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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/881-h.zip b/881-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dd5f3a8 --- /dev/null +++ b/881-h.zip diff --git a/881-h/881-h.htm b/881-h/881-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..beea1fe --- /dev/null +++ b/881-h/881-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1566 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Lemorne Versus Huell, by Elizabeth Drew Stoddard + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +Project Gutenberg's Lemorne Versus Huell, by Elizabeth Drew Stoddard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lemorne Versus Huell + +Author: Elizabeth Drew Stoddard + +Release Date: July 27, 2008 [EBook #881] +Last Updated: February 6, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEMORNE VERSUS HUELL *** + + + + +Produced by John M. Krafft, and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + LEMORNE VERSUS HUELL + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Elizabeth Drew Stoddard + </h2> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h4> + Harper's New Monthly Magazine 26 (1863): 537-43. + </h4> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <p> + The two months I spent at Newport with Aunt Eliza Huell, who had been + ordered to the sea-side for the benefit of her health, were the months + that created all that is dramatic in my destiny. My aunt was troublesome, + for she was not only out of health, but in a lawsuit. She wrote to me, for + we lived apart, asking me to accompany her—not because she was fond + of me, or wished to give me pleasure, but because I was useful in various + ways. Mother insisted upon my accepting her invitation, not because she + loved her late husband's sister, but because she thought it wise to cotton + to her in every particular, for Aunt Eliza was rich, and we—two lone + women—were poor. + </p> + <p> + I gave my music-pupils a longer and earlier vacation than usual, took a + week to arrange my wardrobe—for I made my own dresses—and then + started for New York, with the five dollars which Aunt Eliza had sent for + my fare thither. I arrived at her house in Bond Street at 7 A.M., and + found her man James in conversation with the milkman. He informed me that + Miss Huell was very bad, and that the housekeeper was still in bed. I + supposed that Aunt Eliza was in bed also, but I had hardly entered the + house when I heard her bell ring as she only could ring it—with an + impatient jerk. + </p> + <p> + "She wants hot milk," said James, "and the man has just come." + </p> + <p> + I laid my bonnet down, and went to the kitchen. Saluting the cook, who was + an old acquaintance, and who told me that the "divil" had been in the + range that morning, I took a pan, into which I poured some milk, and held + it over the gaslight till it was hot; then I carried it up to Aunt Eliza. + </p> + <p> + "Here is your milk, Aunt Eliza. You have sent for me to help you, and I + begin with the earliest opportunity." + </p> + <p> + "I looked for you an hour ago. Ring the bell." + </p> + <p> + I rang it. + </p> + <p> + "Your mother is well, I suppose. She would have sent you, though, had she + been sick in bed." + </p> + <p> + "She has done so. She thinks better of my coming than I do." + </p> + <p> + The housekeeper, Mrs. Roll, came in, and Aunt Eliza politely requested her + to have breakfast for her niece as soon as possible. + </p> + <p> + "I do not go down of mornings yet," said Aunt Eliza, "but Mrs. Roll + presides. See that the coffee is good, Roll." + </p> + <p> + "It is good generally, Miss Huell." + </p> + <p> + "You see that Margaret brought me my milk." + </p> + <p> + "Ahem!" said Mrs. Roll, marching out. + </p> + <p> + At the beginning of each visit to Aunt Eliza I was in the habit of + dwelling on the contrast between her way of living and ours. We lived from + "hand to mouth." Every thing about her wore a hereditary air; for she + lived in my grandfather's house, and it was the same as in his day. If I + was at home when these contrasts occurred to me I should have felt angry; + as it was, I felt them as in a dream—the china, the silver, the old + furniture, and the excellent fare soothed me. + </p> + <p> + In the middle of the day Aunt Eliza came down stairs, and after she had + received a visit from her doctor, decided to go to Newport on Saturday. It + was Wednesday; and I could, if I chose, make any addition to my wardrobe. + I had none to make, I informed her. What were my dresses?—had I a + black silk? she asked. I had no black silk, and thought one would be + unnecessary for hot weather. + </p> + <p> + "Who ever heard of a girl of twenty-four having no black silk! You have + slimsy muslins, I dare say?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes." + </p> + <p> + "And you like them?" + </p> + <p> + "For present wear." + </p> + <p> + That afternoon she sent Mrs. Roll out, who returned with a splendid heavy + silk for me, which Aunt Eliza said should be made before Saturday, and it + was. I went to a fashionable dress-maker of her recommending, and on + Friday it came home, beautifully made and trimmed with real lace. + </p> + <p> + "Even the Pushers could find no fault with this," said Aunt Eliza, turning + over the sleeves and smoothing the lace. Somehow she smuggled into the + house a white straw-bonnet, with white roses; also a handsome mantilla. + She held the bonnet before me with a nod, and deposited it again in the + box, which made a part of the luggage for Newport. + </p> + <p> + On Sunday morning we arrived in Newport, and went to a quiet hotel in the + town. James was with us, but Mrs. Roll was left in Bond Street, in charge + of the household. Monday was spent in an endeavor to make an arrangement + regarding the hire of a coach and coachman. Several livery-stable keepers + were in attendance, but nothing was settled, till I suggested that Aunt + Eliza should send for her own carriage. James was sent back the next day, + and returned on Thursday with coach, horses, and William her coachman. + That matter being finished, and the trunks being unpacked, she decided to + take her first bath in the sea, expecting me to support her through the + trying ordeal of the surf. As we were returning from the beach we met a + carriage containing a number of persons with a family resemblance. + </p> + <p> + When Aunt Eliza saw them she angrily exclaimed, "Am I to see those + Uxbridges every day?" + </p> + <p> + Of the Uxbridges this much I knew—that the two brothers Uxbridge + were the lawyers of her opponents in the lawsuit which had existed three + or four years. I had never felt any interest in it, though I knew that it + was concerning a tract of ground in the city which had belonged to my + grandfather, and which had, since his day, become very valuable. + Litigation was a habit of the Huell family. So the sight of the Uxbridge + family did not agitate me as it did Aunt Eliza. + </p> + <p> + "The sly, methodical dogs! but I shall beat Lemorne yet!" + </p> + <p> + "How will you amuse yourself then, aunt?" + </p> + <p> + "I'll adopt some boys to inherit what I shall save from his clutches." + </p> + <p> + The bath fatigued her so she remained in her room for the rest of the day; + but she kept me busy with a hundred trifles. I wrote for her, computed + interest, studied out bills of fare, till four o'clock came, and with it a + fog. Nevertheless I must ride on the Avenue, and the carriage was ordered. + </p> + <p> + "Wear your silk, Margaret; it will just about last your visit through—the + fog will use it up." + </p> + <p> + "I am glad of it," I answered. + </p> + <p> + "You will ride every day. Wear the bonnet I bought for you also." + </p> + <p> + "Certainly; but won't that go quicker in the fog than the dress?" + </p> + <p> + "Maybe; but wear it." + </p> + <p> + I rode every day afterward, from four to six, in the black silk, the + mantilla, and the white straw. When Aunt Eliza went she was so on the + alert for the Uxbridge family carriage that she could have had little + enjoyment of the ride. Rocks never were a passion with her, she said, nor + promontories, chasms, or sand. She came to Newport to be washed with + salt-water; when she had washed up to the doctor's prescription she should + leave, as ignorant of the peculiar pleasures of Newport as when she + arrived. She had no fancy for its conglomerate societies, its literary + cottages, its parvenue suits of rooms, its saloon habits, and its bathing + herds. + </p> + <p> + I considered the rides a part of the contract of what was expected in my + two months' performance. I did not dream that I was enjoying them, any + more than I supposed myself to be enjoying a sea-bath while pulling Aunt + Eliza to and fro in the surf. Nothing in the life around me stirred me, + nothing in nature attracted me. I liked the fog; somehow it seemed to + emanate from me instead of rolling up from the ocean, and to represent me. + Whether I went alone or not, the coachman was ordered to drive a certain + round; after that I could extend the ride in whatever direction I pleased, + but I always said, "Anywhere, William." One afternoon, which happened to + be a bright one, I was riding on the road which led to the glen, when I + heard the screaming of a flock of geese which were waddling across the + path in front of the horses. I started, for I was asleep probably, and, + looking forward, saw the Uxbridge carriage, filled with ladies and + children, coming toward me; and by it rode a gentleman on horseback. His + horse was rearing among the hissing geese, but neither horse nor geese + appeared to engage him; his eyes were fixed upon me. The horse swerved so + near that its long mane almost brushed against me. By an irresistible + impulse I laid my ungloved hand upon it, but did not look at the rider. + Carriage and horseman passed on, and William resumed his pace. A vague + idea took possession of me that I had seen the horseman before on my + various drives. I had a vision of a man galloping on a black horse out of + the fog, and into it again. I was very sure, however, that I had never + seen him on so pleasant a day as this! William did not bring his horses to + time; it was after six when I went into Aunt Eliza's parlor, and found her + impatient for her tea and toast. She was crosser than the occasion + warranted; but I understood it when she gave me the outlines of a letter + she desired me to write to her lawyer in New York. Something had turned + up, he had written her; the Uxbridges believed that they had ferreted out + what would go against her. I told her that I had met the Uxbridge + carriage. + </p> + <p> + "One of them is in New York; how else could they be giving me trouble just + now?" + </p> + <p> + "There was a gentleman on horseback beside the carriage." + </p> + <p> + "Did he look mean and cunning?" + </p> + <p> + "He did not wear his legal beaver up, I think; but he rode a fine horse + and sat it well." + </p> + <p> + "A lawyer on horseback should, like the beggar of the adage, ride to the + devil." + </p> + <p> + "Your business now is the 'Lemorne?'" + </p> + <p> + "You know it is." + </p> + <p> + "I did not know but that you had found something besides to litigate." + </p> + <p> + "It must have been Edward Uxbridge that you saw. He is the brain of the + firm." + </p> + <p> + "You expect Mr. Van Horn?" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, he must come; I can not be writing letters." + </p> + <p> + We had been in Newport two weeks when Mr. Van Horn, Aunt Eliza's lawyer, + came. He said that he would see Mr. Edward Uxbridge. Between them they + might delay a term, which he thought would be best. "Would Miss Huell ever + be ready for a compromise?" he jestingly asked. + </p> + <p> + "Are you suspicious?" she inquired. + </p> + <p> + "No; but the Uxbridge chaps are clever." + </p> + <p> + He dined with us; and at four o'clock Aunt Eliza graciously asked him to + take a seat in the carriage with me, making some excuse for not going + herself. + </p> + <p> + "Hullo!" said Mr. Van Horn when we had reached the country road; "there's + Uxbridge now." And he waved his hand to him. + </p> + <p> + It was indeed the black horse and the same rider that I had met. He reined + up beside us, and shook hands with Mr. Van Horn. + </p> + <p> + "We are required to answer this new complaint?" said Mr. Van Horn. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Uxbridge nodded. + </p> + <p> + "And after that the judgment?" + </p> + <p> + Mr. Uxbridge laughed. + </p> + <p> + "I wish that certain gore of land had been sunk instead of being mapped in + 1835." + </p> + <p> + "The surveyor did his business well enough, I am sure." + </p> + <p> + They talked together in a low voice for a few minutes, and then Mr. Van + Horn leaned back in his seat again. "Allow me," he said, "to introduce + you, Uxbridge, to Miss Margaret Huell, Miss Huell's niece. Huell <i>vs.</i> + Brown, you know," he added, in an explanatory tone; for I was Huell <i>vs.