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diff --git a/1758.txt b/1758.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..84f815b --- /dev/null +++ b/1758.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1194 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Marjorie Daw, by Thomas Bailey Aldrich + +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: Marjorie Daw + +Author: Thomas Bailey Aldrich + +Posting Date: October 23, 2008 [EBook #1758] +Release Date: May, 1999 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARJORIE DAW *** + + + + +Produced by Susan L. Farley + + + + + +MARJORIE DAW + +by Thomas Bailey Aldrich + + + + +I. + +DR. DILLON TO EDWARD DELANEY, ESQ., AT THE PINES. NEAR RYE, N.H. + +August 8, 1872. + +My Dear Sir: I am happy to assure you that your anxiety is without +reason. Flemming will be confined to the sofa for three or four weeks, +and will have to be careful at first how he uses his leg. A fracture +of this kind is always a tedious affair. Fortunately the bone was very +skilfully set by the surgeon who chanced to be in the drugstore where +Flemming was brought after his fall, and I apprehend no permanent +inconvenience from the accident. Flemming is doing perfectly well +physically; but I must confess that the irritable and morbid state of +mind into which he has fallen causes me a great deal of uneasiness. He +is the last man in the world who ought to break his leg. You know how +impetuous our friend is ordinarily, what a soul of restlessness and +energy, never content unless he is rushing at some object, like a +sportive bull at a red shawl; but amiable withal. He is no longer +amiable. His temper has become something frightful. Miss Fanny Flemming +came up from Newport, where the family are staying for the summer, to +nurse him; but he packed her off the next morning in tears. He has a +complete set of Balzac's works, twenty-seven volumes, piled up near his +sofa, to throw at Watkins whenever that exemplary serving-man appears +with his meals. Yesterday I very innocently brought Flemming a small +basket of lemons. You know it was a strip of lemon-peel on the curbstone +that caused our friend's mischance. Well, he no sooner set is eyes +upon those lemons than he fell into such a rage as I cannot adequately +describe. This is only one of moods, and the least distressing. At other +times he sits with bowed head regarding his splintered limb, silent, +sullen, despairing. When this fit is on him--and it sometimes lasts all +day--nothing can distract his melancholy. He refuses to eat, does not +even read the newspapers; books, except as projectiles for Watkins, have +no charms for him. His state is truly pitiable. + +Now, if he were a poor man, with a family depending on his daily labor, +this irritability and despondency would be natural enough. But in a +young fellow of twenty-four, with plenty of money and seemingly not a +care in the world, the thing is monstrous. If he continues to give +way to his vagaries in this manner, he will end by bringing on an +inflammation of the fibula. It was the fibula he broke. I am at my wits' +end to know what to prescribe for him. I have anaesthetics and lotions, +to make people sleep and to soothe pain; but I've no medicine that will +make a man have a little common-sense. That is beyond my skill, but +maybe it is not beyond yours. You are Flemming's intimate friend, his +fidus Achates. Write to him, write to him frequently, distract his +mind, cheer him up, and prevent him from becoming a confirmed case of +melancholia. Perhaps he has some important plans disarranged by his +present confinement. If he has you will know, and will know how to +advise him judiciously. I trust your father finds the change beneficial? +I am, my dear sir, with great respect, etc. + + + + +II. + +EDWARD DELANEY TO JOHN FLEMMING, WEST 38TH STREET, NEW YORK. + +August 9, 1872. + +My Dear Jack: I had a line from Dillon this morning, and was rejoiced +to learn that your hurt is not so bad as reported. Like a certain +personage, you are not so black and blue as you are painted. Dillon will +put you on your pins again in two to three weeks, if you will only have +patience and follow his counsels. Did you get my note of last Wednesday? +I was greatly troubled when I heard of the accident. + +I can imagine how tranquil and saintly you are with your leg in a +trough! It is deuced awkward, to be sure, just as we had promised +ourselves a glorious month together at the sea-side; but we must make +the best of it. It is unfortunate, too, that my father's health renders +it impossible for me to leave him. I think he has much improved; the sea +air is his native element; but he still needs my arm to lean upon in his +walks, and requires some one more careful that a servant to look after +him. I cannot come to you, dear Jack, but I have hours of unemployed +time on hand, and I will write you a whole post-office full of letters, +if that will divert you. Heaven knows, I haven't anything to write +about. It isn't as if we were living at one of the beach houses; then +I could do you some character studies, and fill your imagination with +groups of sea-goddesses, with their (or somebody else's) raven and +blonde manes hanging down their shoulders. You should have Aphrodite in +morning wrapper, in evening costume, and in her prettiest bathing suit. +But we are far from all that here. We have rooms in a farm-house, on a +cross-road, two miles from the hotels, and lead the quietest of lives. + +I wish I were a novelist. This old house, with its sanded floors and +high wainscots, and its narrow windows looking out upon a cluster of +pines that turn themselves into aeolian harps every time the wind blows, +would be the place in which to write a summer romance. It should be a +story with the odors of the forest and the breath of the sea in it. +It should be a novel like one of that Russian fellow's--what's his +name?