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diff --git a/993-h/993-h.htm b/993-h/993-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..141a3b5 --- /dev/null +++ b/993-h/993-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6336 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Malbone, by Thomas Wentworth Higginson + </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"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Malbone, by Thomas Wentworth Higginson + +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: Malbone + An Oldport Romance + +Author: Thomas Wentworth Higginson + +Release Date: July 27, 2008 [EBook #993] +Last Updated: November 8, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MALBONE *** + + + + +Produced by Judy Boss, and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + MALBONE + </h1> + <h2> + AN OLDPORT ROMANCE. + </h2> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Thomas Wentworth Higginson + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h4> + “What is Nature unless there is an eventful human life passing within her?<br /> + <br /> Many joys and many sorrows are the lights and shadows in which she + shows most beautiful."<br /> <br /> —THOREAU, MS. Diary. + </h4> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> <b>MALBONE.</b> </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> PRELUDE. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> I. AN ARRIVAL. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> II. PLACE AUX DAMES! </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> III. A DRIVE ON THE AVENUE. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> IV. AUNT JANE DEFINES HER POSITION. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> V. A MULTIVALVE HEART. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> VI. “SOME LOVER’S CLEAR DAY.” </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> VII. AN INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> VIII. TALKING IT OVER. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> IX. DANGEROUS WAYS. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0012"> X. REMONSTRANCES. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0013"> XI. DESCENSUS AVERNI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0014"> XII. A NEW ENGAGEMENT. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0015"> XIII. DREAMING DREAMS. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0016"> XIV. THE NEMESIS OF PASSION. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0017"> XV. ACROSS THE BAY. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0018"> XVI. ON THE STAIRS. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0019"> XVII. DISCOVERY. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0020"> XVIII. HOPE’S VIGIL. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0021"> XIX. DE PROFUNDIS. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0022"> XX. AUNT JANE TO THE RESCUE. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0023"> XXI. A STORM. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0024"> XXII. OUT OF THE DEPTHS. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0025"> XXIII. REQUIESCAT. </a> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h1> + MALBONE. + </h1> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PRELUDE. + </h2> + <p> + AS one wanders along this southwestern promontory of the Isle of Peace, + and looks down upon the green translucent water which forever bathes the + marble slopes of the Pirates’ Cave, it is natural to think of the ten + wrecks with which the past winter has strewn this shore. Though almost all + trace of their presence is already gone, yet their mere memory lends to + these cliffs a human interest. Where a stranded vessel lies, thither all + steps converge, so long as one plank remains upon another. There centres + the emotion. All else is but the setting, and the eye sweeps with + indifference the line of unpeopled rocks. They are barren, till the + imagination has tenanted them with possibilities of danger and dismay. The + ocean provides the scenery and properties of a perpetual tragedy, but the + interest arrives with the performers. Till then the shores remain vacant, + like the great conventional armchairs of the French drama, that wait for + Rachel to come and die. + </p> + <p> + Yet as I ride along this fashionable avenue in August, and watch the + procession of the young and fair,—as I look at stately houses, from + each of which has gone forth almost within my memory a funeral or a bride,—then + every thoroughfare of human life becomes in fancy but an ocean shore, with + its ripples and its wrecks. One learns, in growing older, that no fiction + can be so strange nor appear so improbable as would the simple truth; and + that doubtless even Shakespeare did but timidly transcribe a few of the + deeds and passions he had personally known. For no man of middle age can + dare trust himself to portray life in its full intensity, as he has + studied or shared it; he must resolutely set aside as indescribable the + things most worth describing, and must expect to be charged with + exaggeration, even when he tells the rest. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + I. AN ARRIVAL. + </h2> + <p> + IT was one of the changing days of our Oldport midsummer. In the morning + it had rained in rather a dismal way, and Aunt Jane had said she should + put it in her diary. It was a very serious thing for the elements when + they got into Aunt Jane’s diary. By noon the sun came out as clear and + sultry as if there had never been a cloud, the northeast wind died away, + the bay was motionless, the first locust of the summer shrilled from the + elms, and the robins seemed to be serving up butterflies hot for their + insatiable second brood, while nothing seemed desirable for a human + luncheon except ice-cream and fans. In the afternoon the southwest wind + came up the bay, with its line of dark-blue ripple and its delicious + coolness; while the hue of the water grew more and more intense, till we + seemed to be living in the heart of a sapphire. + </p> + <p> + The household sat beneath the large western doorway of the old Maxwell + House,—he rear door, which looks on the water. The house had just + been reoccupied by my Aunt Jane, whose great-grandfather had built it, + though it had for several generations been out of the family. I know no + finer specimen of those large colonial dwellings in which the genius of + Sir Christopher Wren bequeathed traditions of stateliness to our + democratic days. Its central hall has a carved archway; most of the rooms + have painted tiles and are wainscoted to the ceiling; the sashes are + red-cedar, the great staircase mahogany; there are pilasters with delicate + Corinthian capitals; there are cherubs’ heads and wings that go astray and + lose themselves in closets and behind glass doors; there are curling + acanthus-leaves that cluster over shelves and ledges, and there are those + graceful shell-patterns which one often sees on old furniture, but rarely + in houses. The high front door still retains its Ionic cornice; and the + western entrance, looking on the bay, is surmounted by carved fruit and + flowers, and is crowned, as is the roof, with that pineapple in whose + symbolic wealth the rich merchants of the last century delighted. + </p> + <p> + Like most of the statelier houses in that region of Oldport, this abode + had its rumors of a ghost and of secret chambers. The ghost had never been + properly lionized nor laid, for Aunt Jane, the neatest of housekeepers, + had discouraged all silly explorations, had at once required all barred + windows to be opened, all superfluous partitions to be taken down, and + several highly eligible dark-closets to be nailed up. If there was + anything she hated, it was nooks and odd corners. Yet there had been times + that year, when the household would have been glad to find a few more such + hiding-places; for during the first few weeks the house had been crammed + with guests so closely that the very mice had been ill-accommodated and + obliged to sit up all night, which had caused them much discomfort and + many audible disagreements. + </p> + <p> + But this first tumult had passed away; and now there remained only the + various nephews and nieces of the house, including a due proportion of + small children. Two final guests were to arrive that day, bringing the + latest breath of Europe on their wings,—Philip Malbone, Hope’s + betrothed; and little Emilia, Hope’s half-sister. + </p> + <p> + None of the family had seen Emilia since her wandering mother had taken + her abroad, a fascinating spoiled child of four, and they were all eager + to see in how many ways the succeeding twelve years had completed or + corrected the spoiling. As for Philip, he had been spoiled, as Aunt Jane + declared, from the day of his birth, by the joint effort of all friends + and neighbors. Everybody had conspired to carry on the process except Aunt + Jane herself, who directed toward him one of her honest, steady, immovable + dislikes, which may be said to have dated back to the time when his father + and mother were married, some years before he personally entered on the + scene. + </p> + <p> + The New York steamer, detained by the heavy fog of the night before, now + came in unwonted daylight up the bay. At the first glimpse, Harry and the + boys pushed off in the row-boat; for, as one of the children said, anybody + who had been to Venice would naturally wish to come to the very house in a + gondola. In another half-hour there was a great entanglement of embraces + at the water-side, for the guests had landed. + </p> + <p> + Malbone’s self-poised easy grace was the same as ever; his chestnut-brown + eyes were as winning, his features as handsome; his complexion, too + clearly pink for a man, had a sea bronze upon it: he was the same Philip + who had left home, though with some added lines of care. But in the + brilliant little fairy beside him all looked in vain for the Emilia they + remembered as a child. Her eyes were more beautiful than ever,—the + darkest violet eyes, that grew luminous with thought and almost black with + sorrow. Her gypsy taste, as everybody used to call it, still showed itself + in the scarlet and dark blue of her dress; but the clouded gypsy tint had + gone from her cheek, and in its place shone a deep carnation, so hard and + brilliant that it appeared to be enamelled on the surface, yet so firm and + deep-dyed that it seemed as if not even death could ever blanch it. There + is a kind of beauty that seems made to be painted on ivory, and such was + hers. Only the microscopic pencil of a miniature-painter could portray + those slender eyebrows, that arched caressingly over the beautiful eyes,—or + the silky hair of darkest chestnut that crept in a wavy line along the + temples, as if longing to meet the brows,—or those unequalled + lashes! “Unnecessarily long,” Aunt Jane afterwards pronounced them; while + Kate had to admit that they did indeed give Emilia an overdressed look at + breakfast, and that she ought to have a less showy set to match her + morning costume. + </p> + <p> + But what was most irresistible about Emilia,—that which we all + noticed in this interview, and which haunted us all thenceforward,—was + a certain wild, entangled look she wore, as of some untamed out-door + thing, and a kind of pathetic lost sweetness in her voice, which made her + at once and forever a heroine of romance with the children. Yet she + scarcely seemed to heed their existence, and only submitted to the kisses + of Hope and Kate as if that were a part of the price of coming home, and + she must pay it. + </p> + <p> + Had she been alone, there might have been an awkward pause; for if you + expect a cousin, and there alights a butterfly of the tropics, what + hospitality can you offer? But no sense of embarrassment ever came near + Malbone, especially with the children to swarm over him and claim him for + their own. Moreover, little Helen got in the first remark in the way of + serious conversation. + </p> + <p> + “Let me tell him something!” said the child. “Philip! that doll of mine + that you used to know, only think! she was sick and died last summer, and + went into the rag-bag. And the other split down the back, so there was an + end of her.” + </p> + <p> + Polar ice would have been thawed by this reopening of communication. + Philip soon had the little maid on his shoulder,—the natural throne + of all children,—and they went in together to greet Aunt Jane. + </p> + <p> + Aunt Jane was the head of the house,—a lady who had spent more than + fifty years in educating her brains and battling with her ailments. She + had received from her parents a considerable inheritance in the way of + whims, and had nursed it up into a handsome fortune. Being one of the most + impulsive of human beings, she was naturally one of the most entertaining; + and behind all her eccentricities there was a fund of the soundest sense + and the tenderest affection. She had seen much and varied society, had + been greatly admired in her youth, but had chosen to remain unmarried. + Obliged by her physical condition to make herself the first object, she + was saved from utter selfishness by sympathies as democratic as her + personal habits were exclusive. Unexpected and commonly fantastic in her + doings, often dismayed by small difficulties, but never by large ones, she + sagaciously administered the affairs of all those around her,—planned + their dinners and their marriages, fought out their bargains and their + feuds. + </p> + <p> + She hated everything irresolute or vague; people might play at + cat’s-cradle or study Spinoza, just as they pleased; but, whatever they + did, they must give their minds to it. She kept house from an easy-chair, + and ruled her dependants with severity tempered by wit, and by the very + sweetest voice in which reproof was ever uttered. She never praised them, + but if they did anything particularly well, rebuked them retrospectively, + asking why they had never done it well before? But she treated them + munificently, made all manner of plans for their comfort, and they all + thought her the wisest and wittiest of the human race. So did the youths + and maidens of her large circle; they all came to see her, and she + counselled, admired, scolded, and petted them all. She had the gayest + spirits, and an unerring eye for the ludicrous, and she spoke her mind + with absolute plainness to all comers. Her intuitions were instantaneous + as lightning, and, like that, struck very often in the wrong place. She + was thus extremely unreasonable and altogether charming. + </p> + <p> + Such was the lady whom Emilia and Malbone went up to greet,—the one + shyly, the other with an easy assurance, such as she always disliked. + Emilia submitted to another kiss, while Philip pressed Aunt Jane’s hand, + as he pressed all women’s, and they sat down. + </p> + <p> + “Now begin to tell your adventures,” said Kate. “People always tell their + adventures till tea is ready.” + </p> + <p> + “Who can have any adventures left,” said Philip, “after such letters as I + wrote you all?” + </p> + <p> + “Of which we got precisely one!” said Kate. “That made it such an event, + after we had wondered in what part of the globe you might be looking for + the post-office! It was like finding a letter in a bottle, or + disentangling a person from the Dark Ages.” + </p> + <p> + “I was at Neuchatel two months; but I had no adventures. I lodged with a + good Pasteur, who taught me geology and German.” + </p> + <p> + “That is suspicious,” said Kate. “Had he a daughter passing fair?” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed he had.” + </p> + <p> + “And you taught her English? That is what these beguiling youths always do + in novels.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “What was her name?” + </p> + <p> + “Lili.” + </p> + <p> + “What a pretty name! How old was she?” + </p> + <p> + “She was six.” + </p> + <p> + “O Philip!” cried Kate; “but I might have known it. Did she love you very + much?” + </p> + <p> + Hope looked up, her eyes full of mild reproach at the possibility of + doubting any child’s love for Philip. He had been her betrothed for more + than a year, during which time she had habitually seen him wooing every + child he had met as if it were a woman,—which, for Philip, was + saying a great deal. Happily they had in common the one trait of perfect + amiability, and she knew no more how to be jealous than he to be constant. + </p> + <p> + “Lili was easily won,” he said. “Other things being equal, people of six + prefer that man who is tallest.” + </p> + <p> + “Philip is not so very tall,” said the eldest of the boys, who was + listening eagerly, and growing rapidly. + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Philip, meekly. “But then the Pasteur was short, and his + brother was a dwarf.” + </p> + <p> + “When Lili found that she could reach the ceiling from Mr. Malbone’s + shoulder,” said Emilia, “she asked no more.” + </p> + <p> + “Then you knew the pastor’s family also, my child,” said Aunt Jane, + looking at her kindly and a little keenly. + </p> + <p> + “I was allowed to go there sometimes,” she began, timidly. + </p> + <p> + “To meet her American Cousin,” interrupted Philip. “I got some relaxation + in the rules of the school. But, Aunt Jane, you have told us nothing about + your health.” + </p> + <p> + “There is nothing to tell,” she answered. “I should like, if it were + convenient, to be a little better. But in this life, if one can walk + across the floor, and not be an idiot, it is something. That is all I aim + at.” + </p> + <p> + “Isn’t it rather tiresome?” said Emilia, as the elder lady happened to + look at her. + </p> + <p> + “Not at all,” said Aunt Jane, composedly. “I naturally fall back into + happiness, when left to myself.” + </p> + <p> + “So you have returned to the house of your fathers,” said Philip. “I hope + you like it.” + </p> + <p> + “It is commonplace in one respect,” said Aunt Jane. “General Washington + once slept here.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh!” said Philip. “It is one of that class of houses?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said she. “There is not a village in America that has not half a + dozen of them, not counting those where he only breakfasted. Did ever man + sleep like that man? What else could he ever have done? Who governed, I + wonder, while he was asleep? How he must have travelled! The swiftest + horse could scarcely have carried him from one of these houses to + another.” + </p> + <p> + “I never was attached to the memory of Washington,” meditated Philip; “but + I always thought it was the pear-tree. It must have been that he was such + a very unsettled person.” + </p> + <p> + “He certainly was not what is called a domestic character,” said Aunt + Jane. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose you are, Miss Maxwell,” said Philip. “Do you often go out?” + </p> + <p> + “Sometimes, to drive,” said Aunt Jane. “Yesterday I went shopping with + Kate, and sat in the carriage while she bought under-sleeves enough for a + centipede. It is always so with that child. People talk about the trouble + of getting a daughter ready to be married; but it is like being married + once a month to live with her.” + </p> + <p> + “I wonder that you take her to drive with you,” suggested Philip, + sympathetically. + </p> + <p> + “It is a great deal worse to drive without her,” said the impetuous lady. + “She is the only person who lets me enjoy things, and now I cannot enjoy + them in her absence. Yesterday I drove alone over the three beaches, and + left her at home with a dress-maker. Never did I see so many lines of + surf; but they only seemed to me like some of Kate’s ball-dresses, with + the prevailing flounces, six deep. I was so enraged that she was not + there, I wished to cover my face with my handkerchief. By the third beach + I was ready for the madhouse.” + </p> + <p> + “Is Oldport a pleasant place to live in?” asked Emilia, eagerly. + </p> + <p> + “It is amusing in the summer,” said Aunt Jane, “though the society is + nothing but a pack of visiting-cards. In winter it is too dull for young + people, and only suits quiet old women like me, who merely live here to + keep the Ten Commandments and darn their stockings.” + </p> + <p> + Meantime the children were aiming at Emilia, whose butterfly looks amazed + and charmed them, but who evidently did not know what to do with their + eager affection. + </p> + <p> + “I know about you,” said little Helen; “I know what you said when you were + little.” + </p> + <p> + “Did I say anything?” asked Emilia, carelessly. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” replied the child, and began to repeat the oft-told domestic + tradition in an accurate way, as if it were a school lesson. “Once you had + been naughty, and your papa thought it his duty to slap you, and you + cried; and he told you in French, because he always spoke French with you, + that he did not punish you for his own pleasure. Then you stopped crying, + and asked, ‘Pour le plaisir de qui alors?’ That means ‘For whose pleasure + then?’ Hope said it was a droll question for a little girl to ask.” + </p> + <p> + “I do not think it was Emilia who asked that remarkable question, little + girl,” said Kate. + </p> + <p> + “I dare say it was,” said Emilia; “I have been asking it all my life.” Her + eyes grew very moist, what with fatigue and excitement. But just then, as + is apt to happen in this world, they were all suddenly recalled from tears + to tea, and the children smothered their curiosity in strawberries and + cream. + </p> + <p> + They sat again beside the western door, after tea. The young moon came + from a cloud and dropped a broad path of glory upon the bay; a black yacht + glided noiselessly in, and anchored amid this tract of splendor. The + shadow of its masts was on the luminous surface, while their reflection + lay at a different angle, and seemed to penetrate far below. Then the + departing steamer went flashing across this bright realm with gorgeous + lustre; its red and green lights were doubled in the paler waves, its four + reflected chimneys chased each other among the reflected masts. This + jewelled wonder passing, a single fishing-boat drifted silently by, with + its one dark sail; and then the moon and the anchored yacht were left + alone. + </p> + <p> + Presently some of the luggage came from the wharf. Malbone brought out + presents for everybody; then all the family went to Europe in photographs, + and with some reluctance came back to America for bed. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + II. PLACE AUX DAMES! + </h2> + <p> + IN every town there is one young maiden who is the universal favorite, who + belongs to all sets and is made an exception to all family feuds, who is + the confidante of all girls and the adopted sister of all young men, up to + the time when they respectively offer themselves to her, and again after + they are rejected. This post was filled in Oldport, in those days, by my + cousin Kate. + </p> + <p> + Born into the world with many other gifts, this last and least definable + gift of popularity was added to complete them all. Nobody criticised her, + nobody was jealous of her, her very rivals lent her their new music and + their lovers; and her own discarded wooers always sought her to be a + bridesmaid when they married somebody else. + </p> + <p> + She was one of those persons who seem to have come into the world + well-dressed. There was an atmosphere of elegance around her, like a + costume; every attitude implied a presence-chamber or a ball-room. The + girls complained that in private theatricals no combination of disguises + could reduce Kate to the ranks, nor give her the “make-up” of a + waiting-maid. Yet as her father was a New York merchant of the precarious + or spasmodic description, she had been used from childhood to the wildest + fluctuations of wardrobe;—a year of Paris dresses,—then + another year spent in making over ancient finery, that never looked like + either finery or antiquity when it came from her magic hands. Without a + particle of vanity or fear, secure in health and good-nature and + invariable prettiness, she cared little whether the appointed means of + grace were ancient silk or modern muslin. In her periods of poverty, she + made no secret of the necessary devices; the other girls, of course, + guessed them, but her lovers never did, because she always told them. + There was one particular tarlatan dress of hers which was a sort of local + institution. It was known to all her companions, like the State House. + There was a report that she had first worn it at her christening; the + report originated with herself. The young men knew that she was going to + the party if she could turn that pink tarlatan once more; but they had + only the vaguest impression what a tarlatan was, and cared little on which + side it was worn, so long as Kate was inside. + </p> + <p> + During these epochs of privation her life, in respect to dress, was a + perpetual Christmas-tree of second-hand gifts. Wealthy aunts supplied her + with cast-off shoes of all sizes, from two and a half up to five, and she + used them all. She was reported to have worn one straw hat through five + changes of fashion. It was averred that, when square crowns were in vogue, + she flattened it over a tin pan, and that, when round crowns returned, she + bent it on the bedpost. There was such a charm in her way of adapting + these treasures, that the other girls liked to test her with new problems + in the way of millinery and dress-making; millionnaire friends implored + her to trim their hats, and lent her their own things in order to learn + how to wear them. This applied especially to certain rich cousins, shy and + studious girls, who adored her, and to whom society only ceased to be + alarming when the brilliant Kate took them under her wing, and graciously + accepted a few of their newest feathers. Well might they acquiesce, for + she stood by them superbly, and her most favored partners found no way to + her hand so sure as to dance systematically through that staid sisterhood. + Dear, sunshiny, gracious, generous Kate!—who has ever done justice + to the charm given to this grave old world by the presence of one + free-hearted and joyous girl? + </p> + <p> + At the time now to be described, however, Kate’s purse was well filled; + and if she wore only second-best finery, it was because she had lent her + very best to somebody else. All that her doting father asked was to pay + for her dresses, and to see her wear them; and if her friends wore a part + of them, it only made necessary a larger wardrobe, and more varied and + pleasurable shopping. She was as good a manager in wealth as in poverty, + wasted nothing, took exquisite care of everything, and saved faithfully + for some one else all that was not needed for her own pretty person. + </p> + <p> + Pretty she was throughout, from the parting of her jet-black hair to the + high instep of her slender foot; a glancing, brilliant, brunette beauty, + with the piquant charm of perpetual spirits, and the equipoise of a + perfectly healthy nature. She was altogether graceful, yet she had not the + fresh, free grace of her cousin Hope, who was lithe and strong as a + hawthorne spray: Kate’s was the narrower grace of culture grown + hereditary, an in-door elegance that was born in her, and of which + dancing-school was but the natural development. You could not picture Hope + to your mind in one position more than in another; she had an endless + variety of easy motion. When you thought of Kate, you remembered precisely + how she sat, how she stood, and how she walked. That was all, and it was + always the same. But is not that enough? We do not ask of Mary Stuart’s + portrait that it should represent her in more than one attitude, and why + should a living beauty need more than two or three? + </p> + <p> + Kate was betrothed to her cousin Harry, Hope’s brother, and, though she + was barely twenty, they had seemed to appertain to each other for a time + so long that the memory of man or maiden aunt ran not to the contrary. She + always declared, indeed, that they were born married, and that their + wedding-day would seem like a silver wedding. Harry was quiet, + unobtrusive, and manly. He might seem commonplace at first beside the + brilliant Kate and his more gifted sister; but thorough manhood is never + commonplace, and he was a person to whom one could anchor. His strong, + steadfast physique was the type of his whole nature; when he came into the + room, you felt as if a good many people had been added to the company. He + made steady progress in his profession of the law, through sheer worth; he + never dazzled, but he led. His type was pure Saxon, with short, curling + hair, blue eyes, and thin, fair skin, to which the color readily mounted. + Up to a certain point he was imperturbably patient and amiable, but, when + overtaxed, was fiery and impetuous for a single instant, and no more. It + seemed as if a sudden flash of anger went over him, like the flash that + glides along the glutinous stem of the fraxinella, when you touch it with + a candle; the next moment it had utterly vanished, and was forgotten as if + it had never been. + </p> + <p> + Kate’s love for her lover was one of those healthy and assured ties that + often outlast the ardors of more passionate natures. For other + temperaments it might have been inadequate; but theirs matched perfectly, + and it was all sufficient for them. If there was within Kate’s range a + more heroic and ardent emotion than that inspired by Harry, it was put + forth toward Hope. This was her idolatry; she always said that it was + fortunate Hope was Hal’s sister, or she should have felt it her duty to + give them to each other, and not die till the wedding was accomplished. + Harry shared this adoration to quite a reasonable extent, for a brother; + but his admiration for Philip Malbone was one that Kate did not quite + share. Harry’s quieter mood had been dazzled from childhood by Philip, who + had always been a privileged guest in the household. Kate’s clear, + penetrating, buoyant nature had divined Phil’s weaknesses, and had + sometimes laughed at them, even from her childhood; though she did not + dislike him, for she did not dislike anybody. But Harry was magnetized by + him very much as women were; believed him true, because he was tender, and + called him only fastidious where Kate called him lazy. + </p> + <p> + Kate was spending that summer with her aunt Jane, whose especial pet and + pride she was. Hope was spending there the summer vacation of a Normal + School in which she had just become a teacher. Her father had shared in + the family ups and downs, but had finally stayed down, while the rest had + remained up. Fortunately, his elder children were indifferent to this, and + indeed rather preferred it; it was a tradition that Hope had expressed the + wish, when a child, that her father might lose his property, so that she + could become a teacher. As for Harry, he infinitely preferred the drudgery + of a law office to that of a gentleman of leisure; and as for their + step-mother, it turned out, when she was left a widow, that she had + secured for herself and Emilia whatever property remained, so that she + suffered only the delightful need of living in Europe for economy. + </p> + <p> + The elder brother and sister had alike that fine physical vigor which New + England is now developing, just in time to save it from decay. Hope was of + Saxon type, though a shade less blonde than her brother; she was a little + taller, and of more commanding presence, with a peculiarly noble carriage + of the shoulders. Her brow was sometimes criticised as being a little too + full for a woman; but her nose was straight, her mouth and teeth + beautiful, and her profile almost perfect. Her complexion had lost by + out-door life something of its delicacy, but had gained a freshness and + firmness that no sunlight could impair. She had that wealth of hair which + young girls find the most enviable point of beauty in each other. Hers + reached below her knees, when loosened, or else lay coiled, in munificent + braids of gold, full of sparkling lights and contrasted shadows, upon her + queenly head. + </p> + <p> + Her eyes were much darker than her hair, and had a way of opening naively + and suddenly, with a perfectly infantine expression, as if she at that + moment saw the sunlight for the first time. Her long lashes were somewhat + like Emilia’s, and she had the same deeply curved eyebrows; in no other + point was there a shade of resemblance between the half-sisters. As + compared with Kate, Hope showed a more abundant physical life; there was + more blood in her; she had ampler outlines, and health more absolutely + unvaried, for she had yet to know the experience of a day’s illness. Kate + seemed born to tread upon a Brussels carpet, and Hope on the softer luxury + of the forest floor. Out of doors her vigor became a sort of ecstasy, and + she walked the earth with a jubilee of the senses, such as Browning + attributes to his Saul. + </p> + <p> + This inexhaustible freshness of physical organization seemed to open the + windows of her soul, and make for her a new heaven and earth every day. It + gave also a peculiar and almost embarrassing directness to her mental + processes, and suggested in them a sort of final and absolute value, as if + truth had for the first time found a perfectly translucent medium. It was + not so much that she said rare things, but her very silence was eloquent, + and there was a great deal of it. Her girlhood had in it a certain dignity + as of a virgin priestess or sibyl. Yet her hearty sympathies and her + healthy energy made her at home in daily life, and in a democratic + society. To Kate, for instance, she was a necessity of existence, like + light or air. Kate’s nature was limited; part of her graceful equipoise + was narrowness. Hope was capable of far more self-abandonment to a + controlling emotion, and, if she ever erred, would err more widely, for it + would be because the whole power of her conscience was misdirected. “Once + let her take wrong for right,” said Aunt Jane, “and stop her if you can; + these born saints give a great deal more trouble than children of this + world, like my Kate.” Yet in daily life Hope yielded to her cousin nine + times out of ten; but the tenth time was the key to the situation. Hope + loved Kate devotedly; but Kate believed in her as the hunted fugitive + believes in the north star. + </p> + <p> + To these maidens, thus united, came Emilia home from Europe. The father of + Harry and Hope had been lured into a second marriage with Emilia’s mother, + a charming and unscrupulous woman, born with an American body and a French + soul. She having once won him to Paris, held him there life-long, and kept + her step-children at a safe distance. She arranged that, even after her + own death, her daughter should still remain abroad for education; nor was + Emilia ordered back until she brought down some scandal by a romantic + attempt to elope from boarding-school with a Swiss servant. It was by + weaning her heart from this man that Philip Malbone had earned the thanks + of the whole household during his hasty flight through Europe. He + possessed some skill in withdrawing the female heart from an undesirable + attachment, though it was apt to be done by substituting another. It was + fortunate that, in this case, no fears could be entertained. Since his + engagement Philip had not permitted himself so much as a flirtation; he + and Hope were to be married soon; he loved and admired her heartily, and + had an indifference to her want of fortune that was quite amazing, when we + consider that he had a fortune of his own. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + III. A DRIVE ON THE AVENUE. + </h2> + <p> + OLDPORT AVENUE is a place where a great many carriages may be seen driving + so slowly that they might almost be photographed without halting, and + where their occupants already wear the dismal expression which befits that + process. In these fine vehicles, following each other in an endless file, + one sees such faces as used to be exhibited in ball-rooms during the + performance of quadrilles, before round dances came in,—faces marked + by the renunciation of all human joy. Sometimes a faint suspicion suggests + itself on the Avenue, that these torpid countenances might be roused to + life, in case some horse should run away. But that one chance never + occurs; the riders may not yet be toned down into perfect breeding, but + the horses are. I do not know what could ever break the gloom of this + joyless procession, were it not that youth and beauty are always in + fashion, and one sometimes meets an exceptional barouche full of boys and + girls, who could absolutely be no happier if they were a thousand miles + away from the best society. And such a joyous company were our four youths + and maidens when they went to drive that day, Emilia being left at home to + rest after the fatigues of the voyage. + </p> + <p> + “What beautiful horses!” was Hope’s first exclamation. “What grave + people!” was her second. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “What though in solemn silence all + Roll round—” + </pre> + <p> + quoted Philip. + </p> + <p> + “Hope is thinking,” said Harry, “whether ‘in reason’s ear they all + rejoice.’” + </p> + <p> + “How COULD you know that?” said she, opening her eyes. + </p> + <p> + “One thing always strikes me,” said Kate. “The sentence of stupefaction + does not seem to be enforced till after five-and-twenty. That young lady + we just met looked quite lively and juvenile last year, I remember, and + now she has graduated into a dowager.” + </p> + <p> + “Like little Helen’s kitten,” said Philip. “She justly remarks that, since + I saw it last, it is all spoiled into a great big cat.” + </p> + <p> + “Those must be snobs,” said Harry, as a carriage with unusually gorgeous + liveries rolled by. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose so,” said Malbone, indifferently. “In Oldport we call all + new-comers snobs, you know, till they have invited us to their grand ball. + Then we go to it, and afterwards speak well of them, and only abuse their + wine.” + </p> + <p> + “How do you know them for new-comers?” asked Hope, looking after the + carriage. + </p> + <p> + “By their improperly intelligent expression,” returned Phil. “They look + around them as you do, my child, with the air of wide-awake curiosity + which marks the American traveller. That is out of place here. The Avenue + abhors everything but a vacuum.” + </p> + <p> + “I never can find out,” continued Hope, “how people recognize each other + here. They do not look at each other, unless they know each other: and how + are they to know if they know, unless they look first?” + </p> + <p> + “It seems an embarrassment,” said Malbone. “But it is supposed that + fashion perforates the eyelids and looks through. If you attempt it in any + other way, you are lost. Newly arrived people look about them, and, the + more new wealth they have, the more they gaze. The men are uneasy behind + their recently educated mustaches, and the women hold their parasols with + trembling hands. It takes two years to learn to drive on the Avenue. Come + again next summer, and you will see in those same carriages faces of + remote superciliousness, that suggest generations of gout and ancestors.” + </p> + <p> + “What a pity one feels,” said Harry, “for these people who still suffer + from lingering modesty, and need a master to teach them to be insolent!” + </p> + <p> + “They learn it soon enough,” said Kate. “Philip is right. Fashion lies in + the eye. People fix their own position by the way they don’t look at you.” + </p> + <p> + “There is a certain indifference of manner,” philosophized Malbone, + “before which ingenuous youth is crushed. I may know that a man can hardly + read or write, and that his father was a ragpicker till one day he picked + up bank-notes for a million. No matter. If he does not take the trouble to + look at me, I must look reverentially at him.” + </p> + <p> + “Here is somebody who will look at Hope,” cried Kate, suddenly. + </p> + <p> + A carriage passed, bearing a young lady with fair hair, and a keen, bright + look, talking eagerly to a small and quiet youth beside her. + </p> + <p> + Her face brightened still more as she caught the eye of Hope, whose face + lighted up in return, and who then sank back with a sort of sigh of + relief, as if she had at last seen somebody she cared for. The lady waved + an un-gloved hand, and drove by. + </p> + <p> + “Who is that?” asked Philip, eagerly. He was used to knowing every one. + </p> + <p> + “Hope’s pet,” said Kate, “and she who pets Hope, Lady Antwerp.” + </p> + <p> + “Is it possible?” said Malbone. “That young creature? I fancied her + ladyship in spectacles, with little side curls. Men speak of her with such + dismay.” + </p> + <p> + “Of course,” said Kate, “she asks them sensible questions.” + </p> + <p> + “That is bad,” admitted Philip. “Nothing exasperates fashionable Americans + like a really intelligent foreigner. They feel as Sydney Smith says the + English clergy felt about Elizabeth Fry; she disturbs their repose, and + gives rise to distressing comparisons,—they long to burn her alive. + It is not their notion of a countess.” + </p> + <p> + “I am sure it was not mine,” said Hope; “I can hardly remember that she is + one; I only know that I like her, she is so simple and intelligent. She + might be a girl from a Normal School.” + </p> + <p> + “It is because you are just that,” said Kate, “that she likes you. She + came here supposing that we had all been at such schools. Then she + complained of us,—us girls in what we call good society, I mean,—because, + as she more than hinted, we did not seem to know anything.” + </p> + <p> + “Some of the mothers were angry,” said Hope. “But Aunt Jane told her that + it was perfectly true, and that her ladyship had not yet seen the + best-educated girls in America, who were generally the daughters of old + ministers and well-to-do shopkeepers in small New England towns, Aunt Jane + said.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Kate, “she said that the best of those girls went to High + Schools and Normal Schools, and learned things thoroughly, you know; but + that we were only taught at boarding-schools and by governesses, and came + out at eighteen, and what could we know? Then came Hope, who had been at + those schools, and was the child of refined people too, and Lady Antwerp + was perfectly satisfied.” + </p> + <p> + “Especially,” said Hope, “when Aunt Jane told her that, after all, schools + did not do very much good, for if people were born stupid they only became + more tiresome by schooling. She said that she had forgotten all she + learned at school except the boundaries of ancient Cappadocia.” + </p> + <p> + Aunt Jane’s fearless sayings always passed current among her nieces; and + they drove on, Hope not being lowered in Philip’s estimation, nor raised + in her own, by being the pet of a passing countess. + </p> + <p> + Who would not be charmed (he thought to himself) by this noble girl, who + walks the earth fresh and strong as a Greek goddess, pure as Diana, + stately as Juno? She belongs to the unspoiled womanhood of another age, + and is wasted among these dolls and butterflies. + </p> + <p> + He looked at her. She sat erect and graceful, unable to droop into the + debility of fashionable reclining,—her breezy hair lifted a little + by the soft wind, her face flushed, her full brown eyes looking eagerly + about, her mouth smiling happily. To be with those she loved best, and to + be driving over the beautiful earth! She was so happy that no mob of + fashionables could have lessened her enjoyment, or made her for a moment + conscious that anybody looked at her. The brilliant equipages which they + met each moment were not wholly uninteresting even to her, for her + affections went forth to some of the riders and to all the horses. She was + as well contented at that moment, on the glittering Avenue, as if they had + all been riding home through country lanes, and in constant peril of being + jolted out among the whortleberry-bushes. + </p> + <p> + Her face brightened yet more as they met a carriage containing a graceful + lady dressed with that exquisiteness of taste that charms both man and + woman, even if no man can analyze and no woman rival its effect. She had a + perfectly high-bred look, and an eye that in an instant would calculate + one’s ancestors as far back as Nebuchadnezzar, and bow to them all + together. She smiled good-naturedly on Hope, and kissed her hand to Kate. + </p> + <p> + “So, Hope,” said Philip, “you are bent on teaching music to Mrs. + Meredith’s children.” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed I am!” said Hope, eagerly. “O Philip, I shall enjoy it so! I do + not care so very much about her, but she has dear little girls. And you + know I am a born drudge. I have not been working hard enough to enjoy an + entire vacation, but I shall be so very happy here if I can have some real + work for an hour or two every other day.” + </p> + <p> + “Hope,” said Philip, gravely, “look steadily at these people whom we are + meeting, and reflect. Should you like to have them say, ‘There goes Mrs. + Meredith’s music teacher’?” + </p> + <p> + “Why not?” said Hope, with surprise. “The children are young, and it is + not very presumptuous. I ought to know enough for that.” + </p> + <p> + Malbone looked at Kate, who smiled with delight, and put her hand on that + of Hope. Indeed, she kept it there so long that one or two passing ladies + stopped their salutations in mid career, and actually looked after them in + amazement at their attitude, as who should say, “What a very mixed + society!” + </p> + <p> + So they drove on,—meeting four-in-hands, and tandems, and + donkey-carts, and a goat-cart, and basket-wagons driven by pretty girls, + with uncomfortable youths in or out of livery behind. They met, had they + but known it, many who were aiming at notoriety, and some who had it; many + who looked contented with their lot, and some who actually were so. They + met some who put on courtesy and grace with their kid gloves, and laid + away those virtues in their glove-boxes afterwards; while to others the + mere consciousness of kid gloves brought uneasiness, redness of the face, + and a general impression of being all made of hands. They met the four + white horses of an ex-harness-maker, and the superb harnesses of an + ex-horse-dealer. Behind these came the gayest and most plebeian equipage + of all, a party of journeymen carpenters returning from their work in a + four-horse wagon. Their only fit compeers were an Italian opera-troupe, + who were chatting and gesticulating on the piazza of the great hotel, and + planning, amid jest and laughter, their future campaigns. Their work + seemed like play, while the play around them seemed like work. Indeed, + most people on the Avenue seemed to be happy in inverse ratio to their + income list. + </p> + <p> + As our youths and maidens passed the hotel, a group of French naval + officers strolled forth, some of whom had a good deal of inexplicable gold + lace dangling in festoons from their shoulders,—“topsail halyards” + the American midshipmen called them. Philip looked hard at one of these + gentlemen. + </p> + <p> + “I have seen that young fellow before,” said he, “or his twin brother. But + who can swear to the personal identity of a Frenchman?” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IV. AUNT JANE DEFINES HER POSITION. + </h2> + <p> + THE next morning had that luminous morning haze, not quite dense enough to + be called a fog, which is often so lovely in Oldport. It was perfectly + still; the tide swelled and swelled till it touched the edge of the green + lawn behind the house, and seemed ready to submerge the slender pier; the + water looked at first like glass, till closer gaze revealed long sinuous + undulations, as if from unseen water-snakes beneath. A few rags of + storm-cloud lay over the half-seen hills beyond the bay, and behind them + came little mutterings of thunder, now here, now there, as if some wild + creature were roaming up and down, dissatisfied, in the shelter of the + clouds. The pale haze extended into the foreground, and half veiled the + schooners that lay at anchor with their sails up. It was sultry, and there + was something in the atmosphere that at once threatened and soothed. + Sometimes a few drops dimpled the water and then ceased; the muttering + creature in the sky moved northward and grew still. It was a day when + every one would be tempted to go out rowing, but when only lovers would + go. Philip and Hope went. + </p> + <p> + Kate and Harry, meanwhile, awaited their opportunity to go in and visit + Aunt Jane. This was a thing that never could be done till near noon, + because that dear lady was very deliberate in her morning habits, and + always averred that she had never seen the sun rise except in a panorama. + She hated to be hurried in dressing, too; for she was accustomed to say + that she must have leisure to understand herself, and this was clearly an + affair of time. + </p> + <p> + But she was never more charming than when, after dressing and breakfasting + in seclusion, and then vigilantly watching her handmaiden through the + necessary dustings and arrangements, she sat at last, with her affairs in + order, to await events. Every day she expected something entirely new to + happen, and was never disappointed. For she herself always happened, if + nothing else did; she could no more repeat herself than the sunrise can; + and the liveliest visitor always carried away something fresher and more + remarkable than he brought. + </p> + <p> + Her book that morning had displeased her, and she was boiling with + indignation against its author. + </p> + <p> + “I am reading a book so dry,” she said, “it makes me cough. No wonder + there was a drought last summer. It was printed then. Worcester’s + Geography seems in my memory as fascinating as Shakespeare, when I look + back upon it from this book. How can a man write such a thing and live?” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps he lived by writing it,” said Kate. + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps it was the best he could do,” added the more literal Harry. + </p> + <p> + “It certainly was not the best he could do, for he might have died,—died + instead of dried. O, I should like to prick that man with something sharp, + and see if sawdust did not run out of him! Kate, ask the bookseller to let + me know if he ever really dies, and then life may seem fresh again.” + </p> + <p> + “What is it?” asked Kate. + </p> + <p> + “Somebody’s memoirs,” said Aunt Jane. “Was there no man left worth writing + about, that they should make a biography about this one? It is like a life + of Napoleon with all the battles left out. They are conceited enough to + put his age in the upper corner of each page too, as if anybody cared how + old he was.” + </p> + <p> + “Such pretty covers!” said Kate. “It is too bad.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Aunt Jane. “I mean to send them back and have new leaves put + in. These are so wretched, there is not a teakettle in the land so + insignificant that it would boil over them. Don’t let us talk any more + about it. Have Philip and Hope gone out upon the water?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, dear,” said Kate. “Did Ruth tell you?” + </p> + <p> + “When did that aimless infant ever tell anything?” + </p> + <p> + “Then how did you know it?” + </p> + <p> + “If I waited for knowledge till that sweet-tempered parrot chose to tell + me,” Aunt Jane went on, “I should be even more foolish than I am.” + </p> + <p> + “Then how did you know?” + </p> + <p> + “Of course I heard the boat hauled down, and of course I knew that none + but lovers would go out just before a thunder-storm. Then you and Harry + came in, and I knew it was the others.” + </p> + <p> + “Aunt Jane,” said Kate, “you divine everything: what a brain you have!” + </p> + <p> + “Brain! it is nothing but a collection of shreds, like a little girl’s + work-basket,—a scrap of blue silk and a bit of white muslin.” + </p> + <p> + “Now she is fishing for compliments,” said Kate, “and she shall have one. + She was very sweet and good to Philip last night.” + </p> + <p> + “I know it,” said Aunt Jane, with a groan. “I waked in the night and + thought about it. I was awake a great deal last night. I have heard cocks + crowing all my life, but I never knew what that creature could accomplish + before. So I lay and thought how good and forgiving I was; it was quite + distressing.” + </p> + <p> + “Remorse?” said Kate. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, indeed. I hate to be a saint all the time. There ought to be + vacations. Instead of suffering from a bad conscience, I suffer from a + good one.” + </p> + <p> + “It was no merit of yours, aunt,” put in Harry. “Who was ever more + agreeable and lovable than Malbone last night?” + </p> + <p> + “Lovable!” burst out Aunt Jane, who never could be managed or manipulated + by anybody but Kate, and who often rebelled against Harry’s blunt + assertions. “Of course he is lovable, and that is why I dislike him. His + father was so before him. That is the worst of it. I never in my life saw + any harm done by a villain; I wish I could. All the mischief in this world + is done by lovable people. Thank Heaven, nobody ever dared to call me + lovable!” + </p> + <p> + “I should like to see any one dare call you anything else,—you dear, + old, soft-hearted darling!” interposed Kate. + </p> + <p> + “But, aunt,” persisted Harry, “if you only knew what the mass of young men + are—” + </p> + <p> + “Don’t I?” interrupted the impetuous lady. “What is there that is not + known to any woman who has common sense, and eyes enough to look out of a + window?” + </p> + <p> + “If you only knew,” Harry went on, “how superior Phil Malbone is, in his + whole tone, to any fellow of my acquaintance.” + </p> + <p> + “Lord help the rest!” she answered. “Philip has a sort of refinement + instead of principles, and a heart instead of a conscience,—just + heart enough to keep himself happy and everybody else miserable.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you mean to say,” asked the obstinate Hal, “that there is no + difference between refinement and coarseness?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, there is,” she said. + </p> + <p> + “Well, which is best?” + </p> + <p> + “Coarseness is safer by a great deal,” said Aunt Jane, “in the hands of a + man like Philip. What harm can that swearing coachman do, I should like to + know, in the street yonder? To be sure it is very unpleasant, and I wonder + they let people swear so, except, perhaps, in waste places outside the + town; but that is his way of expressing himself, and he only frightens + people, after all.” + </p> + <p> + “Which Philip does not,” said Hal. + </p> + <p> + “Exactly. That is the danger. He frightens nobody, not even himself, when + he ought to wear a label round his neck marked ‘Dangerous,’ such as they + have at other places where it is slippery and brittle. When he is here, I + keep saying to myself, ‘Too smooth, too smooth!’” + </p> + <p> + “Aunt Jane,” said Harry, gravely, “I know Malbone very well, and I never + knew any man whom it was more unjust to call a hypocrite.” + </p> + <p> + “Did I say he was a hypocrite?” she cried. “He is worse than that; at + least, more really dangerous. It is these high-strung sentimentalists who + do all the mischief; who play on their own lovely emotions, forsooth, till + they wear out those fine fiddlestrings, and then have nothing left but the + flesh and the D. Don’t tell me!” + </p> + <p> + “Do stop, auntie,” interposed Kate, quite alarmed, “you are really worse + than a coachman. You are growing very profane indeed.” + </p> + <p> + “I have a much harder time than any coachman, Kate,” retorted the injured + lady. “Nobody tries to stop him, and you are always hushing me up.” + </p> + <p> + “Hushing you up, darling?” said Kate. “When we only spoil you by praising + and quoting everything you say.” + </p> + <p> + “Only when it amuses you,” said Aunt Jane. “So long as I sit and cry my + eyes out over a book, you all love me, and when I talk nonsense, you are + ready to encourage it; but when I begin to utter a little sense, you all + want to silence me, or else run out of the room! Yesterday I read about a + newspaper somewhere, called the ‘Daily Evening Voice’; I wish you would + allow me a daily morning voice.” + </p> + <p> + “Do not interfere, Kate,” said Hal. “Aunt Jane and I only wish to + understand each other.” + </p> + <p> + “I am sure we don’t,” said Aunt Jane; “I have no desire to understand you, + and you never will understand me till you comprehend Philip.” + </p> + <p> + “Let us agree on one thing,” Harry said. “Surely, aunt, you know how he + loves Hope?” + </p> + <p> + Aunt Jane approached a degree nearer the equator, and said, gently, “I + fear I do.” + </p> + <p> + “Fear?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, fear. That is just what troubles me. I know precisely how he loves + her. Il se laisse aimer. Philip likes to be petted, as much as any cat, + and, while he will purr, Hope is happy. Very few men accept idolatry with + any degree of grace, but he unfortunately does.” + </p> + <p> + “Unfortunately?” remonstrated Hal, as far as ever from being satisfied. + “This is really too bad. You never will do him any justice.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah?” said Aunt Jane, chilling again, “I thought I did. I observe he is + very much afraid of me, and there seems to be no other reason.” + </p> + <p> + “The real trouble is,” said Harry, after a pause, “that you doubt his + constancy.” + </p> + <p> + “What do you call constancy?” said she. “Kissing a woman’s picture ten + years after a man has broken her heart? Philip Malbone has that kind of + constancy, and so had his father before him.” + </p> + <p> + This was too much for Harry, who was making for the door in indignation, + when little Ruth came in with Aunt Jane’s luncheon, and that lady was soon + absorbed in the hopeless task of keeping her handmaiden’s pretty blue and + white gingham sleeve out of the butter-plate. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + V. A MULTIVALVE HEART. + </h2> + <p> + PHILIP MALBONE had that perfectly sunny temperament which is peculiarly + captivating among Americans, because it is so rare. He liked everybody and + everybody liked him; he had a thousand ways of affording pleasure, and he + received it in the giving. He had a personal beauty, which, strange to + say, was recognized by both sexes,—for handsome men must often + consent to be mildly hated by their own. He had travelled much, and had + mingled in very varied society; he had a moderate fortune, no vices, no + ambition, and no capacity of ennui. + </p> + <p> + He was fastidious and over-critical, it might be, in his theories, but in + practice he was easily suited and never vexed. + </p> + <p> + He liked travelling, and he liked staying at home; he was so continually + occupied as to give an apparent activity to all his life, and yet he was + never too busy to be interrupted, especially if the intruder were a woman + or a child. He liked to be with people of his own age, whatever their + condition; he also liked old people because they were old, and children + because they were young. In travelling by rail, he would woo crying babies + out of their mothers’ arms, and still them; it was always his back that + Irishwomen thumped, to ask if they must get out at the next station; and + he might be seen handing out decrepit paupers, as if they were of royal + blood and bore concealed sceptres in their old umbrellas. Exquisitely nice + in his personal habits, he had the practical democracy of a good-natured + young prince; he had never yet seen a human being who awed him, nor one + whom he had the slightest wish to awe. His courtesy, had, therefore, that + comprehensiveness which we call republican, though it was really the least + republican thing about him. All felt its attraction; there was really no + one who disliked him, except Aunt Jane; and even she admitted that he was + the only person who knew how to cut her lead-pencil. + </p> + <p> + That cheerful English premier who thought that any man ought to find + happiness enough in walking London streets and looking at the lobsters in + the fish-markets, was not more easily satisfied than Malbone. He liked to + observe the groups of boys fishing at the wharves, or to hear the chat of + their fathers about coral-reefs and penguins’ eggs; or to sketch the + fisher’s little daughter awaiting her father at night on some deserted and + crumbling wharf, his blue pea-jacket over her fair ring-leted head, and a + great cat standing by with tail uplifted, her sole protector. He liked the + luxurious indolence of yachting, and he liked as well to float in his + wherry among the fleet of fishing schooners getting under way after a + three days’ storm, each vessel slipping out in turn from the closely + packed crowd, and spreading its white wings for flight. He liked to watch + the groups of negro boys and girls strolling by the window at evening, and + strumming on the banjo,—the only vestige of tropical life that + haunts our busy Northern zone. But he liked just as well to note the ways + of well-dressed girls and boys at croquet parties, or to sit at the club + window and hear the gossip. He was a jewel of a listener, and was not + easily bored even when Philadelphians talked about families, or New + Yorkers about bargains, or Bostonians about books. A man who has not one + absorbing aim can get a great many miscellaneous things into each + twenty-four hours; and there was not a day in which Philip did not make + himself agreeable and useful to many people, receive many confidences, and + give much good-humored advice about matters of which he knew nothing. His + friends’ children ran after him in the street, and he knew the pet + theories and wines of elderly gentlemen. He said that he won their hearts + by remembering every occurrence in their lives except their birthdays. + </p> + <p> + It was, perhaps, no drawback on the popularity of Philip Malbone that he + had been for some ten years reproached as a systematic flirt by all women + with whom he did not happen at the moment to be flirting. The reproach was + unjust; he had never done anything systematically in his life; it was his + temperament that flirted, not his will. He simply had that most perilous + of all seductive natures, in which the seducer is himself seduced. With a + personal refinement that almost amounted to purity, he was constantly + drifting into loves more profoundly perilous than if they had belonged to + a grosser man. Almost all women loved him, because he loved almost all; he + never had to assume an ardor, for he always felt it. His heart was + multivalve; he could love a dozen at once in various modes and gradations, + press a dozen hands in a day, gaze into a dozen pair of eyes with + unfeigned tenderness; while the last pair wept for him, he was looking + into the next. In truth, he loved to explore those sweet depths; humanity + is the highest thing to investigate, he said, and the proper study of + mankind is woman. Woman needs to be studied while under the influence of + emotion; let us therefore have the emotions. This was the reason he gave + to himself; but this refined Mormonism of the heart was not based on + reason, but on temperament and habit. In such matters logic is only for + the by-standers. + </p> + <p> + His very generosity harmed him, as all our good qualities may harm us when + linked with bad ones; he had so many excuses for doing kindnesses to his + friends, it was hard to quarrel with him if he did them too tenderly. He + was no more capable of unkindness than of constancy; and so strongly did + he fix the allegiance of those who loved him, that the women to whom he + had caused most anguish would still defend him when accused; would have + crossed the continent, if needed, to nurse him in illness, and would have + rained rivers of tears on his grave. To do him justice, he would have done + almost as much for them,—for any of them. He could torture a devoted + heart, but only through a sort of half-wilful unconsciousness; he could + not bear to see tears shed in his presence, nor to let his imagination + dwell very much on those which flowed in his absence. When he had once + loved a woman, or even fancied that he loved her, he built for her a + shrine that was never dismantled, and in which a very little faint incense + would sometimes be found burning for years after; he never quite ceased to + feel a languid thrill at the mention of her name; he would make even for a + past love the most generous sacrifices of time, convenience, truth + perhaps,—everything, in short, but the present love. To those who + had given him all that an undivided heart can give he would deny nothing + but an undivided heart in return. The misfortune was that this was the + only thing they cared to possess. + </p> + <p> + This abundant and spontaneous feeling gave him an air of earnestness, + without which he could not have charmed any woman, and, least of all, one + like Hope. No woman really loves a trifler; she must at least convince + herself that he who trifles with others is serious with her. Philip was + never quite serious and never quite otherwise; he never deliberately got + up a passion, for it was never needful; he simply found an object for his + emotions, opened their valves, and then watched their flow. To love a + charming woman in her presence is no test of genuine passion; let us know + how much you long for her in absence. This longing had never yet seriously + troubled Malbone, provided there was another charming person within an + easy walk. + </p> + <p> + If it was sometimes forced upon him that all this ended in anguish to some + of these various charmers, first or last, then there was always in reserve + the pleasure of repentance. He was very winning and generous in his + repentances, and he enjoyed them so much they were often repeated. He did + not pass for a weak person, and he was not exactly weak; but he spent his + life in putting away temptations with one hand and pulling them back with + the other. There was for him something piquant in being thus neither + innocent nor guilty, but always on some delicious middle ground. He loved + dearly to skate on thin ice,—that was the trouble,—especially + where he fancied the water to be just within his depth. Unluckily the sea + of life deepens rather fast. + </p> + <p> + Malbone had known Hope from her childhood, as he had known her cousins, + but their love dated from their meetings beside the sickbed of his mother, + over whom he had watched with unstinted devotion for weary months. She had + been very fond of the young girl, and her last earthly act was to place + Hope’s hand in Philip’s. Long before this final consecration, Hope had won + his heart more thoroughly, he fancied, than any woman he had ever seen. + The secret of this crowning charm was, perhaps, that she was a new + sensation. He had prided himself on his knowledge of her sex, and yet here + was a wholly new species. He was acquainted with the women of society, and + with the women who only wished to be in society. But here was one who was + in the chrysalis, and had never been a grub, and had no wish to be a + butterfly, and what should he make of her? He was like a student of + insects who had never seen a bee. Never had he known a young girl who + cared for the things which this maiden sought, or who was not dazzled by + things to which Hope seemed perfectly indifferent. She was not a devotee, + she was not a prude; people seemed to amuse and interest her; she liked + them, she declared, as much as she liked books. But this very way of + putting the thing seemed like inverting the accustomed order of affairs in + the polite world, and was of itself a novelty. + </p> + <p> + Of course he had previously taken his turn for a while among Kate’s + admirers; but it was when she was very young, and, moreover, it was hard + to get up anything like a tender and confidential relation with that frank + maiden; she never would have accepted Philip Malbone for herself, and she + was by no means satisfied with his betrothal to her best beloved. But that + Hope loved him ardently there was no doubt, however it might be explained. + Perhaps it was some law of opposites, and she needed some one of lighter + nature than her own. As her resolute purpose charmed him, so she may have + found a certain fascination in the airy way in which he took hold on life; + he was so full of thought and intelligence; possessing infinite leisure, + and yet incapable of ennui; ready to oblige every one, and doing so many + kind acts at so little personal sacrifice; always easy, graceful, lovable, + and kind. In her just indignation at those who called him heartless, she + forgot to notice that his heart was not deep. He was interested in all her + pursuits, could aid her in all her studies, suggest schemes for her + benevolent desires, and could then make others work for her, and even work + himself. People usually loved Philip, even while they criticised him; but + Hope loved him first, and then could not criticise him at all. + </p> + <p> + Nature seems always planning to equalize characters, and to protect our + friends from growing too perfect for our deserts. Love, for instance, is + apt to strengthen the weak, and yet sometimes weakens the strong. Under + its influence Hope sometimes appeared at disadvantage. Had the object of + her love been indifferent, the result might have been otherwise, but her + ample nature apparently needed to contract itself a little, to find room + within Philip’s heart. Not that in his presence she became vain or petty + or jealous; that would have been impossible. She only grew credulous and + absorbed and blind. A kind of gentle obstinacy, too, developed itself in + her nature, and all suggestion of defects in him fell off from her as from + a marble image of Faith. If he said or did anything, there was no appeal; + that was settled, let us pass to something else. + </p> + <p> + I almost blush to admit that Aunt Jane—of whom it could by no means + be asserted that she was a saintly lady, but only a very charming one—rather + rejoiced in this transformation. + </p> + <p> + “I like it better, my dear,” she said, with her usual frankness, to Kate. + “Hope was altogether too heavenly for my style. When she first came here, + I secretly thought I never should care anything about her. She seemed + nothing but a little moral tale. I thought she would not last me five + minutes. But now she is growing quite human and ridiculous about that + Philip, and I think I may find her very attractive indeed.