</i> + Brown's daughter. "Oh!" said Mr. Uxbridge bowing, and looking at me + gravely. I looked at him also; he was a pale, stern-looking man, and forty + years old certainly. I derived the impression at once that he had a + domineering disposition, perhaps from the way in which he controlled his + horse. + </p> + <p> + "Nice beast that," said Mr. Van Horn. + </p> + <p> + "Yes," he answered, laying his hand on its mane, so that the action + brought immediately to my mind the recollection that I had done so too. I + would not meet his eye again, however. + </p> + <p> + "How long shall you remain, Uxbridge?" + </p> + <p> + "I don't know. You are not interested in the lawsuit, Miss Huell?" he + said, putting on his hat. + </p> + <p> + "Not in the least; nothing of mine is involved." + </p> + <p> + "We'll gain it for your portion yet, Miss Margaret," said Mr. Van Horn, + nodding to Mr. Uxbridge, and bidding William drive on. He returned the + next day, and we settled into the routine of hotel life. A few mornings + after, she sent me to a matinee, which was given by some of the Opera + people, who were in Newport strengthening the larynx with applications of + brine. When the concert was half over, and the audience were making the + usual hum and stir, I saw Mr. Uxbridge against a pillar, with his hands + incased in pearl-colored gloves, and holding a shiny hat. He turned half + away when he caught my eye, and then darted toward me. + </p> + <p> + "You have not been much more interested in the music than you are in the + lawsuit," he said, seating himself beside me. + </p> + <p> + "The <i>tutoyer</i> of the Italian voice is agreeable, however." + </p> + <p> + "It makes one dreamy." + </p> + <p> + "A child." + </p> + <p> + "Yes, a child; not a man nor a woman." + </p> + <p> + "I teach music. I can not dream over 'one, two, three.'" + </p> + <p> + "<i>You</i>—a music teacher!" + </p> + <p> + "For six years." + </p> + <p> + I was aware that he looked at me from head to foot, and I picked at the + lace on my invariable black silk; but what did it matter whether I owned + that I was a genteel pauper, representing my aunt's position for two + months, or not? + </p> + <p> + "Where?" + </p> + <p> + "In Waterbury." + </p> + <p> + "Waterbury differs from Newport." + </p> + <p> + "I suppose so." + </p> + <p> + "You suppose!" + </p> + <p> + A young gentleman sauntered by us, and Mr. Uxbridge called to him to look + up the Misses Uxbridge, his nieces, on the other side of the hall. + </p> + <p> + "Paterfamilias Uxbridge has left his brood in my charge," he said. "I try + to do my duty," and he held out a twisted pearl-colored glove, which he + had pulled off while talking. What white nervous fingers he had! I thought + they might pinch like steel. + </p> + <p> + "You suppose," he repeated. + </p> + <p> + "I do not look at Newport." + </p> + <p> + "Have you observed Waterbury?" + </p> + <p> + "I observe what is in my sphere." + </p> + <p> + "Oh!" + </p> + <p> + He was silent then. The second part of the concert began; but I could not + compose myself to appreciation. Either the music or I grew chaotic. So + many tumultuous sounds I heard—of hope, doubt, inquiry, melancholy, + and desire; or did I feel the emotions which these words express? Or was + there magnetism stealing into me from the quiet man beside me? He left me + with a bow before the concert was over, and I saw him making his way out + of the hall when it was finished. + </p> + <p> + I had been sent in the carriage, of course; but several carriages were in + advance of it before the walk, and I waited there for William to drive up. + When he did so, I saw by the oscillatory motion of his head, though his + arms and whiphand were perfectly correct, that he was inebriated. It was + his first occasion of meeting fellow-coachmen in full dress, and the + occasion had proved too much for him. My hand, however, was on the coach + door, when I heard Mr. Uxbridge say, at my elbow, + </p> + <p> + "It is not safe for you." + </p> + <p> + "Oh, Sir, it is in the programme that I ride home from the concert." And I + prepared to step in. + </p> + <p> + "I shall sit on the box, then." + </p> + <p> + "But your nieces?" + </p> + <p> + "They are walking home, squired by a younger knight." + </p> + <p> + Aunt Eliza would say, I thought, "Needs must when a lawyer drives"; and I + concluded to allow him to have his way, telling him that he was taking a + great deal of trouble. He thought it would be less if he were allowed to + sit inside; both ways were unsafe. + </p> + <p> + Nothing happened. William drove well from habit; but James was obliged to + assist him to dismount. Mr. Uxbridge waited a moment at the door, and so + there was quite a little sensation, which spread its ripples till Aunt + Eliza was reached. She sent for William, whose only excuse was "dampness." + </p> + <p> + "Uxbridge knew my carriage, of course," she said, with a complacent voice. + "He knew me," I replied. + </p> + <p> + "You do not look like the Huells." + </p> + <p> + "I look precisely like the young woman to whom he was introduced by Mr. + Van Horn." + </p> + <p> + "Oh ho!" + </p> + <p> + "He thought it unsafe for me to come alone under William's charge." + </p> + <p> + "Ah ha!" + </p> + <p> + No more was said on the subject of his coming home with me. Aunt Eliza had + several fits of musing in the course of the evening while I read aloud to + her, which had no connection with the subject of the book. As I put it + down she said that it would be well for me to go to church the next day. I + acquiesced, but remarked that my piety would not require the carriage, and + that I preferred to walk. Besides, it would be well for William and James + to attend divine service. She could not spare James, and thought William + had better clean the harness, by way of penance. + </p> + <p> + The morning proved to be warm and sunny. I donned a muslin dress of home + manufacture and my own bonnet, and started for church. I had walked but a + few paces when the consciousness of being <i>free</i> and <i>alone</i> + struck me. I halted, looked about me, and concluded that I would not go to + church, but walk into the fields. I had no knowledge of the whereabouts of + the fields; but I walked straight forward, and after a while came upon + some barren fields, cropping with coarse rocks, along which ran a narrow + road. I turned into it, and soon saw beyond the rough coast the blue ring + of the ocean—vast, silent, and splendid in the sunshine. I found a + seat on the ruins of an old stone-wall, among some tangled bushes and + briers. There being no Aunt Eliza to pull through the surf, and no + animated bathers near, I discovered the beauty of the sea, and that I + loved it. + </p> + <p> + Presently I heard the steps of a horse, and, to my astonishment, Mr. + Uxbridge rode past. I was glad he did not know me. I watched him as he + rode slowly down the road, deep in thought. He let drop the bridle, and + the horse stopped, as if accustomed to the circumstance, and pawed the + ground gently, or yawed his neck for pastime. Mr. Uxbridge folded his arms + and raised his head to look seaward. It seemed to me as if he were about + to address the jury. I had dropped so entirely from my observance of the + landscape that I jumped when he resumed the bridle and turned his horse to + come back. I slipped from my seat to look among the bushes, determined + that he should not recognize me; but my attempt was a failure—he did + not ride by the second time. + </p> + <p> + "Miss Huell!" And he jumped from his saddle, slipping his arm through the + bridle. + </p> + <p> + "I am a runaway. What do you think of the Fugitive Slave Bill?" + </p> + <p> + "I approve of returning property to its owners." + </p> + <p> + "The sea must have been God's temple first, instead of the groves." + </p> + <p> + "I believe the Saurians were an Orthodox tribe." + </p> + <p> + "Did you stop yonder to ponder the sea?" + </p> + <p> + "I was pondering 'Lemorne vs. Huell.'" + </p> + <p> + He looked at me earnestly, and then gave a tug at the bridle, for his + steed was inclined to make a crude repast from the bushes. + </p> + <p> + "How was it that I did not detect you at once?" he continued. + </p> + <p> + "My apparel is Waterbury apparel." + </p> + <p> + "Ah!" + </p> + <p> + We walked up the road slowly till we came to the end of it; then I stopped + for him to understand that I thought it time for him to leave me. He + sprang into the saddle. + </p> + <p> + "Give us good-by!" he said, bringing his horse close to me. + </p> + <p> + "We are not on equal terms; I feel too humble afoot to salute you." + </p> + <p> + "Put your foot on the stirrup then." + </p> + <p> + A leaf stuck in the horse's forelock, and I pulled it off and waved it in + token of farewell. A powerful light shot into his eyes when he saw my hand + close on the leaf. + </p> + <p> + "May I come and see you?" he asked, abruptly. "I will." + </p> + <p> + "I shall say neither 'No' or 'Yes.'" + </p> + <p> + He rode on at a quick pace, and I walked homeward forgetting the sense of + liberty I had started with, and proceeded straightway to Aunt Eliza. + </p> + <p> + "I have not been to church, aunt, but to walk beyond the town; it was not + so nominated in the bond, but I went. The taste of freedom was so pleasant + that I warn you there is danger of my 'striking.' When will you have done + with Newport?" + </p> + <p> + "I am pleased with Newport now," she answered, with a curious intonation. + "I like it." + </p> + <p> + "I do also." + </p> + <p> + Her keen eyes sparkled. "Did you ever like anything when you were with me + before?" + </p> + <p> + "Never. I will tell you why I like it: because I have met, and shall + probably meet, Mr. Uxbridge. I saw him to-day. He asked permission to + visit me." + </p> + <p> + "Let him come." + </p> + <p> + "He will come." + </p> + <p> + But we did not see him either at the hotel or when we went abroad. Aunt + Eliza rode with me each afternoon, and each morning we went to the beach. + She engaged me every moment when at home, and I faithfully performed all + my tasks. I clapped to the door on self-investigation—locked it + against any analysis or reasoning upon any circumstance connected with Mr. + Uxbridge. The only piece of treachery to my code that I was guilty of was + the putting of the leaf which I brought home on Sunday between the leaves + of that poem whose motto is, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Mariana in the moated grange." +</pre> + <p> + On Saturday morning, nearly a week after I saw him on my walk, Aunt Eliza + proposed that we should go to Turo Street on a shopping excursion; she + wanted a cap, and various articles besides. As we went into a large shop I + saw Mr. Uxbridge at a counter buying gloves; her quick eye caught sight of + him, and she edged away, saying she would look at some goods on the other + side; I might wait where I was. As he turned to go out he saw me and + stopped. + </p> + <p> + "I have been in New York since I saw you," he said. "Mr. Lemorne sent for + me." + </p> + <p> + "There is my aunt," I said. + </p> + <p> + He shrugged his shoulders. + </p> + <p> + "I shall not go away soon again," he remarked. "I missed Newport greatly." + </p> + <p> + I made some foolish reply, and kept my eyes on Aunt Eliza, who dawdled + unaccountably. He appeared amused, and after a little talk went away. + </p> + <p> + Aunt Eliza's purchase was a rose-colored moire antique, which she said was + to be made for me; for Mrs. Bliss, one of our hotel acquaintances, had + offered to chaperon me to the great ball which would come off in a few + days, and she had accepted the offer for me. + </p> + <p> + "There will be no chance for you to take a walk instead," she finished + with. + </p> + <p> + "I can not dance, you know." + </p> + <p> + "But you will be <i>there</i>." + </p> + <p> + I was sent to a dress-maker of Mrs. Bliss's recommending; but I ordered + the dress to be made after my own design, long plain sleeves, and high + plain corsage, and requested that it should not be sent home till the + evening of the ball. Before it came off Mr. Uxbridge called, and was + graciously received by Aunt Eliza, who could be gracious to all except her + relatives. I could not but perceive, however, that they watched each other + in spite of their lively conversation. To me he was deferential, but went + over the ground of our acquaintance as if it had been the most natural + thing in the world. But for my life-long habit of never calling in + question the behavior of those I came in contact with, and of never + expecting any thing different from that I received, I might have wondered + over his visit. Every person's individuality was sacred to me, from the + fact, perhaps, that my own individuality had never been respected by any + person with whom I had any relation—not even by my own mother. + </p> + <p> + After Mr. Uxbridge went, I asked Aunt Eliza if she thought he looked mean + and cunning? She laughed, and replied that she was bound to think that Mr. + Lemorne's lawyer could not look otherwise. + </p> + <p> + When, on the night of the ball, I presented myself in the rose-colored + moire antique for her inspection, she raised her eyebrows, but said + nothing about it. + </p> + <p> + "I need not be careful of it, I suppose, aunt?" + </p> + <p> + "Spill as much wine and ice-cream on it as you like." + </p> + <p> + In the dressing-room Mrs. Bliss surveyed me. + </p> + <p> + "I think I like this mass of rose-color," she said. "Your hair comes out + in contrast so brilliantly. Why, you have not a single ornament on!" + </p> + <p> + "It is so easy to dress without." + </p> + <p> + This was all the conversation we had together during the evening, except + when she introduced some acquaintance to fulfill her matronizing duties. + As I was no dancer I was left alone most of the time, and amused myself by + gliding from window to window along the wall, that it might not be + observed that I was a fixed flower. Still I suffered the annoyance of + being stared at by wandering squads of young gentlemen, the "curled + darlings" of the ball-room. I borrowed Mrs. Bliss's fan in one of her + visits for a protection. With that, and the embrasure of a remote window + where I finally stationed myself, I hoped to escape further notice. The + music of the celebrated band which played between the dances recalled the + chorus of spirits which charmed