glance satisfied her. Nature had left the +impress of her nobility on his finely-formed forehead; nothing but truth +and kindness looked from his candid eyes; and his manner, if a little +dogmatic, had also an unmistakable air of that distinction which comes +from long and honourable ancestry and a recognized position. He had also +this morning an air of unusual solemnity, and on entering the room, he +drew his wife close to his heart and kissed her affectionately, a token +of love he was not apt to give without thought, or under every +circumstance. + +"You are a little earlier to day," she said. "I am glad of it." + +"I have had a morning full of feeling. There is no familiarity with +Death, however often you meet him." + +"And you have met Death this morning, I see that, John?" + +"As soon as I went out, I heard of the death of Franklin. We have truly +been expecting the news, but who can prepare for the final 'He is gone.' +Congress will wear mourning for two months, I hear, and all good +citizens who can possibly do so will follow their example. The flags are +at half-mast, and there is sorrow everywhere." + +"And yet, John, why?" asked Mrs. Moran. "Franklin has quite finished his +work; and has also seen the fruit of all his labours. Not many men are +so happy. I, for one, shall rejoice with him, and not weep for him." + +"You are right, Ava. I must now tell you that Elder Semple died this +morning. He has been long sick, but the end came suddenly at last." + +"The dear old man! He has been sick and sorrowful, ever since his wife +died. Were any of his sons present?" + +"None of them. The two eldest have been long away. Neil was obliged to +leave New York when the Act forbidding Tory lawyers to practice was +passed. But he was not quite alone, his old friend Joris Van Heemskirk +was with him to the last moment. The love of these old men for each +other was a very beautiful thing." + +"He was once rich. Did he lose everything in the war?" + +"Very near all. His home was saved by Van Heemskirk, and he had a little +money 'enough to die wi'' he said one day to me; and then he continued, +'there's compensations, Doctor, in having naething to leave. My lads +will find no bone to quarrel over.' I met a messenger coming for me this +morning, and when I went to his bedside, he said, with a pleasant smile, +'I'll be awa' in an hour or twa now, Doctor; and then I'll hae no mair +worrying anent rebellion and democrats; I'll be under the dominion o' +the King o' kings and His throned Powers and Principalities; and after +a' this weary voting, and confiscations, and guillotining, it will be +Peace--Peace--Peace:'--and with that word on his lips, the 'flitting' as +he called it was accomplished." + +"There is nothing to mourn in such a death, John." + +"Indeed, no. It was just as he said 'a flitting.' And it was strange +that, standing watching what he so fitly called the 'flitting,' I +thought of some lines I have not consciously remembered for many years. +They reflect only the old Greek spirit, with its calm acceptance of +death and its untroubled resignation, but they seemed to me very +applicable to the elder's departure: + + Not otherwise to the hall of Hades dim + He fares, than if some summer eventide + A Message, not unlooked for, came to him; + Bidding him rise up presently, and ride + Some few hours' journey, to a friendly home." + +"There is nothing to fear in such a death." + +"Nothing at all. Last week when Cornelia and I passed his house, he was +leaning on the garden gate, and he spoke pleasantly to her and told her +she was a 'bonnie lassie.' Where is Cornelia?" + +"In her room. John, she went to Duyckinck's this morning for me, and +George Hyde met her again, and they took a walk together on the Battery. +It was near the noon hour when she returned." + +"She told you about it?" + +"Oh yes, and without inquiry." + +"Very good. I must look after that young fellow." But he said the words +without much care, and Mrs. Moran was not satisfied. + +"Then you do not disapprove the meeting, John?" she asked. + +"Yes, I do. I disapprove of any young man meeting my daughter every time +she goes out. Cornelia is too young for lovers, and it is not desirable +that she should have attentions from young men who have no intentions. I +do not want her to be what is called a belle. Certainly not." + +"But the young men do not think her too young to be loved. I can see +that Rem Van Ariens is very fond of her." + +"Rem is a very fine young man. If Cornelia was old enough to marry, I +should make no objections to Rem. He has some money. He promises to be a +good lawyer. I like the family. It is as pure Dutch as any in the +country. There is no objection to Rem Van Ariens." + +"And George Hyde?" + +"Has too many objectionable qualities to be worth considering." + +"Such as?" + +"Well, Ava, I will only name one, and one for which he is not +responsible; but yet it would be insuperable, as far as I am concerned. +His father is an Englishman of the most pronounced type, and this young +man is quite like him. I want no Englishman in my family." + +"My family are of English descent." + +"Thoroughly Americanized. They are longer in this country than the +Washingtons." + +"There have been many Dutch marriages among the Morans." + +"That is a different thing. The Dutch, as a race, have every desirable +quality. The English are natural despots. Rem was quite right last +night. I saw and felt, as much as he did, the quiet but sovereign +arrogance of young Hyde. His calm assumption of superiority was in +reality insufferable. The young man's faults are racial; they are in the +blood. Cornelia shall not have anything to do with him. Why do you speak +of such disagreeable things, Ava?" + +"It is well to look forward, John." + +"No. It is time enough to meet annoyances when they arrive. But this is +one not even to be thought of--to tell the last truth, Ava, I dislike +his father, General Hyde, very much indeed." + +"Why?" + +"I cannot tell you 'why.' Yes, I will be honest and acknowledge that he +always gives me a sense of hostility. He arrogates himself too much. +When I was in the army, a good many were angry at General Washington, +for making so close a friend of him--but Washington has much of the same +exclusive air. I hope it is no treason to say that much, for a good deal +of dignity is permissible, even peremptory, when a man fills great +positions. As for the Hydes, father and son, I would prefer to hear no +more about them. When the youth was my guest, I was civil to him; but +Arenta. You know that I have never seen her." + +"That is the truth. I had forgotten. Well, then, I went to her with the +news; and she rubbed her chin, and called to her man Govert, to get a +bow of crape and put it on the front door. 'It is moral, and proper, and +respectable, Arenta,' she said, 'and I advise you to do the same.' But +then she laughed and added, 'Shall I tell you, niece, what I think of +the great men I have met? They are disagreeable, conceited creatures; +and ought, all of them, to have died before they were born; and for my +part, I am satisfied not to have had the fate to marry one of them. As +for Benjamin Franklin,' she continued, 'he was a particularly great man, +and I am particularly grateful that I never saw him but once. I formed +my opinion of him then; for I only need to see a person once, to form an +opinion--and he is dead! Well, then, every one dies at their own time.'" + +"My father says Congress goes into mourning for him." + +"Does it?" asked Arenta, with indifference. "Aunt was beginning to tell +me something about him when he was in France, but I just put a stop to +talk like that, and said, 'Now, aunt, for a little of my own affairs.' +So I told her about George Berckel, and asked her if she thought I might +marry George; and she answered, 'If you are tired of easy days, Arenta, +go, and take a husband,' After a while I spoke to her about Lieutenant +Hyde, and she said, 'she had seen the little cockrel strutting about +Pearl Street.'" + +"That was not a proper thing to say. Lieutenant Hyde carries himself in +the most distinguished manner." + +"Well, then, that is exactly so; but Aunt Angelica has her own way of +saying things. She intended nothing unkind or disrespectful. She told me +that she had frequently danced with his father when she was a girl and a +beauty; and she added with a laugh, 'I can assure you, Arenta, that in +those days he was no saint; although he is now, I hear, the very pink of +propriety.'" + +"Is not that as it should be, Arenta? We ought surely to grow better as +we grow older." + +"That is not to be denied, Cornelia. Now I can tell you something worth +hearing about General Hyde." + +"If it is anything wrong, or unkind, I will not listen to it, Arenta. +Have you forgotten that the good Sisters always forbid us to listen to +an evil report?" + +"Then one must shut one's ears if one lives in New York. But, indeed, it +is nothing wrong--only something romantic and delightful, and quite as +good as a story book. Shall I tell you?" + +"As you wish." + +"As you wish." + +"Then I would like to hear it." + +"Listen! When Madame Hyde was Katherine Van Heemskirk, and younger than +you are, she had two lovers; one, Captain Dick Hyde, and the other a +young man called Neil Semple; and they fought a duel about her, and +nearly cut each other to pieces." + +"Arenta!" + +"Oh, it is the truth! It is the very truth, I assure you! And while Hyde +still lay between life and death, Miss Van Heemskirk married him; and as +soon as he was able, he carried her off at midnight to England; and +there they lived in a fine old house until the war. Then they came back +to New York, and Hyde went into the Continental army and did great +things, I suppose, for as we all knew, he was made a general. You should +have heard Aunt Angelica tell the story. She remembered the whole +affair. It was a delightful story to listen to, as we drank our +chocolate. And will you please only try to imagine it of Mrs. General +Hyde! A woman so lofty! So calm! So afar off from every impropriety that +you always feel it impossible in her presence to commit the least bit of +innocent folly. Will you imagine her as Katherine Van Heemskirk in a +short, quilted petticoat, with her hair hanging in two braids down her +back, running away at midnight with General Hyde!" + +"He was her husband. She committed no fault." + +"I was thinking of the quilted petticoat, and the two braids; for who +now dresses so extravagantly and so magnificently as Madame Hyde? She +has an Indian shawl that cost two hundred pounds. Aunt Angelica says +John Embree told her 'THAT much at the very least'--and as for the +General! is there any man in New York so proud, and so full of dignity-- +and morality? He is in St. Paul's Chapel every Sunday, and when you see +him there, how could you imagine that he had fought half-a-dozen duels, +for half-a-dozen beauties?" + +"Half-a-dozen duels! Oh, Arenta!" + +"About that number--more or less--before and after the Van Heemskirk +incident. Look at him next Sunday, and then try and believe that he was +the topmost leader in all the fashionable follies, until he went to the +war. People say it is General Washington--" + +"General Washington?" + +"That has changed him so much. They have been a great deal together, and +I do believe the proprieties are catching. If evil is to be taken in bad +company, why not good in the presence of all that is moral and +respectable? At any rate, who is now more proper than General Hyde? +Indeed, as Aunt Angelica says, we must all pay our respects to the +Hydes, if we desire our own caps to set straight. Cornelia, shall I tell +you why you are working so close to the window this afternoon?" + +"You are going to say something I would rather not hear, Arenta." + +"Truth is wholesome, if not agreeable; and the truth is, you expect +Lieutenant Hyde to pass. But he will not do so. I saw him booted and +spurred, on a swift horse, going up the river road. He was bound for +Hyde Manor, I am sure. Now, Cornelia, you need not move your frame; for +no one will disturb you, and I wish to tell you some of my affairs." + +"About your lovers?" + +"Yes. I have met a certain French marquis, who is attached to the Count +de Moustier's embassy. I met him at intervals all last winter, and to- +day, I have a love letter from him--a real love letter--and he desires +to ask my father for my hand. I shall now have something to say to +Madame Kippon." + +"But you would not marry a Frenchman? That is an impossible thought, +Arenta." + +"No more so than an Englishman. In fact, Englishmen are not to be +thought of at all; while Frenchmen are the fashion. Just consider the +drawing-rooms of our great American ladies; they are full of French +nobles." + +"But they are exiles, for the most part very poor, and devoted to the +idea of monarchy." + +"Ah, but my Frenchman is different. He is rich, he is in the confidence +of the present French government, and he adores republican principles. +Indeed he wore at Lady Griffin's, last week, his red cap of Liberty, and +looked quite distinguished in it." + +"I am astonished that Lady Griffin permitted such a spectacle. I am sure +it was a vulgar thing to do. Only the san-culottes, make such exhibition +of their private feelings." + +"I think it was a very brave thing to do--and Lady Griffin, with her +English prejudices and aristocratic notions, had to tolerate it. He is +very tall and dark, and he was dressed in scarlet, with a long black +satin vest; and you may believe that the scarlet cap on his black +curling hair was very imposing." + +"Imposing! How could it possibly be that? It is only associated with +mobs, and mob law--and guillotining." + +"I shall not contradict you--though I could do so easily. I will say, +then, that it was very picturesque. He asked me to dance a minuet with +him, and when I did not refuse he was beside himself with pleasure and +gratitude. And after I had opened the way, several of the best ladies in +the town followed. After all, it was a matter of political opinion; and +it is against our American ideas to send any man to Jersey for his +politics. Mr. Jefferson was in red also." + +"I wish to dance with Mr. Jefferson, but I now think of waiting till he +gets a new suit." + +"I am sure that no one ever made a finer figure in a dance than I, in my +white satin and pearls, and the Marquis Athanase de Tounnerre in his +scarlet dress and Liberty cap. Every one regarded us. He tells me, to- +day, that the emotion I raised in his soul that hour has not been +stilled for a moment." + +"Have you thought of your father? He would never consent to such a +marriage--and what will Rem say?" + +"My father will storm, and speak words he should not speak; but I am not +afraid of words. Rem is more to be dreaded. He will not talk his anger +away. Yes, I should be afraid of Rem." + +"But you have not really decided to accept the Marquis Tounnerre?" + +"No. I have not quite decided. I like to stand between Yes and No. I +like to be entreated to marry, and then again, to be entreated NOT to +marry. I like to hesitate between the French and the Dutch. I am not in +the least sure on which side I shall finally range myself." + +"Then do not decide in a hurry." + +"Have I not told you I like to waver, and vacillate, and oscillate, and +make scruples? These are things a woman can do, both with privilege and +inclination. I think myself to be very clever in such ways." + +"I would not care, nor dare, to venture--" + +"You are a very baby yet. I am two years older than you. But indeed you +are progressing with some rapidity. What about George Hyde?" + +"You said he had gone out of town." + +"And I am glad of it. He will not now be insinuating himself with +violets, and compelling you to take walks with him on the Battery. Oh, +Cornelia! you see I am not to be put out of your confidence. Why did you +not tell me?" + +"You have given me no opportunity; and, as you know all, why should I +say any more about it?" + +"Cornelia, my dear companion, I fear you are inclined to concealment and +to reticence, qualities a young girl should not cultivate--I am now +speaking for dear Sister Maria Beroth--and I hope you will carefully +consider the advantages you will derive from cultivating a more open +disposition." + +"You are making a mockery of the good Sisters; and I do not wish to hear +you commit such a great fault. Indeed, I would be pleased to return to +their peaceful care again." + +"And wear the little linen cap and collar, and all the other +simplicities? Cornelia! Cornelia! You are as fond as I am of French +fashions and fripperies. Let us be honest, if we die for it. And you may +as well tell me all your little coquetries with George Hyde; for I shall +be sure to find them out. Now I am going home; for I must look after the +tea-table. But you will not be sorry, for it will leave you free to +think of--" + +"Please, Arenta!" + +"Very well. I will have 'considerations.' Good-bye!" + +Then the door closed, and Cornelia was left alone. But the atmosphere of +the room was charged with Arenta's unrest, and a feeling of +disappointment was added to it. She suddenly realized that her lover's +absence from the city left a great vacancy. What were all the thousands +in its streets, if he was not there? She might now indeed remove her +frame from the window; if Hyde was an impossibility, there was no one +else she wished to see pass. And her heart told her the report was a +true one; she did not doubt for a moment Arenta's supposition, that he +had gone to Hyde Manor. But the thought made her lonely. Something, she +knew not what, had altered her life. She had a new strange happiness, +new hopes, new fears and new wishes; but they were not an unmixed +delight; for she was also aware of a vague trouble, a want that nothing +in her usual duties satisfied:--in a word, she had crossed the threshold +of womanhood and was no longer a girl, + +"Singing alone in the morning of life, + In the happy morning of life, and May." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THROWING THINGS INTO CONFUSION + + +Prudence declares that whenever a person is in that disagreeable +situation which compels him to ask "what shall I do?" that the wisest +answer is, "nothing." But such answer did not satisfy George Hyde. He +was too young, too sure of his own good fortune, too restless and +impulsive, to accept Prudence as a councillor. He might have considered, +that, hitherto, affairs had happened precisely as he wished them; and +that it would be good policy to trust to his future opportunities. But +he was so much in earnest, so honestly in love, that he felt his doubts +and anxieties could only be relieved by action. Sympathy, at least, he +must have; and he knew no man, to whom he would willingly talk of +Cornelia. The little jests and innuendoes sure to follow his confidence +would be intolerable if associated with a creature so pure and so +ingenuous. + +"I will go to my mother!" he thought. And this resolution satisfied him +so well, that he carried it out at once. But it was after dark when he +reached the tall stone portals of Hyde Manor House. The ride, however, +had given him back his best self. For when we leave society and come +into the presence of Nature, we become children again; and the fictions +of thought and action assumed among men drop off like a garment. The +beauty of the pale green hills, and the flowing river, and the budding +trees, and the melody of birds singing as if they never would grow old, +were all but charming accessories and horizons to his constant pictures +of Cornelia. It was she who gave life and beauty to all he saw; for as a +rule, if men notice nature at all, it is ever through some painted +window of their own souls. Few indeed are those who hear-- + +"The Ancient Word, + That walked among the silent trees." + +Yet Hyde was keenly conscious of some mystical sympathy between himself +and the lovely scenes through which he passed--conscious still more of +it when the sun had set and the moon rose--dim and inscrutable--over the +lonely way, and filled the narrow glen which was at the entrance to the +Manor House full of brooding power. + +The great building loomed up dark and silent; there was but one light +visible. It was in his mother's usual sitting-room, and as soon as he +saw it, he began to whistle. She heard him afar off, and was at the door +to give him a welcome. + +"Joris, my dear one, we were talking of you!" she cried, as he leaped +from the saddle to her arms. "So glad are we! Come in quickly! Such a +good surprise! It is our hearts' wish granted! Well, are you? Quite +well? Now, then, I am happy. Happy as can be! Look now, Richard!" she +called, as she flung the door open, and entered with the handsome, +smiling youth at her side. + +In his way the father was just as much pleased. He pushed some papers he +had been busy with impatiently aside, and stood up with outstretched +hand to meet his son. + +"Kate, my dear heart," he cried, "let us have something to eat. The boy +will be hungry as a hunter after his ride. And George, what brings you +home? We were just telling each other--your mother and I--that you were +in the height of the city's follies." + +"Indeed, sir, there will be few follies for some days. Mr. Franklin is +dead, and the city goes into mourning." + +"'Tis a fate that all must meet," said the General; "but death and +Franklin would look each other in the face as friends--He had a work to +do, he did it well, and it is finished. That is all. What other news do +you bring?" + +"It is said that Mirabeau is arrested somewhere, for something. I did +not hear the particulars." + +"Probably, for the very least of his crimes. Marat hates him; and Marat +represents the fury of the Revolution. The monster wished to erect eight +hundred gibbets, and hang Mirabeau first." + +"And the deputies are returning to the Provinces, drunk with their own +importance. They have abolished titles, and coats of arms, and liveries; +and published a list of the names the nobles are to assume--as if people +did not know their own names. Mr. Hamilton says 'Revolution in France +has gone raving mad, and converted twenty-four millions of people into +savages.'" + +"I hate the French!" said the General passionately. "It is a natural +instinct with me, just as tame animals are born with an antipathy to +wild beasts. If I thought I had one drop of French blood in me, I would +let it out with a dagger." + +George winced a little. He remembered that the Morans were of French +extraction; and he answered-- + +"After all, father, we must judge people individually. Mere race is not +much." + +"George Hyde! What are you saying? RACE is everything. It is the +strongest and deepest of all human feelings. Nothing conquers its +prejudices." + +"Except love. I have heard, father, that Love never asks 'of what race +art thou?' or even 'whose son, or daughter, art thou?'" + +"You have heard many foolish things, George; that is one of them. Men +and women marry out of their own nationality, AT THEIR PERIL. I took my +life in my hand for your mother's love." + +"She was worthy of the peril." + +"God knows it." + +At this moment Mrs. Hyde entered the room, her fair face alight with +love. A servant carrying a tray full of good things to eat, followed +her; and it was delightful to watch her eager happiness as she arranged +meats, and sweetmeats, in tempting order for the hungry young man. He +thoroughly enjoyed this provision for his comfort; and as he ate, he +talked to his father of those things interesting to him, answering all +questions with that complaisant positiveness of youth which decides +everything at once, and without reservation. No one understood this +better than General Hyde, but it pleased him to draw out his son's +opinions; and it also pleased him to watch the pride of the fond mother, +who evidently considered her boy a paragon of youthful judgment. + +"And pray," he asked, "what can you tell me about the seat of +government? Will New York be chosen?" + +"I am sure it will be Philadelphia; and, indeed, I care not. It would, +however, amuse you to hear some of the opinions on the matter; for every +one hangs his judgment on the peg of his own little interests or +likings. Young De Witt says New York wants no government departments; +that she is far too busy a city, to endure government idlers hanging +around her best streets. Doctor Rush says the government is making our +city a sink of political vice. Mr. Wolcott says honesty is the fashion +in New York. Some of the clergy think Wall Street as wicked as the most +fashionable streets in Tyre and Sodom; and the street-singers--thanks to +Mr. Freneau--have each, and all, their little audiences on the subject. +As I came up Broadway, a man was shouting a rhyme advising the +Philadelphians to 'get ready their dishcloths and brooms, and begin +scouring their knockers, and scrubbing their rooms.' Perhaps the most +sensible thing on the subject came from one of the New England senators. +He thought the seat of government ought to be 'in some wilderness, where +there would be no social attractions, where members could go and attend +strictly to business.' Upon my word, sir, the opinions are endless in +number and variety; but, in truth, Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Morris are +arranging the matter. This is without doubt. There is to be some sort of +compromise with the Southern senators, who are promised the capital on +the Potomac, finally, if they no longer oppose the assumption of the +State debts. I hear that Mr. Jefferson has been brought to agree to this +understanding. And Mr. Morris doubtless thinks, if the government +offices are once opened in Philadelphia, they will remain there." + +"And Joris, the ladies? What say they on the subject?" asked Mrs. Hyde. + +"Indeed, mother, some of them are lamenting, and some looking forward to +the change. All are talking of the social deposition of the beautiful +Mrs. Bingham. 'She will have to abate herself a little before Mrs. +Washington,' I heard one lady say; while others declare, that her +association with our Republican Court will be harmonious and +advantageous; especially, as she is beloved in the home of the +President." + +"OUR REPUBLICAN COURT! The definition is absurd!" said General Hyde, +with both scorn and temper. "A court pre-supposes both royalty and +nobility!" + +"We have both of them intrinsically, father." + +"In faith, George! you will find, that intrinsic qualities have no +social value. What people require is their external evidence." + +"And their external evidence would be extremely offensive here, sir. For +my part, I think, the sneaking hankering after titles and ceremonies, +among our wealthy men and women is a very great weakness. Every one +knows that nothing would please fussy Mr. Adams better than to be a +duke, or even a lord--and he is by no means alone in such desires." + +"They may be yet realized." + +"They will not, sir--not, at least, while Thomas Jefferson lives. He is +the bulldog of Democracy, and he would be at the throat of any such +pretences as soon as they were suggested." + +"Very well, George! I have no objections." + +"I knew, sir, that you were a thorough Democrat." + +"Do not go too far, George. I love Democracy; but I hate Democrats! Now +I am sleepy, and as Mr. Jefferson is on the watch, I may go to sleep +comfortably. I will talk to you more on these subjects in the morning. +Good-night!" He put his hand on his son's shoulder, and looked with a +proud confidence into the bright face, lifted to the touch. + +Then George was alone with his mother; but she was full of little +household affairs; and he could not bring into them a subject so close, +and so sacred to his heart. He listened a little wearily to her plans, +and was glad when she recollected the late hour and hurried him away to +his chamber--a large, lofty room in the front of the house, on which she +had realized all the ideas that her great love, and her really exquisite +taste suggested. He entered it with a sense of delight, and readily +surrendered himself to its dreamy air of sleep and rest. "I will speak +to my mother in the morning," he thought. "To-night, her mind is full of +other things." + +But in the morning Mrs. Hyde was still more interested in "other +things." She had an architect with her, her servants were to order, her +house to look after; and George readily felt that his hour was certainly +not in the early morning. He had slept a little late, and his mother did +not approve of sleep beyond the normal hour. He saw that he had delayed +household matters, and made an environment not quite harmonious. So he +ate his breakfast rapidly, and went out to the new stables. He expected +to find the General there, and he was not disappointed. He had, however, +finished his inspection of the horses, and he proposed a walk to the +upper end of the Glen, where a great pond was being dug for Mrs. Hyde's +swans, and other aquatic birds. + +There was much to interest them as they walked: men were busy draining, +and building stone walls; ploughing and sowing, and digging, and +planting. Yet, in the midst of all this busy life, George detected in +his father's manner an air of melancholy. He looked into his son's face +with affection, and pointed out to him with an apparent interest, the +improvements in progress, but George knew--though he could not have +explained why he knew--that his father's heart was not really in these +things. Presently he asked, "How goes it with your law books, George?" + +"Faith, sir, I must confess, very indifferently. I have no senses that +way; and 'tis only your desire that keeps my books open. I would far +rather read my Plutarch, or write with my sword." + +"Let me tell you, soberly, that it is a matter of personal interest to +you. There is now no question of the law as a profession, for since your +cousin's death your prospects have entirely changed. But consider, +George, that not only this estate, but also the estate of your +Grandfather Van Heemskirk must eventually come to you. Much of both has +been bought from confiscated properties, and it is not improbable that +claimants may arise who will cause you trouble. How necessary, then, +that you should know something of the laws affecting land and property +in this country." + +"My grandfather is in trouble. I forgot to tell you last night, that his +friend, Elder Semple, is dead." + +"Dead!" + +"Yes, sir." + +For a few minutes General Hyde remained silent; then he said with much +feeling, "Peace to the old Tory! He was once very kind to me and to my +family. Ah, George, I have again defrauded myself of a satisfaction! For +a long time I have intended to go and see him--it is now too late! But I +will return to the city with you and pay him the last respect possible. +Who told you this news?" + +"I was walking on Broadway with young McAllister, and Doctor Moran +stopped us and sent word to Elder McAllister of the death of his friend. +I think, indeed, they were relatives," + +"Was Doctor Moran his physician?" + +"Yes, sir. A very good physician, I believe; I know, that he is a very +courteous and entertaining gentleman." + +"And pray, George, how do you come by such an opinion?" + +"I had the honour of spending an evening at Doctor Moran's house this +week; and if you will believe me, sir, he has a daughter that shames +every other beauty. Such bewildering loveliness! Such entrancing +freshness and purity I never saw before!" + +"In love again, George. Faith, you make me ashamed of my own youth! But +this enchanting creature cannot make of her father--anything but what he +is." + +"This time I am desperately, and really, in love." + +"So you were with Mollie Trefuses, with Sarah Talbot, with Eliza Capel, +with Matilda Howard--and a galaxy of minor beauties." + +"But it has come to this--I wish to marry Miss Moran; and I never wished +to marry any other woman." + +"You have forgotten--And by Heaven! you must forget Miss Moran. She is +not to be thought of as a wife--for one moment." + +"Sir, you are not so unjust as to make such a statement without giving +me a reason for it." + +"Giving you a reason! My reason ought to have sprung up voluntary in +your own heart. It is an incredible thing if you are not already +familiar with it." + +"Simply, sir, I profess my ignorance." + +"Look around you. Look east, and west, and north, and south,--all these +rich lands were bought with your Uncle William's money. He made himself +poor, to make me rich; because, having brought me up as his heir, he +thought his marriage late in life had in a manner defrauded me. You know +that the death of his two sons has again made me the heir to the Hyde +earldom; and that after me, the succession is yours. Tell me now what +child is left to your uncle?" + +"Only his daughter Annie, a girl of fourteen or fifteen years." + +"What will become of her when her father dies?" + +"Sir, how can I divine her future?" + +"It is your duty to divine her future. Her father has no gold to leave +her--he gave it to me--and the land he cannot leave her; yet she has a +natural right, beyond either mine or yours." + +"I give her my right, cheerfully." + +"You cannot give it to her--unless you outlaw yourself from your native +country--strip yourself of your citizenship--declare yourself unworthy +to be a son of the land that gave you birth. Even if you perpetrated +such a civil crime, you would render no service to Annie. Your right +would simply lapse to the son of Herbert Hyde--the young man you met at +Oxford--" + +"Surely, sir, we need not talk of that fellow. I have already told you +what a very sycophant he is. He licks the dust before any man of wealth +or authority; his tongue hangs down to his shoe-buckles." + +"Well then, sir, what is your duty to Annie Hyde?" + +"I do not conceive myself to have any special duty to Annie Hyde." + +"Upon my honour, you are then perversely stupid! But it is impossible +that you do not realize what justice, honour, gratitude and generosity +demand from you! When your uncle wrote me that pitiful letter which +informed me of the death of his last son, my first thought was that his +daughter must be assured her right in the succession. There is one way +to compass this. You know what that way is.--Why do you not speak?" + +"Because, sir, if I confess your evident opinion to be just, I bind +myself to carry it out, because of its justice." + +"Is it not just?" + +"It might be just to Annie and very unjust to me." + +"No, sir. Justice is a thing absolute; it is not altered by +circumstances, especially for a circumstance so trivial as a young man's +idle fancy." + +"'Tis no idle fancy. I love Cornelia Moran." + +"You have already loved a score of beauties--and forgotten them." + +"I have admired, and forgot. If I had loved, I should not have +forgotten. Now, I love." + +"Then, sir, be a man, a noble man, and put your personal gratification +below justice, honour, and gratitude. This is the first real trial of +your life, George, are you going to play the coward in it?" + +"If you could only see Miss Moran!" + +"I should find it difficult to be civil to her. George, I put before you +a duty that no gentleman can by any possibility evade." + +"If this arrangement is so important, why was I not told of it, ere +this?" + +"It is scarcely a year since your Cousin Harry's death. Annie is not +fifteen years old. I did not wish to force matters. I intended you to go +to England next year, and I hoped that a marriage might come without my +advice or my interference. It seemed to me that Annie's position would +itself open your heart to her." + +"I have no heart to give her." + +"Then you must at least give her your hand. I myself proposed this +arrangement, and your uncle's pleasure and gratitude were of the most +touching kind. Further, if you will have the very truth, then know, that +under no circumstances, will I sanction a marriage with Doctor Moran's +daughter." + +"You cannot possibly object to her, sir. She is perfection itself." + +"I object to her in-toto. I detest Doctor Moran, personally. I know not +why, nor care wherefore. I detest him still more sincerely as a man of +French extraction. I was brought very much in contact with him for three +years, and if we had not been in camp, and under arms, I would have +challenged him a score of times. He is the most offensive of men. He +brought his race prejudices continually to the front. When Lafayette was +wounded, with some of his bragging company, nothing would do but Doctor +Moran must go with them to the hospital at Bethlehem; yes, and stay +there, until the precious marquis was out of danger. I'll swear that he +would not have done this for Washington--he would have blustered about +the poor fellows lying sick in camp. Moran talks about being an +American, and the Frenchman crops out at every corner. But HE is neither +here, nor there, in our affairs; what I wish you to remember is, that +rank has its duties as well as its privileges; and you would be a +poltroon to accept one and ignore the other. What are you going to do?" + +"I know not. I must think--" + +"I am ashamed of you! In the name of all that is honourable, what is +there to think about? Have you told this Miss Moran that you love her?" + +"Not in precise words. I have only seen her three or four times." + +"Then, sir, you have only YOURSELF to think about. Have I a son with so +little proper feeling that he needs to think a moment when the case is +between honour and himself? George, it is high time that you set out to +travel. In the neighbourhood of your mother, and your grandparents, and +your flatterers in the city, you never get beyond the atmosphere of your +own whims and fancies. This conversation has come sooner than I wished; +but after it, there is nothing worth talking about." + +"Sir, you are more cruel and unreasonable than I could believe +possible." + +"The railings of a losing lover are not worth answering. Give your anger +sway, and when you are reasonable again, tell me. A man mad in love has +some title to my pity." + +"And, sir, if you were any other man but my father, I would say +'Confound your pity!' I am not sensible of deserving it, except as the +result of your own unreasonable demands on me--Our conversation is +extremely unpleasant, and I desire to put an end to it. Permit me to +return to the house." + +"With all my heart. But let me advise you to say nothing to your mother, +at present, on this subject:" then with an air of dejection he added-- +"What is past, must go; and whatever is to come is very sure to happen." + +"Sir, nothing past, present, or future, can change me. I shall obey the +wishes of my heart, and be true to its love." + +"Let me tell you, George, that Love is now grown wise. He follows +Fortune." + +"Good-morning, sir." + +"Let it be so. I will see you to-morrow in town. Ten to one, you will be +more reasonable then." + +He stood in the centre of the roadway watching his son's angry carriage. +The poise of his head, and his rapid, uneven steps, were symptoms the +anxious father understood very well. "He is in a naked temper, without +even civil disguise," he muttered; "and I hope his own company will +satisfy him until the first fever is past. Do I not know that to be in +love is to be possessed? It is in the head--the heart--the blood--it is +indeed an uncontrollable fever! I hope, first and foremost, that he will +keep away from his mother in his present unreason." + +His mother was, however, George's first desire. He did not believe she +would sanction his sacrifice to Annie Hyde. Justice, honour, gratitude! +these were fine names of his father's invention to adorn a ceremony +which would celebrate his life-long misery, and he rebelled against such +an immolation of his youth and happiness. When he reached the house, he +found that his mother had gone to the pond to feed her swans; and he +decided to ride a little out of his way in order to see her there. +Presently he came to a spot where tall, shadowing pines surrounded a +large sheet of water, dipping their lowest branches into it. Mrs. Hyde +stood among them, and the white, stately birds were crowding to her very +feet. He reined in his horse to watch her, and though accustomed to her +beauty, he marvelled again at it. Like a sylvan goddess she stood, +divinely tall, and divinely fair; her whole presence suffused with a +heavenly serenity and happiness! Upon the soft earth the hoofs of his +horse had not been audible, but when he came within her sight, it was +wonderful to watch the transformation on her countenance. A great love, +a great joy, swept away like a gust of wind, the peace on its surface; +and a glowing, loving intelligence made her instantly restless. She +called him with sweet imperiousness, "George! Joris! Joris! My dear +one!" and he answered her with the one word ever near, and ever dear, to +a woman's heart--"MOTHER!" + +"I thought you were with your father. Where have you left him?" + +"In the wilderness. There is need for me to go to the city. My father +will tell you WHY. I come only to see you--to kiss you--" + +"Joris, I see that you are angry. Well then, my dear one, what is it? +What has your father been saying to you?" + +"He will tell you." + +"SO! Whatever it is, your part I shall take. Right or wrong, your part I +shall take." + +"There is nothing wrong, dear mother." + +"Money, is it?" + +"It is not money. My father is generous to me." + +"Then, some woman it is?" + +"Kiss me, mother. After all, there is no woman like unto you." + +She drew close to him, and he stooped his handsome face to hers, and +kissed her many times. Her smile comforted him, for it was full of +confidence, as she said-- + +"Trouble not yourself, Joris. At the last, your father sees through my +eyes. Must you go? Well then, the Best of Beings go with you!" + +"When are you coming to town, mother?" + +"Next week. There is a dinner party at the President's, and your father +will not be absent--nor I--nor you?" + +"If I am invited, I shall go, just that I may see you enter the room. +Let me tell you, that sight always fills my heart with a tumultuous +pride and love." + +"A great flatterer are you, Joris!" but she lifted her face again, and +George kissed it, and then rode rapidly away. + +He hardly drew rein until he reached his grandfather's house, a handsome +Dutch residence, built of yellow brick, and standing in a garden that +was, at this season, a glory of tulips and daffodils, hyacinths and +narcissus--the splendid colouring of the beds being wonderfully +increased by their borderings of clipped box. An air of sunshiny peace +was over the place, and as the upper-half of the side-door stood open he +tied his horse and went in. The ticking of the tall house-clock was the +only sound he heard at first, but as he stood irresolute, a sweet, thin +voice in an adjoining room began to sing a hymn. + +"Grandmother! Grandmother!! Grandmother!!!" he called, and before the +last appeal was echoed the old lady appeared. She came forward rapidly, +her knitting in her hand. She was singularly bright and alert, with rosy +cheeks, and snow-white hair under a snow-white cap of clear-starched +lace. A snow-white kerchief of lawn was crossed over her breast, and the +rest of her dress was so perfectly Dutch that she might have stepped out +of one of Tenier's pictures. + +"Oh, my Joris!" she cried, "Joris! Joris! I am so happy to see thee. But +what, then, is the matter? Thy eyes are full of trouble." + +"I will tell you, grandmother." And he sat down by her side and went +over the conversation he had had with his father. She never interrupted +him, but he knew by the rapid clicking of her knitting needles that she +was moved far beyond her usual quietude. When he ceased speaking, she +answered-- + +"To sell thee, Joris, is a great shame, and for nothing to sell thee is +still worse. This is what I think: Let half of the income from the +earldom go to the poor young lady, but THYSELF into the bargain, is +beyond all reason. And if with Cornelia Moran thou art in love, a good +thing it is;--so I say." + +"Do you know Cornelia, grandmother?" + +"Well, then, I have seen her; more than once. A great beauty I think +her; and Doctor John has Money--plenty of money--and a very good family +are the Morans. I remember his father--a very fine gentleman." + +"But my father hates Doctor Moran." + +"Very wicked is he to hate any one. Why, then?" + +"He gave me only one reason--that his family is French." + +"SO! Thy mother was Dutch. Every one cannot be English--a God's mercy +they cannot! Now, then, thy grandfather is coming; thy trouble tell to +him. Good advice he will give thee." + +Senator Van Heemskirk however went first into his garden and gathering +great handfuls of white narcissus and golden daffodils, he called a +slave woman and bade her carry them to the Semple house, and lay them +in, and around, his friend's coffin. One white lily he kept in his hand +as he came towards his wife and grandson, with eyes fixed on its beauty. + +"Lysbet," he said,--but he clasped George's hand as he spoke--"My +Lysbet, if in the Dead Valley of this earth grow such heavenly flowers +as this, we will not fear the grave. It is only to sleep on the breast +that gives us the lily and the rose, and the wheat, and the corn. Oh, +how sweet is this flower! It has the scent of Paradise." + +He laid it gently down while he put off his fine broadcloth coat and +lace ruffles and assumed the long vest and silk skull cap, which was his +home dress; then he put it in a buttonhole of his vest, and seemed to +joy himself in its delicate fragrance. With these preliminaries neither +Joris nor Lysbet interfered; but when he had lit his long pipe and +seated himself comfortably in his chair, Lysbet said-- + +"Where hast thou been all this afternoon?" + +"I have been sealing up my friend's desk and drawers until his sons +arrive. Very happy he looks. He is now ONE OF THOSE THAT KNOW." + +"Well, then, after the long strife, 'He Rests.'" + +"Men have written it. What know they about it? Rest would not be heaven +to my friend Alexander Semple. To work, to be up and doing His Will, +that would be his delight." + +"I wonder, Joris, if in the next life we shall know each other?" + +"My Lysbet, in this life do we know each other?" + +"I think not. Here has come our dear Joris full of trouble to thee, for +his father has said such things as I could not have believed. Joris, +tell thy grandfather what they are." + +And this time George, being very sure of hearty sympathy, told his tale +with great feeling--perhaps even with a little anger. His grandfather +listened patiently to the youth's impatience, but he did not answer +exactly to his expectations. + +"My Joris," he said, "so hard it is to accept what goes against our +wishes. If Cornelia Moran you had not met, would your father's desires +be so impossible to you? Noble and generous would they not seem--" + +"But I have seen Cornelia, and I love her." + +"Two or three times you have seen her. How can you be sure that you love +her?" + +"In the first hour I was sure." + +"Of nothing are we quite sure. In too great a hurry are you. Miss Moran +may not love you. She may refuse ever to love you. Her mind you have not +asked. Beside this, in his family her father may not wish you. A very +proud man is Doctor John." + +"Grandfather, I may be an earl some day." + +"An English earl. Doctor John may not endure to think of his only child +living in that far-off country. I, myself, know how this thought can +work a father to madness. And, again, your Cousin Annie may not wish to +marry you." + +"Faith, sir, I had not thought of myself as so very disagreeable." + +"No. Vain and self-confident is a young man. See, then, how many things +may work this way, that way, and if wise you are you will be quiet and +wait for events. One thing, move not in your anger; it is like putting +to sea in a tempest. Now I shall just say a word or two on the other +side. If your father is so set in his mind about the Hydes, let him do +the justice to them he wishes to do; but it is not right that he should +make YOU do it for him." + +"He says that only I can give Annie justice." + +"But that is not good sense. When the present Earl dies, and she is left +an orphan, who shall prevent your father from adopting her as his own +daughter, and leaving her a daughter's portion of the estate? In such +case, she would be in exactly the same position as if her brother had +lived and become earl. Is not that so?" + +"My dear, dear grandfather, you carry wisdom with you! Now I shall have +the pleasure to propose to my father that he do his own justice! O wise, +wise grandfather! You have made me happy to a degree!" + +"Very well, but say not that _I_ gave you such counsel. When your father +speaks to me, as he is certain to do, then I will say such and such +words to him; but my words in your mouth will be a great offence; and +very justly so, for it is hard to carry words, and carry nothing else. +Your dear mother--how is she?" + +"Well and happy. She builds, and she plants, and the days are too short +for her. But my father is not so happy. I can see that he is wearied of +everything." + +"Not here, is his heart. It is in England. And no longer has he great +hopes to keep him young. If of Liberty I now speak to him, he has a +smile so hopeless that both sad and angry it makes me. No faith has he +left in any man, except Washington; and I think, also, he is +disappointed that Washington was not crowned King George the First." + +"I can assure you, sir, that others share his disappointment. Mr. Adams +would not object to be Duke of New York, and even little Burr would like +a lordship." + +"I have heard; my ears are not dull, nor my eyes blind. But too much out +of the world lives your father; men who do so grow unfit to live in the +world. He dreams dreams impossible to us--impossible to France--and then +he says 'Liberty is a dream.' Well, well, Life also is a dream--when we +awake--" + +Then he ceased speaking, and there was silence until Lysbet Van +Heemskirk said, softly, "When we awake, WE SHALL BE SATISFIED." + +Van Heernskirk smiled at his wife's cheerful assurance, and continued, +"It is true, Lysbet, what you say; and even here, in our dreaming, what +satisfaction! As for me, I expect not too much. The old order and the +new order fight yet for the victory; and what passes now will be worth +talking about fifty years hence." + +"It is said, grandfather, that the Dutch church is anti-Federal to a +man." + +"Not true are such sayings. The church will be very like old Van +Steenwyck, who boasts of his impartiality, and who votes for the +Federals once, and for the anti-Federals once, and the third time does +not vote at all. If taken was the vote of the Church, it would be six +for the Federals and half-a-dozen for the anti-Federals." + +"Mr. Burr--" + +"Of Mr. Burr I will not talk. I like not his little dirty politics." + +"He is very clever." + +"Well, then, you have to praise him for being clever; for being honest +you cannot praise him." + +"'Tis a monstrous pity that Right can only be on one side; yet sometimes +Right and Mr. Burr may happen to be on the same side." + +"The right way is too straight for Aaron Burr. If into it he wanders +'tis for a wrong reason." + +"My dear grandfather, how your words bite!" + +"I wish not to say biting things; but Aaron Burr stands for those +politicians who turn patriotism into shopkeeping and their own interest-- +men who care far more for WHO governs us than for HOW we are governed. +And what will be the end of such ways? I will tell you. We shall have a +Democracy that will be the reign of those who know the least and talk +the loudest." + +At this point in the conversation Van Heemskirk was called to the door +about some business matter and George was left alone with his +grandmother. She was setting the tea-table, and her hands were full of +china; but she put the cups quickly down, and going to George's side, +said-- + +"Cornelia Moran spends this evening with her friend Arenta Van Ariens. +Well then, would thou like an excuse to call on Arenta?" + +"Oh, grandmother! Do you indeed know Arenta? Can you send me there?" + +"Since she was one month old I have known Arenta. This morning, she came +here to borrow for her Aunt Jacobus my ivory winders. Now then, I did +not wish to lend Angelica Jacobus my winders; and I said to Arenta that +'by and by I would look for them.' Not far are they to seek; and for thy +pleasure I will get them, and thou canst take them this evening to +Arenta." + +"O you dear, dear grandmother!" and he stood up, and lifted her rosy +face between his hands and kissed her. + +"I am so fond of thee," she continued. "I love thee so much; and thy +pleasure is my pleasure; and I see no harm--no harm at all--in thy love +for the beautiful Cornelia. I think, with thee, she is a girl worth any +man's heart; and if thou canst win her, I, for one, will be joyful with +thee. Perhaps, though, I am a selfish old woman--it is so easy to be +selfish." + +"Let me tell you, grandmother, you know not how to be selfish." + +"Let me tell thee, Joris, I was thinking of myself, as well as of thee. +For while thy grandfather talked of Aaron Burr, this thought came into +my mind--if to Annie Hyde my Joris is married, he will live in England, +and I shall see him no more in this world. But if to Cornelia Moran he +is married, when his father goes to England, then here he will stay; he +will live at Hyde Manor, and I shall go to see him, and he will call +here to see me;--and then, many good days came into my thoughts. Yes, +yes, in every kind thing, in every good thing, somewhere there is hid a +little bit of our own will and way. Always, if I look with straight +eyes, I can find it." "Get me the winders, grandmother; for now you have +given me a reason to hurry." + +"But why so quickly must you go?" + +"Look at me! It will take me two hours to dress. I have had no dinner--I +want to think--you understand, grandmother?" + +Then she went into the best parlour, and opening one of the shutters let +in sufficient light to find in the drawer of a little Chinese cabinet +some ivory winders of very curious design and workmanship. She folded +them in soft tissue paper and handed them to her grandson with a +pleasant nod; and the young man slipped them into his waistcoat pocket, +and then went hurriedly away. + +He had spoken of his dinner, but though somewhat hungry, he made but a +light meal. His dress seemed to him the most vitally important thing of +the hour; and no girl choosing her first ball gown could have felt more +anxious and critical on the subject. His call was to be considered an +accidental one; and he could not therefore dress as splendidly as if it +were a ceremonious or expected visit. After much hesitation, he selected +a coat and breeches of black velvet, a pearl-coloured vest, and cravat +and ruffles of fine English bone lace. Yet when his toilet was +completed, he was dissatisfied. He felt sure more splendid apparel set +off his dark beauty to greater advantage; and yet he was equally sure +that more splendid apparel would not--on this occasion--be as suitable. + +Doubting and hoping, he reached the Van Ariens' house soon after seven +o'clock. It was not quite dark, and Jacob Van Ariens stood on the stoop, +smoking his pipe and talking to a man who had the appearance of a +workman; and who was, in fact, the foreman of his business quarters in +the Swamp. + +"Good-evening, sir," said George with smiling politeness. "Is Miss Van +Ariens within?" + +"Within? Yes. But company she has tonight," said the watchful father, as +he stood suspicious and immovable in the entrance. + +It did not seem to George as if it would be an easy thing to pass such a +porter at the door, but he continued, + +"I have come with a message to Miss Van Ariens." + +"A very fine messenger!" answered Van Ariens, slightly smiling. + +"A fine lady deserves a fine messenger. But, sir, if you will do my +errand for me, I am content. 