--Tourguenieff, Turguenef, Turgenif, Toorguniff, Turgenjew--nobody +knows how to spell him. Yet I wonder if even a Liza or an Alexandra +Paulovna could stir the heart of a man who has constant twinges in his +leg. I wonder if one of our own Yankee girls of the best type, haughty +and spirituelle, would be of any comfort to you in your present +deplorable condition. If I thought so, I would hasten down to the Surf +House and catch one for you; or, better still, I would find you one over +the way. + +Picture to yourself a large white house just across the road, nearly +opposite our cottage. It is not a house, but a mansion, built, perhaps, +in the colonial period, with rambling extensions, and gambrel roof, +and a wide piazza on three sides--a self-possessed, high-bred piece of +architecture, with its nose in the air. It stands back from the road, +and has an obsequious retinue of fringed elms and oaks and weeping +willows. Sometimes in the morning, and oftener in the afternoon, when +the sun has withdrawn from that part of the mansions, a young woman +appears on the piazza with some mysterious Penelope web of embroidery in +her hand, or a book. There is a hammock over there--of pineapple fibre, +it looks from here. A hammock is very becoming when one is eighteen, and +has golden hair, and dark eyes, and an emerald-colored illusion dress +looped up after the fashion of a Dresden china shepherdess, and is +chaussee like a belle of the time of Louis Quatorze. All this splendor +goes into that hammock, and sways there like a pond-lily in the golden +afternoon. The window of my bedroom looks down on that piazza--and so do +I. + +But enough of the nonsense, which ill becomes a sedate young attorney +taking his vacation with an invalid father. Drop me a line, dear Jack, +and tell me how you really are. State your case. Write me a long, quite +letter. If you are violent or abusive, I'll take the law to you. + + + + +III. + +JOHN FLEMMING TO EDWARD DELANEY. + +August 11, 1872. + +Your letter, dear Ned, was a godsend. Fancy what a fix I am in--I, who +never had a day's sickness since I was born. My left leg weighs three +tons. It is embalmed in spices and smothered in layers of fine linen, +like a mummy. I can't move. I haven't moved for five thousand years. I'm +of the time of Pharaoh. + +I lie from morning till night on a lounge, staring into the hot street. +Everybody is out of town enjoying himself. The brown-stone-front houses +across the street resemble a row of particularly ugly coffins set up on +end. A green mould is settling on the names of the deceased, carved on +the silver door-plates. Sardonic spiders have sewed up the key-holes. +All is silence and dust and desolation.--I interrupt this a moment, to +take a shy at Watkins with the second volume of Cesar Birotteau. Missed +him! I think I could bring him down with a copy of Sainte-Beuve or the +Dictionnaire Universel, if I had it. These small Balzac books somehow +do not quite fit my hand; but I shall fetch him yet. I've an idea that +Watkins is tapping the old gentleman's Chateau Yquem. Duplicate key of +the wine-cellar. Hibernian swarries in the front basement. Young Cheops +up stairs, snug in his cerements. Watkins glides into my chamber, +with that colorless, hypocritical face of his drawn out long like an +accordion; but I know he grins all the way down stairs, and is glad I +have broken my leg. Was not my evil star in the very zenith when I +ran up to town to attend that dinner at Delmonico's? I didn't come up +altogether for that. It was partly to buy Frank Livingstone's roan +mare Margot. And now I shall not be able to sit in the saddle these two +months. I'll send the mare down to you at The Pines--is that the name of +the place? + +Old Dillon fancies that I have something on my mind. He drives me wild +with lemons. Lemons for a mind diseased! Nonsense. I am only as restless +as the devil under this confinement--a thing I'm not used to. Take a +man who has never had so much as a headache or a toothache in his life, +strap one of his legs in a section of water-spout, keep him in a room in +the city for weeks, with the hot weather turned on, and then expect him +to smile and purr and be happy! It is preposterous. I can't be cheerful +or calm. + +Your letter is the first consoling thing I have had since my disaster, +ten days ago. It really cheered me up for half an hour. Send me a +screed, Ned, as often as you can, if you love me. Anything will do. +Write me more about that little girl