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VI. “SOME LOVER’S CLEAR DAY.” + </h2> + <p> + “HOPE!” said Philip Malbone, as they sailed together in a little boat the + next morning, “I have come back to you from months of bewildered dreaming. + I have been wandering,—no matter where. I need you. You cannot tell + how much I need you.” + </p> + <p> + “I can estimate it,” she answered, gently, “by my need of you.” + </p> + <p> + “Not at all,” said Philip, gazing in her trustful face. “Any one whom you + loved would adore you, could he be by your side. You need nothing. It is I + who need you.” + </p> + <p> + “Why?” she asked, simply. + </p> + <p> + “Because,” he said, “I am capable of behaving very much like a fool. Hope, + I am not worthy of you; why do you love me? why do you trust me?” + </p> + <p> + “I do not know how I learned to love you,” said Hope. “It is a blessing + that was given to me. But I learned to trust you in your mother’s + sick-room.” + </p> + <p> + “Ay,” said Philip, sadly, “there, at least, I did my full duty.” + </p> + <p> + “As few would have done it,” said Hope, firmly,—“very few. Such + prolonged self-sacrifice must strengthen a man for life.” + </p> + <p> + “Not always,” said Philip, uneasily. “Too much of that sort of thing may + hurt one, I fancy, as well as too little. He may come to imagine that the + balance of virtue is in his favor, and that he may grant himself a little + indulgence to make up for lost time. That sort of recoil is a little + dangerous, as I sometimes feel, do you know?” + </p> + <p> + “And you show it,” said Hope, ardently, “by fresh sacrifices! How much + trouble you have taken about Emilia! Some time, when you are willing, you + shall tell me all about it. You always seemed to me a magician, but I did + not think that even you could restore her to sense and wisdom so soon.” + </p> + <p> + Malbone was just then very busy putting the boat about; but when he had it + on the other tack, he said, “How do you like her?” + </p> + <p> + “Philip,” said Hope, her eyes filling with tears, “I wonder if you have + the slightest conception how my heart is fixed on that child. She has + always been a sort of dream to me, and the difficulty of getting any + letters from her has only added to the excitement. Now that she is here, + my whole heart yearns toward her. Yet, when I look into her eyes, a sort + of blank hopelessness comes over me. They seem like the eyes of some + untamable creature whose language I shall never learn. Philip, you are + older and wiser than I, and have shown already that you understand her. + Tell me what I can do to make her love me?” + </p> + <p> + “Tell me how any one could help it?” said Malbone, looking fondly on the + sweet, pleading face before him. + </p> + <p> + “I am beginning to fear that it can be helped,” she said. Her thoughts + were still with Emilia. + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps it can,” said Phil, “if you sit so far away from people. Here we + are alone on the bay. Come and sit by me, Hope.” + </p> + <p> + She had been sitting amidships, but she came aft at once, and nestled by + him as he sat holding the tiller. She put her face against his knee, like + a tired child, and shut her eyes; her hair was lifted by the summer + breeze; a scent of roses came from her; the mere contact of anything so + fresh and pure was a delight. He put his arm around her, and all the first + ardor of passion came back to him again; he remembered how he had longed + to win this Diana, and how thoroughly she was won. + </p> + <p> + “It is you who do me good,” said she. “O Philip, sail as slowly as you + can.” But he only sailed farther, instead of more slowly, gliding in and + out among the rocky islands in the light north wind, which, for a wonder, + lasted all that day,—dappling the bare hills of the Isle of Shadows + with a shifting beauty. The tide was in and brimming, the fishing-boats + were busy, white gulls soared and clattered round them, and heavy + cormorants flapped away as they neared the rocks. Beneath the boat the + soft multitudinous jellyfishes waved their fringed pendants, or glittered + with tremulous gold along their pink, translucent sides. Long lines and + streaks of paler blue lay smoothly along the enamelled surface, the low, + amethystine hills lay couched beyond them, and little clouds stretched + themselves in lazy length above the beautiful expanse. They reached the + ruined fort at last, and Philip, surrendering Hope to others, was himself + besieged by a joyous group. + </p> + <p> + As you stand upon the crumbling parapet of old Fort Louis, you feel + yourself poised in middle air; the sea-birds soar and swoop around you, + the white surf lashes the rocks far below, the white vessels come and go, + the water is around you on all sides but one, and spreads its pale blue + beauty up the lovely bay, or, in deeper tints, southward towards the + horizon line. I know of no ruin in America which nature has so resumed; it + seems a part of the living rock; you cannot imagine it away. + </p> + <p> + It is a single round, low tower, shaped like the tomb of Cacilia Metella. + But its stately position makes it rank with the vast sisterhood of + wave-washed strongholds; it might be King Arthur’s Cornish Tyntagel; it + might be “the teocallis tower” of Tuloom. As you gaze down from its + height, all things that float upon the ocean seem equalized. Look at the + crowded life on yonder frigate, coming in full-sailed before the steady + sea-breeze. To furl that heavy canvas, a hundred men cluster like bees + upon the yards, yet to us upon this height it is all but a plaything for + the eyes, and we turn with equal interest from that thronged floating + citadel to some lonely boy in his skiff. + </p> + <p> + Yonder there sail to the ocean, beating wearily to windward, a few slow + vessels. Inward come jubilant white schooners, wing-and-wing. There are + fishing-smacks towing their boats behind them like a family of children; + and there are slender yachts that bear only their own light burden. Once + from this height I saw the whole yacht squadron round Point Judith, and + glide in like a flock of land-bound sea-birds; and above them, yet more + snowy and with softer curves, pressed onward the white squadrons of the + sky. + </p> + <p> + Within, the tower is full of debris, now disintegrated into one solid + mass, and covered with vegetation. You can lie on the blossoming clover, + where the bees hum and the crickets chirp around you, and can look through + the arch which frames its own fair picture. In the foreground lies the + steep slope overgrown with bayberry and gay with thistle blooms; then the + little winding cove with its bordering cliffs; and the rough pastures with + their grazing sheep beyond. Or, ascending the parapet, you can look across + the bay to the men making hay picturesquely on far-off lawns, or to the + cannon on the outer works of Fort Adams, looking like vast black insects + that have crawled forth to die. + </p> + <p> + Here our young people spent the day; some sketched, some played croquet, + some bathed in rocky inlets where the kingfisher screamed above them, some + rowed to little craggy isles for wild roses, some fished, and then were + taught by the boatmen to cook their fish in novel island ways. The morning + grew more and more cloudless, and then in the afternoon a fog came and + went again, marching by with its white armies, soon met and annihilated by + a rainbow. + </p> + <p> + The conversation that day was very gay and incoherent,—little + fragments of all manner of things; science, sentiment, everything: “Like a + distracted dictionary,” Kate said. At last this lively maiden got Philip + away from the rest, and began to cross-question him. + </p> + <p> + “Tell me,” she said, “about Emilia’s Swiss lover. She shuddered when she + spoke of him. Was he so very bad?” + </p> + <p> + “Not at all,” was the answer. “You had false impressions of him. He was a + handsome, manly fellow, a little over-sentimental. He had travelled, and + had been a merchant’s clerk in Paris and London. Then he came back, and + became a boatman on the lake, some said, for love of her.” + </p> + <p> + “Did she love him?” + </p> + <p> + “Passionately, as she thought.” + </p> + <p> + “Did he love her much?” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose so.” + </p> + <p> + “Then why did she stop loving him?” + </p> + <p> + “She does not hate him?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Kate, “that is what surprises me. Lovers hate, or those who + have been lovers. She is only indifferent. Philip, she had wound silk upon + a torn piece of his carte-de-visite, and did not know it till I showed it + to her. Even then she did not care.” + </p> + <p> + “Such is woman!” said Philip. + </p> + <p> + “Nonsense,” said Kate. “She had seen somebody whom she loved better, and + she still loves that somebody. Who was it? She had not been introduced + into society. Were there any superior men among her teachers? She is just + the girl to fall in love with her teacher, at least in Europe, where they + are the only men one sees.” + </p> + <p> + “There were some very superior men among them,” said Philip. “Professor + Schirmer has a European reputation; he wears blue spectacles and a maroon + wig.” + </p> + <p> + “Do not talk so,” said Kate. “I tell you, Emilia is not changeable, like + you, sir. She is passionate and constant. She would have married that man + or died for him. You may think that your sage counsels restrained her, but + they did not; it was that she loved some one else. Tell me honestly. Do + you not know that there is somebody in Europe whom she loves to + distraction?” + </p> + <p> + “I do not know it,” said Philip. + </p> + <p> + “Of course you do not KNOW it,” returned the questioner. “Do you not think + it?” + </p> + <p> + “I have no reason to believe it.” + </p> + <p> + “That has nothing to do with it,” said Kate. “Things that we believe + without any reason have a great deal more weight with us. Do you not + believe it?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Philip, point-blank. + </p> + <p> + “It is very strange,” mused Kate. “Of course you do not know much about + it. She may have misled you, but I am sure that neither you nor any one + else could have cured her of a passion, especially an unreasonable one, + without putting another in its place. If you did it without that, you are + a magician, as Hope once called you. Philip, I am afraid of you.” + </p> + <p> + “There we sympathize,” said Phil. “I am sometimes afraid of myself, but I + discover within half an hour what a very commonplace land harmless person + I am.” + </p> + <p> + Meantime Emilia found herself beside her sister, who was sketching. After + watching Hope for a time in silence, she began to question her. + </p> + <p> + “Tell me what you have been doing in all these years,” she said. + </p> + <p> + “O, I have been at school,” said Hope. “First I went through the High + School; then I stayed out of school a year, and studied Greek and German + with my uncle, and music with my aunt, who plays uncommonly well. Then I + persuaded them to let me go to the Normal School for two years, and learn + to be a teacher.” + </p> + <p> + “A teacher!” said Emilia, with surprise. “Is it necessary that you should + be a teacher?” + </p> + <p> + “Very necessary,” replied Hope. “I must have something to do, you know, + after I leave school.” + </p> + <p> + “To do?” said the other. “Cannot you go to parties?” + </p> + <p> + “Not all the time,” said her sister. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said Emilia, “in the mean time you can go to drive, or make calls, + or stay at home and make pretty little things to wear, as other girls do.” + </p> + <p> + “I can find time for that too, little sister, when I need them. But I love + children, you know, and I like to teach interesting studies. I have + splendid health, and I enjoy it all. I like it as you love dancing, my + child, only I like dancing too, so I have a greater variety of + enjoyments.” + </p> + <p> + “But shall you not sometimes find it very hard?” said Emilia. + </p> + <p> + “That is why I shall like it,” was the answer. + </p> + <p> + “What a girl you are!” exclaimed the younger sister. “You know everything + and can do everything.” + </p> + <p> + “A very short everything,” interposed Hope. + </p> + <p> + “Kate says,” continued Emilia, “that you speak French as well as I do, and + I dare say you dance a great deal better; and those are the only things I + know.” + </p> + <p> + “If we both had French partners, dear,” replied the elder maiden, “they + would soon find the difference in both respects. My dancing came by + nature, I believe, and I learned French as a child, by talking with my old + uncle, who was half a Parisian. I believe I have a good accent, but I have + so little practice that I have no command of the language compared to + yours. In a week or two we can both try our skill, as there is to be a + ball for the officers of the French corvette yonder,” and Hope pointed to + the heavy spars, the dark canvas, and the high quarter-deck which made the + “Jean Hoche” seem as if she had floated out of the days of Nelson. + </p> + <p> + The calm day waned, the sun drooped to his setting amid a few golden bars + and pencilled lines of light. Ere they were ready for departure, the tide + had ebbed, and, in getting the boats to a practicable landing-place, + Malbone was delayed behind the others. As he at length brought his boat to + the rock, Hope sat upon the ruined fort, far above him, and sang. Her + noble contralto voice echoed among the cliffs down to the smooth water; + the sun went down behind her, and still she sat stately and noble, her + white dress looking more and more spirit-like against the golden sky; and + still the song rang on,— + </p> + <p> + “Never a scornful word should grieve thee, I’d smile on thee, sweet, as + the angels do; Sweet as thy smile on me shone ever, Douglas, Douglas, + tender and true.” + </p> + <p> + All sacredness and sweetness, all that was pure and brave and truthful, + seemed to rest in her. And when the song ceased at his summons, and she + came down to meet him,—glowing, beautiful, appealing, tender,—then + all meaner spells vanished, if such had ever haunted him, and he was hers + alone. + </p> + <p> + Later that evening, after the household had separated, Hope went into the + empty drawing-room for a light. Philip, after a moment’s hesitation, + followed her, and paused in the doorway. She stood, a white-robed figure, + holding the lighted candle; behind her rose the arched alcove, whose + quaint cherubs looked down on her; she seemed to have stepped forth, the + awakened image of a saint. Looking up, she saw his eager glance; then she + colored, trembled, and put the candle down. He came to her, took her hand + and kissed it, then put his hand upon her brow and gazed into her face, + then kissed her lips. She quietly yielded, but her color came and went, + and her lips moved as if to speak. For a moment he saw her only, thought + only of her. + </p> + <p> + Then, even while he gazed into her eyes, a flood of other memories surged + over him, and his own eyes grew dim. His head swam, the lips he had just + kissed appeared to fade away, and something of darker, richer beauty + seemed to burn through those fair features; he looked through those gentle + eyes into orbs more radiant, and it was as if a countenance of eager + passion obliterated that fair head, and spoke with substituted lips, + “Behold your love.” There was a thrill of infinite ecstasy in the work his + imagination did; he gave it rein, then suddenly drew it in and looked at + Hope. Her touch brought pain for an instant, as she laid her hand upon + him, but he bore it. Then some influence of calmness came; there swept by + him a flood of earlier, serener memories; he sat down in the window-seat + beside her, and when she put her face beside his, and her soft hair + touched his cheek, and he inhaled the rose-odor that always clung round + her, every atom of his manhood stood up to drive away the intruding + presence, and he again belonged to her alone. + </p> + <p> + When he went to his chamber that night, he drew from his pocket a little + note in a girlish hand, which he lighted in the candle, and put upon the + open hearth to burn. With what a cruel, tinkling rustle the pages flamed + and twisted and opened, as if the fire read them, and collapsed again as + if in agonizing effort to hold their secret even in death! The closely + folded paper refused to burn, it went out again and again; while each time + Philip Malbone examined it ere relighting, with a sort of vague curiosity, + to see how much passion had already vanished out of existence, and how + much yet survived. For each of these inspections he had to brush aside the + calcined portion of the letter, once so warm and beautiful with love, but + changed to something that seemed to him a semblance of his own heart just + then,—black, trivial, and empty. + </p> + <p> + Then he took from a little folded paper a long tress of dark silken hair, + and, without trusting himself to kiss it, held it firmly in the candle. It + crisped and sparkled, and sent out a pungent odor, then turned and writhed + between his fingers, like a living thing in pain. What part of us has + earthly immortality but our hair? It dies not with death. When all else of + human beauty has decayed beyond corruption into the more agonizing + irrecoverableness of dust, the hair is still fresh and beautiful, defying + annihilation, and restoring to the powerless heart the full association of + the living image. These shrinking hairs, they feared not death, but they + seemed to fear Malbone. Nothing but the hand of man could destroy what he + was destroying; but his hand shrank not, and it was done. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VII. AN INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION. + </h2> + <p> + AT the celebrated Oldport ball for the French officers, the merit of each + maiden was estimated by the number of foreigners with whom she could talk + at once, for there were more gentlemen than ladies, and not more than half + the ladies spoke French. Here Emilia was in her glory; the ice being once + broken, officers were to her but like so many school-girls, and she + rattled away to the admiral and the fleet captain and two or three + lieutenants at once, while others hovered behind the circle of her + immediate adorers, to pick up the stray shafts of what passed for wit. + Other girls again drove two-in-hand, at the most, in the way of + conversation; while those least gifted could only encounter one small + Frenchman in some safe corner, and converse chiefly by smiles and signs. + </p> + <p> + On the whole, the evening opened gayly. Newly arrived Frenchmen are apt to + be so unused to the familiar society of unmarried girls, that the most + innocent share in it has for them the zest of forbidden fruit, and the + most blameless intercourse seems almost a bonne fortune. Most of these + officers were from the lower ranks of French society, but they all had + that good-breeding which their race wears with such ease, and can + unhappily put off with the same. + </p> + <p> + The admiral and the fleet captain were soon turned over to Hope, who spoke + French as she did English, with quiet grace. She found them agreeable + companions, while Emilia drifted among the elder midshipmen, who were + dazzling in gold lace if not in intellect. Kate fell to the share of a + vehement little surgeon, who danced her out of breath. Harry officiated as + interpreter between the governor of the State and a lively young ensign, + who yearned for the society of dignitaries. The governor was quite aware + that he himself could not speak French; the Frenchman was quite unaware + that he himself could not speak English; but with Harry’s aid they plunged + boldly into conversation. Their talk happened to fall on steam-engines, + English, French, American; their comparative cost, comparative power, + comparative cost per horse power,—until Harry, who was not very + strong upon the steam-engine in his own tongue, and was quite helpless on + that point in any other, got a good deal astray among the numerals, and + implanted some rather wild statistics in the mind of each. The young + Frenchman was far more definite, when requested by the governor to state + in English the precise number of men engaged on board the corvette. With + the accuracy of his nation, he beamingly replied, “Seeshundredtousand.” + </p> + <p> + As is apt to be the case in Oldport, other European nationalities beside + the French were represented, though the most marked foreign accent was of + course to be found among Americans just returned. There were European + diplomatists who spoke English perfectly; there were travellers who spoke + no English at all; and as usual each guest sought to practise himself in + the tongue he knew least. There was the usual eagerness among the + fashionable vulgar to make acquaintance with anything that combined broken + English and a title; and two minutes after a Russian prince had seated + himself comfortably on a sofa beside Kate, he was vehemently tapped on the + shoulder by Mrs. Courtenay Brash with the endearing summons: “Why! Prince, + I didn’t see as you was here. Do you set comfortable where you be? Come + over to this window, and tell all you know!” + </p> + <p> + The prince might have felt that his summons was abrupt, but knew not that + it was ungrammatical, and so was led away in triumph. He had been but a + month or two in this country, and so spoke our language no more correctly + than Mrs. Brash, but only with more grace. There was no great harm in Mrs. + Brash; like most loquacious people, she was kind-hearted, with a tendency + to corpulence and good works. She was also afflicted with a high color, + and a chronic eruption of diamonds. Her husband had an eye for them, + having begun life as a jeweller’s apprentice, and having developed + sufficient sharpness of vision in other directions to become a + millionnaire, and a Congressman, and to let his wife do as she pleased. + </p> + <p> + What goes forth from the lips may vary in dialect, but wine and oysters + speak the universal language. The supper-table brought our party together, + and they compared notes. + </p> + <p> + “Parties are very confusing,” philosophized Hope,—“especially when + waiters and partners dress so much alike. Just now I saw an ill-looking + man elbowing his way up to Mrs. Meredith, and I thought he was bringing + her something on a plate. Instead of that, it was his hand he held out, + and she put hers into it; and I was told that he was one of the leaders of + society. There are very few gentlemen here whom I could positively tell + from the waiters by their faces, and yet Harry says the fast set are not + here.” + </p> + <p> + “Talk of the angels!” said Philip. “There come the Inglesides.” + </p> + <p> + Through the door of the supper-room they saw entering the drawing-room one + of those pretty, fair-haired women who grow older up to twenty-five and + then remain unchanged till sixty. She was dressed in the loveliest pale + blue silk, very low in the neck, and she seemed to smile on all with her + white teeth and her white shoulders. This was Mrs. Ingleside. With her + came her daughter Blanche, a pretty blonde, whose bearing seemed at first + as innocent and pastoral as her name. Her dress was of spotless white, + what there was of it; and her skin was so snowy, you could hardly tell + where the dress ended. Her complexion was exquisite, her eyes of the + softest blue; at twenty-three she did not look more than seventeen; and + yet there was such a contrast between these virginal traits, and the worn, + faithless, hopeless expression, that she looked, as Philip said, like a + depraved lamb. Does it show the higher nature of woman, that, while “fast + young men” are content to look like well-dressed stable boys and + billiard-markers, one may observe that girls of the corresponding type are + apt to addict themselves to white and rosebuds, and pose themselves for + falling angels? + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ingleside was a stray widow (from New Orleans via Paris), into whose + antecedents it was best not to inquire too closely. After many ups and + downs, she was at present up. It was difficult to state with certainty + what bad deed she had ever done, or what good deed. She simply lived by + her wits, and perhaps by some want of that article in her male friends. + Her house was a sort of gentlemanly clubhouse, where the presence of two + women offered a shade less restraint than if there had been men alone. She + was amiable and unscrupulous, went regularly to church, and needed only + money to be the most respectable and fastidious of women. It was always + rather a mystery who paid for her charming little dinners; indeed, several + things in her demeanor were questionable, but as the questions were never + answered, no harm was done, and everybody invited her because everybody + else did. Had she committed some graceful forgery tomorrow, or some mild + murder the next day, nobody would have been surprised, and all her + intimate friends would have said it was what they had always expected. + </p> + <p> + Meantime the entertainment went on. + </p> + <p> + “I shall not have scalloped oysters in heaven,” lamented Kate, as she + finished with healthy appetite her first instalment. + </p> + <p> + “Are you sure you shall not?” said the sympathetic Hope, who would have + eagerly followed Kate into Paradise with a supply of whatever she liked + best. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose you will, darling,” responded Kate, “but what will you care? It + seems hard that those who are bad enough to long for them should not be + good enough to earn them.” + </p> + <p> + At this moment Blanche Ingleside and her train swept into the supper-room; + the girls cleared a passage, their attendant youths collected chairs. + Blanche tilted hers slightly against a wall, professed utter exhaustion, + and demanded a fresh bottle of champagne in a voice that showed no signs + of weakness. Presently a sheepish youth drew near the noisy circle. + </p> + <p> + “Here comes that Talbot van Alsted,” said Blanche, bursting at last into a + loud whisper. “What a goose he is, to be sure! Dear baby, it promised its + mother it wouldn’t drink wine for two months. Let’s all drink with him. + Talbot, my boy, just in time! Fill your glass. Stosst an!” + </p> + <p> + And Blanche and her attendant spirits in white muslin thronged around the + weak boy, saw him charged with the three glasses that were all his head + could stand, and sent him reeling home to his mother. Then they looked + round for fresh worlds to conquer. + </p> + <p> + “There are the Maxwells!” said Miss Ingleside, without lowering her voice. + “Who is that party in the high-necked dress? Is she the schoolmistress? + Why do they have such people here? Society is getting so common, there is + no bearing it. That Emily who is with her is too good for that slow set. + She’s the school-girl we heard of at Nice, or somewhere; she wanted to + elope with somebody, and Phil Malbone stopped her, worse luck. She will be + for eloping with us, before long.” + </p> + <p> + Emilia colored scarlet, and gave a furtive glance at Hope, half of shame, + half of triumph. Hope looked at Blanche with surprise, made a movement + forward, but was restrained by the crowd, while the noisy damsel broke out + in a different direction. + </p> + <p> + “How fiendishly hot it is here, though! Jones junior, put your elbow + through that window! This champagne is boiling. What a tiresome time we + shall have to-morrow, when the Frenchmen are gone! Ah, Count, there you + are at last! Ready for the German? Come for me? Just primed and up to + anything, and so I tell you!” + </p> + <p> + But as Count Posen, kissing his hand to her, squeezed his way through the + crowd with Hal, to be presented to Hope, there came over Blanche’s young + face such a mingled look of hatred and weariness and chagrin, that even + her unobserving friends saw it, and asked with tender commiseration what + was up. + </p> + <p> + The dancing recommenced. There was the usual array of partners, + distributed by mysterious discrepancies, like soldiers’ uniforms, so that + all the tall drew short, and all the short had tall. There were the timid + couples, who danced with trembling knees and eyes cast over their + shoulders; the feeble couples, who meandered aimlessly and got tangled in + corners; the rash couples, who tore breathlessly through the rooms and + brought up at last against the large white waistcoat of the violon-cello. + There was the professional lady-killer, too supreme and indolent to dance, + but sitting amid an admiring bevy of fair women, where he reared his head + of raven curls, and pulled ceaselessly his black mustache. And there were + certain young girls who, having astonished the community for a month by + the lowness of their dresses, now brought to bear their only remaining + art, and struck everybody dumb by appearing clothed. All these came and + went and came again, and had their day or their night, and danced until + the robust Hope went home exhausted and left her more fragile cousins to + dance on till morning. Indeed, it was no easy thing for them to tear + themselves away; Kate was always in demand; Philip knew everybody, and had + that latest aroma of Paris which the soul of fashion covets; Harry had the + tried endurance which befits brothers and lovers at balls; while Emilia’s + foreign court held out till morning, and one handsome young midshipman, in + special, kept revolving back to her after each long orbit of separation, + like a gold-laced comet. + </p> + <p> + The young people lingered extravagantly late at that ball, for the + corvette was to sail next day, and the girls were willing to make the most + of it. As they came to the outer door, the dawn was inexpressibly + beautiful,—deep rose melting into saffron, beneath a tremulous + morning star. With a sudden impulse, they agreed to walk home, the fresh + air seemed so delicious. Philip and Emilia went first, outstripping the + others. + </p> + <p> + Passing the Jewish cemetery, Kate and Harry paused a moment. The sky was + almost cloudless, the air was full of a thousand scents and songs, the + rose-tints in the sky were deepening, the star paling, while a few vague + clouds went wandering upward, and dreamed themselves away. + </p> + <p> + “There is a grave in that cemetery,” said Kate, gently, “where lovers + should always be sitting. It lies behind that tall monument; I cannot see + it for the blossoming boughs. There were two young cousins who loved each + other from childhood, but were separated, because Jews do not allow such + unions. Neither of them was ever married; and they lived to be very old, + the one in New Orleans, the other at the North. In their last illnesses + each dreamed of walking in the fields with the other, as in their early + days; and the telegraphic despatches that told their deaths crossed each + other on the way. That is his monument, and her grave was made behind it; + there was no room for a stone.” + </p> + <p> + Kate moved a step or two, that she might see the graves. The branches + opened clear. What living lovers had met there, at this strange hour, + above the dust of lovers dead? She saw with amazement, and walked on + quickly that Harry might not also see. + </p> + <p> + It was Emilia who sat beside the grave, her dark hair drooping and + dishevelled, her carnation cheek still brilliant after the night’s + excitement; and he who sat at her feet, grasping her hand in both of his, + while his lips poured out passionate words to which she eagerly listened, + was Philip Malbone. + </p> + <p> + Here, upon the soil of a new nation, lay a spot whose associations seemed + already as old as time could make them,—the last footprint of a + tribe now vanished from this island forever,—the resting-place of a + race whose very funerals would soon be no more. Each April the robins + built their nests around these crumbling stones, each May they reared + their broods, each June the clover blossomed, each July the wild + strawberries grew cool and red; all around was youth and life and ecstasy, + and yet the stones bore inscriptions in an unknown language, and the very + graves seemed dead. + </p> + <p> + And lovelier than all the youth of Nature, little Emilia sat there in the + early light, her girlish existence gliding into that drama of passion + which is older than the buried nations, older than time, than death, than + all things save life and God. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VIII. TALKING IT OVER. + </h2> + <p> + AUNT JANE was eager to hear about the ball, and called everybody into her + breakfast-parlor the next morning. She was still hesitating about her bill + of fare. + </p> + <p> + “I wish somebody would invent a new animal,” she burst forth. “How those + sheep bleated last night! I know it was an expression of shame for + providing such tiresome food.” + </p> + <p> + “You must not be so carnally minded, dear,” said Kate. “You must be very + good and grateful, and not care for your breakfast. Somebody says that + mutton chops with wit are a great deal better than turtle without.” + </p> + <p> + “A very foolish somebody,” pronounced Aunt Jane. “I have had a great deal + of wit in my life, and very little turtle. Dear child, do not excite me + with impossible suggestions. There are dropped eggs, I might have those. + They look so beautifully, if it only were not necessary to eat them. Yes, + I will certainly have dropped eggs. I think Ruth could drop them; she + drops everything else.” + </p> + <p> + “Poor little Ruth!” said Kate. “Not yet grown up!” + </p> + <p> + “She will never grow up,” said Aunt Jane, “but she thinks she is a woman; + she even thinks she has a lover. O that in early life I had provided + myself with a pair of twins from some asylum; then I should have had some + one to wait on me.