'Tis from Madame Van Heemskirk--" + +"SO then? That is good." + +"I am George Hyde, her grandson, you know." + +"Well then, I did not know. 'Tis near dark, and I see not as well as +once I did." + +"I have brought from Madame Van Heemskirk some ivory winders for Madame +Jacobus." + +"Come in, come in, and tell my Arenta the message thyself. I know +nothing of such things. Come in, I did not think of thee as my friend +Van Heemskirk's grandson. Welcome art thou!" and Van Ariens himself +opened the parlour door, saying, "Arenta, here is George Hyde. A message +he brings for thy Aunt Angelica." + +And while these words were being uttered, George delighted his eyes with +the vision of Cornelia, who sat at a small table with some needlework in +her hand. Arenta's tatting was over her foot, and she had to remove it +in order to rise and meet Hyde. Rem sat idly fingering a pack of playing +cards and talking to Cornelia. This situation George took in at a +glance; though his sense of sight was quite satisfied when it rested on +the lovely girl who dropped her needle as he entered, for he saw the +bright flush which overspread her face and throat, and the light of +pleasure which so filled her eyes that they seemed to make her whole +face luminous. + +In a few moments, Arenta's pretty enthusiasms and welcomes dissipated +all constraint, and Hyde placed his chair among the happy group and fell +easily into his most charming mood. Even Rem could not resist the +atmosphere of gaiety and real enjoyment that soon pervaded the room. +They sang, they played, they had a game at whist, and everything that +happened was in some subtle, secret way, a vehicle for Hyde's love to +express itself. Yet it was to Arenta he appeared to be most attentive; +and Rem was good-naturedly inclined to permit his sister to be +appropriated, if only he was first in the service of Cornelia. + +But though Hyde's attentions were so little obvious, Cornelia was +satisfied. It would have been a poor lover who could not have said under +such circumstances "I love you" a hundred times over; and George Hyde +was not a poor lover. He had naturally the ardent confidence and daring +which delight women, and he had not passed several seasons in the +highest London society without learning all those sweet, occult ways of +making known admiration, which the presence of others renders both +necessary and possible. + +About half-past nine, a negro woman came with Cornelia's cloak and hood. +George took them from Arenta's hand and folded the warm circular round +Cornelia's slight figure; and then watched her tie her pretty pink hood, +managing amid the pleasant stir of leave-taking to whisper some words +that sang all night like sweetest music in her heart. It was Rem, +however, that gave her his arm and escorted her to her own door; and +with this rightful privilege to his guest young Hyde was far too +gentlemanly and just to interfere. However, even in this moment of +seeming secondary consideration, he heard a few words which gave him a +delightful assurance of coming satisfaction. For as the two girls stood +in the hall, Arenta said-- + +"You will come over in the morning, Cornelia?" + +"I cannot," answered Cornelia. "After breakfast, I have to go to +Richmond Hill with a message from my mother to Mrs. Adams; and though +father will drive me there I shall most likely have to walk home. But I +will come to you in the afternoon." + +"Very well. Then in the morning I will go to Aunt Angelica's with the +winders. I shall then have some news to tell you in the afternoon--that +is, if the town makes us any." + +And George, hearing these words, could hardly control his delight. For +he was one of Mrs. Adams' favourites, and so much at home in her house +that he could visit her at any hour of the day without a ceremonious +invitation. And it immediately struck him that his mother had often +desired to know how Mrs. Adams fed her swans, and also that she had +wished for some seeds from her laburnum trees. These things would make a +valid excuse for an early call, as Mrs. Adams might naturally suppose he +was on his way to Hyde Manor. + +He took a merry leave of Arenta, and with his mind full of this plan, +went directly to his rooms. The Belvedere Club was this night, +impossible to him. After the angelic Cornelia, he could not take into +his consciousness the hideous Marat, and the savage orgies of the French +Revolution. Such a thought transference would be an impossible +profanation. Indeed, he could consider no other thing, but the +miraculous fact, that Cornelia was going to Mrs. Adams'; and that it was +quite within his power to meet her there. + +"'Tis my destiny! 'Tis my happy destiny to love her!" he said softly to +himself. "Such an adorable girl! Such a ravishing beauty is not +elsewhere on this earth!" And he was not conscious of any exaggeration +in such language. Nor was there. He was young, he was rich, he had no +business to consider, no sorrow to sober him, no care of any kind to +mingle with the rapturous thoughts which his transported imagination and +his captivated heart blended with the image of Cornelia. + +"I shall tell Mrs. Adams how far gone in love I am," he continued. "She +is herself set on that clever little husband of hers; and 'tis said, +theirs was a love match, beyond all speculation. I shall say to her, +'Help me, madame, to an opportunity'; and I think she will not refuse. +As for my father, I heard him this morning with as much patience as any +Christian could do; but I am resolved to marry Cornelia. I will not give +her up; not for an earldom! not for a dukedom! not for the crown of +England!" + +And to these thoughts he flung off, with a kind of passion, his coat and +vest. The action was but the affirmation of his resolve, a +materialization of his will. To have used an oath in connection with +Cornelia would have offended him; but this passionate action asserted +with equal emphasis his unalterable resolve. A tender, gallant, +courageous spirit possessed him. He was carried away by the feelings it +inspired: and nobly so, for alas for that man who professes to be in +love and is not carried away by his feelings; in such case, he has no +feelings worth speaking of! + +Joris Hyde allowed the sweet emotions Cornelia had inspired to have, and +to hold, and to occupy his whole being. His heart burned within him; +memories of Cornelia closed his eyes, and then filled them with adorable +visions of her pure, fresh loveliness; his pulses bounded; his blood ran +warm and free as the ethereal ichor of the gods. Sleep was a thousand +leagues away; he was so vivid, that the room felt hot; and he flung open +the casement and sat in a beatitude of blissful hopes and imaginations. + +And after midnight, when dreams fall, the moon came up over Nassau and +Cedar Streets and threw poetic glamours over the antique churches, and +grassy graveyards, and the pretty houses, covered with vines and budding +rosebushes; and this soft shadow of light calmed and charmed him. In it, +he could believe all his dreams possible. He leaned forward and watched +the silvery disc, struggling in soft, white clouds; parting them, as +with hands, when they formed in baffling, airy masses in her way. And +the heavenly traveller was not silent; she had a language he understood; +for as he watched the sweet, strong miracle, he said softly to himself-- + +"It is a sign to me! It is a sign! So will I put away every baffling +hindrance between Cornelia and myself. Barriers will only be as those +vaporous clouds. I shall part them with my strong resolves--I shall--I +shall--I--" and he fell asleep with this sense of victory thrilling his +whole being. Then the moon rose higher, and soon came in broad white +bars through the window and lay on his young, handsome, smiling face, +with the same sweet radiance that in the days of the gods glorified the +beautiful shepherd, sleeping on the Ephesian plains. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +TURNING OVER A NEW LEAF + + +When Hyde awakened, he was in that borderland between dreams and day +which we call dawn. And as the ear is the last sense to go to sleep, and +the first sense to throw off its lethargy, the voices of men calling +"Milk Ho!" and the shrill childish cries of "Sweep Ho!" were the first +intruders into that pleasant condition between sleeping and waking, so +hard for any of us to leave without a sigh of regret. These sounds were +quickly supplemented by the roll of the heavy carts which purveyed the +only water suitable for drinking and culinary purposes; and by the +sounds of wood-sawing and wood-chopping before the doors of the adjacent +houses--sounds quickly blending themselves with the shuffling feet of +the slaves cleaning the doorsteps and sidewalks, and chattering, +singing, quarrelling the while with their neighbours, or with other +early ministers to the city's domestic wants. + +These noises had never before made any impression on him. "I am more +alive than ever I was in my life," he said; and he laughed gayly, and +went to the window. "It is a lovely day; and that is so much in my +favour," he added, "for if it were raining, Cornelia would not leave the +house." Then a big man, with a voice like a bull of Bashan, went down +the opposite side of the street, shouting as he went--"Milk Ho!" and +Hyde considered him. He had a heavy wooden yoke across his shoulders; +and large tin pails, full of milk, hanging from it. + +"How English we are!" he exclaimed, with a touch of irony. "We have not +thrown off the yoke, by any means--at Mr. Adams', for instance, I could +believe myself in England. How exclusive is the pompous little Minister! +What respect for office! What adoration for landed gentry! What +supercilious tolerance for tradesmen! Oh, indeed, it confounds me! But +why should I trouble myself? I, who have the most adorable mistress in +the world to think about! What are the kings, presidents, ministers, +knaves of the world to me? Let Destiny shuffle them back and forth. I am +indifferent to whichever is trumps." + +Then he fell into a reverie about his proposed visit to Mrs. Adams. Last +night it had appeared to him an easy and natural thing to do. He was not +so sure of his position this morning. Mr. Adams might be present; he was +punctilious in the extreme, and a call without an invitation at that +early hour might be considered an impertinence--especially if he had no +opportunity to enlighten Mrs. Adams about his love for Miss Moran, and +so ask her assistance. Then he began to doubt whether his mother was on +sufficient terms of intimacy to warrant his speaking about the swans and +laburnum seeds--in short, the visit that had seemed so natural and +proper when he first conceived it, assumed, on reflection, an aspect of +difficulty and almost of impropriety. + +But there are times when laissez-aller carries all before it, and Hyde +was in just such a mood. "I'll run the chance," he said. "I'll risk it. +I'll let things take their course." Then he began to dress, and as doubt +of any kind is best ended by action, he gathered confidence as he did +so. Fortunately, there was no hesitation this morning in his mind about +his dress. He was going to ride to Richmond Hill, and he was quite +satisfied with his riding suit. He knew that it was the next thing to a +becoming uniform. He knew that he looked well in it; and he remembered +with complaisance that it was old enough to be individual; and new +enough to be handsome and striking. + +And, after all, when a man is in love, to be reasonable is often to be +cowardly. But Hyde was no coward; so then, it was not long ere he put +all fears and doubts behind him and set his musings to the assertion: "I +said to my heart, last night, that I would meet Cornelia at Richmond +Hill this morning. I will not go back on my word. Such fluctuability is +only fit for failure." + +When he was dressed he went to his hotel and breakfasted there; for the +"cup of coffee" he had intended to ask of Mrs. Adams appeared, now, a +little presumptuous. In the enthusiasm of the previous night, with +Cornelia's smiles warming his imagination and her words thrilling his +heart, everything had seemed possible and natural; but last night and +this morning were different epochs. Last night, he had been better, +stronger than himself; this morning, he felt all the limitations of +social conveniences and tyrannies. Early as it was, there were many +members and senators present--eating, drinking coffee, and talking of +Franklin, or of the question of the Senate sitting with closed doors, or +of some other of the great little subjects then agitating society. Hyde +took no notice of any of these disputes until a man--evidently an +Englishman--called Franklin "a beggar-on-horseback-Yankee." Then he put +down his knife and fork, and looked steadily at the speaker, saying with +the utmost coolness and firmness-- + +"You are mistaken, sir. The beggar-on-horseback is generally supposed to +ride to the devil. Franklin rode to the highest posts of political +honour and to the esteem and affection of worthy men in all the +civilized world." + +"I understand, I understand, sir," was the reply. "The infatuation of a +nation for some particular genius or leader is very like that of a man +for an ugly woman. When they do get their eyes opened, they wonder what +bewitched them." + +"Sir, what is unreasonable is irrefutable." With these words he rose, +pushed aside his chair with a little temper, and, turning, met Jefferson +face to face. The great man smiled, and put his hand affectionately on +Hyde's shoulder. He had evidently heard the conversation, for when he +had made the usual greetings, he added-- + +"You spoke well, my young friend. Now, I will give you a piece of +advice--when any one abuses a great man in your presence, ask them what +kind of people, THEY admire. You will certainly be consoled." With these +words he took Hyde's chair; and Hyde, casting his eyes a moment on this +tall, loose-limbed man, whose cold blue eyes and red hair emphasized the +stern anger of his whole appearance, was well disposed to leave the +scurrilous Englishman to his power of reproof. Besides, the badge of +mourning which Jefferson wore had reminded him of his own neglect. +Probably, it was the want of this badge that had made the stranger +believe he was speaking to one who would sympathize with his views. + +So he went at once to his tailor's and procured the necessary band of +crape for his arm. But these events took time, and though he rode hard +afterwards, it was quite half-past nine when he drew rein at the door of +Richmond Hill. A slave in a fine livery was lounging there; and he gave +him his card. In a few moments the man returned with an invitation to +dismount and come into the breakfast-room. Thus far, he had suffered +himself to be carried forward by the impulse of his heart; and he still +put firmly down any wonder as to what he should say or do. + +He was shown into a bright little parlour with open windows. A table, +elegantly and plentifully spread, occupied the centre of the room; and +sitting at it were the Vice-President and Mrs. Adams; and also their +only daughter, the beautiful, but not very intellectual, Mrs. Smith. It +was easy to see that the meal was really over, and that the trio had +been simply lingering over the table because of some interesting +discussion; and it was quite as easy to understand that his entrance had +put an end to the conversation. Mrs. Adams met him with genuine, though +formal, kindness; Mrs. Smith with courtesy; and the Vice-President rose, +bowed handsomely, hoped he was well, and then after a minute's +reflection said-- + +"We were talking about the official title proper for General Washington. +What do you think, Lieutenant? Or have you heard General Hyde express +any opinion on the subject?" + +"Sir, I do not presume to understand the ceremonials of government. My +father is of the opinion, that 'The President of the United States' has +a Roman and republican simplicity, and that any addition to it would be +derogatory and childish." + +"My dear young man, the eyes of the world are upon us. To give a title +to our leaders and rulers belongs to history. In the Roman republic +great conquerors assumed even distinctive titles, as well as national +ones." + +"Then our Washington is superior to them. Let us be grateful that he has +not yet called himself--Americanus. I like Doctor Kunz's idea of +Washington best, but I see not how it could be put into a civil title." + +"Doctor Kunz! Doctor Kunz! Oh yes, of the Dutch congregation. Pray what +is it?" + +"'And there came up a lion out of Judah.' My grandfather is an elder in +that church, and he said the verse and the sermon on it lifted the +people to their feet." + +"That might do very well for one side of a state seal; but it is a +proper prefix we need. I don't think we can say 'Your Majesty the +President.'" + +"I should think not," replied Mrs. Adams with an air of decision. + +"Chief Justice McKean thinks 'His Serene Highness the President of the +United States' is very suitable. Roger Sherman is of the opinion that +neither 'His Highness' nor 'His Excellency' are novel and dignified +enough; and General Muhlenberg says Washington himself is in favour of +'High Mightiness,' the title used by the Stadtholder of Holland." + +"That would please the Dutch-Americans," said Mrs. Adams--" if a title +at all is necessary, which I confess I cannot understand. Is it to be +'High Mightiness' then?" she asked with a little laugh. + +"I think not. Muhlenberg, however, has seriously offended the President +by making a joke of the proposition; and I must say, it was ill-timed of +Muhlenberg, and not what I should have expected of him." + +"But what was the joke?" + +"Something to the effect that if the office was certain to be held by +men as large as Washington, the title of 'High Mightiness' would not be +amiss; but that if a little man--say like Aaron Burr--should be elected, +the title would be a ridiculous one. The fact is, Muhlenberg is against +any title whatever but that of 'President of the United States.'" + +"And how will you vote, John?" + +"In favour of a title. Certainly, I shall. Your Majesty is a very good +prefix. It would draw the attention of England, and show her that we +were not afraid to assume 'the majesty' of our conquest." + +"And if you wish to please France," continued Mrs. Adams--"which seems +the thing in fashion--you might have the prefix 'Citizen.' 'Citizen +Washington' is not bad." + +"It is execrable, Mrs. Adams; and I am ashamed that you should make it, +even as a pleasantry." + +"Indeed, my friend, there is no foretelling what may be. The French +fever is rising every day. I even may be compelled to drop the offensive +'Mistress' and call myself Citoyenne Adams. And, after all, I do believe +that the President regards his citizenship far above his office. What +say you, Lieutenant?" + +"I think, madame, that fifty, one hundred, one thousand years after this +day, it will be of little importance what prefix is put before the name +of the President. He will be simply GEORGE WASHINGTON in every heart and +on every page." + +"That is true," said Mrs. Adams. "Fame uses no prefixes. It is Pompey, +Julius Caesar, Pericles, Alfred, Hampden, Oliver Cromwell. Or it is a +suffix like Alexander the Great; or Richard Coeur-de-Lion. I have no +objection to Washington the Great, or Washington Coeur-de-Lion." + +"Washington will do for love and for fame," continued Hyde. "The next +generation may say MR. Madison, or MR. Monroe, or MR. Jay; but they will +want neither prefix nor suffix to Washington, Jefferson, Franklin,--and, +if you permit me, sir--Adams." + +The Vice-president was much pleased. He said "Pooh! Pooh!" and stood up +and stepped loftily across the hearth-rug, but the subtle compliment +went warm to his heart, and the real worth of the man's nature came +straight to the front, as he looked, under its influence, the honest, +positive, honourable gentleman that every great occasion found him to +be. + +"Well, well," he answered; "heartily, and from our souls, we must do our +best, and then trust to Truth and Time, our name and our memory. But I +must now go to town--our affairs give us no holidays." And then +instantly the room was in a fuss and a flurry. No Englishman could have +made a more bustling exit; and, indeed, even in his physical aspect, +John Adams was a perfect picture of the traditional John Bull. His +natural temperament carried out this likeness: high-mettled as a game- +cock during the Revolutionary war, he was, in politics, passionate, +dogmatic and unconciliating, and in social life ceremonious and showy as +any Englishman could be. + +After he had gone, Mrs. Adams proposed a walk in the lovely garden; and +Hyde hoped then to obtain a few words with her. But Mrs. Smith +accompanied them, and introduced immediately a grievance she had +evidently been previously discussing. With a provoking petulance she +told and re-told some slight which Sir John Temple had offered Mr. +Smith: adding always "Lady Temple is very civil to me; but I cannot, and +I will not, exchange visits with any lady who does not pay my William an +equal civility." Enlarging and enlarging on this text, Hyde found no +opportunity to get a word in on his own affairs; and then, suddenly, as +they turned into the main avenue, Doctor Moran and Cornelia appeared. + +Quite as suddenly, Mrs. Adams divined the motive of Hyde's early visit; +she opened her eyes wide, and looked at him with a comprehension so +clear and real that Hyde was compelled to answer, and acknowledge her +suspicion by a look and movement quite as unequivocal. Yet this +instantaneous understanding contained neither promise nor sympathy; and +he could not tell whether he had gained a friend or simply made a +confession. + +Doctor Moran was evidently both astonished and annoyed. He stepped out +of his carriage and joined Mrs. Adams but kept Cornelia by his side, so +that Hyde was compelled to escort Mrs. Smith. And Cornelia, beyond a +very civil "Good-morning, sir," gave him no sign. He could watch her +slight, virginal figure, and the bend of her head in answering Mrs. +Adams gave him transient glimpses of her fair face; but there was no +message in all its changes for him. In fact, in spite of Mrs. Smith's +little rill of social complaining, he felt quite "out" of the inner +circle of the company's interests, and he was also deeply mortified at +Cornelia's apparent indifference. + +When the party reached the steps before the house door, though Mrs. +Adams certainly invited him to remain, he had come to the conclusion +that he was just the one person NOT wanted at that time; yet as he had +plenty of self-command he completely hid beneath a gay and charming +manner the chagrin and disappointment that were really tormenting him. +For one moment he caught Cornelia's eyes, but his glance was too rapid +and inquisitive. She was embarrassed, and a little frightened by it; and +with a deep blush turned towards Mrs. Smith and said something trivial +about the weather and the fine view. He could not understand this +attitude. Feelings of tenderness, anger, mortification,--feelings strong +and threefold crowded his beating heart and vivid brain. He longed to +set his restless thoughts to rapid movement--to gallop--to ejaculate--to +do any foolish thing that would relieve his sense of vexation and +defeat. But until he was out of sight and hearing he rode slowly, with +the easy air of a man who was only sensitive to the beauty of his +surroundings, and thoroughly enjoying them. + +He kept this pace till quite outside the precincts of Richmond Hill, +then he struck his horse with a passion that astonished the animal and +the next moment shamed himself. He stooped instantly and apologized to +the quivering creature; and was as instantly forgiven. Then he began to +talk to himself in those elliptical, unfinished sentences, which the +inner man understands, and so thoroughly finishes--" If I were not +morally sure--It is as plain as can be--How in the name of wonder?--I'll +say so much for myself--I am sorry that I went there--A couple of +uninteresting women--This for you, sir!--Whistled myself up this morning +on a fool's errand--No more! no more to save my life!--Grant me +patience--Mrs. Smith giving herself a parcel of airs--Oh, adorable +Cornelia!" + +Such reflections, blended with pet names and apologies to his horse, +brought him in sight of the Van Heemskirk house, and he instantly felt +how good his grandmother's sympathy would be. He saw her at the door, +leaning over the upper-half and watching his approach. + +"I knew it was thee!" she cried; "always, the clatter of thy horse's +hoofs says plainly to me, 'Grand-moth-er! grand-moth-er! grand-moth-er!' +Now, then, what is the matter with thee? Disappointed, wert thou last +night?" + +"No--but this morning I have been badly used; and I am angry at it." +Then he told her all the circumstances of his visit to Richmond Hill, +and she listened patiently, as was her way with all complainers. + +"In too great haste art thou," were her first words. "No worse I think +of Cornelia, because a little she draws back. To want, and to have thy +want, that has been the way with thee all thy life long. Even thy sword +and the battlefield were not denied thee; but a woman's love!--that is +to be won. Little wouldst thou value it, lightly wouldst thou hold it, +if it were thine for the wishing. Thy mother has taught thee to expect +too much." + +"And my grandmother?" + +"That is so. A very foolish old woman is thy grandmother. Too much she +loves thee, or she had not sent thee to Arenta's last night with her +best ivory winders." + +"Oh, Arenta is a very darling! Had she been present this morning, she +had taken the starch out of all our fine talk and fine manners. We +should have chattered like the swallows about pleasant homely things; +and left title-making to graver fools." + +"If, now, thou had fallen in love with Arenta, it had been a good +thing." + +"If I had not seen Cornelia, I might have adored Arenta--but, then, +Arenta has already a lover." + +"So? And pray who is it?" + +"Of all men in the world, the gay, handsome Frenchman, Athanase +Tounnerre, a member of the French embassy. How a girl so plainly Dutch +can endure the creature confounds me." + +"Stop a little. The grandmother of Arenta was French. Very well I +remember her--a girl all alive, from head to foot; never still. Thy +grandfather used to say, 'In her veins is quick-silver, not blood,' And, +too soon, she wore away her life; Arenta's mother was but a baby, when +she died." + +"Ah! So it is! We are the past, as well as the present. As for myself--" + +"Thou art thy father over again; only sweeter, and better--that is the +Dutch in thee--the happy, easy-going Dutch--if only thou wert not so +lazy." + +"That is the English in me--the self-indulgent, masterful English. So +then, Arenta, being partly French, back to the French she goes. 'Tis +passing strange." + +"Of this, art thou sure?" + +"I have listened to the man. Every one has. He wears Arenta's name on +his sleeve. He drinks her health in all companies. He will talk to any +stranger he meets, for an hour at a time, about his 'fair Arenta.' I can +but wonder at the fellow. It is inconceivable to me; for though I am +passionately taken with Cornelia Moran, I hide her close in my heart. I +should want to strike any man who breathed her name. Yet it is said of +Athanase de Tounnerre that he paid a visit to every one he knew, in +order to tell them of his felicity." + +"And her father? To such a marriage what will he say?" + +Hyde stretched out his legs and struck them lightly with his riding +whip. Then, with a smile, he answered, "He will be proud enough in his +heart. Arenta would certainly leave him soon, and the Dutch are very +sensible to the charm of a title. His daughter, the Marquise de +Tounnerre, will be a very great woman in his eyes." + +"That is the truth. I was glad for thy mother to be a lady, and go to +Court, and see the Queen. Yes, indeed! in my heart I was proud of it +'Twas about that very thing poor Janet Semple and I became unfriends." + +"Indeed, it is the common failing; and at present, there is no one like +the French. I will except the President, and Mr. Adams, and Mr. +Hamilton, and say the rest of us are French mad." + +"Thy grandfather, and thy grandmother too, thou may except. And as for +thy father, with a great hatred he names them." + +"My father is English; and the English and French are natural and +salutary enemies. I once heard Lord Exmouth say that France was to +England all that Carthage was to Rome--the natural outlet for the temper +of a people so quarrelsome that they would fight each other if they had +not the French to fight." + +"Listen! That is thy father's gallop. Far off, I know it. So early in +the morning, what is he coming for?" + +"He had an intention to go to Mr. Semple's funeral." + +"That is good. Thy grandfather is already gone--" and she looked so +pointedly down at her black petticoat and bodice, that Hyde answered-- + +"Yes; I see that you are in mourning. Is it for Mr. Franklin, or for Mr. +Semple?" + +"Franklin was far off; by my fireside Alexander Semple often sat; and at +my table often he ate. Good friends were we once--good friends are we +now; for all but Love, Death buries." + +At this moment General Hyde entered the room. Hurry and excitement were +in his face, though they were well controlled. He gave his hand to +Madame Van Heemskirk, saying-- + +"Good-morning, mother! You look well, as you always do:"--then turning +to his son and regarding the young man's easy, smiling indifference, he +said with some temper, "What the devil, George, are you doing here, so +early in the day? I have been through the town seeking you--everywhere-- +even at that abominable Club, where Frenchmen and vagabonds of all kinds +congregate." + +"I was at the Vice-President's, sir," answered George, with a comical +assumption of the Vice-President's manner. + +"You were WHERE?" + +"At Richmond Hill. I made an early call on Mrs. Adams." + +Then General Hyde laughed heartily. "You swaggering dandy!" he replied. +"Did you take a bet at the Belvedere to intrude on His Loftiness? And +have you a guinea or two on supping a cup of coffee with him? Upon my +honour, you must now be nearly at the end of your follies. Mother, where +is the Colonel?" + +"He has gone to Elder Semple's house. You know--" + +"I know well. For a long time I have purposed to call on the old +gentleman, and what I have neglected I am now justly denied. I meant, at +least, to pay him the last respect; but even that is to-day impossible. +For I must leave for England this afternoon at five o'clock, and I have +more to do than I can well accomplish." + +George leaped to his feet at these words. Nothing could have been more +unexpected; but that is the way with Destiny, her movements are ever +unforeseen and inevitable. "Sir," he cried, "what has happened?" + +"Your uncle is dying--perhaps dead. I received a letter this morning +urging me to take the first packet. The North Star sails this afternoon, +and I do not wish to miss her, for she flies English colours, and they +are the only ones the Barbary pirates pretend to respect. Now, George, +you must come with me to Mr. Hamilton's office; we have much business to +arrange there; then, while I pay a farewell visit to the President, you +can purchase for me the things I shall require for the voyage." + +So far his manner had been peremptory and decided, but, suddenly, a +sweet and marvellous change occurred. He went close to Madame Van +Heemskirk, and taking both her hands, said in a voice full of those +tones that captivate women's hearts-- + +"Mother! mother! I bid you a loving, grateful farewell! You have ever +been to me good, and gentle, and wise--the very best of mothers. God +bless you!" Then he kissed her with a solemn tenderness, and Lysbet +understood that he believed their parting to be a final one. She sat +down, weeping, and Hyde with an authoritative motion of the head, +commanding his son's attendance, went hastily out. It was then eleven +o'clock, and there was business that kept both men hurrying here and +there until almost the last hour. It had been agreed that they were to +meet at the City Hotel at four o'clock; and soon after that hour General +Hyde joined his son. He looked weary and sad, and began immediately to +charge George concerning his mother. + +"We parted with kisses and smiles this morning," he said; "and I am glad +of it; if I went back, we should both weep; and a wet parting is not a +lucky one. I leave her in your charge, George; and when I send her word +to come to England, look well to her comfort. And be sure to come with +her. Do you hear me?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"On no account--even if she wishes it--permit her to come alone. Promise +me." + +"I promise you, sir. What is there that I would not do for my mother? +What is there I would not do to please you, sir?" + +"Let me tell you, George, such words are very sweet to me. As to +yourself, I do not fear for you. It is above, and below reason, that you +should do anything to shame your kindred, living or dead--the living +indeed, you might reconcile; the dead are implacable; and their +vengeance is to be feared." + +"I fear not the dead, and I love the living. The honour of Hyde is safe +in my keeping. If you have any advice to give me, sir, pray speak +plainly." + +"With all my soul. I ask you, then, to play with some moderation. I ask +you to avoid any entanglement with women. I ask you to withdraw +yourself, as soon as possible, from those blusterers for French liberty-- +or rather French license, robbery, and assassination--I tell you there +is going to be a fierce national fracas on the subject. Stand by the +President, and every word he says. Every word is sure to be wise and +right." + +"Father, I learnt the word 'Liberty' from your lips. I drew my sword +under your command for 'Liberty.' I know not how to discard an idea that +has grown into my nature as the veining grows into the wood." + +"Liberty! Yes; cherish it with your life-blood. But France has polluted +the name and outraged the idea. Neither you nor I can wish to be swept +into the common sewers, being by birth, nobles and aristocrats. Earl +Stanhope, who was heart and soul with the French Revolution while it was +a movement for liberty, has just scratched his name with his own hand +from the revolutionary Club. And Burke, who was once its most +enthusiastic defender, has now written a pamphlet which has given it, in +England, a fatal blow. This news came in my letters to-day." Then taking +out his watch, he rose, saying, "Come, it is time to go to the ship--MY +DEAR GEORGE!" + +George could not speak. He clasped his father's hand, and then walked by +his side to Coffee House Slip, where the North Star was lying. There was +no time to spare, and the General was glad of it; for oh, these last +moments! Youth may prolong them, but age has lost youth's rebound, and +willingly escapes their disintegrating emotion. Before either realized +the fact, the General had crossed the narrow plank; it was quickly +withdrawn; the anchor was lifted to the chanty of "Homeward bound boys," +and the North Star, with wind and tide in her favour, was facing the +great separating ocean. + +George turned from the ship in a maze. He felt as if his life had been +cut sharply asunder; at any rate, its continuity was broken, and what +other changes this change might bring it was impossible to foresee. In +any extremity, however, there is generally some duty to do; and the +doing of that duty is the first right step onward. Without reasoning on +the matter, George followed this plan. He had a letter to deliver to his +mother; it was right that it should be delivered as soon as possible; +and indeed he felt as if her voice and presence would be the best of all +comfort at that hour; so late as it was, he rode out to Hyde Manor. His +mother, with a lighted candle in her hand, opened the door for him. + +"I thought it was thy father, Joris," she said; "but what? Is there +anything wrong? Why art thou alone?" + +"There is nothing wrong, dear mother. Come, I will tell you what has +happened." + +Then she locked the door carefully, and followed her son into the small +parlour, where she had been sitting. He gave her his father's letter, +and assumed for her sake, the air of one who has brought good tidings. +She silently read, and folded it; and George said, "It was the most +fortunate thing, the North Star being ready for sea. Father could hardly +have had a better boat; and they started with wind and tide in their +favour. We shall hear in a few weeks from him. Are you not pleased, +mother?" + +"It is too late, Joris;--twenty years too late. And I wish not to go to +England. Very unhappy was I in that cold, grey country. Very happy am I +here." + +"But you must have expected this change?" + +"Not until your cousin died was there any thought of such a thing. And +long before that, we had built and begun to love dearly this home. I +wish, then, it had been God's will that your cousin had not died." + +"My father--" + +"Ah, Joris, your father has always longed in his heart for England. Like +a weaning babe that never could be weaned was he. In many ways, he has +lately shown me that he felt himself to be a future English earl. And +thou too? Wilt thou become an Englishman? Then this fair home I have +made for thee will forget thy voice and thy footstep. Woe is me! I have +planted and planned, for whom I know not." + +"You have planned and planted for your Joris. I swear to you that I like +England as little as you do. I despise the tomfoolery of courts and +ceremonies. I count an earl no better than any other honourable +gentleman. I desire most of all to marry the woman I love, and live here +in the home that reminds me of you wherever I turn. I want your likeness +on the great stairway, and in all the rooms; so that those who may never +see your face may love you; and say, 'How good she looks! How beautiful +she is!'" + +"So true art thou! So loving! So dear to me! Even in England I can be +happy if I think of thee Here--filling these big rooms with good +company; riding, shooting, over thine own land, fishing in thy own +waters, telling thy boys and girls how dear grandmother had this pond +dug--this hedge planted--these woods filled with game--these streams set +with willows--these summerhouses built for pleasure. Oh, I have thought +ever as I worked, I shall leave my memory here--and here--and here +again--for never, Joris, never, dear Joris, while thou art in this +world, must thou forget me!" + +"Never! Never, oh never, dear, dear mother!" + +And that night they said no more. Both felt there would be plenty of +time in the future to consider whatever changes it might have in store +for them. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +AUNT ANGELICA + + +The first changes referred especially to Hyde's life, and were not +altogether approved by him. His pretence of reading law had to be +abandoned, for he had promised to remain at home with his mother, and it +would not therefore be possible for him to dawdle about Pearl Street and +Maiden Lane watching for Cornelia. But he had that happy and fortunate +temper that trusts to events; and also, he soon began to realize that if +circumstances alter cases, they also alter feelings. + +For, looking upon Hyde Manor as the future home of himself and his wife-- +and that wife, happily, Cornelia--he found it very easy to take an +almost eager interest in all that concerned its welfare and beauty. "How +good! How unselfish he is!" thought his mother. "Never before has he +been so ready to listen and so willing to please me." But, really, the +work soon became delightful to him. The passion for land and for its +improvement--the ruling passion of an Englishman--was not absent in +George; it was only latent, and the idea of home, of his own personal +home, developed it with amazing rapidity. He was soon able to make +excellent suggestions to his mother; for her ideas, beautiful enough in +the cultivation of flat surfaces, did not embody the grander +possibilities of the higher lands near the river. But George saw every +advantage, and with great ability directed his little gang of labourers +among the rocks and woody crags of the yet unplanted wilderness. + +In spite of their anxiety about the General, in spite of George's +longing to see Cornelia, these early summer days, with their glory of +sunshine and shade and their miracles of growth, were very happy days; +though madame reached her happiness by putting the future quite out of +her thoughts, and George reached his by anticipating the future as the +fruition of the present. Never since his early boyhood had madame and +her son been so near and so dear to each other; for her brother-in-law's +probable death and her husband's dangerous journeying released her from +social engagements, and permitted her to spend her time in the +employments and the companionship she loved best of all. + +George, while accepting for himself the same partial seclusion, had more +freedom. He rode into town three or four times every week; got the news +of the clubs and the streets; loitered about Maiden Lane and the +shopping district; and when disappointed and vexed at events went to his +Grandmother Van Heemskirk for sympathy. For, as yet, he hesitated about +naming Cornelia to his mother. He was sure she was aware of his passion, +and her reticence on the subject made him fear she was going to advocate +the fulfilment of his father's promise. And he had such a singular +delicacy about the girl he loved that he could not endure the thought of +bandying her name about in an angry discussion. Added to this fine sense +was an adoring love for his mother. She was in anxiety enough, and would +be, until she heard of her husband's safety; why, then, should he add +his anxiety to hers? + +Yet he was not happy about Cornelia. Since that unfortunate morning at +Richmond Hill they had never met. If she saw him go up or down Maiden +Lane, she made no sign. Several times Arenta's face at her parlour +window had given him a passing hope; but Arenta's own love affairs were +just then at a very interesting point; and, besides, she regarded the +young Lieutenant's admiration for her friend as only one of his many +transient enthusiasms. + +"If there was anything real in it," she reflected, "Cornelia would have +talked about him; and that she has never done." Then she began to +remember, with pride, the very sensible behaviour of her own lover. "My +Athanase," she reflected, "did not give me an hour's rest until we were +engaged. He insisted on talking to father about our marriage settlements +and our future--in fact, he made of love a thing possible and practical. +A lover like Joris Hyde is not, I think, very fortunate." + +She did not understand that the quality of love in its finest revelation +desires, after its first sweet inception, a little period of withdrawal-- +it wonders at its strange happiness--broods over it--is fearful of +disturbing emotions so exquisite--prefers the certainty of its delicious +suspense to a more definite understanding, and finds a keen strange +delight in its own poignant anxieties and hopes. These are the birth +pangs of an immortal love--of a love that knows within itself, that it +is born for Eternity, and need not to hurry the three-score-and-ten +years of time to a consummation. + +Of such noble lineage was the love of Cornelia for Joris Hyde. His +gracious, beautiful youth, seemed a part of her own youth; his ardent, +tender glances had filled her heart with a sweet trouble that she did +not understand. It was the most natural thing in the world that she +should wish to be apart; that she should desire to brood over feelings +so strangely happy; and that in this very brooding they should grow to +the perfect stature of a luminous and unquenchable affection. + +Joris was moved by a sentiment of the same kind, though in a lesser +degree. The masculine desire to obtain, and the delightful consciousness +that he possessed, at least, the tremendous advantage of asking for the +love he craved, roused him from the sweet torpor to which delicious, +dreamy love had inclined him. + +"I have thought of Cornelia long enough," he said one delightful summer +morning; "with all my soul I now long to see her. And it is not an +impossible thing I desire. In short, there is some way to compass it." +Then a sudden, invincible persuasion of success came to him; he believed +in his own good fortune; he had a conviction that the very stars +connived with a true lover to work his will. And under this enthusiasm +he galloped into town, took his horse to a stable, and then walked +towards Maiden Lane. + +In a few moments he saw Arenta Van Ariens. She was in a mist of blue and +white, with flowing curls, and fluttering ribbons; and a general air of +happiness. He placed himself directly in her path, and doffed his beaver +to the ground as she approached. + +"Well, then," she cried, with an affected air of astonishment, "who +would have thought of seeing you? Your retirement is the talk of the +town." + +"And pray what does the town say?" + +"Some part of it says you have lost your fortune at cards; another part +says you have lost your heart and got no compensation for it. 