diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:19:40 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:19:40 -0700 |
| commit | d2662cf184268b845c357d1313586943d8c2fff0 (patch) | |
| tree | 8b2486c058f4654c96a877a99abc6a5e60bb6790 /old | |
Diffstat (limited to 'old')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/angel10.txt | 13166 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/angel10.zip | bin | 0 -> 280292 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/angel11.txt | 13233 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/angel11.zip | bin | 0 -> 287346 bytes |
4 files changed, 26399 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/old/angel10.txt b/old/angel10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..74a97d3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/angel10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13166 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Guardian Angel, by Oliver Wendell Holmes +#6 in our series by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Senior + + +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. + +*It must legally be the first thing seen when opening the book.* +In fact, our legal advisors said we can't even change margins. + +**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. + + +Title: The Guardian Angel + +Author: Oliver Wendell Holmes + +July, 2001 [Etext #2697] +[Yes, we are about one year ahead of schedule] + +Project Gutenberg's The Guardian Angel, by Oliver Wendell Holmes +******This file should be named angel10.txt or angel10.zip****** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, angel11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, angel10a.txt + + +Etext prepared for Gutenberg by David Widger, < widger@cecomet.net > + +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 metalab.unc.edu +login: anonymous +password: your@login +cd pub/docs/books/gutenberg +cd etext90 through etext99 or etext00 through etext01, etc. +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". + +We are planning on making some changes in our donation structure +in 2000, so you might want to email me, hart@pobox.com beforehand. + + + + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +Etext prepared for Gutenberg by David Widger, < widger@cecomet.net > + + + + + +THE GUARDIAN ANGEL + +by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES + + + + +TO MY READERS. + +"A new Preface" is, I find, promised with my story. If there are any +among my readers who loved Aesop's Fables chiefly on account of the +Moral appended, they will perhaps be pleased to turn backward and +learn what I have to say here. + +This tale forms a natural sequence to a former one, which some may +remember, entitled "Elsie Venner." Like that,--it is intended for +two classes of readers, of which the smaller one includes the readers +of the "Morals" in Aesop and of this Preface. + +The first of the two stories based itself upon an experiment which +some thought cruel, even on paper. It imagined an alien element +introduced into the blood of a human being before that being saw the +light. It showed a human nature developing itself in conflict with +the ophidian characteristics and instincts impressed upon it during +the pre-natal period. Whether anything like this ever happened, or +was possible, mattered little: it enabled me, at any rate, to suggest +the limitations of human responsibility in a simple and effective +way. + +The story which follows comes more nearly within the range of common +experience. The successive development of inherited bodily aspects +and habitudes is well known to all who have lived long enough to see +families grow up under their own eyes. The same thing happens, but +less obviously to common observation, in the mental and moral nature. +There is something frightful in the way in which not only +characteristic qualities, but particular manifestations of them, are +repeated from generation to generation. Jonathan Edwards the younger +tells the story of a brutal wretch in New Haven who was abusing his +father, when the old man cried out, "Don't drag me any further, for I +did n't drag my father beyond this tree." [ The original version of +this often-repeated story may be found in Aristotle's Ethics, Book +7th, Chapter 7th.] I have attempted to show the successive evolution +of some inherited qualities in the character of Myrtle Hazard, not so +obtrusively as to disturb the narrative, but plainly enough to be +kept in sight by the small class of preface-readers. + +If I called these two stories Studies of the Reflex Function in its +higher sphere, I should frighten away all but the professors and the +learned ladies. If I should proclaim that they were protests against +the scholastic tendency to shift the total responsibility of all +human action from the Infinite to the finite, I might alarm the +jealousy of the cabinet-keepers of our doctrinal museums. By saying +nothing about it, the large majority of those whom my book reaches, +not being preface-readers, will never suspect anything to harm them +beyond the simple facts of the narrative. + +Should any professional alarmist choose to confound the doctrine of +limited responsibility with that which denies the existence of any +self-determining power, he may be presumed to belong to the class of +intellectual half-breeds, of which we have many representatives in +our new country, wearing the garb of civilization, and even the gown +of scholarship. If we cannot follow the automatic machinery of +nature into the mental and moral world, where it plays its part as +much as in the bodily functions, without being accused of laying "all +that we are evil in to a divine thrusting on," we had better return +at once to our old demonology, and reinstate the Leader of the Lower +House in his time-honored prerogatives. + +As fiction sometimes seems stranger than truth, a few words may be +needed here to make some of my characters and statements appear +probable. The long-pending question involving a property which had +become in the mean time of immense value finds its parallel in the +great De Haro land-case, decided in the Supreme Court while this +story was in progress (May 14th, 1867). The experiment of breaking +the child's will by imprisonment and fasting is borrowed from a +famous incident, happening long before the case lately before one of +the courts of a neighboring Commonwealth, where a little girl was +beaten to death because she would not say her prayers. The mental +state involving utter confusion of different generations in a person +yet capable of forming a correct judgment on other matters, is almost +a direct transcript from nature. I should not have ventured to +repeat the questions of the daughters of the millionaires to Myrtle +Hazard about her family conditions, and their comments, had not a +lady of fortune and position mentioned to me a similar circumstance +in the school history of one of her own children. Perhaps I should +have hesitated in reproducing Myrtle Hazard's "Vision," but for a +singular experience of his own related to me by the late Mr. +Forceythe Willson. + +Gifted Hopkins (under various alliasis) has been a frequent +correspondent of mine. I have also received a good many +communications, signed with various names, which must have been from +near female relatives of that young gentleman. I once sent a kind of +encyclical letter to the whole family connection; but as the delusion +under which they labor is still common, and often leads to the +wasting of time, the contempt of honest study or humble labor, and +the misapplication of intelligence not so far below mediocrity as to +be incapable of affording a respectable return when employed in the +proper direction, I thought this picture from life might also be of +service. When I say that no genuine young poet will apply it to +himself, I think I have so far removed the sting that few or none +will complain of being wounded. + +It is lamentable to be forced to add that the Reverend Joseph Bellamy +Stoker is only a softened copy of too many originals to whom, as a +regular attendant upon divine worship from my childhood to the +present time, I have respectfully listened, while they dealt with me +and mine and the bulk of their fellow-creatures after the manner of +their sect. If, in the interval between his first showing himself in +my story and its publication in a separate volume, anything had +occurred to make me question the justice or expediency of drawing and +exhibiting such a portrait, I should have reconsidered it, with the +view of retouching its sharper features. But its essential +truthfulness has been illustrated every month or two, since my story +has been in the course of publication, by a fresh example from real +life, stamped in darker colors than any with which I should have +thought of staining my pages. + +There are a great many good clergymen to one bad one, but a writer +finds it hard to keep to the true proportion of good and bad persons +in telling a story. The three or four good ministers I have +introduced in this narrative must stand for many whom I have known +and loved, and some of whom I count to-day among my most valued +friends. I hope the best and wisest of them will like this story and +approve it. If they cannot all do this, I know they will recognize +it as having been written with a right and honest purpose. + +BOSTON, 1867. + + + + + + +PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION. + +It is a quarter of a century since the foregoing Preface was written, +and that is long enough to allow a story to be forgotten by the +public, and very possibly by the writer of it also. I will not +pretend that I have forgotten all about "The Guardian Angel," but it +is long since I have read it, and many of its characters and +incidents are far from being distinct in my memory. There are, +however, a few points which hold their place among my recollections. +The revolt of Myrtle Hazard from the tyranny of that dogmatic dynasty +now breaking up in all directions has found new illustrations since +this tale was written. I need only refer to two instances of many. +The first is from real life. Mr. Robert C. Adams's work, "Travels in +Faith from Tradition to Reason," is the outcome of the teachings of +one of the most intransigeant of our New England Calvinists, the late +Reverend Nehemiah Adams. For an example in fiction,--fiction which +bears all the marks of being copied from real life,--I will refer to +"The Story of an African Farm." The boy's honest, but terrible +outburst, "I hate God," was, I doubt not, more acceptable in the view +of his Maker than the lying praise of many a hypocrite who, having +enthroned a demon as Lord of the Universe, thinks to conciliate his +favor by using the phrases which the slaves of Eastern despots are in +the habit of addressing to their masters. I have had many private +letters showing the same revolt of reasoning natures against +doctrines which shock the more highly civilized part of mankind in +this nineteenth century and are leading to those dissensions which +have long shown as cracks, and are fast becoming lines of cleavage in +some of the largest communions of Protestantism. + +The principle of heredity has been largely studied since this story +was written. This tale, like "Elsie Venner," depends for its deeper +significance on the ante-natal history of its subject. But the story +was meant to be readable for those who did not care for its +underlying philosophy. If it fails to interest the reader who +ventures upon it, it may find a place on an unfrequented bookshelf in +common with other "medicated novels." + +Perhaps I have been too hard with Gifted Hopkins and the tribe of +rhymesters to which he belongs. I ought not to forget that I too +introduced myself to the reading world in a thin volume of verses; +many of which had better not have been written, and would not be +reprinted now, but for the fact that they have established a right to +a place among my poems in virtue of long occupancy. Besides, +although the writing of verses is often a mark of mental weakness, I +cannot forget that Joseph Story and George Bancroft each published +his little book, of rhymes, and that John Quincy Adams has left many +poems on record, the writing of which did not interfere with the vast +and important labors of his illustrious career. + +BEVERLY FARMS, MASS., August 7, 1891. + +O. W. H. + + + + + + + + THE GUARDIAN ANGEL + + + +CHAPTER I. + +AN ADVERTISEMENT. + + +On Saturday, the 18th day of June, 1859, the "State Banner and +Delphian Oracle," published weekly at Oxbow Village, one of the +principal centres in a thriving river-town of New England, contained +an advertisement which involved the story of a young life, and +stained the emotions of a small community. Such faces of dismay, +such shaking of heads, such gatherings at corners, such halts of +complaining, rheumatic wagons, and dried-up, chirruping chaises, for +colloquy of their still-faced tenants, had not been known since the +rainy November Friday, when old Malachi Withers was found hanging in +his garret up there at the lonely house behind the poplars. + +The number of the " Banner and Oracle" which contained this +advertisement was a fair specimen enough of the kind of newspaper to +which it belonged. Some extracts from a stray copy of the issue of +the date referred to will show the reader what kind of entertainment +the paper was accustomed to furnish its patrons, and also serve some +incidental purposes of the writer in bringing into notice a few +personages who are to figure in this narrative. + +The copy in question was addressed to one of its regular +subscribers,--"B. Gridley, Esq." The sarcastic annotations at +various points, enclosed in brackets and italicised that they may be +distinguished from any other comments, were taken from the pencilled +remarks of that gentleman, intended for the improvement of a member +of the family in which he resided, and are by no means to be +attributed to the harmless pen which reproduces them. + +Byles Gridley, A. M., as he would have been styled by persons +acquainted with scholarly dignities, was a bachelor, who had been a +schoolmaster, a college tutor, and afterwards for many years +professor,--a man of learning, of habits, of whims and crotchets, +such as are hardly to be found, except in old, unmarried students, +--the double flowers of college culture, their stamina all turned to +petals, their stock in the life of the race all funded in the +individual. Being a man of letters, Byles Gridley naturally rather +undervalued the literary acquirements of the good people of the rural +district where he resided, and, having known much of college and +something of city life, was apt to smile at the importance they +attached to their little local concerns. He was, of course, quite as +much an object of rough satire to the natural observers and +humorists, who are never wanting in a New England village,--perhaps +not in any village where a score or two of families are brought +together,--enough of them, at any rate, to furnish the ordinary +characters of a real-life stock company. + +The old Master of Arts was a permanent boarder in the house of a very +worthy woman, relict of the late Ammi Hopkins, by courtesy Esquire, +whose handsome monument--in a finished and carefully colored +lithograph, representing a finely shaped urn under a very nicely +groomed willow--hung in her small, well-darkened, and, as it were, +monumental parlor. Her household consisted of herself, her son, +nineteen years of age, of whom more hereafter, and of two small +children, twins, left upon her doorstep when little more than mere +marsupial possibilities, taken in for the night, kept for a week, and +always thereafter cherished by the good soul as her own; also of Miss +Susan Posey, aged eighteen, at school at the "Academy" in another +part of the same town, a distant relative, boarding with her. + +What the old scholar took the village paper for it would be hard to +guess, unless for a reason like that which carried him very regularly +to hear the preaching of the Rev. Joseph Bellamy Stoker, colleague of +the old minister of the village parish; namely, because he did not +believe a word of his favorite doctrines, and liked to go there so as +to growl to himself through the sermon, and go home scolding all the +way about it. + +The leading article of the "Banner and Oracle" for June 18th must +have been of superior excellence, for, as Mr. Gridley remarked, +several of the "metropolitan" journals of the date of June 15th and +thereabout had evidently conversed with the writer and borrowed some +of his ideas before he gave them to the public. The Foreign News by +the Europa at Halifax, 15th, was spread out in the amplest dimensions +the type of the office could supply. More battles! The Allies +victorious! The King and General Cialdini beat the Austrians at +Palestro! 400 Austrians drowned in a canal! Anti-French feeling in +Germany! Allgermine Zeiturg talks of conquest of Allsatia and +Loraine and the occupation of Paris! [Vicious digs with a pencil +through the above proper names.] Race for the Derby won by Sir Joseph +Hawley's Musjid! [That's what England cares for! Hooray for the +Darby! Italy be deedeed!] Visit of Prince Alfred to the Holy Land. +Letter from our, own Correspondent. [Oh! Oh! A West Minkville ?] +Cotton advanced. Breadstuffs declining. --Deacon Rumrill's barn +burned down on Saturday night. A pig missing; supposed to have °° +fallen a prey to the devouring element." [Got roasted.] A yellow +mineral had been discovered on the Doolittle farm, which, by the +report of those who had seen it, bore a strong resemblance to +California gold ore. Much excitement in the neighborhood in +consequence [Idiots! Iron pyrites!] A hen at Four Corners had just +laid an egg measuring 7 by 8 inches. Fetch on your biddies! +[Editorial wit!] A man had shot an eagle measuring six feet and a +half from tip to tip of his wings. --Crops suffering for want of rain +[Always just so. "Dry times, Father Noah!"] The editors had +received a liberal portion of cake from the happy couple whose +matrimonial union was recorded in the column dedicated to Hymen. +Also a superior article of [article of! bah!] steel pen from the +enterprising merchant [shopkeeper] whose advertisement was to be +found on the third page of this paper. --An interesting Surprise +Party [cheap theatricals] had transpired [bah!] on Thursday evening +last at the house of the Rev. Mr. Stoker. The parishioners had +donated [donated! GIVE is a good word enough for the Lord's Prayer. +DONATE our daily bread!] a bag of meal, a bushel of beans, a keg of +pickles, and a quintal of salt-fish. The worthy pastor was much +affected, etc., etc. [Of course. Call'em. SENSATION parties and +done with it!] The Rev. Dr. Pemberton and the venerable Dr. Hurlbut +honored the occasion with their presence. --We learn that the Rev. +Ambrose Eveleth, rector of St. Bartholomew's Chapel, has returned +from his journey, and will officiate to-morrow. + +Then came strings of advertisements, with a luxuriant vegetation of +capitals and notes of admiration. More of those PRIME GOODS! Full +Assortments of every Article in our line! [Except the one thing you +want!] Auction Sale. Old furniture, feather-beds, bed-spreads +[spreads! ugh!], setts [setts!] crockery-ware, odd vols., ullage +bbls. of this and that, with other household goods, etc., etc., +etc.,--the etceteras meaning all sorts of insane movables, such as +come out of their bedlam-holes when an antiquated domestic +establishment disintegrates itself at a country "vandoo." --Several +announcements of "Feed," whatever that may be,--not restaurant +dinners, anyhow,--also of "Shorts,"--terms mysterious to city ears as +jute and cudbear and gunnybags to such as drive oxen in the remote +interior districts. --Then the marriage column above alluded to, by +the fortunate recipients of the cake. Right opposite, as if for +matrimonial ground-bait, a Notice that Whereas my wife, Lucretia +Babb, has left my bed and board, I will not be responsible, etc., +etc., from this date. --Jacob Penhallow (of the late firm Wibird and +Penhallow) had taken Mr. William Murray Bradshaw into partnership, +and the business of the office would be carried on as usual under the +title Penhallow and Bradshaw, Attorneys at Law. Then came the +standing professional card of Dr. Lemuel Hurlbut and Dr. Fordyce +Hurlbut, the medical patriarch of the town and his son. Following +this, hideous quack advertisements, some of them with the +certificates of Honorables, Esquires, and Clergymen. --Then a cow, +strayed or stolen from the subscriber. --Then the advertisement +referred to in our first paragraph: + +MYRTLE HAZARD has been missing from her home in this place +since Thursday morning, June 16th. She is fifteen years old, tall +and womanly for her age, has dark hair and eyes, fresh complexion, +regular features, pleasant smile and voice, but shy with strangers. +Her common dress was a black and white gingham check, straw hat, +trimmed with green ribbon. It is feared she may have come to harm in +some way, or be wandering at large in a state of temporary mental +alienation. Any information relating to the missing child will be +gratefully received and properly rewarded by her afflicted aunt, + +MISS SILENCE WITHERS, +Residing at the Withers Homestead, otherwise known as "The Poplars," +in this village. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +GREAT EXCITEMENT + +The publication of the advertisement in the paper brought the village +fever of the last two days to its height. Myrtle Hazard's +disappearance had been pretty well talked round through the immediate +neighborhood, but now that forty-eight hours of search and inquiry +had not found her, and the alarm was so great that the young girl's +friends were willing to advertise her in a public journal, it was +clear that the gravest apprehensions were felt and justified. The +paper carried the tidings to many who had not heard it. Some of the +farmers who had been busy all the week with their fields came into +the village in their wagons on Saturday, and there first learned the +news, and saw the paper, and the placards which were posted up, and +listened, open-mouthed, to the whole story. + +Saturday was therefore a day of much agitation in Oxbow Village, and +some stir in the neighboring settlements. Of course there was a +great variety of comment, its character depending very much on the +sense, knowledge, and disposition of the citizens, gossips, and young +people who talked over the painful and mysterious occurrence. + +The Withers Homestead was naturally the chief centre of interest. +Nurse Byloe, an ancient and voluminous woman, who had known the girl +when she was a little bright-eyed child, handed over "the baby" she +was holding to another attendant, and got on her things to go +straight up to The Poplars. She had been holding "the baby" these +forty years and more, but somehow it never got to be more than a +month or six weeks old. She reached The Poplars after much toil and +travail. Mistress Fagan, Irish, house-servant, opened the door, at +which Nurse Byloe knocked softly, as she was in the habit of doing at +the doors of those who sent for her. + +"Have you heerd anything yet, Kitty Fagan?" asked Nurse Byloe. + +"Niver a blissed word," said she. "Miss Withers is upstairs with +Miss Bathsheby, a cryin' and a lamentin'. Miss Badlam's in the +parlor. The men has been draggin' the pond. They have n't found not +one thing, but only jest two, and that was the old coffeepot and the +gray cat,--it's them nigger boys hanged her with a string they tied +round her neck and then drownded her." [P. Fagan, Jr., Aet. 14, had +a snarl of similar string in his pocket.] + +Mistress Fagan opened the door of the best parlor. A woman was +sitting there alone, rocking back and forward, and fanning herself +with the blackest of black fans. + +"Nuss Byloe, is that you? Well, to be sure, I'm glad to see you, +though we 're all in trouble. Set right down, Nuss, do. Oh, it's +dreadful times!" + +A handkerchief which was in readiness for any emotional overflow was +here called on for its function. + +Nurse Byloe let herself drop into a flaccid squab chair with one of +those soft cushions, filled with slippery feathers, which feel so +fearfully like a very young infant, or a nest of little kittens, as +they flatten under the subsiding person. + +The woman in the rocking-chair was Miss Cynthia Badlam, second-cousin +of Miss Silence Withers, with whom she had been living as a companion +at intervals for some years. She appeared to be thirty-five years +old, more or less, and looked not badly for that stage of youth, +though of course she might have been handsomer at twenty, as is often +the case with women. She wore a not unbecoming cap; frequent +headaches had thinned her locks somewhat of late years. Features a +little too sharp, a keen, gray eye, a quick and restless glance, +which rather avoided being met, gave the impression that she was a +wide-awake, cautious, suspicious, and, very possibly, crafty person. + +"I could n't help comin'," said Nurse Byloe, "we do so love our +babies,--how can we help it, Miss Badlam?" + +The spinster colored up at the nurse's odd way of using the +possessive pronoun, and dropped her eyes, as was natural on hearing +such a speech. + +"I never tended children as you have, Nuss," she said. "But I 've +known Myrtle Hazard ever since she was three years old, and to think +she should have come to such an end,--'The heart is deceitful above +all things and desperately wicked,'"--and she wept. + +"Why, Cynthy Badlam, what do y' mean?" said Nurse Byloe. "Y' don't +think anything dreadful has come o' that child's wild nater, do ye?" + +"Child!" said Cynthia Badlam,--"child enough to wear this very gown I +have got on and not find it too big for her neither." [It would have +pinched Myrtle here and there pretty shrewdly.] + +The two women looked each other in the eyes with subtle interchange +of intelligence, such as belongs to their sex in virtue of its +specialty. Talk without words is half their conversation, just as it +is all the conversation of the lower animals. Only the dull senses +of men are dead to it as to the music of the spheres. + +Their minds travelled along, as if they had been yoked together, +through whole fields of suggestive speculation, until the dumb +growths of thought ripened in both their souls into articulate +speech, consentingly, as the movement comes after the long stillness +of a Quaker meeting. + +Their lips opened at the same moment. "You don't mean"--began Nurse +Byloe, but stopped as she heard Miss Badlam also speaking. + +"They need n't drag the pond," she said. "They need n't go beating +the woods as if they were hunting a patridge,--though for that matter +Myrtle Hazard was always more like a patridge than she was like a +pullet. Nothing ever took hold of that girl,--not catechising, nor +advising, nor punishing. It's that dreadful will of hers never was +broke. I've always been afraid that she would turn out a child of +wrath. Did y' ever watch her at meetin' playing with posies and +looking round all the time of the long prayer? That's what I've seen +her do many and many a time. I'm afraid--Oh dear! Miss Byloe, I'm +afraid to say--what I'm afraid of. Men are so wicked, and young +girls are full of deceit and so ready to listen to all sorts of +artful creturs that take advantage of their ignorance and tender +years." She wept once more, this time with sobs that seemed +irrepressible. + +"Dear suz!" said the nurse, "I won't believe no sech thing as +wickedness about Myrtle Hazard. You mean she's gone an' run off with +some good-for-nothin' man or other? If that ain't what y' mean, what +do y' mean? It can't be so, Miss Badlam: she's one o' my babies. At +any rate, I handled her when she fust come to this village,--and none +o' my babies never did sech a thing. Fifteen year old, and be +bringin' a whole family into disgrace! If she was thirty year old, +or five-an'-thirty or more, and never'd had a chance to be married, +and if one o' them artful creturs you was talkin' of got hold of her, +then, to be sure,--why, dear me!--law! I never thought, Miss +Badlam!--but then of course you could have had your pickin' and +choosin' in the time of it; and I don't mean to say it's too late now +if you felt called that way, for you're better lookin' now than some +that's younger, and there's no accountin' for tastes." + +A sort of hysteric twitching that went through the frame of Cynthia +Badlam dimly suggested to the old nurse that she was not making her +slightly indiscreet personality much better by her explanations. She +stopped short, and surveyed the not uncomely person of the maiden +lady sitting before her with her handkerchief pressed to her eyes, +and one hand clenching the arm of the reeking-chair, as if some spasm +had clamped it there. The nurse looked at her with a certain growing +interest she had never felt before. It was the first time for some +years that she had had such a chance, partly because Miss Cynthia had +often been away for long periods,--partly because she herself had +been busy professionally. There was no occasion for her services, of +course, in the family at The Poplars; and she was always following +round from place to place after that everlasting migratory six-weeks +or less old baby. + +There was not a more knowing pair of eyes, in their way, in a circle +of fifty miles, than those kindly tranquil orbs that Nurse Byloe +fixed on Cynthia Badlam. The silver threads in the side fold of +hair, the delicate lines at the corner of the eye, the slight drawing +down at the angle of the mouth,--almost imperceptible, but the nurse +dwelt upon it,--a certain moulding of the features as of an artist's +clay model worked by delicate touches with the fingers, showing that +time or pain or grief had had a hand in shaping them, the contours, +the adjustment of every fold of the dress, the attitude, the very way +of breathing, were all passed through the searching inspection of the +ancient expert, trained to know all the changes wrought by time and +circumstance. It took not so long as it takes to describe it, but it +was an analysis of imponderables, equal to any of Bunsen's with the +spectroscope. + +Miss Badlam removed her handkerchief and looked in a furtive, +questioning way, in her turn, upon the nurse. + +"It's dreadful close here,--I'm 'most smothered," Nurse Byloe said; +and, putting her hand to her throat, unclasped the catch of the +necklace of gold beads she had worn since she was a baby,--a bead +having been added from time to time as she thickened. It lay in a +deep groove of her large neck, and had not troubled her in breathing +before, since the day when her husband was run over by an ox-team. + +At this moment Miss Silence Withers entered, followed by Bathsheba +Stoker, daughter of Rev. Joseph Bellamy Stoker. + +She was the friend of Myrtle, and had come to comfort Miss Silence, +and consult with her as to what further search they should institute. +The two, Myrtle's aunt and her friend, were as unlike as they could +well be. Silence Withers was something more than forty years old, a +shadowy, pinched, sallow, dispirited, bloodless woman, with the +habitual look of the people in the funeral carriage which follows +next to the hearse, and the tone in speaking that may be noticed in a +household where one of its members is lying white and still in a +cool, darkened chamber overhead. Bathsheba Stoker was not called +handsome; but she had her mother's youthful smile, which was so fresh +and full of sweetness that she seemed like a beauty while she was +speaking or listening; and she could never be plain so long as any +expression gave life to her features. In perfect repose, her face, a +little prematurely touched by sad experiences,--for she was but +seventeen years old,--had the character and decision stamped in its +outlines which any young man who wanted a companion to warn, to +comfort, and command him, might have depended on as warranting the +courage, the sympathy, and the sense demanded for such a +responsibility. She had been trying her powers of consolation on +Miss Silence. It was a sudden freak of Myrtle's. She had gone off +on some foolish but innocent excursion. Besides, she was a girl that +would take care of herself; for she was afraid of nothing, and +nimbler than any boy of her age, and almost as strong as any. As for +thinking any bad thoughts about her, that was a shame; she cared for +none of the young fellows that were round her. Cyprian Eveleth was +the one she thought most of; but Cyprian was as true as his sister +Olive, and who else was there? + +To all this Miss Silence answered only by sighing and moaning, For +two whole days she had been kept in constant fear and worry, afraid +every minute of some tragical message, perplexed by the conflicting +advice of all manner of officious friends, sleepless of course +through the two nights, and now utterly broken down and collapsed. + +Bathsheba had said all she could in the way of consolation, and +hastened back to her mother's bedside, which she hardly left, except +for the briefest of visits. + +"It's a great trial, Miss Withers, that's laid on you," said Nurse +Byloe. + +"If I only knew that she was dead, and had died in the Lord," Miss +Silence answered,--"if I only knew that but if she is living in sin, +or dead in wrong--doing, what is to become of me? --Oh, what is to +become of me when 'He maketh inquisition far blood'?" + +"Cousin Silence," said Miss Cynthia, "it is n't your fault, if that +young girl has taken to evil ways. If going to meeting three times +every Sabbath day, and knowing the catechism by heart, and reading of +good books, and the best of daily advice, and all needful discipline, +could have corrected her sinful nature, she would never have run away +from a home where she enjoyed all these privileges. It's that Indian +blood, Cousin Silence. It's a great mercy you and I have n't got any +of it in our veins! What can you expect of children that come from +heathens and savages? You can't lay it to yourself, Cousin Silence, +if Myrtle Hazard goes wrong"--- + +"The Lord will lay it to me,--the Lord will lay it to me," she +moaned. "Did n't he say to Cain, 'Where is Abel, thy brother?'" + +Nurse Byloe was getting very red in the face. She had had about +enough of this talk between the two women. "I hope the Lard 'll take +care of Myrtle Hazard fust, if she's in trouble, 'n' wants help," she +said; "'n' then look out for them that comes next. Y' 're too +suspicious, Miss Badlam; y' 're too easy to believe stories. Myrtle +Hazard was as pretty a child and as good a child as ever I see, if +you did n't rile her; 'n' d' d y' ever see one o' them hearty lively +children, that had n't a sperrit of its own? For my part, I'd rather +handle one of 'em than a dozen o' them little waxy, weak-eyed, slim- +necked creturs that always do what they tell 'em to, and die afore +they're a dozen year old; and never was the time when I've seen +Myrtle Hazard, sence she was my baby, but what it's always been, +'Good mornin', Miss Byloe,' and 'How do you do, Miss Byloe? I'm so +glad to see you.' The handsomest young woman, too, as all the old +folks will agree in tellin' you, s'ence the time o' Judith Pride that +was,--the Pride of the County they used to call her, for her beauty. +Her great-grandma, y' know, Miss Cynthy, married old King David +Withers. What I want to know is, whether anything has been heerd, +and jest what's been done about findin' the poor thing. How d' ye +know she has n't fell into the river? Have they fired cannon? They +say that busts the gall of drownded folks, and makes the corpse rise. +Have they looked in the woods everywhere? Don't believe no wrong of +nobody, not till y' must,--least of all of them that come o' the same +folks, partly, and has lived with yo all their days. I tell y', +Myrtle Hazard's jest as innocent of all what y' 've been thinkin' +about,--bless the poor child; she's got a soul that's as clean and +sweet-well, as a pond-lily when it fust opens of a mornin', without a +speck on it no more than on the fust pond-lily God Almighty ever +made!" + +That gave a turn to the two women's thoughts, and their handkerchiefs +went up to their faces. Nurse Byloe turned her eyes quickly on +Cynthia Badlam, and repeated her close inspection of every outline +and every light and shadow in her figure. She did not announce any +opinion as to the age or good looks or general aspect or special +points of Miss Cynthia; but she made a sound which the books write +humph! but which real folks make with closed lips, thus: m'!--a sort +of half-suppressed labio-palato-nasal utterance, implying that there +is a good deal which might be said, and all the vocal organs want to +have a chance at it, if there is to be any talking. + +Friends and neighbors were coming in and out; and the next person +that came was the old minister, of whom, and of his colleague, the +Rev. Joseph Bellamy Stoker, some account may here be introduced. + +The Rev. Eliphalet Pemberton Father Pemberton as brother ministers +called him, Priest Pemberton as he was commonly styled by the country +people--would have seemed very old, if the medical patriarch of the +village had not been so much older. A man over ninety is a great +comfort to all his elderly neighbors: he is a picket-guard at the +extreme outpost; and the young folks of sixty and seventy feel that +the enemy must get by him before he can come near their camp. Dr. +Hurlbut, at ninety-two, made Priest Pemberton seem comparatively +little advanced; but the college catalogue showed that he must be +seventy-five years old, if, as we may suppose, he was twenty at the +time of his graduation. + +He was a man of noble presence always, and now, in the grandeur of +his flowing silver hair and with the gray shaggy brows overhanging +his serene and solemn eyes, with the slow gravity of motion and the +measured dignity of speech which gave him the air of an old pontiff, +he was an imposing personage to look upon, and could be awful, if the +occasion demanded it. His creed was of the sternest: he was looked +up to as a bulwark against all the laxities which threatened New +England theology. But it was a creed rather of the study and of the +pulpit than of every-day application among his neighbors. He dealt +too much in the lofty abstractions which had always such fascinations +for the higher class of New England divines, to busy himself as much +as he might have done with the spiritual condition of individuals. +He had also a good deal in him of what he used to call the Old Man, +which, as he confessed, he had never succeeded in putting off, +--meaning thereby certain qualities belonging to humanity, as much as +the natural gifts of the dumb creatures belong to them, and tending +to make a man beloved by his weak and erring fellow-mortals. + +In the olden time he would have lived and died king of his parish, +monarch, by Divine right, as the noblest, grandest, wisest of all +that made up the little nation within hearing of his meeting-house +bell. But Young Calvinism has less reverence and more love of +novelty than its forefathers. It wants change, and it loves young +blood. Polyandry is getting to be the normal condition of the +Church; and about the time a man is becoming a little overripe for +the livelier human sentiments, he may be pretty sure the women are +looking round to find him a colleague. In this way it was that the +Rev. Joseph Bellamy Stoker became the colleague of the Rev. Eliphalet +Pemberton. + +If one could have dived deep below all the Christian graces--the +charity, the sweetness of disposition, the humility--of Father +Pemberton, he would have found a small remnant of the "Old Man," as +the good clergyman would have called it, which was never in harmony +with the Rev. Mr. Stoker. The younger divine felt his importance, +and made his venerable colleague feel that he felt it. Father +Pemberton had a fair chance at rainy Sundays and hot summer-afternoon +services; but the junior pushed him aside without ceremony whenever +he thought there was like to be a good show in the pews. As for +those courtesies which the old need, to soften the sense of declining +faculties and failing attractions, the younger pastor bestowed them +in public, but was negligent of them, to say the least, when not on +exhibition. + +Good old Father Pemberton could not love this man, but he would not +hate him, and he never complained to him or of him. It would have +been of no use if he had: the women of the parish had taken up the +Rev. Mr. Stoker; and when the women run after a minister or a doctor, +what do the men signify? + +Why the women ran after him, some thought it was not hard to guess. +He was not ill-looking, according to the village standard, parted his +hair smoothly, tied his white cravat carefully, was fluent, +plausible, had a gift in prayer, was considered eloquent, was fond of +listening to their spiritual experiences, and had a sickly wife. +This is what Byles Gridley said; but he was apt to be caustic at +times. + +Father Pemberton visited his people but rarely. Like Jonathan +Edwards, like David Osgood, he felt his call to be to study-work, and +was impatient of the egotisms and spiritual megrims, in listening to +which, especially from the younger females of his flock, his +colleague had won the hearts of so many of his parishioners. His +presence had a wonderful effect in restoring the despondent Miss +Silence to her equanimity; for not all the hard divinity he had +preached for half a century had spoiled his kindly nature; and not +the gentle Melanchthon himself, ready to welcome death as a refuge +from the rage and bitterness of theologians, was more in contrast +with the disputants with whom he mingled, than the old minister, in +the hour of trial, with the stern dogmatist in his study, forging +thunderbolts to smite down sinners. + +It was well that there were no tithing-men about on that next day, +Sunday; for it shone no Sabbath day for the young men within half a +dozen miles of the village. They were out on Bear Hill the whole +day, beating up the bushes as if for game, scaring old crows out of +their ragged nests, and in one dark glen startling a fierce-eyed, +growling, bobtailed catamount, who sat spitting and looking all ready +to spring at them, on the tall tree where he clung with his claws +unsheathed, until a young fellow came up with a gun and shot him +dead. They went through and through the swamp at Musquash Hollow; +but found nothing better than a wicked old snapping-turtle, evil to +behold, with his snaky head and alligator tail, but worse to meddle +with, if his horny jaws were near enough to spring their man-trap on +the curious experimenter. At Wood-End there were some Indians, ill- +conditioned savages in a dirty tent, making baskets, the miracle of +which was that they were so clean. They had seen a young lady +answering the description, about a week ago. She had bought a +basket. Asked them if they had a canoe they wanted to sell. --Eyes +like hers (pointing to a squaw with a man's hat on). + +At Pocasset the young men explored all the thick woods,--some who +ought to have known better taking their guns, which made a talk, as +one might well suppose it would. Hunting on a Sabbath day! They did +n't mean to shoot Myrtle Hazard, did they? it was keenly asked. A +good many said it was all nonsense, and a mere excuse to get away +from meeting and have a sort of frolic on pretence that it was a work +of necessity and mercy, one or both. + +While they were scattering themselves about in this way, some in +earnest, some rejoicing in the unwonted license, lifting off for a +little while that enormous Sabbath-day pressure which weighs like +forty atmospheres on every true-born Puritan, two young men had been +since Friday in search of the lost girl, each following a clue of his +own, and determined to find her if she was among the living. + +Cyprian Eveleth made for the village of Mapleton, where his sister +Olive was staying, trusting that, with her aid, he might get a clue +to the mystery of Myrtle's disappearance. + +William Murray Bradshaw struck for a railroad train going to the +great seaport, at a station where it stops for wood and water. + +In the mean time, a third young man, Gifted Hopkins by name, son of +the good woman already mentioned, sat down, with tears in his eyes, +and wrote those touching stanzas, "The Lost Myrtle," which were +printed in the next "Banner and Oracle," and much admired by many who +read them. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +ANTECEDENTS. + +The Withers Homestead was the oldest mansion in town. It was built +on the east bank of the river, a little above the curve which gave +the name to Oxbow Village. It stood on an elevation, its west gable +close to the river's edge, an old orchard and a small pond at the +foot of the slope behind it, woods at the east, open to the south, +with a great row of Lombardy poplars standing guard in front of the +house. The Hon. Selah Withers, Esq., a descendant of one of the +first colonists, built it for his own residence, in the early part of +the last century. Deeply impressed with his importance in the order +of things, he had chosen to place it a little removed from the +cluster of smaller dwellings about the Oxbow; and with some vague +fancy in his mind of the castles that overlook the Rhine and the +Danube, he had selected this eminence on which to place his +substantial gambrel roofed dwelling-house. Long afterwards a bay- +window, almost a little room of itself, had been thrown out of the +second story on the west side, so that it looked directly down on the +river running beneath it. The chamber, thus half suspended in the +air, had been for years the special apartment of Myrtle Hazard; and +as the boys paddling about on the river would often catch glimpses, +through the window, of the little girl dressed in the scarlet jacket +she fancied in those days, one of them, Cyprian Eveleth had given it +a name which became current among the young people, and indeed +furnished to Gifted Hopkins the subject of one of his earliest poems, +to wit, "The Fire-hang-bird's Nest." + +If we would know anything about the persons now living at the Withers +Homestead, or The Poplars, as it was more commonly called of late +years, we must take a brief inventory of some of their vital +antecedents. It is by no means certain that our individual +personality is the single inhabitant of these our corporeal frames. +Nay, there is recorded an experience of one of the living persons +mentioned in this narrative,--to be given in full in its proper +place, which, so far as it is received in evidence, tends to show +that some, at least, who have long been dead, may enjoy a kind of +secondary and imperfect, yet self-conscious life, in these bodily +tenements which we are in the habit of considering exclusively our +own. There are many circumstances, familiar to common observers, +which favor this belief to a certain extent. Thus, at one moment we +detect the look, at another the tone of voice, at another some +characteristic movement of this or that ancestor, in our relations or +others. There are times when our friends do not act like themselves, +but apparently in obedience to some other law than that of their own +proper nature. We all do things both awake and asleep which surprise +us. Perhaps we have cotenants in this house we live in. No less +than eight distinct personalities are said to have coexisted in a +single female mentioned by an ancient physician of unimpeachable +authority. In this light we may perhaps see the meaning of a +sentence, from a work which will be repeatedly referred to in this +narrative, viz.: "This body in which we journey across the isthmus +between the two oceans is not a private carriage, but an omnibus." + +The ancestry of the Withers family had counted a martyr to their +faith before they were known as Puritans. The record was obscure in +some points; but the portrait, marked "Ann Holyoake, burned by ye +bloudy Papists, ano 15.." (figures illegible), was still hanging +against the panel over the fireplace in the west parlor at The +Poplars. The following words were yet legible on the canvas: +"Thou hast made a covenant O Lord with mee and my Children forever." + +The story had come down, that Ann Holyoake spoke these words in a +prayer she offered up at the stake, after the fagots were kindled. +There had always been a secret feeling in the family, that none of +her descendants could finally fall from grace, in virtue of this +solemn "covenant." + +There had been also a legend in the family, that the martyred woman's +spirit exercised a kind of supervision over her descendants; that she +either manifested herself to them, or in some way impressed them, +from time to time; as in the case of the first pilgrim before he cast +his lot with the emigrants,--of one Mrs. Winslow, a descendant in the +third generation, when the Indians were about to attack the +settlement where she lived,--and of another, just before he was +killed at Quebec. + +There was a remarkable resemblance between the features of Ann +Holyoake, as shown in the portrait, and the miniature likeness of +Myrtle's mother. Myrtle adopted the nearly obsolete superstition +more readily on this account, and loved to cherish the fancy that the +guardian spirit which had watched over her ancestors was often near +her, and would be with her in her time of need. + +The wife of Selah Withers was accused of sorcery in the evil days of +that delusion. A careless expression in one of her letters, that "ye +Parson was as lyke to bee in league with ye Divell as anie of em," +had got abroad, and given great offence to godly people. There was +no doubt that some odd "manifestations," as they would be called +nowadays, had taken place in the household when she was a girl, and +that she presented many of the conditions belonging to what are at +the present day called mediums. + +Major Gideon Withers, her son, was of the very common type of hearty, +loud, portly men, who like to show themselves at militia trainings, +and to hear themselves shout orders at musters, or declaim patriotic +sentiments at town-meetings and in the General Court. He loved to +wear a crimson sash and a military cap with a large red feather, in +which the village folk used to say he looked as "hahnsome as a +piny,"--meaning a favorite flower of his, which is better spelt +peony, and to which it was not unnatural that his admirers should +compare him. + +If he had married a wife like himself, there might probably enough +have sprung from the alliance a family of moon-faced children, who +would have dropped into their places like posts into their holes, +asking no questions of life, contented, like so many other honest +folks, with the part of supernumeraries in the drama of being, their +wardrobe of flesh and bones being furnished them gratis, and nothing +to do but to walk across the stage wearing it. But Major Gideon +Withers, for some reason or other, married a slender, sensitive, +nervous, romantic woman, which accounted for the fact that his son +David, "King David," as he was called in his time, had a very +different set of tastes from his father, showing a turn for +literature and sentiment in his youth, reading Young's "Night +Thoughts," and Thomson's "Seasons," and sometimes in those early days +writing verses himself to Celia or to Chloe, which sounded just as +fine to him as Effie and Minnie sound to young people now, as +Musidora, as Saccharissa, as Lesbia, as Helena, as Adah and Zillah, +have all sounded to young people in their time,--ashes of roses as +they are to us now, and as our endearing Scotch diminutives will be +to others by and by. + +King David Withers, who got his royal prefix partly because he was +rich, and partly because he wrote hymns occasionally, when he grew +too old to write love-poems, married the famous beauty before +mentioned, Miss Judith Pride, and the race came up again in vigor. +Their son, Jeremy, took for his first wife a delicate, melancholic +girl, who matured into a sad-eyed woman, and bore him two children, +Malachi and Silence. + +When she died, he mourned for her bitterly almost a year, and then +put on a ruffled shirt and went across the river to tell his grief to +Miss Virginia Wild, there residing. This lady was said to have a few +drops of genuine aboriginal blood in her veins; and it is certain +that her cheek had a little of the russet tinge which a Seckel pear +shows on its warmest cheek when it blushes. --Love shuts itself up in +sympathy like a knife-blade in its handle, and opens as easily. All +the rest followed in due order according to Nature's kindly +programme. + +Captain Charles Hazard, of the ship Orient Pearl, fell desperately in +love with the daughter of this second wife, married her, and carried +her to India, where their first and only child was born, and received +the name of Myrtle, as fitting her cradle in the tropics. So her +earliest impressions,--it would not be exact to call them +recollections,--besides the smiles of her father and mother, were of +dusky faces, of loose white raiment, of waving fans, of breezes +perfumed with the sweet exhalations of sandal-wood, of gorgeous +flowers and glowing fruit, of shady verandas, of gliding palanquins, +and all the languid luxury of the South. The pestilence which has +its natural home in India, but has journeyed so far from its birth +place in these later years, took her father and mother away, +suddenly, in the very freshness of their early maturity. A relation +of Myrtle's father, wife of another captain, was returning to America +on a visit, and the child was sent back, under her care, while still +a mere infant, to her relatives at the old homestead. During the +long voyage, the strange mystery of the ocean was wrought into her +consciousness so deeply, that it seemed to have become a part of her +being. The waves rocked her, as if the sea had been her mother; and, +looking over the vessel's side from the arms that held her with +tender care, she used to watch the play of the waters, until the +rhythm of their movement became a part of her, almost as much as her +own pulse and breath. + +The instincts and qualities belonging to the ancestral traits which +predominated in the conflict of mingled lives lay in this child in +embryo, waiting to come to maturity. It was as when several grafts, +bearing fruit that ripens at different times, are growing upon the +same stock. Her earlier impulses may have been derived directly from +her father and mother, but all the ancestors who have been mentioned, +and more or less obscurely many others, came uppermost in their time, +before the absolute and total result of their several forces had +found its equilibrium in the character by which she was to be known +as an individual. These inherited impulses were therefore many, +conflicting, some of them dangerous. The World, the Flesh, and the +Devil held mortgages on her life before its deed was put in her +hands; but sweet and gracious influences were also born with her; and +the battle of life was to be fought between them, God helping her in +her need, and her own free choice siding with one or the other. The +formal statement of this succession of ripening characteristics need +not be repeated, but the fact must be borne in mind. + +This was the child who was delivered into the hands of Miss Silence +Withers, her mother's half--sister, keeping house with her brother +Malachi, a bachelor, already called Old Malachi, though hardly +entitled by his years to such a venerable prefix. Both these persons +had inherited the predominant traits of their sad-eyed mother. +Malachi, the chief heir of the family property, was rich, but felt +very poor. He owned this fine old estate of some hundreds of acres. +He had moneys in the bank, shares in various companies, wood-lots in +the town; and a large tract of Western land, the subject of a lawsuit +which seemed as if it would never be settled, and kept him always +uneasy. + +Some said he hoarded gold somewhere about the old house, but nobody +knew this for a certainty. In spite of his abundant means, he talked +much of poverty, and kept the household on the narrowest footing of +economy. One Irishwoman, with a little aid from her husband now and +then, did all their work; and the only company they saw was Miss +Cynthia Badlam, who, as a relative, claimed a home with them whenever +she was so disposed. + +The "little Indian," as Malachi called her, was an awkward accession +to the family. Silence Withers knew no more about children and their +ways and wants than if she had been a female ostrich. Thus it was +that she found it necessary to send for a woman well known in the +place as the first friend whose acquaintance many of the little +people of the town had made in this vale of tears. + +Thirty years of practice had taught Nurse Byloe the art of handling +the young of her species with the soft firmness which one may notice +in cats with their kittens,--more grandly in a tawny lioness mouthing +her cubs. Myrtle did not know she was held; she only felt she was +lifted, and borne up, as a cherub may feel upon a white-woolly cloud, +and smiled accordingly at the nurse, as if quite at home in her arms. + +"As fine a child as ever breathed the breath of life. But where did +them black eyes come from? Born in Injy,--that 's it, ain't it? No, +it's her poor mother's eyes to be sure. Does n't it seem as if there +was a kind of Injin look to 'em? She'll be a lively one to manage, +if I know anything about childun. See her clinchin' them little +fists!" + +This was when Miss Silence came near her and brought her rather +severe countenance close to the child for inspection of its features. +The ungracious aspect of the woman and the defiant attitude of the +child prefigured in one brief instant the history of many long coming +years. + +It was not a great while before the two parties in that wearing +conflict of alien lives, which is often called education, began to +measure their strength against each other. The child was bright, +observing, of restless activity, inquisitively curious, very hard to +frighten, and with a will which seemed made for mastery, not +submission. + +The stern spinster to whose care this vigorous life was committed was +disposed to discharge her duty to the girl faithfully and +conscientiously; but there were two points in her character and +belief which had a most important bearing on the manner in which she +carried out her laudable intentions. First, she was one of that +class of human beings whose one single engrossing thought is their +own welfare,--in the next world, it is true, but still their own +personal welfare. The Roman Church recognizes this class, and +provides every form of specific to meet their spiritual condition. +But in so far as Protestantism has thrown out works as a means of +insuring future safety, these unfortunates are as badly off as +nervous patients who have no drops, pills, potions, no doctors' +rules, to follow. Only tell a poor creature what to do, and he or +she will do it, and be made easy, were it a pilgrimage of a thousand +miles, with shoes full of split peas instead of boiled ones; but if +once assured that doing does no good, the drooping Little-faiths are +left at leisure to worry about their souls, as the other class of +weaklings worry about their bodies. The effect on character does not +seem to be very different in the two classes. Metaphysicians may +discuss the nature of selfishness at their leisure; if to have all +her thoughts centring on the one point of her own well-being by and +by was selfishness, then Silence Withers was supremely selfish; and +if we are offended with that form of egotism, it is no more than ten +of the twelve Apostles were, as the reader may see by turning to the +Gospel of St. Matthew, the twentieth chapter and the twenty-fourth +verse. + +The next practical difficulty was, that she attempted to carry out a +theory which, whatever might be its success in other cases, did not +work kindly in the case of Myrtle Hazard, but, on the contrary, +developed a mighty spirit of antagonism in her nature, which +threatened to end in utter lawlessness. Miss Silence started from +the approved doctrine, that all children are radically and utterly +wrong in all their motives, feelings, thoughts, and deeds, so long as +they remain subject to their natural instincts. It was by the +eradication, and not the education, of these instincts, that the +character of the human being she was moulding was to be determined. +The first great preliminary process, so soon as the child manifested +any evidence of intelligent and persistent self-determination, was to +break her will. + +There is no doubt that this was a legitimate conclusion from the +teaching of Priest Pemberton, but it required a colder and harder +nature than his own to carry out many of his dogmas to their +practical application. He wrought in the pure mathematics, so to +speak, of theology, and left the working rules to the good sense and +good feeling of his people. + +Miss Silence had been waiting for her opportunity to apply the great +doctrine, and it came at last in a very trivial way. + +"Myrtle does n't want brown bread. Myrtle won't have brown bread. +Myrtle will have white bread." + +"Myrtle is a wicked child. She will have what Aunt Silence says she +shall have. She won't have anything but brown bread." + +Thereupon the bright red lip protruded, the hot blood mounted to her +face, the child untied her little "tire," got down from the table, +took up her one forlorn, featureless doll, and went to bed without +her supper. The next morning the worthy woman thought that hunger +and reflection would have subdued the rebellious spirit. So there +stood yesterday's untouched supper waiting for her breakfast. She +would not taste it, and it became necessary to enforce that extreme +penalty of the law which had been threatened, but never yet put in +execution. Miss Silence, in obedience to what she felt to be a +painful duty, without any passion, but filled with high, inexorable +purpose, carried the child up to the garret, and, fastening her so +that she could not wander about and hurt herself, left her to her +repentant thoughts, awaiting the moment when a plaintive entreaty for +liberty and food should announce that the evil nature had yielded and +the obdurate will was broken. + +The garret was an awful place. All the skeleton-like ribs of the +roof showed in the dim light, naked overhead, and the only floor to +be trusted consisted of the few boards which bridged the lath and +plaster. A great, mysterious brick tower climbed up through it,--it +was the chimney, but it looked like a horrible cell to put criminals +into. The whole place was festooned with cobwebs,--not light films, +such as the housewife's broom sweeps away before they have become a +permanent residence, but vast gray draperies, loaded with dust, +sprinkled with yellow powder from the beams where the worms were +gnawing day and night, the home of old, hairy spiders who had, lived +there since they were eggs and would leave it for unborn spiders who +would grow old and huge like themselves in it, long after the human +tenants had left the mansion for a narrower home. Here this little +criminal was imprisoned, six, twelve,--tell it not to mothers, +--eighteen dreadful hours, hungry until she was ready to gnaw her +hands, a prey to all childish imaginations; and here at her stern +guardian's last visit she sat, pallid, chilled, almost fainting, but +sullen and unsubdued. The Irishwoman, poor stupid Kitty Fagan, who +had no theory of human nature, saw her over the lean shoulders of the +spinster, and, forgetting all differences of condition and questions +of authority, rushed to her with a cry of maternal tenderness, and, +with a tempest of passionate tears and kisses, bore her off to her +own humble realm, where the little victorious martyr was fed from the +best stores of the house, until there was as much danger from +repletion as there had been from famine. How the experiment might +have ended but for this empirical and most unphilosophical +interference, there is no saying; but it settled the point that the +rebellious nature was not to be subjugated in a brief conflict. + +The untamed disposition manifested itself in greater enormities as +she grew older. At the age of four years she was detected in making +a cat's-cradle at meeting, during sermon-time, and, on being +reprimanded for so doing, laughed out loud, so as to be heard by +Father Pemberton, who thereupon bent his threatening, shaggy brows +upon the child, and, to his shame be it spoken, had such a sudden +uprising of weak, foolish, grandfatherly feelings, that a mist came +over his eyes, and he left out his "ninthly" altogether, thereby +spoiling the logical sequence of propositions which had kept his +large forehead knotty for a week. + +At eight years old she fell in love with the high-colored picture of +Major Gideon Withers in the crimson sash and the red feather of his +exalted military office. It was then for the first time that her +aunt Silence remarked a shade of resemblance between the child and +the portrait. She had always, up to this time, been dressed in sad +colors, as was fitting, doubtless, for a forlorn orphan; but +happening one day to see a small negro girl peacocking round in a +flaming scarlet petticoat, she struck for bright colors in her own +apparel, and carried her point at last. It was as if a ground- +sparrow had changed her gray feathers for the burning plumage of some +tropical wanderer; and it was natural enough that Cyprian Eveleth +should have called her the fire-hang-bird, and her little chamber the +fire-hang-bird's nest,--using the country boy's synonyme for the +Baltimore oriole. + +At ten years old she had one of those great experiences which give +new meaning to the life of a child. + +Her uncle Malachi had seemed to have a strong liking for her at one +time, but of late years his delusions had gained upon him, and under +their influence he seemed to regard her as an encumbrance and an +extravagance. He was growing more and more solitary in his habits, +more and more negligent of his appearance. He was up late at night, +wandering about the house from the cellar to the garret, so that, his +light being seen flitting from window to window, the story got about +that the old house was haunted. + +One dreary, rainy Friday in November, Myrtle was left alone in the +house. Her uncle had been gone since the day before. The two women +were both away at the village. At such times the child took a +strange delight in exploring all the hiding-places of the old +mansion. She had the mysterious dwelling-place of so many of the +dead and the living all to herself. What a fearful kind of pleasure +in its silence and loneliness! The old clock that Marmaduke Storr +made in London more than a hundred years ago was clicking the steady +pulse-beats of its second century. The featured moon on its dial had +lifted one eye, as if to watch the child, as it had watched so many +generations of children, while the swinging pendulum ticked them +along into youth, maturity, gray hairs, deathbeds,--ticking through +the prayer at the funeral, ticking without grief through all the +still or noisy woe of mourning,--ticking without joy when the smiles +and gayety of comforted heirs had come back again. She looked at +herself in the tall, bevelled mirror in the best chamber. She pulled +aside the curtains of the stately bedstead whereon the heads of the +house had slept until they died and were stretched out upon it, and +the sheet shaped itself to them in vague, awful breadth of outline, +like a block of monumental marble the sculptor leaves just hinted by +the chisel. + +She groped her way up to the dim garret, the scene of her memorable +punishment. A rusty hook projected from one of the joists a little +higher than a man's head. Something was hanging from it,--an old +garment, was it? She went bravely up and touched--a cold hand. She +did what most children of that age would do,--uttered a cry and ran +downstairs with all her might. She rushed out of the door and called +to the man Patrick, who was doing some work about the place. What +could be done was done, but it was too late. + +Uncle Malachi had made away with himself. That was plain on the face +of thing. In due time the coroner's verdict settled it. It was not +so strange as it seemed; but it made a great talk in the village and +all the country round about. Everybody knew he had money enough, and +yet he had hanged himself for fear of starving to death. + +For all that, he was found to have left a will, dated some years +before, leaving his property to his sister Silence, with the +exception of a certain moderate legacy to be paid in money to Myrtle +Hazard when she should arrive at the age of twenty years. + +The household seemed more chilly than ever after this tragical event. +Its depressing influence followed the child to school, where she +learned the common branches of knowledge. It followed her to the +Sabbath-day catechisings, where she repeated the answers about the +federal headship of Adam, and her consequent personal +responsibilities, and other technicalities which are hardly milk for +babes, perhaps as well as other children, but without any very +profound remorse for what she could not help, so far as she +understood the matter, any more than her sex or stature, and with no +very clear comprehension of the phrases which the New England +followers of the Westminster divines made a part of the elementary +instruction of young people. + +At twelve years old she had grown tall and womanly enough to attract +the eyes of the youth and older boys, several of whom made advances +towards her acquaintance. But the dreary discipline of the household +had sunk into her soul, and she had been shaping an internal life for +herself, which it was hard for friendship to penetrate. Bathsheba +Stoker was chained to the bedside of an invalid mother. Olive +Eveleth, a kind, true-hearted girl, belonged to another religious +communion; and this tended to render their meetings less frequent, +though Olive was still her nearest friend. Cyprian was himself a +little shy, and rather held to Myrtle through his sister than by any +true intimacy directly with herself. Of the other young men of the +village Gifted Hopkins was perhaps the most fervent of her admirers, +as he had repeatedly shown by effusions in verse, of which, under the +thinnest of disguises, she was the object. + +William Murray Bradshaw, ten years older than herself, a young man of +striking aspect and claims to exceptional ability, had kept his eye +on her of late; but it was generally supposed that he would find a +wife in the city, where he was in the habit of going to visit a +fashionable relative, Mrs. Clymer Ketchum, of 24 Carat Place. +She, at any rate, understood very well that he meant, to use his own +phrase, "to go in for a corner lot,"--understanding thereby a young +lady with possessions and without encumbrances. If the old man had +only given his money to Myrtle, William Murray Bradshaw would have +made sure of her; but she was not likely ever to get much of it. +Miss Silence Withers, it was understood, would probably leave her +money as the Rev. Mr. Stoker, her spiritual director, should +indicate, and it seemed likely that most of it would go to a rising +educational institution where certain given doctrines were to be +taught through all time, whether disproved or not, and whether those +who taught them believed them or not, provided only they would say +they believed them. + +Nobody had promised to say masses for her soul if she made this +disposition of her property, or pledged the word of the Church that +she should have plenary absolution. But she felt that she would be +making friends in Influential Quarters by thus laying up her +treasure, and that she would be safe if she had the good-will of the +ministers of her sect. + +Myrtle Hazard had nearly reached the age of fourteen, and, though not +like to inherit much of the family property, was fast growing into a +large dower of hereditary beauty. Always handsome, her features +shaped themselves in a finer symmetry, her color grew richer, her +figure promised a perfect womanly development, and her movements had +the grace which high-breeding gives the daughter of a queen, and +which Nature now and then teaches the humblest of village maidens. +She could not long escape the notice of the lovers and flatterers of +beauty, and the time of danger was drawing near. + +At this period of her life she made two discoveries which changed the +whole course of her thoughts, and opened for her a new world of ideas +and possibilities. + +Ever since the dreadful event of November, 1854, the garret had been +a fearful place to think of, and still more to visit. The stories +that the house was haunted gained in frequency of repetition and +detail of circumstance. But Myrtle was bold and inquisitive, and +explored its recesses at such times as she could creep among them +undisturbed. Hid away close under the eaves she found an old trunk +covered with dust and cobwebs. The mice had gnawed through its +leather hinges, and, as it had been hastily stuffed full, the cover +had risen, and two or three volumes had fallen to the floor. This +trunk held the papers and books which her great-grandmother, the +famous beauty, had left behind her, records of the romantic days when +she was the belle of the county,--storybooks, memoirs, novels, and +poems, and not a few love-letters,--a strange collection, which, as +so often happens with such deposits in old families, nobody had cared +to meddle with, and nobody had been willing to destroy, until at last +they had passed out of mind, and waited for a new generation to bring +them into light again. + +The other discovery was of a small hoard of coin. Under one of the +boards which formed the imperfect flooring of the garret was hidden +an old leather mitten. Instead of a hand, it had a fat fist of +silver dollars, and a thumb of gold half-eagles. + +Thus knowledge and power found their way to the simple and secluded +maiden. The books were hers to read as much as any other's; the gold +and silver were only a part of that small provision which would be +hers by and by, and if she borrowed it, it was borrowing of herself. +The tree of the knowledge of good and evil had shaken its fruit into +her lap, and, without any serpent to tempt her, she took thereof and +did eat. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +BYLES GRIDLEY, A. M. + +The old Master of Arts was as notable a man in his outside +presentment as one will find among five hundred college alumni as +they file in procession. His strong, squared features, his +formidable scowl, his solid-looking head, his iron-gray hair, his +positive and as it were categorical stride, his slow, precise way of +putting a statement, the strange union of trampling radicalism in +some directions and high-stepping conservatism in others, which made +it impossible to calculate on his unexpressed opinions, his testy +ways and his generous impulses, his hard judgments and kindly +actions, were characteristics that gave him a very decided +individuality. + +He had all the aspects of a man of books. His study, which was the +best room in Mrs. Hopkins's house, was filled with a miscellaneous- +looking collection of volumes, which his curious literary taste had +got together from the shelves of all the libraries that had been +broken up during his long life as a scholar. Classics, theology, +especially of the controversial sort, statistics, politics, law, +medicine, science, occult and overt, general literature,--almost +every branch of knowledge was represented. His learning was very +various, and of course mixed up, useful and useless, new and ancient, +dogmatic and rational,--like his library, in short; for a library +gathered like his is a looking-glass in which the owner's mind is +reflected. + +The common people about the village did not know what to make of such +a phenomenon. He did not preach, marry, christen, or bury, like the +ministers, nor jog around with medicines for sick folks, nor carry +cases into court for quarrelsome neighbors. What was he good for? +Not a great deal, some of the wiseacres thought,--had "all sorts of +sense but common sense,"--"smart mahn, but not prahctical." There +were others who read him more shrewdly. He knowed more, they said, +than all the ministers put together, and if he'd stan' for +Ripresentative they 'd like to vote for him,--they hed n't hed a +smart mahn in the Gineral Court sence Squire Wibird was thar. + +They may have overdone the matter in comparing his knowledge with +that of all the ministers together, for Priest Pemberton was a real +scholar in his special line of study,--as all D. D.'s are supposed to +be, or they would not have been honored with that distinguished +title. But Mr. Byles Gridley not only had more learning than the +deep-sea line of the bucolic intelligence could fathom; he had more +wisdom also than they gave him credit for, even those among them who +thought most of his abilities. + +In his capacity of schoolmaster he had sharpened his wits against +those of the lively city boys he had in charge, and made such a +reputation as "Master" Gridley, that he kept that title even after he +had become a college tutor and professor. As a tutor he had to deal +with many of these same boys, and others like them, in the still more +vivacious period of their early college life. He got rid of his +police duties when he became a professor, but he still studied the +pupils as carefully as he used once to watch them, and learned to +read character with a skill which might have fitted him for governing +men instead of adolescents. But he loved quiet and he dreaded +mingling with the brawlers of the market-place, whose stock in trade +is a voice and a vocabulary. So it was that he had passed his life +in the patient mechanical labor of instruction, leaving too many of +his instincts and faculties in abeyance. + +The alluvium of all this experience bore a nearer resemblance to +worldly wisdom than might have been conjectured; much nearer, indeed, +than it does in many old instructors, whose eyes get fish-like as +their blood grows cold, and who are not fit to be trusted with +anything more practical than a gerund or a cosine. Master Gridley +not only knew a good deal of human nature, but he knew how to keep +his knowledge to himself upon occasion. He understood singularly +well the ways and tendencies of young people. He was shrewd in the +detection of trickery, and very confident in those who had once +passed the ordeal of his well-schooled observing powers. He had no +particular tendency to meddle with the personal relations of those +about him; but if they were forced upon him in any way, he was like +to see into them at least as quickly as any of his neighbors who +thought themselves most endowed with practical skill. + +In leaving the duties of his office he considered himself, as he said +a little despondently, like an old horse unharnessed and turned out +to pasture. He felt that he had separated himself from human +interests, and was henceforth to live in his books with the dead, +until he should be numbered with them himself. He had chosen this +quiet village as a place where he might pass his days undisturbed, +and find a peaceful resting-place in its churchyard, where the gravel +was dry, and the sun lay warm, and the glowing woods of autumn would +spread their many-colored counterpane over the bed where he would be +taking his rest. It sometimes came over him painfully that he was +never more to be of any importance to his fellow-creatures. There +was nobody living to whom he was connected by any very near ties. He +felt kindly enough to the good woman in whose house he lived; he +sometimes gave a few words of counsel to her son; he was not +unamiable with the few people he met; he bowed with great +consideration to the Rev. Dr. Pemberton; and he studied with no small +interest the physiognomy of the Rev. Joseph Bellamy Stoker, to whose +sermons he listened, with a black scowl now and then, and a nostril +dilating with ominous intensity of meaning. But he said sadly to +himself, that his life had been a failure,--that he had nothing to +show for it, and his one talent was ready in its napkin to give back +to his Lord. + +He owed something of this sadness, perhaps, to a cause which many +would hold of small significance. Though he had mourned for no lost +love, at least so far as was known, though he had never suffered the +pang of parting with a child, though he seemed isolated from those +joys and griefs which come with the ties of family, he too had his +private urn filled with the ashes of extinguished hopes. He was the +father of a dead book. + +Why "Thoughts on the Universe, by Byles Gridley, A. M.," had not met +with an eager welcome and a permanent demand from the discriminating +public, it would take us too long to inquire in detail. Indeed; he +himself was never able to account satisfactorily for the state of +things which his bookseller's account made evident to him. He had +read and re-read his work; and the more familiar he became with it, +the less was he able to understand the singular want of popular +appreciation of what he could not help recognizing as its +excellences. He had a special copy of his work, printed on large +paper and sumptuously bound. He loved to read in this, as people +read over the letters of friends who have long been dead; and it +might have awakened a feeling of something far removed from the +ludicrous, if his comments on his own production could have been +heard. "That's a thought, now, for you!--See Mr. Thomas Babington +Macaulay's Essay printed six years after thus book." "A felicitous +image! and so everybody would have said if only Mr. Thomas Carlyle +had hit upon it." "If this is not genuine pathos, where will you +find it, I should like to know? And nobody to open the book where it +stands written but one poor old man--in this generation, at least--in +this generation!" It may be doubted whether he would ever have loved +his book with such jealous fondness if it had gone through a dozen +editions, and everybody was quoting it to his face. But now it lived +only for him; and to him it was wife and child, parent, friend, all +in one, as Hector was all in all to his spouse. He never tired of +it, and in his more sanguine moods he looked forward to the time when +the world would acknowledge its merits, and his genius would find +full recognition. Perhaps he was right: more than one book which +seemed dead and was dead for contemporary readers has had a +resurrection when the rivals who triumphed over it lived only in the +tombstone memory of antiquaries. Comfort for some of us, dear +fellow-writer + +It followed from the way in which he lived that he must have some +means of support upon which he could depend. He was economical, if +not over frugal in some of his habits; but he bought books, and took +newspapers and reviews, and had money when money was needed; the fact +being, though it was not generally known, that a distant relative had +not long before died, leaving him a very comfortable property. + +His money matters had led him to have occasional dealings with the +late legal firm of Wibird and Penhallow, which had naturally passed +into the hands of the new partnership, Penhallow and Bradshaw. He +had entire confidence in the senior partner, but not so much in the +young man who had been recently associated in the business. + +Mr. William Murray Bradshaw, commonly called by his last two names, +was the son of a lawyer of some note for his acuteness, who marked +out his calling for him in having him named after the great Lord +Mansfield. Murray Bradshaw was about twenty-five years old, by +common consent good-looking, with a finely formed head, a searching +eye, and a sharp-cut mouth, which smiled at his bidding without the +slightest reference to the real condition of his feeling at the +moment. This was a great convenience; for it gave him an appearance +of good-nature at the small expense of a slight muscular movement +which was as easy as winking, and deceived everybody but those who +had studied him long and carefully enough to find that this play of +his features was what a watch maker would call a detached movement. + +He had been a good scholar in college, not so much by hard study as +by skilful veneering, and had taken great pains to stand well with +the Faculty, at least one of whom, Byles Gridley, A. M., had watched +him with no little interest as a man with a promising future, +provided he were not so astute as to outwit and overreach himself in +his excess of contrivance. His classmates could not help liking him; +as to loving him, none of them would have thought of that. He was so +shrewd, so keen, so full of practical sense, and so good-humored as +long as things went on to his liking, that few could resist his +fascination. He had a way of talking with people about what they +were interested in, as if it were the one matter in the world nearest +to his heart. But he was commonly trying to find out something, or +to produce some impression, as a juggler is working at his miracle +while he keeps people's attention by his voluble discourse and make- +believe movements. In his lightest talk he was almost always edging +towards a practical object, and it was an interesting and instructive +amusement to watch for the moment at which he would ship the belt of +his colloquial machinery on to the tight pulley. It was done so +easily and naturally that there was hardly a sign of it. Master +Gridley could usually detect the shifting action, but the young man's +features and voice never betrayed him. + +He was a favorite with the other sex, who love poetry and romance, as +he well knew, for which reason he often used the phrases of both, and +in such a way as to answer his purpose with most of those whom he +wished to please. He had one great advantage in the sweepstakes of +life: he was not handicapped with any burdensome ideals. He took +everything at its marked value. He accepted the standard of the +street as a final fact for to-day, like the broker's list of prices. + +His whole plan of life was laid out. He knew that law was the best +introduction to political life, and he meant to use it for this end. +He chose to begin his career in the country, so as to feel his way +more surely and gradually to its ultimate aim; but he had no +intention of burning his shining talents in a grazing district, +however tall its grass might grow. His business was not with these +stiff-jointed, slow-witted graziers, but with the supple, dangerous, +far-seeing men who sit scheming by the gas-light in the great cities, +after all the lamps and candles are out from the Merrimac to the +Housatonic. Every strong and every weak point of those who might +probably be his rivals were laid down on his charts, as winds and +currents and rocks are marked on those of a navigator. All the young +girls in the country, and not a few in the city, with which, as +mentioned, he had frequent relations, were on his list of possible +availabilities in the matrimonial line of speculation, provided +always that their position and prospects were such as would make them +proper matches for so considerable a person as the future Hon. +William Murray Bradshaw. + +Master Gridley had made a careful study of his old pupil since they +had resided in the same village. The old professor could not help +admiring him, notwithstanding certain suspicious elements in his +character; for after muddy village talk, a clear stream of +intelligent conversation was a great luxury to the hard-headed +scholar. The more he saw of him, the more he learned to watch his +movements, and to be on his guard in talking with him. The old man +could be crafty, with all his simplicity, and he had found out that +under his good-natured manner there often lurked some design more or +less worth noting, and which might involve other interests deserving +protection. + +For some reason or other the old Master of Arts had of late +experienced a certain degree of relenting with regard to himself, +probably brought about by the expressions of gratitude from worthy +Mrs. Hopkins for acts of kindness to which he himself attached no +great value. He had been kind to her son Gifted; he had been +fatherly with Susan Posey, her relative and boarder; and he had shown +himself singularly and unexpectedly amiable with the little twins who +had been adopted by the good woman into her household. In fact, ever +since these little creatures had begun to toddle about and explode +their first consonants, he had looked through his great round +spectacles upon them with a decided interest; and from that time it +seemed as if some of the human and social sentiments which had never +leafed or flowered in him, for want of their natural sunshine, had +begun growing up from roots which had never lost their life. His +liking for the twins may have been an illustration of that singular +law which old Dr. Hurlbut used to lay down, namely, that at a certain +period of life, say from fifty to sixty and upward, the grand- +paternal instinct awakens in bachelors, the rhythms of Nature +reaching them in spite of her defeated intentions; so that when men +marry late they love their autumn child with a twofold affection, +--father's and grandfather's both in one. + +However this may be, there is no doubt that Mr. Byles Gridley was +beginning to take a part in his neighbors' welfare and misfortunes, +such as could hardly have been expected of a man so long lost in his +books and his scholastic duties. And among others, Myrtle Hazard had +come in for a share of his interest. He had met her now and then in +her walks to and from school and meeting, and had been taken with her +beauty and her apparent unconsciousness of it, which he attributed to +the forlorn kind of household in which she had grown up. He had got +so far as to talk with her now and then, and found himself puzzled, +as well he might be, in talking with a girl who had been growing into +her early maturity in antagonism with every influence that surrounded +her. + +"Love will reach her by and by," he said, "in spite of the dragons up +at the den yonder. + + 'Centum fronte oculos, centum cervice gerebat + Argus, et hos unus saepe fefellit amor.'" + +But there was something about Myrtle,--he hardly knew whether to call +it dignity, or pride, or reserve, or the mere habit of holding back +brought about by the system of repression under which she had been +educated,--which kept even the old Master of Arts at his distance. +Yet he was strongly drawn to her, and had a sort of presentiment that +he might be able to help her some day, and that very probably she +would want his help; for she was alone in the world, except for the +dragons, and sure to be assailed by foes from without and from +within. + +He noticed that her name was apt to come up in his conversations with +Murray Bradshaw; and, as he himself never introduced it, of course +the young man must have forced it, as conjurers force a card, and +with some special object. This set him thinking hard; and, as a +result of it, he determined the next time Mr. Bradshaw brought her +name up to set him talking. + +So he talked, not suspecting how carefully the old man listened. + +"It was a demonish hard case," he said, "that old Malachi had left +his money as he did. Myrtle Hazard was going to be the handsomest +girl about, when she came to her beauty, and she was coming to it +mighty fast. If they could only break that will, but it was no use +trying. The doctors said he was of sound mind for at least two years +after making it. If Silence Withers got the land claim, there'd be a +pile, sure enough. Myrtle Hazard ought to have it. If the girl had +only inherited that property--whew? She'd have been a match for any +fellow. That old Silence Withers would do just as her minister told +her,--even chance whether she gives it to the Parson-factory, or +marries Bellamy Stoker, and gives it to him after his wife's dead. +He'd take it if he had to take her with it. Earn his money, hey, +Master Gridley?" + +"Why, you don't seem to think very well of the Rev. Joseph Bellamy +Stoker?" said Mr. Gridley, smiling. + +"Think well of him? Too fond of using the Devil's pitchfork for my +fancy! Forks over pretty much all the world but himself and his lot +into--the bad place, you know; and toasts his own cheese with it with +very much the same kind of comfort that other folks seem to take in +that business. Besides, he has a weakness for pretty saints--and +sinners. That's an odd name he has. More belle amie than Joseph +about him, I rather guess!" + +The old professor smiled again. "So you don't think he believes all +the mediaeval doctrines he is in the habit of preaching, Mr. +Bradshaw?" + +"No, sir; I think he belongs to the class I have seen described +somewhere. 'There are those who hold the opinion that truth is only +safe when diluted,--about one fifth to four fifths lies,--as the +oxygen of the air is with its nitrogen. Else it would burn us all +up.'" + +Byles Gridley colored and started a little. This was one of his own +sayings in "Thoughts on the Universe." But the young man quoted it +without seeming to suspect its authorship. + +"Where did you pick up that saying, Mr. Bradshaw?" + +"I don't remember. Some paper, I rather think. It's one of those +good things that get about without anybody's knowing who says 'em. +Sounds like Coleridge." + +"That's what I call a compliment worth having," said Byles Gridley to +himself, when he got home. "Let me look at that passage." + +He took down "Thoughts on the Universe," and got so much interested, +reading on page after page, that he did not hear the little tea-bell, +and Susan Posey volunteered to run up to his study and call him down +to tea. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE TWINS. + +Miss Suzan Posey knocked timidly at his door and informed him that +tea was waiting. He rather liked Susan Posey. She was a pretty +creature, slight, blonde, a little too light, a village beauty of the +second or third grade, effective at picnics and by moonlight,--the +kind of girl that very young men are apt to remember as their first +love. She had a taste for poetry, and an admiration of poets; but, +what was better, she was modest and simple, and a perfect sister and +mother and grandmother to the two little forlorn twins who had been +stranded on the Widow Hopkins's doorstep. + +These little twins, a boy and girl, were now between two and three +years old. A few words will make us acquainted with them. Nothing +had ever been known of their origin. The sharp eyes of all the +spinsters had been through every household in the village and +neighborhood, and not a suspicion fixed itself on any one. It was a +dark night when they were left; and it was probable that they had +been brought from another town, as the sound of wheels had been heard +close to the door where they were found, had stopped for a moment, +then been heard again, and lost in the distance. + +How the good woman of the house took them in and kept them has been +briefly mentioned. At first nobody thought they would live a day, +such little absurd attempts at humanity did they seem. But the young +doctor came and the old doctor came, and the infants were laid in +cotton-wool, and the room heated up to keep them warm, and baby- +teaspoonfuls of milk given them, and after being kept alive in this +way, like the young of opossums and kangaroos, they came to a +conclusion about which they did not seem to have made up their +thinking-pulps for some weeks, namely, to go on trying to cross the +sea of life by tugging at the four-and-twenty oars which must be +pulled day and night until the unknown shore is reached, and the oars +lie at rest under the folded hands. + +As it was not very likely that the parents who left their offspring +round on doorsteps were of saintly life, they were not presented for +baptism like the children of church-members. Still, they must have +names to be known by, and Mrs. Hopkins was much exercised in the +matter. Like many New England parents, she had a decided taste for +names that were significant and sonorous. That which she had chosen +for her oldest child, the young poet, was either a remarkable +prophecy, or it had brought with it the endowments it promised. She +had lost, or, in her own more pictorial language, she had buried, a +daughter to whom she had given the names, at once of cheerful omen +and melodious effect, Wealthy Amadora. + +As for them poor little creturs, she said, she believed they was +rained down out o' the skies, jest as they say toads and tadpoles +come. She meant to be a mother to 'em for all that, and give 'em +jest as good names as if they was the governor's children, or the +minister's. If Mr. Gridley would be so good as to find her some kind +of a real handsome Chris'n name for 'em, she'd provide 'em with the +other one. Hopkinses they shall be bred and taught, and Hopkinses +they shall be called. Ef their father and mother was ashamed to own +'em, she was n't. Couldn't Mr. Gridley pick out some pooty sounding +names from some of them great books of his. It's jest as well to +have 'em pooty as long as they don't cost any more than if they was +Tom and Sally. + +A grim smile passed over the rugged features of Byles Gridley. +"Nothing is easier than that, Mrs. Hopkins," he said. "I will give +you two very pretty names that I think will please you and other +folks. They're new names, too. If they shouldn't like to keep them, +they can change them before they're christened, if they ever are. +Isosceles will be just the name for the boy, and I'm sure you won't +find a prettier name for the girl in a hurry than Helminthia." + +Mrs. Hopkins was delighted with the dignity and novelty of these two +names, which were forthwith adopted. As they were rather long for +common use in the family, they were shortened into the easier forms +of Sossy and Minthy, under which designation the babes began very +soon to thrive mightily, turning bread and milk into the substance of +little sinners at a great rate, and growing as if they were put out +at compound interest. + +This short episode shows us the family conditions surrounding Byles +Gridley, who, as we were saying, had just been called down to tea by +Miss Susan Posey. + +"I am coming, my dear," he said,--which expression quite touched Miss +Susan, who did not know that it was a kind of transferred caress from +the delicious page he was reading. It was not the living child that +was kissed, but the dead one lying under the snow, if we may make a +trivial use of a very sweet and tender thought we all remember. + +Not long after this, happening to call in at the lawyer's office, his +eye was caught by the corner of a book lying covered up by a pile of +papers. Somehow or other it seemed to look very natural to him. +Could that be a copy of "Thoughts on the Universe"? He watched his +opportunity, and got a hurried sight of the volume. His own +treatise, sure enough! Leaves Uncut. Opened of itself to the one +hundred and twentieth page. The axiom Murray Bradshaw had quoted--he +did not remember from what,--"sounded like Coleridge"--was staring +him in the face from that very page. When he remembered how he had +pleased himself with that compliment the other day, he blushed like a +school-girl; and then, thinking out the whole trick,--to hunt up his +forgotten book, pick out a phrase or two from it, and play on his +weakness with it, to win his good opinion,--for what purpose he did +not know, but doubtless to use him in some way,--he grinned with a +contempt about equally divided between himself and the young schemer. + +"Ah ha!" he muttered scornfully. "Sounds like Coleridge, hey? +Niccolo Macchiavelli Bradshaw!" + +>From this day forward he looked on all the young lawyer's doings with +even more suspicion than before. Yet he would not forego his company +and conversation; for he was very agreeable and amusing to study; and +this trick he had played him was, after all, only a diplomatist's way +of flattering his brother plenipotentiary. Who could say? Some time +or other he might cajole England or France or Russia into a treaty +with just such a trick. Shallower men than he had gone out as +ministers of the great Republic. At any rate, the fellow was worth +watching. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE USE OF SPECTACLES. + +The old Master of Arts had a great reputation in the house where he +lived for knowing everything that was going on. He rather enjoyed +it; and sometimes amused himself with surprising his simple-hearted +landlady and her boarders with the unaccountable results of his +sagacity. One thing was quite beyond her comprehension. She was +perfectly sure that Mr. Gridley could see out of the back of his +head, just as other people see with their natural organs. Time and +again he had told her what she was doing when his back was turned to +her, just as if he had been sitting squarely in front of her. Some +laughed at this foolish notion; but others, who knew more of the +nebulous sciences, told her it was like's not jes' so. Folks had +read letters laid ag'in' the pits o' their stomachs, 'n' why should +n't they see out o' the backs o' their heads? + +Now there was a certain fact at the bottom of this belief of Mrs. +Hopkins; and as it world be a very small thing to make a mystery of +so simple a matter, the reader shall have the whole benefit of +knowing all there is in it,--not quite yet, however, of knowing all +that came of it. It was not the mirror trick, of course, which Mrs. +Felix Lorraine and other dangerous historical personages have so long +made use of. It was nothing but this: Mr. Byles Gridley wore a pair +of formidable spectacles with large round glasses. He had often +noticed the reflection of objects behind him when they caught their +images at certain angles, and had got the habit of very often looking +at the reflecting surface of one or the other of the glasses, when he +seemed to be looking through them. It put a singular power into his +possession, which might possibly hereafter lead to something more +significant than the mystification of the Widow Hopkins. + +A short time before Myrtle Hazard's disappearance, Mr. Byles Gridley +had occasion to call again at the office of Penhallow and Bradshaw on +some small matter of business of his own. There were papers to look +over, and he put on his great round-glassed spectacles. He and Mr. +Penhallow sat down at the table, and Mr. Bradshaw was at a desk +behind them. After sitting for a while, Mr. Penhallow seemed to +remember something he had meant to attend to, for he said all at +once: "Excuse me, Mr. Gridley. Mr. Bradshaw, if you are not busy, I +wish you would look over this bundle of papers. They look like old +receipted bills and memoranda of no particular use; but they came +from the garret of the Withers place, and might possibly have +something that would be of value. Look them over, will you, and see +whether there is anything there worth saving." + +The young man took the papers, and Mr. Penhallow sat down again at +the table with Mr. Byles Gridley. + +This last-named gentleman felt just then a strong impulse to observe +the operations of Murray Bradshaw. He could not have given any very +good reason for it, any more than any of us can for half of what we +do. + +"I should like to examine that conveyance we were speaking of once +more," said he. "Please to look at this one in the mean time, will +you, Mr. Penhallow?" + +Master Gridley held the document up before him. He did not seem to +find it quite legible, and adjusted his spectacles carefully, until +they were just as he wanted them. When he had got them to suit +himself, sitting there with his back to Murray Bradshaw, he could see +him and all his movements, the desk at which he was standing, and the +books in the shelves before him,--all this time appearing as if he +were intent upon his own reading. + +The young man began in a rather indifferent way to look over the +papers. He loosened the band round them, and took them up one by +one, gave a careless glance at them, and laid them together to tie up +again when he had gone through them. Master Gridley saw all this +process, thinking what a fool he was all the time to be watching such +a simple proceeding. Presently he noticed a more sudden movement: +the young man had found something which arrested his attention, and +turned his head to see if he was observed. The senior partner and +his client were both apparently deep in their own affairs. In his +hand Mr. Bradshaw held a paper folded like the others, the back of +which he read, holding it in such a way that Master Gridley saw very +distinctly three large spots of ink upon it, and noticed their +position. Murray Bradshaw took another hurried glance at the two +gentlemen, and then quickly opened the paper. He ran it over with a +flash of his eye, folded it again, and laid it by itself. With +another quick turn of his head, as if to see whether he were observed +or like to be, he reached his hand out and took a volume down from +the shelves. In this volume he shut the document, whatever it was, +which he had just taken out of the bundle, and placed the book in a +very silent and as it were stealthy way back in its place. He then +gave a look at each of the other papers, and said to his partner: +"Old bills, old leases, and insurance policies that have run out. +Malachi seems to have kept every scrap of paper that had a signature +to it." + +"That 's the way with the old misers, always," said Mr. Penhallow. + +Byles Gridley had got through reading the document he held,--or +pretending to read it. He took off his spectacles. + +"We all grow timid and cautious as we get old, Mr. Penhallow." Then +turning round to the young man, he slowly repeated the lines, + + "'Multa senem circumveniunt incommoda, vel quod + Quaerit et inventis miser abstinet, ac timet uti; + Vel quod res omnes timide, gelideque ministrat ' + +You remember the passage, Mr. Bradshaw?" + +While he was reciting these words from Horace, which he spoke slowly +as if he relished every syllable, he kept his eyes on the young man +steadily, but with out betraying any suspicion. His old habits as a +teacher made that easy. + +Murray Bradshaw's face was calm as usual, but there was a flush on +his cheek, and Master Gridley saw the slight but unequivocal signs of +excitement. + +"Something is going on inside there," the old man said to himself. +He waited patiently, on the pretext of business, until Mr. Bradshaw +got up and left the office. As soon as he and the senior partner +were alone, Master Gridley took a lazy look at some of the books in +his library. There stood in the book-shelves a copy of the Corpus +Juris Civilis,--the fine Elzevir edition of 1664. It was bound in +parchment, and thus readily distinguishable at a glance from all the +books round it. Now Mr. Penhallow was not much of a Latin scholar, +and knew and cared very little about the civil law. He had fallen in +with this book at an auction, and bought it to place in his shelves +with the other "properties" of the office, because it would look +respectable. Anything shut up in one of those two octavos might stay +there a lifetime without Mr. Penhallow's disturbing it; that Master +Gridley knew, and of course the young man knew it too. + +We often move to the objects of supreme curiosity or desire, not in +the lines of castle or bishop on the chess-board, but with the +knight's zigzag, at first in the wrong direction, making believe to +ourselves we are not after the thing coveted. Put a lump of sugar in +a canary-bird's cage, and the small creature will illustrate the +instinct for the benefit of inquirers or sceptics. Byles Gridley +went to the other side of the room and took a volume of Reports from +the shelves. He put it back and took a copy of "Fearne on Contingent +Remainders," and looked at that for a moment in an idling way, as if +from a sense of having nothing to do. Then he drew the back of his +forefinger along the books on the shelf, as if nothing interested him +in them, and strolled to the shelf in front of the desk at which +Murray Bradshaw had stood. He took down the second volume of the +Corpus Juris Civilis, turned the leaves over mechanically, as if in +search of some title, and replaced it. + +He looked round for a moment. Mr. Penhallow was writing hard at his +table, not thinking of him, it was plain enough. He laid his hand on +the FIRST volume of the Corpus Juris Civilis. There was a document +shut up in it. His hand was on the book, whether taking it out or +putting it back was not evident, when the door opened and Mr. William +Murray Bradshaw entered. + +"Ah, Mr. Gridley," he said, "you are not studying the civil law, are +you?" He strode towards him as he spoke, his face white, his eyes +fixed fiercely on him. + +"It always interests me, Mr. Bradshaw," he answered, "and this is a +fine edition of it. One may find a great many valuable things in the +Corpus Juris Civilis." + +He looked impenetrable, and whether or not he had seen more than Mr. +Bradshaw wished him to see, that gentleman could not tell. But there +stood the two books in their place, and when, after Master Gridley +had gone, he looked in the first volume, there was the document he +had shut up in it. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +MYRTLE'S LETTER--THE YOUNG MEN'S PURSUIT. + +"You know all about it, Olive?" Cyprian Eveleth said to his sister, +after a brief word of greeting. + +"Know of what, Cyprian?" + +"Why, sister, don't you know that Myrtle Hazard is missing,--gone! +--gone nobody knows where, and that we are looking in all directions +to find her?" + +Olive turned very pale and was silent for a moment. At the end of +that moment the story seemed almost old to her. It was a natural +ending of the prison-life which had been round Myrtle since her +earliest years. When she got large and strong enough, she broke out +of jail,--that was all. The nursery-bar is always climbed sooner or +later, whether it is a wooden or an iron one. Olive felt as if she +had dimly foreseen just such a finishing to the tragedy of the poor +girl's home bringing-up. Why could not she have done something to +prevent it? Well,--what shall we do now, and as it is?--that is the +question. + +"Has she left no letter,--no explanation of her leaving in this way?" + +"Not a word, so far as anybody in the village knows." + +"Come over to the post-office with me; perhaps we may find a letter. +I think we shall." + +Olive's sagacity and knowledge of her friend's character had not +misled her. She found a letter from Myrtle to herself, which she +opened and read as here follows: + +MY DEAREST OLIVE:--Think no evil of me for what I have done. The +fire-hang-bird's nest, as Cyprian called it, is empty, and the poor +bird is flown. + +I can live as I have lived no longer. This place is chilling all the +life out of me, and I must find another home. It is far, far away, +and you will not hear from me again until I am there. Then I will +write to you. + +You know where I was born,--under a hot sun and in the midst of +strange, lovely scenes that I seem still to remember. I must visit +them again: my heart always yearns for them. And I must cross the +sea to get there,--the beautiful great sea that I have always longed +for and that my river has been whispering about to me ever so many +years. My life is pinched and starved here. I feel as old as aunt +Silence, and I am only fifteen,--a child she has called me within a +few days. If this is to be a child, what is it to be a woman? + +I love you dearly,--and your brother is almost to me as if he were +mine. I love our sweet, patient Bathsheba,--yes, and the old man +that has spoken so kindly with me, good Master Gridley; I hate to +give you pain,--to leave you all,--but my way of life is killing me, +and I am too young to die. I cannot take the comfort with you, my +dear friends, that I would; for it seems as if I carried a lump of +ice in my heart, and all the warmth I find in you cannot thaw it out. + +I have had a strange warning to leave this place, Olive. Do you +remember how the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph and told him to +flee into Egypt? I have had a dream like that, Olive. There is an +old belief in our family that the spirit of one who died many +generations ago watches over some of her descendants. They say it +led our first ancestor to come over here when it was a wilderness. I +believe it has appeared to others of the family in times of trouble. +I have had a strange dream at any rate, and the one I saw, or thought +I saw, told me to leave this place. Perhaps I should have stayed if +it had not been for that, but it seemed like an angel's warning. + +Nobody will know how I have gone, or which way I have taken. On +Monday, you may show this letter to my friends, not before. I do not +think they will be in danger of breaking their hearts for me at our +house. Aunt Silence cares for nothing but her own soul, and the +other woman hates me, I always thought. Kitty Fagan will cry hard. +Tell her perhaps I shall come back by and by. There is a little box +in my room, with some keepsakes marked,--one is for poor Kitty. You +can give them to the right ones. Yours is with them. + +Good-by, dearest. Keep my secret, as I told you, till Monday. And +if you never see me again, remember how much I loved you. Never +think hardly of me, for you have grown up in a happy home, and do not +know how much misery can be crowded into fifteen years of a young +girl's life. God be with you! + +MYRTLE HAZARD. + + +Olive could not restrain her tears, as she handed the letter to +Cyprian. "Her secret is as safe with you as with me," she said. +"But this is madness, Cyprian, and we must keep her from doing +herself a wrong. + +What she means to do, is to get to Boston, in some way or other, and +sail for India. It is strange that they have not tracked her. There +is no time to be lost. She shall not go out into the world in this +way, child that she is. No; she shall come back, and make her home +with us, if she cannot be happy with these people. Ours is a happy +and a cheerful home, and she shall be to me as a younger sister, and +your sister too, Cyprian. But you must see her; you must leave this +very hour; and you may find her. Go to your cousin Edward, in +Boston, at once; tell him your errand, and get him to help you find +our poor dear sister. Then give her the note I will write, and say I +know your heart, Cyprian, and I can trust that to tell you what to +say." + +In a very short time Cyprian Eveleth was on his way to Boston. But +another, keener even in pursuit than he, was there before him. + +Ever since the day when Master Gridley had made that over-curious +observation of the young lawyer's proceedings at the office, Murray +Bradshaw had shown a far livelier interest than before in the +conditions and feelings of Myrtle Hazard. He had called frequently +at The Poplars to talk over business matters, which seemed of late to +require a deal of talking. He had been very deferential to Miss +Silence, and had wound himself into the confidence of Miss Badlam. +He found it harder to establish any very near relations with Myrtle, +who had never seemed to care much for any young man but Cyprian +Eveleth, and to care for him quite as much as Olive's brother as for +any personal reason. But he carefully studied Myrtle's tastes and +ways of thinking and of life, so that, by and by, when she should +look upon herself as a young woman, and not as a girl, he would have +a great advantage in making her more intimate acquaintance. + +Thus, she corresponded with a friend of her mother's in India. She +talked at times as if it were her ideal home, and showed many tastes +which might well be vestiges of early Oriental impressions. She made +herself a rude hammock,--such as are often used in hot climates,--and +swung it between two elms. Here she would lie in the hot summer +days, and fan herself with the sandal-wood fan her friend in India +had sent her,--the perfume of which, the women said, seemed to throw +her into day-dreams, which were almost like trances. + +These circumstances gave a general direction to his ideas, which were +presently fixed more exactly by two circumstances which he learned +for himself and kept to himself; for he had no idea of making a hue +and cry, and yet he did not mean that Myrtle Hazard should get away +if he could help it. + +The first fact was this. He found among the copies of the city +newspaper they took at The Poplars a recent number from which a +square had been cut out. He procured another copy of this paper of +the same date, and found that the piece cut out was an advertisement +to the effect that the A 1 Ship Swordfish, Captain Hawkins, was to +sail from Boston for Calcutta, on the 20th of June. + +The second fact was the following. On the window-sill of her little +hanging chamber, which the women allowed him to inspect, he found +some threads of long, black, glossy hair caught by a splinter in the +wood. They were Myrtle's of course. A simpleton might have +constructed a tragedy out of this trivial circumstance,--how she had +cast herself from the window into the waters beneath it,--how she had +been thrust out after a struggle, of which this shred from her +tresses was the dreadful witness,--and so on. Murray Bradshaw did +not stop to guess and wonder. He said nothing about it, but wound +the shining threads on his finger, and, as soon as he got home, +examined them with a magnifier. They had been cut off smoothly, as +with a pair of scissors. This was part of a mass of hair, then, +which had been shorn and thrown from the window. Nobody would do +that but she herself. What would she do it for? To disguise her +sex, of course. The other inferences were plain enough. + +The wily young man put all these facts and hints together, and +concluded that be would let the rustics drag the ponds and the river, +and scour the woods and swamps, while he himself went to the seaport +town from which she would without doubt sail if she had formed the +project he thought on the whole most probable. + +Thus it was that we found him hurrying to the nearest station to +catch the train to Boston, while they were all looking for traces of +the missing girl nearer home. In the cars he made the most +suggestive inquiries he could frame, to stir up the gentlemanly +conductor's memory. Had any young fellow been on the train within a +day or two, who had attracted his notice? Smooth, handsome face, +black eyes, short black hair, new clothes, not fitting very well, +looked away when he paid his fare, had a soft voice like a woman's,-- +had he seen anybody answering to some such description as this? The +gentlemanly conductor had not noticed,--was always taking up and +setting down way-passengers,--might have had such a young man +aboard,--there was two or three students one day in the car singing +college songs,--he did n't care how folks looked if they had their +tickets ready,--and minded their own business,--and, so saying, he +poked a young man upon whose shoulder a ringleted head was reclining +with that delightful abandon which the railroad train seems to +provoke in lovely woman,--"Fare!" + +It is a fine thing to be set down in a great, overcrowded hotel, +where they do not know you, looking dusty, and for the moment shabby, +with nothing but a carpet-bag in your hand, feeling tired, and +anything but clean, and hungry, and worried, and every way miserable +and mean, and to undergo the appraising process of the gentleman in +the office, who, while he shoves the book round to you for your name, +is making a hasty calculation as to how high up he can venture to +doom you. But Murray Bradshaw's plain dress and carpet-bag were more +than made up for by the air and tone which imply the habit of being +attended to. The clerk saw that in a glance, and, as he looked at +the name and address in the book, spoke sharply in the explosive +dialect of his tribe,-- + +"Jun! ta'tha'genlm'n'scarpetbag'n'showhimupt'thirtyone!" + +When Cyprian Eveleth reached the same hotel late at night, he +appeared in his best clothes and with a new valise; but his amiable +countenance and gentle voice and modest manner sent him up two +stories higher, where he found himself in a room not much better than +a garret, feeling lonely enough, for he did not know he had an +acquaintance in the same house. The two young men were in and out so +irregularly that it was not very strange that they did not happen to +meet each other. + +The young lawyer was far more likely to find Myrtle if she were in +the city than the other, even with the help of his cousin Edward. He +was not only older, but sharper, better acquainted with the city and +its ways, and, whatever might be the strength of Cyprian's motives, +his own were of such intensity that he thought of nothing else by +day, and dreamed of nothing else by night. He went to work, +therefore, in the most systematic manner. He first visited the ship +Swordfish, lying at her wharf, saw her captain, and satisfied himself +that as yet nobody at all corresponding to the description of Myrtle +Hazard had been seen by any person on board. He visited all the +wharves, inquiring on every vessel where it seemed possible she might +have been looking about. Hotels, thoroughfares, every place where he +might hear of her or meet her, were all searched. He took some of +the police into his confidence, and had half a dozen pairs of eyes +besides his own opened pretty widely, to discover the lost girl. + +On Sunday, the 19th, he got the first hint which encouraged him to +think he was on the trail of his fugitive. He had gone down again to +the wharf where the Swordfish, advertised to sail the next day, was +lying. The captain was not on board, but one of the mates was there, +and he addressed his questions to him, not with any great hope of +hearing anything important, but determined to lose no chance, however +small. He was startled with a piece of information which gave him +such an exquisite pang of delight that he could hardly keep the usual +quiet of his demeanor. A youth corresponding to his description of +Myrtle Hazard in her probable disguise had been that morning on board +the Swordfish, making many inquires as to the hour at which she was +to sail, and who were to be the passengers, and remained some time on +board, going all over the vessel, examining her cabin accommodations, +and saying he should return to-morrow before she sailed,--doubtless +intending to take passage in her, as there was plenty of room on +board. There could be little question, from the description, who +this young person was. It was a rather delicate--looking, dark-- +haired youth, smooth-faced, somewhat shy and bashful in his ways, and +evidently excited and nervous. He had apparently been to look about +him, and would come back at the last moment, just as the vessel was +ready to sail, and in an hour or two be beyond the reach of inquiry. + +Murray Bradshaw returned to his hotel, and, going to his chamber, +summoned all his faculties in state council to determine what course +he should follow, now that he had the object of his search certainly +within reaching distance. There was no danger now of her eluding +him; but the grave question arose, what was he to do when he stood +face to face with her. She must not go,--that was fixed. If she +once got off in that ship, she might be safe enough; but what would +become of certain projects in which he was interested,--that was the +question. But again, she was no child, to be turned away from her +adventure by cajolery, or by any such threats as common truants would +find sufficient to scare them back to their duty. He could tell the +facts of her disguise and the manner of her leaving home to the +captain of the vessel, and induce him to send her ashore as a stray +girl, to be returned to her relatives. But this would only make her +furious with him; and he must not alienate her from himself, at any +rate. He might plead with her in the name of duty, for the sake of +her friends, for the good name of the family. She had thought all +these things over before she ran away. What if he should address her +as a lover, throw himself at her feet, implore her to pity him and +give up her rash scheme, and, if things came to the very worst, offer +to follow her wherever she went, if she would accept him in the only +relation that would render it possible. Fifteen years old,--he +nearly ten years older,--but such things had happened before, and +this was no time to stand on trifles. + +He worked out the hypothesis of the matrimonial offer as he would +have reasoned out the probabilities in a law case he was undertaking. + +1. He would rather risk that than lose all hold upon her. The girl +was handsome enough for his ambitious future, wherever it might carry +him. She came of an honorable family, and had the great advantage of +being free from a tribe of disagreeable relatives, which is such a +drawback on many otherwise eligible parties. To these considerations +were to be joined other circumstances which we need not here mention, +of a nature to add greatly to their force, and which would go far of +themselves to determine his action. + +2. How was it likely she would look on such an extraordinary +proposition? At first, no doubt, as Lady Anne looked upon the +advances of Richard. She would be startled, perhaps shocked. What +then? She could not help feeling flattered at such an offer from +him,--him, William Murray Bradshaw, the rising young man of his +county, at her feet, his eyes melting with the love he would throw +into them, his tones subdued to their most sympathetic quality, and +all those phrases on his lips which every day beguile women older and +more discreet than this romantic, long-imprisoned girl, whose rash +and adventurous enterprise was an assertion of her womanhood and her +right to dispose of herself as she chose. He had not lived to be +twenty-five years old without knowing his power with women. He +believed in himself so thoroughly, that his very confidence was a +strong promise of success. + +3. In case all his entreaties, arguments, and offers made no +impression, should he make use of that supreme resource, not to be +employed save in extreme need, but which was of a nature, in his +opinion, to shake a resolution stronger than this young girl was like +to oppose to it? That would be like Christian's coming to his weapon +called All-prayer, he said to himself, with a smile that his early +readings of Bunyan should have furnished him an image for so +different an occasion. The question was one he could not settle till +the time came,--he must leave it to the instinct of the moment. + +The next morning found him early waking after a night of feverish +dreams. He dressed himself with more than usual care, and walked +down to the wharf where the Swordfish was moored. The ship had left +the wharf, and was lying out in the stream: A small boat had just +reached her, and a slender youth, as he appeared at that distance, +climbed, not over-adroitly, up the vessel's side. + +Murray Bradshaw called to a boatman near by and ordered the man to +row him over as fast as he could to the vessel lying in the stream. +He had no sooner reached the deck of the Swordfish than he asked for +the young person who had just been put on board. + +"He is in the cabin, sir, just gone down with the captain," was the +reply. + +His heart beat, in spite of his cool temperament, as he went down the +steps leading to the cabin. The young person was talking earnestly +with the captain, and, on his turning round, Mr. William Murray +Bradshaw had the pleasure of recognizing his young friend, Mr. +Cyprian Eveleth. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +DOWN THE RIVER. + +Look at the flower of a morning-glory the evening before the dawn +which is to see it unfold. The delicate petals are twisted into a +spiral, which at the appointed hour, when the sunlight touches the +hidden springs of its life, will uncoil itself and let the day into +the chamber of its virgin heart. But the spiral must unwind by its +own law, and the hand that shall try to hasten the process will only +spoil the blossom which would have expanded in symmetrical beauty +under the rosy fingers of morning. + +We may take a hint from Nature's handling of the flower in dealing +with young souls, and especially with the souls of young girls, +which, from their organization and conditions, require more careful +treatment than those of their tougher-fibred brothers. Many parents +reproach themselves for not having enforced their own convictions on +their children in the face of every inborn antagonism they +encountered. Let them not be too severe in their self-condemnation. +A want of judgment in this matter has sent many a young person to +Bedlam, whose nature would have opened kindly enough if it had only +been trusted to the sweet influences of morning sunshine. In such +cases it may be that the state we call insanity is not always an +unalloyed evil. It may take the place of something worse, the +wretchedness of a mind not yet dethroned, but subject to the +perpetual interferences of another mind governed by laws alien and +hostile to its own. Insanity may perhaps be the only palliative left +to Nature in this extremity. But before she comes to that, she has +many expedients. The mind does not know what diet it can feed on +until it has been brought to the starvation point. Its experience is +like that of those who have been long drifting about on rafts or in +long-boats. There is nothing out of which it will not contrive to +get some sustenance. A person of note, long held captive for a +political offence, is said to have owed the preservation of his +reason to a pin, out of which he contrived to get exercise and +excitement by throwing it down carelessly on the dark floor of his +dungeon, and then hunting for it in a series of systematic +explorations until he had found it. + +Perhaps the most natural thing Myrtle Hazard could have done would +have been to go crazy, and be sent to the nearest asylum, if +Providence, which in its wisdom makes use of the most unexpected +agencies, had not made a special provision for her mental welfare. +She was in that arid household as the prophet in the land where there +was no dew nor rain for these long years. But as he had the brook +Cherith, and the bread and flesh in the morning and the bread and +flesh in the evening which the ravens brought him, so she had the +river and her secret store of books. + +The river was light and life and music and companionship to her. She +learned to row herself about upon it, to swim boldly in it, for it +had sheltered nooks but a little way above The Poplars. But there +was more than that in it,--it was infinitely sympathetic. A river is +strangely like a human soul. It has its dark and bright days, its +troubles from within, and its disturbances from without. It often +runs over ragged rocks with a smooth surface, and is vexed with +ripples as it slides over sands that are level as a floor. It +betrays its various moods by aspects which are the commonplaces of +poetry, as smiles and dimples and wrinkles and frowns. Its face is +full of winking eyes, when the scattering rain-drops first fall upon +it, and it scowls back at the storm-cloud, as with knitted brows, +when the winds are let loose. It talks, too, in its own simple +dialect, murmuring, as it were, with busy lips all the way to the +ocean, as children seeking the mother's breast and impatient of +delay. Prisoners who know what a flower or an insect has been to +them in their solitary cell, invalids who have employed their vacant +minds in studying the patterns of paper-hangings on the walls of +their sick-chambers, can tell what the river was to the lonely, +imaginative creature who used to sit looking into its depths, hour +after hour, from the airy height of the Fire-hang-bird's Nest. + +Of late a thought had mingled with her fancies which had given to the +river the aspect of something more than a friend and a companion. It +appeared all at once as a Deliverer. Did not its waters lead, after +long wanderings, to the great highway of the world, and open to her +the gates of those cities from which she could take her departure +unchallenged towards the lands of the morning or of the sunset? +Often, after a freshet, she had seen a child's miniature boat +floating down on its side past her window, and traced it in +imagination back to some crystal brook flowing by the door of a +cottage far up a blue mountain in the distance. So she now began to +follow down the stream the airy shallop that held her bright fancies. +These dreams of hers were colored by the rainbows of an enchanted +fountain,--the books of adventure, the romances, the stories which +fortune had placed in her hands,--the same over which the heart of +the Pride of the County had throbbed in the last century, and on the +pages of some of which the traces of her tears might still be seen. + +The literature which was furnished for Myrtle's improvement was +chiefly of a religious character, and, however interesting and +valuable to those to whom it was adapted, had not been chosen with +any wise regard to its fitness for her special conditions. Of what +use was it to offer books like the "Saint's Rest" to a child whose +idea of happiness was in perpetual activity? She read "Pilgrim's +Progress," it is true, with great delight. She liked the idea of +travelling with a pack on one's back, the odd shows at the House of +the interpreter, the fighting, the adventures, the pleasing young +ladies at the palace the name of which was Beautiful, and their very +interesting museum of curiosities. As for the allegorical meaning, +it went through her consciousness like a peck of wheat through a +bushel measure with the bottom out, without touching. + +But the very first book she got hold of out of the hidden treasury +threw the "Pilgrim's Progress" quite into the shade. It was the +story of a youth who ran away and lived on an island,--one Crusoe, +--a homely narrative, but evidently true, though full of remarkable +adventures. There too was the history, coming much nearer home, of +Deborah Sampson, the young woman who served as a soldier in the +Revolutionary War, with a portrait of her in man's attire, looking +intrepid rather than lovely. A virtuous young female she was, and +married well, as she deserved to, and raised a family with as good a +name as wife and mother as the best of them. But perhaps not one of +these books and stories took such hold of her imagination as the tale +of Rasselas, which most young persons find less entertaining than the +"Vicar of Wakefield," with which it is nowadays so commonly bound up. +It was the prince's discontent in the Happy Valley, the iron gate +opening to the sound of music, and closing forever on those it +admitted, the rocky boundaries of the imprisoning valley, the visions +of the world beyond, the projects of escape, and the long toil which +ended in their accomplishment, which haunted her sleeping and waking. +She too was a prisoner, but it was not in the Happy Valley. Of the +romances and the love-letters we must take it for granted that she +selected wisely, and read discreetly; at least we know nothing to the +contrary. + +There were mysterious reminiscences and hints of her past coming over +her constantly. It was in the course of the long, weary spring +before her disappearance, that a dangerous chord was struck which +added to her growing restlessness. In an old closet were some +seashells and coral-fans, and dried star-fishes and sea, horses, and +a natural mummy of a rough-skinned dogfish. She had not thought of +them for years, but now she felt impelled to look after them. The +dim sea odors which still clung to them penetrated to the very inmost +haunts of memory, and called up that longing for the ocean breeze +which those who have once breathed and salted their blood with it +never get over, and which makes the sweetest inland airs seem to them +at last tame and tasteless. She held a tigershell to her ear, and +listened to that low, sleepy murmur, whether in the sense or in the +soul we hardly know, like that which had so often been her lullaby, +--a memory of the sea, as Landor and Wordsworth have sung. + +"You are getting to look like your father," Aunt Silence said one +day; "I never saw it before. I always thought you took after old +Major Gideon Withers. Well, I hope you won't come to an early grave +like poor Charles,--or at any rate, that you may be prepared." + +It did not seem very likely that the girl was going out of the world +at present, but she looked Miss Silence in the face very seriously, +and said, "Why not an early grave, Aunt, if this world is such a bad +place as you say it is?" + +"I'm afraid you are not fit for a better." + +She wondered if Silence Withers and Cynthia Badlam were just ripe for +heaven. + +For some months Miss Cynthia Badlam, who, as was said, had been an +habitual visitor at The Poplars, had lived there as a permanent +resident. Between her and Silence Withers, Myrtle Hazard found no +rest for her soul. Each of them was for untwisting the morning-glory +without waiting for the sunshine to do it. Each had her own wrenches +and pincers to use for that purpose. All this promised little for +the nurture and admonition of the young girl, who, if her will could +not be broken by imprisonment and starvation at three years old, was +not likely to be over-tractable to any but gentle and reasonable +treatment at fifteen. + +Aunt Silence's engine was responsibility,--her own responsibility, +and the dreadful consequences which would follow to her, Silence, if +Myrtle should in any way go wrong. Ever since her failure in that +moral coup d'etat by which the sinful dynasty of the natural self- +determining power was to be dethroned, her attempts in the way of +education had been a series of feeble efforts followed by plaintive +wails over their utter want of success. The face she turned upon the +young girl in her solemn expostulations looked as if it were +inscribed with the epitaphs of hope and virtue. Her utterances were +pitched in such a forlorn tone, that the little bird in his cage, who +always began twittering at the sound of Myrtle's voice, would stop in +his song, and cock his head with a look of inquiry full of pathos, as +if he wanted to know what was the matter, and whether he could do +anything to help. + +The specialty of Cynthia Badlam was to point out all the dangerous +and unpardonable trangressions into which young people generally, and +this young person in particular, were likely to run, to hold up +examples of those who had fallen into evil ways and come to an evil +end, to present the most exalted standard of ascetic virtue to the +lively girl's apprehension, leading her naturally to the conclusion +that a bright example of excellence stood before her in the +irreproachable relative who addressed her. Especially with regard to +the allurements which the world offers to the young and inexperienced +female, Miss Cynthia Badlam was severe and eloquent. Sometimes poor +Myrtle would stare, not seeing the meaning of her wise caution, +sometimes look at Miss Cynthia with a feeling that there was +something about her that was false and forced, that she had nothing +in common with young people, that she had no pity for them, only +hatred of their sins, whatever these might be,--a hatred which seemed +to extend to those sources of frequent temptation, youth and beauty, +as if they were in themselves objectionable. + +Both the lone women at The Poplars were gifted with a thin vein of +music. They gave it expression in psalmody, of course, in which +Myrtle, who was a natural singer, was expected to bear her part. +This would have been pleasantry if the airs most frequently selected +had been cheerful or soothing, and if the favorite hymns had been of +a sort to inspire a love for what was lovely in this life, and to +give some faint foretaste of the harmonies of a better world to come. +But there is a fondness for minor keys and wailing cadences common to +the monotonous chants of cannibals and savages generally, to such +war-songs as the wild, implacable "Marseillaise," and to the favorite +tunes of low--spirited Christian pessimists. That mournful "China," +which one of our most agreeable story-tellers has justly singled out +as the cry of despair itself, was often sung at The Poplars, sending +such a sense of utter misery through the house, that poor Kitty Fagan +would cross herself, and wring her hands, and think of funerals, and +wonder who was going to die,--for she fancied she heard the Banshee's +warning in those most dismal ululations. + +On the first Saturday of June, a fortnight before her disappearance, +Myrtle strolled off by the river shore, along its lonely banks, and +came dome with her hands full of leaves and blossoms. Silence +Withers looked at them as if they were a kind of melancholy +manifestation of frivolity on the part of the wicked old earth. Not +that she did not inhale their faint fragrance with a certain +pleasure, and feel their beauty as none whose souls are not wholly +shriveled and hardened can help doing, but the world was, in her +estimate, a vale of tears, and it was only by a momentary +forgetfulness that she could be moved to smile at anything. + +Miss Cynthia, a sharper-edged woman, had formed the habit of crushing +everything for its moral, until it lost its sweetness and grew almost +odious, as flower-de-luces do when handled roughly. "There's a worm +in that leaf, Myrtle. He has rolled it all round him, and hidden +himself from sight; but there is a horrid worm in it, for all it is +so young and fresh. There is a worm in every young soul, Myrtle." + +"But there is not a worm in every leaf, Miss Cynthia. Look," she +said," all these are open, and you can see all over and under them, +and there is nothing there. Are there never any worms in the leaves +after they get old and yellow, Miss Cynthia?" + +That was a pretty fair hit for a simple creature of fifteen, but +perhaps she was not so absolutely simple as one might have thought. + +It was on the evening of this same day that they were sitting +together. The sweet season was opening, and it seemed as if the +whispering of the leaves, the voices of the birds, the softness of +the air, the young life stirring in everything, called on all +creatures to join the universal chorus of praise that was going up +around them. + +"What shall we sing this evening?" said Miss Silence. + +"Give me one of the books, if you please, Cousin Silence," said Miss +Cynthia." It is Saturday evening. Holy time has begun. Let us +prepare our minds for the solemnities of the Sabbath." + +She took the book, one well known to the schools and churches of this +nineteenth century. + +"Book Second. Hymn 44. Long metre. I guess 'Putney' will be as +good a tune as any to sing it to." + +The trio began,-- + + "With holy fear, and humble song," + +and got through the first verse together pretty well. Then came the +second verse: + + "Far in the deep where darkness dwells, + The land of horror and despair, + Justice has built a dismal hell, + And laid her stores of vengeance there." + +Myrtle's voice trembled a little in singing this verse, and she +hardly kept up her part with proper spirit. + +"Sing out, Myrtle," said Miss Cynthia, and she struck up the third +verse: + + "Eternal plagues and heavy chains, + Tormenting racks and fiery coals, + And darts t' inflict immortal pains, + Dyed in the blood of damned souls." + +This last verse was a duet, and not a trio. Myrtle closed her lips +while it was singing, and when it was done threw down the book with a +look of anger and disgust. The hunted soul was at bay. + +"I won't sing such words," she said, "and I won't stay here to hear +them sung. The boys in the streets say just such words as that, and +I am not going to sing them. You can't scare me into being good with +your cruel hymn-book!" + +She could not swear: she was not a boy. She would not cry: she felt +proud, obdurate, scornful, outraged. All these images, borrowed from +the holy Inquisition, were meant to frighten her--and had simply +irritated her. The blow of a weapon that glances off, stinging, but +not penetrating, only enrages. It was a moment of fearful danger to +her character, to her life itself. + +Without heeding the cries of the two women, she sprang up-stairs to +her hanging chamber. She threw open the window and looked down into +the stream. For one moment her head swam with the sudden, +overwhelming, almost maddening thought that came over her,--the +impulse to fling herself headlong into those running waters and dare +the worst these dreadful women had threatened her with. Something +she often thought afterwards it was an invisible hand held her back +during that brief moment, and the paroxysm--just such a paroxysm as +throws many a young girl into the Thames or the Seine--passed away. +She remained looking, in a misty dream, into the water far below. +Its murmur recalled the whisper of the ocean waves. And through the +depths it seemed as if she saw into that strange, half--remembered +world of palm-trees and white robes and dusky faces, and amidst them, +looking upon her with ineffable love and tenderness, until all else +faded from her sight, the face of a fair woman,--was it hers, so +long, long dead, or that dear young mother's who was to her less a +recollection than a dream? + +Could it have been this vision that soothed her, so that she +unclasped her hands and lifted her bowed head as if she had heard a +voice whispering to her from that unknown world where she felt there +was a spirit watching over her? At any rate, her face was never more +serene than when she went to meeting with the two maiden ladies on +the following day, Sunday, and heard the Rev. Mr. Stoker preach a +sermon from Luke vii. 48, which made both the women shed tears, but +especially so excited Miss Cynthia that she was in a kind of half- +hysteric condition all the rest of the day. + +After that Myrtle was quieter and more docile than ever before. +Could it be, Miss Silence thought, that the Rev. Mr. Stoker's sermon +had touched her hard heart? However that was, she did not once wear +the stormy look with which she had often met the complaining +remonstrances Miss Silence constantly directed against all the +spontaneous movements of the youthful and naturally vivacious subject +of her discipline. + +June is an uncertain month, as everybody knows, and there were frosts +in many parts of New England in the June of 1859. But there were +also beautiful days and nights, and the sun was warm enough to be +fast ripening the strawberries,--also certain plans which had been in +flower some little time. Some preparations had been going on in a +quiet way, so that at the right moment a decisive movement could be +made. Myrtle knew how to use her needle, and always had a dexterous +way of shaping any article of dress or ornament,--a natural gift not +very rare, but sometimes very needful, as it was now. + +On the morning of the 15th of June she was wandering by the shores of +the river, some distance above The Poplars, when a boat came drifting +along by her, evidently broken loose from its fastenings farther up +the stream. It was common for such waifs to show themselves after +heavy rains had swollen the river. They might have run the gauntlet +of nobody could tell how many farms, and perhaps passed by half a +dozen towns and villages in the night, so that, if of common, cheap +make, they were retained without scruple, by any who might find them, +until the owner called for them, if he cared to take the trouble. + +Myrtle took a knife from her pocket, cut down a long, slender +sapling, and coaxed the boat to the side of the bank. A pair of old +oars lay in the bottom of the boat; she took one of these and paddled +it into a little cove, where it could lie hid among the thick alders. +Then she went home and busied herself about various little matters +more interesting to her than to us. + +She was never more amiable and gracious than on this day. But she +looked often at the clock, as they remembered afterwards, and studied +over a copy of the Farmer's Almanac which was lying in the kitchen, +with a somewhat singular interest. The days were nearly at their +longest, the weather was mild, the night promised to be clear and +bright. + +The household was, to all appearance, asleep at the usual early hour. +When all seemed quiet, Myrtle lighted her lamp, stood before her +mirror, and untied the string that bound her long and beautiful. +dark hair, which fell in its abundance over her shoulders and below +her girdle. + +She lifted its heavy masses with one hand, and severed it with a +strong pair of scissors, with remorseless exaction of every wandering +curl, until she stood so changed by the loss of that outward glory of +her womanhood, that she felt as if she had lost herself and found a +brother she had never seen before. + +"Good-by, Myrtle!" she said, and, opening her window very gently, she +flung the shining tresses upon the running water, and watched them +for a few moments as they floated down the stream. Then she dressed +herself in the character of her imaginary brother, took up the +carpet-bag in which she had placed what she chose to carry with her, +stole softly down-stairs, and let herself out of a window on the +lower floor, shutting it very carefully so as to be sure that nobody +should be disturbed. + +She glided along, looking all about her, fearing she might be seen by +some curious wanderer, and reached the cove where the boat she had +concealed was lying. She got into it, and, taking the rude oars, +pulled herself into the middle of the swollen stream. Her heart beat +so that it seemed to her as if she could hear it between the strokes +of the oar. The lights were not all out in the village, and she +trembled lest she should see the figure of some watcher looking from +the windows in sight of which she would have to pass, and that a +glimpse of this boat stealing along at so late an hour might give the +clue to the secret of her disappearance, with which the whole region +was to be busied in the course of the next day. + +Presently she came abreast of The Poplars. The house lay so still, +so peaceful,--it would wake to such dismay! The boat slid along +beneath her own overhanging chamber. + +"No song to-morrow from the Fire-hang-bird's Nest!" she said. So she +floated by the slumbering village, the flow of the river carrying her +steadily on, and the careful strokes of the oars adding swiftness to +her flight. + +At last she came to the "Broad Meadows," and knew that she was alone, +and felt confident that she had got away unseen. There was nothing, +absolutely nothing, to point out which way she had gone. Her boat +came from nobody knew where, her disguise had been got together at +different times in such a manner as to lead to no suspicion, and not +a human being ever had the slightest hint that she had planned and +meant to carry out the enterprise which she had now so fortunately +begun. + +Not till the last straggling house had been long past, not till the +meadows were stretched out behind her as well as before her, +spreading far off into the distance on each side, did she give way to +the sense of wild exultation which was coming fast over her. But +then, at last, she drew a long, long breath, and, standing up in the +boat, looked all around her. The stars were shining over her head +and deep down beneath her. The cool wind came fresh upon her cheek +over the long grassy reaches. No living thing moved in all the wide +level circle which lay about her. She had passed the Red Sea, and +was alone in the Desert. + +She threw down her oars, lifted her hands like a priestess, and her +strong, sweet voice burst into song,--the song of the Jewish maiden +when she went out before the chorus of, women and sang that grand +solo, which we all remember in its ancient words, and in their modern +paraphrase, + + "Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea! + Jehovah hath triumphed, his people are free!" + +The poor child's repertory was limited to songs of the religious sort +mainly, but there was a choice among these. Her aunt's favorites, +beside "China," already mentioned, were "Bangor," which the worthy +old New England clergyman so admired that he actually had the down- +east city called after it, and "Windsor," and "Funeral Hymn." But +Myrtle was in no mood for these. She let off her ecstasy in +"Balerma," and "Arlington," and "Silver Street," and at last in that +most riotous of devotional hymns, which sounds as if it had been +composed by a saint who had a cellar under his chapel,--"Jordan." So +she let her wild spirits run loose; and then a tenderer feeling stole +over her, and she sang herself into a more tranquil mood with the +gentle music of "Dundee." And again she pulled quietly and steadily +at her oars, until she reached the wooded region through which the +river winds after leaving the "Broad Meadows." + +The tumult in her blood was calmed, yet every sense and faculty was +awake to the manifold delicious, mysterious impressions of that +wonderful June night, The stars were shining between the tall trees, +as if all the jewels of heaven had been set in one belt of midnight +sky. The voices of the wind, as they sighed through the pines, +seemed like the breath of a sleeping child, and then, as they lisped +from the soft, tender leaves of beeches and maples, like the half- +articulate whisper of the mother hushing all the intrusive sounds +that might awaken it. Then came the pulsating monotone of the frogs +from a far-off pool, the harsh cry of an owl from an old tree that +overhung it, the splash of a mink or musquash, and nearer by, the +light step of a woodchuck, as he cantered off in his quiet way to his +hole in the nearest bank. The laurels were just coming into bloom,-- +the yellow lilies, earlier than their fairer sisters, pushing their +golden cups through the water, not content, like those, to float on +the surface of the stream that fed them, emblems of showy wealth, +and, like that, drawing all manner of insects to feed upon them. The +miniature forests of ferns came down to the edge of the stream, their +tall, bending plumes swaying in the night breeze. Sweet odors from +oozing pines, from dewy flowers, from spicy leaves, stole out of the +tangled thickets, and made the whole scene more dream-like with their +faint, mingled suggestions. + +By and by the banks of the river grew lower and marshy, and in place +of the larger forest-trees which had covered them stood slender +tamaracks, sickly, mossy, looking as if they had been moon-struck and +were out of their wits, their tufts of leaves staring off every way +from their spindling branches. The winds came cool and damp out of +the hiding-places among their dark recesses. The country people +about here called this region the "Witches' Hollow," and had many +stories about the strange things that happened there. The Indians +used to hold their "powwows," or magical incantations, upon a broad +mound which rose out of the common level, and where some old hemlocks +and beeches formed a dark grove, which served them as a temple for +their demon-worship. There were many legends of more recent date +connected with this spot, some of them hard to account for, and no +superstitious or highly imaginative person would have cared to pass +through it alone in the dead of the night, as this young girl was +doing. + +She knew nothing of all these fables and fancies. Her own singular +experiences in this enchanted region were certainly not suggested by +anything she had heard, and may be considered psychologically curious +by those who would not think of attributing any mystical meaning to +them. We are at liberty to report many things without attempting to +explain them, or committing ourselves to anything beyond the fact +that so they were told us. The reader will find Myrtle's "Vision," +as written out at a later period from her recollections, at the end +of this chapter. + +The night was passing, and she meant to be as far away as possible +from the village she had left, before morning. But the boat, like +all craft on country rivers, was leaky, and she had to work until +tired, bailing it out, before she was ready for another long effort. +The old tin measure, which was all she had to bail with, leaked as +badly as the boat, and her task was a tedious one. At last she got +it in good trim, and sat down to her oars with the determination to +pull steadily as long as her strength would hold out. + +Hour after hour she kept at her work, sweeping round the long bends +where the river was hollowing out one bank and building new shore on +the opposite one, so as gradually to shift its channel; by clipper- +shaped islands, sharp at the bows looking up stream, sharp too at the +stern, looking down,--their shape solving the navigator's problem of +least resistance, as a certain young artist had pointed out; by +slumbering villages; by outlying farm-houses; between cornfields +where the young plants were springing up in little thready fountains; +in the midst of stumps where the forest had just been felled; through +patches, where the fire of the last great autumnal drought had turned +all the green beauty of the woods into brown desolation; and again +amidst broad expanses of open meadow stretching as far as the eye +could reach in the uncertain light. A faint yellow tinge was +beginning to stain the eastern horizon. Her boat was floating +quietly along, for she had at last taken in her oars, and she was now +almost tired out with toil and excitement. She rested her head upon +her hands, and felt her eyelids closing in spite of herself. And now +there stole upon her ear a low, gentle, distant murmur, so soft that +it seemed almost to mingle with the sound of her own breathing, but +so steady, so uniform, that it soothed her to sleep, as if it were +the old cradle-song the ocean used to sing to her, or the lullaby of +her fair young mother. + +So she glided along, slowly, slowly, down the course of the winding +river, and the flushing dawn kindled around her as she slumbered, and +the low, gentle murmur grew louder and louder, but still she slept, +dreaming of the murmuring ocean. + + + + +APPENDIX TO CHAPTER VIII. + +MYRTLE HAZARD'S STATEMENT. + +"A Vision seen by me, Myrtle Hazard, aged fifteen, on the night of +June 15, 1859. Written out at the request of a friend from my +recollections. + +"The place where I saw these sights is called, as I have been told +since, Witches' Hollow. I had never been there before, and did not +know that it was called so, or anything about it. + +"The first strange thing that I noticed was on coming near a kind of +hill or mound that rose out of the low meadows. I saw a burning +cross lying on the slope of that mound. It burned with a pale +greenish light, and did not waste, though I watched it for a long +time, as the boat I was in moved slowly with the current and I had +stopped rowing. + +"I know that my eyes were open, and I was awake while I was looking +at this cross. I think my eyes were open when I saw these other +appearances, but I felt just as if I were dreaming while awake. + +"I heard a faint rustling sound, and on looking up I saw many figures +moving around me, and I seemed to see myself among them as if I were +outside of myself. + +"The figures did not walk, but slid or glided with an even movement, +as if without any effort. They made many gestures, and seemed to +speak, but I cannot tell whether I heard what they said, or knew its +meaning in some other way. + +"I knew the faces of some of these figures. They were the same I +have seen in portraits, as long as I can remember, at the old house +where I was brought up, called The Poplars. I saw my father and my +mother as they look in the two small pictures; also my grandmother, +and her father and mother and grandfather, and one other person, who +lived a great while ago. All of these have been long dead, and the +longer they had been dead the less like substance they looked and the +more like shadows, so that the oldest was like one's breath of a +frosty morning, but shaped like the living figure. + +"There was no motion of their breasts, and their lips seemed to be +moving as if they were saying, Breath! Breath! Breath! I thought +they wanted to breathe the air of this world again in my shape, which +I seemed to see as it were empty of myself and of these other selves, +like a sponge that has water pressed out of it. + +"Presently it seemed to me that I returned to myself, and then those +others became part of me by being taken up, one by one, and so lost +in my own life. + +"My father and mother came up, hand in hand, looking more real than +any of the rest. Their figures vanished, and they seemed to have +become a part of me; for I felt all at once the longing to live over +the life they had led, on the sea and in strange countries. + +"Another figure was just like the one we called the Major, who was a +very strong, hearty-looking man, and who is said to have drank hard +sometimes, though there is nothing about it on his tombstone, which I +used to read in the graveyard. It seemed to me that there was +something about his life that I did not want to make a part of mine, +but that there was some right he had in me through my being of his +blood, and so his health and his strength went all through me, and I +was always to have what was left of his life in that shadow-like +shape, forming a portion of mine. + +"So in the same way with the shape answering to the portrait of that +famous beauty who was the wife of my great-grandfather, and used to +be called the Pride of the County. + +"And so too with another figure which had the face of that portrait +marked on the back, Ruth Bradford, who married one of my ancestors, +and was before the court, as I have heard, in the time of the +witchcraft trials. + +"There was with the rest a dark, wild-looking woman, with a head- +dress of feathers. She kept as it were in shadow, but I saw +something of my own features in her face. + +"It was on my mind very strongly that the shape of that woman of our +blood who was burned long ago by the Papists came very close to me, +and was in some way made one with mine, and that I feel her presence +with me since, as if she lived again in me; but not always,--only at +times,--and then I feel borne up as if I could do anything in the +world. I had a feeling as if she were my guardian and protector. + +"It seems to me that these, and more, whom I have not mentioned, do +really live over some part of their past lives in my life. I do not +understand it all, and perhaps it can be accounted for in some way I +have not thought of. I write it down as nearly as I can give it from +memory, by request, and if it is printed at this time had rather have +all the real names withheld. + +"MYRTLE HAZARD." + + +NOTE BY THE FRIEND. + +"This statement must be accounted for in some way, or pass into the +category of the supernatural. Probably it was one of those +intuitions, with objective projection, which sometimes come to +imaginative young persons, especially girls, in certain exalted +nervous conditions. The study of the portraits, with the knowledge +of some parts of the history of the persons they represented, and the +consciousness of instincts inherited in all probability from these +same ancestors, formed the basis of Myrtle's 'Vision.' The lives of +our progenitors are, as we know, reproduced in different proportions +in ourselves. Whether they as individuals have any consciousness of +it, is another matter. It is possible that they do get a second as +it were fractional life in us. It might seem that many of those +whose blood flows in our veins struggle for the mastery, and by and +by one or more get the predominance, so that we grow to be like +father, or mother, or remoter ancestor, or two or more are blended in +us, not to the exclusion, however, it must be understood, of a +special personality of our own, about which these others are grouped. +Independently of any possible scientific value, this 'Vision' serves +to illustrate the above-mentioned fact of common experience, which is +not sufficiently weighed by most moralists. + +"How much it may be granted to certain young persons to see, not in +virtue of their intellectual gifts, but through those direct channels +which worldly wisdom may possibly close to the luminous influx, each +reader must determine for himself by his own standards of faith and +evidence. + +"One statement of the narrative admits of a simple natural +explanation, which does not allow the lovers of the marvellous to +class it with the quasi-miraculous appearance seen by Colonel +Gardiner, and given in full by Dr. Doddridge in his Life of that +remarkable Christian soldier. Decaying wood is often phosphorescent, +as many readers must have seen for themselves. The country people +are familiar with the sight of it in wild timber-land, and have given +it the name of 'Fox-fire.' Two trunks of trees in this state, lying +across each other, will account for the fact observed, and vindicate +the truth of the young girl's story without requiring us to suppose +any exceptional occurrence outside of natural laws." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +MR. CLEMENT LINDSAY RECEIVES A LETTER, AND BEGINS HIS ANSWER. + +It was already morning when a young man living in the town of +Alderbank, after lying awake for an hour thinking the unutterable +thoughts that nineteen years of life bring to the sleeping and waking +dreams of young people, rose from his bed, and, half dressing +himself, sat down at his desk, from which he took a letter, which he +opened and read. It was written in a delicate, though hardly formed +female hand, and crossed like a checker-board, as is usual with these +redundant manuscripts. The letter was as follows: + + +OXBOW VILLAGE, June 13, 1859. + +MY DEAREST CLEMENT,--You was so good to write me such a sweet little +bit of a letter,--only, dear, you never seem to be in quite so good +spirits as you used to be. I wish your Susie was with you to cheer +you up; but no, she must be patient, and you must be patient too, for +you are so ambitious! I have heard you say so many times that nobody +could be a great artist without passing years and years at work, and +growing pale and lean with thinking so hard. You won't grow pale and +lean, I hope; for I do so love to see that pretty color in your +cheeks you have always had ever since I have known you; and besides, +I do not believe you will have to work so very hard to do something +great,--you have so much genius, and people of genius do such +beautiful things with so little trouble. You remember those +beautiful lines out of our newspaper I sent you? Well, Mr. Hopkins +told me he wrote those lines in one evening without stopping! I wish +you could see Mr. Hopkins,--he is a very talented person. I cut out +this little piece about him from the paper on purpose to show you, +--for genius loves genius,--and you would like to hear him read his +own poetry,--he reads it beautifully. Please send this piece from +the paper back, as I want to put it in my scrapbook, under his +autograph:-- + +"Our young townsman, Mr. Gifted Hopkins, has proved himself worthy of +the name he bears. His poetical effusions are equally creditable to +his head and his heart, displaying the highest order of genius and +powers of imagination and fancy hardly second to any writer of the +age. He is destined to make a great sensation in the world of +letters." + + +Mrs. Hopkins is the same good soul she always was. She is very proud +of her son, as is natural, and keeps a copy of everything he writes. +I believe she cries over them every time she reads them. You don't +know how I take to little Sossy and Minthy, those two twins I have +written to you about before. Poor little creatures,--what a cruel +thing it was in their father and mother not to take care of them! +What do you think? Old bachelor Gridley lets them come up into his +room, and builds forts and castles for them with his big books! "The +world's coming to an end," Mrs. Hopkins said the first time he did +so. He looks so savage with that scowl of his, and talks so gruff +when he is scolding at things in general, that nobody would have +believed he would have let such little things come anywhere near him. +But he seems to be growing kind to all of us and everybody. I saw +him talking to the Fire-hang-bird the other day. You know who the +Fire-hang-bird is, don't you? Myrtle Hazard her name is. I wish you +could see her. I don't know as I do, though. You would want to make +a statue of her, or a painting, I know. She is so handsome that all +the young men stand round to see her come out of meeting. Some say +that Lawyer Bradshaw is after her; but my! he is ten years older than +she is. She is nothing but a girl, though she looks as if she was +eighteen. She lives up at a place called The Poplars, with an old +woman that is her aunt or something, and nobody seems to be much +acquainted with her except Olive Eveleth, who is the minister's +daughter at Saint Bartholomew's Church. She never has beauxs round +her, as some young girls do--they say that she is not happy with her +aunt and another woman that stays with her, and that is the reason +she keeps so much to herself. The minister came to see me the other +day,--Mr. Stoker his name is. I was all alone, and it frightened me, +for he looks, oh, so solemn on Sundays! But he called me "My dear," +and did n't say anything horrid, you know, about my being such a +dreadful, dreadful sinner, as I have heard of his saying to some +people,--but he looked very kindly at me, and took my hand, and laid +his hand on my shoulder like a brother, and hoped I would come and +see him in his study. I suppose I must go, but I don't want to. I +don't seem to like him exactly. + +I hope you love me as well as ever you did. I can't help feeling +sometimes as if you was growing away from me,--you know what I mean, +--getting to be too great a person for such a small person as I am. + +I know I can't always understand you when you talk about art, and +that you know a great deal too much for such a simple girl as I am. +Oh, if I thought I could never make you happy!... There, now! I am +almost ashamed to send this paper so spotted. Gifted Hopkins wrote +some beautiful verses one day on "A Maiden Weeping." He compared the +tears falling from her eyes to the drops of dew which one often sees +upon the flowers in the morning. Is n't it a pretty thought? + +I wish I loved art as well as I do poetry; but I am afraid I have not +so much taste as some girls have. You remember how I liked that +picture in the illustrated magazine, and you said it was horrid. I +have been afraid since to like almost anything, for fear you should +tell me some time or other it was horrid. Don't you think I shall +ever learn to know what is nice from what is n't? + +Oh, dear Clement, I wish you would do one thing to please me. Don't +say no, for you can do everything you try to,--I am sure you can. I +want you to write me some poetry,--just three or four little verses +TO SUZIE. Oh, I should feel so proud to have some lines written all +on purpose for me. Mr. Hopkins wrote some the other day, and printed +them in the paper, "To M ---e." I believe he meant them for Myrtle, +--the first and last letter of her name, you see, "M "and "e." + +Your letter was a dear one, only so short! I wish yon would tell me +all about what you are doing at Alderbank. Have you made that model +of Innocence that is to have my forehead, and hair parted like mine! +Make it pretty, do, that is a darling. + +Now don't make a face at my letter. It is n't a very good one, I +know; but your poor little Susie does the best she can, and she loves +you so much! + +Now do be nice and write me one little bit of a mite of a poem,--it +will make me just as happy! + +I am very well, and as happy as I can be when you are away. + +Your affectionate SUSIE. + +(Directed to Mr. Clement Lindsay, Alderbank.) + + +The envelope of this letter was unbroken, as was before said, when +the young man took it from his desk. He did not tear it with the hot +impatience of some lovers, but cut it open neatly, slowly, one would +say sadly. He read it with an air of singular effort, and yet with a +certain tenderness. When he had finished it, the drops were thick on +his forehead; he groaned and put his hands to his face, which was +burning red. + +This was what the impulse of boyhood, years ago, had brought him to! +He was a stately youth, of noble bearing, of high purpose, of +fastidious taste; and, if his broad forehead, his clear, large blue +eyes, his commanding features, his lips, firm, yet plastic to every +change of thought and feeling, were not an empty mask, might not +improbably claim that Promethean quality of which the girl's letter +had spoken,--the strange, divine, dread gift of genius. + +This poor, simple, innocent, trusting creature, so utterly incapable +of coming into any true relation with his aspiring mind, his large +and strong emotions,--this mere child, all simplicity and goodness, +but trivial and shallow as the little babbling brooklet that ran by +his window to the river, to lose its insignificant being in the swift +torrent he heard rushing over the rocks,--this pretty idol for a weak +and kindly and easily satisfied worshipper, was to be enthroned as +the queen of his affections, to be adopted as the companion of his +labors! The boy, led by the commonest instinct, the mere attraction +of biped to its female, which accident had favored, had thrown away +the dearest possession of manhood,--liberty,--and this bauble was to +be his lifelong reward! And yet not a bauble either, for a pleasing +person and a gentle and sweet nature, which had once made her seem to +him the very paragon of loveliness, were still hers. Alas! her +simple words were true,--he had grown away from her. Her only fault +was that she had not grown with him, and surely he could not reproach +her with that. + +"No," he said to himself, "I will never leave her so long as her +heart clings to me. I have been rash, but she shall not pay the +forfeit. And if I may think of myself, my life need not be wretched +because she cannot share all my being with me. The common human +qualities are more than all exceptional gifts. She has a woman's +heart; and what talent of mine is to be named by the love a true +woman can offer in exchange for these divided and cold affections? +If it had pleased God to mate me with one more equal in other ways, +who could share my thoughts, who could kindle my inspiration, who had +wings to rise into the air with me as well as feet to creep by my +side upon the earth,--what cannot such a woman do for a man! + +"What! cast away the flower I took in the bud because it does not +show as I hoped it would when it opened? I will stand by my word; I +will be all as a man that I promised as a boy. Thank God, she is +true and pure and sweet. My nest will be a peaceful one; but I must +take wing alone,--alone." + +He drew one long sigh, and the cloud passed from his countenance. He +must answer that letter now, at once. There were reasons, he +thought, which made it important. And so, with the cheerfulness +which it was kind and becoming to show, so far as possible, and yet +with a little excitement on one particular point, which was the cause +of his writing so promptly, he began his answer. + + +ALDERBANK, Thursday morning, June 16, 1859. + +MY DEAR SUSIE,--I have just been reading your pleasant letter; and if +I do not send you the poem you ask for so eloquently, I will give you +a little bit of advice, which will do just as well,--won't it, my +dear? I was interested in your account of various things going on at +Oxbow Village. I am very glad you find young Mr. Hopkins so +agreeable a friend. His poetry is better than some which I see +printed in the village papers, and seems generally unexceptionable in +its subjects and tone. I do not believe he is a dangerous companion, +though the habit of writing verse does not always improve the +character. I think I have seen it make more than one of my +acquaintances idle, conceited, sentimental, and frivolous,--perhaps +it found them so already. Don't make too much of his talent, and +particularly don't let him think that because he can write verses he +has nothing else to do in this world. That is for his benefit, dear, +and you must skilfully apply it. + +Now about yourself. My dear Susie, there was something in your +letter that did not please me. You speak of a visit from the Rev. +Mr. Stoker, and of his kind, brotherly treatment, his cordiality of +behavior, and his asking you to visit him in his study. I am very +glad to hear you say that you "don't seem to like him." He is very +familiar, it seems to me, for so new an acquaintance. What business +had he to be laying his hand on your shoulder? I should like to see +him try these free-and-easy ways in my presence! He would not have +taken that liberty, my dear! No, he was alone with you, and thought +it safe to be disrespectfully familiar. I want you to maintain your +dignity always with such persons, and I beg you not to go to the +study of this clergyman, unless some older friend goes with you on +every occasion, and sits through the visit. I must speak plainly to +you, my dear, as I have a right to. If the minister has anything of +importance to say, let it come through the lips of some mature +person. It may lose something of the fervor with which it would have +been delivered at first hand, but the great rules of Christian life +are not so dependent on the particular individual who speaks them, +that you must go to this or that young man to find out what they are. +If to any man, I should. prefer the old gentleman whom you have +mentioned in your letters, Father Pemberton. You understand me, my +dear girl, and the subject is not grateful. You know how truly I am +interested in all that relates to you,--that I regard you with an +affection which + + HELP! HELP! HELP! + +A cry as of a young person's voice was heard faintly, coming from the +direction of the river. Something in the tone of it struck to his +heart, and he sprang as if he had been stabbed. He flung open his +chamber window and leaped from it to the ground. He ran straight to +the bank of the river by the side of which the village of Alderbank +was built, a little farther down the stream than the house in which +he was living. + +Everybody that travels in that region knows the beautiful falls which +break the course of the river just above the village; narrow and +swift, and surrounded by rocks of such picturesque forms that they +are sought and admired by tourists. The stream was now swollen, and +rushed in a deep and rapid current over the ledges, through the rocky +straits, plunging at last in tumult and foam, with loud, continuous +roar, into the depths below the cliff from which it tumbled. + +A short distance above the fall there projected from the water a rock +which had, by parsimonious saving during a long course of years, +hoarded a little soil, out of which a small tuft of bushes struggled. +to support a decent vegetable existence. The high waters had nearly +submerged it, but a few slender twigs were seen above their surface. + +A skiff was lying close to this rock, between it and the brink of the +fall, which was but a few rods farther down. In the skiff was a +youth of fourteen or fifteen years, holding by the slender twigs, the +boat dragging at them all the time, and threatening to tear them away +and go over the fall. It was not likely that the boy would come to +shore alive if it did. There were stories, it is true, that the +Indians used to shoot the fall in their canoes with safety; but +everybody knew that at least three persons had been lost by going +over it since the town was settled; and more than one dead body had +been found floating far down the river, with bruises and fractured +bones, as if it had taken the same fatal plunge. + +There was no time to lose. Clement ran a little way up the river- +bank, flung off his shoes, and sprang from the bank as far as he +could leap into the water. The current swept him toward the fall, +but he worked nearer and nearer the middle of the stream. He was +making for the rock, thinking he could plant his feet upon it and at +the worst hold the boat until he could summon other help by shouting. +He had barely got his feet upon the rock, when the twigs by which the +boy was holding gave way. He seized the boat, but it dragged him +from his uncertain footing, and with a desperate effort he clambered +over its side and found himself its second doomed passenger. + +There was but an instant for thought. + +"Sit still," he said, "and, just as we go over, put your arms round +me under mine, and don't let go for your life!" + +He caught up the single oar, and with a few sharp paddle-strokes +brought the skiff into the blackest centre of the current, where it +was deepest, and would plunge them into the deepest pool. + +"Hold your breath! God save us! Now!" + +They rose, as if with one will, and stood for an instant, the arms of +the younger closely embracing the other as he had directed. + +A sliding away from beneath them of the floor on which they stood, as +the drop fails under the feet of a felon. A great rush of air, and a +mighty, awful, stunning roar,--an involuntary gasp, a choking flood +of water that came bellowing after them, and hammered them down into +the black depths so far that the young man, though used to diving and +swimming long distances underwater, had well-nigh yielded to the +fearful need of air, and sucked in his death in so doing. + +The boat came up to the surface, broken in twain, splintered, a load +of firewood for those who raked the river lower down. It had turned +crosswise, and struck the rocks. A cap rose to the surface, such a +one as boys wear,--the same that boy had on. And then--after how +many seconds by the watch cannot be known, but after a time long +enough, as the young man remembered it, to live his whole life over +in memory--Clement Lindsay felt the blessed air against his face, +and, taking a great breath, came to his full consciousness. The arms +of the boy were still locked around him as in the embrace of death. +A few strokes brought him to the shore, dragging his senseless burden +with him. + +He unclasped the arms that held him so closely encircled, and laid +the slender form of the youth he had almost died to save gently upon +the grass. It was as if dead. He loosed the ribbon that was round +the neck, he tore open the checked shirt + +The story of Myrtle Hazard's sex was told; but she was deaf to his +cry of surprise, and no blush came to her cold cheek. Not too late, +perhaps, to save her,--not too late to try to save her, at least! + +He placed his lips to hers, and filled her breast with the air from +his own panting chest. Again and again he renewed these efforts, +hoping, doubting, despairing,--once more hoping, and at last, when he +had almost ceased to hope, she gasped, she breathed, she moaned, and +rolled her eyes wildly round her, she was born again into this mortal +life. + +He caught her up in his arms, bore her to the house, laid her on a +sofa, and, having spent his strength in this last effort, reeled and +fell, and lay as one over whom have just been whispered the words, + +"He is gone." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +MR. CLEMENT LINDSAY FINISHES HIS LETTER--WHAT CAME OF IT. + +The first thing Clement Lindsay did, when he was fairly himself +again, was to finish his letter to Susan Posey. He took it up where +it left off, "with an affection which " and drew a long dash, as +above. It was with great effort he wrote the lines which follow, for +he had got an ugly blow on the forehead, and his eyes were "in +mourning," as the gentlemen of the ring say, with unbecoming levity. + +"An adventure! Just as I was writing these last words, I heard the +cry of a young person, as it sounded, for help. I ran to the river +and jumped in, and had the pleasure of saving a life. I got some +bruises which have laid me up for a day or two; but I am getting over +them very well now, and you need not worry about me at all. I will +write again soon; so pray do not fret yourself, for I have had no +hurt that will trouble me for any time." + +Of course, poor Susan Posey burst out crying, and cried as if her +heart would break. Oh dear! Oh dear! what should she do! He was +almost killed, she knew he was, or he had broken some of his bones. +Oh dear! Oh dear! She would go and see him, there!--she must and +would. He would die, she knew he would,--and so on. + +It was a singular testimony to the evident presence of a human +element in Mr. Bytes Gridley that the poor girl, on her extreme +trouble, should think of him as a counsellor. But the wonderful +relenting kind of look on his grave features as he watched the little +twins tumbling about his great books, and certain marks of real +sympathy he had sometimes shown for her in her lesser woes, +encouraged her, and she went straight to his study, letter in hand. +She gave a timid knock at the door of that awful sanctuary. + +"Come in, Susan Posey," was its answer, in a pleasant tone. The old +master knew her light step and the maidenly touch of her small hand +on the panel. + +What a sight! 'there were Sossy and Minthy intrenched in a +Sebastopol which must have cost a good half-hour's engineering, and +the terrible Bytes Gridley besieging the fortress with hostile +manifestations of the most singular character. He was actually +discharging a large sugar-plum at the postern gate, which having been +left unclosed, the missile would certainly have reached one of the +garrison, when he paused as the door opened, and the great round +spectacles and four wide, staring infants' eyes were levelled at Miss +Susan Posey. + +She almost forgot her errand, grave as it was, in astonishment at +this manifestation. The old man had emptied his shelves of half +their folios to build up the fort, in the midst of which he had +seated the two delighted and uproarious babes. There was his Cave's +"Historia Literaria," and Sir Walter Raleigh's "History of the +World," and a whole array of Christian Fathers, and Plato, and +Aristotle, and Stanley's book of Philosophers, with Effigies, and the +Junta Galen, and the Hippocrates of Foesius, and Walton's Polyglot, +supported by Father Sanchez on one side and Fox's "Acts and +Monuments" on the other,--an odd collection, as folios from lower +shelves are apt to be. + +The besieger discharged his sugar-plum, which was so well aimed that +it fell directly into the lap of Minthy, who acted with it as if the +garrison had been on short rations for some time. + +He saw at once, on looking up, that there was trouble. "What now, +Susan Posey, my dear?" + +"O Mr. Gridley, I am in such trouble! What shall I do? What shall I +do?" + +She turned back the name and the bottom of the letter in such a way +that Mr. Gridley could read nothing but the few lines relating their +adventure. + +"So Mr. Clement Lindsay has been saving a life, has he, and got some +hard knocks doing it, hey, Susan Posey? Well, well, Clement Lindsay +is a brave fellow, and there is no need of hiding his name, my child. +Let me take the letter again a moment, Susan Posey. What is the date +of it? June 16th. Yes,--yes,--yes!" + +He read the paragraph over again, and the signature too, if he wanted +to; for poor Susan had found that her secret was hardly opaque to +those round spectacles and the eyes behind them, and, with a not +unbecoming blush, opened the fold of the letter before she handed it +back. + +"No, no, Susan Posey. He will come all right. His writing is +steady, and if he had broken any bones he would have mentioned it. +It's a thing his wife will be proud of, if he is ever married, Susan +Posey," (blushes,) "and his children too," (more blushes running up +to her back hair,) "and there 's nothing to be worried about. But +I'll tell you what, my dear, I've got a little business that calls me +down the river tomorrow, and I shouldn't mind stopping an hour at +Alderbank and seeing how our young friend Clement Lindsay is; and +then, if he was going to have a long time of it, why we could manage +it somehow that any friend who had any special interest in him could +visit him, just to while away the tiresomeness of being sick. That's +it, exactly. I'll stop at Alderbank, Susan Posey. Just clear up +these two children for me, will you, my dear? Isosceles, come now,-- +that 's a good child. Helminthia, carry these sugar-plums down-- +stairs for me, and take good care of them, mind!" + +It was a case of gross bribery and corruption, for the fortress was +immediately, evacuated on the receipt of a large paper of red and +white comfits, and the garrison marched down--stairs much like +conquerors, under the lead of the young lady, who was greatly eased +in mind by the kind words and the promise of Mr. Byles Gridley. + +But he, in the mean time, was busy with thoughts she did not suspect. +"A young person," he said to himself,--"why a young person? Why not +say a boy, if it was a boy? What if this should be our handsome +truant?--'June 16th, Thursday morning!'--About time to get to +Alderbank by the river, I should think. None of the boats missing? +What then? She may have made a raft, or picked up some stray skiff. +Who knows? And then got shipwrecked, very likely. There are rapids +and falls farther along the river. It will do no harm to go down +there and look about, at any rate." + +On Saturday morning, therefore, Mr. Byles Gridley set forth to +procure a conveyance to make a visit, as he said, dawn the river, and +perhaps be gone a day or two. He went to a stable in the village, +and asked if they could let him have a horse. + +The man looked at him with that air of native superiority which the +companionship of the generous steed confers on all his associates, +down to the lightest weight among the jockeys. + +"Wal, I hain't got nothin' in the shape of a h'oss, Mr. Gridley. +I've got a mare I s'pose I could let y' have." + +"Oh, very well," said the old master, with a twinkle in his eye as +sly as the other's wink,--he had parried a few jokes in his time,--" +they charge half-price for mares always, I believe." + +That was a new view of the subject. It rather took the wind out of +the stable-keeper, and set a most ammoniacal fellow, who stood +playing with a currycomb, grinning at his expense. But he rallied +presently. + +"Wal, I b'lieve they do for some mares, when they let 'em to some +folks; but this here ain't one o' them mares, and you ain't one o' +them folks. All my cattle's out but this critter, 'n' I don't jestly +want to have nobody drive her that ain't pretty car'ful,--she's +faast, I tell ye,--don't want no whip. --How fur d' d y' want t' go?" + +Mr. Gridley was quite serious now, and let the man know that he +wanted the mare and a light covered wagon, at once, to be gone for +one or two days, and would waive the question of sex in the matter of +payment. + +Alderbank was about twenty miles down the river by the road. On +arriving there, he inquired for the house where a Mr. Lindsay lived. +There was only one Lindsay family in town,--he must mean Dr. William +Lindsay. His house was up there a little way above the village, +lying a few rods back from the river. + +He found the house without difficulty, and knocked at the door. A +motherly-looking woman opened it immediately, and held her hand up as +if to ask him to speak and move softly. + +"Does Mr. Clement Lindsay live here?" + +"He is staying here for the present. He is a nephew of ours. He is +in his bed from an injury." + +"Nothing very serious, I hope?" + +"A bruise on his head,--not very bad, but the doctor was afraid of +erysipelas. Seems to be doing well enough now." + +"Is there a young person here, a stranger?" + +"There is such a young person here. Do you come with any authority +to make inquiries?" + +"I do. A young friend of mine is missing, arid I thought it possible +I might learn something here about it. Can I see this young person?" + +The matron came nearer to Byles Gridley, and said: "This person is a +young woman disguised as a boy. She was rescued by my nephew at the +risk of his life, and she has been delirious ever since she has +recovered her consciousness. She was almost too far gone to be +resuscitated, but Clement put his mouth to hers and kept her +breathing until her own breath returned and she gradually came to." + +"Is she violent in her delirium?" + +"Not now. No; she is quiet enough, but wandering,--wants to know +where she is, and whose the strange faces are,--mine and my +husband's,--that 's Dr. Lindsay,--and one of my daughters, who has +watched with her." + +"If that is so, I think I had better see her. If she is the person I +suspect her to be, she will know me; and a familiar face may bring +back her recollections and put a stop to her wanderings. If she does +not know me, I will not stay talking with her. I think she will, if +she is the one I am seeking after. There is no harm in trying." + +Mrs. Lindsay took a good long look at the old man. There was no +mistaking his grave, honest, sturdy, wrinkled, scholarly face. His +voice was assured and sincere in its tones. His decent black coat +was just what a scholar's should be,--old, not untidy, a little shiny +at the elbows with much leaning on his study-table, but neatly bound +at the cuffs, where worthy Mrs. Hopkins had detected signs of fatigue +and come to the rescue. His very hat looked honest as it lay on the +table. It had moulded itself to a broad, noble head, that held +nothing but what was true and fair, with a few harmless crotchets +just to fill in with, and it seemed to know it. + +The good woman gave him her confidence at once. "Is the person you +are seeking a niece or other relative of yours?" + +(Why did not she ask if the girl was his daughter? What is that look +of paternity and of maternity which observing and experienced mothers +and old nurses know so well in men and in women?) + +"No, she is not a relative. But I am acting for those who are." + +"Wait a moment and I will go and see that the room is all right." + +She returned presently. "Follow me softly, if you please. She is +asleep,--so beautiful,--so innocent!" + +Byles Gridley, Master of Arts, retired professor, more than sixty +years old, childless, loveless, stranded in a lonely study strewed +with wrecks of the world's thought, his work in life finished, his +one literary venture gone down with all it held, with nobody to care +for him but accidental acquaintances, moved gently to the side of the +bed and looked upon the pallid, still features of Myrtle Hazard. He +strove hard against a strange feeling that was taking hold of him, +that was making his face act rebelliously, and troubling his eyes +with sudden films. He made a brief stand against this invasion. +"A weakness,--a weakness!" he said to himself. "What does all this +mean? Never such a thing for these twenty years! Poor child! poor +child! --Excuse me, madam," he said, after a little interval, but for +what offence he did not mention. A great deal might be forgiven, +even to a man as old as Byles Gridley, looking upon such a face,--so +lovely, yet so marked with the traces of recent suffering, and even +now showing by its changes that she was struggling in some fearful +dream. Her forehead contracted, she started with a slight convulsive +movement, and then her lips parted, and the cry escaped from them,-- +how heart-breaking when there is none to answer it,--"Mother!" + +Gone back again through all the weary, chilling years of her girlhood +to that hardly remembered morning of her life when the cry she +uttered was answered by the light of loving eyes, the kiss of +clinging lips, the embrace of caressing arms! + +"It is better to wake her," Mrs. Lindsay said; "she is having a +troubled dream. Wake up, my child, here is a friend waiting to see +you." + +She laid her hand very gently on Myrtle's forehead. Myrtle opened +her eyes, but they were vacant as yet. + +"Are we dead?" she said. "Where am I? This is n't heaven--there are +no angels--Oh, no, no, no! don't send me to the other place--fifteen +years,--only fifteen years old--no father, no mother--nobody loved +me. Was it wicked in me to live? "Her whole theological training +was condensed in that last brief question. + +The, old man took her hand and looked her in the face, with a +wonderful tenderness in his squared features. "Wicked to live, my +dear? No indeed! Here! look at me, my child; don't you know your +old friend Byles Gridley?" + +She was awake now. The sight of a familiar countenance brought back +a natural train of thought. But her recollection passed over +everything that had happened since Thursday morning. + +"Where is the boat I was in?" she said. "I have just been in the +water, and I was dreaming that I was drowned. Oh! Mr. Gridley, is +that you? Did you pull me out of the water?" + +"No, my dear, but you are out of it, and safe and sound: that is the +main point. How do you feel now you are awake?" + +She yawned, and stretched her arms and looked round, but did not +answer at first. This was all natural, and a sign that she was +coming right. She looked down at her dress. It was not +inappropriate to her sex, being a loose gown that belonged to one of +the girls in the house. + +"I feel pretty well," she answered, "but a little confused. My boat +will be gone, if you don't run and stop it now. How did you get me +into dry clothes so quick?" + +Master Byles Gridley found himself suddenly possessed by a large and +luminous idea of the state of things, and made up his mind in a +moment as to what he must do. There was no time to be lost. Every +day, every hour, of Myrtle's absence was not only a source of anxiety +and a cause of useless searching but it gave room for inventive +fancies to imagine evil. It was better to run some risk of injury to +health, than to have her absence prolonged another day. + +"Has this adventure been told about in the village, Mrs. Lindsay?" + +"No, we thought it best to wait until she could tell her own story, +expecting her return to consciousness every hour, and thinking there +might be some reason for her disguise which it would be kinder to +keep quiet about." + +"You know nothing about her, then?" + +"Not a word. It was a great question whether to tell the story and +make inquiries; but she was safe, and could hardly bear disturbance, +and, my dear sir, it seemed too probable that there was some sad +story behind this escape in disguise, and that the poor child might +need shelter and retirement. We meant to do as well as we could for +her." + +"All right, Mrs. Lindsay. You do not know who she is, then?" + +"No, sir, and perhaps it is as well that I should not know. Then I +shall not have to answer any questions about it." + +"Very good, madam,--just as it should be. And your family, are they +as discreet as yourself?" + +"Not one word of the whole story has been or will be told by any one +of us. That was agreed upon among us." + +Now then, madam. My name, as you heard me say, is Byles Gridley. +Your husband will know it, perhaps; at any rate I will wait until he +comes back. This child is of good family and of good name. I know +her well, and mean, with your kind help, to save her from the +consequences which her foolish adventure might have brought upon her. +Before the bells ring for meeting to-morrow morning this girl must be +in her bed at her home, at Oxbow Village, and we must keep her story +to ourselves as far as may be. It will all blow over, if we do. The +gossips will only know that she was upset in the river and cared for +by some good people,--good people and sensible people too, Mrs. +Lindsay. And now I want to see the young man that rescued my friend +here,--Clement Lindsay, I have heard his name before." + +Clement was not a beauty for the moment, but Master Gridley saw well +enough that he was a young man of the right kind. He knew them at +sight, fellows with lime enough in their bones and iron enough in +their blood to begin with,--shapely, large-nerved, firm-fibred and +fine-fibred, with well-spread bases to their heads for the ground- +floor of the faculties, and well-vaulted arches for the upper range +of apprehensions and combinations. "Plenty of basements," he used to +say, "without attics and skylights. Plenty of skylights without +rooms enough and space enough below." But here was "a three-story +brain," he said to himself as he looked at it, and this was the youth +who was to find his complement in our pretty little Susan Posey! His +judgment may seem to have been hasty, but he took the measure of +young men of twenty at sight from long and sagacious observation, as +Nurse Byloe knew the "heft" of a baby the moment she fixed her old +eyes on it. + +Clement was well acquainted with Byles Gridley, though he had never +seen him, for Susan's letters had had a good deal to say about him of +late. It was agreed between them that the story should be kept as +quiet as possible, and that the young girl should not know the name +of her deliverer,--it might save awkward complications. It was not +likely that she would be disposed to talk of her adventure, which had +ended so disastrously, and thus the whole story would soon die out. + +The effect of the violent shock she had experienced was to change the +whole nature of Myrtle for the time. Her mind was unsettled: she +could hardly recall anything except the plunge over the fall. She +was perfectly docile and plastic,--was ready to go anywhere Mr. +Gridley wanted her to go, without any sign of reluctance. And so it +was agreed that he should carry her back in his covered wagon that +very night. All possible arrangements were made to render her +journey comfortable. The fast mare had to trot very gently, and the +old master would stop and adjust the pillows from time to time, and +administer the restoratives which the physician had got ready, all as +naturally and easily as if he had been bred a nurse, vastly to his +own surprise, and with not a little gain to his self-appreciation. +He was a serviceable kind of body on occasion, after all, was he not, +hey, Mr. Byles Gridley? he said to himself. + +At half past four o'clock on Sunday morning the shepherd brought the +stray lamb into the paved yard at The Poplars, and roused the +slumbering household to receive back the wanderer. + +It was the Irishwoman, Kitty Fagan, huddled together in such +amorphous guise, that she looked as if she had been fitted in a +tempest of petticoats and a whirlwind of old shawls, who presented +herself at the door. + +But there was a very warm heart somewhere in that queer-looking +bundle of clothes, and it was not one of those that can throb or +break in silence. When she saw the long covered wagon, and the grave +face of the old master, she thought it was all over with the poor +girl she loved, and that this was the undertaker's wagon bringing +back only what had once been Myrtle Hazard. She screamed aloud,--so +wildly that Myrtle lifted her head from the pillow against which she +had rested it, and started forward. + +The Irishwoman looked at her for a moment to assure herself that it +was the girl she loved, and not her ghost. Then it all came over +her,--she had been stolen by thieves, who had carried her off by +night, and been rescued by the brave old man who had brought her +back. What crying and kisses and prayers and blessings were poured +forth, in a confusion of which her bodily costume was a fitting type, +those who know the vocabulary and the enthusiasm of her eloquent race +may imagine better than we could describe it. + +The welcome of the two other women was far less demonstrative. There +were awful questions to be answered before the kind of reception she +was to have could be settled. What they were, it is needless to +suggest; but while Miss Silence was weeping, first with joy that her +"responsibility" was removed, then with a fair share of pity and +kindness, and other lukewarm emotions,--while Miss Badlam waited for +an explanation before giving way to her feelings,--Mr. Gridley put +the essential facts before them in a few words. She had gone down +the river some miles in her boat, which was upset by a rush of the +current, and she had come very near being drowned. She was got out, +however, by a person living near by, and cared for by some kind women +in a house near the river, where he had been fortunate enough to +discover her. --Who cut her hair off? Perhaps those good people, +--she had been out of her head. She was alive and unharmed, at any +rate, wanting only a few days' rest. They might be very thankful to +get her back, and leave her to tell the rest of her story when she +had got her strength and memory, for she was not quite herself yet, +and might not be for some days. + +And so there she was at last laid in her own bed, listening again to +the ripple of the waters beneath her, Miss Silence sitting on one +side looking as sympathetic as her insufficient nature allowed her to +look; the Irishwoman uncertain between delight at Myrtle's return and +sorrow for her condition; and Miss Cynthia Badlaxn occupying herself +about house-matters, not unwilling to avoid the necessity of +displaying her conflicting emotions. + +Before he left the house, Mr. Gridley repeated the statement is the +most precise manner,--some miles down the river--upset and nearly +drowned--rescued almost dead--brought to and cared for by kind women +in the house where he, Byles Gridley, found her. These were the +facts, and nothing more than this was to be told at present. They +had better be made known at once, and the shortest and best way would +be to have it announced by the minister at meeting that forenoon. +With their permission, he would himself write the note for Mr. Stoker +to read, and tell the other ministers that they might announce it to +their people. + +The bells rang for meeting, but the little household at The Poplars +did not add to the congregation that day. In the mean time Kitty +Fagan had gone down with Mr. Byles Gridley's note, to carry it to the +Rev. Mr. Stoker. But, on her way, she stopped at the house of one +Mrs. Finnegan, a particular friend of hers; and the great event of +the morning furnishing matter for large discourse, and various social +allurements adding to the fascination of having a story to tell, +Kitty Fagan forgot her note until meeting had begun and the minister +had read the text of his sermon. "Bless my soul! and sure I 've +forgot ahl about the letter!" she cried all at once, and away she +tramped for the meeting-house. The sexton took the note, which was +folded, and said he would hand it up to the pulpit after the sermon, +--it would not do to interrupt the preacher. + +The Rev. Mr. Stoker had, as was said, a somewhat remarkable gift in +prayer,--an endowment by no means confined to profoundly spiritual +persons,--in fact, not rarely owing much of its force to a strong +animal nature underlying the higher attributes. The sweet singer of +Israel would never have written such petitions and such hymns if his +manhood had been less complete; the flavor of remembered frailties +could not help giving a character to his most devout exercises, or +they would not have come quite home to our common humanity. But +there is no gift more dangerous to the humility and sincerity of a +minister. While his spirit ought to be on its knees before the +throne of grace, it is too apt to be on tiptoe, following with +admiring look the flight of its own rhetoric. The essentially +intellectual character of an extemporaneous composition spoken to the +Creator with the consciousness that many of his creatures are +listening to criticise or to admire, is the great argument for set +forms of prayer. + +The congregation on this particular Sunday was made up chiefly of +women and old men. The young men were hunting after Myrtle Hazard. +Mr. Byles Gridley was in his place, wondering why the minister did +not read his notice before the prayer. This prayer, was never +reported, as is the questionable custom with regard to some of these +performances, but it was wrought up with a good deal of rasping force +and broad pathos. When he came to pray for "our youthful sister, +missing from her pious home, perhaps nevermore to return to her +afflicted relatives," and the women and old men began crying, Byles +Gridley was on the very point of getting up and cutting short the +whole matter by stating the simple fact that she had got back, all +right, and suggesting that he had better pray for some of the older +and tougher sinners before him. But on the whole it would be more +decorous to wait, and perhaps he was willing to hear what the object +of his favorite antipathy had to say about it. So he waited through +the prayer. He waited through the hymn, "Life is the time"--He +waited to hear the sermon. + +The minister gave out his text from the Book of Esther, second +chapter, seventh verse: "For she had neither father nor mother, and +the maid was fair and beautiful." It was to be expected that the +reverend gentleman, who loved to produce a sensation, would avail +himself of the excitable state of his audience to sweep the key-board +of their emotions, while, as we may, say, all the stops were drawn +out. His sermon was from notes; for, though absolutely +extemporaneous composition may be acceptable to one's Maker, it is +not considered quite the thing in speaking to one's fellow-mortals. +He discoursed for a time on the loss of parents, and on the dangers +to which the unfortunate orphan is exposed. Then he spoke of the +peculiar risks of the tender female child, left without its natural +guardians. Warming with his subject, he dilated with wonderful +unction on the temptations springing from personal attractions. He +pictured the "fair and beautiful" women of Holy Writ, lingering over +their names with lover-like devotion. He brought Esther before his +audience, bathed and perfumed for the royal presence of Ahasuerus. +He showed them the sweet young Ruth, lying down in her innocence at +the feet of the lord of the manor. He dwelt with special luxury on +the charms which seduced the royal psalmist,--the soldier's wife for +whom he broke the commands of the decalogue, and the maiden for whose +attentions, in his cooler years, he violated the dictates of prudence +and propriety. All this time Byles Gridley had his stern eyes on +him. And while he kindled into passionate eloquence on these +inspiring themes, poor Bathsheba, whom her mother had sent to church +that she might get a little respite from her home duties, felt her +blood growing cold in her veins, as the pallid image of the invalid +wife, lying on her bed of suffering, rose in the midst of the glowing +pictures which borrowed such warmth from her husband's imagination. + +The sermon, with its hinted application to the event of the past +week, was over at last. The shoulders of the nervous women were +twitching with sobs. The old men were crying in their vacant way. +But all the while the face of Byles Gridley, firm as a rock in the +midst of this lachrymal inundation, was kept steadily on the +preacher, who had often felt the look that came through the two round +glasses searching into the very marrow of his bones. + +As the sermon was finished, the sexton marched up through the broad +aisle and handed the note over the door of the pulpit to the +clergyman, who was wiping his face after the exertion of delivering +his discourse. Mr. Stoker looked at it, started, changed color,--his +vision of "The Dangers of Beauty, a Sermon printed by Request," had +vanished,--and passed the note to Father Pemberton, who sat by him in +the pulpit. With much pains he deciphered its contents, for his eyes +were dim with years, and, having read it, bowed his head upon his +hands in silent thanksgiving. Then he rose in the beauty of his +tranquil and noble old age, so touched with the message he had to +proclaim to his people, that the three deep furrows on his forehead, +which some said he owed to the three dogmas of original sin, +predestination, and endless torment, seemed smoothed for the moment, +and his face was as that of an angel while lie spoke. + +"Sisters and Brethren,--Rejoice with us, for we have found our lamb +which had strayed from the fold. This our daughter was dead and is +alive again; she was lost and is found. Myrtle Hazard, rescued from +great peril of the waters, and cared for by good Samaritans, is now +in her home. Thou, O Lord, who didst let the water-flood overflow +her, didst not let the deep swallow her up, nor the pit shut its +mouth upon her. Let us return our thanks to the God of Abraham, the +God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, who is our God and Father, and who +hath wrought this great deliverance." + +After his prayer, which it tried him sorely to utter in unbroken +tones, he gave out the hymn, + + "Lord, thou hast heard thy servant cry, + And rescued from the grave "; + +but it was hardly begun when the leading female voice trembled and +stopped,--and another,--and then a third,--and Father Pemberton, +seeing that they were all overcome, arose and stretched out his arms, +and breathed over them his holy benediction. + +The village was soon alive with the news. The sexton forgot the +solemnity of the Sabbath, and the bell acted as if it was crazy, +tumbling heels over head at such a rate, and with such a clamor, that +a good many thought there was a fire, and, rushing out from every +quarter, instantly caught the great news with which the air was +ablaze. + +A few of the young men who had come back went even further in their +demonstrations. They got a small cannon in readiness, and without +waiting for the going down of the sun, began firing rapidly, upon +which the Rev. Mr. Stoker sallied forth to put a stop to this +violation of the Sabbath. But in the mean time it was heard on all +the hills, far and near. Some said they were firing in the hope of +raising the corpse; but many who heard the bells ringing their crazy +peals guessed what had happened. Before night the parties were all +in, one detachment bearing the body of the bob-tailed catamount swung +over a pole, like the mighty cluster of grapes from Eshcol, and +another conveying with wise precaution that monstrous snapping-turtle +which those of our friends who wish to see will find among the +specimens marked Chelydra, Serpentine in the great collection at +Cantabridge. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +VEXED WITH A DEVIL. + +It was necessary at once to summon a physician to advise as to the +treatment of Myrtle, who had received a shock, bodily and mental, not +lightly to be got rid of, and very probably to be followed by serious +and varied disturbances. Her very tranquillity was suspicious, for +there must be something of exhaustion in it, and the reaction must +come sooner or later. + +Old Dr. Lemuel Hurlbut, at the age of ninety-two, very deaf, very +nearly blind, very feeble, liable to odd lapses of memory, was yet a +wise counsellor in doubtful and difficult cases, and on rare +occasions was still called upon to exercise his ancient skill. Here +was a case in which a few words from him might soothe the patient and +give confidence to all who were interested in her. Miss Silence +Withers went herself to see him. + +"Miss Withers, father, wants to talk with you about her niece, Miss +Hazard," said Dr. Fordyce Hurlbut. + +"Miss Withers, Miss Withers?--Oh, Silence Withers,--lives up at The +Poplars. How's the Deacon, Miss Withers?" [Ob. 1810.] + +"My grandfather is not living, Dr. Hurlbut," she screamed into his +ear. + +"Dead, is he? Well, it isn't long since he was with us; and they +come and go,--they come and go. I remember his father, Major Gideon +Withers. He had a great red feather on training-days,--that was what +made me remember him. Who did you say was sick and wanted to see me, +Fordyce?" + +"Myrtle Hazard, father,--she has had a narrow escape from drowning, +and it has left her in a rather nervous state. They would like to +have you go up to The Poplars and take a look at her. You remember +Myrtle Hazard? She is the great-granddaughter of your old friend the +Deacon." + +He had to wait a minute before his thoughts would come to order; with +a little time, the proper answer would be evolved by the slow +automatic movement of the rusted mental machinery. + +After the silent moment: "Myrtle Hazard, Myrtle Hazard,--yes, yes, to +be sure! The old Withers stock,--good constitutions,--a little apt +to be nervous, one or two of 'em. I've given 'em a good deal of +valerian and assafoetida,--not quite so much since the new blood came +in. There is n't the change in folks people think,--same thing over +and over again. I've seen six fingers on a child that had a six- +fingered great-uncle, and I've seen that child's grandchild born with +six fingers. Does this girl like to have her own way pretty well, +like the rest of the family?" + +"A little too well, I suspect, father. You will remember all about +her when you come to see her and talk with her. She would like to +talk with you, and her aunt wants to see you too; they think there's +nobody like the 'old Doctor'." + +He was not too old to be pleased with this preference, and said he +was willing to go when they were ready. With no small labor of +preparation he was at last got to the house, and crept with his son's +aid up to the little room over the water, where his patient was still +lying. + +There was a little too much color in Myrtle's cheeks and a glistening +lustre in her eyes that told of unnatural excitement. It gave a +strange brilliancy to her beauty, and might have deceived an +unpractised observer. The old man looked at her long and curiously, +his imperfect sight excusing the closeness of his scrutiny. + +He laid his trembling hand upon her forehead, and then felt her pulse +with his shriveled fingers. He asked her various questions about +herself, which she answered with a tone not quite so calm as natural, +but willingly and intelligently. They thought she seemed to the old +Doctor to be doing very well, for he spoke cheerfully to her, and +treated her in such a way that neither she nor any of those around +her could be alarmed. The younger physician was disposed to think +she was only suffering from temporary excitement, and that it would +soon pass off. + +They left the room to talk it over. + +"It does not amount to much, I suppose, father," said Dr. Fordyce +Hurlbut. "You made the pulse about ninety,--a little hard,--did n't +you; as I did? Rest, and low diet for a day or two, and all will be +right, won't it?" + +Was it the feeling of sympathy, or was it the pride of superior +sagacity, that changed the look of the old man's wrinkled features? +"Not so fast,--not so fast, Fordyce," he said. "I've seen that look +on another face of the same blood,--it 's a great many years ago, and +she was dead before you were born, my boy,--but I've seen that look, +and it meant trouble then, and I'm afraid it means trouble now. I +see some danger of a brain fever. And if she doesn't have that, then +look out for some hysteric fits that will make mischief. Take that +handkerchief off of her head, and cut her hair close, and keep her +temples cool, and put some drawing plasters to the soles of her feet, +and give her some of my pilulae compositae, and follow them with some +doses of sal polychrest. I've been through it all before--in that +same house. Live folks are only dead folks warmed over. I can see +'em all in that girl's face, Handsome Judith, to begin with. And +that queer woman, the Deacon's mother,--there 's where she gets that +hystericky look. Yes, and the black-eyed woman with the Indian blood +in her,--look out for that,--look out for that. And--and--my son, do +you remember Major Gideon Withers?" [Ob. 1780.] + +"Why no, father, I can't say that I remember the Major; but I know +the picture very well. Does she remind you of him?" + +He paused again, until the thoughts came slowly straggling, up to the +point where the question left him. He shook his head solemnly, and +turned his dim eyes on his son's face. + +Four generations--four generations; man and wife,--yes, five +generations, for old Selah Withers took me in his arms when I was a +child, and called me 'little gal,' for I was in girl's clothes,--five +generations before this Hazard child I 've looked on with these old +eyes. And it seems to me that I can see something of almost every +one of 'em in this child's face, it's the forehead of this one, and +it's the eyes of that one, and it's that other's mouth, and the look +that I remember in another, and when she speaks, why, I've heard that +same voice before--yes, yes as long ago as when I was first married; +for I remember Rachel used to think I praised Handsome Judith's voice +more than it deserved,--and her face too, for that matter. You +remember Rachel, my first wife,--don't you, Fordyce?" + +"No, father, I don't remember her, but I know her portrait." (As he +was the son of the old Doctor's second wife, he could hardly be +expected to remember her predecessor.) + +The old Doctor's sagacity was not in fault about the somewhat +threatening aspect of Myrtle's condition. His directions were +followed implicitly; for with the exception of the fact of +sluggishness rather than loss of memory, and of that confusion of +dates which in slighter degrees is often felt as early as middle- +life, and increases in most persons from year to year, his mind was +still penetrating, and his advice almost as trustworthy, as in his +best days. + +It was very fortunate that the old Doctor ordered Myrtle's hair to be +cut, and Miss Silence took the scissors and trimmed it at once. So, +whenever she got well and was seen about, there would be no mystery +about the loss of her locks,--the Doctor had been afraid of brain +fever, and ordered them to cut her hair. + +Many things are uncertain in this world, and among them the effect of +a large proportion of the remedies prescribed by physicians. Whether +it was by the use of the means ordered by the old Doctor, or by the +efforts of nature, or by both together, at any rate the first danger +was averted, and the immediate risk from brain fever soon passed +over. But the impression upon her mind and body had been too +profound to be dissipated by a few days' rest. The hysteric stage +which the wise old man had apprehended began to manifest itself by +its usual signs, if anything can be called usual in a condition the +natural order of which is disorder and anomaly. + +And now the reader, if such there be, who believes in the absolute +independence and self-determination of the will, and the consequent +total responsibility of every human being for every irregular nervous +action and ill-governed muscular contraction, may as well lay down +this narrative, or he may lose all faith in poor Myrtle Hazard, and +all patience with the writer who tells her story. + +The mental excitement so long sustained, followed by a violent shock +to the system, coming just at the period of rapid development, gave +rise to that morbid condition, accompanied with a series of mental +and moral perversions, which in ignorant ages and communities is +attributed to the influence of evil spirits, but for the better- +instructed is the malady which they call hysteria. Few households +have ripened a growth of womanhood without witnessing some of its +manifestations, and its phenomena are largely traded in by scientific +pretenders and religious fanatics. Into this cloud, with all its +risks and all its humiliations, Myrtle Hazard is about to enter. +Will she pass through it unharmed, or wander from her path, and fall +over one of those fearful precipices which lie before her? + +After the ancient physician had settled the general plan of +treatment, its details and practical application were left to the +care of his son. Dr. Fordyce Hurlbut was a widower, not yet forty +years old, a man of a fine masculine aspect and a vigorous nature. +He was a favorite with his female patients,--perhaps many of them +would have said because he was good-looking and pleasant in his +manners, but some thought in virtue of a special magnetic power to +which certain temperaments were impressible, though there was no +explaining it. But he himself never claimed any such personal gift, +and never attempted any of the exploits which some thought were in +his power if he chose to exercise his faculty in that direction. +This girl was, as it were, a child to him, for he had seen her grow +up from infancy, and had often held her on his knee in her early +years. The first thing he did was to get her a nurse, for he saw +that neither of the two women about her exercised a quieting +influence upon her nerves. So he got her old friend, Nurse Byloe, to +come and take care of her. + +The old nurse looked calm enough at one or two of his first visits, +but the next morning her face showed that something had been going +wrong. "Well, what has been the trouble, Nurse?" the Doctor said, as +soon as he could get her out of the room. + +"She's been attackted, Doctor, sence you been here, dreadful. It's +them high stirricks, Doctor, 'n' I never see 'em higher, nor more of +'em. Laughin' as ef she would bust. Cryin' as ef she'd lost all her +friends, 'n' was a follerin' their corpse to their graves. And +spassums,--sech spassums! And ketchin' at her throat, 'n' sayin' +there was a great ball a risin' into it from her stommick. One time +she had a kind o' lockjaw like. And one time she stretched herself +out 'n' laid jest as stiff as ef she was dead. And she says now that +her head feels as ef a nail had been driv' into it,--into the left +temple, she says, and that's what makes her look so distressed now." + +The Doctor came once more to her bedside. He saw that her forehead +was contracted, and that she was evidently suffering from severe pain +somewhere. + +"Where is your uneasiness, Myrtle? " he asked. + +She moved her hand very slowly, and pressed it on her left temple. +He laid his hand upon the same spot, kept it there a moment, and then +removed it. She took it gently with her own, and placed it on her +temple again. As he sat watching her, he saw that her features were +growing easier, and in a short time her deep, even breathing showed +that she was asleep. + +"It beats all," the old nurse said. "Why, she's been a complainin' +ever sence daylight, and she hain't slep' not a wink afore, sence +twelve o'clock las' night! It's j es' like them magnetizers,--I +never heerd you was one o' them kind, Dr. Hurlbut." + +"I can't say how it is, Nurse,--I have heard people say my hand was +magnetic, but I never thought of its quieting her so quickly. No +sleep since twelve o'clock last night, you say?" + +"Not a wink, 'n' actin' as ef she was possessed a good deal o' the +time. You read your Bible, Doctor, don't you? You're pious? Do you +remember about that woman in Scriptur' out of whom the Lord cast +seven devils? Well, I should ha' thought there was seventy devils in +that gal last night, from the way she carr'd on. And now she lays +there jest as peaceful as a new-born babe,--that is, accordin' to the +sayin' about 'em; for as to peaceful new-born babes, I never see one +that come t' anything, that did n't screech as ef the haouse was +afire 'n' it wanted to call all the fire-ingines within ten mild." + +The Doctor smiled, but he became thoughtful in a moment. Did he +possess a hitherto unexercised personal power, which put the key of +this young girl's nervous system into his hands? The remarkable +tranquillizing effect of the contact of his hand with her forehead +looked like an immediate physical action. + +It might have been a mere coincidence, however. He would not form an +opinion until his next visit. + +At that next visit it did seem as if some of Nurse Byloe's seventy +devils had possession of the girl. All the strange spasmodic +movements, the chokings, the odd sounds, the wild talk, the laughing +and crying, were in full blast. All the remedies which had been +ordered seemed to have been of no avail. The Doctor could hardly +refuse trying his quasi magnetic influence, and placed the tips of +his fingers on her forehead. The result was the same that had +followed the similar proceeding the day before,--the storm was soon +calmed, and after a little time she fell into a quiet sleep, as in +the first instance. + +Here was an awkward affair for the physician, to be sure! He held +this power in his hands, which no remedy and no other person seemed +to possess. How long would he be chained to her; and she to him, and +what would be the consequence of the mysterious relation which must +necessarily spring up between a man like him, in the plenitude of +vital force, of strongly attractive personality, and a young girl +organized for victory over the calmest blood and the steadiest +resistance? + +Every day after this made matters worse. There was something almost +partaking of the miraculous in the influence he was acquiring over +her. His "Peace, be still!" was obeyed by the stormy elements of +this young soul, as if it had been a supernatural command. How could +he resist the dictate of humanity which called him to make his visits +more frequent, that her intervals of rest might be more numerous? +How could he refuse to sit at her bedside for a while in the evening, +that she might be quieted, instead of beginning the night sleepless +and agitated? + +The Doctor was a man of refined feeling as well as of principle, and +he had besides a sacred memory in the deepest heart of his +affections. It was the common belief in the village that he would +never marry again, but that his first and only love was buried in the +grave of the wife of his youth. It did not easily occur to him to +suspect himself of any weakness with regard to this patient of his, +little more than a child in years. It did not at once suggest itself +to him that she, in her strange, excited condition, might fasten her +wandering thoughts upon him, too far removed by his age, as it +seemed, to strike the fancy of a young girl under almost any +conceivable conditions. + +Thus it was that many of those beautiful summer evenings found him +sitting by his patient, the river rippling and singing beneath them, +the moon shining over them, sweet odors from the thickets on the +banks of the stream stealing in on the soft air that came through the +open window, and every time they were thus together, the subtile +influence which bound them to each other bringing them more and more +into inexplicable harmonies and almost spiritual identity. + +But all this did not hinder the development of new and strange +conditions in Myrtle Hazard. Her will was losing its power. "I +cannot help it"--the hysteric motto--was her constant reply. It is +not pleasant to confess the truth, but she was rapidly undergoing a +singular change of her moral nature. She had been a truthful child. +If she had kept her secret about what she had found in the garret, +she thought she was exercising her rights, and she had never been +obliged to tell any lies about it. + +But now she seemed to have lost the healthy instincts for veracity +and honesty. She feigned all sorts of odd symptoms, and showed a +wonderful degree of cunning in giving an appearance of truth to them. +It became next to impossible to tell what was real and what was +simulated. At one time she could not be touched ever so lightly +without shrinking and crying out. At another time she would squint, +and again she would be half paralyzed for a time. She would pretend +to fast for days, living on food she had concealed and took secretly +in the night. + +The nurse was getting worn out. Kitty Fagan would have had the +priest come to the house and sprinkle it with holy water. The two +women were beginning to get nervous themselves. The Rev. Mr. Stoker +said in confidence to Miss Silence, that there was reason to fear she +might have been given over for a time to the buffetings of Satan, and +that perhaps his (Mr. Stoker's) personal attentions might be useful +in that case. And so it appeared that the "young doctor" was the +only being left with whom she had any complete relations and absolute +sympathy. She had become so passive in his hands that it seemed as +if her only healthy life was, as it were, transmitted through him, +and that she depended on the transfer of his nervous power, as the +plant upon the light for its essential living processes. + +The two young men who had met in so unexpected a manner on board the +ship Swordfish had been reasonably discreet in relating their +adventures. Myrtle Hazard may or may not have had the plan they +attributed to her; however that was, they had looked rather foolish +when they met, and had not thought it worth while to be very +communicative about the matter when they returned. It had at least +given them a chance to become a little better acquainted with each +other, and it was an opportunity which the elder and more artful of +the two meant to turn to advantage. + +Of all Myrtle's few friends only one was in the habit of seeing her +often during this period, namely, Olive Eveleth, a girl so quiet and +sensible that she, if anybody, could be trusted with her. But +Myrtle's whole character seemed to have changed, and Olive soon found +that she was in some mystic way absorbed into another nature. Except +when the physician's will was exerted upon her, she was drifting +without any self-directing power, and then any one of those manifold +impulses which would in some former ages have been counted as +separate manifestations on the part of distinct demoniacal beings +might take possession of her. Olive did little, therefore, but visit +Myrtle from time to time to learn if any change had occurred in her +condition. All this she reported to Cyprian, and all this was got +out of him by Mr. William Murray Bradshaw. + +That gentleman was far from being pleased with the look of things as +they were represented. What if the Doctor, who was after all in the +prime of life and younger-looking than some who were born half a +dozen years after him, should get a hold on this young woman,--girl +now, if you will, but in a very few years certain to come within +possible, nay, not very improbable, matrimonial range of him? That +would be pleasant, wouldn't it? It had happened sometimes, as he +knew, that these magnetizing tricks had led to infatuation on the +part of the subjects of the wonderful influence. So he concluded to +be ill and consult the younger Dr. Hurlbut, and incidentally find out +how the land lay. + +The next question was, what to be ill with. Some not ungentlemanly +malady, not hereditary, not incurable, not requiring any obvious +change in habits of life. Dyspepsia would answer the purpose well +enough: so Mr. Murray Bradshaw picked up a medical book and read ten +minutes or more for that complaint. At the end of this time he was +an accomplished dyspeptic; for lawyers half learn a thing quicker +than the members of any other profession. + +He presented himself with a somewhat forlorn countenance to Dr. +Fordyce Hurlbut, as suffering from some of the less formidable +symptoms of that affection. He got into a very interesting +conversation with him, especially about some nervous feelings which +had accompanied his attack of indigestion. Thence to nervous +complaints in general. Thence to the case of the young lady at The +Poplars whom he was attending. The Doctor talked with a certain +reserve, as became his professional relations with his patient; but +it was plain enough that, if this kind of intercourse went on much +longer, it would be liable to end in some emotional explosion or +other, and there was no saying how it would at last turn out. + +Murray Bradshaw was afraid to meddle directly. He knew something +more about the history of Myrtle's adventure than any of his +neighbors, and, among other things, that it had given Mr. Byles +Gridley a peculiar interest in her, of which he could take advantage. +He therefore artfully hinted his fears to the old man, and left his +hint to work itself out. + +However suspicious Master Gridley was of him and his motives, he +thought it worth while to call up at The Poplars and inquire for +himself of the nurse what was this new relation growing up between +the physician and his young patient. + +She imparted her opinion to him in a private conversation with great +freedom. "Sech doin's! sech doin's! The gal's jest as much +bewitched as ever any gal was sence them that was possessed in +Scriptur'. And every day it 's wus and wus. Ef that Doctor don't +stop comin', she won't breathe without his helpin' her to before +long. And, Mr. Gridley, I don't like to say so,--but I can't help +thinkin' he's gettin' a little bewitched too. I don't believe he +means to take no kind of advantage of her; but, Mr. Gridley, you've +seen them millers fly round and round a candle, and you know how it +ginerally comes out. Men is men and gals is gals. I would n't trust +no man, not ef he was much under a hundred year old,--and as for a +gal--!" + +"Mulieri ne mortuae quidem credendum est," said Mr. Gridley. "You +wouldn't trust a woman even if she was dead, hey, Nurse?" + +"Not till she was buried, 'n' the grass growin' a foot high over +her," said Nurse Byloe, "unless I'd know'd her sence she was a baby. +I've know'd this one sence she was two or three year old; but this +gal ain't Myrtle Hazard no longer,--she's bewitched into somethin' +different. I'll tell ye what, Mr. Gridley; you get old Dr. Hurlbut +to come and see her once a day for a week, and get the young doctor +to stay away. I'll resk it. She 'll have some dreadful tantrums at +fust, but she'll come to it in two or three, days." + +Master Byles Gridley groaned in spirit. He had come to this village +to end his days in peace, and here he was just going to make a martyr +of himself for the sake of a young person to whom he was under no +obligation, except that he had saved her from the consequences of her +own foolish act, at the expense of a great overturn of all his +domestic habits. There was no help for it. The nurse was right, and +he must perform the disagreeable duty of letting the Doctor know that +he was getting into a track which might very probably lead to +mischief, and that he must back out as fast as he could. + +At 2 P. M. Gifted Hopkins presented the following note at the +Doctor's door: + +"Mr. Byles Gridley would be much obliged to Dr. Fordyce Hurlbut if he +would call at his study this evening." + +"Odd, is n't it, father, the old man's asking me to come and see him? +Those old stub-twist constitutions never want patching." + +"Old man! old man! Who's that you call old,--not Byles Gridley, +hey? Old! old! Sixty year, more or less! How old was Floyer when +he died, Fordyce? Ninety-odd, was n't it? Had the asthma though, or +he'd have lived to be as old as Dr. Holyoke,--a hundred year and +over. That's old. But men live to be a good deal more than that +sometimes. What does Byles Gridley want of you, did you say?" + +"I'm sure I can't tell, father; I'll go and find out." So he went +over to Mrs. Hopkins's in the evening, and was shown up into the +study. + +Master Gridley treated the Doctor to a cup of such tea as bachelors +sometimes keep hid away in mysterious caddies. He presently began +asking certain questions about the grand climacteric, which eventful +period of life he was fast approaching. Then he discoursed of +medicine, ancient and modern, tasking the Doctor's knowledge not a +little, and evincing a good deal of acquaintance with old doctrines +and authors. + +He had a few curious old medical books in his library, which he said +he should like to show Dr. Hurlbut. + +There, now! What do you say to this copy of Joannes de Ketam, +Venice, 1522? Look at these woodcuts,--the first anatomical pictures +ever printed, Doctor, unless these others of Jacobus Berengarius are +older! See this scene of the plague-patient, the doctor smelling at +his pouncet-box, the old nurse standing square at the bedside, the +young nurse with the bowl, holding back and turning her head away, +and the old burial-hag behind her, shoving her forward, a very +curious book, Doctor, and has the first phrenological picture in it +ever made. Take a look, too, at my Vesalius,--not the Leyden +edition, Doctor, but the one with the grand old original figures,--so +good that they laid them to Titian. And look here, Doctor, I could +n't help getting this great folio Albinus, 1747,--and the nineteenth +century can't touch it, Doctor,--can't touch it for completeness and +magnificence, so all the learned professors tell me! Brave old +fellows, Doctor, and put their lives into their books as you +gentlemen don't pretend to do nowadays. And good old fellows, +Doctor,--high-minded, scrupulous, conscientious, punctilious,-- +remembered their duties to man and to woman, and felt all the +responsibilities of their confidential relation to families. Did you +ever read the oldest of medical documents,--the Oath of Hippocrates?" + +The Doctor thought he had read it, but did not remember much about +it. + +"It 's worth reading, Doctor,--it's worth remembering; and, old as it +is, it is just as good to-day as it was when it was laid down as a +rule of conduct four hundred years before the Sermon on the Mount was +delivered. Let me read it to you, Dr. Hurlbut." + +There was something in Master Gridley's look that made the Doctor +feel a little nervous; he did not know just what was coming. + +Master Gridley took out his great Hippocrates, the edition of +Foesius, and opened to the place. He turned so as to face the +Doctor, and read the famous Oath aloud, Englishing it as he went +along. When he came to these words which follow, he pronounced them +very slowly and with special emphasis. + +"My life shall be pure and holy." + +"Into whatever house I enter, I will go for the good of the patient: + +"I will abstain from inflicting any voluntary injury, and from +leading away any, whether man or woman, bond or free." + +The Doctor changed color as he listened, and the moisture broke out +on his forehead. + +Master Gridley saw it, and followed up his advantage. "Dr. Fordyce +Hurlbut, are you not in danger of violating the sanctities of your +honorable calling, and leading astray a young person committed to +your sacred keeping?" + +While saying these words, Master Gridley looked full upon him, with a +face so charged with grave meaning, so impressed with the gravity of +his warning accents, that the Doctor felt as if he were before some +dread tribunal, and remained silent. He was a member of the Rev. Mr. +Stoker's church, and the words he had just listened to were those of +a sinful old heathen who had never heard a sermon in his life; but +they stung him, for all that, as the parable of the prophet stung the +royal transgressor. + +He spoke at length, for the plain honest words had touched the right +spring of consciousness at the right moment; not too early, for he +now saw whither he was tending,--not too late, for he was not yet in +the inner spirals of the passion which whirls men and women to their +doom in ever-narrowing coils, that will not unwind at the command of +God or man. + +He spoke as one who is humbled by self-accusation, yet in a manly +way, as became his honorable and truthful character. + +"Master Gridley," he said, "I stand convicted before you. I know too +well what you are thinking of. It is true, I cannot continue my +attendance on Myrtle--on Miss Hazard, for you mean her--without peril +to both of us. She is not herself. God forbid that I should cease +to be myself! I have been thinking of a summer tour, and I will at +once set out upon it, and leave this patient in my father's hands. I +think he will find strength to visit her under the circmnstances." + +The Doctor went off the next morning without saying a word to Myrtle +Hazard, and his father made the customary visit in his place. + +That night the spirit tare her, as may well be supposed, and so the +second night. But there was no help for it : her doctor was gone, +and the old physician, with great effort, came instead, sat by her, +spoke kindly to her, left wise directions to her attendants, and +above all assured them that, if they would have a little patience, +they would see all this storm blow over. + +On the third night after his visit, the spirit rent her sore, and +came out of her, or, in the phrase of to-day, she had a fierce +paroxysm, after which the violence of the conflict ceased, and she +might be called convalescent so far as that was concerned. + +But all this series of nervous disturbances left her in a very +impressible and excitable condition. This was just the state to +invite the spiritual manipulations of one of those theological +practitioners who consider that the treatment of all morbid states of +mind short of raving madness belongs to them and not to the doctors. +This same condition was equally favorable for the operations of any +professional experimenter who would use the flame of religious +excitement to light the torch of an earthly passion. So many fingers +that begin on the black keys stray to the white ones before the tune +is played out! + +If Myrtle Hazard was in charge of any angelic guardian, the time was +at hand when she would need all celestial influences; for the Rev. +Joseph Bellamy Stoker was about to take a deep interest in her +spiritual welfare.' + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +SKIRMISHING. + +"So the Rev. Joseph Bellamy Stoker has called upon you, Susan Posey, +has he? And wants you to come and talk religion with him in his +study, Susan Posey, does he? Religion is a good thing, my dear, the +best thing in the world, and never better than when we are young, and +no young people need it more than young girls. There are temptations +to all, and to them as often as to any, Susan Posey. And temptations +come to them in places where they don't look for them, and from +persons they never thought of as tempters. So I am very glad to have +your thoughts called to the subject of religion. 'Remember thy +Creator in the days of thy youth.' + +"But Susan Posey, my dear, I think you hard better not break in upon +the pious meditations of the Rev. Joseph Bellamy Stoker in his +private study. A monk's cell and a minister's library are hardly the +places for young ladies. They distract the attention of these good +men from their devotions and their sermons. If you think you must +go, you had better take Mrs. Hopkins with you. She likes religious +conversation, and it will do her good too, and save a great deal of +time for the minister, conversing with two at once. She is of +discreet age, and will tell you when it is time to come away,--you +might stay too long, you know. I've known young persons stay a good +deal too long at these interviews,--a great deal too long, Susan +Posey!" + +Such was the fatherly counsel of Master Byles Gridley. + +Susan was not very quick of apprehension, but she could not help +seeing the justice of Master Gridley's remark, that for a young +person to go and break in on the hours that a minister requires for +his studies, without being accompanied by a mature friend who would +remind her when it was time to go, would be taking an unfair +advantage of his kindness in asking her to call upon him. She +promised, therefore, that she would never go without having Mrs. +Hopkins as her companion, and with this assurance her old friend +rested satisfied. + +It is altogether likely that he had some deeper reason for his advice +than those with which he satisfied the simple nature of Susan Posey. +Of that it will be easier to judge after a glance at the conditions +and character of the minister and his household. + +The Rev. Mr. Stoker had, in addition to the personal advantages +already alluded to, some other qualities which might prove attractive +to many women. He had, in particular, that art of sliding into easy +intimacy with them which implies some knowledge of the female nature, +and, above all, confidence in one's powers. There was little doubt, +the gossips maintained, that many of the younger women of his parish +would have been willing, in certain contingencies, to lift for him +that other end of his yoke under which poor Mrs. Stoker was fainting, +unequal to the burden. + +That lady must have been some years older than her husband,--how many +we need not inquire too curiously,--but in vitality she had long +passed the prime in which he was still flourishing. She had borne +him five children, and cried her eyes hollow over the graves of three +of them. Household cares had dragged upon her; the routine of +village life wearied her; the parishioners expected too much of her +as the minister's wife; she had wanted more fresh air and more +cheerful companionship; and her thoughts had fed too much on death +and sin,--good bitter tonics to increase the appetite for virtue, but +not good as food and drink for the spirit. + +But there was another grief which lay hidden far beneath these +obvious depressing influences. She felt that she was no longer to +her husband what she had been to him, and felt it with something of +self-reproach,--which was a wrong to herself, for she had been a true +and tender wife. Deeper than all the rest was still another feeling, +which had hardly risen into the region of inwardly articulated +thought, but lay unshaped beneath all the syllabled trains of +sleeping or waking consciousness. + +The minister was often consulted by his parishioners upon spiritual +matters, and was in the habit of receiving in his study visitors who +came with such intent. Sometimes it was old weak-eyed Deacon +Rumrill, in great iron-bowed spectacles, with hanging nether lip and +tremulous voice, who had got his brain onto a muddle about the beast +with two horns, or the woman that fled into the wilderness, or other +points not settled to his mind in Scott's Commentary. The minister +was always very busy at such times, and made short work of his +deacon's doubts. Or it might be that an ancient woman, a mother or a +grandmother in Israel, came with her questions and her perplexities +to her pastor; and it was pretty certain that just at that moment he +was very deep in his next sermon, or had a pressing visit to make. + +But it would also happen occasionally that one of the tenderer ewe- +lambs of the flock needed comfort from the presence of the shepherd. +Poor Mrs. Stoker noticed, or thought she noticed, that the good man +had more leisure for the youthful and blooming sister than for the +more discreet and venerable matron or spinster. The sitting was apt +to be longer; and the worthy pastor would often linger awhile about +the door, to speed the parting guest, perhaps, but a little too much +after the fashion of young people who are not displeased with each +other, and who often find it as hard to cross a threshold single as a +witch finds it to get over a running stream. More than once, the +pallid, faded wife had made an errand to the study, and, after a keen +look at the bright young cheeks, flushed with the excitement of +intimate spiritual communion, had gone back to her chamber with her +hand pressed against her heart, and the bitterness of death in her +soul. + +The end of all these bodily and mental trials was, that the +minister's wife had fallen into a state of habitual invalidism, such +as only women, who feel all the nerves which in men are as insensible +as telegraph-wires, can experience. + +The doctor did not know what to make of her case,--whether she would +live or die,--whether she would languish for years, or, all at once, +roused by some strong impression, or in obedience to some unexplained +movement of the vital forces, take up her bed and walk. For her bed +had become her home, where she lived as if it belonged to her +organism. There she lay, a not unpleasing invalid to contemplate, +always looking resigned, patient, serene, except when the one deeper +grief was stirred, always arrayed with simple neatness, and +surrounded with little tokens that showed the constant presence with +her of tasteful and thoughtful affection. She did not know, nobody +could know, how steadily, how silently all this artificial life was +draining the veins and blanching the cheek of her daughter Bathsheba, +one of the everyday, air-breathing angels without nimbus or aureole +who belong to every story which lets us into a few households, as +much as the stars and the flowers belong to everybody's verses. + +Bathsheba's devotion to her mother brought its own reward, but it was +not in the shape of outward commendation. Some of the more +censorious members of her father's congregation were severe in their +remarks upon her absorption in the supreme object of her care. It +seems that this had prevented her from attending to other duties +which they considered more imperative. They did n't see why she +shouldn't keep a Sabbath-school as well as the rest, and as to her +not comin' to meetin' three times on Sabbath day like other folks, +they couldn't account for it, except because she calculated that she +could get along without the means of grace, bein' a minister's +daughter. Some went so far as to doubt if she had ever experienced +religion, for all she was a professor. There was a good many +indulged a false hope. To this, others objected her life of utter +self-denial and entire surrender to her duties towards her mother as +some evidence of Christian character. But old Deacon Rumrill put +down that heresy by showing conclusively from Scott's Commentary on +Romans xi. 1-6, that this was altogether against her chance of being +called, and that the better her disposition to perform good works, +the more unlikely she was to be the subject of saving grace. Some of +these severe critics were good people enough themselves, but they +loved active work and stirring companionship, and would have found +their real cross if they had been called to sit at an invalid's +bedside. + +As for the Rev. Mr. Stoker, his duties did not allow him to give so +much time to his suffering wife as his feelings would undoubtedly +have prompted. He therefore relinquished the care of her (with great +reluctance we may naturally suppose) to Bathsheba, who had inherited +not only her mother's youthful smile, but that self-forgetfulness +which, born with some of God's creatures, is, if not "grace," at +least a manifestation of native depravity which might well be +mistaken for it. + +The intimacy of mother and daughter was complete, except on a single +point. There was one subject on which no word ever passed between +them. The excuse of duties to others was by a tacit understanding a +mantle to cover all short-comings in the way of attention from the +husband and father, and no word ever passed between them implying a +suspicion of the loyalty of his affections. Bathsheba came at last +so to fill with her tenderness the space left empty in the neglected +heart, that her mother only spoke her habitual feeling when she said, +"I should think you were in love with me, my darling, if you were not +my daughter." + +This was a dangerous state of things for the minister. Strange +suggestions and unsafe speculations began to mingle with his dreams +and reveries. The thought once admitted that another's life is +becoming superfluous and a burden, feeds like a ravenous vulture on +the soul. Woe to the man or woman whose days are passed in watching +the hour-glass through which the sands run too slowly for longings +that are like a skulking procession of bloodless murders! Without +affirming such horrors of the Rev. Mr. Stoker, it would not be +libellous to say that his fancy was tampering with future +possibilities, as it constantly happens with those who are getting +themselves into training for some act of folly, or some crime, it may +be, which will in its own time evolve itself as an idea in the +consciousness, and by and by ripen into fact. + +It must not be taken for granted that he was actually on the road to +some fearful deed, or that he was an utterly lost soul. He was ready +to yield to temptation if it came in his way; he would even court it, +but he did not shape out any plan very definitely in his mind, as a +more desperate sinner would have done. He liked the pleasurable +excitement of emotional relations with his pretty lambs, and enjoyed +it under the name of religious communion. There is a border land +where one can stand on the territory of legitimate instincts and +affections, and yet be so near, the pleasant garden of the Adversary, +that his dangerous fruits and flowers are within easy reach. Once +tasted, the next step is like to be the scaling of the wall. The +Rev. Mr. Stoker was very fond of this border land. His imagination +was wandering over it too often when his pen was travelling almost of +itself along the weary parallels of the page before him. All at once +a blinding flash would come over him the lines of his sermon would +run together, the fresh manuscript would shrivel like a dead leaf, +and the rows of hard-hearted theology on the shelves before him, and +the broken-backed Concordance, and the Holy Book itself, would fade +away as he gave himself up to the enchantment of his delirious dream. + +The reader will probably consider it a discreet arrangement that +pretty Susan Posey should seek her pastor in grave company. Mrs. +Hopkins willingly consented to the arrangement which had been +proposed, and agreed to go with the young lady on her visit to the +Rev. Mr. Stoker's study. They were both arrayed in their field-day +splendors on this occasion. Susan was lovely in her light curls and +blue ribbons, and the becoming dress which could not help betraying +the modestly emphasized crescendos and gently graded diminuendos of +her figure. She was as round as if she had been turned in a lathe, +and as delicately finished as if she had been modelled for a Flora. +She had naturally an airy toss of the head and a springy movement of +the joints, such as some girls study in the glass (and make dreadful +work of it), so that she danced all over without knowing it, like a +little lively bobolink on a bulrush. In short, she looked fit to +spoil a homily for Saint Anthony himself. + +Mrs. Hopkins was not less perfect in her somewhat different style. +She might be called impressive and imposing in her grand-costume, +which she wore for this visit. It was a black silk dress, with a +crape shawl, a firmly defensive bonnet, and an alpaca umbrella with +a stern-looking and decided knob presiding as its handle. The dried- +leaf rustle of her silk dress was suggestive of the ripe autumn of +life, bringing with it those golden fruits of wisdom and experience +which the grave teachers of mankind so justly prefer to the idle +blossoms of adolescence. + +It is needless to say that the visit was conducted with the most +perfect propriety in all respects. Mrs. Hopkins was disposed to take +upon herself a large share of the conversation. The minister, on the +other hand, would have devoted himself more particularly to Miss +Susan, but, with a very natural make-believe obtuseness, the good +woman drew his fire so constantly that few of his remarks, and hardly +any of his insinuating looks, reached the tender object at which they +were aimed. It is probable that his features or tones betrayed some +impatience at having thus been foiled of his purpose, for Mrs. +Hopkins thought he looked all the time as if he wanted to get rid of +her. The three parted, therefore, not in the best humor all round. +Mrs. Hopkins declared she'd see the minister in Jericho before she'd +fix herself up as if she was goin' to a weddin' to go and see him +again. Why, he did n't make any more of her than if she'd been a +tabby-cat. She believed some of these ministers thought women's +souls dried up like peas in a pod by the time they was forty year +old; anyhow, they did n't seem to care any great about 'em, except +while they was green and tender. It was all Miss Se-usan, Miss Se- +usan, Miss Se-usan, my dear! but as for her, she might jest as well +have gone with her apron on, for any notice he took of her. She did +n't care, she was n't goin' to be left out when there was talkin' +goin' on, anyhow. + +Susan Posey, on her part, said she did n't like him a bit. He looked +so sweet at her, and held his head on one side,--law! just as if he +had been a young beau! And,--don't tell,--but he whispered that he +wished the next time I came I wouldn't bring that Hopkins woman! + +It would not be fair to repeat what the minister said to himself; but +we may own as much as this, that, if worthy Mrs. Hopkins had heard +it, she would have treated him to a string of adjectives which would +have greatly enlarged his conceptions of the female vocabulary. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +BATTLE. + +In tracing the history of a human soul through its commonplace +nervous perturbations, still more through its spiritual humiliations, +there is danger that we shall feel a certain contempt for the subject +of such weakness. It is easy to laugh at the erring impulses of a +young girl; but you who remember when_______ _________, only fifteen +years old, untouched by passion, unsullied in name, was found in the +shallow brook where she had sternly and surely sought her death,-- +(too true! too true!--ejus animae Jesu miserere!--but a generation +has passed since then,)--will not smile so scornfully. + +Myrtle Hazard no longer required the physician's visits, but her mind +was very far from being poised in the just balance of its faculties. +She was of a good natural constitution and a fine temperament; but +she had been overwrought by all that she had passed through, and, +though happening to have been born in another land, she was of +American descent. Now, it has long been noticed that there is +something in the influences, climatic or other, here prevailing, +which predisposes to morbid religious excitement. The graver reader +will not object to seeing the exact statement of a competent witness +belonging to a by-gone century, confirmed as it is by all that we see +about us. + +"There is no Experienced Minister of the Gospel who hath not in the +Cases of Tempted Souls often had this Experience, that the ill Cases +of their distempered Bodies are the frequent Occasion and Original of +their Temptations." "The Vitiated Humours in many Persons, yield the +Steams whereinto Satan does insinuate himself, till he has gained a +sort of Possession in them, or at least an Opportunity to shoot into +the Mind as many Fiery Darts as may cause a sad Life unto them; yea, +'t is well if Self-Murder be not the sad end into which these hurred +(?) People are thus precipitated. New England, a country where +Splenetic Maladies are prevailing and pernicious, perhaps above any +other, hath afforded Numberless Instances, of even pious People, who +have contracted these Melancholy Indispositions which have unhinged +them from all Service or Comfort; yea, not a few Persons have been +hurried thereby to lay Violent Hands upon themselves at the last. +These are among the unsearchable Judgments of God!" + +Such are the words of the Rev. Cotton Mather. + +The minister had hardly recovered from his vexatious defeat in the +skirmish where the Widow Hopkins was his principal opponent, when he +received a note from Miss Silence Withers, which promised another and +more important field of conflict. It contained a request that he +would visit Myrtle Hazard, who seemed to be in a very excitable and +impressible condition, and who might perhaps be easily brought under +those influences which she had resisted from her early years, through +inborn perversity of character. + +When the Rev. Mr. Stoker received this note, he turned very pale,-- +which was a bad sign. Then he drew a long breath or two, and +presently a flush tingled up to his cheek, where it remained a fixed +burning glow. This may have been from the deep interest he felt in +Myrtle's spiritual welfare; but he had often been sent for by aged +sinners in more immediate peril, apparently, without any such +disturbance of the circulation. + +To know whether a minister, young or still in flower; is in safe or +dangerous paths, there are two psychometers, a comparison between +which will give as infallible a return as the dry and wet bulbs of +the ingenious "Hygrodeik." The first is the black broadcloth forming +the knees of his pantaloons; the second, the patch of carpet before +his mirror. If the first is unworn and the second is frayed and +threadbare, pray for him. If the first is worn and shiny, while the +second keeps its pattern and texture, get him to pray for you. + +The Rev. Mr. Stoker should have gone down on his knees then and +there, and sought fervently for the grace which he was like to need +in the dangerous path just opening before him. He did not do this; +but he stood up before his looking-glass and parted his hair as +carefully as if he had been separating the saints of his congregation +from the sinners, to send the list to the statistical columns of a +religious newspaper. He selected a professional neckcloth, as +spotlessly pure as if it had been washed in innocency, and adjusted +it in a tie which was like the white rose of Sharon. Myrtle Hazard +was, he thought, on the whole, the handsomest girl he had ever seen; +Susan Posey was to her as a buttercup from the meadow is to a tiger- +lily. He, knew the nature of the nervous disturbances through which +she had been passing, and that she must be in a singularly +impressible condition. He felt sure that he could establish intimate +spiritual relations with her by drawing out her repressed sympathies, +by feeding the fires of her religious imagination, by exercising all +those lesser arts of fascination which are so familiar to the Don +Giovannis, and not always unknown to the San Giovannis. + +As for the hard doctrines which he used to produce sensations with in +the pulpit, it would have been a great pity to worry so lovely a +girl, in such a nervous state, with them. He remembered a savory +text about being made all things to all men, which would bear +application particularly well to the case of this young woman. He +knew how to weaken his divinity, on occasion, as well as an old +housewife to weaken her tea, lest it should keep people awake. + +The Rev. Mr. Stoker was a man of emotions. He loved to feel his +heart beat; he loved all the forms of non-alcoholic drunkenness, +which are so much better than the vinous, because they taste +themselves so keenly, whereas the other (according to the statement +of experts who are familiar with its curious phenomena) has a certain +sense of unreality connected with it. He delighted in the reflex +stimulus of the excitement he produced in others by working on their +feelings. A powerful preacher is open to the same sense of +enjoyment--an awful, tremulous, goose-flesh sort of state, but still +enjoyment--that a great tragedian feels when he curdles the blood of +his audience. + +Mr. Stoker was noted for the vividness of his descriptions of the +future which was in store for the great bulk of his fellow-townsmen +and fellow-worlds-men. He had three sermons on this subject, known +to all the country round as the sweating sermon, the fainting sermon, +and the convulsion-fit sermon, from the various effects said to have +been produced by them when delivered before large audiences. It +might be supposed that his reputation as a terrorist would have +interfered with his attempts to ingratiate himself with his young +favorites. But the tragedian who is fearful as Richard or as Iago +finds that no hindrance to his success in the part of Romeo. Indeed, +women rather take to terrible people; prize-fighters, pirates, +highwaymen, rebel generals, Grand Turks, and Bluebeards generally +have a fascination for the sex; your virgin has a natural instinct to +saddle your lion. The fact, therefore, that the young girl had sat +under his tremendous pulpitings, through the sweating sermon, the +fainting sermon, and the convulsion-fit sermon, did not secure her +against the influence of his milder approaches. + +Myrtle was naturally surprised at receiving a visit from him; but she +was in just that unbalanced state in which almost any impression is +welcome. He showed so much interest, first in her health, then in +her thoughts and feelings, always following her lead in the +conversation, that before he left her she felt as if she had made a +great discovery; namely, that this man, so formidable behind the guns +of his wooden bastion, was a most tenderhearted and sympathizing +person when he came out of it unarmed. How delightful he was as he +sat talking in the twilight in low and tender tones, with respectful +pauses of listening, in which he looked as if he too had just made a +discovery,--of an angel, to wit, to whom he could not help unbosoming +his tenderest emotions, as to a being from another sphere! + +It was a new experience to Myrtle. She was all ready for the +spiritual manipulations of an expert. The excitability which had +been showing itself in spasms and strange paroxysms had been +transferred to those nervous centres, whatever they may be, cerebral +or ganglionic, which are concerned in the emotional movements of the +religious nature. It was taking her at an unfair disadvantage, no +doubt. In the old communion, some priest might have wrought upon her +while in this condition, and we might have had at this very moment +among us another Saint Theresa or Jacqueline Pascal. She found but a +dangerous substitute in the spiritual companionship of a saint like +the Rev. Joseph Bellamy Stoker. + +People think the confessional is unknown in our Protestant churches. +It is a great mistake. The principal change is, that there is no +screen between the penitent and the father confessor. The minister +knew his rights, and very soon asserted them. He gave aunt Silence +to understand that he could talk more at ease if he and his young +disciple were left alone together. Cynthia Badlam did not like this +arrangement. She was afraid to speak about it; but she glared at +them aslant, with the look of a biting horse when his eyes follow one +sideways until they are all white but one little vicious spark of +pupil. + +It was not very long before the Rev. Mr. Stoker had established +pretty intimate relations with the household at The Poplars. He had +reason to think, he assured Miss Silence, that Myrtle was in a state +of mind which promised a complete transformation of her character. +He used the phrases of his sect, of course, in talking with the +elderly lady; but the language which he employed with the young girl +was free from those mechanical expressions which would have been like +to offend or disgust her. + +As to his rougher formulae, he knew better than to apply them to a +creature of her fine texture. If he had been disposed to do so, her +simple questions and answers to his inquiries would have made it +difficult. But it was in her bright and beautiful eyes, in her +handsome features, and her winning voice, that he found his chief +obstacle. How could he look upon her face in its loveliness, and +talk to her as if she must be under the wrath and curse of God for +the mere fact of her existence? It seemed more natural and it +certainly was more entertaining, to question her in such a way as to +find out what kind of theology had grown up in her mind as the result +of her training in the complex scheme of his doctrinal school. And +as he knew that the merest child, so soon as it begins to think at +all, works out for itself something like a theory of human nature, he +pretty soon began sounding Myrtle's thoughts on this matter. + +What was her own idea; he would be pleased to know, about her natural +condition as one born of a sinful race, and her inherited liabilities +on that account? + +Myrtle smiled like a little heathen, as she was, according to the +standard of her earlier teachings. That kind of talk used to worry +her when she was a child, sometimes. Yes, she remembered its coming +back to her in a dream she had, when--when--(She did not finish her +sentence.) Did he think she hated every kind of goodness and loved +every kind of evil? Did he think she was hateful to the Being who +made her? + +The minister looked straight into the bright, brave, tender eyes, and +answered, "Nothing in heaven or on earth could help loving you, +Myrtle!" + +Pretty well for a beginning! + +Myrtle saw nothing but pious fervor in this florid sentiment. But as +she was honest and clear-sighted, she could not accept a statement +which seemed so plainly in contradiction with his common teachings, +without bringing his flattering assertion to the test of another +question. + +Did he suppose, she asked, that any persons could be Christians, who +could not tell the day or the year of their change from children of +darkness to children of light. + +The shrewd clergyman, whose creed could be lax enough on occasion, +had provided himself with authorities of all kinds to meet these +awkward questions in casuistical divinity. He had hunted up recipes +for spiritual neuralgia, spasms, indigestion, psora, hypochondriasis, +just as doctors do for their bodily counterparts. + +To be sure they could. Why, what did the great Richard Baxter say in +his book on Infant Baptism? That at a meeting of many eminent +Christians, some of them very famous ministers, when it was desired +that every one should give an account of the time and manner of his +conversion, there was but one of them all could do it. And as for +himself, Mr. Baxter said, he could not remember the day or the year +when he began to be sincere, as he called it. Why, did n't President +Wheelock say to a young man who consulted him, that some persons +might be true Christians without suspecting it? + +All this was so very different from the uncompromising way in which +religious doctrines used to be presented to the young girl from the +pulpit, that it naturally opened her heart and warmed her affections. +Remember, if she needs excuse, that the defeated instincts of a +strong nature were rushing in upon her, clamorous for their rights, +and that she was not yet mature enough to understand and manage them. +The paths of love and religion are at the fork of a road which every +maiden travels. If some young hand does not open the turnpike gate +of the first, she is pretty sure to try the other, which has no toll- +bar. It is also very commonly noticed that these two paths, after +diverging awhile, run into each other. True love leads many +wandering souls into the better way. Nor is it rare to see those who +started in company for the gates of pearl seated together on the +banks that border the avenue to that other portal, gathering the +roses for which it is so famous. + +It was with the most curious interest that the minister listened to +the various heresies into which her reflections had led her. Somehow +or other they did not sound so dangerous coming from her lips as when +they were uttered by the coarser people of the less rigorous +denominations, or preached in the sermons of heretical clergymen. He +found it impossible to think of her in connection with those +denunciations of sinners for which his discourses had been noted. +Some of the sharp old church-members began to complain that his +exhortations were losing their pungency. The truth was, he was +preaching for Myrtle Hazard. He was getting bewitched and driven +beside himself by the intoxication of his relations with her. + +All this time she was utterly unconscious of any charm that she was +exercising, or of being herself subject to any personal fascination. +She loved to read the books of ecstatic contemplation which he +furnished her. She loved to sing the languishing hymns which he +selected for her. She loved to listen to his devotional rhapsodies, +hardly knowing sometimes whether she were in the body, or out of the +body, while he lifted her upon the wings of his passion-kindled +rhetoric. The time came when she had learned to listen for his step, +when her eyes glistened at meeting him, when the words he uttered +were treasured as from something more than a common mortal, and the +book he had touched was like a saintly relic. It never suggested +itself to her for an instant that this was anything more than such a +friendship as Mercy might have cultivated with Great-Heart. She gave +her confidence simply because she was very young and innocent. The +green tendrils of the growing vine must wind round something. + +The seasons had been changing their scenery while the events we have +told were occurring, and the loveliest days of autumn were now +shining. To those who know the "Indian summer" of our Northern +States, it is needless to describe the influence it exerts on the +senses and the soul. The stillness of the landscape in that +beautiful time is as if the planet were sleeping, like a top, before +it begins to rock with the storms of autumn. All natures seem to +find themselves more truly in its light; love grows more tender, +religion more spiritual, memory sees farther back into the past, +grief revisits its mossy marbles, the poet harvests the ripe thoughts +which he will tie in sheaves of verses by his winter fireside. + +The minister had got into the way of taking frequent walks with +Myrtle, whose health had seemed to require the open air, and who was +fast regaining her natural look. Under the canopy of the scarlet, +orange, and crimson leaved maples, of the purple and violet clad +oaks, of the birches in their robes of sunshine, and the beeches in +their clinging drapery of sober brown, they walked together while he +discoursed of the joys of heaven, the sweet communion of kindred +souls, the ineffable bliss of a world where love would be immortal +and beauty should never know decay. And while she listened, the +strange light of the leaves irradiated the youthful figure of Myrtle, +as when the stained window let in its colors on Madeline, the rose- +bloom and the amethyst and the glory. + +"Yes! we shall be angels together," exclaimed the Rev. Mr. Stoker. +"Our souls were made for immortal union. I know it; I feel it in +every throb of my heart. Even in this world you are as an angel to +me, lifting me into the heaven where I shall meet you again, or it +will not be heaven. Oh, if on earth our communion could have been +such as it must be hereafter! O Myrtle, Myrtle!" + +He stretched out his hands as if to clasp hers between them in the +rapture of his devotion. Was it the light reflected from the glossy +leaves of the poison sumach which overhung the path that made his +cheek look so pale? Was he going to kneel to her? + +Myrtle turned her dark eyes on him with a simple wonder that saw an +excess of saintly ardor in these demonstrations, and drew back from +it. + +"I think of heaven always as the place where I shall meet my mother," +she said calmly. + +These words recalled the man to himself for a moment and he was +silent. Presently he seated himself on a stone. His lips were +tremulous as he said, in a low tone, "Sit down by me, Myrtle." + + +"No," she answered, with something which chilled him in her voice, " +we will not stay here any longer; it is time to go home." + +"Full time!" muttered Cynthia Badlam, whose watchful eyes had been +upon them, peering through a screen of yellow leaves, that turned her +face pace as if with deadly passion. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +FLANK MOVEMENT. + +Miss Cynthia Badlam was in the habit of occasionally visiting the +Widow Hopkins. Some said but then people will talk, especially in +the country, where they have not much else to do, except in haying- +time. She had always known the widow, long before Mr. Gridley came +there to board, or any other special event happened in her family. +No matter what people said. + +Miss Badlam called to see Mrs. Hopkins, then, and the two had a long +talk together, of which only a portion is on record. Here are such +fragments as have been preserved. + +"What would I do about it? Why, I'd put a stop to such carry'n's on, +mighty quick, if I had to tie the girl to the bedpost, and have a +bulldog that world take the seat out of any pair of black pantaloons +that come within forty rod of her,--that's what I'd do about it! He +undertook to be mighty sweet with our Susan one while, but ever sence +he's been talkin' religion with Myrtle Hazard he's let us alone. Do +as I did when he asked our Susan to come to his study,--stick close +to your girl and you 'll put a stop to all this business. He won't +make love to two at once, unless they 're both pretty young, I 'll +warrant. Follow her round, Miss Cynthy, and keep your eyes on her." + +"I have watched her like a cat, Mrs. Hopkins, but I can't follow her +everywhere,--she won't stand what Susan Posey 'll stand. There's no +use our talking to her,--we 've done with that at our house. You +never know what that Indian blood of hers will make her do. She's +too high-strung for us to bit and bridle. I don't want to see her +name in the paper again, alongside of that" (She did not finish the +sentence.) "I'd rather have her fished dead out of the river, or find +her where she found her uncle Malachi!" + +"You don't think, Miss Cynthy, that the man means to inveigle the +girl with the notion of marryin' her by and by, after poor Mrs. +Stoker's dead and gone?" + +"The Lord in heaven forbid!" exclaimed Miss Cynthia, throwing up her +hands. "A child of fifteen years old, if she is a woman to look at!" + +"It's too bad,--it's too bad to think of, Miss Cynthy; and there's +that poor woman dyin' by inches, and Miss Bathsheby settin' with her +day and night, she has n't got a bit of her father in her, it's all +her mother,--and that man, instead of bein' with her to comfort her +as any man ought to be with his wife, in sickness and in health, +that's what he promised. I 'm sure when my poor husband was sick.... +To think of that man goin' about to talk religion to all the +prettiest girls he can find in the parish, and his wife at home like +to leave him so soon,--it's a shame,--so it is, come now! Miss +Cynthy, there's one of the best men and one of the learnedest men +that ever lived that's a real friend of Myrtle Hazard, and a better +friend to her than she knows of,--for ever sence he brought her home, +he feels jest like a father to her,--and that man is Mr. Gridley, +that lives in this house. It's him I 'll speak to about the +minister's carry'in's on. He knows about his talking sweet to our +Susan, and he'll put things to rights! He's a master hand when he +does once take hold of anything, I tell you that! Jest get him to +shet up them books of his, and take hold of anybody's troubles, and +you'll see how he 'll straighten 'em out." + +There was a pattering of little feet on the stairs, and the two small +twins, "Sossy" and "Minthy," in the home dialect, came hand in hand +into the room, Miss Susan leaving them at the threshold, not wishing +to interrupt the two ladies, and being much interested also in +listening to Mr. Gifted Hopkins, who was reading some of his last +poems to her, with great delight to both of them. + +The good woman rose to take them from Susan, and guide their +uncertain steps. "My babies, I call 'em, Miss Cynthy. Ain't they +nice children? Come to go to bed, little dears? Only a few minutes, +Miss Cynthy." + +She took them into the bedroom on the same floor, where they slept, +and, leaving the door open, began undressing them. Cynthia turned +her rocking-chair round so as to face the open door. She looked on +while the little creatures were being undressed; she heard the few +words they lisped as their infant prayer, she saw them laid in their +beds, and heard their pretty good-night. + +A lone woman to whom all the sweet cares of maternity have been +denied cannot look upon a sight like this without feeling the void in +her own heart where a mother's affection should have nestled. +Cynthia sat perfectly still, without rocking, and watched kind Mrs. +Hopkins at her quasi parental task. A tear stole down her rigid face +as she saw the rounded limbs of the children bared in their white +beauty, and their little heads laid on the pillow. They were +sleeping quietly when Mrs. Hopkins left the room for a moment on some +errand of her own. Cynthia rose softly from her chair, stole swiftly +to the bedside, and printed a long, burning kiss on each of their +foreheads. + +When Mrs. Hopkins came back, she found the maiden lady sitting in her +place just as she left her, but rocking in her chair and sobbing as +one in sudden pangs of grief. + +"It is a great trouble, Miss Cynthy," she said,--"a great trouble to +have such a child as Myrtle to think of and to care for. If she was +like our Susan Posey, now!--but we must do the best we can; and if +Mr. Gridley once sets himself to it, you may depend upon it he 'll +make it all come right. I wouldn't take on about it if I was you. +You let me speak to our Mr. Gridley. We all have our troubles. It +is n't everybody that can ride to heaven in a C-spring shay, as my +poor husband used to say; and life 's a road that 's got a good many +thank-you-ma'ams to go bumpin' over, says he." + +Miss Badlam acquiesced in the philosophical reflections of the late +Mr. Ammi Hopkins, and left it to his widow to carry out her own +suggestion in reference to consulting Master Gridley. The good woman +took the first opportunity she had to introduce the matter, a little +diffusely, as is often the way of widows who keep boarders. + +"There's something going on I don't like, Mr. Gridley. They tell me +that Minister Stoker is following round after Myrtle Hazard, talking +religion at her jest about the same way he'd have liked to with our +Susan, I calculate. If he wants to talk religion to me or Silence +Withers,--well, no, I don't feel sure about Silence,--she ain't as +young as she used to be, but then ag'in she ain't so fur gone as +some, and she's got money,--but if he wants to talk religion with me, +he may come and welcome. But as for Myrtle Hazard, she's been sick, +and it's left her a little flighty by what they say, and to have a +minister round her all the time ravin' about the next world as if he +had a latch-key to the front door of it, is no way to make her come +to herself again. I 've seen more than one young girl sent off to +the asylum by that sort of work, when, if I'd only had 'em, I'd have +made 'em sweep the stairs, and mix the puddin's, and tend the babies, +and milk the cow, and keep 'em too busy all day to be thinkin' about +themselves, and have 'em dress up nice evenin's and see some young +folks and have a good time, and go to meetin' Sundays, and then have +done with the minister, unless it was old Father Pemberton. He knows +forty times as much about heaven as that Stoker man does, or ever 's +like to,--why don't they run after him, I should like to know? +Ministers are men, come now; and I don't want to say anything against +women, Mr. Gridley, but women are women, that's the fact of it, and +half of 'em are hystericky when they're young; and I've heard old Dr. +Hurlbut say many a time that he had to lay in an extra stock of +valerian and assafaetida whenever there was a young minister round,-- +for there's plenty of religious ravin', says he, that's nothin' but +hysterics." + +[Mr. Fronde thinks that was the trouble with Bloody Queen Mary, but +the old physician did not get the idea from him.] + +"Well, and what do you propose to do about the Rev. Joseph Bellamy +Stoker and his young proselyte, Miss Myrtle Hazard?" said Mr. +Gridley, when Mrs. Hopkins at last gave him a chance to speak. + +"Mr. Gridley,"--Mrs. Hopkins looked full upon him as she spoke,--" +people used to say that you was a good man and a great man and one of +the learnedest men alive, but that you didn't know much nor care for +much except books. I know you used to live pretty much to yourself +when you first came to board in this house. But you've been very +good to my son; ...and if Gifted lives till you ...till you are in +...your grave, ...he will write a poem--I know he will--that will +tell your goodness to babes unborn." + +[Here Master Gridley groaned, and repeated to himself silently, + + "Scindentur vestes gemmae frangentur et aurum, + Carmina quam tribuent fama perennis erit." + +All this inwardly, and without interrupting the worthy woman's talk.] + +"And if ever Gifted makes a book,--don't say anything about it, Mr. +Gridley, for goodness' sake, for he wouldn't have anybody know it, +only I can't help thinking that some time or other he will print a +book,--and if he does, I know whose name he'll put at the head of +it,--'Dedicated to B. G., with the gratitude and respect--' There, +now, I had n't any business to say a word about it, and it's only +jest in case he does, you know. I'm sure you deserve it all. You've +helped him with the best of advice. And you've been kind to me when +I was in trouble. And you've been like a grandfather" [Master +Gridley winced,--why could n't the woman have said father?--that +grand struck his ear like a spade going into the gravel] "to those +babes, poor little souls! left on my door-step like a couple of +breakfast rolls,--only you know it's the baker left then. I believe +in you, Mr. Gridley, as I believe in my Maker and in Father +Pemberton,--but, poor man, he's old, and you won't be old these +twenty years yet." + +[Master Gridley shook his head as if to say that was n't so, but felt +comforted and refreshed.] + +"You've got to help Myrtle Hazard again. You brought her home when +she come so nigh drowning. You got the old doctor to go and see her +when she come so nigh being bewitched with the magnetism and +nonsense, whatever they call it, and the young doctor was so nigh +bein' crazy, too. I know, for Nurse Byloe told me all about it. And +now Myrtle's gettin' run away with by that pesky Minister Stoker. +Cynthy Badlam was here yesterday crying and sobbing as if her heart +would break about it. For my part, I did n't think Cynthy cared so +much for the girl as all that, but I saw her takin' on dreadfully +with my own eyes. That man's like a hen-hawk among the chickens, +first he picks up one, and then he picks up another. I should like +to know if nobody but young folks has souls to be saved, and +specially young women!" + +"Tell me all you know about Myrtle Hazard and Joseph Bellamy Stoker," +said Master Gridley. + +Thereupon that good lady related all that Miss Badlam had imparted to +her, of which the reader knows the worst, being the interview of +which the keen spinster had been a witness, having followed them for +the express purpose of knowing, in her own phrase, what the minister +was up to. + +It is not to be supposed that Myrtle had forgotten the discreet +kindness of Master Gridley in bringing her back and making the best +of her adventure. He, on his part, had acquired a kind of right to +consider himself her adviser, and had begun to take a pleasure in the +thought that he, the worn-out and useless old pedant, as he had been +in the way of considering himself, might perhaps do something even +more important than his previous achievement to save this young girl +from the dangers that surrounded her. He loved his classics and his +old books; he took an interest, too, in the newspapers and +periodicals that brought the fermenting thought and the electric life +of the great world into his lonely study; but these things just about +him were getting strong hold on him, and most of all the fortunes of +this beautiful young woman. How strange! For a whole generation he +had lived in no nearer relation to his fellow-creatures than that of +a half-fossilized teacher; and all at once he found himself face to +face with the very most intense form of life, the counsellor of +threatened innocence, the champion of imperilled loveliness. What +business was it of his? growled the lower nature, of which he had +said in "Thoughts on the Universe,"--"Every man leads or is led by +something that goes on four legs." + +Then he remembered the grand line of the African freedman, that makes +all human interests everybody's business, and had a sudden sense of +dilatation and evolution, as it were, in all his dimensions, as if he +were a head taller, and a foot bigger round the chest, and took in an +extra gallon of air at every breath, Then--you who have written a +book that holds your heart-leaves between its pages will understand +the movement--he took down "Thoughts on the Universe" for a +refreshing draught from his own wellspring. He opened as chance +ordered it, and his eyes fell on the following passage: + +"The true American formula was well phrased by the late Samuel Patch, +the Western Empedocles, 'Some things can be done as well as others.' +A homely utterance, but it has virtue to overthrow all dynasties and +hierarchies. These were all built up on the Old-World dogma that +some things can NOT be done as well as others." + +"There, now!" he said, talking to himself in his usual way, "is n't +that good? It always seems to me that I find something to the point +when I open that book. 'Some things can be done as well as others,' +can they? Suppose I should try what I can do by visiting Miss Myrtle +Hazard? I think I may say I am old and incombustible enough to be +trusted. She does not seem to be a safe neighbor to very inflammable +bodies?" + +Myrtle was sitting in the room long known as the Study, or the +Library, when Master Byles Gridley called at The Poplars to see her. +Miss Cynthia, who received him, led him to this apartment and left +him alone with Myrtle. She welcomed him very cordially, but colored +as she did so,--his visit was a surprise. She was at work on a piece +of embroidery. Her first instinctive movement was to thrust it out +of sight with the thought of concealment; but she checked this, and +before the blush of detection had reached her cheek, the blush of +ingenuous shame for her weakness had caught and passed it, and was in +full possession. She sat with her worsted pattern held bravely in +sight, and her cheek as bright as its liveliest crimson. + +"Miss Cynthia has let me in upon you," he said, "or I should not have +ventured to disturb you in this way. A work of art, is it, Miss +Myrtle Hazard?" + +"Only a pair of slippers, Mr. Gridley,--for my pastor." + +"Oh! oh! That is well. A good old man. I have a great regard for +the Rev. Eliphalet Pemberton. I wish all ministers were as good and +simple and pure-hearted as the Rev. Eliphalet Pemberton. And I wish +all the young people thought as much about their elders as you do, +Miss Myrtle Hazard. We that are old love little acts of kindness. +You gave me more pleasure than you knew of, my dear, when you worked +that handsome cushion for me. The old minister will be greatly +pleased,--poor old man!" + +"But, Mr. Gridley, I must not let you think these are for Father +Pemberton. They are for--Mr. Stoker." + +"The Rev. Joseph Bellamy Stoker! He is not an old man, the Rev. +Joseph Bellamy Stoker. He may perhaps be a widower before a great +while. --Does he know that you are working those slippers for him?" + +"Dear me! no, Mr. Gridley. I meant them for a surprise to him. He +has been so kind to me, and understands me so much better than I +thought anybody did. He is so different from what I thought; he +makes religion so perfectly simple, it seems as if everybody would +agree with him, if they could only hear him talk." + +"Greatly interested in the souls of his people, is n't he?" + +"Too much, almost, I am afraid. He says he has been too hard in his +sermons sometimes, but it was for fear he should not impress his +hearers enough." + +"Don't you think he worries himself about the souls of young women +rather more than for those of old ones, Myrtle?" + +There was something in the tone of this question that helped its +slightly sarcastic expression. Myrtle's jealousy for her minister's +sincerity was roused. + +"How can you ask that, Mr. Gridley? I am sure I wish you or anybody +could have heard him talk as I have. There is no age in souls, he +says; and I am sure that it would do anybody good to hear him, old or +young." + +"No age in souls,--no age in souls. Souls of forty as young as souls +of fifteen; that 's it." Master Gridley did not say this loud. But +he did speak as follows: "I am glad to hear what you say of the Rev. +Joseph Bellamy Stoker's love of being useful to people of all ages. +You have had comfort in his companionship, and there are others who +might be very glad to profit by it. I know a very excellent person +who has had trials, and is greatly interested in religious +conversation. Do you think he would be willing to let this friend of +mine share in the privileges of spiritual intercourse which you +enjoy?" + +There was but one answer possible. Of course he would. + +"I hope it is so, my dear young lady. But listen to me one moment. +I love you, my dear child, do you know, as if I were your own-- +grandfather." (There was moral heroism in that word.) "I love you as +if you were of my own blood; and so long as you trust me, and suffer +me, I mean to keep watch against all dangers that threaten you in +mind, body, or estate. You may wonder at me, you may sometimes doubt +me; but until you say you distrust me, when any trouble comes near +you, you will find me there. Now, my dear child, you ought to know +that the Rev. Joseph Bellamy Stoker has the reputation of being too +fond of prosecuting religious inquiries with young and handsome +women." + +Myrtle's eyes fell,--a new suspicion seemed to have suggested itself. + +"He wanted to get up a spiritual intimacy with our Susan Posey,--a +very pretty girl, as you know." + +Myrtle tossed her head almost imperceptibly, and bit her lip. + +"I suppose there are a dozen young people that have been talked about +with him. He preaches cruel sermons in his pulpit, cruel as death, +and cold-blooded enough to freeze any mother's blood if nature did +not tell her he lied, and then smooths it all over with the first +good-looking young woman he can get to listen to him." + +Myrtle had dropped the slipper she was working on. + +"Tell me, my dear, would you be willing to give up meeting this man +alone, and gratify my friend, and avoid all occasion of reproach?" + +"Of course I would," said Myrtle, her eyes flashing, for her doubts, +her shame, her pride, were all excited. "Who is your friend, Mr. +Gridley?" + +"An excellent woman,--Mrs. Hopkins. You know her, Gifted Hopkins's +mother, with whom I am residing. Shall the minister be given to +understand that you will see him hereafter in her company?" + +Myrtle came pretty near a turn of her old nervous perturbations. "As +you say," she answered. "Is there nobody that I can trust, or is +everybody hunting me like a bird?" She hid her face in her hands. + +"You can trust me, my dear," said Byles Gridley. "Take your needle, +my child, and work at your pattern,--it will come out a rose by and +by. Life is like that, Myrtle, one stitch at a time, taken +patiently, and the pattern will come out all right like the +embroidery. You can trust me. Good-by, my dear." + +"Let her finish the slippers," the old man said to himself as he +trudged home, "and make 'em big enough for Father Pemberton. He +shall have his feet in 'em yet, or my name is n't Byles Gridley!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +ARRIVAL OF REINFORCEMENTS. + +Myrtle Hazard waited until the steps of Master Byles Gridley had +ceased to be heard, as he walked in his emphatic way through the long +entry of the old mansion. Then she went to her little chamber and +sat down in a sort of revery. She could not doubt his sincerity, and +there was something in her own consciousness which responded to the +suspicions he had expressed with regard to the questionable impulses +of the Rev. Joseph Bellamy Stoker. + +It is not in the words that others say to us, but in those other +words which these make us say to ourselves, that we find our gravest +lessons and our sharpest rebukes. The hint another gives us finds +whole trains of thought which have been getting themselves ready to +be shaped in inwardly articulated words, and only awaited the touch +of a burning syllable, as the mottoes of a pyrotechnist only wait for +a spark to become letters of fire. + +The artist who takes your photograph must carry you with him into his +"developing" room, and he will give you a more exact illustration of +the truth just mentioned. There is nothing to be seen on the glass +just taken from the camera. But there is a potential, though +invisible, picture hid in the creamy film which covers it. Watch him +as he pours a wash over it, and you will see that miracle wrought +which is at once a surprise and a charm,--the sudden appearance of +your own features where a moment before was a blank without a vestige +of intelligence or beauty. + +In some such way the grave warnings of Master Byles Gridley had +called up a fully shaped, but hitherto unworded, train of thought in +the consciousness of Myrtle Hazard. It was not merely their +significance, it was mainly because they were spoken at the fitting +time. If they had been uttered a few weeks earlier, when Myrtle was +taking the first stitch on the embroidered slippers, they would have +been as useless as the artist's developing solution on a plate which +had never been exposed in the camera. But she had been of late in +training for her lesson in ways that neither she nor anybody else +dreamed of. The reader who has shrugged his (or her) shoulders over +the last illustration will perhaps hear this one which follows more +cheerfully. The physician in the Arabian Nights made his patient +play at ball with a bat, the hollow handle of which contained drugs +of marvellous efficacy. Whether it was the drugs that made the sick +man get well, or the exercise, is not of so much consequence as the +fact that he did at any rate get well. + +These walks which Myrtle had taken with her reverend counsellor had +given her a new taste for the open air, which was what she needed +just now more than confessions of faith or spiritual paroxysms. And +so it happened that, while he had been stimulating all those +imaginative and emotional elements of her nature which responded to +the keys he loved to play upon, the restoring influences of the sweet +autumnal air, the mellow sunshine, the soothing aspects of the woods +and fields and sky, had been quietly doing their work. The color was +fast returning to her cheek, and the discords of her feelings and her +thoughts gradually resolving themselves into the harmonious and +cheerful rhythms of bodily and mental health. It needed but the +timely word from the fitting lips to change the whole programme of +her daily mode of being. The word had been spoken. She saw its +truth; but how hard it is to tear away a cherished illusion, to cast +out an unworthy intimate! How hard for any!--but for a girl so +young, and who had as yet found so little to love and trust, how +cruelly hard! + +She sat, still and stony, like an Egyptian statue. Her eyes were +fixed on a vacant chair opposite the one on which she was sitting. +It was a very singular and fantastic old chair, said to have been +brought over by the first emigrant of her race. The legs and arms +were curiously turned in spirals, the suggestions of which were half +pleasing and half repulsive. Instead of the claw-feet common in +furniture of a later date, each of its legs rested on a misshapen +reptile, which it seemed to flatten by its weight, as if it were +squeezing the breath out of the ugly creature. Over this chair hung +the portrait of her beautiful ancestress, her neck and arms, the +specialty of her beauty, bare, except for a bracelet on the left +wrist, and her shapely figure set off by the ample folds of a rich +crimson brocade. Over Myrtle's bed hung that other portrait, which +was to her almost as the pictures of the Mater Dolorosa to trustful +souls of the Roman faith. She had longed for these pictures while +she was in her strange hysteric condition, and they had been hung up +in her chamber. + +The night was far gone, as she knew by the declining of the +constellations which she bad seen shining brightly almost overhead in +the early evening, when she awoke, and found herself still sitting in +the very attitude in which she was sitting hours before. Her lamp +had burned out, and the starlight but dimly illuminated her chamber. +She started to find herself sitting there, chilled and stiffened by +long remaining in one posture; and as her consciousness returned, a +great fear seized her, and she sprang for a match. It broke with the +quick movement she made to kindle it, and she snatched another as if +a fiend were after her. It flashed and went out. Oh the terror, the +terror! The darkness seemed alive with fearful presences. The lurid +glare of her own eyeballs flashed backwards into her brain. She +tried one more match; it kindled as it should, and she lighted +another lamp. Her first impulse was to assure herself that nothing +was changed in the familiar objects around her. She held the lamp up +to the picture of Judith Pride. The beauty looked at her, it seemed +as if with a kind of lofty recognition in her eyes; but there she +was, as always. She turned the light upon the pale face of the +martyr-portrait. It looked troubled and faded, as it seemed to +Myrtle, but still it was the same face she remembered from her +childhood. Then she threw the light on the old chair, and, +shuddering, caught up a shawl and flung it over the spiral-wound arms +and legs, and the flattened reptiles on which it stood. + +In those dead hours of the night which had passed over her sitting +there, still and stony, as it should seem, she had had strange +visitors. Two women had been with her, as real as any that breathed +the breath of life,--so it appeared to her,--yet both had long been +what is called, in our poor language, dead. One came in all the +glory of her ripened beauty, bare-necked, bare-armed, full dressed by +nature in that splendid animal equipment which in its day had +captivated the eyes of all the lusty lovers of complete muliebrity. +The other,--how delicate, how translucent, how aerial she seemed! +yet real and true to the lineaments of her whom the young girl looked +upon as her hereditary protector. + +The beautiful woman turned, and, with a face full of loathing and +scorn, pointed to one of the reptiles beneath the feet of the chair. +And while Myrtle's eyes followed hers, the flattened and half-crushed +creature seemed to swell and spread like his relative in the old +fable, like the black dog in Faust, until he became of tenfold size, +and at last of colossal proportions. And, fearful to relate, the +batrachian features humanized themselves as the monster grew, and, +shaping themselves more and more into a remembered similitude, Myrtle +saw in them a hideous likeness of--No! no! it was too horrible, was +that the face which had been so close to hers but yesterday? were +those the lips, the breath from which had stirred her growing curls +as he leaned over her while they read together some passionate stanza +from a hymn that was as much like a love-song as it dared to be in +godly company? A shadow of disgust--the natural repugnance of +loveliness for deformity-ran all through her, and she shrieked, as +she thought, and threw herself at the feet of that other figure. She +felt herself lifted from the floor, and then a cold thin hand seemed +to take hers. The warm life went out of her, and she was to herself +as a dimly conscious shadow that glided with passive acquiescence +wherever it was led. Presently she found herself in a half-lighted +apartment, where there were books on the shelves around, and a desk +with loose manuscripts lying on it, and a little mirror with a worn +bit of carpet before it. And while she looked, a great serpent +writhed in through the half-open door, and made the circuit of the +room, laying one huge ring all round it, and then, going round again, +laid another ring over the first, and so on until he was wound all +round the room like the spiral of a mighty cable, leaving a hollow in +the centre; and then the serpent seemed to arch his neck in the air, +and bring his head close down to Myrtle's face; and the features were +not those of a serpent, but of a man, and it hissed out the words she +had read that very day in a little note which said, "Come to my study +to-morrow, and we will read hymns together." + +Again she was back in her little chamber, she did not know how, and +the two women were looking into her eyes with strange meaning in +their own. Something in them seemed to plead with her to yield to +their influence, and her choice wavered which of them to follow, for +each would have led her her own way,--whither she knew not. It was +the strife of her "Vision," only in another form,--the contest of two +lives her blood inherited for the mastery of her soul. The might of +beauty conquered. Myrtle resigned herself to the guidance of the +lovely phantom, which seemed so much fuller of the unextinguished +fire of life, and so like herself as she would grow to be when noon +should have ripened her into maturity. + +Doors opened softly before them; they climbed stairs, and threaded +corridors, and penetrated crypts, strange yet familiar to her eyes, +which seemed to her as if they could see, as it were, in darkness. +Then came a confused sense of eager search for something that she +knew was hidden, whether in the cleft of a rock, or under the boards +of a floor, or in some hiding-place among the skeleton rafters, or in +a forgotten drawer, or in a heap of rubbish, she could not tell; but +somewhere there was something which she was to find, and which, once +found, was to be her talisman. She was in the midst of this eager +search when she awoke. + +The impression was left so strongly on her mind that with all her +fears she could not resist the desire to make an effort to find what +meaning there was in this frightfully real dream. Her courage came +back as her senses assured her that all around her was natural, as +when she left it. She determined to follow the lead of the strange +hint her nightmare had given her. + +In one of the upper chambers of the old mansion there stood a tall, +upright desk of the ancient pattern, with folding doors above and +large drawers below. "That desk is yours, Myrtle," her uncle Malachi +had once said to her; "and there is a trick or two about it that it +will pay you to study." Many a time Myrtle had puzzled herself about +the mystery of the old desk. All the little drawers, of which there +were a considerable number, she had pulled out, and every crevice, as +she thought, she had carefully examined. She determined to make one +more trial. It was the dead of the night, and this was a fearful old +place to be wandering about; but she was possessed with an urgent +feeling which would not let her wait until daylight. + +She stole like a ghost from her chamber. She glided along the narrow +entries as she had seemed to move in her dream. She opened the +folding doors of the great upright desk. She had always before +examined it by daylight, and though she had so often pulled all the +little drawers out, she had never thoroughly explored the recesses +which received them. But in her new-born passion of search, she held +her light so as to illuminate all these deeper spaces. At once she +thought she saw the marks of pressure with a finger. She pressed her +own finger on this place, and, as it yielded with a slight click, a +small mahogany pilaster sprang forward, revealing its well-kept +secret that it was the mask of a tall, deep, very narrow drawer. +There was something heavy in it, and, as Myrtle turned it over, a +golden bracelet fell into her hand. She recognized it at once as +that which had been long ago the ornament of the fair woman whose +portrait hung in her chamber. She clasped it upon her wrist, and +from that moment she felt as if she were the captive of the lovely +phantom who had been with her in her dream. + +"The old man walked last night, God save us!" said Kitty Fagan to +Biddy Finnegan, the day after Myrtle's nightmare and her curious +discovery. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +VICTORY. + +It seems probable enough that Myrtle's whole spiritual adventure was +an unconscious dramatization of a few simple facts which her +imagination tangled together into a kind of vital coherence. The +philosopher who goes to the bottom of things will remark that all the +elements of her fantastic melodrama had been furnished her while +waking. Master Byles Gridley's penetrating and stinging caution was +the text, and the grotesque carvings and the portraits furnished the +"properties" with which her own mind had wrought up this scenic show. + +The philosopher who goes to the bottom of things might not find it so +easy to account for the change which came over Myrtle Hazard from the +hour when she clasped the bracelet of Judith Pride upon her wrist. +She felt a sudden loathing of the man whom she had idealized as a +saint. A young girl's caprice? Possibly. A return of the natural +instincts of girlhood with returning health? Perhaps so. An +impression produced by her dream? An effect of an influx from +another sphere of being? The working of Master Byles Gridley's +emphatic warning? The magic of her new talisman? + +We may safely leave these questions for the present. As we have to +tell, not what Myrtle Hazard ought to have done, and why she should +have done it, but what she did do, our task is a simpler one than it +would be to lay bare all the springs of her action. Until this +period, she had hardly thought of herself as a born beauty. The +flatteries she had received from time to time were like the chips and +splinters under the green wood, when the chill women pretended to +make a fire in the best parlor at The Poplars, which had a way of +burning themselves out, hardly warming, much less kindling, the fore- +stick and the back-log. + +Myrtle had a tinge of what some call superstition, and she began to +look upon her strange acquisition as a kind of amulet. Its +suggestions betrayed themselves in one of her first movements. +Nothing could be soberer than the cut of the dresses which the +propriety of the severe household had established as the rule of her +costume. But the girl was no sooner out of bed than a passion came +over her to see herself in that less jealous arrangement of drapery +which the Beauty of the last century had insisted on as presenting +her most fittingly to the artist. She rolled up the sleeves of her +dress, she turned down its prim collar and neck, and glanced from her +glass to the portrait, from the portrait back to the glass. Myrtle +was not blind nor dull, though young, and in many things untaught. +She did not say in so many words, "I too am a beauty," but she could +mot help seeing that she had many of the attractions of feature and +form which had made the original of the picture before her famous. +The same stately carriage of the head, the same full-rounded neck, +the same more than hinted outlines of figure, the same finely shaped +arms and hands, and something very like the same features startled +her by their identity in the permanent image of the canvas and the +fleeting one of tile mirror. + +The world was hers then,--for she had not read romances and love- +letters without finding that beauty governs it in all times and +places. Who was this middle-aged minister that had been hanging +round her and talking to her about heaven, when there was not a +single joy of earth that she had as yet tasted? A man that had been +saying all his fine things to Miss Susan Posey, too, had he, before +he had bestowed his attentions on her? And to a dozen other girls, +too, nobody knows who! + +The revulsion was a very sadden one. Such changes of feeling are apt +to be sudden in young people whose nerves have been tampered with, +and Myrtle was not of a temperament or an age to act with much +deliberation where a pique came in to the aid of a resolve. Master +Gridley guessed sagaciously what would be the effect of his +revelation, when he told her of the particular attentions the +minister had paid to pretty Susan Posey and various other young +women. + +The Rev. Mr. Stoker had parted his hair wonderfully that morning, and +made himself as captivating as his professional costume allowed. He +had drawn down the shades of his windows so as to let in that subdued +light which is merciful to crow's-feet and similar embellishments, +and wheeled up his sofa so that two could sit at the table and read +from the same book. + +At eleven o'clock he was pacing the room with a certain feverish +impatience, casting a glance now and then at the mirror as he passed +it. At last the bell rang, and he himself went to answer it, his +heart throbbing with expectation of meeting his lovely visitor. + +Myrtle Hazard appeared by an envoy extraordinary, the bearer of +sealed despatches. Mistress Kitty Fagan was the young lady's +substitute, and she delivered into the hand of the astonished +clergyman the following missive: + +TO THE REV. MR. STOKER. + +Reverend Sir,--I shall not come to your study this day. I do not +feel that I have any more need of religious counsel at this time, and +I am told by a friend that there are others who will be glad to hear +you talk on this subject. I hear that Mrs. Hopkins is interested in +religious subjects, and would have been glad to see you in my +company. As I cannot go with her, perhaps Miss Susan Posey will take +my place. I thank you for all the good things you have said to me, +and that you have given me so much of your company. I hope we shall +sing hymns together in heaven some time, if we are good enough, but I +want to wait for that awhile, for I do not feel quite ready. I am +not going to see you any more alone, reverend sir. I think this is +best, and I have good advice. I want to see more of young people of +my own age, and I have a friend, Mr. Gridley, who I think is older +than you are, that takes an interest in me; and as you have many +others that you must be interested in, he can take the place of a +father better than you can do. I return to you the hymn-book, I read +one of those you marked, and do not care to read any more. + +Respectfully yours, + +MYRTLE HAZARD. + + +The Rev. Mr. Stoker uttered a cry of rage as he finished this +awkwardly written, but tolerably intelligible letter. What could he +do about it? It would hardly do to stab Myrtle Hazard, and shoot +Byles Gridley, and strangle Mrs. Hopkins, every one of which +homicides he felt at the moment that he could have committed. And +here he was in a frantic paroxysm, and the next day was Sunday, and +his morning's discourse was unwritten. His savage mediaeval theology +came to his relief, and he clutched out of a heap of yellow +manuscripts his well-worn "convulsion-fit" sermon. He preached it +the next day as if it did his heart good, but Myrtle Hazard did not +hear it, for she had gone to St. Bartholomew's with Olive Eveleth. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +SAINT AND SINNER + +It happened a little after this time that the minister's invalid wife +improved--somewhat unexpectedly in health, and, as Bathsheba was +beginning to suffer from imprisonment in her sick-chamber, the +physician advised very strongly that she should vary the monotony of +her life by going out of the house daily for fresh air and cheerful +companionship. She was therefore frequently at the house of Olive +Eveleth; and as Myrtle wanted to see young people, and had her own +way now as never before, the three girls often met at the parsonage. +Thus they became more and more intimate, and grew more and more into +each other's affections. + +These girls presented three types of spiritual character which are to +be found in all our towns and villages. Olive had been carefully +trained, and at the proper age confirmed. Bathsheba had been prayed +for, and in due time startled and converted. Myrtle was a simple +daughter of Eve, with many impulses like those of the other two +girls, and some that required more watching. She was not so safe, +perhaps, as either of the other girls, for this world or the next; +but she was on some accounts more interesting, as being a more +genuine representative of that inexperienced and too easily deluded, +yet always cherished, mother of our race, whom we must after all +accept as embodying the creative idea of woman, and who might have +been alive and happy now (though at a great age) but for a single +fatal error. + +The Rev. Ambrose Eveleth, Rector of Saint Bartholomew's, Olive's +father, was one of a class numerous in the Anglican Church, a +cultivated man, with pure tastes, with simple habits, a good reader, +a neat writer, a safe thinker, with a snug and well-fenced mental +pasturage, which his sermons kept cropped moderately close without +any exhausting demand upon the soil. Olive had grown insensibly into +her religious maturity, as into her bodily and intellectual +developments, which one might suppose was the natural order of things +in a well-regulated Christian--household, where the children are +brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. + +Bathsheba had been worried over and perplexed and depressed with +vague apprehensions about her condition, conveyed in mysterious +phrases and graveyard expressions of countenance, until about the age +of fourteen years, when she had one of those emotional paroxysms very +commonly considered in some Protestant sects as essential to the +formation of religious character. It began with a shivering sense of +enormous guilt, inherited and practised from her earliest infancy. +Just as every breath she ever drew had been malignantly poisoning the +air with carbonic acid, so her every thought and feeling had been +tainting the universe with sin. This spiritual chill or rigor had in +due order been followed by the fever-flush of hope, and that in its +turn had ushered in the last stage, the free opening of all the +spiritual pores in the peaceful relaxation of self-surrender. + +Good Christians are made by many very different processes. Bathsheba +had taken her religion after the fashion of her sect; but it was +genuine, in spite of the cavils of the formalists, who could not +understand that the spirit which kept her at her mother's bedside was +the same as that which poured the tears of Mary of Magdala on the +feet of her Lord, and led her forth at early dawn with the other Mary +to visit his sepulchre. + +Myrtle was a child of nature, and of course, according to the out- +worn formulae which still shame the distorted religion of humanity, +hateful to the Father in Heaven who made her. She had grown up in +antagonism with all that surrounded her. She had been talked to +about her corrupt nature and her sinful heart, until the words had +become an offence and an insult. Bathsheba knew her father's +fondness for young company too well to suppose that his intercourse +with Myrtle had gone beyond the sentimental and poetical stage, and +was not displeased when she found that there was some breach between +them. Myrtle herself did not profess to have passed through the +technical stages of the customary spiritual paroxysm. Still, the +gentle daughter of the terrible preacher loved her and judged her +kindly. She was modest enough to think that perhaps the natural +state of some girls might be at least as good as her own after the +spiritual change of which she had been the subject. A manifest +heresy, but not new, nor unamiable, nor inexplicable. + +The excellent Bishop Joseph Hall, a painful preacher and solid divine +of Puritan tendencies, declares that he prefers good-nature before +grace in the election of a wife; because, saith he, "it will be a +hard Task, where the Nature is peevish and froward, for Grace to make +an entire Conquest whilst Life lasteth." An opinion apparently +entertained by many modern ecclesiastics, and one which may be +considered very encouraging to those young ladies of the politer +circles who have a fancy for marrying bishops and other fashionable +clergymen. Not of course that "grace" is so rare a gift among the +young ladies of the upper social sphere; but they are in the habit of +using the word with a somewhat different meaning from that which the +good Bishop attached to it. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +VILLAGE POET. + +It was impossible for Myrtle to be frequently at Olive's without +often meeting Olive's brother, and her reappearance with the bloom on +her cheek was a signal which her other admirers were not likely to +overlook as a hint to recommence their flattering demonstrations; and +so it was that she found herself all at once the centre of attraction +to three young men with whom we have made some acquaintance, namely, +Cyprian Eveleth, Gifted Hopkins, and Murray Bradshaw. + +When the three girls were together at the house of Olive, it gave +Cyprian a chance to see something of Myrtle in the most natural way. +Indeed, they all became used to meeting him in a brotherly sort of +relation; only, as he was not the brother of two of them, it gave him +the inside track, as the sporting men say, with reference to any +rivals for the good-will of either of these. Of course neither +Bathsheba nor Myrtle thought of him in any other light than as +Olive's brother, and would have been surprised with the manifestation +on his part of any other feeling, if it existed. So he became very +nearly as intimate with them as Olive was, and hardly thought of his +intimacy as anything more than friendship, until one day Myrtle sang +some hymns so sweetly that Cyprian dreamed about her that night; and +what young person does not know that the woman or the man once +idealized and glorified in the exalted state of the imagination +belonging to sleep becomes dangerous to the sensibilities in the +waking hours that follow? Yet something drew Cyprian to the gentler +and more subdued nature of Bathsheba, so that he often thought, like +a gayer personage than himself, whose divided affections are famous +in song, that he could have been blessed to share her faithful heart, +if Myrtle had not bewitched him with her unconscious and innocent +sorceries. As for poor, modest Bathsheba, she thought nothing of +herself, but was almost as much fascinated by Myrtle as if she had +been one of the sex she was born to make in love with her. + +The first rival Cyprian was to encounter in his admiration of Myrtle +Hazard was Mr. Gifted Hopkins. This young gentleman had the enormous +advantage of that all-subduing accomplishment, the poetical +endowment. No woman, it is pretty generally understood, can resist +the youth or man who addresses her in verse. The thought that she is +the object of a poet's love is one which fills a woman's ambition +more completely than all that wealth or office or social eminence can +offer. Do the young millionnaires and the members of the General +Court get letters from unknown ladies, every day, asking for their +autographs and photographs? Well, then! + +Mr. Gifted Hopkins, being a poet, felt that it was so, to the very +depth of his soul. Could he not confer that immortality so dear to +the human heart? Not quite yet, perhaps,--though the "Banner and +Oracle" gave him already "an elevated niche in the Temple of Fame," +to quote its own words,--but in that glorious summer of his genius, +of which these spring blossoms were the promise. It was a most +formidable battery, then, which Cyprian's first rival opened upon the +fortress of Myrtle's affections. + +His second rival, Mr. William Murray Bradshaw, had made a half- +playful bet with his fair relative, Mrs. Clymer Ketchum, that he +would bag a girl within twelve months of date who should unite three +desirable qualities, specified in the bet, in a higher degree than +any one of the five who were on the matrimonial programme which she +had laid out for him,--and Myrtle was the girl with whom he meant to +win the bet. When a young fellow like him, cool and clever, makes up +his mind to bring down his bird, it is no joke, but a very serious +and a tolerably certain piece of business. Not being made a fool of +by any boyish nonsense,--passion and all that,--he has a great +advantage. Many a woman rejects a man because he is in love with +her, and accepts another because he is not. The first is thinking +too much of himself and his emotions,--the other makes a study of her +and her friends, and learns what ropes to pull. But then it must be +remembered that Murray Bradshaw had a poet for his rival, to say +nothing of the brother of a bosom friend. + +The qualities of a young poet are so exceptional, and such +interesting objects of study, that a narrative like this can well +afford to linger awhile in the delineation of this most envied of all +the forms of genius. And by contrasting the powers and limitations +of two such young persons as Gifted Hopkins and Cyprian Eveleth, we +may better appreciate the nature of that divine inspiration which +gives to poetry the superiority it claims over every other form of +human expression. + +Gifted Hopkins had shown an ear for rhythm, and for the simpler forms +of music, from his earliest childhood. He began beating with his +heels the accents of the psalm tunes sung at meeting at a very tender +age,--a habit, indeed, of which he had afterwards to correct himself, +as, though it shows a sensibility to rhythmical impulses like that +which is beautifully illustrated when a circle join hands and +emphasize by vigorous downward movements the leading syllables in the +tune of Auld Lang Syne, yet it is apt to be too expressive when a +large number of boots join in the performance. He showed a +remarkable talent for playing on one of the less complex musical +instruments, too limited in compass to satisfy exacting ears, but +affording excellent discipline to those who wish to write in the +simpler metrical forms,--the same which summons the hero from his +repose and stirs his blood in battle. + +By the time he was twelve years old he was struck with the pleasing +resemblance of certain vocal sounds which, without being the same, +yet had a curious relation which made them agree marvellously well in +couples; as eyes with skies; as heart with art, also with part and +smart; and so of numerous others, twenty or thirty pairs, perhaps, +which number he considerably increased as he grew older, until he may +have had fifty or more such pairs at his command. + +The union of so extensive a catalogue of words which matched each +other, and of an ear so nice that it could tell if there were nine or +eleven syllables in an heroic line, instead of the legitimate ten, +constituted a rare combination of talents in the opinion of those +upon whose judgment he relied. He was naturally led to try his +powers in the expression of some just thought or natural sentiment in +the shape of verse, that wonderful medium of imparting thought and +feeling to his fellow-creatures which a bountiful Providence had made +his rare and inestimable endowment. + +It was at about this period of his life, that is to say, when he was +of the age of thirteen, or we may perhaps say fourteen years, for we +do not wish to overstate his precocity, that he experienced a +sensation so entirely novel, that, to the best of his belief, it was +such as no other young person had ever known, at least in anything +like the same degree. This extraordinary emotion was brought on by +the sight of Myrtle Hazard, with whom he had never before had any +near relations, as they had been at different schools, and Myrtle was +too reserved to be very generally known among the young people of his +age. + +Then it was that he broke forth in his virgin effort, "Lines to +M----e," which were published in the village paper, and were claimed +by all possible girls but the right one; namely, by two Mary Annes, +one Minnie, one Mehitable, and one Marthie, as she saw fit to spell +the name borrowed from her who was troubled about many things. + +The success of these lines, which were in that form of verse known to +the hymn-books as "common metre," was such as to convince the youth +that, whatever occupation he might be compelled to follow for a time +to obtain a livelihood or to assist his worthy parent, his true +destiny was the glorious career of a poet. It was a most pleasing +circumstance, that his mother, while she fully recognized the +propriety of his being diligent in the prosaic line of business to +which circumstances had called him, was yet as much convinced as he +himself that he was destined to achieve literary fame. She had read +Watts and Select Hymns all through, she said, and she did n't see but +what Gifted could make the verses come out jest as slick, and the +sound of the rhymes jest as pooty, as Izik Watts or the Selectmen, +whoever they was,--she was sure they couldn't be the selectmen of +this town, wherever they belonged. It is pleasant to say that the +young man, though favored by nature with this rarest of talents, did +not forget the humbler duties that Heaven, which dresses few singing- +birds in the golden plumes of fortune, had laid upon him. After +having received a moderate amount of instruction at one of the less +ambitious educational institutions of the town, supplemented, it is +true, by the judicious and gratuitous hints of Master Gridley, the +young poet, in obedience to a feeling which did him the highest +credit, relinquished, at least for the time, the Groves of Academus, +and offered his youth at the shrine of Plutus, that is, left off +studying and took to business. He became what they call a "clerk" in +what they call a "store" up in the huckleberry districts, and kept +such accounts as were required by the business of the establishment. +His principal occupation was, however, to attend to the details of +commerce as it was transacted over the counter. This industry +enabled him, to his great praise be it spoken, to assist his +excellent parent, to clothe himself in a becoming manner, so that he +made a really handsome figure on Sundays and was always of +presentable aspect, likewise to purchase a book now and then, and to +subscribe for that leading periodical which furnishes the best models +to the youth of the country in the various modes of composition. + +Though Master Gridley was very kind to the young man, he was rather +disposed to check the exuberance of his poetical aspirations. The +truth was, that the old classical scholar did not care a great deal +for modern English poetry. Give him an Ode of Horace, or a scrap +from the Greek Anthology, and he would recite it with great inflation +of spirits; but he did not think very much of "your Keatses, and your +Tennysons, and the whole Hasheesh crazy lot," as he called the +dreamily sensuous idealists who belong to the same century that +brought in ether and chloroform. He rather shook his head at Gifted +Hopkins for indulging so largely in metrical composition. + +"Better stick to your ciphering, my young friend," he said to him, +one day. "Figures of speech are all very well, in their way; but if +you undertake to deal much in them, you'll figure down your prospects +into a mighty small sum. There's some danger that it will take all +the sense out of you, if you keep writing verses at this rate. You +young scribblers think any kind of nonsense will do for the public, +if it only has a string of rhymes tacked to it. Cut off the bobs of +your kite, Gifted Hopkins, and see if it does n't pitch, and stagger, +and come down head-foremost. Don't write any stuff with rhyming +tails to it that won't make a decent show for itself after you've +chopped all the rhyming tails off. That's my advice, Gifted Hopkins. +Is there any book you would like to have out of my library? Have you +ever read Spenser's Faery Queen?" + +He had tried, the young man answered, on the recommendation of +Cyprian Eveleth, but had found it rather hard reading. + +Master Gridley lifted his eyebrows very slightly, remembering that +some had called Spenser the poet's poet. "What a pity," he said to +himself, "that this Gifted Hopkins has n't got the brains of that +William Murray Bradshaw! What's the reason, I wonder, that all the +little earthen pots blow their covers off and froth over in rhymes at +such a great rate, while the big iron pots keep their lids on, and do +all their simmering inside?" + +That is the way these old pedants will talk, after all their youth +and all their poetry, if they ever had any, are gone. The smiles of +woman, in the mean time, encouraged the young poet to smite the lyre. +Fame beckoned him upward from her templed steep. The rhymes which +rose before him unbidden were as the rounds of Jacob's ladder, on +which he would climb to a heaven of-glory. + +Master Gridley threw cold water on the young man's too sanguine +anticipations of success. "All up with the boy, if he's going to +take to rhyming when he ought to be doing up papers of brown sugar +and weighing out pounds of tea. Poor-house,--that 's what it'll end +in. Poets, to be sure! Sausage-makers ! Empty skins of old +phrases,--stuff 'em with odds and ends of old thoughts that never +were good for anything,--cut 'em up in lengths and sell'em to fools! + +And if they ain't big fools enough to buy 'em, give'em away; and if +you can't do that, pay folks to take'em. Bah! what a fine style of +genius common-sense is! There's a passage in the book that would fit +half these addle-headed rhymesters. What is that saying of mine +about I squinting brains?" + +He took down "Thoughts on the Universe," and read:-- + + + "Of Squinting Brains. + +"Where there is one man who squints with his eyes, there are a dozen +who squint with their brains. It is an infirmity in one of the eyes, +making the two unequal in power, that makes men squint. Just so it +is an inequality in the two halves of the brain that makes some men +idiots and others rascals. I knows a fellow whose right half is a +genius, but his other hemisphere belongs to a fool; and I had a +friend perfectly honest on one side, but who was sent to jail because +the other had an inveterate tendency in the direction of picking +pockets and appropriating aes alienum." + +All this, talking and reading to himself in his usual fashion. + +The poetical faculty which was so freely developed in Gifted Hopkins +had never manifested itself in Cyprian Eveleth, whose look and voice +might, to a stranger, have seemed more likely to imply an imaginative +nature. Cyprian was dark, slender, sensitive, contemplative, a lover +of lonely walks,--one who listened for the whispers of Nature and +watched her shadows, and was alive to the symbolisms she writes over +everything. But Cyprian had never shown the talent or the +inclination for writing in verse. + +He was on the pleasantest terms with the young poet, and being +somewhat older, and having had the advantage of academic and college +culture, often gave him useful hints as to the cultivation of his +powers, such as genius frequently requires at the hands of humbler +intelligences. Cyprian was incapable of jealousy; and although the +name of Gifted Hopkins was getting to be known beyond the immediate +neighborhood, and his autograph had been requested by more than one +young lady living in another county, he never thought of envying the +young poet's spreading popularity. + +That the poet himself was flattered by these marks of public favor +may be inferred from the growing confidence with which he expressed +himself in his conversations with Cyprian, more especially in one +which was held at the "store" where he officiated as "clerk." + +"I become more and more assured, Cyprian," he said, leaning over the +counter, "that I was born to be a poet. I feel it in my marrow. I +must succeed. I must win the laurel of fame. I must taste the +sweets of"--- + +" Molasses," said a bareheaded girl of ten who entered at that +moment, bearing in her hand a cracked pitcher, "ma wants three gills +of molasses." + +Gifted Hopkins dropped his subject and took up a tin measure. He +served the little maid with a benignity quite charming to witness, +made an entry on a slate of .08, and resumed the conversation. + +"Yes, I am sure of it, Cyprian. The very last piece I wrote was +copied in two papers. It was 'Contemplations in Autumn,' and--don't +think I am too vain--one young lady has told me that it reminded her +of Pollok. You never wrote in verse, did you, Cyprian?" + +"I never wrote at all, Gifted, except school and college exercises, +and a letter now and then. Do you find it an easy and pleasant +exercise to make rhymes?" + +Pleasant! Poetry is to me a delight and a passion. I never know +what I am going to write when I sit down. And presently the rhymes +begin pounding in my brain,--it seems as if there were a hundred +couples of them, paired like so many dancers,--and then these rhymes +seem to take possession of me, like a surprise party, and bring in +all sorts of beautiful thoughts, and I write and write, and the +verses run measuring themselves out like"--- + +"Ribbins,--any narrer blue ribbins, Mr. Hopkins? Five eighths of a +yard, if you please, Mr. Hopkins. How's your folks?" Then, in a +lower tone, "Those last verses of yours in the Bannernoracle were +sweet pooty." + +Gifted Hopkins meted out the five eighths of blue ribbon by the aid +of certain brass nails on the counter. He gave good measure, not +prodigal, for he was loyal to his employer, but putting a very +moderate strain on the ribbon, and letting the thumb-nail slide with +a contempt of infinitesimals which betokened a large soul in its +genial mood. + +The young lady departed, after casting upon him one of those +bewitching glances which the young poet--let us rather say the poet, +without making odious distinctions--is in the confirmed habit of +receiving from dear woman. + +Mr. Gifted Hopkins resumed: "I do not know where this talent, as my +friends call it, of mine, comes from. My father used to carry a +chain for a surveyor sometimes, and there is a ten-foot pole in the +house he used to measure land with. I don't see why that should make +me a poet. My mother was always fond of Dr. Watts's hymns; but so +are other young men's mothers, and yet they don't show poetical +genius. But wherever I got it, it comes as easy to me to write in +verse as to write in prose, almost. Don't you ever feel a longing to +send your thoughts forth in verse, Cyprian?" + +"I wish I had a greater facility of expression very often," Cyprian +answered; "but when I have my best thoughts I do not find that I have +words that seem fitting to clothe them. I have imagined a great many +poems, Gifted, but I never wrote a rhyming verse, or verse of any +kind. Did you ever hear Olive play 'Songs without Words'? If you +have ever heard her, you will know what I mean by unrhymed and +unversed poetry." + +"I am sure I don't know what you mean, Cyprian, by poetry without +rhyme or verse, any more than I should if you talked about pictures +that were painted on nothing, or statues that were made out of +nothing. How can you tell that anything is poetry, I should like to +know, if there is neither a regular line with just so many syllables, +nor a rhyme? Of course you can't. I never have any thoughts too +beautiful to put in verse: nothing can be too beautiful for it." + +Cyprian left the conversation at this point. It was getting more +suggestive than interpenetrating, and he thought he might talk the +matter over better with Olive. Just then a little boy came in, and +bargained with Gifted for a Jews-harp, which, having obtained, he +placed against his teeth, and began playing upon it with a pleasure +almost equal to that of the young poet reciting his own verses. + +"A little too much like my friend Gifted Hopkins's poetry," Cyprian +said, as he left the "store." "All in one note, pretty much. Not a +great many tunes, 'Hi Betty Martin,' ' Yankee Doodle,' and one or two +more like them. But many people seem to like them, and I don't doubt +it is as exciting to Gifted to write them as it is to a great genius +to express itself in a poem." + +Cyprian was, perhaps, too exacting. He loved too well the sweet +intricacies of Spenser, the majestic and subtly interwoven harmonies +of Milton. These made him impatient of the simpler strains of Gifted +Hopkins. + +Though he himself never wrote verses, he had some qualities which his +friend the poet may have undervalued in comparison with the talent of +modelling the symmetries of verse and adjusting the correspondences +of rhyme. He had kept in a singular degree all the sensibilities of +childhood, its simplicity, its reverence. It seemed as if nothing of +all that he met in his daily life was common or unclean to him, for +there was no mordant in his nature for what was coarse or vile, and +all else he could not help idealizing into its own conception of +itself, so to speak. He loved the leaf after its kind as well as the +flower, and the root as well as the leaf, and did not exhaust his +capacity of affection or admiration on the blossom or bud upon which +his friend the poet lavished the wealth of his verse. Thus Nature +took him into her confidence. She loves the men of science well, and +tells them all her family secrets,--who is the father of this or that +member of the group, who is brother, sister, cousin, and so on, +through all the circle of relationship. But there are others to whom +she tells her dreams; not what species or genus her lily belongs to, +but what vague thought it has when it dresses in white, or what +memory of its birthplace that is which we call its fragrance. +Cyprian was one of these. Yet he was not a complete nature. He +required another and a wholly different one to be the complement of +his own. Olive came as near it as a sister could, but--we must +borrow an old image--moonlight is no more than a cold and vacant +glimmer on the sun-dial, which only answers to the great flaming orb +of day. If Cyprian could but find some true, sweet-tempered, well- +balanced woman, richer in feeling than in those special imaginative +gifts which made the outward world at times unreal to him in the +intense reality of his own inner life, how he could enrich and adorn +her existence,--how she could direct and chasten and elevate the +character of all his thoughts and actions! + +"Bathsheba," said Olive, "it seems to me that Cyprian is getting more +and more fascinated with Myrtle Hazard. He has never got over the +fancy he took to her when he first saw her in her red jacket, and +called her the fire-hang-bird. Wouldn't they suit each other by and +by, after Myrtle has come to herself and grown into a beautiful and +noble woman, as I feel sure she will in due time?" + +"Myrtle is very lovely," Bathsheba answered, "but is n't she a little +too--flighty--for one like your brother? Cyprian isn't more like +other young men than Myrtle is like other young girls. I have +thought sometimes--I wondered whether out-of-the-way people and +common ones do not get along best together. Does n't Cyprian want +some more every-day kind of girl to keep him straight? Myrtle is +beautiful, beautiful,--fascinates everybody. Has Mr. Bradshaw been +following after her lately? He is taken with her too. Didn't you +ever think she would have to give in to Murray Bradshaw at last? He +looks to me like a man that would hold on desperately as a lover." + +If Myrtle Hazard, instead of being a half-finished school-girl, +hardly sixteen years old, had been a young woman of eighteen or +nineteen, it would have been plain sailing enough for Murray +Bradshaw. But he knew what a distance their ages seemed just now to +put between them,--a distance which would grow practically less and +less with every year, and he did not wish to risk anything so long as +there was no danger of interference. He rather encouraged Gifted +Hopkins to write poetry to Myrtle. "Go in, Gifted," he said, +"there's no telling what may come of it," and Gifted did go in at a +great rate. + +Murray Bradshaw did not write poetry himself, but he read poetry with +a good deal of effect, and he would sometimes take a hint from one of +Gifted Hopkins's last productions to recite a passionate lyric of +Byron or Moore, into which he would artfully throw so much meaning +that Myrtle was almost as much puzzled, in her simplicity, to know +what it meant, as she had been by the religious fervors of the Rev. +Mr. Stoker. + +He spoke well of Cyprian Eveleth. A good young man,--limited, but +exemplary. Would succeed well as rector of a small parish. That +required little talent, but a good deal of the humbler sort of +virtue. As for himself, he confessed to ambition,--yes, a great deal +of ambition. A failing, he supposed, but not the worst of failings. +He felt the instinct to handle the larger interests of society. The +village would perhaps lose sight of him for a time; but he meant to +emerge sooner or later in the higher spheres of government or +diplomacy. Myrtle must keep his secret. Nobody else knew it. He +could not help making a confidant of her,--a thing he had never done +before with any other person as to his plans in life. Perhaps she +might watch his career with more interest from her acquaintance with +him. He loved to think that there was one woman at least who would +be pleased to hear of his success if he succeeded, as with life and +health he would,--who would share his disappointment if fate should +not favor him. --So he wound and wreathed himself into her thoughts. + +It was not very long before Myrtle began to accept the idea that she +was the one person in the world whose peculiar duty it was to +sympathize with the aspiring young man whose humble beginnings she +had the honor of witnessing. And it is not very far from being the +solitary confidant, and the single source of inspiration, to the +growth of a livelier interest, where a young man and a young woman +are in question. + +Myrtle was at this time her own mistress as never before. The three +young men had access to her as she walked to and from meeting and in +her frequent rambles, besides the opportunities Cyprian had of +meeting her in his sister's company, and the convenient visits which, +in connection with the great lawsuit, Murray Bradshaw could make, +without question, at The Poplars. + +It was not long before Cyprian perceived that he could never pass a +certain boundary of intimacy with Myrtle. Very pleasant and sisterly +always she was with him; but she never looked as if she might mean +more than she said, and cherished a little spark of sensibility which +might be fanned into the flame of love. Cyprian felt this so +certainly that he was on the point of telling his grief to Bathsheba, +who looked to him as if she would sympathize as heartily with him as +his own sister, and whose sympathy would have a certain flavor in +it,--something which one cannot find in the heart of the dearest +sister that ever lived. But Bathsheba was herself sensitive, and +changed color when Cyprian ventured a hint or two in the direction of +his thought, so that he never got so fax as to unburden his heart to +her about Myrtle, whom she admired so sincerely that she could not +have helped feeling a great interest in his passion towards her. + +As for Gifted Hopkins, the roses that were beginning to bloom fresher +and fresher every day in Myrtle's cheeks unfolded themselves more and +more freely, to speak metaphorically, in his song. Every week she +would receive a delicately tinted note with lines to "Myrtle +awaking," or to "Myrtle retiring," (one string of verses a little too +Musidora-ish, and which soon found itself in the condition of a +cinder, perhaps reduced to that state by spontaneous combustion,) or +to "The Flower of the Tropics," or to the "Nymph of the River-side," +or other poetical alias, such as bards affect in their sieges of the +female heart. + +Gifted Hopkins was of a sanguine temperament. As he read and re-read +his verses it certainly seemed to him that they must reach the heart +of the angelic being to whom they were addressed. That she was slow +in confessing the impression they made upon her, was a favorable +sign; so many girls called his poems "sweet pooty," that those +charming words, though soothing, no longer stirred him deeply. +Myrtle's silence showed that the impression his verses had made was +deep. Time would develop her sentiments; they were both young; his +position was humble as yet; but when he had become famous through the +land-oh blissful thought!