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diff --git a/old/lvssh10.txt b/old/lvssh10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6447d91 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/lvssh10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1189 @@ +******The Project Gutenberg Etext of Lemorne Versus Huell****** + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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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 + |