'Tis +strange to see the folly of young people of this age," she added, with a +little pretended sigh of superior wisdom. + +"As if you, also, had not lost your heart!" exclaimed Hyde. + +"No, sir! I have exchanged mine for its full value. Where are you +going?" + +"With you." + +"In a word, no. For I am going to Aunt Angelica's." + +"Upon my honour, it is to your Aunt Angelica's I desire to go most of +all!" + +"Now I understand. You have found out that Cornelia Moran is going +there. Are you still harping on that string? And Cornelia never said one +word to me. I do not approve of such deceit. In my love affairs I have +always been open as the day." + +"I assure you that I did NOT know Miss Moran was going there. I had not +a thought of Madame Jacobus until we met. To tell the very truth, I came +into town to look for you." + +"For me? And why, pray?" + +"I want to see Miss Moran. If I cannot see her, then I want to hear +about her. I thought you, of all people, could tell me the most and the +best. I assured myself that you had infinite good temper. Now, pray do +not disappoint me." + +"Listen! We meet this afternoon at my aunt's, to discuss the dresses and +ceremonies proper for a very fine wedding." + +"For your own wedding, in fact--Is not that so?" + +"Well, then?" + +"Well, then, who knows more on that subject than Joris Hyde? Was I not, +last year, at Lady Betty Somer's splendid nuptials; and at Fanny +Paget's, and the Countess of Carlisle's? Indeed, I maintain that in such +a discussion _I_ am an absolute necessity. And I wish to know Madame +Jacobus. I have long wished to know her. Upon my honour, I think her to +be one of the most interesting women in New York!" + +"I will advise you a little. Save your compliments until you can say +them to my aunt. I never carry a word to any one." + +"Then take me with you, and I will repeat them to her face." + +"So? Well, then, here we are, at her very door. I know not what she will +say--you must make your own excuses, sir." + +As she was speaking, they ascended the white steps leading to a very +handsome brick house on the west side of Broadway. It had wide iron +piazzas and a fine shady garden at the back, sloping down to the river +bank; and had altogether, on the outside, the very similitude of a +wealthy and fashionable residence. The door was opened by a very dark +man, who was not a negro, and who was dressed in a splendid and +outlandish manner--a scarlet turban above his straight black hair, and +gold-hooped earrings, and a long coat or tunic, heavily embroidered in +strange devices. + +"He was an Algerine pirate," whispered Arenta. "My Uncle Jacob brought +him here--and my aunt trusts him--I would not, not for a moment." + +As soon as the front door closed, Joris perceived that he was in an +unusual house. The scents and odours of strange countries floated about +it. The hall contained many tall jars, full of pungent gums and roots; +and upon its walls the weapons of savage nations were crossed in idle +and harmless fashion. They went slowly up the highly polished stairway +into a large, low parlour, facing the vivid, everyday business drama of +Broadway; but the room itself was like an Arabian Night's dream, for the +Eastern atmosphere was supplemented by divans and sofas covered with +rare cashmere shawls, and rugs of Turkestan, and with cushions of all +kinds of oriental splendour. Strange tables of wonderful mosaic work +held ivory carvings of priceless worth; and porcelain from unknown +lands. Gods and goddesses from the yellow Gehenna of China and the +utterable idolatry of India, looked out with brute cruelty, or +sempiternal smiles from every odd corner; or gazed with a fascinating +prescience from the high chimney-piece upon all who entered. + +The effect upon Hyde was instantaneous and uncanny. His Saxon-Dutch +nature was in instant revolt against influences so foreign and +unnatural. Arenta was unconsciously in sympathy with him; for she said +with a shrug of her pretty shoulders, as she looked around, "I have +always bad dreams after a visit to this room. Do these things have a +life of their own? Look at the creature on that corner shelf! What a +serene disdain is in his smile! He seems to gaze into the very depths of +your soul. I see that there is a curtain to his shrine; and I shall take +leave to draw it." With these words she went to the scornful divinity, +and shut his offending eyes behind the folds of his gold-embroidered +curtain. + +Hyde watched her flitting about the strange room, and thought of a +little brown wren among the poisonous, vivid splendours of tropical +swamp flowers. So out of place the pretty, thoughtless Dutch girl looked +among the spoils of far India, and Central America, and of Arabian and +African worship and workmanship. But when the door opened, and Madame +Jacobus, with soft, gliding footsteps entered, Hyde understood how truly +the soul, if given the wherewithal, builds the habitation it likes best. +Once possessed of marvellous beauty, and yet extraordinarily +interesting, she seemed the very genius of the room and its strange, +suggestive belongings. She was unusually tall, and her figure had kept +its undulating, stately grace. Her hair, dazzlingly white, was piled +high above her ample brow, held in place with jewelled combs and +glittering pins. Her face had lost its fine oval and youthful freshness, +but who of any feeling or intelligence would not have far preferred the +worn countenance, expressing in a thousand sensitive shades and emotions +the story of her life and love? And if every other beauty had failed, +Angelica's eyes would have atoned for the loss. They were large, softly- +black, slow-moving, or again, in a moment, flashing with the fire that +lay hidden in the dark pit of the iris. + +It was said that her slaves adored her, and that no man who came within +her influence had been able to resist her power--no man, perhaps, but +Captain Jacobus; and he had not resisted, he had been content to +exercise over her a power greater than her own. He had made her his +wife; he had lavished on her for ten years the spoils of the four +quarters of the world; and his worship of her had only been equalled by +her passionate attachment to him. Ten years of love, and then parting +and silence--unbroken silence. Yet she still insisted that he was alive, +and would certainly come back to her. With this faith in her heart, she +had refused to put on any symbol of loss or mourning. She kept his fine +house open, his room ready, and herself constantly adorned for his home- +coming. Society, which insists on uniformity, did not approve of this +unreasonable hope. It expected her to adopt the garments of widowhood +for a time, and then make a match in accordance with the great fortune +Captain Jacobus had left her. But Angelica Jacobus was a law unto +herself; and society was compelled to take her with those apologizing +shrugs it gives to whatever is original and individual. + +She came in with a smile of welcome. She was always pleased that her +fine home should be seen by those strange to it; and perhaps was +particularly pleased that General Hyde's son should be her visitor. And +as Joris was determined to win her favour, there was an almost +instantaneous birth of good-will. + +"Let me kiss your hand, madame," said the handsome young fellow, lifting +the jewelled fingers in his own. "I have heard that my father had once +that honour. Do not put me below him;" and with the words he touched +with his warm lips the long white fingers. + +Her laugh rang merrily through the dim room, and she answered--"You are +Dick Hyde's own son--nothing else. I see that"--and she drew the young +man towards the light and looked with a steady pleasure into his smiling +face as she asked-- + +"What brought you here this morning, sir?" + +"Madame, I have heard my father speak of you; I have seen you; can you +wonder that I desired to know you? This morning I met Miss Van Ariens, +and when she said she was coming here, I found myself unable to resist +the temptation of coming with her." + +"Let me tell you something, aunt. I think Lieutenant Hyde can be of +great service to us. He took part in several noble English weddings last +year, and he offers his advice in our consultation to-day." + +"But where is Cornelia? I thought she would come with you." + +"She will be here in a few minutes. I saw her half-an-hour ago." + +"What a beautiful girl she has become!" said madame. + +"She is an angel," said Hyde. + +Angelica laughed. "The man who calls a woman an angel has never had any +sisters," she answered; "but, however, she has beauty enough to set +young hearts ablaze. I like the girl, and I wonder not that others do +the same." + +Even as she spoke Cornelia entered. There was a little flush and hurry +on her face; but oh, how innocent and joyous it was! Quick-glancing, +sweetly smiling, she entered the musky, scented parlour, and in her +white robe and white hat stood like a lily in its light and gloom. And +when she turned to Hyde an ineffable charm and beauty illumed her +countenance. "How glad I am to see you!" she said, and the very ring of +gladness was in her voice. "And how strange that we should meet here!" + +"That is so," replied Madame Jacobus. "One can never see where the +second little bird comes from." + +"Am I late, madame? Surely your clock is wrong." + +"My clock is never wrong, Cornelia, A Dutch clock will always go just +about so. Come, now, sit down, and let us talk of such follies as +weddings and wedding gowns." + +In this conversation Hyde triumphantly redeemed his promise of +assistance. He could describe with a delightful accuracy--or inaccuracy-- +the lovely toilets and pretty accessories of the high English wedding +feasts of the previous year. And in some subtle way he threw into these +descriptions such a glamour of romance, such backgrounds of old castles +and chiming bells, of noble dames glittering with gems, and village +maids scattering roses, of martial heroes, and rejoicing lovers, all +moving in an atmosphere of song and sunshine, that the little party sat +listening, entranced, with sympathetic eyes drinking in his wonderful +descriptions. + +Madame Jacobus was the first to interrupt these pretty reminiscences. +"All this is very fine," she said, "but the most of it is no good for +us. The satin and the lace and even the gems, we can have; the music can +be somehow managed, and we shall not make a bad show as to love and +beauty. But castles and lords and military pomp, and old cathedrals hung +with battle flags-- Such things are not to be had here, and, in plain +truth, they are not necessary for the wedding of a simple maid like our +Arenta." + +"You forget, then, that my Athanase is of almost royal descent," said +Arenta. "A very old family are the Tounnerres--older, indeed, than the +royal Capets." + +"No one is to-day so poor as to envy the royal Capets; and as for an +ancient family, Captain Jacobus used to speak of his forefathers as 'the +old fellows whom the flood could not wash away.' Jacobus always put his +ideas in such clear, forcible words. What I want to know is this--where +is the ceremony to be performed?" + +"The civil ceremony is to be at the French Embassy," answered Arenta +with some pride. + +"Is that all there is to it?" + +"Aunt! How could you imagine that I should be satisfied with a civil +ceremony? My father also insists upon a religious ceremony; and my +Athanase told him he was willing to marry me in every church in America. +I am not Gertrude Kippon! No, indeed! I insist on everything being done +in a moral and respectable manner. My father spoke of Doctor Kunz for +the religious part." + +"I like not Doctor Kunz," answered madame. "Bishop Provoost and the +Episcopal service is the proper thing. Doctor Kunz will be sure to say +some sharp words--his tongue is full of them--he stands too stiff--he +does not use his hands gracefully--his walk and carriage is not +dignified--and he looks at you through spectacles--and I, for one, do +not like to be looked at through spectacles. We must decide for the +Episcopal church." + +"And the little trip after it," continued Arenta. "Lieutenant Hyde says +that, in England, it is now the proper thing." + +"But in America it is not the proper thing. It is a rude unmannerly way +to run off with a bride. We are not red Indians, nor is the Marquis +carrying you by force from some hostile tribe. The nuptial trip is a +barbarism. I am now weary. Lieutenant, take Miss Moran and show her my +garden. I tell you, it is worth walking through; and when you have seen +the flowers, Arenta and I will give you a cup of tea." + +Arenta would gladly have gone into the garden also, but her aunt +detained her. "Can you not see," she asked, "that those two are in love +with each other? Give love its hour. They do not want your company." + +"And for that very reason I wish to go with them. My brother is in love +with Cornelia, and I am for Rem, and not for a stranger--also, my father +and Cornelia's father are both for Rem; and, besides, Doctor Moran hates +the Hydes. He will not let Cornelia marry the man." + +"HE WILL NOT LET! When did Doctor John become omnipotent? Love laughs +at fathers, as well as at locksmiths. And if Doctor John is against +young Hyde, then I shall the more cheerfully be for him--a pleasant, +handsome youth as ever I saw, is he; and Doctor John--well, he is +neither pleasant nor handsome." + +"Aunt Angelica! I am astonished at you! Every one will contradict what +you say." + +"For that reason, I will maintain it. It is not my way to shout with the +multitude." + +With some hesitation, yet quite carried away by Hyde's personal longing +and impulse, Cornelia went into the garden with her lover. It was a +green, shady place, full of great maple-trees and flowering vines and +shrubs, and patches of green grass. All kinds of sweet old-fashioned +flowers grew there, mingling their scent with the strawberries' perfume +and the woody odours of the ripening cherries. They were alone in this +lovely place; the high privet hedges hid them from the outside world, +and the babble and rumble of Broadway came to them only as the murmur of +noise in a dream. Speechless with joy, Hyde clasped Cornelia's slender +fingers, and they went together down the few broad low steps which led +them into the green shadows of the trees. How soft was the grassy turf! +How exquisite the westering sunlight, sifting through the maple leaves! +They looked into each other's eyes and smiled, but were too happy to +speak. For they had suddenly come into that land, which is east of the +sun, and west of the moon; that land not laid down on any chart, but +which we feel to be our rightful heritage. + +Slowly, as they stepped, they came at length to a little summerhouse. It +was covered with a thick jessamin vine; and the mysterious, languorous +perfume of its starlike flowers filled the narrow resting-place with the +very atmosphere of love. They sat down there, and in a few moments the +seal was broken and Hyde's heart found out all the sweetest words that +love could speak. Cornelia trembled; she blushed, she smiled, she +suffered herself to be drawn close to his side; and, at last, in some +sweet, untranslatable way, she gave him the assurance of her love. Then +they found in delicious silence the eloquence that words were +incompetent to translate; time was forgotten, and on earth there was +once more an interlude of heavenly harmony in which two souls became one +and Paradise was regained. + +Arenta's voice, petulant and not pleasant, broke the charm. With a sigh +they rose, dropped each other's hand, and went out of their heaven on +earth to meet her. + +"Tea is waiting," she said, "and Rem is waiting, and my aunt is tired, +and you two have forgotten that the clock moves." Then they laughed, and +laughter is always fatal to feeling; the magical land of love was +suddenly far away, and there was the sound of china, and the heavy tones +of Rem's voice--dissatisfied, if not angry--and Arenta's lighter fret; +and they stood once more among fetishes and forms so foreign, fabulous +and fantastical, that it was difficult to pass from the land of love, +and all its pure delights, into their atmosphere. + +It would have been harder but for Madame Jacobus. She understood; and +she sympathized; and there was a kindly element in her nature which +disposed her to side with the lovers. Her smile,--quick and short as a +flash of the eyes--revealed to Hyde her intention of favour, and without +one spoken word, these two knew themselves to be of the same mind. And, +in parting, she held his hand while she talked, saying at last the very +words he longed to hear-- + +"We shall expect you again on Thursday, Lieutenant. Everything is yet +undecided, and the work you have begun, it is right that you should +finish." + +He answered only, "Thank you, madame!" but he accompanied the words with +a look which asked so much, and confessed so much, that madame felt +herself to be a silent confidante and a not unwilling accomplice. And +when she had closed the door on her guests, she acknowledged it. "But +then," she whispered, "I always did dearly love a lover; and this +promises to be a love affair that will need my help--plenty of good +honest hatred for it to combat--and wealth and rank and all sorts of +conflicting conditions to get the better of--Well, then, my help is +ready. In plain truth, I don't like such perfection as Doctor John; and +my nephew Rem is not interesting. He is sulky, and Hyde is good- +tempered, just like his father, too; and there never was a more +fascinating man than Dick Hyde. HE-HO! I remember!--I remember!--and yet +I dare say Dick has forgotten my very name--this is a marriage that will +exactly suit me--I don't care who is against it!" Then she said softly +to herself-- + +"REM went to Cornelia as they were about to leave, and he reminded her +that, by her permission, he had come to walk home with her. + +"CORNELIA turned to Hyde, excused herself, and, cool and silent, took +her place by Rem's side. + +"HYDE accepted the position with a smile, and a gracious bow, and then +joined Arenta. + +"ARENTA was far less agreeable than she ought to have been; for both she +and her brother had a kind of divination. They knew, in spite of +appearances, that Rem had not got the best of Joris Hyde. I am quick in +my observations, and I know this is so. Well then, it is a very +interesting affair as it stands--and it is like to grow far more +interesting. I am not opposed to that. I shall enjoy it. Hyde and +Cornelia ought to marry--and they have my good wishes." + +As for Hyde, no thought that could mar the sweetness and joy of this +fortunate hour came into his mind. Neither Rem's evident hatred, nor +Arenta's disapproval, nor yet Cornelia's silence, troubled him. He had +within his heart a talisman that made everything propitious. And he was +so joyous that the people whom he passed on the street caught happiness +from him. Men and women alike turned to look after the youth, for they +felt the virtue of his passing presence, and wondered what it might +mean. Even the necessary parting from Cornelia was only a phase of this +wonderful gladness; for Love never fails of his token, and, though +Arenta's sharp eyes could not discover it, Hyde received the silent +message that was meant for him, and for him only. That one thought made +his heart bound and falter with its exquisite delight--for him only--for +him only, was that swift but certain assurance; that instantaneous +bright flash of love that held in it all heaven and earth, and left him, +as he told himself again and again, the happiest man in all the world. + +He was hardly responsible for his actions at this hour; for when a swift +gallop brought him to the Van Heemskirk house, he quite unconsciously +struck the door some rapid, forceful blows, with his riding whip. His +grandfather opened it with an angry face. + +"I thought it was thee," he said. "Now, then, in such lordly fashion, +whom didst thou summon? dog or slave, was it?" + +"Oh, grandfather, I intended no harm. Did I strike so hard? Upon my +word, I meant it not." + +At this moment Madame Van Heemskirk came quickly forward. She turned a +face of disapproval on her husband, and asked sharply, "Why dost thou +complain?" + +"I like not my house-door struck so rudely, Lysbet. No man in all +America, but Joris Hyde, would dare to do it." + +At these words Joris flung himself from his horse and clasped his +grandfather's hand. "I did wrong," he said warmly; "but I am beside +myself with happiness; and I thought of nothing but telling you. My +heart was in such a hurry that my hands forgot how to behave +themselves." + +"So happy as that, art thou? Good! Come in, and tell us what has +happened to thee." + +But Lysbet divined the joy in her grandson's face; and she said softly +as he seated himself at the open window where his grandfather's chair +was placed-- + +"It is Cornelia?" + +"Yes, it is Cornelia. She loves me! The most charming girl the sun ever +shone upon loves me. It is incredible! It is amazing! I cannot believe +in my good fortune. Will you assure me it is possible? I want to hear +some one say so--and who is there but my grandfather and you? I do not +like to tell my mother, just yet. What do you say?" + +"I say that thou hast chosen a good girl for a wife. God bless thee," +answered Lysbet with great emotion. + +Van Heemskirk smiled, but was silent; and Hyde stooped forward, gently +moved his long pipe away from his lips, and said, "Grandfather, speak, +You know Cornelia Moran?" + +"I have seen her. With thee I saw her--walking with thee--dancing with +thee. A great beauty I thought her. Thy grandmother says she is good. +Well, then, the love of a good, beautiful girl, is something to be glad +over. Not twice in a lifetime comes such great fortune. But make up thy +mind to expect much opposition. Doctor John and thy father were ever +unfriends. Thy father has other plans for thee; Cornelia's father has +doubtless other plans for her. Few men can stand against Doctor John; he +has the word, and the way, to carry all before him. I know not how the +little Cornelia can dare to disobey him." + +"She has said 'yes' to me; and, before heaven and earth, she will stand +by it." + +"Say that much. And of thyself, art thou sure?" + +"Why art thou throwing cold water on such sweet hopes?" said Lysbet to +her husband. + +"Because, when love flames beyond duty and honour and all expediences, +Lysbet, some one a little cold water ought to throw. And THOU will not +do it. No! Rather, would thou add fuel to the flame." + +"I know not what you mean, sir," said Hyde, vaguely troubled by his +grandfather's words. + +"I think thou knowest well what I mean. Thy father has told thee that +thy duty and thy honour are pledged to Annie Hyde." + +"I never pledged! Never!" + +"But, as in thy baptism thy father made vows for thee, so also for thy +marriage he made promises. Noble birth has responsibility, as well as +privilege. For thyself alone it is not permitted thee to live, from both +the past and the future there are demands on thee." + +"Grandfather, this living for the future is the curse of the English +land-owners. They enjoy not the present, for they are busy taking care +of the years they will never see. Their sons are in their way; it is +their grandsons and their great-grandsons that interest them. Why should +my father plan for my marriage? He may be Earl Hyde for twenty years-- +and I hope he will. For twenty years Cornelia and I can be happy here in +America; and twenty years is a great opportunity. Everything can happen +in twenty years. Of one thing I am sure--I will marry Cornelia Moran, +even if I run away with her to the ends of the earth." + +"'Run away with her.' To be sure! That is in the blood;" and the old man +looked sternly back to the days when Hyde's father ran away with his own +little daughter. + +With some anger Lysbet answered his thoughts. "What art thou talking +about? What art thou thinking of? Many good men have run away with their +wives. This almighty Doctor John ran away with his wife. Did not Ava +Willing leave her father's house and her friends and her faith for him? +And did not the Quakers read her out of their Meeting for her marriage?-- +and I blame them not. Doctor John was no match for Ava Willing. More, +too, if thou must look back; remember one May night, when thou and I sat +by the Collect in the moonlight, and thou gave me this ring. What did +thou say to me that night?" + +"'Tis years ago, Lysbet, and If I have forgotten--" + +"Forgotten! Well, then, men do forget; but they may be thankful that God +has so made women that they do NOT forget. The words thou said that +night have been singing in my heart for fifty years; and yet, if thou +must be told, some of those words were about RUNNING AWAY WITH THEE;-- +for, at the first, my father liked thee not." + +"Lysbet! My sweet Lysbet! I have not forgotten. For thy dear sake I will +stand by Joris, though in doing so I am sure I shall make some +unfriends." + +"Good, my husband. I take leave to say that thou art doing right." + +"Well, then," said Hyde, "if my grandmother stand by me, and you also, +sir; and also Madame Jacobus--" + +"Madame Jacobus!" cried Lysbet. + +"Yes, indeed!" answered Hyde. "'Tis to her understanding and kindness I +owe my opportunity; and she gave me, also, one look which I cannot +pretend to misunderstand--a look of clear sympathy--a look that promised +help." + +"She is a clever woman," said Van Heemskirk. "If Joris has her good will +it is not to be thrown away." + +"I like her not," said Lysbet. "With my grandson, with my affairs, why +should she meddle? Pray, now, what took thee, Joris, to her house? It is +full of idolatries and graven images. Doctor Kunz once wrote to her a +letter about them. He said she ought to remember the Second Commandment. +And she wrote to him a letter, and told him to trouble himself with his +own business. Much anger and shame there might have been out of this, +but Angelica Jacobus is rich, and she is generous to the church, and to +the poor; and Doctor Kunz said to the elders, 'Let her alone, for there +is a savour of righteousness in her;' and when she heard of that, she +was pleased with the Doctor, and sent him one hundred dollars for the +Indian Mission. But, Joris, she is no good to thee. I hear many queer +stories of her." + +"Downright lies, all of them," replied Hyde. Then he rose, saying, "I +must ride onward. My mother will not sleep until she sees me." + +"It is nearly dark," said Van Heemskirk, "and to-night thou art in the +clouds. The land and the water will be alike to thee. Rest until the +morning." + +"I fear not the dark. I know the road by night or by day." + +"Yet, even so, mind what I tell thee--if thou ride in the dark, be not +wiser than thy beast." + +Then they walked with him to the door, and watched him leap to his +saddle and ride into the twilight trembling over the misty meadows, +trickling with dews. And a great melancholy fell over them, and they +could not resume the conversation. Joris re-lit his pipe, and Lysbet +went softly and thoughtfully about her household duties. It was one of +those hours in which Life distills for us her vague melancholy wine; and +Joris and Lysbet drank deeply of it. + +The moon was in its third day, and the silent crescent has no calmer and +sweeter time; yet Joris it inclined to a sad presentiment. "In my heart +there is a fear, Lysbet," he said softly. "I think our boy has gone a +road he will dearly rue. I foresee disputing, and wounded hearts, and +lives made barren by many disappointed hopes." + +"Nothing of the kind," answered Lysbet cheerfully. "Our little Joris is +so happy to-night, why wilt thou think evil for him? To think evil is to +bring evil. Out of foolishness or perchance such a great love has not +come. No, indeed! That it comes from heaven I am sure; and to heaven I +will leave its good fortune." + +"Pleasant are thy hopes, Lysbet; but, too often, vain and foolish." + +"Thy reasoning, is it any wiser? No. Often I have found it wrong. One +thing the years have said to me, it is this--'Lysbet put not thy +judgment in the place of Providence. If thou trust Providence, thou hast +the easy heart of a child of God; if thou trust to thine own judgment, +thou hast the troubled heart of an anxious woman.'" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +ARENTA'S MARRIAGE + + +For a few weeks, Hyde's belief that the very stars would connive with a +true lover seemed a reliable one. Madame Jacobus, attracted at their +first meeting to the youth, soon gave him an astonishing affection. And +yet this warm love of an old woman for youth and beauty was a very +natural one--a late development of the maternal instinct leading her +even to what seemed an abnormal preference. For she put aside her +nephew's claims with hardly a thought, and pleased herself day by day in +so managing and arranging events that Hyde and Cornelia met, as a matter +of course. Arenta was not, however, deceived; she understood every +maneuvre, but the success of her own affairs depended very much on her +aunt's cooperation and generosity, and so she could not afford, at this +time, to interfere for her brother. + +"But I shall alter things a little as soon as I am married," she told +herself. "I will take care of that. At this time I must see, and hear, +and say nothing. I must act politely--for I am always polite--and +Athanase also is in favour of politeness--but I take leave to say that +Joris Hyde shall not carry so much sail when a few weeks are gone by. So +happy he looks! So pleased with himself! So sure of all he says and +does! I am angry at him all the time. Well, then, it will be a +satisfaction to abate a little the confidence of this cock-sure young +man." + +Arenta's feelings were in kind and measure shared by several other +people; Doctor Moran held them in a far bitterer mood; but he, also,-- +environed by circumstances he could neither alter nor command,--was +compelled to satisfy his disapproval with promises of a future change. +For the wedding of Arenta Van Ariens had assumed a great social +importance. Arenta herself had talked about the affair until all classes +were on the tiptoe of expectation. The wealthy Dutch families, the +exclusive American set, the home and foreign diplomatic circles, were +alike looking forward to the splendid ceremony, and to the great +breakfast at Peter Van Ariens' house, and to the ball which Madame +Jacobus was to give in the evening. None of the younger people had ever +been in madame's fantastic ballroom, and they were eager for this entry +into her wonderful house. For their mothers--seeing things through the +mists of Time--had, innocently enough, exaggerated the marvels of the +Chinese lanterns, the feather flowers and gorgeously plumed birds, the +cases of tropical butterflies and beetles, and the fascination of the +pagan deities, until they were ready to listen to any tale about Madame +Jacobus and to swallow it like cream. + +So Doctor Moran, being physician and family friend to most of the +invited guests, had to listen to such reminiscences and anticipations +wherever he went. He knew that he could not talk against the great +public current, and that in the excited state of social feeling it would +be a kind of treason even to hint disapproval of Arenta, or of any of +her friends or doings. But he suffered. He was questioned by some, he +was enlightened by others; his opinion was asked about dresses and +ceremonies, he was constantly congratulated on his daughter's prominence +as bridesmaid, and he was sent for professionally, that he might be +talked to socially. Yet if he ventured to hint dissatisfaction, or to +express himself by a scornful "Pooh! Pooh!" he was answered by looks of +such astonishment, of such quick-springing womanly suspicions, that he +could not doubt the kind of conversation which followed his exit: + +"Do you think Doctor Moran VERY clever?" + +"Most people think so." + +"He is so unsympathetic. Doctor Moore knows everything Madame Jacobus is +going to have, and to do. I think doctors ought to be chatty. It is so +good for their patients to be cheered up a little." + +Doctor Moran divined perfectly this taste for gossip and MEDICINAL +sympathy combined, and to administer it was, to him, more nauseous than +his own bitterest drugs. So in these days he was not a cheerful man to +live with, and Cornelia's beauty and radiant happiness affected him very +much as Hyde's pronounced satisfaction affected Arenta. One morning, as +he was returning home after a round of disagreeable visits, he saw +Cornelia and Hyde coming up Broadway together. They were sauntering side +by side in all the lazy happiness of perfect love; and as he looked at +them the sorrow of an immense disillusion filled him to the lips. He had +believed himself, as yet, to be the first and the dearest in his child's +love; but in that moment his eyes were opened, and he felt as if he had +been suddenly thrust out from it and the door closed upon him. + +He did the wisest thing possible: he went home to his wife. She heard +him ride with clattering haste into the stone court, and soon after +enter the house from the back, banging every door after him. She knew +then that something had angered him--that he was in that temper which +makes a woman cry, but which a man can only relieve by noisy or emphatic +movement of some kind. A resolute look came into her face and she said +to herself, "John has always had his own way--and my way also; but +Cornelia's way--the child must surely have something to say about that." + +"Where is Cornelia, Ava?" He asked the question with a quick glance +round the room, as if he expected to find her present. + +"Cornelia is not at home to-day." + +"Is she ever at home now?" + +"You know that Arenta's wedding--" + +"Arenta's wedding! I am tired to death of it: I have heard nothing this +morning but Arenta's wedding. Why the deuce! should my house be turned +upside down and inside out for Arenta's wedding? Women have been married +before Arenta Van Ariens, and women will be married after her. What is +all this fuss about?" + +"You know--" + +"Bless my soul! of course I know. I know one thing at least, that I have +just met Cornelia and that young fop George Hyde coming up the street +together, as if they two alone were in the world. They never saw me, +they could see nothing but themselves." + +"Men and women have done such a thing before, John, and they will do it +again. Cornelia is a beautiful girl; it is natural that she should have +a lover." + +"It is very unnatural that she should choose for her lover the son of my +worst enemy." + +"I am sure you wrong General Hyde. When was he your enemy? How could he +be your enemy?" + +"When was he my enemy? Ever since the first hour we met. Often he tried +to injure me with General Washington; often he accused me of showing +partiality to certain officers in the army; only last year he prevented +my election to the Senate by using all his influence in favour of Joris +Van Heemskirk. If he has not done me more injury and more injustice, +'tis because he has not had the opportunity. And you want me to give +Cornelia to his son! Yes, you do, Ava! I see it on your face. You +stretch my patience too far. Can I not see--" + +"Can an angry man ever see? No, he cannot. You feed your own suspicions, +John. You might just as well link Cornelia's name with Rem Van Ariens as +with Joris Hyde. She is continually in Rem's company. He is devoted to +her. She cannot possibly misunderstand his looks and words, she must +perceive that he is her ardent lover. You might have seen them the last +three evenings sitting together at that table preparing the invitations +for the wedding breakfast and ball; arranging the cards and favours.--So +happy! So pleasantly familiar! So confidential! I think Rem Van Ariens +has as much of Cornelia's liking as George Hyde; and perhaps neither of +them have enough of it to win her hand. All lovers do not grow to +husbands." + +"Thank God, they do not! But what you say about Rem is only cobweb +stuff. She is too friendly, too pleasantly familiar, I would like to see +her more shy and silent with him. Every one has already given my +daughter to Hyde, and, say what you will, common fame is seldom to +blame." + +"Dinner is waiting, John, and whether you eat it or not Destiny will go +straight to her mark. Love is destiny; and the heart is its own fate. +There are those to whom we are spiritually related, and the tie is +kinder than flesh and blood. Can you, or I, count such kindred? No; but +souls see each other at a glance. Did I not know thee, John, the very +moment that we met?" + +She spoke softly, with a voice sweeter than music, and her husband was +touched and calmed. He took the hand she stretched out to him and kissed +it, and she added-- + +"Let us be patient. Love has reasons that reason does not understand; +and if Cornelia is Hyde's by predestination, as well as by choice, +vainly we shall worry and fret; all our opposition will come to nothing. +Give Cornelia this interval, and tithe it not; in a few days Arenta will +have gone away; and as for Hyde, any hour may summon him to join his +father in England; and this summons, as it will include his mother, he +can neither evade nor put off. Then Rem will have his opportunity." + +"To be patient--to wait--to say nothing--it is to give opportunity too +much scope. I must tell that young fellow a little of my mind--" + +"You must not make yourself a town's talk, John. Just now New York is +all for lovers. If you interfere between Hyde and Cornelia while it is +in this temper, every one will cry out, 'Oh, the pity of it!' and you +will be bayed into doing some mad thing or other. Do I not know you, +dear one?" + +"God's precious!" and he took her in his arms, saying, "the man who +learns nothing from his wife will never learn anything from anybody. +Come, then, and we will eat our meal. I had forgotten Rem, and as you +say, Hyde may have to go to England to-morrow; putting-off has broken up +many an ill marriage." + +"Time and absence against any love affair that is not destiny! And if it +be destiny, there is only submission, nothing else. But life has a +'maybe' in everything dear; a maybe that is just as likely to please us +as not." + +Then Doctor John looked up with a smile. "You are right, Ava," he said +cheerfully. "I will take the maybe. Maybes have a deal to do with life. +When you come to think of it, there is not a victory of any kind gained, +nor a good deed done except on a maybe. So maybe all I fear may pass +like a summer cloud. Yet, take my word for it, there is, I think, no +maybe in Rem's chances with Cornelia." + +"We shall see. I think there is." + +Certainly Rem was of this opinion. The past few weeks had been very +favourable to him. In them he had been continually associated with +Cornelia, and her manner towards him had been so frankly kind and +familiar, so confidential and sympathetic, that he could not help but +contrast it with their previous intercourse, when she had appeared to +withdraw herself from all his approaches and to forbid by her retiring +manner even the courtesies to which his long acquaintance with her +entitled him. + +If he had known more of women he would not have given himself any hope +on this change of attitude. It simply meant that Cornelia had arrived at +that certainty with regard to her own affections which permitted her a +more general latitude. She knew that she loved Hyde, and she knew that +Hyde loved her. They had a most complete confidence in each other; and +she was not afraid, either for his sake or her own, to give to Rem that +friendship which the circumstances warranted. That this friendship could +ever grow to love on her part was an impossible thing; and if she +thought of Rem's feelings, it was to suppose that he must understand +this position as well as she did herself. + +Rem, however, was quite aware of his rival, and with the blunt +directness of his nature watched with jealous dislike, and often with +rude impatience, the familiar intercourse which his aunt's partiality +permitted Hyde. He was, indeed, often so rude that a less sweet- +tempered, a less just youth than George Hyde would have pointedly +resented many offences that he passed by with that "noble not caring" +which is often the truest courage. + +Still the situation was one of great tension, and it required not only +the wise forbearance of Hyde and Cornelia, but the domineering +selfishness of Arenta and the suave clever diplomacies of Madame Jacobus +to preserve at times the merely decent conventionalities of polite life. +To keep the peace until the wedding was over--that was all that Rem +promised himself; THEN! He often gave voice to this last word, though he +had no distinct idea as to what measures he included in those four +letters. + +He told himself, however, that it would be well for George Hyde to be in +England, and that if he were there, the General might be trusted to look +after the marriage of his son. For he knew that an English noble would +be of necessity bound by his caste and his connections, and that Hyde +would have to face obligations he would not be able to shirk. "Then, +then, his opportunity to win Cornelia would come!" And it was at this +point the hopeful "maybe" entered into Rem's desires and anticipations. + +But wrath covered carries fate. Every one was in some measure conscious +of this danger and glad when the wedding day approached. Even Arenta had +grown a little weary of the prolonged excitement she had provoked, for +everything had gone so well with her that she had taken the public very +much into her confidence. There had been frequent little notices in the +Gazette and Journal of the approaching day--of the wedding presents, the +wedding favours, the wedding guests, and the wedding garments. And, as +if to add the last touch of glory to the event, just a week before +Arenta's nuptials a French armed frigate came to New York bearing +despatches for the Count de Moustier; and the Marquis de Tounnerre was +selected to bear back to France the Minister's Message. So the marriage +was put forward a few days for this end, and Arenta in the most +unexpected way obtained the bridal journey which she desired; and also +with it the advantage of entering France in a semi-public and stately +manner. + +"I am the luckiest girl in the world," she said to Cornelia and her +brother when this point had been decided. They were tying up "dream- +cake" for the wedding guests in madame's queer, uncanny drawing-room as +she spoke, and the words were yet on her lips when madame entered with a +sandal wood box in her hands. + +"Rem," she said, "go with Cornelia into the dining-room a few minutes. I +have something to say to Arenta that concerns no one else." + +As soon as they were alone madame opened the box and upon a white velvet +cushion lay the string of oriental pearls which Arenta on certain +occasions had been permitted to wear. Arenta's eyes flashed with +delight. She had longed for them to complete her wedding costume, but +having a very strong hope that her aunt would offer her this favour, she +had resolved to wait for her generosity until the last hour. Now she was +going; to receive the reward of her prudent patience, and she said to +herself, "How good it is to be discreet!" With an intense desire and +interest she looked at the beautiful beads, but madame's face was +troubled and sombre, and she said almost reluctantly-- + +"Arenta, I am going to make you an offer. This necklace will be yours +when I die, at any rate; but I think there is in your heart a wish to +have it now. Is this so?" + +"Aunt, I should like--oh, indeed I long to wear the beads at my +marriage. I shall only be half-dressed without them." + +"You shall wear the necklace. And as you are going to what is left of +the French Court, I will give it to you now, if the gift will be to your +mind." + +"There is nothing that could be more to my mind, dear aunt. I would +rather have the necklace, than twice its money's worth. Thank you, aunt. +You always know what is in a young girl's heart." + +"First, listen to what I say. No woman of our family has escaped +calamity of some kind, if they owned these beads. My mother lost her +husband the year she received them. My Aunt Hildegarde lost her fortune +as soon as they were hers. As for myself, on the very day they became +mine your Uncle Jacobus sailed away, and he has never come back. Are you +not afraid of such fatality?" + +"No, I am not. Things just happen that way. What power can a few beads +have over human life or happiness? To say so, to think so, is +foolishness." + +"I know not. Yet I have heard that both pearls and opals have the power +to attract to themselves the ill fortune of their wearers. If they +happen to be maiden pearls or gems that would be good; but would you +wish to inherit the evil fortune of all the women who have possessed +before you?" + +"Poor pearls! It is they who are the unfortunates." + +"Yes, but a time comes when they have taken all of misfortune they can +take; then the pearls grow black and die, really die. Yes, indeed! I +have seen dead pearls. And if the necklace were of opals, when that time +came for them the gems would lose their fire and colour, grow ashy grey, +fall apart and become dust, nothing but dust." + +"Do you believe such tales, aunt? I do not. And your pearls are yet as +white as moonlight. I do not fear them. Give them to me, aunt. I snap my +fingers at such fables." + +"Give them to you, I will not, Arenta; but you may take them from the +box with your own hands." + +"I am delighted to take them. I have always longed for them." + +"Perhaps then they longed for you, for what is another's yearns for its +owner." + +Then madame left the room and Arenta lifted the box and carried it +nearer to the light. And a little shiver crept through her heart and she +closed the lid quickly and said irritably-- + +"It is my aunt's words. She is always speaking dark and doubtful things. +However, the pearls are mine at last!" and she carried them with her +downstairs, throwing back her head as if they were round her white +throat and--as was her way--spreading herself as she went. + +All fine weddings are much alike. It was only in such accidentals as +costume that Arenta's differed from the fine weddings of to-day. There +was the same crush of gayly attired women, of men in full dress, or +military dress, or distinguished by diplomatic insignia:--the same low +flutter of silk, and stir of whispered words, and suppressed excitement-- +the same eager crowd along the streets and around the church to watch +the advent of the bride and bridegroom. All of the guests had seen them +very often before, yet they too looked at the dazzling girl in white as +if they expected an entirely different person. The murmur of pleasure, +the indefinable stir of human emotion, the solemn mystical words at the +altar that were making two one, the triumphant peal of music when they +ceased, and the quick crescendo of rising congratulation--all these +things were present then, as now. And then, as now, all these things +failed to conceal from sensitive minds that odour of human sacrifice, +not to be disguised with the scent of bridal flowers--that immolation of +youth and beauty and charming girlhood upon the altar of an unknown and +an untried love. + +New York was not then too busy making money to take an interest in such +a wedding, and Arenta's drive through its pleasant streets was a kind of +public invitation. For Jacob Van Ariens was one of a guild of wealthy +merchants, and they were at their shop doors to express their sympathy +by lifted hats and smiling faces; while the women looked from every +window, and the little children followed, their treble voices heralding +and acclaiming the beautiful bride. Then came the breakfast and the +health-drinking and the speech-making and the rather sadder drive to the +wharf at which lay La Belle France. And even Arenta was by this time +weary of the excitement, so that it was almost with a sense of relief +she stepped across the little carpeted gangway to her deck. Then the +anchor was lifted, the cable loosened, and with every sail set La Belle +France went dancing down the river on the tide-top to the open sea. + +Van Ariens and his son Rem turned silently away. A great and evident +depression had suddenly taken the place of their assumed satisfaction. +"I am going to the Swamp office," said Rem after a few moments' silence, +"there is something to be done there." + +"That is well," answered Peter. "To my Cousin Deborah I will give some +charges about the silver, and then I will follow you." + +Both men were glad to be alone. They had outworn emotion and knew +instinctively that some common duty was the best restorer. The same +feeling affected, in one way or another, all the watchers of this +destiny. Women whose household work was belated, whose children were +strayed, who had used up their nervous strength in waiting and feeling, +were now cross and inclined to belittle the affair and to be angry at +Arenta and themselves for their lost day. And men, young and old, all +went back to their ledgers and counters and manufacturing with a sense +of lassitude and dejection. + +Peter had nearly reached his own house when he met Doctor Moran. The +doctor was more irritable than depressed. He looked at his friend and +said sharply, "You have a fever, Van Ariens. Go to bed and sleep." + +"To work I will go. That is the best thing to do. My house has no +comfort in it. Like a milliner's or a mercer's store it has been for +many weeks. Well, then, my Cousin Deborah is at work there, and in a +little while--a little while--" He suddenly stopped and looked at the +doctor with brimming eyes. In that moment he understood that no putting +to rights could ever make his home the same. His little saucy, selfish, +but dearly loved Arenta would come there no more; and he found not one +word that could express the tide of sorrow rising in his heart. Doctor +John understood. He remained quiet, silent, clasping Van Ariens' hand +until the desolate father with a great effort blurted out-- + +"She is gone!