Faust: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "And the fluttering + Ribbons of drapery + Cover the plains, + Cover the bowers, + Where lovers, + Deep in thought, + Give themselves for life." +</pre> + <p> + The voice of Mrs. Bliss broke its spell. + </p> + <p> + "I bring an old friend, Miss Huell, and he tells me an acquaintance of + yours." + </p> + <p> + It was Mr. Uxbridge. + </p> + <p> + "I had no thought of meeting you, Miss Huell." + </p> + <p> + And he coolly took the seat beside me in the window, leaving to Mrs. Bliss + the alternative of standing or of going away; she chose the latter. + </p> + <p> + "I saw you as soon as I came in," he said, "gliding from window to window, + like a vessel hugging the shore in a storm." + </p> + <p> + "With colors at half-mast; I have no dancing partner." + </p> + <p> + "How many have observed you?" + </p> + <p> + "Several young gentlemen." + </p> + <p> + "Moths." + </p> + <p> + "Oh no, butterflies." + </p> + <p> + "They must keep away now." + </p> + <p> + "Are you Rhadamanthus?" + </p> + <p> + "And Charon, too. I would have you row in the same boat with me." + </p> + <p> + "Now you are fishing." + </p> + <p> + "Won't you compliment me. Did I ever look better?" + </p> + <p> + His evening costume <i>was</i> becoming, but he looked pale, and weary, + and disturbed. But if we were engaged for a tournament, as his behavior + indicated, I must do my best at telling. So I told him that he never + looked better, and asked him how I looked. He would look at me presently, + he said, and decide. Mrs. Bliss skimmed by us with nods and smiles; as she + vanished our eyes followed her, and we talked vaguely on various matters, + sounding ourselves and each other. When a furious redowa set in which cut + our conversation into rhythm he pushed up the window and said, "Look out." + </p> + <p> + I turned my face to him to do so, and saw the moon at the full, riding + through the strip of sky which our vision commanded. From the moon our + eyes fell on each other. After a moment's silence, during which I returned + his steadfast gaze, for I could not help it, he said: "If we understand + the impression we make upon each other, what must be said?" + </p> + <p> + I made no reply, but fanned myself, neither looking at the moon, nor upon + the redowa, nor upon any thing. + </p> + <p> + He took the fan from me. + </p> + <p> + "Speak of yourself," he said. + </p> + <p> + "Speak you." + </p> + <p> + "I am what I seem, a man within your sphere. By all the accidents of + position and circumstance suited to it. Have you not learned it?" + </p> + <p> + "I am not what I seem. I never wore so splendid a dress as this till + tonight, and shall not again." + </p> + <p> + He gave the fan such a twirl that its slender sticks snapped, and it + dropped like the broken wing of a bird. + </p> + <p> + "Mr. Uxbridge, that fan belongs to Mrs. Bliss." + </p> + <p> + He threw it out of the window. + </p> + <p> + "You have courage, fidelity, and patience—this character with a + passionate soul. I am sure that you have such a soul?" + </p> + <p> + "I do not know." + </p> + <p> + "I have fallen in love with you. It happened on the very day when I passed + you on the way to the Glen. I never got away from the remembrance of + seeing your hand on the mane of my horse." + </p> + <p> + He waited for me to speak, but I could not; the balance of my mind was + gone. Why should this have happened to me—a slave? As it had + happened, why did I not feel exultant in the sense of power which the + chance for freedom with him should give? + </p> + <p> + "What is it, Margaret? your face is as sad as death." + </p> + <p> + "How do you call me 'Margaret?'" + </p> + <p> + "As I would call my wife—Margaret." + </p> + <p> + He rose and stood before me to screen my face from observation. I supposed + so, and endeavored to stifle my agitation. + </p> + <p> + "You are better," he said, presently. "Come go with me and get some + refreshment." And he beckoned to Mrs. Bliss, who was down the hall with an + unwieldy gentleman. + </p> + <p> + "Will you go to supper now?" she asked. "We are only waiting for you," Mr. + Uxbridge answered, offering me his arm. + </p> + <p> + When we emerged into the blaze and glitter of the supper-room I sought + refuge in the shadow of Mrs. Bliss's companion, for it seemed to me that I + had lost my own. + </p> + <p> + "Drink this Champagne," said Mr. Uxbridge. "Pay no attention to the + Colonel on your left; he won't expect it." + </p> + <p> + "Neither must you." + </p> + <p> + "Drink." + </p> + <p> + The Champagne did not prevent me from reflecting on the fact that he had + not yet asked whether I loved him. + </p> + <p> + The spirit chorus again floated through my mind: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Where lovers, + Deep in thought, + <i>Give</i> themselves for life." +</pre> + <p> + I was not allowed to <i>give</i> myself—I was <i>taken</i>. + </p> + <p> + "No heel-taps," he whispered, "to the bottom quaff." + </p> + <p> + "Take me home, will you?" + </p> + <p> + "Mrs. Bliss is not ready." + </p> + <p> + "Tell her that I must go." + </p> + <p> + He went behind her chair and whispered something, and she nodded to me to + go without her. + </p> + <p> + When her carriage came up, I think he gave the coachman an order to drive + home in a round-about way, for we were a long time reaching it. I kept my + face to the window, and he made no effort to divert my attention. When we + came to a street whose thick rows of trees shut out the moonlight my eager + soul longed to leap out into the dark and demand of him his heart, soul, + life, for <i>me</i>. + </p> + <p> + I struck him lightly on the shoulder; he seized my hand. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, I know you, Margaret; you are mine!" + </p> + <p> + "We are at the hotel." + </p> + <p> + He sent the carriage back, and said that he would leave me at my aunt's + door. He wished that he could see her then. Was it magic that made her + open the door before I reached it? + </p> + <p> + "Have you come on legal business?" she asked him. + </p> + <p> + "You have divined what I come for." + </p> + <p> + "Step in, step in; it's very late. I should have been in bed but for + neuralgia. Did Mr. Uxbridge come home with you, Margaret?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes, in Mrs. Bliss's carriage; I wished to come before she was ready to + leave." + </p> + <p> + "Well, Mr. Uxbridge is old enough for your protector, certainly." + </p> + <p> + "I <i>am</i> forty, ma'am." + </p> + <p> + "Do you want Margaret?" + </p> + <p> + "I do." + </p> + <p> + "You know exactly how much is involved in your client's suit?" + </p> + <p> + "Exactly." + </p> + <p> + "You know also that his claim is an unjust one." + </p> + <p> + "Do I?" + </p> + <p> + "I shall not be poor if I lose; if I gain, Margaret will be rich." + </p> + <p> + "'Margaret will be rich,'" he repeated, absently. + </p> + <p> + "What! have you changed your mind respecting the orphans, aunt?" + </p> + <p> + "She has, and is—nothing," she went on, not heeding my remark. "Her + father married below his station; when he died his wife fell back to her + place—for he spent his fortune—and there she and Margaret must + remain, unless Lemorne is defeated." + </p> + <p> + "Aunt, for your succinct biography of my position many thanks." + </p> + <p> + "Sixty thousand dollars," she continued. "Van Horn tells me that, as yet, + the firm of Uxbridge Brothers have only an income—no capital." + </p> + <p> + "It is true," he answered, musingly. + </p> + <p> + The clock on the mantle struck two. + </p> + <p> + "A thousand dollars for every year of my life," she said. "You and I, + Uxbridge, know the value and beauty of money. + </p> + <p> + "Yes, there is beauty in money, and"—looking at me—"beauty + without it." + </p> + <p> + "The striking of the clock," I soliloquized, "proves that this scene is + not a phantasm." + </p> + <p> + "Margaret is fatigued," he said, rising. "May I come to-morrow?" + </p> + <p> + "It is my part only," replied Aunt Eliza, "to see that she is, or is not, + Cinderella." + </p> + <p> + "If you have ever thought of me, aunt, as an individual, you must have + seen that I am not averse to ashes." + </p> + <p> + He held my hand a moment, and then kissed me with a kiss of appropriation. + </p> + <p> + "He is in love with you," she said, after he had gone. "I think I know + him. He has found beauty ignorant of itself; he will teach you to develop + it." + </p> + <p> + The next morning Mr. Uxbridge had an interview with Aunt Eliza before he + saw me. + </p> + <p> + When we were alone I asked him how her eccentricities affected him; he + could not but consider her violent, prejudiced, warped, and whimsical. I + told him that I had been taught to accept all that she did on this basis. + Would this explain to him my silence in regard to her? + </p> + <p> + "Can you endure to live with her in Bond Street for the present, or would + you rather return to Waterbury?" + </p> + <p> + "She desires my company while she is in Newport only. I have never been + with her so long before." + </p> + <p> + "I understand her. Law is a game, in her estimation, in which cheating can + as easily be carried on as at cards." + </p> + <p> + "Her soul is in this case." + </p> + <p> + "Her soul is not too large for it. Will you ride this afternoon?" + </p> + <p> + I promised, of course. From that time till he left Newport we saw each + other every day, and though I found little opportunity to express my own + peculiar feelings, he comprehended many of my wishes, and all my tastes. I + grew fond of him hourly. Had I not reason? Never was friend so + considerate, never was lover more devoted. + </p> + <p> + When he had been gone a few days, Aunt Eliza declared that she was ready + to depart from Newport. The rose-colored days were ended! In two days we + were on the Sound, coach, horses, servants, and ourselves. + </p> + <p> + It was the 1st of September when we arrived in Bond Street. A week from + that date Samuel Uxbridge, the senior partner of Uxbridge Brothers, went + to Europe with his family, and I went to Waterbury, accompanied by Mr. + Uxbridge. He consulted mother in regard to our marriage, and appointed it + in November. In October Aunt Eliza sent for me to come back to Bond Street + and spend a week. She had some fine marking to do, she wrote. While there + I noticed a restlessness in her which I had never before observed, and + conferred with Mrs. Roll on the matter. "She do be awake nights a deal, + and that's the reason," Mrs. Roll said. Her manner was the same in other + respects. She said she would not give me any thing for my wedding outfit, + but she paid my fare from Waterbury and back. + </p> + <p> + She could not spare me to go out, she told Mr. Uxbridge, and in + consequence I saw little of him while there. + </p> + <p> + In November we were married. Aunt Eliza was not at the wedding, which was + a quiet one. Mr. Uxbridge desired me to remain in Waterbury till spring. + He would not decide about taking a house in New York till then; by that + time his brother might return, and if possible we would go to Europe for a + few months. I acquiesced in all his plans. Indeed I was not consulted; but + I was happy—happy in him, and happy in every thing. + </p> + <p> + The winter passed in waiting for him to come to Waterbury every Saturday; + and in the enjoyment of the two days he passed with me. In March Aunt + Eliza wrote me that Lemorne was beaten! Van Horn had taken up the whole + contents of his snuff-box in her house the evening before in amazement at + the turn things had taken. + </p> + <p> + That night I dreamed of the scene in the hotel at Newport. I heard Aunt + Eliza saying, "If I gain, Margaret will be rich." And I heard also the + clock strike two. As it struck I said, "<i>My husband is a scoundrel</i>," + and woke with a start. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Lemorne Versus Huell, by Elizabeth Drew Stoddard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEMORNE VERSUS HUELL *** + +***** This file should be named 881-h.htm or 881-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/8/881/ + +Produced by John M. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lemorne Versus Huell + +Author: Elizabeth Drew Stoddard + +Posting Date: July 27, 2008 [EBook #881] +Release Date: April 1997 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEMORNE VERSUS HUELL *** + + + + +Produced by John M. Krafft + + + + + +LEMORNE VERSUS HUELL + +Elizabeth Drew Stoddard + +Harper's New Monthly Magazine 26 (1863): 537-43. + + +The two months I spent at Newport with Aunt Eliza Huell, who had been +ordered to the sea-side for the benefit of her health, were the +months that created all that is dramatic in my destiny. My aunt was +troublesome, for she was not only out of health, but in a lawsuit. She +wrote to me, for we lived apart, asking me to accompany her--not because +she was fond of me, or wished to give me pleasure, but because I +was useful in various ways. Mother insisted upon my accepting her +invitation, not because she loved her late husband's sister, but because +she thought it wise to cotton to her in every particular, for Aunt Eliza +was rich, and we--two lone women--were poor. + +I gave my music-pupils a longer and earlier vacation than usual, took a +week to arrange my wardrobe--for I made my own dresses--and then started +for New York, with the five dollars which Aunt Eliza had sent for my +fare thither. I arrived at her house in Bond Street at 7 A.M., and found +her man James in conversation with the milkman. He informed me that +Miss Huell was very bad, and that the housekeeper was still in bed. I +supposed that Aunt Eliza was in bed also, but I had hardly entered the +house when I heard her bell ring as she only could ring it--with an +impatient jerk. + +"She wants hot milk," said James, "and the man has just come." + +I laid my bonnet down, and went to the kitchen. Saluting the cook, who +was an old acquaintance, and who told me that the "divil" had been in +the range that morning, I took a pan, into which I poured some milk, and +held it over the gaslight till it was hot; then I carried it up to Aunt +Eliza. + +"Here is your milk, Aunt Eliza. You have sent for me to help you, and I +begin with the earliest opportunity." + +"I looked for you an hour ago. Ring the bell." + +I rang it. + +"Your mother is well, I suppose. She would have sent you, though, had +she been sick in bed." + +"She has done so. She thinks better of my coming than I do." + +The housekeeper, Mrs. Roll, came in, and Aunt Eliza politely requested +her to have breakfast for her niece as soon as possible. + +"I do not go down of mornings yet," said Aunt Eliza, "but Mrs. Roll +presides. See that the coffee is good, Roll." + +"It is good generally, Miss Huell." + +"You see that Margaret brought me my milk." + +"Ahem!" said Mrs. Roll, marching out. + +At the beginning of each visit to Aunt Eliza I was in the habit of +dwelling on the contrast between her way of living and ours. We lived +from "hand to mouth." Every thing about her wore a hereditary air; for +she lived in my grandfather's house, and it was the same as in his day. +If I was at home when these contrasts occurred to me I should have felt +angry; as it was, I felt them as in a dream--the china, the silver, the +old furniture, and the excellent fare soothed me. + +In the middle of the day Aunt Eliza came down stairs, and after she had +received a visit from her doctor, decided to go to Newport on Saturday. +It was Wednesday; and I could, if I chose, make any addition to my +wardrobe. I had none to make, I informed her. What were my dresses?--had +I a black silk? she asked. I had no black silk, and thought one would be +unnecessary for hot weather. + +"Who ever heard of a girl of twenty-four having no black silk! You have +slimsy muslins, I dare say?" + +"Yes." + +"And you like them?" + +"For present wear." + +That afternoon she sent Mrs. Roll out, who returned with a splendid +heavy silk for me, which Aunt Eliza said should be made before Saturday, +and it was. I went to a fashionable dress-maker of her recommending, and +on Friday it came home, beautifully made and trimmed with real lace. + +"Even the Pushers could find no fault with this," said Aunt Eliza, +turning over the sleeves and smoothing the lace. Somehow she smuggled +into the house a white straw-bonnet, with white roses; also a handsome +mantilla. She held the bonnet before me with a nod, and deposited it +again in the box, which made a part of the luggage for Newport. + +On Sunday morning we arrived in Newport, and went to a quiet hotel in +the town. James was with us, but Mrs. Roll was left in Bond Street, +in charge of the household. Monday was spent in an endeavor to make +an arrangement regarding the hire of a coach and coachman. Several +livery-stable keepers were in attendance, but nothing was settled, till +I suggested that Aunt Eliza should send for her own carriage. James was +sent back the next day, and returned on Thursday with coach, horses, and +William her coachman. That matter being finished, and the trunks being +unpacked, she decided to take her first bath in the sea, expecting me to +support her through the trying ordeal of the surf. As we were returning +from the beach we met a carriage containing a number of persons with a +family resemblance. + +When Aunt Eliza saw them she angrily exclaimed, "Am I to see those +Uxbridges every day?" + +Of the Uxbridges this much I knew--that the two brothers Uxbridge were +the lawyers of her opponents in the lawsuit which had existed three or +four years. I had never felt any interest in it, though I knew that it +was concerning a tract of ground in the city which had belonged to +my grandfather, and which had, since his day, become very valuable. +Litigation was a habit of the Huell family. So the sight of the Uxbridge +family did not agitate me as it did Aunt Eliza. + +"The sly, methodical dogs! but I shall beat Lemorne yet!" + +"How will you amuse yourself then, aunt?" + +"I'll adopt some boys to inherit what I shall save from his clutches." + +The bath fatigued her so she remained in her room for the rest of the +day; but she kept me busy with a hundred trifles. I wrote for her, +computed interest, studied out bills of fare, till four o'clock came, +and with it a fog. Nevertheless I must ride on the Avenue, and the +carriage was ordered. + +"Wear your silk, Margaret; it will just about last your visit +through--the fog will use it up." + +"I am glad of it," I answered. + +"You will ride every day. Wear the bonnet I bought for you also." + +"Certainly; but won't that go quicker in the fog than the dress?" + +"Maybe; but wear it." + +I rode every day afterward, from four to six, in the black silk, the +mantilla, and the white straw. When Aunt Eliza went she was so on the +alert for the Uxbridge family carriage that she could have had little +enjoyment of the ride. Rocks never were a passion with her, she said, +nor promontories, chasms, or sand. She came to Newport to be washed +with salt-water; when she had washed up to the doctor's prescription she +should leave, as ignorant of the peculiar pleasures of Newport as +when she arrived. She had no fancy for its conglomerate societies, its +literary cottages, its parvenue suits of rooms, its saloon habits, and +its bathing herds. + +I considered the rides a part of the contract of what was expected in my +two months' performance. I did not dream that I was enjoying them, any +more than I supposed myself to be enjoying a sea-bath while pulling Aunt +Eliza to and fro in the surf. Nothing in the life around me stirred me, +nothing in nature attracted me. I liked the fog; somehow it seemed to +emanate from me instead of rolling up from the ocean, and to represent +me. Whether I went alone or not, the coachman was ordered to drive a +certain round; after that I could extend the ride in whatever direction +I pleased, but I always said, "Anywhere, William." One afternoon, which +happened to be a bright one, I was riding on the road which led to the +glen, when I heard the screaming of a flock of geese which were waddling +across the path in front of the horses. I started, for I was asleep +probably, and, looking forward, saw the Uxbridge carriage, filled with +ladies and children, coming toward me; and by it rode a gentleman on +horseback. His horse was rearing among the hissing geese, but neither +horse nor geese appeared to engage him; his eyes were fixed upon me. The +horse swerved so near that its long mane almost brushed against me. By +an irresistible impulse I laid my ungloved hand upon it, but did not +look at the rider. Carriage and horseman passed on, and William resumed +his pace. A vague idea took possession of me that I had seen the +horseman before on my various drives. I had a vision of a man galloping +on a black horse out of the fog, and into it again. I was very sure, +however, that I had never seen him on so pleasant a day as this! William +did not bring his horses to time; it was after six when I went into Aunt +Eliza's parlor, and found her impatient for her tea and toast. She was +crosser than the occasion warranted; but I understood it when she gave +me the outlines of a letter she desired me to write to her lawyer in +New York. Something had turned up, he had written her; the Uxbridges +believed that they had ferreted out what would go against her. I told +her that I had met the Uxbridge carriage. + +"One of them is in New York; how else could they be giving me trouble +just now?" + +"There was a gentleman on horseback beside the carriage." + +"Did he look mean and cunning?" + +"He did not wear his legal beaver up, I think; but he rode a fine horse +and sat it well." + +"A lawyer on horseback should, like the beggar of the adage, ride to the +devil." + +"Your business now is the 'Lemorne?'" + +"You know it is." + +"I did not know but that you had found something besides to litigate." + +"It must have been Edward Uxbridge that you saw. He is the brain of the +firm." + +"You expect Mr. Van Horn?" + +"Oh, he must come; I can not be writing letters." + +We had been in Newport two weeks when Mr. Van Horn, Aunt Eliza's lawyer, +came. He said that he would see Mr. Edward Uxbridge. Between them they +might delay a term, which he thought would be best. "Would Miss Huell +ever be ready for a compromise?" he jestingly asked. + +"Are you suspicious?" she inquired. + +"No; but the Uxbridge chaps are clever." + +He dined with us; and at four o'clock Aunt Eliza graciously asked him +to take a seat in the carriage with me, making some excuse for not going +herself. + +"Hullo!" said Mr. Van Horn when we had reached the country road; +"there's Uxbridge now." And he waved his hand to him. + +It was indeed the black horse and the same rider that I had met. He +reined up beside us, and shook hands with Mr. Van Horn. + +"We are required to answer this new complaint?" said Mr. Van Horn. + +Mr. Uxbridge nodded. + +"And after that the judgment?" + +Mr. Uxbridge laughed. + +"I wish that certain gore of land had been sunk instead of being mapped +in 1835." + + +"The surveyor did his business well enough, I am sure." + +They talked together in a low voice for a few minutes, and then Mr. Van +Horn leaned back in his seat again. "Allow me," he said, "to introduce +you, Uxbridge, to Miss Margaret Huell, Miss Huell's niece. Huell _vs._ +Brown, you know," he added, in an explanatory tone; for I was Huell +_vs._ Brown's daughter. "Oh!" said Mr. Uxbridge bowing, and looking at +me gravely. I looked at him also; he was a pale, stern-looking man, and +forty years old certainly. I derived the impression at once that he had +a domineering disposition, perhaps from the way in which he controlled +his horse. + +"Nice beast that," said Mr. Van Horn. + +"Yes," he answered, laying his hand on its mane, so that the action +brought immediately to my mind the recollection that I had done so too. +I would not meet his eye again, however. + +"How long shall you remain, Uxbridge?" + +"I don't know. You are not interested in the lawsuit, Miss Huell?" he +said, putting on his hat. + +"Not in the least; nothing of mine is involved." + +"We'll gain it for your portion yet, Miss Margaret," said Mr. Van Horn, +nodding to Mr. Uxbridge, and bidding William drive on. He returned the +next day, and we settled into the routine of hotel life. A few mornings +after, she sent me to a matinee, which was given by some of the Opera +people, who were in Newport strengthening the larynx with applications +of brine. When the concert was half over, and the audience were making +the usual hum and stir, I saw Mr. Uxbridge against a pillar, with his +hands incased in pearl-colored gloves, and holding a shiny hat. He +turned half away when he caught my eye, and then darted toward me. + +"You have not been much more interested in the music than you are in the +lawsuit," he said, seating himself beside me. + +"The _tutoyer_ of the Italian voice is agreeable, however." + +"It makes one dreamy." + +"A child." + +"Yes, a child; not a man nor a woman." + +"I teach music. I can not dream over 'one, two, three.'" + + +"_You_--a music teacher!" + +"For six years." + +I was aware that he looked at me from head to foot, and I picked at the +lace on my invariable black silk; but what did it matter whether I owned +that I was a genteel pauper, representing my aunt's position for two +months, or not? + +"Where?" + +"In Waterbury." + +"Waterbury differs from Newport." + +"I suppose so." + +"You suppose!" + +A young gentleman sauntered by us, and Mr. Uxbridge called to him to +look up the Misses Uxbridge, his nieces, on the other side of the hall. + +"Paterfamilias Uxbridge has left his brood in my charge," he said. "I +try to do my duty," and he held out a twisted pearl-colored glove, which +he had pulled off while talking. What white nervous fingers he had! I +thought they might pinch like steel. + +"You suppose," he repeated. + +"I do not look at Newport." + +"Have you observed Waterbury?" + +"I observe what is in my sphere." + +"Oh!" + +He was silent then. The second part of the concert began; but I could +not compose myself to appreciation. Either the music or I grew chaotic. +So many tumultuous sounds I heard--of hope, doubt, inquiry, melancholy, +and desire; or did I feel the emotions which these words express? Or was +there magnetism stealing into me from the quiet man beside me? He left +me with a bow before the concert was over, and I saw him making his way +out of the hall when it was finished. + +I had been sent in the carriage, of course; but several carriages were +in advance of it before the walk, and I waited there for William to +drive up. When he did so, I saw by the oscillatory motion of his +head, though his arms and whiphand were perfectly correct, that he was +inebriated. It was his first occasion of meeting fellow-coachmen in full +dress, and the occasion had proved too much for him. My hand, however, +was on the coach door, when I heard Mr. Uxbridge say, at my elbow, + +"It is not safe for you." + +"Oh, Sir, it is in the programme that I ride home from the concert." And +I prepared to step in. + +"I shall sit on the box, then." + +"But your nieces?" + +"They are walking home, squired by a younger knight." + +Aunt Eliza would say, I thought, "Needs must when a lawyer drives"; and +I concluded to allow him to have his way, telling him that he was taking +a great deal of trouble. He thought it would be less if he were allowed +to sit inside; both ways were unsafe. + +Nothing happened. William drove well from habit; but James was obliged +to assist him to dismount. Mr. Uxbridge waited a moment at the door, +and so there was quite a little sensation, which spread its ripples +till Aunt Eliza was reached. She sent for William, whose only excuse was +"dampness." + +"Uxbridge knew my carriage, of course," she said, with a complacent +voice. "He knew me," I replied. + +"You do not look like the Huells." + +"I look precisely like the young woman to whom he was introduced by Mr. +Van Horn." + +"Oh ho!" + +"He thought it unsafe for me to come alone under William's charge." + +"Ah ha!" + +No more was said on the subject of his coming home with me. Aunt Eliza +had several fits of musing in the course of the evening while I read +aloud to her, which had no connection with the subject of the book. As +I put it down she said that it would be well for me to go to church the +next day. I acquiesced, but remarked that my piety would not require the +carriage, and that I preferred to walk. Besides, it would be well for +William and James to attend divine service. She could not spare James, +and thought William had better clean the harness, by way of penance. + +The morning proved to be warm and sunny. I donned a muslin dress of home +manufacture and my own bonnet, and started for church. I had walked but +a few paces when the consciousness of being _free_ and _alone_ struck +me. I halted, looked about me, and concluded that I would not go to +church, but walk into the fields. I had no knowledge of the whereabouts +of the fields; but I walked straight forward, and after a while came +upon some barren fields, cropping with coarse rocks, along which ran a +narrow road. I turned into it, and soon saw beyond the rough coast the +blue ring of the ocean--vast, silent, and splendid in the sunshine. +I found a seat on the ruins of an old stone-wall, among some tangled +bushes and briers. There being no Aunt Eliza to pull through the surf, +and no animated bathers near, I discovered the beauty of the sea, and +that I loved it. + +Presently I heard the steps of a horse, and, to my astonishment, Mr. +Uxbridge rode past. I was glad he did not know me. I watched him as he +rode slowly down the road, deep in thought. He let drop the bridle, and +the horse stopped, as if accustomed to the circumstance, and pawed the +ground gently, or yawed his neck for pastime. Mr. Uxbridge folded his +arms and raised his head to look seaward. It seemed to me as if he were +about to address the jury. I had dropped so entirely from my observance +of the landscape that I jumped when he resumed the bridle and turned +his horse to come back. I slipped from my seat to look among the +bushes, determined that he should not recognize me; but my attempt was a +failure--he did not ride by the second time. + +"Miss Huell!" And he jumped from his saddle, slipping his arm through +the bridle. + +"I am a runaway. What do you think of the Fugitive Slave Bill?" + +"I approve of returning property to its owners." + +"The sea must have been God's temple first, instead of the groves." + +"I believe the Saurians were an Orthodox tribe." + +"Did you stop yonder to ponder the sea?" + +"I was pondering 'Lemorne vs. Huell.'" + +He looked at me earnestly, and then gave a tug at the bridle, for his +steed was inclined to make a crude repast from the bushes. + +"How was it that I did not detect you at once?" he continued. + +"My apparel is Waterbury apparel." + +"Ah!" + +We walked up the road slowly till we came to the end of it; then I +stopped for him to understand that I thought it time for him to leave +me. He sprang into the saddle. + +"Give us good-by!" he said, bringing his horse close to me. + +"We are not on equal terms; I feel too humble afoot to salute you." + +"Put your foot on the stirrup then." + +A leaf stuck in the horse's forelock, and I pulled it off and waved it +in token of farewell. A powerful light shot into his eyes when he saw my +hand close on the leaf. + +"May I come and see you?" he asked, abruptly. "I will." + +"I shall say neither 'No' or 'Yes.'" + +He rode on at a quick pace, and I walked homeward forgetting the sense +of liberty I had started with, and proceeded straightway to Aunt Eliza. + +"I have not been to church, aunt, but to walk beyond the town; it was +not so nominated in the bond, but I went. The taste of freedom was so +pleasant that I warn you there is danger of my 'striking.' When will you +have done with Newport?" + +"I am pleased with Newport now," she answered, with a curious +intonation. "I like it." + +"I do also." + +Her keen eyes sparkled. "Did you ever like anything when you were with +me before?" + +"Never. I will tell you why I like it: because I have met, and shall +probably meet, Mr. Uxbridge. I saw him to-day. He asked permission to +visit me." + +"Let him come." + +"He will come." + +But we did not see him either at the hotel or when we went abroad. +Aunt Eliza rode with me each afternoon, and each morning we went to +the beach. She engaged me every moment when at home, and I +faithfully performed all my tasks. I clapped to the door on +self-investigation--locked it against any analysis or reasoning upon any +circumstance connected with Mr. Uxbridge. The only piece of treachery to +my code that I was guilty of was the putting of the leaf which I brought +home on Sunday between the leaves of that poem whose motto is, + + "Mariana in the moated grange." + +On Saturday morning, nearly a week after I saw him on my walk, Aunt +Eliza proposed that we should go to Turo Street on a shopping excursion; +she wanted a cap, and various articles besides. As we went into a large +shop I saw Mr. Uxbridge at a counter buying gloves; her quick eye caught +sight of him, and she edged away, saying she would look at some goods on +the other side; I might wait where I was. As he turned to go out he saw +me and stopped. + +"I have been in New York since I saw you," he said. "Mr. Lemorne sent +for me." + +"There is my aunt," I said. + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"I shall not go away soon again," he remarked. "I missed Newport +greatly." + +I made some foolish reply, and kept my eyes on Aunt Eliza, who dawdled +unaccountably. He appeared amused, and after a little talk went away. + +Aunt Eliza's purchase was a rose-colored moire antique, which she said +was to be made for me; for Mrs. Bliss, one of our hotel acquaintances, +had offered to chaperon me to the great ball which would come off in a +few days, and she had accepted the offer for me. + +"There will be no chance for you to take a walk instead," she finished +with. + +"I can not dance, you know." + +"But you will be _there_." + + +I was sent to a dress-maker of Mrs. Bliss's recommending; but I ordered +the dress to be made after my own design, long plain sleeves, and high +plain corsage, and requested that it should not be sent home till the +evening of the ball. Before it came off Mr. Uxbridge called, and was +graciously received by Aunt Eliza, who could be gracious to all except +her relatives. I could not but perceive, however, that they watched each +other in spite of their lively conversation. To me he was deferential, +but went over the ground of our acquaintance as if it had been the most +natural thing in the world. But for my life-long habit of never calling +in question the behavior of those I came in contact with, and of +never expecting any thing different from that I received, I might have +wondered over his visit. Every person's individuality was sacred to +me, from the fact, perhaps, that my own individuality had never been +respected by any person with whom I had any relation--not even by my own +mother. + +After Mr. Uxbridge went, I asked Aunt Eliza if she thought he looked +mean and cunning? She laughed, and replied that she was bound to think +that Mr. Lemorne's lawyer could not look otherwise. + +When, on the night of the ball, I presented myself in the rose-colored +moire antique for her inspection, she raised her eyebrows, but said +nothing about it. + +"I need not be careful of it, I suppose, aunt?" + +"Spill as much wine and ice-cream on it as you like." + +In the dressing-room Mrs. Bliss surveyed me. + +"I think I like this mass of rose-color," she said. "Your hair comes out +in contrast so brilliantly. Why, you have not a single ornament on!" + +"It is so easy to dress without." + +This was all the conversation we had together during the evening, except +when she introduced some acquaintance to fulfill her matronizing duties. +As I was no dancer I was left alone most of the time, and amused myself +by gliding from window to window along the wall, that it might not be +observed that I was a fixed flower. Still I suffered the annoyance of +being stared at by wandering squads of young gentlemen, the "curled +darlings" of the ball-room. I borrowed Mrs. Bliss's fan in one of her +visits for a protection. With that, and the embrasure of a remote window +where I finally stationed myself, I hoped to escape further notice. The +music of the celebrated band which played between the dances recalled +the chorus of spirits which charmed Faust: + + "And the fluttering + Ribbons of drapery + Cover the plains, + Cover the bowers, + Where lovers, + Deep in thought, + Give themselves for life." + +The voice of Mrs. Bliss broke its spell. + +"I bring an old friend, Miss Huell, and he tells me an acquaintance of +yours." + +It was Mr. Uxbridge. + +"I had no thought of meeting you, Miss Huell." + +And he coolly took the seat beside me in the window, leaving to Mrs. +Bliss the alternative of standing or of going away; she chose the +latter. + +"I saw you as soon as I came in," he said, "gliding from window to +window, like a vessel hugging the shore in a storm." + +"With colors at half-mast; I have no dancing partner." + +"How many have observed you?" + +"Several young gentlemen." + +"Moths." + +"Oh no, butterflies." + +"They must keep away now." + +"Are you Rhadamanthus?" + +"And Charon, too. I would have you row in the same boat with me." + +"Now you are fishing." + +"Won't you compliment me. Did I ever look better?" + +His evening costume _was_ becoming, but he looked pale, and weary, and +disturbed. But if we were engaged for a tournament, as his behavior +indicated, I must do my best at telling. So I told him that he +never looked better, and asked him how I looked. He would look at me +presently, he said, and decide. Mrs. Bliss skimmed by us with nods and +smiles; as she vanished our eyes followed her, and we talked vaguely +on various matters, sounding ourselves and each other. When a furious +redowa set in which cut our conversation into rhythm he pushed up the +window and said, "Look out." + +I turned my face to him to do so, and saw the moon at the full, riding +through the strip of sky which our vision commanded. From the moon +our eyes fell on each other. After a moment's silence, during which I +returned his steadfast gaze, for I could not help it, he said: "If we +understand the impression we make upon each other, what must be said?" + +I made no reply, but fanned myself, neither looking at the moon, nor +upon the redowa, nor upon any thing. + +He took the fan from me. + +"Speak of yourself," he said. + +"Speak you." + +"I am what I seem, a man within your sphere. By all the accidents of +position and circumstance suited to it. Have you not learned it?" + +"I am not what I seem. I never wore so splendid a dress as this till +tonight, and shall not again." + +He gave the fan such a twirl that its slender sticks snapped, and it +dropped like the broken wing of a bird. + +"Mr. Uxbridge, that fan belongs to Mrs. Bliss." + +He threw it out of the window. + +"You have courage, fidelity, and patience--this character with a +passionate soul. I am sure that you have such a soul?" + + +"I do not know." + +"I have fallen in love with you. It happened on the very day when I +passed you on the way to the Glen. I never got away from the remembrance +of seeing your hand on the mane of my horse." + +He waited for me to speak, but I could not; the balance of my mind was +gone. Why should this have happened to me--a slave? As it had happened, +why did I not feel exultant in the sense of power which the chance for +freedom with him should give? + +"What is it, Margaret? your face is as sad as death." + +"How do you call me 'Margaret?'" + +"As I would call my wife--Margaret." + +He rose and stood before me to screen my face from observation. I +supposed so, and endeavored to stifle my agitation. + +"You are better," he said, presently. "Come go with me and get some +refreshment." And he beckoned to Mrs. Bliss, who was down the hall with +an unwieldy gentleman. + +"Will you go to supper now?" she asked. "We are only waiting for you," +Mr. Uxbridge answered, offering me his arm. + +When we emerged into the blaze and glitter of the supper-room I sought +refuge in the shadow of Mrs. Bliss's companion, for it seemed to me that +I had lost my own. + +"Drink this Champagne," said Mr. Uxbridge. "Pay no attention to the +Colonel on your left; he won't expect it." + +"Neither must you." + +"Drink." + +The Champagne did not prevent me from reflecting on the fact that he had +not yet asked whether I loved him. + +The spirit chorus again floated through my mind: + + "Where lovers, + Deep in thought, + _Give_ themselves for life." + +I was not allowed to _give_ myself--I was _taken_. + +"No heel-taps," he whispered, "to the bottom quaff." + +"Take me home, will you?" + +"Mrs. Bliss is not ready." + +"Tell her that I must go." + +He went behind her chair and whispered something, and she nodded to me +to go without her. + +When her carriage came up, I think he gave the coachman an order to +drive home in a round-about