in the hammock. That was very +pretty, all that about the Dresden china shepherdess and the pond-lily; +the imagery a little mixed, perhaps, but very pretty. I didn't suppose +you had so much sentimental furniture in your upper story. It shows how +one may be familiar for years with the reception-room of his neighbor, +and never suspect what is directly under his mansard. I supposed your +loft stuffed with dry legal parchments, mortgages, and affidavits; you +take down a package of manuscript, and lo! there are lyrics and sonnets +and canzonettas. You really have a graphic descriptive touch, Edward +Delaney, and I suspect you of anonymous love-tales in the magazines. + +I shall be a bear until I hear from you again. Tell me all about your +pretty inconnue across the road. What is her name? Who is she? Who's her +father? Where's her mother? Who's her lover? You cannot imagine how +this will occupy me. The more trifling, the better. My imprisonment has +weakened me intellectually to such a degree that I find your epistolary +gifts quite considerable. I am passing into my second childhood. In a +week or two I shall take to India rubber rings and prongs of coral. +A silver cup, with an appropriate inscription, would be a delicate +attention on your part. In the mean time, write! + + + + +IV. + +EDWARD DELANEY TO JOHN FLEMMING. + +August 12, 1872. + +The sick pasha shall be amused. Bismillah! he wills it so. If the +story-teller becomes prolix and tedious--the bow-string and the sack, +and two Nubians to drop him into the Piscataqua! But truly, Jack, I have +a hard task. There is literally nothing here--except the little girl +over the way. She is swinging in the hammock at this moment. It is to +me compensation for many of the ills of life to see her now and then put +out a small kid boot, which fits like a glove, and set herself going. +Who is she, and what is her name? Her name is Daw. Only daughter if +Mr. Richard W. Daw, ex-colonel and banker. Mother dead. One brother at +Harvard, elder brother killed at the battle of Fair Oaks, ten years +ago. Old, rich family, the Daws. This is the homestead, where father +and daughter pass eight months of the twelve; the rest of the year in +Baltimore and Washington. The New England winter too many for the old +gentleman. The daughter is called Marjorie--Marjorie Daw. Sounds odd at +first, doesn't it? But after you say it over to yourself half a dozen +times, you like it. There's a pleasing quaintness to it, something prim +and violet-like. Must be a nice sort of girl to be called Marjorie Daw. + +I had mine host of The Pines in the witness-box last night, and drew +the foregoing testimony from him. He has charge of Mr. Daw's +vegetable-garden, and has known the family these thirty years. Of course +I shall make the acquaintance of my neighbors before many days. It will +be next to impossible for me not to meet Mr. Daw or Miss Daw in some of +my walks. The young lady has a favorite path to the sea-beach. I shall +intercept her some morning, and touch my hat to her. Then the princess +will bend her fair head to me with courteous surprise not unmixed with +haughtiness. Will snub me, in fact. All this for thy sake, O Pasha of +the Snapt Axle-tree!... How oddly things fall out! Ten minutes ago I was +called down to the parlor--you know the kind of parlors in farm-houses +on the coast, a sort of amphibious parlor, with sea-shells on the +mantel-piece and spruce branches in the chimney-place--where I found my +father and Mr. Daw doing the antique polite to each other. He had +come to pay his respects to his new neighbors. Mr. Daw is a tall, +slim gentleman of about fifty-five, with a florid face and snow-white +mustache and side-whiskers. Looks like Mr. Dombey, or as Mr. Dombey +would have looked if he had served a few years in the British Army. Mr. +Daw was a colonel in the late war, commanding the regiment in which his +son was a lieutenant. Plucky old boy, backbone of New Hampshire granite. +Before taking his leave, the colonel delivered himself of an invitation +as if he were issuing a general order. Miss Daw has a few friends +coming, at 4 p.m., to play croquet on the lawn (parade-ground) and have +tea (cold rations) on the piazza. Will we honor them with our company? +(or be sent to the guard-house.) My father declines on the plea of +ill-health. My father's son bows with as much suavity as he knows, and +accepts. + +In my next I shall have something to tell you. I shall have seen the +little beauty face to face. I have a presentiment, Jack, that this Daw +is a rara avis! Keep up your spirits, my boy, until I write you another +letter--and send me along word how's your leg. + + + + +V. + +EDWARD DELANEY TO JOHN FLEMMING. + +August 13, 1872. + +The party, my dear Jack, was as dreary as possible. A lieutenant of the +navy, the rector of the Episcopal Church at Stillwater, and a society +swell from Nahant. The lieutenant looked as if he had swallowed a couple +of his buttons, and found the bullion rather indigestible; the rector +was a pensive youth, of the daffydowndilly sort; and the swell from +Nahant was a very weak tidal wave indeed. The women were much better, as +they always are; the two Miss Kingsburys of