--the bard of Oxbow Village would bear a +name that any woman would be proud to assume, and the M. H. which +her delicate hands had wrought on the kerchiefs she wore would yet +perhaps be read, not Myrtle Hazard, but Myrtle Hopkins. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +SUSAN'S YOUNG MAN. + +There seems no reasonable doubt that Myrtle Hazard might have made a +safe thing of it with Gifted Hopkins, (if so inclined,) provided that +she had only been secured against interference. But the constant +habit of reading his verses to Susan Posey was not without its risk +to so excitable a nature as that of the young poet. Poets were +always capable of divided affections, and Cowley's "Chronicle" is a +confession that would fit the whole tribe of them. It is true that +Gifted had no right to regard Susan's heart as open to the wiles of +any new-comer. He knew that she considered herself, and was +considered by another, as pledged and plighted. Yet she was such a +devoted listener, her sympathies were so easily roused, her blue eyes +glistened so tenderly at the least poetical hint, such as "Never, oh +never," "My aching heart," "Go, let me weep,"--any of those touching +phrases out of the long catalogue which readily suggests itself, that +her influence was getting to be such that Myrtle (if really anxious +to secure him) might look upon it with apprehension, and the owner of +Susan's heart (if of a jealous disposition) might have thought it +worth while to make a visit to Oxbow Village to see after his +property. + +It may seem not impossible that some friend had suggested as much as +this to the young lady's lover. + +The caution would have been unnecessary, or at least premature. +Susan was loyal as ever to her absent friend. Gifted Hopkins had +never yet presumed upon the familiar relations existing between them +to attempt to shake her allegiance. It is quite as likely, after +all, that the young gentleman about to make his appearance in Oxbow +Village visited the place of his own accord, without a hint from +anybody. But the fact concerns us more than the reason of it, just +now. + +"Who do you think is coming, Mr. Gridley? Who do you think is +coming?" said Susan Posey, her face covered with a carnation such as +the first season may see in a city belle, but not the second. + +"Well, Susan Posey, I suppose I must guess, though I am rather slow +at that business. Perhaps the Governor. No, I don't think it can be +the Governor, for you would n't look so happy if it was only his +Excellency. It must be the President, Susan Posey,--President James +Buchanan. Have n't I guessed right, now, tell me, my dear?" + +"O Mr. Gridley, you are too bad,--what do I care for governors and +presidents? I know somebody that's worth fifty million thousand +presidents,--and he 's coming,--my Clement is coming," said Susan, +who had by this time learned to consider the awful Byles Gridley as +her next friend and faithful counsellor. + +Susan could not stay long in the house after she got her note +informing her that her friend was soon to be with her. Everybody +told everything to Olive Eveleth, and Susan must run over to the +parsonage to tell her that there was a young gentleman coming to +Oxbow Village; upon which Olive asked who it was, exactly as if she +did not know; whereupon Susan dropped her eyes and said, "Clement,--I +mean Mr. Lindsay." + +That was a fair piece of news now, and Olive had her bonnet on five +minutes after Susan was gone, and was on her way to Bathsheba's,--it +was too bad that the poor girl who lived so out of the world +shouldn't know anything of what was going on in it. Bathsheba had +been in all the morning, and the Doctor had said she must take the +air every day; so Bathsheba had on her bonnet a little after Olive +had gone, and walked straight up to The Poplars to tell Myrtle Hazard +that a certain young gentleman, Clement Lindsay, was coming to Oxbow +Village. + +It was perhaps fortunate that there was no special significance to +Myrtle in the name of Clement Lindsay. Since the adventure which had +brought these two young persons together, and, after coming so near a +disaster, had ended in a mere humiliation and disappointment, and but +for Master Gridley's discreet kindness might have led to foolish +scandal, Myrtle had never referred to it in any way. Nobody really +knew what her plans had been except Olive and Cyprian, who had +observed a very kind silence about the whole matter. The common +version of the story was harmless, and near enough to the truth, +--down the river,--boat upset,--pulled out,--taken care of by some +women in a house farther down,--sick, brain fever,--pretty near it, +anyhow,--old Dr. Hurlbut called in,--had her hair cut,--hystericky, +etc., etc. + +Myrtle was contented with this statement, and asked no questions, and +it was a perfectly understood thing that nobody alluded to the +subject in her presence. It followed from all this that the name of +Clement Lindsay had no peculiar meaning for her. Nor was she like to +recognize him as the youth in whose company she had gone through her +mortal peril, for all her recollections were confused and dreamlike +from the moment when she awoke and found herself in the foaming +rapids just above the fall, until that when her senses returned, and +she saw Master Byles Gridley standing over her with that look of +tenderness in his square features which had lingered in her +recollection, and made her feel towards him as if she were his +daughter. + +Now this had its advantage; for as Clement was Susan's young man, and +had been so for two or three years, it would have been a great pity +to have any such curious relations established between him and Myrtle +Hazard as a consciousness on both sides of what had happened would +naturally suggest. + +"Who is this Clement Lindsay, Bathsheba?" Myrtle asked. + +Why, Myrtle, don't you remember about Susan Posey's is-to-be,--the +young man that has been well, I don't know, but I suppose engaged to +her ever since they were children almost?" + +"Yes, yes, I remember now. Oh dear! I have forgotten so many +things, I should think I had been dead and was coming back to life +again. Do you know anything about him, Bathsheba? Did n't somebody +say he was very handsome? I wonder if he is really in love with +Susan Posey. Such a simple thing? I want to see him. I have seen +so few young men." + +As Myrtle said these words, she lifted the sleeve a little on her +left arm, by a half-instinctive and half-voluntary movement. The +glimmering gold of Judith Pride's bracelet flashed out the yellow +gleam which has been the reddening of so many hands and the +blackening of so, many souls since that innocent sin-breeder was +first picked up in the land of Havilah. There came a sudden light +into her eye, such as Bathsheba had never seen there before. It +looked to her as if Myrtle were saying unconsciously to herself that +she had the power of beauty, and would like to try its influence on +the handsome young man whom she was soon to meet, even at the risk of +unseating poor little Susan in his affections. This pained the +gentle and humble-minded girl, who, without having tasted the world's +pleasures, had meekly consecrated herself to the lowly duties which +lay nearest to her. For Bathsheba's phrasing of life was in the +monosyllables of a rigid faith. Her conceptions of the human soul +were all simplicity and purity, but elementary. She could not +conceive the vast license the creative energy allows itself in +mingling the instincts which, after long conflict, may come into +harmonious adjustment. The flash which Myrtle's eye had caught from +the gleam of the golden bracelet filled Bathsheba with a sudden fear +that she was like to be led away by the vanities of that world lying +in wickedness of which the minister's daughter had heard so much and +seen so little. + +Not that Bathsheba made any fine moral speeches, to herself. She +only felt a slight shock, such as a word or a look from one we love +too often gives us,--such as a child's trivial gesture or movement +makes a parent feel,--that impalpable something which in the +slightest possible inflection of a syllable or gradation of a tone +will sometimes leave a sting behind it, even in a trusting heart. +This was all. But it was true that what she saw meant a great deal. +It meant the dawning in Myrtle Hazard of one of her as yet unlived +secondary lives. Bathsheba's virgin perceptions had caught a faint +early ray of its glimmering twilight. + +She answered, after a very slight pause, which this explanation has +made seem so long, that she had never seen the young gentleman, and +that she did not know about Susan's sentiments. Only, as they had +kept so long to each other, she supposed there must be love between +them. + +Myrtle fell into a revery, with certain tableaux glowing along its +perspectives which poor little Susan Posey would have shivered to +look upon, if they could have been transferred from the purple clouds +of Myrtle's imagination to the pale silvery mists of Susan's pretty +fancies. She sat in her day-dream long after Bathsheba had left her, +her eyes fixed, not on the faded portrait of her beatified +ancestress, but on that other canvas where the dead Beauty seemed to +live in all the splendors of her full-blown womanhood. + +The young man whose name had set her thoughts roving was handsome, as +the glance at him already given might have foreshadowed. But his +features had a graver impress than his age seemed to account for, and +the sober tone of his letter to Susan implied that something had +given him a maturity beyond his years. The story was not an uncommon +one. At sixteen he had dreamed-and told his dream. At eighteen he +had awoke, and found, as he believed, that a young heart had grown to +his so that its life was dependent on his own. Whether it would have +perished if its filaments had been gently disentangled from the +object to which they had attached themselves, experienced judges of +such matters may perhaps question. To justify Clement in his +estimate of the danger of such an experiment, we must remember that +to young people in their teens a first passion is a portentous and +unprecedented phenomenon. The young man may have been mistaken in +thinking that Susan would die if he left her, and may have done more +than his duty in sacrificing himself; but if so, it was the mistake +of a generous youth, who estimated the depth of another's feelings by +his own. He measured the depth of his own rather by what he felt +they might be, than by that of any abysses they had yet sounded. + +Clement was called a "genius" by those who knew him, and was +consequently in danger of being spoiled early. The risk is great +enough anywhere, but greatest in a new country, where there is an +almost universal want of fixed standards of excellence. + +He was by nature an artist; a shaper with the pencil or the chisel, a +planner, a contriver capable of turning his hand to almost any work +of eye and hand. It would not have been strange if he thought he +could do everything, having gifts which were capable of various +application,--and being an American citizen. But though he was a +good draughtsman, and had made some reliefs and modelled some +figures, he called himself only an architect. He had given him. +self up to his art, not merely from a love of it and talent for it, +but with a kind of heroic devotion, because he thought his country +wanted a race of builders to clothe the new forms of religious, +social, and national life afresh from the forest, the quarry, and the +mine. Some thought he would succeed, others that he would be a +brilliant failure. + +"Grand notions,--grand notions," the master with whom he studied +said. "Large ground plan of life,--splendid elevation. A little +wild in some of his fancies, perhaps, but he's only a boy, and he's +the kind of boy that sometimes grows to be a pretty big man. Wait +and see,--wait and see. He works days, and we can let him dream +nights. There's a good deal of him, anyhow." His fellow-students +were puzzled. Those who thought of their calling as a trade, and +looked forward to the time when they should be embodying the ideals +of municipal authorities in brick and stone, or making contracts with +wealthy citizens, doubted whether Clement would have a sharp eye +enough for business. "Too many whims, you know. All sorts of queer +ideas in his head,--as if a boy like him were going to make things +all over again!". + +No doubt there was something of youthful extravagance in his plans +and expectations. But it was the untamed enthusiasm which is the +source of all great thoughts and deeds,--a beautiful delirium which +age commonly tames down, and for which the cold shower-bath the world +furnishes gratis proves a pretty certain cure. + +Creation is always preceded by chaos. The youthful architect's mind +was confused by the multitude of suggestions which were crowding in +upon it, and which he had not yet had time or developed mature +strength sufficient to reduce to order. The young American of any +freshness of intellect is stimulated to dangerous excess by the +conditions of life into which he is born. There is a double +proportion of oxygen in the New World air. The chemists have not +found it out yet, but human brains and breathing-organs have long +since made the discovery. + +Clement knew that his hasty entanglement had limited his +possibilities of happiness in one direction, and he felt that there +was a certain grandeur in the recompense of working out his defeated +instincts through the ambitious medium of his noble art. Had not +Pharaohs chosen it to proclaim their longings for immortality, +Caesars their passion for pomp and luxury, and priests to symbolize +their conceptions of the heavenly mansions? His dreams were on a +grand scale; such, after all, are the best possessions of youth. Had +he but been free, or mated with a nature akin to his own, he would +have felt himself as truly the heir of creation as any young man that +lived. But his lot was cast, and his youth had all the serious +aspect to himself of thoughtful manhood. In the region of his art +alone he hoped always to find freedom and a companionship which his +home life could never give him. + +Clement meant to have visited his beloved before he left Alderbank, +but was called unexpectedly back to the city. Happily Susan was not +exacting; she looked up to him with too great a feeling of distance +between them to dare to question his actions. Perhaps she found a +partial consolation in the company of Mr. Gifted Hopkins, who tried +his new poems on her, which was the next best thing to addressing +them to her. "Would that you were with us at this delightful +season," she wrote in the autumn; "but no, your Susan must not +repine. Yet, in the beautiful words of our native poet, + +"Oh would, oh would that thou wast here, +For absence makes thee doubly dear; +Ah! what is life while thou 'rt away? +'T is night without the orb of day!'" + +The poet referred to, it need hardly be said, was our young and +promising friend G. H., as he sometimes modestly signed himself. The +letter, it is unnecessary to state, was voluminous,--for a woman can +tell her love, or other matter of interest, over and over again in as +many forms as another poet, not G. H., found for his grief in ringing +the musical changes of "In Memoriam." + +The answers to Susan's letters were kind, but not very long. They +convinced her that it was a simple impossibility that Clement could +come to Oxbow Village, on account of the great pressure of the work +he had to keep him in the city, and the plans he must finish at any +rate. But at last the work was partially got rid of, and Clement was +coming; yes, it was so nice, and, oh dear! should n't she be real +happy to see him? + +To Susan he appeared as a kind of divinity, almost too grand for +human nature's daily food. Yet, if the simple-hearted girl could +have told herself the whole truth in plain words, she would have +confessed to certain doubts which from time to time, and oftener of +late, cast a shadow on her seemingly bright future. With all the +pleasure that the thought of meeting Clement gave her, she felt a +little tremor, a certain degree of awe, in contemplating his visit. +If she could have clothed her self-humiliation in the gold and purple +of the "Portuguese Sonnets," it would have been another matter; but +the trouble with the most common sources of disquiet is that they +have no wardrobe of flaming phraseology to air themselves in; the +inward burning goes on without the relief and gratifying display of +the crater. + +"A friend of mine is coming to the village," she said to Mr. Gifted +Hopkins. "I want you to see him. He is a genius,--as some other +young men are." (This was obviously personal, and the youthful poet +blushed with ingenuous delight.) "I have known him for ever so many +years. He and I are very good friends." The poet knew that this +meant an exclusive relation between them; and though the fact was no +surprise to him, his countenance fell a little. The truth was, that +his admiration was divided between Myrtle, who seemed to him divine +and adorable, but distant, and Susan, who listened to his frequent +poems, whom he was in the habit of seeing in artless domestic +costumes, and whose attractions had been gaining upon him of late in +the enforced absence of his divinity. + +He retired pensive from this interview, and, flinging himself at his +desk, attempted wreaking his thoughts upon expression, to borrow the +language of one of his brother bards, in a passionate lyric which he +began thus + + "ANOTHER'S! + +"Another's! Oh the pang, the smart! + Fate owes to Love a deathless grudge,-- +The barbed fang has rent a heart + Which--which + +"judge--judge,--no, not judge. Budge, drudge, fudge--What a +disgusting language English is! Nothing fit to couple with such a +word as grudge! And the gush of an impassioned moment arrested in +full flow, stopped short, corked up, for want of a paltry rhyme! +Judge,--budge,--drudge,--nudge, oh!--smudge,--misery!--fudge. In +vain,--futile,--no use,--all up for to-night!" + +While the poet, headed off in this way by the poverty of his native +tongue, sought inspiration by retiring into the world of dreams,-- +went to bed, in short, his more fortunate rival was just entering the +village, where he was to make his brief residence at the house of +Deacon Rumrill, who, having been a loser by the devouring element, +was glad to receive a stray boarder when any such were looking about +for quarters. + +For some reason or other he was restless that evening, and took out a +volume he had brought with him to beguile the earlier hours of the +night. It was too late when he arrived to disturb the quiet of Mrs. +Hopkins's household, and whatever may have been Clement's impatience, +he held it in check, and sat tranquilly until midnight over the pages +of the book with which he had prudently provided himself. + +"Hope you slept well last night," said the old Deacon, when Mr. +Clement came down to breakfast the next morning. + +"Very well, thank you,--that ' is, after I got to bed. But I sat up +pretty late reading my favorite Scott. I am apt to forget how the +hours pass when I have one of his books in my hand." + +The worthy Deacon looked at Mr. Clement with a sudden accession of +interest. + +"You couldn't find better reading, young man. Scott is my favorite +author. A great man. I have got his likeness in a gilt-frame +hanging up in the other room. I have read him all through three +times." + +The young man's countenance brightened. He had not expected to find +so much taste for elegant literature in an old village deacon. + +"What are your favorites among his writings, Deacon? I suppose you +have your particular likings, as the rest of us have." + +The Deacon was flattered by the question. "Well," he answered, "I +can hardly tell you. I like pretty much everything Scott ever wrote. +Sometimes I think it is one thing, and sometimes another. Great on +Paul's Epistles,--don't you think so?" + +The honest fact was, that Clement remembered very little about +"Paul's Letters to his Kinsfolk,"--a book of Sir Walter's less famous +than many of his others; but he signified his polite assent to the +Deacon's statement, rather wondering at his choice of a favorite, and +smiling at his queer way of talking about the Letters as Epistles. + +"I am afraid Scott is not so much read now-a-days as he once was, and +as he ought to be," said Mr. Clement: "Such character, such nature +and so much grace." + +"That's it,--that's it, young man," the Deacon broke in,--"Natur' and +Grace,--Natur' and Grace. Nobody ever knew better what those two +words meant than Scott did, and I'm very glad to see--you've chosen +such good wholesome reading. You can't set up too late, young man, +to read Scott. If I had twenty children, they should all begin +reading Scott as soon as they were old enough to spell sin,--and +that's the first word my little ones learned, next to 'pa' and I +'ma.' Nothing like beginning the lessons of life in good season." + +"What a grim old satirist!" Clement said to himself. "I wonder if +the old man reads other novelists. --Do tell me, Deacon, if you have +read Thackeray's last story? " + +"Thackeray's story? Published by the American Tract Society?" + +"Not exactly," Clement answered, smiling, and quite delighted to find +such an unexpected vein of grave pleasantry about the demure-looking +church-dignitary; for the Deacon asked his question without moving a +muscle, and took no cognizance whatever of the young man's tone and +smile. First-class humorists are, as is well known, remarkable for +the immovable solemnity of their features. Clement promised himself +not a little amusement from the curiously sedate drollery of the +venerable Deacon, who, it was plain from his conversation, had +cultivated a literary taste which would make him a more agreeable +companion than the common ecclesiastics of his grade in country +villages. + +After breakfast, Mr. Clement walked forth in the direction of Mrs. +Hopkins's house, thinking as he went of the pleasant surprise his +visit would bring to his longing and doubtless pensive Susan; for +though she knew he was coming, she did not know that he was at that +moment in Oxbow Village. + +As he drew near the house, the first thing he saw was Susan Posey, +almost running against her just as he turned a corner. She looked +wonderfully lively and rosy, for the weather was getting keen and the +frosts had begun to bite. A young gentleman was walking at her side, +and reading to her from a paper he held in his hand. Both looked +deeply interested,--so much so that Clement felt half ashamed of +himself for intruding upon them so abruptly. + +But lovers are lovers, and Clement could not help joining them. The +first thing, of course, was the utterance of two simultaneous +exclamations, "Why, Clement!" "Why, Susan!" What might have come +next in the programme, but for the presence of a third party, is +matter of conjecture; but what did come next was a mighty awkward +look on the part of Susan Posey, and the following short speech: +"Mr. Lindsay, let me introduce Mr. Hopkins, my friend, the poet I 've +written to you about. He was just reading two of his poems to me. +Some other time, Gifted--Mr. Hopkins." + +"Oh no, Mr. Hopkins,--pray go on," said Clement. "I 'm very fond of +poetry." + +The poet did not require much urging, and began at once reciting over +again the stanzas which were afterwards so much admired in the +"Banner and Oracle,"--the first verse being, as the readers of that +paper will remember, + + "She moves in splendor, like the ray + That flashes from unclouded skies, + And all the charms of night and day + Are mingled in her hair and eyes." + +Clement, who must have been in an agony of impatience to be alone +with his beloved, commanded his feelings admirably. He signified his +approbation of the poem by saying that the lines were smooth and the +rhymes absolutely without blemish. The stanzas reminded him forcibly +of one of the greatest poets of the century. + +Gifted flushed hot with pleasure. He had tasted the blood of his own +rhymes; and when a poet gets as far as that, it is like wringing the +bag of exhilarating gas from the lips of a fellow sucking at it, to +drag his piece away from him. + +"Perhaps you will like these lines still better," he said; "the style +is more modern:-- + + 'O daughter of the spiced South, + Her bubbly grapes have spilled the wine + That staineth with its hue divine + The red flower of thy perfect mouth.'" + +And so on, through a series of stanzas like these, with the pulp of +two rhymes between the upper and lower crust of two others. + +Clement was cornered. It was necessary to say something for the +poet's sake,--perhaps for Susan's; for she was in a certain sense +responsible for the poems of a youth of genius, of whom she had +spoken so often and so enthusiastically. + +"Very good, Mr. Hopkins, and a form of verse little used, I should +think, until of late years. You modelled this piece on the style of +a famous living English poet, did you not?" + +"Indeed I did not, Mr. Lindsay,--I never imitate. Originality is, if +I may be allowed to say so much for myself, my peculiar forte. Why, +the critics allow as much as that. See here, Mr. Lindsay." + +Mr. Gifted Hopkins pulled out his pocket-book, and, taking therefrom +a cutting from a newspaper,--which dropped helplessly open of itself, +as if tired of the process, being very tender in the joints or +creases, by reason of having been often folded and unfolded read +aloud as follows: + +"The bard of Oxbow Pillage--our valued correspondent who writes over +the signature of G. H.--is, in our opinion, more remarkable for his +originality than for any other of his numerous gifts." + +Clement was apparently silenced by this, and the poet a little elated +with a sense of triumph. Susan could not help sharing his feeling of +satisfaction, and without meaning it in the least, nay, without +knowing it, for she was as simple and pure as new milk, edged a +little bit--the merest infinitesimal atom--nearer to Gifted Hopkins, +who was on one side of her, while Clement walked on the other. Women +love the conquering party,--it is the way of their sex. And poets, +as we have seen, are well-nigh irresistible when they exert their +dangerous power of fascination upon the female heart. But Clement +was above jealousy; and, if be perceived anything of this movement, +took no notice of it. + +He saw a good deal of his pretty Susan that day. She was tender in +her expressions and manners as usual, but there was a little +something in her looks and language from time to time that Clement +did not know exactly what to make of. She colored once or twice when +the young poet's name was mentioned. She was not so full of her +little plans for the future as she had sometimes been, "everything +was so uncertain," she said. Clement asked himself whether she felt +quite as sure that her attachment would last as she once did. But +there were no reproaches, not even any explanations, which are about +as bad between lovers. There was nothing but an undefined feeling on +his side that she did not cling quite so closely to him, perhaps, as +he had once thought, and that, if he had happened to have been +drowned that day when he went down with the beautiful young woman, it +was just conceivable that Susan, who would have cried dreadfully, no +doubt, would in time have listened to consolation from some other +young man,--possibly from the young poet whose verses he had been +admiring. Easy-crying widows take new husbands soonest; there is +nothing like wet weather for transplanting, as Master Gridley used to +say. Susan had a fluent natural gift for tears, as Clement well +knew, after the exercise of which she used to brighten up like the +rose which had been washed, just washed in a shower, mentioned by +Cowper. + +As for the poet, he learned more of his own sentiments during this +visit of Clement's than he had ever before known. He wandered about +with a dreadfully disconsolate look upon his countenance. He showed +a falling-off in his appetite at tea-time, which surprised and +disturbed his mother, for she had filled the house with fragrant +suggestions of good things coming, in honor of Mr. Lindsay, who was +to be her guest at tea. And chiefly the genteel form of doughnut +called in the native dialect cymbal ( Qu. Symbol? B. G.) which +graced the board with its plastic forms, suggestive of the most +pleasing objects,--the spiral ringlets pendent from the brow of +beauty; the magic circlet, which is the pledge of plighted +affection,--the indissoluble knot, which typifies the union of +hearts, which organs were also largely represented; this exceptional +delicacy would at any other time have claimed his special notice. +But his mother remarked that he paid little attention to these, and +his, "No, I thank you," when it came to the preserved "damsels," as +some call them, carried a pang with it to the maternal bosom. The +most touching evidence of his unhappiness--whether intentional or the +result of accident was not evident was a broken heart, which he left +upon his plate, the meaning of which was as plain as anything in the +language of flowers. His thoughts were gloomy during that day, +running a good deal on the more picturesque and impressive methods of +bidding a voluntary farewell to a world which had allured him with +visions of beauty only to snatch them from his impassioned gaze. His +mother saw something of this, and got from him a few disjointed +words, which led her to lock up the clothes-line and hide her late +husband's razors,--an affectionate, yet perhaps unnecessary +precaution, for self-elimination contemplated from this point of view +by those who have the natural outlet of verse to relieve them is +rarely followed by a casualty. It may rather be considered as +implying a more than average chance for longevity; as those who +meditate an--imposing finish naturally save themselves for it, and +are therefore careful of their health until the time comes, and this +is apt to be indefinitely postponed so long as there is a poem to +write or a proof to be corrected. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE SECOND MEETING. + +Miss Eveleth requests the pleasure of Mr. Lindsay's company to meet a +few friends on the evening of the Feast of St. Ambrose, December 7th, +Wednesday. + +THE PARSONAGE, December 6th. + + +It was the luckiest thing in the world. They always made a little +festival of that evening at the Rev. Ambrose Eveleth's, in honor of +his canonized namesake, and because they liked to have a good time. +It came this year just at the right moment, for here was a +distinguished stranger visiting in the place. Oxbow Village seemed +to be running over with its one extra young man,--as may be seen +sometimes in larger villages, and even in cities of moderate +dimensions. + +Mr. William Murray Bradshaw had called on Clement the day after his +arrival. He had already met the Deacon in the street, and asked some +questions about his transient boarder. + +A very interesting young man, the Deacon said, much given to the +reading of pious books. Up late at night after he came, reading +Scott's Commentary. Appeared to be as fond of serious works as other +young folks were of their novels and romances and other immoral +publications. He, the Deacon, thought of having a few religious +friends to meet the young gentleman, if he felt so disposed; and +should like to have him, Mr. Bradshaw, come in and take a part in the +exercises. --Mr. Bradshaw was unfortunately engaged. He thought the +young gentleman could hardly find time for such a meeting during his +brief visit. + +Mr. Bradshaw expected naturally to see a youth of imperfect +constitution, and cachectic or dyspeptic tendencies, who was in +training to furnish one of those biographies beginning with the +statement that, from his infancy, the subject of it showed no +inclination for boyish amusements, and so on, until he dies out, for +the simple reason that there was not enough of him to live. Very +interesting, no doubt, Master Byles Gridley would have said, but had +no more to do with good, hearty, sound life than the history of those +very little people to be seen in museums preserved in jars of +alcohol, like brandy peaches. + +When Mr. Clement Lindsay presented himself, Mr. Bradshaw was a good +deal surprised to see a young fellow of such a mould. He pleased +himself with the idea that he knew a man of mark at sight, and he set +down Clement in that category at his first glance. The young man met +his penetrating and questioning look with a frank, ingenuous, open +aspect, before which he felt himself disarmed, as it were, and thrown +upon other means of analysis. He would try him a little in talk. + +"I hope you like these people you are with. What sort of a man do +you find my old friend the Deacon?" + +Clement laughed. "A very queer old character. Loves his joke as +well, and is as sly in making it, as if he had studied Joe Miller +instead of the Catechism." + +Mr. Bradshaw looked at the young man to know what he meant. Mr. +Lindsay talked in a very easy way for a serious young person. He was +puzzled. He did not see to the bottom of this description of the +Deacon. With a lawyer's instinct, he kept his doubts to himself and +tried his witness with a new question. + +"Did you talk about books at all with the old man?" + +"To be sure I did. Would you believe it,--that aged saint is a great +novel-reader. So he tells me. What is more, he brings up his +children to that sort of reading, from the time when they first begin +to spell. If anybody else had told me such a story about an old +country deacon, I wouldn't have believed it; but he said so himself, +to me, at breakfast this morning." + +Mr. Bradshaw felt as if either he or Mr. Lindsay must certainly be in +the first stage of mild insanity, and he did not think that he +himself could be out of his wits. He must try one more question. He +had become so mystified that he forgot himself, and began putting his +interrogation in legal form. + +"Will you state, if you please--I beg your pardon--may I ask who is +your own favorite author?" + +"I think just now I like to read Scott better than almost anybody." + +"Do you mean the Rev. Thomas Scott, author of the Commentary?" + +Clement stared at Mr. Bradshaw, and wondered whether he was trying to +make a fool of him. The young lawyer hardly looked as if he could be +a fool himself. + +"I mean Sir Walter Scott," he said, dryly. + +"Oh!" said Mr. Bradshaw. He saw that there had been a slight +misunderstanding between the young man and his worthy host, but it +was none of his business, and there were other subjects of interest +to talk about. + +"You know one of our charming young ladies very well, I believe, Mr. +Lindsay. I think you are an old acquaintance of Miss Posey, whom we +all consider so pretty." + +Poor Clement! The question pierced to the very marrow of his soul, +but it was put with the utmost suavity and courtesy, and honeyed with +a compliment to the young lady, too, so that there was no avoiding a +direct and pleasant answer to it. + +"Yes," he said, "I have known the young lady you speak of for a long +time, and very well,--in fact, as you must have heard, we are +something more than friends. My visit here is principally on her +account." + +"You must give the rest of us a chance to see something of you during +your visit, Mr. Lindsay. I hope you are invited to Miss Eveleth's +to-morrow evening?" + +"Yes, I got a note this morning. Tell me, Mr. Bradshaw, who is there +that I shall meet if I go? I have no doubt there are girls here in +the village I should like to see, and perhaps some young fellows that +I should like to talk with. You know all that's prettiest and +pleasantest, of course." + +"Oh, we're a little place, Mr. Lindsay. A few nice people, the rest +comme Va, you know. High-bush blackberries and low-bush black- +berries,--you understand,--just so everywhere,--high-bush here and +there, low-bush plenty. You must see the two parsons' daughters, +--Saint Ambrose's and Saint Joseph's,--and another girl I want +particularly to introduce you to. You shall form your own opinion of +her. I call her handsome and stylish, but you have got spoiled, you +know. Our young poet, too, one we raised in this place, Mr. Lindsay, +and a superior article of poet, as we think,--that is, some of us, +for the rest of us are jealous of him, because the girls are all +dying for him and want his autograph. And Cyp,--yes, you must talk +to Cyp,--he has ideas. But don't forget to get hold of old Byles +Master Gridley I mean--before you go. Big head. Brains enough for a +cabinet minister, and fit out a college faculty with what was left +over. Be sure you see old Byles. Set him talking about his book, +'Thoughts on the Universe.' Did n't sell much, but has got knowing +things in it. I'll show you a copy, and then you can tell him you +know it, and he will take to you. Come in and get your dinner with +me to-morrow. We will dine late, as the city folks do, and after +that we will go over to the Rector's. I should like to show you some +of our village people." + +Mr. Bradshaw liked the thought of showing the young man to some of +his friends there. As Clement was already "done for," or "bowled +out," as the young lawyer would have expressed the fact of his being +pledged in the matrimonial direction, there was nothing to be +apprehended on the score of rivalry. And although Clement was +particularly good-looking, and would have been called a +distinguishable youth anywhere, Mr. Bradshaw considered himself far +more than his match, in all probability, in social accomplishments. +He expected, therefore, a certain amount of reflex credit for +bringing such a fine young fellow in his company, and a second +instalment of reputation from outshining him in conversation. This +was rather nice calculating, but Murray Bradshaw always calculated. +With most men life is like backgammon, half skill, and half luck, but +with him it was like chess. He never pushed a pawn without reckoning +the cost, and when his mind was least busy it was sure to be half a +dozen moves ahead of the game as it was standing. + +Mr. Bradshaw gave Clement a pretty dinner enough for such a place as +Oxbow Village. He offered him some good wine, and would have made +him talk so as to show his lining, to use one of his own expressions, +but Clement had apparently been through that trifling experience, and +could not be coaxed into saying more than he meant to say. Murray +Bradshaw was very curious to find out how it was that he had become +the victim of such a rudimentary miss as Susan Posey. Could she be +an heiress in disguise? Why no, of course not; had not he made all +proper inquiries about that when Susan came to town? A small +inheritance from an aunt or uncle, or some such relative, enough to +make her a desirable party in the eyes of certain villagers perhaps, +but nothing to allure a man like this, whose face and figure as +marketable possessions were worth say a hundred thousand in the +girl's own right, as Mr. Bradshaw put it roughly, with another +hundred thousand if his talent is what some say, and if his +connection is a desirable one, a fancy price,--anything he would +fetch. Of course not. Must have got caught when he was a child. +Why the diavolo didn't he break it off, then? + +There was no fault to find with the modest entertainment at the +Parsonage. A splendid banquet in a great house is an admirable +thing, provided always its getting up did not cost the entertainer an +inward conflict, nor its recollection a twinge of economical regret, +nor its bills a cramp of anxiety. A simple evening party in the +smallest village is just as admirable in its degree, when the parlor +is cheerfully lighted, and the board prettily spread, and the guests +are made to feel comfortable without being reminded that anybody is +making a painful effort. + +We know several of the young people who were there, and need not +trouble ourselves for the others. Myrtle Hazard had promised to +come. She had her own way of late as never before; in fact, the +women were afraid of her. Miss Silence felt that she could not be +responsible for her any longer. She had hopes for a time that Myrtle +would go through the customary spiritual paroxysm under the influence +of the Rev. Mr. Stoker's assiduous exhortations; but since she had +broken off with him, Miss Silence had looked upon her as little +better than a backslider. And now that the girl was beginning to +show the tendencies which seemed to come straight down to her from +the belle of the last century, (whose rich physical developments +seemed to the under-vitalized spinster as in themselves a kind of +offence against propriety,) the forlorn woman folded her thin hands +and looked on hopelessly, hardly venturing a remonstrance for fear of +some new explosion. As for Cynthia, she was comparatively easy since +she had, through Mr. Byles Gridley, upset the minister's questionable +arrangement of religious intimacy. She had, in fact, in a quiet way, +given Mr. Bradshaw to understand that he would probably meet Myrtle +at the Parsonage if he dropped in at their small gathering. Clement +walked over to Mrs. Hopkins's after his dinner with the young lawyer, +and asked if Susan was ready to go with him. At the sound of his +voice, Gifted Hopkins smote his forehead, and called himself, in +subdued tones, a miserable being. His imagination wavered uncertain +for a while between pictures of various modes of ridding himself of +existence, and fearful deeds involving the life of others. He had no +fell purpose of actually doing either, but there was a gloomy +pleasure in contemplating them as possibilities, and in mentally +sketching the "Lines written in Despair" which would be found in what +was but an hour before the pocket of the youthful bard, G. H., victim +of a hopeless passion. All this emotion was in the nature of a +surprise to the young man. He had fully believed himself desperately +in love with Myrtle Hazard; and it was not until Clement came into +the family circle with the right of eminent domain over the realm of +Susan's affections, that this unfortunate discovered that Susan's +pretty ways and morning dress and love of poetry and liking for his +company had been too much for him, and that he was henceforth to be +wretched during the remainder of his natural life, except so far as +he could unburden himself in song. + +Mr. William Murray Bradshaw had asked the privilege of waiting upon +Myrtle to the little party at the Eveleths. Myrtle was not +insensible to the attractions of the young lawyer, though she had +never thought of herself except as a child in her relations with any +of these older persons. But she was not the same girl that she had +been but a few months before. She had achieved her independence by +her audacious and most dangerous enterprise. She had gone through +strange nervous trials and spiritual experiences which had matured +her more rapidly than years of common life would have done. She had +got back her health, bringing with it a riper wealth of womanhood. +She had found her destiny in the consciousness that she inherited the +beauty belonging to her blood, and which, after sleeping for a +generation or two as if to rest from the glare of the pageant that +follows beauty through its long career of triumph, had come to the +light again in her life, and was to repeat the legends of the olden +time in her own history. + +Myrtle's wardrobe had very little of ornament, such as the modistes +of the town would have thought essential to render a young girl like +her presentable. There were a few heirlooms of old date, however, +which she had kept as curiosities until now, and which she looked +over until she found some lace and other convertible material, with +which she enlivened her costume a little for the evening. As she +clasped the antique bracelet around her wrist, she felt as if it were +an amulet that gave her the power of charming which had been so long +obsolete in her lineage. At the bottom of her heart she cherished a +secret longing to try her fascinations on the young lawyer. Who +could blame her? It was not an inwardly expressed intention,--it was +the simple instinctive movement to subjugate the strongest of the +other sex who had come in her way, which, as already said, is as +natural to a woman as it is to a man to be captivated by the +loveliest of those to whom he dares to aspire. + +Before William Murray Bradshaw and Myrtle Hazard had reached the +Parsonage, the girl's cheeks were flushed and her dark eyes were +flashing with a new excitement. The young man had not made love to +her directly, but he had interested her in herself by a delicate and +tender flattery of manner, and so set her fancies working that she +was taken with him as never before, and wishing that the Parsonage +had been a mile farther from The Poplars. It was impossible for a +young girl like Myrtle to conceal the pleasure she received from +listening to her seductive admirer, who was trying all his trained +skill upon his artless companion. Murray Bradshaw felt sure that the +game was in his hands if he played it with only common prudence. +There was no need of hurrying this child,--it might startle her to +make downright love abruptly; and now that he had an ally in her own +household, and was to have access to her with a freedom he had never +before enjoyed, there was a refined pleasure in playing his fish,-- +this gamest of golden-scaled creatures,--which had risen to his fly, +and which he wished to hook, but not to land, until he was sure it +would be worth his while. + +They entered the little parlor at the Parsonage looking so beaming, +that Olive and Bathsheba exchanged glances which implied so much that +it would take a full page to tell it with all the potentialities +involved. + +"How magnificent Myrtle is this evening, Bathsheba!" said Cyprian +Eveleth, pensively. + +"What a handsome pair they are, Cyprian!" said Bathsheba cheerfully. + +Cyprian sighed. "She always fascinates me whenever I look upon her. +Is n't she the very picture of what a poet's love should be,--a poem +herself,--a glorious lyric,--all light and music! See what a smile +the creature has! And her voice! When did you ever hear such tones? +And when was it ever so full of life before." + +Bathsheba sighed. "I do not know any poets but Gifted Hopkins. Does +not Myrtle look more in her place by the side of Murray Bradshaw than +she would with Gifted hitched on her arm?" + +Just then the poet made his appearance. He looked depressed, as if +it had cost him an effort to come. He was, however, charged with a +message which he must deliver to the hostess of the evening. + +"They 're coming presently," he said. "That young man and Susan. +Wants you to introduce him, Mr. Bradshaw." + +The bell rang presently, and Murray Bradshaw slipped out into the +entry to meet the two lovers. + +"How are you, my fortunate friend?" he said, as he met them at the +door. "Of course you're well and happy as mortal man can be in this +vale of tears. Charming, ravishing, quite delicious, that way of +dressing your hair, Miss Posey! Nice girls here this evening, Mr. +Lindsay. Looked lovely when I came out of the parlor. Can't say how +they will show after this young lady puts in an appearance." In +reply to which florid speeches Susan blushed, not knowing what else +to do, and Clement smiled as naturally as if he had been sitting for +his photograph. + +He felt, in a vague way, that he and Susan were being patronized, +which is not a pleasant feeling to persons with a certain pride of +character. There was no expression of contempt about Mr. Bradshaw's +manner or language at which he could take offence. Only he had the +air of a man who praises his neighbor without stint, with a calm +consciousness that he himself is out of reach of comparison in the +possessions or qualities which he is admiring in the other. Clement +was right in his obscure perception of Mr. Bradshaw's feeling while +he was making his phrases. That gentleman was, in another moment, to +have the tingling delight of showing the grand creature he had just +begun to tame. He was going to extinguish the pallid light of +Susan's prettiness in the brightness of Myrtle's beauty. He would +bring this young man, neutralized and rendered entirely harmless by +his irrevocable pledge to a slight girl, face to face with a +masterpiece of young womanhood, and say to him, not in words, but as +plainly as speech could have told him, "Behold my captive!" + +It was a proud moment for Murray Bradshaw. He had seen, or thought +that he had seen, the assured evidence of a speedy triumph over all +the obstacles of Myrtle's youth and his own present seeming slight +excess of maturity. Unless he were very greatly mistaken, he could +now walk the course; the plate was his, no matter what might be the +entries. And this youth, this handsome, spirited-looking, noble- +aired young fellow, whose artist-eye could not miss a line of +Myrtle's proud and almost defiant beauty, was to be the witness of +his power, and to look in admiration upon his prize! He introduced +him to the others, reserving her for the last. She was at that +moment talking with the worthy Rector, and turned when Mr. Bradshaw +spoke to her. + +"Miss Hazard, will you allow me to present to you my friend, Mr. +Clement Lindsay?" + +They looked full upon each other, and spoke the common words of +salutation. It was a strange meeting; but we who profess to tell the +truth must tell strange things, or we shall be liars. + +In poor little Susan's letter there was some allusion to a bust of +Innocence which the young artist had begun, but of which he had said +nothing in his answer to her. He had roughed out a block of marble +for that impersonation; sculpture was a delight to him, though +secondary to his main pursuit. After his memorable adventure, the +image of the girl he had rescued so haunted him that the pale ideal +which was to work itself out in the bust faded away in its perpetual +presence, and--alas, poor Susan! in obedience to the impulse that he +could not control, he left Innocence sleeping in the marble, and +began modelling a figure of proud and noble and imperious beauty, to +which he gave the name of Liberty. + +The original which had inspired his conception was before him. These +were the lips to which his own had clung when he brought her back +from the land of shadows. The hyacinthine curl of her lengthening +locks had added something to her beauty; but it was the same face +which had haunted him. This was the form he had borne seemingly +lifeless in his arms, and the bosom which heaved so visibly before +him was that which his eyes they were the calm eyes of a sculptor, +but of a sculptor hardly twenty years old. + +Yes,--her bosom was heaving. She had an unexplained feeling of +suffocation, and drew great breaths,--she could not have said why, +--but she could not help it; and presently she became giddy, and had +a great noise in her ears, and rolled her eyes about, and was on the +point of going into an hysteric spasm. They called Dr. Hurlbut, who +was making himself agreeable to Olive just then, to come and see what +was the matter with Myrtle. + +"A little nervous turn,--that is all," he said. + +Open the window. Loose the ribbon round her neck. Rub her hands. +Sprinkle some water on her forehead. + +A few drops of cologne. Room too warm for her,--that 's all, I +think." + +Myrtle came to herself after a time without anything like a regular +paroxysm. But she was excitable, and whatever the cause of the +disturbance may have been, it seemed prudent that she should go home +early; and the excellent Rector insisted on caring for her, much to +the discontent of Mr. William Murray Bradshaw. + +"Demonish odd," said this gentleman, "was n't it, Mr. Lindsay, that +Miss Hazard should go off in that way. Did you ever see her before?" + +"I--I--have seen that young lady before," Clement answered. + +"Where did you meet her?" Mr. Bradshaw asked, with eager interest. + +"I met her in the Valley of the Shadow of Death," Clement answered, +very solemnly. --"I leave this place to-morrow morning. Have you any +commands for the city?" + +"Knows how to shut a fellow up pretty well for a young one, doesn't +he?" Mr. Bradshaw thought to himself. + +"Thank you, no," he answered, recovering himself. "Rather a +melancholy place to make acquaintance in, I should think, that Valley +you spoke of. I should like to know about it." + +Mr. Clement had the power of looking steadily into another person's +eyes in a way that was by no means encouraging to curiosity or +favorable to the process of cross-examination. Mr. Bradshaw was not +disposed to press his question in the face of the calm, repressive +look the young man gave him. + +"If he was n't bagged, I shouldn't like the shape of things any too +well," he said to himself. + +The conversation between Mr. Clement Lindsay and Miss Susan Posey, as +they walked home together, was not very brilliant. "I am going to- +morrow morning," he said, "and I must bid you good-by tonight." +Perhaps it is as well to leave two lovers to themselves, under these +circumstances. + +Before he went he spoke to his worthy host, whose moderate demands he +had to satisfy, and with whom he wished to exchange a few words. + +"And by the way, Deacon, I have no use for this book, and as it is in +a good type, perhaps you would like it. Your favorite, Scott, and +one of his greatest works. I have another edition of it at home, and +don't care for this volume." + +Thank you, thank you, Mr. Lindsay, much obleeged. I shall read that +copy for your sake, the best of books next to the Bible itself." + +After Mr. Lindsay had gone, the Deacon looked at the back of the +book. "Scott's Works, Vol. IX." He opened it at hazard, and +happened to fall on a well-known page, from which he began reading +aloud, slowly, + + "When Izrul, of the Lord beloved, + Out of the land of bondage came." + +The whole hymn pleased the grave Deacon. He had never seen this work +of the author of the Commentary. No matter; anything that such a +good man wrote must be good reading, and he would save it up for +Sunday. The consequence of this was, that, when the Rev. Mr. Stoker +stopped in on his way to meeting on the "Sabbath," he turned white +with horror at the spectacle of the senior Deacon of his church +sitting, open-mouthed and wide-eyed, absorbed in the pages of +"Ivanhoe," which he found enormously interesting; but, so far as he +had yet read, not occupied with religious matters so much as he had +expected. + +Myrtle had no explanation to give of her nervous attack. Mr. +Bradshaw called the day after the party, but did not see her. He met +her walking, and thought she seemed a little more distant than +common. That would never do. He called again at The Poplars a few +days afterwards, and was met in the entry by Miss Cynthia, with whom +he had a long conversation on matters involving Myrtle's interests +and their own. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +MADNESS? + +Mr. Clement Lindsay returned to the city and his usual labors in a +state of strange mental agitation. He had received an impression for +which he was unprepared. He had seen for the second time a young +girl whom, for the peace of his own mind, and for the happiness of +others, he should never again have looked upon until Time had taught +their young hearts the lesson which all hearts must learn, sooner or +later. + +What shall the unfortunate person do who has met with one of those +disappointments, or been betrayed into one of those positions, which +do violence to all the tenderest feelings, blighting the happiness of +youth, and the prospects of after years? + +If the person is a young man, he has various resources. He can take +to the philosophic meerschaum, and nicotine himself at brief +intervals into a kind of buzzing and blurry insensibility, until he +begins to "color" at last like the bowl of his own pipe, and even his +mind gets the tobacco flavor. Or he can have recourse to the more +suggestive stimulants, which will dress his future up for him in +shining possibilities that glitter like Masonic regalia, until the +morning light and the waking headache reveal his illusion. Some kind +of spiritual anaesthetic he must have, if he holds his grief fast +tied to his heartstrings. But as grief must be fed with thought, or +starve to death, it is the best plan to keep the mind so busy in +other ways that it has no time to attend to the wants of that +ravening passion. To sit down and passively endure it, is apt to end +in putting all the mental machinery into disorder. + +Clement Lindsay had thought that his battle of life was already +fought, and that he had conquered. He believed that he had subdued +himself completely, and that he was ready, without betraying a shadow +of disappointment, to take the insufficient nature which destiny had +assigned him in his companion, and share with it all of his own +larger being it was capable, not of comprehending, but of +apprehending. + +He had deceived himself. The battle was not fought and won. There +had been a struggle, and what seemed to be a victory, but the enemy +--intrenched in the very citadel of life--had rallied, and would make +another desperate attempt to retrieve his defeat. + +The haste with which the young man had quitted the village was only a +proof that he felt his danger. He believed that, if he came into the +presence of Myrtle Hazard for the third time, he should be no longer +master of his feelings. Some explanation must take place between +them, and how was it possible that it should be without emotion? and +in what do all emotions shared by a young man with such a young girl +as this tend to find their last expression? + +Clement determined to stun his sensibilities by work. He would give +himself no leisure to indulge in idle dreams of what might have been. +His plans were never so carefully finished, and his studies were +never so continuous as now. But the passion still wrought within +him, and, if he drove it from his waking thoughts, haunted his sleep +until he could endure it no longer, and must give it some +manifestation. He had covered up the bust of Liberty so closely, +that not an outline betrayed itself through the heavy folds of +drapery in which it was wrapped. His thoughts recurred to his +unfinished marble, as offering the one mode in which he could find a +silent outlet to the feelings and thoughts which it was torture to +keep imprisoned in his soul. The cold stone would tell them, but +without passion; and having got the image which possessed him out of +himself into a lifeless form, it seemed as if he might be delivered +from a presence which, lovely as it was, stood between him and all +that made him seem honorable and worthy to himself. + +He uncovered the bust which he had but half shaped, and struck the +first flake from the glittering marble. The toil, once begun, +fascinated him strangely, and after the day's work was done, and at +every interval he could snatch from his duties, he wrought at his +secret task. + +"Clement is graver than ever," the young men said at the office. °° +What's the matter, do you suppose? Turned off by the girl they say +he means to marry by and by? How pale he looks too! Must have +something worrying him: he used to look as fresh as a clove pink." + +The master with whom he studied saw that he was losing color, and +looking very much worn; and determined to find out, if he could, +whether he was not overworking himself. He soon discovered that his +light was seen burning late into the night, that he was neglecting +his natural rest, and always busy with some unknown task, not called +for in his routine of duty or legitimate study. + +"Something is wearing on you, Clement," he said. "You are killing +yourself with undertaking too much. Will you let me know what keeps +you so busy when you ought to be asleep, or taking your ease and +comfort in some way or other?" + +Nobody but himself had ever seen his marble or its model. He had now +almost finished it, laboring at it with such sleepless devotion, and +he was willing to let his master have a sight of his first effort of +the kind,--for he was not a sculptor, it must be remembered, though +he had modelled in clay, not without some success, from time to time. + +"Come with me," he said. + +The master climbed the stairs with him up to his modest chamber. A +closely shrouded bust stood on its pedestal in the light of the +solitary window. + +"That is my ideal personage," Clement said. "Wait one moment, and +you shall see how far I have caught the character of our uncrowned +queen." + +The master expected, very naturally, to see the conventional young +woman with classical wreath or feather headdress, whom we have placed +upon our smallest coin, so that our children may all grow up loving +Liberty. + +As Clement withdrew the drapery that covered his work, the master +stared at it in amazement. He looked at it long and earnestly, and +at length turned his eyes, a little moistened by some feeling which +thus betrayed itself, upon his scholar. + +"This is no ideal, Clement. It is the portrait of a very young but +very beautiful woman. No common feeling could have guided your hand +in shaping such a portrait from memory. This must be that friend of +yours of whom I have often heard as an amiable young person. Pardon +me, for you know that nobody cares more for you than I do,--I hope +that you are happy in all your relations with this young friend of +yours. How could one be otherwise?" + +It was hard to bear, very hard. He forced a smile. "You are partly +right," he said. "There is a resemblance, I trust, to a living +person, for I had one in my mind." + +"Did n't you tell me once, Clement, that you were attempting a bust +of Innocence? I do not see any block in your room but this. Is that +done?" + +"Done with!" Clement answered; and, as he said it, the thought stung +through him that this was the very stone which was to have worn the +pleasant blandness of pretty Susan's guileless countenance. How the +new features had effaced the recollection of the others! + +In a few days more Clement had finished his bust. His hours were +again vacant to his thick-coming fancies. While he had been busy +with his marble, his hands had required his attention, and he must +think closely of every detail upon which he was at work. But at +length his task was done, and he could contemplate what he had made +of it. It was a triumph for one so little exercised in sculpture. +The master had told him so, and his own eye could not deceive him. +He might never succeed in any repetition of his effort, but this once +he most certainly had succeeded. He could not disguise from himself +the source of this extraordinary good fortune in so doubtful and +difficult an attempt. Nor could he resist the desire of +contemplating the portrait bust, which--it was foolish to talk about +ideals--was not Liberty, but Myrtle Hazard. + +It was too nearly like the story of the ancient sculptor; his own +work was an over-match for its artist. Clement had made a mistake in +supposing that by giving his dream a material form he should drive it +from the possession of his mind. The image in which he had fixed his +recollection of its original served only to keep her living presence +before him. He thought of her as she clasped her arms around him, +and they were swallowed up in the rushing waters, coming so near to +passing into the unknown world together. He thought of her as he +stretched her lifeless form upon the bank, and looked for one brief +moment on her unsunned loveliness,--"a sight to dream of, not to +tell." He thought of her as his last fleeting glimpse had shown her, +beautiful, not with the blossomy prettiness that passes away with the +spring sunshine, but with a rich vitality of which noble outlines and +winning expression were only the natural accidents. And that +singular impression which the sight of him had produced upon her, +--how strange! How could she but have listened to him,--to him, who +was, as it were, a second creator to her, for he had bought her back +from the gates of the unseen realm,--if he had recalled to her the +dread moments they had passed in each other's arms, with death, not +love, in all their thoughts. And if then he had told her how her +image had remained with him, how it had colored all his visions, and +mingled with all his conceptions, would not those dark eyes have +melted as they were turned upon him? Nay, how could he keep the +thought away, that she would not have been insensible to his passion, +if he could have suffered its flame to kindle in his heart? Did it +not seem as if Death had spared them for Love, and that Love should +lead them together through life's long journey to the gates of Death? + +Never! never! never! Their fates were fixed. For him, poor insect +as he was, a solitary flight by day, and a return at evening to his +wingless mate! For her--he thought he saw her doom. + +Could he give her up to the cold embraces of that passionless +egotist, who, as he perceived plainly enough, was casting his shining +net all around her? Clement read Murray Bradshaw correctly. He +could not perhaps have spread his character out in set words, as we +must do for him, for it takes a long apprenticeship to learn to +describe analytically what we know as soon as we see it; but he felt +in his inner consciousness all that we must tell for him. +Fascinating, agreeable, artful, knowing, capable of winning a woman +infinitely above himself, incapable of understanding her,--oh, if he +could but touch him with the angel's spear, and bid him take his true +shape before her whom he was gradually enveloping in the silken +meshes of his subtle web! He would make a place for her in the +world,--oh yes, doubtless. He would be proud of her in company, +would dress her handsomely, and show her off in the best lights. But +from the very hour that he felt his power over her firmly +established, he would begin to remodel her after his own worldly +pattern. He would dismantle her of her womanly ideals, and give her +in their place his table of market-values. He would teach her to +submit her sensibilities to her selfish interest, and her tastes to +the fashion of the moment, no matter which world or half-world it +came from. "As the husband is, the wife is,"--he would subdue her to +what he worked in. + +All this Clement saw, as in apocalyptic vision, stored up for the +wife of Murray Bradshaw, if he read him rightly, as he felt sure he +did, from the few times he had seen him. He would be rich by and by, +very probably. He looked like one of those young men who are sharp, +and hard enough to come to fortune. Then she would have to take her +place in the great social exhibition where the gilded cages are daily +opened that the animals may be seen, feeding on the sight of +stereotyped toilets and the sound of impoverished tattle. O misery +of semi-provincial fashionable life, where wealth is at its wit's end +to avoid being tired of an existence which has all the labor of +keeping up appearances, without the piquant profligacy which saves it +at least from being utterly vapid! How many fashionable women at the +end of a long season would be ready to welcome heaven itself as a +relief from the desperate monotony of dressing, dawdling, and +driving! + +This could not go on so forever. Clement had placed a red curtain so +as to throw a rose-bloom on his marble, and give it an aspect which +his fancy turned to the semblance of life. He would sit and look at +the features his own hand had so faithfully wrought, until it seemed +as if the lips moved, sometimes as if they were smiling, sometimes as +if they were ready to speak to him. His companions began to whisper +strange things of him in the studio,--that his eye was getting an +unnatural light,--that he talked as if to imaginary listeners,--in +short, that there was a look as if something were going wrong with +his brain, which it might be feared would spoil his fine +intelligence. It was the undecided battle, and the enemy, as in his +noblest moments he had considered the growing passion, was getting +the better of him. + +He was sitting one afternoon before the fatal bust which had smiled +and whispered away his peace, when the post-man brought him a letter. +It was from the simple girl to whom he had given his promise. We +know how she used to prattle in her harmless way about her innocent +feelings, and the trifling matters that were going on in her little +village world. But now she wrote in sadness. Something, she did not +too clearly explain what, had grieved her, and she gave free +expression to her feelings. "I have no one that loves me but you," +she said; "and if you leave me I must droop and die. Are you true to +me, dearest Clement,--true as when we promised each other that we +would love while life lasted? Or have you forgotten one who will +never cease to remember that she was once your own Susan?" + +Clement dropped the letter from his hand, and sat a long hour looking +at the exquisitely wrought features of her who had come between him +and honor and his plighted word. + +At length he arose, and, lifting the bust tenderly from its pedestal, +laid it upon the cloth with which it had been covered. He wrapped it +closely, fold upon fold, as the mother whom man condemns and God +pities wraps the child she loves before she lifts her hand against +its life. Then he took a heavy hammer and shattered his lovely idol +into shapeless fragments. The strife was over. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +A CHANGE OF PROGRAMME. + +Mr. William Murray Bradshaw was in pretty intimate relations with +Miss Cynthia Badlam. It was well understood between them that it +might be of very great advantage to both of them if he should in due +time become the accepted lover of Myrtle Hazard. So long as he could +be reasonably secure against interference, he did not wish to hurry +her in making her decision. Two things he did wish to be sure of, if +possible, before asking her the great question;--first, that she +would answer it in the affirmative; and secondly, that certain +contingencies, the turning of which was not as yet absolutely capable +of being predicted, should happen as he expected. Cynthia had the +power of furthering his wishes in many direct and indirect ways, and +he felt sure of her cooperation. She had some reason to fear his +enmity if she displeased him, and he had taken good care to make her +understand that her interests would be greatly promoted by the +success of the plan which he had formed, and which was confided to +her alone. + +He kept the most careful eye on every possible source of disturbance +to this quietly maturing plan. He had no objection to have Gifted +Hopkins about Myrtle as much as she would endure to have him. The +youthful bard entertained her very innocently with his bursts of +poetry, but she was in no danger from a young person so intimately +associated with the yard-stick, the blunt scissors, and the brown- +paper parcel. There was Cyprian too, about whom he did not feel any +very particular solicitude. Myrtle had evidently found out that she +was handsome and stylish and all that, and it was not very likely she +would take up with such a bashful, humble, country youth as this. He +could expect nothing beyond a possible rectorate in the remote +distance, with one of those little pony chapels to preach in, which, +if it were set up on a stout pole, would pass for a good-sized +martin-house. Cyprian might do to practise on, but there was no +danger of her looking at him in a serious way. As for that youth, +Clement Lindsay, if he had not taken himself off as he did, Murray +Bradshaw confessed to himself that he should have felt uneasy. He +was too good-looking, and too clever a young fellow to have knocking +about among fragile susceptibilities. But on reflection he saw there +could be no danger. + +"All up with him,--poor diavolo! Can't understand it--such a little +sixpenny miss--pretty enough boiled parsnip blonde, if one likes that +sort of thing--pleases some of the old boys, apparently. Look out, +Mr. L. remember Susanna and the Elders. Good! + +"Safe enough if something new doesn't turn up. Youngish. Sixteen's +a little early. Seventeen will do. Marry a girl while she's in the +gristle, and you can shape her bones for her. Splendid creature +without her trimmings. Wants training. Must learn to dance, and +sing something besides psalm-tunes." + +Mr. Bradshaw began humming the hymn, "When I can read my title +clear," adding some variations of his own. "That 's the solo for my +prima donna!" + +In the mean time Myrtle seemed to be showing some new developments. +One would have said that the instincts of the coquette, or at least +of the city belle, were coming uppermost in her nature. Her little +nervous attack passed away, and she gained strength and beauty every +day. She was becoming conscious of her gifts of fascination, and +seemed to please herself with the homage of her rustic admirers. Why +was it that no one of them had the look and bearing of that young man +she had seen but a moment the other evening? To think that he should +have taken up with such a weakling as Susan Posey! She sighed, and +not so much thought as felt how kind it would have been in Heaven to +have made her such a man. But the image of the delicate blonde stood +between her and all serious thought of Clement Lindsay. She saw the +wedding in the distance, and very foolishly thought to herself that +she could not and would not go to it. + +But Clement Lindsay was gone, and she must content herself with such +worshippers as the village afforded. Murray Bradshaw was surprised +and confounded at the easy way in which she received his compliments, +and played with his advances, after the fashion of the trained ball- +room belles, who know how to be almost caressing in manner, and yet +are really as far off from the deluded victim of their suavities as +the topmost statue of the Milan cathedral from the peasant that +kneels on its floor. He admired her all the more for this, and yet +he saw that she would be a harder prize to win than he had once +thought. If he made up his mind that he would have her, he must go +armed with all implements, from the red hackle to the harpoon. + +The change which surprised Murray Bradshaw could not fail to be +noticed by all those about her. Miss Silence had long ago come to +pantomime, rolling up of eyes, clasping of hands, making of sad +mouths, and the rest,--but left her to her own way, as already the +property of that great firm of World & Co. which drives such sharp +bargains for young souls with the better angels. Cynthia studied her +for her own purposes, but had never gained her confidence. The Irish +servant saw that some change had come over her, and thought of the +great ladies she had sometimes looked upon in the old country. They +all had a kind of superstitious feeling about Myrtle's bracelet, of +which she had told them the story, but which Kitty half believed was +put in the drawer by the fairies, who brought her ribbons and +partridge feathers, and other slight adornments with which she +contrived to set off her simple costume, so as to produce those +effects which an eye for color and cunning fingers can bring out of +almost nothing. + +Gifted Hopkins was now in a sad, vacillating condition, between the +two great attractions to which he was exposed. Myrtle looked so +immensely handsome ere Sunday when he saw her going to church, not to +meeting, for she world not go, except when she knew Father Pemberton +was going to be the preacher, that the young poet was on the point of +going down on his knees to her, and telling her that his heart was +hers and hers alone. But he suddenly remembered that he had on his +best trousers, and the idea of carrying the marks of his devotion in +the shape of two dusty impressions on his most valued article of +apparel turned the scale against the demonstration. It happened the +next morning, that Susan Posey wore the most becoming ribbon she had +displayed for a long time, and Gifted was so taken with her pretty +looks that he might very probably have made the same speech to her +that he had been on the point of making to Myrtle the day before, but +that he remembered her plighted affections, and thought what he +should have to say for himself when Clement Lindsay, in a frenzy of +rage and jealousy, stood before him, probably armed with as many +deadly instruments as a lawyer mentions by name in an indictment for +murder. + +Cyprian Eveleth looked very differently on the new manifestations +Myrtle was making of her tastes and inclinations. He had always felt +dazzled, as well as attracted, by her; but now there was something in +her expression and manner which made him feel still more strongly +that they were intended for different spheres of life. He could not +but own that she was born for a brilliant destiny,--that no ball- +room would throw a light from its chandeliers too strong for her, +--that no circle would be too brilliant for her to illuminate by her +presence. Love does not thrive without hope, and Cyprian was +beginning to see that it was idle in him to think of folding these +wide wings of Myrtle's so that they would be shut up in any cage he +could ever offer her. He began to doubt whether, after all, he might +not find a meeker and humbler nature better adapted to his own. And +so it happened that one evening after the three girls, Olive, Myrtle, +and Bathsheba, had been together at the Parsonage, and Cyprian, +availing himself of a brother's privilege, had joined them, he found +he had been talking most of the evening with the gentle girl whose +voice had grown so soft and sweet, during her long ministry in the +sick-chamber, that it seemed to him more like music than speech. It +would not be fair to say that Myrtle was piqued to see that Cyprian +was devoting himself to Bathsheba. Her ambition was already reaching +beyond her little village circle, and she had an inward sense that +Cyprian found a form of sympathy in the minister's simple-minded +daughter which he could not ask from a young woman of her own +aspirations. + +Such was the state of affairs when Master Byles Gridley was one +morning surprised by an early call from Myrtle. He had a volume of +Walton's Polyglot open before him, and was reading Job in the +original, when she entered. + +"Why, bless me, is that my young friend Miss Myrtle Hazard?" he +exclaimed. "I might call you Keren-Happuch, which is Hebrew for +Child of Beauty, and not be very far out of the way, Job's youngest +daughter, my dear. And what brings my young friend out in such good +season this morning? Nothing going wrong up at our ancient mansion, +The Poplars, I trust?" + +"I want to talk with you, dear Master Gridley," she answered. She +looked as if she did not know just how to begin. + +"Anything that interests you, Myrtle, interests me. I think you have +some project in that young head of yours, my child. Let us have it, +in all its dimensions, length, breadth, and thickness. I think I can +guess, Myrtle, that we have a little plan of some kind or other. +We don't visit Papa Job quite so early as this without some special +cause,--do we, Miss Keren-Happuch?" + +"I want to go to the city--to school," Myrtle said, with the +directness which belonged to her nature. + +"That is precisely what I want you to do myself, Miss Myrtle Hazard. +I don't like to lose you from the village, but I think we must spare +you for a while." + +"You're the best and dearest man that ever lived. What could have +made you think of such a thing for me, Mr. Gridley?" + +"Because you are ignorant, my child,--partly I want to see you fitted +to take a look at the world without feeling like a little country +miss. Has your aunt Silence promised to bear your expenses while you +are in the city? It will cost a good deal of money." + +"I have not said a word to her about it. I am sure I don't know what +she would say. But I have some money, Mr. Gridley." + +She showed him a purse with gold, telling him how she came by it. +"There is some silver besides. Will it be enough?" + +"No, no, my child, we must not meddle with that. Your aunt will let +me put it in the bank for you, I think, where it will be safe. But +that shall not make any difference. I have got a little money lying +idle, which you may just as well have the use of as not. You can pay +it back perhaps some time or other; if you did not, it would not make +much difference. I am pretty much alone in the world, and except a +book now and then--Aut liberos aut libros, as our valiant heretic has +it,--you ought to know a little Latin, Myrtle, but never mind--I have +not much occasion for money. You shall go to the best school that +any of our cities can offer, Myrtle, and you shall stay there until +we agree that you are fitted to come back to us an ornament to Oxbow +Village, and to larger places than this if you are called there. We +have had some talk about it, your aunt Silence and I, and it is all +settled. Your aunt does not feel very rich just now, or perhaps she +would do more for you. She has many pious and poor friends, and it +keeps her funds low. Never mind, my child, we will have it all +arranged for you, and you shall begin the year 1860 in Madam +Delacoste's institution for young ladies. Too many rich girls and +fashionable ones there, I fear, but you must see some of all kinds, +and there are very good instructors in the school,--I know one,--he +was a college boy with me,--and you will find pleasant and good +companions there, so he tells me; only don't be in a hurry to choose +your friends, for the least desirable young persons are very apt to +cluster about a new-comer." + +Myrtle was bewildered with the suddenness of the prospect thus held +out to her. It is a wonder that she did not bestow an embrace upon +the worthy old master. Perhaps she had too much tact. It is a +pretty way enough of telling one that he belongs to a past +generation, but it does tell him that not over-pleasing fact. Like +the title of Emeritus Professor, it is a tribute to be accepted, +hardly to be longed for. + +When the curtain rises again, it will show Miss Hazard in a new +character, and surrounded by a new world. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +MYRTLE HAZARD AT THE CITY SCHOOL. + +Mr. Bradshaw was obliged to leave town for a week or two on business +connected with the great land-claim. On his return, feeling in +pretty good spirits, as the prospects looked favorable, he went to +make a call at The Poplars. He asked first for Miss Hazard. + +"Bliss your soul, Mr. Bridshaw," answered Mistress Kitty Fagan, +"she's been gahn nigh a wake. It's to the city, to the big school, +they've sint her." + +This announcement seemed to make a deep impression on Murray +Bradshaw, for his feelings found utterance in one of the most +energetic forms of language to which ears polite or impolite are +accustomed. He next asked for Miss Silence, who soon presented +herself. Mr. Bradshaw asked, in a rather excited way, "Is it +possible, Miss Withers, that your niece has quitted you to go to a +city school?" + +Miss Silence answered, with her chief--mourner expression, and her +death-chamber tone: "Yes, she has left us for a season. I trust it +may not be her destruction. I had hoped in former years that she +would become a missionary, but I have given up all expectation of +that now. Two whole years, from the age of four to that of six, I +had prevailed upon her to give up sugar,--the money so saved to go to +a graduate of our institution--who was afterwards----he labored among +the cannibal-islanders. I thought she seemed to take pleasure in +this small act of self-denial, but I have since suspected that Kitty +gave her secret lumps. It was by Mr. Gridley's advice that she went, +and by his pecuniary assistance. What could I do? She was bent on +going, and I was afraid she would have fits, or do something +dreadful, if I did not let her have her way. I am afraid she will +come back to us spoiled. She has seemed so fond of dress lately, and +once she spoke of learning--yes, Mr. Bradshaw, of learning to--dance! +I wept when I heard of it. Yes, I wept." + +That was such a tremendous thing to think of, and especially to speak +of in Mr. Bradshaw's presence, for the most pathetic image in the +world to many women is that of themselves in tears,--that it brought +a return of the same overflow, which served as a substitute for +conversation until Miss Badlam entered the apartment. + +Miss Cynthia followed the same general course of remark. They could +not help Myrtle's going if they tried. She had always maintained +that, if they had only once broke her will when she was little, they +would have kept the upper hand of her; but her will never was broke. +They came pretty near it once, but the child would n't give in. + +Miss Cynthia went to the door with Mr. Bradshaw, and the conversation +immediately became short and informal. + +"Demonish pretty business! All up for a year or more,--hey?" + +Don't blame me,--I couldn't stop her." + +"Give me her address,--I 'll write to her. Any young men teach in +the school?" + +Can't tell you. She'll write to Olive and Bathsheba, and I'll find +out all about it." + +Murray Bradshaw went home and wrote a long letter to Mrs. Clymer +Ketchum, of 24 Carat Place, containing many interesting remarks and +inquiries, some of the latter relating to Madam Delacoste's +institution for the education of young ladies. + +While this was going on at Oxbow Village, Myrtle was establishing +herself at the rather fashionable school to which Mr. Gridley had +recommended her. Mrs. or Madam Delacoste's boarding-school had a +name which on the whole it deserved pretty well. She had some very +good instructors for girls who wished to get up useful knowledge in +case they might marry professors or ministers. They had a chance to +learn music, dancing, drawing, and the way of behaving in company. +There was a chance, too, to pick up available acquaintances, for many +rich people sent their daughters to the school, and it was something +to have been bred in their company. + +There was the usual division of the scholars into a first and second +set, according to the social position, mainly depending upon the +fortune, of the families to which they belonged. The wholesale +dealer's daughter very naturally considered herself as belonging to a +different order from the retail dealer's daughter. The keeper of a +great hotel and the editor of a widely circulated newspaper were +considered as ranking with the wholesale dealers, and their daughters +belonged also to the untitled nobility which has the dollar for its +armorial bearing. The second set had most of the good scholars, and +some of the prettiest girls; but nobody knew anything about their +families, who lived off the great streets and avenues, or vegetated +in country towns. + +Myrtle Hazard's advent made something like a sensation. They did not +know exactly what to make of her. Hazard? Hazard? No great firm of +that name. No leading hotel kept by any Hazard, was there? No +newspaper of note edited by anybody called Hazard, was there? Came +from where? Oxbow Village. Oh, rural district. Yes. --Still they +could not help owning that she was handsome, a concession which of +course had to be made with reservations. + +"Don't you think she's vuiry good-lookin'?" said a Boston girl to a +New York girl. "I think she's real pooty." + +"I dew, indeed. I didn't think she was haaf so handsome the feeest +time I saw her," answered the New York girl. + +"What a pity she had n't been bawn in Bawston!" + +"Yes, and moved very young to Ne Yock!" + +"And married a sarsaparilla man, and lived in Fiff Avenoo, and moved +in the fust society." + +"Better dew that than be strong-mainded, and dew your own cook'n, and +live in your own kitch'n." + +"Don't forgit to send your card when you are Mrs. Old Dr. Jacob!" + +"Indeed I shaan't. What's the name of the alley, and which bell?" +The New York girl took out a memorandum-book as if to put it down. + +"Had n't you better let me write it for you, dear?" said the Boston +girl. "It is as well to have it legible, you know." + +"Take it," said the New York girl. "There 's tew York shill'ns in it +when I hand it to you." + +"Your whole quarter's allowance, I bullieve,--ain't it?" said the +Boston girl. + +Elegant manners, correct deportment, and propriety of language will +be strictly attended to in this institution. The most correct +standards of pronunciation will be inculcated by precept and example. +It will be the special aim of the teachers to educate their pupils +out of all provincialisms, so that they may be recognized as well- +bred English scholars wherever the language is spoken in its purity." +--Extract from the Prospectus of Madam Delacoste's Boarding-school. + +Myrtle Hazard was a puzzle to all the girls. Striking, they all +agreed, but then the criticisms began. Many of the girls chattered a +little broken French, and one of them, Miss Euphrosyne De Lacy, had +been half educated in Paris, so that she had all the phrases which +are to social operators what his cutting instruments are to the +surgeon. Her face she allowed was handsome; but her style, according +to this oracle, was a little bourgeoise, and her air not exactly +comme il faut. More specifically, she was guilty of contours +fortement prononces,--corsage de paysanne,--quelque chose de sauvage, +etc., etc. This girl prided herself on her figure. + +Miss Bella Pool, (La Belle Poule as the demiParisian girl had +christened her,) the beauty of the school, did not think so much of +Myrtle's face, but considered her figure as better than the De Lacy +girl's. + +The two sets, first and second, fought over her as the (Greeks and +Trojans over a dead hero, or the Yale College societies over a live +freshman. She was nobody by her connections, it is true, so far as +they could find out, but then, on the other hand, she had the walk of +a queen, and she looked as if a few stylish dresses and a season or +two would make her a belle of the first water. She had that air of +indifference to their little looks and whispered comments which is +surest to disarm all the critics of a small tattling community. On +the other hand, she came to this school to learn, and not to play; +and the modest and more plainly dressed girls, whose fathers did not +sell by the cargo, or keep victualling establishments for some +hundreds of people, considered her as rather in sympathy with them +than with the daughters of the rough-and-tumble millionnaires who +were grappling and rolling over each other in the golden dust of the +great city markets. + +She did not mean to belong exclusively to either of their sets. She +came with that sense of manifold deficiencies, and eager ambition to +supply them, which carries any learner upward, as if on wings, over +the heads of the mechanical plodders and the indifferent routinists. +She learned, therefore, in a way to surprise the experienced +instructors. Her somewhat rude sketching soon began to show +something of the artist's touch. Her voice, which had only been +taught to warble the simplest melodies, after a little training began +to show its force and sweetness and flexibility in the airs that +enchant drawing-room audiences. She caught with great readiness the +manner of the easiest girls, unconsciously, for she inherited old +social instincts which became nature with the briefest exercise. Not +much license of dress was allowed in the educational establishment of +Madam Delacoste, but every girl had an opportunity to show her taste +within the conventional limits prescribed. And Myrtle soon began to +challenge remark by a certain air she contrived to give her dresses, +and the skill with which she blended their colors. + +"Tell you what, girls," said Miss Berengaria Topping, female +representative of the great dynasty that ruled over the world-famous +Planet Hotel, "she's got style, lots of it. I call her perfectly +splendid, when she's got up in her swell clothes. That oriole's wing +she wears in her bonnet makes her look gorgeous, she'll be a stunning +Pocahontas for the next tableau." + +Miss Rose Bugbee, whose family opulence grew out of the only +merchantable article a Hebrew is never known to seek profit from, +thought she could be made presentable in the first circles if taken +in hand in good season. So it came about that, before many weeks had +passed over her as a scholar in the great educational establishment, +she might be considered as on the whole the most popular girl in the +whole bevy of them. The studious ones admired her for her facility +of learning, and her extraordinary appetite for every form of +instruction, and the showy girls, who were only enduring school as +the purgatory that opened into the celestial world of society, +recognized in her a very handsome young person, who would be like to +make a sensation sooner or later. + +There were, however, it must be confessed, a few who considered +themselves the thickest of the cream of the school-girls, who +submitted her to a more trying ordeal than any she had yet passed. + +"How many horses does your papa keep?" asked Miss Florence Smythe." +We keep nine, and a pony for Edgar." + +Myrtle had to explain that she had no papa, and that they did not +keep any horses. Thereupon Miss Florence Smythe lost her desire to +form an acquaintance, and wrote home to her mother (who was an ex- +bonnet-maker) that the school was getting common, she was afraid,-- +they were letting in persons one knew nothing about. + +Miss Clare Browne had a similar curiosity about the amount of plate +used in the household from which Myrtle came. Her father had just +bought a complete silver service. Myrtle had to own that they used a +good deal of china at her own home,--old china, which had been a +hundred years in the family, some of it. + +"A hundred years old!" exclaimed Miss Clare Browne. "What queer- +looking stuff it must be! Why, everything in our house is just as +new and bright! Papaa had all our pictures painted on purpose for +us. Have you got any handsome pictures in your house?" + +"We have a good many portraits of members of the family," she said, +"some of them older than the china." + +"How very very odd! What do the dear old things look like?" + +"One was a great beauty in her time." + +"How jolly!" + +"Another was a young woman who was put to death for her religion, +--burned to ashes at the stake in Queen Mary's time." + +"How very very wicked! It was n't nice a bit, was it? Ain't you +telling me stories? Was that a hundred years ago? --But you 've got +some new pictures and things, have n't you? Who furnished your +parlors?" + +"My great-grandfather, or his father, I believe." + +"Stuff and nonsense. I don't believe it. What color are your +carriage-horses?" + +"Our woman, Kitty Fagan, told somebody once we didn't keep any horse +but a cow." + +" Not keep any horses! Do for pity's sake let me look at your feet." + +Myrtle put out as neat a little foot as a shoemaker ever fitted with +a pair of number two. What she would have been tempted to do with +it, if she had been a boy, we will not stop to guess. After all, the +questions amused her quite as much as the answers instructed Miss +Clara Browne. Of that young lady's ancestral claims to distinction +there is no need of discoursing. Her "papaa" commonly said sir in +talking with a gentleman, and her "mammaa" would once in a while +forget, and go down the area steps instead of entering at the proper +door; but they lived behind a brown stone front, which veneers +everybody's antecedents with a facing of respectability. + +Miss Clara Browne wrote home to her mother in the same terms as Miss +Florence Smythe,--that the school was getting dreadful common, and +they were letting in very queer folks. + +Still another trial awaited Myrtle, and one which not one girl in a +thousand would have been so unprepared to meet. She knew absolutely +nothing of certain things with which the vast majority of young +persons were quite familiar. + +There were literary young ladies, who had read everything of Dickens +and Thackeray, and something at least of Sir Walter, and +occasionally, perhaps, a French novel, which they had better have let +alone. One of the talking young ladies of this set began upon Myrtle +one day. + +"Oh, is n't 'Pickwick' nice?" she asked. + +"I don't know," Myrtle replied; "I never tasted any." + +The girl stared at her as if she were a crazy creature. "Tasted any! +Why, I mean the 'Pickwick Papers,' Dickens's story. Don't you think +they're nice." + +Poor Myrtle had to confess that she had never read them, and did n't +know anything about them. + +"What! did you never read any novels?" said the young lady. + +"Oh, to be sure I have," said Myrtle, blushing as she thought of the +great trunk and its contents. "I have read 'Caleb Williams,' and +'Evelina,' and 'Tristram Shandy'" (naughty girl!), "and the 'Castle +of Otranto,' and the ' Mysteries of Udolpho,' and the 'Vicar of +Wakefield,' and 'Don Quixote'--" + +The young lady burst out laughing. "Stop! stop! for mercy's sake," +she cried. "You must be somebody that's been dead and buried and +come back to life again. Why you're Rip Van Winkle in a petticoat! +You ought to powder your hair and wear patches." + +"We've got the oddest girl here," this young lady wrote home. "She +has n't read any book that is n't a thousand years old. One of the +girls says she wears a trilobite for a breastpin; some horrid old +stone, I believe that is, that was a bug ever so long ago. Her name, +she says, is Myrtle Hazard, but I call her Rip Van Myrtle." + +Notwithstanding the quiet life which these young girls were compelled +to lead, they did once in a while have their gatherings, at which a +few young gentlemen were admitted. One of these took place about a +month after Myrtle had joined the school. The girls were all in +their best, and by and by they were to have a tableau. Myrtle came +out in all her force. She dressed herself as nearly as she dared +like the handsome woman of the past generation whom she resembled. +The very spirit of the dead beauty seemed to animate every feature +and every movement of the young girl whose position in the school was +assured from that moment. She had a good solid foundation to build +upon in the jealousy of two or three of the leading girls of the +style of pretensions illustrated by some of their talk which has been +given. There is no possible success without some opposition as a +fulcrum: force is always aggressive, and crowds something or other, +if it does not hit or trample on it. + +The cruelest cut of all was the remark attributed to Mr. Livingston +Jerkins, who was what the opposition girls just referred to called +the great "swell" among the privileged young gentlemen who were +present at the gathering. + +"Rip Van Myrtle, you call that handsome girl, do you, Miss Clara? By +Jove, she's the stylishest of the whole lot, to say nothing of being +a first-class beauty. Of course you know I except one, Miss Clara. +If a girl can go to sleep and wake up after twenty years looking like +that, I know a good many who had better begin their nap without +waiting. If I were Florence Smythe, I'd try it, and begin now,--eh, +Clara?" + +Miss Browne felt the praise of Myrtle to be slightly alleviated by +the depreciation of Miss Smythe, who had long been a rival of her +own. A little later in the evening Miss Smythe enjoyed almost +precisely the same sensation, produced in a very economical way by +Mr. Livingston Jenkins's repeating pretty nearly the same sentiments +to her, only with a change in the arrangement of the proper names. +The two young ladies were left feeling comparatively comfortable with +regard to each other, each intending to repeat Mr. Livingston +Jenkins's remark about her friend to such of her other friends as +enjoyed clever sayings, but not at all comfortable with reference to +Myrtle Hazard, who was evidently considered by the leading "swell" of +their circle as the most noticeable personage of the assembly. The +individual exception in each case did very well as a matter of +politeness, but they knew well enough what he meant. + +It seemed to Myrtle Hazard, that evening, that she felt the bracelet +on her wrist glow with a strange, unaccustomed warmth. It was as if +it had just been unclasped from the arm of a yohng woman full of red +blood and tingling all over with swift nerve-currents. Life had +never looked to her as it did that evening. It was the swan's first +breasting the water,--bred on the desert sand, with vague dreams of +lake and river, and strange longings as the mirage came and +dissolved, and at length afloat upon the sparkling wave. She felt as +if she had for the first time found her destiny. It was to please, +and so to command, to rule with gentle sway in virtue of the royal +gift of beauty,--to enchant with the commonest exercise of speech, +through the rare quality of a voice which could not help being always +gracious and winning, of a manner which came to her as an inheritance +of which she had just found the title. She read in the eyes of all +that she was more than any other the centre of admiration. Blame her +who may, the world was a very splendid vision as it opened before her +eyes in its long vista of pleasures and of triumphs. How different +the light of these bright saloons from the glimmer of the dim chamber +at The Poplars! Silence Withers was at that very moment looking at +the portraits of Anne Holyoake and of Judith Pride. "The old picture +seems to me to be fading faster than ever," she was thinking. But +when she held her lamp before the other, it seemed to her that the +picture never was so fresh before, and that the proud smile upon its +lips was more full of conscious triumph than she remembered it. A +reflex, doubtless, of her own thoughts, for she believed that the +martyr was weeping even in heaven over her lost descendant, and that +the beauty, changed to the nature of the malignant spiritual company +with which she had long consorted in the under-world, was pleasing +herself with the thought that Myrtle was in due time to bring her +news from the Satanic province overhead, where she herself had so +long indulged in the profligacy of embonpoint and loveliness. + +The evening at the school-party was to terminate with some tableaux. +The girl who had suggested that Myrtle would look "stunning" or +"gorgeous" or "jolly," or whatever the expression was, as Pocahontas, +was not far out of the way, and it was so evident to the managing +heads that she would make a fine appearance in that character, that +the "Rescue of Captain John Smith" was specially got up to show her +off. + +Myrtle had sufficient reason to believe that there was a hint of +Indian blood in her veins. It was one of those family legends which +some of the members are a little proud of, and others are willing to +leave uninvestigated. But with Myrtle it was a fixed belief that she +felt perfectly distinct currents of her ancestral blood at intervals, +and she had sometimes thought there were instincts and vague +recollections which must have come from the old warriors and hunters +and their dusky brides. The Indians who visited the neighborhood +recognized something of their own race in her dark eyes, as the +reader may remember they told the persons who were searching after +her. It had almost frightened her sometimes to find how like a wild +creature she felt when alone in the woods. Her senses had much of +that delicacy for which the red people are noted, and she often +thought she could follow the trail of an enemy, if she wished to +track one through the forest, as unerringly as if she were a Pequot +or a Mohegan. + +It was a strange feeling that came over Myrtle, as they dressed her +for the part she was to take. Had she never worn that painted robe +before? Was it the first time that these strings of wampum had ever +rattled upon her neck and arms? And could it be that the plume of +eagle's feathers with which they crowned her dark, fast-lengthening +locks had never shadowed her forehead until now? She felt herself +carried back into the dim ages when the wilderness was yet untrodden +save by the feet of its native lords. Think of her wild fancy as we +may, she felt as if that dusky woman of her midnight vision on the +river were breathing for one hour through her lips. If this belief +had lasted, it is plain enough where it would have carried her. But +it came into her imagination and vivifying consciousness with the +putting on of her unwonted costume, and might well leave her when she +put it off. It is not for us, who tell only what happened, to solve +these mysteries of the seeming admission of unhoused souls into the +fleshly tenements belonging to air-breathing personalities. A very +little more, and from that evening forward the question would have +been treated in full in all the works on medical jurisprudence +published throughout the limits of Christendom. The story must be +told or we should not be honest with the reader. + +TABLEAU 1. Captain John Smith (Miss Euphrosyne de Lacy) was to be +represented prostrate and bound, ready for execution; Powhatan (Miss +Florence Smythe) sitting upon a log; savages with clubs (Misses Clara +Browne, A. Van Boodle, E. Van Boodle, Heister, Booster, etc., etc.) +standing around; Pocahontas holding the knife in her hand, ready to +cut the cords with which Captain John Smith is bound. --Curtain. + +TABLEAU 2. Captain John Smith released and kneeling before +Pocahontas, whose hand is extended in the act of raising him and +presenting him to her father. Savages in various attitudes of +surprise. Clubs fallen from their hands. Strontian flame to be +kindled. --Curtain. + +This was a portion of the programme for the evening, as arranged +behind the scenes. The first part went off with wonderful eclat, and +at its close there were loud cries for Pocahontas. She appeared for +a moment. Bouquets were flung to her; and a wreath, which one of the +young ladies had expected for herself in another part, was tossed +upon the stage, and laid at her feet. The curtain fell. + +"Put the wreath on her for the next tableau," some of them whispered, +just as the curtain was going to rise, and one of the girls hastened +to place it upon her head. + +The disappointed young lady could not endure it, and, in a spasm of +jealous passion, sprang at Myrtle, snatched it from her head, and +trampled it under her feet at the very instant the curtain was +rising. With a cry which some said had the blood-chilling tone of an +Indian's battle-shriek, Myrtle caught the knife up, and raised her +arm against the girl who had thus rudely assailed her. The girl sank +to the ground, covering her eyes in her terror. Myrtle, with her arm +still lifted, and the blade glistening in her hand, stood over her, +rigid as if she had been suddenly changed to stone. Many of those +looking on thought all this was a part of the show, and were thrilled +with the wonderful acting. Before those immediately around her had +had time to recover from the palsy of their fright Myrtle had flung +the knife away from her, and was kneeling, her head bowed and her +hands crossed upon her breast. The audience went into a rapture of +applause as the curtain came suddenly down; but Myrtle had forgotten +all but the dread peril she had just passed, and was thanking God +that his angel--her own protecting spirit, as it seemed to her had +stayed the arm which a passion such as her nature had never known, +such as she believed was alien to her truest self, had lifted with +deadliest purpose. She alone knew how extreme the danger had been. +"She meant to scare her,--that 's all," they said. But Myrtle tore +the eagle's feathers from her hair, and stripped off her colored +beads, and threw off her painted robe. The metempsychosis was far +too real for her to let her wear the semblance of the savage from +whom, as she believed, had come the lawless impulse at the thought of +which her soul recoiled in horror. + +"Pocahontas has got a horrid headache," the managing young ladies +gave it out, "and can't come to time for the last tableau." So this +all passed over, not only without loss of credit to Myrtle, but with +no small addition to her local fame,--for it must have been acting; +"and was n't it stunning to see her with that knife, looking as if +she was going to stab Bells, or to scalp her, or something?" + +As Master Gridley had predicted, and as is the case commonly with +new-comers at colleges and schools, Myrtle had come first in contact +with those who were least agreeable to meet. The low-bred youth who +amuse themselves with scurvy tricks on freshmen, and the vulgar girls +who try to show off their gentility to those whom they think less +important than themselves, are exceptions in every institution; but +they make themselves odiously prominent before the quiet and modest +young people have had time to gain the new scholar's confidence. +Myrtle found friends in due time, some of them daughters of rich +people, some poor girls, who came with the same sincerity of purpose +as herself. But not one was her match in the facility of acquiring +knowledge. Not one promised to make such a mark in society, if she +found an opening into its loftier circles. She was by no means +ignorant of her natural gifts, and she cultivated them with the +ambition which would not let her rest. + +During her stay at the great school, she made but one visit to Oxbow +Village. She did not try to startle the good people with her +accomplishments, but they were surprised at the change which had +taken place in her. Her dress was hardly more showy, for she was but +a school-girl, but it fitted her more gracefully. She had gained a +softness of expression, and an ease in conversation, which produced +their effect on all with whom she came in contact. Her aunt's voice +lost something of its plaintiveness in talking with her. Miss +Cynthia listened with involuntary interest to her stories of school +and school-mates. Master Byles Gridley accepted her as the great +success of his life, and determined to make her his chief heiress, if +there was any occasion for so doing. Cyprian told Bathsheba that +Myrtle must come to be a great lady. Gifted Hopkins confessed to +Susan Posey that he was afraid of her, since she had been to the +great city school. She knew too much and looked too much like a +queen, for a village boy to talk with. + +Mr. William Murray Bradshaw tried all his fascinations upon her, but +she parried compliments so well, and put off all his nearer advances +so dexterously, that he could not advance beyond the region of florid +courtesy, and never got a chance, if so disposed, to risk a question +which he would not ask rashly, believing that, if Myrtle once said +No, there would be little chance of her ever saying Yes. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +MUSTERING OF FORCES. + +Not long after the tableau performance had made Myrtle Hazard's name +famous in the school and among the friends of the scholars, she +received the very flattering attention of a call from Mrs. Clymer +Ketchum, of 24 Carat Place. This was in consequence of a suggestion +from Mr. Livingston Jenkins, a particular friend of the family. + +"They've got a demonish splendid school-girl over there," he said to +that lady, "made the stunningest looking Pocahontas at the show there +the other day. Demonish plucky looking filly as ever you saw. Had a +row with another girl,--gave the war-whoop, and went at her with a +knife. Festive,--hey? Say she only meant to scare her,--looked as +if she meant to stick her, anyhow. Splendid style. Why can't you go +over to the shop and make 'em trot her out?" + +The lady promised Mr. Livingston Jenkins that she certainly would, +just as soon as she could find a moment's leisure,--which, as she had +nothing in the world to do, was not likely to be very soon. Myrtle +in the mean time was busy with her studies, little dreaming what an +extraordinary honor was awaiting her. + +That rare accident in the lives of people who have nothing to do, a +leisure morning, did at last occur. An elegant carriage, with a +coachman in a wonderful cape, seated on a box lofty as a throne, and +wearing a hat-band as brilliant as a coronet, stopped at the portal +of Madam Delacoste's establishment. A card was sent in bearing the. +open sesame of Mrs. Clymer Ketchum, the great lady of 24 Carat Place. +Miss Myrtle Hazard was summoned as a matter of course, and the +fashionable woman and the young girl sat half an hour together in +lively conversation. + +Myrtle was fascinated by her visitor, who had that flattering manner +which, to those not experienced in the world's ways, seems to imply +unfathomable depths of disinterested devotion. Then it was so +delightful to look upon a perfectly appointed woman,--one who was as +artistically composed as a poem or an opera,--in whose costume a kind +of various rhythm undulated in one fluent harmony, from the spray +that nodded on her bonnet to the rosette that blossomed on her +sandal. As for the lady, she was captivated with Myrtle. There is +nothing that your fashionable woman, who has ground and polished her +own spark of life into as many and as glittering social facets as it +will bear, has a greater passion for than a large rough diamond, +which knows nothing of the sea of light it imprisons, and which it +will be her pride to have cut into a brilliant under her own eye, and +to show the world for its admiration and her own reflected glory. +Mrs. Clymer Ketchum had taken the entire inventory of Myrtle's +natural endowments before the interview was over. She had no +marriageable children, and she was thinking what a killing bait +Myrtle would be at one of her stylish parties. + +She soon got another letter from Mr. William Murray Bradshaw, which +explained the interest he had taken in Madam Delacoste's school,--all +which she knew pretty nearly beforehand, for she had found out a good +part of Myrtle's history in the half-hour they had spent in company. + +"I had a particular reason for my inquiries about the school," he +wrote. "There is a young girl there I take an interest in. She is +handsome and interesting; and--though it is a shame to mention such a +thing has possibilities in the way of fortune not to be undervalued. +Why can't you make her acquaintance and be civil to her? A country +girl, but fine old stock, and will make a figure some time or other, +I tell you. Myrtle Hazard,--that's her name. A mere schoolgirl. +Don't be malicious and badger me about her, but be polite to her. +Some of these country girls have got 'blue blood' in them, let me +tell you, and show it plain enough." + +("In huckleberry season!") said Mrs. Ciymer Ketchum, in a +parenthesis,--and went on reading. + +"Don't think I'm one of your love-in-a-cottage sort, to have my head +turned by a village beauty. I've got a career before me, Mrs. K., +and I know it. But this is one of my pets, and I want you to keep an +eye on her. Perhaps when she leaves school you wouldn't mind asking +her to come and stay with you a little while. Possibly I may come +and see how she is getting on if you do,--won't that tempt you, Mrs. +C. K.?" + +Mrs. Clymer Ketchum wrote back to her relative how she had already +made the young lady's acquaintance. + +"Livingston Jerkins (you remember him) picked her out of the whole +lot of girls as the 'prettiest filly in the stable.' That's his +horrid way of talking. But your young milkmaid is really charming, +and will come into form like a Derby three-year-old. There, now, +I've caught that odious creature's horse-talk, myself. You're dead +in love with this girl, Murray, you know you are. + +"After all, I don't know but you're right. You would make a good +country lawyer enough, I don't doubt. I used to think you had your +ambitions, but never mind. If you choose to risk yourself on +'possibilities,' it is not my affair, and she's a beauty, there's no +mistake about that. + +"There are some desirable partis at the school with your dulcinea. +There 's Rose Bugbee. That last name is a good one to be married +from. Rose is a nice girl,--there are only two of them. The estate +will cut up like one of the animals it was made out of, you know,-- +the sandwich-quadruped. Then there 's Berengaria. Old Topping owns +the Planet Hotel among other things,--so big, they say, there's +always a bell ringing from somebody's room day and night the year +round. Only child--unit and six ciphers carries diamonds loose in +her pocket--that's the story--good-looking--lively--a little slangy +called Livingston Jerkins 'Living Jingo' to his face one day. I want +you to see my lot before you do anything serious. You owe something +to the family, Mr. William Murray Bradshaw! But you must suit +yourself, after all: if you are contented with a humble position in +life, it is nobody's business that I know of. Only I know what life +is, Murray B. Getting married is jumping overboard, any way you look +at it, and if you must save some woman from drowning an old maid, try +to find one with a cork jacket, or she 'll carry you down with her." + +Murray Bradshaw was calculating enough, but he shook his head over +this letter. It was too demonish cold-blooded for him, he said to +himself. (Men cannot pardon women for saying aloud what they do not +hesitate to think in silence themselves.) Never mind,--he must have +Mrs. Clymer Ketchum's house and influence for his own purposes. +Myrtle Hazard must become her guest, and then if circumstances were +favorable, he was certain obtaining her aid in his project. + +The opportunity to invite Myrtle to the great mansion presented +itself unexpectedly. Early in the spring of 1861 there were some +cases of sickness in Madam Delacoste's establishment, which led to +closing the school for a while. Mrs. Clymer Ketchum took advantage +of the dispersion of the scholars to ask Myrtle to come and spend +some weeks with her. There were reasons why this was more agreeable +to the young girl than returning to Oxbow Village, and she very +gladly accepted the invitation. + +It was very remarkable that a man living as Master Byles Gridley had +lived for so long a time should all at once display such liberality +as he showed to a young woman who had no claim upon him, except that +he had rescued her from the consequences of her own imprudence and +warned her against impending dangers. Perhaps he cared more for her +than if the obligation had been the other way,--students of human +nature say it is commonly so. At any rate, either he had ampler +resources than it was commonly supposed, or he was imprudently giving +way to his generous impulses, or he thought he was making advances +which would in due time be returned to him. Whatever the reason was, +he furnished her with means, not only for her necessary expenses, but +sufficient to afford her many of the elegances which she would be +like to want in the fashionable society with which she was for a +short time to mingle. + +Mrs. Clymer Ketchum was so well pleased with the young lady she was +entertaining, that she thought it worth while to give a party while +Myrtle was staying with her. She had her jealousies and rivalries, +as women of the world will, sometimes, and these may have had their +share in leading her to take the trouble a large party involved. She +was tired of the airs of Mrs. Pinnikle, who was of the great Apex +family, and her terribly accomplished daughter Rhadamartha, and +wanted to crush the young lady, and jaundice her mother, with a girl +twice as brilliant and ten times handsomer. She was very willing, +also, to take the nonsense out of the Capsheaf girls, who thought +themselves the most stylish personages of their city world, and would +bite their lips well to see themselves distanced by a country miss. + +In the mean time circumstances were promising to bring into Myrtle's +neighborhood several of her old friends and admirers. Mrs. Clymer +Ketchum had written to Murray Bradshaw that she had asked his pretty +milkmaid to come and stay awhile with her, but he had been away on +business, and only arrived in the city a day or two before the party. +But other young fellows had found out the attractions of the girl who +was "hanging out at the Clymer Ketchum concern," and callers were +plenty, reducing tete-a-tetes in a corresponding ratio. He did get +one opportunity, however, and used it well. They had so many things +to talk about in common, that she could not help finding him good +company. She might well be pleased, for he was an adept in the +curious art of being agreeable, as other people are in chess or +billiards, and had made a special study of her tastes, as a physician +studies a patient's constitution. What he wanted was to get her +thoroughly interested in himself, and to maintain her in a receptive +condition until such time as he should be ready for a final move. +Any day might furnish the decisive motive; in the mean time he wished +only to hold her as against all others. + +It was well for her, perhaps, that others had flattered her into a +certain consciousness of her own value. She felt her veins full of +the same rich blood as that which had flushed the cheeks of handsome +Judith in the long summer of her triumph. Whether it was vanity, or +pride, or only the instinctive sense of inherited force and +attraction, it was the best of defences. The golden bracelet on her +wrist seemed to have brought as much protection with it as if it had +been a shield over her heart. + + +But far away in Oxbow Village other events were in preparation. The +"fugitive pieces" of Mr. Gifted Hopkins had now reached a number so +considerable, that, if collected and printed in large type, with +plenty of what the unpleasant printers call "fat,"--meaning thereby +blank spaces,--upon a good, substantial, not to say thick paper, they +might perhaps make a volume which would have substance enough to bear +the title, printed lengthwise along the back, "Hopkins's Poems." +Such a volume that author had in contemplation. It was to be the +literary event of the year 1861. + +He could not mature such a project, one which he had been for some +time contemplating, without consulting Mr. Byles Gridley, who, though +he had not unfrequently repressed the young poet's too ardent +ambition, had yet always been kind and helpful. + +Mr. Gridley was seated in his large arm-chair, indulging himself in +the perusal of a page or two of his own work before repeatedly +referred to. His eye was glistening, for it had dust rested on the +following passage: + +"There is infinite pathos in unsuccessful authorship. The book that +perishes unread is the deaf mute of literature. The great asylum of +Oblivion is full of such, making inaudible signs to each other in +leaky garrets and unattainable dusty upper shelves." + +He shut the book, for the page grew a little dim as he finished this +elegiac sentence, and sighed to think how much more keenly he felt +its truth than when it was written,--than on that memorable morning +when he saw the advertisement in all the papers, "This day published, +'Thoughts on the Universe.' By Byles Gridley, A. M." + +At that moment he heard a knock at his door. He closed his eyelids +forcibly for ten seconds, opened them, and said cheerfully, +"Come in!" + +Gifted Hopkins entered. He had a collection of manuscripts in his +hands which it seemed to him would fill a vast number of pages. He +did not know that manuscript is to type what fresh dandelions are to +the dish of greens that comes to table, of which last Nurse Byloe, +who considered them very wholesome spring grazing for her patients, +used to say that they "biled down dreadful." + +"I have brought the autographs of my poems, Master Gridley, to +consult you about making arrangements for publication. They have +been so well received by the public and the leading critics of this +part of the State, that I think of having them printed in a volume. +I am going to the city for that purpose. My mother has given her +consent. I wish to ask you several business questions. Shall I part +with the copyright for a downright sum of money, which I understand +some prefer doing, or publish on shares, or take a percentage on the +sales? These, I believe, are the different ways taken by authors." + +Mr. Gridley was altogether too considerate to reply with the words +which would most naturally have come to his lips. He waited as if he +were gravely pondering the important questions just put to him, all +the while looking at Gifted with a tenderness which no one who had +not buried one of his soul's children could have felt for a young +author trying to get clothing for his new-born intellectual +offspring. + +"I think," he said presently, "you had better talk with an +intelligent and liberal publisher, and be guided by his advice. I +can put you in correspondence with such a person, and you had better +trust him than me a great deal. Why don't you send your manuscript +by mail?" + +"What, Mr. Gridley? Trust my poems, some of which are unpublished, +to the post-office? No, sir, I could never make up my mind to such a +risk. I mean to go to the city myself, and read them to some of the +leading publishers. I don't want to pledge myself to any one of +them. I should like to set them bidding against each other for the +copyright, if I sell it at all." + +Mr. Gridley gazed upon the innocent youth with a sweet wonder in his +eyes that made him look like an angel, a little damaged in the +features by time, but full of celestial feelings. + +"It will cost you something to make this trip, Gifted. Have you the +means to pay for your journey and your stay at a city hotel?" + +Gifted blushed. "My mother has laid by a small sum for me," he said. +"She knows some of my poems by heart, and she wants to see them all +in print." + +Master Gridley closed his eyes very firmly again, as if thinking, and +opened them as soon as the foolish film had left them. He had read +many a page of "Thoughts on the Universe" to his own old mother, +long, long years ago, and she had often listened with tears of modest +pride that Heaven had favored her with a son so full of genius. + +"I 'll tell you what, Gifted," he said. "I have been thinking for a +good while that I would make a visit to the city, and if you have +made up your mind to try what you can do with the publishers, I will +take you with me as a companion. It will be a saving to you and your +good mother, for I shall bear the expenses of the expedition." + +Gifted Hopkins came very near going down on his knees. He was so +overcome with gratitude that it seemed as if his very coattails +wagged with his emotion. + +"Take it quietly," said Master Gridley. "Don't make a fool of +yourself. Tell your mother to have some clean shirts and things +ready for you, and we will be off day after to-morrow morning." + +Gifted hastened to impart the joyful news to his mother, and to break +the fact to Susan Posey that he was about to leave them for a while, +and rush into the deliriums and dangers of the great city. + +Susan smiled. Gifted hardly knew whether to be pleased with her +sympathy, or vexed that she did not take his leaving more to heart. +The smile held out bravely for about a quarter of a minute. Then +there came on a little twitching at the corners of the mouth. Then. +the blue eyes began to shine with a kind of veiled glimmer. Then the +blood came up into her cheeks with a great rush, as if the heart had +sent up a herald with a red flag from the citadel to know what was +going on at the outworks. The message that went back was of +discomfiture and capitulation. Poor Susan was overcome, and gave +herself up to weeping and sobbing. + +The sight was too much for the young poet. In a wild burst of +passion he seized her hand, and pressed it to his lips, exclaiming, +"Would that you could be mine forever!" and Susan forgot all that she +ought to have remembered, and, looking half reproachfully but half +tenderly through her tears, said, in tones of infinite sweetness, "O +Gifted!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +THE POET AND THE PUBLISHER. + +It was settled that Master Byles Gridley and Mr. Gifted Hopkins +should leave early in the morning of the day appointed, to take the +nearest train to the city. Mrs. Hopkins labored hard to get them +ready, so that they might make a genteel appearance among the great +people whom they would meet in society. She brushed up Mr. Gridley's +best black suit, and bound the cuffs of his dress-coat, which were +getting a little worried. She held his honest-looking hat to the +fire, and smoothed it while it was warm, until one would have thought +it had just been ironed by the hatter himself. She had his boots and +shoes brought into a more brilliant condition than they had ever +known: if Gifted helped, it was to his credit as much as if he had +shown his gratitude by polishing off a copy of verses in praise of +his benefactor. + +When she had got Mr. Gridley's encumbrances in readiness for the +journey, she devoted herself to fitting out her son Gifted. First, +she had down from the garret a capacious trunk, of solid wood, but +covered with leather, and adorned with brass-headed nails, by the +cunning disposition of which, also, the paternal initials stood out +on the rounded lid, in the most conspicuous manner. It was his +father's trunk, and the first thing that went into it, as the widow +lifted the cover, and the smothering shut-up smell struck an old +chord of associations, was a single tear-drop. How well she +remembered the time when she first unpacked it for her young husband, +and the white shirt bosoms showed their snowy plaits! O dear, dear! + +But women decant their affection, sweet and sound, out of the old +bottles into the new ones,--off from the lees of the past generation, +clear and bright, into the clean vessels just made ready to receive +it. Gifted Hopkins was his mother's idol, and no wonder. She had +not only the common attachment of a parent for him, as her offspring, +but she felt that her race was to be rendered illustrious by his +genius, and thought proudly of the time when some future biographer +would mention her own humble name, to be held in lasting remembrance +as that of the mother of Hopkins. + +So she took great pains to equip this brilliant but inexperienced +young man with everything he could by any possibility need during his +absence. The great trunk filled itself until it bulged with its +contents like a boa-constrictor who has swallowed his blanket. Best +clothes and common clothes, thick clothes and thin clothes, flannels +and linens, socks and collars, with handkerchiefs enough to keep the +pickpockets busy for a week, with a paper of gingerbread and some +lozenges for gastralgia, and "hot drops," and ruled paper to write +letters on, and a little Bible, and a phial with hiera picra, and +another with paregoric, and another with "camphire" for sprains and +bruises, + +--Gifted went forth equipped for every climate from the tropic to the +pole, and armed against every malady from Ague to Zoster. He carried +also the paternal watch, a solid silver bull's-eye, and a large +pocketbook, tied round with a long tape, and, by way of precaution, +pinned into his breast-pocket. He talked about having a pistol, in +case he were attacked by any of the ruffians who are so numerous in +the city, but Mr. Gridley told him, No! he would certainly shoot +himself, and he shouldn't think of letting him take a pistol. + +They went forth, Mentor and Telemachus, at the appointed time, to +dare the perils of the railroad and the snares of the city. Mrs. +Hopkins was firm up to near the last moment, when a little quiver in +her voice set her eyes off, and her face broke up all at once, so +that she had to hide it behind her handkerchief. Susan Posey showed +the truthfulness of her character in her words to Gifted at parting. +"Farewell," she said, "and think of me sometimes while absent. My +heart is another's, but my friendship, Gifted--my friendship--" + +Both were deeply affected. He took her hand and would have raised it +to his lips; but she did not forget herself, and gently withdrew it, +exclaiming, "O Gifted!" this time with a tone of tender reproach +which made him feel like a profligate. He tore himself away, and +when at a safe distance flung her a kiss, which she rewarded with a +tearful smile. + +Master Byles Gridley must have had some good dividends from some of +his property of late. There is no other way of accounting for the +handsome style in which he did things on their arrival in the city. +He went to a tailor's and ordered a new suit to be sent home as soon +as possible, for he knew his wardrobe was a little rusty. He looked +Gifted over from head to foot, and suggested such improvements as +would recommend him to the fastidious eyes of the selecter sort of +people, and put him in his own tailor's hands, at the same time +saying that all bills were to be sent to him, B. Gridley, Esq., +parlor No. 6, at the Planet Hotel. Thus it came to pass that in +three days from their arrival they were both in an eminently +presentable condition. In the mean time the prudent Mr. Gridley had +been keeping the young man busy, and amusing himself by showing him +such of the sights of the city and its suburbs as he thought would +combine instruction with entertainment. + +When they were both properly equipped and ready for the best company, +Mr. Gridley said to the young poet, who had found it very hard to +contain his impatience, that they would now call together on the +publisher to whom he wished to introduce him, and they set out +accordingly. + +"My name is Gridley," he said with modest gravity, as he entered the +publisher's private room. "I have a note of introduction here from +one of your authors, as I think he called himself, a very popular +writer for whom you publish." + +The publisher rose and came forward in the most cordial and +respectful manner. "Mr. Gridley? Professor Byles Gridley,--author +of "Thoughts on the Universe'?" + +The brave-hearted old man colored as if he had been a young girl. +His dead book rose before him like an apparition. He groped in +modest confusion for an answer. "A child I buried long ago, my dear +sir," he said. "Its title-page was its tombstone. I have brought +this young friend with me,--this is Mr. Gifted Hopkins of Oxbow +Village,--who wishes to converse with you about--" + +"I have come, sir--" the young poet began, interrupting him. + +"Let me look at your manuscript, if you please, + +Mr. Popkins," said the publisher, interrupting in his turn. + +"Hopkins, if you please, sir," Gifted suggested mildly, proceeding to +extract the manuscript, which had got wedged into his pocket, and +seemed to be holding on with all its might. He was wondering all the +time over the extraordinary clairvoyance of the publisher, who had +looked through so many thick folds, broadcloth, lining, brown paper, +and seen his poems lying hidden in his breast-pocket. The idea that +a young person coming on such an errand should have to explain his +intentions would have seemed very odd to the publisher. He knew the +look which belongs to this class of enthusiasts just as a horse- +dealer knows the look of a green purchaser with the equine fever +raging in his veins. If a young author had come to him with a scrap +of manuscript hidden in his boots, like Major Andre's papers, the +publisher would have taken one glance at him and said, "Out with it!" + +While he was battling for the refractory scroll with his pocket, +which turned half wrong side out, and acted as things always do when +people are nervous and in a hurry, the publisher directed his +conversation again to Master Byles Gridley. + +"A remarkable book, that of yours, Mr. Gridley, would have a great +run if it were well handled. Came out twenty years too soon,--that +was the trouble. One of our leading scholars was speaking of it to +me the other day. 'We must have a new edition,' he said; people are +just ripe for that book.' Did you ever think of that? Change the +form of it a little, and give it a new title, and it will be a +popular book. Five thousand or more, very likely." + +Mr. Gridley felt as if he had been rapidly struck on the forehead +with a dozen distinct blows from a hammer not quite big enough to +stun him. He sat still without saying a word. He had forgotten for +the moment all about poor Gifted Hopkins, who had got out his +manuscript at last, and was calming the disturbed corners of it. +Coming to himself a little, he took a large and beautiful silk +handkerchief, one of his new purchases, from his pocket, and applied +it to his face, for the weather seemed to have grown very warm all at +once. Then he remembered the errand on which he had come, and +thought of this youth, who had got to receive his first hard lesson +in life, and whom he had brought to this kind man that it should be +gently administered. + +"You surprise me," he said,--"you surprise me. Dead and buried. +Dead and buried. I had sometimes thought that--at some future +period, after I was gone, it might--but I hardly know what to say +about your suggestions. But here is my young friend, Mr. Hopkins, +who would like to talk with you, and I will leave him in your hands. +I am at the Planet Hotel, if you should care to call upon me. Good +morning. Mr. Hopkins will explain everything to you more at his +ease, without me, I am confident." + +Master Gridley could not quite make up his mind to stay through the +interview between the young poet and the publisher. The flush of +hope was bright in Gifted's eye and cheek, and the good man knew that +young hearts are apt to be over-sanguine, and that one who enters a +shower-bath often feels very differently from the same person when he +has pulled the string. + +"I have brought you my Poems in the original autographs, sir," said +Mr. Gifted Hopkins. + +He laid the manuscript on the table, caressing the leaves still with +one hand, as loath to let it go. + +"What disposition had you thought of making of them?" the publisher +asked, in a pleasant tone. He was as kind a man as lived, though he +worked the chief engine in a chamber of torture. + +"I wish to read you a few specimens of the poems," he said, "with +reference to their proposed publication in a volume." + +"By all means," said the kind publisher, who determined to be very +patient with the protege of the hitherto little-known, but remarkable +writer, Professor Gridley. At the same time he extended his foot in +an accidental sort of way, and pressed it on the right hand knob of +three which were arranged in a line beneath the table. A little bell +in a distant apartment--the little bell marked C--gave one slight +note; loud enough to start a small boy up, who looked at the clock, +and knew that he was to go and call the publisher in just twenty-five +minutes. "A, five minutes; B, ten minutes; C, twenty-five minutes +";--that was the youngster's working formula. Mr. Hopkins was +treated to the full allowance of time, as being introduced by +Professor Gridley. + +The young man laid open the manuscript so that the title-page, +written out very handsomely in his own hand, should win the eye of +the publisher. + + + BLOSSOMS OF THE SOUL. + A WREATH OF VERSE; Original. + + BY GIFTED HOPKINS. + +"a youth to Fortune and to Fame unknown." --Gray. + +"Shall I read you some of the rhymed pieces first, or some of the +blank-verse poems, sir?" Gifted asked. + +"Read what you think is best,--a specimen of your first-class style +of composition." + +"I will read you the very last poem I have written," he said, and he +began: + + "THE TRIUMPH OF SONG. + +I met that gold-haired maiden, all too dear; +And I to her: Lo! thou art very fair, +Fairer than all the ladies in the world +That fan the sweetened air with scented fans, +And I am scorched with exceeding love, +Yea, crisped till my bones are dry as straw. +Look not away with that high-arched brow, +But turn its whiteness that I may behold, +And lift thy great eyes till they blaze on mine, +And lay thy finger on thy perfect mouth, +And let thy lucent ears of careen pearl +Drink in the murmured music of my soul, +As the lush grass drinks in the globed dew; +For I have many scrolls of sweetest rhyme +I will unroll and make thee glad to hear. + + "Then she: O shaper of the marvellous phrase +That openeth woman's heart as Both a key, +I dare not hear thee--lest the bolt should slide +That locks another's heart within my own. +Go, leave me,--and she let her eyelids fall, +And the great tears rolled from her large blue eyes. + + "Then I: If thou not hear me, I shall die, +Yea, in my desperate mood may lift my hand +And do myself a hurt no leach can mend; +For poets ever were of dark resolve, +And swift stern deed + + That maiden heard no more, +But spike: Alas! my heart is very weak, +And but for--Stay! And if some dreadful morn, +After great search and shouting thorough the wold, +We found thee missing,--strangled,--drowned i' the mere, +Then should I go distraught and be clean mad! + +O poet, read! read all thy wondrous scrolls. +Yea, read the verse that maketh glad to hear! +Then I began and read two sweet, brief hours, +And she forgot all love save only mine!" + +"Is all this from real life?" asked the publisher. + +"It--no, sir--not exactly from real life--that is, the leading female +person is not wholly fictitious--and the incident is one which might +have happened. Shall I read you the poems referred to in the one you +have just heard, sir?" + +"Allow me, one moment. Two hours' reading, I think, you said. I +fear I shall hardly be able to spare quite time to hear them a11. +Let me ask what you intend doing with these productions, Mr.--- rr +Poplins." + +"Hopkins, if you please, sir, not Poplins," said Gifted, plaintively. +He expressed his willingness to dispose of the copyright, to publish +on shares, or perhaps to receive a certain percentage on the profits. + +"Suppose we take a glass of wine together, Mr.--Hopkins, before we +talk business," the publisher said, opening a little cupboard and +taking therefrom a decanter and two glasses. He saw the young man +was looking nervous. He waited a few minutes, until the wine had +comforted his epigastrium, and diffused its gentle glow through his +unspoiled and consequently susceptible organisation. + +"Come with me," he said. + +Gifted followed him into a dingy apartment in the attic, where one +sat at a great table heaped and piled with manuscripts. By him was a +huge basket, ha'f full of manuscripts also. As they entered he +dropped another manuscript into the basket and looked up. + +"Tell me," said Gifted, " what are these papers, and who is he that +looks upon them and drops them into the basket?" + +"These are the manuscript poems that we receive, and the one sitting +at the table is commonly spoken of among us as The Butcher. The +poems he drops into the basket are those rejected as of no account" + +"But does he not read the poems before he rejects them?" + +"He tastes them. Do you eat a cheese before you buy it?" + +"And what becomes of all those that he drops into the basket?" + +"If they are not claimed by their author in proper season, they go to +the devil." + +"What!" said Gifted, with his eyes stretched very round. + +"To the paper factory, where they have a horrid machine they call the +devil, that tears everything to bits,--as the critics treat our +authors, sometimes, sometimes, Mr. Hopkins." + +Gifted devoted a moment to silent reflection. + +After this instructive sight they returned together to the +publisher's private room. The wine had now warmed the youthful +poet's praecordia, so that he began to feel a renewed confidence in +his genius and his fortunes. + +"I should like to know what that critic of yours would say to my +manuscript," he said boldly. + +"You can try it if you want to," the publisher replied, with an +ominous dryness of manner which the sanguine youth did not perceive, +or, perceiving, did not heed. + +"How can we manage to get an impartial judgment?" + +"Oh, I'll arrange that. He always goes to his luncheon about this +time. Raw meat and vitriol punch,--that 's what the authors say. +Wait till we hear him go, and then I will lay your manuscript so that +he will come to it among the first after he gets back. You shall see +with your own eyes what treatment it gets. I hope it may please him, +but you shall see." + +They went back to the publisher's private room and talked awhile. +Then the little office-boy came up with some vague message about a +gentleman--business--wants to see you, sir, etc., according to the +established programme; all in a vacant, mechanical sort of way, as if +he were a talking-machine just running down. + +The publisher told the boy that he was engaged, and the gentleman +must wait. Very soon they heard The Butcher's heavy footstep as he +went out to get his raw meat and vitriol punch. + +Now, then," said the publisher, and led forth the confiding literary +lamb once more, to enter the fatal door of the critical shambles. + +"Hand me your manuscript, if you please, Mr. Hopkins. I will lay it +so that it shall be the third of these that are coming to hand. Our +friend here is a pretty good judge of verse, and knows a merchantable +article about as quick as any man in his line of business. If he +forms a favorable opinion of your poems, we will talk over your +propositions." + +Gifted was conscious of a very slight tremor as he saw his precious +manuscript deposited on the table, under two others, and over a pile +of similar productions. Still he could not help feeling that the +critic would be struck by his title. The quotation from Gray must +touch his feelings. The very first piece in the collection could not +fail to arrest him. He looked a little excited, but he was in good +spirits. + +"We will be looking about here when our friend comes back," the +publisher said." He is a very methodical person, and will sit down +and go right to work just as if we were not here. We can watch him, +and if he should express any particular interest in your poems, I +will, if you say so, carry you up to him and reveal the fact that you +are the author of the works that please him." + +They waited patiently until The Butcher returned, apparently +refreshed by his ferocious refection, and sat down at his table. He +looked comforted, and not in ill humor. The publisher and the poet +talked in low tones, as if on business of their own, and watched him +as he returned to his labor. + +The Butcher took the first manuscript that came to hand, read a +stanza here and there, turned over the leaves, turned back and tried +again,--shook his head--held it for an instant over the basket, as if +doubtful,--and let it softly drop. He took up the second manuscript, +opened it in several places, seemed rather pleased with what he read, +and laid it aside for further examination. + +He took up the third. "Blossoms of the Soul," etc. He glared at it +in a dreadfully ogreish way. Both the lockers-on held their breath. +Gifted Hopkins felt as if half a glass more of that warm sherry would +not hurt him. There was a sinking at the pit of his stomach, as if +he was in a swing, as high as he could go, close up to the swallows' +nests and spiders' webs. The Butcher opened the manuscript at +random, read ten seconds, and gave a short low grunt. He opened +again, read ten seconds, and gave another grunt, this time a little +longer and louder. He opened once more, read five seconds, and, with +something that sounded like the snort of a dangerous animal, cast it +impatiently into the basket, and took up the manuscript that came +next in order. + +Gifted Hopkins stood as if paralyzed for a moment. + +"Safe, perfectly safe," the publisher said to him in a whisper." +I'll get it for you presently. Come in and take another glass of +wine," he said, leading him back to his own office. + +"No, I thank you," he said faintly, "I can bear it. But this is +dreadful, sir. Is this the way that genius is welcomed to the world +of letters?" + +The publisher explained to him, in the kindest manner, that there was +an enormous over-production of verse, and that it took a great part +of one man's time simply to overhaul the cart-loads of it that were +trying to get themselves into print with the imprimatur of his famous +house. "You are young, Mr. Hopkins. I advise you not to try to +force your article of poetry on the market. The B---, our friend, +there, that is, knows a thing that will sell as soon as he sees it. +You are in independent circumstances, perhaps? If so, you can print +--at your own expense--whatever you choose. May I take the liberty +to ask your--profession? " + +Gifted explained that he was "clerk" in a "store," where they sold +dry goods and West India goods, and goods promiscuous. + +"Oh, well, then," the publisher said, "you will understand me. Do +you know a good article of brown sagas when you see it?" + +Gifted Hopkins rather thought he did. He knew at sight whether it +was a fair, salable article or not. + +"Just so. Now our friend, there, knows verses that are salable and +unsalable as well as you do brown sugar. --Keep quiet now, and I will +go and get your manuscript for you. + +"There, Mr. Hopkins, take your poems,--they will give you a +reputation in your village, I don't doubt, which, is pleasant, but it +will cost you a good deal of money to print them in a volume. You +are very young: you can afford to wait. Your genius is not ripe yet, +I am confident, Mr. Hopkins. These verses are very well for a +beginning, but a man of promise like you, Mr. Hopkins, must n't throw +away his chance by premature publication! I should like to make you +a present of a few of the books we publish. By and by, perhaps, we +can work you into our series of poets; but the best pears ripen +slowly, and so with genius. --Where shall I send the volumes?" + +Gifted answered, to parlor No. 6, Planet Hotel, where he soon +presented himself to Master Gridley, who could guess pretty well what +was coming. But he let him tell his story. + +"Shall I try the other publishers?" said the disconsolate youth. + +"I would n't, my young friend, I would n't. You have seen the best +one of them--all. He is right about it, quite right: you are young, +and had better wait. Look here, Gifted, here is something to please +you. We are going to visit the gay world together. See what has +been left here this forenoon." + +He showed him two elegant notes of invitation requesting the pleasure +of Professor Byles Gridley's and of Mr. Gifted Hopkins's company on +Thursday evening, as the guests of Mrs. Clymer Ketchum, of 24 Carat +Place. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +MRS. CLYMER KETCHUM'S PARTY. + +Myrtle Hazard had flowered out as beyond question the handsomest girl +of the season, There were hints from different quarters that she +might possibly be an heiress. Vague stories were about of some +contingency which might possibly throw a fortune into her lap. The +young men about town talked of her at the clubs in their free-and- +easy way, but all agreed that she was the girl of the new crop,--" +best filly this grass," as Livingston Jenkins put it. The general +understanding seemed to be that the young lawyer who had followed her +to the city was going to capture her. She seemed to favor him +certainly as much as anybody. But Myrtle saw many young men now, and +it was not so easy as it would once have been to make out who was an +especial favorite. + +There had been times when Murray Bradshaw would have offered his +heart and hand to Myrtle at once, if he had felt sure that she would +accept him. But he preferred playing the safe game now, and only +wanted to feel sure of her. He had done his best to be agreeable, +and could hardly doubt that he had made an impression. He dressed +well when in the city,--even elegantly,--he had many of the lesser +social accomplishments, was a good dancer, and compared favorably in +all such matters with the more dashing young fellows in society. He +was a better talker than most of them, and he knew more about the +girl he was dealing with than they could know. "You have only got to +say the word, Murray," Mrs. Clymer Ketchum said to her relative, "and +you can have her. But don't be rash. I believe you can get +Berengaria if you try; and there 's something better there than +possibilities." Murray Bradshaw laughed, and told Mrs. Clymer +Ketchum not to worry about him; he knew what he was doing. + +It so happened that Myrtle met Master Byles Gridley walking with Mr. +Gifted Hopkins the day before the party. She longed to have a talk +with her old friend, and was glad to have a chance of pleasing her +poetical admirer. She therefore begged her hostess to invite them +both to her party to please her, which she promised to do at once. +Thus the two elegant notes were accounted for. + +Mrs. Clymer Ketchum, though her acquaintances were chiefly in the +world of fortune and of fashion, had yet a certain weakness for what +she called clever people. She therefore always variegated her +parties with a streak of young artists and writers, and a literary +lady or two; and, if she could lay hands on a first-class celebrity, +was as happy as an Amazon who had captured a Centaur. + +"There's a demonish clever young fellow by the name of Lindsay," +Mr. Livingston Jenkins said to her a little before the day of the +party. "Better ask him. They say he 's the rising talent in his +line, architecture mainly, but has done some remarkable things in the +way of sculpture. There's some story about a bust he made that was +quite wonderful. I'll find his address for you." So Mr. Clement +Lindsay got his invitation, and thus Mrs. Clymer Ketchum's party +promised to bring together a number of persons with whom we are +acquainted, and who were acquainted with each other. + +Mrs. Clymer Ketchum knew how to give a party. Let her only have +carte blanche for flowers, music, and champagne, she used to tell her +lord, and she would see to the rest,--lighting the rooms, tables, and +toilet. He needn't be afraid: all he had to do was to keep out of +the way. + +Subdivision of labor is one of the triumphs of modern civilization. +Labor was beautifully subdivided in this lady's household. It was +old Ketchum's business to make money, and he understood it. It was +Mrs. K.'s business to spend money, and she knew how to do it. The +rooms blazed with light like a conflagration; the flowers burned like +lamps of many-colored flame; the music throbbed into the hearts of +the promenaders and tingled through all the muscles of the dancers. + +Mrs. Clymer Ketchum was in her glory. Her point d'Alenyon must have +spoiled ever so many French girls' eyes. Her bosom heaved beneath a +kind of breastplate glittering with a heavy dew of diamonds. She +glistened and sparkled with every movement, so that the admirer +forgot to question too closely whether the eyes matched the +brilliants, or the cheeks glowed like the roses. Not far from the +great lady stood Myrtle Hazard. She was dressed as the fashion of +the day demanded, but she had added certain audacious touches of her +own, reminiscences of the time when the dead beauty had flourished, +and which first provoked the question and then the admiration of the +young people who had a natural eye for effect. Over the long white +glove on her left arm was clasped a rich bracelet, of so quaint an +antique pattern that nobody had seen anything like it, and as some +one whispered that it was "the last thing out," it was greatly +admired by the fashion-plate multitude, as well as by the few who had +a taste of their own. If the soul of Judith Pride, long divorced +from its once beautifully moulded dust, ever lived in dim +consciousness through any of those who inherited her blood, it was +then and there that she breathed through the lips of Myrtle Hazard. +The young girl almost trembled with the ecstasy of this new mode of +being, soliciting every sense with light, with perfume, with melody, +--all that could make her feel the wonderful complex music of a fresh +life when all its chords first vibrate together in harmony. Miss +Rhadamantha Pinnikle, whose mother was an Apex (of whose race it was +said that they always made an obeisance when the family name was +mentioned, and had all their portraits painted with halos round their +heads), found herself extinguished in this new radiance. Miss +Victoria Capsheaf stuck to the wall as if she had been a fresco on +it. The fifty-year-old dynasties were dismayed and dismounted. +Myrtle fossilized them as suddenly as if she had been a Gorgon +instead of a beauty. + +The guests in whom we may have some interest were in the mean time +making ready for the party, which was expected to be a brilliant one; +for 24 Carat Place was well known for the handsome style of its +entertainments. + +Clement Lindsay was a little surprised by his invitation. He had, +however, been made a lion of several times of late, and was very +willing to amuse himself once in a while with a peep into the great +world. + +It was but an empty show to him at best, for his lot was cast, and he +expected to lead a quiet domestic life after his student days were +over. + +Master Byles Gridley had known what society was in his earlier time, +and understood very well that all a gentleman of his age had to do +was to dress himself in his usual plain way, only taking a little +more care in his arrangements than was needed in the latitude of +Oxbow Village. But Gifted must be looked after, that he should not +provoke the unamiable comments of the city youth by any defect or +extravagance of costume. The young gentleman had bought a light sky- +blue neckerchief, and a very large breast-pin containing a gem which +he was assured by the vender was a genuine stone. He considered that +both these would be eminently effective articles of dress, and Mr. +Gridley had some trouble to convince him that a white tie and plain +shirt-buttons would be more fitted to the occasion. + +On the morning of the day of the great party Mr. William Murray +Bradshaw received a brief telegram, which seemed to cause him great +emotion, as he changed color, uttered a forcible exclamation, and +began walking up and down his room in a very nervous kind of way. It +was a foreshadowing of a certain event now pretty sure to happen. +Whatever bearing this telegram may have had upon his plans, he made +up his mind that he would contrive an opportunity somehow that very +evening to propose himself as a suitor to Myrtle Hazard. He could +not say that he felt as absolutely certain of getting the right +answer as he had felt at some previous periods. Myrtle knew her +price, he said to himself, a great deal better than when she was a +simple country girl. The flatteries with which she had been +surrounded, and the effect of all the new appliances of beauty, which +had set her off so that she could not help seeing her own +attractions, rendered her harder to please and to satisfy. A little +experience in society teaches a young girl the arts and the phrases +which all the Lotharios have in common. Murray Bradshaw was ready to +land his fish now, but he was not quite sure that she was yet hooked, +and he had a feeling that by this time she knew every fly in his +book. However, as he had made up his mind not to wait another day, +he addressed himself to the trial before him with a determination to +succeed, if any means at his command would insure success. He +arrayed himself with faultless elegance: nothing must be neglected on +such an occasion. He went forth firm and grave as a general going +into a battle where all is to be lost or won. He entered the blazing +saloon with the unfailing smile upon his lips, to which he set them +as he set his watch to a particular hour and minute. + +The rooms were pretty well filled when he arrived and made his bow +before the blazing, rustling, glistening, waving, blushing appearance +under which palpitated, with the pleasing excitement of the magic +scene over which its owner presided, the heart of Mrs. Clymer +Ketchum. He turned to Myrtle Hazard, and if he had ever doubted +which way his inclinations led him, he could doubt no longer. How +much dress and how much light can a woman bear? That is the way to +measure her beauty. A plain girl in a simple dress, if she has only +a pleasant voice, may seem almost a beauty in the rosy twilight. The +nearer she comes to being handsome, the more ornament she will bear, +and the more she may defy the sunshine or the chandelier. + +Murray Bradshaw was fairly dazzled with the brilliant effect of +Myrtle in full dress. He did not know before what handsome arms she +had,--Judith Pride's famous arms--which the high-colored young men in +top-boots used to swear were the handsomest pair in New England-- +right over again. He did not know before with what defiant effect +she would light up, standing as she did directly under a huge lustre, +in full flower of flame, like a burning azalea. He was not a man who +intended to let his sentiments carry him away from the serious +interests of his future, yet, as he looked upon Myrtle Hazard, his +heart gave one throb which made him feel in every pulse that this way +a woman who in her own right, simply as a woman, could challenge the +homage of the proudest young man of her time. He hardly knew till +this moment how much of passion mingled with other and calmer motives +of admiration. He could say I love you as truly as such a man could +ever speak these words, meaning that he admired her, that he was +attracted to her, that he should be proud of her as his wife, that he +should value himself always as the proprietor of so rare a person, +that no appendage to his existence would take so high a place in his +thoughts. This implied also, what is of great consequence to a young +woman's happiness in the married state, that she would be treated +with uniform politeness, with satisfactory evidences of affection, +and with a degree of confidence quite equal to what a reasonable +woman should expect from a very superior man, her husband. + +If Myrtle could have looked through the window in the breast against +which only authors are privileged to flatten their features, it is +for the reader to judge how far the programme would have satisfied +her. + +Less than this, a great deal less, does appear to satisfy many young +women; and it may be that the interior just drawn, fairly judged, +belongs to a model lover and husband. Whether it does or not, Myrtle +did not see this picture. There was a beautifully embroidered shirt- +bosom in front of that window through which we have just looked, that +intercepted all sight of what was going on within. She only saw a +man, young, handsome, courtly, with a winning tongue, with an +ambitious spirit, whose every look and tone implied his admiration of +herself, and who was associated with her past life in such a way that +they alone appeared like old friends in the midst of that cold alien +throng. It seemed as if he could not have chosen a more auspicious +hour than this; for she never looked so captivating, and her presence +must inspire his lips with the eloquence of love. And she--was not +this delirious atmosphere of light and music just the influence to +which he would wish to subject her before trying the last experiment +of all which can stir the soul of a woman? He knew the mechanism of +that impressionable state which served Coleridge so excellently +well,-- + + "All impulses of soul and sense + Had thrilled my guileless Genevieve + The music, and the doleful tale, + The rich and balmy eve,"-- + +though he hardly expected such startling results as happened in that +case,--which might be taken as an awful warning not to sing moving +ballads to young ladies of susceptible feelings, unless one is +prepared for very serious consequences. Without expecting that +Myrtle would rush into his arms, he did think that she could not help +listening to him in the intervals of the delicious music, in some +recess where the roses and jasmines and heliotropes made the air +heavy with sweetness, and the crimson curtains drooped in heavy folds +that half hid their forms from the curious eyes all round them. Her +heart would swell like Genevieve's as he told her in simple phrase +that she was his life, his love, his all,--for in some two or three +words like these he meant to put his appeal, and not in fine poetical +phrases: that would do for Gifted Hopkins and rhyming tom-tits of +that feather. + +Full of his purpose, involving the plans of his whole life, implying, +as he saw clearly, a brilliant future or a disastrous disappointment, +with a great unexploded mine of consequences under his feet, and the +spark ready to fall into it, he walked about the gilded saloon with a +smile upon his lips so perfectly natural and pleasant, that one would +have said he was as vacant of any aim, except a sort of superficial +good-matured disposition to be amused, as the blankest-eyed simpleton +who had tied himself up in a white cravat and come to bore and be +bored. + +Yet under this pleasant smile his mind was so busy with its thoughts +that he had forgotten all about the guests from Oxbow Village who, as +Myrtle had told him, were to come this evening. His eye was all at +once caught by a familiar figure, and he recognized Master Byles +Gridley, accompanied by Mr. Gifted Hopkins, at the door of the +saloon. He stepped forward at once to meet, and to present them. + +Mr. Gridley in evening costume made an eminently dignified and +respectable appearance. There was an unusual lock of benignity upon +his firmly moulded features, and an air of ease which rather +surprised Mr. Bradshaw, who did not know all the social experiences +which had formed a part of the old Master's history. The greeting +between them was courteous, but somewhat formal, as Mr. Bradshaw was +acting as one of the masters of ceremony. He nodded to Gifted in an +easy way, and led them both into the immediate Presence. + +This is my friend Professor Gridley, Mrs. Ketchum, whom I have the +honor of introducing to you,--a very distinguished scholar, as I have +no doubt you are well aware. And this is my friend Mr. Gifted +Hopkins, a young poet of distinction, whose fame will reach you by +and by, if it has not come to your ears already." + +The two gentlemen went through the usual forms, the poet a little +crushed by the Presence, but doing his best. While the lady was +making polite speeches to them, Myrtle Hazard came forward. She was +greatly delighted to meet her old friend, and even looked upon the +young poet with a degree of pleasure she would hardly have expected +to receive from his company. They both brought with them so many +reminiscences of familiar scenes and events, that it was like going +back for the moment to Oxbow Village. But Myrtle did not belong to +herself that evening, and had no opportunity to enter into +conversation just then with either of them. There was to be dancing +by and by, and the younger people were getting impatient that it +should begin. At last the music sounded the well-known summons, and +the floors began to ring to the tread of the dancers. As usual on +such occasions there were a large number of noncombatants, who stood +as spectators around those who were engaged in the campaign of the +evening. Mr. Byles Gridley looked on gravely, thinking of the +minuets and the gavots of his younger days. Mr. Gifted Hopkins, who +had never acquired the desirable accomplishment of dancing, gazed +with dazzled and admiring eyes at the wonderful evolutions of the +graceful performers. The music stirred him a good deal; he had also +been introduced to one or two young persons as Mr. Hopkins, the poet, +and he began to feel a kind of excitement, such as was often the +prelude of a lyric burst from his pen. Others might have wealth and +beauty, he thought to himself, but what were these to the gift of +genius? In fifty years the wealth of these people would have passed +into other hands. In fifty years all these beauties would be dead, +or wrinkled and double-wrinkled great-grandmothers. And when they +were all gone and forgotten, the name of Hopkins would be still fresh +in the world's memory. Inspiring thought! A smile of triumph rose +to his lips; he felt that the village boy who could look forward to +fame as his inheritance was richer than all the millionnaires, and +that the words he should set in verse would have an enduring lustre +to which the whiteness of pearls was cloudy, and the sparkle of +diamonds dull. + +He raised his eyes, which had been cast down in reflection, to look +upon these less favored children of Fortune, to whom she had given +nothing but perishable inheritances. Two or three pairs of eyes, he +observed, were fastened upon him. His mouth perhaps betrayed a +little self-consciousness, but he tried to show his features in an +aspect of dignified self-possession. There seemed to be remarks and +questionings going on, which he supposed to be something like the +following:-- + +Which is it? Which is it? --Why, that one, there,--that young +fellow,--don't you see? --What young fellow are you two looking at? +Who is he? What is he? --Why, that is Hopkins, the poet. --Hopkins, +the poet! Let me see him! Let me see him! Hopkins? What! Gifted +Hopkins? etc., etc. + +Gifted Hopkins did not hear these words except in fancy, but he did +unquestionably find a considerable number of eyes concentrated upon +him, which he very naturally interpreted as an evidence that he had +already begun to enjoy a foretaste of the fame of which he should +hereafter have his full allowance. Some seemed to be glancing +furtively, some appeared as if they wished to speak, and all the time +the number of those looking at him seemed to be increasing. A vision +came through his fancy of himself as standing on a platform, and +having persons who wished to look upon him and shake hands with him +presented, as he had heard was the way with great people when going +about the country. But this was only a suggestion, and by no means a +serious thought, for that would have implied infatuation. + +Gifted Hopkins was quite right in believing that he attracted many +eyes. At last those of Myrtle Hazard were called to him, and she +perceived that an accident was making him unenviably conspicuous. +The bow of his rather large white neck-tie had slid round and got +beneath his left ear. A not very good-natured or well-bred young +fellow had pointed out the subject of this slight misfortune to one +or two others of not much better taste or breeding, and thus the +unusual attention the youthful poet was receiving explained itself. +Myrtle no sooner saw the little accident of which her rural friend +was the victim than she left her place in the dance with a simple +courage which did her credit. + +"I want to speak to you a minute," she said. "Come into this +alcove." + +And the courageous young lady not only told Gifted what had happened +to him, but found a pin somehow, as women always do on a pinch, and +had him in presentable condition again almost before the bewildered +young man knew what was the matter. On reflection it occurred to +him, as it has to other provincial young persons going to great +cities, that he might perhaps have been hasty in thinking himself an +object of general curiosity as yet. There had hardly been time for +his name to have become very widely known. Still, the feeling had +been pleasant for the moment, and had given him an idea of what the +rapture would be, when, wherever he went, the monster digit (to hint +a classical phrase) of the collective admiring public would be lifted +to point him out, and the whisper would pass from one to another, +"That's him! That's Hopkins!" + +Mr. Murray Bradshaw had been watching the opportunity for carrying +out his intentions, with his pleasant smile covering up all that was +passing in his mind, and Master Byles Gridley, looking equally +unconcerned, had been watching him. The young man's time came at +last. Some were at the supper-table, some were promenading, some +were talking, when he managed to get Myrtle a little apart from the +rest, and led her towards one of the recesses in the apartment, where +two chairs were invitingly placed. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes +were sparkling,--the influences to which he had trusted had not been +thrown away upon her. He had no idea of letting his purpose be seen +until he was fully ready. It required all his self-mastery to avoid +betraying himself by look or tone, but he was so natural that Myrtle +was thrown wholly off her guard. He meant to make her pleased with +herself at the outset, and that not by point-blank flattery, of which +she had had more than enough of late, but rather by suggestion and +inference, so that she should find herself feeling happy without +knowing how. It would be easy to glide from that to the impression +she had produced upon him, and get the two feelings more or less +mingled in her mind. And so the simple confession he meant to make +would at length evolve itself logically, and hold by a natural +connection to the first agreeable train of thought which he had +called up. Not the way, certainly, that most young men would arrange +their great trial scene; but Murray Bradshaw was a lawyer in love as +much as in business, and considered himself as pleading a cause +before a jury of Myrtle Hazard's conflicting motives. What would any +lawyer do in a jury case but begin by giving the twelve honest men +and true to understand, in the first place, that their intelligence +and virtue were conceded by all, and that he himself had perfect +confidence in them, and leave them to shape their verdict in +accordance with these propositions and his own side of the case? + +Myrtle had, perhaps, never so seriously inclined her ear to the +honeyed accents of the young pleader. He flattered her with so much +tact, that she thought she heard an unconscious echo through his lips +of an admiration which he only shared with all around him. But in +him he made it seem discriminating, deliberate, not blind, but very +real. This it evidently was which had led him to trust her with his +ambitions and his plans,--they might be delusions, but he could never +keep them from her, and she was the one woman in the world to whom he +thought he could safely give his confidence. + +The dread moment was close at hand. Myrtle was listening with an +instinctive premonition of what was coming,--ten thousand mothers and +grandmothers and great-grandmothers, and so on, had passed through it +all in preceding generations until time reached backwards to the +sturdy savage who asked no questions of any kind, but knocked down +the primeval great-grandmother of all, and carried her off to his +hole in the rock, or into the tree where he had made his nest. Why +should not the coming question announce itself by stirring in the +pulses and thrilling in the nerves of the descendant of all these +grandmothers? + +She was leaning imperceptibly towards him, drawn by the mere blind +elemental force, as the plummet was attracted to the side of +Schehallion. Her lips were parted, and she breathed a little faster +than so healthy a girl ought to breathe in a state of repose. The +steady nerves of William Murray Bradshaw felt unwonted thrills and +tremors tingling through them, as he came nearer and nearer the few +simple words with which he was to make Myrtle Hazard the mistress' of +his destiny. His tones were becoming lower and more serious; there +were slight breaks once or twice in the conversation; Myrtle had cast +down her eyes. + +"There is but one word more to add," he murmured softly, as he bent +towards her + +A grave voice interrupted him. "Excuse me, Mr. Bradshaw," said +Master Bytes Gridley, "I wish to present a young gentleman to my +friend here. I promised to show him the most charming young person I +have the honor to be acquainted with, and I must redeem my pledge. +Miss Hazard, I have the pleasure of introducing to your acquaintance +my distinguished young friend, Mr. Clement Lindsay." + +Once mere, for the third time, these two young persons stood face to +face. Myrtle was no longer liable to those nervous seizures which +any sudden impression was liable to produce when she was in her half- +hysteric state of mind and body. She turned to the new-comer, who +found himself unexpectedly submitted to a test which he would never +have risked of his own will. He must go through it, cruel as it was, +with the easy self-command which belongs to a gentleman in the most +trying social exigencies. He addressed her, therefore, in the usual +terms of courtesy, and then turned and greeted Mr. Bradshaw, whom he +had never met since their coming together at Oxbow Village. Myrtle +was conscious, the instant she looked upon Clement Lindsay, of the +existence of some peculiar relation between them; but what, she could +not tell. Whatever it was, it broke the charm which had been weaving +between her and Murray Bradshaw. He was not foolish enough to make a +scene. What fault could he find with Clement Lindsay, who had only +done as any gentleman would do with a lady to whom he had just been +introduced, addressed a few polite words to her? After saying those +words, Clement had turned very courteously to him, and they had +spoken with each other. But Murray Bradshaw could not help seeing +that Myrtle had transferred her attention, at least for the moment, +from him to the new-comer. He folded his arms and waited,--but he +waited in vain. The hidden attraction which drew Clement to the +young girl with whom he had passed into the Valley of the Shadow of +Death overmastered all other feelings, and he gave himself up to the +fascination of her presence. + +The inward rage of Murray Bradshaw at being interrupted just at the +moment when he was, as he thought, about to cry checkmate and finish +the first great game he had ever played may well be imagined. But it +could not be helped. Myrtle had exercised the customary privilege of +young ladies at parties, and had turned from talking with one to +talking with another,--that was all. Fortunately, for him the young +man who had been introduced at such a most critical moment was not +one from whom he need apprehend any serious interference. He felt +grateful beyond measure to pretty Susan Posey, who, as he had good +reason for believing, retained her hold upon her early lover, and was +looking forward with bashful interest to the time when she should +become Mrs. Lindsay. It was better to put up quietly with his +disappointment; and, if he could get no favorable opportunity that +evening to resume his conversation at the interesting point where he +left it off, he would call the next day and bring matters to a +conclusion. + +He called accordingly the next morning, but was disappointed in not +seeing Myrtle. She had hardly slept that night, and was suffering +from a bad headache, which last reason was her excuse for not seeing +company. + +He called again, the following day, and learned that Miss Hazard had +just left the city, and gone on a visit to Oxbow Village: + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +MINE AND COUNTERMINE. + +What the nature of the telegram was which had produced such an effect +on the feelings and plans of Mr. William Murray Bradshaw nobody +especially interested knew but himself. We may conjecture that it +announced some fact, which had leaked out a little prematurely, +relating to the issue of the great land-case in which the firm was +interested. However that might be,. Mr. Bradshaw no sooner heard +that Myrtle had suddenly left the city for Oxbow Village,--for what +reason he puzzled himself to guess,--than he determined to follow her +at once, and take up the conversation he had begun at the party where +it left off. And as the young poet had received his quietus for the +present at the publisher's, and as Master Gridley had nothing +specially to detain him, they too returned at about the same time, +and so our old acquaintances were once more together within the +familiar precincts where we have been accustomed to see them. + +Master Gridley did not like playing the part of a spy, but it must be +remembered that he was an old college officer, and had something of +the detective's sagacity, and a certain cunning derived from the +habit of keeping an eye on mischievous students. If any underhand +contrivance was at work, involving the welfare of any one in whom he +was interested, he was a dangerous person for the plotters, for he +had plenty of time to attend to them, and would be apt to take a kind +of pleasure in matching his wits against another crafty person's, +--such a one, for instance, as Mr. Macchiavelli Bradshaw. + +Perhaps he caught some words of that gentleman's conversation at the +party; at any rate, he could not fail to observe his manner. When he +found that the young man had followed Myrtle back to the village, he +suspected something more than a coincidence. When he learned that he +was assiduously visiting The Poplars, and that he was in close +communication with Miss Cynthia Badlam, he felt sure that he was +pressing the siege of Myrtle's heart. But that there was some +difficulty in the way was equally clear to him, for he ascertained, +through channels which the attentive reader will soon have means of +conjecturing, that Myrtle had seen him but once in the week following +his return, and that in the presence of her dragons. She had various +excuses when he called,--headaches, perhaps, among the rest, as these +are staple articles on such occasions. But Master Gridley knew his +man too well to think that slight obstacles would prevent his going +forward to effect his purpose. + +"I think he will get her; if he holds on," the old man said to +himself, "and he won't let go in a hurry, if there were any real love +about it--but surely he is incapable of such a human weakness as the +tender passion. What does all this sudden concentration upon the +girl mean? He knows something about her that we don't know,--that +must be it. What did he hide that paper for, a year ago and more? +Could that have anything to do with his pursuit of Myrtle Hazard +today?" + +Master Gridley paused as he asked this question of himself, for a +luminous idea had struck him. Consulting daily with Cynthia Badlam, +was he? Could there be a conspiracy between these two persons to +conceal some important fact, or to keep something back until it would +be for their common interest to have it made known? + +Now Mistress Kitty Fagan was devoted, heart and soul, to Myrtle +Hazard, and ever since she had received the young girl from Mr. +Gridley's hands, when he brought her back safe and sound after her +memorable adventure, had considered him as Myrtle's best friend and +natural protector. These simple creatures, whose thoughts are not +taken up, like those of educated people, with the care of a great +museum of dead phrases, are very quick to see the live facts which +are going on about them. Mr. Gridley had met her, more or less +accidentally, several times of late, and inquired very particularly +about Myrtle, and how she got along at the house since her return, +and whether she was getting over her headaches, and how they treated +her in the family. + +"Bliss your heart, Mr. Gridley," Kitty said to him on one of these +occasions, "it's ahltogither changed intirely. Sure Miss Myrtle does +jist iverythin' she likes, an' Miss Withers niver middles with her at +ahl, excip' jist to roll up her eyes an' look as if she was the hid- +moorner at a funeril whiniver Miss Myrtle says she wants to do this +or that, or to go here or there. It's Miss Badlam that's ahlwiz +after her, an' a-watchin' her,--she thinks she's cunnin'er than a +cat, but there 's other folks that's got eyes an' ears as good as +hers. It's that Mr. Bridshaw that's a puttin' his head together with +Miss Badlam for somethin' or other, an' I don't believe there's no +good in it, for what does the fox an' the cat be a whisperin' about, +as if they was thaves an' incind'ries, if there ain't no mischief +hatchin'?" + +"Why, Kitty," he said, "what mischief do you think is going on, and +who is to be harmed?" + +"O Mr. Gridley," she answered, "if there ain't somebody to be chated +somehow, then I don't know an honest man and woman from two rogues. +An' have n't I heard Miss Myrtle's name whispered as if there was +somethin' goin' on agin' her, an' they was afraid the tahk would go +out through the doors, an' up through the chimbley? I don't want to +tell no tales, Mr. Gridley, nor to hurt no honest body, for I'm a +poor woman, Mr. Gridley, but I comes of dacent folks, an' I vallies +my repitation an' character as much as if I was dressed in silks and +satins instead of this mane old gown, savin' your presence, which is +the best I 've got, an' niver a dollar to buy another. But if I iver +I hears a word, Mr. Gridley, that manes any kind of a mischief to +Miss Myrtle,--the Lard bliss her soul an' keep ahl the divils away +from her!--I'll be runnin' straight down here to tell ye ahl about +it,--be right sure o' that, Mr. Gridley." + +"Nothing must happen to Myrtle," he said," that we can help. If you +see anything more that looks wrong, you had better come down here at +once and let me know, as you say you will. At once, you understand. +And, Kitty, I am a little particular about the dress of people who +come to see me, so that if you would just take the trouble to get you +a tidy pattern of gingham or calico, or whatever you like of that +sort for a gown, you would please me; and perhaps this little trifle +will be a convenience to you when you come to pay for it." + +Kitty thanked him with all the national accompaniments, and trotted +off to the store, where Mr. Gifted Hopkins displayed the native +amiability of his temper by fumbling down everything in the shape of +ginghams and calicoes they had on the shelves, without a murmur at +the taste of his customer, who found it hard to get a pattern +sufficiently emphatic for her taste. She succeeded at last, and laid +down a five-dollar bill as if she were as used to the pleasing figure +on its face as to the sight of her own five digits. + +Master Byles Gridley had struck a spade deeper than he knew into his +first countermine, for Kitty had none of those delicate scruples +about the means of obtaining information which might have embarrassed +a diplomatist of higher degree. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +MR. BRADSHAW CALLS ON MISS BADLAM + +"Is Miss Hazard in, Kitty?" + +"Indade she's in, Mr. Bridshaw, but she won't see nobody." + +"What's the meaning of that, Kitty? Here is the third time within +three days you've told me I could n't see her. She saw Mr. Gridley +yesterday, I know; why won't she see me to-day?" + +"Y' must ask Miss Myrtle what the rason is, it's none o' my business, +Mr. Bridshaw. That's the order she give me." + +"Is Miss Badlam in?" + +Indade she's in, Mr. Bridshaw, an' I 'll go cahl her." + +"Bedad," said Kitty Fagan to herself, "the cat an' the fox is goin' +to have another o' thim big tahks togither, an' sure the old hole for +the stove-pipe has niver been stopped up yet." + +Mr. Bradshaw and Miss Cynthia went into the parlor together, and +Mistress Kitty retired to her kitchen. There was a deep closet +belonging to this apartment, separated by a partition from the +parlor. There was a round hole high up in this partition through +which a stove-pipe had once passed. Mistress Kitty placed a stool +just under this opening, upon which, as on a, pedestal, she posed +herself with great precaution in the attitude of the goddess of other +people's secrets, that is to say, with her head a little on one side, +so as to bring her liveliest ear close to the opening. The +conversation which took place in the hearing of the invisible third +party began in a singularly free-and-easy manner on Mr. Bradshaw's +part. + +"What the d--- is the reason I can't see Myrtle, Cynthia?" + +"That's more than I can tell you, Mr. Bradshaw. I can watch her +goings on, but I can't account for her tantrums." + +"You say she has had some of her old nervous whims,--has the doctor +been to see her?" + +"No indeed. She has kept to herself a good deal, but I don't think +there's anything in particular the matter with her. She looks well +enough, only she seems a little queer,--as girls do that have taken a +fancy into their heads that they're in love, you know,--absent- +minded,--does n't seem to be interested in things as you would expect +after being away so long." + +Mr. Bradshaw looked as if this did not please him particularly. If +he was the object of her thoughts she would not avoid him, surely. + +"Have you kept your eye on her steadily?" + +"I don't believe there is an hour we can't account for,--Kitty and I +between us." + +"Are you sure you can depend on Kitty?" + +["Depind on Kitty, is it? Oh, an' to be sure ye can depind on Kitty +to kape watch at the stove-pipe hole, an' to tell all y'r plottin's +an' contrivin's to them that'll get the cheese out o' y'r mousetrap +for ye before ye catch any poor cratur in it." This was the +inaudible comment of the unseen third party.] + +"Of course I can depend on her as far as I trust her. All she knows +is that she must look out for the girl to see that she does not run +away or do herself a mischief. The Biddies don't know much, but they +know enough to keep a watch on the--" + +"Chickens." Mr. Bradshaw playfully finished the sentence for Miss +Cynthia. + +[" An' on the foxes, an' the cats, an' the wazels, an' the hen-hahks, +an' ahl the other bastes," added the invisible witness, in unheard +soliloquy.] + +"I ain't sure whether she's quite as stupid as she looks," said the +suspicious young lawyer. "There's a little cunning twinkle in her +eye sometimes that makes me think she might be up to a trick on +occasion. Does she ever listen about to hear what people are +saying?" + +"Don't trouble yourself about Kitty Fagan,' for pity's sake, Mr. +Bradshaw. The Biddies are all alike, and they're all as stupid as +owls, except when you tell 'em just what to do, and how to do it. A +pack of priest-ridden fools!" + +The hot Celtic blood in Kitty Fagan's heart gave a leap. The stout +muscles gave an involuntary jerk. The substantial frame felt the +thrill all through, and the rickety stool on which she was standing +creaked sharply under its burden. + +Murray Bradshaw started. He got up and opened softly all the doors +leading from the room, one after another, and looked out. + +"I thought I heard a noise as if somebody was moving, Cynthia. It's +just as well to keep our own matters to ourselves." + +"If you wait till this old house keeps still, Mr. Bradshaw, you might +as well wait till the river has run by. It's as full of rats and +mice as an old cheese is of mites. There's a hundred old rats in +this house, and that's what you hear." + +["An' one old cat; that's what I hear." Third party.] + +"I told you, Cynthia, I must be off on this business to-morrow. I +want to know that everything is safe before I go. And, besides, I +have got something to say to you that's important, very important, +mind you." + +He got up once more and opened every door softly and looked out. He +fixed his eye suspiciously on a large sofa at the other side of the +room, and went, looking half ashamed of his extreme precaution, and +peeped under it, to see if there was any one hidden thereto listen. +Then he came back and drew his chair close up to the table at which +Miss Badlam had seated herself. The conversation which followed was +in a low tone, and a portion of it must be given in another place in +the words of the third party. The beginning of it we are able to +supply in this connection. + +"Look here, Cynthia; you know what I am going for. It's all right, I +feel sure, for I have had private means of finding out. It's a sure +thing; but I must go once more to see that the other fellows don't +try any trick on us. You understand what is for my advantage is for +yours, and, if I go wrong, you go overboard with me. Now I must +leave the--you know--behind me. I can't leave it in the house or the +office: they might burn up. I won't have it about me when I am +travelling. Draw your chair a little more this way. Now listen." + +["Indade I will," said the third party to herself. The reader will +find out in due time whether she listened to any purpose or not.] + +In the mean time Myrtle, who for some reason was rather nervous and +restless, had found a pair of half-finished slippers which she had +left behind her. The color came into her cheeks when she remembered +the state of mind she was in when she was working on them for the +Rev. Mr. Stoker. She recollected Master Gridley's mistake about +their destination, and determined to follow the hint he had given. +It would please him better if she sent them to good Father Pemberton, +she felt sure, than if he should get them himself. So she enlarged +them somewhat, (for the old man did not pinch his feet, as the +younger clergyman was in the habit of doing, and was, besides, of +portly dimensions, as the old orthodox three-deckers were apt to be,) +and worked E. P. very handsomely into the pattern, and sent them to +him with her love and respect, to his great delight; for old +ministers do not have quite so many tokens of affection from fair +hands as younger ones. + +What made Myrtle nervous and restless? Why had she quitted the city +so abruptly, and fled to her old home, leaving all the gayeties +behind her which had so attracted and dazzled her? + +She had not betrayed herself at the third meeting with the young man +who stood in such an extraordinary relation to her,--who had actually +given her life from his own breath,--as when she met him for the +second time. Whether his introduction to her at the party, just at +the instant when Murray Bradshaw was about to make a declaration, +saved her from being in another moment the promised bride of that +young gentleman, or not, we will not be so rash as to say. It +looked, certainly, as if he was in a fair way to carry his point; but +perhaps she would have hesitated, or shrunk back, when the great +question came to stare her in the face. + +She was excited, at any rate, by the conversation, so that, when +Clement was presented to her, her thoughts could not at once be all +called away from her other admirer, and she was saved from all danger +of that sudden disturbance which had followed their second meeting. +Whatever impression he made upon her developed itself gradually, +--still, she felt strangely drawn towards him. It was not simply in +his good looks, in his good manners, in his conversation, that she +found this attraction, but there was a singular fascination which she +felt might be dangerous to her peace, without explaining it to +herself in words. She could hardly be in love with this young +artist; she knew that his affections were plighted to another, a fact +which keeps most young women from indulging unruly fancies; yet her +mind was possessed by his image to such an extent that it left little +room for that of Mr. William Murray Bradshaw. + +Myrtle Hazard had been just ready to enter on a career of worldly +vanity and ambition. It is hard to blame her, for we know how she +came by the tendency. She had every quality, too, which fitted her +to shine in the gay world; and the general law is, that those who +have the power have the instinct to use it. We do not suppose that +the bracelet on her arm was an amulet, but it was a symbol. It +reminded her of her descent; it kept alive the desire to live over +the joys and excitements of a bygone generation. If she had accepted +Murray Bradshaw, she would have pledged herself to a worldly life. +If she had refused him, it would perhaps have given her a taste of +power that might have turned her into a coquette. + +This new impression saved her for the time. She had come back to her +nest in the village like a frightened bird; her heart was throbbing, +her nerves were thrilling, her dreams were agitated; she wanted to be +quiet, and could not listen to the flatteries or entreaties of her +old lover. + +It was a strong will and a subtle intellect that had arrayed their +force and skill against the ill-defended citadel of Myrtle's heart. +Murray Bradshaw was perfectly determined, and not to be kept back by +any trivial hindrances, such as her present unwillingness to accept +him, or even her repugnance to him, if a freak of the moment had +carried her so far. It was a settled thing: Myrtle Hazard must +become Mrs. Bradshaw; and nobody could deny that, if he gave her his +name, they had a chance, at least, for a brilliant future. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +MISTRESS KITTY FAGAN CALLS ON MASTER BYLES GRIDLEY. + +"I 'd like to go down to the store this mornin', Miss Withers, plase. +Sure I've niver a shoe to my fut, only jist these two that I've got +on, an' one other pair, and thim is so full of holes that whin I 'm +standin' in 'em I'm outside of 'em intirely." + +"You can go, Kitty," Miss Silence answered, funereally. + +Thereupon Kitty Fagan proceeded to array herself in her most tidy +apparel, including a pair of shoes not exactly answering to her +description, and set out straight for the house of the Widow Hopkins. +Arrived at that respectable mansion, she inquired for Mr. Gridley, +and was informed that he was at home. Had a message for him,--could +she see him in his study? She could if she would wait a little +while. Mr. Gridley was busy just at this minute. Sit down, Kitty, +and warm yourself at the cooking-stove. + +Mistress Kitty accepted Mrs. Hopkins's hospitable offer, and +presently began orienting herself, and getting ready to make herself +agreeable. The kindhearted Mrs. Hopkins had gathered about her +several other pensioners besides the twins. These two little people, +it may be here mentioned, were just taking a morning airing in charge +of Susan Posey, who strolled along in company with Gifted Hopkins on +his way to the store." + +Mistress Kitty soon began the conversational blandishments so natural +to her good-humored race. "It's a little blarney that'll jist suit +th' old lady," she said to herself, as she made her first +conciliatory advance. + +"An' sure an' it's a beautiful kitten you've got there, Mrs. Hopkins. +An' it's a splendid mouser she is, I'll be bound. Does n't she look +as if she'd clans the house out o'them little bastes, bad luck to em. + +Mrs. Hopkins looked benignantly upon the more than middle-aged tabby, +slumbering as if she had never known an enemy, and turned smiling to +Mistress Kitty. "Why, bless your heart, Kitty, our old puss would +n't know a mouse by sight, if you showed her one. If I was a mouse, +I'd as lieves have a nest in one of that old cat's ears as anywhere +else. You couldn't find a safer place for one." + +"Indade, an' to be sure she's too big an' too handsome a pussy to be +after wastin' her time on them little bastes. It's that little +tarrier dog of yours, Mrs. Hopkins, that will be after worryin' the +mice an' the rats, an' the thaves too, I 'll warrant. Is n't he a +fust-rate-lookin' watch-dog, an' a rig'ler rat-hound?" + +Mrs. Hopkins looked at the little short-legged and short-winded +animal of miscellaneous extraction with an expression of contempt and +affection, mingled about half and half. "Worry 'em! If they wanted +to sleep, I rather guess he would worry 'em! If barkin' would do +their job for 'em, nary a mouse nor rat would board free gratis in my +house as they do now. Noisy little good-for-nothing tike,--ain't +you, Fret?" + +Mistress Kitty was put back a little by two such signal failures. +There was another chance, however, to make her point, which she +presently availed herself of,--feeling pretty sure this time that she +should effect a lodgement. Mrs. Hopkins's parrot had been observing +Kitty, first with one eye and then with the other, evidently +preparing to make a remark, but awkward with a stranger. "That 's a +beautiful part y 've got there," Kitty said, buoyant with the +certainty that she was on safe ground this time; "and tahks like a +book, I 'll be bound. Poll! Poll! Poor Poll!" + +She put forth her hand to caress the intelligent and affable bird, +which, instead of responding as expected, "squawked," as our phonetic +language has it, and, opening a beak imitated from a tooth-drawing +instrument of the good old days, made a shrewd nip at Kitty's +forefinger. She drew it back with a jerk. + +"An' is that the way your part tahks, Mrs. Hopkins?" + +"Talks, bless you, Kitty! why, that parrot hasn't said a word this +ten year. He used to say Poor Poll! when we first had him, but he +found it was easier to squawk, and that's all he ever does nowadays, +--except bite once in a while." + +"Well, an' to be sure," Kitty answered, radiant as she rose from her +defeats, " if you'll kape a cat that does n't know a mouse when she +sees it, an' a dog that only barks for his livin', and a part that +only squawks an' bites an' niver spakes a word, ye must be the best- +hearted woman that's alive, an' bliss ye, if ye was only a good +Catholic, the Holy Father 'd make a saint of ye in less than no +time!" + +So Mistress Kitty Fagan got in her bit of Celtic flattery, in spite +of her three successive discomfitures. + +"You may come up now, Kitty," said Mr. Gridley over the stairs. He +had just finished and sealed a letter. + +"Well, Kitty, how are things going on up at The Poplars? And how +does our young lady seem to be of late?" + +"Whisht! whisht! your honor." + +Mr. Bradshaw's lessons had not been thrown away on his attentive +listener. She opened every door in the room, "by your lave," as she +said. She looked all over the walls to see if there was any old +stovepipe hole or other avenue to eye or ear. Then she went, in her +excess of caution, to the window. She saw nothing noteworthy except +Mr. Gifted Hopkins and the charge he convoyed, large and small, in +the distance. The whole living fleet was stationary for the moment, +he leaning on the fence with his cheek on his hand, in one of the +attitudes of the late Lord Byron; she, very near him, listening, +apparently, in the pose of Mignon aspirant au ciel, as rendered by +Carlo Dolce Scheffer. + +Kitty came back, apparently satisfied, and stood close to Mr. +Gridley, who told her to sit down, which she did, first making a +catch at her apron to dust the chair with, and then remembering that +she had left that part of her costume at home. --Automatic movements, +curious. + +Mistress Kitty began telling in an undertone of the meeting between +Mr. Bradshaw and Miss Badlam, and of the arrangements she made for +herself as the reporter of the occasion. She then repeated to him, +in her own way, that part of the conversation which has been already +laid before the reader. There is no need of going over the whole of +this again in Kitty's version, but we may fit what followed into the +joints of what has been already told. + +"He cahled her Cynthy, d' ye see, Mr. Gridley, an' tahked to her jist +as asy as if they was two rogues, and she knowed it as well as he +did. An' so, says he, I'm goin' away, says he, an' I'm goin' to be +gahn siveral days, or perhaps longer, says he, an' you'd better kape +it, says he." + +"Keep what, Kitty? What was it he wanted her to keep?" said Mr. +Gridley, who no longer doubted that he was on the trail of a plot, +and meant to follow it. He was getting impatient with the "says +he's" with which Kitty double-leaded her discourse. + +"An' to be sure ain't I tellin' you, Mr. Gridley, jist as fast as my +breath will let me? An' so, says he, you'd better kape it, says he, +mixed up with your other paupers, says he," (Mr. Gridley started,) +"an' thin we can find it in the garret, says he, whinever we want it, +says he. An' if it all goes right out there, says he, it won't be +lahng before we shall want to find it, says he. And I can dipind on +you, says he, for we're both in the same boat, says he, an' you knows +what I knows, says he, an' I knows what you knows, says be. And thin +he taks a stack o' paupers out of his pocket, an' he pulls out one of +'em, an' he says to her, says he, that's the pauper, says he, an' if +you die, says be, niver lose sight of that day or night, says he, for +it's life an' dith to both of us, says he. An' thin he asks her if +she has n't got one o' them paupers--what is 't they cahls 'em?-- +divilops, or some sich kind of a name--that they wraps up their +letters in; an' she says no, she has n't got none that's big enough +to hold it. So he says, give me a shate o' pauper, says he. An' +thin he takes the pauper that she give him, an' he folds it up like +one o' them--divilops, if that's the name of 'em; and thin he pulls a +stick o' salin'-wax out of his pocket, an' a stamp, an' he takes the +pauper an' puts it into th' other pauper, along with the rest of the +paupers, an' thin he folds th' other pauper over the paupers, and +thin he lights a candle, an' he milts the salin'-wax, and he sales up +the pauper that was outside th' other paupers, an' he writes on the +back of the pauper, an' thin he hands it to Miss Badlam." + +"Did you see the paper that he showed her before he fastened it up +with the others, Kitty?" + +"I did see it, indade, Mr. Gridley, and it's the truth I'm tellin' +ye." + +"Did you happen to notice anything about it, Kitty? " + +"I did, indade, Mr. Gridley. It was a longish kind of a pauper, and +there was some blotches of ink on the back of it,--an' they looked +like a face without any mouth, for, says I, there's two spots for the +eyes, says I, and there's a spot for the nose, says I, and there's +niver a spot for the mouth, says I" + +This was the substance of what Master Byles Gridley got out of Kitty +Fagan. It was enough, yes, it was too much. There was some deep- +laid plot between Murray Bradshaw and Cynthia Badlam, involving the +interests of some of the persons connected with the late Malachi +Withers; for that the paper described by Kitty was the same that he +had seen the young man conceal in the Corpus Juris Civilis, it was +impossible to doubt. If it had been a single spot an the back of it, +or two, he might have doubted. But three large spots "blotches" she +had called them, disposed thus *.* --would not have happened to be on +two different papers, in all human probability. + +After grave consultation of all his mental faculties in committee of +the whole, he arrived at the following conclusion,--that Miss Cynthia +Badlam was the depositary of a secret involving interests which he +felt it his business to defend, and of a document which was +fraudulently withheld and meant to be used for some unfair purpose. +And most assuredly, Master Gridley said to himself, he held a master- +key, which, just so certainly as he could make up his mind to use it, +would open any secret in the keeping of Miss Cynthia Badlam. + +He proceeded, therefore, without delay, to get ready for a visit to +that lady at The Poplars. He meant to go thoroughly armed, for he +was a very provident old gentleman. His weapons were not exactly of +the kind which a housebreaker would provide himself with, but of a +somewhat peculiar nature. + +Weapon number one was a slip of paper with a date and a few words +written upon it. "I think this will fetch the document," he said to +himself, "if it comes to the worst. Not if I can help it,--not if I +can help it. But if I cannot get at the heart of this thing +otherwise, why, I must come to this. Poor woman!--Poor woman!" + +Weapon number two was a small phial containing spirits of hartshorn, +sal volatile, very strong, that would stab through the nostrils, like +a stiletto, deep into the gray kernels that lie in the core of the +brain. Excellent in cases of sudden syncope or fainting, such as +sometimes require the opening of windows, the dashing on of cold +water, the cutting of stays, perhaps, with a scene of more or less +tumultuous perturbation and afflux of clamorous womanhood. + +So armed, Byles Gridley, A. M., champion of unprotected innocence, +grasped his ivory-handled cane and sallied forth on his way to The +Poplars. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +MASTER BYLES GRIDLEY CALLS ON MISS CYNTHIA BADLAM. + +MISS Cynthia Badlam was seated in a small parlor which she was +accustomed to consider her own during her long residences at The +Poplars. The entry stove warmed it but imperfectly, and she looked +pinched and cold, for the evenings were still pretty sharp, and the +old house let in the chill blasts, as old houses are in the habit of +doing. She was sitting at her table, with a little trunk open before +her. She had taken some papers from it, which she was looking over, +when a knock at her door announced a visitor, and Master Byles +Gridley entered the parlor. + +As he came into the room, she gathered the papers together and +replaced them in the trunk, which she locked, throwing an unfinished +piece of needle-work over it, putting the key in her pocket, and +gathering herself up for company. Something of all this Master +Gridley saw through his round spectacles, but seemed not to see, and +took his seat like a visitor making a call of politeness. + +A visitor at such an hour, of the male sex, without special +provocation, without social pretext, was an event in the life of the +desolate spinster. Could it be--No, it could not--and yet--and yet! +Miss Cynthia threw back the rather common-looking but comfortable +shawl which covered her shoulders, and showed her quite presentable +figure, arrayed with a still lingering thought of that remote +contingency which might yet offer itself at some unexpected moment; +she adjusted the carefully plaited cap, which was not yet of the +lasciate ogni speranza pattern, and as she obeyed these instincts of +her sex, she smiled a welcome to the respectable, learned, and +independent bachelor. Mr. Gridley had a frosty but kindly age before +him, with a score or so of years to run, which it was after all not +strange to fancy might be rendered more cheerful by the companionship +of a well-conserved and amiably disposed woman, if any such should +happen to fall in his way. + +That smile came very near disconcerting the plot of Master Byles +Gridley. He had come on an inquisitor's errand, his heart secure, as +he thought, against all blandishments, his will steeled to break down +all resistance. He had come armed with an instrument of torture +worse than the thumb-screw, worse than the pulleys which attempt the +miracle of adding a cubit to the stature, worse than the brazier of +live coals brought close to the naked soles of the feet,--an +instrument which, instead of trifling with the nerves, would clutch +all the nerve-centres and the heart itself in its gripe, and hold +them until it got its answer, if the white lips had life enough left +to shape one. And here was this unfortunate maiden lady smiling at +him, setting her limited attractions in their best light, pleading +with him in that natural language which makes any contumacious +bachelor feel as guilty as Cain before any single woman. If Mr. +Gridley had been alone, he would have taken a good sniff at his own +bottle of sal volatile; for his kind heart sunk within him as he +thought of the errand upon which he had come. It would not do to +leave the subject of his vivisection under any illusion as to the +nature of his designs. + +Good evening, Miss Badlam," he said, "I have come to visit you on a +matter of business." + +What was the internal panorama which had unrolled itself at the +instant of his entrance, and which rolled up as suddenly at the sound +of his serious voice and the look of his grave features? It cannot +be reproduced, though pages were given to it; for some of the +pictures were near, and some were distant; some were clearly seen, +and some were only hinted; some were not recognized in the intellect +at all, and yet they were implied, as it were, behind the others. +Many times we have all found ourselves glad or sorry, and yet we +could not tell what thought it was that reflected the sunbeam or cast +the shadow. Took into Cynthia's suddenly exalted consciousness and +see the picture, actual and potential, unroll itself in all its +details of the natural, the ridiculous, the selfish, the pitiful, the +human. Glimpses, hints, echoes, suggestions, involving tender +sentiments hitherto unknown, we may suppose, to that unclaimed +sister's breast,--pleasant excitement of receiving congratulations +from suddenly cordial friends; the fussy delights of buying furniture +and shopping for new dresses,--(it seemed as if she could hear +herself saying, "Heavy silks,--best goods, if you please,")--with +delectable thumping down of flat-sided pieces of calico, cambric, +"rep," and other stiffs, and rhythmic evolution of measured yards, +followed by sharp snip of scissors, and that cry of rending tissues +dearer to woman's ear than any earthly sound until she hears the +voice of her own first-born,(much of this potentially, remember,)-- +thoughts of a comfortable settlement, an imposing social condition, a +cheerful household, and by and by an Indian summer of serene +widowhood,--all these, and infinite other involved possibilities had +mapped themselves in one long swift flash before Cynthia's inward +eye, and all vanished as the old man spoke those few words. The look +on his face, and the tone of his cold speech, had instantly swept +them all away, like a tea-set sliding in a single crash from a +slippery tray. + +What could be the "business" on which he had come to her with that +solemn face?--she asked herself, as she returned his greeting and +offered him a chair. She was conscious of a slight tremor as she put +this question to her own intelligence. + +"Are we like to be alone and undisturbed?" Mr. Gridley asked. It was +a strange question,--men do act strangely sometimes. She hardly +knew. whether to turn red or white. + +"Yes, there is nobody like to come in at present," she answered. She +did not know what to make of it. What was coming next, +--a declaration, or an accusation of murder? + +"My business," Mr. Gridley said, very gravely, "relates to this. I +wish to inspect papers which I have reason to believe exist, and +which have reference to the affairs of the late Malachi Withers. Can +you help me to get sight of any of these papers not to be found at +the Registry of Deeds or the Probate Office?" + +"Excuse me, Mr. Gridley, but may I ask you what particular concern +you have with the affairs of my relative, Cousin Malachi Withers, +that's been dead and buried these half-dozen years?" + +"Perhaps it would take some time to answer that question fully, Miss +Badlam. Some of these affairs do concern those I am interested in, +if not myself directly." + +"May I ask who the person or persons may be on whose account you wish +to look at papers belonging to my late relative, Malachi Withers?" + +"You can ask me almost anything, Miss Badlam, but I should really be +very much obliged if you would answer my question first. Can you +help me to get a sight of any papers relating to the estate of +Malachi Withers, not to be found at the Registry of Deeds or the +Probate Office,--any of which you may happen to have any private and +particular knowledge?" + +"I beg your pardon, Mr. Gridley; but I don't understand why you come +to me with such questions. Lawyer Penhallow is the proper person, I +should think, to go to. He and his partner that was--Mr. Wibird, you +know--settled the estate, and he has got the papers, I suppose, if +there are any, that ain't to be found in the offices you mention." + +Mr. Gridley moved his chair a little, so as to bring Miss Badlam's +face a little more squarely in view. + +"Does Mr. William Murray Bradshaw know anything about any papers, +such as I am referring to, that may have been sent to the office?" + +The lady felt a little moisture stealing through all her pores, and +at the same time a certain dryness of the vocal organs, so that her +answer came in a slightly altered tone which neither of them could +help noticing. + +"You had better ask Mr. William Murray Bradshaw yourself about that," +she answered. She felt the hook now, and her spines were rising, +partly with apprehension, partly with irritation. + +"Has that young gentleman ever delivered into your hands any papers +relating to the affairs of the late Malachi Withers, for your safe +keeping?" + +"What do you mean by asking me these questions, Mr. Gridley? I don't +choose to be catechised about Murray Bradshaw's business. Go to him, +if you please, if you want to find out about it." + +"Excuse my persistence, Miss Badlam, but I must prevail upon you to +answer my question. Has Mr. William Murray Bradshaw ever delivered +into your hands any papers relating to the affairs of the late +Malachi Withers, for your safe keeping?" + +"Do you suppose I am going to answer such questions as you are +putting me because you repeat them over, Mr. Gridley? Indeed I +cha'n't. Ask him, if you please, whatever you wish to know about his +doings." + +She drew herself up and looked savagely at him. She had talked +herself into her courage. There was a color in her cheeks and a +sparkle in her eye; she looked dangerous as a cobra. + +"Miss Cynthia Badlam," Master Gridley said, very deliberately, "I am +afraid we do not entirely understand each other. You must answer my +question precisely, categorically, point-blank, and on the instant. +Will you do this at once, or will you compel me to show you the +absolute necessity of your doing it, at the expense of pain to both +of us? Six words from me will make you answer all my questions." + +"You can't say six words, nor sixty, Mr. Gridley, that will make me +answer one question I do not choose to. I defy you!" + +"I will not say one, Miss Cynthia Badlam. There are some things one +does not like to speak in words. But I will show you a scrap of +paper, containing just six words and a date; not one word more nor +one less. You shall read them. Then I will burn the paper in the +flame of your lamp. As soon after that as you feel ready, I will ask +the same question again." + +Master Gridley took out from his pocket-book a scrap of paper, and +handed it to Cynthia Badlam. Her hand shook as she received it, for +she was frightened as well as enraged, and she saw that Mr. Gridley +was in earnest and knew what he was doing. + +She read the six words, he looking at her steadily all the time, and +watching her as if he had just given her a drop of prussic acid. + +No cry. No sound from her lips. She stared as if half stunned for +one moment, then turned her head and glared at Mr. Gridley as if she +would have murdered him if she dared. In another instant her face +whitened, the scrap of paper fluttered to the floor, and she would +have followed it but for the support of both Mr. Gridley's arms. He +disengaged one of them presently, and felt in his pocket for the sal +volatile. It served him excellently well, and stung her back again +to her senses very quickly. All her defiant aspect had gone. + +"Look!" he said, as he lighted the scrap of paper in the flame." +You understand me, and you see that I must be answered the next time +I ask my question." + +She opened her lips as if to speak. It was as when a bell is rung in +a vacuum,--no words came from them,--only a faint gasping sound, an +effort at speech. She was caught tight in the heart-screw. + +"Don't hurry yourself, Miss Cynthia," he said, with a certain +relenting tenderness of manner. " Here, take another sniff of the +smelling-salts. Be calm, be quiet,--I am well disposed towards you, +--I don't like to give you trouble. There, now, I must have the +answer to that question; but take your time, take your time." + +"Give me some water,--some water!" she said, in a strange hoarse +whisper. There was a pitcher of water and a tumbler on an old marble +sideboard near by. He filled the tumbler, and Cynthia emptied it as +if she had just been taken from the rack, and could have swallowed a +bucketful. + +"What do you want to know?" she asked. + +"I wish to know all that you can tell me about a certain paper, or +certain papers, which I have reason to believe Mr. William Murray +Bradshaw committed to your keeping." + +"There is only one paper of any consequence. Do you want to make him +kill me? or do you want to make me kill myself?" + +"Neither, Miss Cynthia, neither. I wish to see that paper, but not +for any bad purpose. Don't you think, on the whole, you have pretty +good reason to trust me? I am a very quiet man, Miss Cynthia. Don't +be afraid of me; only do what I ask,--it will be a great deal better +for you in the end." + +She thrust her trembling hand into her pocket, and took out the key +of the little trunk. She drew the trunk towards her, put the key in +the lock, and opened it. It seemed like pressing a knife into her +own bosom and turning the blade. That little trunk held all the +records of her life the forlorn spinster most cherished;--a few +letters that came nearer to love-letters than any others she had ever +received; an album, with flowers of the summers of 1840 and 1841 +fading between its leaves; two papers containing locks of hair, half +of a broken ring, and other insignificant mementos which had their +meaning, doubtless, to her,--such a collection as is often priceless +to one human heart, and passed by as worthless in the auctioneer's +inventory. She took the papers out mechanically, and laid them on +the table. Among them was an oblong packet, sealed with what +appeared to be the office seal of Messrs. Penhallow and Bradshaw. + +"Will you allow me to take that envelope containing papers, Miss +Badlam? "Mr. Gridley asked, with a suavity and courtesy in his tone +and manner that showed how he felt for her sex and her helpless +position. + +She seemed to obey his will as if she had none of her own left. She +passed the envelope to him, and stared at him vacantly while he +examined it. He read on the back of the package : "Withers Estate-- +old papers--of no importance apparently. Examine hereafter." + +"May I ask when, where, and of whom you obtained these papers, Miss +Badlam?" + +"Have pity on me, Mr. Gridley,--have pity on me. I am a lost woman +if you do not. Spare me! for God's sake, spare me! There will no +wrong come of all this, if you will but wait a little while. The +paper will come to light when it is wanted, and all will be right. +But do not make me answer any more questions, and let me keep this +paper. O Mr. Gridley! I am in the power of a dreadful man--" + +"You mean Mr. William Murray Bradshaw?" + +"I mean him." + +"Has there not been some understanding between you that he should +become the approved suitor of Miss Myrtle Hazard?" + +Cynthia wrung her hands and rocked herself backward and forward in +her misery, but answered not a word. What could she answer, if she +had plotted with this "dreadful man" against a young and innocent +girl, to deliver her over into his hands, at the risk of all her +earthly hopes and happiness? + +Master Gridley waited long and patiently for any answer she might +have the force to make. As she made none, he took upon himself to +settle the whole matter without further torture of his helpless +victim. + +"This package must go into the hands of the parties who had the +settlement of the estate of the late Malachi Withers. Mr. Penhallow +is the survivor of the two gentlemen to whom that business was +intrusted. How long is Mr. William Murray Bradshaw like to be away?" + +"Perhaps a few days,--perhaps weeks,--and then he will come back and +kill me,--or--or--worse! Don't take that paper, Mr. Gridley,--he +isn't like you! you would n't--but he would--he would send me to +everlasting misery to gain his own end, or to save himself. And yet +he is n't every way bad, and if he did marry Myrtle she'd think there +never was such a man,--for he can talk her heart out of her, and the +wicked in him lies very deep and won't ever come out, perhaps, if the +world goes right with him." The last part of this sentence showed +how Cynthia talked with her own conscience; all her mental and moral +machinery lay open before the calm eyes of Master Byles Gridley. + +His thoughts wandered a moment from the business before him; he had +just got a new study of human nature, which in spite of himself would +be shaping itself into an axiom for an imagined new edition of +"Thoughts on the Universe," something like this,"The greatest saint +may be a sinner that never got down to " hard pan." It was not the +time to be framing axioms. + +"Poh! poh!" he said to himself; "what are you about making phrases, +when you have got a piece of work like this in hand?" Then to +Cynthia, with great gentleness and kindness of manner: "Have no fear +about any consequences to yourself. Mr. Penhallow must see that +paper--I mean those papers. You shall not be a loser nor a sufferer +if you do your duty now in these premises." + +Master Gridley, treating her, as far as circumstances permitted, like +a gentleman, had shown no intention of taking the papers either +stealthily or violently. It must be with her consent. He had laid +the package down upon the table, waiting for her to give him leave to +take it. But just as he spoke these last words, Cynthia, whose eye +had been glancing furtively at it while he was thinking out his +axiom, and taking her bearings to it pretty carefully, stretched her +hand out, and, seizing the package, thrust it into the sanctuary of +her bosom. + +"Mr. Penhallow must see those papers, Miss Cynthia Badlam," Mr. +Gridley repeated calmly. "If he says they or any of them can be +returned to your keeping, well and good. But see them he must, for +they have his office seal and belong in his custody, and, as you see +by the writing on the back, they have not been examined. Now there +may be something among them which is of immediate importance to the +relatives of the late deceased Malachi Withers, and therefore they +must be forthwith submitted to the inspection of the surviving +partner of the firm of Wibird and Penhallow. This I propose to do, +with your consent, this evening. It is now twenty-five minutes past +eight by the true time, as my watch has it. At half past eight +exactly I shall have the honor of bidding you good evening, Miss +Cynthia Badlam, whether you give me those papers or not. I shall go +to the office of Jacob Penhallow, Esquire, and there make one of two +communications to him; to wit, these papers and the facts connected +therewith, or another statement, the nature of which you may perhaps +conjecture." + +There is no need of our speculating as to what Mr. Byles Gridley, an +honorable and humane man, would have done, or what would have been +the nature of that communication which he offered as an alternative +to the perplexed woman. He had not at any rate miscalculated the +strength of his appeal, which Cynthia interpreted as he expected. +She bore the heart-screw about two minutes. Then she took the +package from her bosom, and gave it with averted face to Master Byles +Gridley, who, on receiving it, made her a formal but not unkindly +bow, and bade her good evening. + +"One would think it had been lying out in the dew," he said, as he +left the house and walked towards Mr. Penhallow's residence. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + + +MASTER BYLES GRIDLEY CONSULTS WITH JACOB PENHALLOW, ESQUIRE + +Lawyer Penhallow was seated in his study, his day's work over, his +feet in slippers, after the comfortable but inelegant fashion which +Sir Walter Scott reprobates, amusing himself with a volume of old +Reports. He was a knowing man enough, a keen country lawyer but +honest, and therefore less ready to suspect the honesty of others. +He had a great belief in his young partner's ability, and, though he +knew him to be astute, did not think him capable of roguery. + +It was at his request that Mr. Bradshaw had undertaken his journey, +which, as he believed,--and as Mr. Bradshaw had still stronger +evidence of a strictly confidential nature which led him to feel +sure,--would end in the final settlement of the great land claim in +favor of their client. The case had been dragging along from year to +year, like an English chancery suit; and while courts and lawyers and +witnesses had been sleeping, the property had been steadily growing. +A railroad had passed close to one margin of the township, some mines +had been opened in the county, in which a village calling itself a +city had grown big enough to have a newspaper and Fourth of July +orations. It was plain that the successful issue of the long process +would make the heirs of the late Malachi Withers possessors of an +ample fortune, and it was also plain that the firm of Penhallow and +Bradshaw were like to receive, in such case, the largest fee that had +gladdened the professional existence of its members. + +Mr. Penhallow had his book open before him, but his thoughts were +wandering from the page. He was thinking of his absent partner, and +the probable results of his expedition. What would be the +consequence if all this property came into the possession of Silence +Withers? Could she have any liberal intentions with reference to +Myrtle Hazard, the young girl who had grown up with her, or was the +common impression true, that she was bent on endowing an institution, +and thus securing for herself a favorable consideration in the higher +courts, where her beneficiaries would be, it might be supposed, +influential advocates? He could not help thinking that Mr. Bradshaw +believed that Myrtle Hazard would eventually come to apart at least +of this inheritance. For the story was, that he was paying his court +to the young lady whenever he got an opportunity, and that he was +cultivating an intimacy with Miss Cynthia Badlam. "Bradshaw would +n'tmake a move in that direction," Mr. Penhallow said to himself, +"until he felt pretty sure that it was going to be a paying business. +If he was only a young minister now, there'd be no difficulty about +it. Let any man, young or old, in a clerical white cravat, step up +to Myrtle Hazard, and ask her to be miserable in his company through +this wretched life, and aunt Silence would very likely give them her +blessing, and add something to it that the man in the white cravat +would think worth even more than that was. But I don't know what +she'll say to Bradshaw. Perhaps he 'd better have a hint to go to +meeting a little more regularly. However, I suppose he knows what +he's about." + +He was thinking all this over when a visitor was announced, and Mr. +Byles Gridley entered the study. + +"Good evening, Mr. Penhallow," Mr. Gridley said, wiping his forehead. +"Quite warm, is n't it, this evening?" + +"Warm!" said Mr. Penhallow, "I should think it would freeze pretty +thick to-night. I should have asked you to come up to the fire and +warm yourself. But take off your coat, Mr. Gridley,--very glad to +see you. You don't come to the house half as often as you come to +the office. Sit down, sit down." + +Mr. Gridley took off his outside coat and sat down. "He does look +warm, does n't he?" Mr. Penhallow thought. "Wonder what has heated +up the old gentleman so. Find out quick enough, for he always goes +straight to business." + +"Mr. Penhallow," Mr. Gridley began at once, "I have come on a very +grave matter, in which you are interested as well as myself, and I +wish to lay the whole of it before you as explicitly as I can, so +that we may settle this night before I go what is to be done. I am +afraid the good standing of your partner, Mr. William Murray +Bradshaw, is concerned in the matter. Would it be a surprise to you, +if he had carried his acuteness in some particular case like the one +I am to mention beyond the prescribed limits?" + +The question was put so diplomatically that there was no chance for +an indignant denial of the possibility of Mr. Bradshaw's being +involved in any discreditable transaction. + +"It is possible," he answered, "that Bradshaw's keen wits may have +betrayed him into sharper practice than I should altogether approve +in any business we carried on together. He is a very knowing young +man, but I can't think he is foolish enough, to say nothing of his +honesty, to make any false step of the kind you seem to hint. I +think he might on occasion go pretty near the line, but I don't +believe he would cross it." + +"Permit me a few questions, Mr. Penhallow. You settled the estate of +the late Malachi Withers, did you not?" + +"Mr. Wibird and myself settled it together." + +"Have you received any papers from any of the family since the +settlement of the estate?" + +"Let me see. Yes; a roll of old plans of the Withers Place, and so +forth,--not of much use, but labelled and kept. An old trunk with +letters and account-books, some of them in Dutch,--mere curiosities. +A year ago or more, I remember that Silence sent me over some papers +she had found in an odd corner,--the old man hid things like a +magpie. I looked over most of them,--trumpery not worth keeping,-- +old leases and so forth." + +"Do you recollect giving some of them to Mr. Bradshaw to look over?" + +"Now I come to think of it, I believe I did; but he reported to me, +if I remember right, that they amounted to nothing." + +"If any of those papers were of importance, should you think your +junior partner ought to keep them from your knowledge?" + +"I need not answer that question, Mr. Gridley. Will you be so good +as to come at once to the facts on which you found your suspicions, +and which lead you to put these questions to me?" + +Thereupon Mr. Gridley proceeded to state succinctly the singular +behavior of Murray Bradshaw in taking one paper from a number handed +to him by Mr. Penhallow, and concealing it in a volume. He related +how he was just on the point of taking out the volume which contained +the paper, when Mr. Bradshaw entered and disconcerted him. He had, +however, noticed three spots on the paper by which he should know it +anywhere. He then repeated the substance of Kitty Fagan's story, +accenting the fact that she too noticed three remarkable spots on the +paper which Mr. Bradshaw had pointed out to Miss Badlam as the one so +important to both of them. Here he rested the case for the moment. + +Mr. Penhallow looked thoughtful. There was something questionable in +the aspect of this business. It did obviously suggest the idea of an +underhand arrangement with Miss Cynthia, possibly involving some very +grave consequences. It would have been most desirable, he said, to +have ascertained what these papers, or rather this particular paper, +to which so much importance was attached, amounted to. Without that +knowledge there was nothing, after all, which it might not be +possible to explain. He might have laid aside the spotted paper to +examine for some object of mere curiosity. It was certainly odd that +the one the Fagan woman had seen should present three spots so like +those on the other paper, but people did sometimes throw treys at +backgammon, and that which not rarely happened with two dice of six +faces might happen if they had sixty or six hundred faces. On the +whole, he did not see that there was any ground, so far, for anything +more than a vague suspicion. He thought it not unlikely that Mr. +Bradshaw was a little smitten with the young lady up at The Poplars, +and that he had made some diplomatic overtures to the duenna, after +the approved method of suitors. She was young for Bradshaw,--very +young,--but he knew his own affairs. If he chose to make love to a +child, it was natural enough that he should begin by courting her +nurse. + +Master Byles Gridley lost himself for half a minute in a most +discreditable inward discussion as to whether Laura Penhallow was +probably one or two years older than Mr. Bradshaw. That was his way, +he could not help it. He could not think of anything without these +mental parentheses. But he came back to business at the end of his +half-minute. + +"I can lay the package before you at this moment, Mr. Penhallow. I +have induced that woman in whose charge it was left to intrust it to +my keeping, with the express intention of showing it to you. But it +is protected by a seal, as I have told you, which I should on no +account presume to meddle with." + +Mr. Gridley took out the package of papers. + +"How damp it is!" Mr. Penhallow said; " must have been lying in some +very moist neighborhood." + +"Very," Mr. Gridley answered, with a peculiar expression which said, +"Never mind about that." + +"Did the party give you possession of these documents without making +any effort to retain them?" the lawyer asked. + +"Not precisely. It cost some effort to induce Miss Badlam to let +them go out of her hands. I hope you think I was justified in making +the effort I did, not without a considerable strain upon my feelings, +as well as her own, to get hold of the papers?" + +"That will depend something on what the papers prove to be, Mr. +Gridley. A man takes a certain responsibility in doing just what you +have done. If, for instance, it should prove that this envelope +contained matters relating solely to private transactions between Mr. +Bradshaw and Miss Badlam, concerning no one but themselves,--and if +the words on the back of the envelope and the seal had been put there +merely as a protection for a package containing private papers of a +delicate but perfectly legitimate character--" + +The lawyer paused, as careful experts do, after bending the bow of an +hypothesis, before letting the arrow go. Mr. Gridley felt very warm +indeed, uncomfortably so, and applied his handkerchief to his face. +Could n't be anything in such a violent supposition as that, and yet +such a crafty fellow as that Bradshaw,--what trick was he not up to? +Absurd! Cynthia was not acting,--Rachel would n't be equal to such a +performance!--" why then, Mr. Gridley," the lawyer continued, "I +don't see but what my partner would have you at an advantage, and, if +disposed to make you uncomfortable, could do so pretty effectively. +But this, you understand, is only a supposed case, and not a very +likely one. I don't think it would have been prudent in you to +meddle with that seal. But it is a very different matter with regard +to myself. It makes no difference, so far as I am concerned, where +this package came from, or how it was obtained. It is just as +absolutely within my control as any piece of property I call my own. +I should not hesitate, if I saw fit, to break this seal at once, and +proceed to the examination of any papers contained within the +envelope. If I found any paper of the slightest importance relating +to the estate, I should act as if it had never been out of my +possession. + +"Suppose, however, I chose to know what was in the package, and, +having ascertained, act my judgment about returning it to the party +from whom you obtained it. In such case I might see fit to restore +or cause it to be restored, to the party, without any marks of +violence having been used being apparent. If everything is not +right, probably no questions would be asked by the party having +charge of the package. If there is no underhand work going on, and +the papers are what they profess to be, nobody is compromised but +yourself, so far as I can see, and you are compromised at any rate, +Mr. Gridley, at least in the good graces of the party from whom you +obtained the documents. Tell that party that I took the package +without opening it, and shall return it, very likely, without +breaking the seal. Will consider of the matter, say a couple of +days. Then you shall hear from me, and she shall hear from you. So. +So. Yes, that's it. A nice business. A thing to sleep on. You had +better leave the whole matter of dealing with the package to me. If +I see fit to send it back with the seal unbroken, that is my affair. +But keep perfectly quiet, if you please, Mr. Gridley, about the whole +matter. Mr. Bradshaw is off, as you know, and the business on which +he is gone is important,--very important. He can be depended on for +that; he has acted all along as if he had a personal interest in the +success of our firm beyond his legal relation to it." + +Mr. Penhallow's light burned very late in the office that night, and +the following one. He looked troubled and absent-minded, and when +Miss Laura ventured to ask him how long Mr. Bradshaw was like to be +gone, he answered her in such a way that the girl who waited at table +concluded that he did n't mean to have Miss Laury keep company with +Mr. Bradshaw, or he'd never have spoke so dreadful hash to her when +she asked about him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +SUSAN POSEY'S TRIAL. + +A day or two after Myrtle Hazard returned to the village, Master +Byles Gridley, accompanied by Gifted Hopkins, followed her, as has +been already mentioned, to the same scene of the principal events of +this narrative. The young man had been persuaded that it would be +doing injustice to his talents to crowd their fruit prematurely upon +the market. He carried his manuscript back with him, having +relinquished the idea of publishing for the present. Master Byles +Gridley, on the other hand, had in his pocket a very flattering +proposal, from the same publisher to whom he had introduced the young +poet, for a new and revised edition of his work, "Thoughts on the +Universe," which was to be remodelled in some respects, and to have a +new title not quite so formidable to the average reader. + +It would be hardly fair to Susan Posey to describe with what delight +and innocent enthusiasm she welcomed back Gifted Hopkins. She had +been so lonely since he was away? She had read such of his poems as +she possessed--duplicates of his printed ones, or autographs which he +had kindly written out for her--over and over again, not without the +sweet tribute of feminine sensibility, which is the most precious of +all testimonials to a poet's power over the heart. True, her love +belonged to another,--but then she was so used to Gifted! She did so +love to hear him read his poems,--and Clement had never written that +"little bit of a poem to Susie," which she had asked him for so long +ago! She received him therefore with open arms,--not literally, of +course, which would have been a breach of duty and propriety, but in +a figurative sense, which it is hoped no reader will interpret to her +discredit. + +The young poet was in need of consolation. It is true that he had +seen many remarkable sights during his visit to the city; that he had +got "smarted up," as his mother called it, a good deal; that he had +been to Mrs. Clymer Ketchum's party, where he had looked upon life in +all its splendors; and that he brought back many interesting +experiences, which would serve to enliven his conversation for a long +time. But he had failed in the great enterprise he had undertaken. +He was forced to confess to his revered parent, and his esteemed +friend Susan Posey, that his genius, which was freely acknowledged, +was not thought to be quite ripe as yet. He told the young lady some +particulars of his visit to the publisher, how he had listened with +great interest to one of his poems, "The Triumph of Song,"--how he +had treated him with marked and flattering attention; but that he +advised him not to risk anything prematurely, giving him the hope +that by and by he would be admitted into that series of illustrious +authors which it was the publisher's privilege to present to the +reading public. In short, he was advised not to print. That was the +net total of the matter, and it was a pang to the susceptible heart +of the poet. He had hoped to have come home enriched by the sale of +his copyright, and with the prospect of seeing his name before long +on the back of a handsome volume. + +Gifted's mother did all in her power to console him in his +disappointment. There was plenty of jealous people always that +wanted to keep young folks from rising in the world. Never mind, she +did n't believe but what Gifted could make jest as good verses as any +of them that they kept such a talk about. She had a fear that he +might pine away in consequence of the mental excitement he had gone +through, and solicited his appetite with her choicest appliances,--of +which he partook in a measure which showed that there was no +immediate cause of alarm. + +But Susan Posey was more than a consoler,--she was an angel to him in +this time of his disappointment. "Read me all the poems over again," +she said,--"it is almost the only pleasure I have left, to hear you +read your beautiful verses." Clement Lindsay had not written to +Susan quite so often of late as at some former periods of the history +of their love. Perhaps it was that which had made her look paler +than usual for some little time. Something was evidently preying on +her. Her only delight seemed to be in listening to Gifted as he +read, sometimes with fine declamatory emphasis, sometimes in low, +tremulous tones, the various poems enshrined in his manuscript. At +other times she was sad, and more than once Mrs. Hopkins had seen a +tear steal down her innocent cheek, when there seemed to be no +special cause for grief. She ventured to speak of it to Master Byles +Gridley. + +"Our Susan's in trouble, Mr. Gridley, for some reason or other that's +unbeknown to me, and I can't help wishing you could jest have a few +words with her. You're a kind of a grandfather, you know, to all the +young folks, and they'd tell you pretty much everything about +themselves. I calc'late she is n't at ease in her mind about +somethin' or other, and I kind o' think, Mr. Gridley, you could coax +it out of her." + +"Was there ever anything like it?" said Master Byles Gridley to +himself. "I shall have all the young folks in Oxbow Village to take +care of at this rate. Susan Posey in trouble, too! Well, well, +well, it's easier to get a birch-bark canoe off the shallows than a +big ship off the rocks. Susan Posey's trouble will be come at easily +enough; but Myrtle Hazard floats in deeper water. We must make Susan +Posey tell her own story, or let her tell it, for it will all come +out of itself." + +"I am going to dust the books in the open shelves this morning. I +wonder if Miss Susan Posey would n't like to help for half an hour or +so," Master Gridley remarked at the breakfast-table. + +The amiable girl's very pleasant countenance lighted up at the +thought of obliging the old man who had been so kind to her and so +liberal to her friend, the poet. She would be delighted to help him; +she would dust them all for him, if he wanted her to. No, Master +Gridley said, he always wanted to have a hand in it; and, besides, +such a little body as she was could not lift those great folios out +of the lower shelves without overstraining herself; she might handle +the musketry and the light artillery, but he must deal with the heavy +guns himself. "As low down as the octavos, Susan Posey, you shall +govern; below that, the Salic law." + +Susan did not low much about the Salic law; but she knew he meant +that he would dust the big books and she would attend to the little +ones. + +A very young and a very pretty girl is sometimes quite charming in a +costume which thinks of nothing less than of being attractive. Susan +appeared after breakfast in the study, her head bound with a kerchief +of bright pattern, a little jacket she had outgrown buttoned, in +spite of opposition, close about her up to the throat, round which a +white handkerchief was loosely tied, and a pair of old gauntlets +protecting her hands, so that she suggested something between a +gypsy, a jaunty soubrette, and the fille du regiment. + +Master Gridley took out a great volume from the lower shelf,--a folio +in massive oaken covers with clasps Like prison hinges, bearing the +stately colophon, white on a ground of vermilion, of Nicholas Jenson +and his associates. He opened the volume,--paused over its blue, and +scarlet initial letter,--he turned page after page, admiring its +brilliant characters, its broad, white marginal rivers, and the +narrower white creek that separated the black-typed twin-columns, he +turned back to the beginning and read the commendatory paragraph," +Nam ipsorum omnia fidgent tum correctione dignissima, tum cura +imprimendo splendida ac miranda,' and began reading, "Incipit +proemium super apparatum decretalium...." when it suddenly occurred +to him that this was not exactly doing what he had undertaken to do, +and he began whisking an ancient bandanna about the ears of the +venerable volume. All this time Miss Susan Posey was catching the +little books by the small of their backs, pulling them out, opening +them, and clapping them together, 'p-'p-'p! 'p-'p-'p! and carefully +caressing all their edges with a regular professional dusting-cloth, +so persuasively that they yielded up every particle that a year had +drifted upon them, and came forth refreshed and rejuvenated. This +process went on for a while, until Susan had worked down among +the octavos and Master Gridley had worked up among the quartos. He +had got hold of Calmet's Dictionary, and was caught by the article +Solomon, so that he forgot his occupation again. All at once it +struck him that everything was very silent,--the 'p-'p-'p! of +clapping the books had ceased, and the light rustle of Susan's dress +was no longer heard. He looked up and saw her standing perfectly +still, with a book in one hand and her duster in the other. She was +lost in thought, and by the shadow on her face and the glistening of +her blue eyes he knew it was her hidden sorrow that had just come +back to her. Master Gridley shut up his book, leaving Solomon to his +fate, like the worthy Benedictine he was reading, without discussing +the question whether he was saved or not. + +"Susan Posey, child, what is your trouble?" + +Poor Susan was in the state of unstable equilibrium which the least +touch upsets, and fell to crying. It took her some time to get down +the waves of emotion so that speech would live upon them. At last it +ventured out,--showing at intervals, like the boat rising on the +billow, sinking into the hollow, and climbing again into notice. + +"O Mr. Grid-ley--I can't--I can't--tell you or--any-body--what 's the +mat-mat-matter. My heart will br-br-break." + +"No, no, no, child," said Mr. Gridley, sympathetically stirred a +little himself by the sight of Susan in tears and sobbing and +catching her breath, "that mustn't be, Susan Posey. Come off the +steps, Susan Posey, and stop dusting the books,--I can finish them,-- +and tell me all abort your troubles. I will try 'to help you out of +them, and I have begun to think I know how to help young people +pretty well. I have had some experience at it." + +But Susan cried and sobbed all the more uncontrollably and +convulsively. Master Gridley thought he had better lead her at once +to what he felt pretty sure was the source of her grief, and that, +when she had had her cry out, she would probably make the hole in the +ice he had broken big enough in a very few minutes. + +I think something has gone wrong between you and your friend, the +young gentleman with whom you are in intimate relations, my child, +and I think you had better talk freely with me, for I can perhaps +give you a little counsel that will be of service." + +Susan cried herself quiet at last. "There's nobody in the world like +you, Mr. Gridley," she said, "and I've been wanting to tell you +something ever so long. My friend--Mr. Clem--Clement Lindsay does +n't care for me as he used to,--I know he does n't. He hasn't +written to me for--I don't know but it's a month. And O Mr. Gridley! +he's such a great man, and I am such a simple person,--I can't help +thinking--he would be happier with somebody else than poor little +Susan Posey!" + +This last touch of self-pity overcame her, as it is so apt to do +those who indulge in that delightful misery, and she broke up badly, +as a horse-fancier would say, so that it was some little time before +she recovered her conversational road-gait. + +"O Mr. Gridley," she began again, at length, "if I only dared to tell +him what I think,--that perhaps it would be happier for us both--if +we could forget each other! Ought I not to tell him so? Don't you +think he would find another to make him happy? Wouldn't he forgive +me for telling him he was free? Were we not too young to know each +other's hearts when we promised each other that we would love as long +as we lived? Sha'n't I write him a letter this very day and tell him +all? Do you think it would be wrong in me to do it? O Mr. Gridley, +it makes me almost crazy to think about it. Clement must be free! I +cannot, cannot hold him to a promise he does n't want to keep." + +There were so many questions in this eloquent rhapsody of Susan's +that they neutralized each other, as one might say, and Master +Gridley had time for reflection. His thoughts went on something in +this way: + +"Pretty clear case! Guess Mr. Clement can make up his mind to it. +Put it well, did n't she? Not a word about our little Gifted! +That's the trouble. Poets! how they do bewitch these schoolgirls! +And having a chance every day, too, how could you expect her to stand +it?" Then aloud: "Susan Posey, you are a good, honest little girl as +ever was. I think you and Clement were too hasty in coming together +for life before you knew what life meant. I think if you write +Clement a letter, telling him that you cannot help fearing that you +two are not perfectly adapted to each other, on account of certain +differences for which neither of you is responsible, and that you +propose that each should release the other from the pledge given so +long ago,--in that case, I say, I believe he will think no worse of +you for so doing, and may perhaps agree that it is best for both of +you to seek your happiness elsewhere than in each other." + +The book-dusting came to as abrupt a close as the reading of +Lancelot. Susan went straight to her room, dried her tears so as to +write in a fair hand, but had to stop every few lines and take a turn +at the "dust-layers," as Mrs. Clymer Ketchum's friend used to call +the fountains of sensibility. It would seem like betraying Susan's +confidence to reveal the contents of this letter, but the reader may +be assured that it was simple and sincere and very sweetly written, +without the slightest allusion to any other young man, whether of the +poetical or cheaper human varieties. + +It was not long before Susan received a reply from Clement Lindsay. +It was as kind and generous and noble as she could have asked. It +was affectionate, as a very amiable brother's letter might be, and +candidly appreciative of the reasons Susan had assigned for her +proposal. He gave her back her freedom, not that he should cease to +feel an interest in her, always. He accepted his own release, not +that he would ever think she could be indifferent to his future +fortunes. And within a very brief period of time after sending his +answer to Susan Posey, whether he wished to see her in person, or +whether he had some other motive, he had packed his trunk, and made +his excuses for an absence of uncertain length at the studio, and was +on his way to Oxbow Village. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +JUST AS YOU EXPECTED. + +The spring of 1861 had now arrived,--that eventful spring which was +to lift the curtain and show the first scene of the first act in the +mighty drama which fixed the eyes of mankind during four bloody +years. The little schemes of little people were going on in all our +cities and villages without thought of the fearful convulsion which +was soon coming to shatter the hopes and cloud the prospects of +millions. Our little Oxbow Village, which held itself by no means +the least of human centres, was the scene of its own commotions, as +intense and exciting to those concerned as if the destiny of the +nation had been involved in them. + +Mr. Clement Lindsay appeared suddenly in that important locality, and +repaired to his accustomed quarters at the house of Deacon Rumrill. +That worthy person received him with a certain gravity of manner, +caused by his recollections of the involuntary transgression into +which Mr. Lindsay had led him by his present of "Ivanhoe." --He was, +on the whole, glad to see him, for his finances were not yet wholly +recovered from the injury inflicted on them by the devouring element. +But he could not forget that his boarder had betrayed him into a +breach of the fourth commandment, and that the strict eyes of his +clergyman had detected him in the very commission of the offence. He +had no sooner seen Mr. Clement comfortably installed, therefore, than +he presented himself at the door of his chamber with the book, +enveloped in strong paper and very securely tied round with a stout +string. + +"Here is your vollum, Mr. Lindsay," the Deacon said. "I understand +it is not the work of that great and good mahn who I thought wrote +it. I did not see anything immoral in it as fur as I read, but it +belongs to what I consider a very dangerous class of publications. +These novels and romances are awfully destructive to our youth. I +should recommend you, as a young man of principle, to burn the +vollum. At least I hope you will not leave it about anywhere unless +it is carefully tied up. I have written upon the paper round it to +warn off all the young persons of my household from meddling with +it." + +True enough, Mr. Clement saw in strong black letters on the back of +the paper wrapping his unfortunate "Ivanhoe,"--- + +"DANGEROUS READING FOR CHRISTIAN YOUTH. + +"TOUCH NOT THE UNCLEAN THING." + +"I thought you said you had Scott's picture hung up in your parlor, +Deacon Rumrill," he said, a little amused with the worthy man's fear +and precautions. + +"It is the great Scott's likeness that I have in my parlor," he said; +"I will show it to you if you will come with me." + +Mr. Clement followed the Deacon into that sacred apartment. + +"That is the portrait of the great Scott," he said, pointing to an +engraving of a heavy-looking person whose phrenological developments +were a somewhat striking contrast to those of the distinguished Sir +Walter. + +"I will take good care that none of your young people see this +volume," Mr. Clement said; "I trust you read it yourself, however, +and found something to please you in it. I am sure you are safe from +being harmed by any such book. Did n't you have to finish it, +Deacon, after you had once begun?" + +"Well, I--I--perused a consid'able portion of the work," the Deacon +answered, in a way that led Mr. Clement to think he had not stopped +much short of Finis. "Anything new in the city?" + +"Nothing except what you've all had,--Confederate States establishing +an army and all that,--not very new either. What has been going on +here lately, Deacon?" + +"Well, Mr. Lindsay, not a great deal. My new barn is pretty nigh +done. I've got as fine a litter of pigs as ever you see. I don't +know whether you're a judge of pigs or no. The Hazard gal's come +back, spilt, pooty much, I guess. Been to one o' them fashionable +schools,--I 've heerd that she 's learnt to dance. I've heerd say +that that Hopkins boy's round the Posey gal, come to think, she's the +one you went with some when you was here,--I 'm gettin' kind o' +forgetful. Old Doctor Hurlbut's pretty low,--ninety-four year old,-- +born in '67,--folks ain't ginerally very spry after they're ninety, +but he held out wonderful." + +"How's Mr. Bradshaw?" + +"Well, the young squire, he's off travellin' somewhere in the West, +or to Washin'ton, or somewhere else,--I don't jestly know where. +They say that he's follerin' up the courts in the business about old +Malachi's estate. I don' know much about it." + +The news got round Oxbow Village very speedily that Mr. Clement +Lindsay, generally considered the accepted lover of Miss Susan Posey, +had arrived in that place. Now it had come to be the common talk of +the village that young Gifted Hopkins and Susan Posey were getting to +be mighty thick with each other, and the prevailing idea was that +Clement's visit had reference to that state of affairs. Some said +that Susan had given her young man the mitten, meaning thereby that +she had signified that his services as a suitor were dispensed with. +Others thought there was only a wavering in her affection for her +lover, and that he feared for her constancy, and had come to +vindicate his rights. + +Some of the young fellows, who were doubtless envious of Gifted's +popularity with the fair sex, attempted in the most unjustifiable +manner to play upon his susceptible nature. One of them informed him +that he had seen that Lindsay fellah raound taown with the darndest +big stick y' ever did see. Looked kind o' savage and wild like. +Another one told him that perhaps he'd better keep a little shady; +that are chap that had got the mittin was praowlin' abaout -with a +pistil,--one o' them Darringers,--abaout as long as your thumb, an' +fire a bullet as big as a p'tatah-ball,--'a fellah carries one in his +breeches-pocket, an' shoots y' right threugh his own pahnts, withaout +ever takin' on it aout of his pocket. The stable-keeper, who, it may +be remembered, once exchanged a few playful words with Mr. Gridley, +got a hint from some of these unfeeling young men, and offered the +resources of his stable to the youth supposed to be in peril. + +"I 've got a faast colt, Mr. Hopkins, that 'll put twenty mild +betwixt you an' this here village, as quick as any four huffs 'll dew +it in this here caounty, if you should want to get away suddin. I've +heern tell there was some lookin' raound here that wouldn't be +wholesome to meet,--jest say the word, Mr. Hopkins, an' I 'll have ye +on that are colt's back in less than no time, an' start ye off full +jump. There's a good many that's kind o' worried for fear something +might happen to ye, Mr. Hopkins,--y' see fellahs don't like to have +other chaps cuttin' on 'em aout with their gals." + +Gifted Hopkins had become excessively nervous by this time. It is +true that everything in his intimacy with Susan Posey, so far, might +come under the general head of friendship; but he was conscious that +something more was in both their thoughts. Susan had given him +mysterious hints that her relations with Clement had undergone a +change, but had never had quite courage enough, perhaps had too much +delicacy, to reveal the whole truth. + +Gifted was walking home, deeply immersed in thoughts excited by the +hints which hail been thus wantonly thrown out to inflame his +imagination, when all at once, on lifting his eyes, he saw Clement +Lindsay coming straight towards him. Gifted was unarmed, except with +a pair of blunt scissors, which he carried habitually in his pocket. +What should he do? Should he fly? But he was never a good runner, +being apt to find himself scant o' breath, like Hamlet, after violent +exercise. His demeanor on the occasion did credit to his sense of +his own virtuous conduct and his self-possession. He put his hand +out, while yet at a considerable distance, and marched up towards +Clement, smiling with all the native amiability which belonged to +him. + +To his infinite relief, Clement put out his hand to grasp the one +offered him, and greeted the young poet in the most frank and cordial +manner. + +"And how is Miss Susan Posey, Mr. Hopkins?" asked Clement, in the +most cheerful tone. "It is a long while since I have seen her, and +you must tell her that I hope I shall not leave the village without +finding time to call upon her. She and I are good friends always, +Mr. Hopkins, though perhaps I shall not be quite so often at your +mother's as I was during my last visit to Oxbow Village." + +Gifted felt somewhat as the subject of one of those old-fashioned +forms of argument, formerly much employed to convince men of error in +matters of religion, must have felt when the official who +superintended the stretching-machine said, "Slack up!" + +He told Mr. Clement all about Susan, and was on the point of saying +that if he, Mr. Clement, did not claim any engrossing interest in +her, he, Gifted, was ready to offer her the devotion of a poet's +heart. Mr. Clement, however, had so many other questions to ask him +about everybody in the village, more particularly concerning certain +young persons in whom he seemed to be specially interested, that +there was no chance to work in his own revelations of sentiment. + +Clement Lindsay had come to Oxbow Village with a single purpose. He +could now venture to trust himself in the presence of Myrtle Hazard. +He was free, and he knew nothing to show that she had lost the +liberty of disposing of her heart. But after an experience such as +he had gone through, he was naturally distrustful of himself, and +inclined to be cautious and reserved in yielding to a new passion. +Should he tell her the true relations in which they stood to each +other,--that she owed her life to him, and that he had very nearly +sacrificed his own in saving hers? Why not? He had a claim on her +gratitude for what he had done in her behalf, and out of this +gratitude there might naturally spring a warmer feeling. + +No, he could not try to win her affections by showing that he had +paid for them beforehand. She seemed to be utterly unconscious of +the fact that it was he who had been with her in the abyss of waters. +If the thought came to her of itself, and she ever asked him, it +would be time enough to tell her the story. If not, the moment might +arrive when he could reveal to her the truth that he was her +deliverer, without accusing himself of bribing her woman's heart to +reward him for his services. He would wait for that moment. + +It was the most natural thing in the world that Mr. Lindsay, a young +gentleman from the city, should call to see Miss Hazard, a young lady +whom he had met recently at a party. To that pleasing duty he +addressed himself the evening after his arrival. + +"The young gentleman's goin' a courtin', I calc'late," was the remark +of the Deacon's wife when she saw what a comely figure Mr. Clement +showed at the tea-table. + +"A very hahnsome young mahn," the Deacon replied, "and looks as if he +might know consid'able. An architect, you know,--a sort of a +builder. Wonder if he has n't got any good plans for a hahnsome +pigsty. I suppose he 'd charge somethin' for one, but it couldn't be +much, an' he could take it out in board." + +"Better ask him," his wife--said; "he looks mighty pleasant; there's +nothin' lost by askin', an' a good deal got sometimes, grandma used +to say." + +The Deacon followed her advice. Mr. Clement was perfectly good- +natured about it, asked the Deacon the number of snouts in his +menagerie, got an idea of the accommodations required, and sketched +the plaza of a neat, and appropriate edifice for the Porcellarium, as +Master Gridley afterwards pleasantly christened it, which was carried +out by the carpenter, and stands to this day a monument of his +obliging disposition, and a proof that there is nothing so humble +that taste cannot be shown in it. + +"What'll be your charge for the plan of the pigsty, Mr. Lindsay?" the +Deacon inquired with an air of interest,--he might have become +involved more deeply than he had intended. "How much should you call +about right for the picter an' figgerin'?" + +"Oh, you're quite welcome to my sketch of a plan, Deacon. I've seen +much showier buildings tenanted by animals not very different from +those your edifice is meant for." + +Mr. Clement found the three ladies sitting together in the chill, dim +parlor at The Poplars. They had one of the city papers spread out on +the table, and Myrtle was reading aloud the last news from Charleston +Harbor. She rose as Mr. Clement entered, and stepped forward to meet +him. It was a strange impression this young man produced upon her,-- +not through the common channels of the intelligence, not exactly that +"magnetic " influence of which she had had experience at a former +time. It did not over come her as at the moment of their second +meeting. But it was something she must struggle against, and she had +force and pride and training enough now to maintain her usual +tranquillity, in spite of a certain inward commotion which seemed to +reach her breathing and her pulse by some strange, inexplicable +mechanism. + +Myrtle, it must be remembered, was no longer the simple country girl +who had run away at fifteen, but a young lady of seventeen, who had +learned all that more than a year's diligence at a great school could +teach her, who had been much with girls of taste and of culture, and +was familiar with the style and manners of those who came from what +considered itself the supreme order in the social hierarchy. Her +natural love for picturesque adornment was qualified by a knowledge +of the prevailing modes not usual in so small a place as Oxbow +Village. All this had not failed to produce its impression on those +about her. Persons who, like Miss Silence Withers, believe, not in +education, inasmuch as there is no healthy nature to be educated, but +in transformation, worry about their charges up to a certain period +of their lives. Then, if the transformation does not come, they seem +to think their cares and duties are at an end, and, considering their +theories of human destiny, usually accept the situation with +wonderful complacency. This was the stage which Miss Silence Withers +had reached with reference to Myrtle. It made her infinitely more +agreeable, or less disagreeable, as the reader may choose one or the +other statement, than when she was always fretting about her +"responsibility." She even began to take an interest in some of +Myrtle's worldly experiences, and something like a smile would now +and then disarrange the chief-mourner stillness of her features, as +Myrtle would tell some lively story she had brought away from the gay +society she had frequented. + +Cynthia Badlam kept her keen eyes on her like a hawk. Murray +Bradshaw was away, and here was this handsome and agreeable youth +coming in to poach on the preserve of which she considered herself +the gamekeeper. What did it mean? She had heard the story about +Susan's being off with her old love and on with a new one. Ah ha! +this is the game, is it? + +Clement Lindsay passed not so much a pleasant evening, as one of +strange, perplexed, and mingled delight and inward conflict. He had +found his marble once more turned to flesh and blood, and breathing +before him. This was the woman he was born for; her form was fit to +model his proudest ideal from, her eyes melted him when they rested +for an instant on his face,--her voice reached the hidden +sensibilities of his inmost nature; those which never betray their +existence until the outward chord to which they vibrate in response +sends its message to stir them. But was she not already pledged to +that other,--that cold-blooded, contriving, venal, cynical, selfish, +polished, fascinating man of the world, whose artful strategy would +pass with nine women out of ten for the most romantic devotion? + +If he had known the impression he made, he would have felt less +anxiety with reference to this particular possibility. Miss Silence +expressed herself gratified with his appearance, and thought he +looked like a good young man,--he reminded her of a young friend of +hers who--[It was the same who had gone to one of the cannibal +islands as a missionary,--and stayed there.] Myrtle was very quiet. +She had nothing to say about Clement, except that she had met him at +a party in the city, and found him agreeable. Miss Cynthia wrote a +letter to Murray Bradshaw that very evening, telling him that he had +better come back to Oxbow Village as quickly as he could, unless he +wished to find his place occupied by an intruder. + +In the mean time, the country was watching the garrison in Charleston +Harbor. All at once the first gun of the four years' cannonade +hurled its ball against the walls of Fort Sumter. There was no +hamlet in the land which the reverberations of that cannon-roar did +not reach. There was no valley so darkened by overshadowing hills +that it did not see the American flag hauled down on the 13th of +April. There was no loyal heart in the North that did not answer to +the call of the country to its defenders which went forth two days +later. The great tide of feeling reached the locality where the +lesser events of our narrative were occurring. A meeting of the +citizens was instantly called. The venerable Father Pemberton opened +it with a prayer that filled every soul with courage and high +resolve. The young farmers and mechanics of that whole region joined +the companies to which they belonged, or organized in squads and +marched at once, or got ready to march, to the scene of conflict. + +The contagion of warlike patriotism reached the most peacefully +inclined young persons. + +"My country calls me," Gifted Hopkins said to Susan Posey, "and I am +preparing to obey her summons. If I can pass the medical +examination, which it is possible I may, though I fear my +constitution may be thought too weak, and if no obstacle impedes me, +I think of marching in the ranks of the Oxbow Invincibles. If I go, +Susan, and I fall, will you not remember me . . . as one who . . +. cherished the tenderest . . . sentiments . . . towards you . +. . and who had looked forward to the time when . . . when . ." + +His eyes told the rest. He loved! + +Susan forgot all the rules of reserve to which she had been trained. +What were cold conventionalities at such a moment? "Never! never!" +she said, throwing her arms about his neck and mingling her tears +with his, which were flowing freely. "Your country does not need +your sword .... but it does need . . . your pen. Your poems will +inspire . . . our soldiers. . . . The Oxbow Invincibles will +march to victory, singing your songs . . . . If you go . . . +and if you.. . fall . . . O Gifted! . . . I . . . I . . +. yes, I shall die too!" + +His love was returned. He was blest! + +"Susan," he said, "my own Susan, I yield to your wishes at every +sacrifice. Henceforth they will be my law. Yes, I will stay and +encourage my brave countrymen to go forward to the bloody field. My +voice shall urge them on to the battle-ground. I will give my +dearest breath to stimulate their ardor. + +O Susan! My own, own Susan!" + +While these interesting events had been going on beneath the modest +roof of the Widow Hopkins, affairs had been rapidly hastening to a +similar conclusion under the statelier shadow of The Poplars. +Clement Lindsay was so well received at his first visit that he +ventured to repeat it several times, with so short intervals that it +implied something more than a common interest in one of the members +of the household. There was no room for doubt who this could be, and +Myrtle Hazard could not help seeing that she was the object of his +undisguised admiration. The belief was now general in the village +that Gifted Hopkins and Susan Posey were either engaged or on the +point of being so; and it was equally understood that, whatever might +be the explanation, she and her former lover had parted company in an +amicable manner. + +Love works very strange transformations in young women. Sometimes it +leads them to try every mode of adding to their attractions,--their +whole thought is how to be most lovely in the eyes they would fill so +as to keep out all other images. Poor darlings! We smile at their +little vanities, as if they were very trivial things compared with +the last Congressman's speech or the great Election Sermon; but +Nature knows well what she is about. The maiden's ribbon or ruffle +means a great deal more for her than the judge's wig or the priest's +surplice. + +It was not in this way that the gentle emotion awaking in the breast +of Myrtle Hazard betrayed itself. As the thought dawned in her +consciousness that she was loved, a change came over her such as the +spirit that protected her, according to the harmless fancy she had +inherited, might have wept for joy to behold, if tears could flow +from angelic eyes. She forgot herself and her ambitions,--the +thought of shining in the great world died out in the presence of new +visions of a future in which she was not to be her own,--of feelings +in the depth of which the shallow vanities which had drawn her young +eyes to them for a while seemed less than nothing. Myrtle had not +hitherto said to herself that Clement was her lover, yet her whole +nature was expanding and deepening in the light of that friendship +which any other eye could have known at a glance for the great +passion. + +Cynthia Badlam wrote a pressing letter to Murray Bradshaw. "There is +no time to be lost; she is bewitched, and will be gone beyond hope if +this business is not put a stop to." + +Love moves in an accelerating ratio; and there comes a time when the +progress of the passion escapes from all human formulae, and brings +two young hearts, which had been gradually drawing nearer and nearer +together, into complete union, with a suddenness that puts an +infinity between the moment when all is told and that which went just +before. + +They were sitting together by themselves in the dimly lighted parlor. +They had told each other many experiences of their past lives, very +freely, as two intimate friends of different sex might do. Clement +had happened to allude to Susan, speaking very kindly and tenderly of +her. He hoped this youth to whom she was attached would make her +life happy. "You know how simple-hearted and good she is; her image +will always be a pleasant one in my memory,--second to but one +other." + +Myrtle ought, according to the common rules of conversation, to have +asked, What other? but she did not. She may have looked as if she +wanted to ask,--she may have blushed or turned pale, perhaps she +could not trust her voice; but whatever the reason was, she sat +still, with downcast eyes. Clement waited a reasonable time, but, +finding it was of no use, began again. + +"Your image is the one other,--the only one, let me say, for all else +fades in its presence,--your image fills all my thought. Will you +trust your life and happiness with one who can offer you so little +beside his love? You know my whole heart is yours." + +Whether Myrtle said anything in reply or not, whether she acted like +Coleridge's Genevieve,--that is, "fled to him and wept," or suffered +her feelings to betray themselves in some less startling confession, +we will leave untold. Her answer, spoken or silent, could not have +been a cruel one, for in another moment Clement was pressing his lips +to hers, after the manner of accepted lovers. + +"Our lips have met to-day for the second time," he said, presently. + +She looked at him in wonder. What did he mean? The second time! +How assuredly he spoke! She looked him calmly in the face, and +awaited his explanation. + +"I have a singular story to tell you. On the morning of the 16th of +June, now nearly two years ago, I was sitting in my room at +Alderbank, some twenty miles down the river, when I heard a cry for +help coming from the river. I ran down to the bank, and there I saw +a boy in an old boat--" + +When it came to the "boy" in the old boat, Myrtle's cheeks flamed so +that she could not bear it, and she covered her face with both her +hands. But Clement told his story calmly through to the end, sliding +gently over its later incidents, for Myrtle's heart was throbbing +violently, and her breath a little catching and sighing, as when she +had first lived with the new life his breath had given her. + + +"Why did you ask me for myself, when you could have claimed me?" she +said. + +"I wanted a free gift, Myrtle," Clement answered, "and I have it." + +They sat in silence, lost in the sense of that new life which had +suddenly risen on their souls. + +The door-bell rang sharply. Kitty Fagan answered its summons, and +presently entered the parlor and announced that Mr. Bradshaw was in +the library, and wished to see the ladies. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +MURRAY BRADSHAW PLAYS HIS LAST CARD. + +"How can I see that man this evening, Mr. Lindsay?" + +"May I not be Clement, dearest? I would not see him at all, Myrtle. +I don't believe you will find much pleasure in listening to his fine +speeches." + +"I cannot endure it. --Kitty, tell him I am engaged, and cannot see +him this evening. No, no! don't say engaged, say very much +occupied." + +Kitty departed, communing with herself in this wise:--" Ockipied, is +it? An' that's what ye cahl it when ye 're kapin' company with one +young gintleman an' don't want another young gintleman to come in an' +help the two of ye? Ye won't get y'r pigs to market to-day, Mr. +Bridshaw, no, nor to-morrow, nayther, Mr. Bridshaw. It's Mrs. +Lindsay that Miss Myrtle is goin' to be,--an' a big cake there'll be +at the weddin' frosted all over,--won't ye be plased with a slice o' +that, Mr. Bridshaw?" + +With these reflections in her mind, Mistress Kitty delivered her +message, not without a gleam of malicious intelligence in her look +that stung Mr. Bradshaw sharply. He had noticed a hat in the entry, +and a little stick by it which he remembered well as one he had seen +carried by Clement Lindsay. But he was used to concealing his +emotions, and he greeted the two older ladies who presently came into +the library so pleasantly, that no one who had not studied his face +long and carefully would have suspected the bitterness of heart that +lay hidden far down beneath his deceptive smile. He told Miss +Silence, with much apparent interest, the story of his journey. He +gave her an account of the progress of the case in which the estate +of which she inherited the principal portion was interested. He did +not tell her that a final decision which would settle the right to +the great claim might be expected at any moment, and he did not tell +her that there was very little doubt that it would be in favor of the +heirs of Malachi Withers. He was very sorry he could not see Miss +Hazard that evening,--hoped he should be more fortunate to-morrow +forenoon, when he intended to call again,--had a message for her from +one of her former school friends, which he was anxious to give her. +He exchanged certain looks and hints with Miss Cynthia, which led her +to withdraw and bring down the papers he had entrusted to her. At +the close of his visit, she followed him into the entry with a lamp, +as was her common custom. + +"What's the meaning of all this, Cynthia? Is that fellow making love +to Myrtle?" + +"I'm afraid so, Mr. Bradshaw. He's been here several times, and they +seem to be getting intimate. I couldn't do anything to stop it." + +"Give me the papers,--quick!" + +Cynthia pulled the package from her pocket. Murray Bradshaw looked +sharply at it. A little crumpled,--crowded into her pocket. Seal +unbroken. All safe. + +"I shall come again to-morrow forenoon. Another day and it will be +all up. The decision of the court will be known. It won't be my +fault if one visit is not enough. --You don't suppose Myrtle is in +love with this fellow?" + +"She acts as--if she might be. You know he's broke with Susan Posey, +and there's nothing to hinder. If you ask my opinion, I think it's +your last chance: she is n't a girl to half do things, and if she has +taken to this man it will be hard to make her change her mind. But +she's young, and she has had a liking for you, and if you manage it +well there's no telling." + +Two notes passed between Myrtle Hazard and Master Byles Gridley that +evening. Mistress Kitty Fagan, who had kept her ears pretty wide +open, carried them. + +Murray Bradshaw went home in a very desperate state of feeling. He +had laid his plans, as he thought, with perfect skill, and the +certainty of their securing their end. These papers were to have +been taken from the envelope, and found in the garret just at the +right moment, either by Cynthia herself or one of the other members +of the family, who was to be led on, as it were accidentally, to the +discovery. The right moment must be close at hand. He was to offer +his hand--and heart, of course--to Myrtle, and it was to be accepted. +As soon as the decision of the land case was made known, or not long +afterwards, there was to be a search in the garret for papers, and +these were to be discovered in a certain dusty recess, where, of +course, they would have been placed by Miss Cynthia. + +And now the one condition which gave any value to these arrangements +seemed like to fail. This obscure youth--this poor fool, who had +been on the point of marrying a simpleton to whom he had made a +boyish promise--was coming between him and the object of his long +pursuit,--the woman who had every attraction to draw him to herself. +It had been a matter of pride with Murray Bradshaw that he never lost +his temper so as to interfere with the precise course of action which +his cool judgment approved; but now he was almost beside himself with +passion. His labors, as he believed, had secured the favorable issue +of the great case so long pending. He had followed Myrtle through +her whole career, if not as her avowed lover, at least as one whose +friendship promised to flower in love in due season. The moment had +come when the scene and the characters in this village drama were to +undergo a change as sudden and as brilliant as is seen in those fairy +spectacles where the dark background changes to a golden palace and +the sober dresses are replaced by robes of regal splendor. The +change was fast approaching; but he, the enchanter, as he had thought +himself, found his wand broken, and his power given to another. + +He could not sleep during that night. He paced his room, a prey to +jealousy and envy and rage, which his calm temperament had kept him +from feeling in their intensity up to this miserable hour. He +thought of all that a maddened nature can imagine to deaden its own +intolerable anguish. Of revenge. If Myrtle rejected his suit, +should he take her life on the spot, that she might never be +another's,--that neither man nor woman should ever triumph over him, +--the proud ambitious man, defeated, humbled, scorned? No! that was +a meanness of egotism which only the most vulgar souls could be +capable of. Should he challenge her lover? It was not the way of +the people and time, and ended in absurd complications, if anybody +was foolish enough to try it. Shoot him? The idea floated through +his mind, for he thought of everything; but he was a lawyer, and not +a fool, and had no idea of figuring in court as a criminal. Besides, +he was not a murderer,--cunning was his natural weapon, not violence. +He had a certain admiration of desperate crime in others, as showing +nerve and force, but he did not feel it to be his own style of doing +business. + +During the night he made every arrangement for leaving the village +the next day, in case he failed to make any impression on Myrtle +Hazard and found that his chance was gone. He wrote a letter to his +partner, telling him that he had left to join one of the regiments +forming in the city. He adjusted all his business matters so that +his partner should find as little trouble as possible. A little +before dawn he threw himself on the bed, but he could not sleep; and +he rose at sunrise, and finished his preparations for his departure +to the city. + +The morning dragged along slowly. He could not go to the office, not +wishing to meet his partner again. After breakfast he dressed +himself with great care, for he meant to show himself in the best +possible aspect. Just before he left the house to go to The Poplars, +he took the sealed package from his trunk, broke open the envelope, +took from it a single paper,--it had some spots on it which +distinguished it from all the rest,--put it separately in his pocket, +and then the envelope containing the other papers. The calm smile be +wore on his features as he set forth cost him a greater effort than +he had ever made before to put it on. He was moulding his face to +the look with which he meant to present himself; and the muscles had +been sternly fixed so long that it was a task to bring them to their +habitual expression in company,--that of ingenuous good-nature. + +He was shown into the parlor at The Poplars; and Kitty told Myrtle +that he had called and inquired for her and was waiting down stairs. + +"Tell him I will be down presently," she said. "And, Kitty, now mind +just what I tell you. Leave your kitchen door open, so that you can +hear anything fall in the parlor. If you hear a book fall,--it will +be a heavy one, and will make some noise,--run straight up here to my +little chamber, and hang this red scarf out of the window. The left- +hand side-sash, mind, so that anybody can see it from the road. If +Mr. Gridley calls, show him into the parlor, no matter who is there." + +Kitty Fagan looked amazingly intelligent, and promised that she would +do exactly as she was told. Myrtle followed her down stairs almost +immediately, and went into the parlor, where Mr. Bradshaw was +waiting. + +Never in his calmest moments had he worn a more insinuating smile on +his features than that with which he now greeted Myrtle. So gentle, +so gracious, so full of trust, such a completely natural expression +of a kind, genial character did it seem, that to any but an expert it +would have appeared impossible that such an effect could be produced +by the skilful balancing of half a dozen pairs of little muscles that +manage the lips and the corners of the mouth. The tones of his voice +were subdued into accord with the look of his features; his whole +manner was fascinating, as far as any conscious effort could make it +so. It was just one of those artificially pleasing effects that so +often pass with such as have little experience of life for the +genuine expression of character and feeling. But Myrtle had learned +the look that shapes itself on the features of one who loves with a +love that seeketh not its own, and she knew the difference between +acting and reality. She met his insinuating approach with a courtesy +so carefully ordered that it was of itself a sentence without appeal. +Artful persons often interpret sincere ones by their own standard. +Murray Bradshaw thought little of this somewhat formal address,--a +few minutes would break this thin film to pieces. He was not only a +suitor with a prize to gain, he was a colloquial artist about to +employ all the resources of his specialty. + +He introduced the conversation in the most natural and easy way, by +giving her the message from a former school-mate to which he had +referred, coloring it so delicately, as he delivered it, that it +became an innocent-looking flattery. Myrtle found herself in a rose- +colored atmosphere, not from Murray Bradshaw's admiration, as it +seemed, but only reflected by his mind from another source. That was +one of his arts, always, if possible, to associate himself +incidentally, as it appeared, and unavoidably, with an agreeable +impression. + +So Myrtle was betrayed into smiling and being pleased before he had +said a word about himself or his affairs. Then he told her of the +adventures and labors of his late expedition; of certain evidence +which at the very last moment he had unearthed, and which was very +probably the turning-point in the case. He could not help feeling +that she must eventually reap some benefit from the good fortune with +which his efforts had been attended. The thought that it might yet +be so had been a great source of encouragement to him,--it would +always be a great happiness to him to remember that he had done +anything to make her happy. + +Myrtle was very glad that he had been so far successful,--she did not +know that it made much difference to her, but she was obliged to him +for the desire of serving her that he had expressed. + +"My services are always yours, Miss Hazard. There is no sacrifice I +would not willingly make for your benefit. I have never had but one +feeling toward you. You cannot be ignorant of what that feeling is." + +"I know, Mr. Bradshaw, it has been one of kindness. I have to thank +you for many friendly attentions, for which I hope I have never been +ungrateful." + +"Kindness is not all that I feel towards you, Miss Hazard. If that +were all, my lips would not tremble as they do now in telling you my +feelings.--I love you." + +He sprang the great confession on Myrtle a little sooner than he had +meant. It was so hard to go on making phrases! Myrtle changed color +a little, for she was startled. + +The seemingly involuntary movement she made brought her arm against a +large dictionary, which lay very near the edge of the table on which +it was resting. The book fell with a loud noise to the floor. + +There it lay. The young man awaited her answer; he did not think of +polite forms at such a moment. + +"It cannot be, Mr. Bradshaw,--it must not be. I have known you long, +and I am not ignorant of all your brilliant qualities, but you must +not speak to me of love. Your regard,--your friendly interest, tell +me that I shall always have these, but do not distress me with +offering more than these." + +"I do not ask you to give me your love in return; I only ask you not +to bid me despair. Let me believe that the time may come' when you +will listen to me,--no matter how distant. You are young,--you have +a tender heart,--you would not doom one who only lives for you to +wretchedness,--so long that we have known each other. It cannot be +that any other has come between us--" + +Myrtle blushed so deeply that there was no need of his finishing his +question. + +"Do you mean, Myrtle Hazard, that you have cast me aside for another? +--for this stranger--this artist--who was with you yesterday when I +came, bringing with me the story of all I had done for you, yes, for +you,--and was ignominiously refused the privilege of seeing you?" +Rage and jealousy had got the better of him this time. He rose as he +spoke, and looked upon her with such passion kindling in his eyes +that he seemed ready for any desperate act. + +"I have thanked you for any services you may have rendered me, Mr. +Bradshaw," Myrtle answered, very calmly, "and I hope you will add one +more to them by sparing me this rude questioning. I wished to treat +you as a friend; I hope you will not render that impossible." + +He had recovered himself for one more last effort. "I was impatient +overlook it, I beg you. I was thinking of all the happiness I have +labored to secure for you, and of the ruin to us both it would be if +you scornfully rejected the love I offer you,--if you refuse to leave +me any hope for the future,--if you insist on throwing yourself away +on this man, so lately pledged to another. I hold the key of all +your earthly fortunes in my hand. My love for you inspired me in all +that I have done, and, now that I come to lay the result of my labors +at your feet, you turn from me, and offer my reward to a stranger. +I do not ask you to say this day that you will be mine,--I would not +force your inclinations,--but I do ask you that you will hold +yourself free of all others, and listen to me as one who may yet be +more than a friend. Say so much as this, Myrtle, and you shall have +such a future as you never dreamed of. Fortune, position, all that +this world can give, shall be yours." + +"Never! never! If you could offer me the whole world, or take away +from me all that the world can give, it would make no difference to +me. I cannot tell what power you hold over me, whether of life and +death, or of wealth and poverty; but after talking to me of love, I +should not have thought you would have wronged me by suggesting any +meaner motive. It is only because we have been on friendly terms so +long that I have listened to you as I have done. You have said more +than enough, and I beg you will allow me to put an end to this +interview." + +She rose to leave the room. But Murray Bradshaw had gone too far to +control himself,--he listened only to the rage which blinded him. + +"Not yet!" he said. "Stay one moment, and you shall know what your +pride and self-will have cost you!" + +Myrtle stood, arrested, whether by fear, or curiosity, or the passive +subjection of her muscles to his imperious will, it would be hard to +say. + +Murray Bradshaw took out the spotted paper from his breast-pocket, +and held it up before her. "Look here!" he exclaimed. "This would +have made you rich,--it would have crowned you a queen in society,-- +it would have given you all, and more than all, that you ever dreamed +of luxury, of splendor, of enjoyment; and I, who won it for you, +would have taught you how to make life yield every bliss it had in +store to your wishes. You reject my offer unconditionally?" + +Myrtle expressed her negative only by a slight contemptuous movement. + +Murray Bradshaw walked deliberately to the fireplace, and laid the +spotted paper upon the burning coals. It writhed and curled, +blackened, flamed, and in a moment was a cinder dropping into ashes. +He folded his arms, and stood looking at the wreck of Myrtle's +future, the work of his cruel hand. Strangely enough, Myrtle herself +was fascinated, as it were, by the apparent solemnity of this +mysterious sacrifice. She had kept her eyes steadily on him all the +time, and was still gazing at the altar on which her happiness had +been in some way offered up, when the door was opened by Kitty Fagan, +and Master Byles Gridley was ushered into the parlor. + +"Too late, old man! "Murray Bradshaw exclaimed, in a hoarse and +savage voice, as he passed out of the room, and strode through the +entry and down the avenue. It was the last time the old gate of The +Poplars was to open or close for him. The same day he left the +village; and the next time his name was mentioned it was as an +officer in one of the regiments just raised and about marching to the +seat of war. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +THE SPOTTED PAPER. + +What Master Gridley may have said to Myrtle Hazard that served to +calm her after this exciting scene cannot now be recalled. That +Murray Bradshaw thought he was inflicting a deadly injury on her was +plain enough. That Master Gridley did succeed in convincing her that +no great harm had probably been done her is equally certain. + +Like all bachelors who have lived a lonely life, Master Byles Gridley +had his habits, which nothing short of some terrestrial convulsion-- +or perhaps, in his case, some instinct that drove him forth to help +somebody in trouble--could possibly derange. After his breakfast, he +always sat and read awhile,--the paper, if a new one came to hand, or +some pleasant old author,--if a little neglected by the world of +readers, he felt more at ease with him, and loved him all the better. + +But on the morning after his interview with Myrtle Hazard, he had +received a letter which made him forget newspapers, old authors, +almost everything, for the moment. It was from the publisher with +whom he had had a conversation, it may be remembered, when he visited +the city, and was to this effect: That Our Firm propose to print and +stereotype the work originally published under the title of "Thoughts +on the Universe"; said work to be remodelled according to the plan +suggested by the Author, with the corrections, alterations, +omissions, and additions proposed by him; said work to be published +under the following title, to wit: ________ _________: said work to +be printed in 12mo, on paper of good quality, from new types, etc., +etc., and for every copy thereof printed the author to receive, etc., +etc. + +Master Gridley sat as in a trance, reading this letter over and over, +to know if it could be really so. So it really was. His book had +disappeared from the market long ago, as the elm seeds that carpet +the ground and never germinate disappear. At last it had got a +certain value as a curiosity for book-hunters. Some one of them, +keener-eyed than the rest, had seen that there was a meaning and +virtue in this unsuccessful book, for which there was a new audience +educated since it had tried to breathe before its time. Out of this +had grown at last the publisher's proposal. It was too much: his +heart swelled with joy, and his eyes filled with tears. + +How could he resist the temptation? He took down his own particular +copy of the book, which was yet to do him honor as its parent, and +began reading. As his eye fell on one paragraph after another, he +nodded approval of this sentiment or opinion, he shook his head as if +questioning whether this other were not to be modified or left out, +he condemned a third as being no longer true for him as when it was +written, and he sanctioned a fourth with his hearty approval. The +reader may like a few specimens from this early edition, now a +rarity. He shall have them, with Master Gridley's verbal comments. +The book, as its name implied, contained "Thoughts" rather than +consecutive trains of reasoning or continuous disquisitions. What he +read and remarked upon were a few of the more pointed statements +which stood out in the chapters he was turning over. The worth of +the book must not be judged by these almost random specimens. + +"THE BEST THOUGHT, LIKE THE MOST PERFECT DIGESTION, IS DONE +UNCONSCIOUSLY. --Develop that. --Ideas at compound interest in the +mind. --Be aye sticking in an idea,--while you're sleeping it'll be +growing. Seed of a thought to-day,--flower to-morrow--next week--ten +years from now, etc. --Article by and by for the.... + +"CAN THE INFINITE BE SUPPOSED TO SHIFT THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE +ULTIMATE DESTINY OF ANY CREATED THING TO THE FINITE? OUR THEOLOGIANS +PRETEND THAT IT CAN. I DOUBT. --Heretical. Stet. + +"PROTESTANTISM MEANS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS. BUT IT IS AFRAID OF ITS +OWN LOGIC. --Stet. No logical resting-place short of None of your +business. + +"THE SUPREME SELF-INDULGENCE IS TO SURRENDER THE WILL TO A SPIRITUAL +DIRECTOR. --Protestantism gave up a great luxury. --Did it though? + +"ASIATIC MODES OF THOUGHT AND SPEECH DO NOT EXPRESS THE 'RELATIONS IN +WHICH THE AMERICAN FEELS HIM SELF TO STAND TO HIS SUPERIORS IN THIS +OR ANY OTHER SPHERE OF BEING. REPUBLICANISM MUST HAVE ITS OWN +RELIGIOUS PHRASEOLOGY, WHICH IS NOT THAT BORROWED FROM ORIENTAL +DESPOTISMS. + +"IDOLS AND DOGMAS IN PLACE OF CHARACTER; PILLS AND THEORIES IN PLACE +OF WHOLESOME LIVING. SEE THE HISTORIES OF THEOLOGY AND MEDICINE +PASSIM.--Hits 'em. + +"'OF SUCH IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.' DO YOU MEAN TO SAY JEAN CHAUVIN, +THAT + 'HEAVEN LIES ABOUT US IN OUR INFANCY'? + +"WHY DO YOU COMPLAIN OF YOUR ORGANIZATION? YOUR SOUL WAS IN A HURRY, +AND MADE A RUSH FOR A BODY. THERE ARE PATIENT SPIRITS THAT HAVE +WAITED FROM ETERNITY, AND NEVER FOUND PARENTS FIT TO BE BORN OF. +--How do you know anything about all that? Dele. + +"WHAT SWEET, SMOOTH VOICES THE NEGROES HAVE! A HUNDRED GENERATIONS +FED ON BANANAS.--COMPARE THEM WITH OUR APPLE-EATING WHITE FOLKS! --It +won't do. Bananas came from the West Indies. + +"TO TELL A MAN'S TEMPERAMENT BY HIS HANDWRITING. SEE IF THE DOTS OF +HIS I'S RUN AHEAD OR NOT, AND IF THEY DO, HOW FAR. --I have tried +that--on myself. + +"MARRYING INTO SOME FAMILIES IS THE NEXT THING TO BEING CANONIZED. +--Not so true now as twenty or thirty years ago. As many bladders, +but more pins. + +"FISH AND DANDIES ONLY KEEP ON ICE. --Who will take? Explain in note +how all warmth approaching blood heat spoils fops and flounders. + +"FLYING IS A LOST ART AMONG MEN AND REPTILES. BATS FLY, AND MEN +OUGHT TO. TRY A LIGHT TURBINE. RISE A MILE STRAIGHT, FALL HALF A +MILE SLANTING,--RISE HALF A MILE STRAIGHT, FALL HALF A MILE SLANTING, +AND SO ON. OR SLANT UP AND SLANT DOWN. --Poh! You ain't such a fool +as to think that is new,--are you? + +"Put in my telegraph project. Central station. Cables with +insulated wires running to it from different quarters of the city. +These form the centripetal system. From central station, wires to +all the livery stables, messenger stands, provision shops, etc., etc. +These form the centrifugal system. Any house may have a wire in the +nearest cable at small cost. + +"DO YOU WANT TO BE REMEMBERED AFTER THE CONTINENTS HAVE GONE UNDER, +AND COME UP AGAIN, AND DRIED, AND BRED NEW RACES? HAVE YOUR NAME +STAMPED ON ALL YOUR PLATES AND CUPS AND SAUCERS. NOTHING OF YOU OR +YOURS WILL LAST LIKE THOSE. I NEVER SIT DOWN AT MY TABLE WITHOUT +LOOKING AT THE CHINA SERVICE, AND SAYING, 'HERE ARE MY MONUMENTS. +THAT BUTTER-DISH IS MY URN. THIS SOUP-PLATE IS MY MEMORIAL TABLET.' +NO NEED OF A SKELETON AT MY BANQUETS! I FEED FROM MY TOMBSTONE AND +READ MY EPITAPH AT THE BOTTOM OF EVERY TEACUP.--Good." + +He fell into a revery as he finished reading this last sentence. He +thought of the dim and dread future,--all the changes that it would +bring to him, to all the living, to the face of the globe, to the +order of earthly things. He saw men of a new race, alien to all that +had ever lived, excavating with strange, vast engines the old +ocean-bed now become habitable land. And as the great scoops turned +out the earth they had fetched up from the unexplored depths, a relic +of a former simple civilization revealed the fact that here a tribe +of human beings had lived and perished. --Only the coffee-cup he had +in his hand half an hour ago. --Where would he be then? and Mrs. +Hopkins, and Gifted, and Susan, and everybody? and President +Buchanan? and the Boston State-House? and Broadway? --O Lord, Lord, +Lord! And the sun perceptibly smaller, according to the astronomers, +and the earth cooled down a number of degrees, and inconceivable arts +practised by men of a type yet undreamed of, and all the fighting +creeds merged in one great universal + +A knock at his door interrupted his revery. Miss Susan Posey +informed him that a gentleman was waiting below who wished to see +him. + +"Show him up to my study, Susan Posey, if you please," said Master +Gridley. + +Mr. Penhallow presented himself at Mr. Gridley's door with a +countenance expressive of a very high state of excitement. + +"You have heard the news, Mr. Gridley, I suppose?" + +"What news, Mr. Penhallow?" + +"First, that my partner has left very unexpectedly to enlist in a +regiment just forming. Second, that the great land case is decided +in favor of the heirs of the late Malachi Withers." + +"Your partner must have known about it yesterday?" + +"He did, even before I knew it. He thought himself possessed of a +very important document, as you know, of which he has made, or means +to make, some use. You are aware of the artifice I employed to +prevent any possible evil consequences from any action of his. +I have the genuine document, of course. I wish you to go over with +me to The Poplars, and I should be glad to have good old Father +Pemberton go with us; for it is a serious matter, and will be a great +surprise to more than one of the family." + +They walked together to the old house, where the old clergyman had +lived for more than half a century. He was used to being neglected +by the people who ran after his younger colleague; and the attention +paid him in asking him to be present on an important occasion, as he +understood this to be, pleased him greatly. He smoothed his long +white locks, and called a grand-daughter to help make him look fitly +for such an occasion, and, being at last got into his grandest Sunday +aspect, took his faithful staff, and set out with the two gentlemen +for The Poplars. On the way, Mr. Penhallow explained to him the +occasion of their visit, and the general character of the facts he +had to announce. He wished the venerable minister to prepare Miss +Silence Withers for a revelation which would materially change her +future prospects. He thought it might be well, also, if he would say +a few words to Myrtle Hazard, for whom a new life, with new and +untried temptations, was about to open. His business was, as a +lawyer, to make known to these parties the facts just come to his own +knowledge affecting their interests. He had asked Mr. Gridley to go +with him, as having intimate relations with one of the parties +referred to, and as having been the principal agent in securing to +that party the advantages which were to accrue to her from the new +turn of events. "You are a second parent to her, Mr. Gridley," he +said. "Your vigilance, your shrewdness, and your-spectacles have +saved her. I hope she knows the full extent of her obligations to +you, and that she will always look to you for counsel in all her +needs. She will want a wise friend, for she is to begin the world +anew." + +What had happened, when she saw the three grave gentlemen at the door +early in the forenoon, Mistress Kitty Fagan could not guess. +Something relating to Miss Myrtle, no doubt: she wasn't goin' to be +married right off to Mr. Clement,--was she,--and no church, nor cake, +nor anything? The gentlemen were shown into the parlor. "Ask Miss +Withers to go into the library, Kitty," said Master Gridley. +"Dr. Pemberton wishes to speak with her." The good old man was +prepared for a scene with Miss Silence. He announced to her, in a +kind and delicate way, that she must make up her mind to the +disappointment of certain expectations which she had long +entertained, and which, as her lawyer, Mr. Penhallow, had come to +inform her and others, were to be finally relinquished from this +hour. + +To his great surprise, Miss Silence received this communication +almost cheerfully. It seemed more like a relief to her than anything +else. Her one dread in this world was her "responsibility "; and the +thought that she might have to account for ten talents hereafter, +instead of one, had often of late been a positive distress to her. +There was also in her mind a secret disgust at the thought of the +hungry creatures who would swarm round her if she should ever be in a +position to bestow patronage. This had grown upon her as the habits +of lonely life gave her more and more of that fastidious dislike to +males in general, as such, which is not rare in maidens who have seen +the roses of more summers than politeness cares to mention. + +Father Pemberton then asked if he could see Miss Myrtle Hazard a few +moments in the library before they went into the parlor, where they +were to meet Mr. Penhallow and Mr. Gridley, for the purpose of +receiving the lawyer's communication. + +What change was this which Myrtle had undergone since love had +touched her heart, and her visions of worldly enjoyment had faded +before the thought of sharing and ennobling the life of one who was +worthy of her best affections,--of living for another, and of finding +her own noblest self in that divine office of woman? She had laid +aside the bracelet which she had so long worn as a kind of charm as +well as an ornament. One would have said her features had lost +something of that look of imperious beauty which had added to her +resemblance to the dead woman whose glowing portrait hung upon her +wall. And if it could be that, after so many generations, the blood +of her who had died for her faith could show in her descendants +veins, and the soul of that elect lady of her race look out from her +far-removed offspring's dark eyes, such a transfusion of the martyr's +life and spiritual being might well seem to manifest itself in Myrtle +Hazard. + +The large-hearted old man forgot his scholastic theory of human +nature as he looked upon her face. He thought he saw in her the +dawning of that grace which some are born with; which some, like +Myrtle, only reach through many trials and dangers; which some seem +to show for a while and then lose; which too many never reach while +they wear the robes of earth, but which speaks of the kingdom of +heaven already begun in the heart of a child of earth. He told her +simply the story of the occurrences which had brought them together +in the old house, with the message the lawyer was to deliver to its +inmates. He wished to prepare her for what might have been too +sudden a surprise. + +But Myrtle was not wholly unprepared for some such revelation. There +was little danger that any such announcement would throw her mind +from its balance after the inward conflict through which she had been +passing. For her lover had left her almost as soon as he had told +her the story of his passion, and the relation in which he stood to +her. He, too, had gone to answer his country's call to her children, +not driven away by crime and shame and despair, but quitting all--his +new-born happiness, the art in which he was an enthusiast, his +prospects of success and honor--to obey the higher command of duty. +War was to him, as to so many of the noble youth who went forth, only +organized barbarism, hateful but for the sacred cause which alone +redeemed it from the curse that blasted the first murderer. God only +knew the sacrifice such young men as he made. + +How brief Myrtle's dream had been! She almost doubted, at some +moments, whether she would not awake from it, as from her other +visions, and find it all unreal. There was no need of fearing any +undue excitement of her mind after the alternations of feeling she +had just experienced. Nothing seemed of much moment to her which +could come from without,--her real world was within, and the light of +its day and the breath of its life came from her love, made holy by +the self-forgetfulness on both sides which was born with it. + +Only one member of the household was in danger of finding the +excitement more than she could bear. Miss Cynthia knew that all +Murray Bradshaw's plans, in which he had taken care that she should +have a personal interest, had utterly failed. What he had done with +the means of revenge in his power,--if, indeed, they were still in +his power,--she did not know. She only knew that there had been a +terrible scene, and that he had gone, leaving it uncertain whether he +would ever return. It was with fear and trembling that she heard the +summons which went forth, that the whole family should meet in the +parlor to listen to a statement from Mr. Penhallow. They all +gathered as requested, and sat round the room, with the exception of +Mistress Kitty Fagan, who knew her place too well to be sittin' down +with the likes o' them, and stood with attentive ears in the doorway. + +Mr. Penhallow then read from a printed paper the decision of the +Supreme Court in the land case so long pending, where the estate of +the late Malachi Withers was the claimant, against certain parties +pretending to hold under an ancient grant. The decision was in favor +of the estate. + +"This gives a great property to the heirs," Mr. Penhallow remarked, +"and the question as to who these heirs are has to be opened. For +the will under which Silence Withers, sister of the deceased, has +inherited is dated some years previous to the decease, and it was not +very strange that a will of later date should be discovered. Such a +will has been discovered. It is the instrument I have here." + +Myrtle Hazard opened her eyes very widely, for the paper Mr. +Penlallow held looked exactly like that which Murray Bradshaw had +burned, and, what was curious, had some spots on it just like some +she had noticed on that. + +"This will," Mr. Penhallow said, "signed by witnesses dead or absent +from this place, makes a disposition of the testator's property in +some respects similar to that of the previous one, but with a single +change, which proves to be of very great importance." + +Mr. Penhallow proceeded to read the will. The important change in +the disposition of the property was this: in case the land claim was +decided in favor of the estate, then, in addition to the small +provision made for Myrtle Hazard, the property so coming to the +estate should all go to her. There was no question about the +genuineness and the legal sufficiency of this instrument. Its date +was not very long after the preceding one, at a period when, as was +well known, he had almost given up the hope of gaining his case, +and when the property was of little value compared to that which it +had at present. + +A long silence followed this reading. Then, to the surprise of all, +Miss Silence Withers rose, and went to Myrtle Hazard, and wished her +joy with every appearance of sincerity. She was relieved of a great +responsibility. Myrtle was young and could bear it better. She +hoped that her young relative would live long to enjoy the blessings +Providence had bestowed upon her, and to use them for the good of the +community, and especially the promotion of the education of deserving +youth. If some fitting person could be found to advise Myrtle, whose +affairs would require much care, it would be a great relief to her. + +They all went up to Myrtle and congratulated her on her change of +fortune. Even Cynthia Badlam got out a phrase or two which passed +muster in the midst of the general excitement. As for Kitty Fagan, +she could not say a word, but caught Myrtle's hand and kissed it as +if it belonged to her own saint; and then, suddenly applying her +apron to her eyes, retreated from a scene which was too much for her, +in a state of complete mental beatitude and total bodily +discomfiture. + +Then Silence asked the old minister to make a prayer, and he +stretched his hands up to Heaven, and called down all the blessings +of Providence upon all the household, and especially upon this young +handmaiden, who was to be tried with prosperity, and would need all +aid from above to keep her from its dangers. + +Then Mr. Penhallow asked Myrtle if she had any choice as to the +friend who should have charge of her affairs. Myrtle turned to +Master Byles Gridley, and said, "You have been my friend and +protector so far, will you continue to be so hereafter?" + +Master Gridley tried very hard to begin a few words of thanks to her +for her preference, but finding his voice a little uncertain, +contented himself with pressing her hand and saying, "Most willingly, +my dear daughter!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +CONCLUSION. + +The same day the great news of Myrtle Hazard's accession to fortune +came out, the secret was told that she had promised herself in +marriage to Mr. Clement Lindsay. But her friends hardly knew how to +congratulate her on this last event. Her lover was gone, to risk his +life, not improbably to lose it, or to come home a wreck, crippled by +wounds, or worn out with disease. + +Some of them wondered to see her so cheerful in such a moment of +trial. They could not know how the manly strength of Clement's +determination had nerved her for womanly endurance. They had not +learned that a great cause makes great souls, or reveals them to +themselves,--a lesson taught by so many noble examples in the times +that followed. Myrtle's only desire seemed to be to labor in some +way to help the soldiers and their families. She appeared to have +forgotten everything for this duty; she had no time for regrets, if +she were disposed to indulge them, and she hardly asked a question as +to the extent of the fortune which had fallen to her. + +The next number of the "Banner and Oracle" contained two +announcements which she read with some interest when her attention +was called to them. They were as follows: + +"A fair and accomplished daughter of this village comes, by the late +decision of the Supreme Court, into possession of a property +estimated at a million of dollars or more. It consists of a large +tract of land purchased many years ago by the late Malachi Withers, +now become of immense value by the growth of a city in its +neighborhood, the opening of mines, etc., etc. It is rumored that +the lovely and highly educated heiress has formed a connection +looking towards matrimony with a certain distinguished artist." + +"Our distinguished young townsman, William Murray Bradshaw, Esq., has +been among the first to respond to the call of the country for +champions to defend her from traitors. We understand that he has +obtained a captaincy in the _th regiment, about to march to the +threatened seat of war. May victory perch on his banners!" + +The two lovers, parted by their own self-sacrificing choice in the +very hour that promised to bring them so much happiness, labored for +the common cause during all the terrible years of warfare, one in the +camp and the field, the other in the not less needful work which the +good women carried on at home, or wherever their services were +needed. Clement--now Captain Lindsay--returned at the end of his +first campaign charged with a special office. Some months later, +after one of the great battles, he was sent home wounded. He wore +the leaf on his shoulder which entitled him to be called Major +Lindsay. He recovered from his wound only too rapidly, for Myrtle +had visited him daily in the military hospital where he had resided +for treatment; and it was bitter parting. The telegraph wires were +thrilling almost hourly with messages of death, and the long pine +boxes came by almost every train,--no need of asking what they held. + +Once more he came, detailed on special duty, and this time with the +eagle on his shoulder,--he was Colonel Lindsay. The lovers could not +part again of their own free will. Some adventurous women had +followed their husbands to the camp, and Myrtle looked as if she +could play the part of the Maid of Saragossa on occasion. So Clement +asked her if she would return with him as his wife; and Myrtle +answered, with as much willingness to submit as a maiden might fairly +show under such circumstances, that she would do his bidding. +Thereupon, with the shortest possible legal notice, Father Pemberton +was sent for, and the ceremony was performed in the presence of a few +witnesses in the large parlor at The Poplars, which was adorned with +flowers, and hung round with all the portraits of the dead members of +the family, summoned as witnesses to the celebration. One witness +looked on with unmoved features, yet Myrtle thought there was a more +heavenly smile on her faded lips than she had ever seen before +beaming from the canvas,--it was Ann Holyoake, the martyr to her +faith, the guardian spirit of Myrtle's visions, who seemed to breathe +a holier benediction than any words--even those of the good old +Father Pemberton himself--could convey. + +They went back together to the camp. From that period until the end +of the war, Myrtle passed her time between the life of the tent and +that of the hospital. In the offices of mercy which she performed +for the sick and the wounded and the dying, the dross of her nature +seemed to be burned away. The conflict of mingled lives in her blood +had ceased. No lawless impulses usurped the place of that serene +resolve which had grown strong by every exercise of its high +prerogative. If she had been called now to die for any worthy cause, +her race would have been ennobled by a second martyr, true to the +blood of her who died under the cruel Queen. + +Many sad sights she saw in the great hospital where she passed some +months at intervals,--one never to be forgotten. An officer was +brought into the ward where she was in attendance. "Shot through the +lungs,--pretty nearly gone." + +She went softly to his bedside. He was breathing with great +difficulty; his face was almost convulsed with the effort, but she +recognized him in a moment; it was Murray Bradshaw,--Captain +Bradshaw, as she knew by the bars on his coat flung upon the bed +where he had just been laid. + +She addressed him by name, tenderly as if he had been a dear brother; +she saw on his face that hers were to be the last kind words he would +ever hear. + +He turned his glazing eyes upon her. "Who are you?" he said in a +feeble voice. + +"An old friend," she answered; "you knew me as Myrtle Hazard." + +He started. "You by my bedside! You caring for me!--for me, that +burned the title to your fortune to ashes before your eyes! You +can't forgive that,--I won't believe it! Don't you hate me, dying as +I am?" + +Myrtle was used to maintaining a perfect calmness of voice and +countenance, and she held her feelings firmly down. "I have nothing +to forgive you, Mr. Bradshaw. You may have meant to do me wrong, but +Providence raised up a protector for me. The paper you burned was +not the original,--it was a copy substituted for it--" + +"And did the old man outwit me after all?" he cried out, rising +suddenly in bed, and clasping his hands behind his head to give him a +few more gasps of breath. "I knew he was cunning, but I thought I +was his match. It must have been Byles Gridley,--nobody else. And +so the old man beat me after all, and saved you from ruin! Thank God +that it came out so! Thank God! I can die now. Give me your hand, +Myrtle." + +She took his hand, and held it until it gently loosed its hold, and +he ceased to breathe. Myrtle's creed was a simple one, with more of +trust and love in it than of systematized articles of belief. She +cherished the fond hope that these last words of one who had erred so +miserably were a token of some blessed change which the influences of +the better world might carry onward until he should have outgrown the +sins and the weaknesses of his earthly career. + +Soon after this she rejoined her husband in the camp. From time to +time they received stray copies of the "Banner and Oracle," which, to +Myrtle especially, were full of interest, even to the last +advertisement. A few paragraphs may be reproduced here which relate +to persons who have figured in this narrative. + + + "TEMPLE OF HYMEN. + +"Married, on the 6th instant, Fordyce Hurlbut, M. D., to Olive, only +daughter of the Rev. Ambrose Eveleth. The editor of this paper +returns his acknowledgments for a bountiful slice of the wedding- +cake. May their shadows never be less!" + +Not many weeks after this appeared the following: + +"Died in this place, on the 28th instant, the venerable Lemuel +Hurlbut, M. D., at the great age of XCVI years. + +"'With the ancient is wisdom, and in length of days understanding.'" + + +Myrtle recalled his kind care of her in her illness, and paid the +tribute of a sigh to his memory,--there was nothing in a death like +his to call for any aching regret. + +The usual routine of small occurrences was duly recorded in the +village paper for some weeks longer, when she was startled and +shocked by receiving a number containing the following paragraph: + + + CALAMITOUS ACCIDENT + +"It is known to our readers that the steeple of the old meeting-house +was struck by lightning about a month ago. The frame of the building +was a good deal jarred by the shock, but no danger was apprehended +from the injury it had received. On Sunday last the congregation +came together as usual. The Rev. Mr. Stoker was alone m the pulpit, +the Rev. Doctor Pemberton having been detained by slight +indisposition. The sermon was from the text, "The wolf also shall +dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid." +(Isaiah xi. 6.) The pastor described the millennium as--the reign of +love and peace, in eloquent and impressive language. He was in the +midst of the prayer which follows the sermon, and had jest put up a +petition that the spirit of affection and faith and trust might grow +up and prevail among the flock of which he was the shepherd, more +especially those dear lambs whom he gathered with his arm, and +carried in his bosom, when the old sounding-board, which had hung +safely for nearly a century,--loosened, no doubt by the bolt which +had fallen on the church,--broke from its fastenings, and fell with a +loud crash upon the pulpit, crushing the Rev. Mr. Stoker under its +ruins. The scene that followed beggars description. Cries and +shrieks resounded through the horse. Two or three young women +fainted entirely away. Mr. Penhallow, Deacon Rumrill, Gifted +Hopkins, Esq., and others, came forward immediately, and after much +effort succeeded in removing the wreck of the sounding-board, and +extricating their unfortunate pastor. He was not fatally injured, it +is hoped; but, sad to relate, he received such a violent blow upon +the spine of the back, that palsy of the lower extremities is like to +ensue. He is at present lying entirely helpless. Every attention is +paid to him by his affectionately devoted family." + +Myrtle had hardly got over the pain which the reading of this +unfortunate occurrence gave her, when her eyes were gladdened by the +following pleasing piece of intelligence, contained in a subsequent +number of the village paper: + + IMPOSING CEREMONY. + +"The Reverend Doctor Pemberton performed the impressive rite of +baptism upon the first-born child of our distinguished townsman, +Gifted Hopkins, Esq., the Bard of Oxbow Village, and Mrs. Susan P. +Hopkins, his amiable and respected lady. The babe conducted himself +with singular propriety on this occasion. He received the Christian +name of Byron Tennyson Browning. May be prove worthy of his name and +his parentage!" + + +The end of the war came at last, and found Colonel Lindsay among its +unharmed survivors. He returned with Myrtle to her native village, +and they established themselves, at the request of Miss Silence +Withers, in the old family mansion. Miss Cynthia, to whom Myrtle +made a generous allowance, had gone to live in a town not many miles +distant, where she had a kind of home on sufferance, as well as at +The Poplars. This was a convenience just then, because Nurse Byloe +was invited to stay with them for a month or two; and one nurse and +two single women under the same roof keep each other in a stew all +the time, as the old dame somewhat sharply remarked. + +Master Byles Gridley had been appointed Myrtle's legal protector, +and, with the assistance of Mr. Penhallow, had brought the property +she inherited into a more manageable and productive form; so that, +when Clement began his fine studio behind the old mansion, he felt +that at least he could pursue his art, or arts, if he chose to give +himself to sculpture, without that dreadful hag, Necessity, standing +by him to pinch the features of all his ideals, and give them +something of her own likeness. + +Silence Withers was more cheerful now that she had got rid of her +responsibility. She embellished her spare person a little more than +in former years. These young people looked so happy! Love was not +so unendurable, perhaps, after all. No woman need despair,-- +especially if she has a house over her, and a snug little property. +A worthy man, a former missionary, of the best principles, but of a +slightly jocose and good-humored habit, thought that he could piece +his widowed years with the not insignificant, fraction of life left +to Miss Silence, to their mutual advantage. He came to the village, +therefore, where Father Pemberton was very glad to have him supply +the pulpit in the place of his unfortunate disabled colleague. The +courtship soon began, and was brisk enough; for the good man knew +there was no time to lose at his period of life,--or hers either, for +that matter. It was a rather odd specimen of love-making; for he was +constantly trying to subdue his features to a gravity which they were +not used to, and she was as constantly endeavoring to be as lively as +possible, with the innocent desire of pleasing her light-hearted +suitor. + +"Vieille fille fait jeune mariee." Silence was ten years younger as +a bride than she had seemed as a lone woman. One would have said she +had got out of the coach next to the hearse, and got into one some +half a dozen behind it,--where there is often good and reasonably +cheerful conversation going on about the virtues of the deceased, the +probable amount of his property, or the little slips he may have +committed, and where occasionally a subdued pleasantry at his expense +sets the four waistcoats shaking that were lifting with sighs a half- +hour ago in the house of mourning. But Miss Silence, that was, +thought that two families, with all the possible complications which +time might bring, would be better in separate establishments. She +therefore proposed selling The Poplars to Myrtle and her husband, and +removing to a house in the village, which would be large enough for +them, at least for the present. So the young folks bought the old +house, and paid a mighty good price for it; and enlarged it, and +beautified and glorified it, and one fine morning went together down +to the Widow Hopkins's, whose residence seemed in danger of being a +little crowded,--for Gifted lived there with his Susan,--and what had +happened might happen again,--and gave Master Byles Gridley a formal +and most persuasively worded invitation to come up and make his home +with them at The Poplars. + +Now Master Gridley has been betrayed into palpable and undisguised +weakness at least once in the presence of this assembly, who are +looking upon him almost for the last time before they part from him, +and see his face no more. Let us not inquire too curiously, then, +how he received this kind proposition. It is enough, that, when he +found that a new study had been built on purpose for him, and a +sleeping-room attached to it so that he could live there without +disturbing anybody if he chose, he consented to remove there for a +while, and that he was there established amidst great rejoicing. + +Cynthia Badlam had fallen of late into poor health. She found at +last that she was going; and as she had a little property of her +own,--as almost all poor relations have, only there is not enough of +it,--she was much exercised in her mind as to the final arrangements +to be made respecting its disposition. The Rev. Dr. Pemberton was +one day surprised by a message, that she wished to have an interview +with him. He rode over to the town in which she was residing, and +there had a long conversation with her upon this matter. When this +was settled, her mind seemed too be more at ease. She died with a +comfortable assurance that she was going to a better world, and with +a bitter conviction that it would be hard to find one that would +offer her a worse lot than being a poor relation in this. + +Her little property was left to Rev. Eliphalet Pemberton and Jacob +Penhallow, Esq., to be by them employed for such charitable purposes +as they should elect, educational or other. Father Pemberton +preached an admirable funeral sermon, in which he praised her +virtues, known to this people among whom she had long lived, and +especially that crowning act by which she devoted all she had to +purposes of charity-and benevolence. + +The old clergyman seemed to have renewed his youth since the +misfortune of his colleague had incapacitated him from labor. He +generally preached in the forenoon now, and to the great acceptance +of the people,--for the truth was that the honest minister who had +married Miss Silence was not young enough or good-looking enough to +be an object of personal attentions like the Rev. Joseph Bellamy +Stoker, and the old minister appeared to great advantage contrasted +with him in the pulpit. Poor Mr. Stoker was now helpless, faithfully +and tenderly waited upon by his own wife, who had regained her health +and strength,--in no small measure, perhaps, from the great need of +sympathy and active aid which her unfortunate husband now +experienced. It was an astonishment to herself when she found that +she who had so long been served was able to serve another. Some who +knew his errors thought his accident was a judgment; but others +believed that it was only a mercy in disguise,--it snatched him +roughly from his sin, but it opened his heart to gratitude towards +her whom his neglect could not alienate, and through gratitude to +repentance and better thoughts. Bathsheba had long ago promised +herself to Cyprian Eveleth; and, as he was about to become the rector +of a parish in the next town, the marriage was soon to take place. + +How beautifully serene Master Byles Gridley's face was growing! +Clement loved to study its grand lines, which had so much strength +and fine humanity blended in them. He was so fascinated by their +noble expression that he sometimes seemed to forget himself, and +looked at him more like an artist taking his portrait than like an +admiring friend. He maintained that Master Gridley had a bigger bump +of benevolence and as large a one of cautiousness as the two people +most famous for the size of these organs on the phrenological chart +he showed him, and proved it, or nearly proved it, by careful +measurements of his head. Master Gridley laughed, and read him a +passage on the pseudo-sciences out of his book. + +The disposal of Miss Cynthia's bequest was much discussed in the +village. Some wished the trustees would use it to lay the +foundations of a public library. Others thought it should be applied +for the relief of the families of soldiers who had fallen in the war. +Still another set would take it to build a monument to the memory of +those heroes. The trustees listened with the greatest candor to all +these gratuitous hints. It was, however, suggested, in a well- +written anonymous article which appeared in the village paper, that +it was desirable to follow the general lead of the testator's +apparent preference. The trustees were at liberty to do as they saw +fit; but, other things being equal, same educational object should be +selected. + +If there were any orphan children in the place, it would seem to be +very proper to devote the moderate sum bequeathed to educating them. +The trustees recognized the justice of this suggestion. Why not +apply it to the instruction and maintenance of those two pretty and +promising children, virtually orphans, whom the charitable Mrs. +Hopkins had cared for so long without any recompense, and at a cost +which would soon become beyond her means? The good people of the +neighborhood accepted this as the best solution of the difficulty. +It was agreed upon at length by the trustees, that the Cynthia Badlam +Fund for Educational Purposes should be applied for the benefit of +the two foundlings, known as Isosceles and Helminthia Hopkins. + +Master Bytes Gridley was greatly exercised about the two +"preposterous names," as he called them, which in a moment of +eccentric impulse he had given to these children of nature. He +ventured to hint as much to Mrs. Hopkins. The good dame was vastly +surprised. She thought they was about as pooty names as anybody had +had given 'em in the village. And they was so handy, spoke short, +Sossy and Minthy,--she never should know how to call 'em anything +else. + +"But my dear Mrs. Hopkins," Master Gridley urged, "if you knew the +meaning they have to the ears of scholars, you would see that I did +very wrong to apply such absurd names to my little fellow-creatures, +and that I am bound to rectify my error. More than that, my dear +madam, I mean to consult you as to the new names; and if we can fix +upon proper and pleasing ones, it is my intention to leave a pretty +legacy in my will to these interesting children." + +"Mr. Gridley," said Mrs. Hopkins, "you're the best man I ever see, or +ever shall see, . . . except my poor dear Ammi . . . . I 'll +do jest as you say about that, or about anything else in all this +livin' world." + +"Well, then, Mrs. Hopkins, what shall be the boy's name?" + +"Byles Gridley Hopkins!" she answered instantly. + +"Good Lord!" said Mr. Gridley, "think a minute, my dear madam. I +will not say one word,--only think a minute, and mention some name +that will not suggest quite so many winks and whispers." + +She did think something less than a minute, and then said aloud, +"Abraham Lincoln Hopkins." + +"Fifteen thousand children have been so christened during the past +year, on a moderate computation." + +"Do think of some name yourself, Mr. Gridley; I shall like anything +that you like. To think of those dear babes having a fund--if that's +the right name--on purpose for 'em, and a promise of a legacy, I hope +they won't get that till they're a hundred year old!" + +"What if we change Isosceles to Theodore, Mrs. Hopkins? That means +the gift of God, and the child has been a gift from Heaven, rather +than a burden." + +Mrs. Hopkins seized her apron, and held it to her eyes. She was +weeping. "Theodore!" she said, "Theodore! My little brother's name, +that I buried when I was only eleven year old. Drownded. The +dearest little child that ever you see. I have got his little mug +with Theodore on it now. Kep' o' purpose. Our little Sossy shall +have it. Theodore P. Hopkins,--sha'n't it be, Mr. Gridley?" + +"Well, if you say so; but why that P., Mrs. Hopkins? Theodore +Parker, is it?" + +"Doesn't P. stand for Pemberton, and isn't Father Pemberton the best +man in the world--next to you, Mr. Gridley?" + +"Well, well, Mrs. Hopkins, let it be so, if you are suited, I am. +Now about Helminthia; there can't be any doubt about what we ought to +call her,--surely the friend of orphans should be remembered in +naming one of the objects of her charity." + +"Cynthia Badlam Fund Hopkins," said the good woman triumphantly,--"is +that what you mean?" + +"Suppose we leave out one of the names,--four are too many. I think +the general opinion will be that Hehninthia should unite the names of +her two benefactresses,--Cynthia Badlam Hopkins." + +"Why, law! Mr. Gridley, is n't that nice?--Minthy and Cynthy,--there +ain't but one letter of difference! Poor Cynthy would be pleased if +she could know that one of our babes was to be called after her. She +was dreadful fond of children." + +On one of the sweetest Sundays that ever made Oxbow Village lovely, +the Rev. Dr. Eliphalet Pembertan was summoned to officiate at three +most interesting ceremonies,--a wedding and two christenings, one of +the latter a double one. + +The first was celebrated at the house of the Rev. Mr. Stoker, between +the Rev. Cyprian Eveleth and Bathsheba, daughter of the first-named +clergyman. He could not be present on account of his great +infirmity, but the door of his chamber was left open that he might +hear the marriage service performed. The old, white-haired minister, +assisted, as the papers said, by the bridegroom's father, conducted +the ceremony according to the Episcopal form. When he came to those +solemn words in which the husband promises fidelity to the wife so +long as they both shall live, the nurse, who was watching, near the +poor father, saw him bury his face in his pillow, and heard him +murmur the words, "God be merciful to me a sinner!" + +The christenings were both to take place at the same service, in the +old meeting-house. Colonel Clement Lindsay and Myrtle his wife came +in, and stout Nurse Byloe bore their sturdy infant in her arms. A +slip of paper was handed to the Reverend Doctor on which these words +were written:--"The name is Charles Hazard." + +The solemn and touching rite was then performed; and Nurse Byloe +disappeared with the child, its forehead glistening with the dew of +its consecration. + +Then, hand in hand, like the babes in the wood, marched up the +broad aisle--marshalled by Mrs. Hopkins in front, and Mrs. Gifted +Hopkins bringing up the rear--the two children hitherto known as +Isosceles and Helminthia. They had been well schooled, and, as the +mysterious and to them incomprehensible ceremony was enacted, +maintained the most stoical aspect of tranquillity. In Mrs. +Hopkins's words, "They looked like picters, and behaved like angels." + +That evening, Sunday evening as it was, there was a quiet meeting of +some few friends at The Poplars. It was such a great occasion that +the Sabbatical rules, never strict about Sunday evening,--which was, +strictly speaking, secular time,--were relaxed. Father Pemberton was +there, and Master Byles Gridley, of course, and the Rev. Ambrose +Eveleth, with his son and his daughter-in-law, Bathsheba, and her +mother, now in comfortable health, aunt Silence and her husband, +Doctor Hurlbut and his wife (Olive Eveleth that was), Jacob +Penhallow, Esq., Mrs. Hopkins, her son and his wife (Susan Posey that +was), the senior deacon of the old church (the admirer of the great +Scott), the Editor-in-chief of the "Banner and Oracle," and in the +background Nurse Byloe and the privileged servant, Mistress Kitty +Fagan, with a few others whose names we need not mention. + +The evening was made pleasant with sacred music, and the fatigues of +two long services repaired by such simple refections as would not +turn the holy day into a day of labor. A large paper copy of the new +edition of Byles Gridley's remarkable work was lying on the table. +He never looked so happy,--could anything fill his cup fuller? In +the course of the evening Clement spoke of the many trials through +which they had passed in common with vast numbers of their +countrymen, and some of those peculiar dangers which Myrtle had had +to encounter in the course of a life more eventful, and attended with +more risks, perhaps, than most of them imagined. But Myrtle, he +said, had always been specially cared for. He wished them to look +upon the semblance of that protecting spirit who had been faithful to +her in her gravest hours of trial and danger. If they would follow +him into one of the lesser apartments up stairs they would have an +opportunity to do so. + +Myrtle wondered a little, but followed with the rest. They all +ascended to the little projecting chamber, through the window of +which her scarlet jacket caught the eyes of the boys paddling about +on the river in those early days when Cyprian Eveleth gave it the +name of the Fire-hang-bird's Nest. + +The light fell softly but clearly on the dim and faded canvas from +which looked the saintly features of the martyred woman, whose +continued presence with her descendants was the old family legend. +But underneath it Myrtle was surprised to see a small table with some +closely covered object upon it. It was a mysterious arrangement, +made without any knowledge on her part. + +"Now, then, Kitty!" Mr. Lindsay said. + +Kitty Fagan, who had evidently been taught her part, stepped forward, +and removed the cloth which concealed the unknown object. It was a +lifelike marble bust of Master Byles Gridley. + +"And this is what you have been working at so long,--is it, Clement?" +Myrtle said. + +"Which is the image of your protector, Myrtle?", he answered, +smiling. + +Myrtle Hazard Lindsay walked up to the bust and kissed its marble +forehead, saying, "This is the face of my Guardian Angel." + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Guardian Angel, by Oliver Wendell Holmes + diff --git a/old/angel10.zip b/old/angel10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b9ba003 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/angel10.zip diff --git a/old/angel11.txt b/old/angel11.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..daf3be5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/angel11.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13233 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Guardian Angel, by O. W. Holmes, Sr. +#6 in our series by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (The Physician and Poet) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before distributing this or any other +Project Gutenberg file. + +We encourage you to keep this file, exactly as it is, on your +own disk, thereby keeping an electronic path open for future +readers. Please do not remove this. + +This header should be the first thing seen when anyone starts to +view the etext. Do not change or edit it without written permission. +The words are carefully chosen to provide users with the +information they need to understand what they may and may not +do with the etext. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These Etexts Are Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get etexts, and +further information, is included below. We need your donations. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3) +organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541 + + + +Title: The Guardian Angel + +Author: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (The Physician and Poet) +(Not the Jurist O. W. Holmes, Jr.) + +Release Date: July, 2001 [Etext #2697] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[Most recently updated: December 6, 2001] + +Edition: 11 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Guardian Angel, by O. W. Holmes +*******This file should be named angel11.txt or angel11.zip******* + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, angel12.