diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/mjdaw10.txt | 1119 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/mjdaw10.zip | bin | 0 -> 22898 bytes |
2 files changed, 1119 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/old/mjdaw10.txt b/old/mjdaw10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d108a12 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/mjdaw10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1119 @@ +Project Gutenberg Etext of Marjorie Daw by Thomas Bailey Aldrich +#4 in our series by Thomas Bailey Aldrich + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. We need your donations. + + +Marjorie Daw + +by Thomas Bailey Aldrich + +May, 1999 [Etext #1758] + + +Project Gutenberg Etext of Marjorie Daw by Thomas Bailey Aldrich +******This file should be named mjdaw10.txt or mjdaw10.zip****** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, mjdaw11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, mjdaw10a.txt + + +Transcript prepared by Susan L. Farley. + +Project Gutenberg Etexts are usually created from multiple editions, +all of which are in the Public Domain in the United States, unless a +copyright notice is included. Therefore, we usually do NOT keep any +of these books in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +We are now trying to release all our books one month in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. + +Please note: neither this list nor its contents are final till +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. To be sure you have an +up to date first edition [xxxxx10x.xxx] please check file sizes +in the first week of the next month. Since our ftp program has +a bug in it that scrambles the date [tried to fix and failed] a +look at the file size will have to do, but we will try to see a +new copy has at least one byte more or less. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. This +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If our value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour this year as we release thirty-six text +files per month, or 432 more Etexts in 1999 for a total of 2000+ +If these reach just 10% of the computerized population, then the +total should reach over 200 billion Etexts given away this year. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext +Files by December 31, 2001. [10,000 x 100,000,000 = 1 Trillion] +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only ~5% of the present number of computer users. + +At our revised rates of production, we will reach only one-third +of that goal by the end of 2001, or about 3,333 Etexts unless we +manage to get some real funding; currently our funding is mostly +from Michael Hart's salary at Carnegie-Mellon University, and an +assortment of sporadic gifts; this salary is only good for a few +more years, so we are looking for something to replace it, as we +don't want Project Gutenberg to be so dependent on one person. + +We need your donations more than ever! + + +All donations should be made to "Project Gutenberg/CMU": and are +tax deductible to the extent allowable by law. (CMU = Carnegie- +Mellon University). + +For these and other matters, please mail to: + +Project Gutenberg +P. O. Box 2782 +Champaign, IL 61825 + +When all other email fails. . .try our Executive Director: +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> +hart@pobox.com forwards to hart@prairienet.org and archive.org +if your mail bounces from archive.org, I will still see it, if +it bounces from prairienet.org, better resend later on. . . . + +We would prefer to send you this information by email. + +****** + +To access Project Gutenberg etexts, use any Web browser +to view http://promo.net/pg. This site lists Etexts by +author and by title, and includes information about how +to get involved with Project Gutenberg. You could also +download our past Newsletters, or subscribe here. This +is one of our major sites, please email hart@pobox.com, +for a more complete list of our various sites. + +To go directly to the etext collections, use FTP or any +Web browser to visit a Project Gutenberg mirror (mirror +sites are available on 7 continents; mirrors are listed +at http://promo.net/pg). + +Mac users, do NOT point and click, typing works better. + +Example FTP session: + +ftp sunsite.unc.edu +login: anonymous +password: your@login +cd pub/docs/books/gutenberg +cd etext90 through etext99 +dir [to see files] +get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files] +GET GUTINDEX.?? [to get a year's listing of books, e.g., GUTINDEX.99] +GET GUTINDEX.ALL [to get a listing of ALL books] + +*** + +**Information prepared by the Project Gutenberg legal advisor** + +(Three Pages) + + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you can distribute copies of this etext if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this etext on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG- +tm etexts, is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor +Michael S. Hart through the Project Gutenberg Association at +Carnegie-Mellon University (the "Project"). Among other +things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext +under the Project's "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] the Project (and any other party you may receive this +etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold the Project, its directors, +officers, members and agents harmless from all liability, cost +and expense, including legal fees, that arise directly or +indirectly from any of the following that you do or cause: +[1] distribution of this etext, [2] alteration, modification, +or addition to the etext, or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + etext or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word pro- + cessing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the etext (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Project of 20% of the + net profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Association/Carnegie-Mellon + University" within the 60 days following each + date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) + your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution +you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Carnegie-Mellon University". + +*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +Transcript prepared by Susan L. Farley. + + + + + +Majorie 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 +lemonpeel 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 smokewreaths. 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! + + + + + +Project Gutenberg Etext of Marjorie Daw by Thomas Bailey Aldrich + diff --git a/old/mjdaw10.zip b/old/mjdaw10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..104d00a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/mjdaw10.zip |