Philadelphia, staying at the +Seashell House, two bright and engaging girls. But Marjorie Daw! + +The company broke up soon after tea, and I remained to smoke a cigar +with the colonel on the piazza. It was like seeing a picture, to see +Miss Marjorie hovering around the old soldier, and doing a hundred +gracious little things for him. She brought the cigars and lighted the +tapers with her own delicate fingers, in the most enchanting fashion. As +we sat there, she came and went in the summer twilight, and seemed, with +her white dress and pale gold hair, like some lovely phantom that had +sprung into existence out of the smoke-wreaths. If she had melted into +air, like the statue of Galatea in the play, I should have been more +sorry than surprised. + +It was easy to perceive that the old colonel worshipped her and she +him. I think the relation between an elderly father and a daughter just +blooming into womanhood the most beautiful possible. There is in it a +subtile sentiment that cannot exist in the case of mother and daughter, +or that of son and mother. But this is getting into deep water. + +I sat with the Daws until half past ten, and saw the moon rise on the +sea. The ocean, that had stretched motionless and black against the +horizon, was changed by magic into a broken field of glittering ice, +interspersed with marvellous silvery fjords. In the far distance the +Isle of Shoals loomed up like a group of huge bergs drifting down on us. +The Polar Regions in a June thaw! It was exceedingly fine. What did we +talk about? We talked about the weather--and you! The weather has been +disagreeable for several days past--and so have you. I glided from one +topic to the other very naturally. I told my friends of your accident; +how it had frustrated all our summer plans, and what our plans were. I +played quite a spirited solo on the fibula. Then I described you; or, +rather, I didn't. I spoke of your amiability, of your patience under +this severe affliction; of your touching gratitude when Dillon brings +you little presents of fruit; of your tenderness to your sister Fanny, +whom you would not allow to stay in town to nurse you, and how you +heroically sent her back to Newport, preferring to remain alone with +Mary, the cook, and your man Watkins, to whom, by the way, you were +devotedly attached. If you had been there, Jack, you wouldn't have known +yourself. I should have excelled as a criminal lawyer, if I had not +turned my attention to a different branch of jurisprudence. + +Miss Marjorie asked all manner of leading questions concerning you. It +did not occur to me then, but it struck me forcibly afterwards, that she +evinced a singular interest in the conversation. When I got back to my +room, I recalled how eagerly she leaned forward, with her full, snowy +throat in strong moonlight, listening to what I said. Positively, I +think I made her like you! + +Miss Daw is a girl whom you would like immensely, I can tell you that. +A beauty without affectation, a high and tender nature--if one can read +the soul in the face. And the old colonel is a noble character, too. + +I am glad that the Daws are such pleasant people. The Pines is an +isolated spot, and my resources are few. I fear I should have found life +here somewhat monotonous before long, with no other society than that +of my excellent sire. It is true, I might have made a target of the +defenceless invalid; but I haven't a taste for artillery, moi. + + + + +VI. + +JOHN FLEMMING TO EDWARD DELANEY. + +August 17, 1872. + +For a man who hasn't a taste for artillery, it occurs to me, my friend, +you are keeping up a pretty lively fire on my inner works. But go on. +Cynicism is a small brass field-piece that eventually bursts and kills +the artilleryman. + +You may abuse me as much as you like, and I'll not complain; for I +don't know what I should do without your letters. They are curing me. I +haven't hurled anything at Watkins since last Sunday, partly because I +have grown more amiable under your teaching, and partly because Watkins +captured my ammunition one night, and carried it off to the library. He +is rapidly losing the habit he had acquired of dodging whenever I rub my +ear, or make any slight motion with my right arm. He is still suggestive +of the wine-cellar, however. You may break, you may shatter Watkins, if +you will, but the scent of the Roederer will hang round him still. + +Ned, that Miss Daw must be a charming person. I should certainly like +her. I like her already. When you spoke in your first letter of seeing +a young girl swinging in a hammock under your chamber window, I was +somehow strangely drawn to her. I cannot account for it in the least. +What you have subsequently written of Miss Daw has strengthened the +impression. You seem to be describing a woman I have known in some +previous state of existence, or dreamed of in this. Upon my word, if you +were to send me her photograph, I believe I should recognize her at a +glance. Her manner, that listening attitude, her traits of character, +as you indicate them, the light hair and the dark eyes--they are all +familiar things to me. Asked a lot of questions, did she? Curious about +me? That is strange. + +You would laugh