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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rosamond, by Mary J. Holmes
+#3 in our series by Mary J. Holmes
+
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+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+
+Title: Rosamond
+       or, The Youthful Error
+
+Author: Mary J. Holmes
+
+Release Date: June, 2004 [EBook #5990]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on October 9, 2002]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROSAMOND ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+ROSAMOND
+
+OR
+
+THE YOUTHFUL ERROR
+
+A Tale of Riverside
+
+AND OTHER STORIES
+
+BY
+
+MRS. MARY J. HOLMES
+Author of "Tempest And Sunshine," "Lena Rivers,"
+"Meadowbrook," Etc., Etc.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+The Owner of Riverside
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+Rosamond Leyton
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+Ben's Visit
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+Rosamond's Education
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+Brother and Sister
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+Marie Porter
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+Making Love
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+News
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+The Guest at Riverside
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+The Story
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+The End
+
+-----
+
+DIAMONDS
+
+BAD SPELLING
+
+MAGGIE LEE
+
+THE ANSWERED PRAYER
+
+
+
+
+ROSAMOND;
+
+OR
+
+THE YOUTHFUL ERROR.
+A TALE OF RIVERSIDE.
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE OWNER OF RIVERSIDE.
+
+
+All the day long the September rain had fallen, and when the night
+closed in it showed no sign of weariness, but with the same monotonous
+patter dropped upon the roof, or beat against the windows of the
+pleasantly lighted room where a young man sat gazing at the glowing
+grate, and listening apparently to the noise of the storm without. But
+neither the winds, nor yet the rain, had a part of that young man's
+thoughts, for they were with the past, and the chain which linked them
+to that past was the open letter which lay on the table beside him.
+For that letter he had waited long and anxiously, wondering what it
+would contain, and if his overtures for reconciliation with one who
+had erred far more than himself, would be accepted. It had come at
+last, and with a gathering coldness at his heart he had read the
+decision,--"she would not be reconciled," and she bade him "go his way
+alone and leave her to herself."
+
+"It is well," he said; "I shall never trouble her again,"--and with a
+feeling of relief, as if a heavy load, a dread of coming evil, had
+been taken from his mind, he threw the letter upon the table, and
+leaning back in his cushioned chair, tried to fancy that the last few
+years of his life were blotted out.
+
+"Could it be so, Ralph Browning would be a different man." he said
+aloud; then, as he glanced round the richly furnished room, he
+continued--"People call me happy, and so perhaps I might be, but for
+this haunting memory. Why was it suffered to be, and must I make a
+life-long atonement for that early sin?"
+
+In his excitement he arose, and crushing the letter for a moment in
+his hand, hurled it into the fire; then, going to his private drawer,
+he took out and opened a neatly folded package, containing a long
+tress of jet black hair. Shudderingly he wound it around his fingers,
+laid it over the back of his hand, held it up to the light, and then
+with a hard, dark look upon his face, threw it, too upon the grate,
+saying aloud, "Thus perisheth every memento of the past, and I am free
+again--free as air!"
+
+He walked to the window, and pressing his burning forehead against the
+cool, damp pane, looked out upon the night. He could not see through
+the darkness, but had it been day, his eye would have rested on broad
+acres all his own; for Ralph Browning was a wealthy man, and the house
+in which he lived was his by right of inheritance from a bachelor
+uncle for whom he had been named, and who, two years before our story
+opens, had died, leaving to his nephew the grand old place, called
+_Riverside_, from its nearness to the river. It was a most beautiful
+spot; and when its new master first took possession of it, the maids
+and matrons of Granby, who had mourned for the elder Browning as
+people mourn for a good man, felt themselves somewhat consoled from
+the fact that his successor was young and handsome, and would
+doubtless prove an invaluable acquisition to their fireside circles,
+and furnish a theme for gossip, without which no village can well
+exist. But in the first of their expectations they were mistaken, for
+Mr. Browning shunned rather than sought society, and spent the most of
+his leisure hours in the seclusion of his library, where, as Mrs.
+Peters, his housekeeper, said, he did nothing but mope over books and
+walk the floor. "He was melancholy," she said; "there was something
+workin' on his mind, and what it was she didn't know more'n the dead--
+though she knew as well as she wanted to, that he had been crossed in
+love, for what else would make so many of his hairs gray, and he not
+yet twenty-five!"
+
+That there was a mystery connected with him, was conceded by most of
+the villagers, and many a curious gaze they bent upon the grave,
+dignified young man, who seldom joined in their pastime or intruded
+himself upon their company. Much sympathy was expressed for him in his
+loneliness, by the people of Granby, and more than one young girl
+would gladly have imposed upon herself the task of cheering that
+loneliness; but he seemed perfectly invulnerable to maiden charms; and
+when Mrs. Peters, as she often did, urged him "to take a wife and be
+somebody," he answered quietly, "I am content to follow the example of
+my uncle. I shall probably never marry."
+
+Still he was lonely in his great house--so lonely that, though it hurt
+his pride to do it, he wrote the letter, the answer to which excited
+him so terribly, and awoke within his mind a train of thought so
+absorbing and intense, that he did not hear the summons to supper
+until Mrs. Peters put her head into the room, asking "if he were deaf
+or what."
+
+Mrs. Peters had been in the elder Browning's household for years, and
+when the new owner came, she still continued at her post, and
+exercised over her young master a kind of motherly care, which he
+permitted because he knew her real worth, and that without her his
+home would be uncomfortable indeed. On the occasion of which we write,
+Mrs. Peters was unusually attentive, and to a person at all skilled in
+female tactics, it was evident that she was about to ask a favor, and
+had made preparations accordingly. His favorite waffles had been
+buttered exactly right--the peaches and cream were delicious--the
+fragrant black tea was neither too strong nor too weak--the fire
+blazed brightly in the grate--the light from the chandelier fell
+softly upon the massive silver service and damask cloth;--and with all
+these creature comforts around him, it is not strange that he forgot
+the letter and the tress of hair which so lately had blackened on the
+coals. The moment was propitious, and by the time he had finished his
+second cup, Mrs. Peters said, "I have something to propose."
+
+Leaning back in his chair, he looked inquiringly at her, and she
+continued: "You remember Mrs. Leyton, the poor woman who had seen
+better days, and lived in East Granby?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You know she has been sick, and you gave me leave to carry her any
+thing I chose?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, she's dead, poor thing, and what is worse, she hain't no
+connection, nor never had, and her little daughter Rosamond hain't a
+place to lay her head."
+
+"Let her come and sleep with you, then," said Mr. Browning, rattling
+his spoon upon the edge of his cup.
+
+"Yes, and what'll she do days?" continued Mrs. Peters. "She can't run
+the streets, that's so; now, I don't believe no great in children, and
+you certainly don't b'lieve in 'em at all, nor your poor uncle before
+you; but Rosamond ain't a child; she's _thirteen_--most a woman--and
+if you don't mind the expense, I shan't mind the trouble, and she can
+live here till she finds a place. Her mother, you know, took up
+millinering to get a living."
+
+"Certainly, let her come," answered Mr. Browning, who was noted for
+his benevolence.
+
+This matter being thus satisfactorily settled, Mrs. Peters arose from
+the table, while Mr. Browning went back to the olden memories which
+had haunted him so much that day, and with which there was not mingled
+a single thought of the little Rosamond, who was to exert so strong an
+influence upon his future life.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+ROSAMOND LEYTON.
+
+
+Rosamond had been some weeks at Riverside, and during all that time
+Mr. Browning had scarcely noticed her at all. On the first day of her
+arrival he had spoken kindly to her, asking her how old she was, and
+how long her mother had been dead, and this was all the attention he
+had paid to her. He did not even yet know the color of her eyes, or
+texture of her hair,--whether it were curly or straight, black or
+brown; but he knew in various ways that she was there--knew it by the
+sound of dancing feet upon the stairs, which were wont to echo only to
+Mrs. Peters' heavy tread--knew it by the tasteful air his room
+suddenly assumed--by the ringing laugh and musical songs which came
+often from the kitchen, and by the thousand changes which the presence
+of a merry-hearted girl of thirteen brings to a hitherto silent house.
+Of him Rosamond stood considerably in awe, and though she could
+willingly have worshipped him for giving her so pleasant a home, she
+felt afraid of him and kept out of his way, watching him with childish
+curiosity at a distance, admiring his noble figure, and wondering if
+she would ever dare speak to him as fearlessly as Mrs. Peters did.
+
+From this woman Rosamond received all a mother's care, and though the
+name of her lost parent was often on her lips, she was beginning to be
+very happy in her new home, when one day toward the middle of October
+Mrs. Peters told her that Mr. Browning's only sister, a Mrs. Van
+Vechten, who lived South, was coming to Riverside, together with her
+son Ben. The lady Mrs. Peters had never seen, but Ben, who was at
+school in Albany, had spent a vacation there, and she described him as
+a "great, good-natured fool," who cared for nothing but dogs, cigars,
+fast horses and pretty girls.
+
+Rosamond pushed back the stray curls which had fallen over her face,
+glanced at the cracked mirror which gave her _two_ noses instead of
+one, and thinking to herself, "I wonder if he'll care for me,"
+listened attentively while Mrs. Peters continued,--"This Miss Van
+Vechten is a mighty fine lady, they say, and has heaps of niggers to
+wait on her at home,--but she can't bring 'em here, for _I_ should set
+'em free--that's, so. I don't b'lieve in't. What was I sayin'? Oh, I
+know, she can't wait on herself, and wrote to have her brother get
+some one. He asked me if you'd be willin' to put on her clothes, wash
+her face, and _chaw her victuals_ like enough."
+
+"Mr. Browning never said that," interrupted Rosamond, and Mrs. Peters
+replied--"Well, not that exactly, but he wants you to wait on her
+generally."
+
+"I'll do anything reasonable," answered Rosamond. "When will she be
+here?" "I'll do anything reasonable," answered Rosamond, "I must
+hurry, or I shan't have them north chambers ready for her. Ben ain't
+coming quite so soon."
+
+The two or three days passed rapidly, and at the close of the third a
+carriage laden with trunks stopped before the gate at Riverside, and
+Mrs. Van Vechten had come. She was a thin, sallow-faced, proud-looking
+woman, wholly unlike her brother, whose senior she was by many years.
+She had seen much of the world, and that she was conscious of her own
+fancied superiority was perceptible in every movement. She was Mrs.
+Richard Van Vechten, of Alabama--one of the oldest families in the
+state. Her deceased husband had been United States Senator--she had
+been to Europe--had seen the Queen on horseback--had passed the
+residence of the Duchess of Sutherland, and when Rosamond Leyton
+appeared before her in her neatly-fitting dress of black and asked
+what she could do for her, she elevated her eyebrows, and coolly
+surveying the little girl, answered haughtily, "Comb out my hair."
+
+"Yes, I will," thought Rosamond, who had taken a dislike to the grand
+lady, and suiting the action to the thought, she did comb out her
+hair, pulling it so unmercifully that Mrs. Van Vechten angrily bade
+her stop.
+
+"Look at me, girl," said she; "did you ever assist at any one's toilet
+before?"
+
+"I've hooked Mrs. Peters' dress and pinned on Bridget's collar,"
+answered Rosamond, her great brown eyes brimming with mischief.
+
+"Disgusting!" returned Mrs. Van Vechten--"I should suppose Ralph would
+know better than to get me such an ignoramus. Were you hired on
+purpose to wait on me?"
+
+"Why, no, ma'am--I live here," answered Rosamond.
+
+"Live here!" repeated Mrs. Van Vechten, "and pray, what do you do?"
+
+"Nothing much, unless I choose," said Rosamond, who, being a great pet
+with Mrs. Peters and the other servants, really led a very easy life
+at Riverside.
+
+Looking curiously into the frank, open face of the young girl, Mrs.
+Van Vechten concluded she was never intended to take a negro's place,
+and with a wave of her hand she said, "You may go; I can dress myself
+alone."
+
+That evening, as the brother and sister sat together in the parlor,
+the latter suddenly asked, "Who is that Rosamond Leyton, and what is
+she doing here?"
+
+Mr. Browning told her all he knew of the girl, and she continued, "Do
+you intend to educate her?"
+
+"Educate her!" said he--"what made you think of that?"
+
+"Because," she answered, with a sarcastic smile, "as you expect to do
+penance the rest of your lifetime, I did not know but you would deem
+it your duty to educate every beggar who came along."
+
+The idea of educating Rosamond Leyton was new to Mr. Browning, but he
+did not tell his sister so--he merely said, "And suppose I do educate
+her?"
+
+"In that case," answered the lady, "Ben will not pass his college
+vacations here, as I had intended that he should do."
+
+"And why not?" asked Mr. Browning.
+
+"Why not?" repeated Mrs. Van Vechten. "Just as though you did not know
+how susceptible he is to female beauty, and if you treat this Rosamond
+as an equal, it will be like him to fall in love with her at once. She
+is very pretty, you know."
+
+Mr. Browning did not know any such thing. In fact, he scarcely knew
+how the young girl looked, but his sister's remark had awakened in him
+an interest, and after she had retired, which she did early, he rang
+the bell for Mrs. Peters, who soon appeared in answer to his call.
+
+"Is Rosamond Leyton up," he asked.
+
+"Yes, sir," answered Mrs. Peters, wondering at the question.
+
+"Send her to me," he said, and with redoubled amazement Mrs. Peters
+carried the message to Rosamond, who was sitting before the fire,
+trying in vain to undo an obstinate knot in her boot-string.
+
+"Mr. Browning sent for me!" she exclaimed, her cheeks flushing up.
+"Wants to scold me, I suppose, for pulling his sister's hair. I only
+did what she told me to," and with a beating heart she started for the
+parlor.
+
+Rosamond was afraid of Mr. Browning, and feeling sure that he intended
+to reprove her, she took the chair nearest to the door, and covering
+her face with her hands, began to cry, saying--"It was ugly in me, I
+know', to pull Mrs. Van Vechten's hair, and I did it on purpose, too;
+but I won't do so again, I certainly won't."
+
+Mr. Browning was confounded. This was the first intimation he had
+received of the _barbaric_ performance, and for a moment he remained
+silent, gazing at the little girl. Her figure was very slight, her
+feet and hands were very small, and her hair, though disordered now
+and rough, was of a beautiful brown, and fell in heavy curls around
+her neck. He saw all this at a glance, but her face, the point to
+which his attention was chiefly directed, he could not see until those
+little hands were removed, and as a means of accomplishing this he at
+last said, kindly--"I do not understand you, Rosamond. My sister has
+entered no complaint, and I did not send for you to censure you. I
+wish to talk with you--to get acquainted. Will you come and sit by me
+upon the sofa?"
+
+Rosamond's hands came down from her face, but she did not leave her
+seat; neither did Mr. Browning now wish to have her, for the light of
+the chandelier fell full upon her, giving him a much better view of
+her features than if she had been nearer to him. If, as Mrs. Peters
+had said, Ben Van Vechten was fond of pretty girls, he in a measure
+inherited the feeling from his uncle, who was an ardent admirer of the
+beautiful, and who now felt a glow of satisfaction in knowing that
+Rosamond Leyton was pretty. It was a merry, sparkling, little face
+which he looked upon, and though the nose did turn up a trifle, and
+the mouth was rather wide, the soft, brown eyes, and exquisitely fair
+complexion made ample amends for all. She was never intended for a
+menial--she would make a beautiful woman--and with thoughts similar to
+these, Mr. Browning, after completing his survey of her person, said--
+"Have you been to school much?"
+
+"Always, until I came here," was her answer; and he continued--"And
+since then you have not looked in a book, I suppose?"
+
+The brown eyes opened wide as Rosamond replied,--"Why, yes I have.
+I've read over so much in your library when you were gone. Mrs. Peters
+told me I might," she added, hastily, as she saw his look of surprise,
+and mistook it for displeasure.
+
+"I am perfectly willing," he said; "but what have you read? Tell me."
+
+Rosamond was interested at once, and while her cheeks glowed and her
+eyes sparkled, she replied--"Oh, I've read Shakespeare's Historical
+Plays, every one of them--and Childe Harold, and Watts on the Mind,
+and Kenilworth, and now I'm right in the middle of the Lady of the
+Lake. Wasn't Fitz-James the King? _I_ believe he was. When I am older
+I mean to write a book just like that."
+
+Mr. Browning could not forbear a smile at her enthusiasm, but without
+answering her question, he said,--"What do you intend to do until you
+are old enough?"
+
+Rosamond's countenance fell, and after tapping her foot upon the
+carpet awhile, she said, "Mrs. Peters will get me a place by-and-by,
+and I s'pose I'll have to be a milliner."
+
+"Do you wish to be one?"
+
+"Why, no; nor mother didn't either, but after father died she had to
+do something. Father was a kind of a lawyer, and left her poor."
+
+"Do you wish to go away from here, Rosamond?"
+
+There were tears on the long-fringed eye-lashes as the young girl
+replied, "No, sir; I'd like to live here always, but there's nothing
+for me to do."
+
+"Unless you go to school. How would you like that?"
+
+"I have no one to pay the bills," and the curly head shook mournfully.
+
+"But I have money, Rosamond, and suppose I say that you shall stay
+here and go to school?"
+
+"Oh, sir, _will_ you say so? _May_ I live with you always?" and
+forgetting her fear of him in her great joy, Rosamond Leyton crossed
+over to where he sat, and laying both her hands upon his shoulder,
+continued--"Are you in earnest, Mr. Browning? May I stay? Oh, I'll be
+so good to you when you are old and sick!"
+
+It seemed to her that he was old enough to be her father, then, and it
+almost seemed so to him. Giving her a very paternal look, he answered,
+"Yes, child, you shall stay as long as you like and now go, or Mrs.
+Peters will be wondering what keeps you."
+
+Rosamond started to leave the room, but ere she reached the door she
+paused, and turning to Mr. Browning, said, "You have made me _so_
+happy, and I like you so much, I wish you'd let me kiss your hand--may
+I?"
+
+It was a strange question, and it sent the blood tingling to the very
+tips of Mr. Browning's fingers.
+
+"Why, ye-es,--I don't know. What made you think of that?" he said, and
+Rosamond replied,--"I always kissed father when he made me very happy.
+It was all I could do."
+
+"But I am not your father," stammered Mr. Browning; "I shall not be
+twenty-five until November. Still you can do as you please."
+
+"Not twenty-five yet," repeated Rosamond;--"why, I thought you were
+nearer _forty_. I don't believe I'd better, though I like you just as
+well. Good night."
+
+He heard her go through the hall, up the stairs, through the upper
+hall, and then all was still again.
+
+"What a strange little creature she is," he thought; "so childlike and
+frank, but how queer that she should ask to _kiss me!_ Wouldn't Susan
+be shocked if she knew it, and won't she be horrified when I tell her
+I _am_ going to educate the girl. I shouldn't have thought of it but
+for her. And suppose Ben does fall in love with her. If he knew a
+little more, it would not be a bad match. Somebody must keep up our
+family, or it will become extinct. Susan and I are the only ones left,
+and _I_"--here he paused, and starting to his feet, he paced the floor
+hurriedly, nervously, as if seeking to escape from some pursuing evil.
+"It is terrible," he whispered, "but I _can_ bear it and will," and
+going to his room he sought his pillow to dream strange dreams of
+tresses black, and ringlets brown,--of fierce, dark eyes, and shining
+orbs, whose owner had asked to kiss his hand, and mistaken him for her
+sire.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+BEN'S VISIT.
+
+
+The next morning, as Mrs. Van Vechten was slowly making her toilet
+alone, there came a gentle rap at her door, and Rosamond Leyton
+appeared, her face fresh and blooming as a rose-bud, her curls brushed
+back from her forehead, and her voice very respectful, as she said--"I
+have come to ask your pardon for my roughness yesterday. I can do
+better, and if you will let me wait on you while you stay, I am sure I
+shall please you."
+
+Mrs. Van Vechten could not resist that appeal, and she graciously
+accepted the girl's offer, asking her the while what had made the
+change in her behavior. Always frank and truthful, Rosamond explained
+to the lady that Mr. Browning's kindness had filled her with gratitude
+and determined her to do as she had done. To her Mrs. Van Vechten said
+nothing, but when she met her brother at the breakfast table, there
+was an ominous frown upon her face, and the moment they were alone,
+she gave him her opinion without reserve. But Mr. Browning was firm.
+"He should have something to live for," he said, "and Heaven only knew
+the lonely hours he passed with no object in which to be interested.
+Her family, though unfortunate, are highly respectable," he added,
+"and if I can make her a useful ornament in society, it is my duty to
+do so."
+
+Mrs. Van Vechten knew how useless it would be to remonstrate with him,
+and she gave up the contest, mentally resolving that "Ben should not
+pass his college vacations there."
+
+When the villagers learned that Mr. Browning intended to educate
+Rosamond and treat her as his equal, they ascribed it wholly to the
+influence of his sister, who, of course, had suggested to him an act
+which seemed every way right and proper. They did not know how the
+lady opposed it, nor how, for many days, she maintained a cold reserve
+toward the young girl, who strove in various ways to conciliate her,
+and at last succeeded so far that she not only accepted her services
+at her toilet, but even asked of her sometimes to read her to sleep in
+the afternoon, a process neither long nor tedious, for Mrs. Van
+Vechten was not literary, and by the time the second page was reached
+she usually nodded her full acquiescence to the author's opinions, and
+Rosamond was free to do as she pleased.
+
+One afternoon when Mrs. Van Vechten was fast asleep, and Rosamond deep
+in the "Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner," (the former having selected
+that poem as an opiate because of its musical jingle,) there was the
+sound of a bounding step upon the stairs, accompanied by the stirring
+notes of Yankee Doodle, which some one whistled at the top of his
+voice. Rosamond was about going to see who it was, when the door
+opened and disclosed to view a long, lank, light-haired, good-natured
+looking youth, dressed in the extreme of fashion, with a huge gold
+chain dangling across his vest, and an immense diamond ring upon his
+little finger. This last he managed to show frequently by caressing
+his chin, where, by the aid of a microscope, a very little down might
+possibly have been found! This was Ben! He had just arrived, and
+learning that his mother was in her room, had entered it
+unceremoniously. The unexpected apparition of a beautiful young girl
+startled him, and he introduced himself to her good graces by the very
+expressive exclamation, "_Thunder!_ I beg your pardon, Miss," he
+continued, as he met her surprised and reproving glance. "You scared
+me so I didn't know what else to say. It's a favorite expression of
+mine, but I'll quit it, if you say so. Do you live here?"
+
+"I wait upon your mother," was the quiet answer, which came near
+wringing from the young man a repetition of the offensive word.
+
+But he remembered himself in time, and then continued, "How do you
+know she's my mother? You are right, though. I'm Ben Van Vechten--the
+veriest dolt in school, they say. But, as an offset, I've got a heart
+as big as an ox; and now, who are you? I know you are not a waiting-
+maid!"
+
+Rosamond explained who she was, and then, rather pleased with his off-
+hand manner, began to question him concerning his journey, and so
+forth. Ben was delighted. It was not every girl who would of her own
+accord talk to him, and sitting down beside her, he told her twice
+that she was handsome, was cautiously winding his arm around her
+waist, when from the rosewood bedstead there came the sharp, quick
+word, "Benjamin!" and, unmindful of Rosamond's presence, Ben leaped
+into the middle of the room, ejaculating, "Thunder! mother, what do
+you want?"
+
+"I want _her_ to leave the room," said Mrs. Van Vechten, pointing
+toward Rosamond, who, wholly ignorant of the nature of her offence,
+retreated hastily, wondering how she had displeased the capricious
+lady.
+
+Although Ben Van Vechten would not have dared to do a thing in direct
+opposition to his mother's commands, he was not ordinarily afraid of
+her, and he now listened impatiently, while she told him that Rosamond
+Leyton was not a fit associate for a young man like himself, "She was
+a sort of nobody, whom her brother had undertaken to educate," she
+said, "and though she might be rather pretty, she was low-born and
+vulgar, as any one could see."
+
+Ben confessed to a deficiency of eye-sight on that point, and then, as
+his mother showed no signs of changing the conversation, he left her
+abruptly, and sauntered off into the garden, where he came suddenly
+upon Rosamond, who was finishing the Ancient Mariner in the summer-
+house, her favorite resort.
+
+"So we've met again," said he, "and a pretty lecture I've had on your
+account."
+
+"Why on my account?" asked Rosamond; and Ben, who never kept a thing
+to himself, told her in substance all his mother had said.
+
+"She always wakes in the wrong time," said he, "and she saw me just as
+I was about to give you a little bit of a hug--so"--and he proceeded
+to demonstrate.
+
+Rosamond's temper was up, and equally indignant at mother and son, she
+started to her feet, exclaiming, "I'd thank you, sir, to let me
+alone."
