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+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:
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