in your sleeve, you wretched old cynic, if you knew how +I lie awake nights, with my gas turned down to a star, thinking of The +Pines and the house across the road. How cool it must be down there! I +long for the salt smell in the air. I picture the colonel smoking his +cheroot on the piazza. I send you and Miss Daw off on afternoon rambles +along the beach. Sometimes I let you stroll with her under the elms in +the moonlight, for you are great friends by this time, I take it, and +see each other every day. I know your ways and your manners! Then I +fall into a truculent mood, and would like to destroy somebody. Have +you noticed anything in the shape of a lover hanging around the colonel +Lares and Penates? Does that lieutenant of the horse-marines or that +young Stillwater parson visit the house much? Not that I am pining for +news of them, but any gossip of the kind would be in order. I wonder, +Ned, you don't fall in love with Miss Daw. I am ripe to do it myself. +Speaking of photographs, couldn't you manage to slip one of her +cartes-de-visite from her album--she must have an album, you know--and +send it to me? I will return it before it could be missed. That's a good +fellow! Did the mare arrive safe and sound? It will be a capital animal +this autumn for Central Park. + +Oh--my leg? I forgot about my leg. It's better. + + + + +VII. + +EDWARD DELANEY TO JOHN FLEMMIMG. + +August 20, 1872. + +You are correct in your surmises. I am on the most friendly terms with +our neighbors. The colonel and my father smoke their afternoon cigar +together in our sitting-room or on the piazza opposite, and I pass an +hour or two of the day or the evening with the daughter. I am more and +more struck by the beauty, modesty, and intelligence of Miss Daw. + +You asked me why I do not fall in love with her. I will be frank, Jack; +I have thought of that. She is young, rich, accomplished, uniting in +herself more attractions, mental and personal, than I can recall in +any girl of my acquaintance; but she lacks the something that would +be necessary to inspire in me that kind of interest. Possessing this +unknown quality, a woman neither beautiful nor wealthy nor very young +could bring me to her feet. But not Miss Daw. If we were shipwrecked +together on an uninhabited island--let me suggest a tropical island, for +it costs no more to be picturesque--I would build her a bamboo hut, I +would fetch her bread-fruit and cocoanuts, I would fry yams for her, +I would lure the ingenuous turtle and make her nourishing soups, but I +wouldn't make love to her--not under eighteen months. I would like to +have her for a sister, that I might shield her and counsel her, and +spend half my income on old threadlace and camel's-hair shawls. (We are +off the island now.) If such were not my feeling, there would still be +an obstacle to my loving Miss Daw. A greater misfortune could scarcely +befall me than to love her. Flemming, I am about to make a revelation +that will astonish you. I may be all wrong in my premises and +consequently in my conclusions; but you shall judge. + +That night when I returned to my room after the croquet party at the +Daw's, and was thinking over the trivial events of the evening, I was +suddenly impressed by the air of eager attention with which Miss Daw had +followed my account of your accident. I think I mentioned this to you. +Well, the next morning, as I went to mail my letter, I overtook Miss +Daw on the road to Rye, where the post-office is, and accompanied her +thither and back, an hour's walk. The conversation again turned to +you, and again I remarked that inexplicable look of interest which had +lighted up her face the previous evening. Since then, I have seen Miss +Daw perhaps ten times, perhaps oftener, and on each occasion I found +that when I was not speaking of you, or your sister, or some person or +place associated with you, I was not holding her attention. She would be +absent-minded, her eyes would wander away from me to the sea, or to some +distant object in the landscape; her fingers would play with the leaves +of a book in a way that convinced me she was not listening. At these +moments if I abruptly changed the theme--I did it several times as an +experiment--and dropped some remark about my friend Flemming, then the +sombre blue eyes would come back to me instantly. + +Now, is not this the oddest thing in the world? No, not the oddest. The +effect which you tell me was produced on you by my casual mention of +an unknown girl swinging in a hammock is certainly as strange. You can +conjecture how that passage in your letter of Friday startled me. Is it +possible, than, that two people who have never met, and who are hundreds +of miles apart, can exert a magnetic influence on each other? I have +read of such psychological phenomena, but never credited them. I leave +the solution of the problem to you. As for myself, all other things +being favorable, it would be impossible for me to fall in love with a +woman who listens to me only when I am talking of my friend! + +I am not aware that any one is paying marked attention to my +fair neighbor. The lieutenant of the navy--he is stationed at +Rivermouth--sometimes drops in of an evening, and