+
+"Whew-ew," whistled Ben. "Spunky, ain't you. Now I rather like that.
+But pray don't burst a blood vessel. I've no notion of making love to
+you, if mother does think so. You are too small a girl."
+
+"Too small a girl," repeated Rosamond, scornfully. "I'm _fourteen_ to-
+morrow--quite too old to be insulted," and she darted away, followed
+by the merry laugh of the good-humored Ben.
+
+Two hours before, Rosamond would not have been so excited, for though
+nearly fourteen, she was in thought and feeling a very child, as was
+proved by her asking to kiss her benefactor's hand; but Mrs. Van
+Vechten's remarks, repeated to her by Ben, had wrought in her a
+change, and, in some respects, transformed her into a woman at once.
+She did not care so much for the liberties Ben had attempted to take,
+but his mother's words rankled in her bosom, awakening within her a
+feeling of bitter resentment; and when, next day, the lady's bell rang
+out its summons for her to come, she sat still upon the doorsteps and
+gave no heed.
+
+"Rosamond," said Mrs. Peters, "Mrs. Van Vechten is ringing for you."
+
+"Let her ring, I'm not going to wait on her any more," and Rosamond
+returned to the book she was reading.
+
+Meantime, flurried and impatient, the lady above stairs pulled at the
+bell-rope, growing more nervous and angry with every pull, until at
+last, as she heard her brother's step in the hall, she went out to him
+and said, "I wish you'd send that girl to me. I've rung at least fifty
+times; and dare say she's enticing Ben again. I knew it would be so."
+
+Going hurriedly down the stairs, Mr. Browning sought out Rosamond and
+said to her, "My sister is ringing for you."
+
+"I know it, sir;" and the brown eyes, which heretofore had seemed so
+soft and gentle, flashed upon him an expression which puzzled him.
+
+"Then why do you not go?" he asked; and the young girl replied, "I
+shall not wait upon, her any more."
+
+"_Rosamond!_" said Mr. Browning. There was severity in the tone of his
+voice, and Rosamond roused at once.
+
+"She says I am _vulgar_, and _low-born_, and have designs upon Ben,"
+said she, "and it's a falsehood. My mother was as much a lady as she.
+I am _not_ vulgar, and I hate Ben, and I won't stay here if I must
+wait on _her_. Shall I go away?"
+
+If Rosamond left, the life of the house went with her. This Mr.
+Browning knew; but man-like, he did not wish to be conquered by a
+woman, and after questioning her as to the nature of Mrs. Van
+Vechten's offence, he answered, "My sister says some foolish things, I
+know, but it is my request that you attend to her while she stays, and
+I expect to be obeyed."
+
+That last word was unfortunate, for Rosamond had a strong will of her
+own, and tapping her little foot upon the ground, she said saucily,
+"And suppose you are not obeyed?"
+
+He did not tell her she must leave Riverside, but he said, "You must
+answer for your disobedience to me, who have certainly some right to
+control you;" then, fearing that his own high temper might be tried
+more than he chose to have it, he walked away just in time to avoid
+hearing her say, "she cared less for him than for his sister!"
+
+Rosamond was too impulsive not to repent bitterly of her conduct; and
+though she persisted in leaving Mrs. Van Vechten to herself, and
+refused to speak to Ben, whose face, in consequence, wore a most
+melancholy expression, she almost cried herself sick, and at last,
+startled Mrs. Peters, just as that lady was stepping into bed, by
+declaring that she must see Mr. Browning before she slept.
+
+Mr. Browning sat in his library, alone. He did not usually retire
+early, but this night he had cause for wakefulness. The burst of
+passion he had witnessed in his protegee, had carried him back to a
+time when another than little Rosamond Leyton had laughed his wishes
+to scorn.
+
+"And is it ever thus with them?" he said. "Are all women furies in
+disguise?--and Rosamond seemed so gentle, so good."
+
+He did not hear the low knock on his door, for his thoughts were far
+away in the south-land, where he had learned his first lesson of
+womankind. Neither did he hear the light footfall upon the floor, but
+when a sweet, tearful voice said to him, "Mr. Browning, are you
+feeling so badly for me?" he started, and on a hassock at his feet saw
+Rosamond Leyton. The sight of her was unexpected, and it startled him
+for a moment, but soon recovering his composure, he said gently: "Why
+are you here? I supposed you were in bed."
+
+Rosamond began to cry, and with her usual impetuosity replied, "I came
+to tell you how sorry I am for behaving so rudely to you. I do try to
+govern my temper so hard, but it sometimes gets the mastery. Won't you
+forgive me, sir? It wasn't Rosamond that acted so--it was a vile,
+wicked somebody else. Will you forgive me?" and in her dread that the
+coveted forgiveness might be withheld, she forgot that he was only
+_twenty-four_, and laid her head upon his knee, sobbing like a little
+child.
+
+"Had _she_ done like this, how different would my life have been,"
+thought Mr. Browning, and involuntarily caressing the curly head, he
+was about to speak, when Rosamond interrupted him, saying,
+
+"I won't deceive you, Mr. Browning, and make you think I'm better than
+I am. I am sorry I acted so to you, but I don't believe I'm sorry
+about Mrs. Van Vechten. I don't like her, for she always treats me as
+though I were not near as good as she, and I can't wait on her any
+more. Must I? Oh, don't make me," and she looked beseechingly into his
+face.
+
+He could not help respecting her for that inborn feeling, which would
+not permit herself to be trampled down, and though he felt intuitively
+that she was having her own way after all, he assured her of his
+forgiveness, and then added: "Mrs. Van Vechten will not require your
+services, for she received a letter to-night, saying her presence was
+needed at home, and she leaves us to-morrow."
+
+"_And Ben?_" she asked--"does he go, too?"
+
+"He accompanies his mother to New York," Mr. Browning said, "and I
+believe she intends leaving him there with a friend, until his school
+commences again."
+
+In spite of herself, Rosamond rather liked Ben, and feeling that she
+was the cause of his banishment from Riverside, her sympathy was
+enlisted for him, and she said, "If I were not here, Ben would stay.
+Hadn't you rather send me away?"
+
+"No, Rosamond, no;--I need you here," was Mr. Browning's reply, and
+then as the clock struck eleven, he bade her leave him, saying it was
+time children like her were in bed.
+
+As he had said, Mis. Van Vechten was going away, and she came down to
+breakfast next morning in her traveling dress, appearing very
+unamiable, and looking very cross at Rosamond, with whom she finally
+parted without a word of reconciliation. Ben, on the contrary, was all
+affability, and managed slyly to kiss her, telling her he should come
+there again in spite of his mother.
+
+After their departure the household settled back into its usual
+monotonous way of living, with the exception that Rosamond, being
+promoted to the position of an equal, became, in many respects, the
+real mistress of Riverside, though Mrs. Peters nominally held the
+reins, and aside from superintending her work, built many castles of
+the future when her protegee would be a full grown woman and her
+master still young and handsome!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+ROSAMOND'S EDUCATION
+
+
+One year has passed away since Mrs. Van Vechten departed for the
+South, and up the locust lined avenue which leads to Riverside, the
+owner of the place is slowly riding. It is not pleasant going home
+tonight, and so he lingers by the way, wondering why it is that the
+absence of a _child_ should make so much difference in one's feelings!
+During the year Rosamond had recited her lessons to him, but with many
+others he fancied no girl's education could be finished unless she
+were _sent away_--and two weeks before the night of which we write he
+had taken her himself to Atwater Seminary, a distance of more than two
+hundred miles, and then, with a sense of desolation for which he could
+not account, he had returned to his home, which was never so lonely
+before. There was no merry voice within the walls,--no tripping feet
+upon the stairs,--no soft, white hand to bathe his forehead when
+suffering from real or fancied headaches,--no slippers waiting by his
+chair,--no flowers on the mantel,--no bright face at the window,--no
+Rosamond at the door.
+
+Of all this was he thinking that November afternoon, and when at last
+he reached his house, he went straight to his library, hoping to find
+a letter there, telling him of her welfare. But letter there was none,
+and with a feeling of disappointment he started to the parlor. The
+door was ajar and he caught glimpses of a cheerfully blazing fire
+within the grate. The shutters, too, were open and the curtains were
+put back just as they used to be when _she was there_. It seemed like
+the olden time, and with spirits somewhat enlivened he advanced into
+the room. His favorite chair stood before the fire, and so near to it
+that her head was leaning on its arm, sat a young girl. Her back was
+turned toward him, but he knew that form full well, and joyfully he
+cried: "Rosamond, how came you here?"
+
+Amid her smiles and tears, Rosamond tempted to tell him the story of
+her grievances. She was homesick, and she could not learn half so much
+at the Atwater Seminary as at home--then, too, she hated the strait-
+jacket rules, and hated the lady-boarder, who pretended to be sick,
+and wouldn't let the school-girls breathe, especially Rosamond Leyton,
+for whom she seemed to have conceived a particular aversion.
+
+Pleased as Mr. Browning was to have Rosamond with him again, he did
+not quite like her reasons for coming back, and he questioned her
+closely as to the cause of her sudden return.
+
+"I shouldn't have come, perhaps," said Rosamond, "if that sick woman
+hadn't been so nervous and disagreeable. She paid enormous sums for
+her board, and so Mrs. Lindsey would hardly let us breathe for fear of
+disturbing her. My room was over hers, and I had to take off my shoes
+and walk on tiptoe, and even then she complained of me, saying I was
+rude and noisy, when I tried so hard to be still. I made some hateful
+remark about her in the hall, which she overheard, and when Mrs.
+Lindsey scolded me for it, saying she was a very wealthy lady from
+Florida, and accustomed to every attention at home, I said back some
+pert things, I suppose, for she threatened to write and tell you, and
+so I thought I'd come and tell you myself."
+
+There was a dizzy whirl in Mr. Browning's brain--a pallor about his
+lips--for a terrible suspicion had flashed upon him, and leaning
+forward, he said in a voice almost a whisper, "What was the Florida
+lady's name?"
+
+"Potter, or Porter--yes, _Miss Porter_, that was it. But what is the
+matter? Are you sick?" Rosamond asked, as she saw how white he was.
+
+"Only a sudden faintness. It will soon pass off," he said. "Tell me
+more of her. Did she see you? Were you near her?"
+
+"No," answered Rosamond. "She was sick all the time I was there, and
+did not leave her room. The girls said, though, that she was rather
+pretty, but had big, black, evil-looking eyes. I don't know why it
+was, but I felt afraid of her--felt just as though she was my evil
+genius. I couldn't help it--but you _are_ sick, Mr. Browning--you are
+pale as a ghost. Lie down upon the sofa, and let me bring the pillows,
+as I used to do."
+
+She darted off in the direction of his sleeping-room, unconscious of
+the voice which called after her, asking if it were not dark in the
+hall, and bidding her take a light.
+
+"But what does it matter?" he said, as he tottered to the sofa. "_She_
+is not here. Atwater Seminary is two hundred miles away. She can't
+harm Rosamond now."
+
+By this time Rosamond came with the pillows, which she arranged upon
+the sofa, making him lie down while she sat by, and laid her hand
+soothingly upon his burning forehead.
+
+"We will have tea in here to-night," she said, "I told Mrs. Peters so,
+and I will make it myself. Do you feel any better?" and she brought
+her rosy face so near to his that he felt her warm breath upon his
+cheek.
+
+"Yes, I am better," he replied, "but keep your hand upon my forehead.
+It assures me of your presence, when my eyes are shut."
+
+So Rosamond sat beside him, and when Mrs. Peters came in to lay the
+cloth, she found them thus together. Smiling knowingly, she whispered
+to herself, "'Nater is the same everywhere," and the good lady bustled
+in and out, bringing her choicest bits and richest cake in honor of
+her pet's return. That night, freed from boarding-school restraint,
+Rosamond slept soundly in her own pleasant chamber, but to Ralph
+Browning, pacing up and down his room, there came not a moment of
+unconsciousness. He could not forget how near he had been to one who
+had embittered his whole life--nor yet how near to her young Rosamond
+had been, and he shuddered as if the latter had escaped an unseen
+danger. Occasionally, too, the dread thought stole over him, "suppose
+she should come here, and with her eagle eye discover what, if it
+exist at all, is hidden in the inmost recesses of my heart."
+
+But of this he had little fear, and when the morning came he was
+himself again, and, save that it was haggard and pale, his face gave
+no token of the terrible night he had passed. But what should he do
+with Rosamond? This was the question which now perplexed him. He had
+no desire to send her from him again, neither would she have gone if
+he had--and he at last came to the very sensible conclusion that the
+school in his own village was quite as good as any, and she
+accordingly became an attendant at the Granby Female Seminary. Here
+she remained for two years and a half, over which time we will pass
+silently and introduce her again to our readers, when she is nearly
+eighteen--a graduate---a belle--and the sunshine of Riverside.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+BROTHER AND SISTER.
+
+
+During the time which had elapsed since Ben Van Vechten first made the
+acquaintance of Rosamond, he had not once been to Riverside, for,
+failing to enter college, and overwhelmed with mortification at his
+failure, he had returned to Alabama, from which place he wrote to her
+occasionally, always addressing her as a little girl, and speaking of
+himself as a very ancient personage in comparison with herself. But
+that Rosamond was now no longer a little girl was proved by her finely
+rounded figure, her intelligent face, her polished manners and self-
+reliant air. And Rosamond was beautiful, too--so beautiful that
+strangers invariably asked _who_ she was, turning always for a second
+look, when told she was the adopted sister or daughter--the villagers
+hardly knew which--of the wealthy Mr. Browning. But whether she were
+the daughter or the sister of the man with whom she lived, she was in
+reality the mistress of his household, and those who at first slighted
+her as the child of a milliner, now gladly paid her homage as one who
+was to be the heir of Mr. Browning's wealth. He would never marry her,
+the wise ones thought--would never marry anybody--and so, with this
+understanding, he was free to talk, walk, and ride with her as often
+as he chose. He liked her, the people said, but did not love her,
+while Rosamond herself believed he almost hated her, so strangely cold
+and harsh was his manner toward her at times.
+
+This coldness had increased of late, and when the Lawries, who, next
+to Mr. Browning, were the most aristocratic people in the place,
+suggested that she should accompany them for a few weeks to the
+Springs, she was delighted with the plan, and nothing doubting that
+Mr. Browning would be glad to have her out of the way, she went to him
+for his consent. She found him in his library, apparently so absorbed
+in reading that he did not observe her approach until she stood
+between him and the light. Then he looked up quickly, and, as she
+fancied, an expression of displeasure passed over his face.
+
+"Excuse me for disturbing you," she said, rather petulantly; "I have
+to break in upon your privacy if I would see you at all."
+
+He gave her a searching glance, and then, laying aside his book and
+folding his arms, said pleasantly, "I am at your service now, Miss
+Leyton. What is it you wish?"
+
+Very briefly she stated her request, and then sitting down in the
+window, awaited his answer. It was not given immediately, and when he
+did speak, he said--"Rosamond, do you wish to go?"
+
+"Of course I do," she replied, "I want to go where it is not as
+lonesome as I find it here."
+
+"Lonesome, Rosamond, lonesome," he repeated. "Riverside has never been
+lonesome since--" he paused a moment and then added, "since you came
+here."
+
+The shadow disappeared from Rosamond's face, as she replied--"I did
+not suppose you cared to have me here. I thought you did not like me."
+
+"Not like you, Rosamond?" and over his fine features there came a look
+of pain, which increased as Rosamond continued:--"You are so cold at
+times, and shun me as it were; inventing excuses to drive me from you
+when you know I would rather stay."
+
+"Oh, Rosamond," he groaned, "how mistaken you are. The world would be
+to me a blank were it not for you; and if my manner is sometimes cold
+and cruel, it is because stern duty demands it should be so. I cannot
+lay bare my secret heart to you of all others, but could you know me
+as I am, you would censure much, but pity more." He paused a moment,
+then, scarcely knowing what he said, he continued--"Rosamond, we will
+understand each other. _I shall never marry_--never _can_ marry. In
+your intercourse with me, will you always remember that?"
+
+"Why, yes," answered Rosamond, puzzled to comprehend him. "I'll
+remember that you say so, but it is not likely you'll keep your word."
+
+"I am not trifling with you," he said." Marriage is not for _me_.
+There is a dreadful reason why I cannot marry, and if at times I am
+cold toward you, it is because--because--"
+
+Rosamond's eyes were riveted upon his face--darker and darker they
+grew, becoming at last almost black in their intensity. She was
+beginning to understand him, and coloring crimson, she answered,
+bitterly: "I know what you would say, but you need have no fears, for
+I never aspired to that honor. Rosamond Leyton has yet to see the man
+she could love."
+
+"Rosamond," and Mr. Browning's voice was so low, so mournful in its
+tone that it quelled the angry feelings in the young girl's bosom, and
+she offered no resistance when he came to her side and took her hand
+in his, saying as he did so--"Listen to me. You came here a little
+girl, and at first I did not heed you, but you made your presence felt
+in various ways, until at last I thought I could not live without you.
+You are a young lady now--the world calls you beautiful. To me you are
+beautiful. Oh, _so_ beautiful," and he laid one hand upon her shining
+hair, softly, tenderly nay, proudly, as if she had been his child. "I
+am not old yet, and it would be natural that we should love each
+other, but we must not--we cannot."
+
+"And lest I should love you too well, you have tried to make me hate
+you," interrupted Rosamond, trying in vain to release herself from his
+powerful grasp, and adding, "but you can spare yourself the trouble. I
+like you too well to hate you; but as I live, I would not marry you if
+I could. I mean what I say!"
+
+He released her hand, and returning to his chair, laid his head upon
+the table, while she continued--"I know just about how well you like
+me--how necessary I am to your comfort, and since fate has decreed
+that we should be thrown together, let us contribute to each other's
+happiness as far as in us lies. I will think of you as a brother, if
+you like, and you shall treat me as a sister, until somebody takes me
+off your hands. Now, I can't say _I_ shall never marry, for I verily
+believe I shall. Meantime, you must think of me just as you would if
+you had a wife. Is it a bargain, Mr. Browning?"
+
+She spoke playfully, but he knew she was in earnest, and from his
+inmost soul he blessed her for having thus brought the conversation to
+a close. He would not tell her why he had said to her what he had--it
+was not what he intended to say, and he knew she was in a measure
+deceived, but he could not explain to her now; he could not tell her
+that he trembled for himself far more than for her, and it was not for
+her then to know how much he loved her, nor how that love was wearing
+his life away because of its great sin. He was growing old now very
+fast. The shadows of years were on his brow, and Rosamond almost
+fancied she saw his brown locks turning white. She was a warm-hearted,
+impulsive girl, and going toward him, she parted from his forehead the
+hair streaked with gray, saying softly to him: "Shall it not be so?
+May I be your sister?"
+
+"Yes, Rosamond, yes," was his answer; and then, wishing to bring him
+back to the point from which they started, Rosamond said abruptly--
+"And what of the Springs? Can I go?"
+
+The descent was a rapid one, but it was what he needed, and lifting up
+his head, he replied, just as he had done before, "Do you want to go?"
+"Not as much as I did when I thought you were angry, and if you would
+rather, I had quite as lief stay with you."
+
+"Then stay," he said, "and we will have no more misunderstandings."
+
+The next evening, as he sat alone in the parlor, a servant brought to
+him a letter, the superscription of which made him reel, as if he
+would have fallen to the floor. It was nearly four years since he had
+seen that handwriting--he had hoped never to look upon it again--but
+it was there before his eyes, and she who wrote that letter was coming
+to Riverside--"would be there in a few days, Providence permitting. Do
+not commit suicide on my account," she wrote, "for I care as little as
+yourself to have our secret divulged, and unless I find that you are
+after other _prey_, I shall keep my own counsel."
+
+The letter dropped from his nerveless fingers--the objects in the room
+swam before his eyes, and like one on whom a crushing weight has
+fallen, he sat bewildered, until the voice of Rosamond aroused him,
+and fleeing to his chamber he locked the door, and then sat down to
+think. She was coming to Riverside, and wherefore? He did not wish for
+a reconciliation now--he would rather live there just as he was, with
+Rosamond.
+
+"Nothing will escape her," he said; "those basilisk eyes will see
+everything--will ferret out my love for that fair young girl. Oh,
+Heaven, _is_ there no escape!"
+
+He heard the voice of Anna Lawrie in the yard. She was coming for
+Rosamond's decision, and quick as thought he rang the bell, bidding
+the servant who appeared to send Miss Leyton to him.
+
+"Rosamond," he said, when she came to the door, "I have changed my
+mind. You must go to the Springs."
+
+"But I'd rather stay at home--I do not wish to go," she said.
+
+"I say you _must_. So tell Miss Lawrie you will," he answered, and his
+eyes flashed almost savagely upon her.
+
+Rosamond waited for no more. She had discovered the impediment to his
+marrying. It was _hereditary insanity_, and she had seen the first
+signs of it in him herself! Magnanimously resolving never to tell a
+human being, nor let him be chained if she could help it, however
+furious he might become, she went down to Miss Lawrie, telling her she
+would go.
+
+One week from that day was fixed upon for their departure, and during
+that time Rosamond was too much absorbed in dresses and finery to pay
+much heed to Mr. Browning. Of one thing she was sure, though--he was
+_crazy_; for what else made him stalk up and down the gravel-walk, his
+head bent forward, and his hands behind him, as if intently thinking.
+Once, when she saw him thus, she longed to go out to him, to tell him
+she knew his secret, and that she would never leave him, however
+unmanageable he should become! But his manner toward her now was so
+strange that she dared not, and she was almost as glad as himself when
+at last the morning came for her to go.
+
+"Promise me one thing," he said, as they stood together a moment
+alone. "Don't write until you hear from me, and don't come home until
+I send for you."
+
+"And suppose the Lawries come, what then?" she asked, and he replied,
+"No matter; stay until I write. Here are five hundred dollars in case
+of an emergency," and he thrust a check into her hand.
+
+"Stop," he continued, as the carriage came round--"did you put your
+clothes away where no one can see them, or are you taking them all
+with you?"
+
+"Why, no, why should I?" she answered. "Ain't I coming back?"
+
+"Yes, yes--Heaven only knows," he said. "Oh, Rosamond, it may be I am
+parting with you forever, and at such a moment, is it a sin for you to
+kiss me? You asked to do so once. Will you do it now?"
+
+"I will," she replied, and she kissed, unhesitatingly, his quivering
+lips.
+
+The Lawries were at the door--Mrs. Peters also--and forcing down his
+emotion, he bade her a calm good-by. The carriage rolled away, but ere
+its occupants were six miles from Riverside, every article of dress
+which had belonged to Rosamond had disappeared from her room, which
+presented the appearance of any ordinary bed-chamber, and when Mrs.
+Peters, in great alarm, came to Mr. Browning, asking what he supposed
+had become of them, he answered quietly--"I have put them in my
+private closet and locked them up!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+MARIE PORTER.
+
+
+The models were crowded with visitors. Every apartment at ---- Hall,
+from basement to attic, was full, save two small rooms, eight by ten,
+so dingy and uncomfortable, that only in cases of emergency were they
+offered to guests. These, from necessity, were taken by the Lawries,
+but for Rosamond there was scarcely found a standing point, unless she
+were willing to share the apartment of a sick lady, who had graciously
+consented to receive any genteel, well-bred person, who looked as
+though they would be quiet and not rummage her things more than once a
+day!
+
+"She was a very high-bred woman," the obsequious attendant said, "and
+her room the best in the house; she would not remain much longer, and
+when she was gone the young lady could have it alone, or share it with
+her companions. It contained two beds, of course, besides a few
+_nails_ for dresses."
+
+"Oh, do take it," whispered the younger Miss Lawrie, who was not yet
+thoroughly versed in the _pleasures_ of a watering place, and who cast
+rueful glances at her cheerless _pen_, so different from her airy
+chamber at home.
+
+So Rosamond's trunks were taken to No. 20, whither she herself
+followed them. The first occupant, it would seem, was quite an
+invalid, for though it was four in the afternoon, she was still in
+bed. Great pains, however had evidently been taken with her toilet,
+and nothing could have been more perfect than the arrangement of her
+pillows--her hair--her wrapper, and the crimson shawl she wore about
+her shoulders. Rosamond bowed to her politely, and then, without
+noticing her particularly, went over to the side of the room she
+supposed was to be hers. She had just laid aside her hat, when the
+lady said: "That open blind lets in too much light. Will you please
+shut it Miss ---- I don't know what to call you."
+
+"Miss Leyton," answered Rosamond, "and you are--"
+
+"Miss Porter," returned the speaker.
+
+"Rosamond started quickly, for she remembered the name, and looking
+for the first time directly at the lady, she met a pair of large black
+eyes fixed inquiringly upon her.