--and smiling, also, she went." + +"It is the curse of Adam," answered Doctor Moran bitterly--"to bring up +daughters, to love them, to toil and save and deny ourselves for them, +and then to see some strange man, of whom we have no certain knowledge, +carry them off captive to his destiny and his desires. 'Tis a thankless +portion to be a father--a bitter pleasure." + +"Well, then, to be a mother is worse." + +"Who can tell that? Women take for compensations things that do not +deceive a father. And, also, they have one grand promise to help them +bear loss and disappointment--the assurance of the Holy Scripture that +they shall have salvation through child-bearing. And I, who have seen so +much of family love and life, can tell you that this promise is all many +a mother has for her travail and sorrowful love." + +"It is enough. Pray God that we miss not of that reward some share," and +with a motion of adieu he turned into his house. Very thoughtfully the +Doctor went on to William Street where he had a patient,--a young girl +of about Arenta's age--very ill. A woman opened the door--a woman +weeping bitterly. + +"She is gone, Doctor." + +"At what hour?" + +"The clock was striking three--she went smiling." + +Then he bowed his head and turned away. + +There was nothing more that he could do; but he remembered that Arenta +had stepped on board the La Belle France as the clock struck three, and +that she also had gone smiling to her unknown destiny. + +"Two emigrants," he thought, "pilgrims of Love and Death, and both went +smiling!" An unwonted tenderness came into his heart; he thought of the +bright, lovely bride clinging so trustfully to her husband's arm, and he +voiced this gentle feeling to his wife in very sincere wishes for the +safety and happiness of the little emigrant for Love. He had a singular +reluctance to name her--he knew not why--with the other little maid who +also had left smiling at three o'clock, an emigrant for whom Death had +opened eternal vistas of delight. + +"I do not know," said Mrs. Moran, "how Van Ariens could suffer his +daughter to go to a country full of turmoil and bloodshed." + +"He was very unhappy to do so, Ava. But when things have gone a certain +length they have fatality. The Marquis had promised to become eventually +a citizen of this Republic, and Van Ariens had no idea in sanctioning +the marriage that his daughter would leave New York. It was even +supposed the Marquis would remain here in the Count de Moustier's place, +and the sudden turn of events which sent de Tounnerre to France was a +severe blow to Van Ariens. But what could he do?" + +"He might have delayed the marriage until the return of de Tounnerre." + +"Ah, Ava! you are counting without consideration. He could not have +detained Arenta against her will, and if he had, a miserable life would +have been before both of them--domestic discomfort, public queries and +suspicions, questions, doubts, offending sympathies--all the griefs and +vexations that are sure to follow a Fate that is crossed. He did the +best thing possible when he let the wilful girl go as pleasantly as he +could. Arenta needs a wide horizon." + +"Is she in any danger from the state of affairs in Paris?" + +"Mr. Jefferson says in no danger whatever. Our Minister is living there +in safety. Arenta will have his friendship and protection; and her +husband has many friends in the most powerful party. She will have a +brilliant visit and be very happy." + +"How can she be very happy with the guillotine daily enacting such +murders?" + +"She need not be present at such murders. And Mr. Jefferson may be +right, and we outsiders may make too much of circumstances that France, +and France alone, can properly estimate. He says that the God that made +iron wished not slaves to exist, and thinks there is a profound and +eternal justice in this desolation and retribution of aristocrats who +have committed unmentionable oppressions. I know not; good and evil are +so interwoven in life that every good, traced up far enough, is found to +involve evil. This is the great mystery of life. However, Ava, I am a +great believer in sequences; there are few events that break off +absolutely. In Arenta's life there will be sequences; let us hope that +they will be happy ones. Where is Cornelia?" + +"I know not. She is asleep. The ball to-night is to be fairy-land and +love-land, an Arabian night's dream and a midsummer night's dream all in +one. I told her to rest, for she was weary and nervous with +expectation." + +"I dare say. But what is the good of being young if it is not to expect +miracles?" + +"George Hyde calls for her at eight o'clock. I shall let her sleep until +seven, give her some refreshment, and then assist her to dress." + +"George Hyde! So you still believe in trusting the cat with the cream?" + +"I still believe in Cornelia. Come, now, and drink a cup of tea. To- +morrow the Van Ariens' excitement will be over, and we shall have rest." + +"I think not. The town is now ready to move to Philadelphia. I hear that +Mrs. Adams is preparing to leave Richmond Hill. Washington has already +gone, and Congress is to meet in December. Even the Quakers are +intending all sorts of social festivities." + +"But this will not concern us." + +"It may. If George Hyde does not go very soon to England, we shall go to +Philadelphia. I wish to rid myself and Cornelia of his airs and graces +and wearisome good temper, his singing and reciting and tringham- +trangham poetry. This story has been long enough; we will turn over and +end it." + +"It will be a great trial to Cornelia." + +"It may, or it may not--there is Rem--Rem is your own suggestion. +However, we have all to sing the hymn of Renunciation at some time; it +is well to sing it in youth." + +Mrs. Moran did not answer. When answering was likely to provoke anger, +she kept silence and talked the matter over with herself. A very wise +plan. For where shall we find a friend so intimate, so discreet, so +conciliating as self? Who can speak to us so well?--without obscurity, +without words, without passion. Yes, indeed: "I will talk to myself" is +a very significant phrase. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +TWO PROPOSALS + + +The ruling idea of any mind assumes the foreground of thought; and after +Arenta's marriage the dominant desire of George Hyde was to have his +betrothal to Cornelia recognized and assured. He was in haste to light +his own nuptial torch, and afraid every day of that summons to England +which would delay the event. Hitherto, both had been satisfied with the +delicious certainty of their own hearts. To bring Love to discussion and +catechism, to talk of Love in connection with house and money matters, +to put him into bonds, however light those bonds might be, was indeed a +safe and prudent thing for their future happiness; but, so far, the +present with its sweet freedom and uncertainty had been more charming to +their imagination. Suddenly, however, Hyde felt the danger and stress of +this uncertainty and the fear of losing what he appeared to hold so +lightly. + +"I may have to go away with mother at any time--I may be detained by +events I cannot help--and I have not bound Cornelia to me by any +personal recognized tie--and Rem Van Ariens will be ever near her. Oh, +indeed, this state of affairs will never do! I will write to Cornelia +this very moment and tell her I must see her father this evening. I +cannot possibly delay it longer. I have been a fool--a careless, happy +fool--too long. There is not now a day to lose. I have already wasted +more time than was reasonable over the love affairs of other people; now +I must look after my own. Safe bind, safe find; I will bind Cornelia to +me before I leave her, then I have a good right to find her safe when I +return to claim her." + +While such thoughts were passing through his mind he had risen hastily +from the chair in which he had been musing. He opened his secretary and +sitting resolutely down, began a letter to Doctor Moran. He poured out +his heart and desires, and then he read what he had written. It would +not do at all. It was a love letter and not a business letter. He wrote +another, and then another. The first was too long, it left nothing in +the inkstand; the last was not to be thought of. When he had finished +reading them over, he was in a passion with himself. + +"A fool in your teeth twice over, Joris Hyde!" he cried, "yes, sir, +three times, and far too good for you! Since you cannot write a decent +business letter, write, then, to the adorable Cornelia; the words will +be at your finger ends for that letter, and will slip from your pen as +if they were dancing: + +"MY SWEET CORNELIA: + +"I have not seen you for two days, and 'tis a miracle that I have +endured it. I can tell you, beloved, that I am much concerned about our +affairs, and now that I have begun to talk wisely I may talk a little +more without wearying you. You know that I may have to go to England +soon, and go I will not until I have asked your father what favour he +will show us. On the street, he gets out of my way as if I had the +plague. Tell me at what hour I may call and see him in his house. I will +then ask him point blank for your hand, and he is so candid that I shall +have in a word Yes or No on the matter. Do not keep me waiting longer +than seven this very night. I have a fever of anxiety, and I shall not +grow better, but worse, until I settle our engagement. Oh, my peerless +Cornelia, pearl and flower of womanhood, I speak your speech, I think +your thought; you are the noblest thing in my life, and to remember you +is to remember the hours when I was the very best and the very happiest. +Your image has become part of me, your memory is a perfume which makes +sweet my heart. I wish this moment to give you thousands and thousands +of kisses. Bid me come to you soon, very soon, sooner than seven, if +possible, for your love is my life. Send your answer to my city lodging. +I shall follow this letter and be impatiently waiting for it. Oh, +Cornelia, am I not ever and entirely yours? + +"GEORGE HYDE." + +It was not more than eight o'clock in the morning when he wrote this +letter, and as soon as possible he despatched a swift messenger with it +to Cornelia. He hoped that she would receive it soon after the Doctor +had left his home for his usual round of professional visits; then she +might possibly write to him at once, and if so, he would get the letter +very soon after he reached the city. + +Probably Madame Hyde divined something of the importance and tenor of a +missive sent in such a hurry of anxious love, so early in the day, but +she showed neither annoyance nor curiosity regarding it. In the first +place, she knew that opposition would only strengthen whatever resolve +her son had made; in the second place, she was conscious of a singular +restlessness of her own spirit. She was apprehending change, and she +could think of no change but that call to leave her home and her native +land which she so much dreaded. If this event happened, then the affairs +of Joris would assume an entirely different aspect. He would be obliged +to leave everything which now interested him, and he could not live +without interests; very well, then, he would be compelled to accept such +as a new Fate thrown into his new life. She had a great faith in +circumstances. She knew that in the long run every one wrote beneath +that potent word, "Your obedient servant." Circumstances would either +positively deny all her son's hopes, or they would so powerfully aid +them that opposition would be useless; and she mentally bowed herself to +an influence so powerful and perhaps so favourable. + +"Joris, my dear one," she said, as they rose from the breakfast table; +"Joris, I think there is a letter from your father. To the city you must +go as soon as you can, for I have had a restless night, full of feeling +it has been." + +"You should not go to bed to feel, mother. Night is the time for sleep." + +"And for dreams, and for many good things to come, that come not in the +day. Yes, indeed, the nighttime of the body is the daytime of the soul." + +Then Joris smiled and kissing her, said, "I am going at once. If there +is a letter I will send a quick rider with it." + +"But come thyself." + +"That I cannot." "But why, then?" + +"To-morrow, I will tell you." + +"That is well. Into thy mother's heart drop all thy joys and sorrows. +Thine are mine." And she kissed him, and he went away glad and hopeful +and full of tender love for the mother who understood him so +sympathetically. He stood up in his stirrups to wave her a last adieu, +and then he said to himself, "How fortunate I am about women! Could I +have a sweeter, lovelier mistress? No! Mother? No! Grandmother? No! +Friend? No! Cornelia, mother, grandmother, Madame Jacobus, all of them +just what I love and need, sweet souls between me and the angels." + +It happened--but doubtless happened because so ordered--that the very +hour in which Joris left Hyde Manor, Peter Van Ariens received a letter +that made him very anxious. He left his office and went to see his son. +"Rem," he said, "there is now an opportunity for thee. Here has come a +letter from Boston, and some one must go there; and that too in a great +hurry. The house of Blume and Otis is likely to fail, and in it we have +some great interests. A lawyer we must have to look after them; go +thyself, and it shall be well for both of us." + +"I am ready to go--that is, I can be ready in one or two days." + +"There are not one or two days to spare. Gerard will take care of thy +work here. To-day is the best time of all." + +"I cannot go with a happy mind to-day. I will tell you, father. I think +now my case with Cornelia will bear putting to the question. As you +know, it has been step with step between Joris Hyde and myself in that +affair, and if I go away now without securing the ground I have gained, +what can hinder Hyde from taking advantage over me? He too must go soon, +but he will try and secure his position before he leaves. To do the same +thing is my only way. I wish, then, the time to give myself this +security." + +"That is fair. A man is not a man till he has won a wife. Cornelia Moran +is much to my mind. Tell her my home is thine, and she will be a +mistress dearly loved and honoured. And if a thing is to be done, there +is no time like the hour that has not struck. Go and see her now. She +was in the garden gathering asters when I left home this morning." + +"I will write to her. I will tell her what is in my heart--though she +knows it well--and ask her for her love and her hand. If she is kind to +my offer she will tell me to come and see her to-night, then I can go to +Boston with a free heart and look after your money and your business." + +"If things be this way, thou art reasonable. A good wife must not be +lost for the peril of some gold sovereigns. At once write to the maid; +such letters are best done at the first thought, some prudences or some +fears may come with the second thoughts." + +"I have no fear but Joris Hyde. That Englishman I hate. His calm +confidence, his smiling insolent air is intolerable." + +"It is the English way. But Cornelia is American--as thou art." + +"She thinks much of that, but yet--" + +"Be not afraid. The brave either find, or make, a way to success. What +is in a girl's heart no man can tell, if she be cold and shy that should +not cause thee to doubt. When water is ice, who would suspect what great +heat is stored away in it? Write thy letter at once. Put thy heart into +thy pen. Not always prudent is this way, but once in a man's life it is +wisdom." + +"My pen is too small for my heart." + +"My opinion is that thou hast wavered too long. It is a great +foolishness to let the cherry knock against the lips too often or too +long. A pretty pastime, perhaps, to will, and not will, to dare, and not +dare; but at last the knock comes that drops the cherry--it may be into +some other mouth." + +"I fear no one but that rascal, Joris Hyde." + +"A rascal he is not, because the same woman he loves as thyself. Such +words weaken any cause. No wrong have I seen or known of Lieutenant +Hyde." + +"I will call him a rascal, and I will give him no other title, though +his father leave him an earl." + +"Now, then, I shall go. I like not ill words. Write thy letter, but put +out of thy mind all bad thoughts first. A love letter from a bitter +heart is not lucky. And of all thy wit thou wilt have great need if to a +woman thou write." + +"Oh, they are intolerable, aching joys! A man who dares to love a woman, +or dares to believe in her, dares to be mad." + +"Come, come! No evil must thou speak of good women, I swear that I was +never out of it yet, when I judged men as they judged women. The art of +loving a woman is the art of trusting her--yes, though the heavens fall. +Now, then, haste with thy letter. Thou may have 'Yes' to it ere thou +sleep to-night." + +"And I may have 'No.'" + +"To be sure, if thou think 'no.' But, even so, if thou lose the wedding +ring, the hand is still left; another ring may be found." + +"'No,' would be a deathblow to me." + +"It will not. While a man has meat and drink love will not starve him; +with world's business and world's pleasure an unkind love he makes shift +to forget. Bring to me word of thy good fortune this night, and in the +morning there is the Boston business. Longer it can hardly wait." + +But the letter to Cornelia which Hyde found to slip off his pen like +dancing was a much more difficult matter to Rem. He wrote and destroyed, +and wrote again and destroyed, and this so often that he finally +resolved to go to Maiden Lane for his inspiration. "I may see Cornelia +in the garden, or at the window, and when I see what I desire, surely I +shall have the wit to ask for it." + +So he thought, and with the thought he locked his desk and went towards +his home in Maiden Lane. He met George Hyde sauntering up the street +looking unhappy and restless, and he suspected at once that he had been +walking past Doctor Moran's house in the hope of seeing Cornelia and had +been disappointed. The thought delighted him. He was willing to bear +disappointment himself, if by doing so some of Hyde's smiling confidence +was changed to that unhappy uneasiness which he detected in his rival's +face and manner. The young men bowed to each other but did not speak. In +some occult way they divined a more positive antagonism than they had +ever before been conscious of. + +"I cannot go out of the house," thought Rem, "without meeting that fop. +He is in at one door, and out at another; this way, that way, up street, +and down street--the devil take the fellow!" + +"What a mere sullen creature that Rem Van Ariens is!" thought Hyde, "and +with all the good temper in the world I affirm it. I wonder what he is +on the street for at this hour! Shall I watch him? No, that would be +vile work. I will let him alone; he may as well play the ill-natured +fool on the street as in the house--better, indeed, for some one may +have a title to tell him so. But I may assure myself of one thing, when +I met him he was building castles in the future, for he was looking +straight before him; and if he had been thinking of the past, he would +have been looking down. I should not wonder if it was Cornelia that +filled his dreams. Faith, we have blockheads of all ages; but on that +road he will never overtake his thought"--then with a movement of +impatience he added, + +"Why should I let him into my mind?--for he is the least welcome of all +intruders.--Good gracious! how long the minutes are! It is plain to me +that Cornelia is not at home, and my letter may not even have touched +her hands yet. How shall I endure another hour?--perhaps many hours. +Where can she have gone? Not unlikely to Madame Jacobus. Why did I not +think of this before? For who can help me to bear suspense better than +madame? I will go to her at once." + +He hastened his steps and soon arrived at the well-known residence of +his friend. He was amazed as soon as the door was opened to find +preparations of the most evident kind for some change. The corded trunk +in the hall, the displaced furniture, all things he saw were full of the +sad hurry of parting. "What is the matter?" he asked in a voice of fear. + +"I am going away for a time, Joris, my good friend," answered madame, +coming out of a shrouded and darkened parlour as she spoke. She had on +her cloak and bonnet, and before Joris could ask her another question a +coach drove to the door. "I think it is a piece of good fortune," she +continued, "to see you before I go." + +"But where are you going?" + +"To Charleston." + +"But why?" + +"I am going because my sister Sabrina is sick--dying; and there is no +one so near to her as I am." + +"I knew not you had a sister." + +"She is the sister of my husband. So, then, she is twice my sister. When +Jacobus comes home he will thank me for going to his dear Sabrina. But +what brings you here so early? Yesterday I asked for you, and I was told +that you were waiting on your good mother." + +"My mother felt sure there was a letter from father, and I came at once +to get it for her." + +"Was there one?" + +"There was none." + +"It will come in good time. Now, I must go. I have not one moment to +lose. Good-bye, dear Joris!" + +"For how long, my friend?" + +"I know not. Sabrina is incurably ill. I shall stay with her till she +departs." She said these words as they went down the steps together, and +with eyes full of tears he placed her carefully in the coach and then +turned sorrowfully to his own rooms. He could not speak of his own +affairs at such a moment, and he realized that there was nothing for him +to do but wait as patiently as possible for Cornelia's answer. + +In the meantime Rem was writing his proposal. He was not assisted in the +effort by any sight of his mistress. It was evident Cornelia was not in +her home, and he looked in vain for any shadow of the sweet face that he +was certain would have made his words come easily. Finally, after many +trials, he desisted with the following, though it was the least +affective of any form he had written: + +To MISS MORAN, + +Honoured and Beloved Friend: + +Twenty times this day I have tried to write a letter worthy to come into +your hands and worthy to tell you how beyond all words I love you, But +what can I say more than that I love you? This you know. It has been no +secret to you since ever you were a little girl. Many years I have +sought your love,--pardon me if now I ask you to tell me I have not +sought in vain. To-morrow I must leave New York, and I may be away for +some time. Pray, then, give me some hope to-night to take with me. Say +but one word to make me the proudest and happiest lover in the world. +Give me the permission to come and show to your father that I am able to +maintain you in every comfort that is your right; and all my life long I +will prove to you the devotion that attests my undying affection and +gratitude. I am sick with longing for the promise of your love. May I +presume to hope so great a blessing? O dearest Cornelia, I am, as you +know well, your humble servant, REMBRANDT VAN ARIENS. + +When he had finished this letter, he folded and sealed it, and walked to +the window with it in his hand. Then he saw Cornelia returning home from +some shopping or social errand, and hastily calling a servant, ordered +him to deliver the letter at once to Miss Moran. And as Cornelia +lingered a little among the aster beds, the man put it into her own +hands. She bowed and smiled as she accepted it, but Rem, watching with +his heart in his eyes, could see that it awakened no special interest. +She kept it unopened as she wandered among the purple and pink, and gold +and white flowers, until Mrs. Moran came to the door to hurry her +movements; then she followed her mother hastily into the house, "Do you +know how late it is, Cornelia? Dinner is nearly ready. There is a letter +on your dressing table that came by Lieutenant Hyde's servant two or +three hours ago." + +"And Tobias has just brought me a letter from Rem--at least the +direction is in Rem's handwriting." + +"Some farewell dance I suppose, before our dancers go to gay +Philadelphia." + +"I dare say it is." She made the supposition as she went up the stairs, +and did not for a moment anticipate any more important information. As +she entered her room an imposing looking letter met her eyes--a letter +written upon the finest paper, squarely folded, and closed with a large +seal of scarlet wax carrying the Hyde arms. Poor Rem's message lost +instantly whatever interest it possessed; she let it fall from her hand, +and lifting Hyde's, opened it with that marvellous womanly impetuosity +which love teaches. Then all the sweet intimate ardour and passionate +disquietude of her lover took possession of her. In a moment she felt +all that he felt; all the ecstasy and tumult of a great affection not +sure. For this letter was the "little more" in Hyde's love, and, oh, how +much it was! + +She pondered it until she was called to dinner. There was then no time +to read Rem's letter, but she broke the seal and glanced at its tenor, +and an expression of pity and annoyance came into her eyes. Hastily she +locked both letters away in a drawer of her desk, and as she did so, +smilingly said to herself, "I wonder if papers are sensitive! Shut close +together in one little drawer will they like it? I hope they will lie +peaceably and not quarrel." + +Doctor Moran was not at home, nor was he expected until sundown, so +mother and daughter enjoyed together the confidence which Hyde's letter +induced. Mrs. Moran thought the young man was right, and promised, to a +certain extent, to favour his proposal. "However, Cornelia," she added, +"unless your father is perfectly agreeable and satisfied, I would not +advise you to make any engagement. Clandestine engagements come to grief +in some way or other, and if your marriage with Joris Hyde is +prearranged by THOSE who know what is best for your good, then, my dear, +it is as sure to take place as the sun is sure to rise to-morrow. It is +only waiting for the appointed hour, and you may as well wait in a happy +home as in one you make wretched by the fret and complaining which a +secret in any life is certain to produce." + +Now, it is not often that a girl has to answer in one hour two such +epistles as those received by Cornelia. Yet perhaps such an event occurs +more frequently than is suspected, for Love--like other things--has its +critical moment; and when that moment arrives it finds a voice as surely +as the flower ready to bloom opens its petals. And if there be two +lovers equally sincere, both are likely to feel at the same moment the +same impetus to revelation. Besides which, Fate of any kind seeks the +unusual and the unexpected; it desires to startle, and to force events +by surprises. + +The answering of these letters was naturally Cornelia's first afternoon +thought. It troubled her to remember that Joris had already been waiting +some hours for a reply, for she had no hesitation as to what that reply +should be. To write to Joris was a delightful thing, an unusual +pleasure, and she sat down, smiling, to pen the lines which she thought +would bring her much happiness, but which were doomed to bring her a +great sorrow. + +MY JORIS! My dear Friend: + +'Tis scarce an hour since I received your letter, but I have read it +over four times. And whatever you desire, that also is my desire; and I +am deceived as much as you, if you think I do not love you as much as I +am loved by you. You know my heart, and from you I shall never hide it; +and I think if I were asleep, I should tell you how much I love you; +for, indeed, I often dream that I do so. Come, then, this very night as +soon as you think convenient. If my father is in a suitable temper it +will be well to speak plainly to him, and I am sure that my mother will +say in our favour all that is wise. + +Our love, with no recognition but our own, has been so strangely sweet +that I could be content never to alter that condition; and yet I fear no +bond, and am ready to put it all to the trial. For if our love is not +such as will uphold an engagement, it will sink of itself; and if it is +true as we believe it to be, then it may last eternally. What more is to +say I will keep for your ear, for you are enough in my heart to know all +my thoughts, and to know better than I can tell you how dearly, how +constantly, how entirely I love you. + +Yours forever, CORNELIA. + +Without a pause, without an erasure this letter had transcribed itself +from Cornelia's heart to the small gilt-edged note paper; but she found +it a much more difficult thing to answer the request of Rem Van Ariens. +She was angry at him for putting her in such a dilemma. She thought that +she had made plain as possible to him the fact that she was pleased to +be a companion, a friend, a sister, if he so desired, but that love +between them was not to be thought of. She had told Arenta this many +times, and she had done so because she was certain Arenta would make +this position clear to her brother. And under ordinary circumstances +Arenta would have been frank and free enough with Rem, but while her own +marriage was such an important question she was not inclined to +embarrass or shadow its arrangements by suggesting things to Rem likely +to cause disagreements when she wished all to be harmonious and +cheerful. So Arenta had encouraged, rather than dashed, Rem's hopes, for +she did not doubt that Cornelia would finally undo very thoroughly what +she had done. + +"A little love experience will be a good thing for Rem," she said to +herself--"it will make a man of him; and I do hope he has more self- +respect and courage than to die of her denial." + +It is easy, then, to understand how Cornelia, relying on Arenta's +usually ready advice and confidences, was sure that Rem had accepted the +friendship that was all in her power to give him, and that this belief +gave to their intercourse a frank and kindly intimacy that it would not +otherwise have obtained. This state of things was desirable and +comfortable for Arenta, and Cornelia also had found a great satisfaction +in a friendship which she trusted had fully recognized and accepted its +limitations. Now, all these pleasant moderate emotions were stirred into +uncomfortable agitation by Rem's unlooked-for and unreasonable request. +She was hurt and agitated and withal a little sorry for Rem, and she was +also in a hurry, for the letter for Joris was waiting, as she wished to +send both by the same messenger. Finally she wrote the following words, +not noticing at the time, but remembering afterwards, what a singular +soul reluctance she experienced; how some uncertain presentiment, vague +and dark and drear, stifled her thoughts and tried to make her +understand, or at least pause. But alas! the doom that walks side by +side with us, never warns; it seems rather to stand sarcastic at our +ignorance, and to watch speculatively the cloud of trouble coming-- +coming on purpose because we foolishly or carelessly call it to us. + +MY DEAR AND HONOURED FRIEND: + +Your letter has given me very great sorrow. You must have known for many +weeks, even months, that marriage between us was impossible. It has +always been so, it always will be so. Why could you not be content? We +have been so happy! So happy! and now you will end all. But Fortune, +though often cruel, cannot call back times that are past, and I shall +never forget our friendship. I grieve at your going away; I pray that +your absence may bring you some consolation. Do not, I beg you, attempt +to call on my father. Without explanations, I tell you very sincerely, +such a call will cause me great trouble; for you know well a girl must +trust somewhat to others' judgment in her disposal. It gives me more +pain than I can say to write in this mood, but necessity permits me no +kinder words. I want you to be sure that the wrench, the "No" here is +absolute. My dear friend, pity rather than blame me; and I will be so +unselfish as to hope you may not think so kindly of me as to be cruel to +yourself. Please to consider your letter as never written, it is the +greatest kindness you can do me; and, above all, I beg you will not take +my father into your confidence. With a sad sense of the pain my words +must cause you, I remain for all time your faithful friend and obedient +servant, + +CORNELIA MORAN. + +Then she rang for a lighted candle, and while waiting for its arrival +neatly folded her letters. Her white wax and seal were at hand, and she +delayed the servant until she had closed and addressed them. + +"You will take Lieutenant Hyde's letter first," she said; "and make no +delay about it, for it is very important. Mr. Van Ariens' note you can +deliver as you return." + +As soon as this business was quite out of her hands, she sank with a +happy sigh into a large comfortable chair; let her arms drop gently, and +closed her eyes to think over what she had done. She was quite +satisfied. She was sure that no length of reflection could have made her +decide differently. She had Hyde's letter in her bosom, and she pressed +her hand against it, and vowed to her heart that he was worthy of her +love, and that he only should have it. As for Rem, she had a decided +feeling of annoyance, almost of fear, as he entered her mind. She was +angry that he had chosen that day to urge his unwelcome suit, and thus +thrust his personality into Hyde's special hour. + +"He always makes himself unwelcome," she thought, "he ever has the way +to come when he was least wanted; but Joris! Oh there is nothing I would +alter in him, even at the cost of a wish! JORIS! JORIS!" and she let the +dear name sweeten her lips, while the light of love brightened and +lengthened her eyes, and spread over her lovely face a blushing glow. + +After a while she rose up and adorned herself for her lover's visit. And +when she entered the parlor Mrs. Moran looked at her with a little +wonder. For she had put on with her loveliest gown a kind of bewildering +prettiness. There was no cloud in her eyes, only a glow of soft dark +fire. Her soul was in her face, it spoke in her bright glances, her +sweet smiles, and her light step; it softened her speech to music, it +made her altogether so delightful that her mother thought "Fortune must +give her all she wishes, she is so charming." + +The tea tray was brought in at five o'clock, but Doctor Moran had not +returned, and there was in both women's hearts a little sense of +disappointment. Mrs. Moran was wondering at his unusual delay, Cornelia +feared he would be too weary and perhaps, too much interested in other +matters to permit her lover to speak. "But even so," she thought, "Joris +can come again. To-night is not the only opportunity." + +It was nearly seven o'clock when the doctor came, and Cornelia was sure +her lover would not be much behind that hour; but tea time was ever a +good time to her father, he was always amiable and gracious with a cup +in his hand, and the hour after it when his pipe kept him company, was +his best hour. She told her heart that things had fallen out better than +if she had planned them so; and she was so thoughtful for the weary +man's comfort, so attentive and so amusing, that he found it easy to +respond to the happy atmosphere surrounding him. He had a score of +pleasant things to tell about the fashionable exodus to Philadelphia, +about the handsome dresses that had been shown him, and the funny +household dilemmas that had been told him. And he was much pleased +because Harry De Lancey had been a great part of the day with him, and +was very eloquent indeed about the young man's good sense and good +disposition, and the unnecessary, and almost cruel, confiscation of +property his family had suffered, for their Tory principles. + +And in the midst of the De Lancey lamentation, seven o'clock struck and +Cornelia began to listen for the shutting of the garden gate, and the +sound of Hyde's step upon the flagged walk. It did not come as soon as +she hoped it would, and the minutes went slowly on until eight struck. +Then the doctor was glooming and nodding, and waking up and saying a +word or two, and relapsing again into semi-unconsciousness. She felt +that the favourable hour had passed, and now the minutes went far too +quickly. Why did he net come? With her work in her hand-making laborious +stitches by a drawn thread--she sat listening with all her being. The +street itself was strangely silent, no one passed, and the fitful talk +at the fireside seemed full of fatality; she could feel the influence, +though she did not inquire of her heart what it was, of what it might +signify. + +Half-past eight! She looked up and caught her mother's eyes, and the +trouble and question in them, and the needle going through the fine +muslin, seemed to go through her heart. At nine the watching became +unbearable. She said softly "I must go to bed. I am tired;" but she put +away with her usual neatness her work, and her spools of thread, her +thimble and her scissors. Her movement in the room roused the doctor +thoroughly. He stood up, stretched his arms outward and upward, and said +"he believed he had been sleeping, and must ask their pardon for his +indifference." And then he walked to the window and looking out added +"It is a lovely night but the moon looks like storm. Oh!"--and he turned +quickly with the exclamation--"I forgot to tell you that I heard a +strange report to-day, nothing less than that General Hyde returned on +the Mary Pell this morning, bringing with him a child." + +"A child!" said Mrs. Moran. + +"A girl, then, a little mite of a creature. Mrs. Davy told me the +Captain carried her in his arms to the carriage which took them to Hyde +Manor." + +"And how should Mrs. Davy know?" + +"The Davys live next door to the Pells, and the servants of one house +carried the news to the other house. She said the General sent to his +son's lodging to see if he was in town, but he was not. It was then only +eight o'clock in the morning." + +"How unlikely such a story is! Do you believe it?" + +"Ask to-morrow. As for me, I neither know nor care. That is the report. +Who can tell what the Hydes will do?" + +Then Cornelia said a hasty "good-night" and went to her room. She was +sick at heart; she trembled, something in her life had lost its foot- +hold, and a sudden bewildering terror--she knew not how to explain--took +possession of her. For once she forgot her habitual order and neatness; +her pretty dress was thrown heedlessly across a chair, and she fell upon +her knees weeping, and yet she could not pray. + +Still the very posture and the sweet sense of help and strength it +implied, brought her the power to take into consideration such +unexpected news, and such unexplained neglect on her lover's part, +"General Hyde has returned; that much I feel certain of," she thought, +"and Joris must have left Hyde Manor about the time his father reached +New York. Joris would take the river road, being the shortest, his +father would take the highway as the best for the carriage. +Consequently, they passed each other and did not know it. Then Joris has +been sent for, and it was right and natural that he should go--but oh, +he might have written!--ten words would have been enough--It was right +he should go--but he might have written!--he might have written!"--and +she buried her face in her pillow and wept bitterly. Alas! Alas! Love +wounds as cruelly when he fails, as when he strikes; and even when +Cornelia had outworn thought and feeling, and fallen into a sorrowful +sleep, she was conscious of this failure, and her soul sighed all night +long "He might have written!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +MISDIRECTED LETTERS + + +The night so unhappy to Cornelia was very much more unhappy to Hyde. He +had sent his letter to her before eleven in the morning, and if Fortune +were kind to him, he expected an answer soon after leaving Madame +Jacobus. Her departure from New York depressed him very much. She had +been the good genius of his love, but he told himself that it had now +"grown to perfection, and could, he hoped, stand in its own strength." +Restlessly he watched the hours away, now blaming, now excusing, anon +dreaming of his coming bliss, then fidgeting and fearing disappointment +from being too forward in its demanding. When noon passed, and one +o'clock struck, he rang for some refreshment; for he guessed very +accurately the reason of delay. + +"Cornelia has been visiting or shopping," he thought; "and if it were +visiting, no one would part with her until the last moment; so then if +she get home by dinner-time it is as much as I can expect. I may as well +eat, and then wait in what patience I can, another hour or two--yes, it +will be two hours. I will give her two hours--for she will be obliged to +serve others before me. Well, well, patience is my penance." + +But in truth he expected the letter to be in advance of three o'clock. +"Twenty words will answer me," he thought; "yes, ten words; and she will +find or make the time to write them;" and between this hope and the +certainty of three o'clock, he worried the minutes away until three +struck. Then there was a knock at his door and he went hastily to answer +it. Balthazar stood there with the longed-for letter in his hand. He +felt first of all that he must be quite alone with it. So he turned the +key and then stood a moment to examine the outside. A letter from +Cornelia! It was a joy to see his own name written by her hand. He +kissed the superscription, and kissed the white seal, and sank into his +chair with a sigh of delight to read it. + +In a few moments a change beyond all expression came over his face-- +perplexity, anger, despair cruelly assailed him. It was evident that +some irreparable thing had ruined all his hopes. He was for some moments +dumb. He felt what he could not express, for a great calamity had opened +a chamber of feeling, which required new words to explain it. This +trance of grief was followed by passionate imprecations and reproaches, +wearing themselves away to an utter amazement and incredulity. He had +flung the letter to the floor, but he lifted it again and went over the +cruel words, forcing himself to read them slowly and aloud. Every period +was like a fresh sentence of death. + +"'YOUR LETTER HAS GIVEN ME VERY GREAT SORROW;' let me die if that is not +what she says; 'VERY GREAT SORROW. YOU MUST HAVE KNOWN FOR WEEKS, EVEN +MONTHS, THAT MARRIAGE BETWEEN US WAS IMPOSSIBLE;' am I perfectly in my +senses? 'IT ALWAYS HAS BEEN AND ALWAYS WILL BE;' why, 'tis heart treason +of the worst kind! Can I bear it? Can I bear it? Can I bear it? Oh +Cornelia! Cornelia! 