way, for we were a long time reaching it. +I kept my face to the window, and he made no effort to divert my +attention. When we came to a street whose thick rows of trees shut out +the moonlight my eager soul longed to leap out into the dark and demand +of him his heart, soul, life, for _me_. + +I struck him lightly on the shoulder; he seized my hand. + +"Oh, I know you, Margaret; you are mine!" + +"We are at the hotel." + +He sent the carriage back, and said that he would leave me at my aunt's +door. He wished that he could see her then. Was it magic that made her +open the door before I reached it? + +"Have you come on legal business?" she asked him. + +"You have divined what I come for." + +"Step in, step in; it's very late. I should have been in bed but for +neuralgia. Did Mr. Uxbridge come home with you, Margaret?" + +"Yes, in Mrs. Bliss's carriage; I wished to come before she was ready to +leave." + +"Well, Mr. Uxbridge is old enough for your protector, certainly." + +"I _am_ forty, ma'am." + +"Do you want Margaret?" + +"I do." + +"You know exactly how much is involved in your client's suit?" + +"Exactly." + +"You know also that his claim is an unjust one." + +"Do I?" + +"I shall not be poor if I lose; if I gain, Margaret will be rich." + +"'Margaret will be rich,'" he repeated, absently. + +"What! have you changed your mind respecting the orphans, aunt?" + +"She has, and is--nothing," she went on, not heeding my remark. "Her +father married below his station; when he died his wife fell back to her +place--for he spent his fortune--and there she and Margaret must remain, +unless Lemorne is defeated." + +"Aunt, for your succinct biography of my position many thanks." + +"Sixty thousand dollars," she continued. "Van Horn tells me that, as +yet, the firm of Uxbridge Brothers have only an income--no capital." + +"It is true," he answered, musingly. + +The clock on the mantle struck two. + +"A thousand dollars for every year of my life," she said. "You and I, +Uxbridge, know the value and beauty of money. + +"Yes, there is beauty in money, and"--looking at me--"beauty without +it." + +"The striking of the clock," I soliloquized, "proves that this scene is +not a phantasm." + +"Margaret is fatigued," he said, rising. "May I come to-morrow?" + + +"It is my part only," replied Aunt Eliza, "to see that she is, or is +not, Cinderella." + +"If you have ever thought of me, aunt, as an individual, you must have +seen that I am not averse to ashes." + +He held my hand a moment, and then kissed me with a kiss of +appropriation. + +"He is in love with you," she said, after he had gone. "I think I +know him. He has found beauty ignorant of itself; he will teach you to +develop it." + +The next morning Mr. Uxbridge had an interview with Aunt Eliza before he +saw me. + +When we were alone I asked him how her eccentricities affected him; he +could not but consider her violent, prejudiced, warped, and whimsical. +I told him that I had been taught to accept all that she did on this +basis. Would this explain to him my silence in regard to her? + +"Can you endure to live with her in Bond Street for the present, or +would you rather return to Waterbury?" + +"She desires my company while she is in Newport only. I have never been +with her so long before." + +"I understand her. Law is a game, in her estimation, in which cheating +can as easily be carried on as at cards." + +"Her soul is in this case." + +"Her soul is not too large for it. Will you ride this afternoon?" + +I promised, of course. From that time till he left Newport we saw each +other every day, and though I found little opportunity to express my own +peculiar feelings, he comprehended many of my wishes, and all my +tastes. I grew fond of him hourly. Had I not reason? Never was friend so +considerate, never was lover more devoted. + +When he had been gone a few days, Aunt Eliza declared that she was ready +to depart from Newport. The rose-colored days were ended! In two days we +were on the Sound, coach, horses, servants, and ourselves. + +It was the 1st of September when we arrived in Bond Street. A week from +that date Samuel Uxbridge, the senior partner of Uxbridge Brothers, went +to Europe with his family, and I went to Waterbury, accompanied by Mr. +Uxbridge. He consulted mother in regard to our marriage, and appointed +it in November. In October Aunt Eliza sent for me to come back to Bond +Street and spend a week. She had some fine marking to do, she wrote. +While there I noticed a restlessness in her which I had never before +observed, and conferred with Mrs. Roll on the matter. "She do be awake +nights a deal, and that's the reason," Mrs. Roll said. Her manner was +the same in other respects. She said she would not give me any thing for +my wedding outfit, but she paid my fare from Waterbury and back. + +She could not spare me to go out, she told Mr. Uxbridge, and in +consequence I saw little of him while there. + +In November we were married. Aunt Eliza was not at the wedding, which +was a quiet one. Mr. Uxbridge desired me to remain in Waterbury till +spring. He would not decide about taking a house in New York till then; +by that time his brother might return, and if possible we would go to +Europe for a few months. I acquiesced in all his plans. Indeed I was not +consulted; but I was happy--happy in him, and happy in every thing. + +The winter passed in waiting for him to come to Waterbury every +Saturday; and in the enjoyment of the two days he passed with me. In +March Aunt Eliza wrote me that Lemorne was beaten! Van Horn had taken up +the whole contents of his snuff-box in her house the evening before in +amazement at the turn things had taken. + +That night I dreamed of the scene in the hotel at Newport. I heard Aunt +Eliza saying, "If I gain, Margaret will be rich." And I heard also the +clock strike two. As it struck I said, "_My husband is a scoundrel_," +and woke with a start. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Lemorne Versus Huell, by Elizabeth Drew Stoddard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEMORNE VERSUS HUELL *** + +***** This file should be named 881.txt or 881.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/8/881/ + +Produced by John M. 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Krafft +email: krafftjm@muohio.edu + + + +Lemorne Versus Huell +Elizabeth Drew Stoddard +Harper's New Monthly Magazine 26 (1863): 537-43. + + + +The two months I spent at Newport with Aunt Eliza Huell, who had +been ordered to the sea-side for the benefit of her health, were +the months that created all that is dramatic in my destiny. My aunt +was troublesome, for she was not only out of health, but in a +lawsuit. She wrote to me, for we lived apart, asking me to +accompany her--not because she was fond of me, or wished to give me +pleasure, but because I was useful in various ways. Mother insisted +upon my accepting her invitation, not because she loved her late +husband's sister, but because she thought it wise to cotton to her +in every particular, for Aunt Eliza was rich, and we--two lone +women--were poor. + +I gave my music-pupils a longer and earlier vacation than usual, +took a week to arrange my wardrobe--for I made my own dresses--and +then started for New York, with the five dollars which Aunt Eliza +had sent for my fare thither. I arrived at her house in Bond Street +at 7 A.M., and found her man James in conversation with the +milkman. He informed me that Miss Huell was very bad, and that the +housekeeper was still in bed. I supposed that Aunt Eliza was in bed +also, but I had hardly entered the house when I heard her bell ring +as she only could ring it--with an impatient jerk. + +"She wants hot milk," said James, "and the man has just come." + +I laid my bonnet down, and went to the kitchen. Saluting the +cook, who was an old acquaintance, and who told me that the "divil" +had been in the range that morning, I took a pan, into which I +poured some milk, and held it over the gaslight till it was hot; +then I carried it up to Aunt Eliza. + +"Here is your milk, Aunt Eliza. You have sent for me to help you, +and I begin with the earliest opportunity." + +"I looked for you an hour ago. Ring the bell." + +I rang it. + +"Your mother is well, I suppose. She would have sent you, though, +had she been sick in bed." + +"She has done so. She thinks better of my coming than I do." + +The housekeeper, Mrs. Roll, came in, and Aunt Eliza politely +requested her to have breakfast for her niece as soon as possible. + +"I do not go down of mornings yet," said Aunt Eliza, "but Mrs. +Roll presides. See that the coffee is good, Roll." + +"It is good generally, Miss Huell." + +"You see that Margaret brought me my milk." + +"Ahem!" said Mrs. Roll, marching out. + +At the beginning of each visit to Aunt Eliza I was in the habit +of dwelling on the contrast between her way of living and ours. We +lived from "hand to mouth." Every thing about her wore a hereditary +air; for she lived in my grandfather's house, and it was the same +as in his day. If I was at home when these contrasts occurred to me +I should have felt angry; as it was, I felt them as in a dream--the +china, the silver, the old furniture, and the excellent fare +soothed me. + +In the middle of the day Aunt Eliza came down stairs, and after +she had received a visit from her doctor, decided to go to Newport +on Saturday. It was Wednesday; and I could, if I chose, make any +addition to my wardrobe. I had none to make, I informed her. What +were my dresses?--had I a black silk? she asked. I had no black +silk, and thought one would be unnecessary for hot weather. + +"Who ever heard of a girl of twenty-four having no black silk! +You have slimsy muslins, I dare say?" + +"Yes." + +"And you like them?" + +"For present wear." + +That afternoon she sent Mrs. Roll out, who returned with a +splendid heavy silk for me, which Aunt Eliza said should be made +before Saturday, and it was. I went to a fashionable dress-maker of +her recommending, and on Friday it came home, beautifully made and +trimmed with real lace. + +"Even the Pushers could find no fault with this," said Aunt +Eliza, turning over the sleeves and smoothing the lace. Somehow she +smuggled into the house a white straw-bonnet, with white roses; +also a handsome mantilla. She held the bonnet before me with a nod, +and deposited it again in the box, which made a part of the luggage +for Newport. + +On Sunday morning we arrived in Newport, and went to a quiet +hotel in the town. James was with us, but Mrs. Roll was left in +Bond Street, in charge of the household. Monday was spent in an +endeavor to make an arrangement regarding the hire of a coach and +coachman. Several livery-stable keepers were in attendance, but +nothing was settled, till I suggested that Aunt Eliza should send +for her own carriage. James was sent back the next day, and +returned on Thursday with coach, horses, and William her coachman. +That matter being finished, and the trunks being unpacked, she +decided to take her first bath in the sea, expecting me to support +her through the trying ordeal of the surf. As we were returning +from the beach we met a carriage containing a number of persons +with a family resemblance. + +When Aunt Eliza saw them she angrily exclaimed, "Am I to see +those Uxbridges every day?" + +Of the Uxbridges this much I knew--that the two brothers Uxbridge +were the lawyers of her opponents in the lawsuit which had existed +three or four years. I had never felt any interest in it, though I +knew that it was concerning a tract of ground in the city which had +belonged to my grandfather, and which had, since his day, become +very valuable. Litigation was a habit of the Huell family. So the +sight of the Uxbridge family did not agitate me as it did Aunt +Eliza. + +"The sly, methodical dogs! but I shall beat Lemorne yet!" + +"How will you amuse yourself then, aunt?" + +"I'll adopt some boys to inherit what I shall save from his +clutches." + +The bath fatigued her so she remained in her room for the rest +of the day; but she kept me busy with a hundred trifles. I wrote +for her, computed interest, studied out bills of fare, till four +o'clock came, and with it a fog. Nevertheless I must ride on the +Avenue, and the carriage was ordered. + +"Wear your silk, Margaret; it will just about last your visit +through--the fog will use it up." + +"I am glad of it," I answered. + +"You will ride every day. Wear the bonnet I bought for you also." + +"Certainly; but won't that go quicker in the fog than the dress?" + +"Maybe; but wear it." + +I rode every day afterward, from four to six, in the black silk, +the mantilla, and the white straw. When Aunt Eliza went she was so +on the alert for the Uxbridge family carriage that she could have +had little enjoyment of the ride. Rocks never were a passion with +her, she said, nor promontories, chasms, or sand. She came to +Newport to be washed with salt-water; when she had washed up to the +doctor's prescription she should leave, as ignorant of the peculiar +pleasures of Newport as when she arrived. She had no fancy for its +conglomerate societies, its literary cottages, its parvenue suits +of rooms, its saloon habits, and its bathing herds. + +I considered the rides a part of the contract of what was +expected in my two months' performance. I did not dream that I was +enjoying them, any more than I supposed myself to be enjoying a +sea-bath while pulling Aunt Eliza to and fro in the surf. Nothing +in the life around me stirred me, nothing in nature attracted me. +I liked the fog; somehow it seemed to emanate from me instead of +rolling up from the ocean, and to represent me. Whether I went +alone or not, the coachman was ordered to drive a certain round; +after that I could extend the ride in