+
+"Leyton--Leyton," repeated the lady, "where have I heard of you
+before?"
+
+"At Atwater Seminary, perhaps," suggested Rosamond, a little doubtful
+is to the manner in which her intelligence would be received.
+
+A shadow flitted over the lady's face, but it was soon succeeded by a
+smile, and she said graciously, "Oh, yes, I know. You annoyed me and I
+annoyed you. It was an even thing, and since we are thrown together
+again, we will not quarrel about the past. Ain't you going to close
+that blind? The light shines full in my face, and, as I did not sleep
+one wink last night, I am looking horridly to-day."
+
+"Excuse me, madam," said Rosamond, "I was so taken by surprise that I
+forgot your request," and she proceeded to shut the blind.
+
+This being done, she divested herself of her soiled garments, washed
+her face, brushed her curls, and was about going in quest of her
+companions, when the lady asked if she had friends there. Rosamond
+replied that she had, at the same time explaining how uncomfortable
+they were.
+
+"The hotel is full," said the lady, "and they all envy me my room; but
+if I pay for the best, I am surely entitled to the best. I shall not
+remain here long, however. Indeed, I did not expect to be here now,
+but sickness overtook me. I dare say I am the subject of many anxious
+thoughts to the person I am going to visit."
+
+There was a half-exultant expression upon the lady's face as she
+uttered these last words, but in the darkened room, Rosamond did not
+observe it. She was sorry for one thus detained against her will, and
+leaning against the foot-board, she said: "You suffer a great deal
+from ill-health, do you not? Have you always been an invalid?"
+
+"Not always. I was very healthy once, but a great trouble came upon
+me, shocking my nervous system terribly, and since then I have never
+seen a well day. I was young when it occurred--about your age, I
+think. How old are you, Miss Leyton?"
+
+"I am eighteen next October," was Rosamond's reply, and the lady
+continued, "I was older than that. Most nineteen. I am twenty-eight
+now."
+
+Rosamond did not know _why_ she said it, but she rejoined quickly:
+"Twenty-eight. So is _Mr._ Browning!"
+
+"_Who?_" exclaimed the lady, the tone of her voice so sharp--so loud
+and earnest, that Rosamond was startled, and did not answer for an
+instant.
+
+When she did, she said, "I beg your pardon; it is Mr. Browning who is
+twenty-eight."
+
+"Ah, yes, I did not quite understand you. I'm a little hard of
+hearing. Who is Mr. Browning?"
+
+The voice had assumed its usually soft, smooth tone, and Rosamond
+could not see the rapid beatings of the heart, nor the eager curiosity
+lurking in the glittering black eyes. The lady _seemed_ indifferent,
+and smoothed carelessly the rich Valenciennes lace, which edged the
+sleeve of her cambric wrapper.
+
+"Did you tell me who Mr. Browning was, dear?" and the black eyes
+wandered over the counterpane looking everywhere but at Rosamond, so
+fearful was their owner lest they should betray the interest she felt
+in the answer.
+
+"Mr. Browning," said Rosamond, "is--is--I hardly know what he is to
+me. I went to his house to live when I was a little, friendless
+orphan, and he very kindly educated me, and made me what I am. I live
+with him still at Riverside." "Ye-es--Riverside--beau-ti-ful name--his
+country--seat--I--sup-pose," the words dropped syllable by syllable
+from the white lips, but there was no quiver in the voice--no ruffle
+upon her face.
+
+Raising herself upon her elbow, the lady continued, "Pray, don't think
+me fidgety, but won't you please open that shutter. I did not think it
+would be so dark. There, that's a good girl. Now, come and sit by me
+on the bed, and tell me of Riverside. Put your feet in the chair, or
+take this pillow. There, turn a little more to the light. I like to
+see people when they talk to me."
+
+Rosamond complied with each request, and then, never dreaming of the
+close examination to which her face was subjected, she began to speak
+of her beautiful home--describing it minutely, and dwelling somewhat
+at length upon the virtues of its owner.
+
+"You like him very much," the lady said, nodding a little affirmative
+nod to her own question.
+
+"Yes--very--very much," was Rosamond's answer; and the lady continued,
+"And _Mrs_. Browning? Do you like her, too?"
+
+"There is no Mrs. Browning," returned Rosamond, adding, quickly, as
+she saw in her auditor's face an expression she did not understand,
+"but it is perfectly proper I should live there, for Mrs. Peters, the
+housekeeper, has charge of me."
+
+"Perhaps, then, he will marry you," and the jeweled hands worked
+nervously under the crimson shawl.
+
+"Oh, no, he won't," said Rosamond, decidedly, "he's too old for me.
+Why, his hair is turning gray!"
+
+"That's nothing," answered the lady, a little sharply. "Everybody's
+hair turns early now-a-days. Sarah found three or four silver threads
+in mine, this morning. Miss Leyton, don't you love Mr. Browning?"
+
+"Why, yes," Rosamond began, and the face upon the pillow assumed a
+dark and almost fiendish expression. "Why, yes, I love him as a
+brother, but nothing else. I respect him for his goodness, but it
+would be impossible to love him with a marrying love."
+
+The fierce expression passed away, and Miss Porter was about to speak
+when Anna Lawrie sent for Rosamond, who excused herself and left the
+room, thinking that, after all, she should like her old enemy of
+Atwater Seminary very much.
+
+Meantime "the enemy" had buried her face in her pillows, and clenching
+her blue veined fists, struck at the empty air, just as she would have
+struck at the owner of Riverside had he been standing there.
+
+"Fine time he has of it," she muttered, "living there with her, and
+she so young and beautiful. I could have strangled her--the jade!--
+when she sat there talking so enthusiastically to _me, of him!_ And
+she loves him, too. I know she does, though she don't know it herself.
+But I must be wary. I must seem to like this girl--must win her
+confidence--so I can probe her heart to its core, and if I find they
+love each other!"--she paused a moment, then grinding her teeth
+together, added slowly, as if the sound of her voice were musical and
+sweet, "Marie Porter will be avenged!"
+
+That strange woman could be a demon or an angel, and as the latter
+character suited her just now, Rosamond, on her return to her room,
+found her all gentleness and love.
+
+That night, when all around the house was still, the full moon shone
+down upon a scene which would have chilled the blood of Ralph Browning
+and made his heart stand still. Upon a single bedstead near the window
+Rosamond Leyton lay calmly sleeping--her brown curls floating o'er the
+pillow--her cheeks flushed with health and beauty--her lips slightly
+apart and her slender hands folded gracefully upon her bosom. Over her
+a fierce woman bent--her long, black hair streaming down her back--her
+eyes blazing with passion--her face the impersonation of malignity and
+hate; and there she stood, a vulture watching a harmless dove.
+Rosamond was dreaming of her home, and the ogress, standing near,
+heard her murmur, "dear Mr. Browning."
+
+For a moment Marie Porter stood immovable--then gliding back to her
+own couch, she whispered, "It is as I believed, and now _if_ he loves
+_her_, the time I've waited for so long has come."
+
+All that night she lay awake, burning with excitement and thirsting
+for revenge, and when the morning came, the illness was not feigned
+which kept her in her bed and wrung from her cries of pain. She was
+really suffering now, and during the next few days, Rosamond stayed
+almost constantly at her side, administering to her wants, and caring
+for her so tenderly that hatred died out of the woman's heart, and she
+pitied the fair young girl, for in those few days she had learned what
+Rosamond did not know herself, though she was gradually waking up to
+it now. It was a long time since she had been separated from Mr.
+Browning, and she missed him so much, following him in fancy through
+the day, and at night wondering if he were thinking of her, and
+wishing he could hear the sound of her voice singing to him as she was
+wont to do when the twilight was over the earth. Anon there crept into
+her heart a feeling she could not define--a feverish longing to be
+where he was--a sense of desolation and terrible pain when she thought
+of his insanity, and the long, dreary years which might ensue when he
+would lose all knowledge of her. She did not care to talk so much of
+him now, but Miss Porter cared to have her, and caressingly winning
+the girl's confidence, learned almost everything--learned that there
+was an impediment to his marrying, and that Rosamond believed that
+impediment to be _hereditary insanity_--learned that he was often
+fitful and gloomy, treating his ward sometimes with coldness, and
+again with the utmost tenderness. Of the interview in the library
+Rosamond did not tell, but she told of everything else--of his
+refusing to let her come to the Springs and then compelling her,
+against her will, to go; and Marie Porter, holding the little hands in
+hers, and listening to the story, read it all, and read it aright,
+gloating over the anguish she knew it cost Ralph Browning to see that
+beautiful girl each day and know he must not win her.
+
+"But I pity _her_" she said, "for there is coming to her a terrible
+awakening."
+
+Then, for no other reason than a thirst for excitement, she longed to
+see that awakening, and one day when they sat together alone, she took
+Rosamond's hand in hers, and examining its scarcely legible lines,
+said, half playfully, half seriously, "Rosamond, people have called me
+a fortune-teller. I inherited the gift from my grandmother, and though
+I do not pretend to much skill, I can surely read your destiny. You
+_love_ Mr. Browning. I have known that all along. You think of him by
+day--you dream of him by night, and no thought is half so sweet as the
+thought of going home to him. But, Rosamond, you will not marry him.
+There is an impediment, as you say, but not insanity. I cannot tell
+you what it is, but I can see," and she bent nearer to the hand which
+trembled in her own. "I can see that for you to marry him, or--mark
+me, Rosamond--for you even to love him, is a most wicked thing--a
+dreadful sin in the sight of Heaven, and you must forget him--will
+you?"
+
+Rosamond had laid her face upon the bed and was sobbing hysterically,
+for Miss Porter's manner frightened her even more than her words. In
+reply to the question, "Will you?" she at last answered passionately,
+_"No, I won't!_ It is _not_ wicked to love him as I do. I am his
+_sister_, nothing more."
+
+Miss Porter's lip curled scornfully a moment, and then she said, "Let
+me tell you the story of _my_ life, shall I?"
+
+No answer from Rosamond, and the lady continued: "When I was about
+your age I fancied I loved a man who, I think, must have been much
+like Mr. Browning--"
+
+"No, no," interrupted Rosamond. "Nobody was ever like Mr. Browning. I
+don't want to hear the Miss Porter, but if I mistake not she will go
+home story. I don't want anything but to go home."
+
+I will not tell her until it's more necessary, thought much sooner
+than she anticipates. And she was right, for on that very night Mr.
+Browning sat reading a letter which ran as follows:
+
+"I find myself so happy with _your little_ Rosamond, who chances to be
+my room-mate, that I have postponed my visit to Riverside, until some
+future time, which, if you continue neutral, may never come--but the
+moment you trespass on forbidden ground, or breathe a word of love
+into _her_ ear--beware! She loves _you_. I have found that out, and I
+tell it because I know it will not make your life more happy, or your
+punishment easier to bear!"
+
+He did not shriek--he did not faint--he did not move--but from between
+his teeth two words came like a burning hiss, "Curse her!" Then,
+seizing his pen, he dashed off a few lines, bidding Rosamond "not to
+delay a single moment, but to come home at once."
+
+"She knows it all," he said, "and now, if _she_ comes here, it will
+not be much worse. I can but die, let what will happen."
+
+This letter took Rosamond and the Lawries by surprise, but not so Miss
+Porter. She expected it, and when she saw how eager Rosamond was to
+go, she smiled a hard, bitter smile, and said, "I've half a mind to go
+with you."
+
+"_What! where?_ To _Riverside?_" asked Rosamond, suspending her
+preparations for a moment, and hardly knowing whether she were pleased
+or not.
+
+"Yes, to Riverside," returned Miss Porter, "though on the whole, I
+think I'd better not. Mr. Browning may not care to see me. If he does,
+you can write and let me know. Give him my love, and say that if you
+had not described him as so incorrigible an old bach, I might be
+coming there to try my powers upon him. I am _irresistible in my
+diamonds_. Be sure and tell him that; and stay, Rosamond, I must give
+you some little token of my affection. What shall it be?" and she
+feigned to be thinking.
+
+Most cruel must her thoughts have been, and even she hesitated a
+moment ere she could bring herself to such an act. Then with a
+contemptuous--"Pshaw!" she arose and opening her jewel box took from a
+private drawer a plain gold ring, bearing date nine years back, and
+having inscribed upon it simply her name "Marie." This she brought to
+Rosamond, saying, "I can't wear it now;--my hands are too thin and
+bony, but it just fits you,--see--" and she placed it upon the third
+finger of Rosamond's left hand!
+
+Rosamond thanked her,--admired the chaste beauty of the ring and then
+went on with her packing, while the wicked woman seated herself by the
+window and leaning her head upon her hands tried to quiet the voice of
+conscience which cried out against the deed she had done.
+
+"It does not matter," she thought. "That tie was severed years ago,--
+by his own act, too. The ring shall go. But will he see it! Men do not
+always observe such things," and then lest he should not quaff the cup
+of bitterness prepared for him, she wrote on a tiny sheet of gilt-
+edged paper, "Look on Rosamond's third finger!"
+
+This she carefully sealed and gave to Rosamond, bidding her hand it to
+Mr. Browning, and saying in answer to her look of inquiry, "It is
+about a little matter concerning yourself. He can show it to you, if
+he thinks proper!"
+
+"The omnibus, Miss, for the cars," cried a servant at the door, and
+with a hurried good-bye to her friends, Rosamond departed and was soon
+on her way to Riverside.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+MAKING LOVE.
+
+
+An accident had occurred to the downward train, and Rosamond was
+detained upon the road for a long time, so that it was already dark
+when she reached the Granby depot. Wishing to surprise Mr. Browning,
+she started for home on foot, leaving her trunks in charge of the
+baggage master. All around the house was still, and stepping into the
+hall she was about passing up the stairs, when the parlor door
+suddenly opened, throwing a glare of light upon her face. The same
+instant some one caught her round the neck, and kissing her twice,
+only released her when she exclaimed, "_Mr. Browning_, I am surprised
+at you!"
+
+"Mr. Browning! _Thunder!_ Just as though I was my uncle!" cried a
+familiar voice, and looking at the speaker, Rosamond recognized _Ben
+Van Vechten!_ He had come to Riverside the day previous, he said, and
+hearing she was expected, had waited at the depot four mortal hours,
+and then returned in disgust.
+
+"But how did you know me?" she asked, and he replied, "By your
+daguerreotype, of course. There is but one such beautiful face in the
+whole world."
+
+He was disposed to be complimentary, and Rosamond was not sorry when
+his mother appeared, for in her presence he was tolerably reserved.
+Mrs. Van Vechten greeted Rosamond politely, but the old hauteur was
+there, and her manner seemed to say, "If you are educated and refined,
+I can't forget that you were once my waiting-maid."
+
+"Where is Mr. Browning?" asked Rosamond, and _Ben_ replied, "Oh, up in
+his den having the shakes. He mopes there all the time. Can't you
+break him of the blues?"
+
+"I'll go and try," answered Rosamond, and she started up the stairs,
+followed by Ben, whose mother called him back, bidding him, in a low
+voice, "stay where he was, and not make a fool of himself."
+
+She could trust her _brother_, but not her _son_, and she thus did the
+former the greatest favor she could have done--she let him meet young
+Rosamond Leyton alone. The evening was quite chilly for July, and, as,
+since the receipt of Miss Porter's note, Mr. Browning had seemed
+rather agueish, there was a fire burning in the grate, and it cast its
+shadows upon him as he sat in his accustomed chair. His back was
+toward the door, and he knew nothing of Rosamond's return until two,
+soft, white hands were placed before his eyes, and a voice which tried
+to be unnatural, said "Guess who I am."
+
+"Rosamond--darling--have you come back to me again?" he exclaimed, and
+starting up, he wound his arm about her, and looked into her face,
+expecting, momentarily, to hear her say, "Yes, I know it all."
+
+But Rosamond did not say so. She merely told him how glad she was to
+be at home once more, in her delight forgetting that Marie Porter had
+said she loved the man who held her closely to his side and smoothed
+her wavy hair even while his heart throbbed painfully with memories of
+the past and trembled for the future. He longed to speak of her room-
+mate, but he dared not betray his knowledge of her existence, and he
+sat there waiting, yet dreading to hear the hated name.
+
+"Did you room alone?" he asked at last, and now remembering the words,
+"You do love him," Rosamond moved quickly from his side. "She does
+know," he thought, and a silent moan of anguish died upon his lips.
+But Rosamond did not know--the movement was actuated by mere maidenly
+reserve, and sitting down directly opposite him, she told him of Miss
+Porter, whom she said she liked so well.
+
+"How much of an invalid is she?" asked Mr. Browning, when he could
+trust his voice to speak.
+
+"Her health is miserable," returned Rosamond. "She has the heart
+disease, and her waiting-maid told me she was liable to die at any
+time if unusually excited."
+
+It might have been because Rosamond was there that Mr. Browning
+thought the room was brighter than it had been before, and quite
+calmly he listened while she told him more of her new friend.
+
+"She seemed so interested in you, and in Riverside," said Rosamond,
+"and even proposed coming home with me--"
+
+Mr. Browning started suddenly, and as suddenly a coal snapped out upon
+the carpet. This was an excuse for his movement, and Rosamond
+continued, "She thought, though, you might not care to see her, being
+a stranger, but she sent you _her love,_ and--. You are cold, ain't
+you, Mr. Browning? You shiver like a leaf. Ben said you'd had the
+ague."
+
+Rosamond closed the door and commenced again. "Where was I? Oh, I
+know. She said if you were not a confirmed bachelor she would try her
+powers on you. _'She was irresistible in her diamonds,'_ she bade me
+tell you. But have you an ague chill, really? or what makes your teeth
+chatter so? Shall I ring for more coal?"
+
+"No, Rosamond, no. Fire does not warm me; I shall be better soon."
+
+Rosamond pitied him, he looked so white and seemed to be suffering so
+much, and she remained silent for a time. Then remembering the note,
+she handed it to him, and turning toward the fire, stooped down to fix
+a bit of coal which was in danger of dropping from the grate. While in
+this attitude a cry between a howl of rage and a moan of anguish fell
+upon her ear--her shoulders were grasped by powerful hands, and
+looking up she saw Mr. Browning, his face distorted with passion and
+his flashing eyes riveted upon the _ring_ glittering in the firelight.
+Seizing her hand, he wrenched it from her finger, and glanced at the
+name--then, swift as thought, placed it upon the marble hearth, and
+crushed it with his heel.
+
+"It's mine--you've broken it," cried Rosamond, but he did not heed
+her, and gathering up the pieces, he hurled them into the grate--then,
+pale as ashes, sank panting into the nearest chair.
+
+Rosamond was thunder-struck. She did not suppose he had had time to
+read the note, and never dreaming there was any connection between
+that and his strange conduct, she believed him to be raving mad, and
+her first impulse was to fly. Her second thought, however, was, "I
+will not leave him. He has these fits often, now, I know, and that is
+why he sent for me. He knew I could quiet him, and I will."
+
+So Rosamond stayed, succeeding so far in soothing him that his eyes
+lost their savage gleam, and were suffused with a look of unnatural
+tenderness when they rested on her face. He did not ask her how she
+came by the ring, for he knew it had been sent as an insult to him,
+and he felt a glow of satisfaction in knowing that it was blackening
+on the grate. Ben's voice was now heard in the hall, asking if they
+intended staying there all night, and in a whisper Mr. Browning bade
+Rosamond go down and apologize for him. She accordingly descended to
+the parlor, telling Mrs. Van Vechten that her brother was too much
+indisposed to come down, and wished to be excused. Mrs. Van Vechten
+bowed coolly, and taking a book of prints, busied herself for awhile
+in examining them; then the book dropped from her hand--her head fell
+back--her mouth fell open, and Ben, who was anxiously watching her,
+knew by unmistakable sounds that she was fast asleep. It was now his
+time, and faithfully did he improve it, devoting himself so
+assiduously to Rosamond, that she was glad when a _snore,_ louder and
+more prolonged than any which had preceded it started the lady
+herself, and produced symptoms of returning consciousness.
+
+The next day, and the next, it was the same, and at the expiration of
+a week, Ben had determined either to marry Rosamond Leyton, or go to
+the _Crimean War,_ this last being the bugbear, with which he intended
+frightening his mother into a consent. He hardly dared disobey her
+openly for fear of disinheritance, and he would rather she should
+express her willingness to receive Miss Leyton as her daughter. He
+accordingly startled her one day by asking her to sanction his
+intended proposal to the young girl. Nothing could exceed Mrs. Van
+Vechten's amazement and contempt. She would never consent, and if Ben
+persisted in making so disgraceful an alliance, she would disinherit
+him at once. Ben knew she was in earnest, and so fell back upon the
+Crimean war as a last resort. "He would go immediately--would start
+that very day for New York--he had money enough to carry him there,"
+and he painted so vividly "death on a distant battle-field, with a
+ferocious _Russian_ rifling his trousers' pocket," that his mother
+began to cry, though she still refused to relent.
+
+"Choose, mother, choose," said he. "It's almost car time--Rosamond or
+the war," and he drew on his heavy boots.
+
+"Oh Benjamin, you, will kill me dead."
+
+"I know it. I mean to. Rosamond or the war!" and he buttoned up his
+coat preparatory to a start.
+
+"Do, Ben, listen to reason."
+
+"I won't--I won't;--Rosamond or the war! I shall rush into the
+thickest of the fight, and be killed the first fire, of course, and
+black is _so_ unbecoming to you."
+
+"Stop, I entreat. You know you are afraid of cannons;" this was said
+beseechingly.
+
+"Thunder, mother! No, I ain't! Rosamond or the war--choose quick. I
+hear the whistle at East Granby."
+
+He left the room--went down the stairs, out at the door, through the
+yard, and out into the avenue, while his distracted mother looked
+after him through blinding tears. She knew how determined he was when
+once his mind was made up, and she feared his present excitement would
+last until he was fairly shipped, and it was too late to return. He
+would never fight, she was sure, and at the first battle-sound he
+would fly, and be hung as a deserter, no doubt! This touched her
+pride. She would rather people should say of her boy that he married a
+milliner's daughter than that he was hung, and hurrying to the window
+just as Ben looked back, hoping for a signal, she waved her hand for
+him to return, calling out at the top of her voice, "I relent--I
+relent." "I knew the _Crimea_ would fetch her," said Ben; "lucky I
+thought of that," and without going to his mother at all, he sought
+out Rosamond. Half an hour later he astonished the former by rushing
+into her presence, and exclaiming, "She's refused me, mother; and she
+meant it, too. Oh, _I shall die_--I know I shall. _Oh, oh, oh!"_ and
+Ben rolled on the floor in his frantic grief. As nearly as she could,
+Mrs. Van Vechten learned the particulars of his interview with
+Rosamond, and, though at first secretly pleased that he had been
+refused, she felt a very little piqued that her son should thus be
+dishonored, and when she saw how wretched it had made him, her
+feelings were enlisted in his behalf, and she tried to soothe him by
+saying that her brother had a great deal of influence with Rosamond,
+and they would refer the matter to him.
+
+"Go now, mother. Don't wait a minute," pleaded Ben, and Mrs. Van
+Vechten started for her brother's library.
+
+She found him alone, and disclosed the object of her visit at once.
+Rosamond had refused her son, who, in consequence, was nearly
+distracted, and threatened going to the Crimean war--a threat she knew
+he would execute unless her brother persuaded Rosamond to revoke her
+decision and think again.
+
+Mr. Browning turned as white as marble, but his sister was too much
+absorbed in her own matters to heed his emotions, and she continued--
+
+"Of course it will be mortifying to us all to have her in the family,
+and maybe Ben will get over it; but they must be engaged somehow, or
+he'll go away. I'll send her up to you immediately," and she hurriedly
+left the room in quest of Rosamond. For a moment Mr. Browning sat like
+one stupefied; then, covering his face with his hands, he moaned,
+"Must _this_ come upon me, too? Must I, who love her so madly, bid her
+marry another? And yet what does it matter? She can never be mine--and
+if she marries Ben I can keep them with me always, and that vile woman
+will have no cause for annoying me. She said Rosamond loved me, but I
+pray Heaven that may not be so."
+
+A light tread echoed in the hall, and with each fall of those little
+feet, Ralph Browning's heart throbbed painfully. Another moment and
+Rosamond was there with him--her cheeks flushed--her eyelashes wet
+with tears, and her whole manner betrayed an unusual degree of
+excitement.
+
+"I understand from your sister," said she, "that you wish me to marry
+_Ben,_ or leave your house. I will do the latter, but the former--
+never! Shall I consider our interview at an end?"
+
+She turned to leave the room, but Mr. Browning caught her dress,
+exclaiming: "Stay, Rosamond, and hear me. I never uttered such words
+to Mrs. Van Vechten. I do not wish you to marry Ben unless you love
+him. Do you love him, Rosamond? Do you love anybody?"