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps they would have been married too,” said Kate. + </p> + <p> + “They should never have been married,” retorted Aunt Jane. “They should + have signed a paper at five years old to do no such thing. Yesterday I + told a lady that I was enraged that a servant should presume to have a + heart, and the woman took it seriously and began to argue with me. To + think of living in a town where one person could be so idiotic! Such a + town ought to be extinguished from the universe.” + </p> + <p> + “Auntie!” said Kate, sternly, “you must grow more charitable.” + </p> + <p> + “Must I?” said Aunt Jane; “it will not be at all becoming. I have thought + about it; often have I weighed it in my mind whether to be monotonously + lovely; but I have always thrust it away. It must make life so tedious. It + is too late for me to change,—at least, anything about me but my + countenance, and that changes the wrong way. Yet I feel so young and + fresh; I look in my glass every morning to see if I have not a new face, + but it never comes. I am not what is called well-favored. In fact, I am + not favored at all. Tell me about the party.” + </p> + <p> + “What shall I tell?” said Kate. + </p> + <p> + “Tell me what people were there,” said Aunt Jane, “and how they were + dressed; who were the happiest and who the most miserable. I think I would + rather hear about the most miserable,—at least, till I have my + breakfast.” + </p> + <p> + “The most miserable person I saw,” said Kate, “was Mrs. Meredith. It was + very amusing to hear her and Hope talk at cross-purposes. You know her + daughter Helen is in Paris, and the mother seemed very sad about her. A + lady was asking if something or other were true; ‘Too true,’ said Mrs. + Meredith; ‘with every opportunity she has had no real success. It was not + the poor child’s fault. She was properly presented; but as yet she has had + no success at all.’ + </p> + <p> + “Hope looked up, full of sympathy. She thought Helen must be some + disappointed school-teacher, and felt an interest in her immediately. + ‘Will there not be another examination?’ she asked. ‘What an odd phrase,’ + said Mrs. Meredith, looking rather disdainfully at Hope. ‘No, I suppose we + must give it up, if that is what you mean. The only remaining chance is in + the skating. I had particular attention paid to Helen’s skating on that + very account. How happy shall I be, if my foresight is rewarded!’ + </p> + <p> + “Hope thought this meant physical education, to be sure, and fancied that + handsome Helen Meredith opening a school for calisthenics in Paris! + Luckily she did not say anything. Then the other lady said, solemnly, ‘My + dear Mrs. Meredith, it is too true. No one can tell how things will turn + out in society. How often do we see girls who were not looked at in + America, and yet have a great success in Paris; then other girls go out + who were here very much admired, and they have no success at all.’ + </p> + <p> + “Hope understood it all then, but she took it very calmly. I was so + indignant, I could hardly help speaking. I wanted to say that it was + outrageous. The idea of American mothers training their children for + exhibition before what everybody calls the most corrupt court in Europe! + Then if they can catch the eye of the Emperor or the Empress by their + faces or their paces, that is called success!” + </p> + <p> + “Good Americans when they die go to Paris,” said Philip, “so says the + oracle. Naughty Americans try it prematurely, and go while they are alive. + Then Paris casts them out, and when they come back, their French disrepute + is their stock in trade.” + </p> + <p> + “I think,” said the cheerful Hope, “that it is not quite so bad.” Hope + always thought things not so bad. She went on. “I was very dull not to + know what Mrs. Meredith was talking about. Helen Meredith is a + warm-hearted, generous girl, and will not go far wrong, though her mother + is not as wise as she is well-bred. But Kate forgets that the few hundred + people one sees here or at Paris do not represent the nation, after all.” + </p> + <p> + “The most influential part of it,” said Emilia. + </p> + <p> + “Are you sure, dear?” said her sister. “I do not think they influence it + half so much as a great many people who are too busy to go to either + place. I always remember those hundred girls at the Normal School, and + that they were not at all like Mrs. Meredith, nor would they care to be + like her, any more than she would wish to be like them.” + </p> + <p> + “They have not had the same advantages,” said Emilia. + </p> + <p> + “Nor the same disadvantages,” said Hope. “Some of them are not so well + bred, and none of them speak French so well, for she speaks exquisitely. + But in all that belongs to real training of the mind, they seem to me + superior, and that is why I think they will have more influence.” + </p> + <p> + “None of them are rich, though, I suppose,” said Emilia, “nor of very nice + families, or they would not be teachers. So they will not be so prominent + in society.” + </p> + <p> + “But they may yet become very prominent in society,” said Hope,—“they + or their pupils or their children. At any rate, it is as certain that the + noblest lives will have most influence in the end, as that two and two + make four.” + </p> + <p> + “Is that certain?” said Philip. “Perhaps there are worlds where two and + two do not make just that desirable amount.” + </p> + <p> + “I trust there are,” said Aunt Jane. “Perhaps I was intended to be born in + one of them, and that is why my housekeeping accounts never add up.” + </p> + <p> + Here hope was called away, and Emilia saucily murmured, “Sour grapes!” + </p> + <p> + “Not a bit of it!” cried Kate, indignantly. “Hope might have anything in + society she wishes, if she would only give up some of her own plans, and + let me choose her dresses, and her rich uncles pay for them. Count Posen + told me, only yesterday, that there was not a girl in Oldport with such an + air as hers.” + </p> + <p> + “Not Kate herself?” said Emilia, slyly. + </p> + <p> + “I?” said Kate. “What am I? A silly chit of a thing, with about a dozen + ideas in my head, nearly every one of which was planted there by Hope. I + like the nonsense of the world very well as it is, and without her I + should have cared for nothing else. Count Posen asked me the other day, + which country produced on the whole the most womanly women, France or + America. He is one of the few foreigners who expect a rational answer. So + I told him that I knew very little of Frenchwomen personally, but that I + had read French novels ever since I was born, and there was not a woman + worthy to be compared with Hope in any of them, except Consuelo, and even + she told lies.” + </p> + <p> + “Do not begin upon Hope,” said Aunt Jane. “It is the only subject on which + Kate can be tedious. Tell me about the dresses. Were people over-dressed + or under-dressed?” + </p> + <p> + “Under-dressed,” said Phil. “Miss Ingleside had a half-inch strip of + muslin over her shoulder.” + </p> + <p> + Here Philip followed Hope out of the room, and Emilia presently followed + him. + </p> + <p> + “Tell on!” said Aunt Jane. “How did Philip enjoy himself?” + </p> + <p> + “He is easily amused, you know,” said Kate. “He likes to observe people, + and to shoot folly as it flies.” + </p> + <p> + “It does not fly,” retorted the elder lady. “I wish it did. You can shoot + it sitting, at least where Philip is.” + </p> + <p> + “Auntie,” said Kate, “tell me truly your objection to Philip. I think you + did not like his parents. Had he not a good mother?” + </p> + <p> + “She was good,” said Aunt Jane, reluctantly, “but it was that kind of + goodness which is quite offensive.” + </p> + <p> + “And did you know his father well?” + </p> + <p> + “Know him!” exclaimed Aunt Jane. “I should think I did. I have sat up all + night to hate him.” + </p> + <p> + “That was very wrong,” said Kate, decisively. “You do not mean that. You + only mean that you did not admire him very much.” + </p> + <p> + “I never admired a dozen people in my life, Kate. I once made a list of + them. There were six women, three men, and a Newfoundland dog.” + </p> + <p> + “What happened?” said Kate. “The Is-raelites died after Pharaoh, or + somebody, numbered them. Did anything happen to yours?” + </p> + <p> + “It was worse with mine,” said Aunt Jane. “I grew tired of some and others + I forgot, till at last there was nobody left but the dog, and he died.” + </p> + <p> + “Was Philip’s father one of them?” + </p> + <p> + “No.” + </p> + <p> + “Tell me about him,” said Kate, firmly. + </p> + <p> + “Ruth,” said the elder lady, as her young handmaiden passed the door with + her wonted demureness, “come here; no, get me a glass of water. Kate! I + shall die of that girl. She does some idiotic thing, and then she looks in + here with that contented, beaming look. There is an air of baseless + happiness about her that drives me nearly frantic.” + </p> + <p> + “Never mind about that,” persisted Kate. “Tell me about Philip’s father. + What was the matter with him?” + </p> + <p> + “My dear,” Aunt Jane at last answered,—with that fearful moderation + to which she usually resorted when even her stock of superlatives was + exhausted,—“he belonged to a family for whom truth possessed even + less than the usual attractions.” + </p> + <p> + This neat epitaph implied the erection of a final tombstone over the whole + race, and Kate asked no more. + </p> + <p> + Meantime Malbone sat at the western door with Harry, and was running on + with one of his tirades, half jest, half earnest, against American + society. + </p> + <p> + “In America,” he said, “everything which does not tend to money is thought + to be wasted, as our Quaker neighbor thinks the children’s croquet-ground + wasted, because it is not a potato field.” + </p> + <p> + “Not just!” cried Harry. “Nowhere is there more respect for those who give + their lives to intellectual pursuits.” + </p> + <p> + “What are intellectual pursuits?” said Philip. “Editing daily newspapers? + Teaching arithmetic to children? I see no others flourishing hereabouts.” + </p> + <p> + “Science and literature,” answered Harry. + </p> + <p> + “Who cares for literature in America,” said Philip, “after a man rises + three inches above the newspaper level? Nobody reads Thoreau; only an + insignificant fraction read Emerson, or even Hawthorne. The majority of + people have hardly even heard their names. What inducement has a writer? + Nobody has any weight in America who is not in Congress, and nobody gets + into Congress without the necessity of bribing or button-holing men whom + he despises.” + </p> + <p> + “But you do not care for public life?” said Harry. + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Malbone, “therefore this does not trouble me, but it troubles + you. I am content. My digestion is good. I can always amuse myself. Why + are you not satisfied?” + </p> + <p> + “Because you are not,” said Harry. “You are dissatisfied with men, and so + you care chiefly to amuse yourself with women and children.” + </p> + <p> + “I dare say,” said Malbone, carelessly. “They are usually less ungraceful + and talk better grammar.” + </p> + <p> + “But American life does not mean grace nor grammar. We are all living for + the future. Rough work now, and the graces by and by.” + </p> + <p> + “That is what we Americans always say,” retorted Philip. “Everything is in + the future. What guaranty have we for that future? I see none. We make no + progress towards the higher arts, except in greater quantities of + mediocrity. We sell larger editions of poor books. Our artists fill larger + frames and travel farther for materials; but a ten-inch canvas would tell + all they have to say.” + </p> + <p> + “The wrong point of view,” said Hal. “If you begin with high art, you + begin at the wrong end. The first essential for any nation is to put the + mass of the people above the reach of want. We are all usefully employed, + if we contribute to that.” + </p> + <p> + “So is the cook usefully employed while preparing dinner,” said Philip. + “Nevertheless, I do not wish to live in the kitchen.” + </p> + <p> + “Yet you always admire your own country,” said Harry, “so long as you are + in Europe.” + </p> + <p> + “No doubt,” said Philip. “I do not object to the kitchen at that distance. + And to tell the truth, America looks well from Europe. No culture, no art + seems so noble as this far-off spectacle of a self-governing people. The + enthusiasm lasts till one’s return. Then there seems nothing here but to + work hard and keep out of mischief.” + </p> + <p> + “That is something,” said Harry. + </p> + <p> + “A good deal in America,” said Phil. “We talk about the immorality of + older countries. Did you ever notice that no class of men are so apt to + take to drinking as highly cultivated Americans? It is a very demoralizing + position, when one’s tastes outgrow one’s surroundings. Positively, I + think a man is more excusable for coveting his neighbor’s wife in America + than in Europe, because there is so little else to covet.” + </p> + <p> + “Malbone!” said Hal, “what has got into you? Do you know what things you + are saying?” + </p> + <p> + “Perfectly,” was the unconcerned reply. “I am not arguing; I am only + testifying. I know that in Paris, for instance, I myself have no + temptations. Art and history are so delightful, I absolutely do not care + for the society even of women; but here, where there is nothing to do, one + must have some stimulus, and for me, who hate drinking, they are, at + least, a more refined excitement.” + </p> + <p> + “More dangerous,” said Hal. “Infinitely more dangerous, in the morbid way + in which you look at life. What have these sickly fancies to do with the + career that opens to every brave man in a great nation?” + </p> + <p> + “They have everything to do with it, and there are many for whom there is + no career. As the nation develops, it must produce men of high culture. + Now there is no place for them except as bookkeepers or pedagogues or + newspaper reporters. Meantime the incessant unintellectual activity is + only a sublime bore to those who stand aside.” + </p> + <p> + “Then why stand aside?” persisted the downright Harry. + </p> + <p> + “I have no place in it but a lounging-place,” said Malbone. “I do not wish + to chop blocks with a razor. I envy those men, born mere Americans, with + no ambition in life but to ‘swing a railroad’ as they say at the West. + Every morning I hope to wake up like them in the fear of God and the love + of money.” + </p> + <p> + “You may as well stop,” said Harry, coloring a little. “Malbone, you used + to be my ideal man in my boyhood, but”— + </p> + <p> + “I am glad we have got beyond that,” interrupted the other, cheerily, “I + am only an idler in the land. Meanwhile, I have my little interests,—read, + write, sketch—” + </p> + <p> + “Flirt?” put in Hal, with growing displeasure. + </p> + <p> + “Not now,” said Phil, patting his shoulder, with imperturbable + good-nature. “Our beloved has cured me of that. He who has won the pearl + dives no more.” + </p> + <p> + “Do not let us speak of Hope,” said Harry. “Everything that you have been + asserting Hope’s daily life disproves.” + </p> + <p> + “That may be,” answered Malbone, heartily. “But, Hal, I never flirted; I + always despised it. It was always a grande passion with me, or what I took + for such. I loved to be loved, I suppose; and there was always something + new and fascinating to be explored in a human heart, that is, a woman’s.” + </p> + <p> + “Some new temple to profane?” asked Hal severely. + </p> + <p> + “Never!” said Philip. “I never profaned it. If I deceived, I shared the + deception, at least for a time; and, as for sensuality, I had none in me.” + </p> + <p> + “Did you have nothing worse? Rousseau ends where Tom Jones begins.” + </p> + <p> + “My temperament saved me,” said Philip. “A woman is not a woman to me, + without personal refinement.” + </p> + <p> + “Just what Rousseau said,” replied Harry. + </p> + <p> + “I acted upon it,” answered Malbone. “No one dislikes Blanche Ingleside + and her demi monde more than I.” + </p> + <p> + “You ought not,” was the retort. “You help to bring other girls to her + level.” + </p> + <p> + “Whom?” said Malbone, startled. + </p> + <p> + “Emilia.” + </p> + <p> + “Emilia?” repeated the other, coloring crimson. “I, who have warned her + against Blanche’s society.” + </p> + <p> + “And have left her no other resource,” said Harry, coloring still more. + “Malbone, you have gained (unconsciously of course) too much power over + that girl, and the only effect of it is, to keep her in perpetual + excitement. So she seeks Blanche, as she would any other strong stimulant. + Hope does not seem to have discovered this, but Kate has, and I have.” + </p> + <p> + Hope came in, and Harry went out. The next day he came to Philip and + apologized most warmly for his unjust and inconsiderate words. Malbone, + always generous, bade him think no more about it, and Harry for that day + reverted strongly to his first faith. “So noble, so high-toned,” he said + to Kate. Indeed, a man never appears more magnanimous than in forgiving a + friend who has told him the truth. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IX. DANGEROUS WAYS. + </h2> + <p> + IT was true enough what Harry had said. Philip Malbone’s was that perilous + Rousseau-like temperament, neither sincere enough for safety, nor false + enough to alarm; the winning tenderness that thrills and softens at the + mere neighborhood of a woman, and fascinates by its reality those whom no + hypocrisy can deceive. It was a nature half amiable, half voluptuous, that + disarmed others, seeming itself unarmed. He was never wholly ennobled by + passion, for it never touched him deeply enough; and, on the other hand, + he was not hardened by the habitual attitude of passion, for he was never + really insincere. Sometimes it seemed as if nothing stood between him and + utter profligacy but a little indolence, a little kindness, and a good + deal of caution. + </p> + <p> + “There seems no such thing as serious repentance in me,” he had once said + to Kate, two years before, when she had upbraided him with some desperate + flirtation which had looked as if he would carry it as far as gentlemen + did under King Charles II. “How does remorse begin?” + </p> + <p> + “Where you are beginning,” said Kate. + </p> + <p> + “I do not perceive that,” he answered. “My conscience seems, after all, to + be only a form of good-nature. I like to be stirred by emotion, I suppose, + and I like to study character. But I can always stop when it is evident + that I shall cause pain to somebody. Is there any other motive?” + </p> + <p> + “In other words,” said she, “you apply the match, and then turn your back + on the burning house.” + </p> + <p> + Philip colored. “How unjust you are! Of course, we all like to play with + fire, but I always put it out before it can spread. Do you think I have no + feeling?” + </p> + <p> + Kate stopped there, I suppose. Even she always stopped soon, if she + undertook to interfere with Malbone. This charming Alcibiades always + convinced them, after the wrestling was over, that he had not been thrown. + </p> + <p> + The only exception to this was in the case of Aunt Jane. If she had + anything in common with Philip,—and there was a certain element of + ingenuous unconsciousness in which they were not so far unlike,—it + only placed them in the more complete antagonism. Perhaps if two beings + were in absolutely no respect alike, they never could meet even for + purposes of hostility; there must be some common ground from which the + aversion may proceed. Moreover, in this case Aunt Jane utterly disbelieved + in Malbone because she had reason to disbelieve in his father, and the + better she knew the son the more she disliked the father retrospectively. + </p> + <p> + Philip was apt to be very heedless of such aversions,—indeed, he had + few to heed,—but it was apparent that Aunt Jane was the only person + with whom he was not quite at ease. Still, the solicitude did not trouble + him very much, for he instinctively knew that it was not his particular + actions which vexed her, so much as his very temperament and atmosphere,—things + not to be changed. So he usually went his way; and if he sometimes felt + one of her sharp retorts, could laugh it off that day and sleep it off + before the next morning. + </p> + <p> + For you may be sure that Philip was very little troubled by inconvenient + memories. He never had to affect forgetfulness of anything. The past slid + from him so easily, he forgot even to try to forget. He liked to quote + from Emerson, “What have I to do with repentance?” “What have my + yesterday’s errors,” he would say, “to do with the life of to-day?” + </p> + <p> + “Everything,” interrupted Aunt Jane, “for you will repeat them to-day, if + you can.” + </p> + <p> + “Not at all,” persisted he, accepting as conversation what she meant as a + stab. “I may, indeed, commit greater errors,”—here she grimly + nodded, as if she had no doubt of it,—“but never just the same. + To-day must take thought for itself.” + </p> + <p> + “I wish it would,” she said, gently, and then went on with her own + thoughts while he was silent. Presently she broke out again in her + impulsive way. + </p> + <p> + “Depend upon it,” she said, “there is very little direct retribution in + this world.” + </p> + <p> + Phil looked up, quite pleased at her indorsing one of his favorite views. + She looked, as she always did, indignant at having said anything to please + him. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said she, “it is the indirect retribution that crushes. I’ve seen + enough of that, God knows. Kate, give me my thimble.” + </p> + <p> + Malbone had that smooth elasticity of surface which made even Aunt Jane’s + strong fingers slip from him as they might from a fish, or from the soft, + gelatinous stem of the water-target. Even in this case he only laughed + good-naturedly, and went out, whistling like a mocking-bird, to call the + children round him. + </p> + <p> + Toward the more wayward and impulsive Emilia the good lady was far more + merciful. With all Aunt Jane’s formidable keenness, she was a little apt + to be disarmed by youth and beauty, and had no very stern retributions + except for those past middle age. Emilia especially charmed her while she + repelled. There was no getting beyond a certain point with this strange + girl, any more than with Philip; but her depths tantalized, while his + apparent shallows were only vexatious. Emilia was usually sweet, winning, + cordial, and seemed ready to glide into one’s heart as softly as she + glided into the room; she liked to please, and found it very easy. Yet she + left the impression that this smooth and delicate loveliness went but an + inch beyond the surface, like the soft, thin foam that enamels yonder + tract of ocean, belongs to it, is a part of it, yet is, after all, but a + bequest of tempests, and covers only a dark abyss of crossing currents and + desolate tangles of rootless kelp. Everybody was drawn to her, yet not a + soul took any comfort in her. Her very voice had in it a despairing + sweetness, that seemed far in advance of her actual history; it was an + anticipated miserere, a perpetual dirge, where nothing had yet gone down. + So Aunt Jane, who was wont to be perfectly decisive in her treatment of + every human being, was fluctuating and inconsistent with Emilia. She could + not help being fascinated by the motherless child, and yet scorned herself + for even the doubting love she gave. + </p> + <p> + “Only think, auntie,” said Kate, “how you kissed Emilia, yesterday!” + </p> + <p> + “Of course I did,” she remorsefully owned. “I have kissed her a great many + times too often. I never will kiss her again. There is nothing but sorrow + to be found in loving her, and her heart is no larger than her feet. Today + she was not even pretty! If it were not for her voice, I think I should + never wish to see her again.” + </p> + <p> + But when that soft, pleading voice came once more, and Emilia asked + perhaps for luncheon, in tones fit for Ophelia, Aunt Jane instantly + yielded. One might as well have tried to enforce indignation against the + Babes in the Wood. + </p> + <p> + This perpetual mute appeal was further strengthened by a peculiar physical + habit in Emilia, which first alarmed the household, but soon ceased to + inspire terror. She fainted very easily, and had attacks at long intervals + akin to faintness, and lasting for several hours. The physicians + pronounced them cataleptic in their nature, saying that they brought no + danger, and that she would certainly outgrow them. They were sometimes + produced by fatigue, sometimes by excitement, but they brought no + agitation with them, nor any development of abnormal powers. They simply + wrapped her in a profound repose, from which no effort could rouse her, + till the trance passed by. Her eyes gradually closed, her voice died away, + and all movement ceased, save that her eyelids sometimes trembled without + opening, and sweet evanescent expressions chased each other across her + face,—the shadows of thoughts unseen. For a time she seemed to + distinguish the touch of different persons by preference or pain; but soon + even this sign of recognition vanished, and the household could only wait + and watch, while she sank into deeper and yet deeper repose. + </p> + <p> + There was something inexpressibly sweet, appealing, and touching in this + impenetrable slumber, when it was at its deepest. She looked so young, so + delicate, so lovely; it was as if she had entered into a shrine, and some + sacred curtain had been dropped to shield her from all the cares and + perplexities of life. She lived, she breathed, and yet all the storms of + life could but beat against her powerless, as the waves beat on the shore. + Safe in this beautiful semblance of death,—her pulse a little + accelerated, her rich color only softened, her eyelids drooping, her + exquisite mouth curved into the sweetness it had lacked in waking,—she + lay unconscious and supreme, the temporary monarch of the household, + entranced upon her throne. A few hours having passed, she suddenly waked, + and was a self-willed, passionate girl once more. When she spoke, it was + with a voice wholly natural; she had no recollection of what had happened, + and no curiosity to learn. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0012" id="link2H_4_0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + X. REMONSTRANCES. + </h2> + <p> + IT had been a lovely summer day, with a tinge of autumnal coolness toward + nightfall, ending in what Aunt Jane called a “quince-jelly sunset.” Kate + and Emilia sat upon the Blue Rocks, earnestly talking. + </p> + <p> + “Promise, Emilia!” said Kate. + </p> + <p> + Emilia said nothing. + </p> + <p> + “Remember,” continued Kate, “he is Hope’s betrothed. Promise, promise, + promise!” + </p> + <p> + Emilia looked into Kate’s face and saw it flushed with a generous + eagerness, that called forth an answering look in her. She tried to speak, + and the words died into silence. There was a pause, while each watched the + other. + </p> + <p> + When one soul is grappling with another for life, such silence may last an + instant too long; and Kate soon felt her grasp slipping. Momentarily the + spell relaxed. Other thoughts swelled up, and Emilia’s eyes began to + wander; delicious memories stole in, of walks through blossoming paths + with Malbone,—of lingering steps, half-stifled words and sentences + left unfinished;—then, alas! of passionate caresses,—other + blossoming paths that only showed the way to sin, but had never quite led + her there, she fancied. There was so much to tell, more than could ever be + explained or justified. Moment by moment, farther and farther strayed the + wandering thoughts, and when the poor child looked in Kate’s face again, + the mist between them seemed to have grown wide and dense, as if neither + eyes nor words nor hands could ever meet again. When she spoke it was to + say something evasive and unimportant, and her voice was as one from the + grave. + </p> + <p> + In truth, Philip had given Emilia his heart to play with at Neuchatel, + that he might beguile her from an attachment they had all regretted. The + device succeeded. The toy once in her hand, the passionate girl had kept + it, had clung to him with all her might; he could not shake her off. Nor + was this the worst, for to his dismay he found himself responding to her + love with a self-abandonment of ardor for which all former loves had been + but a cool preparation. He had not intended this; it seemed hardly his + fault: his intentions had been good, or at least not bad. This piquant and + wonderful fruit of nature, this girlish soul, he had merely touched it and + it was his. Its mere fragrance was intoxicating. Good God! what should he + do with it? + </p> + <p> + No clear answer coming, he had drifted on with that terrible facility for + which years of self-indulged emotion had prepared him. Each step, while it + was intended to be the last, only made some other last step needful. + </p> + <p> + He had begun wrong, for he had concealed his engagement, fancying that he + could secure a stronger influence over this young girl without the + knowledge. He had come to her simply as a friend of her Transatlantic + kindred; and she, who was always rather indifferent to them, asked no + questions, nor made the discovery till too late. Then, indeed, she had + burst upon him with an impetuous despair that had alarmed him. He feared, + not that she would do herself any violence, for she had a childish dread + of death, but that she would show some desperate animosity toward Hope, + whenever they should meet. After a long struggle, he had touched, not her + sense of justice, for she had none, but her love for him; he had aroused + her tenderness and her pride. + </p> + <p> + Without his actual assurance, she yet believed that he would release + himself in some way from his betrothal, and love only her. + </p> + <p> + Malbone had fortunately great control over Emilia when near her, and could + thus keep the sight of this stormy passion from the pure and unconscious + Hope. But a new distress opened before him, from the time when he again + touched Hope’s hand. The close intercourse of the voyage had given him for + the time almost a surfeit of the hot-house atmosphere of Emilia’s love. + The first contact of Hope’s cool, smooth fingers, the soft light of her + clear eyes, the breezy grace of her motions, the rose-odors that clung + around her, brought back all his early passion. Apart from this + voluptuousness of the heart into which he had fallen, Malbone’s was a + simple and unspoiled nature; he had no vices, and had always won + popularity too easily to be obliged to stoop for it; so all that was + noblest in him paid allegiance to Hope. From the moment they again met, + his wayward heart reverted to her. He had been in a dream, he said to + himself; he would conquer it and be only hers; he would go away with her + into the forests and green fields she loved, or he would share in the life + of usefulness for which she yearned. But then, what was he to do with this + little waif from the heart’s tropics,—once tampered with, in an hour + of mad dalliance, and now adhering in-separably to his life? Supposing him + ready to separate from her, could she be detached from him? + </p> + <p> + Kate’s anxieties, when she at last hinted them to Malbone, only sent him + further into revery. “How is it,” he asked himself, “that when I only + sought to love and be loved, I have thus entangled myself in the fate of + others? How is one’s heart to be governed? Is there any such governing? + Mlle. Clairon complained that, so soon as she became seriously attached to + any one, she was sure to meet somebody else whom she liked better. Have + human hearts,” he said, “or at least, has my heart, no more stability than + this?” + </p> + <p> + It did not help the matter when Emilia went to stay awhile with Mrs. + Meredith. The event came about in this way. Hope and Kate had been to a + dinner-party, and were as usual reciting their experiences to Aunt Jane. + </p> + <p> + “Was it pleasant?” said that sympathetic lady. + </p> + <p> + “It was one of those dreadfully dark dining-rooms,” said Hope, seating + herself at the open window. + </p> + <p> + “Why do they make them look so like tombs?” said Kate. + </p> + <p> + “Because,” said her aunt, “most Americans pass from them to the tomb, + after eating such indigestible things. There is a wish for a gentle + transition.” + </p> + <p> + “Aunt Jane,” said Hope, “Mrs. Meredith asks to have a little visit from + Emilia. Do you think she had better go?” + </p> + <p> + “Mrs. Meredith?” asked Aunt Jane. “Is that woman alive yet?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, auntie!” said Kate. “We were talking about her only a week ago.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps so,” conceded Aunt Jane, reluctantly. “But it seems to me she has + great length of days!” + </p> + <p> + “How very improperly you are talking, dear!” said Kate. “She is not more + than forty, and you are—” + </p> + <p> + “Fifty-four,” interrupted the other. + </p> + <p> + “Then she has not seen nearly so many days as you.” + </p> + <p> + “But they are such long days! That is what I must have meant. One of her + days is as long as three of mine. She is so tiresome!” + </p> + <p> + “She does not tire you very often,” said Kate. + </p> + <p> + “She comes once a year,” said Aunt Jane. “And then it is not to see me. + She comes out of respect to the memory of my great-aunt, with whom + Talleyrand fell in love, when he was in America, before Mrs. Meredith was + born. Yes, Emilia may as well go.” + </p> + <p> + So Emilia went. To provide her with companionship, Mrs. Meredith kindly + had Blanche Ingleside to stay there also. Blanche stayed at different + houses a good deal. To do her justice, she was very good company, when put + upon her best behavior, and beyond the reach of her demure mamma. She was + always in spirits, often good-natured, and kept everything in lively + motion, you may be sure. She found it not unpleasant, in rich houses, to + escape some of those little domestic parsimonies which the world saw not + in her own; and to secure this felicity she could sometimes lay great + restraints upon herself, for as much as twenty-four hours. She seemed a + little out of place, certainly, amid the precise proprieties of Mrs. + Meredith’s establishment. But Blanche and her mother still held their + place in society, and it was nothing to Mrs. Meredith who came to her + doors, but only from what other doors they came. + </p> + <p> + She would have liked to see all “the best houses” connected by secret + galleries or underground passages, of which she and a few others should + hold the keys. A guest properly presented could then go the rounds of all + unerringly, leaving his card at each, while improper acquaintances in vain + howled for admission at the outer wall. For the rest, her ideal of social + happiness was a series of perfectly ordered entertainments, at each of + which there should be precisely the same guests, the same topics, the same + supper, and the same ennui. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0013" id="link2H_4_0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XI. DESCENSUS AVERNI. + </h2> + <p> + MALBONE stood one morning on the pier behind the house. A two days’ fog + was dispersing. The southwest breeze rippled the deep blue water; + sailboats, blue, red, and green, were darting about like white-winged + butterflies; sloops passed and repassed, cutting the air with the white + and slender points of their gaff-topsails. The liberated sunbeams spread + and penetrated everywhere, and even came up to play (reflected from the + water) beneath the shadowy, overhanging counters of dark vessels. Beyond, + the atmosphere was still busy in rolling away its vapors, brushing the + last gray fringes from the low hills, and leaving over them only the + thinnest aerial veil. Farther down the bay, the pale tower of the + crumbling fort was now shrouded, now revealed, then hung with floating + lines of vapor as with banners. + </p> + <p> + Hope came down on the pier to Malbone, who was looking at the boats. He + saw with surprise that her calm brow was a little clouded, her lips + compressed, and her eyes full of tears. + </p> + <p> + “Philip,” she said, abruptly, “do you love me?” + </p> + <p> + “Do you doubt it?” said he, smiling, a little uneasily. + </p> + <p> + Fixing her eyes upon him, she said, more seriously: “There is a more + important question, Philip. Tell me truly, do you care about Emilia?” + </p> + <p> + He started at the words, and looked eagerly in her face for an + explanation. Her expression only showed the most anxious solicitude. + </p> + <p> + For one moment the wild impulse came up in his mind to put an entire trust + in this truthful woman, and tell her all. Then the habit of concealment + came back to him, the dull hopelessness of a divided duty, and the + impossibility of explanations. How could he justify himself to her when he + did not really know himself? So he merely said, “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “She is your sister,” he added, in an explanatory tone, after a pause; and + despised himself for the subterfuge. It is amazing how long a man may be + false in action before he ceases to shrink from being false in words. + </p> + <p> + “Philip,” said the unsuspecting Hope, “I knew that you cared about her. I + have seen you look at her with so much affection; and then again I have + seen you look cold and almost stern. She notices it, I am sure she does, + this changeableness. But this is not why I ask the question. I think you + must have seen something else that I have been observing, and if you care + about her, even for my sake, it is enough.” + </p> + <p> + Here Philip started, and felt relieved. + </p> + <p> + “You must be her friend,” continued Hope, eagerly. “She has changed her + whole manner and habits very fast. Blanche Ingleside and that set seem to + have wholly controlled her, and there is something reckless in all her + ways. You are the only person who can help her.” + </p> + <p> + “How?” + </p> + <p> + “I do not know how,” said Hope, almost impatiently. “You know how. You + have wonderful influence. You saved her before, and will do it again. I + put her in your hands.” + </p> + <p> + “What can I do for her?” asked he, with a strange mingling of terror and + delight. + </p> + <p> + “Everything,” said she. “If she has your society, she will not care for + those people, so much her inferiors in character. Devote yourself to her + for a time.” + </p> + <p> + “And leave you?” said Philip, hesitatingly. + </p> + <p> + “Anything, anything,” said she. “If I do not see you for a month, I can + bear it. Only promise me two things. First, that you will go to her this + very day. She dines with Mrs. Ingleside.” + </p> + <p> + Philip agreed. + </p> + <p> + “Then,” said Hope, with saddened tones, “you must not say it was I who + sent you. Indeed you must not. That would spoil all. Let her think that + your own impulse leads you, and then she will yield. I know Emilia enough + for that.” + </p> + <p> + Malbone paused, half in ecstasy, half in dismay. Were all the events of + life combining to ruin or to save him? This young girl, whom he so + passionately loved, was she to be thrust back into his arms, and was he to + be told to clasp her and be silent? And that by Hope, and in the name of + duty? + </p> + <p> + It seemed a strange position, even for him who was so eager for fresh + experiences and difficult combinations. At Hope’s appeal he was to risk + Hope’s peace forever; he was to make her sweet sisterly affection its own + executioner. In obedience to her love he must revive Emilia’s. The tender + intercourse which he had been trying to renounce as a crime must be + rebaptized as a duty. Was ever a man placed, he thought, in a position so + inextricable, so disastrous? What could he offer Emilia? How could he + explain to her his position? He could not even tell her that it was at + Hope’s command he sought her. + </p> + <p> + He who is summoned to rescue a drowning man, knowing that he himself may + go down with that inevitable clutch around his neck, is placed in some + such situation as Philip’s. Yet Hope had appealed to him so simply, had + trusted him so nobly! Suppose that, by any self-control, or wisdom, or + unexpected aid of Heaven, he could serve both her and Emilia, was it not + his duty? What if it should prove that he was right in loving them both, + and had only erred when he cursed himself for tampering with their + destinies? Perhaps, after all, the Divine Love had been guiding him, and + at some appointed signal all these complications were to be cleared, and + he and his various loves were somehow to be ingeniously provided for, and + all be made happy ever after. + </p> + <p> + He really grew quite tender and devout over these meditations. Phil was + not a conceited fellow, by any means, but he had been so often told by + women that their love for him had been a blessing to their souls, that he + quite acquiesced in being a providential agent in that particular + direction. Considered as a form of self-sacrifice, it was not without its + pleasures. + </p> + <p> + Malbone drove that afternoon to Mrs. Ingleside’s charming abode, whither a + few ladies were wont to resort, and a great many gentlemen. He timed his + call between the hours of dining and driving, and made sure that Emilia + had not yet emerged. Two or three equipages beside his own were in waiting + at the gate, and gay voices resounded from the house. A servant received + him at the door, and taking him for a tardy guest, ushered him at once + into the dining-room. He was indifferent to this, for he had been too + often sought as a guest by Mrs. Ingleside to stand on any ceremony beneath + her roof. + </p> + <p> + That fair hostess, in all the beauty of her shoulders, rose to greet him, + from a table where six or eight guests yet lingered over flowers and wine. + The gentlemen were smoking, and some of the ladies were trying to look at + ease with cigarettes. Malbone knew the whole company, and greeted them + with his accustomed ease. He would not have been embarrassed if they had + been the Forty Thieves. Some of them, indeed, were not so far removed from + that fabled band, only it was their fortunes, instead of themselves, that + lay in the jars of oil. + </p> + <p> + “You find us all here,” said Mrs. Ingleside, sweetly. “We will wait till + the gentlemen finish their cigars, before driving.” + </p> + <p> + “Count me in, please,” said Blanche, in her usual vein of frankness. + “Unless mamma wishes me to conclude my weed on the Avenue. It would be + fun, though. Fancy the dismay of the Frenchmen and the dowagers!” + </p> + <p> + “And old Lambert,” said one of the other girls, delightedly. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Blanche. “The elderly party from the rural districts, who + talks to us about the domestic virtues of the wife of his youth.” + </p> + <p> + “Thinks women should cruise with a broom at their mast-heads, like Admiral + somebody in England,” said another damsel, who was rolling a cigarette for + a midshipman. + </p> + <p> + “You see we do not follow the English style,” said the smooth hostess to + Philip. “Ladies retiring after dinner! After all, it is a coarse practice. + You agree with me, Mr. Malbone?” + </p> + <p> + “Speak your mind,” said Blanche, coolly. “Don’t say yes if you’d rather + not. Because we find a thing a bore, you’ve no call to say so.” + </p> + <p> + “I always say,” continued the matron, “that the presence of woman is + needed as a refining influence.” + </p> + <p> + Malbone looked round for the refining influences. Blanche was tilted back + in her chair, with one foot on the rung of the chair before her, resuming + a loud-toned discourse with Count Posen as to his projected work on + American society. She was trying to extort a promise that she should + appear in its pages, which, as we all remember, she did. One of her + attendant nymphs sat leaning her elbows on the table, “talking horse” with + a gentleman who had an undoubted professional claim to a knowledge of that + commodity. Another, having finished her manufactured cigarette, was making + the grinning midshipman open his lips wider and wider to receive it. Mrs. + Ingleside was talking in her mincing way with a Jew broker, whose English + was as imperfect as his morals, and who needed nothing to make him a + millionnaire but a turn of bad luck for somebody else. Half the men in the + room would have felt quite ill at ease in any circle of refined women, but + there was not one who did not feel perfectly unembarrassed around Mrs. + Ingleside’s board. + </p> + <p> + “Upon my word,” thought Malbone, “I never fancied the English after-dinner + practice, any more than did Napoleon. But if this goes on, it is the + gentlemen who ought to withdraw. Cannot somebody lead the way to the + drawing-room, and leave the ladies to finish their cigars?” + </p> + <p> + Till now he had hardly dared to look at Emilia. He saw with a thrill of + love that she was the one person in the room who appeared out of place or + ill at ease. She did not glance at him, but held her cigarette in silence + and refused to light it. She had boasted to him once of having learned to + smoke at school. + </p> + <p> + “What’s the matter, Emmy?” suddenly exclaimed Blanche. “Are you under a + cloud, that you don’t blow one?” + </p> + <p> + “Blanche, Blanche,” said her mother, in sweet reproof. “Mr. Malbone, what + shall I do with this wild girl? Such a light way of talking! But I can + assure you that she is really very fond of the society of intellectual, + superior men. I often tell her that they are, after all, her most + congenial associates. More so than the young and giddy.” + </p> + <p> + “You’d better believe it,” said the unabashed damsel. “Take notice that + whenever I go to a dinner-party I look round for a clergyman to drink wine + with.” + </p> + <p> + “Incorrigible!” said the caressing mother. “Mr. Malbone would hardly + imagine you had been bred in a Christian land.” + </p> + <p> + “I have, though,” retorted Blanche. “My esteemed parent always accustomed + me to give up something during Lent,—champagne, or the New York + Herald, or something.” + </p> + <p> + The young men roared, and, had time and cosmetics made it possible, Mrs. + Ingleside would have blushed becomingly. After all, the daughter was the + better of the two. Her bluntness was refreshing beside the mother’s + suavity; she had a certain generosity, too, and in a case of real + destitution would have lent her best ear-rings to a friend. + </p> + <p> + By this time Malbone had edged himself to Emilia’s side. “Will you drive + with me?” he murmured in an undertone. + </p> + <p> + She nodded slightly, abruptly, and he withdrew again. + </p> + <p> + “It seems barbarous,” said he aloud, “to break up the party. But I must + claim my promised drive with Miss Emilia.” + </p> + <p> + Blanche looked up, for once amazed, having heard a different programme + arranged. Count Posen looked up also. But he thought he must have + misunderstood Emilia’s acceptance of his previous offer to drive her; and + as he prided himself even more on his English than on his gallantry, he + said no more. It was no great matter. Young Jones’s dog-cart was at the + door, and always opened eagerly its arms to anybody with a title. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0014" id="link2H_4_0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XII. A NEW ENGAGEMENT. + </h2> + <p> + TEN days later Philip came into Aunt Jane’s parlor, looking excited and + gloomy, with a letter in his hand. He put it down on her table without its + envelope,—a thing that always particularly annoyed her. A letter + without its envelope, she was wont to say, was like a man without a face, + or a key without a string,—something incomplete, preposterous. As + usual, however, he strode across her prejudices, and said, “I have + something to tell you. It is a fact.” + </p> + <p> + “Is it?” said Aunt Jane, curtly. “That is refreshing in these times.” + </p> + <p> + “A good beginning,” said Kate. “Go on. You have prepared us for something + incredible.” + </p> + <p> + “You will think it so,” said Malbone. “Emilia is engaged to Mr. John + Lambert.” And he went out of the room. + </p> + <p> + “Good Heavens!” said Aunt Jane, taking off her spectacles. “What a man! He + is ugly enough to frighten the neighboring crows. His face looks as if it + had fallen together out of chaos, and the features had come where it had + pleased Fate. There is a look of industrious nothingness about him, such + as busy dogs have. I know the whole family. They used to bake our bread.” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose they are good and sensible,” said Kate. + </p> + <p> + “Like boiled potatoes, my dear,” was the response,—“wholesome but + perfectly uninteresting.” + </p> + <p> + “Is he of that sort?” asked Kate. + </p> + <p> + “No,” said her aunt; “not uninteresting, but ungracious. But I like an + ungracious man better than one like Philip, who hangs over young girls + like a soft-hearted avalanche. This Lambert will govern Emilia, which is + what she needs.” + </p> + <p> + “She will never love him,” said Kate, “which is the one thing she needs. + There is nothing that could not be done with Emilia by any person with + whom she was in love; and nothing can ever be done with her by anybody + else. No good will ever come of this, and I hope she will never marry + him.” + </p> + <p> + With this unusual burst, Kate retreated to Hope. Hope took the news more + patiently than any one, but with deep solicitude. A worldly marriage + seemed the natural result of the Ingleside influence, but it had not + occurred to anybody that it would come so soon. It had not seemed Emilia’s + peculiar temptation; and yet nobody could suppose that she looked at John + Lambert through any glamour of the affections. + </p> + <p> + Mr. John Lambert was a millionnaire, a politician, and a widower. The late + Mrs. Lambert had been a specimen of that cheerful hopelessness of + temperament that one finds abundantly developed among the middle-aged + women of country towns. She enjoyed her daily murders in the newspapers, + and wept profusely at the funerals of strangers. On every occasion, + however felicitous, she offered her condolences in a feeble voice, that + seemed to have been washed a great many times and to have faded. But she + was a good manager, a devoted wife, and was more cheerful at home than + elsewhere, for she had there plenty of trials to exercise her eloquence, + and not enough joy to make it her duty to be doleful. At last her poor, + meek, fatiguing voice faded out altogether, and her husband mourned her as + heartily as she would have bemoaned the demise of the most insignificant + neighbor. After her death, being left childless, he had nothing to do but + to make money, and he naturally made it. Having taken his primary + financial education in New England, he graduated at that great business + university, Chicago, and then entered on the public practice of wealth in + New York. + </p> + <p> + Aunt Jane had perhaps done injustice to the personal appearance of Mr. + John Lambert. His features were irregular, but not insignificant, and + there was a certain air of slow command about him, which made some persons + call him handsome. He was heavily built, with a large, well-shaped head, + light whiskers tinged with gray, and a sort of dusty complexion. His face + was full of little curved wrinkles, as if it were a slate just ruled for + sums in long division, and his small blue eyes winked anxiously a dozen + different ways, as if they were doing the sums. He seemed to bristle with + memorandum-books, and kept drawing them from every pocket, to put + something down. He was slow of speech, and his very heaviness of look + added to the impression of reserved power about the man. + </p> + <p> + All his career in life had been a solid progress, and his boldest + speculations seemed securer than the legitimate business of less potent + financiers. Beginning business life by peddling gingerbread on a railway + train, he had developed such a genius for railway management as some men + show for chess or for virtue; and his accumulating property had the + momentum of a planet. + </p> + <p> + He had read a good deal at odd times, and had seen a great deal of men. + His private morals were unstained, he was equable and amiable, had strong + good sense, and never got beyond his depth. He had travelled in Europe and + brought home many statistics, some new thoughts, and a few good pictures + selected by his friends. He spent his money liberally for the things + needful to his position, owned a yacht, bred trotting-horses, and had + founded a theological school. He submitted to these and other social + observances from a vague sense of duty as an American citizen; his real + interest lay in business and in politics. Yet he conducted these two + vocations on principles diametrically opposite. In business he was more + honest than the average; in politics he had no conception of honesty, for + he could see no difference between a politician and any other merchandise. + He always succeeded in business, for he thoroughly understood its + principles; in politics he always failed in the end, for he recognized no + principles at all. In business he was active, resolute, and seldom + deceived; in politics he was equally active, but was apt to be irresolute, + and was deceived every day of his life. In both cases it was not so much + from love of power that he labored, as from the excitement of the game. + The larger the scale the better he liked it; a large railroad operation, a + large tract of real estate, a big and noisy statesman,—these + investments he found irresistible. + </p> + <p> + On which of his two sets of principles he would manage a wife remained to + be proved. It is the misfortune of what are called self-made men in + America, that, though early accustomed to the society of men of the world, + they often remain utterly unacquainted with women of the world, until + those charming perils are at last sprung upon them in full force, at New + York or Washington. John Lambert at forty was as absolutely ignorant of + the qualities and habits of a cultivated woman as of the details of her + toilet. The plain domesticity of his departed wife he had understood and + prized; he remembered her household ways as he did her black alpaca dress; + indeed, except for that item of apparel, she was not so unlike himself. In + later years he had seen the women of society; he had heard them talk; he + had heard men talk about them, wittily or wickedly, at the clubs; he had + perceived that a good many of them wished to marry him, and yet, after + all, he knew no more of them than of the rearing of humming-birds or + orchids,—dainty, tropical things which he allowed his gardener to + raise, he keeping his hands off, and only paying the bills. Whether there + was in existence a class of women who were both useful and refined,—any + intermediate type between the butterfly and the drudge,—was a + question which he had sometimes asked himself, without having the + materials to construct a reply. + </p> + <p> + With imagination thus touched and heart unfilled, this man had been + bewitched from the very first moment by Emilia. He kept it to himself, and + heard in silence the criticisms made at the club-windows. To those + perpetual jokes about marriage, which are showered with such graceful + courtesy about the path of widowers, he had no reply; or at most would + only admit that he needed some elegant woman to preside over his + establishment, and that he had better take her young, as having habits + less fixed. But in his secret soul he treasured every tone of this girl’s + voice, every glance of her eye, and would have kept in a casket of gold + and diamonds the little fragrant glove she once let fall. He envied the + penniless and brainless boys, who, with ready gallantry, pushed by him to + escort her to her carriage; and he lay awake at night to form into words + the answer he ought to have made, when she threw at him some careless + phrase, and gave him the opportunity to blunder. + </p> + <p> + And she, meanwhile, unconscious of his passion, went by him in her beauty, + and caught him in the net she never threw. Emilia was always piquant, + because she was indifferent; she had never made an effort in her life, and + she had no respect for persons. She was capable of marrying for money, + perhaps, but the sacrifice must all be completed in a single vow. She + would not tutor nor control herself for the purpose. Hand and heart must + be duly transferred, she supposed, whenever the time was up; but till then + she must be free. + </p> + <p> + This with her was not art, but necessity; yet the most accomplished art + could have devised nothing so effectual to hold her lover. His strong + sense had always protected him from the tricks of matchmaking mammas and + their guileless maids. Had Emilia made one effort to please him, once + concealed a dislike, once affected a preference, the spell might have been + broken. Had she been his slave, he might have become a very unyielding or + a very heedless despot. Making him her slave, she kept him at the very + height of bliss. This king of railways and purchaser of statesmen, this + man who made or wrecked the fortunes of others by his whim, was absolutely + governed by a reckless, passionate, inexperienced, ignorant girl. + </p> + <p> + And this passion was made all the stronger by being a good deal confined + to his own breast. Somehow it was very hard for him to talk sentiment to + Emilia; he instinctively saw she disliked it, and indeed he liked her for + not approving the stiff phrases which were all he could command. Nor could + he find any relief of mind in talking with others about her. It enraged + him to be clapped on the back and congratulated by his compeers; and he + stopped their coarse jokes, often rudely enough. As for the young men at + the club, he could not bear to hear them mention his darling’s name, + however courteously. He knew well enough that for them the betrothal had + neither dignity nor purity; that they held it to be as much a matter of + bargain and sale as their worst amours. He would far rather have talked to + the theological professors whose salaries he paid, for he saw that they + had a sort of grave, formal tradition of the sacredness of marriage. And + he had a right to claim that to him it was sacred, at least as yet; all + the ideal side of his nature was suddenly developed; he walked in a dream; + he even read Tennyson. + </p> + <p> + Sometimes he talked a little to his future brother-in-law, Harry,—assuming, + as lovers are wont, that brothers see sisters on their ideal side. This + was quite true of Harry and Hope, but not at all true as regarded Emilia. + She seemed to him simply a beautiful and ungoverned girl whom he could not + respect, and whom he therefore found it very hard to idealize. Therefore + he heard with a sort of sadness the outpourings of generous devotion from + John Lambert. + </p> + <p> + “I don’t know how it is, Henry,” the merchant would gravely say, “I can’t + get rightly used to it, that I feel so strange. Honestly, now, I feel as + if I was beginning life over again. It ain’t a selfish feeling, so I know + there’s some good in it. I used to be selfish enough, but I ain’t so to + her. You may not think it, but if it would make her happy, I believe I + could lie down and let her carriage roll over me. By ——-, I + would build her a palace to live in, and keep the lodge at the gate + myself, just to see her pass by. That is, if she was to live in it alone + by herself. I couldn’t stand sharing her. It must be me or nobody.” + </p> + <p> + Probably there was no male acquaintance of the parties, however hardened, + to whom these fine flights would have seemed more utterly preposterous + than to the immediate friend and prospective bridesmaid, Miss Blanche + Ingleside. To that young lady, trained sedulously by a devoted mother, + life was really a serious thing. It meant the full rigor of the marriage + market, tempered only by dancing and new dresses. There was a stern sense + of duty beneath all her robing and disrobing; she conscientiously did what + was expected of her, and took her little amusements meanwhile. It was + supposed that most of the purchasers in the market preferred slang and + bare shoulders, and so she favored them with plenty of both. It was merely + the law of supply and demand. Had John Lambert once hinted that he would + accept her in decent black, she would have gone to the next ball as a + Sister of Charity; but where was the need of it, when she and her mother + both knew that, had she appeared as the Veiled Prophet of Khorassan, she + would not have won him? So her only resource was a cheerful acquiescence + in Emilia’s luck, and a judicious propitiation of the accepted favorite. + </p> + <p> + “I wouldn’t mind playing Virtue Rewarded myself, young woman,” said + Blanche, “at such a scale of prices. I would do it even to so slow an + audience as old Lambert. But you see, it isn’t my line. Don’t forget your + humble friends when you come into your property, that’s all.” Then the + tender coterie of innocents entered on some preliminary consideration of + wedding-dresses. + </p> + <p> + When Emilia came home, she dismissed the whole matter lightly as a settled + thing, evaded all talk with Aunt Jane, and coolly said to Kate that she + had no objection to Mr. Lambert, and might as well marry him as anybody + else. + </p> + <p> + “I am not like you and Hal, you know,” said she. “I have no fancy for love + in a cottage. I never look well in anything that is not costly. I have not + a taste that does not imply a fortune. What is the use of love? One + marries for love, and is unhappy ever after. One marries for money, and + perhaps gets love after all. I dare say Mr. Lambert loves me, though I do + not see why he should.” + </p> + <p> + “I fear he does,” said Kate, almost severely. + </p> + <p> + “Fear?” said Emilia. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Kate. “It is an unequal bargain, where one side does all the + loving.” + </p> + <p> + “Don’t be troubled,” said Emilia. “I dare say he will not love me long. + Nobody ever did!” And her eyes filled with tears which she dashed away + angrily, as she ran up to her room. + </p> + <p> + It was harder yet for her to talk with Hope, but she did it, and that in a + very serious mood. She had never been so open with her sister. + </p> + <p> + “Aunt Jane once told me,” she said, “that my only safety was in marrying a + good man. Now I am engaged to one.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you love him, Emilia?” asked Hope, gravely. + </p> + <p> + “Not much,” said Emilia, honestly. “But perhaps I shall, by and by.” + </p> + <p> + “Emilia,” cried Hope, “there is no such thing as happiness in a marriage + without love.” + </p> + <p> + “Mine is not without love,” the girl answered. “He loves me. It frightens + me to see how much he loves me. I can have the devotion of a lifetime, if + I will. Perhaps it is hard to receive it in such a way, but I can have it. + Do you blame me very much?” + </p> + <p> + Hope hesitated. “I cannot blame you so much, my child,” she said, “as if I + thought it were money for which you cared. It seems to me that there must + be something beside that, and yet—” + </p> + <p> + “O Hope, how I thank you,” interrupted Emilia. “It is not money. You know + I do not care about money, except just to buy my clothes and things. At + least, I do not care about so much as he has,—more than a million + dollars, only think! Perhaps they said two million. Is it wrong for me to + marry him, just because he has that?” + </p> + <p> + “Not if you love him.” + </p> + <p> + “I do not exactly love him, but O Hope, I cannot tell you about it. I am + not so frivolous as you think. I want to do my duty. I want to make you + happy too: you have been so sweet to me.” + </p> + <p> + “Did you think it would make me happy to have you married?” asked Hope, + surprised, and kissing again and again the young, sad face. And the two + girls went upstairs together, brought for the moment into more sisterly + nearness by the very thing that had seemed likely to set them forever + apart. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0015" id="link2H_4_0015"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XIII. DREAMING DREAMS. + </h2> + <p> + SO short was the period between Emilia’s betrothal and her marriage, that + Aunt Jane’s sufferings over trousseau and visits did not last long. Mr. + Lambert’s society was the worst thing to bear. + </p> + <p> + “He makes such long calls!” she said, despairingly. “He should bring an + almanac with him to know when the days go by.” + </p> + <p> + “But Harry and Philip are here all the time,” said Kate, the accustomed + soother. + </p> + <p> + “Harry is quiet, and Philip keeps out of the way lately,” she answered. + “But I always thought lovers the most inconvenient thing about a house. + They are more troublesome than the mice, and all those people who live in + the wainscot; for though the lovers make less noise, yet you have to see + them.” + </p> + <p> + “A necessary evil, dear,” said Kate, with much philosophy. + </p> + <p> + “I am not sure,” said the complainant. “They might be excluded in the deed + of a house, or by the terms of the lease. The next house I take, I shall + say to the owner, ‘Have you a good well of water on the premises? Are you + troubled with rats or lovers?’ That will settle it.” + </p> + <p> + It was true, what Aunt Jane said about Malbone. He had changed his habits + a good deal. While the girls were desperately busy about the dresses, he + beguiled Harry to the club, and sat on the piazza, talking sentiment and + sarcasm, regardless of hearers. + </p> + <p> + “When we are young,” he would say, “we are all idealists in love. Every + imaginative boy has such a passion, while his intellect is crude and his + senses indifferent. It is the height of bliss. All other pleasures are not + worth its pains. With older men this ecstasy of the imagination is rare; + it is the senses that clutch or reason which holds.” + </p> + <p> + “Is that an improvement?” asked some juvenile listener. + </p> + <p> + “No!” said Philip, strongly. “Reason is cold and sensuality hateful; a man + of any feeling must feed his imagination; there must be a woman of whom he + can dream.” + </p> + <p> + “That is,” put in some more critical auditor, “whom he can love as a woman + loves a man.” + </p> + <p> + “For want of the experience of such a passion,” Malbone went on, + unheeding, “nobody comprehends Petrarch. Philosophers and sensualists all + refuse to believe that his dream of Laura went on, even when he had a + mistress and a child. Why not? Every one must have something to which his + dreams can cling, amid the degradations of actual life, and this tie is + more real than the degradation; and if he holds to the tie, it will one + day save him.” + </p> + <p> + “What is the need of the degradation?” put in the clear-headed Harry. + </p> + <p> + “None, except in weakness,” said Philip. “A stronger nature may escape it. + Good God! do I not know how Petrarch must have felt? What sorrow life + brings! Suppose a man hopelessly separated from one whom he passionately + loves. Then, as he looks up at the starry sky, something says to him: ‘You + can bear all these agonies of privation, loss of life, loss of love,—what + are they? If the tie between you is what you thought, neither life nor + death, neither folly nor sin, can keep her forever from you.’ Would that + one could always feel so! But I am weak. Then comes impulse, it thirsts + for some immediate gratification; I yield, and plunge into any happiness + since I cannot obtain her. Then comes quiet again, with the stars, and I + bitterly reproach myself for needing anything more than that stainless + ideal. And so, I fancy, did Petrarch.” + </p> + <p> + Philip was getting into a dangerous mood with his sentimentalism. No + lawful passion can ever be so bewildering or ecstatic as an unlawful one. + For that which is right has all the powers of the universe on its side, + and can afford to wait; but the wrong, having all those vast forces + against it, must hurry to its fulfilment, reserve nothing, concentrate all + its ecstasies upon to-day. Malbone, greedy of emotion, was drinking to the + dregs a passion that could have no to-morrow. + </p> + <p> + Sympathetic persons are apt to assume that every refined emotion must be + ennobling. This is not true of men like Malbone, voluptuaries of the + heart. He ordinarily got up a passion very much as Lord Russell got up an + appetite,—he, of Spence’s Anecdotes, who went out hunting for that + sole purpose, and left the chase when the sensation came. Malbone did not + leave his more spiritual chase so soon,—it made him too happy. + Sometimes, indeed, when he had thus caught his emotion, it caught him in + return, and for a few moments made him almost unhappy. This he liked best + of all; he nursed the delicious pain, knowing that it would die out soon + enough, there was no need of hurrying it to a close. At least, there had + never been need for such solicitude before. + </p> + <p> + Except for his genius for keeping his own counsel, every acquaintance of + Malbone’s would have divined the meaning of these reveries. As it was, he + was called whimsical and sentimental, but he was a man of sufficiently + assured position to have whims of his own, and could even treat himself to + an emotion or so, if he saw fit. Besides, he talked well to anybody on + anything, and was admitted to exhibit, for a man of literary tastes, a + good deal of sense. If he had engaged himself to a handsome + schoolmistress, it was his fancy, and he could afford it. Moreover she was + well connected, and had an air. And what more natural than that he should + stand at the club-window and watch, when his young half-sister (that was + to be) drove by with John Lambert? So every afternoon he saw them pass in + a vehicle of lofty description, with two wretched appendages in dark blue + broadcloth, who sat with their backs turned to their masters, kept their + arms folded, and nearly rolled off at every corner. Hope would have + dreaded the close neighborhood of those Irish ears; she would rather have + ridden even in an omnibus, could she and Philip have taken all the seats. + But then Hope seldom cared to drive on the Avenue at all, except as a + means of reaching the ocean, whereas with most people it appears the + appointed means to escape from that spectacle. And as for the footmen, + there was nothing in the conversation worth their hearing or repeating; + and their presence was a relief to Emilia, for who knew but Mr. Lambert + himself might end in growing sentimental? + </p> + <p> + Yet she did not find him always equally tedious. Their drives had some + variety. For instance, he sometimes gave her some lovely present before + they set forth, and she could feel that, if his lips did not yield + diamonds and rubies, his pockets did. Sometimes he conversed about money + and investments, which she rather liked; this was his strong and + commanding point; he explained things quite clearly, and they found, with + mutual surprise, that she also had a shrewd little brain for those + matters, if she would but take the trouble to think about them. Sometimes + he insisted on being tender, and even this was not so bad as she expected, + at least for a few minutes at a time; she rather enjoyed having her hand + pressed so seriously, and his studied phrases amused her. It was only when + he wished the conversation to be brilliant and intellectual, that he + became intolerable; then she must entertain him, must get up little + repartees, must tell him lively anecdotes, which he swallowed as a dog + bolts a morsel, being at once ready for the next. He never made a comment, + of course, but at the height of his enjoyment he gave a quick, short, + stupid laugh, that so jarred upon her ears, she would have liked to be + struck deaf rather than hear it again. + </p> + <p> + At these times she thought of Malbone, how gifted he was, how + inexhaustible, how agreeable, with a faculty for happiness that would have + been almost provoking had it not been contagious. Then she looked from her + airy perch and smiled at him at the club-window, where he stood in the + most negligent of attitudes, and with every faculty strained in + observation. A moment and she was gone. + </p> + <p> + Then all was gone, and a mob of queens might have blocked the way, without + his caring to discuss their genealogies, even with old General Le Breton, + who had spent his best (or his worst) years abroad, and was supposed to + have been confidential adviser to most of the crowned heads of Europe. + </p> + <p> + For the first time in his life Malbone found himself in the grasp of a + passion too strong to be delightful. For the first time his own heart + frightened him. He had sometimes feared that it was growing harder, but + now he discovered that it was not hard enough. + </p> + <p> + He knew it was not merely mercenary motives that had made Emilia accept + John Lambert; but what troubled him was a vague knowledge that it was not + mere pique. He was used to dealing with pique in women, and had found it + the most manageable of weaknesses. It was an element of spasmodic + conscience than he saw here, and it troubled him. + </p> + <p> + Something told him that she had said to herself: “I will be married, and + thus do my duty to Hope. Other girls marry persons whom they do not love, + and it helps them to forget. Perhaps it will help me. This is a good man, + they say, and I think he loves me.” + </p> + <p> + “Think?” John Lambert had adored her when she had passed by him without + looking at him; and now when the thought came over him that she would be + his wife, he became stupid with bliss. And as latterly he had thought of + little else, he remained more or less stupid all the time. + </p> + <p> + To a man like Malbone, self-indulgent rather than selfish, this poor, + blind semblance of a moral purpose in Emilia was a great embarrassment. It + is a terrible thing for a lover when he detects conscience amidst the + armory of weapons used against him, and faces the fact that he must blunt + a woman’s principles to win her heart. Philip was rather accustomed to + evade conscience, but he never liked to look it in the face and defy it. + </p> + <p> + Yet if the thought of Hope at this time came over him, it came as a + constraint, and he disliked it as such; and the more generous and + beautiful she was, the greater the constraint. He cursed himself that he + had allowed himself to be swayed back to her, and so had lost Emilia + forever. And thus he drifted on, not knowing what he wished for, but + knowing extremely well what he feared. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0016" id="link2H_4_0016"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XIV. THE NEMESIS OF PASSION. + </h2> + <p> + MALBONE was a person of such ready, emotional nature, and such easy + expression, that it was not hard for Hope to hide from herself the gradual + ebbing of his love. Whenever he was fresh and full of spirits, he had + enough to overflow upon her and every one. But when other thoughts and + cares were weighing on him, he could not share them, nor could he at such + times, out of the narrowing channel of his own life, furnish more than a + few scanty drops for her. + </p> + <p> + At these times he watched with torturing fluctuations the signs of + solicitude in Hope, the timid withdrawing of her fingers, the questioning + of her eyes, the weary drooping of her whole expression. Often he cursed + himself as a wretch for paining that pure and noble heart. Yet there were + moments when a vague inexpressible delight stole in; a glimmering of + shame-faced pleasure as he pondered on this visible dawning of distrust; a + sudden taste of freedom in being no longer fettered by her confidence. By + degrees he led himself, still half ashamed, to the dream that she might + yet be somehow weaned from him, and leave his conscience free. By + constantly building upon this thought, and putting aside all others, he + made room upon the waste of his life for a house of cards, glittering, + unsubstantial, lofty,—until there came some sudden breath that swept + it away; and then he began on it again. + </p> + <p> + In one of those moments of more familiar faith which still alternated with + these cold, sad intervals, she asked him with some sudden impulse, how he + should feel if she loved another? She said it, as if guided by an + instinct, to sound the depth of his love for her. Starting with amazement, + he looked at her, and then, divining her feeling, he only replied by an + expression of reproach, and by kissing her hands with an habitual + tenderness that had grown easy to him,—and they were such lovely + hands! But his heart told him that no spent swimmer ever transferred more + eagerly to another’s arms some precious burden beneath which he was + consciously sinking, than he would yield her up to any one whom she would + consent to love, and who could be trusted with the treasure. Until that + ecstasy of release should come, he would do his duty,—yes, his duty. + </p> + <p> + When these flushed hopes grew pale, as they soon did, he could at least + play with the wan fancies that took their place. Hour after hour, while + she lavished upon him the sweetness of her devotion, he was half + consciously shaping with his tongue some word of terrible revealing that + should divide them like a spell, if spoken, and then recalling it before + it left his lips. Daily and hourly he felt the last agony of a weak and + passionate nature,—to dream of one woman in another’s arms. + </p> + <p> + She, too, watched him with an ever-increasing instinct of danger, studied + with a chilly terror the workings of his face, weighed and reweighed his + words in absence, agonized herself with new and ever new suspicions; and + then, when these had accumulated beyond endurance, seized them + convulsively and threw them all away. Then, coming back to him with a + great overwhelming ardor of affection, she poured upon him more and more + in proportion as he gave her less. + </p> + <p> + Sometimes in these moments of renewed affection he half gave words to his + remorse, accused himself before her of unnamed wrong, and besought her to + help him return to his better self. These were the most dangerous moments + of all, for such appeals made tenderness and patience appear a duty; she + must put away her doubts as sins, and hold him to her; she must refuse to + see his signs of faltering faith, or treat them as mere symptoms of ill + health. Should not a wife cling the closer to her husband in proportion as + he seemed alienated through the wanderings of disease? And was not this + her position? So she said within herself, and meanwhile it was not hard to + penetrate her changing thoughts, at least for so keen an observer as Aunt + Jane. Hope, at length, almost ceased to speak of Malbone, and revealed her + grief by this evasion, as the robin reveals her nest by flitting from it. + </p> + <p> + Yet there were times when he really tried to force himself into a revival + of this calmer emotion. He studied Hope’s beauty with his eyes, he + pondered on all her nobleness. He wished to bring his whole heart back to + her—or at least wished that he wished it. But hearts that have + educated themselves into faithlessness must sooner or later share the + suffering they give. Love will be avenged on them. Nothing could have now + recalled this epicure in passion, except, possibly, a little withholding + or semi-coquetry on Hope’s part, and this was utterly impossible for her. + Absolute directness was a part of her nature; she could die, but not + manouvre. + </p> + <p> + It actually diminished Hope’s hold on Philip, that she had at this time + the whole field to herself. Emilia had gone for a few weeks to the + mountains, with the household of which she was a guest. An ideal and + unreasonable passion is strongest in absence, when the dream is all pure + dream, and safe from the discrepancies of daily life. When the two girls + were together, Emilia often showed herself so plainly Hope’s inferior, + that it jarred on Philip’s fine perceptions. But in Emilia’s absence the + spell of temperament, or whatever else brought them together, resumed its + sway unchecked; she became one great magnet of attraction, and all the + currents of the universe appeared to flow from the direction where her + eyes were shining. When she was out of sight, he needed to make no + allowance for her defects, to reproach himself with no overt acts of + disloyalty to Hope, to recognize no criticisms of his own intellect or + conscience. He could resign himself to his reveries, and pursue them into + new subtleties day by day. + </p> + <p> + There was Mrs. Meredith’s house, too, where they had been so happy. And + now the blinds were pitilessly closed, all but one where the Venetian + slats had slipped, and stood half open as if some dainty fingers held + them, and some lovely eyes looked through. He gazed so long and so often + on that silent house,—by day, when the scorching sunshine searched + its pores as if to purge away every haunting association, or by night, + when the mantle of darkness hung tenderly above it, and seemed to collect + the dear remembrances again,—that his fancy by degrees grew morbid, + and its pictures unreal. “It is impossible,” he one day thought to + himself, “that she should have lived in that room so long, sat in that + window, dreamed on that couch, reflected herself in that mirror, breathed + that air, without somehow detaching invisible fibres of her being, + delicate films of herself, that must gradually, she being gone, draw + together into a separate individuality an image not quite bodiless, that + replaces her in her absence, as the holy Theocrite was replaced by the + angel. If there are ghosts of the dead, why not ghosts of the living + also?” This lover’s fancy so pleased him that he brought to bear upon it + the whole force of his imagination, and it grew stronger day by day. To + him, thenceforth, the house was haunted, and all its floating traces of + herself visible or invisible,—from the ribbon that he saw entangled + in the window-blind to every intangible and fancied atom she had imparted + to the atmosphere,—came at last to organize themselves into one + phantom shape for him and looked out, a wraith of Emilia, through those + relentless blinds. As the vision grew more vivid, he saw the dim figure + moving through the house, wan, restless, tender, lingering where they had + lingered, haunting every nook where they had been happy once. In the windy + moanings of the silent night he could put his ear at the keyhole, and + could fancy that he heard the wild signals of her love and despair. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0017" id="link2H_4_0017"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XV. ACROSS THE BAY. + </h2> + <p> + THE children, as has been said, were all devoted to Malbone, and this was, + in a certain degree, to his credit. But it is a mistake to call children + good judges of character, except in one direction, namely, their own. They + understand it, up to the level of their own stature; they know who loves + them, but not who loves virtue. Many a sinner has a great affection for + children, and no child will ever detect the sins of such a friend; + because, toward them, the sins do not exist. + </p> + <p> + The children, therefore, all loved Philip, and yet they turned with + delight, when out-door pleasures were in hand, to the strong and adroit + Harry. Philip inclined to the daintier exercises, fencing, billiards, + riding; but Harry’s vigorous physique enjoyed hard work. He taught all the + household to swim, for instance. Jenny, aged five, a sturdy, deep-chested + little thing, seemed as amphibious as himself. She could already swim + alone, but she liked to keep close to him, as all young animals do to + their elders in the water, not seeming to need actual support, but + stronger for the contact. Her favorite position, however, was on his back, + where she triumphantly clung, grasping his bathing-dress with one hand, + swinging herself to and fro, dipping her head beneath the water, singing + and shouting, easily shifting her position when he wished to vary his, and + floating by him like a little fish, when he was tired of supporting her. + It was pretty to see the child in her one little crimson garment, her face + flushed with delight, her fair hair glistening from the water, and the + waves rippling and dancing round her buoyant form. As Harry swam farther + and farther out, his head was hidden from view by her small person, and + she might have passed for a red seabird rocking on the gentle waves. It + was one of the regular delights of the household to see them bathe. + </p> + <p> + Kate came in to Aunt Jane’s room, one August morning, to say that they + were going to the water-side. How differently people may enter a room! + Hope always came in as the summer breeze comes, quiet, strong, soft, + fragrant, resistless. Emilia never seemed to come in at all; you looked + up, and she had somehow drifted where she stood, pleading, evasive, + lovely. This was especially the case where one person was awaiting her + alone; with two she was more fearless, with a dozen she was buoyant, and + with a hundred she forgot herself utterly and was a spirit of irresistible + delight. + </p> + <p> + But Kate entered any room, whether nursery or kitchen, as if it were the + private boudoir of a princess and she the favorite maid of honor. Thus it + was she came that morning to Aunt Jane. + </p> + <p> + “We are going down to see the bathers, dear,” said Kate. “Shall you miss + me?” + </p> + <p> + “I miss you every minute,” said her aunt, decisively. “But I shall do very + well. I have delightful times here by myself. What a ridiculous man it was + who said that it was impossible to imagine a woman’s laughing at her own + comic fancies. I sit and laugh at my own nonsense very often.” + </p> + <p> + “It is a shame to waste it,” said Kate. + </p> + <p> + “It is a blessing that any of it is disposed of while you are not here,” + said Aunt Jane. “You have quite enough of it.” + </p> + <p> + “We never have enough,” said Kate. “And we never can make you repeat any + of yesterday’s.” + </p> + <p> + “Of course not,” said Aunt Jane. “Nonsense must have the dew on it, or it + is good for nothing.” + </p> + <p> + “So you are really happiest alone?” + </p> + <p> + “Not so happy as when you are with me,—you or Hope. I like to have + Hope with me now; she does me good. Really, I do not care for anybody + else. Sometimes I think if I could always have four or five young kittens + by me, in a champagne-basket, with a nurse to watch them, I should be + happier. But perhaps not; they would grow up so fast!” + </p> + <p> + “Then I will leave you alone without compunction,” said Kate. + </p> + <p> + “I am not alone,” said Aunt Jane; “I have my man in the boat to watch + through the window. What a singular being he is! I think he spends hours + in that boat, and what he does I can’t conceive. There it is, quietly + anchored, and there is he in it. I never saw anybody but myself who could + get up so much industry out of nothing. He has all his housework there, a + broom and a duster, and I dare say he has a cooking-stove and a gridiron. + He sits a little while, then he stoops down, then he goes to the other + end. Sometimes he goes ashore in that absurd little tub, with a stick that + he twirls at one end.” + </p> + <p> + “That is called sculling,” interrupted Kate. + </p> + <p> + “Sculling! I suppose he runs for a baked potato. Then he goes back. He is + Robinson Crusoe on an island that never keeps still a single instant. It + is all he has, and he never looks away, and never wants anything more. So + I have him to watch. Think of living so near a beaver or a water-rat with + clothes on! Good-by. Leave the door ajar, it is so warm.” + </p> + <p> + And Kate went down to the landing. It was near the “baptismal shore,” + where every Sunday the young people used to watch the immersions; they + liked to see the crowd of spectators, the eager friends, the dripping + convert, the serene young minister, the old men and girls who burst forth + in song as the new disciple rose from the waves. It was the weekly + festival in that region, and the sunshine and the ripples made it + gladdening, not gloomy. Every other day in the week the children of the + fishermen waded waist-deep in the water, and played at baptism. + </p> + <p> + Near this shore stood the family bathing-house; and the girls came down to + sit in its shadow and watch the swimming. It was late in August, and on + the first of September Emilia was to be married. + </p> + <p> + Nothing looked cool, that day, but the bay and those who were going into + it. Out came Hope from the bathing-house, in a new bathing-dress of dark + blue, which was evidently what the others had come forth to behold. + </p> + <p> + “Hope, what an imposter you are!” cried Kate instantly. “You declined all + my proffers of aid in cutting that dress, and now see how it fits you! You + never looked so beautifully in your life. There is not such another + bathing-dress in Oldport, nor such a figure to wear it.” + </p> + <p> + And she put both her arms round that supple, stately waist, that might + have belonged to a Greek goddess, or to some queen in the Nibelungen Lied. + </p> + <p> + The party watched the swimmers as they struck out over the clear expanse. + It was high noon; the fishing-boats were all off, but a few pleasure-boats + swung different ways at their moorings, in the perfect calm. The white + light-house stood reflected opposite, at the end of its long pier; a few + vessels lay at anchor, with their sails up to dry, but with that deserted + look which coasters in port are wont to wear. A few fishes dimpled the + still surface, and as the three swam out farther and farther, their merry + voices still sounded close at hand. Suddenly they all clapped their hands + and called; then pointed forward to the light-house, across the narrow + harbor. + </p> + <p> + “They are going to swim across,” said Kate. “What creatures they are! Hope + and little Jenny have always begged for it, and now Harry thinks it is so + still a day they can safely venture. It is more than half a mile. See! he + has called that boy in a boat, and he will keep near them. They have swum + farther than that along the shore.” + </p> + <p> + So the others went away with no fears. + </p> + <p> + Hope said afterwards that she never swam with such delight as on that day. + The water seemed to be peculiarly thin and clear, she said, as well as + tranquil, and to retain its usual buoyancy without its density. It gave a + delicious sense of freedom; she seemed to swim in air, and felt singularly + secure. For the first time she felt what she had always wished to + experience,—that swimming was as natural as walking, and might be + indefinitely prolonged. Her strength seemed limitless, she struck out more + and more strongly; she splashed and played with little Jenny, when the + child began to grow weary of the long motion. A fisherman’s boy in a boat + rowed slowly along by their side. + </p> + <p> + Nine tenths of the distance had been accomplished, when the little girl + grew quite impatient, and Hope bade Harry swim on before her, and land his + charge. Light and buoyant as the child was, her tightened clasp had begun + to tell on him. + </p> + <p> + “It tires you, Hal, to bear that weight so long, and you know I have + nothing to carry. You must see that I am not in the least tired, only a + little dazzled by the sun. Here, Charley, give me your hat, and then row + on with Mr. Harry.” She put on the boy’s torn straw hat, and they yielded + to her wish. People almost always yielded to Hope’s wishes when she + expressed them,—it was so very seldom. + </p> + <p> + Somehow the remaining distance seemed very great, as Hope saw them glide + away, leaving her in the water alone, her feet unsupported by any firm + element, the bright and pitiless sky arching far above her, and her head + burning with more heat than she had liked to own. She was conscious of her + full strength, and swam more vigorously than ever; but her head was hot + and her ears rang, and she felt chilly vibrations passing up and down her + sides, that were like, she fancied, the innumerable fringing oars of the + little jelly-fishes she had so often watched. Her body felt almost + unnaturally strong, and she took powerful strokes; but it seemed as if her + heart went out into them and left a vacant cavity within. More and more + her life seemed boiling up into her head; queer fancies came to her, as, + for instance, that she was an inverted thermometer with the mercury all + ascending into a bulb at the top. She shook her head and the fancy cleared + away, and then others came. + </p> + <p> + She began to grow seriously anxious, but the distance was diminishing; + Harry was almost at the steps with the child, and the boy had rowed his + skiff round the breakwater out of sight; a young fisherman leaned over the + railing with his back to her, watching the lobster-catchers on the other + side. She was almost in; it was only a slight dizziness, yet she could not + see the light-house. Concentrating all her efforts, she shut her eyes and + swam on, her arms still unaccountably vigorous, though the rest of her + body seemed losing itself in languor. The sound in her ear had grown to a + roar, as of many mill-wheels. It seemed a long distance that she thus swam + with her eyes closed. Then she half opened her eyes, and the breakwater + seemed all in motion, with tier above tier of eager faces looking down on + her. In an instant there was a sharp splash close beside her, and she felt + herself grasped and drawn downwards, with a whirl of something just above + her, and then all consciousness went out as suddenly as when ether brings + at last to a patient, after the roaring and the tumult in his brain, its + blessed foretaste of the deliciousness of death. + </p> + <p> + When Hope came again to consciousness, she found herself approaching her + own pier in a sail-boat, with several very wet gentlemen around her, and + little Jenny nestled close to her, crying as profusely as if her pretty + scarlet bathing-dress were being wrung out through her eyes. Hope asked no + questions, and hardly felt the impulse to inquire what had happened. The + truth was, that in the temporary dizziness produced by her prolonged swim, + she had found herself in the track of a steamboat that was passing the + pier, unobserved by her brother. A young man, leaping from the dock, had + caught her in his arms, and had dived with her below the paddle-wheels, + just as they came upon her. It was a daring act, but nothing else could + have saved her. When they came to the surface, they had been picked up by + Aunt Jane’s Robinson Crusoe, who had at last unmoored his pilot-boat and + was rounding the light-house for the outer harbor. + </p> + <p> + She and the child were soon landed, and given over to the ladies. Due + attention was paid to her young rescuer, whose dripping garments seemed + for the moment as glorious as a blood-stained flag. He seemed a simple, + frank young fellow of French or German origin, but speaking English + remarkably well; he was not high-bred, by any means, but had apparently + the culture of an average German of the middle class. Harry fancied that + he had seen him before, and at last traced back the impression of his + features to the ball for the French officers. It turned out, on inquiry, + that he had a brother in the service, and on board the corvette; but he + himself was a commercial agent, now in America with a view to business, + though he had made several voyages as mate of a vessel, and would not + object to some such berth as that. He promised to return and receive the + thanks of the family, read with interest the name on Harry’s card, seemed + about to ask a question, but forbore, and took his leave amid the general + confusion, without even giving his address. When sought next day, he was + not to be found, and to the children he at once became as much a creature + of romance as the sea-serpent or the Flying Dutchman. + </p> + <p> + Even Hope’s strong constitution felt the shock of this adventure. She was + confined to her room for a week or two, but begged that there might be no + postponement of the wedding, which, therefore, took place without her. Her + illness gave excuse for a privacy that was welcome to all but the + bridesmaids, and suited Malbone best of all. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0018" id="link2H_4_0018"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XVI. ON THE STAIRS. + </h2> + <h3> + AUGUST drew toward its close, and guests departed from the neighborhood. + </h3> + <p> + “What a short little thing summer is,” meditated Aunt Jane, “and + butterflies are caterpillars most of the time after all. How quiet it + seems. The wrens whisper in their box above the window, and there has not + been a blast from the peacock for a week. He seems ashamed of the summer + shortness of his tail. He keeps glancing at it over his shoulder to see if + it is not looking better than yesterday, while the staring eyes of the old + tail are in the bushes all about.” + </p> + <p> + “Poor, dear little thing!” said coaxing Katie. “Is she tired of autumn, + before it is begun?” + </p> + <p> + “I am never tired of anything,” said Aunt Jane, “except my maid Ruth, and + I should not be tired of her, if it had pleased Heaven to endow her with + sufficient strength of mind to sew on a button. Life is very rich to me. + There is always something new in every season; though to be sure I cannot + think what novelty there is just now, except a choice variety of spiders. + There is a theory that spiders kill flies. But I never miss a fly, and + there does not seem to be any natural scourge divinely appointed to kill + spiders, except Ruth. Even she does it so feebly, that I see them come + back and hang on their webs and make faces at her. I suppose they are + faces; I do not understand their anatomy, but it must be a very unpleasant + one.” + </p> + <p> + “You are not quite satisfied with life, today, dear,” said Kate; “I fear + your book did not end to your satisfaction.” + </p> + <p> + “It did end, though,” said the lady, “and that is something. What is there + in life so difficult as to stop a book? If I wrote one, it would be as + long as ten ‘Sir Charles Grandisons,’ and then I never should end it, + because I should die. And there would be nobody left to read it, because + each reader would have been dead long before.” + </p> + <p> + “But the book amused you!” interrupted Kate. “I know it did.” + </p> + <p> + “It was so absurd that I laughed till I cried; and it makes no difference + whether you cry laughing or cry crying; it is equally bad when your + glasses come off. Never mind. Whom did you see on the Avenue?” + </p> + <p> + “O, we saw Philip on horseback. He rides so beautifully; he seems one with + his horse.” + </p> + <p> + “I am glad of it,” interposed his aunt. “The riders are generally so + inferior to them.” + </p> + <p> + “We saw Mr. and Mrs. Lambert, too. Emilia stopped and asked after you, and + sent you her love, auntie.” + </p> + <p> + “Love!” cried Aunt Jane. “She always does that. She has sent me love + enough to rear a whole family on,—more than I ever felt for anybody + in all my days. But she does not really love any one.” + </p> + <p> + “I hope she will love her husband,” said Kate, rather seriously. + </p> + <p> + “Mark my words, Kate!” said her aunt. “Nothing but unhappiness will ever + come of that marriage. How can two people be happy who have absolutely + nothing in common?” + </p> + <p> + “But no two people have just the same tastes,” said Kate, “except Harry + and myself. It is not expected. It would be absurd for two people to be + divorced, because the one preferred white bread and the other brown.” + </p> + <p> + “They would be divorced very soon,” said Aunt Jane, “for the one who ate + brown bread would not live long.” + </p> + <p> + “But it is possible that he might live, auntie, in spite of your + prediction. And perhaps people may be happy, even if you and I do not see + how.” + </p> + <p> + “Nobody ever thinks I see anything,” said Aunt Jane, in some dejection. + “You think I am nothing in the world but a sort of old oyster, making + amusement for people, and having no more to do with real life than oysters + have.” + </p> + <p> + “No, dearest!” cried Kate. “You have a great deal to do with all our + lives. You are a dear old insidious sapper-and-miner, looking at first + very inoffensive, and then working your way into our affections, and + spoiling us with coaxing. How you behave about children, for instance!” + </p> + <p> + “How?” said the other meekly. “As well as I can.” + </p> + <p> + “But you pretend that you dislike them.” + </p> + <p> + “But I do dislike them. How can anybody help it? Hear them swearing at + this moment, boys of five, paddling in the water there! Talk about the + murder of the innocents! There are so few innocents to be murdered! If I + only had a gun and could shoot!” + </p> + <p> + “You may not like those particular boys,” said Kate, “but you like good, + well-behaved children, very much.” + </p> + <p> + “It takes so many to take care of them! People drive by here, with + carriages so large that two of the largest horses can hardly draw them, + and all full of those little beings. They have a sort of roof, too, and + seem to expect to be out in all weathers.” + </p> + <p> + “If you had a family of children, perhaps you would find such a travelling + caravan very convenient,” said Kate. + </p> + <p> + “If I had such a family,” said her aunt, “I would have a separate + governess and guardian for each, very moral persons. They should come when + each child was two, and stay till it was twenty. The children should all + live apart, in order not to quarrel, and should meet once or twice a day + and bow to each other. I think that each should learn a different + language, so as not to converse, and then, perhaps, they would not get + each other into mischief.” + </p> + <p> + “I am sure, auntie,” said Kate, “you have missed our small nephews and + nieces ever since their visit ended. How still the house has been!” + </p> + <p> + “I do not know,” was the answer. “I hear a great many noises about the + house. Somebody comes in late at night. Perhaps it is Philip; but he comes + very softly in, wipes his feet very gently, like a clean thief, and goes + up stairs.” + </p> + <p> + “O auntie!” said Kate, “you know you have got over all such fancies.” + </p> + <p> + “They are not fancies,” said Aunt Jane. “Things do happen in houses! Did I + not look under the bed for a thief during fifteen years, and find one at + last? Why should I not be allowed to hear something now?” + </p> + <p> + “But, dear Aunt Jane,” said Kate, “you never told me this before.” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said she. “I was beginning to tell you the other day, but Ruth was + just bringing in my handkerchiefs, and she had used so much bluing, they + looked as if they had been washed in heaven, so that it was too + outrageous, and I forgot everything else.” + </p> + <p> + “But do you really hear anything?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said her aunt. “Ruth declares she hears noises in those closets + that I had nailed up, you know; but that is nothing; of course she does. + Rats. What I hear at night is the creaking of stairs, when I know that + nobody ought to be stirring. If you observe, you will hear it too. At + least, I should think you would, only that somehow everything always seems + to stop, when it is necessary to prove that I am foolish.” + </p> + <p> + The girls had no especial engagement that evening, and so got into a great + excitement on the stairway over Aunt Jane’s solicitudes. They convinced + themselves that they heard all sorts of things,—footfalls on + successive steps, the creak of a plank, the brushing of an arm against a + wall, the jar of some suspended object that was stirred in passing. Once + they heard something fall on the floor, and roll from step to step; and + yet they themselves stood on the stairway, and nothing passed. Then for + some time there was silence, but they would have persisted in their + observations, had not Philip come in from Mrs. Meredith’s in the midst of + it, so that the whole thing turned into a frolic, and they sat on the + stairs and told ghost stories half the night. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0019" id="link2H_4_0019"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XVII. DISCOVERY. + </h2> + <p> + THE next evening Kate and Philip went to a ball. As Hope was passing + through the hall late in the evening, she heard a sudden, sharp cry + somewhere in the upper regions, that sounded, she thought, like a woman’s + voice. She stopped to hear, but there was silence. It seemed to come from + the direction of Malbone’s room, which was in the third story. Again came + the cry, more gently, ending in a sort of sobbing monologue. Gliding + rapidly up stairs in the dark, she paused at Philip’s deserted room, but + the door was locked, and there was profound stillness. She then descended, + and pausing at the great landing, heard other steps descending also. + Retreating to the end of the hall, she hastily lighted a candle, when the + steps ceased. With her accustomed nerve, wishing to explore the thing + thoroughly, she put out the light and kept still. As she expected, the + footsteps presently recommenced, descending stealthily, but drawing no + nearer, and seeming rather like sounds from an adjoining house, heard + through a party-wall. This was impossible, as the house stood alone. + Flushed with excitement, she relighted the hall candles, and, taking one + of them, searched the whole entry and stairway, going down even to the + large, old-fashioned cellar. + </p> + <p> + Looking about her in this unfamiliar region, her eye fell on a door that + seemed to open into the wall; she had noticed a similar door on the story + above,—one of the closet doors that had been nailed up by Aunt + Jane’s order. As she looked, however, a chill breath blew in from another + direction, extinguishing her lamp. This air came from the outer door of + the cellar, and she had just time to withdraw into a corner before a man’s + steps approached, passing close by her. + </p> + <p> + Even Hope’s strong nerves had begun to yield, and a cold shudder went + through her. Not daring to move, she pressed herself against the wall, and + her heart seemed to stop as the unseen stranger passed. Instead of his + ascending where she had come down, as she had expected, she heard him + grope his way toward the door she had seen in the wall. + </p> + <p> + There he seemed to find a stairway, and when his steps were thus turned + from her, she was seized by a sudden impulse and followed him, groping her + way as she could. She remembered that the girls had talked of secret + stairways in that house, though she had no conception whither they could + lead, unless to some of the shut-up closets. + </p> + <p> + She steadily followed, treading cautiously upon each creaking step. The + stairway was very narrow, and formed a regular spiral as in a turret. The + darkness and the curving motion confused her brain, and it was impossible + to tell how high in the house she was, except when once she put her hand + upon what was evidently a door, and moreover saw through its cracks the + lamp she had left burning in the upper hall. This glimpse of reality + reassured her. She had begun to discover where she was. The doors which + Aunt Jane had closed gave access, not to mere closets, but to a spiral + stairway, which evidently went from top to bottom of the house, and was + known to some one else beside herself. + </p> + <p> + Relieved of that slight shudder at the supernatural which sometimes + affects the healthiest nerves, Hope paused to consider. To alarm the + neighborhood was her first thought. A slight murmuring from above + dispelled it; she must first reconnoitre a few steps farther. As she + ascended a little way, a gleam shone upon her, and down the damp stairway + came a fragrant odor, as from some perfumed chamber. Then a door was shut + and reopened. Eager beyond expression, she followed on. Another step, and + she stood at the door of Malbone’s apartment. + </p> + <p> + The room was brilliant with light; the doors and windows were heavily + draped. Fruit and flowers and wine were on the table. On the sofa lay + Emilia in a gay ball-dress, sunk in one of her motionless trances, while + Malbone, pale with terror, was deluging her brows with the water he had + just brought from the well below. + </p> + <p> + Hope stopped a moment and leaned against the door, as her eyes met + Malbone’s. Then she made her way to a chair, and leaning on the back of + it, which she fingered convulsively, looked with bewildered eyes and + compressed lips from the one to the other. Malbone tried to speak, but + failed; tried again, and brought forth only a whisper that broke into + clearer speech as the words went on. “No use to explain,” he said. + “Lambert is in New York. Mrs. Meredith is expecting her—to-night + after the ball. What can we do?” + </p> + <p> + Hope covered her face as he spoke; she could bear anything better than to + have him say “we,” as if no gulf had opened between them. She sank slowly + on her knees behind her chair, keeping it as a sort of screen between + herself and these two people,—the counterfeits, they seemed, of her + lover and her sister. If the roof in falling to crush them had crushed her + also, she could scarcely have seemed more rigid or more powerless. It + passed, and the next moment she was on her feet again, capable of action. + </p> + <p> + “She must be taken,” she said very clearly, but in a lower tone than + usual, “to my chamber.” Then pointing to the candles, she said, more + huskily, “We must not be seen. Put them out.” Every syllable seemed to + exhaust her. But as Philip obeyed her words, he saw her move suddenly and + stand by Emilia’s side. + </p> + <p> + She put out both arms as if to lift the young girl, and carry her away. + </p> + <p> + “You cannot,” said Philip, putting her gently aside, while she shrank from + his touch. Then he took Emilia in his arms and bore her to the door, Hope + preceding. + </p> + <p> + Motioning him to pause a moment, she turned the lock softly, and looked + out into the dark entry. All was still. She went out, and he followed with + his motionless burden. They walked stealthily, like guilty things, yet + every slight motion seemed to ring in their ears. It was chilly, and Hope + shivered. Through the great open window on the stairway a white fog peered + in at them, and the distant fog-whistle came faintly through; it seemed as + if the very atmosphere were condensing about them, to isolate the house in + which such deeds were done. The clock struck twelve, and it seemed as if + it struck a thousand. + </p> + <p> + When they reached Hope’s door, she turned and put out her arms for Emilia, + as for a child. Every expression had now gone from Hope’s face but a sort + of stony calmness, which put her infinitely farther from Malbone than had + the momentary struggle. As he gave the girlish form into arms that shook + and trembled beneath its weight, he caught a glimpse in the pier-glass of + their two white faces, and then, looking down, saw the rose-tints yet + lingering on Emilia’s cheek. She, the source of all this woe, looked the + only representative of innocence between two guilty things. + </p> + <p> + How white and pure and maidenly looked Hope’s little room,—such a + home of peace, he thought, till its door suddenly opened to admit all this + passion and despair! There was a great sheaf of cardinal flowers on the + table, and their petals were drooping, as if reluctant to look on him. + Scheffer’s Christus Consolator was upon the walls, and the benign figure + seemed to spread wider its arms of mercy, to take in a few sad hearts + more. + </p> + <p> + Hope bore Emilia into the light and purity and warmth, while Malbone was + shut out into the darkness and the chill. The only two things to which he + clung on earth, the two women between whom his unsteady heart had + vibrated, and both whose lives had been tortured by its vacillation, went + away from his sight together, the one victim bearing the other victim in + her arms. Never any more while he lived would either of them be his again; + and had Dante known it for his last glimpse of things immortal when the + two lovers floated away from him in their sad embrace, he would have had + no such sense of utter banishment as had Malbone then. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0020" id="link2H_4_0020"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XVIII. HOPE’S VIGIL. + </h2> + <p> + HAD Emilia chosen out of life’s whole armory of weapons the means of + disarming Hope, she could have found nothing so effectual as nature had + supplied in her unconsciousness. Helplessness conquers. There was a + quality in Emilia which would have always produced something very like + antagonism in Hope, had she not been her sister. Had the ungoverned girl + now been able to utter one word of reproach, had her eyes flashed one look + of defiance, had her hand made one triumphant or angry gesture, perhaps + all Hope’s outraged womanhood would have coldly nerved itself against her. + But it was another thing to see those soft eyes closed, those delicate + hands powerless, those pleading lips sealed; to see her extended in + graceful helplessness, while all the concentrated drama of emotion + revolved around her unheeded, as around Cordelia dead. In what realms was + that child’s mind seeking comfort; through what thin air of dreams did + that restless heart beat its pinions; in what other sphere did that + untamed nature wander, while shame and sorrow waited for its awakening in + this? + </p> + <p> + Hope knelt upon the floor, still too much strained and bewildered for + tears or even prayer, a little way from Emilia. Once having laid down the + unconscious form, it seemed for a moment as if she could no more touch it + than she could lay her hand amid flames. A gap of miles, of centuries, of + solar systems, seemed to separate these two young girls, alone within the + same chamber, with the same stern secret to keep, and so near that the hem + of their garments almost touched each other on the soft carpet. Hope felt + a terrible hardness closing over her heart. What right had this cruel + creature, with her fatal witcheries, to come between two persons who might + have been so wholly happy? What sorrow would be saved, what shame, + perhaps, be averted, should those sweet beguiling eyes never open, and + that perfidious voice never deceive any more? Why tend the life of one who + would leave the whole world happier, purer, freer, if she were dead? + </p> + <p> + In a tumult of thought, Hope went and sat half-unconsciously by the + window. There was nothing to be seen except the steady beacon of the + light-house and a pale-green glimmer, like an earthly star, from an + anchored vessel. The night wind came softly in, soothing her with a touch + like a mother’s, in its grateful coolness. The air seemed full of + half-vibrations, sub-noises, that crowded it as completely as do the + insect sounds of midsummer; yet she could only distinguish the ripple + beneath her feet, and the rote on the distant beach, and the busy wash of + waters against every shore and islet of the bay. The mist was thick around + her, but she knew that above it hung the sleepless stars, and the fancy + came over her that perhaps the whole vast interval, from ocean up to sky, + might be densely filled with the disembodied souls of her departed human + kindred, waiting to see how she would endure that path of grief in which + their steps had gone before. “It may be from this influence,” she vaguely + mused within herself, “that the ocean derives its endless song of sorrow. + Perhaps we shall know the meaning when we understand that of the stars, + and of our own sad lives.” + </p> + <p> + She rose again and went to the bedside. It all seemed like a dream, and + she was able to look at Emilia’s existence and at her own and at all else, + as if it were a great way off; as we watch the stars and know that no + speculations of ours can reach those who there live or die untouched. Here + beside her lay one who was dead, yet living, in her temporary trance, and + to what would she wake, when it should end? This young creature had been + sent into the world so fresh, so beautiful, so richly gifted; everything + about her physical organization was so delicate and lovely; she had seemed + like heliotrope, like a tube-rose in her purity and her passion (who was + it said, “No heart is pure that is not passionate”?); and here was the + end! Nothing external could have placed her where she was, no violence, no + outrage, no evil of another’s doing, could have reached her real life + without her own consent; and now what kind of existence, what career, what + possibility of happiness remained? Why could not God in his mercy take + her, and give her to his holiest angels for schooling, ere it was yet too + late? + </p> + <p> + Hope went and sat by the window once more. Her thoughts still clung + heavily around one thought, as the white fog clung round the house. Where + should she see any light? What opening for extrication, unless, indeed, + Emilia should die? There could be no harm in that thought, for she knew it + was not to be, and that the swoon would not last much longer. Who could + devise anything? No one. There was nothing. Almost always in perplexities + there is some thread by resolutely holding to which one escapes at last. + Here there was none. There could probably be no concealment, certainly no + explanation. In a few days John Lambert would return, and then the storm + must break. He was probably a stern, jealous man, whose very dulness, once + aroused, would be more formidable than if he had possessed keener + perceptions. + </p> + <p> + Still her thoughts did not dwell on Philip. He was simply a part of that + dull mass of pain that beset her and made her feel, as she had felt when + drowning, that her heart had left her breast and nothing but will + remained. She felt now, as then, the capacity to act with more than her + accustomed resolution, though all that was within her seemed boiling up + into her brain. As for Philip, all seemed a mere negation; there was a + vacuum where his place had been. At most the thought of him came to her as + some strange, vague thrill of added torture, penetrating her soul and then + passing; just as ever and anon there came the sound of the fog-whistle on + Brenton’s Reef, miles away, piercing the dull air with its shrill and + desolate wail, then dying into silence. + </p> + <p> + What a hopeless cloud lay upon them all forever,—upon Kate, upon + Harry, upon their whole house! Then there was John Lambert; how could they + keep it from him? how could they tell him? Who could predict what he would + say? Would he take the worst and coarsest view of his young wife’s mad + action or the mildest? Would he be strong or weak; and what would be + weakness, and what strength, in a position so strange? Would he put Emilia + from him, send her out in the world desolate, her soul stained but by one + wrong passion, yet with her reputation blighted as if there were no good + in her? Could he be asked to shield and protect her, or what would become + of her? She was legally a wife, and could only be separated from him + through convicted shame. + </p> + <p> + Then, if separated, she could only marry Philip. Hope nerved herself to + think of that, and it cost less effort than she expected. + </p> + <p> + There seemed a numbness on that side, instead of pain. But granting that + he loved Emilia ever so deeply, was he a man to surrender his life and his + ease and his fair name, in a hopeless effort to remove the ban that the + world would place on her. Hope knew he would not; knew that even the + simple-hearted and straightforward Harry would be far more capable of such + heroism than the sentimental Malbone. Here the pang suddenly struck her; + she was not so numb, after all! + </p> + <p> + As the leaves beside the window drooped motionless in the dank air, so her + mind drooped into a settled depression. She pitied herself,—that + lowest ebb of melancholy self-consciousness. She went back to Emilia, and, + seating herself, studied every line of the girl’s face, the soft texture + of her hair, the veining of her eyelids. They were so lovely, she felt a + sort of physical impulse to kiss them, as if they belonged to some utter + stranger, whom she might be nursing in a hospital. Emilia looked as + innocent as when Hope had tended her in the cradle. What is there, Hope + thought, in sleep, in trance, and in death, that removes all harsh or + disturbing impressions, and leaves only the most delicate and purest + traits? Does the mind wander, and does an angel keep its place? Or is + there really no sin but in thought, and are our sleeping thoughts + incapable of sin? Perhaps even when we dream of doing wrong, the dream + comes in a shape so lovely and misleading that we never recognize it for + evil, and it makes no stain. Are our lives ever so pure as our dreams? + </p> + <p> + This thought somehow smote across her conscience, always so strong, and + stirred it into a kind of spasm of introspection. “How selfish have I, + too, been!” she thought. “I saw only what I wished to see, did only what I + preferred. Loving Philip” (for the sudden self-reproach left her free to + think of him), “I could not see that I was separating him from one whom he + might perhaps have truly loved. If he made me blind, may he not easily + have bewildered her, and have been himself bewildered? How I tried to + force myself upon him, too! Ungenerous, unwomanly! What am I, that I + should judge another?” + </p> + <p> + She threw herself on her knees at the bedside. + </p> + <p> + Still Emilia slept, but now she stirred her head in the slightest possible + way, so that a single tress of silken hair slipped from its companions, + and lay across her face. It was a faint sign that the trance was waning; + the slight pressure disturbed her nerves, and her lips trembled once or + twice, as if to relieve themselves of the soft annoyance. Hope watched her + in a vague, distant way, took note of the minutest motion, yet as if some + vast weight hung upon her own limbs and made all interference impossible. + Still there was a fascination of sympathy in dwelling on that atom of + discomfort, that tiny suffering, which she alone could remove. The very + vastness of this tragedy that hung about the house made it an + inexpressible relief to her to turn and concentrate her thoughts for a + moment on this slight distress, so easily ended. + </p> + <p> + Strange, by what slender threads our lives are knitted to each other! Here + was one who had taken Hope’s whole existence in her hands, crushed it, and + thrown it away. Hope had soberly said to herself, just before, that death + would be better than life for her young sister. Yet now it moved her + beyond endurance to see that fair form troubled, even while unconscious, + by a feather’s weight of pain; and all the lifelong habit of tenderness + resumed in a moment its sway. + </p> + <p> + She approached her fingers to the offending tress, very slowly, half + withholding them at the very last, as if the touch would burn her. She was + almost surprised that it did not. She looked to see if it did not hurt + Emilia. But it now seemed as if the slumbering girl enjoyed the caressing + contact of the smooth fingers, and turned her head, almost imperceptibly, + to meet them. This was more than Hope could bear. It was as if that slight + motion were a puncture to relieve her overburdened heart; a thousand + thoughts swept over her,—of their father, of her sister’s childhood, + of her years of absent expectation; she thought how young the girl was, + how fascinating, how passionate, how tempted; all this swept across her in + a great wave of nervous reaction, and when Emilia returned to + consciousness, she was lying in her sister’s arms, her face bathed in + Hope’s tears. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0021" id="link2H_4_0021"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XIX. DE PROFUNDIS. + </h2> + <h3> + THIS was the history of Emilia’s concealed visits to Malbone. + </h3> + <p> + One week after her marriage, in a crisis of agony, Emilia took up her pen, + dipped it in fire, and wrote thus to him:— + </p> + <p> + “Philip Malbone, why did nobody ever tell me what marriage is where there + is no love? This man who calls himself my husband is no worse, I suppose, + than other men. It is only for being what is called by that name that I + abhor him. Good God! what am I to do? It was not for money that I married + him,—that you know very well; I cared no more for his money than for + himself. I thought it was the only way to save Hope. She has been very + good to me, and perhaps I should love her, if I could love anybody. Now I + have done what will only make more misery, for I cannot bear it. Philip, I + am alone in this wide world, except for you. Tell me what to do. I will + haunt you till you die, unless you tell me. Answer this, or I will write + again.” + </p> + <p> + Terrified by this letter, absolutely powerless to guide the life with + which he had so desperately entangled himself, Philip let one day pass + without answering, and that evening he found Emilia at his door, she + having glided unnoticed up the main stairway. She was so excited, it was + equally dangerous to send her away or to admit her, and he drew her in, + darkening the windows and locking the door. On the whole, it was not so + bad as he expected; at least, there was less violence and more despair. + She covered her face with her hands, and writhed in anguish, when she said + that she had utterly degraded herself by this loveless marriage. She + scarcely mentioned her husband. She made no complaint of him, and even + spoke of him as generous. It seemed as if this made it worse, and as if + she would be happier if she could expend herself in hating him. She spoke + of him rather as a mere witness to some shame for which she herself was + responsible; bearing him no malice, but tortured by the thought that he + should exist. + </p> + <p> + Then she turned on Malbone. “Philip, why did you ever interfere with my + life? I should have been very happy with Antoine if you had let me marry + him, for I never should have known what it was to love you. Oh! I wish he + were here now, even he,—any one who loved me truly, and whom I could + love only a little. I would go away with such a person anywhere, and never + trouble you and Hope any more. What shall I do? Philip, you might tell me + what to do. Once you told me always to come to you.” + </p> + <p> + “What can you do?” he asked gloomily, in return. + </p> + <p> + “I cannot imagine,” she said, with a desolate look, more pitiable than + passion, on her young face. “I wish to save Hope, and to save my—to + save Mr. Lambert. Philip, you do not love me. I do not call it love. There + is no passion in your veins; it is only a sort of sympathetic selfishness. + Hope is infinitely better than you are, and I believe she is more capable + of loving. I began by hating her, but if she loves you as I think she + does, she has treated me more generously than ever one woman treated + another. For she could not look at me and not know that I loved you. I did + love you. O Philip, tell me what to do!” + </p> + <p> + Such beauty in anguish, the thrill of the possession of such love, the + possibility of soothing by tenderness the wild mood which he could not + meet by counsel,—it would have taken a stronger or less sympathetic + nature than Malbone’s to endure all this. It swept him away; this revival + of passion was irresistible. When her pent-up feeling was once uttered, + she turned to his love as a fancied salvation. It was a terrible remedy. + She had never looked more beautiful, and yet she seemed to have grown old + at once; her very caresses appeared to burn. She lingered and lingered, + and still he kept her there; and when it was no longer possible for her to + go without disturbing the house, he led her to a secret spiral stairway, + which went from attic to cellar of that stately old mansion, and which + opened by one or more doors on each landing, as his keen eye had found + out. Descending this, he went forth with her into the dark and silent + night. The mist hung around the house; the wet leaves fluttered and fell + upon their cheeks; the water lapped desolately against the pier. Philip + found a carriage and sent her back to Mrs. Meredith’s, where she was + staying during the brief absence of John Lambert. + </p> + <p> + These concealed meetings, once begun, became an absorbing excitement. She + came several times, staying half an hour, an hour, two hours. They were + together long enough for suffering, never long enough for soothing. It was + a poor substitute for happiness. Each time she came, Malbone wished that + she might never go or never return. His warier nature was feverish with + solicitude and with self-reproach; he liked the excitement of slight + risks, but this was far too intense, the vibrations too extreme. She, on + the other hand, rode triumphant over waves of passion which cowed him. He + dared not exclude her; he dared not continue to admit her; he dared not + free himself; he could not be happy. The privacy of the concealed stairway + saved them from outward dangers, but not from inward fears. Their + interviews were first blissful, then anxious, then sad, then stormy. It + was at the end of such a storm that Emilia had passed into one of those + deathly calms which belonged to her physical temperament; and it was under + these circumstances that Hope had followed Philip to the door. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0022" id="link2H_4_0022"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XX. AUNT JANE TO THE RESCUE. + </h2> + <p> + THE thing that saves us from insanity during great grief is that there is + usually something to do, and the mind composes itself to the mechanical + task of adjusting the details. Hope dared not look forward an inch into + the future; that way madness lay. Fortunately, it was plain what must come + first,—to keep the whole thing within their own walls, and therefore + to make some explanation to Mrs. Meredith, whose servants had doubtless + been kept up all night awaiting Emilia. Profoundly perplexed what to say + or not to say to her, Hope longed with her whole soul for an adviser. + Harry and Kate were both away, and besides, she shrank from darkening + their young lives as hers had been darkened. She resolved to seek counsel + in the one person who most thoroughly distrusted Emilia,—Aunt Jane. + </p> + <p> + This lady was in a particularly happy mood that day. Emilia, who did all + kinds of fine needle-work exquisitely, had just embroidered for Aunt Jane + some pillow-cases. The original suggestion came from Hope, but it never + cost Emilia anything to keep a secret, and she had presented the gift very + sweetly, as if it were a thought of her own. Aunt Jane, who with all her + penetration as to facts was often very guileless as to motives, was + thoroughly touched by the humility and the embroidery. + </p> + <p> + “All last night,” she said, “I kept waking up, and thinking about + Christian charity and my pillow-cases.” + </p> + <p> + It was, therefore, a very favorable day for Hope’s consultation, though it + was nearly noon before her aunt was visible, perhaps because it took so + long to make up her bed with the new adornments. + </p> + <p> + Hope said frankly to Aunt Jane that there were some circumstances about + which she should rather not be questioned, but that Emilia had come there + the previous night from the ball, had been seized with one of her peculiar + attacks, and had stayed all night. Aunt Jane kept her eyes steadily fixed + on Hope’s sad face, and, when the tale was ended, drew her down and kissed + her lips. + </p> + <p> + “Now tell me, dear,” she said; “what comes first?” + </p> + <p> + “The first thing is,” said Hope, “to have Emilia’s absence explained to + Mrs. Meredith in some such way that she will think no more of it, and not + talk about it.” + </p> + <p> + “Certainly,” said Aunt Jane. “There is but one way to do that. I will call + on her myself.” + </p> + <p> + “You, auntie?” said Hope. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I,” said her aunt. “I have owed her a call for five years. It is the + only thing that will excite her so much as to put all else out of her + head.” + </p> + <p> + “O auntie!” said Hope, greatly relieved, “if you only would! But ought you + really to go out? It is almost raining.” + </p> + <p> + “I shall go,” said Aunt Jane, decisively, “if it rains little boys!” + </p> + <p> + “But will not Mrs. Meredith wonder—?” began Hope. + </p> + <p> + “That is one advantage,” interrupted her aunt, “of being an absurd old + woman. Nobody ever wonders at anything I do, or else it is that they never + stop wondering.” + </p> + <p> + She sent Ruth erelong to order the horses. Hope collected her various + wrappers, and Ruth, returning, got her mistress into a state of + preparation. + </p> + <p> + “If I might say one thing more,” Hope whispered. + </p> + <p> + “Certainly,” said her aunt. “Ruth, go to my chamber, and get me a pin.” + </p> + <p> + “What kind of a pin, ma’am?” asked that meek handmaiden, from the doorway. + </p> + <p> + “What a question!” said her indignant mistress. “Any kind. The common pin + of North America. Now, Hope?” as the door closed. + </p> + <p> + “I think it better, auntie,” said Hope, “that Philip should not stay here + longer at present. You can truly say that the house is full, and—” + </p> + <p> + “I have just had a note from him,” said Aunt Jane severely. “He has gone + to lodge at the hotel. What next?” + </p> + <p> + “Aunt Jane,” said Hope, looking her full in the face, “I have not the + slightest idea what to do next.” + </p> + <p> + (“The next thing for me,” thought her aunt, “is to have a little plain + speech with that misguided child upstairs.”) + </p> + <p> + “I can see no way out,” pursued Hope. + </p> + <p> + “Darling!” said Aunt Jane, with a voice full of womanly sweetness, “there + is always a way out, or else the world would have stopped long ago. + Perhaps it would have been better if it had stopped, but you see it has + not. All we can do is, to live on and try our best.” + </p> + <p> + She bade Hope leave Emilia to her, and furthermore stipulated that Hope + should go to her pupils as usual, that afternoon, as it was their last + lesson. The young girl shrank from the effort, but the elder lady was + inflexible. She had her own purpose in it. Hope once out of the way, Aunt + Jane could deal with Emilia. + </p> + <p> + No human being, when met face to face with Aunt Jane, had ever failed to + yield up to her the whole truth she sought. Emilia was on that day no + exception. She was prostrate, languid, humble, denied nothing, was ready + to concede every point but one. Never, while she lived, would she dwell + beneath John Lambert’s roof again. She had left it impulsively, she + admitted, scarce knowing what she did. But she would never return there to + live. She would go once more and see that all was in order for Mr. + Lambert, both in the house and on board the yacht, where they were to have + taken up their abode for a time. There were new servants in the house, a + new captain on the yacht; she would trust Mr. Lambert’s comfort to none of + them; she would do her full duty. Duty! the more utterly she felt herself + to be gliding away from him forever, the more pains she was ready to + lavish in doing these nothings well. About every insignificant article he + owned she seemed to feel the most scrupulous and wife-like responsibility; + while she yet knew that all she had was to him nothing, compared with the + possession of herself; and it was the thought of this last ownership that + drove her to despair. + </p> + <p> + Sweet and plaintive as the child’s face was, it had a glimmer of wildness + and a hunted look, that baffled Aunt Jane a little, and compelled her to + temporize. She consented that Emilia should go to her own house, on + condition that she would not see Philip,—which was readily and even + eagerly promised,—and that Hope should spend the night with Emilia, + which proposal was ardently accepted. + </p> + <p> + It occurred to Aunt Jane that nothing better could happen than for John + Lambert, on returning, to find his wife at home; and to secure this + result, if possible, she telegraphed to him to come at once. + </p> + <p> + Meantime Hope gave her inevitable music-lesson, so absorbed in her own + thoughts that it was all as mechanical as the metronome. As she came out + upon the Avenue for the walk home, she saw a group of people from a + gardener’s house, who had collected beside a muddy crossing, where a team + of cart-horses had refused to stir. Presently they sprang forward with a + great jerk, and a little Irish child was thrown beneath the wheel. Hope + sprang forward to grasp the child, and the wheel struck her also; but she + escaped with a dress torn and smeared, while the cart passed over the + little girl’s arm, breaking it in two places. She screamed and then grew + faint, as Hope lifted her. The mother received the burden with a wail of + anguish; the other Irishwomen pressed around her with the dense and + suffocating sympathy of their nation. Hope bade one and another run for a + physician, but nobody stirred. There was no surgical aid within a mile or + more. Hope looked round in despair, then glanced at her own disordered + garments. + </p> + <p> + “As sure as you live!” shouted a well-known voice from a carriage which + had stopped behind them. “If that isn’t Hope what’s-her-name, wish I may + never! Here’s a lark! Let me come there!” And the speaker pushed through + the crowd. + </p> + <p> + “Miss Ingleside,” said Hope, decisively, “this child’s arm is broken. + There is nobody to go for a physician. Except for the condition I am in, I + would ask you to take me there at once in your carriage; but as it is—” + </p> + <p> + “As it is, I must ask you, hey?” said Blanche, finishing the sentence. “Of + course. No mistake. Sans dire. Jones, junior, this lady will join us. + Don’t look so scared, man. Are you anxious about your cushions or your + reputation?” + </p> + <p> + The youth simpered and disclaimed. + </p> + <p> + “Jump in, then, Miss Maxwell. Never mind the expense. It’s only the family + carriage;—surname and arms of Jones. Lucky there are no parents to + the fore. Put my shawl over you, so.” + </p> + <p> + “O Blanche!” said Hope, “what injustice—” + </p> + <p> + “I’ve done myself?” said the volatile damsel. “Not a doubt of it. That’s + my style, you know. But I have some sense; I know who’s who. Now, Jones, + junior, make your man handle the ribbons. I’ve always had a grudge against + that ordinance about fast driving, and now’s our chance.” + </p> + <p> + And the sacred “ordinance,” with all other proprieties, was left in ruins + that day. They tore along the Avenue with unexplained and most + inexplicable speed, Hope being concealed by riding backward, and by a + large shawl, and Blanche and her admirer receiving the full indignation of + every chaste and venerable eye. Those who had tolerated all this girl’s + previous improprieties were obliged to admit that the line must be drawn + somewhere. She at once lost several good invitations and a matrimonial + offer, since Jones, junior, was swept away by his parents to be wedded + without delay to a consumptive heiress who had long pined for his + whiskers; and Count Posen, in his Souvenirs, was severer on Blanche’s one + good deed than on the worst of her follies. + </p> + <p> + A few years after, when Blanche, then the fearless wife of a regular-army + officer, was helping Hope in the hospitals at Norfolk, she would stop to + shout with delight over the reminiscence of that stately Jones equipage in + mad career, amid the barking of dogs and the groaning of dowagers. “After + all, Hope,” she would say, “the fastest thing I ever did was under your + orders.