sometimes the rector +from Stillwater; the lieutenant the oftener. He was there last night. I +should not be surprised if he had an eye to the heiress; but he is not +formidable. Mistress Daw carries a neat little spear of irony, and +the honest lieutenant seems to have a particular facility for impaling +himself on the point of it. He is not dangerous, I should say; though I +have known a woman to satirize a man for years, and marry him after all. +Decidedly, the lowly rector is not dangerous; yet, again, who has not +seen Cloth of Frieze victorious in the lists where Cloth of Gold went +down? + +As to the photograph. There is an exquisite ivory-type of Marjorie, in +passe-partout, on the drawing room mantel-piece. It would be missed at +once if taken. I would do anything reasonable for you, Jack; but I've no +burning desire to be hauled up before the local justice of the peace, on +a charge of petty larceny. + +P.S.--Enclosed is a spray of mignonette, which I advise you to treat +tenderly. Yes, we talked of you again last night, as usual. It is +becoming a little dreary for me. + + + + +VIII. + +EDWARD DELANEY TO JOHN FLEMMING. + +August 22, 1872. + +Your letter in reply to my last has occupied my thoughts all the +morning. I do not know what to think. Do you mean to say that you are +seriously half in love with a woman whom you have never seen--with +a shadow, a chimera? for what else can Miss Daw to be you? I do not +understand it at all. I understand neither you nor her. You are a +couple of ethereal beings moving in finer air than I can breathe with my +commonplace lungs. Such delicacy of sentiment is something that I admire +without comprehending. I am bewildered. I am of the earth earthy, and I +find myself in the incongruous position of having to do with mere souls, +with natures so finely tempered that I run some risk of shattering them +in my awkwardness. I am as Caliban among the spirits! + +Reflecting on your letter, I am not sure that it is wise in me to +continue this correspondence. But no, Jack; I do wrong to doubt the good +sense that forms the basis of your character. You are deeply interested +in Miss Daw; you feel that she is a person whom you may perhaps greatly +admire when you know her: at the same time you bear in mind that the +chances are ten to five that, when you do come to know her, she will +fall far short of your ideal, and you will not care for her in the +least. Look at it in this sensible light, and I will hold back nothing +from you. + +Yesterday afternoon my father and myself rode over to Rivermouth with +the Daws. A heavy rain in the morning had cooled the atmosphere and laid +the dust. To Rivermouth is a drive of eight miles, along a winding road +lined all the way with wild barberry bushes. I never saw anything more +brilliant than these bushes, the green of the foliage and the faint +blush of the berries intensified by the rain. The colonel drove, with +my father in front, Miss Daw and I on the back seat. I resolved that for +the first five miles your name should not pass my lips. I was amused +by the artful attempts she made, at the start, to break through my +reticence. Then a silence fell upon her; and then she became suddenly +gay. That keenness which I enjoyed so much when it was exercised on the +lieutenant was not so satisfactory directed against myself. Miss Daw has +great sweetness of disposition, but she can be disagreeable. She is like +the young lady in the rhyme, with the curl on her forehead, + + "When she is good, + She is very, very good, + And when she is bad, she is horrid!" + +I kept to my resolution, however; but on the return home I relented, and +talked of your mare! Miss Daw is going to try a side-saddle on Margot +some morning. The animal is a trifle too light for my weight. By the +bye, I nearly forgot to say that Miss Daw sat for a picture yesterday +to a Rivermouth artist. If the negative turns out well, I am to have a +copy. So our ends will be accomplished without crime. I wish, though, +I could send you the ivorytype in the drawing-room; it is cleverly +colored, and would give you an idea of her hair and eyes, which of +course the other will not. + +No, Jack, the spray of mignonette did not come from me. A man of +twenty-eight doesn't enclose flowers in his letters--to another man. But +don't attach too much significance to the circumstance. She gives sprays +of mignonette to the rector, sprays to the lieutenant. She has even +given a rose from her bosom to your slave. It is her jocund nature to +scatter flowers, like Spring. + +If my letters sometimes read disjointedly, you must understand that I +never finish one at a sitting, but write at intervals, when the mood is +on me. + +The mood is not on me now. + + + + +IX. + +EDWARD DELANEY TO JOHN FLEMMING. + +August 23, 1872. + +I have just returned from the strangest interview with Marjorie. She has +all but confessed to me her interest in you. But with what modesty and +dignity! Her words elude my pen as I attempt to put them on paper; +and, indeed, it was not so much what she said as her manner; and that I +cannot reproduce. Perhaps it was of a piece with the strangeness of this +whole business, that she should tacitly acknowledge