+
+This was not what he intended to say--but he had said it, and now he
+waited for her answer. To the first question it came in a decided "No,
+I do not love him," and to the last it came in burning blushes,
+stealing over her cheek--her forehead--her neck, and speaking in her
+downcast eye. She had never believed that she did love her guardian,
+until told that he wished her to marry another, when it burst upon her
+in all its force, and she could no more conceal it now than she could
+stop the rapid beatings of her heart. He saw it all in her tell-tale
+face, and forgetting everything, he wound his arms around her, and
+drawing her to his side, whispered in her ear, "Darling, Rosamond, say
+that you love me. Let me hear that assurance once, and I shall be
+almost willing to die."
+
+"Ladies do not often confess an attachment until sure it is returned,"
+was Rosamond's answer, and doubly forgetful now of all the dreary
+past, Ralph Browning poured into her ear hot, burning words of love--
+hugging her closer and closer to him until through the open window
+came the sound of Mrs. Peters' voice calling to the stranger girl who
+had that morning entered service at Riverside as a waiting-maid in
+general. _Maria_ was the name, and as the ominous word fell upon Mr.
+Browning's ear, he started, and pushing Rosamond from him, turned
+his face away so she could not see the expression of mute despair
+settling down upon it. Sinking upon the lounge he buried his face in
+its cushions while Rosamond looked curiously upon him, feeling sure
+that she knew what it was that so affected him. He had told her of his
+love--had said that she was dearer to him than his life, and in
+confessing this he had forgotten the dark shadow upon his life, and it
+was the dread of telling it to her--the pain of saying "I love you,
+but you cannot be my wife," which affected him so strangely. But she
+knew it all, and she longed to assure him of her sympathy. At last
+when he seemed to be more calm, she stole up to him, and kneeling at
+his side bent over him so that her bright hair mingled with his own.
+
+"Mr. Browning," she whispered softly, "I _know your secret,_ and I do
+not love you less."
+
+"_You, Rosamond, you know it!_" he exclaimed, gazing fixedly at her.
+"It cannot be. You would never do as you have done."
+
+"But I do know it," she continued, taking both his hands in hers, and
+looking him steadily in the eye, by way of controlling him, should he
+be seized with a sudden attack, "I know exactly what it is, and though
+it will prevent me from being your wife, it will not prevent me from
+loving you just the same, or from living with you either. I shall stay
+here always--and--and--pardon me, Mr. Browning, but when you get
+furious, as you sometimes do, I can quiet you better than any one
+else, and it may be, the world will never need to know you're a
+_madman!"_
+
+Mr. Browning looked searchingly into her innocent eyes, and then, in
+spite of himself, he laughed aloud. He understood why she should think
+him a madman, and though he repented of it afterward, he hastened to
+undeceive her now. "As I hope to see another day, it is not that," he
+said. "It is far worse than insanity; and, Rosamond, though it breaks
+my heart to say it, it is wicked for me to talk of love to you, and
+you must not remember what I said. You must crush every tender thought
+of me. You must forget me--nay, more--you must _hate_ me. Will you,
+Rosamond?"
+
+"No--no--no! she cried, and laying her face in his lap, she burst into
+a passionate flood of tears.
+
+"Leave me," he whispered, "or I _shall_ go mad, for I know I am the
+cause of this distress."
+
+There was decision in the tones of his voice, and it stilled the
+tumult in Rosamond's bosom. Rising to her feet, she said calmly: "I
+will go, but I cannot forget that you deceived me. You have wrung from
+me a confession of my love, only to throw it back upon me as a
+priceless thing."
+
+Not thus would he part with her, and grasping her arm, he began:
+"Heaven knows how much more than my very life I love you--"
+
+He did not finish the sentence, for through the air a small, dark
+object came, and, missing its aim, dropped upon the hearth, where it
+was broken in a hundred pieces. It was a vase which stood upon the
+table in the hall, and Ben Van Vechten's was the hand that threw it!
+Impatient at the delay, he had come up in time to hear his uncle's
+last words, which aroused his Southern blood at once, and seizing the
+vase, he hurled it at the offender's head--then, rushing down the
+stairs, he burst upon his mother with "Great thunder! mother; Uncle
+Ralph is making love to Rosamond himself, and she likes it too. I saw
+it with my own eyes! I'll hang myself in the barn, or go to the
+Crimean war!" and Ben bounded up and down like an India-rubber ball.
+Suddenly remembering that another train was due ere long, he darted
+out of the house, followed by his distracted mother, who, divining his
+intention, ran swiftly after him, imploring him to return. Pausing for
+a moment as he struck into the highway, he called out, "Good-by,
+mother. I've only one choice left--WAR! Give my love to Rosamond, and
+tell her I shall die like a hero. You needn't wear black, if you don't
+want to. Good-by."
+
+He turned the corner--he had started for the _war_--and mentally
+resolving to follow him in the next train, Mrs. Van Vechten returned
+to the house, and sought her brother.
+
+"Ralph," she began, sternly, "have you talked of love to Rosamond?"
+
+Mr. Browning had borne so much that nothing startled him now, and
+returning her glance unflinchingly, he replied, "I have."
+
+"How, then--is Marie dead?" the lady asked.
+
+"Not to my knowledge--but hist," was the reply, as Mr. Browning nodded
+toward the hall, where a rustling movement was heard.
+
+It was the _new girl_, coming with a dust-pan and brush to remove the
+fragments of the vase, though how she knew they were there, was a
+question she alone could answer. For a single instant her dull, gray
+eye shot a gleam of intelligence at the occupants of the room, and
+then assuming her usual appearance, she did what she came to do, and
+departed. When they were again alone, Mrs. Van Vechten demanded an
+explanation of her brother, who gave it unhesitatingly. Cold-hearted
+as she always seemed, Mrs. Van Vechten had some kind feelings left,
+and, touched by her brother's tale of suffering, she gave him no word
+of reproach, and even unbent herself to say that a brighter day might
+come to him yet. Then she spoke of Ben, announcing her determination
+of following him that night. To this plan Mr. Browning offered no
+remonstrance, and when the night express left the Granby station, it
+carried with it Mrs. Van Vechten, in pursuit of the runaway Ben.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+NEWS.
+
+
+Nearly two weeks had passed away since the exciting scene in Mr.
+Browning's library, and during that time Rosamond had kept herself
+aloof from her guardian, meeting him only at the table, where she
+maintained toward him a perfectly respectful but rather freezing
+manner. She was deeply mortified to think he had won from her a
+confession of her love, and then told her how useless--nay, worse--how
+wicked it was for her to think of him. She knew that he suffered
+intensely, but she resolutely left him to suffer alone, and he would
+rather it should be so.
+
+Life was growing more and more a wearisome burden, and when, just one
+week after the library interview, he received a note in the well-
+remembered handwriting, he asked that he might die and forget his
+grief. The letter was dated at the Springs, where Miss Porter was
+still staying, though she said she intended starting the next day for
+Cuyler, a little out-of-the-way place on the lake, where there was but
+little company, and she could be quiet and recruit her nervous system.
+The latter had been terribly shocked, she said, by hearing of his
+recent attempt at making love to Rosamond Leyton! "Indeed," she wrote,
+"it is to this very love-making that you owe this letter from me, as I
+deem it my duty to keep continually before your mind the fact that
+_I_ am still alive."
+
+With a blanched cheek Mr. Browning read this letter through--then tore
+it into fragments, wondering much who gave her the information. There
+were no _spies_ about his premises. Rosamond would not do it, and it
+must have been his sister, though why she should thus wish to annoy
+him he did not know, when she, more than any one else, had been
+instrumental in placing him where he was. Once he thought of telling
+Rosamond all, but he shrank from this, for she would leave his house,
+he knew, and, though she might never again speak kindly to him, he
+would rather feel that she was there.
+
+And so another dreary week went by, and then one morning there came to
+him tidings which stopped for an instant the pulsations of his heart,
+and sent through his frame a thrill so benumbing and intense that at
+first pity and horror were the only emotions of which he seemed
+capable. It came to him in a newspaper paragraph, which in substance
+was as follows:
+
+"A sad catastrophe occurred on Thursday afternoon at Cuyler, a little
+place upon the lake, which of late has been somewhat frequented during
+the summer months. Three ladies and one gentleman went out in a small
+pleasure-boat which is kept for the accommodation of the guests. They
+had not been gone very long when a sudden thunder-gust came on,
+accompanied by a violent wind, and the owner of the skiff, feeling
+some alarm for the safety of the party, went down to the landing just
+in time to see the boat make a few mad plunges with the waves, and
+then capsize at the distance of nearly half a mile from the shore.
+
+"Every possible effort was made to save the unfortunate pleasure-
+seekers, but in vain; they disappeared from view long before a boat
+could reach them. One of the bodies has not yet been recovered. It is
+that of a Miss Porter, from Florida. She had reached Cuyler only the
+day previous, and was unaccompanied by a single friend, save a
+waiting-maid, who seems overwhelmed with grief at the loss of her
+mistress."
+
+This, then, was the announcement which so affected Ralph Browning,
+blotting out for a moment the wretched past, and taking him back to
+the long ago when he first knew Marie Porter and fancied that he loved
+her. She was _dead_ now--_dead._ Many a time he whispered that word to
+himself, and with each repetition the wish grew strong within him--not
+that she were living, but that while living he had not hated her so
+bitterly, and with the softened feeling which death will always bring,
+he blamed himself far more than he did her. There had been wrong on
+both sides, but he would rather now, that she had been reconciled to
+him ere she found that watery grave. Hand in hand with these
+reflections came another thought; a bewildering, intoxicating thought.
+He was _free_ at last--free to _love_--to _worship_--to _marry_
+Rosamond.
+
+"And I will go to her at once," he said, after the first hour had been
+given to the dead; "I will tell her all the truth."
+
+He rose to leave the room, but something stayed him there, and
+whispered in his ear, "There may be some mistake. Cuyler is not far
+away. Go there first and investigate."
+
+For him to will was to do, and telling Mrs. Peters he should be absent
+from home for a time, he started immediately for Cuyler, which he
+reached near the close of the day. Calm and beautiful looked the
+waters of the lake on that summer afternoon, and if within their
+caverns the ill-fated Marie slept, they kept over her an unruffled
+watch and told no tales of her last dying wail to the careworn,
+haggard man who stood upon the sandy beach, where they said that she
+embarked, and listened attentively while they told him how gay she
+seemed that day, and how jestingly she spoke of the dark thunderhead
+which even then was mounting the western horizon. They had tried in
+vain to find her, and it was probable she had sunk into one of the
+unfathomable holes with which the lake was said by some to abound.
+Sarah, the waiting-maid, wept passionately, showing that the deceased
+must have had some good qualities, or she could not thus have attached
+a servant to her.
+
+Looking upon Mr. Browning as a friend of her late mistress, she relied
+on him for counsel, and when he advised her immediate return to
+Florida, she readily consented, and started on the same day that he
+turned his face toward Riverside. They had said to him: "If we find
+her, shall we send her to your place?" and with an involuntary shudder
+he had answered, "No--oh, no. You must apprise me of it by letter, as
+also her Florida friends--but bury her quietly here."
+
+They promised compliance with his wishes, and feeling that a load was
+off his mind, he started at once for home. Certainty now was doubly
+sure. Marie was dead, and as this conviction became more and more
+fixed upon his mind, he began to experience a dread of telling
+Rosamond all. Why need she know of it, when the telling it would throw
+much censure on himself. She was not a great newspaper reader--she had
+not seen the paragraph, and would not see it. He could tell her that
+the obstacle to his happiness had been removed--that 'twas no longer a
+sin for him to think of her or seek to make her his wife. All this he
+would say to her, but nothing more.
+
+And all this he did say to her in the summer-house at the foot of the
+garden, where he found her just as the sun was setting. And Rosamond
+listened eagerly--never questioning him of the past, or caring to hear
+of it. She was satisfied to know that she might love him now, and with
+his arm around her, she sat there alone with him until the August moon
+was high up in the heavens. He called her his "sunshine"--his "light"
+--his "life," and pushing the silken curls from off her childish brow,
+kissed her again and again, telling her she should be his wife when
+the twentieth day of November came. That was his twenty-ninth
+birthday, and looking into her girlish face, he asked her if he were
+not too old. He knew she would tell him _no_, and she did, lovingly
+caressing his grayish hair.
+
+"He had grown young since he sat there," she said, and so, indeed, he
+had, and the rejuvenating process continued day after day, until the
+villagers laughingly said that his approaching marriage had put him
+back ten years. It was known to all the town's folks now, and unlike
+most other matches, was pronounced a suitable one. Even Mrs. Van
+Vechten, who had found Ben at Lovejoy's Hotel, and still remained with
+him in New York, wrote to her brother a kind of congratulatory letter,
+mingled with sickly sentimental regrets for the "heart-broken,
+deserted and now departed Marie." It was doubtful whether she came up
+to the wedding or not, she said, as Ben had positively refused to
+come, or to leave the city either, and kept her constantly on the
+watch lest he should elope with a second-rate actress at Laura Keene's
+theatre.
+
+Rosamond laughed heartily when Mr. Browning told her of this sudden
+change in Ben, and then with a sigh as she thought how many times his
+soft, good-natured heart would probably be wrung, she went back to the
+preparations for her bridal, which were on a magnificent scale. They
+were going to Europe--they would spend the winter in Paris, and as Mr.
+Browning had several influential acquaintances there, they would of
+course see some society, and he resolved that his bride should be
+inferior to none in point of dress, as she was to none in point of
+beauty. Everything which love could devise or money procure was
+purchased for her, and the elegance of her outfit was for a long time
+the only theme of village gossip.
+
+Among the members of the household none seemed more interested in the
+preparations than the girl Maria, who has before been incidentally
+mentioned. Her dull eyes lighted up with each new article of dress,
+and she suddenly displayed so much taste in everything pertaining to a
+lady's toilet, that Rosamond was delighted and kept her constantly
+with her, devising this new thing and that, all of which were
+invariably tried on and submitted to the inspection of Mr. Browning,
+who was sure to approve whatever his Rosamond wore. And thus gayly
+sped the halcyon hours, bringing at last the fading leaf and the
+wailing October winds; but to Rosamond, basking in the sunlight of
+love, there came no warning note to tell her of the dark November days
+which were hurrying swiftly on.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE GUEST AT RIVERSIDE.
+
+
+The November days had come. The satin dress was made--the bridal veil
+sent home--the wreath of orange, too; and then, one morning when the
+summer, it would seem, had come to revisit the scenes of its brief
+reign, Mr. Browning kissed his bride-elect, and wiped away the two big
+tears which dropped from her eyelashes when he told her that he was
+going away for that day and the next.
+
+"But when to-morrow's sun is setting, I shall be with you again," he
+said, and he bade her quiet the fluttering of her little heart, which
+throbbed so painfully at parting with him.
+
+"I don't know why it is," she said, "I'm not one bit superstitious,
+but Bruno howled so dismally under my window all night, and when he
+ceased, a horrid owl set up a screech. I told Maria, and she said, in
+her country the cry of an owl was a sign that the grave was about to
+give up its dead, and she looked so mysterious that she frightened me
+all the more--"
+
+"That Maria is too superstitious, and I don't like her to be with you
+so much," said Mr. Browning, his own cheek turning slightly pale, as
+he thought of the grave giving up _his_ dead. Thrice he turned back to
+kiss the little maiden, who followed him down the avenue, and then
+climbed into a box-like seat, which had been built on the top of the
+gate-post, and was sheltered by a sycamore. "Here," said she, "shall I
+wait for you to-morrow night, when the sun is away over there. Oh, I
+wish it would hurry."
+
+He wished so, too, and with another fond good-by they parted. The day
+seemed long to Rosamond, and, though she varied the time by trying on
+each and every one of her new dresses, she was glad when it was night,
+so she could go to bed and sleep the time away. The next morning the
+depression of spirits was gone; he was coming--she should wait for him
+beneath the sycamore--possibly she would hide to make him believe she
+was not there, and the bright blushes stole over her dimpled cheeks as
+she thought what he would do when he found that she _was_ there.
+
+"Ten o'clock," she said to herself, as she heard the whistle of the
+upward train. "Seven hours more and he will come."
+
+Going to her room, she took a book, in which she tried to be
+interested, succeeding so well that, though her windows commanded a
+view of the avenue, she did not see the lady who came slowly up the
+walk, casting about her eager, curious glances, and pausing more than
+once to note the exceeding beauty of the place. Once she stopped for a
+long time, and, leaning against a tree, seemed to be debating whether
+to turn back or go on. Deciding upon the latter, she arose, and
+quickening her movements, soon stood upon the threshold. Her ring was
+answered by Maria, who betrayed no surprise, for from the upper hall
+Mrs. Peters herself was closely inspecting the visitor.
+
+"Is Mr. Browning at home?" the lady asked.
+
+"Gone to Buffalo," was the laconic reply, and a gleam of satisfaction
+flitted over the face of the questioner, who continued--"And the young
+lady, Miss Leyton? Has she gone too?"
+
+"She is here," said Maria, still keeping her eye upon the shadow
+bending over the balustrade. "What name shall I give her?"
+
+"No name. I wish to surprise her," and passing on into the parlor,
+thestranger laid aside her hat and shawl with the air of one perfectly
+at
+home; then seating herself upon a sofa, she examined the room as
+curiously as she had examined the grounds of Riverside.
+
+"It seems a pity to mar all this," she said, "and were it not that I
+hate him so much, I would go away forever, though that would be a
+greater injury to her than my coming to life will be. Of course he's
+told her all, and spite of her professed liking for me, she is glad
+that I am dead. I long, yet dread, to see her amazement; but hist--she
+comes."
+
+There was the sound of little, high-heeled slippers on the stairs, the
+flutter of a pink morning gown, and then Rosamond Leyton stood face to
+face with--Marie Porter! The grave had given up its dead, and without
+any visible marks of the world prepared for such as she, save, indeed,
+the increased _fire_ which burned in her black eyes, the risen woman
+sat there much as living people sit--her head bent forward--her lips
+apart--and a look of expectation upon her face. But she was doomed to
+disappointment. Rosamond knew nothing of the past, and with a cry of
+pleasurable surprise she started forward, exclaiming, "Oh, Miss
+Porter, I felt so cross when told a visitor was here, but now I know
+who 'tis, I am so glad, for I am very lonely to-day."
+
+The hard woman swept her hand a moment before her eyes, and with that
+movement swept away the kindly spirit, which whispered, "Don't
+undeceive her. Don't quench the light of that bright face, nor break
+that girlish heart."
+
+But it was necessary; Marie Porter knew that, and though she repented
+of what she had done, it was now too late to retreat, and all she
+could do was to break the heart of the unsuspecting girl as tenderly
+as possible.
+
+"Why are you so lonely?" she said, "This is a most beautiful spot. I
+believe I'd like to live here myself."
+
+"Oh, yes, 'tis a lovely place," answered Rosamond, "but--but--Mr.
+Browning is not here," and she averted her crimson face.
+
+"Is Mr. Browning so necessary to your happiness" Miss Porter asked,
+and bringing an ottoman, Rosamond sat down at her visitor's feet and
+thus replied: "We talked so much of him at the Springs that it surely
+is not foolish in me to tell you what everybody knows. Now, you won't
+laugh at me, will you? Mr. Browning and I are going to--oh, I can't
+tell it; but, any way, your fortune-telling is not true."
+
+"Mr. Browning and you are going to be married. Is that it?" the woman
+asked; and with a quick, upward glance of her soft, brown
+eyes, Rosamond replied, Yes, that's it--that's it; and oh, you can't
+begin to guess how happy I am. He is not _crazy_ either. It was
+something else, though I don't know what, for he never told me, and I
+do not care to know. The obstacle has been removed, whatever it was,
+and it has wrought such a change in him. He's so much younger--
+handsomer, now, and so kind to me. I'm glad you've come, Miss Porter,
+and you'll stay till after the wedding. It's the twentieth, and he has
+bought me so many new things. We are going to Europe. Just think of a
+winter in Paris, with Mr. Browning! But, what! Are you _crying_?" and
+Rosamond started as a burning tear fell upon her forehead.
+
+"Rosamond Leyton," said Miss Porter, in a voice husky with emotion, "I
+have not wept in eight long years, but the sight of you, so innocent,
+so happy, wrings the tears from my stony heart, as agony will
+sometimes force out the drops of perspiration when the body is
+shivering with cold. I was young like you once, and my bridal was
+fixed--" She paused, and stealing an arm around her waist, Rosamond
+said pleadingly, "Tell me about it, Miss Porter, I always knew you had
+a history. Did the man die?"
+
+"No--no. Better for me if he had--aye, and better, too, for you."
+
+This last was a whisper, and Rosamond did not hear it. Her thoughts
+were bent upon the story, and she continued, "Will it pain you too
+much to tell it now?"
+
+"Yes, yes, wait," Miss Porter said, "Wait until after dinner, and
+meantime, as I cannot possibly stay until the 20th, perhaps you will
+let me see your dresses."
+
+Nothing could please Rosamond more, and gay as a little child, she led
+the way to a large upper room, which contained her wedding outfit.
+Proudly she displayed her treasures, flitting like a bird from one
+pile of finery to another, and reserving the most important until the
+very last.
+
+"There's the dinner-bell," she suddenly exclaimed, "I did not think it
+could be _one_. Only four hours more--but come, let us go down and
+after dinner, if you'll never tell Mrs. Peters, nor anybody, I'll try
+on my bridal dress and let you see if it is becoming. I want so much
+to know how it looks, since Maria put the rose-buds in the berthe. And
+then your story. I must hear that."
+
+As they were going down the stairs Miss Porter took Rosamond's hand
+and said, "How is this?--Where is my ring?"
+
+Rosamond could not tell her of an act which now that it no longer had
+insanity for an excuse, puzzled her not a little. So she made some
+trivial excuse, which, however, did not deceive her auditor. But the
+latter deemed it wise to say no more just then, and silently followed
+her young friend into the dining-room. Dinner being over they went up
+to Rosamond's chamber, the closet of which contained the bridal robes.
+
+"_Two o'clock_," said Rosamond, consulting her watch, then bringing
+out the rich white satin and exquisite overskirt of lace, she
+continued, "I shall have just time to try this on, hear your story and
+get dressed before Mr. Browning comes. How short the day seems with
+you here! I told him I'd be sitting in that little box which you
+possibly noticed, built on the gate-post against the tree.--And he'll
+be so disappointed not to find me there, that maybe you won't mind my
+leaving you awhile when the sun is right over the woods."
+
+"Certainly not," answered Miss Porter, and the dressing-up process
+began, Rosamond chatting gayly all the while and asking if it were
+very foolish for her to try on the dress. "I should not do it," she
+said, "if you would stay. Can't you?"
+
+The answer was a decided negative, and adjusting her little slipper,
+Rosamond stood up while her companion put over her head the satin
+dress. It fitted admirably, and nothing could have been fairer than
+the round, chubby arms and plump, well-shaped shoulders which the
+_shortcomings_ of the dress showed to good advantage. Now the lace
+over-skirt--now the berthe--and then the veil, with the orange-wreath
+twined among the flowing curls, and Rosamond was dressed at last.
+
+"How do I look?" she asked, but Marie Porter made no immediate reply,
+and as she gazed upon the young girl, so beautiful, so innocent, and
+unsuspecting, who can tell of the keen anguish at her heart, or how
+she shrank from the bitter task which she must do, and quickly, too,
+for the clock pointed to _three_, and her plan was now to strike the
+_dove_ and then flee ere the _eagle_ came. She would thus wound him
+more deeply, for the very uncertainty would add fresh poison to his
+cup of agony.
+
+"How do I look?" Rosamond asked again, and after duly complimenting
+the dress, Miss Porter added, "I promised you my story, and if I tell
+it at all to-day, I must begin it now, for it is long, and I would
+finish it ere Mr. Browning comes."
+
+"Very well, I'm all attention," said Rosamond, and like a lamb before
+its slaughterer she knelt before the woman, bending low her graceful
+head to have the wreath removed.
+
+This done, Miss Porter said, "Have you any camphor handy, or
+hartshorn? I am sometimes faint and may want them."
+
+"Yes, both, here, in the bathing-room," said Rosamond, and she brought
+them to the lady, who placed them upon the table--not for herself, but
+for one who would need them more--for poor, poor Rosamond. The
+disrobing proceeded slowly, for the little girl was well pleased with
+the figure reflected by the mirror. But Miss Porter could not wait,
+and when the wreath, the veil, and berthe were removed, she seated
+herself by the window in a position which commanded a full view of her
+victim's face; and forcing down the throbbings of her heart, which it
+seemed to her were audible in that silent room, she commenced the
+story.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE STORY.