whatever direction I pleased, +but I always said, "Anywhere, William." One afternoon, which +happened to be a bright one, I was riding on the road which led to +the glen, when I heard the screaming of a flock of geese which were +waddling across the path in front of the horses. I started, for I +was asleep probably, and, looking forward, saw the Uxbridge +carriage, filled with ladies and children, coming toward me; and by +it rode a gentleman on horseback. His horse was rearing among the +hissing geese, but neither horse nor geese appeared to engage him; +his eyes were fixed upon me. The horse swerved so near that its +long mane almost brushed against me. By an irresistible impulse I +laid my ungloved hand upon it, but did not look at the rider. +Carriage and horseman passed on, and William resumed his pace. A +vague idea took possession of me that I had seen the horseman +before on my various drives. I had a vision of a man galloping on +a black horse out of the fog, and into it again. I was very sure, +however, that I had never seen him on so pleasant a day as this! +William did not bring his horses to time; it was after six when I +went into Aunt Eliza's parlor, and found her impatient for her tea +and toast. She was crosser than the occasion warranted; but I +understood it when she gave me the outlines of a letter she desired +me to write to her lawyer in New York. Something had turned up, he +had written her; the Uxbridges believed that they had ferreted out +what would go against her. I told her that I had met the Uxbridge +carriage. + +"One of them is in New York; how else could they be giving me +trouble just now?" + +"There was a gentleman on horseback beside the carriage." + +"Did he look mean and cunning?" + +"He did not wear his legal beaver up, I think; but he rode a fine +horse and sat it well." + +"A lawyer on horseback should, like the beggar of the adage, ride +to the devil." + +"Your business now is the 'Lemorne?'" + +"You know it is." + +"I did not know but that you had found something besides to +litigate." + +"It must have been Edward Uxbridge that you saw. He is the brain +of the firm." + +"You expect Mr. Van Horn?" + +"Oh, he must come; I can not be writing letters." + +We had been in Newport two weeks when Mr. Van Horn, Aunt Eliza's +lawyer, came. He said that he would see Mr. Edward Uxbridge. +Between them they might delay a term, which he thought would be +best. "Would Miss Huell ever be ready for a compromise?" he +jestingly asked. + +"Are you suspicious?" she inquired. + +"No; but the Uxbridge chaps are clever." + +He dined with us; and at four o'clock Aunt Eliza graciously asked +him to take a seat in the carriage with me, making some excuse for +not going herself. + +"Hullo!" said Mr. Van Horn when we had reached the country road; +"there's Uxbridge now." And he waved his hand to him. + +It was indeed the black horse and the same rider that I had met. +He reined up beside us, and shook hands with Mr. Van Horn. + +"We are required to answer this new complaint?" said Mr. Van +Horn. + +Mr. Uxbridge nodded. + +"And after that the judgment?" + +Mr. Uxbridge laughed. + +"I wish that certain gore of land had been sunk instead of being +mapped in 1835." + + +"The surveyor did his business well enough, I am sure." + +They talked together in a low voice for a few minutes, and then +Mr. Van Horn leaned back in his seat again. "Allow me," he said, +"to introduce you, Uxbridge, to Miss Margaret Huell, Miss Huell's +niece. Huell *vs.* Brown, you know," he added, in an explanatory +tone; for I was Huell *vs.* Brown's daughter. +"Oh!" said Mr. Uxbridge bowing, and looking at me gravely. I +looked at him also; he was a pale, stern-looking man, and forty +years old certainly. I derived the impression at once that he had +a domineering disposition, perhaps from the way in which he +controlled his horse. + +"Nice beast that," said Mr. Van Horn. + +"Yes," he answered, laying his hand on its mane, so that the +action brought immediately to my mind the recollection that I had +done so too. I would not meet his eye again, however. + +"How long shall you remain, Uxbridge?" + +"I don't know. You are not interested in the lawsuit, Miss +Huell?" he said, putting on his hat. + +"Not in the least; nothing of mine is involved." + +"We'll gain it for your portion yet, Miss Margaret," said Mr. Van +Horn, nodding to Mr. Uxbridge, and bidding William drive on. He +returned the next day, and we settled into the routine of hotel +life. A few mornings after, she sent me to a matinee, which was +given by some of the Opera people, who were in Newport +strengthening the larynx with applications of brine. When the +concert was half over, and the audience were making the usual hum +and stir, I saw Mr. Uxbridge against a pillar, with his hands +incased in pearl-colored gloves, and holding a shiny hat. He turned +half away when he caught my eye, and then darted toward me. + +"You have not been much more interested in the music than you are +in the lawsuit," he said, seating himself beside me. + +"The *tutoyer* of the Italian voice is agreeable, however." + +"It makes one dreamy." + +"A child." + +"Yes, a child; not a man nor a woman." + +"I teach music. I can not dream over 'one, two, three.'" + + +"*You*--a music teacher!" + +"For six years." + +I was aware that he looked at me from head to foot, and I picked +at the lace on my invariable black silk; but what did it matter +whether I owned that I was a genteel pauper, representing my aunt's +position for two months, or not? + +"Where?" + +"In Waterbury." + +"Waterbury differs from Newport." + +"I suppose so." + +"You suppose!" + +A young gentleman sauntered by us, and Mr. Uxbridge called to him +to look up the Misses Uxbridge, his nieces, on the other side of +the hall. + +"Paterfamilias Uxbridge has left his brood in my charge," he +said. "I try to do my duty," and he held out a twisted pearl- +colored glove, which he had pulled off while talking. What white +nervous fingers he had! I thought they might pinch like steel. + +"You suppose," he repeated. + +"I do not look at Newport." + +"Have you observed Waterbury?" + +"I observe what is in my sphere." + +"Oh!" + +He was silent then. The second part of the concert began; but I +could not compose myself to appreciation. Either the music or I +grew chaotic. So many tumultuous sounds I heard--of hope, doubt, +inquiry, melancholy, and desire; or did I feel the emotions which +these words express? Or was there magnetism stealing into me from +the quiet man beside me? He left me with a bow before the concert +was over, and I saw him making his way out of the hall when it was +finished. + +I had been sent in the carriage, of course; but several carriages +were in advance of it before the walk, and I waited there for +William to drive up. When he did so, I saw by the oscillatory +motion of his head, though his arms and whiphand were perfectly +correct, that he was inebriated. It was his first occasion of +meeting fellow-coachmen in full dress, and the occasion had proved +too much for him. My hand, however, was on the coach door, when I +heard Mr. Uxbridge say, at my elbow, + +"It is not safe for you." + +"Oh, Sir, it is in the programme that I ride home from the +concert." And I prepared to step in. + +"I shall sit on the box, then." + +"But your nieces?" + +"They are walking home, squired by a younger knight." + +Aunt Eliza would say, I thought, "Needs must when a lawyer +drives"; and I concluded to allow him to have his way, telling him +that he was taking a great deal of trouble. He thought it would be +less if he were allowed to sit inside; both ways were unsafe. + +Nothing happened. William drove well from habit; but James was +obliged to assist him to dismount. Mr. Uxbridge waited a moment at +the door, and so there was quite a little sensation, which spread +its ripples till Aunt Eliza was reached. She sent for William, +whose only excuse was "dampness." + +"Uxbridge knew my carriage, of course," she said, with a +complacent voice. +"He knew me," I replied. + +"You do not look like the Huells." + +"I look precisely like the young woman to whom he was introduced +by Mr. Van Horn." + +"Oh ho!" + +"He thought it unsafe for me to come alone under William's +charge." + +"Ah ha!" + +No more was said on the subject of his coming home with me. Aunt +Eliza had several fits of musing in the course of the evening while +I read aloud to her, which had no connection with the subject of +the book. As I put it down she said that it would be well for me to +go to church the next day. I acquiesced, but remarked that my piety +would not require the carriage, and that I preferred to walk. +Besides, it would be well for William and James to attend divine +service. She could not spare James, and thought William had better +clean the harness, by way of penance. + +The morning proved to be warm and sunny. I donned a muslin dress +of home manufacture and my own bonnet, and started for church. I +had walked but a few paces when the consciousness of being *free* +and *alone* struck me. I halted, looked about me, and concluded +that I would not go to church, but walk into the fields. I had no +knowledge of the whereabouts of the fields; but I walked straight +forward, and after a while came upon some barren fields, cropping +with coarse rocks, along which ran a narrow road. I turned into it, +and soon saw beyond the rough coast the blue ring of the ocean-- +vast, silent, and splendid in the sunshine. I found a seat on the +ruins of an old stone-wall, among some tangled bushes and briers. +There being no Aunt Eliza to pull through the surf, and no animated +bathers near, I discovered the beauty of the sea, and that I loved +it. + +Presently I heard the steps of a horse, and, to my astonishment, +Mr. Uxbridge rode past. I was glad he did not know me. I watched +him as he rode slowly down the road, deep in thought. He let drop +the bridle, and the horse stopped, as if accustomed to the +circumstance, and pawed the ground gently, or yawed his neck for +pastime. Mr. Uxbridge folded his arms and raised his head to look +seaward. It seemed to me as if he were about to address the jury. +I had dropped so entirely from my observance of the landscape that +I jumped when he resumed the bridle and turned his horse to come +back. I slipped from my seat to look among the bushes, determined +that he should not recognize me; but my attempt was a failure--he +did not ride by the second time. + +"Miss Huell!" And he jumped from his saddle, slipping his arm +through the bridle. + +"I am a runaway. What do you think of the Fugitive Slave Bill?" + +"I approve of returning property to its owners." + +"The sea must have been God's temple first, instead of the +groves." + +"I believe the Saurians were an Orthodox tribe." + +"Did you stop yonder to ponder the sea?" + +"I was pondering 'Lemorne vs. Huell.'" + +He looked at me earnestly, and then gave a tug at the bridle, for +his steed was inclined to make a crude repast from the bushes. + +"How was it that I did not detect you at once?" he continued. + +"My apparel is Waterbury apparel." + +"Ah!" + +We walked up the road slowly till we came to the end of it; then +I stopped for him to understand that I thought it time for him to +leave me. He sprang into the saddle. + +"Give us good-by!" he said, bringing his horse close to me. + +"We are not on equal terms; I feel too humble afoot to salute +you." + +"Put your foot on the stirrup then." + +A leaf stuck in the horse's forelock, and I pulled it off and +waved it in token of farewell. A powerful light shot into his eyes +when he saw my hand close on the leaf. + +"May I come and see you?" he asked, abruptly. "I will." + +"I shall say neither 'No' or 'Yes.'" + +He rode on at a quick pace, and I walked homeward forgetting the +sense of liberty I had started with, and proceeded straightway to +Aunt Eliza. + +"I have not been to church, aunt, but to walk beyond the town; +it was not so nominated in the bond, but I went. The taste of +freedom was so pleasant that I warn you there is danger of my +'striking.' When will you have done with Newport?" + +"I am pleased with Newport now," she answered, with a curious +intonation. "I like it." + +"I do also." + +Her keen eyes sparkled. +"Did you ever like anything when you were with me before?" + +"Never. I will tell you why I like it: because I have met, and +shall probably meet, Mr. Uxbridge. I saw him to-day. He asked +permission to visit me." + +"Let him come." + +"He will come." + +But we did not see him either at the hotel or when we went +abroad. Aunt Eliza rode with me each afternoon, and each morning we +went to the beach. She engaged me every moment when at home, and I +faithfully performed all my tasks. I clapped to the door on self- +investigation--locked it against any analysis or reasoning upon any +circumstance connected with Mr. Uxbridge. The only piece of +treachery to my code that I was guilty of was the putting of the +leaf which I brought home on Sunday between the leaves of that poem +whose motto is, + + "Mariana in the moated grange." + +On Saturday morning, nearly a week after I saw him on my walk, +Aunt Eliza proposed that we should go to Turo Street on a shopping +excursion; she wanted a cap, and various articles besides. As we +went into a large shop I saw Mr. Uxbridge at a counter buying +gloves; her quick eye caught sight of him, and she edged away, +saying she would look at some goods on the other side; I might wait +where I was. As he turned to go out he saw me and stopped. + +"I have been in New York since I saw you," he said. "Mr. Lemorne +sent for me." + +"There is my aunt," I said. + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"I shall not go away soon again," he remarked. "I missed Newport +greatly." + +I