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, angel11a.txt + +This etext was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + +Project Gutenberg Etexts are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep etexts in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our etexts one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +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. + +Most people start at our sites at: +http://gutenberg.net or +http://promo.net/pg + +These Web sites include award-winning information about Project +Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new +etexts, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!). + + +Those of you who want to download any Etext before announcement +can get to them as follows, and just download by date. This is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03 + +Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +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. Our +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If the value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour in 2001 as we release over 50 new Etext +files per month, or 500 more Etexts in 2000 for a total of 4000+ +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +should reach over 300 billion Etexts given away by year's end. + +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 about 4% 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 4,000 Etexts. We need +funding, as well as continued efforts by volunteers, to maintain +or increase our production and reach our goals. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of November, 2001, contributions are being solicited from people +and organizations in: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, +Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, +Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New +Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, +Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, +Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, +and Wyoming. + +*In Progress + +We have filed in about 45 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list +will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states. +Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally +request donations in all 50 states. If your state is not listed and +you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have, +just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are +not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting +donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to +donate. + +International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about +how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made +deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are +ways. + +All donations should be made to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + +Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment +method other than by check or money order. + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by +the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN +[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154. Donations are +tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law. As fundraising +requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be +made and fundraising will begin in the additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information at: + +http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(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 may 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 (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 GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +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] Michael Hart and the Foundation (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 Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts 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 + processing 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 Foundation of 20% of the + gross 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 Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this header are copyright (C) 2001 by Michael S. Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.10/04/01*END* + + + + + +This etext was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + + + +THE GUARDIAN ANGEL + +by Oliver Wendell Holmes + + + + +TO MY READERS. + +"A new Preface" is, I find, promised with my story. If there are any +among my readers who loved Aesop's Fables chiefly on account of the +Moral appended, they will perhaps be pleased to turn backward and +learn what I have to say here. + +This tale forms a natural sequence to a former one, which some may +remember, entitled "Elsie Venner." Like that,--it is intended for +two classes of readers, of which the smaller one includes the readers +of the "Morals" in Aesop and of this Preface. + +The first of the two stories based itself upon an experiment which +some thought cruel, even on paper. It imagined an alien element +introduced into the blood of a human being before that being saw the +light. It showed a human nature developing itself in conflict with +the ophidian characteristics and instincts impressed upon it during +the pre-natal period. Whether anything like this ever happened, or +was possible, mattered little: it enabled me, at any rate, to suggest +the limitations of human responsibility in a simple and effective +way. + +The story which follows comes more nearly within the range of common +experience. The successive development of inherited bodily aspects +and habitudes is well known to all who have lived long enough to see +families grow up under their own eyes. The same thing happens, but +less obviously to common observation, in the mental and moral nature. +There is something frightful in the way in which not only +characteristic qualities, but particular manifestations of them, are +repeated from generation to generation. Jonathan Edwards the younger +tells the story of a brutal wretch in New Haven who was abusing his +father, when the old man cried out, "Don't drag me any further, for I +did n't drag my father beyond this tree." [The original version of +this often-repeated story may be found in Aristotle's Ethics, Book +7th, Chapter 7th.] I have attempted to show the successive evolution +of some inherited qualities in the character of Myrtle Hazard, not so +obtrusively as to disturb the narrative, but plainly enough to be +kept in sight by the small class of preface-readers. + +If I called these two stories Studies of the Reflex Function in its +higher sphere, I should frighten away all but the professors and the +learned ladies. If I should proclaim that they were protests against +the scholastic tendency to shift the total responsibility of all +human action from the Infinite to the finite, I might alarm the +jealousy of the cabinet-keepers of our doctrinal museums. By saying +nothing about it, the large majority of those whom my book reaches, +not being preface-readers, will never suspect anything to harm them +beyond the simple facts of the narrative. + +Should any professional alarmist choose to confound the doctrine of +limited responsibility with that which denies the existence of any +self-determining power, he may be presumed to belong to the class of +intellectual half-breeds, of which we have many representatives in +our new country, wearing the garb of civilization, and even the gown +of scholarship. If we cannot follow the automatic machinery of +nature into the mental and moral world, where it plays its part as +much as in the bodily functions, without being accused of laying "all +that we are evil in to a divine thrusting on," we had better return +at once to our old demonology, and reinstate the Leader of the Lower +House in his time-honored prerogatives. + +As fiction sometimes seems stranger than truth, a few words may be +needed here to make some of my characters and statements appear +probable. The long-pending question involving a property which had +become in the mean time of immense value finds its parallel in the +great De Haro land-case, decided in the Supreme Court while this +story was in progress (May 14th, 1867). The experiment of breaking +the child's will by imprisonment and fasting is borrowed from a +famous incident, happening long before the case lately before one of +the courts of a neighboring Commonwealth, where a little girl was +beaten to death because she would not say her prayers. The mental +state involving utter confusion of different generations in a person +yet capable of forming a correct judgment on other matters, is almost +a direct transcript from nature. I should not have ventured to +repeat the questions of the daughters of the millionaires to Myrtle +Hazard about her family conditions, and their comments, had not a +lady of fortune and position mentioned to me a similar circumstance +in the school history of one of her own children. Perhaps I should +have hesitated in reproducing Myrtle Hazard's "Vision," but for a +singular experience of his own related to me by the late Mr. +Forceythe Willson. + +Gifted Hopkins (under various alliasis) has been a frequent +correspondent of mine. I have also received a good many +communications, signed with various names, which must have been from +near female relatives of that young gentleman. I once sent a kind of +encyclical letter to the whole family connection; but as the delusion +under which they labor is still common, and often leads to the +wasting of time, the contempt of honest study or humble labor, and +the misapplication of intelligence not so far below mediocrity as to +be incapable of affording a respectable return when employed in the +proper direction, I thought this picture from life might also be of +service. When I say that no genuine young poet will apply it to +himself, I think I have so far removed the sting that few or none +will complain of being wounded. + +It is lamentable to be forced to add that the Reverend Joseph Bellamy +Stoker is only a softened copy of too many originals to whom, as a +regular attendant upon divine worship from my childhood to the +present time, I have respectfully listened, while they dealt with me +and mine and the bulk of their fellow-creatures after the manner of +their sect. If, in the interval between his first showing himself in +my story and its publication in a separate volume, anything had +occurred to make me question the justice or expediency of drawing and +exhibiting such a portrait, I should have reconsidered it, with the +view of retouching its sharper features. But its essential +truthfulness has been illustrated every month or two, since my story +has been in the course of publication, by a fresh example from real +life, stamped in darker colors than any with which I should have +thought of staining my pages. + +There are a great many good clergymen to one bad one, but a writer +finds it hard to keep to the true proportion of good and bad persons +in telling a story. The three or four good ministers I have +introduced in this narrative must stand for many whom I have known +and loved, and some of whom I count to-day among my most valued +friends. I hope the best and wisest of them will like this story and +approve it. If they cannot all do this, I know they will recognize +it as having been written with a right and honest purpose. + +BOSTON, 1867. + + + + + + +PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION. + +It is a quarter of a century since the foregoing Preface was written, +and that is long enough to allow a story to be forgotten by the +public, and very possibly by the writer of it also. I will not +pretend that I have forgotten all about "The Guardian Angel," but it +is long since I have read it, and many of its characters and +incidents are far from being distinct in my memory. There are, +however, a few points which hold their place among my recollections. +The revolt of Myrtle Hazard from the tyranny of that dogmatic dynasty +now breaking up in all directions has found new illustrations since +this tale was written. I need only refer to two instances of many. +The first is from real life. Mr. Robert C. Adams's work, "Travels in +Faith from Tradition to Reason," is the outcome of the teachings of +one of the most intransigeant of our New England Calvinists, the late +Reverend Nehemiah Adams. For an example in fiction,--fiction which +bears all the marks of being copied from real life,--I will refer to +"The Story of an African Farm." The boy's honest, but terrible +outburst, "I hate God," was, I doubt not, more acceptable in the view +of his Maker than the lying praise of many a hypocrite who, having +enthroned a demon as Lord of the Universe, thinks to conciliate his +favor by using the phrases which the slaves of Eastern despots are in +the habit of addressing to their masters. I have had many private +letters showing the same revolt of reasoning natures against +doctrines which shock the more highly civilized part of mankind in +this nineteenth century and are leading to those dissensions which +have long shown as cracks, and are fast becoming lines of cleavage in +some of the largest communions of Protestantism. + +The principle of heredity has been largely studied since this story +was written. This tale, like "Elsie Venner," depends for its deeper +significance on the ante-natal history of its subject. But the story +was meant to be readable for those who did not care for its +underlying philosophy. If it fails to interest the reader who +ventures upon it, it may find a place on an unfrequented bookshelf in +common with other "medicated novels." + +Perhaps I have been too hard with Gifted Hopkins and the tribe of +rhymesters to which he belongs. I ought not to forget that I too +introduced myself to the reading world in a thin volume of verses; +many of which had better not have been written, and would not be +reprinted now, but for the fact that they have established a right to +a place among my poems in virtue of long occupancy. Besides, +although the writing of verses is often a mark of mental weakness, I +cannot forget that Joseph Story and George Bancroft each published +his little book, of rhymes, and that John Quincy Adams has left many +poems on record, the writing of which did not interfere with the vast +and important labors of his illustrious career. + +BEVERLY FARMS, MASS., August 7, 1891. + +O. W. H. + + + + + + + + THE GUARDIAN ANGEL + + + +CHAPTER I. + +AN ADVERTISEMENT. + + +On Saturday, the 18th day of June, 1859, the "State Banner and +Delphian Oracle," published weekly at Oxbow Village, one of the +principal centres in a thriving river-town of New England, contained +an advertisement which involved the story of a young life, and +stained the emotions of a small community. Such faces of dismay, +such shaking of heads, such gatherings at corners, such halts of +complaining, rheumatic wagons, and dried-up, chirruping chaises, for +colloquy of their still-faced tenants, had not been known since the +rainy November Friday, when old Malachi Withers was found hanging in +his garret up there at the lonely house behind the poplars. + +The number of the "Banner and Oracle" which contained this +advertisement was a fair specimen enough of the kind of newspaper to +which it belonged. Some extracts from a stray copy of the issue of +the date referred to will show the reader what kind of entertainment +the paper was accustomed to furnish its patrons, and also serve some +incidental purposes of the writer in bringing into notice a few +personages who are to figure in this narrative. + +The copy in question was addressed to one of its regular +subscribers,--"B. Gridley, Esq." The sarcastic annotations at +various points, enclosed in brackets and italicised that they may be +distinguished from any other comments, were taken from the pencilled +remarks of that gentleman, intended for the improvement of a member +of the family in which he resided, and are by no means to be +attributed to the harmless pen which reproduces them. + +Byles Gridley, A. M., as he would have been styled by persons +acquainted with scholarly dignities, was a bachelor, who had been a +schoolmaster, a college tutor, and afterwards for many years +professor,--a man of learning, of habits, of whims and crotchets, +such as are hardly to be found, except in old, unmarried students, +--the double flowers of college culture, their stamina all turned to +petals, their stock in the life of the race all funded in the +individual. Being a man of letters, Byles Gridley naturally rather +undervalued the literary acquirements of the good people of the rural +district where he resided, and, having known much of college and +something of city life, was apt to smile at the importance they +attached to their little local concerns. He was, of course, quite as +much an object of rough satire to the natural observers and +humorists, who are never wanting in a New England village,--perhaps +not in any village where a score or two of families are brought +together,--enough of them, at any rate, to furnish the ordinary +characters of a real-life stock company. + +The old Master of Arts was a permanent boarder in the house of a very +worthy woman, relict of the late Ammi Hopkins, by courtesy Esquire, +whose handsome monument--in a finished and carefully colored +lithograph, representing a finely shaped urn under a very nicely +groomed willow--hung in her small, well-darkened, and, as it were, +monumental parlor. Her household consisted of herself, her son, +nineteen years of age, of whom more hereafter, and of two small +children, twins, left upon her doorstep when little more than mere +marsupial possibilities, taken in for the night, kept for a week, and +always thereafter cherished by the good soul as her own; also of Miss +Susan Posey, aged eighteen, at school at the "Academy" in another +part of the same town, a distant relative, boarding with her. + +What the old scholar took the village paper for it would be hard to +guess, unless for a reason like that which carried him very regularly +to hear the preaching of the Rev. Joseph Bellamy Stoker, colleague of +the old minister of the village parish; namely, because he did not +believe a word of his favorite doctrines, and liked to go there so as +to growl to himself through the sermon, and go home scolding all the +way about it. + +The leading article of the "Banner and Oracle" for June 18th must +have been of superior excellence, for, as Mr. Gridley remarked, +several of the "metropolitan" journals of the date of June 15th and +thereabout had evidently conversed with the writer and borrowed some +of his ideas before he gave them to the public. The Foreign News by +the Europa at Halifax, 15th, was spread out in the amplest dimensions +the type of the office could supply. More battles! The Allies +victorious! The King and General Cialdini beat the Austrians at +Palestro! 400 Austrians drowned in a canal! Anti-French feeling in +Germany! Allgermine Zeiturg talks of conquest of Allsatia and +Loraine and the occupation of Paris! [Vicious digs with a pencil +through the above proper names.] Race for the Derby won by Sir Joseph +Hawley's Musjid! [That's what England cares for! Hooray for the +Darby! Italy be deedeed!] Visit of Prince Alfred to the Holy Land. +Letter from our, own Correspondent. [Oh! Oh! A West Minkville?] +Cotton advanced. Breadstuffs declining.--Deacon Rumrill's barn +burned down on Saturday night. A pig missing; supposed to have +"fallen a prey to the devouring element." [Got roasted.] A yellow +mineral had been discovered on the Doolittle farm, which, by the +report of those who had seen it, bore a strong resemblance to +California gold ore. Much excitement in the neighborhood in +consequence [Idiots! Iron pyrites!] A hen at Four Corners had just +laid an egg measuring 7 by 8 inches. Fetch on your biddies! +[Editorial wit!] A man had shot an eagle measuring six feet and a +half from tip to tip of his wings.--Crops suffering for want of rain +[Always just so. "Dry times, Father Noah!"] The editors had +received a liberal portion of cake from the happy couple whose +matrimonial union was recorded in the column dedicated to Hymen. +Also a superior article of [article of! bah!] steel pen from the +enterprising merchant [shopkeeper] whose advertisement was to be +found on the third page of this paper.--An interesting Surprise +Party [cheap theatricals] had transpired [bah!] on Thursday evening +last at the house of the Rev. Mr. Stoker. The parishioners had +donated [donated! GIVE is a good word enough for the Lord's Prayer. +DONATE our daily bread!] a bag of meal, a bushel of beans, a keg of +pickles, and a quintal of salt-fish. The worthy pastor was much +affected, etc., etc. [Of course. Call'em. SENSATION parties and +done with it!] The Rev. Dr. Pemberton and the venerable Dr. Hurlbut +honored the occasion with their presence.--We learn that the Rev. +Ambrose Eveleth, rector of St. Bartholomew's Chapel, has returned +from his journey, and will officiate to-morrow. + +Then came strings of advertisements, with a luxuriant vegetation of +capitals and notes of admiration. More of those PRIME GOODS! Full +Assortments of every Article in our line! [Except the one thing you +want!] Auction Sale. Old furniture, feather-beds, bed-spreads +[spreads! ugh!], setts [setts!] crockery-ware, odd vols., ullage +bbls. of this and that, with other household goods, etc., etc., +etc.,--the etceteras meaning all sorts of insane movables, such as +come out of their bedlam-holes when an antiquated domestic +establishment disintegrates itself at a country "vandoo."--Several +announcements of "Feed," whatever that may be,--not restaurant +dinners, anyhow,--also of "Shorts,"--terms mysterious to city ears as +jute and cudbear and gunnybags to such as drive oxen in the remote +interior districts.--Then the marriage column above alluded to, by +the fortunate recipients of the cake. Right opposite, as if for +matrimonial ground-bait, a Notice that Whereas my wife, Lucretia +Babb, has left my bed and board, I will not be responsible, etc., +etc., from this date.--Jacob Penhallow (of the late firm Wibird and +Penhallow) had taken Mr. William Murray Bradshaw into partnership, +and the business of the office would be carried on as usual under the +title Penhallow and Bradshaw, Attorneys at Law. Then came the +standing professional card of Dr. Lemuel Hurlbut and Dr. Fordyce +Hurlbut, the medical patriarch of the town and his son. Following +this, hideous quack advertisements, some of them with the +certificates of Honorables, Esquires, and Clergymen.--Then a cow, +strayed or stolen from the subscriber.--Then the advertisement +referred to in our first paragraph: + +MYRTLE HAZARD has been missing from her home in this place +since Thursday morning, June 16th. She is fifteen years old, tall +and womanly for her age, has dark hair and eyes, fresh complexion, +regular features, pleasant smile and voice, but shy with strangers. +Her common dress was a black and white gingham check, straw hat, +trimmed with green ribbon. It is feared she may have come to harm in +some way, or be wandering at large in a state of temporary mental +alienation. Any information relating to the missing child will be +gratefully received and properly rewarded by her afflicted aunt, + +MISS SILENCE WITHERS, +Residing at the Withers Homestead, otherwise known as "The Poplars," +in this village. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +GREAT EXCITEMENT + +The publication of the advertisement in the paper brought the village +fever of the last two days to its height. Myrtle Hazard's +disappearance had been pretty well talked round through the immediate +neighborhood, but now that forty-eight hours of search and inquiry +had not found her, and the alarm was so great that the young girl's +friends were willing to advertise her in a public journal, it was +clear that the gravest apprehensions were felt and justified. The +paper carried the tidings to many who had not heard it. Some of the +farmers who had been busy all the week with their fields came into +the village in their wagons on Saturday, and there first learned the +news, and saw the paper, and the placards which were posted up, and +listened, open-mouthed, to the whole story. + +Saturday was therefore a day of much agitation in Oxbow Village, and +some stir in the neighboring settlements. Of course there was a +great variety of comment, its character depending very much on the +sense, knowledge, and disposition of the citizens, gossips, and young +people who talked over the painful and mysterious occurrence. + +The Withers Homestead was naturally the chief centre of interest. +Nurse Byloe, an ancient and voluminous woman, who had known the girl +when she was a little bright-eyed child, handed over "the baby" she +was holding to another attendant, and got on her things to go +straight up to The Poplars. She had been holding "the baby" these +forty years and more, but somehow it never got to be more than a +month or six weeks old. She reached The Poplars after much toil and +travail. Mistress Fagan, Irish, house-servant, opened the door, at +which Nurse Byloe knocked softly, as she was in the habit of doing at +the doors of those who sent for her. + +"Have you heerd anything yet, Kitty Fagan?" asked Nurse Byloe. + +"Niver a blissed word," said she. "Miss Withers is upstairs with +Miss Bathsheby, a cryin' and a lamentin'. Miss Badlam's in the +parlor. The men has been draggin' the pond. They have n't found not +one thing, but only jest two, and that was the old coffeepot and the +gray cat,--it's them nigger boys hanged her with a string they tied +round her neck and then drownded her." [P. Fagan, Jr., Aet. 14, had +a snarl of similar string in his pocket.] + +Mistress Fagan opened the door of the best parlor. A woman was +sitting there alone, rocking back and forward, and fanning herself +with the blackest of black fans. + +"Nuss Byloe, is that you? Well, to be sure, I'm glad to see you, +though we 're all in trouble. Set right down, Nuss, do. Oh, it's +dreadful times!" + +A handkerchief which was in readiness for any emotional overflow was +here called on for its function. + +Nurse Byloe let herself drop into a flaccid squab chair with one of +those soft cushions, filled with slippery feathers, which feel so +fearfully like a very young infant, or a nest of little kittens, as +they flatten under the subsiding person. + +The woman in the rocking-chair was Miss Cynthia Badlam, second-cousin +of Miss Silence Withers, with whom she had been living as a companion +at intervals for some years. She appeared to be thirty-five years +old, more or less, and looked not badly for that stage of youth, +though of course she might have been handsomer at twenty, as is often +the case with women. She wore a not unbecoming cap; frequent +headaches had thinned her locks somewhat of late years. Features a +little too sharp, a keen, gray eye, a quick and restless glance, +which rather avoided being met, gave the impression that she was a +wide-awake, cautious, suspicious, and, very possibly, crafty person. + +"I could n't help comin'," said Nurse Byloe, "we do so love our +babies,--how can we help it, Miss Badlam?" + +The spinster colored up at the nurse's odd way of using the +possessive pronoun, and dropped her eyes, as was natural on hearing +such a speech. + +"I never tended children as you have, Nuss," she said. "But I 've +known Myrtle Hazard ever since she was three years old, and to think +she should have come to such an end,--'The heart is deceitful above +all things and desperately wicked,'"--and she wept. + +"Why, Cynthy Badlam, what do y' mean?" said Nurse Byloe. "Y' don't +think anything dreadful has come o' that child's wild nater, do ye?" + +"Child!" said Cynthia Badlam,--"child enough to wear this very gown I +have got on and not find it too big for her neither." [It would have +pinched Myrtle here and there pretty shrewdly.] + +The two women looked each other in the eyes with subtle interchange +of intelligence, such as belongs to their sex in virtue of its +specialty. Talk without words is half their conversation, just as it +is all the conversation of the lower animals. Only the dull senses +of men are dead to it as to the music of the spheres. + +Their minds travelled along, as if they had been yoked together, +through whole fields of suggestive speculation, until the dumb +growths of thought ripened in both their souls into articulate +speech, consentingly, as the movement comes after the long stillness +of a Quaker meeting. + +Their lips opened at the same moment. "You don't mean"--began Nurse +Byloe, but stopped as she heard Miss Badlam also speaking. + +"They need n't drag the pond," she said. "They need n't go beating +the woods as if they were hunting a patridge,--though for that matter +Myrtle Hazard was always more like a patridge than she was like a +pullet. Nothing ever took hold of that girl,--not catechising, nor +advising, nor punishing. It's that dreadful will of hers never was +broke. I've always been afraid that she would turn out a child of +wrath. Did y' ever watch her at meetin' playing with posies and +looking round all the time of the long prayer? That's what I've seen +her do many and many a time. I'm afraid--Oh dear! Miss Byloe, I'm +afraid to say--what I'm afraid of. Men are so wicked, and young +girls are full of deceit and so ready to listen to all sorts of +artful creturs that take advantage of their ignorance and tender +years." She wept once more, this time with sobs that seemed +irrepressible. + +"Dear suz!" said the nurse, "I won't believe no sech thing as +wickedness about Myrtle Hazard. You mean she's gone an' run off with +some good-for-nothin' man or other? If that ain't what y' mean, what +do y' mean? It can't be so, Miss Badlam: she's one o' my babies. At +any rate, I handled her when she fust come to this village,--and none +o' my babies never did sech a thing. Fifteen year old, and be +bringin' a whole family into disgrace! If she was thirty year old, +or five-an'-thirty or more, and never'd had a chance to be married, +and if one o' them artful creturs you was talkin' of got hold of her, +then, to be sure,--why, dear me!--law! I never thought, Miss +Badlam!--but then of course you could have had your pickin' and +choosin' in the time of it; and I don't mean to say it's too late now +if you felt called that way, for you're better lookin' now than some +that's younger, and there's no accountin' for tastes." + +A sort of hysteric twitching that went through the frame of Cynthia +Badlam dimly suggested to the old nurse that she was not making her +slightly indiscreet personality much better by her explanations. She +stopped short, and surveyed the not uncomely person of the maiden +lady sitting before her with her handkerchief pressed to her eyes, +and one hand clenching the arm of the reeking-chair, as if some spasm +had clamped it there. The nurse looked at her with a certain growing +interest she had never felt before. It was the first time for some +years that she had had such a chance, partly because Miss Cynthia had +often been away for long periods,--partly because she herself had +been busy professionally. There was no occasion for her services, of +course, in the family at The Poplars; and she was always following +round from place to place after that everlasting migratory six-weeks +or less old baby. + +There was not a more knowing pair of eyes, in their way, in a circle +of fifty miles, than those kindly tranquil orbs that Nurse Byloe +fixed on Cynthia Badlam. The silver threads in the side fold of +hair, the delicate lines at the corner of the eye, the slight drawing +down at the angle of the mouth,--almost imperceptible, but the nurse +dwelt upon it,--a certain moulding of the features as of an artist's +clay model worked by delicate touches with the fingers, showing that +time or pain or grief had had a hand in shaping them, the contours, +the adjustment of every fold of the dress, the attitude, the very way +of breathing, were all passed through the searching inspection of the +ancient expert, trained to know all the changes wrought by time and +circumstance. It took not so long as it takes to describe it, but it +was an analysis of imponderables, equal to any of Bunsen's with the +spectroscope. + +Miss Badlam removed her handkerchief and looked in a furtive, +questioning way, in her turn, upon the nurse. + +"It's dreadful close here,--I'm 'most smothered," Nurse Byloe said; +and, putting her hand to her throat, unclasped the catch of the +necklace of gold beads she had worn since she was a baby,--a bead +having been added from time to time as she thickened. It lay in a +deep groove of her large neck, and had not troubled her in breathing +before, since the day when her husband was run over by an ox-team. + +At this moment Miss Silence Withers entered, followed by Bathsheba +Stoker, daughter of Rev. Joseph Bellamy Stoker. + +She was the friend of Myrtle, and had come to comfort Miss Silence, +and consult with her as to what further search they should institute. +The two, Myrtle's aunt and her friend, were as unlike as they could +well be. Silence Withers was something more than forty years old, a +shadowy, pinched, sallow, dispirited, bloodless woman, with the +habitual look of the people in the funeral carriage which follows +next to the hearse, and the tone in speaking that may be noticed in a +household where one of its members is lying white and still in a +cool, darkened chamber overhead. Bathsheba Stoker was not called +handsome; but she had her mother's youthful smile, which was so fresh +and full of sweetness that she seemed like a beauty while she was +speaking or listening; and she could never be plain so long as any +expression gave life to her features. In perfect repose, her face, a +little prematurely touched by sad experiences,--for she was but +seventeen years old,--had the character and decision stamped in its +outlines which any young man who wanted a companion to warn, to +comfort, and command him, might have depended on as warranting the +courage, the sympathy, and the sense demanded for such a +responsibility. She had been trying her powers of consolation on +Miss Silence. It was a sudden freak of Myrtle's. She had gone off +on some foolish but innocent excursion. Besides, she was a girl that +would take care of herself; for she was afraid of nothing, and +nimbler than any boy of her age, and almost as strong as any. As for +thinking any bad thoughts about her, that was a shame; she cared for +none of the young fellows that were round her. Cyprian Eveleth was +the one she thought most of; but Cyprian was as true as his sister +Olive, and who else was there? + +To all this Miss Silence answered only by sighing and moaning, For +two whole days she had been kept in constant fear and worry, afraid +every minute of some tragical message, perplexed by the conflicting +advice of all manner of officious friends, sleepless of course +through the two nights, and now utterly broken down and collapsed. + +Bathsheba had said all she could in the way of consolation, and +hastened back to her mother's bedside, which she hardly left, except +for the briefest of visits. + +"It's a great trial, Miss Withers, that's laid on you," said Nurse +Byloe. + +"If I only knew that she was dead, and had died in the Lord," Miss +Silence answered,--"if I only knew that but if she is living in sin, +or dead in wrong--doing, what is to become of me?--Oh, what is to +become of me when 'He maketh inquisition far blood'?" + +"Cousin Silence," said Miss Cynthia, "it is n't your fault, if that +young girl has taken to evil ways. If going to meeting three times +every Sabbath day, and knowing the catechism by heart, and reading of +good books, and the best of daily advice, and all needful discipline, +could have corrected her sinful nature, she would never have run away +from a home where she enjoyed all these privileges. It's that Indian +blood, Cousin Silence. It's a great mercy you and I have n't got any +of it in our veins! What can you expect of children that come from +heathens and savages? You can't lay it to yourself, Cousin Silence, +if Myrtle Hazard goes wrong"--- + +"The Lord will lay it to me,--the Lord will lay it to me," she +moaned. "Did n't he say to Cain, 'Where is Abel, thy brother?'" + +Nurse Byloe was getting very red in the face. She had had about +enough of this talk between the two women. "I hope the Lard 'll take +care of Myrtle Hazard fust, if she's in trouble, 'n' wants help," she +said; "'n' then look out for them that comes next. Y' 're too +suspicious, Miss Badlam; y' 're too easy to believe stories. Myrtle +Hazard was as pretty a child and as good a child as ever I see, if +you did n't rile her; 'n' d' d y' ever see one o' them hearty lively +children, that had n't a sperrit of its own? For my part, I'd rather +handle one of 'em than a dozen o' them little waxy, weak-eyed, slim- +necked creturs that always do what they tell 'em to, and die afore +they're a dozen year old; and never was the time when I've seen +Myrtle Hazard, sence she was my baby, but what it's always been, +'Good mornin', Miss Byloe,' and 'How do you do, Miss Byloe? I'm so +glad to see you.' The handsomest young woman, too, as all the old +folks will agree in tellin' you, s'ence the time o' Judith Pride that +was,--the Pride of the County they used to call her, for her beauty. +Her great-grandma, y' know, Miss Cynthy, married old King David +Withers. What I want to know is, whether anything has been heerd, +and jest what's been done about findin' the poor thing. How d' ye +know she has n't fell into the river? Have they fired cannon? They +say that busts the gall of drownded folks, and makes the corpse rise. +Have they looked in the woods everywhere? Don't believe no wrong of +nobody, not till y' must,--least of all of them that come o' the same +folks, partly, and has lived with yo all their days. I tell y', +Myrtle Hazard's jest as innocent of all what y' 've been thinkin' +about,--bless the poor child; she's got a soul that's as clean and +sweet-well, as a pond-lily when it fust opens of a mornin', without a +speck on it no more than on the fust pond-lily God Almighty ever +made!" + +That gave a turn to the two women's thoughts, and their handkerchiefs +went up to their faces. Nurse Byloe turned her eyes quickly on +Cynthia Badlam, and repeated her close inspection of every outline +and every light and shadow in her figure. She did not announce any +opinion as to the age or good looks or general aspect or special +points of Miss Cynthia; but she made a sound which the books write +humph! but which real folks make with closed lips, thus: m'!--a sort +of half-suppressed labio-palato-nasal utterance, implying that there +is a good deal which might be said, and all the vocal organs want to +have a chance at it, if there is to be any talking. + +Friends and neighbors were coming in and out; and the next person +that came was the old minister, of whom, and of his colleague, the +Rev. Joseph Bellamy Stoker, some account may here be introduced. + +The Rev. Eliphalet Pemberton Father Pemberton as brother ministers +called him, Priest Pemberton as he was commonly styled by the country +people--would have seemed very old, if the medical patriarch of the +village had not been so much older. A man over ninety is a great +comfort to all his elderly neighbors: he is a picket-guard at the +extreme outpost; and the young folks of sixty and seventy feel that +the enemy must get by him before he can come near their camp. Dr. +Hurlbut, at ninety-two, made Priest Pemberton seem comparatively +little advanced; but the college catalogue showed that he must be +seventy-five years old, if, as we may suppose, he was twenty at the +time of his graduation. + +He was a man of noble presence always, and now, in the grandeur of +his flowing silver hair and with the gray shaggy brows overhanging +his serene and solemn eyes, with the slow gravity of motion and the +measured dignity of speech which gave him the air of an old pontiff, +he was an imposing personage to look upon, and could be awful, if the +occasion demanded it. His creed was of the sternest: he was looked +up to as a bulwark against all the laxities which threatened New +England theology. But it was a creed rather of the study and of the +pulpit than of every-day application among his neighbors. He dealt +too much in the lofty abstractions which had always such fascinations +for the higher class of New England divines, to busy himself as much +as he might have done with the spiritual condition of individuals. +He had also a good deal in him of what he used to call the Old Man, +which, as he confessed, he had never succeeded in putting off, +--meaning thereby certain qualities belonging to humanity, as much as +the natural gifts of the dumb creatures belong to them, and tending +to make a man beloved by his weak and erring fellow-mortals. + +In the olden time he would have lived and died king of his parish, +monarch, by Divine right, as the noblest, grandest, wisest of all +that made up the little nation within hearing of his meeting-house +bell. But Young Calvinism has less reverence and more love of +novelty than its forefathers. It wants change, and it loves young +blood. Polyandry is getting to be the normal condition of the +Church; and about the time a man is becoming a little overripe for +the livelier human sentiments, he may be pretty sure the women are +looking round to find him a colleague. In this way it was that the +Rev. Joseph Bellamy Stoker became the colleague of the Rev. Eliphalet +Pemberton. + +If one could have dived deep below all the Christian graces--the +charity, the sweetness of disposition, the humility--of Father +Pemberton, he would have found a small remnant of the "Old Man," as +the good clergyman would have called it, which was never in harmony +with the Rev. Mr. Stoker. The younger divine felt his importance, +and made his venerable colleague feel that he felt it. Father +Pemberton had a fair chance at rainy Sundays and hot summer-afternoon +services; but the junior pushed him aside without ceremony whenever +he thought there was like to be a good show in the pews. As for +those courtesies which the old need, to soften the sense of declining +faculties and failing attractions, the younger pastor bestowed them +in public, but was negligent of them, to say the least, when not on +exhibition. + +Good old Father Pemberton could not love this man, but he would not +hate him, and he never complained to him or of him. It would have +been of no use if he had: the women of the parish had taken up the +Rev. Mr. Stoker; and when the women run after a minister or a doctor, +what do the men signify? + +Why the women ran after him, some thought it was not hard to guess. +He was not ill-looking, according to the village standard, parted his +hair smoothly, tied his white cravat carefully, was fluent, +plausible, had a gift in prayer, was considered eloquent, was fond of +listening to their spiritual experiences, and had a sickly wife. +This is what Byles Gridley said; but he was apt to be caustic at +times. + +Father Pemberton visited his people but rarely. Like Jonathan +Edwards, like David Osgood, he felt his call to be to study-work, and +was impatient of the egotisms and spiritual megrims, in listening to +which, especially from the younger females of his flock, his +colleague had won the hearts of so many of his parishioners. His +presence had a wonderful effect in restoring the despondent Miss +Silence to her equanimity; for not all the hard divinity he had +preached for half a century had spoiled his kindly nature; and not +the gentle Melanchthon himself, ready to welcome death as a refuge +from the rage and bitterness of theologians, was more in contrast +with the disputants with whom he mingled, than the old minister, in +the hour of trial, with the stern dogmatist in his study, forging +thunderbolts to smite down sinners. + +It was well that there were no tithing-men about on that next day, +Sunday; for it shone no Sabbath day for the young men within half a +dozen miles of the village. They were out on Bear Hill the whole +day, beating up the bushes as if for game, scaring old crows out of +their ragged nests, and in one dark glen startling a fierce-eyed, +growling, bobtailed catamount, who sat spitting and looking all ready +to spring at them, on the tall tree where he clung with his claws +unsheathed, until a young fellow came up with a gun and shot him +dead. They went through and through the swamp at Musquash Hollow; +but found nothing better than a wicked old snapping-turtle, evil to +behold, with his snaky head and alligator tail, but worse to meddle +with, if his horny jaws were near enough to spring their man-trap on +the curious experimenter. At Wood-End there were some Indians, ill- +conditioned savages in a dirty tent, making baskets, the miracle of +which was that they were so clean. They had seen a young lady +answering the description, about a week ago. She had bought a +basket. Asked them if they had a canoe they wanted to sell.--Eyes +like hers (pointing to a squaw with a man's hat on). + +At Pocasset the young men explored all the thick woods,--some who +ought to have known better taking their guns, which made a talk, as +one might well suppose it would. Hunting on a Sabbath day! They did +n't mean to shoot Myrtle Hazard, did they? it was keenly asked. A +good many said it was all nonsense, and a mere excuse to get away +from meeting and have a sort of frolic on pretence that it was a work +of necessity and mercy, one or both. + +While they were scattering themselves about in this way, some in +earnest, some rejoicing in the unwonted license, lifting off for a +little while that enormous Sabbath-day pressure which weighs like +forty atmospheres on every true-born Puritan, two young men had been +since Friday in search of the lost girl, each following a clue of his +own, and determined to find her if she was among the living. + +Cyprian Eveleth made for the village of Mapleton, where his sister +Olive was staying, trusting that, with her aid, he might get a clue +to the mystery of Myrtle's disappearance. + +William Murray Bradshaw struck for a railroad train going to the +great seaport, at a station where it stops for wood and water. + +In the mean time, a third young man, Gifted Hopkins by name, son of +the good woman already mentioned, sat down, with tears in his eyes, +and wrote those touching stanzas, "The Lost Myrtle," which were +printed in the next "Banner and Oracle," and much admired by many who +read them. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +ANTECEDENTS. + +The Withers Homestead was the oldest mansion in town. It was built +on the east bank of the river, a little above the curve which gave +the name to Oxbow Village. It stood on an elevation, its west gable +close to the river's edge, an old orchard and a small pond at the +foot of the slope behind it, woods at the east, open to the south, +with a great row of Lombardy poplars standing guard in front of the +house. The Hon. Selah Withers, Esq., a descendant of one of the +first colonists, built it for his own residence, in the early part of +the last century. Deeply impressed with his importance in the order +of things, he had chosen to place it a little removed from the +cluster of smaller dwellings about the Oxbow; and with some vague +fancy in his mind of the castles that overlook the Rhine and the +Danube, he had selected this eminence on which to place his +substantial gambrel roofed dwelling-house. Long afterwards a bay- +window, almost a little room of itself, had been thrown out of the +second story on the west side, so that it looked directly down on the +river running beneath it. The chamber, thus half suspended in the +air, had been for years the special apartment of Myrtle Hazard; and +as the boys paddling about on the river would often catch glimpses, +through the window, of the little girl dressed in the scarlet jacket +she fancied in those days, one of them, Cyprian Eveleth had given it +a name which became current among the young people, and indeed +furnished to Gifted Hopkins the subject of one of his earliest poems, +to wit, "The Fire-hang-bird's Nest." + +If we would know anything about the persons now living at the Withers +Homestead, or The Poplars, as it was more commonly called of late +years, we must take a brief inventory of some of their vital +antecedents. It is by no means certain that our individual +personality is the single inhabitant of these our corporeal frames. +Nay, there is recorded an experience of one of the living persons +mentioned in this narrative,--to be given in full in its proper +place, which, so far as it is received in evidence, tends to show +that some, at least, who have long been dead, may enjoy a kind of +secondary and imperfect, yet self-conscious life, in these bodily +tenements which we are in the habit of considering exclusively our +own. There are many circumstances, familiar to common observers, +which favor this belief to a certain extent. Thus, at one moment we +detect the look, at another the tone of voice, at another some +characteristic movement of this or that ancestor, in our relations or +others. There are times when our friends do not act like themselves, +but apparently in obedience to some other law than that of their own +proper nature. We all do things both awake and asleep which surprise +us. Perhaps we have cotenants in this house we live in. No less +than eight distinct personalities are said to have coexisted in a +single female mentioned by an ancient physician of unimpeachable +authority. In this light we may perhaps see the meaning of a +sentence, from a work which will be repeatedly referred to in this +narrative, viz.: "This body in which we journey across the isthmus +between the two oceans is not a private carriage, but an omnibus." + +The ancestry of the Withers family had counted a martyr to their +faith before they were known as Puritans. The record was obscure in +some points; but the portrait, marked "Ann Holyoake, burned by ye +bloudy Papists, ano 15.." (figures illegible), was still hanging +against the panel over the fireplace in the west parlor at The +Poplars. The following words were yet legible on the canvas: +"Thou hast made a covenant O Lord with mee and my Children forever." + +The story had come down, that Ann Holyoake spoke these words in a +prayer she offered up at the stake, after the fagots were kindled. +There had always been a secret feeling in the family, that none of +her descendants could finally fall from grace, in virtue of this +solemn "covenant." + +There had been also a legend in the family, that the martyred woman's +spirit exercised a kind of supervision over her descendants; that she +either manifested herself to them, or in some way impressed them, +from time to time; as in the case of the first pilgrim before he cast +his lot with the emigrants,--of one Mrs. Winslow, a descendant in the +third generation, when the Indians were about to attack the +settlement where she lived,--and of another, just before he was +killed at Quebec. + +There was a remarkable resemblance between the features of Ann +Holyoake, as shown in the portrait, and the miniature likeness of +Myrtle's mother. Myrtle adopted the nearly obsolete superstition +more readily on this account, and loved to cherish the fancy that the +guardian spirit which had watched over her ancestors was often near +her, and would be with her in her time of need. + +The wife of Selah Withers was accused of sorcery in the evil days of +that delusion. A careless expression in one of her letters, that "ye +Parson was as lyke to bee in league with ye Divell as anie of em," +had got abroad, and given great offence to godly people. There was +no doubt that some odd "manifestations," as they would be called +nowadays, had taken place in the household when she was a girl, and +that she presented many of the conditions belonging to what are at +the present day called mediums. + +Major Gideon Withers, her son, was of the very common type of hearty, +loud, portly men, who like to show themselves at militia trainings, +and to hear themselves shout orders at musters, or declaim patriotic +sentiments at town-meetings and in the General Court. He loved to +wear a crimson sash and a military cap with a large red feather, in +which the village folk used to say he looked as "hahnsome as a +piny,"--meaning a favorite flower of his, which is better spelt +peony, and to which it was not unnatural that his admirers should +compare him. + +If he had married a wife like himself, there might probably enough +have sprung from the alliance a family of moon-faced children, who +would have dropped into their places like posts into their holes, +asking no questions of life, contented, like so many other honest +folks, with the part of supernumeraries in the drama of being, their +wardrobe of flesh and bones being furnished them gratis, and nothing +to do but to walk across the stage wearing it. But Major Gideon +Withers, for some reason or other, married a slender, sensitive, +nervous, romantic woman, which accounted for the fact that his son +David, "King David," as he was called in his time, had a very +different set of tastes from his father, showing a turn for +literature and sentiment in his youth, reading Young's "Night +Thoughts," and Thomson's "Seasons," and sometimes in those early days +writing verses himself to Celia or to Chloe, which sounded just as +fine to him as Effie and Minnie sound to young people now, as +Musidora, as Saccharissa, as Lesbia, as Helena, as Adah and Zillah, +have all sounded to young people in their time,--ashes of roses as +they are to us now, and as our endearing Scotch diminutives will be +to others by and by. + +King David Withers, who got his royal prefix partly because he was +rich, and partly because he wrote hymns occasionally, when he grew +too old to write love-poems, married the famous beauty before +mentioned, Miss Judith Pride, and the race came up again in vigor. +Their son, Jeremy, took for his first wife a delicate, melancholic +girl, who matured into a sad-eyed woman, and bore him two children, +Malachi and Silence. + +When she died, he mourned for her bitterly almost a year, and then +put on a ruffled shirt and went across the river to tell his grief to +Miss Virginia Wild, there residing. This lady was said to have a few +drops of genuine aboriginal blood in her veins; and it is certain +that her cheek had a little of the russet tinge which a Seckel pear +shows on its warmest cheek when it blushes.--Love shuts itself up in +sympathy like a knife-blade in its handle, and opens as easily. All +the rest followed in due order according to Nature's kindly +programme. + +Captain Charles Hazard, of the ship Orient Pearl, fell desperately in +love with the daughter of this second wife, married her, and carried +her to India, where their first and only child was born, and received +the name of Myrtle, as fitting her cradle in the tropics. So her +earliest impressions,--it would not be exact to call them +recollections,--besides the smiles of her father and mother, were of +dusky faces, of loose white raiment, of waving fans, of breezes +perfumed with the sweet exhalations of sandal-wood, of gorgeous +flowers and glowing fruit, of shady verandas, of gliding palanquins, +and all the languid luxury of the South. The pestilence which has +its natural home in India, but has journeyed so far from its birth +place in these later years, took her father and mother away, +suddenly, in the very freshness of their early maturity. A relation +of Myrtle's father, wife of another captain, was returning to America +on a visit, and the child was sent back, under her care, while still +a mere infant, to her relatives at the old homestead. During the +long voyage, the strange mystery of the ocean was wrought into her +consciousness so deeply, that it seemed to have become a part of her +being. The waves rocked her, as if the sea had been her mother; and, +looking over the vessel's side from the arms that held her with +tender care, she used to watch the play of the waters, until the +rhythm of their movement became a part of her, almost as much as her +own pulse and breath. + +The instincts and qualities belonging to the ancestral traits which +predominated in the conflict of mingled lives lay in this child in +embryo, waiting to come to maturity. It was as when several grafts, +bearing fruit that ripens at different times, are growing upon the +same stock. Her earlier impulses may have been derived directly from +her father and mother, but all the ancestors who have been mentioned, +and more or less obscurely many others, came uppermost in their time, +before the absolute and total result of their several forces had +found its equilibrium in the character by which she was to be known +as an individual. These inherited impulses were therefore many, +conflicting, some of them dangerous. The World, the Flesh, and the +Devil held mortgages on her life before its deed was put in her +hands; but sweet and gracious influences were also born with her; and +the battle of life was to be fought between them, God helping her in +her need, and her own free choice siding with one or the other. The +formal statement of this succession of ripening characteristics need +not be repeated, but the fact must be borne in mind. + +This was the child who was delivered into the hands of Miss Silence +Withers, her mother's half--sister, keeping house with her brother +Malachi, a bachelor, already called Old Malachi, though hardly +entitled by his years to such a venerable prefix. Both these persons +had inherited the predominant traits of their sad-eyed mother. +Malachi, the chief heir of the family property, was rich, but felt +very poor. He owned this fine old estate of some hundreds of acres. +He had moneys in the bank, shares in various companies, wood-lots in +the town; and a large tract of Western land, the subject of a lawsuit +which seemed as if it would never be settled, and kept him always +uneasy. + +Some said he hoarded gold somewhere about the old house, but nobody +knew this for a certainty. In spite of his abundant means, he talked +much of poverty, and kept the household on the narrowest footing of +economy. One Irishwoman, with a little aid from her husband now and +then, did all their work; and the only company they saw was Miss +Cynthia Badlam, who, as a relative, claimed a home with them whenever +she was so disposed. + +The "little Indian," as Malachi called her, was an awkward accession +to the family. Silence Withers knew no more about children and their +ways and wants than if she had been a female ostrich. Thus it was +that she found it necessary to send for a woman well known in the +place as the first friend whose acquaintance many of the little +people of the town had made in this vale of tears. + +Thirty years of practice had taught Nurse Byloe the art of handling +the young of her species with the soft firmness which one may notice +in cats with their kittens,--more grandly in a tawny lioness mouthing +her cubs. Myrtle did not know she was held; she only felt she was +lifted, and borne up, as a cherub may feel upon a white-woolly cloud, +and smiled accordingly at the nurse, as if quite at home in her arms. + +"As fine a child as ever breathed the breath of life. But where did +them black eyes come from? Born in Injy,--that 's it, ain't it? No, +it's her poor mother's eyes to be sure. Does n't it seem as if there +was a kind of Injin look to 'em? She'll be a lively one to manage, +if I know anything about childun. See her clinchin' them little +fists!" + +This was when Miss Silence came near her and brought her rather +severe countenance close to the child for inspection of its features. +The ungracious aspect of the woman and the defiant attitude of the +child prefigured in one brief instant the history of many long coming +years. + +It was not a great while before the two parties in that wearing +conflict of alien lives, which is often called education, began to +measure their strength against each other. The child was bright, +observing, of restless activity, inquisitively curious, very hard to +frighten, and with a will which seemed made for mastery, not +submission. + +The stern spinster to whose care this vigorous life was committed was +disposed to discharge her duty to the girl faithfully and +conscientiously; but there were two points in her character and +belief which had a most important bearing on the manner in which she +carried out her laudable intentions. First, she was one of that +class of human beings whose one single engrossing thought is their +own welfare,--in the next world, it is true, but still their own +personal welfare. The Roman Church recognizes this class, and +provides every form of specific to meet their spiritual condition. +But in so far as Protestantism has thrown out works as a means of +insuring future safety, these unfortunates are as badly off as +nervous patients who have no drops, pills, potions, no doctors' +rules, to follow. Only tell a poor creature what to do, and he or +she will do it, and be made easy, were it a pilgrimage of a thousand +miles, with shoes full of split peas instead of boiled ones; but if +once assured that doing does no good, the drooping Little-faiths are +left at leisure to worry about their souls, as the other class of +weaklings worry about their bodies. The effect on character does not +seem to be very different in the two classes. Metaphysicians may +discuss the nature of selfishness at their leisure; if to have all +her thoughts centring on the one point of her own well-being by and +by was selfishness, then Silence Withers was supremely selfish; and +if we are offended with that form of egotism, it is no more than ten +of the twelve Apostles were, as the reader may see by turning to the +Gospel of St. Matthew, the twentieth chapter and the twenty-fourth +verse. + +The next practical difficulty was, that she attempted to carry out a +theory which, whatever might be its success in other cases, did not +work kindly in the case of Myrtle Hazard, but, on the contrary, +developed a mighty spirit of antagonism in her nature, which +threatened to end in utter lawlessness. Miss Silence started from +the approved doctrine, that all children are radically and utterly +wrong in all their motives, feelings, thoughts, and deeds, so long as +they remain subject to their natural instincts. It was by the +eradication, and not the education, of these instincts, that the +character of the human being she was moulding was to be determined. +The first great preliminary process, so soon as the child manifested +any evidence of intelligent and persistent self-determination, was to +break her will. + +There is no doubt that this was a legitimate conclusion from the +teaching of Priest Pemberton, but it required a colder and harder +nature than his own to carry out many of his dogmas to their +practical application. He wrought in the pure mathematics, so to +speak, of theology, and left the working rules to the good sense and +good feeling of his people. + +Miss Silence had been waiting for her opportunity to apply the great +doctrine, and it came at last in a very trivial way. + +"Myrtle does n't want brown bread. Myrtle won't have brown bread. +Myrtle will have white bread." + +"Myrtle is a wicked child. She will have what Aunt Silence says she +shall have. She won't have anything but brown bread." + +Thereupon the bright red lip protruded, the hot blood mounted to her +face, the child untied her little "tire," got down from the table, +took up her one forlorn, featureless doll, and went to bed without +her supper. The next morning the worthy woman thought that hunger +and reflection would have subdued the rebellious spirit. So there +stood yesterday's untouched supper waiting for her breakfast. She +would not taste it, and it became necessary to enforce that extreme +penalty of the law which had been threatened, but never yet put in +execution. Miss Silence, in obedience to what she felt to be a +painful duty, without any passion, but filled with high, inexorable +purpose, carried the child up to the garret, and, fastening her so +that she could not wander about and hurt herself, left her to her +repentant thoughts, awaiting the moment when a plaintive entreaty for +liberty and food should announce that the evil nature had yielded and +the obdurate will was broken. + +The garret was an awful place. All the skeleton-like ribs of the +roof showed in the dim light, naked overhead, and the only floor to +be trusted consisted of the few boards which bridged the lath and +plaster. A great, mysterious brick tower climbed up through it,--it +was the chimney, but it looked like a horrible cell to put criminals +into. The whole place was festooned with cobwebs,--not light films, +such as the housewife's broom sweeps away before they have become a +permanent residence, but vast gray draperies, loaded with dust, +sprinkled with yellow powder from the beams where the worms were +gnawing day and night, the home of old, hairy spiders who had, lived +there since they were eggs and would leave it for unborn spiders who +would grow old and huge like themselves in it, long after the human +tenants had left the mansion for a narrower home. Here this little +criminal was imprisoned, six, twelve,--tell it not to mothers, +--eighteen dreadful hours, hungry until she was ready to gnaw her +hands, a prey to all childish imaginations; and here at her stern +guardian's last visit she sat, pallid, chilled, almost fainting, but +sullen and unsubdued. The Irishwoman, poor stupid Kitty Fagan, who +had no theory of human nature, saw her over the lean shoulders of the +spinster, and, forgetting all differences of condition and questions +of authority, rushed to her with a cry of maternal tenderness, and, +with a tempest of passionate tears and kisses, bore her off to her +own humble realm, where the little victorious martyr was fed from the +best stores of the house, until there was as much danger from +repletion as there had been from famine. How the experiment might +have ended but for this empirical and most unphilosophical +interference, there is no saying; but it settled the point that the +rebellious nature was not to be subjugated in a brief conflict. + +The untamed disposition manifested itself in greater enormities as +she grew older. At the age of four years she was detected in making +a cat's-cradle at meeting, during sermon-time, and, on being +reprimanded for so doing, laughed out loud, so as to be heard by +Father Pemberton, who thereupon bent his threatening, shaggy brows +upon the child, and, to his shame be it spoken, had such a sudden +uprising of weak, foolish, grandfatherly feelings, that a mist came +over his eyes, and he left out his "ninthly" altogether, thereby +spoiling the logical sequence of propositions which had kept his +large forehead knotty for a week. + +At eight years old she fell in love with the high-colored picture of +Major Gideon Withers in the crimson sash and the red feather of his +exalted military office. It was then for the first time that her +aunt Silence remarked a shade of resemblance between the child and +the portrait. She had always, up to this time, been dressed in sad +colors, as was fitting, doubtless, for a forlorn orphan; but +happening one day to see a small negro girl peacocking round in a +flaming scarlet petticoat, she struck for bright colors in her own +apparel, and carried her point at last. It was as if a ground- +sparrow had changed her gray feathers for the burning plumage of some +tropical wanderer; and it was natural enough that Cyprian Eveleth +should have called her the fire-hang-bird, and her little chamber the +fire-hang-bird's nest,--using the country boy's synonyme for the +Baltimore oriole. + +At ten years old she had one of those great experiences which give +new meaning to the life of a child. + +Her uncle Malachi had seemed to have a strong liking for her at one +time, but of late years his delusions had gained upon him, and under +their influence he seemed to regard her as an encumbrance and an +extravagance. He was growing more and more solitary in his habits, +more and more negligent of his appearance. He was up late at night, +wandering about the house from the cellar to the garret, so that, his +light being seen flitting from window to window, the story got about +that the old house was haunted. + +One dreary, rainy Friday in November, Myrtle was left alone in the +house. Her uncle had been gone since the day before. The two women +were both away at the village. At such times the child took a +strange delight in exploring all the hiding-places of the old +mansion. She had the mysterious dwelling-place of so many of the +dead and the living all to herself. What a fearful kind of pleasure +in its silence and loneliness! The old clock that Marmaduke Storr +made in London more than a hundred years ago was clicking the steady +pulse-beats of its second century. The featured moon on its dial had +lifted one eye, as if to watch the child, as it had watched so many +generations of children, while the swinging pendulum ticked them +along into youth, maturity, gray hairs, deathbeds,--ticking through +the prayer at the funeral, ticking without grief through all the +still or noisy woe of mourning,--ticking without joy when the smiles +and gayety of comforted heirs had come back again. She looked at +herself in the tall, bevelled mirror in the best chamber. She pulled +aside the curtains of the stately bedstead whereon the heads of the +house had slept until they died and were stretched out upon it, and +the sheet shaped itself to them in vague, awful breadth of outline, +like a block of monumental marble the sculptor leaves just hinted by +the chisel. + +She groped her way up to the dim garret, the scene of her memorable +punishment. A rusty hook projected from one of the joists a little +higher than a man's head. Something was hanging from it,--an old +garment, was it? She went bravely up and touched--a cold hand. She +did what most children of that age would do,--uttered a cry and ran +downstairs with all her might. She rushed out of the door and called +to the man Patrick, who was doing some work about the place. What +could be done was done, but it was too late. + +Uncle Malachi had made away with himself. That was plain on the face +of thing. In due time the coroner's verdict settled it. It was not +so strange as it seemed; but it made a great talk in the village and +all the country round about. Everybody knew he had money enough, and +yet he had hanged himself for fear of starving to death. + +For all that, he was found to have left a will, dated some years +before, leaving his property to his sister Silence, with the +exception of a certain moderate legacy to be paid in money to Myrtle +Hazard when she should arrive at the age of twenty years. + +The household seemed more chilly than ever after this tragical event. +Its depressing influence followed the child to school, where she +learned the common branches of knowledge. It followed her to the +Sabbath-day catechisings, where she repeated the answers about the +federal headship of Adam, and her consequent personal +responsibilities, and other technicalities which are hardly milk for +babes, perhaps as well as other children, but without any very +profound remorse for what she could not help, so far as she +understood the matter, any more than her sex or stature, and with no +very clear comprehension of the phrases which the New England +followers of the Westminster divines made a part of the elementary +instruction of young people. + +At twelve years old she had grown tall and womanly enough to attract +the eyes of the youth and older boys, several of whom made advances +towards her acquaintance. But the dreary discipline of the household +had sunk into her soul, and she had been shaping an internal life for +herself, which it was hard for friendship to penetrate. Bathsheba +Stoker was chained to the bedside of an invalid mother. Olive +Eveleth, a kind, true-hearted girl, belonged to another religious +communion; and this tended to render their meetings less frequent, +though Olive was still her nearest friend. Cyprian was himself a +little shy, and rather held to Myrtle through his sister than by any +true intimacy directly with herself. Of the other young men of the +village Gifted Hopkins was perhaps the most fervent of her admirers, +as he had repeatedly shown by effusions in verse, of which, under the +thinnest of disguises, she was the object. + +William Murray Bradshaw, ten years older than herself, a young man of +striking aspect and claims to exceptional ability, had kept his eye +on her of late; but it was generally supposed that he would find a +wife in the city, where he was in the habit of going to visit a +fashionable relative, Mrs. Clymer Ketchum, of 24 Carat Place. +She, at any rate, understood very well that he meant, to use his own +phrase, "to go in for a corner lot,"--understanding thereby a young +lady with possessions and without encumbrances. If the old man had +only given his money to Myrtle, William Murray Bradshaw would have +made sure of her; but she was not likely ever to get much of it. +Miss Silence Withers, it was understood, would probably leave her +money as the Rev. Mr. Stoker, her spiritual director, should +indicate, and it seemed likely that most of it would go to a rising +educational institution where certain given doctrines were to be +taught through all time, whether disproved or not, and whether those +who taught them believed them or not, provided only they would say +they believed them. + +Nobody had promised to say masses for her soul if she made this +disposition of her property, or pledged the word of the Church that +she should have plenary absolution. But she felt that she would be +making friends in Influential Quarters by thus laying up her +treasure, and that she would be safe if she had the good-will of the +ministers of her sect. + +Myrtle Hazard had nearly reached the age of fourteen, and, though not +like to inherit much of the family property, was fast growing into a +large dower of hereditary beauty. Always handsome, her features +shaped themselves in a finer symmetry, her color grew richer, her +figure promised a perfect womanly development, and her movements had +the grace which high-breeding gives the daughter of a queen, and +which Nature now and then teaches the humblest of village maidens. +She could not long escape the notice of the lovers and flatterers of +beauty, and the time of danger was drawing near. + +At this period of her life she made two discoveries which changed the +whole course of her thoughts, and opened for her a new world of ideas +and possibilities. + +Ever since the dreadful event of November, 1854, the garret had been +a fearful place to think of, and still more to visit. The stories +that the house was haunted gained in frequency of repetition and +detail of circumstance. But Myrtle was bold and inquisitive, and +explored its recesses at such times as she could creep among them +undisturbed. Hid away close under the eaves she found an old trunk +covered with dust and cobwebs. The mice had gnawed through its +leather hinges, and, as it had been hastily stuffed full, the cover +had risen, and two or three volumes had fallen to the floor. This +trunk held the papers and books which her great-grandmother, the +famous beauty, had left behind her, records of the romantic days when +she was the belle of the county,--storybooks, memoirs, novels, and +poems, and not a few love-letters,--a strange collection, which, as +so often happens with such deposits in old families, nobody had cared +to meddle with, and nobody had been willing to destroy, until at last +they had passed out of mind, and waited for a new generation to bring +them into light again. + +The other discovery was of a small hoard of coin. Under one of the +boards which formed the imperfect flooring of the garret was hidden +an old leather mitten. Instead of a hand, it had a fat fist of +silver dollars, and a thumb of gold half-eagles. + +Thus knowledge and power found their way to the simple and secluded +maiden. The books were hers to read as much as any other's; the gold +and silver were only a part of that small provision which would be +hers by and by, and if she borrowed it, it was borrowing of herself. +The tree of the knowledge of good and evil had shaken its fruit into +her lap, and, without any serpent to tempt her, she took thereof and +did eat. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +BYLES GRIDLEY, A. M. + +The old Master of Arts was as notable a man in his outside +presentment as one will find among five hundred college alumni as +they file in procession. His strong, squared features, his +formidable scowl, his solid-looking head, his iron-gray hair, his +positive and as it were categorical stride, his slow, precise way of +putting a statement, the strange union of trampling radicalism in +some directions and high-stepping conservatism in others, which made +it impossible to calculate on his unexpressed opinions, his testy +ways and his generous impulses, his hard judgments and kindly +actions, were characteristics that gave him a very decided +individuality. + +He had all the aspects of a man of books. His study, which was the +best room in Mrs. Hopkins's house, was filled with a miscellaneous- +looking collection of volumes, which his curious literary taste had +got together from the shelves of all the libraries that had been +broken up during his long life as a scholar. Classics, theology, +especially of the controversial sort, statistics, politics, law, +medicine, science, occult and overt, general literature,--almost +every branch of knowledge was represented. His learning was very +various, and of course mixed up, useful and useless, new and ancient, +dogmatic and rational,--like his library, in short; for a library +gathered like his is a looking-glass in which the owner's mind is +reflected. + +The common people about the village did not know what to make of such +a phenomenon. He did not preach, marry, christen, or bury, like the +ministers, nor jog around with medicines for sick folks, nor carry +cases into court for quarrelsome neighbors. What was he good for? +Not a great deal, some of the wiseacres thought,--had "all sorts of +sense but common sense,"--"smart mahn, but not prahctical." There +were others who read him more shrewdly. He knowed more, they said, +than all the ministers put together, and if he'd stan' for +Ripresentative they 'd like to vote for him,--they hed n't hed a +smart mahn in the Gineral Court sence Squire Wibird was thar. + +They may have overdone the matter in comparing his knowledge with +that of all the ministers together, for Priest Pemberton was a real +scholar in his special line of study,--as all D. D.'s are supposed to +be, or they would not have been honored with that distinguished +title. But Mr. Byles Gridley not only had more learning than the +deep-sea line of the bucolic intelligence could fathom; he had more +wisdom also than they gave him credit for, even those among them who +thought most of his abilities. + +In his capacity of schoolmaster he had sharpened his wits against +those of the lively city boys he had in charge, and made such a +reputation as "Master" Gridley, that he kept that title even after he +had become a college tutor and professor. As a tutor he had to deal +with many of these same boys, and others like them, in the still more +vivacious period of their early college life. He got rid of his +police duties when he became a professor, but he still studied the +pupils as carefully as he used once to watch them, and learned to +read character with a skill which might have fitted him for governing +men instead of adolescents. But he loved quiet and he dreaded +mingling with the brawlers of the market-place, whose stock in trade +is a voice and a vocabulary. So it was that he had passed his life +in the patient mechanical labor of instruction, leaving too many of +his instincts and faculties in abeyance. + +The alluvium of all this experience bore a nearer resemblance to +worldly wisdom than might have been conjectured; much nearer, indeed, +than it does in many old instructors, whose eyes get fish-like as +their blood grows cold, and who are not fit to be trusted with +anything more practical than a gerund or a cosine. Master Gridley +not only knew a good deal of human nature, but he knew how to keep +his knowledge to himself upon occasion. He understood singularly +well the ways and tendencies of young people. He was shrewd in the +detection of trickery, and very confident in those who had once +passed the ordeal of his well-schooled observing powers. He had no +particular tendency to meddle with the personal relations of those +about him; but if they were forced upon him in any way, he was like +to see into them at least as quickly as any of his neighbors who +thought themselves most endowed with practical skill. + +In leaving the duties of his office he considered himself, as he said +a little despondently, like an old horse unharnessed and turned out +to pasture. He felt that he had separated himself from human +interests, and was henceforth to live in his books with the dead, +until he should be numbered with them himself. He had chosen this +quiet village as a place where he might pass his days undisturbed, +and find a peaceful resting-place in its churchyard, where the gravel +was dry, and the sun lay warm, and the glowing woods of autumn would +spread their many-colored counterpane over the bed where he would be +taking his rest. It sometimes came over him painfully that he was +never more to be of any importance to his fellow-creatures. There +was nobody living to whom he was connected by any very near ties. He +felt kindly enough to the good woman in whose house he lived; he +sometimes gave a few words of counsel to her son; he was not +unamiable with the few people he met; he bowed with great +consideration to the Rev. Dr. Pemberton; and he studied with no small +interest the physiognomy of the Rev. Joseph Bellamy Stoker, to whose +sermons he listened, with a black scowl now and then, and a nostril +dilating with ominous intensity of meaning. But he said sadly to +himself, that his life had been a failure,--that he had nothing to +show for it, and his one talent was ready in its napkin to give back +to his Lord. + +He owed something of this sadness, perhaps, to a cause which many +would hold of small significance. Though he had mourned for no lost +love, at least so far as was known, though he had never suffered the +pang of parting with a child, though he seemed isolated from those +joys and griefs which come with the ties of family, he too had his +private urn filled with the ashes of extinguished hopes. He was the +father of a dead book. + +Why "Thoughts on the Universe, by Byles Gridley, A. M.," had not met +with an eager welcome and a permanent demand from the discriminating +public, it would take us too long to inquire in detail. Indeed; he +himself was never able to account satisfactorily for the state of +things which his bookseller's account made evident to him. He had +read and re-read his work; and the more familiar he became with it, +the less was he able to understand the singular want of popular +appreciation of what he could not help recognizing as its +excellences. He had a special copy of his work, printed on large +paper and sumptuously bound. He loved to read in this, as people +read over the letters of friends who have long been dead; and it +might have awakened a feeling of something far removed from the +ludicrous, if his comments on his own production could have been +heard. "That's a thought, now, for you!--See Mr. Thomas Babington +Macaulay's Essay printed six years after thus book." "A felicitous +image! and so everybody would have said if only Mr. Thomas Carlyle +had hit upon it." "If this is not genuine pathos, where will you +find it, I should like to know? And nobody to open the book where it +stands written but one poor old man--in this generation, at least--in +this generation!" It may be doubted whether he would ever have loved +his book with such jealous fondness if it had gone through a dozen +editions, and everybody was quoting it to his face. But now it lived +only for him; and to him it was wife and child, parent, friend, all +in one, as Hector was all in all to his spouse. He never tired of +it, and in his more sanguine moods he looked forward to the time when +the world would acknowledge its merits, and his genius would find +full recognition. Perhaps he was right: more than one book which +seemed dead and was dead for contemporary readers has had a +resurrection when the rivals who triumphed over it lived only in the +tombstone memory of antiquaries. Comfort for some of us, dear +fellow-writer + +It followed from the way in which he lived that he must have some +means of support upon which he could depend. He was economical, if +not over frugal in some of his habits; but he bought books, and took +newspapers and reviews, and had money when money was needed; the fact +being, though it was not generally known, that a distant relative had +not long before died, leaving him a very comfortable property. + +His money matters had led him to have occasional dealings with the +late legal firm of Wibird and Penhallow, which had naturally passed +into the hands of the new partnership, Penhallow and Bradshaw. He +had entire confidence in the senior partner, but not so much in the +young man who had been recently associated in the business. + +Mr. William Murray Bradshaw, commonly called by his last two names, +was the son of a lawyer of some note for his acuteness, who marked +out his calling for him in having him named after the great Lord +Mansfield. Murray Bradshaw was about twenty-five years old, by +common consent good-looking, with a finely formed head, a searching +eye, and a sharp-cut mouth, which smiled at his bidding without the +slightest reference to the real condition of his feeling at the +moment. This was a great convenience; for it gave him an appearance +of good-nature at the small expense of a slight muscular movement +which was as easy as winking, and deceived everybody but those who +had studied him long and carefully enough to find that this play of +his features was what a watch maker would call a detached movement. + +He had been a good scholar in college, not so much by hard study as +by skilful veneering, and had taken great pains to stand well with +the Faculty, at least one of whom, Byles Gridley, A. M., had watched +him with no little interest as a man with a promising future, +provided he were not so astute as to outwit and overreach himself in +his excess of contrivance. His classmates could not help liking him; +as to loving him, none of them would have thought of that. He was so +shrewd, so keen, so full of practical sense, and so good-humored as +long as things went on to his liking, that few could resist his +fascination. He had a way of talking with people about what they +were interested in, as if it were the one matter in the world nearest +to his heart. But he was commonly trying to find out something, or +to produce some impression, as a juggler is working at his miracle +while he keeps people's attention by his voluble discourse and make- +believe movements. In his lightest talk he was almost always edging +towards a practical object, and it was an interesting and instructive +amusement to watch for the moment at which he would ship the belt of +his colloquial machinery on to the tight pulley. It was done so +easily and naturally that there was hardly a sign of it. Master +Gridley could usually detect the shifting action, but the young man's +features and voice never betrayed him. + +He was a favorite with the other sex, who love poetry and romance, as +he well knew, for which reason he often used the phrases of both, and +in such a way as to answer his purpose with most of those whom he +wished to please. He had one great advantage in the sweepstakes of +life: he was not handicapped with any burdensome ideals. He took +everything at its marked value. He accepted the standard of the +street as a final fact for to-day, like the broker's list of prices. + +His whole plan of life was laid out. He knew that law was the best +introduction to political life, and he meant to use it for this end. +He chose to begin his career in the country, so as to feel his way +more surely and gradually to its ultimate aim; but he had no +intention of burning his shining talents in a grazing district, +however tall its grass might grow. His business was not with these +stiff-jointed, slow-witted graziers, but with the supple, dangerous, +far-seeing men who sit scheming by the gas-light in the great cities, +after all the lamps and candles are out from the Merrimac to the +Housatonic. Every strong and every weak point of those who might +probably be his rivals were laid down on his charts, as winds and +currents and rocks are marked on those of a navigator. All the young +girls in the country, and not a few in the city, with which, as +mentioned, he had frequent relations, were on his list of possible +availabilities in the matrimonial line of speculation, provided +always that their position and prospects were such as would make them +proper matches for so considerable a person as the future Hon. +William Murray Bradshaw. + +Master Gridley had made a careful study of his old pupil since they +had resided in the same village. The old professor could not help +admiring him, notwithstanding certain suspicious elements in his +character; for after muddy village talk, a clear stream of +intelligent conversation was a great luxury to the hard-headed +scholar. The more he saw of him, the more he learned to watch his +movements, and to be on his guard in talking with him. The old man +could be crafty, with all his simplicity, and he had found out that +under his good-natured manner there often lurked some design more or +less worth noting, and which might involve other interests deserving +protection. + +For some reason or other the old Master of Arts had of late +experienced a certain degree of relenting with regard to himself, +probably brought about by the expressions of gratitude from worthy +Mrs. Hopkins for acts of kindness to which he himself attached no +great value. He had been kind to her son Gifted; he had been +fatherly with Susan Posey, her relative and boarder; and he had shown +himself singularly and unexpectedly amiable with the little twins who +had been adopted by the good woman into her household. In fact, ever +since these little creatures had begun to toddle about and explode +their first consonants, he had looked through his great round +spectacles upon them with a decided interest; and from that time it +seemed as if some of the human and social sentiments which had never +leafed or flowered in him, for want of their natural sunshine, had +begun growing up from roots which had never lost their life. His +liking for the twins may have been an illustration of that singular +law which old Dr. Hurlbut used to lay down, namely, that at a certain +period of life, say from fifty to sixty and upward, the grand- +paternal instinct awakens in bachelors, the rhythms of Nature +reaching them in spite of her defeated intentions; so that when men +marry late they love their autumn child with a twofold affection, +--father's and grandfather's both in one. + +However this may be, there is no doubt that Mr. Byles Gridley was +beginning to take a part in his neighbors' welfare and misfortunes, +such as could hardly have been expected of a man so long lost in his +books and his scholastic duties. And among others, Myrtle Hazard had +come in for a share of his interest. He had met her now and then in +her walks to and from school and meeting, and had been taken with her +beauty and her apparent unconsciousness of it, which he attributed to +the forlorn kind of household in which she had grown up. He had got +so far as to talk with her now and then, and found himself puzzled, +as well he might be, in talking with a girl who had been growing into +her early maturity in antagonism with every influence that surrounded +her. + +"Love will reach her by and by," he said, "in spite of the dragons up +at the den yonder. + + "'Centum fronte oculos, centum cervice gerebat + Argus, et hos unus saepe fefellit amor.'" + +But there was something about Myrtle,--he hardly knew whether to call +it dignity, or pride, or reserve, or the mere habit of holding back +brought about by the system of repression under which she had been +educated,--which kept even the old Master of Arts at his distance. +Yet he was strongly drawn to her, and had a sort of presentiment that +he might be able to help her some day, and that very probably she +would want his help; for she was alone in the world, except for the +dragons, and sure to be assailed by foes from without and from +within. + +He noticed that her name was apt to come up in his conversations with +Murray Bradshaw; and, as he himself never introduced it, of course +the young man must have forced it, as conjurers force a card, and +with some special object. This set him thinking hard; and, as a +result of it, he determined the next time Mr. Bradshaw brought her +name up to set him talking. + +So he talked, not suspecting how carefully the old man listened. + +"It was a demonish hard case," he said, "that old Malachi had left +his money as he did. Myrtle Hazard was going to be the handsomest +girl about, when she came to her beauty, and she was coming to it +mighty fast. If they could only break that will, but it was no use +trying. The doctors said he was of sound mind for at least two years +after making it. If Silence Withers got the land claim, there'd be a +pile, sure enough. Myrtle Hazard ought to have it. If the girl had +only inherited that property--whew? She'd have been a match for any +fellow. That old Silence Withers would do just as her minister told +her,--even chance whether she gives it to the Parson-factory, or +marries Bellamy Stoker, and gives it to him after his wife's dead. +He'd take it if he had to take her with it. Earn his money, hey, +Master Gridley?" + +"Why, you don't seem to think very well of the Rev. Joseph Bellamy +Stoker?" said Mr. Gridley, smiling. + +"Think well of him? Too fond of using the Devil's pitchfork for my +fancy! Forks over pretty much all the world but himself and his lot +into--the bad place, you know; and toasts his own cheese with it with +very much the same kind of comfort that other folks seem to take in +that business. Besides, he has a weakness for pretty saints--and +sinners. That's an odd name he has. More belle amie than Joseph +about him, I rather guess!" + +The old professor smiled again. "So you don't think he believes all +the mediaeval doctrines he is in the habit of preaching, Mr. +Bradshaw?" + +"No, sir; I think he belongs to the class I have seen described +somewhere. 'There are those who hold the opinion that truth is only +safe when diluted,--about one fifth to four fifths lies,--as the +oxygen of the air is with its nitrogen. Else it would burn us all +up.'" + +Byles Gridley colored and started a little. This was one of his own +sayings in "Thoughts on the Universe." But the young man quoted it +without seeming to suspect its authorship. + +"Where did you pick up that saying, Mr. Bradshaw?" + +"I don't remember. Some paper, I rather think. It's one of those +good things that get about without anybody's knowing who says 'em. +Sounds like Coleridge." + +"That's what I call a compliment worth having," said Byles Gridley to +himself, when he got home. "Let me look at that passage." + +He took down "Thoughts on the Universe," and got so much interested, +reading on page after page, that he did not hear the little tea-bell, +and Susan Posey volunteered to run up to his study and call him down +to tea. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE TWINS. + +Miss Suzan Posey knocked timidly at his door and informed him that +tea was waiting. He rather liked Susan Posey. She was a pretty +creature, slight, blonde, a little too light, a village beauty of the +second or third grade, effective at picnics and by moonlight,--the +kind of girl that very young men are apt to remember as their first +love. She had a taste for poetry, and an admiration of poets; but, +what was better, she was modest and simple, and a perfect sister and +mother and grandmother to the two little forlorn twins who had been +stranded on the Widow Hopkins's doorstep. + +These little twins, a boy and girl, were now between two and three +years old. A few words will make us acquainted with them. Nothing +had ever been known of their origin. The sharp eyes of all the +spinsters had been through every household in the village and +neighborhood, and not a suspicion fixed itself on any one. It was a +dark night when they were left; and it was probable that they had +been brought from another town, as the sound of wheels had been heard +close to the door where they were found, had stopped for a moment, +then been heard again, and lost in the distance. + +How the good woman of the house took them in and kept them has been +briefly mentioned. At first nobody thought they would live a day, +such little absurd attempts at humanity did they seem. But the young +doctor came and the old doctor came, and the infants were laid in +cotton-wool, and the room heated up to keep them warm, and baby- +teaspoonfuls of milk given them, and after being kept alive in this +way, like the young of opossums and kangaroos, they came to a +conclusion about which they did not seem to have made up their +thinking-pulps for some weeks, namely, to go on trying to cross the +sea of life by tugging at the four-and-twenty oars which must be +pulled day and night until the unknown shore is reached, and the oars +lie at rest under the folded hands. + +As it was not very likely that the parents who left their offspring +round on doorsteps were of saintly life, they were not presented for +baptism like the children of church-members. Still, they must have +names to be known by, and Mrs. Hopkins was much exercised in the +matter. Like many New England parents, she had a decided taste for +names that were significant and sonorous. That which she had chosen +for her oldest child, the young poet, was either a remarkable +prophecy, or it had brought with it the endowments it promised. She +had lost, or, in her own more pictorial language, she had buried, a +daughter to whom she had given the names, at once of cheerful omen +and melodious effect, Wealthy Amadora. + +As for them poor little creturs, she said, she believed they was +rained down out o' the skies, jest as they say toads and tadpoles +come. She meant to be a mother to 'em for all that, and give 'em +jest as good names as if they was the governor's children, or the +minister's. If Mr. Gridley would be so good as to find her some kind +of a real handsome Chris'n name for 'em, she'd provide 'em with the +other one. Hopkinses they shall be bred and taught, and Hopkinses +they shall be called. Ef their father and mother was ashamed to own +'em, she was n't. Couldn't Mr. Gridley pick out some pooty sounding +names from some of them great books of his. It's jest as well to +have 'em pooty as long as they don't cost any more than if they was +Tom and Sally. + +A grim smile passed over the rugged features of Byles Gridley. +"Nothing is easier than that, Mrs. Hopkins," he said. "I will give +you two very pretty names that I think will please you and other +folks. They're new names, too. If they shouldn't like to keep them, +they can change them before they're christened, if they ever are. +Isosceles will be just the name for the boy, and I'm sure you won't +find a prettier name for the girl in a hurry than Helminthia." + +Mrs. Hopkins was delighted with the dignity and novelty of these two +names, which were forthwith adopted. As they were rather long for +common use in the family, they were shortened into the easier forms +of Sossy and Minthy, under which designation the babes began very +soon to thrive mightily, turning bread and milk into the substance of +little sinners at a great rate, and growing as if they were put out +at compound interest. + +This short episode shows us the family conditions surrounding Byles +Gridley, who, as we were saying, had just been called down to tea by +Miss Susan Posey. + +"I am coming, my dear," he said,--which expression quite touched Miss +Susan, who did not know that it was a kind of transferred caress from +the delicious page he was reading. It was not the living child that +was kissed, but the dead one lying under the snow, if we may make a +trivial use of a very sweet and tender thought we all remember. + +Not long after this, happening to call in at the lawyer's office, his +eye was caught by the corner of a book lying covered up by a pile of +papers. Somehow or other it seemed to look very natural to him. +Could that be a copy of "Thoughts on the Universe"? He watched his +opportunity, and got a hurried sight of the volume. His own +treatise, sure enough! Leaves Uncut. Opened of itself to the one +hundred and twentieth page. The axiom Murray Bradshaw had quoted--he +did not remember from what,--"sounded like Coleridge"--was staring +him in the face from that very page. When he remembered how he had +pleased himself with that compliment the other day, he blushed like a +school-girl; and then, thinking out the whole trick,--to hunt up his +forgotten book, pick out a phrase or two from it, and play on his +weakness with it, to win his good opinion,--for what purpose he did +not know, but doubtless to use him in some way,--he grinned with a +contempt about equally divided between himself and the young schemer. + +"Ah ha!" he muttered scornfully. "Sounds like Coleridge, hey? +Niccolo Macchiavelli Bradshaw!" + +From this day forward he looked on all the young lawyer's doings with +even more suspicion than before. Yet he would not forego his company +and conversation; for he was very agreeable and amusing to study; and +this trick he had played him was, after all, only a diplomatist's way +of flattering his brother plenipotentiary. Who could say? Some time +or other he might cajole England or France or Russia into a treaty +with just such a trick. Shallower men than he had gone out as +ministers of the great Republic. At any rate, the fellow was worth +watching. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE USE OF SPECTACLES. + +The old Master of Arts had a great reputation in the house where he +lived for knowing everything that was going on. He rather enjoyed +it; and sometimes amused himself with surprising his simple-hearted +landlady and her boarders with the unaccountable results of his +sagacity. One thing was quite beyond her comprehension. She was +perfectly sure that Mr. Gridley could see out of the back of his +head, just as other people see with their natural organs. Time and +again he had told her what she was doing when his back was turned to +her, just as if he had been sitting squarely in front of her. Some +laughed at this foolish notion; but others, who knew more of the +nebulous sciences, told her it was like's not jes' so. Folks had +read letters laid ag'in' the pits o' their stomachs, 'n' why should +n't they see out o' the backs o' their heads? + +Now there was a certain fact at the bottom of this belief of Mrs. +Hopkins; and as it world be a very small thing to make a mystery of +so simple a matter, the reader shall have the whole benefit of +knowing all there is in it,--not quite yet, however, of knowing all +that came of it. It was not the mirror trick, of course, which Mrs. +Felix Lorraine and other dangerous historical personages have so long +made use of. It was nothing but this: Mr. Byles Gridley wore a pair +of formidable spectacles with large round glasses. He had often +noticed the reflection of objects behind him when they caught their +images at certain angles, and had got the habit of very often looking +at the reflecting surface of one or the other of the glasses, when he +seemed to be looking through them. It put a singular power into his +possession, which might possibly hereafter lead to something more +significant than the mystification of the Widow Hopkins. + +A short time before Myrtle Hazard's disappearance, Mr. Byles Gridley +had occasion to call again at the office of Penhallow and Bradshaw on +some small matter of business of his own. There were papers to look +over, and he put on his great round-glassed spectacles. He and Mr. +Penhallow sat down at the table, and Mr. Bradshaw was at a desk +behind them. After sitting for a while, Mr. Penhallow seemed to +remember something he had meant to attend to, for he said all at +once: "Excuse me, Mr. Gridley. Mr. Bradshaw, if you are not busy, I +wish you would look over this bundle of papers. They look like old +receipted bills and memoranda of no particular use; but they came +from the garret of the Withers place, and might possibly have +something that would be of value. Look them over, will you, and see +whether there is anything there worth saving." + +The young man took the papers, and Mr. Penhallow sat down again at +the table with Mr. Byles Gridley. + +This last-named gentleman felt just then a strong impulse to observe +the operations of Murray Bradshaw. He could not have given any very +good reason for it, any more than any of us can for half of what we +do. + +"I should like to examine that conveyance we were speaking of once +more," said he. "Please to look at this one in the mean time, will +you, Mr. Penhallow?" + +Master Gridley held the document up before him. He did not seem to +find it quite legible, and adjusted his spectacles carefully, until +they were just as he wanted them. When he had got them to suit +himself, sitting there with his back to Murray Bradshaw, he could see +him and all his movements, the desk at which he was standing, and the +books in the shelves before him,--all this time appearing as if he +were intent upon his own reading. + +The young man began in a rather indifferent way to look over the +papers. He loosened the band round them, and took them up one by +one, gave a careless glance at them, and laid them together to tie up +again when he had gone through them. Master Gridley saw all this +process, thinking what a fool he was all the time to be watching such +a simple proceeding. Presently he noticed a more sudden movement: +the young man had found something which arrested his attention, and +turned his head to see if he was observed. The senior partner and +his client were both apparently deep in their own affairs. In his +hand Mr. Bradshaw held a paper folded like the others, the back of +which he read, holding it in such a way that Master Gridley saw very +distinctly three large spots of ink upon it, and noticed their +position. Murray Bradshaw took another hurried glance at the two +gentlemen, and then quickly opened the paper. He ran it over with a +flash of his eye, folded it again, and laid it by itself. With +another quick turn of his head, as if to see whether he were observed +or like to be, he reached his hand out and took a volume down from +the shelves. In this volume he shut the document, whatever it was, +which he had just taken out of the bundle, and placed the book in a +very silent and as it were stealthy way back in its place. He then +gave a look at each of the other papers, and said to his partner: +"Old bills, old leases, and insurance policies that have run out. +Malachi seems to have kept every scrap of paper that had a signature +to it." + +"That 's the way with the old misers, always," said Mr. Penhallow. + +Byles Gridley had got through reading the document he held,--or +pretending to read it. He took off his spectacles. + +"We all grow timid and cautious as we get old, Mr. Penhallow." Then +turning round to the young man, he slowly repeated the lines, + + "'Multa senem circumveniunt incommoda, vel quod + Quaerit et inventis miser abstinet, ac timet uti; + Vel quod res omnes timide, gelideque ministrat ' + +"You remember the passage, Mr. Bradshaw?" + +While he was reciting these words from Horace, which he spoke slowly +as if he relished every syllable, he kept his eyes on the young man +steadily, but with out betraying any suspicion. His old habits as a +teacher made that easy. + +Murray Bradshaw's face was calm as usual, but there was a flush on +his cheek, and Master Gridley saw the slight but unequivocal signs of +excitement. + +"Something is going on inside there," the old man said to himself. +He waited patiently, on the pretext of business, until Mr. Bradshaw +got up and left the office. As soon as he and the senior partner +were alone, Master Gridley took a lazy look at some of the books in +his library. There stood in the book-shelves a copy of the Corpus +Juris Civilis,--the fine Elzevir edition of 1664. It was bound in +parchment, and thus readily distinguishable at a glance from all the +books round it. Now Mr. Penhallow was not much of a Latin scholar, +and knew and cared very little about the civil law. He had fallen in +with this book at an auction, and bought it to place in his shelves +with the other "properties" of the office, because it would look +respectable. Anything shut up in one of those two octavos might stay +there a lifetime without Mr. Penhallow's disturbing it; that Master +Gridley knew, and of course the young man knew it too. + +We often move to the objects of supreme curiosity or desire, not in +the lines of castle or bishop on the chess-board, but with the +knight's zigzag, at first in the wrong direction, making believe to +ourselves we are not after the thing coveted. Put a lump of sugar in +a canary-bird's cage, and the small creature will illustrate the +instinct for the benefit of inquirers or sceptics. Byles Gridley +went to the other side of the room and took a volume of Reports from +the shelves. He put it back and took a copy of "Fearne on Contingent +Remainders," and looked at that for a moment in an idling way, as if +from a sense of having nothing to do. Then he drew the back of his +forefinger along the books on the shelf, as if nothing interested him +in them, and strolled to the shelf in front of the desk at which +Murray Bradshaw had stood. He took down the second volume of the +Corpus Juris Civilis, turned the leaves over mechanically, as if in +search of some title, and replaced it. + +He looked round for a moment. Mr. Penhallow was writing hard at his +table, not thinking of him, it was plain enough. He laid his hand on +the FIRST volume of the Corpus Juris Civilis. There was a document +shut up in it. His hand was on the book, whether taking it out or +putting it back was not evident, when the door opened and Mr. William +Murray Bradshaw entered. + +"Ah, Mr. Gridley," he said, "you are not studying the civil law, are +you?" He strode towards him as he spoke, his face white, his eyes +fixed fiercely on him. + +"It always interests me, Mr. Bradshaw," he answered, "and this is a +fine edition of it. One may find a great many valuable things in the +Corpus Juris Civilis." + +He looked impenetrable, and whether or not he had seen more than Mr. +Bradshaw wished him to see, that gentleman could not tell. But there +stood the two books in their place, and when, after Master Gridley +had gone, he looked in the first volume, there was the document he +had shut up in it. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +MYRTLE'S LETTER--THE YOUNG MEN'S PURSUIT. + +"You know all about it, Olive?" Cyprian Eveleth said to his sister, +after a brief word of greeting. + +"Know of what, Cyprian?" + +"Why, sister, don't you know that Myrtle Hazard is missing,--gone! +--gone nobody knows where, and that we are looking in all directions +to find her?" + +Olive turned very pale and was silent for a moment. At the end of +that moment the story seemed almost old to her. It was a natural +ending of the prison-life which had been round Myrtle since her +earliest years. When she got large and strong enough, she broke out +of jail,--that was all. The nursery-bar is always climbed sooner or +later, whether it is a wooden or an iron one. Olive felt as if she +had dimly foreseen just such a finishing to the tragedy of the poor +girl's home bringing-up. Why could not she have done something to +prevent it? Well,--what shall we do now, and as it is?--that is the +question. + +"Has she left no letter,--no explanation of her leaving in this way?" + +"Not a word, so far as anybody in the village knows." + +"Come over to the post-office with me; perhaps we may find a letter. +I think we shall." + +Olive's sagacity and knowledge of her friend's character had not +misled her. She found a letter from Myrtle to herself, which she +opened and read as here follows: + +MY DEAREST OLIVE:--Think no evil of me for what I have done. The +fire-hang-bird's nest, as Cyprian called it, is empty, and the poor +bird is flown. + +I can live as I have lived no longer. This place is chilling all the +life out of me, and I must find another home. It is far, far away, +and you will not hear from me again until I am there. Then I will +write to you. + +You know where I was born,--under a hot sun and in the midst of +strange, lovely scenes that I seem still to remember. I must visit +them again: my heart always yearns for them. And I must cross the +sea to get there,--the beautiful great sea that I have always longed +for and that my river has been whispering about to me ever so many +years. My life is pinched and starved here. I feel as old as aunt +Silence, and I am only fifteen,--a child she has called me within a +few days. If this is to be a child, what is it to be a woman? + +I love you dearly,--and your brother is almost to me as if he were +mine. I love our sweet, patient Bathsheba,--yes, and the old man +that has spoken so kindly with me, good Master Gridley; I hate to +give you pain,--to leave you all,--but my way of life is killing me, +and I am too young to die. I cannot take the comfort with you, my +dear friends, that I would; for it seems as if I carried a lump of +ice in my heart, and all the warmth I find in you cannot thaw it out. + +I have had a strange warning to leave this place, Olive. Do you +remember how the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph and told him to +flee into Egypt? I have had a dream like that, Olive. There is an +old belief in our family that the spirit of one who died many +generations ago watches over some of her descendants. They say it +led our first ancestor to come over here when it was a wilderness. I +believe it has appeared to others of the family in times of trouble. +I have had a strange dream at any rate, and the one I saw, or thought +I saw, told me to leave this place. Perhaps I should have stayed if +it had not been for that, but it seemed like an angel's warning. + +Nobody will know how I have gone, or which way I have taken. On +Monday, you may show this letter to my friends, not before. I do not +think they will be in danger of breaking their hearts for me at our +house. Aunt Silence cares for nothing but her own soul, and the +other woman hates me, I always thought. Kitty Fagan will cry hard. +Tell her perhaps I shall come back by and by. There is a little box +in my room, with some keepsakes marked,--one is for poor Kitty. You +can give them to the right ones. Yours is with them. + +Good-by, dearest. Keep my secret, as I told you, till Monday. And +if you never see me again, remember how much I loved you. Never +think hardly of me, for you have grown up in a happy home, and do not +know how much misery can be crowded into fifteen years of a young +girl's life. God be with you! + +MYRTLE HAZARD. + + +Olive could not restrain her tears, as she handed the letter to +Cyprian. "Her secret is as safe with you as with me," she said. +"But this is madness, Cyprian, and we must keep her from doing +herself a wrong. + +"What she means to do, is to get to Boston, in some way or other, and +sail for India. It is strange that they have not tracked her. There +is no time to be lost. She shall not go out into the world in this +way, child that she is. No; she shall come back, and make her home +with us, if she cannot be happy with these people. Ours is a happy +and a cheerful home, and she shall be to me as a younger sister, and +your sister too, Cyprian. But you must see her; you must leave this +very hour; and you may find her. Go to your cousin Edward, in +Boston, at once; tell him your errand, and get him to help you find +our poor dear sister. Then give her the note I will write, and say I +know your heart, Cyprian, and I can trust that to tell you what to +say." + +In a very short time Cyprian Eveleth was on his way to Boston. But +another, keener even in pursuit than he, was there before him. + +Ever since the day when Master Gridley had made that over-curious +observation of the young lawyer's proceedings at the office, Murray +Bradshaw had shown a far livelier interest than before in the +conditions and feelings of Myrtle Hazard. He had called frequently +at The Poplars to talk over business matters, which seemed of late to +require a deal of talking. He had been very deferential to Miss +Silence, and had wound himself into the confidence of Miss Badlam. +He found it harder to establish any very near relations with Myrtle, +who had never seemed to care much for any young man but Cyprian +Eveleth, and to care for him quite as much as Olive's brother as for +any personal reason. But he carefully studied Myrtle's tastes and +ways of thinking and of life, so that, by and by, when she should +look upon herself as a young woman, and not as a girl, he would have +a great advantage in making her more intimate acquaintance. + +Thus, she corresponded with a friend of her mother's in India. She +talked at times as if it were her ideal home, and showed many tastes +which might well be vestiges of early Oriental impressions. She made +herself a rude hammock,--such as are often used in hot climates,--and +swung it between two elms. Here she would lie in the hot summer +days, and fan herself with the sandal-wood fan her friend in India +had sent her,--the perfume of which, the women said, seemed to throw +her into day-dreams, which were almost like trances. + +These circumstances gave a general direction to his ideas, which were +presently fixed more exactly by two circumstances which he learned +for himself and kept to himself; for he had no idea of making a hue +and cry, and yet he did not mean that Myrtle Hazard should get away +if he could help it. + +The first fact was this. He found among the copies of the city +newspaper they took at The Poplars a recent number from which a +square had been cut out. He procured another copy of this paper of +the same date, and found that the piece cut out was an advertisement +to the effect that the A 1 Ship Swordfish, Captain Hawkins, was to +sail from Boston for Calcutta, on the 20th of June. + +The second fact was the following. On the window-sill of her little +hanging chamber, which the women allowed him to inspect, he found +some threads of long, black, glossy hair caught by a splinter in the +wood. They were Myrtle's of course. A simpleton might have +constructed a tragedy out of this trivial circumstance,--how she had +cast herself from the window into the waters beneath it,--how she had +been thrust out after a struggle, of which this shred from her +tresses was the dreadful witness,--and so on. Murray Bradshaw did +not stop to guess and wonder. He said nothing about it, but wound +the shining threads on his finger, and, as soon as he got home, +examined them with a magnifier. They had been cut off smoothly, as +with a pair of scissors. This was part of a mass of hair, then, +which had been shorn and thrown from the window. Nobody would do +that but she herself. What would she do it for? To disguise her +sex, of course. The other inferences were plain enough. + +The wily young man put all these facts and hints together, and +concluded that be would let the rustics drag the ponds and the river, +and scour the woods and swamps, while he himself went to the seaport +town from which she would without doubt sail if she had formed the +project he thought on the whole most probable. + +Thus it was that we found him hurrying to the nearest station to +catch the train to Boston, while they were all looking for traces of +the missing girl nearer home. In the cars he made the most +suggestive inquiries he could frame, to stir up the gentlemanly +conductor's memory. Had any young fellow been on the train within a +day or two, who had attracted his notice? Smooth, handsome face, +black eyes, short black hair, new clothes, not fitting very well, +looked away when he paid his fare, had a soft voice like a woman's,-- +had he seen anybody answering to some such description as this? The +gentlemanly conductor had not noticed,--was always taking up and +setting down way-passengers,--might have had such a young man +aboard,--there was two or three students one day in the car singing +college songs,--he did n't care how folks looked if they had their +tickets ready,--and minded their own business,--and, so saying, he +poked a young man upon whose shoulder a ringleted head was reclining +with that delightful abandon which the railroad train seems to +provoke in lovely woman,--"Fare!" + +It is a fine thing to be set down in a great, overcrowded hotel, +where they do not know you, looking dusty, and for the moment shabby, +with nothing but a carpet-bag in your hand, feeling tired, and +anything but clean, and hungry, and worried, and every way miserable +and mean, and to undergo the appraising process of the gentleman in +the office, who, while he shoves the book round to you for your name, +is making a hasty calculation as to how high up he can venture to +doom you. But Murray Bradshaw's plain dress and carpet-bag were more +than made up for by the air and tone which imply the habit of being +attended to. The clerk saw that in a glance, and, as he looked at +the name and address in the book, spoke sharply in the explosive +dialect of his tribe,-- + +"Jun! ta'tha'genlm'n'scarpetbag'n'showhimupt'thirtyone!" + +When Cyprian Eveleth reached the same hotel late at night, he +appeared in his best clothes and with a new valise; but his amiable +countenance and gentle voice and modest manner sent him up two +stories higher, where he found himself in a room not much better than +a garret, feeling lonely enough, for he did not know he had an +acquaintance in the same house. The two young men were in and out so +irregularly that it was not very strange that they did not happen to +meet each other. + +The young lawyer was far more likely to find Myrtle if she were in +the city than the other, even with the help of his cousin Edward. He +was not only older, but sharper, better acquainted with the city and +its ways, and, whatever might be the strength of Cyprian's motives, +his own were of such intensity that he thought of nothing else by +day, and dreamed of nothing else by night. He went to work, +therefore, in the most systematic manner. He first visited the ship +Swordfish, lying at her wharf, saw her captain, and satisfied himself +that as yet nobody at all corresponding to the description of Myrtle +Hazard had been seen by any person on board. He visited all the +wharves, inquiring on every vessel where it seemed possible she might +have been looking about. Hotels, thoroughfares, every place where he +might hear of her or meet her, were all searched. He took some of +the police into his confidence, and had half a dozen pairs of eyes +besides his own opened pretty widely, to discover the lost girl. + +On Sunday, the 19th, he got the first hint which encouraged him to +think he was on the trail of his fugitive. He had gone down again to +the wharf where the Swordfish, advertised to sail the next day, was +lying. The captain was not on board, but one of the mates was there, +and he addressed his questions to him, not with any great hope of +hearing anything important, but determined to lose no chance, however +small. He was startled with a piece of information which gave him +such an exquisite pang of delight that he could hardly keep the usual +quiet of his demeanor. A youth corresponding to his description of +Myrtle Hazard in her probable disguise had been that morning on board +the Swordfish, making many inquires as to the hour at which she was +to sail, and who were to be the passengers, and remained some time on +board, going all over the vessel, examining her cabin accommodations, +and saying he should return to-morrow before she sailed,--doubtless +intending to take passage in her, as there was plenty of room on +board. There could be little question, from the description, who +this young person was. It was a rather delicate--looking, dark-- +haired youth, smooth-faced, somewhat shy and bashful in his ways, and +evidently excited and nervous. He had apparently been to look about +him, and would come back at the last moment, just as the vessel was +ready to sail, and in an hour or two be beyond the reach of inquiry. + +Murray Bradshaw returned to his hotel, and, going to his chamber, +summoned all his faculties in state council to determine what course +he should follow, now that he had the object of his search certainly +within reaching distance. There was no danger now of her eluding +him; but the grave question arose, what was he to do when he stood +face to face with her. She must not go,--that was fixed. If she +once got off in that ship, she might be safe enough; but what would +become of certain projects in which he was interested,--that was the +question. But again, she was no child, to be turned away from her +adventure by cajolery, or by any such threats as common truants would +find sufficient to scare them back to their duty. He could tell the +facts of her disguise and the manner of her leaving home to the +captain of the vessel, and induce him to send her ashore as a stray +girl, to be returned to her relatives. But this would only make her +furious with him; and he must not alienate her from himself, at any +rate. He might plead with her in the name of duty, for the sake of +her friends, for the good name of the family. She had thought all +these things over before she ran away. What if he should address her +as a lover, throw himself at her feet, implore her to pity him and +give up her rash scheme, and, if things came to the very worst, offer +to follow her wherever she went, if she would accept him in the only +relation that would render it possible. Fifteen years old,--he +nearly ten years older,--but such things had happened before, and +this was no time to stand on trifles. + +He worked out the hypothesis of the matrimonial offer as he would +have reasoned out the probabilities in a law case he was undertaking. + +1. He would rather risk that than lose all hold upon her. The girl +was handsome enough for his ambitious future, wherever it might carry +him. She came of an honorable family, and had the great advantage of +being free from a tribe of disagreeable relatives, which is such a +drawback on many otherwise eligible parties. To these considerations +were to be joined other circumstances which we need not here mention, +of a nature to add greatly to their force, and which would go far of +themselves to determine his action. + +2. How was it likely she would look on such an extraordinary +proposition? At first, no doubt, as Lady Anne looked upon the +advances of Richard. She would be startled, perhaps shocked. What +then? She could not help feeling flattered at such an offer from +him,--him, William Murray Bradshaw, the rising young man of his +county, at her feet, his eyes melting with the love he would throw +into them, his tones subdued to their most sympathetic quality, and +all those phrases on his lips which every day beguile women older and +more discreet than this romantic, long-imprisoned girl, whose rash +and adventurous enterprise was an assertion of her womanhood and her +right to dispose of herself as she chose. He had not lived to be +twenty-five years old without knowing his power with women. He +believed in himself so thoroughly, that his very confidence was a +strong promise of success. + +3. In case all his entreaties, arguments, and offers made no +impression, should he make use of that supreme resource, not to be +employed save in extreme need, but which was of a nature, in his +opinion, to shake a resolution stronger than this young girl was like +to oppose to it? That would be like Christian's coming to his weapon +called All-prayer, he said to himself, with a smile that his early +readings of Bunyan should have furnished him an image for so +different an occasion. The question was one he could not settle till +the time came,--he must leave it to the instinct of the moment. + +The next morning found him early waking after a night of feverish +dreams. He dressed himself with more than usual care, and walked +down to the wharf where the Swordfish was moored. The ship had left +the wharf, and was lying out in the stream: A small boat had just +reached her, and a slender youth, as he appeared at that distance, +climbed, not over-adroitly, up the vessel's side. + +Murray Bradshaw called to a boatman near by and ordered the man to +row him over as fast as he could to the vessel lying in the stream. +He had no sooner reached the deck of the Swordfish than he asked for +the young person who had just been put on board. + +"He is in the cabin, sir, just gone down with the captain," was the +reply. + +His heart beat, in spite of his cool temperament, as he went down the +steps leading to the cabin. The young person was talking earnestly +with the captain, and, on his turning round, Mr. William Murray +Bradshaw had the pleasure of recognizing his young friend, Mr. +Cyprian Eveleth. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +DOWN THE RIVER. + +Look at the flower of a morning-glory the evening before the dawn +which is to see it unfold. The delicate petals are twisted into a +spiral, which at the appointed hour, when the sunlight touches the +hidden springs of its life, will uncoil itself and let the day into +the chamber of its virgin heart. But the spiral must unwind by its +own law, and the hand that shall try to hasten the process will only +spoil the blossom which would have expanded in symmetrical beauty +under the rosy fingers of morning. + +We may take a hint from Nature's handling of the flower in dealing +with young souls, and especially with the souls of young girls, +which, from their organization and conditions, require more careful +treatment than those of their tougher-fibred brothers. Many parents +reproach themselves for not having enforced their own convictions on +their children in the face of every inborn antagonism they +encountered. Let them not be too severe in their self-condemnation. +A want of judgment in this matter has sent many a young person to +Bedlam, whose nature would have opened kindly enough if it had only +been trusted to the sweet influences of morning sunshine. In such +cases it may be that the state we call insanity is not always an +unalloyed evil. It may take the place of something worse, the +wretchedness of a mind not yet dethroned, but subject to the +perpetual interferences of another mind governed by laws alien and +hostile to its own. Insanity may perhaps be the only palliative left +to Nature in this extremity. But before she comes to that, she has +many expedients. The mind does not know what diet it can feed on +until it has been brought to the starvation point. Its experience is +like that of those who have been long drifting about on rafts or in +long-boats. There is nothing out of which it will not contrive to +get some sustenance. A person of note, long held captive for a +political offence, is said to have owed the preservation of his +reason to a pin, out of which he contrived to get exercise and +excitement by throwing it down carelessly on the dark floor of his +dungeon, and then hunting for it in a series of systematic +explorations until he had found it. + +Perhaps the most natural thing Myrtle Hazard could have done would +have been to go crazy, and be sent to the nearest asylum, if +Providence, which in its wisdom makes use of the most unexpected +agencies, had not made a special provision for her mental welfare. +She was in that arid household as the prophet in the land where there +was no dew nor rain for these long years. But as he had the brook +Cherith, and the bread and flesh in the morning and the bread and +flesh in the evening which the ravens brought him, so she had the +river and her secret store of books. + +The river was light and life and music and companionship to her. She +learned to row herself about upon it, to swim boldly in it, for it +had sheltered nooks but a little way above The Poplars. But there +was more than that in it,--it was infinitely sympathetic. A river is +strangely like a human soul. It has its dark and bright days, its +troubles from within, and its disturbances from without. It often +runs over ragged rocks with a smooth surface, and is vexed with +ripples as it slides over sands that are level as a floor. It +betrays its various moods by aspects which are the commonplaces of +poetry, as smiles and dimples and wrinkles and frowns. Its face is +full of winking eyes, when the scattering rain-drops first fall upon +it, and it scowls back at the storm-cloud, as with knitted brows, +when the winds are let loose. It talks, too, in its own simple +dialect, murmuring, as it were, with busy lips all the way to the +ocean, as children seeking the mother's breast and impatient of +delay. Prisoners who know what a flower or an insect has been to +them in their solitary cell, invalids who have employed their vacant +minds in studying the patterns of paper-hangings on the walls of +their sick-chambers, can tell what the river was to the lonely, +imaginative creature who used to sit looking into its depths, hour +after hour, from the airy height of the Fire-hang-bird's Nest. + +Of late a thought had mingled with her fancies which had given to the +river the aspect of something more than a friend and a companion. It +appeared all at once as a Deliverer. Did not its waters lead, after +long wanderings, to the great highway of the world, and open to her +the gates of those cities from which she could take her departure +unchallenged towards the lands of the morning or of the sunset? +Often, after a freshet, she had seen a child's miniature boat +floating down on its side past her window, and traced it in +imagination back to some crystal brook flowing by the door of a +cottage far up a blue mountain in the distance. So she now began to +follow down the stream the airy shallop that held her bright fancies. +These dreams of hers were colored by the rainbows of an enchanted +fountain,--the books of adventure, the romances, the stories which +fortune had placed in her hands,--the same over which the heart of +the Pride of the County had throbbed in the last century, and on the +pages of some of which the traces of her tears might still be seen. + +The literature which was furnished for Myrtle's improvement was +chiefly of a religious character, and, however interesting and +valuable to those to whom it was adapted, had not been chosen with +any wise regard to its fitness for her special conditions. Of what +use was it to offer books like the "Saint's Rest" to a child whose +idea of happiness was in perpetual activity? She read "Pilgrim's +Progress," it is true, with great delight. She liked the idea of +travelling with a pack on one's back, the odd shows at the House of +the interpreter, the fighting, the adventures, the pleasing young +ladies at the palace the name of which was Beautiful, and their very +interesting museum of curiosities. As for the allegorical meaning, +it went through her consciousness like a peck of wheat through a +bushel measure with the bottom out, without touching. + +But the very first book she got hold of out of the hidden treasury +threw the "Pilgrim's Progress" quite into the shade. It was the +story of a youth who ran away and lived on an island,--one Crusoe, +--a homely narrative, but evidently true, though full of remarkable +adventures. There too was the history, coming much nearer home, of +Deborah Sampson, the young woman who served as a soldier in the +Revolutionary War, with a portrait of her in man's attire, looking +intrepid rather than lovely. A virtuous young female she was, and +married well, as she deserved to, and raised a family with as good a +name as wife and mother as the best of them. But perhaps not one of +these books and stories took such hold of her imagination as the tale +of Rasselas, which most young persons find less entertaining than the +"Vicar of Wakefield," with which it is nowadays so commonly bound up. +It was the prince's discontent in the Happy Valley, the iron gate +opening to the sound of music, and closing forever on those it +admitted, the rocky boundaries of the imprisoning valley, the visions +of the world beyond, the projects of escape, and the long toil which +ended in their accomplishment, which haunted her sleeping and waking. +She too was a prisoner, but it was not in the Happy Valley. Of the +romances and the love-letters we must take it for granted that she +selected wisely, and read discreetly; at least we know nothing to the +contrary. + +There were mysterious reminiscences and hints of her past coming over +her constantly. It was in the course of the long, weary spring +before her disappearance, that a dangerous chord was struck which +added to her growing restlessness. In an old closet were some +seashells and coral-fans, and dried star-fishes and sea, horses, and +a natural mummy of a rough-skinned dogfish. She had not thought of +them for years, but now she felt impelled to look after them. The +dim sea odors which still clung to them penetrated to the very inmost +haunts of memory, and called up that longing for the ocean breeze +which those who have once breathed and salted their blood with it +never get over, and which makes the sweetest inland airs seem to them +at last tame and tasteless. She held a tigershell to her ear, and +listened to that low, sleepy murmur, whether in the sense or in the +soul we hardly know, like that which had so often been her lullaby, +--a memory of the sea, as Landor and Wordsworth have sung. + +"You are getting to look like your father," Aunt Silence said one +day; "I never saw it before. I always thought you took after old +Major Gideon Withers. Well, I hope you won't come to an early grave +like poor Charles,--or at any rate, that you may be prepared." + +It did not seem very likely that the girl was going out of the world +at present, but she looked Miss Silence in the face very seriously, +and said, "Why not an early grave, Aunt, if this world is such a bad +place as you say it is?" + +"I'm afraid you are not fit for a better." + +She wondered if Silence Withers and Cynthia Badlam were just ripe for +heaven. + +For some months Miss Cynthia Badlam, who, as was said, had been an +habitual visitor at The Poplars, had lived there as a permanent +resident. Between her and Silence Withers, Myrtle Hazard found no +rest for her soul. Each of them was for untwisting the morning-glory +without waiting for the sunshine to do it. Each had her own wrenches +and pincers to use for that purpose. All this promised little for +the nurture and admonition of the young girl, who, if her will could +not be broken by imprisonment and starvation at three years old, was +not likely to be over-tractable to any but gentle and reasonable +treatment at fifteen. + +Aunt Silence's engine was responsibility,--her own responsibility, +and the dreadful consequences which would follow to her, Silence, if +Myrtle should in any way go wrong. Ever since her failure in that +moral coup d'etat by which the sinful dynasty of the natural self- +determining power was to be dethroned, her attempts in the way of +education had been a series of feeble efforts followed by plaintive +wails over their utter want of success. The face she turned upon the +young girl in her solemn expostulations looked as if it were +inscribed with the epitaphs of hope and virtue. Her utterances were +pitched in such a forlorn tone, that the little bird in his cage, who +always began twittering at the sound of Myrtle's voice, would stop in +his song, and cock his head with a look of inquiry full of pathos, as +if he wanted to know what was the matter, and whether he could do +anything to help. + +The specialty of Cynthia Badlam was to point out all the dangerous +and unpardonable trangressions into which young people generally, and +this young person in particular, were likely to run, to hold up +examples of those who had fallen into evil ways and come to an evil +end, to present the most exalted standard of ascetic virtue to the +lively girl's apprehension, leading her naturally to the conclusion +that a bright example of excellence stood before her in the +irreproachable relative who addressed her. Especially with regard to +the allurements which the world offers to the young and inexperienced +female, Miss Cynthia Badlam was severe and eloquent. Sometimes poor +Myrtle would stare, not seeing the meaning of her wise caution, +sometimes look at Miss Cynthia with a feeling that there was +something about her that was false and forced, that she had nothing +in common with young people, that she had no pity for them, only +hatred of their sins, whatever these might be,--a hatred which seemed +to extend to those sources of frequent temptation, youth and beauty, +as if they were in themselves objectionable. + +Both the lone women at The Poplars were gifted with a thin vein of +music. They gave it expression in psalmody, of course, in which +Myrtle, who was a natural singer, was expected to bear her part. +This would have been pleasantry if the airs most frequently selected +had been cheerful or soothing, and if the favorite hymns had been of +a sort to inspire a love for what was lovely in this life, and to +give some faint foretaste of the harmonies of a better world to come. +But there is a fondness for minor keys and wailing cadences common to +the monotonous chants of cannibals and savages generally, to such +war-songs as the wild, implacable "Marseillaise," and to the favorite +tunes of low--spirited Christian pessimists. That mournful "China," +which one of our most agreeable story-tellers has justly singled out +as the cry of despair itself, was often sung at The Poplars, sending +such a sense of utter misery through the house, that poor Kitty Fagan +would cross herself, and wring her hands, and think of funerals, and +wonder who was going to die,--for she fancied she heard the Banshee's +warning in those most dismal ululations. + +On the first Saturday of June, a fortnight before her disappearance, +Myrtle strolled off by the river shore, along its lonely banks, and +came dome with her hands full of leaves and blossoms. Silence +Withers looked at them as if they were a kind of melancholy +manifestation of frivolity on the part of the wicked old earth. Not +that she did not inhale their faint fragrance with a certain +pleasure, and feel their beauty as none whose souls are not wholly +shriveled and hardened can help doing, but the world was, in her +estimate, a vale of tears, and it was only by a momentary +forgetfulness that she could be moved to smile at anything. + +Miss Cynthia, a sharper-edged woman, had formed the habit of crushing +everything for its moral, until it lost its sweetness and grew almost +odious, as flower-de-luces do when handled roughly. "There's a worm +in that leaf, Myrtle. He has rolled it all round him, and hidden +himself from sight; but there is a horrid worm in it, for all it is +so young and fresh. There is a worm in every young soul, Myrtle." + +"But there is not a worm in every leaf, Miss Cynthia. Look," she +said," all these are open, and you can see all over and under them, +and there is nothing there. Are there never any worms in the leaves +after they get old and yellow, Miss Cynthia?" + +That was a pretty fair hit for a simple creature of fifteen, but +perhaps she was not so absolutely simple as one might have thought. + +It was on the evening of this same day that they were sitting +together. The sweet season was opening, and it seemed as if the +whispering of the leaves, the voices of the birds, the softness of +the air, the young life stirring in everything, called on all +creatures to join the universal chorus of praise that was going up +around them. + +"What shall we sing this evening?" said Miss Silence. + +"Give me one of the books, if you please, Cousin Silence," said Miss +Cynthia." It is Saturday evening. Holy time has begun. Let us +prepare our minds for the solemnities of the Sabbath." + +She took the book, one well known to the schools and churches of this +nineteenth century. + +"Book Second. Hymn 44. Long metre. I guess 'Putney' will be as +good a tune as any to sing it to." + +The trio began,-- + + "With holy fear, and humble song," + +and got through the first verse together pretty well. Then came the +second verse: + + "Far in the deep where darkness dwells, + The land of horror and despair, + Justice has built a dismal hell, + And laid her stores of vengeance there." + +Myrtle's voice trembled a little in singing this verse, and she +hardly kept up her part with proper spirit. + +"Sing out, Myrtle," said Miss Cynthia, and she struck up the third +verse: + + "Eternal plagues and heavy chains, + Tormenting racks and fiery coals, + And darts t' inflict immortal pains, + Dyed in the blood of damned souls." + +This last verse was a duet, and not a trio. Myrtle closed her lips +while it was singing, and when it was done threw down the book with a +look of anger and disgust. The hunted soul was at bay. + +"I won't sing such words," she said, "and I won't stay here to hear +them sung. The boys in the streets say just such words as that, and +I am not going to sing them. You can't scare me into being good with +your cruel hymn-book!" + +She could not swear: she was not a boy. She would not cry: she felt +proud, obdurate, scornful, outraged. All these images, borrowed from +the holy Inquisition, were meant to frighten her--and had simply +irritated her. The blow of a weapon that glances off, stinging, but +not penetrating, only enrages. It was a moment of fearful danger to +her character, to her life itself. + +Without heeding the cries of the two women, she sprang up-stairs to +her hanging chamber. She threw open the window and looked down into +the stream. For one moment her head swam with the sudden, +overwhelming, almost maddening thought that came over her,--the +impulse to fling herself headlong into those running waters and dare +the worst these dreadful women had threatened her with. Something +she often thought afterwards it was an invisible hand held her back +during that brief moment, and the paroxysm--just such a paroxysm as +throws many a young girl into the Thames or the Seine--passed away. +She remained looking, in a misty dream, into the water far below. +Its murmur recalled the whisper of the ocean waves. And through the +depths it seemed as if she saw into that strange, half--remembered +world of palm-trees and white robes and dusky faces, and amidst them, +looking upon her with ineffable love and tenderness, until all else +faded from her sight, the face of a fair woman,--was it hers, so +long, long dead, or that dear young mother's who was to her less a +recollection than a dream? + +Could it have been this vision that soothed her, so that she +unclasped her hands and lifted her bowed head as if she had heard a +voice whispering to her from that unknown world where she felt there +was a spirit watching over her? At any rate, her face was never more +serene than when she went to meeting with the two maiden ladies on +the following day, Sunday, and heard the Rev. Mr. Stoker preach a +sermon from Luke vii. 48, which made both the women shed tears, but +especially so excited Miss Cynthia that she was in a kind of half- +hysteric condition all the rest of the day. + +After that Myrtle was quieter and more docile than ever before. +Could it be, Miss Silence thought, that the Rev. Mr. Stoker's sermon +had touched her hard heart? However that was, she did not once wear +the stormy look with which she had often met the complaining +remonstrances Miss Silence constantly directed against all the +spontaneous movements of the youthful and naturally vivacious subject +of her discipline. + +June is an uncertain month, as everybody knows, and there were frosts +in many parts of New England in the June of 1859. But there were +also beautiful days and nights, and the sun was warm enough to be +fast ripening the strawberries,--also certain plans which had been in +flower some little time. Some preparations had been going on in a +quiet way, so that at the right moment a decisive movement could be +made. Myrtle knew how to use her needle, and always had a dexterous +way of shaping any article of dress or ornament,--a natural gift not +very rare, but sometimes very needful, as it was now. + +On the morning of the 15th of June she was wandering by the shores of +the river, some distance above The Poplars, when a boat came drifting +along by her, evidently broken loose from its fastenings farther up +the stream. It was common for such waifs to show themselves after +heavy rains had swollen the river. They might have run the gauntlet +of nobody could tell how many farms, and perhaps passed by half a +dozen towns and villages in the night, so that, if of common, cheap +make, they were retained without scruple, by any who might find them, +until the owner called for them, if he cared to take the trouble. + +Myrtle took a knife from her pocket, cut down a long, slender +sapling, and coaxed the boat to the side of the bank. A pair of old +oars lay in the bottom of the boat; she took one of these and paddled +it into a little cove, where it could lie hid among the thick alders. +Then she went home and busied herself about various little matters +more interesting to her than to us. + +She was never more amiable and gracious than on this day. But she +looked often at the clock, as they remembered afterwards, and studied +over a copy of the Farmer's Almanac which was lying in the kitchen, +with a somewhat singular interest. The days were nearly at their +longest, the weather was mild, the night promised to be clear and +bright. + +The household was, to all appearance, asleep at the usual early hour. +When all seemed quiet, Myrtle lighted her lamp, stood before her +mirror, and untied the string that bound her long and beautiful. +dark hair, which fell in its abundance over her shoulders and below +her girdle. + +She lifted its heavy masses with one hand, and severed it with a +strong pair of scissors, with remorseless exaction of every wandering +curl, until she stood so changed by the loss of that outward glory of +her womanhood, that she felt as if she had lost herself and found a +brother she had never seen before. + +"Good-by, Myrtle!" she said, and, opening her window very gently, she +flung the shining tresses upon the running water, and watched them +for a few moments as they floated down the stream. Then she dressed +herself in the character of her imaginary brother, took up the +carpet-bag in which she had placed what she chose to carry with her, +stole softly down-stairs, and let herself out of a window on the +lower floor, shutting it very carefully so as to be sure that nobody +should be disturbed. + +She glided along, looking all about her, fearing she might be seen by +some curious wanderer, and reached the cove where the boat she had +concealed was lying. She got into it, and, taking the rude oars, +pulled herself into the middle of the swollen stream. Her heart beat +so that it seemed to her as if she could hear it between the strokes +of the oar. The lights were not all out in the village, and she +trembled lest she should see the figure of some watcher looking from +the windows in sight of which she would have to pass, and that a +glimpse of this boat stealing along at so late an hour might give the +clue to the secret of her disappearance, with which the whole region +was to be busied in the course of the next day. + +Presently she came abreast of The Poplars. The house lay so still, +so peaceful,--it would wake to such dismay! The boat slid along +beneath her own overhanging chamber. + +"No song to-morrow from the Fire-hang-bird's Nest!" she said. So she +floated by the slumbering village, the flow of the river carrying her +steadily on, and the careful strokes of the oars adding swiftness to +her flight. + +At last she came to the "Broad Meadows," and knew that she was alone, +and felt confident that she had got away unseen. There was nothing, +absolutely nothing, to point out which way she had gone. Her boat +came from nobody knew where, her disguise had been got together at +different times in such a manner as to lead to no suspicion, and not +a human being ever had the slightest hint that she had planned and +meant to carry out the enterprise which she had now so fortunately +begun. + +Not till the last straggling house had been long past, not till the +meadows were stretched out behind her as well as before her, +spreading far off into the distance on each side, did she give way to +the sense of wild exultation which was coming fast over her. But +then, at last, she drew a long, long breath, and, standing up in the +boat, looked all around her. The stars were shining over her head +and deep down beneath her. The cool wind came fresh upon her cheek +over the long grassy reaches. No living thing moved in all the wide +level circle which lay about her. She had passed the Red Sea, and +was alone in the Desert. + +She threw down her oars, lifted her hands like a priestess, and her +strong, sweet voice burst into song,--the song of the Jewish maiden +when she went out before the chorus of, women and sang that grand +solo, which we all remember in its ancient words, and in their modern +paraphrase, + + "Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea! + Jehovah hath triumphed, his people are free!" + +The poor child's repertory was limited to songs of the religious sort +mainly, but there was a choice among these. Her aunt's favorites, +beside "China," already mentioned, were "Bangor," which the worthy +old New England clergyman so admired that he actually had the down- +east city called after it, and "Windsor," and "Funeral Hymn." But +Myrtle was in no mood for these. She let off her ecstasy in +"Balerma," and "Arlington," and "Silver Street," and at last in that +most riotous of devotional hymns, which sounds as if it had been +composed by a saint who had a cellar under his chapel,--"Jordan." So +she let her wild spirits run loose; and then a tenderer feeling stole +over her, and she sang herself into a more tranquil mood with the +gentle music of "Dundee." And again she pulled quietly and steadily +at her oars, until she reached the wooded region through which the +river winds after leaving the "Broad Meadows." + +The tumult in her blood was calmed, yet every sense and faculty was +awake to the manifold delicious, mysterious impressions of that +wonderful June night, The stars were shining between the tall trees, +as if all the jewels of heaven had been set in one belt of midnight +sky. The voices of the wind, as they sighed through the pines, +seemed like the breath of a sleeping child, and then, as they lisped +from the soft, tender leaves of beeches and maples, like the half- +articulate whisper of the mother hushing all the intrusive sounds +that might awaken it. Then came the pulsating monotone of the frogs +from a far-off pool, the harsh cry of an owl from an old tree that +overhung it, the splash of a mink or musquash, and nearer by, the +light step of a woodchuck, as he cantered off in his quiet way to his +hole in the nearest bank. The laurels were just coming into bloom,-- +the yellow lilies, earlier than their fairer sisters, pushing their +golden cups through the water, not content, like those, to float on +the surface of the stream that fed them, emblems of showy wealth, +and, like that, drawing all manner of insects to feed upon them. The +miniature forests of ferns came down to the edge of the stream, their +tall, bending plumes swaying in the night breeze. Sweet odors from +oozing pines, from dewy flowers, from spicy leaves, stole out of the +tangled thickets, and made the whole scene more dream-like with their +faint, mingled suggestions. + +By and by the banks of the river grew lower and marshy, and in place +of the larger forest-trees which had covered them stood slender +tamaracks, sickly, mossy, looking as if they had been moon-struck and +were out of their wits, their tufts of leaves staring off every way +from their spindling branches. The winds came cool and damp out of +the hiding-places among their dark recesses. The country people +about here called this region the "Witches' Hollow," and had many +stories about the strange things that happened there. The Indians +used to hold their "powwows," or magical incantations, upon a broad +mound which rose out of the common level, and where some old hemlocks +and beeches formed a dark grove, which served them as a temple for +their demon-worship. There were many legends of more recent date +connected with this spot, some of them hard to account for, and no +superstitious or highly imaginative person would have cared to pass +through it alone in the dead of the night, as this young girl was +doing. + +She knew nothing of all these fables and fancies. Her own singular +experiences in this enchanted region were certainly not suggested by +anything she had heard, and may be considered psychologically curious +by those who would not think of attributing any mystical meaning to +them. We are at liberty to report many things without attempting to +explain them, or committing ourselves to anything beyond the fact +that so they were told us. The reader will find Myrtle's "Vision," +as written out at a later period from her recollections, at the end +of this chapter. + +The night was passing, and she meant to be as far away as possible +from the village she had left, before morning. But the boat, like +all craft on country rivers, was leaky, and she had to work until +tired, bailing it out, before she was ready for another long effort. +The old tin measure, which was all she had to bail with, leaked as +badly as the boat, and her task was a tedious one. At last she got +it in good trim, and sat down to her oars with the determination to +pull steadily as long as her strength would hold out. + +Hour after hour she kept at her work, sweeping round the long bends +where the river was hollowing out one bank and building new shore on +the opposite one, so as gradually to shift its channel; by clipper- +shaped islands, sharp at the bows looking up stream, sharp too at the +stern, looking down,--their shape solving the navigator's problem of +least resistance, as a certain young artist had pointed out; by +slumbering villages; by outlying farm-houses; between cornfields +where the young plants were springing up in little thready fountains; +in the midst of stumps where the forest had just been felled; through +patches, where the fire of the last great autumnal drought had turned +all the green beauty of the woods into brown desolation; and again +amidst broad expanses of open meadow stretching as far as the eye +could reach in the uncertain light. A faint yellow tinge was +beginning to stain the eastern horizon. Her boat was floating +quietly along, for she had at last taken in her oars, and she was now +almost tired out with toil and excitement. She rested her head upon +her hands, and felt her eyelids closing in spite of herself. And now +there stole upon her ear a low, gentle, distant murmur, so soft that +it seemed almost to mingle with the sound of her own breathing, but +so steady, so uniform, that it soothed her to sleep, as if it were +the old cradle-song the ocean used to sing to her, or the lullaby of +her fair young mother. + +So she glided along, slowly, slowly, down the course of the winding +river, and the flushing dawn kindled around her as she slumbered, and +the low, gentle murmur grew louder and louder, but still she slept, +dreaming of the murmuring ocean. + + + + +APPENDIX TO CHAPTER VIII. + +MYRTLE HAZARD'S STATEMENT. + +"A Vision seen by me, Myrtle Hazard, aged fifteen, on the night of +June 15, 1859. Written out at the request of a friend from my +recollections. + +"The place where I saw these sights is called, as I have been told +since, Witches' Hollow. I had never been there before, and did not +know that it was called so, or anything about it. + +"The first strange thing that I noticed was on coming near a kind of +hill or mound that rose out of the low meadows. I saw a burning +cross lying on the slope of that mound. It burned with a pale +greenish light, and did not waste, though I watched it for a long +time, as the boat I was in moved slowly with the current and I had +stopped rowing. + +"I know that my eyes were open, and I was awake while I was looking +at this cross. I think my eyes were open when I saw these other +appearances, but I felt just as if I were dreaming while awake. + +"I heard a faint rustling sound, and on looking up I saw many figures +moving around me, and I seemed to see myself among them as if I were +outside of myself. + +"The figures did not walk, but slid or glided with an even movement, +as if without any effort. They made many gestures, and seemed to +speak, but I cannot tell whether I heard what they said, or knew its +meaning in some other way. + +"I knew the faces of some of these figures. They were the same I +have seen in portraits, as long as I can remember, at the old house +where I was brought up, called The Poplars. I saw my father and my +mother as they look in the two small pictures; also my grandmother, +and her father and mother and grandfather, and one other person, who +lived a great while ago. All of these have been long dead, and the +longer they had been dead the less like substance they looked and the +more like shadows, so that the oldest was like one's breath of a +frosty morning, but shaped like the living figure. + +"There was no motion of their breasts, and their lips seemed to be +moving as if they were saying, Breath! Breath! Breath! I thought +they wanted to breathe the air of this world again in my shape, which +I seemed to see as it were empty of myself and of these other selves, +like a sponge that has water pressed out of it. + +"Presently it seemed to me that I returned to myself, and then those +others became part of me by being taken up, one by one, and so lost +in my own life. + +"My father and mother came up, hand in hand, looking more real than +any of the rest. Their figures vanished, and they seemed to have +become a part of me; for I felt all at once the longing to live over +the life they had led, on the sea and in strange countries. + +"Another figure was just like the one we called the Major, who was a +very strong, hearty-looking man, and who is said to have drank hard +sometimes, though there is nothing about it on his tombstone, which I +used to read in the graveyard. It seemed to me that there was +something about his life that I did not want to make a part of mine, +but that there was some right he had in me through my being of his +blood, and so his health and his strength went all through me, and I +was always to have what was left of his life in that shadow-like +shape, forming a portion of mine. + +"So in the same way with the shape answering to the portrait of that +famous beauty who was the wife of my great-grandfather, and used to +be called the Pride of the County. + +"And so too with another figure which had the face of that portrait +marked on the back, Ruth Bradford, who married one of my ancestors, +and was before the court, as I have heard, in the time of the +witchcraft trials. + +"There was with the rest a dark, wild-looking woman, with a head- +dress of feathers. She kept as it were in shadow, but I saw +something of my own features in her face. + +"It was on my mind very strongly that the shape of that woman of our +blood who was burned long ago by the Papists came very close to me, +and was in some way made one with mine, and that I feel her presence +with me since, as if she lived again in me; but not always,--only at +times,--and then I feel borne up as if I could do anything in the +world. I had a feeling as if she were my guardian and protector. + +"It seems to me that these, and more, whom I have not mentioned, do +really live over some part of their past lives in my life. I do not +understand it all, and perhaps it can be accounted for in some way I +have not thought of. I write it down as nearly as I can give it from +memory, by request, and if it is printed at this time had rather have +all the real names withheld. + +"MYRTLE HAZARD." + + +NOTE BY THE FRIEND. + +"This statement must be accounted for in some way, or pass into the +category of the supernatural. Probably it was one of those +intuitions, with objective projection, which sometimes come to +imaginative young persons, especially girls, in certain exalted +nervous conditions. The study of the portraits, with the knowledge +of some parts of the history of the persons they represented, and the +consciousness of instincts inherited in all probability from these +same ancestors, formed the basis of Myrtle's 'Vision.' The lives of +our progenitors are, as we know, reproduced in different proportions +in ourselves. Whether they as individuals have any consciousness of +it, is another matter. It is possible that they do get a second as +it were fractional life in us. It might seem that many of those +whose blood flows in our veins struggle for the mastery, and by and +by one or more get the predominance, so that we grow to be like +father, or mother, or remoter ancestor, or two or more are blended in +us, not to the exclusion, however, it must be understood, of a +special personality of our own, about which these others are grouped. +Independently of any possible scientific value, this 'Vision' serves +to illustrate the above-mentioned fact of common experience, which is +not sufficiently weighed by most moralists. + +"How much it may be granted to certain young persons to see, not in +virtue of their intellectual gifts, but through those direct channels +which worldly wisdom may possibly close to the luminous influx, each +reader must determine for himself by his own standards of faith and +evidence. + +"One statement of the narrative admits of a simple natural +explanation, which does not allow the lovers of the marvellous to +class it with the quasi-miraculous appearance seen by Colonel +Gardiner, and given in full by Dr. Doddridge in his Life of that +remarkable Christian soldier. Decaying wood is often phosphorescent, +as many readers must have seen for themselves. The country people +are familiar with the sight of it in wild timber-land, and have given +it the name of 'Fox-fire.' Two trunks of trees in this state, lying +across each other, will account for the fact observed, and vindicate +the truth of the young girl's story without requiring us to suppose +any exceptional occurrence outside of natural laws." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +MR. CLEMENT LINDSAY RECEIVES A LETTER, AND BEGINS HIS ANSWER. + +It was already morning when a young man living in the town of +Alderbank, after lying awake for an hour thinking the unutterable +thoughts that nineteen years of life bring to the sleeping and waking +dreams of young people, rose from his bed, and, half dressing +himself, sat down at his desk, from which he took a letter, which he +opened and read. It was written in a delicate, though hardly formed +female hand, and crossed like a checker-board, as is usual with these +redundant manuscripts. The letter was as follows: + + +OXBOW VILLAGE, June 13, 1859. + +MY DEAREST CLEMENT,--You was so good to write me such a sweet little +bit of a letter,--only, dear, you never seem to be in quite so good +spirits as you used to be. I wish your Susie was with you to cheer +you up; but no, she must be patient, and you must be patient too, for +you are so ambitious! I have heard you say so many times that nobody +could be a great artist without passing years and years at work, and +growing pale and lean with thinking so hard. You won't grow pale and +lean, I hope; for I do so love to see that pretty color in your +cheeks you have always had ever since I have known you; and besides, +I do not believe you will have to work so very hard to do something +great,--you have so much genius, and people of genius do such +beautiful things with so little trouble. You remember those +beautiful lines out of our newspaper I sent you? Well, Mr. Hopkins +told me he wrote those lines in one evening without stopping! I wish +you could see Mr. Hopkins,--he is a very talented person. I cut out +this little piece about him from the paper on purpose to show you, +--for genius loves genius,--and you would like to hear him read his +own poetry,--he reads it beautifully. Please send this piece from +the paper back, as I want to put it in my scrapbook, under his +autograph:-- + +"Our young townsman, Mr. Gifted Hopkins, has proved himself worthy of +the name he bears. His poetical effusions are equally creditable to +his head and his heart, displaying the highest order of genius and +powers of imagination and fancy hardly second to any writer of the +age. He is destined to make a great sensation in the world of +letters." + + +Mrs. Hopkins is the same good soul she always was. She is very proud +of her son, as is natural, and keeps a copy of everything he writes. +I believe she cries over them every time she reads them. You don't +know how I take to little Sossy and Minthy, those two twins I have +written to you about before. Poor little creatures,--what a cruel +thing it was in their father and mother not to take care of them! +What do you think? Old bachelor Gridley lets them come up into his +room, and builds forts and castles for them with his big books! "The +world's coming to an end," Mrs. Hopkins said the first time he did +so. He looks so savage with that scowl of his, and talks so gruff +when he is scolding at things in general, that nobody would have +believed he would have let such little things come anywhere near him. +But he seems to be growing kind to all of us and everybody. I saw +him talking to the Fire-hang-bird the other day. You know who the +Fire-hang-bird is, don't you? Myrtle Hazard her name is. I wish you +could see her. I don't know as I do, though. You would want to make +a statue of her, or a painting, I know. She is so handsome that all +the young men stand round to see her come out of meeting. Some say +that Lawyer Bradshaw is after her; but my! he is ten years older than +she is. She is nothing but a girl, though she looks as if she was +eighteen. She lives up at a place called The Poplars, with an old +woman that is her aunt or something, and nobody seems to be much +acquainted with her except Olive Eveleth, who is the minister's +daughter at Saint Bartholomew's Church. She never has beauxs round +her, as some young girls do--they say that she is not happy with her +aunt and another woman that stays with her, and that is the reason +she keeps so much to herself. The minister came to see me the other +day,--Mr. Stoker his name is. I was all alone, and it frightened me, +for he looks, oh, so solemn on Sundays! But he called me "My dear," +and did n't say anything horrid, you know, about my being such a +dreadful, dreadful sinner, as I have heard of his saying to some +people,--but he looked very kindly at me, and took my hand, and laid +his hand on my shoulder like a brother, and hoped I would come and +see him in his study. I suppose I must go, but I don't want to. I +don't seem to like him exactly. + +I hope you love me as well as ever you did. I can't help feeling +sometimes as if you was growing away from me,--you know what I mean, +--getting to be too great a person for such a small person as I am. + +I know I can't always understand you when you talk about art, and +that you know a great deal too much for such a simple girl as I am. +Oh, if I thought I could never make you happy!... There, now! I am +almost ashamed to send this paper so spotted. Gifted Hopkins wrote +some beautiful verses one day on "A Maiden Weeping." He compared the +tears falling from her eyes to the drops of dew which one often sees +upon the flowers in the morning. Is n't it a pretty thought? + +I wish I loved art as well as I do poetry; but I am afraid I have not +so much taste as some girls have. You remember how I liked that +picture in the illustrated magazine, and you said it was horrid. I +have been afraid since to like almost anything, for fear you should +tell me some time or other it was horrid. Don't you think I shall +ever learn to know what is nice from what is n't? + +Oh, dear Clement, I wish you would do one thing to please me. Don't +say no, for you can do everything you try to,--I am sure you can. I +want you to write me some poetry,--just three or four little verses +TO SUZIE. Oh, I should feel so proud to have some lines written all +on purpose for me. Mr. Hopkins wrote some the other day, and printed +them in the paper, "To M---e." I believe he meant them for Myrtle, +--the first and last letter of her name, you see, "M "and "e." + +Your letter was a dear one, only so short! I wish yon would tell me +all about what you are doing at Alderbank. Have you made that model +of Innocence that is to have my forehead, and hair parted like mine! +Make it pretty, do, that is a darling. + +Now don't make a face at my letter. It is n't a very good one, I +know; but your poor little Susie does the best she can, and she loves +you so much! + +Now do be nice and write me one little bit of a mite of a poem,--it +will make me just as happy! + +I am very well, and as happy as I can be when you are away. + +Your affectionate SUSIE. + +(Directed to Mr. Clement Lindsay, Alderbank.) + + +The envelope of this letter was unbroken, as was before said, when +the young man took it from his desk. He did not tear it with the hot +impatience of some lovers, but cut it open neatly, slowly, one would +say sadly. He read it with an air of singular effort, and yet with a +certain tenderness. When he had finished it, the drops were thick on +his forehead; he groaned and put his hands to his face, which was +burning red. + +This was what the impulse of boyhood, years ago, had brought him to! +He was a stately youth, of noble bearing, of high purpose, of +fastidious taste; and, if his broad forehead, his clear, large blue +eyes, his commanding features, his lips, firm, yet plastic to every +change of thought and feeling, were not an empty mask, might not +improbably claim that Promethean quality of which the girl's letter +had spoken,--the strange, divine, dread gift of genius. + +This poor, simple, innocent, trusting creature, so utterly incapable +of coming into any true relation with his aspiring mind, his large +and strong emotions,--this mere child, all simplicity and goodness, +but trivial and shallow as the little babbling brooklet that ran by +his window to the river, to lose its insignificant being in the swift +torrent he heard rushing over the rocks,--this pretty idol for a weak +and kindly and easily satisfied worshipper, was to be enthroned as +the queen of his affections, to be adopted as the companion of his +labors! The boy, led by the commonest instinct, the mere attraction +of biped to its female, which accident had favored, had thrown away +the dearest possession of manhood,--liberty,--and this bauble was to +be his lifelong reward! And yet not a bauble either, for a pleasing +person and a gentle and sweet nature, which had once made her seem to +him the very paragon of loveliness, were still hers. Alas! her +simple words were true,--he had grown away from her. Her only fault +was that she had not grown with him, and surely he could not reproach +her with that. + +"No," he said to himself, "I will never leave her so long as her +heart clings to me. I have been rash, but she shall not pay the +forfeit. And if I may think of myself, my life need not be wretched +because she cannot share all my being with me. The common human +qualities are more than all exceptional gifts. She has a woman's +heart; and what talent of mine is to be named by the love a true +woman can offer in exchange for these divided and cold affections? +If it had pleased God to mate me with one more equal in other ways, +who could share my thoughts, who could kindle my inspiration, who had +wings to rise into the air with me as well as feet to creep by my +side upon the earth,--what cannot such a woman do for a man! + +"What! cast away the flower I took in the bud because it does not +show as I hoped it would when it opened? I will stand by my word; I +will be all as a man that I promised as a boy. Thank God, she is +true and pure and sweet. My nest will be a peaceful one; but I must +take wing alone,--alone." + +He drew one long sigh, and the cloud passed from his countenance. He +must answer that letter now, at once. There were reasons, he +thought, which made it important. And so, with the cheerfulness +which it was kind and becoming to show, so far as possible, and yet +with a little excitement on one particular point, which was the cause +of his writing so promptly, he began his answer. + + +ALDERBANK, Thursday morning, June 16, 1859. + +MY DEAR SUSIE,--I have just been reading your pleasant letter; and if +I do not send you the poem you ask for so eloquently, I will give you +a little bit of advice, which will do just as well,--won't it, my +dear? I was interested in your account of various things going on at +Oxbow Village. I am very glad you find young Mr. Hopkins so +agreeable a friend. His poetry is better than some which I see +printed in the village papers, and seems generally unexceptionable in +its subjects and tone. I do not believe he is a dangerous companion, +though the habit of writing verse does not always improve the +character. I think I have seen it make more than one of my +acquaintances idle, conceited, sentimental, and frivolous,--perhaps +it found them so already. Don't make too much of his talent, and +particularly don't let him think that because he can write verses he +has nothing else to do in this world. That is for his benefit, dear, +and you must skilfully apply it. + +Now about yourself. My dear Susie, there was something in your +letter that did not please me. You speak of a visit from the Rev. +Mr. Stoker, and of his kind, brotherly treatment, his cordiality of +behavior, and his asking you to visit him in his study. I am very +glad to hear you say that you "don't seem to like him." He is very +familiar, it seems to me, for so new an acquaintance. What business +had he to be laying his hand on your shoulder? I should like to see +him try these free-and-easy ways in my presence! He would not have +taken that liberty, my dear! No, he was alone with you, and thought +it safe to be disrespectfully familiar. I want you to maintain your +dignity always with such persons, and I beg you not to go to the +study of this clergyman, unless some older friend goes with you on +every occasion, and sits through the visit. I must speak plainly to +you, my dear, as I have a right to. If the minister has anything of +importance to say, let it come through the lips of some mature +person. It may lose something of the fervor with which it would have +been delivered at first hand, but the great rules of Christian life +are not so dependent on the particular individual who speaks them, +that you must go to this or that young man to find out what they are. +If to any man, I should. prefer the old gentleman whom you have +mentioned in your letters, Father Pemberton. You understand me, my +dear girl, and the subject is not grateful. You know how truly I am +interested in all that relates to you,--that I regard you with an +affection which + + HELP! HELP! HELP! + +A cry as of a young person's voice was heard faintly, coming from the +direction of the river. Something in the tone of it struck to his +heart, and he sprang as if he had been stabbed. He flung open his +chamber window and leaped from it to the ground. He ran straight to +the bank of the river by the side of which the village of Alderbank +was built, a little farther down the stream than the house in which +he was living. + +Everybody that travels in that region knows the beautiful falls which +break the course of the river just above the village; narrow and +swift, and surrounded by rocks of such picturesque forms that they +are sought and admired by tourists. The stream was now swollen, and +rushed in a deep and rapid current over the ledges, through the rocky +straits, plunging at last in tumult and foam, with loud, continuous +roar, into the depths below the cliff from which it tumbled. + +A short distance above the fall there projected from the water a rock +which had, by parsimonious saving during a long course of years, +hoarded a little soil, out of which a small tuft of bushes struggled. +to support a decent vegetable existence. The high waters had nearly +submerged it, but a few slender twigs were seen above their surface. + +A skiff was lying close to this rock, between it and the brink of the +fall, which was but a few rods farther down. In the skiff was a +youth of fourteen or fifteen years, holding by the slender twigs, the +boat dragging at them all the time, and threatening to tear them away +and go over the fall. It was not likely that the boy would come to +shore alive if it did. There were stories, it is true, that the +Indians used to shoot the fall in their canoes with safety; but +everybody knew that at least three persons had been lost by going +over it since the town was settled; and more than one dead body had +been found floating far down the river, with bruises and fractured +bones, as if it had taken the same fatal plunge. + +There was no time to lose. Clement ran a little way up the river- +bank, flung off his shoes, and sprang from the bank as far as he +could leap into the water. The current swept him toward the fall, +but he worked nearer and nearer the middle of the stream. He was +making for the rock, thinking he could plant his feet upon it and at +the worst hold the boat until he could summon other help by shouting. +He had barely got his feet upon the rock, when the twigs by which the +boy was holding gave way. He seized the boat, but it dragged him +from his uncertain footing, and with a desperate effort he clambered +over its side and found himself its second doomed passenger. + +There was but an instant for thought. + +"Sit still," he said, "and, just as we go over, put your arms round +me under mine, and don't let go for your life!" + +He caught up the single oar, and with a few sharp paddle-strokes +brought the skiff into the blackest centre of the current, where it +was deepest, and would plunge them into the deepest pool. + +"Hold your breath! God save us! Now!" + +They rose, as if with one will, and stood for an instant, the arms of +the younger closely embracing the other as he had directed. + +A sliding away from beneath them of the floor on which they stood, as +the drop fails under the feet of a felon. A great rush of air, and a +mighty, awful, stunning roar,--an involuntary gasp, a choking flood +of water that came bellowing after them, and hammered them down into +the black depths so far that the young man, though used to diving and +swimming long distances underwater, had well-nigh yielded to the +fearful need of air, and sucked in his death in so doing. + +The boat came up to the surface, broken in twain, splintered, a load +of firewood for those who raked the river lower down. It had turned +crosswise, and struck the rocks. A cap rose to the surface, such a +one as boys wear,--the same that boy had on. And then--after how +many seconds by the watch cannot be known, but after a time long +enough, as the young man remembered it, to live his whole life over +in memory--Clement Lindsay felt the blessed air against his face, +and, taking a great breath, came to his full consciousness. The arms +of the boy were still locked around him as in the embrace of death. +A few strokes brought him to the shore, dragging his senseless burden +with him. + +He unclasped the arms that held him so closely encircled, and laid +the slender form of the youth he had almost died to save gently upon +the grass. It was as if dead. He loosed the ribbon that was round +the neck, he tore open the checked shirt + +The story of Myrtle Hazard's sex was told; but she was deaf to his +cry of surprise, and no blush came to her cold cheek. Not too late, +perhaps, to save her,--not too late to try to save her, at least! + +He placed his lips to hers, and filled her breast with the air from +his own panting chest. Again and again he renewed these efforts, +hoping, doubting, despairing,--once more hoping, and at last, when he +had almost ceased to hope, she gasped, she breathed, she moaned, and +rolled her eyes wildly round her, she was born again into this mortal +life. + +He caught her up in his arms, bore her to the house, laid her on a +sofa, and, having spent his strength in this last effort, reeled and +fell, and lay as one over whom have just been whispered the words, + +"He is gone." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +MR. CLEMENT LINDSAY FINISHES HIS LETTER--WHAT CAME OF IT. + +The first thing Clement Lindsay did, when he was fairly himself +again, was to finish his letter to Susan Posey. He took it up where +it left off, "with an affection which " and drew a long dash, as +above. It was with great effort he wrote the lines which follow, for +he had got an ugly blow on the forehead, and his eyes were "in +mourning," as the gentlemen of the ring say, with unbecoming levity. + +"An adventure! Just as I was writing these last words, I heard the +cry of a young person, as it sounded, for help. I ran to the river +and jumped in, and had the pleasure of saving a life. I got some +bruises which have laid me up for a day or two; but I am getting over +them very well now, and you need not worry about me at all. I will +write again soon; so pray do not fret yourself, for I have had no +hurt that will trouble me for any time." + +Of course, poor Susan Posey burst out crying, and cried as if her +heart would break. Oh dear! Oh dear! what should she do! He was +almost killed, she knew he was, or he had broken some of his bones. +Oh dear! Oh dear! She would go and see him, there!--she must and +would. He would die, she knew he would,--and so on. + +It was a singular testimony to the evident presence of a human +element in Mr. Bytes Gridley that the poor girl, on her extreme +trouble, should think of him as a counsellor. But the wonderful +relenting kind of look on his grave features as he watched the little +twins tumbling about his great books, and certain marks of real +sympathy he had sometimes shown for her in her lesser woes, +encouraged her, and she went straight to his study, letter in hand. +She gave a timid knock at the door of that awful sanctuary. + +"Come in, Susan Posey," was its answer, in a pleasant tone. The old +master knew her light step and the maidenly touch of her small hand +on the panel. + +What a sight! 'there were Sossy and Minthy intrenched in a +Sebastopol which must have cost a good half-hour's engineering, and +the terrible Bytes Gridley besieging the fortress with hostile +manifestations of the most singular character. He was actually +discharging a large sugar-plum at the postern gate, which having been +left unclosed, the missile would certainly have reached one of the +garrison, when he paused as the door opened, and the great round +spectacles and four wide, staring infants' eyes were levelled at Miss +Susan Posey. + +She almost forgot her errand, grave as it was, in astonishment at +this manifestation. The old man had emptied his shelves of half +their folios to build up the fort, in the midst of which he had +seated the two delighted and uproarious babes. There was his Cave's +"Historia Literaria," and Sir Walter Raleigh's "History of the +World," and a whole array of Christian Fathers, and Plato, and +Aristotle, and Stanley's book of Philosophers, with Effigies, and the +Junta Galen, and the Hippocrates of Foesius, and Walton's Polyglot, +supported by Father Sanchez on one side and Fox's "Acts and +Monuments" on the other,--an odd collection, as folios from lower +shelves are apt to be. + +The besieger discharged his sugar-plum, which was so well aimed that +it fell directly into the lap of Minthy, who acted with it as if the +garrison had been on short rations for some time. + +He saw at once, on looking up, that there was trouble. "What now, +Susan Posey, my dear?" + +"O Mr. Gridley, I am in such trouble! What shall I do? What shall I +do?" + +She turned back the name and the bottom of the letter in such a way +that Mr. Gridley could read nothing but the few lines relating their +adventure. + +"So Mr. Clement Lindsay has been saving a life, has he, and got some +hard knocks doing it, hey, Susan Posey? Well, well, Clement Lindsay +is a brave fellow, and there is no need of hiding his name, my child. +Let me take the letter again a moment, Susan Posey. What is the date +of it? June 16th. Yes,--yes,--yes!" + +He read the paragraph over again, and the signature too, if he wanted +to; for poor Susan had found that her secret was hardly opaque to +those round spectacles and the eyes behind them, and, with a not +unbecoming blush, opened the fold of the letter before she handed it +back. + +"No, no, Susan Posey. He will come all right. His writing is +steady, and if he had broken any bones he would have mentioned it. +It's a thing his wife will be proud of, if he is ever married, Susan +Posey," (blushes,) "and his children too," (more blushes running up +to her back hair,) "and there 's nothing to be worried about. But +I'll tell you what, my dear, I've got a little business that calls me +down the river tomorrow, and I shouldn't mind stopping an hour at +Alderbank and seeing how our young friend Clement Lindsay is; and +then, if he was going to have a long time of it, why we could manage +it somehow that any friend who had any special interest in him could +visit him, just to while away the tiresomeness of being sick. That's +it, exactly. I'll stop at Alderbank, Susan Posey. Just clear up +these two children for me, will you, my dear? Isosceles, come now,-- +that 's a good child. Helminthia, carry these sugar-plums down-- +stairs for me, and take good care of them, mind!" + +It was a case of gross bribery and corruption, for the fortress was +immediately, evacuated on the receipt of a large paper of red and +white comfits, and the garrison marched down--stairs much like +conquerors, under the lead of the young lady, who was greatly eased +in mind by the kind words and the promise of Mr. Byles Gridley. + +But he, in the mean time, was busy with thoughts she did not suspect. +"A young person," he said to himself,--"why a young person? Why not +say a boy, if it was a boy? What if this should be our handsome +truant?--'June 16th, Thursday morning!'--About time to get to +Alderbank by the river, I should think. None of the boats missing? +What then? She may have made a raft, or picked up some stray skiff. +Who knows? And then got shipwrecked, very likely. There are rapids +and falls farther along the river. It will do no harm to go down +there and look about, at any rate." + +On Saturday morning, therefore, Mr. Byles Gridley set forth to +procure a conveyance to make a visit, as he said, dawn the river, and +perhaps be gone a day or two. He went to a stable in the village, +and asked if they could let him have a horse. + +The man looked at him with that air of native superiority which the +companionship of the generous steed confers on all his associates, +down to the lightest weight among the jockeys. + +"Wal, I hain't got nothin' in the shape of a h'oss, Mr. Gridley. +I've got a mare I s'pose I could let y' have." + +"Oh, very well," said the old master, with a twinkle in his eye as +sly as the other's wink,--he had parried a few jokes in his time,--" +they charge half-price for mares always, I believe." + +That was a new view of the subject. It rather took the wind out of +the stable-keeper, and set a most ammoniacal fellow, who stood +playing with a currycomb, grinning at his expense. But he rallied +presently. + +"Wal, I b'lieve they do for some mares, when they let 'em to some +folks; but this here ain't one o' them mares, and you ain't one o' +them folks. All my cattle's out but this critter, 'n' I don't jestly +want to have nobody drive her that ain't pretty car'ful,--she's +faast, I tell ye,--don't want no whip.--How fur d' d y' want t' go?" + +Mr. Gridley was quite serious now, and let the man know that he +wanted the mare and a light covered wagon, at once, to be gone for +one or two days, and would waive the question of sex in the matter of +payment. + +Alderbank was about twenty miles down the river by the road. On +arriving there, he inquired for the house where a Mr. Lindsay lived. +There was only one Lindsay family in town,--he must mean Dr. William +Lindsay. His house was up there a little way above the village, +lying a few rods back from the river. + +He found the house without difficulty, and knocked at the door. A +motherly-looking woman opened it immediately, and held her hand up as +if to ask him to speak and move softly. + +"Does Mr. Clement Lindsay live here?" + +"He is staying here for the present. He is a nephew of ours. He is +in his bed from an injury." + +"Nothing very serious, I hope?" + +"A bruise on his head,--not very bad, but the doctor was afraid of +erysipelas. Seems to be doing well enough now." + +"Is there a young person here, a stranger?" + +"There is such a young person here. Do you come with any authority +to make inquiries?" + +"I do. A young friend of mine is missing, arid I thought it possible +I might learn something here about it. Can I see this young person?" + +The matron came nearer to Byles Gridley, and said: "This person is a +young woman disguised as a boy. She was rescued by my nephew at the +risk of his life, and she has been delirious ever since she has +recovered her consciousness. She was almost too far gone to be +resuscitated, but Clement put his mouth to hers and kept her +breathing until her own breath returned and she gradually came to." + +"Is she violent in her delirium?" + +"Not now. No; she is quiet enough, but wandering,--wants to know +where she is, and whose the strange faces are,--mine and my +husband's,--that 's Dr. Lindsay,--and one of my daughters, who has +watched with her." + +"If that is so, I think I had better see her. If she is the person I +suspect her to be, she will know me; and a familiar face may bring +back her recollections and put a stop to her wanderings. If she does +not know me, I will not stay talking with her. I think she will, if +she is the one I am seeking after. There is no harm in trying." + +Mrs. Lindsay took a good long look at the old man. There was no +mistaking his grave, honest, sturdy, wrinkled, scholarly face. His +voice was assured and sincere in its tones. His decent black coat +was just what a scholar's should be,--old, not untidy, a little shiny +at the elbows with much leaning on his study-table, but neatly bound +at the cuffs, where worthy Mrs. Hopkins had detected signs of fatigue +and come to the rescue. His very hat looked honest as it lay on the +table. It had moulded itself to a broad, noble head, that held +nothing but what was true and fair, with a few harmless crotchets +just to fill in with, and it seemed to know it. + +The good woman gave him her confidence at once. "Is the person you +are seeking a niece or other relative of yours?" + +(Why did not she ask if the girl was his daughter? What is that look +of paternity and of maternity which observing and experienced mothers +and old nurses know so well in men and in women?) + +"No, she is not a relative. But I am acting for those who are." + +"Wait a moment and I will go and see that the room is all right." + +She returned presently. "Follow me softly, if you please. She is +asleep,--so beautiful,--so innocent!" + +Byles Gridley, Master of Arts, retired professor, more than sixty +years old, childless, loveless, stranded in a lonely study strewed +with wrecks of the world's thought, his work in life finished, his +one literary venture gone down with all it held, with nobody to care +for him but accidental acquaintances, moved gently to the side of the +bed and looked upon the pallid, still features of Myrtle Hazard. He +strove hard against a strange feeling that was taking hold of him, +that was making his face act rebelliously, and troubling his eyes +with sudden films. He made a brief stand against this invasion. +"A weakness,--a weakness!" he said to himself. "What does all this +mean? Never such a thing for these twenty years! Poor child! poor +child!--Excuse me, madam," he said, after a little interval, but for +what offence he did not mention. A great deal might be forgiven, +even to a man as old as Byles Gridley, looking upon such a face,--so +lovely, yet so marked with the traces of recent suffering, and even +now showing by its changes that she was struggling in some fearful +dream. Her forehead contracted, she started with a slight convulsive +movement, and then her lips parted, and the cry escaped from them,-- +how heart-breaking when there is none to answer it,--"Mother!" + +Gone back again through all the weary, chilling years of her girlhood +to that hardly remembered morning of her life when the cry she +uttered was answered by the light of loving eyes, the kiss of +clinging lips, the embrace of caressing arms! + +"It is better to wake her," Mrs. Lindsay said; "she is having a +troubled dream. Wake up, my child, here is a friend waiting to see +you." + +She laid her hand very gently on Myrtle's forehead. Myrtle opened +her eyes, but they were vacant as yet. + +"Are we dead?" she said. "Where am I? This is n't heaven--there are +no angels--Oh, no, no, no! don't send me to the other place--fifteen +years,--only fifteen years old--no father, no mother--nobody loved +me. Was it wicked in me to live? "Her whole theological training +was condensed in that last brief question. + +The, old man took her hand and looked her in the face, with a +wonderful tenderness in his squared features. "Wicked to live, my +dear? No indeed! Here! look at me, my child; don't you know your +old friend Byles Gridley?" + +She was awake now. The sight of a familiar countenance brought back +a natural train of thought. But her recollection passed over +everything that had happened since Thursday morning. + +"Where is the boat I was in?" she said. "I have just been in the +water, and I was dreaming that I was drowned. Oh! Mr. Gridley, is +that you? Did you pull me out of the water?" + +"No, my dear, but you are out of it, and safe and sound: that is the +main point. How do you feel now you are awake?" + +She yawned, and stretched her arms and looked round, but did not +answer at first. This was all natural, and a sign that she was +coming right. She looked down at her dress. It was not +inappropriate to her sex, being a loose gown that belonged to one of +the girls in the house. + +"I feel pretty well," she answered, "but a little confused. My boat +will be gone, if you don't run and stop it now. How did you get me +into dry clothes so quick?" + +Master Byles Gridley found himself suddenly possessed by a large and +luminous idea of the state of things, and made up his mind in a +moment as to what he must do. There was no time to be lost. Every +day, every hour, of Myrtle's absence was not only a source of anxiety +and a cause of useless searching but it gave room for inventive +fancies to imagine evil. It was better to run some risk of injury to +health, than to have her absence prolonged another day. + +"Has this adventure been told about in the village, Mrs. Lindsay?" + +"No, we thought it best to wait until she could tell her own story, +expecting her return to consciousness every hour, and thinking there +might be some reason for her disguise which it would be kinder to +keep quiet about." + +"You know nothing about her, then?" + +"Not a word. It was a great question whether to tell the story and +make inquiries; but she was safe, and could hardly bear disturbance, +and, my dear sir, it seemed too probable that there was some sad +story behind this escape in disguise, and that the poor child might +need shelter and retirement. We meant to do as well as we could for +her." + +"All right, Mrs. Lindsay. You do not know who she is, then?" + +"No, sir, and perhaps it is as well that I should not know. Then I +shall not have to answer any questions about it." + +"Very good, madam,--just as it should be. And your family, are they +as discreet as yourself?" + +"Not one word of the whole story has been or will be told by any one +of us. That was agreed upon among us." + +"Now then, madam. My name, as you heard me say, is Byles Gridley. +Your husband will know it, perhaps; at any rate I will wait until he +comes back. This child is of good family and of good name. I know +her well, and mean, with your kind help, to save her from the +consequences which her foolish adventure might have brought upon her. +Before the bells ring for meeting to-morrow morning this girl must be +in her bed at her home, at Oxbow Village, and we must keep her story +to ourselves as far as may be. It will all blow over, if we do. The +gossips will only know that she was upset in the river and cared for +by some good people,--good people and sensible people too, Mrs. +Lindsay. And now I want to see the young man that rescued my friend +here,--Clement Lindsay, I have heard his name before." + +Clement was not a beauty for the moment, but Master Gridley saw well +enough that he was a young man of the right kind. He knew them at +sight, fellows with lime enough in their bones and iron enough in +their blood to begin with,--shapely, large-nerved, firm-fibred and +fine-fibred, with well-spread bases to their heads for the ground- +floor of the faculties, and well-vaulted arches for the upper range +of apprehensions and combinations. "Plenty of basements," he used to +say, "without attics and skylights. Plenty of skylights without +rooms enough and space enough below." But here was "a three-story +brain," he said to himself as he looked at it, and this was the youth +who was to find his complement in our pretty little Susan Posey! His +judgment may seem to have been hasty, but he took the measure of +young men of twenty at sight from long and sagacious observation, as +Nurse Byloe knew the "heft" of a baby the moment she fixed her old +eyes on it. + +Clement was well acquainted with Byles Gridley, though he had never +seen him, for Susan's letters had had a good deal to say about him of +late. It was agreed between them that the story should be kept as +quiet as possible, and that the young girl should not know the name +of her deliverer,--it might save awkward complications. It was not +likely that she would be disposed to talk of her adventure, which had +ended so disastrously, and thus the whole story would soon die out. + +The effect of the violent shock she had experienced was to change the +whole nature of Myrtle for the time. Her mind was unsettled: she +could hardly recall anything except the plunge over the fall. She +was perfectly docile and plastic,--was ready to go anywhere Mr. +Gridley wanted her to go, without any sign of reluctance. And so it +was agreed that he should carry her back in his covered wagon that +very night. All possible arrangements were made to render her +journey comfortable. The fast mare had to trot very gently, and the +old master would stop and adjust the pillows from time to time, and +administer the restoratives which the physician had got ready, all as +naturally and easily as if he had been bred a nurse, vastly to his +own surprise, and with not a little gain to his self-appreciation. +He was a serviceable kind of body on occasion, after all, was he not, +hey, Mr. Byles Gridley? he said to himself. + +At half past four o'clock on Sunday morning the shepherd brought the +stray lamb into the paved yard at The Poplars, and roused the +slumbering household to receive back the wanderer. + +It was the Irishwoman, Kitty Fagan, huddled together in such +amorphous guise, that she looked as if she had been fitted in a +tempest of petticoats and a whirlwind of old shawls, who presented +herself at the door. + +But there was a very warm heart somewhere in that queer-looking +bundle of clothes, and it was not one of those that can throb or +break in silence. When she saw the long covered wagon, and the grave +face of the old master, she thought it was all over with the poor +girl she loved, and that this was the undertaker's wagon bringing +back only what had once been Myrtle Hazard. She screamed aloud,--so +wildly that Myrtle lifted her head from the pillow against which she +had rested it, and started forward. + +The Irishwoman looked at her for a moment to assure herself that it +was the girl she loved, and not her ghost. Then it all came over +her,--she had been stolen by thieves, who had carried her off by +night, and been rescued by the brave old man who had brought her +back. What crying and kisses and prayers and blessings were poured +forth, in a confusion of which her bodily costume was a fitting type, +those who know the vocabulary and the enthusiasm of her eloquent race +may imagine better than we could describe it. + +The welcome of the two other women was far less demonstrative. There +were awful questions to be answered before the kind of reception she +was to have could be settled. What they were, it is needless to +suggest; but while Miss Silence was weeping, first with joy that her +"responsibility" was removed, then with a fair share of pity and +kindness, and other lukewarm emotions,--while Miss Badlam waited for +an explanation before giving way to her feelings,--Mr. Gridley put +the essential facts before them in a few words. She had gone down +the river some miles in her boat, which was upset by a rush of the +current, and she had come very near being drowned. She was got out, +however, by a person living near by, and cared for by some kind women +in a house near the river, where he had been fortunate enough to +discover her.--Who cut her hair off? Perhaps those good people, +--she had been out of her head. She was alive and unharmed, at any +rate, wanting only a few days' rest. They might be very thankful to +get her back, and leave her to tell the rest of her story when she +had got her strength and memory, for she was not quite herself yet, +and might not be for some days. + +And so there she was at last laid in her own bed, listening again to +the ripple of the waters beneath her, Miss Silence sitting on one +side looking as sympathetic as her insufficient nature allowed her to +look; the Irishwoman uncertain between delight at Myrtle's return and +sorrow for her condition; and Miss Cynthia Badlaxn occupying herself +about house-matters, not unwilling to avoid the necessity of +displaying her conflicting emotions. + +Before he left the house, Mr. Gridley repeated the statement is the +most precise manner,--some miles down the river--upset and nearly +drowned--rescued almost dead--brought to and cared for by kind women +in the house where he, Byles Gridley, found her. These were the +facts, and nothing more than this was to be told at present. They +had better be made known at once, and the shortest and best way would +be to have it announced by the minister at meeting that forenoon. +With their permission, he would himself write the note for Mr. Stoker +to read, and tell the other ministers that they might announce it to +their people. + +The bells rang for meeting, but the little household at The Poplars +did not add to the congregation that day. In the mean time Kitty +Fagan had gone down with Mr. Byles Gridley's note, to carry it to the +Rev. Mr. Stoker. But, on her way, she stopped at the house of one +Mrs. Finnegan, a particular friend of hers; and the great event of +the morning furnishing matter for large discourse, and various social +allurements adding to the fascination of having a story to tell, +Kitty Fagan forgot her note until meeting had begun and the minister +had read the text of his sermon. "Bless my soul! and sure I 've +forgot ahl about the letter!" she cried all at once, and away she +tramped for the meeting-house. The sexton took the note, which was +folded, and said he would hand it up to the pulpit after the sermon, +--it would not do to interrupt the preacher. + +The Rev. Mr. Stoker had, as was said, a somewhat remarkable gift in +prayer,--an endowment by no means confined to profoundly spiritual +persons,--in fact, not rarely owing much of its force to a strong +animal nature underlying the higher attributes. The sweet singer of +Israel would never have written such petitions and such hymns if his +manhood had been less complete; the flavor of remembered frailties +could not help giving a character to his most devout exercises, or +they would not have come quite home to our common humanity. But +there is no gift more dangerous to the humility and sincerity of a +minister. While his spirit ought to be on its knees before the +throne of grace, it is too apt to be on tiptoe, following with +admiring look the flight of its own rhetoric. The essentially +intellectual character of an extemporaneous composition spoken to the +Creator with the consciousness that many of his creatures are +listening to criticise or to admire, is the great argument for set +forms of prayer. + +The congregation on this particular Sunday was made up chiefly of +women and old men. The young men were hunting after Myrtle Hazard. +Mr. Byles Gridley was in his place, wondering why the minister did +not read his notice before the prayer. This prayer, was never +reported, as is the questionable custom with regard to some of these +performances, but it was wrought up with a good deal of rasping force +and broad pathos. When he came to pray for "our youthful sister, +missing from her pious home, perhaps nevermore to return to her +afflicted relatives," and the women and old men began crying, Byles +Gridley was on the very point of getting up and cutting short the +whole matter by stating the simple fact that she had got back, all +right, and suggesting that he had better pray for some of the older +and tougher sinners before him. But on the whole it would be more +decorous to wait, and perhaps he was willing to hear what the object +of his favorite antipathy had to say about it. So he waited through +the prayer. He waited through the hymn, "Life is the time"--He +waited to hear the sermon. + +The minister gave out his text from the Book of Esther, second +chapter, seventh verse: "For she had neither father nor mother, and +the maid was fair and beautiful." It was to be expected that the +reverend gentleman, who loved to produce a sensation, would avail +himself of the excitable state of his audience to sweep the key-board +of their emotions, while, as we may, say, all the stops were drawn +out. His sermon was from notes; for, though absolutely +extemporaneous composition may be acceptable to one's Maker, it is +not considered quite the thing in speaking to one's fellow-mortals. +He discoursed for a time on the loss of parents, and on the dangers +to which the unfortunate orphan is exposed. Then he spoke of the +peculiar risks of the tender female child, left without its natural +guardians. Warming with his subject, he dilated with wonderful +unction on the temptations springing from personal attractions. He +pictured the "fair and beautiful" women of Holy Writ, lingering over +their names with lover-like devotion. He brought Esther before his +audience, bathed and perfumed for the royal presence of Ahasuerus. +He showed them the sweet young Ruth, lying down in her innocence at +the feet of the lord of the manor. He dwelt with special luxury on +the charms which seduced the royal psalmist,--the soldier's wife for +whom he broke the commands of the decalogue, and the maiden for whose +attentions, in his cooler years, he violated the dictates of prudence +and propriety. All this time Byles Gridley had his stern eyes on +him. And while he kindled into passionate eloquence on these +inspiring themes, poor Bathsheba, whom her mother had sent to church +that she might get a little respite from her home duties, felt her +blood growing cold in her veins, as the pallid image of the invalid +wife, lying on her bed of suffering, rose in the midst of the glowing +pictures which borrowed such warmth from her husband's imagination. + +The sermon, with its hinted application to the event of the past +week, was over at last. The shoulders of the nervous women were +twitching with sobs. The old men were crying in their vacant way. +But all the while the face of Byles Gridley, firm as a rock in the +midst of this lachrymal inundation, was kept steadily on the +preacher, who had often felt the look that came through the two round +glasses searching into the very marrow of his bones. + +As the sermon was finished, the sexton marched up through the broad +aisle and handed the note over the door of the pulpit to the +clergyman, who was wiping his face after the exertion of delivering +his discourse. Mr. Stoker looked at it, started, changed color,--his +vision of "The Dangers of Beauty, a Sermon printed by Request," had +vanished,--and passed the note to Father Pemberton, who sat by him in +the pulpit. With much pains he deciphered its contents, for his eyes +were dim with years, and, having read it, bowed his head upon his +hands in silent thanksgiving. Then he rose in the beauty of his +tranquil and noble old age, so touched with the message he had to +proclaim to his people, that the three deep furrows on his forehead, +which some said he owed to the three dogmas of original sin, +predestination, and endless torment, seemed smoothed for the moment, +and his face was as that of an angel while lie spoke. + +"Sisters and Brethren,--Rejoice with us, for we have found our lamb +which had strayed from the fold. This our daughter was dead and is +alive again; she was lost and is found. Myrtle Hazard, rescued from +great peril of the waters, and cared for by good Samaritans, is now +in her home. Thou, O Lord, who didst let the water-flood overflow +her, didst not let the deep swallow her up, nor the pit shut its +mouth upon her. Let us return our thanks to the God of Abraham, the +God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, who is our God and Father, and who +hath wrought this great deliverance." + +After his prayer, which it tried him sorely to utter in unbroken +tones, he gave out the hymn, + + "Lord, thou hast heard thy servant cry, + And rescued from the grave "; + +but it was hardly begun when the leading female voice trembled and +stopped,--and another,--and then a third,--and Father Pemberton, +seeing that they were all overcome, arose and stretched out his arms, +and breathed over them his holy benediction. + +The village was soon alive with the news. The sexton forgot the +solemnity of the Sabbath, and the bell acted as if it was crazy, +tumbling heels over head at such a rate, and with such a clamor, that +a good many thought there was a fire, and, rushing out from every +quarter, instantly caught the great news with which the air was +ablaze. + +A few of the young men who had come back went even further in their +demonstrations. They got a small cannon in readiness, and without +waiting for the going down of the sun, began firing rapidly, upon +which the Rev. Mr. Stoker sallied forth to put a stop to this +violation of the Sabbath. But in the mean time it was heard on all +the hills, far and near. Some said they were firing in the hope of +raising the corpse; but many who heard the bells ringing their crazy +peals guessed what had happened. Before night the parties were all +in, one detachment bearing the body of the bob-tailed catamount swung +over a pole, like the mighty cluster of grapes from Eshcol, and +another conveying with wise precaution that monstrous snapping-turtle +which those of our friends who wish to see will find among the +specimens marked Chelydra, Serpentine in the great collection at +Cantabridge. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +VEXED WITH A DEVIL. + +It was necessary at once to summon a physician to advise as to the +treatment of Myrtle, who had received a shock, bodily and mental, not +lightly to be got rid of, and very probably to be followed by serious +and varied disturbances. Her very tranquillity was suspicious, for +there must be something of exhaustion in it, and the reaction must +come sooner or later. + +Old Dr. Lemuel Hurlbut, at the age of ninety-two, very deaf, very +nearly blind, very feeble, liable to odd lapses of memory, was yet a +wise counsellor in doubtful and difficult cases, and on rare +occasions was still called upon to exercise his ancient skill. Here +was a case in which a few words from him might soothe the patient and +give confidence to all who were interested in her. Miss Silence +Withers went herself to see him. + +"Miss Withers, father, wants to talk with you about her niece, Miss +Hazard," said Dr. Fordyce Hurlbut. + +"Miss Withers, Miss Withers?--Oh, Silence Withers,--lives up at The +Poplars. How's the Deacon, Miss Withers?" [Ob. 1810.] + +"My grandfather is not living, Dr. Hurlbut," she screamed into his +ear. + +"Dead, is he? Well, it isn't long since he was with us; and they +come and go,--they come and go. I remember his father, Major Gideon +Withers. He had a great red feather on training-days,--that was what +made me remember him. Who did you say was sick and wanted to see me, +Fordyce?" + +"Myrtle Hazard, father,--she has had a narrow escape from drowning, +and it has left her in a rather nervous state. They would like to +have you go up to The Poplars and take a look at her. You remember +Myrtle Hazard? She is the great-granddaughter of your old friend the +Deacon." + +He had to wait a minute before his thoughts would come to order; with +a little time, the proper answer would be evolved by the slow +automatic movement of the rusted mental machinery. + +After the silent moment: "Myrtle Hazard, Myrtle Hazard,--yes, yes, to +be sure! The old Withers stock,--good constitutions,--a little apt +to be nervous, one or two of 'em. I've given 'em a good deal of +valerian and assafoetida,--not quite so much since the new blood came +in. There is n't the change in folks people think,--same thing over +and over again. I've seen six fingers on a child that had a six- +fingered great-uncle, and I've seen that child's grandchild born with +six fingers. Does this girl like to have her own way pretty well, +like the rest of the family?" + +"A little too well, I suspect, father. You will remember all about +her when you come to see her and talk with her. She would like to +talk with you, and her aunt wants to see you too; they think there's +nobody like the 'old Doctor'." + +He was not too old to be pleased with this preference, and said he +was willing to go when they were ready. With no small labor of +preparation he was at last got to the house, and crept with his son's +aid up to the little room over the water, where his patient was still +lying. + +There was a little too much color in Myrtle's cheeks and a glistening +lustre in her eyes that told of unnatural excitement. It gave a +strange brilliancy to her beauty, and might have deceived an +unpractised observer. The old man looked at her long and curiously, +his imperfect sight excusing the closeness of his scrutiny. + +He laid his trembling hand upon her forehead, and then felt her pulse +with his shriveled fingers. He asked her various questions about +herself, which she answered with a tone not quite so calm as natural, +but willingly and intelligently. They thought she seemed to the old +Doctor to be doing very well, for he spoke cheerfully to her, and +treated her in such a way that neither she nor any of those around +her could be alarmed. The younger physician was disposed to think +she was only suffering from temporary excitement, and that it would +soon pass off. + +They left the room to talk it over. + +"It does not amount to much, I suppose, father," said Dr. Fordyce +Hurlbut. "You made the pulse about ninety,--a little hard,--did n't +you; as I did? Rest, and low diet for a day or two, and all will be +right, won't it?" + +Was it the feeling of sympathy, or was it the pride of superior +sagacity, that changed the look of the old man's wrinkled features? +"Not so fast,--not so fast, Fordyce," he said. "I've seen that look +on another face of the same blood,--it 's a great many years ago, and +she was dead before you were born, my boy,--but I've seen that look, +and it meant trouble then, and I'm afraid it means trouble now. I +see some danger of a brain fever. And if she doesn't have that, then +look out for some hysteric fits that will make mischief. Take that +handkerchief off of her head, and cut her hair close, and keep her +temples cool, and put some drawing plasters to the soles of her feet, +and give her some of my pilulae compositae, and follow them with some +doses of sal polychrest. I've been through it all before--in that +same house. Live folks are only dead folks warmed over. I can see +'em all in that girl's face, Handsome Judith, to begin with. And +that queer woman, the Deacon's mother,--there 's where she gets that +hystericky look. Yes, and the black-eyed woman with the Indian blood +in her,--look out for that,--look out for that. And--and--my son, do +you remember Major Gideon Withers?" [Ob. 1780.] + +"Why no, father, I can't say that I remember the Major; but I know +the picture very well. Does she remind you of him?" + +He paused again, until the thoughts came slowly straggling, up to the +point where the question left him. He shook his head solemnly, and +turned his dim eyes on his son's face. + +Four generations--four generations; man and wife,--yes, five +generations, for old Selah Withers took me in his arms when I was a +child, and called me 'little gal,' for I was in girl's clothes,--five +generations before this Hazard child I 've looked on with these old +eyes. And it seems to me that I can see something of almost every +one of 'em in this child's face, it's the forehead of this one, and +it's the eyes of that one, and it's that other's mouth, and the look +that I remember in another, and when she speaks, why, I've heard that +same voice before--yes, yes as long ago as when I was first married; +for I remember Rachel used to think I praised Handsome Judith's voice +more than it deserved,--and her face too, for that matter. You +remember Rachel, my first wife,--don't you, Fordyce?" + +"No, father, I don't remember her, but I know her portrait." (As he +was the son of the old Doctor's second wife, he could hardly be +expected to remember her predecessor.) + +The old Doctor's sagacity was not in fault about the somewhat +threatening aspect of Myrtle's condition. His directions were +followed implicitly; for with the exception of the fact of +sluggishness rather than loss of memory, and of that confusion of +dates which in slighter degrees is often felt as early as middle- +life, and increases in most persons from year to year, his mind was +still penetrating, and his advice almost as trustworthy, as in his +best days. + +It was very fortunate that the old Doctor ordered Myrtle's hair to be +cut, and Miss Silence took the scissors and trimmed it at once. So, +whenever she got well and was seen about, there would be no mystery +about the loss of her locks,--the Doctor had been afraid of brain +fever, and ordered them to cut her hair. + +Many things are uncertain in this world, and among them the effect of +a large proportion of the remedies prescribed by physicians. Whether +it was by the use of the means ordered by the old Doctor, or by the +efforts of nature, or by both together, at any rate the first danger +was averted, and the immediate risk from brain fever soon passed +over. But the impression upon her mind and body had been too +profound to be dissipated by a few days' rest. The hysteric stage +which the wise old man had apprehended began to manifest itself by +its usual signs, if anything can be called usual in a condition the +natural order of which is disorder and anomaly. + +And now the reader, if such there be, who believes in the absolute +independence and self-determination of the will, and the consequent +total responsibility of every human being for every irregular nervous +action and ill-governed muscular contraction, may as well lay down +this narrative, or he may lose all faith in poor Myrtle Hazard, and +all patience with the writer who tells her story. + +The mental excitement so long sustained, followed by a violent shock +to the system, coming just at the period of rapid development, gave +rise to that morbid condition, accompanied with a series of mental +and moral perversions, which in ignorant ages and communities is +attributed to the influence of evil spirits, but for the better- +instructed is the malady which they call hysteria. Few households +have ripened a growth of womanhood without witnessing some of its +manifestations, and its phenomena are largely traded in by scientific +pretenders and religious fanatics. Into this cloud, with all its +risks and all its humiliations, Myrtle Hazard is about to enter. +Will she pass through it unharmed, or wander from her path, and fall +over one of those fearful precipices which lie before her? + +After the ancient physician had settled the general plan of +treatment, its details and practical application were left to the +care of his son. Dr. Fordyce Hurlbut was a widower, not yet forty +years old, a man of a fine masculine aspect and a vigorous nature. +He was a favorite with his female patients,--perhaps many of them +would have said because he was good-looking and pleasant in his +manners, but some thought in virtue of a special magnetic power to +which certain temperaments were impressible, though there was no +explaining it. But he himself never claimed any such personal gift, +and never attempted any of the exploits which some thought were in +his power if he chose to exercise his faculty in that direction. +This girl was, as it were, a child to him, for he had seen her grow +up from infancy, and had often held her on his knee in her early +years. The first thing he did was to get her a nurse, for he saw +that neither of the two women about her exercised a quieting +influence upon her nerves. So he got her old friend, Nurse Byloe, to +come and take care of her. + +The old nurse looked calm enough at one or two of his first visits, +but the next morning her face showed that something had been going +wrong. "Well, what has been the trouble, Nurse?" the Doctor said, as +soon as he could get her out of the room. + +"She's been attackted, Doctor, sence you been here, dreadful. It's +them high stirricks, Doctor, 'n' I never see 'em higher, nor more of +'em. Laughin' as ef she would bust. Cryin' as ef she'd lost all her +friends, 'n' was a follerin' their corpse to their graves. And +spassums,--sech spassums! And ketchin' at her throat, 'n' sayin' +there was a great ball a risin' into it from her stommick. One time +she had a kind o' lockjaw like. And one time she stretched herself +out 'n' laid jest as stiff as ef she was dead. And she says now that +her head feels as ef a nail had been driv' into it,--into the left +temple, she says, and that's what makes her look so distressed now." + +The Doctor came once more to her bedside. He saw that her forehead +was contracted, and that she was evidently suffering from severe pain +somewhere. + +"Where is your uneasiness, Myrtle?" he asked. + +She moved her hand very slowly, and pressed it on her left temple. +He laid his hand upon the same spot, kept it there a moment, and then +removed it. She took it gently with her own, and placed it on her +temple again. As he sat watching her, he saw that her features were +growing easier, and in a short time her deep, even breathing showed +that she was asleep. + +"It beats all," the old nurse said. "Why, she's been a complainin' +ever sence daylight, and she hain't slep' not a wink afore, sence +twelve o'clock las' night! It's j es' like them magnetizers,--I +never heerd you was one o' them kind, Dr. Hurlbut." + +"I can't say how it is, Nurse,--I have heard people say my hand was +magnetic, but I never thought of its quieting her so quickly. No +sleep since twelve o'clock last night, you say?" + +"Not a wink, 'n' actin' as ef she was possessed a good deal o' the +time. You read your Bible, Doctor, don't you? You're pious? Do you +remember about that woman in Scriptur' out of whom the Lord cast +seven devils? Well, I should ha' thought there was seventy devils in +that gal last night, from the way she carr'd on. And now she lays +there jest as peaceful as a new-born babe,--that is, accordin' to the +sayin' about 'em; for as to peaceful new-born babes, I never see one +that come t' anything, that did n't screech as ef the haouse was +afire 'n' it wanted to call all the fire-ingines within ten mild." + +The Doctor smiled, but he became thoughtful in a moment. Did he +possess a hitherto unexercised personal power, which put the key of +this young girl's nervous system into his hands? The remarkable +tranquillizing effect of the contact of his hand with her forehead +looked like an immediate physical action. + +It might have been a mere coincidence, however. He would not form an +opinion until his next visit. + +At that next visit it did seem as if some of Nurse Byloe's seventy +devils had possession of the girl. All the strange spasmodic +movements, the chokings, the odd sounds, the wild talk, the laughing +and crying, were in full blast. All the remedies which had been +ordered seemed to have been of no avail. The Doctor could hardly +refuse trying his quasi magnetic influence, and placed the tips of +his fingers on her forehead. The result was the same that had +followed the similar proceeding the day before,--the storm was soon +calmed, and after a little time she fell into a quiet sleep, as in +the first instance. + +Here was an awkward affair for the physician, to be sure! He held +this power in his hands, which no remedy and no other person seemed +to possess. How long would he be chained to her; and she to him, and +what would be the consequence of the mysterious relation which must +necessarily spring up between a man like him, in the plenitude of +vital force, of strongly attractive personality, and a young girl +organized for victory over the calmest blood and the steadiest +resistance? + +Every day after this made matters worse. There was something almost +partaking of the miraculous in the influence he was acquiring over +her. His "Peace, be still!" was obeyed by the stormy elements of +this young soul, as if it had been a supernatural command. How could +he resist the dictate of humanity which called him to make his visits +more frequent, that her intervals of rest might be more numerous? +How could he refuse to sit at her bedside for a while in the evening, +that she might be quieted, instead of beginning the night sleepless +and agitated? + +The Doctor was a man of refined feeling as well as of principle, and +he had besides a sacred memory in the deepest heart of his +affections. It was the common belief in the village that he would +never marry again, but that his first and only love was buried in the +grave of the wife of his youth. It did not easily occur to him to +suspect himself of any weakness with regard to this patient of his, +little more than a child in years. It did not at once suggest itself +to him that she, in her strange, excited condition, might fasten her +wandering thoughts upon him, too far removed by his age, as it +seemed, to strike the fancy of a young girl under almost any +conceivable conditions. + +Thus it was that many of those beautiful summer evenings found him +sitting by his patient, the river rippling and singing beneath them, +the moon shining over them, sweet odors from the thickets on the +banks of the stream stealing in on the soft air that came through the +open window, and every time they were thus together, the subtile +influence which bound them to each other bringing them more and more +into inexplicable harmonies and almost spiritual identity. + +But all this did not hinder the development of new and strange +conditions in Myrtle Hazard. Her will was losing its power. "I +cannot help it"--the hysteric motto--was her constant reply. It is +not pleasant to confess the truth, but she was rapidly undergoing a +singular change of her moral nature. She had been a truthful child. +If she had kept her secret about what she had found in the garret, +she thought she was exercising her rights, and she had never been +obliged to tell any lies about it. + +But now she seemed to have lost the healthy instincts for veracity +and honesty. She feigned all sorts of odd symptoms, and showed a +wonderful degree of cunning in giving an appearance of truth to them. +It became next to impossible to tell what was real and what was +simulated. At one time she could not be touched ever so lightly +without shrinking and crying out. At another time she would squint, +and again she would be half paralyzed for a time. She would pretend +to fast for days, living on food she had concealed and took secretly +in the night. + +The nurse was getting worn out. Kitty Fagan would have had the +priest come to the house and sprinkle it with holy water. The two +women were beginning to get nervous themselves. The Rev. Mr. Stoker +said in confidence to Miss Silence, that there was reason to fear she +might have been given over for a time to the buffetings of Satan, and +that perhaps his (Mr. Stoker's) personal attentions might be useful +in that case. And so it appeared that the "young doctor" was the +only being left with whom she had any complete relations and absolute +sympathy. She had become so passive in his hands that it seemed as +if her only healthy life was, as it were, transmitted through him, +and that she depended on the transfer of his nervous power, as the +plant upon the light for its essential living processes. + +The two young men who had met in so unexpected a manner on board the +ship Swordfish had been reasonably discreet in relating their +adventures. Myrtle Hazard may or may not have had the plan they +attributed to her; however that was, they had looked rather foolish +when they met, and had not thought it worth while to be very +communicative about the matter when they returned. It had at least +given them a chance to become a little better acquainted with each +other, and it was an opportunity which the elder and more artful of +the two meant to turn to advantage. + +Of all Myrtle's few friends only one was in the habit of seeing her +often during this period, namely, Olive Eveleth, a girl so quiet and +sensible that she, if anybody, could be trusted with her. But +Myrtle's whole character seemed to have changed, and Olive soon found +that she was in some mystic way absorbed into another nature. Except +when the physician's will was exerted upon her, she was drifting +without any self-directing power, and then any one of those manifold +impulses which would in some former ages have been counted as +separate manifestations on the part of distinct demoniacal beings +might take possession of her. Olive did little, therefore, but visit +Myrtle from time to time to learn if any change had occurred in her +condition. All this she reported to Cyprian, and all this was got +out of him by Mr. William Murray Bradshaw. + +That gentleman was far from being pleased with the look of things as +they were represented. What if the Doctor, who was after all in the +prime of life and younger-looking than some who were born half a +dozen years after him, should get a hold on this young woman,--girl +now, if you will, but in a very few years certain to come within +possible, nay, not very improbable, matrimonial range of him? That +would be pleasant, wouldn't it? It had happened sometimes, as he +knew, that these magnetizing tricks had led to infatuation on the +part of the subjects of the wonderful influence. So he concluded to +be ill and consult the younger Dr. Hurlbut, and incidentally find out +how the land lay. + +The next question was, what to be ill with. Some not ungentlemanly +malady, not hereditary, not incurable, not requiring any obvious +change in habits of life. Dyspepsia would answer the purpose well +enough: so Mr. Murray Bradshaw picked up a medical book and read ten +minutes or more for that complaint. At the end of this time he was +an accomplished dyspeptic; for lawyers half learn a thing quicker +than the members of any other profession. + +He presented himself with a somewhat forlorn countenance to Dr. +Fordyce Hurlbut, as suffering from some of the less formidable +symptoms of that affection. He got into a very interesting +conversation with him, especially about some nervous feelings which +had accompanied his attack of indigestion. Thence to nervous +complaints in general. Thence to the case of the young lady at The +Poplars whom he was attending. The Doctor talked with a certain +reserve, as became his professional relations with his patient; but +it was plain enough that, if this kind of intercourse went on much +longer, it would be liable to end in some emotional explosion or +other, and there was no saying how it would at last turn out. + +Murray Bradshaw was afraid to meddle directly. He knew something +more about the history of Myrtle's adventure than any of his +neighbors, and, among other things, that it had given Mr. Byles +Gridley a peculiar interest in her, of which he could take advantage. +He therefore artfully hinted his fears to the old man, and left his +hint to work itself out. + +However suspicious Master Gridley was of him and his motives, he +thought it worth while to call up at The Poplars and inquire for +himself of the nurse what was this new relation growing up between +the physician and his young patient. + +She imparted her opinion to him in a private conversation with great +freedom. "Sech doin's! sech doin's! The gal's jest as much +bewitched as ever any gal was sence them that was possessed in +Scriptur'. And every day it 's wus and wus. Ef that Doctor don't +stop comin', she won't breathe without his helpin' her to before +long. And, Mr. Gridley, I don't like to say so,--but I can't help +thinkin' he's gettin' a little bewitched too. I don't believe he +means to take no kind of advantage of her; but, Mr. Gridley, you've +seen them millers fly round and round a candle, and you know how it +ginerally comes out. Men is men and gals is gals. I would n't trust +no man, not ef he was much under a hundred year old,--and as for a +gal--!" + +"Mulieri ne mortuae quidem credendum est," said Mr. Gridley. "You +wouldn't trust a woman even if she was dead, hey, Nurse?" + +"Not till she was buried, 'n' the grass growin' a foot high over +her," said Nurse Byloe, "unless I'd know'd her sence she was a baby. +I've know'd this one sence she was two or three year old; but this +gal ain't Myrtle Hazard no longer,--she's bewitched into somethin' +different. I'll tell ye what, Mr. Gridley; you get old Dr. Hurlbut +to come and see her once a day for a week, and get the young doctor +to stay away. I'll resk it. She 'll have some dreadful tantrums at +fust, but she'll come to it in two or three, days." + +Master Byles Gridley groaned in spirit. He had come to this village +to end his days in peace, and here he was just going to make a martyr +of himself for the sake of a young person to whom he was under no +obligation, except that he had saved her from the consequences of her +own foolish act, at the expense of a great overturn of all his +domestic habits. There was no help for it. The nurse was right, and +he must perform the disagreeable duty of letting the Doctor know that +he was getting into a track which might very probably lead to +mischief, and that he must back out as fast as he could. + +At 2 P. M. Gifted Hopkins presented the following note at the +Doctor's door: + +"Mr. Byles Gridley would be much obliged to Dr. Fordyce Hurlbut if he +would call at his study this evening." + +"Odd, is n't it, father, the old man's asking me to come and see him? +Those old stub-twist constitutions never want patching." + +"Old man! old man! Who's that you call old,--not Byles Gridley, +hey? Old! old! Sixty year, more or less! How old was Floyer when +he died, Fordyce? Ninety-odd, was n't it? Had the asthma though, or +he'd have lived to be as old as Dr. Holyoke,--a hundred year and +over. That's old. But men live to be a good deal more than that +sometimes. What does Byles Gridley want of you, did you say?" + +"I'm sure I can't tell, father; I'll go and find out." So he went +over to Mrs. Hopkins's in the evening, and was shown up into the +study. + +Master Gridley treated the Doctor to a cup of such tea as bachelors +sometimes keep hid away in mysterious caddies. He presently began +asking certain questions about the grand climacteric, which eventful +period of life he was fast approaching. Then he discoursed of +medicine, ancient and modern, tasking the Doctor's knowledge not a +little, and evincing a good deal of acquaintance with old doctrines +and authors. + +He had a few curious old medical books in his library, which he said +he should like to show Dr. Hurlbut. + +"There, now! What do you say to this copy of Joannes de Ketam, +Venice, 1522? Look at these woodcuts,--the first anatomical pictures +ever printed, Doctor, unless these others of Jacobus Berengarius are +older! See this scene of the plague-patient, the doctor smelling at +his pouncet-box, the old nurse standing square at the bedside, the +young nurse with the bowl, holding back and turning her head away, +and the old burial-hag behind her, shoving her forward, a very +curious book, Doctor, and has the first phrenological picture in it +ever made. Take a look, too, at my Vesalius,--not the Leyden +edition, Doctor, but the one with the grand old original figures,--so +good that they laid them to Titian. And look here, Doctor, I could +n't help getting this great folio Albinus, 1747,--and the nineteenth +century can't touch it, Doctor,--can't touch it for completeness and +magnificence, so all the learned professors tell me! Brave old +fellows, Doctor, and put their lives into their books as you +gentlemen don't pretend to do nowadays. And good old fellows, +Doctor,--high-minded, scrupulous, conscientious, punctilious,-- +remembered their duties to man and to woman, and felt all the +responsibilities of their confidential relation to families. Did you +ever read the oldest of medical documents,--the Oath of Hippocrates?" + +The Doctor thought he had read it, but did not remember much about +it. + +"It 's worth reading, Doctor,--it's worth remembering; and, old as it +is, it is just as good to-day as it was when it was laid down as a +rule of conduct four hundred years before the Sermon on the Mount was +delivered. Let me read it to you, Dr. Hurlbut." + +There was something in Master Gridley's look that made the Doctor +feel a little nervous; he did not know just what was coming. + +Master Gridley took out his great Hippocrates, the edition of +Foesius, and opened to the place. He turned so as to face the +Doctor, and read the famous Oath aloud, Englishing it as he went +along. When he came to these words which follow, he pronounced them +very slowly and with special emphasis. + +"My life shall be pure and holy." + +"Into whatever house I enter, I will go for the good of the patient: + +"I will abstain from inflicting any voluntary injury, and from +leading away any, whether man or woman, bond or free." + +The Doctor changed color as he listened, and the moisture broke out +on his forehead. + +Master Gridley saw it, and followed up his advantage. "Dr. Fordyce +Hurlbut, are you not in danger of violating the sanctities of your +honorable calling, and leading astray a young person committed to +your sacred keeping?" + +While saying these words, Master Gridley looked full upon him, with a +face so charged with grave meaning, so impressed with the gravity of +his warning accents, that the Doctor felt as if he were before some +dread tribunal, and remained silent. He was a member of the Rev. Mr. +Stoker's church, and the words he had just listened to were those of +a sinful old heathen who had never heard a sermon in his life; but +they stung him, for all that, as the parable of the prophet stung the +royal transgressor. + +He spoke at length, for the plain honest words had touched the right +spring of consciousness at the right moment; not too early, for he +now saw whither he was tending,--not too late, for he was not yet in +the inner spirals of the passion which whirls men and women to their +doom in ever-narrowing coils, that will not unwind at the command of +God or man. + +He spoke as one who is humbled by self-accusation, yet in a manly +way, as became his honorable and truthful character. + +"Master Gridley," he said, "I stand convicted before you. I know too +well what you are thinking of. It is true, I cannot continue my +attendance on Myrtle--on Miss Hazard, for you mean her--without peril +to both of us. She is not herself. God forbid that I should cease +to be myself! I have been thinking of a summer tour, and I will at +once set out upon it, and leave this patient in my father's hands. I +think he will find strength to visit her under the circmnstances." + +The Doctor went off the next morning without saying a word to Myrtle +Hazard, and his father made the customary visit in his place. + +That night the spirit tare her, as may well be supposed, and so the +second night. But there was no help for it: her doctor was gone, +and the old physician, with great effort, came instead, sat by her, +spoke kindly to her, left wise directions to her attendants, and +above all assured them that, if they would have a little patience, +they would see all this storm blow over. + +On the third night after his visit, the spirit rent her sore, and +came out of her, or, in the phrase of to-day, she had a fierce +paroxysm, after which the violence of the conflict ceased, and she +might be called convalescent so far as that was concerned. + +But all this series of nervous disturbances left her in a very +impressible and excitable condition. This was just the state to +invite the spiritual manipulations of one of those theological +practitioners who consider that the treatment of all morbid states of +mind short of raving madness belongs to them and not to the doctors. +This same condition was equally favorable for the operations of any +professional experimenter who would use the flame of religious +excitement to light the torch of an earthly passion. So many fingers +that begin on the black keys stray to the white ones before the tune +is played out! + +If Myrtle Hazard was in charge of any angelic guardian, the time was +at hand when she would need all celestial influences; for the Rev. +Joseph Bellamy Stoker was about to take a deep interest in her +spiritual welfare.' + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +SKIRMISHING. + +"So the Rev. Joseph Bellamy Stoker has called upon you, Susan Posey, +has he? And wants you to come and talk religion with him in his +study, Susan Posey, does he? Religion is a good thing, my dear, the +best thing in the world, and never better than when we are young, and +no young people need it more than young girls. There are temptations +to all, and to them as often as to any, Susan Posey. And temptations +come to them in places where they don't look for them, and from +persons they never thought of as tempters. So I am very glad to have +your thoughts called to the subject of religion. 'Remember thy +Creator in the days of thy youth.' + +"But Susan Posey, my dear, I think you hard better not break in upon +the pious meditations of the Rev. Joseph Bellamy Stoker in his +private study. A monk's cell and a minister's library are hardly the +places for young ladies. They distract the attention of these good +men from their devotions and their sermons. If you think you must +go, you had better take Mrs. Hopkins with you. She likes religious +conversation, and it will do her good too, and save a great deal of +time for the minister, conversing with two at once. She is of +discreet age, and will tell you when it is time to come away,--you +might stay too long, you know. I've known young persons stay a good +deal too long at these interviews,--a great deal too long, Susan +Posey!" + +Such was the fatherly counsel of Master Byles Gridley. + +Susan was not very quick of apprehension, but she could not help +seeing the justice of Master Gridley's remark, that for a young +person to go and break in on the hours that a minister requires for +his studies, without being accompanied by a mature friend who would +remind her when it was time to go, would be taking an unfair +advantage of his kindness in asking her to call upon him. She +promised, therefore, that she would never go without having Mrs. +Hopkins as her companion, and with this assurance her old friend +rested satisfied. + +It is altogether likely that he had some deeper reason for his advice +than those with which he satisfied the simple nature of Susan Posey. +Of that it will be easier to judge after a glance at the conditions +and character of the minister and his household. + +The Rev. Mr. Stoker had, in addition to the personal advantages +already alluded to, some other qualities which might prove attractive +to many women. He had, in particular, that art of sliding into easy +intimacy with them which implies some knowledge of the female nature, +and, above all, confidence in one's powers. There was little doubt, +the gossips maintained, that many of the younger women of his parish +would have been willing, in certain contingencies, to lift for him +that other end of his yoke under which poor Mrs. Stoker was fainting, +unequal to the burden. + +That lady must have been some years older than her husband,--how many +we need not inquire too curiously,--but in vitality she had long +passed the prime in which he was still flourishing. She had borne +him five children, and cried her eyes hollow over the graves of three +of them. Household cares had dragged upon her; the routine of +village life wearied her; the parishioners expected too much of her +as the minister's wife; she had wanted more fresh air and more +cheerful companionship; and her thoughts had fed too much on death +and sin,--good bitter tonics to increase the appetite for virtue, but +not good as food and drink for the spirit. + +But there was another grief which lay hidden far beneath these +obvious depressing influences. She felt that she was no longer to +her husband what she had been to him, and felt it with something of +self-reproach,--which was a wrong to herself, for she had been a true +and tender wife. Deeper than all the rest was still another feeling, +which had hardly risen into the region of inwardly articulated +thought, but lay unshaped beneath all the syllabled trains of +sleeping or waking consciousness. + +The minister was often consulted by his parishioners upon spiritual +matters, and was in the habit of receiving in his study visitors who +came with such intent. Sometimes it was old weak-eyed Deacon +Rumrill, in great iron-bowed spectacles, with hanging nether lip and +tremulous voice, who had got his brain onto a muddle about the beast +with two horns, or the woman that fled into the wilderness, or other +points not settled to his mind in Scott's Commentary. The minister +was always very busy at such times, and made short work of his +deacon's doubts. Or it might be that an ancient woman, a mother or a +grandmother in Israel, came with her questions and her perplexities +to her pastor; and it was pretty certain that just at that moment he +was very deep in his next sermon, or had a pressing visit to make. + +But it would also happen occasionally that one of the tenderer ewe- +lambs of the flock needed comfort from the presence of the shepherd. +Poor Mrs. Stoker noticed, or thought she noticed, that the good man +had more leisure for the youthful and blooming sister than for the +more discreet and venerable matron or spinster. The sitting was apt +to be longer; and the worthy pastor would often linger awhile about +the door, to speed the parting guest, perhaps, but a little too much +after the fashion of young people who are not displeased with each +other, and who often find it as hard to cross a threshold single as a +witch finds it to get over a running stream. More than once, the +pallid, faded wife had made an errand to the study, and, after a keen +look at the bright young cheeks, flushed with the excitement of +intimate spiritual communion, had gone back to her chamber with her +hand pressed against her heart, and the bitterness of death in her +soul. + +The end of all these bodily and mental trials was, that the +minister's wife had fallen into a state of habitual invalidism, such +as only women, who feel all the nerves which in men are as insensible +as telegraph-wires, can experience. + +The doctor did not know what to make of her case,--whether she would +live or die,--whether she would languish for years, or, all at once, +roused by some strong impression, or in obedience to some unexplained +movement of the vital forces, take up her bed and walk. For her bed +had become her home, where she lived as if it belonged to her +organism. There she lay, a not unpleasing invalid to contemplate, +always looking resigned, patient, serene, except when the one deeper +grief was stirred, always arrayed with simple neatness, and +surrounded with little tokens that showed the constant presence with +her of tasteful and thoughtful affection. She did not know, nobody +could know, how steadily, how silently all this artificial life was +draining the veins and blanching the cheek of her daughter Bathsheba, +one of the everyday, air-breathing angels without nimbus or aureole +who belong to every story which lets us into a few households, as +much as the stars and the flowers belong to everybody's verses. + +Bathsheba's devotion to her mother brought its own reward, but it was +not in the shape of outward commendation. Some of the more +censorious members of her father's congregation were severe in their +remarks upon her absorption in the supreme object of her care. It +seems that this had prevented her from attending to other duties +which they considered more imperative. They did n't see why she +shouldn't keep a Sabbath-school as well as the rest, and as to her +not comin' to meetin' three times on Sabbath day like other folks, +they couldn't account for it, except because she calculated that she +could get along without the means of grace, bein' a minister's +daughter. Some went so far as to doubt if she had ever experienced +religion, for all she was a professor. There was a good many +indulged a false hope. To this, others objected her life of utter +self-denial and entire surrender to her duties towards her mother as +some evidence of Christian character. But old Deacon Rumrill put +down that heresy by showing conclusively from Scott's Commentary on +Romans xi. 1-6, that this was altogether against her chance of being +called, and that the better her disposition to perform good works, +the more unlikely she was to be the subject of saving grace. Some of +these severe critics were good people enough themselves, but they +loved active work and stirring companionship, and would have found +their real cross if they had been called to sit at an invalid's +bedside. + +As for the Rev. Mr. Stoker, his duties did not allow him to give so +much time to his suffering wife as his feelings would undoubtedly +have prompted. He therefore relinquished the care of her (with great +reluctance we may naturally suppose) to Bathsheba, who had inherited +not only her mother's youthful smile, but that self-forgetfulness +which, born with some of God's creatures, is, if not "grace," at +least a manifestation of native depravity which might well be +mistaken for it. + +The intimacy of mother and daughter was complete, except on a single +point. There was one subject on which no word ever passed between +them. The excuse of duties to others was by a tacit understanding a +mantle to cover all short-comings in the way of attention from the +husband and father, and no word ever passed between them implying a +suspicion of the loyalty of his affections. Bathsheba came at last +so to fill with her tenderness the space left empty in the neglected +heart, that her mother only spoke her habitual feeling when she said, +"I should think you were in love with me, my darling, if you were not +my daughter." + +This was a dangerous state of things for the minister. Strange +suggestions and unsafe speculations began to mingle with his dreams +and reveries. The thought once admitted that another's life is +becoming superfluous and a burden, feeds like a ravenous vulture on +the soul. Woe to the man or woman whose days are passed in watching +the hour-glass through which the sands run too slowly for longings +that are like a skulking procession of bloodless murders! Without +affirming such horrors of the Rev. Mr. Stoker, it would not be +libellous to say that his fancy was tampering with future +possibilities, as it constantly happens with those who are getting +themselves into training for some act of folly, or some crime, it may +be, which will in its own time evolve itself as an idea in the +consciousness, and by and by ripen into fact. + +It must not be taken for granted that he was actually on the road to +some fearful deed, or that he was an utterly lost soul. He was ready +to yield to temptation if it came in his way; he would even court it, +but he did not shape out any plan very definitely in his mind, as a +more desperate sinner would have done. He liked the pleasurable +excitement of emotional relations with his pretty lambs, and enjoyed +it under the name of religious communion. There is a border land +where one can stand on the territory of legitimate instincts and +affections, and yet be so near, the pleasant garden of the Adversary, +that his dangerous fruits and flowers are within easy reach. Once +tasted, the next step is like to be the scaling of the wall. The +Rev. Mr. Stoker was very fond of this border land. His imagination +was wandering over it too often when his pen was travelling almost of +itself along the weary parallels of the page before him. All at once +a blinding flash would come over him the lines of his sermon would +run together, the fresh manuscript would shrivel like a dead leaf, +and the rows of hard-hearted theology on the shelves before him, and +the broken-backed Concordance, and the Holy Book itself, would fade +away as he gave himself up to the enchantment of his delirious dream. + +The reader will probably consider it a discreet arrangement that +pretty Susan Posey should seek her pastor in grave company. Mrs. +Hopkins willingly consented to the arrangement which had been +proposed, and agreed to go with the young lady on her visit to the +Rev. Mr. Stoker's study. They were both arrayed in their field-day +splendors on this occasion. Susan was lovely in her light curls and +blue ribbons, and the becoming dress which could not help betraying +the modestly emphasized crescendos and gently graded diminuendos of +her figure. She was as round as if she had been turned in a lathe, +and as delicately finished as if she had been modelled for a Flora. +She had naturally an airy toss of the head and a springy movement of +the joints, such as some girls study in the glass (and make dreadful +work of it), so that she danced all over without knowing it, like a +little lively bobolink on a bulrush. In short, she looked fit to +spoil a homily for Saint Anthony himself. + +Mrs. Hopkins was not less perfect in her somewhat different style. +She might be called impressive and imposing in her grand-costume, +which she wore for this visit. It was a black silk dress, with a +crape shawl, a firmly defensive bonnet, and an alpaca umbrella with +a stern-looking and decided knob presiding as its handle. The dried- +leaf rustle of her silk dress was suggestive of the ripe autumn of +life, bringing with it those golden fruits of wisdom and experience +which the grave teachers of mankind so justly prefer to the idle +blossoms of adolescence. + +It is needless to say that the visit was conducted with the most +perfect propriety in all respects. Mrs. Hopkins was disposed to take +upon herself a large share of the conversation. The minister, on the +other hand, would have devoted himself more particularly to Miss +Susan, but, with a very natural make-believe obtuseness, the good +woman drew his fire so constantly that few of his remarks, and hardly +any of his insinuating looks, reached the tender object at which they +were aimed. It is probable that his features or tones betrayed some +impatience at having thus been foiled of his purpose, for Mrs. +Hopkins thought he looked all the time as if he wanted to get rid of +her. The three parted, therefore, not in the best humor all round. +Mrs. Hopkins declared she'd see the minister in Jericho before she'd +fix herself up as if she was goin' to a weddin' to go and see him +again. Why, he did n't make any more of her than if she'd been a +tabby-cat. She believed some of these ministers thought women's +souls dried up like peas in a pod by the time they was forty year +old; anyhow, they did n't seem to care any great about 'em, except +while they was green and tender. It was all Miss Se-usan, Miss Se- +usan, Miss Se-usan, my dear! but as for her, she might jest as well +have gone with her apron on, for any notice he took of her. She did +n't care, she was n't goin' to be left out when there was talkin' +goin' on, anyhow. + +Susan Posey, on her part, said she did n't like him a bit. He looked +so sweet at her, and held his head on one side,--law! just as if he +had been a young beau! And,--don't tell,--but he whispered that he +wished the next time I came I wouldn't bring that Hopkins woman! + +It would not be fair to repeat what the minister said to himself; but +we may own as much as this, that, if worthy Mrs. Hopkins had heard +it, she would have treated him to a string of adjectives which would +have greatly enlarged his conceptions of the female vocabulary. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +BATTLE. + +In tracing the history of a human soul through its commonplace +nervous perturbations, still more through its spiritual humiliations, +there is danger that we shall feel a certain contempt for the subject +of such weakness. It is easy to laugh at the erring impulses of a +young girl; but you who remember when_______ _________, only fifteen +years old, untouched by passion, unsullied in name, was found in the +shallow brook where she had sternly and surely sought her death,-- +(too true! too true!--ejus animae Jesu miserere!--but a generation +has passed since then,)--will not smile so scornfully. + +Myrtle Hazard no longer required the physician's visits, but her mind +was very far from being poised in the just balance of its faculties. +She was of a good natural constitution and a fine temperament; but +she had been overwrought by all that she had passed through, and, +though happening to have been born in another land, she was of +American descent. Now, it has long been noticed that there is +something in the influences, climatic or other, here prevailing, +which predisposes to morbid religious excitement. The graver reader +will not object to seeing the exact statement of a competent witness +belonging to a by-gone century, confirmed as it is by all that we see +about us. + +"There is no Experienced Minister of the Gospel who hath not in the +Cases of Tempted Souls often had this Experience, that the ill Cases +of their distempered Bodies are the frequent Occasion and Original of +their Temptations." "The Vitiated Humours in many Persons, yield the +Steams whereinto Satan does insinuate himself, till he has gained a +sort of Possession in them, or at least an Opportunity to shoot into +the Mind as many Fiery Darts as may cause a sad Life unto them; yea, +'t is well if Self-Murder be not the sad end into which these hurred +(?) People are thus precipitated. New England, a country where +Splenetic Maladies are prevailing and pernicious, perhaps above any +other, hath afforded Numberless Instances, of even pious People, who +have contracted these Melancholy Indispositions which have unhinged +them from all Service or Comfort; yea, not a few Persons have been +hurried thereby to lay Violent Hands upon themselves at the last. +These are among the unsearchable Judgments of God!" + +Such are the words of the Rev. Cotton Mather. + +The minister had hardly recovered from his vexatious defeat in the +skirmish where the Widow Hopkins was his principal opponent, when he +received a note from Miss Silence Withers, which promised another and +more important field of conflict. It contained a request that he +would visit Myrtle Hazard, who seemed to be in a very excitable and +impressible condition, and who might perhaps be easily brought under +those influences which she had resisted from her early years, through +inborn perversity of character. + +When the Rev. Mr. Stoker received this note, he turned very pale,-- +which was a bad sign. Then he drew a long breath or two, and +presently a flush tingled up to his cheek, where it remained a fixed +burning glow. This may have been from the deep interest he felt in +Myrtle's spiritual welfare; but he had often been sent for by aged +sinners in more immediate peril, apparently, without any such +disturbance of the circulation. + +To know whether a minister, young or still in flower; is in safe or +dangerous paths, there are two psychometers, a comparison between +which will give as infallible a return as the dry and wet bulbs of +the ingenious "Hygrodeik." The first is the black broadcloth forming +the knees of his pantaloons; the second, the patch of carpet before +his mirror. If the first is unworn and the second is frayed and +threadbare, pray for him. If the first is worn and shiny, while the +second keeps its pattern and texture, get him to pray for you. + +The Rev. Mr. Stoker should have gone down on his knees then and +there, and sought fervently for the grace which he was like to need +in the dangerous path just opening before him. He did not do this; +but he stood up before his looking-glass and parted his hair as +carefully as if he had been separating the saints of his congregation +from the sinners, to send the list to the statistical columns of a +religious newspaper. He selected a professional neckcloth, as +spotlessly pure as if it had been washed in innocency, and adjusted +it in a tie which was like the white rose of Sharon. Myrtle Hazard +was, he thought, on the whole, the handsomest girl he had ever seen; +Susan Posey was to her as a buttercup from the meadow is to a tiger- +lily. He, knew the nature of the nervous disturbances through which +she had been passing, and that she must be in a singularly +impressible condition. He felt sure that he could establish intimate +spiritual relations with her by drawing out her repressed sympathies, +by feeding the fires of her religious imagination, by exercising all +those lesser arts of fascination which are so familiar to the Don +Giovannis, and not always unknown to the San Giovannis. + +As for the hard doctrines which he used to produce sensations with in +the pulpit, it would have been a great pity to worry so lovely a +girl, in such a nervous state, with them. He remembered a savory +text about being made all things to all men, which would bear +application particularly well to the case of this young woman. He +knew how to weaken his divinity, on occasion, as well as an old +housewife to weaken her tea, lest it should keep people awake. + +The Rev. Mr. Stoker was a man of emotions. He loved to feel his +heart beat; he loved all the forms of non-alcoholic drunkenness, +which are so much better than the vinous, because they taste +themselves so keenly, whereas the other (according to the statement +of experts who are familiar with its curious phenomena) has a certain +sense of unreality connected with it. He delighted in the reflex +stimulus of the excitement he produced in others by working on their +feelings. A powerful preacher is open to the same sense of +enjoyment--an awful, tremulous, goose-flesh sort of state, but still +enjoyment--that a great tragedian feels when he curdles the blood of +his audience. + +Mr. Stoker was noted for the vividness of his descriptions of the +future which was in store for the great bulk of his fellow-townsmen +and fellow-worlds-men. He had three sermons on this subject, known +to all the country round as the sweating sermon, the fainting sermon, +and the convulsion-fit sermon, from the various effects said to have +been produced by them when delivered before large audiences. It +might be supposed that his reputation as a terrorist would have +interfered with his attempts to ingratiate himself with his young +favorites. But the tragedian who is fearful as Richard or as Iago +finds that no hindrance to his success in the part of Romeo. Indeed, +women rather take to terrible people; prize-fighters, pirates, +highwaymen, rebel generals, Grand Turks, and Bluebeards generally +have a fascination for the sex; your virgin has a natural instinct to +saddle your lion. The fact, therefore, that the young girl had sat +under his tremendous pulpitings, through the sweating sermon, the +fainting sermon, and the convulsion-fit sermon, did not secure her +against the influence of his milder approaches. + +Myrtle was naturally surprised at receiving a visit from him; but she +was in just that unbalanced state in which almost any impression is +welcome. He showed so much interest, first in her health, then in +her thoughts and feelings, always following her lead in the +conversation, that before he left her she felt as if she had made a +great discovery; namely, that this man, so formidable behind the guns +of his wooden bastion, was a most tenderhearted and sympathizing +person when he came out of it unarmed. How delightful he was as he +sat talking in the twilight in low and tender tones, with respectful +pauses of listening, in which he looked as if he too had just made a +discovery,--of an angel, to wit, to whom he could not help unbosoming +his tenderest emotions, as to a being from another sphere! + +It was a new experience to Myrtle. She was all ready for the +spiritual manipulations of an expert. The excitability which had +been showing itself in spasms and strange paroxysms had been +transferred to those nervous centres, whatever they may be, cerebral +or ganglionic, which are concerned in the emotional movements of the +religious nature. It was taking her at an unfair disadvantage, no +doubt. In the old communion, some priest might have wrought upon her +while in this condition, and we might have had at this very moment +among us another Saint Theresa or Jacqueline Pascal. She found but a +dangerous substitute in the spiritual companionship of a saint like +the Rev. Joseph Bellamy Stoker. + +People think the confessional is unknown in our Protestant churches. +It is a great mistake. The principal change is, that there is no +screen between the penitent and the father confessor. The minister +knew his rights, and very soon asserted them. He gave aunt Silence +to understand that he could talk more at ease if he and his young +disciple were left alone together. Cynthia Badlam did not like this +arrangement. She was afraid to speak about it; but she glared at +them aslant, with the look of a biting horse when his eyes follow one +sideways until they are all white but one little vicious spark of +pupil. + +It was not very long before the Rev. Mr. Stoker had established +pretty intimate relations with the household at The Poplars. He had +reason to think, he assured Miss Silence, that Myrtle was in a state +of mind which promised a complete transformation of her character. +He used the phrases of his sect, of course, in talking with the +elderly lady; but the language which he employed with the young girl +was free from those mechanical expressions which would have been like +to offend or disgust her. + +As to his rougher formulae, he knew better than to apply them to a +creature of her fine texture. If he had been disposed to do so, her +simple questions and answers to his inquiries would have made it +difficult. But it was in her bright and beautiful eyes, in her +handsome features, and her winning voice, that he found his chief +obstacle. How could he look upon her face in its loveliness, and +talk to her as if she must be under the wrath and curse of God for +the mere fact of her existence? It seemed more natural and it +certainly was more entertaining, to question her in such a way as to +find out what kind of theology had grown up in her mind as the result +of her training in the complex scheme of his doctrinal school. And +as he knew that the merest child, so soon as it begins to think at +all, works out for itself something like a theory of human nature, he +pretty soon began sounding Myrtle's thoughts on this matter. + +What was her own idea; he would be pleased to know, about her natural +condition as one born of a sinful race, and her inherited liabilities +on that account? + +Myrtle smiled like a little heathen, as she was, according to the +standard of her earlier teachings. That kind of talk used to worry +her when she was a child, sometimes. Yes, she remembered its coming +back to her in a dream she had, when--when--(She did not finish her +sentence.) Did he think she hated every kind of goodness and loved +every kind of evil? Did he think she was hateful to the Being who +made her? + +The minister looked straight into the bright, brave, tender eyes, and +answered, "Nothing in heaven or on earth could help loving you, +Myrtle!" + +Pretty well for a beginning! + +Myrtle saw nothing but pious fervor in this florid sentiment. But as +she was honest and clear-sighted, she could not accept a statement +which seemed so plainly in contradiction with his common teachings, +without bringing his flattering assertion to the test of another +question. + +Did he suppose, she asked, that any persons could be Christians, who +could not tell the day or the year of their change from children of +darkness to children of light. + +The shrewd clergyman, whose creed could be lax enough on occasion, +had provided himself with authorities of all kinds to meet these +awkward questions in casuistical divinity. He had hunted up recipes +for spiritual neuralgia, spasms, indigestion, psora, hypochondriasis, +just as doctors do for their bodily counterparts. + +To be sure they could. Why, what did the great Richard Baxter say in +his book on Infant Baptism? That at a meeting of many eminent +Christians, some of them very famous ministers, when it was desired +that every one should give an account of the time and manner of his +conversion, there was but one of them all could do it. And as for +himself, Mr. Baxter said, he could not remember the day or the year +when he began to be sincere, as he called it. Why, did n't President +Wheelock say to a young man who consulted him, that some persons +might be true Christians without suspecting it? + +All this was so very different from the uncompromising way in which +religious doctrines used to be presented to the young girl from the +pulpit, that it naturally opened her heart and warmed her affections. +Remember, if she needs excuse, that the defeated instincts of a +strong nature were rushing in upon her, clamorous for their rights, +and that she was not yet mature enough to understand and manage them. +The paths of love and religion are at the fork of a road which every +maiden travels. If some young hand does not open the turnpike gate +of the first, she is pretty sure to try the other, which has no toll- +bar. It is also very commonly noticed that these two paths, after +diverging awhile, run into each other. True love leads many +wandering souls into the better way. Nor is it rare to see those who +started in company for the gates of pearl seated together on the +banks that border the avenue to that other portal, gathering the +roses for which it is so famous. + +It was with the most curious interest that the minister listened to +the various heresies into which her reflections had led her. Somehow +or other they did not sound so dangerous coming from her lips as when +they were uttered by the coarser people of the less rigorous +denominations, or preached in the sermons of heretical clergymen. He +found it impossible to think of her in connection with those +denunciations of sinners for which his discourses had been noted. +Some of the sharp old church-members began to complain that his +exhortations were losing their pungency. The truth was, he was +preaching for Myrtle Hazard. He was getting bewitched and driven +beside himself by the intoxication of his relations with her. + +All this time she was utterly unconscious of any charm that she was +exercising, or of being herself subject to any personal fascination. +She loved to read the books of ecstatic contemplation which he +furnished her. She loved to sing the languishing hymns which he +selected for her. She loved to listen to his devotional rhapsodies, +hardly knowing sometimes whether she were in the body, or out of the +body, while he lifted her upon the wings of his passion-kindled +rhetoric. The time came when she had learned to listen for his step, +when her eyes glistened at meeting him, when the words he uttered +were treasured as from something more than a common mortal, and the +book he had touched was like a saintly relic. It never suggested +itself to her for an instant that this was anything more than such a +friendship as Mercy might have cultivated with Great-Heart. She gave +her confidence simply because she was very young and innocent. The +green tendrils of the growing vine must wind round something. + +The seasons had been changing their scenery while the events we have +told were occurring, and the loveliest days of autumn were now +shining. To those who know the "Indian summer" of our Northern +States, it is needless to describe the influence it exerts on the +senses and the soul. The stillness of the landscape in that +beautiful time is as if the planet were sleeping, like a top, before +it begins to rock with the storms of autumn. All natures seem to +find themselves more truly in its light; love grows more tender, +religion more spiritual, memory sees farther back into the past, +grief revisits its mossy marbles, the poet harvests the ripe thoughts +which he will tie in sheaves of verses by his winter fireside. + +The minister had got into the way of taking frequent walks with +Myrtle, whose health had seemed to require the open air, and who was +fast regaining her natural look. Under the canopy of the scarlet, +orange, and crimson leaved maples, of the purple and violet clad +oaks, of the birches in their robes of sunshine, and the beeches in +their clinging drapery of sober brown, they walked together while he +discoursed of the joys of heaven, the sweet communion of kindred +souls, the ineffable bliss of a world where love would be immortal +and beauty should never know decay. And while she listened, the +strange light of the leaves irradiated the youthful figure of Myrtle, +as when the stained window let in its colors on Madeline, the rose- +bloom and the amethyst and the glory. + +"Yes! we shall be angels together," exclaimed the Rev. Mr. Stoker. +"Our souls were made for immortal union. I know it; I feel it in +every throb of my heart. Even in this world you are as an angel to +me, lifting me into the heaven where I shall meet you again, or it +will not be heaven. Oh, if on earth our communion could have been +such as it must be hereafter! O Myrtle, Myrtle!" + +He stretched out his hands as if to clasp hers between them in the +rapture of his devotion. Was it the light reflected from the glossy +leaves of the poison sumach which overhung the path that made his +cheek look so pale? Was he going to kneel to her? + +Myrtle turned her dark eyes on him with a simple wonder that saw an +excess of saintly ardor in these demonstrations, and drew back from +it. + +"I think of heaven always as the place where I shall meet my mother," +she said calmly. + +These words recalled the man to himself for a moment and he was +silent. Presently he seated himself on a stone. His lips were +tremulous as he said, in a low tone, "Sit down by me, Myrtle." + + +"No," she answered, with something which chilled him in her voice," +we will not stay here any longer; it is time to go home." + +"Full time!" muttered Cynthia Badlam, whose watchful eyes had been +upon them, peering through a screen of yellow leaves, that turned her +face pace as if with deadly passion. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +FLANK MOVEMENT. + +Miss Cynthia Badlam was in the habit of occasionally visiting the +Widow Hopkins. Some said but then people will talk, especially in +the country, where they have not much else to do, except in haying- +time. She had always known the widow, long before Mr. Gridley came +there to board, or any other special event happened in her family. +No matter what people said. + +Miss Badlam called to see Mrs. Hopkins, then, and the two had a long +talk together, of which only a portion is on record. Here are such +fragments as have been preserved. + +"What would I do about it? Why, I'd put a stop to such carry'n's on, +mighty quick, if I had to tie the girl to the bedpost, and have a +bulldog that world take the seat out of any pair of black pantaloons +that come within forty rod of her,--that's what I'd do about it! He +undertook to be mighty sweet with our Susan one while, but ever sence +he's been talkin' religion with Myrtle Hazard he's let us alone. Do +as I did when he asked our Susan to come to his study,--stick close +to your girl and you 'll put a stop to all this business. He won't +make love to two at once, unless they 're both pretty young, I 'll +warrant. Follow her round, Miss Cynthy, and keep your eyes on her." + +"I have watched her like a cat, Mrs. Hopkins, but I can't follow her +everywhere,--she won't stand what Susan Posey 'll stand. There's no +use our talking to her,--we 've done with that at our house. You +never know what that Indian blood of hers will make her do. She's +too high-strung for us to bit and bridle. I don't want to see her +name in the paper again, alongside of that" (She did not finish the +sentence.) "I'd rather have her fished dead out of the river, or find +her where she found her uncle Malachi!" + +"You don't think, Miss Cynthy, that the man means to inveigle the +girl with the notion of marryin' her by and by, after poor Mrs. +Stoker's dead and gone?" + +"The Lord in heaven forbid!" exclaimed Miss Cynthia, throwing up her +hands. "A child of fifteen years old, if she is a woman to look at!" + +"It's too bad,--it's too bad to think of, Miss Cynthy; and there's +that poor woman dyin' by inches, and Miss Bathsheby settin' with her +day and night, she has n't got a bit of her father in her, it's all +her mother,--and that man, instead of bein' with her to comfort her +as any man ought to be with his wife, in sickness and in health, +that's what he promised. I 'm sure when my poor husband was sick.... +To think of that man goin' about to talk religion to all the +prettiest girls he can find in the parish, and his wife at home like +to leave him so soon,--it's a shame,--so it is, come now! Miss +Cynthy, there's one of the best men and one of the learnedest men +that ever lived that's a real friend of Myrtle Hazard, and a better +friend to her than she knows of,--for ever sence he brought her home, +he feels jest like a father to her,--and that man is Mr. Gridley, +that lives in this house. It's him I 'll speak to about the +minister's carry'in's on. He knows about his talking sweet to our +Susan, and he'll put things to rights! He's a master hand when he +does once take hold of anything, I tell you that! Jest get him to +shet up them books of his, and take hold of anybody's troubles, and +you'll see how he 'll straighten 'em out." + +There was a pattering of little feet on the stairs, and the two small +twins, "Sossy" and "Minthy," in the home dialect, came hand in hand +into the room, Miss Susan leaving them at the threshold, not wishing +to interrupt the two ladies, and being much interested also in +listening to Mr. Gifted Hopkins, who was reading some of his last +poems to her, with great delight to both of them. + +The good woman rose to take them from Susan, and guide their +uncertain steps. "My babies, I call 'em, Miss Cynthy. Ain't they +nice children? Come to go to bed, little dears? Only a few minutes, +Miss Cynthy." + +She took them into the bedroom on the same floor, where they slept, +and, leaving the door open, began undressing them. Cynthia turned +her rocking-chair round so as to face the open door. She looked on +while the little creatures were being undressed; she heard the few +words they lisped as their infant prayer, she saw them laid in their +beds, and heard their pretty good-night. + +A lone woman to whom all the sweet cares of maternity have been +denied cannot look upon a sight like this without feeling the void in +her own heart where a mother's affection should have nestled. +Cynthia sat perfectly still, without rocking, and watched kind Mrs. +Hopkins at her quasi parental task. A tear stole down her rigid face +as she saw the rounded limbs of the children bared in their white +beauty, and their little heads laid on the pillow. They were +sleeping quietly when Mrs. Hopkins left the room for a moment on some +errand of her own. Cynthia rose softly from her chair, stole swiftly +to the bedside, and printed a long, burning kiss on each of their +foreheads. + +When Mrs. Hopkins came back, she found the maiden lady sitting in her +place just as she left her, but rocking in her chair and sobbing as +one in sudden pangs of grief. + +"It is a great trouble, Miss Cynthy," she said,--"a great trouble to +have such a child as Myrtle to think of and to care for. If she was +like our Susan Posey, now!--but we must do the best we can; and if +Mr. Gridley once sets himself to it, you may depend upon it he 'll +make it all come right. I wouldn't take on about it if I was you. +You let me speak to our Mr. Gridley. We all have our troubles. It +is n't everybody that can ride to heaven in a C-spring shay, as my +poor husband used to say; and life 's a road that 's got a good many +thank-you-ma'ams to go bumpin' over, says he." + +Miss Badlam acquiesced in the philosophical reflections of the late +Mr. Ammi Hopkins, and left it to his widow to carry out her own +suggestion in reference to consulting Master Gridley. The good woman +took the first opportunity she had to introduce the matter, a little +diffusely, as is often the way of widows who keep boarders. + +"There's something going on I don't like, Mr. Gridley. They tell me +that Minister Stoker is following round after Myrtle Hazard, talking +religion at her jest about the same way he'd have liked to with our +Susan, I calculate. If he wants to talk religion to me or Silence +Withers,--well, no, I don't feel sure about Silence,--she ain't as +young as she used to be, but then ag'in she ain't so fur gone as +some, and she's got money,--but if he wants to talk religion with me, +he may come and welcome. But as for Myrtle Hazard, she's been sick, +and it's left her a little flighty by what they say, and to have a +minister round her all the time ravin' about the next world as if he +had a latch-key to the front door of it, is no way to make her come +to herself again. I 've seen more than one young girl sent off to +the asylum by that sort of work, when, if I'd only had 'em, I'd have +made 'em sweep the stairs, and mix the puddin's, and tend the babies, +and milk the cow, and keep 'em too busy all day to be thinkin' about +themselves, and have 'em dress up nice evenin's and see some young +folks and have a good time, and go to meetin' Sundays, and then have +done with the minister, unless it was old Father Pemberton. He knows +forty times as much about heaven as that Stoker man does, or ever 's +like to,--why don't they run after him, I should like to know? +Ministers are men, come now; and I don't want to say anything against +women, Mr. Gridley, but women are women, that's the fact of it, and +half of 'em are hystericky when they're young; and I've heard old Dr. +Hurlbut say many a time that he had to lay in an extra stock of +valerian and assafaetida whenever there was a young minister round,-- +for there's plenty of religious ravin', says he, that's nothin' but +hysterics." + +[Mr. Fronde thinks that was the trouble with Bloody Queen Mary, but +the old physician did not get the idea from him.] + +"Well, and what do you propose to do about the Rev. Joseph Bellamy +Stoker and his young proselyte, Miss Myrtle Hazard?" said Mr. +Gridley, when Mrs. Hopkins at last gave him a chance to speak. + +"Mr. Gridley,"--Mrs. Hopkins looked full upon him as she spoke,--" +people used to say that you was a good man and a great man and one of +the learnedest men alive, but that you didn't know much nor care for +much except books. I know you used to live pretty much to yourself +when you first came to board in this house. But you've been very +good to my son; ...and if Gifted lives till you ...till you are in +...your grave, ...he will write a poem--I know he will--that will +tell your goodness to babes unborn." + +[Here Master Gridley groaned, and repeated to himself silently, + + "Scindentur vestes gemmae frangentur et aurum, + Carmina quam tribuent fama perennis erit." + +All this inwardly, and without interrupting the worthy woman's talk.] + +"And if ever Gifted makes a book,--don't say anything about it, Mr. +Gridley, for goodness' sake, for he wouldn't have anybody know it, +only I can't help thinking that some time or other he will print a +book,--and if he does, I know whose name he'll put at the head of +it,--'Dedicated to B. G., with the gratitude and respect--' There, +now, I had n't any business to say a word about it, and it's only +jest in case he does, you know. I'm sure you deserve it all. You've +helped him with the best of advice. And you've been kind to me when +I was in trouble. And you've been like a grandfather" [Master +Gridley winced,--why could n't the woman have said father?--that +grand struck his ear like a spade going into the gravel] "to those +babes, poor little souls! left on my door-step like a couple of +breakfast rolls,--only you know it's the baker left then. I believe +in you, Mr. Gridley, as I believe in my Maker and in Father +Pemberton,--but, poor man, he's old, and you won't be old these +twenty years yet." + +[Master Gridley shook his head as if to say that was n't so, but felt +comforted and refreshed.] + +"You've got to help Myrtle Hazard again. You brought her home when +she come so nigh drowning. You got the old doctor to go and see her +when she come so nigh being bewitched with the magnetism and +nonsense, whatever they call it, and the young doctor was so nigh +bein' crazy, too. I know, for Nurse Byloe told me all about it. And +now Myrtle's gettin' run away with by that pesky Minister Stoker. +Cynthy Badlam was here yesterday crying and sobbing as if her heart +would break about it. For my part, I did n't think Cynthy cared so +much for the girl as all that, but I saw her takin' on dreadfully +with my own eyes. That man's like a hen-hawk among the chickens, +first he picks up one, and then he picks up another. I should like +to know if nobody but young folks has souls to be saved, and +specially young women!" + +"Tell me all you know about Myrtle Hazard and Joseph Bellamy Stoker," +said Master Gridley. + +Thereupon that good lady related all that Miss Badlam had imparted to +her, of which the reader knows the worst, being the interview of +which the keen spinster had been a witness, having followed them for +the express purpose of knowing, in her own phrase, what the minister +was up to. + +It is not to be supposed that Myrtle had forgotten the discreet +kindness of Master Gridley in bringing her back and making the best +of her adventure. He, on his part, had acquired a kind of right to +consider himself her adviser, and had begun to take a pleasure in the +thought that he, the worn-out and useless old pedant, as he had been +in the way of considering himself, might perhaps do something even +more important than his previous achievement to save this young girl +from the dangers that surrounded her. He loved his classics and his +old books; he took an interest, too, in the newspapers and +periodicals that brought the fermenting thought and the electric life +of the great world into his lonely study; but these things just about +him were getting strong hold on him, and most of all the fortunes of +this beautiful young woman. How strange! For a whole generation he +had lived in no nearer relation to his fellow-creatures than that of +a half-fossilized teacher; and all at once he found himself face to +face with the very most intense form of life, the counsellor of +threatened innocence, the champion of imperilled loveliness. What +business was it of his? growled the lower nature, of which he had +said in "Thoughts on the Universe,"--"Every man leads or is led by +something that goes on four legs." + +Then he remembered the grand line of the African freedman, that makes +all human interests everybody's business, and had a sudden sense of +dilatation and evolution, as it were, in all his dimensions, as if he +were a head taller, and a foot bigger round the chest, and took in an +extra gallon of air at every breath, Then--you who have written a +book that holds your heart-leaves between its pages will understand +the movement--he took down "Thoughts on the Universe" for a +refreshing draught from his own wellspring. He opened as chance +ordered it, and his eyes fell on the following passage: + +"The true American formula was well phrased by the late Samuel Patch, +the Western Empedocles, 'Some things can be done as well as others.' +A homely utterance, but it has virtue to overthrow all dynasties and +hierarchies. These were all built up on the Old-World dogma that +some things can NOT be done as well as others." + +"There, now!" he said, talking to himself in his usual way, "is n't +that good? It always seems to me that I find something to the point +when I open that book. 'Some things can be done as well as others,' +can they? Suppose I should try what I can do by visiting Miss Myrtle +Hazard? I think I may say I am old and incombustible enough to be +trusted. She does not seem to be a safe neighbor to very inflammable +bodies?" + +Myrtle was sitting in the room long known as the Study, or the +Library, when Master Byles Gridley called at The Poplars to see her. +Miss Cynthia, who received him, led him to this apartment and left +him alone with Myrtle. She welcomed him very cordially, but colored +as she did so,--his visit was a surprise. She was at work on a piece +of embroidery. Her first instinctive movement was to thrust it out +of sight with the thought of concealment; but she checked this, and +before the blush of detection had reached her cheek, the blush of +ingenuous shame for her weakness had caught and passed it, and was in +full possession. She sat with her worsted pattern held bravely in +sight, and her cheek as bright as its liveliest crimson. + +"Miss Cynthia has let me in upon you," he said, "or I should not have +ventured to disturb you in this way. A work of art, is it, Miss +Myrtle Hazard?" + +"Only a pair of slippers, Mr. Gridley,--for my pastor." + +"Oh! oh! That is well. A good old man. I have a great regard for +the Rev. Eliphalet Pemberton. I wish all ministers were as good and +simple and pure-hearted as the Rev. Eliphalet Pemberton. And I wish +all the young people thought as much about their elders as you do, +Miss Myrtle Hazard. We that are old love little acts of kindness. +You gave me more pleasure than you knew of, my dear, when you worked +that handsome cushion for me. The old minister will be greatly +pleased,--poor old man!" + +"But, Mr. Gridley, I must not let you think these are for Father +Pemberton. They are for--Mr. Stoker." + +"The Rev. Joseph Bellamy Stoker! He is not an old man, the Rev. +Joseph Bellamy Stoker. He may perhaps be a widower before a great +while.--Does he know that you are working those slippers for him?" + +"Dear me! no, Mr. Gridley. I meant them for a surprise to him. He +has been so kind to me, and understands me so much better than I +thought anybody did. He is so different from what I thought; he +makes religion so perfectly simple, it seems as if everybody would +agree with him, if they could only hear him talk." + +"Greatly interested in the souls of his people, is n't he?" + +"Too much, almost, I am afraid. He says he has been too hard in his +sermons sometimes, but it was for fear he should not impress his +hearers enough." + +"Don't you think he worries himself about the souls of young women +rather more than for those of old ones, Myrtle?" + +There was something in the tone of this question that helped its +slightly sarcastic expression. Myrtle's jealousy for her minister's +sincerity was roused. + +"How can you ask that, Mr. Gridley? I am sure I wish you or anybody +could have heard him talk as I have. There is no age in souls, he +says; and I am sure that it would do anybody good to hear him, old or +young." + +"No age in souls,--no age in souls. Souls of forty as young as souls +of fifteen; that 's it." Master Gridley did not say this loud. But +he did speak as follows: "I am glad to hear what you say of the Rev. +Joseph Bellamy Stoker's love of being useful to people of all ages. +You have had comfort in his companionship, and there are others who +might be very glad to profit by it. I know a very excellent person +who has had trials, and is greatly interested in religious +conversation. Do you think he would be willing to let this friend of +mine share in the privileges of spiritual intercourse which you +enjoy?" + +There was but one answer possible. Of course he would. + +"I hope it is so, my dear young lady. But listen to me one moment. +I love you, my dear child, do you know, as if I were your own-- +grandfather." (There was moral heroism in that word.) "I love you as +if you were of my own blood; and so long as you trust me, and suffer +me, I mean to keep watch against all dangers that threaten you in +mind, body, or estate. You may wonder at me, you may sometimes doubt +me; but until you say you distrust me, when any trouble comes near +you, you will find me there. Now, my dear child, you ought to know +that the Rev. Joseph Bellamy Stoker has the reputation of being too +fond of prosecuting religious inquiries with young and handsome +women." + +Myrtle's eyes fell,--a new suspicion seemed to have suggested itself. + +"He wanted to get up a spiritual intimacy with our Susan Posey,--a +very pretty girl, as you know." + +Myrtle tossed her head almost imperceptibly, and bit her lip. + +"I suppose there are a dozen young people that have been talked about +with him. He preaches cruel sermons in his pulpit, cruel as death, +and cold-blooded enough to freeze any mother's blood if nature did +not tell her he lied, and then smooths it all over with the first +good-looking young woman he can get to listen to him." + +Myrtle had dropped the slipper she was working on. + +"Tell me, my dear, would you be willing to give up meeting this man +alone, and gratify my friend, and avoid all occasion of reproach?" + +"Of course I would," said Myrtle, her eyes flashing, for her doubts, +her shame, her pride, were all excited. "Who is your friend, Mr. +Gridley?" + +"An excellent woman,--Mrs. Hopkins. You know her, Gifted Hopkins's +mother, with whom I am residing. Shall the minister be given to +understand that you will see him hereafter in her company?" + +Myrtle came pretty near a turn of her old nervous perturbations. "As +you say," she answered. "Is there nobody that I can trust, or is +everybody hunting me like a bird?" She hid her face in her hands. + +"You can trust me, my dear," said Byles Gridley. "Take your needle, +my child, and work at your pattern,--it will come out a rose by and +by. Life is like that, Myrtle, one stitch at a time, taken +patiently, and the pattern will come out all right like the +embroidery. You can trust me. Good-by, my dear." + +"Let her finish the slippers," the old man said to himself as he +trudged home, "and make 'em big enough for Father Pemberton. He +shall have his feet in 'em yet, or my name is n't Byles Gridley!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +ARRIVAL OF REINFORCEMENTS. + +Myrtle Hazard waited until the steps of Master Byles Gridley had +ceased to be heard, as he walked in his emphatic way through the long +entry of the old mansion. Then she went to her little chamber and +sat down in a sort of revery. She could not doubt his sincerity, and +there was something in her own consciousness which responded to the +suspicions he had expressed with regard to the questionable impulses +of the Rev. Joseph Bellamy Stoker. + +It is not in the words that others say to us, but in those other +words which these make us say to ourselves, that we find our gravest +lessons and our sharpest rebukes. The hint another gives us finds +whole trains of thought which have been getting themselves ready to +be shaped in inwardly articulated words, and only awaited the touch +of a burning syllable, as the mottoes of a pyrotechnist only wait for +a spark to become letters of fire. + +The artist who takes your photograph must carry you with him into his +"developing" room, and he will give you a more exact illustration of +the truth just mentioned. There is nothing to be seen on the glass +just taken from the camera. But there is a potential, though +invisible, picture hid in the creamy film which covers it. Watch him +as he pours a wash over it, and you will see that miracle wrought +which is at once a surprise and a charm,--the sudden appearance of +your own features where a moment before was a blank without a vestige +of intelligence or beauty. + +In some such way the grave warnings of Master Byles Gridley had +called up a fully shaped, but hitherto unworded, train of thought in +the consciousness of Myrtle Hazard. It was not merely their +significance, it was mainly because they were spoken at the fitting +time. If they had been uttered a few weeks earlier, when Myrtle was +taking the first stitch on the embroidered slippers, they would have +been as useless as the artist's developing solution on a plate which +had never been exposed in the camera. But she had been of late in +training for her lesson in ways that neither she nor anybody else +dreamed of. The reader who has shrugged his (or her) shoulders over +the last illustration will perhaps hear this one which follows more +cheerfully. The physician in the Arabian Nights made his patient +play at ball with a bat, the hollow handle of which contained drugs +of marvellous efficacy. Whether it was the drugs that made the sick +man get well, or the exercise, is not of so much consequence as the +fact that he did at any rate get well. + +These walks which Myrtle had taken with her reverend counsellor had +given her a new taste for the open air, which was what she needed +just now more than confessions of faith or spiritual paroxysms. And +so it happened that, while he had been stimulating all those +imaginative and emotional elements of her nature which responded to +the keys he loved to play upon, the restoring influences of the sweet +autumnal air, the mellow sunshine, the soothing aspects of the woods +and fields and sky, had been quietly doing their work. The color was +fast returning to her cheek, and the discords of her feelings and her +thoughts gradually resolving themselves into the harmonious and +cheerful rhythms of bodily and mental health. It needed but the +timely word from the fitting lips to change the whole programme of +her daily mode of being. The word had been spoken. She saw its +truth; but how hard it is to tear away a cherished illusion, to cast +out an unworthy intimate! How hard for any!--but for a girl so +young, and who had as yet found so little to love and trust, how +cruelly hard! + +She sat, still and stony, like an Egyptian statue. Her eyes were +fixed on a vacant chair opposite the one on which she was sitting. +It was a very singular and fantastic old chair, said to have been +brought over by the first emigrant of her race. The legs and arms +were curiously turned in spirals, the suggestions of which were half +pleasing and half repulsive. Instead of the claw-feet common in +furniture of a later date, each of its legs rested on a misshapen +reptile, which it seemed to flatten by its weight, as if it were +squeezing the breath out of the ugly creature. Over this chair hung +the portrait of her beautiful ancestress, her neck and arms, the +specialty of her beauty, bare, except for a bracelet on the left +wrist, and her shapely figure set off by the ample folds of a rich +crimson brocade. Over Myrtle's bed hung that other portrait, which +was to her almost as the pictures of the Mater Dolorosa to trustful +souls of the Roman faith. She had longed for these pictures while +she was in her strange hysteric condition, and they had been hung up +in her chamber. + +The night was far gone, as she knew by the declining of the +constellations which she bad seen shining brightly almost overhead in +the early evening, when she awoke, and found herself still sitting in +the very attitude in which she was sitting hours before. Her lamp +had burned out, and the starlight but dimly illuminated her chamber. +She started to find herself sitting there, chilled and stiffened by +long remaining in one posture; and as her consciousness returned, a +great fear seized her, and she sprang for a match. It broke with the +quick movement she made to kindle it, and she snatched another as if +a fiend were after her. It flashed and went out. Oh the terror, the +terror! The darkness seemed alive with fearful presences. The lurid +glare of her own eyeballs flashed backwards into her brain. She +tried one more match; it kindled as it should, and she lighted +another lamp. Her first impulse was to assure herself that nothing +was changed in the familiar objects around her. She held the lamp up +to the picture of Judith Pride. The beauty looked at her, it seemed +as if with a kind of lofty recognition in her eyes; but there she +was, as always. She turned the light upon the pale face of the +martyr-portrait. It looked troubled and faded, as it seemed to +Myrtle, but still it was the same face she remembered from her +childhood. Then she threw the light on the old chair, and, +shuddering, caught up a shawl and flung it over the spiral-wound arms +and legs, and the flattened reptiles on which it stood. + +In those dead hours of the night which had passed over her sitting +there, still and stony, as it should seem, she had had strange +visitors. Two women had been with her, as real as any that breathed +the breath of life,--so it appeared to her,--yet both had long been +what is called, in our poor language, dead. One came in all the +glory of her ripened beauty, bare-necked, bare-armed, full dressed by +nature in that splendid animal equipment which in its day had +captivated the eyes of all the lusty lovers of complete muliebrity. +The other,--how delicate, how translucent, how aerial she seemed! +yet real and true to the lineaments of her whom the young girl looked +upon as her hereditary protector. + +The beautiful woman turned, and, with a face full of loathing and +scorn, pointed to one of the reptiles beneath the feet of the chair. +And while Myrtle's eyes followed hers, the flattened and half-crushed +creature seemed to swell and spread like his relative in the old +fable, like the black dog in Faust, until he became of tenfold size, +and at last of colossal proportions. And, fearful to relate, the +batrachian features humanized themselves as the monster grew, and, +shaping themselves more and more into a remembered similitude, Myrtle +saw in them a hideous likeness of--No! no! it was too horrible, was +that the face which had been so close to hers but yesterday? were +those the lips, the breath from which had stirred her growing curls +as he leaned over her while they read together some passionate stanza +from a hymn that was as much like a love-song as it dared to be in +godly company? A shadow of disgust--the natural repugnance of +loveliness for deformity-ran all through her, and she shrieked, as +she thought, and threw herself at the feet of that other figure. She +felt herself lifted from the floor, and then a cold thin hand seemed +to take hers. The warm life went out of her, and she was to herself +as a dimly conscious shadow that glided with passive acquiescence +wherever it was led. Presently she found herself in a half-lighted +apartment, where there were books on the shelves around, and a desk +with loose manuscripts lying on it, and a little mirror with a worn +bit of carpet before it. And while she looked, a great serpent +writhed in through the half-open door, and made the circuit of the +room, laying one huge ring all round it, and then, going round again, +laid another ring over the first, and so on until he was wound all +round the room like the spiral of a mighty cable, leaving a hollow in +the centre; and then the serpent seemed to arch his neck in the air, +and bring his head close down to Myrtle's face; and the features were +not those of a serpent, but of a man, and it hissed out the words she +had read that very day in a little note which said, "Come to my study +to-morrow, and we will read hymns together." + +Again she was back in her little chamber, she did not know how, and +the two women were looking into her eyes with strange meaning in +their own. Something in them seemed to plead with her to yield to +their influence, and her choice wavered which of them to follow, for +each would have led her her own way,--whither she knew not. It was +the strife of her "Vision," only in another form,--the contest of two +lives her blood inherited for the mastery of her soul. The might of +beauty conquered. Myrtle resigned herself to the guidance of the +lovely phantom, which seemed so much fuller of the unextinguished +fire of life, and so like herself as she would grow to be when noon +should have ripened her into maturity. + +Doors opened softly before them; they climbed stairs, and threaded +corridors, and penetrated crypts, strange yet familiar to her eyes, +which seemed to her as if they could see, as it were, in darkness. +Then came a confused sense of eager search for something that she +knew was hidden, whether in the cleft of a rock, or under the boards +of a floor, or in some hiding-place among the skeleton rafters, or in +a forgotten drawer, or in a heap of rubbish, she could not tell; but +somewhere there was something which she was to find, and which, once +found, was to be her talisman. She was in the midst of this eager +search when she awoke. + +The impression was left so strongly on her mind that with all her +fears she could not resist the desire to make an effort to find what +meaning there was in this frightfully real dream. Her courage came +back as her senses assured her that all around her was natural, as +when she left it. She determined to follow the lead of the strange +hint her nightmare had given her. + +In one of the upper chambers of the old mansion there stood a tall, +upright desk of the ancient pattern, with folding doors above and +large drawers below. "That desk is yours, Myrtle," her uncle Malachi +had once said to her; "and there is a trick or two about it that it +will pay you to study." Many a time Myrtle had puzzled herself about +the mystery of the old desk. All the little drawers, of which there +were a considerable number, she had pulled out, and every crevice, as +she thought, she had carefully examined. She determined to make one +more trial. It was the dead of the night, and this was a fearful old +place to be wandering about; but she was possessed with an urgent +feeling which would not let her wait until daylight. + +She stole like a ghost from her chamber. She glided along the narrow +entries as she had seemed to move in her dream. She opened the +folding doors of the great upright desk. She had always before +examined it by daylight, and though she had so often pulled all the +little drawers out, she had never thoroughly explored the recesses +which received them. But in her new-born passion of search, she held +her light so as to illuminate all these deeper spaces. At once she +thought she saw the marks of pressure with a finger. She pressed her +own finger on this place, and, as it yielded with a slight click, a +small mahogany pilaster sprang forward, revealing its well-kept +secret that it was the mask of a tall, deep, very narrow drawer. +There was something heavy in it, and, as Myrtle turned it over, a +golden bracelet fell into her hand. She recognized it at once as +that which had been long ago the ornament of the fair woman whose +portrait hung in her chamber. She clasped it upon her wrist, and +from that moment she felt as if she were the captive of the lovely +phantom who had been with her in her dream. + +"The old man walked last night, God save us!" said Kitty Fagan to +Biddy Finnegan, the day after Myrtle's nightmare and her curious +discovery. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +VICTORY. + +It seems probable enough that Myrtle's whole spiritual adventure was +an unconscious dramatization of a few simple facts which her +imagination tangled together into a kind of vital coherence. The +philosopher who goes to the bottom of things will remark that all the +elements of her fantastic melodrama had been furnished her while +waking. Master Byles Gridley's penetrating and stinging caution was +the text, and the grotesque carvings and the portraits furnished the +"properties" with which her own mind had wrought up this scenic show. + +The philosopher who goes to the bottom of things might not find it so +easy to account for the change which came over Myrtle Hazard from the +hour when she clasped the bracelet of Judith Pride upon her wrist. +She felt a sudden loathing of the man whom she had idealized as a +saint. A young girl's caprice? Possibly. A return of the natural +instincts of girlhood with returning health? Perhaps so. An +impression produced by her dream? An effect of an influx from +another sphere of being? The working of Master Byles Gridley's +emphatic warning? The magic of her new talisman? + +We may safely leave these questions for the present. As we have to +tell, not what Myrtle Hazard ought to have done, and why she should +have done it, but what she did do, our task is a simpler one than it +would be to lay bare all the springs of her action. Until this +period, she had hardly thought of herself as a born beauty. The +flatteries she had received from time to time were like the chips and +splinters under the green wood, when the chill women pretended to +make a fire in the best parlor at The Poplars, which had a way of +burning themselves out, hardly warming, much less kindling, the fore- +stick and the back-log. + +Myrtle had a tinge of what some call superstition, and she began to +look upon her strange acquisition as a kind of amulet. Its +suggestions betrayed themselves in one of her first movements. +Nothing could be soberer than the cut of the dresses which the +propriety of the severe household had established as the rule of her +costume. But the girl was no sooner out of bed than a passion came +over her to see herself in that less jealous arrangement of drapery +which the Beauty of the last century had insisted on as presenting +her most fittingly to the artist. She rolled up the sleeves of her +dress, she turned down its prim collar and neck, and glanced from her +glass to the portrait, from the portrait back to the glass. Myrtle +was not blind nor dull, though young, and in many things untaught. +She did not say in so many words, "I too am a beauty," but she could +mot help seeing that she had many of the attractions of feature and +form which had made the original of the picture before her famous. +The same stately carriage of the head, the same full-rounded neck, +the same more than hinted outlines of figure, the same finely shaped +arms and hands, and something very like the same features startled +her by their identity in the permanent image of the canvas and the +fleeting one of tile mirror. + +The world was hers then,--for she had not read romances and love- +letters without finding that beauty governs it in all times and +places. Who was this middle-aged minister that had been hanging +round her and talking to her about heaven, when there was not a +single joy of earth that she had as yet tasted? A man that had been +saying all his fine things to Miss Susan Posey, too, had he, before +he had bestowed his attentions on her? And to a dozen other girls, +too, nobody knows who! + +The revulsion was a very sadden one. Such changes of feeling are apt +to be sudden in young people whose nerves have been tampered with, +and Myrtle was not of a temperament or an age to act with much +deliberation where a pique came in to the aid of a resolve. Master +Gridley guessed sagaciously what would be the effect of his +revelation, when he told her of the particular attentions the +minister had paid to pretty Susan Posey and various other young +women. + +The Rev. Mr. Stoker had parted his hair wonderfully that morning, and +made himself as captivating as his professional costume allowed. He +had drawn down the shades of his windows so as to let in that subdued +light which is merciful to crow's-feet and similar embellishments, +and wheeled up his sofa so that two could sit at the table and read +from the same book. + +At eleven o'clock he was pacing the room with a certain feverish +impatience, casting a glance now and then at the mirror as he passed +it. At last the bell rang, and he himself went to answer it, his +heart throbbing with expectation of meeting his lovely visitor. + +Myrtle Hazard appeared by an envoy extraordinary, the bearer of +sealed despatches. Mistress Kitty Fagan was the young lady's +substitute, and she delivered into the hand of the astonished +clergyman the following missive: + +TO THE REV. MR. STOKER. + +Reverend Sir,--I shall not come to your study this day. I do not +feel that I have any more need of religious counsel at this time, and +I am told by a friend that there are others who will be glad to hear +you talk on this subject. I hear that Mrs. Hopkins is interested in +religious subjects, and would have been glad to see you in my +company. As I cannot go with her, perhaps Miss Susan Posey will take +my place. I thank you for all the good things you have said to me, +and that you have given me so much of your company. I hope we shall +sing hymns together in heaven some time, if we are good enough, but I +want to wait for that awhile, for I do not feel quite ready. I am +not going to see you any more alone, reverend sir. I think this is +best, and I have good advice. I want to see more of young people of +my own age, and I have a friend, Mr. Gridley, who I think is older +than you are, that takes an interest in me; and as you have many +others that you must be interested in, he can take the place of a +father better than you can do. I return to you the hymn-book, I read +one of those you marked, and do not care to read any more. + +Respectfully yours, + +MYRTLE HAZARD. + + +The Rev. Mr. Stoker uttered a cry of rage as he finished this +awkwardly written, but tolerably intelligible letter. What could he +do about it? It would hardly do to stab Myrtle Hazard, and shoot +Byles Gridley, and strangle Mrs. Hopkins, every one of which +homicides he felt at the moment that he could have committed. And +here he was in a frantic paroxysm, and the next day was Sunday, and +his morning's discourse was unwritten. His savage mediaeval theology +came to his relief, and he clutched out of a heap of yellow +manuscripts his well-worn "convulsion-fit" sermon. He preached it +the next day as if it did his heart good, but Myrtle Hazard did not +hear it, for she had gone to St. Bartholomew's with Olive Eveleth. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +SAINT AND SINNER + +It happened a little after this time that the minister's invalid wife +improved--somewhat unexpectedly in health, and, as Bathsheba was +beginning to suffer from imprisonment in her sick-chamber, the +physician advised very strongly that she should vary the monotony of +her life by going out of the house daily for fresh air and cheerful +companionship. She was therefore frequently at the house of Olive +Eveleth; and as Myrtle wanted to see young people, and had her own +way now as never before, the three girls often met at the parsonage. +Thus they became more and more intimate, and grew more and more into +each other's affections. + +These girls presented three types of spiritual character which are to +be found in all our towns and villages. Olive had been carefully +trained, and at the proper age confirmed. Bathsheba had been prayed +for, and in due time startled and converted. Myrtle was a simple +daughter of Eve, with many impulses like those of the other two +girls, and some that required more watching. She was not so safe, +perhaps, as either of the other girls, for this world or the next; +but she was on some accounts more interesting, as being a more +genuine representative of that inexperienced and too easily deluded, +yet always cherished, mother of our race, whom we must after all +accept as embodying the creative idea of woman, and who might have +been alive and happy now (though at a great age) but for a single +fatal error. + +The Rev. Ambrose Eveleth, Rector of Saint Bartholomew's, Olive's +father, was one of a class numerous in the Anglican Church, a +cultivated man, with pure tastes, with simple habits, a good reader, +a neat writer, a safe thinker, with a snug and well-fenced mental +pasturage, which his sermons kept cropped moderately close without +any exhausting demand upon the soil. Olive had grown insensibly into +her religious maturity, as into her bodily and intellectual +developments, which one might suppose was the natural order of things +in a well-regulated Christian--household, where the children are +brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. + +Bathsheba had been worried over and perplexed and depressed with +vague apprehensions about her condition, conveyed in mysterious +phrases and graveyard expressions of countenance, until about the age +of fourteen years, when she had one of those emotional paroxysms very +commonly considered in some Protestant sects as essential to the +formation of religious character. It began with a shivering sense of +enormous guilt, inherited and practised from her earliest infancy. +Just as every breath she ever drew had been malignantly poisoning the +air with carbonic acid, so her every thought and feeling had been +tainting the universe with sin. This spiritual chill or rigor had in +due order been followed by the fever-flush of hope, and that in its +turn had ushered in the last stage, the free opening of all the +spiritual pores in the peaceful relaxation of self-surrender. + +Good Christians are made by many very different processes. Bathsheba +had taken her religion after the fashion of her sect; but it was +genuine, in spite of the cavils of the formalists, who could not +understand that the spirit which kept her at her mother's bedside was +the same as that which poured the tears of Mary of Magdala on the +feet of her Lord, and led her forth at early dawn with the other Mary +to visit his sepulchre. + +Myrtle was a child of nature, and of course, according to the out- +worn formulae which still shame the distorted religion of humanity, +hateful to the Father in Heaven who made her. She had grown up in +antagonism with all that surrounded her. She had been talked to +about her corrupt nature and her sinful heart, until the words had +become an offence and an insult. Bathsheba knew her father's +fondness for young company too well to suppose that his intercourse +with Myrtle had gone beyond the sentimental and poetical stage, and +was not displeased when she found that there was some breach between +them. Myrtle herself did not profess to have passed through the +technical stages of the customary spiritual paroxysm. Still, the +gentle daughter of the terrible preacher loved her and judged her +kindly. She was modest enough to think that perhaps the natural +state of some girls might be at least as good as her own after the +spiritual change of which she had been the subject. A manifest +heresy, but not new, nor unamiable, nor inexplicable. + +The excellent Bishop Joseph Hall, a painful preacher and solid divine +of Puritan tendencies, declares that he prefers good-nature before +grace in the election of a wife; because, saith he, "it will be a +hard Task, where the Nature is peevish and froward, for Grace to make +an entire Conquest whilst Life lasteth." An opinion apparently +entertained by many modern ecclesiastics, and one which may be +considered very encouraging to those young ladies of the politer +circles who have a fancy for marrying bishops and other fashionable +clergymen. Not of course that "grace" is so rare a gift among the +young ladies of the upper social sphere; but they are in the habit of +using the word with a somewhat different meaning from that which the +good Bishop attached to it. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +VILLAGE POET. + +It was impossible for Myrtle to be frequently at Olive's without +often meeting Olive's brother, and her reappearance with the bloom on +her cheek was a signal which her other admirers were not likely to +overlook as a hint to recommence their flattering demonstrations; and +so it was that she found herself all at once the centre of attraction +to three young men with whom we have made some acquaintance, namely, +Cyprian Eveleth, Gifted Hopkins, and Murray Bradshaw. + +When the three girls were together at the house of Olive, it gave +Cyprian a chance to see something of Myrtle in the most natural way. +Indeed, they all became used to meeting him in a brotherly sort of +relation; only, as he was not the brother of two of them, it gave him +the inside track, as the sporting men say, with reference to any +rivals for the good-will of either of these. Of course neither +Bathsheba nor Myrtle thought of him in any other light than as +Olive's brother, and would have been surprised with the manifestation +on his part of any other feeling, if it existed. So he became very +nearly as intimate with them as Olive was, and hardly thought of his +intimacy as anything more than friendship, until one day Myrtle sang +some hymns so sweetly that Cyprian dreamed about her that night; and +what young person does not know that the woman or the man once +idealized and glorified in the exalted state of the imagination +belonging to sleep becomes dangerous to the sensibilities in the +waking hours that follow? Yet something drew Cyprian to the gentler +and more subdued nature of Bathsheba, so that he often thought, like +a gayer personage than himself, whose divided affections are famous +in song, that he could have been blessed to share her faithful heart, +if Myrtle had not bewitched him with her unconscious and innocent +sorceries. As for poor, modest Bathsheba, she thought nothing of +herself, but was almost as much fascinated by Myrtle as if she had +been one of the sex she was born to make in love with her. + +The first rival Cyprian was to encounter in his admiration of Myrtle +Hazard was Mr. Gifted Hopkins. This young gentleman had the enormous +advantage of that all-subduing accomplishment, the poetical +endowment. No woman, it is pretty generally understood, can resist +the youth or man who addresses her in verse. The thought that she is +the object of a poet's love is one which fills a woman's ambition +more completely than all that wealth or office or social eminence can +offer. Do the young millionnaires and the members of the General +Court get letters from unknown ladies, every day, asking for their +autographs and photographs? Well, then! + +Mr. Gifted Hopkins, being a poet, felt that it was so, to the very +depth of his soul. Could he not confer that immortality so dear to +the human heart? Not quite yet, perhaps,--though the "Banner and +Oracle" gave him already "an elevated niche in the Temple of Fame," +to quote its own words,--but in that glorious summer of his genius, +of which these spring blossoms were the promise. It was a most +formidable battery, then, which Cyprian's first rival opened upon the +fortress of Myrtle's affections. + +His second rival, Mr. William Murray Bradshaw, had made a half- +playful bet with his fair relative, Mrs. Clymer Ketchum, that he +would bag a girl within twelve months of date who should unite three +desirable qualities, specified in the bet, in a higher degree than +any one of the five who were on the matrimonial programme which she +had laid out for him,--and Myrtle was the girl with whom he meant to +win the bet. When a young fellow like him, cool and clever, makes up +his mind to bring down his bird, it is no joke, but a very serious +and a tolerably certain piece of business. Not being made a fool of +by any boyish nonsense,--passion and all that,--he has a great +advantage. Many a woman rejects a man because he is in love with +her, and accepts another because he is not. The first is thinking +too much of himself and his emotions,--the other makes a study of her +and her friends, and learns what ropes to pull. But then it must be +remembered that Murray Bradshaw had a poet for his rival, to say +nothing of the brother of a bosom friend. + +The qualities of a young poet are so exceptional, and such +interesting objects of study, that a narrative like this can well +afford to linger awhile in the delineation of this most envied of all +the forms of genius. And by contrasting the powers and limitations +of two such young persons as Gifted Hopkins and Cyprian Eveleth, we +may better appreciate the nature of that divine inspiration which +gives to poetry the superiority it claims over every other form of +human expression. + +Gifted Hopkins had shown an ear for rhythm, and for the simpler forms +of music, from his earliest childhood. He began beating with his +heels the accents of the psalm tunes sung at meeting at a very tender +age,--a habit, indeed, of which he had afterwards to correct himself, +as, though it shows a sensibility to rhythmical impulses like that +which is beautifully illustrated when a circle join hands and +emphasize by vigorous downward movements the leading syllables in the +tune of Auld Lang Syne, yet it is apt to be too expressive when a +large number of boots join in the performance. He showed a +remarkable talent for playing on one of the less complex musical +instruments, too limited in compass to satisfy exacting ears, but +affording excellent discipline to those who wish to write in the +simpler metrical forms,--the same which summons the hero from his +repose and stirs his blood in battle. + +By the time he was twelve years old he was struck with the pleasing +resemblance of certain vocal sounds which, without being the same, +yet had a curious relation which made them agree marvellously well in +couples; as eyes with skies; as heart with art, also with part and +smart; and so of numerous others, twenty or thirty pairs, perhaps, +which number he considerably increased as he grew older, until he may +have had fifty or more such pairs at his command. + +The union of so extensive a catalogue of words which matched each +other, and of an ear so nice that it could tell if there were nine or +eleven syllables in an heroic line, instead of the legitimate ten, +constituted a rare combination of talents in the opinion of those +upon whose judgment he relied. He was naturally led to try his +powers in the expression of some just thought or natural sentiment in +the shape of verse, that wonderful medium of imparting thought and +feeling to his fellow-creatures which a bountiful Providence had made +his rare and inestimable endowment. + +It was at about this period of his life, that is to say, when he was +of the age of thirteen, or we may perhaps say fourteen years, for we +do not wish to overstate his precocity, that he experienced a +sensation so entirely novel, that, to the best of his belief, it was +such as no other young person had ever known, at least in anything +like the same degree. This extraordinary emotion was brought on by +the sight of Myrtle Hazard, with whom he had never before had any +near relations, as they had been at different schools, and Myrtle was +too reserved to be very generally known among the young people of his +age. + +Then it was that he broke forth in his virgin effort, "Lines to +M----e," which were published in the village paper, and were claimed +by all possible girls but the right one; namely, by two Mary Annes, +one Minnie, one Mehitable, and one Marthie, as she saw fit to spell +the name borrowed from her who was troubled about many things. + +The success of these lines, which were in that form of verse known to +the hymn-books as "common metre," was such as to convince the youth +that, whatever occupation he might be compelled to follow for a time +to obtain a livelihood or to assist his worthy parent, his true +destiny was the glorious career of a poet. It was a most pleasing +circumstance, that his mother, while she fully recognized the +propriety of his being diligent in the prosaic line of business to +which circumstances had called him, was yet as much convinced as he +himself that he was destined to achieve literary fame. She had read +Watts and Select Hymns all through, she said, and she did n't see but +what Gifted could make the verses come out jest as slick, and the +sound of the rhymes jest as pooty, as Izik Watts or the Selectmen, +whoever they was,--she was sure they couldn't be the selectmen of +this town, wherever they belonged. It is pleasant to say that the +young man, though favored by nature with this rarest of talents, did +not forget the humbler duties that Heaven, which dresses few singing- +birds in the golden plumes of fortune, had laid upon him. After +having received a moderate amount of instruction at one of the less +ambitious educational institutions of the town, supplemented, it is +true, by the judicious and gratuitous hints of Master Gridley, the +young poet, in obedience to a feeling which did him the highest +credit, relinquished, at least for the time, the Groves of Academus, +and offered his youth at the shrine of Plutus, that is, left off +studying and took to business. He became what they call a "clerk" in +what they call a "store" up in the huckleberry districts, and kept +such accounts as were required by the business of the establishment. +His principal occupation was, however, to attend to the details of +commerce as it was transacted over the counter. This industry +enabled him, to his great praise be it spoken, to assist his +excellent parent, to clothe himself in a becoming manner, so that he +made a really handsome figure on Sundays and was always of +presentable aspect, likewise to purchase a book now and then, and to +subscribe for that leading periodical which furnishes the best models +to the youth of the country in the various modes of composition. + +Though Master Gridley was very kind to the young man, he was rather +disposed to check the exuberance of his poetical aspirations. The +truth was, that the old classical scholar did not care a great deal +for modern English poetry. Give him an Ode of Horace, or a scrap +from the Greek Anthology, and he would recite it with great inflation +of spirits; but he did not think very much of "your Keatses, and your +Tennysons, and the whole Hasheesh crazy lot," as he called the +dreamily sensuous idealists who belong to the same century that +brought in ether and chloroform. He rather shook his head at Gifted +Hopkins for indulging so largely in metrical composition. + +"Better stick to your ciphering, my young friend," he said to him, +one day. "Figures of speech are all very well, in their way; but if +you undertake to deal much in them, you'll figure down your prospects +into a mighty small sum. There's some danger that it will take all +the sense out of you, if you keep writing verses at this rate. You +young scribblers think any kind of nonsense will do for the public, +if it only has a string of rhymes tacked to it. Cut off the bobs of +your kite, Gifted Hopkins, and see if it does n't pitch, and stagger, +and come down head-foremost. Don't write any stuff with rhyming +tails to it that won't make a decent show for itself after you've +chopped all the rhyming tails off. That's my advice, Gifted Hopkins. +Is there any book you would like to have out of my library? Have you +ever read Spenser's Faery Queen?" + +He had tried, the young man answered, on the recommendation of +Cyprian Eveleth, but had found it rather hard reading. + +Master Gridley lifted his eyebrows very slightly, remembering that +some had called Spenser the poet's poet. "What a pity," he said to +himself, "that this Gifted Hopkins has n't got the brains of that +William Murray Bradshaw! What's the reason, I wonder, that all the +little earthen pots blow their covers off and froth over in rhymes at +such a great rate, while the big iron pots keep their lids on, and do +all their simmering inside?" + +That is the way these old pedants will talk, after all their youth +and all their poetry, if they ever had any, are gone. The smiles of +woman, in the mean time, encouraged the young poet to smite the lyre. +Fame beckoned him upward from her templed steep. The rhymes which +rose before him unbidden were as the rounds of Jacob's ladder, on +which he would climb to a heaven of-glory. + +Master Gridley threw cold water on the young man's too sanguine +anticipations of success. "All up with the boy, if he's going to +take to rhyming when he ought to be doing up papers of brown sugar +and weighing out pounds of tea. Poor-house,--that 's what it'll end +in. Poets, to be sure! Sausage-makers! Empty skins of old +phrases,--stuff 'em with odds and ends of old thoughts that never +were good for anything,--cut 'em up in lengths and sell'em to fools! + +"And if they ain't big fools enough to buy 'em, give'em away; and if +you can't do that, pay folks to take'em. Bah! what a fine style of +genius common-sense is! There's a passage in the book that would fit +half these addle-headed rhymesters. What is that saying of mine +about I squinting brains?" + +He took down "Thoughts on the Universe," and read:-- + + + "Of Squinting Brains. + +"Where there is one man who squints with his eyes, there are a dozen +who squint with their brains. It is an infirmity in one of the eyes, +making the two unequal in power, that makes men squint. Just so it +is an inequality in the two halves of the brain that makes some men +idiots and others rascals. I knows a fellow whose right half is a +genius, but his other hemisphere belongs to a fool; and I had a +friend perfectly honest on one side, but who was sent to jail because +the other had an inveterate tendency in the direction of picking +pockets and appropriating aes alienum." + +All this, talking and reading to himself in his usual fashion. + +The poetical faculty which was so freely developed in Gifted Hopkins +had never manifested itself in Cyprian Eveleth, whose look and voice +might, to a stranger, have seemed more likely to imply an imaginative +nature. Cyprian was dark, slender, sensitive, contemplative, a lover +of lonely walks,--one who listened for the whispers of Nature and +watched her shadows, and was alive to the symbolisms she writes over +everything. But Cyprian had never shown the talent or the +inclination for writing in verse. + +He was on the pleasantest terms with the young poet, and being +somewhat older, and having had the advantage of academic and college +culture, often gave him useful hints as to the cultivation of his +powers, such as genius frequently requires at the hands of humbler +intelligences. Cyprian was incapable of jealousy; and although the +name of Gifted Hopkins was getting to be known beyond the immediate +neighborhood, and his autograph had been requested by more than one +young lady living in another county, he never thought of envying the +young poet's spreading popularity. + +That the poet himself was flattered by these marks of public favor +may be inferred from the growing confidence with which he expressed +himself in his conversations with Cyprian, more especially in one +which was held at the "store" where he officiated as "clerk." + +"I become more and more assured, Cyprian," he said, leaning over the +counter, "that I was born to be a poet. I feel it in my marrow. I +must succeed. I must win the laurel of fame. I must taste the +sweets of"--- + +" Molasses," said a bareheaded girl of ten who entered at that +moment, bearing in her hand a cracked pitcher, "ma wants three gills +of molasses." + +Gifted Hopkins dropped his subject and took up a tin measure. He +served the little maid with a benignity quite charming to witness, +made an entry on a slate of .08, and resumed the conversation. + +"Yes, I am sure of it, Cyprian. The very last piece I wrote was +copied in two papers. It was 'Contemplations in Autumn,' and--don't +think I am too vain--one young lady has told me that it reminded her +of Pollok. You never wrote in verse, did you, Cyprian?" + +"I never wrote at all, Gifted, except school and college exercises, +and a letter now and then. Do you find it an easy and pleasant +exercise to make rhymes?" + +Pleasant! Poetry is to me a delight and a passion. I never know +what I am going to write when I sit down. And presently the rhymes +begin pounding in my brain,--it seems as if there were a hundred +couples of them, paired like so many dancers,--and then these rhymes +seem to take possession of me, like a surprise party, and bring in +all sorts of beautiful thoughts, and I write and write, and the +verses run measuring themselves out like"--- + +"Ribbins,--any narrer blue ribbins, Mr. Hopkins? Five eighths of a +yard, if you please, Mr. Hopkins. How's your folks?" Then, in a +lower tone, "Those last verses of yours in the Bannernoracle were +sweet pooty." + +Gifted Hopkins meted out the five eighths of blue ribbon by the aid +of certain brass nails on the counter. He gave good measure, not +prodigal, for he was loyal to his employer, but putting a very +moderate strain on the ribbon, and letting the thumb-nail slide with +a contempt of infinitesimals which betokened a large soul in its +genial mood. + +The young lady departed, after casting upon him one of those +bewitching glances which the young poet--let us rather say the poet, +without making odious distinctions--is in the confirmed habit of +receiving from dear woman. + +Mr. Gifted Hopkins resumed: "I do not know where this talent, as my +friends call it, of mine, comes from. My father used to carry a +chain for a surveyor sometimes, and there is a ten-foot pole in the +house he used to measure land with. I don't see why that should make +me a poet. My mother was always fond of Dr. Watts's hymns; but so +are other young men's mothers, and yet they don't show poetical +genius. But wherever I got it, it comes as easy to me to write in +verse as to write in prose, almost. Don't you ever feel a longing to +send your thoughts forth in verse, Cyprian?" + +"I wish I had a greater facility of expression very often," Cyprian +answered; "but when I have my best thoughts I do not find that I have +words that seem fitting to clothe them. I have imagined a great many +poems, Gifted, but I never wrote a rhyming verse, or verse of any +kind. Did you ever hear Olive play 'Songs without Words'? If you +have ever heard her, you will know what I mean by unrhymed and +unversed poetry." + +"I am sure I don't know what you mean, Cyprian, by poetry without +rhyme or verse, any more than I should if you talked about pictures +that were painted on nothing, or statues that were made out of +nothing. How can you tell that anything is poetry, I should like to +know, if there is neither a regular line with just so many syllables, +nor a rhyme? Of course you can't. I never have any thoughts too +beautiful to put in verse: nothing can be too beautiful for it." + +Cyprian left the conversation at this point. It was getting more +suggestive than interpenetrating, and he thought he might talk the +matter over better with Olive. Just then a little boy came in, and +bargained with Gifted for a Jews-harp, which, having obtained, he +placed against his teeth, and began playing upon it with a pleasure +almost equal to that of the young poet reciting his own verses. + +"A little too much like my friend Gifted Hopkins's poetry," Cyprian +said, as he left the "store." "All in one note, pretty much. Not a +great many tunes, 'Hi Betty Martin,' 'Yankee Doodle,' and one or two +more like them. But many people seem to like them, and I don't doubt +it is as exciting to Gifted to write them as it is to a great genius +to express itself in a poem." + +Cyprian was, perhaps, too exacting. He loved too well the sweet +intricacies of Spenser, the majestic and subtly interwoven harmonies +of Milton. These made him impatient of the simpler strains of Gifted +Hopkins. + +Though he himself never wrote verses, he had some qualities which his +friend the poet may have undervalued in comparison with the talent of +modelling the symmetries of verse and adjusting the correspondences +of rhyme. He had kept in a singular degree all the sensibilities of +childhood, its simplicity, its reverence. It seemed as if nothing of +all that he met in his daily life was common or unclean to him, for +there was no mordant in his nature for what was coarse or vile, and +all else he could not help idealizing into its own conception of +itself, so to speak. He loved the leaf after its kind as well as the +flower, and the root as well as the leaf, and did not exhaust his +capacity of affection or admiration on the blossom or bud upon which +his friend the poet lavished the wealth of his verse. Thus Nature +took him into her confidence. She loves the men of science well, and +tells them all her family secrets,--who is the father of this or that +member of the group, who is brother, sister, cousin, and so on, +through all the circle of relationship. But there are others to whom +she tells her dreams; not what species or genus her lily belongs to, +but what vague thought it has when it dresses in white, or what +memory of its birthplace that is which we call its fragrance. +Cyprian was one of these. Yet he was not a complete nature. He +required another and a wholly different one to be the complement of +his own. Olive came as near it as a sister could, but--we must +borrow an old image--moonlight is no more than a cold and vacant +glimmer on the sun-dial, which only answers to the great flaming orb +of day. If Cyprian could but find some true, sweet-tempered, well- +balanced woman, richer in feeling than in those special imaginative +gifts which made the outward world at times unreal to him in the +intense reality of his own inner life, how he could enrich and adorn +her existence,--how she could direct and chasten and elevate the +character of all his thoughts and actions! + +"Bathsheba," said Olive, "it seems to me that Cyprian is getting more +and more fascinated with Myrtle Hazard. He has never got over the +fancy he took to her when he first saw her in her red jacket, and +called her the fire-hang-bird. Wouldn't they suit each other by and +by, after Myrtle has come to herself and grown into a beautiful and +noble woman, as I feel sure she will in due time?" + +"Myrtle is very lovely," Bathsheba answered, "but is n't she a little +too--flighty--for one like your brother? Cyprian isn't more like +other young men than Myrtle is like other young girls. I have +thought sometimes--I wondered whether out-of-the-way people and +common ones do not get along best together. Does n't Cyprian want +some more every-day kind of girl to keep him straight? Myrtle is +beautiful, beautiful,--fascinates everybody. Has Mr. Bradshaw been +following after her lately? He is taken with her too. Didn't you +ever think she would have to give in to Murray Bradshaw at last? He +looks to me like a man that would hold on desperately as a lover." + +If Myrtle Hazard, instead of being a half-finished school-girl, +hardly sixteen years old, had been a young woman of eighteen or +nineteen, it would have been plain sailing enough for Murray +Bradshaw. But he knew what a distance their ages seemed just now to +put between them,--a distance which would grow practically less and +less with every year, and he did not wish to risk anything so long as +there was no danger of interference. He rather encouraged Gifted +Hopkins to write poetry to Myrtle. "Go in, Gifted," he said, +"there's no telling what may come of it," and Gifted did go in at a +great rate. + +Murray Bradshaw did not write poetry himself, but he read poetry with +a good deal of effect, and he would sometimes take a hint from one of +Gifted Hopkins's last productions to recite a passionate lyric of +Byron or Moore, into which he would artfully throw so much meaning +that Myrtle was almost as much puzzled, in her simplicity, to know +what it meant, as she had been by the religious fervors of the Rev. +Mr. Stoker. + +He spoke well of Cyprian Eveleth. A good young man,--limited, but +exemplary. Would succeed well as rector of a small parish. That +required little talent, but a good deal of the humbler sort of +virtue. As for himself, he confessed to ambition,--yes, a great deal +of ambition. A failing, he supposed, but not the worst of failings. +He felt the instinct to handle the larger interests of society. The +village would perhaps lose sight of him for a time; but he meant to +emerge sooner or later in the higher spheres of government or +diplomacy. Myrtle must keep his secret. Nobody else knew it. He +could not help making a confidant of her,--a thing he had never done +before with any other person as to his plans in life. Perhaps she +might watch his career with more interest from her acquaintance with +him. He loved to think that there was one woman at least who would +be pleased to hear of his success if he succeeded, as with life and +health he would,--who would share his disappointment if fate should +not favor him.