+
+
+"My home," began Miss Porter, "is, as you know, in Florida. I am an
+only child, as were both my parents, so that I have now living no
+nearer relative than a great-uncle--a superannuated clergyman, who
+superintends my affairs, and who, in case I die before he does, which
+is very probable, will be heir to my possessions.
+
+"It is now nearly ten years since my father started for Europe, and I
+went to an adjoining state to visit a widow lady, whom I had met in
+New Orleans the winter previous. It is not necessary that I should use
+real names, consequently I will call her Mrs. Le Vert. She was
+spending the summer on her plantation, at what she called her country-
+seat. It was a large, old-fashioned, wooden building, many miles from
+any neighbors, and here she lived alone--for her only son, a lad of
+twelve years of age, was at some northern school. At first I was very
+lonely, for the secluded life we led at Holly Grove was hardly in
+accordance with the taste of a young girl. Still, I did not mind it as
+much as some, for I cared but little for gentlemen's society, and had
+frequently declared that I should never marry.
+
+"Toward the last of July, Mrs. Le Vert's brother came to visit her. He
+was a handsome, boyish-looking youth, six months older than myself--
+just out of college--full of life and very fond of pretty girls,
+particularly if they chanced to be wealthy."
+
+"That's a little like Ben," said Rosamond, and Miss Porter continued:
+
+"From the first, Mrs. Le Vert seemed determined to make a match
+between us, for her brother was poor, and she fancied it would be a
+fine idea to have the Porter estate come into the Dunlap family. So
+she threw us constantly together--talked of me to him and of him to
+me, until I really began to believe I liked him. He, on the contrary,
+cared for nothing but my money. Still he deemed it advisable to assume
+a show of affection, and one night talked to me of love quite
+eloquently. I had been to a dinner party that day, and had worn all my
+diamonds. He had never seen them before, and they must have inflamed
+his avarice, for I afterward heard him tell his sister that he never
+should have proposed if I had not looked so beautiful that night.
+'_I was irresistible in my diamonds_,' he said."
+
+Miss Porter paused a moment to witness the effect of her last words,
+but Rosamond was looking over her shoulder at a _wrinkle_ she had just
+discovered in the waist, and did not heed them. Still she was
+listening, and she said, "Yes--go on. You were looking beautifully
+that night. Did you consent to marry him?"
+
+"Unhappily, I did," returned Miss Porter, "for I had made myself
+believe that I loved him. I wished that he was older, to be sure, but
+he said he would wait until he was of age. This plan, however, did not
+suit his ambitious sister. She knew I intended asking my father's
+approval, and from what she heard of him she feared he would never
+consent to my marrying a poor student, and she urged an immediate
+union. But I persisted in writing to my father, who answered
+immediately, forbidding me to think of young Dunlap, ordering me to go
+home, and saying he always intended me for John Castlewell, a neighbor
+of ours--a millionaire--a _booby_--a _fool_--whom I hated as I did
+poison.
+
+"Not long after the receipt of this letter I was surprised by the
+sudden appearance of Uncle Bertram, who had come at my father's
+request to take me home. This roused me at once. My father was a
+tyrant, I said, and I would let him know I could do as I pleased. In
+my excitement, I fancied I could not exist a moment without Richard
+Dunlap, while he declared that life would be a blank for him if passed
+away from me. At this opportune moment Mrs. Le Vert suggested that we
+be married immediately--that very night. Uncle Bertram fortunately was
+a clergyman, and could officiate as well as any other. In justice to
+Richard, I will say that he hesitated longer than I did--but he was
+persuaded at last, as was Uncle Bertram, and with no other witness
+than Mrs. Le Vert and a white woman who lived with her as half
+waiting-maid and half companion, we were married."
+
+Rosamond was interested now, and forgetting to remove her dress, she
+threw a crimson shawl around her shoulders, and sitting down upon the
+bed, exclaimed, "Married! You married! Why, then, are you called
+Porter?"
+
+"Listen and you shall know," returned the lady, a dark look settling
+down upon her face.
+
+"Scarcely was the ceremony over, when I began to regret it--not
+because I disliked Richard, but because I dreaded my father's
+displeasure, for he had a most savage, revengeful temper, and his
+daughter possesses the same." This was bitterly spoken, and she
+continued--"Hardly an hour after we were married, a negro brought a
+letter to Richard from an eccentric old man for whom he had been
+named. In it the old man said he had made his namesake his heir,
+provided he did not marry until he was _twenty-five_.
+
+"'I know just how _frillickin'_ you are,' he wrote, 'and I know, too,
+how unsuitable and how unhappy most early marriages are--so my boy, if
+you want Sunnyside, wait till you are twenty-five before you take an
+extra rib. I hate to be bothered with letters, and if you don't answer
+this, I shall conclude that you accept my terms.'"
+
+"Mrs. Le Vert at once suggested that, as the old gentleman had already
+had two fits of apoplexy, and would undoubtedly soon have the third,
+our marriage should for a time be kept a secret.
+
+"But he didn't consent," cried Rosamond.
+
+"Yes, he did," answered Miss Porter, "and though I, too, said it would
+be best, I began to distrust him from that moment--to think that he
+preferred money to myself. Uncle Bertram promised secrecy and went
+back alone, and then commenced a life of wretchedness, which makes me
+shudder even to recall it. With the exception of my own servant, who
+dared not tell if I bade her be silent, the blacks knew nothing of our
+marriage, and though we lived together as man and wife, so skillfully
+did Mrs. Le Vert and Esther, her white domestic, manage the matter,
+that for a time our secret was safely kept. A few of the negroes
+discovered it ere I left, but as they always lived in that out-of-the-
+way place, it never followed me, and to this day no human being in
+Florida, save Uncle Bertram knows of the marriage.
+
+"I am very impulsive, and the excitement being over, my affection
+began to cool. Richard could have kept it alive had he tried, but he
+did not. On the contrary he was much alone, and when with me was
+always tormenting me with conscientious scruples about deceiving 'the
+old man.'"
+
+"Oh, I like him for that," cried Rosamond, "I like him for that. Why
+didn't you let him tell?"
+
+"Because," returned Miss Porter, "I had fears that father would
+disinherit _me_, and if Richard lost Sunnyside we should be poor
+indeed."
+
+A shadow passed over Rosamond's face, and she said involuntarily, "I
+could be happy with Mr. Browning if we _were_ poor."
+
+Marie started and answered quickly, "What has _Mr. Browning_ to do
+with my story?"
+
+"Nothing, nothing," returned Rosamond, "only I was thinking that if
+you loved Richard as well as I do Mr. Browning, you would not have
+cared for money."
+
+"But I didn't," returned Marie. "I was mistaken. 'Twas a mere childish
+fancy. I never loved him. _I hate him now_."
+
+She spoke vehemently, and when Rosamond said mournfully. "Hate your
+husband!" she replied, "Yes, more than _hate_, or I had never come to
+tell you this; but listen--from indifference we came to coldness--from
+coldness to recrimination--from that to harsh words--from harsh words
+to quarrels--and from quarrels to _blows_!"
+
+She uttered the last word slowly, while Rosamond exclaimed, "Not
+_blows_, Miss Porter! No man would strike a woman. _I_ almost hate
+him, now."
+
+The proud lip curled scornfully--a gleam of satisfaction shot from the
+keen black eyes, and Marie went on. "He would say--nay does say _I_
+was the most to blame--that I aggravated him beyond human endurance--
+but he provoked me to it. Think of his swearing at me, Rosamond--
+calling me a _she-devil_ and all that. Think, too, of his telling me
+to my face that he was driven into the marriage wholly by his sister--
+that he regretted it more than I, and to crown all, think of his
+_boxing my ears!_--he, a poor, insignificant Northern _puppy_, boxing
+_me_--a Porter, and a Southern heiress!"
+
+She was terribly excited, and Rosamond, gazing at her face, distorted
+with malignant passion, began to fancy that the greater wrong might
+perhaps have lain with her.
+
+After a moment's pause, Marie began again. "When we had been three
+months man and wife, he wrote to the old man, confessing his marriage,
+and saying sundry things not wholly complimentary to his bride; but I
+intercepted it, read it, tore it up, and taunted him with it. I
+believe I called him a low-lived Yankee, or something like that, and
+then it was he struck me. The blow sunk deep into my soul. It was an
+insult, an unpardonable insult, and could not be forgiven. My Southern
+blood was all on fire, and had I been a man, he should have paid for
+that blow. I feel it yet; the smart has never for a moment left me,
+but burns upon my face just as hatred for him burns upon my heart!"
+
+"Oh, Miss Porter," cried Rosamond, as the former ground her teeth
+together, "don't look so terribly. You frighten me. He struck you, but
+he asked your pardon, sure?"
+
+"Yes, he pretended to, but I spat at him and bade him leave me
+forever. His sister tried to interfere, but she made the matter worse,
+and as my father was on the eve of embarking for America, I determined
+to go home, and when he came, tell him the whole and ask him to seek
+satisfaction from one who had dared to strike his daughter. Richard
+made a show of trying to keep me--said we had better live together,
+and all that, while his sister called us two silly children who needed
+whipping. But I did not heed it. I went home to Uncle Bertram and
+waited for my father, who never came. He died upon the sea, and I was
+heir of all his vast possessions. Then Richard made overtures for
+reconciliation, but I spurned them all. You've heard of _woman-
+haters,_ Rosamond--I am a _man-hater_. I loathe the whole sex, Uncle
+Bertram excepted. My marriage was of course a secret in Florida. My
+servant, who knew of it, died soon after my father, and as Uncle
+Bertram kept his own counsel, more than one sought my hand, but I
+turned my back upon them all.
+
+"Four or five years ago he wrote me a letter. He was then master of
+Sunnyside, for the old man left it to him after all. He was lonely
+there, he said, and he asked a reconciliation. Had he never struck me,
+I might have gone, for his letter was kindly enough, but the blow was
+a barrier between us, so I refused to listen, and exulted over the
+thought of his living there alone all his days, with the secret on his
+mind.
+
+"The sweetest morsel of all in the cup of revenge was, however, for a
+time withheld, but it came at last, Rosamond. It came at last. He
+loved a beautiful young girl, loved her all the more that he could not
+marry her."
+
+She drew nearer to Rosamond, who, though still unsuspecting, trembled
+from head to foot with an undefinable emotion of coming evil.
+
+"I saw her, Rosamond; saw this young girl with his name upon her lips
+when waking--saw her, too, with his name upon her lips when sleeping,
+and all this while she did not dream that I, the so-called Marie
+Porter, was his wife, the barrier which kept him from saying the words
+her little heart longed so to hear."
+
+There were livid spots on Rosamond's neck--livid spots upon her face,
+and still she did not move from her seat, though her clammy hand
+clutched nervously her bridal dress. A _horrid_ suspicion had flashed
+upon her, but with a mighty effort she threw it off as injustice to
+Mr. Browning, and mentally crying, "It cannot be," she faintly
+whispered, "Go on."
+
+"The summer I met her," said Miss Porter, I was at Cartersville, a
+little out-of-the-way place on a lake--"
+
+"You're telling me true?" interrupted Rosamond, joy thrilling in her
+tones.
+
+"Yes, true," returned Miss Porter.
+
+"Then bless you--bless you for those last words," rejoined Rosamond,
+burying her face in her companion's lap. "A terrible fear for a moment
+came over me, that it might be _I_. But it isn't. _I_ met you at the
+Springs. Oh, if it had been me, I should most surely die."
+
+"But _she_ did not--the young girl," resumed Miss Porter. "She had a
+brave, strong heart, and she bore up wondrously. She felt that he had
+cruelly deceived her, and that helped her to bear the blow. Besides,
+she was glad she knew of it in time, for, had he married her, she
+would not have been his wife, you know."
+
+Rosamond shuddered and replied, "I know, but my heart would have
+broken all the same. It aches so now for her. But go on, how did she
+find it out? Who could have strength to tell her?"
+
+There was a pause, and each could hear the beating of the other's
+heart. The November wind had risen within the last half hour, and now
+howled dismally past the window, seeming to Rosamond like the wail
+that young girl must have uttered when she first learned how her trust
+had been betrayed. _The clock struck four!_ Rosamond counted each
+stroke, and thought, "One hour more, and _he_ will be here." Marie
+counted each stroke, and thought, "One hour more, and I must be
+gone."
+
+"Rosamond," she began again, "what I now have to confess is an act of
+which I have repented bitterly, and never more than since I sat within
+this room. But it was not premeditated, and believe me, Rosamond, it
+was not done for any malice I bore to that young girl, for I pitied
+her so much--oh, so much," and her hand wandered caressingly over the
+bright hair lying on her lap.
+
+"We went out one afternoon--two ladies, a gentleman, and myself--in a
+small sail-boat upon the lake. _I_ planned the excursion and thought I
+should enjoy it, but we had not been out long when my old affection of
+the heart began to trouble me. I grew faint, and begged of them to put
+me on the land. They complied with my request, and set me down upon a
+point higher up than that from which we had embarked, and near to a
+dilapidated cabin where lived a weird old hag, who earned a scanty
+livelihood by fortune-telling. I told her I was sick, and sat down by
+her door where I could watch the movements of the party. Suddenly a
+terrific thunderstorm arose, the wind blew a hurricane, and though the
+boat rode the billows bravely for a time, it capsized at length, and
+its precious freight disappeared beneath the foaming waves. For a
+moment horror chilled my blood; then, swift as the lightning which
+leaped from the cloud overhanging the graves of my late companions, a
+maddening thought flashed upon my mind."
+
+"But the girl--hasten to that part," said Rosamond, lifting up her
+head, while Miss Porter went back to her chair.
+
+"I shall come to her soon enough," returned Miss Porter, continuing
+her story. "No living being, save the old woman at my side, knew of my
+escape, and I could bribe her easily. Fortunately I carried the most
+of my money about my person, and I said to her, 'There are reasons
+why, for a time at least, I wish to be considered dead. Here are
+twenty dollars now, and the same shall be paid you every month that
+you are silent. No human creature must know that I am living.' I saw
+by the kindling of her eye at the sight of the gold that I was safe,
+and when the night shadows were falling I stole from her cabin, and
+taking a circuitous route to avoid observation, I reached the midway
+station in time for the evening train.
+
+"Three days later in a distant city I read of the sad catastrophe--
+read that all had been found but one, a Miss Porter, from Florida, and
+as I read I thought '_he_ will see that, too.' He did see it. Before
+going to Carterville I sent to Sunnyside a girl who was under peculiar
+obligations to me, and one whom I could trust. She secured the place.
+She was employed at last about the person of that young girl, _who had
+lived at Sunnyside since she was a child, a friendless orphan_."
+
+There was a quick, gasping moan as if the soul were parting from the
+body, and Rosamond fell upon her face, which the pillows concealed
+from view, while Miss Porter hurriedly proceeded:
+
+"There is but little more to tell. I wrote to the girl who took her
+own letters from the office. I told her all, and from her heard that
+the bridal day was fixed. The obstacle was removed--not
+_insanity_, but a _living wife_. Need I say more?"
+
+She paused, but from the bed where the crushed, motionless figure lay,
+there came no sound, and she said again, "Speak, Rosamond. Curse me,
+if you will, for saving you from an unlawful marriage."
+
+Still there was no sound, save the low sighing of the wind, which
+seemed to have taken a fresh note of sadness as if bewailing the
+unutterable desolation of the young girl, who lay so still and
+lifeless that Marie Porter's heart quickened with fear, and drawing
+near, she touched the little hand resting on the pillow. It was cold--
+rigid--as was also the face which she turned to the light.
+
+"_It is death!_" she cried, and a wild shriek rang through the house,
+bringing at once the servants, headed by Mrs. Peters.
+
+"_What is it?_" cried the latter, as she saw the helpless figure and
+beautiful upturned face.
+
+"_It's death, madam--death_, and it's coming on me, too,"
+answered Miss Porter, clasping her hands over her heart, which
+throbbed as it never had done before, and which at last prostrated her
+upon the lounge.
+
+But no one heeded her, save the girl Maria. The rest gave their
+attention to Rosamond, who lay so long in the death-like stupor that
+others than Miss Porter believed her dead.
+
+_The clock struck five!_ and echoing from the Granby hills the engine-
+whistle came. Then a slight tremor ran through her frame, and Mrs.
+Peters whispered joyfully, "There's life--there's hope."
+
+Along the highway the returning traveler came with rapid tread, but
+'neath the sycamore no Rosamond was waiting.
+
+"She is hiding from me," he said, but his search for her was vain, and
+he rapidly hastened on.
+
+All about the house was still. There was no Rosamond at the door--nor
+in the hall--nor in the parlor--nor on the stairs; but from her
+chamber came the buzz of voices, and he entered unannounced, recoiling
+backward when he saw the face upon the pillow, and knew that it was
+Rosamond's. Every particle of color had left it; there were dark
+circles beneath the eyes, and a look about the mouth as if the
+concentrated agony of years had fallen suddenly upon her.
+
+"What is it?" he asked, and at the sound of his voice, the brown eyes
+he had been wont to call so beautiful unclosed, but their sunny
+brightness was all gone, and he shuddered at their dim, meaningless
+expression.
+
+She seemed to know him, and stretching her arm toward him as a child
+does toward its mother when danger threatens, she laid her head upon
+his bosom with a piteous wail--the only really audible sound she had
+yet uttered.
+
+"Rosamond, darling--what has come upon you?" he said, "and why are you
+in your bridal dress?"
+
+At that word she started, and moving away from him, moaned sadly, "It
+was cruel--oh, so cruel to deceive me, when I loved and trusted him so
+much."
+
+"Won't somebody tell me what this means?" he demanded, and Mrs. Peters
+replied, "We do not know. There's been a strange woman here, and she
+was with Rosamond when it happened."
+
+"Woman? What woman? And where is she now?" he asked, and Mrs. Peters
+replied, "She was faint--dying, she said, and Maria took her into
+another chamber."
+
+Mechanically he started for that chamber--hearing nothing--seeing
+nothing--thinking nothing for the nameless terror which had fallen
+upon him. He did not suspect the real truth. He merely had a vague
+presentiment that some one who knew nothing of the drowning had come
+there to save his Rosamond from what they supposed to be an unlawful
+marriage, and when at last he stood face to face with his living wife,
+when he knew the grave had given up its dead, he dropped to the floor
+as drops the giant oak when felled by the lightning's power!
+
+Marie Porter, even had she been cruelly wronged, was avenged--fully,
+amply avenged, and covering her face with her hands, she moaned, "I
+have killed them both, and there's nothing left for me now but to
+die!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE END
+
+
+Over the horrid awakening which came to the wretched man, we need not
+linger; neither is it necessary to dwell upon the first few days of
+mystery and dread, when death seemed brooding over Riverside, and
+rumor was busy with surmises and suspicions concerning the stranger,
+and the relation, if any, which she bore to Rosamond Leyton. We will
+rather hasten on to the morning when to Mr. Browning the joyful
+tidings came that Rosamond was better--so much better, indeed, that he
+could see and talk with her if he chose.
+
+Only once since the fearful night when he found her moaning in her
+bridal dress, had he stood by her bedside--for, though he longed to be
+there, he could not endure to see her turn away from him, whispering
+as she did so, "It was cruel--oh, so cruel to deceive me so." Neither
+had he been near Marie Porter, consequently he knew nothing of the
+means by which she had imposed upon him the story of her death. But
+Rosamond knew--Rosamond could tell him, and from no other lips would
+he hear it. So, when he learned that she was better, he asked to see
+her alone, and Mrs. Peters, to whom he had necessarily confided the
+story of his marriage, carried his message to Rosamond.
+
+For a moment Rosamond did not seem to hear, but when the message was
+repeated, the great tears forced themselves from beneath her long
+eyelashes, and rolling down her cheeks, dropped upon the pillow.
+
+"He might have spared me this," she said," but if it is his wish, I
+can see him."
+
+With a mighty effort she stilled the violent throbbings of her heart,
+forced an unnatural calm upon her face and whispered--"Let him come
+now; I am ready."
+
+He was standing without the door, so near that he heard the words, and
+in a moment he was at her side. Falling upon his knees before her, he
+clasped her hands in his, imploring her forgiveness for the great
+wrong he had done her in not telling her the truth at first. "But I am
+innocent of the last," he said; "believe me, Rosamond, I thought her
+dead, or I had never asked you to be my wife. I know not how she
+deceived me so terribly, but you know, and I have sought this
+interview to hear the story from your own lips. Will you tell it to
+me, darling--Miss Leyton, I mean," he added hastily, as he saw a
+shadow of pain flit over her face.
+
+"I will if I can," she faintly answered, and summoning all her
+strength, she repeated to him what Miss Porter had told her, except,
+indeed, the parts with which she knew he was familiar.
+
+"The plot was worthy of her who planned it," he said bitterly; then,
+as Rosamond made no reply, he continued--"she told you, I suppose, of
+our married life, and painted me the blackest villain that ever trod
+the earth. This may in part be true, but, Rosamond, though I may never
+know the bliss of calling you my wife, I cannot be thus degraded in
+your sight and offer no apology. I was a boy--a self-willed, high-
+tempered boy, nineteen years of age, and she aggravated me beyond all
+human endurance, seeking ways and means by which she could provoke me.
+I loved her at first--nay, do not turn away incredulously. Heaven is
+my witness that I loved her, or thought I did, but 'twas a boyish
+love, and not such as I feel for you,"
+
+"You swore at her," said Rosamond, unable to reconcile love with an
+oath.
+
+"Once--only once," he replied. "I blush to own it, for it was not a
+manly act."
+
+"You struck her," and for the first time since he had been in that
+room the brown eyes rested full upon his face.
+
+"Yes, Rosamond," he answered; "I own that, too, but she goaded me to
+madness, and even raised her voice against my sainted mother, who had
+borne so dastardly a son as _I_!"
+
+"And Riverside?" said Rosamond. "Did your uncle die deceived?"
+
+"Never--never," Mr. Browning exclaimed, starting to his feet. "I told
+the whole truth, or I would not have lived here a day. Rosamond, I
+have greatly sinned, but she has not been blameless. She insulted me
+in every possible way, even to giving _you_ her _wedding ring_, and
+then, lest I should not see it, wrote to me 'to look upon your
+finger.' No wonder you thought me mad!"
+
+"Her _wedding ring_! Could she do that?" said Rosamond.
+
+"Yes, her wedding ring. It first belonged to Susan, who gave it to me
+for the occasion, and two weeks after I had it marked with Marie's
+name and the date of our marriage. It is broken now, and I would to
+Heaven I could thus easily break the tie which binds me to her, and
+keeps me from you! Oh, Rosamond, Rosamond, must it be? Must I live my
+life without you, when I need you so much--when my heart longs so to
+claim you for its own?"
+
+He covered his face with his hands, and Rosamond could see the tears
+dropping slowly through his fingers. Terribly was he expiating the sin
+of his boyhood, and what wonder is it, if, in his agony, he cried, "My
+punishment is greater than I can bear!"
+
+Rosamond alone was calm. She seemed to have wept her tears away, and
+the blow which had fallen so crushingly upon her, had benumbed her
+heart, so that she now did not feel as acutely as the weeping man
+before her. Very soothingly she spoke to him, but she offered no word
+of cheer--no hope that all would yet be well. "They would bear it with
+brave hearts," she said, "and he must be reconciled to his wife."
+
+"Never--never," he exclaimed. "The same roof cannot shelter us both,
+and if she chooses to stay when she is better, she is welcome to
+Riverside, but I cannot share it with her."
+
+Neither said to the other, "It may be she will die," for such a
+thought had never intruded itself upon their minds, and yet Marie
+Porter's life was numbered now by days. The heart disease, from which
+she had long been suffering, was greatly aggravated by the strong
+nervous excitement through which she had recently been passing.
+Stimulants of a most powerful kind had created a kind of artificial
+strength, which had enabled her to come to Riverside, but this was
+fast subsiding; and when she bent over the motionless form of
+Rosamond, and feared that she was dead, she felt, indeed, that death
+would ere long claim her as his own. The sight of her husband, too,
+had well nigh been more than she could bear. For nearly nine long
+years she had not looked upon his face, but she remembered it well--a
+handsome, boyish face. His hair, she remembered, too--his soft, dark,
+wavy hair, through which her fingers had sometimes strayed, in the far
+back days at Holly Wood, before she was his bride. He would not be
+greatly changed, she thought; and when, on that fatal night, she heard
+his coming footsteps, she pictured him in her mind much as he was that
+winter-day, when, standing in his sister's door, he bade her a long
+good-by. Nearer and nearer he had come--faster and louder had beaten
+her heart, while a cold, faint sickness crept over her.