'WE HAVE BEEN SO HAPPY.' Oh it is piteous, sad. So +young, so fair, so false! and she 'GRIEVES AT MY GOING AWAY,' and bids +me on 'NO ACCOUNT CALL ON HER FATHER'--and takes pains to tell me the +'NO IS ABSOLUTE'--and I am not to 'BLAME HER.' Oh this is the vilest +treachery! She might as well have played the coquette in speech as +writing. It is Rem Van Ariens who is at the bottom of it. May the devil +take the fellow! I shall need some heavenly power to keep my hands off +him. This is a grief beyond all griefs--I believed she loved me so +entirely. Fool! a thousand times fool! Have I not found all women of a +piece? Did not Molly Trefuses throw me over for a duke? and Sarah Talbot +tell me my love was only calf-love and had to be weaned? and Eliza Capel +regret that I was too young to guide a wife, and so marry a cabinet +minister old enough for her grandfather? Women are all just so, not a +cherry stone to choose between them--I will never wonder again at +anything a woman does--Was ever a lover so betrayed? Oh Cornelia! your +ink should have frozen in your pen, ere you wrote such words to me." + +Thus his passionate grief and anger tortured him until midnight. Then he +had a high fever and a distracting headache, and, the physical torment +being the most insistent and distressing, he gave way before it. With +such agonizing tears as spring from despairing wounded love he threw +himself upon his bed, and his craving, suffering heart at length found +rest in sleep from the terrible egotism of its sorrow. + +Never for one instant did he imagine this sorrow to be a mistaken and +quite unnecessary one. Indeed it was almost impossible for him to +conceive of a series of events, which though apparently accidental, had +a fatality more pronounced than anything that could have been arranged. +Not taking Rem Van Ariens seriously into his consideration, and not +fearing his rival in any way, it was beyond all his suspicions that Rem +should write to Cornelia in the same hour, and for the same purpose as +himself. He had no knowledge of Rem's intention to go to Boston, and +could not therefore imagine Cornelia "grieving" at any journey but his +own impending one to England. And that she should be forced by +circumstances to answer both Rem and himself in the same hour, and in +the very stress and hurry of her great love and anxiety should misdirect +the letters, were likelihoods outside his consciousness. + +It was far otherwise with Rem. The moment he opened the letter brought +him by Cornelia's messenger, in that very moment he knew that it was NOT +his letter. He understood at once the position, and perceived that he +held in his hand an instrument, which if affairs went as he desired, was +likely to make trouble he could perchance turn to his own advantage. The +fate that had favoured him so far would doubtless go further--if he let +it alone. These thoughts sprang at once into his reflection, but were +barely entertained before nobler ones displaced them. As a Christian +gentleman he knew what he ought to do without cavil and without delay, +and he rose to follow the benignant justice of his conscience. Into this +obedience, however, there entered an hesitation of a second of time, and +that infinitesimal period was sufficient for his evil genius. + +"Why will you meddle?" it asked. "This is a very dubious matter, and +common prudence suggests a little consideration. It will be far wiser to +let Hyde take the first step. If the letter he has received is so +worded, that he knows it is your letter, it is his place to make the +transfer--and he will be sure to do it. Why should you continue the +chase? let the favoured one look after his own affairs--being a lawyer, +you may well tell yourself, that it is not your interest to move the +question." + +And he hesitated and then sat down, and as there is wickedness even in +hesitating about a wicked act, Rem easily drifted from the negative to +the positive of the crime contemplated. + +"I had better keep it," he mused, "and see what will come of the +keeping. All things are fair in love and war"--a stupid and slanderous +assertion, as far as love is concerned, for love that is noble and true, +will not justify anything which Christian ethics do not justify. + +He suffered in this decision, suffered in his own way quite as much as +Hyde did. Cornelia had been his dream from his youth up, and Hyde had +been his aversion from the moment he first saw him. The words were not +to seek with which he expressed himself, and they were such words as do +not bear repeating. But of all revelations, the revelation of grief is +the plainest. He saw clearly in that hour that Cornelia had never loved +him, that his hopes had always been vain, and he experienced all the +bitterness of being slighted and humbled for an enemy. + +After a little while he remembered that Hyde might possibly do the thing +which he had resolved not to do. Involuntarily he did Hyde this justice, +and he said to himself, "if there is anything in the letter intended for +me, which determines its ownership, Hyde will bring it. He will +understand that I have the answer to his proposal, and demand it from +me--and whether I shall feel in a mood to give it to him, will depend on +the manner in which the demand is made. If he is in one of his lordly +ways he will get no satisfaction from me. I am not apt to give myself, +nor anything I have, away; in fact it will be best not to see him--if he +holds a letter of mine he may keep it. I know its tenor and I am not +eager to know the very words in which my lady says 'No.' HO! HO! HO!" he +laughed, "I will go to the Swamp; my scented rival in his perfumed +clothing, will hardly wish the smell of the tanning pits to come between +him and his gentility." + +The thought of Hyde's probable visit and this way of escaping it made +him laugh again; but it was a laughter that had that something terrible +in it which makes the laughter of the insane and drunken and cruel, +worse than the bitterest lamentation. He felt a sudden haste to escape +himself, and seizing his hat walked rapidly to his father's office. +Peter looked up as he entered, and the question in his eyes hardly +needed the simple interrogatary-- + +"Well then?" + +"It is 'No.' I shall go to Boston early in the morning. I wish to go +over the business with Blume and Otis, and to possess myself of all +particulars." + +"I have just heard that General Hyde came back this morning. He is now +the Right Honourable the Earl of Hyde, and his son is, as you know, Lord +George Hyde. Has this made a difference?" + +"It has not. Let us count up what is owing to us. After all there is a +certain good in gold." + +"That is the truth. I am an old man and I have seen what altitudes the +want of gold can abase, and what impossible things it makes possible. In +any adversity gold can find friends." + +"I shall count every half-penny after Blume and Otis." + +"Be not too strict--too far east is west. You may lose all by demanding +all." + +Then the two men spent several hours in going over their accounts, and +during this time no one called on Rem and he received no message. When +he returned home he found affairs just as he had left them. "So far +good," he thought, "I will let sleeping dogs lie. Why should I set them +baying about my affairs? I will not do it"--and with this determination +in his heart he fell asleep. + +But Rem's sleep was the sleep of pure matter; his soul never knew the +expansion and enlightenment and discipline of the oracles that speak in +darkness. The winged dreams had no message or comfort for him, and he +took no counsel from his pillow. His sleep was the sleep of tired flesh +and blood, and heavy as lead. But the waking from such sleep--if there +is trouble to meet--is like being awakened with a blow. He leaped to his +feet, and the thought of his loss and the shame of it, and the horror of +the dishonourable thing he had done, assailed him with a brutal force +and swiftness. He was stunned by the suddenness and the inexorable +character of his trouble. And he told himself it was "best to run away +from what he could not fight." He had no fear of Hyde's interference so +early in the morning, and once in Boston all attacks would lose much of +their hostile virulence, by the mere influence of distance. He knew +these were cowardly thoughts, but when a man knows he is in the wrong, +he does not challenge his thoughts, he excuses them. And as soon as he +was well on the road to Boston, he even began to assume that Hyde, full +of the glory of his new position, would doubtless be well disposed to +let all old affairs drop quietly "and if so," he mused, "Cornelia will +not be so dainty, and I may get 'Yes' where I got 'No.'" + +He was of course arguing from altogether wrong premises, for Hyde at +that hour was unconscious of his new dignity, and if he had been aware +of it, would have been indifferent to its small honour. He had spent a +miserable night, and a sense of almost intolerable desertion and injury +awoke with him. His soul had been in desolate places, wandering in +immense woods, vaguely apprehended as stretches of time before this +life. He had called the lost Cornelia through all their loneliness, and +answers faint as the faintest echo, had come back to that sense of +spiritual hearing attuned in other worlds than this. But sad as such +experience was, the sole effort had strengthened him. He was indeed in +better case mentally than physically. + +"I must get into the fresh air," he said. "I am faint and weak. I must +have movement. I must see my mother. I will tell her everything." Then +he went to his mirror, and looked with a grim smile at its reflection. +"I have the face of a lover kicked out of doors," he continued +scornfully. He took but small pains with his toilet, and calling for +some breakfast sat down to eat it. Then for the first time in his life, +he was conscious of that soul sickness which turns from all physical +comfort; and of that singular obstruction in the throat which is the +heart's sob, and which would not suffer him to swallow. + +"I am most wretched," he said mournfully; "and no trouble comes alone. +Of all the days in all the years, why should Madame Jacobus have to take +herself out of town yesterday? It is almost incredible, and she could, +and would have helped me. She would have sent for Cornelia. I might have +pleaded my cause face to face with her." Then angrily--" Faith! can I +yet care for a girl so cruel and so false? I am not to be pitied if I +do. I will go to my dear mother. Mother-love is always sure, and always +young. Whatever befalls, it keeps constant truth. I will go to my +mother." + +He rode rapidly through the city and spoke to no one, but when he +reached his Grandfather Van Heemskirk's house, he saw him leaning over +the half-door smoking his pipe. He drew rein then, and the old gentleman +came to his side: + +"Why art thou here?" he asked. "Is thy father, or Lady Annie sick?" + +"I know nothing new. There was no letter yesterday." + +"Yesterday! Surely thou must know that they are now at home? Yesterday, +very early in the morning, they landed." + +"My father at home!" + +"That is the truth. Where wert thou, not to know this?" + +"I came to town yesterday morning. I had a great trouble. I was sick and +kept my room." + +"And sick thou art now, I can see that," said Madame Van Heemskirk +coming forward--"What is the matter with thee, my Joris?" + +"Cornelia has refused me. I know not how it is, that no woman will love +me. Am I so very disagreeable?" + +"Thou art as handsome and as charming as can be; and it is not Cornelia +that has said 'no' to thee, it is her father. Now he will be sorry, for +thy uncle is dead and thy father is Earl Hyde, and thou thyself art a +lord." + +"I care not for such things. I am a poor lord, if Cornelia be not my +lady." "I wonder they sent not after thee!" + +"They would be expecting me every hour. If there had been a letter I +should have gone directly back with it, but it was beyond all surmising, +that my father should return. Grandfather, will you see Doctor Moran for +me? You can speak a word that will prevail." + +"I will not, my Joris. If thy father were not here, that would be +different. He is the right man to move in the matter. Ever thou art in +too much of a hurry. Think now of thy life as a book of uncut leaves, +and do not turn a page till thou hast read it to the very last word." + +"_I_ will see Cornelia for thee," said Madame Van Heernskirk. "_I_ will +ask the girl what she means. Very often she passes here, sometimes she +comes in. I will say to her--why did thou throw my grandson's love away +like an old shoe? Art thou not ashamed to be so light of love, for I +know well thou said to my Joris, thou loved him. And she will tell me +the truth. Yes, indeed, if into my house she comes, out of it she goes +not, until I have the why, and the wherefore." + +"Do not be unkind to her, grandmother--perhaps it is not her fault--if +she had only said a few sorrowful words--Let me show you her letter." + +"No," said Van Heernskirk." One thing at a time, Joris. Now it is the +time to go and welcome thy father and thy cousin--too long has been the +delay already." + +"Then good-bye! Grandmother, you will speak or me?" And she smiled and +nodded, and stood on her tiptoe while Joris stooped and kissed her-- +"Fret not thyself at all. I will see Cornelia and speak for thee." And +then he kissed her again and rode away. + +Very near the great entrance gates of Hyde Manor he met his father and +mother walking. Madame, the Right Honourable the Countess of Hyde, was +pointing out the many improvements she had made; and the Earl looked +pleased and happy. George threw himself off his horse with a loving +impetuosity, and his mother questioned him about his manner of spending +the previous day. "How could thou help knowing thy father had landed?" +she asked." Was not the whole city talking of the circumstance?" + +"I was not in the city, mother. I went to the post office and from there +to Madame Jacobus. She was just leaving for Charleston, and I went with +her to the boat." + +"What an incredible thing! Madame Jacobus leaving New York! For what? +For why?" + +"She has gone to nurse her sister-in-law, who is dying. That is of all +things the most likely--for she has a great heart." + +"You say that--I know not." + +"It is the truth itself. Afterwards I had my lunch and then came on a +fever and a distracting headache, and I was compelled to keep my room; +and so heard nothing at all until my grandfather told me the good news +this morning." + +"Madame Kippon was on the dock and saw thy father and cousin land. The +news would be a hot coal in her mouth till she told it, and I am amazed +she did not call at thy lodging. Now go forward; when thy father and I +have been round the land, we will come to thee. Thy cousin Annie is +here." + +"That confounds me. I could hardly believe it true." + +"She is frail, and her physicians thought the sea voyage might give her +the vitality she needs. It was at least a chance, and she was determined +to take it. Then thy father put all his own desires behind him, and came +with her. We will talk more in a little while. I see thy dress is +untidy, and I dare say thou art hungry. Go, eat and dress, by that time +we shall be home." + +But though his mother gave him a final charge "to make haste," he went +slowly. The thought of Cornelia had returned to his memory with a sweet, +strong insistence that carried all before it. He wondered what she was +doing--how she was dressed--what she was thinking--what she was feeling-- +-He wondered if she was suffering--if she thought he was suffering--if +she was sorry for him--He made himself as wretched as possible, and +then some voice of comfort anteceding all reasoning, told him to be of +good cheer; for if Cornelia had ever loved him, she must love him +still; and if she had only been amusing herself with his devotion, then +what folly to break his heart for a girl who had no heart worth talking +about. + +Poor Cornelia! She was at that moment the most unhappy woman in New +York. She had excused the "ten words" he might have written yesterday. +She had found in the unexpected return of his father and cousin reason +sufficient for his neglect; but it was now past ten o'clock of another +day, and there was yet no word from him. Perhaps then he was coming. She +sat at her tambour frame listening till all her senses and emotions +seemed to have fled to her ear. And the ear has memory, it watches for +an accustomed sound, it will not suffer us to forget the voice, the step +of those we love. Many footsteps passed, but none stopped at the gate; +none came up the garden path, and no one lifted the knocker. The house +itself was painfully still; there was no sound but the faint noise made +by Mrs. Moran as she put down her Dobbin or her scissors. The tension +became distressing. She longed for her father--for a caller--for any one +to break this unbearable pause in life. + +Yet she could not give up hope. A score of excuses came into her mind; +she was sure he would come in the afternoon. He MUST come. She read and +reread his letter. She dressed herself with delightful care and sat down +to watch for him. He came not. He sent no word, no token, and as hour +after hour slipped away, she was compelled to drop her needle. + +"Mother," she said, "I am not well. I must go upstairs." She had been +holding despair at bay so many hours she could bear it no longer. For +she was so young, and this was the first time she had been yoke-fellow +with sorrow. She was amazed at her own suffering. It seemed so +impossible. It had come upon her so swiftly, so suddenly, and as yet she +was not able to seek any comfort or sympathy from God or man. For to do +so, was to admit the impossibility of things yet turning out right; and +this conclusion she would not admit; she was angry at a word or a look +that suggested such a termination. + +The next morning she called Balthazar to her and closely questioned him. +It had struck her in the night, that the slave might have lost the +letter, and be afraid to confess the accident. But Balthazar's manner +and frank speech was beyond suspicion. He told her exactly what clothing +Lieutenant Hyde was wearing, how he looked, what words he said, and then +with a little hesitation took a silver crown piece from his pocket and +added "he gave it to me. When he took the letter in his hand he looked +down at it and laughed like he was very happy; and he gave me the money +for bringing it to him; that is the truth, sure, Miss Cornelia." + +She could not doubt it. There was then nothing to be done but wait in +patience for the explanation she was certain would yet come. But on with +what leaden motion the hours went by! For a few days she made a pretence +of her usual employments, but at the end of a week her embroidery frame +stood uncovered, her books were unopened her music silent, and she +declared herself unable to take her customary walk. Her mother watched +her with unspeakable sympathy, but Cornelia's grief was dumb; it made no +audible moan, and preserved an attitude which repelled all discussion. +As yet she would not acknowledge a doubt of her lover's faith; his +conduct was certainly a mystery, but she told her heart with a +passionate iteration that it would positively be cleared up. + +Now and then the Doctor, or a visitor, made a remark which might have +broken this implicit trust, and probably did facilitate that end; for it +was evident from them, that Hyde was in health, and that he was taking +his share in the usual routine of daily life:--thus, one day Mrs. Wiley +while making a call said-- + +"I met the new Countess and the Lady Annie Hyde, and I can tell you the +new Countess is very much of a Countess. As for the Lady Annie," she +added, "she was wrapped to her nose in furs, and you could see nothing +of her but two large black eyes, that even at a distance made you feel +sad and uncomfortable. However Lord George Hyde appeared to be very much +her servant." + +"There has been talk of a marriage between them," answered Mrs. Moran, +for she was anxious to put her daughter out of all question. "I should +think it would be a very proper marriage." + +"Oh, indeed, 'proper marriages' seldom come off. Love marriages are the +fashion at present." + +"Are they not the most proper of all?" + +"On the contrary, is there anything more indiscreet? Of a thousand +couples who marry for love, hardly one will convince us that the thing +can be done, and not repented of afterwards." + +"I think you are mistaken," said Mrs. Moran coldly." Love should always +seek its match, and that is love--or nothing." + +"Oh indeed! It is you are mistaken," continued Mrs. Wiley." As the times +go, Cupid has grown to cupidity, and seeks his match in money or +station, or such things." + +"Money, or station, or such things find their match in money, or +station, or such things.--They are not love." + +"Well then the three may go together in this case. But the girl has an +uncanny, unworldlike face. Captain Wiley says he has seen mermaids with +the same long look in their eyes. Do you know that Rem Van Ariens has +gone to Boston?" + +"We have heard so;"--and then the Doctor entered, and after the usual +formalities said, "I have just met Earl Hyde and his Countess parading +themselves in the fine carriage he brought with him, 'Tis a thousand +pities the President did not wait in New York to see the sight." + +"Was Lady Annie with them?" asked Mrs. Wiley, "we were just talking +about her." + +"Yes, but one forgets that she is there--or anywhere. She seems as if +she were an accident." + +"And the young lord?" + +"The young lord affects the democratic." + +Such conversations were not uncommon, and Mrs. Moran could not with any +prudence put a sudden stop to them. They kept Cornelia full of wondering +irritation, and gradually drove the doubt into her soul--the doubt of +her lover's sincerity which was the one thing she could not fight +against. It loosened all the props of life; she ceased to struggle and +to hope. The world went on, but Cornelia's heart stood still; and at the +end of the third week things came to this--her father looked at her +keenly one morning and sent her instantly to bed. At the last the +breakdown had come in a night, but it had found all ready for it. + +"She has typhoid, or I am much mistaken," he said to the anxious mother. +"Why have you said nothing to me? How has it come about? I have heard no +complaining. To have let things go thus far without help is dreadful--it +is almost murder." + +"John! John! What could I do? She could not bear me to ask after her +health. She said always that she was not sick. She would not hear of my +speaking to you. I thought it was only sorrow and heart-ache." + +"Only sorrow and heart-ache. Is not that enough to call typhoid or any +other death? What is the trouble? Oh I need not ask, I know it is that +young Hyde. I feel it. I saw this trouble coming; now let me know the +whole truth." + +He listened to it with angry amazement. He said he ought to have been +told at the time--he threw aside all excuses--for being a man how could +he understand why women put off, and hope, and suffer? He was sure the +rascal ought to have been brought to explanation the very first day:-- +and then he broke down and wept his wife's tears, and echoed all her +piteous moan for her daughter's wronged love and breaking heart. + +"What is left us now, is to try and save her dear life," said the +miserable father." Suffering we cannot spare her. She must pass alone +through the Valley of the Shadow; but it may be she will lose this +sorrow in its dreadful paths. I have known this to happen often; for +THERE the soul has to strip itself of all encumbrances, and fight for +life, and life only." + +This was the battle waged in Doctor Moran's house for many awful weeks. +The girl lay at Death's door, and her father and mother watched every +breath she drew. One day, while she was in extremity, the Doctor went +himself to the apothecary's for medicine. This medicine was his last +hope and he desired to prepare it himself. As be came out of the store +with it in his hand, Hyde looked at him with a steady imploration. He +had evidently been waiting his exit. + +"Sir!" he said, "I have heard a report that I cannot, I dare not +believe." + +"Believe the worst--and stand aside, sir. I have neither patience nor +words for you." + +"I beseech you, sir--" + +"Touch me not! Out of my sight! Broadway is not wide enough for us two, +unless you take the other side." + +"Your daughter? Oh sir, have some pity!" + +"My daughter is dying." + +"Then sir, let me tell you, that your behaviour has been so brutal to +her, and to me, that the Almighty shows both kindness and intelligence +in taking her away:"--and with these words uttered in a blazing passion +of indignation and pity, the young lord crossed to the other side of the +street, leaving the Doctor confounded by his words and manner. + +"There is something strange here," he said to himself; "the fellow may +be as bad as bad can be, but he neither looked nor spoke as if he had +wronged Cornelia. If she lives I must get to the bottom of this affair. +I should not wonder if it is the work of Dick Hyde--earl or general--as +detestable a man as ever crossed my path." + +With this admission and wonder, the thought of Hyde passed from his +mind; for at that hour the issue he had to consider was one of life or +death. And although it was beyond all hope or expectation, Cornelia came +back to life; came back very slowly, but yet with a solemn calm and a +certain air of conscious dignity, as of one victorious over death and +the grave. But she was perilously delicate, and the Doctor began to +consider the dangers of her convalescence. + +"Ava," he said one evening when Cornelia had been downstairs awhile--"it +will not do for the child to run the risk of meeting that man. I see him +on the street frequently. The apothecary says he comes to his store to +ask after her recovery nearly every day. He has not given her up, I am +sure of that. He spoke to me once about her, and was outrageously +impudent. There is something strange in the affair, but how can I move +in it?" + +"It is impossible. Can you quarrel with a man because he has deceived +Cornelia? How cruel that would be to the child! You must bear and I must +bear. Anything must be borne, rather than set the town wondering and +talking." + +"It is a terrible position. I see not how I can endure it." + +"Put Cornelia before everything." + +"The best plan is to remove Cornelia out of danger. Why not take her to +visit your brother Joseph? He has long desired you to do so." + +"Go to Philadelphia NOW! Joseph tells me Congress is in session, and the +city gone mad over its new dignity. Nothing but balls and dinners are +thought of; even the Quakers are to be seen in the finest modes and +materials at entertainments; and Cornelia will hardly escape the fever +of fashion and social gaiety. She has many acquaintances there." + +"I do not wish her to escape it. A change of human beings is as +necessary as a change of air, or diet. She has had too much of George +Hyde, and Madame Jacobus, and Rem Van Ariens." + +"I hear that Rem is greatly taken with Boston, and thinks of opening an +office there." + +"Very prudent of Rem. What chance has he in New York with Hamilton and +Burr, to carry off all the big prey? Make your arrangements as soon as +possible to leave New York." + +"You are sure that you are right in choosing Philadelphia?" + +"Yes--while Hyde is in New York. Write to your brother to-day; and as +soon as Cornelia is a little stronger, I will go with you to +Philadelphia." + +"And stay with us?" + +"That is not to be expected. I have too much to do here," + + + + +CHAPTER X + +LIFE TIED IN A KNOT + + +One morning soon after the New Year, Hyde was returning to the Manor +House from New York. It was a day to oppress thought, and tighten the +heart, and kill all hope and energy. There was a monotonous rain and a +sky like that of a past age--solemn and leaden--and the mud of the roads +was unspeakable. He was compelled to ride slowly and to feel in its full +force, as it were, the hostility of Nature. As he reached his home the +rain ceased, and a thick mist, with noiseless entrance, pervaded all the +environment; but no life, or sound of life, broke the melancholy sense +of his utter desolation. + +He took the road by the lake because it was the nearest road to the +stables, where he wished to alight; but the sight of the livid water, +and of the herons standing motionless under the huge cedars by its +frozen edges, brought to speech and expression that stifled grief, which +Nature this morning had intensified, not relieved. + +"Those unearthly birds!" he said petulantly, "they look as if they had +escaped the deluge by some mistake. Oh if I could forget! If I could +only forget! And now she has gone! She has gone! I shall never see her +again! "Grief feels it a kind of luxury to repeat some supreme cry of +misery, and this lamentation for his lost love had this poignant +satisfaction. He felt New York to be empty and void and dreary, and the +Manor House with its physical cheer and comfort, and its store of +affection, could not lift the stone from his heart. + +In spite of the chilling mist the Earl had gone to see a neighbour about +some land and local affairs, and his mother--oblivious of the coronet of +a countess--was helping her housekeeper to make out the list of all +household property at the beginning of the year 1792. She seemed a +little annoyed at his intrusion, and recommended to him a change of +apparel. Then he smiled at his forlorn, draggled condition, and went to +his room. + +Now it is a fact that in extreme dejection something good to eat, and +something nice to wear, will often restore the inner man to his normal +complacency; and when Hyde's valet had seen to his master's refreshment +in every possible way, Hyde was at least reconciled to the idea of +living a little longer. The mud-stained garments had disappeared, and as +he walked up and down the luxurious room, brightened by the blazing oak +logs, he caught reflections of his handsome person in the mirror, and he +began to be comforted. For it is not in normal youth to disdain the +smaller joys of life; and Hyde was thinking as his servant dressed him +in satin and velvet, that at least there was Annie. Annie was always +glad to see him, and he had a great respect for Annie's opinions. Indeed +during the past few weeks they had been brought into daily +companionship, they had become very good friends. So then the absence of +the Earl and the preoccupation of his mother was not beyond comfort, if +Annie was able to receive him. In spite of his grief for Cornelia's +removal from New York, he was not insensible to the pleasure of Annie's +approval. He liked to show himself to her when he knew he could appear +to advantage; and there was nothing more in this desire, than that +healthy wish for approbation that is natural to self-respecting youth. + +He heard her singing as he approached the drawing-room, and he opened +the door noiselessly and went in. If she was conscious of his entrance +she made no sign of it, and Hyde did not seem to expect it. He glanced +at her as he might have glanced at a priest by the altar, and went +softly to the fireside and sat down. At this moment she had a solemn, +saintly beauty; her small pale face was luminous with spiritual joy, her +eyes glowing with rapture, and her hands moving among the ivory keys of +the piano made enchanting melody to her inspired longing + + Jerusalem the golden, + With milk and honey blest, + Beneath thy contemplation + Sink heart and voice oppressed. + O one, O only mansion, + O paradise of joy! + Where tears are ever banished + And smiles have no alloy. + O sweet and blessed country! + Shall I ever see thy face? + O sweet and blessed country! + Shall I ever win thy grace? + +and as these eager impassioned words rose heavenward, it seemed to Hyde +that her innocent, longing soul was half-way out of her frail little +body. He did not in any way disturb her. She ceased when the hymn was +finished and sat still a few moments, realizing, as far as she could, +the glory which doth not yet appear. As her eyes dropped, the light +faded from her face; she smiled at Hyde, a smile that seemed to light +all the space between them. Then he stood up and she came towards him. +No wonder that strangers spoke of her as a child; she had the size and +face and figure of a child, and her look of extreme youth was much +accentuated by the simple black gown she wore, and by her carriage, for +she leaned slightly forward as she walked, her feet appearing to take no +hold upon the floor; a movement springing INTERIORLY from the soul +eagerness which dominated her. Hyde placed her in a chair before the +fire, and then drew his own chair to her side. + +"Cousin," she said, "I am most glad to see you. Everybody has some work +to do to-day." + +"And you, Annie?" + +"In this world I have no work to do," she answered. "My soul is here for +a purchase; when I have made it I shall go home again." And Hyde looked +at her with such curious interest that she added--"I am buying +Patience." + +"O indeed, that is a commodity not in the market." + +"I assure you it is. I buy it daily. Once I used to wonder what for I +had come to earth. I had no strength, no beauty, nothing at all to buy +Earth's good things with. Three years ago I found out that I had come to +buy for my soul, the grace of Patience. Do you remember what an +imperious, restless, hard-to-please, hard-to-serve girl I was? Now it is +different. If people do not come on the instant I call them, I rock my +soul to rest, and say to it 'anon, anon, be quiet, soul.' If I suffer +much pain--and that is very often--I say Soul, it is His Will, you must +not cry out against it. If I do not get my own way, I say, Soul, His Way +is best; and thus, day by day, I am buying Patience." + +"But it is not possible this can content you. You must have some other +hope and desire, Annie?" + +"Perhaps I once had--and to-day is a good time to speak of it to you, +because now it troubles me no longer. You know what my father desired, +and what your father promised, for us both?" + +"Yes. Did you desire it, Annie?" + +"I do not desire it now. You were ever against it?" + +"Oh Annie!--" + +"It makes no matter, George. I shall never marry you." + +"Do you dislike me so much?" + +"I am very fond of you. You are of my race and my kindred, and I love +every soul of the Hydes that has ever tarried on this earth." + +"Well then?" + +"I shall marry no one. I will show you the better way. Few can walk in +it, but Doctor Roslyn says, he thinks it may be my part--my happy part-- +to do so:" and as she spoke she took from the little pocket at her +side a small copy of the gospels, and it opened of its own account at +the twentieth chapter of St. Luke. "See!" she said, "and read it for +yourself, George--" + +"The children of this world marry and are given in marriage. But they +which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the +resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage. + +"Neither can they die any more; for they are equal unto the angels, and +are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection." +[Footnote: St. Luke, chap. xx. 34-36.] + +"To die no more! To be like unto the angels! To be the children of God! +This is the end and aim of my desires, to be among 'the children of +God!'" + +"Dear Annie, I cannot understand this." + +"Not yet. It is not your time. My soul, I think, is ages older than +yours. It takes ages of schooling to get into that class that may leave +Earth forever, and be as the angels. Even now I know, I am sure that you +are fretting and miserable for the love of some woman. For whose love, +George? Tell me." + +Then Hyde plunged with headlong precipitancy into the story of his love +for Cornelia, and of the inexplicably cruel way in which it had been +brought to a close. "And yesterday," he continued with a sob in his +voice--"yesterday I heard that her father had taken her to Philadelphia. +I shall see her no more. He will marry her to Rem Van Arenas, or to one +of her Quaker cousins, and the taste is taken out of my life, and I am +only a walking misery." + +"I do not believe it is Cornelia's fault." + +"Here is her letter. Read it." Then Annie look the letter and after +reading it said, "If she be all you say, I will vow she wrote this in +her sleep. I should like to see her. Why do you think wrong of her? What +is love without faith in the one you love? Do you know first and finally +what true love is? It is THINKING kindly and nobly. For if we GIVE all +we have, and DO all we can do, and yet THINK unkindly, it profits us +nothing. Doctor Roslyn told me so. You remember him?" + +"Your teacher?" + +"My teacher, my friend, my father after the spirit. He told me that our +thoughts moulded our fate, because thought and life are one. So then, if +you really love Cornelia, you must think good of her, and then good will +come." + +"If thought and life are one, Annie, if doing good, and giving good, are +nothing to thinking good, and we are to be judged by our quality of +thinking, there will be a greater score against all of us, than we can +imagine. I, for one, should not like to be brought face to face with +what I think, and have thought about people; it would be an accounting +beyond my power to settle." + +"There is no accounting. If all the priests in Christendom tell you so, +believe them not. Do you think God keeps a score against you? Do you +think the future is some torture chamber, or condemned cell? Oh, how you +wrong God!" + +"But we are taught, Annie, that the future must correct the past." + +"True, but the future, like the present, is a school--only a school. +And the Great Master is so compassionate, so ready to help, so ready to +enlighten, so sure to make out of our foolishness some wise thing. If we +learn the lesson we came here to learn, He will say to us 'Well done'-- +and then we shall go higher." + +"If we do not learn it?" + +"Ah then, we are turned back to try it over again! I should not like to +be turned back--would you ?" + +"But He will punish us for failure." + +"Our earthly fathers are often impatient with us; His compassions fail +not. Oh this good God!" she cried in an ecstasy--"Oh that I knew where +I might find Him! Oh that I could come into His presence!" and her eyes +dilated, and were full of an incomparable joy, as if they were gazing +upon some glorious vision, and glad with the gladness of the angels. + +Hyde looked at her with an intense interest. He wondered if this angelic +little creature had ever known the frailties and temptations of mortal +life, and she answered his thought as if he had spoken it aloud. + +"Yes, cousin, I have known all temptations, and come through all +tribulations. My soul has wandered and lost its way, and been brought +back many and many a time, and bought every grace with much suffering. +But God is always present to help, while quest followed quest, and +lesson followed lesson, and goal succeeded goal; ever leaving some evil +behind, and carrying forward some of those gains which are eternal." + +"If Adam had not fallen!" sighed George, "things might have been so +different." + +"But the angels fell before Adam," she answered. "I wonder if Adam knew +about the fallen angels? Did he know about death before he saw Abel +dead? He was all day in the garden of Eden after eating of the fruit of +sin and death, and yet he did not put out his hand to take of the Tree +of Life. Did he know that he was already immortal? Was he--and are we-- +fallen angels, working our way back to our first estate through many +trials and much suffering? Doctor Roslyn talked to me of these things +till I thought I felt wings stirring within me. Wings! Wings! Wings to +fly away and be at rest. Wings! they have been the dream of every race +and every age. Are they a memory of our past greatness, for they haunt +us, and draw us on and on, and higher and higher?--but why do you look +so troubled and reluctant?" + +Before Hyde could answer, the Earl came into the room and the young man +was glad to see his father. A conversation so unusual, so suggestive and +cleaving made him unhappy. It took him up the high places that indeed +gave him a startling outlook of life, but he was not comfortable at such +altitude. He rose with something of this strange air about him, and the +Earl understood what the trend of the conversation had been. For Annie +had talked much to him on such subjects, and he had been sensibly moved +and impressed by the wisdom which the little maid had learned from her +venerable teacher. He lifted her head in passing, and kissed her brow +with that reverent affection we feel for those who bring out what is +noblest and best in our character, and who lead us higher than our daily +walk. + +"My dear George," he said, "I am delighted to see you. I was afraid you +would stay in the city this dreadful weather. Is there any news?" + +"A great deal, sir. I have brought you English and French papers." + +"I will read them at my leisure. Give me the English news first. What is +it in substance?" + +"The conquest of Mysore and Madras. Seringapatam has fallen; and Tippoo +has ceded to England one half his dominions and three millions of +pounds. The French have not now a foothold left in India, and 'Citizen +Tippoo' can no longer help the agents of the French Republic. Faith, +sir! Cornwallis has given England in the east, a compensation for what +she lost in the west." + +"To make nations of free men, is the destiny of our race," replied the +Earl. + +"Perhaps so; for it seems the new colony planted at Sydney Cove, +Australia, is doing wonderfully; and that would mean an English empire +in the south." + +"Yet, I have just read a proclamation of the French Assembly, calling on +the people of France 'TO ANNIHILATE AT ONCE, the white, clay-footed +colossus of English power and diplomacy.' Anything else?" + +"Mr. Fox and Mr. Burke are quarrelling as usual, and Mr. Pitt is making +the excesses of France the excuse for keeping back reform in England. It +is the old story. I did not care to read it. The French papers tell +their side of it. They call Burke a madman, and Pitt a monster, and the +Moniteur accuses them of having misrepresented the great French nation, +and says, 'they will soon be laid prostrate before the statue of +Liberty, from which they shall only rise to mount the scaffold, etc., +etc.'" + +"What bombastic nonsense!" + +"Minister Morris is in the midst of horrors unmentionable. The other +foreign ministers have left France, and the French government is +deserted by all the world; yet Mr. Morris remains at his post, though he +was lately arrested in the street, and his house searched by armed men." + +"But this is an insult to the American nation! Why does he endure it? He +ought to return home." + +"Because he will not abandon his duty in the hour of peril and +difficulty. Neither has the President given him permission to do so. How +could he desert American citizens unlawfully imprisoned, American +vessels unlawfully seized by French privateers, and American captains +detained in French ports on all kinds of pretences. I think Minister +Morris is precisely where he should be, saving the lives of American +citizens; many of whom are trembling to-day in the shadow of the +guillotine." + +"It is to be hoped that Jefferson is now convinced of the execrable +nature of these brutal revolutionists." + +"I can assure you, sir, he is not. He still excuses all their +abominations and says Minister Morris is a high-flying monarchy man, and +not to be taken without great allowance. I hear that Madame Kippon's +daughter, whom Mr. Morris rescued at the last hour, has arrived in New +York; and yesterday I met Mr. Van Ariens, who is exceedingly anxious +concerning his daughter, the Marquise de Tounnerre." "Is she in danger? +I thought her husband was a leader in the new National Assembly." + +"He is among the Girondists. They are giving themselves airs and making +fine speeches at present--but--" + +"But what?" + +"Their day will be short." + +"What of the king?" + +"The royal family are all prisoners in the Temple Tower. I do not dare +to read the particulars; but not a single protest against their +barbarity is made. Frenchmen who silently saw the Abbaye, the Force, and +the Carmes turned into human shambles three months ago, now hold their +peace while murders no less horrible are being slowly done in the +Temple." + +"They are inconceivable monsters. Poor little Arenta! What will she do?" + +"I am not very uneasy for her; she has wit enough to save her life if +put to such extremes; her father is much to be pitied; and it is +incredible, though true, that the great majority of our people are still +singing the MARSEILLAISE, though every letter of it is washed in blood +and tears." + +"I am troubled about that pretty little Marquise." + +"She is clever and full of resource. I have had only one letter from her +since her marriage, and it was written to the word 'glories!' She +seemed to be living in a blaze of triumph and very happy. But change is +the order of the day in France." + +"Say of the hour, and you are nearer the truth." + +"If Arenta is in trouble she will cry out, and call for help on every +hand. I never knew her to make a mistake where her own interests were +concerned. I told her father yesterday that it would be very difficult +to corner Arenta, and comforted him beyond my hope." + +During this conversation Annie was in a reverie which it in no way +touched. She had the faculty of shutting her ears to sounds she did not +wish to take into her consciousness, and the French Revolution did not +exist for her. She was thinking all the time of her Cousin George, and +of the singular abruptness with which his love life had been cut short; +and it was this train of thought which led her--when the murmur of +voices ceased for a moment--to say impulsively: + +"Uncle, it is my desire to go to Philadelphia," The Earl looked at her +with incredulity. "What nonsense, Annie!" he exclaimed. "The thing is +impossible." + +"Why impossible?" + +"For you, I mean. You would be very ill before the journey was half- +finished. The roads, as George will tell you, are nearly impassable; and +the weather after this fog may be intensely cold. For you a journey to +Philadelphia would be an arduous undertaking, and one without any +reasonable motive." + +"Oh, indeed! Do you call George Washington an unreasonable motive? I +wish to see him. Imagine me within one hundred miles of this supreme +hero, and turning back to England without kissing his hand. I should be +laughed at--I should deserve to be laughed at." + +"Yes, if the journey were an easier one." + +"To be sure, the roads and the cold will be trials; but then my uncle, +you can give them to me, as God gives trials to His Beloved. He breaks +them up into small portions, and puts a night's sleep between the +portions. Can you not also do this?" + +"You little Methodist!" answered the Earl, with a tender gleam in his +eyes. "I see that I shall have to give you your own way. Will you go +with us, George?" + +"It will be a relief. New York is in the dumps. Little Burr having +beaten the Schuyler faction, thinks himself omnipotent; and this quarrel +between Mr. Jay and Governor Clinton keeps every one else on the edge of +ill-humour. All the dancing part of the town are gone to Philadelphia; I +have scarcely a partner left; and there is no conversation now in New +York that is not political. Burr, Schuyler, Jay, Clinton! even the +clergy have gone horse and foot into these disputes." + +"Burr has a kind of cleverness; one must admit that." + +"He is under the curse of knowing everything." + +"Nevertheless his opinions will not alter the axis of the earth. It is +however a dangerous thing to live in a community where politics are the +staple of talk, quarrels spring full armed from a word in such an +atmosphere." + +"I have accommodated my politics, sir, to my own satisfaction; and I +make shift to answer people according to their idols. I vow, I am so +weary of the words 'honour and honesty' that they beat a tattoo on my +brain." + +"When you are as old as I am, George, you will understand that these +words are the coin, with which men buy office. The corruption of +courtiers is a general article of faith, but the impudence of patriots +going to market with their honesty, beats courtly corruption to nothing. +However, let us go to Philadelphia and see the play. That is what Annie +desires." + +"I desire to see Washington. I wish to see the greatest of Americans." + +"Let me tell you, Annie," said the Earl, "that there never was a man in +America less American in character and habits, than Washington." + +"For all that," interrupted George, "there will never come a man after +him, that will be able to rob Washington of the first place in the +hearts of the American nation." + +"Nor at this day can we judge him as he deserves," added the Earl;" for +he is cramped and hustled by the crowd of nobodies around him." + +"I shall look at him, and I shall know him," said Annie. "George tells +me that he is good and handsome to look at." + +"On horseback," continued the Earl, "there is none like him; he is the +ideally perfect cavalier--graceful, dignified, commanding. Indeed so +superb a man comes not twice in a generation. At Monmouth, where I +commanded a division, I remember him flying along the lines, cheering +the men and restoring by his tremendous enthusiasm the fortunes of the +fight to our standard. The grandest of men! You are right, Annie, it +would be a stupidity to go back to England without seeing him." + +This was the initial conversation which after some opposition, and a +little temper from madame the Countess, resulted in the Hyde family +visiting Philadelphia. It was a great trial to the Countess to leave her +own well ordered, comfortable home for apartments in an hotel; and she +was never done asserting it to be a great imprudence, as far as Annie +was concerned. But the girl was immovable, and as she was supported by +her uncle and cousin, the Countess was compelled to acquiesce. But +really she was so ready to find her pleasure in the pleasure of those +she loved, that this acquiescence was not an unmitigated trial. She +suspected the motive for her son's eager desire for Philadelphia, and as +she had abandoned without much regret the hope of his marriage with +Annie Hyde, she was far from being disinclined to Cornelia. She had +accustomed herself to the idea of Cornelia as mistress of the beautiful +home she had made. She was an American, and madame loved her country and +wished her daughter-in-law to be of American lineage. She was aware that +some trouble had come between the lovers, and she trusted that this +visit might be the ground of a reconciliation. Without question, or +plan, or even strong desire, she felt the wisdom of making +opportunities, and then leaving the improvement of them to +circumstances. + +So about the beginning of February the Hydes were settled in +Philadelphia more comfortably than could have been expected. A handsome +house, handsomely furnished, had been found; and madame had brought with +her the servants necessary to care for it, and for the family's comfort. +And she was glad, when the weariness of the journey was over, to see how +naturally and pleasantly her husband and son took their places in the +gay world around them. She watched the latter constantly, being sure she +would be able to read on his face, and by his manner and temper, whether +affairs relating to Cornelia were favourable. + +In a week she had come to the conclusion that he was disappointed; which +indeed was very much the case. He could hear nothing of Cornelia. He had +never once got a glimpse of her lovely countenance, and no scrutiny had +revealed to him the place of her abode. Every house inhabited by a +person of the name of Willing, had been the object of his observation; +but no form that by any possibility could be mistaken for hers, had +passed in or out of their doors. He became ashamed of haunting +particular streets, and fancied the ladies of certain houses watched +him; and that the maids and menservants chattered and speculated about +his motives. + +Every day when he went out Annie gave him an assuring smile, every day +when he returned, she opened her eyes on him with the question in them +she did not care to formulate; and every day she received in an answer +an almost imperceptible negative shake of the head, that slight as it +was, said despairingly, "I have not seen her." + +A month passed in this unfruitful searching misery, and Hyde was almost +hopeless. The journey appeared to be altogether a failure; and he said +to Annie, "I am to be blamed for my selfishness in permitting you to +come here. I see that you have tired yourself to death for nothing at +all." + +She gave her head a resolute little shake and answered, "Wait and see. +Something is coming. You have no patience." + +"I assure you, Annie, I ought to have. I have been buying it every day +since we came to this detestable place." + +"The place is not to blame. Do you know that I am going to Mrs. +Washington's reception to-morrow evening? I shall see the President. He +may even speak to me; for my uncle says he appears there, only as a +private gentleman. Cousin, you are to be my cavalier if it please you; +and my uncle and aunt will attend us." + +"I am devotedly at your service, Annie; and I will at least point out to +you some of the dazzling beauties of our court--the splendid Mrs. +Bingham, the Miss Allens, and Miss Chews, and the brilliant Sally +McKean." + +"And the lovely Cornelia Moran?" + +"She will not be there." + +"My aunt says I must wear a white gown, and I shah do you all the +justice it is in my power to do." + +"I am always proud of you, Annie. There is no one like you." + +"Do not say that, George!" The few words were almost a cry; and she +closed her eyes, and clasped her small hands tightly. + +"What have I said, Annie?" + +"Nothing--nothing--only do not flatter me." + +"It is the very truth." + +"Let it pass?