made some foolish reply, and kept my eyes on Aunt Eliza, who +dawdled unaccountably. He appeared amused, and after a little talk +went away. + +Aunt Eliza's purchase was a rose-colored moire antique, which she +said was to be made for me; for Mrs. Bliss, one of our hotel +acquaintances, had offered to chaperon me to the great ball which +would come off in a few days, and she had accepted the offer for +me. + +"There will be no chance for you to take a walk instead," she +finished with. + +"I can not dance, you know." + +"But you will be *there*." + + +I was sent to a dress-maker of Mrs. Bliss's recommending; but I +ordered the dress to be made after my own design, long plain +sleeves, and high plain corsage, and requested that it should not +be sent home till the evening of the ball. Before it came off Mr. +Uxbridge called, and was graciously received by Aunt Eliza, who +could be gracious to all except her relatives. I could not but +perceive, however, that they watched each other in spite of their +lively conversation. To me he was deferential, but went over the +ground of our acquaintance as if it had been the most natural thing +in the world. But for my life-long habit of never calling in +question the behavior of those I came in contact with, and of never +expecting any thing different from that I received, I might have +wondered over his visit. Every person's individuality was sacred to +me, from the fact, perhaps, that my own individuality had never +been respected by any person with whom I had any relation--not even +by my own mother. + +After Mr. Uxbridge went, I asked Aunt Eliza if she thought he +looked mean and cunning? She laughed, and replied that she was +bound to think that Mr. Lemorne's lawyer could not look otherwise. + +When, on the night of the ball, I presented myself in the rose- +colored moire antique for her inspection, she raised her eyebrows, +but said nothing about it. + +"I need not be careful of it, I suppose, aunt?" + +"Spill as much wine and ice-cream on it as you like." + +In the dressing-room Mrs. Bliss surveyed me. + +"I think I like this mass of rose-color," she said. "Your hair +comes out in contrast so brilliantly. Why, you have not a single +ornament on!" + +"It is so easy to dress without." + +This was all the conversation we had together during the evening, +except when she introduced some acquaintance to fulfill her +matronizing duties. As I was no dancer I was left alone most of the +time, and amused myself by gliding from window to window along the +wall, that it might not be observed that I was a fixed flower. +Still I suffered the annoyance of being stared at by wandering +squads of young gentlemen, the "curled darlings" of the ball-room. +I borrowed Mrs. Bliss's fan in one of her visits for a protection. +With that, and the embrasure of a remote window where I finally +stationed myself, I hoped to escape further notice. The music of +the celebrated band which played between the dances recalled the +chorus of spirits which charmed Faust: + + "And the fluttering + Ribbons of drapery + Cover the plains, + Cover the bowers, + Where lovers, + Deep in thought, + Give themselves for life." + +The voice of Mrs. Bliss broke its spell. + +"I bring an old friend, Miss Huell, and he tells me an +acquaintance of yours." + +It was Mr. Uxbridge. + +"I had no thought of meeting you, Miss Huell." + +And he coolly took the seat beside me in the window, leaving to +Mrs. Bliss the alternative of standing or of going away; she chose +the latter. + +"I saw you as soon as I came in," he said, "gliding from window +to window, like a vessel hugging the shore in a storm." + +"With colors at half-mast; I have no dancing partner." + +"How many have observed you?" + +"Several young gentlemen." + +"Moths." + +"Oh no, butterflies." + +"They must keep away now." + +"Are you Rhadamanthus?" + +"And Charon, too. I would have you row in the same boat with me." + +"Now you are fishing." + +"Won't you compliment me. Did I ever look better?" + +His evening costume *was* becoming, but he looked pale, and weary, +and disturbed. But if we were engaged for a tournament, as his +behavior indicated, I must do my best at telling. So I told him +that he never looked better, and asked him how I looked. He would +look at me presently, he said, and decide. Mrs. Bliss skimmed by us +with nods and smiles; as she vanished our eyes followed her, and we +talked vaguely on various matters, sounding ourselves and each +other. When a furious redowa set in which cut our conversation into +rhythm he pushed up the window and said, "Look out." + +I turned my face to him to do so, and saw the moon at the full, +riding through the strip of sky which our vision commanded. From +the moon our eyes fell on each other. After a moment's silence, +during which I returned his steadfast gaze, for I could not help +it, he said: +"If we understand the impression we make upon each other, what +must be said?" + +I made no reply, but fanned myself, neither looking at the moon, +nor upon the redowa, nor upon any thing. + +He took the fan from me. + +"Speak of yourself," he said. + +"Speak you." + +"I am what I seem, a man within your sphere. By all the accidents +of position and circumstance suited to it. Have you not learned +it?" + +"I am not what I seem. I never wore so splendid a dress as this +till tonight, and shall not again." + +He gave the fan such a twirl that its slender sticks snapped, and +it dropped like the broken wing of a bird. + +"Mr. Uxbridge, that fan belongs to Mrs. Bliss." + +He threw it out of the window. + +"You have courage, fidelity, and patience--this character with +a passionate soul. I am sure that you have such a soul?" + + +"I do not know." + +"I have fallen in love with you. It happened on the very day when +I passed you on the way to the Glen. I never got away from the +remembrance of seeing your hand on the mane of my horse." + +He waited for me to speak, but I could not; the balance of my +mind was gone. Why should this have happened to me--a slave? As it +had happened, why did I not feel exultant in the sense of power +which the chance for freedom with him should give? + +"What is it, Margaret? your face is as sad as death." + +"How do you call me 'Margaret?'" + +"As I would call my wife--Margaret." + +He rose and stood before me to screen my face from observation. +I supposed so, and endeavored to stifle my agitation. + +"You are better," he said, presently. "Come go with me and get +some refreshment." And he beckoned to Mrs. Bliss, who was down the +hall with an unwieldy gentleman. + +"Will you go to supper now?" she asked. +"We are only waiting for you," Mr. Uxbridge answered, offering +me his arm. + +When we emerged into the blaze and glitter of the supper-room I +sought refuge in the shadow of Mrs. Bliss's companion, for it +seemed to me that I had lost my own. + +"Drink this Champagne," said Mr. Uxbridge. "Pay no attention to +the Colonel on your left; he won't expect it." + +"Neither must you." + +"Drink." + +The Champagne did not prevent me from reflecting on the fact that +he had not yet asked whether I loved him. + +The spirit chorus again floated through my mind: + + "Where lovers, + Deep in thought, + *Give* themselves for life." + +I was not allowed to *give* myself--I was *taken*. + +"No heel-taps," he whispered, "to the bottom quaff." + +"Take me home, will you?" + +"Mrs. Bliss is not ready." + +"Tell her that I must go." + +He went behind her chair and whispered something, and she nodded +to me to go without her. + +When her carriage came up, I think he gave the coachman an order +to drive home in a round-about way, for we were a long time reaching +it. I kept my face to the window, and he made no effort to divert +my attention. When we came to a street whose thick rows of trees +shut out the moonlight my eager soul longed to leap out into the +dark and demand of him his heart, soul, life, for *me*. + +I struck him lightly on the shoulder; he seized my hand. + +"Oh, I know you, Margaret; you are mine!" + +"We are at the hotel." + +He sent the carriage back, and said that he would leave me at my +aunt's door. He wished that he could see her then. Was it magic +that made her open the door before I reached it? + +"Have you come on legal business?" she asked him. + +"You have divined what I come for." + +"Step in, step in; it's very late. I should have been in bed but +for neuralgia. Did Mr. Uxbridge come home with you, Margaret?" + +"Yes, in Mrs. Bliss's carriage; I wished to come before she was +ready to leave." + +"Well, Mr. Uxbridge is old enough for your protector, certainly." + +"I *am* forty, ma'am." + +"Do you want Margaret?" + +"I do." + +"You know exactly how much is involved in your client's suit?" + +"Exactly." + +"You know also that his claim is an unjust one." + +"Do I?" + +"I shall not be poor if I lose; if I gain, Margaret will be +rich." + +"'Margaret will be rich,'" he repeated, absently. + +"What! have you changed your mind respecting the orphans, aunt?" + +"She has, and is--nothing," she went on, not heeding my remark. +"Her father married below his station; when he died his wife fell +back to her place--for he spent his fortune--and there she and +Margaret must remain, unless Lemorne is defeated." + +"Aunt, for your succinct biography of my position many thanks." + +"Sixty thousand dollars," she continued. "Van Horn tells me that, +as yet, the firm of Uxbridge Brothers have only an income--no +capital." + +"It is true," he answered, musingly. + +The clock on the mantle struck two. + +"A thousand dollars for every year of my life," she said. "You +and I, Uxbridge, know the value and beauty of money. + +"Yes, there is beauty in money, and"--looking at me--"beauty +without it." + +"The striking of the clock," I soliloquized, "proves that this +scene is not a phantasm." + +"Margaret is fatigued," he said, rising. "May I come to-morrow?" + + +"It is my part only," replied Aunt Eliza, "to see that she is, +or is not, Cinderella." + +"If you have ever thought of me, aunt, as an individual, you must +have seen that I am not averse to ashes." + +He held my hand a moment, and then kissed me with a kiss of +appropriation. + +"He is in love with you," she said, after he had gone. "I think +I know him. He has found beauty ignorant of itself; he will teach +you to develop it." + +The next morning Mr. Uxbridge had an interview with Aunt Eliza +before he saw me. + +When we were alone I asked him how her eccentricities affected +him; he could not but consider her violent, prejudiced, warped, and +whimsical. I told him that I had been taught to accept all that she +did on this basis. Would this explain to him my silence in regard +to her? + +"Can you endure to live with her in Bond Street for the present, +or would you rather return to Waterbury?" + +"She desires my company while she is in Newport only. I have +never been with her so long before." + +"I understand her. Law is a game, in her estimation, in which +cheating can as easily be carried on as at cards." + +"Her soul is in this case." + +"Her soul is not too large for it. Will you ride this afternoon?" + +I promised, of course. From that time till he left Newport we saw +each other every day, and though I found little opportunity to +express my own peculiar feelings, he comprehended many of my +wishes, and all my tastes. I grew fond of him hourly. Had I not +reason? Never was friend so considerate, never was lover more +devoted. + +When he had been gone a few days, Aunt Eliza declared that she +was ready to depart from Newport. The rose-colored days were ended! +In two days we were on the Sound, coach, horses, servants, and +ourselves. + +It was the 1st of September when we arrived in Bond Street. A +week from that date Samuel Uxbridge, the senior partner of Uxbridge +Brothers, went to Europe with his family, and I went to Waterbury, +accompanied by Mr. Uxbridge. He consulted mother in regard to our +marriage, and appointed it in November. In October Aunt Eliza sent +for me to come back to Bond Street and spend a week. She had some +fine marking to do, she wrote. While there I noticed a restlessness +in her which I had never before observed, and conferred with Mrs. +Roll on the matter. "She do be awake nights a deal, and that's the +reason," Mrs. Roll said. Her manner was the same in other respects. +She said she would not give me any thing for my wedding outfit, but +she paid my fare from Waterbury and back. + +She could not spare me to go out, she told Mr. Uxbridge, and in +consequence I saw little of him while there. + +In November we were married. Aunt Eliza was not at the wedding, +which was a quiet one. Mr. Uxbridge desired me to remain in +Waterbury till spring. He would not decide about taking a house in +New York till then; by that time his brother might return, and if +possible we would go to Europe for a few months. I acquiesced in +all his plans. Indeed I was not consulted; but I was happy--happy +in him, and happy in every thing. + +The winter passed in waiting for him to come to Waterbury every +Saturday; and in the enjoyment of the two days he passed with me. +In March Aunt Eliza wrote me that Lemorne was beaten! Van Horn had +taken up the whole contents of his snuff-box in her house the +evening before in amazement at the turn things had taken. + +That night I dreamed of the scene in the hotel at Newport. I +heard Aunt Eliza saying, "If I gain, Margaret will be rich." And I +heard also the clock strike two. As it struck I said, "*My husband +is a scoundrel*," and woke with a start. + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Lemorne Versus Huell + diff --git a/old/lvssh10.zip b/old/lvssh10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3faf376 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/lvssh10.zip |