+
+"Open the window--I cannot breathe," she gasped; but ere her request
+was obeyed, Ralph Browning had fainted on the threshold, and she had
+asked that she might die.
+
+She had seen him only for an instant, but that sufficed to tell her he
+was changed from the dark-haired, handsome boy, into the gray-haired
+suffering man. His eyes had met hers, but the fierce hatred she
+expected, was not there; and the look of utter hopeless despair which
+she saw in its place, touched her as reproach and resentment could not
+have done.
+
+"Oh, I hope I shall die," she said, as she hid her face in the pillow.
+"I hope I shall die."
+
+This wish she uttered every hour; and when, at last, the physician
+said to her, "Madam, you _will_ die," she answered, "It is well!"
+
+She did not ask for Mr. Browning, for she knew he would not come, but
+she inquired anxiously each day for Rosamond; and when, at last, she
+heard they were together, she laid her hand upon her heart, and
+watching its rise and fall, smiled to think how fast her life was
+going out.
+
+"Listen, Maria," she said, "Listen to what they say, and hear if they
+talk of me."
+
+Noiselessly Maria glided to the door of Rosamond's chamber--stood
+there for a moment and then as noiselessly came back repeating to her
+mistress the substance of what she had heard, together with sundry
+little embellishments of her own.
+
+"He will give you Riverside and go away himself," she said, and Miss
+Porter quickly rejoined, "Go where? Go with whom?"
+
+"With Miss Leyton of course," returned Maria. "He said he would not
+live without her."
+
+"The wretch!" ejaculated the angry woman, all her softer emotions
+giving way to this fancied insult. "He might at least wait now until
+I'm dead. I'll go to him myself, and see if in my presence he dare
+talk thus to her."
+
+She was greatly excited, and in spite of the painful throbbings of her
+heart and the dizzy sensation she felt stealing over her, she stepped
+upon the floor, and hurriedly crossed the room. The effort was too
+much for her feeble strength, and she sank fainting upon a chair. The
+girl Maria had seen her faint before, but never before had she seen so
+fearful a look upon her face, and she ran in terror to Mr. Browning,
+beseeching him to come "for her mistress was dying sure, and would
+trouble nobody much more."
+
+For a moment he hesitated, but when Rosamond said, "Go," he went.
+Taking the fainting woman in his arms he laid her upon the bed as
+gently, though not as tenderly as he would have laid his Rosamond
+there.
+
+"Call Mrs. Peters," he said, and when that matron came, he bade her
+give to the invalid every possible care.
+
+Slowly Miss Porter came back to life, but it was only to faint again,
+and with each fainting fit it became more and more apparent that life
+was ebbing fast. They did not say to Rosamond that she would die, but
+they told it to Mr. Browning, who heard as one who hears not. Every
+other sensation seemed to have given place to a feeling of horror, and
+when at the close of the second day word came to him that she _was
+dying_, and had asked to see him, he arose mechanically and walked to
+her sick room as calmly as he had visited it the previous night, when
+he knew she was asleep. One glance, however, at her white face and
+wild bright eyes roused him to the reality, and bending over her
+pillow, he forced himself to take her hand in his, saying kindly,
+"Marie, do you know me?"
+
+"Know you? Yes," she answered. "You are my husband--my husband." She
+lingered upon that name as if its sound recalled to life some olden
+feeling--some memory of Holly Wood, where they first had met.
+
+"Marie, you are dying," he continued. "Shall we part in anger, or in
+peace?"
+
+"In peace, if you will," she answered. "I have had my revenge--but it
+is _not_ sweet as some say it is. I would rather, Ralph, that I had
+never known you, for then I should not have been the wicked wretch I
+am."
+
+Mr. Browning did not reply to this, and for a few moments there was
+silence, during which she seemed to sleep. Rousing up ere long, she
+gasped for breath, and grasping nervously her husband's hand, she
+whispered, "I am going now--there's no sham this time--five minutes
+more, and you are free to marry Rosamond. Be kind to her, Ralph. Deal
+with her not as you dealt with me, and--and--come closer to me, Ralph.
+Let me whisper this last so as no one can hear."
+
+He bent him down to listen, and summoning all her strength, she said,
+not in a whisper, but in tones which echoed through the silent room--
+"NEVER, NEVER STRIKE ROSAMOND, WILL YOU?"
+
+.................................................
+
+Rapidly the story circulated that the strange woman who lay dead at
+Riverside had been Ralph Browning's wife, and hundreds flocked to the
+funeral, hoping to gain a view of the deceased. But in this they were
+disappointed, for there was nothing visible, save the handsome coffin,
+on whose silver plate was inscribed the word "MARIE."
+
+Some said that "Browning" might have been added to the name, and while
+others marvelled that the husband wore no badge of mourning, a few
+said wisely that the _mourning_ was visible in other than the usual
+signs--in the hair gray before its time, and in the deep-cut lines
+which a _living_ sorrow alone had made. And so, amid surmises of the
+past and foretellings of the future, the ill-fated Marie was laid in
+the village vault, until word could be received from her old uncle,
+who might wish to have her rest among the balmy groves and fragrant
+flowers of her beautiful Florida home.
+
+And now our story winds to its close. Ralph Browning was free indeed,
+but death had been at Riverside, and the shadow it had left must
+disappear ere he took to himself a second bride. Rosamond, too, must
+recover from the blow which had fallen so crushingly on her--must
+learn to confide again in the man she loved--to think of the great
+wrong he had done her as the result of an early, boyish error, which
+he regretted even more bitterly than herself.
+
+And so the warm spring rains had fallen and the April blossoms were
+bursting from the dark, moist earth ere the wedding morning came. At
+the bridal there was no satin dress--no orange wreath--no flowing
+veil--but there was perfect love shining in the beautiful brown eyes
+of the girlish bride, while the fine face of the bridegroom wore a
+look of perfect happiness, as if the past were all forgotten, and the
+world was bright and new. Europe was still their destination, and
+among those who accompanied them to New York, going with them even to
+the vessel's deck, none bade them a more affectionate adieu than Mrs.
+Van Vechten herself. She had spent a part of the winter at Riverside,
+and had learned to appreciate the gentle girl who she knew was to be
+her brother's wife.
+
+Ben, too, was of the party. He had listened in amazement to the story
+of his uncle's first marriage, wondering how it could have been kept
+from him, and remembering several little incidents, the meaning of
+which he now understood. He had given up the Crimean war, as well as
+the dancing girl, and now he had given up Rosamond, too, but he bore
+it quite heroically, and ever after took especial pains to speak of
+her as "My Aunt Rosamond." For more than a year the bridal pair
+remained abroad, and then returned again to Riverside, where now the
+patter of tiny feet, and the voice of childhood is heard, for children
+have gathered around the hearthstone, and in all the world there is
+not a prouder, happier wife and mother than the little Rosamond who
+once on a dreary November day listened, with a breaking heart, to the
+story of Ralph Browning's Youthful Error.
+
+
+
+
+DIAMONDS.
+
+
+"The boys mustn't look at the girls, and the girls must look on their
+books," was said at least a dozen times by the village school-master,
+on that stormy morning when Cora Blanchard and I--she in her brother's
+boots, and I in my father's socks--waded through drift after drift of
+snow to the old brown school-house at the foot of the long, steep
+hill.
+
+We were the only girls who had dared to brave that wintry storm, and
+we felt amply repaid for our trouble, when we saw how much attention
+we received from the ten tall boys who had come--some for fun--some
+because they saw Cora Blanchard go by--and one, Walter Beaumont,
+because he did not wish to lose the lesson of the day. Our teacher,
+Mr. Grannis, was fitting him for college, and every moment was
+precious to the white-browed, intellectual student, who was quite a
+lion among us girls, partly because he was older, and partly because
+he never noticed us as much as did the other boys. On this occasion,
+however, he was quite attentive to Cora, at least, pulling off her
+boots, removing her hood, and brushing the large snow-flakes from her
+soft wavy hair, while her dark brown eyes smiled gratefully upon him,
+as he gave her his warm seat by the stove.
+
+That morning Cora wrote to me slyly on her slate: "I don't care if
+mother _does_ say Walter Beaumont is _poor_ as _poverty_--I like him
+best of anybody in the world--don't you?"
+
+I thought of the big red apple in my pocket, and of the boy who had so
+carefully shaken the snow from off my father's socks, and answered,
+"No"--thinking, the while, that I should say _yes_, if Walter had ever
+treated me as he did my playmate and friend Cora Blanchard. She was a
+beautiful young girl, a favorite with all, and possessing, as it
+seemed, but one glaring fault--a proneness to estimate people for
+their wealth rather than their worth. This in a measure was the result
+of her home-training, for her family, though far from being rich, were
+very aristocratic, and strove to keep their children as much as
+possible from associating with the "vulgar herd," as they styled the
+laboring class of the community. In her secret heart Cora had long
+cherished a preference for Walter, though never, until the morning of
+which I write, had it been so openly avowed. And Walter, too, while
+knowing how far above him she was in point of position, had dared to
+dream of a time when a bright-haired woman, with a face much like that
+of the girlish Cora, would gladden his home, wherever it might be.
+
+That noon, as we sat around the glowing stove, we played as children
+will, and it came my turn to "answer truly whom I intended to marry."
+Without a thought of the big apple, the snowy socks, or of any one in
+particular, I replied unhesitatingly--"The one I love best," and the
+question passed on to Cora, who was sitting by the side of Walter
+Beaumont. He had not joined in our sport, but now his eye left his
+book and rested upon Cora with an expression half fearful, half
+expectant. She, too, glanced at him, and as if the spirit of prophecy
+were upon her, she said--"I shall not marry the one I love the best,
+but the one who has the most money, and can give me the handsomest
+_diamonds_. Sister Fanny has a magnificent set, and she looks so
+beautifully when she wears them."
+
+Instantly there fell a shadow on Walter Beaumont's face, and his eye
+returned again to the Latin lettered page. But his thoughts were not
+of what was written there; he was thinking of the humble cottage on
+the borders of the wood, of the rag-carpet on the oaken floor, of the
+plain old-fashioned furniture, and of the gentle, loving woman who
+called him "her boy," and that spot her home. There were no _diamonds_
+there--no money--and Cora, if for these she married, would never be
+his wife. Early and late he toiled and studied, wearing his threadbare
+coat and coarse brown pants--for an education, such as he must have,
+admitted of no useless expenditure, and the costly gems which Cora
+craved were not his to give. In the pure, unselfish love springing up
+for her within his heart, there were diamonds of imperishable value,
+and these, together with the name he would make for himself, he would
+offer her, but nothing more, and for many weeks there was a shadow on
+his brow, though he was kind and considerate to her as of old.
+
+As the spring and summer glided by, however, there came a change, and
+when, in the autumn, he left our village for New Haven, there was a
+happy, joyous look upon his face, while a tress of Cora's silken hair
+was lying next his heart. Every week he wrote to her, and Cora
+answered, always showing to me what she had written, but never a word
+of his. "There was too much love," she said, "too much good advice in
+his letters for me to see," and thus the time passed on, until Walter,
+who had entered the junior class, was graduated with honor, and was
+about to commence a theological course at Andover, for he had made the
+ministry his choice. He was twenty-one now, and Cora was sixteen.
+Wondrously beautiful was she to look upon, with her fair young face,
+her soft brown eyes, and wavy hair. And Walter Beaumont loved her
+devotedly, believing too, that she in turn loved him, for one summer
+afternoon, in the green old woods which skirted the little village,
+she had sat by his side, and with the sunbeams glancing down upon her
+through the overhanging boughs, she had, told him so, and promised
+some day to be his wife. Still, she would not hear of a positive
+engagement--both should be free to change their mind if they wished,
+she said, and with this Walter was satisfied.
+
+"I have no _diamonds_ to give you, darling," he said, drawing her
+close to him; and Cora, knowing to what he referred, answered that
+"_his_ love was dearer to her than all the world besides." Alas, that
+woman should be so fickle!
+
+The same train which carried Walter away, brought Mrs. Blanehard a
+letter from her daughter, a dashing, fashionable woman, who lived in
+the city, and who wished to bring her sister Cora "out" the coming
+winter. "She is old enough, now," she wrote, "to be looking for a
+husband, and of course she'll never do anything in that by-place."
+
+This proposition, which accorded exactly with Mrs. Blanchard's wishes,
+was joyfully acceded to by Cora, who, while anticipating the pleasure
+which awaited her, had yet no thought of proving false to Walter, and
+in the letter which she wrote informing him of her plan, she ensured
+him of her unchanging fidelity, little dreaming that the promise thus
+made would so soon be broken! Petted, caressed, flattered and admired,
+as she was in the circle of her sister's friends, how could she help
+growing worldly and vain, or avoid contrasting the plain, unassuming
+Walter, with the polished and gayly-dressed butterflies who thronged
+Mrs. Burton's drawing-room. When the summer came again, she did not
+return to us as we had expected, but we heard of her at Saratoga, and
+Newport, the admired of all admirers; while one, it was said, a man of
+high position and untold wealth, bid fair to win the beauteous belle.
+Meantime, her letters to Walter grew short and far between, ceasing at
+length altogether; and one day, during the second winter of her
+residence in the city, I received from her a package containing his
+miniature, the books he had given her, and the letters he had written.
+These she wished me to give him when next I saw him, bidding me tell
+him to think no more of one who was not worthy of him.
+
+"To be plain, Lottie," she wrote, "I'm engaged, and though Mr.
+Douglass is not a bit like Walter, he has a great deal of money,
+drives splendid horses, and I reckon we shall get on well enough. I
+wish, though, he was not quite so old. You'll be shocked to hear that
+he is almost _fifty_, though he looks about _forty!_ I know I don't
+like him as well as I did Walter, but after seeing as much of the
+world as I have, I could not settle down into the wife of a poor
+minister. I am not good enough, and you must tell him so. I hope he
+won't feel badly--poor Walter. I've kept the lock of his hair. I
+couldn't part with that, but, of course, Mr. Douglass will never see
+it. _His_ hair is gray! Good-by."
+
+This was what she wrote, and when I heard from her again, she was Cora
+Douglass, and her feet were treading the shores of the old world,
+whither she had gone on a bridal tour.
+
+In the solitude of his chamber, the young student learned the sad news
+from a paragraph in a city paper, and bowing his head upon the table,
+he strove to articulate, "It is well," but the flesh was weak, warring
+with the spirit, and the heart which Cora Blanchard had cruelly
+trampled down, clung to her still with a death-like fondness, and
+followed her even across the waste of waters, cried out--"How can I
+give her up!" But when he remembered, as he ere long did, that 'twas a
+sin to love her now, he buried his face in his hands, and, calling on
+God to help him in this his hour of need, wept such tears as never
+again would fall for Cora Blanchard.
+
+The roses in our garden were faded, and the leaves of autumn were
+piled upon the ground, ere he came to his home again, and I had an
+opportunity of presenting him with the package which many months
+before had been committed to my care. His face was very pale, and his
+voice trembled as he asked me--"Where is she now?"
+
+"In Italy," I answered, adding that "her husband was said to be very
+wealthy."
+
+Bowing mechanically, he walked away, and a year and a half went by ere
+I saw him again. Then he came among us as our minister. The old,
+white-haired pastor, who for so long had told us of the Good Shepherd
+and the better land, was sleeping at last in the quiet graveyard, and
+the people had chosen young Walter Beaumont to fill his place. He was
+a splendid-looking man--tall, erect, and finely formed, with a most
+winning manner, and a face which betokened intellect of the highest
+order. We were proud of him, all of us--proud of our clergyman, who,
+on the third Sabbath in June, was to be ordained in the old brick
+church, before whose altar he had years ago been baptized, a smiling
+infant.
+
+On the Thursday afternoon preceding the ordination, a large traveling
+carriage, covered with dust and laden with trunks, passed slowly
+through our village, attracting much attention. Seated within it was a
+portly, gray-haired man, resting his chin upon a gold-headed cane, and
+looking curiously out at the people in the street, who stared as
+curiously at him. Directly opposite him, and languidly reclining upon
+the soft cushions, was a white, proud-faced lady, who evidently felt
+no interest in what was passing around her, for her eyes were cast
+down, and her thought seemed busy elsewhere. I was sitting at my
+chamber window, gazing out upon them, and just as they drew near the
+gate, the lady raised her eyes--the soft, brown eyes, which once had
+won the love of Walter Beaumont, and in which there was now an
+unmistakable look of anguish, as if the long eyelashes, drooping so
+wearily upon the colorless cheek, were constantly forcing back the
+hidden tears. And this was Cora Douglass, come back to us again from
+her travels in a foreign land. She knew me in a moment, and in her
+face there was much of her olden look as, bending forward, she smiled
+a greeting, and waved toward me her white, jeweled hand, on which the
+_diamonds_ flashed brightly in the sunlight.
+
+The next morning we met, but not in the presence of the old man, her
+husband. Down in the leafy woods, about a quarter of a mile from Mrs.
+Beaumont's cottage, was a running brook and a mossy bank, overshadowed
+by the sycamore and elm. This, in the days gone by, had been our
+favorite resort. Here had we built our play-house, washing our bits of
+broken china in the rippling stream--here had we watched the little
+fishes as they darted in and out of the deeper eddies--here had we
+conned our daily tasks--here had she listened to a tale of love, the
+memory of which seemed but a mocking dream, and here, as I faintly
+hoped, I found her. With a half-joyful, half-moaning cry, she threw
+her arms around my neck, and I could feel her tears dropping upon my
+face as she whispered, "Oh, Lottie, Lottie, we have met again by the
+dear old brook."
+
+For a few moments she sobbed as if her heart would break, then
+suddenly drying her tears, she assumed a calm, cold, dignified manner,
+such as I had never seen in Cora Blanchard. Very composedly she
+questioned me of what I had done during her absence, telling me, too,
+of her travels, of the people she had seen and the places she had
+visited, but never a word said she of him she called her husband. From
+the bank where we sat, the village grave-yard was discernible, with
+its marble gleaming through the trees, and at last, as her eye
+wandered in that direction, she said, "Have any of our villagers died?
+Mother's letters were never very definite."
+
+"Yes," I answered, "Our minister, Mr. Sumner, died two months ago."
+
+"Who takes his place?" she asked; and, as if a suspicion of the truth
+were flashing upon her, her eyes turned toward me with an eager,
+startled glance.
+
+"Walter Beaumont. He is to be ordained next Sabbath, and you are just
+in time," I replied, regretting my words the next instant, for never
+saw I so fearful a look of anguish as that which swept over her face,
+and was succeeded by a cold, hard, defiant expression, scarcely less
+painful to witness.
+
+She would have questioned me of him, I think, had not an approaching
+footstep caught our ear, sending a crimson flush to Cora's hitherto
+marble cheek, and producing on me a most unpleasant sensation, for I
+knew that the gray-haired man now within a few paces of us, was he who
+called that young creature _his wife._ _Golden_ was the chain by which
+he had bound her, and every link was set with diamonds and costly
+stones, but it had rusted and eaten to her very heart's core, for the
+most precious gem of all was missing from that chain--love for her
+husband, who, fortunately for his own peace of mind, was too conceited
+to dream how little she cared for him. He was not handsome, and still
+many would have called him a fine-looking, middle-aged man, though
+there was something disagreeable in his thin, compressed lips and
+intensely black eyes--the one betokening a violent temper, and the
+other an indomitable will. To me he was exceedingly polite--rather too
+much so for my perfect ease, while toward Cora he tried to be very
+affectionate.
+
+Seating himself at her side, and throwing his arm around her, he
+called her a "little truant," and "why she had run away from him."
+
+Half pettishly she answered, "Because i like sometimes to be alone,"
+then, rising up and turning toward me she asked if "the water still
+ran over the, old mill dam in the west woods just as it used to do,"
+Saying if it did, she wished to see it. "You can't go," she continued,
+addressing her husband, "for it is more than a mile, over fences and
+plowed fields."
+
+This was sufficient, for Mr. Douglass was very fastidious in all
+matters pertaining to his dress, and had no fancy for soiling his
+white pants, or patent leathers. So Cora and I set off together, while
+he walked slowly back to the village. Scarcely was he out of sight,
+however, when, seating herself beneath a tree, and throwing herself
+flat upon the ground, Cora announced her intention of not going any
+further.
+
+"I only wished to be alone. I _breathe_ so much better," she said, and
+when I looked inquiringly at her, she continued, "Never marry a man
+for his wealth, Lottie, unless you wish to become as hard, as wicked
+and unhappy as I am. John Douglass is worth more than half a million,
+and yet I would give it all if I were the same little girl who, six
+years ago, waded with you through the snow-drifts to school on that
+stormy day. Do you remember what we played that noon and my foolish
+remark that I would marry for _money_ and _diamonds!_ Woe is me, I've
+won them both!" and her tears fell fast on the sparkling gems which
+covered her slender fingers.
+
+Just then I saw in the distance a young man whom I knew to be Walter
+Beaumont. He seemed to be approaching us, and when Cora became aware
+of that, she started up and grasping my arm, hurried away, saying, as
+she cast backward a fearful glance, "I would rather die than meet him
+now. I am not prepared."
+
+For the remainder of the way we walked on in silence, until we reached
+her mother's gate, where we found her husband waiting for her. Bidding
+me good morning she followed him slowly up the graveled walk and I saw
+her no more until the following Sabbath. It was a gloriously beautiful
+morning, and at an early hour the old brick church was filled to
+overflowing, for Walter had many friends, and they came together
+gladly to see him made a minister of God. During the first part of the
+service he was very pale, and his eye wandered often toward the large,
+square pew where sat a portly man and a beautiful young woman, richly
+attired in satin and jewels. It had cost her a struggle to be there,
+but she felt that she must look again on one whom she had loved so
+much and so deeply wronged. So she came, and the sight of him standing
+there in his early manhood, his soft brown hair clustering about his
+brow, and his calm, pale face wearing an expression almost angelic,
+was more than she could bear, and leaning forward she kept her
+countenance concealed from view until the ceremony was ended, and
+Walter's clear, musical voice announced the closing hymn. Then she
+raised her head, and her face, seen through the folds of her costly
+veil, looked haggard and ghastly, as if a fierce storm of passion had
+swept over her. By the door she paused, and when the newly-ordained
+clergyman passed out, she offered him her hand, the hand which, when
+he held it last, was pledged to him, There were _diamonds_ on it now--
+diamonds of value rare, but their brightness was hateful to that
+wretched woman, for she knew at what a fearful price they had been
+bought.
+
+They did not meet again, and only once more did Walter see her; then,
+from our door, he looked out upon her as with her husband she dashed
+by on horseback, her long cloth skirt almost sweeping the ground, and
+the plumes of her velvet cap waving in the air.
+
+"Mrs. Douglass is a fine rider," was all Walter said, and the tone of
+his voice indicated that she was becoming to him an object of
+indifference. Desperately had he fought with his affection for her,
+winning the victory at last, and now the love he once had felt for her
+was slowly and surely dying out, The next week, tiring of our dull
+village life, Cora left us, going to Nahant, where she spent most of
+the summer, and when in the winter we heard from her again, she was a
+widow--the sole heir of her husband who had died suddenly, and
+generously left her that for which she married him--his money,
+
+"Will Walter Beaumont marry Cora now?" I had asked myself many a time,
+without, however, arriving at any definite conclusion, when a little
+more than a year succeeding Mr. Douglass's death, she wrote, begging
+me to come to her, as she was very lonely, and the presence of an old
+friend would do her good. I complied with her request, and within a
+few days was an inmate of her luxurious home, where everything
+indicated the wealth of its possessor. And Cora, though robed in
+deepest black, was more like herself, more like the Cora of other
+days, than I had seen her before since her marriage. Of her husband
+she spoke freely and always with respect, saying he had been kinder
+far to her than she had deserved. Of Walter, too, she talked,
+appearing much gratified when I told her how he was loved and
+appreciated by his people.
+
+One morning when we sat together in her little sewing room, she said,
+"I have done what you perhaps, will consider a very unwomanly act. I
+have written to Walter Beaumont. Look," and she placed in my hand a
+letter, which she bade me read. It was a wild, strange thing, telling
+him of the anguish she had endured, of the tears she had shed, of the
+love which through all she had cherished for him, and begging him to
+forgive her if possible, and be to her again what he had been years
+ago. She was not worthy of him, she said, but he could make her
+better, and in language the most touching, she besought of him not to
+cast her off, or despise her because she had stepped so far aside from
+womanly delicacy as to write to him this letter. "I will not insult
+you," she wrote in conclusion, "by telling you of the _money_ for
+which I sold myself, but it is mine now, lawfully mine, and most
+gladly would I share it with you."
+
+"You will not send him this?" I said. "You cannot be in earnest?"