--it is nothing." She was silent afterwards, like a person +in pain; all her childlike gaiety gone; and Hyde having a full share of +a man's stupidity about matters of pure feeling, did not for one moment +suspect why his praise should give her pain. He thought her objection +must come from some religious scruple. + +The next evening however he had every reason to feel proud of his +cousin. She was really an exquisite little creature; angels would have +given her all she wished, she was so charming. The touch of phantasy and +flame in her nature illumined her face, and no one could look at her +without feeling that a fervent and transparent soul gazed from eyes, so +lambent with soft spiritual fire. This impression was enhanced by her +childlike gown of white crape over soft white silk; it suggested her +sweet fretless life, and also something unknown and unseen in her very +simplicity. + +Hyde, who was dressed in the very finest mode, was proud to take her on +his arm; and the Earl watched them with a fond and faithful hope that +all would soon fall out as he desired it. He could not indeed imagine a +man remaining unimpressed by a beauty so captivating to the highest +senses. "It will be as we wish," he said to his Countess as they watched +them entering the waiting coach; and she answered with that smile of +admission, which has always its reserved opinion. + +Mrs. Washington's parlours were crowded when they entered them, but the +splendid throng gave the highest expression of their approval possible, +by that involuntary silence which indicates a pleased astonishment. The +Earl at once presented his niece to Mrs. Washington, and afterwards to +the President, who as a guest of Mrs. Washington was walking about the +rooms talking to the ladies present. Resplendent in purple and white +satin and the finest of laces, the august man captivated Lady Annie at +the first glance. She curtsied with inimitable grace, and would have +kissed the hand he held out to her, had he permitted the homage. For a +few minutes he remained in conversation with the party, then he went +forward, and Hyde turning with his beautiful charge, met Cornelia face +to face. + +They looked at each other as two disembodied souls might meet and look +after death--reproaching, questioning, entreating, longing. Hyde flushed +and paled, and could not for his very life make the slightest effort at +recognition or speech. Not a word would come. He knew not what word to +say. Cornelia who had seen his entry was more prepared. She gave him one +long look of tender reproach as she passed, but she made no movement of +recognition. If she had said one syllable--if she had paused one moment-- +if she had shown in any way the least desire for a renewal of their +acquaintance, Hyde was sure his heart would have instantly responded. As +it was, they had met and parted in a moment, and every circumstance had +been against him. For it was the most natural thing in life, that he +should, after his cousin's interview with Washington, stoop to her words +with delight and interest; and it was equally natural for Cornelia to +put the construction on his attentions which every one else did. Then +being angry at her apparent indifference, he made these attentions still +more prominent; and Cornelia heard on every hand the confirmation of her +own suspicions: "They are to be married at Easter. What a delightful +little creature!" + +"They have loved each other all their lives." + +"The Earl is delighted with the marriage." + +"He is the most devoted of lovers." + +And there was not a word of dissent from this opinion until pretty Sally +McKean said, "A fig for your prophecies! George Hyde has loved and +galloped away a score of times. I would not pay any more attention to +his proposals and promises, than I would pay to the wind that blows +where it listeth; here to-day, and somewhere else to-morrow." + +To all these speculations Cornelia forced herself to listen with a calm +unalterable; and Hyde and Annie watched her from a distance. "So that is +the marvellous beauty!" said Annie. + +"Is she not marvellously beautiful?" asked Hyde. + +"Yes. I will say that much. But why did she look at you with so much of +reproach? What have you done to her?" + +"That is it. What have I done? Or left undone?" + +"Who is the gentleman with her?" + +"I know not. She has many relatives here; wealthy Quakers, and some of +them doubtless of the new order, who do not disdain the frivolity of +fine clothing." + +"Indeed, I assure you the Quakers were ever nice in their taste for +silks and velvets and laces. The man is handsome enough even to be her +escort. And to judge by appearances he is her devoted servant. Will you +regard them, cousin?" + +"I do. Alas, I see nothing else! She is more lovely then ever." + +"She is wonderfully dressed. That gown of pale blue and silver would +make any woman look like an angel?-but indeed she is lovely beyond +comparison. There are none like her in this room. It will be a thousand +pities if you lose her." + +"I shall be inconsolable." + +"You may have another opportunity even tonight. I see that my aunt is +approaching with a young lady, if you do not wish to make a new +acquaintance, go and try to meet Cornelia again." + +"Thank you, Annie. You can tell me what I have missed afterwards." + +He wandered through the parlours speaking to one and another but ever on +the watch for Cornelia. He saw her no more that night. She had withdrawn +as soon as possible after meeting Hyde, and he was so miserably +disappointed, so angry at the unpropitious circumstances which had +dominated their casual meeting, that he hardly spoke to anyone as they +returned home; and was indeed so little interested in other affairs +that he forgot until the next day to ask Annie whose acquaintance he had +rather palpably refused. + +"You cannot guess who it was," said Annie in answer to his query;" so I +will make a favour of telling you. Do you remember the Rev. Mr. Darner, +rector of Downhill Market?" + +"Very well. He preached very tiresome sermons." + +"The young lady was his daughter Mary." + +"'Tis a miracle! What is Mary Darner doing in America?" + +"She is on a visit to her cousin, who is married to the Governor of +Massachusetts. He is here on some state matter, and as Miss Damer also +wished to see Washington, he brought her with him." + +"Mary Damer! We went nutting together one autumn. She came often to Hyde +Court when I was a lad." + +"And she promises to come often to see me when I return to England. I +wonder what we have been brought together for. There must be a reason +for a meeting so unlikely--Can it be Cornelia?" + +"'Tis the most improbable of suppositions. I do not suppose she ever saw +Cornelia." + +"She had not even heard of her--and yet my mind will connect them." + +"You have no reason to do so; and it is beyond all likelihood. I am +sorry I went away from Mary." + +"She took no notice of your desertion." + +"That is, as maybe. I was a mere lad when I saw her last. Is she +passable?" + +"She is extremely handsome. My aunt heard that she is to marry a Boston +gentleman of good promise and estate. I dare say it is true." + +It was so true that even while they were speaking of the matter Mary was +writing these words to her betrothed :" Yesterday I met the Hydes. You +know my father has the living of Downhill Market from them, and I had a +constraint on me to be agreeable. The young Lord got out of my way. Did +he imagine I had designs on him? I look for a better man. What fate +brought us together in Philadelphia, I know not. I may see a great deal +of them in the coming summer, and then I may find out. At present I will +dismiss the Hydes. I have met pleasanter company." + +Annie dismissed the subject with the same sort of impatience. It seemed +to no one a matter of any importance, and even Annie that day had none +of the penetrative insight which belongs to + + "that finer atmosphere, + Where footfalls of appointed things, + Reverberant of days to be, + Are heard in forecast echoings, + Like wave beats from a viewless sea." + +As for Hyde, he was shaken, confused, lifted off his feet, as it were; +but after another day had passed, he had come to one steady resolution-- +HE WOULD SPEAL TO CORNELIA WHEN NEXT HE MET HER, NO MATTER WHERE IT WAS, +OR WHO WAS WITH HER. And that passionate stress of spirit which induced +this resolve, led him also to go out and seek for this opportunity. + +For nearly a week he kept this conscious, constant watch. Its insisting +sorrowful longing was like a cry from Love's watch towers, but it did +not reach the beloved one; or else she did not answer it. One bright +morning he resolved to walk through the great dry goods stores-- +Whiteside's, Guest's, and the famous Mrs. Holland's, where the beauties +of the "gay Quakers" bought their choicest fabrics in foreign chintzes, +lawns, and Indian muslins. All along Front, Arch, and Walnut Streets, +the pavements were lumbered with boxes and bales of fine imported goods, +and he was getting impatient of the bustle and pushing, when he saw +Anthony Clymer approaching him. The young man was driving a new and very +spirited team, and as he with some difficulty held them, he called to +Hyde to come and drive with him. Hyde was just in the weary mood that +welcomed change, and he leaped to his friend's side, and felt a sudden +exhilaration in the rapid motion of the buoyant, active animals. After +an hour's driving they came to a famous hostelry, and Clymer said, "Let +us give ourselves lunch, and the horses bait and a rest, then we will +make them show their mettle home again." + +The proposal met with a hearty response, and the young men had a +luxurious meal and more good wine than they ought to have taken. But +Hyde had at last found some one who could talk of Cornelia; rave of her +face and figure, and vow she was the topmost beauty in Philadelphia. He +listened, and finally asked where she dwelt, and learned that she was +staying with Mr. Theodore Willing, a wealthy gentleman of the strictest +Quaker principles, but whose son was one of the "feeble men or wet +Quakers" who wore powder and ruffles and dressed like a person of +fashion. + +"He dangles around the bewitching Miss Moran, and gives no other man a +chance," said Clymer spitefully. "It is the talk from east to west, and +'tis said, he is so enamoured of the beauty, that he will have her, if +he buy her." + +"Do you talk in your sleep? Or do you tell your dreams for truth?" asked +Hyde angrily. "'Tis not to be believed that a girl so lovely can be +bought by mere pounds sterling. A woman's heart lies not so near her +hand--God's mercy for it! or any fool might seize it." + +"What are you raging at? She is not your mistress." + +"Let us talk of horses--or politics--or the last play--or anything but +women. They breed quarrels, if you do but name them." + +"Content. I will tell you a good story about Tom Herring," + +The story was evidently a good one, for Hyde laughed at the recital with +a noisy merriment very unusual to him. The champ and gallop of the +horses, and Clymer's vociferous enjoyment of his own wit, blended with +it; and for a moment or two Hyde was under a physical exhilaration as +intoxicating as the foam of the champagne they had been drinking. In the +height of this meretricious gaiety, a carriage, driving at a rather +rapid rate turned into the road; and Cornelia suddenly raised her eyes +to the festive young men, and then dropped them with an abrupt, even +angry expression. + +Hyde became silent and speechless, and Clymer was quickly infected by +the very force and potency of his companion's agitation and distressed +surprise. He heard him mutter, "Oh this is intolerable!" and then, it +was, as if a cold sense of dislike had sprung up between them.--Both +were glad to escape the other's company, and Hyde fled to the privacy of +his own room, that he might hide there the almost unbearable chagrin and +misery this unfortunate meeting had caused him. + +"Where shall I run to avoid myself?" he cried as he paced the floor in +an agony of shame. "She will never respect me again. She ought not. I am +the most wretched of lovers. Such a tom-fool to betray me as Anthony +Clymer! A man like a piece of glass, that I have seen through a dozen +times!" Then he threw himself into a chair and covered his face with his +hands, and wept tears full of anger and shameful distress. + +For some days sorrow, and confusion, and distraction bound his senses; +he refused all company, would neither eat, nor sleep, nor talk, and he +looked as white and wan as a spectre. A stupid weight, a dismal sullen +stillness succeeded the storm of shame and grief; and he felt himself to +be the most forlorn of human beings. If it had been only possible to +undo things done! he would have bought the privilege with years. At +length, however, the first misery of that wretched meeting passed away, +and then he resolved to forget. + +"It is all past!" he said despairingly. "She is lost to me forever! Her +memory breaks my heart! I will not remember any longer! I will forfeit +all to forgetfulness. Alas, alas, Cornelia! Though you would not believe +me, it was the perfectest love that I gave you!" + +Cornelia's sorrow, though quite as profound, was different in character. +Her sex and various other considerations taught her more restraint; but +she also felt the situation to be altogether unendurable, and after a +few moments of bitterly eloquent silence, she said-- + +"Mother, let us go home. I can bear this place no longer. Let us go home +to-morrow. Twice this past week I have been made to suffer more than you +can imagine. The man is apparently worthless--but I love him." + +"You say 'apparently' Cornelia?" + +"Oh, how can I tell? There may be excuses--compulsions--I do not know +what. I am only sure of one thing, that I love and suffer." + +For despite all reason, despite even the evidence of her own eyes, +Cornelia kept a reserve. And in that pitiful last meeting, there had +been a flash from Hyde's eyes, that said to her--she knew not what of +unconquerable love and wrong and sorrow--a flash swifter than lightning +and equally potential. It had stirred into tumult and revolt all the +platitudes with which she had tried to quiet her restless heart; made +her doubtful, pitiful and uncertain of all things, even while her +lover's reckless gaiety seemed to confirm her worst suspicions. And she +felt unable to face constantly this distressing dubious questioning, so +that it was with almost irritable entreaty she said, "Let us go home, +mother." + +"I have desired to do so for two weeks, Cornelia," answered Mrs. Moran. +"I think our visit has already been too long." + +"My Cousin Silas has now begun to make love to me; and his mother and +sisters like it no better than I do. I hate this town with its rampant, +affected fashion and frivolities! It is all a pretence! The people are +naturally saints, and they are absurd and detestable, scheming to make +the most of both worlds--going to meeting and quoting texts--and then +playing that they are men and women of fashion. Mother, let us go home +at once. Lucinda can pack our trunks to-day, and we will leave in the +morning." + +"Can we go without an escort?" + +"Oh yes, we can. Lucinda will wait on us--she too is longing for New +York--and who can drive us more carefully than Cato? And my dear mother, +if Silas wants to escort us, do not permit him. Please be very positive. +I am at the end of my patience. I am like to cry out! I am so unhappy, +mother!" + +"My dear, we will go home to-morrow. We can make the journey in short +stages. Do not break down now, Cornelia. It is only a little longer." + +"I shall not break down--if we go home." And as the struggle to resist +sorrow proves the capacity to resist it, Cornelia kept her promise. As +they reached New York her cheerfulness increased, and when they turned +into Maiden Lane, she clapped her hands for very joy. And oh, how +delightful was the pleasant sunny street, the familiar houses, the brisk +wind blowing, the alert cheerful looking men and women that greeted each +other in passing with lively words, and bright smiles! O how delightful +the fresh brown garden, in which the crocuses were just beginning to +peep, the bright looking home, the dear father running with glad +surprise to greet them, the handsome, pleasant rooms, the refreshing +tea, the thousand small nameless joys that belong to the little darling +word "HOME." + +She ran upstairs to her own dear room, laid her head on her pillow, sat +down in her favourite chair, opened her desk, let in all the sunshine +she could, and then fell with holy gratitude on her knees and thanked +God for her sweet home, and for the full cup of mercies He had given her +to drink in it. + +When she went downstairs the mail had just come in, and the Doctor sat +before a desk covered with newspapers and letters. "Cornelia," he cried +in a voice full of interest, "here is a letter for you--a long letter. +It is from Paris." + +"It is from Arenta!" she exclaimed, as she examined the large sheets +closed with a great splash of red wax, bearing the de Tounnerre crest. +It had indeed come from Paris, the city of dreadful slaughter, yet +Cornelia opened it with a smiling excitement, as she said again:-- + +"It is from Arenta!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +WE HAVE DONE WITH TEARS AND TREASONS + + +"Here is a letter from Arenta!" repeated the Doctor to his wife, who was +just entering the room, "Come, Ava, and listen to what she has to say. I +have no doubt it will be interesting." Then Cornelia read aloud the +following words: + +MY DEAR FRIEND CORNELIA: + +If to-day I could walk down Maiden Lane, if to-day I could see you and +talk to you, I should imagine myself in heaven. For as to this city, I +think that in hell the name of "Paris" must have spread itself far and +wide. Indeed I often wonder if I am yet on the earth, or if I have gone +away in my sleep to the country of the devil and his angels. Even as I +am writing to you, my pen is shaking with terror, for I hear the tumbrel +come jolting along, and I know that it is loaded with innocent men and +women who are going to the guillotine; and I know also that it is +accompanied by a mob of dreadful creatures--mostly women--for I hear +them singing--no, screaming--in a kind of rage, + +"Ca ira les aristocrates a la lanterne!" + +Do you remember our learning in those happy days at Bethlehem of the +slaughter of Christians by Nero? Very well; right here in the Paris of +Marat and Robespierre, you may hear constantly the same brutal cry that +filled the Rome of the Caesars--"DEATH TO THE CHRISTIANS!" Famine, +anarchy, murder, are everywhere; and I live from moment to moment, +trembling if a step comes near me. For Athanase is imprudence itself. +His opinions will be the death of him. He will not desert the +Girondists, though Mr. Morris tells him their doom is certain. Marat is +against them, and the Jacobins--who are deliriously wicked--are against +them, and the mob of the Faubourgs is against them; and this mob is +always of one mind, always on the spot, and always hungry and ready for +anarchy and blood. Besides which, they are already accused of having +sold themselves to Mr. Pitt. Very often I have heard my dear father +talking of universal suffrage as the bulwark of liberty; well then, we +have now, and here, an universal suffrage that is neither a fraud nor a +fiction; and as Athanase says, "it is expressing itself every minute, in +the crimes of the Holy Guillotine." + +And yet Paris makes a pretence of being gay and of enjoying itself. We +go to the theatre and the opera, and we dance, as it were, red, wet-shod +to the hideous strains of the Carmagnole. It is indeed a dance of death. +The other night we were at a reception given by Madame Talma to the +victorious General Dumouriez. All the Brissot party were there. Your +father will remember Brissot de Warville very well. He was greatly +petted by Mrs. Jay and the aristocracy of New York and Philadelphia. +Jefferson made a friend of him, and even Washington talked with him +about his book on our country. Then he passed himself off as a noble, +but he is really the son of an innkeeper. I had so often heard of him, +that I regarded with interest his pale face and grave, melancholy +manner. He was accompanied by Camille Desmoulins, and by Danton; the +latter a man almost terrible in his ugliness. David, the painter of +Socrates, was there; he had his hair frizzed, and was dressed +splendidly; and with him was Chenier, more tragic looking than any of +his plays. The salons were filled with flowers and beautiful women; +among them the majestic Madame Vestris, and the lovely Mademoiselle +Candeille, who was singing a song when there arose a sudden +indescribable noise, growing louder and louder, and then the cry of +MARAT! MARAT! and the "Friend of the People" entered. Now I shall spare +a few minutes to tell you, that no one has made frightful enough his +large bony face, his thin lips and his livid complexion. He wore an old +carmagnole, a dirty handkerchief twisted about his neck, leather +breeches, shoes without stockings, and a piece of red cotton round his +head, from which there hung a few locks of greasy hair. A nervous +twitching keeps him constantly moving, and he has the leprosy:--this is +well known. He walked straight to Dumouriez, who said disdainfully, "Ah! +are you the man they call Marat?" Marat immediately demanded from him an +account of military measures he had taken. They had some sharp +conversation which I did not hear, and Marat finally went away uttering +the most insulting threats, and leaving every one in a state of mortal +terror. The next day the newsboys were shouting "the discovery of a +great plot by Marat, the Friend of the People! Great meeting of +Aristocrats at Talmas, etc." + +This is the kind of pleasure we have; as to religion, there is no longer +any religion. Everywhere the Almighty is spoken of as the "soi-disant +God." The monarchy is abolished, and yet so ignorant are the leaders of +the people, that when Brissot mentioned the word Republic in Petion's +house, Robespierre said with a grin, "Republic! Republic! what's a +republic?" Spying, and fear, and death penetrate into the most private +houses; above all, fear, constant fear of every one with whom you come +in contact. This feeling is so universal, that some one has conjugated +it thus--I am afraid--Thou art afraid--He is afraid--We are afraid-- +You are afraid--They are afraid--For as death has been officially +declared "an endless sleep" any crime is possible; the mob have no fear +of hell, and as for the guillotine, it is their opera and their +perpetual comedy. Very soon these things must bring on France the +chastisement of the Lord; and I shall not be sorry for it. + +I have told you the truth about our condition, because I have just had a +letter from my father, and he talks of leaving his business in Claus +Bergen's care, and coming here to look after me. You must convince him, +that he could do me no good whatever, and that he might do me much harm. +He is outspoken as a Zealander, and what is in his head and his heart, +would come to his lips; also, if it should come to flight, he would +embarrass me very much. Tell him not to fear; Arenta says, not to fear. +I may indeed have to take a seat in "the terrible armchair" [Footnote: +The chair in which the accused sat before the Revolutionary Tribunal and +from which they usually went to the guillotine.] but I shall not go to +the guillotine; I know that. While Minister Morris is here I have a +friend that can do all that can be done. I have had a few letters from +Rem, but they do not satisfy me. He is in love, AND NOT WITH YOU. Will +you please inform me what that means? Say to Aunt Angelica that I am +astonished at her silence; and ask our good Domine to pray that I may +soon return to a country where God reigns. Never again do I wish to +spend one minute in a place where there is no God; for whatever they may +call that place, its real name is hell. Write me a long letter and tell +me all the news of New York, and with my respectful remembrance to your +dear father and mother, I am always your loving friend, ARENTA, MARQUISE +DE TOUNNERRE. + +"Poor Arenta!" said the Doctor when Cornelia had finished the wretched +epistle. "She is however showing the mettle of the race from which she +sprang. The spirit of the men who fought Alva is in her, and I think she +will be a match for Marat, if it comes to that. Suppose you go and see +Van Ariens, and give him all the comfort you can. Are you too weary?" + +"I should like to see him, I am not tired now. Home is such a good +doctor." + +"I think you will find him in his house. He comes from his office very +early these days." + +Cornelia crossed the street and was going to knock at the door, when Van +Ariens hastily opened it. His broad face shone with pleasure, and when +Cornelia told him her errand, he was in a hurry of loving anxiety to +hear what his child had written. + +"I understand," he said, when he had heard the letter. "She is +frightened, the poor little one! but she will smile and say 'it is +nothing.' That is her way. However, I yet think I must go to her." + +"Do not," urged Cornelia. "France is now at war with Holland, and you +would be recognized as a Dutchman." + +"That is so. My tongue would tell tales on me; and to go--even to +heaven--by the guillotine, is not what a good man would wish. No +indeed!" + +"And you may see by Arenta's letter, that she does not fear the +guillotine. Come over to-night and talk to my father and mother, and I +will tell you what I saw in Philadelphia." + +"Well then, I will come." + +"Is Madame Jacobus back in New York yet?" + +"She is in London." + +"But why in London?" + +"That, I know not. Two reasons I can suppose, but which is right, or if +either be right, that is beyond my certainty." + +"Is her sister-in-law dead?" + +"She is dead. Her husband was an Englishman; perhaps then it is about +some property in England she has gone. If it is not that, of nothing +else can I think but Captain Jacobus. But my sister Angelica had ever +two ways--nothing at all she would say about her money or her business; +but constantly, to every one, she would talk of her husband. I think +then it is money or property that has taken her to England. For if it +had been Jacobus, to the whole town she would have told it." Then he +took both Cornelia's hands in his, and looking at her earnestly said-- + +"Poor Rem! Impossible is it?" + +"Quite impossible, sir," she answered. + +"When he got thy letter refusing his love and offer, he went to Boston. +I think he will not come back to me. I am very sorry," he said simply, +and he let her hands drop. + +"I am sorry also--for your sake. I hear however that Rem is doing well +in Boston." + +"Better than his hopes. Very good fortune has come to him." + +"And you, sir?" + +"I am not doing much at present--but Smith and Warren do less. In an +hour or two to your house I will come. There is plenty to talk about." + +The next day Cornelia walked down Broadway to Madame Jacobus' house. It +was closed and desolate looking, and she sighed as she compared its old +bright spotless comfort, with its present empty forlornness. The change +typified the change in her heart and love, but ere she could entertain +the thought, her eyes fell upon the trees in the garden, full of the +pale crinkled leaves of spring, and she saw the early flowers breaking +through the dark earth, and the early shrubs bursting into white and +golden blooms. In some way they had a message for her; and she went home +with hope budding in her heart. Soon after Mrs. Moran heard her singing +at her work, + + "The far east glows, + The morning wind blows fresh and free; + Should not the hour that wakes the rose + Awaken thee? + No longer sleep-- + Oh listen now! + I wait and weep, + But where art thou?" + +From one to another song she went, simple melodies all of them, +delightful little warblings of love, which except for their gladness and +loyalty, had nothing in them to charm. + +She was a deserted maiden. Her lover had palpably and with extreme +cruelty deceived her; but she had grieved, and forgiven. And love brings +its reward, even if unrequited. Those who love, and have loved, are the +better for the revelation; for love for love's sake enriches and blesses +the lover to the very end of life. She did not forget, for love has +everlasting remembrance; and she did not wish to forget, for a great +affection is a great happiness, and the whole soul can find shelter in +it. + +Neither were her days monotonous or unhappy. All the real pleasures of +life lie in narrow compass; and she found herself very often a little +hurried for want of time. She had not, it is true, the resources of the +woman of to-day--no literary, musical, social, or sporting clubs existed +for Cornelia; but she had duties and devices that made every moment +pleasant or profitable. Many hours daily were given to fine needlework-- +calm quiet hours full of thought as well as work; she had her music to +practice, new books and papers to read, calls to make, mantua makers and +milliners to interview, dinners and dances and tea-parties to attend, +shopping to look after, delicate bits of darning and mending to exercise +her skill on, creams and pasties and cakes to prepare, visitors to +welcome and entertain, and many other duties which sprang up--as extras +do--unexpectedly, and yet which opened the door for very pleasant +surprises and events. + +Besides which, there was her father. After her return from school she +had always driven with him to some extent; but his claim on her now was +often a little exacting. He said the fresh spring winds were good for +her, and that she stayed in the house too much, and there was no evading +the dictum that came with both parental and medical authority. Perhaps +this demand upon her time would not have been made if the Hydes had been +in New York; but Doctor Moran by frequent inquiries satisfied himself +that they were yet in Philadelphia; and for his daughter's satisfaction +he frequently said as they drove up Maiden Lane, "We will take the +Greenwich Road, there is no fear of our meeting any one we do not wish +to see." She understood the allusion, and was satisfied to escape +meetings that promised her nothing but pain. + +In the month of May there occurred one of those wet spells which are so +irritating "growing weather" of course, but very tiresome to those who +felt the joy of spring escaping them. Week after week it was too damp, +or the winds were too sharp, or the roads too heavy for quick driving, +and thus the month of all months went out of the calendar with few red +letter days to brighten it. Then June came in royally, and Cornelia was +glad of the sunshine and the breeze and the rapid canter; and for a week +or two she was much out with her father. But he was now ever on the +watch, and she judged from the circumstance that the Hydes were back in +New York. Besides which, he did not any longer give her the assurance of +not meeting any one they did not wish to see. + +One exquisite day as they went up Maiden Lane the Doctor said--" My +friend General Hewitt sails for England to-day, and we will go and wish +him a good voyage." So to the pier they went, and the Doctor left his +carriage, and taking Cornelia on his arm walked down to where the +English packet was lying. They were a little too late to go on board, +for the shoremen were taking away the gang-plank, and the sailors +preparing to lift the anchor; but the General stood leaning over the +side of the vessel, and exchanged some last words with his friend. + + [Illustration: "SHE WAVED HIM AN ADIEU"] + +While Cornelia listened, she became suddenly conscious of the powerful +magnetism of some human eye, and obeying its irresistible attraction she +saw George Hyde steadily regarding her. He stood by the side of his +father, as handsome as on that May morning when he had first looked love +into her heart. She was enthralled again by his glance, and never for +one moment thought of resisting the appeal it made to her. With a +conscious tenderness she waved him an adieu whose spirit he could not +but feel. In the same moment he lifted his hat and stood bareheaded +looking at her with a pathetic inquiry, which made her inwardly cry out, +"Oh, what does he mean?" The packet was moving--the wind filled the +blowing sails--the hoarse crying of the sailormen blended with the +"good-byes" of the passengers--and the Earl, aware of the sad and +silent parting within his sight--moved away as Cornelia again waved a +mute farewell to her lost lover. Then the Doctor touched her-- + +"Why do you do that?" he asked angrily. + +"Because I must do it, father; I cannot help it. I desire to do it." + +"I am in a hurry; let us go home." + +Filling her eyes with the beauty of the splendid looking youth still +standing bareheaded watching her, seeing even such trivial things as his +long cloak thrown backward over his shoulder, his white hand holding his +lifted hat, and the wind-tossed curls of his handsome head, she turned +away with a sigh. The Doctor drove rapidly to Maiden Lane and did not on +the way speak a word; and Cornelia was glad of it. That image of her +lover standing on the moving ship watching her with his heart in his +eyes, filled her whole consciousness. Never would it be possible for her +to forget it, or to put any other image in its place. She thanked her +good angel for giving her such a comforting memory; it seemed as if the +sting had been taken out of her sorrow. Henceforward she was resolved to +love without a doubt. She would believe in Joris, no matter what she had +seen, or what she had heard. There were places in life to which alas! +truth could not come; and this might be one of them. Though all the +world blamed her lover, she would excuse him. Her heart might ache, her +eyes might weep, but in that aching heart and in those weeping eyes, his +splendid image would live in that radiant dimness which makes the unseen +face, often more real than the present one. + +Doctor Moran divined something of this resolute temper, and it made him +silent. He felt that his daughter had come to a place where she had put +reason firmly aside, and given her whole assent to the assurances of her +intuition. He had no arguments for an antagonism of this kind. What +could he say to a soul that presaged a something, and then believed it? +His instinctive sagacity told him that silence was now the part of +wisdom. But though he took her silently home he was conscious of a great +relief. His watch was over. + +Now a woman's intuition is like a leopard's spring, it seizes the truth +--if it seize it at all--at the first bound; and it was by this +unaccountable mental agility Cornelia had arrived at the conviction of +her lover's fidelity. At any rate, she felt confident, that if +circumstances had compelled him to be false to her, the wrong had been +sincerely mourned; and she was able to forgive the offence that was +blotted out with tears. She reflected also, that now he was so far away, +it would be possible for her to call upon Madame Van Heemskirk, and also +upon Madame Jacobus as soon as she returned; but if Hyde had remained in +New York, these houses would necessarily be closed to her, for he was a +constant visitor at both. + +She resolved therefore to call upon Madame Van Heemskirk the following +week. She expected the old lady might treat her a little formally, +perhaps even with some coldness, but she thought it worth while to test +her kindness. Joris had once told her that his grandfather and +grandmother both approved their love, and they must know of his +desertion, and also of the reason for it. Yet there was in her heart +such a reluctance to take any step that had the appearance of seeking +her lost lover, that she put off this visit day after day, finding in +the weather or in some household duty always a fair excuse for doing so, +until one morning the Doctor said at breakfast: + +"Councillor De Vrees died yesterday, and there is to be a great funeral. +Every Dutchman in town will be there, and many others beside, He has +left an immense fortune." + +"Who told you this?" asked Mrs. Moran. + +"I met Van Heemskirk and his wife going there. Madame De Vrees is their +daughter. Now you will see great changes take place." + +"What do you mean, John?" + +"Madame De Vrees has long wanted to build a mansion equal to their +wealth, but the Councillor would never leave the house he built at their +marriage. Madame will now build, and her children take their places +among the great ones of the city. De Vrees was an oddity; very few +people will be sorry to lose him. He had no good quality but money, and +he was the most unhappy of men about its future disposal. I never +understood until I knew him, how wretched a thing it is to be merely +rich." + +This conversation again put off Cornelia's visit, and she virtually +abandoned the idea. Then one morning Mrs. Moran said, "Cornelia, I wish +you to go to William Irvin's for some hosiery and Kendal cottons. It is +a new store down the Lane at number ninety, and I hear his cloths are +strangely cheap. Go and examine them for me." + +"Very well, mother. I will also look in at Fisher's;" and it was at +Fisher's that she saw Madame Van Heemskirk. She was talking to Mr. Henry +Fisher as they advanced from the back of the store, and Cornelia had +time to observe that madame was in deep mourning, and that she had grown +older looking since she had last seen her. As they came forward madame +raised her eyes and saw Cornelia, and then hastily leaving the merchant, +she approached her. + +"Good-morning, madame," said Cornelia, with a cheerful smile. + +"Good-morning, miss. Step aside once with me. A few words I have to say +to you;" and as she spoke she drew Cornelia a little apart from the +crowd at the counter, and looking at her sternly, said-- + +"One question only--why then did you treat my grandson so badly? A +shameful thing it is to be a flirt." + +"I am not a flirt, madame. And I did not treat your grandson badly. No, +indeed!" + +"Yes, indeed! He told me so himself." + +"He told you so?" + +"He told me so. Surely he did." + +"That I treated him badly?" + +"Pray then what else? You let a young man love you--you let him tell you +so--you tell him 'yes, I love you' and then when he says marry me, you +say, 'no.' Such ways I call bad, very bad! Not worthy of my Joris are +you, and so then, I am glad you said 'no.'" + +"I do not understand you." + +"Neither did you understand my Joris--a great mistake he made--and he +did not understand you; and I do not understand such ways of the girls +of this day. They are shameless, and I am ashamed for you." + +"Madame, you are very rude." + +"And very false are you." + +"I am not false." + +"My Joris told me so. Truth itself is Joris. He would not lie. He would +not deceive." + +"If your grandson told you I had deceived him, and refused to marry +him,--let it be so. I have no wish to contradict your grandson." + +"That you cannot do. I am ashamed--" + +"Madame, I wish you good morning;" and with these words Cornelia left +the store. Her cheeks were burning; the old lady's angry voice was in +her ears, she felt the eyes of every one in the store upon her, and she +was indignant and mortified at a meeting so inopportune. Her heart had +also received a new stab; and she had not at the moment any philosophy +to meet it. Joris had evidently told his grandmother exactly what the +old lady affirmed. She had not a doubt of that, but why? Why had he lied +about her? Was there no other way out of his entanglement with her? She +walked home in a hurry, and as soon as possible shut herself in her room +to consider this fresh wrong and injustice. + +She could arrive at only one conclusion--Annie's most unexpected +appearance had happened immediately after his proposal to herself. He +was pressed for time, his grandparents would be especially likely to +embarrass him concerning her claims, and of course the quickest and +surest way to prevent questioning on the matter, was to tell them that +she had refused him. That fact would close their mouths in sympathy for +his disappointment, and there would be no further circumstances to clear +up. It was the only explanation of madame's attitude that was possible, +and she was compelled to accept it, much as it humiliated her. And then +after it had been accepted and sorrowed over, there came back to her +those deeper assurances, those soul assertions, which she could not +either examine or define, but which she felt compelled to receive--He +loves me! I feel it! It is not his fault! I must not think wrong of him. + +There was still Madame Jacobus to hope for. She was so shrewd and so +kindly, that Cornelia felt certain of her sympathy and wise advice. But +month after month passed away and madame's house remained empty and +forlorn-looking. Now and then there came short fateful letters from +Arenta, and Van Ariens--utterly miserable--visited them frequently that +he might be comforted with their assurances of his child's ability to +manage the very worst circumstances in which she could be placed. + +And so the long summer days passed and the winter approached again; but +before that time Cornelia had at least attained to the wisest of all the +virtues--that calm, hushed contentment, which is only another name for +happiness--that contentment which accepts the fact that there is a chain +of causes linked to effects by an invincible necessity; and that +whatever is, could not have wisely been but so. And if this was +fatalism, it was at least a brighter thing than the languid pessimism, +which would have led her life among quicksands, to end it in wreck. + +One day at the close of October she put down her needlework with a +little impatience. "I am tired of sewing, mother," she said, "and I will +walk down to the Battery and get a breath of the sea. I shall not stay +long." + +On her way to the Battery she was thinking of Hyde, and of their +frequent walks together there; and for once she passed the house of +Madame Jacobus without a glance at its long-closed windows. It was +growing dark as she returned, and ere she quite reached it she was aware +of a glow of fire light and candle light from the windows. She quickened +her steps, and saw a servant well known to her standing at the open door +directing two men who were carrying in trunks and packages. She +immediately accosted him. + +"Has madame returned at last, Ameer?" she asked joyfully. + +"Madame has returned home," he answered. "She is weary--she is not +alone--she will not receive to-night." + +"Surely not. I did not think of such a thing. Tell her only that I am +glad, and will call as soon as she can see me." + +The man's manner--usually so friendly--was shy and peculiar, and +Cornelia felt saddened and disappointed. "And yet why?" she asked +herself. "Madame has but reached home--I did not wish to intrude upon +her--Ameer need not have thought so--however I am glad she is back +again"--and she walked rapidly home to the thoughts which this +unexpected arrival induced. They were hopeful thoughts, leaning--however +she directed them--towards her absent lover. She felt sure madame would +see clearly to the very bottom of what she could not understand. She +went into her mother's presence full of renewed expectations, and met +her smile with one of unusual brightness. + +"Madame Jacobus is at home," said Mrs. Moran, before Cornelia could +speak. "She sent for your father just after you left the house, and I +suppose that he is still there." + +"Is she sick?" + +"I do not know. I fear so, for the visit is a long one." + +It continued so much longer that the two ladies took their tea alone, +nor could they talk of any other subject than madame, and her most +unexpected call for Doctor Moran's services." It was always the Dutch +Doctor Gansvoort she had before," said Mrs. Moran; "and she was ever +ready to scoff at all others, as pretenders.