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0023" id="link2H_4_0023"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XXI. A STORM. + </h2> + <p> + THE members of the household were all at the window about noon, next day, + watching the rise of a storm. A murky wing of cloud, shaped like a hawk’s, + hung over the low western hills across the bay. Then the hawk became an + eagle, and the eagle a gigantic phantom, that hovered over half the + visible sky. Beneath it, a little scud of vapor, moved by some + cross-current of air, raced rapidly against the wind, just above the + horizon, like smoke from a battle-field. + </p> + <p> + As the cloud ascended, the water grew rapidly blacker, and in half an hour + broke into jets of white foam, all over its surface, with an angry look. + Meantime a white film of fog spread down the bay from the northward. The + wind hauled from southwest to northwest, so suddenly and strongly that all + the anchored boats seemed to have swung round instantaneously, without + visible process. The instant the wind shifted, the rain broke forth, + filling the air in a moment with its volume, and cutting so sharply that + it seemed like hail, though no hailstones reached the ground. At the same + time there rose upon the water a dense white film, which seemed to grow + together from a hundred different directions, and was made partly of rain, + and partly of the blown edges of the spray. There was but a glimpse of + this; for in a few moments it was impossible to see two rods; but when the + first gust was over, the water showed itself again, the jets of spray all + beaten down, and regular waves, of dull lead-color, breaking higher on the + shore. All the depth of blackness had left the sky, and there remained + only an obscure and ominous gray, through which the lightning flashed + white, not red. Boats came driving in from the mouth of the bay with a rag + of sail up; the men got them moored with difficulty, and when they sculled + ashore in the skiffs, a dozen comrades stood ready to grasp and haul them + in. Others launched skiffs in sheltered places, and pulled out bareheaded + to bail out their fishing-boats and keep them from swamping at their + moorings. + </p> + <p> + The shore was thronged with men in oilskin clothes and by women with + shawls over their heads. Aunt Jane, who always felt responsible for + whatever went on in the elements, sat in-doors with one lid closed, + wincing at every flash, and watching the universe with the air of a + coachman guiding six wild horses. + </p> + <p> + Just after the storm had passed its height, two veritable wild horses were + reined up at the door, and Philip burst in, his usual self-composure gone. + </p> + <p> + “Emilia is out sailing!” he exclaimed,—“alone with Lambert’s + boatman, in this gale. They say she was bound for Narragansett.” + </p> + <p> + “Impossible!” cried Hope, turning pale. “I left her not three hours ago.” + Then she remembered that Emilia had spoken of going on board the yacht, to + superintend some arrangements, but had said no more about it, when she + opposed it. + </p> + <p> + “Harry!” said Aunt Jane, quickly, from her chair by the window, “see that + fisherman. He has just come ashore and is telling something. Ask him.” + </p> + <p> + The fisherman had indeed seen Lambert’s boat, which was well known. + Something seemed to be the matter with the sail, but before the storm + struck her, it had been hauled down. They must have taken in water enough, + as it was. He had himself been obliged to bail out three times, running in + from the reef. + </p> + <p> + “Was there any landing which they could reach?” Harry asked. + </p> + <p> + There was none,—but the light-ship lay right in their track, and if + they had good luck, they might get aboard of her. + </p> + <p> + “The boatman?” said Philip, anxiously,—“Mr. Lambert’s boatman; is he + a good sailor?” + </p> + <p> + “Don’t know,” was the reply. “Stranger here. Dutchman, Frenchman, + Portegee, or some kind of a foreigner.” + </p> + <p> + “Seems to understand himself in a boat,” said another. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Malbone knows him,” said a third. “The same that dove with the young + woman under the steamboat paddles.” + </p> + <p> + “Good grit,” said the first. + </p> + <p> + “That’s so,” was the answer. “But grit don’t teach a man the channel.” + </p> + <p> + All agreed to this axiom; but as there was so strong a probability that + the voyagers had reached the light-ship, there seemed less cause for fear. + </p> + <p> + The next question was, whether it was possible to follow them. All agreed + that it would be foolish for any boat to attempt it, till the wind had + blown itself out, which might be within half an hour. After that, some + predicted a calm, some a fog, some a renewal of the storm; there was the + usual variety of opinions. At any rate, there might perhaps be an interval + during which they could go out, if the gentlemen did not mind a wet + jacket. + </p> + <p> + Within the half-hour came indeed an interval of calm, and a light shone + behind the clouds from the west. It faded soon into a gray fog, with puffs + of wind from the southwest again. When the young men went out with the + boatmen, the water had grown more quiet, save where angry little gusts + ruffled it. But these gusts made it necessary to carry a double reef, and + they made but little progress against wind and tide. + </p> + <p> + A dark-gray fog, broken by frequent wind-flaws, makes the ugliest of all + days on the water. A still, pale fog is soothing; it lulls nature to a + kind of repose. But a windy fog with occasional sunbeams and sudden films + of metallic blue breaking the leaden water,—this carries an + impression of something weird and treacherous in the universe, and + suggests caution. + </p> + <p> + As the boat floated on, every sight and sound appeared strange. The music + from the fort came sudden and startling through the vaporous eddies. A + tall white schooner rose instantaneously near them, like a light-house. + They could see the steam of the factory floating low, seeking some outlet + between cloud and water. As they drifted past a wharf, the great black + piles of coal hung high and gloomy; then a stray sunbeam brought out their + peacock colors; then came the fog again, driving hurriedly by, as if + impatient to go somewhere and enraged at the obstacle. It seemed to have a + vast inorganic life of its own, a volition and a whim. It drew itself + across the horizon like a curtain; then advanced in trampling armies up + the bay; then marched in masses northward; then suddenly grew thin, and + showed great spaces of sunlight; then drifted across the low islands, like + long tufts of wool; then rolled itself away toward the horizon; then + closed in again, pitiless and gray. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly something vast towered amid the mist above them. It was the + French war-ship returned to her anchorage once more, and seeming in that + dim atmosphere to be something spectral and strange that had taken form + out of the elements. The muzzles of great guns rose tier above tier, along + her side; great boats hung one above another, on successive pairs of + davits, at her stern. So high was her hull, that the topmost boat and the + topmost gun appeared to be suspended in middle air; and yet this was but + the beginning of her altitude. Above these were the heavy masts, seen + dimly through the mist; between these were spread eight dark lines of + sailors’ clothes, which, with the massive yards above, looked like part of + some ponderous framework built to reach the sky. This prolongation of the + whole dark mass toward the heavens had a portentous look to those who + gazed from below; and when the denser fog sometimes furled itself away + from the topgallant masts, hitherto invisible, and showed them rising + loftier yet, and the tricolor at the mizzen-mast-head looking down as if + from the zenith, then they all seemed to appertain to something of more + than human workmanship; a hundred wild tales of phantom vessels came up to + the imagination, and it was as if that one gigantic structure were + expanding to fill all space from sky to sea. + </p> + <p> + They were swept past it; the fog closed in; it was necessary to land near + the Fort, and proceed on foot. They walked across the rough peninsula, + while the mist began to disperse again, and they were buoyant with + expectation. As they toiled onward, the fog suddenly met them at the turn + of a lane where it had awaited them, like an enemy. As they passed into + those gray and impalpable arms, the whole world changed again. + </p> + <p> + They walked toward the sound of the sea. As they approached it, the dull + hue that lay upon it resembled that of the leaden sky. The two elements + could hardly be distinguished except as the white outlines of the + successive breakers were lifted through the fog. The lines of surf + appeared constantly to multiply upon the beach, and yet, on counting them, + there were never any more. Sometimes, in the distance, masses of foam rose + up like a wall where the horizon ought to be; and, as the coming waves + took form out of the unseen, it seemed as if no phantom were too vast or + shapeless to come rolling in upon their dusky shoulders. + </p> + <p> + Presently a frail gleam of something like the ghost of dead sunshine made + them look toward the west. Above the dim roofs of Castle Hill + mansion-house, the sinking sun showed luridly through two rifts of cloud, + and then the swift motion of the nearer vapor veiled both sun and cloud, + and banished them into almost equal remoteness. + </p> + <p> + Leaving the beach on their right, and passing the high rocks of the + Pirate’s Cave, they presently descended to the water’s edge once more. The + cliffs rose to a distorted height in the dimness; sprays of withered grass + nodded along the edge, like Ossian’s spectres. Light seemed to be + vanishing from the universe, leaving them alone with the sea. And when a + solitary loon uttered his wild cry, and rising, sped away into the + distance, it was as if life were following light into an equal + annihilation. That sense of vague terror, with which the ocean sometimes + controls the fancy, began to lay its grasp on them. They remembered that + Emilia, in speaking once of her intense shrinking from death, had said + that the sea was the only thing from which she would not fear to meet it. + </p> + <p> + Fog exaggerates both for eye and ear; it is always a sounding-board for + the billows; and in this case, as often happens, the roar did not appear + to proceed from the waves themselves, but from some source in the unseen + horizon, as if the spectators were shut within a beleaguered fortress, and + this thundering noise came from an impetuous enemy outside. Ever and anon + there was a distinct crash of heavier sound, as if some special barricade + had at length been beaten in, and the garrison must look to their inner + defences. + </p> + <p> + The tide was unusually high, and scarcely receded with the ebb, though the + surf increased; the waves came in with constant rush and wail, and with an + ominous rattle of pebbles on the little beaches, beneath the powerful + suction of the undertow; and there were more and more of those muffled + throbs along the shore which tell of coming danger as plainly as + minute-guns. With these came mingled that yet more inexplicable humming + which one hears at intervals in such times, like strains of music caught + and tangled in the currents of stormy air,—strains which were + perhaps the filmy thread on which tales of sirens and mermaids were first + strung, and in which, at this time, they would fain recognize the voice of + Emilia. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0024" id="link2H_4_0024"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XXII. OUT OF THE DEPTHS. + </h2> + <p> + AS the night closed in, the wind rose steadily, still blowing from the + southwest. In Brenton’s kitchen they found a group round a great fire of + driftwood; some of these were fishermen who had with difficulty made a + landing on the beach, and who confirmed the accounts already given. The + boat had been seen sailing for the Narragansett shore, and when the squall + came, the boatman had lowered and reefed the sail, and stood for the + light-ship. They must be on board of her, if anywhere. + </p> + <p> + “There are safe there?” asked Philip, eagerly. + </p> + <p> + “Only place where they would be safe, then,” said the spokesman. + </p> + <p> + “Unless the light-ship parts,” said an old fellow. + </p> + <p> + “Parts!” said the other. “Sixty fathom of two-inch chain, and old Joe + talks about parting.” + </p> + <p> + “Foolish, of course,” said Philip; “but it’s a dangerous shore.” + </p> + <p> + “That’s so,” was the answer. “Never saw so many lines of reef show + outside, neither.” + </p> + <p> + “There’s an old saying on this shore,” said Joe:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “When Price’s Neck goes to Brenton’s Reef, + Body and soul will come to grief. + But when Brenton’s Reef comes to Price’s Neck, + Soul and body are both a wreck.” + </pre> + <p> + “What does it mean?” asked Harry. + </p> + <p> + “It only means,” said somebody, “that when you see it white all the way + out from the Neck to the Reef, you can’t take the inside passage.” + </p> + <p> + “But what does the last half mean?” persisted Harry. + </p> + <p> + “Don’t know as I know,” said the veteran, and relapsed into silence, in + which all joined him, while the wind howled and whistled outside, and the + barred windows shook. + </p> + <p> + Weary and restless with vain waiting, they looked from the doorway at the + weather. The door went back with a slam, and the gust swooped down on them + with that special blast that always seems to linger just outside on such + nights, ready for the first head that shows itself. They closed the door + upon the flickering fire and the uncouth shadows within, and went forth + into the night. At first the solid blackness seemed to lay a weight on + their foreheads. There was absolutely nothing to be seen but the two + lights of the light-ship, glaring from the dark sea like a wolf’s eyes + from a cavern. They looked nearer and brighter than in ordinary nights, + and appeared to the excited senses of the young men to dance strangely on + the waves, and to be always opposite to them, as they moved along the + shore with the wind almost at their backs. + </p> + <p> + “What did that old fellow mean?” said Malbone in Harry’s ear, as they came + to a protected place and could hear each other, “by talking of Brenton’s + Reef coming to Price’s Neck.” + </p> + <p> + “Some sailor’s doggerel,” said Harry, indifferently. “Here is Price’s Neck + before us, and yonder is Brenton’s Reef.” + </p> + <p> + “Where?” said Philip, looking round bewildered. + </p> + <p> + The lights had gone, as if the wolf, weary of watching, had suddenly + closed his eyes, and slumbered in his cave. + </p> + <p> + Harry trembled and shivered. In Heaven’s name, what could this + disappearance mean? + </p> + <p> + Suddenly a sheet of lightning came, so white and intense, it sent its + light all the way out to the horizon and exhibited far-off vessels, that + reeled and tossed and looked as if wandering without a guide. But this was + not so startling as what it showed in the foreground. + </p> + <p> + There drifted heavily upon the waves, within full view from the shore, + moving parallel to it, yet gradually approaching, an uncouth shape that + seemed a vessel and yet not a vessel; two stunted masts projected above, + and below there could be read, in dark letters that apparently swayed and + trembled in the wan lightning, as the thing moved on, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + BRENTON’S REEF. +</pre> + <p> + Philip, leaning against a rock, gazed into the darkness where the + apparition had been; even Harry felt a thrill of half-superstitious + wonder, and listened half mechanically to a rough sailor’s voice at his + ear:— + </p> + <p> + “God! old Joe was right. There’s one wreck that is bound to make many. The + light-ship has parted.” + </p> + <p> + “Drifting ashore,” said Harry, his accustomed clearness of head coming + back at a flash. “Where will she strike?” + </p> + <p> + “Price’s Neck,” said the sailor. + </p> + <p> + Harry turned to Philip and spoke to him, shouting in his ear the + explanation. Malbone’s lips moved mechanically, but he said nothing. + Passively, he let Harry take him by the arm, and lead him on. + </p> + <p> + Following the sailor, they rounded a projecting point, and found + themselves a little sheltered from the wind. Not knowing the region, they + stumbled about among the rocks, and scarcely knew when they neared the + surf, except when a wave came swashing round their very feet. Pausing at + the end of a cove, they stood beside their conductor, and their eyes, now + grown accustomed, could make out vaguely the outlines of the waves. + </p> + <p> + The throat of the cove was so shoal and narrow, and the mass of the waves + so great, that they reared their heads enormously, just outside, and + spending their strength there, left a lower level within the cove. Yet + sometimes a series of great billows would come straight on, heading + directly for the entrance, and then the surface of the water within was + seen to swell suddenly upward as if by a terrible inward magic of its own; + it rose and rose, as if it would ingulf everything; then as rapidly sank, + and again presented a mere quiet vestibule before the excluded waves. + </p> + <p> + They saw in glimpses, as the lightning flashed, the shingly beach, covered + with a mass of creamy foam, all tremulous and fluctuating in the wind; and + this foam was constantly torn away by the gale in great shreds, that + whirled by them as if the very fragments of the ocean were fleeing from it + in terror, to take refuge in the less frightful element of air. + </p> + <p> + Still the wild waves reared their heads, like savage, crested animals, now + white, now black, looking in from the entrance of the cove. And now there + silently drifted upon them something higher, vaster, darker than + themselves,—the doomed vessel. It was strange how slowly and + steadily she swept in,—for her broken chain-cable dragged, as it + afterwards proved, and kept her stern-on to the shore,—and they + could sometimes hear amid the tumult a groan that seemed to come from the + very heart of the earth, as she painfully drew her keel over hidden reefs. + Over five of these (as was afterwards found) she had already drifted, and + she rose and fell more than once on the high waves at the very mouth of + the cove, like a wild bird hovering ere it pounces. + </p> + <p> + Then there came one of those great confluences of waves described already, + which, lifting her bodily upward, higher and higher and higher, suddenly + rushed with her into the basin, filling it like an opened dry-dock, + crashing and roaring round the vessel and upon the rocks, then sweeping + out again and leaving her lodged, still stately and steady, at the centre + of the cove. + </p> + <p> + They could hear from the crew a mingled sound, that came as a shout of + excitement from some and a shriek of despair from others. The vivid + lightning revealed for a moment those on shipboard to those on shore; and + blinding as it was, it lasted long enough to show figures gesticulating + and pointing. The old sailor, Mitchell, tried to build a fire among the + rocks nearest the vessel, but it was impossible, because of the wind. This + was a disappointment, for the light would have taken away half the danger, + and more than half the terror. Though the cove was more quiet than the + ocean, yet it was fearful enough, even there. The vessel might hold + together till morning, but who could tell? It was almost certain that + those on board would try to land, and there was nothing to do but to await + the effort. The men from the farmhouse had meanwhile come down with ropes. + </p> + <p> + It was simply impossible to judge with any accuracy of the distance of the + ship. One of these new-comers, who declared that she was lodged very near, + went to a point of rocks, and shouted to those on board to heave him a + rope. The tempest suppressed his voice, as it had put out the fire. But + perhaps the lightning had showed him to the dark figures on the stern; for + when the next flash came, they saw a rope flung, which fell short. The + real distance was more than a hundred yards. + </p> + <p> + Then there was a long interval of darkness. The moment the next flash came + they saw a figure let down by a rope from the stern of the vessel, while + the hungry waves reared like wolves to seize it. Everybody crowded down to + the nearest rocks, looking this way and that for a head to appear. They + pressed eagerly in every direction where a bit of plank or a barrel-head + floated; they fancied faint cries here and there, and went aimlessly to + and fro. A new effort, after half a dozen failures, sent a blaze mounting + up fitfully among the rocks, startling all with the sudden change its + blessed splendor made. Then a shrill shout from one of the watchers + summoned all to a cleft in the cove, half shaded from the firelight, where + there came rolling in amidst the surf, more dead than alive, the body of a + man. He was the young foreigner, John Lambert’s boatman. He bore still + around him the rope that was to save the rest. + </p> + <p> + How pale and eager their faces looked as they bent above him! But the + eagerness was all gone from his, and only the pallor left. While the + fishermen got the tackle rigged, such as it was, to complete the + communication with the vessel, the young men worked upon the boatman, and + soon had him restored to consciousness. He was able to explain that the + ship had been severely strained, and that all on board believed she would + go to pieces before morning. No one would risk being the first to take the + water, and he had at last volunteered, as being the best swimmer, on + condition that Emilia should be next sent, when the communication was + established. + </p> + <p> + Two ropes were then hauled on board the vessel, a larger and a smaller. By + the flickering firelight and the rarer flashes of lightning (the rain now + falling in torrents) they saw a hammock slung to the larger rope; a + woman’s form was swathed in it; and the smaller rope being made fast to + this, they found by pulling that she could be drawn towards the shore. + Those on board steadied the hammock as it was lowered from the ship, but + the waves seemed maddened by this effort to escape their might, and they + leaped up at her again and again. The rope dropped beneath her weight, and + all that could be done from shore was to haul her in as fast as possible, + to abbreviate the period of buffeting and suffocation. As she neared the + rocks she could be kept more safe from the water; faster and faster she + was drawn in; sometimes there came some hitch and stoppage, but by steady + patience it was overcome. + </p> + <p> + She was so near the rocks that hands were already stretched to grasp her, + when there came one of the great surging waves that sometimes filled the + basin. It gave a terrible lurch to the stranded vessel hitherto so erect; + the larger rope snapped instantly; the guiding rope was twitched from the + hands that held it; and the canvas that held Emilia was caught and swept + away like a shred of foam, and lost amid the whiteness of the seething + froth below. Fifteen minutes after, the hammock came ashore empty, the + lashings having parted. + </p> + <p> + The cold daybreak was just opening, though the wind still blew keenly, + when they found the body of Emilia. It was swathed in a roll of sea-weed, + lying in the edge of the surf, on a broad, flat rock near where the young + boatman had come ashore. The face was not disfigured; the clothing was + only torn a little, and tangled closely round her; but the life was gone. + </p> + <p> + It was Philip who first saw her; and he stood beside her for a moment + motionless, stunned into an aspect of tranquility. This, then, was the + end. All his ready sympathy, his wooing tenderness, his winning + compliances, his self-indulgent softness, his perilous amiability, his + reluctance to give pain or to see sorrow,—all had ended in this. For + once, he must force even his accommodating and evasive nature to meet the + plain, blank truth. Now all his characteristics appeared changed by the + encounter; it was Harry who was ready, thoughtful, attentive,—while + Philip, who usually had all these traits, was paralyzed among his dreams. + Could he have fancied such a scene beforehand, he would have vowed that no + hand but his should touch the breathless form of Emilia. As it was, he + instinctively made way for the quick gathering of the others, as if almost + any one else had a better right to be there. + </p> + <p> + The storm had blown itself out by sunrise; the wind had shifted, beating + down the waves; it seemed as if everything in nature were exhausted. The + very tide had ebbed away. The light-ship rested between the rocks, + helpless, still at the mercy of the returning waves, and yet still upright + and with that stately look of unconscious pleading which all shipwrecked + vessels wear, it is wonderfully like the look I have seen in the face of + some dead soldier, on whom war had done its worst. Every line of a ship is + so built for motion, every part, while afloat, seems so full of life and + so answering to the human life it bears, that this paralysis of shipwreck + touches the imagination as if the motionless thing had once been animated + by a soul. + </p> + <p> + And not far from the vessel, in a chamber of the seaside farm-house, lay + the tenderer and fairer wreck of Emilia. Her storms and her passions were + ended. The censure of the world, the anguish of friends, the clinging arms + of love, were nothing now to her. Again the soft shelter of + unconsciousness had clasped her in; but this time the trance was longer + and the faintness was unto death. + </p> + <p> + From the moment of her drifting ashore, it was the young boatman who had + assumed the right to care for her and to direct everything. Philip seemed + stunned; Harry was his usual clear-headed and efficient self; but to his + honest eyes much revealed itself in a little while; and when Hope arrived + in the early morning, he said to her, “This boatman, who once saved your + life, is Emilia’s Swiss lover, Antoine Marval.” + </p> + <p> + “More than lover,” said the young Swiss, overhearing. “She was my wife + before God, when you took her from me. In my country, a betrothal is as + sacred as a marriage. Then came that man, he filled her heart with + illusions, and took her away in my absence. When my brother was here in + the corvette, he found her for me. Then I came for her; I saved her + sister; then I saw the name on the card and would not give my own. I + became her servant. She saw me in the yacht, only once; she knew me; she + was afraid. Then she said, ‘Perhaps I still love you,—a little; I do + not know; I am in despair; take me from this home I hate.’ We sailed that + day in the small boat for Narragansett,—I know not where. She hardly + looked up or spoke; but for me, I cared for nothing since she was with me. + When the storm came, she was frightened, and said, ‘It is a retribution.’ + I said, ‘You shall never go back.’ She never did. Here she is. You cannot + take her from me.” + </p> + <p> + Once on board the light-ship, she had been assigned the captain’s + state-room, while Antoine watched at the door. She seemed to shrink from + him whenever he went to speak to her, he owned, but she answered kindly + and gently, begging to be left alone. When at last the vessel parted her + moorings, he persuaded Emilia to come on deck and be lashed to the mast, + where she sat without complaint. + </p> + <p> + Who can fathom the thoughts of that bewildered child, as she sat amid the + spray and the howling of the blast, while the doomed vessel drifted on + with her to the shore? Did all the error and sorrow of her life pass + distinctly before her? Or did the roar of the surf lull her into quiet, + like the unconscious kindness of wild creatures that toss and bewilder + their prey into unconsciousness ere they harm it? None can tell. Death + answers no questions; it only makes them needless. + </p> + <p> + The morning brought to the scene John Lambert, just arrived by land from + New York. + </p> + <p> + The passion of John Lambert for his wife was of that kind which ennobles + while it lasts, but which rarely outlasts marriage. A man of such + uncongenial mould will love an enchanting woman with a mad, absorbing + passion, where self-sacrifice is so mingled with selfishness that the two + emotions seem one; he will hungrily yearn to possess her, to call her by + his own name, to hold her in his arms, to kill any one else who claims + her. But when she is once his wife, and his arms hold a body without a + soul,—no soul at least for him,—then her image is almost + inevitably profaned, and the passion which began too high for earth ends + far too low for heaven. Let now death change that form to marble, and + instantly it resumes its virgin holiness; though the presence of life did + not sanctify, its departure does. It is only the true lover to whom the + breathing form is as sacred as the breathless. + </p> + <p> + That ideality of nature which love had developed in this man, and which + had already drooped a little during his brief period of marriage, was born + again by the side of death. While Philip wandered off silent and lonely + with his grief, John Lambert knelt by the beautiful remains, talking + inarticulately, his eyes streaming with unchecked tears. Again was Emilia, + in her marble paleness, the calm centre of a tragedy she herself had + caused. The wild, ungoverned child was the image of peace; it was the + stolid and prosperous man who was in the storm. It was not till Hope came + that there was any change. Then his prostrate nature sought hers, as the + needle leaps to the iron; the first touch of her hand, the sight of her + kiss upon Emilia’s forehead, made him strong. It was the thorough + subjection of a worldly man to the higher organization of a noble woman, + and thenceforth it never varied. In later years, after he had foolishly + sought, as men will, to win her to a nearer tie, there was no moment when + she had not full control over his time, his energies, and his wealth. + </p> + <p> + After it was all ended, Hope told him everything that had happened; but in + that wild moment of his despair she told him nothing. Only she and Harry + knew the story of the young Swiss; and now that Emilia was gone, her early + lover had no wish to speak of her to any but these two, or to linger long + where she had been doubly lost to him, by marriage and by death. The + world, with all its prying curiosity, usually misses the key to the very + incidents about which it asks most questions; and of the many who gossiped + or mourned concerning Emilia, none knew the tragic complication which her + death alone could have solved. The breaking of Hope’s engagement to Philip + was attributed to every cause but the true one. And when the storm of the + great Rebellion broke over the land, its vast calamity absorbed all minor + griefs. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0025" id="link2H_4_0025"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XXIII. REQUIESCAT. + </h2> + <p> + THANK God! it is not within the power of one man’s errors to blight the + promise of a life like that of Hope. It is but a feeble destiny that is + wrecked by passion, when it should be ennobled. Aunt Jane and Kate watched + Hope closely during her years of probation, for although she fancied + herself to be keeping her own counsel, yet her career lay in broad light + for them. She was like yonder sailboat, which floats conspicuous by night + amid the path of moonbeams, and which yet seems to its own voyagers to be + remote and unseen upon a waste of waves. + </p> + <p> + Why should I linger over the details of her life, after the width of ocean + lay between her and Malbone, and a manhood of self-denying usefulness had + begun to show that even he could learn something by life’s retributions? + We know what she was, and it is of secondary importance where she went or + what she did. Kindle the light of the light-house, and it has nothing to + do, except to shine. There is for it no wrong direction. There is no need + to ask, “How? Over which especial track of distant water must my light go + forth, to find the wandering vessel to be guided in?” It simply shines. + Somewhere there is a ship that needs it, or if not, the light does its + duty. So did Hope. + </p> + <p> + We must leave her here. Yet I cannot bear to think of her as passing + through earthly life without tasting its deepest bliss, without the last + pure ecstasy of human love, without the kisses of her own children on her + lips, their waxen fingers on her bosom. + </p> + <p> + And yet again, is this life so long? May it not be better to wait until + its little day is done, and the summer night of old age has yielded to a + new morning, before attaining that acme of joy? Are there enough + successive grades of bliss for all eternity, if so much be consummated + here? Must all novels end with an earthly marriage, and nothing be left + for heaven? + </p> + <p> + Perhaps, for such as Hope, this life is given to show what happiness might + be, and they await some other sphere for its fulfilment. The greater part + of the human race live out their mortal years without attaining more than + a far-off glimpse of the very highest joy. Were this life all, its very + happiness were sadness. If, as I doubt not, there be another sphere, then + that which is unfulfilled in this must yet find completion, nothing + omitted, nothing denied. And though a thousand oracles should pronounce + this thought an idle dream, neither Hope nor I would believe them. + </p> + <p> + It was a radiant morning of last February when I walked across the low + hills to the scene of the wreck. Leaving the road before reaching the + Fort, I struck across the wild moss-country, full of boulders and + footpaths and stunted cedars and sullen ponds. I crossed the height of + land, where the ruined lookout stands like the remains of a Druidical + temple, and then went down toward the ocean. Banks and ridges of snow lay + here and there among the fields, and the white lines of distant capes + seemed but drifts running seaward. The ocean was gloriously alive,—the + blackest blue, with white caps on every wave; the shore was all snowy, and + the gulls were flying back and forth in crowds; you could not tell whether + they were the white waves coming ashore, or bits of snow going to sea. A + single fragment of ship-timber, black with time and weeds, and crusty with + barnacles, heaved to and fro in the edge of the surf, and two fishermen’s + children, a boy and girl, tilted upon it as it moved, clung with the + semblance of terror to each other, and played at shipwreck. + </p> + <p> + The rocks were dark with moisture, steaming in the sun. Great sheets of + ice, white masks of departing winter, clung to every projecting cliff, or + slid with crash and shiver into the surge. Icicles dropped their slow and + reverberating tears upon the rock where Emilia once lay breathless; and it + seemed as if their cold, chaste drops were sent to cleanse from her memory + each scarlet stain, and leave it virginal and pure. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Malbone, by Thomas Wentworth Higginson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MALBONE *** + +***** This file should be named 993-h.htm or 993-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/9/9/993/ + +Produced by Judy Boss, and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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