+
+But she was determined, and lest her resolution should give way, she
+rang the bell, ordering the servant who appeared to take it at once to
+the office. He obeyed, and during the day she was unusually gay,
+singing snatches of old songs, and playing several lively airs upon
+her piano, which for months had stood unopened and untouched. That
+evening, as the sun went down, and the full moon rose over the city,
+she asked me to walk with her, and we, ere long, found ourselves
+several streets distant from that in which she lived. Groups of people
+were entering a church near by, and from a remark which we overheard,
+we learned that there was to be a wedding.
+
+"Let us go in," she said, "it may be some one I know," and entering
+together, we took our seats just in front of the altar.
+
+Scarcely were we seated when a rustling of satin announced the
+approach of the bridal party, and in a moment they appeared moving
+slowly up the aisle. My first attention was directed toward the bride,
+a beautiful young creature, with a fair sweet face, and curls of
+golden hair falling over her white, uncovered neck.
+
+"Isn't she lovely?" I whispered; but Cora did not hear me.
+
+With her hands locked tightly together, her lips firmly compressed,
+and her cheeks of an ashen hue, she was gazing fixedly at the
+bridegroom, on whom I, too, now looked, starting quickly, for it was
+our minister, Walter Beaumont! The words were few which made them one,
+Walter and the young girl at his side, and when the ceremony was over,
+Cora arose, and leaning heavily upon my arm, went out into the open
+air, and on through street after street, until her home was reached.
+Then, without a word, we parted--I going to my room, while she,
+through the live-long night, paced up and down the long parlors where
+no eye could witness the working of the mighty sorrow which had come
+upon her.
+
+The next morning she was calm, but very, very pale, saying not a word
+of last night's adventure. Neither did she speak of it for several
+days, and then she said, rather abruptly, "I would give all I possess
+if I had never sent that letter. The mortification is harder to bear
+even than Walter's loss. But he will not tell of it, I'm sure. He is
+too good--too noble," and tears, the first she had shed since that
+night, rained through her thin, white fingers. It came at last--a
+letter bearing Walter's superscription, and with trembling hands she
+opened it, finding, as she had expected, his wedding card, while on a
+tiny sheet was written, "God pity you, Cora, even as I do.--WALTER."
+
+"Walter! Walter!" she whispered, and her quivering lips touched once
+the loved name which she was never heard to breathe again.
+
+Prom that day Cora Douglass faded, and when the autumnal days were
+come, and the distant hills were bathed in the hazy October light, she
+died. But not in the noisy city, for she had asked to be taken home,
+and in the pleasant room where we had often sat together, she bade me
+her last good-by. They buried her on the Sabbath, and Walter's voice
+was sad and low as with Cora's coffin at his feet he preached from the
+words, "I am the Resurrection and the Life." His young wife, too, wept
+over the early dead, who had well nigh been her rival, and whose
+beautiful lace wore a calm, peaceful smile, as if she were at rest.
+
+There was a will, they said; and in it Walter was generously
+remembered, while to his wife was given an ivory box, containing
+Cora's _diamonds_--necklace, bracelets, pin and ear-rings--all were
+there; and Walter, as he looked upon them, drew nearer to him his
+fair girl-wife, who but for these, might not, perchance, have been to
+him what she was--his dearest earthly treasure.
+
+
+
+
+BAD SPELLING
+
+
+The last notes of the bell which duly summoned to their task the
+pupils of Madame Duvant's fashionable seminary had ceased, and in the
+school-room, recently so silent, was heard the low hum of voices,
+interspersed occasionally with a suppressed titter from some girl more
+mischievous than her companions. Very complacently Madame Duvant
+looked over the group of young faces, mentally estimating the probable
+gain she should receive from each, for this was the first day of the
+term, then with a few low-spoken words to the row of careworn, pale-
+faced teachers, she smoothed down the folds of her heavy gray satin
+and left the room, just as a handsome traveling-carriage stopped
+before the door.
+
+The new arrival proved to be a fashionably-dressed woman, who, with an
+air of extreme hauteur, swept into the parlor, followed by two young
+girls, one apparently sixteen and the other fourteen years of age. The
+younger and, as some would call her, the plainer looking of the two,
+was unmistakably a "poor relation," for her face bore the meek,
+patient look of a dependent, while the proud black eyes and scornfully
+curved lip of the other, marked her as the daughter of the lady, who,
+after glancing about the room and satisfying herself that the chairs,
+tables, and so forth, were _refined_, gave her name as "Mrs.
+Greenleaf, wife of the Hon. Mr. Greenleaf, of Herkimer county, N.Y."
+
+"I have come," said she, apparently speaking to Madame Duvant, but
+looking straight at the window, "I've come to place my daughter
+Arabella under your charge, and if she is pleased with your
+discipline, she will finish her education here--graduate--though I
+care but little for that, except that it sounds well. She is our only
+child, and, of course, a thorough education in the lower English
+branches is not at all necessary. I wish her to be highly accomplished
+in French, Italian, music, drawing, painting, dancing, and, perhaps,
+learn something of the old poets, so as to be able to talk about them
+a little, if necessary, but as for the other branches, such as
+geography, history, arithmetic, grammar, and the like, she can learn
+them by herself, and it is not my wish that she should waste her time
+over any thing so common. These will do for Mildred," and she glanced
+toward the _poor relation_, whose eyes were bent upon the carpet.
+
+"She is the child of my husband's sister, and we have concluded to
+educate her for a teacher, so I wish, you to be very thorough with her
+in all those stupid things which Arabella is not to study."
+
+Madame Duvant bowed, and Mrs. Greenleaf continued, "Last term they
+were at Bloomington Seminary, and, if you'll believe it, the principal
+insisted upon putting Arabella into the spelling-class, just because
+she didn't chance to spell every word of her first composition
+correctly! I dare say it was more Mildred's fault than hers, for she
+acknowledged to me that 'twas one of Mildred's old pieces that she
+found and copied."
+
+An angry flash of Arabella's large black eyes, and a bright red spot
+on Mildred's cheek, were the only emotions manifested by the young
+girls, and Mrs. Greenfield proceeded: "Of course, I wouldn't submit to
+it--my daughter spelling _baker_, and all that nonsense, so I took her
+away at once. It was my wish that Mildred should remain, but husband,
+who is peculiar, wouldn't hear of it, and said she should go where
+Arabella did, so I've brought them both."
+
+After little further conversation, it was arranged that Miss Arabella
+should go through a course of merely fashionable accomplishments,
+Madame Duvant assuring her mother that neither spelling-book nor
+dictionary should in any way annoy her. Mildred, on the contrary, was
+to be thoroughly drilled in every thing necessary for a teacher to
+know, Mrs. Greenleaf hinting that the sooner her education was
+completed the better she would be pleased, for it cost a great deal to
+clothe, feed and school her. Madame Duvant promised to execute the
+wishes of her patron, who gathered up her flowing robes, and with a
+dozen or more kisses for her daughter, and a nod of her head for
+Mildred, stepped into her carriage and was driven rapidly away.
+
+Just across the spacious grounds of the Duvant Seminary, and divided
+from them by a wall which it seemed almost impossible to scale, stood
+a huge stone building, whose hacked walls, bare floors and dingy
+windows--from which were frequently suspended a cap, a pair of
+trousers, or a boy's leg--stamped it at once as "The College," the
+veriest pest in the world, as Madame Duvant called it, when, with all
+the vigilance both of herself and Argus-eyed teachers, she failed to
+keep her young ladies from making the acquaintance of the students,
+who winked at them in church, bowed to them in the streets, tied notes
+to stones and threw them over the ponderous wall, while the girls
+waved their handkerchiefs from their windows, and in various other
+ways eluded the watchfulness of their teachers. A great acquisition to
+the fun-loving members of the seminary was Arabella Greenleaf, and she
+had scarcely been there six weeks ere she was perfectly well
+acquainted with every student whom she considered at all worth
+knowing. But upon only one were her brightest glances and her most
+winsome smiles lavished, and that was George Clayton, a young man from
+South Carolina, who was said to be very wealthy. He was too honorable
+to join in the intrigues of his companions, and when at last he became
+attracted by the witching eyes and dashing manners of Arabella
+Greenleaf, he went boldly to Madame Duvant and asked permission to see
+the young lady in the parlor.
+
+His request was granted, and during the two years he remained at
+college, he continued occasionally to call upon Arabella, who, each
+time that he saw her, seemed more pleasing, for she was beautiful, and
+when she chose to be so was very courteous and agreeable. One evening
+when George called as usual and asked to see her, he waited a long
+time, and was about making up his mind to leave, when a fair, delicate
+looking girl, with deep blue eyes and auburn hair, entered the room,
+introducing herself as _Miss Graham_, the cousin of Arabella, who, she
+said, was indisposed and unable to come down.
+
+"She bade me say that she was very sorry not to see you," added
+Mildred, for she it was, blushing deeply as she met the eager,
+admiring eye of George Clayton.
+
+Gladly would he have detained her, but with a polite good evening, she
+left him in a perfect state of bewilderment. "Strange that I never
+observed her before, for I must have seen her often," he thought, as
+he slowly wended his way back to his rooms, "and stranger still that
+Arabella never told me she had a cousin here."
+
+The next time he met Arabella his first inquiry was for her cousin,
+and why she had never mentioned her. With a heightened color Arabella
+answered, "Oh, she's a little body, who never cares to be known--a
+perfect bookworm and man-hater."
+
+The words bookworm and man-hater produced upon George Clayton a far
+different effect from what Arabella had intended, and he often found
+himself thinking of the soft blue eyes of Mildred Graham. Unlike some
+men, there was nothing terrible to him in a bookish woman, and he
+might, perhaps, have sought another interview with Mildred, but for a
+circumstance which threw her entirely in the shade.
+
+The annual examination of Madame Duvant's seminary was drawing near.
+Arabella was to graduate, while both she and Mildred were competitors
+for a prize offered for the best composition. There was a look of
+wonder on Mildred's face, when she saw her cousin's name among the
+list, for composition was something in which Arabella did not excel.
+Greatly then did Mildred marvel when day after day she found her,
+pencil in hand, and apparently lost in thought, as she filled one
+sheet after another, until at last it was done.
+
+"Now, Milly," said Arabella, "You correct the spelling and copy it for
+me--that's a good girl."
+
+Mildred had acted in this capacity too often to refuse, and with a
+martyr's patience, she corrected and copied the manuscript, wondering
+the while from whence came the sudden inspiration which had so
+brightened Arabella's ideas. But if she had any suspicions of the
+truth, she kept them to herself, handing her own composition in with
+that of her cousin, and calmly waiting the result.
+
+The examination was over. Arabella, who knew exactly what questions
+would be put to her, had acquitted herself with great credit, and her
+proud lady mother, who was one of the numerous visitors, fanned
+herself complacently as she heard on all sides the praises of her
+daughter.
+
+And now nothing remained but the evening exhibition, at which music
+and the prize compositions formed the chief entertainment. At an early
+hour the large school-rooms were densely crowded. Among the first who
+came was George Clayton--securing a seat as near as possible to the
+stage, so that he should not lose a single word. He himself had
+graduated but two weeks previously, and was now about to make the tour
+of Europe together with his father, who was present. They were to sail
+the next night, and at nine o'clock this evening they were to leave
+for New York. During the examination Arabella had risen greatly in
+George's estimation, and if she had seemed beautiful to him then, she
+was tenfold more so now, when, with flowing curls and simple white
+muslin dress, she tripped gracefully across the stage, and seating
+herself at the piano, played and sang with exquisite skill the well-
+known song entitled, "No More, Never More."
+
+Then followed the reading of the compositions, Mildred being called
+upon first, in a clear and peculiarly sweet voice she read, chaining
+to perfect silence her audience, which, when she was done, greeted her
+with noisy cheers, whispering one to another that she was sure to win.
+Arabella, at her own request, was the last. With proud, flashing eyes
+and queenly air, she coolly surveyed the mass of heads before her,
+caught an admiring glance from George Clayton, and then, with a steady
+hand unrolled her manuscript and read. Her subject was "The Outward
+and the Inward Life," and no gray-haired sage ever handled it more
+skilfully than she. When she finished one universal burst of applause
+shook the building to its centre, while her name was on every lip as
+she triumphantly left the room. Just then a distant bell struck the
+hour of nine, and George Clayton arose to go. He was sure of
+Arabella's success, and in the hall below, whither she had gone to bid
+him adieu, he shook her hand warmly, telling her how happy it made him
+to see her thus victorious, and winning from her a promise to write to
+him when he should be over the sea.
+
+Half an hour later and the night express was bearing him far away.
+Half an hour later, and with flushed brow Arabella stood up and
+received the prize, which consisted of two elegantly bound volumes of
+Wordsworth and Coleridge.
+
+Forty minutes later, and from the seat by the door, a little bent,
+weird-looking woman arose, and making her way through the crowd,
+advanced until she stood upon the stage, then stretching her long,
+bony finger toward Arabella, who had returned, she said, "I am a lover
+of justice, and should I hold my peace, the very stones would cry out
+against me. Yonder young lady has no right to the prize, for the piece
+which she has palmed off as her own appeared in the _Woodland
+Gazette_, a paper published in an obscure New Hampshire village. How
+she came by it, she can, perhaps, explain, but I cannot."
+
+At the commencement of this strange speech, Arabella arose as if to
+defy the woman, who was thus blasting her good name, but at the
+mention of the _Woodland Gazette_ she fainted and was carried from the
+room. Madame Duvant now came forward and addressed a few low-spoken
+words to the woman, who answered aloud, "I have the best of reasons
+for what I have said. My son, who lives in New Hampshire, occasionally
+sends me the _Gazette_, and in one number, which came nearly a year
+ago, appeared this very article, taken originally from an old English
+paper."
+
+"Prove it! Produce the paper!" fiercely ejaculated Mrs. Greenleaf, as
+she left the room in quest of her daughter.
+
+"I can do so," answered the woman; "I never tore up a newspaper in my
+life, and if the audience will wait for the space of ten minutes, I
+can show them the very article"--saying which she glided noiselessly
+from the room.
+
+She was a strange, half-crazy old creature, of wonderful memory, who
+occupied a small cottage in the suburbs of the village, and many
+doubts were expressed as to the veracity of her statement. But these
+were soon put to flight by her reappearance. Infolding the dingy
+yellow paper, she read aloud to her astonished hearers the article
+which proved to have been taken from the "London Examiner". There was
+now no longer a shadow of doubt and the prize was withdrawn from the
+treacherous Arabella, and as Mildred's composition was pronounced the
+next in order, it was bestowed upon her.
+
+Mollified, indignant and almost frantic at this public disgrace,
+Arabella finally confessed to having stolen the piece from a paper
+sent her some months before by a former schoolmate. The next morning
+she left the village, heaping her pent-up wrath upon the head of her
+innocent cousin, who was destined in more ways than one to rival her.
+
+Three months had passed away since the night of the exhibition, and in
+a private parlor at a London hotel sat George Clayton, rather
+impatiently awaiting the return of his servant from the post-office.
+As yet he had received no letter from Arabella, for though she had
+written it had failed to reach him, and while he in the Old World was
+marvelling at her long delay, she in the New was wondering why he did
+not answer. The mortification which she had endured affected her
+deeply, bringing on at last a slow fever, which confined her to her
+bed, where for weeks she lay, carefully attended by Mildred, who once,
+when she complained of George's neglect, suggested the possibility of
+his not having received the letter. This was a new idea to Arabella,
+and as she was herself unable to write, she persuaded Mildred to do it
+for her, and strange to say, the two letters reached their destination
+at the same time.
+
+With eager haste George took them from his servant, who soon went out
+leaving him alone. The handwriting of both was not alike, and in some
+trepidation the young man broke the seal of the one bearing the more
+recent date. It was beautifully written, and mentally complimenting
+the fair writer, George opened the other, uttering an exclamation of
+surprise ere he had read a dozen lines. It was a sickly, sentimental
+affair, taken partly from an old letterwriter, and containing many
+highflown sentences concerning the "_pearling rill,_" the "_silverey
+starlite_" and the "_rozy morn_" which, being spelled as they were,
+presented a most formidable aspect to the fastidious young man.
+
+Although Arabella had taken much pains with her letter, at least one-
+fourth of the words were misspelt, and by the time George had finished
+reading, he entertained no other feeling toward the writer than one of
+disguest, to think that, with all her showy accomplishments, she had
+neglected what to him was the most important of all, for in nothing is
+the ignorance of a young lady more apparent than in a badly-spelled
+letter. It was a long time ere he answered it, and then the few lines
+which he wrote were so cold, so different from his first, that in a
+fit of anger Arabella tossed it into the fire, repenting the act the
+moment after, and, as if to make amends, writing in return a long
+letter, to which there came no response, and thus the correspondence
+ended.
+
+Eighteen months later, and again Madame Duvant's rooms were crowded to
+overflowing, but this time Arabella Greenleaf was not there, though
+George Clayton was, eagerly watching each word and movement of Mildred
+Graham, whose uncle had insisted upon her remaining at school until
+she, too, should graduate, and who now, justly, received the highest
+honors of her class. Very beautifully looked the young girl, and as
+she modestly received the compliments of her friends, George Clayton's
+was not the only admiring eye which rested upon her, for many now paid
+her homage.
+
+That night George asked to see her alone. His request was granted, and
+when next she parted from him it was as his betrothed. Immediately
+after George's return from Europe, he had heard the story of
+Arabella's perfidy, and if no other circumstances had interposed to
+wean him from her entirely, this alone would have done it, for he
+could not respect a woman who would thus meanly stoop to deception. He
+had lingered in G-- for the purpose of renewing his former
+acquaintance, with Mildred, the result of which we have seen.
+
+Mortified beyond measure, Arabella heard of her cousin's engagement,
+and when George came at last to claim his bride, she refused to see
+him, wilfully absenting herself from home that she should not witness
+the bridal, which took place one bright October morning, when the
+forest trees, as if in honor of the occasion, were dressed in their
+most gorgeous robes, and the birds were singing their farewell songs.
+
+New misfortunes, however, awaited poor Arabella, for scarcely was
+Mildred gone to her southern home when the red flag of the auctioneer
+waved from the windows of Mr. Greenleaf's luxurious house, which, with
+its costly furniture, was sold to the highest bidder, and the family
+were left dependent upon their own exertions for support. When the
+first shock was over, Mr. Greenleaf proposed that his daughter should
+teach, and thus bring into use her boasted accomplishments. For a time
+Arabella refused, but hearing at last of a situation which she thought
+might please her, she applied for it by letter. But alas, the mistake
+she made when she abandoned the spelling-book for the piano, again
+stood in the way, for no one would employ a teacher so lamentably
+ignorant of orthography. Nor is it at all probable she will ever rise
+higher than her present position--that of a _plain_ sewer--until she
+goes back to _first_ principles, and commences again the despised
+column beginning with "_baker!_"
+
+
+
+
+MAGGIE LEE
+
+
+The usually quiet little village of Ellerton was, one June morning,
+thrown into a state of great excitement by the news that the large
+stone building on the hill, which, for several years had been shut up,
+was at last to have an occupant, and that said occupant was no less a
+personage than its owner, Graham Thornton, who, at the early age of
+twenty-eight, had been chosen to fill the responsible office of judge
+of the county. Weary of city life, and knowing that a home in the
+country would not materially interfere with the discharge of his new
+duties, particularly as Ellerton was within half an hour's ride of the
+city, young Thornton had conceived the idea of fitting up the old
+stone house, bequeathed to him by his grandfather, in a style suited
+to his abundant means and luxurious taste. Accordingly, for several
+weeks, the people of Ellerton were kept in a constant state of
+anxiety, watching, wondering and guessing, especially Miss Olivia
+Macey, who kept a small store in the outskirts of the village, and
+whose fertile imagination supplied whatever her neighbors lacked in
+actual knowledge of the proceedings at "Greystone Hall," as Judge
+Thornton called his place of residence.
+
+At last, every thing was completed and the day appointed for the
+arrival of the Judge, who, disliking confusion, had never once been
+near his house, but, after a few general directions, had left the
+entire arrangement of the building and grounds to the management of
+one whom he knew to be a connoisseur in such matters. As was very
+natural, a great deal of curiosity was felt concerning the arrival of
+the distinguished stranger, and as his mother, a proud, stately woman,
+was to accompany him, Miss Olivia Macey, who boasted of having once
+been a schoolmate of the haughty lady, resolved upon meeting them at
+the depot, thinking she should thereby show them proper respect.
+
+"So, Maggie," said she to her niece, a dark-haired, white-browed girl
+of fifteen, who, at noon, came bounding in from school, "so Maggie,
+you must watch the store, for there's no knowing how long I shall be
+gone. Miss Thornton may ask me home with her, and it would not be
+polite to refuse."
+
+For an instant Maggie's dark brown eyes danced with mischief as she
+thought how improbable it was that the lofty Mrs. Thornton would seek
+to renew her acquaintance with one in Miss Macey's humble position,
+but the next moment they filled with tears, and she said, "Oh, aunt,
+_must_ I stay from school again? It is the third time within a week. I
+never shall know anything!"
+
+"Never mind, Mag," shouted little Ben, tossing his cap across the room
+and helping himself to the largest piece of pie upon the dinner-table.
+"Never mind. I'll stay with you, for I don't like to go to school any
+way. And we'll get our lessons at home."
+
+Maggie knew how useless it would be to argue the point, so with a
+dejected air she seated herself at the open window and silently
+watched her aunt until she disappeared in the distance--then taking up
+her book, she tired to study, but could not, for the heavy pain at her
+heart which kept whispering of injustice done to her, unconsciously,
+perhaps, by the only mother she had ever known. Very dear to Miss
+Macey were the orphan children of her only sister, and faithfully did
+she strive to fulfill her trust, but she could not conceal her
+partiality for fun-loving, curly-haired Ben, nor the fact that the
+sensitive and ambitious Maggie, who thirsted for knowledge, was wholly
+unappreciated and misunderstood. Learning--learning was what Maggie
+craved, and she sat there alone that bright June afternoon, holding
+upon her lap the head of her sleeping brother, and watching the summer
+shadows as they chased each other over the velvety grass in the meadow
+beyond, she wondered if it would ever be thus with her--would there
+never come a time when she could pursue her studies undisturbed, and
+then, as the thought that this day made her _fifteen_ years of age,
+her mind went forward to the future, and she said aloud--"Yes--three
+years from to-day and I shall be free--free as the air I breathe!"
+
+But why that start, sweet Maggie Lee? Why that involuntary shudder as
+you think of the long three years from now? She cannot tell, but the
+shadows deepen on her fair, girlish face, and leaning her brow upon
+her hand, she thinks long and earnestly of what the three years may
+bring. A footstep on the floor--the first which has fallen there that
+afternoon--and Maggie looks up to see before her a tall, fine-looking
+man, who, the moment his eye fell upon her, checked the _whistle_,
+intended for his dog, which was trembling on his lip, and lifting his
+hat deferentially, he asked if "this were Miss Macey's store?"
+
+"Yes, sir," answered Maggie, and laying Bennie gently down, she went
+round behind the counter, while the young man, gazing curiously at
+her, continued, "You surely are not Miss Macey?"
+
+There was a most comical expression in the brown eyes which met the
+black ones of the stranger, as Maggie answered, "No sir, I am nobody
+but Maggie Lee."
+
+There must have been something attractive either in the name or the
+little maiden who bore it, for long after the gentleman had received
+the articles for which he came, he lingered, asking the young girl
+numberless questions and playing with little Ben, who now wide awake,
+met his advances more than half way, and was on perfectly familiar
+terms both with the stranger and the dog Ponto, who had stretched his
+shaggy length before the door.
+
+"Mag cries, she does, when Aunt Livy makes her stay home from school,"
+said Ben, at last, beginning to feel neglected and wishing to attract
+attention.
+
+Showing his white, handsome teeth, the gentleman playfully smoothed
+the silken curls of little Ben, and turning to the blushing Maggie,
+asked "if she were fond of books?"
+
+"Oh, I love them so much," was the frank, impulsive answer, and ere
+ten minutes had passed away, Judge Thornton, for he it was, understood
+Maggie's character as well as if he had known her a lifetime.
+
+Books, poetry, music, paintings, flowers, she worshiped them all, and
+without the slightest means either of gratifying her taste.
+
+"I have in my library many choice books, to which you are welcome at
+any time when you will call at Greystone Hall," the stranger said at
+last.
+
+"Greystone Hall!" gasped Maggie, the little red spots coming out all
+over her neck and face--"Greystone Hall!--then you must be---"
+
+"Judge Thornton, and your friend hereafter," answered the gentleman,
+offering his hand and bidding her good-by.