--I do wonder what keeps +your father so long?" + +It was near ten o'clock when Doctor Moran returned, and his face was +sombre and thoughtful--the face of a man who had been listening for +hours to grave matters, and who had not been able to throw off their +physical reflection. + +"Have you had tea, John?" asked Mrs. Moran. + +"No. Give me a good strong cup, Ava. I am tired with listening and +feeling." + +She poured it out quickly, and after he had taken the refreshing drink, +Cornelia asked-- + +"Is madame very ill?" + +"She is wonderfully well. It is her husband." + +"Captain Jacobus?" + +"Who else? She has brought him home, and I doubt if she has done +wisely." + +"What has happened, John? Surely you will tell us!" + +"There is nothing to conceal. I have heard the whole story--a very +pitiful story--but yet like enough to end well, Madame told me that the +day after her sister-in-law's burial, James Lauder, a Scotchman who had +often sailed with Captain Jacobus, came down to Charleston to see her. +He had sought her in New York, and been directed by her lawyer to +Charleston. He declared that having had occasion to go to Guy's Hospital +in London to visit a sick comrade, he saw there Captain Jacobus. He +would not admit any doubt of his identity, but said the Captain had +forgotten his name, and everything in connection with his past life; and +was hanging about the premises by favour of the physicians, holding +their horses, and doing various little services for them." + +"Oh how well I can imagine madame's hurry and distress," said Cornelia. + +"She hardly knew how to reach London quickly enough. She said thought +would have been too slow for her. But Lauder's tale proved to be true. +Her first action was to take possession of the demented man, and +surround him with every comfort. He appeared quite indifferent to her +care, and she obtained no shadow of recognition from him. She then +brought to his case all the medical skill money could procure, and in +the consultation which followed, the physicians decided to perform the +operation of trepanning." + +"But why? Had he been injured, John?" + +"Very badly. The hospital books showed that he had been brought there by +two sailors, who said he had been struck in a gale by a falling mast. +The wound healed, but left him mentally a wreck. The physicians decided +that the brain was suffering from pressure, and that trepanning would +relieve, if it did not cure." + +"Then why was it not done at first?" + +"Whose interest was it to inquire? No money was left with the injured +man. The sailors who took him to the hospital gave false names, and +address, and he received only such treatment as a pauper patient was +likely to receive. But he made friends, and was supported about the +place. Imagine now what a trial was before madame! It was a difficult +matter to perform the operation, for the patient could not be made to +understand its necessity; and he was very hard to manage. Then picture +to yourselves, the terrible strain of nursing which followed; though +madame says it was soon brightened and lightened by her husband's +recognition of her. After that event all weariness was rest, and +suffering ease; and as soon as he was able to travel both were +determined to return at once to their own home. He is yet however a sick +man, and may never quite recover a slight paralysis of the lower limbs." + +"Does he remember how he was hurt?" + +"He declares his men mutinied, because instead of returning to New +York, he had taken on a cargo for the East India Company; and that the +blow was given him either by his first, or second mate. He thinks they +sailed his ship out of the Thames, for her papers were all made out, and +she was ready to drop down the river with the next tide. He vows he will +get well and find his ship and the rascals that stole her; and I should +not wonder if he does. He has will enough for anything. Madame desires +to see you, Cornelia. Can you go there with me in the morning?" + +"I shall be glad to go. Madame is like no one else." + +"She is not like herself at present. I think you may be a little +disappointed in her. She has but one thought, one care, one end and aim +in life--her husband." + +The Doctor had judged correctly. Cornelia was disappointed from the +first moment. She was taken to the dim uncanny drawing-room by Ameer, +and left among its ill-omened gods, and odd treasure-trove for nearly +half an hour before madame came to her. The rudely graven faces, so +marvellously instinct with life, made her miserable; she fancied a +thousand mockeries and scorns in them; and no thought of Hyde, or +Arenta, or of the happy hours spent in that ill-boding room, could charm +away its sinister influence. + +When madame at length came to her, she appeared like the very genius of +the place. The experiences of the past year had left traces which no +after experience would be able to obliterate. She looked ten years +older. Her wonderful dark eyes, glowing with a soft tender fire alone +remained untouched by the withering hand of anxious love. They were as +vital as ever they had been, and when Cornelia said so, she answered, +"That is because my soul dwells in them, and my soul is always young. I +have had a year, Cornelia, to crumble the body to dust; but my soul made +light of it for love's sake. Did your father tell you how much Captain +Jacobus had suffered?" + +"Yes, madame." + +But in spite of this assurance, madame went over the whole story in +detail, and Cornelia could not help but remember that Mr. Van Ariens had +said "about her husband she will talk constantly, and to the whole +town." For however far the conversation diverged for a moment, madame +always brought it sharply back to the one subject that interested her. +Even Arenta's peculiarly dangerous position could not detain her +thoughts and interest for many minutes. + +"I am sorry for Arenta," she said; "no greater hell can there be, than +to live in constant fear. But she has the gift of a clever tongue, and +every one has not the like talent; and also if a woman with the decency +of her sex may be a scholar, Arenta has learning enough to compass the +fools who might injure her." + +"Marat and Robespierre are both against her husband, and she may share +his fate." + +"Marat and Robespierre!" she cried. "Both of the creatures have a +devil. I wish them to go to the guillotine together, and I would bury +them together with their faces downwards. Let them pass out of your +memory. Poor Jacobus was in a worse case than Arenta. Till I be key-cold +dead, I shall never forget my first sight of him in that dreadful place--" +and then she described again her overwhelming emotions when she +perceived he was alike apathetic to his pauper condition, and to her +love and presence. There never came a moment during the whole visit when +it was possible to speak of Hyde. Madame seemed to have quite forgotten +her liking for the handsome youth; it had been swallowed up in her +adoring affection for her restored husband. + +Cornelia would not force the memory upon her. Some day she might +remember; but for a little while madame had more than enough of fresh +material for her conversation. Every one who had known Captain Jacobus +or herself, called with congratulations for their happy return; and when +Cornelia made a nearly daily visit with her father, madame had these +calls to talk over with her. + +One morning, however, the long-looked-for topic was introduced. "I had a +visit from Madame Van Heemskirk yesterday afternoon," she said; "and the +dear old Senator came with her to see Captain Jacobus. While they +talked, madame told me that you had refused that handsome young fellow, +her grandson. What could you mean by such a stupidity, Miss Moran?" + +Her voice had just that tone of indifference, mingled with sarcastic +disapproval, that hurt and offended Cornelia. She felt that it was not +worth while to explain herself, for madame had evidently accepted the +offended grandmother's opinion; and the memory of the young Lord was +lively enough to make her sympathize with his supposed wrong. + +"I never considered you to be a flirt," she continued, "and I am +astonished. If, now, it had been Arenta, I could have understood it. I +told Madame Van Heemskirk that I had not the least doubt Doctor Moran +dictated the refusal." + +"Oh, indeed," answered Cornelia, with a good deal of spirit and some +anger, "you shall not blame my father. He knew nothing whatever of Lord +Hyde's offer, until I had been subjected to such insult and wrong as +drove me to the grave's mouth. Only the mercy of God, and my father's +skill, brought me back to life." + +"Yes, I think your father to be wonderfully skilful. He has done Jacobus +a great deal of good, and he now gives him hope of a perfect recovery. +Doctor Moran is a fine physician; Jacobus says so." + +Cornelia remained silent. If madame did not feel interest sufficient in +her affairs to ask for the particulars of one so nearly fatal to her, +she determined not to force the subject on her. Then Jacobus rang his +bell, and madame flew to his room to see whether his want had received +proper attention. Cornelia sat still a few moments, her heart swelling, +her eyes filling with the sense of that injustice, harder to bear than +any other form of wrong. She was going away, when madame returned to +her, and something in her eyes went to the heart of the older woman. She +turned her back, with a kind but peremptory word, and taking her hand, +said-- + +"I have been thoughtless, Cornelia, selfish, I dare say; but I do not +wish to be so. Tell me, my dear, what has happened. Did you quarrel with +George Hyde? And pray what was it about?" + +"We never had one word of any kind, but words of affection. He wrote and +asked me if he could come and see my father about our marriage, on a +certain night. I answered his letter with all the love that was in my +heart for him, and told him to come and see my father that very night. +He never came. He never sent me the least explanation. He never wrote to +me, or spoke to me again." + +"Oh, but this is a different story! His grandmother told me that you +refused him." + +"That is not the truth. Lady Annie Hyde came most unexpectedly that very +day, and I suppose the easiest way to stop all inquiries about Miss +Moran, was to say 'she refused me.'" + +"And after Lady Annie's arrival, what happened?" + +"I was absolutely deserted. That is the truth. I may as well admit it. +Perhaps you think it impossible for a young man so good-natured to +behave in a manner so cruel and dishonourable; but I assure you it is +the truth." + +"My dear, I have lived to see it almost impossible to think worse of +people than they are; and if you can bear to hear more on this subject, +I will tell it to you myself." + +"I can always bear the truth. If I have lost my heart, I have not lost +my head; nor will I surrender to useless grief the happiness which I can +yet make for others, and for myself." + +"If what you have told me be so--and I believe it is--then I say Lord +George Hyde is an intolerable scoundrel." + +"I would rather not hear him spoken of in that way." + +"I ask your pardon, but I must give myself a little Christian liberty of +railing. The man is false clean through. He was evidently engaged to +Lady Annie when he first sought your love, and therefore as soon as she +came here, he deserted you. I will tell you plainly that I saw him last +summer very frequently, and he was always with her--always listening +with ears and heart to what she said--always watching her with all his +soul in his eyes--ever on the lookout to see that not a breath of wind +ruffled her soft wraps, or blew too strongly on her little white face." + +"That was his way, madame. I have seen him devoting himself to you in +the same manner; yes, and to Madame Griffin, and Miss White, and a score +of other ladies--old and young. You know how good-natured he was. When +did you hear him say a wrong word of any one? even of Rem Van Ariens who +was often intolerably rude." + +"Very well! I would rather have a man 'intolerably rude' like my nephew +Rem, than one like Lord Hyde who speaks well of everybody. Upon my word, +I think that is the worst kind of slander!" + +"I think not." + +"It is; for it takes away the reputation of good men, by making all men +alike. But this, that, or the other, I saw Lord Hyde in devoted +attendance on Lady Annie. Give him up totally. He is in his kingdom when +he has a pretty woman to make a fool of. As for marriage, these young +men who have the world, or the better part of it, they marry where +Cupidity, not Cupid leads them. Give him up entirely." + +"I have done so," answered Cornelia. And then she felt a sudden anger at +herself, so much so, that as she walked home, she kept assuring her +heart with an almost passionate insistence, "I have not given him up! I +will not give him up! I believe in him yet." + +Madame's advice might be wise, but there are counsels of perfection that +cannot be followed; because they are utterly at variance with that +intuitive knowledge, which the soul has of old; and which it will not +surrender; and whose wisdom it is interiorly sure of. And after this +confidence Cornelia did not go so often to madame's. Something jarred +between them. We know that a single drop taken from a glass of water +changes the water level swift as thought, and the same law is certain in +all human relations. Madame was not quite the same; something had been +taken away; the level of their friendship was changed; and when Doctor +Moran could not but perceive this fact, he said-- + +"Go less frequently to madame's, Cornelia. You do not enjoy your visits; +dissolve a friendship that begins to be incomplete. It is the best +plan." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A HEART THAT WAITS + + +Late summer on the Norfolk Broads! And where on earth can the lover of +boats find a more charming resort? How alluring are the mysterious +entrances to these Broads! where a boat seems to make an insane dive +into a hopeless cul de sac of a ditch, and then suddenly emerges on a +wide expanse of water, teeming with pike and bream and eels; and fringed +with a border of plashy ground, full of reeds and willows and flowering +flags; and alive with water fowl. + +Now close to the Manor of Hyde, the country home of Earl Hyde in +Norfolk, there was one of these delightful Broads--flat as a billiard +table, and hidden by the tall reeds which bordered it. But Annie Hyde +lying at the open window of her room in the Manor House could see its +silvery waters, and the black-sailed wherry floating on them, and the +young man sitting at the prow fishing, and idling, among the lilies and +languors of these hot summer days. Her hands were folded, her lips +moved, she was asking of some intelligence among the angels, grace and +favour for one who was dearer to her than her own life or happiness. + +An aged man sat silently by her, a man of noble beauty, whose soul was +in every part of his body, expressive and impressive--a fiery particle +not always at its window, but when there, infecting and going through +observers, whether they would or not. He was dressed altogether in +black, and had fine small hands, a thin austere face and clean sensitive +lips which seemed to say, "He hath made us kings and priests"--a man of +celestial race, valuing things at their eternal, not at their temporal +worth. + +There had been silence for some time between them, and he did not appear +disposed to break it; but Annie longed for him to do so, because she had +a mystical appetite for sacred things, and was never so happy and so +much at rest as when he was talking to her of them. For she loved God, +and had been led to the love of God by a kind of thirst for God. + +"Dear father," she said finally, "I have been thinking of the past +years, in which you have taught me so much." + +"It is better to look forward, Annie," he answered. "The traveller to +Eternity must not continually turn back to count his steps; for if God +be leading him, no matter how dangerous or lonely the road, 'He will +pluck thy feet out of the net.'" + +"Even in the valley of death?" + +"'BE NOT AFRAID! NOTHING OF THEE WILL DIE!"' Take these sweet +compassionate words of Jesus, as He wept by the dying bed of Joseph, His +father, into thy heart. Blessed are the homesick, Annie! for they shall +get home." + +"All my life I have loved God, and His love has been over me." + +"Date not God's love from thy nativity; look far, far back of it--to the +everlasting love." + +"After death, I SHALL KNOW." + +"Death!" he repeated, "Death that deceitful word. What is it? A dream, +that wakes us at the end of the night. This is the great saying that men +forget--Death is Life!" + +"Yet life ceases." + +"It does not, Annie. Death, is like the setting of the sun. The sun +never sets; life never ceases. Certain phenomena occur which deceive us, +because human vision is so feeble--we think the sun sets, and it never +ceases shining; we think our friends die, and they never cease living." + +As he spoke these words Mary Damer entered, and she laid her hand on his +shoulder and said, "My dear Doctor Roslyn, after death what then? we are +not all good--what then?" + +He looked at her wistfully and answered, "I will give you one thought, +Mary, to ponder--the blessedness of heaven, is it not an eternity older +than the misery of hell? Let your soul fearlessly follow where this fact +leads it; for there is no limit to God's mercy. Do you think it is His +way to worry a wandering sheep eternally? Jesus Christ thought better of +His father. He told us that the Great Shepherd of souls followed such +sheep into the wilderness, and brought them home in His arms, or on His +shoulder, and then called on the angels of heaven to rejoice because +they were found. Find out what that parable means, Mary. He whose name +is 'Love' can teach you." + +Then he rose and went away, and Mary sat down in his place, and Annie +gradually came back to the material plane of everyday life and duty. +Indeed Mary brought this element in a very decided form with her; for +she had a letter in her hand from an old lover, and she was much excited +by its advent, and eager to discuss the particulars with Annie. + +"It is from Captain Seabright, who is now in Pondicherry," she +explained. "He loves me, Annie. He loved me long ago, and went to India +to make money; now he says he has enough and to spare; and he asks me if +I have forgotten." + +"There is Mr. Van Ariens to consider. You have promised to marry him, +Mary. It is not hard to find the right way on this road, I think." + +"Of course. I would scorn to do a dishonourable or unhandsome thing. But +is it not very strange Willie Seabright should write to me at this time? +How contradictory life is! I had also a letter from Mr. Van Ariens by +the same mail, and I shall answer them both this evening." Then she +laughed a little, and added, "I must take care and not make the mistake +an American girl made, under much the same circumstances." + +"What was it?" inquired Annie languidly. + +"She misdirected her letters and thus sent 'No' to the man whom of all +others, she wished to marry." + +As Mary spoke a soft brightness seemed to pervade Annie's brain cells, +and she could hardly restrain the exclamation of sudden enlightenment +that rose to her lips. She raised herself slightly, and in so doing, her +eyes fell upon the tall figure of Hyde standing clearly out in the +intense, white sunshine of the Broads; and perhaps her soul may have +whispered to his soul, for he turned his face to the house, and lifted +the little red fishing cap from his head. The action stimulated to the +utmost Annie's intuitive powers. + +"Mary," she said, "what a strange incident! Did you know the girl?" + +"I saw her once in Philadelphia. Mr. Van Ariens told me about her. She +is the friend of his sister the Marquise de Tounnerre." + +"How did Mr. Van Ariens know of such an event?" + +"I suppose the Marquise told him of it." + +"I am interested. Is she pretty? Who, and what is her father? Did she +lose her lover through the mistake?" + +"You are more interested in this American girl, than in me. I think you +might ask a little concerning my love affair with Captain Seabright." + +"I always ask you about Mr. Van Ariens. A girl cannot have two lovers," + +"But if one is gone away?" + +"Then he has gone away; and that is the end of him. He must not trouble +the one who has come to stay, eh, Mary?" + +"You are right, Annie. But one's first lover has always a charm above +reason; and Willie Seabright was once very dear to me." + +"I am sorry for that unfortunate American girl." + +"So am I. She is a great beauty. Her name is Cornelia Moran; and her +father is a famous physician in New York." + +"And this beauty had two lovers?" + +"Yes; an Englishman of noble birth; and an American. They both loved +her, and she loved the Englishman. They must have both asked her hand on +the same day, and she must have answered both letters in the same hour; +and the letter she intended for the man she loved, went to the man she +did not love. Presumably, the man she loved got the refusal she intended +for the other, for he never sought her society again; and Mr. Van Ariens +told me she nearly died in consequence. I know not as to this part of +the story; when I saw her in Philadelphia, she had no more of fragility +than gave delicacy to all her charms." + +"And what became of the two lovers, Mary?" + +"The Englishman went back to England; and the American found another +girl more kind to him." + +"I wonder what made Mr. Van Ariens tell you this story?" + +"He talked much of his sister, and this young lady was her chief friend +and confidante." + +"When did it happen?" + +"A few days after his sister's marriage." + +"Then the Marquise could not know of it; and so she could not have told +her brother. However in the world could he have found out the mistake? +Do you think the girl herself found it out?" + +"That is inconceivable," answered Mary. "She would have written to her +lover and explained the affair." + +"Certainly. It is a very singular incident. I want to think it over-- +how--did--Mr. Van Ariens--find--it--out, I wonder!" + +"Perhaps the rejected lover confided in him." + +"But why did not the rejected lover send the letter he received--and +which he must have known he had no right to retain--to Miss Moran, or to +the Englishman for whom it was intended? A man who could keep a letter +like that, must have some envious sneaking devil in his body. A bad man, +Mary, a bad man--the air must be unclean in any room he comes into." + +"Why Annie! How angry you are. Let us drop the subject. I really do want +to tell you something about Willie Seabright." + +"What did Mr. Van Ariens say about the matter? What did he think? Why +did he tell you?" + +"We were talking of the Marquise. The story came up quite naturally. I +think Mr. Van Ariens felt very sorry for Miss Moran. Of course he did. +Will you listen to Captain Seabright's letter? I had no idea it could +affect me so much." + +"But you loved him once?" + +"Very dearly." + +"Well then, Mary, I think no one has a double in love or friendship. If +the loved one dies, or goes away, his place remains empty forever. We +have lost feelings that he, and he only, could call up." + +At this point in the conversation Hyde entered, brown and wind-blown, +the scent of the sedgy water and the flowery woods about him. + +"Your servant, ladies," he said gayly, "I have bream enough for a dozen +families, Mary; and I have sent a string to the rectory." + +"Poor little fish!" answered Annie. "They could not cry out, or plead +with you, or beg for their lives, and because they were dumb and opened +not their mouths, they were wounded and strangled to death." + +"Don't say such things, Annie. How can I enjoy my sport if you do?" + +"I don't think you ought to enjoy sport which is murder. You have your +wherry to sail, is not that sport enough? I have heard you say nothing +that floats on fresh water, can beat a Norfolk wherry." + +"I vow it is the truth. With her fine lines and strong sails she can lie +closer to the wind than any other craft. She is safe, and fast, and +handy to manage. Three feet of water will do her, though she be sixty +tons burden; and I will sail her where nothing but a row boat can follow +me." + +"Is not that sport enough?" + +"I must have something to get. I would have brought you armfuls of +flowers, but you do not like me to cut them." + +"I like my flowers alive, George. You must be dull indeed if you make no +difference between the scent of growing flowers, and cut ones. Tomorrow +Mary is going to Ranforth, you must go with her, and you may bring me +some peaches from the Hall, if you please to do so." + +Then Hyde and Mary had a game of battledore, and she watched them +tossing the gayly painted corks, until amid their light laughter and +merry talk she fell asleep. And when she awakened it was sunset, and +there was no one in her room but her maid. She had slept long, but in +spite of its refreshment, she had a sense of something uneasy. Then she +recalled the story Mary Damer had told her, and because she comprehended +the truth, she was instantly at rest. The whole secret was clear as +daylight to her. She knew now every turn of an event so full of sorrow. +She was positive Rem Van Ariens was himself the thief of her cousin's +love and happiness, and the bringer of grief--almost of death--to +Cornelia. All the facts she did not have, but facts are little; +intuition is everything. She said to herself, "I shall not be long here, +and before I go away, I must put right love's wrong." + +She considered then what she ought to do, and gradually the plan that +pleased her best, grew distinctly just, and even-handed in her mind. She +would write to Cornelia. Her word would be indisputable. Then she would +dismiss the subject from her conversations with Mary, until Cornelia's +answer arrived; nor until that time would she say a word of her +suspicions to Hyde. In pursuance of these resolutions the following +letter to Cornelia left Hyde Manor for New York the next mail: + +To Miss CORNELIA MORAN: + +Because you are very dear to one of my dear kindred, and because I feel +that you are worthy of his great love, I also love you. Will you trust +me now? There has been a sad mistake. I believe I can put it right. You +must recollect the day on which George Hyde wrote asking you to fix an +hour when he could call on Doctor Moran about your marriage. Did any +other lover ask you on that day to marry him? Was that other lover Mr. +Van Ariens? Did you write to both about the same time? If so, you +misdirected your letters; and the one intended for Lord Hyde went to Mr. +Van Ariens; and the one intended for Mr. Van Ariens, went to Lord Hyde. +Now you will understand many things. I found out this mistake through +the young lady Mr. Van Ariens is intending to marry. Can you send to me, +for Lord Hyde, a copy of the letter you intended for him. When I receive +it, you may content your heart. I may never see you again, but I would +like you to remember me by this act of loving kindness; and I wish you +all the joy in your love, that I could wish myself. The shadows will +soon flee away, and when your wedding bells ring, I shall know; and +rejoice with you, and with my dear cousin. Delay not to answer this, why +should you delay your happiness? I send you as love gifts my thoughts, +desires, prayers, all that is best in me, al! that I give to one high in +my esteem, and whom I wish to place high in my affection, This to your +hand and heart, with all sincerity, + ANNIE HYDE. + +When she had signed her name she was full of content, her face was +transfigured with the joy she foresaw for others, and she thought not of +her own gain, though it was great--even the riches of that divine self- +culture, that comes only through self-sacrifice. She calculated her +letter would reach Cornelia about the end of September, and she thought +how pleasantly the hope it brought, would brighten her life. And without +permitting Hyde to suspect any change in his love affair, she very often +led the conversation to Cornelia, and to the circumstances of her life. +Hyde was always willing to talk on this subject, and thus she learned so +much about Arenta, and Madame Jacobus, and Rem Van Ariens, that the +people became her familiars. Arenta particularly interested her, and she +spoke and thought continually of the gay little Dutch girl among the +human tigers of Paris. And the thought of her ended ever in a silent +prayer for her safety. "I must ask some strong angel to go and help +her," she said to Hyde, "a city full of blood, must be a city full of +evil spirits, and she will need the wings of angels round her--like a +pavilion--so when she comes into my mind I say 'angels of deliverance go +to her.' And I think she must be in a great strait now, or I should not +feel so constrained to pray for her." + +"And you believe such prayer avails for deliverance, Annie?" + +"I am sure it avails. When we invoke earnestly and sincerely the help of +any higher and stronger intelligence than ourselves, the angels are with +us. They come when the heart calls them; for they are appointed to be +ministers unto those who shall inherit eternal life." And Hyde listened +silently, yet the words fell into his deepest consciousness, and after +many years brought him strength and consolation when he needed it. Thus +it is, that a good woman is a priestess standing by the altar of the +heart, thus it is, that the very noblest education any man ever gets is +what some woman--mother, wife, sister, friend--gives him. + +Certainly the letter sent to Cornelia sped on its way all the more +rapidly and joyfully for the good wishes and unselfish prayers +accompanying it. The very ship might have known it was the bearer of +good tidings; for if there had been one of the mighty angels whose +charge is on the great deep at the helm of the Good Intent she could not +have gone more swiftly and surely to her haven. One morning, nearly a +week in advance of Annie's calculation, the wonderful letter was put +into Cornelia's hand. She was passing through the hall on her way to her +room, when Balthazar brought in the mail, and she took the little white +messenger without any feeling but one of curiosity concerning it. The +handwriting was strange, it was an English letter, what could it mean? + +Let any one who has loved and been parted from the beloved by some +misunderstanding, try to realize what it meant to Cornelia. She read it +through in an indescribable hurry and emotion, and then in the most +natural and womanly way, began to cry. No one could have loved her the +less for that sincere overflow of emotions she could not separate or +define, and which indeed she never tried to understand. It was only one +wonderful thought she could entertain--IT WAS NOT THE FAULT OF JORIS. +This was the assurance that turned her joyful tears into gladder smiles, +and that made her step light as a bird on the wing, as she ran down the +stairs to find her mother; for her happiness was not perfect till she +shared it with the heart that had borne her sorrow, and carried her +grief through many weary months, with her. + +Oh, how glad were these two women! They were almost too glad to speak. +Sitting still was impossible to Cornelia, but as she stepped swiftly to- +and-fro across the parlour floor, she stopped frequently at her mother's +chair and kissed her. She kissed Annie's letter just as frequently. It +was such a gracious, noble letter. It was such a delight to know that +friendship so unselfish was waiting for her. It was altogether such a +marvellous thing that had come to her, that she could not behave as a +superior woman ought to have done. But then she was not a superior +woman, she was only lovable and loving, and therefore restless and +inconsequent. + +In the first hours of her recovered gladness she did not even remember +Rem's great fault, nor yet her own carelessness. These things were only +accidentals, not worthy to be taken into account while the great sweet +hope that had come to her, flooded like a springtide every nook and +corner of her heart. In such a mood how easy it was to answer Annie's +letter. She recollected every word she had written to Hyde that fateful +day, and she wrote them again with a tenfold joy. She told Annie every +particular, and she forgot to say a word of reproach concerning the +dishonourable retention of her letter by Rem." It is altogether my own +fault," she confessed. + +Even when this letter was on its way to Annie she was under such +excitement that her whole body appeared to think and to feel; her +beautiful hair had an unusual freedom, as if some happy wind blew it +into exquisite unrestraint; her eyes shone like stars; her garments +fluttered; her steps were like dancing; and every now and then, a bar or +two of love music warbled in her throat. And oh with what joy the mother +watched the return of happiness to her dear child! With her own milk she +had fed her. In her own bosom she had carried and tended her. Night and +day for nearly twenty years, like a bird, she had feverishly, prayfully, +tenderly hovered over her; so there was great joy in the Doctor's home +and though he would say little, his heart grew lighter in his wife's and +daughter's cheerfulness; for the women in any house make the moral and +mental atmosphere of that house just as decidedly, as the sunshine or +rain affect the natural atmosphere outside of it. + +Now it is very noticeable that when unusual events begin to happen in +any life, there is a succession of such events, and not unfrequently +they arrive in similar ways. At any rate about ten days after the +receipt of Annie's letter, Cornelia was almost equally amazed by the +receipt of another letter. It came one day about noon, and a slave of +Van Ariens brought it--a piece of paper twisted carelessly but +containing these few pregnant words: + +Cornelia, dear, come to me. Bring me something to wear. I have just +arrived, saved by the skin of my teeth, and I have not a decent garment +of any kind to put on. ARENTA. + +A thunderbolt from a clear sky could hardly have caused such surprise, +but Cornelia did not wait to talk about the wonder. She loaded a maid +with clothing of every description, and ran across the street to her +friend. Arerita saw her coming, and met her with a cry of joy, and as +Van Ariens was sick and trembling with the sight of his daughter, and +the tale of her sufferings, Cornelia persuaded him to go to sleep, and +leave Arenta to her care. Poor Arenta, she was ill with the privations +she had suffered, she was half-starved, and nearly without clothing, but +she did not complain much until she had been fed, and bathed, and +"dressed" as she said "like a New York woman ought to be." + +"You know what trunks and trunks full of beautiful things I took away +with me, Cornelia," she complained; "Well I have not a rag left. I have +nothing left at all." + +"Your husband, Arenta?" + +"He was guillotined." + +"Oh, my dear Arenta!" + +"Guillotined. I told him to be quiet. I begged him to go over to Marat, +but no! his nobility obliged him to stand by his order and his king. So +for them, he died. Poor Athanase! He expected me to follow him, but I +could not make up my mind to the knife. Oh how terrible it was!" Then +she began to sob bitterly, and Cornelia let her talk of her sufferings +until she fell into a sleep--a sleep easy to see, still haunted by the +furies and terrors through which she had passed. + +For a week Cornelia remained with her friend, and Madame Jacobus joined +them as often as possible, and gradually the half-distraught woman +recovered something of her natural spirits and resolution. In this week +she talked out all her frightful experiences in the great prison of La +Force, and was completely overwhelmed at their remembrance. But the +trouble which has been removed, soon grows far off; and Arenta quickly +took her place in her home, and resumed her old life. Of course with +many differences. She could not be the same Arenta, she had outlived +many of her illusions. She took but little interest for a while in the +life around her; her thoughts and conversation were still in Paris, and +this was evident from the fact, that during the whole week of Cornelia's +stay with her, she never once named Cornelia's love, or life, or +prospects. Rem she did talk about, but chiefly because he was going to +marry an English girl, an intention she angrily deplored. + +"I am sure," she said, "Rem might have learned a lesson from my sad +fortune. What does he want to marry a foreigner for? He ought to have +prevented me from doing so, instead of following my foolish example." + +"No one could have prevented you, Arenta. You would not listen even to +your father." + +"Oh indeed, it was my fate. We must all submit to fate. Why did you +refuse Rem?" + +"He was not my fate, Arenta." + +"Well then, neither is George Hyde your fate. Aunt Jacobus has told me +some things about him. She says he is to marry his cousin. You ought to +marry Rem." + +As she said these words Van Ariens, accompanied by Joris Van Heemskirk +entered the room, and Cornelia was glad to escape. She knew that Arenta +would again relate all her experiences, and she disliked to mingle them +with her renewed dreams of love and her lover. + +"She will talk and talk," said Cornelia to her mother, "and then there +will be tea and chocolate and more talk, and I have heard all I wish to +hear about that dreadful city, and the demons who walk in blood." + +"Arenta has made a great sensation, Cornelia," answered Mrs. Moran. "She +has received half the town. Gertrude Kippon stole quietly home and has +hardly been seen, or heard tell of." + +"But mother, Arenta has far more genius than Gertrude. She has made of +her misfortunes a great drama, and wherever you go, it is of the +Marquise de Tounnerre people are talking. Senator Van Heemskirk came in +with her father as I left." + +"I hope he treated you more civilly than madame did." + +"He was delightful. I courtesied to him, and he lifted my hand and +kissed it, and said, 'I grew lovelier every day,' and I kissed his +cheek and said, 'I wished always to be lovely in his sight.' Then I came +home, because I would not, just yet, speak of George to him." + +"Arenta would hardly have given you any opportunity. I wonder at what +hour she will release Joris Van Heemskirk!" + +"It will be later than it ought to be." + +Indeed it was so late that Madame Van Heemskirk had locked up her house +for the night, and was troubled at her husband's delay--even a little +cross: + +"An old man like you, Joris," she said in a tone of vexation--" sitting +till nine o'clock with the last runaway from Paris; a cold you have +already, and all for a girl that threw her senses behind her, to marry a +Frenchman." + +"Much she has suffered, Lysbet." + +"Much she ought to suffer. And I believe not in Arenta Van Ariens' +suffering. In some way, by hook or crook, by word or deed, she would out +of any trouble work her way." + +"I will sit a little by the fire, Lysbet. Sit down by me. My mind is +full of her story." + +"That is it. And sleep you will not, and tomorrow sick you will be; and +anxious and tired I shall be; and who for? The Marquise de Tounnerre! +Well then, Joris, in thy old age it is late for thee to bow down to the +Marquise de Tounnerre!" + +"To God Almighty only I bow down, Lysbet, and as for titles what care of +them has Jons Van Heemskirk? Think you, when God calls me He will say +'Councillor' or 'Senator'? No, He will say 'Jons Van Heemskirk!' and I +shall answer to that name. But you know well, Lysbet, this bloody trial +of liberty in Paris touches all the world beside." + +"Forgive me, Joris! A shame it is to be cross with thee, nor am I cross +even with that poor Arenta. A child, a very child she is." + +"But bitter fears and suffering she has come through. Her husband was +guillotined last May, and from her home she was taken--no time to write +to a friend--no time to save anything she had, except a string of +pearls, which round her waist for many weeks, she had worn. From prison +to prison she was sent, until at last she was ordered before the +Revolutionary Tribunal. From that tribunal to the guillotine is only a +step, and she would surely have taken it but for--" + +"Minister Morris?" + +"No. Twenty miles outside the city, Minister Morris now lives; and no +time was there to send him word of her strait. Hungry and sick upon the +floor of her prison she was sitting, when her name was called, for bead +after bead of her pearl necklace had gone to her jailor, only for a +little black bread and a cup of milk twice a day; and this morning for +twenty-four hours she had been without food or milk." + +[Illustration: "ARENTA BEFORE THE REVOLUTIONARY TRIBUNAL"] + +"The poor little one! What did she do?" + +"This is what she did, and blame her I will not. When in that terrible +iron armchair before those bloody judges, she says she forgot then to be +afraid. She looked at Fouquier-Tinville the public prosecutor, and at +the fifteen jurymen, and flinched not. She had no dress to help her +beauty, but she declares she never felt more beautiful, and well I can +believe it. They asked her name, and my Lysbet, think of this child's +answer! 'I am called Arenta JEFFERSON de Tounnerre,' she said; and at +the name of 'Jefferson' there were exclamations, and one of the jurymen +rose to his feet and asked excitedly, 'What is it you mean? Jefferson! +The great Jefferson! The great Thomas Jefferson! The great American who +loves France and Liberty?' 'It is the same,' she answered, and then she +sat silent, asking no favour, so wise was she, and Fouquier-Tinville +looked at the President and said--'among my friends I count this great +American!' and a juryman added, 'when I was very poor and hungry he fed +and helped me,' and he bowed to Arenta as he spoke. And after that +Fouquier-Tinville asked who would certify to her claim, and she answered +boldly, 'Minister Morris.' When questioned further she answered, 'I +adore Liberty, I believe in France, I married a Frenchman, for Thomas +Jefferson told me I was coming to a great nation and might trust both +its government and its generosity.' They asked her then if she had been +used kindly in prison, and she told them her jailor had been to her very +unkind, and that he had taken from her the pearl necklace which was her +wedding gift, and if you can believe Arenta, they were all extremely +polite to her, and gave her at once the papers which permitted her to +leave France. The next day a little money she got from Minister Morris, +but a very hard passage she had home. And listen now, her jailor was +guillotined before she left, and she declares it was the necklace--very +unfortunate beads they were, and Madame Jacobus said when she heard of +their fate, 'let them go! With blood and death they came, it is fit they +should go as they came!' Arenta thinks as soon as Fouquier-Tinville +heard of them, he doomed the man, for she saw in his eyes that he meant +to have them for himself. Well, then, she is also sure that they will +take Fouquier-Tinville to the guillotine." + +"After all, it was a lie she told, Joris." + +"That is so, but I think her life was worth a few words. And Thomas +Jefferson says she was ten thousand times welcome to the protection his +name gave her. I thank my God I have never had such temptation. I will +say one thing though, Lysbet, that if coming home some night, a thief +should say to me 'your money I must have' and if in my pocket I had some +false money, as well as true money, the false money I would give the +thief and think no shame to do it. Overly righteous we must not be, +Lysbet." + +"I am astonished also. I thought Arenta would cry out and that only." + +"What a man or a woman will do and suffer, and how they will do and +suffer, no one knows till comes some great occasion. When the water is +ice, who could believe that it would boil, unless they had seen ice +become boiling water? All the human heart wants, is the chance." + +"As men and women have in Paris to live, I wonder me, that they can wish +to live at all! Welcome to them must be death." + +"So wrong are you, Lysbet. Trouble and hardship make us love life. A +zest they give to it. It is when we have too much money, too much good +food and wine, too much pleasure of all kinds, that we grow melancholy +and sad, and say all is vanity and vexation. You may see that it is +always so, if you look in the Holy Scriptures. It was not from the Jews +in exile and captivity, but from the Jews of Solomon's glory came the +only dissatisfied, hopeless words in the Bible. Yes, indeed! it is the +souls that have too much, who cry out vanity, vanity, all is vanity! For +myself, I like not the petty prudencies of Solomon. There is better +reading in Isaiah, and in the Psalms, and in the blessed Gospels." + +"To-morrow, Joris, I will go and see Arenta. She is fair, and she knows +it; witty, and she knows it; of good courage, and she knows it; the +fashion, and she knows it; and when she speaks, she speaks oracles that +one must believe, even though one does not understand them. To Aurelia +Van Zandt she said, my heart will ache forever for my beloved Athanase, +and Aurelia says, that her old lover Willie Nicholls is at her feet +sitting all the day long--yet for all these things, she is a brave woman +and I will go and see her." + +"Willie Nicholls is a good young man, and he is rich also; but of him I +saw nothing at all. Cornelia Moran was there and no flower of Paradise +is so sweet, so fair!" + +"A very proud girl! I am glad she said 'no' to my Joris." + +"Come, my Lysbet, we will now pray and sleep. There is so much NOT to +say." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE NEW DAYS COME + + +One afternoon in the late autumn Annie was sitting watching Hyde playing +with his dog, a big mastiff of noble birth and character. The creature +sat erect with his head leaning against Hyde, and Hyde's arm was thrown +around his neck as he talked to him of their adventures on the Broad +that day. Annie's small face, though delicate and fragile looking was +full of peace, and her eyes, soft, deep and heavenly, held thoughts that +linked her with heaven. + +Outside there was in the air that November feeling which chills like the +passing breath of death, the deserted garden looked sad and closed-in, +and everywhere there was a sense of the languishing end of the year, of +the fading and dropping of all living things. But in the house Annie and +Hyde and the dog sat within the circle of warmth and light made by the +blazing ash logs, and in that circle there was at least an atmosphere of +sweet content. Suddenly George looked up and his eyes caught those of +Annie watching him. "What have you been reading, Annie?" he asked, as he +stooped forward and took a thin volume from her lap. "Why!" he cried, +"'tis Paul and Virginia. Do you indeed read love stories?" + +"Yes. The mystery of a love affair pleases every one; and I think we +shall not tire of love stories till we tire of the mystery of spring, or +of primroses and daffodils. Every one I know takes their tale of love to +be quite a new tale." + +"Love has been cruel to me. It has made a cloud on my life that will +help to cover me in my grave." + +"You still love Cornelia?" + +"I cannot cure myself of a passion so hopeless. However, as I see no end +to my unhappiness, I try to submit to what I cannot avoid. What is the +use of longing for that which I have no hope to get?" + +"My uncle grows anxious for you to marry. He would be glad to see the +succession of Hyde assured." + +"Oh, indeed, I have no mind to take a wife. I hear every day that some +of my acquaintance have married, I hear of none that have done worse." + +"You believe nothing of what you say. My uncle was much pleased with +Sarah Capel. What did you think of the beauty?" + +"Cornelia has made all other women so indifferent to me, that if I +cannot marry her, my father may dispose of me as he chooses." + +"Cannot you forget Cornelia?" + +"It is impossible. Every day I resolve to think of her no more, and then +I continue thinking; and every day I am more and more in love with her. +Her very name moves me beyond words." + +"There is no name, George, however sweet and dear, however lovingly +spoken, whose echo does not at last grow faint." + +"Cornelia will echo in my heart as long as my heart beats." + +Then they were silent, and Hyde drew his dog closer and watched the +blaze among some lighter branches, which a servant had just brought in. +At his entrance he had also given Annie a letter, which she was eagerly +reading. Hyde had no speculation about it; and even when he found Annie +regarding him with her whole soul in her face, he failed to understand, +as he always had done, the noble love which had been so long and so +faithfully his--a love holding itself above endearments; self-repressed, +self-sacrificing, kept down in the inmost heart-chamber a dignified +prisoner behind very real bars. Yet he was conscious that the letter was +of more than usual interest, and when the servant had closed the door +behind him, he asked, "Whom is your letter from, Annie? It seems to +please you very much." + +She leaned forward to him with the paper in her little trembling hand, +and said, + +"It is from Cornelia." + +"My God!" he ejaculated; and the words were fraught with such feeling, +as could have found no other vehicle of expression. + +"She has sent you, dear George, a copy of the letter you ought to have +received more than two years ago. Read it." + +His eyes ran rapidly over the sweet words, his face flamed, his hands +trembled, he cried out impetuously-- + +"But what does it mean? Am I quite in my senses? How has this letter +been delayed? Why do I get only a copy ?" + +"Because Mr. Van Ariens has the original." + +"It is all incredible. What do you mean, Annie? Do not keep me in such +torturing suspense." + +"It means that Mr. Van Ariens asked Cornelia to marry him on the same +day that you wrote to her about your marriage. She answered both letters +in the same hour, and misdirected them." + +"GOD'S DEATH! How can I punish so mean a scoundrel? I will have my +letter from him, if I follow him round the world for it." + +"You have your letter now. I asked Cornelia to write it again for you; +and you see she has done it gladly." + +"Angel of goodness! But I will have my first letter." + +"It has been in that man's keeping for more than two years. I would not +touch it. 'Twould infect a gentleman, and make of him a rascal just as +base." + +"He shall write me then an apology in his own blood. I will make him do +it, at the point of my sword." + +"If I were you, I would scorn to wet my sword in blood so base." + +"Remember, Annie, what this darling girl suffered. For his treachery she +nearly died. I speak not of my own wrong--it is as nothing to hers." + +"However, she might have been more careful." + +"Annie, she was in the happy hurry of love. Your calm soul knows not +what a confusing thing that is--she made a mistake, and that sneaking +villain turned her mistake into a crime. By a God's mercy, it is found +out--but how? Annie! Annie, how much I owe you! What can I say? What can +I do?" + +"Be reasonable. Mary Damer really found it out. His guilty restless +conscience forced him to tell her the story, though to be sure he put +the wrong on people he did not name. But I knew so much of the mystery +of your love sorrow, as to put the two stories together, and find them +fit. Then I wrote to Cornelia." + +"How long ago?" + +"About two months." + +"Why then did you not give me hope ere this?" + +"I would not give you hope, till hope was certain. Two years is a long +time in a girl's life. It was a possible thing for Cornelia to have +forgotten--to have changed." + +"Impossible! Quite impossible! She could not forget. She could not +change. Why did you not tell me? I should have known her heart by mine +own." + +"I wished to be sure," repeated Annie, a little sadly. + +"Forgive me, dear Annie. But this news throws me into an unspeakable +condition. You see that I must leave for America at once." + +"No. I do not see that, George." + +"But if you consider--" + +"I have been considering for two months. Let me decide for you now, for +you are not able to do so wisely. Write at once to Cornelia, that is +your duty as well as your pleasure. But before you go to her, there are +things indispensable to be done. Will you ask Doctor Moran for his +child, and not be able to show him that you can care for her as she +deserves to be cared for? Lawyers will not be hurried, there will be +consultations, and engrossings, and signings, and love--in your case-- +will have to wait upon law." + +"'Tis hard for love, and harder perhaps for anger to wait. For I am in a +passion of wrath at Van Ariens. I long to be near him. Oh what suffering +his envy and hatred have caused others!" + +"And himself also. Be sure of that, or he had not tried to find some +ease in a kind of confession. Doctor Roslyn will tell you that it is an +eternal law, that wherever sin is, sorrow will answer it." + +"The man is hateful to me." + +"He has done a thing that makes him hateful; but perhaps for all that, +he has been so miserable about it, as to have the pity of the +Uncondemning One. I hear your father coming. I am sure you will have his +sympathy in all things." + +She left the room as the Earl entered it. He was in unusually high +spirits. Some political news had delighted him, and without noticing his +son's excitement he said-- + +"The Commons have taken things in their own hands, George. I said they +would. They listen to the King and the Lords very respectfully, and then +obey themselves. Most of the men in the Lower House are unfit to enter +it." + +"Well, sir, the Lords as a rule send them there--you have sent three of +them yourself--and unfit men in public places, suppose prior unfitness +in those who have the places to dispose of. But the government is not +interesting. I have something else, father, to think about." + +"Indeed, I think the government is extremely interesting. It is very +like three horses arranged in tandem fashion--first, you know, the King, +a little out of the reach of the whip; then the Lords follow the King, +and the Commons are in the shafts, a more ignoble position, but yet--as +we see to-day, possessing a special power of upsetting the coach." + +"Father, I have very important news from America. Will you listen to +it?" + +"Yes, if you will tell it to me straight, and not blunder about your +meaning." "Sir, I have just discovered that a letter sent to me more +than two years ago, has been knowingly and purposely detained from me." + +"By whom?" + +"A man into whose hands it fell by misdirection." + +"Did the letter contain means of identifying it, as belonging to you?" + +"Ample means." + +"Then the man is outside your recognition. You might as well go to the +Bridewell, and seek a second among its riff-raff of scoundrels. Tell me +shortly whom it concerns." + +"Miss Moran." + +"Oh indeed! Are we to have that subject opened again?" + +His face darkened, and George, with an impetuosity that permitted no +interruption, told the whole story. As he proceeded the Earl became +interested, then sympathetic. He looked with moist eyes at the youth so +dear to him, and saw that his heart was filled with the energy and +tenderness of his love. His handsome face, his piercingly bright eyes, +his courteous, but obstinately masterful manner, his almost boyish +passion of anger and impatience, his tall, serious figure, erect, as if +ready for opposition; even that sentiment of deadly steel, of being +impatient to toss his sheath from his sword, pleased very much the elder +man; and won both his respect and his admiration. He felt that his son +had rights all his own, and that he must cheerfully and generously allow +them. + +"George," he answered, "you have won my approval. You have shown me that +you can suffer and be faithful, and the girl able to inspire such an +affection, must be worthy of it. What do you wish to do?" + +"I am going to America by the next packet." + +"Sit down, then we can talk without feeling that every word is a last +word, and full of hurry and therefore of unreason. You desire to see +Miss Moran without delay, that is very natural." + +"Yes, sir. I am impatient also to get my letter." + +"I think that of no importance." + +"What would you have done in my case, and at my age, father?" + +"Something extremely foolish. I should have killed the man, or been +killed by him. I hope that you have more sense. Society does not now +compel you to answer insult with murder. The noble not caring of the +spirit, is beyond the mere passion of the animal. What does Annie say?" + +"Annie is an angel. I walk far below her--and I hate the man who has so +wronged--Cornelia. I think, sir, you must also hate him." + +"I hate nobody. God send, that I may be treated the same. George, you +have flashed your sword only in a noble quarrel, will you now stain it +with the blood of a man below your anger or consideration? You have had +your follies, and I have smiled at them; knowing well, that a man who +has no follies in his youth, will have in his maturity no power. But now +you have come of age, not only in years but in suffering cheerfully +endured and well outlived; so I may talk to you as a man, and not +command you as a father." + +"What do you wish me to do, sir?" + +"I advise you to write to Miss Moran at once. Tell her you are more +anxious now to redeem your promise, than ever you were before. Say to +her that I already look upon her as a dear daughter, and am taking +immediate steps to settle upon you the American Manor, and also such New +York property as will provide for the maintenance of your family in the +state becoming your order and your expectations. Tell her that my +lawyers will go to this business to-morrow, and that as soon as the +deeds are in your hand, you will come and ask for the interview with +Doctor Moran, so long and cruelly delayed." + +"My dear father! How wise and kind you are!" + +"It is my desire to be so, George. You cannot, after this unfortunate +delay, go to Doctor Moran without the proofs of your ability to take +care of his daughter's future." + +"How soon can this business be accomplished?" + +"In about three weeks, I should think. But wait your full time, and do +not go without the credentials of your position. This three or four +weeks is necessary to bring to perfection the waiting of two years." + +"I will take your advice, sir. I thank you for your generosity." + +"All that I have is yours, George. And you can write to this dear girl +every day in the interim. Go now and tell her what I say. I had other +dreams for you as you know--they are over now--I have awakened." + +"Dear Annie!" ejaculated George. + +"Dear Annie!" replied the Earl with a sigh. "She is one of the daughters +of God, I am not worthy to call her mine; but I have sat at her feet, +and learned how to love, and how to forgive, and how to bear +disappointment. I will tell you, that when Colonel Saye insulted me last +year, and I felt for my sword and would have sent him a letter on its +point--Annie stepped before him. 