to a third party the +love she feels for a man she has never beheld! But I have lost, through +your aid, the faculty of being surprised. I accept things as people +do in dreams. Now that I am again in my room, it all appears like an +illusion--the black masses of Rembrandtish shadow under the trees, the +fireflies whirling in Pyrrhic dances among the shrubbery, the sea over +there, Marjorie sitting on the hammock! + +It is past midnight, and I am too sleepy to write more. + +Thursday Morning. + +My father has suddenly taken it into his head to spend a few days at +the Shoals. In the meanwhile you will not hear from me. I see Marjorie +walking in the garden with the colonel. I wish I could speak to her +alone, but shall probably not have an opportunity before we leave. + + + + +X. + +EDWARD DELANEY TO JOHN FLEMMING. + +August 28, 1872. + +You were passing into your second childhood, were you? Your intellect +was so reduced that my epistolary gifts seemed quite considerable to +you, did they? I rise superior to the sarcasm in your favor of the 11th +instant, when I notice that five days' silence on my part is sufficient +to throw you into the depths of despondency. + +We returned only this morning from Appledore, that enchanted island--at +four dollars per day. I find on my desk three letters from you! +Evidently there is no lingering doubt in your mind as to the pleasure I +derive from your correspondence. These letters are undated, but in what +I take to be the latest are two passages that require my consideration. +You will pardon my candor, dear Flemming, but the conviction forces +itself upon me that as your leg grows stronger your head becomes weaker. +You ask my advice on a certain point. I will give it. In my opinion +you could do nothing more unwise that to address a note to Miss Daw, +thanking her for the flower. It would, I am sure, offend her delicacy +beyond pardon. She knows you only through me; you are to her an +abstraction, a figure in a dream--a dream from which the faintest shock +would awaken her. Of course, if you enclose a note to me and insist on +its delivery, I shall deliver it; but I advise you not to do so. + +You say you are able, with the aid of a cane, to walk about your +chamber, and that you purpose to come to The Pines the instant Dillon +thinks you strong enough to stand the journey. Again I advise you not +to. Do you not see that, every hour you remain away, Marjorie's glamour +deepens, and your influence over her increases? You will ruin everything +by precipitancy. Wait until you are entirely recovered; in any case, +do not come without giving me warning. I fear the effect of your abrupt +advent here--under the circumstances. + +Miss Daw was evidently glad to see us back again, and gave me both hands +in the frankest way. She stopped at the door a moment this afternoon +in the carriage; she had been over to Rivermouth for her pictures. +Unluckily the photographer had spilt some acid on the plate, and she was +obliged to give him another sitting. I have an intuition that something +is troubling Marjorie. She had an abstracted air not usual with her. +However, it may be only my fancy.... I end this, leaving several things +unsaid, to accompany my father on one of those long walks which are now +his chief medicine--and mine! + + + + +XI. + +EDWARD DELANY TO JOHN FLEMMING. + +August 29, 1972. + +I write in great haste to tell you what has taken place here since my +letter of last night. I am in the utmost perplexity. Only one thing is +plain--you must not dream of coming to The Pines. Marjorie has told +her father everything! I saw her for a few minutes, an hour ago, in the +garden; and, as near as I could gather from her confused statement, the +facts are these: Lieutenant Bradly--that's the naval officer stationed +at Rivermouth--has been paying court to Miss Daw for some time past, but +not so much to her liking as to that of the colonel, who it seems is an +old fiend of the young gentleman's father. Yesterday (I knew she was +in some trouble when she drove up to our gate) the colonel spoke to +Marjorie of Bradly--urged his suit, I infer. Marjorie expressed her +dislike for the lieutenant with characteristic frankness, and finally +confessed to her father--well, I really do not know what she confessed. +It must have been the vaguest of confessions, and must have sufficiently +puzzled the colonel. At any rate, it exasperated him. I suppose I am +implicated in the matter, and that the colonel feels bitterly towards +me. I do not see why: I have carried no messages between you and Miss +Daw; I have behaved with the greatest discretion. I can find no +flaw anywhere in my proceeding. I do not see that anybody has done +anything--except the colonel himself. + +It is probable, nevertheless, that the friendly relations between the +two houses will be broken off. "A plague o' both your houses," say you. +I will keep you informed, as well as I can, of what occurs over the way. +We shall remain here until the second week in September. Stay where you +are, or, at all events, do not dream of joining me....Colonel Daw is +sitting on the piazza looking rather wicked. I have not seen Marjorie +since I parted with her in the