+
+There are moments which leave their impress upon one's lifetime,
+changing instantaneously, as it were, our thoughts and feelings, and
+such an one had come to Maggie Lee, who was roused from a deep reverie
+by the shrill voice of her aunt, exclaiming, "Well, I've been on a
+Tom-fool's errand once in my life. Here I've waited in that hot depot
+over two trains, and heard at the last minute that Mrs. Thornton and
+her son came up last night, and I hain't seen them after all. It's too
+bad."
+
+Very quietly Maggie told of the judge's call, repeating all the
+particulars of the interview; then stealing away to her chamber, she
+thought again, wondering _where_ and _what_ she would be three years
+from that day.
+
+A year has passed away, and Graham Thornton, grown weary of his
+duties, has resigned the office of judge, and turned school-teacher,
+so the gossiping villagers say, and with some degree of truth, for
+regularly each day Maggie Lee and Ben go up to Greystone Hall, where
+they recite their lessons to its owner, though always in the presence
+of its lady mistress, who has taken a strange fancy to Maggie Lee, and
+whose white hand has more than once rested caressingly on the dark,
+glossy hair of the young girl. To a casual observer, the Maggie of
+_sixteen_ is little changed from the Maggie of _fifteen_ years; but to
+him, her teacher, she is not the same, for while in some respects she
+is more a woman and less a child, in everything pertaining to himself
+she is far more a child than when first he met her one short year ago.
+Then there was about her a certain self-reliance, which is now all
+gone, and he who has looked so often into the thoughts and feelings of
+that childish heart knows he can sway her at his will.
+
+"But 'tis only a girlish friendship she feels for him," he says; "only
+a brotherly interest he entertains for her;" and so day after day she
+comes to his library, and on a low stool, her accustomed seat at his
+side, she drinks in new inspirations with which to feed that girlish
+friendship, while he, gazing down into her soft, brown, dreamy eyes,
+feels more and more how necessary to his happiness is her daily
+presence there. And if sometimes the man of the world asks himself
+"where all this will end?" his conscience is quieted by the answer
+that Maggie Lee merely feels toward him as she would toward any person
+who had done her a like favor. So all through the bright summer days
+and through the hazy autumn time, Maggie dreams on, perfectly happy,
+though she knows not why, for never yet has a thought of _love_ for
+him entered her soul. She only knows that he to her is the dearest,
+best of friends, and Greystone Hall the loveliest spot on earth, but
+the wish that _she_ might ever be its mistress has never been
+conceived.
+
+With the coming of the holidays the lessons were suspended for a time,
+for there was to be company at the hall, and its master would need all
+his leisure.
+
+"I shall miss you so much," he said to Maggie, as he walked with her
+across the fields which led to her humble home. "I shall miss you, but
+the claims of society must be met, and these ladies have long talked
+of visiting us."
+
+"Are they young and handsome?" Maggie asked involuntarily.
+
+"Only one--Miss Helen Deane is accounted a beauty, She is an heiress,
+too, and the best match in all the city of L--," answered Mr.
+Thornton, more to himself than Maggie, who at the mention of Helen
+Deane felt a cold shadow folding itself around her heart.
+
+Alas, poor Maggie Lee. The world has long since selected the proud
+Helen as the future bride of Graham Thornton, who, as he walks slowly
+back across the snow-clad field, tramples upon the delicate footprints
+you have made, and wishes it were thus easy to blot out from his heart
+all memory of you! Poor, poor Maggie Lee, Helen Deane _is_ beautiful,
+far more beautiful than you, and when in her robes of purple velvet,
+with her locks of golden hair shading her soft eyes of blue, she flits
+like a sunbeam through the spacious rooms of Greystone Hall, waking
+their echoes with her voice of richest melody, what marvel if Graham
+Thornton does pay her homage, and reserves all thoughts of you for the
+midnight hour, when the hall is still and Helen's voice is no longer
+heard? He is but a man--a man, too, of the world, and so, though you,
+Maggie Lee, are very dear to him, he does not think it possible that
+he can raise you to his rank--make you the honored mistress of his
+home, and still lower himself not one iota from the station he has
+ever filled. And though his mother loves you, too, 'tis not with a
+mother's love, and should children ever climb her knee calling her son
+their sire, she would deem you a _governess_ befitting such as they,
+and nothing more. But all this Maggie does not know, and when the
+visiting is over and Helen Deane is gone, she goes back to her old
+place and sits again at the feet of Graham Thornton, never wondering
+why he seems so often lost in thought, or why he looks so oft into her
+eyes of brown, trying to read there that he has not wronged her.
+
+Another year has passed, and with the light of the full moon shining
+down upon him, Graham Thornton walks again with Maggie Lee across the
+fields where now the summer grass is growing. The foot-prints in last
+winter's snow have passed away just as the light will go out from
+Maggie's heart when Graham Thornton shall have told the tale he has
+come with her to tell. With quivering lips and bloodless cheek she
+listened while he told her indifferently, as if it were a piece of
+news she had probably heard before, that when the next full moon
+should shine on Greystone Hall, Helen Deane would be there--his bride!
+
+"This, of course, will effectually break up our pleasant meetings," he
+continued, looking everywhere save in Maggie's face. "And this I
+regret--but my books are still at your disposal. You will like Helen,
+I think, and will call on her of course."
+
+They had reached the little gate, and taking Maggie's hand, he would
+have detained her for a few more parting words, but she broke away,
+and in reply to his last question, hurriedly answered, "Yes, yes."
+
+The next moment he was alone--alone in the bright moonlight. The door
+was shut. There was a barrier between himself and Maggie Lee, a
+barrier his own hands had built, and never again, so long as he lived,
+would Graham Thornton's conscience be at rest. Amid all the pomp of
+his bridal day--at the hour when, resplendent with beauty, Helen stood
+by his side at the holy altar, and breathed the vows which made her
+his forever--amid the gay festivities which followed, and the noisy
+mirth which for days pervaded his home, there was ever a still, small
+voice which whispered to him of the great wrong he had done to Maggie
+Lee, who never again was seen at Greystone Hall.
+
+Much the elder Mrs. Thornton marveled at her absence, and once when
+her carriage was rolling past the door of the little store, she bade
+her coachman stop, while she herself went in to ask if her favorite
+were ill. Miss Olivia's early call at Greystone Hall had never been
+returned, and now she bowed coldly and treated her visitor with marked
+reserve, until she learned why she had come; then, indeed, her manner
+changed, but she could not tell her how, on the night when Graham
+Thornton had cruelly torn the veil from Maggie's heart, leaving it
+crushed and broken, she had found her long after midnight out in the
+tall, damp grass, where, in the wild abandonment of grief she had
+thrown herself; nor how, in a calmer moment she had told her sad
+story, exonerating him from wrong, and blaming only herself for not
+having learned sooner how much she loved one so far above her, so she
+simply answered, "Yes, she took a violent cold and has been sick for
+weeks. Her mother died of consumption; I am afraid Maggie will
+follow."
+
+"Poor girl, to die so young," sighed Mrs. Thornton, as she returned to
+her carriage and was driven back to Greystone Hall, where, in a recess
+of the window Graham sat, his arm around his wife, and his fingers
+playing with the curls of her golden hair.
+
+But the hand dropped nervously at his side when his mother startled
+him with the news that "Maggie Lee was dying." Very wonderingly the
+large blue eyes of Helen followed him, as, feigning sudden faintness,
+he fled out into the open air, which, laden though it was with the
+perfume of the summer flowers, had yet no power to quiet the voice
+within which told him that if Maggie died, he alone was guilty of her
+death. "But whatever I can do to atone for my error shall be done," he
+thought at last, and until the chill November wind had blasted the
+last bud, the choicest fruit and flowers which grew at Greystone Hall
+daily found entrance to the chamber of the sick girl, who would
+sometimes push them away, as if there still lingered among them the
+atmosphere they had breathed.
+
+"They remind me so much of the past that I cannot endure them in my
+presence," she said one day when her aunt brought her a beautiful
+bouquet, composed of her favorite flowers, and the hot tears rained
+over the white, wasted face, as she ordered them from the room.
+
+Much she questioned both her aunt and Bennie of her rival, whose
+beauty was the theme of the whole village, and once, when told that
+she was passing, she hastened to the window, but her cheek grew whiter
+still, and her hands clasped each other involuntarily as she saw by
+the side of the fair Helen the form of Graham Thornton. They both were
+looking toward her window, and as Helen met the burning gaze, she
+exclaimed, "Oh, Graham, it is terrible. It makes me faint," and
+shudderingly she drew nearer to her husband, who, to his dying hour,
+never forgot the wild, dark eyes which looked down so reproachfully
+upon him that memorable wintry day.
+
+Three years have passed away since the time when first we met with
+Maggie Lee--three years which seemed so long to her then, and which
+have brought her so much pain. She has watched the snow and ice as
+they melted from off the hill-side. She has seen the grass spring up
+by the open door--has heard the robin singing in the old oak tree--has
+felt the summer air upon her cheek. She, has reached her _eighteenth_
+birthday, and ere another sun shall rise will indeed be free.
+
+"Oh, I cannot see her die," cried poor little Ben, when he saw the
+pallor stealing over her face, and running out into the yard he threw
+himself upon the grass, sobbing bitterly, "My sister, oh, my sister."
+
+"Is she worse?" said the voice of Graham Thornton. He was passing in
+the street and had heard the wailing cry. Ben knew that in some way
+Judge Thornton was connected with his grief, but he answered
+respectfully. "She is dying. Oh, Maggie, Maggie. What shall I do
+without her?"
+
+"You shall live with _me_," answered Mr. Thornton.
+
+'Twas a sudden impulse, and thinking the assurance that her brother
+should be thus provided for would be a comfort to the dying girl, he
+glided noiselessly into the sick room. But she did not know him, and
+falling on his knees by her side, he wept like a little child. "She
+was sleeping," they said, at last, and lifting up his head he looked
+upon her as she slept, while a fear, undefined and terrible, crept
+over him, as she lay so still and motionless. At length rising to his
+feet, he bent him down so low that his lips touched hers, and then,
+without a word, he went out from her presence, for _he_ knew that
+Maggie Lee _was dead!_
+
+The next day, at sunset, they buried her in the valley where the mound
+could always be seen from the window of Graham Thornton's room, and,
+as with folded arms and aching heart he stood by, while they lowered
+the coffin to its resting-place, he felt glad that it was so. "It will
+make me a better man," he thought," for when evil passions rise, and I
+am tempted to do wrong, I have only to look across the fields toward
+the little grave which but for me would not have been made so soon,
+and I shall be strengthened to do what is right."
+
+Slowly and sadly he walked away, going back to his home, where, in a
+luxuriously furnished chamber, on a couch whose silken hangings swept
+the floor, lay his wife, and near her his infant daughter, that day
+four weeks of age. As yet she had no name, and when the night had
+closed upon them, and it was dark within the room, Graham Thornton
+drew his chair to the side of his wife, and in low, subdued tones,
+told her of the fair young girl that day buried from his sight. Helen
+was his wife, a gentle, faithful wife, and he could not tell her how
+much he had loved Maggie Lee, and that but for his foolish pride she
+would perhaps at that moment have been where Helen was, instead of
+sleeping in her early grave.--No, he could not tell her this, but he
+told her that Maggie had been very dear to him, and he feared it was
+for the love of him that she had died. "I wronged her. Nellie,
+darling," he said smoothing the golden tresses which lay on the
+pillow. "_I_ broke her heart, and now that she is gone I would honor
+her memory by calling our first-born daughter 'MAGGIE LEE.' 'Tis a
+beautiful name," he continued, "and you will not refuse my request."
+
+There was much of pride in Helen Thornton's nature, and she did
+refuse, for days and even weeks; but when she saw the shadows deepened
+on the brow of her husband, who would stand for hours looking out
+through the open window toward the valley where slept the village
+dead, and when the mother in pity for her son, joined also in the
+request, she yielded; and, as if the sacrifice were accepted and the
+atonement good, the first smile which ever dimpled the infant's cheek,
+played on its mouth, as with its large, strange, bright eyes fixed
+upon its father's face, it was baptized "Maggie Lee."
+
+Four years of sunshine and storm have fallen upon Maggie's grave,
+where now a costly marble stands, while the handsome iron fence and
+the well-kept ground within show that some hand of love is often busy
+there. In a distant city Ben is striving to overcome his old dislike
+for books, and seeking to make himself what he knows his sister would
+wish him to be. At home, the little store has been neatly fitted up,
+and Miss Olivia sits all day long in her pleasant parlor, feeling sure
+that the faithful clerk behind the counter will discharge his duties
+well. Greystone Hall is beautiful as ever, with its handsome rooms,
+its extensive grounds, its winding walks, its bubbling fountains and
+its wealth of flowers, but there is a shadow over all--a plague-spot
+which has eaten into the heart of Graham Thornton, and woven many a
+thread of silver among his raven locks. It has bent the stately form
+of his lady mother, and his once gay-hearted wife wanders with a
+strange unrest from room to room, watching over the uncertain
+footsteps of their only child, whose large, dark eyes, so much like
+those which, four long years ago flashed down on Helen their
+scrutinizing gaze, are darkened forever, _for little Maggie Lee is
+blind!_
+
+They are getting somewhat accustomed to it now--accustomed to calling
+her their "poor, blind bird," but the blow was crushing when first it
+came, and on the grave in the valley, Graham Thornton more than once
+laid his forehead in the dust, and cried, "My punishment is greater
+than I can bear,"
+
+But He "who doeth all things well," has in a measure healed the wound,
+throwing so much of sunshine and of joy around her, who never saw the
+glorious light of day, that with every morning's dawn and every
+evening's shade, the fond parents bless their little blind girl, the
+angel of their home.
+
+
+
+
+THE ANSWERED PRAYER
+
+
+All day long the canary bird' had sung unheeded in his gilded cage by
+the door, and the robin had caroled unheard by his nest in the tall
+maple tree, while the soft summer air and the golden rays of the warm
+June sun entered unnoticed the open windows of the richly furnished
+room, where a pale young mother kept her tireless watch by the bedside
+of her only child, a beautiful boy, three summers old. For many days
+he had hovered between life and death, while she, his mother, had hung
+over him with speechless agony, terrible to behold in one so young, so
+fair as she. He was her all, the only happiness she knew, for poor
+Lina Hastings was an unloving wife, who never yet had felt a thrill of
+joy at the sound of her husband's voice, and when occasionally his
+broad hand rested fondly upon her flowing curls, while he whispered in
+her ear how dear she was to him, his words awoke no answering chord of
+love.
+
+How came she then his wife--and the mistress of his princely home?
+Alas! _wealth_ was then the god which Lina Moore worshipped, and when
+Ralph Hastings, with his uncouth form and hundreds of thousands, asked
+her to be his wife, she stifled the better feelings of her nature
+which prompted her to tell him No, and with a gleam of pride in her
+dark blue eyes, and a deeper glow upon her cheek, she one day passed
+from the bright sunshine of heaven into the sombre gloom of the gray
+old church, whence she came forth Lina Hastings, shuddering even as
+she heard that name, and shrinking involuntarily from the caresses
+which the newly made husband bestowed upon her. And so the love she
+withheld from him was given the child who now lay motionless and white
+as the to the costly linen on which his golden curls were streaming.
+
+All day she had watched him, for they told her that if he lived until
+the sun setting, there was hope, and as the hours wore on and the long
+shadows stretching to the eastward, betokened the approach of night,
+oh, how intense became the anxiety in her bosom. Fainter and softer
+grew the sunlight on the floor, and whiter grew the face of the
+sleeping boy. 'Twas the shadow of death, they said, and with a bitter
+wail of woe, Lina fell upon her knees, and as if she would compel the
+God of heaven to hear her, she shrieked, "Spare my child. Let him
+live, and I will bear whatsoever else of evil thou shalt send upon me.
+Afflict me in any other way and I can bear it, but spare to me my
+child."
+
+In mercy or in wrath, Lina Hastings' prayer was answered. The pulse
+grew stronger beneath her touch--the breath came faster through the
+parted lips--a faint moisture was perceptible beneath the yellow
+curls, and when the sun was set the soft eyes of Eddie Hastings
+unclosed, and turned with a look of recognition upon his mother, who,
+clasping him in her arms, wept for joy, but returned no word or
+thought of gratitude toward Him who had been thus merciful to her.
+
+In a small brown cottage in a distant part of the same village,
+another mother was watching beside her first-born, only son. They had
+been friends in their girlhood, she and Lina Hastings. Together they
+had conned the same hard tasks--together they had built their
+playhouse beneath the same old chestnut tree--together, hand in hand
+they wandered over the rocky hills and through the shady woods of New
+England, and at the same altar had they plighted their marriage vows,
+the one to the man she loved, the other to the man she tolerated for
+the sake of his surroundings. From this point their paths diverged,
+Lina moving in the sphere to which her husband's wealth had raised
+her, while Mabel Parkman one sad morning awoke from her sweet dream of
+bliss to find herself wedded to a drunkard! Only they who like her
+have experienced a similar awakening can know the bitterness of that
+hour, and yet methinks she was happier than the haughty Lina, for her
+love was no idle passion, and through weal and woe she clung to her
+husband, living oft on the remembrance of what he had been, and the
+hope of what he might be again, and when her little Willie was first
+laid upon her bosom, and she felt her husband's tears upon her cheek
+as he promised to reform for her sake and for his son's, she would not
+have exchanged her lot with that of the proudest in the land. That
+vow, alas, was ere long broken, and then, though she wept bitterly
+over his fall, she felt that she was not desolate, for there was music
+in her Willie's voice and sunshine in his presence.
+
+But now he was dying, he was leaving her forever, and as she thought
+of the long dark days when she should look for him in vain, she
+staggered beneath the heavy blow, and in tones as heart-broken as
+those which had fallen from Lina Hasting's lips, she prayed "If it be
+possible let this cup pass from me," adding, "Not my will, oh God, but
+thine be done."
+
+"I will do all things well," seemed whispered in her ear, and thus
+comforted she nerved herself to meet the worst. All the day she
+watched by her child, chafing his little hands, smoothing his scanty
+pillow beneath his head, bathing his burning forehead, and forcing
+down her bitter tears when in his disturbed sleep he would beg of his
+father to "bring him an orange--a nice yellow orange--he was so dry."
+
+Alas, that father was where the song of the inebriate rose high on the
+summer air, and he heard not the pleadings of his son. 'Twas a dreary,
+desolate room where Willie Parkman lay, and when the sun went down and
+the night shadows fell, it seemed darker, drearier still. On the rude
+table by the window a candle dimly burned, but as the hours sped on it
+flickered awhile in its socket, then for an instant flashed up,
+illuminating the strangely beautiful face of the sleeping boy, and
+went out.
+
+An hour later, and Willie awoke. Feeling for his mother's hand, he
+said; "Tell me true, do drunkards go to heaven?"
+
+"There is for them no promise," was the wretched mother's answer.
+
+"Then I shall never see pa again. Tell him good-by, good-by forever."
+
+The next time he spoke it was to ask his mother to come near to him,
+that he might see her face once more. She did so, bending low and
+stifling her own great agony, lest it should add one pang to his dying
+hour.
+
+"I cannot see you," he whispered, "it is so dark--so dark."
+
+Oh, what would not that mother have given then for one of the lights
+which gleamed from the windows of the stately mansion where Eddie
+Hastings was watched by careful attendants. But it could not be and
+when at last the silvery moon-beams came struggling through the open
+window and fell upon the white brow of the little boy, they did not
+rouse him, for a far more glorious light had dawned upon his immortal
+vision--even the light of the Everlasting.
+
+ In her tasteful boudoir sat Lina Hastings, and at her side, on a
+silken lounge, lay Eddie, calmly sleeping, The crisis was past--she
+knew he would live, and her cup of happiness was full. Suddenly the
+morning stillness was broken by the sound of a tolling bell. 'Twas the
+same which, but for God's mercy, would at that moment, perhaps, have
+tolled for her boy, and Lina involuntarily shuddered as she listened
+to the strokes, which, at first were far between. Then they came
+faster, and as Lina counted _five_ she said aloud, "'Twas a child but
+two years older than Eddie."
+
+Later in the day it came to her that the bereaved one was her early
+friend, whom now she seldom met. Once Lina would have flown to Mabel's
+side, and poured into her ear words of comfort, but her heart had
+grown hard and selfish, and so she only said, "Poor Mabel, she never
+was as fortunate as I"--and her eye glanced proudly around the
+elegantly-furnished room, falling at last upon Eddie, whom she clasped
+to her bosom passionately, but without thought of Him who had decreed
+that not then should she be written childless.
+
+The humble funeral was over. The soft, green turf had been broken, and
+the bright June flowers had fallen beneath the old sexton's spade as
+he dug the little grave where Willie Parkman was laid to rest. In the
+drunkard's home there was again darkness and a silence which would
+never be broken by the prattle of a childish voice. Sobered,
+repentant, and heartbroken, the wretched father laid his head in the
+lap of his faithful wife, beseeching of her to pray that the vow that
+morning breathed by Willie's coffin and renewed by Willie's grave
+might be kept unbroken. And she did pray, poor Mabel. With her arms
+around the neck of the weeping man, she asked that this, her great
+bereavement, might be sanctified to the salvation of her erring
+husband.
+
+"I will do all things well," again seemed whispered in her ear and
+Mabel felt assured that Willie had not died in vain. 'Twas hard at
+first for Robert Parkman to break the chains which bound him, but the
+remembrance of Willie's touching message--"Tell pa good-by, good-by
+forever," would rush to his mind whenever he essayed to take the
+poisonous bowl, and thus was he saved, and when the first day of a new
+year was ushered in, he stood with Mabel at the altar, and on his
+upturned brow received the baptismal waters, while the man of God
+broke to him the bread of life. Much that night they missed their
+child, and Mabel's tears fell like rain upon the soft, chestnut curl
+she had severed from his head, but as she looked upon her husband, now
+strong again in his restored manhood, she murmured--"It was for this
+that Willie died, and I would not that it should be otherwise."
+
+Fifteen years have passed away since the day when Lina Hastings
+breathed that almost impious prayer--"Send upon me any evil but this,"
+and upon the deep blue waters of the Pacific a noble vessel lay
+becalmed, Fiercely the rays of a tropical sun poured down upon her
+hardy crew, but they heeded it not. With anxious, frightened faces and
+subdued step, they trod the deck, speaking in whispers of some dreaded
+event. There had been mutiny on board that mat-of-war-a deep-laid plot
+to murder the commanding officers, and now, at sun-setting, the
+instigators, four in number, were to pay the penalty of their crime.
+Three of them were old and hardened in sin, but the fourth, the
+fiercest spirit of all 'twas said, was young and beautiful to look
+upon. In the brown curls of his waving hair there were no threads of
+silver, and on his brow there were no lines save those of reckless
+dissipation, while his beardless cheek was round and smooth as that of
+a girl. Accustomed from his earliest childhood to rule, he could not
+brook restraint, and when it was put upon him, he had rebelled against
+it, stirring up strife, and leading on his comrades, who, used as they
+were to vice, marveled that one so young should be so deeply depraved.
+
+The sun was set. Darkness was upon the mighty deep, and the waves
+moved by the breeze which had sprung up, seemed to chant a mournful
+dirge for the boy, who, far below, lay sleeping in a dishonored grave,
+if grave it can be called, where
+
+"The purple mullet and gold fish rove, Where the sea flower spreads
+its leaves of blue Which never are wet with the falling dew, But in
+bright and changeful beauty shine Far down in the depths of the glassy
+brine."
+
+Over the surging billow and away to the north ward, other robins are
+singing in the old maple-tree than those which sang there years ago,
+when death seemed brooding o'er the place. Again the summer shadows
+fall aslant the bright green lawn, and the soft breezes laden with the
+perfume of a thousand flowers, kiss the faded brow of Lina Hastings,
+but they bring no gladness to her aching heart, for her thoughts are
+afar on the deep with the wayward boy who, spurning alike her words of
+love and censure, has gone from her "to return no more forever," he
+said, for he left her in bitter anger. For three years the tall grass
+has grown over the grave of her husband, who to the last was unloved,
+and now she is alone in her splendid home, watching at the dawn of day
+and watching at the hour of eve for the return of her son.
+
+Alas, alas, fond mother, Mabel Parkman in her hour of trial, never
+felt a throb of such bitter agony as that which wrung your heart-
+strings when first you heard the dreadful story of your disgrace.
+There were days and weeks of wild frenzy, during which she would
+shriek "Would to heaven he had died that night when he was young and
+innocent," and then she grew calm, sinking into a state of imbecility
+from which naught had the power to rouse her.
+
+A year or two more, and they made for her a grave by the side of her
+husband, and the hearts which in life were so divided, now rest
+quietly together, while on the costly marble above them there is
+inscribed the name of their son, who sleeps alone and unwept in the
+far-off Southern Seas.
+
+The End.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rosamond, by Mary J. Holmes
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROSAMOND ***
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