'Forget, and go on, dear uncle,' she +said; and I did so with a proud, sore heart at first, but quite +cheerfully in a week or two; and at the last Hunt dinner he came to me +with open hand, and we ate and drank together, and are now firm friends. +Yet, but for Annie, one of us might be dead; and the other flying like +Cain exiled and miserable. Think of these things, George. The good of +being a son, is to be able to profit from your father's mistakes." + +They parted with a handclasp that went to both hearts, and as Hyde +passed his mother's loom, he went in, and told her all that happened to +him, She listened with a smile and a heartache. She knew now that the +time had come to say "farewell" to the boy who had made her life for +twenty-seven years. "He must marry like the rest of the world, and go +away from her," and only mothers know what supreme self-sacrifice a +pleasant acquiescence in this event implies. But she bravely put down +all the clamouring selfishness of her long sweet care and affection, and +said cheerfully-- + +"Very much to my liking is Cornelia Moran, She is world-like and heaven- +like, and her good heart and sweet nature every one knows. A loving wife +and a noble mother she will make, and if I must lose thee, my Joris, +there is no girl in America that I like better to have thee." + +"Never will you lose me, mother." + +"Ah then! that is what all sons say. The common lot, I look for nothing +better. But see now! I give thee up cheerfully. If God please, I shall +see thy sons and daughters; and thy father has been anxious about the +Hydes. He would not have a stranger here--nor would I. Our hope is in +thee and thy sweet wife, and very glad am I that thy wife is to be +Cornelia Moran." + +And even after Joris had left her she smiled, though the tears dropped +down upon her work. She thought of the presents she would send her +daughter, and she told herself that Cornelia was an American, and that +she had made for her, with her own hands and brain, a lovely home +wherein HER memory must always dwell. Indeed she let her thoughts go far +forward to see, and to listen to the happy boys and girls who might run +and shout gleefully through the fair large rooms, and the sweet shady +gardens her skill and taste had ordered and planted. Thus her generosity +made her a partaker of her children's happiness, and whoever partakes of +a pleasure has his share of it, and comes into contact--not only with +the happiness--but with the other partakers of that happiness--a divine +kind of interest for generous deeds, which we may all appropriate. + +Nothing is more contagious than joy, and Hyde was now a living joy +through all the house. His voice had caught a new tone, his feet a more +buoyant step, he carried himself like a man expectant of some glorious +heritage. So eager, so ardent, so ready to be happy, he inspired every +one with his buoyant gladness of heart. He could at least talk to +Cornelia with his pen every day, yes, every hour if he desired; and if +it had been possible to transfer in a letter his own light-heartedness, +the words he wrote would have shone upon the paper. + +The next morning Mary Damer called. She knew that a letter from Cornelia +was possible, and she knew also that it would really be as fateful to +herself, as to Hyde. If, as she suspected, it was Rem Van Ariens who had +detained the misdirected letter, there was only one conceivable result +as regarded herself. She, an upright, honourable English girl, loving +truth with all her heart, and despising whatever was underhand and +disloyal, had but one course to take--she must break off her engagement +with a man so far below her standard of simple morality. She could not +trust his honour, and what security has love in a heart without honour? + +So she looked anxiously at Annie as she entered, and Annie would not +keep her in suspense. "There was a letter from Miss Moran last night," +she said. "She loves George yet. She re-wrote the unfortunate letter, +and this time it found its owner. I think he has it next his heart at +this very moment." + +"I am glad of that, Annie. But who has the first letter?" + +"I think you know, Mary." + +"You mean Mr. Van Ariens?" + +"Yes." + +"Then there is no more to be said. I shall write to him as soon as +possible." + +"I am sorry--" + +"No, no! Be content, Annie. The right must always come right. Neither +you nor I could desire any other end, even to our own love story." + +"But you must suffer." + +"Not much. None of us weep if we lose what is of no value. And I have +noticed that the happiness of any one is always conditioned by the +unhappiness of some one else. Love usually builds his home out of the +wrecks of other homes. Your cousin and Cornelia will be happy, but there +are others that must suffer, that they may be so. I will go now, Annie, +because until I have written to Mr. Van Ariens, I shall not feel free. +And also, I do not wish him to come here, and in his last letter he +spoke of such an intention." + +So the two letters--that of Hyde to Cornelia, and that of Mary Darner to +Van Ariens, left England for America in the same packet; and though Mary +Darner undoubtedly had some suffering and disappointment to conquer, the +fight was all within her. To her friends at the Manor she was just the +same bright, courageous girl; ready for every emergency, and equally +ready to make the most of every pleasure. + +And the tone of the Manor House was now set to a key of the highest joy +and expectation. Hyde unconsciously struck the note, for he was happily +busy from morning to night about affairs relating either to his +marriage, or to his future as the head of a great household. All his old +exigent, extravagant liking for rich clothing returned to him. He had +constant visits from his London tailor, a dapper little artist, who +brought with him a profusion of rich cloth, silk and satin, and who +firmly believed that the tailor made the man. There were also endless +interviews with the family lawyer, endless readings of law papers, and +endless consultations about rights and successions, which Hyde was glad +and grateful to leave very much to his father's wisdom and generosity. + +At the beginning of this happy period, Hyde had been sure that the +business of his preparations would be arranged in three weeks; a month +had appeared to be a quite unreasonable and impossible delay; but the +month passed, and it was nearly the middle of November when all things +were ready for his voyage. His mother would then have urged a +postponement until spring, but she knew that George would brook no +further delay; and she was wise enough to accept the inevitable +cheerfully. And thus by letting her will lead her, in the very road +necessity drove her, she preserved not only her liberty, but her desire. + +Some of these last days were occupied in selecting from her jewels +presents for Cornelia, with webs of gold and silver tissues, and +Spitalfields silks so rich and heavy, that no mortal woman might hope to +outwear them. To these Annie added from her own store of lace, many very +valuable pieces; and the happy bridegroom was proud to see that love was +going to send him away, with both arms full for the beloved. + +The best gift however came last, and it was from the Earl. It was not +gold or land, though he gave generously of both these; but one which +Hyde felt made his way straight before him, and which he knew must have +cost his father much self-abnegation. It was the following letter to Dr. +John Moran. + +MY DEAR SIR: + +It seems then, that our dear children love each other so well, that it +is beyond our right, even as parents, to forbid their marriage. I ask +from you, for my son, who is a humble and ardent suitor for Miss Moran's +hand, all the favour his sincere devotion to her deserves, We have both +been young, we have both loved, accept then his affection as some +atonement for any grievance or injustice you remember against myself. +Had we known each other better, we should doubtless have loved each +other better; but now that marriage will make us kin, I offer you my +hand, with all it implies of regret for the past, and of respect for the +future. Your servant to command, + +RICHARD HYDE. + +"It is the greatest proof of my love I can give you, George," said the +Earl, when the letter had been read; "and it is Annie you must thank for +it. She dropped the thought into my heart, and if the thought has +silently grown to these written words, it is because she had put many +other good thoughts there, and that these helped this one to come to +perfection." + +"Have you noticed, father, how small and fragile-looking she is? Can she +really be slowly dying?" + +"No, she is not dying; she is only going a little further away--a little +further away, every hour. Some hour she will be called, and she will +answer, and we shall see her no more--HERE. But I do not call that +dying, and if it be dying, Annie will go as calmly and simply, as if she +were fulfilling some religious rite or duty. She loves God, and she will +go to Him." + +The next morning Hyde left his father's home forever. It was impossible +that such a parting should be happy. No hopes, no dreams of future joy, +could make him forget the wealth of love he was leaving. Nor did he wish +to forget. And woe to the man or woman who would buy composure and +contentment by forgetting!--by really forfeiting a portion of their +existence--by being a suicide of their own moral nature. + +The day was a black winter day, with a monotonous rain and a dark sky +troubled by a ghostly wind. Inside the house the silence fell on the +heart like a weight. The Earl and Countess watched their son's carriage +turn from the door, and then looked silently into each other's face. The +Earl's lips were firmly set, and his eyes full of tears; the Countess +was weeping bitterly. He went with her to her room, and with all his old +charm and tenderness comforted her for her great loss. + +At that moment Annie was forgotten, yet no one was suffering more than +she was. Hyde had knelt by her sofa, and taken her in his arms, and +covered her face with tears and kisses, and she had not been able to +oppose a parting so heart-breaking and so final. The last tears she was +ever to shed dropped from her closed eyes, as she listened to his +departing steps; and the roll of the carriage carrying him away forever, +seemed to roll over her shrinking heart. She cried out feebly--a pitiful +little shrill cry, that she hushed with a sob still more full of +anguish. Then she began to cast over her suffering soul the balm of +prayer, and prostrate with closed eyes, and hands feebly hanging down, +Doctor Roslyn found her. He did not need to ask a question, he had long +known the brave self-sacrifice that was consecrating the child-heart +suffering so sharply that day; and he said only-- + +"We are made perfect through suffering, Annie." + +"I know, dear father." + +"And you have found before this, that the sorrow well borne is full of +strange joys--joys, whose long lasting perfumes, show that they were +grown in heaven and not on earth." + +"This is the last sorrow that can come to me, father." + +"And my dear Annie, you would have been a loser without it. Every grief +has its meaning, and the web of life could not be better woven, if only +love touched it." + +"I have been praying, father." + +"Nay, but God Himself prayed in you, while your soul waited in deep +resignation. God gave you both the resignation and the answer." + +"My heart failed me at the last--then I prayed as well as I could." + +"And then, visited by the NOT YOURSELF in you, your head was lifted up. +Do not be frightened at what you want. Strive for it little by little. +All that is bitter in outward things, or in interior things, all that +befalls you in the course of a day, is YOUR DAILY BREAD if you will take +it from His hand." + +Then she was silent and quite still, and he sat and watched the gradual +lifting of the spirit's cloud--watched, until the pallor of her face +grew luminous with the inner light, and her wide open eyes saw, as in a +vision, things, invisible to mortal sight; but open to the spirit on +that dazzling line where mortal and immortal verge. + +And as he went home, stepping slowly through the misty world, he himself +hardly knew whether he was in the body or out of it. He felt not the +dripping rain, he was not conscious of the encompassing earthly vapours, +he had passed within the veil and was worshipping + + "In dazzling temples opened straight to Him, Where One who had great +lightnings for His crown Was suddenly made present; vast and dim Through +crowded pinions of the Cherubim." + +And his feet stumbled not, nor was he aware of anything around, until +the Earl met him at the park gates and touching him said reverently-- + +"Father, you are close to the highway. Have you seen Annie?" + +"I have just left her." + +"She is further from us than ever." + +"Richard Hyde," he answered," she is on her way to God, and she can +rest nothing short of that." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +"HUSH! LOVE IS HERE!" + + +On the morning that Hyde sailed for America, Cornelia received the +letter he had written her on the discovery of Rem's dishonourable +conduct. So much love, so much joy, sent to her in the secret foldings +of a sheet of paper! In a hurry of delight and expectation she opened +it, and her beaming eyes ran all over the joyful words it brought her-- +sweet fluttering pages, that his breath had moved, and his face been +aware of. How he would have rejoiced to see her pressing them to her +bosom, at some word of fonder memory or desire. + +There was much in this letter which it was necessary her father and +mother should hear--the Earl's message to them--Hyde's own proposition +for an immediate marriage, and various necessities referring to this +event. But she was proud and happy to read words of such noble, +straightforward affection; and the Doctor was especially pleased by the +deference expressed for his wishes. When he left the house that day he +kissed his daughter with pride and tenderness, and said to Mrs. Moran-- + +"Ava, there will be much to get, and much to do in a short time, but +money manages all things Do not spare where it is necessary." And then +what important and interesting consultations followed! what lists of +lovely garments became imperative, which an hour before had not been +dreamed of! what discussions as to mantua makers and milliners! as to +guests and ceremonies! as to all the details of a life unknown, but +invested by love and youth, with a delightfully overwhelming importance. + +Cornelia was so happy that her ordinary dress of grey camelot did not +express her; she felt constrained to add to it some bows of bright +scarlet ribbon, and then she looked round about her room, and went +through her drawers, to find something else to be a visible witness to +the light heart singing within her. And she came across some coral combs +that Madame Jacobus had given her, and felt their vivid colouring in the +shining masses of her dark hair, to be one of the right ways of saying +to herself, and all she loved, "See how happy I am!" + +In the afternoon, when the shopping for the day had been accomplished, +she went to Captain Jacobus, to play with him the game of backgammon +which had become an almost daily duty, and to which the Captain attached +a great importance. Indeed, for many weeks it had been the event of +every day to him; and if he was no longer dependent on it, he was +grateful enough to acknowledge all the good it had done him. "I owe your +daughter as much as I owe you, sir," he would say to Doctor Moran, "and +I owe both of you a bigger debt than I can clear myself of." + +This afternoon he looked at his visitor with a wondering speculation. +There was something in her face, and manner, and voice, he had never +before seen or heard, and madame--who watched every expression of her +husband--was easily led to the same observation. She observed Cornelia +closely, and her gay laugh especially revealed some change. It was like +the burst of bird song in early spring, and she followed the happy girl +to the front door, and called her back when she had gone down the steps, +and said, as she looked earnestly in her face-- + +"You have heard from Joris Hyde? I know you have!" and Cornelia nodded +her head, and blushed, and smiled, and ran away from further question. + +When she reached home she found Madame Van Heemskirk sitting with her +mother, and the sweet old lady rose to meet her, and said before +Cornelia could utter a word: + +"Come to me, Cornelia. This morning a letter we have had from my Joris, +and sorry am I that I did thee so much wrong." + +"Madame, I have long ago forgotten it; and there was a mistake all +round," answered Cornelia, cheerfully. + +"That is so--and thy mistake first of all. Hurry is misfortune; even to +be happy, it is not wise to hurry. Listen now! Joris has written to his +grandfather, and also to me, and very busy he will keep us both. His +grandfather is to look after the stables and the horses, and to buy more +horses, and to hire serving men of all kinds. And a long letter also I +have had from my daughter Katherine, and she tells me to make her duty +to thee my duty. That is my pleasure also, and I have been talking with +thy mother about the house. Now I shall go there, and a very pleasant +home I shall make it. Many things Joris will bring with him--two new +carriages and much fine furniture--and I know not what else beside." + +Then Cornelia kissed madame, and afterwards removed her bonnet; and +madame looked at her smiling. The vivid coral in her dark hair, the +modest grey dress with its knots of colour, and above all the lovely +face alight with love and hope, delighted her. + +"Very pretty art thou, very pretty indeed!" she said, impulsively; and +then she added, "Many other girls are very pretty also, but my Joris +loves thee, and I am glad that it is thee, and very welcome art thou to +me, and very proud is my husband of thee. And now I must go, because +there is much to do, and little time to do it in." + +For nearly a week Cornelia was too busy to take Arenta into her +consideration. She did not care to tell her about Rem's cruel and +dishonourable conduct, and she was afraid the shrewd little Marquise +would divine some change, and get the secret out of her. Indeed, Arenta +was not long in suspecting something unusual in the Doctor's household-- +the number of parcels and of work people astonished her; and she was not +a little offended at Madame Van Heemskirk spending a whole afternoon so +near to her, and "never even," as she said to her father, "turning her +head this way." For Arenta had drunk a rather long draught of popular +interest, and she could not bear to believe it was declining. Was she +not the American heroine of 1793? It was almost a want of patriotism in +Madame Van Heemskirk to neglect her. + +After a week had elapsed Cornelia went over one morning to see her +friend. But by this time Arenta knew everything. Her brother Rem had +been with her and confessed all to his sister. It had not been a +pleasant meeting by any means. She heard the story with indignation, but +contrived to feel that somehow Rem was not so much to blame as Cornelia, +and other people. + +"You are right served," she said to her brother, "for meddling with +foreigners, and especially for mixing your love affairs up with an +English girl. Proud, haughty creatures all of them! And you are a very +fool to tell any woman such a--crime. Yes, it is a crime. I won't say +less. That girl over the way nearly died, and you would have let her +die. It was a shame. I don't love Cornelia--but it was a shame." + +"The letter was addressed to me, Arenta." + +"Fiddlesticks! You knew it was not yours. You knew it was Hyde's. Where +is it now?" + +She asked the question in her usual dominant way, and Rem did not feel +able to resist it. He looked for a moment at the angry woman, and was +subdued by her air of authority. He opened his pocketbook and from a +receptacle in it, took the fateful letter. She seized and read it, and +then without a word, or a moment's hesitation threw it into the fire. + +Rem blustered and fumed, and she stood smiling defiantly at him. "You +are like all criminals," she said; "you must keep something to accuse +yourself with. I love you too well to permit you to carry that bit of +paper about you. It has worked you harm enough. What are you going to +do? Is Miss Darner's refusal quite final?" + +"Quite. It was even scornful." + +"Plenty of nice girls in Boston." + +"I cannot go back to Boston." + +"Why then?" + +"Because Mary's cousin has told the whole affair." + +"Nonsense!" + +"She has. I know it. Men, whom I had been friendly with, got out of my +way; women excused themselves at their homes, and did not see me on the +streets. I have no doubt all Boston is talking of the affair." + +"Then come back to New York. New Yorkers attend strictly to their own +love affairs. Father will stand by you; and I will." + +"Father will not. He called me a scoundrel, when I told him last night, +and advised me to go to the frontier. Joris Van Heemskirk will not talk, +but madame will chatter for him, and I could not bear to meet Doctor +Moran. As for Captain Jacobus, he would invent new words and oaths to +abuse me with, and Aunt Angelica would, of course, say amen to all he +says;--and there are others." + +"Yes, there is Lord Hyde." + +"Curse him! But I intended to give him his letter--now you have burnt +it." + +"You intended nothing of the kind, Rem. Go away as soon as you can. I +don't want to know where you go just yet. New York is impossible, and +Boston is impossible. Father says go to the frontier, I say go South. +What you have done, you have done; and it cannot be undone; so don't +carry it about with you. And I would let women alone--they are beyond +you--go in for politics." + +That day Rem lingered with his sister, seeing no one else; and in the +evening shadows he slipped quietly away. He was very wretched, for he +really loved Mary Damer, and his disappointment was bitterly keen and +humiliating. Besides which, he felt that his business efforts for two +years were forfeited, and that he had the world to begin over again. +Without a friend to wish him a Godspeed the wretched man went on board +the Southern packet, and in her dim lonely cabin sat silent and +despondent, while she fought her way through swaying curtains of rain to +the open sea. Its great complaining came up through the darkness to him, +and seemed to be the very voice of the miserable circumstances, that had +separated and estranged his life from all he loved and desired. + +This sudden destruction of all her hopes for her brother distressed +Arenta. Her own marriage had been a most unfortunate one, but its +misfortunes had the importance of national tragedy. She had even plucked +honour to herself from the bloody tumbril and guillotine. But Rem's +matrimonial failure had not one redeeming quality; it was altogether a +shameful and well-deserved retribution. And she had boasted to her +friends not a little of the great marriage her brother was soon to make, +and even spoken of Miss Damer, as if a sisterly affection already +existed between them. She could anticipate very well the smiles and +shrugs, the exclamations and condolences she might have to encounter, +and she was not pleased with her brother for putting her in a position +likely to make her disagreeable to people. + +But the heart of her anger was Cornelia--" but for that girl," Rem would +have married Mary Damer, and his home in Boston might have been full of +opportunities for her, as well as a desirable change when she wearied of +New York. Altogether it was a hard thing for her, as well as a dreadful +sorrow for Rem; and she could not think of Cornelia without anger, "Just +for her," she kept saying as she dressed herself with an elaborate +simplicity, "Just for her! Very much she intruded herself into my +affairs; my marriage was her opportunity with Lord Hyde, and now all she +can do is to break up poor Rem's marriage." + +When Cornelia entered the Van Ariens parlour Arenta was already there. +She was dressed in a gown of the blackest and softest bombazine and +crape. It had a distinguishing want of all ornament, but it was for that +reason singularly effective against her delicate complexion and pale +golden hair. She looked offended, and hardly spoke to her old friend, +but Cornelia was prepared for some exhibition of anger. She had not been +to see Arenta for a whole week, and she did not doubt she had been well +aware of something unusual in progress. But that Rem had accused himself +did not occur to her; therefore she was hardly prepared for the +passionate accusations with which Arenta assailed her. + +"I think," she said, "you have behaved disgracefully to poor Rem! You +would not have him yourself, and yet you prevent another girl--whom he +loves far better than ever he loved you--from marrying him. He has gone +away 'out of the world,' he says, and indeed I should not wonder if he +kills himself. It is most certain you have done all you can to drive him +to it," + +"Arenta! I have no idea what you mean. I have not seen Rem, nor written +to Rem, for more than two years." + +"Very likely, but you have written about him. You wrote to Miss Darner, +and told her Rem purposely kept a letter, which you had sent to Lord +Hyde," + +"I did not write to Miss Damer. I do not know the lady. But Rem DID keep +a letter that belonged to Lord Hyde." + +Then anger gave falsehood the bit and she answered, "Rem did NOT keep +any letter that belonged to Lord Hyde. Prove that he did so, before you +accuse him. You cannot." + +"I unfortunately directed Lord Hyde's letter to Rem, and Rem's letter to +Lord Hyde. Rem knew that he had Lord Hyde's letter, and he should have +taken it at once to him." + +"Lord Hyde had Rem's letter; he ought to have taken it at once to Rem." + +"There was not a word in Rem's letter to identify it as belonging to +him." + +"Then you ought to be ashamed to write love letters that would do for +any man that received them. A poor hand you must be, to blunder over two +love letters. I have had eight, and ten, at once to answer, and I never +failed to distinguish each; and while rivers run into the sea I never +shall misdirect my love letters. I do not believe Rem ever got your +letter, and I will not believe it, either now or ever. I dare be bound, +Balthazar lost it on the way. Prove to me he did not." + +"Oh, indeed! I think you know better." + +"Very clever is Lord Hyde to excuse himself by throwing the blame on +poor Rein. Very mean indeed to accuse him to the girl he was going to +marry. To be sure, any one with an ounce of common sense to guide them, +must see through the whole affair." + +"Arenta, I have the most firm conviction of Rem's guilt, and the +greatest concern for his disappointment. I assure you I have." + +"Kindly reserve your concern, Miss Moran, till Rem Van Ariens asks for +it. As for his guilt, there is no guilt in question. Even supposing that +Rem did keep Lord Hyde's letter, what then? All things are fair in love +and war, Willie Nicholls told me last night, he would keep a hundred +letters, if he thought he could win me by doing so. Any man of sense +would." + +"All I blame Rem for is--" + +"All I blame Rem for is, that he asked you to marry him. So much for +that! I hope if he meddles with women again, he will seek an all-round +common-sense Dutch girl, who will know how to direct her letters--or +else be content with one lover." + +"Arenta, I shall go now. I have given you an opportunity to be rude and +unkind. You cannot expect me to do that again." + +She watched Cornelia across the street, and then turned to the mirror, +and wound her ringlets over her fingers. "I don't care," she muttered. +"It was her fault to begin with. She tempted Rem, and he fell. Men +always fall when women tempt them; it is their nature to. I am going to +stand by Rem, right or wrong, and I only wish I could tell Mary Damer +what I think of her. She has another lover, of course she has--or she +would not have talked about her 'honour' to Rem." + +To such thoughts she was raging, when Peter Van Ariens came home to +dinner, and she could not restrain them. He listened for a minute or +two, and then struck the table no gentle blow? + +"In my house, Arenta," he said, "I will have no such words. What you +think, you think; but such thoughts must be shut close in your mind. In +keeping that letter, I say Rem behaved like a scoundrel; he was cruel, +and he was a coward. Because he is my son I will not excuse him. No +indeed! For that very reason, the more angry am I at such a deed. Now +then, he shall acknowledge to George Hyde and Cornelia Moran the wrong +he did them, ere in my home and my heart, he rights himself." + +"Is Cornelia going to be married?" + +"That is what I hear." + +"To Lord Hyde?" + +"That also, is what I hear." + +"Well, as I am in mourning, I cannot go to the wedding; so then I am +delighted to have told her a little of my mind." + +"It is a great marriage for the Doctor's daughter; a countess she will +be." + +"And a marquise I am. And will you please say, if either countess or +marquise is better than mistress or madame? Thank all the powers that +be! I have learned the value of a title, and I shall change marquise for +mistress, as soon as I can do so." + +"If always you had thought thus, a great deal of sorrow we had both been +spared." + +"Well, then, a girl cannot get her share of wisdom, till she comes to +it. After all, I am now sorry I have quarrelled with Cornelia. In New +York and Philadelphia she will be a great woman." + +"To take offence is a great folly, and to give offence is a great folly-- +I know not which is the greater, Arenta." + +"Oh, indeed, father," she answered, "if I am hurt and angry, I shall +take the liberty to say so. Anger that is hidden cannot be gratified; +and if people use me badly, it is my way to tell them I am aware of it. +One may be obliged to eat brown bread, but I, for one, will say it is +brown bread, and not white." + +"Your own way you will take, until into some great trouble you stumble." + +"And then my own way I shall take, until out of it I stumble." + +"I have told Rem what he must do. Like a man he must say, 'I did wrong, +and I am sorry for it,' and so well I think of those he has wronged, as +to be sure they will answer, 'It is forgiven.'" + +"And forgotten." + +"That is different. To forgive freely, is what we owe to our enemy; to +forget not, is what we owe to ourselves." + +"But if Rem's fault is forgiven, and not forgotten, what good will it do +him? I have seen that every one forgives much in themselves that they +find unpardonable in other people." + +"In so far, Arenta, we are all at fault." + +"I think it is cruel, father, to ask Rem to speak truth to his own +injury. Even the law is kinder than you, it asks no man to accuse +himself." + +"Right wrongs no man. Till others move in this matter, you be quiet. If +you talk, evil words you will say; and mind this, Arenta, the evil that +comes out of your lips, into your own bosom will fall. All my life I +have seen this." + +But Arenta could not be quiet. She would sow thorns, though she had to +walk unshod; and her father's advice moved her no more than a breath +moves a mountain. In the same afternoon she saw Madame Jacobus going to +Doctor Moran's, and the hour she remained there, was full of misery to +her impetuous self-adoring heart. She was sure they were talking of Rem +and herself; and as she had all their conversation to imagine, she came +to conclusions in accord with her suspicions. + +But she met her aunt at the door and brought her eagerly into the +parlour. She had had no visitors that day, and was bored and restless +and longing for conversation. "I saw you go to the Doctor's an hour ago, +aunt," she said. "I hope the Captain is well." + +"Jacobus is quite well, thank God and Doctor Moran--and Cornelia. I have +been looking at some of her wedding gowns. A girl so happy, and who +deserves to be so happy, I never saw. What a darling she is!" + +"It is now the fashion to rave about her. I suppose they found time +enough to abuse poor Rem. And you could listen to them! I would not have +done so! No! not if listening had meant salvation for the whole Moran +family." + +"You are a remarkably foolish young woman. They never named Rem. People +so happy, do not remember the bringer of sorrow. He has been shut out-- +in the darkness and cold. But I heard from Madame Van Heemskirk why +Cornelia and that delightful young man were not married two years ago. I +am ashamed of Rem. I can never forgive him. He is a disgrace to the +family. And that is why I came here to-day. I wish you to make Rem +understand that he must not come near his Uncle Jacobus. When Jacobus is +angry, he will call heaven and earth and hell to help him speak his +mind, and I have nearly cured him of a habit which is so distressing to +me, and such a great wrong to his own soul. The very sight of Rem would +break every barrier down, and let a flood of words loose, that would +make him suffer afterwards. I will not have Jacobus led into such +temptation. I have not heard an oath from him for six months." + +"I suppose you would never forgive Jacobus, if you did hear one?" + +"That is another matter. I hope I have a heart to forgive whatever +Jacobus does, or says--he is my husband." + +"It is then less wicked to blaspheme Almighty God, than to keep one of +Lord Hyde's love letters. One fault may be forgiven, the other is +unpardonable. Dear me! how religiously ignorant I am. As for my uncle +swearing--and the passions that thus express themselves--everybody knows +that anything that distantly resembles good temper, will suit Captain +Jacobus." + +"You look extremely handsome when you are scornful, Arenta; but it is +not worthwhile wasting your charms on me. I am doing what I can to help +Jacobus to keep his tongue clean, and I will not have Rem lead him into +temptation. As for Rem, he is guilty of a great wrong; and he must now +do what his father told him to do--work day and night, as men work, when +a bridge is broken down. The ruin must be got out of the way, and the +bridge rebuilt, then it will be possible to open some pleasant and +profitable traffic with human beings again--not to speak of heaven." + +"You are right--not to speak of heaven, I think heaven would be more +charitable. Rem will not trouble Captain Jacobus. For my part I think a +man that cannot bear temptation is very poorly reformed. If my uncle +could see Rem, and yet keep his big and little oaths under bonds, I +should believe in his clean tongue." + +"Arenta, you are tormenting yourself with anger and ill-will, and above +all with jealousy. In this way you are going to miss a deal of pleasure. +I advise you not to quarrel with Cornelia. She will be a great resource. +I myself am looking forward to the delightful change Jacobus may have at +Hyde Manor. It will make a new life for him, and also for me. This +afternoon something is vexing you. I shall take no offence. You will +regret your bad temper to-morrow." + +To-morrow Arenta did regret; but people do not always say they are +sorry, when they feel so. She sat in the shadow of her window curtains +and watched the almost constant stream of visitors, and messengers, and +tradespeople at Doctor Moran's house; and she longed to have her hands +among the lovely things, and to give her opinion about the delightful +events sure to make the next few weeks full of interest and pleasure. +And after she had received a letter from Rem, she resolved to humble +herself that she might be exalted. + +"Rem is already fortunate, and I can't help him by fighting his battle. +Forgetfulness, is the word. For this wrong can have no victory, and to +be forgotten, is the only hope for it. Beside, Cornelia had her full +share in my happiness, and I will not let myself be defrauded of my +share in her happiness--not for a few words--no! certainly not." + +This reflection a few times reiterated resulted in the following note-- + +MY DEAR CORNELIA: +I want to say so much, that I cannot say anything but--forgive me. I am +shaken to pieces by my dreadful sufferings, and sometimes, I do not know +what I say, even to those I love. Blame my sad fortune for my bad words, +and tell me you long to forgive me, as I long to be forgiven. + Your ARENTA. + +"That will be sufficient," she reflected; "and after all, Cornelia is a +sweet girl. I am her first and dearest friend, and I am determined to +keep my place. It has made me very angry to see those Van Dien girls, +and those Sherman girls, running in and out of the Moran house as if +they owned Cornelia. Well then, if I have had to eat humble pie, I have +had my say, and that takes the bitter taste out of my mouth--and a +sensible woman must look to her future. I dare warrant, Cornelia is now +answering my letter. I dare warrant, she will forgive me very sweetly." + +She spent half-an-hour in such reflections, and then Cornelia entered +with a smiling face. She would not permit Arenta to say another word of +regret; she stifled all her self-reproaches in an embrace, and she took +her back with her to her own home. And no further repentance embarrassed +Arenta. She put her ready wit, and her clever hands to a score of +belated things; and snubbed and contradicted the Van Dien and Sherman +girls into a respectful obedience to her earlier friendship, and wider +experience. Everything that she directed, or took charge of, went with +an unmistakable vigour to completion; and even Madame Van Heemskirk was +delighted with her ability, and grateful for her assistance. + +"The poor Arenta!" she said to Mrs. Moran; "very helpful she is to us, +and for her brother's fault she is not to blame. Wrong it would be to +visit it on her." + +And Arenta not only felt this gracious justice for herself, she looked +much further forward, for she said to her father, "It is really for +Rem's sake I am so obliging. By and by people will say 'there is no +truth in that letter story. The Marquise is the friend of Lady Hyde; +they are like clasped hands, and that could not be so, if Rem Van Ariens +had done such a dreadful thing. It is all nonsense.' And if I hear a +word about it, I shall know how to smile, and lift my shoulders, and +kill suspicion with contempt. Yes, for Rem's sake, I have done the best +thing." + +So happily the time went on, that it appeared wonderful when Christmas +was close at hand. Every preparation was then complete. The Manor House +was a very picture of splendid comfort and day by day Cornelia's +exquisite wardrobe came nearer to perfection. It was a very joy to go +into the Moran house. The mother, with a happy light upon her face, went +to-and-fro with that habitual sweet serenity, which kept the temperature +of expectant pleasure at a degree not too exhausting for continuance. +The doctor was so satisfied with affairs, that he was often heard timing +his firm, strong steps to snatches of long forgotten military songs; and +Cornelia, knowing her lover was every day coming nearer and nearer, was +just as happy as a girl loving and well beloved, ought to be. Sorrow was +all behind her, and a great joy was coming to meet her. Until mortal +love should become immortal, she could hope for no sweeter interlude in +life. + +Her beauty had increased wonderfully; hope had more than renewed her +youth, and confident love had given to her face and form, a splendour of +colour and expression, that captivated everybody; though why, or how, +they never asked--she charmed, because she charmed. She was the love, +the honey, the milk of sweetest human nature. + +One day the little bevy of feminine councillors looked at their work, +and pronounced all beautiful, and all finished; and then there was a +lull in the busy household, and then every one was conscious of being a +little weary; and every one also felt, that it would be well to let +heart, and brain, and fingers, and feet rest. In a few days there would +likely be another English letter, and they could then form some idea as +to when Lord Hyde would arrive. The last letter received from him had +been written in London, and the ship in which he was to sail, was taking +on her cargo, while he impatiently waited at his hotel for notice of her +being ready to lift her anchor. The doctor thought it highly probable +Hyde would follow this letter in a week, or perhaps less. + +During this restful interval, Doctor and Mrs. Moran drove out one +afternoon to Hyde Manor House. A message from Madame Van Heemskirk asked +this favour from them; she wished naturally that they should see how +exquisitely beautiful and comfortable was the home, which her Joris had +trusted her to prepare for his bride. But she did not wish Cornelia to +see it, until the bride-groom himself took her across its threshold. "An +old woman's fancy it is," she said to Mrs. Moran; "but no harm is there +in it, and not much do I like women who bustle about their houses, and +have no fancies at all." + +"Nor I," answered Mrs. Moran with a merry little laugh. "Do you know, +that I told John to buy my wedding ring too wide, because I often heard +my mother say that a tight wedding ring was unlucky." Then both women +smiled, and began delightedly to look over together the stores of fine +linen and damask, which the mother of Joris had laid up for her son's +use. + +It was a charming visit, and the sweet pause in the vivid life of the +past few weeks, was equally charming to Cornelia. She rested in her room +till the short daylight ended; then she went to the parlour and drank a +cup of tea, and closed the curtains, and sat down by the hearth to wait +for her father and mother. It was likely they would be a little late, +but the moon was full and the sleighing perfect, and then she was sure +they would have so much to tell her, when they did reach home. + +So still was the house, so still was the little street, that she easily +went to the land of reverie, and lost herself there. She thought over +again all her life with her lover; recalled his sweet spirit, his loyal +affection, his handsome face, and enchanting manner. "Heaven has made me +so fortunate," she thought, "and now my fortune has arrived at my +wishes. Even his delay is sweet. I desire to think of him, until all +other thoughts are forgotten! Oh, what lover could be loved as I love +him!" + +Then with a soft but quick movement the door flew open, she lifted her +eyes, to fill them with love's very image and vesture; and with a cry of +joy flew to meet the bliss so long afar, but now so near. "O lovely and +beloved! O my love!" Hyde cried, and then there was a twofold silence; +the very ecstasy that no mortal words can utter. The sacred hour for +which all their lives had longed, was at last dropt down to them from +heaven. Between their kisses they spoke of things remembered, and of +things to be, leaning to each other in visible sweetness, while + +"Love breathed in sighs and silences + Through two blent souls, one rapturous undersong." + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Maid of Maiden Lane, by Amelia E. Barr + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAID OF MAIDEN LANE *** + +This file should be named mdmdn10.txt or mdmdn10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, mdmdn11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, mdmdn10a.txt + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our Web sites at: +http://gutenberg.net or +http://promo.net/pg + +These Web sites include award-winning information about Project +Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new +eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!). + + +Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement +can get to them as follows, and just download by date. This is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03 + +Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. Our +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If the value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text +files per month: 1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+ +We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002 +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks! +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated): + +eBooks Year Month + + 1 1971 July + 10 1991 January + 100 1994 January + 1000 1997 August + 1500 1998 October + 2000 1999 December + 2500 2000 December + 3000 2001 November + 4000 2001 October/November + 6000 2002 December* + 9000 2003 November* +10000 2004 January* + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people +and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, +Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, +Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, +Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New +Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, +Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South +Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West +Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. + +We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list +will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states. +Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally +request donations in all 50 states. If your state is not listed and +you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have, +just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are +not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting +donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to +donate. + +International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about +how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made +deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are +ways. + +Donations by check or money order may be sent to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + +Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment +method other than by check or money order. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by +the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN +[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154. Donations are +tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law. As fund-raising +requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be +made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information online at: + +http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this eBook, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + eBook or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the eBook (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only +when distributed free of all fees. Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by +Michael S. Hart. Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be +used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be +they hardware or software or any other related product without +express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* + diff --git a/old/mdmdn10.zip b/old/mdmdn10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0a176db --- /dev/null +++ b/old/mdmdn10.zip |