garden. + + + + +XII. + +EDWARD DELANEY TO THOMAS DILLON, M.D., MADISON SQUARE, NEW YORK. + +August 30, 1872. + +My Dear Doctor: If you have any influence over Flemming, I beg of you +to exert it to prevent his coming to this place at present. There are +circumstances, which I will explain to you before long, that make it of +the first importance that he should not come into this neighborhood. +His appearance here, I speak advisedly, would be disastrous to him. In +urging him to remain in New York, or to go to some inland resort, you +will be doing him and me a real service. Of course you will not mention +my name in this connection. You know me well enough, my dear doctor, to +be assured that, in begging your secret cooperation, I have reasons that +will meet your entire approval when they are made plain to you. We shall +return to town on the 15th of next month, and my first duty will be to +present myself at your hospitable door and satisfy your curiosity, if I +have excited it. My father, I am glad to state, has so greatly improved +that he can no longer be regarded as an invalid. With great esteem, I +am, etc., etc. + + + + +XIII. + +EDWARD DELANEY TO JOHN FLEMMING. + +August 31, 1872. + +Your letter, announcing your mad determination to come here, has just +reached me. I beseech you to reflect a moment. The step would be fatal +to your interests and hers. You would furnish just cause for irritation +to R. W. D.; and, though he loves Marjorie devotedly, he is capable of +going to any lengths if opposed. You would not like, I am convinced, to +be the means of causing him to treat her with severity. That would be +the result of your presence at The Pines at this juncture. I am annoyed +to be obliged to point out these things to you. We are on very delicate +ground, Jack; the situation is critical, and the slightest mistake in +a move would cost us the game. If you consider it worth the winning, +be patient. Trust a little to my sagacity. Wait and see what happens. +Moreover, I understand from Dillon that you are in no condition to take +so long a journey. He thinks the air of the coast would be the worst +thing possible for you; that you ought to go inland, if anywhere. Be +advised by me. Be advised by Dillon. + + + + +XIV. + +TELEGRAMS. September 1, 1872. + +1.--TO EDWARD DELANEY. + +Letter received. Dillon be hanged. I think I ought to be on the ground. +J. F. + +2.--TO JOHN FLEMMING. + +Stay where you are. You would only complicated matters. Do not move +until you hear from me. E. D. + +3.--TO EDWARD DELANEY. + +My being at The Pines could be kept secret. I must see her. J. F. + +4.--TO JOHN FLEMMING. + +Do not think of it. It would be useless. R. W. D. has locked M. in her +room. You would not be able to effect and interview. E. D. + +5.--TO EDWARD DELANEY. + +Locked her in her room. Good God. That settles the question. I shall +leave by the twelve-fifteen express. J. F. + + + + +XV. + +THE ARRIVAL. + +On the second day of September, 1872, as the down express, due at 3.40, +left the station at Hampton, a young man, leaning on the shoulder of a +servant, whom he addressed as Watkins, stepped from the platform into a +hack, and requested to be driven to "The Pines." On arriving at the +gate of a modest farm-house, a few miles from the station, the young man +descended with difficulty from the carriage, and, casting a hasty +glance across the road, seemed much impressed by some peculiarity in +the landscape. Again leaning on the shoulder of the person Watkins, +he walked to the door of the farm-house and inquired for Mr. Edward +Delaney. He was informed by the aged man who answered his knock, that +Mr. Edward Delaney had gone to Boston the day before, but that Mr. Jonas +Delaney was within. This information did not appear satisfactory to the +stranger, who inquired if Mr. Edward Delaney had left any message for +Mr. John Flemming. There was a letter for Mr. Flemming if he were that +person. After a brief absence the aged man reappeared with a Letter. + + + + +XVI. + +EDWARD DELANEY TO JOHN FLEMMING. + +September 1, 1872. + +I am horror-stricken at what I have done! When I began this +correspondence I had no other purpose than to relieve the tedium of your +sick-chamber. Dillon told me to cheer you up. I tried to. I thought that +you entered into the spirit of the thing. I had no idea, until within a +few days, that you were taking matters au grand serieux. + +What can I say? I am in sackcloth and ashes. I am a pariah, a dog of +an outcast. I tried to make a little romance to interest you, something +soothing and idyllic, and, by Jove! I have done it only too well! My +father doesn't know a word of this, so don't jar the old gentleman any +more than you can help. I fly from the wrath to come--when you +arrive! For oh, dear Jack, there isn't any piazza, there isn't any +hammock--there isn't any Marjorie Daw! + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Marjorie Daw, by Thomas Bailey Aldrich + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARJORIE DAW *** + +***** This file should be named 1758.txt or 1758.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/5/1758/ + +Produced by Susan L. 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