--So he wound and wreathed himself into her thoughts. + +It was not very long before Myrtle began to accept the idea that she +was the one person in the world whose peculiar duty it was to +sympathize with the aspiring young man whose humble beginnings she +had the honor of witnessing. And it is not very far from being the +solitary confidant, and the single source of inspiration, to the +growth of a livelier interest, where a young man and a young woman +are in question. + +Myrtle was at this time her own mistress as never before. The three +young men had access to her as she walked to and from meeting and in +her frequent rambles, besides the opportunities Cyprian had of +meeting her in his sister's company, and the convenient visits which, +in connection with the great lawsuit, Murray Bradshaw could make, +without question, at The Poplars. + +It was not long before Cyprian perceived that he could never pass a +certain boundary of intimacy with Myrtle. Very pleasant and sisterly +always she was with him; but she never looked as if she might mean +more than she said, and cherished a little spark of sensibility which +might be fanned into the flame of love. Cyprian felt this so +certainly that he was on the point of telling his grief to Bathsheba, +who looked to him as if she would sympathize as heartily with him as +his own sister, and whose sympathy would have a certain flavor in +it,--something which one cannot find in the heart of the dearest +sister that ever lived. But Bathsheba was herself sensitive, and +changed color when Cyprian ventured a hint or two in the direction of +his thought, so that he never got so fax as to unburden his heart to +her about Myrtle, whom she admired so sincerely that she could not +have helped feeling a great interest in his passion towards her. + +As for Gifted Hopkins, the roses that were beginning to bloom fresher +and fresher every day in Myrtle's cheeks unfolded themselves more and +more freely, to speak metaphorically, in his song. Every week she +would receive a delicately tinted note with lines to "Myrtle +awaking," or to "Myrtle retiring," (one string of verses a little too +Musidora-ish, and which soon found itself in the condition of a +cinder, perhaps reduced to that state by spontaneous combustion,) or +to "The Flower of the Tropics," or to the "Nymph of the River-side," +or other poetical alias, such as bards affect in their sieges of the +female heart. + +Gifted Hopkins was of a sanguine temperament. As he read and re-read +his verses it certainly seemed to him that they must reach the heart +of the angelic being to whom they were addressed. That she was slow +in confessing the impression they made upon her, was a favorable +sign; so many girls called his poems "sweet pooty," that those +charming words, though soothing, no longer stirred him deeply. +Myrtle's silence showed that the impression his verses had made was +deep. Time would develop her sentiments; they were both young; his +position was humble as yet; but when he had become famous through the +land-oh blissful thought!--the bard of Oxbow Village would bear a +name that any woman would be proud to assume, and the M. H. which +her delicate hands had wrought on the kerchiefs she wore would yet +perhaps be read, not Myrtle Hazard, but Myrtle Hopkins. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +SUSAN'S YOUNG MAN. + +There seems no reasonable doubt that Myrtle Hazard might have made a +safe thing of it with Gifted Hopkins, (if so inclined,) provided that +she had only been secured against interference. But the constant +habit of reading his verses to Susan Posey was not without its risk +to so excitable a nature as that of the young poet. Poets were +always capable of divided affections, and Cowley's "Chronicle" is a +confession that would fit the whole tribe of them. It is true that +Gifted had no right to regard Susan's heart as open to the wiles of +any new-comer. He knew that she considered herself, and was +considered by another, as pledged and plighted. Yet she was such a +devoted listener, her sympathies were so easily roused, her blue eyes +glistened so tenderly at the least poetical hint, such as "Never, oh +never," "My aching heart," "Go, let me weep,"--any of those touching +phrases out of the long catalogue which readily suggests itself, that +her influence was getting to be such that Myrtle (if really anxious +to secure him) might look upon it with apprehension, and the owner of +Susan's heart (if of a jealous disposition) might have thought it +worth while to make a visit to Oxbow Village to see after his +property. + +It may seem not impossible that some friend had suggested as much as +this to the young lady's lover. + +The caution would have been unnecessary, or at least premature. +Susan was loyal as ever to her absent friend. Gifted Hopkins had +never yet presumed upon the familiar relations existing between them +to attempt to shake her allegiance. It is quite as likely, after +all, that the young gentleman about to make his appearance in Oxbow +Village visited the place of his own accord, without a hint from +anybody. But the fact concerns us more than the reason of it, just +now. + +"Who do you think is coming, Mr. Gridley? Who do you think is +coming?" said Susan Posey, her face covered with a carnation such as +the first season may see in a city belle, but not the second. + +"Well, Susan Posey, I suppose I must guess, though I am rather slow +at that business. Perhaps the Governor. No, I don't think it can be +the Governor, for you would n't look so happy if it was only his +Excellency. It must be the President, Susan Posey,--President James +Buchanan. Have n't I guessed right, now, tell me, my dear?" + +"O Mr. Gridley, you are too bad,--what do I care for governors and +presidents? I know somebody that's worth fifty million thousand +presidents,--and he 's coming,--my Clement is coming," said Susan, +who had by this time learned to consider the awful Byles Gridley as +her next friend and faithful counsellor. + +Susan could not stay long in the house after she got her note +informing her that her friend was soon to be with her. Everybody +told everything to Olive Eveleth, and Susan must run over to the +parsonage to tell her that there was a young gentleman coming to +Oxbow Village; upon which Olive asked who it was, exactly as if she +did not know; whereupon Susan dropped her eyes and said, "Clement,--I +mean Mr. Lindsay." + +That was a fair piece of news now, and Olive had her bonnet on five +minutes after Susan was gone, and was on her way to Bathsheba's,--it +was too bad that the poor girl who lived so out of the world +shouldn't know anything of what was going on in it. Bathsheba had +been in all the morning, and the Doctor had said she must take the +air every day; so Bathsheba had on her bonnet a little after Olive +had gone, and walked straight up to The Poplars to tell Myrtle Hazard +that a certain young gentleman, Clement Lindsay, was coming to Oxbow +Village. + +It was perhaps fortunate that there was no special significance to +Myrtle in the name of Clement Lindsay. Since the adventure which had +brought these two young persons together, and, after coming so near a +disaster, had ended in a mere humiliation and disappointment, and but +for Master Gridley's discreet kindness might have led to foolish +scandal, Myrtle had never referred to it in any way. Nobody really +knew what her plans had been except Olive and Cyprian, who had +observed a very kind silence about the whole matter. The common +version of the story was harmless, and near enough to the truth, +--down the river,--boat upset,--pulled out,--taken care of by some +women in a house farther down,--sick, brain fever,--pretty near it, +anyhow,--old Dr. Hurlbut called in,--had her hair cut,--hystericky, +etc., etc. + +Myrtle was contented with this statement, and asked no questions, and +it was a perfectly understood thing that nobody alluded to the +subject in her presence. It followed from all this that the name of +Clement Lindsay had no peculiar meaning for her. Nor was she like to +recognize him as the youth in whose company she had gone through her +mortal peril, for all her recollections were confused and dreamlike +from the moment when she awoke and found herself in the foaming +rapids just above the fall, until that when her senses returned, and +she saw Master Byles Gridley standing over her with that look of +tenderness in his square features which had lingered in her +recollection, and made her feel towards him as if she were his +daughter. + +Now this had its advantage; for as Clement was Susan's young man, and +had been so for two or three years, it would have been a great pity +to have any such curious relations established between him and Myrtle +Hazard as a consciousness on both sides of what had happened would +naturally suggest. + +"Who is this Clement Lindsay, Bathsheba?" Myrtle asked. + +Why, Myrtle, don't you remember about Susan Posey's is-to-be,--the +young man that has been well, I don't know, but I suppose engaged to +her ever since they were children almost?" + +"Yes, yes, I remember now. Oh dear! I have forgotten so many +things, I should think I had been dead and was coming back to life +again. Do you know anything about him, Bathsheba? Did n't somebody +say he was very handsome? I wonder if he is really in love with +Susan Posey. Such a simple thing? I want to see him. I have seen +so few young men." + +As Myrtle said these words, she lifted the sleeve a little on her +left arm, by a half-instinctive and half-voluntary movement. The +glimmering gold of Judith Pride's bracelet flashed out the yellow +gleam which has been the reddening of so many hands and the +blackening of so, many souls since that innocent sin-breeder was +first picked up in the land of Havilah. There came a sudden light +into her eye, such as Bathsheba had never seen there before. It +looked to her as if Myrtle were saying unconsciously to herself that +she had the power of beauty, and would like to try its influence on +the handsome young man whom she was soon to meet, even at the risk of +unseating poor little Susan in his affections. This pained the +gentle and humble-minded girl, who, without having tasted the world's +pleasures, had meekly consecrated herself to the lowly duties which +lay nearest to her. For Bathsheba's phrasing of life was in the +monosyllables of a rigid faith. Her conceptions of the human soul +were all simplicity and purity, but elementary. She could not +conceive the vast license the creative energy allows itself in +mingling the instincts which, after long conflict, may come into +harmonious adjustment. The flash which Myrtle's eye had caught from +the gleam of the golden bracelet filled Bathsheba with a sudden fear +that she was like to be led away by the vanities of that world lying +in wickedness of which the minister's daughter had heard so much and +seen so little. + +Not that Bathsheba made any fine moral speeches, to herself. She +only felt a slight shock, such as a word or a look from one we love +too often gives us,--such as a child's trivial gesture or movement +makes a parent feel,--that impalpable something which in the +slightest possible inflection of a syllable or gradation of a tone +will sometimes leave a sting behind it, even in a trusting heart. +This was all. But it was true that what she saw meant a great deal. +It meant the dawning in Myrtle Hazard of one of her as yet unlived +secondary lives. Bathsheba's virgin perceptions had caught a faint +early ray of its glimmering twilight. + +She answered, after a very slight pause, which this explanation has +made seem so long, that she had never seen the young gentleman, and +that she did not know about Susan's sentiments. Only, as they had +kept so long to each other, she supposed there must be love between +them. + +Myrtle fell into a revery, with certain tableaux glowing along its +perspectives which poor little Susan Posey would have shivered to +look upon, if they could have been transferred from the purple clouds +of Myrtle's imagination to the pale silvery mists of Susan's pretty +fancies. She sat in her day-dream long after Bathsheba had left her, +her eyes fixed, not on the faded portrait of her beatified +ancestress, but on that other canvas where the dead Beauty seemed to +live in all the splendors of her full-blown womanhood. + +The young man whose name had set her thoughts roving was handsome, as +the glance at him already given might have foreshadowed. But his +features had a graver impress than his age seemed to account for, and +the sober tone of his letter to Susan implied that something had +given him a maturity beyond his years. The story was not an uncommon +one. At sixteen he had dreamed-and told his dream. At eighteen he +had awoke, and found, as he believed, that a young heart had grown to +his so that its life was dependent on his own. Whether it would have +perished if its filaments had been gently disentangled from the +object to which they had attached themselves, experienced judges of +such matters may perhaps question. To justify Clement in his +estimate of the danger of such an experiment, we must remember that +to young people in their teens a first passion is a portentous and +unprecedented phenomenon. The young man may have been mistaken in +thinking that Susan would die if he left her, and may have done more +than his duty in sacrificing himself; but if so, it was the mistake +of a generous youth, who estimated the depth of another's feelings by +his own. He measured the depth of his own rather by what he felt +they might be, than by that of any abysses they had yet sounded. + +Clement was called a "genius" by those who knew him, and was +consequently in danger of being spoiled early. The risk is great +enough anywhere, but greatest in a new country, where there is an +almost universal want of fixed standards of excellence. + +He was by nature an artist; a shaper with the pencil or the chisel, a +planner, a contriver capable of turning his hand to almost any work +of eye and hand. It would not have been strange if he thought he +could do everything, having gifts which were capable of various +application,--and being an American citizen. But though he was a +good draughtsman, and had made some reliefs and modelled some +figures, he called himself only an architect. He had given him. +self up to his art, not merely from a love of it and talent for it, +but with a kind of heroic devotion, because he thought his country +wanted a race of builders to clothe the new forms of religious, +social, and national life afresh from the forest, the quarry, and the +mine. Some thought he would succeed, others that he would be a +brilliant failure. + +"Grand notions,--grand notions," the master with whom he studied +said. "Large ground plan of life,--splendid elevation. A little +wild in some of his fancies, perhaps, but he's only a boy, and he's +the kind of boy that sometimes grows to be a pretty big man. Wait +and see,--wait and see. He works days, and we can let him dream +nights. There's a good deal of him, anyhow." His fellow-students +were puzzled. Those who thought of their calling as a trade, and +looked forward to the time when they should be embodying the ideals +of municipal authorities in brick and stone, or making contracts with +wealthy citizens, doubted whether Clement would have a sharp eye +enough for business. "Too many whims, you know. All sorts of queer +ideas in his head,--as if a boy like him were going to make things +all over again!". + +No doubt there was something of youthful extravagance in his plans +and expectations. But it was the untamed enthusiasm which is the +source of all great thoughts and deeds,--a beautiful delirium which +age commonly tames down, and for which the cold shower-bath the world +furnishes gratis proves a pretty certain cure. + +Creation is always preceded by chaos. The youthful architect's mind +was confused by the multitude of suggestions which were crowding in +upon it, and which he had not yet had time or developed mature +strength sufficient to reduce to order. The young American of any +freshness of intellect is stimulated to dangerous excess by the +conditions of life into which he is born. There is a double +proportion of oxygen in the New World air. The chemists have not +found it out yet, but human brains and breathing-organs have long +since made the discovery. + +Clement knew that his hasty entanglement had limited his +possibilities of happiness in one direction, and he felt that there +was a certain grandeur in the recompense of working out his defeated +instincts through the ambitious medium of his noble art. Had not +Pharaohs chosen it to proclaim their longings for immortality, +Caesars their passion for pomp and luxury, and priests to symbolize +their conceptions of the heavenly mansions? His dreams were on a +grand scale; such, after all, are the best possessions of youth. Had +he but been free, or mated with a nature akin to his own, he would +have felt himself as truly the heir of creation as any young man that +lived. But his lot was cast, and his youth had all the serious +aspect to himself of thoughtful manhood. In the region of his art +alone he hoped always to find freedom and a companionship which his +home life could never give him. + +Clement meant to have visited his beloved before he left Alderbank, +but was called unexpectedly back to the city. Happily Susan was not +exacting; she looked up to him with too great a feeling of distance +between them to dare to question his actions. Perhaps she found a +partial consolation in the company of Mr. Gifted Hopkins, who tried +his new poems on her, which was the next best thing to addressing +them to her. "Would that you were with us at this delightful +season," she wrote in the autumn; "but no, your Susan must not +repine. Yet, in the beautiful words of our native poet, + +"Oh would, oh would that thou wast here, +For absence makes thee doubly dear; +Ah! what is life while thou 'rt away? +'T is night without the orb of day!'" + +The poet referred to, it need hardly be said, was our young and +promising friend G. H., as he sometimes modestly signed himself. The +letter, it is unnecessary to state, was voluminous,--for a woman can +tell her love, or other matter of interest, over and over again in as +many forms as another poet, not G. H., found for his grief in ringing +the musical changes of "In Memoriam." + +The answers to Susan's letters were kind, but not very long. They +convinced her that it was a simple impossibility that Clement could +come to Oxbow Village, on account of the great pressure of the work +he had to keep him in the city, and the plans he must finish at any +rate. But at last the work was partially got rid of, and Clement was +coming; yes, it was so nice, and, oh dear! should n't she be real +happy to see him? + +To Susan he appeared as a kind of divinity, almost too grand for +human nature's daily food. Yet, if the simple-hearted girl could +have told herself the whole truth in plain words, she would have +confessed to certain doubts which from time to time, and oftener of +late, cast a shadow on her seemingly bright future. With all the +pleasure that the thought of meeting Clement gave her, she felt a +little tremor, a certain degree of awe, in contemplating his visit. +If she could have clothed her self-humiliation in the gold and purple +of the "Portuguese Sonnets," it would have been another matter; but +the trouble with the most common sources of disquiet is that they +have no wardrobe of flaming phraseology to air themselves in; the +inward burning goes on without the relief and gratifying display of +the crater. + +"A friend of mine is coming to the village," she said to Mr. Gifted +Hopkins. "I want you to see him. He is a genius,--as some other +young men are." (This was obviously personal, and the youthful poet +blushed with ingenuous delight.) "I have known him for ever so many +years. He and I are very good friends." The poet knew that this +meant an exclusive relation between them; and though the fact was no +surprise to him, his countenance fell a little. The truth was, that +his admiration was divided between Myrtle, who seemed to him divine +and adorable, but distant, and Susan, who listened to his frequent +poems, whom he was in the habit of seeing in artless domestic +costumes, and whose attractions had been gaining upon him of late in +the enforced absence of his divinity. + +He retired pensive from this interview, and, flinging himself at his +desk, attempted wreaking his thoughts upon expression, to borrow the +language of one of his brother bards, in a passionate lyric which he +began thus + + "ANOTHER'S! + +"Another's! Oh the pang, the smart! + Fate owes to Love a deathless grudge,-- +The barbed fang has rent a heart + Which--which + +"judge--judge,--no, not judge. Budge, drudge, fudge--What a +disgusting language English is! Nothing fit to couple with such a +word as grudge! And the gush of an impassioned moment arrested in +full flow, stopped short, corked up, for want of a paltry rhyme! +Judge,--budge,--drudge,--nudge, oh!--smudge,--misery!--fudge. In +vain,--futile,--no use,--all up for to-night!" + +While the poet, headed off in this way by the poverty of his native +tongue, sought inspiration by retiring into the world of dreams,-- +went to bed, in short, his more fortunate rival was just entering the +village, where he was to make his brief residence at the house of +Deacon Rumrill, who, having been a loser by the devouring element, +was glad to receive a stray boarder when any such were looking about +for quarters. + +For some reason or other he was restless that evening, and took out a +volume he had brought with him to beguile the earlier hours of the +night. It was too late when he arrived to disturb the quiet of Mrs. +Hopkins's household, and whatever may have been Clement's impatience, +he held it in check, and sat tranquilly until midnight over the pages +of the book with which he had prudently provided himself. + +"Hope you slept well last night," said the old Deacon, when Mr. +Clement came down to breakfast the next morning. + +"Very well, thank you,--that is, after I got to bed. But I sat up +pretty late reading my favorite Scott. I am apt to forget how the +hours pass when I have one of his books in my hand." + +The worthy Deacon looked at Mr. Clement with a sudden accession of +interest. + +"You couldn't find better reading, young man. Scott is my favorite +author. A great man. I have got his likeness in a gilt-frame +hanging up in the other room. I have read him all through three +times." + +The young man's countenance brightened. He had not expected to find +so much taste for elegant literature in an old village deacon. + +"What are your favorites among his writings, Deacon? I suppose you +have your particular likings, as the rest of us have." + +The Deacon was flattered by the question. "Well," he answered, "I +can hardly tell you. I like pretty much everything Scott ever wrote. +Sometimes I think it is one thing, and sometimes another. Great on +Paul's Epistles,--don't you think so?" + +The honest fact was, that Clement remembered very little about +"Paul's Letters to his Kinsfolk,"--a book of Sir Walter's less famous +than many of his others; but he signified his polite assent to the +Deacon's statement, rather wondering at his choice of a favorite, and +smiling at his queer way of talking about the Letters as Epistles. + +"I am afraid Scott is not so much read now-a-days as he once was, and +as he ought to be," said Mr. Clement: "Such character, such nature +and so much grace." + +"That's it,--that's it, young man," the Deacon broke in,--"Natur' and +Grace,--Natur' and Grace. Nobody ever knew better what those two +words meant than Scott did, and I'm very glad to see--you've chosen +such good wholesome reading. You can't set up too late, young man, +to read Scott. If I had twenty children, they should all begin +reading Scott as soon as they were old enough to spell sin,--and +that's the first word my little ones learned, next to 'pa' and I +'ma.' Nothing like beginning the lessons of life in good season." + +"What a grim old satirist!" Clement said to himself. "I wonder if +the old man reads other novelists.--Do tell me, Deacon, if you have +read Thackeray's last story? " + +"Thackeray's story? Published by the American Tract Society?" + +"Not exactly," Clement answered, smiling, and quite delighted to find +such an unexpected vein of grave pleasantry about the demure-looking +church-dignitary; for the Deacon asked his question without moving a +muscle, and took no cognizance whatever of the young man's tone and +smile. First-class humorists are, as is well known, remarkable for +the immovable solemnity of their features. Clement promised himself +not a little amusement from the curiously sedate drollery of the +venerable Deacon, who, it was plain from his conversation, had +cultivated a literary taste which would make him a more agreeable +companion than the common ecclesiastics of his grade in country +villages. + +After breakfast, Mr. Clement walked forth in the direction of Mrs. +Hopkins's house, thinking as he went of the pleasant surprise his +visit would bring to his longing and doubtless pensive Susan; for +though she knew he was coming, she did not know that he was at that +moment in Oxbow Village. + +As he drew near the house, the first thing he saw was Susan Posey, +almost running against her just as he turned a corner. She looked +wonderfully lively and rosy, for the weather was getting keen and the +frosts had begun to bite. A young gentleman was walking at her side, +and reading to her from a paper he held in his hand. Both looked +deeply interested,--so much so that Clement felt half ashamed of +himself for intruding upon them so abruptly. + +But lovers are lovers, and Clement could not help joining them. The +first thing, of course, was the utterance of two simultaneous +exclamations, "Why, Clement!" "Why, Susan!" What might have come +next in the programme, but for the presence of a third party, is +matter of conjecture; but what did come next was a mighty awkward +look on the part of Susan Posey, and the following short speech: +"Mr. Lindsay, let me introduce Mr. Hopkins, my friend, the poet I 've +written to you about. He was just reading two of his poems to me. +Some other time, Gifted--Mr. Hopkins." + +"Oh no, Mr. Hopkins,--pray go on," said Clement. "I 'm very fond of +poetry." + +The poet did not require much urging, and began at once reciting over +again the stanzas which were afterwards so much admired in the +"Banner and Oracle,"--the first verse being, as the readers of that +paper will remember, + + "She moves in splendor, like the ray + That flashes from unclouded skies, + And all the charms of night and day + Are mingled in her hair and eyes." + +Clement, who must have been in an agony of impatience to be alone +with his beloved, commanded his feelings admirably. He signified his +approbation of the poem by saying that the lines were smooth and the +rhymes absolutely without blemish. The stanzas reminded him forcibly +of one of the greatest poets of the century. + +Gifted flushed hot with pleasure. He had tasted the blood of his own +rhymes; and when a poet gets as far as that, it is like wringing the +bag of exhilarating gas from the lips of a fellow sucking at it, to +drag his piece away from him. + +"Perhaps you will like these lines still better," he said; "the style +is more modern:-- + + "'O daughter of the spiced South, + Her bubbly grapes have spilled the wine + That staineth with its hue divine + The red flower of thy perfect mouth.'" + +And so on, through a series of stanzas like these, with the pulp of +two rhymes between the upper and lower crust of two others. + +Clement was cornered. It was necessary to say something for the +poet's sake,--perhaps for Susan's; for she was in a certain sense +responsible for the poems of a youth of genius, of whom she had +spoken so often and so enthusiastically. + +"Very good, Mr. Hopkins, and a form of verse little used, I should +think, until of late years. You modelled this piece on the style of +a famous living English poet, did you not?" + +"Indeed I did not, Mr. Lindsay,--I never imitate. Originality is, if +I may be allowed to say so much for myself, my peculiar forte. Why, +the critics allow as much as that. See here, Mr. Lindsay." + +Mr. Gifted Hopkins pulled out his pocket-book, and, taking therefrom +a cutting from a newspaper,--which dropped helplessly open of itself, +as if tired of the process, being very tender in the joints or +creases, by reason of having been often folded and unfolded read +aloud as follows: + +"The bard of Oxbow Pillage--our valued correspondent who writes over +the signature of G. H.--is, in our opinion, more remarkable for his +originality than for any other of his numerous gifts." + +Clement was apparently silenced by this, and the poet a little elated +with a sense of triumph. Susan could not help sharing his feeling of +satisfaction, and without meaning it in the least, nay, without +knowing it, for she was as simple and pure as new milk, edged a +little bit--the merest infinitesimal atom--nearer to Gifted Hopkins, +who was on one side of her, while Clement walked on the other. Women +love the conquering party,--it is the way of their sex. And poets, +as we have seen, are well-nigh irresistible when they exert their +dangerous power of fascination upon the female heart. But Clement +was above jealousy; and, if be perceived anything of this movement, +took no notice of it. + +He saw a good deal of his pretty Susan that day. She was tender in +her expressions and manners as usual, but there was a little +something in her looks and language from time to time that Clement +did not know exactly what to make of. She colored once or twice when +the young poet's name was mentioned. She was not so full of her +little plans for the future as she had sometimes been, "everything +was so uncertain," she said. Clement asked himself whether she felt +quite as sure that her attachment would last as she once did. But +there were no reproaches, not even any explanations, which are about +as bad between lovers. There was nothing but an undefined feeling on +his side that she did not cling quite so closely to him, perhaps, as +he had once thought, and that, if he had happened to have been +drowned that day when he went down with the beautiful young woman, it +was just conceivable that Susan, who would have cried dreadfully, no +doubt, would in time have listened to consolation from some other +young man,--possibly from the young poet whose verses he had been +admiring. Easy-crying widows take new husbands soonest; there is +nothing like wet weather for transplanting, as Master Gridley used to +say. Susan had a fluent natural gift for tears, as Clement well +knew, after the exercise of which she used to brighten up like the +rose which had been washed, just washed in a shower, mentioned by +Cowper. + +As for the poet, he learned more of his own sentiments during this +visit of Clement's than he had ever before known. He wandered about +with a dreadfully disconsolate look upon his countenance. He showed +a falling-off in his appetite at tea-time, which surprised and +disturbed his mother, for she had filled the house with fragrant +suggestions of good things coming, in honor of Mr. Lindsay, who was +to be her guest at tea. And chiefly the genteel form of doughnut +called in the native dialect cymbal ( Qu. Symbol? B. G.) which +graced the board with its plastic forms, suggestive of the most +pleasing objects,--the spiral ringlets pendent from the brow of +beauty; the magic circlet, which is the pledge of plighted +affection,--the indissoluble knot, which typifies the union of +hearts, which organs were also largely represented; this exceptional +delicacy would at any other time have claimed his special notice. +But his mother remarked that he paid little attention to these, and +his, "No, I thank you," when it came to the preserved "damsels," as +some call them, carried a pang with it to the maternal bosom. The +most touching evidence of his unhappiness--whether intentional or the +result of accident was not evident was a broken heart, which he left +upon his plate, the meaning of which was as plain as anything in the +language of flowers. His thoughts were gloomy during that day, +running a good deal on the more picturesque and impressive methods of +bidding a voluntary farewell to a world which had allured him with +visions of beauty only to snatch them from his impassioned gaze. His +mother saw something of this, and got from him a few disjointed +words, which led her to lock up the clothes-line and hide her late +husband's razors,--an affectionate, yet perhaps unnecessary +precaution, for self-elimination contemplated from this point of view +by those who have the natural outlet of verse to relieve them is +rarely followed by a casualty. It may rather be considered as +implying a more than average chance for longevity; as those who +meditate an--imposing finish naturally save themselves for it, and +are therefore careful of their health until the time comes, and this +is apt to be indefinitely postponed so long as there is a poem to +write or a proof to be corrected. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE SECOND MEETING. + +Miss Eveleth requests the pleasure of Mr. Lindsay's company to meet a +few friends on the evening of the Feast of St. Ambrose, December 7th, +Wednesday. + +THE PARSONAGE, December 6th. + + +It was the luckiest thing in the world. They always made a little +festival of that evening at the Rev. Ambrose Eveleth's, in honor of +his canonized namesake, and because they liked to have a good time. +It came this year just at the right moment, for here was a +distinguished stranger visiting in the place. Oxbow Village seemed +to be running over with its one extra young man,--as may be seen +sometimes in larger villages, and even in cities of moderate +dimensions. + +Mr. William Murray Bradshaw had called on Clement the day after his +arrival. He had already met the Deacon in the street, and asked some +questions about his transient boarder. + +A very interesting young man, the Deacon said, much given to the +reading of pious books. Up late at night after he came, reading +Scott's Commentary. Appeared to be as fond of serious works as other +young folks were of their novels and romances and other immoral +publications. He, the Deacon, thought of having a few religious +friends to meet the young gentleman, if he felt so disposed; and +should like to have him, Mr. Bradshaw, come in and take a part in the +exercises.--Mr. Bradshaw was unfortunately engaged. He thought the +young gentleman could hardly find time for such a meeting during his +brief visit. + +Mr. Bradshaw expected naturally to see a youth of imperfect +constitution, and cachectic or dyspeptic tendencies, who was in +training to furnish one of those biographies beginning with the +statement that, from his infancy, the subject of it showed no +inclination for boyish amusements, and so on, until he dies out, for +the simple reason that there was not enough of him to live. Very +interesting, no doubt, Master Byles Gridley would have said, but had +no more to do with good, hearty, sound life than the history of those +very little people to be seen in museums preserved in jars of +alcohol, like brandy peaches. + +When Mr. Clement Lindsay presented himself, Mr. Bradshaw was a good +deal surprised to see a young fellow of such a mould. He pleased +himself with the idea that he knew a man of mark at sight, and he set +down Clement in that category at his first glance. The young man met +his penetrating and questioning look with a frank, ingenuous, open +aspect, before which he felt himself disarmed, as it were, and thrown +upon other means of analysis. He would try him a little in talk. + +"I hope you like these people you are with. What sort of a man do +you find my old friend the Deacon?" + +Clement laughed. "A very queer old character. Loves his joke as +well, and is as sly in making it, as if he had studied Joe Miller +instead of the Catechism." + +Mr. Bradshaw looked at the young man to know what he meant. Mr. +Lindsay talked in a very easy way for a serious young person. He was +puzzled. He did not see to the bottom of this description of the +Deacon. With a lawyer's instinct, he kept his doubts to himself and +tried his witness with a new question. + +"Did you talk about books at all with the old man?" + +"To be sure I did. Would you believe it,--that aged saint is a great +novel-reader. So he tells me. What is more, he brings up his +children to that sort of reading, from the time when they first begin +to spell. If anybody else had told me such a story about an old +country deacon, I wouldn't have believed it; but he said so himself, +to me, at breakfast this morning." + +Mr. Bradshaw felt as if either he or Mr. Lindsay must certainly be in +the first stage of mild insanity, and he did not think that he +himself could be out of his wits. He must try one more question. He +had become so mystified that he forgot himself, and began putting his +interrogation in legal form. + +"Will you state, if you please--I beg your pardon--may I ask who is +your own favorite author?" + +"I think just now I like to read Scott better than almost anybody." + +"Do you mean the Rev. Thomas Scott, author of the Commentary?" + +Clement stared at Mr. Bradshaw, and wondered whether he was trying to +make a fool of him. The young lawyer hardly looked as if he could be +a fool himself. + +"I mean Sir Walter Scott," he said, dryly. + +"Oh!" said Mr. Bradshaw. He saw that there had been a slight +misunderstanding between the young man and his worthy host, but it +was none of his business, and there were other subjects of interest +to talk about. + +"You know one of our charming young ladies very well, I believe, Mr. +Lindsay. I think you are an old acquaintance of Miss Posey, whom we +all consider so pretty." + +Poor Clement! The question pierced to the very marrow of his soul, +but it was put with the utmost suavity and courtesy, and honeyed with +a compliment to the young lady, too, so that there was no avoiding a +direct and pleasant answer to it. + +"Yes," he said, "I have known the young lady you speak of for a long +time, and very well,--in fact, as you must have heard, we are +something more than friends. My visit here is principally on her +account." + +"You must give the rest of us a chance to see something of you during +your visit, Mr. Lindsay. I hope you are invited to Miss Eveleth's +to-morrow evening?" + +"Yes, I got a note this morning. Tell me, Mr. Bradshaw, who is there +that I shall meet if I go? I have no doubt there are girls here in +the village I should like to see, and perhaps some young fellows that +I should like to talk with. You know all that's prettiest and +pleasantest, of course." + +"Oh, we're a little place, Mr. Lindsay. A few nice people, the rest +comme Va, you know. High-bush blackberries and low-bush black- +berries,--you understand,--just so everywhere,--high-bush here and +there, low-bush plenty. You must see the two parsons' daughters, +--Saint Ambrose's and Saint Joseph's,--and another girl I want +particularly to introduce you to. You shall form your own opinion of +her. I call her handsome and stylish, but you have got spoiled, you +know. Our young poet, too, one we raised in this place, Mr. Lindsay, +and a superior article of poet, as we think,--that is, some of us, +for the rest of us are jealous of him, because the girls are all +dying for him and want his autograph. And Cyp,--yes, you must talk +to Cyp,--he has ideas. But don't forget to get hold of old Byles +Master Gridley I mean--before you go. Big head. Brains enough for a +cabinet minister, and fit out a college faculty with what was left +over. Be sure you see old Byles. Set him talking about his book, +'Thoughts on the Universe.' Did n't sell much, but has got knowing +things in it. I'll show you a copy, and then you can tell him you +know it, and he will take to you. Come in and get your dinner with +me to-morrow. We will dine late, as the city folks do, and after +that we will go over to the Rector's. I should like to show you some +of our village people." + +Mr. Bradshaw liked the thought of showing the young man to some of +his friends there. As Clement was already "done for," or "bowled +out," as the young lawyer would have expressed the fact of his being +pledged in the matrimonial direction, there was nothing to be +apprehended on the score of rivalry. And although Clement was +particularly good-looking, and would have been called a +distinguishable youth anywhere, Mr. Bradshaw considered himself far +more than his match, in all probability, in social accomplishments. +He expected, therefore, a certain amount of reflex credit for +bringing such a fine young fellow in his company, and a second +instalment of reputation from outshining him in conversation. This +was rather nice calculating, but Murray Bradshaw always calculated. +With most men life is like backgammon, half skill, and half luck, but +with him it was like chess. He never pushed a pawn without reckoning +the cost, and when his mind was least busy it was sure to be half a +dozen moves ahead of the game as it was standing. + +Mr. Bradshaw gave Clement a pretty dinner enough for such a place as +Oxbow Village. He offered him some good wine, and would have made +him talk so as to show his lining, to use one of his own expressions, +but Clement had apparently been through that trifling experience, and +could not be coaxed into saying more than he meant to say. Murray +Bradshaw was very curious to find out how it was that he had become +the victim of such a rudimentary miss as Susan Posey. Could she be +an heiress in disguise? Why no, of course not; had not he made all +proper inquiries about that when Susan came to town? A small +inheritance from an aunt or uncle, or some such relative, enough to +make her a desirable party in the eyes of certain villagers perhaps, +but nothing to allure a man like this, whose face and figure as +marketable possessions were worth say a hundred thousand in the +girl's own right, as Mr. Bradshaw put it roughly, with another +hundred thousand if his talent is what some say, and if his +connection is a desirable one, a fancy price,--anything he would +fetch. Of course not. Must have got caught when he was a child. +Why the diavolo didn't he break it off, then? + +There was no fault to find with the modest entertainment at the +Parsonage. A splendid banquet in a great house is an admirable +thing, provided always its getting up did not cost the entertainer an +inward conflict, nor its recollection a twinge of economical regret, +nor its bills a cramp of anxiety. A simple evening party in the +smallest village is just as admirable in its degree, when the parlor +is cheerfully lighted, and the board prettily spread, and the guests +are made to feel comfortable without being reminded that anybody is +making a painful effort. + +We know several of the young people who were there, and need not +trouble ourselves for the others. Myrtle Hazard had promised to +come. She had her own way of late as never before; in fact, the +women were afraid of her. Miss Silence felt that she could not be +responsible for her any longer. She had hopes for a time that Myrtle +would go through the customary spiritual paroxysm under the influence +of the Rev. Mr. Stoker's assiduous exhortations; but since she had +broken off with him, Miss Silence had looked upon her as little +better than a backslider. And now that the girl was beginning to +show the tendencies which seemed to come straight down to her from +the belle of the last century, (whose rich physical developments +seemed to the under-vitalized spinster as in themselves a kind of +offence against propriety,) the forlorn woman folded her thin hands +and looked on hopelessly, hardly venturing a remonstrance for fear of +some new explosion. As for Cynthia, she was comparatively easy since +she had, through Mr. Byles Gridley, upset the minister's questionable +arrangement of religious intimacy. She had, in fact, in a quiet way, +given Mr. Bradshaw to understand that he would probably meet Myrtle +at the Parsonage if he dropped in at their small gathering. Clement +walked over to Mrs. Hopkins's after his dinner with the young lawyer, +and asked if Susan was ready to go with him. At the sound of his +voice, Gifted Hopkins smote his forehead, and called himself, in +subdued tones, a miserable being. His imagination wavered uncertain +for a while between pictures of various modes of ridding himself of +existence, and fearful deeds involving the life of others. He had no +fell purpose of actually doing either, but there was a gloomy +pleasure in contemplating them as possibilities, and in mentally +sketching the "Lines written in Despair" which would be found in what +was but an hour before the pocket of the youthful bard, G. H., victim +of a hopeless passion. All this emotion was in the nature of a +surprise to the young man. He had fully believed himself desperately +in love with Myrtle Hazard; and it was not until Clement came into +the family circle with the right of eminent domain over the realm of +Susan's affections, that this unfortunate discovered that Susan's +pretty ways and morning dress and love of poetry and liking for his +company had been too much for him, and that he was henceforth to be +wretched during the remainder of his natural life, except so far as +he could unburden himself in song. + +Mr. William Murray Bradshaw had asked the privilege of waiting upon +Myrtle to the little party at the Eveleths. Myrtle was not +insensible to the attractions of the young lawyer, though she had +never thought of herself except as a child in her relations with any +of these older persons. But she was not the same girl that she had +been but a few months before. She had achieved her independence by +her audacious and most dangerous enterprise. She had gone through +strange nervous trials and spiritual experiences which had matured +her more rapidly than years of common life would have done. She had +got back her health, bringing with it a riper wealth of womanhood. +She had found her destiny in the consciousness that she inherited the +beauty belonging to her blood, and which, after sleeping for a +generation or two as if to rest from the glare of the pageant that +follows beauty through its long career of triumph, had come to the +light again in her life, and was to repeat the legends of the olden +time in her own history. + +Myrtle's wardrobe had very little of ornament, such as the modistes +of the town would have thought essential to render a young girl like +her presentable. There were a few heirlooms of old date, however, +which she had kept as curiosities until now, and which she looked +over until she found some lace and other convertible material, with +which she enlivened her costume a little for the evening. As she +clasped the antique bracelet around her wrist, she felt as if it were +an amulet that gave her the power of charming which had been so long +obsolete in her lineage. At the bottom of her heart she cherished a +secret longing to try her fascinations on the young lawyer. Who +could blame her? It was not an inwardly expressed intention,--it was +the simple instinctive movement to subjugate the strongest of the +other sex who had come in her way, which, as already said, is as +natural to a woman as it is to a man to be captivated by the +loveliest of those to whom he dares to aspire. + +Before William Murray Bradshaw and Myrtle Hazard had reached the +Parsonage, the girl's cheeks were flushed and her dark eyes were +flashing with a new excitement. The young man had not made love to +her directly, but he had interested her in herself by a delicate and +tender flattery of manner, and so set her fancies working that she +was taken with him as never before, and wishing that the Parsonage +had been a mile farther from The Poplars. It was impossible for a +young girl like Myrtle to conceal the pleasure she received from +listening to her seductive admirer, who was trying all his trained +skill upon his artless companion. Murray Bradshaw felt sure that the +game was in his hands if he played it with only common prudence. +There was no need of hurrying this child,--it might startle her to +make downright love abruptly; and now that he had an ally in her own +household, and was to have access to her with a freedom he had never +before enjoyed, there was a refined pleasure in playing his fish,-- +this gamest of golden-scaled creatures,--which had risen to his fly, +and which he wished to hook, but not to land, until he was sure it +would be worth his while. + +They entered the little parlor at the Parsonage looking so beaming, +that Olive and Bathsheba exchanged glances which implied so much that +it would take a full page to tell it with all the potentialities +involved. + +"How magnificent Myrtle is this evening, Bathsheba!" said Cyprian +Eveleth, pensively. + +"What a handsome pair they are, Cyprian!" said Bathsheba cheerfully. + +Cyprian sighed. "She always fascinates me whenever I look upon her. +Is n't she the very picture of what a poet's love should be,--a poem +herself,--a glorious lyric,--all light and music! See what a smile +the creature has! And her voice! When did you ever hear such tones? +And when was it ever so full of life before." + +Bathsheba sighed. "I do not know any poets but Gifted Hopkins. Does +not Myrtle look more in her place by the side of Murray Bradshaw than +she would with Gifted hitched on her arm?" + +Just then the poet made his appearance. He looked depressed, as if +it had cost him an effort to come. He was, however, charged with a +message which he must deliver to the hostess of the evening. + +"They 're coming presently," he said. "That young man and Susan. +Wants you to introduce him, Mr. Bradshaw." + +The bell rang presently, and Murray Bradshaw slipped out into the +entry to meet the two lovers. + +"How are you, my fortunate friend?" he said, as he met them at the +door. "Of course you're well and happy as mortal man can be in this +vale of tears. Charming, ravishing, quite delicious, that way of +dressing your hair, Miss Posey! Nice girls here this evening, Mr. +Lindsay. Looked lovely when I came out of the parlor. Can't say how +they will show after this young lady puts in an appearance." In +reply to which florid speeches Susan blushed, not knowing what else +to do, and Clement smiled as naturally as if he had been sitting for +his photograph. + +He felt, in a vague way, that he and Susan were being patronized, +which is not a pleasant feeling to persons with a certain pride of +character. There was no expression of contempt about Mr. Bradshaw's +manner or language at which he could take offence. Only he had the +air of a man who praises his neighbor without stint, with a calm +consciousness that he himself is out of reach of comparison in the +possessions or qualities which he is admiring in the other. Clement +was right in his obscure perception of Mr. Bradshaw's feeling while +he was making his phrases. That gentleman was, in another moment, to +have the tingling delight of showing the grand creature he had just +begun to tame. He was going to extinguish the pallid light of +Susan's prettiness in the brightness of Myrtle's beauty. He would +bring this young man, neutralized and rendered entirely harmless by +his irrevocable pledge to a slight girl, face to face with a +masterpiece of young womanhood, and say to him, not in words, but as +plainly as speech could have told him, "Behold my captive!" + +It was a proud moment for Murray Bradshaw. He had seen, or thought +that he had seen, the assured evidence of a speedy triumph over all +the obstacles of Myrtle's youth and his own present seeming slight +excess of maturity. Unless he were very greatly mistaken, he could +now walk the course; the plate was his, no matter what might be the +entries. And this youth, this handsome, spirited-looking, noble- +aired young fellow, whose artist-eye could not miss a line of +Myrtle's proud and almost defiant beauty, was to be the witness of +his power, and to look in admiration upon his prize! He introduced +him to the others, reserving her for the last. She was at that +moment talking with the worthy Rector, and turned when Mr. Bradshaw +spoke to her. + +"Miss Hazard, will you allow me to present to you my friend, Mr. +Clement Lindsay?" + +They looked full upon each other, and spoke the common words of +salutation. It was a strange meeting; but we who profess to tell the +truth must tell strange things, or we shall be liars. + +In poor little Susan's letter there was some allusion to a bust of +Innocence which the young artist had begun, but of which he had said +nothing in his answer to her. He had roughed out a block of marble +for that impersonation; sculpture was a delight to him, though +secondary to his main pursuit. After his memorable adventure, the +image of the girl he had rescued so haunted him that the pale ideal +which was to work itself out in the bust faded away in its perpetual +presence, and--alas, poor Susan! in obedience to the impulse that he +could not control, he left Innocence sleeping in the marble, and +began modelling a figure of proud and noble and imperious beauty, to +which he gave the name of Liberty. + +The original which had inspired his conception was before him. These +were the lips to which his own had clung when he brought her back +from the land of shadows. The hyacinthine curl of her lengthening +locks had added something to her beauty; but it was the same face +which had haunted him. This was the form he had borne seemingly +lifeless in his arms, and the bosom which heaved so visibly before +him was that which his eyes they were the calm eyes of a sculptor, +but of a sculptor hardly twenty years old. + +Yes,--her bosom was heaving. She had an unexplained feeling of +suffocation, and drew great breaths,--she could not have said why, +--but she could not help it; and presently she became giddy, and had +a great noise in her ears, and rolled her eyes about, and was on the +point of going into an hysteric spasm. They called Dr. Hurlbut, who +was making himself agreeable to Olive just then, to come and see what +was the matter with Myrtle. + +"A little nervous turn,--that is all," he said. + +"Open the window. Loose the ribbon round her neck. Rub her hands. +Sprinkle some water on her forehead. + +"A few drops of cologne. Room too warm for her,--that 's all, I +think." + +Myrtle came to herself after a time without anything like a regular +paroxysm. But she was excitable, and whatever the cause of the +disturbance may have been, it seemed prudent that she should go home +early; and the excellent Rector insisted on caring for her, much to +the discontent of Mr. William Murray Bradshaw. + +"Demonish odd," said this gentleman, "was n't it, Mr. Lindsay, that +Miss Hazard should go off in that way. Did you ever see her before?" + +"I--I--have seen that young lady before," Clement answered. + +"Where did you meet her?" Mr. Bradshaw asked, with eager interest. + +"I met her in the Valley of the Shadow of Death," Clement answered, +very solemnly.--"I leave this place to-morrow morning. Have you any +commands for the city?" + +"Knows how to shut a fellow up pretty well for a young one, doesn't +he?" Mr. Bradshaw thought to himself. + +"Thank you, no," he answered, recovering himself. "Rather a +melancholy place to make acquaintance in, I should think, that Valley +you spoke of. I should like to know about it." + +Mr. Clement had the power of looking steadily into another person's +eyes in a way that was by no means encouraging to curiosity or +favorable to the process of cross-examination. Mr. Bradshaw was not +disposed to press his question in the face of the calm, repressive +look the young man gave him. + +"If he was n't bagged, I shouldn't like the shape of things any too +well," he said to himself. + +The conversation between Mr. Clement Lindsay and Miss Susan Posey, as +they walked home together, was not very brilliant. "I am going to- +morrow morning," he said, "and I must bid you good-by tonight." +Perhaps it is as well to leave two lovers to themselves, under these +circumstances. + +Before he went he spoke to his worthy host, whose moderate demands he +had to satisfy, and with whom he wished to exchange a few words. + +"And by the way, Deacon, I have no use for this book, and as it is in +a good type, perhaps you would like it. Your favorite, Scott, and +one of his greatest works. I have another edition of it at home, and +don't care for this volume." + +"Thank you, thank you, Mr. Lindsay, much obleeged. I shall read that +copy for your sake, the best of books next to the Bible itself." + +After Mr. Lindsay had gone, the Deacon looked at the back of the +book. "Scott's Works, Vol. IX." He opened it at hazard, and +happened to fall on a well-known page, from which he began reading +aloud, slowly, + + "When Izrul, of the Lord beloved, + Out of the land of bondage came." + +The whole hymn pleased the grave Deacon. He had never seen this work +of the author of the Commentary. No matter; anything that such a +good man wrote must be good reading, and he would save it up for +Sunday. The consequence of this was, that, when the Rev. Mr. Stoker +stopped in on his way to meeting on the "Sabbath," he turned white +with horror at the spectacle of the senior Deacon of his church +sitting, open-mouthed and wide-eyed, absorbed in the pages of +"Ivanhoe," which he found enormously interesting; but, so far as he +had yet read, not occupied with religious matters so much as he had +expected. + +Myrtle had no explanation to give of her nervous attack. Mr. +Bradshaw called the day after the party, but did not see her. He met +her walking, and thought she seemed a little more distant than +common. That would never do. He called again at The Poplars a few +days afterwards, and was met in the entry by Miss Cynthia, with whom +he had a long conversation on matters involving Myrtle's interests +and their own. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +MADNESS? + +Mr. Clement Lindsay returned to the city and his usual labors in a +state of strange mental agitation. He had received an impression for +which he was unprepared. He had seen for the second time a young +girl whom, for the peace of his own mind, and for the happiness of +others, he should never again have looked upon until Time had taught +their young hearts the lesson which all hearts must learn, sooner or +later. + +What shall the unfortunate person do who has met with one of those +disappointments, or been betrayed into one of those positions, which +do violence to all the tenderest feelings, blighting the happiness of +youth, and the prospects of after years? + +If the person is a young man, he has various resources. He can take +to the philosophic meerschaum, and nicotine himself at brief +intervals into a kind of buzzing and blurry insensibility, until he +begins to "color" at last like the bowl of his own pipe, and even his +mind gets the tobacco flavor. Or he can have recourse to the more +suggestive stimulants, which will dress his future up for him in +shining possibilities that glitter like Masonic regalia, until the +morning light and the waking headache reveal his illusion. Some kind +of spiritual anaesthetic he must have, if he holds his grief fast +tied to his heartstrings. But as grief must be fed with thought, or +starve to death, it is the best plan to keep the mind so busy in +other ways that it has no time to attend to the wants of that +ravening passion. To sit down and passively endure it, is apt to end +in putting all the mental machinery into disorder. + +Clement Lindsay had thought that his battle of life was already +fought, and that he had conquered. He believed that he had subdued +himself completely, and that he was ready, without betraying a shadow +of disappointment, to take the insufficient nature which destiny had +assigned him in his companion, and share with it all of his own +larger being it was capable, not of comprehending, but of +apprehending. + +He had deceived himself. The battle was not fought and won. There +had been a struggle, and what seemed to be a victory, but the enemy +--intrenched in the very citadel of life--had rallied, and would make +another desperate attempt to retrieve his defeat. + +The haste with which the young man had quitted the village was only a +proof that he felt his danger. He believed that, if he came into the +presence of Myrtle Hazard for the third time, he should be no longer +master of his feelings. Some explanation must take place between +them, and how was it possible that it should be without emotion? and +in what do all emotions shared by a young man with such a young girl +as this tend to find their last expression? + +Clement determined to stun his sensibilities by work. He would give +himself no leisure to indulge in idle dreams of what might have been. +His plans were never so carefully finished, and his studies were +never so continuous as now. But the passion still wrought within +him, and, if he drove it from his waking thoughts, haunted his sleep +until he could endure it no longer, and must give it some +manifestation. He had covered up the bust of Liberty so closely, +that not an outline betrayed itself through the heavy folds of +drapery in which it was wrapped. His thoughts recurred to his +unfinished marble, as offering the one mode in which he could find a +silent outlet to the feelings and thoughts which it was torture to +keep imprisoned in his soul. The cold stone would tell them, but +without passion; and having got the image which possessed him out of +himself into a lifeless form, it seemed as if he might be delivered +from a presence which, lovely as it was, stood between him and all +that made him seem honorable and worthy to himself. + +He uncovered the bust which he had but half shaped, and struck the +first flake from the glittering marble. The toil, once begun, +fascinated him strangely, and after the day's work was done, and at +every interval he could snatch from his duties, he wrought at his +secret task. + +"Clement is graver than ever," the young men said at the office. +"What's the matter, do you suppose? Turned off by the girl they say +he means to marry by and by? How pale he looks too! Must have +something worrying him: he used to look as fresh as a clove pink." + +The master with whom he studied saw that he was losing color, and +looking very much worn; and determined to find out, if he could, +whether he was not overworking himself. He soon discovered that his +light was seen burning late into the night, that he was neglecting +his natural rest, and always busy with some unknown task, not called +for in his routine of duty or legitimate study. + +"Something is wearing on you, Clement," he said. "You are killing +yourself with undertaking too much. Will you let me know what keeps +you so busy when you ought to be asleep, or taking your ease and +comfort in some way or other?" + +Nobody but himself had ever seen his marble or its model. He had now +almost finished it, laboring at it with such sleepless devotion, and +he was willing to let his master have a sight of his first effort of +the kind,--for he was not a sculptor, it must be remembered, though +he had modelled in clay, not without some success, from time to time. + +"Come with me," he said. + +The master climbed the stairs with him up to his modest chamber. A +closely shrouded bust stood on its pedestal in the light of the +solitary window. + +"That is my ideal personage," Clement said. "Wait one moment, and +you shall see how far I have caught the character of our uncrowned +queen." + +The master expected, very naturally, to see the conventional young +woman with classical wreath or feather headdress, whom we have placed +upon our smallest coin, so that our children may all grow up loving +Liberty. + +As Clement withdrew the drapery that covered his work, the master +stared at it in amazement. He looked at it long and earnestly, and +at length turned his eyes, a little moistened by some feeling which +thus betrayed itself, upon his scholar. + +"This is no ideal, Clement. It is the portrait of a very young but +very beautiful woman. No common feeling could have guided your hand +in shaping such a portrait from memory. This must be that friend of +yours of whom I have often heard as an amiable young person. Pardon +me, for you know that nobody cares more for you than I do,--I hope +that you are happy in all your relations with this young friend of +yours. How could one be otherwise?" + +It was hard to bear, very hard. He forced a smile. "You are partly +right," he said. "There is a resemblance, I trust, to a living +person, for I had one in my mind." + +"Did n't you tell me once, Clement, that you were attempting a bust +of Innocence? I do not see any block in your room but this. Is that +done?" + +"Done with!" Clement answered; and, as he said it, the thought stung +through him that this was the very stone which was to have worn the +pleasant blandness of pretty Susan's guileless countenance. How the +new features had effaced the recollection of the others! + +In a few days more Clement had finished his bust. His hours were +again vacant to his thick-coming fancies. While he had been busy +with his marble, his hands had required his attention, and he must +think closely of every detail upon which he was at work. But at +length his task was done, and he could contemplate what he had made +of it. It was a triumph for one so little exercised in sculpture. +The master had told him so, and his own eye could not deceive him. +He might never succeed in any repetition of his effort, but this once +he most certainly had succeeded. He could not disguise from himself +the source of this extraordinary good fortune in so doubtful and +difficult an attempt. Nor could he resist the desire of +contemplating the portrait bust, which--it was foolish to talk about +ideals--was not Liberty, but Myrtle Hazard. + +It was too nearly like the story of the ancient sculptor; his own +work was an over-match for its artist. Clement had made a mistake in +supposing that by giving his dream a material form he should drive it +from the possession of his mind. The image in which he had fixed his +recollection of its original served only to keep her living presence +before him. He thought of her as she clasped her arms around him, +and they were swallowed up in the rushing waters, coming so near to +passing into the unknown world together. He thought of her as he +stretched her lifeless form upon the bank, and looked for one brief +moment on her unsunned loveliness,--"a sight to dream of, not to +tell." He thought of her as his last fleeting glimpse had shown her, +beautiful, not with the blossomy prettiness that passes away with the +spring sunshine, but with a rich vitality of which noble outlines and +winning expression were only the natural accidents. And that +singular impression which the sight of him had produced upon her, +--how strange! How could she but have listened to him,--to him, who +was, as it were, a second creator to her, for he had bought her back +from the gates of the unseen realm,--if he had recalled to her the +dread moments they had passed in each other's arms, with death, not +love, in all their thoughts. And if then he had told her how her +image had remained with him, how it had colored all his visions, and +mingled with all his conceptions, would not those dark eyes have +melted as they were turned upon him? Nay, how could he keep the +thought away, that she would not have been insensible to his passion, +if he could have suffered its flame to kindle in his heart? Did it +not seem as if Death had spared them for Love, and that Love should +lead them together through life's long journey to the gates of Death? + +Never! never! never! Their fates were fixed. For him, poor insect +as he was, a solitary flight by day, and a return at evening to his +wingless mate! For her--he thought he saw her doom. + +Could he give her up to the cold embraces of that passionless +egotist, who, as he perceived plainly enough, was casting his shining +net all around her? Clement read Murray Bradshaw correctly. He +could not perhaps have spread his character out in set words, as we +must do for him, for it takes a long apprenticeship to learn to +describe analytically what we know as soon as we see it; but he felt +in his inner consciousness all that we must tell for him. +Fascinating, agreeable, artful, knowing, capable of winning a woman +infinitely above himself, incapable of understanding her,--oh, if he +could but touch him with the angel's spear, and bid him take his true +shape before her whom he was gradually enveloping in the silken +meshes of his subtle web! He would make a place for her in the +world,--oh yes, doubtless. He would be proud of her in company, +would dress her handsomely, and show her off in the best lights. But +from the very hour that he felt his power over her firmly +established, he would begin to remodel her after his own worldly +pattern. He would dismantle her of her womanly ideals, and give her +in their place his table of market-values. He would teach her to +submit her sensibilities to her selfish interest, and her tastes to +the fashion of the moment, no matter which world or half-world it +came from. "As the husband is, the wife is,"--he would subdue her to +what he worked in. + +All this Clement saw, as in apocalyptic vision, stored up for the +wife of Murray Bradshaw, if he read him rightly, as he felt sure he +did, from the few times he had seen him. He would be rich by and by, +very probably. He looked like one of those young men who are sharp, +and hard enough to come to fortune. Then she would have to take her +place in the great social exhibition where the gilded cages are daily +opened that the animals may be seen, feeding on the sight of +stereotyped toilets and the sound of impoverished tattle. O misery +of semi-provincial fashionable life, where wealth is at its wit's end +to avoid being tired of an existence which has all the labor of +keeping up appearances, without the piquant profligacy which saves it +at least from being utterly vapid! How many fashionable women at the +end of a long season would be ready to welcome heaven itself as a +relief from the desperate monotony of dressing, dawdling, and +driving! + +This could not go on so forever. Clement had placed a red curtain so +as to throw a rose-bloom on his marble, and give it an aspect which +his fancy turned to the semblance of life. He would sit and look at +the features his own hand had so faithfully wrought, until it seemed +as if the lips moved, sometimes as if they were smiling, sometimes as +if they were ready to speak to him. His companions began to whisper +strange things of him in the studio,--that his eye was getting an +unnatural light,--that he talked as if to imaginary listeners,--in +short, that there was a look as if something were going wrong with +his brain, which it might be feared would spoil his fine +intelligence. It was the undecided battle, and the enemy, as in his +noblest moments he had considered the growing passion, was getting +the better of him. + +He was sitting one afternoon before the fatal bust which had smiled +and whispered away his peace, when the post-man brought him a letter. +It was from the simple girl to whom he had given his promise. We +know how she used to prattle in her harmless way about her innocent +feelings, and the trifling matters that were going on in her little +village world. But now she wrote in sadness. Something, she did not +too clearly explain what, had grieved her, and she gave free +expression to her feelings. "I have no one that loves me but you," +she said; "and if you leave me I must droop and die. Are you true to +me, dearest Clement,--true as when we promised each other that we +would love while life lasted? Or have you forgotten one who will +never cease to remember that she was once your own Susan?" + +Clement dropped the letter from his hand, and sat a long hour looking +at the exquisitely wrought features of her who had come between him +and honor and his plighted word. + +At length he arose, and, lifting the bust tenderly from its pedestal, +laid it upon the cloth with which it had been covered. He wrapped it +closely, fold upon fold, as the mother whom man condemns and God +pities wraps the child she loves before she lifts her hand against +its life. Then he took a heavy hammer and shattered his lovely idol +into shapeless fragments. The strife was over. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +A CHANGE OF PROGRAMME. + +Mr. William Murray Bradshaw was in pretty intimate relations with +Miss Cynthia Badlam. It was well understood between them that it +might be of very great advantage to both of them if he should in due +time become the accepted lover of Myrtle Hazard. So long as he could +be reasonably secure against interference, he did not wish to hurry +her in making her decision. Two things he did wish to be sure of, if +possible, before asking her the great question;--first, that she +would answer it in the affirmative; and secondly, that certain +contingencies, the turning of which was not as yet absolutely capable +of being predicted, should happen as he expected. Cynthia had the +power of furthering his wishes in many direct and indirect ways, and +he felt sure of her cooperation. She had some reason to fear his +enmity if she displeased him, and he had taken good care to make her +understand that her interests would be greatly promoted by the +success of the plan which he had formed, and which was confided to +her alone. + +He kept the most careful eye on every possible source of disturbance +to this quietly maturing plan. He had no objection to have Gifted +Hopkins about Myrtle as much as she would endure to have him. The +youthful bard entertained her very innocently with his bursts of +poetry, but she was in no danger from a young person so intimately +associated with the yard-stick, the blunt scissors, and the brown- +paper parcel. There was Cyprian too, about whom he did not feel any +very particular solicitude. Myrtle had evidently found out that she +was handsome and stylish and all that, and it was not very likely she +would take up with such a bashful, humble, country youth as this. He +could expect nothing beyond a possible rectorate in the remote +distance, with one of those little pony chapels to preach in, which, +if it were set up on a stout pole, would pass for a good-sized +martin-house. Cyprian might do to practise on, but there was no +danger of her looking at him in a serious way. As for that youth, +Clement Lindsay, if he had not taken himself off as he did, Murray +Bradshaw confessed to himself that he should have felt uneasy. He +was too good-looking, and too clever a young fellow to have knocking +about among fragile susceptibilities. But on reflection he saw there +could be no danger. + +"All up with him,--poor diavolo! Can't understand it--such a little +sixpenny miss--pretty enough boiled parsnip blonde, if one likes that +sort of thing--pleases some of the old boys, apparently. Look out, +Mr. L. remember Susanna and the Elders. Good! + +"Safe enough if something new doesn't turn up. Youngish. Sixteen's +a little early. Seventeen will do. Marry a girl while she's in the +gristle, and you can shape her bones for her. Splendid creature +without her trimmings. Wants training. Must learn to dance, and +sing something besides psalm-tunes." + +Mr. Bradshaw began humming the hymn, "When I can read my title +clear," adding some variations of his own. "That 's the solo for my +prima donna!" + +In the mean time Myrtle seemed to be showing some new developments. +One would have said that the instincts of the coquette, or at least +of the city belle, were coming uppermost in her nature. Her little +nervous attack passed away, and she gained strength and beauty every +day. She was becoming conscious of her gifts of fascination, and +seemed to please herself with the homage of her rustic admirers. Why +was it that no one of them had the look and bearing of that young man +she had seen but a moment the other evening? To think that he should +have taken up with such a weakling as Susan Posey! She sighed, and +not so much thought as felt how kind it would have been in Heaven to +have made her such a man. But the image of the delicate blonde stood +between her and all serious thought of Clement Lindsay. She saw the +wedding in the distance, and very foolishly thought to herself that +she could not and would not go to it. + +But Clement Lindsay was gone, and she must content herself with such +worshippers as the village afforded. Murray Bradshaw was surprised +and confounded at the easy way in which she received his compliments, +and played with his advances, after the fashion of the trained ball- +room belles, who know how to be almost caressing in manner, and yet +are really as far off from the deluded victim of their suavities as +the topmost statue of the Milan cathedral from the peasant that +kneels on its floor. He admired her all the more for this, and yet +he saw that she would be a harder prize to win than he had once +thought. If he made up his mind that he would have her, he must go +armed with all implements, from the red hackle to the harpoon. + +The change which surprised Murray Bradshaw could not fail to be +noticed by all those about her. Miss Silence had long ago come to +pantomime, rolling up of eyes, clasping of hands, making of sad +mouths, and the rest,--but left her to her own way, as already the +property of that great firm of World & Co. which drives such sharp +bargains for young souls with the better angels. Cynthia studied her +for her own purposes, but had never gained her confidence. The Irish +servant saw that some change had come over her, and thought of the +great ladies she had sometimes looked upon in the old country. They +all had a kind of superstitious feeling about Myrtle's bracelet, of +which she had told them the story, but which Kitty half believed was +put in the drawer by the fairies, who brought her ribbons and +partridge feathers, and other slight adornments with which she +contrived to set off her simple costume, so as to produce those +effects which an eye for color and cunning fingers can bring out of +almost nothing. + +Gifted Hopkins was now in a sad, vacillating condition, between the +two great attractions to which he was exposed. Myrtle looked so +immensely handsome ere Sunday when he saw her going to church, not to +meeting, for she world not go, except when she knew Father Pemberton +was going to be the preacher, that the young poet was on the point of +going down on his knees to her, and telling her that his heart was +hers and hers alone. But he suddenly remembered that he had on his +best trousers, and the idea of carrying the marks of his devotion in +the shape of two dusty impressions on his most valued article of +apparel turned the scale against the demonstration. It happened the +next morning, that Susan Posey wore the most becoming ribbon she had +displayed for a long time, and Gifted was so taken with her pretty +looks that he might very probably have made the same speech to her +that he had been on the point of making to Myrtle the day before, but +that he remembered her plighted affections, and thought what he +should have to say for himself when Clement Lindsay, in a frenzy of +rage and jealousy, stood before him, probably armed with as many +deadly instruments as a lawyer mentions by name in an indictment for +murder. + +Cyprian Eveleth looked very differently on the new manifestations +Myrtle was making of her tastes and inclinations. He had always felt +dazzled, as well as attracted, by her; but now there was something in +her expression and manner which made him feel still more strongly +that they were intended for different spheres of life. He could not +but own that she was born for a brilliant destiny,--that no ball- +room would throw a light from its chandeliers too strong for her, +--that no circle would be too brilliant for her to illuminate by her +presence. Love does not thrive without hope, and Cyprian was +beginning to see that it was idle in him to think of folding these +wide wings of Myrtle's so that they would be shut up in any cage he +could ever offer her. He began to doubt whether, after all, he might +not find a meeker and humbler nature better adapted to his own. And +so it happened that one evening after the three girls, Olive, Myrtle, +and Bathsheba, had been together at the Parsonage, and Cyprian, +availing himself of a brother's privilege, had joined them, he found +he had been talking most of the evening with the gentle girl whose +voice had grown so soft and sweet, during her long ministry in the +sick-chamber, that it seemed to him more like music than speech. It +would not be fair to say that Myrtle was piqued to see that Cyprian +was devoting himself to Bathsheba. Her ambition was already reaching +beyond her little village circle, and she had an inward sense that +Cyprian found a form of sympathy in the minister's simple-minded +daughter which he could not ask from a young woman of her own +aspirations. + +Such was the state of affairs when Master Byles Gridley was one +morning surprised by an early call from Myrtle. He had a volume of +Walton's Polyglot open before him, and was reading Job in the +original, when she entered. + +"Why, bless me, is that my young friend Miss Myrtle Hazard?" he +exclaimed. "I might call you Keren-Happuch, which is Hebrew for +Child of Beauty, and not be very far out of the way, Job's youngest +daughter, my dear. And what brings my young friend out in such good +season this morning? Nothing going wrong up at our ancient mansion, +The Poplars, I trust?" + +"I want to talk with you, dear Master Gridley," she answered. She +looked as if she did not know just how to begin. + +"Anything that interests you, Myrtle, interests me. I think you have +some project in that young head of yours, my child. Let us have it, +in all its dimensions, length, breadth, and thickness. I think I can +guess, Myrtle, that we have a little plan of some kind or other. +We don't visit Papa Job quite so early as this without some special +cause,--do we, Miss Keren-Happuch?" + +"I want to go to the city--to school," Myrtle said, with the +directness which belonged to her nature. + +"That is precisely what I want you to do myself, Miss Myrtle Hazard. +I don't like to lose you from the village, but I think we must spare +you for a while." + +"You're the best and dearest man that ever lived. What could have +made you think of such a thing for me, Mr. Gridley?" + +"Because you are ignorant, my child,--partly I want to see you fitted +to take a look at the world without feeling like a little country +miss. Has your aunt Silence promised to bear your expenses while you +are in the city? It will cost a good deal of money." + +"I have not said a word to her about it. I am sure I don't know what +she would say. But I have some money, Mr. Gridley." + +She showed him a purse with gold, telling him how she came by it. +"There is some silver besides. Will it be enough?" + +"No, no, my child, we must not meddle with that. Your aunt will let +me put it in the bank for you, I think, where it will be safe. But +that shall not make any difference. I have got a little money lying +idle, which you may just as well have the use of as not. You can pay +it back perhaps some time or other; if you did not, it would not make +much difference. I am pretty much alone in the world, and except a +book now and then--Aut liberos aut libros, as our valiant heretic has +it,--you ought to know a little Latin, Myrtle, but never mind--I have +not much occasion for money. You shall go to the best school that +any of our cities can offer, Myrtle, and you shall stay there until +we agree that you are fitted to come back to us an ornament to Oxbow +Village, and to larger places than this if you are called there. We +have had some talk about it, your aunt Silence and I, and it is all +settled. Your aunt does not feel very rich just now, or perhaps she +would do more for you. She has many pious and poor friends, and it +keeps her funds low. Never mind, my child, we will have it all +arranged for you, and you shall begin the year 1860 in Madam +Delacoste's institution for young ladies. Too many rich girls and +fashionable ones there, I fear, but you must see some of all kinds, +and there are very good instructors in the school,--I know one,--he +was a college boy with me,--and you will find pleasant and good +companions there, so he tells me; only don't be in a hurry to choose +your friends, for the least desirable young persons are very apt to +cluster about a new-comer." + +Myrtle was bewildered with the suddenness of the prospect thus held +out to her. It is a wonder that she did not bestow an embrace upon +the worthy old master. Perhaps she had too much tact. It is a +pretty way enough of telling one that he belongs to a past +generation, but it does tell him that not over-pleasing fact. Like +the title of Emeritus Professor, it is a tribute to be accepted, +hardly to be longed for. + +When the curtain rises again, it will show Miss Hazard in a new +character, and surrounded by a new world. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +MYRTLE HAZARD AT THE CITY SCHOOL. + +Mr. Bradshaw was obliged to leave town for a week or two on business +connected with the great land-claim. On his return, feeling in +pretty good spirits, as the prospects looked favorable, he went to +make a call at The Poplars. He asked first for Miss Hazard. + +"Bliss your soul, Mr. Bridshaw," answered Mistress Kitty Fagan, +"she's been gahn nigh a wake. It's to the city, to the big school, +they've sint her." + +This announcement seemed to make a deep impression on Murray +Bradshaw, for his feelings found utterance in one of the most +energetic forms of language to which ears polite or impolite are +accustomed. He next asked for Miss Silence, who soon presented +herself. Mr. Bradshaw asked, in a rather excited way, "Is it +possible, Miss Withers, that your niece has quitted you to go to a +city school?" + +Miss Silence answered, with her chief--mourner expression, and her +death-chamber tone: "Yes, she has left us for a season. I trust it +may not be her destruction. I had hoped in former years that she +would become a missionary, but I have given up all expectation of +that now. Two whole years, from the age of four to that of six, I +had prevailed upon her to give up sugar,--the money so saved to go to +a graduate of our institution--who was afterwards----he labored among +the cannibal-islanders. I thought she seemed to take pleasure in +this small act of self-denial, but I have since suspected that Kitty +gave her secret lumps. It was by Mr. Gridley's advice that she went, +and by his pecuniary assistance. What could I do? She was bent on +going, and I was afraid she would have fits, or do something +dreadful, if I did not let her have her way. I am afraid she will +come back to us spoiled. She has seemed so fond of dress lately, and +once she spoke of learning--yes, Mr. Bradshaw, of learning to--dance! +I wept when I heard of it. Yes, I wept." + +That was such a tremendous thing to think of, and especially to speak +of in Mr. Bradshaw's presence, for the most pathetic image in the +world to many women is that of themselves in tears,--that it brought +a return of the same overflow, which served as a substitute for +conversation until Miss Badlam entered the apartment. + +Miss Cynthia followed the same general course of remark. They could +not help Myrtle's going if they tried. She had always maintained +that, if they had only once broke her will when she was little, they +would have kept the upper hand of her; but her will never was broke. +They came pretty near it once, but the child would n't give in. + +Miss Cynthia went to the door with Mr. Bradshaw, and the conversation +immediately became short and informal. + +"Demonish pretty business! All up for a year or more,--hey?" + +Don't blame me,--I couldn't stop her." + +"Give me her address,--I 'll write to her. Any young men teach in +the school?" + +"Can't tell you. She'll write to Olive and Bathsheba, and I'll find +out all about it." + +Murray Bradshaw went home and wrote a long letter to Mrs. Clymer +Ketchum, of 24 Carat Place, containing many interesting remarks and +inquiries, some of the latter relating to Madam Delacoste's +institution for the education of young ladies. + +While this was going on at Oxbow Village, Myrtle was establishing +herself at the rather fashionable school to which Mr. Gridley had +recommended her. Mrs. or Madam Delacoste's boarding-school had a +name which on the whole it deserved pretty well. She had some very +good instructors for girls who wished to get up useful knowledge in +case they might marry professors or ministers. They had a chance to +learn music, dancing, drawing, and the way of behaving in company. +There was a chance, too, to pick up available acquaintances, for many +rich people sent their daughters to the school, and it was something +to have been bred in their company. + +There was the usual division of the scholars into a first and second +set, according to the social position, mainly depending upon the +fortune, of the families to which they belonged. The wholesale +dealer's daughter very naturally considered herself as belonging to a +different order from the retail dealer's daughter. The keeper of a +great hotel and the editor of a widely circulated newspaper were +considered as ranking with the wholesale dealers, and their daughters +belonged also to the untitled nobility which has the dollar for its +armorial bearing. The second set had most of the good scholars, and +some of the prettiest girls; but nobody knew anything about their +families, who lived off the great streets and avenues, or vegetated +in country towns. + +Myrtle Hazard's advent made something like a sensation. They did not +know exactly what to make of her. Hazard? Hazard? No great firm of +that name. No leading hotel kept by any Hazard, was there? No +newspaper of note edited by anybody called Hazard, was there? Came +from where? Oxbow Village. Oh, rural district. Yes.--Still they +could not help owning that she was handsome, a concession which of +course had to be made with reservations. + +"Don't you think she's vuiry good-lookin'?" said a Boston girl to a +New York girl. "I think she's real pooty." + +"I dew, indeed. I didn't think she was haaf so handsome the feeest +time I saw her," answered the New York girl. + +"What a pity she had n't been bawn in Bawston!" + +"Yes, and moved very young to Ne Yock!" + +"And married a sarsaparilla man, and lived in Fiff Avenoo, and moved +in the fust society." + +"Better dew that than be strong-mainded, and dew your own cook'n, and +live in your own kitch'n." + +"Don't forgit to send your card when you are Mrs. Old Dr. Jacob!" + +"Indeed I shaan't. What's the name of the alley, and which bell?" +The New York girl took out a memorandum-book as if to put it down. + +"Had n't you better let me write it for you, dear?" said the Boston +girl. "It is as well to have it legible, you know." + +"Take it," said the New York girl. "There 's tew York shill'ns in it +when I hand it to you." + +"Your whole quarter's allowance, I bullieve,--ain't it?" said the +Boston girl. + +"Elegant manners, correct deportment, and propriety of language will +be strictly attended to in this institution. The most correct +standards of pronunciation will be inculcated by precept and example. +It will be the special aim of the teachers to educate their pupils +out of all provincialisms, so that they may be recognized as well- +bred English scholars wherever the language is spoken in its purity." +--Extract from the Prospectus of Madam Delacoste's Boarding-school. + +Myrtle Hazard was a puzzle to all the girls. Striking, they all +agreed, but then the criticisms began. Many of the girls chattered a +little broken French, and one of them, Miss Euphrosyne De Lacy, had +been half educated in Paris, so that she had all the phrases which +are to social operators what his cutting instruments are to the +surgeon. Her face she allowed was handsome; but her style, according +to this oracle, was a little bourgeoise, and her air not exactly +comme il faut. More specifically, she was guilty of contours +fortement prononces,--corsage de paysanne,--quelque chose de sauvage, +etc., etc. This girl prided herself on her figure. + +Miss Bella Pool, (La Belle Poule as the demi-Parisian girl had +christened her,) the beauty of the school, did not think so much of +Myrtle's face, but considered her figure as better than the De Lacy +girl's. + +The two sets, first and second, fought over her as the Greeks and +Trojans over a dead hero, or the Yale College societies over a live +freshman. She was nobody by her connections, it is true, so far as +they could find out, but then, on the other hand, she had the walk of +a queen, and she looked as if a few stylish dresses and a season or +two would make her a belle of the first water. She had that air of +indifference to their little looks and whispered comments which is +surest to disarm all the critics of a small tattling community. On +the other hand, she came to this school to learn, and not to play; +and the modest and more plainly dressed girls, whose fathers did not +sell by the cargo, or keep victualling establishments for some +hundreds of people, considered her as rather in sympathy with them +than with the daughters of the rough-and-tumble millionnaires who +were grappling and rolling over each other in the golden dust of the +great city markets. + +She did not mean to belong exclusively to either of their sets. She +came with that sense of manifold deficiencies, and eager ambition to +supply them, which carries any learner upward, as if on wings, over +the heads of the mechanical plodders and the indifferent routinists. +She learned, therefore, in a way to surprise the experienced +instructors. Her somewhat rude sketching soon began to show +something of the artist's touch. Her voice, which had only been +taught to warble the simplest melodies, after a little training began +to show its force and sweetness and flexibility in the airs that +enchant drawing-room audiences. She caught with great readiness the +manner of the easiest girls, unconsciously, for she inherited old +social instincts which became nature with the briefest exercise. Not +much license of dress was allowed in the educational establishment of +Madam Delacoste, but every girl had an opportunity to show her taste +within the conventional limits prescribed. And Myrtle soon began to +challenge remark by a certain air she contrived to give her dresses, +and the skill with which she blended their colors. + +"Tell you what, girls," said Miss Berengaria Topping, female +representative of the great dynasty that ruled over the world-famous +Planet Hotel, "she's got style, lots of it. I call her perfectly +splendid, when she's got up in her swell clothes. That oriole's wing +she wears in her bonnet makes her look gorgeous, she'll be a stunning +Pocahontas for the next tableau." + +Miss Rose Bugbee, whose family opulence grew out of the only +merchantable article a Hebrew is never known to seek profit from, +thought she could be made presentable in the first circles if taken +in hand in good season. So it came about that, before many weeks had +passed over her as a scholar in the great educational establishment, +she might be considered as on the whole the most popular girl in the +whole bevy of them. The studious ones admired her for her facility +of learning, and her extraordinary appetite for every form of +instruction, and the showy girls, who were only enduring school as +the purgatory that opened into the celestial world of society, +recognized in her a very handsome young person, who would be like to +make a sensation sooner or later. + +There were, however, it must be confessed, a few who considered +themselves the thickest of the cream of the school-girls, who +submitted her to a more trying ordeal than any she had yet passed. + +"How many horses does your papa keep?" asked Miss Florence Smythe." +We keep nine, and a pony for Edgar." + +Myrtle had to explain that she had no papa, and that they did not +keep any horses. Thereupon Miss Florence Smythe lost her desire to +form an acquaintance, and wrote home to her mother (who was an ex- +bonnet-maker) that the school was getting common, she was afraid,-- +they were letting in persons one knew nothing about. + +Miss Clare Browne had a similar curiosity about the amount of plate +used in the household from which Myrtle came. Her father had just +bought a complete silver service. Myrtle had to own that they used a +good deal of china at her own home,--old china, which had been a +hundred years in the family, some of it. + +"A hundred years old!" exclaimed Miss Clare Browne. "What queer- +looking stuff it must be! Why, everything in our house is just as +new and bright! Papaa had all our pictures painted on purpose for +us. Have you got any handsome pictures in your house?" + +"We have a good many portraits of members of the family," she said, +"some of them older than the china." + +"How very very odd! What do the dear old things look like?" + +"One was a great beauty in her time." + +"How jolly!" + +"Another was a young woman who was put to death for her religion, +--burned to ashes at the stake in Queen Mary's time." + +"How very very wicked! It was n't nice a bit, was it? Ain't you +telling me stories? Was that a hundred years ago?--But you 've got +some new pictures and things, have n't you? Who furnished your +parlors?" + +"My great-grandfather, or his father, I believe." + +"Stuff and nonsense. I don't believe it. What color are your +carriage-horses?" + +"Our woman, Kitty Fagan, told somebody once we didn't keep any horse +but a cow." + +" Not keep any horses! Do for pity's sake let me look at your feet." + +Myrtle put out as neat a little foot as a shoemaker ever fitted with +a pair of number two. What she would have been tempted to do with +it, if she had been a boy, we will not stop to guess. After all, the +questions amused her quite as much as the answers instructed Miss +Clara Browne. Of that young lady's ancestral claims to distinction +there is no need of discoursing. Her "papaa" commonly said sir in +talking with a gentleman, and her "mammaa" would once in a while +forget, and go down the area steps instead of entering at the proper +door; but they lived behind a brown stone front, which veneers +everybody's antecedents with a facing of respectability. + +Miss Clara Browne wrote home to her mother in the same terms as Miss +Florence Smythe,--that the school was getting dreadful common, and +they were letting in very queer folks. + +Still another trial awaited Myrtle, and one which not one girl in a +thousand would have been so unprepared to meet. She knew absolutely +nothing of certain things with which the vast majority of young +persons were quite familiar. + +There were literary young ladies, who had read everything of Dickens +and Thackeray, and something at least of Sir Walter, and +occasionally, perhaps, a French novel, which they had better have let +alone. One of the talking young ladies of this set began upon Myrtle +one day. + +"Oh, is n't 'Pickwick' nice?" she asked. + +"I don't know," Myrtle replied; "I never tasted any." + +The girl stared at her as if she were a crazy creature. "Tasted any! +Why, I mean the 'Pickwick Papers,' Dickens's story. Don't you think +they're nice." + +Poor Myrtle had to confess that she had never read them, and did n't +know anything about them. + +"What! did you never read any novels?" said the young lady. + +"Oh, to be sure I have," said Myrtle, blushing as she thought of the +great trunk and its contents. "I have read 'Caleb Williams,' and +'Evelina,' and 'Tristram Shandy'" (naughty girl!), "and the 'Castle +of Otranto,' and the 'Mysteries of Udolpho,' and the 'Vicar of +Wakefield,' and 'Don Quixote'--" + +The young lady burst out laughing. "Stop! stop! for mercy's sake," +she cried. "You must be somebody that's been dead and buried and +come back to life again. Why you're Rip Van Winkle in a petticoat! +You ought to powder your hair and wear patches." + +"We've got the oddest girl here," this young lady wrote home. "She +has n't read any book that is n't a thousand years old. One of the +girls says she wears a trilobite for a breastpin; some horrid old +stone, I believe that is, that was a bug ever so long ago. Her name, +she says, is Myrtle Hazard, but I call her Rip Van Myrtle." + +Notwithstanding the quiet life which these young girls were compelled +to lead, they did once in a while have their gatherings, at which a +few young gentlemen were admitted. One of these took place about a +month after Myrtle had joined the school. The girls were all in +their best, and by and by they were to have a tableau. Myrtle came +out in all her force. She dressed herself as nearly as she dared +like the handsome woman of the past generation whom she resembled. +The very spirit of the dead beauty seemed to animate every feature +and every movement of the young girl whose position in the school was +assured from that moment. She had a good solid foundation to build +upon in the jealousy of two or three of the leading girls of the +style of pretensions illustrated by some of their talk which has been +given. There is no possible success without some opposition as a +fulcrum: force is always aggressive, and crowds something or other, +if it does not hit or trample on it. + +The cruelest cut of all was the remark attributed to Mr. Livingston +Jerkins, who was what the opposition girls just referred to called +the great "swell" among the privileged young gentlemen who were +present at the gathering. + +"Rip Van Myrtle, you call that handsome girl, do you, Miss Clara? By +Jove, she's the stylishest of the whole lot, to say nothing of being +a first-class beauty. Of course you know I except one, Miss Clara. +If a girl can go to sleep and wake up after twenty years looking like +that, I know a good many who had better begin their nap without +waiting. If I were Florence Smythe, I'd try it, and begin now,--eh, +Clara?" + +Miss Browne felt the praise of Myrtle to be slightly alleviated by +the depreciation of Miss Smythe, who had long been a rival of her +own. A little later in the evening Miss Smythe enjoyed almost +precisely the same sensation, produced in a very economical way by +Mr. Livingston Jenkins's repeating pretty nearly the same sentiments +to her, only with a change in the arrangement of the proper names. +The two young ladies were left feeling comparatively comfortable with +regard to each other, each intending to repeat Mr. Livingston +Jenkins's remark about her friend to such of her other friends as +enjoyed clever sayings, but not at all comfortable with reference to +Myrtle Hazard, who was evidently considered by the leading "swell" of +their circle as the most noticeable personage of the assembly. The +individual exception in each case did very well as a matter of +politeness, but they knew well enough what he meant. + +It seemed to Myrtle Hazard, that evening, that she felt the bracelet +on her wrist glow with a strange, unaccustomed warmth. It was as if +it had just been unclasped from the arm of a yohng woman full of red +blood and tingling all over with swift nerve-currents. Life had +never looked to her as it did that evening. It was the swan's first +breasting the water,--bred on the desert sand, with vague dreams of +lake and river, and strange longings as the mirage came and +dissolved, and at length afloat upon the sparkling wave. She felt as +if she had for the first time found her destiny. It was to please, +and so to command, to rule with gentle sway in virtue of the royal +gift of beauty,--to enchant with the commonest exercise of speech, +through the rare quality of a voice which could not help being always +gracious and winning, of a manner which came to her as an inheritance +of which she had just found the title. She read in the eyes of all +that she was more than any other the centre of admiration. Blame her +who may, the world was a very splendid vision as it opened before her +eyes in its long vista of pleasures and of triumphs. How different +the light of these bright saloons from the glimmer of the dim chamber +at The Poplars! Silence Withers was at that very moment looking at +the portraits of Anne Holyoake and of Judith Pride. "The old picture +seems to me to be fading faster than ever," she was thinking. But +when she held her lamp before the other, it seemed to her that the +picture never was so fresh before, and that the proud smile upon its +lips was more full of conscious triumph than she remembered it. A +reflex, doubtless, of her own thoughts, for she believed that the +martyr was weeping even in heaven over her lost descendant, and that +the beauty, changed to the nature of the malignant spiritual company +with which she had long consorted in the under-world, was pleasing +herself with the thought that Myrtle was in due time to bring her +news from the Satanic province overhead, where she herself had so +long indulged in the profligacy of embonpoint and loveliness. + +The evening at the school-party was to terminate with some tableaux. +The girl who had suggested that Myrtle would look "stunning" or +"gorgeous" or "jolly," or whatever the expression was, as Pocahontas, +was not far out of the way, and it was so evident to the managing +heads that she would make a fine appearance in that character, that +the "Rescue of Captain John Smith" was specially got up to show her +off. + +Myrtle had sufficient reason to believe that there was a hint of +Indian blood in her veins. It was one of those family legends which +some of the members are a little proud of, and others are willing to +leave uninvestigated. But with Myrtle it was a fixed belief that she +felt perfectly distinct currents of her ancestral blood at intervals, +and she had sometimes thought there were instincts and vague +recollections which must have come from the old warriors and hunters +and their dusky brides. The Indians who visited the neighborhood +recognized something of their own race in her dark eyes, as the +reader may remember they told the persons who were searching after +her. It had almost frightened her sometimes to find how like a wild +creature she felt when alone in the woods. Her senses had much of +that delicacy for which the red people are noted, and she often +thought she could follow the trail of an enemy, if she wished to +track one through the forest, as unerringly as if she were a Pequot +or a Mohegan. + +It was a strange feeling that came over Myrtle, as they dressed her +for the part she was to take. Had she never worn that painted robe +before? Was it the first time that these strings of wampum had ever +rattled upon her neck and arms? And could it be that the plume of +eagle's feathers with which they crowned her dark, fast-lengthening +locks had never shadowed her forehead until now? She felt herself +carried back into the dim ages when the wilderness was yet untrodden +save by the feet of its native lords. Think of her wild fancy as we +may, she felt as if that dusky woman of her midnight vision on the +river were breathing for one hour through her lips. If this belief +had lasted, it is plain enough where it would have carried her. But +it came into her imagination and vivifying consciousness with the +putting on of her unwonted costume, and might well leave her when she +put it off. It is not for us, who tell only what happened, to solve +these mysteries of the seeming admission of unhoused souls into the +fleshly tenements belonging to air-breathing personalities. A very +little more, and from that evening forward the question would have +been treated in full in all the works on medical jurisprudence +published throughout the limits of Christendom. The story must be +told or we should not be honest with the reader. + +TABLEAU 1. Captain John Smith (Miss Euphrosyne de Lacy) was to be +represented prostrate and bound, ready for execution; Powhatan (Miss +Florence Smythe) sitting upon a log; savages with clubs (Misses Clara +Browne, A. Van Boodle, E. Van Boodle, Heister, Booster, etc., etc.) +standing around; Pocahontas holding the knife in her hand, ready to +cut the cords with which Captain John Smith is bound.--Curtain. + +TABLEAU 2. Captain John Smith released and kneeling before +Pocahontas, whose hand is extended in the act of raising him and +presenting him to her father. Savages in various attitudes of +surprise. Clubs fallen from their hands. Strontian flame to be +kindled.--Curtain. + +This was a portion of the programme for the evening, as arranged +behind the scenes. The first part went off with wonderful eclat, and +at its close there were loud cries for Pocahontas. She appeared for +a moment. Bouquets were flung to her; and a wreath, which one of the +young ladies had expected for herself in another part, was tossed +upon the stage, and laid at her feet. The curtain fell. + +"Put the wreath on her for the next tableau," some of them whispered, +just as the curtain was going to rise, and one of the girls hastened +to place it upon her head. + +The disappointed young lady could not endure it, and, in a spasm of +jealous passion, sprang at Myrtle, snatched it from her head, and +trampled it under her feet at the very instant the curtain was +rising. With a cry which some said had the blood-chilling tone of an +Indian's battle-shriek, Myrtle caught the knife up, and raised her +arm against the girl who had thus rudely assailed her. The girl sank +to the ground, covering her eyes in her terror. Myrtle, with her arm +still lifted, and the blade glistening in her hand, stood over her, +rigid as if she had been suddenly changed to stone. Many of those +looking on thought all this was a part of the show, and were thrilled +with the wonderful acting. Before those immediately around her had +had time to recover from the palsy of their fright Myrtle had flung +the knife away from her, and was kneeling, her head bowed and her +hands crossed upon her breast. The audience went into a rapture of +applause as the curtain came suddenly down; but Myrtle had forgotten +all but the dread peril she had just passed, and was thanking God +that his angel--her own protecting spirit, as it seemed to her had +stayed the arm which a passion such as her nature had never known, +such as she believed was alien to her truest self, had lifted with +deadliest purpose. She alone knew how extreme the danger had been. +"She meant to scare her,--that 's all," they said. But Myrtle tore +the eagle's feathers from her hair, and stripped off her colored +beads, and threw off her painted robe. The metempsychosis was far +too real for her to let her wear the semblance of the savage from +whom, as she believed, had come the lawless impulse at the thought of +which her soul recoiled in horror. + +"Pocahontas has got a horrid headache," the managing young ladies +gave it out, "and can't come to time for the last tableau." So this +all passed over, not only without loss of credit to Myrtle, but with +no small addition to her local fame,--for it must have been acting; +"and was n't it stunning to see her with that knife, looking as if +she was going to stab Bells, or to scalp her, or something?" + +As Master Gridley had predicted, and as is the case commonly with +new-comers at colleges and schools, Myrtle had come first in contact +with those who were least agreeable to meet. The low-bred youth who +amuse themselves with scurvy tricks on freshmen, and the vulgar girls +who try to show off their gentility to those whom they think less +important than themselves, are exceptions in every institution; but +they make themselves odiously prominent before the quiet and modest +young people have had time to gain the new scholar's confidence. +Myrtle found friends in due time, some of them daughters of rich +people, some poor girls, who came with the same sincerity of purpose +as herself. But not one was her match in the facility of acquiring +knowledge. Not one promised to make such a mark in society, if she +found an opening into its loftier circles. She was by no means +ignorant of her natural gifts, and she cultivated them with the +ambition which would not let her rest. + +During her stay at the great school, she made but one visit to Oxbow +Village. She did not try to startle the good people with her +accomplishments, but they were surprised at the change which had +taken place in her. Her dress was hardly more showy, for she was but +a school-girl, but it fitted her more gracefully. She had gained a +softness of expression, and an ease in conversation, which produced +their effect on all with whom she came in contact. Her aunt's voice +lost something of its plaintiveness in talking with her. Miss +Cynthia listened with involuntary interest to her stories of school +and school-mates. Master Byles Gridley accepted her as the great +success of his life, and determined to make her his chief heiress, if +there was any occasion for so doing. Cyprian told Bathsheba that +Myrtle must come to be a great lady. Gifted Hopkins confessed to +Susan Posey that he was afraid of her, since she had been to the +great city school. She knew too much and looked too much like a +queen, for a village boy to talk with. + +Mr. William Murray Bradshaw tried all his fascinations upon her, but +she parried compliments so well, and put off all his nearer advances +so dexterously, that he could not advance beyond the region of florid +courtesy, and never got a chance, if so disposed, to risk a question +which he would not ask rashly, believing that, if Myrtle once said +No, there would be little chance of her ever saying Yes. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +MUSTERING OF FORCES. + +Not long after the tableau performance had made Myrtle Hazard's name +famous in the school and among the friends of the scholars, she +received the very flattering attention of a call from Mrs. Clymer +Ketchum, of 24 Carat Place. This was in consequence of a suggestion +from Mr. Livingston Jenkins, a particular friend of the family. + +"They've got a demonish splendid school-girl over there," he said to +that lady, "made the stunningest looking Pocahontas at the show there +the other day. Demonish plucky looking filly as ever you saw. Had a +row with another girl,--gave the war-whoop, and went at her with a +knife. Festive,--hey? Say she only meant to scare her,--looked as +if she meant to stick her, anyhow. Splendid style. Why can't you go +over to the shop and make 'em trot her out?" + +The lady promised Mr. Livingston Jenkins that she certainly would, +just as soon as she could find a moment's leisure,--which, as she had +nothing in the world to do, was not likely to be very soon. Myrtle +in the mean time was busy with her studies, little dreaming what an +extraordinary honor was awaiting her. + +That rare accident in the lives of people who have nothing to do, a +leisure morning, did at last occur. An elegant carriage, with a +coachman in a wonderful cape, seated on a box lofty as a throne, and +wearing a hat-band as brilliant as a coronet, stopped at the portal +of Madam Delacoste's establishment. A card was sent in bearing the. +open sesame of Mrs. Clymer Ketchum, the great lady of 24 Carat Place. +Miss Myrtle Hazard was summoned as a matter of course, and the +fashionable woman and the young girl sat half an hour together in +lively conversation. + +Myrtle was fascinated by her visitor, who had that flattering manner +which, to those not experienced in the world's ways, seems to imply +unfathomable depths of disinterested devotion. Then it was so +delightful to look upon a perfectly appointed woman,--one who was as +artistically composed as a poem or an opera,--in whose costume a kind +of various rhythm undulated in one fluent harmony, from the spray +that nodded on her bonnet to the rosette that blossomed on her +sandal. As for the lady, she was captivated with Myrtle. There is +nothing that your fashionable woman, who has ground and polished her +own spark of life into as many and as glittering social facets as it +will bear, has a greater passion for than a large rough diamond, +which knows nothing of the sea of light it imprisons, and which it +will be her pride to have cut into a brilliant under her own eye, and +to show the world for its admiration and her own reflected glory. +Mrs. Clymer Ketchum had taken the entire inventory of Myrtle's +natural endowments before the interview was over. She had no +marriageable children, and she was thinking what a killing bait +Myrtle would be at one of her stylish parties. + +She soon got another letter from Mr. William Murray Bradshaw, which +explained the interest he had taken in Madam Delacoste's school,--all +which she knew pretty nearly beforehand, for she had found out a good +part of Myrtle's history in the half-hour they had spent in company. + +"I had a particular reason for my inquiries about the school," he +wrote. "There is a young girl there I take an interest in. She is +handsome and interesting; and--though it is a shame to mention such a +thing has possibilities in the way of fortune not to be undervalued. +Why can't you make her acquaintance and be civil to her? A country +girl, but fine old stock, and will make a figure some time or other, +I tell you. Myrtle Hazard,--that's her name. A mere schoolgirl. +Don't be malicious and badger me about her, but be polite to her. +Some of these country girls have got 'blue blood' in them, let me +tell you, and show it plain enough." + +("In huckleberry season!") said Mrs. Ciymer Ketchum, in a +parenthesis,--and went on reading. + +"Don't think I'm one of your love-in-a-cottage sort, to have my head +turned by a village beauty. I've got a career before me, Mrs. K., +and I know it. But this is one of my pets, and I want you to keep an +eye on her. Perhaps when she leaves school you wouldn't mind asking +her to come and stay with you a little while. Possibly I may come +and see how she is getting on if you do,--won't that tempt you, Mrs. +C. K.?" + +Mrs. Clymer Ketchum wrote back to her relative how she had already +made the young lady's acquaintance. + +"Livingston Jerkins (you remember him) picked her out of the whole +lot of girls as the 'prettiest filly in the stable.' That's his +horrid way of talking. But your young milkmaid is really charming, +and will come into form like a Derby three-year-old. There, now, +I've caught that odious creature's horse-talk, myself. You're dead +in love with this girl, Murray, you know you are. + +"After all, I don't know but you're right. You would make a good +country lawyer enough, I don't doubt. I used to think you had your +ambitions, but never mind. If you choose to risk yourself on +'possibilities,' it is not my affair, and she's a beauty, there's no +mistake about that. + +"There are some desirable partis at the school with your dulcinea. +There 's Rose Bugbee. That last name is a good one to be married +from. Rose is a nice girl,--there are only two of them. The estate +will cut up like one of the animals it was made out of, you know,-- +the sandwich-quadruped. Then there 's Berengaria. Old Topping owns +the Planet Hotel among other things,--so big, they say, there's +always a bell ringing from somebody's room day and night the year +round. Only child--unit and six ciphers carries diamonds loose in +her pocket--that's the story--good-looking--lively--a little slangy +called Livingston Jerkins 'Living Jingo' to his face one day. I want +you to see my lot before you do anything serious. You owe something +to the family, Mr. William Murray Bradshaw! But you must suit +yourself, after all: if you are contented with a humble position in +life, it is nobody's business that I know of. Only I know what life +is, Murray B. Getting married is jumping overboard, any way you look +at it, and if you must save some woman from drowning an old maid, try +to find one with a cork jacket, or she 'll carry you down with her." + +Murray Bradshaw was calculating enough, but he shook his head over +this letter. It was too demonish cold-blooded for him, he said to +himself. (Men cannot pardon women for saying aloud what they do not +hesitate to think in silence themselves.) Never mind,--he must have +Mrs. Clymer Ketchum's house and influence for his own purposes. +Myrtle Hazard must become her guest, and then if circumstances were +favorable, he was certain obtaining her aid in his project. + +The opportunity to invite Myrtle to the great mansion presented +itself unexpectedly. Early in the spring of 1861 there were some +cases of sickness in Madam Delacoste's establishment, which led to +closing the school for a while. Mrs. Clymer Ketchum took advantage +of the dispersion of the scholars to ask Myrtle to come and spend +some weeks with her. There were reasons why this was more agreeable +to the young girl than returning to Oxbow Village, and she very +gladly accepted the invitation. + +It was very remarkable that a man living as Master Byles Gridley had +lived for so long a time should all at once display such liberality +as he showed to a young woman who had no claim upon him, except that +he had rescued her from the consequences of her own imprudence and +warned her against impending dangers. Perhaps he cared more for her +than if the obligation had been the other way,--students of human +nature say it is commonly so. At any rate, either he had ampler +resources than it was commonly supposed, or he was imprudently giving +way to his generous impulses, or he thought he was making advances +which would in due time be returned to him. Whatever the reason was, +he furnished her with means, not only for her necessary expenses, but +sufficient to afford her many of the elegances which she would be +like to want in the fashionable society with which she was for a +short time to mingle. + +Mrs. Clymer Ketchum was so well pleased with the young lady she was +entertaining, that she thought it worth while to give a party while +Myrtle was staying with her. She had her jealousies and rivalries, +as women of the world will, sometimes, and these may have had their +share in leading her to take the trouble a large party involved. She +was tired of the airs of Mrs. Pinnikle, who was of the great Apex +family, and her terribly accomplished daughter Rhadamartha, and +wanted to crush the young lady, and jaundice her mother, with a girl +twice as brilliant and ten times handsomer. She was very willing, +also, to take the nonsense out of the Capsheaf girls, who thought +themselves the most stylish personages of their city world, and would +bite their lips well to see themselves distanced by a country miss. + +In the mean time circumstances were promising to bring into Myrtle's +neighborhood several of her old friends and admirers. Mrs. Clymer +Ketchum had written to Murray Bradshaw that she had asked his pretty +milkmaid to come and stay awhile with her, but he had been away on +business, and only arrived in the city a day or two before the party. +But other young fellows had found out the attractions of the girl who +was "hanging out at the Clymer Ketchum concern," and callers were +plenty, reducing tete-a-tetes in a corresponding ratio. He did get +one opportunity, however, and used it well. They had so many things +to talk about in common, that she could not help finding him good +company. She might well be pleased, for he was an adept in the +curious art of being agreeable, as other people are in chess or +billiards, and had made a special study of her tastes, as a physician +studies a patient's constitution. What he wanted was to get her +thoroughly interested in himself, and to maintain her in a receptive +condition until such time as he should be ready for a final move. +Any day might furnish the decisive motive; in the mean time he wished +only to hold her as against all others. + +It was well for her, perhaps, that others had flattered her into a +certain consciousness of her own value. She felt her veins full of +the same rich blood as that which had flushed the cheeks of handsome +Judith in the long summer of her triumph. Whether it was vanity, or +pride, or only the instinctive sense of inherited force and +attraction, it was the best of defences. The golden bracelet on her +wrist seemed to have brought as much protection with it as if it had +been a shield over her heart. + + +But far away in Oxbow Village other events were in preparation. The +"fugitive pieces" of Mr. Gifted Hopkins had now reached a number so +considerable, that, if collected and printed in large type, with +plenty of what the unpleasant printers call "fat,"--meaning thereby +blank spaces,--upon a good, substantial, not to say thick paper, they +might perhaps make a volume which would have substance enough to bear +the title, printed lengthwise along the back, "Hopkins's Poems." +Such a volume that author had in contemplation. It was to be the +literary event of the year 1861. + +He could not mature such a project, one which he had been for some +time contemplating, without consulting Mr. Byles Gridley, who, though +he had not unfrequently repressed the young poet's too ardent +ambition, had yet always been kind and helpful. + +Mr. Gridley was seated in his large arm-chair, indulging himself in +the perusal of a page or two of his own work before repeatedly +referred to. His eye was glistening, for it had dust rested on the +following passage: + +"There is infinite pathos in unsuccessful authorship. The book that +perishes unread is the deaf mute of literature. The great asylum of +Oblivion is full of such, making inaudible signs to each other in +leaky garrets and unattainable dusty upper shelves." + +He shut the book, for the page grew a little dim as he finished this +elegiac sentence, and sighed to think how much more keenly he felt +its truth than when it was written,--than on that memorable morning +when he saw the advertisement in all the papers, "This day published, +'Thoughts on the Universe.' By Byles Gridley, A. M." + +At that moment he heard a knock at his door. He closed his eyelids +forcibly for ten seconds, opened them, and said cheerfully, +"Come in!" + +Gifted Hopkins entered. He had a collection of manuscripts in his +hands which it seemed to him would fill a vast number of pages. He +did not know that manuscript is to type what fresh dandelions are to +the dish of greens that comes to table, of which last Nurse Byloe, +who considered them very wholesome spring grazing for her patients, +used to say that they "biled down dreadful." + +"I have brought the autographs of my poems, Master Gridley, to +consult you about making arrangements for publication. They have +been so well received by the public and the leading critics of this +part of the State, that I think of having them printed in a volume. +I am going to the city for that purpose. My mother has given her +consent. I wish to ask you several business questions. Shall I part +with the copyright for a downright sum of money, which I understand +some prefer doing, or publish on shares, or take a percentage on the +sales? These, I believe, are the different ways taken by authors." + +Mr. Gridley was altogether too considerate to reply with the words +which would most naturally have come to his lips. He waited as if he +were gravely pondering the important questions just put to him, all +the while looking at Gifted with a tenderness which no one who had +not buried one of his soul's children could have felt for a young +author trying to get clothing for his new-born intellectual +offspring. + +"I think," he said presently, "you had better talk with an +intelligent and liberal publisher, and be guided by his advice. I +can put you in correspondence with such a person, and you had better +trust him than me a great deal. Why don't you send your manuscript +by mail?" + +"What, Mr. Gridley? Trust my poems, some of which are unpublished, +to the post-office? No, sir, I could never make up my mind to such a +risk. I mean to go to the city myself, and read them to some of the +leading publishers. I don't want to pledge myself to any one of +them. I should like to set them bidding against each other for the +copyright, if I sell it at all." + +Mr. Gridley gazed upon the innocent youth with a sweet wonder in his +eyes that made him look like an angel, a little damaged in the +features by time, but full of celestial feelings. + +"It will cost you something to make this trip, Gifted. Have you the +means to pay for your journey and your stay at a city hotel?" + +Gifted blushed. "My mother has laid by a small sum for me," he said. +"She knows some of my poems by heart, and she wants to see them all +in print." + +Master Gridley closed his eyes very firmly again, as if thinking, and +opened them as soon as the foolish film had left them. He had read +many a page of "Thoughts on the Universe" to his own old mother, +long, long years ago, and she had often listened with tears of modest +pride that Heaven had favored her with a son so full of genius. + +"I 'll tell you what, Gifted," he said. "I have been thinking for a +good while that I would make a visit to the city, and if you have +made up your mind to try what you can do with the publishers, I will +take you with me as a companion. It will be a saving to you and your +good mother, for I shall bear the expenses of the expedition." + +Gifted Hopkins came very near going down on his knees. He was so +overcome with gratitude that it seemed as if his very coattails +wagged with his emotion. + +"Take it quietly," said Master Gridley. "Don't make a fool of +yourself. Tell your mother to have some clean shirts and things +ready for you, and we will be off day after to-morrow morning." + +Gifted hastened to impart the joyful news to his mother, and to break +the fact to Susan Posey that he was about to leave them for a while, +and rush into the deliriums and dangers of the great city. + +Susan smiled. Gifted hardly knew whether to be pleased with her +sympathy, or vexed that she did not take his leaving more to heart. +The smile held out bravely for about a quarter of a minute. Then +there came on a little twitching at the corners of the mouth. Then. +the blue eyes began to shine with a kind of veiled glimmer. Then the +blood came up into her cheeks with a great rush, as if the heart had +sent up a herald with a red flag from the citadel to know what was +going on at the outworks. The message that went back was of +discomfiture and capitulation. Poor Susan was overcome, and gave +herself up to weeping and sobbing. + +The sight was too much for the young poet. In a wild burst of +passion he seized her hand, and pressed it to his lips, exclaiming, +"Would that you could be mine forever!" and Susan forgot all that she +ought to have remembered, and, looking half reproachfully but half +tenderly through her tears, said, in tones of infinite sweetness, "O +Gifted!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +THE POET AND THE PUBLISHER. + +It was settled that Master Byles Gridley and Mr. Gifted Hopkins +should leave early in the morning of the day appointed, to take the +nearest train to the city. Mrs. Hopkins labored hard to get them +ready, so that they might make a genteel appearance among the great +people whom they would meet in society. She brushed up Mr. Gridley's +best black suit, and bound the cuffs of his dress-coat, which were +getting a little worried. She held his honest-looking hat to the +fire, and smoothed it while it was warm, until one would have thought +it had just been ironed by the hatter himself. She had his boots and +shoes brought into a more brilliant condition than they had ever +known: if Gifted helped, it was to his credit as much as if he had +shown his gratitude by polishing off a copy of verses in praise of +his benefactor. + +When she had got Mr. Gridley's encumbrances in readiness for the +journey, she devoted herself to fitting out her son Gifted. First, +she had down from the garret a capacious trunk, of solid wood, but +covered with leather, and adorned with brass-headed nails, by the +cunning disposition of which, also, the paternal initials stood out +on the rounded lid, in the most conspicuous manner. It was his +father's trunk, and the first thing that went into it, as the widow +lifted the cover, and the smothering shut-up smell struck an old +chord of associations, was a single tear-drop. How well she +remembered the time when she first unpacked it for her young husband, +and the white shirt bosoms showed their snowy plaits! O dear, dear! + +But women decant their affection, sweet and sound, out of the old +bottles into the new ones,--off from the lees of the past generation, +clear and bright, into the clean vessels just made ready to receive +it. Gifted Hopkins was his mother's idol, and no wonder. She had +not only the common attachment of a parent for him, as her offspring, +but she felt that her race was to be rendered illustrious by his +genius, and thought proudly of the time when some future biographer +would mention her own humble name, to be held in lasting remembrance +as that of the mother of Hopkins. + +So she took great pains to equip this brilliant but inexperienced +young man with everything he could by any possibility need during his +absence. The great trunk filled itself until it bulged with its +contents like a boa-constrictor who has swallowed his blanket. Best +clothes and common clothes, thick clothes and thin clothes, flannels +and linens, socks and collars, with handkerchiefs enough to keep the +pickpockets busy for a week, with a paper of gingerbread and some +lozenges for gastralgia, and "hot drops," and ruled paper to write +letters on, and a little Bible, and a phial with hiera picra, and +another with paregoric, and another with "camphire" for sprains and +bruises, + +--Gifted went forth equipped for every climate from the tropic to the +pole, and armed against every malady from Ague to Zoster. He carried +also the paternal watch, a solid silver bull's-eye, and a large +pocketbook, tied round with a long tape, and, by way of precaution, +pinned into his breast-pocket. He talked about having a pistol, in +case he were attacked by any of the ruffians who are so numerous in +the city, but Mr. Gridley told him, No! he would certainly shoot +himself, and he shouldn't think of letting him take a pistol. + +They went forth, Mentor and Telemachus, at the appointed time, to +dare the perils of the railroad and the snares of the city. Mrs. +Hopkins was firm up to near the last moment, when a little quiver in +her voice set her eyes off, and her face broke up all at once, so +that she had to hide it behind her handkerchief. Susan Posey showed +the truthfulness of her character in her words to Gifted at parting. +"Farewell," she said, "and think of me sometimes while absent. My +heart is another's, but my friendship, Gifted--my friendship--" + +Both were deeply affected. He took her hand and would have raised it +to his lips; but she did not forget herself, and gently withdrew it, +exclaiming, "O Gifted!" this time with a tone of tender reproach +which made him feel like a profligate. He tore himself away, and +when at a safe distance flung her a kiss, which she rewarded with a +tearful smile. + +Master Byles Gridley must have had some good dividends from some of +his property of late. There is no other way of accounting for the +handsome style in which he did things on their arrival in the city. +He went to a tailor's and ordered a new suit to be sent home as soon +as possible, for he knew his wardrobe was a little rusty. He looked +Gifted over from head to foot, and suggested such improvements as +would recommend him to the fastidious eyes of the selecter sort of +people, and put him in his own tailor's hands, at the same time +saying that all bills were to be sent to him, B. Gridley, Esq., +parlor No. 6, at the Planet Hotel. Thus it came to pass that in +three days from their arrival they were both in an eminently +presentable condition. In the mean time the prudent Mr. Gridley had +been keeping the young man busy, and amusing himself by showing him +such of the sights of the city and its suburbs as he thought would +combine instruction with entertainment. + +When they were both properly equipped and ready for the best company, +Mr. Gridley said to the young poet, who had found it very hard to +contain his impatience, that they would now call together on the +publisher to whom he wished to introduce him, and they set out +accordingly. + +"My name is Gridley," he said with modest gravity, as he entered the +publisher's private room. "I have a note of introduction here from +one of your authors, as I think he called himself, a very popular +writer for whom you publish." + +The publisher rose and came forward in the most cordial and +respectful manner. "Mr. Gridley? Professor Byles Gridley,--author +of 'Thoughts on the Universe'?" + +The brave-hearted old man colored as if he had been a young girl. +His dead book rose before him like an apparition. He groped in +modest confusion for an answer. "A child I buried long ago, my dear +sir," he said. "Its title-page was its tombstone. I have brought +this young friend with me,--this is Mr. Gifted Hopkins of Oxbow +Village,--who wishes to converse with you about--" + +"I have come, sir--" the young poet began, interrupting him. + +"Let me look at your manuscript, if you please, Mr. Popkins," said +the publisher, interrupting in his turn. + +"Hopkins, if you please, sir," Gifted suggested mildly, proceeding to +extract the manuscript, which had got wedged into his pocket, and +seemed to be holding on with all its might. He was wondering all the +time over the extraordinary clairvoyance of the publisher, who had +looked through so many thick folds, broadcloth, lining, brown paper, +and seen his poems lying hidden in his breast-pocket. The idea that +a young person coming on such an errand should have to explain his +intentions would have seemed very odd to the publisher. He knew the +look which belongs to this class of enthusiasts just as a horse- +dealer knows the look of a green purchaser with the equine fever +raging in his veins. If a young author had come to him with a scrap +of manuscript hidden in his boots, like Major Andre's papers, the +publisher would have taken one glance at him and said, "Out with it!" + +While he was battling for the refractory scroll with his pocket, +which turned half wrong side out, and acted as things always do when +people are nervous and in a hurry, the publisher directed his +conversation again to Master Byles Gridley. + +"A remarkable book, that of yours, Mr. Gridley, would have a great +run if it were well handled. Came out twenty years too soon,--that +was the trouble. One of our leading scholars was speaking of it to +me the other day. 'We must have a new edition,' he said; people are +just ripe for that book.' Did you ever think of that? Change the +form of it a little, and give it a new title, and it will be a +popular book. Five thousand or more, very likely." + +Mr. Gridley felt as if he had been rapidly struck on the forehead +with a dozen distinct blows from a hammer not quite big enough to +stun him. He sat still without saying a word. He had forgotten for +the moment all about poor Gifted Hopkins, who had got out his +manuscript at last, and was calming the disturbed corners of it. +Coming to himself a little, he took a large and beautiful silk +handkerchief, one of his new purchases, from his pocket, and applied +it to his face, for the weather seemed to have grown very warm all at +once. Then he remembered the errand on which he had come, and +thought of this youth, who had got to receive his first hard lesson +in life, and whom he had brought to this kind man that it should be +gently administered. + +"You surprise me," he said,--"you surprise me. Dead and buried. +Dead and buried. I had sometimes thought that--at some future +period, after I was gone, it might--but I hardly know what to say +about your suggestions. But here is my young friend, Mr. Hopkins, +who would like to talk with you, and I will leave him in your hands. +I am at the Planet Hotel, if you should care to call upon me. Good +morning. Mr. Hopkins will explain everything to you more at his +ease, without me, I am confident." + +Master Gridley could not quite make up his mind to stay through the +interview between the young poet and the publisher. The flush of +hope was bright in Gifted's eye and cheek, and the good man knew that +young hearts are apt to be over-sanguine, and that one who enters a +shower-bath often feels very differently from the same person when he +has pulled the string. + +"I have brought you my Poems in the original autographs, sir," said +Mr. Gifted Hopkins. + +He laid the manuscript on the table, caressing the leaves still with +one hand, as loath to let it go. + +"What disposition had you thought of making of them?" the publisher +asked, in a pleasant tone. He was as kind a man as lived, though he +worked the chief engine in a chamber of torture. + +"I wish to read you a few specimens of the poems," he said, "with +reference to their proposed publication in a volume." + +"By all means," said the kind publisher, who determined to be very +patient with the protege of the hitherto little-known, but remarkable +writer, Professor Gridley. At the same time he extended his foot in +an accidental sort of way, and pressed it on the right hand knob of +three which were arranged in a line beneath the table. A little bell +in a distant apartment--the little bell marked C--gave one slight +note; loud enough to start a small boy up, who looked at the clock, +and knew that he was to go and call the publisher in just twenty-five +minutes. "A, five minutes; B, ten minutes; C, twenty-five minutes +";--that was the youngster's working formula. Mr. Hopkins was +treated to the full allowance of time, as being introduced by +Professor Gridley. + +The young man laid open the manuscript so that the title-page, +written out very handsomely in his own hand, should win the eye of +the publisher. + + + BLOSSOMS OF THE SOUL. + A WREATH OF VERSE; Original. + + BY GIFTED HOPKINS. + +"a youth to Fortune and to Fame unknown."--Gray. + +"Shall I read you some of the rhymed pieces first, or some of the +blank-verse poems, sir?" Gifted asked. + +"Read what you think is best,--a specimen of your first-class style +of composition." + +"I will read you the very last poem I have written," he said, and he +began: + + "THE TRIUMPH OF SONG. + +"I met that gold-haired maiden, all too dear; +And I to her: Lo! thou art very fair, +Fairer than all the ladies in the world +That fan the sweetened air with scented fans, +And I am scorched with exceeding love, +Yea, crisped till my bones are dry as straw. +Look not away with that high-arched brow, +But turn its whiteness that I may behold, +And lift thy great eyes till they blaze on mine, +And lay thy finger on thy perfect mouth, +And let thy lucent ears of careen pearl +Drink in the murmured music of my soul, +As the lush grass drinks in the globed dew; +For I have many scrolls of sweetest rhyme +I will unroll and make thee glad to hear. + +"Then she: O shaper of the marvellous phrase +That openeth woman's heart as Both a key, +I dare not hear thee--lest the bolt should slide +That locks another's heart within my own. +Go, leave me,--and she let her eyelids fall, +And the great tears rolled from her large blue eyes. + +"Then I: If thou not hear me, I shall die, +Yea, in my desperate mood may lift my hand +And do myself a hurt no leach can mend; +For poets ever were of dark resolve, +And swift stern deed + +"That maiden heard no more, +But spike: Alas! my heart is very weak, +And but for--Stay! And if some dreadful morn, +After great search and shouting thorough the wold, +We found thee missing,--strangled,--drowned i' the mere, +Then should I go distraught and be clean mad! + +"O poet, read! read all thy wondrous scrolls. +Yea, read the verse that maketh glad to hear! +Then I began and read two sweet, brief hours, +And she forgot all love save only mine!" + +"Is all this from real life?" asked the publisher. + +"It--no, sir--not exactly from real life--that is, the leading female +person is not wholly fictitious--and the incident is one which might +have happened. Shall I read you the poems referred to in the one you +have just heard, sir?" + +"Allow me, one moment. Two hours' reading, I think, you said. I +fear I shall hardly be able to spare quite time to hear them a11. +Let me ask what you intend doing with these productions, Mr.--- rr +Poplins." + +"Hopkins, if you please, sir, not Poplins," said Gifted, plaintively. +He expressed his willingness to dispose of the copyright, to publish +on shares, or perhaps to receive a certain percentage on the profits. + +"Suppose we take a glass of wine together, Mr.--Hopkins, before we +talk business," the publisher said, opening a little cupboard and +taking therefrom a decanter and two glasses. He saw the young man +was looking nervous. He waited a few minutes, until the wine had +comforted his epigastrium, and diffused its gentle glow through his +unspoiled and consequently susceptible organisation. + +"Come with me," he said. + +Gifted followed him into a dingy apartment in the attic, where one +sat at a great table heaped and piled with manuscripts. By him was a +huge basket, ha'f full of manuscripts also. As they entered he +dropped another manuscript into the basket and looked up. + +"Tell me," said Gifted, "what are these papers, and who is he that +looks upon them and drops them into the basket?" + +"These are the manuscript poems that we receive, and the one sitting +at the table is commonly spoken of among us as 'The Butcher'. The +poems he drops into the basket are those rejected as of no account" + +"But does he not read the poems before he rejects them?" + +"He tastes them. Do you eat a cheese before you buy it?" + +"And what becomes of all those that he drops into the basket?" + +"If they are not claimed by their author in proper season, they go to +the devil." + +"What!" said Gifted, with his eyes stretched very round. + +"To the paper factory, where they have a horrid machine they call the +devil, that tears everything to bits,--as the critics treat our +authors, sometimes, sometimes, Mr. Hopkins." + +Gifted devoted a moment to silent reflection. + +After this instructive sight they returned together to the +publisher's private room. The wine had now warmed the youthful +poet's praecordia, so that he began to feel a renewed confidence in +his genius and his fortunes. + +"I should like to know what that critic of yours would say to my +manuscript," he said boldly. + +"You can try it if you want to," the publisher replied, with an +ominous dryness of manner which the sanguine youth did not perceive, +or, perceiving, did not heed. + +"How can we manage to get an impartial judgment?" + +"Oh, I'll arrange that. He always goes to his luncheon about this +time. Raw meat and vitriol punch,--that 's what the authors say. +Wait till we hear him go, and then I will lay your manuscript so that +he will come to it among the first after he gets back. You shall see +with your own eyes what treatment it gets. I hope it may please him, +but you shall see." + +They went back to the publisher's private room and talked awhile. +Then the little office-boy came up with some vague message about a +gentleman--business--wants to see you, sir, etc., according to the +established programme; all in a vacant, mechanical sort of way, as if +he were a talking-machine just running down. + +The publisher told the boy that he was engaged, and the gentleman +must wait. Very soon they heard The Butcher's heavy footstep as he +went out to get his raw meat and vitriol punch. + +Now, then," said the publisher, and led forth the confiding literary +lamb once more, to enter the fatal door of the critical shambles. + +"Hand me your manuscript, if you please, Mr. Hopkins. I will lay it +so that it shall be the third of these that are coming to hand. Our +friend here is a pretty good judge of verse, and knows a merchantable +article about as quick as any man in his line of business. If he +forms a favorable opinion of your poems, we will talk over your +propositions." + +Gifted was conscious of a very slight tremor as he saw his precious +manuscript deposited on the table, under two others, and over a pile +of similar productions. Still he could not help feeling that the +critic would be struck by his title. The quotation from Gray must +touch his feelings. The very first piece in the collection could not +fail to arrest him. He looked a little excited, but he was in good +spirits. + +"We will be looking about here when our friend comes back," the +publisher said." He is a very methodical person, and will sit down +and go right to work just as if we were not here. We can watch him, +and if he should express any particular interest in your poems, I +will, if you say so, carry you up to him and reveal the fact that you +are the author of the works that please him." + +They waited patiently until The Butcher returned, apparently +refreshed by his ferocious refection, and sat down at his table. He +looked comforted, and not in ill humor. The publisher and the poet +talked in low tones, as if on business of their own, and watched him +as he returned to his labor. + +The Butcher took the first manuscript that came to hand, read a +stanza here and there, turned over the leaves, turned back and tried +again,--shook his head--held it for an instant over the basket, as if +doubtful,--and let it softly drop. He took up the second manuscript, +opened it in several places, seemed rather pleased with what he read, +and laid it aside for further examination. + +He took up the third. "Blossoms of the Soul," etc. He glared at it +in a dreadfully ogreish way. Both the lockers-on held their breath. +Gifted Hopkins felt as if half a glass more of that warm sherry would +not hurt him. There was a sinking at the pit of his stomach, as if +he was in a swing, as high as he could go, close up to the swallows' +nests and spiders' webs. The Butcher opened the manuscript at +random, read ten seconds, and gave a short low grunt. He opened +again, read ten seconds, and gave another grunt, this time a little +longer and louder. He opened once more, read five seconds, and, with +something that sounded like the snort of a dangerous animal, cast it +impatiently into the basket, and took up the manuscript that came +next in order. + +Gifted Hopkins stood as if paralyzed for a moment. + +"Safe, perfectly safe," the publisher said to him in a whisper." +I'll get it for you presently. Come in and take another glass of +wine," he said, leading him back to his own office. + +"No, I thank you," he said faintly, "I can bear it. But this is +dreadful, sir. Is this the way that genius is welcomed to the world +of letters?" + +The publisher explained to him, in the kindest manner, that there was +an enormous over-production of verse, and that it took a great part +of one man's time simply to overhaul the cart-loads of it that were +trying to get themselves into print with the imprimatur of his famous +house. "You are young, Mr. Hopkins. I advise you not to try to +force your article of poetry on the market. The B---, our friend, +there, that is, knows a thing that will sell as soon as he sees it. +You are in independent circumstances, perhaps? If so, you can print +--at your own expense--whatever you choose. May I take the liberty +to ask your--profession?" + +Gifted explained that he was "clerk" in a "store," where they sold +dry goods and West India goods, and goods promiscuous. + +"Oh, well, then," the publisher said, "you will understand me. Do +you know a good article of brown sagas when you see it?" + +Gifted Hopkins rather thought he did. He knew at sight whether it +was a fair, salable article or not. + +"Just so. Now our friend, there, knows verses that are salable and +unsalable as well as you do brown sugar.--Keep quiet now, and I will +go and get your manuscript for you. + +"There, Mr. Hopkins, take your poems,--they will give you a +reputation in your village, I don't doubt, which, is pleasant, but it +will cost you a good deal of money to print them in a volume. You +are very young: you can afford to wait. Your genius is not ripe yet, +I am confident, Mr. Hopkins. These verses are very well for a +beginning, but a man of promise like you, Mr. Hopkins, must n't throw +away his chance by premature publication! I should like to make you +a present of a few of the books we publish. By and by, perhaps, we +can work you into our series of poets; but the best pears ripen +slowly, and so with genius.--Where shall I send the volumes?" + +Gifted answered, to parlor No. 6, Planet Hotel, where he soon +presented himself to Master Gridley, who could guess pretty well what +was coming. But he let him tell his story. + +"Shall I try the other publishers?" said the disconsolate youth. + +"I would n't, my young friend, I would n't. You have seen the best +one of them--all. He is right about it, quite right: you are young, +and had better wait. Look here, Gifted, here is something to please +you. We are going to visit the gay world together. See what has +been left here this forenoon." + +He showed him two elegant notes of invitation requesting the pleasure +of Professor Byles Gridley's and of Mr. Gifted Hopkins's company on +Thursday evening, as the guests of Mrs. Clymer Ketchum, of 24 Carat +Place. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +MRS. CLYMER KETCHUM'S PARTY. + +Myrtle Hazard had flowered out as beyond question the handsomest girl +of the season, There were hints from different quarters that she +might possibly be an heiress. Vague stories were about of some +contingency which might possibly throw a fortune into her lap. The +young men about town talked of her at the clubs in their free-and- +easy way, but all agreed that she was the girl of the new crop,--" +best filly this grass," as Livingston Jenkins put it. The general +understanding seemed to be that the young lawyer who had followed her +to the city was going to capture her. She seemed to favor him +certainly as much as anybody. But Myrtle saw many young men now, and +it was not so easy as it would once have been to make out who was an +especial favorite. + +There had been times when Murray Bradshaw would have offered his +heart and hand to Myrtle at once, if he had felt sure that she would +accept him. But he preferred playing the safe game now, and only +wanted to feel sure of her. He had done his best to be agreeable, +and could hardly doubt that he had made an impression. He dressed +well when in the city,--even elegantly,--he had many of the lesser +social accomplishments, was a good dancer, and compared favorably in +all such matters with the more dashing young fellows in society. He +was a better talker than most of them, and he knew more about the +girl he was dealing with than they could know. "You have only got to +say the word, Murray," Mrs. Clymer Ketchum said to her relative, "and +you can have her. But don't be rash. I believe you can get +Berengaria if you try; and there 's something better there than +possibilities." Murray Bradshaw laughed, and told Mrs. Clymer +Ketchum not to worry about him; he knew what he was doing. + +It so happened that Myrtle met Master Byles Gridley walking with Mr. +Gifted Hopkins the day before the party. She longed to have a talk +with her old friend, and was glad to have a chance of pleasing her +poetical admirer. She therefore begged her hostess to invite them +both to her party to please her, which she promised to do at once. +Thus the two elegant notes were accounted for. + +Mrs. Clymer Ketchum, though her acquaintances were chiefly in the +world of fortune and of fashion, had yet a certain weakness for what +she called clever people. She therefore always variegated her +parties with a streak of young artists and writers, and a literary +lady or two; and, if she could lay hands on a first-class celebrity, +was as happy as an Amazon who had captured a Centaur. + +"There's a demonish clever young fellow by the name of Lindsay," +Mr. Livingston Jenkins said to her a little before the day of the +party. "Better ask him. They say he 's the rising talent in his +line, architecture mainly, but has done some remarkable things in the +way of sculpture. There's some story about a bust he made that was +quite wonderful. I'll find his address for you." So Mr. Clement +Lindsay got his invitation, and thus Mrs. Clymer Ketchum's party +promised to bring together a number of persons with whom we are +acquainted, and who were acquainted with each other. + +Mrs. Clymer Ketchum knew how to give a party. Let her only have +carte blanche for flowers, music, and champagne, she used to tell her +lord, and she would see to the rest,--lighting the rooms, tables, and +toilet. He needn't be afraid: all he had to do was to keep out of +the way. + +Subdivision of labor is one of the triumphs of modern civilization. +Labor was beautifully subdivided in this lady's household. It was +old Ketchum's business to make money, and he understood it. It was +Mrs. K.'s business to spend money, and she knew how to do it. The +rooms blazed with light like a conflagration; the flowers burned like +lamps of many-colored flame; the music throbbed into the hearts of +the promenaders and tingled through all the muscles of the dancers. + +Mrs. Clymer Ketchum was in her glory. Her point d'Alenyon must have +spoiled ever so many French girls' eyes. Her bosom heaved beneath a +kind of breastplate glittering with a heavy dew of diamonds. She +glistened and sparkled with every movement, so that the admirer +forgot to question too closely whether the eyes matched the +brilliants, or the cheeks glowed like the roses. Not far from the +great lady stood Myrtle Hazard. She was dressed as the fashion of +the day demanded, but she had added certain audacious touches of her +own, reminiscences of the time when the dead beauty had flourished, +and which first provoked the question and then the admiration of the +young people who had a natural eye for effect. Over the long white +glove on her left arm was clasped a rich bracelet, of so quaint an +antique pattern that nobody had seen anything like it, and as some +one whispered that it was "the last thing out," it was greatly +admired by the fashion-plate multitude, as well as by the few who had +a taste of their own. If the soul of Judith Pride, long divorced +from its once beautifully moulded dust, ever lived in dim +consciousness through any of those who inherited her blood, it was +then and there that she breathed through the lips of Myrtle Hazard. +The young girl almost trembled with the ecstasy of this new mode of +being, soliciting every sense with light, with perfume, with melody, +--all that could make her feel the wonderful complex music of a fresh +life when all its chords first vibrate together in harmony. Miss +Rhadamantha Pinnikle, whose mother was an Apex (of whose race it was +said that they always made an obeisance when the family name was +mentioned, and had all their portraits painted with halos round their +heads), found herself extinguished in this new radiance. Miss +Victoria Capsheaf stuck to the wall as if she had been a fresco on +it. The fifty-year-old dynasties were dismayed and dismounted. +Myrtle fossilized them as suddenly as if she had been a Gorgon +instead of a beauty. + +The guests in whom we may have some interest were in the mean time +making ready for the party, which was expected to be a brilliant one; +for 24 Carat Place was well known for the handsome style of its +entertainments. + +Clement Lindsay was a little surprised by his invitation. He had, +however, been made a lion of several times of late, and was very +willing to amuse himself once in a while with a peep into the great +world. + +It was but an empty show to him at best, for his lot was cast, and he +expected to lead a quiet domestic life after his student days were +over. + +Master Byles Gridley had known what society was in his earlier time, +and understood very well that all a gentleman of his age had to do +was to dress himself in his usual plain way, only taking a little +more care in his arrangements than was needed in the latitude of +Oxbow Village. But Gifted must be looked after, that he should not +provoke the unamiable comments of the city youth by any defect or +extravagance of costume. The young gentleman had bought a light sky- +blue neckerchief, and a very large breast-pin containing a gem which +he was assured by the vender was a genuine stone. He considered that +both these would be eminently effective articles of dress, and Mr. +Gridley had some trouble to convince him that a white tie and plain +shirt-buttons would be more fitted to the occasion. + +On the morning of the day of the great party Mr. William Murray +Bradshaw received a brief telegram, which seemed to cause him great +emotion, as he changed color, uttered a forcible exclamation, and +began walking up and down his room in a very nervous kind of way. It +was a foreshadowing of a certain event now pretty sure to happen. +Whatever bearing this telegram may have had upon his plans, he made +up his mind that he would contrive an opportunity somehow that very +evening to propose himself as a suitor to Myrtle Hazard. He could +not say that he felt as absolutely certain of getting the right +answer as he had felt at some previous periods. Myrtle knew her +price, he said to himself, a great deal better than when she was a +simple country girl. The flatteries with which she had been +surrounded, and the effect of all the new appliances of beauty, which +had set her off so that she could not help seeing her own +attractions, rendered her harder to please and to satisfy. A little +experience in society teaches a young girl the arts and the phrases +which all the Lotharios have in common. Murray Bradshaw was ready to +land his fish now, but he was not quite sure that she was yet hooked, +and he had a feeling that by this time she knew every fly in his +book. However, as he had made up his mind not to wait another day, +he addressed himself to the trial before him with a determination to +succeed, if any means at his command would insure success. He +arrayed himself with faultless elegance: nothing must be neglected on +such an occasion. He went forth firm and grave as a general going +into a battle where all is to be lost or won. He entered the blazing +saloon with the unfailing smile upon his lips, to which he set them +as he set his watch to a particular hour and minute. + +The rooms were pretty well filled when he arrived and made his bow +before the blazing, rustling, glistening, waving, blushing appearance +under which palpitated, with the pleasing excitement of the magic +scene over which its owner presided, the heart of Mrs. Clymer +Ketchum. He turned to Myrtle Hazard, and if he had ever doubted +which way his inclinations led him, he could doubt no longer. How +much dress and how much light can a woman bear? That is the way to +measure her beauty. A plain girl in a simple dress, if she has only +a pleasant voice, may seem almost a beauty in the rosy twilight. The +nearer she comes to being handsome, the more ornament she will bear, +and the more she may defy the sunshine or the chandelier. + +Murray Bradshaw was fairly dazzled with the brilliant effect of +Myrtle in full dress. He did not know before what handsome arms she +had,--Judith Pride's famous arms--which the high-colored young men in +top-boots used to swear were the handsomest pair in New England-- +right over again. He did not know before with what defiant effect +she would light up, standing as she did directly under a huge lustre, +in full flower of flame, like a burning azalea. He was not a man who +intended to let his sentiments carry him away from the serious +interests of his future, yet, as he looked upon Myrtle Hazard, his +heart gave one throb which made him feel in every pulse that this way +a woman who in her own right, simply as a woman, could challenge the +homage of the proudest young man of her time. He hardly knew till +this moment how much of passion mingled with other and calmer motives +of admiration. He could say I love you as truly as such a man could +ever speak these words, meaning that he admired her, that he was +attracted to her, that he should be proud of her as his wife, that he +should value himself always as the proprietor of so rare a person, +that no appendage to his existence would take so high a place in his +thoughts. This implied also, what is of great consequence to a young +woman's happiness in the married state, that she would be treated +with uniform politeness, with satisfactory evidences of affection, +and with a degree of confidence quite equal to what a reasonable +woman should expect from a very superior man, her husband. + +If Myrtle could have looked through the window in the breast against +which only authors are privileged to flatten their features, it is +for the reader to judge how far the programme would have satisfied +her. + +Less than this, a great deal less, does appear to satisfy many young +women; and it may be that the interior just drawn, fairly judged, +belongs to a model lover and husband. Whether it does or not, Myrtle +did not see this picture. There was a beautifully embroidered shirt- +bosom in front of that window through which we have just looked, that +intercepted all sight of what was going on within. She only saw a +man, young, handsome, courtly, with a winning tongue, with an +ambitious spirit, whose every look and tone implied his admiration of +herself, and who was associated with her past life in such a way that +they alone appeared like old friends in the midst of that cold alien +throng. It seemed as if he could not have chosen a more auspicious +hour than this; for she never looked so captivating, and her presence +must inspire his lips with the eloquence of love. And she--was not +this delirious atmosphere of light and music just the influence to +which he would wish to subject her before trying the last experiment +of all which can stir the soul of a woman? He knew the mechanism of +that impressionable state which served Coleridge so excellently +well,-- + + "All impulses of soul and sense + Had thrilled my guileless Genevieve + The music, and the doleful tale, + The rich and balmy eve,"-- + +though he hardly expected such startling results as happened in that +case,--which might be taken as an awful warning not to sing moving +ballads to young ladies of susceptible feelings, unless one is +prepared for very serious consequences. Without expecting that +Myrtle would rush into his arms, he did think that she could not help +listening to him in the intervals of the delicious music, in some +recess where the roses and jasmines and heliotropes made the air +heavy with sweetness, and the crimson curtains drooped in heavy folds +that half hid their forms from the curious eyes all round them. Her +heart would swell like Genevieve's as he told her in simple phrase +that she was his life, his love, his all,--for in some two or three +words like these he meant to put his appeal, and not in fine poetical +phrases: that would do for Gifted Hopkins and rhyming tom-tits of +that feather. + +Full of his purpose, involving the plans of his whole life, implying, +as he saw clearly, a brilliant future or a disastrous disappointment, +with a great unexploded mine of consequences under his feet, and the +spark ready to fall into it, he walked about the gilded saloon with a +smile upon his lips so perfectly natural and pleasant, that one would +have said he was as vacant of any aim, except a sort of superficial +good-matured disposition to be amused, as the blankest-eyed simpleton +who had tied himself up in a white cravat and come to bore and be +bored. + +Yet under this pleasant smile his mind was so busy with its thoughts +that he had forgotten all about the guests from Oxbow Village who, as +Myrtle had told him, were to come this evening. His eye was all at +once caught by a familiar figure, and he recognized Master Byles +Gridley, accompanied by Mr. Gifted Hopkins, at the door of the +saloon. He stepped forward at once to meet, and to present them. + +Mr. Gridley in evening costume made an eminently dignified and +respectable appearance. There was an unusual lock of benignity upon +his firmly moulded features, and an air of ease which rather +surprised Mr. Bradshaw, who did not know all the social experiences +which had formed a part of the old Master's history. The greeting +between them was courteous, but somewhat formal, as Mr. Bradshaw was +acting as one of the masters of ceremony. He nodded to Gifted in an +easy way, and led them both into the immediate Presence. + +"This is my friend Professor Gridley, Mrs. Ketchum, whom I have the +honor of introducing to you,--a very distinguished scholar, as I have +no doubt you are well aware. And this is my friend Mr. Gifted +Hopkins, a young poet of distinction, whose fame will reach you by +and by, if it has not come to your ears already." + +The two gentlemen went through the usual forms, the poet a little +crushed by the Presence, but doing his best. While the lady was +making polite speeches to them, Myrtle Hazard came forward. She was +greatly delighted to meet her old friend, and even looked upon the +young poet with a degree of pleasure she would hardly have expected +to receive from his company. They both brought with them so many +reminiscences of familiar scenes and events, that it was like going +back for the moment to Oxbow Village. But Myrtle did not belong to +herself that evening, and had no opportunity to enter into +conversation just then with either of them. There was to be dancing +by and by, and the younger people were getting impatient that it +should begin. At last the music sounded the well-known summons, and +the floors began to ring to the tread of the dancers. As usual on +such occasions there were a large number of noncombatants, who stood +as spectators around those who were engaged in the campaign of the +evening. Mr. Byles Gridley looked on gravely, thinking of the +minuets and the gavots of his younger days. Mr. Gifted Hopkins, who +had never acquired the desirable accomplishment of dancing, gazed +with dazzled and admiring eyes at the wonderful evolutions of the +graceful performers. The music stirred him a good deal; he had also +been introduced to one or two young persons as Mr. Hopkins, the poet, +and he began to feel a kind of excitement, such as was often the +prelude of a lyric burst from his pen. Others might have wealth and +beauty, he thought to himself, but what were these to the gift of +genius? In fifty years the wealth of these people would have passed +into other hands. In fifty years all these beauties would be dead, +or wrinkled and double-wrinkled great-grandmothers. And when they +were all gone and forgotten, the name of Hopkins would be still fresh +in the world's memory. Inspiring thought! A smile of triumph rose +to his lips; he felt that the village boy who could look forward to +fame as his inheritance was richer than all the millionnaires, and +that the words he should set in verse would have an enduring lustre +to which the whiteness of pearls was cloudy, and the sparkle of +diamonds dull. + +He raised his eyes, which had been cast down in reflection, to look +upon these less favored children of Fortune, to whom she had given +nothing but perishable inheritances. Two or three pairs of eyes, he +observed, were fastened upon him. His mouth perhaps betrayed a +little self-consciousness, but he tried to show his features in an +aspect of dignified self-possession. There seemed to be remarks and +questionings going on, which he supposed to be something like the +following:-- + +Which is it? Which is it?--Why, that one, there,--that young +fellow,--don't you see?--What young fellow are you two looking at? +Who is he? What is he?--Why, that is Hopkins, the poet.--Hopkins, +the poet! Let me see him! Let me see him! Hopkins? What! Gifted +Hopkins? etc., etc. + +Gifted Hopkins did not hear these words except in fancy, but he did +unquestionably find a considerable number of eyes concentrated upon +him, which he very naturally interpreted as an evidence that he had +already begun to enjoy a foretaste of the fame of which he should +hereafter have his full allowance. Some seemed to be glancing +furtively, some appeared as if they wished to speak, and all the time +the number of those looking at him seemed to be increasing. A vision +came through his fancy of himself as standing on a platform, and +having persons who wished to look upon him and shake hands with him +presented, as he had heard was the way with great people when going +about the country. But this was only a suggestion, and by no means a +serious thought, for that would have implied infatuation. + +Gifted Hopkins was quite right in believing that he attracted many +eyes. At last those of Myrtle Hazard were called to him, and she +perceived that an accident was making him unenviably conspicuous. +The bow of his rather large white neck-tie had slid round and got +beneath his left ear. A not very good-natured or well-bred young +fellow had pointed out the subject of this slight misfortune to one +or two others of not much better taste or breeding, and thus the +unusual attention the youthful poet was receiving explained itself. +Myrtle no sooner saw the little accident of which her rural friend +was the victim than she left her place in the dance with a simple +courage which did her credit. + +"I want to speak to you a minute," she said. "Come into this +alcove." + +And the courageous young lady not only told Gifted what had happened +to him, but found a pin somehow, as women always do on a pinch, and +had him in presentable condition again almost before the bewildered +young man knew what was the matter. On reflection it occurred to +him, as it has to other provincial young persons going to great +cities, that he might perhaps have been hasty in thinking himself an +object of general curiosity as yet. There had hardly been time for +his name to have become very widely known. Still, the feeling had +been pleasant for the moment, and had given him an idea of what the +rapture would be, when, wherever he went, the monster digit (to hint +a classical phrase) of the collective admiring public would be lifted +to point him out, and the whisper would pass from one to another, +"That's him! That's Hopkins!" + +Mr. Murray Bradshaw had been watching the opportunity for carrying +out his intentions, with his pleasant smile covering up all that was +passing in his mind, and Master Byles Gridley, looking equally +unconcerned, had been watching him. The young man's time came at +last. Some were at the supper-table, some were promenading, some +were talking, when he managed to get Myrtle a little apart from the +rest, and led her towards one of the recesses in the apartment, where +two chairs were invitingly placed. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes +were sparkling,--the influences to which he had trusted had not been +thrown away upon her. He had no idea of letting his purpose be seen +until he was fully ready. It required all his self-mastery to avoid +betraying himself by look or tone, but he was so natural that Myrtle +was thrown wholly off her guard. He meant to make her pleased with +herself at the outset, and that not by point-blank flattery, of which +she had had more than enough of late, but rather by suggestion and +inference, so that she should find herself feeling happy without +knowing how. It would be easy to glide from that to the impression +she had produced upon him, and get the two feelings more or less +mingled in her mind. And so the simple confession he meant to make +would at length evolve itself logically, and hold by a natural +connection to the first agreeable train of thought which he had +called up. Not the way, certainly, that most young men would arrange +their great trial scene; but Murray Bradshaw was a lawyer in love as +much as in business, and considered himself as pleading a cause +before a jury of Myrtle Hazard's conflicting motives. What would any +lawyer do in a jury case but begin by giving the twelve honest men +and true to understand, in the first place, that their intelligence +and virtue were conceded by all, and that he himself had perfect +confidence in them, and leave them to shape their verdict in +accordance with these propositions and his own side of the case? + +Myrtle had, perhaps, never so seriously inclined her ear to the +honeyed accents of the young pleader. He flattered her with so much +tact, that she thought she heard an unconscious echo through his lips +of an admiration which he only shared with all around him. But in +him he made it seem discriminating, deliberate, not blind, but very +real. This it evidently was which had led him to trust her with his +ambitions and his plans,--they might be delusions, but he could never +keep them from her, and she was the one woman in the world to whom he +thought he could safely give his confidence. + +The dread moment was close at hand. Myrtle was listening with an +instinctive premonition of what was coming,--ten thousand mothers and +grandmothers and great-grandmothers, and so on, had passed through it +all in preceding generations until time reached backwards to the +sturdy savage who asked no questions of any kind, but knocked down +the primeval great-grandmother of all, and carried her off to his +hole in the rock, or into the tree where he had made his nest. Why +should not the coming question announce itself by stirring in the +pulses and thrilling in the nerves of the descendant of all these +grandmothers? + +She was leaning imperceptibly towards him, drawn by the mere blind +elemental force, as the plummet was attracted to the side of +Schehallion. Her lips were parted, and she breathed a little faster +than so healthy a girl ought to breathe in a state of repose. The +steady nerves of William Murray Bradshaw felt unwonted thrills and +tremors tingling through them, as he came nearer and nearer the few +simple words with which he was to make Myrtle Hazard the mistress' of +his destiny. His tones were becoming lower and more serious; there +were slight breaks once or twice in the conversation; Myrtle had cast +down her eyes. + +"There is but one word more to add," he murmured softly, as he bent +towards her + +A grave voice interrupted him. "Excuse me, Mr. Bradshaw," said +Master Bytes Gridley, "I wish to present a young gentleman to my +friend here. I promised to show him the most charming young person I +have the honor to be acquainted with, and I must redeem my pledge. +Miss Hazard, I have the pleasure of introducing to your acquaintance +my distinguished young friend, Mr. Clement Lindsay." + +Once mere, for the third time, these two young persons stood face to +face. Myrtle was no longer liable to those nervous seizures which +any sudden impression was liable to produce when she was in her half- +hysteric state of mind and body. She turned to the new-comer, who +found himself unexpectedly submitted to a test which he would never +have risked of his own will. He must go through it, cruel as it was, +with the easy self-command which belongs to a gentleman in the most +trying social exigencies. He addressed her, therefore, in the usual +terms of courtesy, and then turned and greeted Mr. Bradshaw, whom he +had never met since their coming together at Oxbow Village. Myrtle +was conscious, the instant she looked upon Clement Lindsay, of the +existence of some peculiar relation between them; but what, she could +not tell. Whatever it was, it broke the charm which had been weaving +between her and Murray Bradshaw. He was not foolish enough to make a +scene. What fault could he find with Clement Lindsay, who had only +done as any gentleman would do with a lady to whom he had just been +introduced, addressed a few polite words to her? After saying those +words, Clement had turned very courteously to him, and they had +spoken with each other. But Murray Bradshaw could not help seeing +that Myrtle had transferred her attention, at least for the moment, +from him to the new-comer. He folded his arms and waited,--but he +waited in vain. The hidden attraction which drew Clement to the +young girl with whom he had passed into the Valley of the Shadow of +Death overmastered all other feelings, and he gave himself up to the +fascination of her presence. + +The inward rage of Murray Bradshaw at being interrupted just at the +moment when he was, as he thought, about to cry checkmate and finish +the first great game he had ever played may well be imagined. But it +could not be helped. Myrtle had exercised the customary privilege of +young ladies at parties, and had turned from talking with one to +talking with another,--that was all. Fortunately, for him the young +man who had been introduced at such a most critical moment was not +one from whom he need apprehend any serious interference. He felt +grateful beyond measure to pretty Susan Posey, who, as he had good +reason for believing, retained her hold upon her early lover, and was +looking forward with bashful interest to the time when she should +become Mrs. Lindsay. It was better to put up quietly with his +disappointment; and, if he could get no favorable opportunity that +evening to resume his conversation at the interesting point where he +left it off, he would call the next day and bring matters to a +conclusion. + +He called accordingly the next morning, but was disappointed in not +seeing Myrtle. She had hardly slept that night, and was suffering +from a bad headache, which last reason was her excuse for not seeing +company. + +He called again, the following day, and learned that Miss Hazard had +just left the city, and gone on a visit to Oxbow Village: + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +MINE AND COUNTERMINE. + +What the nature of the telegram was which had produced such an effect +on the feelings and plans of Mr. William Murray Bradshaw nobody +especially interested knew but himself. We may conjecture that it +announced some fact, which had leaked out a little prematurely, +relating to the issue of the great land-case in which the firm was +interested. However that might be, Mr. Bradshaw no sooner heard +that Myrtle had suddenly left the city for Oxbow Village,--for what +reason he puzzled himself to guess,--than he determined to follow her +at once, and take up the conversation he had begun at the party where +it left off. And as the young poet had received his quietus for the +present at the publisher's, and as Master Gridley had nothing +specially to detain him, they too returned at about the same time, +and so our old acquaintances were once more together within the +familiar precincts where we have been accustomed to see them. + +Master Gridley did not like playing the part of a spy, but it must be +remembered that he was an old college officer, and had something of +the detective's sagacity, and a certain cunning derived from the +habit of keeping an eye on mischievous students. If any underhand +contrivance was at work, involving the welfare of any one in whom he +was interested, he was a dangerous person for the plotters, for he +had plenty of time to attend to them, and would be apt to take a kind +of pleasure in matching his wits against another crafty person's, +--such a one, for instance, as Mr. Macchiavelli Bradshaw. + +Perhaps he caught some words of that gentleman's conversation at the +party; at any rate, he could not fail to observe his manner. When he +found that the young man had followed Myrtle back to the village, he +suspected something more than a coincidence. When he learned that he +was assiduously visiting The Poplars, and that he was in close +communication with Miss Cynthia Badlam, he felt sure that he was +pressing the siege of Myrtle's heart. But that there was some +difficulty in the way was equally clear to him, for he ascertained, +through channels which the attentive reader will soon have means of +conjecturing, that Myrtle had seen him but once in the week following +his return, and that in the presence of her dragons. She had various +excuses when he called,--headaches, perhaps, among the rest, as these +are staple articles on such occasions. But Master Gridley knew his +man too well to think that slight obstacles would prevent his going +forward to effect his purpose. + +"I think he will get her; if he holds on," the old man said to +himself, "and he won't let go in a hurry, if there were any real love +about it--but surely he is incapable of such a human weakness as the +tender passion. What does all this sudden concentration upon the +girl mean? He knows something about her that we don't know,--that +must be it. What did he hide that paper for, a year ago and more? +Could that have anything to do with his pursuit of Myrtle Hazard +today?" + +Master Gridley paused as he asked this question of himself, for a +luminous idea had struck him. Consulting daily with Cynthia Badlam, +was he? Could there be a conspiracy between these two persons to +conceal some important fact, or to keep something back until it would +be for their common interest to have it made known? + +Now Mistress Kitty Fagan was devoted, heart and soul, to Myrtle +Hazard, and ever since she had received the young girl from Mr. +Gridley's hands, when he brought her back safe and sound after her +memorable adventure, had considered him as Myrtle's best friend and +natural protector. These simple creatures, whose thoughts are not +taken up, like those of educated people, with the care of a great +museum of dead phrases, are very quick to see the live facts which +are going on about them. Mr. Gridley had met her, more or less +accidentally, several times of late, and inquired very particularly +about Myrtle, and how she got along at the house since her return, +and whether she was getting over her headaches, and how they treated +her in the family. + +"Bliss your heart, Mr. Gridley," Kitty said to him on one of these +occasions, "it's ahltogither changed intirely. Sure Miss Myrtle does +jist iverythin' she likes, an' Miss Withers niver middles with her at +ahl, excip' jist to roll up her eyes an' look as if she was the hid- +moorner at a funeril whiniver Miss Myrtle says she wants to do this +or that, or to go here or there. It's Miss Badlam that's ahlwiz +after her, an' a-watchin' her,--she thinks she's cunnin'er than a +cat, but there 's other folks that's got eyes an' ears as good as +hers. It's that Mr. Bridshaw that's a puttin' his head together with +Miss Badlam for somethin' or other, an' I don't believe there's no +good in it, for what does the fox an' the cat be a whisperin' about, +as if they was thaves an' incind'ries, if there ain't no mischief +hatchin'?" + +"Why, Kitty," he said, "what mischief do you think is going on, and +who is to be harmed?" + +"O Mr. Gridley," she answered, "if there ain't somebody to be chated +somehow, then I don't know an honest man and woman from two rogues. +An' have n't I heard Miss Myrtle's name whispered as if there was +somethin' goin' on agin' her, an' they was afraid the tahk would go +out through the doors, an' up through the chimbley? I don't want to +tell no tales, Mr. Gridley, nor to hurt no honest body, for I'm a +poor woman, Mr. Gridley, but I comes of dacent folks, an' I vallies +my repitation an' character as much as if I was dressed in silks and +satins instead of this mane old gown, savin' your presence, which is +the best I 've got, an' niver a dollar to buy another. But if I iver +I hears a word, Mr. Gridley, that manes any kind of a mischief to +Miss Myrtle,--the Lard bliss her soul an' keep ahl the divils away +from her!--I'll be runnin' straight down here to tell ye ahl about +it,--be right sure o' that, Mr. Gridley." + +"Nothing must happen to Myrtle," he said," that we can help. If you +see anything more that looks wrong, you had better come down here at +once and let me know, as you say you will. At once, you understand. +And, Kitty, I am a little particular about the dress of people who +come to see me, so that if you would just take the trouble to get you +a tidy pattern of gingham or calico, or whatever you like of that +sort for a gown, you would please me; and perhaps this little trifle +will be a convenience to you when you come to pay for it." + +Kitty thanked him with all the national accompaniments, and trotted +off to the store, where Mr. Gifted Hopkins displayed the native +amiability of his temper by fumbling down everything in the shape of +ginghams and calicoes they had on the shelves, without a murmur at +the taste of his customer, who found it hard to get a pattern +sufficiently emphatic for her taste. She succeeded at last, and laid +down a five-dollar bill as if she were as used to the pleasing figure +on its face as to the sight of her own five digits. + +Master Byles Gridley had struck a spade deeper than he knew into his +first countermine, for Kitty had none of those delicate scruples +about the means of obtaining information which might have embarrassed +a diplomatist of higher degree. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +MR. BRADSHAW CALLS ON MISS BADLAM + +"Is Miss Hazard in, Kitty?" + +"Indade she's in, Mr. Bridshaw, but she won't see nobody." + +"What's the meaning of that, Kitty? Here is the third time within +three days you've told me I could n't see her. She saw Mr. Gridley +yesterday, I know; why won't she see me to-day?" + +"Y' must ask Miss Myrtle what the rason is, it's none o' my business, +Mr. Bridshaw. That's the order she give me." + +"Is Miss Badlam in?" + +Indade she's in, Mr. Bridshaw, an' I 'll go cahl her." + +"Bedad," said Kitty Fagan to herself, "the cat an' the fox is goin' +to have another o' thim big tahks togither, an' sure the old hole for +the stove-pipe has niver been stopped up yet." + +Mr. Bradshaw and Miss Cynthia went into the parlor together, and +Mistress Kitty retired to her kitchen. There was a deep closet +belonging to this apartment, separated by a partition from the +parlor. There was a round hole high up in this partition through +which a stove-pipe had once passed. Mistress Kitty placed a stool +just under this opening, upon which, as on a, pedestal, she posed +herself with great precaution in the attitude of the goddess of other +people's secrets, that is to say, with her head a little on one side, +so as to bring her liveliest ear close to the opening. The +conversation which took place in the hearing of the invisible third +party began in a singularly free-and-easy manner on Mr. Bradshaw's +part. + +"What the d--- is the reason I can't see Myrtle, Cynthia?" + +"That's more than I can tell you, Mr. Bradshaw. I can watch her +goings on, but I can't account for her tantrums." + +"You say she has had some of her old nervous whims,--has the doctor +been to see her?" + +"No indeed. She has kept to herself a good deal, but I don't think +there's anything in particular the matter with her. She looks well +enough, only she seems a little queer,--as girls do that have taken a +fancy into their heads that they're in love, you know,--absent- +minded,--does n't seem to be interested in things as you would expect +after being away so long." + +Mr. Bradshaw looked as if this did not please him particularly. If +he was the object of her thoughts she would not avoid him, surely. + +"Have you kept your eye on her steadily?" + +"I don't believe there is an hour we can't account for,--Kitty and I +between us." + +"Are you sure you can depend on Kitty?" + +["Depind on Kitty, is it? Oh, an' to be sure ye can depind on Kitty +to kape watch at the stove-pipe hole, an' to tell all y'r plottin's +an' contrivin's to them that'll get the cheese out o' y'r mousetrap +for ye before ye catch any poor cratur in it." This was the +inaudible comment of the unseen third party.] + +"Of course I can depend on her as far as I trust her. All she knows +is that she must look out for the girl to see that she does not run +away or do herself a mischief. The Biddies don't know much, but they +know enough to keep a watch on the--" + +"Chickens." Mr. Bradshaw playfully finished the sentence for Miss +Cynthia. + +[" An' on the foxes, an' the cats, an' the wazels, an' the hen-hahks, +an' ahl the other bastes," added the invisible witness, in unheard +soliloquy.] + +"I ain't sure whether she's quite as stupid as she looks," said the +suspicious young lawyer. "There's a little cunning twinkle in her +eye sometimes that makes me think she might be up to a trick on +occasion. Does she ever listen about to hear what people are +saying?" + +"Don't trouble yourself about Kitty Fagan,' for pity's sake, Mr. +Bradshaw. The Biddies are all alike, and they're all as stupid as +owls, except when you tell 'em just what to do, and how to do it. A +pack of priest-ridden fools!" + +The hot Celtic blood in Kitty Fagan's heart gave a leap. The stout +muscles gave an involuntary jerk. The substantial frame felt the +thrill all through, and the rickety stool on which she was standing +creaked sharply under its burden. + +Murray Bradshaw started. He got up and opened softly all the doors +leading from the room, one after another, and looked out. + +"I thought I heard a noise as if somebody was moving, Cynthia. It's +just as well to keep our own matters to ourselves." + +"If you wait till this old house keeps still, Mr. Bradshaw, you might +as well wait till the river has run by. It's as full of rats and +mice as an old cheese is of mites. There's a hundred old rats in +this house, and that's what you hear." + +["An' one old cat; that's what I hear." Third party.] + +"I told you, Cynthia, I must be off on this business to-morrow. I +want to know that everything is safe before I go. And, besides, I +have got something to say to you that's important, very important, +mind you." + +He got up once more and opened every door softly and looked out. He +fixed his eye suspiciously on a large sofa at the other side of the +room, and went, looking half ashamed of his extreme precaution, and +peeped under it, to see if there was any one hidden thereto listen. +Then he came back and drew his chair close up to the table at which +Miss Badlam had seated herself. The conversation which followed was +in a low tone, and a portion of it must be given in another place in +the words of the third party. The beginning of it we are able to +supply in this connection. + +"Look here, Cynthia; you know what I am going for. It's all right, I +feel sure, for I have had private means of finding out. It's a sure +thing; but I must go once more to see that the other fellows don't +try any trick on us. You understand what is for my advantage is for +yours, and, if I go wrong, you go overboard with me. Now I must +leave the--you know--behind me. I can't leave it in the house or the +office: they might burn up. I won't have it about me when I am +travelling. Draw your chair a little more this way. Now listen." + +["Indade I will," said the third party to herself. The reader will +find out in due time whether she listened to any purpose or not.] + +In the mean time Myrtle, who for some reason was rather nervous and +restless, had found a pair of half-finished slippers which she had +left behind her. The color came into her cheeks when she remembered +the state of mind she was in when she was working on them for the +Rev. Mr. Stoker. She recollected Master Gridley's mistake about +their destination, and determined to follow the hint he had given. +It would please him better if she sent them to good Father Pemberton, +she felt sure, than if he should get them himself. So she enlarged +them somewhat, (for the old man did not pinch his feet, as the +younger clergyman was in the habit of doing, and was, besides, of +portly dimensions, as the old orthodox three-deckers were apt to be,) +and worked E. P. very handsomely into the pattern, and sent them to +him with her love and respect, to his great delight; for old +ministers do not have quite so many tokens of affection from fair +hands as younger ones. + +What made Myrtle nervous and restless? Why had she quitted the city +so abruptly, and fled to her old home, leaving all the gayeties +behind her which had so attracted and dazzled her? + +She had not betrayed herself at the third meeting with the young man +who stood in such an extraordinary relation to her,--who had actually +given her life from his own breath,--as when she met him for the +second time. Whether his introduction to her at the party, just at +the instant when Murray Bradshaw was about to make a declaration, +saved her from being in another moment the promised bride of that +young gentleman, or not, we will not be so rash as to say. It +looked, certainly, as if he was in a fair way to carry his point; but +perhaps she would have hesitated, or shrunk back, when the great +question came to stare her in the face. + +She was excited, at any rate, by the conversation, so that, when +Clement was presented to her, her thoughts could not at once be all +called away from her other admirer, and she was saved from all danger +of that sudden disturbance which had followed their second meeting. +Whatever impression he made upon her developed itself gradually, +--still, she felt strangely drawn towards him. It was not simply in +his good looks, in his good manners, in his conversation, that she +found this attraction, but there was a singular fascination which she +felt might be dangerous to her peace, without explaining it to +herself in words. She could hardly be in love with this young +artist; she knew that his affections were plighted to another, a fact +which keeps most young women from indulging unruly fancies; yet her +mind was possessed by his image to such an extent that it left little +room for that of Mr. William Murray Bradshaw. + +Myrtle Hazard had been just ready to enter on a career of worldly +vanity and ambition. It is hard to blame her, for we know how she +came by the tendency. She had every quality, too, which fitted her +to shine in the gay world; and the general law is, that those who +have the power have the instinct to use it. We do not suppose that +the bracelet on her arm was an amulet, but it was a symbol. It +reminded her of her descent; it kept alive the desire to live over +the joys and excitements of a bygone generation. If she had accepted +Murray Bradshaw, she would have pledged herself to a worldly life. +If she had refused him, it would perhaps have given her a taste of +power that might have turned her into a coquette. + +This new impression saved her for the time. She had come back to her +nest in the village like a frightened bird; her heart was throbbing, +her nerves were thrilling, her dreams were agitated; she wanted to be +quiet, and could not listen to the flatteries or entreaties of her +old lover. + +It was a strong will and a subtle intellect that had arrayed their +force and skill against the ill-defended citadel of Myrtle's heart. +Murray Bradshaw was perfectly determined, and not to be kept back by +any trivial hindrances, such as her present unwillingness to accept +him, or even her repugnance to him, if a freak of the moment had +carried her so far. It was a settled thing: Myrtle Hazard must +become Mrs. Bradshaw; and nobody could deny that, if he gave her his +name, they had a chance, at least, for a brilliant future. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +MISTRESS KITTY FAGAN CALLS ON MASTER BYLES GRIDLEY. + +"I 'd like to go down to the store this mornin', Miss Withers, plase. +Sure I've niver a shoe to my fut, only jist these two that I've got +on, an' one other pair, and thim is so full of holes that whin I 'm +standin' in 'em I'm outside of 'em intirely." + +"You can go, Kitty," Miss Silence answered, funereally. + +Thereupon Kitty Fagan proceeded to array herself in her most tidy +apparel, including a pair of shoes not exactly answering to her +description, and set out straight for the house of the Widow Hopkins. +Arrived at that respectable mansion, she inquired for Mr. Gridley, +and was informed that he was at home. Had a message for him,--could +she see him in his study? She could if she would wait a little +while. Mr. Gridley was busy just at this minute. Sit down, Kitty, +and warm yourself at the cooking-stove. + +Mistress Kitty accepted Mrs. Hopkins's hospitable offer, and +presently began orienting herself, and getting ready to make herself +agreeable. The kindhearted Mrs. Hopkins had gathered about her +several other pensioners besides the twins. These two little people, +it may be here mentioned, were just taking a morning airing in charge +of Susan Posey, who strolled along in company with Gifted Hopkins on +his way to the store. + +Mistress Kitty soon began the conversational blandishments so natural +to her good-humored race. "It's a little blarney that'll jist suit +th' old lady," she said to herself, as she made her first +conciliatory advance. + +"An' sure an' it's a beautiful kitten you've got there, Mrs. Hopkins. +An' it's a splendid mouser she is, I'll be bound. Does n't she look +as if she'd clans the house out o'them little bastes, bad luck to em." + +Mrs. Hopkins looked benignantly upon the more than middle-aged tabby, +slumbering as if she had never known an enemy, and turned smiling to +Mistress Kitty. "Why, bless your heart, Kitty, our old puss would +n't know a mouse by sight, if you showed her one. If I was a mouse, +I'd as lieves have a nest in one of that old cat's ears as anywhere +else. You couldn't find a safer place for one." + +"Indade, an' to be sure she's too big an' too handsome a pussy to be +after wastin' her time on them little bastes. It's that little +tarrier dog of yours, Mrs. Hopkins, that will be after worryin' the +mice an' the rats, an' the thaves too, I 'll warrant. Is n't he a +fust-rate-lookin' watch-dog, an' a rig'ler rat-hound?" + +Mrs. Hopkins looked at the little short-legged and short-winded +animal of miscellaneous extraction with an expression of contempt and +affection, mingled about half and half. "Worry 'em! If they wanted +to sleep, I rather guess he would worry 'em! If barkin' would do +their job for 'em, nary a mouse nor rat would board free gratis in my +house as they do now. Noisy little good-for-nothing tike,--ain't +you, Fret?" + +Mistress Kitty was put back a little by two such signal failures. +There was another chance, however, to make her point, which she +presently availed herself of,--feeling pretty sure this time that she +should effect a lodgement. Mrs. Hopkins's parrot had been observing +Kitty, first with one eye and then with the other, evidently +preparing to make a remark, but awkward with a stranger. "That 's a +beautiful part y 've got there," Kitty said, buoyant with the +certainty that she was on safe ground this time; "and tahks like a +book, I 'll be bound. Poll! Poll! Poor Poll!" + +She put forth her hand to caress the intelligent and affable bird, +which, instead of responding as expected, "squawked," as our phonetic +language has it, and, opening a beak imitated from a tooth-drawing +instrument of the good old days, made a shrewd nip at Kitty's +forefinger. She drew it back with a jerk. + +"An' is that the way your part tahks, Mrs. Hopkins?" + +"Talks, bless you, Kitty! why, that parrot hasn't said a word this +ten year. He used to say Poor Poll! when we first had him, but he +found it was easier to squawk, and that's all he ever does nowadays, +--except bite once in a while." + +"Well, an' to be sure," Kitty answered, radiant as she rose from her +defeats, "if you'll kape a cat that does n't know a mouse when she +sees it, an' a dog that only barks for his livin', and a part that +only squawks an' bites an' niver spakes a word, ye must be the best- +hearted woman that's alive, an' bliss ye, if ye was only a good +Catholic, the Holy Father 'd make a saint of ye in less than no +time!" + +So Mistress Kitty Fagan got in her bit of Celtic flattery, in spite +of her three successive discomfitures. + +"You may come up now, Kitty," said Mr. Gridley over the stairs. He +had just finished and sealed a letter. + +"Well, Kitty, how are things going on up at The Poplars? And how +does our young lady seem to be of late?" + +"Whisht! whisht! your honor." + +Mr. Bradshaw's lessons had not been thrown away on his attentive +listener. She opened every door in the room, "by your lave," as she +said. She looked all over the walls to see if there was any old +stovepipe hole or other avenue to eye or ear. Then she went, in her +excess of caution, to the window. She saw nothing noteworthy except +Mr. Gifted Hopkins and the charge he convoyed, large and small, in +the distance. The whole living fleet was stationary for the moment, +he leaning on the fence with his cheek on his hand, in one of the +attitudes of the late Lord Byron; she, very near him, listening, +apparently, in the pose of Mignon aspirant au ciel, as rendered by +Carlo Dolce Scheffer. + +Kitty came back, apparently satisfied, and stood close to Mr. +Gridley, who told her to sit down, which she did, first making a +catch at her apron to dust the chair with, and then remembering that +she had left that part of her costume at home.--Automatic movements, +curious. + +Mistress Kitty began telling in an undertone of the meeting between +Mr. Bradshaw and Miss Badlam, and of the arrangements she made for +herself as the reporter of the occasion. She then repeated to him, +in her own way, that part of the conversation which has been already +laid before the reader. There is no need of going over the whole of +this again in Kitty's version, but we may fit what followed into the +joints of what has been already told. + +"He cahled her Cynthy, d' ye see, Mr. Gridley, an' tahked to her jist +as asy as if they was two rogues, and she knowed it as well as he +did. An' so, says he, I'm goin' away, says he, an' I'm goin' to be +gahn siveral days, or perhaps longer, says he, an' you'd better kape +it, says he." + +"Keep what, Kitty? What was it he wanted her to keep?" said Mr. +Gridley, who no longer doubted that he was on the trail of a plot, +and meant to follow it. He was getting impatient with the "says +he's" with which Kitty double-leaded her discourse. + +"An' to be sure ain't I tellin' you, Mr. Gridley, jist as fast as my +breath will let me? An' so, says he, you'd better kape it, says he, +mixed up with your other paupers, says he," (Mr. Gridley started,) +"an' thin we can find it in the garret, says he, whinever we want it, +says he. An' if it all goes right out there, says he, it won't be +lahng before we shall want to find it, says he. And I can dipind on +you, says he, for we're both in the same boat, says he, an' you knows +what I knows, says he, an' I knows what you knows, says be. And thin +he taks a stack o' paupers out of his pocket, an' he pulls out one of +'em, an' he says to her, says he, that's the pauper, says he, an' if +you die, says be, niver lose sight of that day or night, says he, for +it's life an' dith to both of us, says he. An' thin he asks her if +she has n't got one o' them paupers--what is 't they cahls 'em?-- +divilops, or some sich kind of a name--that they wraps up their +letters in; an' she says no, she has n't got none that's big enough +to hold it. So he says, give me a shate o' pauper, says he. An' +thin he takes the pauper that she give him, an' he folds it up like +one o' them--divilops, if that's the name of 'em; and thin he pulls a +stick o' salin'-wax out of his pocket, an' a stamp, an' he takes the +pauper an' puts it into th' other pauper, along with the rest of the +paupers, an' thin he folds th' other pauper over the paupers, and +thin he lights a candle, an' he milts the salin'-wax, and he sales up +the pauper that was outside th' other paupers, an' he writes on the +back of the pauper, an' thin he hands it to Miss Badlam." + +"Did you see the paper that he showed her before he fastened it up +with the others, Kitty?" + +"I did see it, indade, Mr. Gridley, and it's the truth I'm tellin' +ye." + +"Did you happen to notice anything about it, Kitty?" + +"I did, indade, Mr. Gridley. It was a longish kind of a pauper, and +there was some blotches of ink on the back of it,--an' they looked +like a face without any mouth, for, says I, there's two spots for the +eyes, says I, and there's a spot for the nose, says I, and there's +niver a spot for the mouth, says I" + +This was the substance of what Master Byles Gridley got out of Kitty +Fagan. It was enough, yes, it was too much. There was some deep- +laid plot between Murray Bradshaw and Cynthia Badlam, involving the +interests of some of the persons connected with the late Malachi +Withers; for that the paper described by Kitty was the same that he +had seen the young man conceal in the Corpus Juris Civilis, it was +impossible to doubt. If it had been a single spot an the back of it, +or two, he might have doubted. But three large spots "blotches" she +had called them, disposed thus *.*--would not have happened to be on +two different papers, in all human probability. + +After grave consultation of all his mental faculties in committee of +the whole, he arrived at the following conclusion,--that Miss Cynthia +Badlam was the depositary of a secret involving interests which he +felt it his business to defend, and of a document which was +fraudulently withheld and meant to be used for some unfair purpose. +And most assuredly, Master Gridley said to himself, he held a master- +key, which, just so certainly as he could make up his mind to use it, +would open any secret in the keeping of Miss Cynthia Badlam. + +He proceeded, therefore, without delay, to get ready for a visit to +that lady at The Poplars. He meant to go thoroughly armed, for he +was a very provident old gentleman. His weapons were not exactly of +the kind which a housebreaker would provide himself with, but of a +somewhat peculiar nature. + +Weapon number one was a slip of paper with a date and a few words +written upon it. "I think this will fetch the document," he said to +himself, "if it comes to the worst. Not if I can help it,--not if I +can help it. But if I cannot get at the heart of this thing +otherwise, why, I must come to this. Poor woman!--Poor woman!" + +Weapon number two was a small phial containing spirits of hartshorn, +sal volatile, very strong, that would stab through the nostrils, like +a stiletto, deep into the gray kernels that lie in the core of the +brain. Excellent in cases of sudden syncope or fainting, such as +sometimes require the opening of windows, the dashing on of cold +water, the cutting of stays, perhaps, with a scene of more or less +tumultuous perturbation and afflux of clamorous womanhood. + +So armed, Byles Gridley, A. M., champion of unprotected innocence, +grasped his ivory-handled cane and sallied forth on his way to The +Poplars. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +MASTER BYLES GRIDLEY CALLS ON MISS CYNTHIA BADLAM. + +MISS Cynthia Badlam was seated in a small parlor which she was +accustomed to consider her own during her long residences at The +Poplars. The entry stove warmed it but imperfectly, and she looked +pinched and cold, for the evenings were still pretty sharp, and the +old house let in the chill blasts, as old houses are in the habit of +doing. She was sitting at her table, with a little trunk open before +her. She had taken some papers from it, which she was looking over, +when a knock at her door announced a visitor, and Master Byles +Gridley entered the parlor. + +As he came into the room, she gathered the papers together and +replaced them in the trunk, which she locked, throwing an unfinished +piece of needle-work over it, putting the key in her pocket, and +gathering herself up for company. Something of all this Master +Gridley saw through his round spectacles, but seemed not to see, and +took his seat like a visitor making a call of politeness. + +A visitor at such an hour, of the male sex, without special +provocation, without social pretext, was an event in the life of the +desolate spinster. Could it be--No, it could not--and yet--and yet! +Miss Cynthia threw back the rather common-looking but comfortable +shawl which covered her shoulders, and showed her quite presentable +figure, arrayed with a still lingering thought of that remote +contingency which might yet offer itself at some unexpected moment; +she adjusted the carefully plaited cap, which was not yet of the +lasciate ogni speranza pattern, and as she obeyed these instincts of +her sex, she smiled a welcome to the respectable, learned, and +independent bachelor. Mr. Gridley had a frosty but kindly age before +him, with a score or so of years to run, which it was after all not +strange to fancy might be rendered more cheerful by the companionship +of a well-conserved and amiably disposed woman, if any such should +happen to fall in his way. + +That smile came very near disconcerting the plot of Master Byles +Gridley. He had come on an inquisitor's errand, his heart secure, as +he thought, against all blandishments, his will steeled to break down +all resistance. He had come armed with an instrument of torture +worse than the thumb-screw, worse than the pulleys which attempt the +miracle of adding a cubit to the stature, worse than the brazier of +live coals brought close to the naked soles of the feet,--an +instrument which, instead of trifling with the nerves, would clutch +all the nerve-centres and the heart itself in its gripe, and hold +them until it got its answer, if the white lips had life enough left +to shape one. And here was this unfortunate maiden lady smiling at +him, setting her limited attractions in their best light, pleading +with him in that natural language which makes any contumacious +bachelor feel as guilty as Cain before any single woman. If Mr. +Gridley had been alone, he would have taken a good sniff at his own +bottle of sal volatile; for his kind heart sunk within him as he +thought of the errand upon which he had come. It would not do to +leave the subject of his vivisection under any illusion as to the +nature of his designs. + +"Good evening, Miss Badlam," he said, "I have come to visit you on a +matter of business." + +What was the internal panorama which had unrolled itself at the +instant of his entrance, and which rolled up as suddenly at the sound +of his serious voice and the look of his grave features? It cannot +be reproduced, though pages were given to it; for some of the +pictures were near, and some were distant; some were clearly seen, +and some were only hinted; some were not recognized in the intellect +at all, and yet they were implied, as it were, behind the others. +Many times we have all found ourselves glad or sorry, and yet we +could not tell what thought it was that reflected the sunbeam or cast +the shadow. Took into Cynthia's suddenly exalted consciousness and +see the picture, actual and potential, unroll itself in all its +details of the natural, the ridiculous, the selfish, the pitiful, the +human. Glimpses, hints, echoes, suggestions, involving tender +sentiments hitherto unknown, we may suppose, to that unclaimed +sister's breast,--pleasant excitement of receiving congratulations +from suddenly cordial friends; the fussy delights of buying furniture +and shopping for new dresses,--(it seemed as if she could hear +herself saying, "Heavy silks,--best goods, if you please,")--with +delectable thumping down of flat-sided pieces of calico, cambric, +"rep," and other stiffs, and rhythmic evolution of measured yards, +followed by sharp snip of scissors, and that cry of rending tissues +dearer to woman's ear than any earthly sound until she hears the +voice of her own first-born,(much of this potentially, remember,)-- +thoughts of a comfortable settlement, an imposing social condition, a +cheerful household, and by and by an Indian summer of serene +widowhood,--all these, and infinite other involved possibilities had +mapped themselves in one long swift flash before Cynthia's inward +eye, and all vanished as the old man spoke those few words. The look +on his face, and the tone of his cold speech, had instantly swept +them all away, like a tea-set sliding in a single crash from a +slippery tray. + +What could be the "business" on which he had come to her with that +solemn face?--she asked herself, as she returned his greeting and +offered him a chair. She was conscious of a slight tremor as she put +this question to her own intelligence. + +"Are we like to be alone and undisturbed?" Mr. Gridley asked. It was +a strange question,--men do act strangely sometimes. She hardly +knew. whether to turn red or white. + +"Yes, there is nobody like to come in at present," she answered. She +did not know what to make of it. What was coming next, +--a declaration, or an accusation of murder? + +"My business," Mr. Gridley said, very gravely, "relates to this. I +wish to inspect papers which I have reason to believe exist, and +which have reference to the affairs of the late Malachi Withers. Can +you help me to get sight of any of these papers not to be found at +the Registry of Deeds or the Probate Office?" + +"Excuse me, Mr. Gridley, but may I ask you what particular concern +you have with the affairs of my relative, Cousin Malachi Withers, +that's been dead and buried these half-dozen years?" + +"Perhaps it would take some time to answer that question fully, Miss +Badlam. Some of these affairs do concern those I am interested in, +if not myself directly." + +"May I ask who the person or persons may be on whose account you wish +to look at papers belonging to my late relative, Malachi Withers?" + +"You can ask me almost anything, Miss Badlam, but I should really be +very much obliged if you would answer my question first. Can you +help me to get a sight of any papers relating to the estate of +Malachi Withers, not to be found at the Registry of Deeds or the +Probate Office,--any of which you may happen to have any private and +particular knowledge?" + +"I beg your pardon, Mr. Gridley; but I don't understand why you come +to me with such questions. Lawyer Penhallow is the proper person, I +should think, to go to. He and his partner that was--Mr. Wibird, you +know--settled the estate, and he has got the papers, I suppose, if +there are any, that ain't to be found in the offices you mention." + +Mr. Gridley moved his chair a little, so as to bring Miss Badlam's +face a little more squarely in view. + +"Does Mr. William Murray Bradshaw know anything about any papers, +such as I am referring to, that may have been sent to the office?" + +The lady felt a little moisture stealing through all her pores, and +at the same time a certain dryness of the vocal organs, so that her +answer came in a slightly altered tone which neither of them could +help noticing. + +"You had better ask Mr. William Murray Bradshaw yourself about that," +she answered. She felt the hook now, and her spines were rising, +partly with apprehension, partly with irritation. + +"Has that young gentleman ever delivered into your hands any papers +relating to the affairs of the late Malachi Withers, for your safe +keeping?" + +"What do you mean by asking me these questions, Mr. Gridley? I don't +choose to be catechised about Murray Bradshaw's business. Go to him, +if you please, if you want to find out about it." + +"Excuse my persistence, Miss Badlam, but I must prevail upon you to +answer my question. Has Mr. William Murray Bradshaw ever delivered +into your hands any papers relating to the affairs of the late +Malachi Withers, for your safe keeping?" + +"Do you suppose I am going to answer such questions as you are +putting me because you repeat them over, Mr. Gridley? Indeed I +cha'n't. Ask him, if you please, whatever you wish to know about his +doings." + +She drew herself up and looked savagely at him. She had talked +herself into her courage. There was a color in her cheeks and a +sparkle in her eye; she looked dangerous as a cobra. + +"Miss Cynthia Badlam," Master Gridley said, very deliberately, "I am +afraid we do not entirely understand each other. You must answer my +question precisely, categorically, point-blank, and on the instant. +Will you do this at once, or will you compel me to show you the +absolute necessity of your doing it, at the expense of pain to both +of us? Six words from me will make you answer all my questions." + +"You can't say six words, nor sixty, Mr. Gridley, that will make me +answer one question I do not choose to. I defy you!" + +"I will not say one, Miss Cynthia Badlam. There are some things one +does not like to speak in words. But I will show you a scrap of +paper, containing just six words and a date; not one word more nor +one less. You shall read them. Then I will burn the paper in the +flame of your lamp. As soon after that as you feel ready, I will ask +the same question again." + +Master Gridley took out from his pocket-book a scrap of paper, and +handed it to Cynthia Badlam. Her hand shook as she received it, for +she was frightened as well as enraged, and she saw that Mr. Gridley +was in earnest and knew what he was doing. + +She read the six words, he looking at her steadily all the time, and +watching her as if he had just given her a drop of prussic acid. + +No cry. No sound from her lips. She stared as if half stunned for +one moment, then turned her head and glared at Mr. Gridley as if she +would have murdered him if she dared. In another instant her face +whitened, the scrap of paper fluttered to the floor, and she would +have followed it but for the support of both Mr. Gridley's arms. He +disengaged one of them presently, and felt in his pocket for the sal +volatile. It served him excellently well, and stung her back again +to her senses very quickly. All her defiant aspect had gone. + +"Look!" he said, as he lighted the scrap of paper in the flame." +You understand me, and you see that I must be answered the next time +I ask my question." + +She opened her lips as if to speak. It was as when a bell is rung in +a vacuum,--no words came from them,--only a faint gasping sound, an +effort at speech. She was caught tight in the heart-screw. + +"Don't hurry yourself, Miss Cynthia," he said, with a certain +relenting tenderness of manner. "Here, take another sniff of the +smelling-salts. Be calm, be quiet,--I am well disposed towards you, +--I don't like to give you trouble. There, now, I must have the +answer to that question; but take your time, take your time." + +"Give me some water,--some water!" she said, in a strange hoarse +whisper. There was a pitcher of water and a tumbler on an old marble +sideboard near by. He filled the tumbler, and Cynthia emptied it as +if she had just been taken from the rack, and could have swallowed a +bucketful. + +"What do you want to know?" she asked. + +"I wish to know all that you can tell me about a certain paper, or +certain papers, which I have reason to believe Mr. William Murray +Bradshaw committed to your keeping." + +"There is only one paper of any consequence. Do you want to make him +kill me? or do you want to make me kill myself?" + +"Neither, Miss Cynthia, neither. I wish to see that paper, but not +for any bad purpose. Don't you think, on the whole, you have pretty +good reason to trust me? I am a very quiet man, Miss Cynthia. Don't +be afraid of me; only do what I ask,--it will be a great deal better +for you in the end." + +She thrust her trembling hand into her pocket, and took out the key +of the little trunk. She drew the trunk towards her, put the key in +the lock, and opened it. It seemed like pressing a knife into her +own bosom and turning the blade. That little trunk held all the +records of her life the forlorn spinster most cherished;--a few +letters that came nearer to love-letters than any others she had ever +received; an album, with flowers of the summers of 1840 and 1841 +fading between its leaves; two papers containing locks of hair, half +of a broken ring, and other insignificant mementos which had their +meaning, doubtless, to her,--such a collection as is often priceless +to one human heart, and passed by as worthless in the auctioneer's +inventory. She took the papers out mechanically, and laid them on +the table. Among them was an oblong packet, sealed with what +appeared to be the office seal of Messrs. Penhallow and Bradshaw. + +"Will you allow me to take that envelope containing papers, Miss +Badlam? "Mr. Gridley asked, with a suavity and courtesy in his tone +and manner that showed how he felt for her sex and her helpless +position. + +She seemed to obey his will as if she had none of her own left. She +passed the envelope to him, and stared at him vacantly while he +examined it. He read on the back of the package: "Withers Estate-- +old papers--of no importance apparently. Examine hereafter." + +"May I ask when, where, and of whom you obtained these papers, Miss +Badlam?" + +"Have pity on me, Mr. Gridley,--have pity on me. I am a lost woman +if you do not. Spare me! for God's sake, spare me! There will no +wrong come of all this, if you will but wait a little while. The +paper will come to light when it is wanted, and all will be right. +But do not make me answer any more questions, and let me keep this +paper. O Mr. Gridley! I am in the power of a dreadful man--" + +"You mean Mr. William Murray Bradshaw?" + +"I mean him." + +"Has there not been some understanding between you that he should +become the approved suitor of Miss Myrtle Hazard?" + +Cynthia wrung her hands and rocked herself backward and forward in +her misery, but answered not a word. What could she answer, if she +had plotted with this "dreadful man" against a young and innocent +girl, to deliver her over into his hands, at the risk of all her +earthly hopes and happiness? + +Master Gridley waited long and patiently for any answer she might +have the force to make. As she made none, he took upon himself to +settle the whole matter without further torture of his helpless +victim. + +"This package must go into the hands of the parties who had the +settlement of the estate of the late Malachi Withers. Mr. Penhallow +is the survivor of the two gentlemen to whom that business was +intrusted. How long is Mr. William Murray Bradshaw like to be away?" + +"Perhaps a few days,--perhaps weeks,--and then he will come back and +kill me,--or--or--worse! Don't take that paper, Mr. Gridley,--he +isn't like you! you would n't--but he would--he would send me to +everlasting misery to gain his own end, or to save himself. And yet +he is n't every way bad, and if he did marry Myrtle she'd think there +never was such a man,--for he can talk her heart out of her, and the +wicked in him lies very deep and won't ever come out, perhaps, if the +world goes right with him." The last part of this sentence showed +how Cynthia talked with her own conscience; all her mental and moral +machinery lay open before the calm eyes of Master Byles Gridley. + +His thoughts wandered a moment from the business before him; he had +just got a new study of human nature, which in spite of himself would +be shaping itself into an axiom for an imagined new edition of +"Thoughts on the Universe," something like this, "The greatest saint +may be a sinner that never got down to "hard pan." It was not the +time to be framing axioms. + +"Poh! poh!" he said to himself; "what are you about making phrases, +when you have got a piece of work like this in hand?" Then to +Cynthia, with great gentleness and kindness of manner: "Have no fear +about any consequences to yourself. Mr. Penhallow must see that +paper--I mean those papers. You shall not be a loser nor a sufferer +if you do your duty now in these premises." + +Master Gridley, treating her, as far as circumstances permitted, like +a gentleman, had shown no intention of taking the papers either +stealthily or violently. It must be with her consent. He had laid +the package down upon the table, waiting for her to give him leave to +take it. But just as he spoke these last words, Cynthia, whose eye +had been glancing furtively at it while he was thinking out his +axiom, and taking her bearings to it pretty carefully, stretched her +hand out, and, seizing the package, thrust it into the sanctuary of +her bosom. + +"Mr. Penhallow must see those papers, Miss Cynthia Badlam," Mr. +Gridley repeated calmly. "If he says they or any of them can be +returned to your keeping, well and good. But see them he must, for +they have his office seal and belong in his custody, and, as you see +by the writing on the back, they have not been examined. Now there +may be something among them which is of immediate importance to the +relatives of the late deceased Malachi Withers, and therefore they +must be forthwith submitted to the inspection of the surviving +partner of the firm of Wibird and Penhallow. This I propose to do, +with your consent, this evening. It is now twenty-five minutes past +eight by the true time, as my watch has it. At half past eight +exactly I shall have the honor of bidding you good evening, Miss +Cynthia Badlam, whether you give me those papers or not. I shall go +to the office of Jacob Penhallow, Esquire, and there make one of two +communications to him; to wit, these papers and the facts connected +therewith, or another statement, the nature of which you may perhaps +conjecture." + +There is no need of our speculating as to what Mr. Byles Gridley, an +honorable and humane man, would have done, or what would have been +the nature of that communication which he offered as an alternative +to the perplexed woman. He had not at any rate miscalculated the +strength of his appeal, which Cynthia interpreted as he expected. +She bore the heart-screw about two minutes. Then she took the +package from her bosom, and gave it with averted face to Master Byles +Gridley, who, on receiving it, made her a formal but not unkindly +bow, and bade her good evening. + +"One would think it had been lying out in the dew," he said, as he +left the house and walked towards Mr. Penhallow's residence. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + + +MASTER BYLES GRIDLEY CONSULTS WITH JACOB PENHALLOW, ESQUIRE + +Lawyer Penhallow was seated in his study, his day's work over, his +feet in slippers, after the comfortable but inelegant fashion which +Sir Walter Scott reprobates, amusing himself with a volume of old +Reports. He was a knowing man enough, a keen country lawyer but +honest, and therefore less ready to suspect the honesty of others. +He had a great belief in his young partner's ability, and, though he +knew him to be astute, did not think him capable of roguery. + +It was at his request that Mr. Bradshaw had undertaken his journey, +which, as he believed,--and as Mr. Bradshaw had still stronger +evidence of a strictly confidential nature which led him to feel +sure,--would end in the final settlement of the great land claim in +favor of their client. The case had been dragging along from year to +year, like an English chancery suit; and while courts and lawyers and +witnesses had been sleeping, the property had been steadily growing. +A railroad had passed close to one margin of the township, some mines +had been opened in the county, in which a village calling itself a +city had grown big enough to have a newspaper and Fourth of July +orations. It was plain that the successful issue of the long process +would make the heirs of the late Malachi Withers possessors of an +ample fortune, and it was also plain that the firm of Penhallow and +Bradshaw were like to receive, in such case, the largest fee that had +gladdened the professional existence of its members. + +Mr. Penhallow had his book open before him, but his thoughts were +wandering from the page. He was thinking of his absent partner, and +the probable results of his expedition. What would be the +consequence if all this property came into the possession of Silence +Withers? Could she have any liberal intentions with reference to +Myrtle Hazard, the young girl who had grown up with her, or was the +common impression true, that she was bent on endowing an institution, +and thus securing for herself a favorable consideration in the higher +courts, where her beneficiaries would be, it might be supposed, +influential advocates? He could not help thinking that Mr. Bradshaw +believed that Myrtle Hazard would eventually come to apart at least +of this inheritance. For the story was, that he was paying his court +to the young lady whenever he got an opportunity, and that he was +cultivating an intimacy with Miss Cynthia Badlam. "Bradshaw would +n'tmake a move in that direction," Mr. Penhallow said to himself, +"until he felt pretty sure that it was going to be a paying business. +If he was only a young minister now, there'd be no difficulty about +it. Let any man, young or old, in a clerical white cravat, step up +to Myrtle Hazard, and ask her to be miserable in his company through +this wretched life, and aunt Silence would very likely give them her +blessing, and add something to it that the man in the white cravat +would think worth even more than that was. But I don't know what +she'll say to Bradshaw. Perhaps he 'd better have a hint to go to +meeting a little more regularly. However, I suppose he knows what +he's about." + +He was thinking all this over when a visitor was announced, and Mr. +Byles Gridley entered the study. + +"Good evening, Mr. Penhallow," Mr. Gridley said, wiping his forehead. +"Quite warm, is n't it, this evening?" + +"Warm!" said Mr. Penhallow, "I should think it would freeze pretty +thick to-night. I should have asked you to come up to the fire and +warm yourself. But take off your coat, Mr. Gridley,--very glad to +see you. You don't come to the house half as often as you come to +the office. Sit down, sit down." + +Mr. Gridley took off his outside coat and sat down. "He does look +warm, does n't he?" Mr. Penhallow thought. "Wonder what has heated +up the old gentleman so. Find out quick enough, for he always goes +straight to business." + +"Mr. Penhallow," Mr. Gridley began at once, "I have come on a very +grave matter, in which you are interested as well as myself, and I +wish to lay the whole of it before you as explicitly as I can, so +that we may settle this night before I go what is to be done. I am +afraid the good standing of your partner, Mr. William Murray +Bradshaw, is concerned in the matter. Would it be a surprise to you, +if he had carried his acuteness in some particular case like the one +I am to mention beyond the prescribed limits?" + +The question was put so diplomatically that there was no chance for +an indignant denial of the possibility of Mr. Bradshaw's being +involved in any discreditable transaction. + +"It is possible," he answered, "that Bradshaw's keen wits may have +betrayed him into sharper practice than I should altogether approve +in any business we carried on together. He is a very knowing young +man, but I can't think he is foolish enough, to say nothing of his +honesty, to make any false step of the kind you seem to hint. I +think he might on occasion go pretty near the line, but I don't +believe he would cross it." + +"Permit me a few questions, Mr. Penhallow. You settled the estate of +the late Malachi Withers, did you not?" + +"Mr. Wibird and myself settled it together." + +"Have you received any papers from any of the family since the +settlement of the estate?" + +"Let me see. Yes; a roll of old plans of the Withers Place, and so +forth,--not of much use, but labelled and kept. An old trunk with +letters and account-books, some of them in Dutch,--mere curiosities. +A year ago or more, I remember that Silence sent me over some papers +she had found in an odd corner,--the old man hid things like a +magpie. I looked over most of them,--trumpery not worth keeping,-- +old leases and so forth." + +"Do you recollect giving some of them to Mr. Bradshaw to look over?" + +"Now I come to think of it, I believe I did; but he reported to me, +if I remember right, that they amounted to nothing." + +"If any of those papers were of importance, should you think your +junior partner ought to keep them from your knowledge?" + +"I need not answer that question, Mr. Gridley. Will you be so good +as to come at once to the facts on which you found your suspicions, +and which lead you to put these questions to me?" + +Thereupon Mr. Gridley proceeded to state succinctly the singular +behavior of Murray Bradshaw in taking one paper from a number handed +to him by Mr. Penhallow, and concealing it in a volume. He related +how he was just on the point of taking out the volume which contained +the paper, when Mr. Bradshaw entered and disconcerted him. He had, +however, noticed three spots on the paper by which he should know it +anywhere. He then repeated the substance of Kitty Fagan's story, +accenting the fact that she too noticed three remarkable spots on the +paper which Mr. Bradshaw had pointed out to Miss Badlam as the one so +important to both of them. Here he rested the case for the moment. + +Mr. Penhallow looked thoughtful. There was something questionable in +the aspect of this business. It did obviously suggest the idea of an +underhand arrangement with Miss Cynthia, possibly involving some very +grave consequences. It would have been most desirable, he said, to +have ascertained what these papers, or rather this particular paper, +to which so much importance was attached, amounted to. Without that +knowledge there was nothing, after all, which it might not be +possible to explain. He might have laid aside the spotted paper to +examine for some object of mere curiosity. It was certainly odd that +the one the Fagan woman had seen should present three spots so like +those on the other paper, but people did sometimes throw treys at +backgammon, and that which not rarely happened with two dice of six +faces might happen if they had sixty or six hundred faces. On the +whole, he did not see that there was any ground, so far, for anything +more than a vague suspicion. He thought it not unlikely that Mr. +Bradshaw was a little smitten with the young lady up at The Poplars, +and that he had made some diplomatic overtures to the duenna, after +the approved method of suitors. She was young for Bradshaw,--very +young,--but he knew his own affairs. If he chose to make love to a +child, it was natural enough that he should begin by courting her +nurse. + +Master Byles Gridley lost himself for half a minute in a most +discreditable inward discussion as to whether Laura Penhallow was +probably one or two years older than Mr. Bradshaw. That was his way, +he could not help it. He could not think of anything without these +mental parentheses. But he came back to business at the end of his +half-minute. + +"I can lay the package before you at this moment, Mr. Penhallow. I +have induced that woman in whose charge it was left to intrust it to +my keeping, with the express intention of showing it to you. But it +is protected by a seal, as I have told you, which I should on no +account presume to meddle with." + +Mr. Gridley took out the package of papers. + +"How damp it is!" Mr. Penhallow said; "must have been lying in some +very moist neighborhood." + +"Very," Mr. Gridley answered, with a peculiar expression which said, +"Never mind about that." + +"Did the party give you possession of these documents without making +any effort to retain them?" the lawyer asked. + +"Not precisely. It cost some effort to induce Miss Badlam to let +them go out of her hands. I hope you think I was justified in making +the effort I did, not without a considerable strain upon my feelings, +as well as her own, to get hold of the papers?" + +"That will depend something on what the papers prove to be, Mr. +Gridley. A man takes a certain responsibility in doing just what you +have done. If, for instance, it should prove that this envelope +contained matters relating solely to private transactions between Mr. +Bradshaw and Miss Badlam, concerning no one but themselves,--and if +the words on the back of the envelope and the seal had been put there +merely as a protection for a package containing private papers of a +delicate but perfectly legitimate character--" + +The lawyer paused, as careful experts do, after bending the bow of an +hypothesis, before letting the arrow go. Mr. Gridley felt very warm +indeed, uncomfortably so, and applied his handkerchief to his face. +Could n't be anything in such a violent supposition as that, and yet +such a crafty fellow as that Bradshaw,--what trick was he not up to? +Absurd! Cynthia was not acting,--Rachel would n't be equal to such a +performance!--" why then, Mr. Gridley," the lawyer continued, "I +don't see but what my partner would have you at an advantage, and, if +disposed to make you uncomfortable, could do so pretty effectively. +But this, you understand, is only a supposed case, and not a very +likely one. I don't think it would have been prudent in you to +meddle with that seal. But it is a very different matter with regard +to myself. It makes no difference, so far as I am concerned, where +this package came from, or how it was obtained. It is just as +absolutely within my control as any piece of property I call my own. +I should not hesitate, if I saw fit, to break this seal at once, and +proceed to the examination of any papers contained within the +envelope. If I found any paper of the slightest importance relating +to the estate, I should act as if it had never been out of my +possession. + +"Suppose, however, I chose to know what was in the package, and, +having ascertained, act my judgment about returning it to the party +from whom you obtained it. In such case I might see fit to restore +or cause it to be restored, to the party, without any marks of +violence having been used being apparent. If everything is not +right, probably no questions would be asked by the party having +charge of the package. If there is no underhand work going on, and +the papers are what they profess to be, nobody is compromised but +yourself, so far as I can see, and you are compromised at any rate, +Mr. Gridley, at least in the good graces of the party from whom you +obtained the documents. Tell that party that I took the package +without opening it, and shall return it, very likely, without +breaking the seal. Will consider of the matter, say a couple of +days. Then you shall hear from me, and she shall hear from you. So. +So. Yes, that's it. A nice business. A thing to sleep on. You had +better leave the whole matter of dealing with the package to me. If +I see fit to send it back with the seal unbroken, that is my affair. +But keep perfectly quiet, if you please, Mr. Gridley, about the whole +matter. Mr. Bradshaw is off, as you know, and the business on which +he is gone is important,--very important. He can be depended on for +that; he has acted all along as if he had a personal interest in the +success of our firm beyond his legal relation to it." + +Mr. Penhallow's light burned very late in the office that night, and +the following one. He looked troubled and absent-minded, and when +Miss Laura ventured to ask him how long Mr. Bradshaw was like to be +gone, he answered her in such a way that the girl who waited at table +concluded that he did n't mean to have Miss Laury keep company with +Mr. Bradshaw, or he'd never have spoke so dreadful hash to her when +she asked about him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +SUSAN POSEY'S TRIAL. + +A day or two after Myrtle Hazard returned to the village, Master +Byles Gridley, accompanied by Gifted Hopkins, followed her, as has +been already mentioned, to the same scene of the principal events of +this narrative. The young man had been persuaded that it would be +doing injustice to his talents to crowd their fruit prematurely upon +the market. He carried his manuscript back with him, having +relinquished the idea of publishing for the present. Master Byles +Gridley, on the other hand, had in his pocket a very flattering +proposal, from the same publisher to whom he had introduced the young +poet, for a new and revised edition of his work, "Thoughts on the +Universe," which was to be remodelled in some respects, and to have a +new title not quite so formidable to the average reader. + +It would be hardly fair to Susan Posey to describe with what delight +and innocent enthusiasm she welcomed back Gifted Hopkins. She had +been so lonely since he was away? She had read such of his poems as +she possessed--duplicates of his printed ones, or autographs which he +had kindly written out for her--over and over again, not without the +sweet tribute of feminine sensibility, which is the most precious of +all testimonials to a poet's power over the heart. True, her love +belonged to another,--but then she was so used to Gifted! She did so +love to hear him read his poems,--and Clement had never written that +"little bit of a poem to Susie," which she had asked him for so long +ago! She received him therefore with open arms,--not literally, of +course, which would have been a breach of duty and propriety, but in +a figurative sense, which it is hoped no reader will interpret to her +discredit. + +The young poet was in need of consolation. It is true that he had +seen many remarkable sights during his visit to the city; that he had +got "smarted up," as his mother called it, a good deal; that he had +been to Mrs. Clymer Ketchum's party, where he had looked upon life in +all its splendors; and that he brought back many interesting +experiences, which would serve to enliven his conversation for a long +time. But he had failed in the great enterprise he had undertaken. +He was forced to confess to his revered parent, and his esteemed +friend Susan Posey, that his genius, which was freely acknowledged, +was not thought to be quite ripe as yet. He told the young lady some +particulars of his visit to the publisher, how he had listened with +great interest to one of his poems, "The Triumph of Song,"--how he +had treated him with marked and flattering attention; but that he +advised him not to risk anything prematurely, giving him the hope +that by and by he would be admitted into that series of illustrious +authors which it was the publisher's privilege to present to the +reading public. In short, he was advised not to print. That was the +net total of the matter, and it was a pang to the susceptible heart +of the poet. He had hoped to have come home enriched by the sale of +his copyright, and with the prospect of seeing his name before long +on the back of a handsome volume. + +Gifted's mother did all in her power to console him in his +disappointment. There was plenty of jealous people always that +wanted to keep young folks from rising in the world. Never mind, she +did n't believe but what Gifted could make jest as good verses as any +of them that they kept such a talk about. She had a fear that he +might pine away in consequence of the mental excitement he had gone +through, and solicited his appetite with her choicest appliances,--of +which he partook in a measure which showed that there was no +immediate cause of alarm. + +But Susan Posey was more than a consoler,--she was an angel to him in +this time of his disappointment. "Read me all the poems over again," +she said,--"it is almost the only pleasure I have left, to hear you +read your beautiful verses." Clement Lindsay had not written to +Susan quite so often of late as at some former periods of the history +of their love. Perhaps it was that which had made her look paler +than usual for some little time. Something was evidently preying on +her. Her only delight seemed to be in listening to Gifted as he +read, sometimes with fine declamatory emphasis, sometimes in low, +tremulous tones, the various poems enshrined in his manuscript. At +other times she was sad, and more than once Mrs. Hopkins had seen a +tear steal down her innocent cheek, when there seemed to be no +special cause for grief. She ventured to speak of it to Master Byles +Gridley. + +"Our Susan's in trouble, Mr. Gridley, for some reason or other that's +unbeknown to me, and I can't help wishing you could jest have a few +words with her. You're a kind of a grandfather, you know, to all the +young folks, and they'd tell you pretty much everything about +themselves. I calc'late she is n't at ease in her mind about +somethin' or other, and I kind o' think, Mr. Gridley, you could coax +it out of her." + +"Was there ever anything like it?" said Master Byles Gridley to +himself. "I shall have all the young folks in Oxbow Village to take +care of at this rate. Susan Posey in trouble, too! Well, well, +well, it's easier to get a birch-bark canoe off the shallows than a +big ship off the rocks. Susan Posey's trouble will be come at easily +enough; but Myrtle Hazard floats in deeper water. We must make Susan +Posey tell her own story, or let her tell it, for it will all come +out of itself." + +"I am going to dust the books in the open shelves this morning. I +wonder if Miss Susan Posey would n't like to help for half an hour or +so," Master Gridley remarked at the breakfast-table. + +The amiable girl's very pleasant countenance lighted up at the +thought of obliging the old man who had been so kind to her and so +liberal to her friend, the poet. She would be delighted to help him; +she would dust them all for him, if he wanted her to. No, Master +Gridley said, he always wanted to have a hand in it; and, besides, +such a little body as she was could not lift those great folios out +of the lower shelves without overstraining herself; she might handle +the musketry and the light artillery, but he must deal with the heavy +guns himself. "As low down as the octavos, Susan Posey, you shall +govern; below that, the Salic law." + +Susan did not low much about the Salic law; but she knew he meant +that he would dust the big books and she would attend to the little +ones. + +A very young and a very pretty girl is sometimes quite charming in a +costume which thinks of nothing less than of being attractive. Susan +appeared after breakfast in the study, her head bound with a kerchief +of bright pattern, a little jacket she had outgrown buttoned, in +spite of opposition, close about her up to the throat, round which a +white handkerchief was loosely tied, and a pair of old gauntlets +protecting her hands, so that she suggested something between a +gypsy, a jaunty soubrette, and the fille du regiment. + +Master Gridley took out a great volume from the lower shelf,--a folio +in massive oaken covers with clasps Like prison hinges, bearing the +stately colophon, white on a ground of vermilion, of Nicholas Jenson +and his associates. He opened the volume,--paused over its blue, and +scarlet initial letter,--he turned page after page, admiring its +brilliant characters, its broad, white marginal rivers, and the +narrower white creek that separated the black-typed twin-columns, he +turned back to the beginning and read the commendatory paragraph," +Nam ipsorum omnia fidgent tum correctione dignissima, tum cura +imprimendo splendida ac miranda,' and began reading, "Incipit +proemium super apparatum decretalium...." when it suddenly occurred +to him that this was not exactly doing what he had undertaken to do, +and he began whisking an ancient bandanna about the ears of the +venerable volume. All this time Miss Susan Posey was catching the +little books by the small of their backs, pulling them out, opening +them, and clapping them together, 'p-'p-'p! 'p-'p-'p! and carefully +caressing all their edges with a regular professional dusting-cloth, +so persuasively that they yielded up every particle that a year had +drifted upon them, and came forth refreshed and rejuvenated. This +process went on for a while, until Susan had worked down among +the octavos and Master Gridley had worked up among the quartos. He +had got hold of Calmet's Dictionary, and was caught by the article +Solomon, so that he forgot his occupation again. All at once it +struck him that everything was very silent,--the 'p-'p-'p! of +clapping the books had ceased, and the light rustle of Susan's dress +was no longer heard. He looked up and saw her standing perfectly +still, with a book in one hand and her duster in the other. She was +lost in thought, and by the shadow on her face and the glistening of +her blue eyes he knew it was her hidden sorrow that had just come +back to her. Master Gridley shut up his book, leaving Solomon to his +fate, like the worthy Benedictine he was reading, without discussing +the question whether he was saved or not. + +"Susan Posey, child, what is your trouble?" + +Poor Susan was in the state of unstable equilibrium which the least +touch upsets, and fell to crying. It took her some time to get down +the waves of emotion so that speech would live upon them. At last it +ventured out,--showing at intervals, like the boat rising on the +billow, sinking into the hollow, and climbing again into notice. + +"O Mr. Grid-ley--I can't--I can't--tell you or--any-body--what 's the +mat-mat-matter. My heart will br-br-break." + +"No, no, no, child," said Mr. Gridley, sympathetically stirred a +little himself by the sight of Susan in tears and sobbing and +catching her breath, "that mustn't be, Susan Posey. Come off the +steps, Susan Posey, and stop dusting the books,--I can finish them,-- +and tell me all abort your troubles. I will try 'to help you out of +them, and I have begun to think I know how to help young people +pretty well. I have had some experience at it." + +But Susan cried and sobbed all the more uncontrollably and +convulsively. Master Gridley thought he had better lead her at once +to what he felt pretty sure was the source of her grief, and that, +when she had had her cry out, she would probably make the hole in the +ice he had broken big enough in a very few minutes. + +"I think something has gone wrong between you and your friend, the +young gentleman with whom you are in intimate relations, my child, +and I think you had better talk freely with me, for I can perhaps +give you a little counsel that will be of service." + +Susan cried herself quiet at last. "There's nobody in the world like +you, Mr. Gridley," she said, "and I've been wanting to tell you +something ever so long. My friend--Mr. Clem--Clement Lindsay does +n't care for me as he used to,--I know he does n't. He hasn't +written to me for--I don't know but it's a month. And O Mr. Gridley! +he's such a great man, and I am such a simple person,--I can't help +thinking--he would be happier with somebody else than poor little +Susan Posey!" + +This last touch of self-pity overcame her, as it is so apt to do +those who indulge in that delightful misery, and she broke up badly, +as a horse-fancier would say, so that it was some little time before +she recovered her conversational road-gait. + +"O Mr. Gridley," she began again, at length, "if I only dared to tell +him what I think,--that perhaps it would be happier for us both--if +we could forget each other! Ought I not to tell him so? Don't you +think he would find another to make him happy? Wouldn't he forgive +me for telling him he was free? Were we not too young to know each +other's hearts when we promised each other that we would love as long +as we lived? Sha'n't I write him a letter this very day and tell him +all? Do you think it would be wrong in me to do it? O Mr. Gridley, +it makes me almost crazy to think about it. Clement must be free! I +cannot, cannot hold him to a promise he does n't want to keep." + +There were so many questions in this eloquent rhapsody of Susan's +that they neutralized each other, as one might say, and Master +Gridley had time for reflection. His thoughts went on something in +this way: + +"Pretty clear case! Guess Mr. Clement can make up his mind to it. +Put it well, did n't she? Not a word about our little Gifted! +That's the trouble. Poets! how they do bewitch these schoolgirls! +And having a chance every day, too, how could you expect her to stand +it?" Then aloud: "Susan Posey, you are a good, honest little girl as +ever was. I think you and Clement were too hasty in coming together +for life before you knew what life meant. I think if you write +Clement a letter, telling him that you cannot help fearing that you +two are not perfectly adapted to each other, on account of certain +differences for which neither of you is responsible, and that you +propose that each should release the other from the pledge given so +long ago,--in that case, I say, I believe he will think no worse of +you for so doing, and may perhaps agree that it is best for both of +you to seek your happiness elsewhere than in each other." + +The book-dusting came to as abrupt a close as the reading of +Lancelot. Susan went straight to her room, dried her tears so as to +write in a fair hand, but had to stop every few lines and take a turn +at the "dust-layers," as Mrs. Clymer Ketchum's friend used to call +the fountains of sensibility. It would seem like betraying Susan's +confidence to reveal the contents of this letter, but the reader may +be assured that it was simple and sincere and very sweetly written, +without the slightest allusion to any other young man, whether of the +poetical or cheaper human varieties. + +It was not long before Susan received a reply from Clement Lindsay. +It was as kind and generous and noble as she could have asked. It +was affectionate, as a very amiable brother's letter might be, and +candidly appreciative of the reasons Susan had assigned for her +proposal. He gave her back her freedom, not that he should cease to +feel an interest in her, always. He accepted his own release, not +that he would ever think she could be indifferent to his future +fortunes. And within a very brief period of time after sending his +answer to Susan Posey, whether he wished to see her in person, or +whether he had some other motive, he had packed his trunk, and made +his excuses for an absence of uncertain length at the studio, and was +on his way to Oxbow Village. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +JUST AS YOU EXPECTED. + +The spring of 1861 had now arrived,--that eventful spring which was +to lift the curtain and show the first scene of the first act in the +mighty drama which fixed the eyes of mankind during four bloody +years. The little schemes of little people were going on in all our +cities and villages without thought of the fearful convulsion which +was soon coming to shatter the hopes and cloud the prospects of +millions. Our little Oxbow Village, which held itself by no means +the least of human centres, was the scene of its own commotions, as +intense and exciting to those concerned as if the destiny of the +nation had been involved in them. + +Mr. Clement Lindsay appeared suddenly in that important locality, and +repaired to his accustomed quarters at the house of Deacon Rumrill. +That worthy person received him with a certain gravity of manner, +caused by his recollections of the involuntary transgression into +which Mr. Lindsay had led him by his present of "Ivanhoe."--He was, +on the whole, glad to see him, for his finances were not yet wholly +recovered from the injury inflicted on them by the devouring element. +But he could not forget that his boarder had betrayed him into a +breach of the fourth commandment, and that the strict eyes of his +clergyman had detected him in the very commission of the offence. He +had no sooner seen Mr. Clement comfortably installed, therefore, than +he presented himself at the door of his chamber with the book, +enveloped in strong paper and very securely tied round with a stout +string. + +"Here is your vollum, Mr. Lindsay," the Deacon said. "I understand +it is not the work of that great and good mahn who I thought wrote +it. I did not see anything immoral in it as fur as I read, but it +belongs to what I consider a very dangerous class of publications. +These novels and romances are awfully destructive to our youth. I +should recommend you, as a young man of principle, to burn the +vollum. At least I hope you will not leave it about anywhere unless +it is carefully tied up. I have written upon the paper round it to +warn off all the young persons of my household from meddling with +it." + +True enough, Mr. Clement saw in strong black letters on the back of +the paper wrapping his unfortunate "Ivanhoe,"--- + +"DANGEROUS READING FOR CHRISTIAN YOUTH. + +"TOUCH NOT THE UNCLEAN THING." + +"I thought you said you had Scott's picture hung up in your parlor, +Deacon Rumrill," he said, a little amused with the worthy man's fear +and precautions. + +"It is the great Scott's likeness that I have in my parlor," he said; +"I will show it to you if you will come with me." + +Mr. Clement followed the Deacon into that sacred apartment. + +"That is the portrait of the great Scott," he said, pointing to an +engraving of a heavy-looking person whose phrenological developments +were a somewhat striking contrast to those of the distinguished Sir +Walter. + +"I will take good care that none of your young people see this +volume," Mr. Clement said; "I trust you read it yourself, however, +and found something to please you in it. I am sure you are safe from +being harmed by any such book. Did n't you have to finish it, +Deacon, after you had once begun?" + +"Well, I--I--perused a consid'able portion of the work," the Deacon +answered, in a way that led Mr. Clement to think he had not stopped +much short of Finis. "Anything new in the city?" + +"Nothing except what you've all had,--Confederate States establishing +an army and all that,--not very new either. What has been going on +here lately, Deacon?" + +"Well, Mr. Lindsay, not a great deal. My new barn is pretty nigh +done. I've got as fine a litter of pigs as ever you see. I don't +know whether you're a judge of pigs or no. The Hazard gal's come +back, spilt, pooty much, I guess. Been to one o' them fashionable +schools,--I 've heerd that she 's learnt to dance. I've heerd say +that that Hopkins boy's round the Posey gal, come to think, she's the +one you went with some when you was here,--I 'm gettin' kind o' +forgetful. Old Doctor Hurlbut's pretty low,--ninety-four year old,-- +born in '67,--folks ain't ginerally very spry after they're ninety, +but he held out wonderful." + +"How's Mr. Bradshaw?" + +"Well, the young squire, he's off travellin' somewhere in the West, +or to Washin'ton, or somewhere else,--I don't jestly know where. +They say that he's follerin' up the courts in the business about old +Malachi's estate. I don' know much about it." + +The news got round Oxbow Village very speedily that Mr. Clement +Lindsay, generally considered the accepted lover of Miss Susan Posey, +had arrived in that place. Now it had come to be the common talk of +the village that young Gifted Hopkins and Susan Posey were getting to +be mighty thick with each other, and the prevailing idea was that +Clement's visit had reference to that state of affairs. Some said +that Susan had given her young man the mitten, meaning thereby that +she had signified that his services as a suitor were dispensed with. +Others thought there was only a wavering in her affection for her +lover, and that he feared for her constancy, and had come to +vindicate his rights. + +Some of the young fellows, who were doubtless envious of Gifted's +popularity with the fair sex, attempted in the most unjustifiable +manner to play upon his susceptible nature. One of them informed him +that he had seen that Lindsay fellah raound taown with the darndest +big stick y' ever did see. Looked kind o' savage and wild like. +Another one told him that perhaps he'd better keep a little shady; +that are chap that had got the mittin was praowlin' abaout--with a +pistil,--one o' them Darringers,--abaout as long as your thumb, an' +fire a bullet as big as a p'tatah-ball,--'a fellah carries one in his +breeches-pocket, an' shoots y' right threugh his own pahnts, withaout +ever takin' on it aout of his pocket. The stable-keeper, who, it may +be remembered, once exchanged a few playful words with Mr. Gridley, +got a hint from some of these unfeeling young men, and offered the +resources of his stable to the youth supposed to be in peril. + +"I 've got a faast colt, Mr. Hopkins, that 'll put twenty mild +betwixt you an' this here village, as quick as any four huffs 'll dew +it in this here caounty, if you should want to get away suddin. I've +heern tell there was some lookin' raound here that wouldn't be +wholesome to meet,--jest say the word, Mr. Hopkins, an' I 'll have ye +on that are colt's back in less than no time, an' start ye off full +jump. There's a good many that's kind o' worried for fear something +might happen to ye, Mr. Hopkins,--y' see fellahs don't like to have +other chaps cuttin' on 'em aout with their gals." + +Gifted Hopkins had become excessively nervous by this time. It is +true that everything in his intimacy with Susan Posey, so far, might +come under the general head of friendship; but he was conscious that +something more was in both their thoughts. Susan had given him +mysterious hints that her relations with Clement had undergone a +change, but had never had quite courage enough, perhaps had too much +delicacy, to reveal the whole truth. + +Gifted was walking home, deeply immersed in thoughts excited by the +hints which hail been thus wantonly thrown out to inflame his +imagination, when all at once, on lifting his eyes, he saw Clement +Lindsay coming straight towards him. Gifted was unarmed, except with +a pair of blunt scissors, which he carried habitually in his pocket. +What should he do? Should he fly? But he was never a good runner, +being apt to find himself scant o' breath, like Hamlet, after violent +exercise. His demeanor on the occasion did credit to his sense of +his own virtuous conduct and his self-possession. He put his hand +out, while yet at a considerable distance, and marched up towards +Clement, smiling with all the native amiability which belonged to +him. + +To his infinite relief, Clement put out his hand to grasp the one +offered him, and greeted the young poet in the most frank and cordial +manner. + +"And how is Miss Susan Posey, Mr. Hopkins?" asked Clement, in the +most cheerful tone. "It is a long while since I have seen her, and +you must tell her that I hope I shall not leave the village without +finding time to call upon her. She and I are good friends always, +Mr. Hopkins, though perhaps I shall not be quite so often at your +mother's as I was during my last visit to Oxbow Village." + +Gifted felt somewhat as the subject of one of those old-fashioned +forms of argument, formerly much employed to convince men of error in +matters of religion, must have felt when the official who +superintended the stretching-machine said, "Slack up!" + +He told Mr. Clement all about Susan, and was on the point of saying +that if he, Mr. Clement, did not claim any engrossing interest in +her, he, Gifted, was ready to offer her the devotion of a poet's +heart. Mr. Clement, however, had so many other questions to ask him +about everybody in the village, more particularly concerning certain +young persons in whom he seemed to be specially interested, that +there was no chance to work in his own revelations of sentiment. + +Clement Lindsay had come to Oxbow Village with a single purpose. He +could now venture to trust himself in the presence of Myrtle Hazard. +He was free, and he knew nothing to show that she had lost the +liberty of disposing of her heart. But after an experience such as +he had gone through, he was naturally distrustful of himself, and +inclined to be cautious and reserved in yielding to a new passion. +Should he tell her the true relations in which they stood to each +other,--that she owed her life to him, and that he had very nearly +sacrificed his own in saving hers? Why not? He had a claim on her +gratitude for what he had done in her behalf, and out of this +gratitude there might naturally spring a warmer feeling. + +No, he could not try to win her affections by showing that he had +paid for them beforehand. She seemed to be utterly unconscious of +the fact that it was he who had been with her in the abyss of waters. +If the thought came to her of itself, and she ever asked him, it +would be time enough to tell her the story. If not, the moment might +arrive when he could reveal to her the truth that he was her +deliverer, without accusing himself of bribing her woman's heart to +reward him for his services. He would wait for that moment. + +It was the most natural thing in the world that Mr. Lindsay, a young +gentleman from the city, should call to see Miss Hazard, a young lady +whom he had met recently at a party. To that pleasing duty he +addressed himself the evening after his arrival. + +"The young gentleman's goin' a courtin', I calc'late," was the remark +of the Deacon's wife when she saw what a comely figure Mr. Clement +showed at the tea-table. + +"A very hahnsome young mahn," the Deacon replied, "and looks as if he +might know consid'able. An architect, you know,--a sort of a +builder. Wonder if he has n't got any good plans for a hahnsome +pigsty. I suppose he 'd charge somethin' for one, but it couldn't be +much, an' he could take it out in board." + +"Better ask him," his wife--said; "he looks mighty pleasant; there's +nothin' lost by askin', an' a good deal got sometimes, grandma used +to say." + +The Deacon followed her advice. Mr. Clement was perfectly good- +natured about it, asked the Deacon the number of snouts in his +menagerie, got an idea of the accommodations required, and sketched +the plaza of a neat, and appropriate edifice for the Porcellarium, as +Master Gridley afterwards pleasantly christened it, which was carried +out by the carpenter, and stands to this day a monument of his +obliging disposition, and a proof that there is nothing so humble +that taste cannot be shown in it. + +"What'll be your charge for the plan of the pigsty, Mr. Lindsay?" the +Deacon inquired with an air of interest,--he might have become +involved more deeply than he had intended. "How much should you call +about right for the picter an' figgerin'?" + +"Oh, you're quite welcome to my sketch of a plan, Deacon. I've seen +much showier buildings tenanted by animals not very different from +those your edifice is meant for." + +Mr. Clement found the three ladies sitting together in the chill, dim +parlor at The Poplars. They had one of the city papers spread out on +the table, and Myrtle was reading aloud the last news from Charleston +Harbor. She rose as Mr. Clement entered, and stepped forward to meet +him. It was a strange impression this young man produced upon her,-- +not through the common channels of the intelligence, not exactly that +"magnetic" influence of which she had had experience at a former +time. It did not over come her as at the moment of their second +meeting. But it was something she must struggle against, and she had +force and pride and training enough now to maintain her usual +tranquillity, in spite of a certain inward commotion which seemed to +reach her breathing and her pulse by some strange, inexplicable +mechanism. + +Myrtle, it must be remembered, was no longer the simple country girl +who had run away at fifteen, but a young lady of seventeen, who had +learned all that more than a year's diligence at a great school could +teach her, who had been much with girls of taste and of culture, and +was familiar with the style and manners of those who came from what +considered itself the supreme order in the social hierarchy. Her +natural love for picturesque adornment was qualified by a knowledge +of the prevailing modes not usual in so small a place as Oxbow +Village. All this had not failed to produce its impression on those +about her. Persons who, like Miss Silence Withers, believe, not in +education, inasmuch as there is no healthy nature to be educated, but +in transformation, worry about their charges up to a certain period +of their lives. Then, if the transformation does not come, they seem +to think their cares and duties are at an end, and, considering their +theories of human destiny, usually accept the situation with +wonderful complacency. This was the stage which Miss Silence Withers +had reached with reference to Myrtle. It made her infinitely more +agreeable, or less disagreeable, as the reader may choose one or the +other statement, than when she was always fretting about her +"responsibility." She even began to take an interest in some of +Myrtle's worldly experiences, and something like a smile would now +and then disarrange the chief-mourner stillness of her features, as +Myrtle would tell some lively story she had brought away from the gay +society she had frequented. + +Cynthia Badlam kept her keen eyes on her like a hawk. Murray +Bradshaw was away, and here was this handsome and agreeable youth +coming in to poach on the preserve of which she considered herself +the gamekeeper. What did it mean? She had heard the story about +Susan's being off with her old love and on with a new one. Ah ha! +this is the game, is it? + +Clement Lindsay passed not so much a pleasant evening, as one of +strange, perplexed, and mingled delight and inward conflict. He had +found his marble once more turned to flesh and blood, and breathing +before him. This was the woman he was born for; her form was fit to +model his proudest ideal from, her eyes melted him when they rested +for an instant on his face,--her voice reached the hidden +sensibilities of his inmost nature; those which never betray their +existence until the outward chord to which they vibrate in response +sends its message to stir them. But was she not already pledged to +that other,--that cold-blooded, contriving, venal, cynical, selfish, +polished, fascinating man of the world, whose artful strategy would +pass with nine women out of ten for the most romantic devotion? + +If he had known the impression he made, he would have felt less +anxiety with reference to this particular possibility. Miss Silence +expressed herself gratified with his appearance, and thought he +looked like a good young man,--he reminded her of a young friend of +hers who--[It was the same who had gone to one of the cannibal +islands as a missionary,--and stayed there.] Myrtle was very quiet. +She had nothing to say about Clement, except that she had met him at +a party in the city, and found him agreeable. Miss Cynthia wrote a +letter to Murray Bradshaw that very evening, telling him that he had +better come back to Oxbow Village as quickly as he could, unless he +wished to find his place occupied by an intruder. + +In the mean time, the country was watching the garrison in Charleston +Harbor. All at once the first gun of the four years' cannonade +hurled its ball against the walls of Fort Sumter. There was no +hamlet in the land which the reverberations of that cannon-roar did +not reach. There was no valley so darkened by overshadowing hills +that it did not see the American flag hauled down on the 13th of +April. There was no loyal heart in the North that did not answer to +the call of the country to its defenders which went forth two days +later. The great tide of feeling reached the locality where the +lesser events of our narrative were occurring. A meeting of the +citizens was instantly called. The venerable Father Pemberton opened +it with a prayer that filled every soul with courage and high +resolve. The young farmers and mechanics of that whole region joined +the companies to which they belonged, or organized in squads and +marched at once, or got ready to march, to the scene of conflict. + +The contagion of warlike patriotism reached the most peacefully +inclined young persons. + +"My country calls me," Gifted Hopkins said to Susan Posey, "and I am +preparing to obey her summons. If I can pass the medical +examination, which it is possible I may, though I fear my +constitution may be thought too weak, and if no obstacle impedes me, +I think of marching in the ranks of the Oxbow Invincibles. If I go, +Susan, and I fall, will you not remember me . . . as one who . . +. cherished the tenderest . . . sentiments . . . towards you . +. . and who had looked forward to the time when . . . when . ." + +His eyes told the rest. He loved! + +Susan forgot all the rules of reserve to which she had been trained. +What were cold conventionalities at such a moment? "Never! never!" +she said, throwing her arms about his neck and mingling her tears +with his, which were flowing freely. "Your country does not need +your sword .... but it does need . . . your pen. Your poems will +inspire . . . our soldiers. . . . The Oxbow Invincibles will +march to victory, singing your songs . . . . If you go . . . +and if you.. . fall . . . O Gifted! . . . I . . . I . . +. . yes, I shall die too!" + +His love was returned. He was blest! + +"Susan," he said, "my own Susan, I yield to your wishes at every +sacrifice. Henceforth they will be my law. Yes, I will stay and +encourage my brave countrymen to go forward to the bloody field. My +voice shall urge them on to the battle-ground. I will give my +dearest breath to stimulate their ardor. + +"O Susan! My own, own Susan!" + +While these interesting events had been going on beneath the modest +roof of the Widow Hopkins, affairs had been rapidly hastening to a +similar conclusion under the statelier shadow of The Poplars. +Clement Lindsay was so well received at his first visit that he +ventured to repeat it several times, with so short intervals that it +implied something more than a common interest in one of the members +of the household. There was no room for doubt who this could be, and +Myrtle Hazard could not help seeing that she was the object of his +undisguised admiration. The belief was now general in the village +that Gifted Hopkins and Susan Posey were either engaged or on the +point of being so; and it was equally understood that, whatever might +be the explanation, she and her former lover had parted company in an +amicable manner. + +Love works very strange transformations in young women. Sometimes it +leads them to try every mode of adding to their attractions,--their +whole thought is how to be most lovely in the eyes they would fill so +as to keep out all other images. Poor darlings! We smile at their +little vanities, as if they were very trivial things compared with +the last Congressman's speech or the great Election Sermon; but +Nature knows well what she is about. The maiden's ribbon or ruffle +means a great deal more for her than the judge's wig or the priest's +surplice. + +It was not in this way that the gentle emotion awaking in the breast +of Myrtle Hazard betrayed itself. As the thought dawned in her +consciousness that she was loved, a change came over her such as the +spirit that protected her, according to the harmless fancy she had +inherited, might have wept for joy to behold, if tears could flow +from angelic eyes. She forgot herself and her ambitions,--the +thought of shining in the great world died out in the presence of new +visions of a future in which she was not to be her own,--of feelings +in the depth of which the shallow vanities which had drawn her young +eyes to them for a while seemed less than nothing. Myrtle had not +hitherto said to herself that Clement was her lover, yet her whole +nature was expanding and deepening in the light of that friendship +which any other eye could have known at a glance for the great +passion. + +Cynthia Badlam wrote a pressing letter to Murray Bradshaw. "There is +no time to be lost; she is bewitched, and will be gone beyond hope if +this business is not put a stop to." + +Love moves in an accelerating ratio; and there comes a time when the +progress of the passion escapes from all human formulae, and brings +two young hearts, which had been gradually drawing nearer and nearer +together, into complete union, with a suddenness that puts an +infinity between the moment when all is told and that which went just +before. + +They were sitting together by themselves in the dimly lighted parlor. +They had told each other many experiences of their past lives, very +freely, as two intimate friends of different sex might do. Clement +had happened to allude to Susan, speaking very kindly and tenderly of +her. He hoped this youth to whom she was attached would make her +life happy. "You know how simple-hearted and good she is; her image +will always be a pleasant one in my memory,--second to but one +other." + +Myrtle ought, according to the common rules of conversation, to have +asked, What other? but she did not. She may have looked as if she +wanted to ask,--she may have blushed or turned pale, perhaps she +could not trust her voice; but whatever the reason was, she sat +still, with downcast eyes. Clement waited a reasonable time, but, +finding it was of no use, began again. + +"Your image is the one other,--the only one, let me say, for all else +fades in its presence,--your image fills all my thought. Will you +trust your life and happiness with one who can offer you so little +beside his love? You know my whole heart is yours." + +Whether Myrtle said anything in reply or not, whether she acted like +Coleridge's Genevieve,--that is, "fled to him and wept," or suffered +her feelings to betray themselves in some less startling confession, +we will leave untold. Her answer, spoken or silent, could not have +been a cruel one, for in another moment Clement was pressing his lips +to hers, after the manner of accepted lovers. + +"Our lips have met to-day for the second time," he said, presently. + +She looked at him in wonder. What did he mean? The second time! +How assuredly he spoke! She looked him calmly in the face, and +awaited his explanation. + +"I have a singular story to tell you. On the morning of the 16th of +June, now nearly two years ago, I was sitting in my room at +Alderbank, some twenty miles down the river, when I heard a cry for +help coming from the river. I ran down to the bank, and there I saw +a boy in an old boat--" + +When it came to the "boy" in the old boat, Myrtle's cheeks flamed so +that she could not bear it, and she covered her face with both her +hands. But Clement told his story calmly through to the end, sliding +gently over its later incidents, for Myrtle's heart was throbbing +violently, and her breath a little catching and sighing, as when she +had first lived with the new life his breath had given her. + + +"Why did you ask me for myself, when you could have claimed me?" she +said. + +"I wanted a free gift, Myrtle," Clement answered, "and I have it." + +They sat in silence, lost in the sense of that new life which had +suddenly risen on their souls. + +The door-bell rang sharply. Kitty Fagan answered its summons, and +presently entered the parlor and announced that Mr. Bradshaw was in +the library, and wished to see the ladies. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +MURRAY BRADSHAW PLAYS HIS LAST CARD. + +"How can I see that man this evening, Mr. Lindsay?" + +"May I not be Clement, dearest? I would not see him at all, Myrtle. +I don't believe you will find much pleasure in listening to his fine +speeches." + +"I cannot endure it.--Kitty, tell him I am engaged, and cannot see +him this evening. No, no! don't say engaged, say very much +occupied." + +Kitty departed, communing with herself in this wise:--" Ockipied, is +it? An' that's what ye cahl it when ye 're kapin' company with one +young gintleman an' don't want another young gintleman to come in an' +help the two of ye? Ye won't get y'r pigs to market to-day, Mr. +Bridshaw, no, nor to-morrow, nayther, Mr. Bridshaw. It's Mrs. +Lindsay that Miss Myrtle is goin' to be,--an' a big cake there'll be +at the weddin' frosted all over,--won't ye be plased with a slice o' +that, Mr. Bridshaw?" + +With these reflections in her mind, Mistress Kitty delivered her +message, not without a gleam of malicious intelligence in her look +that stung Mr. Bradshaw sharply. He had noticed a hat in the entry, +and a little stick by it which he remembered well as one he had seen +carried by Clement Lindsay. But he was used to concealing his +emotions, and he greeted the two older ladies who presently came into +the library so pleasantly, that no one who had not studied his face +long and carefully would have suspected the bitterness of heart that +lay hidden far down beneath his deceptive smile. He told Miss +Silence, with much apparent interest, the story of his journey. He +gave her an account of the progress of the case in which the estate +of which she inherited the principal portion was interested. He did +not tell her that a final decision which would settle the right to +the great claim might be expected at any moment, and he did not tell +her that there was very little doubt that it would be in favor of the +heirs of Malachi Withers. He was very sorry he could not see Miss +Hazard that evening,--hoped he should be more fortunate to-morrow +forenoon, when he intended to call again,--had a message for her from +one of her former school friends, which he was anxious to give her. +He exchanged certain looks and hints with Miss Cynthia, which led her +to withdraw and bring down the papers he had entrusted to her. At +the close of his visit, she followed him into the entry with a lamp, +as was her common custom. + +"What's the meaning of all this, Cynthia? Is that fellow making love +to Myrtle?" + +"I'm afraid so, Mr. Bradshaw. He's been here several times, and they +seem to be getting intimate. I couldn't do anything to stop it." + +"Give me the papers,--quick!" + +Cynthia pulled the package from her pocket. Murray Bradshaw looked +sharply at it. A little crumpled,--crowded into her pocket. Seal +unbroken. All safe. + +"I shall come again to-morrow forenoon. Another day and it will be +all up. The decision of the court will be known. It won't be my +fault if one visit is not enough.--You don't suppose Myrtle is in +love with this fellow?" + +"She acts as--if she might be. You know he's broke with Susan Posey, +and there's nothing to hinder. If you ask my opinion, I think it's +your last chance: she is n't a girl to half do things, and if she has +taken to this man it will be hard to make her change her mind. But +she's young, and she has had a liking for you, and if you manage it +well there's no telling." + +Two notes passed between Myrtle Hazard and Master Byles Gridley that +evening. Mistress Kitty Fagan, who had kept her ears pretty wide +open, carried them. + +Murray Bradshaw went home in a very desperate state of feeling. He +had laid his plans, as he thought, with perfect skill, and the +certainty of their securing their end. These papers were to have +been taken from the envelope, and found in the garret just at the +right moment, either by Cynthia herself or one of the other members +of the family, who was to be led on, as it were accidentally, to the +discovery. The right moment must be close at hand. He was to offer +his hand--and heart, of course--to Myrtle, and it was to be accepted. +As soon as the decision of the land case was made known, or not long +afterwards, there was to be a search in the garret for papers, and +these were to be discovered in a certain dusty recess, where, of +course, they would have been placed by Miss Cynthia. + +And now the one condition which gave any value to these arrangements +seemed like to fail. This obscure youth--this poor fool, who had +been on the point of marrying a simpleton to whom he had made a +boyish promise--was coming between him and the object of his long +pursuit,--the woman who had every attraction to draw him to herself. +It had been a matter of pride with Murray Bradshaw that he never lost +his temper so as to interfere with the precise course of action which +his cool judgment approved; but now he was almost beside himself with +passion. His labors, as he believed, had secured the favorable issue +of the great case so long pending. He had followed Myrtle through +her whole career, if not as her avowed lover, at least as one whose +friendship promised to flower in love in due season. The moment had +come when the scene and the characters in this village drama were to +undergo a change as sudden and as brilliant as is seen in those fairy +spectacles where the dark background changes to a golden palace and +the sober dresses are replaced by robes of regal splendor. The +change was fast approaching; but he, the enchanter, as he had thought +himself, found his wand broken, and his power given to another. + +He could not sleep during that night. He paced his room, a prey to +jealousy and envy and rage, which his calm temperament had kept him +from feeling in their intensity up to this miserable hour. He +thought of all that a maddened nature can imagine to deaden its own +intolerable anguish. Of revenge. If Myrtle rejected his suit, +should he take her life on the spot, that she might never be +another's,--that neither man nor woman should ever triumph over him, +--the proud ambitious man, defeated, humbled, scorned? No! that was +a meanness of egotism which only the most vulgar souls could be +capable of. Should he challenge her lover? It was not the way of +the people and time, and ended in absurd complications, if anybody +was foolish enough to try it. Shoot him? The idea floated through +his mind, for he thought of everything; but he was a lawyer, and not +a fool, and had no idea of figuring in court as a criminal. Besides, +he was not a murderer,--cunning was his natural weapon, not violence. +He had a certain admiration of desperate crime in others, as showing +nerve and force, but he did not feel it to be his own style of doing +business. + +During the night he made every arrangement for leaving the village +the next day, in case he failed to make any impression on Myrtle +Hazard and found that his chance was gone. He wrote a letter to his +partner, telling him that he had left to join one of the regiments +forming in the city. He adjusted all his business matters so that +his partner should find as little trouble as possible. A little +before dawn he threw himself on the bed, but he could not sleep; and +he rose at sunrise, and finished his preparations for his departure +to the city. + +The morning dragged along slowly. He could not go to the office, not +wishing to meet his partner again. After breakfast he dressed +himself with great care, for he meant to show himself in the best +possible aspect. Just before he left the house to go to The Poplars, +he took the sealed package from his trunk, broke open the envelope, +took from it a single paper,--it had some spots on it which +distinguished it from all the rest,--put it separately in his pocket, +and then the envelope containing the other papers. The calm smile be +wore on his features as he set forth cost him a greater effort than +he had ever made before to put it on. He was moulding his face to +the look with which he meant to present himself; and the muscles had +been sternly fixed so long that it was a task to bring them to their +habitual expression in company,--that of ingenuous good-nature. + +He was shown into the parlor at The Poplars; and Kitty told Myrtle +that he had called and inquired for her and was waiting down stairs. + +"Tell him I will be down presently," she said. "And, Kitty, now mind +just what I tell you. Leave your kitchen door open, so that you can +hear anything fall in the parlor. If you hear a book fall,--it will +be a heavy one, and will make some noise,--run straight up here to my +little chamber, and hang this red scarf out of the window. The left- +hand side-sash, mind, so that anybody can see it from the road. If +Mr. Gridley calls, show him into the parlor, no matter who is there." + +Kitty Fagan looked amazingly intelligent, and promised that she would +do exactly as she was told. Myrtle followed her down stairs almost +immediately, and went into the parlor, where Mr. Bradshaw was +waiting. + +Never in his calmest moments had he worn a more insinuating smile on +his features than that with which he now greeted Myrtle. So gentle, +so gracious, so full of trust, such a completely natural expression +of a kind, genial character did it seem, that to any but an expert it +would have appeared impossible that such an effect could be produced +by the skilful balancing of half a dozen pairs of little muscles that +manage the lips and the corners of the mouth. The tones of his voice +were subdued into accord with the look of his features; his whole +manner was fascinating, as far as any conscious effort could make it +so. It was just one of those artificially pleasing effects that so +often pass with such as have little experience of life for the +genuine expression of character and feeling. But Myrtle had learned +the look that shapes itself on the features of one who loves with a +love that seeketh not its own, and she knew the difference between +acting and reality. She met his insinuating approach with a courtesy +so carefully ordered that it was of itself a sentence without appeal. +Artful persons often interpret sincere ones by their own standard. +Murray Bradshaw thought little of this somewhat formal address,--a +few minutes would break this thin film to pieces. He was not only a +suitor with a prize to gain, he was a colloquial artist about to +employ all the resources of his specialty. + +He introduced the conversation in the most natural and easy way, by +giving her the message from a former school-mate to which he had +referred, coloring it so delicately, as he delivered it, that it +became an innocent-looking flattery. Myrtle found herself in a rose- +colored atmosphere, not from Murray Bradshaw's admiration, as it +seemed, but only reflected by his mind from another source. That was +one of his arts, always, if possible, to associate himself +incidentally, as it appeared, and unavoidably, with an agreeable +impression. + +So Myrtle was betrayed into smiling and being pleased before he had +said a word about himself or his affairs. Then he told her of the +adventures and labors of his late expedition; of certain evidence +which at the very last moment he had unearthed, and which was very +probably the turning-point in the case. He could not help feeling +that she must eventually reap some benefit from the good fortune with +which his efforts had been attended. The thought that it might yet +be so had been a great source of encouragement to him,--it would +always be a great happiness to him to remember that he had done +anything to make her happy. + +Myrtle was very glad that he had been so far successful,--she did not +know that it made much difference to her, but she was obliged to him +for the desire of serving her that he had expressed. + +"My services are always yours, Miss Hazard. There is no sacrifice I +would not willingly make for your benefit. I have never had but one +feeling toward you. You cannot be ignorant of what that feeling is." + +"I know, Mr. Bradshaw, it has been one of kindness. I have to thank +you for many friendly attentions, for which I hope I have never been +ungrateful." + +"Kindness is not all that I feel towards you, Miss Hazard. If that +were all, my lips would not tremble as they do now in telling you my +feelings.--I love you." + +He sprang the great confession on Myrtle a little sooner than he had +meant. It was so hard to go on making phrases! Myrtle changed color +a little, for she was startled. + +The seemingly involuntary movement she made brought her arm against a +large dictionary, which lay very near the edge of the table on which +it was resting. The book fell with a loud noise to the floor. + +There it lay. The young man awaited her answer; he did not think of +polite forms at such a moment. + +"It cannot be, Mr. Bradshaw,--it must not be. I have known you long, +and I am not ignorant of all your brilliant qualities, but you must +not speak to me of love. Your regard,--your friendly interest, tell +me that I shall always have these, but do not distress me with +offering more than these." + +"I do not ask you to give me your love in return; I only ask you not +to bid me despair. Let me believe that the time may come' when you +will listen to me,--no matter how distant. You are young,--you have +a tender heart,--you would not doom one who only lives for you to +wretchedness,--so long that we have known each other. It cannot be +that any other has come between us--" + +Myrtle blushed so deeply that there was no need of his finishing his +question. + +"Do you mean, Myrtle Hazard, that you have cast me aside for another? +--for this stranger--this artist--who was with you yesterday when I +came, bringing with me the story of all I had done for you, yes, for +you,--and was ignominiously refused the privilege of seeing you?" +Rage and jealousy had got the better of him this time. He rose as he +spoke, and looked upon her with such passion kindling in his eyes +that he seemed ready for any desperate act. + +"I have thanked you for any services you may have rendered me, Mr. +Bradshaw," Myrtle answered, very calmly, "and I hope you will add one +more to them by sparing me this rude questioning. I wished to treat +you as a friend; I hope you will not render that impossible." + +He had recovered himself for one more last effort. "I was impatient +overlook it, I beg you. I was thinking of all the happiness I have +labored to secure for you, and of the ruin to us both it would be if +you scornfully rejected the love I offer you,--if you refuse to leave +me any hope for the future,--if you insist on throwing yourself away +on this man, so lately pledged to another. I hold the key of all +your earthly fortunes in my hand. My love for you inspired me in all +that I have done, and, now that I come to lay the result of my labors +at your feet, you turn from me, and offer my reward to a stranger. +I do not ask you to say this day that you will be mine,--I would not +force your inclinations,--but I do ask you that you will hold +yourself free of all others, and listen to me as one who may yet be +more than a friend. Say so much as this, Myrtle, and you shall have +such a future as you never dreamed of. Fortune, position, all that +this world can give, shall be yours." + +"Never! never! If you could offer me the whole world, or take away +from me all that the world can give, it would make no difference to +me. I cannot tell what power you hold over me, whether of life and +death, or of wealth and poverty; but after talking to me of love, I +should not have thought you would have wronged me by suggesting any +meaner motive. It is only because we have been on friendly terms so +long that I have listened to you as I have done. You have said more +than enough, and I beg you will allow me to put an end to this +interview." + +She rose to leave the room. But Murray Bradshaw had gone too far to +control himself,--he listened only to the rage which blinded him. + +"Not yet!" he said. "Stay one moment, and you shall know what your +pride and self-will have cost you!" + +Myrtle stood, arrested, whether by fear, or curiosity, or the passive +subjection of her muscles to his imperious will, it would be hard to +say. + +Murray Bradshaw took out the spotted paper from his breast-pocket, +and held it up before her. "Look here!" he exclaimed. "This would +have made you rich,--it would have crowned you a queen in society,-- +it would have given you all, and more than all, that you ever dreamed +of luxury, of splendor, of enjoyment; and I, who won it for you, +would have taught you how to make life yield every bliss it had in +store to your wishes. You reject my offer unconditionally?" + +Myrtle expressed her negative only by a slight contemptuous movement. + +Murray Bradshaw walked deliberately to the fireplace, and laid the +spotted paper upon the burning coals. It writhed and curled, +blackened, flamed, and in a moment was a cinder dropping into ashes. +He folded his arms, and stood looking at the wreck of Myrtle's +future, the work of his cruel hand. Strangely enough, Myrtle herself +was fascinated, as it were, by the apparent solemnity of this +mysterious sacrifice. She had kept her eyes steadily on him all the +time, and was still gazing at the altar on which her happiness had +been in some way offered up, when the door was opened by Kitty Fagan, +and Master Byles Gridley was ushered into the parlor. + +"Too late, old man! "Murray Bradshaw exclaimed, in a hoarse and +savage voice, as he passed out of the room, and strode through the +entry and down the avenue. It was the last time the old gate of The +Poplars was to open or close for him. The same day he left the +village; and the next time his name was mentioned it was as an +officer in one of the regiments just raised and about marching to the +seat of war. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +THE SPOTTED PAPER. + +What Master Gridley may have said to Myrtle Hazard that served to +calm her after this exciting scene cannot now be recalled. That +Murray Bradshaw thought he was inflicting a deadly injury on her was +plain enough. That Master Gridley did succeed in convincing her that +no great harm had probably been done her is equally certain. + +Like all bachelors who have lived a lonely life, Master Byles Gridley +had his habits, which nothing short of some terrestrial convulsion-- +or perhaps, in his case, some instinct that drove him forth to help +somebody in trouble--could possibly derange. After his breakfast, he +always sat and read awhile,--the paper, if a new one came to hand, or +some pleasant old author,--if a little neglected by the world of +readers, he felt more at ease with him, and loved him all the better. + +But on the morning after his interview with Myrtle Hazard, he had +received a letter which made him forget newspapers, old authors, +almost everything, for the moment. It was from the publisher with +whom he had had a conversation, it may be remembered, when he visited +the city, and was to this effect: That Our Firm propose to print and +stereotype the work originally published under the title of "Thoughts +on the Universe"; said work to be remodelled according to the plan +suggested by the Author, with the corrections, alterations, +omissions, and additions proposed by him; said work to be published +under the following title, to wit: ________ _________: said work to +be printed in 12mo, on paper of good quality, from new types, etc., +etc., and for every copy thereof printed the author to receive, etc., +etc. + +Master Gridley sat as in a trance, reading this letter over and over, +to know if it could be really so. So it really was. His book had +disappeared from the market long ago, as the elm seeds that carpet +the ground and never germinate disappear. At last it had got a +certain value as a curiosity for book-hunters. Some one of them, +keener-eyed than the rest, had seen that there was a meaning and +virtue in this unsuccessful book, for which there was a new audience +educated since it had tried to breathe before its time. Out of this +had grown at last the publisher's proposal. It was too much: his +heart swelled with joy, and his eyes filled with tears. + +How could he resist the temptation? He took down his own particular +copy of the book, which was yet to do him honor as its parent, and +began reading. As his eye fell on one paragraph after another, he +nodded approval of this sentiment or opinion, he shook his head as if +questioning whether this other were not to be modified or left out, +he condemned a third as being no longer true for him as when it was +written, and he sanctioned a fourth with his hearty approval. The +reader may like a few specimens from this early edition, now a +rarity. He shall have them, with Master Gridley's verbal comments. +The book, as its name implied, contained "Thoughts" rather than +consecutive trains of reasoning or continuous disquisitions. What he +read and remarked upon were a few of the more pointed statements +which stood out in the chapters he was turning over. The worth of +the book must not be judged by these almost random specimens. + +"THE BEST THOUGHT, LIKE THE MOST PERFECT DIGESTION, IS DONE +UNCONSCIOUSLY.--Develop that.--Ideas at compound interest in the +mind.--Be aye sticking in an idea,--while you're sleeping it'll be +growing. Seed of a thought to-day,--flower to-morrow--next week--ten +years from now, etc.--Article by and by for the.... + +"CAN THE INFINITE BE SUPPOSED TO SHIFT THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE +ULTIMATE DESTINY OF ANY CREATED THING TO THE FINITE? OUR THEOLOGIANS +PRETEND THAT IT CAN. I DOUBT.--Heretical. Stet. + +"PROTESTANTISM MEANS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS. BUT IT IS AFRAID OF ITS +OWN LOGIC.--Stet. No logical resting-place short of None of your +business. + +"THE SUPREME SELF-INDULGENCE IS TO SURRENDER THE WILL TO A SPIRITUAL +DIRECTOR.--Protestantism gave up a great luxury.--Did it though? + +"ASIATIC MODES OF THOUGHT AND SPEECH DO NOT EXPRESS THE 'RELATIONS IN +WHICH THE AMERICAN FEELS HIM SELF TO STAND TO HIS SUPERIORS IN THIS +OR ANY OTHER SPHERE OF BEING. REPUBLICANISM MUST HAVE ITS OWN +RELIGIOUS PHRASEOLOGY, WHICH IS NOT THAT BORROWED FROM ORIENTAL +DESPOTISMS. + +"IDOLS AND DOGMAS IN PLACE OF CHARACTER; PILLS AND THEORIES IN PLACE +OF WHOLESOME LIVING. SEE THE HISTORIES OF THEOLOGY AND MEDICINE +PASSIM.--Hits 'em. + +"'OF SUCH IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.' DO YOU MEAN TO SAY JEAN CHAUVIN, +THAT + 'HEAVEN LIES ABOUT US IN OUR INFANCY'? + +"WHY DO YOU COMPLAIN OF YOUR ORGANIZATION? YOUR SOUL WAS IN A HURRY, +AND MADE A RUSH FOR A BODY. THERE ARE PATIENT SPIRITS THAT HAVE +WAITED FROM ETERNITY, AND NEVER FOUND PARENTS FIT TO BE BORN OF. +--How do you know anything about all that? Dele. + +"WHAT SWEET, SMOOTH VOICES THE NEGROES HAVE! A HUNDRED GENERATIONS +FED ON BANANAS.--COMPARE THEM WITH OUR APPLE-EATING WHITE FOLKS!--It +won't do. Bananas came from the West Indies. + +"TO TELL A MAN'S TEMPERAMENT BY HIS HANDWRITING. SEE IF THE DOTS OF +HIS I'S RUN AHEAD OR NOT, AND IF THEY DO, HOW FAR.--I have tried +that--on myself. + +"MARRYING INTO SOME FAMILIES IS THE NEXT THING TO BEING CANONIZED. +--Not so true now as twenty or thirty years ago. As many bladders, +but more pins. + +"FISH AND DANDIES ONLY KEEP ON ICE.--Who will take? Explain in note +how all warmth approaching blood heat spoils fops and flounders. + +"FLYING IS A LOST ART AMONG MEN AND REPTILES. BATS FLY, AND MEN +OUGHT TO. TRY A LIGHT TURBINE. RISE A MILE STRAIGHT, FALL HALF A +MILE SLANTING,--RISE HALF A MILE STRAIGHT, FALL HALF A MILE SLANTING, +AND SO ON. OR SLANT UP AND SLANT DOWN.--Poh! You ain't such a fool +as to think that is new,--are you? + +"Put in my telegraph project. Central station. Cables with +insulated wires running to it from different quarters of the city. +These form the centripetal system. From central station, wires to +all the livery stables, messenger stands, provision shops, etc., etc. +These form the centrifugal system. Any house may have a wire in the +nearest cable at small cost. + +"DO YOU WANT TO BE REMEMBERED AFTER THE CONTINENTS HAVE GONE UNDER, +AND COME UP AGAIN, AND DRIED, AND BRED NEW RACES? HAVE YOUR NAME +STAMPED ON ALL YOUR PLATES AND CUPS AND SAUCERS. NOTHING OF YOU OR +YOURS WILL LAST LIKE THOSE. I NEVER SIT DOWN AT MY TABLE WITHOUT +LOOKING AT THE CHINA SERVICE, AND SAYING, 'HERE ARE MY MONUMENTS. +THAT BUTTER-DISH IS MY URN. THIS SOUP-PLATE IS MY MEMORIAL TABLET.' +NO NEED OF A SKELETON AT MY BANQUETS! I FEED FROM MY TOMBSTONE AND +READ MY EPITAPH AT THE BOTTOM OF EVERY TEACUP.--Good." + +He fell into a revery as he finished reading this last sentence. He +thought of the dim and dread future,--all the changes that it would +bring to him, to all the living, to the face of the globe, to the +order of earthly things. He saw men of a new race, alien to all that +had ever lived, excavating with strange, vast engines the old +ocean-bed now become habitable land. And as the great scoops turned +out the earth they had fetched up from the unexplored depths, a relic +of a former simple civilization revealed the fact that here a tribe +of human beings had lived and perished.--Only the coffee-cup he had +in his hand half an hour ago.--Where would he be then? and Mrs. +Hopkins, and Gifted, and Susan, and everybody? and President +Buchanan? and the Boston State-House? and Broadway?--O Lord, Lord, +Lord! And the sun perceptibly smaller, according to the astronomers, +and the earth cooled down a number of degrees, and inconceivable arts +practised by men of a type yet undreamed of, and all the fighting +creeds merged in one great universal + +A knock at his door interrupted his revery. Miss Susan Posey +informed him that a gentleman was waiting below who wished to see +him. + +"Show him up to my study, Susan Posey, if you please," said Master +Gridley. + +Mr. Penhallow presented himself at Mr. Gridley's door with a +countenance expressive of a very high state of excitement. + +"You have heard the news, Mr. Gridley, I suppose?" + +"What news, Mr. Penhallow?" + +"First, that my partner has left very unexpectedly to enlist in a +regiment just forming. Second, that the great land case is decided +in favor of the heirs of the late Malachi Withers." + +"Your partner must have known about it yesterday?" + +"He did, even before I knew it. He thought himself possessed of a +very important document, as you know, of which he has made, or means +to make, some use. You are aware of the artifice I employed to +prevent any possible evil consequences from any action of his. +I have the genuine document, of course. I wish you to go over with +me to The Poplars, and I should be glad to have good old Father +Pemberton go with us; for it is a serious matter, and will be a great +surprise to more than one of the family." + +They walked together to the old house, where the old clergyman had +lived for more than half a century. He was used to being neglected +by the people who ran after his younger colleague; and the attention +paid him in asking him to be present on an important occasion, as he +understood this to be, pleased him greatly. He smoothed his long +white locks, and called a grand-daughter to help make him look fitly +for such an occasion, and, being at last got into his grandest Sunday +aspect, took his faithful staff, and set out with the two gentlemen +for The Poplars. On the way, Mr. Penhallow explained to him the +occasion of their visit, and the general character of the facts he +had to announce. He wished the venerable minister to prepare Miss +Silence Withers for a revelation which would materially change her +future prospects. He thought it might be well, also, if he would say +a few words to Myrtle Hazard, for whom a new life, with new and +untried temptations, was about to open. His business was, as a +lawyer, to make known to these parties the facts just come to his own +knowledge affecting their interests. He had asked Mr. Gridley to go +with him, as having intimate relations with one of the parties +referred to, and as having been the principal agent in securing to +that party the advantages which were to accrue to her from the new +turn of events. "You are a second parent to her, Mr. Gridley," he +said. "Your vigilance, your shrewdness, and your-spectacles have +saved her. I hope she knows the full extent of her obligations to +you, and that she will always look to you for counsel in all her +needs. She will want a wise friend, for she is to begin the world +anew." + +What had happened, when she saw the three grave gentlemen at the door +early in the forenoon, Mistress Kitty Fagan could not guess. +Something relating to Miss Myrtle, no doubt: she wasn't goin' to be +married right off to Mr. Clement,--was she,--and no church, nor cake, +nor anything? The gentlemen were shown into the parlor. "Ask Miss +Withers to go into the library, Kitty," said Master Gridley. +"Dr. Pemberton wishes to speak with her." The good old man was +prepared for a scene with Miss Silence. He announced to her, in a +kind and delicate way, that she must make up her mind to the +disappointment of certain expectations which she had long +entertained, and which, as her lawyer, Mr. Penhallow, had come to +inform her and others, were to be finally relinquished from this +hour. + +To his great surprise, Miss Silence received this communication +almost cheerfully. It seemed more like a relief to her than anything +else. Her one dread in this world was her "responsibility "; and the +thought that she might have to account for ten talents hereafter, +instead of one, had often of late been a positive distress to her. +There was also in her mind a secret disgust at the thought of the +hungry creatures who would swarm round her if she should ever be in a +position to bestow patronage. This had grown upon her as the habits +of lonely life gave her more and more of that fastidious dislike to +males in general, as such, which is not rare in maidens who have seen +the roses of more summers than politeness cares to mention. + +Father Pemberton then asked if he could see Miss Myrtle Hazard a few +moments in the library before they went into the parlor, where they +were to meet Mr. Penhallow and Mr. Gridley, for the purpose of +receiving the lawyer's communication. + +What change was this which Myrtle had undergone since love had +touched her heart, and her visions of worldly enjoyment had faded +before the thought of sharing and ennobling the life of one who was +worthy of her best affections,--of living for another, and of finding +her own noblest self in that divine office of woman? She had laid +aside the bracelet which she had so long worn as a kind of charm as +well as an ornament. One would have said her features had lost +something of that look of imperious beauty which had added to her +resemblance to the dead woman whose glowing portrait hung upon her +wall. And if it could be that, after so many generations, the blood +of her who had died for her faith could show in her descendants +veins, and the soul of that elect lady of her race look out from her +far-removed offspring's dark eyes, such a transfusion of the martyr's +life and spiritual being might well seem to manifest itself in Myrtle +Hazard. + +The large-hearted old man forgot his scholastic theory of human +nature as he looked upon her face. He thought he saw in her the +dawning of that grace which some are born with; which some, like +Myrtle, only reach through many trials and dangers; which some seem +to show for a while and then lose; which too many never reach while +they wear the robes of earth, but which speaks of the kingdom of +heaven already begun in the heart of a child of earth. He told her +simply the story of the occurrences which had brought them together +in the old house, with the message the lawyer was to deliver to its +inmates. He wished to prepare her for what might have been too +sudden a surprise. + +But Myrtle was not wholly unprepared for some such revelation. There +was little danger that any such announcement would throw her mind +from its balance after the inward conflict through which she had been +passing. For her lover had left her almost as soon as he had told +her the story of his passion, and the relation in which he stood to +her. He, too, had gone to answer his country's call to her children, +not driven away by crime and shame and despair, but quitting all--his +new-born happiness, the art in which he was an enthusiast, his +prospects of success and honor--to obey the higher command of duty. +War was to him, as to so many of the noble youth who went forth, only +organized barbarism, hateful but for the sacred cause which alone +redeemed it from the curse that blasted the first murderer. God only +knew the sacrifice such young men as he made. + +How brief Myrtle's dream had been! She almost doubted, at some +moments, whether she would not awake from it, as from her other +visions, and find it all unreal. There was no need of fearing any +undue excitement of her mind after the alternations of feeling she +had just experienced. Nothing seemed of much moment to her which +could come from without,--her real world was within, and the light of +its day and the breath of its life came from her love, made holy by +the self-forgetfulness on both sides which was born with it. + +Only one member of the household was in danger of finding the +excitement more than she could bear. Miss Cynthia knew that all +Murray Bradshaw's plans, in which he had taken care that she should +have a personal interest, had utterly failed. What he had done with +the means of revenge in his power,--if, indeed, they were still in +his power,--she did not know. She only knew that there had been a +terrible scene, and that he had gone, leaving it uncertain whether he +would ever return. It was with fear and trembling that she heard the +summons which went forth, that the whole family should meet in the +parlor to listen to a statement from Mr. Penhallow. They all +gathered as requested, and sat round the room, with the exception of +Mistress Kitty Fagan, who knew her place too well to be sittin' down +with the likes o' them, and stood with attentive ears in the doorway. + +Mr. Penhallow then read from a printed paper the decision of the +Supreme Court in the land case so long pending, where the estate of +the late Malachi Withers was the claimant, against certain parties +pretending to hold under an ancient grant. The decision was in favor +of the estate. + +"This gives a great property to the heirs," Mr. Penhallow remarked, +"and the question as to who these heirs are has to be opened. For +the will under which Silence Withers, sister of the deceased, has +inherited is dated some years previous to the decease, and it was not +very strange that a will of later date should be discovered. Such a +will has been discovered. It is the instrument I have here." + +Myrtle Hazard opened her eyes very widely, for the paper Mr. +Penlallow held looked exactly like that which Murray Bradshaw had +burned, and, what was curious, had some spots on it just like some +she had noticed on that. + +"This will," Mr. Penhallow said, "signed by witnesses dead or absent +from this place, makes a disposition of the testator's property in +some respects similar to that of the previous one, but with a single +change, which proves to be of very great importance." + +Mr. Penhallow proceeded to read the will. The important change in +the disposition of the property was this: in case the land claim was +decided in favor of the estate, then, in addition to the small +provision made for Myrtle Hazard, the property so coming to the +estate should all go to her. There was no question about the +genuineness and the legal sufficiency of this instrument. Its date +was not very long after the preceding one, at a period when, as was +well known, he had almost given up the hope of gaining his case, +and when the property was of little value compared to that which it +had at present. + +A long silence followed this reading. Then, to the surprise of all, +Miss Silence Withers rose, and went to Myrtle Hazard, and wished her +joy with every appearance of sincerity. She was relieved of a great +responsibility. Myrtle was young and could bear it better. She +hoped that her young relative would live long to enjoy the blessings +Providence had bestowed upon her, and to use them for the good of the +community, and especially the promotion of the education of deserving +youth. If some fitting person could be found to advise Myrtle, whose +affairs would require much care, it would be a great relief to her. + +They all went up to Myrtle and congratulated her on her change of +fortune. Even Cynthia Badlam got out a phrase or two which passed +muster in the midst of the general excitement. As for Kitty Fagan, +she could not say a word, but caught Myrtle's hand and kissed it as +if it belonged to her own saint; and then, suddenly applying her +apron to her eyes, retreated from a scene which was too much for her, +in a state of complete mental beatitude and total bodily +discomfiture. + +Then Silence asked the old minister to make a prayer, and he +stretched his hands up to Heaven, and called down all the blessings +of Providence upon all the household, and especially upon this young +handmaiden, who was to be tried with prosperity, and would need all +aid from above to keep her from its dangers. + +Then Mr. Penhallow asked Myrtle if she had any choice as to the +friend who should have charge of her affairs. Myrtle turned to +Master Byles Gridley, and said, "You have been my friend and +protector so far, will you continue to be so hereafter?" + +Master Gridley tried very hard to begin a few words of thanks to her +for her preference, but finding his voice a little uncertain, +contented himself with pressing her hand and saying, "Most willingly, +my dear daughter!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +CONCLUSION. + +The same day the great news of Myrtle Hazard's accession to fortune +came out, the secret was told that she had promised herself in +marriage to Mr. Clement Lindsay. But her friends hardly knew how to +congratulate her on this last event. Her lover was gone, to risk his +life, not improbably to lose it, or to come home a wreck, crippled by +wounds, or worn out with disease. + +Some of them wondered to see her so cheerful in such a moment of +trial. They could not know how the manly strength of Clement's +determination had nerved her for womanly endurance. They had not +learned that a great cause makes great souls, or reveals them to +themselves,--a lesson taught by so many noble examples in the times +that followed. Myrtle's only desire seemed to be to labor in some +way to help the soldiers and their families. She appeared to have +forgotten everything for this duty; she had no time for regrets, if +she were disposed to indulge them, and she hardly asked a question as +to the extent of the fortune which had fallen to her. + +The next number of the "Banner and Oracle" contained two +announcements which she read with some interest when her attention +was called to them. They were as follows: + +"A fair and accomplished daughter of this village comes, by the late +decision of the Supreme Court, into possession of a property +estimated at a million of dollars or more. It consists of a large +tract of land purchased many years ago by the late Malachi Withers, +now become of immense value by the growth of a city in its +neighborhood, the opening of mines, etc., etc. It is rumored that +the lovely and highly educated heiress has formed a connection +looking towards matrimony with a certain distinguished artist." + +"Our distinguished young townsman, William Murray Bradshaw, Esq., has +been among the first to respond to the call of the country for +champions to defend her from traitors. We understand that he has +obtained a captaincy in the _th regiment, about to march to the +threatened seat of war. May victory perch on his banners!" + +The two lovers, parted by their own self-sacrificing choice in the +very hour that promised to bring them so much happiness, labored for +the common cause during all the terrible years of warfare, one in the +camp and the field, the other in the not less needful work which the +good women carried on at home, or wherever their services were +needed. Clement--now Captain Lindsay--returned at the end of his +first campaign charged with a special office. Some months later, +after one of the great battles, he was sent home wounded. He wore +the leaf on his shoulder which entitled him to be called Major +Lindsay. He recovered from his wound only too rapidly, for Myrtle +had visited him daily in the military hospital where he had resided +for treatment; and it was bitter parting. The telegraph wires were +thrilling almost hourly with messages of death, and the long pine +boxes came by almost every train,--no need of asking what they held. + +Once more he came, detailed on special duty, and this time with the +eagle on his shoulder,--he was Colonel Lindsay. The lovers could not +part again of their own free will. Some adventurous women had +followed their husbands to the camp, and Myrtle looked as if she +could play the part of the Maid of Saragossa on occasion. So Clement +asked her if she would return with him as his wife; and Myrtle +answered, with as much willingness to submit as a maiden might fairly +show under such circumstances, that she would do his bidding. +Thereupon, with the shortest possible legal notice, Father Pemberton +was sent for, and the ceremony was performed in the presence of a few +witnesses in the large parlor at The Poplars, which was adorned with +flowers, and hung round with all the portraits of the dead members of +the family, summoned as witnesses to the celebration. One witness +looked on with unmoved features, yet Myrtle thought there was a more +heavenly smile on her faded lips than she had ever seen before +beaming from the canvas,--it was Ann Holyoake, the martyr to her +faith, the guardian spirit of Myrtle's visions, who seemed to breathe +a holier benediction than any words--even those of the good old +Father Pemberton himself--could convey. + +They went back together to the camp. From that period until the end +of the war, Myrtle passed her time between the life of the tent and +that of the hospital. In the offices of mercy which she performed +for the sick and the wounded and the dying, the dross of her nature +seemed to be burned away. The conflict of mingled lives in her blood +had ceased. No lawless impulses usurped the place of that serene +resolve which had grown strong by every exercise of its high +prerogative. If she had been called now to die for any worthy cause, +her race would have been ennobled by a second martyr, true to the +blood of her who died under the cruel Queen. + +Many sad sights she saw in the great hospital where she passed some +months at intervals,--one never to be forgotten. An officer was +brought into the ward where she was in attendance. "Shot through the +lungs,--pretty nearly gone." + +She went softly to his bedside. He was breathing with great +difficulty; his face was almost convulsed with the effort, but she +recognized him in a moment; it was Murray Bradshaw,--Captain +Bradshaw, as she knew by the bars on his coat flung upon the bed +where he had just been laid. + +She addressed him by name, tenderly as if he had been a dear brother; +she saw on his face that hers were to be the last kind words he would +ever hear. + +He turned his glazing eyes upon her. "Who are you?" he said in a +feeble voice. + +"An old friend," she answered; "you knew me as Myrtle Hazard." + +He started. "You by my bedside! You caring for me!--for me, that +burned the title to your fortune to ashes before your eyes! You +can't forgive that,--I won't believe it! Don't you hate me, dying as +I am?" + +Myrtle was used to maintaining a perfect calmness of voice and +countenance, and she held her feelings firmly down. "I have nothing +to forgive you, Mr. Bradshaw. You may have meant to do me wrong, but +Providence raised up a protector for me. The paper you burned was +not the original,--it was a copy substituted for it--" + +"And did the old man outwit me after all?" he cried out, rising +suddenly in bed, and clasping his hands behind his head to give him a +few more gasps of breath. "I knew he was cunning, but I thought I +was his match. It must have been Byles Gridley,--nobody else. And +so the old man beat me after all, and saved you from ruin! Thank God +that it came out so! Thank God! I can die now. Give me your hand, +Myrtle." + +She took his hand, and held it until it gently loosed its hold, and +he ceased to breathe. Myrtle's creed was a simple one, with more of +trust and love in it than of systematized articles of belief. She +cherished the fond hope that these last words of one who had erred so +miserably were a token of some blessed change which the influences of +the better world might carry onward until he should have outgrown the +sins and the weaknesses of his earthly career. + +Soon after this she rejoined her husband in the camp. From time to +time they received stray copies of the "Banner and Oracle," which, to +Myrtle especially, were full of interest, even to the last +advertisement. A few paragraphs may be reproduced here which relate +to persons who have figured in this narrative. + + + "TEMPLE OF HYMEN. + +"Married, on the 6th instant, Fordyce Hurlbut, M. D., to Olive, only +daughter of the Rev. Ambrose Eveleth. The editor of this paper +returns his acknowledgments for a bountiful slice of the wedding- +cake. May their shadows never be less!" + +Not many weeks after this appeared the following: + +"Died in this place, on the 28th instant, the venerable Lemuel +Hurlbut, M. D., at the great age of XCVI years. + +"'With the ancient is wisdom, and in length of days understanding.'" + + +Myrtle recalled his kind care of her in her illness, and paid the +tribute of a sigh to his memory,--there was nothing in a death like +his to call for any aching regret. + +The usual routine of small occurrences was duly recorded in the +village paper for some weeks longer, when she was startled and +shocked by receiving a number containing the following paragraph: + + + CALAMITOUS ACCIDENT + +"It is known to our readers that the steeple of the old meeting-house +was struck by lightning about a month ago. The frame of the building +was a good deal jarred by the shock, but no danger was apprehended +from the injury it had received. On Sunday last the congregation +came together as usual. The Rev. Mr. Stoker was alone m the pulpit, +the Rev. Doctor Pemberton having been detained by slight +indisposition. The sermon was from the text, "The wolf also shall +dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid." +(Isaiah xi. 6.) The pastor described the millennium as--the reign of +love and peace, in eloquent and impressive language. He was in the +midst of the prayer which follows the sermon, and had jest put up a +petition that the spirit of affection and faith and trust might grow +up and prevail among the flock of which he was the shepherd, more +especially those dear lambs whom he gathered with his arm, and +carried in his bosom, when the old sounding-board, which had hung +safely for nearly a century,--loosened, no doubt by the bolt which +had fallen on the church,--broke from its fastenings, and fell with a +loud crash upon the pulpit, crushing the Rev. Mr. Stoker under its +ruins. The scene that followed beggars description. Cries and +shrieks resounded through the horse. Two or three young women +fainted entirely away. Mr. Penhallow, Deacon Rumrill, Gifted +Hopkins, Esq., and others, came forward immediately, and after much +effort succeeded in removing the wreck of the sounding-board, and +extricating their unfortunate pastor. He was not fatally injured, it +is hoped; but, sad to relate, he received such a violent blow upon +the spine of the back, that palsy of the lower extremities is like to +ensue. He is at present lying entirely helpless. Every attention is +paid to him by his affectionately devoted family." + +Myrtle had hardly got over the pain which the reading of this +unfortunate occurrence gave her, when her eyes were gladdened by the +following pleasing piece of intelligence, contained in a subsequent +number of the village paper: + + IMPOSING CEREMONY. + +"The Reverend Doctor Pemberton performed the impressive rite of +baptism upon the first-born child of our distinguished townsman, +Gifted Hopkins, Esq., the Bard of Oxbow Village, and Mrs. Susan P. +Hopkins, his amiable and respected lady. The babe conducted himself +with singular propriety on this occasion. He received the Christian +name of Byron Tennyson Browning. May be prove worthy of his name and +his parentage!" + + +The end of the war came at last, and found Colonel Lindsay among its +unharmed survivors. He returned with Myrtle to her native village, +and they established themselves, at the request of Miss Silence +Withers, in the old family mansion. Miss Cynthia, to whom Myrtle +made a generous allowance, had gone to live in a town not many miles +distant, where she had a kind of home on sufferance, as well as at +The Poplars. This was a convenience just then, because Nurse Byloe +was invited to stay with them for a month or two; and one nurse and +two single women under the same roof keep each other in a stew all +the time, as the old dame somewhat sharply remarked. + +Master Byles Gridley had been appointed Myrtle's legal protector, +and, with the assistance of Mr. Penhallow, had brought the property +she inherited into a more manageable and productive form; so that, +when Clement began his fine studio behind the old mansion, he felt +that at least he could pursue his art, or arts, if he chose to give +himself to sculpture, without that dreadful hag, Necessity, standing +by him to pinch the features of all his ideals, and give them +something of her own likeness. + +Silence Withers was more cheerful now that she had got rid of her +responsibility. She embellished her spare person a little more than +in former years. These young people looked so happy! Love was not +so unendurable, perhaps, after all. No woman need despair,-- +especially if she has a house over her, and a snug little property. +A worthy man, a former missionary, of the best principles, but of a +slightly jocose and good-humored habit, thought that he could piece +his widowed years with the not insignificant, fraction of life left +to Miss Silence, to their mutual advantage. He came to the village, +therefore, where Father Pemberton was very glad to have him supply +the pulpit in the place of his unfortunate disabled colleague. The +courtship soon began, and was brisk enough; for the good man knew +there was no time to lose at his period of life,--or hers either, for +that matter. It was a rather odd specimen of love-making; for he was +constantly trying to subdue his features to a gravity which they were +not used to, and she was as constantly endeavoring to be as lively as +possible, with the innocent desire of pleasing her light-hearted +suitor. + +"Vieille fille fait jeune mariee." Silence was ten years younger as +a bride than she had seemed as a lone woman. One would have said she +had got out of the coach next to the hearse, and got into one some +half a dozen behind it,--where there is often good and reasonably +cheerful conversation going on about the virtues of the deceased, the +probable amount of his property, or the little slips he may have +committed, and where occasionally a subdued pleasantry at his expense +sets the four waistcoats shaking that were lifting with sighs a half- +hour ago in the house of mourning. But Miss Silence, that was, +thought that two families, with all the possible complications which +time might bring, would be better in separate establishments. She +therefore proposed selling The Poplars to Myrtle and her husband, and +removing to a house in the village, which would be large enough for +them, at least for the present. So the young folks bought the old +house, and paid a mighty good price for it; and enlarged it, and +beautified and glorified it, and one fine morning went together down +to the Widow Hopkins's, whose residence seemed in danger of being a +little crowded,--for Gifted lived there with his Susan,--and what had +happened might happen again,--and gave Master Byles Gridley a formal +and most persuasively worded invitation to come up and make his home +with them at The Poplars. + +Now Master Gridley has been betrayed into palpable and undisguised +weakness at least once in the presence of this assembly, who are +looking upon him almost for the last time before they part from him, +and see his face no more. Let us not inquire too curiously, then, +how he received this kind proposition. It is enough, that, when he +found that a new study had been built on purpose for him, and a +sleeping-room attached to it so that he could live there without +disturbing anybody if he chose, he consented to remove there for a +while, and that he was there established amidst great rejoicing. + +Cynthia Badlam had fallen of late into poor health. She found at +last that she was going; and as she had a little property of her +own,--as almost all poor relations have, only there is not enough of +it,--she was much exercised in her mind as to the final arrangements +to be made respecting its disposition. The Rev. Dr. Pemberton was +one day surprised by a message, that she wished to have an interview +with him. He rode over to the town in which she was residing, and +there had a long conversation with her upon this matter. When this +was settled, her mind seemed too be more at ease. She died with a +comfortable assurance that she was going to a better world, and with +a bitter conviction that it would be hard to find one that would +offer her a worse lot than being a poor relation in this. + +Her little property was left to Rev. Eliphalet Pemberton and Jacob +Penhallow, Esq., to be by them employed for such charitable purposes +as they should elect, educational or other. Father Pemberton +preached an admirable funeral sermon, in which he praised her +virtues, known to this people among whom she had long lived, and +especially that crowning act by which she devoted all she had to +purposes of charity-and benevolence. + +The old clergyman seemed to have renewed his youth since the +misfortune of his colleague had incapacitated him from labor. He +generally preached in the forenoon now, and to the great acceptance +of the people,--for the truth was that the honest minister who had +married Miss Silence was not young enough or good-looking enough to +be an object of personal attentions like the Rev. Joseph Bellamy +Stoker, and the old minister appeared to great advantage contrasted +with him in the pulpit. Poor Mr. Stoker was now helpless, faithfully +and tenderly waited upon by his own wife, who had regained her health +and strength,--in no small measure, perhaps, from the great need of +sympathy and active aid which her unfortunate husband now +experienced. It was an astonishment to herself when she found that +she who had so long been served was able to serve another. Some who +knew his errors thought his accident was a judgment; but others +believed that it was only a mercy in disguise,--it snatched him +roughly from his sin, but it opened his heart to gratitude towards +her whom his neglect could not alienate, and through gratitude to +repentance and better thoughts. Bathsheba had long ago promised +herself to Cyprian Eveleth; and, as he was about to become the rector +of a parish in the next town, the marriage was soon to take place. + +How beautifully serene Master Byles Gridley's face was growing! +Clement loved to study its grand lines, which had so much strength +and fine humanity blended in them. He was so fascinated by their +noble expression that he sometimes seemed to forget himself, and +looked at him more like an artist taking his portrait than like an +admiring friend. He maintained that Master Gridley had a bigger bump +of benevolence and as large a one of cautiousness as the two people +most famous for the size of these organs on the phrenological chart +he showed him, and proved it, or nearly proved it, by careful +measurements of his head. Master Gridley laughed, and read him a +passage on the pseudo-sciences out of his book. + +The disposal of Miss Cynthia's bequest was much discussed in the +village. Some wished the trustees would use it to lay the +foundations of a public library. Others thought it should be applied +for the relief of the families of soldiers who had fallen in the war. +Still another set would take it to build a monument to the memory of +those heroes. The trustees listened with the greatest candor to all +these gratuitous hints. It was, however, suggested, in a well- +written anonymous article which appeared in the village paper, that +it was desirable to follow the general lead of the testator's +apparent preference. The trustees were at liberty to do as they saw +fit; but, other things being equal, same educational object should be +selected. + +If there were any orphan children in the place, it would seem to be +very proper to devote the moderate sum bequeathed to educating them. +The trustees recognized the justice of this suggestion. Why not +apply it to the instruction and maintenance of those two pretty and +promising children, virtually orphans, whom the charitable Mrs. +Hopkins had cared for so long without any recompense, and at a cost +which would soon become beyond her means? The good people of the +neighborhood accepted this as the best solution of the difficulty. +It was agreed upon at length by the trustees, that the Cynthia Badlam +Fund for Educational Purposes should be applied for the benefit of +the two foundlings, known as Isosceles and Helminthia Hopkins. + +Master Bytes Gridley was greatly exercised about the two +"preposterous names," as he called them, which in a moment of +eccentric impulse he had given to these children of nature. He +ventured to hint as much to Mrs. Hopkins. The good dame was vastly +surprised. She thought they was about as pooty names as anybody had +had given 'em in the village. And they was so handy, spoke short, +Sossy and Minthy,--she never should know how to call 'em anything +else. + +"But my dear Mrs. Hopkins," Master Gridley urged, "if you knew the +meaning they have to the ears of scholars, you would see that I did +very wrong to apply such absurd names to my little fellow-creatures, +and that I am bound to rectify my error. More than that, my dear +madam, I mean to consult you as to the new names; and if we can fix +upon proper and pleasing ones, it is my intention to leave a pretty +legacy in my will to these interesting children." + +"Mr. Gridley," said Mrs. Hopkins, "you're the best man I ever see, or +ever shall see, . . . except my poor dear Ammi . . . . I 'll +do jest as you say about that, or about anything else in all this +livin' world." + +"Well, then, Mrs. Hopkins, what shall be the boy's name?" + +"Byles Gridley Hopkins!" she answered instantly. + +"Good Lord!" said Mr. Gridley, "think a minute, my dear madam. I +will not say one word,--only think a minute, and mention some name +that will not suggest quite so many winks and whispers." + +She did think something less than a minute, and then said aloud, +"Abraham Lincoln Hopkins." + +"Fifteen thousand children have been so christened during the past +year, on a moderate computation." + +"Do think of some name yourself, Mr. Gridley; I shall like anything +that you like. To think of those dear babes having a fund--if that's +the right name--on purpose for 'em, and a promise of a legacy, I hope +they won't get that till they're a hundred year old!" + +"What if we change Isosceles to Theodore, Mrs. Hopkins? That means +the gift of God, and the child has been a gift from Heaven, rather +than a burden." + +Mrs. Hopkins seized her apron, and held it to her eyes. She was +weeping. "Theodore!" she said, "Theodore! My little brother's name, +that I buried when I was only eleven year old. Drownded. The +dearest little child that ever you see. I have got his little mug +with Theodore on it now. Kep' o' purpose. Our little Sossy shall +have it. Theodore P. Hopkins,--sha'n't it be, Mr. Gridley?" + +"Well, if you say so; but why that P., Mrs. Hopkins? Theodore +Parker, is it?" + +"Doesn't P. stand for Pemberton, and isn't Father Pemberton the best +man in the world--next to you, Mr. Gridley?" + +"Well, well, Mrs. Hopkins, let it be so, if you are suited, I am. +Now about Helminthia; there can't be any doubt about what we ought to +call her,--surely the friend of orphans should be remembered in +naming one of the objects of her charity." + +"Cynthia Badlam Fund Hopkins," said the good woman triumphantly,--"is +that what you mean?" + +"Suppose we leave out one of the names,--four are too many. I think +the general opinion will be that Hehninthia should unite the names of +her two benefactresses,--Cynthia Badlam Hopkins." + +"Why, law! Mr. Gridley, is n't that nice?--Minthy and Cynthy,--there +ain't but one letter of difference! Poor Cynthy would be pleased if +she could know that one of our babes was to be called after her. She +was dreadful fond of children." + +On one of the sweetest Sundays that ever made Oxbow Village lovely, +the Rev. Dr. Eliphalet Pembertan was summoned to officiate at three +most interesting ceremonies,--a wedding and two christenings, one of +the latter a double one. + +The first was celebrated at the house of the Rev. Mr. Stoker, between +the Rev. Cyprian Eveleth and Bathsheba, daughter of the first-named +clergyman. He could not be present on account of his great +infirmity, but the door of his chamber was left open that he might +hear the marriage service performed. The old, white-haired minister, +assisted, as the papers said, by the bridegroom's father, conducted +the ceremony according to the Episcopal form. When he came to those +solemn words in which the husband promises fidelity to the wife so +long as they both shall live, the nurse, who was watching, near the +poor father, saw him bury his face in his pillow, and heard him +murmur the words, "God be merciful to me a sinner!" + +The christenings were both to take place at the same service, in the +old meeting-house. Colonel Clement Lindsay and Myrtle his wife came +in, and stout Nurse Byloe bore their sturdy infant in her arms. A +slip of paper was handed to the Reverend Doctor on which these words +were written:--"The name is Charles Hazard." + +The solemn and touching rite was then performed; and Nurse Byloe +disappeared with the child, its forehead glistening with the dew of +its consecration. + +Then, hand in hand, like the babes in the wood, marched up the +broad aisle--marshalled by Mrs. Hopkins in front, and Mrs. Gifted +Hopkins bringing up the rear--the two children hitherto known as +Isosceles and Helminthia. They had been well schooled, and, as the +mysterious and to them incomprehensible ceremony was enacted, +maintained the most stoical aspect of tranquillity. In Mrs. +Hopkins's words, "They looked like picters, and behaved like angels." + +That evening, Sunday evening as it was, there was a quiet meeting of +some few friends at The Poplars. It was such a great occasion that +the Sabbatical rules, never strict about Sunday evening,--which was, +strictly speaking, secular time,--were relaxed. Father Pemberton was +there, and Master Byles Gridley, of course, and the Rev. Ambrose +Eveleth, with his son and his daughter-in-law, Bathsheba, and her +mother, now in comfortable health, aunt Silence and her husband, +Doctor Hurlbut and his wife (Olive Eveleth that was), Jacob +Penhallow, Esq., Mrs. Hopkins, her son and his wife (Susan Posey that +was), the senior deacon of the old church (the admirer of the great +Scott), the Editor-in-chief of the "Banner and Oracle," and in the +background Nurse Byloe and the privileged servant, Mistress Kitty +Fagan, with a few others whose names we need not mention. + +The evening was made pleasant with sacred music, and the fatigues of +two long services repaired by such simple refections as would not +turn the holy day into a day of labor. A large paper copy of the new +edition of Byles Gridley's remarkable work was lying on the table. +He never looked so happy,--could anything fill his cup fuller? In +the course of the evening Clement spoke of the many trials through +which they had passed in common with vast numbers of their +countrymen, and some of those peculiar dangers which Myrtle had had +to encounter in the course of a life more eventful, and attended with +more risks, perhaps, than most of them imagined. But Myrtle, he +said, had always been specially cared for. He wished them to look +upon the semblance of that protecting spirit who had been faithful to +her in her gravest hours of trial and danger. If they would follow +him into one of the lesser apartments up stairs they would have an +opportunity to do so. + +Myrtle wondered a little, but followed with the rest. They all +ascended to the little projecting chamber, through the window of +which her scarlet jacket caught the eyes of the boys paddling about +on the river in those early days when Cyprian Eveleth gave it the +name of the Fire-hang-bird's Nest. + +The light fell softly but clearly on the dim and faded canvas from +which looked the saintly features of the martyred woman, whose +continued presence with her descendants was the old family legend. +But underneath it Myrtle was surprised to see a small table with some +closely covered object upon it. It was a mysterious arrangement, +made without any knowledge on her part. + +"Now, then, Kitty!" Mr. Lindsay said. + +Kitty Fagan, who had evidently been taught her part, stepped forward, +and removed the cloth which concealed the unknown object. It was a +lifelike marble bust of Master Byles Gridley. + +"And this is what you have been working at so long,--is it, Clement?" +Myrtle said. + +"Which is the image of your protector, Myrtle?", he answered, +smiling. + +Myrtle Hazard Lindsay walked up to the bust and kissed its marble +forehead, saying, "This is the face of my Guardian Angel." + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Guardian Angel, by Oliver Wendell Holmes + diff --git a/old/angel11.zip b/old/angel11.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d353323 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/angel11.zip |